Chapter III: Beginnings

"Dad..." was the first thing Barbara Gordon had said as she woke up in the hospital. She was not alone in the room. Jim Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth and Richard Grayson were by her side. Alfred could see the tears falling down the old Commissioner's eyes, as well from Dick's. Truth be told, Alfred could feel tears falling down his face as well. He felt a great weight was lifted from his shoulders the moment the young woman had opened her eyes... so after some words had been exchanged about how happy they all were she was going to be fine and how much they all loved Barbara and the doctor came in, he had excused himself and gotten to the nearest phone.

::Hello?:: a voice far too tired had answered.

"Master Bruce, this is Alfred. I'm glad to inform you that Miss Barbara just woke up." There was a strange silence in the line, after which Bruce finally answered.

::Tell her I'm happy about her recovery.:: and then he hanged up. Alfred knew Bruce had been acting different since Miss Barbara had being shot and since Miss Selina... well, he was not doing well. But this was unbelievable! They had all been waiting for two months for her to pull through, afraid she would never wake up... Master Dick was so thin it was painful to see, and that was all he had to say? He would have to push his buttons once he got back to the mansion.

He made his way back to Miss Barbara's room, but found Dick was waiting for him in the corridor in front of his ICU's room.

"Alfred wait." Dick said.

"Any problems Master Dick?" he asked, and then realized what was going on. Through the window glass he could see it, the pain in the Commissioner's eyes, the tears streaming down Miss Barbara's face as the doctor spoke with his head down. They were telling her she was never going to be able to walk again... such as low blow to Batgirl.

"I can't believe this!" Dick Grayson was mad, crying, wanting to hit something all at the same time "She finally recovers, Babs wakes up and... to what? I'm sorry Miss Gordon but you're never walking again... such a vital person... so much she has done and still could do..."

"Master Dick," Alfred decided it was better to interrupt the young man "if you allow me to say this, Miss Barbara is a strong woman, she's going to get over this and will probably be even stronger after it. Let's wait, I'm sure she will manage to surprise us one more time."

"I hope so Alfred, I hope so." He could see the painful plea in his blue eyes for her to be okay, he shared it.

After a while, when she had calmed down, they both went back into her room. Alfred stayed with them for about an hour, that was when Bruce Wayne's flowers arrived. After that, Dick and him decided to allow father and daughter some time alone. Barbara, as always, was trying to put on a strong facade and trying to convince them she would be alright. Dick wanted to make some calls to Bludhaven so he went to his apartment, he decided it was better not to be in the Manor. Alfred went back to his Master Bruce.

When he arrived, not a sound greeted him. He walked through the house, searched every room and he couldn't find him. Finally, he went down to the Batcave, this is were Bruce Wayne spent more of his time since tragedy had stroke once again.

No one.

"Master Bruce?"

Nothing.

"Master Bruce?"

He stepped in. Her mask laid on the floor. He reached for it, Miss Selina's mask. He hadn't seen her in seventeen years, but he was still so in love with her. Alfred himself couldn't even understand why she had left so suddenly, but he would forever be thankful to her... she had made Bruce Wayne a breathing, feeling, living man once again.

He wasn't in the Batcave, neither in the Manor. Some of his clothes were missing, as well as one suitcase. He didn't need to look further, he knew Bruce Wayne was gone, and he was afraid it might be for good.

He went back to the hospital, still in a daze... Master Bruce... gone. When he arrived, Dick Grayson was there again and he and Jim Gordon were talking to Barbara. He entered and she greeted him with a smile, she was so much better now... she would never cease to amaze him.

"Hi Alfred, I'm glad you're back."

"I can say the same thing about you Miss Barbara."

"How is Bruce doing?" Dick ask

"Is something wrong with Bruce?" Barbara asked concerned.

"Barbara, I think you should focus on yourself..." her father started.

"Please dad, I'm alright now."

"You know that isn't exactly true." Alfred could see a flash of pain cross her eyes, but she wasn't ready yet to deal with the fact of what had happened to her and what her future would be like.

"I'll get by. What's wrong with Bruce." She was a bit more forceful this time.

"Okay Babs," Dick started "the same night the... the..."

"Joker, Dick, you can say it."

"Fine. The Joker came after you, that wasn't it. We were all in here, in the waiting room, and it was all over the news, Selina Kyle was murdered, stabbed. They didn't know who it was but we knew it right on: the Joker had her killed."

"What?"

"I didn't even know she was back..."

"Oh my God! Dick! Is Selina dead?" tears were forming in Barbara's eyes. Alfred knew she was fond of Selina, but he could say there was something else.

"Yes Babs, she died at once..."

"Helena!" she screamed..

"Who is Helena?" Dick asked, Jim Gordon and Alfred had equally blank stares.

"Dick please, call Bruce!! I need to talk to Bruce!! Damn it, I've being here for two months... she can be anywhere..."

"Babs, who on earth...?"

"Dick listen to me, I NEED TO SEE BRUCE NOW." She was clinging to his shirt now, desperation clear in her face.

"I'm afraid that's not possible Miss Barbara." Alfred interrupted, all eyes where suddenly on him. "When I got back to the Manor, Master Bruce was gone."

"WHAT???!!!" three shocked voice asked at the same time.

"I called Master Bruce when Miss Barbara woke up. Then, when I got back to the manor he was gone."

"It figures." Dick started "He's being so far gone for two months... he probably wants nothing to do with New Gotham anymore."

"Oh no, no, no, no, no..." Barbara was crying now. Alfred had never seen her like this before. She looked so... guilty?

"Barbara, it's going to be okay." Gordon tried to comfort his daughter, but she broke away from him.

"NO! You don't understand... Helena..." she was having difficulty talking about this. She took a deep breath and decided to come clean with the whole thing already. "Helena Kyle is Selina's daughter." Everyone was shocked. Alfred looked straight at her eyes, asking an unspoken question. He could feel his blood boiling inside of him, already sensing what was coming, and suddenly mad about the whole situation, mad with the young woman crying in front of him. "Helena is sixteen... she's Bruce's daughter."

"WHAT?" Gordon asked. Alfred just closed his eyes, it wasn't his place to say anything, as Dick hit a wall.

"How long have you known Barbara?" Grayson asked through clenched teeth.

"Wait a minute Grayson..." Gordon tried to calm him down.

"No dad... let him." She looked at him, tears in both their eyes "Dick, I drove Selina to the airport that day... when she left Bruce, she went to Paris. Helena was born there." Alfred could feel his heart breaking in little pieces. Dick Grayson was no way nearly done.

"Why? Why did you do this to him Barbara?"

"I never meant... Selina had found out she was pregnant a couple of days before your big party, after you had graduated from college, you and Bruce had been already having problems, so she didn't want to leave him before that, she had wanted to at least see you two make amends and he would've been heartbroken without her that day... she didn't mean to tell anyone. Bruce had sent me to leave her some papers and I had figured I would show her this time and surprise her by picking her doorknob, she had taught me how to. So, I entered her apartment... she wasn't in the living room, so I went into her bedroom... she was in the bathroom, I could hear her... she had sensed me and opened the door at once... but I had already seen the pregnancy test in her nightstand. I already knew she was pregnant."

"Why didn't you tell Bruce right away? Why did Selina leave? She thought Bruce wouldn't want the baby?"

"Selina knew him better than that... she was sure he would be thrilled... she wanted to tell him so bad... but she was afraid, for her child."

"Afraid?"

"The moment she knew she was pregnant, Catwoman died. She knew, she couldn't be a mother and wear spandex to race through the rooftops at the same time, so she retired. She wanted to be a mother to her baby. But she also knew... if someone ever learned Batman had a child..."

"They would come after the child."

"Seventeen years later, they came for her because they knew once he loved her. They came for me, for Jason... she was right. And you know him, he would never stop being Batman, he needed to be."

"So she left to give the baby a fresh start."

"And she asked me not to tell him, or she knew he would never allow her to go. After the party, she left a note for him in her place, and prepared to leave. I didn't want her to do it all alone, she was way too nervous to drive. And that way, I made her promise that in exchange for my shutting up, she would allow me to be a part of their life, so I could at least see the baby was growing up okay. And Dick, I swear, she was a wonderful mother to her... she loved her so much and Helena, she's so... amazing, she's so happy... it all worked out for the best."

"Not, for Bruce, it didn't, Barbara. For two months that man has being dying... it would've meant the world to him to know he had some reason to be alive... I can understand Selina, she was the mother, but you... you should've told him."

"We can play the guilt game later Dick, now we have to find Helena."

Alfred was still in shock while all this was spoken... Helena Kyle... Helena Wayne... another Wayne... born in the same star her father had apparently, since she had lost her mother, in front of her eyes, daughter of Master Bruce and Miss Selina... and he was gone. He didn't know... and he had abandoned his little girl, deserted his daughter when she needed him the most. If only Master Bruce had known he was a father... he had fathered Miss Selina's child of all people... things would have turned out so different.

"Where can she be?" Dick was asking now, they were all business again.

"Didn't you see her at the funeral?"

"Tones of people, I kept my distance."

"Great. Her first idea would've probably been to come to me... tall girl, thin, quite the looker, long dark hair and blue eyes. Resembles Bruce a lot as a matter of fact."

"She wasn't here."

"I'm guessing she went to my apartment, saw the blood and freaked out. Oh, God..."

"What?"

"She has no idea who her father is and her mother is dead and she doesn't have anyone else... tell that story to Social Services..."

"Do you think they put her in a home or something?"

"Helena Kyle! Yeah right! She probably run away and no one has any idea were to find her. That's something she would do under the circumstances."

"Any particular place you can think of?"

"Like places she and Selina liked? She wouldn't go there, that would be predictable. She could be... anywhere."

"We'll fin her." Dick stated "Even if we have to search the whole planet, we'll find her... don't tell anyone else, don't want to make an scare teenager a rogue's target. Commissioner, help me out in the public city, I go underground. Don't worry, we're bringing my little sister home. And while we're at it, let's try to figure out were daddy went

Alfred knocked on the door to Helena's little apartment above the club. He couldn't understand why Bruce Wayne's daughter would choose to live in some filthy room and work as a bartender, when she could very well claim Wayne Manor, Wayne Foundation and Wayne Enterprises as her own. But Miss Helena Kyle was very hard to understand, she was simply a contradiction... the only other woman he had ever met who could exasperate him quite this much was Selina Kyle, yet he had a fond memory of the late Catwoman. No one answered. No surprises there. He knocked again and this time a very dishelved looking Helena opened the door.

"Good morning Miss Helena."

"Alfred." She all but grunted.

"I came to clean the mess I'm sure you have in here." She just stood out of his way. He was not mistaken. He could see broken mirrors and empty bottles in the floor, some of the furniture had been attacked as well and Helena's black cat was playing with what once was a pillow. And that was just the first layer.

"Phantom." The cat meowed at him. He would never understand that name.

Helena walked to her bathroom and washed her face. She looked so much like her father sometimes Alfred thought he was going to cry only by looking at her. He remembered a time when Bruce Wayne was as haunted as his daughter was, only that he wasn't that... aggressive about it. He rather go out at night and play Batman. For Helena, she went out every night as the Huntress, but she also needed to break things from time to time. If only she would see it... if he could hold her in his arms as he ached to do, so she wouldn't look so sad. She masked it as well as she could, but Alfred could see the same scared little girl he once met, the little girl that missed her mother so much.

"Miss Helena..." he called.

"Yeah?" she answered as she helped him pick up stuff.

"I know your birthday was yesterday, but since we didn't bump into each other..." he handed her a little package he had carried in his pocket since the day before.

"Oh Alfred... you didn't have to bother." She smile sweetly at him, she had the most beautiful smile, sadly he didn't see it that often. She was awed when she opened it.

"It wasn't a bother at all Miss Helena, and I hope you like it."

"Alfred this is amazing! Thank you!" she run like a six-year-old to the mirror, an unbroken one that is. It was a necklace, a gold necklace with three beautiful and delicate emeralds. She tried it on and was surprised when she felt Alfred's hands behind her neck, helping her. "Thanks."

"It suits you well."

"It's so beautiful."

"I found it at the manor. Your father stored it." He could see the young woman stiffen at the mention of her father, Alfred prayed she would some day accept Bruce Wayne as that, see that it wasn't his fault at all... but his duty was to choke up his anger and remained silent. "It belonged to your mother."

"What?" her voice was a faint whisper.

"Master Bruce and Miss Selina attended many parties together, and Miss Selina usually spent the night at the manor. This particular necklace, if I'm not mistaken, was a present, from Master Bruce on her birthday. She loved it, she wore it with anything that matched. Master Bruce thought she left it at the manor on purpose, he was probably right. I think Miss Selina would have wanted you to have it today Miss Helena, it meant a lot to her, and so did you."

"Thank you Alfred." She whispered. Where those tears forming in her eyes? He couldn't tell, but he felt a wetness in his cheek where she kissed him.

He smiled, and although he wanted to tell her his father would have wanted her to have it as well, he remained silent and continued cleaning her place.

"OH MY GOD!" Oracle said as soon as the elevator opened. It was ten in the morning and she figured it was Helena after her birthday blues.

"Hi Barbara." Black Canary, a.k.a. Carolyn Lance stood, in one piece, in front of her.

"I thought... we all thought..."

"I was dead? You're not really doing a good job as Oracle these days, you know?"

"I'm so happy to see you." Barbara embraced the other hero as she allowed her entrance to her secret lair "How...?"

"Long story short? So many burnt bodies you couldn't identified all of them, I managed to crawl out of there, but I couldn't come here. Dinah didn't need to watch me die, she had already lost me twice, I couldn't subject her to it all for a third time. But I made it, and now..."

"You want your daughter back?"

"No. I mean, of course I do, but she doesn't need me now, she just needs to know her mother is still alive."

"I can't believe it Carolyn..."

"Neither can I, but I'm here. And, where is she?"

"Dinah? Oh, she went to school."

"Don't you work there?"

"I didn't have any classes until the afternoon."

"I see."

"I don't know what to say Carolyn."

"That's a first one... do you mind if I...?"

"Stay? Not at all! Dinah is going to be so happy... we should just call her and have her come back to the lair..."

"No Barbara, it's okay, I can wait, gives me more time to think what I'm going to say."

"She missed you a lot."

"So did I."

"Do you want something... coffee?"

"Sure, thanks." Carolyn made herself comfortable while Barbara searched for everything in the kitchen. For someone who had lived for such a long time in the Clocktower, she just didn't look like she knew where everything was that well. What Carolyn didn't know was that Barbara had taken the opportunity to take a scan of Black Canary and confirmed her identity, in their line of work, they couldn't take chances.

"Where is Alfred?" she asked, remembering fondly the old butler she had first met in Wayne Manor, such a long time ago.

"Helena's place, probably cleaning a big mess. After all, technically, he works for her." The reminder sting Carolyn. Helena Kyle, daughter of the cat burglar, Selina Kyle and...

"And where is the thief's dau... Helena."

"You know Carolyn," Barbara said as she returned with two cups of coffee "you could try and be nicer to Helena, she's a good girl, Dinah cares a great deal about her, she saved her life, apparently yours as well and is as good as Selina ever was, so you don't want to cross her."

"I took Catwoman down a couple of times."

"If that is how you want to remember it..." Barbara tried to contain her smile.

"What do you mean?"

"You cornered her and before things ever got interesting Batman came in and told you to leave or chase someone else..."

"So he could let her go. I never understood, Bruce was such a wonderful man..."

"And he loved her Carolyn, I'm sorry if you don't want to hear it, but Helena is the living prove..."

"Having a child with someone doesn't equals love Barbara." Oracle decided not to push her in that subject, she had no idea how touchy it could be.

"You were there, you know they were in love."

"She never deserved him."

"That's your opinion. But I'll tell you one thing about Selina Kyle: she was a wonderful mother and Helena loved her a great deal, so lay off the comments about her. And the way things were between you and Catwoman, they weren't her fault, she wasn't even born, so let her alone."

"Protecting the kitten?"

"I've known her since she was a baby, I just..."

"Whoa, whoa... wait a second... how long?"

"Excuse me?"

"I figured you met her after Catwoman died... you knew all along?" Barbara remained in silence, being this more eloquent that anything she could've said. "He's going to kill you." Was all Carolyn said.

Detective Jesse Reese sat at his desk. 11:00 a.m. Slow hour. The morning was hardly a time murderers chose for the kill, the night was a far too better cover. He took the opportunity to get the paperwork done, so truth be told, he was royally bored.

And if he was going to keep being honest with himself, he had another incentive to wait expectantly for the night this days...

Huntress.

What kind of a name is Huntress?

That's simply not the way you refer to a woman.

Although this particular woman sure could pull off the name.

He smiled as he took a sip from his coffee, Huntress was one hell of a woman, he had never in his life met anyone like her. Sure he was this close to having a heart-attack from her sudden appearances behind him, but he looked forward to their encounters.

He felt guilty about it in a way. She was a vigilante, she was breaking the law as much as the guys she helped him get into jail... yet he enjoyed her company, although he tried to put a big show about how he didn't care when she was around, she saw right through him.

Then again, you can't miss much if you have goddamn cat eyes, can you?

She was also the weirdest person he had met. And a part of him screamed that he should put her behind the bars... not that he could even if he tried, he remembered their first encounter, she had thrown his handcuffs at him so easily... how the hell did she got out of them? They weren't a toy!

The problem was, the other part of him, had being so mad... jealous, truthfully... when she said Darkstrike was with her, how the hell did he get so close to her all of a sudden? And he had being happy... overjoyed actually... when she had looked so uncertain, almost vulnerable, asking if the DA was something to him... she actually cared! Good! Because she was playing rounds in his brain 24/7.

Who the hell was her anyway? Huntress wasn't all she was, she had to have a name and a life, and he wanted so bad to be entrusted with the big secret. She was one of the good guys, he was certain of that now, but he needed to know more, he wanted to know everything. He liked mysterious women as much as the next man, but this was simply too much.

She didn't jump him yesterday, and he had gotten like five low-lifes in! Why did she miss it? Where was she? Why did he care?

He went through his files again, and hoped he would see her tonight.