Both fell to the ground. Dinah fell a rush of wind over them. Helena stood up immediately and turned in a defensive position. "Stay back, kid," She mumbled.
Dinah rose on her elbows and looked, stunned, at a woman with the face of a big cat, in front of them. Helena had pushed her down so that the strange creature wouldn't land on her. She had seen the pictures. It was Cheetah, she was really a freak.
"I was looking for you." Cheetah grinned.
"You could look in the yellow pages."
"Where is the necklace?"
"Still with that? You are stubborn."
Cheetah whipped her tail and tried to hit the brunette, who jumped to avoid it. She turned in the air and hit the woman with her feet, making her fall.
Cheetah tried to hit her again, but Huntress ducked and punched her stomach. A fist hit on the brunette hard; she stepped back. Cheetah turned and kicked her back. With her tail, she took a piece of wood and aimed it toward the brunette.
The blonde raised her hand and pushed her back, "No!"
Cheetah hit the wall. She growled and glared at her, "Who the hell are you?"
"She's one of the good guys," Helena said. "You didn't like that?"
"You are dead."
"I don't think so," Helena attacked her, but Cheetah stopped her blows. She tried to scratch her, but the brunette ducked and kicked her.
Cheetah tried to scratch her again, but only ripped her long black jacket. Annoyed, Helena glared at her. "Do you have any idea how expensive this is?"
"Last chance, give me the necklace or I'll kill you."
"Take a number."
Cheetah raised her hand to scratch her and the brunette stopped her wrist with her hands; the woman growled, annoyed, trying to free herself, both struggled and Huntress suddenly felt her back crashing forcefully against a gas tank. It bent with the strength of the impact, but the brunette didn't release her.
"Jezzz, you have to do something about that breath: Don't you brush?" She winced, feeling the wild woman's breath near her face. Cheetah was really strong, and she was annoyed, which made her most dangerous. The crime fighter used her knee to push Cheetah back, but she didn't move. Cheetah moved her hand slowly, fighting against the grip of the brunette. The claws were inches from her face.
Dinah used her TK and pulled Cheetah back.
Huntress caught her breath, that had been close. "Thanks kid."
"Pleasure."
"I'm tired of these games!" Cheeta stood up, grunting.
"Fine, me too." Huntress jumped and kicked her back.
Both women began to exchange blows; Huntress was quick, but so was Cheetah. Using her tail, she used it to wrap Huntress' feet and throw her to the ground. The movement surprised the brunette.
Dinah ran and jumped on the villainess when she saw her raising her claws to hurt Huntress. She put her arm around her neck. Cheetah moved her hands up and scratched the blonde.
Dinah felt her jaw stick, her body numb. Cheetah, knowing she was poisoned, took her by her arm and pushed her back. "Stupid girl!"
The blonde stumbled against the cornice and fell backwards.
"Dinah!" Huntress ran, trying to grab her; the building was more than five stories high, she couldn't survive the fall. Cheetah stopped her, taking her by her arm and punching her hard in the face. Angry, the brunette charged against the criminal with several hard blows and kicks. Cheetah jumped over her and, holding her by her waist, pushed her back making her crash against the brick wall.
Strong hands picked her up by her lapel. "I'm sorry for your blonde friend; but don't worry, death comes quickly in high falls. Did you think you could defeat me so easily? Now I've got you and you will give me what I want."
The crime fighter punched Cheetah hard on her jaw, she attacked her without thinking. The woman stepped back, the strength of the brunette was incredible. She raised her hands trying to protect herself from the blows. Strong knuckles crashed against her face breaking her lips.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drops of water fell on the blonde girl. She opened her eyes slowly and tried to recognize where she was. Trash bags surrounded her. She looked up. She remembered closing her eyes. She had fallen of the building and she would be dead if she hadn't used her TK powers to try to stop her fall and if an awning hadn't helped slow her descent. The landing in the trash container had been hard.
She didn't know how long she had been unconscious.
Where was she?
After a few seconds of confusion, she noticed she was lying on garbage, black bags surrounded her. She tried to move, but she couldn't. All her body hurt, but she couldn't move; maybe she had broken some bones, she wasn't as flexible as Huntress.
Her lips were dry and she felt warmth on the right side of her face.
Water?... No, blood…
Everything suddenly came to her mind; Cheetah, in some way she had drugged her.
A light blinded her. She tried to move again, but her body didn't respond. She heard the door of a car opening and noises echoing far in the distance. She closed her eyes.
Huntress?
Where was she?
The last thing she remembered was that Cheetah and then, the world stopped and she felt like she falling into a deep hole.
"Dinah." She heard her name, but she couldn't recognize the voice. She opened her eyes and found the redhead next to her.
"I didn't want to move her." She heard another female voice.
"You did okay… Dinah?" The redhead took her cheeks softly.
Barbara shivered, seeing the pale look of the teen; it seemed as if she was lost. The redhead raised her head and saw the broken awning; the building was three floors - a high distance for her, she didn't have Huntress' abilities and was lucky she wasn't dead, thanks to the garbage bags and the awning. She was worried, maybe the girl was seriously injured, but she wouldn't know if she didn't check her first. Helena had done well not moving her. Maybe she had hurt her back, it was best was keep her immobilized. She brushed some hair off the girl's face and took out her scanner.
"Helena, bring me the neck brace," she said, moving the scanner over the girl, "it's in the back of the Hummer; I have a backboard, as well, bring it."
The brunette called the redhead after finding Dinah in the alley; Cheetah had run away and Helena had jumped down immediately to look for her; it was a miracle, she was alive; but she could hurt her more if she moved her. The fall had been high. Helena's call had surprised Barbara, first, because Helena was annoyed and, second, she thought the blonde was sleeping.
Surely, she had walked out against Barbara's advice to look for Huntress, but… she needed focus her mind on the important in that moment: Dinah. She finished the scan and pressed a button to check the images.
Dinah grunted, feeling a sharp pain in her back. The redhead leaned down and touched her face gently. "It's okay, don't worry. I checked you, looks as if you just broke your arm. But I want to check you carefully. I'm going to immobilize it now and your neck too, okay?"
The teen couldn't say anything. She just closed her eyes.
Barbara, concerned, instructed Helena, who arrived at that moment. "I need to immobilize her arm. The neck brace first and then we will move her onto the backboard."
---------------------------------------------------
The redhead moved back from the monitors. She pressed some keys at her computer and her gaze moved for a second toward the lab. Dinah was lying on the med table. It was a miracle she was alive with just some cuts and bruises. She had broken her arm, but the thing most worried her was the hard contusion on her head and her high temperature.
Helena followed all of her mentor's movements with a worried gaze, standing up behind her; the brunette cleaned small drops of sweat from the her forehead with her hand.
Dinah had came back to consciousness for few minutes, but she couldn't move or talk. A beep made her turn her head, as Barbara, who moved toward a test tube at the other side of the table; moving her glasses up her nose, she read the screen.
"How is she?" Helena asked.
The redhead didn't answer, but concentrated on the monitor.
"Everything is okay, Miss Barbara?" Alfred asked, walking inside the lab.
After long seconds of silence, she finally spoke, "It's a virus…"
"Excuse me?" Helena frowned.
"Dinah," the redhead turned to look at them with concern, "Is a virus attacking her meta cells… Helena, what happened? Did Cheetah throw something at her?"
"No… but… she scratched her," Helena remembered, "Her arm… Maybe her claws…"
Barbara examined the wound, "I never heard anything about Cheetah's claws being poisoned… I don't think…"
"That was the only physical contact Dinah had with her," Helena insisted, "That must be it, I fought with her and I'm okay. She was looking for me, she told me… she was thinking about defeating me and maybe she poisoned her claws to do it. "
Alfred noticed Helena kept her left hand behind her coat holding her right side; she was sweating so much. He looked inside his pocket and extended her a handkerchief; she looked at it a few seconds and took it to clean her forehead. "Thanks…" she mumbled to him.
Barbara rubbed her chin "It makes sense, Helena, but we need know for certain."
"I'll find her, Barbara," the brunette said.
"You need to hurry. Dinah's temperature is increasing. I'm trying to lower it, but… the drug is acting like a virus."
"What?" Helena moved her hand and cleaned the sweat off her eyes. Alfred kept an eye on her.
"This virus is like an infection…" Barbara explained to her "it's attacking her meta cells… destroying them. But I can't make an antidote, unless we know what virus is… before it kills her." She turned and wheeled toward the elevator.
"All right…" Helena gave Alfred his handkerchief "Thanks, I'll go look for Cheeta now."
Helena and Alfred turned at the same time, and he hit her side lightly by "accident", the brunette winced and bent slightly holding her side. He frowned.
"I'm okay…" she said hurriedly.
He took her by her arm and raised her coat to a side. Maybe the movement would cause anyone to receive a hard punch, but not him. She respected him. The old butler noticed Helena had a big scratch on her side.