ORACLE DD Ch 8

Viti puts the phone down, expression strained. Kate leans against the counter with her arms folded, watching worriedly. Being stuck together in Barbara’s apartment is the opposite of romantic; neither of them can think about anything but what’s going on outside. Sirens are constant, and audible even over the pounding rain. It’s not as though there’s a war going on; they aren’t hearing gunshots or anything, but it is abundantly clear that things are very busy out there. The streets are oddly empty; people are wisely staying home, and Kate wonders if Barbara shouldn’t have imposed a curfew to try to keep people out of the way—but Barbara must have calculated that would cause more problems than it would solve. The downpour is probably helping; it’s a hell of a storm.

“What is it?” Kate asks.

“That was the Gotham County detention. Aki’s been stabbed.”

“Jesus. How bad?”

“I don’t know. We have to get there.”

“We have to keep you inside.”

“She’s my wife.”

Kate steps in front of her and grabs Viti by the collar of her blouse to stop her. Up close, all sorts of things become noticeable. Viti’s warmth and softness. The fact that her deodorant is no match for the stress that she’s under. And the look on her face. In Viti’s shoes, Kate would be doing the same thing. Kate sighs and lets go. She picks up her gun from the counter and chambers a round, then slips it into her holster and picks up her coat.

“All right. Get your jacket,” she says.

ORACLE

Aria climbs out of the SUV and is immediately surrounded by bodyguards with long guns. Her caravan of five vehicles is behind the Iceberg Lounge, and as promised, the gate to the rear lot was left open for her. The building is lit up, but the exterior lights are off. The rainswept parking lot is dark except for the splashes of light reflected on the ground. At Aria’s side, Bianca lifts an umbrella and covers the two of them.

The door opens, and golden light spills out. The rotund shape of the Penguin is backlit dramatically. The bodyguards all take aim.

“Is that really necessary, my dear?” Cobblepot asks as Aria approaches.

“Would you trust me under the circumstances?” Things are bad enough that Aria isn’t going to bother with banter.

“I don’t even trust you now. Come in, come in.” Cobblepot gestures graciously, and Aria nods to her bodyguards. Four of them hurry inside with their weapons at the ready.

She waits, her eyes on Cobblepot. “Why the generosity?”

“The bill will be steep, my beautiful, Sicilian honey buzzard.”

Bianca bristles, but Aria touches her arm to settle her. “They’re freezing my accounts.”

“I don’t want your money. I want kompromat.” For once, Cobblepot is perfectly blunt.

“Done.”

“Then you are welcome in my house.”

The bodyguards return, and the leader comes straight to Aria. “He’s got a dozen guys in the restaurant. They’re armed. We outnumber them, but there could be more hidden.”

Aria has already done the math. She can retake the advantage in Gotham if she can make an example that sends the right message. But until that happens, she is ****. “Let’s go.”

ORACLE

It’s the kind of rain that makes driving an ordeal. The SUV assigned to the chief of police has no difficulty with puddles, but there are no windshield wipers that can deal with this. Kate drives fast, and Viti clutches the handle above her door in a **** grip.

“I’m gonna pull another unit for backup,” Kate says, keeping one hand on the wheel and reaching for her radio.

“No. They have enough to worry about.” Almost every cop in Gotham is on the street tonight, either partaking in Barbara Gordon’s operation or filling in the gaps.

The rain makes it tough to be sure, but Kate is almost certain they’re being followed. The temptation to call Bruce is strong. “We’re in trouble,” she says, her eyes on the rearview mirror.

“What do you mean?”

“I think they were luring us out. Hush for a minute.”

Viti is startled, but she doesn’t argue as Kate gets her phone out. “Hey! Hey, my good friend, who does not have a name,” Kate says loudly, speaking over the noise when Alfred picks up. “I think the commissioner is in danger and I really need a friend with big ears right now.”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Kane,” Alfred replies, sounding shaken. “Our mutual friend is out on other business. But I’ll convey your message.”

Kate opens her mouth to thank him, and the rear windshield dissolves as bullets pepper the back of the SUV.

ORACLE

Dripping, Aria and her retinue enter the main floor of the Iceberg Lounge. As expected, Cobblepot’s security team is present and wary, but they aren’t doing anything suspicious.

Relieved, Aria takes off her coat as Bianca shakes her umbrella.

“I’d offer you refreshment, but I sent most of the help home. You understand,” Cobblepot says with a sweep of his umbrella.

“Stay on him,” Aria tells her men, who watch Cobblepot warily.

“My dear, I can understand why you would think I might want to get rid of my competition, but you can’t think that I would do it here, in my own nest. My place of legitimate business,” Cobblepot says.

“Or maybe you knew that’s the only way I’d come here.”

Cobblepot smiles.

A soft ping echoes through the huge chamber. Then a footstep. Frowning, Aria turns to see a familiar but unwelcome figure emerge from behind a pillar. Harvey “Two-Face” Dent wears one of his characteristically unique suits split in two styles. The lights of the Iceberg Lounge do not flatter the scarred side of his face.

He catches his falling coin and flips it again. “Penguin doesn’t have the stones to kill you, honey.”

“To get ahead, one must learn to outsource,” Cobblepot says smugly.

More men appear, most of them on the level overlooking the dance floor. Aria’s men bring up their guns and cluster around her, but between Two-Face’s men and the Penguin’s, it’s a hopeless crossfire.

Aria’s teeth grind.

Two-Face flips his coin. “Good side. I’ll give you all a chance to drop your guns. If you do, maybe we only drop two bodies tonight.”

Cobblepot frowns. “Two?”

Two-Face pockets his coin and draws two guns, pointing one at Aria and the other at Cobblepot. “You asked me here for a single cross, Penguin. But when you ask for me, you should always expect double.”

ORACLE

The detention center is surrounded by high walls. It’s not as secure as a prison, but this is Gotham, and it’s built to be durable. The gate rolls open as Kate’s tire is hit and blows. Viti cries out and grabs on as the SUV rolls onto its side, screeching across the wet pavement in a slide. Kate unstraps and kicks the door open, hauling a squirming Viti out into the rain. She grabs her hand and pulls her up, about to make a break for the detention center, but bullets whizz past, forcing her back to cover behind the ruined vehicle.

There are lights and movement in the parking lot, but Kate has no situational awareness in the pouring rain. She can barely see twenty feet, and she can’t hear anything softer than a gunshot. If she can’t see or hear, neither can anyone else.

“Come on!” she shouts to Viti, yanking her out and firing her gun with one hand.

Viti slips, and Kate puts everything she has into a hard shove that sends the commissioner stumbling through the gate and into the safety of the walls. Kate is hit before she can lunge after her. She splashes into a frigid puddle, still pulling her trigger, but the gun is empty. Something feels wrong in her abdomen.

Gunfire erupts as officers come out shooting at the blinding headlights and the moving figures in the street. Someone grabs Kate’s vest and drags her into cover, where she finds a soaked and terrified Viti.

“We’re OK! You’re OK!” Kate shouts weakly. The men chasing them wanted to get them in the open; they aren’t about to mount a serious **** on a place like this. On the other hand, the gunfire isn’t letting up. It’s time to get Viti indoors, but Kate is bleeding. She’s not even sure she can stand.

The wall explodes in a shower of concrete chunks, bathing them both in dust and grit. Men shout, but the gunfire falters as a hulking figure lumbers through the hole. Glowing green tubes of Venom are easily spotted even in the dark storm. The harsh lights of the lot shine on bulging muscles and throbbing veins as Bane draws himself up.

“Oh shit,” Kate says, lurching upward. She gets between Bane and Viti only to be knocked aside as though she weighs nothing. She hits the pavement and rolls.

Frozen, Viti sits there in the rain, staring up in terror. Bane looms over her, raising both fists over his head.

A blinding flash makes him reel backward, and a lithe form in purple lands with a flutter of her cape. Spoiler stands between Viti and Bane, who has already recovered. He rises up to his full height. Kate can’t even breathe, let alone help, and dread weighs her down as much as her bruises. Stephanie looks like a child in front of a mountain.

ORACLE

“What’s it gonna be?” Two-Face demands with a voice like gravel, cocking both hammers.

The lights go out and lightning paints the Iceberg Longue with blue, casting a huge, winged shadow over the dance floor. Everyone looks up in time to see the skylight shatter and the chamber fills with smoke. The Batman explodes from the cloud. Two-Face swings around with his guns, but not before two massive boots crash into his chest, sending him tumbling head over heels across the polished floor.

Aria’s men open fire and fall back, rushing her toward the exit only to find it blocked by Cobblepot and his umbrella. Gunfire erupts on all sides.

Batman grapples to the second level, kicking rifles, throwing batarangs, and preventing Two-Face’s elevated gunmen from wholesale slaughtering everyone below.

Cobblepot advances, firing steadily with his umbrella as he deflects rounds from Aria’s bodyguards. Another of Aria’s men falls, and Two-Face picks himself up only for one of his goons to crash to the floor beside him.

“Son of a—” he’s cut off as Batman lands only a few feet away, cartwheeling out of the path of a bullet to launch himself at Cobblepot. The umbrella flies in one direction as hits the floor.

A batarang deploys with a metallic snap, and Batman holds it up, ready to throw. “Enough!” he barks.

“Not even close,” Two-Face replies, holding up a detonator. “You thought I came here with only one plan? You of all people should know there’s always a second act!” He flips his coin.

Cobblepot sits up with an indignant squawk. “You madman!”

The coin lands on the floor, bad side up.

“I wanted two birds, but I’ll settle for three,” Two-Face says.

Batman throws out his free hand. “Harvey, don’t!”

The blast sends everyone staggering. Water tanks burst and columns shift. More windows break, and glass cascades onto the dance floor. Everyone dives for cover. The main chandelier falls, and it’s the size of a house. Batman shoulders a bodyguard out of the way and it smashes the marble floor, then tips. Aria’s on the floor, paralyzed by terror. Her blonde assistant is calling to her, but she can’t move as the massive arrangement of gilded metal and light fixtures tips onto her. It must weigh as much as a semi-truck.

Aria cringes and covers her face, but all that hits her is glass. She looks up to see Batman bent over her, his back set against the massive weight. Jaw clenched, he wavers as he holds it up.

Aria comes to her senses and scrambles free, plunging into the smoke.

ORACLE

Bane’s fist is bigger than Stephanie’s head. Kate wants to look away, but can’t.

Stephanie catches the punch in both hands. A sudden gust of wind and heat blasts away the rain, and a powerful stench of rotten eggs hits Kate’s nostrils hard enough to make her gag. The pavement under Stephanie’s boots cracks under the **** of the blow.

The men at the gate are falling back. The first gangster through sweeps his light around, and the beam lands on Viti. He puts his rifle to his shoulder, then screams and falls with an arrow in his back. A headlight blinds them, and a motorcycle races into the lot, throwing up a sheet of water. Bane crashes through it, and Stephanie catches the next punch and twists, throwing his massive bulk over her shoulder to demolish a squad car.

Helena leaps off her bike and reloads her crossbow, immediately firing with a twang at someone that Kate can’t see.

Bane’s picking himself up, but there’s another flash of heat and that smell. Stephanie darts toward him and slams her fist into his abdomen. The tank on Bane’s back explodes in a blinding spray of hissing green, and he screams and collapses. Kate blinks. She doesn’t know if it’s the blood loss or the rain, but it almost looked as though Stephanie’s fist was glowing just now.

She looks down at herself. It’s a lot of blood, but there’s another glittering flash. Kate sees fishnets and a top hat.

“On dnuow,” a voice says.

ORACLE

Barbara knows better than to try to watch every detail of what’s going on in the city. She only monitors things that she can personally influence; knowing about anything beyond that is pointless at the moment. She wheels into her apartment after her security detail sweeps it.

Viti and Kate are not there. She knows better than to be surprised, and she deliberately chooses not to be angry until she has the full story. Lucius is calling. She puts her bag on the counter and props up her tablet so she can keep an eye on things.

“It’s me,” she says, accepting the call.

“Busy?”

“Absolutely nothing going on. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”

“Well, it’s time for you to do some of that decisive leadership you’re so good at.”

“Oh boy,” she says.

“There’s interest from the board on your proposition. But this only works if we are number one, Barbara. And we only get to be number one if we have the full support of the whole board and more. And we only get that support if the people giving it believe that this is going to make them rich.”

“They’re already rich,” Barbara reminds him.

He ignores that. “Are we really doing this?”

He doesn’t have to explain in detail because it’s nothing that Barbara doesn’t already understand. Ivy would settle for destroying fossil fuels, but in the real world, they have to be replaced by something. That means clean energy, but not in some utopian socialist way. This clean energy initiative isn’t a scientific endeavor; it’s a coup. And revolutions are not won by being nice to people. The softer alternative is political: using taxes to punish fossil fuels while incentivizing alternatives.

“I see a path forward, but it isn’t pretty,” Lucius says.

Should Lucius do whatever it takes to move the clean energy initiative forward?

Or should Barbara take the political route instead?