i have no heart, just ice and stone

[bodilesswarrior]

WHO:Shadow Oracle, Barbara Gordon, OTA
WHERE:Everywhere.
WHEN:The 20th to the 26th.
WHAT:Barbara's shadow self decides to solve some problems, in her own way.
WARNINGS:Violence, NPC deaths

She doesn't think of herself as Barbara, and most people won't recognise her as such, unless they're deeply familiar with the shape of her features. The rest of her is completely transformed. Her voice is similar, but there's an added reverberation to it, and an utter lack of warmth.

Sometimes, her face morphs into a mask; sometimes, she's carrying a sword that gleams with the same gold as her eyes, its hilt adorned with bat wings.

She fights with brutally efficient grace, a seamless blend of Batgirl and Oracle - except for any concern about collateral damage.

[Starters in the comments! If you want something specific, let me know.]

Comments

[bodilesswarrior]

She recognises him, of course, but she doesn't let it show; she understands the importance of secret identities, even if she no longer needs one. She isn't surprised that he's the one who notices, and she has an explanation prepared.

"I scouted ahead and I didn't see anything in the immediate area." She lowers the pitch of her voice; if he recognises her, he'll just ask more questions, and she'd like to avoid the distraction. "It's the quickest route to shelter."

Only the second part is true, but there's no shift in her voice or stance. Barbara was already very good at lying; Oracle had perfected it.

[batburgers]

There's something a little too inhuman about that voice and Jason isn't sure whether or not he trusts it, but the rest of the group seems to. His potential investor acquaintance has calmed down a lot since she arrived to "escort" them.

Jason stays on edge. She may think this is the best route, but he won't put anything past the zombies. They're only as predictable as they let you think they are.

"Which shelter is this?"

[bodilesswarrior]

She may not be invested in the comfort of these people, but she knows the value of calming a crowd, and she remembers how to do it. Her appearance isn't the barrier it might be elsewhere; it just marks her as an imPort, someone with the power to make a difference.

"We fortified one of the hospitals." She says we, but it was the real Barbara who coordinated the effort. "This isn't a real outbreak yet, but I don't know how long that will last." Frustration seeps into the flat coolness of her voice; she remembers soaring through cyberspace, finding all the data she could possible want, but that capacity is limited here, without the same connections and back doors.

[batburgers]

They're moving into the open space with little cover and too many routes that they could be attacked from. Sitting ducks the whole group of them. Something could come from anywhere.

"We?" That is not the kind of response he expected, but it feels like something that the curious and worried Jason Todd-Wayne can use to keep asking questions.

"Whose your partner? Or partners? There's so many superhero teams around I can't keep track of all of them."

[bodilesswarrior]

She shrugs, and the human motion seems a little discordant. "I don't confine myself to teams. The natives aren't entirely helpless, either, particularly outside of combat situations."

She nods over her shoulder, at the group walking behind them. Some are silent in their terror, almost motionless outside of the march forward. Others, though, are checking for information on their phones, or sharing snacks and painkillers from purses and pockets. Several are armed - pipes, bricks, steak knives, even a rake - and they've formed the outer edge.

It wouldn't be nearly enough, if they were alone, and it still might not save them when they're attacked. But they're ready to try, and it does mean something to her. You can still respect a sacrifice.

"All I had to do was reach out to the hospital and send word out to help." It was one of the teaching hospitals; De Chima has several of them.

[batburgers]

So the hospital set itself up as a safe space for it. It sounds reasonable, even if there's still something off about her. Thankfully these people may be scared but they aren't cowards. It makes it not so out of the ordinary that Jason Todd-Wayne decides take one of the sharp pointy broken pipes offered by someone else in the group.

He's about to ask her another question when he hears something and it's like much of the sound around them dies. People freeze, others look a bit jumpy, turning quickly, heads on a swivel. Jason's potential investor makes a very unflattering sound and Jason has to put a hand on his shoulder Because That's What Jason Todd-Wayne would do, as if he's trying to comfort him.

Something is coming. By the sounds of it, more than one something.

"We need to keep moving. Now."

That might not sound very Jason Todd-Wayne like but Jason is more worried about people not being zombie food.

[bodilesswarrior]

Oracle stills, head cocking towards the sound. She can't let them outrun the zombies - and they could, really - but it's a difficult argument to make.

So she lets her mask manifest. Maybe he'll trust her despite the apparent holes in her logic.

"I don't think we can outrun them, with the distance we have left." The filter is gone, though her voice still doesn't sound quite right. "And once they catch up, most of you will be tired out."

[batburgers]

Jason frowns when she says this, because he can tell they can get away if they move fast enough. They just need to right kind of...

But that voice. Jason definitely knows that voice. Something's wrong with it, but he recognizes Bab's voice anywhere. Is this Bab's power here? Becoming this "Oracle" (which Jason had heard of in a way, but he'd been dead and not long after he came back, she'd had the surgery).

"How about some of us be the distractions while the rest get away?" Jason sounds a little wary, but also hopeful. Like someone who maybe doesn't want that distraction to be him, but he'll do it if he needs to. Especially with the kids that are in the group.

[bodilesswarrior]

She'll almost wish it was, when she's able to remember this.

Jason offers a decent compromise, so she nods, before facing the rest of the group. "Any volunteers?" Predictably, a couple of the scrappier teens raise their hands, but she shakes her head. "Adults only."

It's practical; generally speaking, adults have more strength, more skill, more experience. They'll make a better distraction. She's also aware that it's in-character for the woman Jason knows.