[u][i][b]Two weeks ago[/b][/i][/u]

Natalie stared at the handwritten letter demanding rent. She just got fired today. She'd never been courteous around rude customers but one of them hd kicked up enough of a stink that she finally got axed this time. She stretched, and groaned, turned back to her laptop, and continued brownsing through the seven tabs she had open. Looking for other job openings. Other apartments. Any personal connection she had left. Any bridge that wasn't burned yet. She wasn't going to let having nothing left stop her or get her down. If it came down to it, she could sell her bike for scrap and get an extra week of food, shelter and internet.

Just then, a dialogue box opened up on her screen, and text began to appear. Somebody had just hacked into her laptop. Natalie sword and sat upright, suddenly paying very close attention as she read the message.

---

That night, she was driving down the highway on her bike, a single backpack on her back carrying everything she owned. She had traded in all the clothes and possessions she couldn't carry which amounted to just enough cash for fuel and dinner and no more. What she was doing was a gamble. It might even possibly be a trap. But why would anyone send that message unless it was legitimate? Somebody calling themselves Oracle, possibly even THE Oracle, has offered her food and board in exchange for her using her powers to fight crime? Natalie had never given much thought to fighting crime. Like most people, she considered that the work of Heroes, and did not consider herself a hero. She had enough to deal with. But she would be lying if she said she wasn't excited at the prospect. It also meant that instead of needing to hide her powers, she could actually flex them.


[u][i][b]Present Day[/b][/i][/u]

Natalie had always known, since hearing of his dissapearence before she even arrived here and no word since, that Gemini was dead. But hearing confirmation made it real. She was silent for a long time, staring at the monitor long after Bolt had left the room. Suddenly she picked up her empty soda can and threw it as hard as she could at the screen. It bounced off and fell to the floor with a clatter that cut through the tense silence.

"Is she really going to tell us that and leave it? No explaination? Are we not owed an explaination?! Somebody just fucking DIED! This is so fucked!" she suddenly screamed out, before getting up and storming off to her own room, though not before everyone who remained could hear her start to sob just before she was out of sight.

In her own room, she crawled onto her bed, boots still on, and drew her knees up to her chest. She hugged her legs to herself, curling into a ball. The few seconds of sobbing she'd choked back on the way here were all she had. Now she felt too numb to cry. What the hell was she even doing here? She didn't belong in gotham. She wasn't a vigilante. She wasn't hero material the way the Bat family were heroes. Was she only recruited because of a power she didn't know how to really use yet? Would she ever figure out how it works, or why she has it?