Title: Rainy Days and Mondays
Authors: Jag, The Godfather
Rating: PG-13 for this one.
Okay, this fic is a co-write with ShawnGF, excellent writer. We hope you enjoy it.
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She yawned indelicately as she entered the Clocktower, putting a hand over her mouth to stifle the noise. The heels of her heavy boots clanked against the ground, announcing her presence. She wasn't attempting to be quiet or subtle. "Barbara?" she called out, glancing around. Her brow furrowed as she examined an empty control room. Computers bleeped and flashed but the redhead who went by the codename of Oracle was nowhere to be seen.
She crossed over to one of the computers and ran her fingers across the sleek black keyboard, smiling at the knowledge that Barbara would be irked as all hell if she saw her young mentor fingering her toys. It was something of a game they had going.
These days games were a good thing even if they were a bit strained.
Shaking her head she dropped down from the platform and headed back towards the elevator. Barbara's room was on the hidden lower level, at the base of the Clocktower. Helena glanced at her watch and chuckled; she had certainly lost track of time. It was almost two in the morning and with all of her charges taking the night off, chances were good that Barbara Gordon had just turned in for the night.
Especially since she was battling a wicked nasty cold.
Helena slipped quietly into Barbara's room, scowling mightily at the floral tones the room had. The decorations seemed almost like a cry for normalcy but they were utterly out of character for the woman he could do more stomach crunches than most Olympians.
The first thing she noticed was that her mentor seemed restless. She was tossing and turning, her fingers biting into the sheets and blankets. Helena glanced over to the nightstand next to the bed and noticed a stack of wrinkled tissues sitting next to a bottle of green cough syrup. Involuntarily the brunette shuddered, caught in the memory of previous adventures with NyQuil.
"Wade," Barbara moaned, thrashing to the left. She grabbed at her pillow, yanking it towards her.
Helena felt her body stiffen immeasurably. Her entire lithe frame went rigid with tension. The name Barbara had spoken cut through her like a twisted dagger to the heart.
Wade Brixton.
He was the teacher that Barbara had fallen for. The idiotic funny goofy man that had made the very lonely Oracle actually feel good about herself for a few minutes. Barbara knew that she was a good mentor but had long since started dismissing herself as being a woman worth looking at.
Wade had changed that.
And now he was dead. Buried and in the ground six months now.
And as far as Helena Kyle was concerned, it was completely her fault.
Six months earlier a super-villainess named Harley Quinn had used her relationship with the young crime fighter to infiltrate the Clocktower and overtake New Gotham. Many innocents had lost their lives their night.
Wade was the worst.
Wade was her responsibility. Harley hadn't been the Joker's paramour to her, no in fact she had been Dr. Harleen Quinzell, her court mandated psychiatrist. Someone she had let into her life because she had wanted to get the burden of being a so-called hero off her shoulders.
Yeah that had worked out great for everyone.
The guilt was overwhelming at times. Especially during the quiet peaceful moments. Barbara never said anything but her mounting loneliness was obvious. She had already lost so much in her life but Wade had been excruciating.
Especially since her charge had been directly responsible for his murder.
Even if Barbara would never actually say the words.
Helena took a deep breath and started towards Barbara, intent on pulling her from her nightmare. During their early days together not long after the Joker had shattered Barbara's back and arranged for Selina Kyle's murder, it had been the redhead who had been her constant comfort; always there to hold and protect her against her own mind.
Times were changing and days were turning. Crazy world and all of that.
She had moved within three feet of Barbara when she felt a strange buzzing against her leg. She jumped a bit, momentarily alarmed. Then she chuckled nervously. She felt like a fool but she played it cool, casually reaching into the side pocket of her leather jacket. She pulled out a miniscule metal cellular phone and opened it up. She slipped back into the hallway so as not to disturb Barbara. "Yeah?"
"Hey," Jesse Reese said softly, his voice coming over the line with a kind of liquid calm. He made some of the guilt and pain slip away for a few moments. If a man as good as Reese could love her, well was that some kind of hope?
Her eyebrow jumped and she grinned mischievously. "Why Detective, I just left you, miss me already?"
He laughed but it sounded strangely subdued. She wondered why but figured she'd find out soon enough. "Always," he replied. He paused for a long beat, carefully choosing his words. "That's not why I called."
She knew something was wrong but decided to play dumb for a few moments longer. "Did I leave something at your apartment? I promise I'll be back for it later." She used her best flirtatious tone. She'd been trying for weeks to get him to be a little naughty on the phone but he was still resisting.
She could almost see him shaking his head in disbelief. He knew what she was doing and he was intentionally allowing her to get away with it. That alone told her that whatever he had to tell her was not something that was going to make her jump for joy. "Yes you will." He took a deep breath. "Helena, there's been a problem at Arkham."
She glanced back towards Barbara, frowning as her mentor cried out again. The pain of seeing Barbara in so much agony intensified when she saw a tiny stream of tears course down her cheeks.
She swallowed hard, the words almost catching in her suddenly dry throat. "What kind of problem?"
There was a long silence and then Reese said very quietly, "Harley has escaped."
Helena slipped out into the hallway and then punched the wall, her balled fist sliding smoothly through the plaster. She yanked her hand out of the hole, ignorant of her now bloody knuckles. "Fuck," she hissed.
"Helena, calm down," Reese urged, his voice tight. He had obviously heard the cracking plaster and seemed completely aware of what she had done. "There are..."
"I know," she snapped. "Cops everywhere looking for her. You know damn well they won't find her."
"We'll get her," Reese assured her. "Look, I'm heading out with McNally...did you want to come along?" He sounded hopeful but she knew that he was just trying to find a way to give her something to do.
She shook her head. "No. No."
"Helena, don't do anything stupid." He paused. "She might not even be looking at you guys. If she's smart, she's on her way out of New Gotham."
She snorted loudly. "Reese, that bitch wants revenge and you and I both know it so let's just not dick around, okay?"
"Okay," he agreed, his voice passive. He wasn't about to allow her to bait him into an argument. "Just do me a favor then, okay?"
"What?"
"Go home and get some sleep. No matter what, she's not coming for you tonight."
"That's probably true," Helena grunted. Then she sighed. "You're right... Look, if you find anything, give me a call. I'm gonna...I'm gonna head back to my place."
"Good," he said. "I'll come by in the morning okay?"
"Sure," she said, wanting to say so much more.
She clamped her mouth shut however, afraid of the consequences of saying anything else. Her emotions were whirling in mad circles and she wasn't quite sure that she had any semblance of balance.
Anger. Despair. Fear.
All there in abundance.
Maybe it was about time to pay up.
"Get some sleep," he urged her again. "I'll be in touch."
"Goodnight," she murmured. She didn't wait for his reply, only pulled the phone away from her ear and closed it. Moving almost in slow motion she dropped the cell back into her pocket and slid back towards Barbara's room.
This time Barbara's scream of agony broke her protégé's heart into a thousand shards. All to small to be recovered.
"Wade, no!"
Helena turned away from Barbara's bed, her hands clenched into fists. She could feel a dull ache emanating from the wounds she had received when she had punched the wall but she didn't really care. Everything else hurt more.
She walked stiffly down the hall and entered the elevator. She let it drop to the second floor, her mind spinning and screaming at her. It accused her and condemned her, demanding penance, requiring suffering.
It was getting its wish.
She stepped out in the control room and looked around. Everything was quiet but she rather imagined that it wouldn't stay that way for long. She paced around anxiously, not quite sure what to do. She couldn't very well just leave Barbara alone with Harley out and about but her feet were burning and she felt like she was about to scream. Things could only go downhill from there.
"Helena?"
She glanced up, annoyed at being pulled out of her thoughts. She blinked when she saw the blonde girl standing in front of her. "Dinah," she grunted. "What are you doing home?"
"I think the home part pretty much sums it up," Dinah replied lightly. She frowned when she saw Helena's bloody hand. "What did you do to yourself?"
"Tripped," Helena replied, moving away from Dinah. "Have a good night kid." Then she stopped and looked back at Dinah. "Look, Dr. Quinzell just escaped from Arkham."
"Oh God," Dinah gasped. "We should..."
"I'm gonna handle it," Helena said quickly. "I'm going to meet up with Reese. You know, help him look for her."
"But... Okay," Dinah said slowly. "We'll do what we can from this side."
"Sure," Helena said shortly as she turned back towards the elevator. As she exited the room she stopped long enough to arm the defense systems.
After the first invasion Barbara had greatly enhanced the entire network. Breaking in with the correct codes and in some cases DNA was near impossible.
"Helena," Dinah called after her. The brunette kept moving, her gait slick and agitated. She was seriously pissed off but there was something else there. Something Dinah couldn't quite put a finger on. Helena disappeared down the shaft.
Dinah stood watching for several long minutes, confusion written on her features. Finally she snapped herself out of it. "Barbara," she said to herself.
She sighed and stepped into the elevator. She brought it up to the floor that housed Barbara's room and exited it. When she had left earlier in the evening, the redhead had been knocking back herbal tea like it was water.
"Barbara?"
She looked into the room to see the woman she likened to her mother trembling in the middle of the sheets, sweat beading on her forehead and tears on her cheeks. She crossed to her quickly and shook her shoulder roughly. She repeated the action until Barbara came awake with a start, swinging out her arm. Dinah just barely missed taking a hand to the jaw.
"What? Who?" Barbara looked up, her eyes as wild as her hair.
"Nice," Dinah grinned. "This could be a problem in the morning."
Barbara grimaced. "Sorry." Then she paused. "I don't have too much morning company these days."
"Right," Dinah said apologetically, quite uncomfortable with the subject. The whole Wade thing was kind of an unspoken rift between them all, especially Helena and Barbara. The two of them both had so much to say about it but neither of them was talking.
In short it boiled down to the simple fact that Helena blamed herself for Wade's death and Barbara couldn't seem to convince her young charge otherwise. Even that inability was a source of tension.
"So, how was your night?" Barbara asked, sitting up in the bed. She sniffled a bit and then sneezed. She reached over to the nightstand and picked up a glass of water. She drained it, groaned, and then looked up at Dinah, awaiting an answer.
"Eh, it was fine until Gabby's brother got home. He's kind of obnoxious," Dinah laughed. She glanced at the wall. "I'm home before curfew."
"I didn't say anything," Barbara replied, holding up her hands in protest.
"No but I could tell that you were wondering. Bet you can't quite recall when you said my curfew is through all that cotton," Dinah teased.
Barbara growled. "Keep it up." She pushed herself up and out of the bed, sliding effortlessly into her chair. She exited the room, followed closely by Dinah. She stopped and frowned when she saw the fist sized hole in the wall. "Uh, what is this?"
"That must be what she hit," Dinah mused. She glanced down at Barbara, meeting her eyes. "Her hand was bloody. She seemed...distracted."
"Wonder why," Barbara mumbled. "She had a date with Reese tonight. Can't imagine that went too badly."
"They haven't been going badly at all lately," Dinah grinned, lowering her voice. She was acting as if she was scandalized but the redhead knew better.
"Dinah," she warned as they both entered the elevator.
"Save it," Dinah laughed. "I have to have something to tease her about. Her relationship with Reese is so prime."
Barbara cocked her head to the side. "Yes, yes it is." Then she frowned. "I wonder what's bothering her."
Dinah swallowed hard and then finally said. "Harley maybe?" She knew she should have mentioned it immediately but had a feelings that things were about to get very bad.
Barbara looked at her curiously. "What are you talking about?" Dinah was about to reply when they heard all of Delphi's alarms going off.
As loudly as they could manage.
Barbara moved quickly towards the monitors. She slid up the ramp and saddled herself right up next to the main switchboard. All her monitors were going crazy, displaying information just about as fast as they could.
"Oh God," Barbara muttered. "How did this happen?" The last statement was more to herself than anyone else. She was already typing a mile a minute.
"I don't know. Helena told me on her way out," Dinah said coming up behind her. She peered over her shoulder.
Barbara swallowed hard. "Harley has actually escaped. I don't believe it."
"Damn," Dinah cursed, her eyes moving across several lines of text. The reports coming across the wire indicated that several guards had been murdered in the outbreak. Harley appeared to be the only criminal of notorious note to have escaped but several small-timers were also out and about.
"Where did Helena go?" Barbara asked, her voice thick with emotion. Her mind wandered back to the dream she had just awoken from. Neh, the nightmare. It had been a horrible replay of the night in which Harley had murdered Wade only this time somehow or another; she'd had a front row seat for the performance.
"She said she was gonna help Reese hunt down Harley. Are you okay?" Dinah asked, placing a soft hand on Barbara's bare shoulder. She was clothed in a pair of loose flannel pants and a wifebeater. Bedtime clothes. Or late night checking on the systems apparel if need be.
Barbara chewed her lip, trying to think of her answer. "No, I don't think I am." She blew out ear between her teeth. "I think Helena is worse however. She's going to take all of this on herself." She turned towards the switchboard and flicked a button. Immediately a voice picked up. Reese.
"Is she with you?" Barbara asked.
Who?"
"Helena."
There was a pause and then Reese replied. No and she's not supposed to be. I told her to go home and sleep. Are you okay? I take it you've heard.
"I'm dealing," Barbara replied. "Thanks. I'll let you know when we find her."
Copy that Oracle, Reese replied before cutting the line.
"You want me to call her?" Dinah asked.
"No, if I know Helena she's already turned off her phone." Barbara chuckled humorlessly. "And I know Helena."
"You think Harley will go after her?" Dinah asked, her voice suddenly very small and worried.
Barbara pursed her lips. "Probably. Eventually anyways. Not tonight though." She turned to Dinah. "Do me a favor okay?"
"You want me to go check on her."
"She probably went back to where she can get drunk the easiest," Barbara sighed.
"You really do know her well," Dinah chuckled.
"Yes, I do." She turned to look at Dinah. "I can't make her forgive herself. She wants to blame herself for Wade. I've told her a thousand times that I don't blame her but every time I start to talk to her, she completely phases out on me. I don't how to get through to her about this. But I'm not gonna let her hurt herself because she's on one of her guilt binges."
"On it," Dinah said, breaking away. She stopped and looked back at Barbara. "Are you okay? You sure you don't need the company yourself?"
Barbara closed her eyes. "I'm miles from okay and right now I really don't want anyone around me." She offered Dinah a small smile. "No offense."
"None taken," Dinah responded. "I'm expecting a lot worse from Helena."
"Smart girl," Barbara commented. Then she turned away from the blonde; her eyes already back to scanning the numerous reports. She was going to do what he always did when things started to hurt.
She was going to become Oracle.
Authors: Jag, The Godfather
Rating: PG-13 for this one.
Okay, this fic is a co-write with ShawnGF, excellent writer. We hope you enjoy it.
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She yawned indelicately as she entered the Clocktower, putting a hand over her mouth to stifle the noise. The heels of her heavy boots clanked against the ground, announcing her presence. She wasn't attempting to be quiet or subtle. "Barbara?" she called out, glancing around. Her brow furrowed as she examined an empty control room. Computers bleeped and flashed but the redhead who went by the codename of Oracle was nowhere to be seen.
She crossed over to one of the computers and ran her fingers across the sleek black keyboard, smiling at the knowledge that Barbara would be irked as all hell if she saw her young mentor fingering her toys. It was something of a game they had going.
These days games were a good thing even if they were a bit strained.
Shaking her head she dropped down from the platform and headed back towards the elevator. Barbara's room was on the hidden lower level, at the base of the Clocktower. Helena glanced at her watch and chuckled; she had certainly lost track of time. It was almost two in the morning and with all of her charges taking the night off, chances were good that Barbara Gordon had just turned in for the night.
Especially since she was battling a wicked nasty cold.
Helena slipped quietly into Barbara's room, scowling mightily at the floral tones the room had. The decorations seemed almost like a cry for normalcy but they were utterly out of character for the woman he could do more stomach crunches than most Olympians.
The first thing she noticed was that her mentor seemed restless. She was tossing and turning, her fingers biting into the sheets and blankets. Helena glanced over to the nightstand next to the bed and noticed a stack of wrinkled tissues sitting next to a bottle of green cough syrup. Involuntarily the brunette shuddered, caught in the memory of previous adventures with NyQuil.
"Wade," Barbara moaned, thrashing to the left. She grabbed at her pillow, yanking it towards her.
Helena felt her body stiffen immeasurably. Her entire lithe frame went rigid with tension. The name Barbara had spoken cut through her like a twisted dagger to the heart.
Wade Brixton.
He was the teacher that Barbara had fallen for. The idiotic funny goofy man that had made the very lonely Oracle actually feel good about herself for a few minutes. Barbara knew that she was a good mentor but had long since started dismissing herself as being a woman worth looking at.
Wade had changed that.
And now he was dead. Buried and in the ground six months now.
And as far as Helena Kyle was concerned, it was completely her fault.
Six months earlier a super-villainess named Harley Quinn had used her relationship with the young crime fighter to infiltrate the Clocktower and overtake New Gotham. Many innocents had lost their lives their night.
Wade was the worst.
Wade was her responsibility. Harley hadn't been the Joker's paramour to her, no in fact she had been Dr. Harleen Quinzell, her court mandated psychiatrist. Someone she had let into her life because she had wanted to get the burden of being a so-called hero off her shoulders.
Yeah that had worked out great for everyone.
The guilt was overwhelming at times. Especially during the quiet peaceful moments. Barbara never said anything but her mounting loneliness was obvious. She had already lost so much in her life but Wade had been excruciating.
Especially since her charge had been directly responsible for his murder.
Even if Barbara would never actually say the words.
Helena took a deep breath and started towards Barbara, intent on pulling her from her nightmare. During their early days together not long after the Joker had shattered Barbara's back and arranged for Selina Kyle's murder, it had been the redhead who had been her constant comfort; always there to hold and protect her against her own mind.
Times were changing and days were turning. Crazy world and all of that.
She had moved within three feet of Barbara when she felt a strange buzzing against her leg. She jumped a bit, momentarily alarmed. Then she chuckled nervously. She felt like a fool but she played it cool, casually reaching into the side pocket of her leather jacket. She pulled out a miniscule metal cellular phone and opened it up. She slipped back into the hallway so as not to disturb Barbara. "Yeah?"
"Hey," Jesse Reese said softly, his voice coming over the line with a kind of liquid calm. He made some of the guilt and pain slip away for a few moments. If a man as good as Reese could love her, well was that some kind of hope?
Her eyebrow jumped and she grinned mischievously. "Why Detective, I just left you, miss me already?"
He laughed but it sounded strangely subdued. She wondered why but figured she'd find out soon enough. "Always," he replied. He paused for a long beat, carefully choosing his words. "That's not why I called."
She knew something was wrong but decided to play dumb for a few moments longer. "Did I leave something at your apartment? I promise I'll be back for it later." She used her best flirtatious tone. She'd been trying for weeks to get him to be a little naughty on the phone but he was still resisting.
She could almost see him shaking his head in disbelief. He knew what she was doing and he was intentionally allowing her to get away with it. That alone told her that whatever he had to tell her was not something that was going to make her jump for joy. "Yes you will." He took a deep breath. "Helena, there's been a problem at Arkham."
She glanced back towards Barbara, frowning as her mentor cried out again. The pain of seeing Barbara in so much agony intensified when she saw a tiny stream of tears course down her cheeks.
She swallowed hard, the words almost catching in her suddenly dry throat. "What kind of problem?"
There was a long silence and then Reese said very quietly, "Harley has escaped."
Helena slipped out into the hallway and then punched the wall, her balled fist sliding smoothly through the plaster. She yanked her hand out of the hole, ignorant of her now bloody knuckles. "Fuck," she hissed.
"Helena, calm down," Reese urged, his voice tight. He had obviously heard the cracking plaster and seemed completely aware of what she had done. "There are..."
"I know," she snapped. "Cops everywhere looking for her. You know damn well they won't find her."
"We'll get her," Reese assured her. "Look, I'm heading out with McNally...did you want to come along?" He sounded hopeful but she knew that he was just trying to find a way to give her something to do.
She shook her head. "No. No."
"Helena, don't do anything stupid." He paused. "She might not even be looking at you guys. If she's smart, she's on her way out of New Gotham."
She snorted loudly. "Reese, that bitch wants revenge and you and I both know it so let's just not dick around, okay?"
"Okay," he agreed, his voice passive. He wasn't about to allow her to bait him into an argument. "Just do me a favor then, okay?"
"What?"
"Go home and get some sleep. No matter what, she's not coming for you tonight."
"That's probably true," Helena grunted. Then she sighed. "You're right... Look, if you find anything, give me a call. I'm gonna...I'm gonna head back to my place."
"Good," he said. "I'll come by in the morning okay?"
"Sure," she said, wanting to say so much more.
She clamped her mouth shut however, afraid of the consequences of saying anything else. Her emotions were whirling in mad circles and she wasn't quite sure that she had any semblance of balance.
Anger. Despair. Fear.
All there in abundance.
Maybe it was about time to pay up.
"Get some sleep," he urged her again. "I'll be in touch."
"Goodnight," she murmured. She didn't wait for his reply, only pulled the phone away from her ear and closed it. Moving almost in slow motion she dropped the cell back into her pocket and slid back towards Barbara's room.
This time Barbara's scream of agony broke her protégé's heart into a thousand shards. All to small to be recovered.
"Wade, no!"
Helena turned away from Barbara's bed, her hands clenched into fists. She could feel a dull ache emanating from the wounds she had received when she had punched the wall but she didn't really care. Everything else hurt more.
She walked stiffly down the hall and entered the elevator. She let it drop to the second floor, her mind spinning and screaming at her. It accused her and condemned her, demanding penance, requiring suffering.
It was getting its wish.
She stepped out in the control room and looked around. Everything was quiet but she rather imagined that it wouldn't stay that way for long. She paced around anxiously, not quite sure what to do. She couldn't very well just leave Barbara alone with Harley out and about but her feet were burning and she felt like she was about to scream. Things could only go downhill from there.
"Helena?"
She glanced up, annoyed at being pulled out of her thoughts. She blinked when she saw the blonde girl standing in front of her. "Dinah," she grunted. "What are you doing home?"
"I think the home part pretty much sums it up," Dinah replied lightly. She frowned when she saw Helena's bloody hand. "What did you do to yourself?"
"Tripped," Helena replied, moving away from Dinah. "Have a good night kid." Then she stopped and looked back at Dinah. "Look, Dr. Quinzell just escaped from Arkham."
"Oh God," Dinah gasped. "We should..."
"I'm gonna handle it," Helena said quickly. "I'm going to meet up with Reese. You know, help him look for her."
"But... Okay," Dinah said slowly. "We'll do what we can from this side."
"Sure," Helena said shortly as she turned back towards the elevator. As she exited the room she stopped long enough to arm the defense systems.
After the first invasion Barbara had greatly enhanced the entire network. Breaking in with the correct codes and in some cases DNA was near impossible.
"Helena," Dinah called after her. The brunette kept moving, her gait slick and agitated. She was seriously pissed off but there was something else there. Something Dinah couldn't quite put a finger on. Helena disappeared down the shaft.
Dinah stood watching for several long minutes, confusion written on her features. Finally she snapped herself out of it. "Barbara," she said to herself.
She sighed and stepped into the elevator. She brought it up to the floor that housed Barbara's room and exited it. When she had left earlier in the evening, the redhead had been knocking back herbal tea like it was water.
"Barbara?"
She looked into the room to see the woman she likened to her mother trembling in the middle of the sheets, sweat beading on her forehead and tears on her cheeks. She crossed to her quickly and shook her shoulder roughly. She repeated the action until Barbara came awake with a start, swinging out her arm. Dinah just barely missed taking a hand to the jaw.
"What? Who?" Barbara looked up, her eyes as wild as her hair.
"Nice," Dinah grinned. "This could be a problem in the morning."
Barbara grimaced. "Sorry." Then she paused. "I don't have too much morning company these days."
"Right," Dinah said apologetically, quite uncomfortable with the subject. The whole Wade thing was kind of an unspoken rift between them all, especially Helena and Barbara. The two of them both had so much to say about it but neither of them was talking.
In short it boiled down to the simple fact that Helena blamed herself for Wade's death and Barbara couldn't seem to convince her young charge otherwise. Even that inability was a source of tension.
"So, how was your night?" Barbara asked, sitting up in the bed. She sniffled a bit and then sneezed. She reached over to the nightstand and picked up a glass of water. She drained it, groaned, and then looked up at Dinah, awaiting an answer.
"Eh, it was fine until Gabby's brother got home. He's kind of obnoxious," Dinah laughed. She glanced at the wall. "I'm home before curfew."
"I didn't say anything," Barbara replied, holding up her hands in protest.
"No but I could tell that you were wondering. Bet you can't quite recall when you said my curfew is through all that cotton," Dinah teased.
Barbara growled. "Keep it up." She pushed herself up and out of the bed, sliding effortlessly into her chair. She exited the room, followed closely by Dinah. She stopped and frowned when she saw the fist sized hole in the wall. "Uh, what is this?"
"That must be what she hit," Dinah mused. She glanced down at Barbara, meeting her eyes. "Her hand was bloody. She seemed...distracted."
"Wonder why," Barbara mumbled. "She had a date with Reese tonight. Can't imagine that went too badly."
"They haven't been going badly at all lately," Dinah grinned, lowering her voice. She was acting as if she was scandalized but the redhead knew better.
"Dinah," she warned as they both entered the elevator.
"Save it," Dinah laughed. "I have to have something to tease her about. Her relationship with Reese is so prime."
Barbara cocked her head to the side. "Yes, yes it is." Then she frowned. "I wonder what's bothering her."
Dinah swallowed hard and then finally said. "Harley maybe?" She knew she should have mentioned it immediately but had a feelings that things were about to get very bad.
Barbara looked at her curiously. "What are you talking about?" Dinah was about to reply when they heard all of Delphi's alarms going off.
As loudly as they could manage.
Barbara moved quickly towards the monitors. She slid up the ramp and saddled herself right up next to the main switchboard. All her monitors were going crazy, displaying information just about as fast as they could.
"Oh God," Barbara muttered. "How did this happen?" The last statement was more to herself than anyone else. She was already typing a mile a minute.
"I don't know. Helena told me on her way out," Dinah said coming up behind her. She peered over her shoulder.
Barbara swallowed hard. "Harley has actually escaped. I don't believe it."
"Damn," Dinah cursed, her eyes moving across several lines of text. The reports coming across the wire indicated that several guards had been murdered in the outbreak. Harley appeared to be the only criminal of notorious note to have escaped but several small-timers were also out and about.
"Where did Helena go?" Barbara asked, her voice thick with emotion. Her mind wandered back to the dream she had just awoken from. Neh, the nightmare. It had been a horrible replay of the night in which Harley had murdered Wade only this time somehow or another; she'd had a front row seat for the performance.
"She said she was gonna help Reese hunt down Harley. Are you okay?" Dinah asked, placing a soft hand on Barbara's bare shoulder. She was clothed in a pair of loose flannel pants and a wifebeater. Bedtime clothes. Or late night checking on the systems apparel if need be.
Barbara chewed her lip, trying to think of her answer. "No, I don't think I am." She blew out ear between her teeth. "I think Helena is worse however. She's going to take all of this on herself." She turned towards the switchboard and flicked a button. Immediately a voice picked up. Reese.
"Is she with you?" Barbara asked.
Who?"
"Helena."
There was a pause and then Reese replied. No and she's not supposed to be. I told her to go home and sleep. Are you okay? I take it you've heard.
"I'm dealing," Barbara replied. "Thanks. I'll let you know when we find her."
Copy that Oracle, Reese replied before cutting the line.
"You want me to call her?" Dinah asked.
"No, if I know Helena she's already turned off her phone." Barbara chuckled humorlessly. "And I know Helena."
"You think Harley will go after her?" Dinah asked, her voice suddenly very small and worried.
Barbara pursed her lips. "Probably. Eventually anyways. Not tonight though." She turned to Dinah. "Do me a favor okay?"
"You want me to go check on her."
"She probably went back to where she can get drunk the easiest," Barbara sighed.
"You really do know her well," Dinah chuckled.
"Yes, I do." She turned to look at Dinah. "I can't make her forgive herself. She wants to blame herself for Wade. I've told her a thousand times that I don't blame her but every time I start to talk to her, she completely phases out on me. I don't how to get through to her about this. But I'm not gonna let her hurt herself because she's on one of her guilt binges."
"On it," Dinah said, breaking away. She stopped and looked back at Barbara. "Are you okay? You sure you don't need the company yourself?"
Barbara closed her eyes. "I'm miles from okay and right now I really don't want anyone around me." She offered Dinah a small smile. "No offense."
"None taken," Dinah responded. "I'm expecting a lot worse from Helena."
"Smart girl," Barbara commented. Then she turned away from the blonde; her eyes already back to scanning the numerous reports. She was going to do what he always did when things started to hurt.
She was going to become Oracle.