Birds Of Prey 1. Prologue

Flashbacks

**- A Birds Of Prey Fanfiction **

By Mikael Helbo Kjaer

**Disclaimer**: All characters portrayed in the television series "Birds Of Prey" is the exclusive property of their creators and is used here without their approval. No infringement is intended by the following work of fiction. The Story in the following work is the exclusive property of the Author indicated above and this work may not be posted, reproduced or edited without the express approval of the Author. No commercial gain may come from any reproduction of this work.

**Summary**: Over two years has passed since the Birds of Prey were shattered by several hard blows, the Birds and their allies seemingly dying one by one. But the Birds are not defeated yet.

**Author's Notes**: Now don't mind that the story starts out without explaining what happened to the Birds and why. This could be the beginning of a series, which is my vision of how a restart of the Birds of Prey show should be... Well if they had a very large budget and long episodes that is. This is the equivalent of the Pilot.

Prologue: 

            Rain pounded the green grass in front of the three headstones standing shoulder at shoulder inside the fenced area that was the private Wayne section of Gotham's oldest graveyard. Many generations of Wayne's and more recently their friends were buried on this plot of land. Her hair stuck to her head forming almost a black helmet. She had colored it back to its original black this morning. Thick droplets of rain ran down the almost cape like heavy leather jacket she was wearing. Her cerulean blue eyes wandered from one headstone to the next.

_Dinah Lance, 1985-2003, not all family is related through blood._

_Barbara Gordon, 1968-2003, she was a friend, mentor and mother to us all._

_Helena Kyle, 1979-2003, a true protector has many shapes._

Those were not the only graves here or nearby in which friends rested. There were the graves of the former Robins, the grave of her mother and of Jim Gordon, Barbara's father. Of course the grave of Reese was in the section owned by the Hawke family far away from here, but by far too many of her friends lay in this small section of this big world. 

Slowly she advanced to stand between the graves of those she still after two years regarded as her family. Her eyes danced from grave to grave and although the wind and rain drowned out her words before they even got a few centimeters, she still spoke them. "We won a few days ago. The Joker is gone for good. I can go back to being me again. It has taken two years, but I could finally return here to New Gotham… I… I've missed you guys every hour of every day since I found out what happened. I messed up, we were all in pretty bad shape back then and I don't think we would have been able to stop him even if we had been at our best. It took me, Nightwing and Batman two years to finally get that bastard and then… well I am sure you both watched from up in heaven… I wished you guys were here now. We could have restarted the group, brought back the Clocktower and everything," slowly the woman sank to her knees in the muddy grass. Her tears were invisible against the rain pelting her face. 

"I don't know if there is anything left of my old life, but I am going to find out," she whispered and pushed herself back up to look over at the faint glow given off by the city. Her hyperaware senses easily caught the two men that slowly walked up to stand behind her. She knew, who they were, before any of them spoke. An umbrella was angled in over her head. 

"Thank you, Alfred," she said and took the handle as he offered it. She stood facing her father and his old butler. 

"Yes, thank you, Alfred," her father said in his deep baritone voice. The butler nodded knowingly and walked away in the heavy rain, leaving both Waynes holding their umbrellas. 

Helena once again turned and looked at the graves. "It is a bit morbid to be standing on your own grave," she remarked and marveled that she could be so familiar with a man that she had never met before all this misery began.

"I've never liked coming here, but it is necessary at times. All these of the people here died long before their time and undeservedly so," Bruce Wayne said and looked over the graves of the people he knew or only barely remembered.

Helena knew that much of the reason for her father's entire career as Batman was within the black iron fences surrounding the Wayne plot. "I wanted to say hello before I moved back to the town," Helena explained.

"I figured you would go to see them as the first thing… Are you sure about your new plan?" He looked at her, but Helena just stared ahead.

"Yeah, there are no more two-bit hoods in my immediate future. I am going to go for bigger fish," she said as if from a far, "besides Dick has the two-bit hoods under control."

"Helena, I have set up all the money like you asked and I am keeping all our aliases and the like alive as well," he said.

Helena looked at the older man. "That sounds almost like the beginning of a goodbye," she bristled.

"It might be," he muttered and looked over his shoulder at Alfred, who sat at the gate in the town car. He sensed the butler's opinion from a far.

"What is going on," Helena said and if she had not worn contacts, her eyes would have shown her cat's eyes clearly. 

"I have lied to you and a couple of other people for these last two years," he said. Helena just kept silent awaiting his explanation.

"I've already explained some of it to you before. It began, when I just barely rescued you from him. I had to bring him to think you were dead, so we agreed that you'd change your identity after you first recovered then later join me in my… the battle to defeat him. And so Helena Kyle died. Now the Joker is dead and there is nothing left of his organization that is a threat, and she can be resurrected" he said.

Helena looked at him impatiently, but she knew her brooding father well enough by now that he would get to the point when it was time and not before.

"I did however lie to you back then in the Hospital, when I told you that I was only able to rescue you from the Joker's den. I got both Barbara and Miss Lance out of his machines before they killed them. They were both a lot worse off than you for different reasons. They just barely survived," he explained.

Anger and adrenalin pumped through her body. Muscles suddenly grew much stronger and she felt pent up fury and resentment long hidden resurface. Helena hammered a fist into her father's jaw and watched as he flew across the graveyard to land under a tree. She leapt after him and landed in a crouch. "You condescending bastard," she growled.

Helena was about to punch her father again, when she noticed he made no moves to avoid her violent attack. He was sat limply against the stem of the tree and awaited his punishment. Slowly she felt reason return to her mind and she rose to her full height. Helena shifted over to staring into her father's eyes.

"I was afraid of losing you, so I arranged for you all to be declared dead, then I had you moved to different places in the world to recover in secret. If you recall I wasn't always with you in the beginning. Those times I was not handling my business, I was off to see to Barbara or Miss Lance. In time I told them what I told you, that only one of you had survived and that I was handling the Joker with a little help from Nightwing. I hadn't planned to include you in the beginning, but when Detective Reese died, I couldn't in good conscience keep you out of my war anymore," Bruce Wayne slowly rose to stand and casually brushed off most of the dirt from his expensive trousers.

"Where are they now?" Helena couldn't help asking.

"They both have safe lives under false identities here in the US. I didn't want any of you to be in any danger if I failed so I pulled in a few favors from a few other superhero and government friends. They arranged for new lives and laundered the money I set aside. I really didn't know who they became or where they were," he explained.

"You made them disappear," Helena said almost breathlessly.

"Well it was friends, who hid them. They knew where they put them. And as of this morning we know some of that was well. For security reason most of them couldn't give us complete directions, but I did get some places to start," he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a brown envelope. Helena slowly took the envelope and walked towards the gate. 

Her father walked over to look at a big headstone just outside the iron fence. "I have kept our daughter safe, Selina. I got that bastard, maybe now she will start a new life," Bruce remarked and turned to walk to his town car. He saw his daughter's elegant sedan drive up into the hills.

And somewhere behind him a several years old motion sensors stopped the closed circuit camera's recording.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: 

            Helena's car slowly rolled up to the edge of a sheer cliff providing her with a spectacular view of New Gotham lighting up the heavy rain clouds, which she completely ignored. She quickly reached down and tore open the brown envelope. She shook the contents out on the passenger seat and looked it over. There were a couple of bank account statements, a small handwritten note and a printed form of some kind. The bank account statements had posts for the purchase of Lexcorp electronics components, high definition plasma screen and the like. "Barbara," Helena thought with a smile. The training provided over the last 2 years by both Batman and Nightwing sprung forth in her mind and made her realize that a look into the logistics company's records, who had delivered these components, might give her a name and an address. The handwritten note was from her father, it had the name and address of some company and the remark recipient written below. Apparently Barbara or her father's friends had set up kind some cover company that Barbara's stuff went through. It was still a solid lead.

The form was a bit more cryptic, it was blacked out in places like a top secret document, and in fact the only thing that made sense on the entire page was a field called: "Name: Carolyn Desmond." Helena figured it was her only clue to find Dinah. As she restarted the car and sped back down the road towards Wayne Manor, she mused about the name. Dinah's mom had been Carolyn Lance and Dinah had been a foster child of the Redmonds. It was probably Dinah's new name. Helena's fast car raced down the last stretch of road towards the voluminous Wayne Manor garage. 

She walked inside the house that she was actually only seeing for the second time in her life. She decided to walkthrough the kitchen. Alfred was making dinner. "Alfred I am gonna be in the Cave for a couple of hours alright," she remarked and walked through the house to the secret entrance, while the butler just nodded and congratulated himself for not unpacking Helena's suitcases.

Helena didn't really like the drafty bat infested cave that had been her father's base of operations for years, but she needed its supercomputers and uplinks to find Barbara and Dinah. She sat down at one of the terminals and began working albeit slowly. Computers still weren't her best friends and she took her time even using the different systems her father had set up to make access to protected information easy.

A search on the company name her father had noted only brought up one address in the West of Wyoming near a town called Jackson. There were only a few tax records and the like to go on and so she just decided to print out the address and look at the results on the search for the Carolyn Desmond name. It turned up several hits, but as she slowly ruled out those completely outside Dinah's age bracket, she was still left with eight hits. She would have to sort those out later.

Helena looked over her itinerary and tried to remember if she had read anything about the current climate in that corner of the US she was going. She knew it could get cold in the winter, but how cold was it in the middle of February. She shrugged and tossed another jacket into her suitcase and closed it. She heard the murmur of leather shoes coming down the hallway outside and recognized Alfred's pace.

"Miss Kyle," Alfred said from the door in a low tone to alert her to his presence, "your conveyance is awaiting you at the door."

"Thank you, Alfred," she said and grabbed her suitcase and a small handbag. 

Alfred followed her downstairs. "Will you remember to give Miss Gordon and Miss Lance my sincerest best wishes?" He asked. 

She stopped and put down her bag. Helena knew that Alfred hadn't known about her father's trick and he had been a good friend to both Barbara and Dinah. He was almost a father to all of them. "Sometimes I think that people overlook that you are like a father to all of us, but never think that I forget," she reminded him and gave him a hug that he awkwardly returned. Helena quickly let go and left the blushing Englishman in the huge hall.

Helena felt like a thousand butterflies were performing aerial maneuvers in her stomach, the second the Wayne private jet touched down in Salt Lake City. The rental car her father's people had arranged waited for her and as soon as she could the heavy Hummer was rolling up the high way towards Jackson in Wyoming.

"It has to be around here," Helena cursed and checked the laptop again. The road map she had been following told her that the address of the company that had received the Lexcorp electronics was in a small town called Jackson, but Helena couldn't seem to find the correct exit, when suddenly she realized that the tiny town lay in the valley that she was looking out over. This state was turning out to be quite a bit larger than she had expected. 

It seemed that tourism was important to this place though, she had seen a lot of hints to that on her way already and as she came into the town of Jackson itself, it became apparent that skiing and the like probably attracted a lot of people to the area every winter. 

The address, she had gotten, led her to a small warehouse. Helena examined the building using her abilities to access to roof and cast a glance inside through a dirty skylight. The building was empty and an undisturbed layer of dust coated the floor below. "I hope that this building wasn't just a transfer site, because then it will be really hard to find Barbara," she thought.

Helena began walking through the town even if the weather was several times colder than she was prepared or dressed for. She had filled her car with gas earlier and left it at the nice hotel she had booked in advance. Still she felt uneasy as she walked through the town with an old picture of her friend in her left pocket. She found a supermarket that had to be the place that the most people in town.

Helena walked inside and tried to look as pathetic and nervous as she felt inside as she headed directly over to the teller. "Excuse me," she asked.

"Can I help you," the woman answered in the local accent.

"Maybe… I am looking for my former foster mom. She moved to this area after I went off to college. I haven't seen her in ages and I was hoping if maybe you had seen her," Helena asked and pulled out a portrait that Wade had made a couple of weeks before he had been killed.

The woman looked at bit confused and cautious, but gave the picture a look and then looked up at Helena. "She looks familiar, but I am not sure," she looked back down.

"She colors her hair a lot; she might not be a red head any more. I mean she was when the picture was taken, but before that she was blonde and before that brown," Helena lied.

"Well I think I have seen her before, but I am not sure," the woman replied as a customer came up to pay for his things.

Helena nodded to herself and walked out of the supermarket. She wandered around tower thinking how she could find Barbara in this place, when she came across a small internet café as a part of a small restaurant. She didn't really think about it until nearly a block later, but the place had ramps not steps leading inside. Quickly she went back and inside. She seated herself at one of the computer and found a machine setup in some way to only allow her access to the Internet and then there were a lot of security measures installed including a very clever software program that stopped her from opening a file she knew was a Trojan often used by hackers. Smiling slightly to herself Helena got up and walked over to the counter. A girl was making coffee, but turned around to serve her, when she stepped closer. "Excuse me, I was wondering, who has done such a wonderful job setting up your computers. I have a small company and I really need someone able to do the job as good as that," Helena explained.

"Oh, I am glad you asked. It was done by a regular customer. She set up the entire system, computers, cables and all. She really is very good with those computer things. I don't know her name though. Henry, the owner, handled paying her and all that," the waitress admitted.

"She's a regular you say. Do you think she will come here today?" Helena asked.

"Yeah, she usually shows up when my shift ends… around dinner time," the girl chuckled, "she claims to be a horrible cook, so she usually eats out here in town even if she lives alone up near the national park."

Helena glanced down at her watch. It was still a couple of hours until dinner time. "Great I will swing by later and have a talk with her then," she remarked and left a 10 dollar tip on the counter.

An hour later, Helena sat with her laptop and a magazine in the back of the restaurant. She was enjoying a cup of coffee and a cake, while her thoughts whirled about in her head. "What am I going to say to Barbara? How do I explain what happened back then? Is she okay? How much did the Joker hurt her? Do I even have the right to disturb her, maybe her new life is better and she has finally found someone she is happy with." 

Suddenly the bell over the door tingled and a woman with brilliant red hair and mirrored sunglasses maneuvered inside in an elegant motorized wheelchair. Helena felt her heart jump into her throat as she watched a brilliantly smiling Barbara being received by the owner, a kind old man with a pleasant smile and only little wisps of white hair on his head. He had replaced the waitress at the counter a half hour ago. 

Helena watched with her heart pounding as her long believed dead rolled into a space facing the door and a menu was gently placed in her hands. She staggered to her feet as Barbara took the clip-on shades off her glasses and gave the man her order. 

Helena carefully walked over to the table deciding that there was only one way to do this and hoped that Barbara's heart was still strong. "Excuse me is that seat taken?" She asked and walked around to stand opposite her friend.

Barbara jumped with surprise, went pale and had to visibly restrain herself from crying out. "I-I don't understand. Helena is that really you?" She said and reached over to touch her hand as Helena sat down.

"I thought you were dead," Barbara said in a tone as if she didn't dare to believe what sat before her.

"Well I was led to believe the same," Helena replied in her regular cheeky tone.

"How did you survive? And how did you find me?" Barbara asked.

"I think we should talk about it somewhere private," Helena suggested after looking around the nice but frightfully insecure restaurant.

Barbara nodded and called out, "Henry, can you put my food in a bag? I have to go."

Helena calmly followed Barbara as she drove her wheelchair down to her van. Some remote signal made the back ramp open and Barbara professionally drove her wheelchair inside. Helena walked around to seat herself besides her friend, who had already locked her wheelchair into the driving position of the car. "Nice set of wheels," Helena couldn't help commenting. 

"Thank you, I've designed the car myself," Barbara replied and put the van into gear. 

"When are you going to tell me what happened?" Barbara asked as they were on their way out of town.

"My dad rescued me just like he saved you. He didn't want us to know we were alive in case the Joker captured one of us. He even arranged it so that we all disappeared even from him," she explained.

Barbara drove on in silence for a moment. "The Joker is dead now though," she commented.

"Yeah, I guess it even made the news here huh," Helena noticed Barbara nodding out of the corner of her eye.

"So you have contact with Bruce," Barbara stated.

"He helped me recover from the torture… And a lot of other stuff as well, we have had several rather long discussions about abandonment and the like. We're mostly okay now," Helena replied.

Barbara slowly guided her car onto a smaller road. "I knew he had saved me. I thought I was the only one though. The evidence he brought was so convincing, but then again he has always been a good manipulator… Bruce took me to Australia for my recovery and to hide me from any further retribution from the Joker. I stayed there for quite a while, had reconstructive surgery and even more recovery. Finally one evening Superman and a couple of the other members from the Justice League showed up at my bungalow and explained to me that they had arranged for a new place and identity for me. They moved me here that same night," she explained and drove the van up a small dirt road.

"I was supposed to go into hiding as well, but circumstances changed and I joined my father and Nightwing in their hunt for the Joker. I was there at the end… I had to fight him in memory of you and Dinah," Helena said in a rough voice.

"Poor Dinah," Barbara remarked in a desolate, "I watched that bastard torture to her for a while at least… In a way I am guilty that she never had a good life. Have you ever thought about that she almost never had a happy time in her life, like you had with your mother or I had with my family. She went from abandonment to abuse to horrid danger and finally her involvement with us got her killed."

Helena looked askance at Barbara and debated what to say. Should she conceal Dinah's survival or be honest? "Dinah is alive somewhere," she finally said.

Barbara looked at her and a small tear appeared in the corner of her eye, but it didn't drop. The van stopped in front of a large stone building that to the casual observer looked like just another sturdy building, but Helena's trained eye easily caught the hidden parabolic antenna out in the forest, the myriads of sensors securing the area and the faint traces of hidden weapons everywhere.

"Come on in, we have a lot to talk about," Barbara offered.

Meanwhile in New Gotham someone was watching a blurred video of the Wayne section of the old Gotham graveyard. A phone was picked up and a clearly foreign accented voice said, "The Bat and his progeny lives."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: 

            Barbara unlocked her innocuous looking wooden front door and drove her wheelchair into a cramped entrance. Helena followed her inside. A feminine computer voice greeted them, "Hello Barbara." 

"Delphi please let me in. The woman with me is Helena, she is a guest," she answered smiling at Helena's crooked thin eyebrow shooting up in surprise as the next door admitting them to her actual entrance slid open. 

"I see that you're still a technological sorceress," Helena remarked as they stepped into the wood paneled entrance. 

"I think you might be surprised Helena," Barbara found herself remarking as if Helena was just another old friend visiting. All the memories of the years they had spent together fighting to keep New Gotham a safe place came crashing down on her and for a moment she was glad for the silence that ensued as Helena followed her into the living room.

She knew that Helena was surprised by her living room. It wasn't some command central for a group of super heroines or a technological playground for some genius. Her taste for that had more or less disappeared after losing Helena and Dinah. It was a large airy room with a hallway leading down to her bedroom, guestroom and the elevator to the basement in one end, walls filled with shelves of books only a few of which were technical instead of philosophical or historical, a large section of couches in front of a huge set of windows, a fireplace and ending at the other end in an open kitchen that she actually knew how to use. Green potted plants, indirect lighting and pastel colors dominated the thickly carpeted room. The only apparent technology was a plasma TV screen standing in front of the windows.

"Wow," Helena commented and looked around the room again. 

"Take a seat," Barbara commented and mentally directed her wheel chair into the kitchen.

Barbara drove over next to the couch and put down the tray carrying her food, two glasses and an opened bottle of wine. "Helena… I would like to apologize," she said.

Helena just looked at her with incomprehension written all over her face.

"Back then before the Joker got us, I was not fair to you… I secretly blamed you for Wade's death. I was pushing you away," Barbara tried to explain. And in her mind she suddenly saw their last evening together.

Over two years earlier. It was less than a week since Harley had been defeated. The interior of the Clocktower still looked slightly battered. The clock face looked like it was the only thing that had fully recovered from Harley Quinn's takeover. Barbara Gordon sat in front of the Delphi system tapping away at the keyboard ensuring that Harley hadn't left any ugly surprises behind. "Ouch," she heard Dinah moan as Alfred pressed an ice pack against one of her more recent bruises. 

"Say Kid, what kind of trick did you pull on those guys who attacked you? They looked kind of bruised all over," she heard Helena ask Dinah. Suddenly a feeling of revulsion welled up inside of her, but she forced it down again. Helena and Dinah had just been out on patrol for the first time since the riots and there had been quite a number of thugs roaming the streets for a Wednesday.

"It was just the latest weapon in my immense arsenal," Dinah said her voice filled with imitated arrogance and laughter, "It is kind of a shockwave. I can make one or two of them easily if I am fully rested. It's something I came up with… when… well you know Harley." And silence fell over the group sitting up on the mezzanine overlooking the Delphi area, while Barbara tapped nonsense into a text prompt to cover for her own teary reaction. She just barely managed to sniffle away the suddenly fresh pain and forget the image of Wade's body lying on the cold floor of the Clocktower, before several of her screens began blinking red as Delphi sent her a silent alarm.

Her news and police surveillance programs had picked up one of her highest priority keywords. Forcing herself to be calm Barbara tapped in the commands to silence the alarm and call up the information Delphi had captured. As the text and images scrolled up on her screen and illuminated her face, she couldn't help muttering another curse on Harley Quinn.

Upstairs Helena and Dinah had finally begun talking again, while Alfred had wandered off to clean up the kitchen and then probably calling it a night. "So is Gibson talking to you again?" Helena asked referring to Gibson's solemn promise not to talk to Dinah again after she had given a complete description of his insanity to the other metas at "No man's land." She had found it quite funny except of course Gibson.

"You know Gibson; he never stays mad for long. I gave him a little pout and some begging eyes. His resolve pretty much melted at that point," she triumphed.

Helena grinned widely and gave Dinah a fake shocked look. "You kids are horribly manipulative these days," Helena said, when suddenly Barbara rolled up to them in her wheelchair.

Dinah was a rather exceptional girl not just as a person, but she was gifted with several supernatural abilities amongst those touch-based telepathy, this also left her rather more sensitive to people's moods and emotions even from a far. The small corner filled with couches suddenly felt awkward to her as always now when Helena and Barbara were close. Furthermore Barbara looked pale and her eyes had an almost fearful glint to them.

Barbara saw her girls look to her in surprise and confusion. She knew it had become rare for her to join them here after their sweeps and wind down the evening with them even before Harley had wrecked the sanctity of the Clocktower. Now she was bringing them even worse news and she couldn't help feeling a little like having betrayed them for being inattentive.

"I have bad news," she forced her voice to remain rock steady, "apparently I was right to fear that Harley had a bit more planned than just causing chaos. My fears that she left behind some surprise to leave us blind to this, have also been proven right."

Barbara rolled closer into the light of the small overhead lamp. "Somehow during the riots last week she secured the release of several of the Joker's goons from both prison and Arkham. She made sure that Delphi didn't register this in its information streams and that Delphi would also remain blind to what they did next. They struck in three places. First they gained access to STAR Labs technological database and made off with a more or less complete copy, then they stole something from a STAR Labs facility apparently some kind of weapon and then tonight as I finally got the last of Harley's garbage out of Delphi, it picked up the last thing. They sprang the Joker from jail," she looked from Dinah, who had only an abstract idea of the real evil of the Joker over to Helena, who looked a bit worried and ashamed. In her mind Barbara couldn't help adding, "And it is your fault Helena."

"So what do we do now?" Dinah had to ask. 

Helena quickly came up with an answer. "We find that bastard and shove his ass back into jail. Right," Helena turned her face towards her.

Barbara sat in contemplative silence for a few moments wrestling with her memories of the past of opening the door and allowing him in. "Yes, but I think we should be really cautious. I will call some old friends and ask them for advice. And the Joker might not even be heading back here, he might choose to go elsewhere to rebuild his empire," she heard herself explaining, while feeling almost removed from the person speaking. She had an unerring sense that he would be coming to New Gotham and that he would seek to find out about Harley Quinn. 

"I am also a bit worried about our safety here in the Clocktower at least until I have upgraded the security system. Also you two have to be really careful out on sweeps in the future. The Joker loves setting traps and any simple mugging might just be a honeyed trap for you two especially when he finds out we defeated Harley," Barbara explained.

"She knew our secret identities. She might have left information for the Joker about us," Dinah said almost at a whisper, and Barbara once again felt a pang of joy for having the blonde girl as a part of the group, she was showing good instincts and forethought. She also considered revising her opinion on Dinah's incomprehension of the danger. She had forgotten that Dinah had seen her loss of mobility in a vision a long time ago and in her nightmares since then.

"That is certainly possible. We should consider security measures for the School, The Dark Horse, your apartment Helena and No man's Land," Barbara said.

"I don't think we should take the threat too seriously either. It's probably not that serious that we need to completely change our lives over this," Helena commented and shot Barbara a glance. She understood that Helena didn't want to demoralize Dinah, and she wanted to avoid having their lives further thrown out of whack by their fight against crime. Barbara found the very idea typically foolhardy and shortsighted typically Helena.

"We shouldn't play it down either. This is the Joker; he was your father's greatest enemy for years. He paralyzed me and I am sure he had everything to do with your mother's death too. Dinah and I will be extra careful when we go out and so will you," Barbara dictated.

"You're overreacting Barbara. You're letting your fear control you!" Helena rose from her seat and paced past her, leaving Barbara feeling uneasy as so often when someone ignored the fact that she could just turn around and follow their movements. 

Her unease was not helped by the anger she felt at Helena for her words. "And you don't have enough fear or maybe it is just a thick skull. Let's not forget here Helena that the only reason the Joker got out of prison is Harley Quinn. And the only reason she was in a position to help him that is you Helena," Barbara said venomously as she turned her wheelchair to face the pacing woman. Behind her Dinah winced at the words. 

"I knew it. I knew you would beat me over the head with that mistake the first chance you had," Helena yelled, "Well I am not gonna stay here for another lecture on my general stupidity." And with those words Helena vaulted over the iron bars, landed elegantly on the hard floor and stormed towards the elevator. 

Barbara regretted her words to this day as they sat in her mountain lodge near the town of Jackson, Wyoming. 

"Barbara it was a long time ago. I realized it even back then you were angry over Wade and losing the sanctity of the Clocktower. I couldn't really fault you. I made a stupid mistake and included someone without any real emotional ties to us on our secret. I won't do that ever again I know that for sure," Helena explained as she reached out to pour herself a glass of wine, while Barbara slid herself into a comfortable position on the couch and began eating knowing Helena well enough to know that she would ask for food, when she was hungry.

Helena studied her friend as she ate. The room felt very quiet to her and for a while she just gloried at the rapidly darkening view of the valley and trees outside. Her thoughts wandered back to that night two years ago as well.

It was raining as Helena Kyle made her way across the roofs of New Gotham every massive jump taking her away from the Clocktower and the words that had hurt her. The wind whipped around her, her coat rippled with the force of her movements and water sprayed from her as she landed on every roof top. Finally she came to a halt on a spot near the police station, where Reese was posted. Instinct not planning had led her there, and so she stopped and contemplated what to do while her light sensitive eyes searched the windows of the building.

Reese Hawke was feeling annoyed but for once not because of some case. This morning he had learned that his dear father had once again refused to give up any information on his organization or any of the big syndicates. Still his day was almost over and he was looking forward to one of the first evenings of relaxation since Harley Quinn had taken over the Clocktower. His car's lights blinked once as he pressed the button on his key and it unlocked. "Hi," the voice of Helena Kyle rang out through the light drizzle coming from the sky.

"Hi Beautiful," he greeted her and turned around to look at the woman, who had transformed his life simply by her presence this last half year.

"Reese, I need someone… to talk to," she said with rare vulnerability in her voice.

"Let's get out of the rain," he said and gentlemanly opened the door to the passenger seat of his car.

Helena watched Reese walk around the car and get into the driver seat. "What is up?" He asked.

"I… Well I guess you know by now that the Joker got out of jail," she said.

"I have heard, but what does he have to do with you," he said and turned in his seat to look at her. 

Helena stared out the front window. "He was Batman's archenemy and Harley's boyfriend. Barbara is sure that Harley arranged his escape while she had control of the Clocktower and that he's probably coming here to New Gotham," she explained. Reese didn't speak. "He cost me my mother's life and Barbara the use of her legs the last time. And she blames me for his escape," she said and hid her teary eyed face in her hands.

Helena felt Reese's warm hands grab her hands and she let him slowly slide them away from her face. "Helena, I don't say she is right to put more blame on you or that her reaction wasn't motivated by something like fear, but you must realize that you made a mistake. You're going to be reminded of it from time to time. You guys need to stick together right now, maybe more than ever. Don't let your shame or Barbara's fear drive you apart. There may be issues between you now, but you'll work around them and in the end this will just be a memory," he said.

Helena sat in silence as conflicting emotions warred in her eyes, until she smiled and leaned over to give Reese a kiss. "I think we're going to be an excellent couple you and me," she whispered before they locked lips again.

A few minutes later they were heading down the streets of New Gotham heading for Helena's apartment above the Dark Horse, when Reese's mobile phone began ringing. He pulled over and answered it. "Detective Reese, this is Oracle, can I speak to Huntress please?" Barbara asked.

"Sure," he answered and handed the phone towards Helena. "Oracle needs to speak with the Huntress," he said smiling at their codenames. 

"Yes," Helena answered not feeling entirely like she had forgiven Barbara's comment earlier yet.

"Turn on your com, please Helena," Barbara asked over the phone. Helena nodded and reached back to activate her necklace.

A few moments later, while she was handing Reese his phone back, she heard, "Thank you," coming from her earrings. "Huntress, one of my sources has given me a heads-up that he has seen some well-armed hoods with clown make-up heading into a warehouse down by the docks. Would you mind going on a careful scouting trip down there?" Barbara sounded careful as if she feared what she might get as an answer.

"Sure no problem," Helena answered. She turned to look at Reese, but found him already parking his car at the curb. 

"Duty calls huh," he said.

"Yeah… See ya later," she remarked and climbed out of the car just as it rolled to a stop. Soon she was once again traveling quickly across the rain slicked roofs of New Gotham heading for the harbor.

The Huntress prowled the roofs of New Gotham's industrial harbor area heading from warehouse to warehouse. Helena landed effortlessly on a concrete roof and walked across the still wet surface to peer inside the dirt encrusted windows. She swore that if she didn't find those goons soon, she would be calling it a night. However quite unexpectedly she saw three guys dressed in black and wearing clown make-up through the window. They were apparently moving some stuff from some wooden crates into a van parked inside the warehouse. Helena debated what to do and decided that having a chat with those goons about the plans of their boss might be just the information they needed. "Oracle, I have them in sight. Three goons loading a van with something from the warehouse I am at," she said.

"Try to follow them, when they leave. I would like to know where they are based," Barbara's voice said.

"Sure," Helena answered and hunkered down on the cold roof. She alternated between watching the goons work and looking at the clouds breaking the moonlight as it played over the water in the harbor. After almost an hour the goons finished and climbed into their van. Helena had felt more than a little bored and as she got up to follow them, she suddenly smiled wickedly and ran quickly over to the side of the building, where the van would exit the loading ramp.

The van barreled through the streets of New Gotham like it was involved in a high speed chase. Helena heard the guys inside argue. They were apparently late for an important appointment. She was however seriously contemplating beating the crap out of these bastards as they were inadvertently making it harder for her. Helena shifted slightly as she continued to cling to the roof of the van by her fingers, her coat flapping wildly in the wind.

Helena felt the van slowdown and the driver aimed for an ancient factory building that looked like it had only received few repairs when the big quake had struck Gotham and nobody had taken care of it since. As the vehicle rolled through a broken gate, she rolled left and threw herself of the van to land elegantly on her feet a yard or two from the old gate security building. She made her way inside and hunkered down to remain unseen from inside the building. "Oracle do you know what factory is at my position?" She asked.

"Yeah, it is the old Daggett Heavy Industries building. It is condemned, but none has torn it down, because the grounds are supposedly heavily polluted and there is of course also the problem that it would cost a lot to remove that armored concrete colossus," Oracle answered.

"The clowns went there," Helena reported and rose slightly to catch another look around.

"Good we will set up surveillance. I think you should call it a night," Oracle suggested.

Helena rolled her eyes. "Why? I haven't seen the slightest hint at any danger. I think I should take a look inside," she said.

"Helena no please, I don't want the Joker to know that we know one of his probable hideouts yet. If we're really lucky, the surveillance will reveal his presence and we can move in and get him. But first I need to get the right equipment together and then you must set it up without getting seen. And I can't be ready before tomorrow night at the earliest," Oracle explained.

"Alright that sounds like a good plan. I think I will call it a night then. I will be heading home, so I will see you tomorrow night at the Clocktower," Helena said and turned off her com link. She knew Barbara well enough to know that she would follow her movements for a while to make sure she did what she had said she would do. Helena rose from her hiding place and headed for the gate. 

"Why leave so soon kitten," a voice she didn't know asked her. Helena whirled around and to the side. On the field of concrete leading to the factory stood a single man clad in a white shoes, suit and hat. However his green hair, insanely wide smile and white skin gave away his identity. "Now you're not going to stop me from doing my civic duty are you?" He asked.

"I pummel you unconscious, then I am gonna throw your ass back behind bars," Helena said and rose into a fighting stance.

The Joker just laughed and shook his head as if filled with pity. "No, actually little kitten you are gonna come inside and crawl into your cage, or… your friends over there get a tunnel dug leading from ear to ear," he gesticulated towards a row of 3 men who stepped into view on the field to his left. They were holding a couple of coworkers and her boss from the Dark Horse. Helena for a short moment considered her chances of attacking the men, but she knew they were too far apart for her to catch them all before it was too late. A cold knot formed in her stomach as she rose out of her fighting stance and slowly lifted her arms in surrender. "You're actually more clever than Harley gave you credit for," the Joker remarked as he walked closer. Suddenly he opened his hand and a bolt of electricity arced towards her from some device. Pain enveloped her. She tumbled to the ground thrashing from the jolt. She looked on unable to move as the Joker bent over her with an outstretched hand and touched her. Blinding pain filled her again and as she slid into the numbing darkness of unconsciousness she heard the Joke say, "Shoot them." Three shots rang out.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: 

            Helena Kyle awoke as the sunlight pierced the window blinds and slid across her face. She looked around and remembered where she was. They had spent the evening and night talking about the past, reconciling the lingering memories of their last days together. Helena remembered how she had told Barbara of her capture after they had shared half a bottle of wine. For her part Barbara had told of her viewpoint of that evening. Helena let the dark memories slide out of her mind and for a moment just focused on awaking. Outside a few birds were chirping even in the biting cold and somewhere in the house there was the sound of someone working on something. Helena walked over to the bathroom.

The bright light of the morning didn't shine in through the panorama windows of Barbara's living room, but it was still a bright place to Helena as she walked through it towards Barbara, who was preparing breakfast in the kitchen. "I always thought you looked out of place in the kitchen," she remarked as she stopped at the counter, where a small stack of pancakes was growing one at a time.

"The rumors of my inability to use a stove or oven are greatly overstated… Well they are these days, I have taken a couple of cooking classes," Barbara explained.

Helena smiled mischievously. "Really why then are you a regular customer at that restaurant I found you in," she remarked.

Barbara looked up at her from her seat at the low stove and gave her a sad smile. "Loneliness, I really haven't been making a lot of friends out here," she said.

Helena didn't say anything to that. For a while she just stood at the counter watching her former guardian work. Her stomach growled. "If you're hungry you can set the table," Barbara suggested and pointed at the small two person table out in the kitchen.

They were finishing breakfast half an hour later, when Helena suddenly asked, "If you don't spend much time in town, have many friends or fight crime, what do you do these days?"

"Heh, well I guess I'd better show it to you," Barbara rolled her wheelchair away from the table and headed for the bedrooms again. "Follow me," she said and Helena did. Barbara stopped at the end wall where she slid a panel away to reveal a biometric scanner that she pressed her hand against. Just besides the panel a secret door slid open to reveal a small elevator. Quickly they descended to the basement.

Helena's jaw almost dropped as she stepped into what looked like a cross between the earlier Delphi system at the Clocktower and an advanced electronics lab. "I thought you didn't do Oracle stuff anymore," she muttered.

"I don't really, but I am a bit too much of a girl scout not to be prepared. I have researched, hacked, constructed and invented a lot of stuff since our time at the Clocktower. I guess it was my way of trying to make sure nothing like that ever happened again. The only thing that frustrated me was that I couldn't directly help in the capture of the Joker, but your father was adamant to the point of threatening to have me put into protective custody that I didn't help. And I guess I am thankful in a way. It allowed me time to heal both physically and mentally. I have had time to reflect upon my life," Barbara explained as she rolled up to several big plasma screens mounted in a half circle. "But that doesn't mean I've been completely idle in the fight against crime. I've done my part in a small way. I've built a network of supported informants all over the world. I've gotten my bugs and programs into top secret criminal and government organizations all over the world. And I've established my own private fortune," she said.

"Your own fortune," Helena said in astonishment. 

"Yeah, well I didn't have enough money to finance all the things I needed so I patented a whole lot of my inventions and licensed off the rights through my lawyers. I've got a rather healthy enterprise going there," Barbara admitted sheepishly.

"How healthy an enterprise are we talking about?" Helena sat down on the table next to the screens.

"Let's just say that if I never received another dime from the trust you father set up I would still be able to maintain my lifestyle and keep my network alive," Barbara said.

"Nice," Helena whistled.

"And you are I guessing finally using your trust fund too," Barbara said.

"I am," Helena answered. "I am also bringing back the Huntress and if the Oracle still exists the Huntress wouldn't mind having her as her partner," she suggested.

Barbara smiled, "As long as you need me Helena, I will be there."

"I knew you would be," Helena smiled widely as well.

"Helena I was thinking about contacting Dinah, but I am not sure I want to bring her back into this life," Barbara explained.

Helena nodded, "I've been thinking the same, but my heart also tells me that if she ever found out that we were alive and we knew she was too without contacting her, she would never forgive us."

"We are the closest thing to a family she has. It would be wrong not to at least find out if she is alright," Barbara agreed. "Do you know where she is?"

"Nope, and I only have what I think is her new name as a clue," Helena answered, "It is Carolyn Desmond."

"Delphi, I need to search for a person," Barbara said out loud. 

"What is the person's name?" A computerized voice asked. Helena looked questioningly at Barbara.

"Carolyn Desmond, female, around 19 and limit the search to North America," Barbara said.

"Searching now," the computer voice replied.

"I've made some significant upgrades to the Delphi system including adding a simulated intelligence which will prevent people from using it for unethical purposes amongst other things," Barbara explained and added when Helena's look grew slightly worried, "and it is not sentient Helena so it won't turn into bad sci-fi book AI out to eliminate mankind."

"10 possible matches," Delphi's soft voice said. Barbara called up the extensive results and began looking through them. "This might take an hour or so," she remarked. Helena nodded and went over to fetch a chair that stood at a table full of unassembled electronic components. She sat down at the terminal with Barbara and waited with a patience that astounded her partner in crime-fighting. 

"Sometimes your father is so clever he is positively nauseating," Barbara remarked as she closed a window on her desktop and spoke for the first time in two hours. 

"What do you mean?" Helena leaned forward awakening from her catnap. 

"Well it seems that he somehow managed to slip Dinah into something like the witness protection program. All these people have complete lives, social security numbers, school records and the like, so I had to look at their previous lives and only one stood out. There is a Carolyn Desmond, who goes to College in Boston. She has no family left due to an accident, however that her family's bodies seem to never have been examined by a coroner. I can't be one hundred percent sure, but I think this is where Dinah is," she said and indicated an address on the computer screen.

"Great… Now what do we do?" Helena asked.

"We arrange for transport of a special car to Boston, while you and I fly there," Barbara suggested.

Helena rose, while asking, "What special car?"

"A model like the one I have here just built for surveillance. I've had a couple made and one is in storage with a friend in New York, so it should be possible for me to get it moved to an airport in Boston with a single telephone call," Barbara explained and picked up a small wireless headset. "Delphi, call Faith in New York please," she said and a program sprang up on screen showing how the call was routed around base stations and satellites hiding the source.

"Then I will handle the air transport," Helena remarked and walked to the elevator as her cell didn't work in Barbara's shielded basement.

It was late in the evening as Barbara and Helena got aboard the private jet of Wayne Aerospace and flew for Boston.

As they came out onto the long term parking lot, Barbara steered them towards a green car, which looked like a cross between a SUV and a sedan. Helena had to help by stowing the wheelchair in the back, after Barbara slid herself into the driver seat. Helena seated herself and looked over at her. "So what is so special about this car?" She asked. 

"Well it has an uplink to Delphi, surveillance equipment. It can change colors and plates. Also all windows can show a holographic image that would make the interior seem like that of an empty regular car even for someone standing next to us," Barbara explained.

Helena whistled appreciatively, "I would have loved to have this around these last two years." 

"I would have loved to have been there," Barbara immediately replied as she drove the car out of the parking lot using the joystick like controls. They headed out onto the massive roads leading them through Boston and their hotel.

Next morning the car, now red because Helena liked it better that way, stood parked next to the curb outside the massive campus area. "Now all we have to do is find Dinah amongst a few students," Helena told her sarcastically. 

"Have you gotten too early out of bed this morning," Barbara asked.

Helena looked at her and remarked, "I've gotten too early out of bed for over a month."

"And there is a reason we're standing here. The university administration building over there has a wireless local network, encrypted of course, but that hasn't stopped me from getting into their systems," Barbara commented and indicated the screen of the laptop that sat in her lap. Somehow Barbara had gotten onto the desktop of someone in there and was busying herself with searching for the personal information and class schedule of Carolyn Desmond.

"Here we are," Barbara triumphed as a schedule as well as a file full of information was loaded over onto the laptop. Barbara quickly ended her hack and leaned back to absorb the information in the files, while Helena again turned back to look at the students making their way in the snow that seemed to have followed them to Boston.

"So has she become the brainwashed slave of some sorority yet," Helena asked as a group of laughing young women passed the car.

"According to this, she lives alone in a loft off campus. She is paying her tuition herself and it seems she has been hiding some talents when she was still living with us," Barbara said.

"What kind of talents?" Helena asked.

"It would seem that Dinah is a musician as well as a genius student," Barbara explained.

"Now the kid was always pretty good at learning stuff, but I never noticed that we had another genius in our team," Helena commented.

"Helena, Dinah's mind was constantly developing during the time she was with us. There is no telling how much her ability, skills and powers in general have grown in the time that has passed," Barbara said.

"So where should she be now," Helena asked.

"Well she is in psychology right now, if she is here," Barbara answered.

"That is if it really is Dinah," Helena commented grumpily and adjusted her position to keep her butt from becoming more sore.

Barbara didn't answer instead she handed Helena the laptop and pointed at the top of the file where a digital image showed a smiling long haired Dinah looking almost exactly like they remembered her. "Well then what are we waiting for?" Helena asked. Barbara nodded and together they drove off.

They were waiting outside the building where Dinah was supposed to be to studying mathematics another one of her courses and the last one of her day. A few minutes passed after the class was supposed to end before the doors opened and a group of largely male students left the building and hurrying off in the cold weather. "I've activated the holograms," Barbara said and Helena nodded. They had decided on the plane that they would approach Dinah carefully and observe before they decided if they really wanted to involve her in their dangerous careers again.

"There she is," Helena said and she couldn't keep her happiness and anxiety out of her voice.

Dinah Lance stood out amongst the boys she was walking out of the faculty with. She was taller than them, her long blonde hair held in an elegant braid that gathered all her hair and tumbled down her left shoulder, her clothes a mix between style and practicality. She was smiling and talking with the boys. "She has grown," Barbara remarked and switched on the automatically tracking parabolic microphones.

"You're telling me. I bet, she is 6 feet tall," Helena agreed.

Then suddenly a set of voices one, which was familiar, came out of the speakers. 

"So Lyn, are you going to tell us how you solved that inverse transformation problem," one of the two boys asked Dinah.

Dinah smiled and nodded, "Sure but can't it wait until I get home, I will mail you a suggestion after I am done practicing."

"Okay, but don't forget. The last time you completely spaced it," the boy replied.

"I won't forget," Dinah promised as the group reached the curb. The boys waved and walked down the road, while Dinah looked around and crossed the street. As she passed near the car, Dinah stopped and looked around in confusion as if she had heard something then shook her head and resumed her path. Dinah took a bike path leading out of campus.

"We might want to change the plates and color again," Barbara suggested.

"This car is cool, but I keep expecting some guy with an English accent coming around to tell us to give his car back," Helena commented as they drove off. By the time they reached the end of the street the car was blue and the number plates different.

The car held a few houses down from the three story building, where Dinah had her loft. "I am getting stir crazy from sitting here doing nothing. I am going to get a bit of air in my face," Helena said and left the car.

"Helena, use this, if there is anything," Barbara said and handed her a small watch. "Press the knob to talk to me," she said.

"I know the drill," Helena commented with a grin and ran into an alley. A few powerful leaps later she was up on the snow covered roofs of the city. Helena quickly headed for Dinah's apartment. Flickering candle light illuminated the girl's windows as Helena made a soundless landing on one of balconies of the loft. Carefully she edged closer and looked inside. The apartment was huge for a student, yet there was only one door aside from the entrance, Helena guessed that led to the bathroom. The rest was an open landscape, ranging from kitchen, living room and bed room to office. In the middle there was a large open area covered in rugs. The room was only illuminated by candlelight and a computer screen. Dinah was seated in a chair, a cello resting against her. Helena could see that she was focused on playing the instrument. Then she marveled at the intense sadness of the song and instrument as well as at the perfection of Dinah's performance.

Suddenly Dinah stopped playing and put away the big instrument. She walked to her closet and changed some of her clothes. The girl put on a coat and went for the door. Helena quickly made her way back to the car.

"Dinah is going out," Helena explained. "Should we follow her?"

"We should decide what to do now," Barbara said as Helena got in. 

"We can do it, while we follow her," Helena demanded.

"Alright," Barbara agreed and watched Dinah come out of the house. She headed away from campus. Barbara waited a few moments then slowly began to follow Dinah in the car.

They followed Dinah carefully for about half an hour, then she walked into a large abandoned factory the ground floor had only the main supports left and so they could see Dinah stop in the snow free and empty factory floor. She stood there staring to the south for a while as if waiting for something. Then a small group of people appeared from the south, two of them were toting shotguns and none looked very happy. 

"What the hell is going on?" Helena asked and began unclipping her seat belt.

"Wait," Barbara said and placed a calming hand on Helena's thigh, while directing the parabolic mike towards the factory floor, where Dinah stood. The group walked up.

"Please wait," Dinah's voice came from the speaker, it didn't even waver. The group stopped and seemed to size her up for a moment.

"Who are you girl?" One of the smaller men asked.

"I am not anyone important. What is important is that you shouldn't go any further… Nelson," Dinah said in a calm voice. "Your rivals are expecting you. This entire war is a setup from a supplier you have in common. Mr. Singer wants you to fight, so he can sell you guns and weaken you, so his people can take over direct control of the arms sale in your hood. I just thought you needed to be told, before anyone died," she explained.

The group stared at her for a few moments. "I've heard stories about you girl. They say that your predictions are never wrong and I can see no fear or lies in your eyes. I think, we are out of here, and I hope you won't give Mr. Singer any heads up before the freight train hits him," the leader commented.

Dinah didn't reply, she just smiled and waited. Slowly the gangers turned around and headed back where they came from. Dinah breathed a sigh of relief and turned to stomp off in the wet snow. Helena and Barbara sat almost breathlessly in the car and watched her head towards her home. "Did Dinah just avert a gang war?" Helena asked.

"Apparently," Barbara answered in a far away tone.

"I guess she is going on in her own way," Helena said.

"Yeah, maybe we underestimated her dedication to helping the innocent," Barbara commented.

"So we're going to see her," Helena asked. 

"Yeah," Barbara answered, when suddenly someone thumped Helena's window. Slowly their eyes turned and a pale and confused looking Dinah was standing outside examining the window as if she doubted her sanity. Barbara reached down and pressed a button, while Helena activated the electrical window openers.

"It can't be," a crying Dinah said as she could suddenly see what she had only vaguely sensed. 

"Hi Dinah long time no see," Helena said as if they had just come home from a short trip.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: 

            Dinah reached inside the car and grabbed hold of Helena as if to make sure she was real. "I should have trusted my dreams," she said.

"Why don't you get in?" Barbara said and tapped a key on the high tech dashboard that made the door behind Helena's seat open. Dinah slipped inside from the cold and sat with teary eyes looking from Helena to Barbara and back again.

"I thought you were dead. I thought you died. I've cried so many tears over…" The last was said in a tone of reproach as if she expected Barbara and Helena to have planned their disappearances. 

"We were told the same as you Dinah. My dad decided that we would be secure by separating. I think he also wanted to reduce the risk of us jumping into his war with the Joker," Helena explained.

Dinah blinked a few tears away, while Barbara put the car in drive and headed for Dinah's apartment. "So how long have you been following me around," Dinah asked.

"Well I got the news that you guys were alive three days ago and I immediately went to find Barbara then we headed here to find you yesterday night. We've been following you since this afternoon," Helena explained.

"I am glad you came," Dinah said and put a hand on Helena's shoulder in appreciation.

"Me too, K…" Helena stopped herself. "Well I guess I have to change that habit don't I. I can't very well call you Kid anymore. You're nineteen and living by yourself," Helena said.

"I don't mind," Dinah replied and gave them a sunny smile.

"What was that about your dreams?" She asked, while guiding the car through the slush of melting snow.

Dinah flipped her hair back behind her left ear. "Well, even after I got well I was plagued of vision of you guys like you were still around. They just came every once in a while. There was a lot about you both lying in Hospital, of Barbara sitting at some version of Delphi and of Helena fighting. In the end I just convinced myself, I was seeing your past," she explained.

"I am guessing from what we just watched that your visions are more regular now," Barbara commented.

"Yes and no, they don't just come when I am asleep anymore and they don't always show me things that make sense or are meant to," Dinah explained.

"Your power has grown," Barbara said as the car slowly rolled to a stop outside Dinah's apartment building. Dinah didn't reply she just looked out of the window seemingly lost in thought.

Dinah opened the door and got out. She, automatically in routine learned years before when Barbara had brought her to school everyday, went around to the back of the car and got the wheelchair out and set it up for her immobilized former guardian. "Thank you," Barbara said with a smile as she lifted herself into the wheelchair.

"No problem, but you'd better let me help you inside, the building is not wheelchair friendly," Dinah commented and walked over to the small flight of stairs leading up to the front door. Helena followed with a bemused look on her face. Dinah tugged a recalcitrant strand of hair behind her ear and looked around. Seemingly satisfied with what she had been looking for, she walked forward up the stairs. Barbara and her wheelchair blithely floated at her side, while Helena walked behind covering for the violation of the laws of gravity.

The door to Dinah's loft slid open and Barbara drove inside the large apartment. Dinah followed her in holding a lit match, it floated from her fingers and flew gently around the room lighting the numerous thick candles. Soon a flickering orange light filled the warm room. Helena walked over and sat next to the cello case. Barbara noticed the slightly messy, but filled office space Dinah had set up as well as the cello case. "How long have you played?" She asked.

"Well, I took lessons back when I lived with the Redmonds. When I was sent to high school in Seattle you know after what the Joker did. I didn't really know many people and I wasn't feeling much like making any friends. I had enough trouble with losing you and my powers were fluctuating a lot, so I kind of focused on school and keeping up my training. My handler at the time Jonathan demanded I did something outside of school and training, so I placated him by taking up the cello again. It turned out that I really liked playing this time around. It is almost meditative to let the music flow through you," Dinah explained.

"So they sent you to finish High School in Seattle," Helena commented.

"Yeah it was okay, but I did miss all my friends in New Gotham a lot and they really put me in a place where I couldn't easily bump into them. I was practically on the other side of the US," Dinah said with a grimace.

"That is all behind us now though. The Joker is dead, Harley is behind bars and his organization is gone. We can go back to being ourselves again," Helena said.

"I've missed being Barbara Gordon," she said and watched her two charges smile in agreement.

"I hope you guys don't mind, but I think I will give up on Boston College," Dinah said.

Barbara and Helena looked at her with alarm. "You can't just give up on your education Dinah. I have regretted so many times that I never finished College. Don't repeat my mistakes please," Helena said.

"Dinah, there is no way I am going to allow you to give this up," she said with conviction.

Dinah just sat with a tranquil expression and waited until they had finished talking. "And there is no way I am going to remain Carolyn Desmond for another day if I can be Dinah Lance instead. I've never felt right after leaving New Gotham. I need to go back to being Dinah Lance fulltime and Dinah Lance would be going to college in New Gotham, so she could be close to her family and help them if they needed it. Listen I am not proposing to go full time heroine, I am doing fine as a half time one here. I want to finish college. I just want my diploma to read Dinah and for you two to be there when I get it," she pleaded.

Helena looked at her and she could see in her eyes the same wish that filled her at that moment. "Alright, I guess we need to arrange a lot of moving and for some kind of mass resurrection," she said and it felt good.

Helena and Dinah were talking in the background about how life had treated them, but to her they were clearly keeping the conversation in the lighthearted realm of funny comments, accidents and general happenings. She knew that it would take a few weeks of intense work for her to get everything ready for a move back to New Gotham. The thought of being able to see her family again, of being able to talk to people who knew her, made her feel really happy for the first time in years. For the first time since that grey weather morning two years ago when her and Dinah had made their way to the high school not knowing that the Joker had captured Helena or that what he was planning for them.

The black Hummer held for a red light, inside Dinah Lance and Barbara Gordon were once again discussing the feasibility of Dinah going to a party on a Thursday. "I say you're keeping a double standard. You trust me enough to let me go out and fight people who are out to kill me or put me in the hospital, but you don't trust me enough to let me go to a party. I am just saying it doesn't make sense from my point of view," Dinah said.

She almost caught herself smiling knowingly, but hid it well behind her well trained mask of sternness practiced through hours of high school teaching. "Dinah I trust you, it is not about trust. It is all about you going out to a party with people we hardly know on a School day," she argued as she put the car in drive and they continued on in the heavy morning traffic.

However the spunky blonde immediately caught on and looked at her guardian with a wide smile on her lips. "So if the party wasn't on a school day, it wouldn't be a problem. Because you trust me," Dinah triumphed.

"And you have earned my trust. However that trust could go away after a single misstep… like coming home from a party drunk," Barbara answered and quirked an eyebrow. The Hummer slowly rolled into the parking lot area around the high school. Dinah leaned over and gave Barbara a kiss on her cheek.

Dinah smiled and grabbed her bag. "I will fetch the wheelchair," she said and walked around back to hoist the electrical wheelchair out of the car. It was a routine that Dinah had chosen herself, as Barbara's car was fully capable letting Barbara leave on a ramp by herself. Dinah settled the wheelchair out front and waited for Barbara to get out by herself, something she insisted on doing alone. "I will see you in class later," Dinah remarked and walked off with a wave.

"Yeah, later," Barbara said and looked around. She had the strange feeling of being observed. She couldn't see anything more suspicious than a couple of clouds of smoke coming from the bushes where some stupid kids went to ruin their lungs. She skillfully navigated the high tech wheelchair towards her classroom.

She had a class coming next period, but she hadn't really gotten a chance to properly prepare for the day, spending all of last night sending out urgent messages too all of her old friends and contacts about the likely return of the Joker to New Gotham. Barbara closed the door to the hall and rolled her wheelchair towards her desk, when she noticed that the blinds were half-closed leaving the room darkened. Behind her she heard the door lock snap closed. Quickly she made her wheelchair spin around while she reached for the telescoping batons she carried in her chair. She came face to face with her demon. "Ah, Babs, it has been too long," the Joker walked out of the heavy shadows of the door. She brought up her batons in a defensive posture, while she frantically tried to think of a safe way out of her classroom and came up empty.

"It was so nice of my dearest Harley to spring me from jail, don't you think," he commented and walked over to sit on one of her students' desks.

"We will stop you, things have changed, we…" But she fell silent when he lifted his hand revealing a small transportable TV.

"Why don't you have a look at my newest find," he asked and switched it on. The screen was covered in static for a while then cleared to show Helena strapped to a wall inside a cage.

"There are entirely too many stray kittens on the streets these days. As a concerned citizen I simply had to take one in. It's a nice specimen I can tell you, and very easy to catch too I just had to lay out a little bait at a warehouse and then sacrifice the blood of a dark horse to get it," he put down the TV, but left it running.

Barbara knew that her wheelchair wasn't fast enough to reach the door and unlock it in time. Still she carefully angled her wheelchair to point in its direction. The Joker took out a bag of candy. "Well Barbara I would love to stay here and chat with you, but I need to extend my zoo and there is still the chick of a certain Canary to catch now or maybe I should treat it to a duck shoot. Now that I have my very self-made paraplegic bat, I might not need a baby canary," he said with a wide smile and tossed a candy in his mouth. Green gas suddenly erupted from her desk and the ventilation grates. She commanded her wheelchair forward. She still felt the bump in the wheelchair as it slammed into the door, after that there was only darkness.

Outside the snow was gently sugarcoating the recently cleared paths as Barbara stared out into the night. A gentle and warm hand landed on her shoulder and Dinah stepped up to stand at her side. "You were thinking of what happened back then weren't you," she asked.

"It is just hard to let it go after thinking about little else for 2 years," Barbara explained.

Dinah sighed and stared out the window as well. "I know I had a hard time even accepting that it happened. I was really close to the edge for a while after my recovery. I think Jonathan spent a lot of time trying to make sure I didn't ruin my life," she admitted.

"I remember when your mother died you were so angry, I was afraid you would actually make me and Helena your enemies," Barbara said and looked up at the tall blonde.

She gave Barbara a self-deprecating smile, "I think most of my teenage issues are fading fast, so you shouldn't worry about more of that." 

"Uh, that is worse, then all those really ugly adult issues are right around the corner," Barbara said with mock fear in her eyes and made moves like she was looking for an exit.

"You never really outgrow having friends and family around to take care of you," Helena surprised the both of them by saying. Dinah and Barbara turned around and gave the black haired beauty a brilliant smile. "So do you have anything edible in this hovel kid," Helena added.

She nodded and immediately made a few sandwiches in her kitchen corner. "It isn't Alfred's cooking, but it's the best I can do," she said and sat down the plate, which both Barbara and Helena immediately emptied. Dinah stepped back for a moment and looked at her friends eating and chatting. A warm good feeling filled her body as she turned around to make herself a sandwich. She was buttering the bread, when she remembered another place and another sandwich.

Dinah Lance walked into the cantina of her high school chatting with Gabby. She had brought her food from home, because Alfred had been so nice and made her sandwiches, which given the general quality of food in the cantina, were a no contest winners in her choice of lunch food. 

"I am telling you, there were these three grown up guys just standing around and smoking on school grounds. They were weird looking too," Gabby explained as they sat down. "Wait here," she said and went over to buy her lunch. Dinah blithely unpacked the well wrapped sandwiches and was greeted by the pleasant smell of salmon, salad and dressing. She began eating, and was halfway through her first sandwich when Gabby finally dropped her tray on the table and handed Dinah a bottle of water.

"Thanks, that was really nice of you," Dinah replied between bites and put the bottle down in front of her.

"So as I was saying there were these three guys. And they were wearing like black suits and one of them had a make-up kit out. They looked really weird," Gabby explained. Dinah didn't have time to think about it.

"Hey, Dinah," a senior from one of her advanced placement classes walked up to them.

"Hi, what's up?" She asked.

"Is something wrong with Miss Gordon? We went to her class, but she had just left a note on the blackboard that she had been called away on an emergency," the girl continued speaking, but Dinah was already out of her seat, the sandwich on the way towards the ground and her hands frantically scrambling to activate her com.

"Oracle, this is Canary, please respond," she called out as she ducked and weaved through the crowds in the halls. She stopped at her locker and pulled out her reserve batons before barreling on heading for Barbara's classroom. 

Dinah knew in her heart that Barbara was inside, but she still extended the telescoping weapons and opened the door using her telekinesis. A few kids in the hall stared at her in confusion. The Dinah they knew was a quiet type, who although increasingly self-confident had never made a spectacle of herself until now. She ignored their looks and headed inside. The room was empty as she expected. "Think damn it," Dinah told herself and looked around. After a few seconds she saw a small note scribbled on a notepad lying on Barbara's desk. She walked closer. It was a quick and simple drawing of a bird and a clock. "Either she's at the Clocktower or it's a trap either way I've got to go," she decided and rushed out to fetch the Hummer.

As she drove hazardously through the midday traffic Dinah cursed once again that their com links couldn't make calls between separate units without Barbara at the controls in the Clocktower. Still from time to time she tried her com, reasoning that it was better to try than not to. Finally she arrived at the Clocktower and rushed inside ignoring the feeling that she was being watched. Carefully she checked that no one was near the secret entrance than quickly made her way up. "Please be there," she muttered as the elevator glided up the shaft.

The elevator doors slid open to reveal the pristine and unfortunately quiet headquarters. Dinah walked around to the terminals of Delphi. A single application window was blinking red on one monitor otherwise the computer system seemed switched off. It read, "Hacker intrusion attempted… Firewalls breached… Secure uplinks severed," and finally it said, "All data and backups destroyed." 

Dinah gasped, when she suddenly heard a voice call. "Yo baby canary," the voice clearly coming from a megaphone was coming from outside the face of the clock. Dinah knew in her guts it was a trap, still she walked over and faced the threat by opening the small door anyway. She had felt it since hearing that Barbara had left school without telling her and taking the car. At first she couldn't make out anything in the sunshine, and then her eyes fell upon two men standing on a neighboring high rise building. "Try to fly for me little bird," a man clad in a purple suit said in the megaphone, while the one besides him was aiming something that looked like a highly advanced rocket launcher at face of the clock. Dinah didn't waste any time. She turned around and ran for the elevator.

The Delphi terminals and the short hallway passed almost in a blur. She could see the closed elevator doors from a far. Powered by her fear her mind easily reached out and pried them open. Behind her there was a massive roar. She threw herself into the elevator. The doors slammed shut. 

Suddenly everything shook and Dinah had a strange feeling of floating. The elevator was thundering down the shaft uncontrolled. With a massive screeching the fall abruptly stopped. Dinah flew up and smashed into the elevator floor and everything became a blur for a while. Dinah fought to get up but really couldn't.

Then she was aware of voices. "Ah, it would seem my little bird is really as clever as I was told, well little songbird I guess that means you'll be getting your own cage in my zoo after all," the Joker said and laughed harshly. Dinah struggled to rise, but everything seemed to spin. Suddenly something slammed into the back of her head and everything went black.

"So Kid, is there anyone, who is going to be pining for you, if you leave Boston," Helena's voice called Dinah back to reality. She stopped making her sandwich and turned to face the pair sitting in her couch.

"What like a boyfriend," she replied and felt a small sting of another bitter memory. "Well, there was one."

"Uh, tell me all the saucy details," Helena commanded with a mischievous smile.

Dinah tugged a strand of hair behind her ear. "He left me, because I quote unquote freaked him out," she said and looked Helena in the eyes without changing her happy look or tone of voice.

"What was his name," Helena asked in the tone of voice, Dinah would associate with a predator hoping to be told where her prey was.

"Daniel, but I am not angry with him. He couldn't handle having me as his girlfriend. It is his loss, not mine," she explained and waited.

"We have other important things to discuss as well," Barbara interjected. "If we are all serious about going back to New Gotham there is a lot we need to discuss and plan about how we're going to live, by what rules and a lot of other stuff," she reminded them.

Dinah felt a little ashamed, but she knew that she needed to ask. "Well I am a bit ashamed, because I had kind of decided not to mooch of anyone ever again, but if I am to join you guys in Gotham I have to borrow some money or something. I can't afford to move there and if I am to go back to being Dinah I will have to give up the money I get as part of my cover," she explained.

Helena looked at Dinah and smiled, "Kid you'll never want for anything in your life ever again."

"Huh," both Dinah and Barbara echoed.

"Well I don't know how my dad found out about it, but there is actually a rather substantial amount of money lying around waiting for Dinah Lance. Your mother worked for the government as a spy and did a lot of other stuff as well. She left all her money and the sum from her life insurance to you. My dad didn't want that money to disappear, because he had hidden you, so he had his lawyers run interference until now. Dinah there is right now a substantial sum awaiting you as soon as you return to life so to speak," Helena explained.

"I won't accept it. How would that help me in life if I just let my mother pay for my life," Dinah said.

"Dinah, it is not about buying you off. I thought that I didn't want my trust back in the old days, because they were my father's. But I was just being emotional not rational. If you need to then think of it like Nightwing thinks of his money, think of it as a means to an end, as a way for your fight against crime to continue unabated. Is that reason enough or do I need to keep talking," Helena asked.

Dinah looked at her, her enhanced sensibility easily picked up Helena's sincerity and absolute belief in her words.

"Besides what good is money, if you can't put it to any other use than to accumulate more and that is what will happen if you don't accept your inheritance," Helena said.

"I am still not sure it would feel right," Dinah looked to Barbara for advice.

"Don't look at me. We were using Helena's money back at the Clocktower too. There is nothing wrong with accepting money if there are no strings attached to them and if you at some point feel burdened by it, you can always give them to charity or use a little of it at a time to help some people," Barbara suggested.

Dinah nodded, "alright I will accept it." Helena smiled in victory and turned to talk to Barbara about practicalities like moving and what kind of organization they wanted to set up. Dinah finished making her sandwich and went over to give them her suggestions. After a while Barbara yawned. "I guess you'll be going back to your hotel now," Dinah said.

"Yeah, but first I want you to do me a favor," Barbara argued. Helena gave Barbara a curious look as did Dinah.

"I would really love to hear you play before we go. If we're to move back to New Gotham I need to leave for my home tomorrow and so will Helena. It'll be a couple of weeks before we can see each other in person again, so I'd really like to hear you play now," Barbara asked.

Dinah blushed, nodded and rose. She didn't notice the surprised looks on the faces of both Barbara and Helena as she without batting an eye telekinetically moved a chair out by the metal plate in the floor, and at the same time opened the cello case and floated her instrument over to the chair, while walking over to sit. She picked up the bow from the air and let the large instrument rest against her. Promising herself to give her adopted family a good show, she focused inwards and recalled the song she knew best these years. Soon the sad and beckoning sounds of her instrument flowed around her and she let herself get lost in the music. After nearly ten minutes she let the last note die away and opened her eyes. Helena and Barbara sat watching her with appreciation. 

"Did you like it," Dinah asked with a shy look in her eyes.

Helena nodded mutely, while Barbara looked almost tearful. "I think you could make a career out of that," she said without any indication of mirth.

"Nah, I am too shy," she replied honestly.

"Shy? I've seen what you're willing to wear to impress a guy or maybe it was to scare villains I forget sometimes," Helena commented with a wicked smile. Dinah smiled, but didn't reply instead she also yawned.

"We'd better go though. I will keep in contact Dinah so we can arrange all the details," Barbara said and lifted herself back into her wheelchair.

"I will get you back down again," Dinah said and followed them down, levitating Barbara down the stairs.

"When you're back to being Dinah Lance again, a couple of my dad's lawyers will probably be contacting you, so don't mistake them for some kind of villains that you have to punch out okay," Helena said with a grin through the open car window, while Barbara started the car's engines. 

"I promise I won't," Dinah replied and watched the car roll of into the dark night. She glanced at her watch and winced, it was long past midnight and she had an early class tomorrow. She decided to get a good night's sleep instead and quickly got back inside to get out of the cold night.

In the car as they drove off Barbara stared out of the windshield as she said, "I am not sure, why you lied to Dinah, so I would like you to explain."

"Lied about what?" Helena said with fake innocence.

"About her mother's so called inheritance. Carolyn never accumulated any kind of fortune nor did she have any life insurance and there is sure as hell no way even Bruce's lawyers were able to stall the handlers of Carolyn's estate until now. I checked rather thoroughly when Carolyn died. She left Dinah penniless," Barbara explained. "So whose money are we talking about?" She asked.

Helena looked out the window for a moment then answered, "I don't see why Dinah shouldn't be allowed the independence coming from being wealthy, when I am in a position to make her rich. I am going to arrange for her to receive ten percent of my trust fund. It is ridiculously huge anyway, so I might as well do some good and make sure Dinah can have a good time going through college and life in general."

"And you knew she would never have accepted money from either of us. I like it," Barbara agreed as they headed for their hotel.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: 

            Barbara Gordon sat in quiet contemplation in the Wayne private jet that was taking her home. In front of her was the beginning of a plan for their future. It seemed that especially Helena had rather specific plans for the future mostly involving her working professionally as a superhero and going after bigger fish than drug dealers and the like.

Personally Barbara thought that both the big and small fish of the criminal world needed to be caught, but also that Helena was very right in one way. They needed to go at their calling with a much greater professionalism than they had before and all that took some rather complex and complete planning. Fortunately she had been planning and improving upon the equipment and her possibilities to help for two years now. Turbulence made the plane shake and she turned to look out over the weather patterns outside her window.

She thought back at seeing Dinah playing the cello and looking more at peace and confident than she had ever seen her in the short time she had known the girl. It certainly was a great improvement over the last time she had seen her.

Barbara Gordon woke up to complete darkness, her hands tied to her back with tight plastic strips, lying on the floor without her wheelchair to support her. Somewhere nearby was her greatest fear, he was armed and nobody except Dinah was around to stop him and she knew very well that while strong the blonde girl was not yet in the Joker's league. 

Bright light flashed on and made her eyes water with pain. "Ah I see my little lame bat is enjoying her stay in the darkness. Well I am sorry I don't have time to play with you right now. You see I am kind of hoping that my new bird will sing a little for me, before I put her somewhere that will redefine… well let's just say it is something that I thought of, while I languished in prison," the Joker dressed in his slightly dusty purple suit.

Barbara tried to orient herself. She was in a bare cement room with a bricked up window and a single light in the ceiling. There were no other features but a wooden door, which was now open. She couldn't make out much more than the Joker standing in the entrance. He seemed about to leave again, and then seemed to stop lost in thought. "Why don't you join me in my attempts at making my bird sing," he suggested. "Don't go anywhere," he added and cackled before closing the door. The light stayed on.

A few minutes passed then the door was opened again and a couple of muscled men carried a chair inside. Dinah was tied tightly to the chair, her eyes hidden by a blindfold and her forehead had a very nasty looking purple looking bruise above the left eyebrow. The Joker joined them in the room; he was wearing a pair of brass knuckles. "Leave us boys," he commanded.

"Dinah," Barbara called out with great urgency.

"Barbara," the girl sounded tired and almost sleepy.

"Now my little bird let me hear you sing a song," the Joker said and punched Dinah in the stomach. She groaned. He continued punching her for a while, hammering blows in her guts, thighs and arms. 

"Stop, I beg you," Barbara screamed as she heard the second audible crack coming from Dinah's arms. 

"Not until she sings," the Joker whipped around and yelled at her before turning back around and grabbing Dinah's hands and taking a small hammer out of his jacket. 

"Feel free to start at any time," he said and pressed Dinah's hand flat against the metal of the chair, he brought down the hammer in one swift move and was rewarded with a crack and a whimper of pain from Dinah.

"Almost there I hear," he triumphed and tossed the hammer of his shoulder. Barbara caught it in her face. She blinked away the pain and watched in horror as the Joker whipped out another instrument of torture from his jacket. She saw the scalpel glint in the light and looked away as it whipped down towards Dinah. A high pitched scream of pain echoed around the room. It continued a while and Barbara could sense movement, but she didn't dare to look.

"Boys," the Joker called out loud. The brutes from before came in. "Take that away and make sure my bird doesn't bleed to death. Harley's letter said that she has a powerful mind. It might be interesting to fiddle around with it. See what if I can't turn this little chick into my own bird of prey unlike her mentor or her fortunately departed mother," he ordered.

"Ah Barbara would you mind holding on to this for me," he asked and Barbara turned her head to look at him and his bloodied purple suit. He held the scalpel in his hand. As she saw it, he rammed it into her foot. "At least it won't do you any harm there," he said and laughed manically all the way out of the room. The door clicked shut and the light disappeared.

Time passed but she had no idea how much or little. All she was left with was her worries and the gnawing thought of that scalpel implanted in her foot. She still had hope. Maybe one of her contact or friends had noticed that she and the Huntress were missing. She forced herself not to contemplate the fate of either Helena being Batman's daughter or Dinah. The light returned.

"So my dear, have you remembered how to see with sound yet or did I bleed that bat ability out of you back then as well," the Joker asked and walked in.

"Where have you done to Dinah and Helena?" She asked, while casting a glance in the direction of her foot. Her ankle was showing and looked red and swollen. She had caught some sort of infection in the wound.

"Well the bird isn't singing right now, although we did make rather a symphony with her last night. As for the dear kitten well let's see about that. Unfortunately she is quite immobile right now there was some trouble with sledgehammers, but I guess you'll want to see for yourself. Now I can see you're not quite ready to travel yet, but my guys here will see to that," he said and had a couple of his men rush forward. Suddenly kicks and blows rained upon and brought her close unconsciousness. She was picked up and dragged through a well lit hallway out on to a factory floor. The Joker led the entourage over to a corner, where Helena awaited. Barbara winced and almost cried when she saw her former charge on the wall. The Joker had crucified the girl against the wall using thick metal spikes and somewhere along the way he had broken her legs with a thick sledgehammer that still lay just outside Helena's cage. 

"I thought that since you heroes are so self-sacrificing that one of you should try and do things the biblical way," he whispered in her ear.

But he wasn't prepared for her reaction. Barbara gathered all her remaining strength and head butted the Joker as if trying to drive the bones in his nose into his sick brain. All she managed to achieve was giving the Joker a serious nosebleed.

Holding his bleeding nose the Joker growled, "Hold her down boys." He picked up the sledgehammer and walked over to her. To this day she didn't remember much than the pain of that moment and she didn't want to. Only one thing still stuck with her. The sledgehammer heading for her swung like it was a golf club, while the Joker yelled in an uncommonly nasal voice, "Fore." A cackling laughter guided her into the black void of unconsciousness.

Barbara looked back down at the notes on her computer. "I should let it go," she thought and took a sip from the coffee the steward had gotten for her, while she had been lost in her memories. Barbara forced her mind to work on the problem at hand.

"Excuse me Miss Kyle, we're about to land," the stewardess said. Helena put on the belt, while contemplating all the things she had to arrange in the coming weeks. 

As she stepped off the landing plane she was met by Alfred holding open the door of the Wayne Mansion limousine. "Alfred good to see you," she said and smiled happily under her sunglasses. It seemed that Gotham, while also under the spell of winter, was blessed with blue cloudless skies and generally low temperatures.

"Good morning Miss Kyle. I hope your flight was alright," he said as she got into the car. She nodded. He walked around and got into the driver seat. 

"By the way Alfred both Barbara and Dinah send their love," she said.

He smiled widely enough for Helena to see it in the reflection of the rear view mirror. "I trust they are both well," he commented in his neutral tone.

"Yeah, they are both peachy now. But you can make sure of that yourself, when they come here. I think we'll all be staying at the mansion for at least a few days, until we get settled in and properly resurrected," Helena said with a smile.

"That sounds good, by the way Miss Wayne I have an important letter from your father here," Alfred said and handed her a thick envelope. Helena took it with a sad expression. She opened the seal and read some of the contents.

"It is almost like he is saying goodbye," she said.

"I think that New Gotham has given Master Bruce too many disappointments in the past. To use his expression he has found that it is not his city like the old Gotham was. He also said to make sure you understood that it didn't mean he wouldn't be around. He will just be staying at his Metropolis residence and will be visiting you and your family ever so often," Alfred explained.

"Don't worry about getting bored all alone up in the mansion, Alfred. I would be very happy if you helped me, Barbara and Dinah like you did in the past as a friend of course," she offered.

"I will as I have agreed with Master Bruce offer my assistance to you all three as much as my duties at the mansion allow me," Alfred ensured her.

Helena stretched her legs and let the hum of the car lull her into a doze. In her mind the memories of all her years as a vigilante roiled yet it was her darkest times she remembered best. One of those was fresh in her mind after the events of these last few days.

"Cuckoo, kitten, how are you this morning?" The Joker walked up to the caged enclosure, where she had woken up tied tightly to two spikes on a wall with steel wire.

"I would like to train you now my pet, but I am going on a small shopping trip to pick up the lame she-bat and baby canary I've ordered. I'll be back later," he explained. He turned and walked a few steps then stopped and turned around. "Oh, where are my manners? I have to wave goodbye," he said, turned around and waved. The lightning device in his palm threw another thick bolt of blue electricity at her and she fell back into unconsciousness.

"Yo Huntress," someone yelled nearby and suddenly she was doused by ice cold water. She had no idea what the clock was but it was dark outside. Before her stood the Joker and a couple of his people holding Barbara and Dinah. Barbara looked merely unconscious, while Dinah was covered in white dust and had a nasty bruise on her forehead. "Look what I brought back," the Joker said with pride.

Helena spat at the insane man not caring for the consequences. "You have hurt Barbara enough and you have no fight with Dinah. Your fight is with me. I betrayed Harley, I made sure she went down and I am proud of it," she yelled.

"My dear foolish girl, my fight is with all of you. Yes, I don't appreciate what you did to Harley, but she is hardly important right now. I am not doing this out of just plain vengeance. I am doing it because it is really a lot of fun and all of you heroes deserve to learn how the world really works. Lesson number one: there is a reason the army and police likes guns," he pulled out a large gun and put it against Dinah's head.

"NO! STOP! Don't hurt her! Listen to me you bastard! I am your enemy! If you're gonna hurt anyone hurt me," she screamed in desperation. 

The Joker looked at her for a moment in incomprehension slowly his lips spread in a wider and wider grin. "Ah of course, I had thought to save that for someone else, but it is just too perfect. Boys get me my spikes and a large hammer," he commanded. The goons carried Barbara and Dinah away.

Soon he walked up to Helena with three spikes and a large sledgehammer.

As he came in range she swung up her legs and tried to catch him with a powerful kick. The Joker ducked and pressed his hand against her thigh. Jolts of electricity passed through her lower body rendering her numb and stunned. "Now hold still while I am working," he added with a smile. He crossed her limp legs and held a spike against the place at her ankles where they crossed. Helena's world exploded in blinding pain. She watched through a red haze as he pulled over a box and got up next to her tied up right arm. The pain increased. He went over to her left arm and Helena nearly passed out. Through an increasingly thickening fog of pain she looked at him as he untied her. 

Helena looked through wincing eyes at the Joker as he stood before her admiring his work. She spat him in his face. Shaking in anger he lifted the sledgehammer and aimed for her legs. Helena passed out.

Helena Kyle stared into her mirror image, her face was dripping with water and her eyes reflected that old pain. Then she shook her head. "I should stop living in the past. It will never happen again," she thought.

Alfred Pennyworth was feeling decidedly happy as he decked the large dining room table with plates for three. It had been a long time since anything or anyone happy had been sitting at the head end of the Wayne Manor dinner table. Tonight there would be three happy women sitting there. Outside the morning sun shone over the bare but soon to be sprouting trees and bushes and he was going to pick up Dinah in the limousine as soon as he was done. 

"Alfred I can take care of this," a voice suggested. He turned to smile at a woman even he had thought dead for 2 years now. Barbara Gordon had arrived yesterday with only a little luggage explaining that she had enlisted some rather special transport for the rest of her possessions.

"I am sure, Miss Gordon, however I am almost done… There and now I am going to pick up Miss Lance," he explained and put down the last spoon to his satisfaction. "I will be off then," he remarked and headed out of the room leaving Barbara looking at the table setting. "And don't touch anything here or in the kitchen please," he called out over his shoulder before disappearing in the direction of the garage where a couple of new vehicles had joined the rather lonely looking limousine.

Dinah walked out of the terminal feeling a little violated after the very thorough security procedures she had just gone through. She had just picked up her luggage, when she noticed the elderly man standing like a black suit clad pillar complete with a bowler hat in a sea of regular travelers. She couldn't help smiling as she approached Alfred holding up a sign saying Miss Lance. "Hi Alfred," she gushed and gave the man a big hug, "it is good to see you." 

"Can I take your luggage Miss Lance," he asked looking at the two big suitcases she was carrying in addition to a big cello case on her back.

She shook her head at him, "No thank you… Like I'd let you carry stuff for me as if you were some kind of servant."

Alfred gave her a strange look. "I am the Butler, Miss Lance," he explained as they headed out of the airport.

"Never to me, I will eat the food you prepare if you feel like it and I will not stand in the way of you doing any chores you see fit to do. But never expect I will see you as a simple servant," she explained with conviction.

"I never said simple," he commented and guided her to the limousine. Dinah put her baggage in the trunk and the cello case on the backseat next to her.

"So have you seen anything of Barbara and Helena lately," she asked as they headed out into the heavy traffic.

Alfred nodded. "Yes Miss Lance, both are very busy preparing for your new undertaking. I must say it was a rather good suggestion of yours to make the paperwork show that you had all been enrolled in the witness security program because of the Joker. It will make the return of your identities relatively painless," he commented.

"Well it is basically the truth in my case, so it wasn't brilliant in any way," she argued.

"I notice that you're carrying a cello. Have you taken up playing it?" The butler asked.

She looked at the case with an appreciative smile. "Yeah, I played a little before coming to New Gotham, but I didn't like it. I began again to placate a man sent to ensure I kept my cover. It grew on me though. It has become one of my outlets," she explained.

"Ah, a very good idea, much better than becoming some kind of violent vigilante fighting motivated by vengeance," Alfred commented.

Dinah looked out the window and mumbled, "I didn't say it solved all my problems or made the darkness go away." Dinah recalled where her dark dreams of pain and fear came from.

Dinah felt burning pain throughout her body as someone roughly but bandages on the thin wounds the Joker had inflicted across her legs and arms. The intense pain from the torture was mostly reduced to a throbbing by some injection yet it nauseated her to feel some of her broken bones grind against each other and the thought that the torture might continue soon filled her with more fear than she would have ever thought possible. For a long time she was only aware of her own breathing and the slowly increasing pain as the sedative wore off. 

Someone began slapping her bandaged arms wracking her with pain as both her wounds and broken bones were disturbed. A voice began speaking in her ear. "It is easy little one. I've always wanted a kid and you have potential. I think I will make you my little girl," the Joker's voice disappeared again.

"Never," she managed to croak out. 

"Just imagine for a moment a promising young and quite sane doctor. She was such a nice person, that everyone thought that she would be able to cure all that ailed them. Even the police believed it. And so they sent her to heal me while I was on vacation in Arkham. Do you know who she was?" He asked.

"No," she admitted.

"Harley Quinn… She was a trained psychologist, she wasn't supposed to see the truth of my vision but eventually she did and soon so will you. I will take you little bird and I will make you into a monster. In the end you'll kill your old mentor for me," he whispered and his voice seemed further and further away.

"Never," she yelled even if the exertion brought her great pain. But there was no answer but the sound of her breathing. She began crying with desperation. Not even reminding her to stay strong to hope helped anymore.

After struggling a while the big car finally rolled into its spot in front of the Wayne Mansion. Dinah, who had never seen or set foot inside, walked out of the garage to look at the building for a few moments.

"This is big," she noted, "and old too." The house looked a bit patched up in places where the big quake had damaged the structure but otherwise it looked like a really impressive building standing proudly above New Gotham.

"Dinah," Helena's voice called out and the black haired woman came running out of the mansion and lifted her into a welcoming hug. Dinah couldn't get over the transformation in Helena's nature after their run-in with the Joker. She seemed happier, responsible, and more open. Dinah struggled however to keep from making any skin contact, which she could see from Helena's quirked eyebrow hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Barbara is waiting for us inside. We have a lot to talk about," Helena said and guided Dinah inside making her forget all about carrying her cases to her room by herself.

A few minutes later Dinah was seated in Bruce Wayne's former study, which Barbara upon her arrival yesterday had converted into their operations central, while they made their final arrangements for their return to heroism. "I don't know how much time you had to read what I emailed you, Dinah," Barbara asked from behind two open laptops.

"Very little, arranging everything in Boston has been crazy, so I haven't had much time," she explained.

"Alright I will get you up to date. First of all Helena and I have come to an agreement about how we're gonna run the team this time around. We will still be going after crime here in New Gotham, but we will also be proactive in our work to bring down the men behind the crime instead of just their underlings. Helena is also going to be spending a lot of time out of the city eventually even out of the country. I hope we can agree on some kind of arrangement where you help fill in for her at times here in New Gotham," Barbara explained.

"I guess I won't be seeing much of you then," Dinah said and looked at Helena with a little regret.

"Maybe we will see how it pans out, because I definitely want a private life besides all the work. I won't however be spending any time maintaining some job or the like," Helena said.

Barbara tapped in a few sentences on a computer then continued, "I have found a really good location for our new lair. It looks like a regular suburban house on the outer edge of a suburb close to the city and more importantly the freeway and the airport. We will be based in a large former a-bomb shelter underneath the house. It was built by the government years ago, but was cemented shut as it was no longer of any use. A superhero friend of mine has secret dug out a series of tunnels leading to various locations like the old and new sewer systems, a couple of garages and other secret entrances nearby. Bruce has helped me set up the security system and countermeasures in case of an attack or break-in and the very same friend is right now bringing in the last of my equipment. I think the new lair will be ready in one or two weeks and the vehicles will arrive over the next months." Barbara looked from the bored looking Helena to the attentive Dinah.

"Who will be living at the house," Dinah asked.

"Well I will of course as it is mostly for my benefit," Barbara explained.

"I am going to live in a converted penthouse downtown. Barbara is already going wild with the changes she wants to make to it," Helena explained. Barbara grinned over the top of her laptops; her eyes had an almost childlike glee in them.

"And do you have any plans for me," Dinah asked with a guarded tone of voice.

Helena and Barbara looked at each other. "Actually we thought you were old enough to make your own decisions," Barbara answered.

"By the way did you sign and return those papers the lawyers sent you," Helena asked.

"Yes, about that I couldn't find the place in the papers where it said what money I would receive so I just signed it. I hope they were the right papers," Dinah explained.

"I was told that the amount wouldn't be listed in the papers," Helena said and handed Dinah a bank statement and some other papers.

Dinah read the bank statement then looked up at Helena in confusion, "you can't be serious. This is millions of dollars," Dinah said with alarm.

"It is what your mother left you. And you can't give it back anymore. You signed those papers remember," Helena said with a grin.

"We thought that you might want to shop for your own place to live," Barbara added with her own smile.

Dinah had tears in her eyes. "This is just too wonderful to be true," she said.

"Well yeah, while there are no strings attached to that money, there are some strings attached to working with us again. Helena and I agree that our greatest problem back in the day was lack of professionalism and secrecy. There will be no more revealing of identities, no official patrolling without something covering your face, no names given not even to loved ones and you must begin your training again," Barbara said gravely.

Dinah just leaned back in her chair and said, "I think you might be surprised at the state of my training, but I guess I will have to convince you with actions rather than words." 

"Yeah, you must," Helena said.

A few hours of talking later Alfred knocked on the doorsill and said, "Excuse me, but dinner is served." The three girls went down to eat.

While at dinner, Barbara grabbed her glass, raised it and said, "Oh, I nearly forgot. Congratulation is in order for all of us, because as of midnight tonight Barbara Gordon, Helena Kyle and Dinah Lance are officially alive and well. Our identification papers and the like will be arriving tomorrow."

"Cheers," Helena said and the three looked at each before taking a drink.

"You know I just had an idea," Dinah said.

"Really, and what would that be," Helena asked.

"If we are really officially alive, why don't we celebrate by taking the pain of our loss away from a friend… like Gibson," she suggested.

Barbara and Helena looked at each other. They both nodded in agreement at nearly the exact same time. "Good idea, Dinah," Barbara said.

"Yeah, let's go… after dessert," Helena agreed.

"Oh, definitely," Dinah said and eyed the warm apple pie with whipped cream that Alfred had placed before her.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: 

            Helena's sedan cruised past the No Man's Land building looking for a place to park. Dinah looked at the building with a fond smile. She was almost jumping in her seat looking at her old haunts. Helena stopped the car. "Dinah, why don't you go ahead? I can't find a parking space and we can't unload the wheelchair in the middle of the street," she suggested.

"Sure," she answered and got out after looking out for any traffic. 

She dashed across the street. She didn't notice the car stopping just after the intersection or the man snapping pictures of her with his camera. Dinah opened the door and slipped inside Gibson's shop, which looked as strange as ever. One of Gibson's employees whom she didn't recognize looked at her for a moment as she headed over to the elevator. "Excuse me Miss, but I have to ask you to…" The cute guy started to say, but Dinah just looked at him with a crooked smile. After a short moment he nodded and let her go down. As soon as she was out of sight he reached up and buttoned his shirt again. The elevator carried Dinah down.

She stepped out into the bar area. And things looked only slightly different. There were just as many metas as usual but a lot of them were younger and it seemed that someone had gotten Gibson to put in a small cluster of computers and a cappuccino machine. The man himself looked seriously busy at the bar.

Gibson quickly dealt out the drinks Ross had just ordered for his buddies. Suddenly he felt a presence and a scent reached his nose that he knew couldn't be. He wasn't wallowing in his memories, so he became confused and looked around to try and find the source of the smell of that particular combination of scent and soap. He turned to face a nearly adult Dinah Lance smiling widely. 

"Hi, Gibson I would really like a coke, do you have one nearby," Dinah asked as Gibson finally saw her, but he just tipped over like a tree cut by a lumberjack. Dinah leaned in over the bar and lifted a pencil thin blonde eyebrow.

"It is happening again isn't it? I am going insane. I am seeing things. Dinah is dead just as dead as Helena and Barbara. I was there, 12th February 2003 nice burial clear skies no rain even if I wanted it to," Gibson babbled while pushing himself away from an increasingly worried looking Dinah.

"Gibson, it's me. I am alive, we all are. We didn't die. We were hidden from the Joker," Dinah said and immediately the entire bar fell silent. Gibson stopped back away and slowly rose. He walked forward and reached out to touch Dinah. She shied away slightly, but realized that he needed to touch her to ensure himself she was real and stopped moving.

Gibson felt the warmth of her skin and regular heartbeat of an athlete beating at a slower rate than he remembered but still recognizable. This was really Dinah Lance the daughter of the Black Canary.

"So how about that coke," Dinah replied as the noise in the bar slowly returned.

Gibson smiled and reached down, "Here. Have one on the house." He handed her the unopened can. 

"Thanks and yes Helena and Barbara should be here in a few minutes," she said before he could even utter the question. He looked at her oddly, but didn't utter the question in his eyes.

Outside Helena and Barbara rounded the corner and headed for the front door of the shop that served as Gibson's cover. "So do you think Gibson is still alive or has Dinah given him a massive coronary?" Helena asked.

"He'll get over it as soon as he realizes that it means the object of his desire still lives," Barbara hinted.

"Ugh, I had almost forgotten that part," Helena replied with a grimace and opened the door to admit her friend.

The man in the camera put down his camera and glanced over at his laptop. A progress bar indicated that his pictures were already being uploaded through the small antenna to his master's computers somewhere on this mother earth. He waited until the progress bar finished then picked up his cell phone and made the call. "I have sent you pictures of the Bat's progeny and those which she seems to be allied around with, master," he told the listener on the other end. He in turn listened to his master's commands. "I will put it in motion immediately. I have already made the preparations over the last weeks," he finally said and slowly closed the phone. Soon the car was speeding off towards the outer edge of New Gotham.

Helena, Gibson, Barbara and Dinah were seated around the bar. Gibson had closed the No Man's Land just after their arrival to have a little privacy with the friends he had missed so long. Helena was in the middle of telling them the story of how the Huntress and Nightwing had kicked the asses of a group of terrorists the Joker had been supplying with high tech weaponry after going undercover at a remote vacation resort in Africa… as a married couple. The last of Gibson's employees who had been washing the glasses out back ran in. "Gibson, there is a problem at Arkham," he said almost out of breath, "they just said on the radio that there had been some kind of explosion and some of the inmates had gotten out before the personnel could stop them. Harley Quinn is amongst those missing."

Dinah couldn't stop herself from gasping. Barbara looked deathly pale and Helena seemed to be getting close to her boiling point before they had even thought about it. "Alright this is it," Barbara suddenly seemed to shake her pallor and looked at Dinah and Helena. While Gibson and his employee spoke they quietly slipped out.

"I know we all have demons to face when it comes to Harley and her now dead lover, but if we can't face them then we have no business trying to do what we're are trying to do," Barbara told them as the elevator door opened.

Dinah nodded seemingly lost in thought, while Helena said, "I agree. We need to catch that bitch before she disappears or starts some kind of catastrophe." They came out of the bar to find Alfred standing in front of the old Batmobile.

"Brilliant Alfred, just what we need. Dinah, you're riding with me. Alfred you and Barbara head home in the other car," Helena commanded. Barbara and Alfred nodded.

"I need something from the mansion," Dinah said as she sat down besides Helena.

"Yeah, I do too. My costume should be ready for another round, so we best go fetch it… Say have you ever been in one of my dad's cars," Helena asked.

"No," Dinah answered.

"Then you're in for an experience," Helena replied and hammered her foot down on the gas. The night black armored high speed vehicle blew through the streets of New Gotham at formula one speed. Inside Dinah Lance was holding on to the roof and hoping that the seatbelt would survive a massive crash like the one she was sure they were heading for with Helena driving. A short while later the Batmobile was cooling on the rotary launch pad in the cave. Helena walked over to the costume lockers, while Dinah made her way upstairs. 

Helena checked herself in the mirror her Huntress costume looking fine. It was an adaptation of her earlier outfit, only now the leather underneath her cape like jacket was made of the same material as the bat-suits, while a small black mask covered her eyes making her look anonymous. She heard the clear sound of boots coming down the stairs. She turned to find Dinah wearing an outlandish look. She wore heavy looking combat boots, durable leather pants with a telescoping baton strapped on each of her legs and a closed biker jacket. There were goggles resting in her hair and a black air mask covered Dinah's lower face from ear to ear. "Why are you dressed like that?" Helena asked.

"It's my costume more or less. The face mask and goggles serve to hide my face and a secondary purpose as well," Dinah explained. 

Helena took a second look and judged that Dinah costume was workable after she of course had it remade in the bullet and knife resistant material that her father had made for his bat-suit. "Alright let's go," she replied and turned towards the Batmobile.

"Wait a minute," Barbara's voice came from the top of the stairs, where she and Alfred stood. Helena turned and waited patiently.

"I don't have the new communication jewelry or all of Delphi around to help me yet, but I have this and I can still do some things from here," she said and gave Alfred a handful of things, which he promptly carried downstairs.

Helena and Dinah quickly clipped on the two-way com-links which looked like they were hearing aids and looked up at Barbara. "I will try to help you track Harley from here. I know you two haven't been fighting together for two years and we haven't even had the time to prepare for this battle, but I know you can do it. Get her into police custody and come back safely," she said and gave the pair a wave before they headed back to the Batmobile.

"Can you hear me?" Barbara's voice echoed in both earpieces.

"Yes, Oracle," Helena answered.

"The New Gotham Police are very busy out at Arkham so I don't think we need to worry about that place right now, but a couple of inmates seem to have stolen an ambulance are barreling down the eastern freeway right now without any police on their tails. Harley might be there," Barbara reported.

"We'll get them," Helena said. The Batmobile sped down the roads of New Gotham. For a while Dinah looked lost in thought then reached up and slipped the goggles down over her eyes. The Batmobile thundered up onto the freeway and weaved through the light traffic. Helena expertly led the vehicle around a truck and for a moment they caught a glimpse of the ambulance barreling down the road with all sirens blaring.

"Can you open the roof, while we're driving," Dinah asked urgently.

"Sure," Helena replied.

"Then do it," Dinah commanded, while unlocking her seatbelt. Helena flipped a switch and the overhead hatch slid out of the way. Dinah slowly rose to stand.

"Hey, don't do anything insane," Helena yelled.

Dinah flew out of the car and came to hover over the fast moving car. Helena looked up in surprise. Dinah's voice muffled by her face mask came over their com-link. "Helena I'll try to stop them. They might slam the breaks suddenly so move to a safe distance," which Helena started to do. Dinah matched speed with the ambulance and seemed to hang there for a moment then the ambulance's hood flipped open and came up to cover the front window. 

The ambulance hammered through the barrier and flew down a ridge of thorny bushes. It landed with a massive crash, which seemed to shut off the engine. The blaring of the sirens disappeared slowly. The Batmobile came to a screeching halt and the Huntress ran out, jumped and flipped in the air to land next to the ambulance. Dinah landed a few feet behind her. Helena slowly advanced on the vehicle when a man armed with a scalpel jumped out. He looked very angry and yelled incoherent words at them.

Helena walked past the man, while she unceremoniously punched his lights out. He flew back and impacted the ambulance with enough force to make a dent in the car. Dinah winced in sympathy, but continued to scan over the area for any surprises. "There's another guy in here, but the crash has knocked him out," Helena reported, while Dinah gave Barbara a terse report of the situation over her com-link. She watched Helena produce plastic cuffs from her jacket pockets and tie up the two former Arkham inmates. 

"Helena just told me you flew," Barbara's voice came over her com-link. 

Dinah winced slightly. "I have been training my power just like you taught me to. I can fly for short distances, but it takes a lot out of me, so I don't do it much. That is also the reason for my goggles and mask," she explained.

"They are there to keep the wind and grit out of your eyes and mouth, when you move through the air," Barbara said over the com.

"Yeah," she agreed.

A small click told Dinah that the next words were shared between them all. "A patrol car is 50 seconds from your position and closing. Leave the trash for them to find," Barbara suggested.

"Let's go," Helena said and moved towards the Batmobile. 

"Go on ahead I will catch up. I will just see if these guys know anything about Harley," Dinah said and ran over towards the cuffed felons, while pulling off her left glove.

"Damn it," Helena cursed but ran for the Batmobile anyway.

Dinah knew that she was about to experience the mind of a disturbed person. She took a deep breath and put her hand on the man's chin. They both stiffened. For a while Dinah seemed to shake then she drew her hand away. A flashlight was sweeping the ground towards her. Covered in cold sweat and reeling from the experience she still pushed herself of the ground to hover several yards over the crash site. The police men rushed down the ridge towards them. Dinah guessed that her silhouette must have been visible against the city lights, because one of the cops looked up and gasped. She was feeling well enough and so she flew off in the direction she thought the Batmobile had gone.

Helena found that driving the Batmobile with the top open was a very windy experience. She considered getting off the freeway, when Dinah dropped into her seat and began to buckle up. She looked pale and slightly tired. "I am guessing here, but you don't fly a lot," Helena commented.

"You guessed right, it takes a lot out of me throwing myself through the air with any kind of control," Dinah replied and lifted the goggles of her eyes.

"Oracle, I took a dive into the head of the guy, who was driving and besides being delusional, he did meet Harley recently. They transported her into the city, if I understood the images in his mind correctly," Dinah reported and shook her head as if to clear it.

Helena looked at Dinah. "You read the mind of a psychopath. You shouldn't do that Dinah. It could be dangerous to your mental health," she put her right hand into Dinah's left hand and gave it a squeeze.

"I know. But we're talking about Harley here. I can make a few sacrifices if it brings us even a little bit closer to her," Dinah explained.

"Still it was a big chance to take," Barbara said in her ear. Dinah didn't answer; she just relaxed and waited, while Helena guided the Batmobile into midtown. 

As the clock ticked past 4 in the morning Alfred Pennyworth felt a cold draft coming from one of the living rooms as he passed it on his way up to Barbara with a cup of coffee. Wondering if he had forgotten to turn up the heat he walked into the room and realized that one of the doors to the terrace outside was open. Instincts trained from serving in this household for years made him turn around. His entire body tensed to run, but he found himself face to face with a disheveled looking Harley Quinn. Her eyes flashed into strange patterns of light and he found himself relaxing under her gaze.

"My dear butler, how have you been?" She asked with a voice filled with malice.

"Fine, milady," he answered.

"Will you do as I say?" She asked with a wide smile.

"Of course," he answered as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Is that cup for me?" She asked and held out a hand.

"It was meant for Miss Gordon," he said but still handed the shivering woman the warm cup.

Harley's eyes became small slits. "Let's go visit the dear girl," she said and indicated for him to lead the way.

Helena and Dinah stood on the roofs of opposite buildings. The Batmobile was parked inside an abandoned warehouse nearby. They had been prowling the roofs of New Gotham for a couple of hours. "Man, I've missed going out on regular sweeps like this," Helena remarked.

"Can't say the same, it never became a habit of mine, but then I am still too young to be as adrenaline dependent as you are," Dinah said as they both looked down onto the silent street below.

"I haven't been able find anything new on Delphi," Barbara's voice said in their ears.

"Should we call it a night?" Dinah asked.

"No way," Helena replied.

Suddenly the sound they were receiving in the earpieces changed. They were hearing a conversation in Barbara's room. "You won't get me that easy Harley," Barbara's distressed voice said.

There were sounds of running, a crash and then of Harley cursing.

"You have cut the connections to your infernal computer system, but that won't save you now will it," Harley's voice added then there was just static noise as the com-link went offline. 

Dinah and Helena looked at each other and ran towards the Batmobile.


	8. Chapter 7 and Epilogue

Chapter 7: 

            The Batmobile hammered into the Cave. Helena vaulted out of the car and jumped across the path leading to the stairs. Dinah ran behind her. "Helena, we should stay together. We don't have any protection against her powers right now," Dinah cautioned the pissed heroine, who was already halfway up the stairs.

To Dinah's relief Helena slowed down enough for her to catch up. "The coverings in my mask should protect me from her hypnosis, so it'll be my job to fight Harley. You concentrate on any one she has brought under her control," Helena dictated as they opened the secret door and slipped into the mansion.

The small team silently made their way to Barbara's temporary command post and found the door open. Helena jumped inside ready to take any comers, but was greeted by an empty room. Dinah walked in after her and looked around for any surprises. "It looks like Barbara put up quite a fight," she commented as she walked around examining the room.

"I think she got Alfred as well. I have seen neither hide nor hair of him and there is a smashed cup of coffee on the floor," Helena suggested.

"Uh, what is up with her computers," she commented and indicated at the frozen screens.

Helena walked over and to take a look. "I think Oracle has secured Delphi from any tampering by Harley," she said after shaking a mouse to see if that would change anything.

An electronic woman's voice spoke, "Huntress voice pattern identified, Current security state indicates that all control of Delphi resources are to be transferred to Huntress."

Dinah looked at Helena with confusion in her expression. "It's Delphi. Barbara has made some upgrades. But I don't understand why Barbara has given me control of Delphi," Helena said and looked to Dinah.

Dinah stood in silence for a moment, then thought of an idea. "Helena, Barbara can track us using the com-links through Delphi right. Maybe she can be tracked as well. Maybe we can find her using Delphi. Barbara is giving us the chance to save her, before Harley kills her," she explained with fear tingeing her voice.

"That is a good idea," Helena said and looked at the Delphi terminals. "But how do I find Barbara? I have no idea how to get Delphi to do anything," she complained.

"Maybe if you ask Delphi to find someone for you, it does," Dinah suggested not knowing squat about the new upgraded Delphi system.

"Okay let's try. Delphi, I need to find Oracle," she said. 

The computers remained silent for a while then Delphi's voice said, "Displaying Oracle position on map." A window appeared on the computer desktop showing a map of New Gotham and a small red dot that was slowly moving towards the docks. 

Dinah and Helena looked at each other and said, "The Phoenix Project." 

"Should I stay here and watch the map," Dinah offered as Helena walked towards the door.

"Nope, first of all I don't know if Delphi would even respond to you. Second the com-links are still down and I have no idea on how to bring them back. And third I would like to have you watching my back," Helena explained. Dinah nodded and followed her to the Cave and the very fast Batmobile.

They got into the by-now warm cockpit. Helena checked the fuel status, while Dinah strapped in. Helena looked over to her and said, "We will get both Alfred and Barbara back. Harley will go back behind bars."

"I just don't want my fears to become real. I have only had you guys back for a few weeks now. Harley was the beginning of all that went bad the last time," Dinah said.

Helena steered the Batmobile out of the cave at high speed in silence. Her face was set and her eyes hidden behind her mask.

The Batmobile rolled to a stop near the condemned buildings still owned by the Phoenix Land Development Project. Dinah and Helena quietly got out. "Shields up," Helena said into the portable computer that controlled the advanced car. Armor quickly slid into place around it. Dinah lifted an eyebrow, and then just turned around glancing at the eerily silent area.

"Where should we go?" She asked.

"Up," Helena indicated and jumped halfway up a fire escape, before vaulting neatly onto a nearby warehouse. Dinah just gave a sigh and launched herself into a move that was half jump and half levitation. Soon the Birds of Prey were traversing the early morning looking for some hint of Harley and her hostages.

"Isn't that the limousine that picked me up at the airport," Dinah asked and pointed to the car, which was parked just inside a warehouse.

Helena looked over and indicated that they should get over to that building. "I am going in from above, you take the front," she whispered. She jumped off the roof, landed lithely and sleek ran a few steps before another powerful jump sent her soaring onto the gravel covered roof of the tall warehouse. Dinah swung herself off the roof, slowed her descent and crept closer to the warehouse entrance. 

She peered inside. A group of people were milling around on the warehouse floor. They looked like average people from the street. Girls wearing party clothes, a policeman holding his gun suspiciously, a couple of bums with metal pipes, a few guys wearing hip-hop clothes looking at the others with scorn and a mother toting a baseball bat with her toddler son in a stroller next to her. It would seem that Harley had been a little desperate in her recruitment process this time. Still neither the insane woman nor Barbara were anywhere in sight.

Dinah looked at the varied throng and wondered where Barbara could be, when Alfred walked up into view from a basement staircase. He was carrying a shotgun and looked just a brainwashed as everyone else in the place. She seriously considered how they were going to get past these innocent people, when suddenly Helena crashed through a skylight and landed near the staircase. "Dinah, take care of this please," she yelled out and performed an elegant jump sending her down into the staircase.

"Easy for you to say," Dinah commented to herself. The group turned and looked about to run after Helena. Dinah stepped out from her hiding place with her eyes focused on a large collection of old crates next to the group of wannabe hip-hoppers. They were soon taken out of the fight by falling crates. A shot made sparks fly from the wall next to her. Dinah moved her focus to the policeman and sent him flying backwards into a wood and glass enclosure where some offices had been, when the place had been in use. The policeman smashed through the enclosure.

The group ran forward as a whole, screaming wildly and brandishing their weapons only Alfred remained behind slowly making his way downstairs again. Dinah reached down and took out her batons. They slid into position as the woman with the baseball bat took a wild swing at her. 

Dinah swung both her weapons up in an x-pattern to block the attack, while kicking a bum as hard as she could manage in the gut. The second bum tackled her to the ground.

Reacting on instinct and surprise Dinah pushed with her mind sending the bum flying in a ballistic curve out of her sight. She quickly jumped back to her feet and heard the sound of a baseball bat smashing into concrete, where she supposed her head had been. Not having the time for an attack Dinah hoped her gymnastics remained with her as performed a high flip backwards out of the first bum's oncoming pipe and over the woman with the bat.

She landed ready to attack only to find the remaining bum falling to the ground hurt by the bat of the woman that had hit him in the chest. Dinah quickly hammered her batons against the woman's arms, numbing them and sending the bat clattering to the ground. 

The woman snarled and spun around to deliver a massive punch to Dinah's middle section. It felt like her lungs were burning as she smashed the butt ends of her batons into the woman's temples sending her to the ground as well. Dinah looked around finding that she was the only one standing on this level of the warehouse.

Helena hoped Dinah could handle the throng in the warehouse, but she was too worried about Barbara to leave her with Harley any longer. She landed in a dusty basement, where someone a long time ago had blown a hole in a wall leading into the sewers. She stopped and did something that she hoped none of her friends would ever find out about. She smelled the dusty air. Barbara's scent was clear in the air, leading her towards the hole in the wall. Behind her she heard several crashes indicating that Dinah was probably engaged in a large fight. She ran towards the hole at the highest speed she could muster.

She soon realized that it wasn't sewers, but some huge underground complex she had entered. Helena could easily track several sets of footprints on the dusty floor leading deeper and deeper into the labyrinthine structure. Suddenly she could hear an unfortunately familiar and angry voice talking, "Well that is just dandy isn't it. There my darling is finally free to do his work and then you bat-spawn come along and drive him to his death… But there will be a reckoning. I will bring the world down around you. I will kill every last one of you, your family, their family and any friend you and Batman have ever known…"

Helena dashed into the room and found a slightly slack-jawed Barbara sitting in her wheelchair opposite of a pacing Harley in the middle of a large office like room full of burn damage, broken furniture and unstable looking walls. Helena saw the big caliber gun Harley was gesturing around as if to underscore her points and continued her flat out run. She vaulted into a flying kick aimed at Harley.

Something smashed into her from below. 

Helena crashed to the floor and skidded uncontrollably to a halt behind Harley. She quickly whirled into a low crouch and stared at Harley. The supervillain's eyes flashed into an intricate pattern of light as they locked gazes.  "Helena my dear," Harley said with a wide smile. Helena launched herself into the air with a slight right spin.

She felt her feet hammer into Harley's side and sending her flying across the room into a collection of wood that had once been furniture. The gun disappeared into the mess.

"Bitch," Harley cursed and came to her feet in a rush of anger.

Alfred Pennyworth stood at the bottom of the stairs guarding the access to the access. Suddenly one of the bricks from the smashed wall behind him flew slowly front the ground and traversed the room to hover behind his head. It swung hard to the left and slammed into the old man sending him and his shotgun to the ground. A figure that had been hiding in the shadows upstairs came rushing down and put a hand to his forehead. An overpowering command filled his mind, "Sleep." Alfred Pennyworth fell into a painless and blissful sleep. She swayed a little from the exertion. Dinah looked the old man over with a pained look in her eyes, hoping she hadn't hurt the man too much, she turned and jogged to the hole in the wall and peered inside.

Harley Quinn proved to be an expert kickboxer. Helena ducked below a powerful kick and swept a leg out to take Harley off her feet, but only made Harley retreat out of her range. Harley charged in and got a hold of her, placing one arm across her neck in choke hold.

Helena pushed her powerful legs downwards and jumped up as fast as she could, while bending forward as hard as she could. Harley hammered into the ceiling. As they landed she let go and staggered a few steps away. Helena spun about and slammed a fist into Harley's jaw sending the blonde woman to the ground. Helena took a step forward to finish the job, when Harley rolled to the left and grabbed the gun from the pile of furniture that she had dropped it in.

Helena stared down the barrel of the gun. Several seconds passed. Harley rose from the floor. She felt a droplet of sweat roll down her back. Harley smiled manically. 

Suddenly the gun barrel twisted and bent with a metallic screech of protest. Dinah stood in the opening to the office. "Barbara darling, kill Dinah now," Harley yelled, she threw the gun at Helena and charged into battle.

Barbara's wheelchair spun about and her batons appeared as if by magic from their hiding places. Dinah almost gulped as her old teacher slowly rolled towards her. She considered just stopped her mentor's wheelchair, but the immense headache throbbing in her head told her that she had reached the limit of her powers. She had another use of her strength in mind and this meant that she had to fight Barbara with the weapons she was a master of. With a slightly sigh Dinah extended her batons and held them in a defense posture. 

Barbara's attack slammed into Dinah's defense. Dinah's goal was clear; she needed to hit Barbara using her weak point: mobility. If she could maneuver herself into a position, where she could get Barbara on the ground she could win almost by default and possible break Harley's control over Barbara using her telepathy. Only problem was getting close enough to do that. Another of Barbara's attacks slammed into her batons, sending almost numbing her fingers.

Dinah parried another blow from the left, when all of a sudden almost like it came out of nowhere the right baton appeared and hammered against her shoulder. Dinah felt a burning pain in her arms adding to the one she felt in her guts from before.

Helena jumped over Harley and slammed kick into the woman's back before landing safely yards behind a stumbling Harley. "I am gonna hurt you, like we hurt the Joker. I was there, when he died you know. He cried like a little baby asking Batman to put him out of his misery," Helena teased.

"He would never do that. Don't talk about my darling like that you slut," Harley raged and rushed in with blind rage all over her face. Her hands were stretched out as if to grab Helena and strangling her.

Helena smiled coldly and awaited Harley's brutish attack. She stepped forward just as Harley came within her range. Using her superhuman strength and speed she grabbed hold of Harley's arms, jumped over her, landed behind her, drew Harley up, over and tossed her as hard as she could muster against a supporting concrete pillar. The blonde screamed as she flew towards the pillar.

Dinah managed to lock both Barbara's batons one on each side. Quickly she snapped out a kick sending the wheelchair backwards with brakes screeching.

Harley hammered against the pillar with a resounding thud and went out like a snuffed candle.

Barbara suddenly looked around as if waking from a dream. "Dinah… Where am I?" She looked around in confusion.

"You're below the Phoenix again. It seems something attracts Harley to this place," Dinah commented.

"Harley, is she?" Barbara asked with unhidden fear.

"It is alright, she is taking a prolonged nap," Helena commented dryly as she walked over, dragging an unconscious Harley along like a sack of potatoes.

Dinah smiled wearily and put away her batons. "I hope this is it for tonight, because otherwise this junior hero is gonna need a doctor instead of just some pills," she said and walked slowly towards exit. "You coming," she asked and looked at the two others.

Upstairs they found Alfred sleeping and took him out to the limousine. Helena and Dinah dropped off a well-trussed up and blind folded Harley at Arkham; while Barbara made sure the people at the warehouse got looked at by some paramedics. Still it was less than an hour before the Birds were back in Wayne manor and only shortly after that they were sleeping.

Epilogue: 

            Helena Kyle stood on the terrace taking in the view of New Gotham as it glistened in the sunset. She had gotten out of bed only an hour ago and had enjoyed a very late breakfast before going out to think.

"So is everything alright in the world of the Huntress," Barbara asked as her repaired wheelchair rolled out onto the terrace.

Helena turned and looked at her. "I guess… I… You know for these last two years… My dad insisted that if I wanted to be apart of his effort against the Joker that I would be persistent, disciplined and careful. That was a big change for me. All I could do to make sure I lived up to his standards was to remind myself why I was doing it?" Helena faced Barbara.

"Dinah and I," Barbara hazarded.

"Yeah, I wanted to avenge you. Do the right thing? Even after he was gone, I kept your lives in front of my eyes to remind myself. These last few days I have been wondering, if having you two back would bring back the old more rebellious Helena… You know destroy my focus," she explained.

"And have we?" Barbara asked.

"I… No… If there is anything to be learned from last night then it is. No, you haven't," she said and looked out over the skyline again.

Barbara rolled forward to stand at her side. "Maybe you finally grew up," Barbara suggested with a smirk. Helena laughed and slapped Barbara playfully over the shoulder. "Ouch, have you gotten stronger or something?" Barbara commented.

"Or something… Apropos, the kid is really becoming a force to be reckoned with. She took out all those people last night and stopped the ambulance all on her own," Helena said.

Barbara sighed slightly. "You're right. I was completely surprised, when she began flying. Of course it is good to have power of that caliber around, and I know Dinah's moral standard is high enough to resist using her power in some wrong way. I would have liked it better if she had told us earlier what to expect," she said.

"Maybe," Helena replied, "but at least it is good to see that all that potential hasn't been squandered by her premature death."

"Of course," Barbara said and they watched the last rays of sunshine disappear below the horizon. Somewhere inside Dinah Lance began playing her cello.

Teaser for "Faces": 

            In the hopefully exciting next part of the series: Today is Dinah Lance's first day at New Gotham University. She is restarting her career as a superheroine. Once again she will be the new face in town. But she isn't the only one, because a supposedly unstoppable assassin is in town and you never know what face this new enemy is wearing.


End file.
