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Post by dinah on Nov 9, 2012 0:19:13 GMT -5
Location: Metropolis City, Easter Gents Bar Time: 12:30am Overview: What was supposed to be a simple mission goes south when Oracle goes dark. She's been kidnapped by an unknown enemy and for reasons Canary has yet to find out. It's up to the Birds of Prey to find her before it's too late and with help from a few surprised Knights hopefully they can before the life of Barbara Gorden is extinguished forever.[/size] How do you get yourself into these things?
Blue eyes glanced down the bar at the few people who were starting to stand up, it would seem their game was about to start. She placed down her glass and placed her hands on the bar’s smooth wood surface to make a show of getting to her feet. Her gaze went back to the older man behind the counter and she gave him a slow smile, before brushing her blond hair behind her ear and in the process giving him a small shake of her head. “I’d keep your head down, and take your girls to the backroom,” she said, watching as he made a small motion of his hands to his waitresses and they all retreated to the room in the back, next to the bar. As she turned around, she took a deep breath, getting ready to fight. She hoped she might be able to talk her way out of one, but she didn’t think so, it wasn’t why she was here. It wasn’t out the ordinary for Oracle’s secret team known as the Birds of Prey to operate outside of Gotham, like tonight she was in the Metropolis, away from her new home in Gotham, but it was fine, a nice change of pace for the evening.
One of the mob-families here, were trying to take over a large operation in the form of exotic imports and exports in and out the United States, and Central and South America. She gave the men a slow smile and held up her hands in a show that she was unarmed. “I think you’ve got me mistaken with someone else. I’m just here for a drink gentleman.” the smooth words poured from her lips as she thought fast her feet, sizing up the ten people in the room, not counting the head honcho Mr. Michael Elizel who was walking in right now, he assumed his boys had her handled. “No Black Canary, there is no mistake,” he said he was tall, but old fifty-two and still with all his hair. He wasn’t terribly bad looking if you liked dark eyes, and salt and pepper hair. His eyes held a darkness, a hatred, a calculating look to them.
He hates women…Ollie you would hate this man… [/color] “Take her!” The order was given and men were rushing her, some were pulling weapons, but those stayed back from the fray as grizzly sized men ran at her, flipping over tables and causing glass shatter as bottles and other such things were broken and their contents spilled on the floor. Screams erupted from those of the innocent who were rushing for the exits, the sounds seeming to drown out the rest of the noise as everything seemed to narrow around her, as the fight was soon brought to her. She didn't allow herself to get angry, no with another breath she was calm, collected, and not allowing herself to be angry, if she got angry tunnel vision would happen, she'd narrow in on one set person and she could leave herself open to attacks on other side. She knew in her heart, that she couldn't allow herself to be distracted to give him any opportunity to see that he affected her. He wasn't but in a fight too much thinking could get you hurt and her line of work killed. Her body fell into instinctive movements with ease, her fist sailing through the air and hitting one man in the face, she twisted with the motion and set her right leg back as she hit one man with the point of her boot across the temple, the first man she'd struck in the face, she used his momentum against him taking hold of his shirt and swinging his now dead weight back into the fray of the three men that were coming at her. His body hit them knocking them down and against the turned table behind them. Her movements were fluid and she knew what to do and how to do it. She threw back her head tossing her blonde locks over her shoulder, as she planted her feet and grabbed the man who rushed at her, her hand gripped his wrist and pulled hard down as her body went with the motion and heaved him over her shoulder to collide with the ground on his way. There was a crash and the sound of splintered wood, and the crack of bone, she'd broken his nose. It didn't take long maybe five or seven minutes to take down the ten men he'd hired to take care of her. All fights felt as though they lasted forever, but in reality, usually things were over pretty quick. As she fixed the sleeve of her black jacket, she made her leisurely way over to Mr. Elizel, stepping over bodies as though she didn't care she'd taken them down. Her facade was great, it had to be, as fight was never her first choice, but a lot of the time she wasn't one who got to make that choice. Michael was nervous, he wasn't fond of the way, she was coming closer and he slapped the closest man on the shoulder. "What are you waiting for shoot her! You fools!." The men raised their weapons and put their fingers on the triggers of their weapons and before you could say anything they were lighting this place up with gun fire. She didn't get to think on it, she merely took a deep breath and opened her mouth with a screech of sound. "Ahhhhhhh."The unrelenting nose bounced off the walls, and into the skulls of those around her, but as she turned up the volume, the level of which she used her canary cry, she saw the bullets in front of her falter, and fall harmlessly in front of her. The sound of gunfire was soon nonexistent as the sound of screaming cry filled the ears of those around her, dropping the men to their knees as their sounds of agony filled the chorus of her own. Their ears covered with their hands blood seeped through their fingers and it brought her no pleasure, only a sadness to know this was where humanity was headed, down the dark roads. Her long strides took her closer to the men, as she gave a kick of her boots sending the guns well out of arms reach of the men. Only then did she stop her namesake. She looked down seeing the men around her unconscious and wounded from her abilities and she could only cross her arms across her chest and cover her face with one hand. "Black Canary to Oracle mission complete." there wasn't any pleasure in her voice...but it showed, it showed she was still human. "Oracle?" Another pause and still no response, that wasn't like her, usually Barbra was always right on top of the communications for a mission and even outside of them. The silence on the other end had her glaring at the door out into the dark night. "Oracle...if this is a joke, this isn't funny! Oracle, come in!" She was the very least about forty-five minutes away from Gotham, maybe less, no she'd make it less. She worried her lower lip and waiting another moment, her hand pressed to her ear to try and hear anything. All she was met with was silence. [/blockquote] TAG:Oracle.
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Post by Oracle on Nov 13, 2012 0:29:45 GMT -5
LOCATION: City: Unknown, Grandinetti's Meat Locker TIME: 12:24 a.m.
[/size] She was running, her long strides took her through a never-ending darkness that Barbara felt was closing in on her. The sensation was almost foreign and as she became more aware of the unfamiliarity of the action, her body subsequently began to fail her. First her knees tightened and she seemed incapable of bending at the joint. Then the feeling in her hamstrings deadened and she was crawling in desperation trying to escape from her unseen enemy. A cry escaped her lips as she felt a sharp pain erupt down up her spine like an intense fire burning through her nerves. She turned to investigate, looking down at her hips to find that there was nothing below her waist. She was livid now and her hands reached out to where her legs were supposed to be.
Nothing… absolutely nothing.
She turned, intent on looking for a way out of the darkness, but crude cut up dark red lips were the only think that looked back at her in an upturned grin of mockery.
“AhhhH!”
Her cry pierced the silence and Barbara Gordon was revived, as if awakening from the dead. Her body rocked back and forth as she jerked out of her nightmare and she could have sworn that the spasms her body endured traveled down to her legs. As she moved through the air, she felt her body press against something bard but fleshy and through her groggy vision, she investigated the unidentified object.
Frost bitten red meat looked back at her and she cried out quite uncharacteristically as she pushed the carcass away. Too big to be human – it was an animal, probably a cow, she was able to deduce this once she regained her composure. Green eyes scanned her surroundings and she finally acknowledged her own breath exhuming before her.
’Meat Storage.’
It was another deduction that was further validated by the meat hooks and various cadavers that were suspended over the floor. She was cold, no doubt but she assumed her lack of feeling was a product of the length of time she was in the meat locker. She wasn’t experienced hypothermia, yet – she hoped.
Barbara turned to move her hands but found it rather futile. With effort, she lowered her gaze and stared at the bloodied straightjacket that had been put into. She stared down at her feet which dangled rather uselessly over the ground. She was hanging by a meat hook, either by some loop on the strait jacket or by the flesh of her skin which was probably so cold now that it numbed the pain. She wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.
Her eyes rolled in her sockets and she focused her gaze to the ceiling where only darkness looked back at her and the spinning blades of the freezers fan turned, exhausting misty, chilled out with each circulation.
How had she ended up here? Her head spun as she tried to recollect her thoughts. ’think Babs, think’ was all she could voice within the deep recesses of her mind as she tried to recall memories that seemed long past. Gotham had been reduced to rubble, as a result she had to relocate from her familiar clock tower to continue her operations. Even when the world burned, the Birds of Prey rose from the ashes, they were necessary and Oracle was essential to their operations. Perhaps she had been careless in her relocation – this was a clear sign of that.
Kidnapped, dragged off into a meat locker and left to potentially die, Oracle couldn’t even recall her captives, or even the last few moments before she was dragged here. She did recall working on a mission with Dinah, taking out another one of those good for nothing guys, but then what?
Her eyes narrowed as she heard the shuffle of feet from across the room. It would appear that she was no longer alone. Raising her head very slowly, she tried to focus her gaze, staring straight ahead all while trying to remain limp and unconscious. She wasn’t really in a personable mood right now, neither did she want to expose her state of weakness. Barbara almost scoffed at the thought – as if it weren’t already obvious.
Pursing her lips, or at least she thought she did – she could no longer feel them after all, Barbara strained her eyes attempting to ID her captor, not that it would make a difference now. Her heart fell slightly in chest at the realization she was alone.
’I’m sorry Dinah.’
Was she thought as a look of resignation spread across here placid face and she anticipated the onslaught of her captor. TAG: [/color] Killer Frost[/right]
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Post by Killer Frost on Nov 13, 2012 23:52:18 GMT -5
LOCATION: City: Unknown, Grandinetti's Meat Locker TIME: 12:32 a.m.
This usually wasn’t her thing, kidnapping a invalid, a disabled person. It almost made her laugh at the irony of it all. This great hacker, this person no one could hide from and she turned out to be some young woman who thought she was something special. She couldn’t even defend herself. She’d been taken down so easily…she’d been too involved in her computer; in whomever she was talking too, feeding information too. It was so very interesting to have watched from the shadows, silent taking the heat out of her home. It had been easy to take her once she’d taken every ounce of heat from her place. The small tremors that had slithered up her spine had been nothing, nothing compared to where she was now.
You’re probably wondering how Louise had managed to get herself in this kidnapping gig, well let me tell you. Money, pure and simple; money was power and spoke volumes. Even for her, the phone call had been pulled enough strings to get her actually on the phone. She listened with only half interest until the zeros on the end of the line started to click in. It was a simple mission, kidnap this Oracle person, this superb hacker and hold her for an unspecified amount of time, while the voice on the other end did whatever she wanted to do with that mainframe of hers. She really didn’t care and she was only in it for the money, apparently the hacker known and Oracle was fair game. No one could possibly be looking for this homebody, who would know she was missing? Not a soul and certainly not anyone of any shred of importance, if anyone did happen to look.
The money had been wired in amounts that wouldn’t raise alarm, they seemed to be just simple work checks, just a few too many in a month, but who every looked into those white collar crimes unless they really had too, not many, and they weren’t suspicious. Whoever her current employer was, they were smart and it would seem she’d been given a partner in crime, a Mr. Scarecrow, from what she remembered from her own share of villainous deeds, this man was something else, a scary man who dealt with the Batman and his cowl wearing freaks, as well has had his own fear gas or something like that. It wasn’t something she wanted to test out but perhaps their pet could, it was an amusing idea. After all it would be shame to kill such a thing so quickly, after all it was best to find out what they could from her, through any means necessary of course. A hacker like that, had her secrets and it would be find to pry what they could from her, or see how long it would take to break her.
Her gaze shifted moving to her person as she tried to play dead, that would work on most, but not with her. There was change in her body temperature when you awoke; you seemed to get hotter when that happened. Her foot steps were relatively silent as she came over to her, and stood in front of her dangling body, her cold hand reached out and gripped her chin in a grip that would very surely bruise.
“Don’t play dead little hacker. I want you awake and loused for what’s going to happen to you.”
Her pale blue lips pulled up along her cheeks, exposing a grin that only a mother could love and even then it was unlikely. She was borderline insane…or well past it, she did things because she wanted too, not because society or anyone else said she should. Whatever she wanted she took it, and she wanted whatever this woman thought she could hide.
“Let’s start with something simple, who are you really Oracle, let’s have a name.”
Killer Frost blew out a cold breath, letting the temperature drop around her breath, making it feel far colder to her then it actually was. Ice manipulated into long, sharp points on her fingers. She had every intention of making this painful; she had a thing for screaming after all. Her eyes danced to the door, and back again to the woman she’d found. It would seem her partner had gotten bored. Better late than never! she couldn’t help but thing with a little contempt. But she needed him, they would work together on this for now.
TAG: Anyone of the Birds of Prey/Bat-Family/Scarecrow
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Post by dinah on Nov 14, 2012 11:09:00 GMT -5
Location: Metropolis City Limits, heading to Gotham. Time: 12:45am[/size] With an anonymous tip placed to the Metropolis city police, she was starting up her bike, the engine purring to life under her. Her body arched over it, as she rested her elbows on its body and put in a call to Helena. Her Bluetooth headset dialing her number in her ear as she placed her helmet on her head, and watched the world darken a little bit more. Before the phone gave the first ring to her partner in crime, she was speeding away from the bar, and out on the more major roads as she headed to Gotham. She flipped on her lights and ate up the road, blowing through red lights and passing cars by going up the center of the lane. She was well over the speed limit, but time was no longer on their side, not after Oracle had gone dark on her. She tried to remember if she’d heard anything on her end, a scuffle a sound anything, all she’d heard was her own fighting; her own battle.
Dinah…how could you not hear anything? Are you that rusty?
[/i] Guilt filled her heart, but she pushed it away she needed to be on her game, no more mistakes. As she hit the interstate, she easily had the bike at its maximum speed. A dangerous 115 mph, there were very few other cars out this late and she kept in the fast lane. As she was sure the phone was about to go into voicemail. She cursed to herself, hearing the faint click as the line was answered and the sleepy answer on the other end. “Helena, it’s me,” she spoke over the noise that she was sure Huntress could hear on her end. She went around a semi-truck and was well ahead of him, before he’d have known she was even there. “Meet me at Babs’s place, a.s.a.p., don’t go in without me, if you get there before me. She’s gone off the grid and I can’t reach her. Something has happened. It’s just going to be you and me on this one, everyone else is out of the country. I don’t want to bring the kid on this…not until I know what we’re dealing with,” she said feeling an itch, a twitch of her tense muscles in her back, as she road. She had a long way to go before things would start to look up. She’d been ignoring calls from Superman, he wanted to talk to her about her spot on the League, or perhaps it was more personal than that. She wouldn’t let Oliver get in her way of coming back; she was just busy with other activities. “I’m at least fifteen minutes out…alright I’ll see you in a few Helena and listen I need you to be careful. I’m not sure if we’ve become targets or not. Keep your guard up.” With those parting words she broke off the call. Blonde hair blew behind her in the wind as she passed the Welcome to Gotham City sign. She couldn’t help but wonder why anyone would want to live here? Oh right she did, and it was a good change, this was her new life, with new responsibilities and Oliver Queen was not a part of her life, not anymore. This were different, she was different. She’d changed and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Oracle had changed her life around, had given her an opportunity and she’d taken it. This hadn’t been a onetime deal, no it had become more than that. Barbara had turned her life around, turned her around and she owed her more then she could ever repay. Barbara had given her a purpose and together they had created the Birds of Prey. She wouldn’t let this stand; no she’d find her with the help of those close to her. She’d find Babs and get her home safe. She wouldn’t let anything happen to her. But she knew, she knew they had do this fast…or else…or else the torture could start, whatever they wanted from her, they would do whatever they wanted to get it. Her breath hitched slightly and she felt the tremors in her body start. She was forced to slow down. Her conversations with her Therapist had gotten too personal and she hadn’t been able to afford the visits and she’d stopped going. He’d wanted to talk about what happened and she didn’t. He wanted to talk about Oliver, the man who’d been coming with her and then he was suddenly gone. She stone walled him and walked. Black Canary pulled her helmet off and took in a breath, feeling like she was suffocating inside her helmet. She curled her hands into fists placed her helmet on her bike and turned going around Oracle’s apartment once and then once more as she looked for anything out of the ordinary. Helena isn’t here yet.[/color] Her eyes narrowed when she looked behind her, checking the streets before she entered the building, and slipping a key into the lock and letting herself in to Oracle’s home. Blue eyes looked around the apartment in the open rooms, keeping her steps silent and not touching anything. Her eyes caught sight of the time 1:03a.m. As she rounded the corner she found a sight that made her pause, a man in black was leaning over Barbara’s computers looking at whatever was on the multiple screens. It wasn’t often he made an appearance like that. He must have known it was her; otherwise she was confident he’d have either hidden or made a move to try and take her out. “Have you found anything?” she asked, a frown miring her lovely features, as she came a little closer. Moving to his left, in his personal space to get a better view of what was on the screen. That was her, and the mission that she’d been on with Oracle only forty-three minutes ago. Her eyes scanned over the things she had laying around on the table, her coffee, but it was long sense cold, verified by the small touch of the back of her finger to the cup. There had been no signs of a struggle, she rubbed her bare arm feeling goose bumps rise along her flesh. It was cold in here, and Babs always kept things comfortable, this was odd and she made a mental note of it, her eyes seeing Oracle’s headset she used to communicate with the birds at all times on the ground, and it held strands of red hair in it, as she squatted down to look at it. It had been pulled off her head with a lot of unnecessary force. Her blue eyes looked up at their unwanted guest, but he seemed to be on their side, she just hadn’t seen much of him in a while. “I’m going with you!” she told him, conviction in her voice, there was no way he would get rid of her, not a chance in hell. She was going. [/blockquote] TAG: Open to Scarecrow, Birds, or Bats.
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Post by Huntress on Nov 15, 2012 13:57:29 GMT -5
Metropolis High school was as busy as ever as students raced across the hallway, from the young to the teenagers they were excited to leave class for a short while and enjoy a decent meal. After a long day of teaching, Helena finally packed her things and quietly left the school and headed back to her home in Metropolis. With tiny sigh she placed her work case down on a nearby table and headed towards her bed room, upon arriving she pulled something hidden within a closet and a secret compartment opened revealing her purple uniform, a few minutes later Huntress appeared on the rooftop and looked out into the distant streets of Metropolis to prepare her usual sweep of the great city.
As she was arming her mini crossbows and guns Helena's earphone came on and a familiar voice of Dinah spoke as she voiced her concern about Babs who had apparently vanished without a trace, but this was not possible. There was only a select few people who knew her location and the identity of Oracle, and even if they broke in somehow Babs would have alert her or Dinah soon before who knows what happened to her. Using a grappling hook Huntress swung down to the ground and immediately sent Dinah a reply as she too voiced her concern for Oracle's safety.
"Got Dinah, I'm on my way"
Quickly she got onto her purple armoured motorcycle and turned the handles to rev up the mighty machine, with a focused look she took off the break which held it in place and raced out of its hiding place and headed towards down the busy roads, she veered left and right to dodge cars and upcoming vehicles as she raced towards the highway which led to the birthplace of the title Helena now calls herself. Luckily the road was not that busy and the path to Gotham was not as busy as in Metropolis itself, still thoughts wondered into her mind as the long cloaked Huntress began to remember what she went through during the Black Mask mission.
That she stood before Death's door, but was refused entry as she once again grabbed onto life in time for her to be saved. Ever since that painful day she had recovered and was once again ready to dish out her own sense of justice, right now she had to focus on getting to Oracle's place and meet up with Dinah. Time ticked away and the motorcycle was giving it all it got to help its rider get to her destination, soon she sped into the streets of Gotham City and continued down various roads and took various turns. Finally she saw Bab’s home in sight and slowed the purple motorcycle down, from there she parked it just near Dinah's bike and got off her favourite transportation.
Feeling relaxed and yet worried about Oracle she took out her mini crossbows and reloaded them, followed by her guns just incase Dinah ran into some uninvited guests. Yet she hadn't heard any unsuspecting noises from the house, but she held both mini cross bows ready. Being cautious she gently entered the building using the back entrance and quietly headed towards Oracle's office. As she arrived she saw Dinah and someone in black! Someone else was her and by the look of it he or she was looking at Oracle's computer! Quickly she pointed the mini cross bow at the intruder and angrily called out.
"Ok however you are! You better tell me why I shouldn’t fire this arrow right into your brain. Now talk! Where is she!?"
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Post by Scarecrow on Nov 15, 2012 20:19:03 GMT -5
"Mary Mary quite contrary.." came the words, guttural, yet with a sense of mirth and playfulness that might make it ever more unerring, much more fearsome, so blunted by the threadbare mask that the spindly figure wore as he appeared from shadowed threshold, like a nightmare in and of himself. He bundled long, flowing brown trench coat, ensconced with a coarse rope that wrapped around his form, his midsection, arms, coming to an end at his throat in a hangman's noose. As he did as he made a stalking line to their hostage, no longer content with skulking in the shadows.
The skeletal Scarecrow drew up his hand that wore a glove like apparatus, sharpened claw like syringes, tubes glowing an eerie golden of the plasma, the dreaded fear toxin that waited in each and every of the five syringes, one for each finger, sacks of venom, his beloved and terrible fear toxin awaiting it's chance to course through veins, alighting brain with sheer terror and cause heart to beat until explosion, or twist muscles in a sickness that would break bones in convulsions.
Imagine his surprise when he'd been in his hovel, the usual haunts of such a famous- infamous - criminal as he was, he tinkered and tooled with his most recent variants on his fear formula, the moans and groans, caterwauls and siren screams of sheer terror muted only because this steel mill turned house of horrors featured so many sound proof furnaces he'd locked his "patients" in.
His Skellington stickered cell rang with the Halloween theme and he answered, fully intent on telling the erudite interloper on the other end to hire the joker if they wanted someone to play with. The fun there was that the clown didn't play nice with others, Scarecrow could attest to that doubly. But when he was offered what he was offer, an offer he couldn't rightly refuse, not only an abundant amount of zeroes but quite a few perks after the fact, he fell back on the wicker throne and cackled. He'd do it. A shot at the bat, the batfamily and the supposed "oracle" who considered herself his intellectual superior, oh there were so many reasons WHY he'd do it and too few why not.
The thought of the screams, of watching this woman choke to death on her own vomit as it exploded from her caused him more pleasure than any, enough to cause a grin of pleasure at what was to come, and when he flanked the woman, being sure to give her cold aura wide berth he drew forth a cadaverous thin arm and wrapped his fingers within her hair, pulling it violently so that their faces were closer.
Their faces nigh touched as he gazed to her with those glowing sanguine eyes, tracing over her form as he let out eerily calm and yet clear with a twinge of elation "Have a care. Were you truly an Oracle you'd know the ice queen may want your words..I only want your screams." and as he did this his free hand shot like a scorpion's stinger, when it made it's way to her throat the varying needle points dragged across tender flesh.
They dug in just as quickly and yet had the precision one might expect from the hand of a former doctor and surgeon "My hobby is to treat rabbits with my toxin and watch them gnaw the skin from their own flesh. Especially cute little red bunnies like you. My friend here is thirsty for blood." when he pulled it out then he licked the blood off the needles with his tongue.
"Your fear tastes so...sweet" there was an offputting exhilaration and clear sick pleasure all present in his voice. How disturbed he was, pulling back from her in egress as he did, knowing that the metahuman would want to play a bit more before he got his chance.
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Post by Batman on Nov 19, 2012 18:13:25 GMT -5
Bruce was not in a mood to be trifled with, the Justice League, while both important and most likely produtive, was only distracting from their problems; he had declared amongst those he was dedicated to lead as a figurehead that they needed to focus on the 'little' problems, as they always had.
As the old saying went, crime did not take vacations.
The plus side was he was feeling better rested than he had in a while, the insistence of Alfred for an appreciable night's (day's technically) sleep combined with the relative physical inactivity from the previous day spent in the Justice League tower. Despite all appearances, his plans did not come quickly, nor easily; mentally, he was operating on a nominal level (for him anyway).
The down-side, Oracle was gone, not by her own volition either. Bruce knew Oracle and she knew him, they were as much family as it was possible for a man like him to have and although there were rifts and despite the seemingly loveless nature of the man behind the cowl, Bruce cared about as much for Barbara as he would care for his own daughter. It wasn't like her not to answer her phone, not when he called Oracle's number; something was wrong, she hadn't answered her phone, she hadn't responded at all in fact, it was wrong, she was usually somewhat keen to talk to Bruce but at the very least she usually maintained high standards towards her work. The world's most powerful information broker had a reputation to maintain after all and even if there were a falling out, both would never be so ignorant as to cast one another aside; the world's greatest hacker and the world's greatest detective, not a force to be taken lightly on it's own and then there was the Bat-family and the Birds of Prey.
Bruce had arrived several hours ago, eager to begin his investigation before the trail went cold... strangely however, the cold was perhaps the most telling factor.
Of course Bruce was aware of Dinah approaching as he stayed hunched over the computer banks, his eyes scanning the information filling the screens, it was impressive, even to him, how well Oracle handled such a task. His pose seemed relaxed, if prepared for action of any kind. The more he had investigated the apartment, the less he had liked what he found.
Hearing the voice of Helena behind him, Bruce's grimaced deepened momentarily, glancing sideways at Dinah for half-a-second in response to her question before he spoke, answering both their questions at once. "The air's only reached just above zero degrees a few minutes ago, the heating's still on, we're looking for someone who can control temperatures. There's minor frost damage on the hair's from the headset," He said, tapping a plastic bag on the table, containing one of the red hairs, plucked from the discarded headset. "So they're a metahuman, they absorb heat on contact. From the people most recently in the area, I could only find one match." He said, pointing to an image on the central screen, an image of Louise Lincoln, Killer Frost. "She lowered the room temperature, causing Oracle to become disorientated, perhaps even allowing her to fall asleep, then abducted her." He deduced, "Barbara wouldn't have noticed, she always was overly-focused." He rumbled, despite the tone and the chosen words, which would seem to indicate disapproval, Bruce was actually rather fond of remembering Barbara's little methods, not that any but those closest to the Dark Knight would pick-up anything other than disapproval in his voice. Sadly, one could not remain solely focused on one thing in their work, they needed to be vigilant at all times, that was the life they chose.
He straightened up, his silhouette a perfect dark shadow, a hole in the universe, surrounded by the cold, white, glow of the computer screens. "They'll be looking to keep Barbara somewhere, probably somewhere cold to mask the heat signiture of Killer Frost. I'm not entirely sure where however." He admitted, "Likely a meat locker, warehouses in the industrial district would be a good place to start, they can't have taken her far." He said, finally turning, putting full-force behind the glare he next gave to Helena, well aware she had been pointing her mini-crossbows at him, he tried his best to help her but she was a wild-card sometimes, it was something he was famously (amoung those who knew him) not a fan of.
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Post by dinah on Nov 21, 2012 21:03:09 GMT -5
“Huntress, stand down!”
The crisp words were sharp and held every intention to be followed as she moved to place her body closer to Batman’s her arm held out in front of him. It was an unneeded gesture; it wasn’t as though she was saying that Batman was incapable of protecting himself, that wasn’t it at all. Perhaps Helen hadn’t realized who she was pointing her weapons at, but if he had been a threat she would of walked in on a fight, not on the two of them huddled over the computer screens of Oracle’s desk. This was really not the time to be playing whose is bigger. She to say the very least was irritated with Helen’s brash actions, she clearly had not taken in her surroundings enough, the young woman still had so much to learn or perhaps she was rattled with Oracle’s disappearance…it was possible and really she wasn’t being fair, not everyone could be expected to handle things with the cool, calm resolve that she was known to have, even in the worst situations…except that one time….
Her hand at her side clenched at her side an involuntary action she’d had yet to fully get a hold of, to win back her control. She gave a shake of her head tossing around a few stray strands of blonde hair. “Killer Frost…she was a scientist at one point, I believe…didn’t she voluntarily expose herself to the chemicals that created the first Killer Frost, her name was Crystal, Crystal Frost.” Even as those words left her lips she wasn’t happy with the thought that Oracle was being held by a woman who wasn’t against killing hostages for nothing more than the shock value of it all.
She cast another glance around the apartment before her gaze went back to the two people who besides herself were Barbara’s only hope of being found alive. She frowned staring down at her hand that had locked up in a grip too long, usually it wasn’t a problem, but everyone had things they were recovering from, her scars just may not be so noticeable and she hid them well. “One thing that we need to look into is who is her partner?” she turned her back on them, looking down at her hand having to mentally concentrate on getting her hand to unclench one finger at a time, before she slowly curled it into a fist and uncurled it before doing it once more. She no longer freaked it was a reaction to the torture, but she had been told it would pass; and she’d fully be able to move on, that it wouldn’t hinder her...but she didn't think it would be merely that simple, things in life, in her line of work were so rarely ever that simple.
She made a show of looking at the screen once more leaning over the key and other things Babs had littered around as she turned back to them, looking out at what was around squatting down to be at Oracle’s eye level to try and better see how things could have gone down. Killer Frost had been in hiding silently taking the heat out of her apartment, out of her body, but the question was why?
What did she gain by doing this and the better question was how she’d managed to find Barbara, how had she known to go here and who was her partner and who had hired them…this was a well thought out plan, it wasn’t a spur of the moment, it couldn’t possibly have been. This was something Louise Lincoln couldn’t have thought up on her own…well she could, it just wasn’t something she’d do, she wasn’t home to Gotham…and it just seemed unlikely…someone else was pulling the real strings here. Just a gut feeling that she wasn’t about to discard.
At Batman’s idea on a location, she stood up ready to move. She wouldn’t allow something else to stand in their way and she knew that time was short. They didn’t know who they were facing, but there had to be others, at least one secret partner of Killer Frost. The first 24 hours were critical…it was unlikely that you would find someone after that time was up. She blinked away her fears, she wanted to find Oracle as soon as possible, she didn’t want her to have to go through what happened to her, or anything remotely similar. She’d do anything to stop it. Anything.
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Post by Oracle on Nov 21, 2012 23:51:36 GMT -5
[style= text-align: justify; padding: 5px; width: 550px;]The atmosphere around her shifted and she knew right then and there that it was time to play dead. Or at the very least, look as if she were still unconscious to allow a moment to identify her captors. Those few moments however, they were nonexistent, not with the chilling feminine voice reached her ears and she realized that her entire rouse would be meaningless. They knew already, whoever was making their way to her, they knew that she was up and ripe for their taking. Barbara Gordon bit her lip slightly, not even feeling the bone gnash against the skin as she thought – not out of fear but rather out of the lack of preparation. Her gaze shifted slightly as she tried to fixation her eyes without moving her head.
Blue, pale skin that was stretched dangerously over bone looked back at her and Barbara quickly ran many files and faces through her mind trying to identify the person that stood before her. The only name and image that stood clear in her mind was Louise Lincoln, also known as the Killer Frost and damn was she feeling the bit of this deranged woman. While a meat locker was not entirely original it made sense for the surprise element Louise was going for, whatever she wanted from Oracle it was something important. Well it had to be if she had gone through all the trouble of kidnapping her.
It hit her quite suddenly, two things actually and she had to blame the extreme temperatures for her sluggish thinking. Killer Frost had kidnapped her. Killer Frost had kidnapped her. It wasn’t as if the Oracle’s personal address was put into the yellow pages for the convenience of her enemies, in fact her entire career had been shrouded in secrecy. So much secrecy that even her own companions were unaware of her true identity until later on in their careers. Barbara had worked hide for this level of privacy, it was what made her alter ego that powerful, it was what the entire façade have a meaning on its own. Not just anyone had access to her identity, not even her closest friends so how the heck did Killer Frost even get within an inch of her?
Someone else was pulling the strings here she was more than aware of that now. The situation had changed dramatically, Oracle’s worries no longer lay in what was occurring here and now, but rather what was going in the grand scheme of things. You didn’t kidnap one of the world’s greatest information broker for fun and certainly not to play a game of guess who. Killer Frost didn’t care that much, unless someone made it her business to know.
Silence was the only thing Barbara could muster to Lincoln’s inquiry and she would keep it that way. Very well into her last few breathes if she had to. She certainly knew a thing or two about the limitations of these criminals and when you were dealing with someone like the Killer Frost she most certainly didn’t have any.
Another voice pitched their own melody into the scene and Barbara mistook the chill down her spine for the coldness that crept throughout her body. The soft, eerily melodic hum of Jonathan Crane reached her ears and she stiffened slightly as she felt him come closer. She actually wasn’t entirely sure, but her senses had become so overloaded in the last few seconds she was unsure of what was real and what was not.
She closed her eyes, remaining still and silent as the two bodies hovered over her, no doubt menacing but not so much enough to break her will. She would not falter, not here and not now.
Gnarly fingers grabbed at her hair and she winched slightly feeling him tighten his grip upon her and then with brute force pull her forward so that she could feel the prickly cloth of his mask against her own cheek. Her eyes remained closed, the lids look completely relaxed as she allowed his hot breath to intrude upon her numb skin.
Being in the same room as scarecrow warranted no good outcome and if could keep her eyes closed and remain absolutely still and with some sort of peace of mind, then maybe, just maybe the hallucinogenic affects he liked to play with would have no effect on her. She was unsure if he had even administered his toxins, but at the same time she did not want to find out. Barbara was more than aware of what your worst fears were capable of, and with them amplified it would be enough for even the most robust individual to break. She breathed in and out deeply, deliberating taking in his attempt at conversation and instead attempting to formulate her plan of escape.
All options for the moment seemed rather meek or unreasonable.
Movement finally erupted from Barbara as the sharp tips of Scarecrow’s needle like fingers embedded themselves into the supple flesh of her cheek. She winced slightly, moving with the insertion and felt the muscles around her eyes wrinkle in slight pain. The pain was momentary, but seemed amplified by the sudden shock of her frozen nerves. It took her moderate will power to not yell out, but her facial expression she could not entirely control.
Don’t break Barbara, don’t break.
Was all she could think to herself as Crane continued to hover over her, reminding her of how fragile and useless she was in their hands. Her eyes remained closed and she held her head low, showing no sign of acknowledgement, attentiveness or interest. If she let them have that much then that would allow them to move forward in whatever plans they were hired to do. Barbara Gordon would have to let them break first and right now the best game she could play was that of a dead possum.
Perhaps ruffling their feathers would warrant enough time. [/style]
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Post by Huntress on Nov 24, 2012 12:15:29 GMT -5
Helena has always been a vigilante that acts first before words are spoken. Usually anyone that stood before the mini crossbow had to be her enemy and target for her to unleash her own sense of justice, but in this situation it was much different. The person before her weapons was a guy who clearly entered the apartment with ease, and something did bother her. If he had any part of Barbara's disappearance then she would have entered right into the middle of a battle between Dinah and the new arrival, but instead when she arrived her friend was standing beside the guy who was now being pointed at by the mini crossbow. Black Canary had been a person who was known for seeing through people and trusting someone if she thinks is right.
It would seem that Helena made a critical mistake and an error of judgement. Babs was Oracle and thus had lots of friends in Gotham City and beyond that made her a popular person, and only one person had the talent to enter the premises and activate Barbara's high tech computers quite easily. The purple vigilante gritted her teeth in pure anger, she couldn’t believe she had just messed up again right before Dinah the field leader and in front of him, Huntress hated messing up especially right before the people she respected. With Oracle missing BC had taken up the mantle of leadership of the Birds of Prey, she was a great leader and not a person whom you should get angry.
Out of the Birds, Dinah was the better fighter then Hunty, yet Helena didn’t really care on ranks. She only cared for her new family the Birds and for Oracle, and now her friend was missing. She figured she was losing focus because she was worried about Barbara’s safety, right now she had to put her worries aside and do what she does best and that was being a team player. Her anger was not towards Dinah or Batman, far from it she was angry with herself for messing up yet again, she soon revealed it by changing the expression on her face from angry to concerned. Had it only just hit her that her friend was out there? And who knows what they were doing to Babs! Who ever it wads that had took her was going to pay.
With Batman now here it was only a matter of time before others would join in the search for Oracle. But now inside her mind she turned to some questions which needed answers, who knew Barbara’s location as her identity of Oracle was top secret? Only a select few knew this, including Dinah, Batman and Helena, and where the kidnappers going to use her as bait to lure their enemies? Only one person could really answer these questions and his name was the Dark Knight Batman. He soon began to speak regarding what he had discovered, this man was a genius and each word he spoke meant the truth.
As she looked at the monitor she saw the evil face of Killer Frost, a gal who was a cold bloody killer. Helena followed Batman's findings carefully and sure enough he was right, he was not called the worlds greatest detective for nothing. And it wasn’t long before Dinah shouted to Helena to stand down, turning to BC she immediately lowered the mini crossbow and placed it back into the holster. With a gentle sigh, she slowly began to focus and soon walked over to join the others near Oracle's desk.
Being as quiet as a mouse the purple vigilante looked around at her surroundings while thinking. Babs must have left some kind of clue, but the Dark Knight had already given them plenty of clues to go by. Killer Frost was no push over but who was she working for, why did she do this to Oracle and how did Killer Frost know about Barbara's address? Without saying much she simply pulled her long purple cloak tightly around herself and watched the others while giving out her thoughts on the situation.
"And find out how Killer Frost knew where Barbara lived"
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