THIS OLD GANG OF MINE

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Birds Of Prey. They belong to their respective creators at DC Comics. No copyright infringement is intended.

**This piece of fan fiction is based on the preview that I've seen for the episode "Primal Scream." It hasn't aired as of the writing of this fan fic so this is just my take on what I'd like to see.**

No one knows that I'm a sucker for a sad movie. Well, no one used to know - that is until Barbara walked in and saw my tearstained face. "Helena, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," I said as I quickly wiped my eyes clean of the tears, sniffing a little. "What's up?"

I could see Barbara looking past me towards the TV screen. "Oh my God, are you crying over that movie?"

"No," I insisted as I stood up.

"Yes you were!"

"Did you come up here for a reason other than to tease me?" I folded my arms over my chest and pouted a bit, hoping that would make her back off. It worked.

"I, um, I need you to do some undercover work. Torque's gang is back in town and I need you to become a member. I need to find out what they're up to and the only way to keep tabs on them is to have someone on the inside. Normally I would say no way to this because it's too dangerous, but I have no choice."

"Okay," is all I can say at the moment. Part of me is jumping up and down inside because I love doing the down-and-dirty stuff and the other part of me is a little nervous. Torque's gang is indeed dangerous and I would have to be extremely convincing in order to join.

Barbara turned her chair around and began heading back to the elevator, "Come with me, I want to show you something." We get into the elevator and I see Barbara push a button that's hidden behind the emergency phone. The doors soon open and she wheels herself out.

I follow closely behind her as I look all around the room, a room I've never seen before. "What's all this?" I ask, my eyes are wide as saucers. There are some computers buzzing and some glass cases that hold Barbara's Batgirl costume and accessories. Then I see a black Ninja motorcycle, accented with metallic purple logos.

Barbara wheels herself next to the motorcycle, rubbing the seat with her hand. "This was one of my methods of transportation. I want you to use it."

"What?!?" I gasped, somewhat shocked.

"Torque's gang is a motorcycle-loving crew and if you want to fit in you're going to need one of these. Naturally we need to get the logos off it, that's not a problem."

"I can't," I say as I shake my head.

"We can run through sims to teach you how..."

"No, it's not that. I actually know how to ride one, I dated a guy that lived on one of these things. It's just that it's yours."

"Helena, I wouldn't offer it if it wasn't important. There are plenty of security features on the bike that will come in handy. Things you just aren't going to find on a store-bought bike. Go ahead," she said as she motioned for me to sit down on it.

I swung my leg over and sat down. I had to admit, having five hundred pounds of vibrating metal between your legs was damn cool, not to mention sexy as hell. I leaned forward and gripped the rubber grips and felt the power of the bike rush through me, even though it wasn't even on.

"We'll go over the specifics later, why don't you take it out for a spin," Barbara said as she handed me a black helmet, one that covered my entire face.

"Cool," I said with a smile.

* * *

Barbara gave the run down on where these guys were hanging out so I headed out to one of their hang outs, a bar in an alley down town.

I pulled up to the end of the alley and saw a group of about ten people, it had to be them because most of them had a bike. I slowly drove down into the alley, quickly noticing that the entire group was now watching me. Two of the men got up off their bikes and stood in the middle of the alley, blocking my entrance. I came to a stop in front of them, flipping up the shield of my helmet. "Is there a problem?" I asked.

"Where do you think you're going?" one of them asked me.

I flipped my head in a motion towards the bar, "I've been riding all day and I thought I'd stop for a drink. Is that against the law or something around here?"

The two men looked at one another and the taller of the two stepped closer towards me. "Why this bar and not the others on the main street?"

"Please, all the high-society freaks and Wall Street burn outs hang out there. That's not my scene."

The two men exchanged looks again and moved out of my way. "Come on then," one of them said as he cleared my path.

I parked the bike and took my helmet off, hanging it on the back of my bike. "Can I buy you guys a beer?" I asked the two guys that had been acting as road blocks.

"Sure, why not!" The tall man put his arm around me and walked me into the bar. I noticed that the remainder of the group outside was following behind us which made me a little uneasy. Once inside, I realized that my uneasiness was justified because I soon found myself being thrown down on a table, my temple smashing against the hard wood. He pinned my arm behind my back and leaned his weight into me. "Who are you?"

"What are you talking about?" I gasped. It was hard to talk seeing as I could hardly breathe with him on top of me.

"I've never seen you around before and I smell trouble." He picked me up a bit and then slammed my head down on the table again, this time drawing blood near my eyebrow.

"I just came in from Chicago. Check my bike. I have a backpack on it that contains everything I own."

The man motioned to one of his goons to go out and check my bike. "Why New Gotham?"

"There's not enough trouble for me to get in in Chicago."

The man didn't say anything at first but then began to laugh. "You're one crazy bitch, you know that?"

"So I've been told."

The man that went out to check my bike soon returned holding my backpack. "There's just a bunch of clothes and stuff in here and some lock picks"

"Interesting. Wanna tell me about those?" He pressed down on me causing me to wince a little.

"I'm break into places. I don't do the actual stealing, I just make it more accessible to those that do."

I felt the man immediately let up and let go of my arm. He turned me around to face him. "Looks like you've come to the right place then."

"Huh?" I asked, trying to play stupid.

"You and I need to talk, privately. There's someone I want you to meet." The crowd of people cleared away and everyone went back to their business as he walked me to the back room. After going through a set of doors and then down into the basement, we came to another door. The man knocked on it and it opened. A bald man poked his head out. "I need to talk to Torque." I felt my stomach drop a notch when I heard his name. The bald man let us in and we walked into a smoke-filled room where a man was sitting on a black leather couch, a girl on either side. "Torque, I have someone I think you want to meet. She has experience and could be a nice replacement for Sunny."

Torque looked me up and down and then motioned for his girls to go away. "Sit," he said to me. So I did.

* * *

When I got back to the loft I quietly made my way into the kitchen. I grabbed a handtowel from the side of the refrigerator and opened the freezer to grab some ice cubes. I dropped a couple into the towel and folded it up, pressing it to my aching temple. Just as I was about to head up to bed Barbara flipped on the lights, gasping as she saw me. "Geezus, what happened?" She came over to me and moved my hand away from my head, hissing at the sight. "Come over here and sit down."

"I'm fine," I insisted.

"Sit," Barbara said sternly.

I sat down on a chair at the kitchen table and she inspected the cut near my eye. "You wanted me to get in, I'm in."

"Yeah but did you have to get your head smashed open in order to do so?"

"Whatever it takes." Barbara shook her head at me. "They're planning on robbing New Gotham Bank tomorrow night and I've been cordially invited."

"Wait, what is Torque gonna think when you just show up with the gang. I mean..."

"He's the one that invited me."

"What?!? You talked to him directly?"

"Yeah, no big deal."

Barbara sat back in her chair and looked at me for a moment. "This seems too easy. I don't like it."

"Trust me, they believe the lies that I fed them. If they didn't I'd be dead by now."

Barbara rubbed her chin a little, "I suppose."

"I'm gonna call it a day if you don't mind." I got up from my chair and started to walk away but Barbara grabbed my arm.

"Please be careful with this guy."

"Don't worry, I've got it under control." I walked away and wasn't sure if I even believed myself. Torque was a scary guy, no doubt about that. His body was a giant canvas of tattoos and he smoked like a chimney. After talking with him for even a little while I got the feeling that he had no feelings and wouldn't think twice about slitting someone's throat. Even some of his friends were afraid of him. But I guess there's no use in thinking about it. My concentration is on the bank and how I've gutta keep up my act. My life depends on it.

* * *

I arrived at the meeting spot around midnight. I had all of the gear that I was asked to bring tucked into my back pack. Buzz was the first one I saw. "Glad you could make it," he said.

"What? You think I'd miss a chance at getting some free cash? Come on now."

"Here, take this," he said as he handed me a latex cat mask, not realizing how fitting that was given who my mother was.

"What's this for?"

"We all have them. You don't want your face to be seen on the surveillance camera do you?"

Confusion set in. "But I'm not actually going inside. I..."

"Change of plans," Torque said as he walked up to meet us.

"Hey, Torque. I thought I was just working the computerized lock system from outside, like we had discussed."

Torque walked closer to me, inches away in fact. "Like I said, change of plans. You're not chickening out, are you?" I heard a clicking noise towards his hand and noticed that he'd opened a switchblade, producing a shiny, silver blade.

"No need to go using me as a pin cushion. I'll go in with you guys."

He patted me on the shoulder as he put the blade away, "Good girl. Now let's go get some money."

"Huntress, is everything okay?" Barbara's voice suddenly appeared in my ear. "Cough once if you are." I replied to her by coughing. "Good. Once you're inside I'll feed you what you need to get the security system turned off."

We all got to the roof of the bank and I went to work on decoding the password to the door. The small computer that I rigged to the access panel soon produced the password. Torque entered it without hesitation. "Let's go!" he said as he lowered the mask over head, all of us doing the same as we entered behind him.

We got to the floor that the vault was on and it was my job to open the series of three doors that needed to be opened before we got inside. Barbara instructed me on what to do, making me look like a master locksmith and computer wiz.

After opening the final door, we made our way into the vault. I don't think I've ever seen so much cash in all of my life. I stood aside while the guys filled their bags with the cash. Looking at my watch I saw that we only had twenty seconds left before a back-up alarms system would turn on. "Twenty seconds you guys."

They continued filling their bags as I paced back and forth. Then I heard a voice from down the hall, "Hold it right there! Put the bags down slowly and put your hands..." Shots began to ring out, muffling the remainder of his sentence. Torque and his friends had each produced a gun in each hand, firing at the voice from down the hall - that familiar voice.

I ran across the room into the vault to avoid the gunfire but suddenly found myself crashing to the floor, a sharp, burning pain engulfed my left shoulder. The gunfire soon stopped from both the hall and from the vault. Turning my head slightly to the side I could see that Torque and his friends were dead. I could hear footsteps coming up the hall so I gathered up all of my strength and quickly got to my feet. I dashed up the wall and took cover in a small, dark crevice, trying my best to stay out of sight. I peered down and saw Reese and a handful of police officers checking out the bodies. Reese stood right below me and I could tell he could feel me. He looked all around the vault and then looked up towards my hiding place. I held my breath and prayed that he wouldn't see me, and he didn't. I did my best to cover my wound so the blood wouldn't drip down onto the floor and alert him.

Everyone cleared out of the vault and I seized the opportunity. With a grunt of pain, I got to a window high up on the wall. I kicked the glass out and then jumped.

"Huntress!" Barbara's voice screamed in my ear as I hit the ground in a heap. Normally I'd land on my feet without a problem but the bullet wound in my shoulder hindered my abilities.

I was just about to answer her when I heard his voice, "Hold it right there!" I was on my knees and stayed very still. Even though my back was to him I could feel his gun trained on me. "Put your hands behind your head!"

"Reese," I said, but my mask muffled my voice. Suddenly, he pushed me to the ground on my stomach, pulling my arms behind my back and handcuffing them, ignoring my cries of pain. "Reese," I said with a sob. It was almost like he was deaf because he took his foot and rolled me onto my back. Then he pulled the mask off.

His eyes went wide and the color drained from his face. "Oh my God!" he exclaimed as he got down on his knees beside me. "Huntress. I...I..."

"Y-you sh--shot me," I slurred.

"Huntress! What the hell is going on!" Barbara screamed in my ear.

"R-Reese shot me," I said and then swallowed hard.

"Shit! I'm on my way."

"I...I didn't know," he stammered as he took off his jacket, placing it over my wound. "What were you doing in there?"

"Undercover work. You r-rained on my parade, you jerk."

Reese uncuffed my hands and carefully laid me on my back. "I'm so sorry, Huntress. I didn't know it was you."

"It's n-not your...not your fault." My eyelids felt like they weighed a hundred pounds a piece and I desperately wanted to sleep.

Reese leaned in close to me and placed his mouth over mine, giving me a gentle, warm kiss. "I'm sorry," he said. "I never meant to hurt you."

I couldn't resist, I put my hand on the back of his head and pulled him back towards me, returning his kiss. "I'll be fine," I assured him. "It's gonna take m-more than a little bullet to st-stop me." I did my best to smile but the pain was getting more intense.

Reese held onto my hand which comforted me. But when I heard Barbara pull up I gave into the darkness.

* * *

I woke up the next morning, sore and drained. I was alone in my room, my left arm was propped up on a pillow and then I noticed the dozen roses next to my bed. A small card stuck out of the middle and I managed to snag it. I tore open the small envelope and pulled out the card:

"I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for what I've done. - Reese"

Before I can put the card away Barbara entered the room. "Reese went through a lot of trouble to get these to you. He tracked me down when I was at the market and gave them to me to give to you. They're beautiful."

"So is he," I replied with a smile.

THE END