Disclaimer: Once again, I own nothing...
Nothing!
Chapter 7
Place: The Rocky Mountains,
behind a secluded cabin...
Time: During the events of chapter 6...
The mid-day sun shone down through the trees
on the face of Helena Kyle, who was currently perched
on a giant white pine tree, she stretched lazily as
she stared over the landscape. 'It seems like
yesterday,' she thought to herself, 'the day Mom died...
Lord I miss her! The days afterward, seem like a dream...
Uncle Eddie managed to get custody of me, despite his
criminal record and his disability...but he could only
gain custody of me if someone moved in with us as a
co-guardian to me and a watchdog for Uncle Eddie.
Enter one Dr. Margaret Cranston, the very doctor who
saved Uncle Eddie's life! Of course at the time we
thought she did not know what she was getting into...
little did we know what we were getting into!
***********************************************
Flashback
Time: A month after the death of Selina Kyle...
Place: Gotham City, the apartment of
Dr. Margaret Cranston...
Sixteen-year old Helena Kyle frowned in
concentration as she carefully painted on the
half-finished portrait of Selina Kyle...the radio
was blasting out her favorite rock songs and tears
were silently running down her face. She had been
working on the portrait of her mother since the
day of her mother's funeral...she rarely left
her room except to eat or to use the bathroom...
despite the best efforts of her godfather
and the good doctor.
Currently, her godfather was in physical
therapy and Dr. Cranston was in surgery...so she
was left alone in the apartment...suddenly the
music stopped, turning around Helena looked
over the room...but nothing was there! Frowning
even more, she went to turn the music back on...
but was stopped by a queer chuckle. "Whose there?"
she shouted as she looked around the room once
more, this time through the cat-like eyes she
inherited from her mother...seeing nothing. Her
eyes shifted back to a dark blue, "I'm going
crazy," she muttered as she turned the music
back on and started once more on the portrait...
End Flashback
******************************************
"I wasn't going crazy despite what I believe
at the time," Helena thought to herself, "But what
was going to happen would change my life forever..."
******************************************
Flashback
That night at dinner...
"So, how was your day Helena?" asked
Edward Nigma as passed a dish of potatoes to
Dr. Cranston.
"It was all right," she said as she played
with her food, "I nearly got the portrait done...
but..."
"But?" questioned Dr. Cranston as she put
the potatoes on her plate.
"But I keep getting the feeling of being
watched all day, and then there was this queer
laugh..." Helena never finished her sentence as
the good doctor slammed the potato dish on the
table and stood up with hands on her hips.
"Grandfather!" Dr. Cranston bellowed,
"Show yourself! Honestly, how many times
must I tell you? I am nearly forty and most
certainly not your little girl anymore!"
"Uh...Margaret? Is there something wrong?
I do not see anyone here?" questioned Edward.
"Margaret, now...is it? What is happening
between you and my granddaughter, Mr.Nigma?"
questioned a mysterious voice as it gave a
queer chuckle.
"Grandfather," growled out Dr. Cranston
furiously as her eyes suddenly glowed a soft
white, "Two of us can play this game, and you
were the one who taught me! Show yourself!"
Suddenly, a man with black slouched hat
and a red scarf around his mouth appeared out
of thin air, both Helena and her godfather gave
a startled yelp, the mysterious figure said as
his black cloak swirled around him, "I am still
the master, my dear child...and you will always
be my little girl. Are you going to introduce me
to your guests?"
Dr. Cranston rolled her eyes in weariness
as she muttered, "How grandmother ever put up
with him! Aggh! Helena, Edward this is my
grandfather...the Shadow."
Helena frowned in confusion as she asked
her pale godfather, "The Shadow? Wasn't that the
name of the bogyman vigilante that you used to
tell me about Uncle Eddie? I thought you told me
he wasn't real?"
"Bogyman!" yelled the Shadow as he howled
with laughter.
"I thought he wasn't real," muttered the
Riddler in fear.
"Oh, he's real all right," muttered Dr.
Cranston as she slumped into her chair, "And a
real big pain in the neck!"
"Now, Margaret," chided the Shadow as he
calmed down, "I only wanted to make certain you
were safe, I am pleased that you have reform...
Mr. Nigma."
"Thanks...I think," whimpered the Riddler
as he thought to himself, "And I thought the
Batman was bad!"
Once again the Shadow barked out a creepy
laugh as he said, "I am much worse than Ms. Kyle's
father, Mr. Nigma."
"H-how?" stuttered the Riddler.
"He can read your mind," Dr. Cranston told
the Riddler, "Grandfather, would you please stop
your melodramatic acts and sit down like a 'normal'
human being?"
"Very well," replied the Shadow as he
disappeared, suddenly a gray-haired man in a
dark business suit appeared before them,
"Is this better?"
"Much," muttered his granddaughter as
she set another place at the table.
"That's your grandfather!" shouted Helena,
"He's a hottie!"
At the same time, her godfather yelled,
"Your Lamont Cranston CEO of Cranston
Enterprises!"
Once again, a slight chuckle escaped Lamont
Cranston as he told the shock pair, "Thank you for
the compliment, Ms. Kyle...I always appreciate a
compliment from such a lovely lady such as your self.
However, I must correct you Mr. Nigma...my grandson
is now the CEO of my company...as well as certain
other businesses. I'm retired now, much to my wife's
relief."
"Hmph!" muttered Margaret Cranston, "Retired!
You certainly do not act like someone who is retired!"
Noticing her guests confused looks, she explained,
"My baby brother, John Cranston, took over Grandfather's
mantle as the Shadow a few years ago. Unfortunately,
Grandfather still enjoys terrorizing the criminal
underworld for a past time! He needs to try something
new! He is most definitely not a young man anymore!"
"Margaret, really," Lamont Cranston told her,
"You wound me to the core! Your only as young as you
feel, according to the old saying. At least I am not
taking up your grandmother's hobby, just be thankful
that she is focused on John at the moment and not you
my dear!"
"What hobby is that?" whispered Edward to
Margaret.
Margaret Cranston snorted in disgust as
she replied, "Matchmaking, Grandma would like
nothing better than to see John and I settled
down and start giving her great-grandchildren!"
Sighing, she placed a spare table setting and
asked her grandfather, "So, what brings you
here besides to check up on me? You would not
have reveled your identity so easily to
strangers."
"You know me too well, Margaret,"
Mr. Cranston told her and then turned his
attention to Helena, "I've come to make
an offer to you Ms. Kyle."
"To me?" asked Helena in surprise.
"Yes," replied Mr. Cranston, "You are
quite similar to me, Helena. If you truly
desire to avenge your mother's death and to
protect the innocent...then I am willing
to take you on as my apprentice."
"What?" yelled Helena, Margaret, and
Edward in surprise.
"I believe you heard me," Mr. Cranston
calmly replied as he dug into his meal, "And
you just told me Margaret that a needed a new
past time."
"There is no way in h%&* that my
goddaughter is getting into the very
thing that murdered her mother and nearly
got me killed!" Nigma shouted out.
"I believe that is Ms. Kyle's choice,"
Mr. Cranston told him, "Besides, she is already
going down the very path you wish to prevent her
from taking, today...for an example...she tried
on her mother's mask for a few moments.
"Helena!" shouted her godfather in outrage.
Helena blushed a deep red, but managed to
explain, "Well, nobody, including the Batman, is
doing anything to catch the man who actually killed
my mother! He's too busy escorting the Joker to
some prison in California!"
Mr. Cranston barked out in a huge laugh
suddenly...Helena, Edward, and Margaret stared
at him in shock...finally, he said with amusement,
"You have not told her who her father is?"
"H-how?" stuttered Edward in fear.
"I know," Mr. Cranston, said simply, "Well?"
"I...Selina...did not want her to know..."
Edward muttered.
"Know what?" demanded Helena, "Just who is
my father?"
"You can not keep these type of things a
secret forever," Mr. Cranston as he glanced at his
granddaughter, "Believe me...I know from experience.
Do you wish to tell her or shall I?"
Edward Nigma stared at his goddaughter;
he opened his mouth and then closed it again.
With a shake of his head, he replied,
"I-I can't...I-I just can't..."
"Very well," Mr. Cranston told him
and then turned his full attention to Helena,
"I said earlier that we were similar Ms. Kyle..."
"Yes," Helena told him uncertainly.
"You know what evil lurks in the hearts
of men, Helena...just as I do," explained
Mr. Cranston, "You inherited that trait from
your late mother, the Catwoman. But, like myself...
you have a strong sense of justice and a desire
to protect the innocent. You inherited that
particular trait from your father, the Batman."
It was one of the few times in her young
life, Helena was completely shock, finally, she
stuttered out, "Y-your joking! Isn't he,
Uncle Eddie?"
Edward Nigma shook his head sadly as he
answered, "I'm afraid not, sweetie. The Joker,
and every criminal in Gotham knew that your
mother was the lover of the Batman. When you
were born...she tried to continue her way of
life with my help, but it became too much. She
feared that the Joker would, as I did, find
out about you and who your father was. That
is why we hid your very existence from your
father and his merry band as well as the Gotham
underworld...we feared for your life, Helena!
The reason that your mother was killed was not
only due to the fact that she was once Catwoman;
it was because she was the Batman's true love!
I discovered this a few days ago from...err...
a former college that the Joker hired a
criminal known as Clayface to kill your mother,
Helena...you know the rest."
Helena remained silent during her
godfather's explanation, silent tears ran
down her face...when he finished she let
out an anguish howl and raced to her room.
"Helena!" yelled her godfather.
End Flashback
******************************************
"Helena!" yelled the voice of her
mentor, she looked down from the tree,
and there stood Lamont Cranston,
the Shadow.
"What?" she yelled, " 'He' hasn't
figured out who trained me has 'he'? We
kept it a secret from Al and Barbara just
as you requested!"
"I know, Helen!" he shouted, "We
are overdue for a long talk, and I can not
hold a conversation with you if you're up
in a tree! Come down!"
Rolling her eyes, she leapt from
the tree and landed gracefully in front
of her mentor, "What do you want?"
Lamont Cranston sighed with weariness,
'She is indeed very much similar to me', he
thought to himself as he said out loud, "Helena,
we need to have a little chat about forgiveness."
"Forgive whom?" she asked sarcastically.
"Helena," he warned her in a dangerous
voice, "Do you remember what I told you about
what I had done before I became the Shadow?"
"Yes," she answered, "You became a
drug lord in China after the first World War."
"Before that," he told her, "When I was
an officer assigned to protect the Czar's family."
Remembering his graphic description
of the massacre, she replied, "Yes."
"Very well, what I did not tell you was
that one member of the Czar's family survived,
her name was Anastasia," he informed her.
Helena's eyes widen in shock, "That old
tale is true! I thought she died with the rest
of her family!"
"She did die in a way," he explained,
"I managed to save her from the massacre, I
gave her a new name and life in America...
then I went to China to loose myself in grief
and anger over what I failed to do...protect
the Czar's family. Years later, in about...oh...
1936, I met Anastasia again, except her name
was now Hannah White. She had grown up into
a mad woman, filled with grief and anger at me
for she never forgave me for not protecting
her family. She went on a killing spree,
destroying anything that had emotional value
to me...she nearly killed Margo before I
shot her in the head."
"Wow," muttered Helena softly.
"Wow, indeed," he continued, "For I had
killed the last living child of Czar Nicholas,
the last emperor of Russia. I felt extremely
guilty, over what I had done Helena. Remember,
when I told you we were very similar?"
"Yes," she replied with curiosity.
"You are also similar to Anastasia," he
told her, "When I took you on as pupil...I wanted
to help you deal with your grief and anger...
I did not want to see another young girl end up
like the poor princess who survived her family's
massacre."
"But I am not like her!" she protested.
"Oh, but you are!" said her mentor, "You
have never forgiven your father, just as Anastasia
never forgave me! Your father feels just as
guilty for your mother's death as I did that cold
day the Czar's family was massacred...in fact...
I still feel guilty for the massacre. It's
something that is not easily forgotten...and I
dearly wished that Anastasia could have forgiven
me...for maybe it would have helped me to forgive
myself." And with these words of wisdom...he
left his student in the forest to think about
what he had just told her.
TBC...
