Chapter 18 All Lies Lost and Torn

It was amazing how much could change from a simple shift of perspective. Upon the rooftops of Gotham, Helena found the pollution smoke in the industrial district rising to mix with the blazing twilight of the almost risen sun eerily gorgeous. She just wished for that calm that being up this high once gave her. That sense of control she gained when she looked down upon the world.

But it wasn't working. She needed more. She stood and faced the ledge she'd been sitting on. It was a little wider than balance beams she'd perfected at the age of ten, but defiantly more dangerous of a fall. It was just what she needed.

She went through the routine that she would've performed for an Olympic judging committee. With every flip and hand stand she could feel the tension in her muscles become a controlled flexing. The physicality of movement and adrenaline rush from the danger was heaven.

Until she showed up and ruined it all. "Dangerous."

Helena was balancing on one hand, but the little shock caused her to need both. She felt the anger building again and flipped off the ledge. "Even more so when people show up and break your concentration. I could've fell."

Cassie didn't blink. "I would've caught you."

Helena regarded her Batwoman outfit. "Right. You know, dawn is breaking. Don't you need to get going before your turn to dust?"

Helena moved to leave, but Batwoman grabbed her wrist. So she punched her. It felt wonderful. She put her anger, frustration and confusion into every throw. Every kick was fueled by fear and vengeance. This is what she really needed.

She was so lost in the fight; Helena didn't notice how easily she was winning it. Far too easily against Cassie's experience. It wasn't until Batwoman was on the ground clutching her bleeding side that she finally snapped out of it. Even as a child, blood never made Helena squeamish, but the sight of it caused her doctor instincts to flare up.

"You're bleeding."

Selina walked over to fetch what Bruce counted to be her fifth drink since Helena left. "Well it's official, she's going to end up on a rooftop."

He eyed the crystal glass filled with amber liquid the same way he once eyed Penguin's umbrellas. They certainly looked harmless, but he knew better. "Why do you assume that?"

Selina began roaming the room in the same fashion as her daughter had earlier. The grace she did it with was even more unnatural than usual considering the amount of liquor she'd been downing. Bruce never liked Selina drunk, she couldn't keep her emotions under control. He was already thinking of a dozen ways to somehow rid the room of that blasted bottle as Selina continued,"Well, if having us as parents isn't reason enough. That girl just found out she had two sets of parents who lied to her."

Bruce didn't want to get into this with Selina here and now. He could spend days rehashing past pain, but now was not the opportune time. "That's hardly a reason to turn to crime or justice."

Selina turned to give Bruce a glare. "I think that was an insult." Before Bruce had time to reply she went on, coming towards him with one manicured nail pointed straight at him, "Losing parents…it's the first step in wearing a mask. It's true, Bruce name one person you know in that arena that has living parents" He began to speak. "Or is without major issues with their living ones.

He closed his mouth again. She finished her drink. "I need another one."

Bruce grabbed her before she reached the counter. "I think you've had enough."

She ripped herself from his grip with the ferocity of a wildcat. "Don't you tell me what to do Bruce! Listening to you is what got me into this mess in the first place. First the sweet nothings to make her, then the rationalizations for hiding the truth from her."

Bruce tried for calm and rational. "Selina, it was the right thing to do."

Selina was beyond calm and rational. "Well, it didn't fucking work, did it? People are trying to kill our daughter!"

That screech broke Bruce's restraint. "Yes it did. I would rather have someone trying to kill our twenty year-old daughter than our two year-old! You remember what the Joker did to Tim when he found out who I was. Imagine what he would've done to my ten-year old daughter! I swore no child would feel the same pain I did, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let it happen to my daughter. Our daughter was protected, Selina, and I will never apologize for or regret that."

Bruce turned to lean and look out the window. He needed to calm again. For not wanting to bring up every painful memory, he certainly mentioned the big ones. His parents, his daughter and the night the Joker died. The only person not present who knew anything about that night beyond Tim's thirteen-hour torture, the Joker's death and Harley's disappearance was Selina Kyle. And she only knew what she managed to pull from Bruce after he sought the comfort only she could give him. Bruce spent more time than anyone should trying to envision the inner workings of the Joker's mind, but he always tried to block the too disturbing thought of replacing Tim with Helena. He found it was far worse when the girl existed beyond a secret and imagined existence.

Selina's voice now held the calm and collected tone. "Wow, you actually showed emotion."

Bruce turned, fury pumping in his veins. "Don't joke about this."

Beautiful green met cold blue. "I've never bowed before your alter of pain, Bruce."

He wanted to throttle her for her disrespect, but he found his center again in his anger. That center was Batman. "What's done is done."

Her head cocked to the side slightly. "Wise words."

Batman continued, "Helena must be protected at all costs. I will see to it."

Selina sighed, "Bruce, you can't. She won't let you. She hates us both."

He paused. "You were right, Selina. This was all my fault, all my idea."

She shook her head. "Don't do that, Bruce."

He came in close forcing her to listen. "She'll hate me but she will be safe."

"Ever the self-sacrificing hero." Selina began grabbing her stuff.

"What are you doing?"

"Leaving."

Bruce moved to stop her, but didn't get far without his can. "You're too drunk to drive."

She faced him with keys dangling from her fingers. "Bruce, you could make a rockstar sober." She took off.

He followed.

He tried to stop her as she made her way quickly to the front doors, but he couldn't manage it. He cursed his cane once more. She turned to face him before letting the door close, "For all your chasing, you never did truly catch me."

The door slammed shut.

Cassie held back another wince as Helena inspected the wound. "I'm impressed. Whoever did this did a fantastic job."

Cassie should've stopped her next words. "Tim did it."

Helena looked confused. "Who's Tim?"

"He was the third Robin."

"That's all?"

Cassie had no desire to continue down that road, so she changed the subject gruffly, "You shouldn't be up here."

Helena went back to repairing Cassie's damage with a smirk. "Afraid I'm encroaching on your territory?"

Cassie kept her face neutral. "I'm serious, without a mask people will ask questions."

Helena finished her work and spoke with an unnatural lightness. "Perhaps I'm suicidal." Then her tone darkened. "Mask or not anyone playing on rooftops has got a death wish."

Cassie didn't need to hear this at this moment. "Don't talk like that, Helena."

She missed Helena studying her so closely, but not the question. "Why do you wince every time you say my name?"

Cassie felt herself stiffen. She thought she'd been hiding that fairly well. "I don't wince."

"Maybe not wince, but something."

Cassie was in too much pain to run so she decided to indulge Helena's curiosity. "Do you remember Huntress?"

Helena shrugged, leaning against the ledge across where Cassie was sitting. "She was one of the more minor players in the Bat family some time ago. No one really trusted her; her methods were too rough. I never quite developed the strong dislike that everyone else had for her though. I could respect the warrior in her."

Cassie could hear the rapid interest in Helena's question. "What happened to her?"

"She was chasing after a Mob gang in the East side, but it was a trap. They had her running across rooftops to one they had rigged to fall when she stepped on it. She barely got out the distress call, but the fall didn't kill her. The men wanted to have some fun with her first." Cassie didn't keep the disgust from her voice.

She looked up to see Helena's focused eyes, imploring her to continue. Still, Cassie hesitated at the next part. "She was…" Cassie's neck gave the slightest tick, "…violated repeatedly before they finished her off."

Helena whispered a profanity.

Cassie continued, finishing up the story of another Helena's end. "Tim got to her first, but not before a photographer, as her mask was removed. She made countless covers, stories talking about her troubled background, the not-so-glamorous life of masked vigilantes and warnings against children idealizing these so-called heroes. It was too close to the Joker's final torture and it broke Tim's desire to be an acting Robin. Bruce never had another Robin, but got more closed off after Tim left."

Helena looked ready with a barrage of questions, but Cassie made no effort to hide the fact that she was done talking. The moment settled between them before Helena finally did ask a question. "Wow, do you people have any happy stories?"

Behind her mask, Cassie raised an eyebrow. "Us people?"

Helena shook her head, "Never mind that." The silence between them grew uncomfortable, as the both were lost in depressing thoughts. "Tell a joke or something, lighten the mood."

Only because Helena did not know her well enough did Cassie respond, "I don't do jokes."

Helena gave a lip twitch that almost resembled a smile. "Yeah, I've noticed this family is all about the brooding."

Cassie glared at her, but Helena continued, "Not to mention the glaring. Emotional withholding, brooding and glaring are like the holy trinity of the Bat family."

Cassie found herself somewhere between amused and enraged at Helena's flippancy. "So you're funny?"

Helena turned to the sun breaking dawn. "Only to mask the pain, I assure you."