"Wade Brixton…ugh…ugh…I.."
"Mr. Brixton don't talk. You need to go to surgery NOW! "
"Barbara. I need to tell…." As the drugs flowing into his system, his voice trail off and Wade was whisked off to surgery.
Police officers swarmed the hospital room trying to match lost people with injured people. It was a mess. Reese's men had special instructions to locate Wade. They questioned all the nurses at the station, but the only people who could identify Wade were now with him in surgery.
"Fine. Keep looking. This is top priority. Call me as soon as you hear anything." Reese activated the secret button and the elevator to the Clock Tower began ascending. As the doors opened, he could feel the thickness in the air. "Helena?" Reese looked around, but found no one.
"Ahhh. Master Reese. Miss Helena went out for some air…"
"That bad eh?"
"Miss Barbara isn't exactly herself right now. They had words. I've made dinner. It'll be ready soon. Make yourself comfortable." Alfred went up to the kitchen to finish dinner and Reese followed.
"Is Dinah in with her now?"
"Heavens no. No one dares go in. It was a difficult day. Have you had any luck with the antidote disc? Or with Master Wade's whereabouts for that matter?" Alfred slid Reese a half full glass of bourbon.
"Ummmm… it's a mess out there. I have every available officer searching the hospitals and shelters and streets for the body. I'm hitting dead ends with the disc as well. As a matter of fact," Reese's voice trailed off as he shot the bourbon in one gulp and began down the hall towards Barbara's room.
"Master Reese? I don't think…"
"We don't have the same relationship…I don't care if she yells at me Alfred…" He was determined. Alfred didn't see any point in stopping him. Matters couldn't get much worse.
As Reese approached the door, he shook off the approaching effects of the bourbon and knocked. He wasn't surprised that there was no answer. He decided to go in anyway.
"Oracle? I have to talk to you." Though he had only seen Barbara a handful of times face to face, it struck him as out of the ordinary to see her just sitting in bed staring off into space.
She looked up. "You can just call me Barbara."
"Fine. Barbara, I need your help…"
"Did Helena send you? I can't help you Reese. I…"
"Listen, I don't need to know the details or anything personal…I'm here as a desperate member of the GCPD. We need you. Your dad would…"
"Don't pretend to know anything about my dad and don't come in here with your business as usual attitude and pretend you don't know…"
"I'm not letting you do this to me too. My men can't figure out the disc. Just help us. I've put a call through to your father. He'll be contacting me soon."
"Good, then he can help you when he calls. Leave Detective."
"No. And you can call me Jesse. I am begging you…"
"You don't need me. You need my computers. Just get someone on that and they'll be able to broadcast the antidote. Now will you go? Please?" She allowed her eyes to meet with Jesse's at that moment.
"Barbara?" He walked over and sat beside her on the bed. Taking her hand in his, he began to massage her hand. "Helena doesn't know this, but I have a brother who contracted some rare form of pneumonia when he was young and slowly lost the use of his arms and legs…"
"What's your point Detective?" She tried to pull her hand from his grasp, but was unable.
"I'm just relating…"
"You can't relate. What do you want? Please let my hand go…I.."
"Let me help you Barbara. We need you and you need us. We can't do this without you."
Barbara almost allowed herself to be touched by his sincerity, but her recent evolution wouldn't allow it. Still, she chose to let him off more easily than the others.
"I can't help you Reese. It's over. You're welcomed to take whatever you need from the Clock Tower or work here. I don't care. I just can't help."
"Un-uh…You can't or you won't? Did you see yourself last night? You were amazing. You were so brave. You all fought so hard. You're willing just to let it all go?"
"It's already gone. I messed up. It wasn't enough. Now I …"
"Have a tough road ahead of you? Who doesn't…"
"O.K. That's enough. Get out!" He had crossed a line. Jesse left to join the others defeated by Barbara's new outlook.
"You are path…" luckily, Jesse's phone rang and interrupted him. "Reese here. Just a minute." Jesse turned to Barbara and covered up the phone. "I have to take this, but we're not finished here. I'll be back." He caught her off guard as he bent down and kissed her forehead before leaving.
Reese walked out into the hallway where he was met by a wide-eyed Helena. "Man. Ya got a death wish?"
"Give me a minute. I think they have info. On Wade." He covered the phone and listened to the officer on the other end as he planted a kiss on Helena's forehead. "Yes. Brixton. Do you have him or not? Fine. Call me ASAP!" He shoved his phone back into his pocket. " Damn it!"
"What? Is it Wade?" Helena leaned back against the wall.
"There are so many people in surgery or just out or unidentified that they are having trouble. He heard a nurse say the name though, so we might have something."
"So…how's she doing? I mean you got out alive…that's good!" Helena took Reese by the hand and they walked upstairs to dinner.
"She's really messed up Helena. I mean she's in a bad mood and physically…"
"I know, she really messed herself up this time."
"Was it the transponder?" The two sat down as Alfred brought dinner to the table.
"Where's Dinah Alfred?"
"She'll be down directly Ms. Helena."
"Yah. She's used it before, but not for that long and it's never really worked that well. I mean, she's used it as a boost for her chair and once when she got some crazy idea that she could beat the world's toughest martial arts warrior, but other than that, it's always been sketchy. I guess she amped it up or something. Amped herself right back into that chair."
"Well it was never meant to last forever right?"
"No….I guess not, but it hurts a lot for her to use it and Dr. Tompkins always warns that it could actually damage more nerves. But I guess none of that mattered to her. Let nothing stand in the way of the mission. That's her motto." Helena rambled on not paying attention to the amount of food she was piling on her plate.
"Hey! Save some for us Helena!" Dinah laughed and distracted Helena as she came to the table. "More talk of our fearless leader? How's she doing? Anyone dare to go in today?"
"Yah. I did."
Dinah glanced at Helena who just shrugged her shoulders in response.
"And how did that go exactly?"
"Not well. We've got to get her to help. My men are coming up empty." Reese made eye contact with Alfred as he plead his case.
"Well, we've all tried and that'll be next to impossible. I mean, it's different this time. She's different." Helena looked up at Alfred who nodded in agreement. She continued, "she needs closure Jesse. She needs to put Wade to rest…"
"You know that's impossible. There are hundreds of inured and dead. They all want funerals, they all want closure. She needs…"
"Jesse, this is different. She's my…"
"Helena, I know. I'm sorry. I'm trying…"
"I know. It's just I can't think of anything else. I don't know how to get her passed this." The three of them sat and continued eating dinner in silence. They were all riddling their minds with ways to help Barbara, ways to help themselves. All they could think of was the chaos that filled their heads and filled the streets of New Gotham.
What was I thinking? A seven year run, that's not even that impressive. Why couldn't I just leave well enough alone? First I just couldn't be content with being Barbara Gordon, teenager, college graduate. I had to be more, I had something to prove. I had to be Batgirl. Then…well, I was a dealt a bad hand. Thousands of people get hurt. Thousands are injured. I could have learned to live within the chair. But I had to become the Oracle, I had to temp fate. I had to get Helena involved, and Dinah? She's only a kid. Not only that, but I had to walk, I had to try, I had to be the hero. I'm not a hero. I failed. Sure, I took Harley down, but Helena could have done that. The police. My dad. Why couldn't I just ask for help? I need help. I need help. I can't…"
"Ms. Barbara! Ms. Barbara! Wake up…" Alfred shook her as she continued yelling out self accusations.
Finally her eyes sprang open. "I need help…I can't…"
"Shhh… Barbara. Shhhh." Helena sat on the bed and grabbed Barbara up in her arms. "Barbara!"
Barbara came to and found herself in Helena's arms. She looked into her eyes and began to cry. "Helena…"
"Shhhh…" Helena motioned to Alfred to leave. As the door shut, the two of them began to cry together. Both for the same and both for different reasons.
"Helena I'm so sorry. I was so selfish. I didn't think of what you wanted. I didn't think of Dinah, or Wade. I just..."
"You just did what you thought was right. You cared for us, you took us in…"
"I wrecked you life. Now…"
"Now we've got some problems, but more importantly, we've still got each other Barbara. I love you. I want to help you. I don't care about the city; I don't care about anything else. I just want to help you Barbara." As Helena passed words through sobs, she felt Barbara almost collapse, her sobs giving into exhaustion. Helena held her in her arms for a while longer allowing her to rest in the comfort of her arms before helping her to settle back into bed.
As she left the room, she heard Barbara whisper, "Thanks for understanding Helena."
"Is she o.k.? Did you get her calmed down?" Dinah stared at Barbara's door even after Helena had passed.
"She's sleeping. She was just having a bad dream. I don't think she's any different. At least not consciously. We definitely need to find Wade. At least it'll be something."
"What will it be Helena? She thinks he's dead. The only thing that would make a difference would be if he weren't dead." Dinah slid down the wall beside Barbara's room wracking her brain for answers.
"Mr. Brixton?" As Wade came to, the room was spinning. "Mr. Brixton? You're I a hospital. You were stabbed. Is there someone we can call?" He finally managed to lock eyes with the nurse.
"I'm in the…."
"Hospital. Who should we call? You are going to have to stay here for a while longer. I'd be happy to call someone. Before you went into surgery, you mentioned Barbara?"
Wade was not able to place that name. "Barbara. Yes. Can you call my parents please?"
"Yes certainly. Is your mom's name Barbara?"
"No. Just call….ughh.." He swept the sheet off and tried to sit up, but was met with considerable pain.
"What's the number? You have to stay calm; you'll split the incision and risk infection. You almost died." She passed him a pen and paper.
After scribbling down a number, he grabbed his side again. "Who's Barbara?"
"I don't know Mr. Brixton. I'll call your parents and get the doctor in here directly.
Wade lay and wait, sorting through what little he knew about his situation. He reached for the remote control and turned on the television. What he saw only compounded his foggy state of mind. Live cameras following chaos at every turn. More of the same today. It's been four days since Harley Quinn made her mark on New Gotham. Though Harley is in custody, countless inmates, patients, and otherwise dangerous people have taken over the streets. They seem to be under some sort of hypnosis. Can Gotham City survive once again?
Something clicked in his mind. Hypnosis? Oh God! Harley? The memories were now rushing back to him.
"Son? I'm Dr. Harvey. You were stabbed. It's a wonder you got here in one piece. You lost a lot of blood. You've also had considerable damage to your abdominal organs. It'll be a while before you should get out of bed, then you'll have some work ahead of you getting your strength back. Still, I expect a full recovery."