text: [Themes: fan fiction, romance]
  
  As you leave the room, you see a man in a black suit and tie wearing shades. You see a gun at his side. A guard.
  
  He spots you and pulls out his gun, shouts at you to stay where you are. You don't listen. You run forward, zigzagging around so he can't get a clear shot. He doesn't try, instead dropping the gun and pulling out a knife when you get close.
  
  > sweep his legs out from under him.
  You duck when you get close to him, sweeping his legs out from under him. He drops the knife and it goes skidding down the hall, but before you can knock him out he jumps back up and leaps away from you, taking a fighting stance. Likewise, you get up and take a fighting stance.
  
  He throws a punch.
  
  > duck forward, throw an uppercut.
  You duck out of the way of the punch, sending your fist right into his chin, knocking him off his feet. You send a palm right into his nose, breaking it and sending him into unconsciousness.
  
  Shaking your head, you enter the closest door, the one on the right.
  
  > Continue
  You enter the room. It's the study. Tomaso's laptop is there on a desk right in the middle, not even shut. Silly man.
  
  You take a seat and dive into his database. There are reports for each month for the last eight years, presumably since he got the laptop. There's also a folder labeled 'Huntress'. You open it up, and read the latest document...
  
  Your eyes widen at what you find.
  
  The bastard figured out that Huntress and Helena were one and the same, and hired a PI to spy on her to see if she heads out as Huntress so he could know a good opportunity to frame her once more. He's behind it all.
  
  Shaking your head, you close the windows and head out of the room.
  
  > Continue
  You head back to your table and tell Helena that you'll fill her in when the two of you leave. Nino and his bride say their vows, then kiss at the altar. The dances start.
  
  You consider asking Helena to dance.
  
  > Down the rest of your wine- it's liquid courage -and ask.
  "Do you want to dance?" you ask after a moment, and she looks at you in surprise. You cringe inwardly as soon as you ask the question, sure she's going to say no.
  
  She smiles at you. "Of course. Hope you can keep up." Stunned, you follow her.
  
  "Just warning you, I'm not too sure how to dance," you say calmly. Inside though, you're terrified, your head running through all the worst case scenarios. Helena merely laughs.
  
  "Here, I'll show you," she grabs your hands, places one in hers and raises it up to your shoulders then places the other on the small of her back. Her other hand goes to your back. "Now we just kind of sway around and spin slowly," she demonstrates, you following her lead.
  
  It's the best time you've had in years.
  
  After you're done, the two of you leave the wedding with the crowd.
  
  > Back At The Apartment
  The two of you arrive back at the apartment. The sun sets, casting Gotham in an ominous orange glow; promising that this night, like every other night, will not be a pleasant one. You sit Helena down to explain what you found. When you're finished, she looks shocked.
  
  "How could Tomaso find out that I'm Huntress? It's impossible."
  
  "At a guess," you begin, "you had a run-in with him and he managed to recognize you through your voice, your eyes, or something similar. Have you had a run-in with him?"
  
  "... I did, a year ago. Fuck, I can't believe it... And he's behind the murders too?"
  
  You just nod.
  
  "But why?"
  
  "That, I don't know. We'll have to interrogate him."
  
  Helena just shakes her head, "I dunno, Q, I-"
  
  "Vic," you say.
  
  "Huh?" she asks, looking confused.
  
  "My name is Vic."
  
  "... Okay, but I dunno, Vic. I... Just want to process this. Mind if I stay in tonight?"
  
  You nod your head, "Sure thing..."
  
  > say "... I'll just patrol around town."
  The night is cold, and you tighten your coat around yourself. Looks like even Hell freezes over in the wintertime. Behind you, you hear the swish of a cape. You turn around.
  
  The Dark Knight himself stands before you. "Question," he begins, "what are you doing in Gotham?"
  
  "Batman," you begin, sarcasm dripping in your tone, "Yes, I'm doing fine, how are you?"
  
  "What are you doing in Gotham?" Batman repeats, glaring at you.
  
  "Helping out Huntress," you reply, sticking your hands in your pockets, "since you won't."
  
  "She's a maniac, Question," Batman states as though it were fact, "she can't be trusted."
  
  "She can. I know she can. She's not the type to just kill civilians for badmouthing her, contrary to your beliefs."
  
  "Look past your attraction to her. You'll see that she's not what you think she is."
  
  "I am looking past it. You're just not looking past what she did when Gotham was a hot zone all those years ago. Desperate times call for desperate measures, Batman. She did what she had to."
  
  "Just like you did, when you killed that man during your time in South America?"
  
  "... No. That was just a matter of wanting to kill."
  
  "You see yourself in her, don't you?"
  
  You stay quiet.
  
  "She can't be saved, Sage. Just leave all this behind."
  
  You try to formulate a response, and by the time you do, he's already gone.
  
  You head back to Helena's apartment and call it a night.
  
  > The Next Night
  You and Huntress stand on a building, her a good few feet away from you looking down at the laundromat across the street. Tomaso Panessa used the laundromat as a front for his hijacking operations, and was holding a meeting with his top guys in that department for his monthly reports.
  
  "Ready to kick some ass, Q?" she asks, grinning at you.
  
  "Ready as I'll ever be," you reply. The two of you grapple over to the building, entering through the back door to avoid rousing any suspicion.
  
  There's a guy in the hallway leading to the meeting room, presumably to guard it. You use your grappling hook to take his shotgun away while Huntress runs up to him and delivers a cross punch right to the jaw. He's out for the count after that.
  
  The two of you open the door.
  
  > Continue
  When you enter the room you smell death; the stench of rotting corpses having already gone through rigor mortis. You look and see Tomaso Panessa and his men dead. Huntress clicks her tongue in disgust at the sight. Sticking out of Panessa's chest is a crossbow bolt, identical to the ones she uses.
  
  "... It wasn't him, was it?" she asks.
  
  "... No. It can't be. He wouldn't kill himself just to spite you."
  
  "So what do we do now, Q?"
  
  "... We find out who did it. C'mon." With your words, the two of you head off into the night.
  
  > Continue
  You dispatch a hitman with the swing of a baseball bat to his head, the wooden piece of sports equipment breaking in half off of his thick skull.
  
  Huntress tosses you a piece of pipe to replace your bat, and you catch it, voicing your thanks before you face off with another hitman. He's a big, burly guy; he's so large it seems like this piece of pipe will barely do anything to him.
  
  The behemoth grins down at you, cracking his knuckles.
  
  > Crotch shot!
  You swing forward, the pipe going in an upward arc before ending in between his legs. Grinning slightly when you see pain make itself known on his face, it takes all of your willpower to keep yourself from laughing when he falls to his knees and fondles his manhood. "Batter," you swing the pipe into his face, "up!"
  
  He goes down, but it takes a few more hits before he's unconscious. Even then, you throw in another hit or two, just in case.
  
  Another hitman tries to ambush you from the back!
  
  > twist around quickly and throw your pipe at him!
  You twist around quickly and throw your pipe, but he dodges! You barely have time to think that his reflexes are inhuman before he slices your throat wide open with a katana, blood spurting from your neck as you fall to the ground. The life leaves your body, and the last thing you hear before it goes black is Huntress screaming your name.
  
  You're Dead!