"Pilot"
Original Air Date: unaired

The series begins seven years ago in New Gotham City, on a dark, stormy night. Helena Kyle is by her dying mother's side, trying to revive her as she screams for someone to stop the goon (sent by the Joker) responsible for stabbing her mother, as she watches him get away. Meanwhile, Batgirl herself, Barbara Gordon, is at her apartment taking a shower as she listens to a TV report on a recent fight between the Joker, Batman, and Batgirl at the dockyards, as we see flashbacks. The news reporter continues with breaking news of a fatal stabbing in downtown New Gotham. "Reports are coming in that the victim is the infamous Selina Kyle, the mysterious and beautiful business woman, once accused of leading a double life as a jewel thief called Catwoman. It is now confirmed, she is dead at the scene. Catwoman is survived by her only daughter, Helena. Miss Kyle has been romantically linked to enigmatic millionaire, Bruce Wayne." Barbara slips into a robe and rushes to the phone as she listens, concerned for Helena. Suddenly, the electricity shuts off. She then hears a knock at the door - crying out Helena's name, she rushes to the door intent on helping the girl. Instead she's greeted by the last person she expects to see, the Clown Prince of Crime himself, the Joker. Barbara gets shot at point blank range, and collapses to the floor as a pool of blood expands around her. The Joker remains standing at the doorway as his frightening voice speaks to Barbara - "Knock, Knock! Who's there? Batgirl… past tense," and then the Joker lets out a huge, chilling laugh as Barbara lies on the floor in silence, the camera zooming into her Batgirl costume.

Far away, in another town, a young girl named Dinah bolts up in bed, terrified by the visions in her dreams – visions of Helena Kyle sobbing over her deceased mother and Barbara Gordon being shot by the Joker. Her mother rushes to Dinah's side, already aware of Dinah's haunting dreams. Her mother tries to convince her daughter that it was not real and there is nothing in New Gotham. Her mother reassures her that it is not real and to forget about it, though it seems as if her mother is actually trying to keep her from something, but Dinah is convinced that every part of her ‘dream’ was real.

Seven Years Later

Dinah Lance is now a seventeen-year-old runaway, heading to New Gotham. On the bus ride to the city, a young male greets Dinah, trying to make conversation with her. He tells Dinah that for whatever reason she is heading to New Gotham, to be careful because it is a big city. The two properly introduces themselves to each other – his name is Jerry. Dinah opens up to Jerry that she is running to New Gotham, to find people she ‘sorta’ knew or knew about – referring to her dreams and visions of Helena and Barbara she had years ago, and may continued having.

Barbara Gordon, now confined to a wheel chair after being paralyzed by the Joker from years ago, smells the scent of flowers when former-boyfriend, Wade, approaches her with roses. Wade begins to ask Barbara why their relationship ended after a good six months and wants to know if it’s not him, then what it is? The relationship was apparently getting too serious and Barbara was afraid of him discovering her ‘secret’ life. Barbara, not able to bear the hurt in his face, wheels off through the city in pain of breaking his heart.

A CGI trip through New Gotham ends up taking us through the Clock Tower lair where Barbara sifts through files and photos on her impressive computer equipment. Barbara begins talking to 'Huntress' through a transceiver, calling herself 'Oracle,' about a suicide that's recently happened, which looks a lot like a suicide from last week. Huntress is apparently Helena, and Barbara calls herself Oracle, which are their name handles for fighting crime and Barbara is apparently the computer expert and brains of the operation, while Helena fights. On the other end of the transceiver, held in the left hand of Helena, Barbara’s cries for 'Huntress' go unanswered. Barbara, codename Oracle, assumes her fellow crime fighter’s transceiver has gone offline, but in reality, Helena has chosen not to reply.

Helena stares off in space while her psychiatrist, Dr. Harleen Quinzel, attempts to make conversation. Apparently Helena's there because the court sent her for anger management for destroying city property. Harleen goes over her notes, revealing that it's been seven years to the day that Helena's mother was killed and Barbara Gordon was shot. The doctor is curious as to why Barbara took the role of Helena's legal guardian and how all these changes might have affected her life in a not so positive way. Helena, careful not to divulge any of her family secrets, informs Harleen that she never knew who her father was just as her father didn't know of her existence, and that she wants nothing to do with him. Her father is millionaire, Bruce Wayne, who led a double life as Batman, once New Gotham's greatest champion, with Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) at his side, but the Dark Knight, riddled with guilt, disappeared the night Catwoman was killed and Batgirl was shot. Helena says that she changed after that night, not only because of the events that took place, but also referring to her now double life as Helena and Huntress.

Dinah walks out the bus station with Jerry at her side. The two apparently have made a date to meet up later at a party. Dinah is certain that things would be different in New Gotham, better than her old life. Suddenly Dinah notices a businessman sitting next to a mystery man in black holding a newspaper. The businessman runs out in the middle of the street and is struck by a bus. The bus comes to an abrupt halt and Dinah runs to the man's side, emotionally distraught at what she's just seen. As she tries to comfort the man, he takes her hand, and all of a sudden, the normal world is sucked away, replaced by a black and white world and everyone else on the street disappeared and it's only them two. The man begins to scream, "Don't let them get me" and something about “phoenix.” Dinah looks around to see the other man that was sitting at the bench, but is met with the site of hundreds, maybe thousands of rats come streaming out into the street, surrounding Dinah and the injured man. Her apparent psychic powers make it clear that it was a murder. The business man was deathly afraid of rats, and the induced hallucination of hundreds of them streaming out of the subway forced him off the bench and into the bus's path and Dinah with her psychic powers, was able to see his fears. Dinah lets go of him and everything flashes back to reality; the rats are gone, people are watching – the man is dead. Dinah looks at the man in black sitting at the bench, staring at her. A few people pass him by and then he is mysteriously gone.

New Gotham’s police and ambulance are everywhere and Detective Jesse Reese is questioning Dinah about the crime scene. Dinah mentions the man sitting on the bench in black. Detective Reese and his partner, Detective McNally, discuss the suicide that just happened. Reese is convinced that there is more going on in New Gotham than the eye can see. McNally tries to tell Reese that he needs to “lay of the twilight zone,” because everyone will think he is loony. “There’s something going on in this city after the sun goes down, I intend to find out what it is,” Reese says, determined to get to the bottom of things.

Zooming through the buildings of New Gotham, we then see Helena working at a club as a bar tender. Barbara arrives, in her wheel chair, of course, wondering where Helena has been all day. Helena is grapping about having to do all the fighting and not having a ‘normal’ life. Barbara tells Helena she needs to go on 'sweep' tonight because there has been another murder. "Suicide...” Helena quickly interjects, and then adds, "People can kill themselves if they want. It's a free country!" Helena quips, gaining stern looks from Barbara. Helena tries to get Barbara to relax and have a drink, but Barbara is worried about what is going on with the murders/suicides. Barbara tells Helena they do what they do because it is who they are, but Helena wants to believe it is who Barbara is, not her. Helena’s shift at the club is over and she prepares for another ‘sweep’ out into the night.

Dinah is walking down the dark, cold streets of New Gotham, which some would say is the bad part of town. She turns around to see Jerry right in front of her. “One thing you learn about New Gotham Dinah, things are not always as they seem,” Jerry says in a dangerous sense. Dinah sees Jerry for who he really is; not the sweet, kind guy she met on the bus, but a sick and twisted rapist. She tries to run away, but he catches her and pins her against a wall. Right then, someone from behind knocks him down. It turns out to be the Huntress herself, Helena, dressed in her ‘Huntress’ crime fighting, sexy outfit. "The lady isn’t interested," Helena says, her hands on her hips. Dinah stands against the wall as she watches Helena fight Jerry. Helena kicks him against the wall with her foot against his neck. “Who the hell are you,” asks Jerry. “I’m the Huntress, and you’re the prey.” Helena lets him go roughly and Jerry runs off as fast as he can carry himself. Dinah is amazed because she recognizes Helena from her dreams, one of the reasons why she came to New Gotham. Helena thinks Dinah is on something and tells her she needs to go home. Dinah grabs Helena to ask her where she can find her and Dinah sees visions flash before her; she sees the clock tower lair and she sees how to get in it, including the security code you need - as if her visions answered her question. Dinah tries to stop Helena from leaving, but before she can say another word, Helena's jumped up onto the sides of buildings and rooftops as Dinah watches from below spotting the clock tower in the distance.

Helena is back inside the clock tower with Barbara grapping about there being no food. “Gazillion dollars worth of computer equipment and not one jar of peanut butter.” Barbara is too busy investigating into the recurring murders/suicides that seemed to be linked to each other. While arguing about food, the security alarm goes off and Helena heads off to see who is in the clock tower. Dinah is walking slowing down a hall in the clock tower (obviously got in because of her visions) and before she reaches a corner, Helena knocks her out.

Dinah is laid on a couch, unconscious, while Barbara worries that Dinah may know who they are. Barbara accuses Helena of allowing Dinah to follow her, but Helena denies it, “Nobody follows me.” Barbara is going on about how it is a ‘secret’ lair and Dinah awakens saying it is not Helena’s fault that she followed. When Dinah looks at Barbara, she sees the vision of the Joker shooting her from years ago, and is glad that she found the people she has been looking for. Helena demands to know how Dinah got in, and Dinah explains her powers to them. “Sometimes when I touch people, I see things, things that only they know and sometimes when I dream things, they come true.” Dinah looks at Helena and Barbara as they look at her in silence.

To find out whether Dinah's lying about her abilities, Barbara has her in a machine that runs a cat scan of her brain. The results prove that not only is Dinah telling the truth about her abilities, she's meta-human, using over 50% of her brain. Dinah's convinced she's a freak, and while Helena's offended by the term, shouting, "Hey, watch it with the F word," Barbara explains that no one knows why people have these abilities - mutations in the DNA, ... "there've been some strange things in meteor showers," Helena jokes. Barbara then tells Dinah, "Your one of a long line of people who have to find what they are." We also learn that Helena is meta-human (which explains why she was able to jump buildings), but not Barbara. Barbara tells her it would be best if she went home, but Dinah explains that she ran away, came to New Gotham to find them, and has no where else to go. Helena tells Barbara she does not want her staying with them. Helena gets angry and leaves out, but before she does, Barbara tells her that she remembers a young girl from years ago with no place to go, that fell a sleep on that couch – referring to Helena when she was Dinah’s age. The elevator door closes and Helena is gone.

The next morning, Dinah is awakened by a strange man. “Good morning miss, Alfred Pennyworth, how do you do?” Alfred was Bruce Wayne’s (Batman) butler for many years and he seems to have been helping out Barbara and Helena over the years. Alfred gives Dinah some new, clean cloths and suggests she take a shower and change, and Dinah thanks him, heading off to do just that as Alfred prepares breakfast. Alfred and Barbara discuss Helena’s decision to not want anything to do with “Wayne” money. Dinah walks in to see a newspaper article on one of Barbara’s computers with the headline, ‘Local Businessman Killed in Bus Accident,’ which Dinah witnessed. Dinah tells Barbara that she was there and it was not a suicide.

Helena is once again discussing her father with Dr. Harleen Quinzel. Helena tells how she discovered he had a whole other life, as she puts it - “ a really aggressive hobby.” She admits that she blamed him for what happened to her mother. Harleen finds it strange that Barbara took in Helena (May I add in why? They knew each other well, it would only seem normal) and that it seems Barbara should have the therapy. Harleen, who seems really interested in why Barbara took in Helena, asks if Barbara did it for Helena or herself.

Dinah's memory of the dead man's last word, "phoenix" sparked Barbara's mental process. In a snap she'd pieced together that four of the city's businessmen were joining forces, as Phoenix Industries, to buy up the dockyards in order to build on the land, but the access that land offered the criminals of the city (including, possibly, the Joker himself) wasn't going to be given up so easily. These apparently suicides were indeed murders, committed by the city's criminal masterminds in order to keep the dockyards and their access tunnels into New Gotham to themselves. The four businessmen were the intended targets and with two already dead, Barbara quickly sends Helena to find one of the others still in the city, before another “suicide” occurs.

Helena is making her way through a dark building, where the guy is supposed to be staying at that night. Helena is talking to Barbara through the transceiver and Barbara assures Helena he should be there. Helena finds the guy – dead and hung by the ceiling. Barbara tells Helena that something is coming through on the police scanners and that she needs to get out of there. Right then, Detective Reese comes in and points a gun and flashlight at her telling her to “freeze.” Helena is standing next to the dead body, which would lead Reese to believe she did it.

Reese cuffs Helena to a statue and begins “detecting.” Helena tries to convince him that she is innocent and the guy was already hanging when she got there. Helena tells Reese that she has no weapons or gears, so there is really no proof of her being there to either kill or steal. Barbara tries to urge Helena through the transceiver to get out of there before more police shows up and then gets a little off set when Helena tells Reese she is on his side – maybe because she does not want Helena to reveal much information. Helena reveals to Reese info on the last two suicides as she undoes the locks on the cuffs. Helena zooms to the opened window in attempt to get out. Reese asks if she saves people and why she doesn’t carry any weapons. “I am the weapon,” Helena says as she turns and jumps from the window and flies down to the surface. Reese runs to the window and watches Helena from below.

Helena returns to the clock tower lair where Barbara is a little upset because Helena revealed information and was not wearing a mask, therefore, Reese could later recognize her. Helena says she doesn’t want to dress like her parents, that she likes her outfit because it’s good for crime fighting and then clubbing. Helena says that Barbara went to Bruce years ago and asked him to train her and that Barbara wanted that life. After a while of arguing, Barbara finally gets through to Helena. Barbara comes to find out that the fourth businessman, Larry Ketterly, who Helena knows, is back in town and that Helena needs go find him before he comes up dead. They need someone to check out the dockyards and after a while of being ignored, Dinah speaks up – “Let me go to the damn dockyards!”

Dinah is at the dockyards, Helena is headed to Larry’s, and Barbara is at the clock tower – speaking to both through transceivers. Dinah is walking through the dockyards with special goggles, while Barbara brings up a green VR field, virtual reality screen around her that shows what Dinah is seeing. Barbara instructs Dinah to which tunnels to go down. Helena arrives at Larry’s home and is greeted by him, which she plays off as she is “visiting.” Larry compliments Helena on her outfit. “Thank you, going dancing later,” Helena says in an adorable way. As Dinah makes her way through the dockyards, she falls through a floor, but continues her way through the tunnels.

Dinah notices tunnels that were not on the map and asks Barbara if she has ever been there. Barbara describes to Dinah as we see flashbacks. “It was a long time ago, another life. Before I was ever Oracle, I had another name, another identity, another self. I use to work with a man… Helena’s father, he was Gotham’s greatest champion and most people never even knew he existed. The last time I ever fought at his side was in this place. We cornered the worst criminal Gotham had ever known; smashed his organization and hunted him down. I know Batman could have killed the Joker, but he didn’t. I guess it now all has a price. The Joker got away from the police, only for a few hours, just long enough to send a man to kill Helena’s mother and to come for me himself.” Dinah takes off her goggles and asks why? “I think the Joker wanted to drive Batman mad and maybe he did a little because a few months later, he left, left New Gotham, his work, everything… even the daughter he never knew he had.” Barbara seems to as if she is going to break down and cry when Dinah reports that someone has been there because newspapers are spread out about the suicides. Dinah spots a family photo of Larry Ketterly and his family, which means he is the one that has been running everything.

Larry is talking to Helena, as she is in some sort of entrance, about the dockyards. “A piece of Gotham’s past, part of our history. We lost a great leader, but from the ashes where he fell, where going to rise again and build an empire that will make the world tremble.” It is obvious that Larry is not alone and that their attentions are to continue where the Joker left off. Larry asks Helena what she is afraid off and she drops a teacup – whatever was in it, is what most likely sent her to fear land. Larry is not the fourth expected murder, but Helena is.

Barbara is rushing to Larry’s to get to Helena while Dinah is managing to find her own way there. Larry has Helena in a trance, trying to have her reveal what she is afraid of. Larry discovers that she is afraid of loving someone, then loosing them before her eyes – just like when she lost her mother years ago. Helena is holding a knife to her chest, apparently going to kill herself because she lost someone she loves in her mind. Dinah runs in to help her when Larry knocks Dinah down as she goes runs pass him. Dinah looks up and before Larry can do more, Barbara shows up and throws a birdarang (looks like a metal spear) at Larry and knocks him down. Barbara tries to get through to Helena, but no progress. Larry says that it is too late, that part of him stays “inside” with Helena and that no one can follow where Helena is. “I can,” Dinah says as she and Barbara holds onto Helena. Using her physic powers as she did with the businessman before, Dinah brings both her and Barbara into Helena’s mind, where there, Barbara is in her Batgirl form. Helena is mourning over a dead Barbara – the fear of again loosing someone she loves, as she holds the knife to her chest like in reality, but only can be stopped in her mind. The real Barbara tries to convince Helena it is only an illusion of her fears and finally has Helena drop the knife. Larry comes after Barbara and before he can do anything, Helena comes back to her senses and faces off with Larry. The two fights for a while and it comes down to Larry on top of Helena with a knife. “It’s my screwed up life and I will decide when it’s over,” and Helena sends the knife slipping through Larry’s gut. Helena joins Barbara and Dinah and the three join hands, causing them to revert back to reality.

At the Arkham Asyliim, Detective Reese (who found Larry outside somewhere with bazaar evidence) is talking to Dr. Harleen Quinzel as Larry stands silenced in a closed up glass window room (mentally damaged because of being partly killed in Helena’s mind) and Harleen thanks him for his time. Reese was bringing Larry in because he assumed Larry needed doctor care and Harleen was a doctor. When alone, Harleen walks to Larry and reverts to her side that the comic fans would know as Harley Quinn. “Well Larry, this is quit a disappointment, isn’t it? I needed those dockyards Larry. I had a dream of New Gotham – people writhing in pain, dieing in the streets, everything under my command. You have ruined my dream!” Harley kicks Larry in anger. Turns out, she was behind everything this whole time – psychiatrist by day, evil villain-bitch by night. “At least temporarily. Just goes to show you – never send a businessman to do a psychopath’s job.”

Helena is discussing with Barbara what Larry was saying to her when she was out. He said “we,” which means there are more people out there trying to rise above New Gotham. Dinah is practicing throwing birdarangs at some coke cans while Barbara and Helena discuss Dinah being the reason they are both alive now. “There are going to be ground rules,” Barbara tells Dinah. Dinah has to attend school and work on developing her skills, both physical and mental. Barbara and Helena tell Dinah she can say, and Dinah, overwhelmed, hugs them both.

Helena joins Barbara on the outside balcony of the clock tower as the two gaze out into New Gotham. Barbara talks about her past as Batgirl and that she never really “let go” of who she was before. Helena compares herself to Barbara’s Batgirl life and says she can never be what Barbara was. Barbara tells her to be herself and that Helena is much cooler than she ever was. Helena nods her head and smiles at Barbara, “I know.” The camera zooms from the clock tower, through New Gotham and to a bat flying across the moon. [Back to top.]

Guest Stars:
Sherilyn Fenn as Dr. Harleen Quinzel