"I heard rumors that today they will be at the dockyards," the detective said.
"Are you sure?" Huntress asked.
She had been working with this cop the last few months. She was not used to working with other people, but he had access to information that she couldn't get. She knew Barbara had fantastic equipment too, but there was no way she would ask her for help. She had promised never to ask her for anything, and besides, she could do it all on own.
They were walking outside a coffee shop.
"We haven't failed the last two times." He smiled and offered her a cookie.
"True…" She took it. "Okay, so it will be tonight."
"It's a big one."
"Why you don't go there?"
"We don't have evidence. We need to find it first and they will leave tonight. We can't let them go."
Helena looked at the cookie and finished it. "Hey, it's pretty good."
He smiled and gave her a small bag with cookies. "Finish them. I'm ready."
"Great," she said, taking another one and biting it.
"Have you thought about my proposal?" he asked.
"Sorry." She winked. "Not interested."
"You should think twice, I'm handsome. It's hard to let me go."
She patted his arm. "Yes, but life is hard." She smiled and jumped toward the building behind her.
He put his hands on his pockets and smirked.
The worst part of being a vigilante was the waiting. She was not good at waiting. Luckily, this time it seemed she didn't need to wait.
He had pointed her in the direction of an abandoned home near the center of town. The place was in ruins. She noticed a man outside the house, but, well, she didn't need to use the front door. She landed smoothly on the rooftop. She lost her equilibrium and it took her a few seconds to recover.
She shook her head.
Walking toward the stairway, she opened the door and walked inside carefully. She looked around and, suddenly, she didn't know where she was. It was weird.
She felt her heart beating faster, very fast, it was not normal. She closed her eyes for a brief second and rubbed them with her hand. She cleaned the sweat from her face.
Sweat?
Was she sweating? Why? Where had she been? Or better yet, where was she now?
She heard a loud noise to her left.
This didn't look good.
She felt her senses out of control. It was weird her that her hearing was picking up any small sound, the loud sound she had heard, had been a small rat hitting a piece of wood in its crazy haste to hide from her. Her eyes were feral and she felt very disturbed.
What was going on?
She felt a hard blow on her back that made her hit the floor.
"Hi, flower," the man said.
She rolled on her back and looked up. The man looked like a giant - black and drooling blood. What was that?
She kicked him back and stood up. She shook her head again. What was happening?
"We will earn good money for you," she heard a man saying.
From nowhere appeared three more monsters. They looked distorted and threw flames from their mouths. That was really creepy.
She tried to stand up, but she felt dizzy. A hard kick hit her in her ribs. She stood up, trying to defend herself, but it was useless. They restrained her easily and one of them hit her head with his fist.
She managed to punch one of the monsters, but one of them slammed a fist into her gut.
Shit, that had hurt. It felt like a hammer. Her knees buckled and someone grabbed her and threw her against a wall. It broke under her weight.
This was serious.
She barely could see a window in front of her. She ran toward it and jumped, covering her head with her arms.
That was first time that she hadn't landed on her feet. She growled when her side hit the ground.
"She is there!" the man shouted.
She stumbled, trying to stand up. Fuck, it was hard to move. She needed to run away.
She held her side as the street moved around her. She used the wall as support as she moved toward an alley.
A light from above shone on her.
Crap. Just what she needed. A helicopter.
Using the rooftops would be useless with that thing flying around. She looked to her left. There was the bay.
Cats hate water and more so when it was cold, but she didn't have any other options.
She ran toward it and jumped into the river.
She didn't know how long she swam or what had happened, but when she opened her eyes she was at the riverside, she couldn't figure out where. She was freezing, she was shivering. She turned to her side holding it, it hurt like hell.
"Helena, are you okay?"
Her mother was there with a worried look. Damn. She was dead.
"Come on, Helena, you can do it, stand up." The blonde was in front of her, looking at something. Huntress lifted her head. Everything around her had changed, she was in the backyard of her home. She could see herself on the ground with a bike over her.
Yes, she remembered that day. Her mom was teaching her to ride her bicycle. She saw herself climbing again on the damn thing and she fell again to the ground.
Yeah, it had been a really hard way to learn.
Selina laughed. The brunette loved to see her laugh again. She was so beautiful. A light surrounded her. Selina turned her head and looked at her.
"You must go," she said.
Huntress blinked.
"You must go, hurry."
The image of the woman disappeared. Huntress noticed, then, the light of the helicopter that she had seen before close to the place where she was. She stood up, hesitating, and moved toward the city in front of her.
She ran again and she didn't know where she was going, she just knew she needed to escape. She rested her back on the corner of a dark street and lifted her head.
The Clock Tower was visible in the distance.
Clock Tower. Barbara.
She felt great hatred for her, she had abandoned her, she had lied to her. Huntress closed her eyes. She could see, then, the redhead laughing, looking at her with such tender eyes. It was hard to hate her when she loved her so much.
It had been so hard to be far from her these past years.
She was the person closest to her, the only person that made her feel safe. The image of her in just her bra at the orphanage made her feel excited, she was gorgeous. Her skin white as porcelain.
She could feel every sensation of her hands on her, she could see the movement of her fingers healing her after she was burned in the fire.
She liked that woman.
She wanted that woman.
What was she thinking? She shook her head.
When she opened her eyes, she was in Barbara's bedroom. The redhead was sitting, nude, on her bed. Yes, she was really hot. She lifted her hand and felt it touching the redhead's bare back, it felt warm, it felt so soft. Barbara turned lightly to her left and she could see the side of her breast.
Her mouth turned dry. She tried to touch her, but she stood up and she walked toward the corridor of the house. The redhead stopped at the doorway and beckoned her with her index finger, asking her to follow.
She didn't think twice.
She didn't know how long she walked.
What the fuck was happening with Barbara? She had made her follow her to so many unknown places in her home. She found she was now in the street in front of Clock Tower.
She bent over and hugged her side. Dammit, it hurt. She closed her eyes a brief second and when she opened them, Barbara was on the sidewalk, smiling at her, wearing a tight t-shirt and shorts that made her crazy.
The redhead slowly crossed the street, moving her body slowly, as if she was walking over clouds. Barbara stood in front of her.
She could smell her perfume, her marvelous green eyes looking at her so tenderly, not saying a word. Barbara wrapped her arms around her neck and kissed her.
The dark haired woman was in heaven. She kissed her back, feeling her heart explode with joy. Her libido kicked in; the other woman felt marvelous in her arms.
Barbara's hands on her made her body shiver in desire.
"I want you," Helena mumbled.
And she had gone.
She looked around, confused. Where was she? She lifted her head. The ClockTower was in front of her. Not thinking twice, she began to climb by the wall.
In her room, Barbara dried her hair after a warm shower. She still had work to do at the Delphi, but she really needed to relax a bit. She put on a sports bra and red pants and walked out of her bathroom with the towel in her hands.
She froze when she saw Helena standing at at the door of her balcony. She was bruised and soaked. The brunette was staring at her with intense feral eyes.
"Helena?" she asked in surprise. "What happened to you?"
The brunette didn't say a word, she slowly walked toward Barbara, limping lightly, her breath heavy.
"You are hurt." Barbara noticed a cut on her eyebrow and a bruise on her face. "What happened, Helena?" she asked softly.
The dark haired woman stopped in front of her, looking at her. She cupped Barbara's cheek with her hand. The redhead's face was stunning.
"You are so beautiful," she mumbled.
Barbara shivered. Helena looked at her with a loving expression and the redhead was trapped by those amazing golden eyes staring at her. The young woman's fingers moved up slowly, tracing her eyebrow.
"I have missed you so much." Not saying anything more, the young woman leaned in and pressed her lips against Barbara's, surprising the red head. The touch was gentle, tender, soft. Barbara felt her tremble. She gasped in surprise and the brunette asked for access, wrapping her arms around her waist.
Barbara melted under the caress, it was an intense and deep kiss. She felt her body shiver and her knees weak. It was an incredible kiss and she felt surprised by her own reaction.
"I want you." Helena whispered.
Barbara tried to clear her mind but it was hard under Helena's heavenly touch.
"I want you so much." Helena pressed her thigh against her and gently bit her shoulder.
"Hel…" the red head cleared her throat trying to organize her thoughts. The brunette looked her then. Barbara noticed Helena's eyes had turned red. It was not normal.
"Helena, Do you feel okay?"
"You are mine." The brunette whispered cupping her cheek with shacky hand. "If he touches you again I'll kill him."
"Are you okay?'"
The brunette's hand traced the contour of her face, her shaking was most evident.
"Helena?"
Helena leaned and hugged her. Barbara felt the young woman faint. She barely had time to catch her to prevent her from crashing to the floor. She kneeled on the floor with her.
"Helena?" She touched her cheek. "Are you okay?" Barbara asked.
The young woman winced, holding her side. Barbara touched her side and the brunette growled. Her shaking turned worse.
"You are hurt." Barbara lifted her head and shouted: "Alfred! Alfred, I need you here!"
The brunette opened her eyes slowly, her pupils were red and her gaze lost. The older woman knew that was not normal.
"Helena? Can you hear me?"
"Where am I?" the thin young woman mumbled.
"You are home, you are safe."
"Home?" Helena asked, dazed. "Mom? Where is mom?"
Alfred opened the door. "Oh my God," he said looking the brunette lying on the floor "What happened?"
"I need to go…" the brunette mumbled, lost trying to sit. "Mom says I have to go…"
"Easy," Barbara said, holding her down. "Help me get her to the lab, Alfred."
"Sure." He placed the brunette's arm over his shoulder to help her to stand up.
"Easy," Barbara said "she is hurt."
-------------------
"She was in a fight," Alfred said.
"A big one…." Barbara cleaned her hands with a towel as she walking inside the lab. "Someone broke her rib. The test is ready?"
"Yes, it seems the cookie you found in her bag was laced with Memantine." The butler sat at the center of Delphi at the top of Clock Tower. "It is the same substance that is in her blood."
The redhead frowned and stood next to him "Isn't that a drug approved for treatment of moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease?"
"Yes," he gave her a print out "Look at this."
She took the paper and read it. it had a lot of number and statistics. "This is crazy. It seems that the drug in Helena's system was altered to increase its side effecects."
"Confusion, dizziness, drowsiness, headache, insomnia, agitation, hallucinations, vomiting, andxiety and increased libido."
"Libido?" that would explain..." the redhead mumbled to herself, remebering Helena's reaction to her.
"Excuse me?"
"Forget it… How is her blood?" Barbara leaned over the monitor.
"Her system is full of that compound. She consumed a large quantity of cookies."
"Typical..." The redhead looked him "I already pumped her stomach."
"She will be very angry."
"Well, she always is." The redhead smirked. "Now we just need to wait for her to expel the remaining drug from her system."
He kept silent a few seconds before speaking. "It worries me that someone that knows Miss Helena, gave the cookies to her…."
"Yes, it's worse when you have an enemy that pretends to be your friend." The redhead tapped her chin with her fingers. "But I'm sure she will remember who gave her those cookies. I need her to wake and understand what happened. She was soaked, bruised and drugged. She is lucky to be here."
"Why did she come here? She always says she hates you."
The redhead remembered the sweet kiss Helena had stolen. She touched her lips with her fingers.
"I don't know," she whispered, "but I'm grateful that somewhere, the deep part of her incoherent mind knew this is a safe place for her."
After a couple of hours, the redhead moved the girl to her bedroom. Helena was delirious all night; restless, talking to her mother or mumbling incoherent phrases.
Barbara sat next to her on her bed and the girl immediately curled up close to her. She cleaned the sweat from the brunette's forehead and talked softly to her, it seemed to calm her down.
Barbara rested her back against the headboard, brushing back the girl's damp hair. She studied her delicate features, she had a pretty face, she always had.
She remembered the erotic dream with her… and the way she had kissed her.
She couldn't forget the kiss. She had never kissed a girl before. In fact, she never thought about women, she'd always thought about men.
Why had Helena, in her drugged state of mind, come to her? Her fingers traced the brunette's lips. Helena had told her that she was beautiful before kissing her.
Why had she kissed her? Helena always said she didn't want anything to do with her and she refused to talk to her. The few times they had talked it was just to fight with Batgirl.
Barbara's fingers stroked the girl's cheek. Helena purred.
She smiled. Helena purred when she was happy, she knew that. It was nice to know that her touch made the younger woman happy.
It had been a sweet kiss.
She had liked it. She felt so happy everytime she was with Helena.
It was weird.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn't fall asleep until almost dawn.
The brunette woke up with a terrible headache. Everything was confusing. Her eyes opened and she shivered.
She was in Barbara's bedroom.
"What the fuck?" she growled. She tried to sit, but her side hurt like hell. She took her hand and laid back down on the bed, noticing she was bandaged.
"Dammit." She winced.
What was she doing here? She couldn't remember a fucking thing.
Why she had ended up…. of all the damn places in the world… why had she ended up here? She hated to thank Barbara or ask her for anything.
She sat up slowly. Oh shit. Her entire body was sore.
She looked at herself. She was wearing Barbara's clothes, a t-shirt and shorts. She moved her arm to her nose and smelled. Yes, it smelled like Barbara.
It was a nice smell.
But… crap.
She walked outside the bedroom and looked around. She heard a noise in the living room and walked there, in her bare feet. Alfred was cleaning the living room table.
He smiled when he saw her. "I'm glad you are doing better. You did not have an easy night."
"What am I doing here?" she asked, still feeling confused. "Why did Barbara bring me here?"
"Well, she didn't do that. You came here of your own free will."
"Me?" she growled. "Why?"
"I don't know. It seemed you were in a fight and you were affected by some kind of hallucinogenic substance."
"Hallucinogen?"
"Yes, you were totally out of it."
"I can't remember." She sighed dramatically. "Where is Barbara?"
"Working at the Delphi." Alfred wiped his hands with a cloth.
"Where is that?"
"Upper floor."
"Upper floor? There is an upper floor?" She narrowed her eyes. "Up there is just the Clock."
"That's what everybody thinks. She has her headquarters up there." Alfred walked past her and went toward the secret elevator.
"Headquarters?" She followed him "Are you smoking something?"
"No," he chuckled and walked inside her library. "I don't smoke."
He opened a secret panel and walked inside a hidden elevator.
"What's that?" she asked.
He looked around. "Well, it's a vertical transport vehicle that efficiently moves people or goods between the floors of a building. They are generally powered by electric motors that either drive traction cables and counterweight systems, or pump hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston... commonly known as an elevator."
She rolled her eyes and walked inside. "Very funny."
When the doors opened again, Helena couldn't believe her eyes.
"Fuck," she mumbled.
The place was huge, surrounded by computers. It had a second floor where she could see a kitchen, a living room, and a library. She never imagined a place like that could exist behind the clock.
"Miss Helena is awake," Alfred said, stepping out of the elevator.
Helena noticed, then, that Barbara was sitting in front of one of her monitors with those fucking glasses that made her look so sexy.
She closed her eyes a brief second.
She couldn't be thinking she was sexy. It was a wrong thought, maybe she had suffered a hard blow to her head that was still affecting her.
"Helena, I'm glad you are awake," Barbara said, standing up and smiling. "But you should be resting. Did you tell her, Alfred?"
"I didn't see the point, she never listens anyway," he said, walking toward the upstairs kitchen. "I imagine you will want lunch here, now that she is awake."
"Yes, please, Alfred." Barbara stood up in front of the brunette. "You like the room, I assume."
"It's fantastic, but…" she looked at the big screens around the platform, "what is this place?"
"My headquarters. I can see what happens around the city and I can do research in any part the world."
"Can you get information from the police? Banks?" Helena asked curiously.
"Yes."
"So, you are a hacker."
"I'll prefer to call myself a detective."
"But that is not legal, right?"
"No comment." The redhead turned and sat on her chair.
"Do you watch porn movies here?"
"What? No. How do you feel?"
"Now, I don't know," the brunette responded. "Why didn't I ever know about this?"
"You never asked. Now, sit down, please, and tell me what happened last night."
Holding her side, she sat on a chair close to the redhead. She was still marveling at the place.
"I don't know." She looked at Barbara "Alfred said I came here, but I can't remember anything. What happened?"
"Well, you were pretty drugged, you broke in to my room…" she hesitated, better not to reveal the details, "and you fainted."
"Drugged?"
"Yes, you were out of your mind. Are you sure you can't remember anything?"
The brunette shook her head.
"Memantine," Barbara said feeling a bit sad, she opened a window on her computer. "They gave you a drug approved for the treatment of moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease. It induces confusion, dizziness, drowsiness, headache, insomnia, agitation, and/or hallucinations, vomiting and anxiety."
"How? I don't understand," the brunette mumbled.
"The cookies that someone gave you." She showed her a cookie. "This. Inside each one is a high dose of the drug. I don't know where you were or what happened. I was hoping you could tell me. You were very bruised and had a broken rib. It seems you were in a fight."
"But it didn't worry her too much, you are always in fights. It's normal," Alfred commented, walking onto the platform and giving Helena a glass of milk and a sandwich. "I assume you are hungry."
Helena nodded and bit into the sandwich.
"Do you remember who gave you the cookies last night?" Barbara asked.
"A friend."
"Well, I suggest you stop pissing off all your friends," the redhead looked at her, "this one drugged you."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. Who was it?"
"Fuck." The brunette growled. "A cop. I'll kill that son of a bitch."
"A cop?" Barbara leaned back in her chair. "Give me a name. Where does he work?"
"It's a detective, John Feder. He was helping me to stop the drug dealers. Why did he do that?"
"How many times did he give you leads on the dealers?"
"Two. Both times, things were fine."
"I think he was trying to earn your trust…. and he did."
"Son of a bitch!"
"I think I'll visit your friend tonight."
"What?" Helena frowned.
"I need to find out who is behind all this. Maybe this will take us to the person who is trying to kill you."
"No."
"No?" Barbara parroted in astonishment.
"This is my war and I'll fight it alone."
"Helena, are you crazy?"
"No," the brunette said. "I can deal with this."
Barbara turned her chair to the younger woman. "You should have seen yourself last night. They were pretty rough on you. Your rib is broken and you were very lucky to escape with that dosage of drug in your system."
"I said no."
Barbara glared at her angrily. "Why not?"
"I don't want to work with you." The brunette stood up. "I don't want anything from you."
"Could you please try to think straight, just once in your life?"
"I can't think straight," Helena smirked. "I'm gay…"
"This is not a joke. It's about your life." Barbara couldn't believe that she was so close-minded. She pinched the bridge of her nose. This was so frustrating.
The brunette stood up slowly, holding her side. "I'm not stupid. I can take care of myself. I must go now."
"Why do you hate me so much?"
"You know why!" Helena growled.
"Because you don't know how to forgive a mistake? You have made many more mistakes with me and I have always forgiven you! Why can't you do the same?"
Helena fixed her eyes on the redhead. "Because I'm not you." She turned and walked toward the elevator, limping.
"You say you hate me?" Barbara stood up and followed her. "Then answer a question."
The brunette turned and glared at her.
"Why did you come here last night?" the redhead asked.
"I don't know! You said I was drugged!"
"You came here because you know you know this place is your home too…. because you know you are safe here."
"Please!" Helena laughed.
"Why did you kiss me, then?"
Helena opened her eyes wide. "What?"
"Why did you kiss me?"
"Don't fuck with me." The young woman chuckled nervously.
"You said I was beautiful and you kissed me." Barbara crossed her arms.
"I'm sure it was a friendly kiss!"
"On the lips? And… tongue?"
Helena needed a few seconds to react. Her face turned pale. "You are joking."
Barbara didn't answer; she just looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
Helena understood she was not joking, oh crap, what had she done?
"Fuck." She growled covering her eyes.
"Well?" Barbara shouted.
"I don't know! I was drugged!" Helena responded in exasperation waving her arms.
"My theory is that you feel affection for me, but your damn pride won't let you admit it."
"I'm not in love with you! That is stupid! You could be my mother!"
"First, I didn't say love, I said affection." Barbara was annoyed by the comment. She pocked Helena in the chest with her index finger. "Second, I'm not that old. As I recall, I have kicked your ass by myself, with no meta-powers, young lady, so watch your words."
"I can't feel anything for you!!"
"Why not?"
"Because…" Helena muttered, trying to think of a good answer, "because I hate you."
"Fuck Helena! It's bullshit and you know it!" The redhead rolled her eyes. She was tired of this. "I quit. Do whatever you want."
"What?" Helena asked quietly.
"I promise to never look for you again. I promise that if see you in a street fight, I'll let you fight 'your war' and not interfere. I'm tired of your mood swings and your insults. I'm done. Good night." She turned her back on the younger woman and walked toward Delphi.
Helena was confused. She watched the redhead go, then turned and walked inside the elevator.
Barbara leaned back in her chair and stared at the elevator door. Helena was confused, well she always had been, but now it was most evident. The fact that she had come to her last night and that she had kissed her, proved that Helena had feelings for her. Not exactly love, but her survival instinct had guided her to the Clock Tower. She was sure of it.
She could say many things, but they were just words.
Barbara closed her eyes. She couldn't forget the feeling of Helena's lips on hers.
It was something…
Dammit. What the hell was she thinking?
----------------
TBC
