Helena sat on the floor in the pent house, filling out forms for summer school. She was upset that she was being forced to go to school during summer. It was bad enough Barbara kept bugging her about training or not. She didn't do it verbally, but it was the way Barbara would look at her that made Helena just know what she was thinking about. Batman's little girl still hadn't given Barbara an answer about her being trained or not. Helena looked up to see Barbara working hard at a laptop in the corner of the room. Her head suddenly started to pound. The forms fell to the floor as she placed her hands on her head trying to make the pain stop. Her eyes flashed back and forth, unable to decide if they should stay normal or cat like. The light in the room hurt her eyes as they changed back and forth so fast. She grabbed a pillow and buried her head in it.
A muffled cry emitted from the pillow causing Barbara to look up from her computer. "Helena?" She received no answer from the girl so she laid her red-rimmed glasses aside and wheeled up to the child. A gentle hand touched the girls shoulder. "Helena, are you ok?"
"No!" Helena flung the pillow away and stood to her full height. Her eyes were filled with rage as her temper exploded.
"Helena, calm down. I am not going to hurt you." Barbara backed away with her hands held palm up. She could tell something had just changed in her young charge. Her little girl had gone from a kitten to a cat in a matter of seconds, catching the redhead off guard.
The raging cat looked for a way to release her temper. She threw the pillows and the couch cushions, causing one to hit a lamp and break it. She picked up an end table and threw it at the door to Alfred's room. Her fist was thrown into a recliner causing it to tip back with a hard thud as it hit the floor. Barbara watched the scene in horror. The power this girl carried was enough to scare even her. If the redhead went one on one, even as Batgirl, she realized she would never of had a chance. Due to the lack of training though, the girl's punches were wild and erratic. I have to do something before she wrecks the entire room. She released her escrima sticks and approached the wild child.
"Helena, I don't want to hurt you." Helena turned around and watched Barbara slowly approach, "Just calm down, Helena. Everything will be fine. I am going to help you." Helena threw a fist at the redhead, who easily blocked it with a stick. Barbara grabbed Helena's right arm and hit her knees with an escrima stick, knocking the girl to her knees. Barbara dropped the stick to the ground and grabbed Helena's other arm, twisting both of them behind her back causing her to stay at an odd kneeling position.
"Let me go!" Helena struggled against her captor.
"Not until you calm down. Now stop." Barbara twisted farther causing Helena more pain in her arms. After several minutes of holding the girl, Barbara realized Helena wasn't about to give up. It was like this other part of her wouldn't allow her to give in. Perhaps this is my chance for a little training. Keeping her hold she forced the girl to stand.
"We are going for a little walk." Barbara crossed Helena's wrists so she could hold them with one hand and work her chair with the other. The two entered the elevator and exited on the loft.
Barbara looked up and saw Alfred watching the two exit. "Alfred, there is a mess in the apartment but don't clean it up." Alfred seemed to understand and he nodded his head.
Barbara released Helena with a shove, in the training room. The girl fell onto the soft blue mats.
"Helena, if you're going to have a temper tantrum like a little three-year-old then you are going to do it in here. You are a hotheaded girl who needs to learn to control her temper one way or another. Now calm down and grow up." Why do I feel like I am only adding fuel to the fire?
Helena got up on all fours before standing to her full height. She turned and glared at Barbara. "You think you can tell me what to do! You're not my mother. If I could control my temper I would."
"No Helena. If you wanted to control it, it would be under control. You just don't want to." Helena screamed and pulled back her fist, prepared to hit Barbara. "You do and the last thing you will see is that blue mat as you hit it." The pair stared each other down. Barbara waiting to see if Helena would call her bluff and Helena trying to figure out if it was a bluff or not.
Helena turned around, walked to the other side of the room and threw her fist into a black punching bag. Barbara let out a sigh of relief and smiled. She had just gained some ground over the girl. She wheeled near the bag and watched Helena slam her fist into the bag again and again. She never hit the same spot twice and she wasn't even making a fist right.
"Helena, hang on a second."
"What?" She turned to face Barbara, her eyes still on fire.
Barbara took one of Helena's balled fists. "Don't let your thumb stick up like that or it could get broken when you hit something," She move her thumb, "Keep it bent next to your fingers on the underside of your fist."
"Oh," Helena went back to punching the bag. It swung wildly under her force.
"Here, let me hold that for you. It is easer to hit an object that isn't moving." Barbara went to her locker and pulled out a pair of workout gloves, the insides equipped with grippers. She also grabbed a hair tie to pull her long red hair into a ponytail. She parked behind the bag and locked her breaks. She took a hold of the bag and prepared herself for Helena's impact.
"Thanks." Helena's swings were still very wild, but she held her fist right.
"Hang on, Helena. When you hit the bag, do more of a crossing motion instead of a straight motion. It will put more power behind your punches and help you with your accuracy. Now, hit the bag right in the middle." Helena seemed to relax. She slowly placed her punches in the middle of the bag before attempting to do them faster. Her breathing slowed and Barbara watched as her eyes changed back to normal.
Barbara knew Helena realized she had changed back to normal, but she didn't stop as Barbara had predicted. She continued to concentrate on where her fist was contacting the bag. Her power level took a huge drop when her eyes changed, but she was still able to rock Barbara's chair.
"That's great, Helena. Why don't we call it a day? You look like you could use a rest." Barbara called a time out an hour later.
"But I don't want to. I can still go on." A sweat drenched, red-faced Helena dropped her arms to her side.
"Well then you can just use that extra energy to clean up the mess you made in the apartment." Helena lowered her gaze and walked off.
Barbara placed her gloves back in her locker and grabbed a towel. She was surprised to see she was also drenched in sweat. She went to the kitchen and the awaiting Alfred had cold bottled water ready for her.
"How did it go, Miss?"
"If she would have called my bluff I don't know what would have happened. She is really strong. I don't think even Batgirl could have taken her on. I feel bad for what I did to her, Alfred. It was not my place to treat her so harshly."
"I believe it is called tough love, Miss. And look where it has gotten you today. You managed to begin training her. Perhaps she will decide to allow you to mentor her now. You are not the first one to bluff a protégé."
"It was amazing working with her. She has so much talent if channeled the right way, but the decision is still hers to make," Barbara paused, "What do you mean I am not the first to bluff someone?"
"I can think of many times Master Bruce bluffed you and Master Dick into many things. Only he called it reverse psychology. When you were out on your own, trying to convince Batman to let you join the group, his refusal to let you join caused you to work harder to earn his respect did it not. He used that time to see what you could truly do on your own, before he took you in as a protégé."
Barbara shook her head, "I should have known."
Helena leaned against the side of the shower and let the water run over her. It had been exhilarating working with Barbara. She knew so many things and how to channel Helena's hot temper into something active. The workout had somehow satisfied her cat side and intrigued her human side. She wanted to learn more. If this was a way to control these changes she kept going through perhaps it was something to look into. Besides she could still train and not become some superhero, right?