(Untitled)

[baptizemyself]

The days in Milliways are long and dull for the new girl who hasn't made any real connections yet. She finds herself with a lot of free time to kill- something that Helena isn't used to at all. So she does what any good vigilante does when faced with endless days of captivity: she trains. A lot. Currently you can find her outside by the lake, doing

Comments

[fiery_ring]

Above her in the trees, an acrobat dangles upside down, watching.

[baptizemyself]

Helena totally sees her.

"Good afternoon, Carlotta," she calls out, without breaking her stride.

[fiery_ring]

"Hallo." Carlotta says, stretching upside down. "I was just admiring your moves, don't mind me."

[baptizemyself]

Helena nods and continues her drill.

"Did you speak to your friend Knox?" she asks, a tad breathlessly. She has, after all, been training for a couple pf hours by now.

[fiery_ring]

"Yes, he's in denial." Carlotta says, with some irritation. "He's apparently determined to sit in there and report from the inside. I told him to come and talk to you to get convinced."

[baptizemyself]

"That's a Gothamite for you." Helena can't help but smile a little for the unbreakable spirit of the people who call Gotham home.

[fiery_ring]

"In my world, we call it being stupidly pigheaded."

[baptizemyself]

"I never claimed Gothamite's where smart," she says, a wry smile playing about her lips.

She finishes her routine and moves into another - Tai Chi this time. It's meant to be slower and more rhythmic than the Taekwondo she was doing, but Helena has a habit of rushing through the sequence.

[fiery_ring]

"It's a noble thing to be brave." Carlotta says. "But only for the right reasons. If you sit around inside a disaster zone, you're just another victim, another burden for those trying to help you."

[baptizemyself]

"You're wrong," Helena says passionately. She knows something about being a victim.

"You're only a victim if you let yourself be a victim. When you stand up for what you believe in and fight? Then you're not a victim. You're a survivor. And if that means staying in a disaster zone and trying to rebuild it from the bottom up when even the government stands against you, then so be it."

[fiery_ring]

"I thought you said last week that all the civilians were stuck abandoned inside Gotham with supervillians preying on them day and night? That doesn't sound like rebuilding. If your world has abandoned Gotham, if nothing from inside can get through to the outside, then all Knox could do is tell everyone on the inside just how bad things are. Surely he's far more use to you on the outside, telling the world how bad things are

[baptizemyself]

"He can't know how bad things are without seeing it for himself. War correspondents don't report from the safety of the anchor desk, they do it where the action is. They know the dangers, but they do it anyway, because someone has to bear witness, so that when it's over, when the fighting has stopped and the rebuilding really begins, there's a record. And sometimes, telling the people inside how bad it is, is just as important as telling the guys on the outside."

She thinks carefully before she continues. "Germany, 1943, I think. A group of students calling themselves the White Rose anonymously wrote and distributed subversive articles, critising Hitler and the war. They were caught and executed for treason. But one of those articles was smuggled out to Britain and the allies dropped millions of copies over Germany.

Imagine. Your Mr. Knox writes an article for those trapped, and somehow, by some miracle, it gets out to the mainland. What then?"

There's a beat.

"Also, I don't have any superpowers."

[fiery_ring]

"That could work. But you need to co-ordinate it with him, rather than him just staying there getting killed. That's why I told him to talk to you, since I know very little about Gotham."

She considers the story. "Well, the war hasn't happened yet in my world, and I'm living in the 1940s, but I've read plenty about it in case it pops up later. Yes, the students in your story were brave, but it doesn't sound like they actually achieved anything other than getting killed. It didn't change the outcome of the war, which if I remember correctly, was that someone bombed Pearl Harbour and the Americans gave the winning push. If the article had spurred the Germans into civil war against Hitler, then I would agree with you."

Then a headtilt. "You must be able to do something others can't, or you wouldn't be a costumed heroine."

[baptizemyself]

"That's the story America likes to tell. I believe historians are more of the opinion that it was the Soviets that won the war."

Helena sighs and finally stops her routine to turn and face Carlotta.

"You're wrong if you don't think they achieved something. Maybe they didn't change the outcome, but they showed more courage and bravery than those who simply stood aside and let what happened happen. They did it in secret because they knew that any overt anti-Nazi sentiment would get them arrested, but they did it anyway. Martyrs to the cause, maybe, but they did what no one else would.

Me? I had a good teacher so I can fight. I've got a lot of money and a lot of rage. I'm not anything special."

[fiery_ring]

Carlotta sighs and shuts up. She can't say a thing right around Helena, and she knows it's probably her own fault.

She's just not much of a fan of unnecessary death.

"I'm sorry I interrupted your training." she says, turning to climb up the tree again.

[baptizemyself]

"No, you didn't interrupt. Don't..."

Helena sighs and rubs her forehead.

"Carlotta, the world isn't black and white. I wish it was, believe me."