Summary:Emotions explode under Batman's harsh judgement of Helena's first mission. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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With the briefing of Batwoman and Batgirl complete, Bruce waits for the pair to depart, and then lets out a breath, lowering his guard for the first time this evening. Around Selina, he knows he can trust her not to give away that Batman is indeed /human/ underneath all that armor. Moving around to the back of the desk that she's lounging on the top of, he drops into the chair and leans back.
There's a glance to her, a smile for a moment. Because yes, he loves her, but that smile fades as he prepares for the more serious talk the two are about to have. And he waits for Selina to speak first and set the stage for what direction they need to go in.
Selina is still fiddling with the new gloves for a moment after the bats leave the belfry, but looks over to Bruce as he approaches and rubs his arm with one hand, assuring, "I thought you sounded *very* professional." She teases in the voice a parent might use to placate a nervous child. Speaking of which!
"All right, Kitten! You can come out now~" She's smirking, for a moment, though spotting Bruce's serious face makes that smile wilt a bit into something more like… resignation.
If only the kid agreed to lie! So much easier.
Helena is pretty good at hiding. What she didn't learn from her mother, she learned from her father. But there's only so much you can do about how well people know you. When Selina calls her out, her head pops up over the edge of the ledge that leads to the training ring, followed by the rest of her. She doesn't even have the grace to look embarrassed.
"Spider-Man, huh?" she asks as she comes closer, arms crossed loosely over her chest. "And others." She looks to her father, head tilting and eyes sharpening. "Is he one of the ones you were talking to the alien girl about too?"
Selina's eyes light up in pure amusement. "We have alien girls, now? Bruce, you *cad~*."
Covering Selina's hand with his own, Bruce squeezes it with affection, before he pulls away, and hears the voice of his daughter. "No. He's not involved in that incident." comes the response to Helena. Though the comment about the 'alien girl' and Selina's response steels his response further. Serious father face settled into place, he explains to Selina first. "A few days ago, a group of four hundred civilians were rescued by a group of younger heroes. Their leader on the scene is a Tamarean by the name of Koriand'r. Helena went with me to offer to assist her in organizing them into a group, if she wanted."
"But that is not why we're having this talk, is it?" he asks the two, guiding the conversation back to it's true intent as he looks between the love of his life and the apple of his eye.
Selina lets one or two smart remarks fall by the wayside in favor of not being a pest right now, drawing both legs up so her heels are perched on the edge of the desk, her arms crossed over her knees and her chin resting on her arms. "Yeaaaah, it's debriefing time. I *did* cover the important points, to be fair~" Just… not the details.
"No," Helena admits, glancing to the desk for a moment before she looks back to her father. Given her choice, she'll usually perch like her mother. But this isn't really the time for it. Instead, she straightens up a bit, looking to the screen and then back again. "Where would you like to begin?"
Leaning forward on the desk, Bruce rests his elbows on the desk and his chin on his folded hands. Yes, Selina's nearby enough to touch, but he doesn't. "Where you feel it is best to begin?" he prompts the pair. He's already got some information - including, if someone were to glance at the screens - the feeds from the cameras in the cave and of the Batmobile where the car was taken - and it's onboard as it was driven.
Selina glances at the screen, and then shares a tight lipped 'we're caught!' sorta look the disguises a bit of mental bracing for the task ahead of them. Bruce's standards can seem… unreasonable. And Selina DID sort of kick the night off by going against his explicit orders.
In her defense, he started a family with *Catwoman*.
"Well we took…" Selina averts her eyes innocently, "… *a* car…" then looks to Bruce again, "… up to the school. Cornered Meredith, took her down, gave her anatomy speech… and then Miguel showed up."
In a lot of ways, Helena is her mother's daughter. There's plenty of her father in her too, but in her day to day, she's most likely to be caught echoing her mother's voice or her habits. When it comes to the business of being a vigilante, though, there is no one she admires above her father. And as a result, there's no one whose approval she wants more.
"We took the Batmobile," she admits, right off. "Easier to fit the two of us, and with the holopaint, less remarkable on the streets. We reached the school after hours and made entry through the window - she'd left it open to smoke. Mo- Catwoman went in first and detained Meredith, while I cam in and pulled the window partly closed behind myself. I stayed there to block it as an exit route, keep watch for anyone approaching, and keep it open as an escape route for us if anyone should approach from the hallway."
"As Catwoman was questioning Meredith, a car pulled into the parking lot. I moved to the side of the window so as not to alert the driver to our presence and alerted Catwoman to its arrival." Helena takes a deeper breath, but stubbornly keeps her eyes on her father.
"The driver pulled out a phone and made a call, at which point Meredith's phone rang. It showed the caller was Miguel, and the timing suggested he was the driver. Catwoman instructed Meredith to answer but not alert him, but Meredith gave him a warning. He started to peel out of the parking lot, so I went out the crack in the window and engaged pursuit. I also engaged the Batmobile's tracking directly to Catwoman's comms and dispatched the cycle to pick her up."
Bruce nods as he listens to it all, and he finally exhales a breath. "Helena, do you understand why your moth— Catwoman's instructions are important?" he asks her finally. His blue eyes fall to his child and his eyes study her sternly. "In a few days, we're taking on a major offensive to try to take out the Denim Crows, once and for all. And I believe it would be best if you stayed back. If you can't listen to Catwoman in the field - why should I believe that you would listen to me either?" he asks her.
But is this punishment for her - or is this Bruce trying to protect Helena from what he knows is going to be a very rough situation.
Catwoman purses her lips in consternation, casting a brief look to Helena before focusing on Bruce, holding up one finger. "To be fair… *Batman*…" She says his name a bit tersely, as if to convery some disapproval at the dispassionate way they're addressing each other in their own home.
Sure she understands the point of the mindset, but she doesn't have to love it.
"… we would have lost Miguel if she hadn't done that." She thinks. Maybe. The Batmobile's pretty fast. Don't worry about that part. "… It's not a good look for your first mission," she admits with a slightly apologetic glance to Helena, "… but we might still not know where to look otherwise. Circumstances, you know?"
She tries to leave it there. *Wants* to leave it there, for the sake of Helena's pride… but can't out of concern for Helena's health. "… But… I agree that you should probably sit this next one out, Kitten."
And this is where Helena takes after her mother.
"I didn't disobey any orders," she points out, with exactly as much shame as any cat, which is to say none. "When Miguel pulled into the garage, I pulled the car across the exit to keep him and anyone else inside and proceeded to the roof, where I waited for her to arrive and lead the assault. I also kept watch in case anyone escaped through any other exits."
Her jaw sets as Selina joins in on wanting her to leave the mission alone, shades of her father. "I followed the mission protocols when we entered the warehouse, through the fight, and in the aftermath. We got the information we needed. I'm the one who thought the pendants might be communications devices," she points out, a little more heated at the last.
"And you did well." Batman responds pointedly, his eyes lifting to his daughter's. "Noone is doubting your detective skills. And while you go the favorable result, what if they had been waiting in ambush for you to arrive?" he asks Helena. "You didn't think. You reacted. And you nearly made yourself a liability in the process, forcing.." he pauses, and Bruce closes his eyes.
"You made your mother have to tear herself between how best to help you and worrying about you because you took off on your own. You have spent most of your teenage years telling me that you should be a Robin. So tell me, if a Robin had pulled the stunt you pulled, how would I treat it?"
"Would you have worried that a Robin wouldn't be able to take care of themselves in the first place?" Helena retorts, fists clenching at her side for just a moment. "If they'd been waiting in ambush, I'd have been in a bulletproof assault vehicle! With ammunition! There is literally not a safer place to be!"
She cuts herself off, nostrils flaring as she forces a breath. "I did think. I made a choice. I made a decision. And it was a good one. One that I stand by. And if you want to disagree with it and act accordingly, then fine, but you don't get to act like it happened because I was reckless. And you don't get to blame your fears on me. You of all people know that people's fears are about their own issues, not the outside ones."
Selina's feelings are… complex. There's the part of her that sees Batman's point; the rational mom part that doesn't like to see Helena take that tone with her father; the Catwoman mom part whose heart swells with pride seeing her stand up for herself; and that very young part of herself that just wants family to stop shouting.
"That's enough, Helena." Selina finally says stiffly, staring at both of them for a long moment. "Helena, you're right that you made the right call. Your father is right that results don't justify breaking rank ." Selina flinches. GOD she hates talking like this. So she starts sounding more like herself. "Personally I couldn't give a damn. What happened happened, and we jump in front of bullets for a living already. We trained you for that. I'm not worried about your skill or your judgement out there, Helena." Selina shakes her head slowly and sighs. "There's just… things… you're not ready to see. You still need time to get there. That's all."
One could reasonably ask how you DO train and prepare yourself to be ready to watch someone end their own life, or the possibly ugly realities of child abduction, but Selina's rational has more to do with empathy than cold logic.
"It was the selfish one!" Bruce snaps back. "You grandstanded and put the entire mission in jeopardy! Selina didn't get the chance to think ahead because you rushed in blindly!" Pushing himself to his feet, he presses his hands down into the desk. "You don't get to turn this into a situation of preaching to me about fears when you are trying so hard to prove yourself that the reckless and dangerous thing that you did was the right thing. Yes, you did think. You thought about the glory, and not what was best for the case. We had Meredith. She would have led us to Miguel, regardless of his fleeing."
His gaze locks with his daughter's, and he holds her gaze. She can be as stubborn as Selina and Bruce both, but his jaw is set in stone.
Then when he speaks, his tone is flat. "There was a Robin that acted just like that, Helena." And that's all he has to say on the matter. "You're out of this mission." With that, he's turning to head towards the steps that lead back up to the Manor unless stopped.
"That's not the truth! God!" Helena looks to her mother, tears welling just long enough for her to dash them away. "If I was going to tell you about doing it, why would I lie about the why?!"
She takes a breath, temper flashing red enough that the words come out every bit as cutting as the claws in her suit: "Maybe if you hadn't treated him like a stupid kid he wouldn't have felt like he had to do it on his own and ended up dead!"
Catwoman sighs, sympathy written all over her face. She hates this - she told Helena she had her back and she meant it, but to her mind this would just be too much to subject her to. She's tried to take her side as much as possible in this without outright lying to Bruce or herself about how things went down. Bruce tends to have a wider perspective on things that Selina, after all. But still. "Helena…" Selina starts to say, but then… then Helena says what she says.
Selina audibly gasps for the fraction of a second before her hand clasps over her own mouth, green eyes staring wide in horror and gradually growing disgust, and for once in her life, Selina Kyle is completely speechless.
The memories flood in. And they hit harder than any punch that Helena could have thrown. He pauses on the stairs. His whole frame slumps. When he turns to look at her. It's not in anger or frustration that he looks at Helena. It's in a deep sadness, and hurt. It's disappointment, written all over his face.
"I asked him to wait." he says quietly. "He didn't listen."
It's all he says on the matter. Though there is so much more. He's never talked to anyone, even Selina, about what happened in Ethiopia. He just takes a moment to recover his breath, and he turns to continue up the stairs.
Helena is breathing hard as her father makes his way up the stairs, angry tears rolling down her cheeks. She grew up with each of the Robins. They were all siblings to her. And as much leverage as the argument may have in the moment, there's something behind the words too. Some small piece of blame she's been carrying. They've all mourned losses in their own way. And for all Helena may have butted heads with the Robins who came after Dick or resented them taking 'her' place, they were her siblings, too.
There's barely enough time for him to get to the top of the stairs before she turns with a scream to grab the nearest object and throw it at the nearest wall. "I thought we were in this together!" she rounds on Selina next, brows furrowing. "I thought you were supposed to be on my side!"
Selina's hand slowly falls away from her mouth, and to her side, her head shaking slowly in disbelief. Around nineteen *years* together, of clashing personalities and philosophies, of trying and failing to get him to open up about his greatest shame and failing, with every bump their relationship took, Selina never threw that in his face. Seeing it now is shocking. Heartbreaking.
Shameful.
Selina just sort of… stares at Helena. "I am, Helena." She says quietly, unable to use the nickname she puts some much love into. "Right up until I die, I promise. But we are still your parents. It's still our job to help you grow up, and keep you safe. You don't get to hurt us just because you don't like how we do it."
Selina jaw sets tighter. "Maybe he's being dumb. Doesn't matter. He's your father. You said you were ready for this when you chose not to lie." it's subtle, but one could see it in her eyes. Catwoman is *livid*, nearly shaking, yet talking more softly than Helena can probably remember hearing the woman whose defaults are usually pride, playfulness, or ferocity.
"He's not being dumb, he's being wrong," Helena snaps, turning away to stalk a fierce line across the cave. "And I am ready. I'm ready for him to be honest with me." She wheels back toward her mother. "If he wanted to say that he doesn't think I'm ready to see something, then he can say that. But he's calling me a liar!"
Selina takes one step towards Helena after she wheels around and leans forward. "He's calling you *inexperienced*, Helena. He's saying you acted on instinct, and instincts only care about the dumb stuff! Of course you don't care about glory. Of *course* you cared more about the mission! You're not an *idiot*! But your impulse was to *chase*. Your instinct was to leave your team leader, your *mother* behind! And you know what?"
Selina presses her lips together for a moment and shakes her head head. "I *barely* care! You make mistakes, you learn from them, I wasn't lying when I said that. I love you too much to put you in a cage. But your father? He loves you too much to *let* you be anything but perfect when you're going out there in danger. You get to taste it now that you're wearing the costume, but he's done this to *every* person to walk through this cave. He does it to *me*, he does it to *himself*, and he's *not* gonna stop."
At some point Selina has to stop to catch her breath, and sighs. "You're not the first person to throw a tantrum in this cave, Helena." A rueful hint of a smile actually comes to her lips, "You're not even the first *Kyle* to lose her temper here. But the day he stops picking apart your performance is the day he stops caring." Selian shrugs slightly, "And that day's just not coming, Helena. You don't get to hurt him for that."
After a long moment of silence, Selina walks past Helena and towards the stairs. "Apologize to him when you mean it. Sit on it for awhile if you don't. Either way…" She stops on the stares and inclines her head to look at Helena, "You're not going on the mission. I hope you'll understand."
Helena's jaw sets as she meets her mother's eye, arms crossing tightly over her chest. She's quiet for a long moment, then shakes her head, stalking off toward the training area. "You're both wrong."
Out of nowhere, an odd sort of wistful smile comes to Selina's face, the woman with the 'come what may'/'do as you will' attitude she lived by until motherhood, and still keeps a thumb on since peeking out. "Heh. Maybe." She calls out, "But I never changed anyone's mind by throwing things."
God only knows if Helena's still listening by that point, but Selina's said her piece, and she goes upstairs into the mansion proper. She has some severe brooding to interrupt now.