No Rest. {Nightwing}

[Helena Bertinelli]

For a city that had lost a large portion of its inhabitants and fallen into ruin, Gotham was playing host to a surprisingly active nightlife. The scum that ran the city needed to have its playtime, afterall, and at night they had the whole city to themselves. The remaining upstanding citizens retreated to the safety of their beds as dusk fell, even the cops. There was no point in putting oneself in a ridiculously dangerous situation by strolling the unlit streets; laws could be enforced only in daylight (and even then only loosely). Night was when the mobsters made their deals, signed away people's lives, and plotted to destroy with a handshake.

At night, the only things standing against them were the masked phantoms that Gothamites had learned to place their trust in over the past months of desolation. So The Huntress sat in a darkly shadowed fire escape, watching the comings and goings of criminals, waiting for one in particular. He should emerge from the "club" any time now. He had to if he hopes to be on time for his appointment in The Narrows; and she would follow him.

The Huntress was an entity apart from the other vigilantes, though most of Gotham didn't realize it. Often people referred to her as a "new Batgirl", but they couldn't be further from the truth. She was not a part of the "Bat-family", even if she'd wanted to be, and she never would be be, even with Batman vanished as he was. Robin, Oracle, even Nightwing with his independent spirit, held noble beliefs she couldn't ever possibly share. Though they didn't condemn her as Batman had, calling her too dangerous and violent to be allowed, they knew she was in a league of her own.

At times, Huntress did crave the acceptance and support of those other costumed silhoetes who seemed to think and feel as she did, who also waged wars on crime for reasons locked in their own souls; perhaps she could have a partner to rely on instead of simply occasional aid, perhaps she could learn to be patient and calm as they were. But then, Helena Bertinelli would remind herself why she clashed with the Batman and those he had trained.

When all was said and done and they had a criminal, a killer, a villain completely caught...they cuffed them and sent them to the courts. From there the next stop was Blackgate or Arkham, but it didn't matter. Ultimately, they would be back on the streets. If they weren't released on "good behavior", they escaped, which was ridiculously easy to do nowadays with both institutions partially in ruins. Inevitably, they would destroy more lives, commit more crimes; what was the use of locking them away? Well, true, they didn't all escape, (how often had Nightwing told her this?) but then what was their fate? They sat lazily on a prison cot for the rest of their lives while the people they had killed rotted in a cold grave. It was unnacceptable. So, whenever she could avoid the interference of the others, The Huntress killed those she caught. She often wondered at the fact that she hadn't been arrested yet, so disturbed were Gotham's dark knights by her actions. Yet, they never even truly turned their backs on her. Nightwing in particular never failed in returning to her, always determined to have her see the error of her ways. Didn't she know that true justice involves mercy? Didn't she see that having compassion for criminals was what could truly disarm them? Didn't she realize that by killing in retaliation she was lowering herself to the level of those she killed? Somehow he seemed to understand her, see where she was coming from with her anger and bitterness and she relished that strange feeling of having something in common. However, Helena could never really accept what he told her. She saw the obvious logic in his statements, but her mind fought against him.

So, tonight, the Huntress was hot on the trail of her latest prey. She would stalk him as he left the club, well-fed and tipsy. She would use fear to coax him into some isolated spot. Then, she would kill Martin Lorreni.

[/blockquote]

[nw]

[/i] seemed to be the plan these days. Dick wasn’t about to get in her way and try to stop her because it wasn’t his right too. Plus he could understand her feelings. However, he could always try to bend her away from killing someone outright. There was no originality in always lurking about and beating people up when they stepped into an alleyway. Dick always tried to try new things. He had tried to convince Bruce to do something a little more fun and bold but Mr. Gloomy never listened to him. When it came to asking him to change his style around, that is. He respected Bruce’s form and he would normally be fine with it but nearly every other Bat member and vigilante in the city tried to mimic what Bruce did, to the point where, from an experienced villain’s point of view, it wasn’t even scary anymore (if the person attacking them wasn’t the Batman). There were many cowards out there who had been busted by the same methods but Dick wasn’t going to use that same old process over and over again.

He was going to try to convince Helena to try something new tonight. Hopefully it would give her enough satisfaction for her not to kill anyone. Bruce had always been getting on his case, whenever he “went out” with Helena he would do his best not to let her kill anyone. It was nearly impossible to try and change Helena’s mind around but he could atleast try tonight. He narrowed his eyes and squinted at the doorway. Parties like this lasted all night long. Never a good thing, luckily Dick was energized enough to stay here all night. There was also another advantage, everyone in there had mob dealings. Which meant if a certain vigilante decided to crash the party everyone who got hurt would deserve it. He smirked to himself, yes this was going to work. He nudged Helena with his shoulder.

”Let’s try something new.” He whispered, though he honestly didn’t know why. No one would really be able to hear them out here. Old habits died hard he guessed. ”Let’s crash the party. It’s kind of silly to just sit here and wait for one man to come out and just kill him, you know? We could bag and tag so many idiots in there that Papa Bats might not grunt so harshly the next time he sees you.” He shrugged and glanced at Helena again. Here came the disclaimer, he so very much hoped it worked. The last thing he needed was for her to get mad at him. ”It’ll be easy. We break a few bones, handcuff the dangerous ones and put a call out for Gordon. Oracle can keep a tab with them with her almighty powers and we’ll be out before anyone knows it. It’ll be fun.”

He got up and quickly stood in the railing of the fire escape before crouching down again. He would be able to jump and crash through the doors from this position. It was a short distance but Dick always preferred gliding over anything else. It played to his skills. He gripped the railing with one hand as he reached to his boot with the other, pulling out a batarang. Just in case anyone planned to pop out, Dick had been using his sonar system earlier. It looked like some people had enough drinks to vomit for hours.
[/ul]

[Helena Bertinelli]

In her time as The Huntress, Helena had spent many long, quiet hours in various shadowy corners of Gotham. She'd trained herself to be silent, quick, and aware of her surroundings. It was essential that she could sense an enemy before they made a mover and, usually, she was able to. It was very difficult to sneak up on her, nearly impossible for the average mobster. So, when she heard the soft speech from behind her, there was only a moment of panic before she reasoned who it must be. There was a very short list of those above-average people who could catch her off her guard.

In a split second she whiped around to face the figure who had spoken. He was crouched in the shadows not unlike herself but she could make out his distinctive sillhoette. Nightwing. Of course.
"What the hell are you doing here?!?" she hissed, whispering like he did, simply because that was the tone of voice the darkness seemed to dictate. Her tone was furious, but inwardly she wasn't truly angry with him. This certainly was the first time he'd appeared to interupt her hunt.

He continued to talk, saying things she'd heard him say countless times before. She really hadn't needed to ask his purpose in being there, it was the same as always. He knew what she was likely up to, how she hoped her night would end, with more blood on her hands. Nightwing didn't intend to stop her or even stand in her way, merely watch...and present her with an alternative. Truly, this was more infuriating than if he'd actively tried to end her hunt. He was bigger and stronger than she was, yes, but if it came down to it Helena was fairly certain she could get him out of her way. She was fast and could fight dirty. Then again, Nightwing was very clever. More than likely he realized that she could beat him if she was amped up enough and so chose a tactic that was not only non-invasive but also worked wonders on weakening the mental and emotional wall she built up before she attacked.

He told her to try something new. Helena herself had realized that the constant pattern of chosing a lone mobster, following, and killing him was becoming...boring. She was getting less and less satisfaction and more exhaustion out of each mission.

He told her that they could take out a number of the bastards that were treating themselves with dead men's money in there. Wasn't that what she wanted? To bring down organized crime as a whole? Wouldn't putting a dozen scumbags in prison be just as good (better?) than killing one?

He told her it would be easy. Well, that would be a nice change of pace. The mobsters were starting to get wise to her act. Many were carry bigger knives, more powerful guns, even just throwing harder punches. Each mission seemed to end with her dragging herself back to the church with more wounded than before.

He told her Batman would appreciate it. This was a move that showed just how sharp he was. Helena was careful not to let on just how frustrated she often became with the Dark Knight's constant disaproval. Clearly, Nightwing saw through her act of responding to the anger with more anger. It would be nice to do something that Batman might praise her for. He was, after all, the man who had inspired her to be what she was.

He told her she would have fun. Moreover, he told her that they would have fun. Now, no matter how intellegent he was, Helena was certain she had never let on in the slightest how she really felt about the young man who was now standing at the railing, looking eager to leap into the night. Often, she didn't even admit to herself how much she liked being around him. If she could help it, she didn't think about how safe he made her feel, how he seemed to understand and accept her when no one else did. Never (well, almost never) did she let herself think about how attractive he was; mythically tall, dark, and handsome. No, she was above those kind of thoughts. She had no room for them in the sort of life she lived. So there was no way he knew that the prospect of spending a bit longer with him was as enticing as the rest of what he said.

Part of Helena's brain was telling her to go ahead and follow him off of the fire escape. She seemed to have nothing to loose and everything to gain in that offer. It would be a wonderful change of pace, a chance to try out that noble method that she had so long semi-admired, semi-despised as something she would never be good enough to practice. And, in any case, Lorreni was still in there and if she got bored with playing nice...

However, as the fates would have it, there was a flash of light and sound in Helena's peripheral view. The door of the club was opening and someone was stumbling out. She turned away from Nightwing to see who it was. She could just make out the face from the neon glow of the beer signs hung on the building, but a glance was all she needed. Martin Lorreni, of course. Her train of thought and mood flipped in an instant. She leapt to her feet.

"Do you see that man? The one stumbling over his own goddamn feet? That one down there all happy and laughing? Three weeks ago, he broke into an appartment downtown. One of those buildings that's all full of holes, so it wasn't too hard, even for an ass like him, you know? He broke into this appartment, broke down the door, woke up the mother and two kids. He woke them up at three A.M., he took out a gun and shot them right there in their living room. Then he left. Didn't rob them or anything, just ran like hell. You want to know why? Because her husband lost his job and got himself into debt with the Boss. He was avoiding them, so scared he was about to go to the police. They killed his family." she paused, watching as Lorreni walked unsteadily up the street. Then she stared at Nightwing, "I'm not about to let that go off quietly into the night. Chi la fa l'aspetti. You do wrong, you'll get something in retalliation."

Despite the conviction in her voice as she spoke, she didn't move to chase the murderer. There was still doubt in her head. Part of her still wanted to leap into the club with Nightwing.