Justice League Femme

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Batgirl

I could feel my hair plastered onto the side of my face as I woke up the next morning. The air around me was warm and dry. I sat up. The others were dispersed, but not far from each other. I turned my head to see Cisco laying on the sandy ground beside me. He was in what looked like a fetal position. I could help but give him a small smile. For a moment, a thought popped into my head: how do I feel about him? I shook my head. No, I knew what he was. Cisco was a trusted ally, a friend, a good one at that. Nothing more, and definitely nothing less. I couldn't think of him as anymore than that, especially after how things ended with Dick and I. Sure, him and I are friends now, but it took forever for things to go back to normal. Besides, I had bigger things to worry about: getting an antidote from Brainiac, saving Bruce. Last I had heard he was most likely sick with it, and I hadn't heard from him since. I thought back to my dad. The last time I saw him, he was still in that recliner, his health draining. I could feel a knot in my stomach from that thought.

Across the way, Kara and Mon-El were laying on the ground. It looked as though one of his arms was draped around Kara's waist, with her head on his chest. It didn't look like anything crazy had happened the night before, though. For a brief moment, that knot in my stomach loosened. A small smile drew on my face. It was about damn time. If I saw her make more goo-goo eyes at him and not act on it, I think I'd lose my mind.

A breeze blew past me. I turned my head to face the breeze. Far in the distance, a mountain stretched into the sky. A soft orange glow lit up the sky as the sun began to rise. Harley was looking up at the mountain's peak, standing perfectly still. Her ponytails wave in the wind.

"Harley?" I asked. I started walking to her.

She was silent. Part of me thought that she didn't hear me. Or she didn't want to acknowledge me. Her eyes were focused on the mountain's top. Another breeze blew past us. It was soft and warm.

"Speedy coulda ran faster than any of these winds."

"Speedy?" Then it struck me. My heart sank at the realization. "Oh, yeah. Yes. Yes, she would have." I look over at Harley. Dark bags under her eyes sorely contrast her pale face. A prominent frown was on her face.

It was silent for a few moments, with only the hums of the wind making sound.

"Why did Jesse step in?" Harley asked, breaking the silence.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"I ain't worth dyin' over, B-Girl. Everybody knows it. Why did she sacrifice herself? She was a somebody...a somebody people loved. I...I ain't a somebody like she was." She scoffed a bit. "What am I? A low-life clown that was stupid enough ta fall fer that clown fucker."

I frowned. "He manipulated you, Harley. That part wasn't on you."

"Then why did I go along with them, then?" She let out a small sigh. "Why did I keep goin' with his schemes?" Her voice cracked.

"Because Joker put you in an abusive relationship. Those things aren't easy to leave. And when you do, it's just as hard if not harder to grow and move on from it."

Harley shook her head. "Stop tryna defend me. You an' I both know Huntress was right and I shoulda died. Not Speedy...not Jesse."

I placed my hand on her shoulder. "I know what it's like to be in this situation."

"Don't lie ta me, B-Girl," Harley shot back. She shoved my hand away from her. "You were neva in a death-defyin' situation where ya know ya shouldn't have lived and feel like shit fer it afterwards."

I sighed. She didn't know about that time Joker ambushed my home and paralyzed me for four years. It would take the first year of me being paralyzed before my dad and I could find an effective form of physical therapy. That I had just gotten back into the crime-fighting game and that this is the biggest threat I've come to since I came back as Batgirl. Harley didn't know that those four years when I operated as Oracle, I would face nightmares and bouts of immobilizing depression, wondering why in the world I was still alive. Even now, after all of my time in intense physical therapy, I still have those horrific nightmares. If only she knew how much her and I had in common.

Harley looked back into the sky. "I'd rather it was me over Jesse every single time." The orange glow of the sunrise had morphed into soft yellows and pinks. Another breeze blew past us.

"She wouldn't have saved you if she didn't think you were worth it."

She kept looking forward. Maybe she didn't hear me, or maybe she chose to ignore what I said. Suddenly, her eyes squinted slightly. "What the...?"

I looked up, following her line of vision. There was something flying over the horizon, heading in our direction. It was silver and black. My eyes widened as I was able to see the shape of a skull. Brainiac's ship.

I ran to the others. "Guys!" I shouted.

Courtney started and sat up and the rest of the group followed suit. "It's early as hell," she groaned. She rubbed her eyes before she looked up to the sky. Her jaw dropped slightly. "Holy shit." She stood to her feet and raced over.

The group followed her. Cisco breached from his spot to beside me, running toward the skull-shaped spaceship. I could see the ship better now: it had a handful of metal tentacles. The eyes of the ship were completely, bloodshot red. From where I stood, I could almost reach the tentacles. I could grab on and climb my way into the ship. I could almost feel the cold metal against my fingertips.

Suddenly, a glass wall slammed down in front of me. The force knocked me back. Sand flew into my eyes as I landed on my palms. "Shit!" My vision was obscured, only seeing the inside of my eyelids.

"The hell is going on?" Dinah's voice shouted.

I felt a hand brush over my eyes. I blinked a few times, my eyes opening to see Cisco's goggles looking at me. "You okay?"

I nodded. "What happened?" I turned my head to see Harley slamming her mallet against the transparent barrier, but it only seemed to bounce back. I stood back up and ran over to the other side of the glass wall. On the other side, Kara was trying to use her heat-vision to melt the glass, but the red-hot beams only seemed to ricochet. Much like with Harley, it wasn't working. My blood ran cold. It was just like Roulette holding us captive all over again. "Kara!" I shouted.

Her heat-vision subsided into her regular blue eyes and looked right at me. They were wide. The rosiness of her skin flushed away. I could see her lips quiver slightly. I peered past her. Mari embodied the claws of a tiger, but even the strength of her chosen animal's claws couldn't puncture the barricade.

"It's not working!" a voice close to me shouted. It rang with pained frustration.

I turned around. Cisco aimed his palm at the ground. Faded blue aura would sputter from them, but nothing more.

I looked back at Kara, Supergirl, one last time. I could feel my heart pounding hard against my chest. Suddenly, a force shot me up. I blinked only for a second before I found myself disoriented in an unfamiliar and vast interior.