Oracle and the Network
4.0 Action
Oracle watched the screens as she talked over her headset, multitasking with a ease that almost surprised her. It had been months since Barbara had worked with a team of agents like this, yet it all flowed back with ease like she had never left.
The drug lab they were raiding was near Suicide Slum, but despite being in a bad side of Metropolis it looked practically clean compared to parts of Gotham. The drug itself was not technically illegal, so new it wasn't even banned yet. But while the police couldn't act on the drugs their team could, and in the process help the cops act too.
"Cass," Babs said briskly, "how's the scouting?"
Cassandra Cain, once known as Batgirl and a former assassin-in-training, calmly made her way down the street. The slim Asian woman had learned the first trick of scouting long ago, to act like you belonged and utterly self confident. The few guards out there assumed she lived in the neighborhood or had some legitimate reason for being there.
"Three guards out front, carrying concealed," Cass said calmly into her throat based microphone, "one at each side, but near enough to call for help."
"Misfit, the back?" Babs asked, even as she watched the police band and kept a eye on a certain major reporter.
Charlotte 'Charlie' Gage-Radcliffe looked like a normal teen in her casual clothes, but the young redhead was anything but. Apparently born with the ability to teleport and some enhanced strength she had decided to become a superhero, originally impersonating Batgirl. Some guidance from Babs and others convinced her to call herself Misfit, and had become a mascot/ward/helper to the team.
Charlie hung from a fire escape, apparently playing one building over as she said, "Two guards in back, and guys watching the windows. Looks like they're carrying concealed too."
High above the building the near invisible helicopter Aerie Two hovered, Zinda Blake keeping a wary eye out for any unusual flying objects. Sitting in the back Huntress adjusted her mask as she asked, "Do we know for sure it's Intergang?"
Babs called up another screen, scrolling through data on a police server then bringing up the files. Almost instantly she answered, "Not confirmed. The weapons the cops got in a bust of a few members of the gang are Intergang issue rayguns, but this kind of job isn't their usual style."
"They usually work towards a larger goal," Cass noted thoughtfully. "Does dealing this drug help them?" she wondered.
"Could be they're trying to get back on their feet," Zinda said casually before asking, "It don't matter much, right?"
"She's right," Babs agreed, "we can sift through the evidence later. Cass, you move first."
Cass was wearing clothes fitting the neighborhood, basically a t-shirt and jeans, and while not classically beautiful she was attractive. She casually sauntered up to the man guarding the west side of the building and smiled charmingly. He smiled back, looking like he won the lottery as she stepped close and murmured, "Sorry."
"Huh?" he started before the first punch hit.
Using knowledge of nerve clusters Cass silenced him, then swiftly knocked him out away from the vision of the other guards. "Misfit, here," Cass ordered.
Misfit teleported in just as a guard moved to see what was going on. The redhead leaped, her cape flapping as she cried, "DARK VENGEANCE!"
"Distraction is go," Babs hid a smile as Cass and Misfit were soon engaging the guards up front and conveniently drawing the attention of the rest of the building. "Zinda, move out."
Silently the Aerie Two swept down to the top of the building, Huntress leaping out onto the roof before it even landed. Watching them on security cams Babs was already in the system overriding the security, popping open the roof door as Zinda landed the helicopter and got out dressed in her black leather Lady Blackhawk gear.
"Where's the lab?" Helena asked tersely as they hurried down, the crossbow mounted on her glove loaded and ready.
"Power usage says fourth floor," Babs said as she checked over data and images on several screens, "and it looks like Cass and Misfit have broken through the guards out front. Calling the police about a disturbance now."
The six story squat tower was well guarded by wandering gang members, but they were clearly unprepared for super heroes. The two groups pressed inward breaking through and past guards, clobbering men larger and theoretically more powerful than they were.
"Dark," Misfit punched a man in the gut as Cass kicked another aside, "Vengeance!" She grinned as they reached the first floor stairs and ran up to the second. "Couple more ray guns on the guards," she noted as they ducked to avoid fire, "a few rifles too."
"Be careful," Babs ordered.
"Always," Misfit answered as she poofed out, teleporting up the hall to appear right behind the stunned guards.
"Aaah!" one man yelped as she appeared and she kicked the gun out of his hand, the five men scrambling to recover.
Almost as fast as Misfit's teleport Cass sprinted up the hall, the guards so distracted they weren't even firing on her. She swiftly tore into the men after Misfit, even as they heard the first sirens in the distance. "Should we withdraw?" Cass asked as she calmly dropped the fifth attacker.
"Head for the roof via the stairs," Babs ordered, "the attack gives the police the excuse they need to enter the building, and a search will find the drug lab."
A officer with the Metropolis PD blinked as his blackberry chimed, signaling he had a new message. Calling up the screen while his partner drove he blinked as the building they were going to came up on the screen. A interior picture appeared of what looked like a drug lab, then some text. "Fourth floor, back side," was printed, "from a concerned citizen."
"Everyone all right?" Babs asked as they came up on the rooftop camera with no one limping or looking hurt, at least.
"We're good," Zinda said as everyone loaded up into the helicopter and they were off.
Babs sat back in her wheelchair in satisfaction as the copter faded to invisibility, then watched on security cams as the men with clearly illegal weapons were found on the street. Teams hurried inside to make sure no one was hurt, probable nicely covered, and soon found the lab based on her tip.
'They were a little rusty, but things had gone surprisingly well for a first outing,' Babs decided. This probably wasn't a major loss for Intergang but any hit to that organization was a good thing in her books, and it made a fine test run, too.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"I still think that was a test run," Misfit said as they descended to their headquarters, a hotel that had been converted to house the computers and other gear Oracle needed to operate as well as ample room for them all to stay.
"So what if it was?" Zinda asked as she guided the 'copter down with barely a shake or quiver. "It was good work and worth doing," she said as she shut the copter down.
"Besides," Cass said calmly as they all got out of the copter, "we also need to practice working together more."
The four women headed into the building, all relaxing visibly. "Got that right," Helena agreed as she took the Huntress mask off, wincing as the gum pulled at her skin. "And we have to get used to being a team again," she admitted.
Inside the set of suites that were the penthouse new furnishings had been moved in, couches and chairs set up. The place still lacked a lived in feel, probably because Babs still spent the majority of her time in the computer labs. Still, Charlie was living there full time and had put a dent into the general cleanness, and Cass had apparently taken a room too.
The group passed through the hidden door into Oracle's lair, the walls covered with screens and Babs sitting right in the middle, typing away one handed as she talked to someone over her headphones. "Thanks," she was saying to whomever was on the phone as she waved them to the meeting table, "I think we can manage a fair trade for information, Sasha. Just don't forget who you're dealing with, please. If I catch the Thinker sniffing around my systems again, you won't get him back."
As Babs disconnected Helena had to ask, "Who was that?"
"Sasha Bordeau of Checkmate," Babs said casually as she rolled over to the meeting table, "I've hammered out a information sharing agreement with her."
"And Thinker?" Charlie wondered, the girl perching on one of the chairs casually.
"An artificial intelligence who's sort of my opposite number at Checkmate," Babs admitted, "he's a supposedly reformed criminal who joined them via the Suicide Squad."
Getting a beer from the fridge Zinda noted, "When you said they wouldn't get him back, you weren't gonna kill him were you?"
"Not kill," Babs smiled unpleasantly as she said, "but I could build a virtual maze it'd take years for him to get out of."
"Cool," Charlie said cheerfully.
Cass had watched the conversation passing, her expression a mix of remote and amused. "Did the police act as expected?" she asked.
"Yes, about what we figured," Babs agreed, "the police are still searching the building, but monitoring back and forth conversations they've already found the drug lab." She frowned, "And a fair sized armory, too."
"Armory?" Helena sat up, her eyes narrowing intently.
"All conventional arms," Babs reassured her, "but they had a mix of machine guns, sub-machine guns and assault rifles, nearly three hundred of them."
Zinda took a pull of her beer then growled, "What the hell does a crime syndicate need with those weapons? That's military hardware."
"Protecting the lab?" Charlie guessed.
"Too many weapons, not enough people," Cass shook her head, thinking.
Helena sat forward in her seat, frowning thoughtfully, "What does that new drug they're peddling actually do to people?"
"Didn't read the briefing?" Babs teased as she called up the data on a screen.
"So I missed a bit," Helena read the screen, "drug induces a powerful high followed by a rapid crash, including severe pain and violent tendencies." She shook her head as the pieces came together, "They were gonna get the junkies high, arm them and unleash them once they crashed?"
"Then go out and pick over what was left," Zinda mused. "I thought these guys were more like gangsters trying to expand their territory?"
"Maybe they have a new boss," Charlie shrugged, "either way this is bad news. How many drug labs like this do they have, you think?"
Babs pulled back from the table as she said, "I'll notify the JLA, JSA, the Titans and Batman. I don't care how many of these bases they have, once everyone knows we'll stop them."
"Gotham police department, too," Zinda called as Babs headed to the computers again.
"Why don't you call them?" Babs called back before adding, "I heard how close you and the commissioner are, after all."
Helena blinked as Zinda went pale, "What?"
Zinda gulped, "I think Babs knows I'm going out with her Dad."
There was a moment of dead silence as ALL the others looked at her. "WHAT?!" Helena and Charlie blurted, while Cass looked on, interestedly.
To be continued....
