Misfit
Junior Member
Misfit In Action
Posts: 58
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Post by Misfit on Mar 3, 2012 20:02:55 GMT -8
It wasn't that Charlie hated needles. It's that Charlie REALLY hated needles.
When she was a kid, roughly 5 to 6 years old, she had a violent episode inwhich a rash developed across her entire frontside. She spent three agonizing days at a local hospital, trying to determine what caused the rash. Eventually, it faded, but the questions remained. What caused it? What could have made such an effect on her? The question caused major concern for the doctors that Charlie spent the next month in and out of hospitals, being exposed to small, nearly harmless amounts of formulas a day, each one designed to find the cause of the rash.
The random, nameless cause was found, and a cure was developed for Charlie. The solution was never the problem with her. It was the means.
Each and every exposure to the formulas were given via needle. Charlie's back had dozens of syringe marks, pracitcally making a checkboard style design along her back. Each needle hurt more then the last, and combined, they left a psycological effect on her mind thats till effects her to this day.
If this were any other situation, Charlie would run. She would bounce out of there, and quite often, tell the Doctor where he could stick his syringe. But this was different. This was Oracle. And Black Canary. She couldn't just run and hide from the two most important people in her life. That wasn't how 'she rolled'. Instead, she but on a brave face and knew that she had to take one for the team.
Her eyes followed the needle as her hands tightened around the bedsheet. She knew the old story of 'relaxing makes the needle hurt less', but she didn't care. Her breathing increased a little as she found herself closing her eyes, wincing her face, and waiting for the pain to come and go.
Oracle and Canary were sweetheats. She adored them for trying to keep her distracted, knowing exactly what they were attempting. Charlie appreciated it, and as scared as she was, she decided to humor them.
"Yeah...um...that sounds great. I would love to have a girls day out. All of us...just....just having fun."
Actually, that last bit was true. She was so used to hanging around the veterans while on the job that she never saw any of them in a recreational setting. It did sound like fun. maybe they could all go to an amusement park and---
MOTHER FU---
Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.
Charlie's eyes opened, a frown on her smile as she knew that the pain, be it temporary, was worth it. If Oracle says that she needed a blood sample, it had to be for a good reason. As she looked down towards where the microscopic puncture would should be, she ws surprised to spot the classic Batman logo looking back at her on the face of a bandage.
A tired, more relax smile formed on Charlie's face as she looked back at Oracle.
How could she ever stay mad at her?
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Post by Oracle on Mar 3, 2012 22:37:03 GMT -8
Barbara was really hoping that Charlie didn't feel that particular prick. Seemed like her Nurse Nightingale powers were slipping. She always felt partially guilty each time she did. especially when her operatives responded back to her with pain. She hated causing it to those she cared for.
Criminals, on the other hand?
Dealing out pain with a side of a forward jab and a broken rib to bring them to justice? Delicious.
And she did love the taste of 'justice.' Who didn't?
"We'll make sure we schedule a bit of time within the next couple of weeks to do that, okay?" she said a soft smile to Charlie.
Turning to Dinah, she had to stop for a moment. Something about Dinah's tone.. felt so.... condescending. She knew that Dinah was still probably heated with everything going on-- and that was understandable. But... something... inside of her couldn't help but feel like there was something more to her response. "I'm not implying that you wouldn't have..." she countered. "I was just asking..." she added, almost in defense.
She gently brushed the back of her hand against Charlie's cheek. "You stay here and rest, okay? I'm going to get this blood tested."
She turned back to Dinah. "Could you do me a favor and check Charlie's belt. Maybe something in there might give us a bit of a hint to what happened to her during her lost hours..."
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Misfit
Junior Member
Misfit In Action
Posts: 58
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Post by Misfit on Mar 3, 2012 23:19:02 GMT -8
Charlie continued to look down at the band-aid on her arm, gently sliding her hand along it. She looked up at Oracle, blush still on her cheeks, as she couldn't help but smile.
Oracle was so many things to her. A hero. A best friend. She was almost like a second mother to her. She knew that she cared for her, and everything she did was in Charlie's best interest. She trusted her through and through, and she could only hope that whatever the bloodtest results were, they were for the best.
Charlie closed her eyes as she felt the back of Oracle's hand slide along her cheek, taking pleasure out of her soft, touch. She felt safe. Safe and sound. She still had no idea how she had even gotten there, but at least for now, she had nothing to worry about.
"Okay. That sounds good. Thanks, ladies...for everything."
A cute, tucked out yawn leapt from Charlie's mouth before she closed her eyes and cozied up closed into her pillow. It didn't take long for her to fall back asleep.
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Post by Black Canary on Mar 3, 2012 23:32:59 GMT -8
Dinah bit her tongue when Barbara started coming off a little defensive, this was not the time or place to argue with her. "okay" She got off the bed and grabbed the belt off of the nightstand where Barbara had placed it.
"no problem kiddo, you just call if you need anything" She smiled and followed Barbara out of the room.
Dinah sat across from Barbara's little makeshift lab and put her feet up on the table while she went through Charlies Belt.
"there's nothing here out of the ordinary..." Dinah took out Charlies phone and went through it looking for any messages during the time frame.
"hmmm....there is a message saved in her drafts going to you saying that there wasn't much going on in the Wash and she wanted to know if you wanted her to come back but it looks like she might have been intrupted before she finished as she stopped mid sentence."
"Doesn't really give us anything, other than the fact that she did go to the Wash.....Do you want me to go check it out?"
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Post by Oracle on Mar 4, 2012 0:09:52 GMT -8
"No problem, Charlie..." As she started to make her way out of the room, Barbara's hand found the dial switch to dim the lights down. At least with her curtains drawn, the glare from the city lights shouldn't be too much of a trigger for Charlie's migraine. At least with the room completely dark she would rest easy and hopefully the pain would escape her.
Though because of the way she knew Charlie's system worked, she had a feeling that the effects were probably going to be temporary.
Still though. She still worried.
Making her way into one of the spare rooms, she reached over to make sure one of her small centrifuges was plugged in. As she started to prepare Charlie's blood, she raised an eyebrow. "An.. unfinished text?" Now that.. was interesting. "Is there an active timestamp on it as a saved message by any chance?"
She pondered a moment to Dinah's question. The thought of her going out to investigate might actually prove useful. But... what if the same ill-fate happened to Dinah? She didn't exactly have Misfit's teleportation ability. But.. her Canary Cry could be lethal given the situation. Dinah was a big girl. She knew how to handle things.
"Would you mind...? I think it might be worth a peek."
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Post by Black Canary on Mar 4, 2012 0:28:10 GMT -8
"an active whaty what?" Technology was definelty not one of Dinah's friends, she really did her best to stay clear of it when she could. She knew it was useful of course but not her forte....
"Here" she just handed Barbara the phone for her to find whatever it was she needed. "alright i'll head down and check it out, gotta change first....I assume I still have a set of clothes and some work attire here..." She headed up to her old room to check it out.
Dinah opened her closet to find a few articles of clothing and the main thing she came for. She stared at her costume for a few minutes, it has been a long time since she put on the fishnets.
There were a lot of memories associated with these, some bad, but a lot of good. She smiled thinking of the first time Ollie saw her in her fishnets, he couldn't take her eyes off or her, or keep his mouth shut...always the player. She sighed and grabbed everything off their hangers and changed.
"alright so just a general sweep of the wash then?" she asked as she headed back to the room.
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Post by Oracle on Mar 4, 2012 1:13:02 GMT -8
Barbara maneuvered around the room, going through cabinets. She was getting rather frustrated. Even though what went by as mere seconds seemed to be like hours. All she wanted to do was get things in order to get Charlie's blood tested and figure out what happened to her Charlie.... and frankly? Kick its ass. "Where the hell are my pipettes?" she grumbled to herself as she pulled out a box, sifting around in it mometairly before she found what she needed.
Looking back up, she took the phone from Dinah after brushing a few strands of fallen hair from her face. "Thanks.." she said, looking through the phone.
"Well, at least we have a timeframe of the incident... And.. that doesn't seem too far off from when Charlie crashed into the kitchen earlier."
She placed the phone down on the stainless steel table. "A general sweep of the Wash, yes. And it's outter perimeter. Please keep your com on..." The worry could easily be seen within her eyes. "...please...?"
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Post by Black Canary on Mar 4, 2012 1:31:14 GMT -8
Dinah could see the worry in Barbara's face, it made her wonder how much worry and heartache she had put babs through disappearing like she did. "i'll keep them on....I promise" with that she took off.
Maybe I will get a little more action tonight the thought brought a smile to Dinah's face. She really just felt like beating the crap out of anyone who deserved it. There was just so much anger built up inside of her, she'd rather take it out on someone who deserved it than Barbara or anyone else trying to help her.
After a long walk Dinah finally found herself in the wash, it was just as scummy as she remembered it, though a little more vacant than usual. Dinah activated her coms "there's not much activity going on down here....is that strange? its been awhile since i've been down here, have things been cleaned up?"
She continued looking around for any sign of where Misfit had been or any trouble she might have run into.
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Post by Oracle on Mar 4, 2012 1:59:00 GMT -8
Barbara gave Dinah a reassuring smile as she left. "Thank you.." she said, as she watched the stalky blonde leave the room. If there would be anything out there, Dinah would definitely be the one to find it. She seemed to have a knack for finding things.... not to mention under-cover work. Dinah was fantastic for that.
She continued to fuss with prepping Charlie's blood and placing it into the centrifuge to allow the blood components to separate from the testing solution. At least.. now it wouldn't be too much longer until she got to the bottom of things.
Reaching over, Barbara picked up Charlie's phone and gazed back to the un-finished message she had typed out and just... pondered.
As some time passed she heard Dinah's voice come though. "Nothing much from the norm, I take?" was her response.
"Actually.. yes.. about a year ago there was generous donation made to try and re-affirm the area. Which.. is probably why it looks a little bit cleaner than before."
She paused.
"...make note to the mention of 'a little bit cleaner' not a-lot-a-bit." she smirked faintly at her musing. "Maybe see if anyone is possibly willing to... 'talk' down there?"
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Post by Black Canary on Mar 4, 2012 21:59:44 GMT -8
"ahh yes, I've always been good at persuading people to talk" she smiled and continued further into the wash. She passed by a few bums but none that seemed worth her time, sadly most of the homeless in this city where in there own little world, unaware of the world around them. after a few minutes of searching she seemed to find her candidate.
from the looks of it he was a local hustler, trying to pawn off whatever crap he could sell. "hey lady I got a nice prada purse for ya, real cheap"
"no thanks i'm not looking to buy just looking for a little information...how long have you been here?"
"look lady if your not buying than move on" he did his best to look grimacing.
Dinah looked around, "yes I can see I am intrupting you during your rush hour, look you can do this the easy way and it will take a few minutes of your time, or there is the hard way" she shifted her weight a little bit.
"piss off lady" he wrapped his arms around his chest and puffed up a little bit.
"I'm sorry I didn't quite catch that? what did you say?" she leaned in a little closer.
"I said piss off bitch" he moved a little closer.
"ahh yes that is what I thought..." with a swift roundhouse kick she knocked him to the wall pinning him there with her foot against his neck. She leaned her weight towards him.
"thank you for choosing the hardway, more fun for me" she smiled and checked her nails for a minute while he struggled letting him wear himself out knowing no matter what he did he wouldn't be able to get out of her pin. She felt him start to relax and returned her attention to him.
"you done now?" she let leaned back a little releasing some pressure so he could talk. "now how long have you been here today?"
"you crazy bi..." She pressed a little harder. "okay...okay...." she let off again. "been here most of the day"
"good boy....now tell me, did you see anything strange today? any new people that stood out, looked out of place?"
"actually yeah, some dude in a suit....looked like he had money....shouldn't be in this part of the town...unless he wanted to get robbed...." he tried to move so he could breathe better.
"did you see him do anything or was there anyone else?"
"He was alone when he came in...went into that alleyway over there....heard commotion....came out with some dude in a parka..."
"what about a girl?"
"I didn't see a girl....please that is all I know...."
"see, that didn't take long now did it....thank you for your time." she let loose of him and started down to where he pointed.
"by the way....whoever you stole that Prada from had horrible taste, that is so a knock off..."
she turned the corner and looked for any clues of misfit or the two new suspects. "you catch all of that oracle?"
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Post by Oracle on Mar 4, 2012 23:35:19 GMT -8
Sitting by her computer, Barbara awaited to find out the result from Charlie's blood test. At least with her running the tests, she would get a result back in way more than half the time than any one of Gotham's criminal labs.
Oh how she loved having access to premium equipment. it made her life so much easier.
As she waited, she had her speakers going and was following every step Dinah took... only audibly. It was just like old times. She liked it better this way.
Barbara couldn't help but stifle a giggle when Dinah told the guy she had been squeezing for information that his Prada bag was a knockoff.
That was too amusing.
And yup. That was just like Dinah. She always knew how to make the boldest statements while keeping her wits about her. And that was one reason why she adored her.
"Loud and clear." she responded, back to Dinah.
She had to wonder about that particular bit of information though. It pretty much still was considered 'winter' so parkas were normal. Though, a lot of Gotham citizens tended to opt for more 'trendy' bits of outter-wear. "A guy in a suit... with MONEY?" she questioned into her com. "...that's... strange. He would definitely be a fish out of water down there."
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Post by Black Canary on Mar 4, 2012 23:48:22 GMT -8
"yes a fish out of water down here, but in Gotham in general it will be like searching for a needle in a haystack" Dinah rummaged through the stuff in the alley. It did look trashed but then again it always does...
"i'm not seeing anything here to help us out either. If Misfit got into a scuffle here it was quick, there are no traces of any real struggle. the real question is what did Misfit see and honestly why didn't she have any marks or bruises....."if she went up against two possible guys there should be some evidence of a fight..." what was it these guys were trying to hide and what was it that they did to Charlie....
"you think we are dealing with some guy with some fancy toys, or possibly a meta?" anything was really possible at this point.
"well unfortuantly I think we have his a dead end...I'm going to head back" with that she turned back towards the tower keeping her eye out for anything else that might explain what went on.
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Post by Oracle on Mar 4, 2012 23:57:45 GMT -8
"Those are the same questions I keep running through my head." she stated, her fingers working their way across her holo-projectors. "It had to be someone with a gizmo... or a meta. Hard to tell what though."
She inhaled. Whoever this was really didn't want anything 'left behind' and that was apparent. "If they were that powerful, I'm surprised more wasn't done...
"Even though enough WAS done." Barbara's head tilted to the side as the results of the blood work started to fill her screen.
"Thanks for checking that out for me, Dinah. With what you were able to sniff out, at least gives us a bit more insight of the events that transpired.
"Annnd it looks like Charlie's bloodwork is done."
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Post by Black Canary on Mar 5, 2012 0:11:14 GMT -8
"yeah she was lucky that all she ended up with was a headache and some lost time...." Charlie was good but she was still new to the game and so young....it worried Dinah knowing she was out patrolling with some of these lunatics out here.
"anything abnormal in her blood work?" Dinah inquired as she neared the tower. She stifled a yawn and looked at her watch. Dinah hadn't realized how late it was, or early depending on how you looked at it. She had grown accustom to little sleep over the years, especially as of late. Nights are always the hardest, laying there trying to sleep all those thoughts and images running through your head.
Dinah usually just kept going until she would finally crash allowing her to get a decent rest, if she didn't she would just lay there tossing and turning. She often wondered if Barbara ever slept, she always seemed to be up, anytime Dinah was on a mission she was always there with her, no matter what time of day or night. Her blood was probably filled with more caffeine than blood cells...
After what seemed like hours Dinah finally reached the tower and headed inside.
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Post by Oracle on Mar 5, 2012 1:03:28 GMT -8
"I'll say..." Barbara respond, biting her lower lip. She really didn't want to think of the bad that may have ended up happening. Instead... it was time to focus on what was lying ahead.
"Everything seems to be where it should be with her internal work ups. All chemical points are running clear." She scrolled through the test sheet that was in front of her.
No chemicals or anything 'strange' in her system. And with the new information about the two unknown characters seen in the wash around the time Misfit was down there, was a bit of a mystery.
"So.. that rules out anything that may be floating around within her system."
She rubbed her head in thought. "I.. cannot place it. I'm.... stumped. If anything.. maybe something will surface later.. or maybe Charlie will start to remember a bit more as time goes by.
"I guess we'll have to stand idle..."
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