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Endless Legacy Ch. 44 (DC Comics)
🕑 Added 2024-08-29 15:36:06 +0000 UTCA/N: The Birds of Prey bounce ideas off one another~
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When Barbara hesitates, Dinah and Helena look at each other again, their concern mounting.
âBarbara, you canât-!â
âNo.â
She cuts Dinah off at that, making up her mind right then and there. Not just because Dinah says âshe canâtâ, and that phrase has become a bit of a trigger for her throughout these years in a wheelchair⊠but Barbara would be lying if she said that didnât play a big part in things.
Silence falls at her response, and Barbara huffs before crossing her arms over her chest as she looks at Dinah and Helena both.
âHe doesnât need to know yet. This isnât his case. He passed it off to me because heâs busy and couldnât handle it himself. He knew that likely meant I would have the Birds of Prey handle it if it wasnât anything too serious or directly tied to him and his business. And thatâs precisely whatâs going to happen. Weâre going to handle this.â
Thereâs a pregnant pause at that, in which Barbara stares her friends down with as challenging a look as she can muster. Finally though, she sees the moment that the two heroines both get with the program and get on board with Barbaraâs proposal.
â⊠Alright Babs, weâre in.â
âOf course weâre in, you know we wouldnât leave you high and dry.â
Barbara smiles at that, basking in their loyalty for a moment. To be fair, neither woman was particularly close to Batman. They didnât even know his true identity. She, as Oracle, was the main connection between him and her fellow Birds of Prey.
However, that didnât change the reputation Batman had, both in Gotham and in the Justice League. His mythos alone was enough to have Dinah and Helena questioning her decision not to bring him in. Still, with that behind them now, Barbara feels a sense of relief wash over her.
âGreat. Read the rest of the data on the tablet and then give me your first thoughts.â
Nodding, the other heroines do so. Barbara, meanwhile, gets a glass of water and downs the first of the pills. Now that she knows theyâre not hiding anything dangerous, sheâs not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially when the alternative is either prolonging her full recovery, or having to order a metric fuck ton of food to make up for the caloric deficiency that âDoctorâ Lukeâs machine left her in.
⊠If it even was the machine. Barbara frowns as she looks over the information coming in from her bug again. Nothing has changed, but itâs always useful to check out old information with fresh eyes every once in a while.
Speaking of whichâŠ
âSo wait, if the tube is fake, how the hell did you still get healed?â
Helenaâs confusion is understandable, and Barbara tips her head in acknowledgment to the point. Dinah, meanwhile, hums.
âWell⊠it might not be fake, right? Maybe itâs alien tech after all⊠just alien tech weâve never seen before. And also alien tech so far beyond us we donât have the capacity to comprehend it.â
Scoffing at Dinahâs theory, Helana immediately begins poking the more obvious holes in it.
âSo then how is Lex Luthor utilizing it if thatâs the case? How is this Maximillian Doctor fellow managing to utilize it if itâs so advanced?â
But Dinah isnât down for the count just yet.
âWell, perhaps this⊠Luke Maximillian is actually an alien in disguise? It wouldnât be the first time⊠not by a long shot. He could be a fugitive⊠THAT wouldnât be a first either. So he comes to Earth, because lord knows aliens love to come hide out on our planet, and he brings some technology with him. And somehow he and Luthor get in touch and Luthor becomes his patron or something?â
Helana looks more thoughtful now, placing a hand under her chin as she hums.
â⊠But if that were the case, why would Luthor ever let him use such technology in a free clinic of all things? And yeah, I know that the super healing in particular was far from free, Barbara paid out the nose for it, but all the same⊠Luthor would be more likely to hole such a prize up in a research lab somewhere, where he could reverse engineer the technology and use it to make himself look like the second coming of Jesus Christ or something, right?â
This⊠this was why sheâd made the Birds of Prey. And it was also why sheâd called Dinah and Helena in. Fresh eyes on the situation and already they were coming up with new ideas. Now, did Barbara think Luke was an alien fugitive? Probably not, but she couldnât rule it out. Even if her experience told her that the tube sheâd been put in seemed as fake as several other examples of fake alien tech sheâd seen over the years⊠she wasnât infallible. She could be fooled.
âThereâs also the magic angle to think about girls.â
Dinah and Helena both pause at that, before begrudgingly nodding. Helena just frowns some more though.
âIf it is magic, my points still stand though. Why is something like that here in Gotham, instead of in a LexCorp laboratory or practically anywhere else where Luthor has more power and influence? Why would he risk such a find in his very first successful push into Gotham City?â
That was a good point. Things werenât adding up. Lex Luthor had tried and failed for years to get a foothold in Gotham. Now here he was, having finally succeeded despite everyoneâs best efforts. Even still, risking this sort of healing in a single small clinic in Gotham was⊠well, it was kind of crazy. Unless there was a catch of some sort.
âThere has to be a catch of some sort.â
Dinahâs words echo Barbaraâs thought so eerily that Barbara canât help but grin. Leaning back against the table behind herself, she tilts her head to the side as she considers the other heroines.
âWe need more information, ladies. I have one avenue so far that Iâm considering exploring, but Iâm open to suggestions as well.â
Helena and Dinah both grow thoughtful for a moment, clearly turning the dilemma over in their heads. Finally, Dinah shrugs and speaks first.
â⊠We could leak the super healing to a criminal or two and see what happens and how the clinic reacts when theyâre outright attacked? Mr. Freeze, for instance, would probably leap at another opportunity to cure his wife.â
Barbara frowns at the mention of the cold-themed supervillain. Freezeâs tale was positively tragic, even compared to many of the similarly tragic backstories for Gothamâs gallery of misfits and neâer dowels. He was only doing what he did out of love for his wife and a desire to see her saved, but her illness was so rare and inexplicable that his every attempt to cure her so far had ended in failure.
That saidâŠ
âIf we tell one criminal, we might as well tell them all. While Iâm sure Freeze would guard the information with his life, his PhD is on cryogenics, not cyber security. More than that, leaking information like that would make it impossible for us to control when such an attack occurred⊠innocents might wind up caught in the crossfire.â
Dinah nods, accepting Barbaraâs critique without issue. Both of them knew Barbara hadnât said an outright ânoâ to the idea⊠which meant that it was still on the table, despite its flaws. It just wasnât their first option.
Helena clears her throat, speaking up next.
âI could go in. Infiltrate under the cover of night and get us more information. Iâm sure you could get me a device that would download their files or give a backdoor into their systems. The healing tech might be alien technology beyond our comprehension, but the rest of it is human, right?â
⊠Right. Barbara slowly nods, even as she eyes Huntress contemplatively. On the one hand, she didnât doubt Helenaâs skills for even a second. On the other handâŠ
âItâs not a bad idea, but it is an escalation. If you get caught, theyâll know weâre investigating.â
The Huntress scoffs at that, crossing her arms over her chest.
âIF I get caught, sure.â
Barbara smiles and rolls her eyes at Helenaâs confidence. Itâs well-earned to be fair, but at the same timeâŠ
âWhile youâre right that most of what I saw looked like human technology, if the healing tech truly IS alien, then they might have other alien technology as well⊠like alien security. Youâre good, Helena, but no one is perfect. And once they know that theyâre being investigated, theyâll be much more on guard.â
Dinah interjects then, humming.
âTo be fair, if they donât already think theyâre being investigated, then theyâre absolute morons. Anything that came of Luthor finally managing to sink his claws into this city even an inch was always going to be investigated to hell and back. The blowhard even put his damn name on it.â
âFair point, but thereâs a big difference between thinking youâre being investigated and knowing it. And a big difference in the way you act as well.â
The other Birds both have to nod at that, conceding the point. Barbara, meanwhile, hesitates for a moment longer before finally biting the bullet.
âHelenaâs plan isnât bad⊠but I think I want to tackle this from another angle first. If the Huntress shows up at the clinic so soon after âHope Lavilleâ received healing, then the Hope identity will be burned. However⊠I slipped the âdoctorâ in charge of the clinic my number. Iâm thinking I might be able to play up the part of a hopelessly enamored heiress who just got her health back a bit further⊠and reach out to him first. It shouldnât be out of the question for me to have a line to him or be overeager enough to call before he does.â
â⊠You want to honeypot him?â
Dinahâs skepticism is shared by Helena, judging by the look on the other womanâs face. Both are looking at Barbara somewhat incredulously. Barbara pouts at them.
âWhat? Itâs the perfect cover. Obviously, âHopeâ has lived a relatively lonely life, not only being confined to a wheelchair but also the hidden survivor of her familyâs massacre. And of course sheâs not going to really have anyone else to reach out to or understand social cues. Now maybe he wonât bite⊠but I think itâs worth a shot at least.â
They still donât look convinced, but Barbara is in charge here, sort of. In the end, she just rolls her eyes at the others.
âLook, all Iâm saying is we give it a try before we potentially burn that identity and give Luke and his silent bodyguard a reason to suspect something is amiss. It canât hurt, right?â
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â⊠You know, I suspect something was amiss about our first rich client.â
Laying back in bed, staring up at the ceiling, Lucien has a thoughtful frown on his face. Meanwhile, Blackfire lifts her head from his bared chest and looks at him with a raised eyebrow. The smell of sex is heavy in the room as the two enjoyed one anotherâs company quite thoroughly for the last couple hours or so after closing up the clinic for the evening.
âOh? Was it the odor of desperation so heavy it flooded the senses? Tch, and it only got worse after you healed her too. She just went from desperate to get her legs back, to desperate to get into your pants.â
Lucien gives Blackfire a half-amused, half-bemused glance at her caustic words towards âHope Lavilleâ. Itâs obvious that the disguised Tamaranean didnât think much of the wheelchair bound girl. Though after sheâs done shitting all over the poor dear, she does get a frown of her own on her face.
âUnless youâre saying she was lying about something. But⊠you would have said if she wasnât really paralyzed, right? Or would you not have?â
That⊠Lucien honestly doesnât know. He considers the question for a moment before shrugging.
âI guess I wouldnât have, at least until she was fully gone. Then I would have told you. I mean⊠she paid upfront, as expected, so it wasnât like it would have mattered if she wasnât truly paralyzed. But no⊠she definitely was. And it was a bullet that did the paralyzing too, that wasnât a lie either. HoweverâŠâ
Blackfire watches as he furrows his brow, processing his thoughts for a moment before explaining.
âItâs just⊠well, I get a lot of information when I use my power on someone else. And from what I understand⊠I donât think that was Hope Laville.â
Blackfire stiffens at that, and then lifts herself up onto a hand to look at him.
âThen who the fuck was it?â
Lucien shrugs.
âNo clue her exact identity. But we of course did a background check on her ahead of time, and⊠well, the Laville Family definitely looked like our âHopeâ. Even the pictures of Hope herself as a child looked right. But the woman I just healed tonight was a natural red head with green eyes.â
Blackfire gnashes her teeth.
âAnd you healed her anyways? You just let her walk out like that?â
Lucien gives his âhenchwomanâ another look.
âYes. I did. She isnât the only one hiding her true identity, and I wasnât about to give anything away with a confrontation that might blow our cover. Besides, even if she wasnât actually Hope Laville, the money was still good and she actually was in need of healing.â
Huffing, Blackfire shakes her head.
â⊠This isnât over. Sheâs not going to give up. I suppose now I know why she was trying to pry into your love life.â
Shrugging, Lucien relaxes back into the pillows and smirks.
âWell itâs not like it matters. She might not be who she says she was, but she also wasnât anyone too special, at least biology-wise. Sure, she gave me her number, but I donât exactly have to call her or anything. Real Hope Laville or not, weâre probably never going to see or speak to her ever again.â
Thereâs a beat⊠and then his phone on the nightstand begins to ring. Blinking, Lucien reaches over and picks it up, his brow furrowing when he sees that itâs an unknown caller⊠but the number⊠the number is familiar.
âNo wayâŠâ
âWhat? Who is it?â
Itâs the exact number that âHope Lavilleâ gave him earlier, Lucien knows it is. He hadnât saved it to his phone though or anything, so it wasnât coming up as her.
âSheâs calling.â
Blackfire squawks at that, before glaring at the phone as though personally offended. Lucien, meanwhile, is suddenly contemplative. Blowing their cover was one thing. But if this fake âHopeâ was this desperate, then that meant there was probably no stopping her from continuing to pry.
Seeing the incredulous look Blackfire is giving him, Lucien shrugs.
âI mean⊠it would be a shame not to see where this leads, right?â
Still, he hesitates⊠was he really going to pick up the phone?
Comments
Stephen Angus
god I wish this was daily im all caught up on everything I read. Keep up the good work Cam.
KOS 1100
Ngl I want to see his clinic filled with villains who want to get healed and use his clinic as some kind of peace zone.
Tamsus Karalius
Lucien can't read memories. He suppressed Blackfires and showed his own.
Alreadyhome
Very true. Nothing has been mentioned (that I remember seeing) directly about him being able to "read" those memories. The only reason I thought that it was a possibility was because of the fact that he COULD seal those memories. Also, the questions about reversing the amnesia kept talking about partial restoration. I couldn't think of any way he could pick and choose like that, both for sealing and restoring, if he couldn't "read" them. That was the only logic I could come up with that would make sense without giving a headache. If I'm assuming too much, it won't be the first time. Probably won't be the last time either.
Rotaugur
First, i dont like barbara at all. I think of her like a bitter selfcentered bitch, who is like a Karen turned vigilenty/antihero. Secound, if he is to clean, he will always e the target of the league, batfamily and other dogoddies, for being connected to Luther . It will be easier and much more acceptable for them, if he hase something shady going on ,that is not destructable or evil . Something like nonlethal drugs or a mild supersoldier serum for the black market will be the expected product from a clinic, that in a city like gotham will not rise suspicions.
Nanaya7Nights
Barbara route could lead to Mrs. Freeze being healed as well with Oracle ensuring that no digital trace of the actions remain.
Nanaya7Nights
Also, Starfire didn't have someone who could modify her genes on the fly.
Nanaya7Nights
Honestly if Barbara gets involved with him for real, then she would have likely uncovered that he is Remedy in hiding. At which point he becomes an independent hero in their mind thus making it OK for Barbara to start dating again.
Nanaya7Nights
Doesn't have to want to get rid of her powers. If she or Harley gets hurt enough to need advanced healing, then that would be a good reason to have them meet Dr. Luke.
Nanaya7Nights
She is looking for ideas. In the previous chapter Barbara already considered metahuman powers as a possibility IIRC. So it is on HER mind, even if the two others haven't considered it.
Nanaya7Nights
While it is an interesting idea, it would be better for him to be heroic in all actions. He can be sympathetic towards villains, but better to not start empowering any until he has Barbara fully on his side.
Nanaya7Nights
Honestly if Luke wins Barbara's trust, she could point him towards Victor and set up a meet. The condition of the meet would be that Victor keep no record of it or allow Oracle to reinforce his cyber security.
Nanaya7Nights
I don't think Lucian can "read" memories yet. He is able to seal memories of a period of time and transfer his own into someone's mind. But he hasn't demonstrated the ability to read someone else's memories yet.
Alreadyhome
It getting pretty bad when you can count on the Heroes to do illegal things as much as the Villains do them. I say that since two of the actions mentioned (by the Birds) cross the lines of good/bad for no valid reason, and the last one is illegal... all three choices suck. Well, unless Barbara is just using this as an excuse to take her now fully functioning Vag out for a test drilling. What's worse about that is that Lucien and Blackfire didn't do their Due Diligence to find out WHO Hope actually was. They don't know her, and things seem a bit too easy? Take an extra few seconds to grab some more memories from her. It's not like Lucien is one of the White Hats here, or that he hasn't performed similar actions before. Have him pick up the phone, make a date, pull some more information from her during sex, and then re-evaluate his situation. Maybe even let Blackfire take some "Revenge Pictures" while the Commissioner's daughter is being a freak in the bed. Not blackmail, just Revenge. From the way he ruled Starfire's bedroom, I don't think that it'd be too difficult to have Barbara loose ALL of her inhibitions for that. There's a lot of stories that have her as Bi, so that wouldn't do much. Public sex would have too much fallout on the clinic. Unless she got a temp job as a stripper and did her tipping customers for an extra $20. Or BDSM on stage. There's a lot of stories that reinforce the Heroines as being BDSM subs theory. They do get caught and tied up a lot. That'd count as public, right? Hmm, when I was growing up, I never liked Lex. I still don't, but I'm getting a very firm understanding about his thoughts on Vigilante groups. Thugs in Spandex.
Sith2go
Mixing investigations with her physical therapy is just smart.
Sith2go
Small time villains and gangsters would probably go to the clinic, thinking it was a haven of healing for villains, since it is associated with Lex. Those higher up the criminal ladder(Like Blackmask and his crew) would probably avoid the clinic like the plague unless they are in dire need of help, exactly because they dont want to risk being part of Lex's potential schemes. The top dogs are all wildcards.
DocteurNS
I mean, he might try to locate her on his own. Her powers are pretty neat.
Creature of Grimm
i say keep everything as 'legal' as possible. since no one will believe anything involving lex doesn't have an altera motive, it would mess with their heads and make them come up with wilder theories about what is really going on.
Flamingkilla
I think metahuman healing abilities are about as rare as magic based healing ability, if not rarer given a metahumans abilities are fairly unique to each individual.
Voivode
As it so happens, he does have alien security, just not the kind they were thinking.
Gamesempie
Nah, Ivy's happy the way she is. No way she goes to him to turn back into her original self.
Gamesempie
I hope we do get a chance to heal Freeze's wife.
Rotaugur
I would say he should set up a small drug operation or at least the start of one as a cover. When they get invadet by others, the others will think, the klinik is the cover and not the other way around. Add a few enhancment treatments for the criminal elements with enaugh money with a seperat machine, and nobody will concentrate on the clinic. They will all think lex is up to his old tricks, with a better cover than normal but nothing more And as the cliniv is legal and above board, batsi and the rest cand do anything without looking bad.
Vacivus
So I'm kinda confused why they're still talking like they think the most likely explanation is with the tech. She knows she felt nothing while in the machine, she noted that it being the tech is the least likely solution, and she noted that magic healing is incredibly rare. Yet she didn't even mention metahuman as an option to her team? Doesn't it look like the most likely at this point? IDK, mabye I'm just having an issue separating myself from the metaknowledge.
FIREKING217
Correct me if Iâm wrong because I donât read comics and all that stuff. But donât they absorb solar energy not convert it immediately? So theoretically they could just fly above the clouds or above orbit and just sunbathe for some time. Itâs not like Superman looses his powers while sleeping through the night as well so I donât think they would be in that much trouble.
DarkthShadow
See, no obvious bad answer in sight, so we pick the horny option....though, I do hope Mr.Freeze, and maybe Ivy pay him a visit, though, I don't think Ivy will.
FIREKING217
Iâm so between 1 and three 1 for obvious reasons but three for the story. sure freeze is not a good man but heâs not Evil, especially Arkham freeze anyway but I never liked the stories that portray him as an Evil man. Also I like that my idea of the Alien tech thatâs too advanced to be able to comprehend got an immediate Scoff đ
JO LP
Honestly if they could cure his wife he would have no need to be a villain any more.
Phraxius
Barbara while riding Lucien's dick a week from now: "My investigation is going - oh yes - really well. No normal human could be sooooo good at sex." I'm sure Helena and Dinah will be very 'impressed' by her dedication.
JO LP
smut vs no smut? Hmmm I wonder which option will win?
DocteurNS
Wouldn't some villains already be aware of the clinic? The Gotham villains are crazy, not dumb (not all of them). I feel like they would at least look up something tied to Luthor.
Nat
I know she isn't the most popular of Gotham capes, but I'm a huge fan Barbara. Plus she's a redhead. Honeypot plan is a go!
jp9901
Freeze needs a win
Robert Brown
While I would like Freeze to get a win, which would also leave him indebted to the MC.... I feel going with the villain plan would straight up blow our cover and we have just barely gotten a foothold in Gotham. It would also end up defeating the whole purpose of us being in Gotham in first place (which is us trying to lay low)
Rapthorn2ndform
Honestly, it has to be 1. I don't really like either of the other plans so it makes Barbaraâs look so much better by comparison. Leaking it to freeze sounds good but honestly not really a villain who i see propelling the story foreward... maybe... fix clayface or killer croc?
Kensai
I think I just realized why Gotham feels so "off" to me for BlackFire and Lucien. Tamaranean powers are sunlight/radiation based and Gotham is DARK. The Starfire series a few years ago had Starfire taking up residence in the Florida Keys, soaking in the sun. Granted a lot of it was an excuse for fan service, but the basic idea meshes with her character. Superman works as a visitor to Gotham, but never a resident. His powers, also sunlight/radiation based, would not make him Superman by prolonged exposure. Why would someone choose to inhabit a place where it weakens/restricts them? I understand the setting lends itself to a lot of story opportunities, but it just feels "off" to me.
suspiciouscoffee
I kinda wanna see the villain plan, if only to see Freeze get a win for once. If the girls help Freeze keep it quiet, they also get a villain off the streets if it works...
Oblivoni_Miche
Villain route all the way
