hurting it back
Hurting It Back
Helena could feel it pumping in her veins, could hear the rythmn pulsing below her feet. To anyone else, Gotham was just another city; to her, it was a hunting ground. The sounds, the smells, the taste, and the feel of the buildings, streets, and alleys were like broken twigs and foot prints. She could read them like no one else, could find anyone or anything given enough time. She was the best thing to happen to the city since her father.
"Huntress," Barbara said into her ears. Helena shivered slightly at the feeling of being watched, though no physical body was present. She couldn't get used to not being truely alone on the hunt. "You've been stationary for five minutes. What's wrong?"
"Nothing," the brunette chuckled, tossing herself from the perch she had been resting on. "I was just listening for trouble."
She could hear Barbara's snort. The redhead seemed to think that her computers were better suited to the job than Helena's senses. The brunette heard a sharp intake of breath; Barbara must have found something. Suddenly it was Oracle on the other end of the line. "There's a disturbance in Gotham Central Park. Make your way over there and offer any assistance you can without being seen."
"What, you're not going to tell me what kind of disturbance? I'm not worth that kind of time?" Helena quipped, perturbed at being herded around like a goat. She leapt easily from rooftop to rooftop, her boots scraping against the well-worn walls of some of the oldest buildings in the country.
"A meta-human disturbance," Oracle replied blandly. Helena should have known that once the hunt was on, Barbara would cease to rise to her bait. It was really rather depressing. "There were reports of electrical displays, and a quite a few injuries."
"Mmmm, shocking," she mumbled, her animalistic senses coming out in full. She could feel it in the air now, the static coming from an area to the north of her current position. Her blood began to sing at the prospect of a fight. She moved faster.
"Getting excited, are we?" there was a tremor of amusement in Oracle's voice. Helena grunted as she jumped over a main road, barely making the distance. "Just don't wear yourself out before you get to the real battle."
"Won't happen," she muttered. "Won't ever happen."
"Oh?" It was Barbara again, concern apparent in her tone.
"I'm paying it back. I'm paying this damn fucking city back for all it's done to me and mine," Helena snarled. "That's more than enough to keep me pumped."
"Don't do anything stupid, He- Huntress," came a stumbled warning. Barbara must be really worried, to make a slip like that.
"Yeah, sure," she huffed, brushing her guardian's concern off lightly. "Live to fight evil another day, and all that."
"Yeah," Barbara trailed off. "All that..."
Helena stopped, the tips of her boots hanging over the edge of the last building between her and the park. She closed her eyes, a brief wave of guilt pulsing through her. Barbara was worried because Helena was all the redhead had left, and if Helena was honost with herself, Barbara was all that she herself had, too. She quirked her mouth upwards in a crooked smile. "Don't worry, Oracle. I'm not going to do anything too stupid."
A tinge of humor colored the reply: "Promise?"
"Cross my heart." The last word was punctuated by a grunt as the Huntress launched herself from the edge of the Gotham Central Bank. The ground rose rapidly below her, the impact of her landing rolling through her body, triggering nerves most people didn't know existed, and acting as one more thing to key her up. She was wicked ready now; nothing was going to stop her from hurting it back.
|
|
|
|
