Got Your Back, Always

III.XIX

Barbara rolls towards an officer, "Just put it on the street. Anybody caught with the drug is caught with a murder weapon."

"Got it."

"Thank you, Officer."

Dick walks up to her, "Hey."

"Hey. Any luck?"

"That SPM machine Crane stole is part of a city-wide ramp up. He's in production."

"So is that hundreds or dozens of doses?"

"Thousands. On the streets by tonight."

"Jesus."

"That machine has a searchable heat signature, but the Bat Computer can't see it. We need something that can see a little deeper."

"What about Cassie's? Doesn't she have her own special one down there?"

"You mean her 'Do not touch L.O.V. or I'll break both your hands' computer? Yeah, don't know the password." (A/N: L.O.V = Library of Vigil; it's a play-off of the Library of Alexandria, and it just so happens to be pronounced like "love")

Barbara smiled, "I forgot she always said that whenever anyone asked about it. You try her Computer Virus protocol?"

"First thing I tried. We don't have the right hardware for what we need."

She sighs, "No. Don't even ask."

"Oracle's our only hope. Bruce couldn't stop Scarecrow until he used Oracle."

"And then the NSA slapped an injunction on us, and I don't really feel like going to jail. I still do not know how Cassie managed to avoid getting thrown in there, a hell of a deal she must have made, and I swore to her to never use it again or else I'd risk us both."

"They'll never know."

"That sounds like something Bruce would say."

"If we don't use it, more people are gonna die."

"You and I both know that."

"I promised myself I wouldn't."

"You didn't get rid of it, did you? Why not?"

"Because I imagined a moment in the future so terrible that we might need it."

"That moment, we're here."

Barbara sighs and takes them to Oracle.

Oracle scans her eyes, "Access verified. Gordon Barbara Gail." It starts to boot up, "Hello, Babs. You have company. Identification requested." It scanned Dick. "Identified. Grayson Richard John. Hello, Gray."

"Hello, Oracle." He whispers to Barbara, "You can tell Cass made it because of the nicknames."

Barbara chuckled.

"My condolences for the loss of Mr. Todd, and Mr. Hall, and Mr. Wayne's sudden departure. Alongside my creator's condition." It scans for a moment, "She is currently at a resting heart rate of 42 beats per minute, blood pressure is currently at 135/85 mm Hg, her body temperature is at 94.6 degrees Farenheight. I recommend giving her another blanket to warm her system."

"I'll be sure to do that, thank you Oracle. I see you've updated your data systems."

"As is my protocol upon reactivation. Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Grayson?"

Barbara looks over at Dick, "The two of you would like some time alone?"

Dick smiles, "Commence search, Dr. Jonathan Crane."

"Of course. One moment." It searches for a moment, "Public communication, negative. Would you like to search private communications?"

Barbara shakes her head, "No."

"Yes," Dick says at the same time.

"Invalid answer."

"Yeah," she whispers.

Dick crosses his arms, "Yes."

"Of course. One moment." Oracle plays various phone calls, searching for Crane.

"'By tonight. Is it pure?'"

"That's Crane," she looks up at Dick.

"'Yeah man, it's pure.'

'Good. 6328 Bollinger Avenue. I'll be there in six minutes.'

'On my way.'"

Dick goes to rush out.

"Dick wait," she turns around.

"I'll tell you what I find." He gets in the elevator, and pulls out his phone, "Hey, Conner. 6328 Bollinger Avenue. Meet me there."

The elevator door closes.

Oracle speaks, "Your pulse rate is elevated. You seem upset, Barbara. Would you like to share your thoughts?"

"Command, sleep."

"Of course." Oracle goes to sleep.

"Hey, you doing ok?" Hank asked as Cassie opened her eyes.

She groaned and sat up, "What was that?"

"Malcolm explained it like your mind is trying to find balance, so pretty much trying to finish the job."

"Oh, well that sucks."

Hank laughed, "You get told that you are pretty much involuntarily trying to kill yourself and your reaction is "that sucks"?"

"Yep."

He chuckles, "Just take it easy, Malcolm said this would probably happen a lot."

She nods and sits up.

"Ok, get this though there may be something to reverse it."

"Go on."

"I was talking to some others and there's a way out."

"A way out of this place? To like to the next or back?"

"Back."

"Huh, how do we find it?"

"We have to find an upside-down tree."

"Well, let's get searching I guess."

They both head out to Hank's car and start their search.