Synopsis: On the Edge of Despair" – "As the odds become increasingly stacked against them, Team Batwoman appear to be on the verge of giving up on what appears to be a seemingly unwinnable battle. Mary struggles with a moral, personal dilemma when an unconscious, but heavily bruised and bloodied Jacob is brought to her clinic. Meanwhile, Harper begins to panic when Batwoman's condition suddenly takes a turn for the worse."
Mary Hamalton, as usual, was working at her clinic trying to help anybody who came through the doors. Seemed like just another normal night and she was about ready to take a break. Go home and sleep.
However, Mary got a phone call. One from someone who worked there.
"Hey? What's up is this a social call, cause I'm quite busy."
The caller took a moment to reply. "Mary, your dad has been left for dead in some alleyway! It's close by and I'm bringing him now!"
Mary paused in shock. "Uh. Couldn't you bring him to a hospital instead, you know. Call a freaking ambulance!? Like let the hospital take care of him! Anyone else!"
"I figured he's your dad so I almost got him. A minute out probably." They replied not understanding Mary's reaction.
Frustrated Mary started to pace and think. Her instincts as a doctor took over as Jacob Kane came through the door looking very unwell.
"What the hell happened to him?" Mary questioned starting to examine the wounds.
They shrugged. "No idea Mary. Just found him like this and couldn't ask any questions for obvious reasons"
She took a step back. "Right, right. Well this sucks. Assuming whoever hurt him could still be around, we might want to close down until he's out of here. Do we have anyone needing urgent care?"
"Uh, I can check. You sure?"
Mary nodded rapidly and looked back at her father. "Yes. Absolutely positively certain. Best to keep this under wraps."
After her helper walked off, Mary picked up the phone immediately dialing the person most trustworthy at a time like this. As she wondered what to do next.
Batwoman
Casting
Ruby Rose is Batwoman
Vanessa Morgan is Ryan Wilder
Stephanie Beatriz is Renee Montoya.
Across Gotham, Luke Fox was doing communications for Ryan who was just cleaning up taking down a cell of Black Mask's people. Was a hard fought takedown as all the gang members were heavily armed. And weren't keen on being taken down by the bat, not easily.
"These guys never end." She muttered over coms.
Luke sighed and glanced over at his phone ringing. "Sure seems that way. You're making good progress though Ryan. Taking another one of them off the streets is good. I'm sure Mary would agree, and will tell her. She's calling."
"I appreciate the encouragement Luke. Think should be fine over here, gotta go check on Montoya anyhow."
Both were in understanding, going quiet for now. "Hey Mary, what's up?"
"Ah you know not much, my dad's here. Half alive."
He stood up hearing this. "What? Why don't you sound more freaked out? Where are you?"
"Standing over him in my clinic trying to figure out what to do here." Mary truthfully admitted..
Luke stood right up and started walking. "Okay, don't do anything! Other than keeping him alive! I'm on my way asap!" He declared, grabbing his coat.
"Alright. I'll be here. Just a reminder by the way the clinic is still open at the moment. So keep that in mind. Though working on closing down until get this sorted."
Luke was speed walking and almost dropped his phone in such a hurry. He switched to Bluetooth once getting in his car. "You should be getting him to a hospital!"
"You're the second person to tell me that which I admit makes a bit of sense. However, I don't know. Feeling just, you know, not how I'd expect?"
This wasn't promising to hear. "Okay. Well, let's just talk about it. I'm driving there right now. Just gotta talk to Ryan for a minute. That okay?"
"All good. Good good." Mary replied, sounding a bit distant.
He reluctantly switched calls to Ryan who sounded like she too was driving. "Hey, so slight problems with Mary. Will fill you in soon. Might be unreachable for a few hours, maybe. Hopefully not."
"Uh okay. That's not cryptic and concerning." Ryan remarked sarcastically. "Promise to tell me what's up soon?"
"I promise. And absolutely call if you need anything! And try to stay out of trouble!"
Ryan rocked her head back and forth. "No promises there. Good luck with your thing. Hope Mary's okay."
"I hope so too." Luke said back with a slight sigh hanging up.
Didn't take long for Ryan to reach her destination. Which was a couple blocks from GCPD HQ. Montoya was waiting for her out of sight. Given the current state of affairs in the city.
"Over here." Montoya motioned Black Bat to come over.
She did after hiding her motorcycle. "What's all the secretary?" Ryan asked, looking around, a tad bit more paranoid given her situation, being completely exhausted and seeing the murderer of her mother.
"It's about that guy I wanted you to protect. Not many people can be trusted around here. Not around me at this point. Anybody could be corrupted by Black Mask. Everyday furthermore proves that point." Montoya expressed with great disappointment. "Slowly getting the wheels moving on rectifying that problem. For right now though, I can count the people I can count on two hands. As the commissioner of police, that sucks. And you Black Bat are one of those people I can count on."
She gave a nod. "Thanks, well. What do you need from me?"
"I need you to keep a witness alive, someone who knows where Sionis is hiding. And won't say until we get him out of Gotham alive. Considering he's got the most important intel to ending this choas, you can imagine why this needs to stay quiet."
Black Bat understood and looked back. "That makes perfect sense. He's gotta be the number one target right now."
"Yeah." Montoya touched her hair for a moment. "There is a bounty to take this man out."
Ryan gave out a sigh, not a surprised one. More tried. "And Black Mask has spared no expense to make sure this guy is killed asap right?"
"Unfortunately. This could get difficult, the choice is yours if your game for all this." Montoya remarked with some doubts.
However, Black Bat had none. "I've got this. Black Mask needs to be taken down. And this is the best chance we've had since this began."
"Unfortunately, it's true. So, are you ready?" Montoya asked as she glanced down an alleyway seeing a Crow portal pass by. "The Crows are swarming, stalking. We'll have to keep extra quiet and hidden."
Black Bat gave a slight laugh and smile. "Don't worry commissioner. I specialize in staying in the darkness. I can lead us out of sight, just point me in the right direction and nobody will follow us."
"I hope you're right, Black Bat. It's still a few blocks away. We'll have to take a vehicle. Might make it harder." She rightfully pointed out.
Hearing that didn't get much of a reaction. "It'll be fine Commissioner. I'm a decent driver, you can ride with me. Who doesn't love motorcycles right?"
That made Montoya laugh. "I know someone who'd find that funny. She loves them. Way more than me. It's adorable really. I hope I'll see her soon enough once we're done with this messiness." She cleared her throat. "Just abide by the traffic laws, okay?"
Ryan gave a nod as they moved towards the bike.
During all this, elsewhere in Gotham back in Wayne Tower Sophie was sitting alone. She had been trying to learn more about the technical side of surveillance. It was boring sitting in here for so long. And worse yet, she was wondering about the status of her family members. Tonight progress was made.
"Finally!" A relieved Sophie exclaimed to herself. The computer had enough protection to make it impossible to track down, least quickly. And assuming The Crows were still on high alert which seemed like a real possibility given who was in charge now.
The first thing Sophie did was check any and all cameras nearby her mom's place. "What's been going on there mom? So help me if they've been bothering you." She continued to say.
As expected, there were a couple of undercover Crows vehicles all keeping a tight watch on their surroundings. Not a great circumstance.
Though skipping around Sophie saw her mother spotting them and yelling at them. That was no audio and reading lips wasn't something she was an expert at, so there was no way to tell what was being said. All she could hope was it was her mother defending her. That mattered so much to Sophie.
She then spotted a warning about being tracked down soon. "Damnit. Brian Krauser, of course you're being hyper vigilant. And probably throwing everyone into finding me."
Before shutting down she quickly tried to do a search on her sister, but couldn't quite remember where. "What kind of a sister forgets where her sister is currently living? Working for that matter. Sorry Jordan. Guess that'll have to wait." Sophie shutdown as detection was becoming more of a problem.
It was immensely frustrating for Sophie just wanting to know about her family's status and still getting harassed by Krauser. And her former co-workers.
She knew though had to keep put as much as it kept killing her. "I miss my freedom. My mom. Kate. Jordan. I'm not even sure what the hell the team is currently up to if they keep avoiding my calls. And have no way to know either." Sophie finished expressing out loud.
Back with Mary, things were indeed pretty dire. As Jacob was continuing to not be doing so well and she was feeling frozen in place.
Luke finally arrived, finding the place a bit more empty. "How did you get everyone to leave so fast?"
"Ah. Well turns out people speed up to leave when I tell them what we're doing is serious and could absolutely get us thrown in jail by The Crows. Or even my own dad. Well, until I give them the all clear and they'll be back. Told them to get a couple hours sleep." Mary explained simply.
Luke nodded slowly. "Right. Yeah, that makes sense. I know you aren't okay Mary." He then said out right.
She turned back. "Of course not look at him! I mean come on."
"No. I mean it's deeper than just your dad laying here broken and beat up. You should be helping him instead of trying to convince me everything is fine and dandy Mary." He seriously stated.
This got a surprised look from Mary as she threw up her arms. "You're right! As a doctor I'm supposed to do no harm and help him, but truthfully Luke? After what he did to Kate? He killed my sister! What am I supposed to do!"
"You're serious!" Luke exclaimed, absolutely mortified.
"Of course I am. Batwoman is dead because of him!" Mary shouted out.
Luke just shook his head. "I know what he did and I'm pissed too. This isn't what she'd want though. And you know that damn well Mary."
"The dead don't want anything. I wish she could be here to yell at me for almost letting him die. However, that isn't the case and I can't forgive it. How am I supposed to?"
"You don't need to forgive him, you just need to save his life now!" Luke fired back.
Mary paced back and forth. "I don't know if I can."
Before Luke responded, he heard a noise from nearby. This made him promently look, but found nothing and nobody nearby. He figured that it had to have been nobody really and turned back to continue speaking to Mary who was staring now at Jacob biting her nails intently. "Please Mary. I'm begging you, help your dad. Save him!"
She let out a frustrated yell and threw her arms up before taking a breath looking back at Luke with tears in her eyes. "I know you're right. And I really do know Kate would be furious if he died here because of my inaction. I'll do my best to help him. For her."
Luke came close. "You're doing the right thing Mary."
She hugged Luke tightly for a moment with tears dripping down. They stayed for a moment before she let go and turned to her dad looking more confident now in what had to be done. "Okay. I'm ready now. Can you help? Hand me whatever I need?"
"You got it doctor Mary." He replied with a lighter nod.
Mary laughed a tiny bit. "It'd actually be doctor Hamalton. If you want to be technical."
The two then got to work.
Meanwhile, Ryan and Montoya arrived at the safe house. It took some time and some dogging of Crow portals, but nothing crazy or out of the ordinary. And without breaking traffic laws. Probably.
The two promently headed inside.
Inside the cops were playing cards with someone, presumably the person who needed protection. All the officers stood up upon Montoya stepping though the door to give respect to their commissioner.
"Stand down. How is our witness?" She immediately asked with determination.
They all stared at him.
"Beating us in cards and still not revealing where Black Mask is. Nothing has changed ma'am." One officer then said.
Montoya looked around. "Where is Medina?"
She popped her head out sitting on the fire escape. "Here commissioner Montoya. Keeping watch."
"Has there been any problems?" Montoya then asked everyone.
They all shook their heads.
The commissioner then turned to Black Bat. "She's here to help us get the witness to safety. Treat her with the utmost respect."
"Hey, everyone." Black Bat awkwardly waved.
The cops playing cards looked at each other. It was the witness who spoke up. "My protection you needed to get was a sidekick?"
Montoya almost immediately spoke back at that, but held off giving Black Bat a look. She understood and stepped up standing with confidence.
"Batwoman is gone now and she trusted me to keep an eye on things. To help when people need saving. And that's exactly what I'm here to do. I'm all the backup you have." She expressed clearly to them.
The cops gave a nod of approval, apart from the witness who still was looking unimpressed.
"It's like having to be protected by Robin." He muttered under his breath.
Ryan ignored this comment and walked out of ear shot with Montoya whispering. "So, what's our game plan to get him outta the city alive?"
"Well, we aren't far away from the exit to Gotham and I've cowidinated with the state police to meet us as soon as we get out of range of Gotham. And then have US Marshalls take our man the rest of the way into witness protection. Soon as we're out of the city he'll tell us where the bastard is held up." Montoya explained quietly. "It's need to know basis. I left out the Intel about the state police meeting us in route. Can't be sure if everyone here is clean. Apart from you, Jackson and Medina. Everyone else is fair game to be compromised. I trust them. Hell their on my short list for a new unit I'm working on."
"Well, that's good news. Could be better, but generally good. Right?" Black Bat asked uncertain.
"Right." Montoya said with a slight hint of uncertainty. She then turned around speaking up. "We gotta move now. Get Dennis secured. And let's go!"
While the cops geared up to move, The Black Mask was sitting in his base of operations, having a briefing of his own going down. One about what Montoya was up to.
"Our rat close to Montoya has given us a juicy tip. The cops are planning something under our noises, think they can get one over us? Not happening. Someone who knows about this place is talking to the cops. You boys will handle it?" Black Mask questioned a large room of criminals who were arming up. They all seemed in agreement.
"This is the kinda money that sets people up for life! For the remainder of your days! If that isn't encouragement to spill some blue blood. I don't know what is." He said with a nasty laugh. "Are we all ready to get to work then?"
They all raised their guns in the air and cheered.
"That's exactly what I want to hear. Now make the GCPD and this whole broken down city bleed!" Black Mask turned to an assistant who did the paperwork side of the business. "Amazing, the incentive paper can be to get some men to kill!" Black Mask exclaimed with a prideful laugh. "How is our financials holding up?"
The assistant looked down at a tablet in their hands. "Well, sir. We had a slight problem."
Black Mask glared, even though the mask was emotionless. He somehow already seemed extra threatening. "What the hell is wrong with my money? Is that it huh?"
"Yes. The men guarding one of your piles of money were attacked. Seemingly to be a ghost." They explained.
Black Mask gave a scoff. "Please! They must think I'm an idiot! Kill them! And get them to find my damn money!" He shouted pointing at the assistant.
They shook their head. "Sir. There is security footage." The video started to play with them being literally attacked by nothing.
Seeing this didn't swell the anger as he tossed away the tablet. "Actors. Acting! That's all I'm seeing to cover tracks! Make sure this doesn't happen again, got me? I need money left over! Need the extra funds tucked away, for family affairs! If my daughter ever awakes. Cause of Batwoman she's in a coma. This whole damn city. No way in hell I'm touching it, that money. So, organize a crew! Rob a bank! Get our income raised! The commissioner and the last bat standing will be dead by the end of tonight! Will this be handled or do I need a new assistant?"
"No sir. I'll get right on it." They replied and rushed off.
Black Mask scoffed and grabbed the tablet watching the video again. "A ghost! Please! Take me for a damn fool. Not going to let a ghost get one over me!" He muttered to himself.
In the meantime in Gotham, Mary had finished patching up her father. Jacob Kane despite her reservations she couldn't quite bring herself to let him die on the table. Even though she was scarily close.
"How is he?" Luke asked, coming over after Mary was finished.
"Better. Alive. Whether or not that makes me feel good. I don't really know Luke. Did what a doctor is supposed to do. And I'm not planning on being anything but a doctor, so. My feelings aren't so relevant." Mary said with a shrug. Clearly still struggling with her decision.
"You made the correct and only decision, Mary." He said with reassurance.
Hearing that didn't make it any easier as she turned away. "I know Kate would be angry about what I did. The thought of what happened keeps replaying again and again in my head. Hurts a million times more seeing our dad."
Luke went to look at her eye to eye. "I know Mary. And I'm so sorry. Can see how much you're hurting."
She started to cry a bit. "All I want is for this pain to stop. And for a second there, I wondered if letting him die would make it better. Of course it wouldn't! God. What the hell is wrong with me? Kate would be pissed. How would I even justify that?"
"Mary, you need to take a step back and process all this. Seriously, maybe you should consider therapy or something like that?" He suggested with a genuinely worried expression.
She almost laughed. "Right, what would I say? I'm pissed at my dad, no sorry my step dad, I don't even know about my biological dad! And why am I pissed at him, well you know. He murdered my sister! Got away with it too and was considered a hero for killing her! Who by the way is Batwoman. Or was. Oh and not even mentioning Alice or what happened to my mother. God. I think my therapist would need therapy after hearing my life's story."
"I know all this sucks and I'm so sorry for all of it Mary. Least this part is behind us now right?" Luke replied with some optimism.
Mary nodded in understanding and gave a very deep sigh. "I suppose. Probably should tell my staff to come back asap, sure they just went home to shower. You know I've been told I can be dramatic, which is positively crazy by the way! So probably didn't take me to seriously with the whole doomsday stuff with my dad and The Crows."
He tried to keep a straight face. "Well Mary, no idea where they'd get that impression from. Maybe we should just catch some fresh air now?"
"Oh yeah. It's been a day and I'd very much love to get away from blood and other icky stuff for a tiny bit of time. It's usually rewarding helping people, but god. Same time, exhausting. Especially when I'm pissed at one of my patients who is my dad and." Mary stopped herself taking a few deep breaths and went back to her normal state of lighter personality. "Okay. Going to try to forget about that. Actually, how's Ryan?"
Luke almost slapped himself. "Oh my god I almost forgot to check on her! Should we? Or no, she would definitely call if something was up right?"
"Certainly. Probably. Oh what the hell make sure she's alive!"
Luke nodded and immediately called. "Hey, you good Black Bat?"
"Uhh." Ryan paused, evidently confused by this. "I'm good, how are you two holding up?"
Slowly Luke looked back over at Mary. Truthfully, not sure. Think things are looking up though. Going to stay with Mary a little longer."
"Okay, well enjoy your time together Luke." She replied not quite getting the whole idea of what was happening.
Tried Luke just didn't correct the misconception. Would worry about that later. For now he was much more concerned about Mary's well being as they continued to sit outside her clinic taking in the fresh air. Was the first time in a while for them to take some time to stop and breathe for a second.
Back over with Ryan Wilder, she was doing considerably fine so fair as she traveled with some of the cops and the witness down the streets of Gotham. Commissioner Montoya let them all patch into the same frequency.
Black Bat was riding her motorcycle beside the cops' two vehicles. "I have a question for the witness."
"This isn't a courtroom." One cop remarked dismissively.
She ignored that. "Why are you turning on Black Mask? Risking your life like this? Not to sound ungrateful, just wrapping my head around it."
The witness chuckled. "Yeah well, I got sick of seeing Black Mask kill so many people. He's sick you know? In the head anyways. Enjoys inflicting pain. A guy like that has zero loyalty. He claims that his guys are safe and that we'll be treated well, yeah. Right. Bunch of bull. If I'm going to have a future want it far away from this hell hole. I mean this place got your boss killed, uh. Whatever your name is."
"Black Bat. It's easy. Literally one less latter then Black Mask and sure as heck sounds better too!" Ryan replied rolling her eyes.
"I think he's messing with you Black Bat." Officer Medina pointed out.
She laughed. "I'm well aware. At least our rude witness sounds genuine. Going to draw us a map to Black Mask's hide out?"
The witness scoffed. "No I'm going to give you the address. Surely you detectives can sort that out. And I have a name by the way. Dennis! Don't have to be so formal."
"Well, Dennis, we're getting close to the drop off. So I think your going to be in good hands soon. Then we're going to bring down Black Mask."
As if on que, a problem was literally laying in the head of the road. Road spikes. It was to late to stop before all the tires got shredded apart from Ryan who avoided it in time. Though she was half sure Luke probably reinforced the tires anyways.
They had a much bigger problem now though as it was clear what was happening.
"Ambush! Stay down!" Commissioner Montoya shouted at everyone.
The gunfire erupted at them as Ryan immediately reacted searching for a first target. She spotted they were shooting from two different buildings. Somehow Black Mask most have known about their route. Though Ryan didn't have time to think about this anymore.
She grappled up to the left side building crashing though the window immediately getting to work. Black Bat's first priority was to make the shooting stop, so she used the grappling gun to trip them over give the cops some half relief.
It was good enough as she could faintly spot Montoya moving first trying to keep the gun fire away from everyone else as she took responsibility for her people's safety.
Black Bat moved forward taking a breath getting ready as the thugs got back up ready to throw down. Fists up, Ryan returned the favor and sped up taking them down with a well thrown batarang and some quick punches as she was more focused on returning to the cops. More worried about Montoya than those punks.
Black Bat guided back down and went to check on the commissioner throwing some smoke bombs for cover. "Montoya are you okay!" She cried out searching and found her. Sadly she was looking down at an officer. Dead. One she didn't get the name of. "Commissioner, I'm sorry. We gotta keep moving! There is nothing else you can do. Please." Ryan pleaded.
Montoya gave a nod. "Yeah, okay. The rest ducked into that alleyway, best we follow along. Do you have any more smoke bombs?" She asked getting back to business as they started to move and catch up with the rest.
"Yes. Thankfully. Black Mask is sending everything after us. The witness, Dennis, he has to be the real deal! That cop won't die for nothing." Black Bat reassured, as they saw everyone else, safe.
"I hope so. We need to keep moving everyone. The Black Mask isn't done with us yet. Keep your eyes open and watch for anything." Montoya said sternly as everyone understood.
The witness Dennis came over to Ryan giving a sideways look. "Do you really think we got a chance? One or more of them could be dirty, you know. Money is a motivation. Believe me."
"Cops are more often than not dirty, but these few were checked out by the commissioner. Someone I trust." Ryan replied, looking at him straight on.
He got closer. "With cops, can you really be certain?"
Ryan shook her head, but couldn't help wondering if he was right. Or if he was messing with her.
While the cops got things sorted, Mary meanwhile had sent everyone home after all. Just with some returning to make sure everything was in order, as a couple staff were still in the neighborhood.
Some of them were chatting about Jacob, unaware that someone was listening to their conversation.
"I can't believe what happened to Kane." One of them said, shaking their head thinking about it. "I wonder who could even do something like that. Maybe Alice? She's not been in the news lately, sounds totally like something that a terrorist would do! Can't believe we're in the middle of it "
"Yeah, commander Crow. Beat to hell and get patched up by this daughter here. It's crazy right? Least he's still alive. Mary really is a talented doctor. Hope she's doing alright. Seems to keep flip flopping if she wants us back at work or not."
They both seemed in agreement walking away going home.
The person listening to them had a different intention though. Going inside to see Jacob Kane. They didn't know beforehand what had happened.
He was resting now and didn't see who it was. Mary and Luke were also elsewhere from there.
"Hey, daddy." The visitor began to say with tears streaming down her face. She held her head for a moment, having an intense pain. "It's me. Beth. I feel, oh god, I feel Alice still. She's too strong. Can almost hear her twisted voice and thoughts of hurting you."
Jacob Kane was still resting and didn't hear this. Didn't know Beth was right in front of him. And had he be awake, being in bed just after grieves injuries, nothing would have stopped him from holding Beth close. Help her. Not that poor lost girl knew this of course.
She grabbed his hand. "I'm so sorry daddy. This is my fault. Alice, I, whoever. Destroyed our family and now Kate is gone because I wasn't strong enough to fight back." Beth continued to cry, overwhelmed with everything. Not even understanding why she had mental clarity now after so long.
Beth Kane kneeled down. "I will keep fighting. Won't let Alice hurt anyone else. I can't! I keep thinking about Kate and everything. Wish could put everything right again. You wouldn't understand. And I'm terrified of staying. Alice could take control again and I'm not sure what could happen next." She sighed deeply grasping his hand. All she wanted was to stay, but she noticed that her father might've been regaining consciousness again.
Beth gave a kiss to his forehead. "I love you daddy. And I'm so sorry! I will find a way to make things right!" She expressed and then rushed back out before his eyes opened up enough to see her. The terror of being spotted was to much for her.
Jacob Kane being out of it wasn't sure if he heard correctly. That his daughter was still alive. Beth. In his state, he couldn't even think more about it. To determine if that was a dream or if real.
Back across the city, Ryan and Commissioner Montoya were scouting ahead trying to keep to the plan despite the setback.
"Do you think someone here gave up the route?" Black Bat straight up asked with curiosity in her voice.
Montoya looked hesitant to answer that question. Looking away. "I truthfully don't know Batwoman. God. If I can't trust even then who am I supposed to trust?" She whispered and looked back to make sure nobody was eavesdropping.
"There must be something we can do."
She shook her head. "Keep our witness safe and find Black Mask. He has more blood on his hands now. We do this and it ends. At least this problem does for the moment. Can get maybe one good night's sleep finally." Montoya remarked, sounding more exhausted with that last comment.
The officer at the end of their walking line stopped putting up his hands. "Wait! Shit, I heard something. It could be serious trouble!" Their name was Jackson and he pulled his gun out scanning around them in fear.
"Your hearing things. I heard nothing. Probably just a rat." Timms replied, shaking his head dismissively, stepping forward away from the cop.
"No, really I hear whispering. I had my ears checked a few weeks ago! Get ready it could be anothe-" Jackson wasn't able to finish his thought as he was tragically correct getting shot in the neck dropping to the ground.
Another officer took one to the head, which was immediately the end of them.
Everything else hit the wall looking for the shooters.
Montoya tapped Black Bat's shoulder pointing at the downed Jackson. "Throw a smoke bomb! Give me cover!"
"Better idea." Ryan began doing as suggested but instead ran out to grab the officer down. "I've got him! Keep going please! And call an ambulance!"
Black Bat exclaimed rushing forward and was good she did as an RPG went straight for them. The resulting explosion knocked them both down. As Ryan tried getting back up she noticed that to her sadness, Jackson was gone.
The witness Dennis gave her a helping hand back up as Montoya was otherwise occupied returning fire trying to keep Black Bat covered. As she was aware generally that the hero wasn't as immune to bullets as Batwoman.
"You okay bat? There is blood on you, is that yours?" He asked with surprisingly genuine concern.
Ryan shook her head looking at the victims tightening her fists. "No. However those guys are about to be a lot worse in a moment." Black Bat replied and rushed towards the shooting.
She deployed her shield and started to run forward taking some bullets.
Montoya was directing the officers still standing.
"Medina stay with me, we're going to give covering fire for them to cross the street. Hell, borrow a car if you must. We just need to move! Get the witness out of here now!" Montoya exclaimed, as they started to do as said, making the street more clear for them to cross.
Black Bat came back over to the commissioner once done with the punks shooting from the other side. "I know this isn't the time, but I'm seriously concerned about someone not being truthful. Giving Black Mask real time information somehow!"
Officer Medina got shot in the side looking out a little too far. It wasn't fatal for her though. Still hurt.
Montoya kept pressure on the wound. "I already called an ambulance to this location. You're okay Medina. Might as well call reinforcements at this point. Get all available bodies down here."
"Thank you commissioner Montoya, but I'm so sorry. I was thinking about what Black Bat said. Miles Timms. I heard him before mentioning something odd. Knowing the right people? It was an off hand comment and I didn't think much of it, but now. He was standing right next to Jackson right? And didn't get hit? Was that really a coincidence?"
This made Montoya turn to Black Bat with fear in her eyes. "I should have listened to my gut, there wasn't any dirt on him. But. Black Bat just go after them!'
Ryan gave a nod of understanding rushing towards where they were all heading and started to make a call.
About a minute before across the Gotham, Luke and Mary were returning from stepping outside, finding Jacob Kane semi awake.
"I thought I heard Alice. Or maybe, just maybe. Beth." He muttered to himself not seeing Mary yet.
"Okay, makes me think I should check again for a concussion." Mary remarked more sarcastically again. "Unless I didn't treat you soon enough." She wondered quietly. Though Luke heard.
"You did the best you could Mary." He said with reassurance.
Jacob Kane tried sitting up. "I was attacked." He started to say.
"Yeah, I guessed that. Would've sent you to Arkham if I thought you did this to yourself!" Mary said with an eye roll. And checked some of the bandages. "Just so we're clear, I'm still furious and once you can leave. You're outta here."
He looked saddened, but not surprised by this. It made perfect sense given everything that happened. "I'm sorry Mary. Didn't want to put you in this position. I never did. Never wanted any of this. All I really wanted was for us to be a family. To get along. To be a good dad. Never to hurt my daughters."
"I mean nobody wants to shoot their daughter in the head! Unless they are a real sicko. Still doesn't change that Kate is gone." Mary interrupted him, frustrated with him immensely. The anger really didn't go down, with every thought of Kate being gone.
"If I knew Kate was Batwoman. I would've never hurt her. Never let any more fighting happen." Jacob said softly.
Mary looked down. "Well she thought you were going to arrest her and you sure didn't give reason for Kate to think any differently!"
"You're right Mary."
She sighed heavily wanting to throw something. Though had enough self restraint to not do this. Instead gave Luke a hug, something he accepted and gently hugged her back. "Okay." She let go and turned back around. "Just get some bed rest please. I changed my mind, again, going to keep the clinic closed tomorrow. Going to need to sleep all day."
Luke then got a call from Ryan Wilder. Which he stepped aside for.
"Luke! I need you to check up on a cop, an officer Timms!" She got right to the point by saying.
"Well, you are in luck. I've investigated some cops okay most. Have a list here on my phone all connected to the batcomputer so all is secure. An-"
"Luke, seriously! We're under fire and it's bad! Is Timms dirty!" She exclaimed over the phone.
He paused. "Uh. Unconfirmed, but my algorithm thinks he might be connected to a few personal hits. How bad is that Ryan."
She hung up as gun shoots were in the background.
Back over the city with Ryan Wilder again she rushed over a little too late finding the remaining cops all shot. It was friendly fire. At least it would have been if the fire wasn't by a dirty cop. And Timms grabbed Dennis, dragging him to a nearby car.
"Hell. No." Black Bat said firmly clenching her fists rushing over not even putting up her shield. The thought crossing her mind was tackling the officer and pinning him to the ground. "Enough people have died today!" She exclaimed, giving a very hard punch to him.
It wasn't quite enough as backup arrived shooting at Black Bat as she had to back off.
Timms laughed. "Na. We can fit in one more death! Black Mask will make Dennis suffer. The boss man doesn't even care about the sidekick."
"I'm not a sidekick." She firmly stated and stood back up knocking over the cop then rushed to help Dennis.
She managed to kick the two backup goons into the car. Right though it's windows. Impressing herself a bit by that move.
However Timms grabbed her cape. And started to tug. This didn't deter Ryan though who bounced off the wall punching him down again.
"Black Bat look out!" Dennis exclaimed, pointing to another shooter. However Montoya got this one. Shot them down as Black Bat was about to dodge.
However, unfortunately Timms was faking being down and swiftly shot Dennis then almost took out Ryan, as he was indeed a professional. Though Montoya was fast returning the favor, shooting him dead now.
Ryan was in shock but rushed to the witness's side. "Oh no. Dennis. There is an ambulance on the way. You aren't going to die here!"
"Wait. Hand me. My phone." He said weekly.
Black Bat handed it to him. "Save your strength. Please."
He opened the phone revealing an address. "It was password protected. That's where Black Mask is. You got this. Go take him down."
"You're going to live long enough to see him brought to justice! Come on, I can't let you die, you finally got my name right." Ryan joked.
He weakly laughed. "Yeah, I guess I did after all. Think you're right, Black Bat. You are the real deal." His eyes started to close.
"No. No! Stay with me. Montoya help!"
The commissioner shook her head knowing it was too late. "I'm sorry.' She said softly and sat down. Medina came over next to her still holding where she was shot. The three of them were the last ones standing by the end.
"Did you hear? See?" Ryan asked, handing over the phone.
Montoya nodded slowly. "I see. Damn. I know that place. It's a fortress. All that blood just to find out, Black Mask is in a tightly secured location." She said with disappointment as sirens got closer to where they were waiting. "I'm going to get the EMTS. You should probably go Black Bat. You did all you could today. Try to remember that."
"I'll try, commissioner. Thanks." Black Bat replied walking away heading back to find her bike now. Feeling defeated. Not even sure if she could successfully take down Black Mask even having his location. The odds were stacked against them.
After sometime, Mary had asked to stay behind to make sure Jacob would be fine over the night time and close up. During that Luke had left and started to try contacting Ryan as concern was definitely running though.
"Sorry for going dark." She immediately said upon answering.
Luke had a sigh of relief. "Heard gunshots and was worried. Are you okay?"
"Not really. I got Black Mask's location." Ryan replied softly.
This was puzzling for Luke to hear. "Shouldn't having the monster terrorizing the city's location be a good thing?"
"Okay yes that's good. All the cops who are dead and the guy who died giving us that information, not as great." Ryan couldn't help saying with some frustrated sassy tone in her voice.
Luke was understanding. "I get it. Sorry how that went. What's the plan now? Perhaps we should sleep on it?"
"Yeah, maybe. Hey. Actually what was going on with you and Mary? Didn't sound like you two were doing much better." She asked with some concern about the two of them, as she always cared about them even while all that occurred had a cloud taking up a lot of space.
"Oh, it's nothing too serious. Like I said, sleep on it. Sounds like the best call. Promise we'll talk about it tomorrow. Unless you want to talk about what happened with Black Mask and Montoya?"
Ryan had a soft laugh. "Goodnight Luke." She hung up again.
Now with Mary, she was walking home wanting to just burst into tears over how much she was missing her sister. And everything that's happened to the family. Though a surprise was literally around the corner.
A blue haired woman ran up to Mary. "Oh thank god! You're a doctor aren't you? Uh, Mary Hamaltion right? I know a couple people who met you! Or needed your help, err doesn't matter!" She said very quickly.
"Okay. What are you trying to ask me?" Mary asked, confused.
"Uh well I'm very exhausted and so sorry to bother you but Batwoman started developing a fever and she might be dying so I thought I should find a real trusting doctor!" Harper Row was speaking very quickly as she was indeed in quite the panic.
Mary put her hands up. "Back up! Batwoman?! As in alive? Breathing? Okay?"
"Well yes and I'd very much like to keep her that way as you could understand! I rescued her after she washed up ashore. I have tried keeping her safe and you know healthy. Figured hospitals would be too dangerous. So I'm really hoping you can help her." Harper explained more calmly this time.
Mary had zero hesitation. "Well! No more time to waste then! Take me to Batwoman right this instant!" Mary exclaimed, trying to keep herself somewhat together.
Harper Row complied as they rushed off to go help the hero.
Batwoman
In Response to C.G (And scouttroop, "TW" and wearedeadpool at the bottom)
Thank you I'm very grateful for your kind words and continued support. It just occurred to me that I think it's been I believe 4 years since this began getting posted! I wished for faster progress and not taking so long to reach the fourth season, etc. Hope the wait has continued to be worth it. Like last time, going to try to get chapter 4 out sooner fingers crossed for that outcome. I think mentally in a place where I can start to work a bit faster again.
I'm extremely grateful for the helpful postings. Thank you. It was a great deal of help with this chapter as I tried to figure it out.
If you can do anymore that would be great help too but understand if you're still feeling down.
In regards to Black Mask's daughter - I'll try to keep all that in mind about his daughter. And her future in the series. Gave a little teaser to her comatose status. Along with that Black Mask expects her to follow in his footsteps if she wakes up. I like everything you gave for Circe. And the differences with the Arrowverse canon.
Very sorry to hear about the NCIS Hawai'i news, I hope the news and time since has helped soften that blow a little. I guess it's to make room for that prequel about Gibs? Which mom doesn't seem very excited about so I think she understands. She was enjoying Hawai'i. (She was sad about Magnum P.I too not sure if that was the same network too)
In regards to the Supergirl story - I will look them up sometime and keep all that in mind for that long-term story arc. I'm sorry too for the slow progress on that story getting started. Can't give any updates unfornately. Just trying to get Batwoman back on track currently and if I do will evaluate what I should do from there. My Spider-Man story is finished so I hope that'll open up a slot for me to give attention to that story. Your ideas sound great.
PS. I understand and am really sorry how much the cancelation affected you. Hope a new show this fall can catch your attention. Sad that it was that date it was canceled on, very frustrating to hear that as well. She did yeah didn't believe it. Mom is frustrated about that and the cancellation of So Help Me Todd? She was really getting into that one and was sad to hear it's over.
Oh wanted to say about the GCPD cops, I didn't want to use any of the named ones you gave me I was keeping that in mind. Figured was a good call as they all got killed. (Apart from Medina. I intend to use her later as a possible candidate for the unit, but she'll be injured for now giving way for Maggie's arrival which I'm really excited for. I'm hoping it'll give me the shot in the arm to get me motivated again.
And Selena Medina is transgender which is why I created her and why she is the surviving cop, lol)
Anyway hope was all good there on that front.
Anyways thanks for sticking around C.G and hope things are looking a little more up for you currently. Best wishes for the remainder of the year.
To scouttroop. You will certainly find out which one it was by the end of the season. And good guesses for the responsible party.
To wearedeadpool. (If you get this far lol) Thanks for thinking it was a good start appreciated it. Hope you've enjoyed the story and keep enjoying.
To TW. Sorry it wasn't any sooner with finishing this one. Fingers crossed for the next chapters. Thanks for waiting.