Barbara examined the test inside her small lab in the back room of her apartment. It was a hidden room where she had a small laboratory. She didn't like the results. If they were accurate, there would be more victims. All of them had been poisoned, but that poison didn't seem to be normal. It affected the mind, but how? Maybe it induced the suicide.

She stood up and changed her clothes. When she was dressed as Batgirl she walked toward a hidden stairway that took her to the bottom floor where she had her bike.

She had work to do.

Deaths to prevent.

A murder to stop.

"Barbara knows English?" Helena asked, eating a sandwich at the kitchen resting her side on the kitchen furniture while her mother was preparing dinner at the stove. She played with one foot over her other foot.

"Yes, she knows the nuances very well."

"I need an English tutor?"

"Yes, you need one, your grades are low." Selina stirred the food with a spoon. She looked at her and put her hands on her waist. "I told you not to eat before dinner."

"It's just a sandwich."

"And later you won't want to eat."

"I was hungry." Helena bit her sandwich. "It has peanut butter."

"You're always hungry... Peanut butter??" Selina rolled her eyes. "Peanut butter is not food."

"The jar said it has vitamins."

"Forget it. The table is ready?"

"Yes."

Selina took her sandwich. "Give me this. Go and sit. This is ready."

Helena ran toward the table and sat down, waiting for her mom. Selina put a big plate in the center, with beef, and served a bit of it and some salad on the kid's plate

"I don't like tomatos," Helena said.

"They're good for you."

"I'm not a rabbit."

"But you are a girl, and girls need to eat fruits and vegetables, not peanut butter sandwiches."

Helena moved slices of tomato to the side with her fork.

"Eat that or no dessert," Selina said.

"Tomatos taste like water," she said with her gaze fixed on the slices of tomato.

"Okay, so no dessert," the blonde woman threatened her daughter.

Helena moved the tomatoes back to the center of the plate.

"Well, I asked Barbara and she said this Saturday she has time to help you." Selina poured her glass with water and gave Helena some milk.

"Saturdays and Sundays are not school days." The child played with the tomato with her fork.

"She works and she is only free on Saturday. Eat that. If you don't improve your English grades, you will be in trouble. It's just one class, I know you need more, but your principal problem is the past tense and you have an exam next week. She can help you on that."

"All right... But I don't like tutorials."

"So pay more attention in your classes."

"I pay attention."

"Doesn't seem so." Selina pointed out, looking at her. "You are smart, but stubborn."

"English is boring." Helena defended herself.

"It's just one class and, please, be nice with Barbara. You make your tutors crazy very fast."

"I dunno why." The child put a piece of meat in her mouth.

"You ask too many questions." Selina glared at her.

"I don't." Helena raised her eyes to her.

"Try not to ask so much, honey. Come on, it's just one class."

"Okay... Mom, may I sleep with you tonight?"

"Just you?"

"Well, Jaçques too."

"Just Jaçques?"

"All right, can I bring my hipo and my duck?"

Selina said, trying to not laugh, "Helena, your zoo can't be in the same bed as us. There not enough room. Why don't you leave them all in your bed and just bring Jaçques? I can help you to put them to bed."

"Really?" The child raised her eyes smiling.

"Yes."

"Cool!"

Selina smiled. Helena was funny. She had a special charm and she was sweet. But when she was mad, she had the same character of her father. Sometimes she could see him in her attitudes or some facial expressions. Sometimes she wished than they would have had a different and normal life, as regular people; but she knew the adrenaline had been and would always be part of their lives.

She would have liked that life for Helena; but she was sure he would have never been able to do it. It was stronger than he. It was better this way. His night life was a danger and a risk for her. She shook her head, clearing her ideas and took a bit more beef.

That night she went to John Aldabe's house, another ex-student of Psychology at Gotham State University. She had examined the tests and she had a suspicion that he was the next man. She walked carefully over the rooftop and looked around. The place seemed empty.

The red head jumped on the balcony. She saw the lamp in the library of the house on. Her eyes examined the place. Suddenly it fixed on the lock of the door. It was open. Her heart told to her it was too late. Late again.

She opened the door and walked inside. A chair was on the floor and some books too. A hand was visible on the floor behind the desk.

She took his pulse; he was dead.

Batgirl had been crimefighter many years. And every time she saw a body she felt sick. She lowered her head and sighed. She didn't see any scratches or wounds. Maybe a heart attack?

Her sixth sense alerted her to danger and she rolled on the floor in time to avoid a blow to her head. She moved to the side and could see a tall, black man dressed only in a loincloth and a wooden mask with horns on his head. It was Voodooo. She knew him. He practiced that old, black magic.

She used her leg to kick him in his face. He stumbled back. She stood up and faced him. "I should have known you would be behind these murders."

"Long time, no see," he growled.

"I didn't miss you." Batgirl smirked.

She hit him roughly with her fist. He moved back. He was strong but not fast. It was an easy fight.

She felt a hard blow in her gut.

Well, not so easy, she thought and pushed him back.

"Why are you killing them?" she asked.

"You must know now," he said. "Why do you ask? They are against the most powerful force in the world."

"Black magic is not a good force."

"But it is the most powerful." He charged against her and she jumped over him kicking his skull with her foot. He fell downwards.

"I'm not so sure," Batgirl said

He tried to react, but she was too fast and strong. He took a small bottle off his necklace and threw it against the floor. It crashed next Batgirl's feet and she moved back. A strange pink substance clouded the office. She covered her mouth and coughed. That was poison. She ran toward the window, she jumped through it and landed roughly in the grass.

She coughed and took off her breather, putting it over her mouth. She took a deep breath of the oxygen and, after a few seconds, she began to breathe normally.

He had gone.

But now she knew it was him.

Helena chewed on some gum with her school bag on her back. Her mother had taken her by the hand and both walked across the street. The child did it by making small jumps. Selina took her inside Barbara's building and after crossing the corridor, she pressed the elevator button.

"I still think it's not a good idea," Helena said, looking at the numbers of the elevator.

"Thankfully, I didn't ask for your opinion on this." The door opened and both walked in.

"Why not?"

"Because you always choose the thing that is easiest for you and not the best," Selina said.

"Mom, can we go to the movies later?" Helena asked her.

"Tomorrow."

"Why not today?"

"Because you need to go to bed early." She extended her hand to Helena's mouth. Helena lifted her eyes her and spat her gum there. "I have told you many times that gum doesn't look nice." Selina wrapped the gum in a small tissue.

The elevator door opened and both went toward Barbara's apartment. The blonde pressed the door bell.

"I still think it's not good idea," Helena mumbled.

"Just please try to understand the lesson well." Selina looked at her.

"Do you know her waffles are the stiffest in all of Gotham?"

"Helena don't talk about her cooking," Selina scolded her in low voice and leaned over her to close the buttons of her sweater. "She is very nice trying to help you; she has a lot of work. I don't want you to start with your inappropriate comments."

"But they are."

"Be polite. Just keep your comments to yourself."

"All right."

"Hi." Barbara opened the door smiling. She was wearing a red sweater and jeans. "How are you, Helena?"

"Hi, Barbara." She moved towards her and gave her a kiss on her cheek, when the redhead bent down to hug her.

"Where is Jaçques?" Barbara asked her.

"He doesn't like extra-classes and decided to stay at home watching television," the child said.

"Oh, I see. Hi, Selina"

"Hi, Babs," the blond woman greeted her.

"Sit at the table, Hel. I'll be there in a minute," the red head said to the kid, who obeyed and walked in.

"Goodbye to you too, Helena," Selina remarked, rolling her eyes.

The kid stepped back and kissed her mom on her cheek. "Bye mom." She walked inside the apartment again. Both women smiled.

"Thanks so much, Babs," Selina said.

"No problem."

"I'll be back in two hours. I have an appointment."

"Appointment?"

"Bruce Wayne."

Barbara cocked her head and smiled. "Bruce?"

"Yes, Bruce." Selina blushed.

"Wow, he's persistant."

"We are good friends."

Barbara frowned, teasingly. "You are a bad liar."

"It's just coffee." Selina said.

"Selina, he likes you. Why don't you catch him? You are an expert."

"Oh... later we'll talk." She looked at her watch "See you later."

"All right, run away, run away."

Inside, on a lower floor of a building, a strange, old man with a purple robe was finishing sewing a small doll. He stood up and looked at the tall, black man called Voodoo, who stood up behind him.

"Yes, it's the Lady of the Bats again, father," the tall man said. "I remember her the last time that we tried to trap her. She escaped the effects of the drug that we induced."

"Yes, I remember, I need something of hers."

"Cloth?"

"Anything, try to get something of hers and I will stop her."

"Right, father." He bowed his head and exited the room.