"All's quiet," NYPD Detective Morgan Hayes announced to his colleagues. He, like the other three members of his team, were rapidly becoming bored with their current assignment.
"I'm to the point where I'm almost wishing something would happen," Officer Rene Martinez lamented. Protective custody cases were no one's favorites on the department as they usually amounted to seemingly endless hours of boredom.
"I'll tell you what," Detective Angela MacCrea chimed in, "that slime ball tries to pinch me one more time, you will see some excitement."
"In that case, you'll be able to collect the bounty the Scatucci's have placed on our pigeon's head," Officer Jimmy Washington jokingly observed.
"Maybe I'll be able to retire in comfort then," MacCrea added sarcastically. The four officers laughed at the joke before wandering back to their stations.
Their current assignment was to babysit James 'Jimbo' Portonni while he was turning states evidence against the Scatucci's Family. By day Jimbo would be singing to the Grand Jury, but at night he stayed in the penthouse suite of the Four Seasons Hotel.
According to the word on the street, the bounty on Jimbo's head had reached seven digits. The officers were prepared for just about anything that could be thrown at them. Each wore personal body armor and carried high-powered weaponry that could take on most supers. They hoped it would be enough to keep their pigeon safe.
Detective Hayes took a seat near the elevators. From his current position, he had a clear view of the stairs and the elevators. No one could come on to this floor without his noticing. Or so he thought.
A faint mist began to billow in from the stairwell doorway. It grew in intensity as it drifted closer to Detective Hayes. Rising, the detective drew his weapon and advanced, unsure of what he was facing.
The mist began to coalesce and rapidly took on the shape of a man dressed in black from the neck down before the startled detectives' eyes. Even more amazing, the man was familiar to Morgan Hayes. "I know you... You're Officer Norman... One of the missing..."
There was something magnetic about Officer Norman's eyes. Detective Hayes couldn't help but stare into those powerful orbs. He tried to raise his gun, tried to defend himself, but the effort came far too late.
"You are in my power," the man who had been Officer Norman calmly stated. "Holster your weapon."
Morgan Hayes did as was requested. In short order, the other members of his team arrived on the scene. Each was accompanied by another of the missing police officers, all dressed in black. Each was as helplessly entranced as Detective Morgan.
A moment later, a trio of misty forms entered the hallway and coalesced into three more people dressed in black. Two of them were also missing police officers. There were six in all, four men and two women. The last of the intruders was their lord and master. The man had piercing red eyes and white hair with matching full beard.
"Your performance was satisfactory," he stated. "Carson and Henderson with me. You others escort the new members of our little family back to our lair. I shall initiate them later."
The former policemen did as commanded, for they were little more than puppets as were the guards now under their control. Each of the four new recruits would be bitten and drained of their blood by the leader and then buried. Three nights hence, they would arise and be transformed into vampires.
Turning his attention back to his mission, the master of the vampires directed Carson and Henderson towards the entrance to the penthouse suite. All three vampires shifted back into mist form and passed underneath the closed door. In short order, they reached the bedroom where James Portonni was currently asleep.
While Carson and Henderson stood guard, Gratz advanced towards the sleeping stool pigeon. This first mission was proceeding as he had planned. Hopefully, just the first of many such assassinations for his fledgling organization. Leaning on the bed, Gratz proceeded to rouse the slumbering criminal.
"What--?! What's goin' on?", the confused criminal groggily wondered. A second later, he looked into Gratz's eyes and was instantly hooked. There was no way he could resist the master vampire's powerful gaze.
"You will go out on the balcony and you will step over the edge," Gratz instructed in a calm, even tone. "Obey me."
"I obey," Jimbo muttered, helplessly entranced. He rose from his bed and sleepwalked his way to the balcony doors. Opening them, Portonni stepped out onto the balcony. Reaching the safety rail, he casually stepped over the barrier and out into thin air. James Portonni silently fell the full 52 stories to the street below.
Back up on the balcony, Gratz and his associates simply watched. Turning to mist once more, the trio of vampires disappeared into the night...
Instead of a burglar, she saw an older woman dressed in black and seated in an overstuffed chair. The woman's hair was cut shoulder length and was black in color. The light beside her chair was now on.
"Hello, Helena. It's been far too long."
Helena could only gasp in surprise. She was so dumbfounded that she couldn't even speak. The woman seated before her was just about the last person she ever expected to see again.
The older woman casually stood up. She was at least six inches shorter than Helena. An amazing resemblance could be noticed between them.
"My, how you have grown", the woman stated as she looked Helena over. "What's the matter, Helena? Can't you even say 'hello' to your mother?"
"You!?", Helena finally managed to spit out. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I've been out of touch with the world for the last several weeks," Felina Kirby explained. "I just found out about Lane a few days ago..." From the strain in Felina's voice, it was easy to tell that she still had feelings about her estranged husband. "I came to pay my respects and hopefully get to know my daughter better."
"You would already know me if you hadn't left home when I was three years old," Helena caustically noted.
"I can't blame you for being bitter, Helena. But I am here now. Back home to stay."
"You're not welcome in this house. You abandoned me when I was a child. If you think you can just waltz right back in because dad is no longer here, you're sadly mistaken. Now get out before I throw you out." Years of pain and resentment over her mother's departure were now boiling to the surface. Even Helena was surprised at the strength of her anger.
"I suppose I deserved that." Felina hung her head as if in defeat. "You're not making this easy on me."
"What do you want me to say? That I forgive you for being gone the last nineteen years?"
"No, Helena. I honestly didn't know what to expect." With a heavy sigh, Felina grabbed her handbag and slowly started to cross the room towards the front entrance of the house. "I guess I had better go."
"That is what you are good at."
Felina winced. "You're hurting, Helena. I understand that. I've had more than my fair share of hurt. However, I will not solely shoulder the blame for something that your father and I both jointly decided upon."
Helena turned at the unexpected comment. "What do you mean by that?"
Felina paused, before turning back to face her daughter. "It was a mutual decision for me to leave. You can't imagine how badly it hurt me to do so. To leave my little girl and not know when, if ever, I would see her again. It took me a long time before I could understand that Lane made the right choice."
"Are you trying to tell me that the two of you decided that it was for the best for you to leave? You expect me to believe that?"
"It is the truth, Helena," Felina answered flatly. "I cannot control what you choose to believe, but that is the truth of the matter."
"If it is true, then why? Why did you leave? Why would dad agree to such a thing?" Helena was genuinely confused. All her father told her was that her parents had a falling out and her mother had moved to Europe.
A look of shame came to Felina's face. "The primary reason was so that I would not be a bad influence on you."
"That's a pretty thin argument," Helena responded.
"I assume that your father taught you all he knew about deductive reasoning?"
"Yes--? What's that have to do with anything?" What was Felina hinting at, Helena wondered.
"Simply that you're condemning me without hearing all the facts. Without hearing my side of the story. You're reaching a conclusion without viewing all the available evidence."
An uncomfortable pause followed. Helena couldn't think of an argument to counter Felina's statement. What she said did make sense. Could Helena have jumped to a conclusion without all the facts again? Much like she had with Firestar?
"All I ask is that we sit down and let me tell you what happened", Felina continued. "Knowing Lane, I'm sure there are things that he deliberately left out. Then if you want me to leave, I'll leave." However silence was the only answer Felina received. "Will you at least please give me a chance?", she finally added.
The pitiful look on Felina's face was almost more than Helena could bear. Until this night, she never realized how strong of a resemblance she shared with her mother. Despite strong feelings to the contrary, she finally blurted out, "Oh, I suppose... Come on out to the kitchen and I'll make us some tea. This better be good."
"I was twenty when I first encountered your father," Felina stated before taking a sip of tea. "It was the middle of the night on the roof of a jewelry store, I forget now which one."
"What in the world were you doing there?" Much to Helena's surprise, her mother was still wearing her wedding ring.
"I'm a thief, Helena. I've operated as the master thief known as 'the Cat' for nearly thirty years now. As for why I was there, I was stealing a few items that had caught my eye earlier in the day when I cased the establishment out."
"Then it really is true...," Helena muttered, a faraway look in her eye. "I was never sure if that was just a story dad made up to make me feel better. To better explain your absence. You really were a thief."
"It is all true. Not that I'm particularly proud of it, but yes your mother has committed numerous crimes. Although, I've been gone so long, I doubt I'm currently wanted for anything here in the states."
"How? How could you steal from others?" Having been raised by her father, the concept of doing something like that was almost alien to Helena. "It's not like you needed money. There was no reason for you to steal."
"I've never committed a robbery just for the sake of acquiring wealth. No, I grew up probably very much like you did-- part of a wealthy family-- having just about anything I could ever want."
"Then why?"
"It started out innocently enough," Felina answered after a contemplative pause. "Kind of like a game a first. A little something here, a little something there. It added a little spice to life. But then it grew into a compulsion and then into a need. Each robbery become more dangerous, more elaborate than the previous. The stakes grew higher and higher. The thrill of doing something potentially dangerous, something that I could get caught doing was so powerful, so intoxicating. I became so caught up in the excitement of stealing that I couldn't stop. It was something of an addiction." Ashamed, Felina couldn't face Helena.
In a strange way, Helena could almost sympathize with her mother. Helena had the very same needs, the very same desire to do something that was potentially dangerous. The need for thrills was a powerful addiction that both women suffered from. With Helena it was the excitement of being the Huntress, with Felina it was the compulsion to steal.
"I think I understand," Helena finally said. "I think I also realize where some of my more obsessive behavior comes from."
"It could be from me or just as likely from your father," Felina answered, turning back towards Helena. "Both of your parents are extremely set in their ways."
"You were talking about the time when you first met dad?"
"That's correct, dear," Felina continued. "I had just robbed a jewelry store when I ran smack dab into your father. There was an instant attraction between us. It was almost electric. He tried to catch me, but I managed to slip away."
"That's pretty impressive. Dad in his prime should not have been easy to escape from."
"Give me a little credit, Helena. Your father wasn't your only superhuman parent."
"You mean that you're also more than human?", Helena asked in a puzzled tone. "I thought you were just a thief with a cat motif."
"I have some cat-like powers, but nothing overly special."
"What kind of abilities?" Helena's curiosity was piqued by this revelation. "I always thought my abilities all came from dad."
"Well, I'm cat-quick, I can jump like a cat, and I see at night better than a normal person would. Not exactly the most impressive of powers. I never was much of a fighter. I usually avoided violence. Oh, and my nails are very hard, too."
"Were you faster than father?"
"Of course, dear," Felina answered with a smile. "How do you think I kept getting away from him? That irritated him to no end."
"Now this doesn't make sense." Helena paused, her mind considering what she had just learned.
"What's bothering you, Helena?" After a pause, Felina added, "Please tell me what it is. I want to help if I can. If you'll let me."
"I'm not sure if you can. I've done some testing and my abilities are ranked lower than father's. Especially in raw agility. Now you're telling me that you were even faster. So what I'm wondering is why am I much slower that dad was?"
"I don't know, Helena. I'm no expert on superhuman genetics, but you'd think that you would be more agile than Lane, but not as agile as myself. At least that makes sense to me."
"You would think that," Helena agreed. "This is really strange. Okay, you said that you can leap like a cat-- How far can you jump?"
"How far? Let me think. I think I once jumped up three stories. But that was a long, long time ago. I wouldn't even try it nowadays."
"Three stories...," Helena repeated dumbfounded. "I can't reach more than twelve feet and you're telling me that you've done-- what? Thirty? Thirty-five feet?"
"Yes... That sounds about right."
"It's like I haven't inherited any of your abilities and maybe half of dad's", Helena stated dejectedly. "I don't understand it."
"I don't know what to tell you, Helena. Maybe our powers canceled each other out instead of combining in you?"
"That could be... Would be horrible if it did. Sorry to keep interrupting you. Please continue with your story."
"It's quite all right, dear. As I was saying, being faster and a better leaper kept me ahead of the Hunter. I even started to commit obvious robberies in the hopes of running into your father. It was a very slow developing relationship. Near the end, we would talk for a time, catch up on things. Then I'd run and he'd try to catch me. The chase was such a thrill for me, for both of us."
"This has to be the weirdest courtship I've ever heard of," Helena noted.
"I will grant you that. It was very unusual. Until the day when Hunter finally caught me. I was arrested and sent to jail."
"Did father really catch you or did you let him?"
Felina considered for a moment. "To this day, I can't be certain. Maybe I subconsciously wanted to be caught. Lane paid my bail. He must have pulled some strings because I got a very light sentence. Shortly after that, he proposed and I accepted."
"The next few years were heavenly. Your father and I were the typical love struck newlyweds. Before long, I was pregnant with you." Felina had a dreamy smile on her face. "For a time I was genuinely happy."
"What went wrong?" Helena could now guess why her parents had split up, but she wanted to hear it in her mothers' own words.
"I missed the thrill and excitement I got from stealing. I knew it was wrong, that I already had everything that I could ever need... I just couldn't help myself. Lane was out often enough as Hunter that he didn't notice at first. It started off small and just got worse."
"And you got caught again."
Tears formed in Felina's eyes. She wiped them away with a handkerchief. "I knew it was wrong but I did it anyway. Call me weak, but I couldn't fight those urges. Lane was furious. He thought that he had reformed me and... well, he failed."
"Father never took failure very well."
"No, he did not," Felina nodded in agreement. "It took a week before he even spoke to me. Once he did, we talked about what to do next and that's when it was decided that I should go away. Lane had plans for you, Helena. Plans were made even before you were born. Your mother being a thief did not fit in with those plans. He thought I would be a bad influence on you and upon reflection, I had to agree. I never wanted you to end up like me, so I agreed to leave. It nearly broke my heart in the process. Fortunately, you were too young to remember any of this."
"So you left and dad asked Grandma Jenny to move in and help raise me in your absence." Helena couldn't help but feel sympathy for her mother. Medical studies about obsessive behavior and desires had advanced greatly in the years since Felina had left the States. Today she might find help for her addictions where none existed twenty years ago.
"That was what he told me he planned on doing before I left. I had always been such a disappointment to my mother. Hurting the ones that I love seemed to be all that I did. Perhaps Lane thought this would be a second chance for her to raise a proper child. We discussed the idea of my returning when you were older, but that just never came to be. Lane and I kept in touch for the first couple of years, but the messages became fewer and further in between. The last message I had from your father was when you graduated from college."
"That was a couple of years ago," Helena noted.
"I decided to come home once I learned of Lane's death with the slim hope of becoming involved in my daughter's life once more. Provided that she could accept me after all that I had done. After all the hardship I had caused."
A long period of silence followed before Helena finally spoke. "My emotions are mixed right now. I really don't know what to say." Helena's eyes darted about the kitchen, finally settling in on the clock above the sink. According to the timepiece it was after two AM. "Look, it's the middle of the night. Why don't we both get some rest and talk more in the morning?"
"As you wish, Helena. I've been running on emotions the last few hours myself. Thank you for listening." Felina stood up and pushed her chair in. "I'll let myself out."
"That won't be necessary," Helena said as she too stood. "Look-- It's a long drive back to the city. You can use one of the guestrooms for the night."
"I don't wish to be a bother..." There was a trace of hope in Felina's voice.
"It's no bother," Helena interrupted. "I'll help you get your bags. You do have luggage?"
"I have a car parked outside the main gate."
Helena walked to the security system control panel near the back door of the kitchen. She punched a code in. "There, the gate is open."
"Thank you," Felina stated gratefully. "I shall return momentarily."
Helena was silent as Felina departed to get her vehicle. "I really don't know what to think," she thought to herself. "I always put the blame for mom not being here entirely on her. Now I find out that dad had a hand in it as well. Maybe much more than just a hand in it. Quite possibly it was his idea to begin with!"
"I really have to wonder about these plans dad had for me. I mean, they date back from before I was even born! Maybe his goal all along was for me to replace him someday..."
"It's odd that he never really pushed me into this, but that had to be what he was working towards. The games we played when I was a child to hone my deductive reasoning skills are just one indication of that. All the various subjects and skills I learned along the way another. Maybe all along he was using reverse psychology on me. Pretending to not want me to follow in his footsteps, knowing that it would make me want it all the more. Causing me to push myself as hard as I did to make him proud. That man was more devious than most criminals."
The lights from Felina's car could be seen through the kitchen windows. Opening the door, Helena went out to help with the luggage. Felina was driving a black two-door Mercedes.
"It somehow fits you," Helena noted as she approached the vehicle.
"I saw it in the lot and just had to have it." Felina popped open the trunk before exiting the sedan.
Helena did a momentarily double take. "You mean that you--?!"
"Yes, Helena," Felina answered with a smile. "I rented it."
"Oh...," Helena mouthed in relief. "Sorry, I guess I thought the worse."
"It's okay, no need to apologize. I'm used to it by now."
Bags in hand, the two entered the house and made their way to one of the guestrooms. "The house hasn't changed all that much," Felina remarked as she set her bags down in the spare bedroom. So many memories were coming back to her from happier times.
"No, I guess it hasn't." Neither woman seemed to know what to say next. Finally, Helena spoke up. "Well, good night."
"Good night, Helena," Managing a faint smile, Helena closed the to the guestroom behind her.
Helena was restless for the remainder of the night. She tossed and turned, her mind repeatedly going over the evening's events. "This was certainly out of left field. Although, if you really think about it, it does make sense that she would come back one day. I guess I had pushed her so far out of my life that I never even considered that she might show up. Especially after dad died."
"It's not like she doesn't have the right. They separated, but mom and dad never did actually divorce. After all this time, she still wears her wedding ring. No matter what she's done, she still is my mother. Nothing can ever change that. The mother I never really knew. Its funny-- we might be more alike then either of us ever could have imagined."
It was early in the morning when Helena finally rose. She slipped into her exercise tights, pulled her hair back in a pony tail, and made her way downstairs. The west wing of the Kirby Mansion held the primary living areas, while the east wing was set up more for recreation. The east wing had long been closed off and sat unused. The largest area was a ballroom that Helena had converted into a private gym. Since her return home, she had brought her old gymnastic equipment out of storage and purchased several weight machines.
Much to her surprise, Felina was already up and taking advantage of the home gym. She was dressed in a black full body leotard. Felina was a blur on the exercise equipment, making several series of moves on the uneven bars with incredible grace and ease. Grasping the upper bar, Felina made several revolutions to gain speed before dismounting. The agile woman tumbled nearly thirty feet through the air and landed feet first on the narrow balance beam.
"Wow!", was all Helena could say as she clapped lightly. "That was impressive."
"Good morning, dear," Felina said upon realizing that she had an audience. "I had trouble sleeping, so I thought I would try to work out some tension. I hope you don't mind."
"No, not at all. You did say that you were agile. That was simply incredible." Setting her towel down on a nearby bench, Helena began her warm up and stretching exercises.
"This is a nice setup you have here," Felina complimented as she did several walkovers on the beam before dismounting with a triple back flip. "I always loved gymnastics. Were I not superhuman, I probably would have easily won several gold medals in the Olympics. But, in my day, it was better to keep such things a secret."
"I almost made it to the Olympics," Helena conceded. "I was beaten out at the finals. I was very close, but like you, I might have tested as being superhuman, so it probably was better that I didn't make it." Another parallel between the two, Helena realized.
"I can sympathize with you. It would have been so wonderful to compete and to win, but alas, it was never to be."
Her warm up complete, Helena took to the uneven bars first. Given her height and size, the bars were a challenge to her. As she went through her routine, Felina came up and stood beside the apparatus. "Can I ask you a few questions?"
"Seems only fair", Helena answered. "You did all the talking last night. What do you want to know?"
"About Lane... How did he--?"
Realizing that this subject was going to come up eventually, Helena had rehearsed her response during the night. Some of the details were still emotional sore spots for her. She hoped to cover the topic as quickly as possible. "There was an explosion at the Avengers Mansion, triggered by a extra-dimensional sentient device. Dad was outside the building and injured in the blast. Several of his teammates were killed outright." The sight of the Avenger's Mansion engulfed in flames still plagued Helena's nightmares. (Editor's Note: See Avengers #0)
"I heard about that, but reports I saw were quite vague. They didn't mention Hunter being injured at all. It was a shame about the mansion. That was the house I grew up in, after all." Felina's mother had donated the Hamilton Mansion for the Avengers use when the group was first formed nearly seven years ago. "I used to love to play in Central Park."
"I know. Grandma Jenny told me all about it." After a pause, Helena continued her story. "Anyway, Dad was in a coma for two weeks when he was poisoned. The toxin triggered a massive coronary failure. That's how he died." (Editor's Note: Shown in Avengers #4)
"Not the way I imagined it would have happened... I always thought Lane would go out fighting."
"I know what you mean," Helena conceded. "But there is no glory in dying, regardless of the method. Turns out that it was part of a larger plot against the Avengers themselves. They were blamed for wiping out an entire crime family and the last surviving member swore vengeance. She poisoned dad and then tried to kill Ms. Marvel, but failed. (Editor's Note: Back in Avengers #7-8)
Dismounting, Helena took a break to wipe the sweat from her brow. She was thankful to be near the end of her tale. Only her encounter with the demented Roxie was left to be covered. "We tried to track the killer down, but kept hitting dead ends. By sheer chance I ran into her at a costume party. I recognized her as the nurse in dad's room on the day he died. When I tried to question her, she ran. Later, she tried to kill me as well, but I managed to turn the tables on her. She was killed during the fight... " Helena thought it best not to get down to specifics on her encounter with Roxie. The memories of being helpless before her father's killer were most unpleasant. "I would have rather had her stand trial for her crimes, but that was not to be. In the end, dad had been avenged." (Editor's Note: Shown in Huntress #12-14)
"That's quite a story, Helena. I'm glad that you made it out alive and managed to avenge your father."
"Me too." Helena took a seat at her weight machine. A little weight lifting would help work away the tension caused from rehashing so many bad memories. Noting that the settings had been altered, Helena changed them back. "You lift three hundred pounds?" It was hard to believe that Felina was that strong. Her tight leotard revealed a taut and sleek body, but did not suggest great physical power.
"That's my limit," Felina explained. "Raw physical strength was never my strong suit. Apparently, that is not an area you are lacking in."
With the machine set back to seven hundred pounds, Helena started to do repetitions. "I'm not as strong as dad was, but I'm not shabby either."
"So I see. I guess that means you're the new Hunter then?" Felina marveled at the strength her little girl now possessed. And just how tall she grown up to be. She was no longer the little girl Felina remembered holding on her lap. Helena's height and strength were gifts from her father. She did take after her him in more ways than one.
"Huntress, actually. I designed a costume even before dad died. I never got to use it until after his death."
"I'm sure that's not the way Lane had planned it," Felina noted. "He probably had a time-table in mind for when you were supposed to replace him."
"Probably. And I bet the time was not now. It was a fight to just get him to agree to run some tests on me." Helena set the weights back down to catch her breath. "It hasn't been easy. Keeping my emotions in check has been a problem. But somehow I've managed to get along so far-- with some help from my friends."
"That's good, dear. You have no idea how happy I am for you. There's just one thing I'd like to do before I leave. I'd like to see where Lane's buried."
"That's understandable. Come on, I'll take you there." Wrapping her towel around her neck, Helena led the way through the garden to the family mausoleum. The landscapers had whipped the garden into shape over the last few days. The bushes had been trimmed, manicured, and raked, fresh flowers had been planted and a multitude of weeds removed.
In short order the pair came up to the mausoleum. Helena silently opened the gate and then stood aside, providing access inside.
Felina paused before entering the structure. Her footsteps were tentative as she approached the final resting place of her husband. She ran her fingers over the engraving that gave the occupant's name and dates of birth and death. Silent sobs wracked her body as she examined the grave. Long pent up emotions burst to the surface as Felina fell to her knees and openly wept.
Helena looked away, before she started crying as well. Wandering away from the mausoleum, she took a seat on one of the benches in the garden and waited, lost in her thoughts.
Ten minutes later, Felina emerged from the mausoleum looking very world-weary. "Thank you for the courtesy you've extended to me, Helena. I'll gather my things and be on my way."
"Mother... You don't have to go."
Felina turned in surprise. "You called me mother."
Rising, Helena stood before Felina. "I might have misjudged you, said things in anger that I really didn't mean. You are my mother and I feel that we should at least try to have some sort of relationship. I don't know if it will work out or not, but I would hate myself more if I never at least tried. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you've got a home here if you want it."
Felina fought hard to hold back her tears of joy. Finally she burst into a large smile and hugged Helena. "Thank you, my dear. Thank you."
Slowly, Helena returned the hug as she fought back her own tears. "Welcome home, mother."
