ANNNNNND We are BACK AGAIN! Surprised?! Well SO AM I! Lol. I didn't think I'd have the time or the capacity to get this one out this soon. I hope all has been going well for all of you. Gonna jump right into the story. Don't forget to check the bottom for a longer author note. Leeeeets GO! Ooooo. Before I forget. WARNING: This chapter helps me earn the M rating I saddled this fic with. Nothing TOO overly descriptive, but with that being said, there is mention of some seriously disturbing material in this chapter. You have been warned.
GOTHAM CITY – THE NARROWS – The Pit (Bar)
MAY 20TH 2008. 2130 (9:30 PM)
Michael Vanaver POV:
He'd known it would be a bad idea, but he'd done it anyway.
He'd finished his finals already, and he had wanted to blow off some steam so it shouldn't have been a big deal that he wanted to grab a drink or two; he was old enough after all.
He'd tried to dress down. Even in attempting to do that though he wound up coming off looking more along the lines of a rich hipster that was putting some money on display, instead of the grunge/punk rock look he'd been going for.
His black leather jacket wasn't necessarily from a designer company, but it was nice and the woven pattern above the pectorals near the arms that led into the sleeves made his skinny frame look slightly larger. Black skinny jeans with holes positioned up and down the legs in the right places, jet black high tops, burgundy colored V-neck Weezer shirt.
All that plus the cut and style of his hair seemed to mark him, his company all telling him he'd wound up looking kinda douche'y.
He hadn't put on any of his usual accessories that could denote the kind of money he came from, and he had thrown on body spray instead of the custom cologne he usually did.
'Alpine Attractor. Hopefully it'll be a real hit with Candice.'
His small group of friends had said that they wanted to do a bar crawl, and that they wanted to do it in 'The Narrows'.
Was it a good idea? Probably not considering that part of the city's reputation. But could you blame him for going? He was pretty confident he'd crushed the four final's he'd had, and he hadn't done anything like this before even though he'd had numerous chances.
That… and he'd finally psyched himself up to talk to the girl of his dreams. Candice Dare. The girl could be considered the epitome of a 'Blonde Bombshell' type, and he hoped to finally make some headway with her.
'Literally And Figuratively.'
The group had gone to a local Hibachi place in Chinatown, and from there they had taken a pair of cabs into the Narrows and started to hit little hole in the wall bars afterwards.
He'd be the first to admit that he wasn't that experienced with alcohol, and the early dinner hadn't helped things.
The group had met up at the Hibachi place at 5:30, and they had actually had sake at the joint.
From there they'd hit four other little places, none of which seemed all that welcoming or sanitary; and while the poor hygiene code of the places and its patrons could have been forgiven…the lack of good beer at each place could not be in his own vaunted opinion.
Fortunately... he'd consumed plenty of sake at the Hibachi place, so his buzz had stuck around with only a minor application of a few glasses of vodka cranberry to cover for the lack of good beer.
By the time they'd made it to 'The Pit', he was sure that he was a bit glassy eyed.
He hadn't even gotten to make a move on Candice as she and a good portion of the group had left, saying that they were gonna call it early as most of them still had finals to get through.
He'd bargained with his two remaining companions that they could get a couple drinks at 'The Pit', and that afterwards they could make their way to the Kitty Corner uptown.
'At least there I can get a lap dance or three and salvage this evening.'
He'd ordered a round and quickly dropped a twenty on the bar, slowly stumbling his way through the slightly packed place towards the back hallway that led to the restrooms.
The lights in the bar were already dim, and one of the lights was dull and flickering between the entrance to the hallway, and the barely illuminated doors for the two restrooms and the one that seemingly lead to the back entrance of the bar.
He stumbled forward and started to lean heavily on the wall, his stomach starting to turn a bit.
The problem only got worse as his nose was assaulted with the overpowering scent of some kind of sweet fruit scent, said smell almost driving him to lose the contents of his stomach right there on the floor.
He closed his eyes hard, trying to focus so as not to have that particular accident in the hallway.
'They'll ban me from the place…or worse they'll charge me for puking on their precious dilapitated floor.'
Opening his eyes proved to be painful, even in the small amount of illumination that the hallway had; all of it proving to be too much for his already addled senses.
"Hehehehehehe."
The sound caught him off guard, as even with the music playing over the loudspeakers in the outer bar, and the noise from all the other patrons, he could hear the creepy almost childish giggle that had sprung up around him.
He swayed his head back and forth trying to catch the source of the noise, but there was no one else in the surprisingly deserted hallway with him.
The quick swaying movement he'd pulled with his head pushed his already delicate equilibrium over the edge, and he was forced to abandon any thoughts of the creepy giggle; or anything else for that matter.
The need to vomit had come to the forefront and wasting no time he quickly bolted forward two feet and through the nearest swinging brown door to the restroom in front of him.
Upon making it through the door he scrambled for the nearest stall, nearly falling into it as he pushed bodily through its hanging metallic door.
He was on his knees in record timing, bile spilling from between his lips in great heaves into the bowl.
Three times he felt his body expel, before he dry-heaved thrice over; leaving him in a right state as he choked for air with snot and spittle trailing off his face.
He laid his head against the toilet seat for a moment in exhaustion as he took in deep breaths, trying to slow his now rapidly beating heart while he ignored the feeling of the world spinning.
When he finally felt fit enough to, he picked up his head and pulled off some toilet paper from his right to wipe his face.
Bringing both of his hands up he rubbed deeply into his eyes with the palms of his hands, trying to bring some focus back to his vision.
When he finally felt his faculties return to what could be considered an optimal level (For someone in a state like him), he stood gingerly before flushing the bowl and slowly exited the stall to wash his hands.
The tile floor was red, the three sinks sat assembled in an off pink counter top, and the stalls were a strange kind of magenta color.
It took him getting up to the sink…but that was when he finally realized that he had found himself in the lady's room.
He quickly washed his hands, and made a beeline for the door; knowing that if he was caught in here he'd probably wind up in for a stay with Gotham's finest.
'Can't let that happen again. Apparently, I'm already enough of a disgrace.'
He made it to the door and quickly swung it open.
Only to come face to face with a porcelain doll face mask, that was outlined by a curtain of blonde hair.
The brief jump scare from the unexpected appearance was taken next level, when a lightning quick right hand chopped him directly in his throat.
The woman's left hand had been just as quick as the right, and it came up to snake right behind the back of his head.
He felt a pinch in his neck a second later, and as he struggled to breathe or push off his attacker he was assaulted with that same overpowering fruity smell again.
"Sweet dreams handsome."
Within seconds he felt his limbs go heavy, and shortly after that the darkness claimed him.
...
He found himself jolting awake as he felt like liquid fire was now spilling and pouring throughout his chest, his heart now hammering like mad against his ribcage.
The strangest thing about it though being that he couldn't move, even though he felt like he was trying.
He could barely feel his limbs, and there was a strange detachment that he was feeling that he couldn't explain even if he'd been asked too.
He tried to take in his surroundings, but between the alcohol and whatever had been done to him he couldn't really focus or move all that well.
If he'd had to guess he'd say he was in a basement of some kind, or an industrial lab of some sort maybe.
His heart already felt like it would beat out of his chest…
The fact that he was tied to some kind of table and was staring at a mirror of his now mostly naked self was not helping that fact at all.
The sound of high heels clicking on the hard ground drew his eyes towards his assailant.
The doll mask was still in place, and it had all happened so fast at the bar that he hadn't been able to get a good look at his attacker.
She was of about average height probably around 5'6 or 5'7, the long blonde hair familiar, a sexy nurse's outfit coming into focus. He could honestly say that this would totally be up his alley... if it wasn't for everything else that was happening at the moment.
Her steps were slow, methodical even.
She reached him and he found his focus still all over the place, but a red latex gloved hand came up and into focus before it caressed his left cheek for a moment.
Before a rough slap hit him, completely messing with his equilibrium even more.
The strange thing being that there'd been no pain really, but it was enough to set the record straight for how this was probably going to go.
'As if the being drugged and tied down didn't already do that.'
His kidnapper chose that moment to speak, and her voice held a deep quality; smooth like a piece of velvet yet holding all the danger of a wildlife predator.
"Naughty, Naughty. Looking at dear old Dollhouse like that. Didn't you're Mommy teach you not to stare?"
He tried to form a response, he really did.
That and to scream. Scream for help, scream obscenities at her. Something. Anything!
But his tongue felt like lead in his mouth, barely moving at his command. He wound up making unintelligible sounds as his eyes looked at his captor with longing and pleading.
Hoping that she'd just let him go.
When she spoke next, he wished he could have just died on the spot.
"Oh? What's the matter dear? Did you realize what's happened? That's too bad really. I gave you a really heavy dose. Don't get me wrong… I'd been watching you for a hot minute. You seemed like a grade "A" douche, but that doesn't mean I wanted you in any unnecessary pain. That…and well…to be honest the body reacts to stimuli no matter what in most cases, and I didn't want or need your body flinching when I unmanned you. It could have jeopardized my cut."
…
He focused his eyes as best as he could back up to the suspended mirror so that he could take in the sight of himself again.
He was completely naked…
Outside of the red stained cloth sitting over where his privates were supposed to be.
He was pulled from his horrified thoughts as his tormentor leaned down or her right elbow next to his face, giving him a look at her low cut nurse blouse as she started to draw small circles on his chest with her gloved left hand.
"I gotta tell ya, I almost feel bad. Buuuuut, Daddy was always adamant… that there's buyers for all kinds of parts out there. Your parts should fetch a pretty good price. And speaking of good parts?! That little blonde bombshell that was with you?! Wolf Whistle…I'd just Love to get a hand on her. Ohhhhh the fun I could have."
Every word she spoke just threw him into a deeper pit of despair, and in that moment he knew it.
'My life's over.'
Her voice pulled what little attention he had left to give, back to her person.
"A special little homebrew med made from Tetrodotoxin B is what put you up! Daddy made it special. Your almost completely paralyzed, and with the added adjustment he made you actually don't experience much pain. Had to check your levels before I gave it to you though, you had a lot of booze; and I also had to pump you full of adrenaline. Can't have you passing out on me. I Like to watch the lights go out… ya know?" The last bit being said in an exaggerated stage whisper as she secured a device on his face to keep his eyes open.
He couldn't do it verbally so he found himself having to settle for cursing her into oblivion in his mind.
He started an impressive tirade as she walked a foot or so away…only to come back with an electric bone saw whirring in her hand.
"Let's get started! I've only ever been able to keep someone alive for about…hmm… 2 minutes or so, so far. I'm not on Daddy's level yet. Do me a favor? Stick around long enough so I can show you your heart."
He continued his tirade of curses on the blonde madwoman up until the moment that his mind was overtaken by the pain of the high speed blade cutting into his chest.
His last coherent thought being a simple one.
'Don't experience much pain my… AAAAHHHHHH!'
GOTHAM CITY – THE NARROWS
MAY 20TH 2008. 2230 (10:30 PM)
Helena's POV:
Her boot steps pounded off of the surface of the roof as she ran towards the edge, trying to keep up with her fleeing target as he fled from her sights.
She had been out for about an hour now and had caught a group of drug dealers as they were making a sell to a group of kids younger than even she was, but that bit had been easy to handle and was what had led into her current run down.
She had disabled the dealers and radioed Jack to get the nearest possible GCPD squad to come and pick the scum bags up, but that's when she had heard screams from seemingly up above.
She had immediately grappled up to the roof of the building on her right and came upon the attack that was in progress.
Grown man, probably in his twenties to thirties. Bald, stocky, his clothes looked like a garish mess from the local army navy surplus store.
He was on top of a young girl who was either her age, or just bit younger.
'Scumbag.'
It had taken everything she had not to unload a cluster of bolts into his back.
Her comm had chosen that moment to crackle to life again, and Jack's voice was right there in her ear.
: Helena, the nearest unit is four minutes out for pickup. What's your status?:
Knowing that her transport onto the roof was loud she didn't bother trying to keep herself quiet.
"Hang On!"
She had yelled her response. Not only at Jack, but for the young victim as she had put herself into a full tilt sprint; her cape flapping behind her as she closed the distance and front kicked the man to the left side of his face.
His scream of pain mixed with the shout of fear from the young girl he'd been assaulting as the kick launched him away, and Helena had quickly done as Jack had taught her in training and grabbed the girl to help her scramble back so as to give distance while not turning and exposing her own back to her opponent.
'Jack sure has made me pay for turning my back plenty of times, that's for sure.' Helena thought briefly as she ran to the edge and sighted with her large crossbow on the perp as he dropped down from the edge of the bottom of the fire escape to turn and try and run.
In using the technique that Jack had taught her she had in fact kept the girl and herself safe, but in following Jack's example and trying to check on the girl's state of mind, that brief break had been enough… as she'd given the perp time.
Enough time to scramble to get his pants right, and make his getaway.
'Like hell that's happening.'
Helena sighted along her crossbow and shot straight down at the fleeing perp, her loosed bolt skimming along said perps back carving a line across his jacket before the bolt actually found purchase in the back of his left leg at the calf causing him to fall to the ground with a loud yelp of pain.
The wound didn't completely stop the man, but the serious limp that he now had made it quite clear that any chase shouldn't last much longer.
Helena quickly rigged her bow again for repelling and dropped down from the side of the building, closing the distance quickly as the man worked his way towards an intersecting back alleyway between the two buildings.
Helena pushed herself into a sprint, still getting used to the new weight and feeling of her gear since it had been upgraded.
Jack had gotten help from Wesley Dodd's (who was actually still at the apartment even now) and had outfitted her jacket and her pants with special plating. The plates were a special blend of the kind of ballistic gel layer that Jack himself had in his elbow and knee pads, and that gel layer sat on top of a minor Kevlar mesh. It wasn't nearly as bulletproof as Jack's set up, but it was more protection than she had had before, and the new arrangement still let her keep her mobility and flexibility.
The whole set up had wound up adding an extra twelve pounds or so worth of weight to Helena's person, and that wasn't taking into account that her boots had been refitted as well. Her boots now had steel toe caps, and specialized plating on the sides; along with the kinetic impact layer inside as well to add protection to her ankles.
Wesley had suggested adding a light bit of the gel layer into her cape, and while Helena would have loved to have to done that; she needed to maintain her speed and needed the capes maneuverability. Though she had gone ahead and worked with Wesley and Jack to inject some of the gel layer into the entirety of her mask.
'Besides the overall look, I need the cape to be light so that I can manipulate it to obscure myself when I need too. Still don't know who the hell Aunt Edna is.' Helena thought as she disconnected the launch line before she started to take off after the perp who had ducked around a corner.
She tapped her comm as she ran, coming up to the intersection at the back alley.
: Jack, I'm running down an attempted rapist. Did the squad get there yet?:
Her comm crackled before Jack's voice came back over their secure channel.
Though it didn't matter as she missed whatever he said as she came around the corner and found her perp.
Him… and someone completely unexpected.
The scene put her on the back foot, as she was completely shocked.
'What the hell?!'
Her perp was on his back, and standing over him was a woman in a bizarre sexy nurse/doctor outfit. The white medical cap with the red cross on it was the most well put together piece, the rest of the outfit seemingly being in light tatters; as if it had been washed one too many times or had been ravaged by moths.
Her white top was slightly dirty, looking as if she had had a small tumble through dust or dirt, the garment barely containing her greater than average bust. Her white skirt and belt combo looking much the same. The tattered stockings, garter belts, and scuffed white heels all putting together the picture of someone who'd simply taken up a theme, but that they were also using it for the shock factor it brought.
'As if the creepy porcelain doll mask didn't already do that.' Helena thought as she leveled her crossbow sights at the woman, who had a sledgehammer hefted between her two hands.
Helena's readying up drew the woman's attention to her, the doll masked face now focusing more upon her; and not the wheezing perp on the ground.
"Oh? And just who are you supposed to be… girly?" the woman basically purred out at Helena.
The tone almost threw Helena for a loop, though luckily that Selina character had come to dinner a few times at the gym apartment.
'Her tone is just like the hussy's.'
Helena focused up and spoke to her now apparent enemy.
"In case you've been living under a rock, I'm Huntress! Put the hammer down and put your hands behind your head!" Helena said, doing her best to put an authoritative edge into her tone without the typical amount of hostility.
'Jack will want me to do my best to deescalate as best I can. Hopefully this whack job gets that crossbow bolts can in fact kill.'
Helena's train of thought was thrown by the woman.
"Hmmmmm…let me think about tha- "
Helena had seen and expected the move coming, but what she hadn't expected was the speed that the woman moved at.
She had cleared two to three strides, closing the six foot or so gap between them before Helena loosed a bolt directly at her.
Her foe surprisingly used the shaft of her sledgehammer to knock the bolt off course while leaning in her run, and even more impressively somehow pulled off a perfect spin (in heels no less!), and swung the head of the hammer straight for Helena's face while closing the distance.
Helena felt shock crawl over her features, even as she leaned back at the waist allowing the blow to pass her by. The small gust of air and the whipping sound of the hammers head telling her just how much danger she'd just been in.
'Okay bitch! Game on!'
She brought her crossbow tight into her midsection and attempted to fire off another bolt, but the woman actually dropped the hammer and locked hands around her weapon while turning her body sideways to avoid the second loosed bolt.
Helena quickly released the large crossbow, only to quick draw her two handheld ones; bringing them to bare.
Two bolts launched… one from each of her handheld bows.
The first bolt collided with her larger bow as it was flung from her enemy's hands right back at her, and the second was dodged at almost point blank range.
'What the?!'
Helena quickly found herself having to back pedal as the woman came at her, now brandishing two medical scalpels that she had pulled from seemingly nowhere.
"I'm all out of anesthetic honey… So hold still!" The woman shouted, the end of her statement coming out as unhinged.
The woman clearly had a basic understanding of Kali, as she came at Helena with coordinated swings. Each swipe quickly followed by another; sometimes a double strike, the air being pierced by a light whistling noise each time one of the razor sharp blades would pass dangerously close to Helena's person.
Helena caught an opening moments into the skirmish and dropped her right hand crossbow to the ground to catch the woman by her right wrist, and quickly knocked one of the dangerous implements onto the ground with the butt of her other crossbow; sending the weapon away from them both as it clattered to the ground to disappear in the dimly lit alleyway.
Helena quickly had to weave away from a follow up downwards stab that came directly at her face, and then summarily kicked the woman frontwards into a nearby dumpster.
The woman genuinely surprised Helena when she did something unexpected, and quickly kicked one of her heels off and at Helena, said shoe whizzing by her head. The shock of the move diverted Helena's attention for a precious few seconds, and that was all it took for the woman to mount a counter attack.
"RAAGHHHH!"
The woman bodily speared Helena onto the ground, knocking her second handheld crossbow away from them as they fell to the ground in a tangle.
The woman used her slightly larger size, and quickly tried to mount on top of Helena; her scalpel coming down in the woman's right hand as it was reinforced with an overhanded cupping left hand.
Helena reacted quickly and juked her head to the right as she brought her arms up to lock around her enemy, a small metallic sound signaling that the scalpel had scraped the concrete next to her head.
Helena braced her arms and pushed hard forcing the woman's hand tight towards her own abdomen, forcing her to drop her scalpel away from the both to avoid being injured by her own weapon. Helena quickly used her own booted right foot to trap the woman's leg, and then bucked her hips while spinning causing their positions to be shifted; as she was now slightly mounted over her opponent.
The woman tried to put them into an arm lock as she snarled and yelled at Helena from behind her mask, and the noise started to bother Helena so she did the only thing that felt appropriate at that moment.
She wound back and head-butted the woman, causing a massive set of spider web cracks to appear on her mask.
That action seemingly sent the woman into a frenzy though instead of knocking her unconscious as the woman fought through what should have been a considerable amount of pain, and actually brought one of her long legs between them to bury a bare foot into Helena's gut while pushing her off.
"Oof!"
The hit had caught her solidly, and knocked some of the wind out of her while pushing back about two steps.
She turned and pulled one of her handheld crossbows up with her left just in time to see the woman had gotten to her feet and positioned herself behind the attempted rapist, one of her scalpels to his neck.
"DROP IT!" Helena shouted, seeing half the woman's face now visible behind the seemingly half shattered mask.
"DON'T YOU FUCKING LOOK AT ME! I'LL KILL HIM!"
Helena went to respond a snarl having already come to her face, but her comm crackling back to life in her ear stopped her cold.
: Helena! Turn to the side, but keep them in you peripheral! If you don't that man will be dead in a matter of moments! She's got the scalpel positioned over where his Arterial vein is! If she cuts him, he's dead within ten minutes! Dollhouse is a deranged serial killer. You've gotta play this carefully.:
Helena albeit grudgingly, quickly turned sideways while pointing her crossbow at the ground while bringing her right hand up; doing her best not to openly snort at the woman's apparent 'supervillain' name.
"I'm Not Looking Okay?! I'm Not looking! Let's talk this through… Let the man go." Helena said, trying her best to maintain her cool. Having a mental war inside her own head as she found herself in the first real hostage situation she'd ever been in.
'With another perp no less…aren't I sooo lucky?' she thought snarkily to herself, regretting that she hadn't just taken a shot for the bitch's face.
'But then I'd be in deep shit soooo…'
Said woman's voice came out choked…as she started to ramble seemingly to herself while holding the man tightly.
"She saw me…she saw me…she saw how ugly I am! Did he see?! Did You see me you fucking puppet huh?!...Maybe I outta just cut your strings Right now?!" the madwoman ranted.
"JESUS CHRIST, I DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING! HELP ME… PLEASE!" the wanna be rapist screamed desperately at Helena, a dark patch forming at the front of his pants.
The scalpel moved, catching in the light from an overhead lamp on one of the walls of the alleyway as it flashed up to carve a straight line down the right side of the man's face from right next to his eyebrow all the way to his jawline; eliciting a brief scream before it was put back at his throat again.
"AAGHHHH!" The man screamed as his face wept crimson openly.
The replacement of the scalpel silenced him to only minor whimpers.
"Shut the fuck up! I'll split you open right here for the little hero girl to see!"
Helena started to lightly grind her teeth, hating the feeling of helplessness that was warring inside of her against her temper as she contemplated just taking a shot at the psychotic broad in front of her.
Helena was brought out of her own thoughts when the woman seemed to finally collect enough of her own stability to speak directly at her again.
"Here's what's gonna happen Purple Rain. I'm taking my new puppet… and I'm going home. You try and stop me?... And I'm gonna show you what his insides look like!" the woman said as she pushed the scalpel into the man's skin enough to cause him to whimper as his entire posture continued to pull deeper into itself.
Helena thought about her options and was seconds from taking the shot when her comm kicked back on.
: Helena let her go. Remember the launcher at your right hip.:
Jack's voice believe it or not stalled all her feelings, bringing a sense of rolling calm to her which allowed her to slow her breathing.
The lack of answer one way or the other seemed to give the crazed woman a sense of victory, a strange smug aura seemingly starting to permeate the alleyway as she backed down the right side slowly towards a new street.
When next she spoke again, her countenance had changed back to the sultry and playful one that she had started their conflict with.
"Catch you soon Rain! I'd just love to tussle with you again. Maybe next time you can bring some different toys. Mwah!" the woman said with an over exaggerated smooch noise at the end as she pulled her whimpering unwilling puppet around the bend and out of Helena's sight.
She went to move forward after grabbing her fallen gear, but stalled at a warning from Jack over her comm piece.
: Helena repel to the roof, and use the launcher quick. I'll get a map up. Then you can make your way back to the bike.:
'I like the help, but he sure likes to backseat drive…' Helena thought with a bit of agitation mixing into the gratitude she felt. She zipped up to the top of the building next to her and moved as quickly as she could while trying to keep a low profile, and actually caught sight of her target just getting into a worn down looking white van.
The moment the van attempted to gun it away from the curb, Helena drew the launcher that Jack had reminded her of and shot it at the back of the roof of the van.
Thankfully Jack had plenty of spare gear in his reconnaissance package, the launcher being a one of tracker.
A moment later her comm crackled and Jack started to give her a live play by play of the direction the van was headed.
Helena quickly got herself back down to the ground level and made her way to where she'd stowed Jack's bike, quickly mounting up and peeling out of the side alleyway she'd had it parked in.
As she weaved in and out of traffic trying to catch up to the fleeing psycho Helena couldn't help but reflect on all the work she'd been doing in the field since Jack's recovery had started.
While on the one hand she was happy to be out and about doing the work, and was also happy to have Jack with her even if it was only in the limited capacity; their dynamic had seemingly changed because of it.
She couldn't be mad at him, or even fault him; but often times it now felt like because of the body cam and the comm that she was taking orders from Jack instead of simply following his guidance.
'I'm a big girl, and plenty good enough in a fight to handle this small time crap. It's not like I've run into anything like Grundy for god's sake.'
The city had thankfully not imploded yet since Jack being laid up, and none of the so called 'supervillains' had crossed her path until this porcelain pretender had shown her face.
'Literally and figuratively. And considering I've never even heard of her? Must be small time.' Helena thought as she came around a bend, following Jack's directions to cut onto the highway that would take her towards one of the closer piers that put her between 'The Narrows' and Chinatown.
Helena knew that she didn't have as much time to devote to fighting crime as Jack did…but that didn't mean that she wasn't qualified to fight and she was taking this as her chance to prove herself to him.
It had now just past a little over three weeks since Jack had been injured, and she was happy to say that he was in fact back up and moving around the apartment; trying to get his body back into the swing of things. It had been slow going at first, and she really did hate seeing him struggle.
But because of it all she'd finally gotten to see a side of him that he'd never shown since she'd met him…
It wasn't that they didn't have their moments together beforehand, or that they weren't at least slightly open with one another, as they'd definitely developed their own special kind of rapport with one another in their friendship.
But with him being hurt as simple as the pulled muscles were; Helena finally got to see Jack in a more vulnerable kind of light. It made being around and with him simpler, instead of the feeling she'd grown accustomed to since his arrival, subsequent growth, and the reveal that he was All Might.
His guard was down in a way that she'd never thought she'd see. It was odd seeing him that way.
Due to the circumstances, he had come to depend on Ted, Wes, and even her and the apartments two new common visitors more than he'd ever seemed to in the past since she'd met him.
Helena weaved in and around the clustered traffic, slightly shaking her head as she passed through two separate streetlights as she chased after the manic woman and the now kidnapped perp, trying not to get lost in her thoughts of her day to day.
'Not the time for that.'
Her comm crackled to life again as she took a steep right turn towards the direction Jack had indicated the tracker had stopped.
: Helena your seven blocks out, and the van is stopped on the left side of the road. Looks like it's an old meat packing plant.:
Helena cleared six of the blocks, and then proceeded to pull over and cut the bike off.
She dismounted and brought her large crossbow off of her back, before reaching up and calling through the comm as she quickly but carefully advanced on the area.
: Jack I'm on site. Right about now would be a good time to call in Yin and Bennett, this nut jobs gonna need a pickup.:
As Helena advanced up the final block and came around the backside of the building to lay eyes on the parked van, she took in the graphic of the butchered pig on the side of the building and its garish slogan.
'Slaughter Satisfies?! Christ. Whoever came up with that one should be locked up in Arkham.' Helena thought as she advanced on the back door bringing her crossbow to bare.
A forward front kick knocked the back door open, and Helena quick stepped into a dark and dank hallway.
The black and white tile floor, moldy looking off white walls, and broken glass of the office windows clearly demonstrating that the building had been out of use for some time.
'The lighting might be dim, but at least there's lighting I guess.'
Helena took short but purposeful steps forward, trying to advance quickly into the building.
A sudden loud whirring noise and a guttural but muffled scream caused her to spring forward…
And only her accumulated training and quick reflexes saved her life.
She had crossed passed a rigged bit of fishing line, and she fortunately had felt the snag quick enough and had the wherewithall to throw herself into a dive roll; causing a large blast from a posted double barrel shotgun rigged behind a soda machine to just miss her.
After standing up and getting her bearings back Helena felt a small snarl settle onto her face as she set herself into a careful jog towards a stairwell leading down.
'THAT'S IT! This Bitch is kissing the pavement HARD!'
Helena came to the stairs and vaulted the first three steps, having clearly seen another jury-rigged trap, that would have seen a cluster of nails shot into her person.
Recovering from the drop down, her comm came to life again.
: Helena, Yin and Bennett aren't gonna make it. They're dealing with a hostage scenario. The Blackgaters gang just made a huge push, and they've got the Gotham Motorplex stadium held up. It's pretty much an all hands on deck situation, but there should be a local car inbound. ETA three minutes.:
Jack's words stalled her for a moment before she parsed it all and quickly continued down the stairs.
'More gang crap?! And what the hell kinda bargain bin name is that, don't any of these street demons have grown up names? Oh well… At least someone's coming to pick this bitch up.' Helena thought as she reached the bottom of the stairs and came up through an open doorway with her crossbow aimed out.
What she saw in the room would scar her for the rest of her life.
Bodies hanging from meat hooks…
Glass jars filled with body parts…
The white tile floor soaked with human blood in spots…
And on a table not more than ten feet away was the perp that she had initially been after.
He was cut open straight down the middle of his chest…his body unmoving.
Helena didn't have long to process the whole visual mess however, as the whirring sound of the bone saw was coming right at her as Dollhouse came barreling at her in a fresh doll mask as she was brandishing the machine like one would a simple knife.
Helena quickly turned her large crossbow sideways, and caught the whirring blade of the machine into it; a massive scrapping noise assaulting her ears while her arms rattled from the force before a quick silence overtook the room.
"RAAGH!"
That silence was broken by Dollhouse as she tried to rip her tool free, while only succeeding in pulling the larger bow from Helena's hands. Unfortunately for Dollhouse… her tool remained stuck firmly latched into the outer portion of the bow, and the extra weight caused her to drop the entire assembly.
That didn't stop the killer though, as she quickly pulled two new scalpels from her belt and brandished them as she advanced on Helena.
Helena did a back hand spring to gain some distance and then ran forward and kicked off the side wall lashing out with a furious roundhouse kick that not only knocked a scalpel from Dollhouse's hands, but said kick actually caused the woman to spin slightly and hit the deck from the momentum and force of the hit.
The psychopath wasn't finished though, as in mid fall from the spin she threw the second scalpel straight at Helena's face.
Helena leaned slightly to the right and the sharp instrument made a whizzing noise as it passed through her periphery.
Helena quick drew both of her hand held crossbows, and unleased a small volley of bolts at the woman as she back pedaled; hiding behind scattered gurneys and cabinets.
"You're going in a padded cell where you belong you psycho bitch!"
A glass beaker filled with clear fluid flew by Helena's head as she took a few more shots at the woman as she retreated behind a large dirty white pillar of the basement workshop.
"I'm gonna have fun carving you up Rain!" Dollhouse's voice echoed menacingly in the room.
The murderer came out from behind the pillar an instant later, throwing something else at Helena causing her to duck out of the way.
The clacking sound of Helena's opponent's heels saw her quickly bringing her sight back up, showing Dollhouse in a full-frontal charge again with her sledgehammer being brought to bear.
A big sweeping ark came, and the strike could have easily laid Helena out for good as it would have checked her in the rib cage. Helena didn't have time to think on what the follow up from that would have been however, because without missing a beat Dollhouse pivoted on her right foot and actually swung upwards knocking one of Helena's handheld crossbows from her grasp.
Helena brought her other weapon into a double handed grip and scored a shot to Dollhouse's right shoulder, but outside of a small angry grunt the woman kept on coming.
Using only her left hand she actually foisted the sledgehammer up and brought it straight down, and with her hand lower on the weapons shaft it gave her enough reach to actually smash the tip of Helena's second bow disarming her again.
The hammers head echoing off of the tile floor as it made a small crater set off the new round of hand to hand combat for the two women.
Helena drew one of her collapsed Bo staffs off her belt, and unleashed it as she swung in an ark for the woman's head watching as her opponent slightly bent at the knees to let said strike sail over her.
Dollhouse righted herself and pressed into Helena's personal space while dropping her hammer to the ground, causing Helena to have to bring the staff up in a horizontal line in front of her to keep space between them where both of the ladies got a firm hand hold of the bar.
Dollhouse began to push Helena back slightly, using her slightly larger size to her advantage.
Helena released her right hand from the bar, taking a straight jab at Dollhouse's face in hopes to get her to let go of the staff.
Dollhouse surprised Helena by completely letting go of the bar altogether mid strike, but that was followed up by a front kick that connected solidly with Helena's stomach.
"OOF!"
The force of the kick combined with pushing Helena onto her back foot, actually caused her to trip and fall flat due to her cape getting underneath her.
Dollhouse took advantage and quickly moved forward and kicked Helena twice in the gut.
Helena's comm had crackled to life, but she couldn't focus on what Jack was saying due to having folded in on herself from the pain of the strikes.
When Helena was finally able to ignore the aches from said strikes, the sound of metal being dragged across the tiles graced her ears, before she saw Dollhouse standing over her as she hefted her sledgehammer back up overhead.
"Don't you worry Rain. Your parts will fetch me a Very pretty penny."
The woman leaned back to bring the head of the hammer down, right onto Helena's skull.
"AAGH!"
Helena let out a mighty grunt as she lifted herself slightly on her right hand and turned in on herself before pushing outward and lashed out with her right leg. The hit connecting right under Dollhouse's left knee.
"FUCK!"
Dollhouse fell to the ground, dropping her sledgehammer as she came down on her left side. The blow not being enough to cripple her, but what had happened was enough for Helena to mount back onto the offensive.
Helena got over top of Dollhouse and started raining down lefts and rights, the echoing hits carried on for a moment before her comm crackled again; Jacks voice finally registering over all the other stimuli.
: Helena Stop! You've got her! It's over!:
Helena sat for a moment, taking deep heaving breaths before she slowly got off of Dollhouse who surprisingly; was still conscious though quite obviously thoroughly out of it for at least the moment.
The hits had completely shattered her mask this time fully exposing her face, and the woman would probably wind up with both of her eyes turning black as Helena was sure the second to last or the very last hit had broken her nose.
Helena stood up panting, trying to slow her now rapidly beating heart. After a few seconds went by and she was able to pull herself together, she walked over and turned the murderer onto her side so that she could zip tie her.
After successfully doing that, Helena gathered up her gear; and just as she was finishing dislodging the bone saw from her primary bow she could hear her GCPD backup arrive.
A voice called down the stairs, alerting her to them coming down.
"THIS IS GCPD! COME OUT WITH YOUR HAND'S UP!"
"HOLD IT OFFICERS! THIS IS HUNTRESS! THAT STAIRWELL IS TRAPPED!"
Her warning either came slightly too late, or was summarily ignored as a moment later a shout of "SHIT!", was heard being called out before two pairs of steps slowly came down to the level she was on.
Two blue uniformed GCPD officers came into the room, both of them seemingly okay; which caused Helena to let out her own sigh of relief.
'Thank god.'
Once both of the male officers were firmly in the room, one was forced to quickly exit and empty the contents of his stomach due to the sights. The other was deathly pale, and was shaking like a leaf almost no better than the other.
Helena was pulled from her observation of the two officers as the other rejoined them when she heard Dollhouse's voice.
"They can see me…They can see me…They can see me!"
Helena was once again completely blown away by the seemingly off the wall change in the woman's demeanor.
"I'M UGLY! Don't Look at ME!" The woman shouted as she then started to openly sob in a hysterical manner.
Helena saw that both of the officers were at as much of a complete loss as she was, though thankfully Jack came on over her comm again.
: Matilda's Dad is the one who scarred her face Helena. He's the Dollmaker. He not only raised her to be a killer, but he most probably abused her.:
Hearing Jack's words made Helena feel like she'd been gut punched.
Jack went on to say that Arkham's existing profile of her suggested that she has a laundry list of mental problems, a great deal of them being directed inwards causing great self-hatred and low self-esteem. She reportedly only felt normal now while either carving someone up or reveling in her own sexual promiscuity…both of which her most recent doctor believed stemmed from the trauma of being raised by the man that literally made her.
'Jesus Christ. I could almost feel bad for her.' Helena thought as she looked at the broken woman now weeping on the floor. Helena couldn't help but think that outside of the long horizontal mark across her face, the woman would be considered quite beautiful.
'Ya know… if she wasn't a raving murderous lunatic.'
Helena turned and looked at the two uniformed officers and asked if they could handle things from there, and after being given an affirmative Helena departed the building to head back to Ted's place.
'…Sigh…Hell of a night.' Helena thought to herself as she started up Jacks bike before taking off.
Moments Later- OUTSIDE THE MEAT PACKING PLANT
Dollhouse's POV:
They had brought her up the stairs, and outside to stuff her into the back of their cruiser.
But one of the dumbasses had taken their eyes off of her long enough for her to work her magic and pop the zip ties.
The second of the pigs had went to walk around the back of the cruiser, and that was when she'd struck.
She'd brought her left hand up with force, jamming her thumb into the cops left eye; causing him to wail out in agony as she snaked her right hand down and took his gun in hand.
Her victim had reflexively thrown up both hands to try and dislodge her finger from his eye, but it was already too late. He went into shock while his screaming started to taper off as he became dead weight in her hold.
The shock of it all had left the second one wide open, and she shot him right in the head.
It took her a few moments after that, but she eventually got their bodies inside, and did her usual thing.
She knew that she was on borrowed time now, and would have to go to ground for a while…but that was okay.
Between the four she'd gotten tonight; she'd be flush with cash for a while. The cops would start a manhunt, but she'd be out of state within the hour. The heat would eventually die down, because the fact stood; she was a small fish in the cesspool pond that was Gotham.
'I'll be back. I'll be back reaaal soon. And then…you and I have a date Purple Rain.'
GOTHAM CITY – GRANTS GYM
MAY 20TH 2008. 2335 (11:35 PM)
Helena's POV:
She trudged into the apartment and was immediately bombarded by Ted, who came over to help her ditch some of her gear. Primarily the weapons.
Him being in her face so quickly after all that had happened almost set her off though, and she almost lashed out at the man; but Jack's voice actually stopped it from coming to that.
"TED! Let's give her some space. Helena? I put your pajamas in the bathroom with a couple spare towels. Why don't you get cleaned up? I already talked it over with Ted, your gonna take my bed tonight. I'll bunk out here on the couches with Ted. Ted will come up with a cover for you for school so you can sleep in. It's late enough as it is."
For a split second she considered arguing with him, she really did.
But that second passed fleetingly, and all she found herself being able to do was nod while being grateful.
She walked into the bathroom and got out of her uniform and all of its accoutrements, before opening the bathroom door again just enough to deposit it on the floor.
The warm water cascading down her body felt like heaven, relieving what physical stress she had been carrying from the whole ordeal. She finished in what she felt was record timing and came back out to the open floor of the apartment to find Jack sitting by himself at the coffee table with two steaming mugs sitting in front of him.
He locked eyes with her for just a moment, and the small smile that he wore did things to her that she just couldn't explain.
She walked up to the table before walking fully around it to sit on Jack's right, just within arm's reach of him. He slid her one of the cups and she saw that it was hot cocoa with extra marshmallows in it.
'Just the way I like it.'
She didn't care that it was May, and that the summer would literally just be right around the corner. She drank greedily from the mug, so much so that she burned her tongue a bit on the first drag of the chocolatey beverage.
They sat in companionable silence while they both had their drinks, some old school slow music that she didn't recognize playing in the background.
When it was clear they were both finished she went to stand and take the mugs around the island to the sink, but Jack beat her to it. She watched him move deliberately, though it seemed like today was his best day so far since starting his recovery as he moved a little closer to what she knew was his full speed when normally walking.
He stood at the sink and washed the two mugs quickly before turning around and seeing her eyes on him.
He smiled again, though this one seemed almost wistful in a way; and the look seemed so out of place on him as she'd never seen him look that way before. He started to walk over to her when she decided to speak.
"Where are Ted and Wes? I also notice that our typical visitors aren't here this evening."
Jack chuckled as he walked over and got closer, Helena standing to join him on his feet as he responded.
"Well Ted was getting a little agitated with what had happened. Wesley was over my shoulder for some of the feed…and he relayed it to Ted. It was at one of the worse moments. Don't be surprised if he asks you to take a couple days off. I…suggested, that he give us some space. Wes took him for a walk. Their gonna get some ice cream from the shop down the road. I know it's late, but I told them to get you a peanut butter Blendini. And as for our typical visitors, it's poker night. Enough said."
Helena took in a deep breath after his explanation and then let it out as a sigh. She locked eyes with Jack and slightly nodded at him as she turned and started the trek to his bedroom.
"Thanks. I appreciate it. Last thing I need is him being in my face right now. Not so sure I want ice cream right now, but…" Helena said trailing off as she cleared the open door to sit down on the edge of Jacks bed.
He had followed her and was now standing in his own doorway, leaning against the frame as he looked at her while she stared at the floor, she could tell because she could feel his eyes on her.
"Hel?"
She shook her head, not realizing that she'd been sitting like that for a few moments.
When she lifted her head to look at him, she was finally losing the fight over it all.
The night had been a lot…the most she'd dealt with thus far in her hero career.
She didn't need to say a word.
He cleared the space between them and sat on the edge of the bed with her.
He turned her and wrapped her in a hug, and the moment her body registered the warmth of it she started to cry.
Cried for the people that were dead in that hellish place…
Cried over the anger she'd had about it all…
But mostly she cried because of the overwhelming fear she'd felt.
Dollhouse could have killed her, and if she was being honest there had been a moment where she had thought that she wouldn't be fast enough to stop it.
She held onto Jack desperately as she let it all out, him just holding her tightly while rubbing tight circles on her back.
"It's Okay Hel's. I'm here."
When the time came and her tears finally subsided, she let go of him reluctantly and turned her face away from him, shame filling her as she'd never wanted him to see her like that.
He had gotten up and came back with tissues for her a moment later, of which she was very grateful.
When she finally felt she was presentable again she tried to meet his gaze, but she felt unworthy.
She found one of his hands quickly cupping her chin to bring her up to look him in the eye.
"Hey. It's Okay. I Get it. But you don't have to hide any of it. Especially Not from Me. Don't go and try and bury any of it. If you wanna talk, I'm right here."
And surprisingly she did.
She talked about all of it. About the injustice of it all. How mad she was at Dollmaker for turning Dollhouse into the monster she was, how mad she was at Dollhouse for doing the things she'd done.
How angry she was at herself for not only failing to save the perp…but how conflicted she felt about the whole thing.
She didn't know who the guy was, and he was an attempted rapist.
…but had he deserved to die the way he did? Cold and alone, and afraid?
There was a part of her…a part that looked at everyone like that as just another Mandragora…
And that part of her believed he deserved everything that had happened.
But that honestly made her feel sick at herself.
And while that part was definitely there, the other part…the part that had wanted to save him; that part felt like it was just as strong as the latter.
And with that came the almost crushing guilt that she'd failed.
Jack's words about it though thankfully helped her. Helped her not feel as bad, about all that she was feeling.
And his words most certainly helped her to not feel guilty over the man's death.
"Helena. What happened was not your fault. You did the best that you could, while doing what you could to keep Yourself safe. No one asked you to take up the mantle, you chose too. Your reasons are your own, and while they aren't the best for becoming a hero; the mentality behind them is. You don't want anyone to go through what you did…ever again. That…is a worthy reason for being a hero. This job…this lifestyle…it's not easy. We go out there and we save as many people as we can; but we're not gods. We can't save everyone, even if that's what we wish we could do."
By the time he was finished speaking she felt as if a block had been lifted off of her shoulders.
This time she reached out and hugged him, though thankfully the hug was under far better circumstances.
They sat on his bed like that for a moment longer before they both heard Ted call out to them.
"We're back! I see the doors open, but there better be no funny business going on!"
Helena felt her cheeks slightly burn as she felt the need to lash out at Ted.
Jack cut her off from that with his response, surely catching all the other occupants flatfooted.
"Nothing funny about making babies old man." Jack said with a decidedly teasing edge to his voice.
…
Helena checked out of her body for a moment, and when she finally brought herself back, she'd missed her opportunity to punch him in the side; as he'd already risen to his feet and was back to standing in his doorway.
Helena fought to try and focus, to will the redness out of her face; not catching all that was being said between Jack and Ted.
She brought herself back to reality, and by then Jack was now facing her again.
"You feeling good enough for your Blendini?"
The tone was what took the last of any vitriol she had for him away.
He had another slight smile on his face, but it was definietly a warm one, and once again she felt her stomach doing weird tumbles.
'This guy…we're gonna have to settle up…real soon.'
Jack quickly turned to face outwards at a shout from Ted, and his words pulled Helena to her feet so that she could follow Jack out.
"Holy Shit! You two need to see this!"
Helena followed quickly behind Jack, and they both found themselves standing behind the couch directly across from the television a second later.
The headline at the bottom of the screen drawing shock from all four current occupants of the apartment.
"GNN'S TOP STORY: THE BATMAN IMPLICATED IN THE DEATH OF ELLEGED CRIME BOSS CHUCKIE SOL."
Helena could feel that her mouth had dropped open in shock, and after composing herself she turned to Jack; who was simply staring at the television screen with slightly wide eyes.
"Jack…What the hell is this? What the hell are we gonna do?"
Jack's countenance barely changed, his eyes narrowing being the only give away that he was processing everything. Without taking his eyes off of the screen Jack spoke.
"It's simple. We do the Job. Ted! We're gonna have to push Everything up. You and Wes are gonna have to finish your new suit sooner rather than later. And it looks like my vacations over. Time to go to work."
And Fin. Well there ya have it folks. Another installment of Legends Are Made. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had a pretty decent time writing it, and I'm glad to have it done. This chapter saw me integrating wider DC comics lore, and one of the best DC animated movies into not only My story, but into Young Justice continuity in a way that I feel makes sense. For those of you that don't know, I'm gonna leave that up to your fellow readers to spoil by dropping the info in a review. If That doesn't give it away, then next chapter most probably will if only slightly. From there you'd be able to figure it out with a simple trip to our resident friend Google. Thank you all so much for the faves, and follows! Don't forget to share it with your friends, and please don't hesitate to let me know what you think with how I'm doing. I'll do my best to have another update done soon enough. Until next time, stay safe, happy, and healthy! Sojiro signing off.