Brave New World: Batwoman

Chapter 12

"Welcome back Helena." Jacob Kane said to his niece, since he was Helena's uncle once removed.

"Thanks boss, it's good to be back. And thank you for giving me the time I needed." Helena said, since Jacob had approved Helena's leave of absence from the Crows since she said she was going to be looking for her father and since it had been around the time that Kate had disappeared, Jacob had sympathized with her.

"Any luck?" Jacob asked.

"None. Honestly, one of the main reasons I came back was because I heard that Kate had miraculously returned from the dead, so I thought it might take my mind off whatever happened to my dad." Helena said.

"Do you really think Bruce Wayne is dead?" Jacob asked.

"I don't know. I hope not, but at the same time, I've searched every place I could think of that he could be and he didn't even leave so much as phone call when Kate, the only person he loved as much as me, returned after being assumed dead for so long, I can't help but think the worst." Helena said and Jacob sympathized with her.

"I may not like your father, but he did one thing right. He took you in and raised you to be the strong young woman that is standing in front of me right now. I promise you, we'll find him and then I'll hold him down while you beat the shit out of him." Jacob said and Helena laughed.

"Thanks Uncle Jake. That means a lot." Helena said and Jacob allowed the nickname since in this case, they weren't boss and employee, but they were family.

"Speaking of Kate, have you talked to her yet?" Jacob asked.

"I have and I have to say, I like what she's doing with Dad's company, though I can't really call it his anymore considering the fact that he let it crash and burn despite knowing everything Grandpa Thomas sacrificed to build Wayne Enterprises up." Helena said.

"Glad to hear you're not going to cause any problems with that." Jacob said.

"I made it very clear when I joined the Crows that I did not want anything to do with my dad's business." Helena reminded him.

"Good point." Jacob said.

"Anyways, onto family gossip, has Kate taken Sophie back yet?" Helena asked.

"No she has not, but I'm wearing her down." Sophie said herself when she entered her boss's office.

"Well, well, Sophie Moore, the one who let Kate get away." Helena said as she hugged Sophie.

"As you've never let me forget and remind me of what a big mistake I made. One of the reasons I was so glad you left, since it meant I'd finally be free of you reminding me of the biggest mistake of my life." Sophie said.

"Hey, it drove you crazy, mission accomplished, I had my fun, but now it's time to get to work." Helena said.

"You sound like you already have a case in mind." Jacob asked.

"Last night I was approached by Luke Fox." Helena said.

"He's Kate's head of security at Wayne Tower." Sophie said and Helena nodded.

"He's also the son of one of my father's closest friends and as such, he's one of my oldest friends." Helena said.

"Lucius Fox was a great man who did great things for this city." Jacob said.

"I agree. Which is why I was concerned when Luke told me he was afraid that his father's killer might still be at large." Helena said.

"What do you mean?" Sophie asked.

"Luke asked me to do a little digging into the cases of the three officials who prosecuted the guy who supposedly killed his father, Angus Stanton, Stu Donnelly and Raymond Calverick, and since his father was an old friend, I decided to do him a favor and we found something interesting and unsettling." Helena said.

"What is it?" Jacob asked.

"Nearly every case looks the same. Perps all fit the same MO, poor, black, underclass, claims that the weapons were planted on them and that their confessions were coerced." Helena said and she could tell that both Jacob and Sophie were unnerved by this.

"She's gotta point sir. A lot of innocent people could be suffering for crimes they didn't commit simply because of racism." Sophie said.

"Okay, since I do agree that there is a chance that Helena is onto something here, I want you two to work on this together, alone. Don't bring anyone else into it, since if it turns out we're wrong, we'd be accusing well known Gotham officials of crimes they didn't commit, but if we're right, I don't want to risk any of them finding out that we're onto them and giving them a chance to destroy any evidence." Jacob said and they both nodded before walking out of the office.

At the same time this was happening, Kate decided that she couldn't put off confronting Catherine any longer.

That was why, when she entered the penthouse, she found her stepmom waiting.

"I thought you'd be at work." Kate said, getting Catherine's attention.

"I had a few things I needed to take care of here first." Catherine said.

"Is one of them removing any proof that you faked the DNA results regarding both my mom and Beth's disappearances?" Kate asked.

"What are you talking about?" Catherine asked.

"Don't play dumb with me Catherine. I never really believed that Beth or my mom were truly dead. Especially since it was your employees that miraculously found bone fragments from both of them. I had a friend test those bones and imagine my surprise when they weren't even human bones, but bones from a deer. Mind telling me what the hell made you think that doing this was a good idea?" Kate demanded.

"I did it for you and your father. Neither of you were eating or sleeping, you weren't living your lives." Catherine said.

"Because we had no right too when our family was missing. Just because you think that we should've moved on with our lives after a few months does not mean you were right. YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO KEEP THIS FROM US, TO MAKE US THINK THAT OUR FAMILY WAS DEAD! AND THEN OF COURSE, YOU COULDN'T STOP THERE, YOU HAD TO RUB IT IN DEEPER BY MAKING MY DAD FALL FOR YOU AND FORGET ALL ABOUT THE FAMILY YOU MADE HIM BELIEVE WERE DEAD!" Kate shouted at Catherine, finally unleashing all the pent up anger she had towards the woman.

"Are you done?" Catherine asked, visibly shaken.

"Yeah, I'm done with you. I'll give you till the end of the day to come clean to my dad about what you did or I'll tell him myself and have you arrested for tampering with a police investigation and paying public officials. I mean I'm going to do that anyways, but still, I thought I'd give you the chance to be a decent human being for once. It's time that you're finally held accountable for your actions Catherine. And you're going to get what you deserve." Kate said coldly, though she was also thinking that time in prison might also make it harder for Alice to get to Catherine, so this was both to get back at Catherine and protect her from the wrath of the woman she'd wronged.

Kate then stormed out before Catherine could say another word, leaving the older woman stunned and broken, wondering how she was going to get out of this, since she knew that if Kate followed through her threat, then she'd lose everything, though she still maintained that she'd made the right decision.