A little kitten took to the rooftops. Her hand still throbbed, but it felt better. She sat on a fire escape and watched the redhead leave. She didn't understand why Barbara was so nice to her. Perhaps she felt some kind of responsibility to this wild teen, since she was the guardian now. Or maybe she felt guilty for not coming sooner. Whatever it was, this cat was not about to be tamed by a redhead.

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The van slowed to a stop in the parking garage. The security camera caught a redhead placing her head on the steering wheel. Her body shook with every sob as she thought of the wild cat she just tended to. She could smell the blood on her red stained hands. Every breath she took in held the smell of pain, fear, and a lost soul. The empty eyes would haunt her nightmares. The whiteness of her skin, the leanness to her body, the haggard clothes, and the shape of her hand wanted to make the sobbing woman throw up. Her mothering heart was shattered and so heavy with pain. She may not have been the cat's true mother, but she now knew what it felt like to loose a child.

Selina, I have failed you. I have truly failed you. I am so sorry my friend. I pray that you don't see her this way, but if you do, please protect her. And guide me. I am lost. I don't know what to do next. I am afraid it is too late; she will never come to me now. And if she does, I don't know what to do. She has changed so much, Selina. I don't know who she is anymore. She saved Gotham from evil and mayhem many times over again, but this former bat of the night didn't know how to save a child from her demons.

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Helena headed out just after nightfall. Her head was pounding, her fist hurt, and she couldn't sleep so she decided to get some night air. What her guardian did for the injured hand ran through her head like a disease. Every time she tried to close her eyes, the picture of Barbara's sympathetic face appeared. The damaged redhead seemed so taken back by Helena's condition. She had been very careful not to push Helena into anything. Leaving the door open was a very nice gesture on her part. But it wasn't Barbara's sympathy that bothered Helena. It was something else, something stronger. The look in her watery eyes caused Helena the most pain. She saw love in those eyes. Love, patients, hope, trust, faith, a friend, and a piece that she longed for. She didn't understand what she saw. How could Barbara still care for her after all she had done? Those beautiful eyes pierced her soul; into the blackness and through the barrier she had formed around her.

How can she still love me? I have done nothing to earn her love. Why does she love me? It isn't like she is required to, just because she agreed to be my guardian. How can she trust me, have faith in me? I am a runaway, not someone you should trust. Who would want to be a friend to me? I don't even know who or what I am. I am lost, alone, and scared. How can she have so much hope in me that makes me want to run crying to her arms.

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Barbara sat working at a computer. She had finally made up her mind to continue fighting evil in Gotham. She just hadn't figured out how, yet. She decided if she could tell someone if they were metahuman, she would be able to help them choose which path to follow. So she typed away, creating a way to determine if someone was meta or not. After several days of research, she had discovered that if someone was meta they had higher brain activity. The device would measure the amount of neural cells active in their cerebral cortex. In most people, less than five percent of their cells are active. If a person greatly exceeds this, then they would be metahuman. She had already tried it on Laura, but the measurements kept coming up wrong. She pounded the table in frustration.

"Problems, Miss?" Alfred walked in with a tray of tea.

"I don't understand why this isn't working. I have been over and over all the formulas, and information, but it still doesn't work!"

"That's not what your really mad at, now is it, Miss," Alfred was never one to beat around the bush.

The broken hearted woman sighed, "No, your right. I just wish there was something more I could do. She needs help so badly, I don't know what to do."

"Sometimes things work out on there own. Just because you tell the computer what to do, doesn't mean it will do what you want. You can give it all the information; all the explanations, but it still has the choice of what to do. Sometimes what you want, and what she wants will not be the same."

"So what do I do?"

"You wait, no matter how long it takes, for the information to take hold of her. And when she is ready to give you what you want, you will accept her with loving arms."

"But what if I can't wait. What if it is just too much information?"

"Then you cover just the basics. Cut it all down. Things are usually easier to digest that way."

Barbara smiled for the first time that day, "Ok, and what about the computer?"

Alfred shook his head, "I know little about computers, Miss. But I think your computer is tired and needs rest. You have had a long, hard day. Why don't you get some sleep? The computer can wait till morning."

"Little about computers hey. This from the guy behind the great Batman," Barbara laughed at Alfred's embarrassment, "But your right, it can wait till morning," Barbara wheeled towards the elevator, heading for the living quarters.

"Good night, Miss," the faithful butler called as the doors shut.

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Helena leaned against a chimney, holding her head in pain again. Suddenly her eyes changed. It had happened many times before, she knew it happened, but this time it was different. Usually when her eyes changed, she was just able to make out things better in the dark. But now objects took on a different feel. Colors were enhanced; it was like she was out at dusk. Things were still on the dark side, but they were completely visible to her. Three-dimensional objects took on an odd outline. She was seeing the background in two-dimension, but as she advanced closer to an object, they suddenly jumped out with volume.

She looked at a heat vent and could see the outline of the rising heat in a physical line. The line took on a color and wavered with the changing direction of the airflow. She walked along and disturbed a flock of birds. As they flew by, they too changed. They still moved, but slower. She studied their wing movement and could anticipate where they were going. She watched a bird begin a turn and knew where it would end. She tried to close her eyes, hopping it would go away, but when she opened them it was still the same.

Her eyes weren't the only thing affected. Suddenly she found herself crouched down, ready to pounce on an incoming bird. She felt her muscles twitch in anticipation. Her reflexes took over as she jumped with perfect timing. She sailed though the air, slipping between the oncoming birds. Her hearing was also slightly advanced. She leaned over the ten-story building to hear a man talking on his cell phone with his wife.

She stood trying to comprehend what was happening, when she felt that something was wrong. Not with her, not with where she was, but close by. The curious cat followed the sensation two blocks over. She crouched in the darkness watching what unfolded below her.

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She slid out of her chair and onto the soft bed. She closed her eyes and ran through the day's events in her head. The child looked so much like her mother. And acted like her. The way Helena had swiped the food from the counter, reminded Barbara of the time she had watched Catwoman swipe a golden statue from a museum. She found a safe place to watch her prey from and waited patiently, but in great anticipation for what rewards she was about to receive. Like a hunter waiting for a dear. She studied everything in the room, from the other customers, to the direction of the wind. Everything was planed out. She knew what her job was, and she intended to carry it out. This kitten was truly the daughter of the great Catwoman. And if she didn't get help soon, Barbara was afraid she would have another Catwoman on her hands.

Please, Helena, don't turn out like your mother. Chose a different path. I can't stand the idea of you turning into my new enemy. I couldn't train another to take you down. It wouldn't be right. I can't stand the idea of fighting against you instead of fighting with you.

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A woman pined herself up against the alley wall. Chinese food was scattered on the ground and a small head peaked out from behind her mothers dress. The girl ranged about the age of ten or eleven. The two reminded Helena of her mom and herself.

"Take my purse and my jewelry. Please, don't hurt my daughter!" The woman stuttered to a man standing in front of her.

He laughed, "I will, and I will do much more than that."

He advanced on the pair causing them to cry for help. The confused teen knew no one would hear them. No one comes out at this time of night. They are all locked away in their homes, away from the dangers of night. But the fear in the mother's eyes broke something in Helena.

She found herself jumping into mid air and falling to the ground below. What am I doing? I am going to kill myself. Since when do I jump into mid air? If I don't die from the fall, that guy will definitely kill me. But she didn't fall flat on her back. She found herself landing flat on her feet, like she had jumped off a flight of stair. The landing didn't hurt. The cat found herself crouched down on all fours. She glanced up to see the woman staring at her, and the man turned around.

"Where did you come from? Get out of here kid, or your next."

Helena glanced at the cold eyes of the attacker, the amazed and pleading ones of the mother, and the frightened eyes of the child. Batman's little girl couldn't let this man hurt these people.

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Alfred stood on the balcony of the Clocktower. He watched a flock of birds chase down their prey in the night sky. He remembered when the bat family had patrolled the skies like that flock, watching for their prey. Something startled the flock and they all disappeared, all but one. They had all left, leaving behind a smaller bird that seamed unable to hunt on its own. The former Batgirl was all that was left of the bat family. And she wasn't truly Batgirl anymore. She would no longer be able to patrol the night skies with her legs.

He wished the bat family could continue on. But Batman was the true parent of that family. Now that he was gone, Alfred knew there would be no more bat family. Even if Batgirl were successful in training a new person, they would never belong to the bat family. Particularly if it was Helena. She would have nothing to do with her father; the butler knew this as well. Perhaps this was a chance for a new family, a new beginning. Barbara had suffered a great loss as Batgirl, and now it was time for her to take on a new identity as she continued the fight that Batman had started, but in a different way.