Gwen Dailey; Oracle (digitaldelphi) wrote in musingslogs, @ 2011-04-17 21:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | lois lane, oracle |
WHO: Max and Gwen
WHAT: Going home
WHERE: First the bunker and then Bathos
WHEN: Friday night?
WARNINGS: Usual warning for Max's potty mouth but otherwise all clear
Max spent the drive to the bunker alternating between singing along to the country music on the radio and worrying about her family. It was late at night, cool and clear, and the further she drove from the lights of Seattle, the more it all felt like a bad dream.
Amanda was in Bathos, safe and sound with Alina, one of the sisters from the daycare. Max had gone to see the woman after leaving the hospital. Before the newspaper article, she’d already had a frank conversation with the woman about possibly coming to Aubade for a time, and while Alina had agreed, the plan had never been put into motion. But now, with everything falling apart, there was little choice. Max loved Luke and Audrey, but she didn’t want to make them responsible for a two-month old infant who was already demonstrating abilities that meant taking her out of the apartment was a risk. Alina was almost a thousand years old, and she looked to be sixty, and Max trusted her. She also had an ability to set up safe perimeters, and that made her invaluable in Max’s opinion. Bathos was small, and Aubade would give the woman her own room and privacy, but for the time being Max had settled Alina in her own room, along with the baby, opting to take the couch for herself. She would talk to Thomas about moving them to Aubade once things were quieter.
She worried about Luke, too, as she drove. She knew he was getting angrier with each day that past, more disillusioned, more scarred, and there was nothing she could do about it. Audrey, too, worried her - as she’d told Thomas - her sister was bitter in a way Max didn’t like, and she couldn’t see an end to it for her. And then there was Thomas, who didn’t realize they all wanted to protect him more than they wanted to protect themselves. He was angry with her, she knew, and in his place she would have been livid. But she wasn’t as worried about getting through to him as she had been once; she just wanted to see him, and somehow that would make it all alright.
The bunker was two hours outside Seattle, and Max knew when she was coming up on it because there wasn’t a light to be found, no technology for Gwen to manipulate. The bunker was deep underground, and she parked the truck and went down the steps, unlocking the door with the code Thomas had provided and calling out to the other woman before stepping in the space. “Gwen?”
Gwen had been swinging between being completely anxious and ready to leave to not wanting to go anywhere ever again. On one hand she had been practically crawling the walls. It was her own choice to stay here. She knew if she reasoned with the Bat he’d let her out but she wasn’t about to risk it until she was absolutely sure. So she made herself stay put for a few days longer, event though it was maddeningly boring. She had tried to stay off the comms as much as possible, refusing to take part in anything unless it absolutely required her knowledge from when she was away. Nothing had, so she only quietly listened to the chaos on the lines, turning it off before she could pipe in.
When she heard the sound of the someone approaching, she straightened up in the bed. She hadn’t much to get ready, just some things Roger had brought her to jog her memory. She had them in a small pile by her side when Max came around the corner. Gwen hadn’t expected her, but her smile showed she was glad, even if it came out a little weary. “My hero,” she ribbed softly, just a hint of her normal humor as she slid off the bed. “Did you ask to come or just draw the short straw?”
Max didn’t answer right away, taking a minute to look her friend over from across the room as if she hadn’t seen her in years. It was that kind of look, the one you give a person you weren’t sure you’d ever set eyes on again, and then she smiled and moved forward. She gave Gwen’s legs one glance, a quick and cursory looking over, and then she sat beside her on the bed, hands on the mattress beside her thighs. “I mentioned you needing a ride, and he said he’d send a car,” she admitted, “and then he told me to come get you instead. I’m guessing he wanted to get me out of Seattle for a few hours while he did whatever stupid thing he had planned,” she admitted, the worry audible in her voice. “Things have been kind of shit back home. Sure you don’t want to keep hiding out here?” she asked, looking over the bunker.
Gwen wasn’t used to being stared at. She had her fair share of looks, and in the past few months she had gotten quite a variety of reactions to people finding out she was Oracle. This was different, and new, and she knew it wasn’t going to be the last for a while. “Send a car,” she mouthed silently before shaking her head. Not his normal choice of words but she wasn’t in a position to analyze it. That kind of work was behind her. She looked over at the bunker and snorted. “Because the padded furniture really makes a woman feel sane.” She gave her friend a look over her shoulder, worried and wary all at once. “How bad is it out there?”
“Two men got killed today,” Max said, not sugarcoating. “One was a reporter, and the other was a gunman in Aubade’s lobby. It’s pretty fucked up,” she said, looking down at her hands. “I work with the guy who started all this shit, and he’s okay. It’s hard not to have someone to hate.” She looked back, then. “But I want to know about you. How you’re holding up and if you want to talk about it yet,” she said. “You probably already went through this with the Bat and Nightwing, but you can scream all you fucking want with me; I won’t mind,” she offered, standing and looking around the bunker, which felt nothing like a home. “Feel like walking outside?” she asked, a bit of a smile in the question, in the offer.
Gwen exhaled softly at the body count. That was two too high. She was about to comment when the attention was turned back on her. Her shoulders pulled back slightly, quietly balking at the idea of talking about it. “Walking’s good.” She slid off the bed and grabbed her small pile of belongings, the play badge Roger had given her sliding into her palm at the top before she clutched the stack to her chest. “And I’ll scream. Just... just not today.” At least she hoped not. If experience with life changing circumstances had taught her anything, her rage came in the most inopportune times. Max’s presence was distracting enough to keep her from dwelling too much on what was bothering her. “Does he have a plan in place? Besides taking this all on himself.” She had faith that that plan A was shot down quickly even in her absence.
Max nodded at the comment about screaming, adding only “well, when you’re ready, you know where I am.” She motioned to the door, and then she reached for the items Gwen had grabbed and walked slowly ahead, not knowing how much progress Gwen had made on her new legs. Sure, she’d seen her in the maze, but that was under someone else’s control; she was pretty sure this was all Gwen, and she didn’t know if that made walking any harder. “Have you thought about getting back on the beat?” she asked casually, offering an option if Gwen hadn’t considered it. She sighed as she climbed the steps, finally addressing the question about a plan. “Right now? I think all he has is keeping us the fuck away, which none of us are agreeing to. I don’t think he’ll be able to keep Luke away for long.” There was worry in that, real worry. “As for long-term, I don’t know. Like I said, I’ve been out of Aubade for- since the day Amanda came home, so a month and a half? I think things are better now, with us, but being across the city, it means I don’t know everything that’s going on with him like I used to.” She shrugged, opening the door to the outside with her hip. “Listen to me, whining after all the shit you’ve been through and all the shit that’s going on.”
Gwen paused outside, taking a deep breath of the cool night air after being underground for so long. “It’s fine,” she said, dismissing the apology immediately. She would’ve rather heard about what was going on than anything else. Being out made her want to run, not to anywhere like she had before but more just to enjoy the simple act of it. The last thing she wanted was Max thinking she was bolting so she stayed right by her side, taking them on a slow walk around.
“I don’t think I could go back on the force. Too much at risk if something should happen.” It was the same reasoning she had for not taking up the comms but there were other factors too. The man in charge was one of them, but she wasn’t exactly ready to think about that yet. Talk of Thomas and Luke had her worried too though it was easy to see that it would get neither of them anywhere, not with the other men’s input or being this far from the city. “How’s Amanda doing?” Her face fell as she was struck with a thought and she looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry for that night. Back in the NICU.” It felt like a lifetime ago but with the return of her memories, all of them, Gwen could easily recall that night and the steps she, as Mockingbird, had taken to orchestrate the events.
Max stopped just a few feet away. It was cool, the way Seattle nights always were, but the sky was clear, and she could see Gwen fine, even from the distance. “You don’t need to apologize, Gwen. No matter what anyone fucking says or thinks, you don’t. I can’t even imagine the shit you’ve been through, and no one else can either, but it isn’t your fault. It could have been any one of us. Don’t let anyone hold this shit against you, and don’t you hold it against yourself,” she said fiercely, protectively, and just as swiftly the ire melted into a fond smile. “She’s a terror, and she’s perfectly fine. Nothing happened to her, nothing at all, not even a scratch. She’s more dangerous than you ever were.” She nodded toward the truck. “Come on. So you can tell me what you think the risk is, and I can counter it.”
Gwen smiled softly, without any hint of humor or believability in Max’s conviction. She didn’t think there was much good in her apologizing. What was done was done and there wasn’t anything to change. But there was certainly a need, a least for her. She walked down to the truck, glad that Amanda was doing well and shaking her head as Max tried to argue with her again. “Shall we start with the fact that we’re not sure if I’ll ever have a relapse? Or if this experience has made me more susceptible to people like Bishop, more likely to fall under their influence again? That’s a risk we can take if I was - I don’t know, a baker. But not on the force.” As the reached the truck, Gwen’s smile turned a little fonder. She wasn’t sure what Max drove but this suited her, and she opened the door and slid into her seat. “Besides, Kyle’s already there. And as much fun as it was last time around, I’m not really in the mood to take orders from people I’m that close to.”
“Want to tell me when the hell things fell apart with West without me noticing?” Max asked, following the subject change as she got in the truck and started the engine. “Why we’re at it, give me the Darman update. As for what we’re risking, for all we know we’re all being controlled and we don’t know it. We can’t fucking live in fear of maybes, Gwen. Alright, so maybe we’re more careful somehow, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do what you did before. You’re part of this team,” she said fiercely, pulling out into the darkness of the apple orchard, and then the road. “You aren’t the kind of woman to sit home and do nothing. We discussed that. It’s why you started being Oracle in the first place. What makes you think you can go back to doing nothing now?” Lastly, she took a breath and asked: “Where’s your kid?”
Another long exhale to settle her thoughts. “Gone, most likely.” Quinn hadn’t come by in days and with confirmation that no one else had seen her, Gwen had come to the conclusion. It was either because she needed time away to think or she had followed a trail of trouble. She didn’t want to think on which it probably was. “Kyle and I don’t always see eye to eye but it’s been okay because we don’t work closely together. I can’t escape that if I join Seattle PD. Roger came by a few times last week.” A slightly wistful smile but she added quickly, “You’re wrong, by the way.” Another jostle of the truck cut her thought short and she jumped to the another. “I’m not going to sit and do nothing.” A beat. “Not for forever, anyway. But I can’t go back to how it was before. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to completely change my life around. I’m getting it down to a fine science.”
“I’m wrong?” Max asked, stuck on that part of the sentence.
Gwen shot her a pointed look in the dark. “We’re just friends, Max.”
Max made a sound that was entirely disbelief. “Did he say that?”
“Max.” Gwen had the good sense not to pout but the huff couldn’t be held back.
Max chuckled. “Gwen, if you want the man, go after him. You were a cop once; I know you have the balls for it. He’s interested, he’s just the most traditional fucking moral son-of-a-bitch I’ve ever met.”
A barely suppressed glower. “You know that moment? The one where two people get really close and they could be kissing?”
Max looked over, and she quirked a brow. “Yeah? If you’re about to tell me it went there and you didn’t close the deal, I am so going to pull this truck over and kick your ass.”
Another huff, though a little more defensive. “First of all, you don’t just close the deal out of the blue like that. There’s a lot at stake. You have to tread carefully. And second of all, it was a few days after the maze. I still vaguely wanted to knock him out and make a break for the door but then he stepped close and distracted me.” A beat. “So I kissed his cheek and... then we played cards all night.” Another beat. “Like I said, you’re wrong. He likes the friend zone.”
Max groaned, and she almost pressed her forehead to the steering wheel. “I think him and Brandon must have learned about women and seduction in the same fucking place.” She sighed. “Invite him to the Easter egg party. Wear something alluring. See if he bites when he doesn’t think he’s taking advantage of someone who doesn’t remember him.”
Gwen bristled quietly and looked out the window. “I’m a little partied-out,” she said flatly before shaking her head. “And I don’t need to see if Roger bites anything. He’s got someone who’s crazy about him and I... Well, I still need to see what the hell Kyle and I have left.” This time her sigh was completely weary. “I’m trying to get things a little simpler, Max. Not give me more things to fuck up.”
Max made an unimpressed noise at the mention of Starfire, one clearly mired in dislike. “I’m not sure you can simplify like that, Gwen, not when life is already messy.” She sighed. “But if that’s what you want, I’ll respect it. I think you’re wrong, but I’ll respect it.” She watched the road, the street lights come closer and closer, an indication of Seattle nearing in the distance. “Thought about putting on a mask?” she asked casually, glancing over at the other woman. “I’m not a vigilante, but you were once,” she said. “Right?”
“I can simplify it,” Gwen stated casually, making up her mind and therefore making her words reality. Wishful thinking but she clung to whatever she could. The idea of her in a mask made her laugh, fingers covering her lips to try and hide the fact that it had crossed her mind a few times. “No. I never was one. I’ve always been Oracle, just a woman behind a computer screen. You’ve done more vigilante leg work than I ever have. You’re more of a mask than me.” It still amazed her that months of friendship and they were still disagreeing on this.
“Do you want to stay behind a computer screen?” Max asked. “We talked once about the fact that we were only homebound because we didn’t have a fucking choice. You have a choice now.”
A few more long moments ticked by before Gwen answered honestly. “I don’t know. On one hand, I’d be more helpful behind a computer than I ever would be on field, but on the other what I did could’ve been done by a good hacker with some Redbull. Then again, that brings us back to the fact that I shouldn’t be back anywhere near my old job.” She spoke as if there was absolutely no room for discussion on that matter. “And let’s not forget that there are plenty of good, capable masks out there doing leg work.”
“I don’t think you get just how badly things have gone to shit while you were gone,” Max said honestly. “You were the only one that anyone would listen to on those comms. Rescue tried it, and he sucked, because no one gave a shit what he was saying. Don’t short sell yourself. No one else can be Oracle. Sure, a hacker can run the systems, but they can’t be you. I know. I’ve been monitoring the damn control system since Rescue threw a tantrum and destroyed his.” She said it fondly, an indication she liked Rescue despite all that. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go out there and hoof it if you’re inclined.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Gwen laughed softly. “You act like people were well behaved when I was there. Remember when people got uppity when Arrow and Starfire first came on? Or the arguments that ensued when we kicked Corbinian off? Or when Bat grumped at Ratchet for singing?” Though she managed another laugh at the last one, it didn’t take away from the point she was trying to make. “I was a glorified babysitter. I can probably write you a program that would do a better job and be without the personal bias. Now tell me how you landed Rescue. I thought Corbinian was joking when he told me. I always figured he had enough going on already to bother with the masks.”
“I didn’t land him at all. Arrow did. They just assigned me to making sure he wasn’t Mockingbird,” she said, careful with that last word. “He thought I was my sister, Arrow, and he gave the control laptop that would monitor Rescue to her, so now she’s on the comms, too.” She sounded worried about that, and maybe a little entertained. “She doesn’t pop up much, not unless she wants to fight with someone. But Rescue’s a good guy. I know him, I mean outside of the computer voice, and I trust him.” She shrugged, not taking her hands off the steering wheel. “Rorschach is still Rorschach. Trusts no one, and he hates all these new voices on the comms. Corbinian- things with Corbinian are complicated. Starfire has pissed enough people off that I don’t know what she’s going to do- even the Bat cut her off. And the new kids are quiet.” Fond smile. “Except for Robin.”
“Rescue is a good guy,” Gwen agreed with a smile. “‘I’ve never met him but he’s helped me before. If I had listened to him sooner I probably wouldn’t have been in this mess.” That had been a thought whirling around her mind in the past week and the second she said it, she regretted ever bringing into light. She soldiered on. “Robin’s coming to his own. That’s good. Especially if things surrounding Bat are as bad as they sound. Starfire’s... an odd one. But Night vouches so that’s that.” Not even one tiny change of inflection. She was getting better. “Rorschach will never trust me again.” There was just a little sigh of regret there. “At any rate, it sounds like you have enough checks and balances going on with you and your sister. You’ll all be fine.”
“Rorschach has never trusted me; join the club.” Max smiled. “And Robin, I worry about him without anyone to lose himself in, but he has us, and we’ll do for the time being.” She scoffed at the mention of Starfire. “No, I don’t trust her, even if Night does. There’s a certain point where you say enough stupid fucking shit that there’s no going back. She thinks non-masks are weak. We do this shit to protect people, not because we think we’re better than they are.” She paused, then, and went back to the original statement. “What did Rescue recommend? And how do you feel about Quinn?”
A long exhale. Gwen was glad she hadn’t heard whatever Starfire had said. Just hearing about it from Max had her pissed off enough. “I trust his judgment. He hasn’t let me down yet. But if she ever says something like that again you better get to her before I do.” Her lips pursued to the side unhappily for a moment. “After the hotel attack I sent Rescue some samples. I’ve been short a scientist since Amsel left town and he had contacts so he ran them for me. He picked up anomalies that I should’ve pursued harder but it had already been a week with very little side effects. And we had been so busy trying to track Bat and the Mask Killer thing, and then Quinn and the Night Terror...” Everything sounded like an excuse and she just sighed. “I don’t know about Quinn. I’ll have to see when I get home. I’m hoping she just needs some time to clear her head but...” She shook her head. “Tell me about Amanda. While she’s still cute and unable to make decisions like running away from home.”
Max chuckled, and she went with the subject change this once. “She’s getting huge, over eight pounds now. She’s grabbing for anything that comes near her, laughing and smiling enough to wake me giggling in the mornings. She likes to scream her head off when she isn’t being carried, and I don’t think I’ll ever get her to sleep in her crib,” she said, smiling fondly. “And I’m sure she’s going to give me a thousand migraines when she’s Quinn’s age. She’ll come back,” she said, looking over at Gwen. “She loves you. She’ll come back.”
Gwen made hummed softly and turned her attention back out the window. “You’d been so worried about being a mother and listening to you? You sound like a natural. I can’t even get my one kid to stay put.” Granted, there was a huge difference between Quinn and Amanda in years, upbringings and personalities but Gwen couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy.
“Mine can’t even crawl yet. Give it time. Her first word is going to be “fuck,” and Thomas isn’t ever going to let me live it down.” The lights of Bathos came into view, then, and the persistent crowd was gathered outside on the sidewalk, along with cameramen visible on the fire escapes above and below the fourth floor. “Ready?” she asked Gwen, letting it sink in, how bad it really was. “Not too late to run away,” she joked, knowing perfectly well it was, in fact, too late.
Gwen frowned as they approached and she took in the madhouse that was the Bathos. The technological pulse had gotten louder as they had moved into the city, but it was damn near deafening in their apartment building. The first thing she was going to do when she got to her apartment was make a beeline for the aspirin. “And miss all the fun?” She threw Max a smile and as tired as it was, it was at least genuine. “Home, sweet home, right?”
“Home sweet home,” Max agreed, looking up at the building and then pulling into the parking garage. “For better or fucking worse.”