A Hero's Death

Disclaimer: not mine, never were, yada, yada

By the way: this is a prequel to my story, A Hero's Memorial, so I hope you enjoy

It was pouring down rain that fateful night, Helena was on vacation with Reese and Dinah was at Gabby's, no one had thought that there would be any crime this night. The crime rate had decreased after Harley Quinzell had been taken down, Helena and Dinah hardly had a job to do anymore.

Suddenly the Delphi went off, Barbara jumped out of her seat, life was much easier for her once she fixed her Neural Transponder. Barbara quickly looked at the location of the place with the intruder and then rushed downstairs to the hummer.

In the car she dialed Gabby's number.Helena and Dinah still didn't trust the Transponder enough to feel comfortable with her fighting alone. Gabby's mom answered the phone and told her that the girls were out for pizza and that she would tell Dinah she called.

Barbara smiled to herself, this was good, she was finally going to get to prove to Dinah and Helena that she didn't need a babysitter while fighting crime, that she could do it on her own. Barbara pulled up in front of a storage warehouse near the docks. Barbara frowned, this was the warehouse where she was supplied with the technology she used in the Delphi, most people didn't know about all the technological parts stored in this place. Only someone who had experience in using technology to his or her benefit in a not so legal way would be robbing this place.

Barbara snuck inside the warehouse and hid behind some boxes, creeping along side them as she watched a young woman creep around the warehouse. The woman had medium length dark brown hair, and pale skin; Barbara couldn't see who she was from her position. Barbara was about to move when she saw a man come into the room.

"Thought you could run did you?" he asked the girl, both people completely oblivious to Barbara.

"How did you find out where I was?" she asked.

"You left a credit card trail a mile long my dear, anyone could have found you," the man answered pulling out a gun, "but now you will run no more."

The girl turned around and Barbara got a glimpse of her face, a face she recognized but couldn't place. The girl glared, "you can't kill me, I'm too valuable."

"You are nothing, you couldn't even take over New Gotham like planned, you are worthless to me, you're not even a real criminal," the man argued, "now be prepared to die."

Suddenly the man started moving, Barbara held her breath it was only a matter of minutes before the man had his back to her, she would have a direct shot at him. When she was sure he wouldn't expect it, Barbara stood up and hit him hard in the back with her Escrima sticks. The man gasped before falling to the ground, the girl rushed up and hit him with a box of computer equipment.

"Thank you," she said, "you just saved my life."

"It's what I do," Barbara said, "Now do you want to tell me what just happened here, who are you? Who is he?"

"That's the man I used to work for, but I'm clean now I swear, I was just looking for something to sell so I could get away," the girl said. Barbara stared deep into the girl's eyes and knew she was lying but before she could do anything.

Suddenly Barbara was grabbed from behind, "hello, you must be Oracle," the man who had gotten up said, "prepare to die birdie, and but first prepare to watch me finish her off once and for all."

Barbara gasped as the man squeezed her neck in a deathly grip; it was like everything was moving in slow motion. She saw the man point his gun at the girl, she saw her own arm moving to stop him, and then.CRASH.

Barbara scrambled off the floor trying to get her and the girl out of the warehouse before the man got up from where he was currently on the ground surrounded by boxes. But it was too late, the man jumped up and pointed the gun at Barbara and shot her in the heart.

Barbara gazed at the girl she had been trying to save as she fell to the ground dying. As Barbara hit the floor she suddenly realized why those eyes looked so familiar, they were the eyes of Harley Quinzel. The last thing Barbara heard as her eyes closed forever was the sound of Harley Quinzel laughing at her death, and shooting the other man dead.

Dinah rushed into the warehouse, she hoped she wasn't too late, she ran around boxes as quick as she could to see who was there, to see if Barbara was alright.

"NOOOOO," Dinah screamed seeing her mentor lying on the floor covered in blood.

"It's amazing what plastic surgery will do isn't it?" Harley gloated from across the room by the back exit, "see you soon, bye bye little birdie."

Dinah barely even heard her; too wrapped up in Barbara. Dinah took a deep breath and called Alfred on the cell phone that Helena had bought her two months earlier. Dinah sat down and stared blankly at Barbara's dead body, she knew that things were never going to be the same again.