CHAPTER 4
Dinah had followed Helena all the way to Arkum. The thrill of her mission was almost overwhelming. Never had she had a spy mission like this. This was Helena's department. She had always thought this kind of superhero work was cool and exciting, but Barbra had never allowed her to go on these kinds of mission. Her past missions had been all but exciting and thrilling. She had been used more for recon missions so Helena had a lead. Now, with Helena acting suspicious, she has been given the chance that she had always wanted; to prove herself ready to join Helena.
From Arkum, Dinah struggled to keep up with Helena and remain hidden from her sight. Dinah could not understand how she could move so quickly. Fortunately for her, Helena decided to stake out on the ledge of a small three story building. Helena hid in a dark alleyway. "Okay, she has stopped. I think she sees something.
"Take a look, but don't let yourself be seen," Barbra said over her ear piece.
"Right. Any luck on the blood?" Dinah asked.
"I'm working on it, just keep an eye on Helena. Don't loose her."
"I've got things…"
She was interrupted by an presence behind her. She quickly turned around to see a tall man standing nearly on top of her with a knife in hand. "Hey, babe, let's say you and I throw a little party."
* * * *
Barbra heard the male voice and she instantly broke her blood work and took a look at the screen behind her which was displaying everything Dinah was seeing. "Careful, Dinah. If this Raven character is real, he could be her."
* * * *
"I'll find out quickly if this is Raven or not," Dinah replied.
"Wha? Who you talkin' too young girl?"
"Why don't you come closer and find out!" Dinah replied, trying to act tough the way Helena would.
The thug took a step closer to Dinah and she retaliated with a kick in his gut. The kick in the stomach caused him to drop his knife as he bent forward gasping for air. One kick under the chin was all it took to drop the thug onto his back out cold. Obviously there was nothing spectacular about this thug. "Nope, this was not Raven," Dinah said.
"How about Helena!" Barbra reminded her with a urgent rush in the tone of her voice.
Dinah looked back up to where Helena was standing before, but she was gone without a trace. Dinah began to feel a prick of remorse feeling that she had let Barbra down. "She's not there, she's gone."
* * * *
Barbra slapped the desk with both hands in frustration, but not with very much force behind it. She realized instantly that Dinah probably heard her frustration her voice came over the intercom and said, "I'm sorry, Oracle. I let you down."
"It's not your fault, Dinah. There was nothing you could have done to have prevented this. Look around your surroundings for me."
* * * *
Dinah looked around slowly. It took her a few seconds to realize that she was standing right smack in the middle of a T-section. That road was the only logical direction that Helena would have gone from where she had been standing. Dinah knew that Barbra was thinking the same thing.
"Take that road right there!" Barbra said through her ear piece.
"I'm already on it!" Dinah replied.
* * * *
Barbra continued her work on the blood. Finally, she was getting some results. Jesse Reese walked up to the platform. "Anything on the blood yet?"
"It's coming through now," Barbra replied as she didn't even look towards him; her eyes were fixated on the computer screen. "Here it is. This blood, if it is blood at all, does not belong to Helena."
"What do you mean?" Reese asked.
"This is not real blood. I don't know what it is. It does, however have DNA that I was able to look up, and the DNA does not belong to Helena."
"So this Raven character is real?" Reese replied.
"I don't know. It could be a hoax to try to lead us to a wrong conclusion. We don't know who we are dealing with." Barbra said with her eyes fixed to the computer screen.
Reese stood behind her looking at the screen she was looking at. A grin came over his face. "Indeed, you have no idea."
Barbra was startled by this comment, but before she could react, Reese but his hand on the back of Barbra's head and shoved her face into the computer screen, cracking the screen, leaving a small trail of blood as her face slid down the screen onto the keyboard.
Reese grinned devilishly as his whole body morphed in Raven. "So you were the protégé of Batman. I expected much more from you and Helena. This is rather pathetic."
* * * *
Dinah stopped running when she heard Barbra grunted over her ear piece. "Oracle, are you there? Do you read me?"
At first there was no reply. Before she could ask again, a strange voice came over her ear piece. "Hello. You must be the daughter of the legendary Black Canary."
"Who are you? What did you do with Oracle?" Dinah demanded.
"Oh, is that what Barbra is calling herself these days. To answer your question, young Dinah, my name is Raven, and as of now, the clock tower is under my control."
"We'll see about that," Dinah said angrily as she took off the ear piece and threw it away. She carefully took out her video contacts and threw them away as well.
Dinah was now alone, without any help. There was only one thing she could think of to do. She needed to find Helena and get her to come back with her to save Barbra and stop Raven. She continued running, looking upward at the roof tops to see if she could see Helena. To her luck, she saw Helena up ahead on the ground entering an abandoned hospital building.
"Huntress!" Dinah called out, but she obviously did not hear her. Dinah ran to the building, and entered the same doorway Helena used. She found herself in a dimly lit building. "Huntress?"
There was no reply. A cold shiver went down her spine. She had a bad feeling about this place. Why would Helena go in here? Did she know something that Barbra or she did not? Dinah continued deeper into the building. There were cob webs everywhere. She fought the urge to turn and run; this was just way to creepy for her. She found a double push open door which use to lead to the operation room.
She pushed open the door, to find a nearly empty dimly lit room. She walked in and the double doors swung shut. She cautiously walked deep into the heart of the room, when to her right, she saw an unconscious Helena tied between two poles by her wrists. Her face was badly beaten. What was going on? Just moments ago, she had walked into the building, now she was tied up by the wrists. She cautiously approached her until she was startled by a familiar voice from behind her.
"Don't do it, Dinah! She's an imposter!"
Dinah turned to see another Helena tied up in the exact same way, struggling to get her wrists free from the ropes. "What's going on?"
"There's no time to explain! Just get over here and free me."
"How do I know that you are not the imposter?" Dinah said, eyeing her suspiciously.
"It's me, Dinah! Come over here and touch my arm and use your powers to see for yourself."
Dinah was torn. One of them was pretending to be Helena. If she chose the one wrong, she could wind up being dead. What if the Helena she had been following, the one who had been to the clock tower, was the impostor? How could it be? Raven was at the clock tower now unless there were two of them. Could there be two meta-humans with the exact same powers? What are the chances of that?
It all came down to that this second shape shifting meta-human could be either of them. There was so many combination of possibilities, that it was confusing her incredibly. What if the Helena that was conscious was the impostor trying to trick her to get her close enough to strike? That was a possibility. The other was that the seemingly unconscious Helena could be pretending to be unconscious to make it look like an easier way to find out the truth.
She finally made a chose. She ignored the other Helena and cautiously approached the unconscious Helena. She figured, to avoid a hit from her who had to move to get into position to strike first would give her plenty of time to defend herself. She slowly walked closer to one of the tied up wrists and reached out to touch her wrists when Helena's hand grabbed her by the wrist.
Dinah looked in horror as Helena lifted her head and grinned. "Wrong choice, young one!"
She pulled her wrist free from the rope which was only loosely tied around her wrist and slapped her across the face with such force that it sent it crashing into wall. She slid onto the ground out cold. The doppelganger freed herself and grinned toward Helena who was outraged and trying to break the ropes, but to no success. "See you around, Helena!"
Dinah had followed Helena all the way to Arkum. The thrill of her mission was almost overwhelming. Never had she had a spy mission like this. This was Helena's department. She had always thought this kind of superhero work was cool and exciting, but Barbra had never allowed her to go on these kinds of mission. Her past missions had been all but exciting and thrilling. She had been used more for recon missions so Helena had a lead. Now, with Helena acting suspicious, she has been given the chance that she had always wanted; to prove herself ready to join Helena.
From Arkum, Dinah struggled to keep up with Helena and remain hidden from her sight. Dinah could not understand how she could move so quickly. Fortunately for her, Helena decided to stake out on the ledge of a small three story building. Helena hid in a dark alleyway. "Okay, she has stopped. I think she sees something.
"Take a look, but don't let yourself be seen," Barbra said over her ear piece.
"Right. Any luck on the blood?" Dinah asked.
"I'm working on it, just keep an eye on Helena. Don't loose her."
"I've got things…"
She was interrupted by an presence behind her. She quickly turned around to see a tall man standing nearly on top of her with a knife in hand. "Hey, babe, let's say you and I throw a little party."
* * * *
Barbra heard the male voice and she instantly broke her blood work and took a look at the screen behind her which was displaying everything Dinah was seeing. "Careful, Dinah. If this Raven character is real, he could be her."
* * * *
"I'll find out quickly if this is Raven or not," Dinah replied.
"Wha? Who you talkin' too young girl?"
"Why don't you come closer and find out!" Dinah replied, trying to act tough the way Helena would.
The thug took a step closer to Dinah and she retaliated with a kick in his gut. The kick in the stomach caused him to drop his knife as he bent forward gasping for air. One kick under the chin was all it took to drop the thug onto his back out cold. Obviously there was nothing spectacular about this thug. "Nope, this was not Raven," Dinah said.
"How about Helena!" Barbra reminded her with a urgent rush in the tone of her voice.
Dinah looked back up to where Helena was standing before, but she was gone without a trace. Dinah began to feel a prick of remorse feeling that she had let Barbra down. "She's not there, she's gone."
* * * *
Barbra slapped the desk with both hands in frustration, but not with very much force behind it. She realized instantly that Dinah probably heard her frustration her voice came over the intercom and said, "I'm sorry, Oracle. I let you down."
"It's not your fault, Dinah. There was nothing you could have done to have prevented this. Look around your surroundings for me."
* * * *
Dinah looked around slowly. It took her a few seconds to realize that she was standing right smack in the middle of a T-section. That road was the only logical direction that Helena would have gone from where she had been standing. Dinah knew that Barbra was thinking the same thing.
"Take that road right there!" Barbra said through her ear piece.
"I'm already on it!" Dinah replied.
* * * *
Barbra continued her work on the blood. Finally, she was getting some results. Jesse Reese walked up to the platform. "Anything on the blood yet?"
"It's coming through now," Barbra replied as she didn't even look towards him; her eyes were fixated on the computer screen. "Here it is. This blood, if it is blood at all, does not belong to Helena."
"What do you mean?" Reese asked.
"This is not real blood. I don't know what it is. It does, however have DNA that I was able to look up, and the DNA does not belong to Helena."
"So this Raven character is real?" Reese replied.
"I don't know. It could be a hoax to try to lead us to a wrong conclusion. We don't know who we are dealing with." Barbra said with her eyes fixed to the computer screen.
Reese stood behind her looking at the screen she was looking at. A grin came over his face. "Indeed, you have no idea."
Barbra was startled by this comment, but before she could react, Reese but his hand on the back of Barbra's head and shoved her face into the computer screen, cracking the screen, leaving a small trail of blood as her face slid down the screen onto the keyboard.
Reese grinned devilishly as his whole body morphed in Raven. "So you were the protégé of Batman. I expected much more from you and Helena. This is rather pathetic."
* * * *
Dinah stopped running when she heard Barbra grunted over her ear piece. "Oracle, are you there? Do you read me?"
At first there was no reply. Before she could ask again, a strange voice came over her ear piece. "Hello. You must be the daughter of the legendary Black Canary."
"Who are you? What did you do with Oracle?" Dinah demanded.
"Oh, is that what Barbra is calling herself these days. To answer your question, young Dinah, my name is Raven, and as of now, the clock tower is under my control."
"We'll see about that," Dinah said angrily as she took off the ear piece and threw it away. She carefully took out her video contacts and threw them away as well.
Dinah was now alone, without any help. There was only one thing she could think of to do. She needed to find Helena and get her to come back with her to save Barbra and stop Raven. She continued running, looking upward at the roof tops to see if she could see Helena. To her luck, she saw Helena up ahead on the ground entering an abandoned hospital building.
"Huntress!" Dinah called out, but she obviously did not hear her. Dinah ran to the building, and entered the same doorway Helena used. She found herself in a dimly lit building. "Huntress?"
There was no reply. A cold shiver went down her spine. She had a bad feeling about this place. Why would Helena go in here? Did she know something that Barbra or she did not? Dinah continued deeper into the building. There were cob webs everywhere. She fought the urge to turn and run; this was just way to creepy for her. She found a double push open door which use to lead to the operation room.
She pushed open the door, to find a nearly empty dimly lit room. She walked in and the double doors swung shut. She cautiously walked deep into the heart of the room, when to her right, she saw an unconscious Helena tied between two poles by her wrists. Her face was badly beaten. What was going on? Just moments ago, she had walked into the building, now she was tied up by the wrists. She cautiously approached her until she was startled by a familiar voice from behind her.
"Don't do it, Dinah! She's an imposter!"
Dinah turned to see another Helena tied up in the exact same way, struggling to get her wrists free from the ropes. "What's going on?"
"There's no time to explain! Just get over here and free me."
"How do I know that you are not the imposter?" Dinah said, eyeing her suspiciously.
"It's me, Dinah! Come over here and touch my arm and use your powers to see for yourself."
Dinah was torn. One of them was pretending to be Helena. If she chose the one wrong, she could wind up being dead. What if the Helena she had been following, the one who had been to the clock tower, was the impostor? How could it be? Raven was at the clock tower now unless there were two of them. Could there be two meta-humans with the exact same powers? What are the chances of that?
It all came down to that this second shape shifting meta-human could be either of them. There was so many combination of possibilities, that it was confusing her incredibly. What if the Helena that was conscious was the impostor trying to trick her to get her close enough to strike? That was a possibility. The other was that the seemingly unconscious Helena could be pretending to be unconscious to make it look like an easier way to find out the truth.
She finally made a chose. She ignored the other Helena and cautiously approached the unconscious Helena. She figured, to avoid a hit from her who had to move to get into position to strike first would give her plenty of time to defend herself. She slowly walked closer to one of the tied up wrists and reached out to touch her wrists when Helena's hand grabbed her by the wrist.
Dinah looked in horror as Helena lifted her head and grinned. "Wrong choice, young one!"
She pulled her wrist free from the rope which was only loosely tied around her wrist and slapped her across the face with such force that it sent it crashing into wall. She slid onto the ground out cold. The doppelganger freed herself and grinned toward Helena who was outraged and trying to break the ropes, but to no success. "See you around, Helena!"