Dinah

"Quit squirming! It'll only make me want to kill you sooner."

A hard backhand across Helena's cheek makes her grunt. She won't scream, no matter what I do. If only she'd scream, just once. It would make things so much better.

"Scream," I demand out loud. She simply shakes her head.

Her eyes are sad but the rest of her face is a hard mask of defiance.

"I'll always love you Dinah, no matter what you do," she rasps softly. "You can beat me to a pulp but you'll never be able to hurt me."

I roll my eyes and press at the deep cut in her chin, she gasps. Her head snaps back trying to escape my hand but I reach around and rip at her hair to stop her from getting away.

"This hurts doesn't it?" I demand. "Doesn't it Helena, tell me the truth!"

She slams her lips together and refuses to answer.

I let go of her head and drive my hand into her nose. There's a sharp crack and she groans under her breath. Her eyes close slightly.

"Oh, no you don't. We aren't finished yet. Scream! Just fucking scream and I'll leave you alone. That's all you have to do. Just scream Helena."

"Go easy young one," Harley Quinn says softly from behind me, momentarily looking up from her Good House and Home magazine. "It's no fun anymore if they pass out on you. Slowly, remember?"

I nod at her and she turns another page. "Wow, beige is back."

Helena looks so small in the large metal chair. I've never seen her broken before and all under my hand. I have the power over her now. I can do whatever I like when ever I feel like it. It's tantalisingly sweet.

I sigh. I still love her though.

I kneel down and brace my hand on the chair beside her leg. I run my hand along her arm and she flinches away. The serum Dr. Fraser gave her must still be in her system.

"Helena, sweetheart, look at me," I say softly and gently push her chin up with my thumb. "Come on, look up honey."

Her eyes very slowly focus on mine and I smile sweetly at her. She blinks then smiles back. "Why won't you just scream for me, just once?"

She smiles again and I smile back.

"I'm not going to scream, Dinah."

"Why?" I huff.

"Because."

"That's not really an answer," I say as I roll my eyes and take a seat on the floor in front of her. I touch the smooth skin of her ankle and she looks down at me.

Her shoes are gone, her leather jacket is missing and she doesn't seem to be wearing any sort of communication device.

"How's Barbara?" I ask softly as I touch the soft pink flesh of her lower leg. She shakes her head and looks at me very strangely.

I hear Harley's magazine rustle from the back of the room.

"Do you think she'll come and save you?" I run my hand along the heavy steel manacle holding her foot to the ground. "Does this hurt?"

She shakes her head, even though there is a thick layer of dried blood around the weighty ring.

I slide my hand onto the lock and touch it with my finger.

"Locks are silly little things aren't they," I grin at her and she softly smiles back. "Just a hunk of metal, a set of tumblers in a heavy case, so easy to pick and manipulate yet they protect our most prized and expensive possessions."

"Your Mother knew how easy locks were to break didn't she?" I push slightly on the ankle and Helena hisses through her teeth.

"She knew that locks could easily be broken. She taught you that? Of course she did. The daughter of a thief and a hero would know how easy but important locks are. What else did your mother teach you Helena?"

Helena's eyes widen a little more as her cuffs slide down her leg. I grin evilly and dig my thumb into a small wound.

"Did she teach you about love? Pain? Growing up?"

Helena gasps as I dig another finger into the free flowing wound.

"When you fell in love with Barbara did you feel the pain when you realised all the complications? Did you give up hope?"

I stand up quickly and walk to the other side of the room. I can feel Helena's eyes burning into my back.

"Of course you did, Helena. You were how old? Seventeen? Eighteen?"

"How did you …"

"I am a telepath Helena."

"Oh …"

I pull the cloth cover from a long foldable table and look at the instruments carefully placed on top. So many shiny things, so little time.

"You went to Barbara when you were young didn't you? You shared your own declaration of love and Barbara practically threw you backwards. That's why I thought you, of all people, would understand. You know what it's like to love someone older, more experienced … and apparently quite depraved."

Her eyebrows head for the ceiling as I pick up a nasty looking silver corkscrew.

"What? You think Gabby never took a few sneak peaks into your dreams and shared with the group? Please. Power is made to be abused."

"That's a girl," Harley mumbles from behind her magazine as I walk back across the room tapping the cork screw on my left palm.

"I know all about the bat cave fantasy and the oh-so-naughty 'mistress' interlude."

Helena's eyes light up in recognition.

I rest the corkscrew under her chin and make her look me in the eye.

"This could get rough baby, feel free to scream."


Helena

I wish I could lose consciousness. It would end a lot of my pain, I'm sure.

"This is great but just so unfulfilling," Dinah's voice whines in my ear. Just as if she were complaining about my pop tarts.

I lick my lips and taste blood. I shouldn't be surprised but the tangy after taste is enough to make me want to gag.

"Well Dinah darling, maybe you should mix things up a bit, as the young kids like to say these days. Do you have any ideas?" Dr. Fraser says as she moves around the room. She's fussing around fixing things having disappeared almost an hour ago.

"Well," Dinah draws the word out, tapping her finger on her lip and smiling softly. "You know, the human body is 60 water, or something like that."

"Yes," the Doctor encouraged my young blonde friend.

"And water is a great conductor?" Dinah suggests.

The Doctor laughs jovially and wraps Dinah in a fierce hug. "I knew you'd get the hang of this fast. I'll see what I can do."

As the Doctor starts to head out of the room Dinah stops her with a hand on her back.

"There's something else."

The Doctor smiles and raises an eyebrow in question.

"I was wondering if maybe Helena and I could … spend some time alone, get to know each other a little better if you get my drift," Dinah smiles seductively leaving no confusion as to exactly what she was suggesting.

"Of course my dear, young people have needs too," the doctor agrees quickly and motions for Harley to follow her out of the room. "But don't take the cuffs off. I doubt she'd be able to escape in her condition but better safe than sorry."

With a quick flourish and a delighted laugh the Doctor swings the door shut behind her.

"Fuck, I thought she'd never leave," Dinah gasps as she rushes over to me and finishes unlocking the cuffs around my ankles.

"Did you really have to dig that cork screw in so damn far, I'm gonna be limping for weeks," I moan as she unlocks my arms as well.

I rub at my wrists and try to stand but the serum the Doctor injected me with makes standing feel like I'm walking on hot coals.

"You know," Dinah says as she roots around in the pocket of her blue jacket, "if you'd screamed I could have given you this much sooner." She hands me a light blue pill and I eye her suspiciously. "It's the antidote to the ultra feeling serum thing."

"What were you going to do?" I ask with a grin as I dry swallow the pill.

"Lob it into your mouth and hope you didn't choke," she tells me seriously and quickly touches the wall. "No guard."

"Is Barbara coming?" I ask as she tosses me my shoes and my leather jacket.

"I think so. I didn't get to talk to her much before we were cut off. The good Doctor told me the storm blew out her phone line."

Dinah rolls her eyes and helps me to my feet. My boots rub on the wounds on my legs. "Remind me not to piss you off anymore," I whisper in her ear as I lean on her shoulder.

She smiles softly, "I'm really sorry. I didn't want to do it."

"It's ok," I whisper back and touch her cheek. "A little bit of pain for my life seems fair enough."

Dinah shrugs and turns away. "We have to get out of here. Just in case Barbara can't find us."

"How?"

Dinah turns to me and purses her lips slightly. She frowns softly. "If I remember correctly on my way here I saw a window down the hall with a fire escape. If we make it down the hall we could go through the window."

"Sounds like a plan," I agree and we start to hobble towards the door.

"If anything happens you head towards the window and I'll keep them back as much as I can," Dinah tells me softly.

"I'm not leaving you," I whisper back. We stop and she turns her head to look at me.

I can see the sadness in her eyes. It's not anger or a blank nothingness, just sadness.

"Helena, I …"

"No, Dinah. We leave together or we don't leave at all."

"Alright, but don't hurt yourself more by picking fights. Let me protect you for once."

"You can do that? And hey! Fights find me, I don't find fights," I grip her shoulder harder as the sharp pains start to leave me.

She grins at me, "I have many skills Helena."

"I'll bet you do," I can't help myself; the teasing seems to natural and real. If I'm going to die I might as well tease Dinah as much as possible before I do.

"Hold still for a second," Dinah says as she concentrates on the huge door and it silently slips open inch by inch.

Her power is amazing. She's been practising while I wasn't looking.

"Do you think Barbara will want me home after … everything that's happened?" Dinah asks as she nervously looks out into the hall.

"Of course she will," I tell her seriously. She decides it's safe and helps me out the door and slowly down the hall.

She was right. There is a window but I can't see a fire escape. We share a quick glance but keep heading towards our escape route.

"Hold it right there! Dinah, how could you? I'm so disappointed."

Dinah holds me as we turn around to face Dr. Fraser and Harley Quinn.

"I thought we'd had this talk Dinah. Did you take your medication like I asked you to?" the Doctor takes a step forward and Dinah tenses by my side.

"Now, it's ok. I didn't expect you to initiate yourself into the fold right away. I knew there would be hiccups but its ok now, Dinah. Just put Helena down and come to me. We can start out with someone less connected to you. How does that sound?"

I know the shock and horror on my face is clear as I watch Dinah slowly nod and give in. She let's her arms slide away from my shoulder and I collapse heavily against the wall.

As if in a trance Dinah slowly walks towards the Doctor's outstretched arms.

"No, Dinah," I pant as the pain in my body doubles with my efforts to remain standing. "Please, Dinah. Help me, come back to me. I love you Dinah."

"That's a good girl," Harley purrs at my blonde friend. "Come back to us, where you belong."

"Actually," a deep masculine voice says from the darkness of the furthest corner behind the two psychopaths, "I think she'd like to come with me."

A cape swirls languidly from the dark and settles around the imposing figure.

"And me," a softer female voice says as a dark Batgirl steps from the shadows behind Batman.

"And me," another masculine voice says happily. Nightwing appears beside me, I can't see where he could have come from but, just my luck, that's the way the bat family has always worked.

"Dick?" I growl at him.

"I'm trying to save your life here. Let's leave the petty jealousy until later," he whispers back to me from the corner of his mouth.

"I can save myself," I mutter as I weakly slump against his side bleeding from several places and almost unconscious.

TBC