I still don't own the characters. Thanks for all of the kind reviews and thanks, as always, to SamIAm 4.
Seated in front of her computers, Barbara listened to the sounds coming from the communication system with a growing sense of concern and urgency bordering on panic. That noise was not what she had come to expect from a struggle.
It was a beating.
:: He could have been happy! Don't you understand that? He was finally with a family that loved him and you took him away. It wasn't your right! You hear that?! You had no RIGHT!::
"Huntress, where are you?" she asked, her eyes widening as she listened to Dinah, for lack of a better term, have a nervous breakdown. Really, she needn't have asked. The two signals were right on top of one another.
:: Dinah, stop!::
The rest of the conversation was lost as an alarm went off from one of the computers behind her. A blinking window appeared at the corner of her screen, one of the first programs she had written after making the decision to become Oracle.
It was designed to keep track of the location of police cars wherever they were in the city by noting their location when their occupants used their radio. Through a series of camouflaged antennas, the program was able to triangulate the point of origin of the radio signal. It then calculated the time it would take for the closest police cars to appear on the scene, using statistical probability with variables that included the time of day, streets closed due to construction or other special circumstance, and even which traffic lights would be possible to get through. The program even updated with every single responded call, increasing the data and its accuracy. Similar technology had been under development for ten years in a dozen major cities to triangulate cell phone 911 calls, but so far, none had been successful.
It had taken her a week, including the three nights Helena had spent placing the antennas on rooftops.
Barbara clicked on the window to open it, and cursed as her eyes quickly scanned the screen.
"Huntress, you need to get the both of you out of there! Neighbors have called the police and are reporting the sound of a struggle. They'll be there in less than two minutes."
:: Can you come before they get here, Oracle? Dinah's gone nuts!::
"Negative, Huntress," Barbara said, her brow creasing in concern. "Get her out of there any way you can. If you can get to the alley behind the electronics store a block away, I can pick you up there."
:: No! Stop! Don't take me away!::
Barbara dug her nails into her wheelchair's armrests as she listened to Dinah's anguished cries. Her mind spun into itself, weaving the pieces of her charge's behavior into place and the puzzle suddenly came into focus.
"Someone taking children from loving homes," she said softly in disbelief. "That's the connection. Dinah isn't equating the murderer with Hawke… she's equating the murderer with her mother."
"My word," Alfred said softly, listening from a few feet behind her. He honestly could not picture the sunny teenager beating someone as the sounds coming from the speakers suggested, but at the moment he was more concerned for the woman in front of him.
Barbara whirled her upper body around at the sound, surprising the grandfatherly butler. Barbara was not one to forget anything (apart from keeping the refrigerator and cupboards adequately stocked), and it testified to her concern for her young charge that she had already forgotten the conversation they had only moments before. She immediately relaxed upon seeing who was behind her, and the tears in her eyes confirmed his suspicions.
"Alfred…" the redhead paused, looking up at him. For a moment, she seemed very much like the little girl he had seen Jim Gordon take in. "Dinah told me she fought with Rick because he didn't mind his little brother being taken. She must have felt the same way when Helena and I didn't stand up for her right to stay with us. She wouldn't talk to us anymore because she didn't trust us."
The guilt and weariness in her eyes and voice appalled the butler. He had seen that very same look on Bruce before he had decided to leave New Gotham. While he didn't expect the same action from Barbara, he did not like that she seemed to think the barriers she was facing were insurmountable.
"Miss Barbara," he said softly, "Miss Dinah loves you and Miss Helena very much, and does anything she thinks will please you. I do not think she would put so much effort into gaining your approval if any irreparable harm had been done to your relationship. If I may say, I do believe she has been trying, in her own way, to fix it."
Barbara thought that over silently for several seconds without responding.
Suddenly, the speakers flared to life once more. :: Oracle, she passed out. I'll meet you behind the electronics store.::
Barbara quickly pressed a button on her chair to activate a portable microphone, but Alfred could still hear the guilt and concern in the crisp, "Understood."
She straightened her back and looked straight at him. "I'm going to pick them up. Dinah may need medical attention when we get back. Could you..."
"The med lab will be ready and waiting upon your return," he answered.
"Thank you," she said quietly, wheeling to the elevator.
"It is good that she has you and Miss Helena to care for her during this difficult time," Alfred added as the doors closed.
'A lot of good it's done her so far,' Barbara thought as she waited impatiently for the elevator to take her to the garage.
Kneeling on the floor of the kidnapper's home, Helena felt Dinah go limp. Slowly, she let go of the arm she was holding behind the girl's back and gently turned over the closest thing she had to a sister. Even unconscious, the teen still looked troubled, as if her demons had followed her into her sleep.
'They probably did,' Helena thought knowingly. If her mother's murder had taught her anything, it was that outer demons usually found a way in.
Even from where she was, Helena could tell the perp was still alive to pay for what he had done. But as she looked over at the kidnapper, she realized just how close Dinah had come to beating him to death. The sleaze was unconscious and curled into a ball, bleeding from his face and the back of his head.
Barbara had definitely been right about Dinah not being ready for sweeps. 'Shows how much I know.'
"It'll be okay, kid," she said softly, taking the blond into her arms. She stood up straight and squared her shoulders, once again the Huntress. "Oracle, she passed out. I'll meet you behind the electronics store."
:: Understood,:: came the oddly distanced reply.
Helena paused for a moment. Her enhanced hearing was picking up rapid breathing coming from the other room, but the cops would be there any second. She hesitated for another few seconds, and then went out the back door to follow the alleys to the electronics store.
"Geez, kid, how much do you weigh?"
The hummer was already waiting behind the store when Helena got there.
"It certainly took you long enough," Barbara said from behind the wheel, smirking. "Losing your touch?"
Helena scowled, gently placing Dinah in the backseat and then climbing in after. "Next time you get to carry her and I'll listen to CDs all nice and warm in the car."
The redhead rolled her eyes, but turned off the radio as she pulled out into traffic. "I've been listening to the police scanner. They found the boy in one of the back rooms, unharmed but scared at all of the yelling. They assumed that the kidnapper was the boy's father until he started crying for his real one."
Helena swallowed, needing to ask but almost afraid to. "Is he okay?"
"The kidnapper told him that he would take him to see his mom, who was sick. They stopped off for ice cream on the way and hadn't finished it, yet, when Dinah came charging in. The little boy still didn't know anything was wrong."
Helena breathed a deep sigh of relief and turned her attention back to Dinah.
"What happened in there?" she heard Barbara ask.
"When I got there, Dinah had already beat the guy to a bloody pulp and was still hitting him," she answered, not looking up. "There was blood everywhere, but I don't think it was her's."
Barbara nodded and was quiet for several moments. Finally, she said softly, "We were wrong, you know."
She was being all mysterious and Oracley, but for once Helena knew exactly what she was talking about. Shaking her head, she said, "It wasn't Hawke she was mad at, was it?"
"No… she thought Carolyn was taking her away. She really didn't want to go with her," Barbara said guiltily, shaking her head at herself ruefully. "She was trying to tell us the whole time and I didn't listen."
"You did the best that you could," Helena insisted, the resigned tone in her friend's voice making her wary. "It's not like she was exactly talking to us the past few weeks."
"She said that she didn't want to go. That we were the ones who wanted her to go," she said through tearing eyes, banging the steering wheel with one of her fists to accent each point. "She told me. I just wasn't listening. I felt so sure that she was hiding her pain that I didn't see how much she was trying to show me."
Helena had heard enough. She stood up, not caring that the car was still in motion.
"Helena! Sit down."
The brunette ignored her and moved to the passenger seat and put on her seat belt. "Barbara. Listen to me. This is not your fault."
"Yes, it is," Barbara insisted angrily.
It weirded Helena out to see her mentor so upset, but she knew her well enough to know that she was really just upset with herself.
"Don't you see?" the redhead continued, her voice catching. "It makes perfect sense. Her mother leaves her, the Redmonds mistreat her, and then we, the people she saw as her last chance for a family and happiness, kick her out to force her to go with her mother. And to her, Carolyn wasn't her mother... just a stranger who was trying to take her life away. At least, the life she wanted for herself."
"Oh, I get it," Helena said, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms in front of her. "You think that because you're the Oracle, you should know every thought and feeling that Dinah has... even though she's the telepath in the family." She snorted and rolled her eyes. "And people say I'm conceited."
Barbara managed a small laugh and raised an eyebrow, but Helena could still see tears in her eyes. "I see what you're trying to do."
"See, there you go again. You're assuming that you know everything."
"Not everything," Barbara said mock indignantly. "Just you."
Helena crinkled her nose. "I'm not that easy to read."
"Ah, yes," the redhead said, finally in full teasing mode. "You're an enigma behind the leather."
"Hey," the brunette said, shrugging, "someone's gotta keep it real around here."
"And you're the humble one?"
"Humble? Please. But this whole thinking you know everything deal just doesn't suit you."
Barbara shook her head, but let it go as she parked the Hummer. Alfred was already waiting for them with a stretcher.
As Barbara moved her chair to the rear of the car to use the lift, Alfred couldn't help noticing how much more relaxed she appeared than when she had left and he quickly surmised Helena was to thank for that. However, there was still an air of guilt and frustration that would probably take a little longer to dissipate. As he brought the stretcher to the side of the hummer, she composed herself and prepared to take charge of Dinah's care, but not before he caught the momentary forlorn expression.
As Helena got out of the front seat of the hummer and opened the back door, Alfred noted the concern and guilt on her features just underneath the flippant, devil-may-care attitude. She often responded to stressful situations the same way, but this time the kind butler knew the mask was in place for Barbara's sake instead of her own.
He hoped Dinah was all right… for all of their sakes. And, as he approached the door and got his first look at the young woman unconscious in the back seat, his conscience smote him for not having seen her problems, either.
But as he looked more closely, he noticed that Dinah didn't seem to be unconscious so much as in the throes of a terrible nightmare. She was curled into a tight ball and crying in her sleep.
"What's going on?" Helena asked worriedly, crouching down next to her but keeping her distance.
Alfred moved out of the way as Barbara maneuvered her chair in the tight space of the hummer to get a closer look.
"I don't know…" she said, her brow furrowed in concern. She tentatively reached out and rubbed the blonde's arm softly. "Dinah?"
The teenager only continued crying softly in her sleep, making the pit of worry deep in Alfred's stomach turn itself in knots.
Barbara looked up at him concernedly, and then said louder, "Dinah. Wake up, honey. Everything's going to be all right." Continuing to speak in a soothing tone, she began to run her fingers through the blonde's hair.
Suddenly, everything around Barbara went dark and all of her body seemed as numb as her legs. She panicked for a few seconds before she realized that she was standing. 'But, how…'
All at once, Barbara remembered the last time she had stood without the help of the machine she was working on in her spare time. 'I'm in Dinah's mind,' she realized. 'But where is she? Why is everything so dark?' Shaking her head in confusion, she suddenly spotted Dinah and Helena ahead of her in the dim light.
She made her way to the familiar figures, realizing as she did so that they were training and, from Helena's annoyed tones, Dinah wasn't doing very well. It was hard to see in the darkness, but it looked to Barbara as if the blonde was moving sluggishly and her guard was much too low. Automatically, she tried to point this out to Dinah, but found that she had no voice in this strange place. So she came as close as she dared and watched silently from the shadows.
She cringed when Helena hit Dinah harder than was necessary, knocking the blonde to the floor. The brunette didn't show her the mistakes she was making, only knocked her to the ground a second time. Anger rose in Barbara's chest and she surged forward to stand up for her younger charge, but was cut off by Carolyn's sudden appearance from out of nowhere.
Startled, she jumped backwards in surprise and noted her two charges make the same movement. It was disturbing to see someone whom she knew was dead, but it seemed right that Carolyn should live on in Dinah's mind and heart. Remembering the friction between Carolyn and Helena, Barbara grinned and waited for her old friend to put the brunette in her place and defend Dinah. She wasn't able to talk in this strange place, but surely Carolyn would say everything that Barbara wished she could.
And yet… something about her friend's bearing seemed all wrong.
Barbara was horrified to hear Carolyn say, "You're not with me where you belong. Being a superhero isn't the life I wanted for you. You wouldn't be as good at it as I was."
"How do you know when you won't let me try?" Dinah demanded, trembling despite her defiant tone.
"I'm your mother and I know what's best for you," Carolyn said, roughly taking her daughter by the arm. "And you're coming with me."
The older blonde started to drag the teenager toward a huge black hole in the center of the training room that Barbara hadn't noticed before. Instinctively, she realized Black Canary was taking her daughter to be with her… in death.
"Wait!" Dinah protested, struggling. "Stop!"
Again Barbara was overcome by the need to do something, but she was stopped in her tracks by a familiar hum coming from behind her. Fearful of the sound for a reason she couldn't explain, Barbara slowly turned to see another version of herself wheel through the door. Shocked, she realized that the familiar, loathed sound was the noise of her electric chair.
As she got a better look, she noticed that the other Barbara seemed to look a little different even though she was dressed familiarly in her favorite blue blouse and light slacks. She seemed… prettier, almost. Little imperfections that the redhead noticed about herself weren't present in this other version of herself, and she seemed to sit a little taller in her chair.
Shadow Barbara wheeled past her, and despite all of the strange things going on, she couldn't help wondering, 'Oh, yuck… does that shirt really look like that on me? Why didn't anyone tell me?'
Dinah turned toward the redhead in the wheelchair and called hopefully, "Barbara, help me! I don't have to go with her, do I?"
Barbara's heart broke and chilled painfully in her chest as she heard this other version of herself say almost mechanically, "I told you what would happen if you stopped training. And she is your mother. You need to go with her."
"Why?" Dinah asked, now crying freely. "So she can ditch me again?"
"I can't believe you," Helena said accusingly, her arms crossed and shaking her head in disgust. "I would give anything to get to see my mom one last time, and you don't even want to go with her. You're as cold and heartless as my father."
"Don't make me go!" Dinah pleaded desperately, looking frantically back and forth between the darkness and the Barbara and Helena from her dream. "Please, help me! I want to stay with you."
"You're just upset," Shadow Barbara said dismissively, waving the teenager away with her hand. "You'll come around. Believe me, this is the best thing for all of us. You would have never fit in here."
Barbara just stood there, her mouth dropped open in shock, appalled at what her dream counter-part had just said. 'Is this what Dinah thinks we would say, or is it only what she's afraid we'd say?'
Dinah froze at the words and then quit fighting. As her mother pulled her towards the darkness, she muttered to the floor, "Please… I can do better… I'll train harder. I'll get better grades. Please…"
Tears coming down her own cheeks, Barbara surged forward and pushed Carolyn away. At her movement, Helena and the other version of herself faded away into nothingness and the darkness seemed to close inward.
At the release of the pressure on her arm, Dinah sank down onto the floor, pulled her knees up to her chest, and sobbed.
Barbara got onto her knees to envelop the blonde in an embrace, struggling to find her voice.
Dinah continued to weep for several minutes, seemingly unaware of her presence.
Growing increasingly frustrated and distressed at her inability to reach her, Barbara finally managed to say, "It's okay. I'm here. No one is going to take you away."
At her words, Dinah squinted into the darkness. "Barbara?"
"I'm right here," the redhead said, overjoyed that the teen had finally responded. "It's going to be okay."
The darkness began to pull away from the pair and Dinah was finally able to see and feel her mentor hugging her tightly. She stared at her for a moment in disbelief, before leaning into the embrace and sobbing into her shoulder, "Please don't let her take me with her."
"I won't, sweetheart," Barbara assured her. She gave her a teary smile and added, "Helena, Alfred, and I would all miss you too much."
Out of the corner of her eye, Barbara saw movement. Carolyn had moved to stand behind Dinah's back, just in Barbara's line of sight. The redhead was already incredibly angry with her old friend and quickly prepared to defend her charge, but Carolyn only smiled at her… and then just melted away.
