Chapter 23
Batgirl tugged slightly on the device Gabby had lovingly called her 'doohickey'. Since it had no other name to either of them other than 'Prototype 6' in her head, the masked hero didn't mind it. She felt it dig into her skin a little more as she adjusted it so that any buttons were within easy access. The redhead didn't know how long or how many uses the device had, but she was confident it would last throughout the night for what she wanted to do.
The comms in her ear silent, Batgirl dropped down to the third storey balcony window from the roof of New Gotham's police station, opening the window and pausing when she saw all of the movement inside. She hoped she could find Commissioner Gordon, her uncle, but she was quickly distracted by the mayhem of the building. Police were running through the corridors, some chasing criminals, some chasing eachother, some just running in circles. There seemed to be only a policewoman who seemed to be rounding up her collegues which seemed a useless task. She then looked over to the figure at the window. "Batgirl! The city's under some sort of attack. I am so glad to see you. People are turnin' on eachother, and we need all the help we can get."
"This is why 'm here. I'll need your help too." The policewoman looked skeptical but continued to listen as she nodded. "First, cut all radios, scanners - all connections we've got here."
"Are you crazy?! Sorry, but those scanners've been goin' off every freakin' second! We need to keep them on to dispatch whoever's left to stop the violent outbursts around the city."
"The source of the craziness is coming from Harley Quinn in the city's Clocktower. By doing this, her signal will be cut and hopefully it will reduce the number of people turning on eachother, maybe get some of your men back. I'll help you round up who we can to go take care of her."
The police woman went pale. "H-Harley Quinn? You mean the Joker's-?"
"Not yet, but that'll change if we don't hurry," Batgirl said.
"Alright, I will shut down what I have authority and access to, and then we'll go get the clowns."
Gabby's eyes were in a focused squint as she searched the snowy streets for movement. She looked in the direction of Arkham Asylum, but saw nothing. "I'm near, Huntress, Dinah. I need a sign."
[Last street sign said Fourth and Southeast Raymond. I marked the tree we're hiding behind,] Huntress said.
"Ew," Gabby blurted out.
[You know damn well what I meant,] Huntress snapped.
"The snow handprint?"
[Yes.]
"It's clear. I'm coming to you." Gabby instructed Alfred to lower the Batbike's engine power, thus reducing the noise. When Gabby slowed to a stop and the engine merely rumbled on the sidewalk, Dinah and Huntress slowly walked out from where they hid. "I meant stay put," Gabby grumbled. Though Barbara had mentioned Gabby's Batsuit over the comms, both Dinah and Huntress seemed surprised by the sight of it. "Here," Gabby said to distract her from the stares. She pulled off the two prototypes Alfred had given her off of her belt and given them to Huntress and Dinah respectively. "C'mere," she said to Dinah a she got out the lazer as well. She inspected Dinah's collar before she clicked the side of it, ready to switch the setting to the heated lazer rather than merely the pointer.
"Let me do that," Huntress suggested, taking the lazer from Gabby. "Hold still if you don't want a Harry Potter-like scar on your clavicle, got it?" she said to Dinah. Both blondes nodded, and Gabby took both of Dinah's hands.
"Cut close to the latch," Gabby said as a thought came to her. "Maybe Barbara can work with it later." Huntress nodded. The cut through the necklace took around thirty seconds, which were quicker than expected. Gabby knew that Huntress' eyesight and dexterity were to thank for that.
"Thank you!" Dinah breathed, looking to Huntress.
"Yeah," the feline metahuman replied. She picked up her prototype after handing the lazer, now turned off, back to Gabby. "How does this thing work? How do I put it on?" She stared at the octagonal shaped component.
"Place it to any skin that is most convenient. It has spikes that'll attach to the skin and administer a... something - whatever Barbara used - I'm assuming some super awesome drug that deflects metahuman powers somehow."
"Will it cancel out OUR powers?" Huntress asked.
"I... honestly don't know. I hadn't thought of that. These are - I'm assuming - the next best prototypes other than what Batgirl and I have on our belts. Those I'd confidently say no, but since they were meant for us and we're not metahuman... I can't promise you anything."
"Fair enough, but I trust Red, and... I trust you too." Huntress said as she placed the device to her skin as instructed, wincing when the spikes extracted and dug into the inside of her arm. Dinah hesitated, but then when, after a few seconds nothing changed and Huntress' eyes remained feral, she followed suit. Slowly, Gabby took her own component from her belt and placed it under the sleeve of the Batsuit, right above her left palm. "I trust you 'n' Red," Huntress said again. "What are we doing now?"
Gabby walked to the Batbike and saw new coordinates entered into it by Alfred. "Alfred."
[Yes.]
"Any news of my mother?"
[No news of Mrs. Andrews at this time, however some police have reached your house, and from the radio right before it cut off, no one was at your house. Neither your mother nor anyone who may match the features of Mr. Lao.]
Helena touched her ear peice. "If her mom's car is somewhere on the way to the city's Clocktower, whether she is out there or if the police have the assassin, we'll know for sure if we go check it out ourselves."
Gabby nodded to this and answered her before Alfred could. "Yes, please check survalence near the address of my mom's car- God, I shuld've had that done earlier. Why didn't I think of that earlier?" the teen Oracle said hotly.
[There are people nearby. They are nonviolent towards eachother, but there is a lot of property damage. I believe I see her. There is a woman matching Mrs. Andrews' description. I don't see anyone matching that of Mr. Lao.]
"Keep your eyes peeled. We're on our way, since we're heading there anyway. Are the coordinates in the Batbike where my mom is?"
[Yes, Miss Gabby.]
Gabby turned to Huntress, but before she could speak Huntress said, "I'll be up top. I've got your back, NT."
"NT?" Gabby asked before the feline woman's nickname for her came to mind. "Nervous Tick. Oh, okay. Okay," Gabby said again. She watched as Huntress hurried to the nearest building and scaled its side. Gabby shook her head of the amazement she knew would someday fade, however that day was not the day. "Come on," she said to Dinah, reaching for the other blonde's hand. She helped Dinah onto the Batbike and then climbed in front of he blue streaked blonde, pressing her fingers to the display flashing the coordinates. "Hold on tight."
Batgirl moved in the dark, looking down at her device hoping the night worked out. The property damage was one thing, but Batgirl had already seen a few bodies scattered around the police station as cops and criminals alike had weapons to hurt whoever happened to be in the way. Sometimes, these people were right to defend themselves, but other times... She knew by the end of the night there would be a lot of innocent people in bodybags. She had no choice but to push it to be dwelled upon later, if or when they survived the night. Now, she had to help organize the next few steps until she can get out towards the Clocktower.
[Batgirl,] came Gabby's voice.
"Right here."
[Just an update: The three of us are on our way towards Greenway Park Street for my mom. Huntress will keep Mr. Lao busy while I get my mom - sh-should he be near by. No one's home at my house, but I worry about going back there tonight.]
"You can go back to Wayne Manor and continue to rest there - as Oracle or no," Batgirl replied, deciding then to compromise with her. She leaned down to the body on the ground to check for a pulse. She didn't find one.
[And my mom?] Gabby asked. [Isn't there, like, a safehouse somewhere we can take her for the night?]
"There are several, but it is impossible to tell tonight just how safe they really are. Tell Alfred to send the Batbike back to the house. We will discuss it further later, but we have other things to focus on tonight," the redhead decided.
[Are you sure?] Gabby asked, the uncertainty and fear clear in her voice. There was a pause where Batgirl could hear the rumble of the engine. From the sound of it on the comm, the teen was going at the bike's top speed. Remembering her protoge's initial hesitation to the Batbike, the superhero was impressed.
"Yes, I am sure. We'll deal with the consequences - whatever they may be - later."
[She's gonna kill me if Dinah's aunt doesn't first.]
[Stop it,] Batgirl heard Dinah say sharply.
[Sorry. Anyway, yes, the plan is to go get my mom with Huntress and Dinah, and then to the Clocktower.]
This got Batgirl's attention. "You too?"
[I don't... I don't know. I think so.]
"I honestly wish you wouldn't."
[I know.]
When Gabby didn't speak further, Batgirl sighed. "I don't know what more you can do out there, Oracle. I'd prefer you going to the Manor with your mom, but... I guess I can also understand now that you're already changed into the Batsuit. I was just like that when I was in your position as a teen." Batgirl turned towards the window nearest to her, seeing the Batsignal in the sky. It was the first time in years it had been used since the last major catastrophe hit the city. Batman hadn't helped the city then, but Batgirl hoped to help out now. "I'd forgotten before - or maybe I hadn't, which waas why I got so cross with you before."
[I'll be careful. I'm mostly just the ride here,] Gabby said. Batgirl wasn't sure if that was all she'd end up being before the night was through. [I see you're being hailed. Tell your uncle you're on it.]
"Will do. Seriously, stay safe Gabby."
[You too.] There was a click, signalling the young Oracle's disconnect from the conversation for the moment being.
[Yeah Red,] came a voice a moment later. [I'll be there soon. Stay safe until I get to you.]
"I've been doing this since you have been playing in the sandbox, Huntress," Batgirl joked. She didn't like the low, almost timid way the feral woman spoke.
[Even so...]
"Yeah. I'll see you soon."
[Okay.]
The comm then went silent.
Gabby saw her mother right away as soon as the Batbike came to a stop almost twenty minutes later. The teen Oracle looked around, seeing Huntress and catching her eye quickly before those feral eyes began scanning the ground for Mr. Lao. Gabby also looked around, seeing all of the people and movement. There was screaming, crying, fighting, singing and one man who was tap dancing and swinging from the street lights like an old black and white movie scene. It was complete chaos, with windows being broken, people running around and breaking what they could with anything they could find to use as a weapon of destruction. Luckily nothing seemed deadlier than a baseball bat and crowbar, not to mention some large sticks, but Gabby didn't wish to stick around to see whether any of those objects would swing towards skin instead of glass. Gabby suspected that finding Mr. Lao or any of his men in this fray would be like a Where's Waldo page on speed, and she was glad it was Huntress who had to try and find him in the mayhem.
Gabby looked to Dinah, who was frozen on the Batbike. "This is it. My dream," Dinah said as the two blondes eyes connected.
Gabby didn't say anything to this, but she nodded almost sympathetically. She gestured out towards Dinah, which prompted the other girl to start climbing off of the Batbike. Gabby felt the metahuman behind her as she took a few steps. The teen stopped. "Is it safe to approach my mom, Huntress?" Gabby looked back to where she'd last seen the dark woman, but she was nowhere in sight now.
[Yeah, but I'd be quick. I don't see 'im - or anyone who may be concerned about your mom. Well, other than you. I don't know how long that'll last for.]
"Yeah, let's get her while everyone seems distracted," Dinah said from behind Gabby. The two teens hurried towards the blonde woman in the crowd. As they got closer they could see her mouth moving, and then they both could hear her screaming out to those around her. From the way she was holding out her phone to people as she spoke, she didn't seem to realize that no one was listening to her.
"Her name is Gabby. Has anyone seen my baby?" Linda Andrews called out, tears rolling freely down her cheeks. She had no jacket on, and her nose was red from the cold. Gabby wondered where the car was, hoping there was something there to warm her mother. She couldn't see it at first until a moment later, when they nearly passed it to get to her mother. The windows were smashed but nothing seemed otherwise taken from inside. Gabby looked inside and then found a scarf and her mother's jacket nearby on the ground. Gabby watched as her mother continued to desperately look for her, and her heart went out to her mother. She rushed to her.
"Mo- Miss," she said, reaching the items to her mother. She watched as her mom turned to her, squinting. The tears seemed to stop as her black eyes locked with Gabby's green ones. Creepy, Gabby thought.
Linda Andrews brought a hand to her face to wipe the tears away quickly. "Gabby-"
"Shh - shh..." Gabby shushed, bringing a finger to her lips.
Gabby's mother tilted her head slightly, then looked behind her daughter to Dinah. She needed no other proof as to who the masked figure before her was. Blackened eyes looked back to Gabby. "I understand now," she said after a moment. "I understand what you have been hiding from me."
"Please-" Gabby began, but her mother's eyes widened and she continued on as if her daughter hadn't spoken.
"I understand... SO much!" Gabby's mother placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "I just wanted to keep you safe, Gabrielle. I can't save you from this."
Behind them, one of the screaming men, a tall man with long curly red hair approached them. "Fight me, Batgirl!" he screamed, the only intelligible thing the three blondes could make out in the man's otherwise jumbled speech. He got closer, the stake from a sign raised as if he we a vampire hunter. Gabby turned so that she could look at the man, placing her body in front of her mother. She brought her hand to her tool belt just as Dinah's hand raised and a small light blue force emmitted from her. Gabby's hand paused as she watched the man fall. As the man got up, Dinah hurried to him, her lips in an 'o' of what Gabby knew would be the Canary Cry. Before Gabby could think to warn her mother or even cover her own ears, the Canary Cry ripped through the air. Unlike a few days ago, the Cry did nothing to Gabby, but the effect on the man was immediate. He stayed down, looking from the wooden stake in his hand to Dinah above him.
"What just happened? Why'm I outside?" the man asked. Dinah looked to Gabby who shrugged.
"Who are you?" came a weak voice behind Gabby. She turned to her mother, who gasped. "Gabby."
"Mom," Gabby said. She saw that her mother's eyes were back to blue.
"What the hell-?" Linda asked.
"I can't explain it right now."
"You better try," Linda Andrews said in a warning.
"There isn't any time!" Gabby blurted.
Linda blinked, her eyes beginning to darken once more. As soon as Gabby saw this, she turned to Dinah for help. The metahuman was talking to the man before she tensed, seeing that his eyes darkened again as well. "Gabby..." she called uncertainly.
"Use the Cry again," the teen Oracle said. "It didn't affect me because-a the doohickey, but it seems to cut through the hypnosis." Gabby's pupils bounced upwards for Huntress, not seeing her or hearing her in the comms. "Huntress?"
[Mom?] the feral woman asked.
"Where are you?" Gabby asked.
"[Mom?]
"Shit, I think she went under. I'd hoped the component I'd given you guys would have lasted longer!"
[Gabby,] Alfred said, [you must remain calm and-]
"Yup, I'm there. Dinah, take this," Gabby said, taking a small bat shaped tool from her belt. "Record the Canary Cry into it - Let's just hope your blasts don't wreck the thing. Alfred, I'm going to send you a file of the Canary Cry in about a minute. The cry seems to cancel the hypnosis. Perhaps you could find a way to make it less damaging in order to loop it into the airwaves - or what have you - to stop the hypnosis in the more populated areas in the city. Maybe if it is chopped to like, a second at a time and looped like a - like a dying smoke detector chirp... Maybe that could keep people from going under. If you put it in the comms as well, it could keep Huntress sane, too," Gabby suggested, knowing she was mostly talking out of her ass at this point.
[Excellent,] Alfred said in her ear.
"I'm sendin' my mom to you. I know you'll take good care of her," Gabby said. She looked to her mother for the first time in a couple of minutes as she said this. Her eyes were completely black again.
"I understand," her mother said softly.
"I know you do," Gabby said. "Okay, Dinah. Now."
The Canary Cry cut through the air again, and Gabby took her mothers hand, leading her to the Batbike. A moment later, Dinah handed Gabby the recorder. She took the device, her eyes never leaving her mother's. The oldest of the blondes had a twisted lip, and Gabby knew she was in trouble, but it was worth it knowing her mother would be okay. "I'm sending you somewhere safe, Mom. Get on, hold on tight. We'll talk when I get back."
"Will you?" Linda asked as she slowly, reluctantly did as her daughter told her to.
"What?" Gabby asked confused.
"Get back," her mother clarified. Gabby swallowed. She didn't know what all of the next moves were, let alone if they'd work long enough to keep them alive. Gabby didn't say any of this, nor did she need to. The Batbike came to life, and Gabby's mother grasped the handles. Then the bike began to move, going faster and faster the further it got away from them.
Gabby jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks, NT. I was... a little lost for a second." It was then that Gabby could hear the faint, almost pulse of the Canary Cry chirp in her ear, almost exactly like a dying smoke detector battery.
"That was our ride," Dinah said.
"It's alright. I think I've got a bit of a plan for now. Since we now know that your Canary Cry can cut through the hypnosis, I'm thinking of another metahuman who can do what you can. If yours works, Tugboat's can as well, and we could need his help. That is, if he would still be there. If he is, we can see if he would help us. If nothing else I think we could get more back up where we are going. The cops are awesome, but we don't know how many are in your aunt's pocket or even still sane right now."
[I've placed the signal in all areas that have been allowed to me. Honestly, Batgirl could do more, but it is enough to allow you safety in the immediate three mile radius.]
"I have yet to see this Lao guy," Huntress said, "and that REALLY bothers me."
"Could it have been a lie? Something to get Dinah to either pass or fail Harley Quinn's test for her?" Gabby asked.
"I don't know. Like you said, it could've been part of her testing me and my loyalties. If you're mom's okay and I'm gone, I don't know what the fall out is for me now.
"Huntress, please escort us to the nearest Underground tunnel, then get to Batgirl at the Clocktower. Dinah and I will go get back up."
"If it's of the metahuman variety like this Tugboat, then I know a guy, and I think that he is accessable by way of the Underground."
"Do you?" Gabby asked. She had gotten the impression that Dinah hadn't known much about the city and its history from their time together at McDonald's, though at the time neither knew who the other really was outside of school.
"If it is on the way to the Clocktower, we can use all the help we can get," Gabby said. "By the time we get to No Man's Land on foot through the tunnels, I figure the Batbike would have gotten my mom to safety."
"No Man's Land? Collectables?"
"You know it?" Gabby asked as a chirp sounded in her ear.
"My guy, he owns the place," Dinah said incredulously.
"You know Gibson?" Gabby shook her head. "Well then... Makes just for one stop, I guess. C'mon, let's get going."