Chapter 1

Huntress was not having a good night, to say the least.

Her latest confrontation with Batman had gone extremely poorly. He'd put up with her more brutal methods long enough, and now at last he was laying down the line. As far as Helena was concerned, the line in question was one she could never abide by, but at the same time she didn't want to be enemies with him. Quite the contrary Huntress wanted to be on his side, fighting alongside him. But he wanted nothing to do with her, and she knew it. And why?

The answer Huntress quickly decided, was because she actually had the guts to kill the scum that infested Gotham City when it was necessary. All of them...the killers, the mass murderers, the thieves, the rapists...all of them monsters who Huntress felt needed to go once they crossed a certain point. And she'd known them just as long as he ever had...she was raised by a mafia crime boss after all, and she was orphaned by some of the very same kind of people. She knew about crime...no one could ever argue that...

After their latest borderline shouting match, Huntress was just...running. Running across rooftops, running through the dark labyrinth that was Gotham City, and running away from him...the arrogant, sanctimonious...

Huntress was shaken out of her inner ruefulness by the sound of a gunshot. She whipped around to the source and followed it to an alleyway wedged in-between a pair of three-story buildings. Her mind was racing with inner thoughts the way it always did when she was in the middle of righting a wrong. But now that was not the only thing racing through her mind. Helena also thought of how this could be a chance for her to prove herself-wait, what was she thinking? Prove herself? She had just decided that she was done trying to prove herself to him. Whoever had fired that gun, she was going to take him, or her, down however she wanted and even kill him if necessary, Batman be damned.

She dropped down to the source and made her way into the alley. Her staff and miniature crossbow in hands, with the latter aimed out at whoever had fired the shot. She waited for the opportune moment before popping out from behind cover with her crossbow aimed.

"ALL RIGHT! Whoever you are, I want you to drop your gun-"

A projectile that resembled a batarang went flying in Huntress's direction. She ducked past it and fired out her crossbow.

"All right! Now you've ticked me off!"

"Settle down toots!"

The figure stepped out of the shadows fully, revealing himself to be a young man with an athletic build. His clothes were fairly casual, save for the body armor he wore underneath his black jacket and a utility belt not unlike the ones worn by Batman and Robin only this one had more lethal weapons, such as two holstered handguns, a knife, and even a couple of hand grenades.

But it was what he wore over his head that was the obvious standout: a red helmet that covered his entire face. As Huntress took in his appearance, she also studied the man's posture, size, and other things, all the while unsure of what to make of him. Another costumed face in Gotham? If so, he was keeping it pretty casual compared to what most other costumed characters in the city wore, Huntress included.

"Hey, toots, you done inspecting me, or should I-"

Huntress raised her crossbow at him once more. "First of all: do NOT ever call me toots. Second: who are you, and why did you fire off a gun?"

"That wasn't me. It was him."

The man pointed to the ground to his right. Huntress turned and saw that indeed, a man was lying unconscious on the ground, a gun still in one of his hands.

"He was a really bad shot."

"Uh-huh...and you are exactly?"

"That's none of your business."

"Oh really?" Huntress scanned his outfit once more and this time caught something she had missed before: an "R" logo on his jacket.

"Hate to break it to you, but we already have someone with an "R" logo around here..."

The man's posture seemed to become stiffer as Huntress said this, but he did not visibly react in any other way. Finally though, he said through gritted teeth: "Is that a fact? Well I guess that just confirms it. Gone such a short time already forgotten. Wish I could say I was surprised"

"Who are you?" Huntress asked, intrigued by the man's cryptic words.

"I already answered that question"

"And I didn't like your answer. So how about you give me a better one?"

The man chuckled. "Heh. I like your style babe. But you're not getting anything out of me"

"Is that right?" Huntress kept her crossbow aimed at the man and held her staff tightly in her other hand. "I have ways of getting what I want"

Again the man chuckled. "Are you seriously threatening me? That's cute"

The man's condescending remark ignited a fire of rage inside Helena that she then unleashed as she fired her crossbow. The man dodged out of the way and responded with gunfire. Huntress ducked under the hail of bullets and tried to shoot him again only for the man to force her to dodge again with another shot. Closing the distance between them, the masked man attacked Helena with a strike to the shoulder area. Helena gasped and dropped her crossbow. She tried to strike out with her staff but he grabbed it and kicked her back.

"Come on toots, make me work out here"

Snarling, Helena ran at him again and brought her staff down on the man's helmeted head. He raised an arm to block the strike and again zipped into intercept her, moving far faster than she had ever seen anyone else go except for Batman and Nightwing. And he hit about as hard as the latter too. Helena tried to fight him hand to hand but the man moved as if he knew every one of Helena's attacks before she made it and replied then with some crushing blows that always seemed to hit in the worst possible places.

Helena recognized this fighting style. The last time she'd seen it she and Nightwing had almost been killed.

"That's…"

The masked man cut her off by punching her hard enough to send blood flying out of her nose and knocking her back.

"Recognize it do you?" The man smiled underneath his helmet. "I've been around since coming back. And she's not the only one I've been to either. I've spent a long time preparing for my homecoming. You on the other hand either haven't done that much, or you're just straight up pathetic. Maybe both"

Snarling, Helena tried to attack him again and again he downed her with ease. Huntress could feel the contempt he felt for her inferiority radiating off of his body in waves, which only served to make her blood boil. She felt the unspoken disdain for her like a slap across the face. Just like Bruce here was another man who was not impressed with her and barely even paid her a passing glance.

"Damn you!" Huntress roared, even though the man hadn't said anything. This time the man tackled Huntress and forced her to the ground, pinning her arms to the ground and whispering: "Now this doesn't feel too bad"

"Bastard!" Huntress spat, trying to kick him in the groin. Releasing his grip the man rolled to avoid the kick. Seizing on the distraction Helena tried to attack him while he was prone but found she was now slower from being so badly injured. In the end the man recovered in time to catch her punch and pull her close to him. "So much anger, so little restraint. I've been there"

"Who are you?" Huntress demanded. The man chuckled. "Red Hood. That's all you're getting out of me, and that's only because I find you being willing to get the shit beaten out of you just to know my name funny. Now beat it before I have to bruise that pretty face anymore than I have"

Huntress spat at him. "Go to hell"

Red Hood punched her hard enough to finally knock her out. "No thanks babe. I just got back from there"