Barbara Gordon sat in quiet contemplation in the Wayne private jet that was taking her home. In front of her was the beginning of a plan for their future. It seemed that especially Helena had rather specific plans for the future mostly involving her working professionally as a superhero and going after bigger fish than drug dealers and the like.
Personally Barbara thought that both the big and small fish of the criminal world needed to be caught, but also that Helena was very right in one way. They needed to go at their calling with a much greater professionalism than they had before and all that took some rather complex and complete planning. Fortunately she had been planning and improving upon the equipment and her possibilities to help for two years now. Turbulence made the plane shake and she turned to look out over the weather patterns outside her window.
She thought back at seeing Dinah playing the cello and looking more at peace and confident than she had ever seen her in the short time she had known the girl. It certainly was a great improvement over the last time she had seen her.
Barbara Gordon woke up to complete darkness, her hands tied to her back with tight plastic strips, lying on the floor without her wheelchair to support her. Somewhere nearby was her greatest fear, he was armed and nobody except Dinah was around to stop him and she knew very well that while strong the blonde girl was not yet in the Joker's league.
Bright light flashed on and made her eyes water with pain. "Ah I see my little lame bat is enjoying her stay in the darkness. Well I am sorry I don't have time to play with you right now. You see I am kind of hoping that my new bird will sing a little for me, before I put her somewhere that will redefine… well let's just say it is something that I thought of, while I languished in prison," the Joker dressed in his slightly dusty purple suit.
Barbara tried to orient herself. She was in a bare cement room with a bricked up window and a single light in the ceiling. There were no other features but a wooden door, which was now open. She couldn't make out much more than the Joker standing in the entrance. He seemed about to leave again, and then seemed to stop lost in thought. "Why don't you join me in my attempts at making my bird sing," he suggested. "Don't go anywhere," he added and cackled before closing the door. The light stayed on.
A few minutes passed then the door was opened again and a couple of muscled men carried a chair inside. Dinah was tied tightly to the chair, her eyes hidden by a blindfold and her forehead had a very nasty looking purple looking bruise above the left eyebrow. The Joker joined them in the room; he was wearing a pair of brass knuckles. "Leave us boys," he commanded.
"Dinah," Barbara called out with great urgency.
"Barbara," the girl sounded tired and almost sleepy.
"Now my little bird let me hear you sing a song," the Joker said and punched Dinah in the stomach. She groaned. He continued punching her for a while, hammering blows in her guts, thighs and arms.
"Stop, I beg you," Barbara screamed as she heard the second audible crack coming from Dinah's arms.
"Not until she sings," the Joker whipped around and yelled at her before turning back around and grabbing Dinah's hands and taking a small hammer out of his jacket.
"Feel free to start at any time," he said and pressed Dinah's hand flat against the metal of the chair, he brought down the hammer in one swift move and was rewarded with a crack and a whimper of pain from Dinah.
"Almost there I hear," he triumphed and tossed the hammer of his shoulder. Barbara caught it in her face. She blinked away the pain and watched in horror as the Joker whipped out another instrument of torture from his jacket. She saw the scalpel glint in the light and looked away as it whipped down towards Dinah. A high pitched scream of pain echoed around the room. It continued a while and Barbara could sense movement, but she didn't dare to look.
"Boys," the Joker called out loud. The brutes from before came in. "Take that away and make sure my bird doesn't bleed to death. Harley's letter said that she has a powerful mind. It might be interesting to fiddle around with it. See what if I can't turn this little chick into my own bird of prey unlike her mentor or her fortunately departed mother," he ordered.
"Ah Barbara would you mind holding on to this for me," he asked and Barbara turned her head to look at him and his bloodied purple suit. He held the scalpel in his hand. As she saw it, he rammed it into her foot. "At least it won't do you any harm there," he said and laughed manically all the way out of the room. The door clicked shut and the light disappeared.
Time passed but she had no idea how much or little. All she was left with was her worries and the gnawing thought of that scalpel implanted in her foot. She still had hope. Maybe one of her contact or friends had noticed that she and the Huntress were missing. She forced herself not to contemplate the fate of either Helena being Batman's daughter or Dinah. The light returned.
"So my dear, have you remembered how to see with sound yet or did I bleed that bat ability out of you back then as well," the Joker asked and walked in.
"Where have you done to Dinah and Helena?" She asked, while casting a glance in the direction of her foot. Her ankle was showing and looked red and swollen. She had caught some sort of infection in the wound.
"Well the bird isn't singing right now, although we did make rather a symphony with her last night. As for the dear kitten well let's see about that. Unfortunately she is quite immobile right now there was some trouble with sledgehammers, but I guess you'll want to see for yourself. Now I can see you're not quite ready to travel yet, but my guys here will see to that," he said and had a couple of his men rush forward. Suddenly kicks and blows rained upon and brought her close unconsciousness. She was picked up and dragged through a well lit hallway out on to a factory floor. The Joker led the entourage over to a corner, where Helena awaited. Barbara winced and almost cried when she saw her former charge on the wall. The Joker had crucified the girl against the wall using thick metal spikes and somewhere along the way he had broken her legs with a thick sledgehammer that still lay just outside Helena's cage.
"I thought that since you heroes are so self-sacrificing that one of you should try and do things the biblical way," he whispered in her ear.
But he wasn't prepared for her reaction. Barbara gathered all her remaining strength and head butted the Joker as if trying to drive the bones in his nose into his sick brain. All she managed to achieve was giving the Joker a serious nosebleed.
Holding his bleeding nose the Joker growled, "Hold her down boys." He picked up the sledgehammer and walked over to her. To this day she didn't remember much than the pain of that moment and she didn't want to. Only one thing still stuck with her. The sledgehammer heading for her swung like it was a golf club, while the Joker yelled in an uncommonly nasal voice, "Fore." A cackling laughter guided her into the black void of unconsciousness.
Barbara looked back down at the notes on her computer. "I should let it go," she thought and took a sip from the coffee the steward had gotten for her, while she had been lost in her memories. Barbara forced her mind to work on the problem at hand.
"Excuse me Miss Kyle, we're about to land," the stewardess said. Helena put on the belt, while contemplating all the things she had to arrange in the coming weeks.
As she stepped off the landing plane she was met by Alfred holding open the door of the Wayne Mansion limousine. "Alfred good to see you," she said and smiled happily under her sunglasses. It seemed that Gotham, while also under the spell of winter, was blessed with blue cloudless skies and generally low temperatures.
"Good morning Miss Kyle. I hope your flight was alright," he said as she got into the car. She nodded. He walked around and got into the driver seat.
"By the way Alfred both Barbara and Dinah send their love," she said.
He smiled widely enough for Helena to see it in the reflection of the rear view mirror. "I trust they are both well," he commented in his neutral tone.
"Yeah, they are both peachy now. But you can make sure of that yourself, when they come here. I think we'll all be staying at the mansion for at least a few days, until we get settled in and properly resurrected," Helena said with a smile.
"That sounds good, by the way Miss Wayne I have an important letter from your father here," Alfred said and handed her a thick envelope. Helena took it with a sad expression. She opened the seal and read some of the contents.
"It is almost like he is saying goodbye," she said.
"I think that New Gotham has given Master Bruce too many disappointments in the past. To use his expression he has found that it is not his city like the old Gotham was. He also said to make sure you understood that it didn't mean he wouldn't be around. He will just be staying at his Metropolis residence and will be visiting you and your family ever so often," Alfred explained.
"Don't worry about getting bored all alone up in the mansion, Alfred. I would be very happy if you helped me, Barbara and Dinah like you did in the past as a friend of course," she offered.
"I will as I have agreed with Master Bruce offer my assistance to you all three as much as my duties at the mansion allow me," Alfred ensured her.
Helena stretched her legs and let the hum of the car lull her into a doze. In her mind the memories of all her years as a vigilante roiled yet it was her darkest times she remembered best. One of those was fresh in her mind after the events of these last few days.
"Cuckoo, kitten, how are you this morning?" The Joker walked up to the caged enclosure, where she had woken up tied tightly to two spikes on a wall with steel wire.
"I would like to train you now my pet, but I am going on a small shopping trip to pick up the lame she-bat and baby canary I've ordered. I'll be back later," he explained. He turned and walked a few steps then stopped and turned around. "Oh, where are my manners? I have to wave goodbye," he said, turned around and waved. The lightning device in his palm threw another thick bolt of blue electricity at her and she fell back into unconsciousness.
"Yo Huntress," someone yelled nearby and suddenly she was doused by ice cold water. She had no idea what the clock was but it was dark outside. Before her stood the Joker and a couple of his people holding Barbara and Dinah. Barbara looked merely unconscious, while Dinah was covered in white dust and had a nasty bruise on her forehead. "Look what I brought back," the Joker said with pride.
Helena spat at the insane man not caring for the consequences. "You have hurt Barbara enough and you have no fight with Dinah. Your fight is with me. I betrayed Harley, I made sure she went down and I am proud of it," she yelled.
"My dear foolish girl, my fight is with all of you. Yes, I don't appreciate what you did to Harley, but she is hardly important right now. I am not doing this out of just plain vengeance. I am doing it because it is really a lot of fun and all of you heroes deserve to learn how the world really works. Lesson number one: there is a reason the army and police likes guns," he pulled out a large gun and put it against Dinah's head.
"NO! STOP! Don't hurt her! Listen to me you bastard! I am your enemy! If you're gonna hurt anyone hurt me," she screamed in desperation.
The Joker looked at her for a moment in incomprehension slowly his lips spread in a wider and wider grin. "Ah of course, I had thought to save that for someone else, but it is just too perfect. Boys get me my spikes and a large hammer," he commanded. The goons carried Barbara and Dinah away.
Soon he walked up to Helena with three spikes and a large sledgehammer.
As he came in range she swung up her legs and tried to catch him with a powerful kick. The Joker ducked and pressed his hand against her thigh. Jolts of electricity passed through her lower body rendering her numb and stunned. "Now hold still while I am working," he added with a smile. He crossed her limp legs and held a spike against the place at her ankles where they crossed. Helena's world exploded in blinding pain. She watched through a red haze as he pulled over a box and got up next to her tied up right arm. The pain increased. He went over to her left arm and Helena nearly passed out. Through an increasingly thickening fog of pain she looked at him as he untied her.
Helena looked through wincing eyes at the Joker as he stood before her admiring his work. She spat him in his face. Shaking in anger he lifted the sledgehammer and aimed for her legs. Helena passed out.
Helena Kyle stared into her mirror image, her face was dripping with water and her eyes reflected that old pain. Then she shook her head. "I should stop living in the past. It will never happen again," she thought.
Alfred Pennyworth was feeling decidedly happy as he decked the large dining room table with plates for three. It had been a long time since anything or anyone happy had been sitting at the head end of the Wayne Manor dinner table. Tonight there would be three happy women sitting there. Outside the morning sun shone over the bare but soon to be sprouting trees and bushes and he was going to pick up Dinah in the limousine as soon as he was done.
"Alfred I can take care of this," a voice suggested. He turned to smile at a woman even he had thought dead for 2 years now. Barbara Gordon had arrived yesterday with only a little luggage explaining that she had enlisted some rather special transport for the rest of her possessions.
"I am sure, Miss Gordon, however I am almost done… There and now I am going to pick up Miss Lance," he explained and put down the last spoon to his satisfaction. "I will be off then," he remarked and headed out of the room leaving Barbara looking at the table setting. "And don't touch anything here or in the kitchen please," he called out over his shoulder before disappearing in the direction of the garage where a couple of new vehicles had joined the rather lonely looking limousine.
Dinah walked out of the terminal feeling a little violated after the very thorough security procedures she had just gone through. She had just picked up her luggage, when she noticed the elderly man standing like a black suit clad pillar complete with a bowler hat in a sea of regular travelers. She couldn't help smiling as she approached Alfred holding up a sign saying Miss Lance. "Hi Alfred," she gushed and gave the man a big hug, "it is good to see you."
"Can I take your luggage Miss Lance," he asked looking at the two big suitcases she was carrying in addition to a big cello case on her back.
She shook her head at him, "No thank you… Like I'd let you carry stuff for me as if you were some kind of servant."
Alfred gave her a strange look. "I am the Butler, Miss Lance," he explained as they headed out of the airport.
"Never to me, I will eat the food you prepare if you feel like it and I will not stand in the way of you doing any chores you see fit to do. But never expect I will see you as a simple servant," she explained with conviction.
"I never said simple," he commented and guided her to the limousine. Dinah put her baggage in the trunk and the cello case on the backseat next to her.
"So have you seen anything of Barbara and Helena lately," she asked as they headed out into the heavy traffic.
Alfred nodded. "Yes Miss Lance, both are very busy preparing for your new undertaking. I must say it was a rather good suggestion of yours to make the paperwork show that you had all been enrolled in the witness security program because of the Joker. It will make the return of your identities relatively painless," he commented.
"Well it is basically the truth in my case, so it wasn't brilliant in any way," she argued.
"I notice that you're carrying a cello. Have you taken up playing it?" The butler asked.
She looked at the case with an appreciative smile. "Yeah, I played a little before coming to New Gotham, but I didn't like it. I began again to placate a man sent to ensure I kept my cover. It grew on me though. It has become one of my outlets," she explained.
"Ah, a very good idea, much better than becoming some kind of violent vigilante fighting motivated by vengeance," Alfred commented.
Dinah looked out the window and mumbled, "I didn't say it solved all my problems or made the darkness go away." Dinah recalled where her dark dreams of pain and fear came from.
Dinah felt burning pain throughout her body as someone roughly but bandages on the thin wounds the Joker had inflicted across her legs and arms. The intense pain from the torture was mostly reduced to a throbbing by some injection yet it nauseated her to feel some of her broken bones grind against each other and the thought that the torture might continue soon filled her with more fear than she would have ever thought possible. For a long time she was only aware of her own breathing and the slowly increasing pain as the sedative wore off.
Someone began slapping her bandaged arms wracking her with pain as both her wounds and broken bones were disturbed. A voice began speaking in her ear. "It is easy little one. I've always wanted a kid and you have potential. I think I will make you my little girl," the Joker's voice disappeared again.
"Never," she managed to croak out.
"Just imagine for a moment a promising young and quite sane doctor. She was such a nice person, that everyone thought that she would be able to cure all that ailed them. Even the police believed it. And so they sent her to heal me while I was on vacation in Arkham. Do you know who she was?" He asked.
"No," she admitted.
"Harley Quinn… She was a trained psychologist, she wasn't supposed to see the truth of my vision but eventually she did and soon so will you. I will take you little bird and I will make you into a monster. In the end you'll kill your old mentor for me," he whispered and his voice seemed further and further away.
"Never," she yelled even if the exertion brought her great pain. But there was no answer but the sound of her breathing. She began crying with desperation. Not even reminding her to stay strong to hope helped anymore.
After struggling a while the big car finally rolled into its spot in front of the Wayne Mansion. Dinah, who had never seen or set foot inside, walked out of the garage to look at the building for a few moments.
"This is big," she noted, "and old too." The house looked a bit patched up in places where the big quake had damaged the structure but otherwise it looked like a really impressive building standing proudly above New Gotham.
"Dinah," Helena's voice called out and the black haired woman came running out of the mansion and lifted her into a welcoming hug. Dinah couldn't get over the transformation in Helena's nature after their run-in with the Joker. She seemed happier, responsible, and more open. Dinah struggled however to keep from making any skin contact, which she could see from Helena's quirked eyebrow hadn't gone unnoticed.
"Barbara is waiting for us inside. We have a lot to talk about," Helena said and guided Dinah inside making her forget all about carrying her cases to her room by herself.
A few minutes later Dinah was seated in Bruce Wayne's former study, which Barbara upon her arrival yesterday had converted into their operations central, while they made their final arrangements for their return to heroism. "I don't know how much time you had to read what I emailed you, Dinah," Barbara asked from behind two open laptops.
"Very little, arranging everything in Boston has been crazy, so I haven't had much time," she explained.
"Alright I will get you up to date. First of all Helena and I have come to an agreement about how we're gonna run the team this time around. We will still be going after crime here in New Gotham, but we will also be proactive in our work to bring down the men behind the crime instead of just their underlings. Helena is also going to be spending a lot of time out of the city eventually even out of the country. I hope we can agree on some kind of arrangement where you help fill in for her at times here in New Gotham," Barbara explained.
"I guess I won't be seeing much of you then," Dinah said and looked at Helena with a little regret.
"Maybe we will see how it pans out, because I definitely want a private life besides all the work. I won't however be spending any time maintaining some job or the like," Helena said.
Barbara tapped in a few sentences on a computer then continued, "I have found a really good location for our new lair. It looks like a regular suburban house on the outer edge of a suburb close to the city and more importantly the freeway and the airport. We will be based in a large former a-bomb shelter underneath the house. It was built by the government years ago, but was cemented shut as it was no longer of any use. A superhero friend of mine has secret dug out a series of tunnels leading to various locations like the old and new sewer systems, a couple of garages and other secret entrances nearby. Bruce has helped me set up the security system and countermeasures in case of an attack or break-in and the very same friend is right now bringing in the last of my equipment. I think the new lair will be ready in one or two weeks and the vehicles will arrive over the next months." Barbara looked from the bored looking Helena to the attentive Dinah.
"Who will be living at the house," Dinah asked.
"Well I will of course as it is mostly for my benefit," Barbara explained.
"I am going to live in a converted penthouse downtown. Barbara is already going wild with the changes she wants to make to it," Helena explained. Barbara grinned over the top of her laptops; her eyes had an almost childlike glee in them.
"And do you have any plans for me," Dinah asked with a guarded tone of voice.
Helena and Barbara looked at each other. "Actually we thought you were old enough to make your own decisions," Barbara answered.
"By the way did you sign and return those papers the lawyers sent you," Helena asked.
"Yes, about that I couldn't find the place in the papers where it said what money I would receive so I just signed it. I hope they were the right papers," Dinah explained.
"I was told that the amount wouldn't be listed in the papers," Helena said and handed Dinah a bank statement and some other papers.
Dinah read the bank statement then looked up at Helena in confusion, "you can't be serious. This is millions of dollars," Dinah said with alarm.
"It is what your mother left you. And you can't give it back anymore. You signed those papers remember," Helena said with a grin.
"We thought that you might want to shop for your own place to live," Barbara added with her own smile.
Dinah had tears in her eyes. "This is just too wonderful to be true," she said.
"Well yeah, while there are no strings attached to that money, there are some strings attached to working with us again. Helena and I agree that our greatest problem back in the day was lack of professionalism and secrecy. There will be no more revealing of identities, no official patrolling without something covering your face, no names given not even to loved ones and you must begin your training again," Barbara said gravely.
Dinah just leaned back in her chair and said, "I think you might be surprised at the state of my training, but I guess I will have to convince you with actions rather than words."
"Yeah, you must," Helena said.
A few hours of talking later Alfred knocked on the doorsill and said, "Excuse me, but dinner is served." The three girls went down to eat.
While at dinner, Barbara grabbed her glass, raised it and said, "Oh, I nearly forgot. Congratulation is in order for all of us, because as of midnight tonight Barbara Gordon, Helena Kyle and Dinah Lance are officially alive and well. Our identification papers and the like will be arriving tomorrow."
"Cheers," Helena said and the three looked at each before taking a drink.
"You know I just had an idea," Dinah said.
"Really, and what would that be," Helena asked.
"If we are really officially alive, why don't we celebrate by taking the pain of our loss away from a friend… like Gibson," she suggested.
Barbara and Helena looked at each other. They both nodded in agreement at nearly the exact same time. "Good idea, Dinah," Barbara said.
"Yeah, let's go… after dessert," Helena agreed.
"Oh, definitely," Dinah said and eyed the warm apple pie with whipped cream that Alfred had placed before her.
