New Earth: Batwoman

Chapter 10

Kate and Helena searched the penthouse until they finally found Tommy in a sideroom and sure enough, he was holding the stolen railgun.

"That doesn't belong to you." Kate said.

"You shouldn't be here. The party's out there." Tommy said.

"We're much more interested in what's going on here. Particularly how you're holding stolen property that belongs to my dad." Helena said.

"He's not your father. Bruce Wayne only took you in because he felt bad for you. You're not a real Wayne. You'll always just be a Bertinelli." Tommy sneered, only to have Helena move forward to smack him, only to have Kate block her as Tommy held up the gun.

"I wouldn't do that. Little Huntress." Tommy said.

"How do you know that and who my dad is?" Helena snarled.

"Oh, because a few months ago I hired a man to riddle me the answer. Though honestly, I just wanted to know who Batman is. But once I found that out, it wasn't hard to put it together that you're his little sidekick." Tommy said.

"He's your best friend." Kate reminded him, though she knew it was pointless.

"Yeah he was, the bestest. Nothing could ever be average with Bruce, he even had to have more dead parents than me." Tommy said.

"How dare you be jealous of that. Bruce was never trying to outdo you. He saved your mom's life." Helena said.

"Yeah, and instead of claiming my inheritance, I was forced to wait 13 years for her to finally die. He is a monster who left me shackled to a repulsive gold digging bitch." Tommy said.

"If you wanted to kill him, then why wait until he's wearing a bulletproof suit?" Helena asked.

"Because Bruce didn't ruin my life. Batman did. And while this little copycat Batwoman may have come in his place, I'm positive that she can draw Bruce back to town. And if she can't, well then, I'm sure his daughter can." Tommy said.

"Go to hell." Helena sneered at him.

"Careful. Do you really think that I wouldn't be prepared for this?" Tommy said as he held out his phone to reveal security camera footage of the elevators.

"What is that?" Kate asked.

"Incentive. You have one hour to give me Batman." Tommy said.

"Tommy, that's not enough time." Kate said.

"Wrong answer. And here's a little preview of what will happen if you fail to meet my deadline." Tommy said as he pressed a button on his phone and they heard an explosion before seeing one of the elevators plummet down.

"No." Kate said.

"One hour to bring me Batman. Fail and the next elevator I drop will have people this city will actually care about." Tommy said, since the first elevator was only filled with servers and bus boys and girls.

"Okay, we'll find a way." Helena agreed.

"Good. Now get moving." Tommy said and both Kate and Helena knew that they couldn't do anything but obey Tommy right now as long as he had both the gun and the elevators rigged.

"Let's go." Kate said and Helena nodded as they both left the building.

"So, you still suiting up?" Kate asked as they took the elevator down to the Batcave.

"Yep. This is a two person job. One to deal with Tommy and the other to save the hostages he'll no doubt drop when he sees that Batman did not come." Helena said and Kate nodded as the elevator opened and they entered the Batcave to find Luke waiting.

"Helena." Luke said.

"Luke, it's good to see you again." Helena said.

"Glad to see you're back in town and I'm guessing that you're here to help Kate?" Luke asked.

"Correct." Helena said.

"I'm guessing that the bag I found on Kate's desk while you guys were at the party contained your suit?" Luke asked.

"Yep. I had a feeling that I'd be coming back here, so I just sent my suit ahead. Where is it?" Helena asked as Luke tossed her the bag.

"Okay then. Let's suit up." Kate said as they both moved to suit up.