#oraclebeyond

oraclebeyond

He hadn’t told anyone that he was going out of town aside from Davis from what he knew. No mention of any of his exes or anything. He probably told his job, but he didn’t know. Willie Watt was leaving for some quick job with big money somewhere in another city but would be coming back soon. Supposedly.

For Davis Dusk, everything was still very much up in the air. He was jealous for his friend for getting his record expunged. The whole world was open to him again in a way that Davis could never get. Murder and capture and attempted manslaughter tended to do that. He’d live with that but Willie had insisted on helping Davis out.

‘You can stay here’ he said. ‘It can’t be too good to live with your Mom again.’ She did feel more relaxed now that her son was out of the house, though still nervous over several other circumstances. Willie’s house wasn’t a bad place either. Guest rooms, a nice cozy place with food and a bed. He could vacuum, collect the mail and make sure nothing caught on fire. There was just one problem.

Replicant slagging Row.

He was right on the edge of the part of the city he hated. Right in a crowd filled with yuppies who would sooner slice off their own arms for some shiny new one when the arm had nothing wrong with it. It was loud, filled with dregs and morons and the overly rich. Even the people he had been forced to socialize with during his Dad’s elections hadn’t been crazy to lop off any appendage for some metal one that had a blue electrical gleam to it. Well, not a lot of them anyways.

“She didn’t know anything” Terry insisted in the batmobile. He had only just got out of Arkham and did his best to be silent the entire time. It was hard considering Arkham was being repaired after the massive damage of the Blackout. He had just gotten done talking to Zhora Mercer and with everything said and done, there were a few things clear.

“She didn’t do it, she didn’t order anyone in Undercloud to pull this and when I told her where the money came from she was disgusted by it.” Even Undercloud had limits from stealing from the dead, especially dead babies. Terry had felt the lead wasn’t a proper one. It didn’t feel like Rebel One’s dirty work when she only targeted Alex’s small public account and sent it overseas, especially when it was a trust fund. 

“Where does that leave us then? Some former associate?” Bruce said over the com link. 

Terry bit his lip. There was a name that was floating around but Bruce hadn’t said it. He hadn’t either. Maybe he had hoped that Zhora would somehow be the culprit even if it didn’t match up. "No...there’s another lead.”

“Terry--”

“It’s Mary. It has to be.” Bruce was silent. Terry had a memory float to his head when Terry had proposed that Tim Drake might have been in league with the Joker. Bruce had said that the idea was crazy, but this time he wasn’t saying anything. “She had the motive Bruce. More than anyone. She has the ways to hack and do it. Yeah I never would have thought she’d steal but Willie said it himself. He’s worried what Mary might do on her own.” Now they knew. 

“First Davis and now this” he said. It seemed like the only answer now. Maybe she was innocent but a lot of the clues were pointing to her. This wasn’t the first rash thing she had done. He had promised Willie he would talk to her and now this. “Where is she Bruce? I need to talk to her.”

~ ~ ~

The Gotham City Clocktower was under the current ownership of Mary Morris. She had planned on having Willie, Little Barbara Morris (or the Beez as she was calling herself) and herself to move in. Terry had talked Willie out of it, asking to maybe hold off in the wake of the assault on Blade and how quickly things were moving.

The last two months had been a slow process of passing time with magazines, books, and crappy television stations. Luckily, Riley had been able to get herself discharged from Gotham General a bit ahead of schedule as her ribs had mended well enough to support her moving around. Her shoulder still had a long way to being fully rehabilitated but it was a work in progress for her to focus on. Willie had been kind enough to offer her his place as her location to properly mend since her last apartment was effectively no longer hers.

Having been in contact with him before his decision to enter Arkham, she knew the security codes to enter his place when she finally arrived by a cab. With one hand, she managed to pay off the driver and made due with grabbing a large duffel bag which contained the majority of her things. Another friend had been so kind as to gather her things up for her as she recovered. With the bag in hand, she took her time getting comfortable in her new place of living for the next few months, or until she felt well enough to strike out on her own once more.

The battle was over. H.A.R.D.A.C. was deleted bit by bit. His duplicants were scrapped away and the injured were being treated. Some bounced back quickly. Others like Willie Watt had different struggles to deal with. Terry had seen him a few days after the final bout and the two had talked a while about what had happened. Terry didn't blame Willie for what happened. It wasn't like Willie planned to reboot the evil computer program when he got a hold of Randa.

But Terry's mind hadn't been on just H.A.R.D.A.C.. It wasn't just focused on Willie or even the latest crimes Gotham was dealing with. Every so often, his mind would go back to Mary Morris. She had jumped onto this and reached out to Terry personally. It was there when he learned who Mary truly was. Talking to Willie further, he realized Mary's activities as Oracle hadn't started because of Willie. Those reasons went further back and Mary had been doing things on the net for ages.

Terry didn't do too much cyber crimes. It was trickier and he was far from an expert when it came to computers. Max could give him a tip or Bruce would give him a lead. Otherwise, Terry stopped more physical crimes. But that didn't stop folks like Undercloud from taking advantage of the city once. Max had opted to help change things but Mary continued her mother's legacy.

It was time he had a chat with Mary Morris.

"Terry? You got a call while you were out."

Terry pulled his head out of his room. He had just gotten in and already Motley was excited to see him. Carter's cat that he was watching was always happy to see some company. Thankfully, Mary would help keep the cat entertained while Terry was at work and she wasn't.

"Who was it Mom?"

"Well I thought you would know. It's someone a lot older. What's this about a playdate with Matt and a Babs? Who is--"

Oh! Terry practically wrenched the door open, Motley scurrying out to explore the living room with delight. "Motley Wait--Wait come back--" It bounded towards Mary as she picked the cat up and cooed at it. "Sorry Mom. It's one of the instructors at the gym."

"Is it the gym you go to for Mr. Wayne?"

"Got to keep active."

"Honestly Terry. I don't know how you're even awake with how busy you are" Mary sighed. "You're barley around to watch this cat, let alone spend time with your friends or us. And school's going to start soon."

"I know Mom" Terry sighed. "It's this lady I met. She has a baby kid and I offered to keep an eye on her and help out. The main instructer, Mr. Grayson is...out." Best way he could phrase that.

"Matt's busy so I don't think he'll be over tonight. And next time, I'd like to know in advance if you're going to take your brother away for a playdate." She smiled and cooed at the cat. "So are you heading out?"

"It's not work and it's not a school night" Terry said. "Is it okay if I--"

"Only if I can steal the cat for a while. It's movie night and I want to see Alex and her cat Besides, the two might get along." She smiled and stroked Motley's hair, complementing the coat.

The new bike Bruce got him zipped through the street. Terry knew how t get to the Out of the Nest Gym by heart now. It served as a second base of operations for the young Batman and Dick was a much more hands on instructor compared to Bruce. Still, his mind went back to Mary Morris. It was still a whirlwind of information to process everything that the two had discussed. Barbara was acting strange along with Willie The attack on the Batcave and a series of strange thefts...something wasn't right and they could both feel it.

Name: Mary Grayson Morris

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