Huntress filled her bag with the diamonds from a security box. This was a
good night. She put her tools inside as well, closed the security box,
secured her bag and jumped into the air conditioner duct. Soon she was on
the rooftop and walked to the edge. That building was high and she needed
to use a rope make it down. She secured the rope around her waist in a
belt.
"Hey you, don't move" a security guard shouted. He took out his radio and called for backup.
Huntress didn't think, she just jumped. The guard shoot at her. She tried to go down as faster as possible listening to a rain of bullets hit around her. She swung to avoid being hurt. The security guard ran where the rope was tied and shoot the knot with his gun breaking the rope. Huntress felt the robe brake and fell down, she turned in the air and landed on her feet, fortunately she was just 4 floors from the sidewalk.
As soon as she put her feet on the floor. Another shoot passed next to her left leg. Two police men were pointing at her. They had heard the call of the security guard. She jumped into a large flower pot for covered. The lights in the garden and the alarms turned on.
"Shit." she mumbled. Her heartbeat increased, she tried to think what to do, now she was in a big trouble. She didn't have time, she stood up and run to the fence, the bullets crashed next to her feet. She jumped over the fence and ran into the street. Two cars exited from the back entrance of the casino and followed her. She needed a building to jump up and ran away but that casino was just surrounded by gardens. The buildings were a bit farther away. Had she ever been in a situation like this one? How would she know it? She wished she could remember what she had done in a moment like that one.
Suddenly she saw a police car coming towards her at high speed, to her right was a brick wall, she ran as fast as she could, but the police car was too close. A police officer took out his gun and shoot at her before she could jump the wall, she turned around violently and fell downwards on the grass.
The two other police men stopped the police car a few meters from her and ran with their guns pointing at her. She was not moving. One of them kicked her lightly in her leg but she didn't move. The police officer closest to her checked for a pulse.
"Did I get her." He said to his partner. Suddenly she turned and hit him with her fist, taking his pistol as well. Before his partner could react she was over him and kicked him twice. She ran to the brick wall and jumped over it.
She landed on her feet and ran as fast as she could to the nearest building. She was safe.
* * *
Dinah could feel how sad Barbara was. She had heard her crying in the night. She just said a few words, but their meals were otherwise silent with her mind lost in her thoughts. The blonde felt all the weight on her shoulders looking for Huntress. She had been looking for her in the streets, asking around downtown, but she couldn't find a trace of her. She didn't have the experience that she needed in the crime-fighting job for getting information from the streets.
Barbara and the brunette had a special connection, their personalities were opposites, but they had grown together, and her own tragedy had created between them the ties that bind. She felt helpless that she couldn't make Barbara feel better.
"Hi Dinah." She never heard her mentor come in.
"Hey Barbara, How do you feel?."
"Not well, but I need to keep working." She stopped her wheelchair next to her in the cornice of the balcony.
The blond girl lowered her head "Barbara, I'm sorry."
"Why"
"I'm not being much help. I never could be like her. I'm trying, but I can't."
"Be like who?"
"Helena."
"Wait a minute Dinah, what are you talking about?" Barbara was surprised.
"I try and try" Dinah said almost crying and hugged her arms about herself, "But I can't be like her, I'm sorry. If I were lost she surely would find me. but I can't find her."
"Dinah, you can't be like her, you must not be like her" Barbara realized in that moment that she had been so beside herself that she had forgotten about Dinah's feelings as well. The loss of Helena hurt her too. "I don't want you to be her. I want you to be yourself. And you are doing your best. We're all doing everything we possibly can to bring her back, and we will bring her back."
"I'm just feeling so bad, I miss her."
"I know, I know, but we will find her, I promise you."
The Delphi alarm sounded; Barbara and Dinah went inside. Dinah was the first one in front of the computer, the red head arriving a few seconds after.
"A police report.another robbery, and guess what it was. A security box in a casino." Dinah explained. "Diamonds."
"It's the fourth casino in less than a week." Barbara watched the screen. "Another clean one, security systems, guards, cameras, is nothing working?"
"No, the police reported a woman this time, she escaped."
"I have my suspicions Dinah." Barbara put on her eyeglasses.
"Suspicions?"
"The robberies. I have a feeling about them. "
"What suspicions?"
Barbara kept silence, she turned to face her. "Do you trust in Jean-Paul?"
"Why?"
"I have a bad feeling about him."
"That's the something Huntress told me about...That she felt her senses heighten every time he was near her and she couldn't avoid it."
"That's what you Huntress said?"
"Yes."
"I guess that it would be good for you to follow him." Barbara put her fingers on the bridge of her nose. She felt really tired.
"Okay, I promise. Why don't you go rest? You haven't been sleeping well the last few days."
"Yes, I think you are right" she yawned. "I need a little sleep."
* * *
Huntress stepped into the kitchen, she threw the bag with diamonds on the table and took off her mask. She took a glass of water and sat in a chair. She looked at the mask, she really hated that thing, she had all her face and hair covered in sweat.
"Hey what happen?" Jean-Paul asked walking in.
"I felt like a fucking rabbit being hunting by dogs."
"Why?"
"Police. A security guard saw me and called all the damn department." Huntress took a towel and cleaned her face. "stupid mask."
"The diamonds?" Jean-Paul felt worried.
"The diamonds are here!" Huntress glared at him and opened the bag in the table "But I'm okay, don't worry, the guys almost shot me but I could ran fast enough to avoid them, thanks for asking."
"Dear, you always find an open door to escape." He looked the diamonds and smiled.
"What are we going to do with all these money? Why are you keeping it?"
"Oh, sorry, I forgot, you forget it all. We are going to take control of this city and we need buy equipment and people to do it."
"And when will be that?"
"Be patient my friend, be patient."
"Exactly which kind of team we are?" Huntress crossed her arms in the table "I do all the jobs and you just sit back and enjoy? This is how it works? I don't like it so much."
"Its not time for a moment of rebelliousness, avoid trying to be smart with me, okay?" he pointed at her "I'm trying to help you because you don't remember shit! I can't give you all the responsibility of this until your memory back, so, I have enough problems trying to help you, I don't have time for your stubborn comments. Better shut up, or else all right?"
Huntress bit her lip angry. He was right but she hated receiving orders, and she was tired of being a kind of puppet until that moment. She needed to be patient.
"All right?" he shouted.
"All right. " she said in bad mood standing up and walking to her room to take a bath. "Night."
"Night Kyle." He looked at her go. He sighed with relief, he had to be careful. At any moment that girl could be out of control, but now he needed to keep her in calm. He needed her before she recovered her memory to finish his new plan.
* * *
Barbara was in her room she rested her head on the pillow. It was soft, very soft. Maybe she wouldn't sleep but would rest her back a while. Much time had passed since Helena had disappeared, she had never been gone so many days. Barbara felt dishearten, she was afraid that she was dead. And deeply afraid that she wouldn't be able to tell Dinah. Her mind wondered back again to that day, after Helena ran when she discovered her tattoo.
* * *
Barbara wheeled to the balcony looking for her, but the place was empty, it was alone. She had spotted her running there.
Helena sat up near the top of the clock. She followed Barbara with her gaze in the silence. The red head wheeled to the corner. It as impossible, Helena couldn't jump so high. She kept still for a few seconds watching the lights of the city.
"Why don't you come down so we can talk?" Barbara asked suddenly.
"I'm okay here." Helena said in her place, resting her jaw on her knees, she hugged her legs with her arms.
Barbara turned her wheelchair and raised her head to look at her. "I'm not mad at you because of your tattoo."
"Not true."
"I was mad because you don't trust me. You lie to me every time you have an opportunity. This is hard for me too Helena, it isn't easy. you lost your mother I lost my legs."
"Could you stop talking about her please?" Helena replied with angry voice.
"Okay, what do you want to talk about?"
"Nothing."
"Are you unhappy living with me?"
Helena didn't answer, she continued watching the city, her gaze lost in the night. "I'm sorry. I try to do my best but I'm not good at it, I don't know what to do or what to say to a teen such as yourself. You are younger and surely expected more from me. I understand, I know that its hard to live with some one who can't walk, a disabled person such as myself."
Barbara lowered her head. "The people usually see us as a nuisance or useless because we can't do all the things that you could do. I can't blame you if you think that way, you are younger and need someone with more possibilities than me."
Barbara paused and swallowed, she looked at her legs with sadness and passed one of her hands over them, she moved her hand back and forth slowly. She wished she could feel something but it was impossible.
"A simple thing like going to bed or to the bathroom is a big effort for us." She added with low voice and smiled to her self remembering her first days in the wheelchair. "It cost me a lot, but finally I learned. I can't run, I can't jump. I know that you loved going on walks with Selina and that can I never do it..." Barbara's eyes were moist, she saw a pair of black shoes in front of her; she raised her head. Helena's blue eyes were shining in the night, she looked at her deeply.
"I don't think that you are a nuisance." the girl said softly "I don't think that you're useless. You are amazing, really. Don't despise your self because of me, I'm not worth it. I'm sorry If I make you feel so bad."
"Helena, you worth a lot, don't say that!"
"I don't know what to feel, I don't know what to do. Many days I wake up feeling mad with my self. I run every day from myself, from my feelings, from my anger. and I can't find an exit. I can't find peace in any place. Barbara, it isn't you, it's me. I don't know what to do with myself, with my anger."
"Let me help you."
Helena stepped back. "I can't."
"Do you trust me?."
Helena avoided her look and nodded lightly.
"So let me help you, let me in." Barbara asked taking her hand.
"I can't" she whispered.
"Just let me in Hel."
"Sorry, I can't." Helena pulled her hand softly away and walked to the door.
"Why can't you? Tell me."
Helena stopped and bit her lip trying not cry.
"Please Hel, tell me"
"Because I don't want to love anyone else!" Helena didn't turn, her eyes were fixed on the floor "I don't want to lose other person; I don't want to feel this pain again... If I don't love, I don't feel." Helena walked back inside the Clock Tower. Barbara didn't know what to say, she just watched her disappear behind the door.
* * *
Barbara turned on her side and put her hand under the pillow. Those years had been difficult, but she never regretted it. She never regretted the moments that she had discovered Helena and her self. Helena was an important part of her life, she could never imagine when she accepted to be her mentor that the brunette would be so important for her.
"Hey you, don't move" a security guard shouted. He took out his radio and called for backup.
Huntress didn't think, she just jumped. The guard shoot at her. She tried to go down as faster as possible listening to a rain of bullets hit around her. She swung to avoid being hurt. The security guard ran where the rope was tied and shoot the knot with his gun breaking the rope. Huntress felt the robe brake and fell down, she turned in the air and landed on her feet, fortunately she was just 4 floors from the sidewalk.
As soon as she put her feet on the floor. Another shoot passed next to her left leg. Two police men were pointing at her. They had heard the call of the security guard. She jumped into a large flower pot for covered. The lights in the garden and the alarms turned on.
"Shit." she mumbled. Her heartbeat increased, she tried to think what to do, now she was in a big trouble. She didn't have time, she stood up and run to the fence, the bullets crashed next to her feet. She jumped over the fence and ran into the street. Two cars exited from the back entrance of the casino and followed her. She needed a building to jump up and ran away but that casino was just surrounded by gardens. The buildings were a bit farther away. Had she ever been in a situation like this one? How would she know it? She wished she could remember what she had done in a moment like that one.
Suddenly she saw a police car coming towards her at high speed, to her right was a brick wall, she ran as fast as she could, but the police car was too close. A police officer took out his gun and shoot at her before she could jump the wall, she turned around violently and fell downwards on the grass.
The two other police men stopped the police car a few meters from her and ran with their guns pointing at her. She was not moving. One of them kicked her lightly in her leg but she didn't move. The police officer closest to her checked for a pulse.
"Did I get her." He said to his partner. Suddenly she turned and hit him with her fist, taking his pistol as well. Before his partner could react she was over him and kicked him twice. She ran to the brick wall and jumped over it.
She landed on her feet and ran as fast as she could to the nearest building. She was safe.
* * *
Dinah could feel how sad Barbara was. She had heard her crying in the night. She just said a few words, but their meals were otherwise silent with her mind lost in her thoughts. The blonde felt all the weight on her shoulders looking for Huntress. She had been looking for her in the streets, asking around downtown, but she couldn't find a trace of her. She didn't have the experience that she needed in the crime-fighting job for getting information from the streets.
Barbara and the brunette had a special connection, their personalities were opposites, but they had grown together, and her own tragedy had created between them the ties that bind. She felt helpless that she couldn't make Barbara feel better.
"Hi Dinah." She never heard her mentor come in.
"Hey Barbara, How do you feel?."
"Not well, but I need to keep working." She stopped her wheelchair next to her in the cornice of the balcony.
The blond girl lowered her head "Barbara, I'm sorry."
"Why"
"I'm not being much help. I never could be like her. I'm trying, but I can't."
"Be like who?"
"Helena."
"Wait a minute Dinah, what are you talking about?" Barbara was surprised.
"I try and try" Dinah said almost crying and hugged her arms about herself, "But I can't be like her, I'm sorry. If I were lost she surely would find me. but I can't find her."
"Dinah, you can't be like her, you must not be like her" Barbara realized in that moment that she had been so beside herself that she had forgotten about Dinah's feelings as well. The loss of Helena hurt her too. "I don't want you to be her. I want you to be yourself. And you are doing your best. We're all doing everything we possibly can to bring her back, and we will bring her back."
"I'm just feeling so bad, I miss her."
"I know, I know, but we will find her, I promise you."
The Delphi alarm sounded; Barbara and Dinah went inside. Dinah was the first one in front of the computer, the red head arriving a few seconds after.
"A police report.another robbery, and guess what it was. A security box in a casino." Dinah explained. "Diamonds."
"It's the fourth casino in less than a week." Barbara watched the screen. "Another clean one, security systems, guards, cameras, is nothing working?"
"No, the police reported a woman this time, she escaped."
"I have my suspicions Dinah." Barbara put on her eyeglasses.
"Suspicions?"
"The robberies. I have a feeling about them. "
"What suspicions?"
Barbara kept silence, she turned to face her. "Do you trust in Jean-Paul?"
"Why?"
"I have a bad feeling about him."
"That's the something Huntress told me about...That she felt her senses heighten every time he was near her and she couldn't avoid it."
"That's what you Huntress said?"
"Yes."
"I guess that it would be good for you to follow him." Barbara put her fingers on the bridge of her nose. She felt really tired.
"Okay, I promise. Why don't you go rest? You haven't been sleeping well the last few days."
"Yes, I think you are right" she yawned. "I need a little sleep."
* * *
Huntress stepped into the kitchen, she threw the bag with diamonds on the table and took off her mask. She took a glass of water and sat in a chair. She looked at the mask, she really hated that thing, she had all her face and hair covered in sweat.
"Hey what happen?" Jean-Paul asked walking in.
"I felt like a fucking rabbit being hunting by dogs."
"Why?"
"Police. A security guard saw me and called all the damn department." Huntress took a towel and cleaned her face. "stupid mask."
"The diamonds?" Jean-Paul felt worried.
"The diamonds are here!" Huntress glared at him and opened the bag in the table "But I'm okay, don't worry, the guys almost shot me but I could ran fast enough to avoid them, thanks for asking."
"Dear, you always find an open door to escape." He looked the diamonds and smiled.
"What are we going to do with all these money? Why are you keeping it?"
"Oh, sorry, I forgot, you forget it all. We are going to take control of this city and we need buy equipment and people to do it."
"And when will be that?"
"Be patient my friend, be patient."
"Exactly which kind of team we are?" Huntress crossed her arms in the table "I do all the jobs and you just sit back and enjoy? This is how it works? I don't like it so much."
"Its not time for a moment of rebelliousness, avoid trying to be smart with me, okay?" he pointed at her "I'm trying to help you because you don't remember shit! I can't give you all the responsibility of this until your memory back, so, I have enough problems trying to help you, I don't have time for your stubborn comments. Better shut up, or else all right?"
Huntress bit her lip angry. He was right but she hated receiving orders, and she was tired of being a kind of puppet until that moment. She needed to be patient.
"All right?" he shouted.
"All right. " she said in bad mood standing up and walking to her room to take a bath. "Night."
"Night Kyle." He looked at her go. He sighed with relief, he had to be careful. At any moment that girl could be out of control, but now he needed to keep her in calm. He needed her before she recovered her memory to finish his new plan.
* * *
Barbara was in her room she rested her head on the pillow. It was soft, very soft. Maybe she wouldn't sleep but would rest her back a while. Much time had passed since Helena had disappeared, she had never been gone so many days. Barbara felt dishearten, she was afraid that she was dead. And deeply afraid that she wouldn't be able to tell Dinah. Her mind wondered back again to that day, after Helena ran when she discovered her tattoo.
* * *
Barbara wheeled to the balcony looking for her, but the place was empty, it was alone. She had spotted her running there.
Helena sat up near the top of the clock. She followed Barbara with her gaze in the silence. The red head wheeled to the corner. It as impossible, Helena couldn't jump so high. She kept still for a few seconds watching the lights of the city.
"Why don't you come down so we can talk?" Barbara asked suddenly.
"I'm okay here." Helena said in her place, resting her jaw on her knees, she hugged her legs with her arms.
Barbara turned her wheelchair and raised her head to look at her. "I'm not mad at you because of your tattoo."
"Not true."
"I was mad because you don't trust me. You lie to me every time you have an opportunity. This is hard for me too Helena, it isn't easy. you lost your mother I lost my legs."
"Could you stop talking about her please?" Helena replied with angry voice.
"Okay, what do you want to talk about?"
"Nothing."
"Are you unhappy living with me?"
Helena didn't answer, she continued watching the city, her gaze lost in the night. "I'm sorry. I try to do my best but I'm not good at it, I don't know what to do or what to say to a teen such as yourself. You are younger and surely expected more from me. I understand, I know that its hard to live with some one who can't walk, a disabled person such as myself."
Barbara lowered her head. "The people usually see us as a nuisance or useless because we can't do all the things that you could do. I can't blame you if you think that way, you are younger and need someone with more possibilities than me."
Barbara paused and swallowed, she looked at her legs with sadness and passed one of her hands over them, she moved her hand back and forth slowly. She wished she could feel something but it was impossible.
"A simple thing like going to bed or to the bathroom is a big effort for us." She added with low voice and smiled to her self remembering her first days in the wheelchair. "It cost me a lot, but finally I learned. I can't run, I can't jump. I know that you loved going on walks with Selina and that can I never do it..." Barbara's eyes were moist, she saw a pair of black shoes in front of her; she raised her head. Helena's blue eyes were shining in the night, she looked at her deeply.
"I don't think that you are a nuisance." the girl said softly "I don't think that you're useless. You are amazing, really. Don't despise your self because of me, I'm not worth it. I'm sorry If I make you feel so bad."
"Helena, you worth a lot, don't say that!"
"I don't know what to feel, I don't know what to do. Many days I wake up feeling mad with my self. I run every day from myself, from my feelings, from my anger. and I can't find an exit. I can't find peace in any place. Barbara, it isn't you, it's me. I don't know what to do with myself, with my anger."
"Let me help you."
Helena stepped back. "I can't."
"Do you trust me?."
Helena avoided her look and nodded lightly.
"So let me help you, let me in." Barbara asked taking her hand.
"I can't" she whispered.
"Just let me in Hel."
"Sorry, I can't." Helena pulled her hand softly away and walked to the door.
"Why can't you? Tell me."
Helena stopped and bit her lip trying not cry.
"Please Hel, tell me"
"Because I don't want to love anyone else!" Helena didn't turn, her eyes were fixed on the floor "I don't want to lose other person; I don't want to feel this pain again... If I don't love, I don't feel." Helena walked back inside the Clock Tower. Barbara didn't know what to say, she just watched her disappear behind the door.
* * *
Barbara turned on her side and put her hand under the pillow. Those years had been difficult, but she never regretted it. She never regretted the moments that she had discovered Helena and her self. Helena was an important part of her life, she could never imagine when she accepted to be her mentor that the brunette would be so important for her.