"Oracle's Ordeal" - Chapter 7: "Left Alone"

This is it, the final chapter of our little story! What will become of our brave, tortured heroine and her captured love? Will the villainous Sofia Falcone and Poison Ivy get away with their cruel deeds? Will the beautiful Barbara Gordon get out of this one?

Find out, in the thrilling conclusion of Oracle's Ordeal!

Silence and darkness.

Barbara was surrounded by silence and darkness. The harsh light shone down on her still, shackled by the wrists to Sofia’s large whipping post, arms above her head, sore back to the rough wood. The sweat that covered her body, and made it glisten was now beginning to dry, as were the tears that had run down her face. Tears of rage, sadness and despair. Her head hung low, framed between her arms. Her beautiful, punished breasts still ached from the torture, and red welts ravaged her torso.

The only sounds filling the room were the creaking her chains made.

Barbara steadied her breathing.

“Tim…” she whispered, mostly to herself.

“Tim!” A little louder. She looked at her boyfriend, the man she loved, on the ground, shirtless and bound by Poison Ivy’s vines. “Tim!!”.

Nothing. He was out cold.

“Tim please wake up…” she said, again mostly to herself, as tears began welling in her eyes again.

Barbara was all alone.

No.

She was LEFT alone.

Her head shot up. The bastards had left her alone in this room. Unsupervised. That was their mistake. Focus, take stock. Remember your training. Her focus transformed her despair into a quiet, determined rage.  This was her window. She opened her beautiful green eyes.

Tim was out of action. Had he been knocked out or was this some effect of Ivy’s toxin? She couldn’t be certain from that distance, she’d have to move in closer.

“Ok” she breathed. She looked up, breaking the dried-up vines that held her head in place. They had turned to some kind of wood, sturdy, but not indestructible, basically twigs. Staring straight up, she could see her wrists, bound in chains, the cold metal biting into her soft skin, marking and bruising it.

“Shackles… Right…”

Barbara grabbed the chains connected to each cuff. She pulled and thrust her right elbow to the left, until her back was off the post, leaving only her left shoulder leaning against it. She pushed again and turned. Now she was facing the post. The memory of the stinging lash almost stripping her flesh crashed into Barbara’s thoughts.

She closed her eyes. “No,” she whispered, “focus”.

Barbara grabbed hold of her chains once again. She breathed in and out 3 times. Each breath sharp and deliberate, like a weightlifter ready to pick up a bar. She opened her eyes and with a single motion, lifted herself up by the very restraints that held her in bondage. Pulling herself up so that her eyes were at the level of her shackles, she examined them. As she moved her head around her wrists while turning them so she could inspect them, she realized Ivy’s dried vines, now turned to thin twigs essentially, were still wrapped around her arms.

Barbara allowed herself a little smile.

Sticking her neck out and moving her head forward, she started biting at her the wood encircling her right forearm. With a quick jerking motion, she tore off a piece, but it cracked into tiny pieces in her mouth.

“Ok,” she thought, “gently…”

She tried again, this time on her left arm. Gently. Using her tongue and lips just as much as her teeth.

SNAP

“Got it!” Thought Barbara.

Moving the snapped twig around in her mouth, Barbara positioned between her clenched teeth and raised herself back up to the shackles. Angling her head a bringing her lips to the small keyholes on her shackles, she inserted the twig into one of them and began moving it around, closing her eyes to focus solely on the tactile nature of her task. Holding herself up by her arms while relaxing every muscle above her neck in order to "feel out" the locking mechanisms of the metal cuffs around her wrists with a small wooden twig she was holding between her teeth that might break into little bits if forced too hard was very difficult…

CLICK

…But far from impossible.

Barbara’s right hand was free. She took the twig from her mouth with her free hand and immediately got to work on the other lock, which opened up in a matter of seconds. She looked down and slowly lowered herself down the whipping post until she couldn’t go any further and let go of the chains, dropping to the floor with a thud. She was on top of her yellow mini shorts and she quickly put them back on. Sofia had cut up and torn up her top and hoodie so she’d deal with that later. Right now, this little bit of her own clothing being back on her body, meant a great deal to her. Another in a series of small victories she was reclaiming. Her training told her to make for the wheelchair in the center of the room before anything else, to recover her mobility and immediately broaden her options. But her heart drove her towards Tim. He was about 10 feet away from where Barbara had been chained up and she crawled on her elbows across the dirty floor to the man she loved.
Barbara placed herself over Tim’s bound body, his arms were to the side and his eyes were half-closed. She immediately checked for a pulse. Faint, but steady. She let out a sigh of relief and placed her head on his chest as her eyes welled up.

“Tim… I’m so sorry you got dragged into this.” She said, “I’ll get you out of here ok? I promise”

Tim stirred in his bonds and grunted.

“His body is still working through Ivy’s toxin,” thought Barbara “but it seems somewhat responsive…”

She moved off of Tim’s chest and began moving towards the wheelchair in the middle of the room.

“Tim… baby… I’m gonna need you to snap out of it my love…” Said Barbara as she dragged herself across the floor. Reaching the wheelchair, she turned it to face her and grabbed onto its seat. “I know you must be feeling pretty terrible right now… HHMF” Barbara raised herself onto the chair and sat down, then adjusted her legs, “and you’re gonna have a heck of a headache when you come to…” she wheeled herself to the table on the far wall, there Sofia had been getting her implements of torture from. “But I’m gonna need you to stand up baby, I don’t think I can carry you out of here.”

The heroine surveyed the tools and implements on the table. Pliers, ice picks, a hammer, a club, several knives and scalpels… Everything Falcone intended to use on Barbara and Tim eventually. She shuddered at the horrors that would await them. Barbara took 2 picks, a knife, the hammer and the club, rolled them up in a rag and tucked them to the side of her seat. She then turned around and came back to where Tim was, stopping to pick up and put on his gray shirt which was on the ground from when Ivy made him take it off.

“Tim! Tim!!” Barbara was careful not to raise her voice above a loud whisper, Falcone had probably stationed guards outside the door. She approached him, leaned over, and gently held his face in her hand.

“Dammit” breathed Barbara as she took the knife out. She carefully but quickly started cutting at Tim’s bonds. Soon, she had cut him free but he was still only semi-conscious.

“Ok. Tim is still out of commission. Secure the area, do some recon before your next move” Barbara thought to herself. She moved closer to the door and positioned herself to its side. She took the club in one hand and the hammer in the other, took a deep breath, and reaching to her side, knocked 3 times on the metal door with the club.

“What the…” came a voice from the other side.

Barbara heard footsteps. 2 sets. Average weight and height. Probably armed. Easy. Se sound of keys being inserted into a lock echoed through the inside of the chamber. The door opened and 2 goons burst in. The door had opened to Barbara’s side and along with the general darkness of the room, concealed her just enough for the guards to walk further into the room without noticing her.

“Where is she?!” Exclaimed the first guard as he turned around to face the other, only to be hit in the face by a flying hammer. Barbara was already rushing forward when she’d thrown it and had reached the second man just as he began to spin around. With the club in her left hand, she swung hard at the back of the man’s knee and he crumbled onto it, the force of the blow and his entire weight on it as it hit the floor caused the man to scream in pain. He wasn’t running anywhere for a while. With the thug’s head within reach, Barbara switched hands and held the club with her right, grabbing the man by his jacket collar with her left. She brought him further down and with a fierce swing, swung the club around to the man’s face.

One down.

The other henchmen had almost recovered from the hammer to the face. He’d dropped his gun but he was too enraged and disoriented to look for it right now, he dashed straight for Barbara, his blood still gushing out from his broken nose. Furiously, he swung at Barbara with a right haymaker. Using her left arm to block it, she quickly coiled it around the man’s forearm, holding it in place, and with her right hand she struck up against his outstretched elbow, dislocating it. He screamed in pain and swung as hard as he could with his left arm. Barbara let go of his right arm and ducked her head forward, the man’s blow whooshing past the back of her head. As she quickly rose, she grabbed goon’s waist by the belt with her left hand, and with her right, she reeled back punched him square in the testicles. The man doubled forward and, still holding him by the belt, Barbara landed another swift punch on his throat, before flipping him over and putting him in a sleeper hold. Unable to call out due to his crushed vocal cords, he struggled, trying to free himself only to slowly lose consciousness in Barbara’s tight embrace.

Once he’d stopped struggling, Barbara pushed him to the floor. She quickly searched the two men’s bodies and retrieved their phones, tucking them into her chair. She also took their key chains which had several keys attached to them. She then quickly but carefully headed for the door. Checking her corners, she peeked out into the hallway. Empty. There was an open door further down the right with a light blue glow coming out of it. As quietly as she could Barbara made her way towards it. Peeking into the frame, Barbara saw screens and monitors filling up a small dark room. A remote security station. Falcone probably had her men set up a perimeter outside and within the asylum. Small cameras had been set up and were recording everything, feeding the data into a laptop attached to a satellite phone. She wasted no time gathering the laptop and phone and putting them into a soft case she found under the table. She also put the 2 cellphones she got from the guards in there. On one of the monitors, she saw Sofia and Falcone get into the back of a car before it drove off. There was another car still parked beside it and one man guarding it. Exit strategy.

Back to Tim.

As carefully and as quietly as she could, Barbara crossed the hall again, back into the room where Tim was and approached him.

“Tiiiiiim come on baby…” she said as she shook him.

Nothing.

Barbara looked around. She saw the trolly with which Sofia had administered her cruel electro torture. She wheeled towards it, grabbed it and brought it close to Tim. She attached the sponges back on the alligator clips, and turned on the machine as it began humming softly. She turned the dial to its lowest setting, 50 volts.

“Sweetheart, you’re gonna feel this…” She said, then pressed the sponges to Tim’s temples.

Tim’s face contorted in pain, his teeth bared. Barbara let go of the clips and Tim opened his eyes. He saw Barbara and immediately sat up and put his arms around her waist and thighs, laying his head on her lap. She hunched over and put her arms around him.

“Barb?” He said.

“Yeah Tim?”

“Did you just… shock me?” He asked.

Barbara laughed as she wiped away tears of joy and relief from her face, hugging him tighter.

“Where are we? What’s going on?” He asked as he adjusted himself on one knee, looking around the room then back at Barbara.

“Old Arkham building. Long story, no time. I’ll tell you on the way. Can you run?” She said, not wasting any time.

“Yeah, I think so.” He said, getting up.

“Great. There’s a car outside, that’s our ride, I got the keys off of these losers. Security is slim, just one or 2 guys on the outside past the entrance.”

“…why am I shirtless?” Tim asked looking at himself. “Is that my shirt??”

“Yep. More escaping, less talking Drake” answered Barbara.

With that, he moved behind her and grabbed the handles of the wheelchair. In no time at all, they were rushing down the old hallways. Left, right, right again. They knew the layout of the building and quickly made their way to the entrance. There were a few locked doors but Barbara made quick work of locks with the picks she had swiped off of the table. She’d reached the front entrances and opened the big double door wide open.

“FREEZE! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!” The man guarding the car approached Barbara with his pistol pointed at her. He walked into the entrance hall.

“Sorry,” said Barbara “I’ve been looking all over this building, do you know where the disabled restrooms are?”

The man looked extremely confused. “Wha—“

WHAM

Tim burst out of the shadows with a kick to the goon’s face, knocking his head against a wall and out cold.

The two heroes made their way to the parked car. Tim slid over the hood to the driver’s side and Barbara tossed him the keys. He unlocked the doors and popped the trunk open. Barbara sat herself on the passenger’s seat and placed the bag with the laptop and the cellphones on the floor of her seat then closed the door. Tim had already moved back around and to grab the wheelchair and placed it in the trunk, slamming it shut. He then got back inside, in the driver’s seat.

Tim turned the ignition. “Where to?” He asked.

“Safehouse 14,” Barbara replied, “our apartment and The Clocktower might be compromised”.

“Jesus…” breathed Tim. The car started and they sped off into the night.

“Yeah. We can call The Batcave from there and have someone pick us up. I just gotta clone the data from the cellphones and laptop I swiped, see if there’s anything useful so I can plan our next move. We’ll have to dump them and the car too in case they’re being tracked.” She said, reaching for the bag and pulling out the electronics.

“Barb, honey, slow down. We’re safe now.” Tim said as he drove out of the compound and into the main road. “What’s going on? Are you ok?”

Barbara closed her eyes and sat back. She took a deep breath

“Right. Sorry honey.” Her voice was softer now, more relaxed. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Well…” Tim began, “um…” he suddenly, clearly, very awkward. “I think I was having a really weird, sexy dream…”

THE END

ALL RIGHT! We made it! It’s the end folks! I actually finished this thing! Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read my silly story. I always loved those goofy “… and the adventure continues!” Endings so yeah, I’m plopping one here! I also put in a little homage to one of Grant Morrison's coolest Batman moments ( https://www.reddit.com/r/GetMotivated/comments/1e987g/xpost_from_rbatman_that_made_me_get_up_and_work/ ) so, points if you spotted that.

I’ve really enjoyed this process, exploring my writing skills, and also my sexuality in a way. And I’ll certainly be putting out some more stuff in the future. I loved writing Barbara, she’s the coolest, and I’ll definitely return to her adventures at some point, maybe get Tim a bit more involved too!

One of the best parts of all this and certainly, a pleasant surprise, was seeing readers engage and respond to the story. Learning there are people out there who enjoy the work I do was an amazing feeling. In the comments, on twitter at https://twitter.com/UWSnorkelCat or anywhere else you feel like reaching out, please do, you are always welcome and I am always grateful.

Stay safe, take care, and I’ll see you around.

U.W. Snorkel Cat