Gotham

Helena and Kara sat down at the café and ordered some drinks. After Kara had changed out of her costume and into her civvies they'd spent the day walking round the shops looking at clothes or whatever else happened to tickle their fancy. Neither of them were what you would call avid shoppers but the combination of company and spare money had caused them to go a lot longer than usual. Throughout the entire day Helena had noticed Karen hadn't brought up the subject of Kaine once even when she'd bought a floor length red dress that could have only been bought with one person in mind. Although it was evident Kara was dying of curiosity.

"Ok Kara ask me before you burst" Helena sighed.

"So you and the other guy huh?" Kara blurted out almost instantly.

"Its complicated" Huntress replied running a hand through her hair.

"When isn't it?" the blond heroine chuckled smiling at her friend. "Do you like him?"

"Yeah. A lot" Helena responded instinctively and was surprised at how easy the words rolled off her tongue. "I mean he's a little rough around the edges and his past isn't great but he's loyal, brave and as much as he tries to deny it selfless."

"Not to mention good looking" Kara said smiling causing Helena to blush slightly and reach for her drink. "And I bet that flexibility of his comes in handy as well" Power Girl finished, winking at her friend causing Helena to choke on her drink. "So what does he do?"

"Same thing as us" Helena replied clearing her throat.

"Thought so. He hits harder than a normal human" Power Girl remarked. "What's his story?"

"I'll be honest I don't know an awful lot about his past. All I know is that he's an orphan who never knew his parents. He didn't have a great childhood from what I can work out. He didn't even have a name."

"Ouch" Kara commented as she took a sip of her drink. She was well aware of what it was like to lose a family.

"Anything after that he tends to get a little cagey over. All he's told me is that he was mentally unstable and killed a few people until some guy snapped him out of it" Helena admitted. Kara raised an eyebrow at that.

"How is he now?"

"He's fine just a little…short tempered" Helena assured her.

"Just be careful ok? People with a violent past especially one with mental instability have quite a lot of trouble changing."

"What are you trying to say?" Helena snapped defensively. "I'm no saint either."

"Whoa, whoa I wasn't trying to warn you away or anything. I just don't want you to get hurt" Power Girl replied surprised at Helena's change in tone.

Huntress sighed. She knew Kara was just trying to be a friend but she didn't like the way people kept judging Kaine before they actually got to know him. It reminded her of how everyone had reacted to her before they actually took the time to find out why she was like she was. Fortunately Barbara had stuck up for just as she was sticking up for Kaine.

"So what's the deal with this Scarlet Spider guy that's been all over the news?" Power Girl began attempting to change the subject, not realizing that she had failed spectacularly. "He seems to be doing a pretty good job around here. Diana and I were talking about him earlier. Frankly I'm surprised Batman hasn't had one of his famous chats with him" Kara finished using her fingers as quotation marks on the word "chats".

"That's Kaine" Helena informed her as she watched people flit through the busy street.

"Huh?"

"Kaine is the Scarlet Spider" Helena explained turning back to the blonde.

"Oh I see. That suit doesn't leave much to the imagination. Lucky girl" Kara replied smiling causing Helena to become flustered again.

Kara wasn't being crude she just liked to tease her friend and watch her squirm at her games. Helena knew what she was doing but somehow Kara always found a way of getting under her skin.

"So you mentioned earlier you and the League are off somewhere?" Huntress began, quickly changing the subject.

"Oh yeah. Its nothing to worry about just some small thing to keep the peace on some planet. We'll probably be back before you know it. Not that you have a hell of a lot of contact with us anyway" Power Girl replied finishing her drink. "By the way have you seen Batman recently? We wanted to get into contact with him to inform him what we're doing but we haven't been able to."

"Yeah he was with us at Arkham Yesterday evening" Helena replied thoughtfully. "When did you try to contact him?"

"Actually it was last night" Kara replied slightly sheepishly.

"Well that's probably why you got no reply."

"We also tried again earlier before I left but still no luck."

"He's probably still sleeping. He took quite beating during the breakout" Helena replied although this was strange. It was well known that Batman was a 'go until you drop' kind of guy and it didn't explain why either Cass, Steph or Alfred hadn't been there to respond.

"Well can you give him the message. We're off in like a few hours. That's just enough time to check out the new store down on 5th" Kara said getting to her feet and dragging Helena with her.

Gotham that evening

"Stat report."

Two men dressed head to toe in black stood in an alley eyes darting around to make sure they weren't being watched.

"Wayne and his bats have been taken care of. The Titans have also been apprehended" the other replied.

"And outsider?"

"Who? Red Hood?"

"Yes" the first man replied impatiently.

"I sent someone to take care of that situation but have had no confirmation yet."

"Our next move is on the sister and her team. An assault team is being prepared as we speak."

"We are close now brother. Soon we will have this city."

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news but I don't think that's gonna happen!"

The two men quickly drew katana's at the sound of the voice. Bullets ripped through the alley and into the two men who took the barrage directly in their chests.

"Outsider" one of them hissed as Red Hood emerged from the shadows at the other end of the alley.

"Yep. Your friend didn't do such a good job of taking me out" Jason replied smirking as he stood over the two men. "Night night now" he finished as he quickly put a bullet into each man's head. "So the sister is next? Who the hell is…Awww crap Babs don't die before I get there" Jason muttered as he ran out of the alley and threw himself onto his motorbike.

Meanwhile at Kord

It was late when Helena arrived back from her trip round town. Kara had left earlier but she had felt like the walk so she'd stayed out a bit longer. As she entered the lounge her eyes instantly locked onto Kaine who also turned at her appearance.

"How'd things go with Kara?" Hank asked more out of courtesy that actual interest.

"Yeah it went fine. Kaine can I talk to you a sec?" Huntress replied looking the Scarlet Spider in the eyes. Kaine got to his feet and as he left the room Huntress shut the door behind them.

"Whats uphh" he was cut off as Helena pressed her lips against his.

"I've been waiting all day to do that" she said breathlessly as they broke the kiss.

"Why don't we just tell the others? Dove already knows anyway."

"We will lets just let everyone calm down after the whole Arkham thing. I know Oracle is still worried about Batman" Helena replied as she pushed the door back open. She then proceeded to walk over to Barbara who was at her eternal position infront of the laptop. Kaine decided to sit on the couch and see what was on the tv.

"What happened to you?" Zinda asked raising an eyebrow as Kaine sat down next to her. As he sat down his t-shirt rode up his back slightly and Blackhawk noticed the scratch marks covering his skin.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Kaine asked turning to her confused.

"Those marks" she replied pointing at them. Helena's eyes snapped up and her face turned red as she realized the marks Zinda was referring to were the scratch marks left by her fingernails when she had gotten a little 'aggressive' during her and Kaine's night together.

"I..err..allergies I guess" Kaine began not really sure what to say.

Dove who wasn't far away was currently covering her mouth preventing the laughter escaping having seen Huntress's face. Blackhawk looked at her confused. As she turned back to look at Kaine she caught a quick look at Helena's embarrassed face and suddenly she understood, like a light switch being flipped on.

"Wait! You and…." Before she could continue Huntress quickly ran over, grabbed her and shuffled her out of the room and into the kitchen before she could say anything else. "You and Kaine? When did this start?" Zinda asked eyes wide in surprise.

"It was last night after the whole Arkham deal" Helena replied desperately trying to shush the blond haired woman.

"How come you didn't tell us? I wanna know everything! Details!"

This was one of the reasons Huntress had tried to avoid bringing this up so soon she wasn't sure she could deal with all the questions right now. Especially not from Zinda who was like a bag of puppies when she got interested in something.

"I don't know the details myself yet. At least give me a few days to sort this out. Then we'll have a girl talk" Helena replied exasperatedly. Noticing the slightly distressed demeanour Helena currently had Blackhawk relented and bit back more questions.

"Ok fine but after you've got this sorted me and you need to talk."

"Thank you" Helena replied breathing a sigh of relief as she opened the kitchen door.

"Wait last night? Is that what the noise was in Kaine's room? I thought he was just training or something. Wait a sec some of those noises sounded like they were coming from the ceiling did you two…"

"No we didn't!" Helena replied interrupting her face growing redder as she pushed Blackhawk out of the kitchen.

"Oh my god you did didn't you?" Zinda gasped wide eyed.

"Shut up" Helena snapped back as she quickly put as much distance between her and Blackhawk as possible.

Kord Tower later that night

Kaine lay in the bed feeling the rise and fall of Helena's chest as she slept next to him. He wasn't sure where things were going and the fear of the unknown was the worst kind of fear. He lay there for a few more minutes before resigning himself to the fact that he wasn't going to sleep anytime soon. Carefully prying his arm from beneath Huntress being careful not to wake her as he did Kaine slipped out of the bed. He shivered involuntarily as the cool night air crept across his skin before quickly pulling on a pair of jeans that lay strewn on the floor.

As he opened the door it creaked loudly and he froze fearing that he may have woken Helena but she didn't move. Satisfied she was still sleeping he left the room and closed the door slowly making sure not to make the same mistake as last time. A light flickered beneath the door in the middle of the corridor that led into the lounge.

"Must be Oracle" he muttered as he moved towards it. She was the only person who hadn't gone to bed when the rest of them had. She was still worried about the Bat-guy or Bruce as she called him. Kaine wondered if the man under mask was all too happy about her using his real in front of him.

As he pushed the door open he saw he was right. Oracle was at her laptop obviously still trying to contact him. "If she still hasn't got hold of him by tomorrow I guess I should check it out. It's the least I can do considering what she's done for me" he thought to himself as he began to make his way towards the kitchen.

Suddenly a tingling sensation traveling through his head caused him to freeze. Spider-sense? Now? Here? His eyes flashed round scanning the darkness until he caught a glimpse of movement and watched in shock as a pair of black suited figures crept out of the shadows and made their way towards Barbara. So intent were they on their target that they hadn't noticed Kaine's appearance.

To Kaine it seemed as if everything moved in slow motion as he watched the dark figure approach Oracle from behind. He knew there and then that it was the unknown or Barbara. For Kaine this choice was a no-brainer. He shot forward driving himself into the figure and propelling the man from his feet with such force he smashed straight through one of the large bullet proof windows. The Scarlet Spider knew whoever it was would be dead. No-one was going to survive a fall from the top of Kord.

"Kaine what…" Oracle began in shock as Kaine quickly kicked her wheelchair sending it speeding away as the second assailant attempted to swing his katana in her direction. Kaine ducked beneath the blade as the man switched targets from Barbara to him.

The Scarlet Spider tore the sword from the man's hand, tossed it aside and seized him by the neck. To his surprise the man didn't even seem to care that Kaine was currently cutting off his airway, he produced a knife from his belt and swiped at Kaine's face. The Scarlet Spider threw his head back and saw the shining blade flash in front of his eyes. He quickly composed himself and disarmed the man before pinning him to the ground. He then proceeded to beat the man, raining down blow after punishing blow until he finally stopped moving. It was then Kaine managed to get a good look at the man.

He was dressed in a black material and was wearing a black balaclava and a weird set of small eyepieces like the ones on his own suit but smaller not to mention these ones were yellow rather than red. A scream emitted and another two men crashed into the room followed by Black Canary who had used her cry to knock them out.

"What the hell was that?" Kaine demanded his ears ringing.

"A little talent of mine I use on special occasions" Dinah replied shrugging.

"Stay here!" Kaine commanded turning to Oracle who was still in a state of shock at what had just happened. "Dinah you take the left side I'll take the right" he said, unconsciously picking the side his and Helena's room was situated on. Dinah nodded before leaving the room and turning left. Kaine sped down the corridor.

"Who the hell are these guys?" he thought as he kicked the door to his and Helena's room down. He froze as he saw one of the masked men holding Huntress in a wrist lock with a knife to her neck. Kaine straightened up fixing the man with a deathly glare.

"We have no quarrel with you" the man began in an unnaturally grating voice. "Leave and you won't get hurt."

"I saw a film not long ago were the main character backed down against the bad guy because he was trying not to kill anymore" Kaine began coldly as he began moving towards them.

"Stop!" the masked man snarled pressing the knife against Huntress's neck a little harder and drawing a small drop of blood in the process.

"And do you know what happened? The bad guy ended up killing people simply because the good guy thought that killing garbage like you wasn't the answer but you know what? That's bullshit!" as Kaine finished his sentence a web-line snapped from his wrist tagging the man by the face and in a split second Kaine jerked his wrist full force and heard the cracking sound as the man's neck snapped.

The assailant fell to the floor his neck hanging at a sickening angle. Helena stood frozen as she felt the man fall to the ground behind her. Kaine quickly moved to her side and pulled her away not letting her see the body. Helena couldn't help but smile. She'd seen many dead bodies in her time hell she'd made a few of them but Kaine still tried to shield her from seeing another. Just then the rest of the Birds regrouped at their room panting, obviously having beaten their own opponents.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Kaine asked pointing at the dead man.

"No idea" Hank replied breathlessly clutching his bloody arm that must have been injured in his fight.

"They were damn fast" Rose commented clutching her sword and attempting to wipe some blood from her pyjama's.

"You didn't need to kill him!" Dinah said reproachfully looking at the sicken angle of the man's head.

"Don't give me shit about this now. He had a knife at Helena's neck" Kaine snapped.

"I've got to get in contact with Bruce they knew how to get in here and we need to.." Oracle was cut off as they all heard a snapping sound.

"Oh it'll take more than that to kill me."

Kaine turned back to the dead man and watched in horror as he got back to his feet his neck still swinging sickeningly.

"Well that hurt" the man muttered bringing his hands up and pushing his neck straight.

"What the fuck?" Kaine snarled stingers erupting from his wrists.

"So you're the Scarlet Spider?" the man continued slightly smugly, obviously enjoying the reaction he was getting from the hero's. "You've been quite a thorn in our side. Stopping Shiva, beating the Secret Six, putting Ivy back in Arkham, stopping the Arkham breakout and now saving the Birds from us? I don't think we can simply ignore your presence anymore."

"Who the hell are you?" Huntress growled looking at the man warily.

"Oh how rude of me. It's been a long time since we've been active and I don't even think you were part of the Birds Of Prey when we encountered them" the man replied pulling off his mask.

Kaine's eyes widened in horror as he took in the man's gaunt features. His skin was white and tightly enclosed round his skull. If Kaine didn't know better he would have said the man was dead.

"Oh god no" Oracle gasped from behind them. Even Black Canary took a step back as she recognized the tell-tale white skin and glazed eyes.

"My name is William Cobb" the man continued taking another mask from his jacket and pulling it over his face. He also discarded the jacket revealing ornate armor emblazoned with a birds head.

Kaine looked at the new mask curiously. It had the same weird lenses the other man's mask had and a beak-like design on the nose.

"and the Court of The Owls has sentenced you to death" he finished slipping into a combat stance and pulling a pair of knives from his belt just as another two men dressed in similar gear appeared behind Kaine and the Birds.

Note: Been a while since my last update (sorry about that). Thanks to everyone who is reviewing and keeping me motivated.