Ascension 2

Chapter Thirty Three: Oracle Of Delphi….Part One. 

The murder of the district Attorney had reached the GCPD office the following morning and there were a lot of rumors that reached everyone. Until the facts in the case were sorted out, no one was speaking on the record. It was like that elephant in the room feeling that they were all talking about but very few of them were really going to address.

"Flass, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The choice is yours, but I've got all day," Rachel said as she tapped on her watch as she paced back and forth around the room. She stopped at a certain point and looked Flass dead on in the eye. "Don't think that I know what you're up to. You can make this a lot easier on yourself if you give names."

"And you can make it a lot easier on yourself, sweetheart, if you know where not to stick your nose," Flass said as he looked back at Rachel with fear but she stood back, her eyes burning into his.

"I'm not about to play games with you, Flass, and don't insult my intelligence," Rachel said as she peered down. "Nice car you've been driving lately, well beyond your means. And you think that you can get away with assaulting someone."

"Hey, Gordon was asking for it….."

"That I doubt," Rachel interrupted as she looked at him. "You can tell me who put you up to this and you'd get a lighter sentence. Don't tell me, and…..well you're going up the river hard and fast."

She was hoping that he would implicate Loeb or Branden or both, because that would be the tangible piece of evidence that she needed to nail some kind of investigation on those two dodgy departments. Any mob connections, she wouldn't really complain that much about those either.

"Not budging," Gordon muttered as he looked at Flass. He acted like he had did nothing wrong at all and in his demented mind, he didn't do a damn thing wrong. Harvey Dent, Sarah Essen, John Jones, and Clancy O'Hara all watched.

"Two hours and he isn't slipping up," O'Hara said as he turned around. "Nothing happening, Gordon, I'd like a word with you briefly."

"Oh?" Gordon asked as he raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"My office, it shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes," O'Hara said, it was obvious that he wanted this conversation that happen away from prying eyes and prying ears. "I'm sure the three of you can keep me up to date if Flass sings."

"Of course, Chief O'Hara," Jones said in his calm voice.

Harvey looked at O'Hara with a questioning look, but O'Hara's stern expression pretty much told Dent to knock it off and focus on other things.

"I'll let you know if anything breaks," Sarah whispered to James and James nodded as he turned around to follow O'Hara in the opposite direction, away from the interrogation room to his office.

Both men sat down, with Gordon looking at O'Hara but the Chief of Police was all too quick to tell him what was going on.

"You've turned a few heads here, Gordon, I won't mince words, it's not all good," O'Hara said gruffly. "But you've done about as good of a job as you could, and your work under pressure in the last couple of crisises that we've had to deal with are top of the line. There are people who are going to see you fall but I wouldn't have made the decision that I did, if you weren't good enough for this."

"Chief?" Gordon asked as he was curious to see where this was going, his intrigue grew immediately after a few seconds.

"The Special Crimes Unit that I'm starting up, to handle….sensitive issues," O'Hara said and Gordon nodded. The gang warfare in Gotham City was getting out of hand. Before, when it was just the Maroni and Falcone factions, things were rather calm, but now with the Penguin and Black Mask put their name into the hat, everything spiraled out of control. "I want you to lead the Special Crimes Unit. You are receiving unprecedented jurisdiction, because….some people feel it's a necessity to have such a department in place."

O'Hara looked at Gordon as he questioned it.

"Who else will be in this department?" Gordon asked.

"You'd be with Essen, Jones, Bullock, Montoya, Allen, and MacDonald, among others," O'Hara informed him and Gordon looked at the Chief, questioning at least one of the choices.

"Bullock…."

"I know what you're thinking," O'Hara said as he cut off the assumed question. "Bullock has had his shady dealings and he is somewhat corrupt in some ways. However, deep down, he's a stand up man. I think that he'll work out well and may bring out his best tendencies."

Gordon mulled this over in his mind, four rookies, three experienced detectives; it seemed to be an interesting arrangement and O'Hara looked at him.

"So if you accept this promotion, you will now be division head," O'Hara said and he leaned forward. "And Gordon, just for the record, there are others that Loeb wants to insert in your spot….that might not be best for Gotham City. But that is strictly off the record."

"Of course," Gordon replied, he understand that immediately as he leaned back half of an inch and shook his head. To say that he could not believe it, well that would be putting things mildly to say the very least.

"So do we have a deal?" O'Hara asked and Gordon nodded his hand. The two men shook hands with each other and parted their separate ways.

James Gordon made his way from the office, in a bit of a daze, and he had went down, passing Sarah.

"Hasn't cracked yet," she informed him and Gordon nodded as he turned around to mull this over but nearly bumped into his daughter.

"Jeez, Dad, where's the fire?" Barbara asked in her usual manner but she could see the fact that her father's mind appeared to be somewhere else. "Actually is there something wrong?"

"No nothing wrong, in fact I just got promoted, head of a Special Crimes Unit," James told her and Barbara smiled.

"Really, that's great," Barbara said as she gave her Dad a tight hug, she was pleased for him and she could tell that he was pleased for himself.

"Well this is fascinating," Vicki commented as she looked over the file that Harry had given her while the both of them set up shop in her office.

"Isn't it, though?" Harry asked her and Vicki smiled.

Harry was sitting on her desk right now, as she was sitting in the chair. Her glasses were on and her hair was tied back in a ponytail. She was wearing a sweater dress, although the fashion choice might be something that she would have regretted in due time due to the fact that it is itchy. The thigh high boots that she wore was something that added to the outfit.

"Don't know how you got your hands on something like this, but it's pure dynamite," Vicki said as she absent mindedly stroked her hands off of Harry's bare feet as his shoes and socks were on the floor.

"Well I got my sources but I found this one attached to an e-mail," Harry told her. "And I think that you may agree that its worth both of our times to pursue."

"Yes, yes, for sure," Vicki agreed as she nodded up and down intensely, to the point where she resembled an overgrown bobble-head.

Harry held her portfolio in his hand and he was looking over it, hemming and hawing immediately. "Well a very nice body of work you have here, television media, along with radio media…..and not to mention the fact that you're a photojournalist, very nice."

"Well I have an eye for talent, although there are a lot of people in this city that don't seem to take much pride in their work," Vicki remarked in a somber voice and Harry suspected that might have been a tip of a hat to something.

"Hence why….oh that's a good spot," Harry managed as Vicki slowly rubbed his feet, looking over the file immediately. "Anyway, that's why you were so insistent that you had a halfway decent camera crew."

"Pretty much, I've gotten some shit ones that have made some good stories be unfit for air," Vicki informed him and she brushed her hair out of her face. "It's one of those presentation type things as well. If you can't present it well, people aren't going to give you a time a day. That's why all of those puff pieces get eyes, production values. That and people are dazzled by the shiny."

"Of course," Harry agreed.

'That does seem to be a commonly recurring problem,' Faora chimed in as Vicki and Harry continued to make some light conversation.

'Yes, but it's one that we could exploit to our advantage,' Kara chimed in with a wicked and calculating smile on her face.

'Well, I can see that we've got some plans in the works now,' Zatanna said.

'Just thinking ahead to the future, that's all,' Kara agreed, and they had plenty of time to think ahead to the future because of the nature of their life span.

Harry stopped immediately and smiled as he saw something. Vicki looked up immediately to catch the smile on his face. "What's that?"

"Seems like you have an interesting item snuck in here, Miss Vale," Harry told her and Vicki raised an eyebrow at what he saw and then she leaned over to look at them.

There was a completely nonplussed look on her face. "Oh those….well it isn't exactly a secret that I did those and….they're tastefully done….and done in an artistic manner. Some might debate that nudes can be done artistically or tastefully but….."

"No, I agree, they're pretty tastefully done all things considered," Harry said immediately as he looked them over.

"Yeah, something I did when I was younger, almost regret it now but it's not that big of a skeleton to throw in my closet, at least not as big as some of the skeletons that are going around here," Vicki admitted as she looked at Harry. "Nothing confirmed though…."

"It rarely is," Harry replied as Vickie continued to rub his foot attentive.

"Soooo, back to the e-mail, what was the source….."

"You know that's a pretty good question," Harry told her and Vickie raised her eyebrow. She wanted elaboration which Harry picked up on. She was not officially on the network, at least not yet, but Harry knew enough to know enough. "I tried to trace everything back to the source, but got a big four zero four on the thing."

"So, someone covering their ass," Vicki muttered and Harry smiled back at her.

"My thoughts exactly," Harry told her as she continued to give him the foot rub on the desk. "Not as good in real life."

"Oh?" Vicki asked and she took a second to realize that he was speaking about the nudes.

"But, naturally I'm up for a reminder to compare about how much that you've matured," Harry told her and Vicki looked at him with a smug expression.

"Well, small world, isn't it?" Vicki asked him and Harry smiled as she rose from her chair. Her dress was short and it showed a hint of the flesh that was to come. "You know, I'm in for a reminder that last night, well that it wasn't a really erotic dream."

"Well, I think that I might be up with it," Harry told her and Vicki climbed onto the desk and straddled Harry, her legs resting over his hips, her hands around the back of her neck, and a smoldering grin on her face.

"Well, let's see how much you're up for it," Vicki whispered in his ear as her fingers brushed down the side of his hair and she leaned forward with a kiss that deepened with the pair of them, and Harry cupping her tender rear in his hands.

Harry cupped her rear tighter as the kiss continued. She slid back from it after a few seconds.

With a saucy grin, she slowly slid off her panties and spread her legs. Harry was able to see up her dress and see her very aroused, pink snatch waiting for him. It beckoned for him and naturally Harry was going to take it. He pushed one finger inside her, then two fingers, pumping his way into her.

"Oh yes," Vicki moaned as he worked his fingers in and out of her. The emerald eyed wizard kept working her over as he picked up the momentum. Harry really was going to town on her delicious snatch.

"That feel good?" Harry asked but Vicki reached forward and tried to unbutton his pants. She had a moment where her mind went numb due to the amazing orgasm that Harry gave her but she was there.

His boxers were pulled down and his dick stood at attention on the desk. The reporter looked at it, with a grin on her face as she slowly started at the base.

She trailed a series of hot tender kisses down it, and Harry's cock jumped every time she kissed it. She locked her lips on the head of it and she slid her hand slowly down the base, to grope his balls.

"Don't just wait," Harry breathed but Vicki pulled herself up.

"I got a better place to stick that huge cock, honey," Vicki said with a saucy grin on her face and her hips swayed. Harry watched as they hypnotically gyrated from one side to the next and her pink snatch was slowly revealed to him.

Her wetness pushed up and slid down onto his thick rod. Harry closed his eyes as he felt her clamp down onto him.

"That's so good," Harry groaned as Vicki slid down onto his pole. "Slow down, not a race."

"Sorry," Vicki apologized as Harry groped her ass roughly and held onto her hips. She rocked her hips up and down on him and he worked his cock speared up between her hips. The woman clamped down onto him as she worked him up and down. The reporter's momentum increased with each thrust.

She speared herself down onto him as he groped her breasts through her dress. That caused her to whimper with desire and lust as she tightened her pussy's grip around him. The woman rode him up and down, she was going to have her way with him and then some more. Her pussy squeezed him as she picked up the pace.

He groped her tits some more and she felt the rush go through her body.

An orgasm blew her mind as she kept working Harry over. He allowed her to ride him a little faster to pick up some momentum and that was she did.

"I love this inside me," Vicki moaned.

"You feel so good," Harry agreed as he kissed her heatedly, both trying to choke each other out with their tongue. He held onto her, controlling the pace, although it was all about building up that momentum for the big ending.

Vicki picked up the tempo because she was allowed to, her tight walls closing around Harry. Her body heated up with the orgasmic pleasure and joy as her heated loins were rubbed with Harry's cock. It was like having a massage on the inside of her body and her nipples grew harder against the fabric of her dress.

Harry could see how horny this woman was and he could feel it. Her pussy walls were slick and they rubbed his prick in the most pleasurable way as he cupped her ass.

"Oh Harry," Vicki yelled as Harry shoved a finger up her ass and diddled it. "HARRY!"

"That feel good, honey?" Harry whispered hotly in her ear and Vicki tightened her dripping hot twat tightening against him as they tested the structural integrity of her desk. Thankfully, it held up. Her dripping hot walls slid up and down against her, as he cupped her ass from behind.

"Yes….yes…the best….better than the rest," Vicki stammered through her orgasm as she closed her walls around him and Harry clenched her ass once again. The woman's eyes screwed shut and she bit down on her lip. Her walls slid up and down to lubricate his pole and the juices coated it as he slid in and out of her with ease.

How many orgasms did she go through? She lost count but all she knew was that she had to hang onto her. Her stamina was amazing and after the previous encounters, she was prepping herself up for more. The woman panted lustfully as her walls slid up and down against him. The woman rode him down hard, working her hips against him, gyrating against his body. All twelve inches of him pushed in and out of her body.

"Almost there?" Vicki inqiuried but Harry sucked on her neck which caused her to shiver. He could mark her as his own, although he already had in different ways.

"Why, trying to rush me?" Harry asked but his balls were getting heavy with cum as they had been going at it for well over an hour without any pause and he sped up. This tight temptress was going to get every single drop of cum and then some.

"Oooh….ahhh….fuck," Vicki managed as she had devolved to that point, with her slick walls riding him up and down. He rocked inside her body and the woman kept pushing herself up and down on him.

"Yes, oh fuck," Harry whispered in her ear and Vicki's walls tightened around him, as she felt the rush of the orgasm burn through her body.

"That's….the ticket," Vicki whimpered as she hung onto his neck and she kept riding him, working herself up and down onto him.

The woman was this close to losing her mind and Vicki held on for the ride.

His balls tightened and he blew his load inside her. Vicki screamed as his sticky seed injected its way deep into her love canal and caused her to scream as he blew his essence into her, filling her completely up.

She collapsed onto his chest, feeling the rush of a completed orgasm.

The two of them finished up their activities and Vicki slid back, with Harry putting his pants on. The reporter pulled her panties up just like that and shook her head to clear the cobwebs that had been forming in her mind.

"Simply amazing," she said with a smile and Harry retorted with a smirk of his own.

"Aim to please," Harry said to her as he managed to discreetly use an air freshening charm to remove the odor of sex from around the office. It was likely one of the most useful charms that he ever had to learn.

A knock on the door and Vicki looked up.

"It's open!" Vicki yelled as she made sure that she was decent.

A medium sized build man with dark hair slipped into the office and Vicki looked at him. He looked surprised to see that Harry Potter was there.

"Hello, my name is Harry Potter," Harry commented in a would be casual voice without missing a beat, shaking the man's hand.

"So….so I've heard," he muttered, shock did not even begin to describe what he thought. "Elliot Knox."

Harry smiled and he turned to Vicki. "Something's come up, I'll catch you later."

He kissed her on the cheek and left without another word other than that.

"So what did you want to speak to me about?" Vicki asked casually to her producer as if Harry Fucking Potter had not just been in her office.

Harrison left his London office at a brisk pace and was making his way to the Ministry. Granted, he could teleport there but it was a short enough walk not even to bother wasting any of his energy. Besides, it allowed him to mentally conduct some business in the back of his mind.

'So, on your way to the Ministry?' Jaime asked as she popped in on the bond link.

'Got to have lunch with Amy and the Black Sisters,' Harrison told her and there was an implication that it was the after lunch related activities that he was more interested in but duty called.

'Better you than me,' Jaime answered immediately. She was glad that she did not have to ever step one foot into that crap hole of a world ever again. Although she got it far worse than Harry or Harrison did for that matter, for reasons that she had gone over constantly in her head.

'I would say that it wasn't that bad, but there are still a lot of people here that make me wonder how they remember to breath, but sadly if we only kept people who had a few braincells, we'd be understaffed,' Harrison thought. 'Plus as Amelia reminds me, it's better to keep them at the Ministry where they can do minimal damage and think that they are actually something than to unleash them in the real world.'

Jaime and Harrison shuddered at the thought of that.

'So you do have an office there?' Jaime asked.

'Hasn't been opened in ages, not sure if I ever have been in there,' Harrison thought as he smiled. 'Maybe one time, I fucked Nym on the desk but that was about the extent to how I used that office.'

'You did,' Nym chimed in without missing a beat.

'Well there you go,' Harrison commented with a smile as he stepped inside immediately.

'One good thing about Britain is that they do have good tea, no one in the states could make a halfway decent cup of tea to save their lives,' Jaime told him.

'Hence why you and Prime are coffee addicts,' Harrison said with a chuckle.

'It's not an addiction, it is a way of life,' Jaime replied and there were a few more protests.

'If you insist, although denial is something that you've excelled at,' Harrison said as he sat down himself to have a brief cup of tea before he made his way to the Ministry.

There was something in the air but he brushed it off right away, putting it off as the fact that he was working too hard.

'What's up?' Jaime asked.

'Long days, that's what's up,' Harrison told her without skipping a beat and Jaime accepted that fact, with a smile on her face.

'Well, yes, pretty much,' Jaime agreed as she frowned but she could sense that Harrison sensed something else and neither liked it.

Harrison plugged away drinking the tea swiftly.

'I figure that it was time for me to put an appearance, to remind them that I exist, and hey, I'm having lunch anyway, so kill two birds with one stone,' Harrison concluded. 'Bellatrix, Morgaine, and Circe are up to something, some kind of project, don't really quite know the particulars of it now, they're busy at work.'

He paused and he could pretty much sense Jaime's question coming in so he jumped in to cut her off.

'For the record, I could listen in but after a while, the three of them going back and forth would be like a three way tennis match, it's kind of amusing but at the same time….it might give me a little bit of a headache,' Harrison thought as he got to his feet.

After the pitstop, he was on his way to the Ministry and his initial thoughts that he brushed off returned to him.

There was something a tad bit wrong with what was going on around him and Harrison paused, looking around.

The further he made it from Mundane London to Magical London, the more reality seemed to be shifting into each other for lack of a better term. In fact, there was almost like that there were two realms bleeding together.

Harrison placed his hands forward and he could feel something….a bit off for sure for lack of a better term.

'Feyworld is bleeding into the real world,' Harrison thought to himself and he managed to cut off any thoughts before they started on the other end.

Harrison recalled his history and recalled that the world of the Fey, the Faerie, whatever, had closed itself off from the Mundane World. They sealed it off immediately.

His green eyes looked up and the further he ventured forward, the darker and wilder things began to come. It was almost like something out of a completely twisted and tormented fairytale.

He ventured further and he was most certainly not in London any more. In fact he was in a forest that was completely twisted and in fact made the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts look like an enchanted land of wonder and excitement.

The young wizard heard something, his ear perking up, and then there was an axe that nearly parted the back of his head.

Harrison crouched down to duck it and he saw a hideous creature, red, with an ugly deformed face. It had sharp claws and sharp teeth, and glowing red eyes. Blood dripped from the blade. The chattering of the creature continued.

'Red Caps,' Harrison thought in recognition.

The creature went for him again and once again Harrison dodged. Then he sprang up and rocked his enemy with a roundhouse kick to send him flying into the tree, hitting it like a ping pong ball as it bounced off.

The moment it hit the tree, the wood started to crack and an entire score of the critters burst out, in an attempt to bury Harrison underneath their sheer mass.

He was ready for them, erecting a shield that was part of a two pronged assault. Some of the creatures were set on fire, and others were knocked backwards, depending on the position where they attacked him.

Harrison continued to go on the attack and them, being quite dense, tried to attack him once again. He had a shield completely up and he scrunched them into a ball before banishing them off to parts unknown.

The few stragglers that were off had scattered.

Harrison kept walking forward, wondering what was happening. He was not certain if he would like the answer if someone told him. Never the less, by lifting one hand he figured the source of the problem and also a way to return to the Mundane World.

He crossed back over and saw that there was a rift in the veil of reality that caused him to temporary cross over. Harrison studied it and managed to find a way to seal it, although time would only tell whether this was a quick fix or not.

'What the hell just happened?' Ginny asked as she hopped in.

'Something extremely wrong,' Harrison thought as he was thrown off his game just a little bit.

'So do you need me to come up there and help you?' Harry asked as Harrison wrapped up his conversation and told him of the very strange situation that he had to deal with. Zinda dropped Harry off at the front entrance of Wayne Industries.

'Don't worry about it, no offense, but I can do pretty much anything that you could do and things would be complicated,' Harrison said and it went without saying that they were already complicated enough without things being more complicated. 'Between Circe, Morgaine, and Nimue, I got plenty of back up.'

'Fair enough,' Harry thought as he entered Wayne Industries and made his way up the stairs. He had no clue what was really happening and to be honest, he had his own business to take care off.

He reached his office and saw the mountain of paperwork that waited for him on his desk. It was the bane of the existence of any businessman and he sighed.

'Well, let's get started then,' Harry thought as he split off a dupe and the dupe prepared to work on things. This would be his secretary's desk right now. 'Could really use a personal assistant right about now.'

'Well if you can't find anyone off hand, I can do the job,' Narcissa thought, she had plenty of experience dealing with paperwork off hand so it would not be too much of a departure from what she was doing already.

'Really you do need two,' Karen reminded him.

'Yes, a social secretary and a personal assistant,' Harry said as he left the dupe to do the dirty paperwork as he walked into his office and sank down. 'Cissa, you can take either job, just get back to me later, and we'll sort things out.'

Harry had one of the files in his hand, it was a project that he was planning to start, but he got caught up in the arms theft case.

'Sersi, Karen, and Faora, could the three of you spare a few moments of your time, because I need to talk?' Harry inquired.

'Okay,' Sersi said, she had moved up to the CFO of RAO. Honestly though it was just an extension of her regular role of Harry's account manager. She had a team of girl goblins that were tackling every aspect of the situation.

'Yeah we're here,' Karen replied and Faora jumped in immediately.

'Is this about the project?' she inquired and the tone indicated that it was.

'Yes, Faora, it's about the project,' Harry confirmed to her and the dark haired Kryptonian insisted that he would continue. 'I want to know the feasibility of RAO co-developing it with Wayne Industries.'

'You seem insistent on this project getting off the ground,' Karen said, not that she blamed him per say. It did in fact seem like a pretty damn good idea. 'Just…..'

'Well there are three reasons,' Harry said as he ticked them off for them. 'First of all, it will help people in the long run. Second of all, it's an amazing achievement in the field of medicine. Third of all, it will show people that RAO is not some fly by night company that is only devoted to making the best smart phone available.'

'Well it's hard to argue with that point,' Faora said to Harry in amusement but Sersi reminded him of something.

'As the owner of RAO and the co-owner of Wayne Industries, you do have access to a rather generous special projects budget,' Sersi said, she had managed to keep this in order with her team and she thought that it allowed Harry a very substantial allowance.

'Perhaps you should tap into it, like Wayne does during his Nocturnal activities?' Faora asked but before they could go forward on that line of thought, a dupe knocked on the door.

The dupe slipped inside and dropped a file on Harry's desk.

'Well I better address this with Fox, because this is a stupid fucking idea,' Harry thought as he allowed the dupe to get some more work done.

He made his way towards Lucius Fox's office and his secretary looked up, blinking and she smiled.

"Right inside, Dr. Potter," Lucius's secretary said and Harry nodded.

"Thanks," Harry told her graciously with a smile as he made his way into the office, determination in them.

He could see Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox were bent over a blueprint of some sort, although Harry did not have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what they were working on. That being said, that was on his list of things to accomplish.

He entered the office and locked the door over as both men waved him over. Obviously they were asking for some input on some sort and he looked down, looking at the model. It was extremely streamlined and it looked better than the previous model in some ways but there were other ways where it could be improved on.

He sketched down on the piece of paper but his eyes were locked on them. When he was sure that he had their full and undivided attention, he spoke. "First of all, absolutely not to making applied sciences disappear. I don't know what brain surgeon came up with that idea, but it's fucking stupid."

Bruce and Lucius looked up in surprise, they were surprised about how blunt he was but it was honestly refreshing when he did not beat around the bush.

"Exactly why are you so adamant against this?" Bruce asked calmly.

"It would be pretty much impossible for an entire division to disappear and people who looked into the books would be looking into other things, things that could be inconvenient for Wayne Industries as a whole," Harry told both of them and they nodded. "Just because Earle turned it into an archive, it doesn't mean it should stay that way. This is Wayne Industries, we should be in the cutting edge of technology, of all technology, no matter what."

It was hard to argue with Harry as he made an interestingly compelling point. He slid a file for both of them to look over and both men looked impressed.

"So what is this?" Lucius asked, he inquired this and Harry was glad that he asked.

"RAO has been working on this tech but I think that it would be a lot smoother process if both companies are splitting the bill," Harry replied as they looked it over.

"I see no reason not to," Bruce muttered and Lucius nodded.

"Well, looks like we've got quite the interesting project to work on," Lucius agreed and Harry continued to look over the sketches.

"What happened to the old one, if this is a new model?" Harry asked.

Bruce paused for a second and it was almost like he was thinking something over. "There's a mobility issue, lack of movement and it wasn't that durable."

That and his latest encounter with Silver Monkey sent him into a storm drain. It took eight showers for him to get the stink off of him but the circuitry was fucked on the suit.

"So, you followed up my advice?" Zatanna asked and Barbara nodded with a grin as she had a conference call set up, with Kara, Zatanna, Pamela, and Dinah all joining her over the video feed. "So, how was it?"

"Better than I expected, and believe me, it was pretty good," Barbara said with a smile but there was somewhat of an annoyed expression on her face which Pamela caught onto really quickly.

"Of course, because you got a taste, now you want even more, don't you?" Pamela asked and Barbara nodded up and down immediately, flushed immediately.

"Well I think that we can all attest for the fact that it is more than worth the wait," Dinah said and Kara picked up with a wide grin on her face.

"Yeah, if you thought that the appetizer was good, you should experience the main course," Kara said and Barbara grimaced, the appetizer made her extremely hungry for more and these females were feeding her lust.

"Not helping, guys," Barbara said as she wrinkled her nose up with a frown crossing her face.

"Sorry," Kara piped in an apologetic voice, although there was something about her that did not sound all that sorry at all. "So, working the late shift?"

"Yeah, GCPD's IT guy disappeared about a week or so ago," Barbara said and the four girls knew exactly all that needed to be said right now. The guy disappeared, which mean he likely turned up dead. "So I've been putting in the extra hours here, not that I mind, pay is pretty good and hey, my Dad got promoted."

"You've been bursting to tell us that, haven't you?" Pamela asked and Barbara looked sheepish as she replied back.

"Pretty much, yeah," Barbara retorted as she continued to go through the files, while she talked to them. "Can you blame me though?"

"Not at all," Pamela said and she frowned. "It's a nice autumn night in Gotham City….."

"That's the thing, isn't it?" Barbara asked as she frowned absent mindedly. She had her project out in front of her, six of the seven gates were down. She was this far a while back but a misstep had screwed things over. She was determined to accomplish this goal.

"What's the thing?" Dinah asked and she cleared her throat when she saw that Barbara drifted mentally into never-never land.

"Oh….well it's the thing, I think that something is happening now," Barbara said as she got up halfway and she could hear something. "I just got to get something….I'll call the four of you back in a little bit."

"Is something wrong?" Kara asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, just got a lot of work to do, talk to you all later, bye," Barbara said as she turned around, peering over her shoulder as she stepped off to the side, nervously shifting as she heard something.

She looked up in the open vent above her and she could get a bird's eye view. The redhead shifted over and set up the rolling chair which gave her a boost. It was a tight fit even from someone like her slim figure as she tried to make her way through.

She could hear gruff voices and she reached the end of the vent. There were two men dressed in SWAT uniforms. One of them was Howard Branden, there was no mistaking that ugly mug. The other one had his back to her, so she could not really get a good enough view of his face.

"Did you hear about Flass?" Braden asked to him.

"Yeah, stupid goon got himself beating up trying to fuck with Gordon," the SWAT member said as he looked at his supervisor. "Didn't you put him up to it?"

"Yeah, didn't think the dumb bastard would go through it, especially alone," Branden said, more surprised than anything. "Thought he'd take a couple of goons and get Jimbo all alone where they could work him over."

Barbara lifted her hand over her mouth to stifle the astonished gasp. Given what these men were capable of, she did not want to get caught by them.

"Thought he could handle it, I mean, Flass used to be a Green Beret, wasn't he?"

"So?" Braden asked as if he waved off this piece of information with the same air of someone waving off a bad weather forecast. "Gordon's special forces and worked homicide in the worse precinct in Chicago for fifteen years. It wasn't exactly an even fight. "

"Yeah, but what are you going to do if he talks?"

"Flass won't talk," the SWAT leader said, confident, some might say arrogant about this fact. "The man knows where his bread is buttered. If he does….he'll find himself at the bottom of the harbor. But enough about that, you remember the plan for tonight?"

"Yeah, yeah, take the guns out of lock up and load them up, got them," the goon said. "Then take them all to a different part of Gotham. Don't understand why we're splitting 'em up like this, though."

"Because it's not going to the same place or the same buyer," Braden said swiftly. "Figure we make offers to everyone that can pay. Say the guns are in limited supply since we were able to get so many crates out of lock up. That way, they can pay it at a premium, and get the most guns. If the Bird pays the most, then the Bird gets the most. If Sionis pays the most, they go to him, and you get the picture, so on and so forth."

"Yeah, but what are you going to do about Vale?" the goon asked and Braden looked at the goon like he grew a second head.

"What do you mean, what am I going to do about Vale?" Braden questioned, agitated at the very question. "I already sent some of the boys to sort that bitch out."

"Oh man, didn't you hear?" the goon asked and Braden's attention was grabbed. "Someone got to them, before they got to her, left them laying."

"Shit!" Braden cursed angrily, he wondered if it was the Bat or the Ninja, either one was a pain in his side. "Well…..we'll send some more, get her to show something….show her why a bad idea to be a nosy bitch!"

The goon nodded but he stiffened.

"Did you hear that?" the goon asked him and Braden looked around. "There's something in the vents."

"It's nothing, rat likely," Braden said as he tapped on the vent. "Lot of those in this building."

Barbara already was out of the vent and on her way to find her father but she could not find him. She searched frantically for several minutes and almost ran head long into Renee Montoya.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" Renee asked with a frown as she looked at Barbara.

"Renee…have you seen my father?" Barbara asked and she looked at him.

"Sorry, he's gone, Barbara," the woman said in an apologetic voice. "He's out of the office….he didn't say when he would be back."

"Okay, thanks," Barbara said as she made her excuses and scrambled off. She was quick as a flash as she tried to dial up voice mail but there was nothing.

Now she was worried, well more than normally that was for sure.

The jewelry store windows had been shattered which was a blinking signal for Black Canary and Nightwing that something was in fact up in Gotham City.

'Just another night,' Harry thought with a slight sigh as he leaned his neck back. They were ready to go in to see what they had to deal with. It was likely a couple of hoods who tried to knock off the goodies inside, they should be home free once they got inside.

'Look,' Dinah thought to Harry and Harry looked, seeing a fairly attractive Asian woman. Facepaint covered her face and she wore a skin tight brown and gold suit that wrapped around her features. Her snug ass was turned away from them but they noticed that she had a crossbow. And she might have been the look out. 'I'll go for her, why don't you go inside and check to see what's happening.'

'Right,' Harry thought as he edged past Dinah and picked up an amazing pace.

The woman saw Harry and she loaded her bow and began to fire. Dinah was moving into position and Harry's actions were doing a wonderful job in giving her the cover that she needed. Harry slipped inside immediately.

Dinah was perched and ready to pounce which gave Harry the chance to go inside. He came face to face with a bulky looking fellow, dressed in a blue shirt and slacks, with a white mask covering his face. His blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and a baseball bat was clutched in his hand.

He noticed Harry and rifled through his bag before he pulled out three baseballs and threw them at Harry.

The emerald eyed sorcerer dodged the tossed balls which was a good thing as they impacted the side of the wall. Miniature explosions rang out as Harry shook his head, clearing the cobwebs. The wall was shattered when they impacted.

He was knocked forward by the resulting impact and the thug rushed forward, before he swung the baseball bat. He did not hit a homerun on Harry's skull do to the fact that he crouched down and ducked.

Outside, Dinah jumped onto the woman on the outside. She landed down onto the ground, having been caught off guard.

She returned fire quickly with a vicious roundhouse kick to the face. Dinah was caught off guard and that blow allowed the woman to reclaim her crossbow, loading it up.

She ducked into the shadows and Black Canary looked around.

There was a flash of the woman and an arrow fired at her. She dodged it and a few more rapid fire arrow shots, some of them coming rather close to connecting her. The woman almost put an arrow between her eyes but Dinah bounced back, avoiding the attacks.

Back inside, Nightwing perched himself on the countertop but a javelin flew through the air at him. He dodged the attack and it impacted the wall with a sickening crunch and he propelled himself through the air, to land behind his enemy.

His adversary turned around as another javelin was pulled out and he tried to run Nightwing through with it.

"Stand still!" he growled but Nightwing said nothing, rather he caused the man to fly head over heels. His chin cracked up against the counter with a solid thud and he rolled over. Despite his jaw being dislocated, he pulled himself to his feet.

He once again went after him with the Javelin but Nightwing was ready, catching the javelin in his hands. With another swift attack, he activated an electrical charge, sending it through the javelin and frying the man as he dropped down to the ground.

Fifty thousand volts but he would live. This Sportsmaster was down for the count and Nightwing slipped off into the night, after tying him up.

Black Canary felt frustration hit her as she realized that her enemy had got clear of her. Not before nearly hitting her a few times but that was beside the point.

Nightwing joined her, a slumped and tied up criminal over his shoulder. It was time for a quick drop off and then the hunt would be on.

Barbara Gordon was trying not to get frustrated although she found that frustration and desperation visited her extremely easily. There was a frantic attempt to get ahold of her father, in an attempt to warn him what she overheard. Much to her obvious dismay, none of her attempts to get through bared fruit.

So it was back to an attempt to hack into the device. She felt she was so close but yet so far. This was the most complicated piece of technology she ever had the fortune of looking at and her mind stirred with many thoughts as she locked eyes onto it.

'The last one,' Barbara thought as she felt herself backed against the wall. Her back was pretty much up against it as she wondered what she was up against.

One small misstep and weeks of work was down the toilet. She could not even understate how much pleasure she was under and she tried. The redhead bit down on the side of her mouth, feeling frustration burn through her eyes.

The final lock of the seventh gate, the last step that she needed to go through, before she was free and clear on her way in, and to say that Barbara Gordon was nervous would be the understatement to end all understatements. She felt petrification going through her mind as she tried to work on the gate. The device was in front of her immediately as sweat rolled down her face.

All of the stars were aligned but it could be plucked out from underneath her. Sweat rolled down her face and her stomach lurched a tiny bit.

'Focus,' she reprimanded herself as she was at the edge of the gate. It would be just her luck for everything to snap back and her to how to start from scratch.

No, she could not think about failing. She had to do this, so she went out and did it.

She felt her sweat roll down her face, and to the side of her neck.

Pressure cooker much?

She recalled how close she came a few weeks ago but she screwed up big time and it set her back to the beginning. One would think that just because she got so far, things would be far easier. They wouldn't be necessarily wrong but they wouldn't really be right either.

Barbara would have to disagree with some people who thought that pressure was something that was a good thing. Then again, it was something that she thought could make her make this final breakthrough.

Moment of truth, seconds felt like minutes, everything along this lines.

BEEP!

BEEP!

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Oh shit," Barbara grumbled underneath her breath as she could hear the beeping and the device began to flash red. Then her computer started to blink to life in a crazed and uneven matter, beeping all to life. The blipping continued, blinking back and forth.

Her computer lights were blinking red and it was starting to hang up for a second. Barbara frantically tried to get her way back in, her agitation getting more prominent by every second.

"No, No, NO!" Barbara screamed at the computer as she thought for a second that she was going to lose both her computer and the progress that she made on the device. "You stupid piece of shit, WORK!"

Barbara thought that if technology could flip someone off, it was doing just that right now.

Her heart almost stopped as she hung her head for a second. All progress had lost, she had screwed up big time and she was pretty much back to square one.

BING!

Barbara's head snapped up as she was surprised by the sudden bing and the voice that followed.

"Access granted."

Barbara bounced up out of her seat, her head snapping back immediately. Glee filled her eyes as she pumped her fist up into the air and started to dance triumphantly, shaking her ass right in front of the blinking communication device.

She could not believe it, she could not believe it, oh this was so awesome, she could not believe it, oh finally.

"Finally," Barbara whispered, triumph filling her eyes but she shook her head, she had to stop geeking out like a geek and focus on what she had to do.

She cleared her throat immediately and picked up the communication device and she held it up to her hand. It nearly trembled in her hand but she held it steadily. It was hard to keep herself calm because she was so pleased with herself.

That being said, she said one word tentatively at it. "Nightwing?"