It was well after two in the afternoon before anyone inside of the
Clocktower stirred. With the exception of course of Alfred. The butler went
about his business in that same manner that he always had. Prepare
breakfast. Pick up that which needed to be picked up. Oh and of course
clean up after Miss Helena who always left all of her possessions lying
aimlessly about.
"Good morning," Detective Reese said from the doorway of the kitchen. He was leaning against the wall, a hand resting gently against his side as if he was trying to keep his stomach in the right place. He was wearing a faded Gotham Knights shirt. For the life of him, Alfred couldn't recall where it had come from. Just the same, Miss Barbara had obviously found the good detective clothes to sleep in. Men's clothes at that. On his bottoms he wore a pair of green and black flannel pants that hung loosely on him.
"Not quite morning, sir," Alfred replied with a slight smile. "Would you like some lunch?"
"That would be great," Reese admitted as he made his way to the table. He dropped into one of the chairs next to it and sighed. His hand began to absently rub at the spot on his chest where he had been shot weeks earlier. And where the stitches had been torn from on the previous night.
"Very well, sir," Alfred said with a quick nod. He made his way over to the cupboards and began to extract pots.
"Is it always this quiet around here during the day?"
Alfred considered this for a moment and then slowly nodded. "These women are not exactly day creatures. Miss Barbara and Miss Dinah do go to the high school but Miss Helena..."
"Careful, Alfred, you might give away too many of my secrets," Helena quipped from the doorway. She too was leaning heavily against it. Just the same, the butler found himself marveling at the fact that she was walking at all. Four weeks ago the Joker had smashed both of her legs with a steel mallet. If she had never used them again, that wouldn't have been such a shock. If she hadn't been able to walk for months or even years, that would have been expected. But of course that didn't take into consideration the Helena factor; she never quit.
"Dread that," he drolled before stepping back towards the stove. He moved himself as close as he could to it so as to push himself out of their eyesight. A good butler knew how to disappear while remaining in plain sight.
"So you're not much of a morning person," Reese said with humor. "I kind of figured that. You being a night person and all."
"And that's why they gave you the shiny shield," Helena grinned. She slapped his arm lightly as she approached the table. A moment later she was sitting on the long couch that sat next to the table. Reaching out, she stretched her long limbs. "I haven't slept that good in months." Then she looked at Reese and frowned. "You're bleeding."
He lifted an eyebrow. "I guess I am," he admitted. "How did..."
"I can smell it," she offered by way of explanation. She waved off his look, knowing that he wanted to ask her more questions. "Take your shirt off."
"You know you women around here are so demanding," Reese said with a laugh as he pulled the tee off. His chest was bandaged thickly, white gauze surrounding dark flesh.
She reached across and touched her finger to one of the spots of blood on the gauze. It was relatively fresh. She scowled. "Did Dinah stitch you up?"
"With the smallest stitches humanly possible," he said with a short laugh. Then he sighed. "I didn't sleep as well as you did apparently."
"Fool man," she said shaking her head. "You ripped your damn stitches tossing and turning." She looked up and into his eyes. "Were the dreams good at least? I mean, anything interesting that you want to talk about?" She flashed her most seductive smile at him. "I'm listening."
He blinked and she saw the slightest bit of a flush come over his cheeks. Luckily for him his dark skin obscured the red. He coughed as if to clear his throat and then gruffly replied, "I don't really remember."
"Uh huh," she said with a cocky smile. One that seemed to say 'gotcha'. She tossed off a quick wink and then went back to inspecting his chest. Her fingers trailed over his skin, stopping just long enough to leave a spot of heat against his flesh. "We should get this cleaned out." She scowled and held up the spoiled bandage.
He shook his head slowly, a smile spreading across his face as he collected himself. "You, uh, you don't typically clean out your own wounds, do you?"
She made a face. "Sure I do. A little alcohol and a Band-Aid. Usually not in that order."
"Productive I'm sure," he said dryly. "I bet you never get infections."
She snorted. "Only rarely. Usually I have heil Barbara the Nazi Medic disinfecting every little scrape."
"And thank God for that," Barbara said as she entered. She was wearing sweats and a wife-beater, which was markedly different from Helena's jeans and black rayon Nike pullover. "If not for me, she'd have a gaping hole in every body part which she'd think would magically heal without treatment."
"I'm stubborn like that," Helena quipped. She grinned as Alfred stepped back over to the table and placed plates in front of all three of them. "Ooh, BLT. Alfred, you rock."
He smiled warmly at her and collected the offered up high-five.
"Thanks Alfred," Barbara said with relief. She smiled at the exchange between Helena and Alfred. Things really were getting back to normal.
As normal as they tended to get on any given day anyways.
"Will Miss Dinah be joining us shortly?"
Barbara shook her head. "I sent her to meet Tim."
Helena lifted an eyebrow. "Tim's in town?"
"Now stop right there," Barbara cautioned. "He's home from college and he's here just to help. You two are going to stay as far away from each other as possible."
Reese lifted an eyebrow. "More stories?"
"Tim's like another brother. Only more like a younger one as opposed to the overbearing type that Dick is. I have fun with Tim," Helena informed him. Then she pouted. "That is until he gets all serious-like and decides to do the college thing which is a real drag."
"Viva la education," Barbara grinned. "Anyways, I sent Dinah to meet him so they can check out STAR labs. I have a doctor friend there and it turns out he was one of the scientists assigned to the UX40 research studies."
"Doesn't that mean they have to go to Metropolis? Tim doesn't have a car. All he has is that skanky little momma's boy bike," Helena said with a grin.
"Helena," Barbara cautioned but her tone with a joking one. "He's put a lot of time and effort in to that bike. It's just not going as well as he'd like." She shook her head. "And yes, they're going to Metropolis. It'll be Dinah's first trip out of Gotham since she arrived."
"Tim likes playing guide," Helena said with affection. "I hope he doesn't scare her."
"Oh he will," Barbara said dryly. "That much I'm certain of."
Helena smiled then. "Everything's going to be okay."
Reese turned and gazed at her, trying to read the strange expression that was on her face. "Because your little brother is in town?"
She nodded slowly, a little bit of youthful idealism slipping into her expression. "Exactly," she replied. "Precisely."
"I wouldn't argue with her, Reese. It'll get you nowhere," Barbara said between bites of her BLT.
"I wouldn't dream of it," he said with a laugh. "Optimism is never bad."
Helena reached out and touched his arm lightly. "Just a matter of time now."
"How's that?" Reese queried, looking more than a bit confused. While he was thankful that her determination had returned, he was a bit concerned by the near elation. No matter what happened, it wasn't going to be easy.
"Until the Joker never hurts anyone ever again," Helena said with a calm confidence that set every hair on the back of his neck flying upwards. She tossed him another smile and then reached down and picked up her sandwich.
Barbara reacted to the scene with a cool detachment. She had seen Helena like this before. So calm and sure. So icy and determined.
It only ever meant one thing; trouble was on its way.
He stood and smiled. Extending his hand, he said lightly, "You must be Dinah."
She nodded slowly. "I must be which would make you Tim."
He bowed slightly, an impish grin playing across his boyishly handsome features. His dark hair was mussed and devoid of gel. "Tim Drake at your service."
Involuntarily, she grinned foolishly. She was aware of the expression but found herself helpless to remove it from her face. Finally she settled on, "Nice to meet you?"
"That sounds like a question," he said with the same impish smile. "Is it nice to meet me or not?"
She swallowed hard. "It is."
"Good then. Have you eaten?" He motioned back towards the table. There was a bowl of steaming brownish liquid sitting in front of him. It looked like soup. Likely beef from the smell of it.
She shook her head slowly. "A bowl of cereal."
"Then I insist you join me for lunch before we go about playing James Bond for Oracle."
"Okay," she said, her smile growing. She fell into the chair opposite him. "So, how long have you known Barbara?"
"Not all my life but the important part of it," Tim replied. He reached down and offered her one of his breadsticks, which she gladly took. "Since Bruce took me in."
"Bruce seemed to take a lot of people in," Dinah noted.
"Yeah. It's always been a shame that he never knew about Helena. She would have really set his jets flying."
Dinah lifted an eyebrow but chose not to comment on his strange choice in dialogue. "So you and Helena are pretty tight?"
"We used to be. When I was still living here in Gotham, we used to hang out a lot. Make some trouble. She's wild."
"That she is," Dinah agreed. She looked up at the waiter who had suddenly appeared. "I'll just have what he's having."
"Very good," the waiter replied and then swept away back towards the kitchen.
"We used to drive Barbara nuts. Stay out until three in the morning probably having a little bit too much fun for our own good. Babs will never admit it but she was happy when I went away to college."
"I'm sure that's not true."
He winked at her. "I'm sure it is and it's okay. Hel and I tore some shit up awful good." He laughed then, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "We drove her pretty nuts. Made her be all momish. She hates that."
"I imagine," she muttered.
"So," he said, leaning closer to her. "You ready for an adventure?"
She blew out air between her teeth. "I fear you," she finally admitted with a nervous laugh.
He grinned wildly and wrinkled his nose. "Good girl."
"What are you laughing at, Detective?" Helena queried, gazing over at the handsome cop who was leaning back into one of the chairs. He was reading a police file and was definitely amused.
"Your sheet," he chuckled. "You are quite the hellraiser aren't you?"
She feigned a stunned look. "Me? You must be mistaken. That can't be my file. I volunteer for the Girl Scouts of America, don't ya know?"
"Have you ever even looked at your police file?" Reese asked, shaking his head. "It's insane."
"I have," Barbara said, sliding behind Reese. "It's all night reading though. Though suitably tawdry for bedtime story."
Reese laughed. "Indeed."
"I thought you were supposed to make that disappear," Helena quipped as she dropped herself into one of the chairs. She groaned which immediately caused both Reese and Barbara to look up quickly. She waved her hand dismissively at the two of them and then looked pointedly at Reese. "You won't stand a chance if you freak every single time I'm in pain. It happens entirely too much."
He shrugged. "I get that." Then he looked at Barbara. "So anything yet from Dinah?"
"No," Barbara admitted, shaking her head. "And honestly I don't know exactly what they're looking for either. Just something."
"Those are usually the most amusing searches anyways," Helena snorted as she brought a mug of coffee to her lips. "Huntress, find me a speck of dirt tinted blue in the middle of the beach. Oh and it needs to have a photograph of my ass on it."
"Such the drama queen," Barbara muttered.
"Quite the flair," Reese admitted. Then he sighed loudly. "I'm not great at doing nothing."
"If you have an idea, I'm listening," Barbara informed him.
Reese nodded slowly. "I do."
Helene leaned forward, resting her chin on her palms. "Do tell. Did I get to punch someone?"
He offered her a small sweet smile. "Ah, there's my Huntress...always looking for a chance to beat people up."
"Glad to be of service. So, do I? I mean I know I'll have to be held up a bit but it could still be fun. Especially if we get some good bruising."
He laughed. "No. No beating."
"I don't think I like where this is going," Barbara said softly, almost to herself.
Reese took a deep breath. "Barbara, you and I are going to see the Joker. It's time you faced him."
"So are you going to tell me any stories?" Dinah queried, turning slightly towards her companion. "I mean about you and Helena?"
Tim snorted. "I could tell you many," he said with a laugh. His eyes were on the long stretch of road in front of them. Mindless miles of highway all leading to a funky little place called Metropolis.
"We have time," Dinah said, leaning back in to the passenger seat.
"Curious aren't we," Tim said, swerving abruptly around a little Honda that was going only fifty in the middle lane of traffic. He made a grunting noise of disgust at the other driver and then grinned at Dinah. "What would you like to know?"
Dinah shrugged. "Look I came in to this whole thing less than a year ago. In the past four weeks, I've heard the beginnings of a lot of stories involving Helena. What was she like in high school? Was she all sunny and perky?"
"No," Tim said, his voice almost a giggle as he contemplated that particular image of Helena Kyle. "She was different before her mom died but she was never sunny and perky. She was a pain in the ass back then too."
"Oh?" Dinah said, lifting an eyebrow. Her pale blue eyes scanned the highway. There was a large sign on the right hand side that proclaimed in bold letters that Metropolis was only sixty-five miles further up the road. "Ever heard of this Superman guy?"
Tim laughed. "On occasion," he replied. He shook his head. It amused him to no end that Dinah considered Superman to be something of a myth.
Amused and saddened him.
Seven years ago Batman had been more than a myth. He had been Gotham's most notorious hero. It's greatest champion. Nowadays he was a legend that no one was quite sure had ever existed. The world was changing again and people were starting to fear their heroes. Now even Superman, the boy scout of all heroes was being turned in to a myth.
Dinah seemed to wave off Tim's cryptic comment. "So, you and Helena went to school together?"
Tim nodded. "Yep. Didn't know who she was back then. I mean whom she belonged to. Bruce thought she was some ward that Selena had grabbed off the street. A protégé. To be honest, I have no idea how Bruce didn't always know that Hel was his."
"Sounds crazy. Did you guys date?"
"No. Well kinda," Tim replied, wrinkling his nose.
"That isn't much of an answer."
"We fooled around. Never got serious. Then I found who she was and that she was pretty much my adopted sister and it just got icky," Tim said with a laugh. "You should have seen the look on her face though when she found out that..."
He stopped, suddenly seemingly aware that Helena might not like him kissing and telling.
"You can't stop there," Dinah insisted.
"Yes," he said. "I'd better or I'll get my ass kicked by her. Legs or no." He paused for a moment, growing serious. "She's ok, right?"
Dinah nodded slowly. "She's strong."
Tim shook his head. "I've been around the block a time or two, Dinah. I know what 'she's strong' means. It means you have no idea and you're worried. I expect that kind of statement from Barbara. It's a pragmatic answer. I figured you for the more optimistic type."
She shrugged and said plainly, "Usually I am."
"But?"
"It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Did Barbara tell you about me going into Helena's head?"
Tim nodded slowly and then shivered. "Love her to death but that's not somewhere I'd want to be. You know every single time I see her, I think she's becoming more and more like Bruce. Only with an actual sense of humor."
"That's a pretty significant difference from what I hear," Dinah interjected.
Tim laughed. "You have a point."
"So what exactly are we going to Metropolis for?"
"Barbara ever told you about STAR?"
"In passing."
"Look, the short story is, there are a lot of heroes in the world. A lot of villains too. They've all been lumped in the meta category but many of them were given powers through other means. Superman is from another planet. Green Lantern gets it from his ring. The list goes on."
"Ok," Dinah said nodding, eyes wide with fascination. She made a mental note to go back through the database when this was all over. Barbara had to have notes on pretty much everything.
"STAR is a place that makes a habit of studying things like that. And they help some of the heroes when they can. They've stepped in for the Titans and Superman a couple of times."
"You're so way over my head," Dinah laughed. "I feel like I'm reading a comic book."
Tim snorted. "In some ways you are."
"Okay so why do you think STAR will have something on this UX40?"
"Well, for it fully work to the best of it's capabilities, it needs someone that has special powers. Someone who can channel the psychic wavelength. Someone who can hack someone's brain. Sounds pretty not human to me."
"Are we dealing with a meta?"
Tim shrugged. "Dunno. Hopefully STAR can give us a few answers. A couple of their doctors worked on some of the trials for it."
"What makes you think they'll talk to us?"
"Barbara," Tim said with a chuckle. "Everyone talks to Barbara."
"Why am I starting to get the feeling that there is more to Barbara Gordon than I'm exactly being let in on?"
He winked at her. "All in good time my friend. Just never doubt, without her, without Oracle, everything would stop and we'd all be screwed."
Dinah smiled knowingly. "I buy that."
"Good. Now buckle up. I want to see how fast this rental can go."
Helena wanted to pace. She wanted to jump up and makes tracks across the room. She wanted to burn indents in to the ground.
That wasn't going to happen.
She could manage about ten to fifteen minutes on her feet but even that was time spent wobbling to and fro. Her equilibrium was shot and her balance was seriously off.
She figured she could use a V-8.
"When are they going to be back?" she hissed out to the open air. Her eyes were locked on the monitors scattered around the control room but nothing was going on. It was all so very quiet.
"They just left fifteen minutes ago," Alfred reminded her, offering her a glass that was filled with soda.
"I could use a beer," she quipped.
He nodded his understanding. "Would you prefer a different type of soda?"
She laughed. "Nice." Then she turned to him, her face growing serious. "You think this is smart? I mean she hasn't really faced him since the day he crippled her. She saw him at the hospital the day of the shooting but this is face to face."
"We all need to clear up our own personal demons," Alfred reminded her.
"He's mine now," Helena said thoughtfully.
He rested a hand on her shoulder. "Don't let him steal your soul. It's what he's trying to do. Don't allow him the pleasure."
She looked up at him and then said in a very small voice, "I won't be anyone's victim." There were tears in her eyes. "He has to be stopped."
He closed his eyes for a long moment, altogether too many old memories washing over him. The Joker had victimized Bruce and his entire family for so long that it almost seemed like tradition.
He had killed one of Bruce's adopted children in Jason Todd. He had murdered Bruce's beloved and he had crippled his young protégé. And now he was after Bruce's daughter.
Helena was right of course. He had to be stopped.
And perhaps deadly force would even be necessary. Hell even mandated.
But not at the expense of her soul.
He opened his eyes. He smiled kindly at her. "You look cold. I'll go get you a blanket."
And with that he left the room. No, he fled it. He wanted away from her. He was well trained in what he did but that didn't mean that he lacked human emotions. Human anger and pain.
And he rather feared that if Helena Kyle saw how upset he was at all the Joker had done to his family, there'd no be stopping her.
And he sure as hell wasn't about to help the Joker along.
No matter how much he deserved it.
No matter. The cost was too high.
Too damn high.
END CHAPTER 4
"Good morning," Detective Reese said from the doorway of the kitchen. He was leaning against the wall, a hand resting gently against his side as if he was trying to keep his stomach in the right place. He was wearing a faded Gotham Knights shirt. For the life of him, Alfred couldn't recall where it had come from. Just the same, Miss Barbara had obviously found the good detective clothes to sleep in. Men's clothes at that. On his bottoms he wore a pair of green and black flannel pants that hung loosely on him.
"Not quite morning, sir," Alfred replied with a slight smile. "Would you like some lunch?"
"That would be great," Reese admitted as he made his way to the table. He dropped into one of the chairs next to it and sighed. His hand began to absently rub at the spot on his chest where he had been shot weeks earlier. And where the stitches had been torn from on the previous night.
"Very well, sir," Alfred said with a quick nod. He made his way over to the cupboards and began to extract pots.
"Is it always this quiet around here during the day?"
Alfred considered this for a moment and then slowly nodded. "These women are not exactly day creatures. Miss Barbara and Miss Dinah do go to the high school but Miss Helena..."
"Careful, Alfred, you might give away too many of my secrets," Helena quipped from the doorway. She too was leaning heavily against it. Just the same, the butler found himself marveling at the fact that she was walking at all. Four weeks ago the Joker had smashed both of her legs with a steel mallet. If she had never used them again, that wouldn't have been such a shock. If she hadn't been able to walk for months or even years, that would have been expected. But of course that didn't take into consideration the Helena factor; she never quit.
"Dread that," he drolled before stepping back towards the stove. He moved himself as close as he could to it so as to push himself out of their eyesight. A good butler knew how to disappear while remaining in plain sight.
"So you're not much of a morning person," Reese said with humor. "I kind of figured that. You being a night person and all."
"And that's why they gave you the shiny shield," Helena grinned. She slapped his arm lightly as she approached the table. A moment later she was sitting on the long couch that sat next to the table. Reaching out, she stretched her long limbs. "I haven't slept that good in months." Then she looked at Reese and frowned. "You're bleeding."
He lifted an eyebrow. "I guess I am," he admitted. "How did..."
"I can smell it," she offered by way of explanation. She waved off his look, knowing that he wanted to ask her more questions. "Take your shirt off."
"You know you women around here are so demanding," Reese said with a laugh as he pulled the tee off. His chest was bandaged thickly, white gauze surrounding dark flesh.
She reached across and touched her finger to one of the spots of blood on the gauze. It was relatively fresh. She scowled. "Did Dinah stitch you up?"
"With the smallest stitches humanly possible," he said with a short laugh. Then he sighed. "I didn't sleep as well as you did apparently."
"Fool man," she said shaking her head. "You ripped your damn stitches tossing and turning." She looked up and into his eyes. "Were the dreams good at least? I mean, anything interesting that you want to talk about?" She flashed her most seductive smile at him. "I'm listening."
He blinked and she saw the slightest bit of a flush come over his cheeks. Luckily for him his dark skin obscured the red. He coughed as if to clear his throat and then gruffly replied, "I don't really remember."
"Uh huh," she said with a cocky smile. One that seemed to say 'gotcha'. She tossed off a quick wink and then went back to inspecting his chest. Her fingers trailed over his skin, stopping just long enough to leave a spot of heat against his flesh. "We should get this cleaned out." She scowled and held up the spoiled bandage.
He shook his head slowly, a smile spreading across his face as he collected himself. "You, uh, you don't typically clean out your own wounds, do you?"
She made a face. "Sure I do. A little alcohol and a Band-Aid. Usually not in that order."
"Productive I'm sure," he said dryly. "I bet you never get infections."
She snorted. "Only rarely. Usually I have heil Barbara the Nazi Medic disinfecting every little scrape."
"And thank God for that," Barbara said as she entered. She was wearing sweats and a wife-beater, which was markedly different from Helena's jeans and black rayon Nike pullover. "If not for me, she'd have a gaping hole in every body part which she'd think would magically heal without treatment."
"I'm stubborn like that," Helena quipped. She grinned as Alfred stepped back over to the table and placed plates in front of all three of them. "Ooh, BLT. Alfred, you rock."
He smiled warmly at her and collected the offered up high-five.
"Thanks Alfred," Barbara said with relief. She smiled at the exchange between Helena and Alfred. Things really were getting back to normal.
As normal as they tended to get on any given day anyways.
"Will Miss Dinah be joining us shortly?"
Barbara shook her head. "I sent her to meet Tim."
Helena lifted an eyebrow. "Tim's in town?"
"Now stop right there," Barbara cautioned. "He's home from college and he's here just to help. You two are going to stay as far away from each other as possible."
Reese lifted an eyebrow. "More stories?"
"Tim's like another brother. Only more like a younger one as opposed to the overbearing type that Dick is. I have fun with Tim," Helena informed him. Then she pouted. "That is until he gets all serious-like and decides to do the college thing which is a real drag."
"Viva la education," Barbara grinned. "Anyways, I sent Dinah to meet him so they can check out STAR labs. I have a doctor friend there and it turns out he was one of the scientists assigned to the UX40 research studies."
"Doesn't that mean they have to go to Metropolis? Tim doesn't have a car. All he has is that skanky little momma's boy bike," Helena said with a grin.
"Helena," Barbara cautioned but her tone with a joking one. "He's put a lot of time and effort in to that bike. It's just not going as well as he'd like." She shook her head. "And yes, they're going to Metropolis. It'll be Dinah's first trip out of Gotham since she arrived."
"Tim likes playing guide," Helena said with affection. "I hope he doesn't scare her."
"Oh he will," Barbara said dryly. "That much I'm certain of."
Helena smiled then. "Everything's going to be okay."
Reese turned and gazed at her, trying to read the strange expression that was on her face. "Because your little brother is in town?"
She nodded slowly, a little bit of youthful idealism slipping into her expression. "Exactly," she replied. "Precisely."
"I wouldn't argue with her, Reese. It'll get you nowhere," Barbara said between bites of her BLT.
"I wouldn't dream of it," he said with a laugh. "Optimism is never bad."
Helena reached out and touched his arm lightly. "Just a matter of time now."
"How's that?" Reese queried, looking more than a bit confused. While he was thankful that her determination had returned, he was a bit concerned by the near elation. No matter what happened, it wasn't going to be easy.
"Until the Joker never hurts anyone ever again," Helena said with a calm confidence that set every hair on the back of his neck flying upwards. She tossed him another smile and then reached down and picked up her sandwich.
Barbara reacted to the scene with a cool detachment. She had seen Helena like this before. So calm and sure. So icy and determined.
It only ever meant one thing; trouble was on its way.
He stood and smiled. Extending his hand, he said lightly, "You must be Dinah."
She nodded slowly. "I must be which would make you Tim."
He bowed slightly, an impish grin playing across his boyishly handsome features. His dark hair was mussed and devoid of gel. "Tim Drake at your service."
Involuntarily, she grinned foolishly. She was aware of the expression but found herself helpless to remove it from her face. Finally she settled on, "Nice to meet you?"
"That sounds like a question," he said with the same impish smile. "Is it nice to meet me or not?"
She swallowed hard. "It is."
"Good then. Have you eaten?" He motioned back towards the table. There was a bowl of steaming brownish liquid sitting in front of him. It looked like soup. Likely beef from the smell of it.
She shook her head slowly. "A bowl of cereal."
"Then I insist you join me for lunch before we go about playing James Bond for Oracle."
"Okay," she said, her smile growing. She fell into the chair opposite him. "So, how long have you known Barbara?"
"Not all my life but the important part of it," Tim replied. He reached down and offered her one of his breadsticks, which she gladly took. "Since Bruce took me in."
"Bruce seemed to take a lot of people in," Dinah noted.
"Yeah. It's always been a shame that he never knew about Helena. She would have really set his jets flying."
Dinah lifted an eyebrow but chose not to comment on his strange choice in dialogue. "So you and Helena are pretty tight?"
"We used to be. When I was still living here in Gotham, we used to hang out a lot. Make some trouble. She's wild."
"That she is," Dinah agreed. She looked up at the waiter who had suddenly appeared. "I'll just have what he's having."
"Very good," the waiter replied and then swept away back towards the kitchen.
"We used to drive Barbara nuts. Stay out until three in the morning probably having a little bit too much fun for our own good. Babs will never admit it but she was happy when I went away to college."
"I'm sure that's not true."
He winked at her. "I'm sure it is and it's okay. Hel and I tore some shit up awful good." He laughed then, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "We drove her pretty nuts. Made her be all momish. She hates that."
"I imagine," she muttered.
"So," he said, leaning closer to her. "You ready for an adventure?"
She blew out air between her teeth. "I fear you," she finally admitted with a nervous laugh.
He grinned wildly and wrinkled his nose. "Good girl."
"What are you laughing at, Detective?" Helena queried, gazing over at the handsome cop who was leaning back into one of the chairs. He was reading a police file and was definitely amused.
"Your sheet," he chuckled. "You are quite the hellraiser aren't you?"
She feigned a stunned look. "Me? You must be mistaken. That can't be my file. I volunteer for the Girl Scouts of America, don't ya know?"
"Have you ever even looked at your police file?" Reese asked, shaking his head. "It's insane."
"I have," Barbara said, sliding behind Reese. "It's all night reading though. Though suitably tawdry for bedtime story."
Reese laughed. "Indeed."
"I thought you were supposed to make that disappear," Helena quipped as she dropped herself into one of the chairs. She groaned which immediately caused both Reese and Barbara to look up quickly. She waved her hand dismissively at the two of them and then looked pointedly at Reese. "You won't stand a chance if you freak every single time I'm in pain. It happens entirely too much."
He shrugged. "I get that." Then he looked at Barbara. "So anything yet from Dinah?"
"No," Barbara admitted, shaking her head. "And honestly I don't know exactly what they're looking for either. Just something."
"Those are usually the most amusing searches anyways," Helena snorted as she brought a mug of coffee to her lips. "Huntress, find me a speck of dirt tinted blue in the middle of the beach. Oh and it needs to have a photograph of my ass on it."
"Such the drama queen," Barbara muttered.
"Quite the flair," Reese admitted. Then he sighed loudly. "I'm not great at doing nothing."
"If you have an idea, I'm listening," Barbara informed him.
Reese nodded slowly. "I do."
Helene leaned forward, resting her chin on her palms. "Do tell. Did I get to punch someone?"
He offered her a small sweet smile. "Ah, there's my Huntress...always looking for a chance to beat people up."
"Glad to be of service. So, do I? I mean I know I'll have to be held up a bit but it could still be fun. Especially if we get some good bruising."
He laughed. "No. No beating."
"I don't think I like where this is going," Barbara said softly, almost to herself.
Reese took a deep breath. "Barbara, you and I are going to see the Joker. It's time you faced him."
"So are you going to tell me any stories?" Dinah queried, turning slightly towards her companion. "I mean about you and Helena?"
Tim snorted. "I could tell you many," he said with a laugh. His eyes were on the long stretch of road in front of them. Mindless miles of highway all leading to a funky little place called Metropolis.
"We have time," Dinah said, leaning back in to the passenger seat.
"Curious aren't we," Tim said, swerving abruptly around a little Honda that was going only fifty in the middle lane of traffic. He made a grunting noise of disgust at the other driver and then grinned at Dinah. "What would you like to know?"
Dinah shrugged. "Look I came in to this whole thing less than a year ago. In the past four weeks, I've heard the beginnings of a lot of stories involving Helena. What was she like in high school? Was she all sunny and perky?"
"No," Tim said, his voice almost a giggle as he contemplated that particular image of Helena Kyle. "She was different before her mom died but she was never sunny and perky. She was a pain in the ass back then too."
"Oh?" Dinah said, lifting an eyebrow. Her pale blue eyes scanned the highway. There was a large sign on the right hand side that proclaimed in bold letters that Metropolis was only sixty-five miles further up the road. "Ever heard of this Superman guy?"
Tim laughed. "On occasion," he replied. He shook his head. It amused him to no end that Dinah considered Superman to be something of a myth.
Amused and saddened him.
Seven years ago Batman had been more than a myth. He had been Gotham's most notorious hero. It's greatest champion. Nowadays he was a legend that no one was quite sure had ever existed. The world was changing again and people were starting to fear their heroes. Now even Superman, the boy scout of all heroes was being turned in to a myth.
Dinah seemed to wave off Tim's cryptic comment. "So, you and Helena went to school together?"
Tim nodded. "Yep. Didn't know who she was back then. I mean whom she belonged to. Bruce thought she was some ward that Selena had grabbed off the street. A protégé. To be honest, I have no idea how Bruce didn't always know that Hel was his."
"Sounds crazy. Did you guys date?"
"No. Well kinda," Tim replied, wrinkling his nose.
"That isn't much of an answer."
"We fooled around. Never got serious. Then I found who she was and that she was pretty much my adopted sister and it just got icky," Tim said with a laugh. "You should have seen the look on her face though when she found out that..."
He stopped, suddenly seemingly aware that Helena might not like him kissing and telling.
"You can't stop there," Dinah insisted.
"Yes," he said. "I'd better or I'll get my ass kicked by her. Legs or no." He paused for a moment, growing serious. "She's ok, right?"
Dinah nodded slowly. "She's strong."
Tim shook his head. "I've been around the block a time or two, Dinah. I know what 'she's strong' means. It means you have no idea and you're worried. I expect that kind of statement from Barbara. It's a pragmatic answer. I figured you for the more optimistic type."
She shrugged and said plainly, "Usually I am."
"But?"
"It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Did Barbara tell you about me going into Helena's head?"
Tim nodded slowly and then shivered. "Love her to death but that's not somewhere I'd want to be. You know every single time I see her, I think she's becoming more and more like Bruce. Only with an actual sense of humor."
"That's a pretty significant difference from what I hear," Dinah interjected.
Tim laughed. "You have a point."
"So what exactly are we going to Metropolis for?"
"Barbara ever told you about STAR?"
"In passing."
"Look, the short story is, there are a lot of heroes in the world. A lot of villains too. They've all been lumped in the meta category but many of them were given powers through other means. Superman is from another planet. Green Lantern gets it from his ring. The list goes on."
"Ok," Dinah said nodding, eyes wide with fascination. She made a mental note to go back through the database when this was all over. Barbara had to have notes on pretty much everything.
"STAR is a place that makes a habit of studying things like that. And they help some of the heroes when they can. They've stepped in for the Titans and Superman a couple of times."
"You're so way over my head," Dinah laughed. "I feel like I'm reading a comic book."
Tim snorted. "In some ways you are."
"Okay so why do you think STAR will have something on this UX40?"
"Well, for it fully work to the best of it's capabilities, it needs someone that has special powers. Someone who can channel the psychic wavelength. Someone who can hack someone's brain. Sounds pretty not human to me."
"Are we dealing with a meta?"
Tim shrugged. "Dunno. Hopefully STAR can give us a few answers. A couple of their doctors worked on some of the trials for it."
"What makes you think they'll talk to us?"
"Barbara," Tim said with a chuckle. "Everyone talks to Barbara."
"Why am I starting to get the feeling that there is more to Barbara Gordon than I'm exactly being let in on?"
He winked at her. "All in good time my friend. Just never doubt, without her, without Oracle, everything would stop and we'd all be screwed."
Dinah smiled knowingly. "I buy that."
"Good. Now buckle up. I want to see how fast this rental can go."
Helena wanted to pace. She wanted to jump up and makes tracks across the room. She wanted to burn indents in to the ground.
That wasn't going to happen.
She could manage about ten to fifteen minutes on her feet but even that was time spent wobbling to and fro. Her equilibrium was shot and her balance was seriously off.
She figured she could use a V-8.
"When are they going to be back?" she hissed out to the open air. Her eyes were locked on the monitors scattered around the control room but nothing was going on. It was all so very quiet.
"They just left fifteen minutes ago," Alfred reminded her, offering her a glass that was filled with soda.
"I could use a beer," she quipped.
He nodded his understanding. "Would you prefer a different type of soda?"
She laughed. "Nice." Then she turned to him, her face growing serious. "You think this is smart? I mean she hasn't really faced him since the day he crippled her. She saw him at the hospital the day of the shooting but this is face to face."
"We all need to clear up our own personal demons," Alfred reminded her.
"He's mine now," Helena said thoughtfully.
He rested a hand on her shoulder. "Don't let him steal your soul. It's what he's trying to do. Don't allow him the pleasure."
She looked up at him and then said in a very small voice, "I won't be anyone's victim." There were tears in her eyes. "He has to be stopped."
He closed his eyes for a long moment, altogether too many old memories washing over him. The Joker had victimized Bruce and his entire family for so long that it almost seemed like tradition.
He had killed one of Bruce's adopted children in Jason Todd. He had murdered Bruce's beloved and he had crippled his young protégé. And now he was after Bruce's daughter.
Helena was right of course. He had to be stopped.
And perhaps deadly force would even be necessary. Hell even mandated.
But not at the expense of her soul.
He opened his eyes. He smiled kindly at her. "You look cold. I'll go get you a blanket."
And with that he left the room. No, he fled it. He wanted away from her. He was well trained in what he did but that didn't mean that he lacked human emotions. Human anger and pain.
And he rather feared that if Helena Kyle saw how upset he was at all the Joker had done to his family, there'd no be stopping her.
And he sure as hell wasn't about to help the Joker along.
No matter how much he deserved it.
No matter. The cost was too high.
Too damn high.
END CHAPTER 4