Chapter 3
Where am I?
This pain…my neck? It's killing me. I can't see. Can't remember…
Somebody's talking.
"I've wrapped the wound. I'm afraid I can't do anything more. The wounds are too serious, even if he hadn't loss so much blood." Oh Lord, is he talking about me? Am I going to die?
"I didn't know what I was doing…I saw him attacking Dorothy and…it was like, my body just acted on its own." Another voice, he sounds scared. I remember searching, yes, we found something…did he attack me?
Now a third guy is speaking, his voice is much deeper than the other two. "You were defending your mate. You have no reason to feel shame."
"Paul, you did what you had to do," Huh? This is a woman's voice. "I would have done the same, you know that."
What did I do? Are they talking about me or not? Is anyone else here with me? I can't see, I can't remember.
What am I doing here, why did I come? I can't remember. Oh God help me, I can't remember.
I'm muttering something. I can talk. Barely. "M'aye…m'aye gunna i?"
A few seconds…no answer. I'm saying it again; hit hurts to blurt it out, I'm trying to move, but a hand steadies me. Someone's next to me, with a hand on my chest.
"Easy now, just relax." It's the woman.
"I goin i?"
She's hesitating, now she answers, "Yes dear, it looks that way. I'm sorry."
Her voice relaxes me. Somehow I feel better. Her hand is beneath my head. Her touch feels odd. It doesn't feel like a hand in some ways. More like…yeah, that's who it is. I'm recalling things.
She's talking to me now, asking me if I've made peace with God. I think I hear something huff in the background. Oh God…I'm dying. It's hitting me, I going to die! She's got her other hand in mine, she's whispering, praying something. She says grip her hand if I believe. What the heck is this? Do I?
After a second I grasp it. It's soft, velvety even, but her grip is like a vice.
Her voice seems happy. I can barely hear her now, everything is fading out…
It's over.
Barbara pushed open the massive doors to Wayne Manor's front entrance, and sauntered in, wearing a modest black skirt with sleeveless top, and a tote bag over her shoulder. She called out to Alfred, and heard him shout out a reply, "In the living room Madam!" She walked down the hall, and stopped to stand in the doorway, where she saw Alfred, hard at work as usual, reaching above the fireplace to dust a frame guarding Thomas and Martha Wayne's portrait. He turned to see her and smiled broadly.
"Barbara! A pleasure to see you! How is the library?"
"I had to kick out a couple of homeless people, nothing unusual I'm afraid." She said drearily as she entered the room. "How's Bruce? Any change on Selina?"
Alfred's face turned grave. He continued his work as he spoke. "He still has not come up from that dreadful cave since you brought Miss Kyle in from the rain. She is still unconscious…and though there has been a great deal of change in her condition, I am afraid it is not for the better."
He picked up an unused tea set. "Bruce is as obsessed as I have ever seen him. He has not taken a moment's rest for three days, no matter how much I have implored him. If he cannot save Selina…I genuinely fear for his mind." Alfred said looking down.
"Barbara," he said, glancing up, "I do not know what you could do to help him, but if you have any ideas, please try."
She nodded, "I will. Bruce is fortunate to have a friend like you."
She pulled the grandfather clock handle and opened the way to the shadowy flight of stairs. Her tote over her shoulder she began her descent. As she did so, her thoughts recounted the events of the last few days. After they had brought her home, Bruce had quickly figured out that her condition was actually stemming from a previous adventure he and Selina had had, before Barbara had "joined the team" or had even made her Batgirl costume.
She had known of the case of Kirk Langstrom, whose experiments into bats had turned him into a horrible Man-Bat creature. But he only one of a host of Dr. Moreau wannabes Batman had run into. One, Dr. Emile Dorian, had spent twenty years developing his "perfect" specimen. Only instead of bats, Dorian had a thing for cats. He'd made a "man-cat" and wanted a suitable mate for his pet. Apparently, he thought Catwoman, being a fan of felines herself, would be receptive to the prospect of being transformed into one of his creatures. He kidnapped her, and by the time Batman tracked her down, Dorian had already started his treatments, with the desired affects. Batman defeated Dorian and obtained the antidote, but now it seemed that the mutation was somehow reasserting itself.
Batman had some of the original cure left over, and had administered it immediately. But it only seemed to exacerbate her condition. He'd spent day and night researching leads by computer, calling in friends, experimenting on possible cures, and all the while Selina remained unconscious, slowly taking on the features of a monster.
She finally reached the end of the stairs and found Bruce, still in costume but with mask pulled back, sitting intently before his massive computer moniter, three separate windows up at once. One seemed to be analyzing a tissue simple, another showed Selina's vitals, and still another showed a news article of some kind. He was quickly scrolling through it. Selina herself was on an operating table, covered in a white sheet except for her head. Even from a distance Barbara could confirm Alfred's diagnosis.
"Batgirl, you're back, good," he said without turning his head. "Here's the news: Langstrom finally emailed me from his conference in Taiwan, but his data was old and useless. Dorian's work is remarkably similar to his but different in several key areas. It's those areas that seem to be the problem." He took a swig of cold coffee and continued, "I finally found an answer to what happened to Dorian at Arkham. According to a former intern, he ticked off the Joker. They decided to cover up the mess and just have him disappear. Not an uncommon thing. So another dead end…" He suddenly turned his head, "Are you ok?"
Barbara was staring at him. He wore a heavy shadow, and his face looked more strained and fatigued than she could remember. But he still effused the same cool, stoic demeanor.
"Yes, what about Dorian's research? I thought the government seized his work, had that Dr. Milo working on it as part of Cadmus?"
Batman turned back the computer, "Milo is also dead…long story…but he didn't achieve the results Cadmus wanted, and they cut him off. After that the research was either destroyed or buried so deep even I can't find it.
Barbara sighed and dropped her tote bag to the floor, "What about Amanda Waller? Aren't you guys sort of…friends? She might know something."
Batman seemed to stop working, but stared straight ahead, "It's…less like friendship as much as grudging respect based on mutual blackmail. She knows my identity, I know enough about her illegal activities to put her away for life. She certainly wouldn't help me get any more dirt on her unless I have something big to offer."
Embarrassed, Barbara tried to change the subject, "What are you reading now?"
Batman replied, "Reports of robberies in the last month over the New York/New Jersey area. There was one in a University Med lab two days ago."
"Well, at least that last one wasn't Selina," Barbara said, slightly puzzled. "Why…wait, you think these she's the one who…"
"Fits her modi operandi," interrupted Batman. "This, by the way, is why I'm glad to see you. I need to stay and work here, you need to go and-"
"What you need is to rest!" Barbara blurted out. Real smooth, she thought to herself. But there was no stopping now. "You're driving yourself to the edge Bruce. Have you looked in the mirror lately? When was the last time you slept?"
"Selina's doing all the sleeping around here, every second I waste-"
"You're not doing her any favors by burning yourself out! I'll go and track down our friend, but only if you promise to take a rest. Who knows what may come up, and we both need to be in top form."
Batman waved his hand dismissively "I'm fine; it's not your place to worry about me."
Barbara was becoming more and more irate, "I'm not Robin Bruce! And for that matter I'm not the police commissioner's teenage daughter playing sidekick in between classes anymore. I'm your partner and I have a responsibility to look out for both our well being."
Batman seemed taken aback for a moment, and then shook his head in disgust.
Receiving no answer, Barbara grew even more outraged, she was now practically yelling at him. "Look, I understand Selina means a lot to you-"
Bruce suddenly burst from his chair and grabbed Barbara by the collar. He shouted as Barbara stared at him in shock, "You don't know ANYTHING about Selina! Or me! You…you…" He stopped, taken aback by his own loss of control. His grip loosened, and he looked down, and then slowly slunk back into his chair.
"Barbara…I'm…I'm sorry." He sat while Barbara stood silently for a full minute. He finally spoke. "You're right," he mumbled.
"Good, you rest, I'll go track down our target. Hopefully, I won't have to try to hard to convince her to help us." She said, picking up her tote bag.
Batman gestured to a desk in a corner, "I've already printed out and filed all the info you'll need to track her." He slowly stood up and spoke softy, "Barbara, I need you to know..."
"Don't worry about it," she replied, gathering up a thick paper file off the desk. "We're all stressed right now. You just relax."
She turned and walked to the changing room. As she reached the door, she turned and said, "I've got to suit up right now. By the way, I'll be taking the bat-plane."
