Second Chances: Batwoman

Chapter 4

This chapter will include an idea I've used in previous series, but not the original version of this story, but I'm wishing I had. I hope you like it. Also, this chapter will focus more on Batman than Batwoman. Just giving you a warning.

Bruce Wayne was currently sitting at his desk in his office at Wayne Tower, finalizing the paperwork to transfer ownership of the company from himself to Kate, since he knew that she'd make a better CEO than he could.

However, that wasn't what was keeping him at the office so late. In fact, he was trying to figure out what he was going to do with his life now that he was handing over both his day and night jobs to Kate. He wasn't even sure what he was going to do with his life now, since he knew that sitting on a beach sipping mai tais in retirement was not for him. At least not yet. But he honestly wasn't sure what he was going to do now.

However, he was pulled from his thoughts when he felt his phone buzzed and smiled when he saw who it was.

"Hey, it's been awhile. I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me." Bruce said with a smile.

"Yeah, because you're so easy to forget, what with that big tower with your name on it." the person on the other end of the call said.

"It's your name too Helena. Unless you've decided to use your birth name." Bruce said with a chuckle.

"Don't even joke about that, you know I hate that man." Helena Bertinelli, or as she was known in this reality, Helena Wayne, Bruce Wayne's adopted daughter, since she'd been put up for adoption by her mother after she was born to protect her from the life of being a mob boss's daughter and she was better off for it.

Instead of being raised as a mob boss's daughter, Bruce smiled as he remembered that in this reality, Helena Bertinelli had grown up as his daughter, Helena Wayne, a beloved Gotham socialite, who had rejected any aspirations of taking over the family business from him at an early age, instead, she'd to spite her birth father by deciding to go into the law profession, specifically as a lawyer and prosecutor and Bruce had been more than accepting of his daughter's choice of career.

In fact, he'd done everything he could to help her achieve her dream of becoming a lawyer, including introducing her to an old friend of his in the DA's office. A man named Harvey Dent, who'd been more than willing to take Helena under his wing and she'd even revealed the truth about her father to him, well, the truth about her biological father that is, since Helena didn't even find out about Bruce being Batman until after she'd graduated from high school.

But anyways, Harvey had not judged Helena for her unfortunate connection to a mob boss, since he knew that it wasn't something that she could control and he admired her for wanting to become a lawyer in order to put Frank Bertinelli behind bars and there were times where Bruce thought that Harvey was trying to steal his daughter, though Harvey always assured him that he wasn't, though he did admit that there were times he saw Helena as the daughter he'd always wanted.

Anyways, while Helena was in high school, Harvey had set her up with an internship at the DA's office, working directly under him and giving her a first hand understanding of how the legal system worked. Or rather, how it should work, since they both knew that in Gotham, there was a reason people looked to the bat signal instead of the GCPD.

After Helena had finished college, both Harvey and her dad helped her get into whatever law school she wanted to go into, since Harvey wrote her a very flattering letter of recommendation and her father had made large donations to every school Helena had applied to, though she settled on going to law school at Gotham University, simply so she could continue her work at the DA's office, along with helping her father out as his new sidekick, the Huntress, since it was around that time that Helena discovered that Bruce Wayne was Batman and she wanted to help him and despite his better judgment, Bruce had agreed and had a suit made for her and trained her to be a vigilante.

However, things began to go downhill shortly after Helena graduated from law school, since that was around the time Batman took down Sal Maroni, one of the biggest crime bosses in the city, but during the trial, Maroni attacked Harvey with some kind of acid and turned him from Helena's mentor and surrogate uncle into a sociopathic villain the media had dubbed Two-Face. Something that had broken Helena's heart, since she'd believed in Harvey so much, but she understood that the man she idolized growing up was gone and this monster had taken his place and that was why she'd taken a leave of absence from the DA's office, since if she couldn't help bring her old mentor back, then she wanted payback against the people who took him away. The Huntress left Gotham to begin to chipping away at the Maroni family empire, not killing anyone of course, since her father had raised her better than that, but she wanted to finish Harvey's mission, dismantle the organization from the inside so that when she took down Sal Maroni, he'd have next to nothing left and no way to get out.

Anyways, Bruce finally returned his focus to the conversation at hand.

"So, what's the deal with this call? I thought you went dark to avoid detection in Maroni's ranks?" Bruce asked.

"Actually, I'm calling to let you know that I'm coming home." Helena said.

"Really, you've finished dismantling Maroni's operation everywhere else?" Bruce asked.

"Not exactly. More like I got a tip that an old friend is headed back to Gotham. One that requires both of our attention. Or I guess I should say, mine and Kate's attention, since I know that you've been training her to pass on your symbol to and I'm guessing that if you're making plans to step down as Wayne's CEO, then you're also planning on stepping down as Batman." Helena said.

"You upset I'm not giving it to you?" Bruce asked.

"God no, I don't need the pressure of being Gotham's title hero. Besides, I've already got my own name." Helena said.

"Then why are you calling me? Who's this old friend?" Bruce asked.

"The same person we've both been looking for over the past few years." Helena said.

"Harvey's coming back to Gotham? I thought he was lying low after he escaped from Arkham?" Bruce said.

"I don't know, all I know is that I heard some chatter in the Coast City underworld that seemed legit. I don't know why he'd go back to Gotham, since he has to know that you, the GCPD and the Crows are all looking for him and he's not exactly hard to miss." Helena said.

"I'll let Kate know to prepare for that." Bruce said.

"Good, but that's not the only reason I called you." Helena said.

"Really, what is it now?" Bruce asked.

"I'm curious if you've given any thought about what you're going to do now that you're retired?" Helena said.

"Not sure yet. Honestly, I've spent so much time focusing on both my jobs, I never really took time to build a life outside of that and outside of raising you." Bruce said.

"Yeah I figured, which is why I called someone I thought could help with that. In fact, she should be arriving in your office any minute now." Helena said.

"What are you talking about?" Bruce asked, right as the door to his office opened and he was surprised when he saw Selina Kyle walk into it.

"You're lucky I can't ground you anymore." Bruce said and he heard Helena laugh.

"Have fun dad. I'll see you when I get home." Helena said as she hung up.

"Selina." Bruce said.

"Hi Bruce, it sounds like we have a lot to talk about." Selina said with a smile as she closed the office door behind her.