Prey for the Hunter Written by: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz | Transcribed by: Oracle | Status: Complete EXT. NEW GOTHAM - NIGHT We fly through the city, past tall buildings and through the darkness of night. EXT. ALLEYWAY - NIGHT Batman floats on his cape to the ground, moving in slow motion, cape flying around him. ALFRED. (V.O.) Legend tells of a caped crusader, Batman, guardian of New Gotham, and his one true love - Catwoman, the queen of the criminal underworld. EXT. ALLEYWAY - NIGHT A woman in a black leather costume leaps down into the alleyway and crouches. She tilts her head quizzically, like a cat. She leaps to fight Batman, and he matches and blocks her fists - then pulls the Catwoman close to him in an embrace. ALFRED. (V.O.) Their passion left behind something extraordinary INT. THE LAIR - DAY We see Helena standing and smiling, looking to her left. INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT Helena sneaks into the apartment through the sliding glass doors. ALFRED. (V.O.) - a daughter, Huntress. Half-metahuman, EXT. NEW GOTHAM - NIGHT A quick flash of Helena's eye changing to that of a cat's, and then of her flipping to attack someone. ALFRED. (V.O.) She has taken INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT Helena rushes onto the balcony, throwing out her arms and - leaping off. She soars out of sight. ALFRED. (V.O.) Up her father's mantel and under cover of the night INT. WAREHOUSE - NIGHT Helena trades blows with a man, flipping and kicking him, then punching him. ALFRED. (V.O.) Fights to protect the innocent and helpless. Helena looks up in slow-motion. INT. GIBSON'S BAR - NIGHT The elevator opens - revealing Barbara, looking pissed. ALFRED. (V.O. ) Joining her in this struggle, Oracle, who was INT. THE LAIR - DAY We flip through the window and spiral around Barbara at the computer. ALFRED. (V.O.) Once Batman's protege 'Batgirl'. INT. INNER TUNNELS - NIGHT We close in on Batgirls' mask in slow-motion. Then, she kicks out at someone, attacking. ALFRED. (V.O.) She was caught in the crossfire of the war between Batman and Joker. INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT Barbara flings open the front door and is shocked to find - a shadowy figure clutching a gun. The gun fires. She falls to the floor. INT. THE LAIR - NIGHT A circle of green light comes up around Barbara. It raises into a fully-shaped cylinder around her, graphed with lines and axes. ALFRED. (V.O.) Now she fights crime a different way - a master of the cyber-realms INT. KETTERLY'S HOME - NIGHT Barbara appears in the doorway in her wheelchair, holding a birdarang. She throws it. ALFRED. (V.O.) And mentor and trainer to heroes. INT. THE LAIR - NIGHT In slow motion, Oracle smiles while holding up a birdarang. INT. GIBSON'S BAR - NIGHT Dinah spins around, shocked - she's been caught. ALFRED. (V.O.) Together, they have taken in a young runaway, Dinah, a metahuman herself EXT. ALLEYWAY - NIGHT Dinah reaches out to stop Helena, grabbing her wrist, and sees a montage of images - the Clocktower, Helena entering the building and pressing her hand up on the wall, the dreamworld. ALFRED. (V.O.) with powers to open hidden doors to the mind - powers that she is only beginning to explore. INT. THE LAIR - NIGHT Dinah looks up at the brain scan machine as it whizzes past her face. INT. THE DREAMWORLD - NIGHT Barbara and Dinah clutch each others' forearms as Helena walks towards them. She extends a hand and lays it over theirs, all three women joined together. Together, these three are the protectors of New Gotham - the Birds of Prey. EXT. NEW GOTHAM - NIGHT The show logo circles on the screen as a bird flies by, screaming in the night. ALFRED. (V.O.) My name is Alfred Pennyworth, and this is their story. EXT. NEW GOTHAM - NIGHT We fly through the dark city, past the now-familiar buildings, as we hear cries below us. MAN. Help! Help! We swoop down into an alleyway, where Helena jumps down to a mugger who is attacking a man. HELENA. Sometimes, I just wanna be like other girls. She punches the mugger. INT. THE LAIR - CONTINUING Barbara is sitting at the computer. BARBARA. Why would you wanna be like everybody else? Normality is overrated. EXT. ALLEYWAY - NIGHT Close on Helena's bat earring, which is picking up Barbara's voice. HELENA. Maybe, but I wouldn't mind trying it on for size every once in a while. The mugger gets back up. Helena tosses him into the dumpster, and then jumps onto it. BARBARA. (V.O.) I don't think it would fit. HELENA. Is it too much to ask for a social life? She leaps from there up to a fire escape and looks down at the scene below her. HELENA. For example, how am I supposed to meet a regular guy when I spend all of my evenings body-slamming scumbags? The mugger gets up again and Helena, prepared, gets the drop on him. He goes sprawling on the ground. BARBARA. (V.O.) Are you feeling okay? This doesn't sound like you. She hands the man his bag and he looks scared and runs off. HELENA. Can't even find anyone decent enough to rescue out here. Helena turns back to the mugger, who sticks his tongue out at her. HELENA. Okay, that's just rude. But she's misinterpreted his intentions, because he suddenly shoots a long green stream of acid right at her - which she barely sidesteps. HELENA. Oh no, you do not mess with the outfit! She knocks him down, then grabs him and throws him clean over the dumpster. She looks down at the singed edge of her jacket. HELENA. Look at this! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find clothes that look sexy? There's a strange burning-liquid sound from behind the dumpster. Moments later, he comes flying back and lands at her feet, motionless. HELENA. Okay, normally the bad guys don't bounce. She turns him over, and sees that a huge hole has been burned into his chest. He's dead. She looks down at him in wonder. HELENA. What happened to you? Opening Credits EXT. NEW GOTHAM - NIGHT We swoop down through the city and focus on the blue-lit sign of the Gotham Police station. INT. POLICE STATION - NIGHT A tall man in a dark suit with dark hair walks through the halls of the precinct, looking around. He comes around a corner to the spot he seems to be looking for and stops in the doorway - Detective Morton, looking for someone - who he spots sitting at a desk with the placard 'Reese' on it. MORTON. Jesse Reese? I'm Detective Claude Morton, just transferred from Bludhaven. Reese looks up at the stranger, who has made his way over to Reese's desk. REESE. What can I do for you? MORTON. They told me upstairs that if I'm looking for the bizarre, I'm looking for Jesse Reese. REESE. That doesn't sound too much like a comliment to me. MORTON. It wasn't to them. It is to me. I hear you've got a coprse with a cause of death that could charitably be called screamingly weird. I'm tracking a killer with a fairly bizarre M.O., you mind if I take a look at those? Reese hands him a folder of files that he's been looking at. Morton takes the folder and sits down across from him and looks through photos and information. REESE. Arnie Graves. Petty thief, graduated from purses to wallets. Gets his chest cavity burned out by acid. Sound like your guy? MORTON. It's hard to tell. He never kills the same way twice. Although, this does have the special sick flair I've come to associate with his best work. REESE. So Bludhaven P.D. sent you all the way over here to catch this perp? MORTON. No, they think I'm nuts. When I saw the murders showing up in New Gotham I put in for a transfer myself and Bludhaven - they were happy to get rid of me. My chief says this guy doesn't exist, that no serial killer would use such a wide variety of methods. REESE. What do you say? MORTON. I say this one does. That's the problem with only looking for things you've already seen. It makes you blind to the stuff that's, uh - He looks right up at Reese, eye to eye. MORTON. - right in front of your face. REESE. Yeah, well, I hear you on that one but you might just wanna keep that opinion to yourself if you wanna be taken seriously around these parts. MORTON. Ask me if I care. Anyway, your chief assigned me to work with you until your partner gets back from vacation so I guess he thinks I'm Mulder Jr. already. REESE. All right. Let's go track this thing down. EXT. NEW GOTHAM - NIGHT Helena runs across rooftops, and jumps off of one. EXT. STREET - NIGHT A street, dark and smoky. Shops are barely lit up or are closed up at this hour. Reese walks down the street, adjusting his jacket, when suddenly from high above him comes -- Helena, swooping down like a bat, landing before a startled Reese. HELENA. Hey! REESE. How high was that? What, ten stories? Helena follows his gaze up the side of the building. HELENA. Not nearly! Maybe five. He gives her a blank stare. HELENA. What? REESE. What are you doing here? The two walk along the sidewalk past more shops. HELENA. Trying to track info on a guy with a big ole smoking acid hole in his chest. Any inside? REESE. Yeah, maybe. What do you know about it? HELENA. Just trying to help. Bet I solve it first. What do you say? Cup of coffee - loser buys? Reese stops at this. REESE. You know, I don't think coffee is such a good idea and I'm not all that thrilled about sharing information with you. HELENA. Why not? REESE. I'll tell you why not. Because I don't even know your name - I have no idea who you are. HELENA. I'm the girl that saved your life, remember? I'll tell you what, Detective. If this name thing means such a big deal for you, fine. You can call me Huntress. Now heading away from her, Reese heads out into the semi-busy street. REESE. That's still not good enough, I mean -- He turns back to talk to her - but with the wind, she's gone, leaving him to stare at the empty sidewalk under the streetlights. INT. THE LAIR - NIGHT Where Barbara is sitting at her computer, Dinah behind her. Helena comes up behind the pair. DINAH. So'd you find anything out about that acid guy? BARBARA. Well, nothing that makes sense. That sample I took from Helena's clothes is the same stuff that killed him. Which means he was murdered by exactly the same acid that he produces. Two metahumans hardly ever have the same power, so, um, what - acid guy ran into another acid guy? Who just so happened to be behind the dumpster? How likely is that? She turns back to the computer and looks through files, frustrated. DINAH. You mean an... evil twin? HELENA. I think that sums up our likelihood issue. Helena gives her a look, to which Dinah returns a smirk. BARBARA. I've been through all my research files, checked the database - I can't find anything on power duplication. On the screen, we see the search coming up with no results. HELENA. So we've got a metahuman mystery on our hands. BARBARA. You know who we should talk to. HELENA. Now wait a minute. BARBARA. No one knows the metahuman community better than he does. HELENA. So you go talk to him! BARBARA. No, he's not gonna tell a non-meta anything. We need to put an ear to metahuman street. DINAH. Wait, there's a metahuman street? HELENA. Yeah, just west of the Magic Kingdom. Barbara gives her a pleading look, and Helena caves. HELENA. Fine! I'll go to no man's land. BARBARA. Thank you. DINAH. 'No Man's Land'? But Helena's walked off, leaving Dinah to ask Barbara her questions. DINAH. Are there metas there? Can I go? Barbara turns back to her computer. BARBARA. On Fourth street; yes; and not on a school night. EXT. NEW GOTHAM - DAY We fly through the city and angle around the stone high school building, tracking down and towards its front doors. INT. HALLWAY - DAY Barbara comes around the corner in her chair, next to Dinah who is walking at a leisurely pace. She has a backpack slung over one shoulder and some papers in one hand. BARBARA. How are you doing? DINAH. It's exciting. At home I hated going to school. There were no secrets in a small town - I was a freak and everybody knew it. Everybody. But here, it's like a fresh start. Y'know, no one even knows who I am. They come to a stop near a stairwell. Students mill past them on their way to classes. BARBARA. Well you know where my classroom is if you need anything. She pats Dinah's sweater, straightening it out. BARBARA. Have your schedule? Dinah holds up the paper in her hand. Barbara moves her hand up, strokes the young girl's hair, patting it into place. BARBARA. Locker assignment? Dinah again holds up the paper, indicating she's got it covered. BARBARA. Okay. DINAH. Barbara? You're channeling June Cleaver. BARBARA. (Sheepish) Right, sorry. Um, have fun. I'll see you later. INT. SCIENCE CLASS - DAY (LATER) Dinah is standing up at her lab table, surrounded by a few other students and scientic equipment. DINAH. Okay, I'm Dinah Redmond, I'm new - thanks for having me. She makes to sit back down, but is interrupted by the teacher, a heavyset black woman standing at the front of the class. TEACHER. Come on, Dinah, we all want to get to know you. Why don't you start with where you're from? Dinah looks around nervously and stands back up. DINAH. Well, um, Opal, Missouri. It's small, it's not much of a town, actually. However, it is where the term zipper was coined, so if any of you have zippers, you have... (realizing) Opal... She looks around at the other students, who are all staring at her. At the front of the class, a pretty blond ringletted girl and her darker-haired friend are staring snidely at Dinah. DINAH. ...To thank for that. And, um, that's where I'm from. (Hurried) Can I sit down? Now? The teacher nods, understanding, and Dinah takes her seat, looking around her still. She mumbles to herself. DINAH. Invisibility. That would be a good power to have. INT. BARBARA'S CLASS - DAY Wade walks into the room, where Barbara is filing papers at her desk. He knocks on the door. BARBARA. Wade, hi. He walks into the room over to her desk. WADE. Hi. Um, listen, about Tuesday night, I was wondering - I know it's really short notice - but my folks are coming to town and -- Barbara is somewhat crestfallen but covers by moving more papers around. BARBARA. Oh, oh, oh, no, I-I totally understand. You need to cancel. It's fine. WADE. Actually I was hoping you'd come to dinner with us. Barbara looks up at him, shocked. WADE. Nice deer-in-the-headlights impression, very subtle. BARBARA. Wade, I-I don't know, maybe that's not such a great idea. WADE. Don't worry about it. They're great, you're gonna love 'em -- BARBARA. I'm not worried about that, I'm... just... what if they don't... She looks off towards the windows, unable to express herself clearly without breaking down or sounding really scared. WADE. Don't what? BARBARA. (Looking at him) See me the way you do. WADE. Yeah. Good point. After all, you're funny and interesting, maybe a little bit mysterious. They'll probably run screaming. Even Barbara has to smile at this. WADE. They'll like you. You know how I know? BARBARA. How? He leans in towards her. WADE. Because I do. A small smile plays over Barbara's lips, then breaks into a fuller grin. EXT. NEW GOTHAM - DAY Morton and Reese step out of a coffeeshop, steaming cups in hand. They make their way down the street. MORTON. So, uh. Give me an idea of what gets classified as bizarre in New Gotham. REESE. I've seen some things there's just no sane explanation for. MORTON. I left my sanity behind a long time ago, it was slowing me down. REESE. Yeah, I hear that. The two men start to cross the street and head onto another sidewalk. MORTON. I have seen perps who can shoot electricity from their hands, who can jump ten stories straight down and land on their feet, perps who can turn into bugs. REESE. Is that a lot of little bugs or one big bug? MORTON. Both. REESE. Have you ever run into someone who could turn himself into water? Reese and Morton stop by a dark car, Morton's. The second detective sets his coffee on the hood. MORTON. What, like, a - a liquid guy? No, that's a new one, even for me. REESE. Yeah, tell me about it. Morton, you know we're talking about things no normal person could do. MORTON. Because we're not talking about people. We're dealing with something very dangerous here, don't make the mistake of thinking those creatures are anything like us. REESE. I think the word creatures is a little extreme, don't you -- MORTON. It isn't. Look, what if I could make all this make sense to you, Reese? What if I could give you the answer to all the crazy things you've seen? And suddenly a thumping, grating noise starts, not unlike the dialing of a rotary phone, loud and in our ears. Morton grips his temples in pain. He looks around the street and spots a man in a janitor's uniform coming out of an apartment building. MORTON. Ohh. REESE. You all right? The man gets blurry and multiplies, appearing to be a few of him overlayed over the real him. A quick flash cut and then his vision spins back towards normality. The janitor gets increasingly less blurry, though the grating continues in Morton's head. MORTON. Yeah, sometimes I... I just get these headaches, they knock me flat on my ass - like now. He pops a few pills from a container. MORTON. Look, uh - I've gotta go home. We'll finish this converstaion in the morning, okay? REESE. Yeah. Yeah, sure. Morton gets in his car and starts it, then drives away, leaving Reese by himself on the sidewalk. INT. BUILDING - DAY Morton walks down the steps, where the janitor from the street, Carl, is mopping the floor. He stops on the landing. CARL. Building's closed, my friend, you shouldn't be in here. What do you want? MORTON. I want you. The janitor sets his mop aside. CARL. Hey man, I did nothing to you. MORTON. It's not about what you did. It' s about what you are. Carl takes a step back and raises his hands in defense. CARL. Whoa, whoa, you really don't wanna push me. Back off. I warned you. The grating starts again in Morton's head, getting faster and faster. Carl pulls one arm back and tosses a suddenly-formed fireball at Morton. Morton knows enough to duck and it sails past his head, igniting a cart of cleaning supplies. Morton stands back up and suddenly performs the same trick - sending a ball of flame at the janitor, who goes up in smoke as he is burned to char and bone. CARL. Aaagh! Commercial EXT. NEW GOTHAM - DAY Helena walks up the street, purse over her arm, looking around as she always does to see if she's being followed. She stops outside of a junk store labeled 'No Man's Land Collectables', and then turns and goes in. INT. NO MAN'S LAND - CONTINUING Helena walks silently through the store and comes up behind a young man, Gibson Kafka, who is up on a librarian's ladder sorting items. He suddenly stops and turns his head, then starts to climb down without looking to see Helena at all. HELENA. No way you heard me. GIBSON. Quite right. He gets down to the floor and grins at her. GIBSON. Lime mandarin soap, with just a hint of New Gotham grime. I'd recgonize that scent anywhere. HELENA. You smelled me. GIBSON. Come, my delectable little peach pit, let me buy ya a drink! He grins even wider and walks over towards the wall. GIBSON. It's on the house. Helena smiles as he puts his hand on a bust of Shakespeare and turns it, causing a wall of books and antiques to slide back and reveal a green-lit room beyond that. Gibson gestures widely and Helena walks past him and into the secret entrance, and Gibson follows. INT. GIBSON'S BAR - CONTINUING Helena and Gibson arrive in the smoky dive, an underground joint full of people having fun, shooting pool, having some drinks. The two head over to the bar, where a guy is tending and mixing. HELENA. Hey Frosty! FROSTY. Helena! Why such a stranger? He seems genuinely pleased to see her as she and Gibson take seats at the bar. HELENA. Oh, you know, all work - no play. GIBSON. Usual for me, Frosty, and if memory serves - vodka rocks. FROSTY. Coming up. He leans down behind the bar to set up their drinks. GIBSON. So the mysterious, evocative Huntress has chosen once again to grace me with her presence. It's been too long. HELENA. Funny, to me it never quite seems long enough. GIBSON. Twenty-three days, fourteen hours, seven minutes and three seconds. HELENA. Stop it. GIBSON. Can't. Never forget a sight, sound, taste or smell. It's my gift - and my curse. HELENA. I thought your curse was to be the metahuman with the world's most annoying power. GIBSON. Yeah, that too. She smiles at Frosty, who wraps his hand around the glass for Helena, and it suddenly frosts up on the inside, forming some ice on the inner shell of the glass as well as on his hand. HELENA. I met a pickpocket who was killed the other night. Looked like by someone with the exact same powers, have you heard anything? Frosty slides her the drink, and she sips it, and then hands Gibson one. He drinks his. GIBSON. Nothing. In fact I've never heard of two metas with exact power overlap. Do you think that's even possible? HELENA. I know what I think - something strange is going on. Thank you for the drink. She stands up and makes to leave, gets to the end of the bar. GIBSON. Yeah, no problem. I'll, uh, put it on your tab - oh no, that's right, you don't have one cause that would rquire more than a semi-annual visit. She stops and turns back to look at him. GIBSON. Tell me something, is it the cocktail peanuts or the meta-only policy that makes ya so uncomfortable? HELENA. (Smiling) I'm half-meta, Gibson - the other half is human. Just keep your eyes open. GIBSON. They always are, and you know they never forget. Come on, Helena - how about another round with us poor lost souls? Helena succumbs and heads back over to the bar, sits down next to Gibson as Frosty grabs more vodka from under the bar. She smiles at them as Gibson starts chatting again. INT. CAFETERIA - AFTERNOON Dinah comes into the cafeteria in different clothing, a different day. She's holding up her tray of lunch as she winds her way through unfamiliar groups of students in clotches at their tables. She passes by the girls from her science class. DARK HAIRED GIRL. Hey zipper girl! How's it going? Dinah at first turns to smile - but hears the insult and realizes the girls isn't befriending her. She tucks her hair behind her ear and starts to walk away. BLOND GIRL. Zipper girl? God, that was a good move. The blond ringletted girl hits her ruder friend. Dinah sits her tray down at a random empty table in the cafeteria and then walks straight out of the room. The blond girl looks over and sees the abandoned tray, but no Dinah. INT. GIBSON'S BAR - AFTERNOON A metahuman is using his special abilities to play pool, while Gibson, also playing, watches. As he shoots, he causes the eight ball to disappear and reappear after the cue ball has rolled by where the eight previously was - effectively removing it to make his shot. GIBSON. Hey, you gotta call that, man! Frosty walks by them, taps Gibson on the shoulder. FROSTY. I'm outta here. GIBSON. All right, Frosty, I'll see ya. Helena, who has also been watching the game, straightens up to go. HELENA. Me too. GIBSON. All right. The elevator opens and Frosty gets in as -- Dinah gets out. Helena, shocked, accosts her and pulls her away. Frosty watches for a moment, then goes. HELENA. What the hell are you doing here? DINAH. I just... am... skipping school. HELENA. Yeah, I can see that. How did you find this place? (Odd look) Have you been poking around in my mind again? DINAH. Actually, I looked it up in the yellow pages. HELENA. What about the secret -- DINAH. Entrance? Yeah, there was this guy out front, I sort of saw him coming out. Look. School, um... I'm not exactly fitting in. HELENA. Hard to do when you're not there. Come on, I'm walking you back. She heads over to the elevator, which has arrived back in the bar. Dinah follows her as they get into the elevator. HELENA. I'm not gonna be responsible for you getting in trouble. GIBSON. Technically, skipping is truancy. HELENA. Why is school so terrible? Did something happen? DINAH. Not eactly... I just thought it was gonna be different here. You know, but, people still stare at me, and they won't talk to me. I can see it coming, it's gonna be just like home. HELENA. News flash - it's high school! The closest thing our society has to institutionalized torture. They're staring at you because every new kid's a freak. DINAH. I just don't see the point of going to high school. I mean, I already know what I wanna be - a superhero. You don't need algebra for that. HELENA. You need it to have a normal life. DINAH. I don't want a normal life. I want my life. I spent the last fifteen years hating myself because I was different. I'm done with that. I am who I am, and I'm never gonna be ashamed of it again. HELENA. Not to interrupt the meta-pride parade, but you do know you can be a regular person, go to school, and still be who you are. DINAH. Yeah, i guess so. I just wanted to see what it would be like to be a regular meta too. HELENA. Let me tell you something. It's not all it's cracked up to be. EXT. NEW GOTHAM - NIGHT We once again fly through the city, coming to rest on the police station. INT. POLICE STATION - NIGHT Morton and Reese walk around the corner, in the middle of a conversation. MORTON. They call themselves metahumans, but the real word for what they are is dangerous. REESE. Let me get this straight. Every metahuman has a different abillity? But you can't tell by looking what they can do? They round a corner. MORTON. That's right. REESE. And they look just like regular people. MORTON. They're everywhere. REESE. Okay, so what you're telling me is there's this whole secret subculture right underneath our noses. C'mon, man. How is that possible? They stop near the doorway into one of the offices, and Morton lowers his voice. MORTON. A generation ago, there was a man, a vigilante who prowled New Gotham's nights claiming he was fighting for justice. All the while, and I'm not kidding about this, he was dressed as a bat. Reese rolls his eyes and rubs his head. REESE. Okay, now I know you're messing with me. A grown man fights crime and does it dressed as a giant flying rodent. MORTON. I think it's safe to assume he had some issues. He called himself the Batman. REESE. Okay, that-that's creative. MORTON. Well I didn't make it up. The point is, he attracted criminals - it was a prestige thing to fight him, you know, make your mark in the underworld. REESE. That hardly explains why there are so many criminals here in New Gotham. I mean, all metahumans can't be criminals. MORTON. Why not? Their kind is drawn to crime, they think they're above the law. REESE. What about this flying bat guy? He fought crime, he was a metahuman. MORTON. No no no, he was human all the way, he just - he had a scary dress sense. Anyway, he vanished about seven years ago, but the metahumans stayed - had families, built lives here, they're here still. Some even married humans. You don't even wanna know how screwed up those kids are. You know what I'm talking about, Reese, I can tell. Reese looks at him like he's crazy - but maybe also right. REESE. All right, um, look. I met this woman a few weeks back, but she was no criminal. MORTON. People who have nothing to hide aren't afraid to come out into the light. Let me guess - you don't contact her, she comes to you. REESE. Well usually she just sort of... shows up. Over a dead body. MORTON. Maybe we'll get lucky and another one will turn up. EXT. ALLEYWAY - NIGHT A train sounds in the distance. Frosty from the bar is laying on the ground, entire body encased in a coffin-shaped block of ice. He's dead. Standing over him is Morton, who grins wildly. We start to pan up above him and then swirl completely around to find him again, only with Reese at his side, and police cars behind him. They stare down at the body. MORTON. It's the same killer I've been tracking, I can smell it. Suddenly he gets another migraine and grips his temple as the beats thump in his head. He pulls out his bottle of pills and opens it, shakes it, but it's empty. Reese uses a Polaroid camera to snap a photo. In a seething rage, Morton tosses his pill container across the alley. Reese takes notice. REESE. Hey, hey, easy, easy, it's okay. I got some more in my car. Be right back. He starts to walk away, headed for his car. INT. TRUNK - CONTINUING The blackness above us opens to reveal that we are in a trunk and Reese is searching in it, around and moving things. He pulls out a bottle of pills and slams the trunk shut to find -- Helena, standing beside the car. REESE. Well well. Another corpse and here you are. Why am I not surprised? She crosses past him around to the other side of the car and leans against it, looks at him. HELENA. Well. Hello to you too. What do we have? REESE. We don't have anything. I have a crime scene. You had better start answering some questions. He hands her the polaroid, which she accepts and looks down into. HELENA. It's Frosty. REESE. Wait a minute, you know this vic? HELENA. He's frozen. Somebody must've killed him with his own power. Too late, she realizes her mistake and looks down at the ground as Reese grills her. REESE. It's true, isnt' it? You're one of those meta-things, aren't you? HELENA. (Head snaps up) Things? You think I'm a thing? REESE. I don't know. Why don't you just tell me? What the hell are you? I mean you damn sure aren't normal. He turns away to gesture to all the cop cars and the crime scene. REESE. I mean, look around you, none of this is normal - There is another whooshing sound and when Reese turns back around, Helena is gone. REESE. God, I hate when she does that. EXT. STREET - NIGHT Helena floats down into an alleyway, and senses something - she turns to see Morton there, rubbing his temple. The grating sounds in his head. MORTON. You're kidding yourself. HELENA. What? MORTON. It'll never work between you and Reese. I'm his new partner. First, I made sure he knows what you are. And second -- HELENA. Second? His eyes suddenly morph into a cat's, just like Helena's. MORTON. I'm about to kill you. HELENA. Okay, first, you really should do something about that headache of yours, and second - Her eyes morph as well, as she starts to use her own powers. HELENA. I don't kill easy. She kicks him, but he blocks it, as well as her next kick and punch. He ducks under her arm and around her, and smirks. He kicks high and she ducks under it, but then takes a kick to the stomach. She tries the round above-head kick as well, but he ducks, and then kicks her in the stomach again, sending her flying across the alley. She looks up at him. MORTON. Well. Looks like somebody's finally met her match. Commercial EXT. ALLEYWAY - NIGTH Helena and Morton grab each others' necks, and rush the wall - bursting through a glass door. They stand in the street as a cop car comes rushing towards them, sirens blazing. Helena looks at it, waiting for the time to make her move - and as it is almost upon them, she twists her arm, flipping Morton over her and directly into the oncoming car as she ducks out of the street into the shadows. Morton lands square against the windshield and hood and the car stops. The officer gets out and rushes to help Morton, scratched on the face, up off the ground. COP. Oh, man, you came out of nowhere. I-I didn't see you. Morton looks up into the night sky as Helena leaps up the fire escape by the building and is gone. COP. You okay? MORTON. Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. His eyes shift color again and his pupils dilate as they return to normal. INT. THE LAIR - DAY Helena and Barbara come out of the elevator and make their way into the lair and over towards the computers, talking. HELENA. The guy nearly killed me. Tried calling Reese to warn him about his new partner, the bad lieutenant, he didn't believe me. In fact he kinda hung up. This guy is as good as me. Me! They stroll up the ramp and into the inner computer area. BARBARA. First, we got acid guy, who was apparently killed by his own powers, and next we got a guy in ice. HELENA. Frosty. One day he's making frozen margaritas, the next day he is one. I had to call Gibson and tell him, he's getting the word out to people to stay low until we solve this thing. BARBARA. This, uh... this cop seemed to take on your abilities, he seemed to mimic your every move. What if we're dealing with a metahuman who can mirror other metahuman powers? HELENA. I still don't understand how I got away. I got across the street and then, suddenly... I don't know, he just stopped. BARBARA. Maybe his abilities have a fixed range. She turns to a computer and consults a red linear map of New Gotham, hits a few keys on her keyboard. Two lines intersect over a street, their point of intersection the location where Helena fought Morton. BARBARA. Based on the street layout where you got away, looks like minimum safe distance is... about twenty yards. HELENA. Great. How do I beat a guy I can't get close to? BARBARA. I don't know yet. Wait, you said, you said he got a nasty headache when you got near him, right? What if we could use that somehow? HELENA. Yeah, but if I'm close enough to give him a migraIine, then I'm close enough for him to mirror my powers. BARBARA. I need to do more research. HELENA. Research, people are dying! BARBARA. We need a plan! HELENA. You know what? Forget it. She stands up and heads down the ramp. BARBARA. Helena, come on. Don't walk away. Helena stops and turns back to her, pleading with her. HELENA. You don't understand, you can't! You're not like me, like us. Barbara looks hurt. She removes her glasses and with the ear of them pushes back her hair. She looks at Helena, wounded. BARBARA. Last night I heard Wade's mother telling him I wasn't good enough for him because I don't have legs that work. Yeah, you're right. What do I know about being different? HELENA. Barbara, I'm sorry, I really am. The truth is, even though Wade's parents may be small-minded jerks, they weren't trying to kill you. Someone's murdering my people! And I can't just stay here figuring out what his favorite color is. I have to find him. I have to stop him. She walks away, out of the lair, leaving Barbara all alone. INT. GIBSON'S BAR - DAY Dinah is back at the bar and this time she's alone. She crosses through the room. Gibson is hiding behind a pillar, but he steps out and confronts her. GIBSON. Let me guess. You're seaking safe harbor in a stormy sea of normalcy, a haven from the harsh winds of societal misunderstanding. DINAH. Excuse me? GIBSON. Why are you here? DINAH. Well, my friend, Helena - Gibson's face lights up. GIBSON. The delectable Huntress sent you? With a message for me, perhaps? DINAH. No, um, what I mean is, she doesn't exactly know I'm here. His face falls, but he's never one to let go of a chance for a happy feeling : GIBSON. Oh. No matter. Welcome to my sanctuary away from the prying eyes of an unkind world. Can I interest you in a fruity drink? INT. GIBSON'S BAR - DAY (LATER) Dinah and Gibson are at the pool table, each with a cue in hand. Dinah is leaning over the table and she takes a shot and hits her mark, sending a ball into the far corner. GIBSON. Yeah, that's a good shot. Anyway, so, that's why I opened up this place. Right now it's a twist-over world, and I'm the basement. Dinah moves around him to the end of the table, lines up another shot. Behind her, the elevator opens - revealing Barbara, looking pissed. BARBARA. Dinah. Isn't it a school night? Dinah spins around, shocked - she's been caught. EXT. NEW GOTHAM - NIGHT Reese and Morton walk along the street near a bus stop. Morton rubs his neck. REESE. She's saying you tried to kill her. MORTON. She tried to kill me, Reese, believe it. REESE. That's not her M.O., Morton, it doesn't fit. MORTON. How can you be sure? How well do you know her? REESE. She saved my life. MORTON. Yeah, what'd she get, a cop with a pocket, how convenient. These creatures are animals. A bus pulls up to the stop and a girl gets off and walks down the street. MORTON. They think like animals. It is nothing but survival. Man, you think she gives a damn about you, she doesn't. And suddenly Morton goes into the throes of an awful migraine. He grabs his temple as the grating thumping starts up again. From overhead, we see Helena leap down and land atop the bus, and then from there jumps over the side and lands next to both men. She quickly grabs Morton while he's indisposed and bum-rushes him to the wall of the building, grabbing his neck and holding him in place. Reese looks on, shocked. REESE. What the hell are you doing? HELENA. What, aren't you using your superpowers today? REESE. Why are you doing this to him? HELENA. Afraid that Reese here is gonna see you're a thing? She uses her strength to lift him off the ground, still pinning him to the wall with her killer grip. Morton starts to choke. MORTON. Reese, stop her, she's crazy. Let me down, you're killing me! Reese, help me, Reese! Shoot her! For god's sake, Reese! Shoot her! REESE. Let him go! Or I'll shoot! Helena turns around in surprise to see Reese, the very man she saved, has a gun pointed at her head with his hands on the trigger. Commercial EXT. NEW GOTHAM - CONTINUING Helena looks disgusted that Reese has chosen Morton's side. MORTON. Shoot her. HELENA. You gonna pull that trigger? He's the killer you've been looking for. She tightens her grip and Morton struggles to choke out words. MORTON. Reese. REESE. You gotta see how this looks. You're the one who's trying to kill him, and you are one of those metahuman... creatures. Fully angered now, Helena drops Morton and spins on her heel, stalks over to stand in front of Reese. He aims the gun at her chest. HELENA. What if I am? You wanna shoot, go ahead. If you think you can hit me. You're right, I'm not like you. Does that make it right for you to kill me? REESE. No. No, it doesn't. Reese relaxes his grip and lowers his gun. Beyond the pair, Morton stands up quickly, his agility enhanced due to Helena's proximity - a sinister look in his eyes and a gun in his hand. MORTON. I expected more from you, Reese. He pulls the trigger and Helena darts towards him, pushes his arm down so the gun goes to the side and the bullet hits Reese in the arm only. Reese goes down, bleeding. HELENA. Reese! Morton now sets his sights on her. MORTON. Your turn. Unwilling to involve Reese in this, Helena takes off down the street, chased by Morton. Reese tries to hold his gun but is doing a bad job as he tries to hold his wounded upper arm. He watches the duo run off. REESE. Huntress! INT. GIBSON'S BAR - NIGHT Barbara and Dinah are sitting next to Gibson, concerned. Barbara speaks into her own neatly-hidden headset. HELENA. Oracle, Reese is shot. Get an ambulance at Fourth and Hennessy. EXT. NEW GOTHAM - NIGHT We see Helena running over rooftops and flipping to get from one to the other, then jumping off of one at the end and landing - On another rooftop. She looks around and starts to walk across the roof. BARBARA. Huntress, what's happening? Did you get away? HELENA. Yeah. Guess there's no substitute for experience when it comes to scaling tall buildings. I must've gotten far enough away for him to lose his powers. Now I just gotta wait here for him to catch up. INT. GIBSON'S BAR - NIGHT Dinah and Gibson are watching Barbara, concerned. BARBARA. What? EXT. NEW GOTHAM - NIGHT Helena looks around for Morton. HELENA. There's only one thing this way's gonna end. Like you said, I can't beat him but he can't beat me either. We're gonna have to go down together. BARBARA. Tell me where you are, I'll come fight him with you. HELENA. If I don't stop him, he'll keep on killing. I can't let him do that. BARBARA. Don't you do this. Please. You can't face him alone. We'll figure this out, just get out of there. Huntress. Helena looks to the side of the building, where Morton has finished climbing a ladder and now steps on to the roof to join her. HELENA. Gotta go, date's here. She clicks her necklace microphone off. INT. GIBSON'S BAR - CONTINUING Barbara shouts into her headset, worried. BARBARA. Huntress! Huntress! DINAH. We've gotta do something. BARBARA. I can access the GPS from the comset. We'll find her. EXT. ROOFTOP - NIGHT Helena and Morton face off with each other as they get closer to standing in front of one another. HELENA. I know what you are. MORTON. And you know you can't win. HELENA. You're killing your own kind, why? MORTON. I'm not your kind. You're a monster. And as long as even one of you exists, I'm a freak. He makes a fist near his face. The grating sound speeds up. MORTON. This pain in my head comes from you. Every time I get near you, I change into something I don't wanna be. Something I hate. So I am going to destroy all of you. When the last one of you dies I'll be alone. I'll be free. HELENA. And I'm the one in therapy. He runs at her and they grab each others' arms in mid-air, flipping over. He kicks her. Helena runs and jumps over a railing, as Morton duplicates the move. They fight again, trading blows. Helena kicks him and runs by him, and he kicks her. They crash through the railing onto the roof. MORTON. You're going to die. Just like all the others. HELENA. Maybe, but I'm gonna make you work for it. They trade kicks, spinning in duplicate moves, each lashing out towards the other. They end up near the ledge. Helena jumps up onto it, as does Morton, and they grab each other's throats, look into each other's eyes. They both know what's down there if they make the slightest move. They continue to choke each other as the traffic in the city passes by below. MORTON. You'll die too. HELENA. I can live with that. And suddenly, stronger than before, the headache returns. Morton releases his grip on Helena and bends over in pain, wincing, as Dinah crosses the roof to stand in front of him, angry. DINAH. How does that feel? Twice the pain? His vision wavers again, and Dinah gets blurry, multiplied. He jumps down back onto the roof to come at her and Helena jumps down too. MORTON. You subhuman bitch. He's stopped by another rolling headache as Gibson comes to stand next to her, joined by a host of other metahumans from the bar. GIBSON. Back at you, bitch. Barbara wheels up to where Helena is still standing, trying to catch her breath. BARBARA. Helena, come on. Morton lunges at them. MORTON. You're all... Helena, pissed, heads to him, ready to do something to him. BARBARA. Helena, no. Helena. This isn't what we do, Helena. We don't kill. Helena grabs him by the lapels and shakes him, pulls his face right up into hers. HELENA. Maybe death is too easy. Maybe you should stay alive, locked in a cell to rot, your head splitting thinking of what you've done. Morton pulls out of her grasp and rushes to the ledge, jumps up. He looks at all of them. The grating in his head gets faster. Barbara looks at Helena, and Dinah looks at Morton, scared. MORTON. There's a difference between staying alive and living. His eyes flash as he loses Helena's powers and her ability to survive great falls - and with that, he opens his arms wide and lets himself fall backwards. From overhead we see him falling down towards the ground, openly accepting it. We cut to the rooftop and pan up past the ledge to see Dinah, Barbara and Helena, Gibson and the few others who joined them, masked by shadows, looking over the edge to see him fall. We continue to pan up past them to the sky and fade to : INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT Where Reese is lying in bed with a large bandage on his arm. In the shadows at the far end of the room Helena sits on the window ledge, face masked in darkness. HELENA. You wanna know if I killed him. I didn't, he jumped. She leans forward into the light to look at him, revealing a cut on her cheek. HELENA. You look terrible. REESE. And you don't. HELENA. Another perk of the meta lifestyle, I heal quick. On the outside, anyway. She comes around to the other side of the bed near the door and looks at him. HELENA. I can't decide if I should thank you for not shooting me or beat you senseless for drawing a gun on me. Because you know, things like me are dangerous and violent. REESE. Are you saying that you aren't dangerous and violent? HELENA. Absolutely I am. But not cause I'm meta. REESE. Look, I'm just, I'm not used to - HELENA. No. It's time for you to listen. Metahumans are just people. Not all metas are bad, just like not all cops are good. There's a lot of metahuman criminals in New Gotham, because there's a lot of criminals here period. And as for me? I'm half-meta, and I'm half-human, and I'm proud of both. She turns to go. REESE. I never thought you killed him. But beat him to a bloody pulp, that one crossed my mind a few times. He sits up in bed, straining. REESE. Hey. Why won't you just tell me your name? She turns back to look at him with a serious and almost sad look in her eyes. HELENA. When we first met you asked me who I was. But last night you asked me what I was. I won't tell you my name. You haven't earned it. Reese closes his eyes and there is a whoosh in the air. He opens them to talk to her... REESE. I'm sorry -- ...but she's gone, leaving him alone again. EXT. CLOCKTOWER ROOF - NIGHT We pan across the Tower to where Helena, Dinah and Barbara are grouped together looking out over the city. DINAH. Gibson's so great. HELENA. Yeah. Give him time. DINAH. Hey, how did the thing with Wade's folks go? BARBARA. Short version? Complete and utter parental rejection. DINAH. They just don't know you. HELENA. Not any more than Reese knows me. BARBARA. We can't really tell them, can we. DINAH. What do you think it's like? For Morton, you know, to hate yourself so much? HELENA. He didn't understand. It's not what you are, it's who. DINAH. Hey. what do you say we head down to Gibson's? The three of us misfits? BARBARA. I think we deserve a night out. Helena? HELENA. I'm free. And I can't think of a better way to spend it. Gibson's it is. BARBARA. Uh, what happened to wanting to be like other girls? HELENA. I got over it. The girls smile at each other as we pull back from the Clocktower through the sleeping city, leaving the girls to their thoughts, and pan up to the bright, full moon in the night sky - as a bat flies by it and zooms straight at us, then rushes by.