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APRIL 2016Barbara was purposefully late to the funeral. She wanted to avoid any unfortunate interactions with the many people at the funeral she didn’t like, people that Laurel loved. She didn’t want to mess up her funeral like that. She wouldn’t do that to her best friend.Dick was driving her there. He’d been sweet throughout this. He held her when she broke down after finding out that her best friend Laurel Lance had been murdered in cold blood and he had handled everything, from calling her work and asking for time off so she could do this and even trying to cook for her. He wasn’t quite there yet.She got out of the car when they got there. She was scared. Terrified. She didn’t want to see the grave of the woman that had helped her find hope after her mother had died. She remembered this feeling. You’d think being Batgirl for the past few years would make it easier to get past, but it didn’t. It was the same feeling when she had to go to her mom’s funeral. It would make it real. Too real. The idea of not having Laurel to call, talk about her troubles with, laugh with… It made her feel like breaking down again.But that feeling quickly turned into anger when she saw who was there.Oliver Queen. He was crouching at her grave.She couldn’t see Dick behind her, but she practically felt him cringe, as, through gritted teeth, she said, “What are you doing here?” Dick knew what this meant.He turned around. He seemed sad to his credit. But Barbara knew that was probably just self pity.Oliver recognized her, just barely. That much she could tell. She was surprised he could pull himself out of his self-involved stupor.He was about to speak, “Barba-”But she cut him off, “I couldn’t care less if you remember me. That isn’t the answer to my question.”He took on a look of confusion, before realizing, “I was paying my respects to Laurel.”Barbara almost laughed at that. “Is that a joke? You never paid her that before.”His face scrunched up, “Don’t talk about something that you don’t understand.”Barbara snapped at him with, “Are you really trying to tell me what I don’t understand? You had an affair with her sister, kicked her to the curb, when she wasn’t being nice to you two when started hooking up again and treated her like trash when it suited you. You abused her.”“I loved Laurel.”Barbara had heard enough. Enraged, with a swift cross she decked Oliver in the side of his face.He jerked back in pain as a response.Barbara, angered, quickly said, “Don’t you DARE for a second ever say that, ever. You used her to prop yourself when you couldn’t be decent on your own and when she wouldn’t give you that, you tossed her into the trash. She was my best friend. I was the one who helped her get back on her feet after you had gall to tell her that you were done chasing her and to get a drink on you. I love her. There is no past tense in that and there never will be. And you’ll never understand what that means. You aren’t even fit to dig a grave for her, let alone be at her funeral, you cheating, ableist, abusive, murdering piece of garbage.”Oliver returns his eyes back to her, them showing his shock.Barbara coldly replied to them, “I’m not an idiot.”Oliver stood suddenly and got in her face, angry.Barbara didn’t budge.But Dick was directly behind her in an instant.Barbara stared Oliver directly in the eyes, saying, “Get away from me and leave right now or he-” gestures to Dick-“won’t even have to do anything. I’ll break every bone in your body and tell competent police officers who you are. Don’t think I can’t, Arrow. I’m a better fighter than you.”Oliver stubbornly stepped back, before walking away.Barbara held her stance. She didn’t move. But as she looked down at Laurel’s gravestone, she felt herself begin to crack again, before finally breaking with, “I’m sorry Laurel.”She kneeled down in front of the grave, the tears beginning to come back to her eyes. “I’m so sorry. I know that’s not what you’d want.” Barbara held her silence for a moment, Dick giving her a comforting touch on the back from behind, before saying, “I miss you very very much… My best friend forever.” NOWBarbara Gordon couldn’t believe her ears. The voice that came from the recording on her voicemail. She’d left her phone at home. She usually did when she had to go fight something ridiculous like tonight with the Riddler’s army of Riddlebots. Seriously. That’s what he was calling them now. So she had no idea who’d called. But she’d never have expected to hear Dinah’s voice, her best friend’s voice, in this life ever again. But she was:“It’s-It’s me. Laurel. I’m being held somewhere. Please save me.”And that was it. Barbara wasn’t even sure she could process it before it had ended. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she was happy, relieved, scared, worried and angry all at the same time.Dinah Laurel Lance was alive.Later, Babs sat back, leaning on the examination table as Bruce ran the recording of Laurel’s voice from the voicemail through the batcomputer, comparing it to an old video of them when they’d gone on a trip to Mertopolis. It came up a match. He said as much. “It’s either real or a very good forgery.”Barbara immediately spoke, “See? Now let’s figure out who has her.”“But,” Bruce continued his thought from before, “that doesn’t mean it’s not a recording.”Barb then bit, “It’s not!”Dick walked up to her, concern hanging over his face. “Babs, how do you know?”Barbara stepped back away from him. “I just do. I know she’s alive. I have for awhile.”Bruce spoke up then, “Barbara, believe me, we both know what it feels like when someone you love dies-”Barbara refused to hear him say it. “It’s not denial. I wish I could explain it.”Both Dick and Bruce’s faces became straightened and Barb turned away, knowing the implication of her words. She walked around the examination table in the batcave and leaned on it with her hands, looking down, before trying to clarify:“It’s not the same as either of you losing your parents. I know it’s not the same. And I have no right to try and make you believe that what I feel is more unique or follow a lead that’s nearly impossible to exist. But Dinah was my best friend. She loved me when I didn’t want it, she spent her entire life trying to help people, she wasn’t a serial killer like the Hood Green Arrow and she forgave every person in her life who broke her heart, and she-” through anger and pain, she spat out, “-she was GUTTED!” and SLAMMED her hands into the metal table viciously. Barbara took in a deep breath, before continuing, “She was gutted by a monster, not because she put him away, but to get at her dad, she was dishonored when the Green Error decided to throw her identity to the public, she’s used by that dumpster fire of a human being as an excuse to murder people again while he defaces her with statue made of his own defecation and she doesn’t deserve to be that!…” her voice cracking, “It’s not right.” Barbara buried her face in her hands and began to sob, tears rolling from her eyes.Dick walked over to her, trying to hold her, to comfort her in a way he wasn’t even sure how.Though she held him at bay, with a look she told him that she grateful for his attempt, but she wanted to be strong on her own.Barbara wiped her tears away and finished, “I know it’s never right, this, what happens. But I feel like she should be here. Ever since she died, it’s felt like it was a lie, like there was a whole existence that she has to have, a whole life, before she leaves this world. And I can’t give up on her if there’s even a millionth of a chance that I can help make sure she lives that. She’d do the same for me, for almost anyone.”Bruce stepped forward. “I never said ‘give up’.”Barbara smiled. “Really?”Dick stated, re-assuredly placing his hands on her arms, “Of course. I would never let you live with that. Neither of us would. Your our family. And if Dinah’s yours-”Bruce finished the sentence, “She’s ours. This isn’t Star City. It’s Gotham. And in Gotham we don’t give up on that.”Barbara quickly wiped the tears away that her beginning to spring to her eyes and quickly hugged Dick, telling him, “I love you.”Dick smiled, responding, “You know I love you.”Barbara gave Dick a quick kiss before jumping right to business. “Okay, so the first question we have to ask is who would have something against Dinah to want to take her, to go through all the trouble to fake her death and hold her hostage?”Bruce in detective mode now, “Those are all good questions. But your asking the wrong ones.”Barbara, perplexed, asked, “What do you mean?”Bruce stated simply, “If this is her really and she was taken, you have to think the way someone taking someone would think: Who do you punish by taking someone?”Barbara, realizing, “The person you take them from…” It dawned on her, “It wouldn’t be about hurting her. It would be about someone in her life.”Dick caught on quickly and easily. “A family member. Her dad’s a cop, right?”Barbara stated immediately, “This is too big to do for an enemy of a cop… But not for an enemy of an assassin. It’s about Sara.”“She’d probably know who’d do this then.” Dick suggested.Barbara nodded. “Yeah, probably. But she’s… traveling. There’s no way to get in touch with her. We need the next best thing: Nyssa Al Ghul.”The name clearly put Bruce on edge, who turned to Barbara with a look of stone.Barbara had to be persistent though, in spite of his past with the League and its royal family. “I don’t know where she is. But, Bruce, Talia might.”With that Bruce took in a deep breath and gave nod to her.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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Barbara stood, as Batgirl, on the rooftop, arms crossed, waiting. Dick had wanted to come. Bruce had suggested coming intently. But she told that she would do it on her own.Her ear caught the noise in the corner of the roof and she quickly readied her batarang, just in case.But it wasn’t a threat, at least not an active one. It was Nyssa Al Ghul.She spoke, with the cautious, intense, but sophisticated tone Barbara expected from an Al Ghul.“It’s very difficult for most people to find me.”Barb spoke with a similar cautiousness, “I’m not most people.” She still hadn’t lowered her batarang.Nyssa rebutted, “Obviously. The only person who'd know where I am is my sister. You came to ask me about anyone who would have a reason to kidnap Laurel.”Babs heard her voice break for a split second at the name. She was surprised, but not enough to let down her guard. “Dinah. Her name is Dinah.”Nyssa could see the emotion behind the masked woman. It fueled her cold resolve, she could tell. So, she was direct. “Laurel has moved on. She’s no longer with us. Trust me. I went to her funeral.”Barbara was getting angry. “You actually went to that charade? How much of Dinah’s death did Oliver make about himself?”Nyssa knew she was hitting a sensitive subject and switched to another. “I know how you feel. If you knew her like I did-”Barb cut her off, frustrated at Nyssa’s avoidance. “You don’t know anything.”Nyssa replied, calmly, “I know that she would want you to move on from her death.”Babs took a step back, recognizing the distinct non-aggressive stance from Nyssa, then putting the batarang away. “I know that Dinah would want to have a full life. Believe me, I would be moving on. I was trying to, until I got this-” Barbara took out the recorder and played the recording of Laurel’s voice.Barb watched the stoic expression of the assassin shift into sadness, then surprise, realization and finally… hope. But that was all dashed away with, when her expression turned into stone.Nyssa spoke with the voice of disconnectedness. “That’s impossible.”Babs simply stated, “‘You’re wrong. And this was a waste of time.” She turned away from Nyssa.Nyssa spoke with emotion again, “You expect me to believe something that can’t be?”Barbara turned back to her. “I don’t care what you believe. You’re an assassin. And I’m a lot less merciful than Dinah. I thought you might have information that could save her. Clearly not.”Nyssa angrily stepped up to Barb. “Do you think I haven’t tried to save her? I spent months searching for another lazarus pit afterwards. Eventually I had to accept her death.”Babs immediately replied with, “You mean give up on her, because your magical garbage was all gone. That’s not me. I’ll never give up on her. But that’s to be expected from a member of the League Of Assassins. No heart, right? That’s what makes it so easy to kill people on a whim.”Nyssa blinked back the teary eyes she was beginning to have and straightened herself. “I haven’t lifted a single weapon since Laurel died. I made a vow in her name to never harm another human being ever again.”Barbara was surprised. She’d never heard of a LOA member reforming. “Why?”Nyssa, fully done with the facade now, explained with vulnerability in her voice than she’d ever allowed before. “Laurel showed me that I was capable of being more. No one I’ve ever met thought I could be more than an assassin. No one. It’s what I was raised to be. It’s all I thought I was. But she thought I could be more. She showed me that hope existed.”Barb could see the honesty and realized that maybe they had more in common than she thought. “She’s good at that.” Babs looked down for a moment and tried to find her goal again. “So, you have to understand how important this is. How important it is to help her. She needs us. She’s my best friend.”“And she’s my only friend.” Nyssa stated. “But I have no idea how this could have happened. Or who would try so hard just to get revenge on Sara-” Nyssa stopped at the thought.Barbara caught the pause immediately. “What?”Nyssa wanted to ignore it, ignore the possibility of hoping that Laurel was alive, because it was the same kind of hope that for so many years of her life she was told in word and actions, by everyone in her life, couldn’t exist. But ironically Laurel had shown her how stupid and wrong that was. “There was a woman. The daughter of a Master Heung, a man who would murder his children if not born the way he wished. Sara was sent by my father to kill him. She followed through on the order, but she was caught by his daughter. Sara got away.”Barbara, skeptical, asked, “What makes you think it’s connected?”Nyssa continued, “Master Heung was the father of the Twelve Brothers Of Silk. She was his only daughter and the only person to successfully infiltrate the League and escape with their life, to discover the identity of her father’s killer, though Sara herself had already left at that point. Even that wouldn’t necessarily mean much if her last words to us weren’t that she would use Sara’s family against her.”Barbara took a step back. The hope that this wasn’t an elaborate hoax was what she had before. Now there was an actual real possibility that it was all true. She quickly turned away from Nyssa towards the edge of the roof.“Where are you going?” Nyssa asked.Babs simply said, “To make sure.” And with that she dove off the roof, firing her grappling hook and swinging away.STAR CITY. HOURS LATER.Barb dug in another shovel full of dirt. She was nearly there. Her eyes glanced up at Dinah’s tombstone, that was now above her head. She was praying to God that it was true, otherwise this wouldn’t be pretty. It was raining. She was still sweating though. She was dirty and muddy. But she was more determined than ever.The rain stopped over her, but she could still hear it pouring. Barbara looked up to see Nyssa holdng an umbrella over her in front of the hole she’d dug herself into.“I don’t think this is healthy.” Nyssa said.Babs looked back down and continued to dig. “Then why’d you follow me?”Nyssa paused for a moment, unsure if she was willing to be open with Barbara, then deciding with, “I guess with Laurel I’m not healthy too.”Barb took another shovel full. “It’s Dinah. And trying to save someone you love isn’t unhealthy if they’re still alive.”Nyssa was perplexed by her words, as she kneeled down. “Is this love? I know it’s nearly impossible that she’s alive, but I’m compelled to do this anyway. I’ve never had a friend like that.” She took a moment to contemplate that. Then, deciding to help more efficiently, she closed the umbrella and jumped down into the hole with Barbara.Babs took a step back. “What are you doing?”Nyssa took off her LOA garb and tossed it and her umbrella aside, then taking the shovel from Barb. “You’re too tired. To avoid both of us getting sick, I thought I’d take it from here. Rest.”Barbara understood, picking up the umbrella and leaning against the side of the hole, opening the umbrella and holding up over Nyssa.Nyssa began taking shovel full after shovel full, as she asked, “Why do you call Laur-Dinah by that name? No one else does.”Barb took a moment, then saying, “Dinah told me that her aunt gave her the name and when she got older, her mom told her that it was too old fashioned to have. She learned later that it was just because she didn’t want her to have it. Dinah just calls herself Laurel, because that’s the way it was ingrained in her to devalue herself, to-”“-Take away her identity.” Nyssa finished the thought, with a realization dawning.“Yeah.” Babs said simply. Then understanding the deeper meaning, she asked, “How did you know?”Nyssa kept digging. “It’s what my father did to me. My mother named me, before he could get me. I had to earn the right to be called Nyssa. It made me grateful when he finally acknowledged me by name.” Her voice cracked at that, as she could feel her eyes starting to water at the memory of her as a desperate child trying to get her father to acknowledge her.Barbara stared at her, bewildered at the treatment, wondering how parents could do this to their children. The image was beginning to become clear to her, as she then sincerely told her, “I’m sorry.”Nyssa blinked back her teary eyes, responding, “Thank you.” She brought the shovel down another time, only to be met with a THUD. Nyssa dropped the shovel.Babs did the same with the umbrella.And they both knelt down to uncover the rest of the mud from the coffin. Whe they did, they both lifted the lid of it open.To find the corpse inside. Laurel’s face on it.Nyssa closed her eyes, trying to contain her pain at the sight.Barbara looked away, covering her mouth before dropping to her knees and throwing up. The devestation was deep. That she was wrong. That Dinah was no longer on this earth. But she couldn’t help the feeling. That this had to be wrong. She wondered if she was going insane. “I don’t understand. What was the call?” Nyssa didn’t answer. Barb knew it’s because she didn’t want ot even think about the situation. But she forced herself to look back at the corpse. Feeling that there was more to this. And she saw it. The discoloration of the body wasn’t consistent with the face. It was different. Off.Barbara took a deep breath and reached into the coffin, to touch the face of the corpse that laid inside and she touched it, felt around the edges of it and was able to peel it off. It was grotesque. The face below was deteriorated immensely. She looked at the fake face that was like Dinah’s. It was lifelike, so real and in that moment Barbara understood and said it aloud, “It’s fake. They must’ve faked the death, then put this face on a cadaver with a similar height and build when the body was taken to the coroner.” Barbara looked back up at Nyssa, seeing her eyes open now, the sadness beginning to fade at the understanding of Barb was saying.Nyssa smiled, for the first time in months, saying, “You were right.”Barbara smiled back, empowered with the understanding of her words, “Dinah IS alive.” She stood up, face to face with Nyssa Al Ghul, both aligned with the same goal. “Let’s go save her.”TO BE CONTINUED...
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Barbara laid the false Dinah face on the table in the batcave, showing Bruce and Dick the evidence of her and Nyssa’s discovery. “Look familiar?”Bruce closely examined the residue of the face, understanding that the face wasn’t made of human tissue. “Clayface.”“What?” Dick questioned, not understanding.Bruce explained, “It was one of my first cases. Before you were here.” Bruce swiftly moved over to the batcomputer, typing in the info, sifting through his computer files.Barbara continued the explanation. “Dad investigated the case. An actor named Basil Karlo was a hired impersonator by Roland Dagget to steal secrets from competing companies. He paid Karlo in his experimental face cream, which covered his aging, so he could continue to perform as an actor. But Dagget didn’t inform him that extended use caused degradation of the skin underneath. His face was decayed and he was fired by the studio. He snapped, stole Dagget’s cream and used it to impersonate multiple people, including Batman, as he killed the studio’s highest acclaimed actors.”Bruce continued typing, finishing, “I stopped him when he eventually went after Dagget and got them both caught. But in the past few years, Dagget’s cream has been sold by the scientist that made it on the streets. Practically a drug. I’ve been looking into it, pinpointing the location of the seller, based on various accounts of the buyers. If we can find the scientist…”“He might be able to tell us where the person that bought it is.” Dick stated.Barbara then stated, “I’ll call Nyssa. Tell her to be ready.”————————————-“Please don’t hurt me!” The scientist yelled out, after he’d just witnessed Batman, Batgirl and Robin smash through the windows of his apartment.Barbara confronted him first, intensely making the issue known. “You sold your facial to a someone around the date of April 8th of this past year! Where are they?!” The man went for a knife in his side pocket and Barbara quickly grabbed his arm, twisting it around to his back, slamming him face down onto his kitchen table. Barbara took a moment to take in a deep breath, calming herself, then speaking in the calmest voice possible, “Tell me now or I break your wrist.”The scientist wailed out, “How should I know?! I don’t keep tabs on everyone who buys from me!”Barbara began to twist his wrist. “What about a woman? She would be early to mid 20’s likely. Possibly dark hair. Asian.”The man began to scream as the pain in his wrist increased.“Batgirl.” Bruce sternly protested.But Barbara persisted. She knew what she was doing. Twisting ever so slightly.Finally, the scientist gave in. “I think I know who you’re talking about! She had me deliver it to an address in Keystone! I still remember it!”Barbara released his wrist. “Grab a pen and pad. Write it down.” She stated intently.He did as he was told and gave the address to Barbara, who took it.Bruce walked up to the scientist, asking, “Where’s your lab?”The scientist, holding his hurt wrist, said, “In my spare bedroom. Over there.” He nodded to the door in the corner.Bruce signaled Dick, who took a look, and found the lab. Bruce then told Dick, “Call Gordon, tell him we found the dealer of Roland Dagget’s face cream.”“Let’s go.” Barbara stated, as Bruce cuffed the scientist to his radiator and Dick called Gordon with his communicator.Bruce stepped over to Barbara, asking, “Don’t you think this seems convenient? You get a call from Dinah out of nowhere and the buyer is dumb enough to have the cream delivered to them personally.”Barbara attempted to defend, “She could’ve gotten free long enough to call and there’s any number of reasons the buyer could’ve wanted it delivered.”Bruce corrected with, “Not someone whose detail oriented enough to pull this off without anyone discovering it.”Barbara stated, “Even you mess up sometimes. She made a mistake and we can use it.”Bruce stated again, “Maybe. But we can’t rush in with maybe. Too many variables. Give us time to map the area and we’ll do it tomorrow.” Bruce extended his hand for the paper with the address on it.Barbara knew better than to argue with him, so she agreed. “Fine.” And handed him the paper, before exiting the residence.———————————————Barbara landed across the street from the address. Bruce never took her eidetic memory into account. Nyssa landed behind her. “Where are the others?” She asked.Barb responded with, “Batman insisted that we wait, that it might be trap and required more examination. But I don’t want her to be held longer. Who knows why they took her and what they’ve been doing to her?” Babs turned around. “You’re the only backup I have now.”Nyssa gave her a questioning look, before replying. “I can’t fight.”Now it was Barbara’s turn to question. “What?”“I made an oath in Laurel’s name against violence.” Nyssa stated.Barb snapped back with, “Even to save her?! Violence is at its worst when used for the worst reasons. You can’t hide from what you can do. To do better, you use it for what’s right.”Nyssa took a moment. “Maybe Batman was right that we wait. If it’s a trap. Can you honestly tell me that… Dinah, alive or dead, would want you to get yourself killed trying to save her?”Barbara turned away from Nyssa, her back to her, letting the words sink in. “If she’s being hurt, I can’t just do nothing.”Nyssa spoke calmly. “Maybe you have to, to save her.”Barbara bowed her head, her voice raw. “When my mom died, I blamed myself, because she died in a car accident picking me up. My dad blamed himself because he thought she’d been a victim of the dirty cops in the city trying to send a message, so he avoided me out of shame. I felt alone. I thought he hated me.” Barb tried to blink back the tears that began to flow from her eyes. “I was lost. Dinah was the one who showed me that hope existed. That I could be more… She helped me talk with my dad. Helped us grieve together… She helps people.” Babs wiped her tears away, choking up in her voice, then becoming more stern. “And she has a family that uses her to make themselves feel better when they break and need help. But when she breaks and needs it, she’s demonized. Her whole family has given up on her.” Barbara turned back to face Nyssa, face stone cold with resolve. “I won’t. She’s not disposable, or replaceable, or forgettable to me. She’s my hero. She’s always been the Black Canary to me.” Barb stepped up closer to Nyssa, staring into her eyes. “Think about that and tell me that I should let her be hurt more.”Nyssa’s eyes reflected the understanding of Barbara’s words and simply nodded in it, then saying, “We still need to be smart though. We get in, quietly, no violence and get her out. The siblings of silk are proficient fighters. We can’t risk engaging in a battle, regardless of my vow.” Nyssa takes in a breath, with the words, “It’s times like this when I wish I hadn’t disbanded the League. An army of ninjas would be beneficial at a moment like this.” Nyssa gave a small smirk to Barbara, who returned it. “I’ll scan the area for all entrances-” Barbara immediately registered the situation as Nyssa grabbed her neck for the tranq dart.Barb quickly pulled her batarang in preparation for a fight. But they got her too. Just under her chin. The only cleanly bare skin of her body in the suit. As she passed out, the thought occurred to Barbara that it wasn’t very tactical to keep half of your face bare when fighting crime now that she thought about it.——————————————————–Barbara awakened, the fortune of a splitting headache making her regret it.A male voice echoed, “She’s awake, Sister.”Barbara’s vision cleared just in time to see an asian woman bring a samurai sword under her chin. Barb could feel that her cowl was still on. But not for long, as the male speaker, Brother, pulled it back, off of her face.The Sister registered her face for a brief second, then spoke, “You’re not Sara Lance.”Barbara cocked an eyebrow, mockingly saying, “I’m not? That’s a relief.” She let out a faux exasperated breath.Sister then pressed the sword slightly into her neck, just barely drawing blood.Barb flinched in pain, but kept her face stern.Sister continued, intensely saying, “The trap was meant for her. You’re with Nyssa Al Ghul, why is Sara Lance not with you?”Barbara took in a breath, understanding that Bruce was right. It had been a trap. But even if she’d known, she’d still have done something. It didn’t matter much at the end of the day. Just with the execution. The thought registered with Barbara that maybe this had all been a convoluted con. So, she decided to figure out the truth: “Why would Sara be here?”Sister stared at her for a second, then responding, “I instructed her sister Dinah Laurel Lance to contact her. It took months of hypnosis and brainwashing to get her to comply to that much. But she broke eventually. Everyone does.”Barbara blinked back a swelling of emotions from that statement, from more than a few things: The anger at the brainwashing. the relief that Dinah was alive and the question of why she called her. With a stare of determination, Barbara asked, “Where is Dinah? Why’d you fake her death, just to have her phone Sara?” Sister turned Barbara’s head with her sword to look into the corner of the room, where she saw Dinah chained up, conscious, but completely unresponsive. Barbara turned her head away back up to Sister. “ Let her go!” Barb yelled out in anger.Sister dropped the sword away from Barbara. “It was really as simple as waiting for the right moment to take her. After that, Ms. Lance was very stubborn. It took a yellow pill that we acquired from the remnants of Hive to make her compliant. Even then she insisted that Sara was time traveling under the name White Canary. I was concerned that her mind had fractured under the drug, hypnosis and torture, so I told her to call her sister. But you’re not Sara.”Barbara seethed as she looked back over at Dinah, recognizing the eyes of her friend nearly dead to the world. Glaring up at Sister, Barbara, continuing the questioning, “So you tortured Dinah just to what?! Kill Sara?! Dinah did nothing to you!”Sister smirked. “Are all Americans so simplistic in their revenge?” Sister walked over to Dinah chained to the wall. “After the yellow pill made Ms. Lance malleable, she was easily trained.” Sister unhooked the chains from around Dinah’s wrists. “I made her into an instrument of death, like me and my brothers. Sara was supposed to be here and would’ve been forced to battle her sister who was trying to kill her. Making it so she either kills her sister herself or the last thing she sees is her face as she’s killed. If she’d lived, she’d practically beg me to kill her. And I’d be merciful. But you caused a hiccup in my plan. It doesn’t matter.” Sister handed her samurai sword to Dinah, who took it. “I’ll find her. But there’s no harm in making certain she can finish Sara off if the time comes. We haven’t had her kill anyone yet.” Sister looks to Dinah. “Dinah Laurel Lance. Kill her.”Dinah immediately responded to Sister’s voice, lifting the sword, as she approached Barbara. She paused when her eyes fully landed on her uncowled face, a glisten appearing in her eyes.Barbara saw it. She saw Dinah register her. She saw her. “Dinah? It’s me. I’m here. I came to save you.”Dinah snapped out of the emotion she was feeling, brushing off the distinct control of herself trying to claw back into control. And she brought the sword to Barbara’s throat.Barbara held her breath, trying to choke back the tears that were coming to her eyes. “Please don’t do this! The drugs are just chemical suggestion! You can break it. I know you don’t wanna be this. You’re strong enough to fight it.” Tears began to run down Barb’s cheeks, as she forced herself to look back into Dinah’s eyes, despite the fear of not seeing her best friend in there. “I don’t want my best friend to kill me. Please…” She pleaded, her voice choking, as she stared into Dinah’s eyes.Dinah eye’s caught hers and she stared back for just a second.Barbara saw the tears flow from Dinah’s eyes, as she blinked them back, shaking her head only slightly…Dinah’s face straightened, as she took in a deep breath of relief and looked right back into Barbara’s eyes, her best friend’s eyes, and showed her with a small smile that she was her again.Barbara knew it and returned the small smile as subtley as she could.Sister spoke from behind Dinah, coming up directly behind her, angry at the holding off of her order. “Kill. Her. Now.”Dinah’s eyes shifted down to Barbara’s hands bound to the chair.Barbara calmly closed her eyes in response, understanding the meaning.Dinah lifted the samurai sword and brought it down by Barbara’s hand slicing right through her bonds. And just as quickly brought the butt of the sword into Sister’s face.As Barb threw her elbow behind her to hit the Brother in the stomach.Dinah swiped the sword into the above head light bulb, smashing it, dropping darkness over the room.It gave Barbara time to unstrap her other hand and legs. She felt her hand be taken, knowing it was Dinah and let her lead her out of the room, closing the door to the room, just as they saw Sister recognize them escaping. Dinah locking it from the outside.Barbara turned to face Dinah and hugged her, as tight as she possibly could, burying her face into her shoulder, blinking back tears of joy, thanking God so much for this. “You’re actually alive.”Dinah patted her on the back, holding her as well, smiling. “I won’t be for very long with how you’re hugging me.”Barbara chuckled and let go, stepping back. “I’ve really missed you.”Dinah took in a breath of the whole situation, before simply saying, “I missed you too.”Babs took a look back and forth through the hallway they now stood in, then looking back to Dinah. “Do you happen to know where they’re holding Nyssa?”Dinah did a double take. “What? Nyssa’s here?”Barbara nodded. “No then.”Dinah thought for a moment. “I have an idea. The indoctrination room. That’s what they called where they’d pump me with… those… pills to keep me compliant.” Dinah looked down, almost feeling shame at being force fed pills.Barbara read her face, understanding her conflict, saying, “We’ll talk about it when we’re out of here.” She took Dinah’s hand, comfortingly.Dinah nodded, then switching gears into determination. “We need to save Nyssa first.”
TO BE CONTINUED…