Disclaimer : I own none of the characters that I have written of below. They are all property of D.C. Comics.

The Clocktower, Gotham City

"Babs? Barbara? We need to talk," Dinah Laurel Lance said as she stepped into Barbara Gordon's living room. Barbara looked up from her laptop, her dark blue eyes registering Dinah's expression of restrained anger. Barbara merely gave her a quizzical look and asked,

"Sure Dinah, what's going on? Is everything okay at the flower shop?"

"Things are peachy fuzzy keen there, Babs, but that isn't what I wanted to discuss with you," Dinah said as she gingerly seated herself on a plush, well-worn leather couch.

"What's on your mind?"

"I know you kept the data that we stole from Savant," Dinah said, point blank. Her bright blue eyes bored past Barbara's yellow lenses and into her dark blue irises. Barbara immediately looked down into the screen of her laptop, and resumed her typing.

"I have nothing to say about this," Barbara said softly.

"Well, I do. So maybe you need to listen."

"No, Canary, I'm sorry."

Dinah shook her head and leaned forward, her beautiful face no longer restraining her anger and frustration. "I am too. Babs, I thought you were better than this. You can't use those files, not yet, not unless they do something wholly incriminating. I burned those discs for a reason!"

"I appreciate what you did, Dinah, but this is my decision to make. You're still my operative."

"I'm you're partner, Oracle, don't forget that," Dinah countered, her tone even as she stressed the word 'partner'. "We're in this business together, lady, whether you like it or not."

"Then I won't use you for these cases."

"What?!"

"Look, Dinah, you're my top operative. You and Huntress. But I won't go against your own morals. If you won't do this, I'll expand. I'll find two other operatives."

"I still disagree with your hand in all of this."

"I'm sorry Dinah. But I can't help it. This is justice."

"You're turning into your boss."

"Batman is not my boss!"

"He has so much influence over you, Babs, can't you see it? You're becoming mini-him." Dinah stood up and gave Barbara an apologetic look. "I'm sorry; I didn't want to say that. Look, I need to go. There's some JLA business that I need to attend to."

"I'll contact you if I need anything."

"Do that. And Babs? Please reconsider your plans. This isn't right."

"I'm sorry again, Dinah...this is something I need to do."

The Helping House Mental Institution; Industry, California

Lunch Hour

"Mine!" Shondra Kinsolving cried as she lunged for Duela Dent's Jell-O. Duela quickly pulled her plate back, unsure of whether or not Shondra would even come closer to attack her for the Jell-O. Shondra didn't make a move to come closer, but she did start pulling her own hair and crying out for Jell-O.

"Five-year-olds," Duela muttered as she pushed herself away from the table and sauntered away with her lunch, taking a seat somewhere near the back. She turned back to take a quick glance at Shondra, who was currently being led away by two of the orderlies in the institute. She ran a hand through her shoulder length curls, her green eyes taking a quick survey of the room to ensure that no one else was suddenly going to attack her or her food.

Assured that she was safe, Duela resumed her meal, just a little ticked off. Truth be told, the twenty-three year old had had more than enough of the Helping House, and wanted more than anything to be let out of this particular hellhole. She had been waiting three years to leave, and as she had waited, she had slowly started to become what society called a "normal" person. Sure, she was still unsure of whom she really was, but did it matter in the long run?

Actually, it did, but as soon as she was let free, Duela assured herself that she would resume the hunt to discover what her parentage was, and what legacy – if any – they had left behind for her.

Duela hadn't even reached her Jell-O when an orderly came up to her and said, "Miss Dent? There's a visitor here to see you."

"A visitor?" Duela asked, raising an eyebrow. The only visitor that Duela had ever had had been Starfire, but even she hadn't been by in a long while.

The orderly nodded and so Duela shrugged and stood up, following the orderly out of the mess hall and down a pale green corridor with peach linoleum floors. The tube lights above Duela buzzed softly as the young psychiatric patient walked under them, wondering who it could be that was coming to meet her.

Duela and the orderly passed through a set of thick doors with narrow glass panes and Duela found herself in one of HHMI's many visiting rooms. This one was tastefully decorated to resemble a neo-Victorian sitting room, done up in tones of russet, gold, and chartreuse. It was definitely quaint if nothing else. Duela casually strolled into the room and stopped for a moment to look around before she laid eyes on her visitor.

Near the fireplace was a beautiful red-haired woman sitting in a wheelchair. She wore frameless glasses with square shaped lenses, a cashmere sweater, and a floral satin skirt. Her lustrous red waves cascaded down over her shoulders, and she bore a warm, welcoming smile on her fair face.

"Duela Dent? Hi. I'm Barbara Gordon."

San Diego, California

One Day Later

"Cut!" Rajesh Agarwal yelled out, glaring quite rudely at Aruna Shende. Aruna landed on her feet and gave Rajesh a mildly harsh look, not hiding her annoyance at his stopping another one of her stunts.

"What's wrong now?" she asked defiantly, placing her hands on her hips.

"You did the stunt all wrong," Agarwal replied angrily, sliding his corpulent body off of his chair and stalking towards Aruna. A few bees buzzed out of his way as he strode over to where Aruna stood. "You always do the stunt wrong."

"No, sir, I actually do the stunt better."

"Excuse me?"

"I said I actually do the stunt better...sir," Aruna replied, adding the 'sir' sarcastically almost as if it were an afterthought. She tilted her head to one said and gave him a rude look, at which point Agarwal raised his hand, ready to give her a harsh slap. Before he could do so, Aruna said in the same cold, even tone, "You realize we are in America right now? Slapping me, or hurting me in anyway, is technically against the law. I could scream physical abuse and have you behind bars within minutes, and I would do this with pleasure. Much pleasure."

"You little -" Agarwal spat out some words in Hindi and stalked away, yelling out "Ten minute break!"

Aruna smiled to herself as she turned and walked away from the director and the rest of the crew and settled herself down on a mound of sand, her lithe legs tucked under her. She ran a hand through her long, black curls and shook her head, letting the sea breeze run through her shiny locks. She briefly considered a career in hair modeling as she did so, knowing that her hair was lush and beautiful and that any Indian hair oil company would be glad to have her be their spokesperson.

Maybe when she returned to India with the rest of the cast and crew of "Julie & Johnny" she'd go and try out for a few commercials. It had to be better than being an underpaid, unappreciated stunt woman. In any case, it'd still be a fun thing to do. Plus, being a shapeshifter, if they didn't like Aruna's real hair, she could always do something different; maybe even change her form to resemble one of Bollywood's more celebrated actresses.

Aruna stood up and was turning to back to the set, her eyes glittering with hope, when a beautiful young woman Asian-American woman approached her. Aruna, who was a smalltime crime-fighter in her native India, readied herself as she noticed the young woman's look of intent. Coming closer to her, Aruna noticed who it was and her face broke out into a large smile.

"Cass? Cassandra Cain?" Aruna had worked briefly with Cassandra – who was in her Batgirl guise at the time – when Cassandra had come down to Calcutta sometime ago

"Hi, Aruna," Cassandra said shyly. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Well, better than good. How are you? And why are you here?"

"To get you, really," Cassandra answered.

"What do you mean?" Aruna asked, confused. "What's going on?"

"A friend of mine, she has a job offer for you."

"A job offer?"

"Meet me tonight here," Cassandra said, slipping Aruna the address of an expensive hotel in downtown San Diego. "You'll know everything then. I have to go, okay?"

Aruna nodded her head and watched Cass retreat, her mind racing with all the possibilities of what sort of job offer Cass had for her. Whatever it was, it had to be more interesting than this.