For the next two months, the hunt for Oracle became the Bat Family's highest priority. The July disappearance forced everyone, even Stephanie, out constantly, hunting for any sign of their vanished informant.

"I owe you so much for always helping me like this," Stephanie told Sadie as she handed the sleeping Oscar over to her for the night. "If it wasn't for Babs being gone, I wouldn't even ask."

"I know how it is," Sadie said, cradling her small to-be nephew. "Cassie doesn't come home until afternoon sometimes… I don't know Barbara as well as I know you and Tim, but I know she's important, to all of you."

"It still just means a lot," Stephanie said as she followed Sadie into her bedroom. Oscar was laid down in a pillow and blanket covered playpen at the foot of the bed that served as his crib when he stayed with Sadie and Cassandra. "It's funny, you know? I used to be the normal one in this family."

"The normal one?" Sadie said, chuckling.

"Yeah. I mean, I was on the track team back in middle and high school and knew enough about sewing to Frankenstein my old costume together, but that's about it. When you have to compare that to circus performer Dick, computer hacker Barbara and bred to kick butt Cassandra, I've always been pretty boring."

"Hey, I'm not even going out in costume. I don't think it's fair to count me in that anyway," Sadie said.

"As planet Earth's foremost authority on what it is to not be considered part of the Batman Family, you most definitely are. You fulfill a role I can't ask anyone else for. You're marrying my best friend, who is also my sister-in-law, and I can count on you to be centered even when I can't be. You're as much a part of this team as anyone."

Sadie just laughed and shook her head. "Think I'm finally seeing what it is that made Cassie crush on you."

At this Stephanie had to double-take, her cheeks going beet red. "Wait, what? She… she told you about that?"

"Of course she told me. I never said it because I'm not worried." Sadie slapped Stephanie across the back and laughed a little more. "You're not a threat to me, Steph. If Cassandra was able to understand people at all by looking at them, she'd be able to tell 'straight' is written over every inch of your face."

"Oh… is that it?"

"And we're friends," Sadie said. "Enough about that. You have a job to do."

…

"I don't even know what she does. In a state like hers, she should have been out of the action years ago."

"Then she would be home. Doing nothing. There is nothing more she hates."

"It's not about likes and dislikes. We're at war in this city, and injured soldiers just lead to more casualties."

Since the death of Bruce, Damian's nights were usually spend beside either Dick or Cassandra. Attempts with Tim and Stephanie had been shaky at best, accompanied by the conclusion only a warrior or communicator strong enough to earn his respect could temper his inner-turmoil.

For her part, Cassandra could usually contend with Damian pretty well. She didn't always feel a need to respond or rebuke his many, often outrageous claims across the night. He respected her shouts of, "Stop!" when necessary. And, perhaps most importantly, she wanted to see him redeemed, as she had been. "Barbara knew the risks, Damian. She gave to us, it is right we do the same."

"Really would have liked to know what you were like before you started speaking in religious proverbs."

Indeed, Cassandra had been on her knees, praying for protection and for Barbara's safe return, as she always did before the night really began. She ignored this statement as she completed a Hail Mary, rose and made a sign of the cross. "Barbara lost her legs before I met her. Then she lost the costume, her ability to fight, she told me she even lost her faith in God. She has never gotten any of those back. But she still does everything she is able. She fights in ways I do not understand, and makes our work possible. Barbara gives us her everything. Faith or no faith, she does God's work."

"I just think we were asking for something like this to happen when we—ow!" Cassandra remained one of the few who could successfully plant a slap on the back of Damian's head. He glared at her, but offered no further objections. Cassandra did not like that this was how many of their conversations ended, but she would not argue with results.

…

As the sun was rising Red Robin made his usual point to track down wherever Nightwing had ended his ventures for the evening. Thankfully, he wasn't more than a few blocks away, a still blip on the tiny radar mounted to his wrist. He was standing with his arms crossed, glaring down at the police as they pulled a few barely conscious criminals out of the Gotham Merchant's Bank.

"Couldn't get a good grip on who they were working for," Dick said. "And no one knew anything about Barbara, unless their boss sprung for the kind of criminals that piss themselves before answering any questions honestly."

"We're going to find her," Tim said. "We have to. Stephanie was gone for over a year before we saw anything more of her. No one's ever really gone from Gotham."

"Bruce was a bad reminder though," Dick said. "That under it all, we really are just human. That anything could have happened to her."

"We're not going to stop until we find her, no matter what," Tim said, laying a hand on his brother's shoulder. "This isn't your fault, Dick, and we're going to fix it, all of us, together."

"I got a call from the ex-commissioner last night. Jim wants to know where his daughter is, and I just have to keep telling him I don't know… He's dropped all pretense since he retired. He shouted at me to put on my damn tights and keep looking."

"He knows?"

"He's known about me for years, we were both just fooling ourselves thinking otherwise. Said I had duties I had to fulfill if I ever really wanted to make a life with his daughter."

"I told you it isn't your fault," Tim said. "If Barbara was just a random casualty, we'd know about it by now. There would have been a report in, we'd have found her. Wherever she is, she's alive. She has to be."

"… I'm going my best to keep telling myself that," Dick said. "She has to be. She has to be. She has to be."

…

The two had met only half a mile from the clock tower, Barbara trapped in her own secret bunker. Over the ensuing weeks she had been kept from her wheelchair, fed just enough nutrition to sustain herself and used as a glorified keycard for access in and out of the hidden basement. Prometheus's personal appearances were few and far between. Though he had warned James and Kuttler against tormenting her, lest they drive her to insanity and she become useless against a particularly stubborn firewall, the two would still throw her an occasional kick and mouth of spit.

It still wasn't clear what their grand plan was, Barbara was only able to catch snippets of it. From her old hard drives they had hacked their way into the defunct computer in the Batcave, gaining access to everything from the material list for Bat suits to the identities of the internal Bat Family. Prometheus, in his rare appearances, would announce that he had found new investors and allies for their cause. But investors for what? Still more talk came of body guards, home addresses and shipping wait-times, but what was the purpose of it all? Something about a load of fear toxin from Johnathan Crane came up, one could only expect the worst from that.

Through all of this, no matter what opposition they gave her, Barbara refused to cooperate. Their operation had lost three days trying to crack a password she had refused to give them, no matter how Prometheus had briefly let up on his words against torture. By now Barbara was looking painfully thinner, bruises and dried blood running over her face. She was weak and tired, but her will would not be broken.

"The Joker broke my spine, ripped my clothes off and used me as an object to torture Dad," Barbara spat at James amongst one of his demands. "You don't scare me James. You're just a punk kid, just like you were back when I'd dip your hands in warm water while you were asleep."

At last, however, the night came. Prometheus practically thrust himself through the elevator. "Preparations are finally complete. As soon as the operation is underway you two can have the girl, our need for her will be finished."

"Are you finally going to do your villainous monologue and tell me what this was all for?" Barbara asked ruefully. She wasn't sure if Prometheus's ego would be one that indulged her, she wasn't even sure she could make a difference if she did know. But she had to try.

"Well, the rest of the city will know in a few short hours anyway, perhaps it is the least that I owe you," Prometheus mocked. "Tell me then, Ms. Gordon, are you familiar with my namesake?"

"Prometheus was a Greek… I don't know, man? God? Character. A Greek character, known for stealing fire from the gods and giving it away to mankind."

"That's right," Prometheus said, impressed. "Have you ever wondered, 'Why Prometheus,' Barbara? Why the man whose parents were gunned down by police officers borrowed his title from a fire-stealing Titan? It's because I don't believe in the authority of gods, or men acting like gods, for that matter." At this point he knelt down, Barbara almost sure she could see his eyes meet her through his helmet. "I have stolen from the god of Gotham, and I'm going to distribute his fire amongst its children. As we speak, two hundred military grade Bat suits are being distributed by private drones all over this city. Each one powerful enough to sustain massive bullet fire, each one equipped with all the guns and flamethrowers Batman himself would never accept, and each one laced with Johnathan Crane's personal brew.

Barbara's eyes went wide and her mouth went dry. "Oh my God…"

"Two hundred individuals all over this city are about to lose their minds, pull on your old mentor's cape and cowl, and try and slaughter all the vile monstrosities that just appeared before their eyes." Prometheus stood, letting out a small but extremely satisfied laugh. "I have given fire to the common man. Now it's just a question of how long it will take him to use it and burn down everything in sight."