Chapter 4

Place: A secluded cabin in the

Rocky Mountains.

Time: 8:00 A.M.

            Reese rubbed his neck as he softly walked

into the kitchen to get some much-needed coffee,

suddenly someone behind him asked, "The couch

was crap, wasn't it?"

            Startled, Reese yelped out, "What is it

with you people sneaking around and scaring the

living daylights out of people?"

            "Sorry," apologized ten-year old Amelia

Nigma as she brushed passed him and made her way

to the refrigerator, "I thought you be used to

since your dating, Helena."

            Reese groaned in frustration and then yelled,

"For the last time, I'm not dating Helena! I just

found out her name the other night, how can I be

dating her?"

            Before Amelia could argue her position,

her mother came into the room, "Now, Amelia,

be nice to Helena's young man, he just does not

know what he has gotten himself into...yet,"

scolded Margaret Nigma as she started to fix

breakfast.

            "Well, he should," muttered Amelia as

she munched on an apple, "After all he's

dating the daughter of ..."

            "Amelia!" shouted her mother;

"Helena needs to tell him in her

own time."

            "I need to tell what in my own time?"

questioned Helena as she came into the

kitchen carrying three-year old Edward Nigma

Jr., while her godfather followed her with

his twin sister, Edith Nigma.

            "Amelia was just about to tell me who

your parents are, when Mrs. Nigma stopped her,"

Reese told her, "So, who are your parents?"

            Helena gave Amelia a furious glare as

she answered, "My mother was Catwoman, and

her real name was Selina Kyle."

            "So that's how you got the Riddler as

your godfather, I was wondering..." muttered

Reese in amazement.

            "Guilty as charged," Edward Nigma told

the detective as he placed his namesake in a

high chair, "Though I'm retired now, I found

something better than all the money, bats,

and clowns in Gotham."

            "Edward!" shouted a blushing Margaret

as she helped Helena get Edith settled into her

high chair, "Not in front of the children! And

may I remind you we met after your near-death

experience with a certain clown!"

            "That's how Daddy got his scars and

artificial leg," Amelia whispered to Reese,

"Mommy saved his life after Batman got him

out of that h^%# hole."

            "Amelia Selina Nigma!" shouted her

parents, "Watch your language!"

            Amelia rolled her eyes, and muttered

softly, "Parents!"

            Reese though had other things on his mind,

"I thought you told me Batman wasn't real! And

just who is your father?" he questioned Helena

in frustration.

            Helena merely growled out in fury,

"No one!"

            "Helena," her godfather told her as

he buttered some toast, "You might as well

tell him, and you never did tell us the

reason for your and the detective's sudden

appearance."

            "The reason I'm here is that big mouth

Canary told 'him' and certain others about me!"

Helena shouted out as she poured some milk

into her cereal.

            Silence descended into the kitchen,

finally Margaret muttered, "Oh, good lord."

            "Helena," Edward softly told her, "I

understand your anger, but it's perhaps for

the best that he has finally found out. Your

mother, would have wanted you to get to know

him as well as..."

            Helena interrupted with a shout, "I do

not want to get to know 'him' or his little

tag-a-longs!"

            Confused, Reese whispered to Amelia,

"What are they talking about?"

            "Helena's father and brothers,"

softly replied Amelia.

            "Oh," muttered Reese, "Wait a minute,

brothers?"

            "Uh-huh," answered Amelia, "Shhh, this

is getting interesting."

            "Helena," Edward said as he rubbed his

nose in frustration, "I realize that they were

never there for you..."

            "Oh, do not start with 'it was for your

own safety crap!'" bellowed Helena, "Mom did

that to me when I Amelia's age, what really gets

me is that he or any of them never...never!

Attempted to stop her murder or ..."

            As Helena choked up, her godfather finished

her sentence, "Or attempted to apprehend Clayface

for her murder. Helena..."

            But Helena stood up and rushed out of the

room crying, sighing in frustration, Edward

muttered, "Well, that went well!"

            "I'll go..." Reese started to say, but

was cut off by Helena's godfather.

            "No," Edward told him as he gestured for

him to stay in his seat, "Let her calm down,

besides you'll never find her when she's like this.

Takes after her father in that department from

what I learned over the years and from her mother...

she'll find the most darkest, most unreachable place

that she can find and brood for quite some time."

            "So, who is her father?" questioned Reese

for the third time.

            "You might as well tell him, Dad," commented

Amelia, "Maybe he can help you to knock some sense

into her."

            "I still feel Helena should be the one to tell

him," Margaret said stating her own opinion, "But

since 'he' has found out about her, it will only be a

matter of time until 'he' tracks her down here. No matter

what false trails that Helena has laid out before

she left Gotham."

            "Very well," sighed Edward as he surrender

to the inevitable, "Helena's father was my

greatest nemesis."

            "And he was?" questioned Reese with a

sinking suspicion in the back of his mind.

            "Batman," admitted Edward.

            "Oh," muttered Reese, and then for the first

time in his life, he fainted.