She felt as if she was being watched.

In all the instinctive feelings she had ever had, the feeling of being watched sinisterly was the worst because it could result in a dangerous outcome.

Either someone could be spying on her to gather information and attack, or someone could be waiting for the right time to attack her right then.

It turned out that her assumption wasn't wrong. Someone was lurking in the shadows, watching her every move.

Helena got cautious as she crossed the deadly streets of the city of crime, her hand tight on her crossbow as she prepared herself to attack at even the slightest of suspicious movement. The darkness was increasing as the night deepened and she knew that if the spy was there to attack her, it could strike at any moment.

The unnerving silence and lack of footsteps her even more. All she could sense was the feeling of being watched but there was no other sound around her other than her own footsteps and breathing.

She stopped at last as the anticipation was getting too much to handle. Her crossbow was held in the position to strike and her grey eyes swept all around.

There couldn't be anyone around her due to the unnerving silence of the surroundings yet she couldn't shake off the feeling of a pair of eyes focused on her.

Without warning, a dark tentacle swept out towards her and she spun around in time, an arrow shooting through the dark entity.

However, it seemed as if she had shot through a shadow because the tentacle just vanished in the darkness.

She was shocked to see that though before she could react, the tentacles wrapped up to her arms, tightening the grip so as to make her drop the crossbow. It seemed as if there were pincers within the tentacles as it cut through her and she thrashed, trying to break free from the hold.

The crossbow dropped but she managed to take hold of her arrows, the sharp points slicing through the tentacles.

A hiss of pain sounded but the darkness had begin to increase, making her unable to see.

"Let me go," she sliced even more and the painful hisses turned into yells though the grip didn't loosen on her. Her suit was preventing the pincers to dug deep into her skin but she knew it was only a matter of time until she would be completely wrapped up in the dark tentacles.

Helena could feel blood dripping down the cuts that were forming on her skin that wasn't covered by the suit, especially her hands, face and neck.

"I'll fucking kill you," she thrashed, slicing deeper through those tentacles and the grip loosened ever so slightly.

She tried to use that to her advantage and squirmed out of the hold but then the tentacles tightened again.

"Huntress, you will pay for this," a hollow whisper sounded and she froze, unable to recognize that voice.

However, the entity tightened its grip further, the pincers piercing deeper.

Helena panicked realizing that those pincers were sucking her blood.

"Get away from me, you blood sucking parasite!"

But she felt herself being overpowered as the grip tightened further and the pain she felt increased.

Eventually, the parasite had wrapped around her so tight that her vision blurred and she felt herself being drained out. The only chance of survival she had was that she had managed to call Jason and out the phone on speaker mode whilst the battle between her and the shadowy creature had been going on.

By then Jay must be on his way.

Her eyes dropped and she made one feeble attempt to peel that parasite away from her. Blood was dripping down from the thin cuts those pincers had administered and everything in her vision was getting blurry.

Shortly after, a piercing cry sounded and a jet of green light sliced through the shadowy form wrapped around her. Helena felt the heat from from that green zap of energy but she was too drained out to fight back and collapsed.

The grip on her had loosened at last and shrill screams of agony surrounded her, accompanied with more jets of bright green. She would have struck the ground below as her limbs refused to support her any longer if not for a familiar pair of arms catching her from behind.

"Helena, keep your eyes open..."

The voice was familiar too though a bit robotic and she struggled to open her eyes to see who it was. She caught sight of a red helmet indicating that it was Jason. Just as the realization settled in, another wave of pain and exhaustion coursed through her as she passed out.

"Helena, hey..." Jason patted her cheek cautiously feeling the blood dripping down the cuts in her skin.

Looking up, he saw that Kori and Roy had approached him too. Apparently the shadowy creature had vanished into thin air.

"We have to get her treated," Kori remarked, green eyes ablaze to see the Huntress in such a state.

"Where did it go? What the hell was that even?"

"We have no idea," Roy replied, "my arrows were useless against it since it seemed a lot like a shadow. It's a good thing Kori's firebolts were able to cut through it."

Jason had lifted Helena up in his arms, looking down at her limp form in concern, "there aren't many people who would dare attack the Huntress and get away with it."

"Get her to the hospital first," Kori hissed, "she's bleeding!"

He nodded, "look around and see if you find the creature. I'll inform Batman after Helena gets treated."

Though Jason had another call to make as well aside from just informing Batman. He had to let Alex know so that he would be there when Helena gained consciousness.

But Helena was the priority right then and they couldn't just take her to a hospital as it would raise questions. So he did the only thing he could at the moment.

He called Alfred.

"Master Jason, to what do I owe the pleasure?" The old man had pucked up on the first ring, his voice indicating that he was pleased to hear from Jason after his one month long escapade from Gotham.

"Is the medical wing in the Bat cave suitable for use at the moment?"

"Yes. May I know what happened, sir?"

"Huntress got injured on patrol. She's bleeding and we can't take her like this to the hospital."

"Worry not, Master Jason, bring your friend to the cave. I'll call Dr Thompkins as well and personally make sure that the medical wing is ready before your arrival."

"Thanks Alf," he breathed out in relief, "I owe you big time."

A light chuckle sounded from the other side, "if that's the case then you all have no idea how much you are indebted to me till now."

***