CHAPTER 4

Helena was roaming the refrigerator looking for something to eat. "Man, Barbara needs to learn how to food shop, and do it more often." Helena closed the refrigerator door. "How about I contact Jesse and ask him to bring something to eat with him!" Helena called out to Dinah.

"That's fine!" Dinah replied.

Helena was about to pick up the phone when she heard Danielle's voice come over the communicator. "Barbara! Helena! Do either of you read me!"

Helena ran onto the platform and up to the Barbara's workstation. Dinah ran to join her on the metal platform. Helena was franticly looking for the right button to push. "How the hell do I respond!"

"Move out of the way! I've watched Barbara do this a hundred times!" With a push of a few buttons, she got the communicator up and working. "Go ahead!"

"Danielle, this is Helena! What's up!"

"Helena, thank god! I need you here pronto! A brawl has broken out in my bar, and I need your help to stop it!"

"I'm on my way, Danielle!" Helena replied.

"Wait a minute, you remember what Barbara said, no leaving the clock tower tonight."

"That's because she's not here to work at her station, but you are. You take her place! You've watched everything has done. You should have no problem!"

"Are you kidding me? I've never done this before! I've only watched over her shoulder."

"Hey, how hard can it be?" Helena grinned. "Stay here, and be my guide. Danielle needs my help, and I'm going to help her."

* * * *

Barbara and Richard were sitting at the table, having just finished their meals and were waiting for their desserts. "Isn't it wonderful just to get away from the pressures of your job?" Richard smiled.

"I must admit, it feels extremely good to get away from it!" Barbara nodded.

"You are obsessed in your work. Why do you do that to yourself?"

Barbara sighed. This was not something she wanted to talk about. "I was hurt recently. Someone I cared for deeply was murdered, and I suppose I am afraid to open myself up to that hurt again."

"I am sorry to hear about your loss, but I'm glad to see you opening up once again."

"If you hadn't return to New Gotham, I would not have come out of the clock tower for who knows how long. So tell me Richard, how does it feel to come out of retirement and become Nightwing once again?"

Richard shrugged. "The thrill of it is something I missed, but that quickly goes away when my bones begin to ache. I'm getting too old to keep this going for so long."

"With a device I made, I can walk, but at a terrible risk of destroying my backbone. Anyway, I've returned to being Batgirl a few times, but I have been everything but effective. I do miss the life terribly."

"That's why you've trained Helena to take your place?"

"Yes, however the anger she has in her still needs to be worked on."

"I've sensed the anger in her, but I don't think her anger is all that bad. Bruce used his anger of his parents death as a child and became Batman. As Batman, that anger made him as good as was. I think Helena's anger is doing the same for her, like it did for her father."

"I'm not sure. I never had any sort of anger to turn me into Batgirl."

"Well, your father was not Batman. Like father, like daughter."

Barbara chuckled. "If you say that in front of Helena, she'll tear your heart out."

"Probably," Richard laughed. "Anyway, It's the anger that makes her the Huntress. I have a feeling if she looses that anger, her desire to be the Huntress will diminish and the desire to fit among the average people will grow. If that happens while she is stuck in the clock tower because of being wanted by the police, it will drive her mad."

"I'll keep that in mind."

* * * *

Helena arrived to the Dark Horse bar to see two men tearing the place apart. Danielle was taking cover behind her bar. When she saw Helena arrived she waved at her to come to her. Helena had to dodge a few flying objects to reach Danielle safely. "Wow, this is a brawl! I have never seen anything like this when this was still No Man's Land!"

"You see those two gentlemen in the center of it all?" Danielle pointed to two bulky men who fighting with the other meta-men.

"They're the ones to instigate this? There is something strange about them. They seem to be super strong, more so than you average male? I wasn't going to deal with them without your help."

"Well, then, let's kick some ass."

Danielle leaped over the bar and joined Helena as they pushed threw the other people to get to the two hefty man. Helena approached one of them who had his back towards her. She tapped him in the shoulder. He turned around swinging but she caught his arm with both hands and kick him across the face with her left foot. The man stumbled backwards a few feet. Her hands were sore after catching that man's arm in all his strength. Indeed, this man had some unusual strength in him. The man looked at her with fire in his eyes. He grabbed one of the men that was near by and picked him up horizontally over his head.

Helena was in awe over his strength. She had never seen such strength before. "Take this!" he said as he threw the man at her. She put her hands in front of her it was successful for stopping the man and causing him any harm, but the impact sent her stumbling backwards and crashing into the bar.

Danielle went after the other guy as Helena began her fight with her designated thug. Unfortunately for her, Danielle's guy saw her coming. "This is my bar, damn it! You can't come in here and start trouble!"

"And how are ya' gonna stop me, little girl?" the man grinned as he approached her. Danielle turns around to her left and as she was about to spin fully around, she stuck out her right foot and kicked the man across the face. That had busted his lip open, but that was all. "Ya gonna pay!"

Not giving him any time to retaliate, she kicked him in the knee cap and he screamed in pain. She then kicked upward, kicking him under the chin sending him flying onto his back.

Danielle rubbed her back as she stood up straight again. The man she was fighting was storming towards her. She noticed a green patch on his right shoulder blade, just under his shoulder. "So you want to play rough with me? Come on, show me what you got big boy!" Helena smiled at him.

Helena jumped up onto the bar behind her and the flipped over the man. He watcher her flip over his head, but failed to notice as she did so, she had reached down and ripped the patch off of his shoulder. He turned around to face Helena who was now behind him just in time to receive the flat of her foot into his gut and then the lower part of her right palm up into his face. He fell backwards, banging his head on the bar on the way down, knocking him out cold.

Danielle went over the second thug whom she had flattened him on his back. She looked down to see if he was conscious. He suddenly grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her off her feet. Danielle fell onto her back as he leaped up onto his feet. He picked her up, horizontally, over her head.

Helena looked to her left to see the second brawler having Danielle over his head. She ran to try to save her but he had thrown her before Helena could get to him. He threw her over the bar, and Danielle crashed into the line of alcohol bottles. Helena intercepted the second person before he could reach Danielle. Helena ripped the green patch off of his arm and tripped him onto his back. Helena found a pool cue on the floor. She kicked it up into her hands. The man tried to get up, but Helena slapped him across the face with the cue, knocking him out cold.

"Who says history doesn't repeat itself."

The rumble had come to and end as people were picking themselves up and dusting each other off. Helena jumped over the bar to check on Danielle. She was sitting up, holding on to her ribs. "Blast it! That's twice my bar has been thrashed!"

"This time, I had nothing to do with it," Helena said. "Come on, you can clean up later. Let's get to the clock tower and get you patched up."