Becoming more and more aware, Helena tried to move but found that her body was tightly bound. Her hands were secured behind her back, she couldn't separate her legs, and her arms were forced tightly to her body. She opened her eyes, but found she had been blindfolded. Only blackness loomed before her.
"Where am I?", Helena asked out loud. Silence was her only response. "Is there anyone here?" There was a slight echo to her voice leading Helena to believe that she was in an enclosed place. Most likely underground. Perhaps a basement.
She forced herself to roll over, but the blackness before her remained. She moved her hands as much as she could, feeling just what it was that she had been tied with. It turned out to be chains wrapped around her body and arms, secured at key points by padlocks. "Whoever is holding me captive is not taking many chances," Helena thought to herself. "Getting free is not going to be easy."
Helena rolled over onto her belly. She attempted to rub the blindfold that robbed her of her sight off on the floor, but it was secured too well. Next Helena summoned up all her strength and strained to break free. This went on for several minutes until Helena was exhausted. "It might have a chance if this was plain rope, but these chains are too thick..."
Rolling over on her side, Helena tried to rest. The chains were cutting into her arms painfully. No position she tried could relieve the discomfort. "This is a fine mess I'm in," she concluded.
Earlier in the evening, Helena had attended a charity costume ball with Gary Simmons at the Madigan Estate. The party was going well enough until she spotted a young woman dressed in a nurse's outfit. Helena felt that she knew the woman, but couldn't place her. Finally, she realized that it was the nurse from the hospital who had tended to her father on the day he died.
What was a simple nurse doing at such a high-class social event? Helena tried to find out the answer to that puzzling question, but the mysterious nurse fled, revealing that she had superhuman strength and leaping abilities. In spite of Helena's efforts, the woman escaped.
Helena had intended to change into the Huntress to continue the investigation once she got back to her apartment. That never happened, as Artemis was there waiting for her! The armored killer fired some sort of weapon at Helena and that was the last thing she remembered. Until waking up in this dank place.
"Whoever that nurse is, she's also Artemis!", Helena silently concluded. "It was all connected together... My father's death. The attempt on Black Diamond. What was it she said? She didn't plan on killing me so soon? But why? How do I figure into this with dad and Linda? More importantly, how do I get out of this alive? If Artemis could go toe-to-toe with Marv, what kind of chance do I have?"
"I don't have any chance unless I can get loose. Think, girl! Don't give in to the fear you're feeling..." Helena groped around with her hands once more, trying to find anything that would help her. The pad lock that secured her hands was within reach. She tried to pull on it, but the metal was too strong. Further exploration revealed that she was still dressed in her stage magician costume. "My old lock picks! Hopefully, they're still hidden in the over coat. If I can just reach them..."
As Helena struggled to find the hidden lock picks, a noise reached her ears. It was a clicking sound that grew louder and louder. "A woman in metallic heels," Helena guessed. "Artemis most likely..." The noise continued to increase in volume until it stopped close to Helena.
Helena turned to directly face the direction that the sound came from, mostly to hide what her hands were doing. "Who are you? What do you want from me?"
"You don't know by now?" the woman answered. It was the same voice as the nurse from the party. "I thought you were supposed to be intelligent."
"Look, if it's money you want, I can get you that." Helena decided to play dumb. Force her foe to reveal information. "Just let me go and I'll get you all that you want." There was no response. "Just don't hurt me," Helena added, a touch of false fear in her voice.
Helena's captor laughed wickedly. "I don't want your money! I want your blood!"
That was not what Helena was hoping to hear. "Why? What did I do to you?" Feverishly, Helena's hands worked to locate the secret pocket that held her lock picks. When she was in her prime, she could find them blindfolded. However, it had been years since she had attempted anything like this. The familiarity that came from endless practicing was lacking.
"Got to keep her talking," Helena reasoned to herself. Finally, she located the lock picks. Gingerly, she withdrew one, balancing it between her fingertips.
"You? You did nothing. But your father, ah yes, your dear departed father... The great hero, the legendary Hunter... He did plenty."
"What are you talking about? My father was not Hunter..."
"Don't you lie to me!" Enraged, the woman savagely kicked Helena in the ribs. Even worse, her footwear had a metallic point on it.
Pain shot through Helena, forcing her to double over in spite of the chains holding her. She dropped the pick in the process. Helena coughed hard several times, bringing up fluid. Finally, she forced herself to lie on her back in an attempt to hide the dropped lock pick.
"I know who you are," Helena's captor continued. "I've known for quite some time. You call yourself the Huntress. But in actuality, you've always been the hunted. My prey."
The woman slowly circled Helena, her metallic heels revealing her location. The image of wolves circling their prey came into Helena's mind. Underneath her, Helena recovered her pick and clenched it tightly in her palm.
"But you had to force the issue. Had to come after me. Why?"
"If what you're saying is true, then why shouldn't I have come after you," Helena answered. "You murdered my father and tried to kill my friend."
The woman straddled Helena's helpless body. She could feel her captor's breath on her face. "Exactly. You do understand. You learned the lesson faster than I imagined. Perhaps you are brighter than I gave you credit for. Maybe we are more alike than you may realize."
"I'm nothing like you. I'm no killer."
Helena felt something sharp on her face. She gulped and steeled herself for whatever Artemis was going to do.
"Oh, I wouldn't be so quick to decide. I think you could kill if you had to. If you hurt bad enough. That's where we are alike. I took your father away from you. Your father killed my father, his friends killed my family."
"What are you talking about?" Helena was generally confused. "Hunter never killed in his life."
With a quick slash, Helena felt something slice her cheek. Fortunately, it didn't go deep into the skin. Just enough to induce bleeding. Artemis ran her finger along the wound. Helena couldn't be sure why.
"Tasty. Not that I'm complaining, really. My father was scum. I should have killed him for what he did to my mother. Still don't know why I didn't. Perhaps I just wanted his acceptance. You can understand that. As for the rest of the family, they were a bunch of degenerates. They did terrible things to me. Until I was able to fight back-- to make them afraid of me. I don't mourn their passing."
Artemis stood up once more, and walked off a few steps. Helena rolled over on her side in relief, trying to face her captor once more. Her hands had nearly gone numb from laying on top of them for so long.
"If you don't mourn their passing, then why all this senseless violence?" Helena grasped the pick in her fingers once more and tried to work it into the lock near her wrists.
"Why?", the woman answered in an astonished tone. "You have to ask why? In spite of what I may have felt, they were my family. Your father and his precious Avengers killed my family. Family honor demands blood. A tooth for a tooth. An eye for an eye."
"It doesn't have to be this way."
Artemis rushed forward and this time lifted Helena up, putting the two face to face once more. The pick slipped away due to the sudden, unexpected movement. "You are a foolish idealist. Of course, this is the way it must be. You don't know, do you? Your father never told you how he and his friends brought down my family?"
"I don't even know who you are," Helena stated.
"Oh, dear. It seems I did give you too much credit. It would be rude of me to simply kill you out of hand when you don't even know why you are dying."
Artemis released Helena, shoving her harshly back to the floor. Helena had no idea where the lock pick had gotten. She searched to find another one.
"My given name is Julianna Saietta, although I prefer to be called Roxy."
Helena thought back to her father's records. The name Saietta sounded familiar. "Of course, they're one of the 'Five Families', part of the New York Mafia," Helena silently deduced.
"My 'family' is a very old one-- a very unusual one. I imagine that you can relate. The powers and abilities that your father possessed were passed on to you, as least in some degree. You received all nice things from your ancestors. The Saietta's are like that, except you'd probably find all our abilities sick. Depraved. Disgusting."
"So you are superhuman," Helena said aloud.
"To a degree," Roxy answered. "Probably no more than you are."
"That's why you needed the Artemis armor. As Roxy, you were no match for Black Diamond, but as Artemis..."
"But as Artemis," Roxy interrupted, "I had the power to kill even the great Black Diamond! But she wouldn't cooperate! She just-- wouldn't-- die!!"
"But how did you know who Hunter really was?" As long as Helena could keep Roxy talking, she was buying herself more time to escape.
"Psychic abilities are a trademark of my late family's talents. My father learned Hunter's true identity shortly before his death. Most likely that's what led to his death. Our family estate exploded in flames shortly after being attacked by Avengers, led by the dear, departed Hunter. Luckily, I was away on family business. Luckily for me, all the rest of my relatives were in the house."
"So you were all superpowered mobsters," Helena concluded.
"Mobster is such a droll-- degrading term. All of my family were business men. I was their enforcer. With the family gone, I was the last Saietta. My own reason for living became gaining revenge on my father's murderers. That's all that matters to me now. That's all that consumed my life."
Helena shuddered inside. In a sense, Roxy was right. They were alike. They both sought vengeance. But Helena had been raised to respect life, a trait that prevented her from becoming like Roxy. "She's a dark reflection of myself," Helena silently concluded. "What I could have become..."
"Unfortunately, someone deprived me of the pleasure of stalking and slaying most of the Avengers. I'm not sure if I should thank the party responsible, or kill them for denying me my revenge."
"Hunter wasn't even a challenge. I learned through my connections that Mechassassin had come from Europe to make a name for himself. He was a perfect patsy for my plan. He diverted the attention of the Avengers, allowing me to inject the fatal poison into your father. Even more amusing, you were in the room when I did it."
"If I had known, I would have ripped you apart!"
Roxy laughed. "That could have been amusing. Still could be. To tackle Black Diamond, I needed help. Assistance that the Hanged Man was more than happy to provide. For a price, of course. The plan was perfect..."
"Except that Marvel survived."
"An unforeseen disappointment," Roxy conceded. "I underestimated her resistance to the poison I used."
"And that leads up to the here and now," Helena stated. "You saw me looking at you during the party and realized that I knew who you were. So you ran."
"Another unforeseen development. I had planned to let you stew for a long time-- let you push yourself to the edge of madness. So consumed by grief, but unable to solve the mystery. To make you feel everything that I felt. Who knows? You might have become like me. Maybe even friends. That would have been a grand irony."
"So now you're just going to kill me. In cold blood."
Roxy circled Helena once more. "I will kill you when I choose to do so. Then in the tradition of my family, I shall feast upon your remains."
Helena was shocked to hear that particular comment! "You-- you're cannibals??"
"I told you my family was sick." Roxy laughed and began to move away, the sound of her metallic heels growing fainter. "Enjoy the remainder of your time on this Earth..." The clacking sound eventually grew silent.
"I never imagined that someone could be so sick-- so depraved!" Furiously, Helena searched to find another lock pick. Luck was with her and another was shortly in her hands. Helena didn't bother in trying to disguise her actions. She had to free herself and fast!
The lock snapped open after a few moments of work. Some of the chains holding her went slack, her hands were free to move. Helena rolled and twisted, working the chains around her upper body loose. All the while, she searched for the next lock. "Come on... Where is it?!"
Finally, she located it on her chest. Blindly, she maneuvered the pick into this lock. It snapped open after a short bit of work. The chains surrounding her upper body fell away.
Reaching up, Helena removed her blindfold and tossed it off to the side. As she suspected, she was in a large chamber. A single overhead light illuminated the immediate area she was in. She couldn't spot anyone else out in the darkness. A single lock secured Helena's legs. It fell open after a few seconds of work.
"Helena, my girl, you've not lost your touch," she mused. "Good thing I picked this particular costume... But my troubles aren't over yet."
"Well done!", Roxy called out from the darkness, while briskly clapping. She wasn't close by, but must have been watching from the shadows. "I thought you were going to let me down. Those chains shouldn't have held someone trained by Hunter that long."
"Then why bother with them?", Helena asked, trying to determine Roxy's location. "Why all the games?"
"Just trying to make this more interesting. I thought it would be fitting. You and I in a battle to the death. The last of our respective families fighting for the right to survive. That just has a certain symmetry to it. Or maybe I just like to play with my food."
Unexpectedly, another overhead light came on, illuminating an area a few dozen feet from Helena. In the center of the light was a table that bore Helena's Huntress costume.
"I believe a soldier should die in their uniform? Don't you?"
Hesitantly, Helena moved towards her costume, expecting to be ambushed at any moment. The main costume was there, but her gadget belt, crossbow, and quarrels were missing. "Yes, so sorry. I removed your little toys."
Helena turned to face the unseen voice. "What if I don't want to fight you?"
"Of course you want to fight me! I murdered your father! I planned and executed his assassination. And I enjoyed it! It's taking all your strength just to remain in control of your emotions. Oh, you want to fight me. You want to-- how did you say it?-- Rip me apart? Well, here I am little girl. Waiting-- and laughing-- at you."
Helena's bottom lip began to tremble. This was indeed the moment she had been waiting for. But she never in her wildest dreams imagined that it would go down like this.
"What chance to I have, Roxy?", Helena called out. "I'm no match for you in your Artemis armor."
"I am not wearing it. This is a simple contest between you and I."
Helena fought to control her rage. Slowly, she began to remove her stage magician's costume. As she did, she raided several of the hidden devices stored in it, palming them. She couldn't be sure how much of her equipment Roxy had found and removed from her regular costume.
The main body suit went on first, with the cape. Next came the boots and the gloves. Lastly, Helena donned her mask, completing her transformation into the Huntress. Silently, she said a prayer. "This is for you dad...."
Roxy turned on more of the overhead lighting, illuminating most of the chamber. The pair were in a large area, some sixty foot square, enclosed by a twelve foot high wall. What appeared to be spectator bleachers ringed the arena. Helena thought she could make out figures observing them from the shadows.
"Let's get down to business." Roxy strode forward, supremely confident. True to her word, she wasn't in her Artemis armor. Instead, she wore a black halter top, tight black leather pants, and stiletto heeled knee-high boots, with golden heels and points.
The two moved towards each other and circled. "Got to keep my emotions in check," Helena thought to herself. "Control them instead of being controlled by them." Every fiber of her being cried to out rush forward and strangle the life out of Roxy. Probably what Roxy was expecting, Helena to be out of control and, hence, a much easier kill for the cool assassin. Perhaps letting Roxy think she was indeed out of control would work out to the Huntress' advantage.
With a angry scream, the Huntress began the fight first with a left hook towards Roxy's face. The killer ducked underneath the blow, kicking the Huntress' legs out from her in the same move. Helena landed flat on her back, but suffered no serious damage.
"Good, good," Roxy said. "Your anger will be your downfall."
The Huntress didn't answer, instead she quickly rolled to her right, narrowly avoiding Roxy trying to stomp her in the chest with her dangerous heels. The metallic stiletto bored a small hole into the dirt and rock floor.
"Your overconfidence will be yours." Helena swept her legs back, sending Roxy to the floor. Roxy had been unprepared for the sudden turn around and landed wrong, knocking the wind out of herself. The Huntress was on top of her in a flash, her hands locked around the villainess' neck. "Any last words, murderess?"
It was Roxy's turn to not answer. Instead, she drove her fingernails straight into the Huntress' chest. Helena gasped in pain, as the fingernails tore through her reinforced costume. "I'll tear your heart out and eat it before your dying eyes, you bitch!", Roxy threatened.
The Huntress relinquished her grip on Roxy's neck and grasped her hand. Forcibly, slowly, she pulled Roxy's blood-soaked hand away from her chest. Roxy surged and threw the Huntress off of her.
"My God...," Helena thought, trying desperately to remain conscious. Blood continued to flow from the deep wound Roxy had made. "Her nails are as sharp as knives! I've got to change tactics here..."
Roxy slowly stood up. Calmly, she licked the blood from her hand. The fight was nearly over. She could sense it. All that remained was the final kill. She intended to savor every moment of this. The Huntress was curled up on the floor, her back facing her. "Aww... Did that hurt? I can take your pain away... forever!"
The Huntress rolled over at the last moment, and slammed a flash pellet on the ground before Roxy. The unsuspecting assassin took the full effect of the flash pellet in her face. "My eyes!! You bitch!" Roxy swung blindly, her razor sharp fingernails looking for flesh to rend.
Instead, the Huntress, turned and ran. "Can't fight on her terms...", Helena concluded silently. The Huntress reached the wall of the arena and leaped. She caught the ledge and pulled herself up.
"Where are you!?" Roxy continued to blindly swing at her foe.
Once upon the spectator's area, the Huntress removed one of her gloves and placed it between her costume and the wound to help staunch the bleeding. She paused upon seeing just what the figures she had spotted earlier really were. "My lord..."
"Ah!", Roxy responded, turning to face the direction the voice had come from. "You must have met the family. After all, I am doing all of this for them. I figured that they should at least watch."
Seared and rotting bodies were the figures Helena had seen from down in the arena. The stench nearly overpowered her. Bile rose to the top of her throat.
"I really must compliment you!", Roxy shouted, her eyesight returning. "You're making this far more interesting than I thought you could."
"You're sick and insane!", the Huntress cried out. Spotting an exit from the spectator bleaches, Helena made a beeline for it.
"Perhaps, but I am anything but dull. Much unlike your boyfriend." Roxy ran after the Huntress, reaching the bleachers in a single bound. "I take it you like your men dull and dopey? Must make them easy to control. I can understand that. Does his whimpering please you when he grovels before you, all dressed in your 'heroine' costume?"
The Huntress ignored Roxy's taunts and kinky innuendoes. The gallery led into what appeared to be a medieval torture chamber. Numerous archaic forms of restraint and pain filled the large, rectangular chamber. There had to be something in here that could be of use. A weapon of some kind...
"Actually, I think I would like Gary," Roxy said from the spectator's gallery. "He looks nice and juicy. Plenty of meat on his bones." The murderess licked her lips sensually.
"Shut up!", the Huntress screamed, her control beginning to break.
Roxy stood in the doorway to the torture chamber, looking about for her prey. "Aw-- dontcha want to come out and play?" Suddenly, another flash pellet exploded before Roxy. However, the villainess was prepared and quickly shielded her eyes. "You won't catch me with that trick twice, sweet cheeks!"
"That wasn't the trick," the Huntress responded as she rapidly closed on Roxy. On her hands was a pair of armored gauntlets. Nasty looking studs projected from the knuckles. Helena shuddered to think what the Saietta's did with these things, but she had a good application in mind. "This is!"
The Huntress struck Roxy in the face with the armored gloves! The studs ripped into the killers flesh, blood marring her attractive features. The force of the blow sent Roxy tumbling down the stairs of the spectator's gallery.
"Very good," Roxy said as she wearily rose to her feet. "I knew you had such hate-- such pain in you..."
The Huntress wasn't listening. She screamed and closed in once more. Gritting her teeth, Helena didn't care any more. She continued to pound away on her dazed foe. A left to the stomach. A right to the face. Each blow forced Roxy back closer and closer to the combat arena. A final uppercut sent the killer over the railing and into the pit below. She landed with a thud, her black clothing stained with blood.
The Huntress watched from overhead, her body trembling. "Oh God... Oh God...", she panted. She watched Roxy for a time, the rage beginning to fade. Horrified by what she had done, the Huntress violently threw the bloody gauntlets away.
Regaining control of herself, the Huntress vaulted the railing and landed in the arena. Roxy had yet to move, but she was still breathing. Not taking any chances, Helena dropped several sleeping gas pellets by the woman's bloody face. They had been in one of the many hidden pockets that Roxy had missed in her search of Helena's costume.
Once sure that Roxy was going to be asleep for a long time, Helena tore away part of her halter top, tearing it into makeshift bandages.
"You have no idea how close I came-- How near I came to killing you. Unlike you, I can't live with killing others. We're nothing alike..."
Once the bleeding was staunched, the Huntress retrieved the chains and locks that she had been bound with. In moments, Roxy was tightly secured in her own bonds.
"There", the Huntress thought to herself, examining her handy work. "That should hold you for the time being. Now, I need to find out where I am... Call for help."
Slowly, the Huntress retraced her route into the torture chamber. A door she spotted earlier must lead somewhere. Perhaps to a telephone.
A tremendous feeling of relief came over Helena as she walked away. She had faced her greatest challenge and succeeded. The Huntress had defeated Roxy, the woman who killed her father. She hadn't given in to her feelings for ultimate revenge. Helena was on the edge, but kept from crossing that fine line. The Huntress would never be like Roxy... Wherever he was, she knew that her father would be proud.
