Primal Instinct

Birds Of Prey Fan Fiction

(TV-verse B/H)

by Enginerd


Chapter 7 - Missing Pieces

Opening the door to her apartment, Helena sensed something was off. She looked over to the window and found the curtains gently rustling in the breeze. She couldn't recall if it was open when she and Dinah had left earlier that day. Turning on the lights, she scanned the living room and found nothing out of place.

Feeling tired and grimy, Helena peeled off her clothes as she headed towards the shower. She turned on the spigot. After a moment, she stepped under the warm water and exhaled with pleasure as she started to shampoo her hair. What an interesting night, she considered. Exploring "her" estate, sweeps with Dinah, well sorta . . . seeing a crime scene with a mutilated body, she amended with a grimace. But the night did end on a very promising note she considered, unable to help the smile that grew on her face as she thought about meeting up with Gwen and the sweet kiss.

Her smile suddenly evaporated. "Crap!" She said jumping away from the water to check her forearm. Breathing a sigh of relief that she could still read the numbers, she gingerly rinsed off and got out of the shower in search of something to write with. Settling on the small bar of hand soap and the mirror, she transcribed the phone number to another temporary home.

Drying off, she thought about the kid going off alone, looking for what was giving them the heebee-geebees. What if Dinah needed backup? Was she really equipped to do battle against a meta killer? She had gotten her ass whipped by both Barbara and the kid, she reminded herself with a frown. Why did she ever think this was ever a good idea? Helena sighed as doubts grew.

Pulling on some silk boxers and a sleeveless tee, she padded back into her bedroom, which was dark again. She froze, distinctly recalling turning on the lights. A chill washed over her - she could feel a dark presence.

"I thought . . . I was alone," the breathy voice of an intruder admitted curiously.

Helena squinted to see the source of the voice, which was to her right. It sounded female, but that didn't make her feel any safer.

"That makes two of us," Helena said nervously, only making out a shadow.

"I saw you tonight. The Kid was with you. She could . . . sense me."

Helena felt a slight breeze. Now the voice was behind her saying "She is difficult to avoid."

Helena's heart pounded at how swift this being was, knowing it could easily kill her or anyone she set her sights on. Somehow she knew her visitor was behind the three deaths. Maybe more, she amended with a cringe. "She's a good kid. Don't hurt her," Helena said, blinking trying to get her eyes adjusted to the dark.

"Are you her protector?" The being said with an incredulous laugh. "How do you plan on doing that? You couldn't have even lost Reese if he decided to tail you."

"I'll do what I need to," Helena bravely vowed, then felt the sharp tips of a claw swiftly swipe at her bicep, leaving three bloody marks. "OW! What the hell did you do that for?"

"To remind you how pathetic you are, human."

"Says the insane monster who's going around murdering people?" Helena snapped, holding her arm.

The visitor laughed. "Insane monster? We both have wanted to dispense justice. I'm just the only one willing to actually do it."

"Justice? You call mauling that last guy, Harold Hickman, justice?"

"Did you see what he did to his wife? If you did, you would know he deserved more than what he got. Even YOU would have wanted to do it to him."

Helena frowned and protested uncomfortably "I've never wanted to kill anyone."

"Really? You've never wanted to make your mother's murderer pay for every moment you watched her bleed to death in your arms?"

Helena blinked. Her mother died in her arms?

"You've never wanted to make the Joker really pay, once and for all, for robbing Barbara the use of her legs?"

Helena frowned as she let out an uneasy exhale, feeling some anger grow.

"You didn't want to tear apart those men who killed Black Canary, destroying Dinah's chance of finally getting to know her mother?" she taunted.

"Dinah's mother was a Black Canary?" Helena asked uneasily.

"You don't know?" The intruder asked with surprise, walking around her. The shadowy figure wasn't as big as Helena would have guessed from the substantial presence she felt. "You don't know . . . ." she repeated that fact and exhaled with interest.

"How do I know any of that is true?" Helena snapped, feeling even more frustrated with her memory gap.

"No memories. No pain. That must be . . . ," the intruder said, searching for the correct word, then added softly "wonderful."

"Who are you?" Helena said with frustration, reaching out to grab the uninvited visitor's arm. She suddenly found herself thrown into the wall. "Ooof." Helena crumbled to the ground.

"Don't. Touch. Me," the female growled.

"Oookaaay," Helena said, getting up on her feet slowly. Once on her feet, curiosity, or a sudden bout of insanity, took hold. Her hand darted to the wall to turn on the lights, allowing her a brief look at her antagonist who recoiled and growled at the sudden brightness.

The intruder bore distinctive cat-like features, her eyes were unnerving, inhuman slits, her cheek bones were slightly pronounced, her skin was covered with delicate golden hair. Her ears were decidedly pointed as were her nails, which, Helena could personally attest, were sharp as hell.

Before Helena could blink, the cat-woman had fled.

"Damn it!" Helena hissed and rushed to pull some clothes on.

/BoP\

Helena looked up at the building tops against the night sky with frustration, realizing her hopes of catching up were futile. There was no way she could find this cat-woman if she didn't want to be found, she thought miserably.

"Hey, sweet thing. Tonight is your lucky night," a barrel-chested man said, approaching her with a smirk and a few equally slimy friends. Helena looked at the men and realized she was in a heap of trouble. She might have been able to take two, possibly three. But FIVE?

Her hand went up to her ear to call for help. Her stomach dropped when it touched bare flesh, remembering she had left her coms on the bathroom vanity.

"You know, I really don't think it is," she responded with resignation, keeping her eyes on the men who surrounded her.

One man grabbed at her from behind but a hammer fist to his groin quickly put him down with a high-pitched yelp. She was charged by another goon on her right, who she dodged and pushed into a pile of trash cans that made a loud racket.

"You like rough, Sweet thing? We can do rough," he pulled out a switchblade and approached her as another charged her from the left. She couldn't dodge both the knife and the other man's punch. She avoided the knife and received the blow to her side. She fell to one knee as the man with the knife swiped it at her again, cutting through her sleeve and nicking her skin.

"Ugh," she grunted as she got up and side kicked the puncher.

"It doesn't have to be this way you know," the man with the knife said reasonably. "We just want to party."

"I really don't appreciate your invitation," Helena said, standing up and finding four guys still very much a threat.

Two men charged her, she managed to kick one in the head but was slammed into a dumpster and exhaled in pain. Blindly reaching in the trash, she found something to use. She swung the broken broom handle back and hit another man hard in his arm, causing him to stumble back.

She swung the make-shift weapon to another man's temple, knocking him out cold.

"Bitch!" His buddy snarled.

She turned towards the man with the knife and glanced at the two other men who were circling her. She was getting tired but adrenaline kept her going. There was no way she would let them "party" with her.

"I've just gotten started," she spat at him, taking the offensive and pushing the guy with the knife back as she blocked his jab and solidly hit his jaw. She had no time to congratulate herself when he stumbled and fell; the two remaining guys charged at her. She successfully dodged one attacker but was tripped by the other, falling to the ground hard. Scrambling up, she received a kick to her stomach that took her breath away.

The pain was excruciating in her already bruised side as she was tackled to the ground. With partial success, she blocked the fists that rained down upon her. She tried to squirm out from beneath the man who straddled her but found him too heavy. He laughed, his bad breath making her wince. She felt his large, hard arousal as he rubbed himself against her and promised "All that's for you, sweet thing."

Suddenly, she grabbed his shirt and pulled herself towards him, successfully head butting him and breaking his nose.

With a stream of curses, he rolled off her but her small victory was short-lived when the other man started to kick and hit her with the broken broomstick. She scrambled to get out of the way but the blows kept landing. . . .

/BoP\

Helena felt the breeze on her face. She felt like she was flying. She always wanted to fly. That would be so cool, she thought as she blacked out again.

/BoP\

Barbara Gordon woke with a start. Blinking, she tried to push aside her grogginess and get her bearings. She looked over to the nightstand to see the red numbers of her clock read 2:33 AM. Hearing something in the living room, she sat up, suddenly more alert. Grabbing her robe, she shifted herself swiftly to her wheelchair and sought out the source of the noise.

In the living room, she felt, rather than saw something. "Helena?" She called out automatically, surprising herself with her guess. Since Helena had lost her metapowers, it was unlikely she would be startled by her sudden appearance.

Her eyes drifted curiously to the balcony, where the door was open and swaying gently. A pained exhale made her jump. She sought out the noise, gasping at the bruised and bloodied body of her friend on the couch. "Helena . . . ." she said with concern.

/BoP\

"Don't go . . . ." Helena mumbled as Barbara dabbed the younger woman's forehead with a cool washcloth.

"Helena? We're not going anywhere," Barbara said softly, looking at her friends bruised and cut face with a wince.

Helena's eyes blinked as she blurted with agitation "what?"

"It's OK, Helena," Barbara said, caressing her head tenderly, the washcloth forgotten. "You're OK now."

The sound of her voice settled down the injured woman, whose eyes were open but trying to focus. Not knowing where she was right away, her eyes darted around uneasily until they settled on concerned green eyes.

"Barbara," Helena exhaled with quiet relief, knowing she was safe now.

Barbara awkwardly retracted her comforting hand from her head.

"You know, you have a really bad habit of scaring the hell out of me," Barbara said with a pained wince as her hand returned to rest on Helena's shoulder.

Dinah silently watched, knowing Barbara's touch not only comforted Helena. She concluded Helena understood that as well when Helena slowly covered Barbara's hand with hers. "Sorry," Helena said softly, still groggy and weak from her injuries.

Barbara's tense expression softened a bit. "What happened, Hel?" She asked gently, searching tired eyes.

"Did . . . Did you see her?" she said weakly, looking around the room uneasily, causing Barbara to frown.

"See who?" Dinah asked as Helena exhaled with exhaustion for that small movement.

"Cat . . . woman," she mumbled before fatigue overcame her again and she shut her eyes.

/BoP\

"Shouldn't we get her to the hospital?" Dinah asked with a wince as she joined Barbara's side at Delphi.

"I don't think it's necessary," she answered, glancing at the balcony thoughtfully before pulling off her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose, a small indicator of Barbara's stress. Dinah didn't have to read her mind to know that what was going on with Helena weighed heavily on her mentor - both the "accident" causing the loss of her metapowers, as well as the latest injuries.

"I've dressed her cuts and bandaged her ribs and thankfully, there isn't a fever," Barbara said, then offered "But I will call the "family" doctor to have him come as soon as he can to be on the safe side." She absently glanced at the balcony again and said worriedly "she doesn't heal like she used to."

After Barbara finished with the call to the doctor, Dinah offered uneasily "she asked if we saw her mother."

"She saw someone. . . who looked like a cat," Barbara corrected with confidence, glancing at the balcony again as the evidence started to form into a disturbing theory.

Dinah sighed at the continued mystery then glanced back to Barbara's room. "Why didn't she call for backup?" Dinah grumbled.

"I don't know," Barbara said tightly, frustrated at her general lack of knowledge about Helena's entire situation. Glancing at the balcony, she considered her injured friend's surprisingly stealthy appearance and asked hesitantly "How do you think Helena was able to enter the clock tower through the balcony?"

Dinah hadn't really thought about it and looked at the balcony curiously. "Either she got her metapowers back - which wouldn't make sense with the condition she's in now," she said, then added uneasily "or she had help."

"I felt . . . a strong presence, Dinah," Barbara offered uncomfortably.

"I told . . . !" The teen said triumphantly - then blanched. "Oh no. It knows where we live?!" Dinah squeaked with concern.

"I don't think she means us harm - she helped Helena," Barbara admitted with surprising confidence, though hating the absence of crisp and clean answers to all her questions.

"But Helena's arm . . . those were the killer's claw marks, weren't they?!" Dinah asked in confusion. "Why would she mark her then help her?"

Delphi alarmed, preempting further discussion. Barbara swiftly rolled towards the console and brought up the information on the main screen.

"It's a police report," Barbara said, looking at Dinah. "They found five dead men. All suffered from multiple slashes - like the others."

"Do you think they were connected to what happened to Helena tonight?"

Barbara was not one to normally rely on a gut feel in the absence of proof, but she couldn't help but answer "Yes."