Chapter 5: Falling

            Dinah was surprised when she saw Helena Kyle walking along the pavement looking at store windows. It was a Saturday afternoon and she was lugging her cello case home from practice. Sweating slightly the recently turned nine years old Dinah stopped in front of the black haired teen having learned over the years not to surprise either her or her mother. "Hi, Helena," she greeted the girl. Her mom and Helena's hadn't kept as much in touch with each other the last few years, but that didn't make Helena a stranger. She had always found Helena interesting, fierce, playful and nice all at the same time.

Helena swiveled around and faced her. "Hi Kid, how are things?"

"Fine, so are you out shopping or what?" Dinah had to ask.

"Nah, I was just wandering around. And what the hell is that thing you're lugging around with you," Helena asked.

"My cello, I've been to practice," she explained and noticed a boy coming up to them. He looked a lot like he knew exactly who they were. Dinah found that a little strange until Helena noticed his reflection in the store window and turned around to greet the boy. Boyfriend Dinah corrected herself as Helena proceed to give the boy a solid kiss on the mouth. She felt a bit embarrassed and decided to leave. "See ya around Helena," she said and continued towards the apartment no more than a few hundred yards up the road.

Barbara was feeling more than a little stressed out, as she sat down to repair a bit of her bat-suit. They were heading for finals season at the school, her father's was struggling with his status as soon to be pensioned police commissioner, Dinah was fighting her hard over the make-up issue and most important she and Batman was fighting harder than ever before. The war with the Joker was about to end and his entire organization would fall with him. She wanted to concentrate all her energy on that, but there just seemed to be so many things to take care off. She had hoped that after putting Lady Shiva's accidental death behind her things would change, but she couldn't help but feel stressed.

"Hi," Dinah's voice called out and Barbara had to scramble to hide her bat-suit. She still felt it was right to hide the truth from Dinah especially as it looked like the crime rates of New Gotham were about to drop like a rock.

She walked out of her bedroom and was greeted by a beaming Dinah as most often after the girl had practiced her musical gifts. Barbara sometimes envied Dinah her ability to acquire new talents, but knew that it was futile and stupid to do so. She remembered the conversation with the doctor Bruce had provided two years ago. They had spent a year visiting him from time to time before he had been able to give her any kind of answer on Dinah's abilities. His explanation had been surprising, "That girl's brain is a genetic marvel. It looks as if it is hyperactive, but that is just apart of it. Dinah's brain activity is around forty percent and climbing ever so slowly. The psychic abilities we've observed aren't really her primary ability either; they are more like symptoms of it. Dinah's gift is quite simply her brain and nervous system. It seems as if it, while basically psychic, is actually capable of regenerating neurons and optimizing paths and parts of the brain continually. This means Dinah will, as long as she is challenged, be able to expand the range of her mental talents and strengthen the ones she already has as long as the social and psychological environment around her encourages her to. It doesn't mean that her abilities have unlimited potential, but that they are potentially very broad in scope."

And Dinah had lived up to this by acquiring things like cello playing, computing and even jumping several classes ahead in school. They had her touch telepathy and precognition mostly under control. Dinah had even grown adept at hiding her abilities without coming to resent them or her.

"I met Helena on the way over," Dinah reported.

"Was Selina with her?" She asked. They hadn't been as good friends as they used to in a while now after a rather big fight over the Joker, Dinah, Helena and all the secrets between them. They saw each other from time to time, but nowadays their conversations were more superficial. The trust just wasn't there right now.

"Nah, she was waiting for some boy," Dinah explained.

"Ah, well we better get started on dinner after you and I finish our little battle," Barbara said and walked over to the dinner table.

"You're going down this time," Dinah commented with a grin and slipped into place in front of the chess game.

"Maybe, let's see if you've gotten better at defending yourself," Barbara said with a grin to one of the few chess opponents she had ever had that she found challenging.

"Checkmate," Dinah said over an hour later and leaned back to take another look at the game from afar.

"I should have given up when you plowed through my peasants," Barbara said as she tipped over her king.

"Really, I wasn't sure I'd win until you sacrificed your queen," Dinah said and looked up at her guardian. Barbara got up, while Dinah did her duty as the winner and began to put away the game. She was heading for the kitchen, when the phone rang.

Dinah ran over and grabbed it first, while Barbara calmly headed in her direction. "Gordon household, Dinah speaking," Dinah said and listened to the reply. "Yes Mr. Wayne she is right here," she replied and handed the phone to Barbara.

"Barbara, I've just gotten in. Matches picked up the last clue we needed. I know where his headquarters are. I am going to go give the police a heads-up, but we're going to hit his place tonight," he left his question unasked.

"I will be there," she said and felt a buzz unlike any other. Tonight the bastard, who had killed Robin was going down, tonight the Joker and his entire organization were going to be removed from the map of the criminal world. Every thing was ready, the police knew what places to raid and whom to arrest, the federal agencies waiting in the wings ready with charges and a secure prison for the Joker. All that was needed now was to bring it all to an end. Over 5 years of warring with that insane maniac ended tonight. She put down the phone.

"Are you going somewhere?" Dinah asked with anger in her voice that had sprung up over the last year as Dinah grew more and more aware that she often went to do things for Bruce Wayne at night.

"Bruce has asked me to help him with his company. You know he's afraid someone is going to buy it out under him," Barbara lied.

"Why does he need your help? You're a high school teacher not a financial advisor," Dinah protested.

"I am his friend Dinah that is much more important than anything else," Barbara tried to explain.

"It has been weeks since we've had a weekend night together. I really wanted to play you the piece I am learning right now, please just tonight," Dinah asked.

"No, Dinah, but I promise that this is the last night in a long while that I will go out okay. Why don't you play it to me tomorrow?" She asked. Dinah looked at her for a while then nodded almost to herself. "How about we order Chinese food?" she said as another peace offering knowing Dinah's preferences well.

It was late at night. The weather outside was stormy. Dinah Lance tossed in her sleep. In her mind she was again as so often these last years seeing a woman dressed like in a bat-suit fighting hard against dangerous people. This time it looked harder than ever before. A place was on fire. People with guns were firing. The man clad as a bat fought next to her. She cornered a white skinned man with green hair in some kind of underground office. The fire was close. He laughed insanely and lightning flew from a device in his palm. Batgirl was tossed against a support. Batman rushed in and beat the white haired man down. They had won. The image shifted.

Selina and Helena Kyle were walking from some kind of theatre. They were discussing first the movie and then boys. Helena looked really happy. They passed an alley; a man walked out and followed them hidden in the crowds. She sensed the danger. A knife appeared in some man's hand Selina and Helena Kyle continued walking unaware of the danger. Selina Kyle suddenly lurched. She tried crying out even if she could only observe. Selina fell to the ground. Helena screamed out her pain. She demanded the man's capture, but she didn't know who he was. But then Dinah felt that he didn't really know either.

The image shifted and showed Barbara showering. There was a flash of their entrance and a greater feeling of evil and danger than she had ever experienced before. There was a gun in his hands as he reached for the door bell. Dinah awoke screaming.

Quickly Dinah jumped out of bed. She couldn't hear the sound of the shower. She ran out of her room. Suddenly there was a loud metallic bang. Dinah saw Barbara fall down and a man said, "Knock, knock, who is there." He chuckled, "Batgirl, past tense."

She skidded to a stop. Dinah saw blood spread over the floor quickly and looked up. Her eyes locked with his. "Ah, the other tenant," he said and pointed his gun at her. Dinah had never felt the emotions that ran through her. Fear was quickly followed by anger then by intense hate. The entire room seemed to be shaking. It felt like her skin was tingling. The Joker squeezed the trigger.

There was a stab of pain unlike any she had ever felt. All the tingling all the energy and hate went out of control. There was a great crash and then blackness claimed her.

Jim Gordon ran into the emergency room flanked by two cops. "I need to speak with someone, who knows what has happened to Barbara Gordon and Dinah Lance," he yelled and slowly came to a stop near the admission desk.

A surprised looking nurse quickly glanced down at there charts and spotted the pair of names, both of which were listed as having gone to the trauma ER already. There was also a severe lack of important information. "I'm afraid you can't see them now. They are both currently undergoing emergency surgery," she explained.

"Listen I am Barbara Gordon's father and Dinah Lance is my daughter's charge, I would like to speak with someone who know more about their condition," he asked even knowing from experience that it would be some time before anyone would be able to tell him anything.

"Commissioner Gordon, I think I can help you," a familiar voice said. Jim turned around to find a pale and sad looking Bruce Wayne coming out of another emergency room.

"Mr. Wayne I hadn't expected to see you here," he replied.

Bruce Wayne seemed to draw himself up, but failed shake the look of sadness of his face, "I was here to identify the body of a close personal friend, when I heard about Barbara. I have called my lawyers and some other friends I swear to you Jim, she will want for nothing during her recovery. Neither will Dinah."

Jim Gordon knew his daughter was a friend of Bruce Wayne, but he hadn't expected the fierce look in the playboy's eyes as he spoke off his daughter. One of his policemen walked up and whispered in his ear, "The Joker was caught with a gun not far from your daughter's home. He claims that he shot her and some child."

"The Joker," Jim yelled with anger and almost stormed out to find the maniac in his cell and give him a lesson with a large crowbar.

Bruce Wayne, who had been half turned talking in his cell phone, snapped around and stared at him for a while. The playboy seemed to deflate further. "Who is Jim Gordon," a friendly but weary voice asked.

"That would be me," he turned to face a man probably a doctor by the look of him.

"I am Dr. Otto. I was your daughter's trauma surgeon," the doctor said.

"How is she?" He had to ask worry gnawing at his innards.

"Barbara is strong, but she lost a lot of blood. Thankfully she was brought in before bleeding out. The bullet entered below her ribs and lacerated her liver. I have patched that up and I think that it should be fine. It exited however through her spinal column. It shattered a vertebra and cut the neural pathways. I am not a qualified neurosurgeon, but at the moment I think there is little chance of your daughter ever walking again. Now I would suggest that if her health insurance covers it that you get some specialists to look at her injury soon," the doctor explained.

Bruce Wayne didn't waste any time he dialed a number on his phone. "Hello, Lucius I need you to set up an appointment tomorrow with me. I also need you to put people on getting a friend of mine the best medical care my money can buy understood." He slammed the phone shut not bothering to wait for a reply.

"What about Dinah," Jim asked looking down at the doctor.

"Now I wasn't Dinah Lance's surgeon, but I have talked to my colleague Doctor Yang about her. Dinah was shot through her right lung. The bullet shattered a bone, penetrated the lung and embedded parts of it self in the back of her lung. She bled out into her lung and very nearly suffocated. All fragments of the bullet were removed from her chest cavity and if she survives the post-operation stage and her stay at the ICU then she should be fine in a few months hopefully with two functional lungs," he explained.

"That heartless bastard," Jim cursed thinking of the Joker, "Why would he do that to two completely innocent people. What is he trying to do?" Jim felt his legs shake and tears poured down his cheeks. A hand landed on his shoulder.

"Come with me for a moment Jim," Bruce Wayne suggested and he followed the billionaire out onto a stairwell.

"The Joker wasn't trying to do anything to you. Selina, Barbara and Dinah were all part of his revenge on me. He was doing it to me," Bruce explained and his voice cracked slightly.

"Why would he do something to you?" Jim asked.

"Because I was Batman," Bruce said.

"You," Jim said and looked the man up and down with surprise.

"It is not important anymore. What is important now is that we help those we can help like Barbara and Dinah," Bruce Wayne explained.

Barbara Gordon felt strange almost as if she was floating. She was surrounded by weird sounds and there was some kind of tube in her nose. Her mouth tasted like she had just been a binge of drinking the night before. She opened her eyes and saw only a strange blur of colors. She blinked a few times, but the image of the hospital room remained blurred at the edges. She remembered the Joker, the gun, blinding pain, falling down, hearing Dinah screaming, fear and then a second shot.

Her eyes widened and she tried to move. Above her the monitor showed her heart frequency rising wildly. A nurse came running. "Miss Gordon, please relax. You're safe. The man who shot you has been caught. Please Miss Gordon you'll hurt yourself," the nurse said and several more nurses came running.

Finally she had enough motor control to slur, "What happened. What happened to Dinah?" She forced herself to stop moving, not having noticed that her legs hadn't moved during the entire ordeal.

The nurses looked at each other. "I'm afraid, we haven't been informed," the nurse explained, but Barbara wasn't sure that she had been telling the truth.

A few hours later she was still lying in a half stupor in her bed. She was fuming with anger. None of the nurses were telling her what she wanted to know. They wouldn't discuss what had happened to her and they claimed not to know what was going on with Dinah either. There was a knock on the door. She turned over her head to see her father walk in looking uncomfortable just like when he was carrying bad news to some cop's relatives. "Hey you," she said.

"Hi honey," he answered and walked over to stand next to her bed and all the expensive looking equipment that surrounded her. "So how are you feeling?" he asked.

"Like I was shot in the gut," she said. He nodded. "Dad, no one will tell me what has happened."

For the first time in a long while Jim Gordon looked deeply uncomfortable and not just a little tired. Emotions swirled in his eyes for a moment then he spoke, "Barbara you were shot by the Joker. You've been here undergoing surgery for nearly two days now. The bullet only nicked your liver and all your major organs are fine. But it exited through your spine."

Barbara stared down at her arms and fingers, but knew that they were fine already. She tried hard to move her legs, but nothing happened. She looked up at her father in desperation. Images of her walking, of her hiking with Dinah, of dancing, of her jumping from roof to roof with Batman, Robin and Nightwing screamed through her mind. She just leaned back with tears flowing. "I am so sorry," her father said and took her hand.

They sat like that for a while, when Barbara finally found the voice to whisper, "What about Dinah?"

Jim Gordon looked up at her and said, "As far as we can tell she interrupted the Joker before he could shoot you again. He shot her instead."

Barbara gasped and a pale hand rushed up to cover her mouth. "Please, please, tell me that he didn't kill her," she begged.

"He didn't. But she is badly hurt Barbara. She was shot in the right lung, it collapsed and a few of her ribs were damaged. She lost a huge amount of blood. The doctors have done everything they can to keep her stable, but her heart stopped once last night. They got her back, but it is touch and go according to the hordes of doctors Bruce Wayne has provided for you both," he explained.

"Bruce," Barbara said and was reminded that she could never go out with him again. Never go out to do her calling and stop those who nobody else could stop.

"He is taking it very hard. Another friend of his was killed by one of the Joker's remaining hirelings. I think he is blaming himself for all of you," Jim said. Barbara nodded knowing very well that it would be the case.

It was late night, but Barbara couldn't sleep. She had been moved to a general ward a few days ago. Soon they would be bringing her a wheelchair and expecting her to go out and live even when reduced to a cripple. Still that fact didn't occupy her mind as much as Dinah, who was still in ICU. They were afraid that she had slipped into a coma after her heart had stopped and Barbara felt increasingly helpless for every hour that passed. She still depended on Jim updating her, not being able to see her child ate at her. She had contemplated Dinah and her status in her life. She was thinking all the time how Selina had been right. Her crusade had nearly killed both her and Dinah. It could still kill Dinah in fact.

A cold breeze suddenly blew through the room. She turned her head and saw a dark cloaked figure standing barely discernable in the shadows. She recognized her mentor and friend, but didn't say anything leaving them to just stare at each other. "Barbara, I am sorry," he said yet stayed in the shadow.

"Sorry, why?" She asked.

"The Joker did this to punish me. It was his revenge that put you here. His revenge that cost you your legs," he explained.

Barbara in a sudden insight realized that she had risked ending up here or worse everyday she had gone out. "It is nobody's fault but his. I knew what I was risking. I am still alive. I can still change the world for the better although I can't run to do it," she said.

Batman stood in silence for a while then said, "Then I will make sure you can do that." He turned and left through the window again.

Barbara Gordon had trouble controlling her wheelchair as she wrangled with the small joystick on the chair. Still she didn't have time to waste thinking about it. She was out of her hospital room and on her way to see the only person she had wanted to see for nearly two weeks now. She rolled into the ICU waiting room, where her father was waiting for her. "Barbara," he said in greeting and rose to tower above her. "Let's go see Dinah," he suggested.

The nurse let them into the girl's room. It seemed her father had brought a few stuffed toys and lain then around the girl on her bed. It looked almost as if she was sleeping, but the many tubes and the machine destroyed the image. "She has been showing signs of increasing reactivity," a black man probably one of the specialists that Bruce had gotten flown in from all over the country reported.

"I heard," she said and stretched out her hand, "Barbara Gordon, I am Dinah's legal guardian."

"Marlon, I have been treating your charge ever since she was completely stabilized. I specialize in pediatric nursing especially of critical and long term patients," he explained.

"Oh, then maybe you can tell me a bit about what has been done for Dinah. I've been kept away from her," she said without hiding her bitterness. The male nurse indicated that they should step outside and they did. well she rolled.

"Ah, well, they operated on her lung twice to remove all bullet fragments and stop the bleeding. During the second operation Dinah's heart stopped and they had to resuscitate her. After the last operation there have been only a few complications mostly with some drugs. After the first couple of days Dinah was diagnosed as being in a state of coma. It has lasted for over a week now, however these last two days Dinah has been showing increasing awareness of her surroundings and there is a very good chance that she might wake up soon," he explained after closing the door to her room.

"I would like to sit with her for a while," Barbara asked.

"That would be a good idea, but try to keep your conversation positive. Often coma patients are aware of their surroundings," he said as Barbara headed back inside.

Barbara caressed Dinah's hand, not noticing that the EEG on the monitor began growing wildly reaching inhuman levels of brain activity that hadn't previously been seen by the ICU staff. Suddenly Barbara was drawn in to a black and white version of their apartment. Barbara found herself standing in her living room. "This has to be either my or Dinah's mind," she realized.

Barbara turned and saw the entrance. Her body was laying there, the Joker was standing there, and blood was hanging in the air as if in a frozen moment in time. Shuddering slightly she methodically searched the bathroom and kitchen; cast a glance out onto her balcony before heading towards Dinah's room. She found the door locked. "Dinah, unlock your door," she called out.

There was a noise of someone running up to the door then stopping. "No, the bad man is going to hurt me if I unlock it," Dinah's voice said.

"Dinah, he won't hurt us anymore. He is gone for good okay. Just unlock the door and let me in, so we can talk," she suggested. The lock clicked open admitting her to Dinah's room. The blonde girl stood there with a scared look. Barbara collected Dinah in a loving hug that she had so missed giving her.

"Dinah, we need to leave this place. We need to go out in the world," Barbara said.

"No, Barbara, please, the world is too dangerous. I'm afraid," Dinah said.

"Dinah you're afraid, because you don't think you're safe. Nobody is ever entirely safe. Not me, not you, not anybody who is alone. But if we stick together, protect each other then we can go out into the world safe from the darkness. Won't you trust me to protect you, if I trust you to protect me?" Barbara suggested.

"But I couldn't stop him from shooting you," Dinah protested.

"Shh, it's okay. You couldn't stop him. I couldn't stop him. But somebody else did. It is all about having protectors Dinah. We're both alive and that is what matters. But you won't be really alive unless you leave here with me," Barbara said.

"Alright," Dinah said and suddenly they found themselves back in the hospital room with Marlon rapidly running in to check the EEG.

"Something is up with her brainwaves they are all over the place," he commented and bent down to check the sensor.

Barbara just looked at Dinah and found the girl's eyes fluttering open. "Hi, honey," she said.

"Hi, mom," Dinah answered and Barbara felt that little stab that always came when she realized that she wasn't really. That had to change along with a lot of other things.