Late at night in the Clocktower, Alfred raised his brown eyes. He was
standing next to
Barbara who sat in front of Delphi. She played with her pen. She had told him the whole story, it was hard to believe, but he knew Barbara was a difficult person, it wasn't easy deceiving her.
"Yes, I couldn't sleep. This is ... madness. But she knows a things that nobody else would know."
"Where is she?"
"She's been sleeping since this morning; she was tired, hungry..." Barbara rubbed her face "this is incredible. If all of this is true, all our lives are fakes."
"What are you going to do?" he asked offering her glass of orange juice.
"First we try to find Dr. Destiny, he is the only one that can confirm the truth."
"How are you going to do that? You need somebody to help you."
"I did a few tests on Dinah last night. It's true, she is meta, and she showed me some of her mind and fighting skills; she told me I trained her and that she used to go on patrol with Helena."
"That's funny, Miss Helena as crime fighter." "Not even her father could convince her to change. She is so damn stubborn."
"Why don't you call him?"
"I need to be completely sure."
They heard Dinah's steps in the hallway, she looked sleepy.
"Good Evening young lady." Barbara greeted.
"Hey... I think I slept too much..."
"Would you like a proper healthy dinner or would you like to sample Miss Barbara's cooking again?" Alfred quirked.
"That wasn't nice Alfred." The red head glared at him.
"Barbara we need find doctor Destiny. We need to get that ruby and restore reality."
"Uhh... you're too fast." Barbara said "Do you have a plan?"
"We need Helena."
"Helena? For what?"
"Helena has the skills, I can't do this alone, neither can you. And if he sees me he would surely would know that something had gone wrong and disappear with the ruby, if he does it again we never will have the opportunity to restore the present."
"Interesting point of view." Alfred said.
"Helena is in prision Dinah, she is a burglar, not a crime fighter."
"We need her to escape."
"Out of the question!" Barbara exclaimed "That is the most insane part of your whole story."
"No, look..." Dinah took her earrings and her necklace off and gave it to Barbara.
"It's nice" the redhead said looking at them "But, thanks, I don't want it..."
"You made it, Helena has one too, well, in our present, it's a transceiver; we talk to you using it, you give us orders and by using Delphi you guide us through places, buildings or help us to open doors, find codes. The earrings are like speakers, the bird is the mic. You can follow us though Delphi, it sends a signal to the system." Dinah moved towards Delphi and began to type.
"Hey, hey!" Barbara said alarmed "Don't touch that!"
"Don't worry." The blond girl smiled at her "I know what I'm doing. I only need to program the frequency into your computer."
Barbara and Alfred looked on amazed at how she worked the keys; it seemed that she knew what she was doing. After a few minutes Dinah stepped back.
"Ready, take a look." She pointed the screen. Barbara saw a red light over the screen on a map of the city.
"What is that?" the red head asked.
"Just watch, don't touch anything." Dinah claimed back the necklace and the earrings and ran towards the elevator. The doors closed. Barbara and Alfred watched her go.
"And now?" Barbara scratched her head.
"She must have some plan in mind."
"This is a madness." The redhead moved her head.
"Let her try..." the old man smiled.
"Im on it... but it's hard."
"If she says the truth..."
"That's the part that scares me."
::Can you see me?:: Dinah asked.
They heard her voice through Delphi's speakers. Barbara leaned and looked the moving red dot.
"Oh my..." she said.
"Now I'm starting to feel worried" Alfred said "Is she telling the truth?"
"I'm afraid so. Dinah come back here, we need talk."
"If we free Helena from jail, we are breaking the law." Barbara explained. Alfred was stood up a few steps from her.
"And Helena will be dead soon and you will loose our opportunity to bring back reality." Dinah protested pacing around the Delphi.
"We are living in reality."
"But the reality that he wants, not ours."
"Dinah, all the headlines in newspapers are against her," Barbara said, frustrated. "The people want to see her dead. It's not easy to hide a person like that right now."
"I know thatt!"
"What's your idea?"
"Dr. Destiny wants to see her dead. I'm sure he put that evidence in her apartment. We need to get her out of jail, explain everything to her and convince her that she must go to see him to ask to join his team."
"It will be quite difficult make her quit being a burglar and make her believe your story Miss Dinah." Alfred said.
"I know her, don't worry," the teen said. "But we need her inside to know where he hid the Materioptikon."
"Don't you think he would kill her as soon as he sees her?" Alfred asked.
"No..." Barbara bit her lip. "He would see it as part of his revenge by using her to commit his robberies. He knows he could destroy her life and have control over it; making his game more interesting."
"You can help her commit some robberies to make her earn his trust," Dinah explained, "using your knowledge and the Delphi's communication system. I could stay near her, and at the best possible moment trap him and take the ruby."
Barbara moved her hands nervously as Dinah sat in front of her waiting. Barbara took off her glasses and looked at her. "Do you know that the only person that could pull off our plan successfully is a crazy, stubborn and obstinate cat-burglar, whose only interest in life are gems and money. And at this exact moment she is in jail waiting a trial for robbery and the murder of 20 people?"
"Yes."
"So?"
"We don't have any other options."
Barbara looked at Alfred, he nodded. Barbara sighed. "I don't know who is more insane in this, you and your story or me for believing you.."
"I will consider this a draw," Alfred said tuning. "Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes."
"I need to think of other options before I agree to break Helena out of jail. That is against the law." Barbara said.
"But Barbara..."
"We will wait, be patient."
A dark figure sat in front of a desk covered in newspapers. He laughed reading one of them. "You are mine, Huntress." He stood up and walked toward the window, he looked the city down. "And new Gotham is mine too." He looked again the newspapers "Maybe you need me to push you a bit more, girl."
Helena sat inside her jail at Arkham. She felt like a monkey in the zoo inside that crystal cell. She wanted to run away but the security system was complicated, and there were always guards around her with big rifles. Plus she had promised Barbara to be quiet. It was boring sitting and waiting. But she didn't have so many choices.
She heard the heavy door open. Reese walked in. She felt happy to see someone, she stood up. "Hey, I see that you missed me." She smiled.
He couldn't understand her strange sense of humor. Sometimes she exasperated him and sometimes she made him laugh. But he couldn't deny that he felt attracted to her. He walked around the cell and stood up in front of her. He pulled a drawer that was used to give her things. She watched him curiously. He put a bag with pop tarts inside.
"That was nice." She said pulling the drawer to remove the pop tarts. She sat on the floor. He smiled, she looked like a big kid. It was hard to imagine she was a dangerous burglar.
"How are you?" he asked.
"Well, as you can see, very busy. I never imagined bein in jail would be so boring." She bit a pop tart.
"Well," he looked around, "this isn't exactly something exciting."
"Yes, I prefer be hanging on a building."
"You do things that I have never seen anyone else do."
"I'm cool, right?" Helena laughed.
"How do you do that?" Reese asked with curiosity. "You jump high distances, you fight incredibly. How did you free yourself from the handcuffs that time that I chained you to a window?"
"I imagine you must have problems with your girlfriend. Do you like to chain her too?"
"You never take anything seriously."
"Only one life, detective."
"People say cats have nine lives."
"Maybe I've used all mine and I don't have any more." She put another pop tart in her mouth. "Why are you here? I know it's not a social visit."
"Yea, yea." He scratched his head. "We are going to move you."
"Mmm?"
"The trial is going to be in Metrópolis. We are going to move you there next week."
"Metrópolis? Good, I don't know that city." She cleaned her mouth with her fingers.
He blinked "You... have never there?"
"No. I'm an international burglar that has never been in Metrópolis. Curious, eh?"
"But..."
"But?" She looked at him quizzically.
"The explosion that killed that people was in Metrópolis."
"You just screwed up a great moment, detective." Helena rolled her eyes "I told you I didn't kill those people. Anyway, the law is always slow, what is the hurry?"
He looked at her curiously. "One of the victims was the son of the Commisioner of Metrópolis." He observed her surprised face.
"What?"
"Five children and the Commisioner's son. He was 16."
"Dammit!" Helena growled and stood up, she began to pace around the cell.
"What's the problem?"
"How can you ask me that? Five children! Five innocents! And a kid! That is disgusting! That was... damn sick people. And everybody thinks it was me."
"You did it," Reese said.
Helena walked toward the glass wall and hit it hard with her fist making it tremble. She looked him with her feral eyes. He stepped back, surprised. What was that? He had never seen anything like that.
"Who the hell do you think am I?" the brunette shouted "I'm not a monster! I never would do something like that! Stupid cop."
"Don't call..."
"You are an asshole!" Helena yelled. "I didn't do it! Don't you hear me? I will be anything you want: an orphan, a damn girl, a burglar, a criminal, but I will never be a killer of children !!!" she moved back shaking her head; in some way he had hurt her.
"Your eyes..." he mumbled.
"Go away dammit! You are an expert at always screwing up all our conversations." She turned her back on him and put her hands on the glass wall resting her forehead there. Things were getting worse..
Reese found that he believed her and he didn't understand why. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
"Please go. I want to be alone."
He pressed his lips and walked outside the cell. Helena stood up there in silence. She brushed her hair. Someone was trying to put her in serious trouble and whoever it was, he had done it. She just could only stay and wait for Barbara to help her. She was her only hope.
Barbara who sat in front of Delphi. She played with her pen. She had told him the whole story, it was hard to believe, but he knew Barbara was a difficult person, it wasn't easy deceiving her.
"Yes, I couldn't sleep. This is ... madness. But she knows a things that nobody else would know."
"Where is she?"
"She's been sleeping since this morning; she was tired, hungry..." Barbara rubbed her face "this is incredible. If all of this is true, all our lives are fakes."
"What are you going to do?" he asked offering her glass of orange juice.
"First we try to find Dr. Destiny, he is the only one that can confirm the truth."
"How are you going to do that? You need somebody to help you."
"I did a few tests on Dinah last night. It's true, she is meta, and she showed me some of her mind and fighting skills; she told me I trained her and that she used to go on patrol with Helena."
"That's funny, Miss Helena as crime fighter." "Not even her father could convince her to change. She is so damn stubborn."
"Why don't you call him?"
"I need to be completely sure."
They heard Dinah's steps in the hallway, she looked sleepy.
"Good Evening young lady." Barbara greeted.
"Hey... I think I slept too much..."
"Would you like a proper healthy dinner or would you like to sample Miss Barbara's cooking again?" Alfred quirked.
"That wasn't nice Alfred." The red head glared at him.
"Barbara we need find doctor Destiny. We need to get that ruby and restore reality."
"Uhh... you're too fast." Barbara said "Do you have a plan?"
"We need Helena."
"Helena? For what?"
"Helena has the skills, I can't do this alone, neither can you. And if he sees me he would surely would know that something had gone wrong and disappear with the ruby, if he does it again we never will have the opportunity to restore the present."
"Interesting point of view." Alfred said.
"Helena is in prision Dinah, she is a burglar, not a crime fighter."
"We need her to escape."
"Out of the question!" Barbara exclaimed "That is the most insane part of your whole story."
"No, look..." Dinah took her earrings and her necklace off and gave it to Barbara.
"It's nice" the redhead said looking at them "But, thanks, I don't want it..."
"You made it, Helena has one too, well, in our present, it's a transceiver; we talk to you using it, you give us orders and by using Delphi you guide us through places, buildings or help us to open doors, find codes. The earrings are like speakers, the bird is the mic. You can follow us though Delphi, it sends a signal to the system." Dinah moved towards Delphi and began to type.
"Hey, hey!" Barbara said alarmed "Don't touch that!"
"Don't worry." The blond girl smiled at her "I know what I'm doing. I only need to program the frequency into your computer."
Barbara and Alfred looked on amazed at how she worked the keys; it seemed that she knew what she was doing. After a few minutes Dinah stepped back.
"Ready, take a look." She pointed the screen. Barbara saw a red light over the screen on a map of the city.
"What is that?" the red head asked.
"Just watch, don't touch anything." Dinah claimed back the necklace and the earrings and ran towards the elevator. The doors closed. Barbara and Alfred watched her go.
"And now?" Barbara scratched her head.
"She must have some plan in mind."
"This is a madness." The redhead moved her head.
"Let her try..." the old man smiled.
"Im on it... but it's hard."
"If she says the truth..."
"That's the part that scares me."
::Can you see me?:: Dinah asked.
They heard her voice through Delphi's speakers. Barbara leaned and looked the moving red dot.
"Oh my..." she said.
"Now I'm starting to feel worried" Alfred said "Is she telling the truth?"
"I'm afraid so. Dinah come back here, we need talk."
"If we free Helena from jail, we are breaking the law." Barbara explained. Alfred was stood up a few steps from her.
"And Helena will be dead soon and you will loose our opportunity to bring back reality." Dinah protested pacing around the Delphi.
"We are living in reality."
"But the reality that he wants, not ours."
"Dinah, all the headlines in newspapers are against her," Barbara said, frustrated. "The people want to see her dead. It's not easy to hide a person like that right now."
"I know thatt!"
"What's your idea?"
"Dr. Destiny wants to see her dead. I'm sure he put that evidence in her apartment. We need to get her out of jail, explain everything to her and convince her that she must go to see him to ask to join his team."
"It will be quite difficult make her quit being a burglar and make her believe your story Miss Dinah." Alfred said.
"I know her, don't worry," the teen said. "But we need her inside to know where he hid the Materioptikon."
"Don't you think he would kill her as soon as he sees her?" Alfred asked.
"No..." Barbara bit her lip. "He would see it as part of his revenge by using her to commit his robberies. He knows he could destroy her life and have control over it; making his game more interesting."
"You can help her commit some robberies to make her earn his trust," Dinah explained, "using your knowledge and the Delphi's communication system. I could stay near her, and at the best possible moment trap him and take the ruby."
Barbara moved her hands nervously as Dinah sat in front of her waiting. Barbara took off her glasses and looked at her. "Do you know that the only person that could pull off our plan successfully is a crazy, stubborn and obstinate cat-burglar, whose only interest in life are gems and money. And at this exact moment she is in jail waiting a trial for robbery and the murder of 20 people?"
"Yes."
"So?"
"We don't have any other options."
Barbara looked at Alfred, he nodded. Barbara sighed. "I don't know who is more insane in this, you and your story or me for believing you.."
"I will consider this a draw," Alfred said tuning. "Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes."
"I need to think of other options before I agree to break Helena out of jail. That is against the law." Barbara said.
"But Barbara..."
"We will wait, be patient."
A dark figure sat in front of a desk covered in newspapers. He laughed reading one of them. "You are mine, Huntress." He stood up and walked toward the window, he looked the city down. "And new Gotham is mine too." He looked again the newspapers "Maybe you need me to push you a bit more, girl."
Helena sat inside her jail at Arkham. She felt like a monkey in the zoo inside that crystal cell. She wanted to run away but the security system was complicated, and there were always guards around her with big rifles. Plus she had promised Barbara to be quiet. It was boring sitting and waiting. But she didn't have so many choices.
She heard the heavy door open. Reese walked in. She felt happy to see someone, she stood up. "Hey, I see that you missed me." She smiled.
He couldn't understand her strange sense of humor. Sometimes she exasperated him and sometimes she made him laugh. But he couldn't deny that he felt attracted to her. He walked around the cell and stood up in front of her. He pulled a drawer that was used to give her things. She watched him curiously. He put a bag with pop tarts inside.
"That was nice." She said pulling the drawer to remove the pop tarts. She sat on the floor. He smiled, she looked like a big kid. It was hard to imagine she was a dangerous burglar.
"How are you?" he asked.
"Well, as you can see, very busy. I never imagined bein in jail would be so boring." She bit a pop tart.
"Well," he looked around, "this isn't exactly something exciting."
"Yes, I prefer be hanging on a building."
"You do things that I have never seen anyone else do."
"I'm cool, right?" Helena laughed.
"How do you do that?" Reese asked with curiosity. "You jump high distances, you fight incredibly. How did you free yourself from the handcuffs that time that I chained you to a window?"
"I imagine you must have problems with your girlfriend. Do you like to chain her too?"
"You never take anything seriously."
"Only one life, detective."
"People say cats have nine lives."
"Maybe I've used all mine and I don't have any more." She put another pop tart in her mouth. "Why are you here? I know it's not a social visit."
"Yea, yea." He scratched his head. "We are going to move you."
"Mmm?"
"The trial is going to be in Metrópolis. We are going to move you there next week."
"Metrópolis? Good, I don't know that city." She cleaned her mouth with her fingers.
He blinked "You... have never there?"
"No. I'm an international burglar that has never been in Metrópolis. Curious, eh?"
"But..."
"But?" She looked at him quizzically.
"The explosion that killed that people was in Metrópolis."
"You just screwed up a great moment, detective." Helena rolled her eyes "I told you I didn't kill those people. Anyway, the law is always slow, what is the hurry?"
He looked at her curiously. "One of the victims was the son of the Commisioner of Metrópolis." He observed her surprised face.
"What?"
"Five children and the Commisioner's son. He was 16."
"Dammit!" Helena growled and stood up, she began to pace around the cell.
"What's the problem?"
"How can you ask me that? Five children! Five innocents! And a kid! That is disgusting! That was... damn sick people. And everybody thinks it was me."
"You did it," Reese said.
Helena walked toward the glass wall and hit it hard with her fist making it tremble. She looked him with her feral eyes. He stepped back, surprised. What was that? He had never seen anything like that.
"Who the hell do you think am I?" the brunette shouted "I'm not a monster! I never would do something like that! Stupid cop."
"Don't call..."
"You are an asshole!" Helena yelled. "I didn't do it! Don't you hear me? I will be anything you want: an orphan, a damn girl, a burglar, a criminal, but I will never be a killer of children !!!" she moved back shaking her head; in some way he had hurt her.
"Your eyes..." he mumbled.
"Go away dammit! You are an expert at always screwing up all our conversations." She turned her back on him and put her hands on the glass wall resting her forehead there. Things were getting worse..
Reese found that he believed her and he didn't understand why. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
"Please go. I want to be alone."
He pressed his lips and walked outside the cell. Helena stood up there in silence. She brushed her hair. Someone was trying to put her in serious trouble and whoever it was, he had done it. She just could only stay and wait for Barbara to help her. She was her only hope.