Oracle and the Network
Chapter Eleven
Katrina Armstrong was in Washington DC, in a small apartment in one of the badder parts of town. Most people didn't realize how dangerous parts of Washington could be, with drug dealers, rampant crime and so on. This apartment building LOOKED as seedy as the buildings around it, but in this case appearances were decieving.
The outside of the building and the enterance way looked bad, admittedly. But once you got past that, the clean halls and guards indicated it was NOT your typical apartment building. Taken over by the federal government it served as a covert location to stash people the government needed hidden, for various reasons. It was a comfortable prison, with a internet and cable connection, nice kitchen and bedroom and all the amenities, but it was still a prison. Still, it was also a punishment that Kat had willingly accepted, knowing she had screwed the pooch.
On paper the Birds of Prey assignment should have been simple. Contact the Birds or Prey and Oracle, let them know the government was on to them, then enlist their help in exchange for not shutting them down. The problem was, Kat knew Barbara Gordon, and was damn certain she wouldn't meekly follow orders, blackmail or no blackmail. So instead Kat did her best to take over the organization, to carry out the mission.
The good news was, they successfully saved the heroine Ice and stopped her from being auctioned off by the Russians. The bad news, however, was that the entire Birds of Prey team hated her guts and their pilot, Zinda Blake, resigned. And the worst news hit once they got back to the states, where Barbara challenged her for control of the Birds.
'I underestimated her,' Kat admitted ruefully. Babs challenged her to singe combat, which Kat foolishly agreed to. Babs then proceeded to wipe the floor with her, despite being confined to a wheelchair. It had been embarassing, the beat down was so bad.
And to top it all off, Zinda Blake mobilized the entire membership of current and former Birds agents. That assemblage of power was enough to cow even Kat, especially after she realized that she could end up with the JLA and JSA opposing her.
Kat sighed shaking her head as she went to the PC on one side of the living room. This trip down memory lane was inspired by Amanda Waller contacting her. She felt the need to warn Kat that Oracle was investigating her past, and was possibly after Kat. Which was rediculous, Kayt knew. Oracle wasn't the vindicative type, or the Joker would be dead by now.
While penned up here Kat was still put to use, via secure internet connection. Before starting her fieldwork she had been a excellent analyst, and now she was back to doing that again. Her job was to study comunication intercepts from the superhuman community, flag possible threats and to extrapolate possible situations the US might need to intervene in.
Technically this was more DEO than Checkmate work, but her superior Sasha felt that keeping a close eye on the superheroes in the States was very important. Every major superhuman crisis in the last few years had come from the US, other than Black Adam anyway. And any early warning that Checkmate could get would be invaluable.
'Intergang is cropping up a lot in chatter,' Kat noted as she reviewed files. The JLA and JSA had very secure communications, meaning that she couldn't get much from their internal services. But members off duty were almost criminally casual about information safety. Hell, Oliver Queen and Hal Jordan discussed JLA business over the phone!
(Both men's identities were known in the intelligence community, of course. Oliver had blown his secret ID as Green Arrow several times over the years, and Green Lantern hadn't been terribly cautious either. After Ray Palmer published his auto-biography revealing his identity as Atom the DEO and other agencies investigated the hell out of any of his civilian friends, identifying several JLAers.)
The DEO and Checkmate were monitoring the Intergang situation, but so far they weren't taking action. It was technically a drug enforcement issue, but the weapons dealing was getting out of hand. Worse was the fact that Intergang had been looking into enhancing soldiers with superhuman abilities. That was illegal in the US, and the UN had a ban on that type of experimentation.
'Not that anyone follows it,' Kat thought, 'but I suppose it's the thought that counts." She bundled up the Intergang report and sent if off, along with a recommendation to send information to local police as well as cooperate with the FBI.
There was a soft chime as the mail program sent out the report, as usual. What was not as usual was the second chime. Kat looked at her computer, blinking as Skype popped open, then feeling a sinking sensation as a VERY familiar face appeared in the chat screen.
"Hello, Kat," the redhead smiled, "it's been awhile."
"Barbara, how the HELL did you get into this system?" Kat had t ask, exasperated. This was SUPPOST to be the most secure network in the US. If a hacker could break into it, even a master hacker like Oracle, well...
"Don't worry, it's very secure," Babs replied, "I should know, I helped design the security."
Kat opened her mouth to say something rash, then closed it again. "Explain," she said.
Babs shrugged slightly, "You know my methods, Watson."
Kat grit her teeth at the Sherlock Holmes reference, but she got the point. Probably Oracle had infiltrated one or more parts of the process of setting up their internal network. Hardware or software side, who knew? Either way she would have to report this to her superiors, who would have kittens.
"You contacted Waller recently, now me," Kat changed the subject, "why?"
"Information," Babs said calmly, "I have it, and I'm willing to give it to you to give to your superiors. My only request is you keep my name off it."
"You know I'll double check everything you give me," Kat noted even as she tried not to seem eager. Say what you would about her, Oracle had connections everywhere. She very likely knew things that would make politicians quake in their boots.
"I'd expect nothing less," Babs nodded. "I'm sending the file now," she said then added, "you're welcome to tell your superiors I contacted you, but you'll find no trace on your system."
The message cut off, leaving Kat alone in her suite once again. She was morbidly certain that Babs was telling the truth about there being no trace of the message, but she still had to report it. Probably exactly as Babs intended...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Metropolis got called the city of tomorrow a lot, but Huntress wasn't sure she agreed. Oh, the city was high tech, yeah, but it also had a very... old fashioned feel at times. The city could be nearly mid-western at times, she almost expected some big galoot to bump into her and saw "Sorry, ma'am."
"Oooh," Helena grunted as she hit a brick wall while coming out of a downtown coffee shop.
The brick wall turned, revealing a handsome, tall and damn well muscled guy, in glasses. "Sorry, ma'am," he said apologetically.
Helena sighed but managed a smile as he helped her up. "It's fine," she said, "I suppose I wasn't looking where I was going."
Helena took a moment to look glasses guy over. He was tall, nearly Batman tall, and was pretty damn well muscled, even though he tried to conceal it with the tailoring of his blue business suit. He wasn't rich either, since there was some wear on the suit too. He also looked familiar, though it took Helena a second to place him.
"Clark Kent, right?" Helena asked curiously. "I've seen your picture with your stories in the Daily Planet."
"Nice to meet you, Miss...?" he looked questioning.
"Helena Bertinelli," she nodded politely. "Just moved to the city and still getting used to it," she admitted with a smile.
"What do you think of Metropolis?" Clark asked curiously.
"Not sure if I like it, honestly," Helena admitted.
Clark seemed honestly surprised at that. "Really?" he asked. "Admittedly I've lived here a while, but..."
"It's a nice town," Helena conceded, "but the video cameras all over the place are a little freaky. Not to mention how... well, how obsessively clean the place is. Compared to Gotham it's spotless. Feels like living in a movie set."
"That's something I hadn't considered," Clark admitted. He took out a business card and handed it to her, "I've got to get to work, but I think you have a instesting insight. Maybe I could do a story on newcomers to Metropolis or something."
"Maybe," Helena took the card even as she wished she hadn't slipped and mentioned she was from Gotham. "This better not be a pick up line," she joked.
Clark just smiled as he headed off, "Sorry, ma'am, I'm married."
"Too bad," Helena muttered, then shook her head. She had work to do, and not that much time to get there.
Working as a superhero in Metropolis was both similar to Gotham and very different. Both cities had superhero communities, both had cops with varying levels of cooperation with heroes, both had a major hero arguably in charge. But, Metropolis, oddly, was much more friendly to superheroes.
Take the mugging she stopped a few days ago. In Gotham there was at least even odds a cop would shoot at you, and the assumption was that unless you were OBVIOUSLY innocent, the cops assumed you were guilty. In Metropolis she was thanked by the beat cops, was asked for a autograph by the lady she rescued and sent on her way.
'Might have something to do with my being in the JLA a bit,' Helena conceded as she ducked into a alleyway and changed to her Huntress uniform. She scaled a fire escape and hit the roof, checking around for her target.
Professor Emil Hamilton LOOKED like a innocent old man, but looks could be decieving. He had attacked society after Lex Luthor stole his advanced technology, but was stopped by Superman. Seemingly reformed he was a ally of Supes for a time, but jealousy twisted him into becoming the villain Ruin and trying to destroy Superman.
'Problem is, he got his freedom with a temporary insanity defense,' Huntress thought as she watched the man walking to his lab in Suicide Slum.
Now, normally they'd just keep an eye on him and wait to se if he violated parole, but there was a added complication. Intergang was sniffing around him too, probably hoping to either steal his technology or use him as a resource. Either way would be bad news. So she was tailing him, quietly, and hopefully could intercept any trouble.
'Oh crap,' Huntress thought as a woman dressed in purple armor came out of the blue sky, heading right for Hamilton, 'I'd say that's trouble.'
"Emil Hamilton, Repulse has come for you!" the woman declared.
"Go away!" Hamilton yelled as he started to run away, surprising the girl.
"I thought you WANTED..." Repulse started.
Huntress loaded a blunted arrow in her wrist mounted crossbow and fired even as she swung down towards them. The woman heard the shot and gestured, then seemed shocked as the wooden arrow smacked her right in the forehead.
"Oww!" she staggered back then Repulse glared at Huntress. "Why you..."
Before things could escalate any more a red and blue streak appeared between them. Surprisingly it was NOT Superman, instead it was a blonde in a mini-skirt. "What is going on here?" Supergirl asked with a frown.
To be continued...
Notes: Going with the earlier version of Clark Kent: BIG guy who just acts wimpy, more or less.
