Thanks to Harley Fan & Cateyes to help me editing this chapter and the
next, was cool!!!!!
******
A few minutes later Dinah came closer to Barbara, she was intrigued and stopped behind her.
"Helena's asleep, Alfred's taking care of her" she told her.
"That's Alfred" Barbara forced a smile
"What did you find?"
"Did you say you saw the Scarecrow twice?
"Yes..."
"I remember an old enemy" Barbara opened a screen of the computer and began to read the information that she had found:
Dr. Jonathan Crane was a professor of Psychology at Gotham University, specializing in the 'psychology of fear. Ace had grown up there, where he was bullied for his bookishness and his gangly figure. He was granted a scholarship and became Scarecrow to get even with the bullies at school. After his dismissal from Gotham U. he killed those people responsible for his dismissal.
Crane lacked true super-powers but was especially agile and strong for his wiry frame. he was also well-versed in psychology and eventually developed sufficient expertise in chemistry to design custom hallucinogens. Crane is a normal human when stripped of his weapons and chemical.
His modus operandi was based on his own obsessions with psychology and an insulting description used by his colleagues: Jonathan Crane was known as The Scarecrow, obsessed with cruelty and fear.
"That would explain the fear..." Dinah said ".but I don't understand why and how he did it to Helena?
"I remember once. Scarecrow caused Batman to imagine that all his friends and colleagues had vanished into thin air it's a aggressive form of autophobia (fear of isolation). Losing his friends, Batman turned to an enemy. Selina Kyle, to help track down the Scarecrow. this marriage brought the two close together."
Dinah open her eyes surprised "That's true?"
"Of course, do you think that I'm joking?"
"Does he know who Helena is?" she asked.
"Yeah, somehow he knows Selena Kyle was her mother, but I don't believe that he knows she is the daughter of his arch -enemy Batman. In some occasions I faced him..."
"But she. he called you Batgirl, How does he know that if he never saw you without your mask?"
"We were talking about it a few minutes before she attacked us here, maybe in that moment he took control of Huntress"
"How he could take possession of her mind? She is too strong!" Dinah asked intrigued.
Barbara wheeled to the monitor of the right and typed quickly, the taped graphics of Huntress appeared on the screen, she showed them to Dinah "Look, these are Helena's normal brain waves" Barbara opened an alternating screen "and this is the taped graphic when you watched the change..."
"It seems like as. an interference..." "Some animals develop senses, hearing is one of them, they can hear abnormally high frequencies, unperceptible to the human hearing"
"Helena's not an animal" Dinah refuted.
"But she isn't completely human either , she is a human being with abilities and perceptions of a feline... Scarecrow is interfering with her mind using a very high frequency that only she can perceive and that blocks her own mind completely, that's why she couldn't remember anything."
"But the first time that it happened, Helena remembered it, with Reese"
"Yes, but the Scarecrow could be gauging the sign to her brain"
"If he is using her... why?"
Barbara leaned in her seat and she meditated a few seconds "Rather like a personal revenge against Selina, she helped Batman to trap him. He should be informed that Batman disappeared a long time ago, and it's impossible that he knows the connection between Selina, Batman and Helena."
"But if the Scarecrow specializes in fear why didn't he attack Helena as he used to do?" Dinah looked at Helena sleeping in the lab.
"He is attacking her, for someone that was in jail so many years, perhaps it was too easy just kill her. He's enjoying manipulating the daughter of the woman that helped Batman; it was impossible to take revenge on Selina, so he went after Helena... and in the process he found me."
"Barbara" Dinah told her "if he takes possession of her mind, in any moment he can kill her using terror as a weapon or when he discovers that we know who is he and that you drugged Helena so he couldn't use her..."
"Not if I stop Helena's brain from receiving that signal" Barbara took her wheelchair off to the lab, "I have to work on a device that blocks the signal in Helena's brain."
* * *
Helena slowly opened her eyes, she was still in the infirmary, her first though was how long had she been sleeping? She turned her head to the right and saw Barbara working at a table, illuminated with a small lamp. She tried to get up but she realized that she was tied.
"What damn.?" Helena groan.
"I'm sorry, give me a second" Barbara looked at her. Leaving a screwdriver on the table she grabbed a small object.
"Why did you tie me up?"
"It's just precaution, you had an outburst of spite about being drugged and tried to wake up a few hours ago" Barbara wheeled close to Helena "How do you feel"
"A little drowsy . Are you going to drug me again? It's awful."
"No, I don't think so. Don't move" Barbara told her, removing one of her earrings.
"What are you doing?
"We discovered what's happening, your brain waves."
"Please." Helena asked ".I'm still drugged .explain it to me in an easy way"
"Alright, someone is using a high frequency signal that only you can perceive, the signal blocks you, and he takes control of your mind, consequently you don't remember anything." Barbara placed the new earring in Helena's ear.
"Like being possessed??"
"Exactly, I taped the interference that appeared in the monitor during the last attack you had and I could find the frequency, I worked the whole night making this device that will block it"
"Who is he?"
"An old enemy, Scarecrow." Barbara kept the old earring in her pocket.
"Scarecrow? Funny name."
"But he isn't funny, he kills with fear. The most dangerous thing is that he knows that you are Selina's daughter and that I was Batgirl. I'm sure that he's connected with the murders too and."
"Barbara." Helena interrupted her "I'm really interested in this, but I'll feel better if you untie me, this is uncomfortable"
"Oh. sorry"
* * *
"That scarecrow really scares me" Dinah said to Barbara while they walked the corridors of the school "How was it fighting against him?"
"Not very pleasant and nothing advisable," Barbara responded "He employs substances that make your deepest fears grow and then uses them against you"
"It sounds terrifying"
"It is..." Barbara stopped in the door of her classroom.
"Now that he can't control Helena's mind, What do you believe is going to be the next step?"
"Well, does he know that we know who he is? Knowing his gnarled mind, his priority is to take vengeance for the past. He'll surely wait for the best opportunity to attack Helena or me, the order doesn't matter, he is going to look for us.
"I have an exam tomorrow, we're going to be studying at Gaby's house tonight."
"That's fine ... but come home early."
"Ok"
Barbara smiled as the bell announcing the beginning of classes rang and they said goodbye.
* * *
"Helena stop playing with that" Barbara entered the laboratory and wheeled herself over to Helena and took the piece out of her hands.
"What is that? It's kinda looks like a spider..."
"A very fragile sensor that is more expensive than this whole building." Barbara placed it in a box and closed it. She went to her monitor.
"Oh....!" Helena shrank her shoulders.
"Did you talk with Reese?"
"Yes, he was a little annoyed with me because of my 'disappearance '" she raised her fingers "it's difficult to give explanations... I'm not used to it."
Barbara smiled while she pressed the keys of the keyboard "It's normal that he would worried about you, he loves you"
"I know it, but it's difficult because I've never depended on anybody. mainly for our work"
"You will have to learn how to manage it, if you want your relationship to grow. Don't get scared, it's a normal process."
Helena raised her brows and moved her head "Where is Dinah?"
"She has an exam tomorrow, she's at Gabby's studying" Barbara opened a screen of her monitor and said "Why don't you go to sleep? We can wait until tomorrow to know the results of the analysis that I made from the blood of the dead man. We deserve a peaceful night"
* * *
Helena jumped across the roofs of the buildings. It was a cold night. She arrived at the bar and went up the stairs, when she went into her apartment, she perceived a strange scent, her senses became sharp and her eyes changed.
She entered without turning on the light and checked around the room. She looked at her bedroom door, which was half open, the lamp on her desk on. She opened the door slowly, her eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing. Barbara was on the floor next to the bed with a knife in her stomach in an enormous puddle of blood. Helena felt a chill go down her spine.
She opened her mouth, certain that this couldn't be happening. She had just spoken with her a few minutes ago, what happened? Barbara was breathing hard from the mouth, and moved her head when entered, Barbara looked up at her, on her face was reflected an enormous sadness.
"Helena..." she mumbled almost imperceptibly.
"Oh, God" Helena knelt down next to her, she wanted to stop the hemorrhage with her hands but the wound was too big, "Barbara Who did this to you?" her eyes began to become moist. "Was it the scarecrow? Was it him? Hold on, please, hold on" Helena looked her hands they were soaked with blood she was suddenly paralyzed, her mind returned to the past, to that terrible night when her mother had died, she again felt the pain, the cold and the hole.
Helena looked at Barbara's face, she looked lost , the same way her mother had before she died. "No!" she exclaimed " not you please, not you!" Helena hugged her strongly "Dinah!" she screamed into the Mic. "Dinah! Where are you? "
* * *
Dinah was in the kitchen reviewing her books when she heard Helena's voice, she placed her hand over her ear to listen better.
"I'm here Huntress, What's happened?" she said immediately.
:: The scarecrow attacked Barbara, she's hurt bad! ::
"What?" Dinah asked confused "What are talking about?"
::Call an ambulance please, I'm in my apartment, I can't stop the hemorrhage! "
"Are you okay?"
:: Just call the ambulance! :: Huntress screamed in anger again.
Barbara was seated in front of Dinah grading some exams from school, she stopped and looked at Dinah.
"What happened?" she asked the blond youth.
"I don't understand, Helena said that you're hurt in her apartment and wants me to call an ambulance"
"Damn!" Barbara pressed her teeth, immediately she knew that the scarecrow was with Helena "tell her that it's an illusion!" Barbara turned her wheelchair.
"Helena," the girl obeyed "It's an illusion, Barbara's with me, get out of there!"
:: Dinah, just call the ambulance! :: she listened to the furious answer of Huntress.
Dinah ran after Barbara saying, "she didn't listen to me!"
* * *
Helena went to the bathroom and she returned with a towel to place on Barbara's wound.
"Hold on, you are going to be ok"
" why if it isn't The little Helena Kyle" a voice made her turned around , the Scarecrow was stopped in front of the door looking at her, she felt a chill travel through her.
"You did it..." Helena looked at him with fury.
"Why suddenly did I lose contact with you Helena Kyle?" he smiled walking toward her "We were having a good time.... What did you do?"
"I will kill you..." she got up nailing her look in him.
:: Helena, I'm fine!! :: she heard Barbara's voice in the Mic.:: it's an illusion, get out of there! ::
Helena stopped, but she didn't understand what she had just heard. She looked again to the floor, Barbara was there, How she could she be talking to her in the Mic.?
:: Helena I'm in the clock tower:: Barbara screamed at her again in the Mic. ::The scarecrow built an illusion around you. Listen to me, this is my voice, you know it, breathe deep and calm down, I'm Barbara, I'm fine.::
Helena swallowed, her heart beat faster, she tried to be in control, suddenly Barbara's image in the floor disappeared before her eyes.
* * *
Barbara looked at Dinah with an enormous concern, "We have to go immediately" she said taking a Mic. that she kept in a box and turning her wheelchair toward the elevator.
* * *
From the scarecrow echoed spasms of macabre laughter. Helena wrestled internally, trying to avoid the fear that invaded her. She walked toward him, her eyes were two thin lines, she couldn't hide the rage inside her.
"Do you wanna fight me Helena Kyle?" he laughed sarcastically "First you must talk with my friends." Several bats entered the room and rushed to her. Helena covered her face with her hands and walked back, toward a corner of the room. She had never felt frightened by those animals but in that moment the panic invaded her, she couldn't avoid it.
"They scare you girl?" the Scarecrow howled in deep laughter looking at her "Curious... very curious"
Helena tried not to forget Barbara's words. The fear was a product of some kind of substance. She remembered the smell in that moment. The smell that she had perceived when she arrived at the apartment, surely that was a drug she had inhaled.
She tried to avoid thinking and rushed into the surprised Scarecrow. They fell in the floor and began to fight and Helena threw him through the door of her apartment, the gloomy figure fell downstairs, to the bar. Helena jumped to the lower floor and got him up, suddenly, in front of her was the mythical figure of Batman. Her blood was frozen; she never imagined that him would produce that terror in her.
"No..." she mumbled opening her eyes "not you..."
Taking advantage of the moment Scarecrow kicked her and she hit her back against the bar, he punched her in the face and she went down.
"Small Helena Kyle, you are stupid" he smiled grabbing her by the lapel, his face was in front of her "I am the king of the darkness" He buried his knee in her stomach and shattered her against the exhibitor showcase of glass at the center of the bar.
Bottles, glasses, and shelves broke in pieces over her, Helena fell to the floor covering her face with her arms as a sharp pain in her left side made her press her teeth together. A fragment of glass had gotten buried in her side. She tried to take out it but was unsuccessful. She looked up, Batman was in front of her, she wanted to crawl back, but the fear paralyzed her.
"Do you want me to rescue you Helena Kyle?" he asked her "Are you afraid of me? Why? Do you know me?" Scarecrow looked at her with curiosity. The youth was frightened by bats and the figure of Batman. The gas that he had used produce fears to old memories. Why Batman? Would she have known him? Or...?
Helena tried to fight the panic, crawling back until she bumped the bar and tried to rest her side, the wound hurt her so much.
Scarecrow leaned over her "Let me look at you. Who are you girl?" he laughed "this is going to be more amusing that I ever expected... I believe that we can still have a good time just you and me... I'm going to be your worst nightmare, my girl... The worst."
Helena closed her eyes awaiting a blow, but nothing happened. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, she jump in their place.
"Calm down, It's me..." Dinah was in front of to her.
"Dinah..."
"I'm here" Dinah touched her cheek.
Helena was sweating, she looked behind Dinah "Where is he?" she asked.
"Where is who?"
"Batman..."
"Batman's not here, scarecrow tranquilized you. He wouldn't ever be here." Dinah smiled at her and she came closer to whisper, "Your father doesn't want to see you, he knows that you're guilty... Because of you, he lost his true love, he doesn't want to know you."
Helena was upset, her heart began to beat stronger, the images of that night in the street passed swiftly before there eyes. Dinah looked her with sweetness "You allowed her to die Helena, you allowed your mother to die... How can you live with that?"
"No... I .."
"Helena, you could have prevented it. I don't understand how you can live with that in your heart. You could have avoided it, and you didn't. You should have died instead of her." Dinah looked toward her wound "But you are hurt!" she took the glass with her hand and buried it a little more in her, Helena pressed her teeth together and closed her eyes she grabbed Dinah's hand .
"Leave me alone ..." she mumbled.
"No, let me finish it Helena," Dinah came near her face again.
Helena tried to grab the hand that was pushing the glass, but Dinah held her free hand "I will help you to stop blaming yourself. I'll stop your suffering... end this whole nightmare. Your mother is dead, your father will never forgive you, so why do you want to live? You are alone Helena, you don't have anybody..."
"You are not Dinah, go away...!" Helena breathed excitedly.
"Allow me finish with you Helena Kyle," The blond youth became Scarecrow, leaning over her, Helena was still resting her side and she couldn't move, slowly he began to push his weight above the wound, burying the glass more. Helena let out screams of pain.
Scarecrow whispered to her: "There won't be any more fear, you will have peace, it only will hurt just a moment."
"Bastard...!" Huntress screamed trying to endure the pain.
"Good-bye Helena Kyle..."
******
A few minutes later Dinah came closer to Barbara, she was intrigued and stopped behind her.
"Helena's asleep, Alfred's taking care of her" she told her.
"That's Alfred" Barbara forced a smile
"What did you find?"
"Did you say you saw the Scarecrow twice?
"Yes..."
"I remember an old enemy" Barbara opened a screen of the computer and began to read the information that she had found:
Dr. Jonathan Crane was a professor of Psychology at Gotham University, specializing in the 'psychology of fear. Ace had grown up there, where he was bullied for his bookishness and his gangly figure. He was granted a scholarship and became Scarecrow to get even with the bullies at school. After his dismissal from Gotham U. he killed those people responsible for his dismissal.
Crane lacked true super-powers but was especially agile and strong for his wiry frame. he was also well-versed in psychology and eventually developed sufficient expertise in chemistry to design custom hallucinogens. Crane is a normal human when stripped of his weapons and chemical.
His modus operandi was based on his own obsessions with psychology and an insulting description used by his colleagues: Jonathan Crane was known as The Scarecrow, obsessed with cruelty and fear.
"That would explain the fear..." Dinah said ".but I don't understand why and how he did it to Helena?
"I remember once. Scarecrow caused Batman to imagine that all his friends and colleagues had vanished into thin air it's a aggressive form of autophobia (fear of isolation). Losing his friends, Batman turned to an enemy. Selina Kyle, to help track down the Scarecrow. this marriage brought the two close together."
Dinah open her eyes surprised "That's true?"
"Of course, do you think that I'm joking?"
"Does he know who Helena is?" she asked.
"Yeah, somehow he knows Selena Kyle was her mother, but I don't believe that he knows she is the daughter of his arch -enemy Batman. In some occasions I faced him..."
"But she. he called you Batgirl, How does he know that if he never saw you without your mask?"
"We were talking about it a few minutes before she attacked us here, maybe in that moment he took control of Huntress"
"How he could take possession of her mind? She is too strong!" Dinah asked intrigued.
Barbara wheeled to the monitor of the right and typed quickly, the taped graphics of Huntress appeared on the screen, she showed them to Dinah "Look, these are Helena's normal brain waves" Barbara opened an alternating screen "and this is the taped graphic when you watched the change..."
"It seems like as. an interference..." "Some animals develop senses, hearing is one of them, they can hear abnormally high frequencies, unperceptible to the human hearing"
"Helena's not an animal" Dinah refuted.
"But she isn't completely human either , she is a human being with abilities and perceptions of a feline... Scarecrow is interfering with her mind using a very high frequency that only she can perceive and that blocks her own mind completely, that's why she couldn't remember anything."
"But the first time that it happened, Helena remembered it, with Reese"
"Yes, but the Scarecrow could be gauging the sign to her brain"
"If he is using her... why?"
Barbara leaned in her seat and she meditated a few seconds "Rather like a personal revenge against Selina, she helped Batman to trap him. He should be informed that Batman disappeared a long time ago, and it's impossible that he knows the connection between Selina, Batman and Helena."
"But if the Scarecrow specializes in fear why didn't he attack Helena as he used to do?" Dinah looked at Helena sleeping in the lab.
"He is attacking her, for someone that was in jail so many years, perhaps it was too easy just kill her. He's enjoying manipulating the daughter of the woman that helped Batman; it was impossible to take revenge on Selina, so he went after Helena... and in the process he found me."
"Barbara" Dinah told her "if he takes possession of her mind, in any moment he can kill her using terror as a weapon or when he discovers that we know who is he and that you drugged Helena so he couldn't use her..."
"Not if I stop Helena's brain from receiving that signal" Barbara took her wheelchair off to the lab, "I have to work on a device that blocks the signal in Helena's brain."
* * *
Helena slowly opened her eyes, she was still in the infirmary, her first though was how long had she been sleeping? She turned her head to the right and saw Barbara working at a table, illuminated with a small lamp. She tried to get up but she realized that she was tied.
"What damn.?" Helena groan.
"I'm sorry, give me a second" Barbara looked at her. Leaving a screwdriver on the table she grabbed a small object.
"Why did you tie me up?"
"It's just precaution, you had an outburst of spite about being drugged and tried to wake up a few hours ago" Barbara wheeled close to Helena "How do you feel"
"A little drowsy . Are you going to drug me again? It's awful."
"No, I don't think so. Don't move" Barbara told her, removing one of her earrings.
"What are you doing?
"We discovered what's happening, your brain waves."
"Please." Helena asked ".I'm still drugged .explain it to me in an easy way"
"Alright, someone is using a high frequency signal that only you can perceive, the signal blocks you, and he takes control of your mind, consequently you don't remember anything." Barbara placed the new earring in Helena's ear.
"Like being possessed??"
"Exactly, I taped the interference that appeared in the monitor during the last attack you had and I could find the frequency, I worked the whole night making this device that will block it"
"Who is he?"
"An old enemy, Scarecrow." Barbara kept the old earring in her pocket.
"Scarecrow? Funny name."
"But he isn't funny, he kills with fear. The most dangerous thing is that he knows that you are Selina's daughter and that I was Batgirl. I'm sure that he's connected with the murders too and."
"Barbara." Helena interrupted her "I'm really interested in this, but I'll feel better if you untie me, this is uncomfortable"
"Oh. sorry"
* * *
"That scarecrow really scares me" Dinah said to Barbara while they walked the corridors of the school "How was it fighting against him?"
"Not very pleasant and nothing advisable," Barbara responded "He employs substances that make your deepest fears grow and then uses them against you"
"It sounds terrifying"
"It is..." Barbara stopped in the door of her classroom.
"Now that he can't control Helena's mind, What do you believe is going to be the next step?"
"Well, does he know that we know who he is? Knowing his gnarled mind, his priority is to take vengeance for the past. He'll surely wait for the best opportunity to attack Helena or me, the order doesn't matter, he is going to look for us.
"I have an exam tomorrow, we're going to be studying at Gaby's house tonight."
"That's fine ... but come home early."
"Ok"
Barbara smiled as the bell announcing the beginning of classes rang and they said goodbye.
* * *
"Helena stop playing with that" Barbara entered the laboratory and wheeled herself over to Helena and took the piece out of her hands.
"What is that? It's kinda looks like a spider..."
"A very fragile sensor that is more expensive than this whole building." Barbara placed it in a box and closed it. She went to her monitor.
"Oh....!" Helena shrank her shoulders.
"Did you talk with Reese?"
"Yes, he was a little annoyed with me because of my 'disappearance '" she raised her fingers "it's difficult to give explanations... I'm not used to it."
Barbara smiled while she pressed the keys of the keyboard "It's normal that he would worried about you, he loves you"
"I know it, but it's difficult because I've never depended on anybody. mainly for our work"
"You will have to learn how to manage it, if you want your relationship to grow. Don't get scared, it's a normal process."
Helena raised her brows and moved her head "Where is Dinah?"
"She has an exam tomorrow, she's at Gabby's studying" Barbara opened a screen of her monitor and said "Why don't you go to sleep? We can wait until tomorrow to know the results of the analysis that I made from the blood of the dead man. We deserve a peaceful night"
* * *
Helena jumped across the roofs of the buildings. It was a cold night. She arrived at the bar and went up the stairs, when she went into her apartment, she perceived a strange scent, her senses became sharp and her eyes changed.
She entered without turning on the light and checked around the room. She looked at her bedroom door, which was half open, the lamp on her desk on. She opened the door slowly, her eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing. Barbara was on the floor next to the bed with a knife in her stomach in an enormous puddle of blood. Helena felt a chill go down her spine.
She opened her mouth, certain that this couldn't be happening. She had just spoken with her a few minutes ago, what happened? Barbara was breathing hard from the mouth, and moved her head when entered, Barbara looked up at her, on her face was reflected an enormous sadness.
"Helena..." she mumbled almost imperceptibly.
"Oh, God" Helena knelt down next to her, she wanted to stop the hemorrhage with her hands but the wound was too big, "Barbara Who did this to you?" her eyes began to become moist. "Was it the scarecrow? Was it him? Hold on, please, hold on" Helena looked her hands they were soaked with blood she was suddenly paralyzed, her mind returned to the past, to that terrible night when her mother had died, she again felt the pain, the cold and the hole.
Helena looked at Barbara's face, she looked lost , the same way her mother had before she died. "No!" she exclaimed " not you please, not you!" Helena hugged her strongly "Dinah!" she screamed into the Mic. "Dinah! Where are you? "
* * *
Dinah was in the kitchen reviewing her books when she heard Helena's voice, she placed her hand over her ear to listen better.
"I'm here Huntress, What's happened?" she said immediately.
:: The scarecrow attacked Barbara, she's hurt bad! ::
"What?" Dinah asked confused "What are talking about?"
::Call an ambulance please, I'm in my apartment, I can't stop the hemorrhage! "
"Are you okay?"
:: Just call the ambulance! :: Huntress screamed in anger again.
Barbara was seated in front of Dinah grading some exams from school, she stopped and looked at Dinah.
"What happened?" she asked the blond youth.
"I don't understand, Helena said that you're hurt in her apartment and wants me to call an ambulance"
"Damn!" Barbara pressed her teeth, immediately she knew that the scarecrow was with Helena "tell her that it's an illusion!" Barbara turned her wheelchair.
"Helena," the girl obeyed "It's an illusion, Barbara's with me, get out of there!"
:: Dinah, just call the ambulance! :: she listened to the furious answer of Huntress.
Dinah ran after Barbara saying, "she didn't listen to me!"
* * *
Helena went to the bathroom and she returned with a towel to place on Barbara's wound.
"Hold on, you are going to be ok"
" why if it isn't The little Helena Kyle" a voice made her turned around , the Scarecrow was stopped in front of the door looking at her, she felt a chill travel through her.
"You did it..." Helena looked at him with fury.
"Why suddenly did I lose contact with you Helena Kyle?" he smiled walking toward her "We were having a good time.... What did you do?"
"I will kill you..." she got up nailing her look in him.
:: Helena, I'm fine!! :: she heard Barbara's voice in the Mic.:: it's an illusion, get out of there! ::
Helena stopped, but she didn't understand what she had just heard. She looked again to the floor, Barbara was there, How she could she be talking to her in the Mic.?
:: Helena I'm in the clock tower:: Barbara screamed at her again in the Mic. ::The scarecrow built an illusion around you. Listen to me, this is my voice, you know it, breathe deep and calm down, I'm Barbara, I'm fine.::
Helena swallowed, her heart beat faster, she tried to be in control, suddenly Barbara's image in the floor disappeared before her eyes.
* * *
Barbara looked at Dinah with an enormous concern, "We have to go immediately" she said taking a Mic. that she kept in a box and turning her wheelchair toward the elevator.
* * *
From the scarecrow echoed spasms of macabre laughter. Helena wrestled internally, trying to avoid the fear that invaded her. She walked toward him, her eyes were two thin lines, she couldn't hide the rage inside her.
"Do you wanna fight me Helena Kyle?" he laughed sarcastically "First you must talk with my friends." Several bats entered the room and rushed to her. Helena covered her face with her hands and walked back, toward a corner of the room. She had never felt frightened by those animals but in that moment the panic invaded her, she couldn't avoid it.
"They scare you girl?" the Scarecrow howled in deep laughter looking at her "Curious... very curious"
Helena tried not to forget Barbara's words. The fear was a product of some kind of substance. She remembered the smell in that moment. The smell that she had perceived when she arrived at the apartment, surely that was a drug she had inhaled.
She tried to avoid thinking and rushed into the surprised Scarecrow. They fell in the floor and began to fight and Helena threw him through the door of her apartment, the gloomy figure fell downstairs, to the bar. Helena jumped to the lower floor and got him up, suddenly, in front of her was the mythical figure of Batman. Her blood was frozen; she never imagined that him would produce that terror in her.
"No..." she mumbled opening her eyes "not you..."
Taking advantage of the moment Scarecrow kicked her and she hit her back against the bar, he punched her in the face and she went down.
"Small Helena Kyle, you are stupid" he smiled grabbing her by the lapel, his face was in front of her "I am the king of the darkness" He buried his knee in her stomach and shattered her against the exhibitor showcase of glass at the center of the bar.
Bottles, glasses, and shelves broke in pieces over her, Helena fell to the floor covering her face with her arms as a sharp pain in her left side made her press her teeth together. A fragment of glass had gotten buried in her side. She tried to take out it but was unsuccessful. She looked up, Batman was in front of her, she wanted to crawl back, but the fear paralyzed her.
"Do you want me to rescue you Helena Kyle?" he asked her "Are you afraid of me? Why? Do you know me?" Scarecrow looked at her with curiosity. The youth was frightened by bats and the figure of Batman. The gas that he had used produce fears to old memories. Why Batman? Would she have known him? Or...?
Helena tried to fight the panic, crawling back until she bumped the bar and tried to rest her side, the wound hurt her so much.
Scarecrow leaned over her "Let me look at you. Who are you girl?" he laughed "this is going to be more amusing that I ever expected... I believe that we can still have a good time just you and me... I'm going to be your worst nightmare, my girl... The worst."
Helena closed her eyes awaiting a blow, but nothing happened. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, she jump in their place.
"Calm down, It's me..." Dinah was in front of to her.
"Dinah..."
"I'm here" Dinah touched her cheek.
Helena was sweating, she looked behind Dinah "Where is he?" she asked.
"Where is who?"
"Batman..."
"Batman's not here, scarecrow tranquilized you. He wouldn't ever be here." Dinah smiled at her and she came closer to whisper, "Your father doesn't want to see you, he knows that you're guilty... Because of you, he lost his true love, he doesn't want to know you."
Helena was upset, her heart began to beat stronger, the images of that night in the street passed swiftly before there eyes. Dinah looked her with sweetness "You allowed her to die Helena, you allowed your mother to die... How can you live with that?"
"No... I .."
"Helena, you could have prevented it. I don't understand how you can live with that in your heart. You could have avoided it, and you didn't. You should have died instead of her." Dinah looked toward her wound "But you are hurt!" she took the glass with her hand and buried it a little more in her, Helena pressed her teeth together and closed her eyes she grabbed Dinah's hand .
"Leave me alone ..." she mumbled.
"No, let me finish it Helena," Dinah came near her face again.
Helena tried to grab the hand that was pushing the glass, but Dinah held her free hand "I will help you to stop blaming yourself. I'll stop your suffering... end this whole nightmare. Your mother is dead, your father will never forgive you, so why do you want to live? You are alone Helena, you don't have anybody..."
"You are not Dinah, go away...!" Helena breathed excitedly.
"Allow me finish with you Helena Kyle," The blond youth became Scarecrow, leaning over her, Helena was still resting her side and she couldn't move, slowly he began to push his weight above the wound, burying the glass more. Helena let out screams of pain.
Scarecrow whispered to her: "There won't be any more fear, you will have peace, it only will hurt just a moment."
"Bastard...!" Huntress screamed trying to endure the pain.
"Good-bye Helena Kyle..."