Author's note: This little diddy was written out-of-the-blue. As someone with a few anger management issues, I'm sorry to say that I can relate to Helena's angry side a little too well. The beginning was written during a point where I was extremely pissed off at something, and as you can see the story calms down after a while - as did I.

Originally, the story was meant to only be a few paragraphs long - long enough to get the anger out. But it ended up turning into a one-shot.

Hopefully my anger created a story for you to enjoy.

***

ANGER MANAGEMENT

***

I just want to hit something, or maybe someone. I'll take anything at this point, I'm so mad.

That's one thing I've never had much of a handle on...my anger. It has a life of it's own. It's almost schizophrenic when I think about it. It's like another version of myself comes charging out from deep within my soul, like a runaway freight train.

Everything around me pisses me off and it's always when I'm pissed that Barbara or Dinah feel the need to intrude on my life and ask "are you okay?" Or worse, they tell me "you need to calm down." Fuck them. That only pisses me off even more. When I'm pissed off I just want to be left alone. Don't they get it? Why is that so hard to understand?

I slam my fist into the nearest brick wall a few times, ignoring the sting of the flesh being ripped from my knuckles. My anger masks the pain. In fact, it masks alot of things other than more anger.

I can't believe how unbelievably pissed off I am. Words can't even describe it. I run my fingers through my hair and suck in a breath as I close my eyes, trying to get a hold on the situation but it's no use. My mind spins out of control and thinks of more and more things that irritate the living hell out of me and I find myself holding in my breath, my fists clenched tightly in front of me.

The burst of anger makes me kick the shit out of the dumpster and trash cans that are beside me. Trash flies everywhere but I could give two shits. Being accused of littering is furthest from my mind at the moment.

I pace back and forth like a madwoman, cursing out loud, feeling my blood pressure rising by the second.

Again I pummel the wall with my fist. The last blow hurt like hell and I may have chipped a bone in my hand, but I don't care. I just shake it off and continue to pace back and forth.

I never thought I could ever get this angry again. Each time it happens I think that there's no way I can top it. Well, tonight skyrocketed to number 1 on my anger chart.

Looking over, I see a kid coming towards me. He's maybe Dinah's age, if that. Little does he know that now's not the time to fuck with me.

"What's the matter, darlin'? You need a little something to calm you down." He showed me a little bag of coke in his palm as he wiped his nose and winked.

The ice in my veins hardens for only a moment before it's melted away by the boiling fire of anger that's just re-ignited.

"You picked the wrong woman to talk to about doing drugs with you tonight, junior."

A frown formed on his face as he was a little insulted by my answer. "Whoa, you're tighter than a drum. You need to loosen up."

He came closer to me, standing behind me, smelling me.

I let him do it because it was only a matter of time before my anger boiled over and spewed all over him.

He licked his lips and ran his hand down my arm and then around my inner thigh. "Why don't we see if you're tight..."

I grabbed his wrist and twisted it, snarling my lip as I enjoyed hearing his pained cry.

"Uhhh! Let go! I...I was only foolin' around!"

I couldn't resist twisting it the opposite way, listening to him cry even louder as I heard it snap. "Oops. I guess it doesn't move that far around, does it?"

I let go of him and he fell to his knees, cradling his wounded arm. "You, bitch!"

Wrong choice of words. This kid is pretty damn stupid.

Reaching down, I grabbed a handful of hair from the back of his head and tossed him into the wall. Before he could slump to the ground, I kicked out with my foot and pinned him to the wall by his neck.

He put his good hand around my ankle in an attempt to get me to release him, but I only pushed harder.

"How much of this shit have you been dealing, huh?"

"I...I'm not..." he gasped.

"Bullshit. You were too quick to give me a freebie, who else have you been giving this to?" I pressed harder and could feel him struggling for breath.

"Sssstooop!" he pleaded.

I moved my foot away and watched him flop to the ground, choking, coughing and almost puking from the whole ordeal.

I didn't allow him time to recover. Why should I? I kicked him right in the face and sent him down to the ground holding his broken nose, blood running all through his fingers and down his chest. "You're a fuckin' mess, you no good piece of shit." I walked around him, my arms folded across my chest. "Who gave you the drugs?"

"You broke my fuckin' nose!"

"No shit, Sherlock." I swooped down on him and pinned his shoulders down with my knees. Winding back with my fist, I waited for the right time to launch it. "Tell me who your supplier is or else you're gonna be swallowing all of your teeth."

"Oookay! Oookkkay, just get off of me!" he sobbed.

I moved off of him and stood up. My bad because he drove his fist into my stomach, totally catching me off guard.

I doubled over and coughed. He got me pretty good.

"Ha ha! Stupid c...."

Remember that angry animal inside of me I told you about? Well, it flew out of me and flew towards him, spearing him like a bull.

He hit the ground with a smack as his head connected with the pavement, dazing him but not knocking him out.

Good. I wasn't done yet anyway.

"You should've have hit me," I snarled at him as I hauled him up and then hurled him across the sidewalk into a parked car, setting the alarm off. I picked him up again and slammed his head into the glass of the car's passenger side window. "If I ever catch you around New Gotham again..." BLAM!!! I slammed his head onto the hood. "You'll be the sorriest little fuck this side of the Atlantic." OOMPH!!! I drove my fist into his gut. "Hurts, doesn't it?"

With all the excitement I didn't even notice the car that had stopped on the corner behind me.

"Stop! Hold it right there! New Gotham P.D.!"

Reese.

I let the kid go and he fell to the ground. Not sure when he lost consciousness, I wasn't really paying attention.

"Reese?" I said as I slowly turned around.

"Huntress?" he gasped, his gun still pointed at my chest.

"You're not gonna shoot me are you?"

The sad thing is that he looked like he had to think about it for a minute. That surprised me.

"What's going on here?" he asked as he looked down at the beat up druggie. His gun was still on me.

"He's peddling drugs around here. Tried to offer me some coke." I bent down and was going to rummage through his pockets to find it, but Reese stopped me.

"Don't! Don't move."

This was weird.

"I was just gonna get the drugs from..."

"Just turn around and put your hands behind your back."

"What?!? You're...you're arresting me?!?"

"Turn around," he said with a little more authority.

I shook my head in disbelief as I turned around and put my hands behind my back.

Reese shocked me even further when he pushed me down to my knees and shoved me face-down on the sidewalk.

"Reese!"

He slapped the cuffs on me, a little tighter than he needed to.

"You could have killed him," he said as he walked over to the boy, kneeling down to check his pulse.

This was messed up and I sure as hell wasn't going to stick around long enough for him to haul my ass to the station.

***

There was no way I could go back to the Clocktower now, not with my hands cuffed behind my back. I only had one choice, and I think I probably rolled my eyes a million times on the way.

I kicked at the door with my foot and waited.

Nothing.

I kicked it some more and finally a sleepy Gibson appeared at the door. He rubbed his eyes and blinked the sleepiness away, but as soon as he saw it was me he perked right up.

"Helena! Wh-what are..."

"Sorry, Gibson," I said as I shoved him inside and shut the door closed with my foot.

"What's going on?"

I turned around and showed him the cuffs. "Can you get these off?"

His eyes were wide and he stammered a bit in trying to make a decision. "What did you do to get handcuffed? Wait! Wait! Nevermind, I don't want to know," he said as he rushed towards a drawer and pulled out a large ring of keys. "I've got a master key here somewhere."

I looked at the amount of keys on the ring and started to feel that anger biting at me inside. "Gibson, I don't have all night. The cops are looking for me."

He tried key after key as we talked. "So...what DID you do?"

"I beat up on a guy handing out drugs. Reese caught me and cuffed me. I took off before he had a chance to put me in the pattywagon. I..."

:: Huntress, do you copy? ::

Shit. Looks like Barbara just got word of the a.p.b. for me.

"What?"

:: Where the hell are you? :: she asked in a stern voice.

"Why?" I asked, playing with her.

:: Don't start with me, Helena! The police are looking for you, Reese has been stabbed. What's going on? ::

"Whoa, wait a minute, back up. Reese was stabbed?" I felt lightheaded for a moment in hearing the news.

:: Just tell me where you are and I'll come get you. ::

"Got it!" Gibson exclaimed as he unlocked my handcuffs.

:: Nevermind. Now I know where you are. I'm on my way. ::

I glared at Gibson for giving up my whereabouts.

"What?" he asked with innocent eyes.

"Nothing, forget it. Barbara's coming to get me."

Gibson handed me the cuffs. "So Reese got stabbed?"

"Yeah. It must have happened after I left because he was fine when I was there."

"So they think you did it? I assume."

"Most likely. They seem to be on the hunt for me right now." I peeked out the front window and saw a patrol car coming up the street. "Speak of the devil." I moved away from the window and watched as a bright beam of light burst through it from the spotlight they were shining up and down the street.

"Barbara better get here quick," Gibson said nervously as he shifted back and forth on his feet.

***

Barbara pulled up in the Hummer and I wasted no time in getting in.

"What the fuck is going on?" I asked as I shut the door.

"You tell me," she said as she pulled away from the curb.

I sighed heavily as I began the story. "I went out to blow off some steam and this punk came up to me, tried to offer me some coke and even copped a feel."

"Why do I know where this is going?"

"What? And you wouldn't mop the floor with him if some sicko put his hands all over you?" Barbara didn't answer, just frowned. She knew I was right. "So I kicked his ass a little bit. Then Reese showed up. Someone must have called the cops." I held up the set of handcuffs. "He cuffed me and was going to arrest me. While he checked on the asshole I took off. Reese was fine when I left."

"Well, word on the street is that you beat up the kid and stabbed Reese when he tried to break it up."

"WHAT?!?"

"Don't yell at me, I know you wouldn't do something like that."

I ran my fingers through my hair and then smashed my fists down on the dashboard, nearly cracking it.

"Hey! Hey! Don't put a hole in the dash!"

"Pull over," I said.

"What?"

"Pull over!"

"Helena, you're not getting out. We need to..."

I didn't wait for her to finish, I just opened the door and jumped out. I hit the ground pretty hard and rolled a few feet before I was able to get up and run off. I had to get to Reese.

***

Sneaking into the hospital wasn't easy. Cops were crawling all over the place.

I ducked into a closet just as a doctor was coming up the hallway.

At just the right time, I opened the door, smashing it right into his head. He fell to the floor and I dragged him inside the closet. "Sorry, buddy. Gutta borrow your clothes for a little while."

Quickly, I changed into the scrubs and grabbed his clipboard in order to make myself look official.

I stepped out into the hall and walked towards the nurse's station.

There were two nurses on duty. One was on the phone while the other was organizing some charts.

"Hi."

"I thought the night shift was supposed to be slow?" I joked.

"Yeah, right. This is when we get all the drunks who think they can drive home or think they're Mike Tyson and can take someone on twice their size."

I laughed at her joke because she was right. Hell, she probably took care of some of the drunks I beat the shit out of.

"Listen, I was wondering if you knew what room Jesse Reese is in? He's a friend of my dad's. I heard he got stabbed earlier tonight."

"Hmm, he's not on this floor. Lemme check." She went to her computer to do a search and I found myself tapping my finger on the desk with anticipation.

"He's on the third floor, room 340."

"Thanks!"

"Hey," she said to me with a confused look, pointing towards my chest. "How come you've got Dr. Felton's badge on your coat?"

I looked down and nearly died. "Oh, dammit. I did it again." I chuckled a bit to try and throw her off. "We were on break and I must have picked up his coat instead. Shit, he's gonna kill me. This is the second time this week that I've done that. I better go find him. Thanks again!"

"Sure," she said as I turned and walked away as fast as I could.

I sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly, trying to stay calm. That was a close one.

I went down to the third floor and it wasn't a surprise that there were two officers posted outside his door. Great, now I had to do things the old-fashioned way.

I went back up to the closet where I'd hidden the doc and switched clothes with him. He was still out like a light and there was a hefty bruise forming on his brow.

The hallway was deserted for the moment, so I dashed down the hallway to the last room on the right.

I quietly went inside, trying not to disturb the old man sleeping in the bed.

I opened the window and looked down. I needed to get down two floors but there wasn't anything for me to grab onto.

This was gonna suck. I went over to the man's bed and slowly peeled the sheets away and dragged them off the bed. I tied one end around the railing of his bed and twisted the sheet to form a rope. The old man was surely gonna go for a ride once my weight was on the sheet, but I didn't have much choice.

I tossed the sheet out the window and got up on the window sill. With a deep breath, I climbed out and scooted down to the end of the sheet, swinging to and fro in the cool night air.

I got myself down to the third floor and swung way over to my left. Reese's room was around there somewhere and I ended up having to check a bunch in order to find him, but I finally did. And just in time. The sheet was getting looser and I knew it was only a matter of time before it came untied from the man's bed up on the fifth floor and I was sent whooshing down to the parking lot.

I got myself on the ledge of the window and opened it. That's when the sheet came loose. I wasn't ready for the sudden slack and grabbed onto the sill for dear life.

I hoisted myself inside and tumbled onto the floor.

Looking up, I could see that I woke him up.

"Huntress?" he whispered in a sleepy state.

Before I could get to my feet, the two officers that were outside the door were now inside the room, guns drawn.

"Hold it right there!" one of them yelled. "Hands up where we can see them!"

I put my hands up in compliance. "Reese, tell them I didn't do it."

One of the men grabbed my wrists as he took his foot and shoved me to the ground, pinning my arms behind my back.

"Reese!"

"Shut up!" the other cop said as he kicked me in the ribs.

"No!" Reese grumbled as he tried to sit up. "Don't!"

"Reese, this bitch tried to kill you, man!"

The cop put his foot on the back of my neck and pressed down.

"Stop! She didn't...she didn't do it," Reese gasped.

"What?" the cop asked.

"Perp...the perp stuck me."

"Get your damn foot off me," I growled.

The cop took his foot away and backed off.

"He got me when I tried to help him," Reese explained.

"Shit, Reese!" the cop snapped as he ran out of the room.

"Uncuff her!" Reese tried to yell.

The cop uncuffed me and I immediately stood up and sneered at him.

"Sssorry about that."

I went over to Reese's side. "Why didn't you say something sooner? These guys have been chasing my ass down all night."

Reese smiled. "I was out all this time."

"That little bastard must have said that I stabbed you." I put my hand over his. "I'm sorry that I left you. I didn't know that you were in trouble."

"Don't. I'm the one that...that should apologize."

I smiled at him and ran my hand over his cheek. "Ya know, if you wanna play with handcuffs all you have to do is ask me."

The cop that had cuffed me blushed. "Um, I'm gonna go check with Nelson to make sure he's in that bastard's room reading him his rights."

Reese laughed and winced as the pain flared up in his stomach.

"You better rest. I'll come by in the morning to visit now that it's okay to use the hallway rather than the window."

He smiled at me as he drifted off to sleep.

As I watched him, I realized that I really needed to get a handle on this anger thing. If I hadn't gotten mad and beat on that kid then Reese wouldn't have been sent out there and none of this would have happened. I guess my anger effects more than just myself.

~ FIN