Authors: Jag, Shawn(GF)
Rating: This is a hard R. There is language, there is an extreme amount of violence. There is the hint of some sexual violence and there is a lot of psychological drama. This is not for the weak of constitution nor necessarily those who have just eaten lunch. Enjoy.
************************************
The hero known as Huntress crouched low on the rooftop, gazing down towards the warehouse. She had been told by the bartender from Crimson that there was supposed to be some type of huge meeting between all of the major crime families in New Gotham. Led up of course by Harley herself. Word was that the cracked former therapist was planning on murdering the lot of them. Of course considering that everything appeared to be quiet and silent, Helena was beginning to have doubts about the quality of the information.
"I think it was a false alarm Oracle," Helena grunted as she narrowed her eyes. Cool air whipped past her face, stinging her cheeks.
"That's possible," Barbara Gordon said softly, the sound of keys being clicked outlining her words. "Maybe they changed locations at the last moment."
"Well I'm here anyways," Helena said with a sigh. "Might as well take a look inside."
"Be careful," Oracle called out, a trace of alarm in her voice. Typically she wouldn't have given much thought to her young charge being curious but something was off here. Harley was up to something.
Helena rolled her eyes. Shaking her head she dropped down from the rooftop and into one of the broken windows of the warehouse. She frowned as she looked around the empty building. The floor creaked heavily under her feet as she moved towards the ground level. She stopped when her foot hit up against something. Bending down she ran her hand over what appeared to be a small hill of dust. The color of it was off though. More rusty than sandy. She pinched it between her fingers and brought it up to her nose. It was odorless but the consistency of it was peculiar.
"Nothing," Helena said with a sigh. "There's nothing here." She stood up and took a few steps towards the window. She heard the crack of the boards beneath her giving out before she actually felt herself falling. She let out a strangled gasp as she slammed her back up against the ground floor, dust rising up in large clouds around her. "Oh oww...."
"Huntress?" Barbara called out. "Huntress? What happened? Are you okay? Huntress..."
The brunette coughed loudly and waved her hand in front of her face, trying to see through the dust that was flying everywhere. There was a strange familiar stench in the room but she couldn't quite put her finger on it just yet. She glanced down at her jacket and scowled; it would definitely need to be laundered. Damn.
"Huntress? Respond..."
"I'm here, Oracle," Helena said between coughs. She hacked dryly into her palm, trying to clear the soot from her throat. "This place is too damn old. There's no way they could have held a meeting here; Harley wouldn't have even had to kill them all. They would have...."
"Huntress?" Barbara asked, alarmed by the sudden break in the conversation. Helena could get distracted easily but right now was a really bad time for it.
Helena took a few steps forward and bent over. She couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. "Oracle..."
"I'm still here, Huntress," Barbara said dryly.
"I was wrong," the brunette said simply. "Apparently they did have the meeting here."
"Explain."
"There are bodies here. Maybe fifteen total give or take. Very dead. And oh God does it smell bad," Helena said as she put a hand over her mouth and nose, thereby effectively muffling her voice. She stepped across two of the bodies, frowning as she gazed into their cold, dead and open eyes. She felt shivers dancing up her spine, assaulting her nerves. Her stance hardened into a battle position.
"I guess we were too late," Barbara commented, once again typing.
"Harley really is gung-ho this time isn't she?" Helena muttered as she bent down to inspect one of the corpses. "Looks like a single shot to the head. Execution style."
"Wonderful," Barbara said dryly. "Do me a favor and get me some pictures. Let's see if we can identify any of the corpses."
Helena groaned. "I hate this part of the job. Why can't we just save everyone and then spend the rest of the night partying?" She shook her head in disgust. "Why does it have to be all about taking pictures of dead guys?"
"You apparently never read the fine print on the contract did you?" Barbara asked with a laugh.
"You mean the great hero contract?"
"Yeah, that one."
"No, my dog ate it."
"You don't have a dog and whatever else you're going to say, stop right there. Just get me the pictures."
"Eh, you're no fun," Helena snorted. Reaching into one of the interior pockets of her overcoat she extracted a small thin device. A digital camera of sorts. Leaning down over the first corpse, she pressed a button. A bright flash erupted in the room.
The pictures were on their way.
* * *
Barbara shook her head and frowned as she gazed at her computer screen. The first pictures from the camera were starting to download from the satellite feed but they hardly looked right. She reached up and took her glasses off, anxiously pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "Huntress, send me the pictures again."
"Okay," Helena said shortly. A few seconds later a new download started but the redhead quickly discovered that the new images were identical to the old ones.
"Huntress, where are the corpses?"
"In the pictures Oracle," Helena said with a laugh. "Put your glasses on. I know we've had this discussion."
"I'm sure we've also had the discussion about not insulting your elders," Barbara muttered. Then she frowned. "There isn't anything in these pictures besides walls and floors. Dirty nasty ones I grant you but bodies, no."
There was a long pause and then Helena finally replied, "You're joking, right?"
* * *
Helena turned the camera over in her hand and looked down at it. She blinked when the bright light from the flash splashed against her eyes. Then she shook her head. "I just sent you four different faces, Oracle. "
"I have nothing," Barbara replied. "Maybe the device is malfunctioning..."
"Yeah like that'd be a first," Helena grunted. "Okay then..." she stopped abruptly when she felt something touch her foot. "What the..."
"Huntress?"
Helena stared down in horror as one of the corpses reached out for her ankle, sliding a bony hand around her foot. She kicked out desperately and the hand cracked and shattered. Two of the bodies next to the grabby one began to wobble and then stumble as they moved to their feet.
"Uh, Oracle, the dead guys are kind of...alive..."
"You mean they're not dead?"
"Oh they're dead..."
"Huntress...."
"They're zombies," Helena said, shaking her head in disbelief. "I'm in a God damn horror movie."
"What?"
"Zombies," Helena reiterated. "And they smell awful. I mean really bad. Oracle, this isn't right...they smell like they've been dead for weeks...not hours."
"Huntress, I don't see anything..."
Helena just shook her head in exasperation. She stared back at the zombies that were starting to move towards her. Their faces were blue and emotionless; their eyes empty eyeless sockets. Their movements were gawky and uncoordinated, almost mechanical. "I think it's time I get the hell out of here," Helena muttered, taking a step backwards. She eyed a rotted door on the opposite side of the room but was dismayed to see two of the zombies in the path to it.
One of the zombies reached her while she was looking around. It swung at her but she easily evaded the blow, ducking beneath it. She hissed in irritation and then planted her foot into its sternum. It crumbled and sprayed outwards, brittle bone cracking. She punched out at another one that approached and made a face when she saw flesh flay away from the corpse when she connected. "Oh gross..."
"Huntress, get out of there," Barbara demanded, sounding impatient.
"Trying," she muttered, side-stepping two more zombies. She did a flip into the air and dropped down in front of the door. She turned back to regard the zombies one final time. "Don't hang around too long boys," she quipped. She reached out for the door and then stopped, eyes wide in horror. "Oh God..."
"Huntress?"
"Wade," Helena muttered, starting at the zombie sauntering towards her. The man was dressed in the type of clothes you'd be buried in and skin hung from his cheeks. One of his eye sockets was completely empty and the other one looked like rats had been gnawing on it. He staggered, one arm drooping brokenly by his side.
"Wade?" Barbara cried out. "What the...Huntress, what is going on? Respond..."
Helena opened her mouth to speak but nothing but a choked gasp came out. A moment later she felt Zombie Wade's fist connect with her jaw. She heard a sickening crack but was relatively sure that it wasn't her bone that had broken. Had to be his. She hissed in pain and bent forward, unintentionally moving right into a hard knee to the gut. She dropped to the floor, eyes squinted in pain.
"Huntress, are you okay?" She felt Zombie Wade grab her by the lapel and lift her high up into the air. He held her there for a split second and then hurled her into the middle of the room. She hit the ground with a loud thud and then lay there motionless, stunned and in pain. She felt a hand slide over her ankle and then another one touch her arm. She tried to yank away but a third hand slid over her stomach and then it felt like someone was trying to crawl on her. The smell of decay assaulted her but it was the physical contact that made her want to vomit.
"Huntress!"
She felt a hand slide over her mouth, sealing off her oxygen. She could taste the decayed and rotting flesh against her tongue as the meat fell away from the bones.
Her heart started to pound as terror overwhelmed her. She wasn't the type to frighten easily but panic was starting to set in. She tried to move but her body refused the order, paralyzed by fear. Her blood went cold as she looked into Wade's deformed face.
She tried to struggle to get free but the hands held her tight, locking her to the ground. Wade moved above her, grinning like a damn fool. Her mind blurred as the smell of rotting flesh overwhelmed her. She shuddered violently as Wade bent over her.
He touched her face and she gasped in horror. He smiled and moved towards her mouth. He apparently wanted to kiss her. She struggled but he grabbed her head. He pressed his mouth to hers. It wasn't until he finally backed away that she again found her voice.
And then she screamed with every thing that was inside of her. The sound bounced against the walls of the dilapidated warehouse and then assaulted her eardrums on its way back.
Wade moved back towards her. He slid across her, his body flat atop hers. He put a hand over her mouth and she felt a searing burning in her lungs. She couldn't quite identify the source of the pain but it hardly mattered as the darkness started to crash inwards from the corners of her eyes. She felt the room start to spin and shake. She felt like she was tumbling, sinking down towards a bottomless black pit.
And then everything just went dark.
* * *
The redhead who had once been called Batgirl shook violently when she heard her young protégé scream in terror. It wasn't like Helena; it wasn't her way. Frantically she began to punch keys, glaring up at the LCD in front of her. That was when she heard Helena grunt. It sounded like she was being muffled somehow. She slammed her first hard against the table, her anger seeping out.
"Barbara?" Dinah asked as she stepped out of the elevator, limping under the weight of her broken ankle. "What the hell was that sound?"
Barbara spun around to regard Dinah with a hint of irritation. Once she saw that the blonde was all right, relief washed over it. Then the annoyance returned. "Where have you been?"
"Out with Gabby," Dinah replied with a shake of her head. "Was that Helena?"
"Yes," Barbara said quickly, returning to her keyboard. "Something's wrong. She said she saw corpses at the warehouse but there wasn't anything there. Nothing."
"I don't understand..."
"Neither do I," Barbara muttered. Then she turned to face Dinah. "But whatever she saw there, whatever she thought she saw there, she also saw Wade. At least she thought she did."
"Oh God," Dinah gasped. Swallowing hard she asked, "What about her comm?"
"It's still on but she's not answering me..."
"Barbara Gordon," a voice cackled over the speaker.
The two women exchanged a look of alarm and then both looked at the tiny speaker sitting on the desk. Barbara slid towards it, anger and fear racing through her. She knew that voice well; it haunted her nightmares. Her jaw set hard, she slid her hand around the microphone next to the computer.
"Harley," she gritted out.
There was a laugh and then Harley sang out, "Looks like destiny has brought us together again."
Harley, what did you do to her?" Barbara demanded, her nails cutting in to her own flesh. A thin tendril of blood seeped down across her palm.
"Who? The little Huntress? Oh I didn't do anything at all. She just had a little waking nightmare." Harley laughed loudly. "But don't worry, she's still alive. At least for now. How long she stays such depends on my mood I guess."
Barbara bit her lip, the frustration nearly overwhelming. She knew better than to underestimate or doubt Harley; the woman wasn't just a run-of-the- mill common criminal. No, in fact she was a brilliant and insane woman who could and would kill at the drop of a hat.
Any hat.
She had murdered Wade just for her own amusement. That was her way. The woman didn't have human emotions; her insane mind could only think in terms of power and revenge. She really was the perfect paramour for the Joker.
Barbara swallowed hard. She needed to think, to make it all make sense. She had to react cautiously; Helena's life depended on it. And being that the brunette was pretty much her world, well then it wasn't such a stretch to say that her own life depended on it just as much.
Stop and think then, she reminded herself.
"What happened Barbara Gordon?" Harley asked. "Cat get your tongue? Oh wait; I have the kitty. Hmmm." She laughed again. A few seconds passed and then Barbara heard the woman inhale deeply. "She smells good," Harley announced in a soft voice. "Did you know that? Have you ever smelled her? Oh I guess you have, probably thousands of times."
"Harley, please don't hurt her," Barbara said between tightly clenched teeth. "What do you want?"
"Uh uh," Harley taunted. "We just started the game. Why the hurry?"
"Tell me what you want..."
"Hmm," Harley chuckled. "How about I'll think about it and get back to you, okay?" She clapped her hands excitedly. "In the meanwhile I'm going to take little Helena here to her new home."
"Harley..."
"Oh and Barbara Gordon? Don't try to follow us...you really wouldn't like what I would do to her if you pissed me off. And I don't want to kill her. Not yet at least. So do us both a favor and don't piss me off."
There was a loud clank and then the comm line went dead. The line buzzed for a few seconds before Barbara punched a key and it went silent. Helena's signal on the screen blipped twice and then dimmed out. "Fuck," she muttered, under her breath.
"We have to help her," Dinah insisted loudly, reaching out for her crutch.
Barbara shook her head. "They'd be long gone by the time we get there and I have no idea where they're going. Besides, with your foot...we have to be careful, I don't think Harley is lying, she has Helena at her mercy..."
"Well we have to do something. Reese?"
"No," Barbara said shaking her head. "He's compromised. I'm sure of it now."
"But it's Helena...we have to help her..."
"Dinah, please," Barbara snapped back. She took a breath and then reached out for Dinah's arm. "First off, sit down. Get off your foot. You're still in trouble for not calling in, you scared the hell out of me."
"Sorry," Dinah said sheepishly. "We...ran....we ran into some boys."
Barbara rolled her eyes. She could feel the irritation in her bones but fought down against it. It wasn't fair to Dinah. She was just a kid doing teenage things. That was a good thing. Bad timing perhaps but just the same, not something to be yelled at for. "Look, I know exactly whose life is in danger right now. More than you realize. I also know what Harley is capable of. We have to tread very lightly here or it won't matter at all."
Dinah glanced at the LCD in front of Barbara. Right in the middle of the city grid was a dimmed out symbol that usually signified Helena. She dropped her head a bit and sighed. "Okay," she said softly. She dropped down into a chair opposite Barbara.
The redhead nodded slowly, thankful for Dinah's cooperation. She closed her eyes and tried to focus. She knew that she needed to distance herself from her racing emotions; she had to get herself to a very cold place in order to find the necessary clarity. Control was mandatory.
Harley was a fairly simple woman but in that simplicity with a type of evil that was almost beyond comprehension. She delighted in causing pain to her enemies and to anyone who got in her way.
Which meant that their only chance at bringing Helena home alive was separation from emotion.
And cold.
Ice cold logic. * * *
Rating: This is a hard R. There is language, there is an extreme amount of violence. There is the hint of some sexual violence and there is a lot of psychological drama. This is not for the weak of constitution nor necessarily those who have just eaten lunch. Enjoy.
************************************
The hero known as Huntress crouched low on the rooftop, gazing down towards the warehouse. She had been told by the bartender from Crimson that there was supposed to be some type of huge meeting between all of the major crime families in New Gotham. Led up of course by Harley herself. Word was that the cracked former therapist was planning on murdering the lot of them. Of course considering that everything appeared to be quiet and silent, Helena was beginning to have doubts about the quality of the information.
"I think it was a false alarm Oracle," Helena grunted as she narrowed her eyes. Cool air whipped past her face, stinging her cheeks.
"That's possible," Barbara Gordon said softly, the sound of keys being clicked outlining her words. "Maybe they changed locations at the last moment."
"Well I'm here anyways," Helena said with a sigh. "Might as well take a look inside."
"Be careful," Oracle called out, a trace of alarm in her voice. Typically she wouldn't have given much thought to her young charge being curious but something was off here. Harley was up to something.
Helena rolled her eyes. Shaking her head she dropped down from the rooftop and into one of the broken windows of the warehouse. She frowned as she looked around the empty building. The floor creaked heavily under her feet as she moved towards the ground level. She stopped when her foot hit up against something. Bending down she ran her hand over what appeared to be a small hill of dust. The color of it was off though. More rusty than sandy. She pinched it between her fingers and brought it up to her nose. It was odorless but the consistency of it was peculiar.
"Nothing," Helena said with a sigh. "There's nothing here." She stood up and took a few steps towards the window. She heard the crack of the boards beneath her giving out before she actually felt herself falling. She let out a strangled gasp as she slammed her back up against the ground floor, dust rising up in large clouds around her. "Oh oww...."
"Huntress?" Barbara called out. "Huntress? What happened? Are you okay? Huntress..."
The brunette coughed loudly and waved her hand in front of her face, trying to see through the dust that was flying everywhere. There was a strange familiar stench in the room but she couldn't quite put her finger on it just yet. She glanced down at her jacket and scowled; it would definitely need to be laundered. Damn.
"Huntress? Respond..."
"I'm here, Oracle," Helena said between coughs. She hacked dryly into her palm, trying to clear the soot from her throat. "This place is too damn old. There's no way they could have held a meeting here; Harley wouldn't have even had to kill them all. They would have...."
"Huntress?" Barbara asked, alarmed by the sudden break in the conversation. Helena could get distracted easily but right now was a really bad time for it.
Helena took a few steps forward and bent over. She couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. "Oracle..."
"I'm still here, Huntress," Barbara said dryly.
"I was wrong," the brunette said simply. "Apparently they did have the meeting here."
"Explain."
"There are bodies here. Maybe fifteen total give or take. Very dead. And oh God does it smell bad," Helena said as she put a hand over her mouth and nose, thereby effectively muffling her voice. She stepped across two of the bodies, frowning as she gazed into their cold, dead and open eyes. She felt shivers dancing up her spine, assaulting her nerves. Her stance hardened into a battle position.
"I guess we were too late," Barbara commented, once again typing.
"Harley really is gung-ho this time isn't she?" Helena muttered as she bent down to inspect one of the corpses. "Looks like a single shot to the head. Execution style."
"Wonderful," Barbara said dryly. "Do me a favor and get me some pictures. Let's see if we can identify any of the corpses."
Helena groaned. "I hate this part of the job. Why can't we just save everyone and then spend the rest of the night partying?" She shook her head in disgust. "Why does it have to be all about taking pictures of dead guys?"
"You apparently never read the fine print on the contract did you?" Barbara asked with a laugh.
"You mean the great hero contract?"
"Yeah, that one."
"No, my dog ate it."
"You don't have a dog and whatever else you're going to say, stop right there. Just get me the pictures."
"Eh, you're no fun," Helena snorted. Reaching into one of the interior pockets of her overcoat she extracted a small thin device. A digital camera of sorts. Leaning down over the first corpse, she pressed a button. A bright flash erupted in the room.
The pictures were on their way.
* * *
Barbara shook her head and frowned as she gazed at her computer screen. The first pictures from the camera were starting to download from the satellite feed but they hardly looked right. She reached up and took her glasses off, anxiously pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "Huntress, send me the pictures again."
"Okay," Helena said shortly. A few seconds later a new download started but the redhead quickly discovered that the new images were identical to the old ones.
"Huntress, where are the corpses?"
"In the pictures Oracle," Helena said with a laugh. "Put your glasses on. I know we've had this discussion."
"I'm sure we've also had the discussion about not insulting your elders," Barbara muttered. Then she frowned. "There isn't anything in these pictures besides walls and floors. Dirty nasty ones I grant you but bodies, no."
There was a long pause and then Helena finally replied, "You're joking, right?"
* * *
Helena turned the camera over in her hand and looked down at it. She blinked when the bright light from the flash splashed against her eyes. Then she shook her head. "I just sent you four different faces, Oracle. "
"I have nothing," Barbara replied. "Maybe the device is malfunctioning..."
"Yeah like that'd be a first," Helena grunted. "Okay then..." she stopped abruptly when she felt something touch her foot. "What the..."
"Huntress?"
Helena stared down in horror as one of the corpses reached out for her ankle, sliding a bony hand around her foot. She kicked out desperately and the hand cracked and shattered. Two of the bodies next to the grabby one began to wobble and then stumble as they moved to their feet.
"Uh, Oracle, the dead guys are kind of...alive..."
"You mean they're not dead?"
"Oh they're dead..."
"Huntress...."
"They're zombies," Helena said, shaking her head in disbelief. "I'm in a God damn horror movie."
"What?"
"Zombies," Helena reiterated. "And they smell awful. I mean really bad. Oracle, this isn't right...they smell like they've been dead for weeks...not hours."
"Huntress, I don't see anything..."
Helena just shook her head in exasperation. She stared back at the zombies that were starting to move towards her. Their faces were blue and emotionless; their eyes empty eyeless sockets. Their movements were gawky and uncoordinated, almost mechanical. "I think it's time I get the hell out of here," Helena muttered, taking a step backwards. She eyed a rotted door on the opposite side of the room but was dismayed to see two of the zombies in the path to it.
One of the zombies reached her while she was looking around. It swung at her but she easily evaded the blow, ducking beneath it. She hissed in irritation and then planted her foot into its sternum. It crumbled and sprayed outwards, brittle bone cracking. She punched out at another one that approached and made a face when she saw flesh flay away from the corpse when she connected. "Oh gross..."
"Huntress, get out of there," Barbara demanded, sounding impatient.
"Trying," she muttered, side-stepping two more zombies. She did a flip into the air and dropped down in front of the door. She turned back to regard the zombies one final time. "Don't hang around too long boys," she quipped. She reached out for the door and then stopped, eyes wide in horror. "Oh God..."
"Huntress?"
"Wade," Helena muttered, starting at the zombie sauntering towards her. The man was dressed in the type of clothes you'd be buried in and skin hung from his cheeks. One of his eye sockets was completely empty and the other one looked like rats had been gnawing on it. He staggered, one arm drooping brokenly by his side.
"Wade?" Barbara cried out. "What the...Huntress, what is going on? Respond..."
Helena opened her mouth to speak but nothing but a choked gasp came out. A moment later she felt Zombie Wade's fist connect with her jaw. She heard a sickening crack but was relatively sure that it wasn't her bone that had broken. Had to be his. She hissed in pain and bent forward, unintentionally moving right into a hard knee to the gut. She dropped to the floor, eyes squinted in pain.
"Huntress, are you okay?" She felt Zombie Wade grab her by the lapel and lift her high up into the air. He held her there for a split second and then hurled her into the middle of the room. She hit the ground with a loud thud and then lay there motionless, stunned and in pain. She felt a hand slide over her ankle and then another one touch her arm. She tried to yank away but a third hand slid over her stomach and then it felt like someone was trying to crawl on her. The smell of decay assaulted her but it was the physical contact that made her want to vomit.
"Huntress!"
She felt a hand slide over her mouth, sealing off her oxygen. She could taste the decayed and rotting flesh against her tongue as the meat fell away from the bones.
Her heart started to pound as terror overwhelmed her. She wasn't the type to frighten easily but panic was starting to set in. She tried to move but her body refused the order, paralyzed by fear. Her blood went cold as she looked into Wade's deformed face.
She tried to struggle to get free but the hands held her tight, locking her to the ground. Wade moved above her, grinning like a damn fool. Her mind blurred as the smell of rotting flesh overwhelmed her. She shuddered violently as Wade bent over her.
He touched her face and she gasped in horror. He smiled and moved towards her mouth. He apparently wanted to kiss her. She struggled but he grabbed her head. He pressed his mouth to hers. It wasn't until he finally backed away that she again found her voice.
And then she screamed with every thing that was inside of her. The sound bounced against the walls of the dilapidated warehouse and then assaulted her eardrums on its way back.
Wade moved back towards her. He slid across her, his body flat atop hers. He put a hand over her mouth and she felt a searing burning in her lungs. She couldn't quite identify the source of the pain but it hardly mattered as the darkness started to crash inwards from the corners of her eyes. She felt the room start to spin and shake. She felt like she was tumbling, sinking down towards a bottomless black pit.
And then everything just went dark.
* * *
The redhead who had once been called Batgirl shook violently when she heard her young protégé scream in terror. It wasn't like Helena; it wasn't her way. Frantically she began to punch keys, glaring up at the LCD in front of her. That was when she heard Helena grunt. It sounded like she was being muffled somehow. She slammed her first hard against the table, her anger seeping out.
"Barbara?" Dinah asked as she stepped out of the elevator, limping under the weight of her broken ankle. "What the hell was that sound?"
Barbara spun around to regard Dinah with a hint of irritation. Once she saw that the blonde was all right, relief washed over it. Then the annoyance returned. "Where have you been?"
"Out with Gabby," Dinah replied with a shake of her head. "Was that Helena?"
"Yes," Barbara said quickly, returning to her keyboard. "Something's wrong. She said she saw corpses at the warehouse but there wasn't anything there. Nothing."
"I don't understand..."
"Neither do I," Barbara muttered. Then she turned to face Dinah. "But whatever she saw there, whatever she thought she saw there, she also saw Wade. At least she thought she did."
"Oh God," Dinah gasped. Swallowing hard she asked, "What about her comm?"
"It's still on but she's not answering me..."
"Barbara Gordon," a voice cackled over the speaker.
The two women exchanged a look of alarm and then both looked at the tiny speaker sitting on the desk. Barbara slid towards it, anger and fear racing through her. She knew that voice well; it haunted her nightmares. Her jaw set hard, she slid her hand around the microphone next to the computer.
"Harley," she gritted out.
There was a laugh and then Harley sang out, "Looks like destiny has brought us together again."
Harley, what did you do to her?" Barbara demanded, her nails cutting in to her own flesh. A thin tendril of blood seeped down across her palm.
"Who? The little Huntress? Oh I didn't do anything at all. She just had a little waking nightmare." Harley laughed loudly. "But don't worry, she's still alive. At least for now. How long she stays such depends on my mood I guess."
Barbara bit her lip, the frustration nearly overwhelming. She knew better than to underestimate or doubt Harley; the woman wasn't just a run-of-the- mill common criminal. No, in fact she was a brilliant and insane woman who could and would kill at the drop of a hat.
Any hat.
She had murdered Wade just for her own amusement. That was her way. The woman didn't have human emotions; her insane mind could only think in terms of power and revenge. She really was the perfect paramour for the Joker.
Barbara swallowed hard. She needed to think, to make it all make sense. She had to react cautiously; Helena's life depended on it. And being that the brunette was pretty much her world, well then it wasn't such a stretch to say that her own life depended on it just as much.
Stop and think then, she reminded herself.
"What happened Barbara Gordon?" Harley asked. "Cat get your tongue? Oh wait; I have the kitty. Hmmm." She laughed again. A few seconds passed and then Barbara heard the woman inhale deeply. "She smells good," Harley announced in a soft voice. "Did you know that? Have you ever smelled her? Oh I guess you have, probably thousands of times."
"Harley, please don't hurt her," Barbara said between tightly clenched teeth. "What do you want?"
"Uh uh," Harley taunted. "We just started the game. Why the hurry?"
"Tell me what you want..."
"Hmm," Harley chuckled. "How about I'll think about it and get back to you, okay?" She clapped her hands excitedly. "In the meanwhile I'm going to take little Helena here to her new home."
"Harley..."
"Oh and Barbara Gordon? Don't try to follow us...you really wouldn't like what I would do to her if you pissed me off. And I don't want to kill her. Not yet at least. So do us both a favor and don't piss me off."
There was a loud clank and then the comm line went dead. The line buzzed for a few seconds before Barbara punched a key and it went silent. Helena's signal on the screen blipped twice and then dimmed out. "Fuck," she muttered, under her breath.
"We have to help her," Dinah insisted loudly, reaching out for her crutch.
Barbara shook her head. "They'd be long gone by the time we get there and I have no idea where they're going. Besides, with your foot...we have to be careful, I don't think Harley is lying, she has Helena at her mercy..."
"Well we have to do something. Reese?"
"No," Barbara said shaking her head. "He's compromised. I'm sure of it now."
"But it's Helena...we have to help her..."
"Dinah, please," Barbara snapped back. She took a breath and then reached out for Dinah's arm. "First off, sit down. Get off your foot. You're still in trouble for not calling in, you scared the hell out of me."
"Sorry," Dinah said sheepishly. "We...ran....we ran into some boys."
Barbara rolled her eyes. She could feel the irritation in her bones but fought down against it. It wasn't fair to Dinah. She was just a kid doing teenage things. That was a good thing. Bad timing perhaps but just the same, not something to be yelled at for. "Look, I know exactly whose life is in danger right now. More than you realize. I also know what Harley is capable of. We have to tread very lightly here or it won't matter at all."
Dinah glanced at the LCD in front of Barbara. Right in the middle of the city grid was a dimmed out symbol that usually signified Helena. She dropped her head a bit and sighed. "Okay," she said softly. She dropped down into a chair opposite Barbara.
The redhead nodded slowly, thankful for Dinah's cooperation. She closed her eyes and tried to focus. She knew that she needed to distance herself from her racing emotions; she had to get herself to a very cold place in order to find the necessary clarity. Control was mandatory.
Harley was a fairly simple woman but in that simplicity with a type of evil that was almost beyond comprehension. She delighted in causing pain to her enemies and to anyone who got in her way.
Which meant that their only chance at bringing Helena home alive was separation from emotion.
And cold.
Ice cold logic. * * *