"Breathe, Reese," Barbara Gordon said with a slight humorless smile. She
stared hard at the stone front wall of the federal prison. Her hand gripped
the metal wheel of her chair. It was a standard issue wheelchair instead of
her enhanced one.
"I am," he assured her. "I think." Involuntarily his hand fought down to his side and he scratched at the wound he had suffered weeks earlier at the Jokers' hand. It had been rewrapped in heavy gauze and tape but it still felt wet to him.
He knew it was his mind.
He'd come to see the Joker with Helena less than a week before but somehow this felt heavier. This felt like directly walking in to the middle of a ring of fire without any water.
The guard looked up at Reese suspiciously. Barbara held up some kind of badge. He took it from her and then nodded. He turned, hit a button on the wall and then stepped back as the metal door slid open granting them access to the massive federal facility.
"What was that?" Reese asked.
"Something my father gave me a long time ago when I was working with Bruce. It allowed me to be able to gain access to Arkham whenever I needed to under the label of official police business. I just amended it so that it works for the feds to."
"You're sneaky," Reese said appreciatively. "I like that."
She chuckled.
"So you ready for this?"
She shook her head. "Uh uh. Not even remotely close." She offered him a warm smile and then looked ahead of her.
There were several sliding doors and then a series of loud noises before they were buzzed in to the large room where the Joker was being held. He was cuffed and sitting behind a table. His eyes brightened considerably when he caught sight of Barbara.
"Batgirl," he purred.
She roughly pushed herself up and out of her chair and in to the steel chair seated at the opposite side of the table. She refused to speak to him from a place of weakness. From a place he'd put her.
Reese seated himself next to her, his hand gripping the side of the chair for balance. He took a deep breath and settled himself in. Vaguely he was aware of the sensation that he was out of place but he pushed it back. He was there for support and to catch any clues Barbara might miss in her heat.
"Joker," she replied coolly. "I want to know what you've done to Helena."
"No you don't," he replied, shaking his head. His wild green hair swayed causing strange shadows against the wall. "You want to know what I've done to you. How I've turned you all inside out. Whee."
She narrowed her eyes into hard slits. "I'm not here for any of your games. What did you do to her head?" She bit off the words hard, anger flashing in her green eyes.
He shook his head. "I took her legs." He made it sound so obvious.
"You have a leg fetish," Barbara muttered, rather self-depreciating. Then she looked up at him. "And you didn't take her legs. She's walking again. Now what did you do to her?"
He leaned towards her, his eyes dancing. "I broke her," he said simply.
Barbara reached out towards him but Reese quickly grabbed her arm. "Please don't make me yank you off him as well. I thought you were the more controlled one."
She snorted indelicately at him. "If you think for even one second that I am ever going to let you hurt her again, you are sadly mistaken. I'm not Batman. I won't run away from you."
It hurt to even say the words. It tore a gaping hole right through her but that was the truth of things. There was bitterness there. She could certainly understand why Bruce had fled but that didn't necessarily mean she could accept it. Or ever had. She realized that she was even probably being unfair. He had his reasons. He had his demons. None of them were exactly rational or sane but in the end he had done what he'd had to do to protect his soul for another day.
"You can't run," he cackled. Then he looked at Reese. "I'm sick of you. Killjoy."
"Reese," Barbara said. "Don't get in to it with him."
"Wasn't going to," Reese replied, wanting nothing more than to knock the green haired freak on his ass. But that wasn't why Barbara had brought him. She had needed his help getting in but she had brought him because she had known that she was far too close to the situation and to what the Joker had done to her to be controlled. That line was just too damn thin. Even for her.
The Joker whistled. He looked towards the guards and then he looked back at them. "It all spins around until it goes boom." And with that he leaned back against a wall, having apparently decided that the interview was over.
Barbara stared at the madman for a moment longer. She could feel rage moving through her. More than a small part of her wanted to revert to her childhood. She wanted to slam her fists against the table. She wanted to demand that he give her what she wanted. The son of a bitch owed her that much.
He didn't care.
Reese touched her arm gently, the heat of his palm bringing her out of her anger fit. The real world was calling. They weren't going to find any answers this way.
She lifted herself back into her chair and then turned it towards the Joker. He was playing passive, trying not to look like he cared. She moved towards him, coming close enough to touch him if she so chose. She could see the guards tense but Reese kept himself in their way.
To be honest, she could have killed him then and there. Sure, she likely would have spent the rest of her life in prison but perhaps it would have been worth it.
But Barbara Gordon was more controlled than that.
It was her blessing.
It was her fucking curse.
She leaned towards him and lowered her voice. "You live because I decide so. If something happens to Helena, if I lose her, I will rip your fucking throat out myself you son of a bitch."
Maybe his eyes bugged, maybe he showed some reaction. Or maybe, as she suspected, he just grinned at her.
She'd never know however because she had turned away from him as soon as she was done speaking. She couldn't bear the idea of seeing him laughing.
"You ready?" Reese asked quietly.
He leaned towards her, his eyes dancing. Her back was too him but he was more than capable of making his point just the same. "I own her. I own the Bat's daughter."
"Yes," she said tersely, hands clenched into fists. "Ready to go now". She wheeled herself from the room, not looking back. It felt almost like running. She didn't care.
Reese turned to regard the Joker for a long moment. He shook his head and was about to follow Barbara down the hall when he heard the Joker whistling. It sounded an awful lot like Pop Goes The Weasel. He turned back to face the green-haired maniac and locked eyes. He felt a chill shudder across his spine. Involuntarily he scratched at the wound on his side. His own personal memento of having encountered the whacked out prince of pain.
"Shh," the Joker said in a low tone. "I've got a secret."
"It's not secret, man, you're a psycho."
"Think bigger Killjoy. Think dead Bat Child."
Reese growled. He actually growled.
The Joker of course just giggled and launched into another verse of the song. Only he was singing it this time.
Reese turned and left the cell.
The Joker just clapped.
He turned towards one of the guards. "Knock knock?"
The guard sighed dramatically but decided to play. "Who's there?"
"Me," the Joker sang out.
"Me who?" the guard asked, bored stupid.
"Me watch little Bat Brat go BOOM!"
The guard startled to attention. He looked around the cell as if there was something he was supposed to see. After realizing that there apparently wasn't, he dropped back into his bored posture. "Crazy loon," he muttered, turning back to the book he had been reading.
The Joker for his part just laughed like the maniac he was.
The man circled around in front of them a few times and then stopped and smiled. He was maybe twenty-five with wild strawberry blonde hair. He looked distracted but that could have easily just been his natural state. He was wearing blue scrubs with a white lab-coat. The only part of the look he was missing was the spectacles.
"Troy Kasper," he said, almost shyly. "Uh, that is Doctor Troy Kasper."
Tim offered a smile in return. He extended his hand and the young doctor shook it firmly. "Tim Drake. And this is my associate Dinah Redmond."
Kasper took her hand as well. He lowered his eyes away from her and managed to stutter out, "Nice to meet you." He took a deep breath and collected himself. "Uh, um, what brings you to S.T.A.R?"
"Oracle."
Kasper smiled, this time a full one. When he replied, it was with great fondness. "Ah, Oracle. And what, pray tell, does the good lady need from us?"
Dinah tilted her head slightly to the side. She'd definitely have to check into this part of the great and wise Oracle. She wondered if even Helena knew about Barbara's near notoriety outside of New Gotham.
"We're running into a bit of a problem with a drug you guys may have tested out not long ago. One the Joker may be using," Tim offered.
"I heard they had the Joker in custody," Kasper said as he led the twosome through several sets of extremely thick lead-lined metal doors. They went under a red laser grid and then stepped behind another bleeping array of lights. Kasper smiled when he saw Dinah watching it all with incredulity. "Some of our work is very very important. I can't stress that enough. If it were to get into the wrong hands, no telling what could happen. Hence all the protective buffers," he explained.
"Got it," Dinah said with great amusement. It was all so surreal and that was saying a lot for a meta.
"They did," Tim said, "But this drug, I'm not sure it matters where he is."
"Alright, you got me, which one?" Kasper asked as he led them into a conference room. In the middle of the room was a large steel table. There were chairs all around it. Leather. Very expensive.
Kasper seated himself at the head of the table. There was a laptop in front of him. He flipped it open and the screen blipped to life. He typed several letter and the computer beeped. Presumably he'd gained access to the network.
"UX40."
Kasper clicked a hand against his forehead. "Ah of course. I'm just reading the email from Oracle right now. I've been working on other stuff. Uh, for Beast Boy."
Dinah lifted her eyebrow. Tim waved her off. "I'll explain later." To Kasper he said, "Barbara said you worked on the studies for it?"
"Right. Yes. I did. Hang on, let me bring up the file. Though I don't really need it; no forgetting this one."
"Why's that?"
"I've seen a lot of crazy things but a drug that forcibly opens up the psychic wavelength is a new one. It doesn't just open a dormant door; it tears a hole through the fabric of the brain. It creates a wavelength. Several of our test subjects died in the lab in the aftermath of the drug. To my knowledge the FDA never reported that."
"Why not?" Tim asked.
"Well, because the only patients who died were metas or people with less than human physiology. In fact for more humans, the drug worked as advertised. It allowed doctors to go in and remove unwanted memories. War veterans who had murdered whole villages could remove that from their brain with only three treatments. The worst of the human symptoms was persistent headaches and loss of consciousness due to emotional response. It...it...it in effect whacked out the memory part of the brain."
"So it erased it?" Dinah asked.
"Exactly," Kasper said. He turned his laptop around towards Dinah and Tim. There was a picture of a human brain on the screen. It was cut into several shaded quadrants. "Right here is where memories are stored in the human brain." He pointed to one of the sectors. "This drug allowed easy access. Problem is, we found out that the drug doesn't allow for rewriting."
"I don't follow," Dinah murmured, eyes still on the computer rendering of the brain.
Tim laughed. "You know how Helena likes to download porn on to Oracle's computer?"
"Well I didn't until recently but ok, go on," Dinah said with a smile.
"Well, she wants to get rid of it before she's caught so she deletes it. The info is gone and she can write something over the top. Save something else in that space."
"Excellent, Tim, "Kasper said, nodding emphatically. "And yes, exactly. Problem is, we discovered that the drug didn't just erase the data; it destroyed the proverbial drive. It wasn't just memory loss; it was brain damage. The FDA immediately denied the application the moment they received the study. Unfortunately it had already been leaked to the black market. I hear there is a fairly fast moving trade community for it though I'm not sure why."
"So let me get this right, any memories removed with the help of this drug are unrecoverable?" Dinah asked.
"Right. Gone for good," Kasper replied.
"But for metas, it also kills them?"
"It seems to have an extremely violent reaction. In most of our human subjects, they experienced blackouts. Upon study, we determined that they were caused anytime the person was trying to access the part of the brain that was...damaged."
"So like a war vet meeting up with his old buddies. They talk about the old times and he has an attack?" Tim put in.
"Exactly. His brain can't handle it. See, all the proper paths to the memory are there but the destination isn't. It caused a chemical reaction. Like an emergency shutdown."
Okay," Dinah said slowly. "And metas?"
"We found that the drug attempted to rewrite the entire brain. Not a full initialize and erase mind you but it tried to re-path everything. It pretty much caused, if you'll excuse the on-going analogy, a full crash of the brain."
"So everything was more severe?"
"Right. With humans, they only went into emergency shutdown mode when the pathways were triggered. It was actually possible that with a more remote memory, the subject would never experience one of the blackouts because they'd never attempt to call up the memory. With metas, we found that any severe emotional reactions triggered the shutdown mechanism. Unfortunately these constant upheavals eventually lead to a full system collapse. We lost every single meta test subject."
"Shit," Dinah said plainly. "Then we have a problem."
"I see that," Kasper said, eyes back on his screen. "I'm reading Oracle's email. I've never met Huntress but she's been mentioned to me a time or two."
"Any way to help her?" Tim asked, his face drawn and serious.
"Well, what you're doing right now is good. Having the mental block in place means that no one can further aggravate her."
"You don't know Hel...Huntress," Dinah said, shaking her head. "Finding a Pop- Tart with a broken corner can significantly piss her off."
Kasper grimaced. "Ah, I see your point." He tapped his fingers against the table. "Well, we have a couple options. I'll get the lab working. When research on UX40 stopped, we'd already started putting something together to halt the effects. I mean no telling what damage it's already done but right now, it's not deadly. If it continues to spread, it will be. If we can stop it right where it is, that'll be something."
"You said we have options," Dinah asked. She desperately wanted to get up and scream but she knew better. She had to be an adult now.
"Right. Well, one, you can put her in a coma. She won't have any bad reactions which should stop the spread of the drug."
"She hasn't had any severe reactions in about a week," Dinah noted for him. "I mean since they actually drew her into that dream world. Did Oracle tell you about that?"
Kasper nodded. "It's one of the known side-effects. One of our doctors learned that through the psychic wavelength that had been ripped open by the drug, someone with the ability to enter or board that open connection could do so at will. Another something that wasn't exactly easy to report to the FDA."
"So why hasn't she been having the reactions?"
"It's possible her body has adapted. When people have emotional reactions, their body receives signals. If your friend gets angry often enough, her body may have to started to divide the signals into different camps."
"Turned on. Devious. Annoyed. Pissed. Seriously pissed. Gonna rip your fucking head off pissed?" Tim asked with a grin.
Dinah snorted. "That's about right."
"Exactly. All the signals in her body may be only responding to a few of those responses. Probably the last two. If she's just been mildly emotional, she's probably fine. I'm guessing the likeliness of that lasting is..."
"Slim to non-existent," Dinah put in.
"Got it."
"So you said coma," Tim prompted. "What else? I mean, I just don't see her being willing to be put under. That's not like her at all."
"Well the next major step is, you need to find out who the meta is who is actually hacking in. Once you disrupt him, you'll ease a great deal of stress off of her."
"Isn't my firewall thingy doing that anyways?" Dinah asked.
"Yes and no. I mean it's certainly helping but now you're several miles away from her so the strength of it is questionable. Also, any supernatural creature experienced enough to dial up into someone's head also knows how to get past protective measures. It's only a matter of time before he figures out how."
"So I should get back to her?"
"No, stick around. We'll start working on the antidote immediately. It's certainly not the first time we've worked with our backs to the wall. I think the JLA rather prefers us in that position. We just need time. We need to buy your friend time. That said, when we do find the cure, we'll need you guys to rush it back to her. There won't be time to wait for you to drive two hours from New Gotham. And then back again."
"Right," Dinah said dully, dropping back against the seat. She looked at Tim. "I'm out of the fight."
"Don't think that," he said softly. "We're only the most important part of the fight. We're the damn cavalry."
Dinah laughed. "Okay." She stood up. "I'm gonna call Ba...Oracle and let her know what we know."
"Sounds good," Tim said.
Kasper nodded slowly. "And I guess that means off to the lab go I." He stood up then. "I'll check in as soon as I know anything."
"Thanks," Dinah said. She paused a beat. "And Doctor?"
He turned. "Hm?"
"Thank you."
He touched her face and she shook violently.
"You've returned to me," he said. "Oh I missed you so. I just want to pet you and love you and eviscerate you." He grinned at her, his words all said in the exact same sing-song tone.
She was lying on the ground, her bare flesh touching what felt like hard steel. She was naked, she could tell that much. Idly she wondered who was controlling the dream. If he was, how could he possibly know what she looked like unclothed?
He bent over her and traced a hand across her skin. She tried to tear away from him. Away from his eyes. Away from his God-awful touch. She felt so cold and disgusting. So vulnerable. It was the true meaning of the word violated.
"This is a nightmare," she gasped out. She found it amazingly hard to breath, which didn't make sense at all. It was just a dream after all. Just a bloody dream.
He shook his head, looking disappointed. "You know better. You thought you could keep me out. I don't like that." He sat down Indian style next to her. "I was hurt by that. I feel hurt by your rejection of me."
"If I were you, I'd go see a shrink," she spat out. "I hear you're fucking mine."
He slapped her and it actually hurt. She tried to lift her hand up to her cheek but he caught it in his own. She grunted in protest as he squeezed it hard. She remembered how he had snapped it like a twig not long ago.
"Helena Kyle," he said, shaking his head dramatically. "It would have been easier if you'd just accepted your fate. I gave you an easy way out."
"I didn't like your terms," she replied, tearing away from her. She curled herself into a ball. Normally she wouldn't have cared who was staring at her body, after all she was very proud of hers. His eyes however felt horribly dirty. Vile.
Like rats crawling over her.
She shook again under the imagery.
He caught her chin and lifted it. He looked deep into her eyes, his painted smile thinning into a grotesque sneer. "When you see the Bat in hell, make sure he knows what I did to his little girl." He reached forward and licked her face. "In detail."
She felt his hand trail down her skin, leaving behind a trail of rot in its wake. Dream or otherwise, it felt horrifyingly real. She felt his fingers dance over her flesh, stopping only to fondle her breast. She gasped both in pain and horror as he touched her in a way that had always been a pleasant thing for her.
Not anymore.
His intentions were very clear.
Sp perversely clear.
She felt tears streak down her face as he continued his lewd molestation of her naked form. He looked up at her and into her eyes, the red smile on his face expanding.
She screamed.
"Grab her legs!" Barbara screamed over at Reese. "Damn it, Reese, sit on her."
The handsome young detective blinked. He studied her face looking for a sign that she was joking. When he saw none, he did as he was told to do. He lifted his large frame up and laid himself down atop of Helena Kyle, pining her small body to the bed.
They had returned to the Clocktower only minutes earlier to find Helena in the middle of what looked like a nasty nightmare. She was screaming and appeared to be weeping. All at the same time. Alfred had told them that she'd been like this for almost ten minutes and that he hadn't been able to bring her out of it. The old man looked scared to death.
"I said sit on her not lay on her," Barbara said, wheeling over to them. They were in Helena's room. According to Alfred she had wanted to lie down not long after they had left for the prison. Exhaustion and fatigue had come over her quickly and she'd been out within minutes.
"Sorry," Reese muttered, though he wasn't. The irony of this being the closest he'd ever gotten to Helena wasn't lost on him.
Barbara placed a hand to Helena's forehead. "She's burning up." She turned to Alfred. "There's a vial of blue liquid on the upper counter in the lab. Get me that and a needle."
He never hesitated, fleeing the room like a bat out of hell. So to speak anyway.
"What are you giving her?" Reese asked, working his ass off to stay atop her. She was bucking him like a bronco. Under better circumstances, it all really would have been a turn-on. Right now he just felt sick to his stomach.
"A drug that will completely knock her out. Out and away from REM sleep. Somehow he's gotten back in. The firewall is down."
Alfred returned, holding out the requested items. Barbara took them from him quickly and filled the hypodermic needle. She inserted it into Helena's neck, not wanting to waste time looking for another vein. She emptied the entire plunger, watching the blue liquid flow out of it.
After about two minutes, Helena stopped shaking. Reese waited a few seconds longer and the finally dismounted. He let out a breath of caught air. "Damn," he said. He placed his palm against Helena's cheek and wiped away the tears that had spilled against her skin.
Barbara nodded. "Oh yeah. We're in trouble."
She was about to say more when she heard a loud beep from the front room. Ten seconds passed and then Dinah's voice filled the room. "Barbara? Are you there? I have some information."
Barbara exchanged a look with Reese and Alfred. Sighing dramatically she said, "About damn time."
END CHAPTER 5
"I am," he assured her. "I think." Involuntarily his hand fought down to his side and he scratched at the wound he had suffered weeks earlier at the Jokers' hand. It had been rewrapped in heavy gauze and tape but it still felt wet to him.
He knew it was his mind.
He'd come to see the Joker with Helena less than a week before but somehow this felt heavier. This felt like directly walking in to the middle of a ring of fire without any water.
The guard looked up at Reese suspiciously. Barbara held up some kind of badge. He took it from her and then nodded. He turned, hit a button on the wall and then stepped back as the metal door slid open granting them access to the massive federal facility.
"What was that?" Reese asked.
"Something my father gave me a long time ago when I was working with Bruce. It allowed me to be able to gain access to Arkham whenever I needed to under the label of official police business. I just amended it so that it works for the feds to."
"You're sneaky," Reese said appreciatively. "I like that."
She chuckled.
"So you ready for this?"
She shook her head. "Uh uh. Not even remotely close." She offered him a warm smile and then looked ahead of her.
There were several sliding doors and then a series of loud noises before they were buzzed in to the large room where the Joker was being held. He was cuffed and sitting behind a table. His eyes brightened considerably when he caught sight of Barbara.
"Batgirl," he purred.
She roughly pushed herself up and out of her chair and in to the steel chair seated at the opposite side of the table. She refused to speak to him from a place of weakness. From a place he'd put her.
Reese seated himself next to her, his hand gripping the side of the chair for balance. He took a deep breath and settled himself in. Vaguely he was aware of the sensation that he was out of place but he pushed it back. He was there for support and to catch any clues Barbara might miss in her heat.
"Joker," she replied coolly. "I want to know what you've done to Helena."
"No you don't," he replied, shaking his head. His wild green hair swayed causing strange shadows against the wall. "You want to know what I've done to you. How I've turned you all inside out. Whee."
She narrowed her eyes into hard slits. "I'm not here for any of your games. What did you do to her head?" She bit off the words hard, anger flashing in her green eyes.
He shook his head. "I took her legs." He made it sound so obvious.
"You have a leg fetish," Barbara muttered, rather self-depreciating. Then she looked up at him. "And you didn't take her legs. She's walking again. Now what did you do to her?"
He leaned towards her, his eyes dancing. "I broke her," he said simply.
Barbara reached out towards him but Reese quickly grabbed her arm. "Please don't make me yank you off him as well. I thought you were the more controlled one."
She snorted indelicately at him. "If you think for even one second that I am ever going to let you hurt her again, you are sadly mistaken. I'm not Batman. I won't run away from you."
It hurt to even say the words. It tore a gaping hole right through her but that was the truth of things. There was bitterness there. She could certainly understand why Bruce had fled but that didn't necessarily mean she could accept it. Or ever had. She realized that she was even probably being unfair. He had his reasons. He had his demons. None of them were exactly rational or sane but in the end he had done what he'd had to do to protect his soul for another day.
"You can't run," he cackled. Then he looked at Reese. "I'm sick of you. Killjoy."
"Reese," Barbara said. "Don't get in to it with him."
"Wasn't going to," Reese replied, wanting nothing more than to knock the green haired freak on his ass. But that wasn't why Barbara had brought him. She had needed his help getting in but she had brought him because she had known that she was far too close to the situation and to what the Joker had done to her to be controlled. That line was just too damn thin. Even for her.
The Joker whistled. He looked towards the guards and then he looked back at them. "It all spins around until it goes boom." And with that he leaned back against a wall, having apparently decided that the interview was over.
Barbara stared at the madman for a moment longer. She could feel rage moving through her. More than a small part of her wanted to revert to her childhood. She wanted to slam her fists against the table. She wanted to demand that he give her what she wanted. The son of a bitch owed her that much.
He didn't care.
Reese touched her arm gently, the heat of his palm bringing her out of her anger fit. The real world was calling. They weren't going to find any answers this way.
She lifted herself back into her chair and then turned it towards the Joker. He was playing passive, trying not to look like he cared. She moved towards him, coming close enough to touch him if she so chose. She could see the guards tense but Reese kept himself in their way.
To be honest, she could have killed him then and there. Sure, she likely would have spent the rest of her life in prison but perhaps it would have been worth it.
But Barbara Gordon was more controlled than that.
It was her blessing.
It was her fucking curse.
She leaned towards him and lowered her voice. "You live because I decide so. If something happens to Helena, if I lose her, I will rip your fucking throat out myself you son of a bitch."
Maybe his eyes bugged, maybe he showed some reaction. Or maybe, as she suspected, he just grinned at her.
She'd never know however because she had turned away from him as soon as she was done speaking. She couldn't bear the idea of seeing him laughing.
"You ready?" Reese asked quietly.
He leaned towards her, his eyes dancing. Her back was too him but he was more than capable of making his point just the same. "I own her. I own the Bat's daughter."
"Yes," she said tersely, hands clenched into fists. "Ready to go now". She wheeled herself from the room, not looking back. It felt almost like running. She didn't care.
Reese turned to regard the Joker for a long moment. He shook his head and was about to follow Barbara down the hall when he heard the Joker whistling. It sounded an awful lot like Pop Goes The Weasel. He turned back to face the green-haired maniac and locked eyes. He felt a chill shudder across his spine. Involuntarily he scratched at the wound on his side. His own personal memento of having encountered the whacked out prince of pain.
"Shh," the Joker said in a low tone. "I've got a secret."
"It's not secret, man, you're a psycho."
"Think bigger Killjoy. Think dead Bat Child."
Reese growled. He actually growled.
The Joker of course just giggled and launched into another verse of the song. Only he was singing it this time.
Reese turned and left the cell.
The Joker just clapped.
He turned towards one of the guards. "Knock knock?"
The guard sighed dramatically but decided to play. "Who's there?"
"Me," the Joker sang out.
"Me who?" the guard asked, bored stupid.
"Me watch little Bat Brat go BOOM!"
The guard startled to attention. He looked around the cell as if there was something he was supposed to see. After realizing that there apparently wasn't, he dropped back into his bored posture. "Crazy loon," he muttered, turning back to the book he had been reading.
The Joker for his part just laughed like the maniac he was.
The man circled around in front of them a few times and then stopped and smiled. He was maybe twenty-five with wild strawberry blonde hair. He looked distracted but that could have easily just been his natural state. He was wearing blue scrubs with a white lab-coat. The only part of the look he was missing was the spectacles.
"Troy Kasper," he said, almost shyly. "Uh, that is Doctor Troy Kasper."
Tim offered a smile in return. He extended his hand and the young doctor shook it firmly. "Tim Drake. And this is my associate Dinah Redmond."
Kasper took her hand as well. He lowered his eyes away from her and managed to stutter out, "Nice to meet you." He took a deep breath and collected himself. "Uh, um, what brings you to S.T.A.R?"
"Oracle."
Kasper smiled, this time a full one. When he replied, it was with great fondness. "Ah, Oracle. And what, pray tell, does the good lady need from us?"
Dinah tilted her head slightly to the side. She'd definitely have to check into this part of the great and wise Oracle. She wondered if even Helena knew about Barbara's near notoriety outside of New Gotham.
"We're running into a bit of a problem with a drug you guys may have tested out not long ago. One the Joker may be using," Tim offered.
"I heard they had the Joker in custody," Kasper said as he led the twosome through several sets of extremely thick lead-lined metal doors. They went under a red laser grid and then stepped behind another bleeping array of lights. Kasper smiled when he saw Dinah watching it all with incredulity. "Some of our work is very very important. I can't stress that enough. If it were to get into the wrong hands, no telling what could happen. Hence all the protective buffers," he explained.
"Got it," Dinah said with great amusement. It was all so surreal and that was saying a lot for a meta.
"They did," Tim said, "But this drug, I'm not sure it matters where he is."
"Alright, you got me, which one?" Kasper asked as he led them into a conference room. In the middle of the room was a large steel table. There were chairs all around it. Leather. Very expensive.
Kasper seated himself at the head of the table. There was a laptop in front of him. He flipped it open and the screen blipped to life. He typed several letter and the computer beeped. Presumably he'd gained access to the network.
"UX40."
Kasper clicked a hand against his forehead. "Ah of course. I'm just reading the email from Oracle right now. I've been working on other stuff. Uh, for Beast Boy."
Dinah lifted her eyebrow. Tim waved her off. "I'll explain later." To Kasper he said, "Barbara said you worked on the studies for it?"
"Right. Yes. I did. Hang on, let me bring up the file. Though I don't really need it; no forgetting this one."
"Why's that?"
"I've seen a lot of crazy things but a drug that forcibly opens up the psychic wavelength is a new one. It doesn't just open a dormant door; it tears a hole through the fabric of the brain. It creates a wavelength. Several of our test subjects died in the lab in the aftermath of the drug. To my knowledge the FDA never reported that."
"Why not?" Tim asked.
"Well, because the only patients who died were metas or people with less than human physiology. In fact for more humans, the drug worked as advertised. It allowed doctors to go in and remove unwanted memories. War veterans who had murdered whole villages could remove that from their brain with only three treatments. The worst of the human symptoms was persistent headaches and loss of consciousness due to emotional response. It...it...it in effect whacked out the memory part of the brain."
"So it erased it?" Dinah asked.
"Exactly," Kasper said. He turned his laptop around towards Dinah and Tim. There was a picture of a human brain on the screen. It was cut into several shaded quadrants. "Right here is where memories are stored in the human brain." He pointed to one of the sectors. "This drug allowed easy access. Problem is, we found out that the drug doesn't allow for rewriting."
"I don't follow," Dinah murmured, eyes still on the computer rendering of the brain.
Tim laughed. "You know how Helena likes to download porn on to Oracle's computer?"
"Well I didn't until recently but ok, go on," Dinah said with a smile.
"Well, she wants to get rid of it before she's caught so she deletes it. The info is gone and she can write something over the top. Save something else in that space."
"Excellent, Tim, "Kasper said, nodding emphatically. "And yes, exactly. Problem is, we discovered that the drug didn't just erase the data; it destroyed the proverbial drive. It wasn't just memory loss; it was brain damage. The FDA immediately denied the application the moment they received the study. Unfortunately it had already been leaked to the black market. I hear there is a fairly fast moving trade community for it though I'm not sure why."
"So let me get this right, any memories removed with the help of this drug are unrecoverable?" Dinah asked.
"Right. Gone for good," Kasper replied.
"But for metas, it also kills them?"
"It seems to have an extremely violent reaction. In most of our human subjects, they experienced blackouts. Upon study, we determined that they were caused anytime the person was trying to access the part of the brain that was...damaged."
"So like a war vet meeting up with his old buddies. They talk about the old times and he has an attack?" Tim put in.
"Exactly. His brain can't handle it. See, all the proper paths to the memory are there but the destination isn't. It caused a chemical reaction. Like an emergency shutdown."
Okay," Dinah said slowly. "And metas?"
"We found that the drug attempted to rewrite the entire brain. Not a full initialize and erase mind you but it tried to re-path everything. It pretty much caused, if you'll excuse the on-going analogy, a full crash of the brain."
"So everything was more severe?"
"Right. With humans, they only went into emergency shutdown mode when the pathways were triggered. It was actually possible that with a more remote memory, the subject would never experience one of the blackouts because they'd never attempt to call up the memory. With metas, we found that any severe emotional reactions triggered the shutdown mechanism. Unfortunately these constant upheavals eventually lead to a full system collapse. We lost every single meta test subject."
"Shit," Dinah said plainly. "Then we have a problem."
"I see that," Kasper said, eyes back on his screen. "I'm reading Oracle's email. I've never met Huntress but she's been mentioned to me a time or two."
"Any way to help her?" Tim asked, his face drawn and serious.
"Well, what you're doing right now is good. Having the mental block in place means that no one can further aggravate her."
"You don't know Hel...Huntress," Dinah said, shaking her head. "Finding a Pop- Tart with a broken corner can significantly piss her off."
Kasper grimaced. "Ah, I see your point." He tapped his fingers against the table. "Well, we have a couple options. I'll get the lab working. When research on UX40 stopped, we'd already started putting something together to halt the effects. I mean no telling what damage it's already done but right now, it's not deadly. If it continues to spread, it will be. If we can stop it right where it is, that'll be something."
"You said we have options," Dinah asked. She desperately wanted to get up and scream but she knew better. She had to be an adult now.
"Right. Well, one, you can put her in a coma. She won't have any bad reactions which should stop the spread of the drug."
"She hasn't had any severe reactions in about a week," Dinah noted for him. "I mean since they actually drew her into that dream world. Did Oracle tell you about that?"
Kasper nodded. "It's one of the known side-effects. One of our doctors learned that through the psychic wavelength that had been ripped open by the drug, someone with the ability to enter or board that open connection could do so at will. Another something that wasn't exactly easy to report to the FDA."
"So why hasn't she been having the reactions?"
"It's possible her body has adapted. When people have emotional reactions, their body receives signals. If your friend gets angry often enough, her body may have to started to divide the signals into different camps."
"Turned on. Devious. Annoyed. Pissed. Seriously pissed. Gonna rip your fucking head off pissed?" Tim asked with a grin.
Dinah snorted. "That's about right."
"Exactly. All the signals in her body may be only responding to a few of those responses. Probably the last two. If she's just been mildly emotional, she's probably fine. I'm guessing the likeliness of that lasting is..."
"Slim to non-existent," Dinah put in.
"Got it."
"So you said coma," Tim prompted. "What else? I mean, I just don't see her being willing to be put under. That's not like her at all."
"Well the next major step is, you need to find out who the meta is who is actually hacking in. Once you disrupt him, you'll ease a great deal of stress off of her."
"Isn't my firewall thingy doing that anyways?" Dinah asked.
"Yes and no. I mean it's certainly helping but now you're several miles away from her so the strength of it is questionable. Also, any supernatural creature experienced enough to dial up into someone's head also knows how to get past protective measures. It's only a matter of time before he figures out how."
"So I should get back to her?"
"No, stick around. We'll start working on the antidote immediately. It's certainly not the first time we've worked with our backs to the wall. I think the JLA rather prefers us in that position. We just need time. We need to buy your friend time. That said, when we do find the cure, we'll need you guys to rush it back to her. There won't be time to wait for you to drive two hours from New Gotham. And then back again."
"Right," Dinah said dully, dropping back against the seat. She looked at Tim. "I'm out of the fight."
"Don't think that," he said softly. "We're only the most important part of the fight. We're the damn cavalry."
Dinah laughed. "Okay." She stood up. "I'm gonna call Ba...Oracle and let her know what we know."
"Sounds good," Tim said.
Kasper nodded slowly. "And I guess that means off to the lab go I." He stood up then. "I'll check in as soon as I know anything."
"Thanks," Dinah said. She paused a beat. "And Doctor?"
He turned. "Hm?"
"Thank you."
He touched her face and she shook violently.
"You've returned to me," he said. "Oh I missed you so. I just want to pet you and love you and eviscerate you." He grinned at her, his words all said in the exact same sing-song tone.
She was lying on the ground, her bare flesh touching what felt like hard steel. She was naked, she could tell that much. Idly she wondered who was controlling the dream. If he was, how could he possibly know what she looked like unclothed?
He bent over her and traced a hand across her skin. She tried to tear away from him. Away from his eyes. Away from his God-awful touch. She felt so cold and disgusting. So vulnerable. It was the true meaning of the word violated.
"This is a nightmare," she gasped out. She found it amazingly hard to breath, which didn't make sense at all. It was just a dream after all. Just a bloody dream.
He shook his head, looking disappointed. "You know better. You thought you could keep me out. I don't like that." He sat down Indian style next to her. "I was hurt by that. I feel hurt by your rejection of me."
"If I were you, I'd go see a shrink," she spat out. "I hear you're fucking mine."
He slapped her and it actually hurt. She tried to lift her hand up to her cheek but he caught it in his own. She grunted in protest as he squeezed it hard. She remembered how he had snapped it like a twig not long ago.
"Helena Kyle," he said, shaking his head dramatically. "It would have been easier if you'd just accepted your fate. I gave you an easy way out."
"I didn't like your terms," she replied, tearing away from her. She curled herself into a ball. Normally she wouldn't have cared who was staring at her body, after all she was very proud of hers. His eyes however felt horribly dirty. Vile.
Like rats crawling over her.
She shook again under the imagery.
He caught her chin and lifted it. He looked deep into her eyes, his painted smile thinning into a grotesque sneer. "When you see the Bat in hell, make sure he knows what I did to his little girl." He reached forward and licked her face. "In detail."
She felt his hand trail down her skin, leaving behind a trail of rot in its wake. Dream or otherwise, it felt horrifyingly real. She felt his fingers dance over her flesh, stopping only to fondle her breast. She gasped both in pain and horror as he touched her in a way that had always been a pleasant thing for her.
Not anymore.
His intentions were very clear.
Sp perversely clear.
She felt tears streak down her face as he continued his lewd molestation of her naked form. He looked up at her and into her eyes, the red smile on his face expanding.
She screamed.
"Grab her legs!" Barbara screamed over at Reese. "Damn it, Reese, sit on her."
The handsome young detective blinked. He studied her face looking for a sign that she was joking. When he saw none, he did as he was told to do. He lifted his large frame up and laid himself down atop of Helena Kyle, pining her small body to the bed.
They had returned to the Clocktower only minutes earlier to find Helena in the middle of what looked like a nasty nightmare. She was screaming and appeared to be weeping. All at the same time. Alfred had told them that she'd been like this for almost ten minutes and that he hadn't been able to bring her out of it. The old man looked scared to death.
"I said sit on her not lay on her," Barbara said, wheeling over to them. They were in Helena's room. According to Alfred she had wanted to lie down not long after they had left for the prison. Exhaustion and fatigue had come over her quickly and she'd been out within minutes.
"Sorry," Reese muttered, though he wasn't. The irony of this being the closest he'd ever gotten to Helena wasn't lost on him.
Barbara placed a hand to Helena's forehead. "She's burning up." She turned to Alfred. "There's a vial of blue liquid on the upper counter in the lab. Get me that and a needle."
He never hesitated, fleeing the room like a bat out of hell. So to speak anyway.
"What are you giving her?" Reese asked, working his ass off to stay atop her. She was bucking him like a bronco. Under better circumstances, it all really would have been a turn-on. Right now he just felt sick to his stomach.
"A drug that will completely knock her out. Out and away from REM sleep. Somehow he's gotten back in. The firewall is down."
Alfred returned, holding out the requested items. Barbara took them from him quickly and filled the hypodermic needle. She inserted it into Helena's neck, not wanting to waste time looking for another vein. She emptied the entire plunger, watching the blue liquid flow out of it.
After about two minutes, Helena stopped shaking. Reese waited a few seconds longer and the finally dismounted. He let out a breath of caught air. "Damn," he said. He placed his palm against Helena's cheek and wiped away the tears that had spilled against her skin.
Barbara nodded. "Oh yeah. We're in trouble."
She was about to say more when she heard a loud beep from the front room. Ten seconds passed and then Dinah's voice filled the room. "Barbara? Are you there? I have some information."
Barbara exchanged a look with Reese and Alfred. Sighing dramatically she said, "About damn time."
END CHAPTER 5