August 16, 0140h

	"Hold on, Babs, I'm coming," Dinah breathed, easing her foot down 
on the gas pedal now that the Bat-designed radar detector on the dash 
had stopped it's pinging.  She was almost surprised to get an answer.
	"Do you have a chair?"  Babs' voice was almost a whisper.
	"A chair -"  She thought quickly.  Had there been a chair tucked 
into the back of the Volvo?  There had been at one time.  "Hold on."
	With one hand redirecting the rearview mirror and her foot still 
firmly on the gas pedal, she slipped the car easily onto the City Dock 
off ramp.  If she could just angle the mirror right...
	An unexpected knot of traffic made her crank the wheel fiercely 
and jump off the gas, creating a cacophony of squealing tires and 
honking horns and Babs' voice saying, "Dinah!" softly but urgently in 
her ear.
	"I'm fine," she reassured her partner, keeping a quaver out her 
voice.  "Volvos are very safe.  And yes, there's a chair in the back."
	"Be careful, Dinah.  I don't want-"
	Babs didn't finish the sentence; she didn't have to.  Dinah knew.  
Things were bad, worse than bad.  "I'm almost there, Partner," Dinah 
reassured, changing lanes to turn into the warehouse district.
	She'd taken the Volvo because it was the only car whose keys she 
immediately recognized in the Wayne fleet's key locker.  Now, weaving 
through the decrepit and depopulated city docks of Bludhaven, the choice 
seemed like an act of genius.  The Bentley would get noticed.  The 20+ 
year old Volvo rocketing down the pot-holed streets?  Another night on 
the docks.  The brake squealing stop she made in the shipping/receiving 
area of Nightwing's workshop/lair wouldn't raise an eyebrow.
	The car's headlights picked out the form of a red-haired man 
sitting on the end of loading dock who scarcely flinched as the Volvo 
came careening in.  He only looked up blearily when Dinah leapt from the 
driver's side door.  "Wally?"
	"It's a lot of blood," he said hollowly.  
	Dinah was already moving to the back of the car.  "He'll bounce 
back.  Now, we need to get Babs her chair, so if you'll shake a leg -"
	Wally didn't move.  He looked vulnerable there in his civvies, and 
Dinah remembered that he and Dick had been best friends as teenagers.  
"I forgot," he explained.  "I should have got it when I got her, but I 
forgot."
	"Well, bygones be bygones and let's fix the situation shall we?  
At least open the door for me?"  She had already wrangled the wheelchair 
from the back of the station wagon and closed the door.
	Wally blinked at her, then he jumped to his feet.  The warehouse 
door sprang open a split second later and then the chair was whisked 
away from her and into the building.  By the time she could follow, 
Wally was standing uncertainly beside a curtain wall and staring down at 
the tangle of Spud and Babs sitting on the floor.
	"Babs!  Spud!" Dinah called, rushing to her friend's side.  Her 
hands went immediately to Spud's shoulders.  "Hey, Tater Tot," she said 
in normal tones, "how 'bout you come to me for a second so we can get 
your mom more mobile?"
	He did not resist her gentle pull, nor did he transfer his hold to 
Dinah.  He merely stood back enough to give Wally room to lift Babs and 
turned his face once more to the curtain.  Dinah realized then that what 
she had taken for a blanket was actually Superman's cape, and that under 
the cape, Spud was stripped to the waist and covered in blood.  His eyes 
wore a haunted look that held her worried stare until Babs spoke to her.
	"Thank you, Dinah."
	Dinah looked to see Babs sitting in the chair, looking only 
slightly less haunted than her son.  "Hey," she cracked, "it's the Black 
Canary delivery service.  I come complete with a fully stocked Volvo."  
She reached out to hold Spud's free hand, the one that wasn't grasping 
the cape around his shoulders.  "In fact, I betcha we can find some of 
Tim's old clothes in there if we go look."
	She knew Spud understood the hint, but he did not respond at all.  
From behind the curtain, Dinah heard someone say, "Oh, crap!  There's 
another stab wound back here.  Left kidney.  Damn it!  I need some 
suction here so I can see-"
	"Spud."  Babs calm tone cut through Dinah's sudden sense of dread and drew Spud's eyes away 
from the curtain.  The boy's eyes widened, noticing suddenly a bright red smear on the front of Babs' light 
colored shirt.  He gave a sudden gasping sound, as if sucking in the last air he would ever breathe.