New Earth: Batwoman

Chapter 12

"To our first takedown as a team." Luke said as he poured champagne for himself, Kate and Helena in the Batcave after watching the news about Tommy Elliot being taken down by Batwoman and the return of the Huntress to Gotham.

"And hopefully not our last." Kate said, much to Luke's surprise.

"Don't worry, I'm planning on sticking around for awhile." Helena said.

"So, does that mean that you accomplished what you left Gotham to do?" Luke asked.

"Not exactly. More like that business is what brought me home." Helena said.

"Meaning?" Kate asked, since she knew she was still missing something.

"I've been hunting my father. And not Bruce Wayne. My birth father, Frank Bertinelli." Helena said.

"Why would you do that? Helena, that bastard abandoned you when you were 3. Why would you want anything to do with him?" Kate asked.

"He came back into my life shortly after you left for your training. I thought he genuinely wanted to reconnect with me, but it turns out that he was only interested in me because I'd been adopted by Bruce Wayne. He was hoping that I could help his business. Then I discovered that his business is just a cover for being a mob boss. It turns out my mother put me up for adoption to protect me from the pain she was certain he'd bring into my life. And then I found out that he's the reason my mother is dead." Helena said.

"Wait, your dad killed your mom?" Kate asked.

"More like she was caught in the crossfire between him and another gang. But either way, ever since I found out the truth about him, I've devoted my life to taking down him and his entire organization." Helena said.

"And you've been hunting him ever since." Luke said and Helena nodded.

"I recently got word that he'd come back to Gotham, so I followed." Helena said.

"Helena, I'll help you take down your father, since Gotham has enough problems without him bringing in more. But we're not killing him. After all, your real father lived by a code." Kate said.

"So you don't know then?" Helena said.

"No what?" Kate asked.

"The reason my dad left Gotham is because he broke his code." Helena said.

"Bruce killed someone?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, he did. The only people who knew were the ones he considered family, meaning myself and Alfred. That's why he left. He couldn't figure out how to live with himself or be Batman knowing what he'd done." Helena said.

"Who'd he kill?" Luke asked.

"Haven't you wondered why no one's heard a peep out of the Joker in the same amount of time Batman's been gone?" Helena asked and they put it together.

"Bruce killed the Joker?" Kate asked, having mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, Bruce had killed someone, but on the other, the Joker was the reason Beth was Alice and her mom was MIA.

"Honestly, I wasn't that surprised when he told me. The Joker was always the one bad guy Bruce could never truly beat. Every time he put him in prison, the Joker always got out. They'd been fighting for years and I think that deep down, Bruce always knew that his war with Jack Napier wouldn't end until one of them was dead. And in their last fight, that's what happened. Napier finally pushed Bruce too far and he killed him." Helena said.

"Now it makes sense why Bruce left." Kate said and Luke nodded.

"But Helena, we can't kill your father, no matter how much he deserves it." Kate said.

"I know and I'm not going to kill him. But I am going to burn his entire empire to the ground before I put him behind bars." Helena said.

"And I'll help you, as long as you help me put Alice in Arkham." Kate said, deciding not to mention that Alice was her sister, since right now, she had no proof of that.

"Deal." Helena said as they shook hands.

"Now, I need to make a phone call." Kate said as she walked towards a sideroom as she pulled out her phone and dialed the familiar number.

"Hello?" Oliver Queen's voice said on the end of the call.

"Hey, it's Kate Kane." Kate said.

"Kate, I have to admit, I was not expecting to hear from you. I was under the impression you didn't like me that much." Oliver said.

"I'm calling to let you know that one of the changes in this reality has caused one of your old problems to enter my city." Kate said.

"Which one?" Oliver asked.

"The Huntress. But I have to admit, Helena is different then I heard she was in the old reality." Kate said.

"Different how?" She could hear Oliver's anxious voice, not that she could blame him.

"She's not the psychopath she used to be. Though I'm accounting that to the fact that she wasn't raised by a mob boss on this earth." Kate said.

"Really." Oliver said.

"Yeah, instead, Helena was put up for adoption when she was a baby by her mom and she was adopted by none other than Bruce Wayne. She's a real hero now." Kate said.

"I always knew that deep down, there was some good in Helena. It's nice to know I was right. Keep an eye on her, but if she starts stirring up trouble, let me know if you need any help taking her down." Oliver said.

"I'll keep that in mind, but I don't see that being an issue." Kate said with a smile as she hung up and went back to talk to her team. She had to admit, aside from Luke, she'd never really seen the purpose of having a team or understood why Kara, Barry and Oliver had them, she thought it would just slow her down, but now she was seeing the advantages. Having someone in the field to actually watch her back was nice and it came in handy. Maybe there was something to this whole team thing after all.