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Chapter 19 - In TriCorner Yards

Dick had checked everywhere: Grant Park, Robbinsville, the R&R tubes�he�d even schlepped it out to Midway to see if Helena had been hiding out in the vast, empty plains of farmland between Gotham City and Metropolis. Nothing. And Dick knew he had to find Helena before Bruce located her.

He�d spent the last few nights down in the Tricorner Yards, working his last connection to Huntress. Helena had a friend down here�well, an acquaintance, at any rate. Helena didn�t really have friends. She had allies, people she�d alienated, and enemies. Dick hadn�t even seen that Vic guy around lately, the one Barbara had privately nicknamed Baghead.

The Yards were silent, the freight cars ghostly white boxes beneath the steadily falling snow. Christmas would hit in a few weeks, with it�s usual round of gala fundraising events and holiday murder sprees. He was sorry Alfred hadn�t been allowed to host Thanksgiving at Wayne Manor: it meant the butler would insist on a family Christmas. The thought of the awkward silences alone gave Dick a headache. Christmas was always the worst, always the time they just wanted to concentrate on work and not think about what the Mission had cost them.

�Any sign of her?�

�Yikes!� Dick cried, turning quickly. �You could at least warn a guy.�

Batman stepped forward from the shadows along the eastern wall of the yard. �You should have known I was there.�

Dick resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at Bruce. �I�m a little preoccupied. And no, Helena hasn�t shown. I don�t think she�s even in Gotham anymore.�

�Has the Oracle found anything to indicate that? Withdrawls on Helena�s accounts? Travel arrangements made under one of her known aliases?�

�Like you haven�t already checked that out yourself,� Dick grumbled. �But no, none of that�s come up on Bab�s radar. Helena�s just gone. She must have known you�d come after her for murder, especially if she has any clue who Selina is.�

�I doubt that she does,� Batman said, scanning the yard. �Helena was never a detective.�

�She�s better than you think,� Dick replied, crouching down, studying the track patterns beneath the snow. �How�s Selina?�

�Fine,� Batman grunted.

Dick looked at him, trying to distinguish Bruce�s tall profile from the shadows of the freight yard. �Did she kill him? Did she kill Flannery?�

�No,� he said simply.

�And the�the photos?� Dick asked, shutting off the part of his mind that wanted to recall those images. He couldn�t fathom what participating in something that sick and degrading could do to a person. Catwoman had always been overtly sexual: the leather-and-whip S&M-inspired costume was not an exercise in subtlety. But somehow the idea that Selina Kyle might have once been a scared, abused kid had never occurred to Dick. The very thought of it made him uncomfortable, mostly because he didn�t know what it meant to Bruce that the woman he�d been sleeping with had had those kind of experiences. Sex with Barbara had always been loving and tender. Selina, at least in those blackmail pictures, didn�t seem capable of the kind of normal responses Dick ascribed to sexuality. Maybe there was something wrong with Bruce, he theorized. Some crossed wiring that made him go to bed with a woman who couldn�t enjoy anything but pain and humiliation.

�What about the pictures?� Batman growled, letting Dick know he was pushing it.

�Were they real? Did she really-�

Batman turned away, looking north to the heart of Gotham for the Signal. �They were real.�

Dick shook his head, sorry for Bruce. �And what-�

�I don�t want to discuss it,� Batman replied, ending the conversation. He dropped into a trench running alongside the tracks criss-crossing the freight yard, his light thermal boots leaving few traces in the snow covering the gravel around the rail ties.

�What is it?� Dick asked, following him. �Did you pick up on something?�

Batman didn�t respond and kept moving north along the tracks to a cluster of abandoned train cars rusting in the snow. He came to a halt before the freight cars, considering them carefully, his head cocked slightly.

�Hello, son,� the Prophet�s warm, mellow tones greeted them from the dark. �Wondering when we would find each other again. And you�ve brought the Father with you.�

�You�ve relocated,� Dick pointed out, glancing at Bruce. Batman didn�t look at him, busily scanning the empty cars with the heat sensor embedded in his night vision goggles. �The �Haven get too hot for you? Because Gotham�s a pressure cooker.�

�I was needed here,� the Prophet said simply, his voice all around them. �You have questions.�

�Why did you send George Flannery those files?� Batman asked, his attention fixed on a spot beneath one of the overturned cars. �You used his daughter Janine as a courier; she was murdered before she reached Bristol with the information and so you sent Flannery the files on Selina some other way.�

The Prophet took a moment to respond. �He did not receive The Word from me,� he finally replied. �It was a calculation, a chess move. The girl was a piece on the board. So was Flannery, and your lady Archer.�

Dick shot Bruce a questioning look regarding the chess metaphors. Checkmate again? Batman shook his head. Someone else.

�Who?� Batman asked. �Who sent Flannery and Huntress those files?�

�The Dark Man belongs to the Other and was told to make you believe I had sent the information.�

�Why?�

�There is a war brewing,� the Prophet said, coming out of the shadows beneath one of the rail cars where Batman had expected he was hiding. His little wooden cart left deep indentations in the snow as he pushed himself towards Dick. �The Other is marshalling, even now. And I�m an old man. Too tired to fight. The business with the Dark Man, the Archer�it was sloppy work. I couldn�t feel it. And we almost lost the one weapon which will allow us to win this war.�

�The Archer?� Dick repeated, catching only half of what the Prophet was saying, hoping Bruce was doing a little better. �Huntress, you mean? You didn�t know she�d go after Selina?�

�I couldn�t see it,� the Prophet repeated. �There is a darkness around her. I cannot see. Neither can the Other. She had to be taken out of the war, because she is an unknown. And nothing scares us more than something we can�t see.�

�You�re talking about Selina?�

The Prophet furrowed his brow, the wrinkled brown skin on his forehead folding into a thousand peaks and valleys. �Trust the child,� he repeated. �I cannot see further than that.�

Dick cleared his throat, shifting his posture uneasily.

�We need something more than that,� Batman told the Prophet sharply. �Evidence, proof that this �Other� exists. Because if not, you�re an accessory to the attack on Selina, and involved in Janine and George Flannery�s deaths. You will pay for what you�ve done.�

�You love her,� the Prophet whispered, ignoring Bruce�s threats, looking into the hollow white eyes of the Batman. �Your path will be hard. There will be more pain. The future�� he sighed. �We stand at a crossroads. Between the darkness of the future and the light of the past.� The Prophet turned to Dick, jerking his head towards Bruce. �I don�t think he�ll know which way to turn. You�ll have to help him.�

Dick shot another uncertain look at Bruce, not sure how to react. Batman spoke softly. �Why did you come to him? Why didn�t you talk to me?�

�Because he walks the path of righteousness,� the Prophet told him, echoing what he�d already told Dick. �His future is secure. He has walked that knife-edge of darkness with you but has not been cut as deeply.�

Dick crouched down to the Prophet�s level. �Are we in danger?�

The Prophet looked at Batman again, regarding him carefully. �They are mated,� the Prophet declared, shaking his head. �I cannot see what it means. The children of the night shall forever find each other in the dark. I can�t see�� he said, fear coloring his voice. �But neither can the Other. And I take solace in that fact, as should you. Both of you.�

Batman crossed his arms, frustrated. �That isn�t an answer.�

�It�s all I can tell you,� the Prophet replied, placing his hands on either side of his little board. �Better go. Trouble at the River.�

The Signal lit the sky, high over Gotham. Batman turned from it to the Prophet. �We�ll talk later,� he promised, shooting a line that would carry him over the high wire fence running around the rail yard. Dick glanced back at the silent yard.

The Prophet was gone.

*******************

They held council in the Watchtower, in costume, as formal a mission briefing as possible under the circumstances. Dick was narrating their encounter with the Prophet, his eyes constantly on Batman�s still, listening form for a hint of disapproval or contradiction. For some reason, Bruce didn�t want to take point on this one.

�He buries everything in metaphor. I couldn�t make sense out of most of it, but he did say a war was brewing. With someone or something called the Other. And he thinks Selina is the key: that�s why Flannery and Huntress went after her. This Other wants Selina taken out of the equation.�

Oracle tapped something on her keyboard, a screen popping up on the display a moment later. �The Other, huh? It doesn�t even show up on Google.�

�Is this connected to the missing girls?� Tim asked, his detective instincts more finely-honed than Dick�s. �I mean, did the Prophet say anything about them?�

�I don�t think so,� Dick replied, frowning. �Hard to tell, I guess. I just�I shouldn�t have been the one to talk to him. If he�d gone to you, or Bruce-�

�But he didn�t,� Batman replied, his gravely voice projecting from the shadows. �He chose you. And he did that for a reason. He�s a metahuman, a telepath. J�onn picked him up three weeks ago.�

�Why weren�t we told about that?� Barbara asked, wondering why she�d been kept out of the loop. J�onn usually came to her first about Gotham-related metahuman activity. The Martian Manhunter knew how Batman felt about advanced humans and their unearned powers. He regarded each emerging metahuman as a threat to be taken out. Barbara preferred to give each emerging meta a chance to prove themselves as either friend or foe before plotting their downfall.

�Superman came to me with a warning from J�onn. There has been a telepathic power gathering in Gotham, assembling for a reason J�onn couldn�t divine. He detected two distinct entities, more diverse and potent in their telepathy than J�onn had ever encountered before. Your Prophet was one. And the Other is the second, primary threat.�

�What makes you think the Other is a bigger threat than the Prophet?�

�Because the Prophet came to us,� Batman replied. �Selina isn�t aware of any of this. She had no idea why Helena attacked her, or that George Flannery had those files. The whole thing was engineered to make us lose trust in her.�

�Well,� Barbara interrupted, �it�s hard to lose something you�ve never had, but we get the point. Selina�s part of this, whether she knows it or not. Now, how do we figure out her part in this?�

�We don�t,� Batman replied, drawing himself up to his full height. �She is no longer involved.�

His decision was announced in that tone of command rarely employed since before Vesper�s murder. Since then, Bruce had made an effort to include them in his decisions regarding cases. It was clear that they were not going to be consulted.

�Have you considered what will happen if the Other tries to attack her again?� Barbara asked. �How are you going to protect her if you�re trying to limit what she knows?�

Batman shot Barbara a sharp glare but she didn�t back down. �If what the Prophet told us is true, if what J�onn suspects is right, then the Other knows everything about us. Who we are, how we operate� You won�t be able to prevent something like that getting to Selina. I say we use her as bait, lure this thing out into the open.�

Dick and Tim exchanged worried glances. Barbara may be in a better position to question Bruce�s decision - after all, she had never thought of him as a father-figure - but they knew you did not argue with Batman when he used that tone.

�I will not put her at risk,� Batman finished.

�She�s already at risk!� Barbara cried, wanting him to see reason. She wheeled herself closer to him, trying to break through the same wall she�d been butting up against since she was a kid with a Batpurse. �How are we supposed to fight something that can see the future? This is a JLA-level threat, not something you can ignore and hope goes away. We�re under attack, maybe because of Catwoman. Are you willing to sacrifice everything we�ve worked for to protect Selina Kyle?�

�I would take any measures to preserve a life,� he told them all. �I have always been willing to do whatever is necessary to protect an innocent.� He shot Barbara a glare, daring her to contradict him and say that Selina was anything but. �Everything else is irrelevant.�

�Is it true?� Barbara asked, clenching her teeth. �Is what the Prophet said true? Are you �mated� to her? Is that why-�

�Babs, just drop it,� Dick told her.

Barbara fixed him in an angry stare, and when she spoke, her tone was liquid ice. �He is putting it all at risk, and she isn�t worth it. If this Other attacks and someone dies because we�re too busy worrying about Catwoman to take action-�

�That won�t happen,� Batman said sharply. �End of discussion.�