Chapter Five: In Danger (Part One)


Helena Bertinelli didn't believe in fate. She did, however, believe in karma. Staring at Black Canary's cold blue eyes as she prepared to slam her through a window, Huntress also knew that there was a hell, and she was in it.

Huntress braced herself as she landed on the other side of the window in a shower of glass. Sure, it was an act for the unseen audience, but did that mean the bitch had to enjoy it so much?

Black Canary swung herself through the now broken window, and crunched the glass under her heels dramatically. "Give up yet?"

Huntress grinned and flipped her hair back as she looked up from her kneeling position. "Never!"

Instead of rushing forward aggressively, as Dinah expected since that was the move the old, "got-nothing-to-lose" Huntress would have done, Huntress rolled backwards and onto her feet, before running and losing herself in the shadows of the warehouse. A glance at the small watch on her wrist told her that the game only had to be kept up a few more minutes before back-up would arrive. The ache in her side reminded her that she and Dinah might not have that long.

Two days ago, and only two months after she'd joined the League again, Batman and Green Arrow had approached Huntress for a favor. There was some underground meta-human gaming circles popping up again, and the two of them along with the Justice League wanted it to be put down for good. The solution? Send several Leaguers, preferably lesser known ones undercover with different aliases to find out who financed it.

Last time, when Black Canary had searched out her mentor and shut the ring of battledomes down, it'd stopped but the actual financier had never been discovered. Now, he was at it again and it was even deadlier. Several meta-human corpses had been "mysteriously" turning up every couple of weeks. Together, Green Arrow and Batman would make a new meta-identity for Huntress, so that she could go under and help, and in the process be forgiven for all her sins of the past, which despite being reaccepted in the League was still lorded over her head at every opportunity.

They didn't actually say that last part, but it was implied. Huntress accepted, despite the obvious danger. Suffice to say, Captain Atom had not been happy with the decision. He'd requested that he himself go along, but Superman had decided that Captain Atom was a little too distinctive for work undercover. Question had asked to be allowed to go undercover too, and had recieved the same answer. Huntress had laughed it off; both of the men were overly concerned with protecting her when she really didn't need it.

Running past stacked boxes and cellophane wrapped machinery, Huntress wished that one of them was here. Not that she needed it; Huntress was a strong 21st Century woman who didn't need a man to help her...but damned if the thought of dying didn't make her want to be held.

No one was supposed to die. It was supposed to be an in-and-out mission. One week inside, a couple fights, and a few break-ins, and she and Black Canary were supposed to be gold. They would sneak out on the seventh night, information in hand, and meet Green Arrow and Batman. It hadn't turned out that way. One week stretched into two, and the harmless mission grew more dangerous, as slowly Huntress and Black Canary lost contact with the outside world.

Suddenly, it was all about the next fight, and less about getting out. Huntress, impersonating a Chicago girl with the various "usual" meta-abilities (i.e. strength, speed, jumping all multiplied by inhuman proportions) called Fiend. She and Canary, going under as Doll (don't ask, but Ollie apparently found that really funny), were pitted against each other the first night. Surprisingly, Fiend had won. The next night, it was Fiend versus Oaf, and he wasn't on their side. Helena had almost died, and would have, had the man not been called to heel.

Helena stopped suddenly and tried to merge into the shadows. She could barely be seen in the dark, she knew that much and once again she thanked her senses for making her choose a black cat suit as her uniform.

This night was steadily getting worse. First, the plan to meet with Batman and Green Arrow had been called off by Batman. Then, the leader of this little ring decided to have a live-action fight. What that mean is that instead of fighting in the ring, the two fighters were going to go at it in a "real" scene... this warehouse.

The only thing that made this more dangerous is because this time...it was to the death. It was Huntress or Black Canary.

Huntress hated to lose.

Slowly, Huntress opened her senses, all of them, not just sight. Slowly, the world came into focus around her. She could hear Canary's footsteps, two aisles over. She was deliberately taking her time, either drawing it out or giving Huntress a chance to try something, she didn't know. Huntress was going to use it though.

There was a large bank of windows at the top of the warehouse. If Huntress could somehow get up there she could travel from rooftop to rooftop and eventually get away. There was a time when she would have stayed, she'd have fought, and she'd have killed or been killed. Somewhere along the line, that changed. Now her only thoughts were to get herself and Black Canary out of this situation alive.

Suddenly, a crate above her started to creak, then fall towards her. Huntress jumped out of the way just in time. She landed in a sprawl a dozen feet away, with cuts on her face where splinters had sliced. Black Canary had seemingly pushed it of balance and tried to kill Huntress, but Huntress wasn't sure it was a ploy anymore.

Suddenly, Huntress saw how she was going to achieve her goal of getting to the roof. There was a fire ladder inside, as there usually was in these old warehouses. The ladder was supposed to be for those working on the top levels, but it also went to the roof. Huntress knew what she was going to do.

"Poor little birdy, sing as much as you want...but I'm flying out of this joint...it's not as fun as it used to be!" Huntress yelled, knowing that Canary would hear and maybe even understand what she was trying to say.

There was a rope on the ground, probably left there by the real factory workers, and Huntress grabbed it as she started to run. She'd need a lot of speed for this. The end of the rope was quickly tied into a knot, a big one. The entire thing was heavy, weighing her down, but she was still getting the speed she needed.

Helena aimed for the broken window near the second story, and the knot sailed through the air. In a feat of skill, it went through the broken window and with a tug caught on the sill. Now came the tricky part. She would have to be in complete sight for this one. Huntress used all her speed she'd gathered up and jumped into the air, using her momentum to push off the crates nearest her, she sailed into the air. For a few seconds, she was completely exposed, and could easily have been taken out. Even as she thought that she might actually make it and survive this night, a shot rang out. It missed her, but barely. That was all she really needed, though.

Huntress landed on the second story, in full sight on the railed balcony. Trusting her instincts she rolled close to the wall and began to crawl towards the only seperate room in the wharehouse, the office. Going into a handstand she quickly kicked the door opened and jumped in. Then, and only then, did she stop to breathe. It was silent in the warehouse, except for the small sounds of shoes on the floor. Huntress was tempted to look out the small window to see where Black Canary was. There wasn't time though, and Helena had to get out of here. She could only hope that Canary followed. There was a window facing the parking lot outside the building, and that was Huntress' exit. She wasn't going to go down like they'd expect. She'd go up.

Huntress opened the window quietly and was happy to see that she was only a floor down from the roof. Thanks to the large brickwork on the outside, she wouldn't even need to have an anchor.

Huntress stepped up onto the window sill, and reached up to get a hold on the bricks above her. Within seconds, she was on the outer wall, crawling up towards the roof. She'd almost reached it when she felt a tug her leg. Looking down, Huntress saw that Canary had followed her onto the side of the building and was pulling her leg to get her attention. Or was she?

Even now that Canary obviously had her attention, she wasn't giving an inch. She was still pulling. It suddenly dawned on Huntress. Canary wasn't trying to get her attention; she was trying to pull her down! Some days, Helena is a bit slow.

Huntress kicked off Canary's hand and started up the wall at a faster pace, she had only a few more feet to the top. She wouldn't make it.

Canary reached up and wrapped a surprisingly strong hand around Helena's ankle. Normally, Helena would have kicked it off, and risked kicking Canary off the side of the building too. Black Canary was Justice League, though. She was an ally. Huntress wouldn't risk hurting her. In the end, it's what cost her grip on the wall. With one jerk, Huntress fell from the wall and careened four stories down towards the concrete parking lot.