This story is a sequel to "Secrets" so please read that one before reading this one.

HELLO. GOOD-BYE

0 0 0

As I sit on a rooftop with my back against a brick wall, I use the down time to think about a lot of things that have been going on lately. Nothing is ever simple in my life. Sometimes I like it that way and other times I don't.

I suck in a breath and blow it out slowly as I shiver slightly at the sudden coldness of the air.

:: Huntress, come in. ::

"Oracle. Go ahead."

:: I've got a report of a possible robbery in progress at New Gotham Savings. They haven't triggered any alarms but my Iintel says there are four suspects that entered through the roof. I'm sending Dinah over to meet you. ::

I didn't argue even though I wanted to. "I'll report back once I'm there."

The cool wind rushed through my hair as I leaped from rooftop to rooftop. Finally arriving at the bank, I spotted one armed man standing on the side of the roof.

"Oracle, I've got one on the roof."

:: Please be careful. ::

I quietly got behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Psst. What'cha doing?" I teased as I planted my fist in his face the second he turned around. As soon as he hit the ground I gave him a good karate chop to the back of the head and knocked him out. "He's out, three to go." I emptied his gun and tossed the bullets into my pocket before walking over to the open roof hatch he'd been guarding.

Looking down inside, I saw a small metal ladder. "Oracle, I'm going in."

:: I'm sending Dinah over to back you up. ::

I couldn't help but grumble out loud. "You're overreacting once again. I can handle this." I got to the bottom of the ladder and found myself in a small dark room the size of a closet. A big gray door was in front of me.

:: Complain all you want, I'm sending her. Dinah? Come in. ::

:: I'm here, Oracle. ::

:: Head over to New Gotham Savings and back Huntress up, please. ::

:: On my way. ::

"Dinah, do NOT come inside. Stay on the roof. Do you hear me?" I tried my best to whisper but all my voice did was echo in the small space.

:: But what good is back up if... ::

I didn't hear the last part of what she said because I suddenly heard the door opening and the barrel of a very large gun poke through the opening of the door. To make matters worse, a small beam of light was now pointed in my direction. "Shit," I swore out loud as I kicked the gun upwards just as the owner of it fired off a round. Luckily, the bullet went straight through the open hatch and didn't ricochet around the small room or I'd be a piece of Swiss cheese.

:: Huntress:: Barbara's voice came booming in my ear, frantic yet strong as she heard the gun blast.

The door opened wider and a man holding the gun barged his way into the room, shoving my back into the metal ladder and holding the gun against my chest, pinning me. But I moved my elbow up and caught him in the chin, snapping his head back and getting him away from me long enough to slam my fist in the back of his head, knocking him out cold. "Another one down."

:: Are you okay? Are you hurt? I heard a gunshot. ::

"I'm fine. I didn't get hit." I emptied his gun and my breath caught in my throat when I saw the size of the bullets. Just thinking that one of those was almost slicing through me made my stomach turn. I'd never been shot by anything that big before. "That would definitely leave a mark," I mumbled as I tossed them in my pocket with the others.

:: What:: Barbara asked in response to my babble.

"Nothing. I'm going inside to find the remaining two."

:: Dinah? Are you at the location::

:: Almost there. I'm about three minutes away. ::

:: Huntress, wait for Dinah to get on the scene before you go inside. Let's play it safe. ::

"What? And risk them getting away? No way. I'm going in."

:: Dammit. :: Barbara mumbled softly, but loud enough that I could hear her. :: I don't have enough Intel on who's in there. Huntress, hold your position. ::

I didn't respond to her because I was fixed on making my way to the vault and plus I couldn't exactly continue carrying on a conversation and risk being heard. Part of me wanted to cut off the communication all together, but something inside me kept me from doing so.

I reached the corner of the hallway just before the vault and I could hear the two thieves talking as they cleaned it out. I peered around the corner to catch a glimpse of them and from my quick look I could see that they both had their backs to me and were loading a bunch of duffle bags with wads of cash.

:: Talk to me Huntress. Where are you::

I closed my eyes and leaned my back against the wall. I couldn't answer her, I was too close to them - they'd hear me for sure. Then I quickly tried to figure out how I was going to play this out. Obviously these guys weren't fooling around, judging by the size of their guns, and doing my usual sarcastic announcement of my presence would surely be suicide.

"Take these up and I'll meet you in the safe deposit room." The voice belonged to a woman, and apparently she was running the show.

Quickly and quietly I ran down the hallway and into the dark corner. I managed to jump up and grab onto the pipes that lined the ceiling, snaking my legs around them to keep me up and out of view.

Her accomplice dragged the heavy bags to the stairwell door. He dragged the last bag into the stairwell and began climbing the stairs up to the sixth floor where his buddy was hopefully still lying unconscious, but he didn't get far because I snuck up behind him, tossing him down the stairs like a rag doll. He sprawled onto the landing, shaking his head as he tried to gain his bearings, but my foot connected with his face and sent his head down to the concrete floor - cracking against it and rendering him useless for the next hour or so.

:: Huntress! Come on, talk to me. Now's not the time to be playing superhero. ::

"Oracle, be quiet. I can't talk, I'm kinda in the middle of something." I searched the man for his gun but couldn't seem to find one, which was odd, but I didn't spend much time thinking about it and dashed off to the safe deposit room that was located not far from the vault.

:: I'm on the roof, Oracle. :: Dinah reported in.

:: Stand by. Huntress may need your help. Then again, she would never ask for help because she's so damn stubborn. ::

"Shut up," I growled as quietly as I could as I came upon the area of the safe deposit room.

The woman had just finished blowing the lock on the gate and tossed two large black duffle bags inside. I was just about to make my presence known when she kneeled down in the middle of the room and remained very still. I stayed where I was. She stayed there for a moment and then I watched her get down on the ground seconds before a loud explosion ripped through the room. Dust, metal, wood and whatever else was in the room flew everywhere around her, but she stood up, unfazed and brushed the debris from her jacket as if it were nothing.

Every single lock from the safe deposit boxes had been blown off, allowing her easy access to the hundreds of boxes filled with cash, jewelry and who knows what else.

"I'd put that back if I were you," I said as I stood in the doorway of the room. She turned and looked at me, smiling. Even though she had a ski mask over her head I could still see the defiance written all over her face. This one wasn't going down easy.

"If I were you, I'd turn back around and walk the hell out of here," she said as she turned her full attention onto me.

I looked her over and didn't see any weapons. "Yeah...um...I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, this isn't your stuff, sweetheart. So if I were you, I'd get down on your knees and be a good girl or else this could get really ugly."

She laughed at me. "Oh, you have no idea," she said as suddenly she somehow had a gun in each hand and began firing in my direction.

I leaped out of the path of the bullets and took cover behind a desk in the corner of the entrance way.

:: Huntress? What's going on in there? Report::

I heard her land on top of the desk above my head and knew right then and there I was in big trouble.

"Aw, what's the matter? You back yourself into a corner?" She laughed some more and it only pissed me off.

I knew that the bullets would come slicing through the wooden desk like a knife through butter and that I was a sitting duck if I stayed where I was. So I threw my weight against the desk and tipped it over, sending her crashing to the floor, but she fired as she fell.

:: Huntress! Dinah, go in there and back her up::

:: Copy that. ::

I kicked the guns out of her hands and pounced on her, trying to pin her down but she was strong. She launched a punch that hit my chin, causing me to bite my tongue in the process. I returned the favor and unloaded a series of punches that seemed to stun her at one point, but I let my guard down too long and she managed to get a swift kick to my ribs. I grunted and rolled away from her, getting up on my feet.

She came at me hard and fast and before I knew it were were wrestling on the ground. All I felt was a mixture of pain, sweat and blood as I tried to gain control and knock her out.

"Huntress!" Dinah yelled as she came up behind me.

The distraction cost me a strong blow to my nose, sending me onto my back as blood covered my hands.

"Who's this?" the woman said as she stood up. "How old are you? Twelve?"

I watched as Dinah took out her baton and prepared to take her on. But I knew Dinah wouldn't be able to handle her. The woman got the baton away from Dinah in a millisecond and had her crashing down onto her back, smacking her head loudly on the hard concrete floor.

I stood back up and felt a renewed sense of anger. "Come on bitch, what else you got?"

"Oh I dunno...these," she said as she introduced me to two large daggers that appeared in her hands.

"Fuck," I swore to myself.

She smiled at me snidely and started coming towards me, whipping the daggers around in some sort of taunting manner. But I wasn't ready for when she decided to throw one at me. I leapt to the side but it wasn't quick enough, the dagger nicked my side and left a large gash. I didn't have time to let it get my full attention so I immediately got to my feet as best as I could, trying to hide the fact that my side was burning and throbbing.

She shook her head as she stood there with the second dagger. "You're not an easy kill, are you?"

"Nope. Never have been and never will be."

"I'm going to have to change all of that," she threatened as she charged towards me, ready to plunge the dagger deep into my flesh.

I stepped aside and grabbed her wrist, twisting it around and hearing it snap. The dagger dropped to the ground and I saw it fly across the floor, down the hallway. I looked over at Dinah who had just come to, she nodded towards me, acknowledging that she was the reason behind it. Then I gathered up all of my strength and began punching and kicking the woman.

Dinah came over and pulled me off of her. "Stop! Huntress, stop!"

I took off her mask and her eyes rolled slightly. "Oracle, I've got her."

:: You two better get going before Reese gets there. Is she secure::

I looked at her again and she was passed out. "Yeah. If he's on his way she shouldn't be going anywhere in the meantime."

:: You two get out of there. ::

"We're on our way back," I said as Dinah helped me back up to the roof.

0 0 0

Sixteen stitches was my souvenir for the evening, along with a few other cuts and bruises that I managed to acquire during the whole ordeal. The dagger did a number on my side, but nothing serious. And I guess I'd managed to get clipped by a few bullets as I dove for cover. Someone was definitely watching out for me tonight.

Barbara finally let me go home last night after she'd stitched me up, but that was only after I agreed to take tonight off and rest. Part of me wanted to get back out there and do what I do best but the other part of me was thankful for the break.

Now that I had a night to myself, without her buzzing around in my ear and barking out orders, I decided to pay Reese a visit.

I found him at his car, leaning on the back fender, drinking a cup of coffee. "Well...isn't this the typical stereotype of a cop. Where's your donut?" I teased.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny."

I moved next to him, leaning on the car and taking in the cool night air. "Slow night?"

"Yeah, unlike last night."

He looked at me rather funny as he sipped his coffee. I tried to play dumb. "What do you mean?"

"Come on, Huntress. The bank last night." I looked down at my boots to avoid eye contact with him but I soon felt his hand on my jaw, turning my head up to face him. "The black eye and the cuts on your face...you didn't get those from just walking down the street. I know you were there last night."

I moved my head away from him. "So what if I was. I did all your work for you."

"You should have called me to help you."

"You know I don't work that way, Reese."

"Well, all three of them had numerous warrants out on them and they weren't just warrants for stealing granny purses...they were all wanted on murder charges."

I heard the word "murder" but what really stuck in my mind was the number. "Wait...you said three?"

"Yeah. When I got there two guys were dragging their unconscious buddy down the alley in back of the bank."

"You searched the entire bank afterwards and there was no one else in there?"

"No."

"Did you find the duffle bags?"

"We had two duffle bags full of money. They're doing an audit right now to see what exactly is missing."

"Dammit."

"What?"

"There was a woman with them. She and I fought for a while and I knocked her out and left here there. Dammit!"

"Hey..." he said as he put a hand on my shoulder, "you can't catch everyone."

I shook my head, "I have to find her. She's got the rest of the money and I'm not going to let her get away with making me look bad."

"What are you talking about? Making you look bad? How does this..."

"Because it looks like I can't secure a scene before leaving. It looks like I left the door wide open for her to escape. It looks like I pretty much let her go."

"You're crazy, you know that? This does NOT look like anything other than she happened to get away. This happens. Hasn't it happened to you before?"

"Yes, and that's the problem. They're not supposed to get away, Reese. Why bother doing what we do if we're just going to let them get away?" I threw my hands in the air and began walking away.

"You have to stop blaming yourself, Huntress."

He kept talking to me but his voice got softer and softer as I continued to walk away.

0 0 0

Back at the Clocktower, I found Barbara feverishly plugging away at her computer. She looked up, surprised to see me. "I thought you were taking the night off?"

"I was, until I found out..."

"She escaped. I know."

I was about to ask how she knew and then I quickly realized she had her finger on the pulse of New Gotham better than the New Gotham PD. "I have to find her."

"Tomorrow. Right now you need to rest. You can't go back out there just yet."

"I can't just sit here while that bitch gets away with what she did...especially after what she did to me." The last part I mumbled under my breath, but not so softly that she didn't hear it because I saw the look on her face.

"Does this look like her?" she asked as she held up a sketch. "Dinah gave me a description and I wanted to run it by you before I ran it through the computer."

I took the photo and studied it. "That's her, the bitch."

She took the photo back and scanned it. "It's not your fault, Helena."

"Like hell it isn't. Run her through the meta database because she could produce weapons out of thin air."

"What do you mean? Like duplicating something she touched?"

"No, like nothing in her hands one minute and two guns the next."

Barbara looked perplexed as she stabbed at the keyboard with her fingers, ignoring all of the beeping the computers were making. Finally, they stopped and she pulled a piece of paper out of the printer. It was impossible to ignore her gasp as she looked at the results. "Oh my God" she said as she put a hand to her mouth.

"What?" I asked as I tried to come around behind her and read the paper.

"This can't be," she mumbled as she put the paper down on the desk.

"Barbara? Who is she?"

She turned towards me and took her glasses off, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Your sister."

I closed my eyes for a moment and slumped down in one of the chairs. "Great. What a way to be reunited."

Barbara kept shaking her head. "I didn't think she was in New Gotham." She rifled through some paperwork, "She was in jail the last I'd heard."

"Maybe she escaped from there too," I said as I got back up.

"Where are you going?"

"To find her."

"Oh no you're not. We need to work together on this one. It's too dangerous to go after her alone."

"I can handle her."

"She's already tried to kill you, Helena and that's not even with her knowing that you're her half sister."

"I need to do something. I can't just sit around and wait until she does something else...or tries to kill someone else. I...I can't risk your life or Dinah's on this one. She's my sister and my problem."

Barbara grabbed my wrist just as I was about to walk away. "Helena, she's NOT your problem. You can't take ownership of this one."

"I pretty much let her go last night. If I had been more thorough she wouldn't be back out on the street. It'll be my fault if she hurts someone else because I allowed her the chance. I have to go."

"Helena, wait! Please! Don't do this!"

I didn't listen. I got into the elevator - fully intent on finding the bitch and making sure she was back in jail.

0 0 0

I scoured the streets for hours and finally decided to take a break and hang out on one of the rooftops in the sketchier part of town. I figured there'd be at least something going on there to occupy my time...and I was right. Down below I could hear voices arguing. Peering over the edge, I could see three people - all dressed in dark clothing. Exchanges were made and it was clear to me that this was a drug deal.

Just as I put my foot up onto the brick ledge to hop over the side, I heard four gunshots. Two of the thugs hit the pavement, blood pooling all around them and the shooter began running down the street. "Oracle, send Reese to pick up a couple of bodies down on Grant Street. I'm going after the shooter."

:: Copy that. What happened::

"Drug deal gone bad. I'm heading south."

:: Keep the line open and report when you get closer. I'll track your signal in case you need back up. ::

My thighs were burning from running so fast. It had been a while since I needed to chase someone this far. But I started closing the gap between us. The bad thing was that they knew it and they turned around and began firing at me.

:: Huntress::

"Little busy, Oracle."

I zigzagged as I ran in order to avoid the oncoming bullets, then I decided to not play fair and take the rooftops as a running route.

I watched as he stopped in a small alley that I never even knew existed until now. With a fluid motion I came sailing down behind him, locking him in a choke hold. "Toss the gun." He struggled against me and started to bring the gun up towards my head. In somewhat of a panic, I pushed him forward against the wall and ducked down, closing my eyes and praying the bullet didn't cut right through my skull. Lucky for me, it didn't. The shot rang out and the bullet pierced the brick above me, causing pieces of it to rain down on me.

With a quick kick, I caught him in the hand and knocked the gun away. Then I grabbed him by the jacket and pull the hood away from his face. That's when I felt the adrenaline in my system kick up a notch...it was her.

"You again? God, you're annoying," she said to me just as she brought her arms up and grabbed onto mine, swinging me around and smashing the side of my head into the brick wall. "Let's see if I can finish you off once and for all so you can keep you nose out of my business." She slammed my head into the wall again and I did all I could not to black out.

:: Huntress, what's going on::