Barbara was exercising in the gym; she had hung by her legs and was lifting
her torso. She loved being in excellent physical condition; not being able
to walk wasn't an impediment to do it. She had continued her escrima stick
classes and had strong arms that helped her to fight better. Every day she
improved and her teacher had told her that she was almost as good as him.
She was thinking about Helena, she had hit her very hard the poor girl. Her nightmares were very realistic and she couldn't avoid that accident. She heard her arriving home in a good mood from the movies. She heard Helena calling her and she shouted that she was at the gym. Helena entered and looked her. Barbara never ceased to surprise her; she had an incredible body; be a disabled person wasn't an obstacle for her.
"Hi Helena, How was your all day movie?" Barbara asked.
"Well... I slept until 2 PM and later we just could see one movie." Helena sat in front of her on the floor crossing her legs.
"Slept? You were up since 8 AM and you told me you will go with Gibson to the movies."
"Yes, but he took a bath. Did you know he is worse than a woman, he took so much time and I fell asleep..."
"You woke up the poor guy and then you fell asleep?" Barbara stopped doing her exercises and looked at her.
"Was his fault, not mine; he took his time taking a bath." Helena explained again cocking her head
"You are terrible." Barbara restarted her exercise
"I'm not..."
"Yes, you are." Barbara stopped her exercises again and looked her.
"Well, just a bit" Helena said with that smile that no one could resist. "Hey Barbara! Jack went to the same movie."
"Are you talking about Jack Barret?" Barbara knew that the boy was the platonic love of Helena and they never spoken to one another. "He went with you and your friends to the movies?"
Helena blushed and looked down "No, I saw him at the distance, he went with his friends."
"Maybe you should try saying 'hi' to him some day. Why don't you try again with Nathan Werther, the cutest guy in school?"
"After I spilled the lunch. all over, forget it!" the girl laughed. "How is your chair going?"
"Very well, when I'm finished with it, I will be able to manage it using a control in one of the arms of the chair. I have an idea but I need work out the details. If I can connect the responses of my neural system to the principal memory of the hard drive of the chair, I would control..."
"Time!" Helena raised her hand. "English please"
"Well, if it works I would control the chair by just thinking."
"That is cool."
"Did you eat?" Barbara pulled her chair near to got down.
"No. Well just two bags of popcorn. Is there something good in your always empty refrigerator?"
"Do you like to go out to eat pizza?"
"And we can watch another movie?" Helena's eyes shined.
Barbara smiled and sat on the chair "Ok, but if I pay for the pizza I get to choose the picture. Just let me down off of here and take a bath." Suddenly Barbara was distracted by Helena's wound over her nose.
"Something wrong?" Helena asked realizing that Barbara was looking at her in a strange way.
"Come here." Barbara wriggled a finger at her. Helena did as bidden. Barbara examined the cut she gave her last night "You have a light black ring under your eye which is normal, but your wound. is almost closed."
"I heal faster." Helena said.
"Always?"
"Yes, always."
Barbara put her hands over her knees. After a few seconds in silence she wheeled to the lab. "Follow me, I need ask you something."
"And the movies?"
"This just will take us a few minutes. I need do some tests to you."
"Tests to me? Am I sick?"
"No, I want to do a scan of your body."
They entered at the lab a few minutes later. "Please sit in that chair." Barbara pointed at a strange chair in the middle of the room.
"Wow, you got some neat toys here Barbara." Helena joked as she sat in the chair.
Barbara wheeled to the computer and pushed a button. A dome came down over Helena's head. The girl looked it surprised. Barbara put on Helena's chest and arms some cables. "It will not take more than 10 minutes."
"Why do you call yourself Oracle?" Helena asked looking at the light covering her.
"Well, one night I had a dream where I spoke to the wise Oracle who told me to become a hero once more, I made my self a 'on-line hero'. Many superheroes of the world come to me to handle the tasks too big for their own superpowers and I guess is a good name. Many of them don't know me, just my voice. And just a few people know of me and Clock Tower."
"I guess you love being a crime fighter."
"Yes. I don't work anymore with the suicide squad," Barbara tapped the information in a database "Now I free lance. It's more interesting and I'm most useful with personal computers and the Internet, it helped me as investigator and information broker."
"I see. Hey Barbara may I go party next Friday?" Helena looked the green light moving around her.
"Of course, just remember the rules." Barbara typed on her keyboard.
"I know, come back on two feet and early."
The dome was raised and Barbara pressed a button a strange machine down in front of her eyes. Helena moved her head back.
"Don't worry Hel, just don't blink. I need a scan of your eyes." Barbara turned the lights off.
"I feel like I am in a scary movie." Helena saw a red light in front of her eyes. The machine made a noise and was retired in front of her.
"Okay young lady" Barbara wheeled to her and took off the cables and the dome "Just let me take a sample blood and you can go."
"What did you do to me?" Helena looked the chair "I felt ticklish".
"I'm looking if there's any biological evidence of the abilities you say you have, and to know which percent of your neural cells are active."
"What?" Helena couldn't understand a word.
Barbara wheeled to her with a syringe "Give me your arm." Helene obeyed "You are not completely human; it means that you have some extra abilities and it's called meta human. That don't means you are a freak. I hate that word. There are people in the world, a lot of people with abilities beyond what we think of as human. I want to see how much of these abilities you have. You don't know your own limitations, if you don't know your strength that would be dangerous for you and for the others."
"Ah."
Yes your father was human and your mother meta-human, I'll figure that you are not a complete meta, but I want t know how much." Barbara took the sample of blood and cleaned her arm with a cotton swab.
"I hope that you don't try to dissect me." Helena took the cotton and bending her arm up.
"Hey that is a good idea." Barbara returned to her computers. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Now can we go?"
"Yes, yes, let's go."
* * *
Barbara was kept awake very late while taking in the analysis of the girl. She started to check page by page. The results were amazing, she took off her glasses and many ideas came to her mind. The girl was very smart; her cerebral-cortex activity was over the 40 percent of her neural cells. But it seemed that she didn't like to show her intelligence, she used it only in her own interest.
The blood sample showed her that it regenerated very fast, almost 70% over a normal human being. And her flexibility in bones gave her the abilities of a cat in human size, she could ran faster and jump high distances. She would be very fast and agile. She typed in some data and when the results appeared she took off her eyeglasses.
"God, she could jump almost as high as a ten floor building" Barbara was amazed and searched immediately for her vision and hearing results. Her hearing was sensitive, but she couldn't listen to far off sounds. And she could see perfectly at night, her pupils worked exactly as the ones of a cat. She knew she could see in dark places but not so clear.
Barbara took her chin with her hand yet surprised with the test results. She was sure that neither Selina knew that Helena would develop meta abilities at this level. She needed to do more tests on her on her taste and smell senses to know how developed they would be.
She was thinking about Helena, she had hit her very hard the poor girl. Her nightmares were very realistic and she couldn't avoid that accident. She heard her arriving home in a good mood from the movies. She heard Helena calling her and she shouted that she was at the gym. Helena entered and looked her. Barbara never ceased to surprise her; she had an incredible body; be a disabled person wasn't an obstacle for her.
"Hi Helena, How was your all day movie?" Barbara asked.
"Well... I slept until 2 PM and later we just could see one movie." Helena sat in front of her on the floor crossing her legs.
"Slept? You were up since 8 AM and you told me you will go with Gibson to the movies."
"Yes, but he took a bath. Did you know he is worse than a woman, he took so much time and I fell asleep..."
"You woke up the poor guy and then you fell asleep?" Barbara stopped doing her exercises and looked at her.
"Was his fault, not mine; he took his time taking a bath." Helena explained again cocking her head
"You are terrible." Barbara restarted her exercise
"I'm not..."
"Yes, you are." Barbara stopped her exercises again and looked her.
"Well, just a bit" Helena said with that smile that no one could resist. "Hey Barbara! Jack went to the same movie."
"Are you talking about Jack Barret?" Barbara knew that the boy was the platonic love of Helena and they never spoken to one another. "He went with you and your friends to the movies?"
Helena blushed and looked down "No, I saw him at the distance, he went with his friends."
"Maybe you should try saying 'hi' to him some day. Why don't you try again with Nathan Werther, the cutest guy in school?"
"After I spilled the lunch. all over, forget it!" the girl laughed. "How is your chair going?"
"Very well, when I'm finished with it, I will be able to manage it using a control in one of the arms of the chair. I have an idea but I need work out the details. If I can connect the responses of my neural system to the principal memory of the hard drive of the chair, I would control..."
"Time!" Helena raised her hand. "English please"
"Well, if it works I would control the chair by just thinking."
"That is cool."
"Did you eat?" Barbara pulled her chair near to got down.
"No. Well just two bags of popcorn. Is there something good in your always empty refrigerator?"
"Do you like to go out to eat pizza?"
"And we can watch another movie?" Helena's eyes shined.
Barbara smiled and sat on the chair "Ok, but if I pay for the pizza I get to choose the picture. Just let me down off of here and take a bath." Suddenly Barbara was distracted by Helena's wound over her nose.
"Something wrong?" Helena asked realizing that Barbara was looking at her in a strange way.
"Come here." Barbara wriggled a finger at her. Helena did as bidden. Barbara examined the cut she gave her last night "You have a light black ring under your eye which is normal, but your wound. is almost closed."
"I heal faster." Helena said.
"Always?"
"Yes, always."
Barbara put her hands over her knees. After a few seconds in silence she wheeled to the lab. "Follow me, I need ask you something."
"And the movies?"
"This just will take us a few minutes. I need do some tests to you."
"Tests to me? Am I sick?"
"No, I want to do a scan of your body."
They entered at the lab a few minutes later. "Please sit in that chair." Barbara pointed at a strange chair in the middle of the room.
"Wow, you got some neat toys here Barbara." Helena joked as she sat in the chair.
Barbara wheeled to the computer and pushed a button. A dome came down over Helena's head. The girl looked it surprised. Barbara put on Helena's chest and arms some cables. "It will not take more than 10 minutes."
"Why do you call yourself Oracle?" Helena asked looking at the light covering her.
"Well, one night I had a dream where I spoke to the wise Oracle who told me to become a hero once more, I made my self a 'on-line hero'. Many superheroes of the world come to me to handle the tasks too big for their own superpowers and I guess is a good name. Many of them don't know me, just my voice. And just a few people know of me and Clock Tower."
"I guess you love being a crime fighter."
"Yes. I don't work anymore with the suicide squad," Barbara tapped the information in a database "Now I free lance. It's more interesting and I'm most useful with personal computers and the Internet, it helped me as investigator and information broker."
"I see. Hey Barbara may I go party next Friday?" Helena looked the green light moving around her.
"Of course, just remember the rules." Barbara typed on her keyboard.
"I know, come back on two feet and early."
The dome was raised and Barbara pressed a button a strange machine down in front of her eyes. Helena moved her head back.
"Don't worry Hel, just don't blink. I need a scan of your eyes." Barbara turned the lights off.
"I feel like I am in a scary movie." Helena saw a red light in front of her eyes. The machine made a noise and was retired in front of her.
"Okay young lady" Barbara wheeled to her and took off the cables and the dome "Just let me take a sample blood and you can go."
"What did you do to me?" Helena looked the chair "I felt ticklish".
"I'm looking if there's any biological evidence of the abilities you say you have, and to know which percent of your neural cells are active."
"What?" Helena couldn't understand a word.
Barbara wheeled to her with a syringe "Give me your arm." Helene obeyed "You are not completely human; it means that you have some extra abilities and it's called meta human. That don't means you are a freak. I hate that word. There are people in the world, a lot of people with abilities beyond what we think of as human. I want to see how much of these abilities you have. You don't know your own limitations, if you don't know your strength that would be dangerous for you and for the others."
"Ah."
Yes your father was human and your mother meta-human, I'll figure that you are not a complete meta, but I want t know how much." Barbara took the sample of blood and cleaned her arm with a cotton swab.
"I hope that you don't try to dissect me." Helena took the cotton and bending her arm up.
"Hey that is a good idea." Barbara returned to her computers. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Now can we go?"
"Yes, yes, let's go."
* * *
Barbara was kept awake very late while taking in the analysis of the girl. She started to check page by page. The results were amazing, she took off her glasses and many ideas came to her mind. The girl was very smart; her cerebral-cortex activity was over the 40 percent of her neural cells. But it seemed that she didn't like to show her intelligence, she used it only in her own interest.
The blood sample showed her that it regenerated very fast, almost 70% over a normal human being. And her flexibility in bones gave her the abilities of a cat in human size, she could ran faster and jump high distances. She would be very fast and agile. She typed in some data and when the results appeared she took off her eyeglasses.
"God, she could jump almost as high as a ten floor building" Barbara was amazed and searched immediately for her vision and hearing results. Her hearing was sensitive, but she couldn't listen to far off sounds. And she could see perfectly at night, her pupils worked exactly as the ones of a cat. She knew she could see in dark places but not so clear.
Barbara took her chin with her hand yet surprised with the test results. She was sure that neither Selina knew that Helena would develop meta abilities at this level. She needed to do more tests on her on her taste and smell senses to know how developed they would be.