Disclaimer: I do not own these characters;
someone else does. I have added a mask
and a pair of black gloves to Helena's
costume. I know on the t.v. show that
she doesn't have these items, but I
thought she'd be a bit more...
mysterious with them. Also,
Tim Drake is sixteen in this
fic and goes to Brentwood. He was
ten when Catwoman was shot.





Discoveries

by Frog




Place: Clocktower, New Gotham City.

Time: An hour after the end of
"I Know Something You Don't Know."





Barbara Gordon sipped her coffee as she
prepared for her nightly work as Oracle. Her
students were busy: Dinah Lance was doing her
homework and Helena had already begun her
patrol as the Huntress.


"Mmm... looks like it's going to a quiet
evening," she muttered to herself as she scanned
the police band. Suddenly, a beeping sound caught
her attention; it was someone contacting Oracle.


"Oracle here," she answered.


"Hey, Babs!" greeted Dick Grayson.


"Hey, Short Pants! I haven't heard from you
in a while; what have you been up to?" she asked
with pleasure.


"Oh, nothing much. Just the usual --
patrolling the streets day and night,
keeping an eye on the brat during the
school year-- hey! That hurt, Tim!"
he yelped in pain.


Barbara laughed, "I'm glad you're
treating the current Boy Wonder so well,
Short Pants. Now, what can I do for you
tonight?" she questioned him.


"Well, an unexpected... case has
dropped in mine and Timbo's lap. It
concerns Catwoman," Dick told her.


Barbara tried to keep her voice
calm and light as she asked, "Catwoman?"


"Yeah," he replied, "Has any new
information been brought to light
concerning Catwoman?"


Barbara's hands sweated as she half-lied,
"Not that I'm aware of... Oh! Sorry, another
call is coming through! I'll talk to you later;
bye!" Quickly, she hung up on her old flame and
answered the new call, "Hello. Oracle."


"Oracle," growled a very familiar
male voice.


"Batman! What a surprise... I haven't
heard from you..." she told him weakly, but
was interrupted by her former mentor.


"Do you have any new information about
Catwoman that should be brought to my attention?"
questioned Batman, though it sounded more like
a command.


"Not that I'm aware of," she once again
lied as her mind raced. 'First Dick, and now
Bruce about Catwoman... what or who could have
brought this up?' Then her blue eyes narrowed
in anger as the answer came to her.


"I see," Batman growled in a voice that
told her he did not believe her for one second.
He hung up on her.


Closing her eyes, she took a couple of
deep breaths in an attempt to calm down,
Barbara then yelled, "Dinah!"


Running from her room, Dinah asked
worriedly, "I'm here; what's wrong?"


"Dinah," seethed Barbara, "When you
visited your mother in New York last month,
did she do or say anything unusual?"


"Well," answered Dinah, "We did go
shopping for some weird items for some
friends of hers."


"What were these items?" questioned
Barbara through clenched teeth.


"Umm..." replied Dinah as she tried
to remember, "Cigars, packages of balloons
and confetti... Oh! She also bought two
plush toy black cats. Is something wrong
with Mom?"


"She's fine for now!" yelled Barbara,
"But when I get my hands on her, she's *dead!*"


"What did Mom do?" questioned Dinah.


"Oh, nothing much... She has just aroused
the curiosity of the Bat and sons!" Barbara
sarcastically told Dinah.





************************************************





Meanwhile, in another part of New Gotham...




Detective Jesse Reese was chasing a suspect
down a dark alleyway when someone swooped down in
front of the suspect and punched the lights out
of him. Rolling his eyes wearily, he asked the
figure standing above the now-unconscious thug,
"*Must* you do that?"


"Do what?" asked Huntress innocently.


"Appear out of the middle of nowhere,"
Reese told her as he cuffed the perp, "and
beat a suspect to death?"


"I didn't beat him," she protested to him.
"I just gave one good punch. It's not my fault
he has a glass jaw!"


Before Reese could comment on this remark,
a beeping sound distracted him. "Excuse me for a
moment," Huntress told him as she answered her
earring communicator hidden beneath her black,
winged eye-mask. "Huntress here."


"Huntress, I need you to come home
right now," ordered Oracle.


"Okay. What's wrong?" Huntress asked,
concerned.


Oracle hesitated for a second; finally,
she answered, "I believe that Batman, Nightwing,
and Robin may have been given some clues
about your relationship to them."


"What!" bellowed Huntress, "How?"


"Who are you talking to?" asked Reese
curiously.


But Huntress did not pay attention to him;
instead, she focused on Oracle's reply: "Not how,
but who, Helena."


"Black Canary," growled Huntress in anger.


"Exactly," Oracle replied, "We need to talk,
and it won't take them very long to find out.
Even with the computerized roadblocks I've put up."


Huntress hissed with anger, "Later,"
and then cut off communications with her
mentor.


"Something wrong?" questioned Reese
with concern.


"Nothing you need to be aware of,"
she replied and then jumped to the nearest
roof.


As she disappeared into the night,
Reese muttered, "I wonder what's got her
so worked up."





***************************************************





Two hours later, in Bludhaven...





"Yeah, I didn't believe her, either.
Tim's been trying to break into her system
right now," Dick Grayson told his father
over the telephone.


"Good. Tell me what you find out as
soon as possible. I'll try to clear up this
mess that Ra's al Ghul has created here
and then make my way home," Batman informed
his son.


"Okay. Give my best to Ghoul-Head,"
said Dick and then hung up the phone. He
then joined his younger brother, who was
in the next room working on the computer.
"How's it coming?"


"I'm nearly there," answered Tim Drake,
"Here we go. Let's see... oh, boy!"


"I don't believe it," muttered Dick,
"Are you sure this is Selina's file?"


"Positive!" replied Tim, "It looks
like she is also known as the Huntress.
Why didn't she tell us?"


"I don't know, but Barbara has a
lot of explaining to do!" yelled Dick
angrily.


Silence reign the room, finally
Tim asked, "So, which one of us is
going tell him."


Dick groaned in misery as he replied,
"I will." As he made his way back to the
phone he muttered, "How in the world am I
going to tell him this?"





**************************************





Ten minutes later, in Moscow...





Batman was working furiously on the computer,
trying to track down Ra's al Ghul's hideout, when
the phone rang. Sighing in frustration, he answered,
"What?"


"Uh, Daddy... we found out what Barbara has
been hiding about Selina," Dick told his father.


Eyebrows rose beneath the mask. Batman
questioned his adopted son, "You haven't called
me 'Daddy' since you were ten. What have you
found out, Richard?"


Dick hesitated for a moment. Finally,
he said, "Daddy... Dad... I don't know how
to put this... but do you remember that night
you had with Selina, about twenty-two years
ago? The night when Barbara and I found you
two having sex on the rooftop of the old
Monarch Theater?"


"Yes," answered Batman calmly. Unseen,
his cheeks turned red with embarrassment as he
remembered the incident.


"Well, there was a slight consequence
from that romantic evening you had with her,"
Dick told him. "A consequence that Selina
and Barbara never told you about..."


"Richard, what are you trying to tell
me?" questioned Batman with a growing
uneasiness in his heart.


"I'm trying to say... ah, damn! All right,
I'll just come out and say it. Congratulations!"
blurted out Dick Grayson. "You're now the proud
father of a twenty-one-year-old girl. Her name
is Helena Kyle, also known as the Huntress! And
she has taken up your mantle as guardian of
New Gotham!"


For one of the few times in his life,
Batman was speechless. Finally, he whispered,
"A daughter?"


"Yeah," replied Dick. "Do you want me
and Tim to go to New Gotham? We're kind of
anxious to meet this new sister of ours."


In a daze, Batman answered, "Yes, but
try not to interact with her or Barbara. Make
sure they both stay in New Gotham until I
arrive."


Dick sighed as he told him, "Okay, but
hurry up! Tim and I want to make up for the
lost time we could have spent with our sister!"
Then he hung up on the man who raised him.


Batman slowly put down the phone and
turned his attention back to the computer
screen. As he tried to refocus his mind on
Ra's al Ghul, tears began to stream down his
face from beneath the mask. Finally, he
removed his mask and buried his face within
his hands. For the first time in years,
the Batman cried for his lost love, and
for the time he could have spent with his
daughter.



TBC...