Synopsis: Having successfully reverse-engineered the Desert Rose cure from a sample of Mary's blood, Saifiyah proceeds with the next phase of her master plan by creating a deadly virus. In order to test its effectiveness, she uses a small area of Gotham as a testing ground; forcing Team Batwoman to try to contain the damage and keep the virus from spreading. All while the clock ticks down for Mary.
A van rolled up into a small area of Gotham that had seen better days and mostly populated people down on their luck in life. Unfortunately it was about to get worse, as the doors flung up in a back alley way a few people in hazmat suits walked out, including Knife.
"Timer is set for 5 minuites." One of them expressed.
Knife nodded, with a bit of hesitation. "Start it once you're in the building, the vents will work. Make sure this area is secured, 5 minutes is more than enough time to double check and grab the primary device, we need it still. Safiyah doesn't want the virus to break loose yet, but wants to give them some time to see the damage. Got it?"
They all nodded and looked around the tiny neighborhood. It had been prepared already, setting up a lot of fences which nobody has been made aware of, considering how unchecked this place was nobody with authority questioned it. So, they started to lock it all down, closing up gaps which was easy enough, now driving out just in time as the virus was about to go off in a minute.
Knife then sighed, getting a walkie talkie. "Team two, are you on the second target building ready to release yet?"
"Yes, we'll activate it once Batwoman arrives." A voice replied.
She nodded, looking over at one of the buildings across the street, there were 5 apartment buildings in this tiny area, only two were going to be directly exposed as they only had a handful of viruses to spread and only one device to spread it in the fullest and quickest manner.
Some of the citizens were confused by what was occurring naturally, but weren't quick enough to investigate further.
The Plague of Madness was released into the building beginning to spread the virus, as screams could be heard from inside there onto the streets. The panic had begun as people started to realize something was gravely wrong.
The virus was released.
Batwoman
Casting
Ruby Rose is Batwoman
Vanessa Morgan is Ryan Wilder
Stephanie Beatriz is Renee Montoya.
Grace Gummer is Whisper
Adesua Etomi-Wellington is Knife (Tahani)
Sam Jaeger is Brian Krauser
Elsewhere in Gotham while with Montoya, the two heroes had stepped away making a decision to pull every last drastic measure to finding Mary, unfortunately being forced to reveal her secret to The Crows.
Kate began to call her father. "Hey dad? Are there any new leads for Mary's whereabouts? I might have one."
"No, we have nothing new. The vehicles that took her seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth. What information do you have?" He was surprised by her.
She took a deep breath. "Mary, she has a secret clinic she's been running for sometime now, maybe there could be a clue left behind there."
Jacob Kane paused and he didn't make a sound for a moment. To Kate it felt like it went on forever waiting for his response.
"She has a secret clinic? All this time, how many people knew about this?" He demanded to know.
"I've known about it since I returned to Gotham, Sophie and Julia have been aware of it for sometime as well. Alice knew about it too." Kate replied.
Jacob paused again. "What about Catherine? Did she know?"
"Mary told me, Catherine revealed she knew about the clinic before she died. We're not exactly sure how long that would be." Kate confessed.
"Why did nobody tell me? Couldn't anyone trust me? Mary, she doesn't trust me at all does she?" Jacob replied, sounding hurt.
Kate frowned and switched hands with the phone. "Mary was scared to tell you the truth, she didn't want to lose the clinic. She swore me to secrecy, I thought about telling you before. Maybe if we decided sooner to tell you the truth, things could've been different." Kate remarked.
"Alice knew before me." He replied simply.
"Yeah, she found out about it before. It always concerned me that she discovered that. Tried to kill her more than once." Kate admitted.
Jacob sighed heavily. "I'm not clear on how to feel about this, all I know right now we need to continue looking for Mary. Text me the address. Talk again soon." He hung up.
With that Kate pressed her fingers into her forehead. "That could've gone better." She said, allowed then headed back with Ryan to Montoya who was looking concerned, to say the least from her expression.
"Thank god, we just got a report. The worst case scenario has happened. Safiyah Sohail has released the virus." Montoya said grimly.
The two heroes looked at each other shocked.
"Where?" Batwoman asked dead in her eyes.
Elsewhere, Safiyah had once again come to check on Mary with some guards, pulling her out of the white room.
"Good news Ms. Hamilton. The virus has been released into a small community in Gotham, we'll surely be getting footage soon. I wanted you to see it." Safiayh remarked with a nasty grin plastered on her face.
"How in all the possible hells is that good news!?" Mary exclaimed, wanting to punch Safiyah out trying to desperately break loose.
Safiyah scoffed. "Sarcasm. Of course, this is quite terrible news for you and Gotham. For me, it'll be entertaining to see how Batwoman and her sidekick could possibly hope to stop what I've begun."
"Black Bat happens to be Batwoman's partner in this fight against you for one thing, a second would be they are going to kick your ass!" Mary shouted at her.
"Big talk for a woman whose life is running out." Safiyah replied confidently.
Mary chuckled rather loudly.
"What's so funny? Hmm?" Safiyah asked, getting in Mary's face.
She shook her head and looked determined. "Even if you do manage to kill me, you think Batwoman's going to let you get away with that? She'd hunt you down till the ends of the earth lady!"
"That sounds like it'd be interesting, like I said before Mary. No matter what happens here, I'm going to get what I want." Safiyah mocked.
Mary shook her head again. "I think you just might be in for a surprise of a lifetime!"
"Keep believing in Mary, until then. Enjoy the show, this is Gotham's end. It'll be the last program you'll ever be watching." Safiayh replied leaving Mary in a comfy room to watch a news helicopter hover over the community where the virus was released keeping a close eye on the events that would transpire.
Elsewhere as reports started to come in, Jacob Kane heard about this virus being released and was left with a choice. Go there or continue searching for Mary. He chose his daughter, determined to not let another person close to him down. With that choice made, he knew someone had to take command in the meantime. So he attempted to call Sophie to handle the virus situation. Unfortunately she didn't pick up. Frustrated, he wasn't left with much of a course. So he went off to his two next most trusted Crows who were around.
"Proctor and Krauser. I need you both to bring anyone we can spare and head down to the release site now." Jacob said, looking at them.
Brain Krauser looked puzzled. "Where are you going sir? Surely this is the highest priority situation right now, wouldn't you agree?"
"I have to find my daughter. Her life is still on the line and you two are more than capable of handling this situation. To be exact, you Brain. I want you to take control of the Crow units there, with Proctor as your second in command." Jacob revealed with some abrention in his face and voice..
"If you think this is the best call sir, go find your daughter." Krauser happily accepted immediately with a salute.
Proctor looked less excited. "Sir, a word?"
Kane accepted and they stepped aside.
"Commander, I mean no disrespect whatsoever sir. Who exactly is this Brain Krauser person? You seem very trusting and skeptical at the sametime. Why is that? There seems to be more to him than meets the eye." He stated seriously.
Jacob Kane took a moment to respond, looking away momentarily. "Krauser has been working under me for a long time, I reassigned him for a while and now I need to use his expertise to take charge of this situation. In the place of hierarchy, he'd be my third in command, right under Sophie. And I can't reach her now. This is fine as he's handled more militaristic scenarios than either of us have in years. This is the right call. He'll do a fine job." Kane replied.
"But sir, you seem to hold apprehension." Proctor pointed out feeling his boss was keeping vital information still close to him.
Jacob shook his head and got in Proctor's face. "Just follow my orders, assist Krauser in whatever he needs to contain the situation with the virus. Understand?"
Proctor nodded and saluted. "Of course sir, good luck with finding your daughter's location. We'll handle the situation, everything will be fine."
"Good, then get moving." Kane replied, rushing off to his own vehicle now heading off to Mary's clinic by himself. As he drove, he continued to call Sophie wanting her to answer hoping he'd be able to call off Krauser.
As the phone continued to ring, Sophie was ignoring it with hesitation pacing back and forth. "He's calling a lot, I'm concerned." Sophie confessed.
"We should take out the card, he could be trying to track us. Right now, we gotta stay focused on our objective, nothing else matters." Julia said, blissfully unaware of the virus being released and why Kane was desperately calling.
Sophie nodded in agreement. "You're right, we need to move soon. With all the Crows distracted right now, this is going to be our best chance at breaking in."
The two were in agreement and continued their planning of breaking into the Crows HQ keeping entirely focused on their goal.
Batwoman, Black Bat and Montoya meanwhile arrived on the scene with a ton of GCPD and Crows arriving creating a perimeter.
"I want this all locked down, right now! And I need eyes and ears here, what's this virus doing? How is it being spread? Why are there fences placed here? And where the hell is CDC!?" Montoya shouted out as soon as she stepped out of her vehicle.
Most of the officers seemed to be in a panic keeping their distance as cries for help were coming across from the street.
"We're going in." Batwoman said looking at Black Bat and Montoya putting on her gas mask in case of it being airborne.
Black Bat nodded in agreement as they rushed over not knowing what to expect hopping the fence.
"CDC is an hour out commissioner." One officer answered. "And SWAT is almost here, they're bringing gas masks for this, along with spares."
"Some good news then." She replied and then stepped on a car getting everyone's attention. "We don't know how this virus is spread, we are under the assumption the spread is over. However we don't know the effects. Till we do, proceed with great deal of safety. If this continues though the city, we could have a citywide disaster on our hands. CDC will be here soon, till then we help protect the citizens the best we can and keep everyone calm! Avoid touching and getting close to anyone who might be infected!" Montoya shouted out.
A SWAT team arrived, starting to gear up, as the two viglenties already entered the now quarantine area wanting to be first to see what the damage being caused was.
"Good luck Batwoman and Black Bat." Montoya muttered to herself approaching the incoming units.
Batwoman and Black Bat found a few people trying to hop one of the fences set up by The Many Arms of Death, which wasn't easy as they were higher than normal ones found commonly in the city.
"We have to get out of here now!" One person shouted at the top of their lungs trying to desperately climb.
"Stop! You can't leave until we're certain you're not infected! If this spreads, who knows how many could die!" Black Bat exclaimed.
Batwoman started pulling the people down.
"You don't understand! Whatever the hell this virus is, it's turned people into monsters! I saw it myself!" One person exclaimed horrified.
"Uh, could that be possible?" Black Bat wondered.
Suddenly, a person jumped out of a second floor window from the building where the virus was released. The two heroes looked at each other for a moment, then rushed over to check on the person.
"Are you okay?" Batwoman asked, approaching carefully, starting to notice something was dearly wrong with the person. Blood was on them and their eyes didn't look right at all, considering how dark it was the sight only got worse as they stepped forward. Now in full view, this person seemed to even have some kind of disgusting green thing starting to grow on their hand, quite small still. Then, let out a blood curdling scream trying to leap onto Ryan. Batwoman immediately reacted first and pulled them back not taking any chances punching them down, putting some handcuffs on the person to make certain they couldn't move. Both arms and legs. Then checking if they even had a pulse, confirming they were still breathing despite their appearance.
Black Bat was horrified. "Hell was that?"
"Safiyah's infection, we need to find that cure. First, we have to stop this and figure out what's going on. If this evolves or not."
"You think it could be worse? How in the hell could it get worse! That guy literally looked like a dead guy walking!" She exclaimed looking disgusted by the first infected they came across. "Was he even alive? Are we in a zombie apocalypse right now!?"
"He was still breathing, if this was a zombie, he'd not be breathing right? He'd be dead and not breathing. He wasn't a walking corpse." Batwoman remarked.
Ryan sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. Maybe we can still fix this then?"
Batwoman looked at the building and then back at the people. "First things, first. We have to get those people over to GCPD. Assuming they aren't infected, we need to keep them away from whatever the hell else is lurking. If that whole building was exposed, we could be looking at a lot of trouble."
Black Bat nodded. "You're right, civilians who seem like they're fine first." She looked down at the infected person. "We really need more cuffs."
"Yeah we do, if we can't get this under control I'm scared the first responders might start getting trigger happy." Batwoman replied, looking over as more officers and now the Crows were arriving.
Across the street, agents Krauser and Proctor arrived on the scene bringing a bunch of heavily armed Crows with them. Fortunately with some more gas masks and protective gear, though more offensive equipment then defensive was brought as expected.
The commissioner came over to them. "I'm running this scene, where is Jacob Kane? Shouldn't he be around for this?"
Krauser stood forward. "He's currently busy. I'm afraid he has other priorities like finding his daughter, commissioner, Montoya isn't it?"
"Yes, I am and who are you?" Renee questioned not knowing him, looking closely at the man skeptical of him.
"Taking command of the Crows, for this situation. I'm a high ranking officer and more than qualified to handle this. Considering you are more familiar with this city I'll accept you for commanding this scene." He replied giving a salute, while not sounding too convincing, Montoya felt an odd feeling from him.
"Glad to hear that." Montoya responded skeptically then continued. "We aren't shooting anyone, understand that clearly? Some Crows have already killed innocent people who could've been safe with a previous incident not long ago. My passince is at an end." Montoya expressed.
"Of course commissioner. We don't want anyone to be harmed if not necessary." Proctor replied, sounding more genuine.
Krauser stepped away, rounding up some Crows out of ear shot.
Back inside, Kate and Ryan finished moving all the civilians away to safety, not heading inside of the apartment building, not clear on what lay inside.
As they stepped in, the answer was revealed. Some of the infected were waiting and poured down the stairwell.
"Oh shi-" Ryan cried, but was cut off by Batwoman pulling her back and slamming the doors shut holding them as the infected pounded on them.
"We have to keep them back!" Kate exclaimed at the top of her lungs.
Ryan nodded heavily panting. "How are we going to do that?"
The infected started to break through the door and another leaped out of an apartment window charging towards the civilians who were on the street and not still hiding in their apartment buildings.
They both noticed this. "Black Bat, stop them! I'll deal with the door, go!"
Black Bat nodded and sprinted after them, managing to tackle them, beating them unconscious for the time being after hearing them snarl seeing one of the people they clearly wanted to grab first doing who knows what once getting their hands on somebody uninfected.
Batwoman was about to find out first hand, as without the combined force of the two heroes the infected pushed her off the door breaking though. Two leaping right onto her trying to slash and bite her face. She banged their hands together knocking them out, but still had at least 10 more infected now running out. Desperate she threw down smoke belts hoping it'd slow them down, fortunately it did. The infected couldn't see anything, leaving her enough time to take them down one by one. Less fortunate, the smoke started to disabate as more rushed down the stairs, with seemingly bloody red eyes staring right at her.
Kate felt like praying for protection for Gotham to get through this, but there was no time for that and she was rusty with her jewish traditions after not having as much faith anymore after what happened to Beth all those years ago. Right now, she was genuinely wishing dearly that she'd not give up on that part of herself, really wanting to believe a higher power was on her side in this instance.
She clenched up determined knowing she was the first line of defense for the city now against all the people who have been infected by the damned virus. Thankfully she wasn't alone in this fight as Ryan returned to her side.
"Any plan?" She asked curiously.
"Don't die and stop the infection from continuing to spread. How does that sound? Not the best plan is it? I didn't have much time to think about it." Batwoman replied as the infected charged them and they continued their battle against them, while unknowingly being watched from above the building across the street.
This wasn't the end of their troubles, as the riot police started to make their way over the fence and not only that, as the civilians on the street had a further problem as one of their own was bitten. A bit from someone infected by the Plague of Madness revealed itself as they changed into one of them to spread the virus only further. The heroes were powerless to help stop the civilian from attacking another biting into them, the police rushed over not fast enough as two more got bit as Batwoman and Black Bat kept fighting to stop themselves from getting bitten, along with the cops who came over not prepared for what they faced.
As the two heroes thought trying to contain the situation, unknown to them it was only going to continue escalating for the worse. One of The Many Arms of Death members standing on the building called up Safiyah to give an update.
"Talk to me." She immediately said as the phone was picked up.
"Batwoman is here trying to stop it and her partner, this Black Bat. So far, doing about as you expected. However, these two work well together, perhaps better than you expected. I think it'd be the best call to kill Black Bat. Put Batwoman further into a corner, exactly what you want."
Safiyah paused. "I can't have you risking your position. Don't make a move, I'll get The Archer to perform this assianation."
She hung up and tried to call him, failing to reach one of her top killers. Naturally the expected result was quite a lot of anger. Now she turned to one of her guards. "Why can't I contact Archer? Give me the tracker." She requested coldly, having it granted, revealing she had been tracking everyone under her employee. To her increasing concern, his tracker was offline. "How is this offline?"
The guard looked puzzled. "I'm not sure Safiyah."
"You're not sure? If you're not sure and I certainly have no idea how the hell this is possible, it sounds like we have a problem." Safiyah responded looking like she was barely holding herself together.
"Why are you so concerned about this?" The guard wondered.
Safiyah got in their face. "Our lives could be in dire danger, to remove a tracker would require a lot. And quite frankly, I think someone might be betraying me. A very grave mistake if I say so. One which could affect you too, along with the rest of your pals. So keep your eyes peeled, or I'll remove your eyelids." She threatened then grabbed her phone dialing Knife.
"Where are you right now? I need the bat's sidekick dead." Safiyah said getting right to the point.
"Are you okay Safiyah?" Knife immediately asked.
"Perfectly fine. Just do as I said." She replied then walked off heading back to continue her work with her scientists preparing to end Mary to create their cure.
Batwoman and Black Bat continued to try their best with containing the situation going on, now having to manage the police breathing down their necks. Not to mention the Crows too, who all seemed to have fingers on the trigger, ready to take out the infected with extreme prejudice.
Sadly, their troubles aren't over yet as Safiyah's people started to spread the virus further into the second building slowly, but surely as it wasn't evaluated completely yet. They didn't even have the initial outbreak contained, as one infected managed to pin Black Bat as the heroes tried clearing the apartment building.
"Get off!" She cried trying to prevent herself from being bitten, managing to smack them across the face and beat down on the infected, feeling some rage taking over her almost losing control on the person. "I'm sorry." She whispered and continued the search noticing Batwoman was outside.
"Are you alright?" She asked, looking concerned.
Ryan nodded softly with a frown. "I lost control for a moment, my anger took over me. I'm creaking under the pressure here."
"You're doing fine, obviously neither of us have had to deal with a situation like this and no way either are going to back down now. Come on Black Bat, we've got this handled. All we have to do is keep fighting and be mindful of the people we are fighting to save here." Batwoman reminded her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
Black Bat agreed and noticed some more commotion was happening downstairs which could be heard from the upper floors.
"There is a second virus being spread!" One of the riot officers cried. Some of the one helping to contain the dozen of infected backed off retreating over to the other building to investigate, almost instantly getting swarmed by more infected. The civilians started to panic once again as the police tried and failed to keep some of them calm, not exactly keeping under this pressure themselves, some ran off hopping the fence. While others mistakenly ran away towards where the infected were breaking loose jumping on them.
The heroes looked at each other, then launched their grapples onto the second building attempting to rush over. In an unpleasant shock, two snipers remained on the building firing at them, nearly hitting Black Bat. The shot did manage to make her nearly fall to her doom, but Batwoman managed to grab a hold of her partner. "I've got you! Hold on a second longer!" She exclaimed.
"Gladly!" Black Bat replied and managed to get herself to ground level safely getting into a fight with some of the infected, now including some of the police sent in to assist.
Batwoman didn't come down just yet, deciding on scaling up the apartment complex as she was close to the roof anyways, wanting to pursue the shooters hoping to find some sort of answer from them.
Once reaching the top, they had escaped and left a nasty gift. A bomb, which went off immetiatly nearly hitting the hero from the blast. She was fast enough to leap down from the building using her cape to glide down safely, sighing from relief not getting hit by the explosion that only damaged the roof. One second off and she would've been severely injured surely.
Landing she kicked down one infected knocking them out and turned her sight to Ryan seeing her about to be overwhelmed rushing over to help her. Having to act quickly, she reluctantly started using her batarangs which would hurt a lot cutting these people, but Ryan's safety was more important in this moment. After getting them off and having thankfully assistance from the GCPD for once, the infected were able to be kept back. Now they had to check the rest of the building and pin more poor people who were bitten, who would turn soon. The heroes were helpless to give them any helping hand, all they could do was lock them up for now. The situation wasn't going well however with locking these people down, some of them didn't stay knocked out for long and got back up attacking more officers.
It was a complete mess and the hero's concerns of escalation only seemed to be growing further. The horror of this being the truth appeared real as a fire broke loose and more people began to panic as for this tiny part of Gotham it most certainly was seeming as if the world was ending.
Elsewhere, Jacob Kane had finally arrived at Mary's clinic entering it carefully not knowing exactly what to expect. Fortunately he had kept the tracker on his car, just in case. Even if someone turned it off, the Crows would know his last location, not to mention having a way of tracking his vitals too in case of him being knocked out and would be right after him.
Now he was looking around carefully for any traps, trouble or clues. Every corner needed to be checked and every square inch of the interior could be hiding a hidden clue. It was to no avail, Kane found nothing other than Mary's personal belongings and a picture of his late second wife on her desk which he took a moment to look toward. After moving past that, he kept on searching, finding nothing out of the ordinary it appeared to be another dead end.
Jacob was furious, now just deciding to sit in her clinic hoping he'd have some sort of apithmey, which never came.
"Come on, Mary. Where are you?" He said to himself softly, looking further around the clinic now just taking in the place, thinking about how many people Mary must've treated and helped all in secret.
He decided on staying put there for a minute, thinking about how he let his daughters down and how he wasn't the father he planned on being. After continuing to think, he knew waiting around any longer wasn't an option. Now he departed, heading out to investigate further to find Mary going to look over every piece of evidence they had and find Safiyah Sohail.
Back over with the virus being spread, The Crows were getting highly impatient and seemed to be gearing up.
Brian Krauser and his Crows moved onwards preparing to move in, seeing enough, determined to end this.
Commissioner Montoya spotted this and rushed over standing in their way. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Krauser? That's a lot of men and even more weapons all ready to fire. Do I have to remind you there is a cure out there for these people?"
Agent Proctor came over, with his intention surprising. "I agree with the commissioner, I'm not comfortable proceeding without the commander's say so. What your planning could turn deadly. I want Kane on the same page." Proctor said shockingly considering how standoffish he's been for the time since Montoya arrived in Gotham.
"People are dying right now, this is out of control. We're not discussing this further. Here." Krauser handed Montoya a phone, on the other end was the Mayor.
"I've heard out Mr. Krauser and I agree, if this virus spreads any further the entire city could be at risk. There is no time to waste! I want this handled, no matter what occurs. Let him pass." The mayor said seriously.
Montoya handed the phone back and looked defeated, she knew there was no way around going over the Mayor's head without being fired on the spot. This would have to be something she'd have to find a way to live with, the city needed her as it's commissioner it was her responsibility.
Brian Krauser nodded to her and moved forwards with his Crows, without agent Proctor who he stopped to speak to for a moment. "Questioning my authority was a mistake. Tread carefully, you don't want to screw with me." Krauser walked past him as the agent had nothing to say in response.
Batwoman and Black Bat kept fighting trying to contain the infected, moral for the officers helping out wasn't exactly high however. Some had retreated and others injured or even lying dead from the violent infection out of control of their own minds, helpless to stop hurting others as the infection turned them into a walking corpse, having to watch the carnage they were inflicting.
The few officers who remained seemed a loyal and brave bunch that clearly Montoya had trusted to handle this, doing their best to help contain the threat being faced in a humane manner. Everyone still fighting believed these people weren't dead yet and could still be saved from their sickness, trying their very best to be as non violent as possible. The Crows weren't as optimistic.
As they approached the site, judging by the gear and attuate on their faces, they were treating this infection as a war to be fought. A few infected civilians and even one infected cop rushed over to attack, with green spores seeming to grow further onto their bodies in disquesting fashion. Along with blood starting to spill out of different areas of their bodies. The Crows with a hint of hesitation, opened fire killing this horde of the infected leaving a pile of dead bodies.
Everyone was shocked, including the officers still left, the non harmed civilians left to watch this unfold, even some of the infected stopped their rampage for a moment seeming to have a moment of clarity that again disappeared and of course, the heroes witnessed this. Both were furious, Ryan was mad enough to try rushing at them for a moment before Kate stopped her seeing them clearly looking for an excuse to fire on them next.
"What the hell is wrong with you people! Are you out of your mind!" Ryan exclaimed at them completely floored by their actions.
"Forget them, we keep trying to contain this peacefully, that's all we can do right now. I promise, we won't let this go." Batwoman replied to her, making her sigh knowing she was right.
They walked off, not interacting with Brain Krauser as the rest of the Crows moved forward ahead of him looking determined to end this infection before it could continue spreading along.
Batwoman and Black Bat continued to restrin more of the infected people, tying them down, then giving a major knockout punch for good measure. This continued as they were starting to get a handle on the disaster unfolding and most certainly didn't need anybody else to die.
Thankfully for what felt like forever, the CDC had arrived. Less fortunate would be only a few vehicles, not nearly enough to handle what Safiyah was eventually planning on doing. Regardless, they exited immediately coming over to help set up a quarantine site properly. As they did, everyone finally finished apprehending every person who was infected alive or dead.
Batwoman and Black Bat stepped away heading towards commishinor Montoya, spotting more bodies the Crows had dropped. They were forced to hold back their collective rage and stepped over to their ally.
"I'm sorry for what they did." Montoya said immediately. "The Mayor overruled me, still I should've tried harder. CDC was only a few minutes out, we could've avoided any more lives being lost. We'll have to figure out the casualties later."
"Where is commander Kane?" Batwoman immediately asked concerned for her father not being anywhere around this.
Montoya noticed the concern from her, but didn't mention this. "He had other business to attend to, apparently. Gave way for this Brian Krauser to call the shots here."
"I can tell." Batwoman replied and glared at him. "We're not letting this go, that was entirely uncalled for and criminal."
Black Bat nodded in agreement.
"You're right. Once this is over I'm going to investigate, people like this have to have some dirty laundry I'll be able to find. Until then, it's clear that this Safiyah Sohail isn't going to stop here. What the hell is going to be her next move?"
"We're going to have to figure it out. Maybe if we find Mary Hamilton that would lead us to Safiyah, are there any leads yet?" Batwoman asked egure and hopefully this would be the case. Saving Mary and stopping the virus at all the sametime.
Montoya sighed clearly not having good news. "We still have nothing, though every officer will be ready to move in case of any lead. I've got everyone of my tech people trying to find where those vehicles ended up. Though I have a bad feeling they probably switched, which is why it's taking so long to find any results." Montoya expressed.
Suddenly, Ryan's phone rang, making her step away.
"Hello? Whisper?" She immediately asked.
"I might've found something about Mary. It's a bit slim, but at least it's something. I've talked around, even paid a couple of slimy rats. They all spotted these seem suspicious people around a neighborhood they don't belong in. A large one, about 6 or 7 blocks. They could be anywhere in between there. Seemed like they didn't like being watched and were sneaky about where exactly they ended up. They kept moving around, I have no idea where they're real destination is."
Ryan looked a little confused, but accepted. "Alright, thank you so much I'll pass that along to the cops. Text me the address."
"Oh and one last thing, pretty important." She then said, sounding less than cheerful.
"What? Are you okay?" Ryan immediately asked.
Her love paused for a moment. "Well, when you're done playing superhero as Black Bat, maybe we can talk in person. I saw you on the news and don't you dare lie to me again about it. Not to mention I've been panicking the last hour, pacing around our place and I found your secret room. Can't believe you kept that from me too! Just talk to me in person." She hung up, leaving Ryan devastated, but she knew this would happen eventually, her lies catching up. For now, this had to be buried and she turned around looking at her allies ready to give them the information.
Elsewhere, Safiyah continued watching the news with a captive Mary, becoming disappointed more or less by the outbreak's first location being contained without as much destruction as intended.
"Are you feeling pleased with yourself you crazy bitc-" Mary started to say and then was slapped by Safiyah who got in her face with a gun.
"Do you wish to continue? I don't require you to keep your tongue." Safiyah threatened and then saw on Mary's face she wanted to make another remark. "Make another joke, I dare you."
Mary shook her head knowing it was time to be silent.
"Thank you. Now please shush. I'll be back soon and then we'll be draining you dry. Don't worry, my plans are still on track. This is only a minor inconvenience, a small setback." Safiyah walked off and speed dialed Knife.
Reluctantly Tahani picked up. "Yes Safiyah?"
"Why is the sidekick alive?" She asked bluntly.
"Safiyah I'm sorry, there were just too many cops. The others can report the same, it's what we expected." She explained.
She sighed disappointed. "Keep an eye on her and make sure that little bat is dead. Do we understand each other? I don't want your fate to come into question, my passince is wearing extraordinarily thin Tahani."
"Please know I'll get this done Safiyah! I don't want to upset you, I swear she'll be dead within the day." Tahani expressed despair.
Safiyah smiled to herself. "It's alright Tahani, don't worry yourself. I just lost my temper for a moment, I'm truly sorry for that. You know how it is working with all these fools, always test my patience. You couldn't disappoint me. We've been together for a long time, I couldn't ever be mad at you for something as simple as this." She said as manipulative as can be walking back her anger.
Tragically, she believed Safiyah's words, sighing from relief. Then becoming upset with herself for doubting her for even a moment. "I'll get it done Safiyah, I swear to you."
"Of course Tahani, I can trust you to get this done. See you soon, we'll be leaving Gotham soon. Don't be late." Safiyah hung up and walked off with her people.
Back with the heroes, they had finished discussing the situation of the radius of the probability of where Safiyah or Mary could be located. It wasn't clear what'd they find, whatever it would be, couldn't end well.
"That's way too much ground to cover! Even with every cop and if I could convince the Crows to help, it's not great odds. And I can't spare all my officers, the city is in disarray, I need my top people to keep the peace, like they are meant to." Montoya expressed concern.
"The virus won't be released." Batwoman insisted. "Safiyah is a terrorist, but she's going to contuine to drag this out. Torment me I feel like, drag out the suffering the city is facing right now. We still have time."
Montoya looked less optimistic. "If it does, we've got to be ready for the worst case. The civilians will need help and they naturally aren't trusting of authority, I can't blame anyone for not trusting us."
Batwoman sighed. "I have an idea to bring a close to Safiyah, unfortunately neither of you is going to like it. Not one bit."
"What are you thinking?" Black Bat wondered.
"You'll find out. Come on, we're heading back to the cave." Batwoman replied and walked off with Black Bat.
Ryan stopped and knew what she had to do instead. "I have to see Whisper, she knows about who I am. I'll meet you back at the cave."
"Alright, might be for the best. If I told you what I was thinking, you might think I've completely lost it." She looked uncertain, then continued. "I hope everything goes well with your girlfriend, I know how much you love her."
Ryan nodded in agreement. "She's my world and I'm going to fight for her. Thank you, Batwoman. Be back in a flash."
Kate smirked for a moment. "Don't think that's your line."
"Yeah, I guess not huh?" She replied sarcastically and hopped on her new bike. "This thing is going to really come in handy, thanks for that too." She drove off heading back to her home.
Batwoman did more or less the same heading back to the cave.
Meanwhile, Sophie and Julia made their way to The Crows HQ, noticing the chaos going on in Gotham, finally listening into the radio learning of the threat of the virus being released being shocked by the news.
"That answers why commander Kane was calling." Sophie realized.
Julia thought for a moment. "There was nothing we could've done to assist Sophie, don't beat yourself up. We've got our own objective right now, besides this could work to our favor "
"People dying and the city falling apart would be in our favor?" Sophie doubted.
"I expressed that poorly, I just mean with all this happening The Crows will be distracted, so less eyes on you." Julia expressed.
Sophie sighed knowing she was correct. "Yeah, it'll help. With everything going on, no way they'd pay any mind to us."
"Right you are." Julia replied in agreement.
They arrived and Sophie let out a deep gron. "Alright then, I'm ready." She opened her door and stepped out. "See you soon." Sophie now headed inside, unknown to her and Julia a complication was on the horizon. Agent Proctor had returned and a Crow had spotted them, alerting him immediately of her arrival, all secretive, which naturally made him suspicious wondering where she was. More importantly, what she was up to right now. After all, why hasn't she connected the commander then if she was nearby and available to come in?
Back with Kate Kane, she had arrived back at Wayne Tower heading right down into the batcave past Luke who was surprised by her return.
"Your back! Where is Ryan? I heard about the virus, but I wasn't able to contact you, not clear on why that was." Luke said immediately standing up.
Kate had walked past him heading right towards her destination. "I'll talk to you in a minute, first I have a deal to make." She said in passing as he followed after her not fully understanding what she was thinking.
Her destination was Alice, who stood up happily with a smirk. "Ah! A visit from my favorite sister. What do I owe the pleasure of this to? What's our dear Safiyah done now? Something to make you unhappy I'd have to guess!"
"I need your help." Kate said bluntly while Alice smirked.
Batwoman
Before I start the response section, I wanted to say a general thing. Hope I was respectful with that paragraph about Kate being Jewish and her faith. I want to further expand on that subject as I am frustrated that the show neglected it almost entirely. Hopefully I'll be able to handle the subject matter far better in the future. I want to be as respectful as possible. I'm not a very religious person, so I'm quite ignorant on the matter of any religions. Hopefully I'll be able to change that for later in the series.
In Response to CG
I'm glad that you loved the chapter. I'm surprised as well I managed to pop out a chapter so quickly it usually takes a while to get one out of me, that's good it was a good way. Happy you loved Ryan being in action finally with her official costume after everything that happened she certainly earned it and thank you I was concerned about that.
I hope that his chapter was also a good one. Also, for the next one I wasn't sure about the title. Hopefully one of us can figure one out that'll be good. Thankfully you already picked out the great one for the finale.
In regards to your response to the Earth-Prime comics - It made me wonder what's going on there, I certainly hope there is some form of follow up right now it's seeming a bit more grimm. That's a good assumption I'd imagine they weren't told about it being in its own earth, kinda crappy they weren't told this and that makes sense why the evil Superman would just vanish then still it sucks nobody was told about it sooner so that didn't have to happen in the first place.
In regards to Duela Dent in your Season 5 - That makes sense she'd be off the grid probably trying to keep hidden from the world considering her last appearance (That makes sense too she would be in protection someplace) It's understandable it'd be unexpected, I feel like she probably isn't interacting with anyone, it seems fitting she'd very much not pass up on that likely excited to cause more chaos to the city and her family members.
In regards to your response about the Spider-Man story I suggested - That all makes sense, I liked reading your thoughts. Hopefully we'll see how the MCU Spider-Man movies progress soon.
In regards to John Diggle - Your welcome, I'm glad you found a way to keep the cemetery scenes intact. I really enjoy them a lot.
In regards to Whisper - That sounds like a good point. I appreciated that a lot and will be sure to add that in whenever she returns becoming a supervillain. I like that Ryan wouldn't believe she's finally lost herself and that her comment would make her have some thoughts on that.
In regards to your remaining questions - That makes sense she'd secure the device and good she'd be able to modify it to cure everything (You were right, it might not be over yet) and yeah makes sense. I don't know if I made this exactly happen, as you might've been able to tell I'm thinking of making Sophie's capture happen during the beginning of the episode. I don't believe Batwoman would be returning to the cave before being shot, so I figured it'd be a now or nothing. Unless she would return? I don't think she'd have enough time to come back to the cave having to track down Safiyah, find Mary and stop the virus from being spread any further. That's what I thought with her learning during the finale and not being able to leave after becoming a fugitive. I also thought she'd be unable to speak to Kate before she shot, giving some tension between them in season 3 possibly. Thank you for that, I hope whatever I come up with will be good. Currently I was feeling on the fence whether or not to have Tahani die after all, I guess we'll see what I do next chapter. I do definitely want Talia to make an appearance.
In regards to your response to my presented story ideas to you - Thank you for sharing those, I'm not ready to respond yet myself actually. It's currently not finished my thoughts and my writing was primarily for myself to understand so I need to fix some parts. (Don't remember why I made it semi confusing just makes it all more complicated) I don't want to delay the posting of this so I'll wait until the next chapter to share. Also that's good your mom's 70th birthday went well, my mom also just had her birthday a week ago now. I hope you are currently feeling a bit better.
In regards to the Arrowverse - I was thinking The Flash might've been ending, it does suck they're only getting a half season and even more this is more than likely the end of the Arrowverse which I have grown up with. I remember trying to catch up to Arrow season 2 during the Christmas holiday. I got season 1 on dvd which was the beginning of watching it. And I remember being extremely excited for The Flash season 1 when it was coming out. I guess it had a good run, but wish there was a farewell crossover thing I guess.
That makes sense, I'll be sure to include that and think more about it now thank you for adding that one for the Supergirl series. It was the story idea I have the most to say about when I finish it. Sounds like an interesting plot line to include in.
For the Superman & Lois series, I would be very happy to include Krypto the Superdog. I do love dogs and Krypto is certainly a nice one. I hope he'll appear one day in Superman & Lois, though I know having dogs around is hard usually. I'll be sure to go with all those details if I do ever get around to working on this series. I like the idea of having Krypto helping during this time travel plotline.