FIC: Phantom Raven (6/?)
The Phantom Raven
by Erin Griffin
Rating: For now, PG
Pairing: Slight Helena/Gabby, Huntress/Phantom Raven, just not in this chapter
Disclaimer: I wish I did, but I don't own the Birds of Prey (otherwise there would be major subtext in every episode, heh heh heh heh heh...).
Summery: Born a meta human herself, Gabby Andrews struggles to make sense of her gifts as she tries to make it in the real word. When a conversation is overheard, she is forced to put on a mask to hide her face as she goes out to save the day. She meets Huntress and a romantic adventure begins.
Author's Note: Dedicated as Always to Angel. Love ya' baby. This is a special gift to Dallas. Don't worry, Strapz is coming soon, I promise. That being said, please enjoy the story. I am sorry if these chapters seem short. (They seemed short even as I was writing them out.)
Thanks again, Rain.
Chapter 6
After Christmas was when I really relaxed and enjoyed my vacation. Dinah came over on New Year's Eve and spent the day with me. It seemed as if nothing changed between us since high school. She thanked me for the CD's I'd sent her through the mail, made fun of me for still liking Helena, then started telling me some interesting stories about her, what she's been up to and all that. "Yeah, well it might be your lucky year this new year." she said.
"Why?"
"Helena's gotten goo-goo eyes for a superhero the last month or so." Dinah seemed a little bored as she told me this.
"They don't exist, Dinah. They are just local legends... stories to tell the children so they know they're safe." I said, thinking of Dana as I told that lie. I was trying not to choke on my mug of tea. Dinah, to my surprise, shook her head furiously, all boredom in her posture gone.
"That's not true. Helena's friend Reese down at the police station says that there's a superhero he works with. Some chick who calls herself the Huntress. Helena's seen a picture that Jesse drew of her... Anyway, a few weeks ago, Reese told Helena that the Huntress came to him asking about a new superhero, wanting to know who she was and all that. Reece said he didn't know, since the only superhero he knew of was the Huntress."
"So... Helena's got this friend who works with this Huntress shadow lady, who has now found a new crime fighting buddy?" I asked as if I wanted to get it all straight... heh, in a manner of speaking.
"Something like that. Helena still has the picture that Huntress drew for Jesse of this... Damn it, what was her name... It was like... Shadow Raven- Phantom Raven. My bad. Helena's got it bad for her though."
"So Helena's into chicks?" I was two seconds away from jumping from my seat and dancing.
"A chick." Dinah stressed the word 'A'.
"Lucky bitch." I pouted. 'Yes... Yes, I am.'
"Sorry. But it IS funny, because you should just watch her look out for anyone who could be this Phantom Raven. I feel sorry for her though. Huntress hasn't seen her for a while. It was like one night she's there and the next she's gone." she said. I shrugged, looking as if I didn't care as much about the topic of conversation anymore, even though I actually did.
"Maybe she thought it was cool at the time to be a superhero, but then got to the scene and found she couldn't handle it. If she was new, she couldn't have had much of a clue about what she was doing." I said with another shrug, pretending that I was only humoring Dinah in these theories about something I knew wasn't real.
"She didn't. From what I heard, she seemed to wake up one morning saying, 'I think I will save the day today', but it was weird. It was as if she knew about that robbery Huntress saw her at." It surprised me how much Dinah heard about these superheros... about me. "In fact, she only seemed to care about protecting the clerk and Huntress, she didn't seem to care about being a superhero at all. She had to make up her name on the spot, Helena said."
"So, Phantom Raven... What kind of name is that? Sounds like a name one of the goths at school would use." I said.
"She was one of those freaks you hear about on the news. The name sorta suited her." Dinah looked sorry to say that last sentence. I swallowed down some almost scalding tea, then had another question for Dinah.
"So what does this... freak have as a power then?" I asked. "If this chick is even real." Dinah glared at me. "What? Oh come on, you can't expect me to believe that because a little 'He Said, She Said' I'm supposed to believe in people you'd only see in comic book conventions." Dinah rolled her eyes and ignored that last comment.
"She had large black wings, Helena said, but I bet some things were exaggerated." I nodded and let silence float a little bit between us. I wanted to take the subject away from... me.
"I heard of the Huntress having a semi sidekick a while back. Whatever happened to her?" I asked after a minute or two. My way of saying I'm sorry to Dinah. The best way to say I'm sorry is to let her talk about her favorite subject of the moment.
"I don't know much about Canary except that she took her name from the Black Canary, who is rumored to be- to be dead now. I think they were related, like the Black Canary was her aunt or something."
Dinah didn't seem to like this conversation anymore, so I just said "Oh," and thought over what she'd said.
We didn't do anything special for New Year's. We just watched some program on TV as they counted down to the New Year and we spoke our New Year's resolutions. (Dinah promised to leave Helena's clothes alone, but she's been promising that since I've met her. I resolved to change my outward appearance, but in my mind, I resolved to become a better superhero.) Dinah slept over that night and then left on the 1st at around 2 in the afternoon because Barbara had needed her to help take down their Christmas tree. On the 2nd, I went to the Dark Horse Bar to drop off the shirt that Dinah had left at my place. "Hey! That's mine. Oh, she's so dead." Helena said when she saw the shirt I took out of my backpack. She was on the steps leading to her apartment and she waved for me to come up.
"Oh no." I groaned, climbing the stairs. "Well, now I know she'll hate me for getting her in trouble." Helena laughed, inviting me into the apartment.
"Thanks for the CD's." she said, putting the shirt on a chair in her apartment and leaning against the counter to look at me as she spoke. "I truthfully didn't know what to think of the Evanscence Christmas album even though I'd heard of nothing the CD on the radio, but I found I couldn't stop listening to it throughout the holidays." I nodded.
"Glad you liked it." I said, trying not to fidget under her stare.
"So..." She said after a minute. "Who is Sox 'N' Shooze?" she asked. She motioned for me to sit, so I knew that I was not going to make a getaway for a little while. I'd made plans to go run a few errands before going back home. 'They'll have to wait.' I thought as I sat on the couch.
"I don't know really. I just saw them on 'Regis-and-whomever-he-decides-is-hostess-of-the-week'... -though why I'd waste a day off doing that is beyond me- singing 'Stockings' and Silent Night." I shrugged. "It was either that or Snowed In by Hanson." All I needed to say was Hanson to get Helena to scrunch up her nose in disgust. "Yeah... So I thought you might like them instead." I said.
"Well, thanks. So, how have you been? It feels like you've been a stranger lately," she said. I smiled a little, feeling touched that she'd noticed my absence.
"Well, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be moving into another apartment. I liked the other one though. It was quieter. There are more children in this one, but oh well. Sometimes having them around is comforting. Like on the day after Christmas... it was cute to hear the children play with their new toys... made me feel old." We both laugh.
"How's Dana O'Keefe?" Helena asked after a while.
"She's got a few scars, but other than that, she's fine."
"She still think you fly?"
"No. She realized it was a dream." Helena nodded. There was silence for a little bit, which was interrupted by a knock at the door and the ringing of the phone at the same time. Helena opened the door muttering something about it being Dinah, then picked up the phone as Dinah let herself in. Dinah hung up her coat as if she was staying a while, then plopped down next to me on the couch. A few minutes later, Helena hung up the phone.
"Who was that? Lover Boy?"
"Shut up. It was Detective Reese, not Lover Boy." Helena said, glaring at Dinah.
"So you really do know some of the NGPD." I said, as more of a statement than a question.
"Yeah, she's got quite a few connections there. How do you think she's gotten out of so many parking tickets?"
"And here I thought it was because they think I'm so damned cute." Helena said dryly. I laughed, shaking my head.
"I've got to agree with that, Dinah."
"Of course you do." Dinah said with a cheeky grin.
"Wow, for someone who's gonna die soon, you've sure got quite a mouth on ya'." I said. Dinah's face scrunched up in mock worry.
"Uh oh. What'd I do now?"
"You borrowed my B.R.A.T T-shirt. AGAIN." Helena said. "AND you were moron enough to leave it at Gabby's apartment." Dinah looked over at me as if to ask 'How could you?' I only shrugged. "Hey, it's not Gabby's fault you forgot it there." I nodded in agreement. Helena winked my way, and I just stared. 'Do that again.' I said silently to her. I was jabbed in the side by Dinah, which leads me to believe I was staring for too long. I look at her sort of confused before I glare at her, but she must be immune to them, because she didn't do anything. I jumped up to hide my embarrassment.
"Well, I have to go. Things to see, people to do- Uh, I-I mean- People to see, things to do." I shut my eyes and counted to ten as I heard Dinah laugh at my mistake.
"I actually believe the first one to be true," she mutters, but it was loud enough for me to hear it.
"Shut up." I said, feeling myself go even redder. As I heard Dinah's laughter, I resisted the urge to take the rope tool out of my backpack and strangle her with it. "I've got errands to run, things to do... thank you cards to send."
I got to the door before I heard Dinah call after me, "Hey, Gabs, have you been working out?" I'm not sure if this was her way of apologizing for making fun of me or if it was a little obvious that I have been working out, but I turned to look at her. I'm not sure how she would have seen it now, and not when she was sleeping over.
"Why do you ask?" I asked her cautiously.
"I dunno, you're wearing looser fitting clothes is all, so I was wondering if you were losing weight." I felt Helena's eyes on me as Dinah explained this to me. They were talking about the 1 size too big pink sweater that covered my butt, and baggy black jeans that I had worn over there.
"Uh- well- yeah, I hope so. I joined a gym a while back. Had to lose the Holiday Chub, ya' know?" Dinah rolled her eyes, and I knew she wanted to tell me how not fat I was, but Helena cut in.
"Well, not that you looked bad before, but it does seem as if you're shaping up nicely." Was she salivating? I nodded.
"Thank y-you." 'Shit.' I thought as I saw Dinah's grin. She then got up and walked into Helena's main bedroom.
"Well," She called behind her, "If you are really working on weight training and muscle building and all that for the New Year, then you can use this. Helena, you still have that tape you never watch anymore?!" She called.
"Should be there with the other VHS tapes!" she called back, hopping onto the counter to sit.
"Your room's a mess, Hel! I can't see the carpet!" Dinah yelled.
"That is why YOU are coming over next weekend to help ME clean it up."
"AW," was the only protest heard from Dinah. I chuckled. She came out of Helena's room and threw the tape at me in a discus throw. I lifted my hand and caught it in my left hand in midair.
"Nice catch." Helena said slowly, as if impressed. I looked at the cover to the VHS tape.
"Eight Minute Abs?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at Dinah.
"Happy Christmas, Merry New Year, Hootin' Chanika, Howlin' Kwanzaa..." she said.
"You forgot Solstice..." Helena said sarcastically as I put the tape in my bag. Dinah punched Helena on the arm. Helena jumped off of the counter and started after her as if she was gonna pulverize her. Dinah bolted from the room, and Helena stopped moving as if Dinah wasn't worth the effort.
"You two crack me up." It was difficult to see that they weren't related, if you don't count the fact that they don't look like each other, but they act as if they grew up together (or didn't grow up). I put my right arm through my coat sleeves and Helena helped me with the other sleeve. "Thanks." I murmured, not able to look at her at first.
"No problem. Hey uh... Well, on Saturday night there is a dance party at Club Rainbow, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me. A-And Dinah, of course." I looked up at her with a deer in the headlights expression on my face at first, and then felt my cheeks grow hot. I took a deep breath and then answered her.
"Yeah. I would love to go with you. A-And of course Dinah." I said without thinking. I wanted to hit myself, but I would look like more of a fool in front of Helena. 'Great, now she knows that you prefer women.' one part of my mind said, before the other side said 'But she wouldn't be asking you to come with her to a gay/lesbian club if she didn't have at least a clue.' Did Dinah tell her? Helena seemed to let out a breath she'd been holding.
"I'm glad you said yes. I-I mean, I wasn't totally sure you'd say yes, Club Rainbow being a gay club and all. I wasn't sure you were into women, but I would sometimes see you checkin' me out, a-and I heard once or twice the way you talk about Angelina Jolie, ya know?"
"Uh..." I blushed. I was wondering what way I talked about A.J. "Yeah, I know." 'You're smart, Andrews.'
"If you're not comfortable with the whole dating thing, then I understand-" 'DATE?! This was supossed to be a date?!'
"NO!" I forced out, making Helena look at me with a startled expression on her face. "I-I'm fine with it. I was just caught a little off guard. I was sorta caught up in the fact that Dinah would be going is all." 'What about your crush on Phantom Raven?' I asked her in my head, then asked myself, 'Why is she asking me out when she likes her so much. She can't know that we are one and the same, can she?'
"Yeah, she wants to go and dance there, since it is the only place that will let her in. Plus, she has a guy friend who is going to be there." I nodded, wondering to myself if the guy friend was from school.
"So, um I'll see you Saturday then?" I said.
"Yeah." Helena opened the door and planted a kiss on my right cheek. "See you then."
