Kate stood leaning against the kitchen counter of the Crow's facility waiting for the pot of coffee to finish brewing. It was late afternoon and she was hoping one last cup would get her through the rest of the day. She had successfully spent the day dodging Sophie and not falling asleep while reviewing the mundane weekly case summaries. It helped that she refused to sit down long enough to melt into a chair. She had just closed the case file she was reading when Paulie rushed in.

"Oh! There you are. Did you hear?"

Kate looked up from the folder in obvious annoyance. "I swear, if one more person asks me that question without an ounce of context, I will litera-"

"They found Duela Dent's hideout," Paulie continued quickly, wishing he hadn't been tasked with telling Kate.

"And?" Kate asked, feigning disinterest while secretly begging Paulie to spill every detail he knew. This would be the first sign of Duela Dent in weeks, and the only lead they had on Dr. Butler since their efforts had been stagnated by Batwoman's failed attempts the night before.

"It's just… well, this will be Sophie's first raid," Paulie continued. "And she's a bit nervous… and I just thought you should know."

The mention of Sophie sent a cloud over Kate as she stared back at him in confusion. She had done nothing to suggest to Paulie her interest in Duela Dent, Sophie Moore, or Crow task force activity.

"And why do I care?"

"Well, also because of the audit," Paulie continued, as if remembering the legitimate reason for his striking up a conversation with Kate. "The board is to be advised of any use of weaponry in advance of Crow activity. Since you're the day-to-da-"

"Right, sure. I'll let them know. What's the timeline?" Kate replied, understanding now that Paulie was just playing messenger to Sophie. The added commentary about Sophie's nerves were quickly forgotten.

"Plans are to assemble by 17:30 with the first squad out and onsite by 18:00 to set up perimeter with strike thirty minutes after."

"Fine. Have a copy of the strategy on my desk by 17:00."

"But that's in ten minutes," Paulie replied.

"Is that a problem?"

"Uhm, no, ma'am," he said, quickly turning to leave.

"And Paulie?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Don't ever call me 'ma'am' again."

She lingered a moment longer, waiting for Paulie to leave the kitchen before reacting. Forgetting the coffee, she immediately made for her office, dialing Luke's number in the process. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hey Luke, you remember that property over in Kubrick District?" Kate asked cryptically as she reached her office. Her and Luke had established a set of key phrases for this exact scenario. "I think we should schedule another viewing. How quickly can you get to the office?"


"This looks good. I'd rather be conservative and safe than screw it up," Sophie said over the phone. A knock on her door made her look up and see Paulie waiting at the threshold. "Great, keep me posted," she continued, waving him over and setting the receiver back onto the stand. "What's up?"

"Just letting you know I've just sent the report over to Kate. She said she'd forward it onto the board"

"Right."

"Anything else?"

"Yea, actually, can you message her to come to my office?"

"Oh…" Paulie paused, "I would…"

"But?"

"She's just left for the day."

Sophie glanced at the clock with annoyance, noting the time. Of course Kate would choose today to skip out early. Sophie was juggling a million and one things and was worried she had overlooked something in the Dent plan. As much as she hated to admit it, she also knew the one person who she could ask to find a flaw was Kate, and she had just left the building.

"Fine," Sophie replied.

"Do you want me to call her back in?"

"No, we'll run with what we have."


The site of Dent's hideout was just north of Miller Harbor and was known for its rows of historic buildings, but a recent bubble of increased crime had made the neighborhood less than lucrative. It meant buildings shuttered and vandalism grew. It was rampant with homeless who had nowhere else to turn; after all, for as much as there was a danger of being mugged, it was one of the few areas of town that people could flock to for shelter. The abandoned buildings were a dime a dozen, and it was often the case that one or two people could reign over an entire building as their own. It was a small irony when compared to the small footprints of apartment buildings families actually paid rent for in the heart of the city.

Sophie had arrived with the second squad, finalizing the last of the required documentation to approve the raid. It was an administrative task Sophie had never dealt with previously, and the city audit only added to the tediousness. Paper after paper of authorization required her signature, and at one point she wondered if she'd even make it to the site in time for the event.

With fifteen minutes to spare, Sophie finally rolled onto the site. She had done a cursory review of the perimeter, designating confirmation of the far edges to a handful of Crows. Sophie was just navigating back to her operation point and radioing final commands when she caught something out of the corner of her eye that stopped her in her tracks. She cut off her radio and stepped toward the red-headed figure.

"What are you doing here?!" Sophie whispered sharply.

"You thought I'd miss the fun?" Batwoman replied from the shadows.

Sophie glanced around; dusk was lingering and provided a shade of darkness, but she was still worried that someone might see them together.

"This is a controlled raid. I don't need you running interference and jeopardizing it."

"Fair. Except I've got intel that says GCPD has issued a shoot-on-sight order."

"I've superseded that order," Sophie reasoned defensively. She didn't know how Batwoman knew about it, but it explained her presence.

"And you think your team will back down?"

"What are you suggesting?" Sophie accused, feeling her authority challenged.

"I don't doubt your integrity, Sophie. It's Jacob Kane's allies I don't trust."

Sophie fell silent at this. She could argue this point, but deep down she knew Batwoman wasn't wrong. There was an obvious pocket of Crows who were less than happy to find out Jacob was benched. It had made Sophie wary to include them on the night's roster, but the truth was that she didn't even know how far-reaching that group was within the Crow task force. She realized that instead of waiting for them to disappoint with their trigger-happy ways, Batwoman might be a worthwhile option. Especially if they planned on using Dent to get any information out of her about Dr. Butler.

"So what do you propose? I can't just have you running alongside my team to get to Duela first. You're still enemy number one to half these guys."

"My first concern is civilian casualties. I don't trust your Crows to distinguish between Dent and an innocent bystander. Give me a chance to survey the building; we can deal with Duela after that."

Sophie hesitated. This was her first big raid as Lead Crow, and she needed to get a win. On the other hand, she knew any casualty would be considered a loss. She weighed the chances of her team slipping up with the odds of losing Duela to a delay. The entire building was surrounded, and unlike last time, they coordinated with city plans to check for any underground routes. She was confident they were well-positioned if she tried to flee.

"How long do you need?"

"How long can I get?"

She glanced at her watch and saw it turn to 18:23. They were synced to start at 18:30 sharp, but a few minute delay wasn't uncommon.

"I can give you twelve."

Twelve minutes wasn't a long time - Kate would have to hurry to cover the entire building. Fortunately she had Luke already scanning the building for hot spots.

"We can work with that. I only see three spots: two huddled together and one loner. I'd bet my dream home that the loner is Duela," came Luke's voice in her ear. "Let's get the two out first then we can focus on Duela."

"Ok," she said, intending her response for both Sophie's offer and Luke's intel. She unholstered her grappling hook, and took aim.

"Dent or no Dent, just make sure you're out in time. We're going to canvas quickly, and I don't want you in the crossfire," Sophie added.

Batwoman fired her hook, "Twelve minutes. In and out - got it," Kate smirked, noting Sophie's concern for her as she ascended to the third floor with a slight bittersweetness. Kate had worried she wouldn't be able to face Sophie given last night's events, but the significance of the situation had rid her of that fear. Instead, she was able to stay focused; lives were at risk and nothing could interfere with that.

"I suppose we can tally one under the 'good' column," Luke teased in Kate's ear, also noting Sophie's comment. Kate rolled her eyes as she unhinged the hook. "Good thing we started that pool - looks like I'm going to be coming into some money," he continued, referring to the wager they'd made over Sophie's allegiance the night before.

"Are you going to tell me something useful or giggle in my ear like a schoolgirl until the Crows raid this place?"

"Right, sorry."


"Hey, babe," came a whisper from behind Sophie. She jumped in surprise before twisting around to find Renee had snuck up behind her. She watched her break out in laughter at Sophie's surprise.

"How long have you been there?" Sophie accused, hoping Renee hadn't caught sight of her talking to Batwoman.

"Damn, tense much?"

"You're not at your post," Sophie accused, scanning the surrounding area with heightened nervousness. "What if Duel-"

"It's fine. Paulie's there," she smiled, pulling Sophie into the shadows where Batwoman had been standing a minute before. "And I wanted to see you," she continued, leaning in to kiss Sophie.

"What? No, Renee, this is serious. We are about to raid a building - I can't have holes in the canvas," Sophie insisted, stepping back.

Renee cocked her head to the side, a bewildered smile on her face. "You have half the task force surrounding the building. There are more Crows here for this one take down than would be tasked to a Knight's game with 20,000 in attendance. You need to relax, babe," she said, closing the space between her and Sophie. She put her hands on Sophie's arms to comfort her. "Everything is going to go exactly as planned."


"So what's the plan?"

"Well, thought we'd go save some lives to start, then celebrate with a drink back at my place," Luke joked.

"Your place? I think you mean my place. You know? The one with floor to ceiling windows, gorgeous unfinished wa-"

"Well, I meant the batcave, but we can debate that later. If you look to your left you should see a set of stairs. You can take that one floor up."

"I see them," Kate responded, running to a set of egress stairs located in the central core of the building. "Although you could have told me to aim for the fourth floor," she muttered under her breath.

"I heard that, and it would have ruined your moment with Ms. Moore," he continued to tease ignorantly. "Ten minutes."

"You do remember lives are at stake, right?" Kate accused, noting Luke's suggestive tone with a small cloud of disappointment.


"Stand down till five past," Sophie directed over the radio. "Rescan and position; act on my 'go'."

"Aren't you excited? Your first big case as Lead Crow is to take down your very first case as a rookie," Renee chimed in. "That's like, what movies are made of: the rookie cop who, after years on the force is promoted to detective and, as her first case, she's faced with the deja vu of her first and biggest opponent."

But Sophie wasn't listening. There was an unusual amount of silence on the line for her liking. She had been worried going into the night that the task force hadn't bought into her being Lead Crow yet. Resistance was expected - especially since most of the Crows were men and ten years her senior. Her time as Jacob's second in command had taken a while for the team to adjust to, but they eventually all came around and, if push came to shove, she believed they'd be there for her. Still, the lack of usual chatter and banter gave her pause, and the lingering worry about their willingness to act on her commands remained.

"Sophie… Sooophie?"

"Would you stop? I'm trying to lis-"

"Sophie, enough. You've done this like a hundred times, right?" Renee interrupted. "What are you worried about? She's just one girl. You literally couldn't screw this up if you tried."

Sophie looked at Renee. She was a bubble of never ending optimism and energy. "You're right," Sophie sighed.

"I know I am," Renee said, breaking into a grin as she closed the space between her and Sophie.


"I can't see them," Kate whispered over the mic.

"You're almost there. Two doors down on your right," Luke said, referencing the old plans he'd just pulled up

"This place is a labyrinth. Remind me to gut our floor plans of this many walls," Kate remarked. The old buildings were riddled with hallways and nooks that made tracking someone difficult. On two occasions she had already run into a deadend. "How's time?"

"Just over nine minutes."

Kate reached the door, knocking on it to announce herself before pulling it open.

"Anyone in here?" she called. A sound of shuffling in the corner caught her attention, and she noted two bright eyes wide with terror appeared from behind a blanket. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a little boy. "I'm here to help. I need to get you out of here before a bunch of bad men arrive."

"Are - are you Batman?"

Kate hesitated, "Well, not exactly. But I'm a friend of his, and he wants to make sure you get out of here safely."

The little boy uncurled from the corner, a trust building in his eyes. He looked just old enough to have remembered a time when Batman was a symbol of hope for the city. "Will you help my mom, too? She's not feeling so good."

"Eight minutes, Kate," came Luke's voice.

It was then that Kate noticed the makeshift bed next to the boy held another form - this one unconscious by the looks of her. She bent down and tried waking her. The woman responded groggily.

"What's wrong with her?" Kate asked the little boy.

"She calls it cancer," the boy said simply.

Kate sighed. "What's your name, kid?"

"Tony."

"All right Tony, I need you to do me a favor. Can you take the lead while I help your mom up? Will you do that for me?"

"Yea!" Tony exclaimed, taking Kate's request as an opportunity to show his courage.

"Great, give me a second, and I'll meet you in the hall."


"You should get back to your station. If someone sees us…"

"No one is going to see us. They're all getting ready to watch the fireworks," Renee joked.

"The what?"

"I must say, initially I was a little disappointed when I heard, but I'll forgive your methods this one time on account of nerves. I wish you had told me sooner so I could've talked you out of it, but, too late now: any minute till lift-off!" Renee exclaimed, throwing her arms around Sophie.


"You still have just over six minutes, Kate. Once you get to the ground level, there's an alley you can access - I don't see any sign of Crows over there," Luke advised.

"Strange," Kate muttered. She had expected Sophie to canvas the entire area, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She was in the stairwell now, supporting the weight of Tony's mom on her shoulder as they slowly made their way down. Tony was taking the steps more quickly, pausing at each landing for Kate to catch up.

"Hey, kid, do me another favor, yea? Just keep going - I'll catch up," Kate panted, getting frustrated by the added stress of Tony's doe-eyes. "You know this area well, right?"

Tony nodded enthusiastically.

"Great. Go wait in the alley for us. There's a clear path to it. Can you do that for me?"

"Yea!" he replied, turning to bolt ahead.

Kate pressed ahead, hearing the sound of Tony's feet on the stairs fade away. A clunk identified he'd reached the exit door.

"What do you mean 'watch the fireworks,' Renee?"

"Oh, come on babe, I wasn't going to miss out on watching with you."

"What are you talking about? The team is on strict ord-"

"Hold up! 5 - 4 -"

"Renee, wh-"

"3-"


"Just over five minutes, Ka-"

But Luke's voice was drowned out by a series of loud bangs overhead. Kate paused mid-step, looking up to identify the source of the noise and prepare to take cover. Seeing nothing, she strained her ears. An eerie silence pierced the air before a low, growing rumble took hold and began shaking the structure.

"Oh n-"


Minutes that felt like hours passed in the dark. Luke was frantically trying to pull up surveillance feeds. Something had happened, and every feed he had around the site was out. The last thing he heard was three loud bangs, a growing rumble, and Kate muttering a string of expletives before the connection dropped out.

The lingering silence that filled the batcave left Luke half-paralyzed in fear. He assumed an impact to the batsuit had severed the feed, and he was trying to swap over the suits back-up communication line. It was less reliable for communicating, but a resilient alternative. After a few seconds of tinkering, a hiss and pop shot through the speakers.

"Kate? Can you hear me? This is Luke. Tell me if you can hear me." He paused for a moment, listening to the white noise when a familiar voice cut in:

"What the actual f-"

"Kate?!" Luke had jumped from his chair, sending it flying as he heard Kate's voice echo through the batcave. "Kate, are you ok? What's happening?"

The sound of shifting debris drowned out Kate's words. "I can't hear you Kate. Say it again?"

"I said they blew it up."

"Blew what up?" Luke asked, bemused.

"The building," came Kate's voice again cracking before breaking into a cough.

"They what?" he followed, trying to understand. "Are-are you still inside? I've got no read on the suit."

"Honestly? Not sure. The last thing I remember was…" a moment of white noise passed over the speakers, "yea, I'm stuck in the stairwell," Kate responded. "I think it's on the edge of the building. I can see the sky through a part, so - so I might be able to push my way out," she speculated out loud. "Assuming I don't move something that causes a cave-in…"

Her voice sounded shallow but echoed slightly against the hard surfaces surrounding her. Luke was having a hard time understanding if the softness of her voice was because of the back-up radio or not. If she was in the stairwell, it meant the concrete walls had held after the explosion. Luke sighed with temporary relief.

After another minute of shuffling sounds of concrete shifting, Luke was pulled out of his chair by two words:

"Oh, no," Kate let slip.

She fell silent as more shuffling flooded over the speakers. Luke stared intently at them in wait "Kate?" Luke asked after a minute.

"Hang on," Kate said. Luke heard a grunt as the sound of more rubble shifting came through the speakers. "This is gonna take a minute," she continued through heaves. "But… you should... call Mary; we're gonna need her help."


Sophie stared at the exposed sky where the abandoned building stood moments before. People around her were rushing back and forth, shouting directions, but all Sophie could do was watch in confusion. Her entire body shook in fear as she glanced at her watch: it had just turned 8:05.

"Sophie? Sophie, we need to get back - they're saying there might have been a ruptured gas line," came Renee's voice. She was at Sophie's side, pulling her toward a Crow's armoured vehicle, but everything about the experience felt distant to Sophie: voices were hazy and her vision blurred together.

What happened? was the only thought racing through her head.

"Come on, we need to get that cut looked at," Renee continued. "We should have been farther back."

"Farther… wh-what?" Sophie asked, looking around at the scene. Four armoured vehicles were a block down from the site, and they were all packed with the Crow task force. She stared in relief and confusion: they were all safe, but how?

Bright lights from fire trucks arriving lit up the sky. She recognized one of their on-staff paramedics approaching her and felt Renee force her to sit down. They engaged in a conversation that Sophie couldn't hear. She could only stare back at the pile of rubble - a sense of dread growing in her. What have I done?


"I swear dude, if this is a prank, I'm gon-"

"No, nope, not a prank. This is real. I work with Batwoman, and she needs you to be at the clinic, like, now-ish."

Mary paused, trying to decide if this mystery voice could be trusted. "Why?"

"Be-because… there's an emergency," Luke stuttered. He had set up a machine to disguise his voice, but he still felt like Mary would find out from his obvious lack of composure.

"So what's the emergency?" Mary continued skeptically.

"A building fell on Batwoman."

"And you expect her to just walk to a clinic after that?" Mary asked, starting to doubt this voice's story.

"No, I mean - she's fine. At least… at least I think she's fine. She's got someone with her who needs help. She's trying to get out now and honestly I don't have time to explain this to you. Can you do it or not? Because if not then I need to find someone else who ca-"

"Oh, yea, guy, I'm already here. I just wanted to make sure it was legit. I'm still locking my doors in case you're just some weirdo. If this is really a Batwoman thing, she'll know how to get around that."


"Good news. Mary's already at the clinic," came Luke's voice through the headset. The reception was shaky, and Kate wasn't sure if the long pauses of silence were because it kept breaking in and out or because there was nothing to hear.

"Great. If I can just get this last bit moved, I'll have enough space to-" Kate paused, a wave of pain shooting through her side. She steadied herself against a wall and took a slow, steady breath.

"Kate?"

"This reception is really terrible. We need to find a better back-up for next time," Kate said, blaming a breakdown in radio for her pause as she gripped her ribcage.

"You mean you're planning on getting trapped under a building again?" Luke joked back. Kate couldn't help but chuckle at this which sent another wave of pain through her chest.

"I've heard sirens the last few minutes. Can you check what that's about. I need 3-4 more minutes to clear this, but I can't just waltz through a flock of GCPD, or worse, Crows."

"On it."


"Sophie, you need to slow down. I don't understand what you're saying. What do you mean you didn't know about the explosives?" Renee asked Sophie, her face etched with concern. "How is that possible? We all knew. I almost didn't even come because of it. Someone had to have authorized that - I thought it was you."

Sophie was trying to piece together the events with Renee's comments. "You knew this was going to happen?"

"Yea, Sophie, why do you think I came to find you? Paulie was rounding everyone up when I-"

"Paulie?"

"Yea. He was the one who suggested I find you and get you to a safe distance. He thought you were too close. Sophie, you don't look very good. Doc thinks you're in shock, and you've got a minor concussion. I really think you need to lie down for a minute, babe."

"What about Duela? Were there any casualties?" Sophie asked, ignoring Renee's suggestion. She had been pulled into the back of an ambulance the moment it arrived, and she'd received no updates about the site.

"Let's just say, if Duela was in there, she's sitting under four floors of concrete."


"Ok, so do you want the good news or bad news first?"

"Is there a difference? Isn't it all bad news when you're stuck under a building?"

"I… yes, that's - that's fair. The bad news is that there are about two dozen cops and firefighters out there and a leak from the explosion punctured a gas pipe."

"I really hope that sentence didn't include your good news," Kate muttered.

"The good news is that the gas line has been cut off, but they're keeping everyone from entering the site until it's dissipated."

"How close can you get my bike to the site?"

"I've already moved it to about 30 feet due west of you down the alley."

"Got it."

"What else do you need?"

"For you to stop talking so I can think."


"No, she's not talking to anyone right now."

"Renee, this isn't up to me. GCPD is going to make their own statement if Sophie doesn't."

Sophie had refused to leave the site after the gas leak was reported. They moved to a safe distance per GCPD requests, but she wasn't willing to leave until she could see for herself whether Batwoman would emerge. She'd scanned the skyline for any sight of her along the rooftops to no avail.

"What's going on?" Sophie asked, approaching the heated discussion between Renee and Paulie.

"The GCPD are going to say the explosion was unauthorized and an act of domestic terrorism if we don't make a statement taking responsibility," Paulie said quickly, ignoring the glares from Renee. "We need you to go out there and claim it as officially sanctioned by the Crow's, or we're over. The City will assume we acted in an uncoordinated manner and shut us down."

"It wasn't coordinated," Sophie said simply.

"Sophie, what do you mean it wasn't coordinated? You had to have signed off on this. Crow task force only has access to explosives with written approval from the Lead Crow," Paulie said, his face riddled with confusion.

"Well I'm Lead Crow and I didn't authorize this."

"Then who did?" Renee asked. There was a slight accusation in her tone. "Because I watched half a dozen Crows wire it up, and nothing you've said so far makes any sense."

Sophie fell silent at this. No one could gain access to the stock of military-grade explosives used without her approval.

"Sophie, the Commissioner is waiting. What am I telling him?" Paulie asked, his fear palpable.

"If I go out there and say it was the Crows, but not authorized by me…"

"They'll shut us down before sunrise," Paulie finished

"And if we say it wasn't by us…"

"There's too much evidence that it was," Renee chimed in.

"I need to think," Sophie said suddenly. "Can you stall for another minute?" she asked, looking up at both Renee and Paulie.


"Maybe, but be quick," Paulie said, moving to leave.

"I'll come with you - having GCPD with you might get him to reconsider," Renee said, following him. She glanced back at Sophie to give her a reassuring smile.

Kate felt the fresh night air cut across her face as she successfully pushed the last block out of her path. She took a slow breath, looking up at the night sky. It was dimly lit by distant, blinking red and blue lights, confirming Luke's intel that all law enforcement had abandoned the site until the air had cleared.

"I'm picking up nothing, Kate. No heat signals - you're in the clear," Luke said as Kate returned to the narrow pocket and retrieved Tony's unconscious mom.

Kate looked down at the woman and sighed, anticipating the shots of pain that were coming. This is going to hurt.


Sophie knew she wouldn't have long to weigh her options. She glanced again over at the collapsed building, wanting more than anything to go investigate the rubble herself. But she also dreaded what that might find if she did…

Concentrate, Sophie, she thought, scolding herself. She paused and took a breath to focus herself before rattling off the information she knew: the Crows had planned a raid to capture Duela, but instead of going as planned, explosives were set off at the top of the hour. There were two obvious conflicts with that: first, it ignored her order that explosives not be used for any future raid. This also meant someone had accessed the high-grade explosives without following the proper protocol. Second, it ignored her order to delay the raid until five minutes past the hour. This latter offense made Sophie's stomach churn. There was still no sign of Batwoman.

There was also no chance the explosives didn't come from the Crows. Renee confirmed as much by admitting she'd watched a team wire them up. Who they were, exactly, would need to come later. Right now, Sophie had a choice to make. If she admitted the truth - that the explosion was unsanctioned, it would guarantee the Crows get shut down. An organization that isn't following it's leader's order is no better than the GCPD. On the other hand, if she publicly took credit for the bombing, she'd be no better than Jacob - worse, even, because she'd have Batwoman's blood on her hands.

She stared at Paulie and Renee fighting to delay the Commissioner, but she could read by his body language that his patience had run out. She took a deep breath, knowing what she needed to do.


"Mary?" came a voice from the corridor. Mary had been pacing back and forth for the last thirty minutes weighing whether to take the mystery caller seriously or not. Hearing Batwoman's voice down the hall sent a wave of relief through her that she had waited around to see it through.

She rushed out and stalled slightly at what she saw. Mystery man hadn't given much information, but a child was not something she anticipated.

"Can you grab something?" Kate asked through clenched teeth, struggling to keep the mother supported.

"Right! Sorry," Mary rushed, running out of view for a moment before returning with a wheelchair. She helped Batwoman place the woman into the chair and spun her around toward the clinic space.

Kate exhaled with relief leaning against the wall in exhaustion and pain. She didn't know the status of the mother, but she saw getting her here as a small victory given the night's circumstances. She watched Tony chase after Mary and his mother with worry. After making it to the alley, she found him near a dumpster, tear-stained and frantic. When he caught sight of his mother and Batwoman, he immediately ran toward them, trying to help Kate.

"Can you help me lift her onto the bed?" Mary shouted from the other room. "And lock that door behind you!"


"Kate? Can you hear me?" Luke said quietly in Kate's ear. He had stayed silent until Mary was busy caring for the mother. With the exception of explaining how to enable the sidecar on the bat bike for the kid, he'd had little communication with Kate after she left the site. Since then, news reports were circulating that had him confused and struggling to find the words to tell Kate.

"Mhm," Kate said softly. He could tell she was still in Mary's presence by her volume. "What's up?"

Luke sighed, running his hands through his hair in frustration. "Just… I was just wondering how much longer you think you'll be. There's a lot of radio chatter tonight."

He heard Kate sigh, and then a moment later, Mary spoke:

"She suffered a blow to the head. She'll recover just fine from that, but her kid is right about the cancer. I felt lumps when examining her. If I had to guess she's never gotten treatment," Mary said, coming through the speakers. "I'll keep them both under observation for the next day or two, but a long-term plan should be set up. I don't exactly have state of the art radiation treatment here."

"Thanks, Mary," Luke heard Kate respond.

"Now, about you," Mary continued.

"You? What about you, Kate?" Luke interrupted into Kate's ear. He hadn't been able to refresh any information from the batsuit but had assumed Kate was fine given she had just moved half a wall and carried a woman to Mary's.

"It's nothing," she replied to both of them.

"Kate," Luke pressed.

"Oh is that right? All right then, prove it. Take a deep breath for me."

If he weren't so concerned about Kate he'd have laughed at the no-nonsense manner with which Mary treated Batwoman. Silence radiated for a moment, and Luke imagined the two having a staredown when he heard Kate let out a soft cry of pain.

"That's what I thought. Which side?" Mary continued.

"Right," Kate responded, her annoyance with Mary clear in her tone.

"And I'm guessing you won't let me take a look." Kate's lack of response was answer enough. "Fine. Best case, it's just bruising. Worst case, you've broken half your ribs and if you breathe too hard you'll puncture a lung."

"Kate, what are you doing? You need to get checked out," Luke hissed in her ear.

"It's just some light bruising," Kate responded, ignoring Luke's voice.

Mary sighed loudly in annoyance, "I can give you some pain killers for it, but I'm really not comfortable with you being unmonitored." After another moment, she raised her voice and said "Hey, mystery man, if it gets worse, make sure Batwoman gets checked out, capeesh?"

Both Luke and Kate fell silent at this.

"Oh, come on, you're telling me you have this super duper awesome suit and there's no headset in it?"


"Care for that drink?" Luke asked, pulling a bottle off the shelf. It was one of four personal effects Kate had brought along with the furniture.

"Was there something worth celebrating?" Kate responded, her eyes closed as she lay back into the couch.

"I mean, you did save two lives tonight. That counts for something," Luke said, grabbing two glasses and joining her on the couch. "And, there was that baller foreshadowing from last night. Pique first season stuff if I do say so myself."

Kate opened her eyes just long enough to translate her annoyance at his remarks. Luke stared back at Kate, resting uncomfortably against the couch. He took his time to uncork the bottle and pour out the glasses, weighing his next words carefully.

"I don't really know how else to say this, so I'm just going to say it," he began, handing her a glass.

"Sophie authorized the bombing," Kate said for him.

Luke paused, waiting to see if she'd say more. Instead, she stared ahead blankly before bringing the glass to her lips.

"How did you…"

"The nine o'clock news. Mary had it on when I arrived."

"I'm sorry, Kate," Luke offered. He had spent the last hour trying to come up with the words to say, but nothing could address the feeling of betrayal he was sure Kate was feeling.

"Yea, well she'll be the one sorry when she realizes her plan to get rid of Batwoman back-fired," Kate countered before knocking back the rest of her drink. "It also means you better pay up, because that's a hell of a lot of tallies in the 'bad' column."

Luke wasn't ready to give in so easily. "Do you really think she meant t-"

"What I think, is that I'm going to have another drink, and play Smash until these pills kick in," Kate said, leaning forward with a cringe as she refilled her glass. Luke watched her with concern. He wasn't surprised by her dismissiveness, but he had hoped there'd be more discussion. "You in?" She asked, reaching with another wince to turn on the console.

He begrudgingly leaned forward and grabbed a controller. "But this time I get to be Kirby."


a/n: Hi all,

A huge hippo-sized ginormous thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter. You are the absolute best, and I love love love hearing what you think of the story.

By no stretch of the imagination do I consider myself a 'good' writer, but it's been a curiosity of mine for years and having the chance to experiment with putting ideas to digital paper has been more fun that I could have imagined. If you've stuck with the story this far, I offer my most sincere thanks as I continue fumbling my way through the threads and ideas. I've recently reread the first few chapters to recall/maintain continuity and found myself itching to tweak and tinker them now that I know the characters a bit better. Have no fear: I won't be doing that - especially since you're all already here. Instead I'll keep the story and characters evolving through future chapters. Be on the look out for another Point Rock throwback following this chapter.

Many, many thanks,

EQT.95