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Author's Note: Here's Ch. 15, sorry for the delay once again. Its been raining a lot lately and I've spent every non-rain day outside doing yard work instead of being inside writing. My yard was starting to look like a jungle. This chapter appears to be another filler but the story is progressing nicely. Things are starting to wind down though. I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for the characters.

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Chapter Fifteen:

The room was so dark I could barely see anything but I guess that was the point. The lesson was meant for me to stalk around in the dark, getting a feel for my surroundings. The only solace I had was my tonfas but in the dark---not being able to see what was coming---they weren’t really much use. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, walking like a cat---one foot in front of the other---just like Onyx had showed me. My breathing was the only audible sound I could hear because one can’t really hear the pounding of their own heart. Nevertheless it was thumping in my chest like a drum, keeping in rhythm with my breathing. I’m not afraid to admit that I might have been a tad bit scared of this exercise. The two of us had been building up to it actually. A week ago, Onyx mentioned that I was progressing to the next level and as such, she was going to start teaching me other things.

Today it was about fear. More importantly, it was about using fear as a weapon. The scenario was simple. She set up the training room with a bunch of practice dummies and turned off the lights, making it pitch black. It was my job to weave my way through the dummies without making a sound and doing it solely on instinct. Before the lights had gone off, she gave me about a minute to memorize the room, making sure I could get a good idea where every single dummy was. As soon as my minute was up she shut the lights off and the room plunged into darkness. Simple enough task. But that was only part of it. The other part was avoiding her. Somewhere in this darkness, lurking, was Onyx. Her objection was to strike without warning, trying to catch me off guard. The real goal of this exercise was to teach me that I could use my environment to scare my opponent. She claimed it was the key to using fear as a weapon.
So far, the only one scared was me.

I knew I shouldn’t have been but I couldn’t help it. Onyx has been training me for weeks now, honing my skills like fine dagger points. If it wasn’t martial arts it was weapons training. If it wasn’t that then it was exercising. It was all in an attempt to make me better than I was. It was working too. She said I was a Grade A pupil, one of the best she’d ever had. Not that she ever mentioned other students of hers. She said I impressed her so much that she wanted to pass on more of her wisdom to me. That’s how I ended up in this position in the first place. She didn’t even give me a chance to say yes or no. She pushed me right into it. She said it was like a Mother bird pushing her baby out of the nest for the first time. None of this would have come about if I hadn’t told her about my meeting with Oracle.

Last night was when Red Robin and I went to the warehouse. I was anxious all through school today, a ball of excitement. I’d been texting with this person for almost a month now. I think it was about time the two of us should meet. I didn’t tell anyone though. When I say anyone, I mean Jen of course. I did tell her about the laptop though and what Lena or rather what Rena had found out. It wasn’t really much. I looked at the disc when I got home last night actually. Most of it was numbers I didn’t understand but one name kept coming up over and over again: Frittawa. I tried looking the name up on the Internet but I didn’t get any hits. I even tried the phone book with no such luck. Whoever this Frittawa person was they were more of a ghost than Oracle. Well maybe not that bad but it was pretty close. It made me wonder who exactly I was dealing with here.

After school today, I went right to Onyx as usual. I told her all about last night, including the text message.

“We need to step things up a notch then kid,” she had said.

This was far above the notch I was expecting.

I took another breath, walking blindly. I walked right into a dummy and cursed. As soon as I did so, I realized my mistake. I was supposed to be quiet. I reacted a second too late when the attack came. Onyx snapped out at me, her fist driving into the side of my head. I stumbled into another dummy, getting tangled up in his limbs. We both went crashing to the ground, it falling on top of me. A blue light shined on my face, framing Onyx as she stood over me.

She shook her head. “You got distracted.”

I frowned. “I was thinking about yesterday.”

She shook her head again, pulling the dummy off me. She didn’t help me up but I didn’t need it. I flipped up to my feet as she set the dummy back up. Her light clicked off, shrouding the room in darkness again.

“You need to concentrate,” said her voice, echoing in the darkness. “Clear your mind and think of only the now.”

I groaned. Whatever you say, Yoda.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I needed to concentrate and listen. I counted off in my head, down from ten. Then I started walking with my eyes closed, using my other senses. The room was deathly still, not a single sound but my own breathing. But I knew that was impossible of course. This wasn’t the first exercise we’d done with the lights off. I knew from her teaching that there is no place without some sound. That’s why I closed my eyes and concentrated. I reached out with my ears. In the corner there was a beetle scampering across the ground, barely audible. The wind was blowing too. I blocked those two things out and found the third sound in the room. It was faint but it was there. It was another set of breathing. I smiled and went for it. When I opened my eyes, I was partially adjusted to the darkness now.

I could almost see the faint outlines of the dummies. This time I was able to weave through them. I followed the faint sound. I was coming up on a dummy, just like all the others but there was something different about it. It seemed larger than the others, had more shape. I smiled. It was her. She was hiding amongst them. That’s why she was able to get the drop on me so quickly. I moved toward it, preparing my tonfa to strike. When I was almost upon it, I felt the wind shift behind me. I caught a slight movement out of the corner of my eye. I snapped around at the last second, blocking the blow that was coming for me. The dummy in front was clearly a decoy. I blocked Onyx’s blow. She rolled around, disappearing into the dummies again. I felt the air move with her. She came again, trying to get behind me again. I lashed out this time, hitting flesh. I think it was her ribs. She made no sound. She moved again, trying to sweep my legs out from under me. I jumped over the kick, swinging my tonfa again. I caught more flesh, this time something hard, like her skull. I heard her gasp and stumble back. For a minute there, I thought I hurt her until I heard her laugh.

The blue light back, hitting me in the face. “Sloppy but much better.”

I frowned. “How is scaring me to death helping me learn to use fear as a weapon.”

She smiled. “You know fear now and can use that fear as a weapon.”

“Bumbling around in the dark is good and all but I can’t use my senses all the time to guide me.”

She nodded. She walked across the room, the little blue light dancing as she did so. I realized what she doing and closed my eyes, preparing myself. I opened them slowly as the light exploded around me. It took me a few second to adjust to it, blinking several times. I got my first look at the dummies again. In front of me was the one she used to trick me. I realized my mistake right away. All the other dummies were female except this one. It was almost the only other one that was clothed. How had I not noticed that before? I frowned and wove my way carefully through the rows, not bumping a single dummy as I did so. I made my way over to where Onyx was standing.

When I got to her, she pulled open the door and I followed her into the next room. This room was one of many that led off the training room. This particular one contained a lot of the weapons we used to train with. Most of them were used for training but there were several real and deadly ones hanging on the walls. Lots of different kinds of swords and staves and things like that. Toward the back of the room was a metal case, it looked out of place with the rest of the Japanese inspired hardware. She walked over to it and opened it up, reaching inside. She pulled out a pair of goggles with green lenses. They looked like something I might wear in a pool.

She turned and tossed them at me. I caught them in one hand.

“You’re giving me your old pool goggles?”

She laughed. “Those aren’t for swimming, kid. They’re a pair of goggles given to me when I worked for the League.”

I almost dropped them, fearing they might sting me or something. Holding them made me really nervous. The League was bad, really bad. When she told me about her past, I thought she was fucking with me until she showed me the scars. They were the scars given to her when she told her Boss she was leaving. They tried to kill her. Apparently, no one left the League. I didn’t know the whole story but she managed to fight off her attackers and lived to tell the tale. I’m not sure how they let her get away but seeing as she was here they must have. She didn’t like to talk about it much other than to say that the League of Assassins was very real and very dangerous. Sounds like a joke, right, but I’ve seen what she can do and it’s no joke. If she said she was a killer before then I believed her.

“So what are they, then?”

She smiled. “Night vision.”

I frowned. “Aren’t those supposed to be all big and bulky?”

She nodded. “Not these ones. They’re not exactly on the market, not even the military has anything this high-tech.”

“Then where did you get them?”

She shrugged. “I have my sources.”

“And you’re giving them to me?”

“You need them more than I do kid.”

An awkward silence fell over the room then. During which I returned my tonfas to their rightful place and pocketed the goggles. After that, the two of us returned to the main room. I helped her put away her dummies. When we were done, it was time for me to go. I looked at my watch as I headed into the room to change. I cursed. I was just going to have enough time to make it to meet with Oracle. My heart skipped a beat as I changed as quickly as I could.

______________________________________

It was snowing when I left Onyx’s. It was a light snow, barely staying on the ground for more than two seconds but it was snow nonetheless. I groaned regardless. But as long as it wasn’t as bad as last winter, I’d take a little snow. I just pulled the collar of my coat up a little more and kept my head down as I made my way to my car. There wasn’t enough snow to give it a brush down so I just put on the wipers, turned on the lights and pulled out my cell. I checked the text to make sure I knew where I was going. It seemed weird to be meeting in such a public place but I guess there was really no need for secrecy. After all, he already knew who I was.

I pulled up in front of our meeting place. To call it top secret would be the biggest joke in the world. There was nothing top secret at all about a standard coffee shop. Yeah, I said coffee shop. I staked the place out before going to Onyx---I wanted to know where he was sending me---I was pretty shocked when I saw it. It’s not exactly the most secretive of places for a clandestine meeting with a top secret computer hacker. But I suppose he was a bit paranoid. I guess it’s better to meet in the open like this than in some place where I might “kill” him. Not that I ever would but who knows with this guy. I mean his standard mode of contact was through text messages.

I found a spot to park in front of the shop. I took a deep breath as I exited, making sure I knew what I was getting myself into. After all I was about to meet the man who’d been cyber stalking me pretty much. What do you call texts from a stranger? Text Stalking?

Anyway, I wasn’t sure if I was ready for this but seeing as I was already here, I didn’t have much of a choice. So I got out of my car---making sure the doors were locked---and approached the building. It had large glass windows in the front so I could see everyone inside. It looked like a little Parisian outdoor café except it was inside instead of out. Through the glass, I could see the back wall was a huge painted mural of Paris, complete with Eiffel Tower. I suppose it made sense, considering the place was called Le Coffee Shop. I rolled my eyes at the little sign above the door as I opened it.

There weren’t a lot of people inside. I scanned the faces, trying to see if any one of them met my eyes. I’m not sure what I was expecting or rather who. I looked from one person to the next but none of them seemed like the type. I even looked at the man behind the counter---the barista I guess he was called. He was wearing a black and white striped shirt with a black beret, I guess to match the whole Paris theme. He looked like a Mime. I shuddered at the thought. I looked from him and found my eyes drifting to the far corner. There was a person sitting there, a paper obscuring their face. I took a deep breath, knowing this had to be my guy. I wove through the tables, heading toward the corner. As I got closer, two things stood out to me immediately: one it was feminine hands holding the paper and two the person wasn’t sitting in a chair.

There was only one chair at the table, meant for me. The other person didn’t need a chair because they were in a wheel chair. What are the odds? I took another deep breath and slipped into the chair. As soon as I did so, the paper lowered and I let out a gasp.

“Hey Steph” said Babs with a big smiled on her face. “Did you find the place all right?”

I was speechless. I guess shock is the proper word. I blinked a few times and looked around. This had to be some kind of joke. She smiled at my confusion, which confused me even more. I looked down at the table in front of her. Besides the cup of coffee there was a cell sitting there. It couldn’t be.

“You” I said, finally finding my voice. “You’re Oracle?”

She smiled. “I know what you’re thinking and you’re right, I don’t seem the type but I assure you I am the person you came here looking for.”

“I don’t understand” I said, still a bit shocked.

She smiled and nodded. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you the truth right away but I wanted to make sure you were serious about all this. Your counterpart is a little bit of an ass, too brash and gung ho. I needed to know if you were in it for the glory or for making a difference. You’ll be happy to know I’ve decided that you’re not a glory hound.”

I nodded. “I’m still not sure what’s going on here?”

She picked up her coffee and took a sip. “You want one?” I shook my head so she continued talking. “It all started all those years ago when that son of a bitch shot me. While I was lying in that hospital, in that bed, feeling sorry for myself I came to an epiphany. I wanted to make sure that scumbags like him never did what he did again. So I got better, went through my therapy, both physical and mental then dedicated my life to making guys like him suffer. It was small stuff at first. Then things started to escalate over the years. I’ve always been good with computers but I learned so much more, honing my skills until I was the best there ever was. When the Metas started popping up last Fall, I knew it was a sign. That’s when he sought me out.”

“He?” I asked but I already knew the answer somehow. “You mean the Bat?”

She nodded. “Your former employer needed someone with my skill to help him make this city a better place. The two of us formed an unlikely partnership. I became the “Oracle”, the all seeing, all knowing Eyes of the city, locating the bad guys for him to take out. He became the enforcer, dealing out the justice that I couldn’t and that he trained for. We were a good team too until he got hurt back in August. With him out of the picture I thought we were done until the other showed up.”

“Red Robin.”

She nodded. “He had fire and passion but no heart. He was violent and brutal but uncaring. I tried to guide him but he barely listened to me. He kinda annoyed me a bit. Even after I met with him he still only half listened to what I’m telling you know.”

I interrupted. “You know who he is?” I asked, blushing.

She sighed. “Stay away from him, Steph, he’s damaged goods.

Nothing good will come from a relationship with him.”

I sighed but then remembered something. “You scolded me for what I did back at the warehouse in the beginning.”

She nodded. “I was trying to protect you.”

“I don’t need it anymore.”

She shook her head. “You might be pretty good right now but you’re still vulnerable. That’s why Bruce” she said his name in a soft whisper. “tried to talk you out of it. We argued a bit after you stormed out of the Manor. I told him you were ready and just needed a chance to prove yourself but he wanted no part in it.”

“But you contacted me anyway?”

She nodded. “He wasn’t happy, especially when the press started calling you the Bat. He wanted me to pull the plug, he threatened to tell Dad. But I think he was pleased too. Even though he was against it, he was happy too. I mean who else could have convinced Onyx Addams to take you on as a student.”

“Wait what?” I said. “I thought that was you?”

She laughed. “I wish. I told you to seek her out but I never thought she’d take you on.”

“But you told me where to find her.”

She shook her head. “Not me.”

Realization dawned on me just there. Oh my God, it was Bruce. I smiled at that.

She cleared her throat. “Ok, so enough of all that” She said, bending to the side and pulling something from her messenger bag. She placed a large manila envelope on the table.

So now that pleasantries were over it was down to business. Looking at the woman sitting across from me it was hard to see Barbara there at all. My cousin was usually a lot more carefree and laid back compared to this person sitting before me. I’d like to say this woman here was the fake but I’m guessing it was the other way around. Here was the real Barbara Gordon, the one born when she was put in that wheelchair. Her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail; she was wearing a purple turtleneck and jeans. She looked like she was ready for work. She got right to it too, pulling things out of the folder and laying them on the table.

I looked around, surprised. “We’re doing this here?”

She nodded. “Contrary to Internet rumors, there’s no cave that The Bat hides out in. We don’t have a secret headquarters either.”

“Why not your apartment then?”

“Public places are better, I have more control.”

I didn’t understand what she was talking about until I looked at her cell. It was a little more advanced than mine. I couldn’t help but think that she was somehow using it to monitor everything that was going on in the room. I looked up to the ceiling, seeing the security cameras. I couldn’t help but wonder if she tapped into them. I also couldn’t help but wonder why this place was more secure than her own?

She interrupted my thoughts, putting a picture in front of me. I looked down and saw the whitest woman I’d ever seen. I’m not talking Caucasian either. She was white, white like a sheet. Her hair was a light blonde too, almost as white as her skin. She was dressed in a lab coat, wearing dark sunglasses.

“This is Dr. Linda Friitawa,” she said, passing the picture to me.

The name I recognized immediately. “I know her. Her name appeared several times in the files on Dad’s laptop.”

Barbara nodded. “I figured as much. In the criminal underworld, she’s known as Dr. Fright. She used to be a geneticist, working for the government. Her partner was a Dr. Randolph Porter. Together the two of them were working on a drug for the government; they called it “Venom”. It was supposed to revolutionize soldiers on the battlefield. But the two of them argued with how to implement it. Dr. Fright wanted to distribute it on the streets, using the city as her test subjects. But Porter wanted in lab trials on inmates. They parted ways, each conducting their own research.” She passed me some other photos, a couple of girls I didn’t know but looked about my age and a really nasty looking guy in an orange jumpsuit.

“Porter continued to work on inmates, this man here was his prime patient” She tapped the pic of the guy in orange. “Fright moved onto distributing her drug elsewhere, first in pill form. There was an incident some months ago involving a health spa and some girls about your age. It didn’t end well. The government thought Porter was involved so they asked Bruce to gather evidence for them.”

“Is that how he got hurt?”

She nodded. “Dr. Porter was in the midst of injecting his subject with his first batch when Bruce interrupted. There was an accident and the doctor was killed. The subject woke and took out his anger and frustration on Bruce. It took a very skilled and powerful government agent to take him down. Before Bruce lost consciousness he was able to salvage Porter’s work and download a copy of it himself before the government confiscated it. The two of us soon learned that though there were similarities, the drug that harmed those girls was not Dr. Porter’s strand.”

I nodded. “It was Dr. Fright’s?”

Barbara smiled. “The pills weren’t as nearly as effective as the doctor wanted so she changed the formula, creating an injectable liquid instead. She also moved onto her original plan and got it distributed into the city, as V-10 or as it’s more commonly known as “Thrill.” I think you know the rest of that story?”

I nodded. “So do we know the distributor finally?”

She shook her head. “No but I think I might have locked down an address for Dr. Fright.”

I smiled. “I think it’s time The Bat paid her a visit.”

__________________________________

“It’s freezing” I muttered, rubbing my hands along my arms.

Babs laughed and said, “You’re the one who refused to allow me to retrofit that suit of yours.”

Her voice was small and in my ear only, coming from the Bluetooth. She made me wear it at all times now so the two of us could remain in constant contact. It was her attempt to be a part of the action, according to her. She tried to talk Bruce into the same thing but he didn’t like the idea of her in his head, second guessing everything. Now I knew exactly what he meant. Not that it wasn’t comforting in a way. It was kinda nice knowing that she had my back, even though she was nice and warm in her apartment, sometimes on the other side of the city.

“I couldn’t insult Jen by letting you change everything,” I said, in reference to her supposed retrofit.

After she told me about “Dr. Fright”, she insisted on aiding me in the cause. A lot more than just information apparently. She’d been in talks with some of her contacts, trying to get me resources I might not have access to otherwise. I’m not sure what these resources were but one of them was to make me a new suit. She sat she liked the look---black worked for me---but the design was too fragile. She didn’t like the fact that I was gallivanting around the city with nothing but thin leather to protect me. But to change the suit after Jen spent so much time making it for me, it was kinda insulting. I reluctantly declined her offer---as nice as it sounded.

That was two days ago. And in the two days since, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. It was like last winter all over again except without a lot of snow. There was no snow but it was the cold that was a bitch. The leather wasn’t all that warm and my cape did little to hide things. When I say things well let’s just say that I could cut glass with my nipples most nights and leave it at that. Breathing into my gloved hands only helped so much. I could rub my arms all I wanted but nothing seemed to keep away the bitterness of it all. When I breathed, my breath came out in little clouds. Every time I took a breath, it was like sucking the whole of winter into my lungs.

“How’s the view?” asked Babs, changing the subject.

I lowered my night vision goggles back over my eyes and looked across the street. At least it was something to keep my mind off the cold. For the last two days, I’d been like a second shadow to Dr. Linda Friitawa. Why a shadow and not a thorn; well that was Babs idea. We both knew how guilty the damn woman was but we didn’t want her. As guilty as she was, we were after bigger fish. The biggest in fact. It was Babs’ hope that the good doctor would lead me right to the source. But so far the only place she seemed to like to go was around the block and then back home. I mentioned this to Babs---thinking maybe she was on to us---but my cousin was certain was just covering her tracks well.

It turns out Babs was half right. Tonight we were at a different place. Like aforementioned shadow, I followed close behind as she left her apartment and went some place new. This place was in a seedier part of the Narrows, a place that not even the scum dared to go. A lot of this area was under the jurisdiction of the drug lords, led by Carmine Falcone and his brood. No one in their right mind dared to come here. Except disgraced albino doctors apparently. And of course black leather-clad vigilantes who were currently freezing their asses off. I had to wonder how the Red Robin was dodging such a scene. Ever since our visit to the warehouse and the quick kiss or two we shared on the roof, he had completely disappeared. Seeing as I didn’t know how to get in contact with him, I had no way to know if he was insulted by what transpired.

Typical male I guess. He kisses me and then runs off before we can discuss it further. Not that I knew what there was to discuss. I barely knew him---in fact, I only had ever really seen half his face so I didn’t even know if he was handsome or not. The only thing I did know was that he was a damn good kisser.

“She’s on the move,” said Babs' voice, cutting into my thoughts.

I groaned. “If you’re going to tap into the local security cameras then why do you need me to spy for you?”

“Because you’re daydreaming” was her curt response. “Your target would have slipped right under your nose.”

I didn’t have a response for that. Instead, I looked at the building. I could in fact see movement on the top floor window, someone moving past the last window on the right. Though the goggles illuminated things rather nicely, I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. I suppose I’d have to defer to Babs’ judgment on this one.

“What does the Great Oracle see inside?” I asked.

“Not much I’m afraid,” she said quickly. “There’s one camera in the room and it’s in a bad position. I see the doctor---I think but she’s half obscured by a dresser.”

A dresser? ‘I’m going to go in for a closer look.”

Babs sighed. “Ok but be careful.”

“Aren’t I always” I said, then clicked off the Bluetooth.

I took it out of my ear and returned it to a pouch. I didn’t want to lose it considering what I was about to do. I took a deep breath and leaned forward, dropping straight off the building. I fell a full story before landing like a graceful cat on the top of a street light. I was there for maybe thirty second before I launched myself into the air, gliding smoothly across the small gap between the two buildings. Remember they called this place the Narrows because the buildings were so close together. I landed on a windowsill, turning quickly on my heel and jumping straight up. I caught the next sill and pulled up effortlessly. I didn’t stay there for long, climbing to the next window and the next before I grabbed the edge of the roof and pulled up onto it.
When I was fully on the roof, I retrieved the Bluetooth and put it back in my ear.

“Show off” scoffed Babs in playful annoyance.

I looked across the street and spotted the camera. It was small and barely noticeable, probably there to warn the occupants of the building the police were on the way. When I got here, I know for a fact that she hacked it and replayed a feed loop so it looked like all was quiet outside. It was amazing how I could have done any of this without her---she was like Rambo but with a computer. I made sure she saw me through the little camera lens and waved, plastering a big smile on my face.

“Stop screwing around, I need better eyes on that room.”

I looked across the roof and spotted a hatch. “I’ve got an entry; your eyes will be up soon.”

I ran lightly across the roof, barely making a sound. I was almost to the roof hatch when it opened all by itself. I dropped and rolled, coming up in front of it. I caught the Hippo masked goon by surprise. He didn’t even have a chance to react before I punched him hard in the face. When his head jerked back, I grabbed it and slammed it hard into the roof’s paved surface. The impact knocked him unconscious. I slipped my hands under his armpits and pulled him fully onto the roof. Then I secured his hands behind his back with plasticuffs before slipped down the hatch, leaving him to the cold.

“Another damn animal mask” I said when I dropped soundlessly to the floor.

“Stay focused,” said Babs.

I frowned as I slipped down the dark hall. Well dark for everyone else but actually green for me through the goggles. I moved with the greatest of ease, the only sound was the flapping of my cape. I went from wall to wall, inching slowly along until I got to the room in question. When I peered around the doorframe, the entire room was in view now. It was set up like a bedroom except there was no bed frame for the bed. There was a mattress though and the dresser she saw. In the window was in fact a person but there was no way that Babs could have seen this person move. I cursed, pulling my head out of the room.

“It’s a dead end,” I said, cursing again.

“What do we got?”

“Empty room, one goon. He’s currently counting hippo mask wearing sheep on the roof. The person in the window was a mannequin.”

This time Babs cursed. “You’re right, she probably caught on to us and led you here as a diversion.”

“Now what?”

Babs sighed. Back to the drawing board.”

Son of a bitch. I was so close too. I slipped back down the hall and jumped back up through the hatch. The goon was still where I left him. I wondered how much he might know but if she left him here for me to find it probably wasn’t much. I cursed a third time. Stupid bitch knew I was coming which meant she was a lot smarter than I thought. I guess that just went I’d have to up my A Game a bit.

Bring it on.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF