Chapter Ten: Indecent


Helena and her broken arm couldn't take it anymore. All this non-moving shit was killing her. So, two weeks after her fall from a three story building, one week after that wonderful emotion-wrecking call from Q, she was back in costume. Well, sorta. She couldn't get the damn thing zipped. Instead of giving up and falling back into bed where her doctor told her to stay for a bit, she did what any sensible superhero would do. She called her ex-fiancé. It was an awkward conversation to say the least...it went something like this...

"Dick?"

"Helena?"

"I need your help."

"I don't do that anymore."

"Do what?"

"Scratch your libido itches."

"I'm not having a libido problem."

"That's sad. Everyone should have a healthy libido."

"I have a healthy libido."

"That's good. I still can't help you with it."

"Why not?"

"I'm with Barbara."

"You took her back?"

"Probationary. She's moving here to Bludhaven."

"That's nice...damnit DICK!"

"What?"

"You completely distracted me."

"From your libido? I just explained..."

"I didn't call about my fucking libido!"

"Okkkkkkkkkkaaaaaaaaaay..."

"I need your help."

"Didn't we just have this conversation?"

"My zipper is stuck."

Silence.

"On my costume."

Silence. Crickets.

"I need you to come zip it for me."

Silence. Crickets. Truck going by.

"Stop being a perv."

Silence. Crickets. Truck going by. Woman's scream in the distance.

Finally, he answered. "You want me to drive twenty miles so that I can zip up your costume?" He sounded like he was either being strangled or was choking back laughter. For his sake, she hopes he was being strangled.

"Yes."

"Sure. I'll be there in half an hour." Click. Helena just loved having odd conversations with her exes. They were always so enlightening.

Thus, there she was. Half exposed and slightly cold and wishing Dickie Boy would hurry up. Just a few minutes later, and almost forty after she called, she heard a sound at her fire escape. Without further ado, Nightwing stepped through.

"Wow. You weren't kidding."

Helena almost growled. "I'm sorry; did I sound like I was?"

"Well...I thought it might be a ploy to get into my pants."

"Been there, done that."

"Sooo...how do you wanna do this?"

"Doggy-style?"

"Ummm...I mean the zipper?"

Helena laughed. "I just need to get it over the cast, and zipped. I'm cool past that."

Nightwing grinned. "This means I'm going to see your breasts."

"Don't you have a picture of them somewhere?"

"As a matter of fact..." he trailed off as he gingerly, gently eased the shoulder of her uniform over the cast on her lower arm and up over her shoulder. He turned her and zipped her up within seconds. Then, though she didn't ask, he attached her cape, and turned her around. With a sardonic smile, he pecked her on the forehead and continued, "Yes. It's very nice. I especially like the tattoo."

"It was a graduation present from some old friends of mine."

"They bought you that?"

"It was sweet."

"How are you doing?"

Helena sat down, slightly tired but never admitting it. "All those nice little enhancement juices are leaving my body. Almost makes me wish I was a real Meta."

"Juices?" Nightwing asked, levying himself a seat on Helena's dresser.

"Batman doped me up with some steroids and a couple drugs his company is developing so I'd pass as a meta-human. Gave me some speed, some strength. A couple general things like that."

"I thought it was all us humans against Metas? We don't need no stinkin' superpowers!" Nightwing said loudly, punching his fist in the air.

Helena shrugged. "They're not all bad."

"Aching to get back to the Justice League and be a real superhero again, huh?"

Helena hesitated. Truth was, she wasn't. This time away had given her time to think, and what she was thinking wasn't good. She couldn't really talk to anyone about it, because all her friends that knew of her secret identity were Justice League. Except for Nightwing. Could she trust him? Helena studied him, with his costume and airs of arrogance. Yeah, he was one of few she could trust. "Not really."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"So you don't want to go back?"

"Nope."

"You don't?"

Sometimes he was just dense. "No, I don't."

Nightwing wasn't really grinning anymore, realizing that she was serious. "You mean it?"

"Yeah. I guess...it's just not my scene. I don't like the rules, the duties, the requirements. It's ridiculous. I like being my own boss. Being rogue. I like Gotham City. This is my home. Truth be told, I'm always more concerned about here than anywhere else in the world. Even with Batman always telling me to leave, it's still my city too."

"Are you gonna...leave the Justice League?"

"It'd be a nice turnabout. Last time, they kicked me out. This time, I quit."

"Be serious."

"I am. I don't like it. I think the only reason I stayed so long this time is cause..."

"Of Captain Atom?"

"Yeah," Helena nodded. "Last time I left the Justice League, I lost the relationship I had going at the time. I don't really want to lose Captain Atom. He's a good man."

"What about the Question?"

Her gaze was sharp. "What about him?"

"I'm not in the Justice League, but even I've heard of the escapades up there. It's said that he obviously wants you back."

"I don't know about him. I thought..."

The room was silent for a minute. Then Nightwing spoke, and the words weren't needed. "I once thought too."

"So...you two are back together?"

"She says nothing happened between her and Bruce. She thought she had feelings for him. She didn't. She misses me. I miss her. I'm willing."

Helena nodded, though her real thoughts were miles away. She smiled though. "You once thought, huh? That's a shocker. You? A thought?" She put just enough disbelief into it to mock-insult him.

"Haha...so...we patrolling tonight?"

"We?"

"She's here, you know? Might be nice to be seen with another leather-clad, caped woman...might make her jealous. Jealous sex is always hot."

"Niiiiice..." Helena sighed. "No. Come unzip me."

"What? Too tired?"

"Yeah, and quit being a smart ass." Nightwing hopped down, and started to remove Helena's cape. "I did fall off a building, you know."

"You were always clumsy." The cape was gone, and she was unzipped. There was no real reason for him to stay. Before he left, she had to give him something.

"Dick?" He turned back from where he'd been about to climb onto the fire escape. Helena walked over and kissed him briefly on the cheek. At the same time, she pressed the engagement ring he'd once given her into his hand. "Just in case. I don't need it anymore."

Nightwing nodded, and climbed into the night. Helena, exhausted, emotionally, physically, mentally, went to bed. She didn't dream. She didn't fret. For that night, her worries abated, and she simply rested.