Helena Bertinelli

Huntress

Helena Bertinelli

## Biography

### Early Life

Helena was born on February 14th, 1991 into the Bertinelli Crime Family, one of the leaders of the Cosa Nostra. Helena’s father, Franco, was determined to keep Helena out of this life, and shielded her from it. He would often send her and her mother, Maria away for weeks at a time when things were heating up. He went as far as to send her away to Catholic boarding school starting in junior high. So, Helena remained blissfully unaware of her father’s involvement in Gotham’s Organized Crime.

At her boarding schools, Helena had a knack for mischief, as well as a hand for sports. She became an expert archer, especially proficient with a crossbow, as well as one of the top martial artists at her school. She was also known for sneaking out and convincing the other girls to join her on spontaneous journeys.

After boarding school, she attended a prestigious European college, studying education and history. She would travel abroad during college, including doing a few months in Sicily, where she was watched under the careful eye of her grandfather, Alfredo.

This all changed when she finished college and returned to Gotham City, finding a Gotham that had adapted to life with a vigilante, and now to life without one, as Batman had gone into retirement following the death of his protege. Helena began exploring the city. One night, she returned to her father’s home to find the entire Cosa Nostra murdered at the scene.

### Huntress

After finding the Black Box to the home’s security systems, she found out the Stefano Mandragora, one of the heads of one of the families, had sold out to Black Mask, who led his “False Face Society” against the Cosa Nostra and murdered them all.

Helena embarked on a quest to track down all those involved in killing her family, wielding a crossbow, a set of makeshift armor, and a domino mask, she tore a bloody path through Gotham’s underworld. She was stopped by Matches Malone, who was somehow able to beat her in combat. He talked her down, claiming that Gotham’s Underworld was on a dangerous and uneasy path, and she couldn’t tilt the scales.

She was recruited to be Batgirl, very briefly, and helped collapse the Order of St Dumas and arrested Sionis, but not before burning his mask to his skull. Bruce tore the bat-symbol from her chest. Helena snuck away, using this chance to place a bullet in Mandragora’s brain.

With her father’s fortune under her belt, and the reputation of the Huntress forged for her, she was ready to leave her mark on Gotham. But then, everything fell apart and No Man’s Land began.

Now, trapped within the city, Helena continued to make her move. After discovering Black Mask had been freed from Blackgate, she waged a personal war on him. She was eventually found by Black Canary and Oracle, who recruited her to their Birds of Prey operations. Helena found she could make a difference with more than just violence, as the Birds liberated a pimp who was holding his prostitutes hostage and stopped a few trafficking rings.

When No Man’s Land was over, Helena was offered a spot with the Bat-Family, which she accepted. But, she was quickly drawn away when Red Hood began taking out lower-level crime bosses. She cut ties with the Bat-Family and convinced him to help her get revenge on the two men who ruined their lives: Black Mask and the Joker, who also happened to be in the midst of a gang war.

When the two gangs went toe-to-toe in an explosive battle, Huntress and Red Hood intervened, and Helena finally killed Black Mask, collapsing the False Face Society. Following the battle, they knocked off a few more key figures in the crime families, before skipping town together, where they found an unexpected romance.

However, the two had to part ways a few weeks into this journey, when the DEO turned out to be hot on their trail. Jason, already a master of going undercover, managed to leave the country, while Helena was not so lucky, and found herself fighting for her life against Deathstroke. She eventually found asylum in Hub City, when she was picked up by a faceless man.

### The Network

The man, who turned out to be the superhero the Question, offered her a home in his base, along with his pal, Tot Rodor. Helena and Sage grew close, and something of a romance blossomed between them during this time.

The two discovered something known as Project Spyral and began their own investigations into it. Eventually, Detective Renee Montoya got a lead on Huntress and ran into her on one of their expeditions to Gotham, where she was roped into their investigation into Spyral.

During their investigation, Question told Huntress about Batman’s Agamemmno Contingency. Bruce tried to recruit her to the Family, but she threatened to tell the League about his contingency, and kept her distance.

She continued her work with the Question, uncovering more about Spyral and the Court of Owls, while collecting a host of oddball do-gooders in Gotham that would eventually become the Network. Tragedy struck when Question succumbed to a secret cancer. Renee took up Vic’s mantle, while Huntress used this as fuel to her fire in her own personal war on crime.

Helena ended up operating with the Outsiders upon the superhero community’s return, but was always seen as an outcast from the community - which she was fine with, happier to play by her own rules than the bureaucracy the Justice League and others had to follow.

When Catwoman's life came under threat due to a hit put out on her by the Red Claw, Helena agreed to help protect her using the Network. While trying to get Selina to an Outsiders safehouse to go into labor, they were attacked by Cheetah, Killer Moth, and Angle Man. In the ensuing fight, Helena took a beating in order to fend them off. She was nearly killed that night, but Selina safely escaped and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, whom she named after Helena.

## Notes

* Her history with Black Mask is a nod to *Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn*.
* Her history with Stefano Mandragora is a nod to the *Justice League Unlimited* episode *Double Date*.