11. Evidence

"You do know how to shoot a person."

"I do, why?" Sophie sat down at the table and sipped her coffee. The first night in many years she had shared a room with Kate. Not that anything had happened as both had stayed in their beds and when Sophie got up to take Kodah out for a pee break in the early morning, Kate was asleep. In exchange Kate was gone when Sophie got up and so was Kodah. Her puppy had joined Kate for her morning walk through the garden, checking if everything was all right.

"These two guys, you could have seriously injure them, instead you only damaged their kneecap - permanently."

"Did this make things easier for you?"

"To save their life, yes. They'll limb forever."

"Sorry, not sorry."

"Neither would I be."

"Where is everybody?"

"Julia is asleep, Jacob is working with Luke on the electronics you brought back, Kate is outside and we're here, getting ready for another boring day in Gotham. Oh no wait, that was somebody else's life."

"Yeah," Sophie laughed. Their life was not boring, she wished it was a little bit more boring, unfortunately, it didn't look like it was going to. "I met Batwoman last night."

"You did?"

"Yes, she was at Gonzales's house, helped me take down the guys while Kate was dealing with a German shepherd."

"It's always good to have backup. Did you guys talk?"

"Not really, there was no time. She threw Gonzales out of the window and when I walked into the house, she was gone. It's not like there are not enough other criminals on the run, she has a lot to do."

"She does, yes. So, you didn't…reconnect?"

"No," Sophie sighed, "I miss her and I want to tell her I came out to my mother. This might not make a difference to her, there is no guarantee is wants me in her life because I'm out. I mean, she had a couple of good points about us…how it could work…if it does and I haven't thought about it really." One statement came to her mind. "Do you think she lives in a cave?"

"A cave?" Mary raised her brows.

"Yes. She mentioned something about taking me to her cave, when she told me we can't date because of who we are. Or what we are not."

"I don't think she lives in a cave, she might have a basement to hide her equipment and her bike, but not a cave. There are no caves in Gotham and she has to live somewhere in Gotham or people had seen her riding her bike to the city."

Mary had a point. Batwoman must have own a house somewhere. "What do you think does she do during the day? When she is not Batwoman?"

"Sleep? Because I'd be tired if I chase criminals all night."

"I mean, how does she pay her bills." Unless she was rich she had to have some kind of job. What job could you have when you were Batwoman? Material art teacher? Security guard?

"Might be something boring, like working in an office."

"Who works in an office?" Kate and Kodah walked into the room. Kodah jumped up at Sophie's chair to greet her.

"Batwoman. Maybe. We were thinking what she does for a living," Mary said with a smile.

"She seems to be informed about crimes and criminals, a cop? A reporter?"

"Imagine the shock of your father is she is a member of the Crows," Sophie chuckled.

"I'd rather not imagine."

"At least he is not against her because she is gay."

"No, that is not his problem. He just doesn't like her, like he doesn't like Batman."

"A shame, she is a great help."

Mary coughed. "One day he might realize how good Batwoman is. Until then, we have to work with what we have and you guys have a lot."

"A lot on our plate, yes."

"We also have seven guys locked up and we have to make them talk."

"Or, we talk and see what others say about what they do," Jacob came into the room, "Luke found a way to hack into the screen at the Crows, we are going to live stream, let the others know what is going on. Most of our men are good men, I doubt they'll like what Gonzales and friends are doing." Jacob poured some coffee in his mug, "we can't stay here forever, take one after the other down. We need to keep them somewhere, they have to go to Arkham."

"We don't know who else is involved," Kate said.

"No, that is why we need to confront them, this way we see who is on our side and who isn't. And we need to reach out for GCPD, need somebody, who we can trust there."

"I hate to say this but right now I trust Alice more than anybody at GCPD and the Crows."

Sophie wanted to disagree, wanted to tell her, Alice was a psychopath, a serial killer, however, right now the Crows weren't exactly noble.

"You are not thinking about getting her out of Arkham, are you?" Jacob asked.

"No. She belongs there."

Sophie took Kate's hand and squeezed it. Obviously, this was hard on Kate, the thought of having her twin sister betrayed, that she had left her behind in Arkham, still hurt and would continue to do so for a while.

"Hello Gonzales, how did you sleep?" Sophie asked and sat down at the other side of the table.

"You were only lucky." Gonzales looked roughed up, he had bruises and a black eye. His blond hair had a smear of blood in it and a tooth was missing. Oh yes, Batwoman won big time.

"So were you, Batwoman could have killed you.

"That bitch was only lucky."

"Seems like everybody is lucky except for you. You ran out of luck. First you didn't get to kill the Commander and me, then you were taken off your new throne. I wonder who comes next, who replaces you."

"You won't live long enough to see it."

"Really? I'm not the one, who is chained to a chair. Or who needs four guards to sleep. By the way, I might have shot two of them accidentally. We don't have endless space in here so when somebody is not useful we get rid off them. And when somebody pays a lot of money to get innocent people in prison, we end this. One by one, we will get you guys and take you down."

"You have no idea what you are up against."

"Enlighten me," Sophie smiled. She'd like to know who was behind this.

"You will find out - when it's too late."

"It's never too late when you know what you are doing. Like right now, Commander Kane is live broadcasting into the Crow HQ, telling everybody what you and your friends are up to. I wonder what the loyal Crows make out of this."

For the first time she saw irritation in his eyes.

"They'll bow."

"Believe, what you want to believe. They won't bow, they will stand up and kick your guys out, kill them. And they will continue with the others at GCPD. This is going public and I doubt it will end well for you and your friends.

Oh, and by the way, Batman is back."

This got not only a surprised look but there was also fear in Gonzales's eyes. Being an asshole he might not fear Batwoman, Batman was another story. The dark knight was a legend and she knew everybody in Gotham knew what capable of.

"He's not."

"Oh, he is. You were slightly…occupied last night, you had no chance to see what he did last night. I wonder if he and Batwoman share the same cave."

"She's a dyke like you."

"Ah, you talked to Tyler, yes his ego was hurt. He suited me, he was useful and as I am second in command I'd say, I got what I wanted." This was not her, she felt bad saying these words, yet she had to say them, she couldn't show any remorse or weakness.

"You will get what you deserve."

"Oh, I'm working on that, don't worry. By the way, your basement is very interesting." She got up and smiled.

"I don't have a basement."

"Yes, you do, you told me. The shock in your eyes did. Thanks for the information, it was a hunch and you helped me with it. Looks like you are useful for something, Gonzales."

"You damn bitch, I…" The rest of his sentence was lost in the gag she put in his head. The blindfold turned his world dark and the jute sack added to it. She was done with him for now. There was a basement in his house and they had to find it.