( It's Helena who watches Stephanie on the gym equipment; at least if she arrived as Helena and slipped away to the become the Huntress that might be a bit less conspicuous than coming to the gym kitted out in her uniform and finding Stephanie waiting for her. Dinah was always so free with her identity, but it had always been important for the Huntress to be more discrete - perhaps because if the mob knew what she was responsible for she'd quite possibly be dead already.
She may not have worked with Spoiler a great deal, but she's seen her in high pressure situations before, and the way she's moving gives more away than she had when they spoke. Reckless, and though it's not necessarily a surprise (not with who they are, what they do) it's sad. Stephanie is hardly older than some of the children she teaches, and Helena knows she really has to stop thinking of her that way, but the memory of her being so young is still there . She's an adult, she's a Bat, but she is still so young; her funeral was barely months ago, by Helena's memory, and that's only one of the way Gotham stripped the chances she had of actually being young away, of working things out without the weight of the world on her shoulders - the weight of the Bat.
There are too many ways that she reminds Helena of herself, too many ways she can imagine the Bats hurting her, and part of her is sorry Stephanie took that uniform because she remembers all the hangups that come with it.
Even lost in those thoughts, she realises Stephanie is going to fall the moment before it happens, moves fast, and catches her before she can slam into the floor. It takes a second before she can speak, with the impact of catching her, but she still tries. )
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She may not have worked with Spoiler a great deal, but she's seen her in high pressure situations before, and the way she's moving gives more away than she had when they spoke. Reckless, and though it's not necessarily a surprise (not with who they are, what they do) it's sad. Stephanie is hardly older than some of the children she teaches, and Helena knows she really has to stop thinking of her that way, but the memory of her being so young is still there . She's an adult, she's a Bat, but she is still so young; her funeral was barely months ago, by Helena's memory, and that's only one of the way Gotham stripped the chances she had of actually being young away, of working things out without the weight of the world on her shoulders - the weight of the Bat.
There are too many ways that she reminds Helena of herself, too many ways she can imagine the Bats hurting her, and part of her is sorry Stephanie took that uniform because she remembers all the hangups that come with it.
Even lost in those thoughts, she realises Stephanie is going to fall the moment before it happens, moves fast, and catches her before she can slam into the floor. It takes a second before she can speak, with the impact of catching her, but she still tries. )
We have to stop meeting this way.