Review Comments:
Guest - Thanks! I love writing these two!
LoisNClark4Ever - There's a very real chance that they show up in that arc, haha. The two of them really make a great team because Huntress is so smart and Power Girl is obviously so tough, though that goes both ways. We'll definitely be seeing how brainy Power Girl is too, because Lois Lane didn't raise her no dummies, haha. She didn't end up running Starrware Labs for nothing! haha.
Marius - Thanks! I'm really still finding their voices and their footing, but it's been a ton of fun so far! More is coming!
Author: CaptainTightPants12
Rating: K
Disclaimer: If I owned DC Comics and/or any of it's associated characters or storylines, don't you think I'd be posting this in the funny pages for money instead of on the internet for free?
Summary: Spinning out of Flashpoint, Helena Wayne and Power Girl try to come to terms with living in a new world where the doppelgängers of the people they knew aren't as familiar as they'd like.
Chapter: #7, Progress Update
Author's Note: I know, I'm awful! Two weeks late! Hopefully getting two chapters makes it up to you!
The goons did their best to try and slow them down, but they clearly didn't understand who they were messing with. With a quick flip, Huntress landed onto the first floor of the old library. Pages of the waterlogged books whipped as the arrow flew past them until it landed into the shoulder of the thug that had put Catwoman in his sights.
"Just because you have nine lives, doesn't mean that you have to waste the first eight," Huntress shouted.
Catwoman looked back with a smirk before cracking another thug across the face with her whip. "What makes you think that I've got that many lives left?" she wrapped the whip around her waist again.
Gritting her teeth, Huntress muttered, "Because there's a Batman on this Earth?" A beep echoed through the air and her eyes narrowed for a moment before shouting towards Catwoman, "RPG! Get down!"
"I've got it!"
She looked up to see that Power Girl snatched the rocket out of the air and set it flying through the glass panes overhead before it exploded over the Gotham skyline. "It's not the Fourth of July yet, is it?"
"It's Superman's girlfriend!" one of the thugs shouted.
Power Girl twisted up her face in disgust, "Ugh," she mock-gagged. "That's so gross!"
Huntress shot an arrow past her head to grapple herself upwards, muttering as she flew past Power Girl, "You had to know that was coming sooner or later, Kare," before landing on the second landing and kicking the thug that had fired the RPG in the face before rolling out to see that the rest of the thugs had been taken care of.
"You would barf into your ridiculous utility belt if someone called you Batman's girlfriend," she glared.
Catwoman wrapped her whip around Power Girl's ankle to propel herself up next to Huntress. "I would certainly hope that you aren't Batman's girlfriend," she narrowed her eyes. "I'd to have to show you why I keep my hair short."
Huntress rolled her eyes and looked up at Power Girl, "Can you see Cobblepot?"
"I can't see him anywhere within five blocks," she shook her head. "Either he had a quick getaway, or he's smart enough to have a room made out of lead. What about you? Aren't you the one familiar with this place?"
Smirking, Catwoman shrugged, "Ozzie is crafty. Could be all the above."
Power Girl narrowed her eyes, "How helpful."
Catwoman smirked, "You're the one with the comic book eyes, Blondie. You know, Superman would have thought ahead and watched after that stubby little moron while Batman did all of the heavy lifting like your gal-pal here just did."
"Uh..." Huntress felt her eyes grow wide.
Setting down across from Catwoman, Power Girl's eyes had a tinge of red to them. "Excuse me?"
Shrugging, Catwoman batted her eyes at the Kryptonian, "Sure, you handled a little rocket, but how many of these guys are walking away with burns on their butts? I think there are more arrows and whiplash if you ask me."
"You know for someone with a warrant out for their arrest for breaking out of a mental-institution, you're sure doing a lot of talking at one of those good guys that tends to bring people with warrants to the cops," she growled.
"Ummm, we were really doing need to be doing this right now-"
Catwoman held up her hand to silence Huntress, "If you want to lock me up, go ahead. But your girl is the one that broke me out."
Power Girl took a step closer, glaring down at her, "She did, but that isn't going to save your skin with me."
"I went and let Cobblepot to catch to see if she would come, and she did. And you were in tow," she smirked. "So I think that both of us know who is really calling the shots in your little wannabe Superman/Batman gang."
They exchanged looks, and Huntress wrenched Catwoman to face her, "You did what?!"
She rolled her eyes, "Did you really think that Oswald Cobblepot, the idiot that lets people call him the Penguin, could really catch me if I didn't want him to? You came to Arkham and let me out. I visited the Batman, so I know you're one of his people. I wanted to see if you would come calling if I went and got myself into trouble. And you did," she shrugged.
"You could have gotten yourself killed!" Huntress growled.
"It wasn't the first time that Ozzie has put me in his sights, and it won't be the last time. He has too many shiny, pretty things. But I always get out of it, and I would've gotten out of this one too," she said with an amused smile.
Huntress shook her head, "I can't believe that I actually was worried about you."
"I'm still trying to figure out why you were worried about me at all," she narrowed her eyes.
"Well, you don't have to worry about me," Power Girl shook her head. "I'm not worried about how you waste your nine lives, and I'm not going to help you out of a jam again. In fact, I see you again? I'll weld you into a cell you'll never get out of."
Catwoman clicked her tongue, "Sounds like a good time to me."
Shaking her head, Power Girl zoomed upwards and through the skylight. Huntress glared, "Really? She just saved your skin." Huntress turned and fired a zip-line towards the ceiling. With a tug, the gears turned on in her crossbow and shot her upwards so that she could swing through the skylight. When she landed onto the roof, Power Girl was glaring daggers at her. "Look-"
"No, you look," Power Girl interrupted. "She's going to get you killed, Hel."
She sighed, "She's not going to get me killed. You've got my back."
"I didn't have your back when you went and broke her out, and what if something had happened then? And what happens when I'm not around the next time she drags you into something? You're not a babysitter. This isn't your job," Power Girl warned.
"You know that I have to," Huntress shook her head. "I... I just have to. You know that."
Power Girl gritted her teeth, "Hel-"
She held up her hand. "If it was one of them, if the roles were reversed, I wouldn't tell you not to. So don't ask me not to. I'm not going to let her get me killed, but I'm not going to let her get herself killed either. I just can't."
Looking down at the ground, Power Girl shook her head. She knew that it was true. If Superman had been some kind of rogue, if Lois had been some sort of big mouth reporter with a vendetta against vigilantes, she would have tried to find the people that she knew from back home somewhere inside of them. She knew that she was lucky that Clark was still this good-to-a-fault hero with a folksy air to him, and she knew she was beyond lucky that Lois was still the most bad ass person she'd ever have the pleasure of knowing. She knew that. And she couldn't imagine how hard it must be for Helena to see her parents like this now.
To see that Batman was just some gruff, dark, angry man out to pummel crime with his bare fists instead of the man that had built an entire team of superheroes and trusted them with every fiber of his being. That loved his wife and his daughter with a fierce passion that rivaled his passion for helping people in need. To see that Catwoman was a thief, unapologetic for the crimes that she had committed, and almost welcomed a future life of crime instead of the woman that lived a Robin Hood-esque life that brought her into the crosshairs of the man that she would save from his own despair. That was a key member of their Justice League.
"I'm sorry, Hel," she muttered.
Blinking, Huntress shook her head, "What was that?"
Glaring, Power Girl narrowed her eyes, "Don't. Don't start."
"Did you just say you were sorry?" Huntress asked with wide-eyes.
"I'm going to light your stupid purple boots on fire," Power Girl growled.
Huntress clutched her chest, "You couldn't possibly have said sorry. The infamous Supergirl never says sorry!"
"It's Power Girl now, and I'm seriously going to strangle you with your utility belt."
She chuckled and shook her head, "I need you to have my back. I know that you don't need it as much as I do, but I need you to have my back because I'm out here with nothing, but I'm trying to make something out of what I've got available to me."
Stepping over to her, Power Girl put her arm around Huntress' shoulders. "I need you to have my back too, Hel. I'm just worried that in all your good intentions, you're going to go full Superman and wrap a noose around your neck. That woman is way more unpredictable than the one that we knew and loved. And she's got more snark than Cat Grant after Lois Lane Pulitzer speech."
"That's a lot of snark."
"You're damn right that's a lot of snark."
They made their way back towards the skylight, but stopped a few steps short. Huntress groaned before turning to Power Girl with a pained expression on her face, "We're going to look down there and she's totally going to be gone, isn't she?"
Power Girl sighed, "Why do you feel the need to ask questions you already know the answer to?"
Glancing down through the skylight, Catwoman was nowhere to be seen. Huntress let out a long sigh. Bad guys laid about across the ground of the old library, arrows stuck in water-soaked books from the flooding. After a long moment of hoping that she would just walk back into frame, Huntress sighed and put her finger to her cowl, "You still with me, Penny-one?"
"I am," the British accent replied.
"Catwoman is safe, but she's in the wind. Cobblepot is missing as well," she offered.
He let out a soft chuckle, "I'm afraid that happens more than you might think, Huntress."
"Doesn't make me feel any better about it, Penny-One. I was hoping that I'd have something to show off by the time Big Brood gets back from out of town," she sighed. "Instead I don't think we're any better off than the way he left it."
"Oh no, have I not given you the progress update on the city?" he chuckled. "You may just have your chance after all."
. . . .to be continued. . . .
Author's Note: Well, what did you think?! Catwoman and Cobblepot have gotten away, but apparently, there's a lot more on the horizon waitings for them! Don't think that means that Selina's role is done in this story though! I consider her a regular! But the truth is that while Batman is gone doing what he's doing in Flashpoint, they're definitely holding down the fort! Not that they'll be stuck in just Gotham either, but that's a story for another time (perhaps next time? Keep reading to find out!). Anyways, I'm going to jump over and do the next chapter that was due yesterday to catch us all up, so I won't keep you long! Shoot me some reviews and let me know what you thought though! I'm always anxious to hear what you're all thinking! See you in the next one!
