Slick Written by: Laeta Kalogridis & Melissa Rosenberg | 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. OFFICE HALLWAY - DAY Fade up on the familiar door with the words 'Dr. Harleen Quinzel' printed across the window. INT. DR. QUINZEL'S OFFICE - CONTINUING Helena is sitting across from Dr. Quinzel, speaking slowly. HELENA. It's hard for me to come here. DR. QUINZEL. Why? HELENA. I don't trust people. DR. QUINZEL. Luckily for you, this is your last court-appointed session. HELENA. I must be officially sane! What a relief! DR. QUINZEL. You don't have to come back - unless you want to. I know you think you can't trust anyone. I'd like to help you if you'd let me. She leans forward. DR. QUINZEL. Why is it so difficult for you to let people in, Helena? HELENA. After Mom was killed, I found out about my dad, who he was. DR. QUINZEL. Well most people would be excited to discover that a billionaire philanthropist like Bruce Wayne was their father. HELENA. I only wanted one thing from him - that he find the man who killed my mother. DR. QUINZEL. And then? HELENA. And then I wanted that man dead. DR. QUINZEL. We can't just go around killing people Helena. HELENA. Yeah, that's - that's what I hear. All I wanted from him was revenge. If it had been the other way around, Mom would've done it. They hadn't been together in years. She would've killed for him. And that's when I learned what my mom always knew - rely on no one but yourself. EXT. NEW GOTHAM - NIGHT We swoop through the city and past buildings to the New Gotham Police building, the letters printed in neon blue in front. INT. POLICE STATION - NIGHT Reese and two fellow cops, Grace Tanner and Jack Barnstone, are leading a perp dressed all in black down the hallway. He struggles but they have him in cuffs. SLICK. What's wrong with you people? I'm talking about real money here. BARNSTONE. Ooh, real money, guys. REESE. What's real money to you, Slick? SLICK. More than your pension cash, I'll tell you that. GRACE. I don't know, I got some years in. My pension's looking pretty sweet, how about you, Reese? REESE. I need money, I hit the casino. GRACE. Ooh, that ever work for you? REESE. Not yet. SLICK. I'm not talking about jackpot cash, okay? I'm talking lottery cash. They force him into a chair in a side hallway. SLICK. Five million! Split however ya want! BARNSTROM. Okay. SLICK. Okay, okay. Wait. Come on! Reese undoes his handcuffs and puts one of them around the arm of the chair, snapping it shut and trapping Slick to the chair again. REESE. Tell you what, Slick. I'm a simple guy so I'm gonna do you a favor. I'm gonna leave this thing at robbery, and I'm gonna forget all about the generous, although misguided, attempt to bribe three good cops. Okay? So. Why don't you sit tight, we'll get you processed, huh? Slick is silent as the three of them head away, leaving him behind. GRACE. If I had a nickel for every time a perp's offered me drugs... BARNSTONE. Or 'real money'. Once they've disappeared around the corner, Slick looks around - the hallway is empty save for him and another man, whose hands are cuffed in front of him. Slick liquifies, his body dissolving into water that falls to the floor. Instead of staying in its shape, however, it leaks across the floor, moving and swirling. It lifts off the floor and rushes through a vent in the wall. The guy at the other end of the hall is horrified at what he's seen. INT. SHOWER - NIGHT In Dr. Quinzel's apartment, the shower. Harley soaps herself, and looks up into the showerhead. She runs soap over her legs and in her hands and around. Underneath her feet, water pours up out of the drain, gurgling and moving, and corporealizes into a naked Slick behind Harley's back. He looks at her chest over her shoulder. She turns and sees him. DR. QUINZEL. If you're looking for your paycheck, forget it. I don't reward failure. SLICK. Excuse me, beautiful, I did my job. I got on the truck. You didn't say anything about cops. DR. QUINZEL. I asked you to hijack one armored truck, a job you assured me you could do in your sleep. You got caught. She reaches out her hand and rubs it across his bare chest. DR. QUINZEL. People who work for Harley Quinn don't... get (runs her hand down his stomach) caught! Off-camera, she squeezes his balls. He gasps for breath. SLICK. Oh, calm down, baby! Nobody needs to lose any body parts here! Harley laughs. DR. QUINZEL. Don't be so sure. I know I've only been in New Gotham for a few months and maybe this kinda pathetic screw-up passes for crime in this town? Things are gonna change. New Gotham ran the Joker out on a rail, and now, he's locked up in a prison far away from here. This city is gonna pay for what they did to my sweet Mr. J. She pushes the surprised Slick to the shower door, spinning him around so his face slams into the glass partition. DR. QUINZEL. I'll have a vengeance that will be spoken of in terrified whispers for generations to come. Do you understand? SLICK. Not exactly, no. DR. QUINZEL. Oh, I'm gonna take over New Gotham, you idiot. SLICK. Maybe you ought see someone about these mood swings. DR. QUINZEL. I've decided to give you one more chance, Slick. And I know you won't let me down. Opening Credits EXT. NEW GOTHAM - DAY We push forward through the city in the daylight, as the sun reflects off buildings. We focus in on the large glass face of the clock in the tower and track right towards it and into - INT. THE LAIR - CONTINUING On an upper level of the room, Alfred carries a tray containing drinks and food for breakfast over to a large table where Barbara sits, filling out paperwork. BARBARA. We only have a week before you start classes. We need to finish filling these - Suddenly, a batarang comes flying through the air, smashes the glasses and silverware on the tray, and lodges in the wall. BARBARA. - out. Down below in the computer area, Dinah stands, looking sheepish. DINAH. Oh! Sorry! ALFRED. Quite a nice throw, actually. Excellent velocity. He pulls the batarang out of the wall and hands it to Barbara. BARBARA. Uh... this isn't the batarang I gave you for practice. Dinah comes up the circular iron staircase and into the loft area. DINAH. I know, but this one has three times the range as the regular ones, plus all the automated stuff. It's way cooler! BARBARA. I know, I designed it. She sets it down on the table. BARBARA. Dinah, your training is meant to prepare you in stages. Dinah inspects the split in the wall and quickly hides it behind her back as Barbara turns to look. BARBARA. You need to learn one step before moving on to the next, which means mastering the basic weapons before you get to use the ones with the bells and whistles. And target-seeking capabilities. A sliding door opens and Helena enters. HELENA. Greetings, Superfriends! BARBARA. Hi, good morning! Dinah moves across the room towards Helena. DINAH. How was your sweep? HELENA. (Takes off jacket) Some night. Two muggings, store robbery, hardly worth the effort. BARBARA. How can they possibly need this much information just to let one girl into public school? DINAH. I wanna show you something. She picks up a hanger on which hang a white shirt with argyle vest and odd skirt. DINAH. What do you think of this as my first-day-of-school outfit? Helena doesn't say anything, but just gives her a look. DINAH. What? HELENA. Kind of a 'draft-me-for-the-chess-club' thing going on. BARBARA. I'll need to get your basic information. Birth certificate, social security, that sort of thing. DINAH. There isn't any. Barbara and Alfred stare at her. Alfred picks up the remains of the shattered glasses. BARBARA. Sorry? DINAH. Um, information? There isn't. There was a, a fire at the county courthouse and all the records burned. BARBARA. Well, I'll at least need to get your transcripts. DINAH. They burned too. Helena comes forward a bit, giving her a suspicious look. Alfred passes by, leaving. HELENA. Your transcripts would be at the school, not the courthouse. DINAH. Well, it was a really big... fire. BARBARA. Uh, well, what about your parents? DINAH. (Too quick) They're dead. Um, I'm gonna go practice in the training room. Okay? She rushes to take her leave, leaving Helena and Barbara. BARBARA. Poor kid. Helena takes a seat next to Barbara. HELENA. You can't mean to tell me you actually bought that? BARBARA. Have a heart, Helena, I took you in at the same age. HELENA. Yeah, and I used to lie to you all the time! Only I was better at it. BARBARA. Uh, not that much better. Okay, fine, I'll do a background check on her, okay? But l'm telling you there's no reason to panic. HELENA. Something panic-worthy always happens right after you say that. BARBARA. Look, she's not just a ruanway. She's a metahuman like you. Now you know better than I do how hard the world is for kids like that! EXT. NEW GOTHAM - DAY We glide through the city and come to stop on the New Gotham High school building. INT. CLASSROOM - DAY Wade, carrying a laptop case over his shoulder, comes to Barbara's classroom and walks in. WADE. Hey! BARBARA. Wade, hi! WADE. How are the lesson plans going? BARBARA. Oh, you know... school is always so much more peaceful before the kids get here. WADE. They do kinda clutter the place up. They laugh. WADE. So about - BARBARA. Maybe we should - WADE. Go ahead, I'm sorry. BARBARA. No, please. WADE. Well, I was just gonna say, should we make plans? BARBARA. I thought you forgot. WADE. Actually, I thought you forgot. BARBARA. Oh, no no no, the other day... I was just in the midst of a, kind of an emergency. WADE. Is everything all right? BARBARA. Yeah! Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. It's just... this business I have with my friend Helena. WADE. What kind of business? BARBARA. Gourmet baking. Custom fudge and muffin tops, we sell them online. It's sort of a moonlighting hobby sort of thing. Wade gives her a skeptical look. WADE. Emergencies in the baking world. BARBARA. We take our culinary responsibilities very seriously. WADE. Well you're just gonna have to trust me with the plans. I promise they will be silly and absolutely mindless. EXT. NEW GOTHAM - DAY We fly through the city and settle again on the large golden brick tower. INT. THE LAIR - CONTINUING Barbara wheels through the computer area with a cup of coffee. Helena sits on one of the tables. BARBARA. So I said yes. HELENA. Good. It's about damn time. All this crimefighitng and no social life is making you grouchy. BARBARA. I'm not grouchy! I'm just... realistic. All my relationships have an expiration date. I mean, the moment he asks, 'So hey, hey! Why can't you just blow off this... late-night baking gig'. HELENA. The 'muffin top' cover story? Possibly the lamest thing you've ever come up with. BARBARA. You just get to a point where you can't lie anymore. HELENA. Never been there. You'll have to tell me what it's like. Speaking of lying... about Dinah. BARBARA. Oh, I ran a background check. HELENA. You did? What'd you find? BARBARA. Nothing. HELENA. So I guess I should be relieved she's not an axe murderer? BARBARA. No, I mean, nothing. No records at all. I mean, as if she didn't exist. She gave us a false name. HELENA. And you're just getting around to mentioning this now? BARBARA. I thought you might overeact. HELENA. I'm not overreacting. I'm very calmly pointing out we have no idea who this girl is. BARBARA. Actually, we do. She turns to the computer and punches a few keys on the keyboard. A new display comes up. BARBARA. I ran a facial recognition autosearch on yearbook photos from Missouri going back five years. A picture of Dinah from years ago with the black text 'Dinah Redmond' underneath it displays on the screen. BARBARA. Meet Dinah Redmond of Opal, Missouri, population two thousand, five hundred and forty-one. Some truancy, she's run away a few times. She'd been living with a foster family. Her parents gave her up. Anyway, the point is, now we know she really is a runaway, not some criminal mastermind. HELENA. Known by other aliases as, oh, 'the truth'. BARBARA. She'll tell us when she's ready. HELENA. And until then you're just gonna trust her? With all this top-secret superclassified intel around here? She could get into anything! DINAH. (V.O.) Hey guys! Both women look up to see Dinah standing in the loft, looking over the railing, dressed in a black sweater. HELENA. That's my sweater! DINAH. You said I should dress better. HELENA. Not in my clothes! She stands up and glares at Dinah. Her eyes change from regular to her cat's eye pupils. Dinah pulls back, freaked out. BARBARA. Hey, time-out! There will be absolutely no use of superpowers to settle domestic disagreements. You, get changed. You, come with me. EXT. NEW GOTHAM - DAY A street in a Chinatown district. People shop at open-air sidewalk markets full of breads, fruits and other produce. Paper lanterns hang on strings above Helena and Barbara as they make their way down the street. HELENA. That was my favorite sweater. I'm beginning to think she's evil, do you think she could be evil? BARBARA. If you would just take your clothes home once in a while instead of leaving them draped all over the Clocktower, she wouldn't have even found your sweater to begin with. You know what? This is not about clothing, and you know it. HELENA. Easy for you to say, she's not poaching your daywear. BARBARA. Her parents didn't even report her missing. Sounds like maybe she had a reason to run away. HELENA. Still don't know what that was. They stop and look at each other. BARBARA. She's got incredible potential. I just have this gut feeling that - HELENA. So do I. Like I'm about to get sucker-punched. BARBARA. Helena, think about how we learned. How we all learned. Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Jason Todd. Even you! It's more than a tradition, it's a legacy. Take in those like us, mentor and train them. Never turn away someone with a hunger to become what we are. It's what your father would've done. HELENA. Batman was your role model, not mine. Helena walks away, past Barbara, who only looks after her friend. BARBARA. Yeah, you keep saying that. INT. THE LAIR - EVENING Dinah, now changed, stands in front of the computer system, worried. On the large video monitor, a text message asks if the download is complete and displays two buttons. A red light flashes and an alarm sounds. Dinah is holding a miniscule microphone and speaking into it. DINAH. Barbara? Helena? Hello? Are you guys there? BARBARA. (V.O.) What is it, Dinah? DINAH. Oh, I'm okay. There's a big red light flashing on the Delphi monitor system. What do I do? She spins and spots a button on a keyboard across the room. DINAH. Oh, there's the download button. She makes her way towards it and is interrupted by : BARBARA. (V.O.) Don't touch anything. We're on our way back. DINAH. Okay. EXT. NEW GOTHAM - NIGHT We fly through the city at night, quickly past dark buildings and spiraling around others. INT. APARTMENT - CONTINUING Cops surround a familiar body, face bloated and blue, lying dead on the floor. A coroner kneels down next to the man. CORONER. Deceased is male, mid-thirties. Reese enters the room, McNally behind him. Reese crouches down. REESE. It's thirty-six and the deceased has a name. Jack Barnstrom, he's a cop. CORONER. Cause of death is consistent with asphyxiation, but there are no ligature marks, no external abrasions or bruising and no signs of anything lodged internally that could've caused the blockage. That's not the weird thing. MCNALLY. Great, 'weird thing'. CORONER. Look at this. Skin discoloration, pink foam around the lips. These are all signs consistent with drowning, but there's no water found anywhere near the victim and no signs that the body's been moved, so, drowning's pretty much impossible. REESE. No. It's not impossible. INT. THE LAIR - NIGHT Barbara and Helena are sitting at the computer, explaining to Dinah. BARBARA. The Delphi Protocol is a database program I created. It automatically tracks and sorts all crimes reported in New Gotham and alerts us to anything... unusual. DINAH. The freakadelic stuff. HELENA. Yep. BARBARA. I'm piggybacked onto the New Gotham P.D. computer so we get information simultaneously with the police. DINAH. Is that legal? HELENA. Nope. BARBARA. Coroner finished the autopsy. They're listing cause of death as heart failure. DINAH. So? BARBARA. So of course his heart stopped! The question's why. I need some lung tissue. HELENA. Come on, it's Friday night! Barbara gives her a look that plainly means she has to do it anyway. Helena gives in. HELENA. What's a weekend without lung tissue? She heads off, leaving Dinah to smile and Barbara to more computer work. EXT. NEW GOTHAM - NIGHT We once again track through the darkened city, swirling around the police building. INT. POLICE STATION - CONTINUING Grace stands alone in the fore, upset. Two cops stand further down the hallway. COP. It's late, Grace. Are you gonna be okay to get home? GRACE. Yeah, fine. I'll see you guys in the morning. COP. Grace, we're all gonna miss Jack. GRACE. Yeah. She shrugs him off and he heads down the hallway. COP. Come on. He and the second cop leave, leaving Grace to her own devices. She heads over to a water cooler and picks up a cup, presses the tap and fills the cup. She looks down and realizes she's stepped in a puddle. GRACE. Damn it. She shakes her foot and walks away with the cup. The puddle follows her, full of bubbles, frothing, and forms off screen. Grace turns and sees - Slick standing behind her. GRACE. You! What the hell are you doing here? SLICK. Miss me? He throws his arm out as if to punch her, and it liquifies as it heads towards her - a steady column of water entering her mouth and nostrils forcefully. All of his body turns into liquid, wrapping around her and soaking her, squeezing her tight as he flows up her body and into her. She shakes as he drowns her from the inside. She falls down, dead. Commercial. INT. THE LAIR - NIGHT Dinah stands next to Barbara, who is dressed to the nines in a dark dress. DINAH. So how's the lung tissue? Barbara is examining the tissue under a microscope. BARBARA. Interior distinction clearly indicates drowning. Yet there's no excess of fluid in the cell. Do I look alright? Dinah hands her a lip gloss. DINAH. Beautiful. Go on your date, relax. I'll mind the fort. Barbara handlessly wheels over to another station, applying the gloss to her lips. BARBARA. Okay. You see what I'm saying about the lung cell distortions, right? DINAH. Yup. BARBARA. Really, how do I look? DINAH. Like you need to leave. Barbara wheels back to the other computer station, still not using her hands. BARBARA. Right. Leaving, okay, there's pizza in the freezer and Alfred's number is on the fridge. DINAH. Okay, you know, I gotta ask. Even though it risks delaying your long-overdue departure even further, but... how are you doing that? BARBARA. Doing what? DINAH. That thing with your chair. That steering with no hands thing. BARBARA. Ah, it's pretty cool, huh? I've been tinkering. It's a transponder strapped to my spine. A subneural response system that interfaces directly with the chair's computerized motor controls. DINAH. You're technobabbling. BARBARA. I think, therefore the chair moves. DINAH. Hey, but... if it's plugged into your spine, could you um...? BARBARA. Maybe use the technology to get out of the chair sometime? Anything is possible. DINAH. Do you think that it's possible you might actually leave for your date anytime soon? BARBARA. Okay, okay, I'm going. Be good. DINAH. I'll try. EXT. PARK - NIGHT Barbara has her eyes closed, as Wade pushes her wheelchair through the park. BARBARA. I don't usually let people push me. WADE. Since this requires you to close your eyes, you're gonna have to let me. You can look... He stops pushing. WADE. Now. She opens her eyes to see a table open with a cloth spread out over it, candles lit and food layed out. There are plates of food and a bottle of wine on the table. Strings of holiday lights hang over the entire scene. BARBARA. Wow. It's beautiful. WADE. I thought it might beat out dinner and a movie. INT. DARK HORSE BAR - NIGHT Helena serves a drink to a man, and he turns to leave with it. Behind him is Dinah, who steps up to the bar. HELENA. How did you get in here? DINAH. I said I was your sister. HELENA. Great. Just what I need. Another relative with a creative relationship with the truth. DINAH. Well I thought this way maybe I'd get you to talk to me. HELENA. So talk. DINAH. You don't want me here, do you? This silences Helena. EXT. PARK - NIGHT Barbara and Wade sit at the table, enjoying their meal. BARBARA. Seems like all I ever look at is the skyline of New Gotham. And no sky. WADE. So I'm broadening your horizons. Day job, night job. Seems to me that you spend way too much on work. What about your heart? BARBARA. I think it's still in there somewhere. Wade takes her hand and whispers to her. WADE. I'm sure it is. Suddenly, her beeper goes off. Barbara pulls back, annoyed, and looks at it - 'Delphi Alert'. WADE. Who is it? BARBARA. It's just an automated system. Ignore it. She puts it back on her hip, and goes back to her meal - but it goes off again. She pulls it back out and looks - 'Delphi Alert' with 'Urgent!!!' underneath. She can't ignore this. BARBARA. Wade, I'm sorry, I have to go. WADE. Oh. He's crestfallen. BARBARA. I'll make it up to you. I promise. INT. DARK HORSE BAR - NIGHT Helena and Dinah are talking animatedly across the bar. HELENA. What we do is dangerous. I've been out in the field on my own for a very long time and that's the way I like it. DINAH. I came here to be like you. I want this more than I've ever wanted anything. I thought if I told you how important this was to me you'd understand. HELENA. So why can't you just tell me the truth? DINAH. That is the truth. HELENA. Parents aren't dead, are they? DINAH. It's not that easy. It's complicated. HELENA. You're sixteen. How complicated can it be? DINAH. Yeah, and when you were sixteen, life was really simple and straightforward. HELENA. Hey, that's totally different and completely besides the point. Trust isn't something that you can't just be given, it has to be earned! DINAH. Then let me earn it. If you would just give me a chance, I know I could prove it to you. HELENA. When? When we're out in the field and it's full-on kill-or-be-killed combat? I need to be completely sure that someone's got my back. There's only one person I can count on for that. BARBARA. (V.O.) It's me. Have you seen Dinah? Helena turns away, puts her hand to her earring. HELENA. Yeah, she's here. BARBARA. Good, I was worried, but if she's with you, then... I'm suddenly realizing I'm still worried. HELENA. Why are you home? It's not even eleven yet. How was your date? BARBARA. Interrupted. Another cop's dead. Same cirumstance as Barnstone. Drowned on dry land. INT. DR. QUINZEL'S OFFICE - NIGHT Harley turns over a copy of the New Gotham Gazette. The headline reads 'Man Kills Ex-Girlfriend, Then Himself'. She reads over it as Slick materializes from water behind her. SLICK. Catching up on current events? (Reads) 'Man kills ex-girlfriend, then himself'. Nice. DR. QUINZEL. I have a professional interest. George was a patient. SLICK. Guess the therapy didn't take. She puts the paper down. DR. QUINZEL. Oh, I wouldn't say that. I was the one who told him the key to his mental well-being was to express his rage. That's not bad work for an amatuer. SLICK. Why do you waste your time? A day job for a supervillalin, it's so... bourgeois. DR. QUINZEL. George and my other patients aren't work. They're hobbies, you know? Like golf - recreational. You ever heard of the greek goddess Eris? The Romans called her Discord. The sower of strife. She started everything from petty arguments to cataclysmic wars while she just sat back... and watched. Untouched. Now there was a girl who knew how to delegate. SLICK. You lost me, babe. DR. QUINZEL. Yeah. Well, that's what happens when you regularly turn your brain to water. Aren't you late for your appointment with the good detective? I do need all three cops out of the picture this time. I just can't bear the thought of you screwing up my little hijacking plan again. SLICK. Don't worry. It's as good as done. DR. QUINZEL. Take care of the cop and go get my truck, Slick. Don't fail me again. INT. THE LAIR - NIGHT Barbara is sitting at her computer when the elevator opens and Helena and Dinah step out and cross the room to her. BARBARA. We've got a link. The two cops who died were connected by a case a few weeks ago. Stopped the hijacking of an armored truck by a guy named Silas Waters, aka 'Slick'. The truck was carrying military ornaments, and we're talking major-league, major-league weaponry. Missiles, launchers, grenades, C4. HELENA. All the fun toys. Let me guess - Slick's out on bail. BARBARA. Uh, not exactly. Police booked him and locked him up. The next time somebody looked for him, he'd vanished. a metahuman? BARBARA. Someone who could transform into some kind of fluid thin enough to go down a drain. we could call him liquid guy. uh, just trying to contribute. BARBARA. The police report said Slick tried to bribe 'em with a cut. The weapons had a black market value of thirty million dollars. Cops said no. HELENA. No to thirty million dollars. What kind of idot says no to thirty million dollars? INT. POOL - NIGHT Reese is at the end of the pool. He strips off his shirt, and dives in. He swims through the pool. As he gets near the end, he dives down to the bottom of it, kicking. He swims further and reaches the end of the pool, surfacing to find - Helena. REESE. You again. Can I help you? HELENA. Actually, I'm here to help you. He gets out of the pool and walks past her. Helena follows. HELENA. There's not a lot of time, Reese. Someone's trying to kill you. REESE. Mind if I get my clothes? By the way, who are you? HELENA. Grace Tanner's dead. Reese turns, looks at her. REESE. What? When? HELENA. About an hour ago. He continues on his way, and Helena follows again. REESE. Slick Waters. HELENA. Has to be. REESE. So now you think the guy's coming after me, huh? Well listen, I appreciate the head's up, but I can take care of myself. HELENA. Look. You don't understand what you're dealing with. Waters is no ordinary criminal. He can liquify - wherever Water can go, he can too. Reese grabs a towel and drapes it over his shoulders, then heads back towards the pool. Helena walks with him. REESE. Liquify? HELENA. Like... like a liquid guy. REESE. Is this a joke? HELENA. Your friends drowned on dry land, Waters escapes through a drain. Do you have a better explanation? REESE. Is there a worse one? BARBARA. (V.O.) Congratulations. You've managed to convince him you're totally insane. Helena stops, and grabs her earring. HELENA. Do you mind? I am trying to have a conversation. REESE. Oh, right, right. The invisible friend. I almost forgot about that part. HELENA. Look, I am just trying to help you. REESE. Lady. You look. I know a lot of strange things may happen here in New Gotham. But a guy made out of water? Come on. That's just ridiculous. But suddenly, from out of the water springs Slick, a gushing column of water with the shape of a man at the end. Helena kicks Reese away. HELENA. Oracle, he's here. He rushes Helena and wraps around her just like Grace, squeezing her. He swarms over her face, soaking her, and enters through her mouth and nostrils. She struggles as he attempts to drown her. Reese watches it all in horror. BARBARA. (V.O.) Huntress? Huntress, can you read me? Huntress?! Huntress! Commercial INT. POOL - CONTINUING Helena tries to struggle against Slick, but he's overpowering her. BARBARA. (V.O.) Huntress, is there a fire extinguisher near you? Listen to me, get the fire extinguisher, and spray it. Helena makes her way over to a fire extinguisher housed behind glass in the wall, and breaks through. She grabs the extinguisher and pulls the trigger - she sprays, and Slick solidifies, pulling back out of her and landing before her. She moves to hit him with the extinguisher and he blocks it. Helena pulls and makes him let go, and then kicks at him. Slick comes back a ther, and he turns and hits her. She kicks him over a rail, then flips over it and back out and kicks at him. He jumps by her. She punches him, then kicks him, and he goes down. He dives in the water. BARBARA. (V.O.) Huntress? Can you hear me, are you all right? HELENA. Yeah, once I had an actual ass to kick, I was fine. How did you know the extinguisher would work? INT. THE LAIR - CONTINUING Barbara, concerned, speaks into her headset. BARBARA. I figured Slick had to reach a certain active molecular state to shift phases from solid to liquid. HELENA. (V.O.) Speak English. Please. BARBARA. Cool him down, he's solid guy. It's a, it's a temperature thing. INT. THE POOL - CONTINUING Reese has joined Helena standing by the pool. REESE. That-that was... I mean he was.. is he still in there? HELENA. I don't know. BARBARA. (V.O.) Just get out of there. HELENA. We gotta go. REESE. Wait a minute, there's a murder suspect in there. Uh, possibly. HELENA. You gonna arrest him? In what, a bucket? Assuming he hasn't already gone down the drain. Slick splashes back out of the pool, coming after them. HUNTRESS. Go! BARBARA. (V.O.) Huntress? Talk to me! INT. SAUNA - CONTINUING Helena and Reese rush in, Reese slamming the door behind him. Helena rushes to the heat control and turns it up. HELENA. I'm kinda busy right now. Keep it closed! REESE. Oh man. Slick slides under the door, but the heat gets to him and he evaporates. REESE. What the -- ? HELENA. It's a temerature thing. Oracle, it's hot, how long are we gonna have to stay in here? BARBARA. (V.O.) I need to come up with a way to disable this guy. It'll be a while. HELENA. Better not be, or I'm gonna melt. REESE. So what, what, we're trapped in here now? I mean, we go out there and what, he gets us? HELENA. On the positive side... he comes in, he's air freshener. REESE. All right, um, what the hell is going on? I mean, for all I know you have something to do with Jack and Grace's deaths. HELENA. You don't believe that. REESE. I don't know what to believe right now. Not about you, about any of this. What I just saw in that pool - that's not possible. HELENA. Funny - you strike me as the kind of guy who believes anything's possible. REESE. It's a little hard not to when your'e standing there talking to it. Aren't you worried that I might tell somebody? I mean why are you letting me see you? HELENA. Because it was the only way I could save you. INT. THE LAIR - CONTINUING Up in the loft, Dinah comes over to where Alfred is standing, washing the dishes. She helps him out. DINAH. She's really worried. Is Helena gonna be okay? ALFRED. Miss Helena is remarkably capable. She can take care of herself. DINAH. Alfred... my whole life, I grew up thinking that there was no one like me, that I was all alone. And then I came here... and I finally meet someone who's like me. Someone who I can admire and look up to. It seems like all I can do is piss her off. ALFRED. If I were you I would be more concerned if Miss Helena weren't upset with you. DINAH. Why? ALFRED. I've always found that how much someone cares about you is directly proportional to how much you 'piss them off', as it were. DINAH. this slick guy... what if Barbara can't find a way for Helena to find him? ALFRED. They're superheros, Miss Dinah. They're familiar with tight situations. INT. SAUNA - NIGHT Helena and Reese have stripped - Helena sits only in a bra and her leather pants, and Reese in his swimming trunks. HELENA. Why is it so important to you to find out what's going on in New Gotham after nightfall? Most people would do anything to convince themselves the world is a safe, seeminly normal place. But not you. You're actually chasing the madness. REESE. I got my reasons. HELENA. I've been wondering what they are. REESE. You know, you're not exacdtly the poster girl for full disclosure. HELENA. What's that supposed to mean? REESE. It means you're gonna have to keep right on wondering. They stare at each other. REESE. Look, I gotta get outta here, I'm supposed to be on assignment. He gets up and goes to the door, gets down and investigates underneath. Helena watches his naked muscled back for a minute, then snaps out of it as he gets back up. HELENA. I don't think Slick gives a damn about our work schedule. Someone can replace you. You can't be the only honest cop in New Gotham. REESE. No, I'm the only one left on tonight's detail. The other two are dead. HELENA. Wait a minute. Barnstone and Tanner were on tonight's detail with you? REESE. Yeah. HELENA. Where are you supposed to be? INT. THE LAIR - CONTINUING From the lair, we see Barbara working at her computer. BARBARA. Reese was on a detail scheduled to excort an other transport of military weapons tonight. It's the same deal as that attempted hijacking a few weeks ago. Cargo is hardcore stuff - surface air missiles, flamethrowers, plastic explosives. Enough firepower to start your own little war. Looks like Slick wasn't in it for revenge after all. HELENA. (V.O.) If at first you don't succeed... BARBARA. Yeah, well, except this time they're killing the cops that can't be bought. You have to assume whoever's taking Barnstone, Tanner and Reese's place is in Slick's pocket. HELENA. Huh. What's the going rate? BARBARA. The police cruiser assigned to guard the truck has a standard issue Gotham P.D. GPS locator. It's been stationary the last five minutes. Looks like that's our location. Look, we still don't know how to stop Slick, Helena. Be careful. A hand sneaks onto the table and grabs the keys and disappears from frame. INT. SAUNA - CONTINUING Helena is at the door with Reese.s HELENA. Well I know one thing, if he's out robbing the truck, he's not outside this door. REESE. That would stand to reason. She pushes, but can't open the door. HELENA. It's stuck. REESE. Maybe he used something to wedge it shut from the outside. They take a few steps back and then kick the door down together. EXT. NEW GOTHAM - NIGHT We pan through the city and then stop and spin down towards the street below. INT. WAREHOUSE - CONTINUING An armored truck pulls into the warehouse and completely into the middle of the warehouse. It stops and men rush towards it. MAN. All right guys! Let's get these weapons out of the truck. Let's move! The door opens and a dead security officer, the driver, falls out of the side. Slick appears behind him in the doorway. SLICK. Bulletproof, bombproof, fireproof... but not waterproof! INT. THE LAIR - CONTINUING BARBARA. Huntress, what's your status? HELENA. (V.O.) We're in position. And it looks like we got here just in time to crash the party. BARBARA. Crash? INT. WAREHOUSE - CONTINUING Helena crashes through a skylight. Glass rains down around her as she falls and lands on her feet, looking around. HELENA. Hi boys. Can I play? Two men come at her. She turns her back to one and headbutts him by whipping her head back, pushing him back with her body. The other mistakenly lashes out with a nightstick where he thought Helena would be and gets his partner. Helena knocks him out, and then punches the hit guy, who goes down. Reese comes up behind a guy with a crossbow and spins him around, punches him, punches him, knees him in the gut and tosses him to the side to crash amisdt crates. Another guy grabs reese from behind. Helena punches a guy, and then as he bends over, rolls over his back to kick another guy, and then kick the first. She flips and punches the guy she kicked first. Reese struggles with his guy and throws him over his shoulder, tossing him. The crossbow guy comes back up and Reese punches him a few times, then tosses him too. Helena does a sweep kick and knocks both guys' legs out from under them, but one stays up. She gets up, kicks at him, and he flies over to the truck. Reese jumps another guy, and punches him to the ground, then punches back at him again. Slick appears next to him, and Reese looks up - and rushes him. He punches at Slick's head, but Slick turns to water and Reese's hand slides right through and back out. SLICK. Was it good for you? Cause it sure was for me. He turns into water and wraps around Reese, rushing into his mouth and nostrils. He begins to drown him. A man with a flamethrower comes up on one side of Helena, and a man with a gun steps up to her other side. They have her trapped as she helplessly watches Reese drowning. Commercial INT. WAREHOUSE - NIGHT Reese falls to the ground. Suddenly, behind one man, Dinah appears to knock him out with a blow to the upper back/head with a batarang. He falls and the flamethrower guy shoots. Helena ducks and Dinah rolls out of the way. Helena jumps and grabs the man's wrists and flips over him, turns around and kicks him, then wrestles the flamethrower from him. She presses the trigger and uses the flame to evaporate the water pouring off of jake, turning Slick into screaming mist that fades away. She drops the flamethrower and the guy, then comes over to Dinah, who stands up with the batarang. HELENA. You okay, kid? DINAH. Yeah. HELENA. (To necklace) Um, I found Dinah. BARBARA. (V.O.) What, there? Is she okay? HELENA. She's fine. She's... really great. Dinah and Helena grin. BARBARA. Well then tell her she's grounded. DINAH. I guess this means I'm grounded. HELENA. Take the car back. I'll catch up. They smile again as Dinah goes off. Helena walks over to a coughing Reese, who stands up. HELENA. You all right? REESE. After which part - getting drowned by a liquid guy? Not knowing what's real anymore? Getting dehydrated from five hours in the sauna? HELENA. Slow night. REESE. What the hell am I supposed to do with what I've just seen? What, just, just forget about it? HELENA. If you talk, nobody's gonna believe you. REESE. They would if you come with me. HELENA. I can't do that, Reese. That's your world, not mine. REESE. So then we're right back where we started. HELENA. You don't trust me? REESE. You won't tell me who you are. Or why you do what you do. HELENA. Right now you're asking for more than I can give. REESE. You saved my life and I'm grateful. But gratitude is not the same as trust. Can't you just tell me... who are you? HELENA. It's... it's complicated. Look, Reese. Sometimes you just have to make the leap. Let go and believe. REESE. I wish I could. EXT. THE CLOCKTOWER - NIGHT We zoom in on the Clocktower and through into it, as gears shift in the window. We pan up to the loft, where all three girls sit - Dinah and Helena next to each other on a couch, while Barbara reclines on a chaise, batarang in hand. BARBARA. Well? HELENA. Dinah - DINAH. Helena - HELENA. Let me go first. I told you trust had to be earned, and I was wrong. Trust is a gift. You were there for me when it matttered, for both of us. And as for the rest of it... it's an act of faith, believing in someone. I believe in you. Whatever your name is. DINAH. Redmond. My name is Dinah Redmond. And I have been lying to you about everything. My mother left me with foster parents when I was six. And they taught me to be ashamed of what I was. Never to tell anyone. To hide it. And when I couldn't hide it anymore, they were gonna take me somewhere. Somewhere to make my powers stop. She fights to talk through her tears. DINAH. And I thought if I told you my real name you'd call them, and they'd take me away. BARBARA. Dinah, don't you ever wanna go home? DINAH. Being here with you... it is the only place I have ever, ever felt at home in my entire life. Helena smiles at her. HELENA. Come on, kid. Let's see what Alfred left us for dinner. Dinah grins, eyes watering. She stands up and she and Helena head for the kitchenette area. BARBARA. You're still grounded. Helena turns to her. HELENA. Absolutely. INT. CLASSROOM - DAY Wade walks by Barbara's classroom and stops as he sees out of the corner of his eye - Barbara, lighting candles on her desk, where a cloth is spread out, and plates of food and glasses of wine are set up. Wade comes into the room. WADE. Barbara... what...? BARBARA. I promised I'd make it up to you. BARBARA. I know it's not nearly as romantic, but... I thought it might do as an apology. WADE. Definitely. He sits down next to her, smiling. EXT. THE CLOCKTOWER - AFTERNOON The sun is setting in the city, casting pink and orange light over all of the buildings. Helena and Barbara stand together outside of the clocktower. HELENA. It was weird, fighting side by side with Reese. BARBARA. What was it like? HELENA. Kinda like a... first date. BARBARA. Yeah, I'd buy that. Considering every time you get next to him, you can't shut up! Invisible friend... he's really gotten under your skin, hasn't he? She grins, but Helena remains more straight-faced. HELENA. You know guys don't get to me. Besides - who has time for a relationship anyway? BARBARA. Yeah. You know, I still can't figure it out. What did Slick want with all that firepower? HELENA. You said yourself, it's worth a fortune on the black market. BARBARA. Yeah, but so are a lot of things, and for a guy like Slick, most of them are easier to steal. HELENA. So you think Slick was just a frontman. For who? Barbara shakes her head, unknowing of how to answer that. INT. DR. QUINZEL'S OFFICE - AFTERNOON Harley is touching up her make-up in her reflection in the glass window overlooking the city. There is a knock at the door and she spins on her heel as the door opens to reveal Helena. DR. QUINZEL. Helena! What can I do for you? HELENA. I've been rethinking this whole 'do everything by myself' thing. I decided I'm gonna continue therapy even though I don't have to. Maybe a little help sometimes isn't so bad. Harley crosses to the door and opens it further, ushering her in. She closes it behind her. DR. QUINZEL. Please, come in. HELENA. I met a guy. They sit down in the chairs across from each other. DR. QUINZEL. Why don't you tell me about him? Helena starts to speak, but her words are silent to us as we pull out of Harley's window, where rain is falling against the building and in the pink-tinged afternoon sky. We turn and glide past other buildings and through the city, the orange light glittering off of windows as the rain falls. We fly through New Gotham, settling on the skyline over the sea as the sun shines through the clouds and the rain.