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If You Can’t Beat ‘Em…
“You can’t possibly dislike her as much as you used to dislike me,” Helena said, and Barbara silently conceded the point. Not even most of her dislike for Helena had been because of her affair with Dick; a great deal of it had been caught up in her lethal methods.
Time, and lots of therapy, had proven to her that she was just jealous of someone else having what she wanted. Dick, and…revenge.
But none of that made up for Helena bringing someone into the Birds without asking. Barbara said as much, trying not to sound as pissed off as she was.
“I didn’t bring her in,” Helena said, amused. “She brought herself. Just because she’s my sidekick now, she seems to think she needs to follow me around. Besides, she’s been here before and she already knows who you are, so why are you complaining?”
Barbara sighed. The fact that Stephanie reminded her so much of herself at that age didn’t help. While she’d had more self-control, more discipline…she’d also had a loving father who was a cop, not a supervillain. “Leaving aside the fact that besides Dinah, I thought you’d be the last person to take on a sidekick…sooner or later, she’s going to want to go on missions.”
Shrugging, Helena said, “She’s never going to get better if she doesn’t get some practice.”
“Why do you want her to get better?”
“Why don’t you?” Helena counted. “He’s doing the same shit to her that he did to me, and with less reason. And if I recall my Batlore correctly, he didn’t like the first Batgirl all that much at first, either.”
Barbara flinched, but kept the pain those memories brought hidden. “True, but Stephanie doesn’t even have as much training as I did.” High-level gymnastics and women’s self-defense classes, plus some judo moves the officers at the precinct had taught her.
Helena snorted. “Yeah, but Batman gave you training…didn’t he?”
Actually, most of it had been Robin, but once Bruce had finally realized she wasn’t going to leave, he’d allowed Dick to bring her to the Cave and had given her some instruction. The same moves didn’t always work for women as well as they worked for men, and vice versa. Barbara liked to think that eventually he’d come to accept her for herself, and not just for Dick.
After Jason, he hadn’t liked letting anyone in. Babs still thought that him taking on Tim was a miracle. Stephanie apparently wasn’t going to get a free ride on Tim’s cape like she had on Dick’s.
Closing her eyes and trying to rub away the headache forming, Barbara said, “So you want her to become…what? The Birds’ sidekick, not just yours?”
Helena shrugged almost diffidently. “Why not? She could use the moves. And Cass could use a friend around more often.”
The pointed reminder of Barbara’s own ‘sidekick’ was meant to make her think, and think she did. Cass didn’t need instruction in anything physical; Barbara had her come to the Clocktower mostly so she could keep an eye on the girl, especially now that she was learning to talk.
However, Cass did need socialization instruction, desperately, no matter how much Bruce seemed willing to deny that fact; Bruce had never been one to turn to as the pinnacle of well-adjusted behavior. So…Cass could learn how to socialize by having someone her own age there. Stephanie could learn how to fight so she wouldn’t end up being only a costume in a glass case.
“She’s not getting paid,” Barbara said, and wheeled away to the sound of Helena’s raucous laughter.