"May I say that I've been quite impressed by what I've heard of
your exploits as Steel," Dinah smiled slightly, the tough older blonde
looking her over coolly.
"I doubt they match the adventures of the Black Canary," B-ko
answered calmly, "but I hope to be able to measure up one day."
Dinah met her eyes, clearly trying to intimidate the blue haired
woman young who was looking back at her. After a moment she smiled a bit
more naturally, "You don't scare easily."
"Mom!" Helena blurted.
B-ko reached over to keep Helena from getting up out of her
chair. "It's all right," she smiled at the black haired woman, "I'm glad
that your mothers worry enough about you to make sure your girlfriend is
worthy of you."
Barbara had to smile as she walked back into the living room,
the braces on her legs clicking. "I think she's got you there," she said
to both Dinah and Helena as she sat down a tray of filled glasses. The
redhead looked over at B-ko with a impish little grin and asked, "So
what sort of teammate is Helena, anyway?"
B-ko looked over at Helena before smiling gently, "She's been a
good one to me."
Helena got up from the couch, "I hate to leave you alone to face
the inquisition, but I want to get changed before we go out for our
night on the town."
Only joking a little B-ko said, "Hurry back, please."
Barbara smiled gently at B-ko as Helena was leaving the room,
"It's all right, we won't grill you too badly."
"There actually was something I wanted to ask," B-ko admitted a
bit uncomfortably.
"Oh?" Dinah raised an eyebrow.
"Helena has mentioned her mother once or twice," B-ko said
quietly, "but the circumstances never seemed right to ask her." She
frowned, "I suppose I could have asked Oracle, but..."
"It's not that big a secret, most of the information's public
knowledge," Barbara admitted. She leaned forward to quietly say, "Helena
is a third generation superhero. Her mother was the daughter of
Nightwing and his lover Starfire, who called herself Nightstar."
"I remember hearing the name," B-ko quietly admitted, "but
didn't she drop out of sight about fifteen years ago?"
"Nightstar had fallen in love with Batman's illegitimate son,
Ibn Al Xu'ffasch or as Bruce called him, Thomas Wayne. The boy had been
raised by the League of Assassins, groomed to be the successor of Ra's
al Ghul, but he rebelled once he discovered his true heritage. He and
Nightstar met, and they fell in love," Dinah said grimly.
B-ko had the sinking feeling that there wasn't going to be a
happy ending to all this. "So what happened?" she asked.
"The League decided that if they couldn't have Ibn, then no one
would, so they arranged for his murder," Barbara took up the story
softly. "Nightstar gave birth to Helena a few months later, but she
refused to have anything to do with the child. The last I heard, she
left Earth completely to be with her mother's people," she explained.
"Batman and Nightwing were both mourning for their children in
different ways," Dinah related quietly, "so Babs and I ended up deciding
to take Helena in."
"Something that I'm eternally grateful for," Helena came back
in, dressed in a simple but elegant black dress that went well with her
dark hair.
"How much did you hear?" B-ko looked up, worried that she might
see anger in the young woman's eyes.
"Most of it," Helena was smiling a bit sadly. "To be honest, I'm
glad you asked them about her," she admitted, "I'm usually a lot less
nice talking about dear old mom."
"I can't blame you for that," B-ko took her hand in her own,
thinking back to her own mother's actions, "she did abandon you."
Helena brought B-ko's hand to her lips, breathing in her scent
before gently kissing the back. "I couldn't agree more," she tossed a
look at her two adopted mothers, "though some people think I should just
forgive and forget."
"I wouldn't go quite that far," Barbara chided her gently, "but
you should at least understand the reasons behind her actions, Helena."
"I do understand why she did it," Helena said quietly, the
slightest tremor in her voice, "but that doesn't make her actions any
less contemptible."
Not liking where this discussion was going B-ko tried to change
the subject, "What happened to the League of Assassins? Because I rather
doubt that the Batman or Nightwing would let them get away with doing
that."
Dinah smiled a cold, dangerous smile, "No one's quite sure.
Batman and Nightwing dropped out of sight for a few weeks, and I think
they went looking for them. I don't know what the two did, but no one's
heard of the League since."
Barbara's expression was rather sad as she added, "And Bruce
hasn't worn the Batman uniform since then."
Helena's sighed slightly, "I know all of this is interesting,
but all I came for was to get changed." She smiled at her two Moms,
"Would you mind if I grab B-ko and get going?"
Dinah smirked, "All right, and maybe I'll grab Babs for a bit
while you're gone."
Barbara blushed fiercely.
Helena colored a bit as she and B-ko left the comfortable little
apartment. "You know, I think I like your moms," B-ko said cheerfully.
"I'm glad they're the ones who raised me," Helena agreed. She
shook her head, "I still can't believe she said that, though. Too much
information!"
"I hope I've got that king of vigor when I get older," B-ko
chuckled softly.
"It's got it's downside," a smirking Helena remarked as the two
of them stepped into an elevator, smoothly descending to the ground
floor.
"Oh?" B-ko raised an eyebrow while they walked into the lobby.
Quietly Helena continued, "I went out on patrol once, but it
ended up being a pretty quiet night, so I went back home early." She
lead the way outside, where she waved for a taxi, "Guess they thought
that I was going to be gone for awhile longer, because the two of them
were getting pretty busy on the living room couch when I walked in."
B-ko just had to laugh softly. With a grin she asked, "So what
did you do?"
"I left very, very quietly," Helena chuckled, "then went out to
Gotham park and hung out with Dryad a while. When I finally went home I
made sure to give them plenty of warning, too."
"Too bad I don't have any embarrassing parent stories," B-ko
admitted as a Taxi coasted to a stop in front of them. Helena quite
gentlemanly helped her in, then followed behind. "My father was more
likely to be making out with a secretary at work," she admitted.
Helena made a face, "Ick." She looked over at B-ko curiously,
"So what was it like meeting with your mother?"
"Odd," B-ko admitted as they sat back in the seat to talk.
To be continued...
Authors Notes: Nightstar, as well as Ibn Al Xu'ffasch were introduced in
the comic series Kingdom Come. Ibn's mother was Talia, the daughter of
Ra's Al Ghul, who put the child up for adoption after she had a romantic
moment with Batman. Bruce believed that she had miscarried, a fact that
Talia let him believe.
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