"Can't you drive any faster?" Dinah snapped, frustration overtaking her delicate youthful features. She pressed her palm against the handle above the passenger door and dug her nails into the leather.

"I'm going eighty," Tim reminded her. "I could go ninety and then we could get pulled over and have the vaccine taken from us because some ass monkey cop thinks it's some kind of illegal drug. Hey, your choice."

She rolled her eyes. "That was dramatic."

"So is annoying me every three seconds," he shot back.

She sighed and then dropped back against the seat, eyes staring straight ahead at the highway. Almost five minutes passed before she spoke again. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I just...I'm just..."

"Scared," Tim finished for her. "So am I. I've had Hel in my life for about as long as I can remember. She's one of my best friends. We haven't seen each other in awhile but she's still pretty much my sister."

"Mine too," Dinah said softly.

"Hey we're in this together," Tim assured her. "I'm sorry for snapping. I'm just...well I'm the same just that you are. We're just together."

She laughed. "You're insane is what you are."

"That's more or less true," he admitted. "But oh hey, it's fun. Sanity is greatly over-rated."

"Helena says that."

"And now you know where she got it from."

"Indeed," Dinah noted. "Why am I guessing that there are a lot of stories about you and Helena that Barbara would prefer I didn't know?"

"Because you're a very smart girl." Tim laughed. "And there are. Tons of them."

"So," she said. "Fill some time."

He shrugged. "Why not. Okay. Lemme think." He paused for a beat and then laughed. "How about my last night here before I went off to college. Yeah, yeah that's a good one. That's definitely one that Babs would prefer I didn't share." His eyes sparkled mischievously.

"So tell," Dinah urged him.

"Well it started at No Man's Land and it involved a lot of Vodka, two police sedans, a pizza and a local band of thieves known as the Penguin Gang."

Dinah laughed. "Go on. God, go on."
The girl rolled over in the bed, moaning as she turned on her side. Her feet caught against the soft fabric of the cotton sheets, tangling with them. She could feel a hand on her forehead, brushing away her hair. She blinked and forced her eyes open, grimacing at the bright lights. After a moment she adjusted and forced them to open completely, showing blood-shot blues.

"Hey you," Barbara said softly. "Reese, hand me a blanket."

He did as he was told, taking a blanket from the foot of the bed and offering it to the redhead. She accepted it and draped it over Helena. He watched passively, leaning his tall frame against the door. They were in Helena's room at the Clocktower.

"Barbara?" Helena muttered, glancing up at her mentor. "What the hell did you do my head?"

The redhead laughed in response. "Oh I just removed a bomb."

"Of course you did," Helena groaned. "Because that makes total sense." She sighed. "Okay I admit it, I have this bad habit of pissing people off but who'd I tick off so bad that they put a fucking bomb in my head?"

"The Joker," Reese said from the door. "Though it was Harley who put it in."

Helena winced. "Ouch." She looked at Barbara. "I am never doing counseling again. Just get that out of your head. Make it go because there's not a chance in hell that I will ever sit down with a shrink again."

"Was afraid of that," Barbara muttered. "But hey, not every shrink in New Gotham is a psychopath intent on world domination."

"Or maybe they are," Helena commented wryly. "I'd just assume not take my chances." She held up her hand. "And that's final."

"Okay, okay," Barbara laughed. "How do you feel?"

"Like I've spent the last week being tossed through the spin cycle of a dryer."

"Considering all you've been through, that's about right," Reese commented, stepping away from the door. He came closer and bent down next to her. "How's your head?"

Helena lifted a hand to the back of her head and grazed her fingers over the gauze strip. "Wasn't hurting before much. Had an itch there and I thought maybe it was just some weird welt."

"Weird welt?" Barbara queried.

Helena shrugged. "I don't always know where all of my bruises and such come from. Nature of the job."

"Something like that," Barbara chuckled. "Do you feel okay now?"

"Eh, not worse anyways. Considering I felt like my head was exploding, I feel pretty good right now."

"Well good. I talked to Tim a few minutes ago and they're on their way back. They have a vaccine that should eradicate the drug in your system. This should all be over very soon," Barbara said softly.

Helena looked down and away. Mumbling she replied, "I think it's going to be a very long while before it's completely over." She moved her toes a bit as if to point towards her wounded legs.

The same legs that the Joker had smashed with a heavy steel mallet.

God, weeks ago.

Barbara touched her hand. "We'll get through this."

Helena looked up. "We are getting through this." She shook her head. "What about Harley? I mean, no offense but I'm just not satisfied with taking her medical license." She brightened a bit. "Can I impale her with a pitchfork?"

"Helena!" Barbara admonished, though truthfully not terribly shocked by the suggestion. To her side Reese chuckled. "And no, we can't. When this is all over we'll turn her over to the proper authorities."

Helena yawned. "How boring." Then she frowned and the pain appeared in her eyes again. "What about him?"

"We'll deal with him," Barbara assured her young protégé. "He's done hurting you."

Helena nodded and fell back against the pillow. "So until Dinah and Tim get here..."

"You're not leaving this room and somehow or another, you're going to stay completely calm. Even if that means I put on the Tele-Tubbies for the next few hours,"

Helena made a face. "That won't make me calm. Suicidal and homicidal maybe." She looked up at Reese and brightened. "It's a hell of a training device though. Show a recruit TeleTubbies and your work is done, they're a baddie."

"Lion King it is," Barbara said with a snort as Reese started laughing, nearly falling over in his mirth.

"Eh, works for me," the brunette replied.

Reese glanced up at the clock as Barbara wheeled herself over to the VCR. Tim had called about twenty minutes earlier to say that he and Dinah were on their way back from Metropolis, vaccine in tow.

They were about seven hours away.

Seven hours.

Just seven hours.

"Reese?" Helena called out. "Hello? Reese?"

He blinked and then turned towards her. "I'm here."

She patted the bed beside her. "Unless of course you're too manly for the Lion King."

He grinned at her. "I thought you were."

She winked at him. "Many things you don't know Detective."

He laughed. "Many things I'm figuring out Huntress."

Barbara snorted. "If you two are done with the blatant flirting, can I join you?"

Helena smacked her hand against the opposite side of her king sized bed. "Plenty of room for one and all."

Reese shook his head. "That sounds bad."

Helena cocked her head to the side. "Yeah," she finally admitted. "But it's fun."

Reese just laughed.
He gazed down at the little metal box in his hand and sighed. His ruby red smile became an unhappy frown and he began to pout. Everything was going to hell now. The lights on the device indicated whether or not the bomb was armed and it was now saying that it had been disconnected.

Add that to the fact that Harley had gone missing and he could no longer get into Helena's mind and it was turning out to a rather shitty day.

Well then perhaps it was just about time to abandon ship. There would always be another day for revenge. If that need be. There was still the drug and unless a vaccine had been created, Helena Kyle could still die.

But really that was more upsetting than anything else. He didn't want her to die from a deadly vaccine. He had dreamed and imagined it to be by his hands and with her whimpering in front of him.

That would have to wait for another day.

The plan was pretty much up and his wildcards were gone. His deck was showing signs of wear and tear and needed to be swapped out. That would take time and patience, so-called virtues that had never come easily to him.

Still, perhaps it was the best way to go about things.

Even if she survived the drug, the scars would be with her for a very long time.

And for now, perhaps that would do.

A smile suddenly appeared on his lips. If she lived, he rather imagined that her mentor Barbara Gordon would come to see him again. She'd want to threaten him and warn him to stay away from Helena. Otherwise, oh gasp, she'd kill him.

She never would. Barbara was one of the stupid Bat's lame protégé's. She believed in all that nonsense about good and evil and she'd never cross that line.

Which was good for him of course but he rather imagined that down the line, it would end up very bad for them.

But that was for later.

He settled back in his chair, smiling widely.

And counting the minutes until the former Batgirl would arrive.

Now that would be fun.

END CHAPTER 8