Alfred was waiting for them when they arrived. He helped Dinah carry Helena into the med lab where they laid her down on the table. Barbara wheeled toward a table and grabbed a pair of scissors. "Help me get these clothes off her. All this dark clothing, I can't tell where her wounds are." Barbara wheeled back toward the unconscious brunette.

Dinah helped her mentor cut Helena's clothes off while Alfred sterilized the surgical equipment.

"Dear God," Barbara gasped as she looked at the five bloody bullet wounds that were scattered throughout Helena's body.

"They took out three of the bullets already," Dinah said as she pointed to the wounds. "The one in her shoulder, the one near her hip and that one closest to her knee."

Barbara shook her head. "Friggin' barbarians. They probably did more damage just ripping them out like that." She inspected the wounds and could see the torn tissue. Helena was going to have a lot of healing to do, meta or no meta.

Dinah flinched each time Barbara pulled out a bloody bullet and dropped it onto the metal tray beside her. The sound seemed obnoxiously loud as she envisioned the spent bullets being pulled from Helena's body.

"That's the last one," Barbara said as she wiped the sweat from her brow with her arm. "The scan's not showing any others so we need to get those wounds cleaned and stitched up."

Alfred came over to Barbara's side and assisted her in cleaning Helena's wounds. He poured saline solution onto the bloody holes in Helena's thigh, immediately turning the clear solution red as it mixed with her blood.

Dinah watched the blood flow over Helena's leg, onto the table and splash onto the floor. She swallowed hard and tried to fight the dizziness that came over her, but she lost that battle as her eyes rolled up in her head and she fainted onto the floor.

"Dinah!" Barbara gasped.

Alfred peeked over at the fallen girl. "She's alright, let her be. Miss Helena needs our attention right now."

***

They'd worked on Helena for most of the night. Barbara stayed by her side after they moved her to her room. The brunette was in the grip of fever all night. It wasn't until the morning when it lowered a bit. Who ever had done this to her was a insane psycho. The bullets were small enough to penetrate but not kill her with a single shot. Five gunshot wounds was pushing it close. A sixth may have killed her for sure. Barbara shuddered at the thought.

Helena began to stir around 9:30am and Barbara was ready to keep her injured friend from getting out of the bed. She knew her all too well.

Helena blinked herself awake and immediately sighed as the pain presented itself. Her body was on fire and throbbed with pain. "Shit," she swore as she gritted her teeth.

Barbara held her hand, shaking her head as she saw Helena try to sit up. "Easy, no getting up," Barbara said softly as she put her hand to her friend's forehead. "You've got a high fever, some of the wounds are infected. That place was dirty and by the looks of some of your wounds they weren't real concerned with removing those bullets the right way."

Helena didn't answer. The fever and the pain kept her silent. And silence was something Helena usually didn't know the meaning of.

Barbara looked at her, feeling her own heart aching as she watched the pained look on her face. "I've given you as much medication as I can. I wish I..."

"It's fine," Helena mumbled, I'm fine

Barbara didn't believe her, it was obvious that the pain was intense. Being shot five times, manhandled, and having bullets ripped from your body couldn't feel very good.

"Dinah?" Helena whispered in a soft, barely audible voice.

"I sent her to school. I was hoping it would keep her mind off of what happened last night."

Helena shifted in the bed, grunting as even the slightest movement sent waves of pain thundering through her body. She closed her eyes.

"Do you remember what happened before you were shot?" Barbara asked.

Preparing to speak, Helena took a deep breath. "Ambushed at the mill. Too many of them. Thought I could handle it, but they didn't fight clean "

Barbara put her hand on Helena's arm, rubbing it as she spoke.

"Someone drugged me. I fell, they overwhelmed me. One of them, a big guy took me somewhere. Put a hood over my head, tied my hands up." She took another deep breath and let it out slowly. "I tried to call you but they had ripped off my necklace. The tall guy told me that I had an opportunity to live if I ran. The drugs...confused me. Before I could say something they started to shoot so I ran. They kept shooting, I kept running" Helena struggled to stay awake and finish her story, but her eyelids grew heavier by the second. There were so manythey were everywhere..and

Barbara patted Helena's arm. "That's enough for now. Rest. We can talk later."

"It hurt so bad." A single tear rolled down Helena's cheek.

Barbara fought back her own tears as she wiped Helena's tear away. "Sleep. Let it go for now."

I triedto call you Helena mumbled before drifted off to sleep.

Barbara brushed the hair away from Helena's face as she let her own tears flow.

***

Helena slept for most of the day and Barbara never left her side.

Alfred entered the room with a tray full of food. "Miss Barbara, you must eat something," he insisted as he set the tray down on the small table next to the bed. "I shall sit with Miss Helena in your absence."

Barbara checked Helena's temperature again, almost ignoring what Alfred was saying. "Her fever finally broke about an hour ago. I just want to be sure it stays that way."

"Honestly, if I was able to take care of Master Bruce I am surely able to take care of his daughter. Now eat or I shall have to force feed you myself."

"I'm sorry, Alfred. I don't mean to imply that you're not capable of taking care of her," Barbara whispered to him as he sat next to her. "I'm just...I'm afraid to leave her. I've never seen her this hurt before." She could feel the tears beginning to swell up again in her eyes and she did all she could to hold them back.

Alfred patted her hand. "I understand. This isn't an easy line of work and one hopes and prays that situations such as this never occur." The old man chuckled a bit. "I'll be honest, Miss Helena's condition scared the dickens out of me as well."

Barbara smiled, thankful for Alfred's comforting words.

Helena groaned as she began to wake up and Barbara was right there by her side.

"Where am I?" Helena asked with a confused look.

"You're at the Clocktower. Here, drink this," Barbara said as she helped Helena drink a glass of water.

Helena took a few sips, thankful for the cool liquid that soothed her dry throat. "I feel like hell."

"No offense but you look like hell." Barbara smiled, hoping to lighten the mood.

"I need to sit up," Helena muttered through a groan of pain as she began to sit up.

Barbara wanted to protest but Helena had already gotten herself up. "Here," she said as she stacked up the pillows behind Helena, "lie back."

Helena eased herself back down and let out a long sigh.

"It's probably best that you not lie flat any longer anyway. I don't want your lungs filling up with fluid." Helena watched Barbara snap into medical mode as she checked her vitals. "I need to clean your wounds and change the bandages. You woke up at the perfect time," Barbara said sarcastically.

"Lucky me."

"Miss Helena, it's nice to see you looking better. Would you like something to eat?"

"No thanks, Alfred. I'm not real hungry. Maybe a little later?"

"Very well. I'll be in the kitchen should either of you need anything."

"Thanks, Alfred," Barbara said as she dug into a bag full of bandages, antiseptics and various other medical supplies. "How's the pain?" she asked Helena who was rubbing the sore spots on her side.

"Not as bad, but it's still got a good bite to it."

"I'll give you some more meds after we get these wounds cleaned."

Awkward silence hung in the air as Barbara cleaned and redressed the wound in Helena's shoulder.

When Barbara moved to the wounds in Helena's thigh, Helena shattered the silence. "I lost track of how many times they got me."

"Five," Barbara said flatly as she grimaced a bit at the two wounds. The skin was black and blue, swollen and bloody. The black stitches that held the delicate skin together made them look even more severe.

Barbara poured antiseptic on the wounds and Helena yelped out in pain. "Shit!! That fuckin' burns!"

Barbara tried to keep Helena's hands away from the wound. "Sorry, but I have to keep them free of more infection. The one above your knee was full of dirt and grime when we got you back here. The tissue inside is torn up pretty bad. You're gonna have to stay off your feet for a while and give it enough time to heal properly. If not, then plan on having a limp for the rest of your life and say good-bye to jumping from rooftop to rooftop without any pain."

Helena looked away from Barbara as she digested the words and felt anger brewing inside her.

Barbara finished up with the wounds on her thigh and moved to the ones on her left side. She poured antiseptic onto the wounds and watched as Helena leaned her head back, biting on her bottom lip as the burning pain seared through her senses. "Almost done."

"I'm gonna kill that son-of-a-bitch."

"Get in line," Barbara responded as she dabbed at the wound by Helena's ribcage. "The bullet took a good-size chip out of your bottom rib. Took a while to get all the fragments out of you." Barbara pressed her fingers around the wounded area.

"Ow!!! What the fuck?!?" Helena yelled. "That hurts! Don't!"

"Sorry," Barbara said honestly as she put a gauze pad over the wound and taped it in place. "We'll have to check and change the dressing again in a few hours."

Helena sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly.

"Get some more rest. I'll come by in another hour to check on you." Barbara smiled slightly and began to wheel herself out of the room.

"Barbara?"

Barbara stopped and turned back around to face Helena.

"Thank you."

Barbara smiled. "I'm glad you're okay. Now get some rest."

Helena watched Barbara leave the room and after a few minutes she heard a slight knock at the door. Looking up, she saw Dinah.

"Want another visitor?"

"Come on in, kid."

Dinah walked into the room and sat down in the chair by the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit, but thanks for asking."

There was a long pause as Dinah tried to think of what to say. She always felt a distance between her and Helena whenever they were alone together. It felt awkward.

"So where'd that sick bastard go? Did we lock him up so I can have a few cracks at him when I'm able to get out of this bed?"

Dinah lowered her head for a moment before raising it. "I don't know where he is. I went back there this morning and they were gone."

"What? You let them get away?!?"

"You were bleeding all over the place. I needed to help you!"

Helena sighed in frustration as she leaned back into the pillows, shaking her head.

"If I didn't get you out of there you'd be dead right now." Dinah stood up, tears filling her eyes.

"I...I guess I'm just...I want to kill the bastard before he does this to someone else."

Dinah could see the pain in Helena's face. "I want to get him as much as you. Seeing you like that scared me. I don't EVER want to go through that again. I feel...responsible."

Helena's brow creased. "What? Why?"

Dinah wiped the tears from her eyes. "I was one step behind the whole way. I found the blood and I couldn't find you. When I did find you, I watched what they did to you. I didn't know what to do. Maybe if..."

"Don't! This isn't your fault. You did what you could. Don't blame yourself. If anything, steer your anger towards that prick that did this and help me find him. I'm useless at the moment so you need to help me." Helena looked towards the door to make sure Barbara wasn't coming. "We need to keep this between me and you, Barbara doesn't need to know."

"But she'll have both of our heads if..."

"If we tell her we'll have to do everything by-the-book and it'll take forever to catch him. If we do this on our own we have a better chance at finding him and stopping him before he...kills someone." The words hit home for Helena as she thought about how close she'd come to death.

"Okay. What do you want me to do?"

"When you're out on sweeps, ask around to see if there's a buzz going around. Talk to Peter who's the bouncer at Cue. He's cool and is really good with giving reliable info. Tell him what happened to me and I'm sure he'll offer up whatever he can. Then talk to Zen. He's a homeless dude who is usually over on 11th. He's got a carriage with him that has a black Led Zeppelin flag on the side of it. You can tell him I sent you. He's another good source of info."

"Got it."

"We'll see how that goes and if nothing pans out then we'll try a couple of other sources. But let's try these first. Hopefully this dickhead hasn't run too far underground."

Dinah could see that Helena's pain had intensified, judging by the look on her face. "You want me to get Barbara to give you some more pain killers?"

"Nah. I'll tough it out. I want to keep a clear mind."

"Alright. I'm heading out on sweeps in a little while. I'll check in to see if you're awake when I come back."

"I probably will be. I'm all sleeped out."

"I'll see you later then."

"Be careful."

"I will."

Dinah left the room and Helena sighed with frustration. She wanted to get out of bed and help Dinah track that bastard down, but she thought back to what Barbara had told her about her leg. Still, Helena was determined.

Painfully, she sat up and waited for the pain to lighten up. Swinging her legs over, she placed her feet on the floor and immediately felt the deep throbbing flare up in her thigh. Rubbing the sore spots, she slowly stood up, closing her eyes against the pain and dizziness that enveloped her.

When the dizziness cleared and the pain let up, Helena took a small step forward, swallowing hard against the new dose of pain cause from the movement. She took another step and found herself crashing to the floor.

Her body was consumed with pain and there was no way she was getting up without help, and help was in the form of Barbara wheeling into the room like a madwoman.

"Helena!" she gasped as she saw her friend writhing in pain on the floor. "Alfred!"

Alfred ran into the room to help Barbara get Helena back into bed. "Stubborn little girl. You're just like your father," he said as he scooped the injured girl into his arms and placed her gently back into bed.

"I'm...I'm fine," Helena tried to insist as she grunted and groaned through the pain.

"You're NOT fine, dammit! Stay in this damn bed and DON'T move!" Barbara checked the wounds and found some of stitching had been torn. "Alfred, can you get my suture kit."

"No more needles, come on," Helena pleaded.

"There wouldn't have to be if you'd just listened to me for once!" Barbara shook her head in anger.

Alfred returned with the kit and a small vile and needle. "I think you'll need this as well."

Barbara looked at Alfred and nodded. "I'm afraid so." She took the needle and filled it with the contents of the vile.

Alfred grabbed Helena's arm and held it down.

Barbara quickly tapped on Helena's vein and plunged the needle into her skin, emptying the needle.

"No!" Helena protested as she began to thrash about.

"I'm sorry, Helena. It's the only way I can get you to stay put."

When the needle was empty, she withdrew it from her vein and watched the drug take effect. Helena's eyes began to blink as she tried to remain conscious.

"You...bitch," Helena whispered before drifting off to sleep.

Barbara felt the word sting, but she brushed it off and focused on the task at hand - stitching Helena's wounds back up.