Oracle of the X Part 4

Fr 15 for violence.

I own none of the DC or Marvel characters

So far in the story: With the help of Zatanna and Barbara Gordon, Charles Xavier discovers that he killed Psylock while under the influence of the Shadow King. Now it is up to Babs to put together a create a strike team to and use Lilandra's space ship to transport them to the alternate universe to help track down the Shadow King and clear Charles Xavier's name.

Part 4

Babs stops ringing the bell. She opens her eyes and immediately looks to Charles. His body on the ground he is hands are covering his face. He is moaning. Babs looks away and gets up. Zatanna picks up her amulet and looks of mutual agreement passes between them. They walk to the end of the hall to the control room. The only show if dignity they could give was to leave a grown man alone as he cries.

When Babs opens the door, Lilandra gets up from her spot next to the door. "Well what happened? Who killed that woman?"

Babs walks to her computer bank and pulls out a chair she reserves for the rare guest. "Charles did," she said as her pressed her head back with exhaustion.

"Under the influence of a terrible monster known as the Shadow King," Zatanna adds quickly.

Lilandra gasps,"No! I must go comfort him!" She opens the door but Zatanna presses it shut. "The best the thing for him now is to let him sort his feelings out. He'll come to us when he is ready," Zatanna says.

Lilandra looks as if she is about to she say something but stops herself. "As you wish." She returns to ground by the door.

Zatanna walks towards Babs. "What are you thinking?"

Babs has pulled Raven's profile on the screen. "I'm thinking we need to take a trip to Charles' universe."

"What good will that do? They'll kill him and us on site."

Babs pulls up Huntress' profile "Not if we can get to the control room first. When I was catching flickers of his mind I noticed a piece of head gear that allowed him to project images on a screen. If we can get to that room and get Charles there, they'll be able to see the the truth."

Zatanna's phone beeps. "Oh God, I nearly forgot about my show. Entering someone else's head will do that to you."

She goes to leave when Babs shouts, "Hey Zatanna, can I count you in on any plans to visit a hostile reality?"

Zatanna stops and smiles. "Sounds like fun. Call me around 2:am, after my last show and after-party"

Babs looks at clock, it is already 5:30. She never understood how time worked while in an altered mental state.

Lilandra appears. "Are you really think about coming back with us to our reality."

Babs pulls up Up Black Canary's profile up. "Not alone that's for sure. How did you get here anyway?"

Lilandra thinks for a moment. "There are certain sections of deep space that are not charted. I closed my eyes and drew a map through one of these uncharted and thought of Charles."

"Planchete space exploration, fascinating. Any way you can re-chart your way back?"

"Certainly. But I must ask how are you going to convince your friends to help?"

"She is not," A voice says.

Charles enters the room. "Lilandra we are going to our home reality. I don't care if they execute me again. I deserve it."

"That's it!" Babs says. She stays in her chair and wheels towards Charles. "Get out into the hall!"

"What are you doing?" Lilandra asks as Babs passes her.

Charles shocked, wheeling backwards into the doorway.

Babs follows him and pulls out an escrima stick she keeps behind all of her chairs. She hits him on the shoulder. Charles stares at her disbelief. "What are you doing?"

"Behind your chair there are escrima sticks. Pull them out and fight me! We are having a rematch."

He tentatively pulls out a stick. "Why are you doing this?"

She wheels forwards using her legs but stays seated. She wacks the stick and loosens his grip. "Because I need you to stop feeling sorry for yourself."

He weakly hits back. "I killed a woman. I deserve whatever comes next."

Babs smacks the stick across his chest. "People love you, people need you."

Charles waves a stick with more vigor forward makes contact with hers. "Why do you care so much about me?" He swing that stick at her arm.

It makes contact and Babs stares him. "Because when I look at you, I see what I could have been. Someone who thinks that his disability is a weakness."

She takes aim again but, Charles is ready and pushes it back towards her. "You know nothing about me then!"

She smacks him across the arm and force him to lose grip on his stick. She lets go of her stick and pulls on his arm and uses her weight to pull him forward. She then pins him to the ground "Then choose to live to prove me wrong!"

He lays there for a moment, lost in thought. He then looks up and smiles at her. "If I were to ever have a daughter, I would hope you that she would be exactly like you."

"What on earth is going here?" Lilandra says as she walks in on the scene.

Barbara gets up and helps Charles gets back in his chair. "I was helping Charles find the will to live."

Lilandra goes to Charles' side. "Are you alright Charles?"

Charles smiled, "I just received a beating I desperately needed and deserved."

Lilandra looks she is about to say something but thought the better of it. Babs moves back towards the control room. "So are you ready to help pick out people for our strike teams?"

"Certainly."

Lilandra stares at them. "Don't you two feel hungry? It is late in the day."

"Take-out menus are on the counter. I suggest calling for Ming's. I can get food from there at any time. And they won't be alarmed by your appearance. Pick what you want," Babs says as she looks the computer.

She turns back to the computers and Charles is by her side. "So my plan involves two strike teams. One to go after the Shadow King and one to get to the machine that can project your thoughts."

"The machine we are looking for is Cerebro. It is located on an asteroid in the San Francisco Bay. Can you pull up a map?"

Babs pull up a map and Charles gives the parameters and coordinates. "Lilandra will stay on and man the ship. I will also stay on the ship and coordinate the teams."

"Don't you want to be in the field?"

Babs looks at him. "Charles I am a woman who just took her first steps in years. There are people with better combat skills than me. Lets move on. So who is the most powerful X Man?"

Charles thinks for a moment. "Logan, the man with the claws. He has a rapid healing ability. His mind is hard to touch."

"So what will stop him?"

"Suffocation"

Babs pulls beast boy's information up. "He can turn into any creature. So if he turns into a boa constrictor, he can collapse the guy's windpipe."

"That'll work a for a while,"

"Okay how about telepaths?"

"We have a few..."

...

Lilandra appears with two bags of food. "I was wonder when you two come out of there to breath."

"Perfect time. What did you get?" asks Babs.

"A sampler platter-what is all of this?"

There are two teams of profiles covering two halves of the computer screens. There Xs and Os cover the different names. Charles is smiling.

"We have divided our teams into two sets, O men and X men.

Lilandra looks at them, "How can you be sure that they will agree to help us?"

"I'll take the mush u pork, and every one of these heroes owes me a favor or two," Babs says taking the bag. "Charles what do you want?"

"I'll take whatever has chicken in it. I think this is a very good team we have assembled," Charles says as he takes the bag.

"Have you contacted all of them yet?" Lilandra asks.

"Just finished. I should start getting answers...Now!"

The monitor with Beast Boy's picture on screen beeps. Babs puts on her headset. "Hi Gar,"

"Hey Oracle. I got your message. So you want me on you dream team?"

"Yep. Are you up for trying to strangle a guy with metal blade sticking out of his hands?"

"Life is too short not to pass up a new challenge. Has Raven been invite to this Shindig Battle?"

"Yes, But you'll be on different teams. Are you two still an item?"

Beast Boy sighs. "Its complicated," he says.

"I want you at the Justice League tower at 12:00 p.m sharp. We train for a few hours and then we should arrive in the morning of their reality."

"Yes Ma'am, Beast Boy out."

Babs checks the clock. Its 8:00. "I still have a few missions to complete at home-" suddenly a pink cloud appears.

A girl wear a blue shirt with a jean skirt over her leggings appears. "Hi Babs-I can believe you invite me on the mission!" Missfit says very quickly.

"Do none of your associates believe in using the door?" Charles says.

Babs rolls her eyes. "Apparently not. Charlotte what are you doing here? I told you to come here tomorrow!"

Charles stares at Babs. "You bringing a child on this mission?"

Charlotte pouts. "I'm not a child! I have"

"Let me take this one Charlotte," Babs interrupts. "First of all. We need a back up teleporter because Zatanna is going to focused on dragging you around. And second of all how old was the youngest X-Man or woman you have sent out into the field?"

Charles closes his mouth.

Charlotte is bouncing on the balls of her feet. "So when do I get my new uniform?"

"Tomorrow," Babs says with emphasis. She then looks at Charles with a coy grin. "You'll also be getting a uniform tomorrow."

"Cool," Charlotte says, "whats his super-hero name?"

"X Bird."

Charles looks at Babs "We never talked about code names. Why Bird at the end of the name?"

"Because my team is semi-officially called the Birds of Prey. Now Charlotte go home before I decide to dig up another superhero."

"Alright. Alright. See you tomorrow!" Misfit banishes in a puff of pink smoke.

Babs sighs and begins to eat. "As I was saying. I need to coordinate a few missions tonight while receiving all of our R.S.V.P.s"

"So what can I do?" Charles asks.

"Is there anything I can help with also?" Lilandra asks, stepping out from the shadows.

"Yes. Tomorrow what no one knows yet is the fact that this entire exercise is going to take place in their heads. Charles I need you project ever possible scenario for as to how X-men might react to our O-men. Use Lilandra to bounce your thoughts off of. Can you manage all of that?"

"I think so. But I don't know how to prepare them for the Shadow King."

"For our X-men I suggest you just project there greatest fears and let them battle it. Because the Shadow King feeds on fear and weakness."

"Very good idea."

Babs turns to looks at her screens and pulls up a map of Gotham. "I suggest you two work elsewhere.  Also try to sleep for a few hours. I assume there will be no problems with sharing a bed?"

"Not at all," all they both say in tandem.

...

"Nice work team," Babs says, looking at satellite footage of the whole team leading a gang of arms smugglers into police custody.

"We would have liked you in field Babs. We're sure you would have been great!" Dinah says.

"Some one needed to track them through their g.p.s. signals and besides I would have weighed you down. Take the rest of the night off!"

Everyone logs off but Huntress. "Are we going to talk about why you left me off your team for this top-secret mission tomorrow?"

Babs sighs. "I wish we didn't. I need some one to hold down the fort here. You can look after Hawk, Dove, and Zinda."

"Is this because I don't have a special ability like Dinah? I'm just human."

"Yeah that's what it boils down to! When we go to this world we will be facing a meta-human army." Babs' tone softens. "I also need you here in case anything goes wrong and I can't get back."

"Babs don't say things like that! You'll be back and I'll have the team alive and safe when you return."

"Now that's what I like to hear! Oracle out." Babs takes off her headset. She tentative turns on one of the monitors she rarely uses. It is live footage of the guest bedroom. Charles and Lilandra are tangled together under the sheets, fast asleep. She quickly turns the monitor off, embarrassed to have seen such a private moment.

Babs walks over to closet concealed by the smooth wall surface. With a single touch the door opens to reveal a closet. Hanging there is her Bat suit. She smiles and takes the moment in. "Its showtime," she says to herself.

...

Two crooks are walking out of pharmacy with bags medication slung over their shoulders.

"Do you have prescriptions for those?" a voice says. One of the crooks shoots in the air "a bat!" he shouts. A batarang cuts his wrist and he loses his gun just as bat form leaps on to his partner. Babs dis-locates his shoulder and pummels his face to the ground. The other man pull out a knife and Babs catches his plunge and flips uses the moment to flip him on to the ground.

"Small potatoes tonight," another voice says. A bat shape leaps from a building and slides down the burnt-out lamp post. Dick Grayson is smiling, "You look good."

"Thanks Dick. Are you sorry I did invite you onto my covert mission?"

"Nah. Bruce would have objected and I figured you had your reasons. So, word on the street is that there is a plot to rob the Fing bank tonight. Want in?"

"This is not a date," Babs say she prepares her grappling gun.

"No one said anything about it being at date," Dicks says as he preps his own gun. Both there guns go off and they glide together into the darkness.  
 
...
Babs enters her apartment at 6:00 A.M. with a bag of breakfast sandwiches and cups of coffee humming. When she enters the kitchen to find Charles is already there holding a cup of  coffee.
 
"You were out last night.," he says as a statement.
 
Babs puts the food and coffee on the table. "Yes I was out last night partying at the Iceberg Lounge."
 
"There is no reason to lie. You were out fighting crime in your Bat-girl persona."
 
"What gave it away?" she asks as she sips her coffee.
 
"When I fall asleep, my mind touches other people's dreams. I could feel Lilandra's, but not yours."
 
Babs begins to unwrap a sandwich. "Well since you aren't my headmaster, you can't punish me for sneaking out."
 
"No I'm not upset. I was just wondering, how did it feel to be back in the field again?'
 
Babs gets glassy-eyed look on her face and smiles. "It felt amazing," she says.
 
Lilandra enters the kitchen. "I thought I smelled something more edible than that horrible Asian concoction you made me order."
"This stuff is as a fresh as you can get from Jim Dorton's.
After they finished eating, they spent the next hour in the control room going over the layout of Utopia. At 8:00 Misfit appeared and they left for Wayne Enterprises. Misfit was to giggly, that Babs had to warn Charles not to shut her up mentally. This scared Misfit enough for her to calm down. When they arrived at the hangar Bruce was nowhere to be seen.  Sitting on the floor of the helicopter, there was a large box.
"Now Charlotte pretend I'm Santa Clause and don't open the box until the time is-" Bruce suddenly appears from behind the helicopter.
 Babs stares evenly at him. "Are you here to talk me out of what I am about to do?"
"No," Bruce replies, his face unreadable. "It will be hard to replace you if you don't come back alive."
Babs smiles. "That is about as much of a compliment I can expect from him." Bab waves her hand, "everyone, get in!" When Babs turns on the engines, Bruce steps away but his eyes remained glued on the helicopter. He still standing there, when he just appears to be a speck on the ground.
...
Once they arrive at the Hall of Justice, Misfit couldn't help but let out a few oohs and ahs. They land on a concealed landing pad and proceed to walk down the labyrinth of halls. They are greeted by Red Tornado when they enter what league members lovingly call "The Kitchen." They take the elevato to the observation deck.
 
Babs set the box on a table and opens it. "Here it is Charlotte."
Misfit squeals at the sigh of the black body suit emblazoned with a dark blue "M" on it. Bab smiles. Go ahead and put it on. There is a changing room down the hall. Misfit skips away. Babs turns to Charles. "It'll be your turn next." Charles looks far from enthused.
 "This is so cool," Misfit exclaims.
Bad walks around, pleased with Alfred's work. "Now Charlotte, look the front of your hands." Misfit examines them. "You have tine syringes build in them."
"Yes, when you press button on the inside of your fingers, a the syringe will "sting" the opponent with a non-lethal dose of horse tranquilizer. You main task, unless I tell you otherwise, will be to sting as many mutants as possible. Any objections Charles?"
"None at all," he says.
"Cool!" Misfit says. 
Babs walks to window and pull out a control panel. "Misfit, why don't you practice before everyone else gets here?"
"Sure," says and walks into the Kitchen.
Babs turns away and smiles with a hint of mischief. "Your turn Charles," she says. She opens the box and pulls out a black body suit with a dark green border running down the sides. There is a green O on the chest. Lilandra smiles and Charles is trying very hard to hid his disbelief. "Do I really need a uniform?"
"Yes you do. Now go and put it on and I'll explain how it works."
Charles returns wheel back in with a look of incredulity on his face.
"You look handsome," Lilandra says.
"Who came up with this ridiculous design?"
"Actually, I made this suit for me, years ago. I had tailor friend of mine alter it for you." Before Charles can answer Zatanna appears in a clout of purple smoke. 
Babs does not act surprised. "Thanks for coming early Z. How was the show?"
"You know Gotham. I can turn a group of tigers into doves and then make them into wine and I still won't get a standing ovation."
"Sorry to hear that. Are you ready to demonstrate to Charles why he needs a uniform?"
"Sounds like fun."
"Now Charles, turn yourself around so that your back is facing us."
Charles rolls his eyes but does as instructed.
"Zatanna, you will be carrying him essentially as a back pack. That is why there is extra padding straps attached."
Zatanna levitates Charles towards her and Charles grumbles. "This is going to look ridiculous."
Zatanna answers this one. "Charles we both need our hands to be free so unless you have any better ideas, go along with it." 
Charles chooses to remain quiet, still uncomfortable not being in the position of authority. Zatanna pulls a silver amulet on necklace out.  She places it around Charles' neck. She holds the the amulet in her hands and says. "Lighten the load," backwards.  "This feels weird," Charles says.
"It is time to test this out," Babs says. She pulls out a microphone. "Charlotte take a break."
In a puff of pink smoke Misfit appears. "Sounds great."
Zatanna straps Charles onto her back. "Show time!" Zatanna disappears in a puff of purple smoke.
They are in the center of the metal room. "First lets try the meet grinder," Babs says and presses a button. A two ton ten foot wide slab of steel falls from the ground. Zatanna easily teleports out of range. "How about something tougher?" Zatanna shouts. Charles looks shaken though. Babs revs up the machine an more blocks of steel appear. Zatanna dodges all of them and Charles slowly looks less uncomfortable.
"It is time to make thing interesting for you Charles," Babs says to herself and presses a button.
"What are you doing?" Lilandra says.
Out of nowhere a tranquilizer dart hit Zatanna in the necks as another block of steel is a few feet away from smashing them to the side of the wall. "What the Hell Babs!" Charles shouts.
"Charles pull out the grappling gun and aim for a corner!"
Charles' hands are shaking. 
"Charles you can do this!"
The wall is inches from them when Charles aims the gun and pulls him and Zatanna to safety. Babs stops the training exercise. Zatanna wakes up.
"A little warning B!" Zatanna says but she is smiling. Charles is shaking like a leaf. Zatanna teleports them back to the observation room. Zatanna un-clips him and levitates him into his chair. He looks like he is about to be sick. Lilandra rushes to him. Babs is not pleased.
"Charles, you have been involved in countless battles! Why panic here when you knew I could hit the off switch!"
Lilandra starts in on her. "That is not fair! Charles had no idea what was coming!" 
But Babs does not let up. "Charles, the Shadow King feeds on fear. He has clearly hit a nerve somewhere that is inducing cowardice!"
Suddenly a black stick slams into Bab's face. Charles is seething. "No one calls me a coward!" He looks to Zatanna. "Now lets try this exercise again but make it harder this time!"
Babs smiles. "You're finally starting to learn.. 
 

Oo. I like it!

They run through a couple different exercises and Charles continues to improve with his handling of grappling guns. They break for lunch in the league cafeteria at 11:30 for a meal of fresh salad and grilled salmon, much to the pleasure of Charles and Lilandra. They are eating freshly-baked cookies when some of the first team members arrive.

Kyle Rayner is the first. Babs is especially delighted to see him. "Thank you for taking some time off from saving the Galaxy," she says.

Kyle creates a green hand that grips picks up a cookie and it feeds it to his mouth. "Show off," Zatanna says.

Kyle continues to eat the cookie. "I love league food." The green hand drops the last bit of cookie into his mouth and disappears.

Babs starts to walk down the hall. "Snack time is over. Back to the kitchen."

Misfit laughs. "That sounds so ridiculous" They proceed to walk back to the kitchen..

The rest of the teams of waiting for them. Charles surveys them with a critical eye. Babs steps forward and raised platform appears."Ladies and gentlemen I present to you our space pilot and ex-wife of man at the heart of our mission, Lilandra of Shi'ar empire. Anotheer platform raises Charles above them. "This is Professor Charles Xavier, who kill a man under the dark influence of being known as the Shadow King." Charles addresses the crowd. "Thank you for coming to my aid. I don't know how I will ever be able to repay for your service but I swear you have the utmost gratitude from me."

Babs takes the lead. "Lets divide the teams. The O team includes Misfit, Black Canary, Zatanna, and Beast Boy. The X team is composed of Raven, Kyle Rayner, and Donna Troy.

"So what kind of battles will we be facing here?" Beast boy asks as he rubs his hands together. Babs presses a button on her iPad and sets of the most comfortable elevated chairs imaginable. "I could get used to this," BlacK Canary says. Babs cuts in. "Actually this training will exist in your mind so we need you to be comfortable for what Charles hits you with. Now everybody get ready."

The group gets ready. Charles gets in the chair facing the group. "I need to you to relax, clear your minds, and remain calm. Close your eyes. I will count two three and you will be in Lilandra's space, Every one close there eyes. "One, two, three!"

Everybody's minds go blank.

Babs never could have imagined the kind obstacles Charles has put together for them to face. Babs felt lucky that she had chosen to stay out of the field. The X-men were ruthless. Even the one with pink hair and wings wielded a dangerous dagger. Charles had prepped them for battle extremely well. While coordinating the O team movements, Babs also looked in on the X teams progress. They were having more success fight off the Shadow King, but it was not an easy battle as they were running through the streets of San Francisco. During the first round, both teams were defeated. During the second round the X team had trapped destroyed Shadow King, but the O team failed to get Charles to cerebro so Charles's name couldn't be cleared. During the third round the O team was successful but the Shadow King had grown so strong that it destroyed Utopia.

"Damn!" Beast boy said after they were done with the simulation. "I have never faced anything like that!"

Donna Troy is despondent. "I can't believe we didn't all win," she said.

Black Canary looks at Babs seriously. "Babs, what happens if we don't succeed?"

Charles and Babs look each other and then Zatanna. Zatanna muttered something backwards and pulled a top hat out of the air. Out of the hat she pulled chains with silver Xs or Os on them. Babs explained.

"These are out totems out of this reality. If one or the other team fails, these amulets should telaport you back to Lilandra's ship. Lilandra's ship has infinite extendability so we are taking the Titans Jet. Lilandra and I will be in constant movement so to avoid getting attacked.

"What about Charles?" Raven asks.

"I am asking you to put your lives in danger for me. I will not have anyone die in my world. Since Babs is the leader of this quest, she has final word on what happens." He looks earnestly at Babs "I hope you will not wait til all is lost to choose to leave."

Babs touches Charles' shoulder. "I know we may be making up the rules as we go. But trust me. I'll make sure my teams get home safe." She looks at a clock it 6:15. She turns to the rest of the teams. "Everyone, take an amulet and head to the dining room. I arranged fillets, Cesar salad and roast chicken. There will be lava cake for desert. Wheels go up at midnight. Lilandra says that we should hit the other universe by 10:00 a.m. their time. Please no crime-fighting the mean time."

"You forgot booze!" Black Canary shouts and everyone laughs. Babs shakes her head. "Only one glass of red or white wine per person and that excludes you Charlotte!"

The group heads into the dining room discussing strategy. No one is very hungry.

Beast Boy is stabbing his steak as Charles concentrates on cutting his chicken. "So if I were to turn into a parasite, fly into this Wolverine guy's ear and then turn into a rat and cut his cerebrum from his cerebellum and then punch my way out, would he still survive?"

Charles dropped his silverware. He laughed long and hard. "My good man. I have seen this man thrown into the sun and he has still survived! In on of my more shady agenda-periods, I developed protocols that called for slicing his head off and burying them as far away apart as possible and he still survived. Do what ever you think might kill him, and that will probably slow him down for about five minutes."

Red Tornado appears as Babs is about to sit down with her food. "Oracle, you have a visitor in the visitor reception area." Babs places her food on a table. She walks down the hall, "Who on earth-Daddy!" She screams at the site of her father. She rushes into his arms there are tears in his eyes. "Were you really going to rush off into some unknown world without telling you old man?"

"But I didn't want you to worry!" She says hugging him harder. Gordon lifts her ever so slightly up into the air and swings her in a circle. "So how is this possible?"

Babs smiles "Long story. This is just temporary. We have no idea when it will stop working. So who ratted me out? Did Bruce-"

Charles appears. "I did Barbara. I think you father should know about the extremely brave thing you are doing for me."

Gordon lets go of Babs and walks over to Charles. "I don't know much about what is going to happen, but I trust my daughter's judgment."

"Thank you Mr. Gordon." The men shake hands. "Good Luck," Gordon replies.

Babs then proceeds to have a pleasant evening with her father. She hugs and kisses him good-bye at around 10:00. She returns to her control room and runs through strategies one last time. At 11:00 Babs over-saw the T-Wing being placed into the cargo hold of the Shi'ar craft. She then puts on her Bat-girl costume. She knows she probably won't need it but it doesn't hurt for team unity.

When everyone arrives Charles stares at the group, deep in thought. "The last time I assembled a rescue team, I ended up dearly regretting every action afterward."

Babs stands next to him as the teams board the ship. "This my decision also. All of these people know what they signed up for."

"Are you guys coming or not?" Misfit shouts out playfully. They enter the ship. Charles wheels up the aisle of seats and take his place beside Lilandra. Babs is in the seat just just behind Charles. "Say good-bye to this reality!" she shouts to a round of applause.

The gates open and Lilandra thrust's her ship forward. For a moment they can outside the windows a sea of lights at is D.C. Lilandra then puts it in full gear. The ship accelerates in light years through the night and into the great beyond.

End of Part 4