When I got back to the Clocktower, Barbara was waiting by the elevator. The silence on the comm during my trip back to the Clocktower made me think that this must be serious and this only confirmed it by her waiting by the door for me.

I handed the needle to her and she quickly wheeled back to her computer to run tests on it.

"Any chance you're going to tell me what's going on?" I asked as I followed her.

"Let me run this quick scan before I say anything. I want to be sure."

She placed the needle in a small vile and loaded it into some contraption connected to her computer. She rung her hands nervously as she waited for the results.

This didn't seem very good.

Just watching her made ME nervous so I finally hand to put my hands over hers. "Stop! Please. Tell me what's going on."

The computer beeped and she shifted her focus to the results that presented themselves on her monitor.

She read the lines of text feverishly, mumbling to herself.

Then she put her head down, as if defeated.

I was about to see if she was okay when she slammed her fist down on the table, making me jump.

"Dammit! I knew it. It's her. How can that be?!?"

"Who? What the hell's going on?!?"

"You guys okay?" Dinah asked as she entered the room. "I heard a loud bang."

Barbara wheeled away from the computer she was working on and moved across the lab to another.

"Barbara?" Dinah asked with concern.

"Come on, talk to us, Barbara."

"Her name's Bombshell. She's a thief, a manipulator, a liar and a murderer. And that's only the half of it."

"Wow, that's some resume," I joked. No one was laughing.

Barbara pulled up Bombshell's photo on the computer. Immediately, I thought Betty Page, only blonde. She definitely looked like one of the old pinup girls that guys in the military loved to paste on the side of their planes.

"Bombshell is really Michelle Babson. She's made quite the living out of taking things away from other people...including someone I loved."

There it is. No wonder she was acting strange.

"Barbara, I'm sorry," Dinah said as she put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"His name was Derek McCarthy. He had the biggest, bluest eyes in the whole world. I met him at a charity ball. He was one of the waiters believe it or not." Barbara smiled through her tears at the fond memory.

I was never any good at the mushy stuff so I stayed quiet and just listened.

Barbara wiped her tears away and cleared her throat. "About three months after we'd been seeing each other, we were attending the grand opening of the Willard's Jewelry Store. My father's best friend had opened it after almost a year of protest by the surrounding stores. The neighbors were afraid it would attract criminals....they were right."

"The party was almost over when a bunch of armed, masked men stormed into the store. Some grabbed the jewels while the others pistol-whipped whoever was close by, just for the hell of it."

"Derek saw one of them hit an old woman so he got up and punched the masked man in the face. He continued beating on him and that's when she appeared - Bombshell. She didn't wear a mask or anything that concealed her identity. She just strode into the room, tossed a small bomb in Derek's direction and smiled."

"Oh my God," Dinah said as she covered her mouth.

The tears began to flow down Barbara's cheeks again. "Bombshell ran out of the room and her men took cover just as the bomb went off. The place was so chaotic. All I could do was focus on Derek. He was lying on the floor across the room from where I was, bleeding."

"How many others did she kill?" I asked.

"That's the ironic thing. Only Derek died because he was the closest to the bomb." Barbara paused for a moment as she sniffed her tears away. "He died in my arms."

Like a bolt of lightning, the vision of my mother dying in front of me hit me, even made me feel dizzy.

"She has these bombs that emit hundreds of needles. It's not a large enough bomb that will kill a room full of people, but if you're the target of the bomb and it goes off..well...you know. They go in pretty deep and can puncture vital organs, veins, arteries, whatever they hit."

I sat down on the edge of the desk, unable to find anything to say that would comfort her.

"She was supposed to be dead," Barbara said through a clenched jaw. "There was a fire in the warehouse she and her men were using as a hideout. I was told that they found her body amongst the ashes."

I stood up again, a feeling of renewed energy rushing through me. "Where do you think she'd be hiding out now?"

Barbara was surprised by the question and looked up at me. "I...I'm not sure."

"Well, we've gutta find this bitch and put her six feet under where she belongs." I didn't wait to hear anyone's two cents, I just headed for the elevator. I know this was Barbara's score to settle, but after what she'd said about Derek dying in her arms it felt like my score too.

"Wait, Helena," Barbara yelled at me as she followed behind me and grabbed my wrist, stopping me.

"I'm going out there to look for her."

"You can't go out there alone. She'll kill you."

"I'm not going to give her the chance," I said as I tried to continue walking, but Barbara gripped my wrist tighter.

"You're NOT going out there until I get more information on where she is."

"I can go out there with her," Dinah suggested as she walked over towards us. "Two versus one is..."

"Don't you two get it?!? She's a cold-blooded killer who will strike when you least expect it. She's quick and she's deadly. It's been years since I've seen her. God only knows what other tricks she's got up her sleeve now."

Barbara's eyes shifted back and forth between me and Dinah.

"Please. Give me until tomorrow morning and then we'll form a game plan."

I thought about it and figured we could at least wait until morning. "Okay. You have until 9:00. After that, I'm going out and kicking some ass."

"Fair enough," Barbara agreed.

"I'll go make some coffee," Dinah said with a heavy sigh.

It was going to be a long night.

~ to be continued ~