Sewers

Helena led Jay through a maze of twists and turns before finding a long-forgotten sewer entrance in some deserted corner. Its cast-iron cover was thick with rust, its scratched patterns nearly unrecognizable. Perhaps it was over a hundred years old.

Jay followed her down the badly corroded ladder and asked, "How did you find an entrance this ancient?"

"I carefully studied every structural blueprint of the federal government building that I could gather, including the pipeline system connected beneath it." Helena jumped down when there were three rungs left on the ladder below. "As far as I can tell, this is the only entrance. Apocalypse Invasion destroyed half of New York, and a lot has been rebuilt, but this pipeline had been here since before that. It can lead us directly into an absolutely forbidden area of that building. I don't know what we'll find there, but it's the only way."

"Well, that's reassuring." Jay jumped down as well. "Maybe there's an entire alien army from Warworld waiting to drag us off to an alien gladiator arena."

Helena stopped and glanced back at him seriously. "That is possible."

"I was joking."

The two stopped talking for the moment and proceeded one after the other. Helena pulled out a flashlight, its golden beam probing the dense darkness ahead. At least the intelligence saying this pipeline was old had been correct. Dark plants coiled over its round inner walls, while moss carpeted the narrow path beneath their feet. The flashlight occasionally caught black-furred animals, but the instant they saw the light, they darted into the darkness like startled rabbits.

Helena remained silent the entire way, without saying a word. Darkness followed them like a shadow. Though it could not obstruct Jay's vision, its eerie atmosphere made him uneasy. Helena might have been an excellent partner, but she was hardly first-rate company at a time like this. Her strange silence only made the surroundings feel darker and more oppressive.

Still, Jay knew Batman was the same way. Maybe that was something she had learned from her father—keep communication to a minimum except when necessary during a mission. Suddenly, Jay could not help thinking that in comic book stories, every Superman seemed destined to have a Batman as his best partner. Would Huntress be his best partner?

His attention drifted toward Helena. Her profile was exquisitely delicate, and the darkness only highlighted her mature confidence. Though she had no superpowers, she had undoubtedly inherited her father's keen investigative instincts and problem-solving ability. She made one feel secure and dependable as a partner.

"You seem distracted." Helena spoke without warning. Jay froze. He had thought she had been facing away from him the entire time. Did she have eyes in the back of her head?

"Oh, no. I just... You haven't said anything this whole time, and it feels kind of strange."

Helena continued walking without looking back. "Reducing unnecessary communication as much as possible helps us stay focused. It benefits the mission."

"Sounds like something Batman taught you." Jay asked casually, "By the way, shouldn't we at least let him know?"

Helena's steps paused slightly. At last, she turned around and shot him an unreadable look.

"Unless you're scared, you can go back yourself," Helena said flatly. "I can continue alone."

"Fine, I know it's none of my business, but I really think maybe you should try to repair your relationship." Jay said, "Didn't you say you didn't blame him for what happened to your mom? No matter what, he's your father. You can't keep going on like this forever."

Helena kept her back to him, saying nothing as she continued into the darkness ahead without slowing. Jay regretted speaking the moment the words left his mouth. He really had meddled. Regardless of whether Helena was right or wrong in how she handled her relationship with her father, it was still her family matter. Maybe he truly did not know her well enough yet to interfere.

But unexpectedly, Helena did not get angry. After a long silence, she suddenly said, "Did I ever tell you about finding mom after what happened?"

"No."

"When I found her amid the ruins of the slums after the Apokoliptian Parademons withdrew, forty percent of her skin had been burned. If not for her tattered uniform, I could barely have recognized her. But she was still stubbornly clinging to her last breath. I remember her touching my face with a hand covered in blood, telling me how much she loved me, telling me not to blame Father. She said she understood the choice he had made for the greater good, and that was why she loved him."

She paused, then said in a low voice, "She lay in my lap then. I watched her life fade away bit by bit, and there was nothing I could do."

"I'm sorry," Jay said. "I didn't know."

"She told me not to blame Father, and I tried my best to do that. I understand his choice. He's Batman. He has to consider the bigger picture. I understand completely. I told him I wouldn't blame him for mom, and I kept telling myself the same thing over and over. But I guess I lied. Maybe, deep down, I never forgave him. Maybe that's why I chose to leave Gotham and have kept my distance from him for so long."

The subject added another layer of heaviness to the already dark and oppressive atmosphere. Neither of them spoke for a long while afterward. They reached the end of the pipeline, and only after climbing down an iron ladder into another, newer-looking tunnel did Jay finally speak. "All right, maybe that's your reason. But have you ever thought about why he's kept his distance from you all this time?"

Helena paused, then said, "He keeps his distance from the whole world. He shut himself away in his little corner of Gotham and became indifferent to everything except the lunatics in Arkham."

"But you're different. You're his daughter, his only remaining blood relative." Jay said, "You lost your mother, but he lost the wife he loved most. Maybe he lost even more. At a time like this, shouldn't he need you even more?"

"So why do you think that is?"

Jay shook his head. "I don't know. I can only... guess. Maybe he feels guilty about what happened to your mother too. Maybe every time he sees you, he remembers his own mistake. Maybe he's just punishing himself, thinking he deserves it. Maybe he just feels like he can't face you."

Helena fell silent. Her pace unconsciously slowed with her thoughts, and the flashlight's golden beam swayed up and down through the tunnel's boundless darkness.

"If you ask me, he needs you just as much as you need him." Jay continued on his own. "After all, you only have each other left. What could be more important than family?"

Helena pondered in silence for a long time. Then she let out a long breath and switched to a lighter, teasing tone. "Tsk. Old Bat really wasn't wrong about you. Such naive, sunny thinking. Do all Kryptonians like to see everything as so simple?"

Jay smiled faintly. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It is." Helena paused before adding, "Still, it's strange. You've only met Batman once, yet you seem to understand him as though you've known him for years. Is that a superpower too?"

Jay inwardly broke into a cold sweat. He laughed it off. "Who knows? Just intuition, I guess."