Love and Lust: Huntress

"Oh Dick, I love the look of our new home!" exclaimed Kory excitedly, hauling two large moving boxes into the newly built house they had purchased for themselves.

Dick, carried his own luggage inside, and surveyed the surrounding building and land. It was spacious, large, beautiful, and had a nearly perfect view of Jump City, since their house was located on the outskirts of their former Titans base. It was almost perfect...almost. There was just one little thing about it all that slightly annoyed Dick--

He had wanted their house to be a lot smaller, like a homely little cottage just for the two of them;what they got was a sizable villa that had way too many rooms and details that they either didn't need, or couldn't afford.

And speaking of expenses, the extra bit of land that Kory bought behind the villa didn't help with things, since Kory had recently expressed a desire to create a lush garden in that area.

"It'll be truly wonderful, Dick!" Kory had explained to Dick while he scanned the extra bill from the landowners, "I want it to be a beautiful oasis that contains all the unique and beautiful plants from all over Earth, and maybe even beyond that! Ooh, what if we visited Tamaran, and I could bring some of my flora here! The snervian vines would be there, and we could have a fresh supply of sputflinks and zorkaberries every morning!"

But Dick didn't have it in him to say no to another of things, Kory was just so adorably cheerful about their new living situation, and future financial problems aside, Dick was happy, too.

The villa consisted of a main bedroom with a glass door balcony on the top floor, and a living room connected to the kitchen that came with a small bar, a gaming/relaxation room that Kory insisted could also be a "party room", a small gym that Dick planned on installing his training simulators with, three bathrooms, with one containing a large hot tub, a movie theater room, a small storage basement that could be expanded into a "Nightcave'' for Dick, (Kory's words, not his) that would be a perfect place to put all the their supplies/gadgets/weapons and Dick's Wingcycle. There was also a patio at the back of the villa that came with a pebbled path that encircled their fourteen-foot long in-ground swimming pool and where Kory had planned on placing her garden.

While all of this was a lot, Dick could justify having a larger house for these things--except for the additional four guest bedrooms on the second floor. That was excessive.

"We really don't need that many guest bedrooms!" argued Dick as he moved the coffee table into the living room.

"But what if we have multiple 'guests' that wish to spend the night with us, and our bedroom is not enough room? Or if they need a place to stay, or--"

"Guests." snorted Dick skeptically, "You mean other women, right? I get that...but four rooms? How many women do you want us to 'spend the night' here, Kor?!?"

Kory simply threw him a mischievous look, biting her lip in anticipation...and then spoke with a more formal tone, placing her hands on her hips, "If money is really such a concern to you, why don't you just get a higher-paying job, because at this moment, I am the only one who has a steady career!"

Sighing to himself, Dick relented, "You got me there--but I'm still working on what to do as Dick Grayson--I've already been a police officer in Bludhaven, a bartender, a museum curator..."

Kory's eyes lit up as Dick listed off his previous professions. "Ooh! I know of a perfect job for you, it pays well and I have some connections that will make it easier for you to get in!"

Dick raised an eyebrow. "Hey, as long as it's not--" But a muffled vibrating noise from within his pocket cut him off. Someone was calling him through an encrypted phone number...and it was from Gotham.

"Batman?" He asked, holding his phone to his ear.

"No, it's Dinah." came the familiar, stern yet alluring voice of Dinah Lance. "Are you not too busy, Nightwing? The Birds of Prey need your help with something, and Batman's with the rest of the Justice League right now."

Dick glanced at Kory as she said this. Pulling the phone away for a moment, he relayed what Black Canary had just told him to his girlfriend. "It's the Birds of Prey, they need my help with something in Gotham."

Kory rolled her green eyes, placing down another moving box. "Then go help them. If it is truly important, then you cannot afford to wait here."

"And leave you here to unpack everything on your own?"

"I will be fine!" assured Kory confidently, waving Dick off as she began to move the nearby couches around. "This means I will get more time to organize the look of our house!"

"Yeah, I'll be there, though I might be a little late." affirmed Dick to Dinah, mentally reminding himself to get his own 'Nightplane' at some point in the future. Depending on the T-Jet for long-distance trips was getting old. "So who's with you there? And what are we going up against?"

"Right now it's just Huntress, Lady Blackhawk and myself." said Dinah, "Who we're fighting is Solomon Grundy."

"Great." said Dick sarcastically, "And here I was assuming this would be difficult."

"And one more thing...you're going to be working with Huntress when you get here, so I wouldn't be such a smartass...Helena's not in a good mood." continued Dinah casually.

"She never is."

***

Hours later, Dick stood on top of a building near the Gotham Museum of History, where he was supposed to meet up with Huntress. Apparently, Solomon Grundy had somehow gotten smarter or was remembering more of his past life, because he had placed himself in charge of the Blackout Gang, and was looking for some kind of rare item, leaving many antique shops in ruins in the wake of his rampages. But the undead gangster wasn't Dick's primary concern at the moment--it was Huntress.

She was late, but this wasn't too much of a surprise to Dick. Helena Bertinelli had been active as the Huntress around the time Dick became Nightwing, and despite her frequent vigilantism in Gotham, she wasn't exactly part of the "Bat-Family" with her tendency to brutalize and occasionally kill the criminals she fought against.

Helena also did just not work well with others, and Dick knew this from personal experience, in the few times they'd crossed paths. She always jumped into the action without a single plan or strategy, and whenever Dick approached her on coming up with any unified tactics, she'd wave him off calling him a "Batman-wannabe."

He didn't know how Dinah managed to get her to stick with the Birds of Prey for so long, as Dick distinctly remembered Helena having a "my way or the highway" attitude...she also just didn't like him specifically.

"It's about time you got here!" came the irritated yet enticing voice of Helena from behind Dick. He turned to face her, taking in the view of the vigilante in her tight-leather purple, black, and white suit, adorned with her pointed purple mask which barely hid her beautiful features, a matching cape, an assortment of weapons hidden in her purple belt pouches, and most notably, her exposed skin that peeked out from her purple-black gloves and boots, as well the wide opening below her covered chest that exhibited her toned and muscled stomach.

She wore dark lipstick on her lips, which were currently in the shape of an annoyed scowl, though the intimidation factor was greatly lessened by how attractive her overall demeanor still was, even when she was being a bitch.

"You're the one who's late, I've been waiting here for almost an hour." retorted Dick back at Helena, crossing his arms.

"Only because you took too long!" snapped Helena walking closer to Dick, "So while you were standing there pretending to be brooding like the Bat, I was actually doing something productive! And by that I mean the three muggers I left bleeding in that alley over there."

"Bleeding?" questioned Dick, "Not sure if Canary would approve of that."

"Really, Boy Scout?!? You think I'd waste my bolts on thugs with what we're up against tonight? Take the stick out of your ass for once...and since we're on the subject of your ass..." She trailed off from her tirade as she walked behind him. Dick didn't need to be a genius to guess what part of him had drawn her gaze...

He turned around defiantly, looking over her stunning figure, eyeing her uncovered tummy, her shapely breasts which bulged out from under her costume's fabric, and her wide hips which were constrained in the black booty shorts that made up her bottoms. Dick unfortunately couldn't return the favor and shamelessly leer at Helena's own shapely derrière, as it was hidden behind her cape.

"You still look good in that tight outfit of yours," continued Helena, locking eyes with Dick, "Really fills out every muscle...mmm...I'm still surprised you haven't paraded around in a Bat-costume yet, yelling 'I am the night' to every criminal you see--"

And like that, the brief moment of flirtatious tranquility was over.

"Can you talk to me for five minutes without any Batman comparisons?!?" grumbled Dick, "Like what exactly am I doing differently from you that makes me the 'wannabe Batman'?--we both dress in black like he does...and technically you're the one with the cape!"

"Oh, come on, you were literally his sidekick!" jeered Helena derisively, "You're here to help me in his place! If I just so happened to cave one of Grundy's goon's heads in today, you'd be having a spastic fit just like he would! Probably give me a lengthy lecture about 'what heroes do', or some shit!"

"No, I wouldn't do that." answered Dick slowly, stepping closer to Helena and staring into her flushed face, "I'd just punish you."

The previous times Helena had "teamed up" with him, she'd always been a tease, mockingly flirting him whenever she had the chance, leaving him flustered and unsatisfied, made worse by the fact that he had been pretty much cock-blocking himself from his own girlfriend as well. But now...

It was her turn to be put on edge, to be teased to the point where she'd be unable to resist him.

"How would you-" began Helena with a lecherous smile on her face, but just then Dick caught sight of dark figures in the distance sneaking into the ventilation exhausts of the museum. Dick jolted upwards at what he saw. Oh, right...the reason they were there.

"Huntress, the Blackout Gang." vocalized Dick with a sarcastic tone, waving his escrima stick in their direction.

"Shit!" swore Helena under her breath as she turned and saw the last gang member slip into the vent, and then turned and glared at Dick scornfully, "This is all your fault, you distracted me with your...whatever, if Grundy shows up, I'll be more ready for him than you will!" She pulled out her crossbow and shot out a long grappling hook which latched onto the top of the museum building.

"Got a trick under your sleeve? Do you plan on sharing what that is-" But before Dick could even finish his sentence, she swung out into the dark Gotham sky. Sighing, Dick followed her with his own cable line thinking, Yep, I'm definitely going to punish her...

The question now was when.

The Blackout Gang were in the backdoor storage part of the museum when Dick and Helena caught up with them. They were pretty recognizable in their pitch-black bodysuits that helped the thieves blend in the darkness which surrounded them--not counting their night vision/infrared goggles, which shone brightly, and gray belts where they kept their switchblades and silencer pistols.

Weapons that the five members pulled out the second they noticed Dick and Helena pounce on them from above.

"Hey boys! Out shopping for the big boss? I've got some bolts in my crossbow he might like...wanna see?" taunted Helena as she leapt in the air, kicking two of the Gang members aside as she fired out a bolt that shattered one of the other's pistols to pieces.

"Don't mock them, Huntress." Dick quipped in a playful manner as he dodged one of the Blackout Gangster's swipes from his knives and swiftly kneed him in the gut. "Any gang who's patient enough to take orders from a zombie that speaks in the third-person should be treated with the utmost respect!"

"Laugh all you want-Augh!" snarled one of the last members, shooting his pistol at the giggling Huntress, only to get struck in the face by her crossbow. Hitting the ground, the face-less Blackout member continued, "But Grundy's no joke, at least not anymore."

"What are you talking about?" demanded Helena, grabbing the guy by the front and shoving him against the nearby wall, staring intensely into his expressionless goggles.

Dick, after throwing his escrima stick into the face of one of the charging Blackout Gangsters, stopped to listen as well.

"When he hired us to look for some old artifact, Solomon Grundy was different." explained the costumed gangster to Helena. "He seemed smarter and more alive, but also like he was in a trance or something. What happened to him, I don't know, but what I can tell you is that he'd show up here if we took too long--"

"You little--"

BOOM!

Suddenly, the wall on the other side of the room shook and a colossal figure burst through it, leaving a gaping hole behind as the pale-skinned giant dressed in a pinstripe suit and fedora stomped into the room.

"WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?!?" roared Solomon Grundy. Dick recognized the zombie from his smell alone, not to mention his terrifying physique. Grundy immediately darted his darkened eyes at Dick and Helena, and raised his fists with shaking anger. "Costumed freaks! I knew you would come after me eventually--here's my one and only warning--stay out of my way, or I'll CRUSH you!"

Helena blinked, nearly dropping her crossbow in shock at Grundy's words. Turning to the equally surprised Dick, she voiced her confusion to the former Boy Wonder. "What the hell- did Grundy just speak in complete sentences?!? And use 'I' instead of saying 'Grundy smash' like the caveman he usually is?!?"

"See, I told you!" whined the beat-up Blackout member from behind her.

"Shut up!"

"What happened to you, Grundy?" asked Dick, keeping his distance but genuinely curious.

"My name is not Solomon Grundy!" barked the undead gangster, clenching his teeth in pure rage. "I am Cyrus Gold, formerly the infamous monster of the Rykel Gang...and thanks to my new friend who helped me regain my mind, I can retake the life that was stolen from me!"

"Your new friend? Who-" Dick immediately shut up, narrowly dodging the deadly punch Gold threw in his direction.

"That's just great, a smarter Grundy with all the same super-strength!" exclaimed Helena as she fired several bolts into Gold's head;which of course did nothing to stop the zombie's rampage.

"STAY OUT OF MY WAY!" shouted Cyrus Gold as he charged fully at Helena, who dove around his swinging arms and kicked him in the leg in an attempt to slow him down. Gold ignored her and picked up the chatty Blackout member. "YOU! DID YOU FIND THE CAULDRON HERE?!?"

"N-no!" the masked man replied, shaking in fear from Gold's harsh grip. "We looked all over! I don't think it's here!"

"RAGHH!!!" bellowed Gold in response, throwing the quivering subordinate away derisively, "WHERE IS IT?!? IT HAS TO BE SOMEWHERE IN GOTHAM!!! IF I DON'T FIND IT, I'LL--"

"Nightwing, what are you doing, standing there like an idiot?!?" shouted Helena as she continued to fire her many trick bolts at Gold. A bola bolt, a bolt that ejected a small cloud of knock-out gas, even a taser bolt that only earned Gold's unwanted attention.

"YOU'RE PISSING ME OFF, STUPID LADY!" roared Gold as he leapt openly at her, Helena continuing to swiftly avoid his grasp, shooting more and more bolts as she did so.

"Look at how Gold's speaking! He says he's his old self, but he's just as temperamental and slow as Grundy is!" explained Dick, "I have an idea, you've just got to trust me on this, Huntress! The plan is that we should talk to him--"

"Yeah, right!" responded Helena rudely, flipping her middle finger in Dick's direction as she ducked from another clumsy punch from Gold. "Next you're gonna tell me to have a tea party with him, and invite all his criminal buddies, too!"

Suppressing the urge to bend Helena over his knee and spank her round behind until it was red, Dick stepped in front of Gold, throwing away his escrima sticks as he did so.

"Look! I'm unarmed, Gold! If you really aren't a mindless monster anymore, you'll listen to what I have to say!" Dick announced, spreading his arms wide to emphasize his vulnerability.

Cyrus Gold briefly ceased his violent outbursts, and peered down at the former circus acrobat. "What could you offer me, weirdo? If it's not the cauldron, I don't want it!"

"This cauldron..." Dick began slowly, "It's some kind of magical artifact, isn't it? What did your friend promise you in exchange for finding it for him?"

"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, TINY!"

Dick shrugged. "Maybe. I'm saying that there's a chance your new buddy of yours is using you."

"WHAT?!?" growled Gold with a hint of uncertainty in his voice, but right before Dick could continue, Helena jumped onto the colossal back of Gold, and trapped his head in her grip, forcing his mouth open with one arm while she used the other to reach into one of her pockets. Dick briefly glimpsed her pull out a light blue-and-black pill out...and shove it down Gold's maw.

"What do you do?" asked Dick concernedly as Helena leapt off the giant's back next to Dick, a proud smirk on her face.

"Used the trick up my sleeve." She boasted, pointing at the former Grundy with exuberant pride.

One second later, Cyrus Gold's head literally froze into place, as the obvious nitrogen pellet Helena had force-fed him instantly encased the zombie's oversized dome in a solid block of ice.

Helena placed her hands on her hips and shot a Dick an "I told you so!" look--but before she could rub her victory in his face any further, the ice surrounding Gold's head cracked...and shattered to pieces not even a minute later.

"RARGHHHH!!!!" howled Gold in utter fury, immediately picking up the closest storage containers to him and hurling them at Helena, who yelped and barely managed to avoid getting crushed under the heavy boxes.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" cursed Helena as the shattered pieces of small statues, dinosaur bones, and even taxidermied animals burst free from the boxes the second they hit the ground or walls.

Dick, swearing under his breath, picked up his escrima sticks and sprinted up towards Gold, not entirely sure what he could do to stop him at this point. Then the obvious answer occurred to Dick, right as he attempted to tie the zombie's legs together using a cable line.

Why don't I just call for help from the rest of the Birds of Prey?!?

And right as he thought it, Gold managed to grab him, and raise him over his rotten head with both hands, in a stance that gave Dick the impression he was about to be ripped in half.

"Nightwing!" cried out Helena desperately, shakily attempting to aim her crossbow at Gold.

"Wait! If you kill me now, you're no different from Grundy, just a pawn being used by everyone!" shouted Dick, feeling his back strain as Gold began to pull on his arms and legs--and loosened his grip.

"NO ONE IS USING ME!" Cyrus Gold declared angrily. "I AM MY OWN BOSS, MY MAGIC FRIEND MADE A DEAL WITH ME!"

"And how do you know he'll keep his word when you give him what he wants?" questioned Dick. "I don't see your partner helping you get this 'cauldron'--the way I see it, he's laying back while you do all the dirty work for him! If you really are your own boss, why is he calling the shots?!?"

"Rrrr...Damn it, you make a good point!" Gold grunted, setting Dick down and giving Helena a brief staredown. "I've got to settle things with that veggie punk--but once I'm through with him, you two are next!"