TITLE: Little Helena Kyle #2
AUTHOR: Empress Vader (empressvader01@hotmail.com)
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: The curious young Helena discovers something hidden in the shadows
of Gotham City.
CHARACTER: Helena, Selina Kyle, original characters
DISCLAIMER: The Birds of Prey tv series belongs to the wb and some other
people that aren't me. .
FEEDBACK: I live and breath the stuff
A/N: It seems young Helena is becoming very Dinah like in the process of
writing. I don't know if it's good or bad.
Completeness: finished
- - - -
2.
It was a warm spring day and to the casual observer they were just a woman
and child. And that's what they were these days. She was the single mother
of a little girl, or at least that's what Selina Kyle told herself. By the
time Selina reached the park, little Helena was just about ready to rip off
the straps that held her in the stroller.
"I want to play mommy," she said pulling on the belt before they even
reached the playground area.
"In a minute," Selina replied.
Before she got the words out, Helena was ripping off her straps and running
onto the playground.
"Helena," Selina called, but she was quickly lost in a crowd of children.
"Helena come back here."
She abandoned the stroller and everything in it to search among the park
inhabitants for her raven haired little girl. She heard an occasional
giggle, but she couldn't find the source. She asked several people if they
had seen the toddler run by, but with no luck. She finally came upon the
playground Helena had been dying to get to. She looked among the children
and didn't see the one that belonged to her.
"Boo," a little voice yelled.
Selina didn't jump. She turned, grabbed the little girl, and gripped her
tight in her arms.
"Don't you ever do that again!"
"Sorry Mommy," Helena said.
"You go only when I say from now on, okay?"
"Okay, Can I play now?"
"No, you're going home. You were bad and you have to be punished. Hopefully
no one's stolen our stuff."
"But Mommy..." Helena whined.
"When you do bad things you have to be punished."
Helena whined some more. "I hate you?" she said as her mother strapped her
back down in the stroller.
"Well I love you. That's why I can't let you get away with doing bad
things? And you have to know that I know what's best for you?"
***************
years later
"Grab it," Markus whispered.
"I can't," Helena said.
"It's easy," Markus urged. "Just grab it, stick it under your shirt and
walk out."
"This is wrong. My mom would..."
"All kids shop lift once or twice. Probably even your mom."
"You don't know my mom. She has a fit when I litter, she would never
steal."
"Whatever," Markus said and grabbed a bag of chips and stuck it in his
jacket. He slipped out the door.
Helena looked at the snack shelf again, shook her head and walked out the
store. Markus was around the corner.
"Well?"
"I couldn't do it," Helena said. "I'm sorry."
"You know El-T and his friends are going to keep beating us up if we don't
do what he says."
"Isn't that what we're going to Karate class for."
"Do you think we'll learn enough in a summer to beat El? He's huge."
"So," Helena said. "Size isn't suppose to matter, right?"
"It matters," Markus said. "You'll be back in your little preppy school in
a month or two. What do you care?"
Markus started to walk away.
"Of course I care," Helena said running up to him. "I mean, I just, I won't
steal to get into some little fake gang just so I won't get beat up walking
home. Besides, I got a better way."
"Really? What?"
Ten minutes later Helena was leading Markus to what looked like an
abandoned construction site near a deserted train station. She worked her
way around some broken wood slats that were blocking what seemed to be an
old subway entrance. Markus reluctantly followed her down the stairs and
into the dead subway tunnel.
"What's this?"
"It's an old unfinished subway line. Something happened, I can't remember.
A friend of mine was looking at these maps and I was bored so I checked
them out."
"What kind of friends do you have?"
"A grown up friend. She's like, I don't know, a god-mother." Helena pointed
forward. " Basically if we follow this track and come up over there we'll
can avoid El's little stupid corner. "
"Cool," Markus said. "It's Pretty dark down there though. And we don't have
flashlights. Not that I'm afraid of the dark."
Helena smirked. "We'll just stay close to the wall and bring flashlights
tomorrow. Anything's better than facing El right? Plus it's just till we
learn how to kick some serious as--butt."
"Okay, but lets stay close."
Helena and Markus stayed near the wall and walked slowly down the tunnel
Helena had pointed out. Leaning against the wall they moved slowly toward
the destination Helena had pointed out. Halfway through they heard a low
growl.
"Did you hear something?" Markus said nervously.
"Probably just a lost dog or something," Helena said, but there was a hint
of nervousness in her voice.
They groped the wall for each other's hand and then moved as quick as they
could together towards there exit point. They dropped hands as soon as
light came into view and they climbed up a set of stairs and emerged on a
another near dead corner of the world, but they could see home from there.
"Excellent," said Markus, forgetting they'd ever heard that growl.
"I got to go, I'm late. See you tomorrow," Helena said running off.
"See you," Markus said watching her leave.
Helena ran to her door and slipped inside. It seemed empty, so she ran to
the book shelf, pulled out a book and jumped on the couch. Then she heard
the toilet flush.
"Shoot," Helena mumbled.
Her mother stepped into the room.
"I told you to come straight home after. Am I going to have to start
picking you up?"
"Would you?" Helena said excitedly. "My friend Markus lives nearby and..."
"Markus? A boy."
"Yeah, he's a boy," Helena said. "So what?"
"There aren't any girls for you to be friends with?"
"Mom..." Helena whined.
"Helena," Selina mocked. "Maybe I should have signed you up for dance
instead of Karate."
Helena rolled her eyes.
"What? You did it when you were little."
"When I was three, people thought my silly attempts at dancing were cute.
By the time I turned six and realized I sucked and it wasn't so cute."
"Fine, after all I let you chose your activity and you made your choice.
But from now on, straight home. I don't want you running the street with
Marvin."
"Markus," Helena said. "And we did come straight home. We just couldn't go
the short way."
"Why?"
"Doesn't matter, it's not a problem now," Helena said.
*****
The next day she and Markus wasted no time getting down to the old subway
tunnels. They both remembered to bring flashlights this time. It made
things easier and they forgot the noise they had heard the day before.
They were chatting about karate class, halfway to there exit, when they
heard the growl again. Both children froze.
"Was that--?" Markus asked.
"I don't know," Helena said. She turned around shinning her light in the
dark corners of the tunnel.
"Let's just get out of here," Markus said. "And maybe we shouldn't come
back."
"But El--"
"I'm more afraid of whatever's down here. Things that growl usually have
teeth."
"There's nothing down here that--"
Something furry leapt out of the shadows silencing the children into frozen
fear. At first they thought it was some jungle cat. But what little light
they had revealed that this something furry was in humanoid form. It looked
like some type of jungle cat / human hybrid. And it spoke.
"Get out," it said simply.
Markus and Helena turned and ran as quickly as they could toward the exit.
When they reached it, they both stopped to catch there breath.
"What was that?"
"I don't know," Helena said. "Looked like some kind of cat woman or cat
teen, I'm not sure."
"I don't think we should go down there again."
"Okay," Helena agreed.
"See you tomorrow," Markus said.
"See you," Helena replied. But she was staring back into the tunnels. Her
mind was turning again. Could that have a been a metahuman that didn't look
quite human? She hadn't tried to hurt them, she'd just scared them into
leaving.
Helena didn't go back down into the tunnels. She went straight home and got
back into her summer reading. But her mind was never far from the catgirl
in the tunnels.
Barbara came by that evening. It was an unexpected treat. Helena waited
patiently for her mother to leave the room for a few minutes. Then she
excitedly told Barbara about the girl in the abandoned subway tunnels.
"She's all alone Barbara," Helena said.
"She's not Rick," Barbara told her. "You should leave her alone and stay
away from there."
"But--"
"Not buts. I don't want you doing anything dangerous. Last time was enough.
Don't go looking in the shadows of Gotham, you may not be prepared for what
you find."
"But--"
Selina was back in the room. Helena quieted.
That night Helena tossed and turned. She couldn't let it rest anymore than
she could let Rick rest when she found out about him. If this was a person,
she shouldn't be left alone down there. If this was a person, it wasn't
even an adult person. Taking herself back in her mind, she saw the girl
wasn't much taller than herself.
Since she couldn't let it rest, there was only one thing to do. She got up
and got some money out of her wallet. Helena grabbed a flashlight and snuck
out again. Then she went to the local convience store and picked up a
couple snacks.
She made her way back to the tunnels. She didn't switch on her flashlight
right away. The light might attract attention and scaring the girl may not
be a good thing.
She walked through the tunnels for awhile, but the fact that it was dark
outside made it even darker in the tunnels, but she knew there was a way
she might be able to see. It had only happened on it's own a few times, but
it was enough to let her know it wasn't some random accident. She decided
to try and adjust her vision.
"Come on Helena, you did it before," Helena said to herself. "Come on
eyes." Nothing was happening. She closed her eyes, inhaled and opened them
again. Then she faced forward and focused. There was a small itch and
suddenly she could make out things in the dark. "Good job Helena."
"I told you to leave," said a voice behind her. She turned slowly and saw
the catgirl.
"You must have a death wish," the girl said.
"Food," Helena said nervously presenting the bag.
"Didn't they tell you? You don't feed the animals at the Zoo," the girl
said.
"Well animals can't usually talk," Helena said. "I don't think you are an
animal. I think your a metahuman."
The girl laughed, a dark laugh, almost to deep to belong to a girl.
"No, I'm someone's sick joke. I was made, not born. And I got away, but the
world doesn't want me. I'm not animal, I'm not human, but Humans see and
animal and animals see a human. Do you know what it's like to live between
worlds?"
"Yes," Helena said. "Maybe not like you, but it's like at school--"
"That's the difference kid," the catgirl said locking Helena's neck in one
of her hands. She had moved so quickly Helena didn't see it coming. A nail
was digging into her neck drawing blood. "I don't go to school, I don't
have a mommy or a little friend that I go on adventures with. You don't
belong here, I warned you."
Helena noticed her long teeth for the first time.
She panicked. This, whatever she was, wasn't anything like Rick. Her mind
worked quickly on an escape. She flung her head forward and hit her captor
in the head. Her hold was lossened enough for Helena to get away. She ran
for her life. Fear caused her to lose her concentration and she tripped.
She heard the beastgirl coming and grabbed a nearby lose wire and flung it
around like a whip. The wire whip seem to cause more anger than hurt in her
persuer. She flung it desperately at her some more. The wire became tangled
around her and it gave Helena enough time to flee. She left all her things
behind in the escape, but she made it out. How would she explain the
injuries to her neck? There was only one thing to say, the truth.
*********
"I can't believe you did it again," Selina said as she patched up her
daughter's neck.
"I'm sorry," Helena said.
"That's not good enough. I bet that Marvin kid."
"Markus and he said we shouldn't go back down there."
"Maybe it's time I give this kid a shot," Selina said.
"I expected you to be more angry," Helena said.
"Ever since you were a little girl, I've been trying to keep you from
running away from me, trying to keep you safe and I just don't know what to
do anymore."
"There was a bully?"
"What?"
"El-T wanted us to steal to join his group or we'd just get beat up. I mean
we're in Karate, but El's still bigger and stronger. Markus' dad would have
told him to suck it up and fight. And you would have fought my battle for
me, it would have been embarrassing. I wanted my own way out. So we cut
through the tunnels and then when I saw that weird girl, all I could think
about was Rick. And--"
"Not everyone out there is a good person. And your only thinking about
helping them, however not everyone wants that help. This is why you
shouldn't do things like this on your own. You've been lucky twice. Once
because Rick was a good kid and this time it was by the skin of your teeth.
It's not all fun and games Helena, it's dangerous playing the hero and I
want you to stop."
"I'll be more careful."
"No, you'll stop. I love you. Nothing in this world, nothing I have, means
more to me than you. From now on you will have a ride to and from your
little Karate class, okay."
"Okay," Helena said.
"Now go to bed I'm taking you to the doctor tomorrow so he can look at
those cuts."
"It's not that serious."
"I'm making sure that's all its not. Go to bed."
Selina watched her daughter disappear into her room and wondered if there
was anyway to stop her hero streak or to stop her from running off into
danger without thinking. She was a good kid overall, she didn't sneak off
to be with friends or take drugs or run the street. When she was a toddler
and she ran off to play, the punishment had been clear, she didn't behave
so she didn't play. But now, how could she punish her for wanting to help?
The catcreature sat alone in the tunnels searching Helena's bag. 'What had
that kid been thinking?' she wondered. Whatever she was thinking, the
snacks she bought tasted better than the rats she usually ate.
"Hey kid," a voice said.
Suddenly these tunnels were crawling with people. She turned, annoyed,
ready to pounce. A whip lashed out and wrapped her up before she knew what
was going on. A real whip, not the thing the little girl had used on her.
She couldn't move. She finally saw her new visitor. A woman dressed in a
black leather costume. A black ... cat costume. Catwoman.
The woman grabbed the trapped catgirl and locked her fingers around her
neck. Catwoman's grip was tighter than the one she'd had on the little
girl.
"Don't ever put your claws on my daughter again."
"Your ... who?" the catgirl said with what breaths she could get.
"What happen to you wasn't your fault? You were let go because of that,
given a chance."
"Yeah," the catgirl said struggling. "A chance at rat infested tunnels.
What kind...of life...is this."
"You weren't dealt the best set of cards. So what? You are what you are,
deal with it or kill yourself. I don't care which. But never put your hands
on my baby again."
Catwoman let her go. The creature fought to catch her breath. By the time
she caught her breath, Catwoman was gone.
END
(Sept. 23, 2002)
AUTHOR: Empress Vader (empressvader01@hotmail.com)
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: The curious young Helena discovers something hidden in the shadows
of Gotham City.
CHARACTER: Helena, Selina Kyle, original characters
DISCLAIMER: The Birds of Prey tv series belongs to the wb and some other
people that aren't me. .
FEEDBACK: I live and breath the stuff
A/N: It seems young Helena is becoming very Dinah like in the process of
writing. I don't know if it's good or bad.
Completeness: finished
- - - -
2.
It was a warm spring day and to the casual observer they were just a woman
and child. And that's what they were these days. She was the single mother
of a little girl, or at least that's what Selina Kyle told herself. By the
time Selina reached the park, little Helena was just about ready to rip off
the straps that held her in the stroller.
"I want to play mommy," she said pulling on the belt before they even
reached the playground area.
"In a minute," Selina replied.
Before she got the words out, Helena was ripping off her straps and running
onto the playground.
"Helena," Selina called, but she was quickly lost in a crowd of children.
"Helena come back here."
She abandoned the stroller and everything in it to search among the park
inhabitants for her raven haired little girl. She heard an occasional
giggle, but she couldn't find the source. She asked several people if they
had seen the toddler run by, but with no luck. She finally came upon the
playground Helena had been dying to get to. She looked among the children
and didn't see the one that belonged to her.
"Boo," a little voice yelled.
Selina didn't jump. She turned, grabbed the little girl, and gripped her
tight in her arms.
"Don't you ever do that again!"
"Sorry Mommy," Helena said.
"You go only when I say from now on, okay?"
"Okay, Can I play now?"
"No, you're going home. You were bad and you have to be punished. Hopefully
no one's stolen our stuff."
"But Mommy..." Helena whined.
"When you do bad things you have to be punished."
Helena whined some more. "I hate you?" she said as her mother strapped her
back down in the stroller.
"Well I love you. That's why I can't let you get away with doing bad
things? And you have to know that I know what's best for you?"
***************
years later
"Grab it," Markus whispered.
"I can't," Helena said.
"It's easy," Markus urged. "Just grab it, stick it under your shirt and
walk out."
"This is wrong. My mom would..."
"All kids shop lift once or twice. Probably even your mom."
"You don't know my mom. She has a fit when I litter, she would never
steal."
"Whatever," Markus said and grabbed a bag of chips and stuck it in his
jacket. He slipped out the door.
Helena looked at the snack shelf again, shook her head and walked out the
store. Markus was around the corner.
"Well?"
"I couldn't do it," Helena said. "I'm sorry."
"You know El-T and his friends are going to keep beating us up if we don't
do what he says."
"Isn't that what we're going to Karate class for."
"Do you think we'll learn enough in a summer to beat El? He's huge."
"So," Helena said. "Size isn't suppose to matter, right?"
"It matters," Markus said. "You'll be back in your little preppy school in
a month or two. What do you care?"
Markus started to walk away.
"Of course I care," Helena said running up to him. "I mean, I just, I won't
steal to get into some little fake gang just so I won't get beat up walking
home. Besides, I got a better way."
"Really? What?"
Ten minutes later Helena was leading Markus to what looked like an
abandoned construction site near a deserted train station. She worked her
way around some broken wood slats that were blocking what seemed to be an
old subway entrance. Markus reluctantly followed her down the stairs and
into the dead subway tunnel.
"What's this?"
"It's an old unfinished subway line. Something happened, I can't remember.
A friend of mine was looking at these maps and I was bored so I checked
them out."
"What kind of friends do you have?"
"A grown up friend. She's like, I don't know, a god-mother." Helena pointed
forward. " Basically if we follow this track and come up over there we'll
can avoid El's little stupid corner. "
"Cool," Markus said. "It's Pretty dark down there though. And we don't have
flashlights. Not that I'm afraid of the dark."
Helena smirked. "We'll just stay close to the wall and bring flashlights
tomorrow. Anything's better than facing El right? Plus it's just till we
learn how to kick some serious as--butt."
"Okay, but lets stay close."
Helena and Markus stayed near the wall and walked slowly down the tunnel
Helena had pointed out. Leaning against the wall they moved slowly toward
the destination Helena had pointed out. Halfway through they heard a low
growl.
"Did you hear something?" Markus said nervously.
"Probably just a lost dog or something," Helena said, but there was a hint
of nervousness in her voice.
They groped the wall for each other's hand and then moved as quick as they
could together towards there exit point. They dropped hands as soon as
light came into view and they climbed up a set of stairs and emerged on a
another near dead corner of the world, but they could see home from there.
"Excellent," said Markus, forgetting they'd ever heard that growl.
"I got to go, I'm late. See you tomorrow," Helena said running off.
"See you," Markus said watching her leave.
Helena ran to her door and slipped inside. It seemed empty, so she ran to
the book shelf, pulled out a book and jumped on the couch. Then she heard
the toilet flush.
"Shoot," Helena mumbled.
Her mother stepped into the room.
"I told you to come straight home after. Am I going to have to start
picking you up?"
"Would you?" Helena said excitedly. "My friend Markus lives nearby and..."
"Markus? A boy."
"Yeah, he's a boy," Helena said. "So what?"
"There aren't any girls for you to be friends with?"
"Mom..." Helena whined.
"Helena," Selina mocked. "Maybe I should have signed you up for dance
instead of Karate."
Helena rolled her eyes.
"What? You did it when you were little."
"When I was three, people thought my silly attempts at dancing were cute.
By the time I turned six and realized I sucked and it wasn't so cute."
"Fine, after all I let you chose your activity and you made your choice.
But from now on, straight home. I don't want you running the street with
Marvin."
"Markus," Helena said. "And we did come straight home. We just couldn't go
the short way."
"Why?"
"Doesn't matter, it's not a problem now," Helena said.
*****
The next day she and Markus wasted no time getting down to the old subway
tunnels. They both remembered to bring flashlights this time. It made
things easier and they forgot the noise they had heard the day before.
They were chatting about karate class, halfway to there exit, when they
heard the growl again. Both children froze.
"Was that--?" Markus asked.
"I don't know," Helena said. She turned around shinning her light in the
dark corners of the tunnel.
"Let's just get out of here," Markus said. "And maybe we shouldn't come
back."
"But El--"
"I'm more afraid of whatever's down here. Things that growl usually have
teeth."
"There's nothing down here that--"
Something furry leapt out of the shadows silencing the children into frozen
fear. At first they thought it was some jungle cat. But what little light
they had revealed that this something furry was in humanoid form. It looked
like some type of jungle cat / human hybrid. And it spoke.
"Get out," it said simply.
Markus and Helena turned and ran as quickly as they could toward the exit.
When they reached it, they both stopped to catch there breath.
"What was that?"
"I don't know," Helena said. "Looked like some kind of cat woman or cat
teen, I'm not sure."
"I don't think we should go down there again."
"Okay," Helena agreed.
"See you tomorrow," Markus said.
"See you," Helena replied. But she was staring back into the tunnels. Her
mind was turning again. Could that have a been a metahuman that didn't look
quite human? She hadn't tried to hurt them, she'd just scared them into
leaving.
Helena didn't go back down into the tunnels. She went straight home and got
back into her summer reading. But her mind was never far from the catgirl
in the tunnels.
Barbara came by that evening. It was an unexpected treat. Helena waited
patiently for her mother to leave the room for a few minutes. Then she
excitedly told Barbara about the girl in the abandoned subway tunnels.
"She's all alone Barbara," Helena said.
"She's not Rick," Barbara told her. "You should leave her alone and stay
away from there."
"But--"
"Not buts. I don't want you doing anything dangerous. Last time was enough.
Don't go looking in the shadows of Gotham, you may not be prepared for what
you find."
"But--"
Selina was back in the room. Helena quieted.
That night Helena tossed and turned. She couldn't let it rest anymore than
she could let Rick rest when she found out about him. If this was a person,
she shouldn't be left alone down there. If this was a person, it wasn't
even an adult person. Taking herself back in her mind, she saw the girl
wasn't much taller than herself.
Since she couldn't let it rest, there was only one thing to do. She got up
and got some money out of her wallet. Helena grabbed a flashlight and snuck
out again. Then she went to the local convience store and picked up a
couple snacks.
She made her way back to the tunnels. She didn't switch on her flashlight
right away. The light might attract attention and scaring the girl may not
be a good thing.
She walked through the tunnels for awhile, but the fact that it was dark
outside made it even darker in the tunnels, but she knew there was a way
she might be able to see. It had only happened on it's own a few times, but
it was enough to let her know it wasn't some random accident. She decided
to try and adjust her vision.
"Come on Helena, you did it before," Helena said to herself. "Come on
eyes." Nothing was happening. She closed her eyes, inhaled and opened them
again. Then she faced forward and focused. There was a small itch and
suddenly she could make out things in the dark. "Good job Helena."
"I told you to leave," said a voice behind her. She turned slowly and saw
the catgirl.
"You must have a death wish," the girl said.
"Food," Helena said nervously presenting the bag.
"Didn't they tell you? You don't feed the animals at the Zoo," the girl
said.
"Well animals can't usually talk," Helena said. "I don't think you are an
animal. I think your a metahuman."
The girl laughed, a dark laugh, almost to deep to belong to a girl.
"No, I'm someone's sick joke. I was made, not born. And I got away, but the
world doesn't want me. I'm not animal, I'm not human, but Humans see and
animal and animals see a human. Do you know what it's like to live between
worlds?"
"Yes," Helena said. "Maybe not like you, but it's like at school--"
"That's the difference kid," the catgirl said locking Helena's neck in one
of her hands. She had moved so quickly Helena didn't see it coming. A nail
was digging into her neck drawing blood. "I don't go to school, I don't
have a mommy or a little friend that I go on adventures with. You don't
belong here, I warned you."
Helena noticed her long teeth for the first time.
She panicked. This, whatever she was, wasn't anything like Rick. Her mind
worked quickly on an escape. She flung her head forward and hit her captor
in the head. Her hold was lossened enough for Helena to get away. She ran
for her life. Fear caused her to lose her concentration and she tripped.
She heard the beastgirl coming and grabbed a nearby lose wire and flung it
around like a whip. The wire whip seem to cause more anger than hurt in her
persuer. She flung it desperately at her some more. The wire became tangled
around her and it gave Helena enough time to flee. She left all her things
behind in the escape, but she made it out. How would she explain the
injuries to her neck? There was only one thing to say, the truth.
*********
"I can't believe you did it again," Selina said as she patched up her
daughter's neck.
"I'm sorry," Helena said.
"That's not good enough. I bet that Marvin kid."
"Markus and he said we shouldn't go back down there."
"Maybe it's time I give this kid a shot," Selina said.
"I expected you to be more angry," Helena said.
"Ever since you were a little girl, I've been trying to keep you from
running away from me, trying to keep you safe and I just don't know what to
do anymore."
"There was a bully?"
"What?"
"El-T wanted us to steal to join his group or we'd just get beat up. I mean
we're in Karate, but El's still bigger and stronger. Markus' dad would have
told him to suck it up and fight. And you would have fought my battle for
me, it would have been embarrassing. I wanted my own way out. So we cut
through the tunnels and then when I saw that weird girl, all I could think
about was Rick. And--"
"Not everyone out there is a good person. And your only thinking about
helping them, however not everyone wants that help. This is why you
shouldn't do things like this on your own. You've been lucky twice. Once
because Rick was a good kid and this time it was by the skin of your teeth.
It's not all fun and games Helena, it's dangerous playing the hero and I
want you to stop."
"I'll be more careful."
"No, you'll stop. I love you. Nothing in this world, nothing I have, means
more to me than you. From now on you will have a ride to and from your
little Karate class, okay."
"Okay," Helena said.
"Now go to bed I'm taking you to the doctor tomorrow so he can look at
those cuts."
"It's not that serious."
"I'm making sure that's all its not. Go to bed."
Selina watched her daughter disappear into her room and wondered if there
was anyway to stop her hero streak or to stop her from running off into
danger without thinking. She was a good kid overall, she didn't sneak off
to be with friends or take drugs or run the street. When she was a toddler
and she ran off to play, the punishment had been clear, she didn't behave
so she didn't play. But now, how could she punish her for wanting to help?
The catcreature sat alone in the tunnels searching Helena's bag. 'What had
that kid been thinking?' she wondered. Whatever she was thinking, the
snacks she bought tasted better than the rats she usually ate.
"Hey kid," a voice said.
Suddenly these tunnels were crawling with people. She turned, annoyed,
ready to pounce. A whip lashed out and wrapped her up before she knew what
was going on. A real whip, not the thing the little girl had used on her.
She couldn't move. She finally saw her new visitor. A woman dressed in a
black leather costume. A black ... cat costume. Catwoman.
The woman grabbed the trapped catgirl and locked her fingers around her
neck. Catwoman's grip was tighter than the one she'd had on the little
girl.
"Don't ever put your claws on my daughter again."
"Your ... who?" the catgirl said with what breaths she could get.
"What happen to you wasn't your fault? You were let go because of that,
given a chance."
"Yeah," the catgirl said struggling. "A chance at rat infested tunnels.
What kind...of life...is this."
"You weren't dealt the best set of cards. So what? You are what you are,
deal with it or kill yourself. I don't care which. But never put your hands
on my baby again."
Catwoman let her go. The creature fought to catch her breath. By the time
she caught her breath, Catwoman was gone.
END
(Sept. 23, 2002)