"We had a deal," Barbara said furiously, walking into the kitchen.
"It was awesome!" Helena said, following her.
"Awesome?" Barbara glared at her "That was disgusting! And you left my entire floor covered in popcorn crumbs. How could you eat while watching that?"
"Well, you didn't say anything about eating popcorn while watching movies."
"But I said, very clearly, NO porn!" The redhead set her briefcase on the table.
"I didn't mean to do it… I was changing channels and it just appeared!"
Barbara narrowed her eyes. "I don't subscribe to porn channels. How could it just 'appear'?"
"Well, an announcement about a pay per view show appeared and I bought it!" Helena shrugged her shoulders.
Barbara opened the briefcase and removed her eyeglasses, adjusting them on her nose. "Why do you use your credit card to buy those things?"
"I didn't use my credit card," the brunette opened the fridge and took out a milk carton. "It was yours."
"What?" Barbara stopped what she was doing and glared at her.
"It was already registered there!" Helena said, defending herself.
The redhead covered her eyes, how did the zen thing go again?
"Yes," she said, trying to be calm, "I have it registered there to pay for my satellite service and some special events, like concerts, not porn movies."
"It was a good offer," Helena noted. "You can watch it any time for rest of the month."
"I don't watch porn, Helena."
"No?" Helena frowned.
"Not everyone likes porn." Barbara took some exams and began to check them. She had a lot of work to catch up on at the school.
Helena sipped a bit of milk and kept thinking in silence. She looked curiously at the redhead.
"Not even a tiny bit of a porn movie?" she asked.
"No."
"That is weird."
"Why is it weird?"
"People like porn. It's educational."
"Educational?" Barbara couldn't avoid laughing lightly. It was so difficult to be angry with her. She lifted her head and looked at the young woman.
"Yeah, it's like taking classes at home about how to please your partner."
Barbara made a face. "Helena, love is not like that."
"I know, but it helps a lot." She grinned and sipped a bit more of her milk.
Barbara shook her head, amused. She had an answer for everything. Sometimes she had strange ideas, but, in general she was fun. She spent hours talking with her and discussing different topics. They had been working together and they had designed some good equipment. She was still stubborn and sometimes liked to act on her own, but it was part of her personality.
"How do you feel today?" the brunette asked.
"Better, I think I'll go back on sweeps next week."
"Okay."
"Reese needs help outside," Barbara said, checking her student's exams. "He wanted to kill you."
"Oh, it was fun."
"You were lucky he didn't shoot you."
"Nah, he never would do that." She sat on a chair in front of the redhead. "He is the 'good' cop… and handsome."
"I thought you liked girls."
"I like girls, but he is handsome. Maybe I could turn straight again for him."
Barbara laughed. "You are nuts."
"How are your therapy sessions?" the redhead asked.
"Boring," Helena responded, lifting her legs and moving them over the seat of the next chair. "I don't understand why people pay to have someone listen to their crap."
"Many people need someone to listen."
"Therapy sucks. Why do people think it helps?"
"A therapist gives you council about what to do. It usually does help people."
"I don't think it works for me." Helena sipped more of her milk.
"Why not?" the redhead asked curiously.
"If I tell my therapist that I jump between buildings she would send me to Arkham." Helena crossed her arms over the table looking at the older woman.
"Point for you," Barbara said in amusement, and returned to her work.
Blue eyes remained fixed on her. The brunette took her time observing her. She was really a beautiful woman. Well, as an admirer of her sex, she recognized beauty. However, acknowledging that Barbara was beautiful and that she liked her company, didn't exactly mean that she was in love with her.
"Barbara, have you dated many guys?" she asked suddenly.
"I guess five or ten… nothing serious."
"Five or ten?"
"Well," the redhead removed her eyeglasses and bit the ear piece, thinking, "there were twelve, to be exact."
"Twelve?" Helena said surprised, she hadn't expected the number to be that high.
"As I said, nothing serious, sometimes it was only for a few days or weeks. Depended on the guy."
"You dated Dick."
"Yeah, he was one of my longest boyfriends," Barbara smiled and put her eyeglasses on, returning to her work. "Almost five years."
"How could you be with that moron for five years?"
"He is not a moron, he is a great guy."
Helena drummed her fingers on the table. She bit her lower lip thinking. "Good lover?"
"Sorry?" Barbara lifted her head and looked at the brunette, raising her eyebrow.
"Was he good? I mean, well, you two must have… you know."
"He was good." The redheard lowered her head and wrote something on the paper in front of her.
Helena stared at her. She crossed her arms. "Just good?"
Barbara lifted her head and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. She kept silent a few seconds before smiling, "Really good." She shook her head, amused, and looked back at her papers.
Blue eyes blinked, interested. "What happened?"
"What happened?" Barbara finished checking the exam in her hand and she took another one.
"Yes, why did you break up?"
"We had different points of view, interests… we talked and we made the decision to just be friends."
Helena crossed her arms over the table. "And Wade? You are still dating him, no? You said that."
Barbara removed her glasses. It seemed Helena was in a talkative mode. She removed her eyeglasses and set them on her notes.
"I met Wade working at the high school," she said. "He is a nice man and a gentleman with me."
"He looks boring."
"He is not, believe me." Barbara chuckled.
"Why did he leave you?"
"He didn't leave me. I told you, he is in France getting a master's degree. He will be back next week. He was there a year. He came to visit me twice and I went there once."
"You went to visit him?" Helena frowned.
"Yes, at the beginning of this year," Barbara said. "I was there two weeks."
"How long have you been dating him?"
"Two years or so. Now, it's my turn."
"Your turn?" the brunette cocked her head.
"How many men have you dated?"
"Two."
"Girls?"
"One?"
"Helena, please." Barbara glared to her.
"I have just dated one," Helena said. "I only had one serious girlfriend."
"And all those other girls chasing you?"
"Well, I'm not so bad looking," the brunette smirked. "They look for me when I go to bars. I flirt a bit, but that's all."
"You said you are a hunter," Barbara smiled in amusement.
"I am, but I don't take everyone to my bed." Helena didn't know why it was important that Barbara know she was not some sex-crazed teenager.
The redhead didn't say a word, just looked her.
"Seriously," the dark haired woman mumbled, staring at her shoes.
"I believe you," Barbara said softly, fixing her eyes on the younger woman. Knowing Helena, how she refused to be touched; avoiding love and being loved so as not be hurt; she was not lying.
Helena lifted her head. Was she saying?
"I believe you," Barbara said again, seriously. Helena was opening to her and she didn't want her to feel she was mocking her. "I think you are rebellious and stubborn, but I don't think that you play with people feelings after everything you've been through. When you were a child, you were a sweet girl with a big heart. I don't think that you changed." The redhead touched the brunette's hand. "I saw you playing with the children, I saw you helping people. You still have that big heart, but you are hiding it to avoid being hurt."
The redhead noticed the brunette was embarrassed, but she didn't move her hand back.
"You are a great person, when you are not grouchy."
Helena looked up at her and smiled lightly.
"What happened with your girlfriend?" Barbara asked.
"I was young." Helena took a deep breath "And…. I think I was just didn't want to be alone. I had many things going on. I was not sure if I wanted to be with her. It didn't work." She smiled to herself and shyly looked at the redhead. "I'm not easy, you know?"
"Tell me about it." Barbara made a face and moved back.
Helena chuckled.
"And now?" the redhead asked curiously. Helena looked cute when she smiled.
"Now?"
"Are you dating someone?"
"No. I'm free." Helena winked at her. "So, now's your chance."
Barbara laughed. "Too late, Helena, I'm taken.
"But I'm not jealous," the brunette hurried to say.
Barbara slapped her arm playfully. "Let's go to work."
Reese waited at the dark street. He looked around. The place was quiet, except for some sirens that could be heard in the distance. He was still not sure if she could be trusted, but everything she'd told him so far was true.
He looked at his watch. It was eleven. She said she would see him at eleven.
"Hello, Reese," a voice said from behind. He jumped in his place.
"Dammit, you must do that?" he asked.
"I'm good, eh?" Huntress grinned.
"Why don't you walk up to me like a normal person?"
"It's not so exciting."
He shook his head and extended a piece of paper to her. "You were right, the names of the people you gave me were assigned to drug cases. The commissioner assigned them."
"Aren't all of these people close to him?" Huntress checked the names.
:The commissioner is probably involved. Let me check.: Oracle said over her mic.
"Why?" Huntress asked.
:Maybe he is receiving payment to protect them.:
"Yeah, that makes sense. Could you check his bank accounts?"
Reese looked at her scratching her head. "Have you noticed that you talk to yourself?"
"Have you considered that the commissioner may be involved?" she asked him.
"The commissioner?"
"Do you know him?"
"He came here two years ago." He crossed his arms. "But no… we are not friends."
Huntress bit her lip. "I started stopping the drugs shipments a year ago."
:I found something interesting. Oracle said Could you please check your cell?:
"I don't have…" Huntress said, at the moment that she heard a beep in one of the pockets of her coat.
:I gave you one, since you occasionally don't answer me on the mic.:
"I'm busy fighting." The brunette looked inside her pocket.
"The voices that you hear inside your head are a serious problem, right?" Reese asked.
"Don't ask," the young woman said looking at the mobile.
:Open the picture I just sent.:
"I'm on it." Helena pressed some buttons "How the heck does this work?"
Reese extended his hand. "May I?"
She gave it to him. He took the phone and opened a file.
"Oh my…" he mumbled as he gave her back the phone.
:I found a picture with the commissioner,: Oracle explained :the detective that was killed and two of the agents that were assigned to keep an eye on the drug dealers.:
"When was this picture taken?" Huntress asked.
:High School, twenty five years ago.:
"High School, twenty five years ago." Huntress said to Reese.
"So they know each other. This is interesting." The detective moved his head.
:Want to hear something interesting?: the redhead's voice was heard again in Huntress's ear piece. :I discovered that the guys that you and the police trapped are out of jail.:
"What? Why?" the brunette grumbled.
:No evidence.:
"That's absurd!"
Reese observed her. He crossed his arms and rested his back against the wall.
"Dammit." Huntress mumbled, annoyed.
"Are you sure you are not crazy?" he asked.
"This is insane," the brunette paced irritably. "The criminals we sent to jail are free."
"Excuse me? How do you know that?"
"I told you," she grumbled, "I work with another person. She just told me."
He pointed to his ear with his index. "The one that talks to you and makes you look like a crazy woman?"
"Yes."
"Oh." Reese scratched his head. This was nuts.
:Could you please come back?:
"I'll see you later," she said, looking up as she prepared to jump.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I need to find something that connects the criminals with him, so we can stop the drug dealers and trap the lunatic that wants my head."
"When will I see you again?"
"Soon." She winked at him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The police commissioner walked inside the dark office. His cell phone rang. He checked the number and answered immediately. He listened carefully to the voice on the other end of the line. Taking a handkerchief, he wiped his face.
"Do it, and do it now!" he shouted angrily.
He hung up the phone and looked through the window.
"Angry?" a voice behind his desk said.
He turned his head. The chair at his desk turned. A woman dressed in black was there, but he couldn't see her face because the room was shrouded in darkness and just a bit of moonlight illuminated the place.
"Hello," she said. "Looking for me?"
"Who are you?"
"Well, you have a price on my head, so I decided to come here and ask you for the reward," she smirked, leaning back on the chair, "and everything is here, not just my head, so you must pay more."
"You?" he growled, recognizing she was the person that had been screwing up his business. "What are you doing here?"
She lifted her hand and showed him a USB drive. "Just looking for something like this."
"What is that?"
"I hacked your email." She took the laptop computer on the desk and turned it towards him. It was on. "I have copies of very interesting emails to people you have been selling the drugs to."
He shook his head in annoyance. "I think you are a very stupid woman."
"Look who's talking." She put her feet up on the desk. "I have a nice care package for the police, complete with pictures of you and some of your fellow officers, as well as recorded phone calls, copies of bank statements…. Who's stupid now?"
"You don't have anything!" he shouted.
"If you say so." She stood up.
"What do you want? I can give you enough to live the rest of your life as a queen."
The brunette kept still.
"I can give you some of the money now," he said, "more that you could ever dream of."
"Interesting." The brunette sat down again. "And what I must do?"
"Nothing."
"You are joking right?" Huntress laughed. "I don't want to be involved."
"No, just let my kids work," the commissioner said. "You will not be involved, just ignore them. I'll pay you to ignore them."
"Ignore whom?"
"My men, the police officers behind this. You know them - Mc Coy, Johnson, Stevens. Customs personnel. Leave them alone, you have been pissing them off."
Huntress played with her fingers, thinking. After long seconds, she mumbled, "Just ignore that fact that they are smuggling drugs into the city and do nothing, right?"
"Right."
"Do you think your boss would approve this?" she said, standing up.
"Here, I'm the boss, I have control of this entire operation. My boss controls much more, I'm in charge of this part. I work in five states and it's growing." He pointed to his desk. "Open the first drawer, everything inside is yours, your first payment."
The young woman lowered her head and opened it. She whistled, it was full of one hundred dollar bills.
"What do you say?" he asked her.
Huntress threw the USB to the floor and stepped on it with her foot, breaking it. The commissioner smiled.
"We have a deal." He smirked.
"No, I have a confession, right Reese?" She turned the desk phone to him, it was on speaker mode.
"Right, Huntress."
"The USB was empty, your data was clean."
"Damn bitch." He growled, annoyed, and tried to hit her, but she turned and pushed him back with a fast kick. He crashed against the wall, she grabbed him by his lapels.
"I'm not a bitch, get it?" she grumbled. "Who are you working for?"
He could see her features clearly, now that she was under the moonlight.
"You?" he mumbled in surprise. After a few seconds he started to laugh. "I should have known it was you."
The brunette was disconcerted. He kept laughing and slipped to the floor.
"Do you know me?" she asked.
"Of course I know you, dammit. Why didn't I figure it out before?"
"You will have plenty of time to think about it in jail," Huntress said.
He kept laughing and looked at her.
"You never could find your mother's killer, right… Helena?"
She felt anger boiling in her veins. She took him by his neck and lifted him off the floor. "Who are you?"
"He is closer than you imagine." He grinned. "He could be anyone…"
"What are you talking about?" Huntress pushed him harder against the wall "You are going to talk, and talk now!"
He took out a gun.
"NO!" the brunette yelled, as a gunshot rang out.
"Huntress!" Oracle shouted into her mic when she heard the shot. She felt a shiver down her back. "Huntress, are you all right? Please answer me."
She was panicked, thinking something had happened to her. The seconds were eternal. The brunette's signal was still on the screen, unmoving.
She had just found her again, she didn't want to lose her. Not like this.
Not now.
She pressed a button and tried again.
"Huntress, what happened?" the redhead felt her heart beating faster in her chest.
:He is dead.: Huntress' voice was heard, almost as a whisper.
"Oh, thank God. Are you alright?"
:I'm fine.:
"What happened?"
:He blew his head off. He had a gun… Fuck… It's disgusting… There is blood everywhere…:
"Come back, please," the redhead requested. The younger woman seemed to be disturbed by the evening's events. "Let Reese finish the job."
:He said he knew me, he knew about my mom…:
"I heard that." The redhead stared at the monitor.
:He knew who killed my mom, why?:
"Please come back."
The brunette didn't answer.
"Huntress…"
Suddenly, the communication was cut.
:I'm fine… I'll see you later.:
"Huntress," Oracle pressed some buttons at her keyboard "Huntress!"
TBC
