"You didn't hear a word I just said."
"I… no. Sorry, what did you say?"
Luke sighed in exasperation. "Is this about Sophie?"
Kate waved her hand dismissively, "Luke, you don't have to wor-"
"Don't I? Because you've practically been absent all week. You know who hasn't been? Nocturna. And thanks to the Crows' remarkable ineptitude, she got away. She's increased her victim talley by three, and we're nowhere nearer finding her."
Luke slid a folder toward Kate who opened it to images snapped of the recent crime scenes. It was true Nocturna had slipped through the Crow's fingers. What was unclear was how. Kate began flipping through the files, using them as a distraction to right herself. "You're right, I'll be focused. But are we really going to give Natalia the satisfaction of still referring to her as 'Nocturna'?"
Luke shrugged with indifference.
The first victim was the son of a local millionaire whose claim to fame was setting up a failing hedge fund and cashing himself out before things went south for his clients. While the father was certainly morally questionable, it didn't mean his son deserved to be hung up to drain.
The second victim was the daughter of a fashionista. She had grown up flying the world with her mother from runway show to runway show. "'I'd rather die than be caught in last season.' Now that's a life motto," Kate observed reading from her instagram profile.
The third was unlike the others: she didn't come from money and certainly didn't subscribe to the lush life of one. Instead, she had been absorbed into the influencer culture through her own make-up tutorial channels.
"They were all found in abandoned buildings bound and drained of their blood. Except now, there are other injuries," Luke added.
"Are these facial cuts? And these victims don't fit with her earlier profiles. They seem… of a more posh class," Kate noted. "Was there any CCTV?"
"I've already reviewed it. In all three cases we see her dragging the immobile victim into a building and leaving the same way approximately an hour later."
"It says here that unlike the first set of victims, these weren't fully drained of their blood."
"That plus the topical injuries? Sounds like she's getting sloppy," Luke offered.
"Or paranoid. Anything else?"
"Yea, the abandoned warehouse locations? They're all within a two block radius of Gotham's largest nightclubs."
"At least that M.O. hasn't changed," Kate concluded. "I can't wait to sink my teeth into this one," Kate said with a smirk, reclining back into her chair.
"Don't do that," Luke said.
"Do what?"
"Say awful one-liners like this is a t.v. show or something."
Kate rolled her eyes, "fine."
"Anything?" came a restless Luke over the earpiece.
"Not yet."
"Yet? Kate, it's been two hours. This is one of tens of clubs in Gotham. Nocturna could show up at any one of these - how are you so sure this is the one?"
"Because I checked out Mary's instagram, and this is the only other club big enough and dark enough for Nocturna to slip through unnoticed."
"How is she, by the way? Mary, I mean," Luke asked.
"She seems good. Nocturna had drained a litre and a half before she was interrupted, but a blood transfusion got her up and about in no time. Fortunately Mary keeps a small blood bank at the clinic."
"That - that's great news!" Luke exclaimed.
Kate paused, skeptical of Luke's left-field interest in Mary.
"Any sight of Nocturna?" Luke followed quickly, interrupting Kate's curiosity. She smirked to herself and mentally bookmarked this conversation for another time. "She'll show. Besides, it's not like you had plans tonight anyway."
"You don't - I'll - I'll have you know that I cancelled, uh, some pretty baller plans."
"Baller plans?" Kate teased.
"W-well, th-"
"Hold it. I think we've got something. You lucky duck - guess you'll just have to tell me about your baller plans later," Kate mocked, ignoring Luke's scoffs of annoyance and narrowing her attention onto a hooded figure coming out of the rear emergency exit. "What are you up to…" she muttered, and as though on cue, the figure grabbed a loose brick to lodge the door open. She re-entered the building and, seconds later, appeared dragging a human-sized form down the alley.
"What have you got?"
"I spy a Nocturna," Kate grinned.
"What did I just say not even four hours ago? You aren't a t.v. show. That is the cheesiest shit, Kate. I am literally the only person who can hear you. Just, go save people's lives or something."
"Well that just got a little trickier," Kate commented, noticing two vans pull up to the building.
"What is it?"
"Crows."
Sophie was in the passenger seat of the second van to arrive on scene. Crow scouts had been keeping watch over clubs all over Gotham for sight of Nocturna, and a pin had directed them up town. Jacob led the team in front, and his orders were clear: capture Nocturna at any cost. The task team from her van unloaded and gathered around Sophie for instruction, and she relayed Jacob's message but cautioned them against anything brash. Just as she was about to break down the infiltration strategy, she saw Jacob's team begin unloading the back of the van - they removed six cases of explosives.
She left her team to confront Jacob, "what is this?" she demanded, pulling him aside and watching the Crows arm themselves with gear. She glared at him accusingly, "you're going to get someone killed," she hissed. "This was not part of the raid strategy."
"We agreed 'at any cost', Sophie. It's time to stop playing games - children are being murdered by a psychopath, and the city of Gotham needs someone to step in. GCPD's deep corruption means we are the only ones capable of getting the job done."
Sophie gritted her teeth, "Sir, with all due respect, this is not a plan of action that guarantees Crow or victim safety."
"Gotham is counting on us -"
"You mean Gotham's elite are counting on us," Sophie challenged. "Until big money got involved, the Crows blissfully forgot that we were responsible for Nocturna getting away the first time."
"How dare you," Jacob threatened. "Let's not forget Batwoman is the reason Nocturna hasn't been captured. If not for her involvement, she'd have been detained days ago."
Sophie knew logic wouldn't prevail against Jacob. His hatred for Batwoman had expanded beyond distrust. It had boiled over to something more, and she wouldn't be able to convince him on the steps of an abandoned warehouse.
"Just limit the explosives, sir," she said, backing away toward her team, "because my side will have none of it."
"I'm picking up twelve bodies," Luke advised as Batwoman made her way to the warehouse's rooftop.
"Twelve plus Nocturna and the victim? Or twelve including them?"
"Twelve plus - no, twelve including them."
"So there are ten Crows?"
"No, twelve Crows, plus two."
Kate sighed.
"I heard that."
Kate crouched along the parapet as Luke identified where the Crows were spreading out around the building. She found where a portion of the roof had collapsed in and approached cautiously, peering into the space for any sight of Nocturna. She listened closely for noises but only the distant sounds of the night club echoed through the night. She climbed down to the exposed rafters. Once perched, she examined the space - it was a massive warehouse, easily fifty feet tall with old, shattered industrial clerestory windows feeding moonlight into the space. Below was an open floor plan littered with old, rusting cargo shipping containers. Well this isn't helpful.
She paused, listening again for any shred of sound to identify which container Nocturna might be in. In that moment, a flurry of lights shone through the cracks of the deteriorating corrugated siding. She sighed at the Crow's lack of tact. Of course the full force would be involved now that Gotham's elite was falling victim to the attacks.
She perched a moment longer, waiting to see how the Crows might proceed before making her move. A creak from her left identified three Crows entering the space from the East, guns raised. A sound from the other side of the warehouse caught her attention. The sound came from a cargo container.
Got you. Kate thought as she began to move through the rafters toward the noise. Unfortunately the Crows had other ideas. Two simultaneous blasts shook the warehouse as the north and west entrances were blown open, and three Crows flocked through each opening toward the middle. Shouting flooded the space, echoing off the walls as the Crows spread out, clearing zones of the warehouse one at a time.
"What's happening?" Luke asked, unable to decipher the noises.
"A complication," she said as another explosion rocked the space and she identified another group of three Crows entering, "at this pace they're going to demolish this entire building."
"How can I help?"
"Find Nocturna."
"Already on it… but this feed is really lagging," Luke said. "And, hang on, this doesn't look right - you only saw one victim get pulled out of the club by Nocturna?"
Another blast forced Kate to brace against the rattling rafters, "Yes, why?"
"Because I'm reading three thermal bodies in a cargo container."
"Where?"
"Three units east of you."
Kate scanned the chaos below her: Crows were splitting up, casting a wider net searching cargo holds. Shouting was drowned out by another blast. What are they doing? Kate asked to herself, cursing the heavy-handed approach the Crows were taking. She observed them shooting tear gas canisters into cargo containers.
"Someone is going to get murdered by this murder," Kate mumbled critically.
"Really? A Crow joke?" remarked Luke, "have you no shame?"
Instead of responding, Kate attached her grappling hook to the rafters and descended onto the cargo container adjacent to where Luke had identified moments earlier. The closest batch of Crows was still at least four cargo-widths.
"What's the plan," Luke asked over the ricochettes of canisters on metal.
"Any chance the utility belt has a face mask?"
"This is the big leagues, Batwoman. Of course there's a face mask. It's on your three o'clock. The mask will deploy eye gear when you attach the base on."
"I feel like Bane," Kate commented.
"You sound like Bane."
Sophie was navigating toward a series of cargo containers when the first two blasts forced her and her two comrades to hold in place. All bark, no bite. She thought bitterly. This wasn't the first time she disagreed with Jacob's command, but this was the first time voicing her opinion made no difference. Jacob and her worked well because they balanced each other out, but recently, Jacob's use of rank to overrule her was jeopardizing the work.
"This is mad," Willis said from her left. "Er… ma'am," he followed, realising his error.
"We're all mad here," responded Paulie from Sophie's right.
"Yea, well if we weren't, we wouldn't be here," Sophie replied. "Stay covered and be diligent of your surroundings - Nocturna may be one person, but her crimes are no joke. Now, you take left, and Paulie, you go right. I'll head up the middle. We regroup in three containers."
An additional blast cued their separation. High risk situations were Sophie's bread and butter. She revelled in her ability to remain calm and focused in the face of the unknown. It's what made her a great Crow and a fantastic commander. She sidled along the edges of the containers, concealing herself against the shadowed edges. The plus side of half the squad taking aggressive tactics was that it allowed her team to slip unnoticed along the east edge.
She was coming upon her second container when a soft thud forced her to pause in place. Sophie held still, searching for sounds within her proximity over the echoes further down the building. A soft shuffle vibrated the metal of the container she leaned against. Sophie crouched down and backed up slightly, taking in the view of the entire container and came eye-to-eye with Batwoman.
Sophie lowered her gun, "What are you doing ?" she asked quietly.
"Making sure Nocturna doesn't end up getting away again. I thought I had done a pretty good job with the handoff last time, but apparently not," Batwoman replied.
"That wasn't my fault," Sophie quickly began, "Jaco-"
"I wasn't blaming you," Batwoman responded simply. Sophie stared in surprised. "She's in there," Batwoman continued, nodding toward the container on Sophie's right. "But be careful - I'm picking up a third body."
Sophie nodded in understanding and waited for Paulie to round the corner at their meet point. She flagged him over and he made a motion to the distance to Willis. The two made their way over and gathered at the doors. Willis gripped the handle and used his full weight to swing it open. The three directed their guns through the opening, shouting for the occupants to freeze, but the shouts quickly turned to confusion: their lights shone on a limp form lay in the middle of the unit, but the unit was otherwise empty. Willis and Paulie immediately entered to address the victim, but Sophie remained to confront Batwoman. She turned around and scanned the adjacent cargo tops only to discover she was gone.
"What do you mean she vanished?" Kate demanded, now on the building's rooftop. "She was cornered!"
"I don't know; the system isn't a direct live feed. I told you it's been lagging."
"How much of a head start does she have?"
"Maybe four minutes?"
"That doesn't make any sense. The Crows would have had every entrance blocked off in that time."
"Hang on… damn, I should have realised sooner. Kate, there's a crawl space under this warehouse."
"A crawl space? For a warehouse designed to house tons of weight in cargo containers?"
"It was a Gotham initiative from years ago: geothermal heating and cooling. This structure has a labyrinth of crawl space that collects naturally heated and cooled air."
"For what? English, please."
"It probably gets sourced into an adjacent building that needs active heating or cooling."
"Can you figure out what building it's connected to?"
"It'll take a minute."
"Nocturna can't get away again, Luke."
Seconds turned to minutes, and Kate was getting restless, "Anything?" she pressed. She was now observing the Crows searching the building's perimeter, obviously realising that Nocturna had escaped.
"Databases aren't showing me plans, and you're too far outside of Wayne Tech's reach - the lag is making this impossible. I can review the footage once it's buffered, but I don't see anything on the live feed."
Kate exhaled sharply in frustration. "And you're sure there were two plus the victim?" Kate asked, "or was that a blip as well?"
"That definitely wasn't a blip. She must be working with someone. Unless there was a second victim, but that seems doubtful. You only saw her bring out one, and she wouldn't have left another one in there alive for hours. I'm backing out the footage from earlier in the day now."
Kate was pacing the rooftop looking down at the Crows. An ambulance had now arrived and was bringing out the victim on a gurney. "At least we got there in time to stop this one," Kate muttered, keeping an eye out for another gurney. When one didn't come, she began pondering how Nocturna found an ally.
"Yes, there was definitely a second. Two thermal bodies have been using that warehouse since at least this afternoon. We can tap into surrounding CCTV and see if there's anything to work off of."
"Good. Keep me posted on anything you find. I'll keep watch in case anything comes out of the Crow search. I'll be back by dawn."
