Burn Notice Barbie
Helena's put a lot of time into learning a little something about this sort of work. To begin with, there is a shocking amount of material available in libraries with regard to CIA protocols for surveillence, intelligence, and espionage, and Helena's made a point of reading up. Throw in even more tutorials on tactics, strategy, and mission planning from the likes of Hana, Claude, and Conrad just to name a few.
Face Of Phoenix Barbie
Call it a knack for leadership, call it charisma, for whatever reason, people seem inclined to continue to listen to Helena for some crazy reason. Whatever it is, she at least has it in raw form, enough to keep Phoenix together; enough so that when Phoenix videos pop up on Youtube, people keep watching and listening to what she has to say. However, charisma and earnestness only carry you so far, and Helena's still got a lot to learn. She lacks subtlty and often gropes for the right thing to say when in more intimate, person-to-person situations, often lacking diplomacy that comes with maturity and experience.
Garden Party Barbie
Helena's mom Evelyn was an award winning gardener, and Helena has definitely learned a thing or two about creating and maintaining a garden herself. It's not something she's particularly interested in, but it's a skill she's got and hey, her abilities certainly provide her a way to make sure anything she plants will flourish.
High School Sucks Barbie
Helena has had a pretty decent upper middle class high school education, which provides her a general knowledge of traditional academic subjects including English, math, science, social studies, history, basic PC use, and two years of Spanish that she mostly slept through.
Get Your Groove On Barbie
Helena's a decent singer and dancer. She took ballet as a kid, and has sung in a couple of talent shows. She's not particularly interested in being an entertainer, but could concievably win a karaoke contest and won't embarrass herself on the dance floor at a club.
Psychic Defense Barbie
While Helena has no Evolved ability that allows her to resist psychic invasion, the combination of Peter Petrelli's casual and careless scans of her mind, techniques learned from Claude Rains in how to resist, ample time in Moab spent with nothing more to do than meditate, and the continued psychic invasion of her mind by Agent Verse have provided Helena with the means to make it more difficult (but not impossible) for her mind to be probed and influenced. If she is aware of the invasion, she can and will employ any technique in her arsenal, whether it's visualizing a wall, repeatedly singing ABBA lyrics, or using physical stimulus to keep herself alert. On one occasion her subconscious even triggered a thought-form that expelled Agent Verse from her mind, however that has only happened once and may never happen again.
Rev Your Engine Barbie
Helena's father is a car salesman, and though she's not a car nut, she can pretty much drive anything on four wheels, whether it's an auto or a stick shift. She's also had lessons from Elvis in how to drive a motorcycle. As to maintenance, she knows more than the average person, like changing her tire and checking and changing her oil. Under Conrad's supervision she's also learned how to hotwire a car.
Smack My Bitch Up Barbie
Initially Helena's self-defense training was nothing more than scrappy, messy fighting with an emphasis on being able to run away, learned from her time as a runaway on the streets of New York and later by accepting any techniques or moves that members of PARIAH were willing to teach her, along with some simple lessons in the principle of how to point a gun and shoot it. Since then, she's received instruction from Hana, whose Mossad training focuses on Krav Maga techniques, and Claude, whose favorite pasttime is beating on his students with sticks, which Helena in turn learned to use out of necessity. The end result is that she still primarily fights to get away, or if necessary, try to put down her opponent as swiftly as possible. She can be expected to hold her own in a street fight or a prison yard brawl, but a seasoned professional can put her on the floor with relative ease.
Top Chef Barbie
Helena knows how to cook. Her mom's garden has given her a knack for spices, and after her mom died and before her dad got re-married, Helena was the one making sure that dinner was put on the table. It's not like it's hard - anyone can follow recipe instructions, right? Actually, cooking is something Helena enjoys, but these days she doesn't exactly have access to gourmet ingredients. Uh oh, Spaghetti-Oh's!
