Huntress
Heroes 
Every hero has a story, not that I'm some kind of hero.
Posts: 47 
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Post by Huntress on Feb 2, 2017 19:12:31 GMT -5
Having lived in Gotham most of her life, Helena shouldn’t have been impressed by New York. She had visited the city with her family when she was a child, so the awe for such a large metropolis should have been over a long time ago, but as she and Barbara walked through the city, Helena still found herself looking up and all around her. New York was like the shinier, more modern version of Gotham. It wasn’t as bright feeling as Metropolis was said to be, but Gotham was certainly older, darker, and far more worn than New York. It had a different feel to it, one that was lighter, so while Barbara may have noticed how much Helena was looking around, it wasn’t due to worry about being discovered and shot, but rather it was simply admiration. Here the two women blended in easily with the crowd; they were just two in a sea of many faces.
“It had occurred to me that I could move here,” she told Barbara. Her connection to Gotham was only due to sentimental reasons and getting vengeance for her family. If she hadn’t had either of those, she would be more than willing to call New York home. Besides, it wasn’t like it was terribly far from Gotham. A short train ride into New Jersey was all it would take. Perhaps it was something to think about doing once her business was concluded.
At the foot of the NYPD building, Helena did hesitate. She didn’t want to go up those stairs and through those double doors. She felt like she was once more that scared little girl hiding in her parent’s closet, staying safely in the dark. Ignorance was bliss, and right now she feared whatever answers Barbara and New York’s finest would be able to find on this ‘smiley face’ killer. She found that she worried about knowing more information than coming up empty-handed, which didn’t seem to make any sense, but at the same time, it was perfectly sensible in her mind to behave that way. Looking over at Barbara, Helena offered her a weak, little smile. “Are you sure you can get them to tell you information? What if they refuse? What if they know nothing?” She stopped before sounding too worried. Panicking right before going into a police station was probably not the best of ideas, especially since Barbara was probably intending for the both of them to be calm and collected. “I’ll let you take the lead, Miss Gordon. After you.” She certainly wasn’t going to be the first to go inside.
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Post by Batgirl on Feb 3, 2017 22:43:16 GMT -5
Barbara stared up at the NYPD building. It was certainly a monolith of a building, compared to what she was used to with the GCPD. She had noticed Helena's admiration of New York, but only peripherally. She was too busy admiring the city in the daylight. She had seen some of it last night, but in the low light, it was hardly anything to look at. In the daylight, though? It was impressive. If she didn't feel such an overwhelming loyalty to Gotham, she could see herself moving here. Even the few people she'd met so far, she could easily see herself moving here.
She turned and looked at Helena, smiling her famously bright smile. She didn't want to tell her about her late night adventure and what she had found out, but she had a renewed hope that maybe there was someone in the NYPD she could talk to that might be able to shed some light on the smiley faces. She could just mask it as research, which wasn't wholly untrue.
Ripping herself from her own thoughts, she gently squeezed Helena's hand reassuringly. She wasn't sure, but she had a feeling that there might have been a little bit of hesitation about finding out more information. She knew, because she had the same hesitation. But still, she pushed through it, because she was past the point of no return. "I'm sure someone in there's gotta know something," she said, calmly. "Hey, we're gonna be fine. We're just going to go in and ask to see the evidence from the smiley face murders. I've already called ahead and they would let us take a look." And with any luck, it might catch the attention of someone in charge. If not, she wouldn't be afraid to ask to see someone. "Just take a deep breath and follow me. I'll do all the talking. You've got nothing to worry about."
After giving Helena's hand another reassuring squeeze, she turned and started to head up the steps, taking a deep breath. She stepped through the doors and glanced around at the sea of desks. She found the secretary she'd talked to on the phone and headed her way, shortly thereafter being led to the evidence locker. She was pointed to the correct files and started pulling them out, laying them all out on a table to look at. There was a lot of information, but not really any evidence. That .... sort of figured.
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Huntress
Heroes
Every hero has a story, not that I'm some kind of hero.
Posts: 47
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Post by Huntress on Feb 9, 2017 22:48:20 GMT -5
“I’m sure they do know something. Probably more than what Gotham police know.” For some reason, no matter what the age or the experience of the police from other cities were, they seemed to pale in comparison to New York police. Now, whether this was the actual case, Helena wasn’t sure. It was possible that it was entirely due to hype and being dazzled by the entire New York experience. Maybe New York police knew less than those in Gotham. It was possible. “I was planning on letting you talk anyways. The less I say in there, the better. Besides, I wouldn’t know what to say and, if I got some police term wrong, they know something was wrong. So yes, you talk.”
The hand squeeze helped a little, but Helena slipped her grasp before they opened the big doors. Inside was larger and louder than the Gotham police department. It also had a sense of energy that Gotham either lacked or was entirely different from. The City The Never Sleeps was an apt name, and the police seemed to embody it. Even Gotham lulled a bit in the wee hours of the morning, somewhere between the time the bars closed and the milkman and paperboys started making their runs. But, by the way everyone in here seemed to act, there was no difference in energy, no matter what the time.
Helena let Barbara talk the the secretary as she casually looked around and before she knew it, they were both in the evidence locker, with everything about the Smiley Face Murders in front of them. She had never been in a place like this before. It was almost exhilarating, being there behind the scenes where most normal people, or those with criminal ties, were never allowed to venture into. The information there though… well, it was information. They had the locations of the smiley faces, the calibre of bullets used, the times of the hits, and plenty of information on the victims. Helena began jotting down the locations, thinking that they’d be able to mark them all on a map later on. With any luck, there would be a pattern and a base of operations would be discovered. However, she began to have doubts upon seeing who the victims were. The hits looked almost random; age, gender, race, income level, occupation… none of that seemed to matter. The victims ran the gamut of all things possible. Was this the work of a madman? How could it be? He was careful with everything, making sure that even the shell casing left behind gave very little in terms of information. The more Helena examined and read, the more confused and hopeless she felt. No wonder this case was cold. Nothing seemed to fit.
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Post by Batgirl on Feb 11, 2017 22:27:26 GMT -5
When they sat down and began to pour over the evidence, Barbara pulled out the notebook she'd begun taking notes in. She didn't have a whole lot, but it was just a little bit more than the police had written down. She wondered if that was because they purposefully lost evidence. After all, she was warned enough in advance of the cops in Artie Cade's pocket. Who knew how many other cops were being bought off. She wrote everything down in her notebook for the sake of consolidation and glanced up at Helena. She was having some of the same thoughts, she was sure. Helena had to be noticing that there really wasn't a pattern. Frankly, Barbara hadn't expected there to be, given that everything pointed toward the killer being a hitman of some kind. Any ties that the victims had would likely not be obvious enough to be noted by police, and were now long lost from memory.
She sorted through some of the reports and read through them with an agonizing patience. After a few minutes, she did find a report about the smiley faces. Apparently someone named Tipton had tried to connect all of the dots before, so he'd dome some extensive research into the case. She laid out all of the reports from the file and looked at them one by one. All of them were the same. The smilies were all exactly the same. Shot at the same upward angle that she'd noticed in the alley last night. Not only that, but the killings were all done at the same downward angle too. The killer had pulled the trigger, run down, and left his signature. And it was all precise. This man was unhinged, but he wasn't completely insane. Or was he completely insane, but genius enough to get away with all of this? Or was he just a crazy with a powerful boss? It was really hard to tell.
She wrote down the locations of the murders and the smiley faces. There were a lot of papers in front of her, so maybe she just wasn't seeing everything, but it looked like there were a lot more smiley faces than there were murders. Like someone throwing off their trail. Again, no shell casings or witness testimony, but they were all shot at that same upward angle. It wasn't a copycat. Or, at least, it didn't look like it was. Maybe there was something to that. If this were Gotham, she'd have been able to visualize where all of these locations were, but she was going to want to plot these places out on a map to double check. At least to make sure there weren't any places in New York where it looked like the killings were concentrated.
"It looks like a lot of these reports were written by a Private Tipton," she said, if only to spark debate about their findings. She could see the hopeless look on Helena's face and she couldn't stand to see it. "I think I heard someone say something about reporting to a Sergeant Tipton. Might be the same guy. Could be really helpful to talk to him." She offered one of her famously optimistic smiles before burying herself in reports, analyzing every line for any other details that might lead them anywhere.
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Huntress
Heroes
Every hero has a story, not that I'm some kind of hero.
Posts: 47
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Post by Huntress on Feb 14, 2017 18:43:09 GMT -5
The more Helena read through everything, the less it seemed to make sense. Barbara had pointed out that there were more smiley faces than actual murders and that just infuriated Helena. At first she had thought it was just copycats or idiot kids wanting to have some fun with the police, but again, as Barbara pointed out, the angles and bullet calibres were all the same. Either the man was exceedingly smart and made the extra ‘works of art’ in order to try and throw the officials off his trail, or he was completely insane and did this all for laughs. If he was from Gotham, that second option made the most sense as that city seemed to breed nothing but crazies. Case in point, the man they encountered while at church.
Sighing, Helena sat back in her chair, giving up long before Barbara did. She wasn’t a detective. She wasn’t an officer of the law and didn’t have this sort of patience for investigations, at least not when it came to her family. She just wanted to find the killer and she wanted to make him suffer before he was killed. She wanted to know if this had been some personal vendetta, a nobody who wanted to make a name for himself by taking out one of the top families in Gotham, or if it was a planned and paid for hit. If that was the case, Helena would not only deal with the hitman, but she’d find the man who ordered the hit and make his life hell. If need be, she’d topple the whole Mafia regime. Take everyone out and have it all start from scratch. That thought brought a small laugh from her.
When she was younger and had learned about the truth of what her father had done, Helena had come to the conclusion that the Mafia was bad, that they deserved to be brought to justice. In fact, while in Sicily, the Italian government had cracked down on the Mafia there, arresting and imprisoning her uncle and cousin along with other Sicilian families. The only reason Helena hadn’t been taken was due to the fact that she was both away at school and was a girl. Women, by tradition, weren’t involved with Mafia dealings.
Younger Helena hated that her family was gone. She hated the Mafia for essentially taking them away from her, but now that she was older, Helena was starting to see them as a necessary evil. While the Mafia was in power, there was a sense of control, even with the war going on. Without them, food and supplies became scarce and people were scared. There was a definite difference. They knew more than the police, had further reach than the government, and when problems came up, they were quickly dealt with. Depending on how deep this rabbit hole went would depend on just what she would do. Of course, it was easy to talk a big game. Executing it all was something completely different.
“Is there ever a time you don’t smile that big and that bright?” she asked Barbara. Helena swore the woman only had one setting for that thing. “Sorry, that was uncalled for. I think I’m just getting sick of this gunman. The more I know, the more complicated it is, and the more I hate him. I can see why the police made it a cold case,” she sighed. "If you think this Sergeant can help, we’ll go talk to him. Or you will and I’ll just take notes.” They both knew how Helena handled talking to police.
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Post by Batgirl on Feb 19, 2017 16:05:40 GMT -5
It could have been easy for Barbara to take offense that her optimism was wearing on Helena's inherent pessimism. It could have been, but she reminded herself that Helena was in more of a position to get frustrated than she was. She wasn't a detective, and she wasn't used to reading this paperwork. She simply chuckled and shook her head, refusing to let the frustrations of the day get to her. She was getting tired of looking at paperwork too, after all.
"I think we've got all we can get from these files," she said, offering Helena an excuse not to look at the papers anymore. "Let's go see if we can track down Sergeant Tipton before we lose our minds." She organized the papers back into their files meticulously to make sure everything went back where it belonged. After all, she'd been on the other side of it, and she didn't want to leave that kind of mess for some poor secretary to clean up.
Once everything was picked up, she gathered her notes and led Helena back out to the main offices. It just took a little bit of asking before Sergeant Tipton made himself known. As it turned out, someone interested in his old cold case hadn't escaped his attention and he was curious about these two girls and their intentions. He'd kept his eye on them, but they did seem to be taking notes about the cases and noticing the same things he had been. After all, there was a chance they weren't working with Cade. He knew all the dirty cops, and there was almost no reason for Cade to try to spy on information he already knew about.
He introduced himself with a congenial smile and shook their hands. When Barbara introduced herself, she made no secret of her police affiliation. "I'm Barbara Gordon, GCPD. This is a friend of mine, Sofia. I have reason to believe she has information about this case." She stopped and looked between the two of them. "Well, sort of. There have been similar murders in Gotham that went cold and I have strong evidence that they're connected to the murders here."
Tipton raised his eyebrows. "Really? First I've heard of it." He chuckled and shook his head. "Then, I guess Gotham doesn't always like dealing outside of the city, do they?"
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Huntress
Heroes
Every hero has a story, not that I'm some kind of hero.
Posts: 47
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Post by Huntress on Feb 25, 2017 23:58:32 GMT -5
Helena helped Barbara clean up the paperwork. It was the least she could do. After all, it was Barbara who was risking her career over this cold case, at least that’s what she thought she was doing, Helena could have been wrong. But, if the Commissioner did find out that she was missing, having taken a civilian along with her to look at all of these cold cases, Helena wasn’t sure what would happen.
When Sergeant Tipton appeared, Helena noticed that he had been one of the few officers that had the tendency to hover around them every so often when the knowledge of why the two of them were visiting the NYPD. That had to have been the case, as she doubted a Sergeant in the police force would have to go into the evidence locker as many times as he did. Helena assumed he would have had a lower ranking officer do his menial labor for him. Why was he so interested in what they were looking at? Some sort of territorial cop thing? Did he not like two women looking in on his case?
Barbara introducing Helena as Sofia wasn’t an issue. In fact, she was getting used to the alternate name. However, when she mentioned the fact that she might have had information on the case, Helena looked surprised at her companion. Why would she do that? She tried to keep the fear out of her expression, letting only the surprise through as if they hadn’t agreed how much they would tell the officers, which was the truth. But now Helena worried that this little bit of news would give the police, especially Tipton, reason to keep her there, to interrogate her about what she knew in regards to the murders. Her alias was paper thin; literally just a name she had taken from a school friend. They’d find out the truth and then after that? She had no idea. Would the name Bertinelli mean anything to these New York officers? Would they arrest her? Would they arrest Barbara? Helena knew she needed to get this fear under control, but that was hard to do when her only friend on this continent kept throwing curve balls at her.
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Post by Batgirl on Mar 16, 2017 11:56:11 GMT -5
Barbara didn't seem nearly as worried as Helena was, and was using that confidence to her advantage. She knew, from watching her father, that when there was a cold case involved, the officers trying to solve it didn't mind grasping at straws if it meant a potential break. Giving these two women a chance to talk was hardly the worst thing he could resort to doing with this case involved.
Tipton shook Barbara's hand congenially and eyed the girl with her curiously. So she might have information about the case? He was tempted to have her detained to interrogate her, but she was a GCPD witness and he needed a warrant to do anything more than converse. Frankly, he just didn't want to do the paperwork. "Sofia, pleasure to meet you."
Barbara smiled cheerfully and took the reins again to steer the conversation away from Helena. "I was just hoping we could introduce ourselves and sit down with you some time? Compare notes? I'm not going to pretend I have case breaking information, but I think it's enough to go on to at least look into it more. Would you mind getting together with us for lunch tomorrow sometime to go over things?"
Tipton couldn't help but smile. Barbara's smile was infectious. He thought about this and finally nodded. "I don't see why not. If you don't mind me asking a few questions as well. Purely on a conversational basis, of course. Nothing formal." He looked at Helena to see if she would agree to that. After all, he didn't want to scare away a potential witness.
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Huntress
Heroes
Every hero has a story, not that I'm some kind of hero.
Posts: 47
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Post by Huntress on Mar 20, 2017 23:23:40 GMT -5
The way Tipton looked at her, Helena could tell just how interested he was in her. It was unsettling, and she worried that he would detain her for questioning. Rather in depth questioning, at that. And yet, he didn’t. He wanted to, she could tell by the look in his eyes, but maybe it was due to the fact that she was technically out of his jurisdiction that he couldn’t act upon his wishes. Barbara had stated that she connected with Gotham’s cases. Helena didn’t know exactly how police departments worked with each other, but she doubted it was like the mafia. If they wanted information, they just took it. Simple as that.
“It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Sergeant,” she replied, shaking his hand gently and demurely. Her Italian accent was once again heavy, just in case any officers or Tipton himself decided to call the GCPD and crosscheck who she was. Accents were one of the first things people noticed. She kept the grip of her hand light as well, something she wasn’t used to, as her uncle had taught her how to properly shake a man’s hand. But then again, Sofia was a demure little thing that didn’t dream of avenging her parents by killing their murderer in a brutal fashion.
Lunch tomorrow? That was something new and it didn’t help Helena’s mood. Nor did she hide her reaction all that well, but at this point, she didn’t really care. Maybe Sofia was someone who got easily frightened by having curve balls thrown at her. Looking back and forth between Tipton and Barbara, Helena considered the request for a moment. He may have said it would purely be conversational, but she doubted that would be the case in reality. Two women, one an apparent witness, just walked into his home turf and were showing interesting in a cold case of his. Of course he’d want to ask questions. “Yes. Yes, that sounds all right to do. I will try my best to answer whatever questions you have, Sergeant Tipton.” She just hoped that he wouldn't ask her to come back to the department after lunch and answer more questions, or make a statement. She would disappear if that was the case.
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Post by Batgirl on Apr 6, 2017 14:44:02 GMT -5
Barbara could see the way Tipton was looking at Helena, and she decided to intervene to interrupt any planning the sergeant might be doing in his head. She didn't for a second think anything was going to go drastically wrong in the next few seconds, but she wanted to be on the safe side anyway. "Alright, well, we'll see you tomorrow at the cafe down the street, say, 12:30? Until then, we've got a few things we'd like to do around the city." She smiled her infectious smile. "Tourists, y'know."
Tipton seemed to buy it, because he bid them farewell and got back to his own work. Barbara gently tugged Helena out the door and onto the sidewalk outside the station and looked around, pulling out her notes from the afternoon and the night before. She scanned through them, brain working a mile a minute. "Sorry I made plans for lunch without talking to you first," she said. "I'd like to have you there, but I can do it myself if you'd rather not deal with the questions." And she meant it. She'd tell Tipton they ate something bad, or that she wasn't feeling very well. Hell, it wasn't the first time she'd lied to a cop, but it wasn't illegal to lie about where someone was if they weren't officially in for questioning. She wasn't worried about it.
"Until then," she chimed, tone brightening again, "do you want to do what we told the sergeant and be tourists? Or would you like to look into a few of these locations? I'm sure some of the smiley faces are still there, if the city hasn't removed the evidence by repairing the walls." She glanced around and it wasn't long before she saw a man selling maps of New York for a nickel. She bought one and started to unfold it, visualizing where the smiley faces were on the evidence map. "Here's one not too far away." Though, there probably wouldn't be anything she didn't see the night before when she was out on her own. Still, it was worth looking. And it might help Helena get a better handle on what it was they were dealing with. That itself was worth its weight in gold.
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Huntress
Heroes
Every hero has a story, not that I'm some kind of hero.
Posts: 47
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Post by Huntress on Apr 17, 2017 21:46:20 GMT -5
“I think I’m starting to understand why the police have you as only a secretary, Miss Gordon,” Helena commented once they were outside and back on the streets. “Is making plans without consulting your partner a thing you do often?” She took a moment to look back at the police department before shaking her head. “I can’t. I can’t be that innocent girl for him. Tipton is smart. I think he would see through it, either by questioning me non-stop or simply by spending time with me. You…. you were easy. All I had to do was be mad, stubborn, and uncooperative, but even then I didn’t expect to encounter someone as bullheaded as you. If he learns who I am, Barbara…. I don’t know the current situation regarding the Bertinelli name. Would I have a price on my head if anyone knew I was back? You’re my only…” Helena wanted to say friend, but even she was unsure about that. She had a feeling that if Barbara knew her plans, she’d put her back in cuffs without a second thought.
“You’re the only one I can talk openly to, Barbara. If Tipton learns who I am, you know what will happen. He would put me in protective custody, and people in that state? How long do they last before word gets out, hmm? If this shooter is still around, he wouldn’t even need to get near me if he wanted to finish the job." Again, Helena shook her head, looking down at her hands. "Make up whatever you wish to say. Tell him I got cold feet. I'm sure you'll be able to tell him anything. I just can’t eat with him, nor do I want him to question me.” She wondered if Barbara would object to all that she had said and if she would try to convince her that Tipton wouldn’t do all the things she feared.
As Barbara examined the purchased map, Helena began to think that she didn’t have much choice in the decision of investigating more evidence or being simple tourists for the day. With the way Barbara was, it was likely they would sight-see in areas that just happen to have the smiley faces in the same areas. Sighing softly, she waved her hand at the map. “We can go looking for more clues.” Sometimes it was easier to just give in to people’s demands.
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Post by Batgirl on Apr 30, 2017 20:38:20 GMT -5
That stung a little more than Barbara would have liked to admit, but she liked to think she didn't show it. Instead, she managed a small smile and shook her head. "No, I said what I felt he needed to hear so I could make sure he'd agree to lunch." Which was the truth. She wasn't going to make Helena go through any of that if she didn't want to, and she couldn't imagine a universe where anyone would want to. Not for someone with a history like Helena, anyway, and she was conscious enough of that to be sensitive to it.
"No, I was going to talk to you once we got clear. I wasn't going to make you go to that lunch. I knew he was going to want to question you, so I made it sound like you'd join us, but the plan was going to be that I was going to show up tomorrow by myself and tell him you wanted to see the city. He can't legally detain you for questions. You aren't his witness, and he'd be making his own mess if he tried to bring you in for questioning. I just didn't get a chance to pull you aside and tell you all of that before. I'm sorry for that."
She'd have been lying if she tried to pretend she didn't notice that Helena had trailed off at the end of her sentence like she was going to say something and thought better of it. She managed another one of her infectious smiles and took her hand. "I promise, he won't find out who you are. I've been keeping my own secrets from the boys in brass for years, when it's important. This just happens to be one of the most important secrets I might ever have to keep. Don't worry about it, okay? We're dealing with this the right way."
Though, she was starting to wonder what the right way was. She was really blurring the lines here, but she was pretty sure she was still working within the law. That was the important part. Sure, she was taking some liberties, but this was a unique case. Unlike some of the dirty cops in New York and Gotham, it wasn't like she was really hurting anyone, right? The only thing getting hurt was her thusfar steadfast moral code and determination to do things by the book. That wasn't quite working out so far, but it was for the best. As long as the case got solved, that was all that mattered.
Wow, so that's what it felt like, getting jaded. And she was only just getting started. Boy, this couldn't mean great things for her career.
She looked at the map again, mentally comparing it to the one from the evidence room, and started planning a route through Manhattan, but when Helena spoke she stopped. It sounded like she was pretty alone in her motivation to investigate. She was interested in getting as much intel as she could, but if Helena wasn't interested with her, she didn't feel right just stringing her along.
"You don't want to, do you?" she asked. She folded the map and tucked it into her clutch. "We don't have to. Would you rather see what Manhattan has to offer for the day? I mean, it's a damn sight better than Gotham, that's for sure." She smiled brightly again and gently touched Helena's arm reassuringly, a silent sign that it was okay if she didn't want to go on an investigation today. "We've got our entire time in New York to go looking. Let's spend a day and be tourists. Whaddya say?"
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Huntress
Heroes
Every hero has a story, not that I'm some kind of hero.
Posts: 47
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Post by Huntress on May 28, 2017 21:35:48 GMT -5
Helena knew her words were probably hurting Barbara, no matter how much of a brave or happy face she put on. She held the other girl’s hands and closed her eyes, mentally asking for guidance from above as she thought this all out. After a few quiet moments, she replied, though she still kept her eyes closed. “I want to help. I truly, truly do. But you don’t know hat has been like for me. That night… I was whisked away that night. I never attended their funeral, if they even had one. I don’t even know if or where they are buried. I had nightmares for the longest time. In Sicily, my schoolwork suffered and I got into many fights. It wasn’t until my cousin helped me find an outlet for this anger, did I finally feel I was normal.”
“I want to be normal, but I also want to find justice for my family, Barbara. It feels like I walk a thing line between that. Then there is the thought that I’d be used as source of information by the police or as an insider. We kill people like that. There would be twice the price on my head; one for that and one for getting rid of the remaining Bertinelli. That is why I worry. I want to her, but I want to live too.” She was scared. Helena knew that likely this whole endeavor to avenge her family would end in her death, but she didn’t want it to end so quickly. She wanted to live as long as she could or go out on her own terms.
But of course, the looks Barbara was giving her was clear; her answers were hurting and disappointing the girl. She didn’t want that. “Can we…. can we just be normal, even if only for a little while? Be a tourist for the day and then tomorrow, after we have lunch with Tipton,” She wondered if her sudden change of mind would take Barbara by surprise. Her stomach turned at the thought of it, though Helena would have to do things that disagreed with her in order to get closer to the truth. “If you help me prepare with what he could ask me tomorrow, I should be able to do the lunch with the two of you. Then afterwards, we can go and investigate the smiley faces. We may learn more thing from Tipton that would help us with the investigation.” Stomach still in knots, Helena moved to lean against the side of the building, eyes closed once more and praying that she was doing the right thing. “I think if you coach me, I could… i could do it.” Why was the thought of killing her family’s murderer an easy thing to do, while talking to a police officer terrifying to her?
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Post by Batgirl on Jun 5, 2017 13:04:37 GMT -5
Barbara wasn't bothered at all when Helena said she didn't want to do any investigating. As a matter of fact, she was more than understanding, and grew more so when Helena explained what was going through her head. She felt strangely more protective of Helena, deciding maybe it was best that she did most of the investigation herself. Especially if that was how Helena felt.
"Tell you what," she said, "let's take a tour of the city. One of those cheesy, really touristy ones. We can take pictures, go to a museum, get some New York food, and we'll just be normal." As normal as either of them could get, anyway.
"Then tomorrow, you can stay at the hotel. I don't want you to go to that lunch with Tipton if you feel like you're forced to go. I never actually intended for you to have to sit there. I just thought it might make him more interested in answering some questions for me. After I get back, we'll talk things over, and see where we go from there. Does that sound fair?"
She really did want Helena to be at ease. She knew how important it was for her to feel normal, especially when true normality wasn't really an option.
"Something you have to understand, Helena, is that if you want justice for your family, you have to commit. That's why police officers put their lives on the line every day. You can't run away when the going gets tough. This? What we're doing? This is the easy part. This is the part I know we can handle. But we can't stop now. We're here, in New York. We're at the epicenter of the Smiley Face murders. We have to push forward."
She stopped, realizing she was probably not helping set Helena at ease at all.
"If you want me to take the helm on this, I will. I want you to be safe." After all, she was willing to do what she needed to to see this case closed. She owed it to her father, at the very least.
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Huntress
Heroes
Every hero has a story, not that I'm some kind of hero.
Posts: 47
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Post by Huntress on Jun 25, 2017 9:57:50 GMT -5
“Touring the city sounds good,” Helena admitted, trying to relax as she spoke. “I’ve never truly been here or seen anything of New York.” It had mainly been a way station for when she was sent to live in Italy with her relatives and when she came back here recently. Both times,s he had stayed in a hotel; the first due to her own protection, and the second time out of fear of not knowing who she could trust, who would recognize her, or any other sort of danger that could be lurking around the corner waiting.
“You’re not forcing me to go. I have to go, otherwise he will likely follow us back to Gotham and do some investigating himself. What happens if he finds out that I’m not who you say I am? What then? He could go to your superior, have that been an investigation all on its own. Then you would be out of a job, or worse, in jail with me. Or whatever it is that police do to liars in this country. I never exactly learned that as a child.” Helena knew how the Mafia handled things, but this was different, or at least she hoped the police here didn’t kill witnesses or petty criminals. “Whether I go tomorrow for the lunch or afterwards, that is the question. That…” she sighed, trying not to let her anger rise. “You read Tipton at tomorrow’s meeting. Tell him that I was nervous, that this lunch was unexpected for me, then you can figure out whether or not his intentions are good and we can trust him. Based on that, I’ll talk to him. How is that?”
Helena thought that had been a reasonable answer, but then Barbara had to comment on her level of commitment. That caused her to turn on the redhead. “Commit? Excuse me? Are you actually questioning how committed I am to all of this? You listen to me proper, Miss Gordon. I could have stayed in Italy. I could have been happy there and not worried or thought about what happened to my parents ten years ago. I could have left that far behind me. But no, I decided to come to a country not having a single idea about the state the Families were in. I came here having no allies, friends, barely any money, and with only one thing on my mind; making sure that I have revenge on whoever killed my parents and my brother. How is that for commitment? Do you really think I’m just some stupid girl who throws bricks through windows because she’s mad and runs at the slightest hint of danger? Do you even know what happened in Sicily the ten years I was there?” Naturally Helena wouldn’t say that she spent much of those ten years in a Catholic run school in Switzerland, but before leaving she had seen what the government was starting to do to the various families, and upon returning, she saw the aftermath of the war. “You were safe here in America, maybe having to worry about the occasional blackout, while I was there in the middle of it all. My uncle and cousin were taken away. I learned about that when I came home to an empty and ransacked villa. Me being a cousin from America, a girl cousin, meant I was safe from that fate.”
It seemed that they were coming to the same conclusion about how they were both handling each other. “You want this serial murderer found and the cases closed. I want my family avenged. Those both travel along the same line. If you want me to so something to help, tell me and I will do it. No questions asked. You’ve already done more for me than I would have ever expected from a stranger and a non-Family member. I owe you in that regard. I should be respecting you like a Consigliere.” The look she gave Barbara was one that didn’t want to be questioned, nor she want more arguments about this subject. “I give my word that I will help you in regards to this case. All right? Please take the lead and advise me.” Whether she liked it or not, due to blood, Helena was technically the head of the Bertinelli Family and she had to start acting like it, even if the Families wouldn’t recognize a woman capo. Therefore, by all rights, Barbara Gordon was her chief advisor. It was a weak start, and probably a foolish one, but it was a start nonetheless.
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