A Whole New WorldFEEDBACK - Oh Yes Please -You can email us docwho2000@hotmail.com authors: docwho2100 and ellie no name Consensual relationship depicted between adult women in this story. If you have a problem with that or are under 18 please do not read. Authors' notes - Character thoughts appear between ~ ~ symbols Chapter 22 - Reluctant Messiah (Immolation) Clocktower, Thursday evening
Barbara waited for the elevator doors to open and she slowly wheeled out pausing as the doors closed behind her. She looked around for the "intruder" her pager had alerted her to earlier at school. After the Harley incident, she'd installed a system to alert her anytime someone accessed the Clock tower, it had been one of the many things she had done to try and convince herself it was still a secure place to be. She'd ignored the fact the intruder was Helena and had not bothered trying to contact her. Instead the teacher had remained focused on finishing up grades and other final paperwork so she could be finished with her "day job" allowing her more time to focus on the strange twists the case had taken the last few weeks. "Did you wear a hole in the floor yet?" She called out leaning an elbow on the arm of her chair as she located the restless bobbing brunette head. "Where have you been? I mean, doesn't school end at like 3 or something?" Helena asked, moving in Barbara's direction. "The instructional portion ends. Teachers continue to work long past when students decide they have had enough." She rolled a little further into the room. "But look who I am talking to; one of Gotham High's Hall of Fame record holders for ways to beat the system and champ for finding a loophole." "She wants me to go check out the dead bodies in the morgue tomorrow night." Helena blurted out, not up for banter about her high school days. Barbara looked at Hel a moment gathering her thoughts. No matter how long she worked with the young woman, the teacher still found she could easily be pulled into one of Hel's tailspins and manic approaches to a problem. "I see. Is Alfred in?" She asked casually starting to move down the ramp and heading towards the kitchen. "He's around. She's a medical examiner herself, but she thinks I'll be able to help. Me or someone who knows what metas are supposed to look like on the inside," Helena ranted, following Barbara. "Did he fix anything for dinner before being chased away?" Barbara tried not to smirk guessing Alfred had stopped by and met a similar treatment from Hel. She could almost see the polite, yet hidden smile the older man would have worn while nodding and listening to the deluge. "She is a doctor with training specializing in forensics. Although her bachelor's is in physics." Barbara added as she shifted to take her bag off the back of her chair. The redhead had started going through the files on Agent Scully in more depth last night. "She has received a number of commendations and is regarded one of the best in the FBI, even with the other marks in her record. "So why the hell would she think that I could help her? Or that I would actually put anyone else at risk like that?" Helena demanded. "And why aren't you concerned about this!" "I did not say I was not concerned." Barbara corrected. "Did she tell you why she wants you to help and what do you mean put at risk? "I don't know. Something about identifying victims as meta-human, but I think it's more just that she wants to find out who I'm working with. I might have convinced her that I just have 'friends', but I don't know if she bought that," Helena said. "This is what happens when I let you go somewhere comm-less. This will teach me to not just permanently have the comm. buzzing in my ear." Barbara went to open the refrigerator. "Something to drink?" "I didn't have a choice. She's stuck on this silent partner thing, and there's not much I can do about that. No drink. Just help me figure this out." Opening a bottle of juice, Barbara wheeled up to the table and leaned her arms on the surface watching Helena. "Well from her perspective, she did find you associated with two dead bodies. One time you ran, another you assaulted her . I personally am glad you are sitting here with me and not in some jail cell." She took a drink of juice to hide her concern and relief that Hel was here. Barbara had replayed the recording from the encounter last night trying to pull more clues from the meeting. She could still could feel the chill and fright hearing Hel's struggles. And that voice....... "What can I say? I'm a sweet talker," Helena replied. "Now back to suggestions about showing tomorrow? I told her I’d look into it. Maybe I should I just blow it off?" Helena asked, hoping Barbara would go for the last option. "Sweet-talker, bullshitter two sides of the same coin wouldn't you say?" Barbara said quickly but chased her candid remark with a smile. "Listen, sit. Your pacing and body language is worse than watching a caged animal. Which you are not Hel," she waved at a chair next to her. She paused, her eyes focused on the young woman. "You do have some choices here and we can sweet talk or bullshit, let's see which the situation calls for, alright?" Under the glare Helena finally settled in a chair across from Barbara. "Now tell me again, a little more succinctly, if that word even exists in your vocabulary, what happened at your meeting and what exactly does Agent Scully want?" "She showed me the pictures. Nothing new there. Started listing off metas that Batman fought. Including my mother, not sure how long until she puts me together with mom. Then wanted me to go along on her outing to the morgue tomorrow. Thinks I can notice something she won't. Or that I'll set her up with one of my 'friends' who can," Helena said, not really calming as her rapid delivery of the meeting emphasized her demeanor. Barbara ran her hand through her hair leaving her fingers tangled as she thought. "I'll check what access I have to the FBI files and see if there are any references to you or other information that could link back to us." She frowned thoughtfully at her juice. "Why was she interested in metas? And did she say why she wants to go to the morgue? I've seen copies of those reports the so called Coroner is churning out and they are lacking. But did she mention anything specific she was looking for?" "Something about meta physiology, I think." Helena paused; her eyes wandering over the redhead. "And let her find information on me, I don't want her getting more suspicious. Just cover your own tracks, okay?" Barbara raised an eyebrow at Hel's statement, her fingers still playing with her hair. "Let her find information on you?" Not sure what Helena was thinking or why she made that distinction, she let any further probing of that topic go, for now. "You mentioned, how did you phrase it, me or what I look like inside? Does she have any experience working with metahumans? I was going through some of her cases. I searched a few terms to start with to see if anything jumped out. There was not a single mention of the word metahuman. Although she does have experience it seems with altered physiology, I think. I am still trying to follow exactly how some of her journals and cases are linked. It is… convoluted." "She knows about people with abnormal abilities. I'm pretty sure she's on our side, but I don't really want to show her all our cards yet. Not until I know more about her anyway," Helena said. "Our side... I would be more likely at this point to say she wants to reach the same conclusion we do." She pulled her fingers through her hair and rested her hand on the table. "I know you have an aversion to certain aspects of investigation." The redhead looked up; it had not been lost on her how Helena reacted when asked to do certain things. Tasks if Barbara could, she would have gladly spared Hel from having to complete. "Her examination might provide a key or at least rule out certain possibilities. And I believe her reports will be accurate and thorough. Would you be willing at least to go and set up a camera link for me? Explain you have someone on the other end that can provide some details and in exchange we get a recording of what she finds." Helena nodded. "If she says no?" "I believe that is where you area of expertise in sweet-talking comes into play." "Right," Helena nodded, relieved that Barbara had not tried talking her into doing it. "You think we can trust her?" the brunette added as an after-thought. She leaned her head on her hand, "At this point we may have to take a few risks in order to find these killers." She took in a breath letting it out slowly. "And I think the question is more will she trust us?" "I'm working on that," Helena said softly. "I should get going. I have to work. Do you have a camera I can take?" Puzzled slightly by the working comment, Barbara nodded. "I have a camera and can explain how you feed it through her system to record both video and also provide a straight transfer of any report she types. I'll tell you how to set it up. Make sure she knows Helena exactly what it will be recording. If you can't sweet talk, I don't want to go behind her back. She's had too many people do that to her in the past, alright?" "Yeah, I don't want to push the trust issue. Too many questions can lead to a very bad headache." Helena stood and headed out of the kitchen. "I'll be by tomorrow." Barbara watched the young meta. ~Trust... what a dirty five letter word. Could we ever deeply trust one another Helena?~ contact: docwho2000@hotmail.com page last modified - March 29, 2006 graphics from www.eosdev.com |