"Dinah?"
She groaned and sat up, her hand going out to her face. She pushed strands of stray blonde hair away from her eyes and then indelicately mumbled, "Mmm, what? Did I forget to put the toilet seat down again?"
Tim snorted. "I don't want to know. I don't want to know....okay, I so want to know? The toilet seat? I mean, do you pee standing up?"
Dinah blinked and then blushed, red spreading over her pale cheeks. "Tim."
"Yep," he grinned, amused at her discomfort.
"I didn't say that."
"You so did."
She looked around, trying to change the subject. "How long did I sleep?"
"Five hours maybe?"
"Too long," she insisted. "Anything?"
"Yeah, I think so. Dr. Kasper is on his way down now."
"Good. That's good."
"Toilet seat. Talk. Now."
She flipped her hand dismissively. When it became obvious that he wasn't going to let it go she sighed dramatically. "Not the boy's seat, the lid. It's no big deal. There was a time....a couple weeks back...see, Helena likes to sit on the toilet in the morning when she gets ready..."
"Oh no," Tim grinned, seeing where it was going.
Dinah grimaced. "Yeah. She stayed over one night, went in there to get ready and she may have...well she...okay she fell into the toilet." She shook her head. "We had a bit of a yelling match about that."
He slapped the table hard, laughter rolling away from him. Dinah was stunned by the force of it; it was like a tidal wave of mirth. Before she knew it she was laughing with him.
"Oh God," he said, almost near tears. "I am so gonna harass her about that."
"Don't," Dinah insisted, still laughing. "She'll kill me."
"Too bad," he grinned. "That's just...that's priceless. Fucking priceless."
"Am I interrupting?" a voice said from the door.
The two of them turned to see Troy Kasper leaning casually against the doorframe. His hair was mussed and he looked tired but otherwise fully aware. He was holding a small vial in his left hand.
"No," Tim said quickly. "Just a little punchy I think we both are."
"I can imagine," Kasper said as he entered the room. He winked at Dinah who blushed profusely. That just seemed to amuse Tim even more.
"So Doc," she started, tripping over her words. "What do you have for us?"
"The vaccine," he said, pride in his tone. He looked wiped out but he was beaming as he held up the vial with the light purplish liquid in it.
"Really?" Tim asked, standing up. Kasper handed him the vial and Tm turned it over in his palm. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. Absolutely."
"Oh my God, you did it," Dinah exclaimed, overcome by emotion. She strode over to Kasper and hugged him tightly. It was his turn to blush.
"Uh yeah," he stammered, enjoying the physical contact but also stunned by it. He patted Dinah's back, uncertain of what else to do.
"Dinah, either kiss the man or let him breathe," Tim quipped.
Dinah apparently decided to do the first one.
She bent upwards and planted a hard wet kiss right on the young doctor's lips. He gasped but accepted the contact, red flushing out his cheeks. Tim laughed behind him.
Dinah finally broke away, looking sheepish. "Sorry," she said softly. "The moment."
"R...r....right," Kasper stuttered. "Of course. I understand completely."
"Good," she said. Then she cocked her head to the side. "Wait, something's wrong..."
"Dinah?" Tim asked, coming to her side.
"There's something else, right?" Dinah pressed Kasper.
He swallowed hard, gathering himself. After a long moment he finally spoke. "Yes, that's right." He pointed to Tim. "Look, that vial...right now that's all we have. It'll take at least another forty-eight hours to create another batch."
"So we get this one to Helena then," Tim said softly. "No problem."
"Right but here's the other thing; that serum is extremely pro-active in it's materials."
"What does that mean? Dinah asked, her brow knitting in frustration and confusion.
"It means if you don't inject that into Huntress within twelve hours, the serum will be useless," Kasper informed them, his eyes still on Dinah. He could see the panic in her expression. "It will have vented all of its active components."
Tim whistled. "Damn."
"The I guess we'd better get going. It's a long enough drive back to New Gotham," Dinah said, her voice almost hazy and distant. Tim settled a hand on her shoulder, trying to encourage her. She smiled at his effort.
"Good luck," Kasper said. "We'll start on a new batch but I fear..."
"She doesn't have the time," Dinah said quickly. "We'll get this to her." She turned to grab her leather jacket off the chair. She pulled it over her shoulders and then indicated towards Tim for him to follow her. She'd clearly taken the lead position. Tim acknowledged it and slid behind her.
Dinah turned back at the last moment to regard Dr. Kasper. "I won't forget this," she told him, eyes locked on his.
He smiled boyishly. "God speed."
She forced her hands against the sides of her head and pushed, whimpering in agony as she tried to make the pain in her head stop. The heels of her palms bit harshly into her eye sockets as she intensified the contact.
"Helena," Barbara cried out as she wheeled into the lab. Reese was maybe two steps behind her, wearing an expression that looked like terror. He grabbed a cloth off the counter as he approached.
"Put your head back," Reese ordered as he sat down next to her. He reached out and yanked at her hands. She slapped him away.
"Helena," Barbara admonished gently. "Move your hands."
The young woman shook her head. "No. Make it stop."
Barbara grabbed for her hands and yanked them roughly away from Helena's face. There were small bruises forming in the spots where they'd been. Blood trickled out of Helena's nose, pooling just above her lips. It wasn't much yet but just the same, it was frightening. Minutes earlier Helena had been deep in an induced coma, resting peacefully for the first time in weeks. That little bomb hidden somewhere in her skull had changed that, ripping her awake.
"I need you to listen," Barbara started. "I need you to trust me."
"Not an issue," Helena replied, squeezing her eyes shut. "I don't...was dreaming..."
"Helena, there's something in your head."
"It's an explosive," Reese put in. He couldn't quite believe his own words. It sounded insane even to his own ears. But then again, lately, nothing was exactly normal.
She turned to look at him. She laughed. "An explosive? Did you hit your head?"
"He's telling the truth," Barbara said softly. She reached out to touch Helena and her fingers grazed her cheek. "There is small vibration bomb behind your left ear." She swallowed hard. "It's been set off."
"Then I'd be dead," Helena said dully. "So obviously you're wrong." She grit her teeth hard against the pain, desperate not to sound like an idiot muttering half sentences. She tried to convince herself that the pain really wasn't any worse than if she were suffering from a nasty hangover.
Didn't exactly fly but it would work for the time being.
"It pulled you out of the coma. Your body told you something was going on and it pulled you away from the protective blanket we created for you."
"Then get it out," Helena replied in a tiny voice. She looked up at her mentor, her blue eyes terrified and wide. She looked so much like a scared child. She placed her hand over Barbara's. "Please?"
"We will," Barbara insisted. "But I need you to calm down and trust me. I know right now you're scared..."
"I don't get scared," Helena snapped.
"Okay, then I know that you're angry," Barbara said with a slight smirk. Helena apparently didn't catch the humor and instead her body grew rigid and tense. She was about ready to erupt with fury. She jumped up and away from the bed, yanking at one of the wires in her arm. She pulled it and two others loose and then paced away from Reese and Barbara.
"Are you fucking kidding me? I'm angry? Oh no, this isn't anger..."
"Helena," Reese warned. "You've got to stop or you'll collapse again..."
Helena moved over towards the counter on the far side and bent over it. She placed her palms flat against the tiled surface and stared down at it. Her eyes locked on an unused monitor sitting on the counter. "I won't go down like this," she muttered.
"Helena," Barbara begged, moving towards her. "Please, time is of the essence."
Helena laughed in anger. "Time? Seems we're all out." She picked the monitor up and spinning around threw it with all her strength against the opposite wall. It exploded in a spray of plastic, glass and metal. Reese instinctively moved in front of Barbara to shield her from any debris but none came within two feet. "I'm not fucking going down like this. I'm not dying like this!"
She moved to pick up another monitor but Reese was quicker. He grabbed her hands and spun her around. "Stop this now."
She opened her mouth to speak but he grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and pushed her back towards the bed. He gave her one more shove and then she was lying flat on her back on the mattress.
"You're not going to die," Barbara assured her. "But right now you have a few things working against you. You know I will move heaven and hell to save you but for once in your life, Helena, I need you to fight for yourself. Let go of the anger and just trust me."
Helena blinked.
She sagged back against the mattress, eyes on the ceiling. A stray tear escaped her left ear and drifted down her cheek. She wiped it away roughly. "I trust you," she replied quietly. "Don't let me die."
Barbara nodded. She looked at Reese. "Under the counter there is a red med kit. It has some special tools in it."
"You're just going to cut into her head? How do you know that Harley was telling the truth about where she put it?" Reese pushed, not at all happy about where this was headed. Helena had already been through so damn much.
"I don't," Barbara replied thoughtfully. "The kit?"
Reese dropped into a crouch beside one of the counters. He opened a cupboard and yanked out a long red box that had a Red Cross symbol on it. He held it up to Barbara. She took it from him and opened it. The first thing she pulled out was something that looked like a thin tube maybe four inches in length. There was a white button on the side. "What is that thing?" Reese asked.
Helena glanced up to see what Barbara was holding and scowled. "It's a goddamn metal detector."
Barbara chuckled. "More or less."
She pushed the button on it and it began to pulse a pale blue. "That's a metal detector?" Reese asked, incredulous.
"Mmm hmm," Barbara mumbled. To Helena she said, "Hold still will you please?"
"I am," Helena muttered as she fidgeted anxiously on the bed. Her wounded and wrapped legs swung casually in front of her, their rhythm painful to watch.
"Oh yes I forgot," Barbara commented dryly as she lifted the device towards Helena's head. "For you this is still."
Helena was about to reply when a sharp pain flashed through her skull. She squeezed her eyes tightly together to stop the rush but she was unable to keep from crying out. The blood in her nose trickled down over her lips, mixing with her saliva. Reese pressed the cloth he had grabbed when he had entered the room against her mouth, washing away the crimson liquid. "Barbara," Helena moaned.
"Deep breaths," the redhead ordered. "Just stay with me." She brought the strange wand over by Helena's right ear. It remained the light blue, changing colors only when it passed by the brunette's earrings. She looked at Reese and then brought the device over behind Helena's left ear.
Almost immediately the color of the wand changed from blue to a shimmering red. It was almost like a red alert signal blaring to life. Barbara moved it several centimeters in each direction, gauging the size of the device. "It's here," she finally said. "Right where Harley said it would be."
"I don't get," Reese said, shaking his head. "Why did she tell us?"
Helena screamed in pain, her hands spasming. She jammed her fingers into the mattress, tearing the sheets.
"I don't know," Barbara admitted. "Reese, hold her. That bomb is coming out right now." She bent over Helena and pushed her brown hair away from her ear. Leaning forward she inspected a small area of skin that was discolored. She wanted to ask Helena questions but the pained look on the girls face told her that right now would be a bad time for answers.
Reese reached out and took Helena's hand, squeezing it tightly. She put her other hand over his and he turned it so that both of her tiny palms were encased in his much larger ones. He reached forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. The fear he could see in her wide blue eyes horrified him.
"Please," she whimpered.
"Hold on," Barbara muttered, green eyes locked on the stretch of skin that had obviously been disturbed in order to allow for installation of the vibration bomb. She reached over into the kit and extracted a small scalpel. "Reese, for Gods sakes, hold her tight."
He slid his arms around Helena's waste and she bent forward into his chest, allowing Barbara a better view of the back of her head. "Go ahead," Reese urged the redhead.
She swallowed hard and then pressed the scalpel to the rough skin. She made a small incision and then cut downwards. Helena hissed in pain but remained silent.
"Shouldn't you be wearing gloves?" Reese asked idly, knowing full well that was an inane question but needing for the room not to be completely silent.
Barbara had other ideas. "Yes," she admitted. "Shut up."
He shook his head but did as he was told, instead folding Helena closer. He felt her slide her teeth around a piece of his tee shirt. He wondered what she was doing until another wave of pain cut through her and she bit down hard, turning her shriek of agony into a muffled grunt.
Barbara continued cutting until she was satisfied with the area that she had opened up. She felt around with her thumb until she hit something that felt like a large welt. "Hold still," she said. "I need to see what this is."
"Hurry," Helena exclaimed, tears sliding down her cheeks and mixing with the now steady stream of blood that was falling from her nose.
Barbara narrowed her eyes and bent forward, examining the small device that she uncovered. It looked just like the one in the picture only on its underbelly was several small wires that looked like strands of hair. Really, they were that thin.
"Can you get it out?" Reese asked, feeling Helena bit his shirt again. This time her teeth grazed his chest and took a healthy bite out of his flesh. If she tasted his blood in her mouth, she certainly didn't let on.
"I think so," Barbara mumbled. She picked up the scalpel again and bent forward. She sliced at the wires with infinite care, horrified that she was about to kill Helena. The uncertainty of what she was doing terrified her.
But there just wasn't time to make sure.
"She's bleeding from her ears," Reese commented, eyes wide. He could see the thin crimson stream that was leaking down the left side of Helena's jaw. He felt her crunch into his chest again, this time holding herself there for almost twenty seconds before the spasm passed. One look down at her skin and he could see that she had gone completely clammy and cold.
If Barbara heard him she didn't show any sign. She continued splicing away at the thin wires that had melded themselves to her tissue. She could feel the electricity pouring away from them but they didn't have enough voltage to electrocute her. That wasn't their purpose anyways.
She finally looked up at Reese and their eyes locked. She looked down at the shaking girl who was completely buried against him. Her arms clutched at his chest and she was digging her face into his chest. "God help us," she mouthed to Reese.
He nodded at her. "Do it," he whispered.
She bent back over and reached placed a pair of tweezers into the incision. She dug around for a few moments, searching for a handle. She finally found one and she began to yank. The little bomb resisted, sending shockwaves up the plastic tweezers. Barbara realized that her hand was trembling but that just solidified her resolve; the damn device was trying to stay implanted. It was trying to scare her off.
She yanked harder and it popped free, sliding out of the incision and shuddering violently against the tweezers. It was covered in blood and damaged tissue. The wound oozed crimson fluid down the back of Helena's neck.
"It's out," she announced.
"Barbara, get rid of it," Reese ordered, eyes locked on the little bomb.
"What?" she said, looking up at him with confusion. Then she gasped as one of the wires tried to cut into her palm, almost as if it had its own mind. The metal tentacle dug into her flesh. She tore at it, yanking it away from her skin. Holding it away from her body with the tweezers she wheeled over to one of the counters. There was a jar sitting on the flat surface that had a bubbling liquid in it. She dropped the bomb into it.
It gurgled in the water and then exploded, destroying the glass container in the process.
"That's some boom," Reese noted. He glanced down at the broken glass on the counter. "Was that acid? Bubbling acid?"
"Yes," Barbara replied dryly. "Experiment. Keep holding her."
"She's got a hold on me," Reese chuckled. He grimaced a bit in pain when it occurred to him that she was still biting into his skin.
Barbara slid back behind Helena and began to probe the wound, looking for any unwanted debris. When she was reasonably satisfied that there wasn't any, she began to clean it out. The area around the disturbed skin was already turning several shades of purple. "That bitch really did a number on her," Barbara commented as she dabbed at the incision. "Injected her with an experimental drug and put a bomb in her head. That's some hands-on therapy."
"Gallows humor?" Reese asked.
"Something like that," she admitted with a sigh. "Hand me that plastic container over there. I'm gonna stitch her up."
"So why did Harley tell us where the bomb was?" Reese asked, handing her the plastic box.
"Because she still has the ace in the hole of knowing that drug is in her," Barbara replied as she started to stitch up the wound. Several minutes passed in silence before she spoke again. "And because she's a psycho and as a general rule they all like to rant about their plans. Trust me on this, it's Villains 101."
"Gotcha," he said. "Hey...oh hey, she's out."
Barbara lifted an eyebrow. "The drug?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "One moment she's biting me and the next she's not." He reached over and ran his fingers through her sweat-drenched hair.
"We don't have a lot of time," Barbara said with a sigh. "We need that vaccine. I can't put her back under and she will continue getting emotional the closer she gets. That will speed it up."
"She'll make it," Reese replied shortly.
Barbara lifted an eyebrow. "Didn't take you for being much for false hopes," she commented. "Lift her head up."
He did as he was told, pulling Helena free of his now torn and bloody shirt. Her blood had mixed with his on the front of the fabric. Her face was slack and pale but she was still breathing and for now that was something. "I'm not," he admitted. "But we didn't come this far to lose her now."
"That I can agree to," Barbara chuckled as she finished up the stitching. She placed a gauze pad over the wound. "Alfred," she called out.
The butler appeared in the doorway immediately. So quickly in fact that it was fairly obvious that he'd been right outside the entire time. "Yes?"
"We need to bathe her. Will you draw the bath in my room? Make it cold, we need to cool her down."
"Of course," he said. He glanced once at Helena and then strode away.
Barbara reached across and pulled the unconscious girl into her lap. She wrapped her arms around and cradled her against her chest. She looked up at Reese. "We should probably clean out the bite," she mused.
He snorted loudly. "Should I be worried?"
"I have no comment on that," she chuckled. "Just the same, take off your shirt and I'll clean it out. You've certainly sustained more than your fair share of chest wounds over the last few days."
"You're telling me," he replied with a chuckle. Then he waved her off. "Worry about her. Bring her fever down. I'll be okay."
"Reese..."
"I'll clean it out myself," he assured her.
"You had better," she warned him. "I'm not dealing with another person with a psycho bizarre aversion to medical treatment."
He held up his hands. "Hate doctors but not fond of infections either."
"Good," she grunted. She looked up at the door. "Ready?"
Alfred nodded. "Yes." He stepped out of the way to allow Barbara to pass. Then he looked at Reese, narrowing his eyes. "Sit on the bed."
"Excuse me?"
"I saw the way you attempted to treat the last wounds you received. It was pitiful."
Reese opened his mouth to protest, held it open for several moments and then snapped it shut. With a resigned sigh he slid on to the bed and yanked off his shirt. He whistled when he saw the brightly discolored bite mark on his chest. It stood out in bright contrast to the white tape around his chest. "Now that's some kind of calling card," he laughed.
"Indeed," Alfred chuckled. "Miss Helena certainly knows how to leave an impression."
Reese looked up at the butler and grinned widely. He snorted in amusement and then held his arms out as if to tell Alfred that he was placing himself in the older mans' hands.
"Have at it," he said. "I'm all yours."
She groaned and sat up, her hand going out to her face. She pushed strands of stray blonde hair away from her eyes and then indelicately mumbled, "Mmm, what? Did I forget to put the toilet seat down again?"
Tim snorted. "I don't want to know. I don't want to know....okay, I so want to know? The toilet seat? I mean, do you pee standing up?"
Dinah blinked and then blushed, red spreading over her pale cheeks. "Tim."
"Yep," he grinned, amused at her discomfort.
"I didn't say that."
"You so did."
She looked around, trying to change the subject. "How long did I sleep?"
"Five hours maybe?"
"Too long," she insisted. "Anything?"
"Yeah, I think so. Dr. Kasper is on his way down now."
"Good. That's good."
"Toilet seat. Talk. Now."
She flipped her hand dismissively. When it became obvious that he wasn't going to let it go she sighed dramatically. "Not the boy's seat, the lid. It's no big deal. There was a time....a couple weeks back...see, Helena likes to sit on the toilet in the morning when she gets ready..."
"Oh no," Tim grinned, seeing where it was going.
Dinah grimaced. "Yeah. She stayed over one night, went in there to get ready and she may have...well she...okay she fell into the toilet." She shook her head. "We had a bit of a yelling match about that."
He slapped the table hard, laughter rolling away from him. Dinah was stunned by the force of it; it was like a tidal wave of mirth. Before she knew it she was laughing with him.
"Oh God," he said, almost near tears. "I am so gonna harass her about that."
"Don't," Dinah insisted, still laughing. "She'll kill me."
"Too bad," he grinned. "That's just...that's priceless. Fucking priceless."
"Am I interrupting?" a voice said from the door.
The two of them turned to see Troy Kasper leaning casually against the doorframe. His hair was mussed and he looked tired but otherwise fully aware. He was holding a small vial in his left hand.
"No," Tim said quickly. "Just a little punchy I think we both are."
"I can imagine," Kasper said as he entered the room. He winked at Dinah who blushed profusely. That just seemed to amuse Tim even more.
"So Doc," she started, tripping over her words. "What do you have for us?"
"The vaccine," he said, pride in his tone. He looked wiped out but he was beaming as he held up the vial with the light purplish liquid in it.
"Really?" Tim asked, standing up. Kasper handed him the vial and Tm turned it over in his palm. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. Absolutely."
"Oh my God, you did it," Dinah exclaimed, overcome by emotion. She strode over to Kasper and hugged him tightly. It was his turn to blush.
"Uh yeah," he stammered, enjoying the physical contact but also stunned by it. He patted Dinah's back, uncertain of what else to do.
"Dinah, either kiss the man or let him breathe," Tim quipped.
Dinah apparently decided to do the first one.
She bent upwards and planted a hard wet kiss right on the young doctor's lips. He gasped but accepted the contact, red flushing out his cheeks. Tim laughed behind him.
Dinah finally broke away, looking sheepish. "Sorry," she said softly. "The moment."
"R...r....right," Kasper stuttered. "Of course. I understand completely."
"Good," she said. Then she cocked her head to the side. "Wait, something's wrong..."
"Dinah?" Tim asked, coming to her side.
"There's something else, right?" Dinah pressed Kasper.
He swallowed hard, gathering himself. After a long moment he finally spoke. "Yes, that's right." He pointed to Tim. "Look, that vial...right now that's all we have. It'll take at least another forty-eight hours to create another batch."
"So we get this one to Helena then," Tim said softly. "No problem."
"Right but here's the other thing; that serum is extremely pro-active in it's materials."
"What does that mean? Dinah asked, her brow knitting in frustration and confusion.
"It means if you don't inject that into Huntress within twelve hours, the serum will be useless," Kasper informed them, his eyes still on Dinah. He could see the panic in her expression. "It will have vented all of its active components."
Tim whistled. "Damn."
"The I guess we'd better get going. It's a long enough drive back to New Gotham," Dinah said, her voice almost hazy and distant. Tim settled a hand on her shoulder, trying to encourage her. She smiled at his effort.
"Good luck," Kasper said. "We'll start on a new batch but I fear..."
"She doesn't have the time," Dinah said quickly. "We'll get this to her." She turned to grab her leather jacket off the chair. She pulled it over her shoulders and then indicated towards Tim for him to follow her. She'd clearly taken the lead position. Tim acknowledged it and slid behind her.
Dinah turned back at the last moment to regard Dr. Kasper. "I won't forget this," she told him, eyes locked on his.
He smiled boyishly. "God speed."
She forced her hands against the sides of her head and pushed, whimpering in agony as she tried to make the pain in her head stop. The heels of her palms bit harshly into her eye sockets as she intensified the contact.
"Helena," Barbara cried out as she wheeled into the lab. Reese was maybe two steps behind her, wearing an expression that looked like terror. He grabbed a cloth off the counter as he approached.
"Put your head back," Reese ordered as he sat down next to her. He reached out and yanked at her hands. She slapped him away.
"Helena," Barbara admonished gently. "Move your hands."
The young woman shook her head. "No. Make it stop."
Barbara grabbed for her hands and yanked them roughly away from Helena's face. There were small bruises forming in the spots where they'd been. Blood trickled out of Helena's nose, pooling just above her lips. It wasn't much yet but just the same, it was frightening. Minutes earlier Helena had been deep in an induced coma, resting peacefully for the first time in weeks. That little bomb hidden somewhere in her skull had changed that, ripping her awake.
"I need you to listen," Barbara started. "I need you to trust me."
"Not an issue," Helena replied, squeezing her eyes shut. "I don't...was dreaming..."
"Helena, there's something in your head."
"It's an explosive," Reese put in. He couldn't quite believe his own words. It sounded insane even to his own ears. But then again, lately, nothing was exactly normal.
She turned to look at him. She laughed. "An explosive? Did you hit your head?"
"He's telling the truth," Barbara said softly. She reached out to touch Helena and her fingers grazed her cheek. "There is small vibration bomb behind your left ear." She swallowed hard. "It's been set off."
"Then I'd be dead," Helena said dully. "So obviously you're wrong." She grit her teeth hard against the pain, desperate not to sound like an idiot muttering half sentences. She tried to convince herself that the pain really wasn't any worse than if she were suffering from a nasty hangover.
Didn't exactly fly but it would work for the time being.
"It pulled you out of the coma. Your body told you something was going on and it pulled you away from the protective blanket we created for you."
"Then get it out," Helena replied in a tiny voice. She looked up at her mentor, her blue eyes terrified and wide. She looked so much like a scared child. She placed her hand over Barbara's. "Please?"
"We will," Barbara insisted. "But I need you to calm down and trust me. I know right now you're scared..."
"I don't get scared," Helena snapped.
"Okay, then I know that you're angry," Barbara said with a slight smirk. Helena apparently didn't catch the humor and instead her body grew rigid and tense. She was about ready to erupt with fury. She jumped up and away from the bed, yanking at one of the wires in her arm. She pulled it and two others loose and then paced away from Reese and Barbara.
"Are you fucking kidding me? I'm angry? Oh no, this isn't anger..."
"Helena," Reese warned. "You've got to stop or you'll collapse again..."
Helena moved over towards the counter on the far side and bent over it. She placed her palms flat against the tiled surface and stared down at it. Her eyes locked on an unused monitor sitting on the counter. "I won't go down like this," she muttered.
"Helena," Barbara begged, moving towards her. "Please, time is of the essence."
Helena laughed in anger. "Time? Seems we're all out." She picked the monitor up and spinning around threw it with all her strength against the opposite wall. It exploded in a spray of plastic, glass and metal. Reese instinctively moved in front of Barbara to shield her from any debris but none came within two feet. "I'm not fucking going down like this. I'm not dying like this!"
She moved to pick up another monitor but Reese was quicker. He grabbed her hands and spun her around. "Stop this now."
She opened her mouth to speak but he grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and pushed her back towards the bed. He gave her one more shove and then she was lying flat on her back on the mattress.
"You're not going to die," Barbara assured her. "But right now you have a few things working against you. You know I will move heaven and hell to save you but for once in your life, Helena, I need you to fight for yourself. Let go of the anger and just trust me."
Helena blinked.
She sagged back against the mattress, eyes on the ceiling. A stray tear escaped her left ear and drifted down her cheek. She wiped it away roughly. "I trust you," she replied quietly. "Don't let me die."
Barbara nodded. She looked at Reese. "Under the counter there is a red med kit. It has some special tools in it."
"You're just going to cut into her head? How do you know that Harley was telling the truth about where she put it?" Reese pushed, not at all happy about where this was headed. Helena had already been through so damn much.
"I don't," Barbara replied thoughtfully. "The kit?"
Reese dropped into a crouch beside one of the counters. He opened a cupboard and yanked out a long red box that had a Red Cross symbol on it. He held it up to Barbara. She took it from him and opened it. The first thing she pulled out was something that looked like a thin tube maybe four inches in length. There was a white button on the side. "What is that thing?" Reese asked.
Helena glanced up to see what Barbara was holding and scowled. "It's a goddamn metal detector."
Barbara chuckled. "More or less."
She pushed the button on it and it began to pulse a pale blue. "That's a metal detector?" Reese asked, incredulous.
"Mmm hmm," Barbara mumbled. To Helena she said, "Hold still will you please?"
"I am," Helena muttered as she fidgeted anxiously on the bed. Her wounded and wrapped legs swung casually in front of her, their rhythm painful to watch.
"Oh yes I forgot," Barbara commented dryly as she lifted the device towards Helena's head. "For you this is still."
Helena was about to reply when a sharp pain flashed through her skull. She squeezed her eyes tightly together to stop the rush but she was unable to keep from crying out. The blood in her nose trickled down over her lips, mixing with her saliva. Reese pressed the cloth he had grabbed when he had entered the room against her mouth, washing away the crimson liquid. "Barbara," Helena moaned.
"Deep breaths," the redhead ordered. "Just stay with me." She brought the strange wand over by Helena's right ear. It remained the light blue, changing colors only when it passed by the brunette's earrings. She looked at Reese and then brought the device over behind Helena's left ear.
Almost immediately the color of the wand changed from blue to a shimmering red. It was almost like a red alert signal blaring to life. Barbara moved it several centimeters in each direction, gauging the size of the device. "It's here," she finally said. "Right where Harley said it would be."
"I don't get," Reese said, shaking his head. "Why did she tell us?"
Helena screamed in pain, her hands spasming. She jammed her fingers into the mattress, tearing the sheets.
"I don't know," Barbara admitted. "Reese, hold her. That bomb is coming out right now." She bent over Helena and pushed her brown hair away from her ear. Leaning forward she inspected a small area of skin that was discolored. She wanted to ask Helena questions but the pained look on the girls face told her that right now would be a bad time for answers.
Reese reached out and took Helena's hand, squeezing it tightly. She put her other hand over his and he turned it so that both of her tiny palms were encased in his much larger ones. He reached forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. The fear he could see in her wide blue eyes horrified him.
"Please," she whimpered.
"Hold on," Barbara muttered, green eyes locked on the stretch of skin that had obviously been disturbed in order to allow for installation of the vibration bomb. She reached over into the kit and extracted a small scalpel. "Reese, for Gods sakes, hold her tight."
He slid his arms around Helena's waste and she bent forward into his chest, allowing Barbara a better view of the back of her head. "Go ahead," Reese urged the redhead.
She swallowed hard and then pressed the scalpel to the rough skin. She made a small incision and then cut downwards. Helena hissed in pain but remained silent.
"Shouldn't you be wearing gloves?" Reese asked idly, knowing full well that was an inane question but needing for the room not to be completely silent.
Barbara had other ideas. "Yes," she admitted. "Shut up."
He shook his head but did as he was told, instead folding Helena closer. He felt her slide her teeth around a piece of his tee shirt. He wondered what she was doing until another wave of pain cut through her and she bit down hard, turning her shriek of agony into a muffled grunt.
Barbara continued cutting until she was satisfied with the area that she had opened up. She felt around with her thumb until she hit something that felt like a large welt. "Hold still," she said. "I need to see what this is."
"Hurry," Helena exclaimed, tears sliding down her cheeks and mixing with the now steady stream of blood that was falling from her nose.
Barbara narrowed her eyes and bent forward, examining the small device that she uncovered. It looked just like the one in the picture only on its underbelly was several small wires that looked like strands of hair. Really, they were that thin.
"Can you get it out?" Reese asked, feeling Helena bit his shirt again. This time her teeth grazed his chest and took a healthy bite out of his flesh. If she tasted his blood in her mouth, she certainly didn't let on.
"I think so," Barbara mumbled. She picked up the scalpel again and bent forward. She sliced at the wires with infinite care, horrified that she was about to kill Helena. The uncertainty of what she was doing terrified her.
But there just wasn't time to make sure.
"She's bleeding from her ears," Reese commented, eyes wide. He could see the thin crimson stream that was leaking down the left side of Helena's jaw. He felt her crunch into his chest again, this time holding herself there for almost twenty seconds before the spasm passed. One look down at her skin and he could see that she had gone completely clammy and cold.
If Barbara heard him she didn't show any sign. She continued splicing away at the thin wires that had melded themselves to her tissue. She could feel the electricity pouring away from them but they didn't have enough voltage to electrocute her. That wasn't their purpose anyways.
She finally looked up at Reese and their eyes locked. She looked down at the shaking girl who was completely buried against him. Her arms clutched at his chest and she was digging her face into his chest. "God help us," she mouthed to Reese.
He nodded at her. "Do it," he whispered.
She bent back over and reached placed a pair of tweezers into the incision. She dug around for a few moments, searching for a handle. She finally found one and she began to yank. The little bomb resisted, sending shockwaves up the plastic tweezers. Barbara realized that her hand was trembling but that just solidified her resolve; the damn device was trying to stay implanted. It was trying to scare her off.
She yanked harder and it popped free, sliding out of the incision and shuddering violently against the tweezers. It was covered in blood and damaged tissue. The wound oozed crimson fluid down the back of Helena's neck.
"It's out," she announced.
"Barbara, get rid of it," Reese ordered, eyes locked on the little bomb.
"What?" she said, looking up at him with confusion. Then she gasped as one of the wires tried to cut into her palm, almost as if it had its own mind. The metal tentacle dug into her flesh. She tore at it, yanking it away from her skin. Holding it away from her body with the tweezers she wheeled over to one of the counters. There was a jar sitting on the flat surface that had a bubbling liquid in it. She dropped the bomb into it.
It gurgled in the water and then exploded, destroying the glass container in the process.
"That's some boom," Reese noted. He glanced down at the broken glass on the counter. "Was that acid? Bubbling acid?"
"Yes," Barbara replied dryly. "Experiment. Keep holding her."
"She's got a hold on me," Reese chuckled. He grimaced a bit in pain when it occurred to him that she was still biting into his skin.
Barbara slid back behind Helena and began to probe the wound, looking for any unwanted debris. When she was reasonably satisfied that there wasn't any, she began to clean it out. The area around the disturbed skin was already turning several shades of purple. "That bitch really did a number on her," Barbara commented as she dabbed at the incision. "Injected her with an experimental drug and put a bomb in her head. That's some hands-on therapy."
"Gallows humor?" Reese asked.
"Something like that," she admitted with a sigh. "Hand me that plastic container over there. I'm gonna stitch her up."
"So why did Harley tell us where the bomb was?" Reese asked, handing her the plastic box.
"Because she still has the ace in the hole of knowing that drug is in her," Barbara replied as she started to stitch up the wound. Several minutes passed in silence before she spoke again. "And because she's a psycho and as a general rule they all like to rant about their plans. Trust me on this, it's Villains 101."
"Gotcha," he said. "Hey...oh hey, she's out."
Barbara lifted an eyebrow. "The drug?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "One moment she's biting me and the next she's not." He reached over and ran his fingers through her sweat-drenched hair.
"We don't have a lot of time," Barbara said with a sigh. "We need that vaccine. I can't put her back under and she will continue getting emotional the closer she gets. That will speed it up."
"She'll make it," Reese replied shortly.
Barbara lifted an eyebrow. "Didn't take you for being much for false hopes," she commented. "Lift her head up."
He did as he was told, pulling Helena free of his now torn and bloody shirt. Her blood had mixed with his on the front of the fabric. Her face was slack and pale but she was still breathing and for now that was something. "I'm not," he admitted. "But we didn't come this far to lose her now."
"That I can agree to," Barbara chuckled as she finished up the stitching. She placed a gauze pad over the wound. "Alfred," she called out.
The butler appeared in the doorway immediately. So quickly in fact that it was fairly obvious that he'd been right outside the entire time. "Yes?"
"We need to bathe her. Will you draw the bath in my room? Make it cold, we need to cool her down."
"Of course," he said. He glanced once at Helena and then strode away.
Barbara reached across and pulled the unconscious girl into her lap. She wrapped her arms around and cradled her against her chest. She looked up at Reese. "We should probably clean out the bite," she mused.
He snorted loudly. "Should I be worried?"
"I have no comment on that," she chuckled. "Just the same, take off your shirt and I'll clean it out. You've certainly sustained more than your fair share of chest wounds over the last few days."
"You're telling me," he replied with a chuckle. Then he waved her off. "Worry about her. Bring her fever down. I'll be okay."
"Reese..."
"I'll clean it out myself," he assured her.
"You had better," she warned him. "I'm not dealing with another person with a psycho bizarre aversion to medical treatment."
He held up his hands. "Hate doctors but not fond of infections either."
"Good," she grunted. She looked up at the door. "Ready?"
Alfred nodded. "Yes." He stepped out of the way to allow Barbara to pass. Then he looked at Reese, narrowing his eyes. "Sit on the bed."
"Excuse me?"
"I saw the way you attempted to treat the last wounds you received. It was pitiful."
Reese opened his mouth to protest, held it open for several moments and then snapped it shut. With a resigned sigh he slid on to the bed and yanked off his shirt. He whistled when he saw the brightly discolored bite mark on his chest. It stood out in bright contrast to the white tape around his chest. "Now that's some kind of calling card," he laughed.
"Indeed," Alfred chuckled. "Miss Helena certainly knows how to leave an impression."
Reese looked up at the butler and grinned widely. He snorted in amusement and then held his arms out as if to tell Alfred that he was placing himself in the older mans' hands.
"Have at it," he said. "I'm all yours."