Helena stood so fast she almost fell. The darkness of the cave was a comfort, the contrasting directional light a cold reminder of the work that needed doing. And yet when Damian Wayne appeared she seemed to feel both sensations in the same beat of her heavy heart. She heard noise in the back of her mind, but it was only the low screech of metal on metal, until her eyes opened, closed, and opened slowly again. At that point her mind focused; on the darkness, on the light, on the places where the two intermingled. That was when the focus returned to her. That was when the slow metal on metal screech slowly grinded into a voice she could hear. Into the voice that hid inside her mind.
"It's started. But I require more of the original code to get it done faster. I can't say whether that'll be fast enough. I do have an idea, something that might help. With this computer, and my original code, it could be enough. I can't say for sure."
"None can."
Said with acceptance, like the acceptance of death after life. She knew it was coming. She could feel it in her mind, at the tips of her body; fingers and toes tingling as if alive with electricity. Everything from the space-aged materials to the fuel it used to the safety wire used to finish off unforeseen last touches. When the exhaust fired, it did not surprise. When Damian Wayne appeared and prattled his line to her, her head rose in the air, and her eyes appeared to steel themselves upon him. About time.
"It's ready. I think it'll work, well enough."
From a machine made of tubes and vials and computer chips a protective covering popped off, and one vial among twenty rose slowly, carefully into the air. Within the vile rested Helena's best hope for not a cure, not salvation, but merely a stay in the execution. A delay was the best she could hope for, and if Karl was worth his immaterial genius, it would be enough. She had better hope so. They had all better hope so. In a movement as casual and easy as most people showed in sitting, so Helena Bertinelli leapt into the air and took her place in the cockpit beside Damian Wayne.
"Go into the city. It's mid-day, do not create the stir you would like to. Stay close to the ground, stay close to the water. Loop around to the east side of the city, approach from the sea. Your aim is the city drainage flow tunnel #4; it hasn't rained heavily lately so you should be able to navigate it. It will be tight, so try not to suck at driving. The tunnel will eventually lead into a bypass; go up a level, and turn west. You'll be in the subway. Estrella Tower has a pre-war subway station under it, reinforced and hidden now behind heavy blast doors. Approach it. Karl?"
"Yes, Helena?"
"You can get the Batmobile into the Huntress Lair? Transmit the door codes, you can find it in my head?"
"I should be able to find it, I'm already linked in with the Batcomputer, I can interface with this Batmobile."
"Good." Her head rolled to the side, big brown eyes starting to fade in and out, even as a glow pale blue like the cooler of thick ice began to creep into the edges of her eyes. A blue glow that brightened even when the rest of her eyes shadowed as they fixed on Damian Wayne. "When you approach the doors, that voice in my head will have the Batmobile transmit the door codes. Park it, and wake me up."
The teeshirt was pulled on, just slightly, a readjustment of comfort. The vial collected from the chemical synthesis machine was carefully unscrewed, the vial's edge brought to her pink lips just a beat before her head went back, the contents poured down her throat, and swallowed. Death would've tasted better, she imagined, her face twisting as taste soured her tastebuds. "I can't tell if I hate this city, or love this city. Mostly I imagine I feel a little of both, maybe a lot of both. Whatever your mother and grandfather told you, however you were trained to hunt and kill, no matter how ready you think you are for this city...you're not."
A sigh came loud and long from her lungs, from those pretty pink lips, as her body settled into the seat next to Wayne and those brown eyes with the blue glow creeping closed to rest. "I need to rest, my body is...fighting something." She moved again, a little this way, a little that, trying to find a comfortable rest, whatever inner struggle keeping her from it. Finally she just stopped moving, and gave a far smaller sigh. "Don't play your pop music too loud, please."
Ezekiel,
Stryder BC,
Ashifa ASMR YT,
Apollosarcher,
JFK,
Deadline,
Boston Bridge,
Kaithe Dame,
xVampire3go,
D3AD ST4R
