Disclaimer

I don't own anything. DC Comics, and anything that it publishes, is not in anyway owned by me. It is all owned by rich, talented people. I'm a nobody. Please don't sue me.

Fortune's Expensive Smile

After nearly an hour of patiently searching the mansion, Cassandra was nearly ready to give up. While the information she needed might have been written down somewhere, her literacy lessons weren't nearly far enough along to let her read the cramped handwriting on the only documents she had found. It being the modern world, it was entirely possible that the only information on Anthony Burgess' whereabouts would be on Joseph Mandragora's cellphone.

Cass wasn't ready to admit defeat quite yet, however. Her search of the building wasn't complete, her efforts complicated by its size, the number of gangsters wandering around, the security system, and most of all by the ash that still clung to her, threatening to leave a trail if she moved too quickly. It all added up to a frustrating effort, but one that she hoped would eventually pay off.

She had finally reached the ground floor, where she caught her first glimpse of Joseph Mandragora. He was very old and appeared quite frail as he sat next to a fireplace with a blanket covering his lap and an oxygen tank by his side. Despite his age, she could see every bit of the ruthless malice that allowed him to rise to the top of the underworld in every subtle motion of his body.

She waited in the shadows just outside of the door until he was sufficiently distracted looking through some reports before standing and walking without a sound into the room. She had just reached his desk and had begun looking through it for anything of use when she heard a loud commotion from just outside the room. Without hesitation she slid under the desk, placing her back to the wall and disappearing into the dark space.

A moment later Cassandra's heart lodged in her throat as she watched Stephanie being dragged inside, her hands cuffed behind her back. The only positive sign was that her mask was still firmly in place. It did little to reassure her as she watched the two large criminals manhandle her friend before pushing her to her knees near Mandragora.

"What is this?" Mandragora rasped.

"We found this one lurking around outside," one of the thugs growled. "We got the drop on her and brought her here."

Mandragora studied Stephanie for a moment, his eyes hard and calculating. Cassandra slowly drew a spoilerang as she saw the man's body contemplate a thousand horrible things that he could do to her friend. "Why did you come here?"

"Me?" Stephanie asked innocently. "I was just on my way to a costume party when I saw how cool your mansion was. I was just looking when these goons jumped me."

Mandragora snorted. "You are the vigilante called Spoiler, and if you lie to me again I'll cut off your hand. After the first limb most people wise up."

Stephanie swallowed nervously. "I wasn't planning on coming inside, honest!"

Mandragora studied her, before nodding slightly. "That I will believe. You were the lookout. The other one, Silent... she planned to break in."

Stephanie remained quiet, running various responses through her head, but by the time she thought of a good answer Mandragora had already moved on. Cassandra also noticed the way her friend subtly took advantage of her hands being hidden to work on the handcuff lock with the pick she kept hidden in her gloves.

"No," Mandragora said thoughtfully. "She didn't just plan to break in... she already broke in. She's here, isn't she."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Stephanie said. "I was just watching the place, alone."

"Eric," Mandragora said to one of the bodyguards. "Would you be so kind as to chop off one of her hands? I believe you have your bone saw with you, yes?"

"Of course, Mr. Mandragora," one of the large thugs, Eric, said, pulling a wicked looking surgical steel saw from the inside of his coat.

The second Stephanie saw it, she freaked out and began to struggle. "What the hell!" she yelped as she used the distraction of her efforts to finish unlocking the handcuffs. When Eric reached down to grab her arm she lashed out, catching him in the throat with a rabbit punch. He choked for a second, but before Stephanie could do anything else the other thug kicked her hard, sending her rolling along the ground to slam into the desk Cassandra was hiding under.

Stephanie's impact caused several items to fall off of the desk and onto the floor, including a small black book which fell open in front of Cass. She didn't need to be fully literate to recognize the format of an address book, with names, phone numbers, and addresses written in cramped black pen. Her hand shot out and grabbed it, slipping it into her utility belt without anyone noticing.

The two thugs recovered quickly, rushing at Stephanie who kipped smoothly to her feet, meeting their charge with a roundhouse kick to the lead criminal that knocked him back into his compatriot. Unfortunately the two men were quite skilled for normal criminals, recovering well and attacking her both at once. They used their bulk to crowd her, forcing her back against the desk where she couldn't maneuver.

Just as Cassandra prepared to intervene there was a loud thump as Stephanie grabbed a heavy paperweight and blindsided one of the men with it, knocking him unconscious. Her gambit left her side open, however, and Stephanie's air was knocked from her lungs as the criminal took advantage, slamming a hard punch into her gut. Before he could follow up she punched skillfully, connecting perfectly with his his jaw, dazing him. He didn't last much longer, and in moments Stephanie was the only one still standing, although she was panting heavily.

"Impressive," Mandragora said. "I have seen better, but you are certain a cut above average."

"Good enough," Stephanie said, glaring at him. "Now, you're gonna tell me where I can find the guy who set me and Silent up for that murder."

"And why would I do a thing like that?" Mandragora asked, amused.

"'Cause I'm in here, alone, with you?" Stephanie offered.

"Except for my guards, of course," Mandragora said.

"What guards?" Stephanie asked.

A hidden door suddenly slid open along one wall, revealing four men pointing submachine guns at Steph. She gulped slightly and slowly raised her hands. "Oh. Those guards."

"Now, I believe you owe me an answer," Mandragora said. "If you don't tell me what I want to know, my men will put so many bullets into you, well, it won't matter if we remove your mask or not. You certainly won't be identifiable."

Cassandra ran through her options for a moment before slowly pulling a flash bang from her utility belt. She could tell that the men with the automatic weapons were stone cold killers, and that they were ready to fire at the slightest provocation. If she wasn't careful then Stephanie was going to die.

"Look," Stephanie said. "Why don't I just leave? No harm, no foul."

"And why would I allow that?" Mandragora asked.

"'Cause if you kill me then you're going to have to deal with the Batman," Stephanie said. "Trust me, you really don't want that."

He studied her for a moment. "Unlikely," he finally said. "I have connections in Gotham – extensive ones. When you first began to make waves here I learned all that I could about you, and one thing that is certain is that he considered you little more than a nuisance. He might be angry about your death... but not surprised. And certainly not concerned enough to leave his precious Gotham to avenge some hanger-on."

Cassandra had waited until everyone was distracted by his speech to prime the flash bang and roll it out into the room. Just as he finished his monologue the device exploded, blinding and deafening everyone but her. She took full advantage of her the opening, springing to her feet and charging.

Before the gunmen could react she was among them, punching and kicking, disarming them quickly and knocking them out of the fight. In seconds she finished the last and turned to take in what was happening in the main room. Things there were not going nearly as well, unfortunately.

When the flash bang had gone off, a second secret door had opened, drawing in four more heavily armed guards. Stephanie's mask had lenses that reduced the impact of the flare, enough for her to be able to put up a struggle, but in the end four armed and prepared guards was too much for the half blind and disoriented vigilante. Cassandra turned around just in time to see two of the guards each get a grip on one of her arms while the other two recovered from the scuffle and prepared their guns.

Cassandra grabbed one of the submachine guns from the floor and stepped back into the room, pointing the weapon at the guards, who froze when they saw her. She gestured slightly towards the ground with the gun's barrel, a universal signal to drop their weapons.

"Do you really think that will work?" Mandragora asked contemptuously. "I know how Batman works. No guns, and especially no killing. Your threat is meaningless."

Cassandra considered that for a moment, before turning the gun on him, sighting it professionally between his eyes. She brought up everything that she had ever learned as a child from her father, and consciously settled her body language into a posture that radiated lethal menace. Mandragora might not have been fluent in body language, but he stiffened as he recognized the deadly threat in the way she stood.

"You were the one that pointed out the whole 'no Batman' thing," Stephanie said. "He didn't want us in his town anymore. Do you really think you can trust us to be like him?"

Mandragora eyed Cassandra for a long moment, the tension in the room so heavy that it was difficult to breathe. Finally, he gave a slow nod. "Leave. Take her and go. If I see you again, you are both dead."

Stephanie jerked her arms free of the two thugs, stepping away from them and brushing her arms as though cleaning them of dust. "Thanks for the hospitality," she said brightly. "Although I doubt death threats'll replace 'come again' anytime soon."

Cassandra walked carefully across the room, not letting up the menace in her posture for even a second as she kept the gun sighted between Mandragora's eyes. She slowly backed out the door with Stephanie beside her before taking off running once they were out of sight of the guards. Alarms immediately began to scream as the two vigilantes flew through the halls.

Cassandra dismantled the gun while she ran, tossing it aside in pieces before taking the lead through the mansion, grateful that she had spent long enough searching it to know her way around. She soon reached a small storage room by the kitchen, where she paused and began to search through her utility belt.

"Um, Cass?" Stephanie said. "This is a dead end. Shouldn't we be, I don't know, running for our lives."

"Shouldn't you be... waiting outside?" Cassandra asked pointedly as she pulled out her block of plastic explosive and began to apply part of it to the wall.

"Oops?" Stephanie offered sheepishly. "I waited for over an hour, but then I started to get worried. I mean, what if you got caught?"

"Told you... stay outside," Cassandra lectured. "You get caught. I fine."

"Fine, next time I'll stay outside," Stephanie acquiesced.

"Next time be unconscious," Cassandra muttered as she finished setting the explosive. The two crime fighters ran out of the room and waited for a few seconds until the timer went off and the bomb exploded. They glanced inside, and could see the large hole blown in the side of the building.

"That's one way out," Stephanie said admiringly.

"No," Cass said. "Diversion."

"Why?" Stephanie asked as she followed her friend down the hallway and up a narrow staircase near the kitchen. "And why are we going up?"

Cassandra didn't answer for a moment, cocking her head to listen at the second floor before leading her way up to the third. "Big lawn. Snipers. Need distraction."

"Oh," Stephanie said, gulping slightly. "But why up?"

"Not expect," Cass answered calmly. "Bad way to go."

"So we're doing this 'cause it's too stupid to be predicted?" Stephanie asked doubtfully.

Cassandra stopped listening at the door to the third floor and turned to glare at her friend. At Stephanie's unrepentant look she turned back around and cracked the door open. Once she was certain that the hall was empty she spoke. "Better than being caught."

Stephanie huffed but followed her friend as she moved silently down the hallway. Once Cass reached the far end of the building she cracked a door open, peering inside for a moment before dashing in and subduing a man with an enormous rifle looking out the window. He went down without making a sound.

"Okay, snipers," Stephanie agreed. "But if he's still looking, what was the point of the diversion?"

"Less looking," Cassandra said. "Stay. When we go... go fast."

Cassandra then slipped out of the room and moved quickly but quietly down the hall, visiting the other sniper nests that overlooked the part of the lawn they would leave through that she had noticed during her search of the building. She soon had all three snipers still at their posts bound and unconscious, and ran back to the room she had left her companion in. She breathed a tiny sigh of relief to find Stephanie still waiting for her.

"Go," Cassandra said quietly as she threw the window open. She pulled her grapple out and fired it as she jumped out the window, hooking it into another tree on the lawn and reeling it in as she swung, her feet just skimming the grass as she flew over the grounds. Freeing her line, she hung in the air for a moment before tumbling smoothly over the ground and to her feet, her eyes searching the building for any attackers that she had missed.

Stephanie gamely followed her friend, although less smoothly and far slower. She landed close to the tree that they had both used as an anchor for their grapples, touching down hard and stumbling before running up to Cassandra. When she caught up to her friend, both women began sprinting for the edge of the property.

They were almost there when Cassandra shouted "Dodge!" and began weaving her path back and forth instead of running in a straight line. Stephanie followed her example, gulping as a large patch of turf flew into the air near their path as the report of a fifty caliber sniper rifle split the night. As they neared the fence Cassandra threw all four of her smoke grenades, covering a large section with thick black smoke as they hopped and climbed up and over.

The two vigilantes didn't stop running until they hit the road, where they saw a bus pulling away from a nearby stop. They fired grapples at streetlight and swung up and onto the bus, landing lightly. Cassandra then crouched low and looked back, eyes scanning for any sign of pursuit while Stephanie collapsed, gasping and panting from exertion.

Once she was certain that they weren't being pursued, Cassandra turned around and examined her friend. She was staring off into space, her body huddled tightly as she wrestled with what had just happened. Cass had initially been angry at what her friend had done, but seeing her upset made Cass want to forgive just to take her painful thoughts away.

"I'm sorry," Stephanie said. "I know I shouldn't have crossed the fence, but you were taking so long... I was worried. I mean, what if you got caught? Mandragora was right. Batman wouldn't care."

"Oracle care," Cassandra said firmly. "I care. You... matter."

Stephanie laughed wetly, wiping her eyes through her mask. "I'm sorry, though. I screwed up, and now Carly's gonna pay for it."

Cassandra reached into her pouch, pulling out the small black book which she handed to her friend. Stephanie frowned as she flipped through it. "Is this... Mandragora's address book?"

"Think so," Cassandra said. "From his desk."

"Where did you come from, anyway? You just kinda showed up and saved me."

"Hiding under desk."

Stephanie stared at her deadpan. "You were... under his desk."

"Was searching desk... until someone brought in," Cass said pointedly.

Stephanie smiled sheepishly before looking through the address book again. "Hey, score one for senility. Looks like he wrote everything down – this book has every criminal working with Mandragora listed in it."

"Addresses?" Cass asked.

"Some... here!" she said excitedly. "There's a bunch of safe house addresses listed. How much you wanna bet she's stashed at one of them?"

"How many?" Cassandra asked.

Stephanie flipped through the book for a moment, before visibly deflating. "Twenty-seven."

"Take... too long," Cassandra said. "Might call soon... tell we cause trouble."

"I know," Stephanie said, her voice tense. "Maybe we can narrow it down somehow."

She looked at the book again for a minute before speaking slowly. "Well, if they're stashing a kid, it probably won't be somewhere with too many people. Kids are loud."

"Don't want attention," Cass agreed.

"So I can ignore the ones in apartment buildings and stuff. He's there, since no one can find him, plus the kid, and I bet he has a couple of guards too, so it can't be something small. A couple of these look smallish, so let's cut them for now.

"Then..." Stephanie's voice trailed off. "He's kidnapped someone important. Even if this is his only job, he can't risk talking about it on the phone. Mafia groups are always being watched by the FBI and stuff, so they're paranoid. I bet he meets with a few people in person every day. And if he's laying low, they have to come to him."

She began to talk more and more excitedly as she thought the problem through, and Cassandra began to feel the first fires of hope as well. "So, it has to be somewhere big enough for several criminals and a kid to live for a while, with no one too close so they won't notice if the kid starts screaming or something, and somewhere where people come and go enough for it not to be noticed."

Stephanie looked through the address book for another minute, before sitting up straight. "I've got it! I know where she is!"