***

Rinascita

By Lisa

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let me tell you a story – a very old story that a friend once told me… Once upon a time, a wise man dreamed he was a butterfly.  He dreamed his life, flying from flower to flower.  The colors.  The smells.  The breeze caressing his wings… And when he awoke he had a realization.  He didn’t know if he was a man who had been dreaming he was a butterfly… or a butterfly dreaming he was a man…

~Vic Sage, Cry for Blood

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

            “Hey, Ray!  One large mostacolli and a medium cheese pizza! Please try and make sure the crust is brown this time?  Customers don’t like dough!”

            The middle-aged Italian man who was working behind the counter waved her aside.  “Don’t see the difference, it’s the same thing!” he said feigning seriousness.

The young woman swiped at him with her notepad through the window, grinning.  “No wonder no other restaurants will have you!” she teased, “You don’t even know the difference between baked and unbaked!”

He grinned at her.  “Pay more attention to your job!” he said pointing over to where two men stood waiting to be seated.  She stuck out her tongue at Ray before gliding over to them.

“Hi, welcome to Little Italy! Would you like a table or a booth?”

The older man looked at her darkly and said in a slight Italian accent, “Helena Rosa, we’ve been coming here for months now and you still ask the same question every day.” His eyes narrowed a bit and the light tone could not truly hide his disdain.  “I always thought Bertinellis had better memories!”

She managed to smile back at him, although inside her stomach turned.  She had loved Pasquale Galante as a young girl, but now she knew that there was more to him then met the eye.  “I am sorry, Godfather, it’s policy.”

As she began to lead them to their customary spot, he leaned in and whispered to her so that only she could hear, “Well, in that case, I’ve never known a Bertinelli to pay attention to policy either.”

Before she could reply, Mario Cassamento, the gentleman that was about the same age as Helena, spoke in his all-American brogue, “Helena! Why do you insist on working here, cousin?  This is no place for one of us.  Why don’t you accept our offer to give you a monthly supply of money? You would be much happier.” 

This confident man had only recently gotten over his scare of a few months ago when the Huntress had run him out of town.  Helena still remembered the night he had returned- spirits were high and there was a lot of drinking in Galante’s house. 

“Why should I be afraid of a woman?” he had said gaily after his fifth glass of wine.  Everyone had laughed- even Helena pretended to appreciate his disdain and bravery- but inside she wanted to grab a bolt from her crossbow and put it through him- just to remind him why he had ran in the first place. 

But she couldn’t.  Not anymore.  No more hunting.  Huntress was dead.

She only shook her head and grinned, “No way, Mario- I’m a free woman- no more teaching, but still self-sufficient!  Let me try this for a while.”

He had the same dark features as she did, but the eyes were different.  His glittered with the look of the man who never wanted for anything.  His tone of voice matched.  Everything about him practically bellowed that he was a rich man’s son, one who got whatever he wanted whatever it happened to be- money, woman, or objects.

On the other hand, Helena’s were dark and serious, hiding what she felt.  She could make them dance and laugh on command, whether she meant it or not.  She did this now, putting on the mask so they wouldn’t notice her anger.

He was wrong on all three counts- She was not too good to wait tables and she would be the opposite of happy if she took his money.  His blood money.

And he was no cousin of hers. He was something much closer.

She seated them in the darkest corner of the restaurant as they preferred and went to get their orders, not even bothering to ask what they wanted.  As they said, she had a better memory then that.

^*^

 

Tim sighed in boredom.  Spanish. His teacher stood at the front of the room reading straight out of the book.  He always allowed himself to space out during this class. Senora Delano never called on anyone except her three favorites.  Tim was perfectly happy with this arrangement.  He knew his Spanish well anyway. 

Tim glanced sideways at his friend Brad Redfern.  The blond-haired boy lay with his head on his desk, drooling on his textbook.  Pathetic.  This was who many of the girls in their school considered a prime catch.  He was tempted to take a picture and use it for ransom.  Too bad he didn’t have a camera.

Senora was finally writing the homework on the board.  That meant that he would be out soon; any moment now the bell would ring. 

A bang was suddenly heard behind him.  Everyone swiveled around at once.  A figure at the back was lying under his chair.  Laughter rang out.  Senora looked up and glared.  Within three steps she was beside the unfortunate young man.

“Señor Grenner, are purposefully trying to disrupt my class?”

As the teacher began berating the other boy, Tim felt himself jerked out of his seat and through the door.  For a moment he felt himself fly through the air, then he landed in a heap on the ground in the hall.  Thanks to his quick reflexes, he was on his feet almost instantaneously, as opposed to the culprit who sat on the ground trying to stifle his laughter.

Brad, who had previously been thought to be sleeping, was now trying to be quiet, but was laughing so hard that it looked as though he would suffer some serious internal damage before he was done.  He had also yanked the door shut on his way out.  Peeking through the top of the window of the classroom door, Tim watched with a sinking heart as Senora returned to the front of the class.  No way back in.

“Are you insane,” he said half-turning to look fiercely at his partner.  “What did you do that for?  Now we have no way to get back in without her seeing us!”  He was already scanning for a way to distract his teacher enough to get back to his desk before she noticed his absence.

Brad whispered back in a choked voice, tears rolling down his face as he tried to keep his laughter in check, “What a way to get out of class!  And a whole five minutes early!”

“Yeah, yeah, hilarious.  What are we going to do?”

“Whadaya mean?  This is last period! Let’s just leave! We have to meet the guys anyway.  Ryan has someone he wants us to see.”

Tim shook his head in exasperation, not knowing what to do- laugh or yell.

At that moment it stopped mattering.

The bell rang.

Brad looked down at his watch, “Will you look at that! I’m a whole five minutes slow!”

 The door swung open.  There was nothing to stop it.  The first kid out tripped over the two and went sprawling, only to be followed by three more.

“Let’s get out of here!”

As Brad had more practice at getting in trouble then he did, Tim was quick to follow his instructions.  As they ran down the hall, they could hear Senora shouting after them in anger.  Tim wondered briefly what he had done wrong to have made a friend like Brad.

Brad still hadn’t stopped laughing.

^*^

 

Helena plopped down on the booth seat.  She only had thirty minutes until she was back to work.  She had a shorter break then others got in Gotham, but she also had three a day.  It felt good to sit after being on her feet all day.  She leaned her head back against the back of the seat and closed her eyes.

“Welcome to Little Italy.  Can I take your order, please?” came a sing-song male voice.

Without opening her eyes, she growled and grabbed at where her fork would normally be placed on the table.  No such luck.

“I’m getting better, huh?”

Finally opening her eyes, she glared at her fellow waiter, Josh.  He was another Italian, dark hair and eyes, and extremely good-looking.  “Go away, I’m on break.”

Unfazed, he continued speaking.  “I mean, even you have to admit I’m using foresight on this.  Last time I bothered you during your break, you had that fork at my chest.  Now all you can do is give me death-glares.”

“Trust me,” she grumbled, “If I keep working at them, these ‘death-glares’ will kill you just as easily as a fork.”

“Ummm… actually, I don’t think that a fork could kill me that easily.  Have you ever tried to even dissect a frog with a fork?  I have- it didn’t work very well.  It would probably be even harder on a human. So I will agree with you.”

“You might be surprised at my fork wielding.  I’m fairly good.  I’m sure I could figure out something.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Excuse me,” a snooty voice cut in, “but if Helena isn’t going to order anything, then Josh should probably get back to work.”

Helena rolled her eyes, “Don’t you have some table to be scrubbing, Cristy?”

The blond waitress flipped her hair.  “No.  That’s another job for Josh to do.”

Josh turned and leaned against Helena’s booth, arms folded across his chest, a small grin played about his mouth.  “And what makes you think that I’ll clean your tables for you?”

She gave a sly, smug smile.  “Nothing like a little bribery.”

To Josh’s shock, she began twirling a key chain around her finger.  His eyes widened.  “You didn’t!” he said with horror in his voice.

“What are you waiting for?  Tables to wait and tables to clean!”

“GIVE ME BACK MY CAR KEYS!!!”

^*^

 

Tim and Brad’s other friends were outside waiting by the sign that read “Gotham Heights” by the time they got there.  Ryan was already talking non-stop about the “Hot Waitress” at Little Italy.  It created a rather funny picture as his bright orange hair was pointing in all directions.

“Dude, guys, I’m telling you, you’ve gotta see her!”  His voice adopted a fake quality used by Disney Storytellers.  “She has beautiful, raven black hair and dark eyes…”

Chris continued, putting his hands angelically together and looking heavenward, speaking in the same voice, “Lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony, skin white as snow…”

“Hey!” Brad cut in, his eyes glinting mischievously, “Why don’t we go there now?  A… snack!”

Yells of agreement greeted this new idea.

Tim groaned.

There would be no stopping them now.

^*^

 

Ray peeked out from the kitchen.  He saw that Helena was asleep in one of the booths.  Hating himself, he went over and gently shook her awake.

“Helena, wake up.  Your break ended five minutes ago.”

She groaned.  “Already?”

He smiled wanly.  “Sorry.  Are you sure you’re ok?  It’s not like you to oversleep like this.”

“I’m fine.  Been having trouble sleeping at night, that’s all.”

“Indeed.”  His voice was flat.  “Maybe you should take a day off.”

“Ray, I can’t.  I’m not used to paying bills without my teaching job.”

“But Helena, I know you have money in the bank.  You’re an heiress if I understand correctly.”

“I haven’t touched that money in years, I’m not about to start.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“What about the money your cousin’s been offering you?”

“I can’t take it, Ray!”

“Why not?”

 “I just won’t!”

She said this with such force that there was a long silence.

Helena refused to meet his eye.  “I’m going back to work, Ray.”  As if knowing what his face looked like without looking up, she sighed.  “Maybe I’ll take a break in a week or so.”  She slid out and headed over to where she had stashed her apron under the counter.

After she was gone, Ray groaned and put his head in his hands.  “Stubborn Sicilians,” he murmured, “Lord, save me from them.  Helena, I hope you know what you’re doing.”

^*^

 

Tim decided that it was Bruce’s fault.  If Bruce had told him, this wouldn’t have happened.  He had no way of knowing where she worked. 

Then again, maybe it was Dick’s fault.  That would work too.  Dick knew just as well as Bruce, after all.  But no.  They couldn’t tell him.  That would be too risky. 

It wasn’t his fault.

There had been no scary screechy violin music playing as he walked up to the restaurant with his friends.  Nothing.  How was he to know?

They had all entered together.  He had actually begun to convince himself that he could be out in time to do his homework and get to the Manor.  He was having just as much fun as anyone else. 

Then he heard the voice.

Not that it was a bad voice; it was a very nice voice.  The only problem was who the voice belonged to.  Hoping he was wrong, he glanced up.  He wasn’t, and for once, he wished he was, because it was then that he realized who Ryan was talking about when he mentioned the hot dark-haired waitress.

It was Helena. 

^*^

 

Helena recited her usual line and asked whether they wanted to have a booth or a table, then proceeded to lead them to the spot.  It was a gang of rowdy high school boys who would have to be placed in a corner farther away from the other customers.  There were a lot of them too- lots of people to wait on for a very small tip. 

She studied their faces, as was her habit.  Her cousin in Sicily had taught her that you should always do this- just in case.  One of them wasn’t looking in her direction, so she waited for him to turn around and get into his seat so that he would be facing her.  He was waiting until last.  She moved around to the other end of the booth and handed out the menus, hoping that this angle would be better.  He turned a little so that she still couldn’t see his face.  Annoyed, she decided that she would just go over and hand him his menu so she could get a close look at him. 

“Helena!”

Stupid Cristy.  She set down the last menu on the table and turned to see what she wanted. 

^*^

 

Tim wasted no time.  He checked his watched for effect, turned to Brad and said, “I just realized that I promised my Dad I’d be home early tonight. They’re going out to dinner and they want to make sure I’m back before they leave.”  Without waiting for a reaction, he ran over to the door, leaving Brad, Helena, and all the rest behind. 

^*^

 

Helena was mumbling some words under her breath that should never be said in the presence of children.  She didn’t care.  The stupid cash register deserved every one and then some.  If it hadn’t been Ray’s property she would have marched over, got the bat they always kept lying around, and bashed the keys in. 

She had no idea why Ray wouldn’t get a new one.  This one jammed at least twice a day- sometimes up to four or five.  It caused untold anxiety and annoyance- to both the customers and the employees. She and Cristy wrestled with it for a few more moments before Ray stepped out from behind the counter.  He hit it as hard as he could, bringing his hand back in a wide arch and creating a loud BOOM! that was heard everywhere in the restaurant.  As if touched by magic, the door bounced open.  He gave a satisfied nod and disappeared back to his realm of the kitchen once again.

She would have to remember that move.

She once again turned back to the boys at the table to get their drink orders.  Her eyes immediately searched for the dark-haired one, but he seemed to have disappeared. 

“Looks like your friend ran off,” she said in a casual, friendly voice.

One of the boys looked up, “Who?  Tim?  Yeah, said something about having to go home- some promise he made to his dad or something.”

She nodded, “Too bad.  Well, what kind of drinks do you want?”  Best to pretend it didn’t matter.  Actually, it really didn’t concern her… it was just an annoying issue that would probably end up bothering her for the rest of the day.

She tried to put the experience out of her mind.  It was just that he had acted so suspicious…  She nodded her head as she listened to them order, and jotted down everything on her notepad. 

^*^

 

“How could you not tell me???” Tim shouted, directing his question to the two other men that were also in the Batcave.  “That restaurant is only a few blocks away from my school!!!  She could have walked by and seen me any day of the week!!!”

“We didn’t think that you needed to know, Tim!” Dick said in a half pleading voice as he hung upside down from a bar.  His hand motions combined with his hair standing straight up looked hilarious, but Tim was in no mood to laugh at him.  “It wasn’t important at the time!”

“Not important?!”

“She hasn’t seen you out of costume, she wouldn’t realize it was you.”

“How do you know?  Maybe it would cross her mind that my voice was similar.”

“She would think it was just coincidence and not think about it any more.”

“What if she did think about it?  What if she couldn’t shake the thought and came to realize the truth?  What then?”

“She wouldn’t.”

“You don’t know that!”

“Fine, maybe I don’t.  But…” he struggled for words.  “It just wouldn’t happen.”

“You,” Tim said frostily, “are in a bleak land known as denial!”

A giggle rose up from further back in the shadows.

Tim wheeled around towards it, his blood boiling.  “This isn’t funny, Cass!”

She laughed again and stood up.  She was in her Batgirl costume as usual, so she blended in almost completely with the walls, despite the fact that her mask was off.  Her black hair hung loose and her finger pointed at the two ‘brothers’. 

“Funny to me.  You fight like old married couple right now!”  She imitated Tim in a high old lady’s voice, “You should have told this! You need tell me things!”  She switched to the voice of a meek old man for Dick, “I sorry, dear! Please forgive!  I have good reason!”

Bruce, hidden in the shadow of the great chair in front of the computer, allowed a quick smile to flit across his face.  Dick was glaring at Cass in a mixture of reproach and confusion- he knew she had made fun of him some how, but was still trying to find out where she had made the connection.  Tim was fuming at them all, unable to decide who to attack first.

Bruce spun in his high-backed chair to face them.  His face was once again cold and unmoved.  “Tim, you were not told because we thought that it would create a problem.  You have spent a good amount of time around her and we were afraid that you might not like the idea of keeping completely out of her life. However, now the need for someone to watch her outweighs the risk.  The rest of us cannot spare time.  I will be gone to the Watchtower soon and Nightwing is not here often enough.  You are assigned the job of keeping an eye on her- don’t even ask about Spoiler and Batgirl- Oracle is using them for a few days as extra eyes.”

Tim turned his head to stare at him.  A few seconds passed in total and complete silence.  Finally he managed to get out, with some difficulty, “You want me to keep an eye on her?  Why?  She didn’t need it before, why should she need it now?”

Bruce’s answer was short and clipped, “Because the Mafia is planning something.”

Dick’s eye shot to his.  He searched them for a short time, but evidently didn’t find what he was looking for.  “What makes you think that?”

“They were quiet and their businesses slowed in the months following Cassamento’s death.  There has recently been a definite increase in activity.  Something’s about to happen.  Hopefully it won’t be enough to attract Huntress’s attention, but we can’t take any chances.”

He once again addressed Tim, “If she shows any hint of interfering, let me know.  You can get a hold of me via Oracle.  For now, I will be residing at the Watchtower indefinitely.  There is KOBRA activity in Kasnia.  If anything happens then I will try to return.”

^*^

 

She was standing on the top of a building.  The wind blew hard, but was not bitterly cold.  The city was spread out like a map beneath her and the lights twinkled invitingly.  She breathed deeply the dank city smell, listened to the thrum of traffic below.  Adrenaline pounded in her veins, excitement was practically making her jump up and down.  These were the moments she lived for.  Without warning, she leaped off the building, firing her grappling hook above her so that the jolt from the line going taunt wouldn’t tear her arms from their sockets.

To her amazement, when she thought that she had reached the height of her arch, she kept rising.  At first it was merely strange, then it began to scare her.  It was unnatural.  She began to slow down, to feel like she was moving through water.  She dropped her line then thrashed around…

Blankets fell away and she found herself lying in the darkness of her apartment.  She was not in her Huntress outfit.  In fact, she hadn’t even held a grappling hook or been on a rooftop in months.  The dresser that stood across from her hid her past life behind it.  It acted as a sort of tomb- and tombs were not meant to be reopened.  She hadn’t even dared to release the hidden catch to destroy her spare costume.  It was ignored… as much as it could be, that is.

Silently, she slipped out of the bed and went into the main room.  She opened a window wide.  Trying to recapture a bit of the feeling in her dream, she stuck her head outside and closed her eyes. 

It was no use.  It wasn’t the same.

Her mind returned to the bit of purple fabric she had buried in the wall.  She sighed despairingly.  No matter what she did, she couldn’t escape Huntress.  At any moment someone might innocently say something to remind her of her past life.  Any mention of the Batman, or any other masked vigilante for that matter, would do it.  Heck, all they had to do would use the word “fly” and she was gone.

She missed her old life.  She missed the danger.  Before things had been so much simpler- she lived for whatever current crime was being committed on the streets of Gotham.  She could help people. 

Now she was like any other citizen.  She lived for her job- and it bored her to death.

Reluctantly, Helena opened her eyes.  She brought her head inside again.  Yes, it was true that Huntress was a major part of her, but she couldn’t exist anymore.  Her whole reason for being had ended the night Cassamento was killed.  Eventually she would fade from memory.  Even now she had forgotten some things.  With time she would heal.  For now, she actually had a chance at an ordinary life.  She could create a family for herself- one that wasn’t seeped in blood.  That particular thought had never crossed her mind before, but the more she thought about it, the more she was sure that it would be good.  She might still have the chance to be happy.  All these things were so foreign to her.

“I am a butterfly…”

She shook her head again and began to run her bath.  Huntress was over, dead.  Huntress had done what she had set out to do.

She ignored the not-yet-acknowledged-thought that threatened to break through.  It was the thought that maybe her happiness could only come from the life, people, and situations that she had so recently left behind.

^*^

 

One Week Later…

 

Things were slow today at the restaurant.  It was a rainy weekday- annoying to children who were hoping for snow this November.  Most people would find other ways of getting food than walking all the way to Little Italy. It was about seven o’clock and they had what a diner would consider a big crowd, but Little Italy (contrary to its name) was a big place with rooms joining other rooms.  They needed twelve plus waiters and waitresses and five cooks on its most busy nights and even that sometimes was not even enough.  But now there were only about three groups that were peppered throughout the main room.  They were all crowds of six or seven that had come from the closest office building or couples coming directly from work to meet.  In addition, a few single customers sat by the windows.  The conversation level was low.  No one felt much like doing anything.

Helena glanced up as the bell over the door rang. It was her cousin and godfather again.  They had been coming in more and more recently these days.  She hoped that wasn’t a sign of bad things to come.  That would make it harder for her to stay in her new role of an outsider, and she couldn’t afford to do anything else.

Mario tottered up to her as she met them.  “Helena,” he slurred “great to see you!  You are beautiful today!” At those words he fell forward.  He would have fallen on top of her if her godfather hadn’t caught him.  As it was, she still had to hold out her arm to keep him from collapsing.

“Helena Rosa,” Galante said softly but urgently, “please give us a table in one of the rooms not being used today.  I fear that Mario has been very stupid and allowed himself to become drunk though he is not at home.  I wouldn’t want to cause any embarrassment- or disturb the other customers.”

“Of course, I’m sure Ray won’t mind.” she said graciously, but as she turned she frowned.  Mario was not drunk.  He’d had no trace of alcohol on his breath.  Also, when he was drunk, his eyes had a tendency to get red.  Looking at them, they were the same clear mysterious dark color as usual. What were they up to?

She led them to one the adjoining rooms, one that they only used when they had exceptionally large crowds.  It also had a swinging door to the other room as opposed to a glass and oak one like the rest.  She seated them and left as quickly as she could.

Instead, of going back to the kitchen with to get their orders, she stood off to the side of the door, and as soon as it stopped swinging, she stepped up and pressed her ear against it.  Inside, the men were silent for a few seconds, then began to speak in low whispers. 

“Glad that worked.  Do you think she suspected anything?”

“She is extremely intelligent and perceptive.  Perhaps she does.  But I have faith in that if she did, she would not go to the police or anyone else with anything she learns.  After all, she is family, Mario.  However, I believe that she was tricked into believing you.  Either way, we have nothing to fear.  The main idea was to get into a room where none can accidentally overhear… so let’s get on to business.”

“Are our people clear to get into the house?”

“Yes, and this has been set up through a variety of companies, all of whom have an excellent record.  It can never be traced back to us.”

“But who will hold the package once we have it?”

“A friend of a friend.”

“Can they be trusted?”

“Most assuredly.  I would not be so thick as to entrust such a valuable commodity to an unproven one.”

“I know that, Galante.  I didn’t think you would.  I was merely double-checking.  As to timing, the boy- I mean the “package”- is scheduled to be taken care of tonight?”

“That’s right.”

At that last sentence, Helena’s blood ran cold.  Were they planning a kidnapping?  That’s exactly what it sounded like.

“Where is she with our food?”

She suddenly realized that they were accustomed to being served almost immediately.  She had to be quick.  Without waiting to hear anything else, she turned and fled through the kitchen door.  It took less than thirty seconds for her to be back in the room with their lunch.  As soon as she entered, Mario had resumed his Drunk Act, and it took a few minutes to be able to escape while remaining polite. 

By the time she was gone from the room, however, she was thinking clearly again.  She had to get help somehow.  They were talking about kidnapping a child.  She was positive of it.  But how could she get a hold of Batman? The police were out of the question- there was no way they could work fast enough, while staying inconspicuous.  If the police interfered the Cosa Nostra would know someone was on their trail immediately… and it would point to an informant.  At least with vigilantes it was assumed that they could find things out on their own. 

She racked her brain as she distractedly handed a salad to a middle aged man with his coworkers. 

“Ma’am, can I have some more water please?”

Batman would know what to do.  Or Nightwing.  Or Robin.  The only problem was she had no idea how to get in touch with them.

“Excuse me, I’d like some water, miss!”

The Batsignal might work.  But then she’d have to risk being caught by the police.  That wouldn’t go over too well.  And if she was caught, she’d be dressed as a civilian.  When her family heard that, they would count trying to contact the Bat as a betrayal in itself, never mind what for.

“Miss! Water!”

She jerked out of her reverie quickly, color rose to her cheeks.  “Oh, sir, I’m so sorry! Yes, I’ll have some brought to you immediately.  I’m extremely sorry!”  She walked hurriedly back to the kitchen. 

“Josh, could you get them some water over there?” she said grabbing his sleeve and pointing at the table.

He grinned and nodded.  She went back for more food.  What could she possibly do?  The Mafia would get away with it if she didn’t tip the Batfamily off.  A little boy was going to be taken and there was nothing she could do about it!  She let out a noise of disgust.  They had left her with nothing.  She was helpless.  The only way to help would be to do it herself.

But she couldn’t do that…

The noise of the room became strangely muted, as if she was hearing it from far away.  She stopped, eyes slightly narrowed staring hard at the plate in front of her that she had to deliver to its table, not really seeing it.  Her mind was chasing itself, then nothing, then another thought.  It was that feeling where you know something important is at the edge of your grasp, but the mind shuts down, you’re unable to comprehend it.

Then it sank in.  The truth hit her. 

She had no choice.  She had to go back.

Suddenly realizing what she had thought, she gasped and grabbed the plate of food, (still not walking back towards the table) trying to force the idea out of her mind. But once a blasphemous idea enters your head, it’s not so easy to get out, no matter how hard you try. 

As she tried to think of another idea, she kept returning instead to the idea of the Huntress.  She felt her stomach begin to clench up.  She was becoming physically sick from the conflicting emotions inside of her.

She had sworn she would never go back.

But she realized that she wanted to.  She wanted to badly.  And that was another traitorous new thought. She shouldn’t want to.

Helena had no idea what to do.

She squeezed her eyes shut and forced her breathing to become normal again as the murmurings of customers filled the room.

I am a butterfly…

^*^

 

Tim shivered in his Robin costume.  He was starving.  Lately he’d had to skip lunch so that he could watch Helena while her uncle and cousin were there.  Then, if they didn’t come, like today, he had to go back later.  It was seven o’clock at night and they had finally arrived.  Now he was stuck there until they left.  He was cold, tired, and in an extremely bad mood. 

Helena had shown some neurotic behavior in the past few minutes- not listening to customers combined with a concentrated look- but that could be anything.  The binoculars were held up to his face so that he wouldn’t miss anything.  So far… wait!  His eyes narrowed.  Something was wrong.  She was leaving work early.  What had happened?  He looked down at his watch.  He wouldn’t have time for homework.  And now his science grade would drop…

^*^

 

She had been halfway up the stairwell when the power failed.  She was glad that the elevator had broken the day before or she might have been trapped for who knows how long.  Instead she had the privilege of finding her way in pitch darkness.  She painfully stubbed her toe then fumbled in her pocket for her keys.  It took her a minute to fit them in and turn the knob, but after her brief struggle, it swung soundlessly open. 

As if on cue, lightning struck again, briefly illuminating the apartment.  The usually cozy home was eerily transformed so that it was barely recognizable.  The light hovered in an unearthly glow for a few moments before disappearing and plunging the world into shadows once more.  The thunder, always seconds behind its friend, was faint.  The worst was over.

^*^

 

Tim shifted uncomfortably outside the apartment.  It had gotten dark quickly today.  It was already like midnight, thanks to the storm.  In the November evening weather, the smallest storm could have this same effect.  It did not make what he was doing easier.  He set up his look-out spot, prepared for his long wait.  Maybe Helena would come out, maybe he had nothing to fear. 

He hoped it was the latter; he did not want to call Batman into this. 

The rain began to slow and the thunder became more distant even as he sat there.

^*^

 

Helena stood in front of her dresser.  It was a looming silhouette in the light of the single candle.  She was still and frozen, simply staring, her eyes dark and serious.  The panic she had earlier felt at the prospect of this had vanished, leaving a strange calm, like that in the eye of a storm.  She hadn’t moved a muscle for the past fifteen minutes.  What was going through her head, she didn’t even know.

Slowly, her eyes cleared.  The enormity of this decision weighed heavily upon her.  Her life had reached the crossroads.  She could hide or fight.  A small smile, completely devoid of humor, fixed on her face. 

She had never been one for hiding. 

She had avoided this hidden closet for the past few months, not even wanting to look at it.  Now, she was facing it head-on.  Her destiny- her best friend and greatest enemy- was behind that wall.  Would she ever be able to escape it?  Doubtful.  But it was also doubtful that she would want to.

With deliberate movements, she reached forward and pressed the catch.  The door began to move open.  Her eyes, frightened and thrilled at the same time, followed it. 

I am a butterfly…

^*^

 

Tim was still in the same position.  He kept thinking over and over of the worst-case scenario.  She would soon be coming out again, ready to wield her own destructive sword of justice. 

And he would have to turn her over to his mentor.

He would have to knowingly tell the Bat, who would lose no time in stripping her to the soul, who would lose no time in doing everything in his power to stop her, no matter what the cost.

Batman knew exactly what his words and criticism did to her, and he would use them well.

Batman did not want the Huntress to return, and if he confronted her when she was still, no doubt, unsure, then there could be no predicting what would happen to her.

He debated with himself.  Maybe she would be fine; maybe he was overreacting.  He could call Batman and get him to stop her, before someone got hurt.  She would be upset, but calm down after a few days.

Who was he kidding?  He had watched her for the past week.  She was unhappy.  She and the Huntress could not be separated. The two identities blended together so much that to try and pull Helena from Huntress would leave her feeling empty; it could possibly kill her.  It reminded him of the way Siamese twins were born.

 Huntress belonged to Helena in the same way that Batman was part of Bruce, Nightwing was part of Dick, Batgirl was part of Cassandra.  He didn’t know how it felt.  He could leave at any time.  Unlike Bruce and the others, he had no tragedy driving him to save lives.  He did it as… well… something more than a job, but less than his life.  But Helena on the other hand…

They had been fooling themselves.  Helena would never give up Huntress, not without endangering her mental health.  If Huntress was to be taken away, she would slowly die inside.

He suddenly realized where his thoughts had taken him.

He gave himself a bitter, painful smile.

Drake, you should be a poet…talking about dying inside… Better prepare to be good enough to fill your empty hours with it, when Batman gets home, you’ll be fired…

There was no way he was going tell Bruce.

^*^

 

It was all exactly as she had left it.  After throwing away her old costume, she had decided that she would never enter the secret room again.  Consequently, that was the only reason why there were still two spare costumes left in the compartment in the wall.   She realized now that she knew subconsciously all those months ago that she could never give up being the Huntress.

Her breath caught in her throat as her fingers touched the familiar fabric.  Reverently, she picked it up again.

“…She scares me.”  “She should… she’s a killer…”

In her final days as the Huntress, that had been part of her conversation with the man Richard Dragon.  He had taught her to breathe.  He had taught her more about herself.  She found that his voice still guided her sometimes.

His voice was still telling the truth.  She missed being the Huntress, but the sight of the crossbow still filled her with a kind of fear.  Huntress still scared her. 

Her eyes hardened. 

Now, she had no choice, but to go back.  Justice had to be dealt out, whatever way possible.  She had to save that boy.  She knew how her family dealt.  If she did nothing, he would never see his family again- ransom or no ransom.

She began to unbutton her shirt.

^*^

 

It was all coming back to her: the jumping, falling, acrobatics.  For the first few minutes, she’d had some close calls.  Months without practice had made her forget the feeling at first.  Her timing had been off. 

But now she had remembered.  She felt as if she had never left.  Her spare costume fit her perfectly and every cell was rejoicing at the air that rushed around her. 

She stopped at another rooftop and stared at the city below.  Just as I left you… She prepared to take off again and shot out a grappling hook.  Just as she was about to leave the edge, a voice cried out-

“Huntress!”

Caught off balance, she tottered on the rim, almost falling, but a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back before she could fall.

She and the culprit landed in a heap on the ground.  She twisted around and pinned his hands down, angry and scared at the same time.

“What’s wrong with you, Boy Blunder?” she hissed, her eyes fearful and intense.  “Are you trying to kill me?  You almost…” her voice trailed off, then she whispered, “Are you crazy?”

Tim gently pulled his arms away, then they both sat up.

“Do you think I’m in the perfect condition to handle surprises after ten minutes back out?” she asked shakily.

He didn’t say anything.

As if just realizing who she was talking to, she stood up, quickly recovering from her shock- as the next words showed.  “And just why were you following me?”

“I saw you leave.”

She put two and two together, and didn’t like the answer she arrived at.  Now she was downright mad.  “Listen, I don’t need your boss following me around telling me everything that I can and can’t do!  Go away, Robin.  Tell Grim, Dark, and Gloomy to stay away from me, I don’t work for him!”

“Helena-”

“No! I don’t want to hear your excuses.  Hey, great to see you, Kid, but I honestly haven’t missed you quite enough to let your family walk all over me again!”

“Listen, all I’m trying to do is help!”

“I don’t want your help!”

“Well whether you want it or not, you need it!”

“I know what you want me to do.  Want a surprise?- I’m not doing it!”

Before he could get another word out, she turned and was gone.  He allowed himself a second for cursing her, Batman, and himself, before swinging after her.

^*^

 

It was hard work keeping up with her.  True, she had gone a long time without the whole sky-diving routine, but she was also bound and determined to lose him. 

Unfortunately, that was something that he couldn’t let happen.

After a good solid hour of this cat-and-mouse game, she gave up and landed on the roof of a downtown clothing store.  Huntress waited a few minutes while they both caught their breaths.  Once they were back to normal, she sat down.

Finally succumbing to the inevitable, she sighed and said tiredly, “So spill, what exactly do you want, Kid?”

Might as well get right to it, he thought.  But even with that thought, he didn’t know exactly how to say what he wanted to.  He sat there struggling for a few minutes before stating simply, “…Helena… you have to go home.  You can’t take this case- whatever it is.”

She had started to relax, but at his words, she bristled.  “Kid, I can’t do that, and you know it.  At least you should if you’re half the detective I know you to be.”

“Batman told me to tell him if you refused.”

Silence reigned on the rooftop for a solid minute.  The anger was crashing against her chest like waves but she couldn’t quite figure the best way to express it. 

“So,” she said tightly in a bitter voice after the minute was up, “I guess that you’re just going to go and find him now, huh?”

“No,” he said flatly, avoiding her eyes now.

“No?” She was surprised.  It showed clearly on her face.

“No.  I want you to stop now- without him having to know.”

“Robin…”

His voice changed, “Helena, please.  I hate it when he tries to stop you from doing something, you always get hurt.”

“I’m going to try my best not to take that as an insult.”

“It’s true.”

“Listen, Robin, I’m only going to say this once: I’m not backing down.”

They stopped talking, both looking out over the city.  It looked so peaceful this high up- almost like there weren’t any problems.  Looks can be misleading.

A long time passed then- “I knew you wouldn’t,” he said quietly, not looking at her, but rather, examining the razor sharp “R” that he held in his hands. 

Her face didn’t change, “I know.”

He pinned it back on his chest, “I just wanted to make sure.”

She made a noise, one that was almost a laugh, “Kid, without you to even out the personalities between you Batboys, I don’t know what I would do.”

“I’m going to try my best not to take that as an insult.”

“I’m glad; it wasn’t meant to be one.”

“So what’s going on? What do we do now?”

“We?”

“Well, I’m going to be helping you.”

“Oh no you’re not!”

“Yes, I am.”

“Wanna bet?”

“I am.”

“There is no way in the world that I am letting you do this!  That’s final!”

^*^

 

“I don’t believe that I’m letting you do this.”  She grumbled as they crouched behind a rooftop unit next to the warehouse. 

“You don’t really have much of a choice.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“It’s just a quick little job.”

“That’s hardly how I would describe it.”

“Well, it’s procedure for me.”

“Maybe I should go.”

“No! We’ve been over this!  You can’t go because if you did the Mafia would know Huntress was back!  That would put everyone on high alert!”

“But having Robin (and perhaps Batman) on the case wouldn’t?”

“We haven’t been known for going specifically after Mafia members.  Besides, you add the element of surprise to our side.”

“That argument is pretty weak.”

“Just go with me here.”

“I’m trying.”

“Good.  I’m leaving now.”

“Just be careful.  I don’t care whether you get hurt or not, just don’t do anything that the Bat will notice.”

“Gee, thanks for the support, Huntress.”

She grinned at him teasingly.  But right before he was about to leave, she said, “Robin, I’m being serious, don’t get hurt in there.”

He shook his head condescendingly and laughed.  “Huntress, have a little faith will ya?”

Before she could say another word, he was gone- leaving her to sit and wait.

^*^

 

It was very straightforward.  He would go in, intimidate the man in charge into giving him information, and get out again.  The only problem was that he had no idea where to begin. 

The place was huge.  There were shelves that reached thirty to forty feet in air.  They were piled high with the machinery parts that were stored here.  Row after row stretched into the darkness.  What to do?

He came to a quick decision.  With a nimble leap, he was on the first shelf.  He reached his arms up, and heaved up over the edge.  Great.  Only fourteen left.  He was in good shape, but by the time he got to the top, his arms were aching.  He had to sit there rubbing them, waiting for the pain to subside, before he could take in his new surroundings.

But when he did look up, he found that his efforts had been well worth it.  There, across the way, there was a light on in an office tucked in the corner.  He fired his grappling hook off, making it catch on a rafter.  He would have to pay the room’s occupant a little visit.

^*^

 

Matthew Pells was a thin, white-haired man with malicious eyes that glared out from bushy eyebrows.  If there was ever a picture of an evil man it was him.  No false-faces, no pretending, he was cruel, uncaring, and wanted everyone to know it.  His men feared him, his superiors respected him.  He was just the kind of man the police would watch, but he kept a low profile and gave them no visible reason to.  With these two things in his favor, he was just the sort of person the Mafia would pick to be a general for their soldiers.

He had two personal bodyguards and was sent a check in the mail every four months for “supplying various machinery parts”.  To make a long story short, he had it made.

But even men like him don’t have all good nights.

^*^

 

The two men that had been outside the door were lying unconscious in a heap.  Robin had given them two good kicks just to make sure.  Receiving no reaction, he stepped over them and tried the door.

Locked.

He stood there, debating what to do, but for only about half a minute.  Then he realized that one or both of the bodyguards would have keys on him.  He bent down to check.  Sure enough, they were in the left pocket of the first man he tried.  Good.  He slid the key into the door and turned the knob.  It opened without a sound. 

The man at the desk was leaned over a stack of papers with a pen.  He didn’t even glace up as the door opened.  “I thought I told you to stay outside!” he growled in a gnarly voice.

Robin stepped inside and closed the door behind him.  The room was dimly lit and the door behind him was the only way out.  Pells was trapped.  He stood still and waited.

At first, Pells ignored him, waiting for him to become intimidated and leave.  But finally, he got tired of his “bodyguard” standing there doing nothing.  He looked up with an angry look on his face to tell the man to leave.  When he saw who it really was, the expression got even worse.  Not scared.  Angry.

He stood up, pushing his chair back.  “What are you doing here?  This is private property!  Get out of my office!”  He hissed the last sentence.

Robin folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the door. 

Pells’ face turned an interesting shade of red.  “Don’t even try it.  You are not your mentor, boy.  You cannot strike fear into my heart simply by standing there, even if it does work on the common criminals.”

Robin didn’t move a muscle except his lips.  “So you agree that you are an uncommon criminal?”

Pells’ eyes narrowed.  “I am not any kind of criminal at all.  I am a business owner.  I do not deal in anything other than that.  And for that reason, I am asking you to leave the premises immediately.”

Robin finally pushed away from the door and started towards him with slow, measured steps.  “You are a liar.  You deal with the Mafia.  You have broken more laws than I can even count.  And,” he leaned across the desk towards him, “you are going to tell me everything that I want to know.”

The temperature plummeted.  The two stood there, neither moving.  It was as if they had become statues, frozen.  Their eyes were locked.

At last, Pells spoke in a low voice, “Boy, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Robin drew back.  “I think you do.  I am talking about a certain little boy who was reported to be kidnapped this afternoon.”

Pells leaned back, at ease once again.  “I know which boy you are talking about.  It has not yet been released to the public that he is missing though.  His father is a politician named Oliver Ferwald with ideas that ‘certain individuals’ don’t like.  He is preparing to run for senator, and these same people have kidnapped his son.  The son will only be returned if the father doesn’t run.  Is that what you want to know?”

Robin frowned and said testily, “All of that is information that I could have learned from visiting the police station.”

“That’s all that I know.”

“You’re a liar.”

The silence stretched.

Robin tried another angle.  “If the news hasn’t been released to the public yet, how do you know about it?”

Pells smiled.  “It was not on the news tonight, but it will be in the newspapers tomorrow.  I pay extra to get the newspaper a day in advance.  It arrived only about fifteen minutes a head of you.”

He pulled out a newspaper.  Sure enough, it was for tomorrow. 

There was more glaring between the two.

“I don’t believe that’s all you know.”

“Believe what you like.  It’s true.”

“Do you have proof?”

“How could I have proof that I don’t know something?”

“How can I know that you don’t?”

“You can’t.”  He smiled the same smile that a cat has when playing with a mouse, “But I am telling the truth.”

Robin had been totally and completely focused on Pells.  That’s why it came as such a shock to him when he was attacked from behind.  Arms tightened around his neck, cutting off his airway.

Pells leisurely walked around from behind his desk and stood in front of Robin.  He was trying to fight the man holding him, but it wasn’t working. 

“Listen, boy, I will say this once more, I know nothing about the child.  If your mentor happens to be crouched in the shadows somewhere around here and comes diving to your rescue, tell him that.  I have no reason to lie with you at my mercy.”

Robin’s mouth was gaping, but nothing was getting by.  He was beginning to feel light-headed. 

“But if he isn’t here, I’m afraid that you are in for some bad luck.  I can’t have little sneaks around this place, and you would be one less flying rat to worry about.”

Robin tried to use one of the tricks that Lady Shiva had taught him, but the guard was trained surprisingly well and was ready for tricks.  He had obviously been taken by surprise before, but was not about to let that happen again.  Why is a man this well-trained working here?  He thought this a bit hazily as he was beginning to see black dots around the edges of his vision.

Pells watched him for a few more seconds, then turned around and began to walk back behind his desk.

I’m going to die, he thought, amazed.  He had never thought that it would happen like this, at the hands of some petty Mafia pawn.  Maybe at the hands of the Joker, or Two-face, if anyone.  To be honest, he had never truly believed that he would die as Robin at all.  This is strange to be dying in a way I never thought I would. 

He was just beginning to loose consciousness when a bang was heard, his guard yelled, and the arm loosened.  He crumpled to the ground as the man stumbled away, holding his leg in pain.  Robin breathed deeply, weakly pulling himself towards a wall.  His eyes were still seeing spots and his head was spinning enough that he knew any attempt to get up would result in disaster.  Even as he leaned against the wall the voices were blending together and everything was getting foggy. 

Gotta stay awake…can’t pass out… gotta…stay… awake… 

He gave up, and let the darkness envelope him.

^*^

 

Huntress swung down from the air vent into the now almost empty room.  It had taken about five shots to finally scare Pells and his men away.  Once they had run, she waited a few more minutes just to be sure.  Robin lay unconscious on the ground, but otherwise looked alright- he wasn’t dead at least.

Cautiously, she moved over to him and made sure he was breathing all right now that he didn’t have an arm wrapped around his throat.  There were smelling salts in her utility belt and she hurriedly took them out, waving them under Robin’s face.  The stimulants revived him fairly quickly and soon his eyes opened and peered up at her. 

There was a look of confusion for a few seconds, as if he was trying to remember where he was.  Then understanding came to his face and he slowly sat up.  He rubbed his head and groaned, “That gave me a headache like you wouldn’t believe.” 

She smirked.  “Trust me, I would believe it.”

“What happened?  I heard a sound like a gunshot, then I was dropped, and…” he trailed off, confused.  “Gunshot…? That doesn’t make sense…” All of a sudden, there was a look of panic in his eyes.  He spun around, searching the room.  “Where is he? What happened?”

Huntress sat back on her heels.  An ill-tempered look came to her face.  “Kid, I wish that you would trust me.”

He stared at her wordlessly, not wanting to suppose anything.

She sighed, “They aren’t dead, Robin.  I got the one holding onto you with a bullet from this gun in the leg, the rest I shot at, but tried not to hit.”

“Tried?”

“Didn’t hit,” she amended.

They heard voices outside, about to come up the steps.  They looked at each other.  Without even speaking, they jumped up and exited through the ventilation system.  By the time that the guards returned, they would be long gone.

^*^

 

“What time is it?”  They were on yet another rooftop in Gotham- this one was about a mile from the downtown area.  She could see and smell the sea from her vantage point.

Robin grinned.  “What?  Past your bedtime?”

She looked slightly amused at that thought.  “No, but I have to be at work early tomorrow.”

Robin kept his face impassive.  “Really?” he said neutrally.

She glanced sideways at him.  “You can stop with your innocent act.  You know absolutely everything about me due to your gross invasion on my life a few months ago.”

“An invasion that helped you solve the case of who was framing you.”

“Do I sense some defensiveness?”

He scowled, and didn’t answer.

She was immediately sorry.  It was true.  She might not even be alive right now if it hadn’t been for his “research project”.

But she wasn’t about to admit to that. 

“Anyway,” she said, changing the subject, “as of right now, we have absolutely nothing to go on.  I think I’ll have to put you on hold for a few nights.  I don’t see that we have any other ideas.”

“There’s gotta be someone that knows something.”

“There must be.  But Pells is pretty high up on the chain- and I believe that he didn’t know anything.  This kidnapping comes from the very top.  The only ones we could possible get any information out of are the head men themselves; and, to be honest, I have absolutely no idea how we would be able to get that.”

“Which leaves us… where exactly?”

“With nothing.”

“Darn.  That’s what I thought.”

“I’m going to go back to the restaurant and see if I can get anything from eavesdropping.”   

“What do you want me to do?”

“Um… just keep your ears open.”

“In other words, nothing?”

“Just for now.  Like I said, we’re kinda at a dead end.  Meet me here every night at ten until we have something.”

^*^

 

“Helena, are you ok?”

She glanced up from the napkin she was doodling on, “Of course, Josh.  Why do you ask?”

He looked at her suspiciously.  “Because of that right there.  You’ve been extremely polite lately.  Normally I would welcome that, but you’re also being extremely distant.  Something’s on your mind.  Spill.”

She tried to laugh.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Josh!”

He slid into the seat across from her.

She raised her eyebrows; “You’re going to get Ray mad at you.  We aren’t supposed to take our breaks at the same time.”

He gave her an ironic smile, “You can’t get rid of me that easily.  Ray gave me special permission.  He’s worried about you too you know.”

She smiled, “Why?  I’m fine.  I’ve just had something happen, that’s all.”

The bell above the door rang.  Her cousin and godfather entered the diner.  She jumped to her feet. 

“Whoops!  Gotta go!”

Josh was left abandoned at the table.  His brow furrowed into a frown.  Since when had she been so happy to see her family? 

Something was definitely wrong.

^*^

 

Days passed.  They didn’t drop so much as a hint.  Helena was starting to become worried.  If they didn’t start talking soon, the boy would be dead.  She was running out of time.  She was becoming really and truly concerned.  Every night she would stay up late trying to find some angle she had missed.  Her earlier hope had deserted her; she cried hopelessly when she thought that no one was looking.  Who knew that this would give her so much pressure? 

She had changed a lot.  She had changed.  What kind of hero had she become?  She couldn’t even keep her emotions in check.

Maybe Batman was right.

^*^

 

It was on a very foggy day that a man in a blue trench coat walked into Little Italy.  He had red hair and deep blue eyes.  Cristy immediately seated him and took his order.  He was left sitting alone staring out at the people on the sidewalk.  He had a calm and genial look on his face and was completely at ease. 

Helena walked by, on her way to give Ray an elderly couple’s order.  She didn’t notice him at first, but he followed her with his eyes.  He waited until she had completed her task and was on her way back.  She began to clear a table across the way, her back facing him. 

“Excuse me?  But do you think you can answer my question?”

Without turning, she said, “Well, sir, that depends on the question.”

He smiled, as if remembering something long forgotten, and said quietly,  “Am I a butterfly?”

She froze. 

The seconds stretched.  Finally, she turned and stared.  Softly, as if afraid he would suddenly disappear, she whispered, “Vic?”

He looked levelly back at her. 

She dropped her silverware and ran to the booth. She flung herself at him and threw her arms around his neck. 

To say he was surprised by this would have been an understatement.  Unsure, he hugged her back.

“Helena,” he asked cautiously, “what’s wrong?”

As if suddenly realizing what she was doing, she pulled away and folded her hands in her lap.  She looked down and without meeting his eyes she said, “Vic, you might still be mad at me, but I need you to help me now.  I need to get some information, but I can’t be seen as… my other persona… I… I haven’t been Huntress in so long, I’m unsure, I don’t trust myself.”

“You’re Huntress again,” he said flatly.  It was a statement, not a question.

“Yes.”

Once again, no words were spoken.  He returned his attention to the window.

“Vic, it’s only temporary.  There’s a boy who needs my help.  Batman hasn’t showed any sign of getting ready to investigate- I don’t even know if he’s here right now.  Robin’s hinted that he’s gone.  Vic, please, I’m the only one that can do this.”

He finally turned back and looked at her, “Don’t worry.  I knew that it wouldn’t last- your giving her up.  You’ve devoted too much of your life to her.  She can’t be thrown away just like that… I couldn’t either.”

She waited.

He let out his breath, “I’ll help.  That’s what I came here for anyway.”

Helena gave a sigh of relief.  “Thank you.  I was starting to worry.  I’m too out of practice for this.”  She glanced up at the clock.  “I really have to get back to work now, but I can talk about this with you again later.”

^*^

 

“Beep beep beeeeeeeeep,” went the microwave.

She smiled and pulled out the hot chocolates.  Since Vic had come yesterday she had become more and more like herself.  No more crying at night, no more having a hard time concentrating, no more worrying non-stop, and no more having people constantly looking over her shoulder and asking if she was all right.

Vic would be able to help her.  She had even given a real insult to Josh- who was so relieved he held up his hands in a victory sign and paraded around the room.  The stress had left, leaving her confused as to why everything had looked so hopeless before when, if she actually worked with someone, they would easily be able to figure out a relatively straight-forward plan- which is just what had happened.

There was a knock.  She went around her kitchen counter to open her apartment door.  Vic stepped in, closed it behind him, and immediately began to talk. 

“I installed the bugging system right after I left.  When I went back and played back the results they were talking about it about only an hour into the recording.  We’re lucky- it could have lasted weeks and we got it on the first day!  I just finished uninstalling it.  It wouldn’t do for them to know we’ve been spying.”

She grinned and handed him his mug.  “Great, what did it tell us?”

He took out a tape and crossed the room to the tape player. 

It took him a few minutes to find the right spot, but eventually he did.  Her Godfather’s, her cousin’s, and the voices of Angelo and Michael Beretti, two other mob members, came on over the speakers.  There was about thirty seconds of everyone arguing and she couldn’t understand a thing.  Finally, Galante called for quiet.

“I understand your concern over the matter, gentlemen.  Let me assure you that it is being addressed!”  He sounded slightly exasperated.

“This is dangerous, Galante.  We should take care of it now, tonight!” said Angelo.

“That’s what I plan to do.”

“The boy’s father must be done away with.  If he stays alive then we are all in danger!”

“Quite right,” said Mario, nonplussed.  “He must and will be out of our way.  We have already made plans for it.”

Michael came on next, he sounded angry. “ ‘Already made plans for it’?” he roared.  “I thought that we would all agree before making a move!”

He had a good reason for being upset.  His father was supposed to be the sole advisor to Galante- a position he himself would one day fill.

“Yes,” Galante answered, it was clear that his patience was wearing thin.  “It is already scheduled.  He will be dead by Thursday morning.”

Vic reached up and turned off the tape.  He looked at her meaningfully.  It was  Tuesday night.

Knowing what he was thinking, she turned towards her bedroom.  “I’m supposed to meet Robin in fifteen minutes to tell him what we’re doing.  We can go warn the boy’s father tonight.  They should have enough time to prepare for the attack tomorrow night.”

^*^

 

Robin’s head turned instantly when she landed on the roof.

“Please, please, please, say that we have something to do tonight.”

“We have something to do tonight.”

“Yes!” he grinned and jumped to his feet. 

^*^

 

Once again, they were on a roof.  This time it was across from the hotel where Oliver Ferwald was staying during his time in Gotham.

“Oracle says that he’s on the fourth floor.  The whole floor has been bought by him, not only for his aides and partners to stay in, but also for security reasons.  Room number 436 is where he and his wife are staying.” Robin glanced over at her after this report.  “Where did you find this anyway?  I wouldn’t think that the mob bosses would have been careless enough to let this slip in a restaurant.”

“They were careful.  I didn’t get this from the restaurant.”

He turned and raised his eyebrows, “Really?  Where did you get it from then?”

“The Question helped a bit.”

He gave her a look.  “I didn’t know he was in town.”

“He is.”

He gave her another look, but decided not to press and turned back towards their surveillance of the house. 

“Well,” he began, after watching for a few more instants, “we could take the direct approach- walk up and see if the guards would let in two unknown people in Halloween costumes who look as if they belong in Arkham- or we could just be the shadowy, mysterious figures we always are and glide in unseen, scaring people out of their wits, and ruling through fear.  What’ll it be?”

“Hmmm… be hauled away in a straightjacket or having people cowering at your feet?  Tough choice.”

“Yeah, glad I don’t have to decide.  I wouldn’t know what to do.”

She finally cracked and began to laugh.  He joined her after a second.  It took them another few minutes to calm down.  She didn’t want to stop- it had been so long since she really laughed.

Robin looked over at her.  She’s not changing as much as she is letting her true self shine through, he realized.  She’s had to hide her true self to protect herself against her family… and us.  He was surprised at the last thought and for a second he felt guilty- as if he was betraying some trust that Batman and Nightwing and the others had in him.  But he realized it was true- she did have to protect herself from the Batclan.  They had never been very supporting.  In fact, Batman acted more like her enemy than her ally.   

“Ok,” she said, finally sobering, “we’re going in to stop a murder.  We need to get serious.”

He nodded, all serious again.  “You’re right.  Sorry.”

“Nervous energy,” she said.

“That window- the one three stories up- is open.  It looks like it’s in the stairwell.”

“We’ll use that.”

“You know, after we do this, we still don’t have any leads.”

“I know.  We’ll figure something out.”

^*^

 

There were two of them.  They were big. 

Huntress brought down the infrared goggles and glanced at Robin. She wasn’t out of breath after the full-out sprint up the stairs and that put her in a better mood. “How badly do you want to keep an eye on me?”

He glanced over at her and raised his eyebrows.  “You’re about to use me as bait, aren’t you?”

She tried to keep herself from smirking, and shrugged.  “It’s the fastest and easiest way,” she replied innocently.

He didn’t answer.

“Just run through the door and draw them away.  That way I can get in.”

“I don’t like beating up people who aren’t the bad guys.”

“I know.”

“You’re enjoying this aren’t you?”

“A bit.”

He shook his head, and motioned her over to the corner. “You owe me one,” he said.

“Meet me back outside.”

He moved his head in agreement, then burst through the door.  It slammed closed behind him, but she could hear the sudden yells.  She gave a small smile.

That quickly disappeared when she heard the gunshot.

She took out the goggles again, but they were too far away for her to see the outline of their body heat through the door.  If he was hurt…

Her breath was let out in a sigh of relief as she realized that there was still the sound of pursuit.  She heard him laugh tauntingly, then the sounds faded.  After one last check to make sure no one was left by the door, she pushed through and ran down the hall.  She glanced quickly at the numbers on either side as she ran.

422… 424… 426…

She saw three men round the far corner.  They were trained to think fast and barely hesitated at all before one brought out a gun.

No, no, no, no, no! This was getting annoying.

436! 

The gun went off.  She jumped sideways and pulled down on the handle, at the same time, dropping her legs so that she fell at the floor.  The bullet whistled over her head.  She desperately moved the handle up and down, but it wouldn’t open.

She realized her mistake and wanted to hit herself.  This was a hotel.  She needed a room key for the door to open. The three men surrounded her and one leveled his gun at her chest. 

He said in a tight voice, “If you don’t want to die then I would suggest that you remain very, very still.”

^*^

 

He made it all the way around to the next exit door before hitting the next set of guards.  Then it was an all-out fight.  He had no plan whatsoever.  Robin saw the elevator door open and more reinforcements came out to help.  He fought his way towards the door, then opened up a space around it.  The door started to close and he slipped through at the last possible second.  The building had eight floors.

He hit the button for the seventh.

^*^

 

Her eyes hardened as she looked at the men towering over her.  She wanted nothing more then to have a bolt from her crossbow embedded in each of them.  She hated the way they used that tone- as if they were laughing!

She struggled to get a hold of herself.  “I need to talk to Oliver Ferwald.  His life is in danger.”

Arrogant Man nodded sagely, “Yes, I can see that, but the danger has been taken care of.”  He grinned down at her, then said to the man on his left, “Call the police.”

At that moment, the door to the room opened behind her.  Yet another bodyguard looked out.  “Is there a problem?”

Without hesitating, she kicked the gun out of Arrogant Man’s hands and pushed off his knees with her feet to fly into New Guy’s legs and knock him over. 

Complete chaos.

Immediately she was on her feet and fighting guards that were inside.  She used an elbow to break a nose and a kick to knock another in the stomach- both went down.  Almost as soon as it started, it was over.

She heard feet in the hallway.  There would be more in seconds.  She turned around to where a man and his wife sat in chairs at a small table covered in papers.  The woman was cowering, the man had his arm around her protectively.  His eyes were stubborn, refusing to show fear.

“Oliver Ferwald, I need to speak to you now, you are in no danger from me.  Please, call off your guards so we can talk.”

The rest came in through the door and surrounded her.  Once again the guns were aimed, though no one fired.  She didn’t even look at them, but instead kept her eyes locked with his. 

He stood up.  “Who are you and have you broken into my room?”

“I am the Huntress.  I have an urgent warning for you.”

“So you break in?”

“Phone calls can be traced, and I assumed that it would be all but impossible for you to talk to me face to face during this time of heightened security.”

He stared at her for a few more moments, then motioned his guards to lower their weapons.  “I’m listening.”

This was probably the best she was going to get.  There was no reason for the rest to leave, and no way she would talk them into it.  It didn’t matter, they all needed to hear it anyway.  “I have evidence that there is going to be an attack on your life by the same people that are holding your son.  I suggest that you put you men on high alert at least until Thursday.  Tonight and tomorrow you must be very careful.”

He looked at her carefully, “How do you know this?  Are you sure your information is correct?”

“I can’t tell you how I know, but be assured I have an excellent source.”

He nodded.  “Very well.  I don’t think we have anything further to fear from the kidnappers, but then, that isn’t my area of expertise.  I’ll put my men on high alert.” He paused looking at her with dislike in his eyes, “I had thought that they already were, but it appears I was wrong if they allowed you to get in.  Was that all?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then thank you for warning me.” A small smirk came to his face.  “And I’m sorry for all the… trouble.”

“On the contrary,” she said lightly, glancing around at the injured guards, a few of which were still out cold on the floor.  “I apologize for all the trouble I caused you.”

“I’ll be sure to take your advice.”  He waved his hands and the security began to march her out of the room.

She sighed.  Armed escort- just what she always wanted. 

^*^

 

By the time she was back outside, Robin was lying on his back looking at the sky.  The stars couldn’t be seen through the glare of the city lights, but he didn’t seem to mind that. 

“Have fun?”

“No.”

“Good.”

^*^

 

It was late by the time she got home.  Vic was asleep on her couch, but he woke up as soon as she pushed open the window and dropped in. 

He looked at her from where he lay propped up on one elbow, after a moment he said, “Wanna tell me about it?”

She gave him a gentle smile and crossed the room to sit next to him, pulling off her mask as she did so.  “Not one of the best nights of my life, but still managed to warn him.”

He slid an arm around her.  “What do you do next?”

She allowed herself to relax against him.  “I don’t know.  Wait a little longer I guess.  Something has to happen soon.”

He said nothing.

She sighed.  “I just wish that I could do something!  I’m not used to sitting around and doing nothing!”

“You’ll figure something out.”

“Yeah… I know…”  She closed her eyes.

Vic looked down at her, “Helena, I’m leaving tomorrow.”

The eyes opened again, “You’re leaving?”

He nodded, “Unless you need me for something else?”

She stared at him, then shook her head, “No, I guess not.”  But she wasn’t happy about it, he could see.  He kissed the top of her head.  “I’ll come back soon to make sure everything works out all right.”

She managed a smile.  “Thanks.”

They didn’t say anything for a long time after that; and after a while, she seemed to have fallen asleep.  Vic reached over, turned off the lamp, and wrapped the blanket around both of them. 

Right before he too fell asleep, he heard Helena say in a sleepy voice, “Vic?”

“Yeah?”

“Just to let you know, you’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”

He smiled and smoothed the hair out of her face, “Good-night, Helena.  I love you.”

“Love you too…”

^*^

 

Tim wasn’t expecting anyone to be in the Batcave when he got back.  Bruce was gone, after all.  Alfred would usually be the only other person there, and Tim had told him not to wait up.  However, when he pulled up in the Redbird, the monitor of the Batcomputer was on.

It looked like a video game.

He came up behind the Great Chair.  “Working late?”

“Uh-huh.” said Dick, obviously deep in concentration.  His car passed a blue convertible and spun around a corner. 

“Looks serious.”

“Yep.  Batman told me to go over some of his files to make sure that a drug ring I just busted in the ‘Haven and Gotham hadn’t spread anywhere else.”

Tim nodded seriously, “Any luck?”

Dick yelled “No!” as his car suddenly exploded into flames.  Three seconds later, the time ran out.

He spun the chair around, “As a matter of fact… no.” 

“Not for lack of trying though.”  The grin finally broke through and Tim started to laugh.

Dick joined him.  “I didn’t mean to!  It’s just… the disks got mixed up!”

“Yeah, I’m sure they did!”

Tim wandered away towards the place where his backpack was stashed under a table.  He picked it up, then paused and looked around.

“Dick, have you seen my report on Ethiopia?”

“What report?” came the answer from the other side of the room.  It was in an all-too-innocent voice.

“Dick!”

The still-masked head looked over the edge of the railing, “Oh, that report!”

“Yeah, that one- the one I spent three hours working on this afternoon alone!”

Dick grinned, “It’s probably in the same place my book is.  How ‘bout we make a trade?”

Tim’s mouth fell open, “How should I know where your book is?”

“Here, in a gesture of good faith, I’ll tell you that your report is with Cass.  Now you tell me what you did with my book.”

“With Cass? Are you nuts?”  He turned and hurried out of the room- no telling what that girl would think of to do to that report!

“Hey!  What about your end of the deal?”

Tim slid to a halt and turned around, “Dick, I have no idea what happened to it!”  He started to turn again, but stopped and looked back, confusion etched on his face.  “Are you feeling ok, Dick?  I didn’t even know you liked reading- come to think of it- when did you learn?”

One of Alfred’s apples flew up at him, but he dodged it.  He was still laughing as he got into his car and drove home.

^*^

 

He wasn’t laughing later.

He hadn’t been able to go to Oracle’s the next day because his dad had taken him out to eat, then insisted on looking at his homework to see what he was learning.  He wouldn’t let him go to the manor because he had overheard Tim talking to Brad about how Bruce would be out of town for the next few days.  “Come on, Tim!  We never get to spend any time together anymore!”

He had only gotten out today because he contacted Dick while at school and had him call his house to pretend Bruce was back.

So, here he was, trying to get his report again.  And it looked like he was getting nowhere fast.

First he spent a good ten minutes trying to beat Oracle’s alarm system- it didn’t work.  He was trapped outside trying over and over again, knowing that she was watching him from inside, laughing.  Finally, she took pity on him and electronically opened the windows.  Then he entered, only to find that Batgirl wasn’t the only one visiting Babs.  The first one he ran into was none other than his ex-girlfriend. 

Stephanie Brown stepped into the living room just as he finished closing the window.  She was in her civilian clothes, blond hair up in a ponytail.  At first he had no idea what to do.  She was rarely in the Batcave at the same time as him, and when she was, it was big enough for them to avoid each other.   At school it was the same situation.  Finally, when she just stood there, not saying anything, waiting, he cleared his throat and said, “I’m looking for Cass.  Oracle said she was here.”

Her arms crossed in front of her, she said coldly, without moving, “She’s here.  She’s with Oracle.  Back room.”

“Um… thanks.”

He was immensely glad that looks couldn’t kill.

He barely made it out of the room before having a run-in with a fellow bird.  He stepped through the doorway after Steph grudgingly moved aside, when he was hit with water spray. 

“Hey, kid!  I thought that you were nocturnal!  What’re you doing here?  The sun’s still out!”

He reached over and turned off the faucet as quick as he could.  But it wasn’t quick enough- he was completely drenched.  “Canary,” he asked, exasperated, “don’t you have some place better to be?  Tibet?  Burundi?  Your place?”

She grinned wickedly from the counter top she sat on while drying the dishes.  “Nah, much better here.  I have to be the hero on missions, and there’s no one to torment at my apartment.”

“That explains it,” he said sarcastically under his breath.  He tried again to move to the back room, but just as it looked as if he would make it, Babs wheeled into the doorway and blocked his way. 

“Tim!  Just the person I was looking for!  Are you busy?”

Why me? He thought desperately to himself, all I want to do is talk to Cassie!  I did not expect an obstacle course of women!  While out loud saying, “Well, I need to get my stuff from Cass, and as soon as it gets dark I have to go patrol, but other then that- not really.”  Whipped.  I am so whipped.

“Great!” she beamed, leading him into her computer room.  Cass was sitting at one of the other screens, but there was no hope of talking to her now.  “All you need to do is sit here while I pull up this file…” Oracle continued.

^*^

 

Two hours later, Tim had thoroughly gone through multiple files on a past case that Oracle was looking at for Batman.  “Yeah, I think you’re right.  KOBRA is planning something big- and soon.”  He looked over at her from his position by the monitor.  “Is this what Batman is researching?”

“Yeah, but he’s just looking at the research like me.  BC’s the one that’s actually going the Kasnia.  She doesn’t like computers, so Batman’s going to help me here.”

He frowned, “You’re not telling me everything.  What is it they’re planning exactly?”

She shook her head, tone joking, but face serious, “Sorry, can’t tell- Supreme Serpent, or whatever they call him, would be mad.”

He let out his breath in annoyance, then looked past her at the TV. ABC news was on, the sound low.  The icon on the top right showed the yellow tape that said “Police Line: Do Not Cross” indicating that there had been a crime.

“Hey, Babs- can you turn that up?”

She immediately complied, using the remote next to her hand.

“… appears to be suicide.  Sources say that after his son left home to work for Olivia Fernando, he slowly slipped into depression.  With no other living relatives, his only happiness was the bimonthly visits he received from that son, Justin Meyers.  Neighbors say that they are horrified by the death, but not entirely surprised.”  The screen flashed to an elderly woman standing on a sidewalk in a neighborhood, presumably one of the unsurprised neighbors. 

As she began talking, Tim turned to face Barbara again.  “Olivia Fernando- Babs why does her name sound so familiar?”

Babs frowned and turned to one of the smaller computers.  After a few mouse clicks and a little typing, she stopped, reading.  A few minutes later: “Olivia Fernando is the cousin of Tomaso Panessa.”  She looked at him, her eyes questioning.  “Is that what you wanted to know?”

He fought down panic.  It was Thursday morning.  “Oh, yeah,” he said, feigning casualness, “I must have read it in the newspaper when we researched Helena.”  Mentally he was trying to talk some sense into himself. 

So it’s Panessa’s cousin, who cares?  It’s gotta be a coincidence.  I mean, seriously, this kind of thing happens everyday in Gotham.  Why am I getting so worked up?  But even so… 

“I gotta go now, Babs, but I’ll see ya later!”  He got out of the chair and went over to where Batgirl was sitting.  “Cassie, I need my report, Dick said he gave it to you.”

She didn’t answer at first; she was playing a game.  On closer inspection, it was the same one Dick had been playing before.  He shook his head.  Eventually, however, her car also disappeared in a ball of flame and she reaching into her utility belt.  She frowned at the screen in annoyance, and said, barely paying attention to him, “Sorry, Dick no tell me yours.”

“No problem.”

He started to leave, but was once again held back.  “Why did Dick steal your report?” questioned Oracle.

Tim shrugged, “He’s missing a book, or at least that’s what I got out of it.”

Her mouth opened wide, then she began laughing, “Are you kidding me?  And he thought it was you?”  She couldn’t stop.

He glared at her.  “You mean you have it?”

She nodded while trying to gulp down air.  “Tell him to come visit me.  I haven’t seen him in a while.”  She grinned at Tim’s irritated expression.  “Oh, come on, I had to do something!”

He didn’t answer.  He just left.

^*^

 

They stood next to the bus stop sign down the road from her apartment.  Vic was carrying the briefcase that held all his clothes for the trip back to Canada.  They stood in a contented silence.

After a while, he said slowly, “Don’t forget my offer.  As soon as this case is wrapped up you can go visit Richard.  I’ll most likely be gone, but Sensei would love to see you again.”

She smiled gently.  “Maybe someday.  Right now, I…”  She didn’t know how to finish.

He did it for her, “Still getting used to being back?”

“I’m not.”  She shook her head for emphasis.  “How many times do I have to tell you that this is only temporary?”

He laughed, “Richard told me that he had to explain to you that it wouldn’t work even if you wanted to put her away.”  He looked her in the eye, “And it’s still true.”

She looked away and changed the subject.  “I like it better this way.”

“What way?”

“Last time you left you were mad.  Now at least it’s friendly.”

His eyes grew distant.  “I’m still mad.  When you got Tomaso to kill Cassamento…” he shook his head, unable to find the right words.  “I just felt you undid all the progress you’d made.”

“…I don’t think it mattered.”  She took his hand, making him finally turn back to her.  “When I threw the costume into the harbor, Huntress died, in a way.  If you’re dead, you can’t kill anyone else anymore.”

His grip tightened, “Ever?” he asked, his eyes searching.

She dropped her eyes and tried to pull away.  It didn’t work.

“Ever?” he asked again.

She didn’t want to answer, it was a loaded question.  But it was clear he wouldn’t let her get away without answering.  “I won’t kill unless it’s in self-defense.”

“Is that all you can promise?”  He sounded tired.

“Vic, it’s not as bad as you all make it out to be.  A person can only die once.  Even if every citizen of Gotham were to die tomorrow, each person would only have to deal with his own pain.  People look at huge tragedies and how people die and think how awful it is, but if I die, I only feel my own pain, not mine plus the pain of everyone else.  Everyone has to die sometime.  If they deserve to die then I have no qualms about making it happen.” 

She sighed.  “It doesn’t matter how many I kill.  If there is even one person left alive who will hurt others then they have no business breathing.  I’m saving other people’s lives and preserving my own.” Her eyes were still focused on the ground.  “I’ve killed enough.  I won’t go out of my way to kill, but that’s all I can promise.”

“You kill.  Does that mean that you have no business breathing?”

She didn’t answer at first, then finally said, “I don’t know.”

He let go of her hands at last, “Is that the best you can do?  Pretend that each life doesn’t matter?”

“Yes, that’s the best I can do.  But I’m not saying that each life doesn’t matter.”

The bus pulled up.  He began to leave.

She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes in pain and exasperation, “Vic!” she cried in a strained voice.

He stopped and turned to look at her expectantly.

She let her mask go and looked at him with all her pain.  She said simply, “Not again.”

He stared for a few more seconds, then finally set down his briefcase and came back to her.  He enveloped her into a hug and whispered, “Just watch, you’ll see- one day you’ll change your mind.”

She gave an extra squeeze, then he let go.  The bus driver was looking impatient so Vic grabbed his bags again and stepped on.  Helena watched it until it turned the corner two streets down then said to no one, “We’ll see, Vic.  We’ll see.”

^*^

 

It seemed that Dick was finally getting down to business.  When Tim returned to the Batcave, he was thoroughly engrossed in the document on the screen.  This was good for whatever innocents he would be saving in the future, but defiantly not good for Tim.  Ever since hearing about the crime, he had decided that he would look it up in the police archives to see if there was anything suspicious.  He couldn’t help the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that something was wrong.  Olivia Fernando seemed too big a coincidence.

But he would get nowhere if Dick continued to hog the computer. 

He strolled over and began to read over his shoulder.  “The BPD again?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Important?”

“Yeah.”

 “Life-threatening?”

“Not yet.”

“Can I use the computer then?”

“No.”

Darn it.

At that moment Alfred came down.  “Master Tim!” he seemed pleased.  “I’m so glad you’re here!  I was instructed to notify you that Master Bruce will be returning soon from the Watchtower and for you to be ready.  He’ll be by as soon as he’s done with business at the office.”

More bad news.  How could he keep his meetings with Helena?  “Oh, thanks Alfred.  Do you think that he would let me patrol on my own for the next few days even if he is back?”

The elderly man seemed a bit surprised, but recovered well, “Well, I can’t be quite certain, but I don’t see why not.”

Dick finally seemed to take an interest in what was going on around him and tore his eyes from the screen to grin at Tim.  “Come on, Tim, tell the class what’s going on that you don’t want him to know about?”

Tim played innocent.  “Nothing’s going on.  I’ve just liked being on my own a lot these last few days.  I still like patrolling with Batman, but I don’t get to go solo often enough.” He shrugged.  “I just want a few more days of freedom.” During which we can hopefully get the kid back.

Before Dick could turn back to his work, Tim jumped at his opportunity.  “Hey, Dick, you know that book you were looking for?”

He spun back around.  “Have you decided to give it back yet, you little thief?”

Tim shook his head, “I don’t have it- for the record I never did!  But Babs told me she wants to visit her.  From the way she laughed when she heard about my report, it seems that she’s holding you’re book hostage.”

Dick stared at him incredulously.  “You’re kidding me.”

“Nope.”

He looked from the computer to his motorcycle, then abruptly got up.  “Don’t loose any of that data while I gone, Tim.  I’ll kill you if you do!”

Tim barely managed to keep from grinning.  “Alfred, I didn’t eat before I got here.  Can you whip something up before I go?”

Alfred watched Dick speed out of the cave at top speed with raised eyebrows.  “Certainly.  And if you will tell Master Dick next time you see him that he does not need to go quite so fast when exiting the Batcave?”

“Sure thing.”

Then he was mercifully alone.

There was no need for him to hack into the GCPD archives; the Batcomputer was permanently connected.  It took him almost no time to find what he was looking for.  First he read the police report, but it was ordinary- nothing suspicious.  Shot at close range with a .45.  He pulled up the pictures.  They showed several grisly pictures that he decided not to look at too closely unless he absolutely had to.  The fourth one was a full body shot, showing how he sat in a reclining chair, the gun in his right hand.

The gun in his hand…?

He went back to the police report, then went back again and magnified the photo, focusing on the gun.  There was no mistake.  It was a .45 pistol. 

But that doesn’t make any sense…

He quickly hit “PRINT” on the picture and the report, then ran up to tell Alfred that he wouldn’t be eating after all.

^*^

 

When she turned around after closing the door to her apartment, she nearly jumped a foot.  Robin was sitting, completely motionless on her couch.  She went and sat down next to him, “Why do you always do that?”

He finally shifted position so that he could look at her squarely.  “Did you hear?”

She frowned.  Why was he acting so strange?  “Hear what?”

He picked up some papers that were on the table in front of him.  “A man from the west side apparently committed suicide some time last night.”

She raised her eyebrows, “Well, that’s too bad, but what does that have to do with us?”

“Read these,” he said, handing her the small stack.

She frowned again, but did as he said.  Robin watched her face as it went from confusion, to interest, and back to confusion again.

“What’s so important about this?” she muttered, only half expecting an answer.

“Come on,” he pushed, “Don’t you see anything weird about this?”

He waited for her to read it over again and stare at the image again.  Finally, comprehension came to her face and she looked up at him. 

“This doesn’t make sense!  How could it have been a .45?”

He nodded, “But look at the picture!  It is a .45!”

She stared down at the paper.  Confusion was still on her face, but it was a different kind of confusion now.  “If he really shot himself with a .45, the gun should be half-way across the room.”

“Exactly.”  The excitement rose in his voice, “But it’s not!  It’s right in his hand!  So-”

“So he didn’t really commit suicide!” she finished, awe in her voice.  “Geez, kid, how did you notice this?”

“The news said that he has a son- Justin Meyers.  He works for Olivia Fernando.”  He looked at her significantly. 

“…Olivia Fernando?…” she gazed at him, finally comprehending.  “You think my second cousin is involved in this?”

“I don’t think it’s just your cousin, though.  But I say we talk to Justin before we do anything else.”

She looked back down at the papers in her hands again, then her eyes hardened.  “Wait here.  I’ll go change.”

^*^

 

Justin Meyers sat in the dimly lit room looking at the man in the coffin.  Tomorrow would be the wake for his father.  It would be a very hard day.  There would be a lot of people that needed to fit into the room.  His father had many friends.  His father had many relatives.

He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fist.  The news report had lied.  He had no idea how they had gotten those people to give fake testimony on the local news.  He didn’t understand how things could stretch that far.   The thing that sickened him was that some of those people would be there tomorrow and he had no way to touch them.

A single tear made it past his eyelid.  He couldn’t tell which was the dominant emotion- anger or sadness.  A sob escaped his throat.  I’m sorry, Pop, I’m sorry!  I’m responsible for this, I know!  I didn’t think it would end like this! 

There was a footstep behind him and he whirled, wondering who would dare disturb him.  There were two figures: he recognized them both, just as any Gothamite would.  One was Robin, the sidekick of the legendary Batman.  The other- the killer who called herself the Huntress.  Her picture had been all over the media a few months back when she was wanted for killing a man named Claudio Panessa.

He stood up to his full height, ready to take out his pain.  “What do you want?  Are you,” he growled dangerously, pointing at Huntress, “are you responsible for this?  Are you back to finish the job?”  Now, instead of tears, there was anger in his eyes.

Helena felt his words paralyze her as she listened to his continue with a kind of numbing horror.  Most of it was not true, but the last few words struck home and she found that she couldn’t move.

“You!” he began to yell now, his voice becoming unreasonable and wild.  He looked crazy as he stood there, still pointing his finger.  His words stumbled over one another as he talked fast.  “You’re nothing but a pawn of the Cosa Nostra!  You serve that damned death squad- don’t you?  Don’t deny it!  You have blood all over your hands!  I can see it plainly-” suddenly his voice cracked and he sank into his chair again. 

He grew calm again and the misery returned as he looked at his father’s face and took his lifeless hand.  “I can see it just as plainly as the blood on my own hands.” 

There was a long silence, then he turned his face towards them again.  He said softly, “If you are from the Mafia- if you did this- kill me now, quickly.  Finish the job.  Or even if you aren’t and you’re willing I want you to kill me.”

Robin was at a loss.  He hadn’t expected this.  He started to step towards the man, then changed him mind.  “Why do you say that you have blood on your hands?” he asked, a little wary.

Meyers was broken.  “Because,” he said numbly, “it’s my fault my father is dead.”

Helena had hundreds of questions for those words, but she figured that she should let Robin do the talking this time. 

“Why?” Robin whispered, “Why are you responsible?”

He shook his head.  “I found out about the boy.  I knew I should have kept it to myself, but they threatened me.  I was afraid.”

Helena watched as Tim stepped towards him and stood next to the coffin.  She stayed, helpless.  It was her family who had done this.  She had no right to offer pity.  They did it to him, they did it to me.  How many lives do they take or break just to achieve their ends?  If she had any feelings at all, she should leave- stop reminding him of the men who still walked free.

But she couldn’t.  She was still frozen and all she could do was listen.

“I went to ask him what I should do.  I didn’t know where else to go.  He’s my dad, ever since I was a kid he could always fix anything, ya know?” Meyer took a deep breath.  He seemed to have spilled enough rage to come to his senses.  “From the moment I opened my mouth,” she could hear the self-reproach in his voice, “I condemned him.  He didn’t have a chance after that.”

“What did you find out?”

“If I tell anyone else, they’ll die too.”

Robin’s voice was persuasive.  “They’ve been trying to do that for years.  You can tell me.”

“They’ll kill me.”

“Is this about the potential senator’s son?”

Meyer stared.  “How did you know that?”

“Is it?”

He nodded wordlessly.

Tim stood thinking, then questioned, “You work at Olivia Fernando’s penthouse, right?”

“Yes.”

“Is that where they’re keeping the boy?”

But he couldn’t answer.  He said again, “They’ll kill me.”

“They may kill the boy.”  Robin had a hint of desperation in his voice.  “Can’t you tell us anything- give us a clue?”

Silence.

Helena finally stepped forward.  “Sir, I don’t work for the Mafia.  They did the same thing to you as they did to me.”  She knelt in front of him, her eyes were pleading, but his remained suspicious.  “Please,” she begged, “tell us- is the boy hiding there?”

Emotions flew across his face.  He’s afraid, she thought, as afraid as I was so many years ago. 

“Justin, this is important.  The boy may be killed; you’re the only one that can help.”

His eyes flew back to her.  A new look of determination came into them.  He held hers for a long time, then slowly looked down at the hand that hung at his side.  Very slowly, it formed into a fist and moved up and down- the sign language symbol for ‘yes’. 

Helena had to work very hard to keep the look of relief off her face.  Instead, she gave him an almost imperceptible nod, indicating that she understood.  Next she adopted a fake look of disappointment and stood up. 

“Come on, Robin.  We won’t get anything here.”

He looked completely taken aback and was about to open his mouth to protest when she grabbed his arm and squeezed hard.  “Come on,” she said in a low voice, and winked.

He continued to look mystified, but gave in and let her drag him towards the door.

^*^

 

“I must admit, I’m impressed,” Robin grinned.  “You got what we needed without threatening Meyer with his life.  I didn’t think the day would come so soon.”

“I’m not sure whether I should be annoyed with you or not.”

They had stopped for a short break on the side of a billboard.  It was mounted on top of another building so she pointed down with her finger, indicating that they should get out of the light and stand where they were less conspicuous.  He roped his line around the metal walkway at his feet and swung the short distance down.  She followed suit.

“So,” he began once they once again had their feet on solid ground, “do you think we can move in tomorrow?”

She went over and sat on the edge, swinging her legs over the long drop.  “Definitely.  We don’t have time to waste any more days.”

“And just what are you two planning?” asked a new voice behind them.

They both whirled guiltily.  When she saw who it was, Helena scowled and turned back to look over the city.  Tim flushed red and kept his guilty expression.

“Planning?” he gulped, “Why would you think we were planning something?”

Nightwing took a step closer.  “Because you were talking about it,” he stated obviously.  “And you’re an awful liar, Robin.”

Helena turned around and said angrily, “Why do you need to know anyway?  I don’t answer to you or your boss.”

“He’s not my boss,” Nightwing said automatically, then shook his head and continued, “but he is Robin’s.  I promised Batman I’d watched out for him while he was gone.”  He frowned again.  “Apparently I haven’t been doing a very good job.”

Tim stood up and crossed his arms, “Listen, you can’t tell Batman.”

Nightwing regarded him, still not looking very happy.  “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.  I remember him specifically telling you to watch her and tell him if she showed any signs of coming back.  Not only did you not warn him about the signs, you didn’t even tell him when it actually happened!”

“Nightwing,” said Helena, still not looking at him, “this is only temporary.”

He turned to where her still figure sat staring at nothing.  His features softened.  He said more gently, “Huntress, I’m supposed to tell him.”

“You just said he wasn’t your boss.  You don’t have to follow through.”

He sat down next to her, “It’s not like that.  I don’t take orders from him, but I still need to keep my promises.”

She gave a bitter ironic laugh, “Don’t kid yourself, Nightwing, it goes deeper than that.”  She finally turned to visit that same bitter ironic smile on him.  “No matter what you tell yourself or other people, he is your boss.”

“No,” he was angry, but trying not to show it, she could tell, “he’s not.  He hasn’t been for a long time.”

She had her own anger though.  “Oh, he’s your boss all right.  If you care about someone enough they have some kind of control over you.”  Her eyes glittered maliciously.  “For example, if someone was to hurt him, even if it was an accident, you would want to do the same thing to them.”  She lowered her voice.  “Do you honestly believe that if I had killed him that night I would still be alive?”

He looked extremely angry now.  But he wouldn’t let it come spilling out.  He knew why he wouldn’t let himself explode at her- because she was right.  That was where his anger was really coming from, he could acknowledge that- even though he didn’t want to.  Thinking back at how he had felt that night- utterly helpless- that would have pushed him over the edge.  He cared about Helena and the thought of her being a murderer had already been tearing him in two.  Bruce getting hurt simply drove him over the edge.  He would have killed her- or nearly- and killed anyone else who got in his way.

Tim didn’t say anything.  This was between Nightwing and Huntress.  He had wondered at first about the hatred in her voice, but now he understood.  The last time Nightwing and Huntress had seen each other, other than the warning Nightwing gave her after she found out about Cassamento, was on a rooftop where Helena had accidentally shot Batman with one of her crossbow bolts. Nightwing had then proceeded to thoroughly beat her- until she jumped off the roof into Gotham Harbor. 

Obviously she still hadn’t forgiven him.

Nightwing got up and began to walk away.  At the edge he paused and looked back.  “I won’t tell Batman.”  He looked right at Robin, “But if something goes wrong, you’ll take the blame, not me.”

Tim gave a nod of agreement, and then Nightwing jumped off the roof, disappearing out of sight, leaving them alone on the roof.

^*^

 

At first, he was almost surprised where his jump-line led him.  Barbara Gordon was probably the least likely person to understand his confusion over the situation with Huntress.  Nevertheless, hers was the room he ended up standing in.

The familiar clicking of the keyboard brought him through the kitchen towards the entrance.  Next to the door and coat stand, the secret panel lay open.  He deliberately made noise while approaching- he knew how much she hated to be snuck up upon.  He went behind her chair and put his hands over her eyes.

“Don’t bother, Former-Boy Wonder, I already know that it’s you.”

“What?” he asked. Coming around to sit beside her after pulling a chair away from the wall.  “Do you love me so much that you know me by sound, smell, and touch?”

“Close,” she said evenly. “I saw you on my security cameras.”  There was a soft smile on her lips as she turned around.  Her red hair had gentle curls around her face.  Cat-like green eyes that had fascinated him ever since he first met her stared at him from behind her glasses.  He tried to smile back. 

She stared at him and the smile slowly faded.  “What’s wrong?”

Surprised, yet not surprised (Babs had always been able to read him better than anyone), he shook his head.  “Nothing’s wrong.  Why do you ask?”

She regarded him narrowly, “All right then, don’t tell me.”  She kept a bit of a smile on her face though, so he knew she wasn’t too mad.  “So, Richard Grayson,” she said, finally changing the subject, “two visits in one week.  To what do I owe this unheard of pleasure?”

He shrugged, “Just felt like dropping by.”

She looked at him suspiciously, then returned her gaze to her screen.  She could wait out the silence.  He would tell her eventually.

After fifteen minutes, he started talking, just as she had predicted he would.  “Babs, I’ve been thinking, what would we do if Huntress came back?”

The smile completely disappeared.  She didn’t like this subject.  “We wouldn’t do anything,” she said in a slightly frosty voice.  “We would leave it to Batman.”

Ignoring the warning tones, Dick continued, “But if Batman didn’t know.  Would we have the right to tell him?  I mean, it’s her life.  What right does Batman have to decide who can stay and who can go?”

She sighed, “Is that what this is all about?  Batman’s authority?  Dick, he can because he can, if that makes any sense.  People listen to him.  He is this city’s chief protector.  He’s been here longer than anyone else and he has the respect.  He doesn’t physically beat them into obedience, he talks them into it.  It’s all mental.  If someone can be talked out of it, they wouldn’t have made a good hero anyway.”

“But in the case of Helena, she didn’t listen to him.  She’s already proven herself worthy.”

Babs turned a hard stare on him, “Dick, she’s insane.”

He let out an exasperated sigh, “Babs, we have no proof of that.  She’s not insane.  She’s doing the same thing we do.  Why should we care about her reasons as long as she’s helping people?”

“Dick, you can’t keep defending her like this!  Just because she’s an ex-girlfriend of yours does not make her entirely ok.  Just look at how she acts!”

He knew he would only make her angrier, but he stood up anyway.  He recognized the fury in her face as he loomed over her.  She hated it when he did that.  Back when she could still walk, she could look him in the eye.  This reminded her that she could never do that again.  

“So what, Babs?  So what?  She’s hurt.  Her family- her whole family was murdered when she was eight.  She had to deal with the fear and torment for years!  I could easily have turned out just like her when Zucco killed my parents!  Would you hate me in the same way?”

“That’s not fair, Dick!  It’s different-”

“It’s not different at all!  You didn’t have any of this animosity toward her before I was with her!  Stop hating her because of me, Babs!  Why is it that you’ve forgiven me and not her?  You can’t do that!  It’s not fair!”  He realized that he’d been yelling and shut his mouth.  But he couldn’t stop glaring.

She was angry.  Angrier than she’d been in a long time.  Tightly, her jaw clenched, she said, “Get.  Out.”

Without looking back, he began to leave.  But when he got to the doorway, he said, without turning around, “Babs, don’t feel like you have to hate her.  You’re the one I’m in love with.  You.”  He left.

Barbara Gordon put her head into her hands and cried.

^*^

 

 “She was beautiful, I tell you, Lucius, beautiful!”

Lucius Fox sighed to himself.  How many times had he heard those exact words?  At least five times a month- usually more like twelve.  And how long had he been working for Bruce Wayne?  So that would mean he’d heard them about…

Fox stopped his mind from working as fast as he could, fearing the damage had already been done.  But no, he hadn’t worked out the math problem in his head.  He sighed to himself again, this time in relief.  He did not want to know the answer.  That might just drive him over the edge.

“Bruce, you know how much I love to hear about your trips around the world and exploits with women like Kara, but-”

“No, no, no, Lucius!  It’s Keira.  An ‘e’ sound, not an ‘a’ sound!”

“Keira, then.  But, Bruce we really need to get down to business!  While you’ve been gone, the company-”

At that moment a cell phone ring was heard playing Mission Impossible.

“Sorry, Lucius, afraid that’s me.”  Wayne turned and spoke into the mouthpiece, “Bruce here.”

A prim English voice came on over the phone, “Pardon me for interrupting, Master Bruce, but young Timothy Drake is here and he was wondering if, since you are not here yet, and you will doubtless want a day to get settled back in, if he can go out and fly solo tonight.  You see it is getting rather late.”

He frowned.  “Alfred?”

“Yes, sir?”

“It’s only four o’clock.”

“Yes, Master Bruce, but Master Tim is a growing boy.”

“Alfred?”

“Yes, sir?”

“What is he planning?”

“Why, nothing sir.  He simply wants one more night alone.”

Bruce narrowed his eyes.  “Tell him that he can not go out alone.  He will wait for me back at the Manor.”

“Yes, sir.”

Bruce turned.  “Lucius, wait for me in the meeting room.  I’ll be in as soon as I make this last call.”

Fox sighed one last time, this time out loud, “Please try and hurry, Bruce.”  Then he left.

Alone in the hallway, Bruce pressed a button for speed dial.  After just one ring, a voice answered, “Oracle.”

“I need you to go back in your records and check the places Robin has been within the past week.  It may be nothing but…”

“I’m on it.”

“I’ll call you back for an answer in an hour.”

“Welcome back.”

“Thanks.”  He turned off the phone, put on a cheesy grin, then walked into the room saying, “Guess what?  Keira says she misses me!”

^*^

 

“This had better be good.  The Redbird doesn’t just die for no reason whatsoever”

Tim whirled around at the sound of the voice.  Relief showed plainly on his face.  “Dick!  I need you to do me a big favor.”

“I’m guessing it’s not to jump-start your car or drive you home is it?” 

They were sitting in the parking lot of Gotham Heights.  School had gotten out about half an hour ago and most people had left as quickly as they could.  The two had the place to themselves.

“Not exactly.”

“Well, what is it?” Dick asked, jumping up on the hood to join him.

“Bruce came back today.”

He scowled, suddenly knowing what Tim was going to ask him.

“Dick, you need to go in my place to help her.”

He looked away and said in a voice that showed plainly he was trying very hard not to lose his temper, “I thought I made it clear that I wasn’t getting involved in this, remember?”

“I can’t tell him and he wants me with him tonight.”

“Well, she’ll survive one day without you.”

“Dick, we’re going to the Penthouse tonight.” He sounded desperate suddenly.  “This is the end!  The climax!  We’re finished!  I’m still afraid to leave her alone.  She needs someone with her.  She won’t hesitate to go without me.”

He didn’t saying anything.

Tim continued, “How long do you think we have before Batman finds out?  If he does, he’ll go after her.  That’s why I helped in the first place.  Hasn’t she had enough?”

“…as long as she’s helping people…”  He tried to shake the words out of his head, but couldn’t.  He closed his eyes.  I’m going to regret this.  “Fine.  Just fill me in on what’s going on.”

^*^

 

Nightwing landed on the roof of the building Robin had told him to go.  He looked to his right and saw water- water that stretched as far as the eye could see before there was only darkness.  He was reminded more than ever before that Gotham was an island.

“Nightwing.”

He jumped slightly, then pretended that he hadn’t.  He turned to face Huntress with a slightly-toned down imitation of Bruce’s playboy expression on his face.  “Hey.”

She was frowning: that did not bode well.  “Why are you here?”

He tried to get her to laugh, “My little brother used his secret weapon: puppy dog eyes.”

Her face didn’t change.  There was the faint sound of worry in her voice as she asked, “Why couldn’t he come?”

“Um… well, Batman wouldn’t let him.”

She sighed and walked over to join in looking at the sea.  “So Batman is back.  Does he know?”  She raised one eyebrow and looked over at him.

“I don’t think so, but…”

“He’s Batman,” she finished for him.

“Yeah.”

She looked away again, listening to the faint sound of waves crashing on the numerous piers spread along the shoreline.

“I hope that’s all you came to tell me.”

He was slightly unnerved by the coldness in her voice.  “No, I’m here to help.”

She laughed, shaking her head.  “Nightwing, you don’t know how to help.  No offense, but whenever you do help, things end up worse than they were before.”  The smile she had on was the same as the one from the night before. 

He didn’t know what to say to that.  There was nothing he could say.  She wouldn’t listen.

“Helena, I’m coming with you whether you like it or not.”  Probably not the best approach, but any other would have taken too long. 

Finally, she showed some emotion- her eyes flashed and face contorted angrily.  Helena was face –to-face with years of suspicion.  They had been doing this to her too long!  “Nightwing, leave me alone!  You’re always there- you or Batman!  Why do you have to treat me like I’m some juvenile delinquent, like I can’t be trusted?  Why can’t you-”

Nightwing was already stretched too thin.  He didn’t want to hear it.  He knocked her down, putting his hand over her mouth.  She was glaring at him and struggled for a few seconds before giving up.  He waited a few more minutes while she got herself under control, then slowly took his gloved hand away.

Helena sat up.  She was breathing deeply and was shaking.  After a few minutes, he realized she was sobbing quietly into her arms.  Regret filled him.  His heart almost broke just watching her.  He reached over and pulled her gently into his arms.  Again, she struggled, but this time they were weaker and ceased almost immediately.  He held her and whispered into her ear.  Later, for the life of him he wouldn’t be able to remember what he said, but at the time they did the job.  Finally, she grew quiet, then drew away.

Silence reigned on the rooftop.  The hum of traffic and gentle beating of the waves were the only things heard.  At last, Huntress stood up and said numbly, “Come on.”   The tear tracks were mostly hidden by her physical mask and her pain was once again hidden by her other mask of her eyes. 

Those eyes were dark and serious, hiding what she felt.  She reserved the same look for now as she had for Mario.  She would let Nightwing come, but that didn’t mean she would welcome him.  She was frozen once again.

He stared at her from the ground, “Helena…”

She turned, fired her grappling hook, and flew away before he could continue.

So this is how it’s going to be, he thought sadly.  Then he stood up and readied his own hook.

Then there was no trace of anyone ever having been there. 

^*^

 

Tim was staring at the huge monitor of the Batcomputer.  This car game was pretty fun when you were bored.  Suddenly, the massive chair spun around, seemingly of its own accord.  The controls jerked out of his hands, leaving him with nothing in between him and a full-force Batglare. 

“Strike two.”  The voice growled.

Behind him he heard the explosion as his car blew sky-high.

He winced.

Half and hour later, Tim found himself grounded, without his Robin suit, locked in a room full of work-out machines.  He wished he had listened to Alfred’s warnings about using the Batcomputer for games.

The Bat was a hard master.

^*^

 

They had decided to go in through the roof.  There were only two guards up there, four at the door, and up to forty walking around throughout the building.  Hopefully, they could get in past these two, then dodge everyone else as they went.

Hopefully.

He saw Huntress on the other side of the roof, creeping around whatever was there that happened to block her from view.  She had talked to him right before they began their attack.  Anyone who didn’t know they were fighting wouldn’t have noticed a thing.  But he did.  All she said were things about the case and their plan.  Still, it was an improvement- no outright hostility.

She stopped and held up her hand to him.  He tensed and waited.  When her hand came down, he tucked and rolled forward until he was behind a crate.  There were no yells so he assumed that the guards were still blissfully unaware.

Helena had a perfect view of them from her hiding place, so once again he waited for her signal.  They would have to disarm the guards quickly so that they wouldn’t have time to alert the others over their radios. 

The signal came and once again he was up.  She had waited until they both had their backs turned and he silently congratulated her on that.  The two men didn’t even know what hit them before they were spread on the ground unarmed and without their radios.  It was quick work getting them tied up.

Huntress stepped back and looked at them.  “Why is yours unconscious?” she asked, amusement slipping into her voice against her will.

“Aren’t they supposed to be?” he asked innocently.

She only shook her head and turned her attention to the other guard. 

“What’s your name?” she asked, sounding for all the world as if they had met on a street and she hadn’t just tied him up.

He glared at her.  Nightwing had warned him as soon as he was on the ground that if he cared about all of his body parts he wouldn’t call for help.  The man wasn’t stupid.  The building was soundproof anyways.

Helena took out her crossbow and put the arrow to his chest.  “What’s your name?” she asked again, her face looked innocent, but her voice had a slight edge to it now.

He shook his head.  “You think I’ve grown up under a rock?  That’s Nightwing, he doesn’t kill.”

“You think that means he won’t let me kill?”  She stood up and leveled the crossbow at him.  “Talk.”

The man remained stubbornly silent.

Nightwing knew what would happen even before it did.  He jumped up and knocked the weapon out of her hand just as she pulled the trigger.  The bolt flew wide and hit the door.  She glared at him.

“Have it your way,” she muttered.  Once again, she knelt down next to the man, this time whispering in his ear, “Have you ever flown before?  It’s amazing- especially the free-falls.”  For a moment a look of fear came into his eyes.  “I think we can arrange a short trip for you- right now, in fact.  Don’t worry- I’ll try not to drop you.”  She smiled.  It was not a nice smile.  She wasn’t called the Huntress for no reason- she could have brutality in her without using death.

Nightwing didn’t do anything this time- except lean down and whisper into his other ear, “This time I won’t stop her.”

^*^

 

The fourth floor.  The guard didn’t know where but somewhere on the fourth floor.  The boy was here.

To anyone that asked, both guards had been unconscious and neither could have given away the location.  That was what Nightwing had explained before clubbing the man in the head with the butt of his own gun.  To his surprise, relief had been on the man’s face as he slipped out of consciousness.

^*^

 

“Oracle.”

“Batman,” Barbara said, without turning around, “you aren’t going to believe what Robin’s been doing.”  She sat in her usual place in front of her largest computer monitor.  The contents of the page reflected off her glasses as she stared, not blinking.

He crossed the room to look over her shoulder.

She pointed at a map of Gotham.  “About a week after you left.”

A red line led from the point he knew Helena’s restaurant was to her apartment.  From there it stretched out across the city, going in a random pattern, crossing back over itself in a few places.  Then it went to a warehouse, then to another building, then across the bridge back to the Batcave. 

Oracle scrolled to the next page, then the next.  He compared them in his mind and when they reached the end, he said, “Robin’s been meeting someone.”

Oracle nodded, “He went to the same place first every day after that first one.”

Batman frowned, “But as to who he’s meeting, that’s harder.  It could be anyone.  Probably not one of our allies or he would have mentioned it to me.  Catwoman?  Or maybe he was just meeting Spoiler and it really was nothing.”

Barbara shook her head, “He and Steph have barely said two words to each other since you told Steph Robin’s identity.  He wouldn’t be meeting her.  Catwoman- I haven’t heard anything from her since NML.”

Batman continued to stare at the screen.  “I’m guessing that you know who it is?”

Babs couldn’t help but give herself a self-satisfied grin.  Bruce so rarely admitted being out-done by her, and him asking her was basically saying that he had no idea.

Then the smile faded.  This was serious.  “I think that it’s the Huntress.”  She said finally.

Batman was motionless behind her.  “Impossible,” he growled, “she been gone for months, and Robin…” he stopped.  He betrayed nothing with he body or eyes, but inside he was thinking, Some World’s Greatest Detective you are.

“I also figured out a little of what he’s been working on,” Oracle continued,  “He was here at the Clocktower one day and a news report came on.  He acted very strangely when he heard the name Olivia Fernando…”

^*^

 

They had gotten into the roof elevator only to realize that there was no sign for the fourth floor.  In fact, there were only two signs- and they were both arrows.

“You would think,” Nightwing said in irritation, “That a lady with this much money would put an elevator throughout the whole building.”

“Olivia has always liked having money more than spending it.” Huntress snapped.  “She doesn’t hesitate to give herself luxuries, but only if she will use them.”  She still avoided his eyes.

“And she won’t use an elevator?”

She tactfully ignored that.

The doors opened and they found themselves in a small room with only a metal door opposite them.  Other than that, it was empty.

Nightwing was annoyed at the night in general.  First he had been forced into a mission that required him to go behind his former mentor’s back, then he had been shown very clearly how unwelcome he was, then he’d had the uncooperative guards, then to top it all off, there was the fact that the elevator didn’t go all the way down.  For all those reasons he was a little less than indiscreet in his tactics.  He crossed to the door and pulled it open.  

Immediately he was faced head-on with at least twenty mean-faced guards.  There seemed to be some sort of lounge area in between the door and the stairs.

For a moment they just stood there and looked at each other, then Nightwing slammed the door, leaned against it, and began to fumble with his gauntlets.

Helena ran over to join him against the metal.  “What are you thinking?” she yelled against the sudden barrage of voices yelling for help and what felt like one hundred, but was probably more like four, men trying to reopen the door against their weight.  She held the knob as tightly as she could to keep it from turning.

Nightwing had what looked like two circular pieces of metal joined by one thin piece. He put one circle against the door and the other against the frame and pressed a button.  The door was locked.

For a while at least.

“Of all the stupid, idiotic, brainless-” Helena sputtered, trying to get the words out, but too overcome to do so.  She was still leaning against the door, staring at him in fury and disbelief.  The sound of fists slamming against the door came from the other side.

Nightwing swung around, grabbing her wrist as he growled, “Come on.”

She pulled away and put her hands on her hips, still yelling.  “Why do you always insist on coming?  If it wasn’t for you the whole building wouldn’t know I was here. Olivia is probably hiding or escaping as we speak!”

He had snapped as soon as he got into the elevator and saw those stupid buttons.  Now she would know it.

Nightwing drew himself up to his full height and began to yell right back at her.  “I’m here because we found out about this little mission of yours!  Robin knew about it even as you were deciding to take it on!  You have no secrets from us, Huntress!  We know everything there is to know about you and we could very easily take it away!  You have no right to be criticizing me!”

“You think that Batman can make me do whatever he wants, don’t you?  Well maybe he can to a certain extent- but he can’t control who I am or what I decide to do about this situation.  He can’t-- is not responsible for me giving up Huntress- he has no power over that!  And you know what else he has no power over? My fear!”

“Batman has control over you, whether you want to admit it or-”

“Oh yes,” she interrupted, “I already admitted to that.  But he has you and Robin and this whole God-forsaken city scared of him- and that one thing I will not be- scared!”

Nightwing had gone white.  “I am not scared of-”

A noise, almost like an explosion resonated through the metal box room that they stood in.  At once they fell silent and looked over at the door. 

Reality, which had fled from there minds, flew back and they suddenly remembered what they had to do.

“If won’t take them long to break through that,” Nightwing said softly, looking intently at the door that now had a huge dent in it, as the distant, almost inaudible sound of a blow torch was heard.  He blinked and returned his attention to Helena.  “Will you agree to a truce?” he asked. His temper back under control, he had once again turned back into the cautious man he usually was.  The question was hesitant.

Helena sighed and moved towards to window.  “Fine.  I guess we need to, don’t we?”

“We’ll never get anything done like this,” he stated.

He followed her to the window and tapped her shoulder.  She looked up from something she was busying herself with in her hands. 

Nightwing held out his hand and said again, “Truce?” 

She stared at him for so long that for a moment he didn’t think that she would take it.  But then she allowed the smallest smile and shook. 

He let his breath out that he’d been unconsciously holding, then let his eyes travel down to he other hand where she had begun to string one of her grappling hooks. 

“What’s that for?”

She withdrew her hand, turned, and pointed down through the window.  “I’m going to swing down through the window below to get to the fourth floor.”

He nodded.  “Alright.”

The next few minutes passed with her busily working trying to find a good place to attach the line so that it wouldn’t let her fall all the way to the street, and him watching her and listening to the sounds of banging. 

Finally, she got up on the ledge.  Before she left, she looked at him with raised eyebrows.  “What are you going to do?”

Nightwing grinned.  “I’ll figure something out.”

She looked at him suspiciously for a second, then shook her head.  “Whatever.”  She then proceeded to repel down the side of the building.

After making sure that she was going to be ok, Nightwing looked up at the air vent above him.  By the time the guards broke through a few minutes later, there was no sign of their quarrel.

^*^

 

Huntress had repelled down the side of the building partway, then stopped.  She measured the distance between her position and the fourth-floor window that was slightly below her.  Concentrating, she held the rope next to her face with her left hand, then transferred the pile of unused rope to her other where she let out a bit then held it.

She looked down at the window one last time, took a deep breath, and let go of the rope in her left hand, transferring it all to the other.  The sudden difference made her fall, but at the same time that she let go she had pushed off the wall. 

It worked perfectly.

She hit the window with her feet first, which broke the glass so that the rest of her body could go through more or less unscathed. 

She also took the guard by surprise.

The one closest to the window was knocked to the ground immediately.  Huntress stood gingerly, hoping that no glass had been sharp enough to go through the soles of her boots.  There hadn’t. 

There had been three other guards in the area.  By the time she had up righted herself they had surrounded her.  “Who are you?” asked one, with a sneer on his face that made her really want to hurt him, and a huge body mass that made her decide to wait until she had to.  The only thing out of the ordinary about him- other than his size- was that there was a pink slip of paper sticking out of his shirt pocket.  She looked around and saw on closer inspection, they all had one.

Another cleared his throat and whispered fearfully, “That’s the Huntress!  We need back-up, Mikey, now!”  Worry shone in his eyes and he stayed back at a safe distance.

“To take on her?” the big one asked, never-looking away.  His eyes shone with something else- the desire for blood.  “I don’t need reinforcements for some stupid little woman like her.  The rest of you pussies can go if you’re scared, though.”

The other men bristled at the taunt.  Huntress could see just by their body language that they would stay- with no calling of back-up.

She sighed to herself.  Men.  They always had to get their own glory, often at the expense of losing what they were going after. 

She took a half step forward, a smirk on her face, and got into a ready-position.  Dangerously, she said plainly, so that all could hear, “Let’s dance, buddy.”

^*^

 

Nightwing was going down the ventilation system from the fifth to the fourth floor.  There were small handles on the side built in case the tunnel system ever had to be worked on, but they reminded him more of drawer handles in the kitchen cabinets than objects that kept you from falling a hundred feet.

There was a lot of hand and foot switching once he got the entrance that he wanted.  He made the unwise choice of looking down when his feet were in and his body was out of the entrance tunnel.

It was a long way down.

He wasn’t normally afraid of heights, but on his way down one of the handles had broken under his weight and left him hanging by one hand.  After that his faith in the small metal bars diminished greatly.

Once in, he struggled to switch his position so that he would be going head-first.  After almost getting stuck about three times, he succeeded.  Then he continued down the tunnels again, trying to make as little noise as possible. 

When he was halfway down the tunnel, sounds of fighting reached his ears.  He immediately thought of Huntress and opened the next vent that he came to.  Cautiously, Nightwing poked his head out. 

At the end of the hall, there lay three men on the ground, obviously unconscious.  Helena stood with her back to a wall while another guard stood facing her.  The other guard was huge, a monster!  He reminded Nightwing of a slightly smaller, slightly less-muscled, slightly dumber, version of Bane. 

He came to the last conclusion when five more guards ran down the hall and the Goliath held up one of his hands and said, “Wait, she’s mine!  The one who calls back-ups will be personally mauled by me until his own mama wouldn’t recognize him!”  He laughed, “And if anyone takes credit, I’ll just do it to all of yus!”

While he was still laughing at the look on his co-workers faces’, Huntress attacked.

Nightwing shook his head.  Bane would never have ordered for no more back-up.  He also would never have left that opening.

Huntress managed to get a few good hits in before the other regained his footing and began to strike back.

“Mikey” punched her full in the face, making her fly backwards into a wall.  Instead of pressing his advantage, he began to laugh again.  He turned to his comrades and said, “See?  What’d I tell yus?  Piece of cake!” 

For the second time, she attacked while his back was turned. 

Nightwing was totally disgusted.  What kind of a man makes that same mistake twice?

Huntress, unlike her adversary, did learn.  She punched him and kicked only three or four times before jumping away.  By the time he had turned, she was at a safe distance.  He roared angrily and rushed at her.  She waited for the last second, then jumped aside, he would have fallen flat on his face had he not caught himself by putting his hands on the wall.  She slipped behind him and knocked him to the ground again.  Again, when he turned she jumped back.  

This time, instead of waiting, she leaped back towards him.  Huntress brought her arm back, then hit him as hard as she could in the stomach.  As he doubled over, she rammed her fist into his face, and as he fell back, finished the job by kneeing him in the solar plexus.

He lay at her feet groaning over and over, “I’m going kill you!  I’m gonna kill you!  Better start running, now!  You’ll be dead as soon as I can get up!  I’m gonna-”

She kicked him hard in the head.  Nightwing winced as he heard the contact.  The man went limp.  Knocked out just like the others that he had looked down upon.

Helena turned slowly, her fists still in balls.  Nightwing shivered at the look in her eyes.  This was the Huntress.  The quintessential form of her.  The hero that fought to protect.  She was a criminal in her own way, not afraid to take a life.

A killer.

Standing straight and proud, her face grave yet angry, she took out her crossbow and pointed it at the wilted body on the floor.  She stared at the other guards that stood only a little over five feet away.  She wanted them to witness this.

Nightwing watched the muscles in her finger tense to fire.  He didn’t call out.  Just stared. 

She looked at the men for a few more seconds.

Nightwing began shaking his head in wordless denial.  Stop! He screamed in his head.

Helena caught the movement as she stood there, her eyes jumped to the head hanging from the ceiling that had previously gone unnoticed, bidding her not to do it.

Nightwing stared back as she took him in.  They had a silent battle there in those few seconds.  It was not physical, it was not long, but it was one of the hardest he had ever fought.  Then, her eyes slowly lost their fury and were once again left emotionless.

She looked down at the man at her feet contemptuously.  Finally, she kicked him one last time, then reattached her crossbow its strap on her leg.

Nightwing closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.  His stomach turned at the thoughts running through his mind.  If he hadn’t been there, he was certain that the man would have been dead.

They flew open again at the sound of the men below beginning to move.  This time he jumped down into the hallway.  The fighting had resumed.  Huntress fought them all, but her eyes stayed guarded.  She showed no emotion as two more went down.

Nightwing dove in and helped her take out the last three.  The job was over quickly.  Almost as soon as it had begun.

He looked at the nine bodies on the floor.  Then looked at a door next to them.  Huntress watched him and understood.  They dragged the bodies into the room then closed the door on them. 

They stood in silence outside the door.  Neither knew what to say.  Nightwing tried, “Helena-”

She cut him off, her voice low and eerily emotionless, “You go back into the ventilation system and look around.  I’ll go on foot in the open.  Hopefully one of us will get lucky.”

He sighed.  So it wasn’t to be talked about.  “Are you sure you want to just walk around where everyone can see you?  That might slow us down if you’re seen.”

“There’s bound to be guards outside the room.  You can only see what’s directly below you.  I’ll stay out and see if I can figure out the room by the guard factor.”

“Have it your way,” he said tiredly, then jumped and pulled himself into the tunnels.

She waited until she was sure he was gone, then turned and went back to where the guards lay.  She knelt next the Mikey and reached into his shirt pocket where the pink paper sat.

Gingerly, she opened the parchment and found herself looking down at a map of the penthouse.  One room on the fourth floor was highlighted, so was an escape route from it.  Still not showing any emotion, she pocketed it herself, then stood up and began to walk through the halls towards the highlighted room.

^*^

 

Tim Drake had literally resorted to twiddling his thumbs when Batman finally returned. 

“Where is she?” the dark shadow asked coldly.

“Where is who?” he answered in the same voice, studying the dexterity of his fingers.  His annoyance at being forced to stay in gave him the courage he normally never would have had.

“I don’t have time for this, Robin.”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.  Batgirl?  Oracle?  Black Canary?  Dr. Thompson?”

“I am talking about,” he said threateningly, “Huntress.” 

Man that shadow with eyes is scary, he thought.  But outside he remained calm.  He couldn’t tell!  That would ruin everything! 

“Robin, your not telling me where she is puts many lives at stake.  She’s killed before and she’ll kill again.”

“No she won’t, not tonight.”

“Oh?” the voice growled, “and what makes you so sure?”

“The person with her won’t let her.”

“Robin. Tell me where she is.”

He remained silent.

^*^

 

She had found it.  The room matched with the map and there were thirteen guards outside the door. She knew that the boy was inside.  She also knew that Olivia was with him. 

At least, she hoped that was true.

She readied her wrist-launcher and stepped out from behind the corner.

The guards were slow to act.  Six had the bolts buried in their arms and legs before they even knew what had happened.  The rest began to surround her, trying to move fast enough to escape the sharpened points.  She got three more before being forced to abandon her launcher and go hand-to-hand.

She threw her first punch, felt it connect, then felt the familiar feeling of everything turning into a blur as she began to see and respond to the action of the fight.  She began to work almost purely on instinct, not remembering her last moves after she had completed them.  She was living for the moment, never looking back.

She would never look back.

^*^

 

Olivia Fernando sat in the dimly lit room.  The only light came from a few candles scattered on the tables and shelves around the room.  The chair that held her was a dark wine color with plush cushions.  She examined her nails.  They were also red, but brighter- a crimson color that contrasted greatly with her black dress.

She had strangely formal attire.  The gold jewelry that hung on her neck and hands attested to that.  Her face and hair were also remarkably like Helena’s, but with features that were a bit sharper, proving her relationship to Tomaso.  Another difference was that her eyes resembled Mario’s more than Helena’s.  She, like many of the others in and related to the Mafia did not bother with disguising their eyes.  She was untouchable.  It did not matter what people saw. 

The difference in the eyes showed that unlike her second cousin, she had not lived her life fearing those around her.

The door across from her, which led to the adjoining room, slowly creaked open.  Her housekeeper, a beady-eyed old woman, ushered a small child into the room.  The child looked to be about six.  His hair was sandy blonde and his eyes were a washed out blue.  He contrasted sharply the woman he was brought before.

Olivia had watched them move across the room, when they were close enough, she said in a kind voice, “Come here, child.  Would you like to continue reading our book?”

Over the days of his imprisonment, the child had learned that he was to agree to anything Olivia offered.  So he dutifully replied, “Yes please, Miss Olivia.”

She brought him up onto her lap and reached out for the book that her housekeeper held out to her.  “Now, where were we?”

“Alec Bings,” said the child with a slight lisp.  He laughed at the remembrance of the earlier conversation they had read concerning the character.

“Ah, yes, Alec Bings…”  She began to read, and as she did, one hand crept to the crevice between cushion and chair and wrapped itself around a small pistol.

Not breaking tone at all, she cocked it, using her voice to drown out the solid “Click.”

^*^

 

Helena fought hard.  The previous two fights had been preparing her for this one.  They were all over her.  At one point she had gone down, but by that time there were so few of them left that she regained her footing fairly easily.  Now, she looked around her at the bodies on the floor. 

Not one was left upright.

She turned toward the door.  The uncertainty and worry again hit her full force.  If she was too late, the boy would be dead.  She would never forgive herself.

Hoping against hope that it was unlocked, she tried the handle.  To her surprise, it turned easily in her hands.  She wondered briefly why it hadn’t been locked, then decided those possibilities were more scary than the others and stopped thinking about it.

She fingered the crucifix around her neck.  Fearful of what she would find, she recited silently in her mind, Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee…  The familiar words left her with a little more courage.

She pushed the door open.

^*^

 

Robin sat with Batman outside the penthouse of Olivia Fernando.  He sat as quiet as he could, knowing that the Dark Knight was in no mood to tolerate any comments he made. 

He could feel the Batman’s anger resonating across the roof towards him.  Batman had ignored him ever since they set out.  He was angry.  Very angry.

Tim had refused to tell him what was going on until he promised that he would not get involved unless Huntress was endangering someone’s life.  Batman was used to having people cave after a few minutes of his solid glaring and use of The Voice.

This time it hadn’t worked.

That was quite enough to make him sit there fuming and thinking of new “exercises” and tasks for Tim to complete in the Batcave before he was allowed to join him again in the city.

Oh, yes.  Tim would be paying for this act for a long time to come.

 

^*^

 

What Helena found was chilling in its own way. 

Olivia sat before her, in a comfortable chair, with Kyle Ferwald on her lap.

Kyle.  She hadn’t even allowed herself to think his name before she saw herself that he was alive.  Now that she had put the name with him, it was as if he was her own. 

She would get him back, or die trying.

Olivia ignored her visitor; instead she continued to read from The Phantom Tollbooth.  Her voice spoke in her imitation of the voice of Alec Bings:

 

“For Instance, from the here that looks like a bucket of water,” he said, pointing at a bucket of water; “but from an ant’s point of view it’s a vast ocean, from an elephant’s just a cool drink, and to a fish, of course, it’s home.  So, you see, the way you see things depends a great deal on where you look at them from.  Now come along and I’ll show you the rest of the forest.”

 

Helena stepped forward, “Olivia.”

Her cousin looked up at her as if she was surprised that someone would interrupt her.  When she saw Huntress, it changed to boredom.  “Oh,” she said indifferently; “it’s you.  Do you mind waiting just a minute?  A few more paragraphs and the chapter will be done.”

Huntress was so taken aback by this reaction to her visit, she stared at Olivia puzzled, thus allowing her to finish.

 

He ran quickly through the air, stopping occasionally to beckon Milo, Tock, and the Humbug along, and they followed as well as anyone who had to stay on the ground could…

^*^

 

Nightwing had heard the voice from his perch in the ceilings.  He had crept from vent to vent looking into the rooms to see where it originated.  He finally found it, a dark room. 

At first, he didn’t dare to remove the grate, but by straining his neck and eyes, he found that he was next to the wall and the voice seemed to be coming from the middle of the room.  He should be able to do it without drawing any attention to where he was hidden.

He slide his fingers under the metal and pulled up slowly, relieved when it came away without getting stuck.  Some- in fact most- places screwed the vents into the ceiling, but that cost money.  He suddenly reversed his attitude on the elevator.  Olivia’s thriftiness had come in handy.  She had simply had it positioned over an opening similar to the way a ceiling tile would be placed.

When he lay on his stomach, he realized that Helena was already in the room.  Careful to stay out of sight, he decided that he would simply wait and see what happened.

He listened as the voice continued…

 

“Does everyone here grow the way you do?” puffed Milo when he had caught up.

“Almost everyone,” replied Alec, and then he stopped a moment and thought.  “Now and then, though, someone does begin to grow differently.  Instead of down, his feet grow up towards to sky.  But we do our best to discourage awkward things like that.” 

“What happens to them?” insisted Milo.

“Oddly enough, they often grow ten times the size of everyone else,”  said Alec thoughtfully, “And I’ve heard that they walk among the stars.”  And with that he skipped off once again to the waiting woods.

^*^

 

Helena watched as Olivia close the book and set it in the boy’s lap.  It took a few seconds for her to speak.  There always seemed to a sort of spell left over after a story.  “Olivia,” she tried again.  Her voice seemed too loud after Olivia’s soft one.  “I’m taking Kyle.  You have no other guards in between you and me, no way to stop me.”  Her voice became hard as she said, “It would go better for you if you just surrendered.”

Olivia sighed and concentrated on smoothing the child’s hair.  Kyle ran his fingers over the binding, then opened the book and began searching through the pages.  Olivia gently reached down and helped him saying, “No, honey, we were here.”  She watched as he began turning the pages, smiling. 

Finally she returned her attention to Huntress.  “You can’t have him Huntress,” she said flatly.  “I have been entrusted with his care.” 

“I’m sure you have.” She said darkly, “Unfortunately, his family is responsible for choosing to give their children to people.  Anyone else is working outside the law.  So, I’m afraid you’ll have to hand him over- now!”  Huntress started towards them, but barely made it two steps before she stopped short.

Olivia had pulled a small handgun from the chair and was now aiming it at Kyle’s head.

“Don’t move, Huntress.  I want you to listen to me.”  She waited a few seconds to make sure that she had Helena’s complete attention and that the other woman wasn’t going to make any sudden movements before continuing.  Then, “I have this boy because my cousin is doing a favor to someone.  If what you have just said is the law, then I am within the law.”  She stopped, enjoying Huntress’s confused expression. 

“You see, the reason that this boy is here is because his father arranged for it.”

“What?” Helena breathed, her eyes wide and horrified, “Are you saying that-”

“I said no interrupting,” Olivia reminded.

Huntress fell silent.

Olivia shook her head.  “It’s pure politics, Huntress.  The boy’s disappearance will bring in hundreds of sympathy votes.  Ferwald is sure to win the election.  After he is in power, we will have yet another voice for us in the government.”

“If that’s true, then why are you holding a gun to Kyle’s head?”

She laughed, “Oliver doesn’t want his son found until after the votes have been cast.  If something were to go wrong- say, a renegade superhero?- then Kyle would be safely returned and the votes disappear.  But if worst comes to worst and his son is found dead…” she moved the gun slightly to indicate the weapon, “then the votes are still his.  Who knows?  Maybe even more votes than a kidnapping would generate.”

“And you would kill him?  After reading him a bedtime story you would hold a gun to his head and pull the trigger?”

Olivia scoffed.  “And you are a fine one to judge me.  You were the one who killed my cousin Claudio.  You’re a killer the same way I am… with the difference in that you have killed more than just him.”

“I didn’t kill Claudio.”

“Of course not, those crossbow arrows in his chest belonged to Batman.”  Her voice dripped sarcasm.

“Anyway,” she said in a tone that indicated the subject was beginning to bore her, “that brings us to the true matter at hand.”

“And just what would that be?” asked Huntress, her annoyance beginning to seep through. 

“Getting touchy, huh, Huntress?  Or just nervous?”

Huntress didn’t say anything, just glared.

“In my family,” Olivia continued, “we follow the code of Omertà.  We follow the code of revenge.  If the Five Families knew who you were you would be dead inside of three days.”  Her eyes locked on Helena’s and she said a little wistfully, “But we don’t.  Your identity is a secret.  The only way we could get to you is through your Huntress persona, and that’s only limited access.” 

Helena felt her blood slowly freeze.  She suddenly knew what Olivia was going to ask for.  She also knew, that if she gave it, she was basically committing suicide. 

Then she looked at Kyle, still unaware of what was going on, he was still wrapped up in the book.  As she watched, Kyle tugged at the sleeve of Olivia’s free hand.  “Livi?”

She kept looking at Huntress, afraid to take her eyes off her for a second.  “What is it, Hon?”

“What’s this word?”

“Can you spell it for me?”

“E-M-P-H-A-T-I-C-A-L-L-Y.”

“Emphatically.”

“Oh,” he face looked like it was concentrating hard.  “What does that mean?”

“Insistently and forcefully.”

“Oh,” Kyle said again, and returned to his book.

Huntress watched this, amazed by Kyle being able to read so well.  She realized what a smart boy he was.  She also understood that she would go to any lengths to protect him. 

She remembered deciding before she walked in that she would die for him, she now knew that it had gone beyond a casual promise.

Olivia whispered, “Huntress, if you want this boy to live, take off your mask.  I’ll give you Kyle, you can return him to his family, we’ll tell his father that you attacked and overpowered me.” She paused, then went on, “If not, I’ll kill him now and we’ll find some other way to find out who you are.”  Her eyes were boring holes into Huntress’s.  “What will it be, killer?”

^*^

 

Nightwing was still in the air vent- listening hard and deeply disturbed.  Olivia’s behavior reminded him of some of the maniacs he had dealt with.  It chilled him the way that she spoke and read to Kyle so indulgently and caringly, all the while being ready to kill him at any second.

The disquieting feeling turned quickly to alarm when he heard Olivia tell Helena to remove her mask. 

No one would be able to protect Helena without keeping her in hiding for the rest of her life.  Even that would be dangerous, the Mafia had people all across the country in their pocket- even the world.  She would never be safe.

He couldn’t let her do it and he couldn’t let the boy die.

He judged the difference between the two women before slowly getting off his stomach and sitting up.  Nightwing began taking out possible weapons to use as quickly as he could.

^*^

 

“You promise you’ll let him go?”

“Of course.  What else would I do?  Kill you here?  That lacks style- and it would be easy to trace.  I would be tried for murder.  Even if I got away with that, they would find Kyle in my possession.  I have nothing to lose by sending him with you.”

Helena closed her eyes.  Faces flashed across her mind- faces of enemies and friends.  Ray, Josh, Cristy, Robin, Batgirl, Batman, Mario, Galante, Tomaso, Nightwing, Pino, her father…

Her mother’s.

Months ago she had discovered that her true father was not Franco Bertinelli as she had always thought- it was another Mob member named Santo Cassamento- Mario’s father. 

Mario was in fact her half-brother.

Cassamento had explained to Helena why he hated her- it was because there had been a mistake when the hit on her family was ordered.  Her mother, Maria, was supposed to live.  The mistake had been that Maria was killed and Helena was spared.

With a start, she realized, almost for the first time, that she was living her mother’s life.  Her mother, who was gentle and loving- the total opposite of the rest of her family.

Her mother wouldn’t have thought twice about this situation.

Helena just found it so hard to let go.

^*^

 

Nightwing looked at the object in his hand, then looked again at the distance between the women.  If he was off in his throw, they could be seriously hurt.  He had to be careful.

As he adjusted his mask opticals, he once again thanked God that Olivia had such dim lighting and that he’d had his lenses polarized during No Man’s Land.

^*^

 

“All right,” Helena said almost inaudibly, her eyes still closed.  She was finding it difficult to breath.  Her throat had closed and she knew that she was in her last moments as a free woman.

But looking back over her quest for vengeance, had she ever truly been free?

Perhaps this would atone for all the wrongs she had done, inside and out of her costume.

Perhaps her soul would be saved with this one more sacrifice to add to her pile of sacrifices.

Maybe she would finally feel that she had done enough.

Helena Bertinelli reached up and began to push the mask up on her face.

^*^

 

Nightwing realized that he was out of time.  With desperation, he threw the object to where he remembered the target point to be, hoping that it would fly true and that he hadn’t unconsciously rotated in any direction.

Then he jumped down to the ground, already ready to rush to where Olivia and Kyle had been sitting.  As he did this, the screams of the three others in the room filled his ears.

^*^

 

Helena fell backwards, trying to cover her eyes and ward off the light of the flash-bomb.  The bomb had gone off in the nick of time.  Her mask had been almost completely of and the only things that covered her face were her hands, still working the mask up so that it would fall free. 

Her eyes were screaming in pain and the lights were still dancing so much that she saw the saw yellow brightness whether they were open or closed. Her mask was lying somewhere on the floor, but she didn’t bother trying to find it yet.

Tears fell down her face, as much from the fact that she knew her cousin hadn’t seen her face as the pain from the brilliance of the bomb.

She knew that she was still safe.

Helena felt familiar hands helping her up and she knew that everything would be ok.

^*^

 

Nightwing had grabbed Kyle while Olivia tried to get away from the light.  They were both screaming and the little boy was so frightened he had beat at Nightwing’s chest with his fists, trying to get away from the unknown terror that had suddenly flown in and rescued him.

Nightwing grabbed the gun on the floor as well, knowing that as soon as she could see again Olivia would look for it to shoot them.

Then, he ran across the room and knelt down next to Helena, who was still writhing, covering her eyes, which had tears streaming from them.  He placed the boy on the side of him that was opposite Olivia, knowing that Kyle wouldn’t try to get away until he could see. 

Nightwing grabbed the mask then gently took Helena in his arms and helped her sit up.  She still couldn’t see so he began to put the mask on for her.  She clung to him, still crying, a scene vaguely reminiscent of the scene on the rooftop earlier that night.  Once again, he tried to quiet her.

Finally, she stopped seeing the flash and could make out the outlines of the room.  The floor had burnt away where the flash-bomb hit and sparks lay around the area.  Luckily, none of them were catching. 

“Come, on.” Nightwing whispered.  He could see Olivia also moving at the other end of them room.

Helena nodded and slowly got to her feet, using the furniture around her to help.

Kyle was whimpering and began to try and crawl away.  Nightwing reached over and picked him up.  “It’s gonna be ok, kid.  Your Mommy sent us.”  He figured that would be the best explanation to help Kyle calm down and not fight them.  Besides, that was where they were taking him.

Olivia had also gotten to her feet.  “Don’t you dare!” she cried, blinking rapidly.

Huntress tugged Nightwing toward the far wall.  Remembering the pink slip of paper, she said, “Come on.  There’s an emergency exit over here!”

Olivia ran to the door and flung it open.  “Security!” she yelled in a panic.  A couple of the guards were regaining consciousness slowly.  She yelled and forced them to their feet.

Nightwing and Huntress reached the window with Kyle when they heard the distant sound of running feet.  He pushed her through the window first, then began to pass Kyle through into her arms where they waited on the metal porch that connected to the emergency ladders.

“Do you have a grapple line ready to get out of here?”

The guards appeared and, seeing their target, began to run faster.

She nodded, looking over to the far building as she held Kyle with one arm and brought out her grappling hook with the other.  “We can swing to the building over there across the way.”

“Not “we”, “you”.”

She spun, her eyes wide, “What?  Nightwing, no!  You-”

“Get the kid to safety!”  With that, he pulled down the window, locked it, and turned just in time to kick the first guard in the face.

Helena stood outside for only a moment.  Every part of her wanted to go back in and help get him out, but she knew that her first concern was for the boy in her arms.

“Hang on tight, Kyle.”

He soundlessly nodded.

^*^

 

“She has him,” Batman growled.

Tim’s head perked up and he combed the side of the building with his eyes.  Sure enough, there she was- coming straight at them.

^*^

 

Helena landed as gently as she was able on the roof.  She pressed the button that would release her grapple line and began to reel it back in.

A sound to her left caused her to swing around.  Standing near her, their shadows back-dropped by Gotham’s lights, were none other than Batman and Robin.

She dropped the grapple into one of her pouches and brought Kyle up to be level with her eyes, momentarily ignoring the Caped Crusader and his sidekick.  “Kyle, you’re going home now, ok?  I’m sending you with friends.  It’s gonna be ok.”

He nodded, the tears still glimmering in his eyes

“And just what is that supposed to mean?” asked Batman in a low menacing voice.

“Don’t talk like that.  You’ll scare him,” she said conversationally, her attention on the boy.  Then, very quickly, she turned around and pushed Kyle into the arms of the Batman.

Caught off guard, Batman automatically took him. 

Helena began to turn.

“Helena, what do you think you’re doing?” he asked, trying to hand Kyle off to Robin.

Robin just backed away, grinning.  It was impossible for him to get into more trouble than he was already in.  He might as well have some fun.

Batman gave him the Batglare.

“Your “son” is still trapped inside with who knows how many guards.  I’m going back.  Bring Kyle to his mother.  You need to somehow get his father out of the room.  Explain to her that Oliver ordered his son to be stolen.  Explain to her that he was willing for his son to be killed.”  Her voice was cynical.  “Explain to her how badly he wanted those sympathy votes.”

With that, before he could offer any argument, she swung away again.

Batman was left on the roof with no other choice than to return Kyle to his family.  In his arms, the boy whimpered again.  He realized that the boy was trying everything in his power to keep from crying.

Tim watched the next few seconds in amazement.

Batman set Kyle down on the roof then knelt next to him.  “Is your name Kyle?” he asked kindly.  The Boy Wonder was surprised to note that he had used almost his Bruce Wayne Voice.

When Kyle nodded, Robin was further shocked by Batman’s reaction.

Out from his utility belt of Batarangs, gas pellets, and numerous other devices, the Batman, of whom all the criminals in the city were frightened of, took a piece of candy.

Kyle slowly smiled and seemed to calm himself down a little bit, not protesting at all when the shadow swept him back up into its arms.

He keeps candy in his utility belt!  Tim was left to follow them, his eyes dazed, doomed to be in a state of complete bewilderment for a long time to come. 

^*^

 

There had been very few guards when she reentered.  Those that she had run into were easily taken care of.  Now she stood shaking her head, arms folded across her body at the man infront of her. 

“You just can’t accept help can you?  You just have to beat me to the punch every time.”

Nightwing grinned at her from where he stood over his would-be captors.  “You came back for me.”

She sighed, rolling her eyes, “Believe me, it’s a mistake I won’t be making again.  I take the time to help and you have them all down by the time I get back.”

“That’s not true!” he protested, “You took out three of them!”

“Compared to fifteen?” she asked pointedly.

He started laughing at her; after a moment she joined him.  “Well, it’s true!” she gasped.  “You never wait!”

“Well you can’t exactly blame me, I wasn’t expecting you to come back!”

The laughter died away.  “By the way,” Nightwing asked frowning, “Where is the boy?”

She smirked, “Kyle was handed off to your boss.”

He looked at her, dumbfounded.  “Are you serious?”

“Yep.  Batman gets the credit, no one knows that Huntress was even here.”

“Except your cousin.”

“Well, yeah.  But she’s just one person.”  She stopped suddenly, as if just remembering that she was supposed to be mad at him.  Motioning to an open door to their right, she said, “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

They moved towards the window inside, but as they opened it, Nightwing stopped her by laying a hand on her arm.  “Wait,” was all he said. 

She stopped, confused at the distant look in his eye.  But then, a few seconds later, she realized what it was.  The smell that brought fear to everything alive was in the air, coming from down the hall.  “Smoke,” she breathed, her eyes widening.

Without another word, they both turned and ran back in the direction they had just come.

^*^

 

“Mommy!” squealed Kyle.  The woman had been bent over looking at some papers with her husband, their backs facing the Dark Knight and his charge.  Batman sent Kyle down on ground so he could run to his mother as she turned around. 

Mrs. Ferwald’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open, then she too was running to her son, sweeping him up in her arms.  “My baby!  My baby!” she said over and over again, tears of joy running down her cheeks.

Batman stepped back into the shadows, cape gathered around him, waiting for the reunion to be over so he could find some way to explain to the mother what happened.

Oliver Ferwald stepped in front of him.  He still hadn’t touched or spoken to his son, Batman realized.  “Thank you,” said Oliver, “for bringing back our son.”

Batman stared at the hand held out to him for a long time, then, very slowly, took it and shook.  He did not relish the idea of shaking hands with such a man- a man who was willing to sacrifice the life of his child for the sake of some votes, but he figured that if he wanted to make getting alone with Mrs. Ferwald easy, he might as well not arose Mr. Ferwald’s suspicions.

^*^

 

The sight that they arrived to was basically a wall of flame.  Sure enough, it had been the room where Olivia had been holding Kyle hostage.  Now the room was filled with flames so that they couldn’t even see the windows that were only about twenty feet from the door.  The flames had also begun to spread.  Now for about fifteen feet along the wall they were licking quickly along the long-dried wood.  The penthouse was mostly wood- and it was old, at least fifty years.

Nightwing’s eyes were looking at the scene in numb horror.  “It must have been from the flashbomb,” he whispered.  “I thought the sparks would all go out.  I thought they’d all go out.”

“One must have caught the rug on fire- or the wall-paper.”  Huntress stared at the fire, merely curious about how it started, not noticing Nightwing’s face getting more and more pained.

Suddenly, they heard a crash of the ceiling giving way in the room behind them.  Spinning, they felt heat on their faces and realized that the fire had been spreading along the outside of the building as well- they were almost completely trapped. 

Huntress grabbed Nightwing and began to run, pulling him with her.  A second later, they got to the stairs.  Nightwing snapped out of his daze and stopped her.  Huntress turned and yelled at him.  “What are you doing, come on, this fire is spreading like crazy!”

“Don’t you remember?”  His eyes were wide, “Those two guards are still on the roof- tied up!”

She stared, then blinked, remembering.

“Let’s go,” Nightwing said, running up the stairs ahead of her.

She followed.

As they were running up, they heard the stairs below them crash.  The fire was hot as it burned around them, moving as fast as they were. 

“Faster!” Helena heard Nightwing yell in front her.  There was fear in his voice and she realized where it was coming from- she heard another set of stairs collapse, this time closer.  Then, looking down, she realized that they were literally running through low flames on their own set of stairs.  All she felt was a scorching heat- luckily no burning because her boots were repelling the flames- for the moment anyway.  Gasping, she practically flung herself towards the edge at the end of the stairs, the boards below her creaking ominously. 

She didn’t make it.  Helena didn’t scream as she fell, instead, she focused on throwing up the grapple that she had taken out while she ran.  For the second time that night, her life flashed before her eyes.  She wasn’t going to make it.  She would die here in this burning building and never see her friends again. 

The flight upwards of her grapple seemed to last forever, but it was only a fraction of a second. 

Then, it caught.

She was brought to a sudden stop.  At the same time, she flung out her right arm and felt Nightwing grab her hand as he fell by.  Brought down by his weight, they slid another ten feet.  Her left hand screamed from the heat from the friction that went through her glove.  She looked down.  They were only a couple yards above the bonfire at the bottom and flames were still falling around them.

Nightwing transferred his hand to the rope that dangled next to him.  Breathing hard, he yelled, “Climb!  We have to hurry!  That banister isn’t going to last long!”

She didn’t need to be told twice.  She forced her body to obey her and began the trip up as fast as she could.

^*^

 

Olivia sat in her car, her valet driving through the sleeping neighborhoods, oblivious to the fact that her home was burning down behind her.  They were heading for Galante’s house, where she would report to the Capo de Tutti Capi.  Her frown deepened.  He would not be happy.

Her cell phone rang in her purse.  “Hello?” she asked distractedly as she flipped it open.  There was silence in the car as she listened, her face unchanging.  “Thank you, officer,” she said finally.  “I will return as soon as possible.”

She hung up her phone, then sat there, staring angrily at the sky.  Galante would be very angry indeed.  That penthouse had been a good central location on some nights when the mob bosses had met.

Huntress would pay someday.  She would make sure of that.

^*^

 

The ladder that went up the side of the building to the roof was not fun after the rope. The climb up the line had been torturous.  She could only use her arms and it had been a long way.  They hadn’t even had time for a break before Nightwing had pushed her through the window.  The elevator was out of service and the boards below them on the landing were groaning in the same way the stairs had. 

With a sigh of relief, she pulled herself over the edge where she sat recovering while Nightwing pulled himself over the edge after her.

He didn’t even pause.  “Let’s go, we can rest in a second.” 

Helena got to her feet and stumbled after him.  The only thing that kept her from protesting was the look on Nightwing’s face as he came over the edge- he was as tired as she was. 

Well, that and the fact that it seemed the other side of the building had been burning a little faster then theirs.  The far side of the roof was already consumed in fire.

She and Nightwing helped a man to his feet.  They had recently regained consciousness and had been trying the crawl away from the fire when the two heroes had come over the edge. 

“We’ll each take one over to that building across the way.” Nightwing shouted over the crackle of the too-close flames.

Helena looked over, then at the man she was supporting.  “Nightwing, I don’t know if I can carry him like that without dropping him.”

Nightwing frowned, then brightened.  He took out a knife, cut through the rope as fast as he could, then took out some handcuffs and put them around the man’s hands.  The fire was very close now, rising up around them from below and towering over them behind.  He took the handcuffed arms and looped them around Huntress’s neck.  “It might hurt a little,” he cautioned both of them.  “but it will only be for a few seconds. 

She nodded, her guard only looked at his hands and grimaced.  They both knew how much it would hurt.  They would have welts around their respective hands and neck by the time this was done.

Suddenly, the roof beneath them cracked and began to fall.  Without wasting another second, they both shot off their grappling hooks.  They fell with the roof for a few feet, then were pulled away by their lines towards the neighboring roof. 

The heat, for the first time, began to fade behind them.

^*^

 

Kyle lay in bed asleep, still being fawned over by his mother, who stood staring at him contentedly smiling, every now and then tucking his covers more securely around him or smoothing back his hair.

Batman had waited for Oliver to leave before leaving himself- or at least Oliver thought that he had left.  When the politician went to meet another man downstairs, Batman had continued walking until Ferwald got into the elevator and disappeared.  Then he immediately turned around, walked back, and knocked on the hotel room door again. 

Mrs. Ferwald opened it, her eyes shining tiredly, “Can I help you?  Did you want something before you left?”

“Just to talk to you.” he said, looking her in the eye.

“To me?” she asked surprised.  But she recovered herself quickly and remembered her manners.  “Well, of course you are welcome to come in.”

He did, and closed the door behind himself.  “Mrs. Ferwald-”

“Oh, please,” she said smiling, “Call me Grace.”

“Grace, I have something to tell you, and you might not like hearing it.”

Her features were questioning.

Batman was clearly apologetic as he said, continuing, “Your husband… he was the one who ordered Kyle to be kidnapped.”

She slowly looked down at her hands in her lap, frowning.

Batman continued, “When Olivia Fernando- the woman who had your son, was confronted, she told everything.  Your husband was doing it for sympathy votes.”

“No,” she whispered, still looking down.  “It can’t be- he wouldn’t!”

Batman watched her, wishing he knew what to say.  “I’m sorry,” he said finally.  “I know it’s not easy to hear.”

She began to sob.  “I knew it!  I knew it!”  She began screaming as she said it over and over again, “I knew it!”  Grace fell to the ground and huddled there, crying as if her heart would break.  Batman stood over her, watching.  When her crying began to ease, he knelt down and helped her up. 

“You have to go to the police and help in any way that you can,” he said as he cradled her in his arms.

Her eyes were swollen and she felt thin and weak in his arms.  “I knew it,” she said faintly.  “I hoped that it wasn’t true.  But…” she took a deep breath, then said, clearly wanting to get it off her chest, “Kyle isn’t really his son.  He’s the son of another man.  Oliver always knew it.  He always hated us for it.  He beats me,” she said clinging to his arms, “He hates me.  He used to beat Kyle too.”  Tears began to fall again and she closed her eyes and seemed to shrink.  “He would do it.  He would do it.”

“Mrs. Ferwald-”

“Bring me the phone.”  He heard the sudden change in her voice- there was steel in it.  “I’m calling the police.”

^*^

 

Helena winced as she dropped into her living room.  There were burns all over her body and she hurt.  She waited for Nightwing to jump in after her before closing the skylight window.  They both collapsed onto the couch and just sat there for a minute, staring into space. 

Finally, she delicately worked the mask off her face, trying not to flinch as it pulled over the singed areas.  Nightwing looked over at her, saw the outline between white and red skin and gave a small smirk, slightly amused. 

She saw the look and tried to glare back.  It was a little harder because she knew that she really must look funny.  “Yeah, you laugh now, but wait until you finally take off your mask, you’ll look like a raccoon.”

His face broke into an all-out grin.  “Trust me, I would rather look like that then they way you look.”

She looked over at a mirror on the wall and found herself laughing too.  “Oh, man!  That reminds me of when I wore my Batgirl costume in the winter- except worse!”

They both dissolved into giggles again, for the moment, just glad to be alive. 

When it finally died away, she glanced over at Nightwing, her face serious again.  “Why did you want to come here with me?”

He didn’t answer at first.  Then, “I just wanted to say good-bye, I guess.”  He glanced at her.  “You know, once you’re Helena Bertinelli again I won’t be allowed to see you anymore.”

“Is that your rule or your mentor’s?” she asked in a flat voice.

He actually thought about it a second before answering.  “Both, I guess.  We can’t just pop into your life whenever we feel like it.  If you’re leaving this life behind, we shouldn’t make it any harder on you than it already is.”

“Yeah…” she said gloomily.

He looked at her.  “Are you ok?”

She tried to smile, miserably failing.  “Yeah, I’m good.  It’s just that…” she trailed off, then began again, “I guess that I forgot I wasn’t coming back, that tonight was my last night.”  She stopped and sat there sadly.

Nightwing watched her, then said carefully, “You know, you should always do what you want to do when you make decisions like this.  Don’t let other people sway what you think you should do.”

“What if what I should do and what I want to do are two different things?”

“Make sure they’re different.  Why shouldn’t you do what you want?  Make sure you know the answer to that; then when you do, see if you can do what you want and avoid what you shouldn’t do.”

She was quiet, thinking, for a long time. 

Finally, Nightwing stood up.  “I should probably go now.”

She glanced up, startled out of her reverie.  “Oh, yeah!  Sorry.”  She pushed off the couch and got up to stand next to him while he prepared to go back through the skylight window.

Before he left, he turned and pushed back her hair to examine the cuts and welts on her neck.  His fingers lingered over her for just a fraction of a second before he pulled away.  Taking something out of his gauntlet, he said, “Here.  It’ll help it to heal faster.”

She took the tube of medicine and smiled.  “Thanks.”

Nightwing watched her, then said quietly, “While we were in the penthouse and Olivia was reading the story, she read a scene that I used to like when I was younger.” 

She looked up into his eyes, curious. 

He began to quote, “‘Now and then, though, someone does begin to grow differently.  Instead of down, his feet grow up towards to sky.  But we do our best to discourage awkward things like that.’ 

‘What happens to them?’ insisted Milo.

‘Oddly enough, they often grow ten times the size of everyone else,’  said Alec thoughtfully, ‘And I’ve heard that they walk among the stars.’”

He paused and stood staring back at her before saying softly, “You are one of those people, Helena.  You grow differently, but you have become a great person because of it.  Never stop walking among the stars.”

She didn’t say anything, but nothing needed to be said.  He brushed some hair out of her face and a moment later, disappeared. 

Helena wrapped her arms around herself and stood without moving, merely gazing out at the sky.

 

Epilogue

 

Robin slowly moved out of the shadows in the back of the room.  Helena didn’t even notice his presence.  Slowly, as if he was afraid to disturb her thoughts, he gently touched her shoulder.  Batman had let him go early and he had decided to come and talk to her.  It seemed he wasn’t needed after all- but that didn’t mean he would leave without letting he know what he thought she should do.

She turned and looked at him, not surprised that he was there.  “Hey, Boy Wonder,” she said softly.

“Helena,” he said looking at her with kind eyes, “I’ll be by in a week or so.”

She raised an eyebrow, her eyes still shining; “I thought you weren’t allowed to visit me if I wasn’t the Huntress.”

“Exactly.”  He grinned at her.  “We’ll go patrolling together as soon as Batman trusts me again- which might take a while so you’ll have to be patient.”

She laughed.  The laugh was that of someone who had been cleansed and was seeing the world in a new way: as a place of beauty for the one that would look.  “See ya around, kid.”

Robin hugged her quickly, as if afraid she might protest, then jumped up through the window just as Nightwing had done before.

“Robin!” she called.

His head appeared back in the window.

She was grinning.  She had suddenly answered a question that had been bothering her for a long time now.  “I’ll be expecting Tim to visit me in my restaurant again!”

He stared at her, dumbfounded, then, after a few seconds, began laughing.  “Good-bye Helena!”  He said between hoots; then leapt away.

Helena was left alone, smiling. 

She was still smiling as she put her costume away, then later as she got in bed.  Catching a glimpse of her face in the mirror again, she reached over for her phone and called Little Italy.  The answering machine picked up and after the beep she said, “Hey, Ray, I’m going to take that break you wanted me to, I’ll be back in a few days!”

That night, she dreamed a dream.  She dreamed her life- both parts of her life.  And when she awoke, she had a realization.  A realization that she knew the truth:

She was a butterfly and she was man. 

Her identity was hers to decide.

 

 

~The End~