Birds Of Prey 1. Chapter 1: Cause And Effect

Bonds

**- 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**: What if the Black Canary had died while taking down the Hawke family? What would happen with the Birds of Prey if Dinah was given into the custody of someone she had never met.? Barbara Gordon.

**Author's Notes**: This is an attempt at Birds of Prey literature set outside the regular canon. It is based on the question what if Dinah had entered the lives of Barbara and Helena earlier. It will be a slower emotional less action packed story than my other series and I hope it will work out. And yes I am having Dinah playing the Cello again mostly because Rachel Skarsten plays the Cello too.

Chapter 1: Cause and Effect 

            Carolyn Lance glanced around her apartment as she pressed the icepack against her elbow. She had bruised it on the head of some of Hawke's goons. They had tried to pick her up for the fifth time this week. She needed to get solid evidence on Hawke before he got lucky. She walked over and opened a door leading from her living room to the room where her little secret and joy slept. 

Carolyn Lance looked down with pride and love at her daughter. Dinah slept like an angel with her long blonde hair spread over her pillow like a halo, her cheeks rosy from the heat. She resisted her urge to pull her nearly five year old daughter into her arms, instead slipping out of the room as soundlessly as she had gotten in.

She sat down and turned on the TV at the lowest sound setting to avoid wakening her daughter and looked at the news. The war between the Joker and Batman had been intense this evening she reasoned from the reports of shootings, thieves delivered to the police beaten nearly to a pulp and the vague reports of sightings. Sightings of a man and a girl dressed like bats flying over the streets of New Gotham City. Carolyn smiled slightly. Well Batman and Batgirl wasn't worse titles than Black Canary by far. Maybe, she thought, she should consider asking them to help her with the Hawke family.

"Mommy I missed you," a sleepy voice said and suddenly a warm bundle of pink appeared next to her.

"Oh, Dinah I am sorry. Did I wake you up?" She asked and collected the girl into her muscled arms with ease. She eased Dinah into her lap. "Uh you're getting heavy," she commented.

"You're being silly," Dinah commented in that serious way, that children sometimes assumed. 

"You know I love you right," she said and hugged her little daughter, who gave her a kiss on the cheek as answer.

Dinah looked at the TV that lighted the otherwise dark room for a moment, and then asked with curiosity, "Where were you?"

"I had to go see an old friend about some boring paper stuff," Carolyn said and was once more reminded that her daughter was a very bright child. "You shouldn't even be up now little one. I think you are going to bed Dinah and so am I," she said with a barely stifled yawn and lifted the small girl up into her arms as she rose and walked back to put Dinah to bed. That night they slept safely.

A few nights later Carolyn Lance again stood in the dark of her kitchen sweat dripping down her nose, while wincing in pain. Her shoulder was dislocated and her voice hoarse from screaming out her canary cry repeatedly. She pressed her shoulder against a cupboard and snapped her shoulder back into the socket. She bit her lip to keep from screaming. Al Hawke was getting desperate and was throwing everything he had at her now. She had nearly been shot several times tonight and she had just been out shortly to gather some information. There had to be a huge bounty on her head. A chill settled into her guts. What would have happened if she had died tonight or if she disappeared on some mission? Dinah would be left an orphan. She had no family left and there was no chance of seeing anything of her father's side of things either. She needed to make arrangements for her daughter. 

She walked soundlessly to her daughter's room, where the little preschooler was sleeping the sleep of the innocent. In that moment she suddenly realized that she had been too egotistical too caught up in her mission to bring criminals and terrorists to justice. She had forgotten what it could cost her, who her job could kill. Still she couldn't stop her heart wouldn't let her. For a moment she struggled with the thought then decided that to give Dinah up, hide her away and continue her one-woman war on crime would be worse than keep her in life. Lost in thought she closed the door and wandered over to her couch and sat down to stare out into the silent apartment.

She needed to find someone, who could take care of Dinah and protect her from her enemies, if this battle cost her life. She thought of finding some strangers totally unconnected with her world off in some remote corner of the US and giving them Dinah. But they would be complete strangers and could she be sure Dinah would be well taken care off there. No, she decided, she needed to pick someone better suited to take care of her daughter in case anything happened. Someone, who was strong and capable enough to handle a potential metahuman and smart child like Dinah, and suddenly she remembered a conversation she had a few months ago about the civilian job of one of her superhero friends. She spent the rest of the night making notes and thinking things through.

A few months later Carolyn Lance hammered a fist into the face of Al Hawke as he held his iron grip on her throat. He was slowly squeezing the life out of her. She threw another weaker punch, but the fanatical man didn't even blink. The image of Dinah flashed through her mind. Carolyn slammed her fists repeatedly into Hawke's arms until his grip was unlocked. Carolyn staggered back, while drawing a massive breath. Hawke reached down and picked up an assault rifle dropped by one of his numerous unconscious men.

Carolyn unleashed her massive canary cry. All the windows within a block shattered. Al Hawke flew backwards. He hammered into a broken metal drum. Blood began flowing massively from his back and side. He had managed to keep a hold on the rifle and now aimed it towards the Black Canary, who had fallen to the ground in exhaustion. He pulled the trigger and held on with all his remaining strength. The assault rifle emptied its clip into the cavernous room. The assault rifle fell from his hands. And the canary cry disappeared into silence.

Barbara Gordon hadn't had the day she expected today. It was still her first week of teaching English literature at the high school and the kids were a whole lot more rebellious than she had expected. Still she didn't have much time to prepare for tomorrow as she had an appointment with Batman atop the Central Police Station an hour after sunset. They were going to find out if there was anything solid about the rumor that a group of cops were working for the Joker or one of his cronies. 

She walked upstairs towards her apartment. As she walked down the hall trying to find the key on her bundle, she came to realize that a man was standing at her door looking in her direction. His clothes screamed manager and his attitude held a bit of arrogance that told her he had some kind of power or opinion of his own power. "Are you Miss Barbara Gordon?" He asked in very polite and polished American.

"Yes," she replied.

"Could I see some kind of identification to that effect," he asked. Barbara for a moment mulled if he was government, police or some kind of lawyer. He was probably the latter. She took hold of her key, fished out her ID and handed it to him.

He studied it for a while then handed it back to her. "I have to talk to you about the estate of the late Carolyn Lance," he explained. "Can I come in?" He asked.

"Carolyn. what has happened to her?" She asked urgently. The man glanced around and then looked at the door. Barbara grimaced at the cold man and unlocked her door. She walked in and indicated for him to follow her. She put her groceries down, threw off her jacket and guided the man, who had taken of his coat as well into her living room.

"I must regret to inform you that Miss Lance died a few nights ago in a gun battle. She died on site and was only found the morning after. She had however feared that something like this might happen and contacted my company for legal services with regards to her death months ago. Now Miss Lance worked with the government for many years as an undercover agent and espionage operative. In the last few years she mostly operated under the moniker Black Canary and as such made many enemies I presume. Her occupation combined with very low expenses has however also left Miss Lance in possession of a small fortune, a sizeable government pension and some other financial resources. A few months ago she set up her will and recorded a personal message specifically for you Miss Gordon. In the will it is stipulated that I read some of it before you can see the message," he explained and opened his briefcase. 

Barbara just mutely nodded, while she recalled all her meetings with the heroine that had blazed the trail all female heroines hoped to follow. Carolyn had been a good friend to both Bruce, Dick and her over the years and they had met privately many times especially these last few years as Carolyn had worked ceaselessly to bring down even the last remnants of the Hawke family. Still Carolyn had become increasingly distant not only from her, but from everyone in their business and nobody knew why.

"This is the will and testament of Carolyn Lance." The lawyer began reading the lawyer speak that was there to ensure that the will was legal. Barbara listened intently, "This will stipulates the following. First of all Barbara Gordon as identified above is given full command of what remains of my estate in case of my death provided it happens before 2007." He continued to read out loud about Barbara being told of her secret identity, of her being given access to all the information sources in her contact net documented in some books, which were in her safety deposit box. And all conditions were contingent on it not being 2007 yet. Then after a while the man stopped and looked up. "Now you should watch the personal message," he suggested and took out a video cassette. The man got up and left the room. "I will be outside, call me back when you have seen the message," he said.

Barbara took it, turned on her TV and popped the cassette into her VCR. Soon a slightly skewed image of a tired looked Carolyn Lance appeared on screen. "Hi, Barbara, I guess this is bad news. If you're seeing this it means I have died probably in the line of duty and I am about to do something to you that you might not appreciate. Some time ago you remarked that you felt I was becoming reclusive and withdrawn. You were right. And it was intentional. I have been keeping a big secret from you all. In 1985 I met a brilliant and powerful man, whom I fell deeply in love with. He wasn't who I thought he'd be and it ended badly for me, very badly for him. Some months later however I was given a gift. My daughter Dinah is probably the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. But I had to keep her safe and I opted to do it by keeping her existence a secret and living with her in hiding. I could go on and on like any mother would, about how smart, sweet and beautiful Dinah is, but I won't waste your time like that. I don't know how much time has passed since I recorded this, but I know if you're seeing this then I am dead and Dinah is alone somewhere. She needs someone to take care of her Barbara. I hope you will agree to be the one to do it. Now you probably gonna be angry at this, but there is a child in need and you're both a friend and a teacher. I need you to do this not for me but for Dinah. You know I was metahuman and so was Dinah's father. These things tend to run in families and therefore she might be one as well. Please take care of her. I beg you Barbara," the image of Carolyn Lance disappeared into electronic snow.

Barbara sat staring at the screen for a while, then mechanically walked over and activated the encrypted phone to the Batcave. "Bruce this is Barbara. I have just learned that Black Canary is dead. I need to take care of something for her so I am probably unable to help you for a few weeks. Contact me personally if you need to speak with me," she said.

Barbara turned off the TV and went out to get the lawyer back. "So what is next?" She asked.

"The remainder of the will," the lawyer explained and sat down to read the rest. "It is my express wish that Barbara Gordon is given full legal guardianship of Dinah Lance my daughter as attested by the attached documentation pending her acceptance of this of course. All money specified in section 3 I intend to go towards my daughter's life and education is to be placed in a trust fund under Barbara Gordon's complete control. Finally I ask that Dinah is given access to the video messages I have recorded for her, so that she may remember me unless these messages cause her too much emotional distress. I leave the decisions about this in the hands of Barbara Gordon as well," the lawyer continued like this for a while then mentioned something about signatures and drew out some forms. 

"What are these?" Barbara asked.

"When you have signed these forms, we will apply for legal guardianship over Dinah Lance for you," he said and pushed them across the glass table.

"When I have signed them what happens?" She asked and lifted them up to read.

"A few days will pass, while Miss Lance remains in the custody of child services and the paperwork goes through, then she will come here or wherever you want her to stay," he explained.

"Here of course," she muttered.


	2. Chapter 2: Grief

Chapter 2: Grief 

            Even when she knew that Jim Gordon was no more than a few steps behind her Barbara didn't feel as reassured as she had hoped. The man who had raised her after her parents' death had insisted on coming along to meet the latest addition to their family the minute he had heard of Dinah Lance. Barbara hadn't minded at all, her mind filled with fear and confusion about how she was going to handle a mourning child. She stopped in front the office she had been told to go to and took a moment to compose herself. "I am so proud of you doing this Barbara. It will be alright, believe me," Jim said.

"I have no idea what I am doing," she admitted.

"Neither did I. No one does in the beginning," he said and ran a hand through his silvery hair.

"That is reassuring," she remarked and opened the door.

The offices were quiet. A young woman looked up and was soon wandered over to talk to them. "Barbara Gordon, right," she asked and offered Barbara her hand.

"Yes," Barbara said and shook the woman's hand.

"I am Elise your caseworker. That means I will be visiting you and Dinah every once in a while here in the beginning and be helping you cope with having a child around and giving you all the advice I can about handling grieving children," she explained.

Barbara felt some relief at her words and walked over to sit in front of the woman's desk. Soon she was given a few forms and she spent nearly an hour talking with Elise, finding the woman both caring and pleasant to talk to. Every once in a while Elise would check her watch then finally she smiled and rose. "I think that is everything Barbara. We should go pick up Dinah now," she said and guided Barbara out past the waiting Police Commissioner and down the hall to a playroom where another woman was watching a longhaired blonde girl drawing carefully on some paper. 

"Now all children react different to grief, so you should adapt accordingly. It is gonna take time before this child is going to be alright again I can tell you that already. It looks like Dinah and Carolyn were very close," Elise explained and opened the door.

"Dinah, would mind you coming here?" Elise asked. The small blonde girl walked over to stand in front of the motherly woman still her eyes and face looked bleak almost as if she was depressed.

"This is Barbara Gordon, she was a good friend of your mother and your mother wanted you to go and live with her in case anything happened to her. Barbara wants to take you to your new home now," she explained.

Dinah looked the two women over and her eyes fell on Barbara. Barbara felt something stir as she looked into Dinah's blue eyes. Acting on instinct she bent down to crouch at height with Dinah's eyes. "I would really like for you to come with me Dinah. I will take care of you," she said.

Suddenly Dinah broke into hysterical tears and yelled, "I want my mommy."

Barbara still channeling instincts she had no idea she had, gently enveloped Dinah in a hug and whispered, "Of course you do. I would never dare to say otherwise. Your mother is gone now, but she is still making sure you're safe. She sent me to care for you and I will. always." Dinah seemed to relax and soon she was holding on to Barbara as well. Barbara easily lifted her up and held her against her chest, looking over Dinah's shoulders at a broadly smiling Elise. The look in the woman's eyes told her that she had done excellently for her first meeting with Dinah. Barbara said her goodbyes and walked back to her dad.

It was raining in New Gotham and that suited the event just fine. A small but very special group of people stood around a casket as the priest held his speech. He barely stuttered even if he was finding it hard to look into the eyes of this gathering of hard-bitten people. Most were wearing long black coats and had a bitter look on their face. One person stood out in the crowd a small girl surely no even 5 years old yet, which watched the people and casket with equal looks of fear. Towering above the girl was a shapely red head backed by even taller two black haired men. 

The priest ended his speech and indicated for the family to say their goodbyes. The little girl was the first one to step forward. Her tears were washed away by the rain as she bravely walked to the casket and laid down a small locket of blonde hair probably her own. The other people followed one by one laying down strange items like black feathers, a green arrow, some bat shaped device and pair of earplugs.

Most of the people there stopped to offer their condolences to the little 4 year old girl, but she often just looked past them as the coffin disappeared into the ground.

"See you around, Clark," Barbara heard Bruce say, one by one the superheroes made off towards their cars or walked off to find a quiet spot where they could use their own mode of transport. It had been the first time they had been forced to bury someone whom they had all known. A red and blue blur passed overhead. Barbara carefully guided the mute Dinah towards her car. The girl had been living with her for less than two weeks, but all she had been allowed to do so far was drying the girl's eyes, when she cried or awoke from her dreams yelling for her mother. She made sure Dinah was properly seated and was heading around the car, when Dick Grayson walked up to her.

"How are things?" He asked.

"Hard, I think Carolyn and Dinah were very close. Her death has hurt her deeply and I have no idea how to shake her out of her grief," she said, while keeping half an eye on the little girl.

Dick looked at the small girl for a moment. "Give her time, it can take over a year to make any kind of inroads against grief, I remember how I felt, when my parents died. How are you? I mean, it can't be easy suddenly having a small girl around to take care of especially with the kind of double life we lead," he commented.

Barbara sighed, "Half the time I don't know what to do. My apartment isn't really meant to be the home of a child, even with the help Bruce has offered. I don't know Dinah's habits or foibles yet. I hadn't planned on being the foster mother of some girl I hardly know, heck I hadn't even planned on becoming a mother any time soon. I am not sure how much this is going to cost me?"

Dick gave her a crooked smile, "Who says it is going to cost you anything? I have a feeling that you and I are going to be talking about this conversation in a couple of years and then we can discuss costs and benefits." He walked off towards his car, while Barbara crawled into her seat.

"Let's go home," she offered and started the car. Dinah sniffled a little.

A few weeks passed. Barbara Gordon quietly slipped into her own apartment to avoid waking the girl, who was sleeping in her former guest bedroom. She had decided not to tell Dinah about her being Batgirl at least until she was a whole lot older. She went into her bedroom, opened the secret compartment and slipped off her mask, while musing about the intense battle with a small and mysterious jewel thief she had been involved with that night. The thief had become bolder and bolder these last months and she presumed a major face-off would be in order as soon as she figured out where the thief had her hideout. Barbara was ready to go for a long bath to wash off the sweat and smell of her bat-suit, when she heard a whimper from Dinah's room. 

Barbara rushed inside and found the girl locked in what could only be a nightmare. Slowly Barbara walked over and put a comforting hand on Dinah's forehead. The girl kept thrashing for a few moments, and then slowly settled back into comfortable sleep. Barbara felt a pleased smile spread on her lips and a warm glow spread inside. This had been the first time one of those nightmares hadn't woken Dinah and the first time the little girl had accepted her touch as a comfort instead of an intrusion on her sleep.

Nearly a month passed. Barbara Gordon had never been at Dinah's preschool except to drop her off or pick her up. She had been a little distracted from both her job and Dinah lately, because they had been having trouble with one of the Joker's allies called Clay-face. He was a canny bastard and seemingly out to kill left and right as he saw fit. Barbara walked inside; nodding pleasantly to a woman she had never talked to. "Ah, Miss Gordon," one of the male teachers greeted her with a smile.

"Dinah is still playing with the others," he reported as he guided her to a little office. He offered her a chair then sat down too.

"We wanted to speak to you, so that we could touch base on the subject of Dinah handling her grief. She has lived with you for." He looked up at Barbara.

She felt a little defensive as she said, "two months." 

"Alright, now I must tell you that we all feel that Dinah seems to be handling her grief well. She seems to be a very resilient child and you have clearly been doing well at home too. However she has been isolating herself from the other children and we think it may be a good idea if she was brought into a grief consoling group. There she would be able to meet children her own age, who have been exposed to the same experiences as herself and therefore who can relate to her problems also this would entail you meeting with the parents and guardians of these children," he explained and handed her pamphlet. 

"I will consider it," she agreed and rose again.

Less than a week later Barbara Gordon was apart of a milling crowd of men and women looking out the window at their kids playing with each other. "Hi, I am Anne, I am arrange a lot of our meetings," a tired looking woman stepped up and offered her hand.

"Barbara Gordon, I am Dinah's legal guardian," she said and indicated the little girl, who was running around with two other girls playing tag.

The woman gave her a wan smile, "She seems to be quite happy. Did she lose both parents or."

"No, she lost her mother two months ago. I was a friend of her mother," Barbara explained.

"It is hard. Did you have other children before Dinah or is she your first?" Anne asked.

"She is very much my first. I am only just out of college. I hadn't really planned on having kids for a few years to come," she explained.

Anne nodded, "I lost my husband, when my boy was just 4 years old. We both had a really hard time mourning him, but I moved on a lot sooner than Andrew, my boy," she indicated a six or seven year old, who was talking to some of his friends. "At first I think I did everything wrong. I encouraged Andrew to forget, put it behind him instead of processing his grief and coming to accept my husband's death. Nowadays I make sure to tell every one handling grieving children that they shouldn't follow my example," Anne said, and then she was called away to help setting up some chairs. 

Barbara stared out the window for a while and wondered if she had done anything wrong not really seeing what was going on outside, when someone starting yanking at her jacket. She looked down to find Dinah standing there with a bright smile one of the few Barbara had seen. "Barbara, can I have soda with Maria? Her adopted mom says it is okay, if you say so," she looked pleadingly up at her. 

Barbara considered it for a moment then decided that it was probably okay. "You may," she said and watched Dinah scurry off. 

Then in mid stride Dinah stopped ran back and said, "Thank you very much." The little girl hastened back to a Hispanic girl and her slim and very Caucasian mother. Barbara drifted over just in time to see Dinah gulp down her beverage and run off with the black haired and slightly older girl.

"That is a very well behaved little girl," the woman said to Barbara apparently knowing who she was.

"Her mother raised her well," she admitted unable to keep her own feelings out of her voice. 

The woman looked at her and indicated that she should sit next to her. "First of all hi my name is Chris," Barbara smiled to woman as she introduced herself. "And second stop beating you up about anything to do with that girl's mother. I don't know, what circumstances led you to be Dinah's foster mother, guardian or whatever, but I can tell you now from what I heard her say that she appreciates you greatly," she explained.

"Dinah's mother asked me in her will to take up legal guardianship. But I am not sure if I am doing things right. I have no experience with children," Barbara admitted.

"So, neither did a lot of other people in this room. When my good friend and her husband died in a crash and left me to raise my goddaughter I had never expected to fall so much in love with her and her in me that I would apply for permission to adopt her. I can never replace her mother in her heart, but that didn't mean that there wasn't room for me in there. Believe me when I tell you that if you continue to be there, to care and to think before you decide then you will do fine as a parent," Chris said with finality.

Dinah and Maria ran back inside. Maria was crying and Dinah looked inconsolable. "Mom, I hit my knee. It's bleeding," the black haired girl hiccupped between sobs. Chris nodded and quickly rolled up the girl's left trouser leg. Barbara could see with her almost paramedic level of training that it was no more than a scrape, so while Chris poured on a bit of water and then applied a bandage; she turned her attention to the equally sobbing Dinah. 

"Dinah, did you fall as well?" she asked.

"No," the little girl admitted between sobs.

"Did you get scared, because Maria was hurt," she asked.

"Yes." The little girl answered with a thick voice.

"Look it is alright, Chris is taking care of Maria. It was just a little scrape," Barbara explained.

"But mommy bled too and she died. Is Maria gonna die?" Dinah asked.

"No, Maria isn't going to die. Look she already better," Barbara paused to allow Dinah to cast a glance at her new friend. "Your mom died, because she was shot by some criminals, who have all been arrested by the police. They won't shoot anybody anymore and you're always safe with me," she promised.

Dinah looked at her for a moment and nodded gravely. "Okay," she mumbled. Then she reached out and caressed Barbara's chin as if to assure herself that she was there and was telling the truth, before going over to talk to Maria, who had been given a cookie for her troubles.

Nearly another month passed. The door bell rang and Barbara opened it to admit Elise. "Hello Barbara," she greeted her.

They walked into the living room, where Dinah was sitting in the couch reading through a book. "I didn't know Dinah could read," Elise commented.

"Carolyn must've taught her, because she really likes her books. Dinah prefers for me to be here so she can ask me about the words she doesn't know yet, but she doesn't need me to read them to her," Barbara explained, having only discovered that fact over the last two weeks. They sat down at the dining table and Elise took out a small notebook and pencil.

"So how have things been going around here," she asked.

Barbara gave her a tight smile. "Well, at first it was hard for both of us. I didn't know what Dinah wanted for breakfast, nor what she wanted and shouldn't get. I hadn't really figured how manipulative kids can be. I guess we forget with age," she said.

Elise chuckled slightly. "Yes, I've spoken with the preschool and heard that you've opted to go with Dinah to a support group for grieving children. How is that working out?" 

"Well honestly I think it has helped the both of us. Dinah is able to talk to other kids her age about her problems. And I, well some of the parents there understand my situation and are able to offer me advice and support," Barbara answered.

"Good, good, well it seems everything is in hand. Can I have a look at Dinah's room and then maybe have a short conversation alone with her?" Elise asked. Barbara nodded and led Elise over to Dinah's room. 

"It used to be my spare bedroom," Barbara noted and opened the door to the recently redecorated room filled with generous amounts of toys, furniture and big pillows.

"That is a lot of new things," Elise commented.

Barbara lifted an eyebrow then realized that Elise was hinting at her management of Dinah's money. "Actually it hasn't cost us a thing. Carolyn was apparently friends with Bruce Wayne. When he learned that Carolyn had died he offered to take care of any initial expenses with taking care of Dinah and redecorating my apartment to make it suitable for a child," she said without lying. She had struggled with Bruce's offer for weeks before accepting it on the condition that Dinah was not to know.

"Really I wasn't aware of that," Elise said and finished her rounds inside Dinah's room.

"Me neither," Barbara lied and led Elise over to Dinah who was still intent on her book apparently spelling her way through the words.

"Dinah," Barbara asked. The girl looked up.

"Yes," she said.

Barbara indicated Elise. "Do you remember Elise? She would like to speak with you. alone. I will be in the kitchen finishing dinner," Barbara said and left after ensuring that Dinah didn't violently disagree.

The water was boiling, but as the pasta was fresh she waited to throw it in until Elise was gone. She stirred the pot of sauce. She looked at her reflection in the glass doors of her cupboards. "Heh, I am behaving like I am under investigation. Relax Barbara she isn't here to take Dinah away from you," she thought. 

"Barbara," Elise asked from besides the kitchen door.

"So did I pass inspection," Barbara said a little to fast. Elise looked at her curiously.

"I am just here to make sure Dinah is alright," Elise reminded her.

"I know. I am sorry, Elise, I just suddenly felt like I was being doubted in my ability to take care of Dinah," Barbara admitted realizing suddenly that she would very much mind if Dinah was taken away from her.

Elise nodded with a smile and said, "You're doing just fine."


	3. Chapter 3: Old Friends

Chapter 3: Old Friends 

            New Gotham was a different place than the bustling rebuilding city Selina Kyle remembered. It seemed darker more war torn somehow. She had visited a couple of times, since she had given up her career as a thief for something a lot more giving, but now she was moving back here to stay at least for a while. There would be issues. He was still roaming the night and she wasn't sure how he would react, if he learned the truth about Helena. 

Her young daughter knew nothing of this as she walked at her side as carefree as ever. She had only visited New Gotham once before and was excited about moving to the city. "Would you look at the buildings around here? It is like the stone gargoyles have been spawning out of control," Helena said with a chuckle and looked around so fast that her thick braid swung in the air.

Selina just chuckled and looked up at the apartment building they were approaching. "Helena, do you think that an old friend would mind giving a pair of weary travelers a warm welcome?" She asked rhetorically.

"Are we visiting Barbara like last time?" Helena asked with excitement. She liked the red headed woman, who had been so nice to her mother unlike so many other people had been when they had last been here.

"Yeah," Selina said as they entered the building.

Selina Kyle dressed the doorbell for the second time and began to wonder if Barbara was out gallivanting through the night as Batgirl already. "I'll be right there," a familiar voice called. There was a hearty laughter inside that sounded very unlike Barbara. Two sets of feet were running around. Selina's very fine hearing picked up a "gotcha" and the sound of a kiss. Soon after the lock was turned and opened to reveal a disheveled looking Barbara Gordon. Selina was about to apologize for catching Barbara in some intimate moment, when she noted Barbara's strange style in clothes. The usually very conservative Barbara was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, her feet were bare and she had obviously been doing something involving water and foam. "Hi Barbara," she said in greeting expecting an annoyed grumble as a welcome. 

But Barbara just erupted into a wide smile and threw her door open. "Come on in. Hi Helena," she said as the very fashionably dressed woman and her equally fashionable daughter slipped inside and took of their coats off. 

"Did we catch you at a bad time?" Selina asked.

"No, I think all my trouble for tonight is over," Barbara raised her voice as the last words crossed her lips. Barbara indicated that they should go into the living room.

Selina noticed the huge amount of changes in the living room as she walked inside. The formerly uniform white apartment with its steel and glass tables and closets was replaced with pleasant yellowish walls, cherry wooden furniture and big comfortable reddish couches. Selina also sensed that there was someone else in the guest bedroom moving things around. "Have a seat," Barbara suggested and walked halfway to the kitchen before stopping to ask, "You'll stay for dinner right."

"Sure," Selina said after Helena nodded vigorously. Her daughter had also noticed the changes in Barbara's apartment. Selina's eyes fell upon a picture of a smiling Barbara and a small longhaired blonde girl of no more than five or six year's old standing atop some mountain with very beautiful green and mountainous scenery in the background. Her brow wrinkled in confusion.

"What do you want to drink?" She called out, "I have milk, apple juice, pineapple juice, carrot juice, cocoa and coffee."

"Coffee for me and." Selina cast a look at her daughter.

"Cocoa for me," Helena called out.

Suddenly a child's voice answered from the former guest bedroom, "I would like pineapple, please."

"Got it," Barbara answered back and got busy in the kitchen. A little bit later she returned with a tray and what they had ordered. As if on queue the girl from the picture appeared from the room and walked calmly over to collect her juice. She looked like she was nearly six years old. Her hair was long pale blonde with a couple of strands intricately woven together. Her eyes were blue and her face held a strange mix of innocence and intelligence. She looked nothing like Barbara and Selina was rather sure that Barbara didn't have had a child two years ago when she had last visited with Helena.

"Oh, I forgot. Dinah, this is Selina and her daughter Helena. Selina, Helena this is Dinah," Barbara said with a bit of mischief in her voice.

"Hello," Dinah said and looked a bit shy. 

"Hi I am Helena," Helena said and offered Dinah her hand. Dinah looked at her strangely for a moment, and then shook her hand.

"Well if we're going to have dinner I better get started," Barbara said and waltzed back towards her kitchen. The girl remained in the living room looking at them with a curious expression. 

"So how do you know my mom?" She asked and looked from one astounded face to another.

"I've known Barbara for a long time. I didn't know she had a daughter," Selina said and once again tried to find a single feature that reminded her of Barbara Gordon.

"Oh, she got me almost two years ago. My first mom was shot, but she knew that Barbara would be my guardian, so she sent me here," the girl explained matter-of-factly as if she had done that speech several times before.

"Really," Selina said and wondered how the perfectionist and driven crime fighter had come to the decision of taking care of this little girl.

"I told her we would have guests today, but she wouldn't believe me," Dinah claimed and looked very smug. 

"Do you want to see my room," Dinah asked Helena. Helena looked at her mother, who nodded and got up as well. Dinah dragged the resisting thirteen year old into her room, while Selina headed for the kitchen.

Selina leaned against the threshold and watched as Barbara with great expertise worked up a dinner in her kitchen. It looked like they were getting some kind of pasta salad. "I thought you couldn't cook. Your own words," Selina said and stepped inside the kitchen.

Barbara didn't seem startled as she continued to chop the salad and speaking, "A lot can change in a few years." 

"I noticed," Selina said. "You have a child around now, that is a rather big change."

Barbara looked at her with a smile of someone remembering something pleasant. "It is funny you know. At first I didn't know what to do or even if I wanted Dinah here. I was afraid both of having a child and it not being my own. But she is under my skin now. I think she has slowly turned me into a mother. Just last week she had a note back from her teachers that they wanted to move her up to a more advanced class in both math and English because she was doing so well. I was so proud I almost burst," she explained.

Selina smiled, "Ah, I know the feeling. Well, let me be the one to welcome you into the ranks of mothers."

Barbara looked up from her work again and some worry or hurt was reflected in her eyes. "I am not her mother even if Dinah has begun referring to me as such. She knows of course that Carolyn is her biological mother and I am only her guardian, but she doesn't care," she said.

"Ah, so you wish, you were her mother," Selina commented.

Barbara's eyes seemed clouded by emotions for a few moments. "I am not sure you know. I am her mother in every way but the biological one. Legally I am only her guardian, but to me, to her, to my friends even to my dad she is family now. Dinah has a big heart Selina and she is good at worming her way into other people's as well," she explained.

"So who was her mother?" Selina picked up the stump of a carrot and ate it.

"Carolyn Lance. Black Canary," Barbara admitted and heard Selina almost choke on the carrot.

"You're telling me that the bird not only had a daughter but that she is dead," Selina asked and almost couldn't stop from sounding gleeful.

Barbara just gave Selina a reproachful look. "Dinah doesn't know about her mother's true occupation or about my nighttime job," Barbara explained.

Selina was silent for a while as Barbara mixed the cooling pasta with the vegetables and a dressing. "Do you think that is fair to Dinah?" Selina added and gave Barbara a questioning look.

"Maybe not, but she is still fragile. It took her over a year to accept the loss of her mother and I won't worry her by telling her that the only person she has come to depend on is out there fighting every night so that all people in this city can sleep safely," Barbara said maybe a little too hard.

"Maybe you shouldn't be out there. Why don't you give up this fool crusade of yours Barbara? In the end new criminals will just rise to replace the ones you take down," Selina answered.

Barbara fell silent for a moment and she looked like she almost deflated, "because the police aren't good enough, because sometimes there needs to be someone above the petty limitations put on the law enforcers, someone who can do what it takes. I love Dinah, but I won't deny my nature because of her."

"It will avenge itself in the end," Selina warned.

Barbara put the large bowl of pasta salad into her hands and trotted over to get the fresh-baked bread. "I don't think so," she said mostly to herself and followed Selina into the living room.

Selina could hear Helena's chuckle from Dinah's room. "Dinner," Barbara called and soon the teen and the child came running.

"Yum," Helena said and grabbed the bowl. Selina reminded herself to give Helena a few courses in proper behavior soon. Dinah waited her turn and clumsily poured the salad from the bowl onto her plate. Selina raised an eyebrow at the girl's early independence, but noted from Barbara's watchfulness that this was quite planned by the redheaded guardian. She took some salad herself and they settled in for a comfortable meal.

Later Dinah was off to bed and Helena was watching a movie, while Barbara and Selina sat at the dinner table talking privately. "Dinah is a nice kid. You know she said something funny, when I talked to her earlier. She told me that she had known you'd have guests today," Selina said.

Barbara blinked twice as if she had forgotten about something. "She did say something like that this morning, but I had completely forgotten," Barbara said and her brow wrinkled in thought.

"Is something wrong?" Selina asked.

"I got to keep a better eye out for things like that," Barbara mumbled. "You remember the canary cry I am sure. Well, according to Carolyn Dinah's father was also a metahuman. So there is a big chance she'll develop some kind of metahuman abilities. Carolyn warned me to keep an eye out for it, but I had forgotten," Barbara explained.

Selina wrestled for a moment if she should tell Barbara the truth or not. "Helena has inherited metahuman powers from me as well. Hers are slightly different from mine, but they are there," she admitted.

"You think it runs in families," Barbara sighed.

"I am sure it does," Selina explained and asked, "So was this the first hint?"

Barbara thought a little about it, "I think so." They sat in silence for a moment.

"Not to sound like a broken record I honestly think you should be more honest to Dinah. Either stop going out risking your life or tell her and make some kind of arrangement for her safety. You're taking chances with that girl's future and well being," Selina said.

Barbara didn't explode with anger instead she just looked at Selina then cast a glance at Helena then back at Selina. "I don't want to talk about that here and now. Selina you made a decision, when you got Helena. I made a different one. I love Dinah and she's my child, but I just won't give up who I am because of her. If I am dreadfully unhappy how does that help Dinah? How does slacking off my duties and letting this city become unsafe to live in help my daughter. my charge," she explained in a low tone to avoid having Helena overhear.

Selina shook her head; she hadn't come here to start a fight. Barbara was her only friend in New Gotham that knew the truth about her, well except maybe one important thing. "I am sorry Barbara. Please forgive me I didn't want to insult you, I just say it like I see it," she said.

Barbara looked at her for a while. Selina fought with her conscience for a while and decided that maybe it would be a good idea if Helena had some one other than her to talk to, who knew the truth that not even Helena knew. "Do you mind if we take this conversation out on the Balcony, there is something I want to talk to you about," she asked. Barbara nodded and they quietly got up and headed for the balcony.

"What did you want to talk about?" Barbara asked wary of another confrontation.

"Barbara, if I would ask you to keep a personal secret of mine from Bruce would you do it?" She asked.

"It depends if it would endanger him," Barbara answered.

"It wouldn't. Alright Helena is his daughter. I moved away so that I could bring her up out of sight of all my former allies and enemies. I stopped doing crime the moment I heard I was pregnant you know that, but I also didn't want Bruce to know," she explained.

"Does Helena know?" Barbara immediately asked.

"No, and I don't want either her or Bruce to know until he stops his insane crusade," Selina answered.

Barbara looked out over the city then turned to face her again wearing a wry smile on her lips. "I guess we're both lying to the children we care for," she said and Selina knew deep into the core of her being that it was true.


	4. Chapter 4: Split Lifestyle

Chapter 4: Split Lifestyle 

            Selina smiled as she saw Helena and Sandy over the clothes racks. They were happily chatting and talking to a smaller person walking between them. Barbara looked over seeing a blonde head between the two black haired girls as they turned a corner and headed towards the women's wear department, where she and Selina had finally picked out their evening wear for the upcoming charity dinner. "Hey you," she said as a smiling and happily ice cream cone gobbling Dinah walked up to her.

"Hi, mom, are you finished picking a dress," Dinah asked with out a hint of urgency in her voice and took bite out of her cone.

"Yes, why are you bored already," Barbara asked.

"No, I just wanted to see it," Dinah explained.

"Oh, well then here it is," Barbara said and held the new and expensive out so that her charge could see it properly.

"Uh, it is so nice. Are you going to use it to make Mr. Grayson kiss you?" Dinah asked with big interested eyes.

"Where did you get that idea?" Barbara said, but got a pretty good idea from Helena and Sandy giggling in the background.

"Helena asked if you were going with anyone and I told her. She said that you were probably going to pick a sexy dress so that Mr. Grayson would kiss you. Was Helena wrong?" Dinah asked with curiosity.

"Yes, and I didn't pick the dress to look good for Dick Grayson. I picked so I would look good in general," Barbara explained, "We try to look good for ourselves. It's only teenage girls who think that you need to look good for boys. The only thing that is important is that you think you look good. It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks." Dinah nodded her understand and sat down to eat her ice.

Selina edged over to her as she was regarded which shoe to buy for her dress, and whispered, "Nice speech there, but I think the only one who bought it was Dinah."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, but a bit of positive reinforcement on the entire self-esteem and self-image thing seemed in order," Barbara whispered back.

"Ah," Selina answered and went back to picking between a red and a blue dress.

Barbara felt genuinely like a woman for the first time in a long while as she twirled on the dance floor in the well trained hands of Dick Grayson, currently an officer of the Bludhaven police force by day and the crime fighter Nightwing at night. The band was playing a slow song. Nearby a slightly pale Bruce Wayne was looking uncommonly happy as he guided Selina Kyle across the dance floor. "How did you arrange that?" Dick whispered in her ear as they danced really close.

"I had a little help from Dinah and Selina's daughter as a matter of fact. I told Dinah that I had a friend that needed someone to dance with, she told Helena and they did all the conspiring nearly without any help from me. Of course when Selina found out she tried to back down, unfortunately Bruce was already knocking on her door not knowing who his blind date was either," Barbara explained.

"He is gonna give you a very hard training session soon," Dick predicted.

"The looks on their faces was worth it," Barbara said.

"So how is the life for my two girls," he said hinting at her and Dinah.

Barbara smiled, "I am doing fine at work and well Dinah's time as an innocent angel is over for sure now. She is doing very well in school, but she also growing very confident even having been moved up 2 classes in math and English."

"So how much has she cost you by now," Dick smiled mischievously.

"I am never gonna live that conversation down am I?" Barbara asked as the song ended and they walked back towards their seats.

"Sure as soon as I get my answer," Dick commented.

"Ask me, when Dinah goes off to college," Barbara suggested and sat down.

"Where is Dinah now by the way?" Dick asked suddenly realizing she hadn't been in the apartment.

Barbara smiled. "My dad is babysitting her," she explained.

"Your dad," Dick remarked in disbelief.

"Oh, yeah he really dotes on Dinah," Barbara answered.

"But I thought he was working tonight," Dick commented.

Barbara gave him a smile and said, "Of course he is, but I think a short time at the station will be fun for Dinah. Besides I did it a lot, when I was a kid. It was a real eye opener and most of the officers are really nice too."

Dinah was filled with awe as walked the gray stone steps up to the police station. She was wearing her warm jacket against the cold wind. Jim gave her hand a squeeze. She looked up at him. He was nice man with a jaw that her mom had called chiseled and white hair. "There is nothing to be scared off in here remember that Dinah. The police is your friend," he said and opened the door to the halls of the New Gotham Police Station.

She was a bit shocked to find the corridor they entered all quiet like it was the entrance of any other place than a police station. In all the TV she had seen there had always been a lot of people at the police station, police men arresting people, criminals fighting the policemen and stuff like that. It wasn't the first time that television had disappointed her and she was beginning to think that it was even less to be trusted than her mom said. Jim led her to an elevator. Still there were no people or policemen so she had to ask, "Where are all the police people?"

He looked down at her for a moment then chuckled. "You'll see soon enough. They are all over this station. There is really several ways into the station and most of the policemen work through the dispatch. We're gonna be in another office just above the dispatch. Don't worry squirt, you'll get to see all that you can stomach of this place soon enough," he explained.

Dinah noted the ding that meant the elevator had stopped and impatiently walked up to the doors. Soon they slid open admitting them to very busy offices of the New Gotham Police Commissioner. Dinah walked in awe next to Jim as every body greeted him with a smile and a look of respect. More than a few looked at her and made her feel uncomfortable. They went to Jim's office and Jim pulled out a small chair like the one at her school. "Have a seat Dinah," he said and promptly left the office. Dinah had been warned that he would have to do that a lot so she let her eyes wander across the awards and stuff that adorned the walls of the office. 

A can of Pepsi was set down on the table in front of her. "Here you are kiddo," a dark-skinned woman she had never met before said with a smile. Dinah politely rose and said, "Hello, my name is Dinah Lance." She held out her hand to the lady, because both her moms had always told her to be polite at all times.

The woman lifted her pencil thin eyebrow and after a moment's thought bent down and shook hands with Dinah. Suddenly Dinah felt a jolt go through her and was looking at a very different grey toned landscape, where the woman was sitting at her desk crying, while telling a faceless man in a tired voice that she would really like to do more. Dinah drew away from the woman in surprise and the woman gave her a look. They both knew something had happened, but neither knew what. Dinah felt strange as if she had just been somewhere else and had run all the way back. She sat back down in silence and stared that the can of Pepsi.

Barbara and Dick was about to rise and go for another swing on the dance floor, when she noticed Bruce listening to his cell phone, while Selina walked away from him in huff. Bruce put his cell phone in his pocket and headed over to their table. "Oh, no," Barbara thought at his look of concentration that usually didn't appear on playboy Bruce Wayne's face, but was omnipresent on Batman's.

"I have just received a message, we need to work tonight," he said as explanation and headed for the door. Barbara cast a glance at Dick, but didn't say anything. They both rose and headed for the door almost as soon as Bruce was out of sight.

Soon they were swinging from the roof tops Dick in his Nightwing costume, she as Batgirl and Bruce as the Dark knight Batman. They landed on a high rise still in the process of being built overlooking the old police station. "I need to go speak with Commissioner Gordon, you can stay here if you want to," Batman said and fired his hook towards an outcropping near the lit bat-signal. 

She suddenly had a bad feeling almost as if there was somewhere else she needed to be as her eyes slid across the old building. "So do you think Dinah is having fun yet," Dick asked.

"I don't know," Barbara answered. "Do you think that Batman is right, that this Ron fellow is really the key to getting a better hold of the Joker's organization?"

"There have been leads before but never anyone from his organization ratting him out. If it isn't a false trail, it could be the beginning of the end for that maniac," Dick said.

"True, but it could still take years if we don't go after the Joker directly," she really felt that their recent strategy of just stopping the Joker's plan and slowly crushing his empire around him wasn't doing much good.

"Patience Barbara, I learned to appreciate it back when Black Canary took down the Hawke family. It is much better to crush the entire family than just taking off the head and hoping that the body will wither when the head is behind bars. We put the Joker away before, but it hasn't really helped has it. I think the new way is better. Just look at what effect I am having on Bludhaven. Soon their police force will be corruption free and I can come back here to help more," Dick looked down at the talking Batman and Jim Gordon.

"I would like that," Barbara said with conviction. Suddenly Batman's hook whirled past and soon he was landing next to them.

"Gordon is afraid that some of his officers might give the Joker a heads up on Ron, so he has agreed to us following the vehicle they are moving him out of town in. We gonna need the Batmobile," he explained and turned to leave.

Jim Gordon walked past his curiously pale secretary and found his adopted daughter's charge sitting on her chair staring at the can of soda he had asked his secretary to give her. "Dinah, are you alright?"

Dinah looked up at the tall blocky man and nodded mutely. "I guess," she answered not being entirely sure if she was.

"How about you and I take a walk downstairs? Then you can see how all those policemen do their job," he suggested.

Dinah felt the excitement return and quickly jumped out of her chair. Jim held out his hand soon he led her downstairs past Elena the secretary that Dinah felt was staring after her. 

The dispatch area was just as incredibly busy as Dinah had seen on TV. Everywhere police people were walking, talking, answering phones or hauling criminals. Dinah watched with huge eyes as two police men fought with some really angry guy that didn't want to sit down. Jim guided her around, while constantly giving or receiving comments from all the respectful police people. It seemed to her like they did it for a very long time. Dinah fell behind, when a big fat man pressed his way in between her and Jim. Jim didn't immediately notice and Dinah took the chance to wander a little.

Dinah walked down the busy hall. She felt a little tired even with the uncommon midday nap she had taken today to be able to stay up late. She found a big empty bench and crawled up to sit on it. A few seconds later a woman dressed in a dress that looked a good deal too small for her but cut a lot like the one her mom was wearing tonight was put down next to her. The woman looked over at Dinah and she looked confused for a moment. "Hey kid, what are you doing here?" She asked.

Dinah knew she shouldn't talk to strangers, but she felt that there would be any danger here at the police station. "I was a little tired so I sat down. Why are you here?"

"Oh, I just rode in a car with the wrong guy sweetie. You know I have a kid your age as well," she explained. Dinah nodded at this, she had been repeatedly told that going with strangers was stupid and this grown woman should have known better, but she decided not to hold it against her. Dinah yawned a little and blinked a little. "You look tired kid, why don't you close your eyes for a short, while I will make sure no one disturbs you," the woman offered. Dinah liked the idea and leaned her head on her hand wondering a little why she was so tired tonight. Soon she was blissfully sleeping and dreaming.

"Dinah," a far away voice called to her in the middle of her dream about the woman she had been sitting next to. Dinah turned around and found herself looking at her first mother standing in the streets of New Gotham. 

"Mom," Dinah called out and ran towards her, but her mother turned to run into the mists. Dinah ran blindly after her. For a while she was lost in the mists, when suddenly she met a woman dressed in a scary bat costume with a yellow winged symbol across her chest. 

"Dinah, we need each other's help. None of us can do this on our own," she said in a familiar voice. Then she also turned and ran off into the mists. Dinah stood there for a while not knowing where to go. Suddenly the mists cleared and she was three women standing in front of a huge clock face. She only recognized Barbara and even she looked different. Then the picture turned bright white and Dinah woke up as the gentle hands of Jim Gordon woke her up. 

"Dinah you shouldn't have wandered off like that. It could have been very dangerous," he admonished her.

"Lisa was watching out for me. She always takes care of kids, even the ones of her sister Claire," she explained and nodded in the direction of the slightly confused looking woman.

"Really," Jim answered. "Anyway we need to go now," he said. 

But Dinah ran back and signaled for Lisa to lean closer. "You shouldn't tell Moshe where you've been tonight, he'll hurt you. And congratulation on your new job," she whispered urgently.

"What new job?" Lisa answered in confusion.

"The one at that women's center you applied for a while ago," Dinah said quoting the words in her dream at the best of her ability.

"Dinah," Jim called. Dinah waved goodbye to the confused woman and ran back.

Jim gave her a hug, which she gladly returned. Although a little strange her visit at the station had been great. Her mom watched them with a look Dinah couldn't identify in her eyes. "I am not really happy about it, but here you can have her back," Jim said to her mom as they walked to the door. Her mom looked like she had just had a shower.

Later as Barbara was tugging Dinah in bed Dinah looked up at her mom and decided to ask her. "Is there something wrong with me?" 

"What do you mean Dinah?" Barbara asked in surprise.

"I touched Jim's secretary today and something happened. It was like I was not in my head any more and I could see all these things like her name and that she really doesn't want to be a secretary either. Is it like my dreams too?" She asked and realized that she was still confused about why some of her dreams came true and some of them told her things she had no way of knowing. 

Barbara looked at her for a long time, but at least she didn't look angry, disgusted or confused just surprised. "No, Dinah, there is nothing wrong with you. It isn't something that is wrong. It is something that is very right. You're gifted Dinah. You've been given abilities that no one else has. You mustn't fear them or let anyone mistreat you because you're different. Everyone is different you're just more different than most. That doesn't make you a bad person or make anything wrong with you. It makes you unique and that is wonderful," she explained.

Dinah didn't feel wonderful. There had been fear in the eyes of Elena tonight. And that wasn't something anyone had ever shown for her before. "But I don't want to be special. I just want to be Dinah," she explained.

"Dinah, don't. You're already Dinah; this is a part of what makes you, who you are. You might have to hide your gift from most people because they wouldn't understand, but never fear them. Pity those people who can't understand instead okay," Barbara proposed. Dinah looked at her for a while then nodded and lay down, while Barbara tucked the blanket around her.

Barbara Gordon walked out of Dinah's room, closed the door and sat down heavily in her couch. She had known about Dinah's ability to predict certain events and gain information through her dreams for nearly half a year now, but now it seemed some other ability had been added to the mix. As soon as Dinah had gotten used to this newest ability, she would need to arrange for a doctor's appointment with someone she could trust. She needed to know as much about Dinah's gifts as she could and the sooner the better if she was to help the girl cope in the years to come.


	5. Chapter 5: Falling

Chapter 5: Falling 

            Dinah was surprised when she saw Helena Kyle walking along the pavement looking at store windows. It was a Saturday afternoon and she was lugging her cello case home from practice. Sweating slightly the recently turned nine years old Dinah stopped in front of the black haired teen having learned over the years not to surprise either her or her mother. "Hi, Helena," she greeted the girl. Her mom and Helena's hadn't kept as much in touch with each other the last few years, but that didn't make Helena a stranger. She had always found Helena interesting, fierce, playful and nice all at the same time.

Helena swiveled around and faced her. "Hi Kid, how are things?" 

"Fine, so are you out shopping or what?" Dinah had to ask.

"Nah, I was just wandering around. And what the hell is that thing you're lugging around with you," Helena asked.

"My cello, I've been to practice," she explained and noticed a boy coming up to them. He looked a lot like he knew exactly who they were. Dinah found that a little strange until Helena noticed his reflection in the store window and turned around to greet the boy. Boyfriend Dinah corrected herself as Helena proceed to give the boy a solid kiss on the mouth. She felt a bit embarrassed and decided to leave. "See ya around Helena," she said and continued towards the apartment no more than a few hundred yards up the road.

Barbara was feeling more than a little stressed out, as she sat down to repair a bit of her bat-suit. They were heading for finals season at the school, her father's was struggling with his status as soon to be pensioned police commissioner, Dinah was fighting her hard over the make-up issue and most important she and Batman was fighting harder than ever before. The war with the Joker was about to end and his entire organization would fall with him. She wanted to concentrate all her energy on that, but there just seemed to be so many things to take care off. She had hoped that after putting Lady Shiva's accidental death behind her things would change, but she couldn't help but feel stressed.

"Hi," Dinah's voice called out and Barbara had to scramble to hide her bat-suit. She still felt it was right to hide the truth from Dinah especially as it looked like the crime rates of New Gotham were about to drop like a rock.

She walked out of her bedroom and was greeted by a beaming Dinah as most often after the girl had practiced her musical gifts. Barbara sometimes envied Dinah her ability to acquire new talents, but knew that it was futile and stupid to do so. She remembered the conversation with the doctor Bruce had provided two years ago. They had spent a year visiting him from time to time before he had been able to give her any kind of answer on Dinah's abilities. His explanation had been surprising, "That girl's brain is a genetic marvel. It looks as if it is hyperactive, but that is just apart of it. Dinah's brain activity is around forty percent and climbing ever so slowly. The psychic abilities we've observed aren't really her primary ability either; they are more like symptoms of it. Dinah's gift is quite simply her brain and nervous system. It seems as if it, while basically psychic, is actually capable of regenerating neurons and optimizing paths and parts of the brain continually. This means Dinah will, as long as she is challenged, be able to expand the range of her mental talents and strengthen the ones she already has as long as the social and psychological environment around her encourages her to. It doesn't mean that her abilities have unlimited potential, but that they are potentially very broad in scope." 

And Dinah had lived up to this by acquiring things like cello playing, computing and even jumping several classes ahead in school. They had her touch telepathy and precognition mostly under control. Dinah had even grown adept at hiding her abilities without coming to resent them or her.

"I met Helena on the way over," Dinah reported. 

"Was Selina with her?" She asked. They hadn't been as good friends as they used to in a while now after a rather big fight over the Joker, Dinah, Helena and all the secrets between them. They saw each other from time to time, but nowadays their conversations were more superficial. The trust just wasn't there right now.

"Nah, she was waiting for some boy," Dinah explained.

"Ah, well we better get started on dinner after you and I finish our little battle," Barbara said and walked over to the dinner table.

"You're going down this time," Dinah commented with a grin and slipped into place in front of the chess game.

"Maybe, let's see if you've gotten better at defending yourself," Barbara said with a grin to one of the few chess opponents she had ever had that she found challenging.

"Checkmate," Dinah said over an hour later and leaned back to take another look at the game from afar. 

"I should have given up when you plowed through my peasants," Barbara said as she tipped over her king.

"Really, I wasn't sure I'd win until you sacrificed your queen," Dinah said and looked up at her guardian. Barbara got up, while Dinah did her duty as the winner and began to put away the game. She was heading for the kitchen, when the phone rang. 

Dinah ran over and grabbed it first, while Barbara calmly headed in her direction. "Gordon household, Dinah speaking," Dinah said and listened to the reply. "Yes Mr. Wayne she is right here," she replied and handed the phone to Barbara.

"Barbara, I've just gotten in. Matches picked up the last clue we needed. I know where his headquarters are. I am going to go give the police a heads-up, but we're going to hit his place tonight," he left his question unasked.

"I will be there," she said and felt a buzz unlike any other. Tonight the bastard, who had killed Robin was going down, tonight the Joker and his entire organization were going to be removed from the map of the criminal world. Every thing was ready, the police knew what places to raid and whom to arrest, the federal agencies waiting in the wings ready with charges and a secure prison for the Joker. All that was needed now was to bring it all to an end. Over 5 years of warring with that insane maniac ended tonight. She put down the phone.

"Are you going somewhere?" Dinah asked with anger in her voice that had sprung up over the last year as Dinah grew more and more aware that she often went to do things for Bruce Wayne at night.

"Bruce has asked me to help him with his company. You know he's afraid someone is going to buy it out under him," Barbara lied.

"Why does he need your help? You're a high school teacher not a financial advisor," Dinah protested.

"I am his friend Dinah that is much more important than anything else," Barbara tried to explain.

"It has been weeks since we've had a weekend night together. I really wanted to play you the piece I am learning right now, please just tonight," Dinah asked.

"No, Dinah, but I promise that this is the last night in a long while that I will go out okay. Why don't you play it to me tomorrow?" She asked. Dinah looked at her for a while then nodded almost to herself. "How about we order Chinese food?" she said as another peace offering knowing Dinah's preferences well.

It was late at night. The weather outside was stormy. Dinah Lance tossed in her sleep. In her mind she was again as so often these last years seeing a woman dressed like in a bat-suit fighting hard against dangerous people. This time it looked harder than ever before. A place was on fire. People with guns were firing. The man clad as a bat fought next to her. She cornered a white skinned man with green hair in some kind of underground office. The fire was close. He laughed insanely and lightning flew from a device in his palm. Batgirl was tossed against a support. Batman rushed in and beat the white haired man down. They had won. The image shifted.

Selina and Helena Kyle were walking from some kind of theatre. They were discussing first the movie and then boys. Helena looked really happy. They passed an alley; a man walked out and followed them hidden in the crowds. She sensed the danger. A knife appeared in some man's hand Selina and Helena Kyle continued walking unaware of the danger. Selina Kyle suddenly lurched. She tried crying out even if she could only observe. Selina fell to the ground. Helena screamed out her pain. She demanded the man's capture, but she didn't know who he was. But then Dinah felt that he didn't really know either.

The image shifted and showed Barbara showering. There was a flash of their entrance and a greater feeling of evil and danger than she had ever experienced before. There was a gun in his hands as he reached for the door bell. Dinah awoke screaming. 

Quickly Dinah jumped out of bed. She couldn't hear the sound of the shower. She ran out of her room. Suddenly there was a loud metallic bang. Dinah saw Barbara fall down and a man said, "Knock, knock, who is there." He chuckled, "Batgirl, past tense." 

She skidded to a stop. Dinah saw blood spread over the floor quickly and looked up. Her eyes locked with his. "Ah, the other tenant," he said and pointed his gun at her. Dinah had never felt the emotions that ran through her. Fear was quickly followed by anger then by intense hate. The entire room seemed to be shaking. It felt like her skin was tingling. The Joker squeezed the trigger. 

There was a stab of pain unlike any she had ever felt. All the tingling all the energy and hate went out of control. There was a great crash and then blackness claimed her.

Jim Gordon ran into the emergency room flanked by two cops. "I need to speak with someone, who knows what has happened to Barbara Gordon and Dinah Lance," he yelled and slowly came to a stop near the admission desk.

A surprised looking nurse quickly glanced down at there charts and spotted the pair of names, both of which were listed as having gone to the trauma ER already. There was also a severe lack of important information. "I'm afraid you can't see them now. They are both currently undergoing emergency surgery," she explained.

"Listen I am Barbara Gordon's father and Dinah Lance is my daughter's charge, I would like to speak with someone who know more about their condition," he asked even knowing from experience that it would be some time before anyone would be able to tell him anything.

"Commissioner Gordon, I think I can help you," a familiar voice said. Jim turned around to find a pale and sad looking Bruce Wayne coming out of another emergency room.

"Mr. Wayne I hadn't expected to see you here," he replied.

Bruce Wayne seemed to draw himself up, but failed shake the look of sadness of his face, "I was here to identify the body of a close personal friend, when I heard about Barbara. I have called my lawyers and some other friends I swear to you Jim, she will want for nothing during her recovery. Neither will Dinah."

Jim Gordon knew his daughter was a friend of Bruce Wayne, but he hadn't expected the fierce look in the playboy's eyes as he spoke off his daughter. One of his policemen walked up and whispered in his ear, "The Joker was caught with a gun not far from your daughter's home. He claims that he shot her and some child."

"The Joker," Jim yelled with anger and almost stormed out to find the maniac in his cell and give him a lesson with a large crowbar. 

Bruce Wayne, who had been half turned talking in his cell phone, snapped around and stared at him for a while. The playboy seemed to deflate further. "Who is Jim Gordon," a friendly but weary voice asked.

"That would be me," he turned to face a man probably a doctor by the look of him.

"I am Dr. Otto. I was your daughter's trauma surgeon," the doctor said.

"How is she?" He had to ask worry gnawing at his innards.

"Barbara is strong, but she lost a lot of blood. Thankfully she was brought in before bleeding out. The bullet entered below her ribs and lacerated her liver. I have patched that up and I think that it should be fine. It exited however through her spinal column. It shattered a vertebra and cut the neural pathways. I am not a qualified neurosurgeon, but at the moment I think there is little chance of your daughter ever walking again. Now I would suggest that if her health insurance covers it that you get some specialists to look at her injury soon," the doctor explained.

Bruce Wayne didn't waste any time he dialed a number on his phone. "Hello, Lucius I need you to set up an appointment tomorrow with me. I also need you to put people on getting a friend of mine the best medical care my money can buy understood." He slammed the phone shut not bothering to wait for a reply.

"What about Dinah," Jim asked looking down at the doctor.

"Now I wasn't Dinah Lance's surgeon, but I have talked to my colleague Doctor Yang about her. Dinah was shot through her right lung. The bullet shattered a bone, penetrated the lung and embedded parts of it self in the back of her lung. She bled out into her lung and very nearly suffocated. All fragments of the bullet were removed from her chest cavity and if she survives the post-operation stage and her stay at the ICU then she should be fine in a few months hopefully with two functional lungs," he explained.

"That heartless bastard," Jim cursed thinking of the Joker, "Why would he do that to two completely innocent people. What is he trying to do?" Jim felt his legs shake and tears poured down his cheeks. A hand landed on his shoulder. 

"Come with me for a moment Jim," Bruce Wayne suggested and he followed the billionaire out onto a stairwell.

"The Joker wasn't trying to do anything to you. Selina, Barbara and Dinah were all part of his revenge on me. He was doing it to me," Bruce explained and his voice cracked slightly.

"Why would he do something to you?" Jim asked.

"Because I was Batman," Bruce said.

"You," Jim said and looked the man up and down with surprise.

"It is not important anymore. What is important now is that we help those we can help like Barbara and Dinah," Bruce Wayne explained.

Barbara Gordon felt strange almost as if she was floating. She was surrounded by weird sounds and there was some kind of tube in her nose. Her mouth tasted like she had just been a binge of drinking the night before. She opened her eyes and saw only a strange blur of colors. She blinked a few times, but the image of the hospital room remained blurred at the edges. She remembered the Joker, the gun, blinding pain, falling down, hearing Dinah screaming, fear and then a second shot. 

Her eyes widened and she tried to move. Above her the monitor showed her heart frequency rising wildly. A nurse came running. "Miss Gordon, please relax. You're safe. The man who shot you has been caught. Please Miss Gordon you'll hurt yourself," the nurse said and several more nurses came running.

Finally she had enough motor control to slur, "What happened. What happened to Dinah?" She forced herself to stop moving, not having noticed that her legs hadn't moved during the entire ordeal.

The nurses looked at each other. "I'm afraid, we haven't been informed," the nurse explained, but Barbara wasn't sure that she had been telling the truth.

A few hours later she was still lying in a half stupor in her bed. She was fuming with anger. None of the nurses were telling her what she wanted to know. They wouldn't discuss what had happened to her and they claimed not to know what was going on with Dinah either. There was a knock on the door. She turned over her head to see her father walk in looking uncomfortable just like when he was carrying bad news to some cop's relatives. "Hey you," she said.

"Hi honey," he answered and walked over to stand next to her bed and all the expensive looking equipment that surrounded her. "So how are you feeling?" he asked.

"Like I was shot in the gut," she said. He nodded. "Dad, no one will tell me what has happened."

For the first time in a long while Jim Gordon looked deeply uncomfortable and not just a little tired. Emotions swirled in his eyes for a moment then he spoke, "Barbara you were shot by the Joker. You've been here undergoing surgery for nearly two days now. The bullet only nicked your liver and all your major organs are fine. But it exited through your spine."

Barbara stared down at her arms and fingers, but knew that they were fine already. She tried hard to move her legs, but nothing happened. She looked up at her father in desperation. Images of her walking, of her hiking with Dinah, of dancing, of her jumping from roof to roof with Batman, Robin and Nightwing screamed through her mind. She just leaned back with tears flowing. "I am so sorry," her father said and took her hand.

They sat like that for a while, when Barbara finally found the voice to whisper, "What about Dinah?"

Jim Gordon looked up at her and said, "As far as we can tell she interrupted the Joker before he could shoot you again. He shot her instead."

Barbara gasped and a pale hand rushed up to cover her mouth. "Please, please, tell me that he didn't kill her," she begged.

"He didn't. But she is badly hurt Barbara. She was shot in the right lung, it collapsed and a few of her ribs were damaged. She lost a huge amount of blood. The doctors have done everything they can to keep her stable, but her heart stopped once last night. They got her back, but it is touch and go according to the hordes of doctors Bruce Wayne has provided for you both," he explained.

"Bruce," Barbara said and was reminded that she could never go out with him again. Never go out to do her calling and stop those who nobody else could stop.

"He is taking it very hard. Another friend of his was killed by one of the Joker's remaining hirelings. I think he is blaming himself for all of you," Jim said. Barbara nodded knowing very well that it would be the case.

It was late night, but Barbara couldn't sleep. She had been moved to a general ward a few days ago. Soon they would be bringing her a wheelchair and expecting her to go out and live even when reduced to a cripple. Still that fact didn't occupy her mind as much as Dinah, who was still in ICU. They were afraid that she had slipped into a coma after her heart had stopped and Barbara felt increasingly helpless for every hour that passed. She still depended on Jim updating her, not being able to see her child ate at her. She had contemplated Dinah and her status in her life. She was thinking all the time how Selina had been right. Her crusade had nearly killed both her and Dinah. It could still kill Dinah in fact.

A cold breeze suddenly blew through the room. She turned her head and saw a dark cloaked figure standing barely discernable in the shadows. She recognized her mentor and friend, but didn't say anything leaving them to just stare at each other. "Barbara, I am sorry," he said yet stayed in the shadow.

"Sorry, why?" She asked.

"The Joker did this to punish me. It was his revenge that put you here. His revenge that cost you your legs," he explained.

Barbara in a sudden insight realized that she had risked ending up here or worse everyday she had gone out. "It is nobody's fault but his. I knew what I was risking. I am still alive. I can still change the world for the better although I can't run to do it," she said.

Batman stood in silence for a while then said, "Then I will make sure you can do that." He turned and left through the window again.

Barbara Gordon had trouble controlling her wheelchair as she wrangled with the small joystick on the chair. Still she didn't have time to waste thinking about it. She was out of her hospital room and on her way to see the only person she had wanted to see for nearly two weeks now. She rolled into the ICU waiting room, where her father was waiting for her. "Barbara," he said in greeting and rose to tower above her. "Let's go see Dinah," he suggested.

The nurse let them into the girl's room. It seemed her father had brought a few stuffed toys and lain then around the girl on her bed. It looked almost as if she was sleeping, but the many tubes and the machine destroyed the image. "She has been showing signs of increasing reactivity," a black man probably one of the specialists that Bruce had gotten flown in from all over the country reported.

"I heard," she said and stretched out her hand, "Barbara Gordon, I am Dinah's legal guardian." 

"Marlon, I have been treating your charge ever since she was completely stabilized. I specialize in pediatric nursing especially of critical and long term patients," he explained.

"Oh, then maybe you can tell me a bit about what has been done for Dinah. I've been kept away from her," she said without hiding her bitterness. The male nurse indicated that they should step outside and they did. well she rolled.

"Ah, well, they operated on her lung twice to remove all bullet fragments and stop the bleeding. During the second operation Dinah's heart stopped and they had to resuscitate her. After the last operation there have been only a few complications mostly with some drugs. After the first couple of days Dinah was diagnosed as being in a state of coma. It has lasted for over a week now, however these last two days Dinah has been showing increasing awareness of her surroundings and there is a very good chance that she might wake up soon," he explained after closing the door to her room.

"I would like to sit with her for a while," Barbara asked.

"That would be a good idea, but try to keep your conversation positive. Often coma patients are aware of their surroundings," he said as Barbara headed back inside.

Barbara caressed Dinah's hand, not noticing that the EEG on the monitor began growing wildly reaching inhuman levels of brain activity that hadn't previously been seen by the ICU staff. Suddenly Barbara was drawn in to a black and white version of their apartment. Barbara found herself standing in her living room. "This has to be either my or Dinah's mind," she realized.

Barbara turned and saw the entrance. Her body was laying there, the Joker was standing there, and blood was hanging in the air as if in a frozen moment in time. Shuddering slightly she methodically searched the bathroom and kitchen; cast a glance out onto her balcony before heading towards Dinah's room. She found the door locked. "Dinah, unlock your door," she called out.

There was a noise of someone running up to the door then stopping. "No, the bad man is going to hurt me if I unlock it," Dinah's voice said.

"Dinah, he won't hurt us anymore. He is gone for good okay. Just unlock the door and let me in, so we can talk," she suggested. The lock clicked open admitting her to Dinah's room. The blonde girl stood there with a scared look. Barbara collected Dinah in a loving hug that she had so missed giving her. 

"Dinah, we need to leave this place. We need to go out in the world," Barbara said.

"No, Barbara, please, the world is too dangerous. I'm afraid," Dinah said.

"Dinah you're afraid, because you don't think you're safe. Nobody is ever entirely safe. Not me, not you, not anybody who is alone. But if we stick together, protect each other then we can go out into the world safe from the darkness. Won't you trust me to protect you, if I trust you to protect me?" Barbara suggested.

"But I couldn't stop him from shooting you," Dinah protested.

"Shh, it's okay. You couldn't stop him. I couldn't stop him. But somebody else did. It is all about having protectors Dinah. We're both alive and that is what matters. But you won't be really alive unless you leave here with me," Barbara said.

"Alright," Dinah said and suddenly they found themselves back in the hospital room with Marlon rapidly running in to check the EEG.

"Something is up with her brainwaves they are all over the place," he commented and bent down to check the sensor.

Barbara just looked at Dinah and found the girl's eyes fluttering open. "Hi, honey," she said.

"Hi, mom," Dinah answered and Barbara felt that little stab that always came when she realized that she wasn't really. That had to change along with a lot of other things.


	6. Chapter 6: The Clocktower

**A few notes:**

Thank you all for the reviews they were good to get, when I was feeling very insecure about the quality of the story. Now the plot of this one is gonna lead all the way from Dinah's arrival in their lives up to the Birds of Prey becoming a trio instead of a duo. My series might slow down in its releases while my muse is giving me chapters for this one at a high rate, but I'll endeavor to finish all of this. Now for all my faithful reviewers and readers the next chapter.

Chapter 6: The Clocktower 

Barbara looked with distrust at the large black vehicle. Bruce stood next to it with a strained look of happiness on his face. "What is this?" She had to ask. She was getting more than a little tired of receiving charity especially within the first few minutes of getting discharged from the hospital. She was considering where she should go to stay. Her home was out of the question.

"It's your new car," he explained solemnly.

"Bruce, I am not sure I want any more from you. I am grateful for your help with the medical bills and the lawyers, but I don't want to live my life as a charity case," she explained.

He looked at her as if he had expected this conversation for a while. "I know Barbara, it is not about charity. I want you to at least have a basic standard of living even with you unable to work for a while. You said you still wanted to change the world. I want you to be able to," he said and motioned for her to get closer. 

He opened the car door and the bottom of the driver part of the car slowly lowered itself. Barbara slowly drove her wheelchair in, but couldn't turn around to face the wheel, when Bruce just pressed a button next to her. Something locked around the wheels of her chair and she was slowly lifted and spun into position in front of the wheel. The tech geek in Barbara almost giggled with excitement. "Let's practice a little on the parking lot," Bruce suggested and got in on the passenger seat.

A while later Barbara was getting used to the joystick based controls of the car. Bruce looked at his watch and said, "Alfred is waiting for us downtown." He looked at her expectantly. She guided the car out into traffic.

"Where are we going?" Barbara asked as they crossed into what she considered the downtown area of New Gotham. Nearby was her apartment. Fear welled up into her inexplicably at the thought of going home. How was she ever to feel secure there again?

"Head for the Clocktower," Bruce suggested and pointed at the building that was so prominent on the New Gotham skyline.

The car rolled to a stop next a meter and Barbara was once again lowered down to street-level by the car's elevator, only it placed her with her front towards the pavement. She rolled out and found Bruce putting money in the meter. "We're going inside," he said.

Barbara rolled towards the building noticing with her trained perception a man replacing a sign outside with a Wayne Enterprises one, a couple of workers putting in a ramp on one of the two big sets of doors and a rather large collection of other contractor vehicles parked down the road. She gave Bruce a questioning look, but he was looking away apparently searching for the elevators. "This way," he said and walked to an elevator that had just opened its doors.

Barbara stopped inside the elevator, turned her upper body towards Bruce and said, "Alright spill it, what is going on here?"

"Lucius recently invested some money in real estate, so I ended up owning the New Gotham Clocktower. I thought that neither you nor Dinah wanted to go back to your apartment, so I have set up a place for you here. I am having a few security systems installed after it got made wheelchair friendly," he answered without looking at her. 

The elevator door slid open to reveal a dead quiet corridor. It looked like there were Wayne Enterprises offices behind every door. Bruce headed down the hall and when satisfied that there was no one around he pressed his hand against a wall panel opening for a small keypad. He tapped in a sequence of numbers and a secret door was revealed. They headed into what looked to Barbara liked an armored steel elevator. "A few security systems huh," she commented, but Bruce only smirked.

Barbara rolled into the cavernous room and realized that they were behind the clock of the Clocktower. "Wow," she said and looked around. The room seemed comfortable, but airy yet warm at the same time. There were a lot of rooms and she guessed the entire floor and all those around the clock were to be hers. "Isn't this a bit much?" She turned towards Bruce.

"I think it will do just fine," Alfred's familiar voice came from upstairs.

"Alfred," she said and the butler appeared leaning over the metal railing above.

"Yes, Miss Gordon," he asked.

"What are you doing up there?" she asked as she noticed his dusty clothes.

"Well I was cleaning the last room, so I can move Miss Lance's things into her new home," he explained. "Oh, Master Bruce, your lawyers sent some papers for you to the manor. I've put them by the security monitors."

"Ah," Barbara said and looked at Bruce. He motioned for her to follow him to a corner across the large empty space in front of the clock face. There was a bank of color video monitors, which showed the entrance area of the building, the entrance to the elevator leading up here, the elevator itself and the area outside the elevator up here. Barbara looked at the monitors not noticing Bruce reading through some documents. Suddenly a stack of paper was handed to her. "What is this?" She asked in confusion.

"The adoption paperwork for Dinah, all you need now is a final hearing, and then she will be yours in everyway," he said.

"Thank you so much," Barbara took the papers and quickly read them through. Bruce slowly walked away without saying a word.

After a while Barbara looked up finding Alfred standing close by. "Master Bruce had to go, and so do I, but before I leave as well I wanted to give you this," he said and handed her a folder. "It's the description of this place and its security system. Wayne Enterprises is footing the bill I believe is the proper American term," Alfred began buttoning his coat.

"Alfred, why is Bruce so glum? I haven't seen him since Jason died," Barbara just couldn't understand.

Alfred looked at her for a moment then it seemed he came to some conclusion, "Well maybe you haven't learned of it Miss Gordon, but on the same night you were attacked Selina Kyle was killed."

Barbara suddenly felt another wave of anguish go through her mind. Selina had been a good even if a little distant friend. "Oh, my god, Helena," she suddenly realized. The girl was out there somewhere left all alone in the world. Neither Bruce nor Helena knew of her true lineage. They both had too feel, an enormous sense of loss and loneliness right now. But she could do something to alleviate it.

"Yes, I am afraid Miss Kyle's daughter must be in a sorry position," Alfred agreed in a slightly neutral and removed tone.

"No, Alfred it is not only that. I emphasize for Helena's loss. I remember how hard it was and sometimes still is for Dinah. But there is something else. Selina told me, Bruce is Helena's father. I promised not to tell anyone unless something happened. Well something has happened," she explained. Maybe the news of Helena could console her sad friend.

"Oh, dear," Alfred said and practically ran off. Barbara stared after him with a lifted eyebrow at the uncommon behavior of the usually stoic butler. 

The elevator door slid closed leaving Barbara looking around the huge room. "Home sweet home," she said wryly and headed for the elevator herself. She needed to go see Dinah.

Slowly Barbara maneuvered her wheelchair into Dinah's room at the children's ward. Dinah was eating and watching a cartoon. Barbara smiled at seeing the still pale girl sitting up with only a few IVs and monitors around her. Dinah no longer needed help with her breathing and the doctors assured her that Dinah's lungs were recovering at an astounding rate. "Mom," Dinah called out as she rolled to a stop next to her. Dinah still hadn't commented on her disability, but Barbara was sure the intelligent girl had noticed.

"So," she had planned on telling Dinah about the adoption plan soon, but she felt strange almost afraid of Dinah's reaction. What would she do if the girl decided that she didn't want to be adopted? "I wanted to talk to you about some things," she said and butterflies seemed to suddenly spring to life in her stomach.

"Okay," Dinah said and focused her attention on her instead of the TV.

"Listen you're gonna be well soon and I. think we shouldn't go back to the apartment, so Bruce helped me find a much cooler and safer place for us. I can't wait to show it to you, when you get out of here," she explained.

"I can't wait to get out of here." Dinah took a pained breath.

"Also there is something else. Dinah, you know I am your guardian and I could never replace your mother, but I. I." She paused and forced herself to calm down. "I want to adopt you, if you want me," she said with a cracking voice. A few tears got out of her iron willed control.

Dinah leaned forward even if the movement still caused her some discomfort and picked up one of the tears on to her left index finger. "Mom, of course I want to. I can't imagine not being your daughter. I've felt like that for years. I can barely remember my birth mom, but I do know that I love you both with all my heart," she said. For a while Barbara and Dinah sat in the hospital room their hands clasped. Barbara wanted to hug Dinah, but knowing that it would hurt them both because of their still healing wounds, kept her from doing anything more.

Dinah Lance sat in the ugly brown upholstered and uncomfortable seats of the court room. Well she knew it wasn't a regular court room, but it still had the same nervous air as those she had seen on TV before. She had been released from hospital today just to be taken across town by a nice but reserved old man that asked she called him Alfred, while he kept referring to her as Miss Dinah. She would have been protesting if it hadn't been for her mom telling her this morning to listen to him and to go with Alfred when he took her here. Her mom was also here sitting out in front answering questions by a judge carefully guided by a man and a woman in very expensive looking clothes, who sat next to her. She had been here since before they had arrived.

She knew, what was going on. In spite of having called Barbara mom for years, deep down she had always felt nervous each time the word had passed her lips. Because she knew from the other kids all the way back in the grief group that Barbara wasn't her mom. Time and again she had thought about what would happen if Barbara suddenly decided she didn't want her around. She wasn't her birth mother. But today that was all changing all without even asking for it. She knew her birth mom in heaven would be happy with both her and Barbara today.

"Then I see no problem with this adoption. I am going to grant it. Congratulations," the judge said. Dinah felt a kind of lump in her throat and sniffled as her eyes watered. She was feeling so happy all of a sudden. Suddenly muscled and tanned arms wrapped around her and she leaned into the first hug of her mother the first hug they had been able to give each other in over a month. Dinah breathed in the smell that was uniquely her mother.

"Congratulations Miss Gordon or is it going to be plural now," Alfred said.

Dinah shivered a little suddenly feeling a bit cold as Barbara leaned away. She collected the jacket the old man had given her and began putting it on. "I don't know, but technically it would be plural now," Barbara answered.

"Plural, what do you mean?" Dinah had to ask. She knew that plural meant many, but she had no idea what they were hinting at.

"Dinah, honey, we're talking about your name. Now that I have adopted you, you're legally a Gordon like me," Barbara explained.

Dinah thought it over. She didn't feel any different just happier than before, but often the grown up paper agreements didn't make her feel any different. Like when she got her grades and everyone thought they were really nice. Dinah just thought they were some people's idea of what she knew cooked down to a letter. "So I am Dinah Gordon now?" she asked.

"Well I was thinking more along the lines of Dinah Gordon Lance or Dinah Lance Gordon, but it's up to you if we change your name at all," Barbara explained.

Dinah considered the names. So many bad things had changed for her both inside and out lately, and this new name was a good thing. "I think I like Dinah Lance Gordon better," she decided leaving both Alfred and Barbara grinning.

"Well I will have that arranged. Now Dinah how about we go home? I want to show you our new place, before we go out to dinner with my Dad," Barbara suggested.

Dinah nodded vigorously, she had only heard a little about their new place, so she was looking forward to seeing it, her new room and all her things. A thought suddenly came through her mind, "Mom doesn't this make Jim my granddad?"

Her mom suddenly gave her a sly smile, "It does."

Dinah looked around with wide eyes as the door of the secret elevator slid open to reveal their huge new home. "Wow," the little girl couldn't help saying and walked out into the bare room in front of the clock. Barbara smiled knowingly.

"Indeed," Alfred agreed with a smile as he followed her and her little girl inside.

Dinah ran off to explore. Barbara watched her, but didn't say anything. She didn't want to mother Dinah too much. The little girl needed to regain her confidence now more than ever and she had decided to make that a part of her plan for their shared future. "Thank you for taking her care of her today, Alfred," she said wondering slightly where the butler had found the time.

"Well I have a lot of time on my hands now that Master Bruce is gone," he said. 

Barbara turned her wheelchair towards him and stared at the butler. "Bruce is gone. where?" she asked.

"Master Bruce has left the city. He told me that he wanted to be alone, so he didn't share his new location with me. He has left some instructions. I fear he is not coming back," Alfred said in his absolutely calm fashion as if he had just recited a recipe for soup.

"But. but what about Batman? What about his fight? More importantly what did he do about Helena?" she blurted out rapidly.

"Well, Miss Kyle is being well taken care off. He set up a trust fund for her. A rather substantial one I might add. But I am afraid he didn't feel up the challenge of meeting her or telling her himself. I was reassured by his lawyer that all that was taken care off. As for Batman I think he has been retired," Alfred explained.

"Has he gone nuts? Helena loved her deeply mother. She won't just bounce back from this. Money won't make her feel better. What was he thinking?" Barbara was feeling very angry at that point. She knew Helena well enough to feel very sorry for the girl. Her world had been turned upside down much like her and Dinah's. And with both her and Batman gone it would only take a short period of time before the canny criminals of New Gotham filled the power vacuum left by the Joker. She was still needed. Barbara looked around. And Bruce had known it even planned it.

"Let me guess, he left the same day he showed me this place," she hazarded to guess. She hadn't seen Bruce since then.

"Yes," Alfred admitted. "Well, Miss Gordon I am sorry, but I'm afraid that my presence is required at the manor in a while, so if you'll excuse me." And with those words the butler left, leaving a shocked Barbara Gordon sitting in her wheelchair in the sunbathed reflections of the New Gotham Clocktower clock.


	7. Chapter 7: A Different Challenge

Chapter 7: A Different Challenge 

            "Damn it, no I don't want to come to dinner," Helena screamed and hammered the door shut. She didn't want anything more than to be left alone. Anyone seemed able to set her off. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to eat, pray or do any those things the people here at the orphanage wanted her to do. She sat down seething with helpless anger. She needed something to hate more than anything. because it made the pain and loneliness go away if only for a little while.

Helena dropped herself into the wooden chair in the sparse room that the people here wanted her to live in now. She didn't want this room; she wanted her own room back. But it wasn't her room anymore. Her mother's beautiful apartment was the home of somebody else now. Her things either packed away in storage, sold or scattered here in her room. They wanted her to back to school, they wanted her to smile and be happy. They wanted her to forget her mother. 

Helena felt restless and began pacing her room. She stopped and stared into the mirror. Her face was pale and she had definitely lost weight. Her long braid was hanging over her shoulder. Her eyes focused on the braid. She had varied between the braid and different long hair styles ever since she had been a little girl. It was one of the memories of her good life, when she still had a mother. Someone knocked on her door.

"I don't want company," she yelled, but whoever it was just opened the door anyway. She recognized the manager of the orphanage a sweat stinking but otherwise nice older guys.

"Helena, I understand that you're having a rough time, but you can't just scream around up here. There are a lot of kids here, who are staying here because that happened at their homes," he said in this calm sweet tone of voice that just put Helena's teeth on edge.

"What do I care about them? If they're because their mommy or daddy beat them then great for them, I don't care a wit," she said hoping she could bait the guy into arguing with her. She wanted to scream at someone and he was as good a target as any other.

"Of course you don't Helena," he turned to leave a mean look in his eyes. She had managed to get him angry, but he didn't do anything. He opened the door and turned his head to say, "But at least they have some family hoping for their return," he said with anger in his eyes and closed the door.

Anger almost blinded her and Helena suddenly found it quite naturally to jump forward and hammer her foot into the closed door. To her surprise however it flew out of its hinges. She unexpectedly landed elegantly outside in the corridor atop the door. The manager just stared at her completely shocked. "You, bastard," she screamed and ran forward.

The man moved left, but she easily followed his movements and hammered a closed fist into his face. Her hand suddenly hurt, while the man toppled over backwards with blood flying from his mouth. Helena felt a rush of satisfaction as she stood over him. Then she realized that she had just decked the manager of her orphanage and the sounds of running coming in her direction weren't reassuring. She turned and ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction, where a fire escape outside a window provided her with an easy escape route. 

Rain was pouring on New Gotham as Helena ran through the streets. She pressed herself hoping that if she concentrated on moving she would have to think of nothing else or the fact that maybe she had nowhere to go anymore.

Dinah was on the way home. They had been out to see a movie. She had really liked it even if had seemed a little stupid for toys to be able to come alive only when nobody was looking. Her mom had been really happy about the movie too, something to do it being made with computers. She had personally disassembled several of her dolls years ago and none of them had the parts inside that made things move. She stared out the window at the wet streets. They passed a girl, who was running through the rain, weaving in and out between the other pedestrians. "Mom, what is Helena running from?" she had to ask.

"Helena?" Barbara said and looked over her shoulder seeing the girl running on the sidewalk. Her mom sped up the car then slowed down the car and parked up the road so that they could get out.

"I'll find out what is wrong," her mom said and slowly made her way out of the car and around it so that she could get up onto the sidewalk. Dinah unlocked her seatbelt and opened the door before jumping all the way down from her seat.

Helena hadn't noticed them as they stood there being pelted by the rain. "Helena, where are you going?" Barbara called out as Helena had almost passed them.

Dinah thought that Helena looked sick. She was pale and thin a lot like she had looked, before she had back on solid food. She hadn't heard that Helena was sick and she couldn't imagine any reason for the fierce girl to be running around in the evening. "Barbara, Dinah," Helena said with a sound almost of complete surprise.

"Helena, why are you running through the rain?" Barbara asked again.

Helena looked uncomfortable almost embarrassed to Dinah. "I. I don't know," she said.

"Helena, if something is wrong maybe I can help," Barbara offered. Dinah looked over at Helena, who seemed close to crying.

"Help, nobody can help. It can't be fixed. It isn't something that can be fixed. I have no one, nowhere to go," Helena said and began crying. Dinah had never seen Helena cry before. She had seen that girl fall off her skateboard at high speed, bust open her knee and just shrug it off. She felt a little strange like she was interfering in Helena's privacy. 

"Dinah, could you get on the backseat, please," Barbara asked. Dinah nodded and crawled back into the car, and around her former seat onto the wide couch like backseat. Through the window she saw her mom approach Helena and say, "Helena, you have somewhere to go now. Why don't you come with us tonight? We can see how things are tomorrow." Dinah felt so proud to be her mom's daughter, she was always ready to help someone in need. She wanted very much to be like her when she grew up.

Barbara waited for Helena and Dinah to get into the Clocktower as she had dubbed their home, before trundling in after them. They did have more than a few spare rooms, but they were all empty, so she needed to find somewhere for Helena to sleep and some spare clothes for her to change into. "Helena why are your eyes slitted?" She heard Dinah ask. Helena gasped and looked at Dinah in surprise and actually covered her face before turning away.

"It's a trick of the light," Helena claimed causing Barbara to smirk slightly, but she let her daughter continue. Dinah was observant and curious by nature.

"No, I've looked several times, because I wasn't sure at first. Are you metahuman?" Her daughter asked without any of the self-loathing or fear that usually was connected with that question.

"How did you know that word?" Helena asked and Barbara's felt her smile growing even broader as Dinah looked to her for permission to reveal her secret. She nodded.

"I'm meta too," Dinah said in a low tone as if they were sharing a secret out in public.

Helena looked at Dinah then at Barbara, "What is the kid talking about?"

"About whom she is and who you are. It's okay Helena, your mother told me that you were meta years ago, when we found out that Dinah was one," she explained.

"Ah," Helena said and her eyes changed back to normal, "Well actually I am only half meta according to my mom."

Barbara wrinkled her brow for a moment, "how can you be half meta? Being metahuman is just a broad term for people having abilities above the human norm. Even genetically if you're the child of a metahuman and a human and you express any abilities you'll by definition be a metahuman." She theorized while she spoke.

"Whatever," Helena ignored her option then suddenly looked around, "you wouldn't have anything to eat." Her stomach managed to growl loud enough for both her and Dinah to hear.

"Sure, Dinah would you mind showing Helena the kitchen? I need to do something," she said. Dinah nodded and dragged the older girl off towards kitchen, while she headed for the computers and telephone she had set up last week. She was beginning to see a possibility of doing some good using those, but now she needed to head off any trouble that might be headed for Helena.

Helena looked at the small girl that she had now known for at least 3 years. She had watched the girl grow up and she couldn't help noticing the first early signs of Dinah's future self. The girl had been brought up by someone her mother had always called New Gotham's greatest Girl Scout and was rapidly turning into one herself. "Here we are," Dinah said and pointed at the large refrigerator. 

She felt a little strange raiding someone's fridge, but she quickly pulled out some vegetables, a few sausages and a large container of milk. She put it down on the kitchen counter and began gnawing at a tomato, while gulping down milk. Dinah had gotten a cookie from a container and sat down at the small table that stood just outside the open kitchen. "What were you running from?" Dinah asked.

Helena felt the same resentment that had made her leave the orphanage rise again. She didn't want to answer any nosy questions. Especially questions about how she felt or the ones made by little kids, who had no idea about how fucked up her life was. She bit off a large quantity of the sausage she was holding and chewed purposely ignoring the waiting nine-year old. Helena wasn't aware of the sad look in her eyes. "I didn't want to upset you, but I thought that maybe talking about it would help," Dinah said.

"Upset, I am not upset. If I was upset, you wouldn't be sitting there. You would be running away from me. Why does everyone think I am upset? I am not upset I am pissed as hell. Someone killed my mom and nobody seems to be interested in catching him. He just ran off and everybody just stood there. And now those incompetent fools with the police force have to be standing around with their fingers up their butts, because they still haven't caught him," she railed and was only barely aware that she had grabbed hold of the table Dinah was sitting at and leaning over the girl threateningly. 

Dinah shied away from her for a few moments and her face was filled with sadness and pain, Helena realized. She turned away and walked over to the kitchen counter again, trying to calm her temper. Dinah's shaky voice said, "I am sorry. I knew your mother was dead. But I didn't want to remember that dream that night." 

She turned around, while her mind tried to comprehend what Dinah had meant, but she found Dinah's seat vacant and the small girl gone. Then she noticed Barbara Gordon sitting in the shadows watching her. She was sitting in a wheelchair, things had happened and she hadn't noticed. Barbara rolled closer. "The night your mother was killed, Dinah dreamt the whole thing. She saw everything that happened to you and your mother. That is a part of her gift. She can see the now or the immediate future. But didn't do either me or her any good that night, because that night the Joker decided to avenge himself on me," Barbara explained.

"Why would the Joker avenge himself on you?" Helena's mind was racing to keep up.

"Because I was Batgirl at least until he visited. He shot me, it shattered my spine. I won't ever swing over the rooftops again, I won't be the one to swoop down and stop the criminals from hurting people. But he didn't stop there. Dinah woke up from her dream and ran out to save me. He shot her too. Her lung collapsed, her heart even stopped Helena," Barbara explained in a cold emotionless tone, which was probably the only way she could talk about that night Helena reasoned. 

"That bastard," she said with conviction.

"I can't be sure, but according to your father he was also in part responsible for your mother's death," Barbara said.

Helena almost felt her world spin. Her father, she had never known her father. There had been a couple of lawyers by to see her last week about him, but she had sent them away. Her mother had never mentioned him to her. She had always avoided telling her, who he was, only that he was a good man unfortunately consumed with something else than love for her. "My father, who is he?" She demanded.

Barbara looked a bit confused as if she had expected her to know then she sighed. "I might as well be the one to tell you. I am one of only two people in this city, who actually really knew him. Your father was the archenemy of the Joker and really of all the bad guys in this city. He was Batman. His real name is Bruce Wayne," she said.

Helena felt a little shaken at that and sat down. She knew Bruce Wayne; she had set him and her mom up on a blind date once. He had been really nice if a bit distant, when she had talked to him. He was a tall black haired man. She looked down at her black braided hair and for the first time knew how it could be she had such black hair and features, when her mom had been so pale and blonde. Then she remembered. Bruce Wayne was a billionaire.

"I know this is a lot to take in Helena, but you needed to be told," Barbara said. She couldn't speak her thoughts were confused. She felt like running away again, but an inner voice told her that it would be pointless. There was no place to run to.

"I've set up a couch for you to sleep on. It is the best I can do at such short notice I'm afraid," Barbara said and guided her over to a fairly new looking couch. Helena found that she didn't mind as long as she had a place to lie down and think. There was a lot to think about. Barbara looked at her as she lay down; she turned around to stare into the back of the couch after a few moments the hum of electrical motors told her Barbara was gone. Soon after the lights in the Clocktower was turned off.

Barbara looked on with amusement as Alfred went over to wake her nightly guest. She had been able to contact the orphanage and it seemed that they were very angry with Helena after some kind of tantrum last evening. She turned her wheelchair around and drove it towards Dinah's room. She had spent most of the night thinking. Not just about Helena, but also about herself and what she wanted to do with her life now. 

She looked at her little girl who was still sleeping in. The hospital had put her in contact with a therapist and they had after she had talked to Dinah suggested that Dinah was not ready to return to school alone just yet. She had pulled Dinah out of school and was teaching her here instead. It was an experience. Soon she would be able to put Dinah back in school, but not before the therapist gave her the all clear. "Dinah, honey," she called out and waited.

After a while Dinah's eyes slowly opened and had the sleep rubbed from them. "Good morning," she said.

"Good morning, Dinah," she replied.

"How is Helena?" Dinah asked.

"Alfred is waking her right now," she explained, "actually I wanted to talk to you about Helena and things here."

Dinah threw her blanket off and turned around on her sheet to sit facing her, "Go ahead." Her daughter stared at her with unmasked curiosity.

"Helena has nobody to take care of her, so I thought that maybe we could do it. I would become her legal guardian and she would stay here with us. But I wanted to make sure it was okay with you. Now don't answer yet, I want you to think it through like I have. This is a big step and it also depends on Helena agreeing too," she explained. Dinah nodded.

"Let's get breakfast," she said.

But as she drove her wheelchair towards the exit, Dinah said, "We should do it. I dreamt about Helena too. I think that means I have to take care of her as well."

Helena felt a little like she was inside some twisted version of the perfect family hidden behind a giant clock and a couple of secret doors as she watched Dinah and Barbara at breakfast. It was complete with the deferential butler working unobtrusively in the background. She sat with her arms crossed and glowered at them all through the breakfast, but being steadfastly ignored by all present except when they needed something from her end of the table. Finally Dinah slipped of her seat and thanked the butler that had introduced himself as Alfred for breakfast before asking if she could begin on her school project. Barbara nodded her permission and the girl ran off somewhere to a part of the vast home that she hadn't seen yet. Barbara gave the butler some kind of look and he also puttered off leaving the two of them alone. "Helena, I've talked to the orphanage and they are not happy about what happened last night," she said.

Helena immediately felt defensive, "It was his fault. The manager insulted me."

"I'm sure, and frankly I don't care. You're not happy there correct?" Barbara asked.

"I'm not," Helena admitted.

"Helena, you're hurting right now. I understand that. When Dinah died I saw some of that. My parents died in a car crash when I was really young too and my uncle adopted me. What I want to say is that if you want to then you could come here to live," Barbara explained.

"Why," Helena said fighting desperately not to cry or yell with the sudden confusion in her heart.

"Helena, I know you. I can see you're hurting. I knew your mother and father. They were both a lot a like, I can tell when you're in need and you're in need now. Trust me, trust us, maybe we can help you get through this," she said.

Helena knew she was crying. She felt a lot of pain and anger well up from deep inside. Her anger commanded her to strike out, to push anyone offering her an olive branch away, but her loneliness won out. She needed someone who could understand her in every way. Barbara and Dinah seemed to be the perfect fit. "Please. I have nowhere else to go," she begged and found herself crying in Barbara's arms.


	8. Chapter 8: Decisions

**Chapter 8: Decisions**

            Barbara swung at the sandbag with the escrima fighting sticks. She had discovered the Philippine weapon based martial arts recently and went to get instruction several times a week already. It was all apart of her plan to restart her life. It felt good to be training again, but she had a lot on her plate these days. Dinah had been declared ready to return to school, she was considering to return as well and Helena had moved in a month ago proving a vastly different challenge than Dinah had been. There was also that idea that kept spooking around in her head distracting her.

Helena didn't react the same way as Dinah had, which was natural given their different natures, ages and background. She had expected that, but she hadn't expected the nature of Helena's reaction. Where she had been a mischievous teen, she was now a holy terror. She had been the pep squad leader, now she dressed in black and revealing clothes and made fun of all the people she went to class with. Half the time Barbara wasn't even sure if she stayed in school after she had dropped her off at the door.

Dinah hadn't really reacted much to Helena's disruptive nature, mostly because Helena seemed to tone it way down around Dinah. She had no idea, why the black haired rebel was so meek around the blonde girl, but she had behaved that way ever since she had told Helena everything about Dinah and her dreams. She wondered how Helena would react when she learned of Dinah's telepathy or the fact that Dinah still had the same dream she had that night every once in a while. But then again she was sure they all remembered it in their own way. 

Barbara stopped doing her exercises and found Helena standing in the door to the sun-lit training room. "Shouldn't you be at school?" she asked with irritation.

"I didn't feel like it," Helena said, but instead of walking off like she often did when in trouble, she kept standing on the door sill. 

"Helena, you're a smart girl, your graduation is no more than half a year away. Why would you want to ruin that?" She couldn't help feeling irritated at the girl's unwillingness towards school. Then she noticed that Helena's hair was short, she had gotten her braid cut off. 

"I won't ruin anything important, but that is not why I am here," Helena said in a challenging tone. She walked forward at a pace that looked suspiciously like she was getting ready to attack. Barbara was confused but kept a secure grip on her escrima sticks.

Helena suddenly swung at her. Barbara twisted in her chair and avoided the clumsy and telegraphed punch. Helena tried to make a high kick, but it was too much gymnastics and too little attack. Barbara parried it with a hard swing of her left fighting stick, while she hammered the right one into Helena's ribs. The girl grunted and collapsed to the floor grabbing her chest. "Stop," she commanded, but Helena just pushed herself back up staring at her through stormy eyes. "This is madness, Helena," she said.

Helena stormed at her again completely predictable yet incredibly fast. She was trying to bowl her out of her chair with a tackle, not a bad idea if she hadn't managed to press the butt end of her stick down on to the controls and make her chair back to the left. Helena changed course, but she was ready, quickly hammering the points of her sticks as hard as she could into the girl's chest, making her lunge end with a painful drop in front of her wheelchair. "Give up," she said and lifted her sticks for a finishing attack.

Helena's feet shot up and kicked her sticks out of position before rolling around and spinning up to stand again. She was getting impressed by Helena's agility and endurance if not by her fighting ability. She hadn't expected Helena to suddenly grab at her sticks. They became locked wrestling for the sticks. Barbara sensed that even with her well trained arms, she wouldn't last against this metahuman girl. 

"Stop it," Dinah's voice suddenly screamed. Barbara glanced over Helena's shoulder to see the girl come running into the room. She was clearly upset by the sight of them fighting. However Helena didn't let up, and she knew from the almost berserk look in the girl's eyes that she would stop before she had hurt Barbara for the times she had sent her to the floor. She felt a drop of sweat roll down her nose and her arms were starting to shake from the strain. She saw Dinah grab hold of Helena and yell, "Let go… Let go already."

Helena slowly forced her hands out and to the side. Soon she would lose hold, but she would not under any circumstances let go. Dinah put both her hands on Helena's left one and tried to pull at it screaming for her to let go. 

Suddenly Barbara rocketed back and almost out of her chair. Helena had let go and was now standing looking with a dumbfounded expression at Dinah. Dinah stared back at her with tear reddened eyes and a very pissed look, which couldn't scare anyone except people afraid of cuteness. 

Helena looked over at her. She had to admit she was seething with anger at this unprovoked attack. "Why the hell did you do that?" She demanded.

Helena looked sorry and glanced at Dinah as if to say that she didn't want to discuss it in front of her daughter. "Dinah, it's okay now. Helena and I were only training hard," she lied and knew instantly that her little daughter suspected. But Dinah was ever forgiving and nodded. "I thought you were getting ready for school tomorrow," she said. Dinah looked at her questioningly, shrugged and left the training room albeit slowly.

"Now, what did you think you were doing?" She turned and gave Helena her most angry stare. The girl at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

"I… I wanted to test you. I wanted to see for myself how tough Batgirl was. I guess it got out of hand," Helena admitted.

"You guess… You attacked me without a reason. Helena, you're letting your anger control you. And it is ruining your life," she said with conviction. She needed to find a way to control Helena's anger before it consumed her or led her so far astray that it ruined her life or even affected their safety here.

"Look I'm sorry I just wanted to… I don't know why I did it," Helena said, but she wasn't buying it one moment. Helena usually didn't attack unprovoked and while she believed, that measuring herself against Batgirl was apart of the reason for Helena's attack, she was sure it wasn't the entire story. Helena backed away and ran out of the room, leaving her sitting confused in the bright sunshine.

A few hours later Barbara looked down the papers that had sat in front of her for as long as she had been in the room. If she signed them Helena would become her ward. She would be responsible for the unruly and angry teen. She had locked herself in her room since their fight in the training room, but she still had the trouble in school and her first order of business as guardian would have to be finding a way to put a stop to Helena's antics. This was the last chance of ignoring the problem, the last chance of removing Helena's problems from their life. But she knew that was not right and not what she was going to do. Barbara picked up a pen and signed the form.

She opened the door and drove her wheelchair to the ledge. Leaning back she took in the view of the whole city. New Gotham stretched out below the Clocktower leaving her with a beautiful of the afternoon over the city. She had come out here to think. She needed to channel Helena's anger somehow. She wondered how Bruce had done it with Dick. 

And then she suddenly realized what she could do and smiled at the beautiful logic and simplicity of it all. Her idea of becoming a one-woman support organization for superheroes everywhere could be expanded. She had the perfect candidate for a new hero for New Gotham in Helena. The teen needed something to focus on. Training to be a vigilante would provide that easily. It would allow her to channel her anger towards the man who had murdered her mother into fighting criminals in general. Helena could be taught discipline. She could do it, it was teaching a different curriculum but it could be done.

Barbara deflated slightly as she realized that she would still have to convince Helena. There was also another problem. Dinah would suddenly be living in a dangerous command center for a vigilante and her supporter instead of the shielded home of an unhappy teen and her soon-to-be guardian. Sooner or later Dinah would learn the truth, and from there it was not a long step to her finding out about Batgirl and even worse Black Canary. She had hidden the truth for her daughter for a long time.

Had Dinah been anything but her daughter, she could have sent the girl away for her own safety. But that had not been possible for many years now. That was her daughter and there was no way of giving her up even for a short while. She wouldn't allow it to happen at least not for many years. But maybe it was long past the time for truth. Dinah deserved to know, if nothing else it would help her understand, why they had been shot. Barbara looked up at the clouds for a moment then turned her wheelchair around and drove back inside.

Barbara knocked on Helena's door. "Helena, please let me in. I want to make you an offer," she said and waited patiently.

After nearly a minute a meek looking Helena opened the door. Barbara easily spotted the freshly lain make-up probably to conceal puffy eyes from crying. Helena was hiding her grief. "What?" Helena asked with a tone of challenge that would have been impressive if Barbara hadn't immediately seen through Helena's façade and seen the grieving girl beneath.

"Helena, I've been thinking about what you've said and did. I think I can help you with a lot of things. You're angry. I understand. You think no one is doing enough to find your mother's killer. I agree. You feel like attacking anything and everything. Maybe I can give you a better outlet for your aggressions. Interested," she asked. 

Helena stood absolutely still for a moment then nodded. "Come with me," Barbara said and guided the girl to the central space in front of the clock. 

"Alright Helena, you know that I was Batgirl. Being Batgirl was a large part of who I was for a very long time. My fight against crime was based on my experiences in life and from what happened around my father. As I spent more time as a vigilante, the life in itself became central to my being. When I lost the use of my legs, I also lost a part of myself. Now ever since we moved in here, I've been thinking about what I could do to regain something of that. I had planned to create a way for me to provide information, inventions and my investigative skills to heroes around the country, because most of them would rather be out beating in the heads of various crooks than cooped up in their lairs trying to get their computer to give them access to stuff they have no chance of getting near anyway. I wanted to do that," she explained.

"What does it have to do with me?" Helena asked.

"I want to train you to become a vigilante. You said it yourself; nobody is doing what is needed. Well, I can give you the training and provide you with the support that would enable you to go out there and avenge yourself on those who deserve it criminals, murderers and other scum like that," Barbara explained and looked at Helena waiting for the mocking comment that she was sure would follow.

Helena rose and paced around behind her in silence for a few seconds, "alright I'm interested."

"Don't say yes just yet, there will be rules and demands on your time that you might not want to accept. Now if you don't follow them I'll consider any agreement between us null and void. I won't be giving out second chances, because when you finally hit the streets neither will the criminals," she said.

"Never try to be a sales person, you'd suck," Helena commented. "What are the rules," she asked.

"One, until I say you're ready you'll train and do what I ask of you, when I ask you to. Two, you'll continue going to school, being vigilante requires muscles in other places than your body to be in good shape as well. Three, you won't go out on any missions without my express permission. Four, absolute secrecy I don't want to have to fear someone like the Joker showing up on our doorstep because you feel like living dangerously. Five, I set the rules, and I am also the only one, who gets to change them," she explained hoping that none of the rules were so drastic that Helena couldn't accept them. But Helena just looked at her in concentration; Barbara could nearly hear the teen's mind working over time.

"There is one final thing. I am unable to finance any kind of big operation and while I know I could get the money from certain places, I'd rather we were independent of any backers. I know you don't want anything to do with your father, but we're going to need your trust fund. So if you wouldn't mind I'd like to setup some kind of monthly money transfer from it, so that we can work without anyone looking over our shoulder," she suggested. 

Helena seemed to think it over than stretched forth a hand. "We have a deal," she said as they shook hands. Barbara felt a shudder going down her spine and she had the sense that there had just been a major change in their lives. 

She stopped the wheelchair down the hall from Dinah's improvised school room. Inside the girl was supposed to be writing an essay. She felt a twinge of apprehension. She had no idea, how Dinah would react, when she learned that she had been Batgirl or that her biological mother had been a heroine called Black Canary. Barbara's finger hovered above the button that would send her forward. "It has to be," she admonished herself and pressed her finger down.

To her surprise Dinah wasn't writing, but rather sitting in the wide window sill looking out at the world outside seemingly lost in thought. Barbara smiled as she saw the girl's round face and blonde hair in the sunlight. "Dinah," she said.

"Hi, mom," Dinah said and reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her left ear. She reluctantly turned away from the window and turned to her wearing a guilty and unhappy expression that she hadn't expected.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

Dinah looked at her and nodded, "I'm sorry for what I did."

"I wasn't aware you had done anything," she admitted.

Dinah continued to look unhappy and cast a glance out the window again, while saying, "I thought you knew… I entered Helena's mind and made her let you go. I know you've told me to never use my telepathy on unwilling people, but I just couldn't… I couldn't let you go on fighting."

Barbara's mind nearly rebelled at the thought of what Dinah had done. She hadn't been paying attention again, if Dinah was capable of such telepathic manipulation without her seeing the signs. "I didn't know you could do that," she said and rolled closer to the window sill Dinah was sitting in.

"I wasn't either. You were fighting. I was trying to make her let go. Suddenly I was in Helena's mind. I didn't know why but I screamed for her to let go and then I was outside again she had done it. Helena knew I did it too, I could see it in her eyes. It's the same look people, who don't understand why I have abilities, give me," the prodigious little girl explained.

"Shh, it's alright. I bet you that Helena will forgive you if you promise not to do it again. Your powers shouldn't be used like that. It is very wrong to violate the privacy of someone, unless they ask you too or there are no other ways," Barbara explained. 

Dinah sat looking at her for a while and Barbara wondered how much longer she would be able to tell Dinah these things and have her believe her. It could very well be over in a few minutes. "Dinah, I wanted to admit a mistake I've made as well," she said.

Dinah looked at her expectantly. "You know I've told you over the years that the woman you saw in your dreams was Batgirl and that I didn't know why you dreamt of her," she said. Dinah nodded. "Well I lied to you and I am sorry. I knew very well why you dreamt of her. It was because I was her. I was Batgirl," she said.

The little girl tilted her head to the side and studied her like she was comparing her to some mental image. "Your eyes, they are the same. You're Batgirl," Dinah said and seemed not to be as angry as she had feared. "Cool, I've always admired you mom, but this is so much better. When you say people need protectors, you were talking about yourself. This is so cool, you even knew Batman… and Robin and maybe even someone like Nightwing or… Superman," Dinah was staring at her wide eyed.

Barbara felt her heart sink at little, but she couldn't stop now. "Dinah, you've actually met Superman," she said.

"No way, I would have remembered a guy wearing his underwear on the outside," Dinah claimed seriously.

"He was at your mother's funeral as was Batman and Nightwing and many other heroes… They came to honor your mother. Dinah, your mother was the Black Canary one of the founders of the Justice League and one of the first if not the first female superheroine," she explained and saw Dinah's eyes widen.

"Both my mothers were superheroes. Wow," Dinah said and sat staring at her with adoration. Barbara felt strange, she had expected Dinah to be angry at her for hiding the truth for so long, but she didn't waste time pointing this out to her daughter.

After a few moments Dinah did however ask, "Why are you telling me this now?"

There it was another question she had been dreading slightly, but she seemed to be on a roll today, so she explained, "Dinah, I can't be Batgirl anymore, but I still want to help people. So I am. I am not sure about all the details yet, but you know I know a lot about science and crime, so I will help out other heroes so they can do their job better… and train Helena to be the new protector of New Gotham."

Dinah looked at her with a thoughtful expression. "Helena wants to be a superheroine," she asked.

"Yeah, and I will teach her how," she answered.

"Okay, what can I do to help?" Dinah immediately asked in return.

Barbara had feared moments like this a lot more than anything else and there would be many more in the future. Dinah was only nine years old, so it would be easy to convince her that she couldn't help now, but what about in five or in seven years, when she reached an age where she could do a difference. It might be hypocritical but there was no way she would let Dinah out on the streets as a vigilante with or without any training. "Dinah, you're nine years old. It is too dangerous for you to help and it is unhealthy for kids your age to train in those kinds of things that one needs to train in as a hero," she said and immediately saw Dinah's happy expression drop.

"Listen, Dinah, maybe in time you can help me here in the Clocktower. It will be just as important as being the hero out in the field, trust me," she said as consolation even if she didn't plan on keeping that promise even far into the future.

"Okay, so we're going to be superhero central," Dinah said with a slightly less grim expression.

"It is going to mean some changes around here. You won't be able to take any of your friends home… ever. You can't talk about it to anyone, not about my past, your mother, Helena or this place," she explained.

"No problem," Dinah said, but Barbara knew that Dinah had no idea how hard it was going to be. She regretted a little putting her daughter in this situation, but New Gotham no longer had Batman to protect it and it was sure to need it soon. Barbara left with her head full of plan and ideas.


	9. Chapter 9: Vigilante

**Chapter 9: Vigilante**

            She didn't want to feel excluded, but she did. Dinah sat at the top of the steel spiral staircase and stared down at her mom busy in the middle of all the equipment that had slowly been put into the Clocktower. Monitors and bulky computers sat side by side with lab equipment and random electronic components. This place had become her mother's central focus these last three years even to the point that her mom had not yet gone back to working as a teacher yet. All her time was spent either with the equipment, researching some crime or training Helena. It wasn't that she didn't see her mother; it was just that she was busy all the time. Alfred had more or less taken over the housekeeping, and her mom rarely if ever even left the Clocktower. 

She couldn't fault all the good her mom and Helena did. Ever since Helena had begun going out on missions and patrols two years ago, she had seen and heard the good Helena did second hand. She was excluded from it all. Her mom had put down strict rules about her not using the computer system now going under the nickname of Delphi as her mom's codename was Oracle. She had forbidden her any kind of martial arts or criminology training. And she was never allowed to help with any thing around the Clocktower except when Alfred needed a hand.

Her friendship with the butler was almost the only relationship she had with anyone aside from Helena and her mother. He had been a steady presence at the Clocktower for a long time now and he was a great listener both to her music and to her thoughts when they spoke. She didn't know why she found it so hard to find friends. Maybe it was her disjointed schedule, which had her taking advanced classes one day and a few junior high classes another. Maybe it was that she felt removed from everyone because of her abilities. Or maybe it was that she had to keep so many secrets that she couldn't talk about anything related to her home or family around anyone of the kids she met with. She felt lonely.

Dinah heard her mother talking finally after having stared at the screen for a long while. "Huntress, you're going the wrong way. The bank robbers would be at the bank," her mom said in a slightly amused tone of voice.

"Really," Helena's voice came over the speakers full of dry wit. "And what if I wanted to have a little chat with their getaway driver first," she asked leaving her mom smirking at the screen. Soon the noises of fighting came over the speakers. Dinah wished that she was there with Helena seeing her fight. 

Helena was a marvel to watch when she really got going on the bad guys and tonight they were in for a lot of trouble. Helena had just broken it of with another boyfriend and she was in the middle of hunting for a job, so she could move out of the Clocktower. She didn't have to work because of the Wayne money, but Helena simply wouldn't use that money except for financing the Clocktower and Barbara's help. Dinah didn't quite understand why, but then she had no idea who her father had been only that he was dead. Not that it bothered her; at least she had a mother, a kind-of surrogate big sister and a kind of grandfather in Alfred. "Oracle, do you have any idea, how many robbers are in there," Helena asked over the radio.

"The security cameras show three people, one by the door, two at the vault. Wow hold on, one of these guys is cutting a hole in the vault using some kind of beam coming from his eyes," her mom said. Dinah leaned forward to hear. She had a genuine interest in other metahumans. She often wondered how many there were and how it would be to be around a couple just belonging naturally with others like her.

"I'm in," Helena's voice said. There was a muffled grunt and on one of the screen below Dinah could barely make out a fight. Helena was taking the criminals out one by one. "The one with the eyes is on your right," she heard her mom say as Helena silently made her way up to the bank robbers. Dinah wanted to see more of the fight and snuck closer to be able to see the security camera footage.

Helena sauntered up the laser eyes guy and tapped him politely on the shoulder. He whirled about, only to present his face to Helena's massive punch which sent him slamming into the vault door. The other guy turned around, but Helena was already up in the air, landing next to him. A quick grab and throw later and he also sunk unconsciously down from the wall Helena had tossed him into. Dinah pumped her fist. "Dinah, you're supposed to be in bed if I recall correctly," her mom said without having turned around.

"Oh, right, I'm sorry I forgot," she lied and scampered back upstairs and headed towards her room. She knew better than invite her mom ire by ignoring her orders or remind her why she was still up. Her mom was a redhead after all. 

Dinah sat down in her bed and stared out her window. She hadn't closed the drapes yet. Outside the moon and stars were glimmering like jewels from a nearly cloudless sky. She tucked in her legs and leaned her chin against her knees. She felt alone and ignored. Her mom hadn't even remembered to ask how she had done at her solo performance tonight. She hadn't been there, but Dinah had known that she would be busy and had invited Alfred instead. She looked over at her desk. A golden trophy stood there glowing slightly from the reflected moonlight. Her wet eyes shone slightly in the moonlight too as she sat there for hours hoping that her mom might yet come by and see her achievement. Dinah fell asleep atop her blanket.

Barbara yawned and looked at the small clock at the corner of her monitor. It was almost six in the morning. The night had been truly busy. Helena had come home two hours ago and would probably be up before noon bouncing around with her metahuman endurance, but she had been forced to stay up and catch up on some research, before she could head off to bed and sleep until well into the afternoon like she usually did. She stretched her arms a little, took off her screen glasses and turned her wheelchair, when the elevator doors opened admitting Alfred to the Clocktower. 

Barbara thought the butler looked a bit surprised to see her still up, he walked over and asked, "Good morning Miss Barbara. Haven't you slept well?"

"Slept, I'm about to go to bed now Alfred," she admitted.

Alfred gave her a look of slight consternation. Having had the butler around for this long she was beginning to develop a sense of his opinions and emotions even if he rarely expressed them. He was angry or at least annoyed, she thought and he had been acting like that for a while at least. "Did you see Miss Dinah to bed last night?" he asked in brisk but deceptively calm tone.

Barbara bit her lips and gave him an apologetic look. She had been very busy lately, but it only rarely made her unable to be there for Dinah. "Kind of," she lied.

"Good, because I must admit even I was most astounded by the quality of her performance and after winning a trophy for excellence, it would have been very sad, if you hadn't congratulated her Miss Barbara," he said and headed for the kitchen apparently not noticing how pale she had become. 

Barbara felt a massive hole in her guts as if something had just been torn out of there. She had forgotten all about Dinah's long awaited Cello performance. She had known the date, even if Dinah had forgotten to mention it being busy preparing and all that. Her daughter had done so well that they had awarded her and she hadn't known or cared. Barbara leaned her face into her hands and breathed deep several times to avoid crying. She felt bad just horribly bad. When she looked back up Alfred was standing there with a lifted eyebrow.

"I forgot," she admitted in a thick voice, "how could I forget?"

Alfred just gave her an unemotional look and said in a cold tone, "According to Miss Dinah, she expected you to. In her words when she invited me. I don't expect mom to have time to think about me. She has to save the city."

"She said that," Barbara felt a massive lump in her throat and it felt like her insides had turned to ice. When had it become routine for her to blow off her daughter, so much so that she even expected her too. But she had to admit she deep down knew when it had started. "Why hasn't anyone told me I was neglecting her," she said more to herself than anybody else.

"Who could? The rest of the world is barely aware any of you are alive, Miss Barbara. Your father has moved away to enjoy his pension. Miss Dinah is too polite to speak to anyone about these things. Miss Helena is out most of the time and she is quite frankly not the type to notice such things. And I am the butler," he said as if it explained it.

"I've gotten too caught up in it all, haven't I?" She stated.

"I would venture a yes, but I very much doubt that talking to me is going to change anything," the butler said and shuffled back towards the kitchen. Barbara drooped her head and drove her wheelchair over to lift that would take her upstairs to Dinah's room. 

It was still slightly dark outside, but she felt that waiting to speak with Dinah would only make things worse. She pushed the door up and rolled in. Her girl was lying on top of her bed. Barbara took the time to study Dinah. She was growing taller everyday and the hints of her future beauty were clear. 

Barbara looked around. The cello case was resting in a cluttered corner next to a nearly overload bookcase. Dinah's desk was filled with opened books, utensils and a small white cased sticker covered laptop on top of which a golden trophy rested. The walls didn't have posters of boy bands, but instead portraits of a famous cello player, a big one of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a family picture of her and a nine year old Dinah taken by her father the day she had adopted Dinah.

She rolled up next to Dinah and slightly touched her forehead brushing a few strands of hair out of her daughter's round face. Dinah slowly stirred and woke up. "Hi honey," she said as Dinah looked around in temporary confusion.

"Is something wrong?" Dinah asked and wiped her eyes a little.

"No, I just wanted to see you, before I went to bed. I wanted to congratulate you on your trophy," she said and felt as if she was only making a hollow gesture. She needed to make real changes, if she was to do right by Dinah. She was still fussing a little with Dinah's bed hair.

"Mom, please take your hand away," Dinah pleaded.

Barbara drew her hand away in bewilderment. Had she lost all intimacy with her daughter? She tried to recall the last time they had hugged, kissed or touched and she realized it had been a long time. Maybe too long her mind warned her. "Dinah, I'm sorry I wasn't there last night. I will do better. I know I haven't been there for you as much as I should be. I will change things, so we can have more time together," she said.

Dinah although still sleepy quickly caught on, "Mom, you don't have too. I am fine. You need to protect the city. I understand, it is important a lot more important than me," she claimed.

Barbara reached out and took hold of Dinah, "No Dinah that is not how it is. It is never more important than you not for me never for me."

Dinah looked at her. "I understand, but mom, you're barely conscious. I just woke up. Why don't you go to bed? We can talk later, when I'm back from school," Dinah suggested. Barbara felt strange; it was the first time she felt she hadn't fully reached Dinah. It was as if there was a barrier between them that she hadn't been able to surmount. She left Dinah's room feeling completely out of sorts. Behind her Dinah smiled over at her trophy.

Helena Kyle was only half listening to the realtor blabbing on about the quality of the apartment he was showing her. Seeing this place up close had made it painfully clear that even a humble place like this was out of her price range unless she used of the money in her trust and that was out of the question. Oracle's voice suddenly broke in over the steady drone of the realtor, "Huntress, there is a situation here, that I would like you to come take a look at."

Thankful for the excuse to blow off the boring gray suited man, Helena turned on her heel and headed for the door mumbling, "Great timing Oracle, I was just about ready to put a guy in hospital for the crime of being incredibly boring."

"Where are you going?" The realtor called out.

"I've decided that I don't want it," Helena answered and headed upstairs instead of down, while she carefully put on the small eye mask that served as her entire disguise as Huntress.

She pushed open the access to the roof and the wind carried in the smells of the New Gotham skyline that she had made her home. The sun was still up, but soon it would be night and she could prowl freely. Helena carefully looked around for spectators then set off jumping from roof to roof.

Helena carefully timed her landing and skidded to a stop on the building across from the Clocktower. The place that had been home to her and her surrogate family looked almost red in the evening sun. Helena went over to the side of the building and jumped all the way down her coat flapping wildly around her. She carefully crossed the busy street, walked in and took the mundane and only possible way up to the increasingly fortified top of the Clocktower.

She waited impatiently in the stainless steel elevator that was taking her the last way up. She smiled a little at the small scratched bat that she had made on the inside door years ago after just moving here. The doors slid open and admitted her to her mentor and guardian's home and work area. She thought Barbara looked busier than usual as she took care to saunter in.

"Helena, before you head out on patrol there is something I want to talk to you about," Barbara rolled away from her desk to face her as she entered the enclosure of computers that made up the Delphi system.

"What's up," she sat down on a chair and leaned back feeling a bit like she had already run a hundred miles since sunrise. Out on the edge of her vision she noticed the blonde and as usual quiet Dinah eating dinner by herself.

"I have to cut down on my time as Oracle. I spend too much time, watching your back Helena. You want to stand on your own two feet and I think it is way past the time for me to stop acting as a mentor you don't need. I was thinking that we renegotiate this to be more along the lines of a partnership," Barbara explained.

Finally getting something she had wanted for months felt weird, when she hadn't fought for it. They or rather she had been discussing Barbara's involvement in her crime fighting for over two months and to suddenly have Barbara change her mind like this was unexpected. She felt a bit abandoned for a moment, but she tried to quell it and convince herself that she wanted this. "You won't hear me protesting," she replied.

"Of course not," Barbara added in a dry tone. 

"Why the sudden change of heart," she asked in an as neutral as possible voice.

Barbara's eyes darted towards the kitchen, but her head didn't even twitch as she explained, "Alfred convinced me that I had isolated myself too much from the world. And frankly I've missed teaching more than I would have thought possible."

Helena knew that was only barely half the truth both from her skill at reading people, but also from her life with Barbara and Dinah so far. It would seem that Barbara had somehow figured out what she had thought for a while now, but hadn't said out of respect for their privacy. Barbara had distanced herself from Dinah, because of her wish to keep Dinah out of the hero life and the legacies of both her mothers. 

She had thought a few times recently that Dinah had isolated herself from them, but she didn't have enough insight into the almost teenager's personality to understand why. Maybe that was a mistake. Barbara and Dinah both was the only thing resembling a family that she had. She knew Barbara very well and they had developed a relationship based on respect and deep understanding of each other. But Dinah had always been distanced from her first by her intense training in which the girl had been forbidden to participate in, then by the pressure of her secret career as the Huntress. She hadn't really gotten to know the changes in the girl as she grew up from the kid she had met all those years ago. That was a loss that now she thought about it, she should do something about. It might be fun to be big sister every once in a while, when she felt like it.

"Helena, are you alright?" Barbara asked.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about my job application," she said.

"The one you sent to that bar the Dark Horse?" Barbara commented.

Helena nodded lazily and saw Dinah in the kitchen reach out for her glass and hit the glass instead of grabbing it. "They called," Barbara said. Dinah gasped as the glass flew off the table. For a second however it looked to Helena like the glass hovered in the air above the floor. She blinked and the glass with contents shattered on the floor. Helena's chair slid so far backwards that it became unbalanced and the Clocktower echoed of a second crash as she was sent slamming into the floor.

"I didn't know you wanted the bartender position that much," Barbara commented and held out a hand to help her up. She grabbed it and pulled herself up using Barbara's strong arm as a counterweight. She only grunted in reply.

"They called to say you should swing by tonight after nine for an interview with the manager," Barbara explained.

"Was that what you called me here for?" Helena asked slightly annoyed with her little accident and wondering if her eyes had tricked her about what she thought she had seen out in the kitchen. Dinah was sitting in her chair still staring at the shattered glass on the floor.

"Yeah and that other thing, now if you'd excuse me, I need to go see what my daughter is going to do about that broken glass," Barbara said and headed off towards the kitchen. 

Helena cast a glance at her wristwatch. She still had a few hours before the interview. She looked up at the surveillance monitors of the Delphi system and saw an image of one of the Clocktower corridors flash by. Getting an idea, she walked over and slowly selected the security monitor controls. Her training had included Delphi training even if she was a technical klutz. 

The video camera for the kitchen came up. She could view the last few minutes. She could see Dinah finish her meal from a view within the kitchen. Dinah reached for the glass, while staring off into space lost in thought. She tipped the glass. The glass flew off the table. Dinah's expression turned shocked, her eyes followed the glass down to its eventual end. And there it was. For a short moment just a little less than half a second the glass hung in the air as if suspended before surrendering to the laws of gravity. 

But was stuck with her was the look on Dinah's face going from shocked to surprised to happy to speculative all in a few moments after the glass had landed on the kitchen floor. Yeah, it was definitely time to get to know her surrogate little sister.


	10. Chapter 10: On Edge

**Chapter 10: On edge**

            Helena smiled as she put the order down in front of the not so sober customer and grabbed the money he had thrown on the desk, before running off to deal with another thirsty customer, which at least looked sober. She kept reminding herself that she only needed to last a half an hour before she could get some well earned rest. There was no major crisis in New Gotham and so both Helena Kyle and Huntress could take the night off. 

"Huntress," Barbara's voice sounded less urgent than usual when she called, but still Helena couldn't stop a grimace as she casually reached up and activated her com necklace. 

"Yeah, what's up," she whispered while mixing the cocktail one of her female customers had ordered.

"I need to go to a meeting tonight, so I won't be able to pick up Dinah from her friend's place," Barbara explained. "Please, Helena I just need you to pick her up at ten and drive her home. I will be out until around midnight. Will you do me the favor," her former mentor and current partner in crime fighting asked.

Helena thought it over. In the half year that had passed since she had moved out of the Clocktower her relationship with both Barbara and Dinah had changed. At first she had tried to get close to Dinah because of the milk glass incident, but the girl hadn't done any more weird things like that ever since. Instead she and Dinah had developed a light and witty friendship and she had begun hanging out every once in a while at the Clocktower just to be with Dinah and Barbara in a family like way. She shook the mixer with the cocktail.

Barbara too had changed a lot after going back to teaching. She had become more friendly and open. The reduction in training and "big sister" watching had done both of their lives and moods a world of good. It was easier to be around each other when there was a crisis this way. She poured the cocktail and put in the required lemon slice before putting it down on the tray meant for one of the two waitresses. "Sure, if you'll give me the directions to where that friend character lives, I'll go," she finally replied to a sigh of relief from Barbara.

Helena's heavy black hummer pulled up next to the neat looking suburban home. She nearly chuckled at the thought of Dinah at a place like this. The nearly thirteen year old girl had grown up in the city and lived in what could mostly be equated to a fortress hidden in a harmless looking high rise building. Her adopted mother was not some housewife, but the former Batgirl and the Oracle. She stepped out of the car and sauntered up the building in her black leather coat considering if Barbara had wanted to give Dinah's friend's parents some kind of scare by sending her. She pressed the door bell and waited.

The door was answered by a man in his late thirties, who immediately upon opening the door gave her that reproving look that most older people threw her way at first glance… and several glances later too. "I am here to pick up Dinah," she said.

The man's face changed into a look of disbelief and he gave her the once over again. Apparently she didn't quite fit his image of someone, who would pick up Dinah. "I'm sorry, come in. Dinah and Joy are still playing. I hope you don't mind, but I would very much like to wait and hear them finish their piece," he explained and opened the door fully to admit her.

"Welcome Miss?" He looked at her, but she just put her hands in her coat pockets and waited for him to take her to Dinah. She could faintly hear the sound of someone playing classical music nearby. Dinah was probably here to practice. She did recall that Barbara had mentioned that Dinah had met this girl Joy at her music school and that they were practicing for some kind of duet. 

Finally tired of waiting for her to give her name the man guided her through their living room, where a woman probably the housewife was reading a book to the tones of a cello and a violin playing a beautiful and slightly playful tune at the far end of the house. Helena gave her a friendly nod as she followed the man to a room, which had been primitively soundproofed, but currently had the door open to allow the world outside to listen in. 

Dinah was clearly completely lost in her music. She had that faraway look of concentration as she gracefully swung the bow over the strings, while her fingers danced across the neck of the reddish brown wooden instrument that Alfred had given her last Christmas. It was supposedly a very good cello, but she couldn't really tell the difference. Across from Dinah stood a dark blonde girl playing a violin with her eyes closed in concentration. The song increased in pace. The man motioned for her to wait like him in the door opening. The song slowed and the girls stopped playing. "Nice tune kiddo," she said as soon as Dinah took her bow of the strings.

"Hi Helena," Dinah said, rose, walked over and put her cello in the case. 

"Joy, this is Helena, a friend of mine," Dinah said as an introduction of her to the smaller girl that was also carefully putting away her instrument.

"I thought your mom was going to pick you up," Joy commented.

"So did I, but she did warn me this morning that something could come up. You know how busy she is," Dinah explained and grabbed her coat hanging over the back of her chair, while hoisting up the cello case.

"Yeah, she had some meeting, but she said she'll be back around midnight," Helena supplied. "You ready, kid," she asked to which Dinah vigorously nodded.

Dinah and Helena sat in the chilly car. She had driven in silence, not really feeling they had anything to talk about. "So did mom really have a meeting or is there some crisis… No, wait if there had been a crisis, you'd be busy too and Alfred would've picked me up," Dinah said.

"According to Barbara there was a meeting, even if she didn't tell me about what and where," Helena commented.

"Ah, secrets, maybe she has found a boyfriend and is out on a date," Dinah suggested.

Helena gave Dinah a wry look. In all the time she had known Barbara, that woman had never to her knowledge dated. "Well, she did date before we got shot," Dinah replied to her unspoken answer.

"So are you and Joy good friends?" she asked.

"Just about as good as you and Sandy were, before she left town," Dinah commented. Helena grimaced at the sting of memory. Her best friend had disappeared a while before her mother died. Now Sandy had always been mysterious about whom she was outside of school, but that hadn't stopped them from being great friends. She could have used that friend a few months later.

"So does she know about… well, anything," she asked.

"Nope, not about my abilities, about where I live or about what my mom does after she leaves the high school every afternoon," Dinah said in a neutral tone. Helena didn't know if Dinah was feeling confined by the strict rules put down by Barbara, but she knew that she would have rebelled against them a long time ago has she been Dinah. But then they had quite different personalities.

"I can imagine it is hard to keep secrets like that from your friend," Helena commented, while they drove through the last bit of streets before coming up on the Clocktower.

"A little, but I do it for those I love. Besides did you tell Sandy about your abilities?" Dinah said and looked up at the Clocktower as they headed for the building's subterranean garage.

She focused on traffic for a moment, driving carefully down the narrow road into the garage. "No, but my abilities weren't really something I took much notice off until my mother died. They were mostly dormant," she explained as she parked the car.

The elevator doors slid open admitting the pair to the Clocktower. They barely took a step inside, before Delphi began beeping. Dinah and Helena looked at each other. "I swear that thing hates me," she cursed and walked over the computer system Dinah in tow. 

The screen was showing a window reporting about some kind of police alert, but neither Helena nor Dinah knew what to do. A small program sprang up on screen saying something about a pager message, then disappeared just as quick. They looked at each other. "What do we do?" Dinah asked.

Helena just smiled and headed for the kitchen. "We wait. Barbara will be here in a few minutes any way… Better step away from the computers though. We wouldn't want mommy to throw a fit now do we," she said and out of the corner of her eye saw Dinah draw her hand away from the mouse like she had burned her fingers.

Right enough Barbara Gordon wheeled out of the elevator no more than ten minutes later finding both her and Dinah sitting in the couches watching TV. "Hi, Dinah, Helena," Barbara called out before getting comfortable in front of Delphi.

She felt a little playful, so she got up, walked over and sat on the metal railing. "You should go to bed," she said to Dinah and let herself drop backwards off the railing. The air whooshed past her face; she instinctively turned once in the air and landed gracefully on the floor below.

"Are you done with the stunt show," a suddenly grumpy Barbara asked impatiently.

"Whoa there, did Delphi interrupt some naughty date or…" She walked over to stand behind Barbara.

Barbara rolled away from her console and pointed a finger at one of the overhead monitors on which some kind of report was displayed. "Delphi just picked up a pattern in a couple of rape cases. It would seem we have a serial rapist, who has just upgraded himself to murderer," she explained.

Helena looked up at the screen and felt her formerly calm and mischief filled mind boil with rage and intent. She hated criminals in general, but rapists were the lowest kind of scum just barely removed from the absolute horror of any kind of crime dealing with children. "Do you have a clue or place, where he likes to come, because as of right now this bastard is on the top of my list of toys to break," she said. 

Barbara turned around and looked at the screen, deciphering the information there for a while. Her eyes darted upstairs, where Dinah was fortunately long gone. "Yes, his latest victim and the first one he killed made it clear that he operates out of the parks here in downtown. He likes his girls young, blonde and preferably on the way home from a party. It would seem that he uses some kind of drug on them, then rapes them and he has started killing them afterwards. He has struck over five times in the last two weeks and he's accelerating. His last victim was found in some bushes this morning, so he might already be out there right now," Barbara explained. She turned and headed for the elevator, while Barbara spoke.

"Helena, where are you going?" Barbara yelled as the elevator doors started to slide closed. 

She replied into her com, "Out to find that bastard and hopefully castrate him with some kind of blunt instrument."

Helena crouched in the tree staring out at the quiet park with her light sensitive eyes. She took care not to make any noises. She didn't really want to sit here, she'd rather be roaming around from park to park, but according to Barbara this one was his most likely next target. She hated waiting on criminals in general, but this felt like pure torture. She patrolled the nights of New Gotham regularly, Oracle kept an eye on crime, but not only had this guy done it several times, but he had done it right under her nose here in the middle of downtown. 

She couldn't help imagining the images of the poor girls he had struck against and somehow in her mind their faces reminded her of her mother, of Barbara or even worse of Dinah. She clenched and unclenched her right hand half lost in thought, half focused on the quiet park.

It was early morning, Barbara was sitting in her wheelchair enjoying breakfast, when she stormed in. "Morning, Helena. Do you want some breakfast," Barbara asked in a neutral tone. Barbara had signed off a little past three, but she had insisted on staying out until sunrise.

"Maybe… Barbara, please tell me that he hasn't done it again," she pleaded.

"He hasn't as far as I can tell," Barbara explained.

She felt relief wash through her tired body and she sat down opposite of the red haired teacher to pour herself a bowl of cereal. "When I think about this guy out there and nobody seems to care enough to catch him, I just want to smash something. It hasn't even made the news that there is someone like this on the street," she said.

"This city is very jaded, when it comes to crime," Barbara conceded.

"What crime? Is it about that thing last night?" Dinah asked as she made her way into the kitchen, dressed and ready for school except for her breakfast. Both she and Barbara looked at each other, not wanting to discuss the subject around Dinah.

It was later that day, when Helena received a message from Barbara, just as she was about start her shift at the Dark Horse. "Helena, I have bad news. It seems like he did strike again last night. I just got the report off the police network. He was interrupted before he killed anyone, but he did catch a girl outside a park and dragged her into an alley," Barbara explained in the unemotional tone she often assumed when talking about horrible things.

"That's it. Tonight I am going to hunt this prick and when I find him…" She felt like killing that bastard. He had already ruined more lives than his own was worth. "I will tell the manager that I need a night off," she said into her com.

The air rushed around her as she thundered from roof to roof. The police were finally wising up to this bastard. They had increased patrols in the entire downtown area, but that didn't make her lean back and trust the usually incompetent police force of New Gotham. "Don't give me an ear full of boring statistics, you're sure he is here," she asked.

"It would make sense. He hasn't struck this far out of downtown before, but there is a park, a large party in this area and less police than downtown," Barbara explained as Helena crossed a street ten stories up in one huge leap.

Helena glanced into an alley as she leapt over it and briefly saw a figure standing at the corner facing the sidewalk and the park across the street. She stopped, vaulted backwards and let herself fall four stories down to land gracefully in the alley. The man was holding a canister looking alike a spray can of mace down along his leg and staring out at the street at the passerby's. "I'm gonna kill him," Helena said more to herself than to her com.

"Huntress, no," Barbara immediately protested, but she barely heard him. She was completely focused on the badly dressed man with his greasy hair and massive comb over. She lunged forward, grabbed him by his shoulders and tossed him over her shoulder into the opposite building a fair way down the alley.

The canister of stun gas rolled away from the shaken man. He staggered to his feet. "Ah, another bitch for my collection," he leered and almost drunkenly looked around for the canister. 

"Huntress, he's not worth it," Barbara suggested at the noise of fighting.

"Bitch, oh no, now you done it," Helena said and jumped up delivering a massive circular aerial kick sending the now bleeding man against a large trash bin on the opposite side of the alley.

Helena reached down and lifted the bleeding man up. "You, bastard, ruined their lives. Now I am gonna ruin yours," she said and repeatedly hammered him against the trash bin, denting and buckling the steel behind him. The man was barely conscious at this point. She let him go and began repeatedly kicking the man in the crotch as hard as she could. It felt enormously satisfying.

"Helena for god's sake stop, he is not worth you ruining your life too. He is just a rapist. Helena! You're not done yet. Your mother's killer is still out here somewhere," Barbara yelled into her ear. She felt those words hit her like a cold shower. She had forgotten. This wasn't the target of her vengeance, even if this asshole deserved it. She took hold of the moaning man's collar, lifted him and hammered her hand into his face, finally knocking him unconscious.

"Oracle, call in the police, will you. I am done with this prick," she said and dropped the man at her feet.

"They are already on their way," Barbara reported tersely. Helena felt like screaming, now she felt unfulfilled even after what she had just done. And she knew who to blame.

The elevator doors slid open admitting a fuming Helena Kyle to their home. Dinah looked down on Delphi, her mother and the new arrival from her favorite late night hiding place in the dark place between a table and the end of the upper platform. Her mom hadn't caught her here yet as it was out of the way of all her cameras and could be reached and left without arousing suspicion. 

"How dare you bring my mother into this," Helena yelled. Dinah had followed this and last night's hunt for the rapist from her hiding place. She had breathed a sigh of relief at his capture much like her mother, but she had been surprised by the enormity of Helena's rage.

"I needed to get your attention somehow. Damn it, Helena you weren't thinking. We don't kill. If there is one cardinal rule that you don't break it is that one. It is what separates us from those we hunt," her mother said. Dinah believed she was at least partly right. She understood however that you could get so angry that those principles didn't matter, but not why Helena had been so angry tonight.

"Those are your rules. All of this is your idea. I am just the replacement for your legs, am I not? Maybe I wasn't meant for this, huh. Maybe I should have been a criminal. At least then I would be able to do what needed to be done," Helena said.

Even from her hiding place she could see and sense that those words had hurt her mother. "If you feel that way, I don't think we should continue as partners. Why don't you think about if you really want to do this and if this is all just my idea? Tell me when you know," her mother turned around her wheelchair and drove off. 

Helena stood staring after her mom for a while. Dinah knew she could slip back to her room, but Helena looked so lost, as she paced around the Delphi consoles. Dinah knew both her mom and Helena's habits well enough to know, where that pacing would lead Helena. She snuck down and waited for Helena to open the door and walk out to stand in front of the clock then she followed.

Helena was staring out over the city with all its electrical lights as she brazenly walked out onto the platform. She knew that Helena would hear her and didn't try to hide her coming. "What are you doing up?" Helena asked without turning around.

"I heard you guys fighting," she lied.

"Dinah, we'll be fine. We're just discussing procedure," Helena lied as well.

"No, you weren't. Mom had to talk you out of doing something stupid and you turned around and betrayed her trust by throwing her disability in her face. You hurt her, you know," Dinah said.

"Really and she didn't hurt me by bringing up my mother or by making me into who I am now. It is her fault that I was about…" Helena replied.

"You're so self-absorbed I am amazed that you can bring up enough empathy to actually care enough about other people to get upset about crime. My mom didn't make you who you are. She taught you crime fighting, but don't come here and claim that she in any way made you do it," Dinah said with anger in her voice.

Helena's eyes narrowed. "Self-absorbed huh, my mother was killed and no one did anything about it," she reiterated.

Dinah couldn't help rolling her eyes. "You always pull that one. Well, my biological mom was killed by criminals, when I was barely five. My mom was shot in her spine by an insane criminal and I nearly lost a lung that night as well. That was the same night your mother died as well. But oh, no it is always you, who has the right to be angry and hateful. Get over yourself for a minute here. Your anger is there, because you can't handle the facts. Nobody can make it better but you. Nobody can teach you how to handle that. I am tired of you hurting everyone around you and acting irresponsibly just because you deep down feel you have some kind of excuse," she explained.

Helena took breath for a reply then stopped and stared at Dinah. "How the hell do you even know all this? How do you know what to say?" she asked in a suspicious tone. 

"You know how everybody keeps saying that I am gifted… Well I am. The rest is just personal experience and a little bit of anger," she admitted.

Helena looked out over the city for a few moments then looked back at her, just as she tucked an annoying strand of hair out of her eyes. "Maybe you're right," Helena admitted.

"Don't tell me. Go tell my mom," she commanded and pointed towards the door. 

Helena gave her a warning look then headed inside. Dinah crossed her arms and stared out over the city. She felt like she had just done something good and really mature. "Cool," she said with a chuckle and headed inside. If she was lucky Helena wouldn't let it slip how much she had known.


	11. Chapter 11: Squeezed

Author Notes: 

            First a big thank you to all that have reviewed so far and a small sorry for being late with the update, but I am in the middle of writing my final thesis for my engineering degree, so sometimes my time becomes rather limited. The reception of Bonds has been great, so I've decided to focus my effort and therefore I am taking down "Faces" the continuation of "Flashbacks" until I have the time and inclination to write on that series again. Also because of my thesis work I probably won't update for a week and a half (but I should have something like 3-4 new chapters done by then). As always I would love reviews of these new chapters, which brings us past the middle of the story and headed towards the eventual formation of the trio.

Chapter 11: Squeezed 

If he headed right at the next corner, he would be coming out on 23rd, but then he would have to go a good distance along the open street. Maybe left… No, not left, left would take him towards the docks and a whole lot of other bad places. Oh, he had no idea, where to go. He had every sight, scent and sound of this city memorized. Well most of it anyway and he was not sure where he could go safely. Gibson Kafka looked around the alley nervously, but there were no changes from his mental picture except for the slight change in the wisps of smoke coming from a grate.

A red car passed the alley opening in front of him. He had seen it before but that had been with some soccer mom at the wheel. No danger. He couldn't go home. They would be waiting for him there. He spun around in place trying desperately to figure out which way to go. He came upon the idea of heading to a friend's place. Another metahuman that he had met a few months ago. Nervously Gibson cast a glance around again and headed down the alley and went to the right.

Barbara slowly rolled away from Delphi yawning. She knew that somewhere on the roofs of the city Helena was also heading home to her apartment on top of the Dark Horse. She made it all the way to the corridor leading to her room, when Delphi issued a tone, which meant it had found something of interest in its information sweeps. Barbara stared at the corridor with thoughts of her bed going through her mind. Sighing slightly she swung around, while promising herself that she would only cast a glance at the information unless of course it was about some oncoming apocalypse.

Barbara stabbed a finger down on the keyboard and glanced at the lists of names and files that appeared. She put her head down in her hands for a moment then tapped in a few commands. A small icon shifted from red to green. A map of New Gotham appeared showing the Huntress' position as a moving dot. She was close to home or already home. "Huntress, please tell me that you're not home yet," she said.

A grumpy and startled Helena replied, "Huntress is not in, she has gone to bed. Please leave a message and she will get back to you in the afternoon."

"Please it is important. I am as tired as you are and I have to sit in on several tests tomorrow, so I'd rather be fully rested than fall asleep in the presence of teens with flimsy moral values," she said.

"Alright, what is it?" Helena asked all business again even if the edge in her voice hadn't disappeared.

"Delphi just picked up a familiar face while processing the video surveillance from the airport. A guy arrived two days ago that has a significant criminal history. His name is Donovan Ellison, and until a few years ago he ran an extortion ring in Metropolis," she explained.

"Okay, before I start yelling, but why should I care?" The blip on the monitor showing Helena's position started to move towards the Dark Horse.

"Because he specializes in extorting metahumans," Barbara said.

Helena stopped moving again. "Wow there, how does he do that without getting his head shoved up his ass or getting hurt in a dozen other creative ways," Helena replied.

"According to his file he operates very carefully. He finds out everything he can about someone he suspects of being a metahuman. If he finds out that this person wants to hide this, he then extorts them by holding the evidence of their true nature over their heads," Barbara explained feeling a stab of worry about what might happen if a person like this got some kind of hold over Helena or even worse Dinah.

"Do you think he is setting up shop here?" Helena asked.

"Yeah, I am almost certain. He had to flee Metropolis, because one of the three metahumans he had a squeeze on found out who he was and blew the whistle on him. This guy slipped away before law enforcement could get him, and his entire ring of victims was freed from his control by the police. He had some cohorts though, and they have both moved here in the last two months. I think it's a safe bet that this guy is starting something again," she concluded.

"Barbara, that was the longest damn yes, I've ever heard even coming from you," Helena explained.

"Well, I also know that a simple yes would have annoyed you too. Anyway I've got Mr. Ellison's hotel and room number. He's at the Hilton, room 47. Would you mind taking a swing by his suite and see if he is up to something? But Helena I don't want you to let him know we're on to him just yet. We might be able to use it against him… so don't let him see you," she suggested. She hated the thought of having Helena exposed even if she wore a small mask covering her eyes.

"God, you're such a mother hen sometimes," Helena complained and headed across town at high speed.

"Damn it," Gibson cursed and knocked on the Frosty's door again. He felt exposed even here in a corridor of a dingy apartment building. It wasn't fair that he should get in trouble just as he was opening his shop of curiosities. His ability to remember and perfectly recall everything he ever sensed was once again proving to be more problem than blessing.

"Gibson Kafka," a deep male voice asked behind him. Gibson instantly knew that this would turn out to be a problem. The voice belonged to the big buzz cut brute that had accompanied the so-called business man he had met this afternoon. He lifted his hands in surrender and turned around. The brute was holding some kind of club in his right hand. He probably intended to hurt him.

"You're coming with me," the brute said in a tone that brooked no witty retort.

Gibson realized that the corridor was getting colder and compared it with his memory of the warm late spring evening temperature that he should have been sweating in. Frosty had arrived. "I'm afraid that I don't know any good cold jokes, so I'll just suggest freeze." 

And Frosty stepped into view behind the confused and irritated brute stretching out his hand. The brute felt his touch and swiveled, but he dropped prone, teeth chattering and skin turning pale before he made it half way around. "Thank you, man, but I'm afraid that I might have pulled you into big trouble," Gibson said to the blonde man looking curiously at the fallen criminal.

"What do you mean?" Frosty asked.

"Not here, we need to go somewhere safe to talk… Do you know somewhere safe to talk?" Gibson looked down at the goon then back up at Frosty.

"Sure I have an idea," Frosty suggested.

Helena gracefully landed on the ledge and calmly walked along the wall, slipping past the windows of the Hotel, while the voice in her ear gave her directions to the correct room. "It should be the balcony next to you," Barbara concluded.

Helena carefully jumped down on the balcony and edged closer to the closed glass doors. The room was clearly lit; she leaned closer to listen as the curtains were closed. "You idiots, I gave you directions to this guy, I told you what he was capable of, how weak he is and you couldn't even bring him to me. I can't use that kind of incompetence… I… Well alright I am giving you a second chance. Find him, no matter who he pulls in to help him. I want that metahuman. He knows everything that we need to start again. This town is riddled with these freaks. With his help it would only be a matter of time and finding the right type of people and bang we're a force to be reckoned with… Alright I understand that, send him to a doctor. Okay, then continue looking for him tomorrow, I am going to bed," the guys said obviously speaking on the phone to someone whose side of the conversation she couldn't hear.

"Oracle, it seems this guy is already up to no good. He has someone out looking for someone, whose abilities will help him find many metahumans. They've stopped for the night, but I think we shouldn't let him get too close. How about I head in there and rough him up a little," Helena reached for the door handle as the light inside winked out.

"No, Huntress this isn't how we're gonna do this. I want you to back off. The hotel has a digital phone system; I am going to hack it and insert a tap. If we want this guy thrown in jail there needs to be solid proof of his crimes. In the mean time I want you to go home and catch up on your sleep… As am I," Helena's hand hovered over the handle for a little longer then turned and ran for the edge. She jumped into the air and sailed towards the next building when Barbara asked, "Oh Helena I forgot. I am going to get home late, I have a meeting. Would you mind picking up Dinah at school and bring her to her music school tomorrow?"

Helena landed at a run, while she thought about it. She hadn't seen much of Dinah since her birthday a few weeks back and the now fourteen year old was heading to high school after the summer vacation. She felt a bit like spending time with the girl in a non-driver kind of way. "Sure," she promised, while she tried to remember if the balance on her spending account was high enough for a little adventuring with her surrogate little sister tomorrow. This extortion case would probably wait until the evening.

"And then Mrs. Hawker said that I had to do the entire thing again," one of Joy's friend blathered, while Dinah alternated between pretending to listen intently and looking out for Helena. Her mom had told her this morning that Helena would be picking her up, because she had another big meeting that would last until after six. She cast a glance over at Joy, who stood amidst the cluster of teenagers that Joy considered her friends. 

Dinah and Joy were friends outside of school because of their music, but she often found that when they were here, she might as well be air to the popular girl and her friends. She wondered if it was normal for friends to only be friends, when it was convenient for the other. But she couldn't fault Joy for her feeling excluded. It wasn't as if she could include the girl in anything she did outside of school or music. "Dinah, I'm not coming to practice today, would you mind telling Mr. Teague?" Joy said. She shook her head, she wasn't surprised though. All day she had been catching vibes and notions, that neither she nor Joy would be at practice today.

"Hey, kid," Helena said. Dinah hated the nickname, but Helena often said when she called her on it, that she wasn't old enough to have earned any other nickname. 

"Hi, Helena," she said and smiled slightly, when she noticed the entire prissy princess club to which Joy belonged, startle and grow pale at the sight of the as always street clad Helena. "See you tomorrow," she said and walked away with Helena without turning around and for a rare moment felt a lot cooler than them.

"So did you remember to pick up my cello," Dinah asked feeling absolutely certain that she would get a negative as a response.

"Nope, you and I are going to have some fun of our own today," Helena said. She loved spending time with Helena and so didn't hold back her whoop of joy. Helena unlocked the car and she tossed her bag onto the backseat of the Hummer. 

"So where are we headed?" She asked. Helena gave her a wicked smile, but didn't answer her. Instead she guided the car out on to the freeway headed out of town.

Helena smiled slightly as they crossed the city limits. "Alright, is this a kidnapping, because if it is I want to chuck my homework for tomorrow out the window," she said.

"No, it isn't. We just need to go to a place a bit out of town. But I was thinking I know Barbara has been in a lot of late meetings lately. Do you know what it is all about?" Helena replied.

Dinah couldn't help smiling wickedly. "Well, you haven't gotten it from me, but I did a little reading on mom a few weeks back and well she has been seeing a guy, but she is not sure about it all yet, so she hasn't told us," she said.

"Really, Barbara dating what a thought," Helena replied with a grin and drove on to a smaller road leading up into a very steep and hilly area.

"Seriously, where are we going?" Dinah couldn't help feeling a bit weird suddenly getting dragged an hour's drive away from New Gotham without explanation.

"I've gotten a friend of mine to set something up… and here we are," Helena drove onto a big bridge suspended over a ravine. On the middle of the bridge a brightly green colored van was parked next to a platform and some other equipment. A black bearded guy, who Dinah didn't recognize, was checking some stuff, while a younger black man was waving energetically as Helena slowed down to a stop.

"How do you feel about jumping off a bridge?" Helena said. Dinah looked at her in disbelief. Her surrogate big sister was offering her the chance to go bungee jumping all without any chance of interference from her mother. Of course it probably wasn't legal, but she wouldn't be protesting.

"I would love to try," Dinah answered. Helena smiled mischievously and gestured for her to follow.

"Hi, Helena, so is this the birthday girl," the black guy said as Helena and Dinah approached the van.

"Yeah, this is Dinah. Dinah, this is Rick, a friend," Helena walked over and looked over the edge.

"So Dinah, it is really very simple, we're gonna strap you in and then you're gonna jump off the edge," Rick explained and indicated that she should dress in some clothing that they had brought along. She took it and did so in the back of Helena's car. After her return Rick explained a few things to her, while the older guy took a practice jump and ended up with, "Remember if you don't want to jump at any time before you take the final step over the edge just say so." Helena and the older nodded encouragingly at this.

Dinah stepped up to the edge and cast a glance over. It was a very long way down, but as she reminded herself, Helena took jumps over chasms although urban ones every day. Her dream of doing the same demanded that she at least tried how it felt to take such a chance. She looked over at Helena, who held her gaze then took a long gaze down into the chasm and made an expression like it should be scary. She could be such a punk at times. 

Dinah looked straight ahead. Rick counted down. He reached zero and Dinah jumped away from the edge without hesitation. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The air rushed around her. For a moment it felt like she was weightless, the world seemed to rush past her, the ground suddenly seemed to get alarmingly close. She felt an increasing pull at her legs. She came so far down she was no more than a body length away from the ground. Fear welled up into her, and then suddenly the cord pulled her back. She bounced up and down feeling an enormous sense of relief, almost a rush as she hung head down below the bridge laughing heartily, while she waited for them to bring her back up.

"Helena, thank you so much," she gushed and gave Helena a hug after they had said goodbye to the two guys. 

"I'm glad you liked it. Now I've planned a little picnic before we head back home and tell your mom that you were great at practice today," Helena said as they headed back to the car. 

However they barely got inside before a voice came over Helena's earrings. "Huntress, what are you doing out of town. Nevermind, switch your necklace on. I need you to head back here. I just got a Delphi alert on the phone tap I set up this morning. Mr. Ellison has gotten a lead to this metahuman he is looking for. We've got a name too," Barbara said.

"Damn it, your mom is calling me back. Okay Dinah, this is how we're doing it. I'm gonna switch my com on, and to talk to your mom. When I have the necklace on, you stay quiet and we still might make it," she nodded as Helena reached up and activated the necklace. 

"Oracle I read you. What is the name of the metahuman Ellison is looking to put the squeeze on?" Helena asked.

"Gibson Kafka," Helena turned pale. 

"Gibson? But he's an old high school buddy. I didn't know he was metahuman. Man, just goes to show that you never know. The biggest nerd in school and he is like me. Alright Oracle, we need to find him before Ellison does," Helena explained.

"I've checked around and from a police report about a break-in I am guessing that he is not at home anymore. You went to school with him. Do you have any idea, where he might hide?" Her mom asked.

"Oracle, I didn't run in the same circles as he did. He was a very strange kid. And I am pretty sure he had a major crush on me, although I barely ever exchanged two sentences with the guy," Helena explained.

"We need to find him fast Huntress, whatever his power might be; Ellison thinks it will secure him control or information about several metahumans. We don't want that. No matter I will try to think of something," her mom sounded frustrated. 

"Going offline for a bit… you wouldn't like my road music anyway," Helena said.

"I am sure I wouldn't," her mom acknowledged. Helena reached up and switched off the com.

"I am going to drop you off somewhere close to the Clocktower, when we get into town. You just walk home and tell your mom that you had fun at practice or whatever," Helena explained. She nodded, even if she felt that it would've been great fun to see first hand how Helena dealt with a couple of criminals.


	12. Chapter 12: No Man's Land

Chapter 12: No Man's Land 

            Barbara Gordon looked at the red marker on the city map showing Helena heading back into town. She considered the information on the screen in front of her while the audio recording of the phone tap at the hotel reran over the speakers. She hoped to glean more information from the background noise of the guy reporting in, but it seemed to be just plain Gotham traffic noises. 

With a sigh she leaned back, took of her glasses and rubbed the nose of her bridge. She didn't feel much like sitting in front of Delphi. She wanted to sit in a couch watching a sappy movie with the pleasant feel of her daughter leaning her increasingly large body against hers spending some rare quality time together.

Ben, her until this afternoon would-be boyfriend, had announced that he'd rather be friends with her. She felt hollow inside remembering the painful conversation. She felt a bit ridiculous for thinking that she could ever have a regular relationship. Who was she kidding? She was a handicapped single parent with teenage daughter and barely any spare time to spend with any potential boyfriends. It would be a miracle if anyone ever felt romantically for her. She didn't want to admit it to anyone except herself, but she missed having someone to have that kind of relationship with.

A small icon began blinking on screen. Barbara put her glasses back on and rolled back to her position. She cut off the recording and listened to the live phone conversation out of Ellison's hotel room.

He was getting a little bit nervous. Frosty had promised to return as soon as possible, but he had been gone for hours now. All sorts of treacherous thoughts flew through his mind. What if Frosty had given him up to the criminals looking for him? What if they had caught him? Or had the blonde man simply run off leaving him here in this badly lighted, vomit smelling, condemned building to wait for his hunters to get lucky. 

Gibson paced the room for a while then headed over to the dirty windows on a whim. A red car rolled up and parked across the street. Instant recall told him that he had seen the very same car yesterday a short while before the goon had found him at Frosty's apartment. Not wanting to take chances he headed for the door.

Helena stared out of the windscreen, thinking about Gibson Kafka. She remembered the gangly and slightly pasty teen. He had once approached her about a date, and she had turned him down right there in the middle of the halls of the High School. She had been a bit mean to him, hoping to discourage any new attempts from the geek, and he had retreated to quietly watching her from a far. Now she was going to have to look for him. And even worse it seemed she had more in common with him than any of her schoolmates had ever had.

"Helena, I know I am delightful company, but if you don't drive at a green light the other people who want to cross the street get angry," Dinah reminded her. Helena snapped out of her thoughts and managed to get across the street with a minor concert of honking from behind.

"Suddenly I feel the need to drop you off out in one of the suburbs," she threatened. 

"Hey," Dinah leaned away and lifted her hands in a defensive posture. Not for the first time, Helena noted how quickly the girl was growing up. Soon she would be as tall as her, and the first signs of teenage rebellion had shown up lately with Dinah getting her ears pierced without permission. Even it had been way past due time in her mind for a bit of rebellion.

"Huntress, come in," a seemingly agitated Barbara called in her ear. Helena held a finger to her lips, while looking at a nodding Dinah, and switched her com on.

"Hey, Oracle, what's up," Helena replied.

"Ellison just got word from his people, they got hold of some friend of Gibson's and they know where he is," Barbara reported.

"Damn, do we know anything," she had to ask.

"Only where they are going to get rid of Gibson's friend, they're headed for the old dock district in the North harbor. You don't have a lot of time to catch up," Barbara reminded her.

"Good thing I have the car then," Helena answered. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Dinah buckling up with a distinctly apprehensive look. She snorted a little shifted the Hummer into gear and slammed her foot on the speeder.

The heavy car swung precariously in and out of traffic. "Are you sure I shouldn't just get off here? I am sure I can find the way home on my own," Dinah said while bracing against the roof handle as they drove in between two trucks and across the red light at a busy intersection. 

"And get my head bitten off by your mother, because I caused you to have to walk home on the streets in the evening. Don't worry kid, your mom spend several months teaching me combat driving, and besides this is a very sturdy car. If we hit anything it is the other guy you should be worried about," she explained feeling slightly exhilarated showing off her skills to someone, who knew her.

"Actually her mom would very much like to know, why her daughter is not at her music school practicing with her cello, instead of in a car coming in from out of town that I am very sure hasn't stopped along the way," Barbara's voice calmly asked in her ear. She nearly smacked her forehead, but decided as she swerved back onto the proper lane that it was better to keep her hands on the wheel. She had forgotten that her com link was open.

"I was showing her the sights, it was kind of a belated birthday present," Helena explained.

"Damn it, H… Huntress, you can't just drag her away from her activities like that. At the very least I have to know and I am guessing but since you didn't ask for permission, you were out doing something I wouldn't have allowed," Barbara said.

"Yeah," she accidentally let her voice sound as meek as she suddenly felt, "can't we wait to discuss it, until I have rescued Gibson's friend," she suggested.

"She can't go with you, Huntress. It is way too dangerous. Bring her back here immediately," Barbara commanded.

She felt a warm and righteous anger rise in her. "No way, I am not going to do that. She will stay in the car, while I handle Ellison's men. Our Hummer is a remodeled military model with concealed armor. It is more bulletproof than anything the police have short of a tank. This is how it is going to be. Don't worry she is going to be just fine," she explained.

There was a period of silence. Helena felt strangely nervous as if she had just taken a rather large step. "Alright, but I am holding you responsible for everything that happens. And this is not over," Barbara finally replied. The Hummer hammered into the empty and badly kept lots of the old Gotham docks. Helena slowed down and drove around for a while looking for a good parking spot, where the car would be reasonably hard to find. 

She rolled the black car into an empty open loading bay of an abandoned warehouse and turned towards Dinah, "you're gonna stay put until I get back here. Until I get back these doors are staying locked. If anything happens then use my cell and call the police or your mom. I mean it kid, stay here." Dinah nodded mutely but her eyes betrayed more excitement than when she had just gotten back onto the bridge. Helena left the car, while putting on her eye mask and started her patrol of the area.

Helena ran between two old buildings. One was some kind of administrative place complete with broken windows and empty office space. The other was some kind of warehouse out of cheap materials. Someone nearby slammed a car door. She moved forward silently and peeked around the corner. 

A man clad in a thermo jacket over a suit was opening the trunk of his car. He lifted a small slightly portly blonde man out with great difficulty and threw him over his shoulder. Strangely the air seemed to be colder as the man's breath was showing like fog in the evening air. Helena set her jaw and ran carefully over behind the toiling criminal as he headed for the harbor with his load. 

"Excuse me," she said. The guy whipped around only to find her fist heading at high speed for his jaw. She felt a jarring impact and her hand felt almost numb as she watched the man spin back the other way around and drop under the weight he carried. "That was easy enough," Helena mused and easily picked up the cold and well tied up blonde fellow.

 Someone had clearly beaten almost tortured the unconscious guy. She untied him, while keeping an eye on the unconscious criminal. Either of them might know where to find Gibson and right now that had priority. "Oracle, would you mind calling the police, while I wait to get my questions answered," she suggested.

"I will get right on it," Barbara replied.

Helena didn't have to wait long. The criminal was starting to stir. Helena carefully put down the one she had freed and headed over to grab the ankles of the felon. She easily climbed a rusting crane in a few powerful leaps carrying him along on. She dangled him out over the asphalt below and waited for him to fully come to his senses.

The guy looked around, then down, then screamed. Helena smirked happily; she enjoyed doing stuff like this immensely. "Finally you woke up. My arms were getting a bit tired. Now I'd like to know, where Gibson Kafka is… soon," she let her grip slip a little to emphasize her point.

The gibbering felon quickly gave her directions to where Gibson was supposed to be, who was after him and then began begging for his life. Helena ignored his pleas and with a firm grip on his ankles made a quick descent in a couple of hops. Not too far away she could hear sirens. "Huntress, the police is seconds away. Secure the crook and leave him there," Barbara said.

Helena looked at the still scared criminal, "Now I am going to leave soon. You never saw me, you're gonna tell them everything about Ellison and confess all your sins. Then if you're lucky I won't come to find you and finish this conversation." Helena kneed him in the guts as he started nodding and gave him a solid hit on the back of the head to send him to dreamland. Behind her in the shadows a blonde girl turned and ran away.

Helena ran back to the car. Ellison still had someone on Gibson's trail and she definitely wanted to catch him first. She found Dinah sitting in the car looking deeply bored. Helena got in and quickly rammed her key into the ignition. "Buckle up, I am gonna have to drive really rotten for once," she said and noticed with glee, how Dinah with wide eyes quickly buckled up and tightened her seatbelt. 

"Helena, I have tapped into a camera close to the location you got. It would seem that if my IDs on Ellison's people are correct then one of them is already there," Barbara reported.

"I'll get over there as fast as possible," Helena said and was relieved that the address at least wasn't halfway across town. She backed out, the tires squealed and they were off.

Gibson was quickly losing his breath. Large and bumbling as the black clad guy following him was, he was persistent. Gibson remembered a small underpass below a street nearby. He could find at least a measure of cover there as warm spring rain began to drip from overhead.

His eyes lazily scanned over the graffiti tags updating his images of the place as he tried to regain a measure of energy. He hadn't slept in days. He hadn't eaten or gotten any real rest. He was jumpier than usual and somewhere nearby was a big guy probably armed that wanted him for some nefarious purpose. He looked around once more, when the reflection of street changed in one of the puddles.

"You've been more trouble than anyone in a long time," the voice of his hunter boomed amongst the cement walls. "But if you come along now, I will refrain from giving you a flesh wound," Gibson recognized the sound of a 9 millimeter automatic from Glock chambering a round, life in New Gotham had never been dull. He took the prudent action and turned around in time to see a black coated female figure jump down from above the rain pelting her as she hammered a powerful kick into the neck of the massive bastard pointing his gun at him.

The big guy staggered back, but got around to see the black clad woman land in a very low crouch. She jumped off again and bowling into the massive guy's chest, then flipped away from his attempt to grab her. She was a marvel to watch as proceeded to trade several kicks, blocks and punches with the guy. Finally she grabbed hold of his collar, swung down and kicked him upwards, sending the soon to be unconscious crook into the cement ceiling of the underpass. She just managed to roll away before his heavy body slammed into the ground. 

She flipped back onto her feet and walked towards him. Gibson admired her catlike grace and curves, realizing that this superheroine felt incredibly familiar. As she walked up, he started to compare her looks with those metahumans he had met or seen over the years. "Are you alright," she asked in an unmistakable voice. 

"Helena Kyle," he blurted in bewilderment. She took a step back in amazement, and didn't speak. "I know it is you. I recognize your voice, your body. How could I not? I've spent long enough memorizing a goddess such as you from afar. So this is what you do. I wonder might you be the mysterious rumored protector of New Gotham that has been rumored around town for years," he theorized. 

It seemed Helena listened to something that only she could hear then murmured, "I know, and I think so too. He might be a good contact and… yes I will take him to you after this is over." She turned towards him. "Gibson, how did you know?" She finally said. His suspicion was validated.

"Ah, it is like this. I, like you it seems, am metahuman. I've been gifted or cursed depending on what memory you consider with the ability to remember anything and everything I've ever sensed. I remember my first step just as clearly as how many flies I counted the apartment I was in last night," he explained.

"O-Okay, well the guy that wanted you has suffered a bit of bad luck tonight, and the New Gotham Police force has for once done something right, and is on their way to arrest him right now. I am going to drop this lump off with them, while you wait here," she commanded and easily slung the big guy over her shoulder and walked off. 

The rain had stopped and Helena hadn't returned yet. Gibson had left the underpass and was pacing on the sidewalk of the nearby street. He had noticed that not too far away a black Hummer was parked and that a girl with long blonde hair sat inside looking mightily bored. However a few minutes later he was astounded as the girl bumped into him. "Sorry," she said and casually swept a finger along his hand. He felt strange for a second almost as if he was out of control of his body lost in the steady stream of memories that always assaulted his mind. "Whoa," the girl exclaimed and seemed to suddenly stagger in shock.

"Meta," Gibson realized. The girl had done something, when they touched. Still he couldn't help gently supporting her as she was about to fall over.

"How do you handle all that information?" The girl asked in a small voice and put a hand to her forehead.

"Practice… you must be some kind of telepath," he realized that she had probably read his mind just now, which would mean she had to touch people to do it.

"Something like that yeah, listen Gibson I probably won't be able to see you again tonight, Oracle doesn't like me getting mixed up in Helena's job, but I need a favor from you and a promise that you won't tell my mom about it. Helena will take you to see her later on or something like that, so she can judge for herself if she can trust you. She is like that. My name is Dinah by the way," she smiled at him. He knew he should be angry for her entering his mind, but something in her eyes told him that he would rather know her like a regular person instead of starting with the yelling now.

"I gotta go before Helena gets back, but I just wanted to meet another metahuman. People like you and me don't get to meet one another just to talk very often. I kind of miss having someone that could relate to my problems," Dinah explained. He concurred and maybe he could do something about it. Given his memory, his contacts with metahumans and his shop maybe he could create something that he had dreamed off since being ostracized all through High School.

"You've given me an idea, Dinah," he admitted and caught a whiff of Helena's scent in the wind. "Helena is coming," he said. Dinah nodded and ran back towards the car. He only wondered for a moment what he was getting into before the arrival of shapely Helena Kyle made him think of entirely different things.

Dinah was feeling a little apprehensive as she waited for her mom and Helena to return from their little meeting with Gibson. She had risked a lot tonight to meet another metahuman, but at least she had gotten a chance to advance her hope for the future. Having followed Helena around and seen her work in person had indicated that a possible goal for her future that she had often wondered about was a distinct possibility. But there were so many things she would have to learn and understand before she could get there. Maybe Gibson could help her with some of that as well. The elevator doors slid open admitting her mom and Helena to the Clocktower. "Dinah go to bed, Helena and I need to talk in private," her mom commanded and cast her, a no-nonsense kind of glance usually reserved for times when it really meant something.

A few weeks later just on the cusp of the summer Gibson Kafka wiped the bar of the No Man's Land with pride. The rumor had spread far enough already to make his metahuman only establishment a profitable place on top of his well running shop that acted as cover. It was still early in the afternoon and they had only just opened, but there were already a couple of customers at the billiard table and several scattered in the couches talking quietly. The elevator doors opened admitting a much too young person to the bar. 

Dinah the daughter of the mysterious Oracle and friend of Helena Kyle walked up to the bar with a pleasant smile. "Can I offer you a soda on the house?" he suggested. He didn't mind having a minor in his bar as long she was a Meta like the others.

"Sure," Dinah answered and cast a glance around her smile growing as she realized that all the people in here were metahumans like her. Gibson poured a can of cherry coke for her and put down the glass next to the girl that had mysteriously appeared after his ordeal. 

"I came for a reason. I need a big favor. I have my abilities mostly under control, but I would like to be able to use them to their fullest. You know many metahumans; maybe you could find someone who could help me with that… without Oracle knowing about it," she asked.

This kid was way smarter than he had originally expected. She had gone to see him that night just to set him up for this. "I guess, but I don't feel comfortable going around the back of Helena," he admitted.

"Gibson, please, Oracle isn't Meta, and she doesn't understand how hard it is for me. She won't allow me to train anything but control, so I thought that maybe there was someone in the Meta community, who would help me," she pleaded. 

He wasn't sure, it was a good idea, but the kid really sounded sincere and he knew from all his friends both old and new that mastering their abilities really was the hard part. "Alright, I'll try. I know off a none-touch telepath that might be able to help you," he said.

Dinah looked a little uncomfortable and said, "I'm not a telepath. My abilities are a bit wider than that."

"Really how wide," he asked and wondered again, why he couldn't have the cool laser eyes or the super strength instead of just the ultimate memory.

"Well, my mind is supposedly constantly improving itself, but I am able to see things from now or even the future in my dreams. I have the touch telepathy and… well this is a secret, but I can also move things with my mind, but I haven't really gotten a handle on that yet," the blonde girl explained.

Gibson couldn't help feeling a bit of awe. He knew that there were wide differences in strengths of different metahumans, but usually people like Dinah was in the exclusive category of the superheroes and –villains. He had never figured that they needed training too. "You know what I will figure something out. Why don't you swing by in a little while and I will have something for you," he said. Dinah nodded resolutely, but stayed to make friends with the others in the bar.


	13. Chapter 13: A Summer of Changes

Chapter 13: A Summer of Changes 

            A droplet of sweat ran down Barbara's back as the sun hammered down from the cloudless sky. Next to her on a towel lay Dinah. Only the faint sounds of traffic below and the slight clicks of the Clock stirred here high above any regular visits from flies and other bugs. It was summer and one of the perks of being a teacher was to have a long pleasant vacation in the summer. They were using the rare day of completely clear skies to get some rays out in front of the Clock, where nothing could disturb then.

Barbara became aware of a shadow moving over her and looked up to see a lightly dressed Helena sneak closer with an ice cube in her hand. She was clearly aiming for Dinah. She smirked a little and braced for her daughter's outcry. "Ai," Dinah screamed and jumped up from her near doze as the wet ice cube suddenly slid down her back.

"Damn it Helena, I was just having such a pleasant daydream," Dinah slapped Helena over her arm and turned over to look at her. "Mommy, why didn't you warn me," she asked.

"Oh, I never even noticed Helena's arrival," she said but couldn't stop from laughing and revealing the untruth.

Dinah looked out over the sea just visible over the edge. It seemed like all the fun had just drained out of her daughter. Barbara wondered why. "Mom, where are you going?" She felt an icy lump in her throat. She had to begin reminding herself that Dinah was very hard to keep any kind of secret from. Helena glanced at her.

"Well you see, I didn't want to tell you just yet, well because I wasn't sure… it would happen. I am going in for surgery… on my spine. A doctor I've been in contact with, a very brilliant man, has come up with a procedure, which might help to get me back on my feet in a few years or so," she lied, but she knew better than to reveal her plan to Dinah or Helena. They wouldn't understand. They would talk her out of it. They would point all the very real dangers out to her. She didn't want that to happen, so she would like.

"I am going to be in hospital for a few weeks. Actually I thought that Helena might like to look after the Clocktower with a little help from Alfred of course," she said not wanting to leave Dinah alone for that long not even when she was 14 or maybe especially because of that.

"You mean she can make sure I don't get in trouble… That was it what you meant right," Dinah replied.

"Yeah something like that," Barbara answered and looked at Helena, who looked thoughtful. 

She noticed her looking and turned her head slightly to face her. "I can do that; I probably wouldn't be a good idea to leave the kid alone anyhow. And a bit of babysitting might be fun," Helena said, while Dinah grimaced at the kid comments.

"Do you mind? I am going to High School after the summer. I am more than old enough to stay home alone for a few weeks," Dinah protested. 

"Yeah, but most girls your age don't live in a high tech fortress full of interesting things that she isn't allowed to get near… ever," Helena commented. While inwardly wincing at the truth of the statement and the cost it put on her daughter's life, she said, "Helena has a point. I wouldn't want you to get tempted."

Dinah gave her an inscrutable look; it was almost as if Dinah's eyes were half-mocking her. Dinah sighed at the unfairness of it all and lay back down. Suddenly Dinah's watch started beeping. Her daughter switched off the alarm and rose. "I need to go, Joy is expecting me for some practice for a duet at the music school," she explained before heading inside.

"You know I think she's beginning to feel the weight of your rules. You might have a minor rebellion on your hands soon," Helena said with a tone in her voice as if she was actually looking forward to it.

"All teenagers rail against the rules of their parents. It is a fact of life. Dinah is very smart Helena; she won't ruin things for us because of her raging hormones… But you're right she will rebel soon. We can only wait and deal with the consequences," she explained, secretly hoping of course that Dinah would be one of those well adjusted boring teenagers, whose rebellion was just an incident of getting drunk or going out with the wrong guys, instead of drugs and the things that were worse.

Little over a week later Barbara sat in her wheelchair in front of two young women explaining to them for the umpteenth time the rules and that they weren't to touch Delphi. They both nodded, but Dinah was sure that Helena had no intention of following the rules if she could help it. "And remember Helena with no one here to cover your back there is no patrolling unless there is a major crisis and then even then," her mother turned to face her. "Any you're not allowed to get involved no matter what. Do you two understand?" Dinah nodded sure that Helena would do the same.

"Mom," she leaned forward and embraced her mother in a warm hug. All the strict rules she had left for her absence aside, Dinah was a little bit anxious about her mother going in for surgery, "I love you." She felt a little weird seeing her mother head off to the airport to fly to some special hospital in Metropolis and her being left here. The elevator doors closed leaving her and Helena alone. At least until Alfred came some time tomorrow.

Helena paced a bit around the Clocktower, while Dinah switched on the television and followed the black haired woman out of the corner of her eye. No more then an hour passed before Helena walked up to her and asked, "So when does her flight leave New Gotham?"

She glanced at her watch from what she could remember it would still be a few hours. "In two-three hours… why is it important?" She had to ask.

"Oh, no reason," Helena said and went back to pacing.

"Now your mother must be gone, let's have some fun," Helena suggested a few hours later. Dinah lifted an amused eyebrow, but didn't comment any further. Helena grabbed her coat and motioned for Dinah to follow, when the phone suddenly rang over by Delphi. Helena and Dinah looked at each other. 

Helena went over and answered it. "Yeah," she simply said and put it on speaker phone.

"What did I tell you about going near Delphi?" Her mom's voice suddenly boomed out in the Clocktower. "And don't even think about dragging Dinah out to some strange event or party Helena, she is only 14," Helena just stabbed a finger down and cut her mother off.

Dinah shook her head at Helena. She was sure that action would be punished, when her mom came home. She would probably get sent on a patrol in some sewage plant or the like. "Oh, come on, I was just saving us a bunch of money. Phone calls out of planes are extremely expensive," Helena explained and skipped over towards the door.

"Not to repeat myself too much from the bungee jumping incident, but where are we going?" She didn't mind going with Helena, but she'd rather like to know where she was going this time.

"We'll start this week simple. I was thinking about heading out along the shore to the Golden beach for a bit of a swim on a clean and well kept beach," Helena explained. Dinah had heard of the private beaches up coast before, but had never been to one.

"Hey, I don't have my bikini or a towel with me. I am not like you Helena, I mind if everyone sees me butt naked," Dinah exclaimed.

"Relax," Helena said and dangled one of the credit cards they usually used to pay for Clocktower equipment with in front of her. Dinah couldn't help smiling roguishly as they headed into the elevator.

Barbara felt that her mouth tasted a bit like a morning after a great party. She knew that the slight amount of painkillers, which had prevented her from driving home, could be the reason for that. After casting another glance around, she opened the door to the secret elevator and drove her wheelchair inside. Soon she hoped she would no longer be forced to use the buttons for that task anymore and given time she might even be walking again. Happy to be home she pressed the button for the Clocktower leaning in over her bag.

As the elevator doors slid open she was greeted by loud music and the sight of her daughter and Helena dancing wildly near the Delphi consoles. Music was blaring out over Delphi's speakers, while Dinah, dressed in what Barbara could only hope was clothes she had borrowed from Helena, jumped around to the music. "What the hell is going on here," she yelled. 

Both turned and looked at her with surprise. Dinah's eyes quickly turned frightened, a fear which was quickly hidden on her partner in crime's face. "Oh… hi Barbara, it is good you're finally home. Your message after the first week said you wouldn't be home until next week," Helena said.

"I got out a little earlier than expected. I distinctly recall ordering you not to play around with Delphi," she pressed on not wanting to lose the moment of righteousness. 

Helena looked a bit like a kid caught with the hand in the cookie jar, so she quickly looked at Dinah, who had edged her way to the back, probably trying to slip out of the conversation. "And what is this you're wearing… hooker-wear?" She looked over the tight black shiny leather pants, the high heeled shoes and the tight white tube top. 

"I… Well we were going to a rave tonight and I… wanted to fit in," Dinah admitted bowing her head slightly, which caused her hair to slip slightly and reveal the new row of earrings that had been added up along her earlobe. Barbara counted ten piercings filled with small rings or studs in each ear in addition to the original ones that she had barely approved in the first place. And saw red.

"Dinah go to your room, put on some clothes. You're not going to any rave. Wait there I will deal with you later," she commanded and pointed towards Dinah's room. Dinah's face showed a bit of resentment, but she still did as she was told and headed off. 

Barbara turned and stared at Helena, not noticing that Dinah slipped away and hid nearby. "What were you thinking," she demanded.

"I don't understand what are you so angry about?" Helena asked suddenly sounding defensive.

"Oh, don't give me that. Do you take pleasure in undermining my relationship with Dinah? I don't my daughter to learn your bad habits just because she doesn't know better than listening to you. She is very impressionable right now Helena and you're teaching her to be irresponsible and reckless," she said.

"Yeah, well at least I am encouraging her to have a life," Helena shot back.

"Don't give me that bullshit; Dinah has a good life here with me," she rolled all the way up to Dinah.

"Why do you do these things with her Helena? You know that she's too young," she asked in a conciliatory tone. She really wondered why.

Helena looked at her in a slightly repentant way, "I… I wanted to be her big sister, to feel like we were family. I never had any siblings… I guess I let it get away from me, huh." 

"Maybe a bit, maybe I got a bit too angry… Listen, Helena I worry about Dinah sometimes. Her mind is so strong and full of potential. If we teach her wrong, she could be corrupted by her power. I need to teach her strong moral values and I need you to not undermine my effort," she pleaded. Helena nodded her understand.

"Maybe I should go and explain things to her, before you go see her," Helena suggested. She considered it and nodded in agreement. Maybe Helena could soften the blow of it all.

Dinah rushed into her room and quickly began stripping off the tight clothes finding the pants as hard to get out off as they had been to get into. She quickly changed to a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt. She just managed to land on the bed before Helena walked in. "Hey kiddo," Helena said.

"So are you here as good cop or bad cop," she asked knowing that her mom had sent Helena to explain the importance of the rules and everything else, before her mom came to give her a repeat performance.

"Don't give me that smart mouth Dinah. I knew you were watching us. Just because your mom has her back turned, doesn't mean I can't look over her head and see your attempt at hiding in the shadows. And it is not the first time I've seen you either," Helena explained. 

"So are you gonna preach to me now, or can we skip the formalities," she asked, she had half expected Helena to only pay lip service to her mom's suggestion instead she was getting the full show.

"Listen kid, stop the act okay. We got caught and I half think it was good that we got caught, before I let you do some things that you were still too young for," Helena explained.

"Damn it Helena don't give me that crap now. Not after what we've done these last two weeks. I went along with you, because maybe… maybe it was time that I started to be my own person," she replied.

"Really and were you your own person. No, Dinah it is like this. You weren't yourself. You were who I wanted you to be. I still know how it is to be a teenager. All teenagers con themselves into thinking that they're being rebellious and act out when they stand up to their parents, but really they're just trying to impress their friends. You were trying to be more like me. Now I am not saying that you can or should go back from all the changes that have happened these last couple of years, but honestly you shouldn't base your relationship with me or your mother on what has happen these last weeks alright," Helena put a finger under her chin and lifted her head to face her. 

"Be your own person Dinah, not me not your mother, become something better than us, learn from us. If you really want to rebel, why not do the totally rebellious thing and be completely different from your friends and listen to a couple of grown ups," Helena suggested and got up. 

"Now that was enough wisdom for a long while from me, but think about it," Helena headed out of the room. 

She considered what Helena had told her. Her rebellion had been small and not entirely what Helena thought it had been. She had started it ages ago by spying on her mom, when Helena was out on patrol. She had expanded it recently first by seeking out Gibson's help and getting in contact with a few metahumans here in town that had powers similar to hers. She had been learning from them slowly in secret for months now and when they weren't at the No Man's Land, she headed out to one of the abandoned buildings by the harbor to practice her telekinesis. 

But maybe she had been overdoing it even if she felt that going back wasn't really what she wanted to do. It felt good to not care as much about other people's opinions like Helena had taught her. Still it confused her, what way she should choose to be and it confused her that it was a choice, she had to make herself. There was a soft knock on the door.

"Hi honey," her mom said and entered the room. "I am sorry for yelling at you back there. I… I can understand, why you might need to go wild every once in a while. It is really hard on you, not being able to tell your friends about next to anything in your life. You feel ostracized… like an outsider looking in," her mom explained and Dinah found that she had been nodding.

"Now it is not going to comfort you much, but everybody goes through something like this. My rebellion led me to a bad experience with an older boy. Helena did several rather wild and public things with Sandy as co-conspirator. So you can see that getting your ears pierced several times without asking permission is just another incident in a human tradition of doing stuff to upset ones parents in a vain hope it will validate your existence at a time, when you're confused about nearly everything," her mom said.

"It wasn't some big thing that I planned. I just asked Helena and she said yes. I think it looks really cool," she said hoping her mom wouldn't bite her head off. Her mom reached out and swept her long hair away from her ear. 

"They do look kind of nice… and at least you didn't go home with some random guy and got ravished," her mom commented. Dinah felt her cheeks burn slightly at the thought. The stolen kisses she had gotten over the years from little boys flashed by in her mind. She had never had a real boyfriend, but then a guy didn't really fit in her plans at this point.

"Heh, I think even Helena would have protested if I had tried that. It is enough that she nearly broke that hand of some guy that grabbed my ass at the first rave we… were… could we forget this sentence ever passed my lips, please," she said and looked at her mom waiting for the eventual explosion, but nothing happened.

"I should have guessed. It doesn't matter anyway. I will take it up with Helena. Anything else you want to confess now or should I find out myself like I did with the bungee jump," her mom asked. Dinah looked up at her and realized that her mom was nowhere near as clueless, as she had expected or anything like the moms of her classmates. At least it seemed she didn't know about her visits to Gibson's bar.

"No, good," her mom turned her wheelchair around and headed out of the room. A few seconds later she could hear her mother almost playfully call out, "Oh, Helena, it seems you forgot to confess a few more sins…" 

Dinah shook her head with a smile. She saw the movement in her reflection on her huge mirror and turned to look at it. The face in the mirror was different from the image she had kept of herself for years. She glanced over her reflection's many earrings and still found she liked them. She was changing. She knew it, but she would have to wait a few years to define, who she would change into. She hoped it would be a person, she could live with being. 

She swept back a few more locks of hair and wondered for the first time in a long while, what her birthmother would think of her and who she had turned into. She still kept a picture of Carolyn in a drawer, but she rarely looked at it anymore. The memories, the emotions were almost gone. All that remained were a few remnants of grief and maybe the ghost of an image attached to some emotion. Dinah lay down flat on her bed and looked at ceiling.


	14. Chapter 14: High School

Author notes: 

            Well here you are. I don't know how many have stuck with the story as I haven't really gotten too many reviews, but I hope I haven't disappointed anyone. This is kind of the action part of the story and it can get a bit wild and violent. So if you're young, consider that these chapters maybe a little bit too much. For those of you enjoying the story I hope to see some reviews. I am planning another big update in a couple of weeks with my version of Reese, Dick Grayson, Gabby and the first whiffs of Harley Quinn as the Birds of Prey are formed.

Chapter 14: High School 

Barbara looked on with no small amount of pride as her slightly taller, tanned and definitely more self-confident daughter strode from her car towards the suburban high school that would be the center of Dinah's last four years of education before going off to college. She had chosen to get Dinah into a different high school than the one close to the Clocktower. Dinah would probably have hated being taught at the New Gotham High School where she worked. Besides Joy was going to school here as well and she wanted Dinah to stay close to her best friend.

Dinah turned and waved goodbye with the hand holding her back to school present. It was a brand new and quite expensive cell phone that she personally had extended to allow it to make next to untraceable calls to Delphi. She had given it to Dinah with great fanfare at their private little breakfast this morning. Soon she realized Dinah would be old enough to learn to drive and would being clamoring for a car of her own. She shook her head wondering where all the time had gone.

The doors of the Clocktower elevators slid open. Barbara felt a small jolt of pain in her back from her recent implant, but ignored it as she drove her wheelchair inside. Soon she hoped to have the transmitters at either end of her damaged nerves working together or at the very least to be able to remote control her wheelchair with it. As she drove inside she was greeting by the remote sound of her daughter playing some intense and rapid piece of music on her cello. On a whim she decided to forgo looking at Delphi to see what new crimes has plagued New Gotham during the day. She wanted to hear all about her daughter's first day in High School.

Barbara didn't bother to knock on the door of the large training room, which doubled as Dinah's practice chamber. She knew that when Dinah played there was no way of getting in contact with her except touch or yelling. Right enough in the middle of the sunlit room Dinah sat with closed eyes and played with absolute concentration. 

Barbara decided to wait for her daughter to finish and allowed herself a rare moment of just listening to the tones played masterfully by her daughter. Dinah had told her a few weeks ago that Leonard her music teacher had told her that he could no longer teach her only help her maintain her skills until she decided if she wanted to pursue music professionally. 

Barbara had told her that she still had years to make that decision, but she wanted to encourage Dinah to keep up her music. It was one of the few regular things in Dinah's life that she didn't want her often lonely daughter to lose. It was weird to think that a girl, who could read minds through the merest touch, could be so isolated from the world. Dinah finished the piece and put down her bow, while shaking her arm.

"Beautiful," Barbara said while clapping. Dinah turned around and rose to give her a bow while grinning.

"Hi mom, so how was your first day back," Dinah asked while packing up her cello.

"Fine, I had a few back pains, but that was to be expected," she admitted. Dinah frowned slightly, but didn't comment. "I wanted to ask you the same though," she said, while rolling up to follow her daughter as she carried her cello case back towards her room.

"Well I got a ton of new books. They made a mistake on my schedule on Algebra though, you have to give them the papers that I finished that class in advanced courses last year, or I'll have to take it again," Dinah opened the door to her room and put the cello inside before heading back out.

"I'll get it done tonight," she promised.

"Thanks, should we start on dinner?" Dinah asked.

"Not really you might want to change though," she commented, while suddenly deciding that she wanted to take her daughter out for dinner.

"Why?" Dinah asked a bit suspicious.

"Because we're going out for dinner," she explained. "So do you and Joy have many classes together?" She asked. Admittedly she had never spent too much time with Dinah's friend, but she knew Dinah cared.

"Yeah, we have some classes together. She apologized by the way," Dinah replied. She was confused she didn't know that Joy had to apologize for anything.

"What did she have to apologize for?" She asked.

Dinah gave her a little wistful smile. "For a good long while last year she spent all her time with some other girls, you know the completely spaced out cheerleader airhead crowd. I wasn't really included, but it seems that she had changed her mind about them or something, because she was totally different today. Although I don't know why she changed her mind about them and her source of friends, I am not going to complain. Of course, I had to point out to her that at least she had saved herself from generalized brain-rot," Dinah explained before heading into her room to change clothes.

"I think you've spent way too much time this summer with Helena, you're picking up her prejudices," she commented without any barb in her voice.

"Actually I have that one from you," Dinah said from somewhere inside. Barbara smiled, the teenager Dinah was reminding her more and more of herself at that age and a lot of the self-esteem that had disappeared when the Joker attacked them seemed to have returned. Dinah came back out and soon they were headed off to a local restaurant that had good seats for people with wheelchairs.

Nearly a month had passed from that day, Dinah thought as she waved goodbye to her mom, while walking up the steps towards the entrance of her high school. Joy suddenly ran up to her side. "Hi, D," she said in a slightly out of breath greeting.

"Oh, Joy," Dinah replied in their practiced greeting and smiled at her friend, who it seemed to her was in the throes of some kind of big transformation too. Joy had foregone her regular dresses and her preppy style for the tough chick look complete with a nose stud and a bit heavier make up. Dinah had to admit she much preferred this Joy compared the old snobbier one.

"So are we still on for the little experiment I proposed," Joy asked hinting at her long talked about plan to try to get a spot with one of the school bands, who it seemed were looking for something original in terms of sound. Problem was that the all guy band was seniors and Dinah wasn't entirely sure that they were interested in adding a violin and cello to their band no matter the rumor.

"I'm not sure, I don't think it'll work," she said.

"Of course it will work. Wouldn't it be just too cool if we got into that band?" Joy seemed to stare off into space as they walked inside.

Dinah gave her a wry look. "And the fact that the singer is totally hot has nothing to do with your enthusiasm?" She smirked slightly at her friend's mock shocked expression.

"Why Lance-Gordon, what are you suggesting?" Dinah grimaced slightly, much as she liked being both Lance and Gordon, she did mind it, when her friend used her last name like that.

"That you're completely hormonal, now stop yelling my last name all over the halls will ya," Dinah responded.

"Heh, now are you in?" Joy asked. Dinah considered it. She really didn't feel like it. Not only was it pointless to try and join a multi-guitar and drums band, but it didn't match her concept of how and when she wanted to play music.

"I am out. I am sorry Joy, I will go with you tonight and everything, but I don't want to play my cello in a band. I am not even sure I want to go on playing," she admitted. She had been thinking about her music ever since Leonard had told her that he couldn't teach her more. She was wondering if she wanted to focus on music in her future, maybe become a musician, but when she thought about it, it just didn't feel right.

Joy gave her a slightly unhappy look as they stopped at Dinah's locker. "You shouldn't stop playing, you're totally the best cellist at the school," she told her.

"Maybe," she was cut off by the bell ringing. They gave each other a panicked look and dashed for their first class room, while laughingly berating each other for having wasted too much time talking.

No one really noticed as a collection of vans drove into the quiet suburban area. One stopped and a few overall dressed workers went over and worked on a local phone central. One stopped a couple of times and a couple of other overall dressed workers went into the sewers only to return soon after. The remaining three headed directly up to the high school. The men left their vans and began retrieving what looked like a diverse collection of equipment, while waiting for the other two vans to arrive.

Inside one of the vans Eric Ronald or Colonel as he preferred to be called waited patiently. He checked his watch and looked up to see the first of the two vans round the corner down the round. "Right on time," he mused to himself and mentally crossed that problem off his list. Behind him his former staff sergeant was readying their radios, while the others were busy checking to make sure their weapons were concealed yet reachable. 

The second van come up the other way and parked next to him. He cast a glance over to catch a glimpse of his wife. He opened his cell phone and dialed a long distance number. He placed it against his ear and waited. After the third ring a perky but mature female voice answered, "Yes."

"Operation Beggar begins now," he said and shut the cell phone again. With practiced ease he deleted the memory of his cell phone and destroyed the SIM card before putting in another one. He looked over his shoulder at his sergeant sitting ready at the radio. "Tell them to advance and secure positions," he said and turned over to look at his wife. She lifted a small remote detonator device. He nodded once. She pressed the button.

Outside the men dressed as workers headed up towards the school buildings in small groups like they were coming to do some major rebuilding. There were about 20 of them. After looking at his watch Eric got out of his seat dressed in his black suit and carrying his black briefcase. He walked towards the main entrance, while his sergeant, wife and two other men began preparing to move the rather heavy communications system.

Once inside he followed his memory of the school layout and headed for the school main office. He stopped at the door and waited a few seconds then headed inside. A secretary looked up at him in confusion. He smiled at her, put his briefcase down on top of the counter and began unlocking it while saying loudly, "Excuse me, but could I get a meeting with the principal please." The secretary opened her mouth as if to answer, but the words never gave came as he without wincing fired a silenced hollow point round into her forehead, spraying a mess on the two administrative persons sitting behind her. The busy office filled with screaming panic.

He screamed loudly, and then settled back into his pleasant tone of voice too. "Now, please nobody scream anymore or I will just shoot you. I don't need any of you alive, so you continued living depend on your cooperation understood?" He explained and looked around calmly as the panicked adults grew fearfully silent. 

"Now where is the school principal?" He asked. One of the remaining secretaries pointed in the direction an office door.

"Fetch him, will you please," he asked and glanced at his watch. The secretary rose from her position at her desk and opened the office door. Inside a man was cowering behind his desk.

"Mister Randolph, right, would you mind coming out here please," he asked and watched with interest as the elderly man staggered slowly towards him. "Now Mister Randolph, I have at this moment twenty very well trained and armed killers inside your school. I would be very happy if you did me the favor of calling an assembly for the two lowest grades in the western most gym, told the older classes to go home and called the teacher's to room number G.31 you know the meeting room overlooking the gym. If you choose not to, I'm afraid my men will have to round up my hostages by violence and that could get exceptionally messy. Once you have done that I want you and your staff to join the teachers there. Then we can all only hope that the police of this city fulfills my demands," he explained and pointed at the microphone for the school broadcast system.

Dinah sat staring out the windows of her classroom. They were having history and she had never experienced a more boring subject and teacher combination in her life. She suddenly had a strange feeling almost as if she was out of her body. Images of screaming kids, violence and a well dressed man wielding a silenced 9mm automatic pistol flashed through her mind with enough force for her to almost jolt out of her chair. 

She accidentally pushed her book, pencil and notepad off her table and sent it clattering to the floor. Everyone in class turned their heads and looked at her in confusion as if she had just woken them from a dream. Dinah had a strange feeling as if they were in great danger and so didn't really spend any time considering the embarrassment, when suddenly Principal Randolph spoke over the speakers. "There has been a terrible accident, would all 9th and 10th graders please go to the G.1 gym building for orientation and all teachers to G.31 immediately. All 11th and 12th graders have the rest of the day off. All after school activities and clubs are cancelled for today," he explained.

Murmurs spread throughout the class, but Martin their teacher commanded them to get up and head for the gym, while he packed his briefcase. Dinah knew to the marrow of her bones that this was the danger her mind was warning her about. Quickly she gathered up her things all the while glancing around. She warred with herself inside. She wanted to warn her classmates, everyone in fact that they were heading into danger. But how could she tell them in a way they could understand and accept. Even worse it would probably mean she would have to give up one of the secrets she had kept from everyone except her mom, Helena and Alfred for almost as long as she could remember. 

Dinah saw Joy lifting her nearly empty book bag and headed for the door. She quickly pressed the last of her notes into her bag and ran over to Joy. There was no way she would let her best friend run headfirst into danger. If anyone would understand her it was Joy. "Hey, Joy, wait a minute," she asked desperately. The girl stopped and turned to face her. Outside in the hall there were excited juniors and seniors heading home.

"Dinah, I don't think we can wait… unless you're considering skipping," Joy replied.

"Well I don't think we should go over to the gym. I have a bad feeling about all this. Why didn't the Principal tell us the reason for the assembly? Why is he only asking the 9th and 10th graders to come? Something is going on and I don't like it," Dinah hoped that she could convince Joy without having to tell her about her abilities. She did nothing to keep her anxiety out of her voice or her body language.

"Dinah, please, you make it sound like they're all heading down to meet with some serial killer," Joy said and turned to head out again. Dinah realized the class room was empty and glanced at the door. There was no way she was letting her best friend walk into danger. She focused her thoughts on the handle and pulled hard. The door flew shut. Joy stopped and stared at the door in confusion.

"What just happened," Joy said and grabbed the handle and tried to open the door. Dinah remained standing staring with complete focus at the door, pressing against it with her will. Joy turned towards her.

"We're not going to the gym," Dinah stated.

Joy looked from Dinah to the door and back again, her brow creased in confusion. "Dinah, is something wrong?" She asked, turned and tried to open the door again.

Suddenly there was the sound of gunfire. Joy and Dinah instinctively ducked, but the shots had come from somewhere over towards the gym. Dinah was pretty sure it had come from some kind of automatic rifle. "You knew," Joy said and looked at Dinah in confusion.

"I had a feeling," Dinah admitted, "but I didn't know."

"What is going on, and why did the door close?" Joy asked. 

Dinah considered her options, opened her mouth and lied, "I don't know. Honestly Joy I have no idea." She could hear the kids left in the hall outside run away. 

"Let's get out of the school," Joy suggested in a nervous voice. Dinah agreed and unclenched her will. The door would open now. Joy crawled over and pulled the door handle again. She slowly and carefully edged out in the hall.

Dinah rose and was about to follow Joy outside, when there was a noise like someone ripping up a piece of clothing. Joy jumped back inside, bowling Dinah over. There were screams of pain and panic outside. Joy got up without speaking and quickly reached over to close the door again. Dinah looked at her in confusion. "There was a guy down by the entrance. He shot at those, who had only just made it out the door," Joy explained in a fearful whisper. There were tears in her eyes, "He gunned them down even when they were running away… and I think he was coming this way."

Dinah suddenly remembered a maniacal laughter, a white-skinned man with green hair and the months and years of pain he had caused. Someone else would experience the same now. She wanted to flee this place. She wanted to get herself, Joy and any other she could help far away from this danger. She looked up at the windows and got an idea. "Joy, we could just crawl out the windows. It is only two yards down to the bushes from here," she suggested in an excited whisper.

Joy looked at her and nodded. They ran over and looked outside. They saw a couple of students running away from the school from the building next to the gym. Suddenly one of the kids jolted in mid-step and tumbled to the ground. Then another joined him. The last one jumped into hiding behind a bush. Dinah quickly grabbed Joy's hand as she reached for the handle to open the window. "Don't open it, whoever is doing this, has some kind of sniper outside to make sure no one gets in or out. We need to find a safe hiding place," she said with urgency and looked around the classroom, suddenly finding it alarmingly bare.

Joy ran over to the door and looked out of the small square of glass giving her a view of the deserted hall outside, while she desperately tried to figure out a way out of the classroom or a place where they could hide until the police or her mom and Helena handled the problem. "Oh god, Dinah, that psycho is searching the classrooms," Joy said and backed away from the door with fear.

Dinah looked around and glimpsed the ventilation duct near the floor at the back of the classroom. It was not big and she wasn't even sure there was room in there, but compared to the thought of facing a killer with some kind of automatic weapon made any kind of claustrophobia seem irrelevant. "Over here," she said and ran over to the duct. Joy joined her in trying to get the grate off, but they couldn't get it out. Dinah looked at Joy and felt the fear in her gut as somewhere nearby a door was kicked open. All thoughts of hiding her abilities shrunk into irrelevance. "Joy, move back a bit," she said.

Joy looked at her in confusion, but did as she asked. Dinah looked at the grate and imagined a hand pulling at it. She pulled with her adrenaline fueled strength and the grate easily clattered out onto the floor. Dinah moved towards the opening, trying to ignore the confused and fearful look in Joy's eyes. She feared it would change into hatred or disappointment.

Suddenly behind them the door was pounded open by a man's heavy combat boot. Joy screamed with surprise and the pain in her throat told Dinah she had done the same. An overall clad man toting some kind of rifle looked at them and quickly leveled his gun. 

Joy rose from her crouch blocking Dinah's view of him and screamed, "Dinah, get out of here." She ran forward as if trying to charge the armed man. 

Dinah desperately tried to find some way to use her telekinesis, but she could see.

A burst of gunfire rang out. 

Joy crumbled to the floor. A few droplets of blood spattered onto Dinah's cheek. It was as if a cold shower chilled her body to the bone. She saw the red blood of her friend slowly flow towards her.

"Come here now and I won't shoot you too," the man commanded. 

Dinah lifted her eyes to glower at him. Every sound seemed to disappear. She flashed back to a green haired maniac standing over Barbara aiming at her. The imagined image of some shadowy guy standing over Carolyn's corpse flashed through her mind. Joy crumbled before her once again. A shockwave hammered through the room, picking up every table and chair.

The man disappeared beneath a huge entangled mass of chairs and tables as they hammered into the door and wall behind it with a great crash. Dinah blinked and for a brief moment felt like her world view faded to grey only to return to full color. She felt slightly dizzy and she knew she couldn't repeat that performance anytime soon. Slowly she crawled over to the check Joy's pulse. 

There was a noise of someone running out in the hall. Dinah looked down at her friend well aware that her tears were falling on the corpse, but she knew that she had to get away. Dinah took a deep breath and forced herself to crawl backwards into the hot and tight duct that led down. She found her feet were dangling down in a tight metal tunnel. A thought came to her and before she let go, she used her telekinesis to put the grate back in place, while she pressed her hands out to the sides to remain in place. The grate snapped into place and she crawled down. 

Somewhere above her another man arrived to find the chaotic classroom, Joy's corpse and the puzzling heap of furniture on top of his squad mate.


	15. Chapter 15: Hopes and Fears

**Chapter 15: Hopes and Fears**

            Helena Kyle slowly clawed her way out of the to her way too comfortable bed to find the source of the incessant ringing that had forced her out of the bliss of her dreams. She hammered a hand down on her alarm clock, realizing seconds later that the crunch that had followed had probably meant the demise of another alarm clock. Bleary eyed from a long night of partying after an uneventful patrol left her feeling like she really shouldn't do things like that.

A quick shower and dive through her closet later for clean clothes she was seated in her living room on the black couch flipping through the channels looking for something to watch, while she consumed her cereal. She wondered if she could get dinner at the Clocktower and maybe get Alfred to do her laundry. 

She flipped onto a local channel, which was supposed to show some sitcom only to find a slightly pale speaker explain that the regular programming had been interrupted to bring news of the school hostage taking in New Gotham. Helena's finger, which had hovered to the next button, froze in place. She watched as the news show started showing pictures of the police arriving by some school from a helicopter. They showed people crowding behind cover of buildings nearby. And they showed corpses lying around outside. Then she heard the name of the place and her heart jumped into her throat.

It was Dinah's school. The speaker went on to say that they didn't know much yet except that there had been taken hostages and that there were already multiple confirmed casualties. Helena knew Barbara was still at work, and so wouldn't know anything was wrong unless she heard by some accident. She considered calling New Gotham High, but instead grabbed her Huntress costume, put on everything but her mask and headed down for her car.

Barbara looked out over her attentive class from a top her wheelchair and said, "Alright, we've been going through this book for a while now. Does anybody have any comments o…?" Suddenly the classroom door was torn open and Helena walked inside.

"Helena, what is going on?" Barbara hated being interrupted, but she did wonder why Helena would come here now. Her classroom filled with the murmurs of her students' confusion.

"Barbara, I need to tell you something. It's urgent," Helena explained and indicated that they should head outside. Barbara noticed the tone of anxiety in Helena's voice and nodded.

"Look at the text for a few more minutes just like you did in the break before class, I need to talk to my friend," Barbara told her class and drove out into the empty hallway to talk to the waiting Helena.

"Helena, what is wrong?" She asked hoping inside that it was just Helena having some problem with the oncoming anniversary of her mother's death.

Helena looked a bit sad as she explained, "Barbara I'm sorry, but I had to come and give you a heads-up now instead of later. There is some kind of hostage taking at Dinah's school. People have been shot. The police are there now, but I didn't… I don't trust them to guarantee Dinah's safety, just in case she hasn't gotten away."

Barbara felt ice-cold fear settle in her stomach like it was intense pain. "We need to get out there now. We need to find out if Dinah's safe. We must do something," she said with conviction and looked over her shoulder. Although everything in her screamed to just rush away this instant, she knew better from life experience. She forced herself to use reason instead of emotions. Helena looked about ready to leave. 

"I'll just go dismiss my class, and then I'll go explain my absence to the principal. You go out to Dinah's school and try to get a handle on the situation. Don't go in though, wait for me there. I need to pick up some gear in the Clocktower," she explained. Helena looked at her for a moment then nodded and ran off. Feeling like time was slipping through her fingers; Barbara quickly turned her wheelchair around and headed back in to tell her class that they would have an unexpected free period.

Helena's black car skidded to a stop at the police barricade, where a huge crowd of people and teens were milling around, while the media was setting up what could best be described as a mobile broadcasting central the lawn of couple of local homes. On the other side of the barricade there was regular police, paramedics, SWAT and Helena knew that the federal agents couldn't be far away either. She backed up and drove down a side street to find a parking spot. 

She considered if she should head up and join the crowd, while waiting for Barbara. Or if she should take a scouting trip around the school premises to probe what kind of set up each side had. Maybe she could spot an easy way in that she could later. She stared out the windshield for a moment, then got out and headed for the crowd to see if she could find Dinah among those who had gotten out.

Helena wandered through the crowds. There were already many worried parents, but some smart person down at city hall or maybe the police had begun collecting names and were trying to reunite parents and kids. Then she overheard one of the older teens explaining to a police man, "Yeah, the principal ordered all the 11th and 12th graders to go home. He said something about an accident. He had the 9th and 10th graders go over to the west gym… The teachers had to go to some room around there too. I only just got to my car, when they started shooting those the stragglers. I didn't see who fired, but it sounded very metallic… nothing like on TV." 

Helena wandered on, but she felt a lump of fear in her guts. Dinah was a 9th grader. The kid was smart though, so maybe she had left… but then again she had been raised to trust authority so she might not even have thought about not going. She looked around, but quickly became very aware of the lack of really young teens and her hopes fell steadily to be replaced by a gnawing fear. It was a fear full of what-if. What if Dinah had been shot already? What if Dinah was a hostage? What if the hostage takers shot her as an example? What if they had explosives? She looked at the building secretly glad no one could see her now slitted irises hidden as they were behind sunglasses. She had to stop herself from growling with anger as she stood there and saw the police men pour themselves coffee and look at each other in confusion, while a few of them tried to get in contact with the bastards inside and negotiate.

Barbara Gordon's car stopped a good length from the crowds. She looked down each side of the intersection and amidst the many and illegally parked cars there she spotted Helena's car. She drove over and parked as close by as she could, but instead of getting out she flipped up her laptop, which was connected to a couple of other components on the backseat. It allowed her to remote access and to operate the entire Delphi system. Quickly she got access to the police network and started to worm her way into their systems out here. A few commands gave her access to all their encrypted radio communication, while another few commands gave her, a link to Helena's com. She put a small wireless headset on and asked, "Huntress can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Oracle," the reply came crisp and with only negligible delay.

"Okay, I have parked close to your car. Have you found her?" She tried to keep Dinah's name off air in case their communication got intercepted.

"No, and I got a whole lot of bad news for you," Helena said and began to outline the situation as she had gotten it so far. The facts about which grades were probably still inside, about the danger and ruthlessness the hostage takers had shown so far and about the little the police had managed to achieve so far. Barbara put a hand to her forehead and forced herself to breathe in and out, trying to banish the blinding fear of losing Dinah.

"Alright, if you haven't done it yet, try to do a complete tour around the school. We need to find a safe way for you to get in there… in case we have to go in," Barbara explained.

"In case, what the hell, of course I am going in there. There are a whole lot of hostages in there with ruthless killers," Helena explained.

"Exactly, a whole lot of potential casualties if just a single thing goes wrong," Barbara answered.

Helena remained quiet for a few moments, "sorry, I didn't think."

"It's okay Huntress, I feel the same urge to rush in there, but we can't lose our heads here. There is simply too much at stake," Barbara explained, while her nimble fingers worked quickly to gather as much information on the school buildings and possible criminals who would pull a thing like this.

"I'll head out now," Helena replied.

Inside the school Eric waited for his wife and his sergeant to finish setting up the communications system, while he was keeping a careful eye on his watch and toying with his cell phone. In the next room the now handcuffed teachers and administrative staff were under the watchful eye of two of his men, while a whole group of them were currently handling the scared kids in the gym. In a room near the roof one of his two snipers was keeping an eye on the police, while the other one was looking for any surprises coming from another direction. The rest were on patrol in the school to head off any surprises.

"We're up and running again," his sergeant replied as the communication system started to hum. He put a headset on and asked for a report. 

"Squad two here, one of our guys has been hurt. He's being treated by our medic, but he won't be lending a hand for the remainder of the mission, Colonel," the leader of the second patrol unit reported. 

Eric calmly recalculated his combat strength, pushed away the annoyance of losing people this early in the game and asked, "Did you determine who did it?"

"That's the weird thing sir. It looks like some kind of freakish incident. He looks to have stumbled on some kid trying to hide in a class, who then somehow managed to pelt him with the class furniture. He seems to have killed the kid before going down, sir," the lieutenant reported.

"Are we sure there weren't other parties involved," he asked to make sure, while keeping an eye on his watch. He was still ahead of his schedule by two minutes, so he could afford to talk.

"Yes, sir, we searched the room and at the time there was another man in hall too. There was no way out of that class room short of the windows and they were closed, sir," his man explained.

"Good, report in at the agreed intervals. Colonel Ronald, out," he said and switched off his headset mike. He lifted the cell phone and dialed 911.

"Hello, I would like to talk to the police. I am the hostage taker at the Fox High School. I will wait for you to put me through to your negotiator now," he said and ignored all questions that followed until he was put through to an urbane sounding guy, who greeted him in his most pleasant voice and inquired who he was talking to.

"My name is unimportant. Make sure your recorders are running please as I won't repeat myself… I wouldn't want your detectives to feel that they had nothing to do. What is important is that I am currently in control of the High School and that I will kill one person an hour with no exceptions until the following demands are met. First I want a deposit from the New Gotham City Government to account number 666-0000000 in the Swish branch of Citibank of exactly one hundred million dollars. It will sit there for an hour unobserved electronically and yes I have ways to know if it is observed anyway. Second I want two transport helicopters to land exactly 10 meters and 30 meters on field to the west of the gym an hour after the money transfer has been confirmed. 20 hostages will join us on our flight, but no pilots will. You will leave a ten person inflatable life boat on each helicopter as well. Now I will start killing more if anything goes wrong and make no mistake about my seriousness any delays will be met with retribution," he said and shut off the telephone and activated his mike. "Do it and throw that kid you killed in the main building out as well," he commanded.

Barbara looked at her monitor, while the last of the audio data file was being uploaded to Delphi, one of her windows showed a camera feed. A window on the top floor of the gym building opened. There was a sound of a gun firing. A body was thrown clear. Barbara gasped. Then a window was opened in the main building and something else was thrown out too. 

She feared what the images could show, yet she still reran them frame by frame and had Delphi give her the images of the faces. She felt horrible, but she was relieved to find that the first guy had been Dinah's principal. Then the second body was analyzed and Barbara felt the burning of tears in her eyes. She recognized Joy's face even with the recent changes in make-up and clothing style. She found that she couldn't help shaking from time to time almost as if she was incredibly cold. "Oracle, those bodies… was Dinah," Helena's worried voice pulled her back.

"No… but one of them was Joy," she heard her voice, but it sounded hollow. She didn't hear Helena's replied curse.

Barbara looked down at her monitors and felt powerless. She looked down at her useless legs and for the thousandth time in her life cursed the Joker. She pounded a fist down on her thigh in anger, but felt only her hand hitting something else. She flexed her fingers, forming fists and relaxing them again. The building plans finally arrived on her desktop. Barbara quickly tapped the touch pad and began looking through them hoping to find some way in that the bastards could have overlooked. Of handedly she put Delphi at analyzing the local communication frequencies, while she was occupied.

Her clothes were beginning to stick to her skin and sweat continued to trickle down her body as she desperately and most important quietly tried to find a way out of the ventilation duct, she had climbed into. There was no way out to her except back up into the classroom only three or four yards back up. The ducts weren't the same wide open places she had been promised in action movies and Dinah felt like she couldn't breathe. Even worse the sensation of not being able to move constantly made her almost panic and only fear of discovery kept her from crying constantly or screaming out.

She had no idea, how long she had been stuck in the duct, but she couldn't hold out much longer. The ducts that crossed with the one leading up were so small that she could only barely poke her feet into the holes and her arms were pinned above her head. Any movement she made got the entire metal duct to rattle and echo. She had no idea how loud it would sound to people up in the school, and she was slowly growing too desperate to care. Patience Dinah, she thought and reminded herself, what sacrifice had been made to get her to this place. She forced herself to relax, but redoubled her effort to try and figure a way out.

The thought however of Joy's sacrifice made her flashback to the scene which resides in her memory like it was a crystal clear but yet strangely remote event. She could observe again and again, how the girl, who had never truly known her, had bravely or maybe foolishly stepped in between her and danger. Joy had suffered the consequences and now she was left here hiding like a rat in the walls.

"Come again Oracle, there was some kind of interference," Helena asked.

"I might have found the perfect way into the basement of the school. There is an old tunnel system below the school left from an Old Gotham building, which they just slapped this place on top off. You should be able to break up into the school basement at a certain spot I'll point out to you. From there you're going to scout out the main building first," Barbara's voice explained in her ear. Helena didn't feel ready to charge in yet. 

"That didn't sound like a complete plan," Helena replied.

"It wasn't. The police are sure the crooks have their own encrypted communications system. I got into it a few minutes ago. By the time you're in the basement I'll have enough voice samples to imitate the patrols that are going through the school and you should be able to take them out one by one with my guidance. Once that is done, you'll get rid of their snipers on the roof. By then according to the police schedule the money will have been transferred to the account. That is when it gets difficult," Barbara said as if the first part would be a cake walk.

"Really and pounding through concrete is easy," Helena replied already wincing at the thought.

"I'll feed the police the correct frequency and decryption key for the hostage takers network and plant messages that should get them moving. Meanwhile you'll drop the little gift our butler is coming over with right now into the gym and take out the people in there freeing the hostages. When the kids are secure, you'll wait around for the police before making a clean getaway," Barbara explained.

"What kind of gift are we talking about?" Helena asked.

"He is bringing a couple of your dad's small gas and flash bombs," Barbara explained. Helena couldn't help flinching at the mention of her father.

"I'll be right over," she said and ran back towards the cars leaving the anxious and very outraged crowds to worry, who would be killed next as the fourth hour was about to be over, while a beautiful red sunset graced the sky.

Helena looked again at the small collection of grey and black globes that her father's treasured butler had brought over, while she ran through the old tunnel she had accessed through an old boarded up entrance. She didn't wonder where Barbara had found information about this place. Barbara had been active back during the great quake and had maybe used this tunnel for some business or kept an old map around. "Left at the next intersection," Barbara's voice suggested.

"How long before the next one gets it?" Helena asked.

"The latest deadline passed two minutes ago. They were right on schedule," Barbara explained.

"I'm gonna kill them," Helena muttered.

"Huntress, don't even think about it," Barbara said sharply, "it's not fair I agree, but don't make me worry about you too… please." Helena had never heard Barbara beg like that. 

"These guys have doomed themselves already. They're gonna get tried under the terrorism laws. They will probably get the fast track on execution row and god have mercy on them if they're put in contact with the prison population… a lot of criminals have children too. There is no way no how those bastards will get out of this alive," Barbara explained.

"Good," Helena said knowing that Barbara wouldn't have been able to tell her this or even speak if the latest victim had been Dinah.

Dinah couldn't stand it any more. She experimentally tapped the metal walls with her fingers. It sounded like there was some kind of give in them. Maybe she wasn't surrounded by solid walls. She considered her options. She could go back to the classroom. But she had already a couple of times heard noise from upstairs indicating that somebody still checked the room from time to time. She could stay, but she was constantly verging on panic and it was incredibly hot and dry as well. Finally she could try to punch a way out of her predicament, but that might alert the patrolling madmen to her hiding place. There was a noise overhead again. She held her breath and forced herself to stay still. Half a minute later the noise disappeared again. She slowly let out her breath but tried to stay quiet for a minute afterwards. 

It was getting darker. Soon she wouldn't be able to get even the little light filtering in through the classroom grate overhead. She couldn't bare that thought. Dinah looked straight ahead at the metal seam of a section of duct. She pulled in as much strength as she could and tried to focus it to not form a shockwave but a solid centralized and fast blow on the duct in front of her. She felt almost as if the heat and nervous energy in her body drained leaving her feeling like she had just sprinted up a hill. She released the pent-up force.

There was a massive tearing noise. Suddenly her world seemed to tilt and swing in the opposite direction of her massive push. Dinah was surrounded by the shrieking of metal, when she was suddenly dumped unceremoniously out of the duct.

She looked around and found herself on a dusty collection of pipes running through a crawlspace in the basement. Above her there was a torn and bent section of duct amongst the pipes running up through the building. Dinah felt it might be wiser to move away in case anyone had heard anything. Up the tunnel she could see a faint light. Dinah began crawling forward.


	16. Chapter 16: Rescue

**Chapter 16: Rescue**

            "And how do I get up into the basement from here then," Helena asked and looked up at the grey concrete over her head.

"The collection of small objects I got you, there should be a large oval one with a red edge around the middle. Take it, press the small catch at the top and throw at the concrete as hard as you from as far away as you can then dodge. You should have five seconds to take cover after impact. It's a very high powered thermal charge. Try not to breathe too many fumes though," Barbara explained over her com. 

Helena looked at the innocent looking black object, flipped the catch and made her best pitcher imitation aiming at the overhead oval. The black thing shattered against the hard surface, but Helena was already spurting away for a bit of relative safety. Suddenly a strange smelling cloud blew past her, making her hold her breath to avoid the noxious smell.

She slowly made her way back. The charge seemed to have created enough heat to liquefy the cement and create hole that looked wide enough to crawl through. Gingerly Helena checked the edges and after a slight sizzle from the leather she decided to wait a bit.

"The police just transferred the money to the account. They should be bringing in the helicopters in an hour," Barbara reported as she sat near the hole, waiting for the stone to cool.

"I thought, they were going to go with the standard, we don't negotiate with terrorists stick. I can't believe they're caving to their demands," Helena replied.

"They aren't, they're just trying to gain time and stop any more killings. As far as I can tell from the police computers and communications they're planning to have the transport helicopters loaded with SWAT or something like that. It's the best insertion plan they've got," Barbara explained.

Helena cursed under her breath. "I've got to get up there. The kid is in there and they're about to turn it into a pigeon shoot," she said.

"You have less than an hour," Barbara reminded her. Helena felt that Barbara was agreeing with her. The plan of the police could very well turn the hostage taking into an even more bloody mess. She walked over to the hole and looked up. She jumped up, grabbed the sizzling hot stone and pushed herself through ignoring the pain spreading through her gloves and into her fingers.

Helena got up and quickly danced away from the hole, while shaking her smoking leather gloves and expressing her pain. "You could have waited," Barbara's voice suggested in her ear, but she just ignored her, while she stripped off her gloves.

"I'm in the basement, which direction should I take," Helena asked and looked left and right.

"Go to your left. At the first T-cross head in, you should find a stair on your right after a couple of yards," Barbara explained and off she went.

Dinah stopped dead in her tracks. Far away she could hear the sound of steps, someone was running… through the basement. Making a quick decision, she withdrew deeper back into the crawlspace hiding in the darkness. She hoped whoever it was didn't know to look up here. The sound stopped and continued in another direction. Dinah sighed and pushed a dusty and sweaty strand of hair out of her face before heading forward. A quick push and she was out of the crawlspace and down on the floor of a basement corridor.

For a moment she just sat there ignoring her messy almost sooty clothes, her sticky hair and the taste of dust in her mouth. She just had to stop and catch her breath for a while. "You need to get out of here," a voice in her head said and sounded much like her mother would've. "No, you should see if you can do any good before you simply run away," another voice wheedled. It sounded a lot like a cross between Helena and what she remembered of Carolyn's voice.

Dinah fought with her fear for a while. She knew very well that the men up there had automatic weapons and probably a lot of other military gear, but there was probably still no easy way out of the school without risking being shot by a sniper. And maybe she could do some good by scouting around, while looking for a safe escape route. She wished she could get in contact with her mom, but she didn't have a com set like Helena… Her cell phone was in her locker. If she could find a way to get it, she could at least talk to her mom. Dinah got up and walked carefully down the corridor hoping to find some kind of stairs out of the basement.

"Ready," Barbara's voice asked in her ear. Helena smiled and all her muscles were at attention ready to spring into action. A pair of footsteps was getting closer. 

"Now," she whispered and sprang up the last flight of stairs as a cigarette smoking block fellow wearing overalls, carrying a headset and assault rifle appeared at the top of the stairs. Her stretched-out foot hammered into the side of his head. He flew across the empty school hall and slammed into a closed door. Before he could talk or point his gun, she had flipped up, over and put her full weight behind a heel kick into his solar plexus. The already woozy crook was left stunned without any breath in his lungs. Helena finished him off with a solid punch to his head leaving him unconscious.

She padded him down and found plastic strips usually used for quick handcuffing. With a smile she grabbed the small bundle and dragged her first victim into an empty classroom. She saw that there was a cupboard about the size of a man. A few strips and a hard shove later she set off to find more, while somewhere out side Delphi took over this guy's voice. "Alright who is next?" Helena asked.

"There should be two more on the floor you're on. Head away from the entrance, I have the voice id of the one down that way pegged as the next on my list," Barbara suggested.

Dinah quietly headed up the stairs and looked around. She had to be really careful, she knew that. She looked out into the corridor and carefully checked each direction, before heading towards the entrance. The corridor branching off along the building that way contained her locker. Using the opportunity of an empty hall she quickly ran down the hall. 

Halfway there she heard a few faint sounds from somewhere behind her and she practically roll dodged in through an open classroom door and slid out of easy view from the corridor. A while she sat there, feeling as if her heart was beating loud enough to be heard. The sound had disappeared again. She got up and looked out the door again. Then the sound of steps came back and she saw a thin guy in overalls walk into view and then continue down the corridor she had been heading towards. 

Dinah ducked back inside the classroom and wondered if she should stay, head towards her cell phone or try and find a better place to hide. The corridor the guy had headed down into was a dead-end. Sooner or later he would return and maybe even search the classroom she was in. She needed a better hiding place. Dinah considered it, while she got up, looked both ways again and ran back up towards the basement stairs.

She just managed to reach them, when he heard someone behind her yell, "You there stop." There was a sound almost as if really pissed off supersonic bees flew past behind her. The lockers rang from the impacts and there were sparks. Dinah cursed and quickly ran down the stairs. They knew she was here now. She needed to find a way to hide or stop them and she had no idea, how many would be going down after her.

Barbara heard a call go out over the hostage takers communications channel coming from the only still conscious one on the ground floor of the main building. "Stephenson here, student sighted running free in the halls, probable hiding place the basement," he said.

A few moments later, the voice of the leader, who called himself Colonel, replied, "Stephenson, you and Gomez head down there and terminate. Webber, head down to the ground floor until they return."

"Confirmed," all three replied, not knowing that only two of the three voices were actually not being produced by Delphi. Barbara looked up at the army personnel database search running in a small window, but it hadn't produced any solid leads yet. 

She switched the headset over to her channel to Helena and said, "Alright Helena, a guy is heading down the stairs you're close to. I want you to take him out. That'll leave the ground floor with only one guy. After that your next target should be somewhere over by one of the classrooms over the entrance." She felt sick for not telling Helena about the student in the basement, but the needs of the many came before the needs of one person, even if it could be Dinah or anyone else.

"Alright… What about the last guy down here," Helena asked. 

"He's distracted for now, we're behind schedule, you need to get to that sniper and soon. I don't know where he is though, he's been radio silent, but we've both seen evidence of his handiwork," she explained.

"I am going up now," Helena replied.

Dinah felt every breath burning in her throat and her side stung already, but she couldn't stop. Somewhere not too far behind her one or more men were coming… with weapons. She didn't have any way to stop a bullet they were too fast to catch with her telekinesis, so she continued doing the logical thing and kept on running.

Somewhere behind her she could only just make out the sound of boots running on the concrete. She headed in the opposite direction of where she had crawled out of the ducts. The corridor ended up feeding into another lighted long one. She dashed to left only in time to avoid another spray of bullets, which peppered the wall in front of her. Dust and concrete fell from the wall. Panic spread through her mind and she screamed in shock, while holding her ears. "Run Dinah," something still sane and thinking inside of her screamed.

Dinah ran down the corridor looking for another cover. She knew that the second her enemies turned the corner behind her and saw her exposed, he or they would open fire. She saw another corner and turned it only to find her way blocked by metal door. She barely avoided slamming into it. She grabbed the handle and pushed. The door remained locked. 

A sudden insight told her that a single pair of boots was skidding to a stop down the corridor. She stared down at the handle and tried to pull some energy out of her bone-tired mind to blow in the door. "Just surrender and I'll make it quick and painless," her enemy called down the corridor. Panic surged back into her system feeding into her TK and the door tore open. 

Dinah stumbled into the room, her vision swam and she barely had enough concentration to push the door closed behind her. She had found the boiler room. Dinah wearily sat down facing the door. She felt almost resigned with her fate. She doubted she had enough strength left in her to lift a leaf, much less stop an insane bastard like the one headed towards her. 

Still a lifetime with Barbara Gordon had instilled a deep seated will in her. "Pull yourself together, you can beat them. You don't have to rely on your abilities. You have a mind, use it," she told herself and her eyes started darting around the room looking for something to use against her assailant. The room was mostly bare except for a myriad of overhead pipes, the boiler and an old table on which a couple of iron saws and long pieces of pipe lay.

Dinah's eyes settled on the pipes. Quickly she reached down and pulled off her jeans and her shoes. She grabbed a pipe, ran over and placed her shoes and her jeans behind the boiler to make it look like she was hiding in the corner between the boiler and the wall. From the door you could just make the hind part of her shoes and her jeans out. Dinah kept a good hold on the pipe, and hid under the big table. 

She barely got in before someone kicked the door open. She bit her lip to keep from crying out and watched as a thin man in overalls, brandishing an automatic rifle and wearing a headset radio walked in. She took better hold of the pipe and got ready to move. The man looked around and luckily saw her trap before he saw her. He smiled and jumped sideways and opened fire. Dinah half-crawled half-ran out of her hiding place and pulled the pipe back for a big swing.

The guy caught on, but before he could turn towards her, the pipe smacked against his head. Dinah didn't think, all she did was hit the man in the head twice… thrice then he finally stumbled back and fell down. Thinking quickly Dinah hammered the pipe against the rifle, sending it out of his grip. However she was neither strong nor trained to fight.

The man recovered quickly, jumped up and crashed into her. He tackled her to the ground. She lost her grip on the pipe and it clattered away. Dinah was pinned beneath his heavy weight. "You damned little bitch," the man cursed. Dinah saw blood trickling down the side of the man's head. His eyes seemed slightly glazed with both pain and what she imagined berserker rage would look like. She pounded weakly against his arms, but they slid down and grabbed her throat. "You'll die choking," he said and squeezed.

She clawed at his hands and felt flesh touch flesh. Using her last ounce of strength she forced herself to push against his mind instead of his much stronger arms. Her world turned black and white. Here she was bigger and stronger. She stood in the middle of the room. She looked over and saw the man sitting on top of her a few feet away. She walked over, put a hand on his shoulder and said, "You'll listen too me now. You'll go to sleep now. Sleep," she commanded and let go.

Her world swiveled and turned back to color. She was still on the floor under him. His grip went limp and he tumbled down to lie half besides half on top of her. She struggled free of him, carefully trying not wake the sleeping man. She pushed herself across the floor and just sat there staring, while the pain in her neck slowly went away.

Helena threw the guy into wall high over the stairwell and he slid down several yards before he had a painful landing. She saw to her joy that he was unconscious. "I got him," she reported. 

"Good, that makes nearly all of them. You need to get over to the floor above the gym. I am pretty sure the sniper is up there," Barbara reported.

"How long time is it until the helicopters arrive?" She had to ask and she ran down the hall heading over to the stairs that would take her to where she needed to go if memory served correctly.

"They just left the airbase with the SWAT people aboard. It is really a mess out here. Parents, relatives and students are milling around knowing that their classmates and children may already be dead or could soon be. A lot want blood already I can tell you that," Barbara explained.

"How about you, I am feeling about ready to seriously maim these people, you must feel worse," she commented as she dashed up the stairs leading to the floor she was looking for.

"I am fine. At least we're doing something. If we can just free the hostages, everything will be fine. But remember Helena you mustn't acknowledge Dinah in there," Barbara replied, while she slowed down. Now she had to try and pinpoint the sniper they knew was hiding somewhere.

"Alright, I just got a hit on Delphi. We know who these people are now. Their leader is an actual Army Colonel named Eric Ronald. He and most of his unit disappeared along with a good bit of equipment several months ago during an exercise all the way over in Wyoming. Military Police have been hunting for them for a while now, but I don't think anyone could have expected this to be the result," Barbara explained.

Helena thought she heard something and whispered, "Oracle could you keep quiet I think I heard something." She got no response.

Helena looked through a small glass window and saw a man lying on a table wearing a cloth over him that was the same color as the table. A very large rifle peeked out of the cover long with some kind of lens. He had a full view of the field on which the helicopters would land. She smiled fiercely and carefully opened the door to the classroom. The guy was about to join his comrades in dreamland. 

Dinah sat staring. She had been sitting there for a while. "This is stupid, no one else is coming, but if you stay here you won't do either yourself or anybody else any good," she thought. She then slowly got up, put her now bullet-hole riddled jeans and shoes on, grabbed the rifle and headed for the door. Halfway there she stopped and went over to carefully retrieve the headset.

On her way down a corridor she took the clip out of the rifle and threw it into an overhead crawlspace full of pipes. A little while later she repeated her actions with the rifle.

She was walking down the corridor looking for a better hiding place or maybe some kind of sewer access, when she heard someone call, "Stephenson, report in damn it," in the headset. She didn't dare reply instead just picked up pace.

"Gomez, what happened to Stephenson," the same male voice demanded. Again there was no reply.

"Webber, report in," the now a little desperate voice demanded.

"This is Webber's voice mail. Please leave a message and I'll get back to you," her mother's voice replied dryly. Dinah almost cried at the sound, she wanted to talk to her, but she knew that someone inside the school with her, probably the leader of these people was listening as well.

"Who are you?" The man demanded.

"I am the all-knowing Oracle, and I know all about you Colonel Eric Ronald," her mom replied. Dinah almost giggled with joy. She knew if her mom was involved then so was Helena. When taking into account that no one had replied to the radio messages meant that either her mom was blocking their radios, which would have required noise on the channel, or Helena was here inside the school at this moment. Suddenly she felt a lot safer.

"Well, Miss Oracle, I don't have time to talk to you. Everyone else shift to the next protocol we've been branched," he said and there was a series of pops and clicks. They had probably changed frequencies. She considered talking to her mom, but they might still be listening so instead she opted to get rid of the headset like she had done with the rifle and its clip, and threw it into a crawlspace.

Up in the room next the gym Eric tore off his headset in anger. His plan was being disrupted. "Alright, make sure everyone is switched over then give me a remaining headcount. We need to pick up the most docile of the kids and get ready. The helicopters are landing any minute now," he said to his wife.

"What about the teachers, administrators and the rest of the kids?" His wife asked.

"Gas them then they're out of the way at least," he said, while taking up a small remote trigger. "I guess it'll be time for our second surprise soon," he said and switched it on. His wife nodded, while unpacking a couple of gas grenades and masks.

"Helena, they know something is up. The helicopters are landing as we speak. Be really careful when you go in," her friend explained in her ear, while she slowly crawled up the grate that was the last barrier between her and the kids. She looked down and saw only two guards down near the exit. They had machine guns and looked very acute. She gazed out of the kids they held hostage and knew that there was no way she would let even a single one of them get hurt. 

Her eyes shifted to feline, she could feel her power surging through her body. She grabbed the grate and pushed away as hard as her enhanced legs would allow. As she flew through the air with one hand she threw the gas bombs Barbara had given her earlier. Quicker than she had imagined the room filled with thick grey smoke. The kids screamed and started to cough. 

Helena's enhanced eyes could just pierce the smoke covered as they were behind her mask. She easily swiveled her body in the air and pushed away from the opposite wall sending her towards her by now confused enemies.

Eric glanced out and saw the suddenly grayed out gym. "Quick, grab a teacher and head for the first helicopter," he said to his wife, while pushing down the remote trigger. Bombs placed next to power lines, phone lines and in sewers all over the neighborhood exploded, dipping the entire place in darkness and chaos. He followed his wife into the meeting room, where they had kept the teachers. Like his wife he had put on a gasmask. He grabbed the principal and followed his wife out the door, tossing a gas grenade in the room, while his retreat was covered by his staff sergeant.

Helena grabbed the coughing watery eyed goon and while pushing down his shoulders she launched a full on jump knee first into his groin. He went limp enough for her to spin around and throw as hard as she could into his partner, who looked about ready to fire around randomly. Her lungs burned from the smoke, but still she noted with satisfaction that they both went down and stayed down. "Huntress, the police are about to bust in. Head for the basement and get out now," Barbara said with urgency in her ear. Helena looked around, she wanted to find Dinah and make sure she was okay, but she knew that it wouldn't be an option. Instead she ran for the nearest entrance to the school halls.

Eric cursed under his breath as they headed towards the exit. He had no idea, who or what had ruined his plans like this. But he knew it wasn't the unimaginative police. His wife reached around her hostage and pulled the door open. They ran for their escape craft, while he thought; that the best the police could have come up with was putting SWAT inside the helicopters, but his snipers would have seen that. But they might also be... He skidded to a stop and opened his mouth to yell, when suddenly there was a short staccato series of bursts from behind them as the SWAT team hiding next to the door shot them to save their hostages. Eric slipped away, chagrinned that he had never figured out or seen his real opponent.


	17. Chapter 17: Fateful Decision

**Chapter 17: Fateful Decision**

            Dinah slowly made her way up the stairs and out into the school halls for the second time. She could hear helicopters fly overhead as she made her way down to the entrance. She gazed outside to see mostly darkness. Then slowly step by step lights came back on and massive floodlights began flowing across the building, casting an eerie bluish white light. Large groups of body armored policemen were heading across the grass. 

She backed away from the door and sat down, while the adrenaline slowly began seeping out of her system. She would be saved now. A squad of black clad police men ran up the flight of stairs and saw her. She could almost see then debating how to react. Two men headed up to the door. They reached forward and one of them slowly opened it, while the other kept a lookout for trouble. Dinah didn't blame them for being careful. A male voice asked in a low tone, "hey you, come over here, we'll get you out now."

Dinah nodded her sweaty and dusty hair. She slowly stumbled to her feet and walked over to the door. The police man pulled her out of the opening. "Take her over to the paramedics immediately," he ordered and indicated two of the men to take her.

"Listen one of the hostage takers is down in the basement in the boiler room. I knocked him out, and I've thrown his rifle and ammunition into the crawlspaces close by," she explained before they took her away. The police man looked after her and Dinah sensed a combination of both pity and grave respect radiating from the men as they guided her to crouch and run in between them.

They came out of the trees. Dinah was astounded to find a huge collection of ambulances and some sort of temporary tented area having been set up. A huge crowd was kept behind some barricades nearby complete with nosy journalists, who were busy taking pictures. Some tried to get in as she was brought over to the tented area, but they were forcefully stopped by some uniformed officers. The police men told her to stay with the paramedics and headed back towards the school. 

Dinah couldn't help staring wide eyed at the clean and pleasant looking woman paramedic, who gently asked her to sit down, while she examined her and asked her questions. "Wow, what happened here," the paramedic asked and examined her bullet hole riddled jeans.

"I used them in a trap to catch one of the hostage takers off guard and knock him out," she explained too tired and drained to really lie. The paramedic looked up at her again and Dinah could see in her eyes the same pity and respect that she had felt from the policemen. She wished they would keep the pity for those, who had actually lost something and that respect for those that had made an actual difference. 

Soon the paramedic was replaced with a psychiatrist and a policeman, when suddenly a large collection of her school mates was brought in together with a load of people on stretchers. Dinah gave them simple answers telling them her name and address, explaining how her and Joy hadn't gotten out of the classroom, before the shooting started, explaining Joy's wild attack on the criminal letting her hide in a tight duct, how she had managed to rock the duct loose, telling off her attempts to get out of the school, how she had managed to trick and knock out the man after her and finally how the police men had found her. She glossed over the parts where she had used her powers, but was truthful about everything else.

When one of the policemen returned to ask more questions, she finally lost her patience. "Go ask someone else. I want to go find my mother. I want to go home. I don't want to sit here anymore. I am fine and I will be better, when I am with my mother," she said. 

The police man was taken aback but nodded. "I would love to take you to your mother, but there is the slight issue of finding her. Do you have her phone number so that we can contact her," he asked. Dinah promptly gave him the regular phone number that would reroute them to Delphi. The police man left only to return a bit later with good news. "I was put through to your mom; she says she will be waiting at the barricade in a few minutes. I want to warn you however. There is a hell of a lot press down there. The walk out of here might be a bit hard," he explained.

"I'll be fine," she replied. She didn't really feel like having any kind of spotlight shone on her, but she really needed to see her mom.

A few minutes later Dinah in her sweaty and dusty shirt, bullet-hole riddled pants and now quite airy shoes stood with her dirty face and hair in front of the mass of people outside the barricade. Dinah could sense the questioning looks and roiling emotions of fear, loss and desperation of the relatives combined with the curiosity and ambition of the journalists. Finally she caught sight of her mom and Helena fighting their way to front. "That's them," she said to the police man at her side. He let her go and Dinah dashed up the barrier and was let through by the two policemen standing there. 

No sooner had she put a foot outside before the microphones, tape recorders and cameras seemed to press in on her from everywhere. Questions and curious looks assaulted her on all sides, while the suddenly angry police men behind her tried to help by yelling for people to back away. Suddenly a gap opened as two reporters were yanked away. Helena appeared wearing all of her Huntress disguise except her mask. "Come here kid," she said and reached for her. Dinah felt as if she was safe as she was pulled forward to stand next to her mom.

She didn't waste any time, but threw herself into a tight embrace. "I thought I would never see you again," her mom whispered. Dinah couldn't speak as all the fear and terror she had been holding back flooded through her system, but disappeared again like dew in the sun from the familiar warmth of her mother's embrace.

"Let's go," Helena said and guided the wheelchair, its owner and temporary passenger away from the crowd even if it followed them for a while.

They made it out into the free air and Dinah felt a great relief the further they went from the crowd and if she was honest with herself the school as well. "Dinah, Dinah, thank god, you're alright. Did Joy get out together with you?" Dinah felt her guts knot themselves and she felt sick as she jumped out of her mother's chair and turned to face Joy's mother standing nearby. She could see from the crestfallen look on both her mom and Helena's faces that they already knew.

"I am sorry, Mrs. Landers but… Joy…" She began crying as the images flashed through her mind again. She could suddenly feel the droplet of Joy's blood hitting her face again, but she forced herself to remain strong. "Joy died in front of my eyes… Joy is dead. I am so sorry. I couldn't do anything," she said and knew that it was the truth even if it was bitter. Tears dripped from her eyes uncontrolled for a while and her sight was blurred. A strong pair of hands guided her and she became aware of being in a car, before she could really collect herself.

A few days later all the news in the city and actually around a lot of the world rotated around the high school and what had transpired there. Conspiracy theorists were having a field day claiming all sorts of weird stuff some of which had actually transpired. Barbara leaned back in her seat in front of Delphi. She hadn't been to work for a while either. She felt that Dinah, no matter what she said, needed her around. 

And there was also the load of work having to manipulate evidence and records to allow their anonymity. She had registered Dinah in both Junior High and High School using a false address and records to avoid leaving some reason for people to visit the Clocktower, but now journalists and policemen wanted to interview her daughter and she'd rather not have that. So she had been forced to make arrangements to have all those things happen out in the Wayne manor with the help of Alfred. 

The plan was to move out there for a while. They would conduct all the interviewing from there and enjoy the facilities. She could run much of her job as Oracle from the Batcave even if Helena was very unlikely to visit. The elevator slid open admitting Helena to the Clocktower. "Hey," she said in greeting.

"Hi, Alfred asked me to drive you guys out to the manor. He still needed to fix your rooms. Are you guys ready to go," Helena said.

"Dinah is still in her room," Barbara admitted slightly surprised that Helena and not Alfred would be driving them.

"I didn't think you'd be keen on setting foot inside your father's house," Barbara commented as she tapped in the last of the commands putting Delphi on standby, before driving down the short ramp and heading for Dinah's room with a silent Helena in tow.

She knocked softly and opened the door. Dinah was looking out the window at the city outside. "Are you ready to go?" She asked carefully. Dinah had been really quiet and often lost herself in deep thought these last days.

"Yes," she replied, got up and grabbed her suitcases. 

Helena and Barbara were behind Dinah as they headed for the elevator. "So kid you excited about the manor," Helena asked.

"Not really," Dinah replied. Helena cast a glance at Barbara. She knew that Dinah was shutting them out right now. She guessed that it was because of her seeing her best friend gunned down in front of her. She considered, not for the first time these last few days, if she should get Dinah back into therapy just like she had been in the first months after getting shot the Joker.

They descended and went over to the car. "I will bring our car," she said and let Dinah ride with Helena as their car was loaded with some extra equipment and stuff left over from the hostage taking. As she guided the car out using the joystick she thought back to Dinah telling her story. She remembered Dinah revealing her telekinesis.

"How did you do that?" she had asked when Dinah had mentioned how she had held the door closed in front of Joy.

Dinah had looked up at her with guilt written all over her face. "I have telekinetic abilities. I have had them for years now. I've kept it secret from you for a long time," she had admitted.

"Why?" She had asked.

"I wanted something that was my own thing. Something I didn't share without just like you don't share your life as a hero with me," Dinah had explained and those words had hurt.

She drove down the road outside of New Gotham Helena's car a few yards in front of her. She couldn't put Dinah's secrecy out of her mind. Her daughter had kept a major secret from her so well that there had been no indications of it. She knew that Dinah several times had snuck in to spy on her working as Oracle and that Dinah had even tried to catch glimpses of Helena at work, but that Dinah had managed to keep a major part of her abilities secret from her was a shock and indication maybe that all was not well in the Gordon household.

But maybe it was just Dinah's way of rebelling against the rules she had set up. Dinah wouldn't reveal their secrets so instead she became a secretive person. She questioned herself continually now if it had been wise to tell Dinah about her and Helena's double life instead of making her a party too it. Maybe she could have kept their business out of the Clocktower. But then that would just have left Dinah alone for an even greater part of her life. 

And even worse she couldn't really bring herself to delve deeply into these issues with Dinah because of what had happened. Dinah had come home and in the beginning it seemed like she had just been happy to have gotten out. There had been little or no hints of fear or any stress related trauma, but over the days that followed Dinah had grown increasingly distant and lost in thought. Barbara decided that it was probably best to get Dinah back into therapy as they headed up towards the huge Wayne Manor. 

As the last notes of the piece vibrated on the strings of her cello she felt a tear descend her cheek. It was usually played in a duet, but her partner was gone for good. Dinah got up, leaving her cello and bow behind. She walked over to the huge windows that were so prevalent in the massive manor and stared out the rain pelted windows. 

The image of Joy dying passed through her mind again. "Damn it," she cursed and turned away from the windows. She wanted to do something anything that would make her friend's sacrifice alright, give it a meaning. She had exactly achieved nothing in her entire life. People kept calling her gifted, but she had nothing to show for it. Her family and friends kept telling her that it was great she had gotten alive and that she had been really brave. She hadn't and she hated to hear them tell it. It was such a hollow kind of praise and like so much else these days it made her angry. 

She wanted to do something, to make someone pay for her pain, to make them pay for all the bad things that happened to all the people because no one would protect them. But the one thing that she knew in her mind and soul she could do about it, the one person, whose opinion mattered, probably would not let her do. "I hate this," Dinah felt so damn helpless and it pissed her off. The image of Joy's corpse falling to the ground passed through Dinah's mind and she sank to the floor her back up against the rain pelted glass door. 

Dinah felt butterflies vie for room in her stomach competing with the massive dinner Alfred had dished up this even. She had fought with the decision the entire evening now as the clock ticked towards midnight, she was trespassing in the legendary Batcave. Dinah pushed out a breath, steeled herself and brazenly walked towards the massive computers that served as her mother's lifeline to Delphi back home. 

"You're not allowed in here," her mother said without turning from her screen. Alfred stood next to her pouring some tea. Wisps of steam came off the hot tea in the air of the cold Batcave, while she just kept walking until she stood next to her mother.

"Mom, I want to talk to you about something," Dinah said. She felt almost distanced from her own body and mouth, almost as if a third person was talking. She was so nervous. Her mom swiveled in her chair, her eyes wary and a hint of the hurt that had been there ever since her revelation of her telekinesis, still apparent. 

"What is it Dinah? Helena is having some trouble with a gang of carjackers so I have to monitor the police closely," her mom reminded her. Dinah routinely suppressed the stab of jealousy that those words had given her.

She took in a breath, and couldn't help feel the warmth of hope in her heart as she stated her request. "Mom, I want you to train me to be a hero like Helena," she said.

She expected her mother to at least spend some time thinking it over, but the answer came promptly, "No." Her hopes whisked out of existence and were almost instantly replaced with a hollow feeling. The anger from earlier this evening returned. She had known it, she had felt it. She hadn't trusted those feelings, but now she understood them.

She opened her mouth to protest, her mind filled with arguments, but her mother cut her off, "Dinah there is no way I would ever allow you to send yourself into danger just because you feel a misplaced guilt over Joy's death. Vengeance is never the basis for a career as a hero."

Dinah looked around in the cave, at Alfred's surprised look, at the screen showing Helena's position and felt ridiculed by her mother's words. She couldn't help snorting derisively. "This is not a discussion Dinah. It will never happen. Now get back to bed," her mother said with a tone of finality. 

Dinah felt her well prepared arguments flash through her mind once more, but instead she just gave her mom the most glacial look. She felt hurt deep inside and she needed to lash out somehow. "Good luck on your work tonight, Barbara. Goodnight, Alfred," she said struggling to keep any kind of emotion out her voice. She couldn't help feeling betrayed by her adopted mother as she left the Batcave.

Dinah walked out onto the hallways of Wayne Manor, the secret door behind the grandfather clock clicked shut on its own afterwards. She felt angry. Her mom insisted on treating her like a little kid and she seemed to put as much value in her opinions as in those of a toddler. She stood in the dark hall steaming with anger for a while not caring if her anger made all the little knickknacks on the furniture and the paintings shake. She forced herself to relax. She realized that any kind of tantrum would serve no purpose. There was still another avenue open to her.

The tone at the breakfast table was icy even with Helena there. Dinah knew that their continued presence at Wayne Manor was a great annoyance to her black haired surrogate sister. Helena disliked being reminded of her father and the only reason for her presence was to check up on her from time to time. Helena worried about her. Still she welcomed Helena's presence, because it would allow her to explore another option.

Breakfast was over and Helena seemed in a hurry to leave the Manor already. Dinah followed her down to the cavernous Manor garage, where her car stood. "Helena, wait up," she called out.

Her friend turned around and looked at her. "Hey, Dinah, could you make it quick? I have an appointment downtown."

"Sure, I have to ask you about something," she felt the familiar butterflies from last night return. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but she knew that if she didn't do anything her wish would not be granted.

"Alright," Helena replied and lifted a thin black eyebrow.

She feared the response, but she still had to ask, "Helena, I would like you to train me to be a hero like you and mom."

Helena looked surprised by her request, but her eyes narrowed in suspicion almost immediately after. "Your mom said no, huh," she said.

Dinah debated whether she could lie about it, but knew that it would be pointless. Instead she just sullenly nodded. 

"I can't teach you then," Helena answered. 

Dinah first felt disappointment which quickly morphed into anger. "Why not, you're not mom's charge anymore. You can do what you want. Please, Helena, I want to be like you. I need to do this," she pleaded hoping that Helena would understand.

"Dinah, your mom is right. She doesn't want you to do this and that is important. Your mom is very smart Dinah. I trust her judgment and I know better than to go against it. I am sure that you're not meant to be a hero like me. You have an amazing mind. Why don't you use it for something a little safer and smarter like become a good doctor or lawyer? You would still be helping people that way," Helena suggested and opened the door of her car. 

Dinah didn't even bother to think about Helena's suggestions. Staying behind night after night and deal with the criminals others caught or saving the victims that suffered, was not anywhere on her list. She wanted to make things better before anyone got hurt.

Helena opened the window of her car and turned to face Dinah. "You're not going to do anything rash now. There is no reason to punish your mom or ignoring her like you did at breakfast. You should try to do something constructive instead," she suggested.

Dinah tried to force her face to look thoughtful then she nodded and replied, "I guess you're right. Maybe it's a better idea to help people instead. Thank you, Helena." Helena looked at her nodded, closed the window and drove off.

"It seems no one will help then I'll just do it on my own," Dinah thought and stared as Helena's car disappeared down the tree flanked road heading towards New Gotham.


	18. Chapter 18: Losses

**Chapter 18: Losses**

            "So where is the kid," Helena asked. She was sitting on a table across from the Delphi monitors. They had moved back in a couple of weeks ago. Barbara had returned to work half-time; while Dinah like most of her classmates was being home schooled and went to therapy sessions. 

Dinah seemed to be getting back to normal. She hadn't mentioned their conversation in the garage or anything about becoming a hero ever since. Instead she had thrown herself into school work, spending hours every day reading or researching online. She had spent a lot of time in the Clocktower keeping company with Dinah just in case the girl needed someone to talk to, but Dinah hadn't brought up much more than a need to shop and that she was considering quitting cello practice.

Barbara looked up from the incredibly intricate looking electronic design that she had seen so often on her partner's screens these last couple of weeks. "She should be coming home from practice any second now," Barbara replied.

"So when is she going back to school," she asked casually.

Barbara looked up from her work and turned her chair around to face her. "Actually I'm not sure. I've been thinking about it, but I won't make any decision, before I've had my meeting with her tomorrow," she explained.

"You're seeing her shrink," she asked just as the elevator door opened.

"Yeah, tomorrow at 10, unless we're talking about a different shrink or a different kind of seeing," Dinah said with a smirk as she walked up.

"Hi honey," Barbara said.

"Hi, Barbara," Dinah said and walked over towards the kitchen. Helena winced. There was one thing that hadn't changed since they had left the manor. Dinah had stopped referring to her mom as mom. She knew that Dinah felt hurt over her mom turning her down, but it was getting a bit much. "I'm going to do that homework you gave me," Dinah said and headed towards her room. Helena decided she wanted to try and make things better, while Barbara resignedly looked back at her work.

"I have to talk to the kid about something, before I'm heading off to the Dark Horse. I will go live about ten as usual unless something comes up okay," she said. She headed for Dinah's room.

"Knock, knock," she said and walked in to find Dinah sitting at her desk already looking through some math books. A lot could be said about Dinah being stubborn, but she seemed to have a solid work ethic.

"Hi, Helena," she replied without looking up.

"Don't want to look me in the eye, huh," she said, "Maybe you'd feel better if you stopped hurting your mother for doing the only sane thing." Dinah looked up at her.

"Sure, the second she stops treating me like I am a little baby, then I will stop treating her like a stranger. When she treats me like her teenage daughter I will do it," Dinah suggested.

"You're being a brat about this Dinah. I don't pretend to understand everything that happened to you in the school, but I do know that it is exceptionally stupid to let that event and the ones who did it win by driving a stake in between you and your mom. You're become just a stubborn as she is," Helena said.

Dinah looked at her for a moment. For a moment Helena thought she could see past the social mask Dinah presented to the world and see the hurting girl inside. And that little girl made some kind of decision. "I understand, but…" Dinah looked guilty.

"I know it is hard to say you're sorry. But as you told me long ago, when I hurt Barbara, I am not the one you should apologize to. Go to her, Dinah," Helena suggested. 

But Dinah didn't get up and run to her mom. Instead her eyes turned stormy and she looked away. "I'll think about it, okay," Dinah said. Helena just nodded and left. She hoped they would figure things out. She hated to see her best friends so troubled.

Barbara Gordon carefully knocked on the glass door and waited. The name on the door said Dr. Wang. After a short while the door was opened and a neatly dressed matronly Asian woman gestured for her to enter. "Miss Gordon, correct," she said as Barbara rolled up to stop in front of her large desk.

"Yes," she replied.

"I am glad we finally meet after having talked so much over the phone," the woman said and smiled slightly.

"Me too," she said.

"I've talked to Dinah several times now. But I have a few questions for you," the doctor gave her a questioning look. Barbara just nodded hoping dearly that Dinah hadn't accidentally given this woman a hint of the truth of her home situation.

"Dinah is a remarkably levelheaded and well adjusted teen, but there were some things that worried me in her previous history and answers. Is it correct that she was hurt in a shooting almost 5 years ago," the doctor asked.

"Yes, we were both shot by the Joker. Dinah saw a therapist back then too," she explained still feeling a bit like she was guilty of bringing the Joker into their lives.

"Ah, okay. And Dinah back then had a panic attack that brought you to have her home schooled for a while back then too," the doctor continued. She nodded assent. 

"Hmm, and she hasn't had any problems after that shooting. Any kind of recurring nightmares or special situations like social events that she consistently avoids," Dr. Wang looked up from her paper.

"Well honestly Dinah did have a few nightmares about the situation and for a long while after the shooting she was very socially withdrawn, but after a couple of years she was back to normal," she explained.

"Good, has there been any hint of that this time? I know her best friend died in the incident, but has she shown any reluctance at going out or being alone. Do loud noises frighten her?" the doctor asked.

Barbara thought about Dinah's recent behavior and while she knew that right now Dinah probably wouldn't tell her the time of day, she like any mother knew her daughter's mind and Dinah hadn't seemed at all worried about going out or seeing strangers. "No, there haven't been any problems like that. She is grieving her best friend. They used to play in a regular duet together and I know she misses her every time she plays, but that is about it," she said.

"Thank you, I think that answers all the questions I have. Now, Miss Gordon, I would like to give you a couple of recommendations. Based on my conversations with Dinah and what you just told me I think that Dinah doesn't at all feel secure anywhere but in her home or in your company. Now that could over time develop into several serious problems like agoraphobia and even bigger social problems. Dinah needs to feel secure on her own and I think the best thing to do is to enroll her in some kind of self-defense course," the doctor suggested. 

Barbara thought about it. The thought of Dinah timidly hiding in the Clocktower avoiding everybody and never living a regular life scared her. She had never thought that her daughter should need to learn to fight to feel safe, but the more she thought about it the more it made sense. "Alright, I…" She wanted to teach Dinah herself, but she knew what that could lead too and there was no way she was allowing that. "I need to find some good course for her then," she said.

"Good, I would also like to recommend that Dinah continues to come here for a couple of months, because there is also another matter. Dinah has tried to hide it from me, but she is very much afraid of going back to her school. I would like to work on that fear. In the mean time I would like to suggest keeping her home schooled at least until she is ready to return. However because of her current tendency to isolate herself I would also suggest that she should be allowed or forced to have many activities that take her out of the home," Dr. Wang leaned back and gave Barbara an earnest look.

Barbara considered it and believed the therapist was correct. Dinah needed to be treated like that.

Later that day she had made all the arrangement and found a self-defense class that looked like it was both good and safe. "So I've enrolled you in a regular self-defense class. In fact it is not too far from the music school so you should know the way over," she said and watched her daughter smile gratefully for a moment then hide it behind a mask of indifference. 

"Cool, I'll go check it out immediately," Dinah said and headed for her room.

Dinah ran to her room and sat down at her computer. The hints she had dropped in conversation with doctor Wang had worked great. Quickly she typed in the web address listed on the pamphlet her mom had just given her and studied the primitive webpage as it appeared on her screen. 

Her mom had picked exactly what she had expected, a basic introductory course in self-defense. It was not exactly what she had in mind, but a few manipulations here and there would put her in the place she really wanted to go. She had spent this entire week researching everything and knew exactly where to go and what to do. First she would participate in the course her mom had arranged. Just long enough to learn a few basics and offset any suspicions from anyone. Over time she would put in more and more time both in the class and generally working out. Then she would cancel her place in the course and enroll in the martial arts class she really wanted to take, Krav Maga, according to all her research, it was a very effective martial art used a lot by police and military forces.

A sore and tired Dinah Lance Gordon waited for the elevator doors to open and admit her to her home. She had been taking self-defense class for a week now and it had turned out to be a whole lot harder than she expected. She had known that she had been in the greatest shape, but she hadn't thought it would be so difficult and slow to catch up. 

Dinah walked into the Clocktower. Delphi was humming away and all the main room lights were on, but she couldn't see her mom anywhere. Then her eyes spied the wheelchair sitting empty next to the electronics workshop of her mom. She took a few steps in that direction and caught sight of a pair of feet just next to the wheelchair.

She ran over and dropped down to her mom. Her mom lay stretched out towards the kitchen looking pale and clearly unconscious. Dinah reached down and felt her mom's hot breath against her hand. "Mom, are you alright?" she cried out. All promises of last punishment and stubborn pride were forgotten as she called out to the single most important person in her life.

Her mom didn't answer. Dinah quickly examined her mom, while debating who to call. A call to 911 was almost out of the question, unless she could find a better option. She didn't know the phone number of the Dark Horse, where Helena's shift would just have begun. "Alfred," she said as she remembered the phone number to Wayne manor. 

However before she got up she noticed that something was attached to her mother's back. Slowly she reached over and lifted up her mom's dark red blouse. A strange electronic object was attached to her mother's back. A few diodes were blinking red probably indicating something was wrong. Dinah noticed that the thing was strapped to her mom's back and decided that it could be the reason for the trouble. 

After an internal debate she reached up and undid the Velcro. She pulled the thing away and her mom let out a shuddering breath. Her eyes started to flutter and then opened. "Mom, are you alright? Should I call an ambulance?" She asked.

Barbara reached up and caressed her chin. "So you're calling me mom again?" she asked.

"Nevermind that, if you're not telling me I am just going to go ahead and call," she said even while the now rare closeness with her mom made her telepathy catch all the emotions of love, hurt and pain roiling in her mother's mind. She didn't mind people touching her, but she felt a bit weird knowing too many of her mom's thoughts and emotions.

"I'll be fine. It was just an experiment that failed," her mom said and tried to get up. Dinah grabbed her hand and while her tired muscles protested she managed to help her mom back into her chair.

Dinah looked at the device now lying on the floor. "What were you trying to do?" She asked.

Barbara looked away staring up at the clock. "Nothing, it was just something I wanted to try," she explained. Dinah didn't believe her.

"Don't please mom, what is this?" She said and picked up the device.

Barbara looked a little resigned then said, "I was trying to see if my idea had worked."

"What idea?" Dinah pressed.

"You remember the surgery I had this summer. I had a small device spliced to each end of my spine. They're a kind of advanced receivers and transmitters, but because they're so small there is no way for them to work without external help. I already have my wheelchair ready to be remote controlled by my thoughts, but I want more. I want to walk again. I want to be able to stand on my own. I want to be able to move around without this chair," she explained.

"I don't believe it. How could you go and have something experimental done to you. That didn't look like moving around. That looked like you had hurt yourself," Dinah felt hurt over her mom keeping even more secrets from her, ignoring that righteous voice in her head reminding her that she was no better.

"It doesn't work yet. It just made everything hurt just like I had lost my legs all over again. I wasn't prepared for that," she explained.

"Tell me the truth, how dangerous is it? You haven't told me about it, and I am guessing that no one else knows either right. You've kept this hidden like some dirty secret so it has to be bad," Dinah pleaded.

Barbara gave her a look of unhappiness then sighed. "You're getting way too clever… You're right Dinah, I didn't tell you because it is dangerous… and painful. It could damage my spine further and if the signals go wrong things could happen like just now," she admitted to her.

"Then why would you do it?" Dinah asked in a tiny voice.

"Why would I do it? Dinah, you're a teenager now, yet we haven't been out of town for years. Helena is the one, who takes you shopping, because most of the shops are too hard to navigate in my chair. I can't hold onto a single boyfriend. I miss being a whole person Dinah. I miss all of it. When you got caught inside the High School I felt so helpless. I couldn't come to your rescue. I want that back. I want all of it back," her mom broke down in tears. 

Dinah felt ill at ease. She had only seen her mom cry a few times in her life, but never had she been as desolate and unhappy as now. Then she realized that her mother had pinned a lot of her dreams on the invention that had just failed. And it had reminded her of her losses. All those tradeoffs and odd turns their lives had taken had been pulled forth in her mind again. It wasn't really a wonder that her mom was crying. 

She leaned over, awkwardly because of her height, and gripped her mom in a hug. She was almost crying herself. "Mom, I know how much it hurts. All those things that go lost every day, all those things that go missing in life. Like my birth mom dying. I miss her sometimes. You changed after getting shot. I miss you being really happy. I miss feeling safe on the streets or even in my dreams. I miss feeling like everyone else, but I know that I just have to touch someone to know I am not… I… I miss Joy… But you know what. We can't burry ourselves beneath all those things we miss. We can't use them as excuses for recklessness," she said, while remaining in her mom's arms.

Barbara was silent for a while, but Dinah could feel the torrent of emotions in her mother due as their skin touched. "I just can't give up, Dinah. Being able to walk again is one of my last remaining dreams," Barbara whispered.

"I know… And one day you will. But not at the cost of your health," she said. Barbara remained silent, but Dinah could sense that she hadn't come to a conclusion.

"I can't lose you too. I wouldn't be able to bear it. I am sorry I have been so mean to you lately. I thought I was right, but I was just being stubborn. Please, mom," and Dinah suddenly felt her mom putting a warm hand on her back and she sensed her mother's emotions calming down.

"I won't take any more stupid chances or self-experiments, I promise," her mom said. Dinah leaned back. Her mom took the device and put it into a cupboard, which she then symbolically locked.

A few hours later Barbara Gordon sat in the darkness. She had just sent Helena home. The patrol of New Gotham had only yielded a couple of purse snatchers and a few less drug dealers tonight. She looked down at a small pile of CDs that filled with files she had gotten off Delphi from a very secret archive deep inside the machine. She knew now that it was time for them to pass to their rightful owner.

Barbara opened the door to her daughter's room and found the teen still sitting at her computer browsing some online content. "I know, I know, it's late and I should be in bed," Dinah said. 

Barbara smiled. "Actually Dinah I am not sure you'll get enough sleep tonight and maybe I should wait until tomorrow, but I wasn't sure I would keep my nerve for that long. Do you remember when you were little and I gave you a video that your mom had made for you? You got very upset and cried a lot," she asked feeling suddenly apprehensive. She had kept these from her daughter for a long time in part to avoid opening old wounds, but maybe also in part because she felt they interfered with her life with her daughter.

"Yeah, I remember. I still have the video," Dinah said.

"There were more than one video. One has arrived every year a few days before your birthday. I've been storing them in Delphi until I was sure you'd be able to watch them without… without becoming too upset. But after today I think that I should have given them to you no matter what. I love you honey and I hate seeing you unhappy, but I should have you given these videos regardless of how I felt… Here you are. I've turned them into files you can view on your computer," she handed over the CDs and turned her wheelchair to leave.

"Mom… would you watch them with me?" Her daughter's slightly frightened voice drew her back inside. Dinah sounded and looked like she might need her support. 

Barbara nodded and rolled up to sit next to her daughter in silence as Carolyn Lance's face appeared in a window on the computer screen. Her daughter's hand rested easily in hers.


	19. Chapter 19: Old Faces

**Author's notes:**

Whoa, this was an update that nearly didn't happen and it is three chapters shorter than I wanted it to, because I had to recover my files from my suddenly dead Windows installation, but thanks to some really intense IT work I got it all back, but it cost me several days and as I write a chapter a day that means several chapters. I want to put this out now because I don't know if I might go down again and the last chapter might be a little rough on the editing, but still here they are. I am also in the middle of preparing for a big event in my academic life (second only to my final exam in June) so I'll probably only get the next three chapters done by next weekend.

Next to Nope, phantom0864 and nightstalker a big thank you for reviewing and making me want to take this story further than any I've ever written in English. I appreciate your reviews. Of course to my readers I appreciate you no matter if you review or not, but feedback is always nice.

Phantom0864: Yes, Barbara is being a hypocrite, but she has her reasons, which will be explained in the next grouping of chapters. As for Alfred I just couldn't fit it into writing from Dinah's perspective the "time" in the story for him to make a comment, but I will make sure he gives her his opinion soon. Birds Of Prey reruns aren't needed I have the entire show on nonperishable digital media (read: video files) and I have never even seen a pop tart in my life and as I am not a bad cook I'd rather have the food I cook on my own.

Also keep those reviews coming, the one you've given me so far have inspired me to change the scope of the story, which was originally meant to end with Barbara accepting to train Dinah instead it is going to cover the full first season, which means this story should get several times bigger.

Chapter 19: Old faces 

The warm water splashed down her body. Helena massaged the shampoo into her hair and enjoyed the luxurious feeling of the water massaging all the sore spots last night's rather intense fight with a metahuman criminal had left behind. With her eyes closed she leaned back and let the water pelt her face, when her telephone began to ring. She opened her eyes and got an eyeful of the soapy water. "Damn it," she cursed, but decided to ignore whoever it was this was their punishment for annoying her.

Yet the phone kept ringing. Helena growled and stormed out of the shower. She tore open the bathroom door and got a solid gust of what to her seemed like ice cold air. Her mood deteriorated. She grabbed the phone and pressed the button to accept the call, "Yes." 

"Helena, it is me," Barbara sounded uncommonly worried. She decided to bite back the scalding comment that had been on her lips. "My dad is in the hospital. I need to go see him. Would you mind taking care of Dinah for a couple of days?" She asked.

Helena was a bit shaken. Having lived with the Gordon family she had met Jim Gordon several times. "Of course I'll take care of the kid. Is it serious?" She had to ask.

"I don't know, they didn't say much on the phone. He had some kind of attack and has been unconscious since. I am gonna drive upstate now. I will call and talk to you and Dinah later. Oh, and thank you Helena," Barbara said and hung up.

Helena looked around her apartment and her eyes feel upon her neighbor in the building across from her. She was staring at her. Helena realized she was naked, but forced herself to stay calm as she walked back towards her bathroom as if she was cool with it.

The rarely used chair was good for a couple of spins Helena thought as the Clocktower and Delphi terminals spun past. She had been at the Clocktower a couple of hours already and had even bothered to exercise, but there been no hint of Dinah's presence. She wondered what the home schooled girl was doing, when she noticed one of Delphi's monitors showing Dinah entering the elevator carrying a gym bag over her shoulder.

She had a wicked idea and decided to poke a bit of fun at Dinah. Helena walked over to the elevator doors and hid next to them. They slid open and Dinah walked past her. She jumped forward and grabbed Dinah's shoulders. However she was not prepared for the girl's reaction. In quick succession Dinah twisted out of her grip and gave her with a half way decent kick to the shins. There was a follow up elbow strike that would have hit any slower assailant in the gut, but she had already spun away. Dinah spun around as well.

For a moment the two stared at each other. "Those self-defense classes have done some good," she said and gave Dinah a smirk. At least the girl hadn't really hurt her. Dinah didn't have that kind of strength.

"Wow, damn Helena. Don't scare me like that. I was just about ready to slam you with my TK," Dinah said.

"It's my fault. Now how would you like a major pig out in front of the TV? I've brought over movies and Alfred has promised he would come over to cook," she said.

"Sounds cool, I just want to take another shower. I jogged all the way home," Dinah explained.

Helena's eyebrows shut up involuntarily. She wondered about Dinah's sudden interest in athleticism. "How come you're training so hard?" She asked.

Dinah looked at her like she had asked an obvious question. "I thought that was apparent. Mom suggested I should go out more and the only other activity I have besides self-defense is playing my cello and… and that is just not the same without Joy. I still study new pieces and play them, but it is not as fun as it used to be," Dinah explained.

"That makes sense," she mused.

"Where is mom by the way? Because I am guessing that you're my babysitter for time being," Dinah asked as she headed towards the upstairs sitting area.

Helena decided that she didn't want to worry Dinah or ruin the mood. "She was called upstate. Your granddad had some kind of problem and he needed to see her," she explained.

Dinah gave her a strangely resigned look. "Oh, well, I guess it was getting to that time," she replied mysteriously and headed for her room and probably that shower she had mentioned earlier. Helena wondered what Dinah had meant by that.

A little later Dinah reappeared with wet hair, a reddened nose and slightly puffy eyes. Helena recognized the signs of someone crying, but Dinah just smiled and sat down next to her. "Let's see what you gotten for us?" She commented and began looking through the three DVDs that lay on the table.

"Helena, you're way too butch. There is only one good romantic comedy here. You need to watch something other than action movies," Dinah said.

"Hey I happen to like Jackie Chan flicks. They're great comedy," she replied.

"I knew your fighting style came from somewhere, but I never expected that," Dinah teased.

"Punk," Helena said.

A while later as they were watching the first action movie, Dinah rested her head on her shoulder. Helena became aware of tears silently sliding down Dinah's face. "What is wrong?" She asked.

"Granddad, he is going to die," Dinah answered desolately.

"Hey, he is just in the hospital. Nobody said anything about anyone dying," she had hoped to avoid Dinah breaking down. It had only been two months since the attack on the high school and sometimes Dinah still seemed fragile.

"Nobody had to say anything. I had a dream a few days ago. I saw mom and granddad talking. He was in a hospital and he was looking really bad. A bit later on in the dream I was at a funeral," Dinah explained and once again Helena became frightfully aware that no matter what metahuman kinship there was between her and Dinah, Dinah's power differed vastly from hers. She had no idea, what kind of head trip it had to be to be able to see glimpses of life like that or read minds or even move objects with your will. 

"Now listen here just because you dreamt of a funeral doesn't mean that it was his. It could just as well be something else," she suggested.

Dinah gave her a hopeless look. "I can read you know… even headstones," Dinah answered back and looked back at the screen. The TV images were reflected in a little lighted square in her blue eyes. Helena leaned back and stared at the TV screen as well. She didn't know what to say.

After a while she had to ask, "If you know these things, why don't you warn your mom? The doctors might be able to do more, if they know about what is coming."

"It doesn't work like that never has. I did warn mom, and she called up granddad but he insisted everything was alright. We both hoped and thought that maybe it was further in the future or just a regular nightmare. I told her about the entire dream. She knows, what might happen, Helena. She already knows what will happen," Dinah said.

"Miss Helena, Miss Gordon," Alfred said in greeting as he appeared out of the corridor next to the sitting area.

"Hi, Alfred, thank you for coming to rescue me from the travesty that Helena calls cooking," Dinah said in greeting and covered up her emotions so fast that Helena once again considered, how good an actress the teen had become by living with the secrecy surrounding her life. Dinah got up to set the table. Helena grimaced a bit and tried to rattle her numb arm back to life as Dinah's weight on it disappeared.

A few weeks later Barbara Gordon was sitting under a gray sky in the large police section of the Gotham Graveyard. Even from the depths of her grief Barbara couldn't help forcing herself to keep a certain amount of emotional distance. Her father wouldn't have wanted her to break down and cry in front of so many of his colleagues from the force. Dinah was standing next to her dressed in black again. The girl handled the loss of her only grandparent well, but then again as with most grandparents the bond was probably thinner than if it had been her own parent. Or maybe she was just too used to handling her grief.

Barbara couldn't remember having felt so miserable in her entire life. Not even when her parents had been killed in that car crash had she been this upset. Of course she had been very young then, the sense of loss was infinitely stronger right now. The current police commissioner of New Gotham had insisted on a burial with full honors and a huge number from the force had come including a lot of pensioned cops and detectives that had served with her dad over time.

Rain began to drip slowly on the congregation as the honorary shots were fired and the final part of the funeral was set in motion. Barbara numbly watched the proceedings until she was handed the flag. She saluted the officers that had given it to her and watched him walk away. Dinah laid a hand on her shoulder and Barbara drew a bit of comfort from her increasingly tall daughter's presence. Helena was somewhere behind her.

Barbara felt a familiar presence and turned her head to see a black haired man standing in the shadows below on the huge nearby trees. She couldn't help smiling as she recognized the face of an old and long missed friend. For a moment she wondered if Bruce was also watching somewhere as well, but she decided not to look for him. He would only give away his presence, if he wanted to talk to them. "Helena would you help me over to that tree," her wheelchair had trouble with the soft ground and so she had to suffer the indignity of being pushed. 

"Sure," Helena said and from the tone of her voice Barbara knew she was wary of the man that she had never been introduced to. Dick had stayed in Bludhaven to fight its crime lords after a falling out with Batman way before the Joker's fall and she had only had contact with him through a couple of phone calls. Helena had never formally met him.

"I am so sorry for your loss," Dick Grayson said as she came closer. Using the rare moment Barbara took time to consider the former boy wonder Robin now Nightwing. Even in adulthood or maybe especially now he was a smoldering hottie as Dinah or Helena would've put it. He had someone inherited the air of mystery and power that had surrounded Bruce although Dick seemed so much more human.

"Thank you for coming, he would have appreciated it… for many reasons," Barbara said. After Batman had revealed the truth to him, she had done the same too on the night she had adopted Dinah. He actually surprised her by admitting that he had known for quite a while that she led a double life as Batgirl. He had recognized her voice quite easily. It had been easy for the detective in her father to then add two and two together and identify all the Robins and of course Nightwing knowing that Bruce had been Batman.

"He was really a great guy. Say, where is Dinah? I saw her just a moment ago," he asked and looked around. Barbara realized she had lost track of her daughter and looked up at Helena.

"She went that way. It looked like she knew where she was going," Helena commented and pointed in the direction of the regular graveyard. Barbara knew very well what graves lay in that direction.

"Let's go pick up my daughter," she said. "Would you like to come home with us? We could talk, catch up on our lives and the like," she offered hoping to catch more than just a fleeting glimpse of her friend this time.

It took them a short while to find her. She was standing at her mother's grave just staring at it in some kind of quiet communion in the middle of the rain. Helena, of course, had to throw in a comment as they found the girl standing in the rain, while they were covered by their umbrellas, "Kid, I thought you were supposed to be smart. Yet who is standing in the middle of rain getting cold with an umbrella in her hands."

Dinah looked up at them and nodded in solemn greeting to Dick. Barbara knew that her daughter's somber mood stemmed from the graveyard. She had attended several funerals for classmates like Joy's after the hostage taking and every time Dinah had visited her mother's graveyard afterwards. "Dinah, let's go home," she said.

"Let's," she agreed and walked towards them, while unfolding her umbrella.

The thick bullet proof elevator doors slid open, while Barbara and Dinah continued telling the stories about their life.

As he stepped inside, he was astounded by the size of Barbara and Dinah's home, but he was even more astounded to find a facility such as the Clocktower hidden in the middle of the sprawl of Downtown New Gotham. It had everything from super advanced computers with massive networking capabilities, broadcast systems, medical facilities and all the lab equipment you'd ever need to fight crime. It seemed that the rumors about Barbara running her own organization weren't entirely wrong. He had asked over the years of course, but mostly she had just claimed that she just provided a bit of help to local heroes.

He had known of course that Dinah would be living with her mom, but he was surprised to find that Helena Kyle the daughter of Catwoman was the Huntress and Barbara's former charge. The Huntress' reputation as a relentless and very effective heroine had even reached his town over the last couple of years. He had barely digested all of this information, when Alfred appeared as if out of nowhere and offered to take his coat. "Hello, Alfred," he said in greeting. Alfred nodded and headed off with their wet coats and umbrellas.

"May I suggest that you change clothes Miss Gordon, you're quite drenched my dear," Alfred said. He gazed over at the almost dry looking red head next to him in confusion, and then remembered Barbara telling him that she had formally adopted Dinah and she was therefore also a Miss Gordon.

"Good idea, Alfred, scoot young lady," Barbara said and gave her daughter a nudge.

"Yeah, yeah," Dinah said and headed off into the still unknown parts of the huge apartment.

"So do you all live here," Dick asked and looked around.

"Aren't we curious?" Helena replied.

But Barbara came to his rescue, "No, Alfred helps out from time to time and Helena has her own apartment."

"I guess I should have kept better contact with you, but there was some stuff I needed to focus on and… well I didn't know if I was welcome," he felt bad having missed out on so much of the life of a person he cared about, just because he had gone through another disagreement with her mentor. Now that mentor had disappeared and his friend and her life had completely changed without him around.

"You've always been welcome even at the manor, Master Grayson, but I fear the pigheadedness that is so common amongst all of you would not let you see it," Alfred explained as he passed by heading for the kitchen.

Dick looked at Barbara and Helena, who looked about as willing to admit Alfred was right as he was. "So how about you join us for dinner?" Barbara suggested. That was a suggestion, which he quickly agreed to.

The mood at dinner was a bit better than he had expected, but then again he was trying his best to lift the mood with a whole lot of help from Helena. She seemed to grow friendlier as the dinner progressed. Barbara seemed the most affected by her father's death, which was to be expected. However both she and Dinah seemed rather resigned with the fate of the old police commissioner, which left the dinner a much less depressing affair than he had expected. "So I just jumped over that guy and gave him a solid kick in the ass. I mean, how could you take him seriously the guy had named himself after the Penguin but he had neither Chester's mind nor style. He did have one of those umbrellas with gadgets in them, but honestly I was way past being scared of a guy waving an umbrella with a small knife in the end around," he explained making all three women smirk.

"You've got to be kidding me. A guy like that calling himself a mastermind is just sad," Helena agreed.

Barbara laughed a little. "That is nothing. Do you remember that nut that thought he was an insect man and tried to outdo Catwoman at cat burglary? Every time he got out of prison we caught him on top of some building in his latest insect suit," she said.

"Oh, yeah, he was special," he agreed remembering the guy in his yellow spandex suits quite well.

"Wasn't he just another thief?" Dinah asked.

"No, because you see the idiot had one big problem with being a cat burglar," Dick said sagely, "he was afraid of heights." All around the table everybody laughed.

Dick stood out side the clock and looked out over New Gotham. It itched in his fingers to go back to his hotel room, slip on his costume and prowl the night. Maybe he would feel better about Jim Gordon's death if he sent a few criminals to prison. He heard the noise of electrical motors behind him. "It's a beautiful sight," he said.

"Yeah," Barbara agreed and stopped at the ledge.

"A lot has changed since I last stood next to you," he said. He felt a bit stupid for being gone this long and he swore he wouldn't let as much time pass before his next visit to New Gotham.

"Last time you stood next too me, we were two friends, heroes wearing our costumes. Now my costume is permanently retired and you've become a stranger," she explained.

"I don't have to remain a stranger," he suggested hoping to steer the conversation away from Barbara's bitter destiny of becoming locked in a wheelchair. He hated seeing her eyes looking out of the city with such longing, but there was nothing he could do, but try to make her think of something else.

Barbara turned her head slightly and looked up at him. "I have an answer for you by the way. While she has given me more trouble than I would have ever thought possible, there is no cost only gain from having Dinah with me," she said reminding him of their age old conversation at Black Canary's grave.

"I knew you would understand. You've always been a smart girl, stubborn but smart," he said with glee. "Speaking of Dinah, how are her abilities coming along?" He remembered Barbara telling him about the girl's metahuman abilities of precognition and touch telepathy.

Barbara gave him a wry smile. "I think both Dinah and I agree that the jury is still out on their usefulness… They've only gotten stronger. The telepathy isn't something she uses a lot and the visions still come unpredictably from time to time. She has however added telekinesis to her abilities. And you can probably imagine what kind of shenanigans she can get up to with that," she explained.

"I guess she must have a hard time relating to normal people with living here and having all those abilities," he commented.

"She is coping. There haven't been that many problems, but I think Helena being a Meta too has helped a lot. Helena has tried most of the bad things too and she can usually give Dinah good advice," she said.

He didn't comment on the revelation of Helena's nature even if it was news to him. "So how is crime fighting in New Gotham these days?" he asked and cast a glance over the city glittering with its electric lights.

"Different from our days I can tell you. There are a whole lot of small time metahuman crooks these days and they sure make things exciting at times. There is a whole lot less masterminds and a whole lot more regular organized crime. We're coping fine, but there are still cases slipping by now and then," she admitted.

He knew his track record in Bludhaven wasn't perfect either, so he couldn't fault them for losing a couple of cases being only the two of them against the crime of a city like New Gotham. He wondered, "So when are you going to start training Dinah."

Barbara looked at him with outrage and anger in her eyes. "Just because Bruce tried to solve your problems by remaking you in his image, don't mean I'll do the same to my daughter. Dinah is not going to become some kind of crime fighter swinging across the rooftops, while she lives here with me," she gave him a warning look as he had planned to run inside and take Dinah away to train her by himself.

"I just thought with her being your and Black Canary's daughter as well as hanging around here, it was just a matter of time. I was wrong and I'm sorry," he said, but wondered if Dinah shared Barbara's conviction. She had seemed very interested in his stories at dinner.

"Barbara, I should go. I have an appointment with some criminals tomorrow, so I'll have to drive out early," he explained hating that he had to leave, but there was a major drug shipment due tomorrow and he really wanted to make sure it never reached the streets.

He rose, but Barbara put a hand on his. He turned slightly and looked at the red headed woman. "I was really glad you came. It has been great to see you again," she said.

Dick didn't know, why but he felt the moment was appropriate. He bent down and gave Barbara a kiss which she returned. Neither noticed Dinah smiling at the scene from a window next to the clock. The girl quickly ducked back down as Dick rose back up to say his goodbyes. 

As he opened the door to the inside of the tower Barbara called out behind him, "Don't become a stranger again." He licked his lips and smiled. He would try not to.


	20. Chapter 20: New Faces

**Chapter 20: New Faces**

            Dinah swung her head away from the approaching punch and stepped forward to mark the location she thought would be natural to hit. "Stop," her trainer said, both her and her sparring partner stopped. 

"This is a good beginning, Dinah, but you've just opened yourself for attack on the front by presenting your chest to your opponent. If Carl had chosen to feint and kick instead of punch, he would've put you on the ground. You're tall, but you don't have the muscle mass for relying only on punches. A kick to the side of the knee would have worked better. If you felt natural punching in this situation, then of course you should, but use your other arm," the instructor nodded and they continued their mock combat, practicing the moves needed to bring down your opponent and walk away safely. 

Dinah felt her arms and legs ache as they went over to full speed practice again. She had shifted over to Krav Maga only two months ago and while she had learned a lot, she now knew that it would be a whole lot harder, and take a whole lot longer to become battle trained than she had thought. Helena unfortunately had made it seem so damn easy. She needed to readjust her opinions on Helena's abilities; they were really a whole lot subtler than she had thought.

Neither Helena nor her mom knew about her new martial art course. They still thought she went to self-defense classes twice a week and to cello practice on the rest of the weekdays. Only she hadn't seen the inside of the music school more once per week since just after Joy's death sometimes even less and she kept up her practice in the cello by playing a lot more at home in between doing her school work. Of course it was very useful having half the day all to yourself with no one around to see what you actually did. And as long as she avoided getting caught on camera by Delphi or a visiting Alfred doing something other than her home work, house work or a bit of music everything was fine.

"Okay we're done," the instructor called out. "Everybody stretch out then hit the showers," the black haired ex-soldier instructor suggested and walked around giving pointers on how to avoid muscle spasms and how to stretch out properly. 

Dinah was amazed, how all the working out had given her a hint of muscled arms and a dexterity that allowed her to easily reach down and touch her toes. "Hey, Lance, could I have a word?" Her instructor crouched down next to her with a smile.

"Sure, what's up?" She asked, hoping that he didn't need another signature from her mom. It had been hard enough to fake the last one. She rose and shook her legs to loosen her cooling muscles.

"I've been watching your progress. You've pretty much completed the basic defense and offense courses in no time and I was thinking about broadening the scope of your training and move you over to some more intermediate courses. Now they're very hard and usually we would wait until you're older, but you're rather tall for your age and you're frankly not going to get much further in the classes you're in now," he explained. 

Dinah felt rather smug and validated in her choice to pursue martial arts as a part of her long term plan to become a heroine without her mother's help. "Sure, if we can get it to fit in to my schedule, I can only train in the afternoons and early evenings on weekdays," she said.

"That won't be a problem, the intermediary and wider courses run parallel to this one some a little earlier, some a little later," he replied.

"Well, give me the times and I'll work something out with my parents," she said. She felt bad lying to so many people, but the ends justified the means in her eyes. One day both her mom and Helena would understand and maybe even accept her choices even if it would probably be way after she had actually become a heroine.

Dinah ran across the street her hair still wet from the shower, she had taken after stretching out. She slipped in through the backdoor of the music school and picked up her cello resting in its case. Carefully she opened it and began emptying her training clothes into the nooks and crannies around and behind the cello, finishing up by putting the cloth bag for her clothes on top of the mess. The smell of her sweaty clothes reminded her that she would need to do her laundry tomorrow before her mom came home or she would notice again that she was using way too many clothes for just plain cello practice. She had been forced to learn to do her own washing another one of the many small details in her plan that she had initially underestimated.

The walk home was interesting. It was just past New Year's Day and there was confetti mixed up in the remainders of the smog blackened snow. The streets lights were on even if it was still only close to six o'clock and everyone was walking faster to get from where they were to where they were going. She wished she didn't have a curfew, she wanted to take a swing by the No Man's Land, but as always these days she couldn't find the time for regular visits anymore.

Dinah entered the secret elevator just seconds before she was supposed to be home and breathed a sigh of relief as she glanced at her clock. The doors quickly opened and she wandered into the Clocktower to find music playing merrily over Delphi's speakers and her mom no where in sight. "Mom," she called out.

"Dinah, we're up here," her mom answered and Dinah looked up to find her mom and Helena waiting for her with dinner. That was unusual, so she knew something was up. She had no sense of impending doom nor had she had any ominous dreams lately, so there was a good chance it was something good. She put down her cello case and walked up the stairs after putting away her coat.

The table was carefully set and the food prepared in a manner that told her that either Alfred had just left or he was just being unobtrusive as usual. "So is there an occasion or are we just having a special dinner for fun?" She looked from her mother to her friend.

"It's kind of a celebration. Let's eat," her mom said mysteriously and gestured for Dinah to sit. She felt a bit suspicious, usually if there was some occasion to celebrate you got told why or had some inkling about what was going on. This could mean that there was either some kind of surprising good news or something bad that her mom wanted to convince her was good news. Still Alfred's food was too good an opportunity for her as she felt ravenous.

As she reached for seconds, Helena commented, "Wow, you're eating for two. Are you sure you're not practicing to become fat?" She hesitated for a moment, which proved just long enough for Helena to spear the last slice of roast beef, before her fork could claim it.

"You cheat," she said and impishly decided to get back at Helena. The slice of beef didn't touch Helena's plate as it flew off her fork and landed on hers instead.

Helena looked at her and reached forward to take the meat back, but her mom interceded before it escalated into a food fight. "You two stop that this instant. Dinah, give Helena half the slice. You two are impossible… like two little kids," her mom gave her the look of motherly command and Dinah did as she was told.

Out of nowhere Alfred appeared to clear up the dishes and bring them little bowl of some reddish ice that she recognized as strawberry sorbet her favorite. "Thank you, Alfred," she said and smiled gratefully to the old man. He gave her a wink, before heading off with the dirty dishes balancing more than she would have dared on a single arm.

"Actually Dinah, this is in your honor," her mom said and she quickly turned back her head to give her mom the questioning look that she felt was needed.

"What have I done?" She asked.

"I spoke to your therapist and she assures me that you're ready to go back to school. We were so happy that Helena suggested we had a special in honor of the event. As Helena would've come over anyway to raid our fridge I thought we might as well celebrate," her mom explained, while Helena gave them a wry smirk.

Dinah tried to hide her disappointment. Much of her current time schedule hinged on her having the mornings free to do her laundry, practice her cello and work on her lessons at the same time. This would really disrupt her schedule; she might even be forced to reduce her commitment to her martial arts courses. "You're so quiet. Don't you want to go back to school?" Her mom asked with the tone of worry just covering the implied reprimand.

"No, no, I do. I… I just don't think I ever want to set foot inside that school ever again fear or no fear, it would just feel wrong," she really meant that even if it was her last trump card to remain home schooled a little longer. She was a bit annoyed with herself for letting her therapist think that she was getting better. She had spent the last couple of months stalling some thing exactly this event and she had been so sure that she had managed it.

Barbara smiled triumphantly, "That won't be a problem. You won't be going back there. You'll start at New Gotham High next week."

Dinah wanted to protest, she wondered if it would work, if she protested over her mom's presence as a teacher in the same school, but knew her mom, who had initially decided not to send her to New Gotham High for the very same reason, probably already had an answer to that question in mind. "That sounds cool. I can't wait to get back to high school," she lied.

Helena smiled. "Once more with a little less feeling, please, High School is the closest thing to institutionalized torture we have in this country. You don't have to try to sound like you want to go back there," she said.

"Not true, they still show Barney on TV don't they? That is worse," She quickly replied trying to cover for her little slip. Both Barbara and Helena laughed a little, while she quickly focused on eating her ice.

The inner city high school had an entirely different quality or maybe it was lack of quality compared to her last school. New Gotham had a big sign declaring its name over the front of the building, but that was about all that was special about the outside of the school. Graffiti was scrawled along the entire lower part of the school, which actually made it look like a lot of the neighborhood. Dinah wandered up towards the entrance with her mom at her side even if she tried to keep a bit of a distance. It was inevitable that someone would realize that Dinah Lance Gordon was somehow related to Barbara Gordon. And she had no idea, if that was a good or bad thing at this school. She knew exactly no one in this place.

"Good morning Miss Gordon," a couple of the students happily greeted her mom, while she headed for the stairs. Dinah gazed over at her mom. There was no way her mom could make it up those stairs, which told her that her mom wanted to exchange a few words before she could go in to see how horrible her first class would be.

Right enough her mom stopped and turned her chair slightly. "Are you nervous?" She asked.

"A bit, it's silly, I know it is just school, but I can't help it," she admitted.

"It'll be fine. You'll fit in within a few weeks. Maybe you'll make a couple of new friends. Listen Dinah I need to go, but I'll be in my classroom most of the day. If there is a problem, just swing by and we'll work it out," her mom said and adjusted her clothes a little. Dinah felt a little embarrassed, but couldn't bring herself to comment it.

"I'll get off at three today. Are you going to drive home with me?" Her mom asked.

"I have a self-defense class at three o'clock, so I'll just make my way over there. I'll be home at six as usual," she explained.

"Alright, we'll talk," her mom said and waved as she headed around the building. She turned looking up at the flight of stairs leading up to the main entrance and the letters above the building. She steeled herself and began walking.

Finding her classroom had been easy, but as more and more student filtered in from the halls her nervousness increased. The dreaded introduction was approaching and she had no idea, what to say. What would she be asked? What should she tell these strangers? Should she mention the hostage taking or would that be too melodramatic? Should she talk about her hobbies or would that be too self-centered? And what should she say about her home and family?

"Yeah I need to run, we'll talk later right," she called out to Casey and ran faster so that she would overtake Mrs. Kane. She didn't really want to, but attendance was mandatory, no matter how boring the class. Her curly blonde hair whipped around her as she slid in through the door right in front of her history teacher. Quickly she found her seat and managed to slam into her seat, almost at the same time as everyone else.

Lisa, one of the girls in class that she knew, leaned over and whispered, "Hey, Gabby did you know we would get a new kid today?"

Gabby shook her head and tried to take a nonchalant look around class. At the back of the class a girl with long blonde hair, blue eyes and an excellent taste in clothes sat looking out of the class with the distinct spooked look of a new freshman. "I didn't, but I think she looks harmless," she whispered back.

Then Mrs. Kane began her class. All the student were hoping for a some kind of delay and thus everyone was pleased when the first things she did after calling for their attention was to say, "As you may have noticed, we have a new student in class today. Dinah Lance Gordon. Dinah, we are excited to have you here. Now how about you tell us a bit about yourself?"

Gabby saw that the girl… Dinah was nervous about speaking up or possibly a shy. Still she rose out of her seat to give them a better look. She was really tall for her age and very athletic. Gabby had a strange feeling as if her heart was beating a bit faster.

The girl tucked hair behind her ear and smiled shyly at her audience. "Well, my name is Dinah and I… well… I used to go… I've been home schooled for a while, but my parent and I decided that I should go to high school here. I um… I play the cello," she sat back down almost looking shaken. Gabby had gone to school with most people here for most of her life and she had never been forced to present herself like that, so she didn't know quite how it would be, but judging from this girl it was quite hard. 

She, this Dinah, sounded like she hadn't been out and around much, even if the rows of earrings in her visible ear and her style told a different story. "I see, well, where do you come from?" Mrs. Kane asked almost as if she wasn't too eager to start their lessons either.

"Oh, I am from here in town," Dinah answered.

"And you've never been to school before," Mrs. Kane asked.

It looked almost as if the girl felt uncomfortable. "Well, that is not true. I actually went to high school a month last year and before that I went to regular school as well," Dinah explained. Gabby wondered, why that had been a reason for squirming like Dinah had done, unless there was something in her last high school experience that hadn't gone well.

"Alright, I have been told from a good source that you should be intimately familiar with the post civil war era, so maybe you can tell me…" Gabby almost fell asleep as the by far too brief interlude ended and regular schooling began.

She didn't share classes with the new girl again that morning, and she did wonder why, but come lunch she caught up with Lisa, who was always a solid source of gossip. "Hi," she said and gestured for Lisa to take a seat next to her in the cafeteria. 

"Hi, so how was algebra?" She asked.

"Fine, how was your class?" Gabby didn't mind that she wasn't in any honors classes like Lisa. 

"Oh, fine, the new girl is in my class. Mr. Glass really grilled her, but she was completely cool. He gave her several equations; some we hadn't even learned how to solve yet. She solved them like they were simple problems," Lisa explained.

"So do you know anything about her," Gabby asked and took a large bite out of her sandwich.

Lisa grinned and nodded. "I talked to a couple of juniors and they say they've heard that her mom is actually Miss Gordon, you know the English teacher in the wheelchair," she reported.

"Really, but Miss Gordon isn't that old. And they look nothing alike," she thought about the red haired teacher in her electric wheelchair and the tall blonde she had seen in History.

"You're telling me. Anyway she seems nice, a bit withdrawn, but nice," Lisa explained and nodded with her head indicating the new girl sitting all by herself off in a corner seemingly rather focused on her lunch. "Oh, did you hear about…" And Lisa then informed her on the rather involved love triangles going on between a cheerleader and two boys. The new girl was forgotten for a while at least.

School was finally over, or it was if you skipped gym and that was exactly was she was doing. Gabby casually headed out the door and walked down the steps heading home. She was wondering about what excuse she would use if her mom hadn't gone to work yet. She didn't notice two kids standing huddled together on the street corner. She didn't notice that they both had a cranium primitively painted on their shirts and baggy pants. And she didn't think twice about bumping into the smaller kid stepping backwards as she passed. She did however think a lot, when the kid called, "Hey Bitch, what do you think you're doing."

Gabby turned in anger and saw to her dismay that she had bumped into some small gang banger her age. "You think you can come here and push people around just, because you have money, huh. Well you'll give me all that money… right now," the kid said and whipped out a butterfly knife that he started whirling about.

Suddenly someone delivered a very solid kick to the back of his hand sending the knife flying past her along the ground. She could easily recognize the tall new girl from earlier standing behind the ganger with look on her face of both apprehension and determination. "You shouldn't play with knives," she suggested standing in a kind of relaxed position with her hands in fists.

"Hey, are you gonna let this slut talk to me like that," he hollered at his friend and whirled around ready to attack her would-be rescuer. However the girl rewarded him for his insult immediately. She hammered a solid punch in his chest and quickly added a knee in his guts as he bent forward out of breath. He went down with a pained gasp. 

The girl… Dinah backed away looking at the other kid. He seemed to be trying to judge her intentions. "Listen, I don't want to hurt anyone. Why don't we just go each our way? And you should take this guy to some free clinic to get looked at," Dinah suggested. The two kids looked at each other. They didn't seem too eager to continue the fight even with the advantage of numbers. They nodded in agreement. Dinah walked around the downed kid all the while keeping an eye on the other one, until she reached her. 

"Let's go," Dinah suggested and they walked away together. 

"Thank you," Gabby said after a while.

"You're welcome. I didn't know there were gangers so close to the school," Dinah commented while occasionally casting a nervous glance over her shoulder.

"There usually isn't," Gabby explained. She felt that it would probably be cool to know this girl even more so than she had sensed when she first looked at her. "I'm Gabby by the way," she said and put her hand out.

"Dinah," she said and shook her hand. She immediately noticed that Dinah's knuckles had been scrapped and one was bleeding. 

"Thanks for saving my ass back there… Really I mean it, I am in your debt," she said. "And how about I repay you by getting you home to my place so you can get that cleaned up and bandaged," she said and indicated the bleeding knuckle.

"Hey, heroines don't moan about the little cuts and bruises… But I would really like that even if I can't stay long, I have self-defense classes today," Dinah replied with a wide smile and started hobbling.

"Is something wrong?" She had to ask at the sudden change in Dinah's pace.

"Yeah, let's just say that hitting and kicking people looks a lot less painful on TV than in real life. I think I've bumped my knee," Dinah answered. Gabby grinned. She didn't know why, but she knew then that she would like to spend a lot of time with Dinah in the future.


	21. Chapter 21: Changing Lanes

**Chapter 21: Changing Lanes**

            Traffic was heavy on the multi-lane road leading towards the New Gotham downtown area. A fast black car thundered onto the road followed soon after by a police car. The fast car swerves in and out of traffic, its single occupant obviously in a hurry to get across town.

Helena stared out the windscreen, her eyes darting from time to time up to rearview mirror catching a glimpse of her tail as it struggled to keep up. She was in trouble and she remembered it had all started so innocently this morning.

It was very early in the morning for Helena Kyle, bartender in the evening and vigilante by night. Usually she wouldn't even have considered getting up, if it hadn't been for her mentor and friend calling her at ass end of the morning and asking her to urgently come by the Clocktower before her mentor headed off to her day job. She yawned again as she walked into the Clocktower finding the Gordon's at breakfast. 

"Morning, Helena, want to grab a bite," Dinah asked and offered her a plate with two pieces of buttered toast.

"Sure," she said and studied the teen as she walked over to make more toast for herself. Dinah had really changed a lot in the time she had known her, but never more than in the last two years. She had gone from regular thin and frail Dinah to trim and trained Dinah, because of her continued obsession with self-defense classes and generally working out. She and Barbara had repeatedly discussed if the obsession with self-defense was some kind of reaction to the hostage taking nearly two years ago. Helena had her own private thoughts on the matter that she hadn't revealed to Barbara for fear of her reaction.

Still all of Dinah's life didn't revolve around music or self-defense either. She had made new friends at her new school, most notably Gabby, another blond kid that she had seen once or twice when picking Dinah up from school or at other school events. Still their friendship wasn't like the one she had shared with Sandy or the one she had with Barbara, Dinah couldn't bring her friend home, she couldn't talk much about her life outside of school and Helena was sure it brought a certain amount of distrust to Dinah and Gabby's friendship. "So why did you call me over," she asked as Barbara appeared out of the corridor to the private rooms in her latest high tech wheelchair, which was controlled by her thoughts instead of the controls.

"I cracked the encryption on that CD you picked up at that murder case last night. It contained the layout of Daggett Chemicals outside of town and some instructions for some guy named Wyatt to bring a container of a catalytic resin over to an address in North Gotham. I've checked out the address, the goon who lives there just got out of prison for murder and he seems to favor explosives. Would you mind having the Huntress giving him a visit, before some chemical weapon or bomb goes off in town?" Barbara explained, not noticing as she did that Dinah was listening intently from her seat at the kitchen table.

"No problem, I'll head over there," she agreed. She didn't like the thought of someone, who liked detonating bombs, getting chemicals delivered by someone, who then got killed. It smelled of trouble.

Helena slipped the car in between a couple of trucks then quickly pulled up an off ramp. She hoped it would shake the traffic cops. She glanced down at her clock. She still had time. She wished that Barbara wasn't at work, but home at the control of Delphi, able to call the police or whoever was needed to prevent this disaster. But she was on her own for now and that meant getting there in time. The police flew up off the ramp, but before they could give chase as she drove back down the ramp leading back down on the other side, they rear ended at passing sedan and spun to a stop. She knew they would have called for back up, but it at least gave her a bit of time, before they caught up with her. She thought back to what had brought her to this insane race across town.

Sweat rolled down her nose. Not for the first time as she waited in the unusually blistering spring sun Helena wished that she had made a different choice, when she had helped Barbara designing her costume. Her heavy leather trench coat, while looking cool and comfy at night, was a like a heated black tent in the summer, and was now thrown onto the seat next to her. The mask, stuck to her face with some special compound made by the Batman group years ago, only added to her discomfort, but she knew that Barbara would crucify her, if she ever spent a second on the job without it. It was her one conceit to anonymity, the only one demanded by Barbara. And so it stayed on.

For hours now she had watched the empty house after checking it out and finding the owner not home. She wanted a word with this Wyatt fellow and she had reasoned that breaking and entering would have to wait until she was sure he was around. And so she had been forced to sit in an alley in the slim fast and air-condition-less black car that Barbara had provided her with, while her Hummer was being repaired.

A blue car pulled up at the house that she could just see out of her window. She glanced over and recognized the guy from the picture Barbara had showed her earlier. With a happy sigh she got up, while grabbing her coat and locked the car behind her. She donned the warm trench coat, while walking across the street. Meanwhile the guy was calmly unlocking his house doors.

Helena crossed the lawn in silence using both skill and metahuman instincts to move silently up behind the goon just as he opened to door to his home. She stepped up behind him, pulled back a fist and asked, "Mind if I come in?" He turned towards the sound of her voice.

Before he could fully spin around, Helena smacked her fist into his side. Her strength easily threw the guy inside. Walking as if she was completely unprepared for any kind of fight she followed him inside. He lay on the floor holding his side in pain. She hooked a foot in behind the door and kicked it shut.

Helena towered above him, still keeping out of reach of his feet incase he felt like being difficult, before she was ready to go at it. She looked down at his tattoos recognizing the style often common in prison gangs. "Nice tats, so did your boyfriend give them to ya? I figured you were his bitch, because you're sure as hell not tough enough to be anything else," she teased.

The guy got up still clutching his side. "You'll pay for those words, Bitch," he said and prepared to lunge at her. Usually she wouldn't mind throwing him out the door for such a stupid move, but considering that she needed information from this goon, she decided to keep the fight inside, where they could have some privacy.

He almost surprised her, when he decided to throw a punch instead. She caught it in her fist and gripped his fist in an iron vice. "Now it seems I still need to get your attention," she said and pressed harder against his hand. He looked at her in utter surprise and early hints of pain.

"My name isn't Bitch," she said and pressed even harder. The guy's eyes started to water and he tried to tear himself free.

"It is Huntress," and with those words she broke his hand. He yelled out in pain. She let go and he clutched his broken hand with his other one. 

She walked towards him and with each of her steps he stepped away. She felt the feral playfulness that always came up in her, when she worked tease at her senses. She felt like throwing him around a little more, before asking any questions. But she knew from experience that those ideas and instincts came from a dark and dangerous place, where she had best not tread. "You can't do this… It is illegal for…" The goon stammered.

"For cops… Honestly do I look like a cop to you? No, Wyatt, I am not a cop. I am the Huntress. Does the concept vigilante ring a bell?" She asked and couldn't stop herself from smirking.

"Now Wyatt, while you feel like talking and you still have all your teeth in your mouth, why don't you tell me all about that little murder last night," she asked.

"What murder," he answered. She jumped forward, grabbed his shoulders and faster than he could react, jumped him and herself several yards across the room, hammering him against the wall.

"Wrong answer, the murder last night, Chesterfield and 22nd the guy was carrying a message about some kind of delivery to you and some floor plan on a CD. You have something to do with it. Now tell me or I'll beat you unconscious, wait until you wake up and start all over again," she explained.

He looked into her eyes. She let all her seriousness and playfulness show in her eyes and hoped it would impress her intent on him. "Alright, alright, I did it. The idiot saw something, he shouldn't have. It was as good as suicide anyway. We… I could let that kind of information out onto the street, I would go straight back to jail, when…" He stopped himself as if he suddenly realized that he was blabbing.

Quickly so not to lose the initiative she grabbed his privates in a vice like grip. "Don't stop now or I'll castrate ya," she said trying to sound as serious as she could.

With even more watering eyes the guy quickly nodded his assent… repeatedly, "I've been trying to blackmail the Daggett Corporation. They didn't want to play, so I have placed a special kind of chemical mix in their plant. It'll look like negligence on their part to the public," he explained.

"What will look like negligence?" She asked furiously not noticing that her eyes shifted to their catlike slits in her anger even if her now even paler prisoner did.

"The chemical spill, the chemicals I've left out there, will mix and cause a reaction, which will burn through several key pipes, causing a spill… an airborne cloud of very hallucinogenic gas," he admitted.

"Hallucinogenic? Are you insane? That plant is in the middle of the city, thousands will go nuts, the effects… Where did you place it?" She squeezed his balls harder, causing him to scream in pain, before easing up a bit.

"I placed it near tank-45 on the pipes, where section 511 and 47 cross. I've set the entire thing to go off at 13.45. Please I just wanted to make some money," he begged.

"Listen to me, you'll go to the police and confess to this. If I find out later on that you're still walking free in this world, I'll hunt you down, drag you out to that chemical plant, find the largest fucking vat of acid and drop you in it," she said through clenched teeth. She didn't have the time or the evidence to drop him off or do anything else. She needed to get across the city in less than two hours or the entire industrial area and depending on air conditions other parts of the city would be doused with gas. Absentmindedly she hammered another blow in the face of the asshole in front of her sending him to dream land.

Helena spurted out the door. She barreled right past two plain clothes men, which had been walking towards the door. "Wait, stop, police," they called out, but she just ignored their calls. The police was so damn slow. She couldn't really be bothered with them, especially when she didn't have the time. She slid across the hood of her car, seeing one of the detectives, she guessed, running towards her. She quickly got in, locked the door and put it in reverse, slammed the accelerator and sped backwards away from him. She swung out onto a street, turned, changed gears and thundered towards the wider roads heading downtown, which she could only hope were reasonably clear. Not long after she had picked up a tail in the form of a police car, which she didn't know if came from her escape at the house or from her really reckless driving through town.

She could see the chemical plant through her windshield, when a patrol car suddenly skidded into view just in front of her. "Shit," she yelled, and frantically adjusted her course to take her up over the sidewalk around the police car and back onto the road. Behind her she could hear the sirens begin to blare. She guessed that somewhere above her a helicopter had kept watch since sometimes around when she had shaken off the first patrol car.

The black car barreled towards the security gate. She could see that the security people of the plant were on duty and the way in was guarded by a barrier and a row of retractable tire slicing iron teeth embedded in the road. She swerved up onto the small footpath between the bar and the security house saving her right front and back tires as she hammered through the barrier. Behind her the security people starred after her in the surprise and then began alerting people. However the police made her smile as always. Set on catching her as they were they took what looked like the easy way in and had all their tires turned into rubber spaghetti.

The car was really hard to control, but Helena could only half focus on controlling it. The other half of her brain was hard at work looking at the many signs that graced the chemical plant. She was looking for tank number 45. "12… 14… 15... On the other side, ah, there is a system to it," she mumbled as she read the signs.

Finally she pulled over at tank number 45, which revealed itself to be what looked like a huge silo surrounded by a myriad of pipes leading in and out of it. She dashed out of the car, making sure that she had left nothing personal behind and ran towards a stairwell that led up into the maze of pipes. 

A security guard huffing from running came down the stairs towards her, while keeping his hands on his still holstered gun. "Hold it right there," he yelled out. Helena felt bad for doing it, but she jumped up the stairs leading right in front of him, and delivered two precise strikes to each side of his fat neck, collapsing the guy to the ground. He would be out for a while, she reasoned after checking to make sure he would be alright before continuing up the stairs.

She was utterly lost. The security and probably the police guided by the still overhead helicopter wouldn't be far behind. And her wristwatch said 13.40. She had less than five minutes to find the chemical bomb or the city would be gassed the current wind blew towards downtown not a good thing at all.

Her fine tuned senses caught the sound of someone moving close by. Quickly she ducked around a pipe and found a technician working on some panel with a couple of earphones on. She reached up and pulled them out. "Hey, what the…" The man's angry words died on his lips, when he saw her.

"I need to find where section 511 and 47 cross. NOW! " She commanded. 

"Alright," the guy said reluctantly and began leading the way.

"Fast or the city will be covered in a cloud of gas," she warned. The guy seemed to understand and he picked up his pace.

"It is down there," he explained pointed down to the bottom of a stairwell. Helena didn't have any more time to waste. 

She jumped down the center of the stairwell landing with catlike ease in the blacked out area. Her eyes easily compensated using the ambient light.

Two canisters were strapped to a couple of pipes. A small digital timer was ticking down. Its red LED display was glaring at her with its two zeroes and low number of seconds as she reached for the canisters. She wasted no time with subtlety.

Helena tore the canisters of the pipes and while lugging their weight launched into a powerful leap taking her up again.

The counters were nearing ten.

She dashed towards the first glimpse of sunlight. 

The counters were at 5.

She skidded to a stop and let go of the canisters letting them sail through the air with the remainder of her speed and the push her gave the chemical bomb with on the way. 

It flew over her black car. Security people and police cars were closing in. The counters reached zero.

A massive thermal reaction splashed all over her car. The intense heat reached her all the way up at her position near the tank. Forethought or maybe luck made her jump backwards into safety. The remaining gasoline in the car couldn't dodge, so it ignited along with most of the car sending a fireball up past her former position.

Helena struggled to her feet and quickly sought a way out of the chemical plant, before the police or someone else came to ask any strange question. She wondered somewhere in the back of her mind, how she would explain to Barbara that she had destroyed the replacement car, when the other one was still being put back together from her last mission.

The shot glasses was flowing out of the bar in a steady stream and Harold the current manager looked rather happy with himself as the comfortable buzz of customers made the Dark Horse into a cacophony for her sensitive ears.

At least Barbara hadn't yelled, when she had finally finished telling about her adventure today, she had instead rewarded her with a congratulations and a night off from patrols. This was a welcome thing, when she had gotten up so early in the morning.

"I need 4 of beers and a bottle of water for table 7," one of the waitresses said. Helena quickly got the beers up and popped the caps off, then swung around and snapped a water bottle from the freezer. Table 7 was one of the big customers of the evening. A group of 5 young business men, looking like they were celebrating something, were buying and tipping like mad.

"Hey honey, why don't you give me a kiss?" A very inebriated customer suggested and grabbed her hand as she was handing him his drink.

"Let go of my hand or lose the fingers," she suggested through clenched teeth after stopping herself from instantly pounding the guy down. Her shift was ending in an hour, but she had a headache and she didn't feel like being nice anymore.

"No, I want you, and what I want I get," the black haired man suggested, while his breath nearly told her all about what he had eaten and drunk the entire day. She wrinkled her nose, grabbed his fingers and pressed them hard against each other. He let go with a surprised and pained look.

"Now scoot, before I get mean," she said and let go of his hand. The guy immediately took a swing at her, which he telegraphed by his entire upper body. She ducked out of it with ease and looked up to catch the eye of their bouncer. She didn't want to blow her cover by putting a guy to sleep Huntress-style in the middle of her workplace.

Charlie, the bouncer, quickly made it over to her, while she ducked around a couple more pathetic attempts at hitting her. He picked up the drunken customer, which his friends protested against, and carried him outside. The friends of drunken guy got up and made loud protests over their friend getting thrown out, which only led to Charlie giving them a rather pointed tour the same way their friend went.

The rest of her shift had gone fairly well, still she wanted nothing more than go home and put her feet into a hot bath, while enjoying a couple of TV shows recorded during the day and evening. She walked out onto the street and looked forward the short path leading home, when she became suddenly aware of eyes and people closing in on her. 

All her senses went on alert and all thoughts of leisure disappeared from her mind. Someone didn't know it yet, but they were playing a dangerous game with their health. She looked behind her and found the drunken guy from earlier and his friends running towards her. She quickly rolled over the hood of a car, getting out of their way. One of the guys changed course and headed around the car to come at her alone. 

She quickly kicked him in the stomach then used her foot in his stomach as support to launch a flip kick as she brought her other foot up, kicked him in the head, flipped over and landed on her feet. He immediately went down. Helena hoped this would cool down her attackers.

"We're gonna fuck you up," the guy that had grabbed her in the car yelled and pulled out a knife. Helena gave him a wide smile. She felt the adrenaline pump through her system. She was going to hurt these guys and she was going to feel good doing it.

They split up to come at her from both sides, but she decided to even the odds a bit more, so she jumped over the two guys coming at her from the right. She reached over her back, grabbed someone's coat and tossed him over her head sending him against the wall, before they could react.

She spun around, but still got the other guy's punch in her shoulder. Helena hammered a fist into his solar plexus sending him gasping to the ground, while she danced away to avoid a knife slash. 

A hand grabbed the guy with the knife's shoulder spun him around and someone punched him solidly in the jaw. The guy staggered back towards Helena. She spun into a low circle sweeping his feet out under him and sending him to the ground. The last guy looked around and started running. Helena contemplated going after him, but decided instead to look at her mysterious rescuer. 

He was a black man with a slightly more pale skin tone than usual. He was dressed in a very expensive tailored suit. She recognized him as one of the big tippers from table 7 that had spent the entire night drinking only water. He had both a kind of charm and a hint of inner pain in his eyes that she found interesting. "Thank you," she said.

"I saw, what they were doing. I had to step in. My friends have already called the police, so why don't we spend the wait until they arrive doing something pleasant like exchanging names," he suggested with a smile. Helena smiled at his cocky approach, but she wasn't about to fall for it. She did however realize that this time she had to deal with the police no matter how she felt about their effectiveness. 

"Sure, Helena Kyle," she said and offered him her hand.

"Jesse Reese," he answered and gave her a warm handshake.

"You're a good fighter," he said and indicated the guys she had taken down on her own.

She realized that she might have gone overboard on the guy she threw, but hoped he would chalk it up to adrenaline. "I am a bartender in downtown New Gotham, I wouldn't have lasted a day in this job, if I wasn't trained in martial arts. Trust me, this is nothing, you should see, what our bouncer would've done to them," she explained, while thinking that she could take out the boxing trained bodybuilder they used as a bouncer with her left hand.

"True enough, there are way too many thugs in this town," he said, while they heard the siren approach.

The police had arrived and they gave their statements, while her attackers were carted off to detention. Finally she was allowed to go, so she headed over towards the door to her apartment, when she heard Jesse call out, "see you around, Helena Kyle." She turned around with creased eyebrows, but Jesse had already gotten into an expensive town car with his friends. She shrugged and opened the door.

Jesse Reese leaned back in his seat and stared out into the night of New Gotham. "So this is the town that your family used to rule," one of his associates commented.

"Yes, there hasn't been any kind of decent organization here, since the last syndicate was crushed by that Batman guy 7 years ago," another of his associates replied.

"Which is why the syndicate has decided to set up shop in town," he reminded them.

"We need to find out about the rumors that there are other interests also moving into town. There will be trouble with the remainders of Russian and Italian mobs. The gangs are used to autonomy and there is supposed to be metahumans in town," his third associate reminded them all.

"Positive thinking everyone, if this goes well for Jesse, he'll able to follow in his father's footsteps, rebuild his empire, and really move up in standing within the syndicate," the first one reminded them all. Jesse reminded himself to smile as if he relished this thought.


	22. Chapter 22: Dreams of Fire

**Chapter 22: Dreams of Fire**

            The voice coming from up at the blackboard kept droning on about the sonnet they had been given as homework for the day. She mostly blocked it out, just listening enough to know, where they were. She tried to keep a keen and interested look on her face, while her thoughts wandered.

She thought about the imminent party this weekend. Gabby had been invited and had extended that invite to her. Usually she wasn't one for parties, but this was advertised as the most important social event of the semester. She really wanted to go and do something irresponsible for one. But even with it being on a Saturday and even with all her abilities there was no chance of her getting permission from her mother for any kind of party, where there would be no grown ups present. 

If she mentioned it, her mother would know within the hour that it was a party arranged not only by Anna a well known party girl, but also by her much older college going brother, which also meant there was a good chance of alcohol at the party and general mayhem on top of it. That would mean no permission, which would mean an increased social leper status in school and in her mind made her blend even less in with the crowd and lowered the chance getting those friends that her mom kept saying she should have.

She cast a glance over at Gabby, who looked decidedly like she was dozing with eyes half open. She wished she could do that, but she wanted to keep her grades in this subject up even if it held very little interest to her. Looking at her friend an idea popped into her head and a wide smile spread on her lips for a moment. 

The bell rang and everyone got up some looking more like they had just woken up than others. Dinah quickly packed her books and notes into her bag, making sure that no messages had gone in on her cell, before heading over to Gabby, who was stifling a yawn, while packing a book into her cute little bag. "Hi, Gabby, I've been thinking about that party," she said and began walking with the girl as they headed out of class.

"And," Gabby replied slowly getting more attentive.

"I don't think my mom will let me go… if I tell her that is. However there is no way of getting away from home after dark, so I've been scheming. How about we arrange some kind of sleep over and cover it up as some kind of study, shopping and bonding thing. My mom could go for that. We could shop madly during the day and party in the evening, head home to your place, sleep and I could show up at home with my mom none the wiser," she suggested.

Gabby gave her a look. That look showed up every once in a while, when she mentioned her mom or her home a lot. "Your mom needs to lighten up her security routine, Dinah. Seriously I've known you for one and a half years. I am considered by everyone including myself your best friend and I don't even know where you live. I know that some really bad stuff happened in your lives that you won't tell me about. But it is in the past, she is ruining your childhood," Gabby explained.

She couldn't do anything else in public than agree with her friend, but she understood her mother's need for secrecy even if it constantly made her life difficult. "I know, but I can't change it alright. Now about my idea, what do you think?" She asked.

"Sure, it won't be a problem. My mom likes having you around. She seems to think you're a good influence on me. Good thing, she doesn't which one of us is really the genius, who plans all our outrageous stunts," Gabby said.

"Hey, I might plan some of them. Those I think would be cool to participate in. But the ideas are entirely from someone else," she replied and lifted an eyebrow.

Gabby grinned and they continued down the hall. "Why don't we head over to my mom's classroom and ask her right away," she suggested. Gabby agreed.

As they approached the classroom, Dinah almost missed the sound of a guy's voice coming from inside. Gabby was once again arguing that Dinah really should go for more black skirts and stuff to offset her tendency towards flowery or white blouses. She had been preparing to present her usual case for the all-roundedness of denim like the tight pants she was wearing at that moment, but instead she put a finger to her lips and pressed a hand against Gabby's chest making her stop. "Listen," she whispered.

"Yeah, okay," her mom replied to something said by the deep male voice. Gabby swung in behind her and stood looking around the corridor like they were doing something illegal and she had to keep a look out.

"Could we do that over coffee?" He asked with a nervous undertone in his voice. 

Dinah could hear her mom laughing. It sounded like she also was a bit nervous too. "Um, are you asking me on a date?" Her mom asked. Dinah couldn't help wincing, Helena was right her mom needed to date more.

"If I say yes, um… would that get you to come?" He replied.

"It might," her mom added coyly. Dinah reconsidered, her mom might actually be playing this guy just right by not seeming too secure of herself.

"Well, then, yes, it is coffee, or dinner you name it," he replied.

"That sounds, um… great," her mom answered. Dinah grinned a little and noticed Gabby doing the same. It was funny seeing or in this case hearing adults during romantic events such as these. They seemed so much like the teens she saw everyday. 

Then somehow Gabby decided to sneeze. The classroom fell silent. Dinah felt a lot like running away rather than being caught snooping by her mom and her potential new boyfriend, but before she could, the head of a blonde man popped out the door and gave them a look that was somewhere between curiosity and annoyance. "What are you two doing?" He asked.

Rather than starting off on the wrong foot, Dinah took the only way out that came to mind. "I came to see my mom," she explained only to realize what she had just revealed to her mom's potential boyfriend. She hoped she had ruined too much, although the twin raised eyebrows and the short flicker of his eyes back inside towards her mom, told her that he was at least thinking about why her mom had a teenage daughter.

"Dinah, is that you?" Her mom called out, while the man went back inside. Dinah and Gabby walked in too. Dinah hoped that Gabby like her was trying like her to look as innocent as possible. 

"Yeah, me and Gabby were just talking and had an idea, but I wanted to ask you, before it went any further," she asked, reminding herself to cast one or two questioning glances towards the guy to make it seem like she wondered who he was.

"Oh, Dinah, this is Wade Brixton. Wade, this is Dinah. Wade is a new teacher here," her mom explained.

"Hi, Mr. Brixton," she and Gabby parroted. 

"I'm sorry, this is Gabby, Dinah's best friend," her mom said, "What did you want to ask?"

"Well, I don't have anything special planned for the weekend, neither did Gabby, so we thought to ask if it was okay to have a sleepover at Gabby's from Saturday till Sunday," she explained.

Her mom thought for a moment, probably going over their appointments and agreements in her head. "I don't think it'll be a problem. Doesn't your mom mind having Dinah over so often?" Her mom commented.

"Nah, Dinah doesn't make much of a mess and she is so polite that I usually have to spend a couple of days after she been over to remind my mom that I don't have an English teacher as an adoptive mom," Gabby replied.

Dinah glanced at her wristwatch. "We have to go, I have an honors class in math to go to," she explained and turned towards the door with Gabby in tow. 

"See ya tonight," her mom called out. Dinah inwardly winced, while calling out her assent. It was one of the many barriers that lay between her mom and her. Barriers that they had both built over the years from compromises, deceit and time spent apart. She wasn't allowed more than mere glimpses of her mom and Helena in action, while her mom didn't get to spend more than a few minutes with her every day. It had been like that for two years now and it ate at her conscience and at their relationship. Hadn't it been for her good memory, she wouldn't have remembered that there had been times of honesty and openness in their life together.

They were a good distance from the classroom, when Gabby said, "I think you are in for a new person in your life."

"I don't mind. My mom is usually so caught up in work and stuff. Having some guy wanting her to be with him might make her lighten up a bit," she agreed. Still a voice inside her head told her that her mom wasn't about to invite some stranger into their lives. Wade Brixton might not know it yet, but he was soon to have his entire private life examined by the Oracle and then there were the entire can of worms that was her mom's emotional state, which not even she knew the depth of.

"She definitely needs to do that," Gabby agreed, before they split up heading to different classes.

"Are you ready," Gabby called out to her through the bathroom door. Dinah looked into the mirror one more time. Her long blonde hair had been carefully set. She had put on a subtle layer of make-up and her nail polish had dried a while ago. She had just put on the final touch. The clothes, which she had just spent a month's allowance on including a tight black skirt and a beautiful top, looked nice on her and the high heeled boots perfected the outfit. 

"Yeah," she answered and walked outside. She noticed Gabby looking her over twice and blinking as if she was surprised by her look. Dinah quickly cast a glance in the mirror and the only fault she could find was the hints of muscles apparent all over her body. Sometimes when she dressed up or did something girly Gabby reacted like she just had, staring and being speechless for a short while. She had thought at least that her best friend would reckon that she could be more than academic Dinah or athletic Dinah for that matter.

"Grab your jacket, we need to go," Gabby reminded her. She took the short jacket off the fold-out bed that she wasn't planning on using until much later and followed the curly blonde out of her room. 

Gabby's parents lived in an inner city apartment building just on the outskirts of what could be the beginning of the bad neighborhoods of New Gotham. According to Gabby it was because it was the cheapest four-bedroom apartment that her family could find, when they moved to New Gotham years ago. "We're leaving, see ya," she called out into the living room, where Gabby's parents and her little brother were watching a movie. 

"Have fun and remember to stay safe," Gabby's mom reminded them after she walked up to them as they were going out the front door. 

"Yeah, we will," Gabby agreed and lifted her purse back onto her shoulder after getting her car keys out.

"And be back before midnight," Gabby's mom called out to them.

"Sure," Gabby mumbled, but yelled back, "We'll remember mom." They walked out onto the empty streets, where Gabby's car was temporarily parked. Dinah not for the first time recently wished she had her own car. She was a brilliant driver already, thanks to the tutelage of not only Helena but her mom and Alfred as well, but she didn't have the time for a job like Gabby and so she couldn't afford a car.

They drove up the small road that led up to the mansion, where Anna lived. "Damn, I know, her parents are loaded, but this is ridiculous," Gabby commented. They had to stop a good distance from the house as cars were parked everywhere and Gabby obviously didn't want to block the way for cars that were only dropping off people by parking in the single open lane, so instead she rolled to a stop on the grass next to a SUV. 

"Makes you wonder, why her parents are sending her to New Gotham High," Dinah commented as they got out of the car.

"Yeah… Okay, final check," Gabby said and they gave each other the final once over before they went inside.

Dinah's throat felt sore. She had been afraid that going to a party when she hardly knew anyone, had the potential for a disaster, but it seemed that it had been an unmitigated success instead. She had talked with so many girls that her voice was raw from yelling above the music. She was pretty sure most of them had been from Anne's brother's college crowd instead of her high school, because she hadn't known half of them and they had discussed other things than who looked hot and what kind of music they liked. 

She looked around and spied a punch bowl that hadn't been emptied yet. Dinah walked over and poured some into a glass. She took a sip and felt a warm burning spread in her mouth. Carefully she brought her cup back up as if she was drinking and let the alcohol spiked mouthful slip back into her cup. She walked away from the bowl and after a few yards left the cup on top of a table next to a group of dancing guys. She had danced with Gabby and more than a few guys most of which she hadn't know and more than one which she had been forced to politely tell to go somewhere else if they wanted to feel her up. 

She drifted back towards the kitchen, hoping to find something safe to drink, which wouldn't leave her in danger of throwing people around with her mind or losing control in some other spectacular and dangerous way. She found the table where they kept the soda and grabbed a can. She walked into the kitchen to enjoy the drink in relative silence. She walked up to one of the kitchen windows and looked outside. She considered taking a few steps outside to cool herself down under the starry sky. 

Her brow furrowed. Someone was running in and out between the trees out in the garden. She saw two figures. One seemed to be running away from the other. Dinah stopped drinking in mid-sip and slammed the can down. She turned towards the kitchen door, took a few steps and was about to run, when she realized why Helena only rarely went patrolling in high heels. They weren't any good for running. She slowed her pace, but continued on. Behind her Gabby and a couple of other people from the high school walked in to see her leave.

Dinah jogged as fast as she could. Somewhere in the darkness of the nearly moonless night she heard a squeal. Dinah tried to pick up her pace. All what she had learned from her mom and Helena about heroism as well as the emphasis on third-party protection in her advanced Krav Maga courses told her that she had to go the rescue of anyone in trouble. Fortunately she didn't have to go far. 

She found a boy sitting atop some girl, a few pieces of her clothing was lying around. Dinah having talked about crime and dangers of living in this world with her mom and Helena really didn't like any kind of sexual predator and so she reached forward and tore the goon off the girl, before he could do any real harm. "Hey, what the fuck," the guy called out. 

She placed herself in between him and the girl in a combat stance. He got up and walked towards her. "Get out here bitch, this is a private matter," he warned her. Dinah took a step forward and did as she had been taught. A solid blow to the throat gave him pain and disrupted his breathing. 

She was about to launch a kick into the part of his anatomy that was most vulnerable, when the girl yelled, "Stop, don't hurt him." The girl imposed herself between them. Dinah stopped in confusion.

"What is going on?" Gabby's voice suddenly asked from a point a few yards behind the guy.

"This insane chick attacked us, when we're about to… um we were… about to," the guy stuttered his way through the sentence with his now raspy voice. Gabby looked from frat guy to young high school girl and back again.

"You were about to do something illegal that is what. There is such a thing as too young," Gabby commented. Dinah felt relieved. Gabby had just provided her with some leverage to avoid her mistake getting blown out of proportion.

"Yeah, well, there is also something called assault. She attacked us without provocation," he said.

"I thought you were raping her," Dinah heard her voice say.

Gabby, a couple of girls from school, the guy and the half naked girl looked at her for a moment. An uncomfortable silence fell over them. "Yeah, well, it wasn't and you can't just go around assaulting people, because you think something is going on," the guy said and stomped off. The girl remained behind and began collecting her clothes, while Gabby stood a little off to the side. Dinah headed over to her.

"Lance at some point you'll have to tell me, what war was you in, before you came to New Gotham High. You're not Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you can't just go nuts, when you think there is some evil which needs its butt kicked," Gabby commented.

"I wasn't in any war. I just have principles and I think everyone is better served by vigilance than by just taking it easy," she remarked.

Gabby gave her a despairing look. "I think we'd better head home right away. If you go in there now, you'll just get pointed out to everyone. If they don't get to put a face on the event it'll probably be forgotten by Monday," Gabby suggested.

"You think," she asked hopefully.

"No," Gabby answered. Dinah smiled and shook her head.

"I'll go fetch our jackets," Gabby said and jogged away. Suddenly feeling tired Dinah headed over to the car.

Half an hour later they pulled into the fenced and guarded parking lot, where Gabby kept her car by night. "Man, all of a sudden I am bushed. I think it was good thing we left anyhow. It is already ten past twelve," Gabby said. Dinah agreed she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open too.

The transformation was astounding, Dinah thought as they lay down to sleep an hour later. The make up was gone replaced by fresh scrubbed kids' faces, the fashionable and sexy clothes replaced by T-shirts with rabbits on it and the high heeled boots replaced by small slippers. "You know, sometime it seems to me like we're spending our teenager years pretending to be adults. And adults seem to be struggling to try to remain teenagers. It might be a little stupid," she said.

"Ugh, please, no philosophy at bedtime Dinah, I get enough of your thinking by day," Gabby commented and switched off the lights. Dinah smirked in the darkness, closed her eyes and lay there thinking about the events of her day as she did every night. She soon fell asleep.

Dinah dreamt. She was standing in what looked like a news office. Journalists and secretaries were making and receiving calls left and right. Computer screens glowed in the dim room, while keyboards were frantically being punched. She looked down and saw one screen display a headline, "Third mysterious suicide strikes the business community." She bent down to read more, but it was like a film tore and she found herself in darkness again. Consciousness faded.

What greeted her in the next dream was hauntingly familiar. She dreamt of a fight that happened seven years ago Batman and Batgirl versus the Joker and his men. She saw it play out again, like it had done so many times before. The fire was spreading, Batgirl getting knocked back, Batman taking down the Joker. 

However the dream was not entirely the same. It began slowly as flashes. The scene seemed to shift between what had happened and some kind of burnt remainder an old destroyed ruin. The changes became more and more frequent until she only saw the old ruins of the hideout lying forgotten somewhere below the city. 

Then a new blaze seemed to explode out of the ground in that hideout. It had the shape of a phoenix, a bird made of fire. Her viewpoint shifted taking her far above the city. The flames of the phoenix seemed to roll through the streets. It didn't burn as much as make people go completely wild. She seemed to fly higher and higher soaring above the night sky. There she noticed that someone was standing like a titan over New Gotham, someone wrapped in darkness, someone blotting out the stars and in its hands it held the threads like a puppeteer. A maniacal laughter filled the sky. 

She began falling uncontrollably at the sound of that laughter. She found herself in thick obscuring clouds again. She came upon a hauntingly familiar woman. Her birth mother stood on what looked like solid ground and looked at her. "Not all of the past will remain hidden. My legacy has arrived," she said and walked into an oncoming cloud.

Dinah ran after even if she knew, she would never get to speak with her. The clouds cleared again. She was standing next to her mom and Helena in front of the clock. They were discussing something and no one looked happy. The clouds gathered again and grew so thick that she could see only darkness. "No, I want to see more. I must," she yelled and found herself sitting up in the fold out bed next to Gabby's bed. The knick knacks, pictures, the book shelves, everything seemed to be rattling. Slowly it began to settle down. 

Dinah almost smacked her forehead. Her dream had obviously made her upset enough to trigger her rather adrenaline controlled telekinesis. Instead she slowly gazed over and found a very pale looking Gabby peeking up over her blanket. "Is it over?" Gabby asked.

"Yeah, I think it was just a small earthquake," Dinah quickly suggested hoping that idea might keep her best friend from inquiring along a path that could lead to trouble.

"Earthquake… yeah… of course, it was an earthquake," Gabby quickly agreed. 

"So what was it that you wanted to see bad that you had to yell it and wake up?" Gabby asked.

"Oh, I dreamt I was being invited over to spend some time with Justin Timberlake and he didn't want to show me… well, let's just say it was a teenage dream and leave it at that," she lied.

"I didn't know you liked pop," Gabby replied with a teasing smile.

"Oh, well, I make some exceptions," she lied again.

"It is still early, go back to sleep," Gabby suggested. 

"Uh, okay," she replied and turned over on her side, but sleep wouldn't come. She just lay there in the increasing sunlight coming through the window pane and thought about her dream committing it to memory.


	23. Chapter 23: Phoenix Rising

Author notes: 

Hi guys, I am sorry it took so long and that some of the chapters might be a little rough. I have my final project to write and I also had a bout of Writer's block, which was cured until two days ago after which I churned out the last three chapters in a couple of marathon sittings. I think a lot of the main plot is resolved in these chapters and that is probably a good thing. The plan now is to edit the story a bit and then begin considering Bonds II which should contain the entire first season, if and when I get to writing it. 

Chapter 23: Phoenix Rising 

            Dinah felt uncomfortable as she sat down. The rest of Gabby's family sat happily chatting at the breakfast table. She wanted to join in and forget about the worries that pressed in on her, but she couldn't put the dream past her. She felt antsy, she knew that she had to go tell her mom about it and soon, another conversation she wasn't looking forward to.

"So did you feel the earthquake last night?" Gabby suddenly asked her mom. Dinah stopped in the midst of the bite she was about to take and felt an icy feeling settle in her stomach.

"There was an earthquake. I haven't felt a thing," her dad replied.

"Me neither," her mom answered.

Dinah decided to quickly head off the discussion before Gabby began really thinking about the strange incident this night. She didn't want to have to alienate her friend, but if she got too close to her secrets that was what she would be forced to do. "It was really early this morning and I almost slept through it as well. All Gabby's knick knacks and stuff were shaking, but that was about it," she commented hoping no one would think to check and find out it had been a phenomenon that happened only in Gabby's room.

"Yeah, Dinah is right. I woke up and everything was shaking. I think Dinah would have slept through, but she woke up from her sweet dreams just in time to see it end," Gabby said.

"How long did it last," Gabby's dad asked with a lifted eyebrow.

Gabby cast a glance her way that Dinah found a little strange then answered, "Not long."

"Gabby would you mind if I go home right after breakfast. I would like to practice a little with my cello. I've been kind of neglecting it and I have to play in front of an audience in a couple of weeks," she said suddenly feeling even more like she needed to get home.

"Sure," Gabby said.

"By the way Gabby, your uncle was over last night. He has finally gotten a new job," Gabby's mom said.

Dinah didn't know much about Gabby's family and so only halfheartedly listened glad that the conversation had moved to another subject. "Really, I thought you said he would never get a reporting job again, because he got fired for incompetence the last time," Gabby replied. Dinah slowly tuned out the conversation, while rerunning her memories of the bird of fire and the shadowy figure controlling it last night.

Not even an hour later a rather surprised Gabby dropped her off in the middle of the city. "Are you sure I should drive you all the way home?" She asked as she often did, when she dropped her off at this spot.

Dinah couldn't help rolling her eyes and grinning. "Thanks for everything Gabby, I'll be fine. It is not a long way," she hinted knowing that it drove Gabby a little nuts not knowing where she lived.

Gabby cast a glance around the gothic sprawl surrounding them. "So which building is it?" She asked herself more than her.

"None of them," Dinah suggested in a playful tone.

Gabby looked up at her from inside the car, while Dinah lifted her bags. "Dinah, it was nice, but have I said something to offend you that I can't remember, because I've never seen you so eager to leave before. You didn't even stay long enough to beat my kid brother in his video games," Gabby asked.

"No, you didn't offend me. It is something else. I feel kind of bad for not telling my mom about going to a party on one of the few days in my week that I can actually spend with her. I want to go try to see if some us time is actually a possibility," she explained half lying half hoping.

"I wish you the best of luck, but I won't be keeping any fingers pressed. Your mom doesn't appreciate you for who you want to be Dinah. That is not gonna change until you do something about it," Gabby said in a sharp tone.

"Maybe, well I gotta go these are heavy," she said and lifted her bags. "Bye," she called out.

"See ya," Gabby replied and rolled up the car window before driving off. Dinah felt a short stab of envy for the car, then turned and headed the long way over towards the Clocktower which was still two blocks away.

"I'm home," she called out as she entered the Clocktower.

"Ah, Miss Dinah, it is good to see you. I'm afraid Miss Barbara has gone to sleep quite early this morning and hasn't arisen just yet," Alfred said in greeting, while he proceeded to dust the high tech medical part of her mom's lair.

"Hi, Alfred, how has your week been?" She asked the butler, who always seemed to have time to listen to and help her.

"Quite dull I must admit. The Manor is quite capable of existing without much help from me. I am however more interested in hearing about your week and if I might I would like be allowed to hear more of that piece you were practicing the last time I visited," he explained. She couldn't help smiling. Aside from her mom from time to time and of course her current teacher Alfred was one of the few people, who really encouraged her musical abilities.

"For you I would plow my way through any piece… if you promise to make me a sandwich for lunch later on," she answered.

He just smirked and his eyes flickered towards the kitchen. Dinah unabashedly turned and glimpsed a couple of loaves of bread sticking out of a paper bag. "If I didn't train so much I would be floating under ceiling as a blimp after each time you come over to cook. Mom is good, but you're much better… And I don't just mean with the food," she looked up at him letting some of her loneliness show. She hated herself for not trusting Alfred with her secrets either, but she didn't know if he would go to her mom and ruin years of carefully preserved secrets.

"Is something wrong, Miss Dinah?" The old man asked his eyes losing a bit of their merriment.

Dinah quickly hid her emotions again and answered, "Sometimes it is just hard to have to tell your best friend that she can't know where you live." Alfred nodded with an expression that made Dinah wonder how much he really knew or understood.

"Now I am guessing mom would not appreciate my cello music, while she's sleeping so I'm going to work out a little until she is up. Then I promise you'll get to hear a beautiful piece. I've tightened up my interpretation," she explained and grabbed her bag heading for her room.

Dinah snuck into the training room carefully closing them behind her. She felt anxious and full of pent up energy. Usually she would never contemplate practicing any of her martial arts at home because of all the cameras, but she was almost ready to stop caring. She was so tired of lying and hiding the truth from everyone. She needed fewer secrets in her life. Things had to change and hopefully soon they would. 

She cast a glance around and used her telekinesis to nudge all the cameras in the training room so they didn't show a picture of the centre of the room. Then she proceeded with a warm up before launching into a full blown all out combat work-out even if she lacked a sparring partner to make it perfect. Soon she was so caught up and focused that she didn't notice the door behind her slide open and a pair of eyes looking in before it just as soundlessly slid closed again.

As she walked back towards the training room with her hair wet from a much needed shower and her cello case in her hands she found her mom sitting at Delphi reading something on screen. For a moment Dinah debated what she should do about her dream. It was clearly beginning a case that would mean something major for her, her mom or Helena otherwise she wouldn't have dreamt anything. Maybe she would be allowed to help if they got the information from her. Maybe she could use this convince her mom that she was good for something other than filling up a room in a flat they shared. She decided to give it a try.

"Mom, I would like to tell you something," she explained. Her mom looked up at her with a mix of curiosity and worry in her eyes.

"Is it about that party you and Gabby went to last night? Did something happen?" Her mom asked. Dinah was shocked for a short moment. How had her mom known? What had she done wrong?

"How did you know?" She asked.

"Dinah, I have been a teenager too not too long ago in fact and the party wasn't exactly a secret in school. I suspected that you wanted to go. So I called Gabby's parents last night and got my suspicions confirmed… What I'd like to know is why you couldn't ask me for permission?" Her mom looked a little hurt.

"Because I thought you'd never let me go," she admitted, while she wondered how many, if any of her secrets, secrets from her mom were really that secret. Did she know about all the other things she had done over the last few years or was this just an accident.

Her mom sighed slightly and slipped off her glasses. "Dinah, I think, we, you and I have some problems. We don't talk anymore. We hardly ever see each other and I think that maybe you should cut down on your activities," she suggested.

Dinah felt her anger flare. "I don't see why I should be the one to change my life anymore, because you're always busy. Maybe it is you, who should think about changing your routine not me," she raised her voice. She suddenly noticed her mom giving her a slightly wide eyed look. Things were rattling on the table. Dinah quelled her anger for a moment hating her abilities and how they always forced her to keep her emotions at neutral.

Barbara sat there for a moment staring at her. "Maybe you're right. Did you want anything else?" 

Dinah nodded knowing that the other problem would not be addressed anymore in this conversation. It seemed that her mom just couldn't figure out how to deal with it. "I had a dream last night. It showed me that there is going to be some mysterious suicides amongst businessmen soon. It is part of something bigger something connected to fire or a bird made of fire, I don't know. But I do know that something pretty horrible is going to happen to New Gotham if we don't do something about it," she explained hoping that her allusion to her joining in wouldn't go unnoticed.

Her mom gave her a stare then looked up at one of the overhead plasma monitors. It showed some kind of paper clipping. "It has already started hasn't it," she asked.

Her mom looked at the screen then back at Dinah. It seemed as if some of conflicting emotions warred within her. "Thank you for telling me this. I hadn't thought to look closer at it today, but if it is important enough for you to dream about I'd best check into it," her mom said and ended the sentence with a look as if she waited for something to happen.

"It has to be important, if I dream about it, right… important to all of us. I could help… please let me," she asked.

"Dinah," her mom sighed, "I am going to look into it. Helena is going to help as well. I don't want you to help us. It could be dangerous and I don't want you involved in crime fighting now or any time in future. You've had enough bad experiences already."

"But I have taken self-defense for two years now. My powers have never been stronger. I could really help you and Helena. I could be your extra pair of hands and legs in the field or even here. Please mom, I just want to," but her speech was cut short by her mom.

"No," she yelled. "Don't say another word. It is not happening and you already know it. Go practice your cello, be great at that. You're much better off not getting involved," she explained in a harsh tone.

"Fine," Dinah said through clenched teeth and walked towards the training room that she would be using to practice purposefully opening and closing the doors with her telekinesis instead of her hands.

Dinah was furiously working her way through one of the most intense compositions she knew attempting to play the anger out of her system, but it wasn't helping. Finally sweating profusely she put down the bow and took a breather when she noticed that someone was standing really close behind her. Carefully she tried to guess who it was and decided from the near soundless approach and the height of the shadow on the floor that it could only be. "Hi Helena," she greeted her mom's partner in crime fighting and a person she had secretly been envious off for a long time now.

"Hi, kid, so you and Babs are having a little discussion again, huh. She sent me in here to get a few more details on that wacky dream of yours. I guess she didn't want to make you any angrier, even if I am not sure after seeing you play that it is even possible," Helena said and slowly walked over to stand in the sunlight coming through the pale clouds and the bullet proof windows.

"Yeah, I wanted to help. I mean I am sixteen now. I am as old as you were when mom started training you. Why can't I help you guys? It is even my dream, my clues you're basing your work on," she tried to explain.

Helena looked out the window again. "Your mom wanted you to give me a play by play on your dream," she said instead of answering her plea. Dinah felt a bit angry at that as well, but didn't comment it further. Instead she tried best she could to explain her dream of the newsroom and the fire even if she kept the origin point to herself. She was beginning to feel the stirrings of an idea. She ended up explaining about the shadowy figure controlling it all, but avoided telling Helena about seeing her birth mother or what had happened after that.

"And that is everything," Helena pressed.

Dinah made sure to think about something that was true, while lying, "Except some stuff earlier on about a really hot boy I saw at a party then yeah that was everything."

"Okay," Helena said and headed towards the door.

"Helena about me helping," she asked again. She really didn't want to continue lying to her mom or her friend, but she would if they decided to exclude her.

"Dinah, it is not going to happen. I can't spend time protecting you out there. It is way too dangerous, kiddo. It is not some romantic dream, where you're the good guy and every bad guy is a pushover. We're talking about real criminals with guns and things. There is no way I'd let you get into that," Helena said with sadness in her eyes before heading out.

Dinah waited until the door was closed before she kicked her chair away in frustration. She stood for a while forcing herself to remain calm before she walked over and got her chair back. She sat back down and decided it was time to fulfill her promise to Alfred. So she opened the door to the training room with her telekinesis and began playing the piece she was supposed to have mastered a while ago, but hadn't on the count of her martial arts training.

Helena left like such a rat as she walked back towards the main room, where Barbara sat listening to the tape of her conversation with Dinah. Barbara had insisted they need a record of Dinah's description instead of having to go talk to her about it constant. She felt it was a bit stupid, but then she felt that most of Barbara's fights with Dinah were a bit stupid lately. Dinah wanted in on their lives and Barbara kept pushing her away. It was tearing them apart.

Now she was the first to admit that she usually didn't spend too much time contemplating the reasons for other people's behavior, but she found herself wondering as she settled in to stand behind Barbara. "Aren't we taking all of this a little bit too serious? I mean it was just a dream," she said. Barbara turned her wheelchair around and stared at her with incomprehension. That irritated her more than a little. She knew she wasn't as smart as Barbara, but that look just felt rude.

"She hasn't been wrong about a threat yet. No, I am not taking this too seriously. My daughter predicts that the city is in grave danger and that it is tied to a couple of business men then it probably is. And there has already been one suicide already. Delphi is gathering all information on him right now, but I need you to take a scanner over and check his body. The police are saying it is suicide, but I want to be sure," Barbara handed her the little gadget. 

"Barbara, why don't we just let Dinah help with this one? I mean, if she just helped you around here and we quietly let her learn by herself that this job is really not for nice people like her. If you keep turning her down, she might do something stupid," she suggested.

"No, the only way is to completely keep her out of it. You don't understand Helena. There are just too many things in Dinah's history. She wouldn't stop. She is the daughter of both her mothers… No, the only way to keep her out of it is to completely keep her away from it all," Barbara said.

"That is impossible as long as she stays here," she replied, turned and walked towards the elevator doors, hoping that Barbara would realize she was right, but only silence followed her on the way out.

"That is very beautiful Miss Dinah," Alfred commented after clapping. She had just finished the last tones. Slowly she put down her cello and turned around to greet her friend, who was standing next to her with a plate on which a sandwich rested.

"You've always appreciated my music the most, Alfred," she said and took the plate from him, "Thank you for that."

"In fact Miss Dinah I've always made my best effort to appreciate everyone as the person they are," he said.

"It may not be my place to comment, but I think Miss Dinah that two stubborn persons as your mother and Miss Kyle might not believe in words as much as in actions. Now you shouldn't take unnecessary risks, but I think you should at least consider some kind of intelligent action to get their attention," he said and pressed a key into her palm before leaving.

Dinah looked down at her hand with the key then at the place where the butler had stood just moments ago. He had given her some keys to some kind of car. She carefully put the cello away before walking over to the elevator with barely a glance in the direction of her mom sitting glued in front of Delphi sifting through what ever flowed across its screens at the moment.

In the parking garage a surprise awaited her in the form of a large black car almost a limousine that responded with a couple of beeps as she pressed the radio stud on the keys. She avoided going closer hoping her mom wouldn't examine the feeds of her too closely anymore today. Instead she headed back upstairs her mind full of thoughts on what she would do next and how she could get more information without her mom noticing. 


	24. Chapter 24: On Watch

Chapter 24: On Watch 

            Her mom looked at bit frustrated Dinah thought as she glanced over the top of her homework down at Delphi. Two days had passed since she had told her mom about the ominous dream she had Saturday night. Since then her mom had run Helena ragged seeking evidence and had poured of hundreds of screens of data. Now a couple of hours before sundown she had just gotten some kind of bulletin from Delphi, which had made her mom work even more frantically and there was not a lot she could do about it.

She needed to find some way to gain access to Delphi and her mom's research, but everything was protected by passwords and it was constantly watched. She had tried to find a way around that problem all day and had come up short. She guessed that the news her mom had gotten was off a second guy dying and they were probably getting pressed for time. She had no idea, what this was all about though. As far as she could gather some business men were committing suicide for no apparent reason. Helena and her mom probably knew more, but there was no way for her to access that information.

She needed to figure out a way into the Delphi system, a highly protected computer system without its owner knowing about it. She had considered just sauntering up to her mom and picking the passwords and the access routines, maybe even the information, out of her mind, but there was a limit to how low she would stoop and probing her mom's mind or Helena's for that matter was far below it. 

She mentally accounted for all her resources. She had the exact dream memorized, she had physical proximity to Delphi but no access and she had the car Alfred had lent her. It wasn't much. She thought about Alfred's help and wondered if the butler knew more of her secrets than he let on. Clearly he approved somewhat of her plans for the future and was trying to help. He did however not have much influence here in the Clocktower and he wasn't there, he was at the Wayne Manor… with the Batcave underneath. Dinah cast a glance in the direction of her mom. There was no way she could sneak out now, but maybe getting out of school early tomorrow would do the trick.

Helena dropped down next to the cold body. She wondered for a moment, how strange her little life actually was. Here she was standing in the middle of a morgue getting ready to use a device she didn't understand on the body of a man, who apparently had killed himself, all because her surrogate little sister had dreamt of terrible things resulting from a series of suicides. "Oracle, I am starting the scan now," she reported and ran the device, which gave off a sickly green light, over the cold body that lay on the slab.

"Huntress, I've been wondering about the two suicides. It seems that this guy knew and worked with the other guy who committed suicide. The police reports indicate that they seemed to be fleeing from something at the time of their death. Maybe something was bringing out their fears. Maybe they were driven to suicide," Barbara's voice suggested in her ear.

"Sounds very theoretical," she replied.

"True, and it is, but it is an angle we should look into. And if they're connected maybe their other buddies are next. Delphi is gathering up all my info on them now. I will have to look at it tomorrow though, I am almost dropping out of the chair here," Barbara said.

"No staying up for two days in a row anymore, are you getting old by chance?" She teased her former mentor.

"Yeah, maybe, or maybe it is hard to have a home and two careers without sleep. Besides I have to be on my toes these days. That is fine, Huntress just get out of there safely then call it a night too," Barbara answered.

"Why?" She said.

"Why I have to be on my toes? Dinah, of course," Barbara admitted.

Helena knew that Dinah and Barbara were possibly just on the edge of a major face-off, which would decide their relationship for a long time to come. She hoped it would end well, but Barbara wasn't going to budge, so unless Dinah changed her mind their small family was going to continue suffering. "Oh, well, I… will see you tomorrow then," she felt like such a chicken for not giving Barbara her opinion, but she really didn't feel like getting in the middle of their fight. She slipped back into the air duct and closed the grate behind her. She was a little annoyed, when she noticed that slipping out of the morgue was a routine at this point in her life.

If her mom got word of what she was doing, she would be grounded for a long time, Dinah realized as she walked towards the front door. Cutting school was not a popular pastime, when your mom was a teacher at the same school. Luckily her mom had gone home early today, probably with some excuse to continue her hunt for a lead on the strange and seemingly meaningless suicides that had cropped up these last few days. "Hey, Dinah, where are you going?" Gabby's voice called to her as she was just about to push the door open.

She turned and saw Gabby walk up. "You still have classes today, are you alright?" Gabby asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just don't spread that around okay. I need to go do something," she explained.

"God, I thought I'd never see you cut classes… I'm so proud," Gabby said with a wink. Dinah couldn't help grinning. "So should I come along and offer moral support or something? I really don't want to have chemistry today," Gabby asked.

Dinah felt bad, as she replied, "Sorry, I need to do this thing on my own… put it down to my mysterious past alright." Gabby nodded.

"See ya," Gabby called out and left. Dinah echoed her and quickly turned to make her way towards the street and started on the walk over to the parking cellar beneath the Clocktower and her waiting ride.

Dinah sat down in the expensive car and caressed the leather upholstery appreciatively. One day she hoped to have a cool car of her own, but for now this would more than do well. She knew that she was still new at driving, but at that moment she couldn't careless. She slipped the key in the ignition and the electronics inside it made the car come alive. It roared slightly, while she slid on her seatbelt. And a slightly bumpy reversal later she was headed smoothly towards the exit of the parking cellar, while fiddling with the radio to see if she could catch a radio station that was remotely worth listening to.

It was quite a rush for her as she finally made it out of the slow moving city traffic and onto the two lane road that led through the forested mansion-filled hills above New Gotham. She had the car roaring comfortably and her hands were tapping the song on the steering wheel, while she thought about what steps she would next take to fulfill the purpose that had consumed her, since she had last stayed at the Wayne mansion.

Dinah parked the large black car next to the gray lichen covered mansion. She walked up the bare and clean stone steps to the reddish heavy wooden doors and pressed the bell. She hoped she had understood Alfred's intentions correctly and that her idea from last night was feasible. The door was opened by a slightly surprised looking Alfred. "Miss, what are you doing out here?" He asked.

"Alfred, I need to speak with you without camera coverage," she said. The butler smiled warmly at her and stepped inside indicating for her to join him. Dinah walked into the cavernous foyer.

"Please, Miss Dinah, give me that," Alfred suggested as she slipped out of her jacket. She handed it to him and followed him. He hung it in a closet then asked her to come with him to the kitchen.

Dinah liked the pleasant homey feel of the kitchen. Alfred put on some tee then turned and looked at her. "So how may I help you, Miss Dinah," he asked.

"I think you know… somehow what I am trying to do," she suggested.

"I am not sure of course, but I have seen enough to presume that you have decided to go against your mother's wishes and begun your own regiment of training in preparation for a career as a crime fighter like her," he said, while putting a couple of chocolate chip cookies on a plate and putting it down next tot the tea cups he had placed on a tray.

"I have been seriously training in Krav Maga for two years now," she admitted and somehow it felt like a bit of load she hadn't even noticed lightened.

"Yes, I recognized some of the moves this Sunday," the butler admitted, while pouring hot water of the dried mix of leaves and berries that would become their tea.

Dinah felt a bit uncomfortable in the silence that followed. "I need to do this Alfred. Everything within me tells me that it is the way for me. You know what happened to me… to my mom and Helena's mom 7 years ago today. That is one of the things that motivate me. I want to prevent anything like that from happening again," she explained.

"I understand," he replied and put the pot of tea on the tray too.

"You know, I am really grateful for the car, but I hoped I could you ask for a bit more help," she waited for his reply, but the butler just looked at her waiting for her to continue. "Mom won't let me help on the case they're working on, but I feel that I need to. I must convince them both that I will be a vigilante with or without them. Then they will have to accept my goal as real and not some fickle teenage phase. But to do that I need information and there is no way for me to get them on my own. I remembered that mom used the Batcave to run Delphi once, and I wondered if there was some kind of connection between the computers here and in the Clocktower that I could use… if you'd let me," she pleaded.

Alfred picked up the tray and said, "Right this way Miss Dinah." Dinah rose and followed the butler to the secret entrance to the Batcave. They walked down into the slightly chilly cave. The butler led her over to the gigantic and slightly old super computer system that had served Batman and his helpers in the past. It still hummed slightly with activity even if the monitor had been turned off.

The butler put down the tray next to the terminal and indicated for Dinah to sit down. "I am afraid I understand very little about computers, but I have overheard Miss Barbara saying that her system is still connected to these. Maybe it would be possible for you to find a way into Delphi through that connection," he said and poured her a cup of warm tea to fend off the cold of the cave.

She looked down at the cup and then over at the tray. "Did you know all the time what I wanted?" She had to ask.

"Miss Dinah, if I didn't think you wanted this for the right reasons and was capable of what you have set out to do, we would have been having tea in the kitchen right now," he said and poured himself a cup as well. 

She nodded and turned towards the big computer. A slight tap on a key activated the large screen. Soon she was trying to work her way through the computer and its unique interface hoping to find a way into her mother's databases.

"Helena, I'm glad you're here… today of all days," Barbara said and looked up at the black haired woman as she sullenly walked up towards her. She adjusted her wheelchair with a casual thought and found herself facing the vigilante she had created. 

"Let's not talk about that alright. What's up? I mean the sun is still up," Helena asked archly.

Barbara adjusted her glasses a little. "I've been going through the finances of both guys, who died. It seemed they worked together with two other partners on a land investment plan involving the old docks. I think something might have gone wrong with the money and they were depressed, but it looks like everything is going very well. I thought that maybe you could watch one of the other partners tonight, maybe check to see if there is something chasing them," she explained.

Helena, who had been leaning against a table, got up and walked towards the door, while fiddling with her necklace. "On my way," she said and the speakers at Delphi echoed her words.

After the elevator doors closed on Helena, Barbara pressed the send button on the microphone and told her wayward vigilante were the guy she was looking for lived, while she started to wonder, why her wayward daughter had come home for dinner yet.

"Finally," Dinah said as the list of files scrolled across the screen. She had gotten her mom's currently open files off of Delphi and copied them over the small dedicated network between the computers here in the cave that her mom obviously used as backup storage and the Delphi machine in the Clocktower. She started to examine the computer again and found the CD burner. She popped it open and realized she had no fresh media to get the files onto. She rose and turned only to find Alfred offering her a CD case.

"Master Bruce kept a small supply of those, he wouldn't mind if I lent you one," the butler explained at her questioning look. Still she didn't argue she would have enough trouble trying to figure out how to get the computer to actually burn the files out onto the disk.

Another hour later she finally popped the CD into its case and while already wincing she glanced down at her watch. It was almost eight o'clock and her mom had no idea, where she was. There was a rather good chance that her coming home tonight would involve words being screamed rather than said. "I need to go," she said to Alfred and anxiously dashed towards the stairs, while the unperturbed butler just calmly walked in the same direction.

By the time she had on her jacket Alfred stood holding the door open. "Good night Miss Dinah," he said.

She walked past him and asked, "When are you gonna just call me Dinah?"

The Englishman just smiled wickedly for a moment then replied, "Never."

"Thank you anyway, I don't know what I would have done without your help," she admitted and hugged the old man. Dinah couldn't help smiling as she saw the slightly blushing butler standing stiffly there as she headed down the stairs towards the car.

Helena watched as another car left the parking cellar below the massive building in which the guy she was watching lived. She was perched in the shadow next to a massive statue across the street from the guy's artfully decorated living room. A light shone through the gauzy white curtains. He had just had some kind of visitor in what Barbara had reported was probably his study and now that he had left the gray haired man suddenly dashed into the living room and barricaded the door with a chair. She couldn't help arching an eyebrow.

"Oracle, something is happening. Our guy is barricading himself," she said as she watched him completely close the curtains. "I've lost view of him," she quickly added.

"Don't let him kill himself," Barbara's voice added and the open mike added the faint background noise of Dinah greeting her mom.

"I'll go in. Keep the police off my back if I trip any alarms," she said and quickly took a step back before taking a massive flying leap between buildings here fifteen stories up. She dashed along the slim ledge and tripped to open the window to the living room, but she couldn't get it open. She pulled back as much as she could and launched herself through the glass.

Helena landed amongst the shards. She quickly jumped up to stand and found the man scrambling to slip a noose up over an overhead lamp. He had tied the cord to a statue and the chair to stand on was ready too. "No, stop," she commanded. The man didn't even look at her nor did he stop.

She quickly ran over and grabbed the man, pressing him to the ground. He started to struggle, trying to break her grip, while screaming in complete panic. "Hey, you stop it. There is no reason for you to do this," she yelled.

"You'll never be able to get me. I will make sure. I will go where you can't ever reach me," he yelled and then screamed wildly and thrashed even harder as he attempted to get free.

"Oracle, I can seem to snap him out of it. He is completely off his rocker," she said hoping Barbara could hear her over the noise.

"I've alarmed the police telling them that there is a suicidal man. I suggest you tie him up and leave at the last moment," her partner suggested.

"All right," Helena said, but as the guy continued his frantic struggle and wild screams she lost patience. Her fist pulled back and slammed down twice sending the business man to dreamland, allowing her to tie him with the cord he had earlier converted to a noose. She settled down to wait for the police.

Dinah studied the data; she had carefully lifted off her mom's system earlier, on her own computer after unplugging the network cable to prevent any kind of spying from her overzealous mother. There were loads of files dealing mostly with business dealings and flows of money. Her eyes started to water from the strain of the now late night computer session. She yawned and the screen seemed to get a bit blurry between blinks, so she decided to switch everything off. She popped out the CD, hid it in her school bag and put the network cable back in, before slipping back under the covers and soon falling asleep.

Meanwhile a few yards away Helena and Barbara were discussing the very same case. "I am telling you he was completely out of his mind. He really wanted to kill himself and when I tried to stop him he went really wild," Helena admitted.

"I know Helena, but when the cops questioned him, he was completely normal again. They did bring him to a clinic for evaluation. I guess we will know more tomorrow," she explained and rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"Alright, come on, Barbara, you usually have some kind of theory in these situations. Why are these men trying to kill themselves?" Helena asked.

Barbara really wished she had a clear cut answer, but all she had was theories and a clear intent to not let any more of these businessmen kill themselves. "I think we might be dealing with a metahuman, who can invade people's minds and cause them enough fear or pain to make them kill themselves," she said.

Helena gave her a look. She knew very well that it was an easy answer. "I know. I know. We don't have any evidence of a metahuman yet, but it would explain it all. At least we're moderately certain that it is somehow tied to these four business men," she pointed at the computer screen, while she brought up a picture of the fourth man on her list. "This guy was out of town until today, but he might be next one you need to guard," she explained.

"I know that guy Mr. Ketterly. He used to live down the block from my mom and me," Helena commented.

"We need to find out, why these men are trying to kill themselves. So far all the attempts have been made after sunset, so I think if you could watch him tomorrow, we could probably prevent anything like today from happening again," she suggested.

"Or at least make sure he can't go through with it," Helena said.

"Are you alright?" She asked thinking about Selina's death tonight seven years ago.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How are you?" Helena replied. 

Barbara knew she would never have gotten an honest answer to her question. Helena buried her grief, but she didn't want to ignore what day today was. She wondered for a moment if she should tell Helena about her worries, about her experiments, the wish she uttered as she got up every morning that maybe today a breakthrough or miracle would happen and she would be able to walk again. But then again she didn't feel like sharing that either. "I'm fine too," she said.

"And Dinah, she's usually a bit more fussy around the both of us on this day," Helena said, but Barbara could see in her eyes that she already knew the answer to that one.

"We haven't talked much today. She is still angry with me… us for not letting her help with this case," she explained.

"Barbara… Maybe we could," Helena started the old argument.

"No," she cut her off. The same cold shiver ran down her back as always and the image of Dinah being shot by some random goon flashed through her mind.

"I'll do a couple of sweeps then hit the bed," Helena said and abruptly headed for the door, while Barbara logged out of Delphi. She still had work tomorrow and Wade was also in the wings waiting for some kind of answer on his invitation. She stretched her arms and winced a little at the cracking noise of her back as she craned her neck.


	25. Chapter 25: Truths

Chapter 25: Truths 

            Dinah wanted to slam her fist into the computer screen. She had blown off her after school Krav Maga class to go home and read through more of the material she had laid her hands on yesterday. But all the financial records and stuff was just not something she was trained or prepared to read. "Calm down," she murmured and closed the file she had been reading instead opening another hoping it would contain some clue she could use. 

"Phoenix Industries," Dinah mumbled as she read the press release her mom had kept on something the men had worked together on. It said something about buying the old Gotham dockyards in some kind of land development deal. Dinah flashed back to the fire spreading across New Gotham in her dream. The bird of fire had risen out of the dockyards… Phoenix… She knew her Harry Potter well and the Phoenix was a bird that could burst into flame and get reborn. Her dream was pointing her in the direction of the old dockyards.

She had to decide what to do. She knew that if she went to her mom with just this, it wouldn't be enough. She needed to solve this on her own. And that meant she had to go to the old docks… on her own. Quickly she got up, grabbed her backpack, slipped in her cell phone and headed for the door, hoping she could make it out of the Clocktower before her mom made it home.

"Why don't you just go visit him, instead of trying to pull of the ultra stealthy superhero approach?" Barbara said as Helena slipped on her mask. 

"It was you, who taught me to keep hero stuff and private stuff apart. Besides I never knew him that well. Mom did," Helena winced a little, as she thought about her mother, but continued any way, "I'd rather do the hero routine than having to talk to a man I haven't seen since… I was in high school, when I last saw Larry Ketterly."

"Alright, but you need to stick close to him okay," Barbara suggested.

"I always do," she replied and headed for the exit. Barbara meanwhile continued her work at Delphi looking for some kind of culprit. Helena wondered as the elevator descended where Dinah had gone off to. Maybe the girl was rebelling in some typical teenage manner and had gone to some wild party or was somewhere getting drunk. She wouldn't mind a bit of a party soon either.

She climbed out the window and launched herself off the Clocktower to land far below on the adjacent building before heading off to the north in a run. She felt the wind in her face and a wild joy every time she soared high between buildings or had to do some wild acrobatics just to avoid splattering on the pavements far below. She didn't like to admit it to anyone, but it was really the moments like these traveling in good weather from building to building that she liked her life as hero best.

Dinah carefully made her way between the rundown dockside buildings, factories, wharfs and warehouses. She had no idea what she was looking for and while the entire neighborhood looked ready to burn down at the drop of a match she had seen nothing to indicate any preparations for a conflagration that would spread all over New Gotham. She had however yet to get into one of the ramshackle buildings and have a look around.

She slowly walked over to one of the condemned building making her way around the garbage and debris. It looked like once long ago some kind of fire had raged through this section of the docks. She found a door almost leaning on its rusty hinges and held closed against the wind by old cobwebs. She gingerly touched the door and tried to press it open, but instead it collapsed inwards throwing up a lot of dust and scattering cobwebs here and there. She stepped inside.

She stepped right into a thick spider web that hadn't been illuminated by the sparse light filtering in from uptown. "Eww," she said and fought wildly to get the thick silky strands out of her face and hair. She fought so hard with her eyes closed that she tripped across a plank.

Dinah flipped herself onto her back and lay there for a moment frustrated but unwilling to give into her anger and the voice ridiculing her in her mind. She felt the dust in her mouth and sputtered. For a while she lay there feeling really pathetic. She wondered not for the first time what she was doing. She was out in the middle of a condemned building searching for clues about a crime she had only dreamt off. She wanted to become a hero like both her mothers, but she had just been taken out by a spider web and a wooden plank. Dinah laughed for a while as she tried to brush of the last strands of the web and to get a bit of the dust off her clothes before getting up and continuing her search.

Helena could see Ketterly moving from his kitchen into his living room. She didn't have a good view of it from the ground so she effortlessly bounded up onto a tree branch on which she could see into the cozy living room. Ketterly was apparently drinking a cup of tea and reading the newspaper. "This is a bit boring, Oracle," she whispered.

"No one ever claimed that watching some man going about his daily life was supposed to be exciting," Barbara replied in a distant voice.

"Is something up?" She asked at her friend's tone of voice.

"Maybe, have you seen my daughter today?" Barbara asked.

"No," she answered.

"She isn't home and I got a note today that she skipped school yesterday," Barbara said.

Helena considered it for a moment. She would bet good money that Dinah was out investigating on her own, but she didn't want to bring it up with Barbara. "She's probably out doing stuff with that friend of hers. You're the one who keeps telling me about those little stunts they pull like that party they went to this weekend. It is probably just her acting out because of your fight," she said.

"We're not fighting," Barbara instantly fired back.

"Right," she said and noticed Ketterly getting up to answer the phone.

"Someone just called Ketterly," she reported. She watched as the elderly business man spoke on the phone for a while then headed out of the room.

"Damn, where is he going?" She muttered.

"What I thought you were bored," Barbara replied.

"I repent, bored is much better than confused. I think he is leaving, the garage door just opened," she reported as she scrambled to get back out of the garden. Helena dropped down next to the black car and quickly got in. She only just got the engine running before Ketterly's town car came out onto the street. Smoothly she settled in a couple of cars behind him following him down towards the dockyards.

"Where is he going?" She asked as Ketterly made another subtle but noticeable amateurish attempt of shaking any tails by going off then back onto the freeway. He obviously didn't know she was behind him, but if he kept driving all over town he would undoubtedly notice that a big black hummer was hanging around his car the entire time even if she stayed a couple of cars back.

"Finally," she said to herself as Ketterly finally stopped driving on and off the freeway and headed towards downtown New Gotham. The black hummer's glossy finish reflected the city lights as they drove not to but past the ever busy inner city. Ketterly's car pulled up to a rusty chain link fence and parked.

"I'm in so much trouble once I get home," Dinah thought after casting a glance on her wrist watch. It was way past her absolute latest curfew and her mom was bound to know it oblivious or not. She looked around at the fifth or was it fifteenth old building that she was working through without any luck. There was a loud noise outside as someone kicked a can. She startled in surprise, but didn't move as she suddenly became aware of faint voices talking to one another.

Slowly as not to make any noise, she moved to glance out of a missing part of a window. Outside a couple of coat clad men ambled along heading towards the center of the dockyards and the most damaged buildings. Dinah backed up and headed back towards the door. Slowly she made her way in the same direction they had gone. Maybe her excursion hadn't been a total loss. 

"Damn I've lost sight of them," she thought as she carefully slipped from shadow to shadow. She had last seen the two guys walking into the alley she was now using, but the only way out of the alley aside from heading out of the docks altogether was another ancient ramshackle door that they clearly hadn't opened. Maybe they had just been passing through, but she had a gut feeling that it hadn't been the case. Instead she tried to open the door without alerting anyone in the area.

Slowly she made her way through the burnt debris that had cluttered the entrance and walked across the creaking and charred wooden floors, when they suddenly gave away.

Dinah felt winded as she got up off the ground and brushed herself off once more. She was about to give up on her plan altogether and just go home, when she cast a glance around and was filled with an intense sense of memory. She felt like she had been in this hallway a thousand times before. Almost trancelike she ran her fingers across a burnt away beam and noticed the smashed pieces of a door near her feet next to several bullet casings.

Dinah flashed back to a fight scene that had haunted her dreams just as much as its repercussions for seven years. She was in the Joker's lair. The Joker's lair had been beneath the old dockyards. Almost dreamlike she walked the path her mom and Batman had fought so hard to tread.

Helena watched as Ketterly left his car and headed towards the gate to the fenced off and condemned docks. She got out of the car and followed him sticking to the shadows. "It looks like he is going into the old dock area. Maybe whoever is doing this, has convinced him to come to a meeting," Helena suggested.

"Maybe, I don't like this Huntress. Whoever is egging those people into trying suicide is probably a metahuman. Be extra careful," Barbara suggested. Helena barely cared to acknowledge the warning with a grunt instead she ran across the street as Ketterly picked up his pace and walked into the shadows of the first buildings. She opted to run, knowing that Barbara would have reason to mock her if a business man managed to give her the slip.

Helena walked into the T-shaped alley saw standing Ketterly in the T-cross talking animatedly to a group of goons. "Ketterly might be in trouble," she said and ran forward launching herself into the air about halfway down the alley.

She landed lithely in a crouch with her back to Ketterly. In front of her the goons stepped back shaken by her sudden arrival. "So boys, who wants to go first or are we planning a threesome," she suggested with a cocky smile on her lips. Strangely the goons weren't moving to attack, but looked more like they were awaiting her next move uncommonly clever for such two-bit hoods, who mugged men in alleys. A slowly growing throb alerted her as well to the fact that she was going to have a major headache soon. Typical that such a thing should hit her on a work night. 

Finally the two goons were done waiting for her. She felt the strength of her metahuman powers roar through her veins as she launched into an attack. She bounced off the left wall, spun her left leg in the air and hammered the circular kick into one of the goons sending him into the other one. As she landed she felt dizzy and wobbled slightly as her sight became slightly unfocused. "Oracle, something is wrong," she said and stretched up getting ready to jump up onto the relative safety of a roof.

"Get out of there," her mentor yelled in her ear, but the voice was far away and seemed slower than everything around her. There was a stab of pain that just grew. Helena fell unconscious, while hearing Ketterly say, "Idiot, now we'll have to wait for her to awaken before we can question her."

"Huntress, come in, Huntress, please respond," Barbara yelled for the fourth time, but no response came. She watched on the monitor, how Helena's position slowly changed. Someone was taking her somewhere. Barbara wrestled with what she should do. She could stay and do nothing, leaving Helena to her fate or she could take a chance and head out performing the first field trip as Oracle ever. It was an easy decision. Yet as the elevator doors closed in front of her, she had time to worry about more than Helena. It was around midnight and she had seen neither hide nor hair of Dinah since breakfast.

Barbara got into her car and activated the link up with Delphi making it patch through to Helena's com and position in hope that she might still be able to reach Helena as soon as she woke up. Still there was the mysterious affliction that had slowed Helena enough to actually get caught. Once again she swore that as soon as technology allowed her too, she would put a health monitor into Helena's jewelry. The car roared out of the Clocktower garage heading for the old docks.

Helena woke up, but everything still seemed to be slow as molasses. She was on the dirty floor in some kind of room next to a pair of stairs. The two goons she had fought were hanging back near entrance at the other end of the large room. Larry Ketterly stepped up in front of her. His voice was the only one, which didn't sound like it was a faint echo. "Helena, little Helena, you seem to be a creature of many secrets," he whispered as if he was caring for a sick child.

She could get herself to respond or even conceive of moving. "I think I should wait, so that we can make the decision on your fate together, but meanwhile why don't you tell me," he suggested.

Helena instantly knew what he was referring too. The deep dark secrets and fears in her mind rushed forward each screaming to be named and given form, but the greatest one of them all stood above them in all its darkness. "I… I... lost her, I lose everyone. I am all alone," she whispered through suddenly teary eyes.

"Shh, I know, I understand," the fuzzy image of Larry answered.

Dinah felt strange almost as if she was entering the den of a lion as she walked into the office. Here the final battle had been fought. Here the groundwork if you will of her mom's disability had been laid. Here the Joker had been defeated. The first thing she stumbled upon wasn't that however. It was that the room was clean. A new wooden desk and chair sat there the Joker's had been before.

Slowly she approached it and glanced down. A cell phone and several paper clippings lay on the desk. One was from a few months ago when Helena had prevented an attempt to release hallucinogenic gas over New Gotham. The others were about the suicides. There was also a picture frame. She turned it over and saw the Ketterly family smiling towards her. She looked down at the neatly arranged desk again. "He killed his partners… He is probably a meta like me," Dinah realized.

She opened up the zipped inner pocket of her coat and fished out the special cell phone made for her by her mom. She dialed the number that would connect her to Delphi and thus her mom. She listened to the tone of the phone ringing, while slowly taking in the rest of the room. 

The floor was still dirty, making Ketterly's movements through the room as apparent as hers. The phone still pressed against her ears she slowly headed over to the opening that Ketterly usually used thinking that she might find more evidence if she tracked his previous movements.

No one answered the phone in the Clocktower, which either meant her mom had gone to bed early or that her mom was out. Both options sounded very unlikely. She closed the cell phone again and stuffed it away, while thinking about what was going on back home.

Barbara brought the car to a screeching halt and impatiently tapped her fingers, while the lift brought her down to ground level. As soon as her wheels touched the dirt she was off, guiding the wheelchair with her implant, while her hands were otherwise occupied. A quick press on the buttons of her car key locked the car, while she rolled towards Helena's most recent position guided by her memory of the local map.

She carefully looked around the corner leaning her chest against her legs as she stared over towards the building she knew Helena was being held in. She could just see the outlines of two men standing on either side of the doors through the dirt glass at their backs. She took out two birdarangs and threw them with practiced ease at each outline. The high tech weapons smashed through the glass and both outline dropped prone. Quickly she advanced into the room.

"Stop right there or this little girl might hurt herself," Ketterly's voice greeted her as soon as she entered the room. Barbara couldn't help wincing as she saw Helena sitting propped up against a wall just to the right of a staircase leading down into what she knew was the Joker's old hideout. Helena was pressing a large combat knife against her chest. She could see the trance-like look in the black haired woman's face. Ketterly had to be the one who had arranged all the suicides.

"What do you want?" She asked and hoped the business man would be willing to negotiate at least long enough for her to approach and give him the beating of a life time with her escrima batons.

"I wanted to force your surrender, but now looking at you I think you might surrender without any resistance," he said and walked towards her with a smile.

Barbara made her wheelchair circle left towards Helena. Ketterly let her approach radiating arrogant self-confidence. "Helena, let go of the knife," she called out.

"She can't hear you. She listens to me now," Ketterly cackled a little and pulled out another knife. Suddenly a figure dashed up from behind and tackled her out of her chair. One of the guards at the door hadn't been as unconscious as she had expected. Before she could get out a baton, he had wrestled her to the ground.

Dinah found a staircase leading up. Pale light from the city illuminated the stairs. An unfamiliar voice said, "So you're more of those heroes that plague this city. And now you get to watch your friend commit suicide. I am sure we only need one of you to learn all your secrets."

"No, please, stop this," Dinah felt her heart sink as she recognized her mother's voice. Up those stairs a man Ketterly most likely was holding his mother and that probably meant that Helena was the one they had been talking about. "If I go up there now my secrets will be all out in the open. If I don't go up there now Helena will die," she reasoned, but her body had already decided to run towards the stairs.

She took the steps two or three at a time coming up to see Ketterly standing next to Helena and one of the goons holding down her struggling mom. Dinah used her velocity to launch a low kick to the back of Ketterly's lower legs. He fell backwards, but she just swung right in a low circle kicking the man holding her mom across the face. His blood spattered down his face as his nose took the brunt of her force.

Her mom threw off the guy, but he was still not down. Dinah remembered a lesson from her class that fit with her body position at the time. She kicked him in the throat then in the groin. He went fetal from the pain and remained in that position. She swirled around to find Ketterly glaring at her from the ground and her mom struggling to get back into her chair. 

"You won't be able to safe your friend," Ketterly triumphed just as her mom got seated.

"Dinah," her mom asked dazedly.

"Later, Helena," she said and indicated the growing stab wound Helena was treating herself too. Her mom quickly rolled over and struggled to get the knife out of Helena's iron hard grip.

"There is nothing you can do. Once I sink my hooks into someone, I decide if they live or die. No matter what you do to me, I will still be in her mind, where you can't go," Ketterly cackled with evil glee.

"She can't but I can," Dinah said. She knew that this would be the hardest thing she had ever tried telepathically. She reached forward and put her hand, where her mom and Helena were struggling for control over the knife. She forced herself into both their minds and with great effort guided her mom over into Helena's mindscape. 

They found themselves on a black and white New Gotham Street. Helena was sitting there as in real life trying to force a knife into her chest, while crying over something. She looked over to her mother and said, "I can't do more than this. She won't hear me. But maybe she'll hear you."

Her mom now clad in her batgirl costume walked over to Helena and bent down. "Helena," she softly called.

"I couldn't protect her. I failed her. I am a fraud," Helena replied softly.

"You were only a child," her mom reminded Helena.

"No, I am supposed to be a hero. But I always screw up," Helena said.

"You're wrong. You've never failed me. I chose this life. You don't have to protect me. We can protect each other. We have to," her mom explained and took hold of the knife.

"I can't do this without you," she said. Helena stopped pushing at the knife. "I need you," her mom whispered softly to her protégé. Helena let go of the knife and her mom immediately threw it away before wrapping her arms around Helena in a hug much like the ones she gave her in the old. Dinah felt a small pang of jealousy.

"You don't belong here," Ketterly's voice suddenly said. He stood on the pavement not far from Helena clad in a dark trench coat practically oozing power. Dinah wished so hard that she could fight against him, but she felt it was better to have her mother here than to try her hand at mental combat with Helena's life at risk.

"You don't have legs and you're not Batgirl either," he said and her mom fell to the ground once again handicapped and seemingly feeling all the pain of her loss all over again.

"Neither do you," Helena suddenly said before appearing behind Ketterly. She grabbed him and tossed him hard across the street. But the man just rolled back onto his feet, picking up the knife on his way. He turned around gesturing for Helena to dare to approach.

Helena ran towards him, but at the last moment she jumped high in the air and launched a flying kick. However Ketterly easily blocked it and Helena landed in a low crouch close to him. He swept the knife low, but she caught it and pressed him back against a wall. Suddenly Ketterly reversed his attack and in a quick move tossed Helena through a plate glass window.

Helena jumped back out at him, but Ketterly was ready throwing a massive punch which sent her flying apparently unconscious back into the darkness. He glanced once in her direction then headed towards her mom with a menacing expression. Dinah considered if she should cut the connection.

There was a roar and a massive concrete column shattered as a nearly berserk Helena tears through it and slams into Ketterly. Dinah took at step backwards at the sight of Helena's wild attack. 

Helena grabbed his coat and used it as a hold to pull him into her massive punch. She repeated this once twice. Ketterly tore himself free and staggered back before lunging forward with his knife. They tumbled to the ground. "Why are you struggling? What is so great about your life that you would even want to fight to save it?" Ketterly asked through clenched teeth as they lay on the ground struggling for control of the knife.

"It is mine and I haven't given up on it yet," Helena answered and in one quick move got control of Ketterly's knife wielding hand and rammed the sharp blade into his guts. She got up and walked over to her and her mom, who could temporarily stand again. They shared a hug and she cut the connection taking them back to the real world again.


	26. Chapter 26: Revolution

Chapter 26: Revolution 

            Dinah blinked and found herself back at the warehouse her hand clasped over her mom's, Helena's and the knife handle. She slipped her hand off and felt strangely self-conscious almost naked. She knew there was no way she could explain away her presence here. But an inner voice told her that she had set out to do this so that she could stop explaining things away. She was here, because she wanted in. 

Her eyes glanced over at Ketterly, who was still lying on his ass with a very vacant look in his eyes. While her mom looked at the wound on Helena's chest, she slipped over and waved a hand in front of the business man. She snapped her fingers and looked over at her mom. "I guess, when you killed him in your mind that part of his mind that was over there died as well," her mom told Helena, who had obviously uttered the question she had been about to ask.

"What do we do with him?" She asked. Her mom looked over and Dinah inwardly winced at the raging emotions apparently in her eyes.

"I round them all up and try to pass them to the police with a minimum of fuss. We could a bit more evidence against them though," Helena replied and got up.

Dinah took a step forward and said, "I've investigated the docks and Ketterly has papers and stuff down in the Joker's old hideout. I could go fetch it." She saw her mom's confused look change to anger.

"I think I can find the way," Helena said and headed downstairs immediately. Dinah looked uncomfortably over at her mom, who seemed to be regarding her in silence. Over a minute passed in this uncomfortable silence.

"What did you think you were doing?" Her mom asked in a low voice.

Dinah considered not for the first time to give her mom some kind of vague answer and maybe dodge the discussion, but the same parts of her soul that had allowed her to charge these criminals made her speak the truth. "I was solving the case," she said.

"Have you lost your mind? I told you to stay out of this. I don't want you to be involved ever… You've broken my trust," her mom said.

Dinah seethed. "I… have… broken nothing. We haven't trusted each other for a long time. I don't know you any more. You spend your time being a person you insist I cannot know and then you attack me when I try to be apart of that life. And the worst part is that I don't even want to do this to be with you. I want to be a hero for myself. You don't see me, mom. You don't understand me at all. You think I am still that little sweet Dinah from before you got shot. Well I am not. I have changed. I have chosen to change. I am a trained martial artist. Did you know that? I have been taking intense Krav Maga classes since the hostage taking. I have barely seen the inside of my music school. I have been training my metahuman abilities with people Gibson has put me in contact with. What makes you think you can even stop me from doing what I have decided to do?" She stared into her mother's eyes feeling both relieved and apprehensive at the same time as she waited for the reaction.

"Go home, I will deal with you later," her mom said in a cold tone.

"But…" Dinah hadn't expected this. She had expected screaming or even anger, but not this coldness. 

"Just go," her mom commanded and turned to see Helena walk up with her arms full of papers and things from Ketterly's desk downstairs. Dinah decided that she could make her case just as well at home and she turned to head out.

Helena was following Barbara's car towards the Clocktower. They had just dropped off Ketterly and his goons at the police station leaving the hastily put together evidence with the catatonic business man and his two well beaten henchmen. Dinah had really one of them up. She was sure that he would be spending some time in hospital prison term or no prison term. 

Barbara had been very tense ever since she had sent Dinah back home. It had been quite a surprise the teen had pulled there. She had heard the end of the girl and her mom's conversation and it seemed that Dinah had really pulled out all the stops starting her own junior hero training program. Actually some of the details made a lot of the girl's bottled up and secretive behavior make a lot of sense. She marveled at her dedication. Dinah had seen evil up close, she had considered her background and it seemed Dinah had then chosen the way in life she felt she should follow.

Helena slowly let the car roll to a stop and shut off the engine. She stared out onto the white wall of the underground garage of the Clocktower thinking about Dinah and what she was sure would follow. Barbara was bordering on a violent explosion of temper. But Helena decided that she for once wasn't going to be a bystander. Dinah didn't deserve it. She deserved to get all the help and support she could get. Helena suddenly realized that she considered Dinah family on a level that she hadn't consciously been aware off before. And she realized that even though she cared for her, she cared for her enough to want the girl to follow her own path in life.

She walked almost dazedly toward the waiting elevator and Barbara sitting impatiently in her wheelchair inside it. She was still formulating her thoughts, but she knew that tonight her relationship with her mentor might change for good. The elevator doors closed in front of her.

Barbara could see Dinah pacing just as soon as she drove off the elevator and into her home and lair. Delphi was humming in front of her. Here she felt stronger; here she might be able to find the strength to win the battle of wills that was sure to come now.

Dinah turned towards her and Barbara could see the same defiance that she had glimpsed in her daughter at the docks. Not for the first time she wondered how little she knew her daughter. As Dinah had revealed to her, she knew very little about her daughter's true nature. For years it seemed Dinah had practiced and trained to become exactly what she had always wanted her not to become. Dinah had lied, tricked and cheated her again and again apparently to follow her stated goal in life and it proved a dedication that a true hero needed… 

But she was not about to give in to that. Images of Dinah fighting, images of Dinah coming home bleeding or even worse of Dinah suffering the same fate as one of the Robins flashed through her mind as soon as she thought that thought. She had sworn seven years ago that she would protect her daughter from evil that she would do her utmost to shield her for that world. Two years ago she had almost lost her again to evil and she had been reaffirmed in her beliefs and dedication. Still doubts plagued her, doubts like those she felt now. Was she right in preventing something that her daughter had fought so hard for? Had she already lost her? She didn't know, but she still decided to confront her daughter anyway.

"So," she said not knowing exactly what she wanted to say first. She was furious, but she knew it was just as much surprise as disappointment over her daughter not following her commands.

"So what, I've told you time and again what I want. I want you to train me like you did Helena. I want to be a hero like you two are," her daughter replied. 

She couldn't help studying the tall proud blonde stature of her daughter. Every day she was reminded a bit of Carolyn's fierce and proud stature when she saw her daughter, but there was also the quieter and softer side that she believed came from some part of her daughter's father. Her behavior, her culture came all from her though. She had shaped Dinah to what she was today. She had long ago admitted to herself even if she would never reveal this secret that this conversation would come. She thought about her life as a hero, she thought of the cost and the benefits. She thought about the sacrifices she had made for the greater good and she thought that her decision to not give over her daughter to this greater good was still valid. "Never," she answered.

"Fuck," Dinah cursed and threw up her arms. "What does it take to convince you that I can do this?" Her daughter explained. Barbara was about to tell her as so often before that it was about ability if it had been she would have begun teaching her long ago. It was about the future and about costs. It was about feelings amongst those the ones Dinah had hurt today.

"I don't want any convincing. This isn't a discussion, Dinah. This is a sentencing if you will. You have stayed out long after your curfew. You've involved yourself in an investigation and you've lied to me for years… about several things. I can barely stand to look in your eyes right now. How can I ever trust you again? How can I ever accept a promise or word you give me? For all I know you'd break any one of them the second it was in your interest. I thought I had brought up a child that could be trusted, that could make adult decisions. But it turns out that I haven't," she explained pouring out all her hurt feelings over Dinah's long term betrayal of her trust.

"Don't you dare turn this around and make it my fault! I had to do these things. Where would you… this city have been if Bruce Wayne had you as a guardian? What would have happened to this world if Superman had been brought up by you? With power comes responsibility. But if you're Barbara's daughter you can't be allowed to care about the world and take responsibility, because you may get hurt. We only care about the problems about others if they don't endanger my daughter. You're the biggest hypocrite ever," Dinah turned and walked off towards her room.

"Don't you dare run away from me? You're grounded, Dinah. Do you hear me? You're grounded and that is not the last of it," she yelled to make sure her daughter heard her. She sat there for a while in her chair. The feeling of presence that always surrounded Helena told her that her protégé was waiting impatiently somewhere close for her chance to get a word in edgewise. However instead of a conversation about Dinah it was about the case they had just finished and for a while they looked at details on Delphi.

The night made New Gotham looked almost quiet and serene from the platform in from of the clock. Helena looked out over the towering buildings and the sprawl that surrounded them. Barbara sat in silence and stared unseeing into the night. She didn't have to wonder what she was thinking about. They had gone out to spend the last moments before she left out here as they had done so often before, but instead of exchanging words and anecdotes it had turned into a game of painful silences. "She saved us today," she said deciding finally to speak her mind.

Barbara blinked and turned her head to look at her. "What does that have to do with anything?" She replied.

"Everything to me and maybe nothing to you, it proves to me that she is capable of things that I didn't think her capable off. She is much more dedicated than I thought she could be. Think about it, she has trained on her own for years now. She had followed through with a plan even when it was opposed by the both of us. She has strength of character that I can only be envious off," she explained.

"Yes, but I can't allow her to become what she thinks she wants to be," Barbara said and turned her head back to look out over the skyline. 

But she didn't want to let the conversation end there; she needed to make Barbara understand as she understood now. If they didn't train Dinah, Dinah would do it on her own. They owed it to Dinah to train her, to give her all the means she needed to be safe on the job, instead of impeding her. "I think you're blind to the fact here. It no longer matters what you think she should do or not. You have already lost this battle Barbara. You taught her to be strong and make up her own mind. You can only support her or you will lose her more than you already have," she said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Barbara said and turned wheelchair and all towards her. She knew she had the complete and angry attention of her friend now.

"College and independence isn't too far away Barbara. Every day you stand in the way of Dinah's goals in life you're making her angrier, you're pushing her farther away. In the end you might just end up getting a postcard every once in a while or following her exploits on TV. I think Dinah isn't going to give up on this. She has already sacrificed too much, lived in this world too long for this change. If you had sent her away years ago then maybe, but then she would have had reason to hate you for real. My point is that no matter if you want it or not. Dinah is going to be the hero she wants to be. If we don't train her then she'll do it on her own. Maybe that won't be good enough, maybe that will mean that she won't be ready when she meets a real villain. Then we'll regret not having been there, not having taken hand in her training," she explained.

"Dinah will listen too me. She has to. I can't let her get involved Helena. She will get hurt one day. What would I do? If she dies or ends up like me, I wouldn't be able to take it. I won't allow her to walk blindly into danger if it can be avoided. I may not be able to protect her forever, but I will for as long as she is here with me. We won't train her. Nobody who knows me or owes me will be allowed to," Barbara's eyes and body language seethed as she tried to bring her point across.

"Don't you see that it won't matter, what you do. It hasn't mattered for years… If you won't train her, I will," she said.

"Not if you ever want to work with Oracle again," Barbara said in a threatening tone, which immediately made her bristle.

"You can't stop," she replied.

"You have no idea, what I could do to you," Barbara said. Helena saw the seriousness in Barbara's eyes and realized that her mentor meant those words and somewhere inside a bit of fear joined in her anger and made it worse.

Dinah paced around in her room. "It is not right. I want this. No matter if I am young or not, I am still much better prepared than anyone Batman trained or even Helena," she muttered to herself and stopped staring out the window into the night. She hated hitting that brick wall that was her mother again and again, but her mom just didn't want to understand. Maybe she should make her understand. Resolutely Dinah turned and headed out of her room.

Finding Delphi empty but glimpsing her mom and Helena talking animatedly out on the platform in from of the glass façade of the giant clock, she headed for the door leading out side. She heard Helena make the case on her behalf and felt a great sympathy for the woman. For years she had felt close to Helena, but still removed because of their differing schedules and the strict rules about mingling her life with the heroine's life. She decided to never regard Helena as just a visitor or interloper again. She heard her mom threaten Helena and saw in Helena's eyes the hurt and anger well up. Helena looked about ready to storm off or to punch her mom.

"Stop it," she yelled and walked over trying her best to gain the full attention of both her mom and Helena, "I don't want you to fight. Not over this. Not over me."

"Dinah, I don't want to talk to you right now. I told you, you're grounded. Now go to bed," her mom said in a dangerous tone that would have sent her packing if she had said it like that just a few days ago. But today after fighting for real, after doing her bit to protect those she loved, she couldn't let it control her.

"No, you can't push me around like that anymore. I am not nine anymore. I've grown up quick, living here, seeing your best friend die in front of you, seeing you two saving the city time and again did that. It is time for you to listen instead of commanding," she explained.

"As long as you're not legally an adult you'll do what I say," her mom said, and Dinah really hated doing what she had planned in her head to do next. 

"Then make me stop, because I know just as well that you've more or less reduced my presence in this home to that of house guest or frequent visitor," she replied hating herself for pulling up painful subjects.

"Dinah, you… you… please… why won't you understand?" Her mom asked desperately. Dinah felt a glimmer of hope. 

"Because you won't give me a reason to, you only command, you don't explain. Give me a good reason to not go on and I will consider it, but I can't promise more," she offered.

Her mom looked at her for a while with pain in her eyes. Dinah could see Helena pulling back maybe even preparing to leave, but she secretly wished the black haired heroine would stay. She felt reassured having someone who at least agreed with her staying around.

"Alright, I will try. I… When the Joker shot you, I sat at your sickbed. You were sleeping and then you started coughing. I could see the pain plainly in your face even in your sleep. I looked at myself at my loss and at what little good I had done and I swore that you should never suffer the same losses, go through more pain," her mom explained.

Dinah's mind whirled with thoughts. "Then you should never have taken me in," Helena pointed out, "You must have known that starting over. Training me to be a hero and running it all from here would sooner or later involve your metahuman daughter. Or didn't you want to realize it?"

Her mom gave Helena a pained look, but Dinah could see the wheels churning in her mom's head. She was making headway; she just needed to explain herself better. "Mom, you've always taught me to be strong to stand up for myself. And I have. But I have enough strength to stand up for others as well. Evil could strike any day at any time, if you agree to train me or not. If nothing else proves it then the hostage taking does. Sending me away wouldn't have changed nor would anything else. We all live in a world, where we can be affected by the decisions of someone else in a bad way. I am lucky. I have the chance to prevent others from suffering from being affected by evil. And I have long ago decided to do that in memory of all those I have lost like my mom, granddad and all those who died at the high school. Please understand I am not doing this with reason or thought. I have seen the losses and sacrifices this means. I have sacrificed myself already by lying to everyone I know for years, by manipulating people to protect my interest and by living far removed from the normal world around me. Still I want to become a heroine like you and Helena," she explained.

Her mom sat looking at her with tears in her eyes for a long while. "Why does it have to be so hard? Why did I have to waste so much of your life before I saw? I am so sorry Dinah. Of course I will train you, if you'll let me, if we can both trust each other again," her mom said.

Dinah tossed her reservations aside and enveloped her mom in a hug. Emotionally drained as she was, she couldn't prevent her mom's thoughts spilling over into hers at the touch, but she only felt genuine regret, sorrow and love in her thoughts. And for a moment she dared and projected her own emotions back to her mother.

"There will still be rules," her mom said, while they still hugged. Dinah couldn't help smiling at Helena, who was standing stoically off to the side.

"Of course, but as long they don't say I can't ever go out on patrol I won't mind," Dinah replied.

"They don't. I mean it. I want you to be honest with me. I promise to be honest with you as well," her mom said.

"Deal," Dinah said and watched her mom sit back down.

"And then there were three," Helena said dryly.


End file.
