Chapter 22: Dreams of Fire

            The voice coming from up at the blackboard kept droning on about the sonnet they had been given as homework for the day. She mostly blocked it out, just listening enough to know, where they were. She tried to keep a keen and interested look on her face, while her thoughts wandered.

She thought about the imminent party this weekend. Gabby had been invited and had extended that invite to her. Usually she wasn't one for parties, but this was advertised as the most important social event of the semester. She really wanted to go and do something irresponsible for one. But even with it being on a Saturday and even with all her abilities there was no chance of her getting permission from her mother for any kind of party, where there would be no grown ups present.

If she mentioned it, her mother would know within the hour that it was a party arranged not only by Anna a well known party girl, but also by her much older college going brother, which also meant there was a good chance of alcohol at the party and general mayhem on top of it. That would mean no permission, which would mean an increased social leper status in school and in her mind made her blend even less in with the crowd and lowered the chance getting those friends that her mom kept saying she should have.

She cast a glance over at Gabby, who looked decidedly like she was dozing with eyes half open. She wished she could do that, but she wanted to keep her grades in this subject up even if it held very little interest to her. Looking at her friend an idea popped into her head and a wide smile spread on her lips for a moment.

The bell rang and everyone got up some looking more like they had just woken up than others. Dinah quickly packed her books and notes into her bag, making sure that no messages had gone in on her cell, before heading over to Gabby, who was stifling a yawn, while packing a book into her cute little bag. "Hi, Gabby, I've been thinking about that party," she said and began walking with the girl as they headed out of class.

"And," Gabby replied slowly getting more attentive.

"I don't think my mom will let me go… if I tell her that is. However there is no way of getting away from home after dark, so I've been scheming. How about we arrange some kind of sleep over and cover it up as some kind of study, shopping and bonding thing. My mom could go for that. We could shop madly during the day and party in the evening, head home to your place, sleep and I could show up at home with my mom none the wiser," she suggested.

Gabby gave her a look. That look showed up every once in a while, when she mentioned her mom or her home a lot. "Your mom needs to lighten up her security routine, Dinah. Seriously I've known you for one and a half years. I am considered by everyone including myself your best friend and I don't even know where you live. I know that some really bad stuff happened in your lives that you won't tell me about. But it is in the past, she is ruining your childhood," Gabby explained.

She couldn't do anything else in public than agree with her friend, but she understood her mother's need for secrecy even if it constantly made her life difficult. "I know, but I can't change it alright. Now about my idea, what do you think?" She asked.

"Sure, it won't be a problem. My mom likes having you around. She seems to think you're a good influence on me. Good thing, she doesn't which one of us is really the genius, who plans all our outrageous stunts," Gabby said.

"Hey, I might plan some of them. Those I think would be cool to participate in. But the ideas are entirely from someone else," she replied and lifted an eyebrow.

Gabby grinned and they continued down the hall. "Why don't we head over to my mom's classroom and ask her right away," she suggested. Gabby agreed.

As they approached the classroom, Dinah almost missed the sound of a guy's voice coming from inside. Gabby was once again arguing that Dinah really should go for more black skirts and stuff to offset her tendency towards flowery or white blouses. She had been preparing to present her usual case for the all-roundedness of denim like the tight pants she was wearing at that moment, but instead she put a finger to her lips and pressed a hand against Gabby's chest making her stop. "Listen," she whispered.

"Yeah, okay," her mom replied to something said by the deep male voice. Gabby swung in behind her and stood looking around the corridor like they were doing something illegal and she had to keep a look out.

"Could we do that over coffee?" He asked with a nervous undertone in his voice.

Dinah could hear her mom laughing. It sounded like she also was a bit nervous too. "Um, are you asking me on a date?" Her mom asked. Dinah couldn't help wincing, Helena was right her mom needed to date more.

"If I say yes, um… would that get you to come?" He replied.

"It might," her mom added coyly. Dinah reconsidered, her mom might actually be playing this guy just right by not seeming too secure of herself.

"Well, then, yes, it is coffee, or dinner you name it," he replied.

"That sounds, um… great," her mom answered. Dinah grinned a little and noticed Gabby doing the same. It was funny seeing or in this case hearing adults during romantic events such as these. They seemed so much like the teens she saw everyday.

Then somehow Gabby decided to sneeze. The classroom fell silent. Dinah felt a lot like running away rather than being caught snooping by her mom and her potential new boyfriend, but before she could, the head of a blonde man popped out the door and gave them a look that was somewhere between curiosity and annoyance. "What are you two doing?" He asked.

Rather than starting off on the wrong foot, Dinah took the only way out that came to mind. "I came to see my mom," she explained only to realize what she had just revealed to her mom's potential boyfriend. She hoped she had ruined too much, although the twin raised eyebrows and the short flicker of his eyes back inside towards her mom, told her that he was at least thinking about why her mom had a teenage daughter.

"Dinah, is that you?" Her mom called out, while the man went back inside. Dinah and Gabby walked in too. Dinah hoped that Gabby like her was trying like her to look as innocent as possible.

"Yeah, me and Gabby were just talking and had an idea, but I wanted to ask you, before it went any further," she asked, reminding herself to cast one or two questioning glances towards the guy to make it seem like she wondered who he was.

"Oh, Dinah, this is Wade Brixton. Wade, this is Dinah. Wade is a new teacher here," her mom explained.

"Hi, Mr. Brixton," she and Gabby parroted.

"I'm sorry, this is Gabby, Dinah's best friend," her mom said, "What did you want to ask?"

"Well, I don't have anything special planned for the weekend, neither did Gabby, so we thought to ask if it was okay to have a sleepover at Gabby's from Saturday till Sunday," she explained.

Her mom thought for a moment, probably going over their appointments and agreements in her head. "I don't think it'll be a problem. Doesn't your mom mind having Dinah over so often?" Her mom commented.

"Nah, Dinah doesn't make much of a mess and she is so polite that I usually have to spend a couple of days after she been over to remind my mom that I don't have an English teacher as an adoptive mom," Gabby replied.

Dinah glanced at her wristwatch. "We have to go, I have an honors class in math to go to," she explained and turned towards the door with Gabby in tow.

"See ya tonight," her mom called out. Dinah inwardly winced, while calling out her assent. It was one of the many barriers that lay between her mom and her. Barriers that they had both built over the years from compromises, deceit and time spent apart. She wasn't allowed more than mere glimpses of her mom and Helena in action, while her mom didn't get to spend more than a few minutes with her every day. It had been like that for two years now and it ate at her conscience and at their relationship. Hadn't it been for her good memory, she wouldn't have remembered that there had been times of honesty and openness in their life together.

They were a good distance from the classroom, when Gabby said, "I think you are in for a new person in your life."

"I don't mind. My mom is usually so caught up in work and stuff. Having some guy wanting her to be with him might make her lighten up a bit," she agreed. Still a voice inside her head told her that her mom wasn't about to invite some stranger into their lives. Wade Brixton might not know it yet, but he was soon to have his entire private life examined by the Oracle and then there were the entire can of worms that was her mom's emotional state, which not even she knew the depth of.

"She definitely needs to do that," Gabby agreed, before they split up heading to different classes.

"Are you ready," Gabby called out to her through the bathroom door. Dinah looked into the mirror one more time. Her long blonde hair had been carefully set. She had put on a subtle layer of make-up and her nail polish had dried a while ago. She had just put on the final touch. The clothes, which she had just spent a month's allowance on including a tight black skirt and a beautiful top, looked nice on her and the high heeled boots perfected the outfit.

"Yeah," she answered and walked outside. She noticed Gabby looking her over twice and blinking as if she was surprised by her look. Dinah quickly cast a glance in the mirror and the only fault she could find was the hints of muscles apparent all over her body. Sometimes when she dressed up or did something girly Gabby reacted like she just had, staring and being speechless for a short while. She had thought at least that her best friend would reckon that she could be more than academic Dinah or athletic Dinah for that matter.

"Grab your jacket, we need to go," Gabby reminded her. She took the short jacket off the fold-out bed that she wasn't planning on using until much later and followed the curly blonde out of her room.

Gabby's parents lived in an inner city apartment building just on the outskirts of what could be the beginning of the bad neighborhoods of New Gotham. According to Gabby it was because it was the cheapest four-bedroom apartment that her family could find, when they moved to New Gotham years ago. "We're leaving, see ya," she called out into the living room, where Gabby's parents and her little brother were watching a movie.

"Have fun and remember to stay safe," Gabby's mom reminded them after she walked up to them as they were going out the front door.

"Yeah, we will," Gabby agreed and lifted her purse back onto her shoulder after getting her car keys out.

"And be back before midnight," Gabby's mom called out to them.

"Sure," Gabby mumbled, but yelled back, "We'll remember mom." They walked out onto the empty streets, where Gabby's car was temporarily parked. Dinah not for the first time recently wished she had her own car. She was a brilliant driver already, thanks to the tutelage of not only Helena but her mom and Alfred as well, but she didn't have the time for a job like Gabby and so she couldn't afford a car.

They drove up the small road that led up to the mansion, where Anna lived. "Damn, I know, her parents are loaded, but this is ridiculous," Gabby commented. They had to stop a good distance from the house as cars were parked everywhere and Gabby obviously didn't want to block the way for cars that were only dropping off people by parking in the single open lane, so instead she rolled to a stop on the grass next to a SUV.

"Makes you wonder, why her parents are sending her to New Gotham High," Dinah commented as they got out of the car.

"Yeah… Okay, final check," Gabby said and they gave each other the final once over before they went inside.

Dinah's throat felt sore. She had been afraid that going to a party when she hardly knew anyone, had the potential for a disaster, but it seemed that it had been an unmitigated success instead. She had talked with so many girls that her voice was raw from yelling above the music. She was pretty sure most of them had been from Anne's brother's college crowd instead of her high school, because she hadn't known half of them and they had discussed other things than who looked hot and what kind of music they liked.

She looked around and spied a punch bowl that hadn't been emptied yet. Dinah walked over and poured some into a glass. She took a sip and felt a warm burning spread in her mouth. Carefully she brought her cup back up as if she was drinking and let the alcohol spiked mouthful slip back into her cup. She walked away from the bowl and after a few yards left the cup on top of a table next to a group of dancing guys. She had danced with Gabby and more than a few guys most of which she hadn't know and more than one which she had been forced to politely tell to go somewhere else if they wanted to feel her up.

She drifted back towards the kitchen, hoping to find something safe to drink, which wouldn't leave her in danger of throwing people around with her mind or losing control in some other spectacular and dangerous way. She found the table where they kept the soda and grabbed a can. She walked into the kitchen to enjoy the drink in relative silence. She walked up to one of the kitchen windows and looked outside. She considered taking a few steps outside to cool herself down under the starry sky.

Her brow furrowed. Someone was running in and out between the trees out in the garden. She saw two figures. One seemed to be running away from the other. Dinah stopped drinking in mid-sip and slammed the can down. She turned towards the kitchen door, took a few steps and was about to run, when she realized why Helena only rarely went patrolling in high heels. They weren't any good for running. She slowed her pace, but continued on. Behind her Gabby and a couple of other people from the high school walked in to see her leave.

Dinah jogged as fast as she could. Somewhere in the darkness of the nearly moonless night she heard a squeal. Dinah tried to pick up her pace. All what she had learned from her mom and Helena about heroism as well as the emphasis on third-party protection in her advanced Krav Maga courses told her that she had to go the rescue of anyone in trouble. Fortunately she didn't have to go far.

She found a boy sitting atop some girl, a few pieces of her clothing was lying around. Dinah having talked about crime and dangers of living in this world with her mom and Helena really didn't like any kind of sexual predator and so she reached forward and tore the goon off the girl, before he could do any real harm. "Hey, what the fuck," the guy called out.

She placed herself in between him and the girl in a combat stance. He got up and walked towards her. "Get out here bitch, this is a private matter," he warned her. Dinah took a step forward and did as she had been taught. A solid blow to the throat gave him pain and disrupted his breathing.

She was about to launch a kick into the part of his anatomy that was most vulnerable, when the girl yelled, "Stop, don't hurt him." The girl imposed herself between them. Dinah stopped in confusion.

"What is going on?" Gabby's voice suddenly asked from a point a few yards behind the guy.

"This insane chick attacked us, when we're about to… um we were… about to," the guy stuttered his way through the sentence with his now raspy voice. Gabby looked from frat guy to young high school girl and back again.

"You were about to do something illegal that is what. There is such a thing as too young," Gabby commented. Dinah felt relieved. Gabby had just provided her with some leverage to avoid her mistake getting blown out of proportion.

"Yeah, well, there is also something called assault. She attacked us without provocation," he said.

"I thought you were raping her," Dinah heard her voice say.

Gabby, a couple of girls from school, the guy and the half naked girl looked at her for a moment. An uncomfortable silence fell over them. "Yeah, well, it wasn't and you can't just go around assaulting people, because you think something is going on," the guy said and stomped off. The girl remained behind and began collecting her clothes, while Gabby stood a little off to the side. Dinah headed over to her.

"Lance at some point you'll have to tell me, what war was you in, before you came to New Gotham High. You're not Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you can't just go nuts, when you think there is some evil which needs its butt kicked," Gabby commented.

"I wasn't in any war. I just have principles and I think everyone is better served by vigilance than by just taking it easy," she remarked.

Gabby gave her a despairing look. "I think we'd better head home right away. If you go in there now, you'll just get pointed out to everyone. If they don't get to put a face on the event it'll probably be forgotten by Monday," Gabby suggested.

"You think," she asked hopefully.

"No," Gabby answered. Dinah smiled and shook her head.

"I'll go fetch our jackets," Gabby said and jogged away. Suddenly feeling tired Dinah headed over to the car.

Half an hour later they pulled into the fenced and guarded parking lot, where Gabby kept her car by night. "Man, all of a sudden I am bushed. I think it was good thing we left anyhow. It is already ten past twelve," Gabby said. Dinah agreed she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open too.

The transformation was astounding, Dinah thought as they lay down to sleep an hour later. The make up was gone replaced by fresh scrubbed kids' faces, the fashionable and sexy clothes replaced by T-shirts with rabbits on it and the high heeled boots replaced by small slippers. "You know, sometime it seems to me like we're spending our teenager years pretending to be adults. And adults seem to be struggling to try to remain teenagers. It might be a little stupid," she said.

"Ugh, please, no philosophy at bedtime Dinah, I get enough of your thinking by day," Gabby commented and switched off the lights. Dinah smirked in the darkness, closed her eyes and lay there thinking about the events of her day as she did every night. She soon fell asleep.

Dinah dreamt. She was standing in what looked like a news office. Journalists and secretaries were making and receiving calls left and right. Computer screens glowed in the dim room, while keyboards were frantically being punched. She looked down and saw one screen display a headline, "Third mysterious suicide strikes the business community." She bent down to read more, but it was like a film tore and she found herself in darkness again. Consciousness faded.

What greeted her in the next dream was hauntingly familiar. She dreamt of a fight that happened seven years ago Batman and Batgirl versus the Joker and his men. She saw it play out again, like it had done so many times before. The fire was spreading, Batgirl getting knocked back, Batman taking down the Joker.

However the dream was not entirely the same. It began slowly as flashes. The scene seemed to shift between what had happened and some kind of burnt remainder an old destroyed ruin. The changes became more and more frequent until she only saw the old ruins of the hideout lying forgotten somewhere below the city.

Then a new blaze seemed to explode out of the ground in that hideout. It had the shape of a phoenix, a bird made of fire. Her viewpoint shifted taking her far above the city. The flames of the phoenix seemed to roll through the streets. It didn't burn as much as make people go completely wild. She seemed to fly higher and higher soaring above the night sky. There she noticed that someone was standing like a titan over New Gotham, someone wrapped in darkness, someone blotting out the stars and in its hands it held the threads like a puppeteer. A maniacal laughter filled the sky.

She began falling uncontrollably at the sound of that laughter. She found herself in thick obscuring clouds again. She came upon a hauntingly familiar woman. Her birth mother stood on what looked like solid ground and looked at her. "Not all of the past will remain hidden. My legacy has arrived," she said and walked into an oncoming cloud.

Dinah ran after even if she knew, she would never get to speak with her. The clouds cleared again. She was standing next to her mom and Helena in front of the clock. They were discussing something and no one looked happy. The clouds gathered again and grew so thick that she could see only darkness. "No, I want to see more. I must," she yelled and found herself sitting up in the fold out bed next to Gabby's bed. The knick knacks, pictures, the book shelves, everything seemed to be rattling. Slowly it began to settle down.

Dinah almost smacked her forehead. Her dream had obviously made her upset enough to trigger her rather adrenaline controlled telekinesis. Instead she slowly gazed over and found a very pale looking Gabby peeking up over her blanket. "Is it over?" Gabby asked.

"Yeah, I think it was just a small earthquake," Dinah quickly suggested hoping that idea might keep her best friend from inquiring along a path that could lead to trouble.

"Earthquake… yeah… of course, it was an earthquake," Gabby quickly agreed.

"So what was it that you wanted to see bad that you had to yell it and wake up?" Gabby asked.

"Oh, I dreamt I was being invited over to spend some time with Justin Timberlake and he didn't want to show me… well, let's just say it was a teenage dream and leave it at that," she lied.

"I didn't know you liked pop," Gabby replied with a teasing smile.

"Oh, well, I make some exceptions," she lied again.

"It is still early, go back to sleep," Gabby suggested.

"Uh, okay," she replied and turned over on her side, but sleep wouldn't come. She just lay there in the increasing sunlight coming through the window pane and thought about her dream committing it to memory.