WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Nightwing #85, now on sale
Oracle is one of the most important pieces of the Bat-Family, elevating from simple sidekick to becoming a foundational part of teams like the Birds of Prey and the Justice League. But that doesn't mean she's without a weakness -- and her fears can still be used against her to great effect during the events of Fear State.
Nightwing #85 by Tom Taylor, Robbi Rodriguez, Adriano Lucas, and Wes Abbott reveals that Oracle's greatest nightmares aren't her own fall or the collapse of her skills, but rather the loss of her loved ones. And if the Seer's plan worked, she may have just lost two of them.
The situation in Gotham City has grown more dangerous due to the efforts of Scarecrow to bring about his Fear State. Making matters worse is the Seer, the anti-Oracle who's been spreading chaos across Gotham by impersonating Oracle. Now, the Bat-Family are operating largely without the use of communications they've grown accustomed to, resulting in a more scattered response. Notably, this has even forced Barabra Gordon to reenter the field, even though she's decided to try and remain more of a tactical-based figure for the Bat-Family. Taking to the streets alongside Nightwing, the pair quickly try to maneuver around both the forces of the Magistrate and the plans of their enemies.
Arriving at one of Oracle's emergency backup locations, the duo find themselves contending with a number of Magistrate soldiers, all primed with orders to shoot the vigilantes on sight. Nightwing and Oracle quickly fight their way through them and reach the backup base, but are exposed to a powerful dose of Scarecrow's Fear Toxin. Oracle quickly finds herself lost in a vision, with Nightwing unceremoniously shot in the head and killed by one of the Magistrate soldiers. Having just come close to losing Nightwing to a similar injury (that left him without his memories for a time), Oracle lashes out in furious grief. Luckily, Tim Drake arrives on the scene and is able to administer a cure to both her and Nightwing -- who had been tricked into fighting each other.
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As they embrace, it's implied Nightwing saw a similar fate for her. This confirms that one of Oracle's absolute worst fears would be to lose Dick Grayson (especially now that their romance is officially back on). Oracle is able to use the technology in the second base to track down Seer and discover her location. But Seer teases that they'll soon be too busy to stop her -- revealing that Oracle's two fellow Batgirls, Steph Brown and Cassandra Cain have arrived at the Clock Tower just in time for it to be targeted. In one fell swoop, the Seer has forced Oracle to confront her true fear -- losing the ones she loves and being incapable of doing anything to stop it.
With Dick, the vision was a sudden demise that she couldn't stop. If the other Batgirls did indeed get caught up in the explosion before they could escape, it would be a similar harsh reality -- where Barabra's brilliant mind and eye for plans ultimately couldn't protect the people she's decided to spend her life fighting beside. It's a strong motivator for Oracle, considering she's always seen injuries to herself as impediments to be overcome but is left reeling following the loss of loved ones (such as when she recently lost her brother). And now, thanks to her own technology being corrupted and used against her, she may have to live another such reality with the young women inspired by her.