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"I can't believe we're making out in the Batcave!"
"Well, it's not really the Batcave." Kara leaned in and kissed Cassie. "It's just the entry route. But yeah - it's pretty cool."
"So did Oracle give you any more details about this? I mean, you came all the way out to Gotham - "
"Nah, she just gave me the coordinates and told me to show up here at two. I guess we'll see."
"I can think of a way to pass the time until she shows up..." Cassie grinned as she ran her hands through Kara's hair.
Kara closed her eyes and smiled as Cassie kissed her neck. This was exciting, she thought. The last few days had been disappointing, with Superman and STAR Labs back to the drawing board after the fourth round of treatments hadn't produced any change. While it didn't mean that they would never find a way to cure her paralysis, it seemed to be a long-distance hope at best. So when Oracle had e-mailed her again, wanting to set up a meeting, Kara had jumped at the idea. It seemed like a good way to distract herself and move forward.
Kara opened her eyes suddenly at the sound of someone clearing their throat from the doorway.
"Sorry it took me so long to get out here. Had to stop a disgraced banker from crashing the world's markets in a revenge plot." Barbara wheeled into the entryway as Cassie quickly climbed off Kara's lap. "I see you two have been keeping yourself busy."
Kara blushed. "We were - "
"It's fine. Dick Grayson used to take me down here when we were younger. Batman was never the wiser." Barbara smiled wryly before motioning to Kara. "I've got everything set up for you."
"I suppose I'm not allowed to come?" Cassie asked.
"Sorry. Top-secret. So secret even I don't know what it's about." Kara grinned. "I'll call you when it's over?"
"I'll be waiting." Cassie leaned in and gave Kara a quick kiss, squeezing her shoulder.
As Cassie flew out, Barbara pressed a button on a remote control and the doors to the Batcave slid open. As Barbara wheeled herself through the door, Kara took her control straw in her mouth and followed as quickly as she could into the unfamiliar environment of the Batcave. She had been here once before - flying - when she had met Oracle and ran a routine mission for her. She remembered being in awe that Oracle was running pretty much the entire superhero community's information ops from a wheelchair. Of course, since the accident that left her with no feeling or movement below her collarbone, her admiration of Oracle was much more personal. Barbara Gordon had been able to rebuild her life after everything was pulled out from under her, and carve out a new role for herself that took advantage of every skill she had. Maybe she could do the same.
Kara noticed Barbara eyeing her as she looked around the Batcave. "Don't worry. I'm not touching anything." She nodded down at her arms. "Kind of comes with the territory."
"No, I was just wondering...how much do you know about what we do here? Most heroes get their missions from me and go on their way. You seemed interested the last time you were here."
"I don't know the specifics. I just know that almost everyone in our little community gets their marching orders from you. Even Superman drops everything when you call."
"That's because there's nothing more powerful than someone who sees everything." Oracle pointed to a large screen divided into dozens of images, covering every hot spot around the world. "As fast as he is, Superman can only be in one place at a time. I try to make sure that's where he can do the most good. I don't exactly give them orders, but I try to help them cover the largest portion of the world's crises at one time. I used to only cover Gotham, but after I joined the JLA, I expanded the operation a lot."
"It's pretty awesome." Kara looked up at the screen, watching as Aquaman put out a forest fire on the West coast. "But how do I fit into it?"
"We'll get to that. Right now, I want to find out where you are mentally. You're at a little over a month since leaving rehab, right?"
"Just about, yeah. It's been...interesting. There's kind of a really steep learning curve, you know?"
Barbara nodded. "They say they're preparing you, but they never can 100%. By the way, did those fake papers Superman asked for come through okay?"
"Yeah. Smallville High didn't look twice at them. I'm starting on Monday. It's kind of scary. Exciting, though. Fighting evil pretty much full-time was a blast, but if that's not an option anymore, I'd like to get a taste of a normal life."
"That's good. Holding on to the past will just drive you crazy after a while." Barbara pressed some buttons on the computer screen. "And speaking of the future...I'd like to put you through a little test, if you don't mind?"
"Hit me with it." Kara grinned.
"It's simple. I'm going to flash some images on the screen. Most of them will be random symbols, but hidden in them will be six numbers. When the test is over, I want you to tell me the numbers in order."
Kara nodded, and the images flashed on screen - at what must have been 50 per second. Kara was taken by surprise, but after a second the images focused, and she was able to pick out the numbers quickly.
"196528. Right?"
"Right." Barbara smiled. "No one really tests Kryptonians for this kind of thing, but I've always wondered what the solar radiation that gives you your powers is doing to your brain. Those images were easily ten times faster than any human brain could process, but you had no problem."
"It should make me a big hit at parties, I guess." Kara shrugged her shoulders lightly. "I guess I'm not sure why you're interested in super-memory."
"I do a pretty good job at covering all the major hot spots on Earth. But after the Blackest Night, it's become pretty clear that the biggest threats aren't coming from this world anymore. I'd like to expand my reach, but there's no way I can cover a galaxy on my own, let alone a hundred. If I had a pair of Kryptonian eyes, able to scan a whole planet in a few seconds, it would be a different story."
Kara felt her mouth drop open. "Are you offering me a job?"
"More an apprenticeship than anything. Part time, so it shouldn't interfere with you living your life. I'll set your computer up with a link to satellites stationed around the universe, and you scan the areas for any signs of trouble. An hour or so a night should give us more than enough advanced warning to make sure Earth doesn't get caught unaware again. Does this sound like something you're interested in?"
"When Oracle asks you to join her, you don't say no!" Kara laughed. "Do I have to keep this secret like you do?"
"There isn't the same security risk with extraterrestrial scanning, so as long as my name doesn't get out to any parties outside the community, it should be fine. I'll have the hook-up delivered to Smallville by tomorrow. It'll be disguised as a modem, so any friends you have over won't notice anything."
"Wow. Okay, I'm in." Kara took a deep breath. "I was just...could I ask you a question?"
"Sure, go ahead." Barbara turned back to the computer and started typing in commands to some heroes awaiting their next instructions.
"Why did you wait to contact me for so long? I mean, I know you're Miss Information, so you were probably following my case since I got hurt."
"I was. And believe me, I thought about reaching out to you a lot."
"So why didn't you? Those first few months...I was in a pretty deep pit. Knowing something like this would be waiting for me when I got out would have helped a lot."
"I could have, but I wouldn't have had the answers, Kara. I wanted to let you figure things out, get your confidence back on your own. Otherwise, I would have just been another person trying to make things better without actually knowing what you needed. And I'm guessing you had your share of those."
"More than my share." Kara said with a wry smile.
"When I read about how you handled that robber, I knew you had figured this out. You were thinking creatively about how to use everything you have. And that's the kind of person I want on my team. Make no mistake - I'm here whenever you need to talk about life in the chair. I just wanted to let you get through the hard part on your own. Because once you've done that, I'm damn sure I can count on you for whatever gets thrown at you in this job."
Kara nodded excitedly. "Pretend I'm saluting right now."
"I'll be in touch. I think Geo-Force is about to report in, so I've got to get back to work."
"I know the way out." Kara turned her chair around to leave. "Thanks. For everything."
Barbara nodded as Kara drove towards the exit. Grabbing her mouthstick from it's holder at the side of her head, she punched the redial button on her cell phone.
"Cassie? You would not believe what just happened."