By the time Laurel was finished tying up Selina, Batman had arrived with his customary grunt. "The GCPD are on their way," he told her, before glancing down at the rogue. For a moment, Laurel could've sworn she saw disappointment and resignation in his eyes.

Selina, for her part, gave him a cheeky little wave with her free fingers. "Hey thewe, big guy. Why'd you sicc the newbie with the assassin skills on me?"

Laurel blinked. "Wait, how did you know about that?" She winced at the look Bruce shot her. Right. Should've kept her mouth shut.

The other woman gave a throaty, pained chuckle. "You kiddin' me sweetheawt? Evewyone this town has tangwled with the League at least once. Thewe's no way I woudn' wecognize those moves."

Well. That explained why Bruce wanted her to build up a solid reputation before endorsing her to Gordon. If Selina Kyle could figure it out that easily, then there's no way Jim Gordon couldn't do it too. Laurel had read his file, and there was a reason he ended up Commissioner of the entire GCPD.

"Enough," Bruce ordered, clearly sick of the byplay and always determined to get to business. "Selina, do you have any information on the recent bank heists? You're the best thief in town, so there's no way you weren't approached for your expertise."

Catwoman glanced up at him and, much to Laurel's confusion, fluttered her eyes up at him. "Aw, handswome. You of all pweople should know I dwon't kwiss and twell."

Batman's expression, if anything, grew flatter. "Selina…" he said in a warning tone.

"…Fwine," the criminal replied, pouting. "Bwanks awen't weally my style you know, so I twold the big boss to piss off in the end. But he still wanted an in with me, swo he let me stwick along on one of the weists."

Laurel wondered which one it was. Despite taking down the initial crew, the Calculator's bank heists continued on with new crews — multiple ones all hitting up different locations in one night. Too many for the vigilantes and even the police to guard against successfully. She hadn't seen Selina at any of the ones she managed to stop, and both Bruce and Dick would've mentioned spotting her at theirs, which meant the Calculator had to be hitting up more banks without the wider city knowing. And the worst part is, they didn't know how.

"It was pretty stwandawd at first, but when it came to disabling the secuwity system, all the cwew did was plug in swome doo-hickey into the neawest secuwity box and let the bwoss do the wowk. When I asked about it on thwe phone later, he bwagged about having some kwind of unbeatable supewviwus that no one would bwe able to stop."

"Did he say what kind of supervirus it was or if it had a name?"

"Nwope."

"Wonderful," Batman deadpanned, sighing. "Well, thanks for your help, Selina. Gordon's men should be along in about five minutes."

"And as always, you awe going to leave me to bwe awwested," Selina complained, pouting again. "How cold, Bwuce."

Bruce didn't bother responding. "Come, Canary," he said instead, shooting his grappling hook at the nearest ledge. "We've got a city to patrol."

Laurel quickly rushed to follow him, only sparing a single glance back at Selina before shooting her own grappling hook. As she soared next to Batman, she gave the man a speculative look. "So you and her…?"

No answer. Which was pretty much all the answer Laurel needed. 'You'll know it when you see it', he said, she grumbled in her head. Massive understatement, Dick.

"She's right, you know. Leaving her behind to get arrested is pretty cold."

She got another grunt in response. "Don't worry," Bruce said, brushing her off. "Knowing Selina, she'll be breaking out of Blackgate by the end of the week."

Unknown Location

Noah Kuttler was not an easy man to vex. He couldn't be — easily irritable people made stupid mistakes, and he had been at this too long to make those kinds of mistakes. As a man who no longer existed and lived off the grid in an effort to continue his criminal activities without fear of government reprisal, one little slip could send his entire operation tumbling down. So he made an effort not to slip.

But he had to say, he was getting annoyed with these vigilantes. He hadn't thought much of them at first when he came to Gotham to cash in on the chaos and confusion of the city's latest little crisis. Just minor obstacles for him to easily work around while he built up his fortune again. He had always done his best to keep himself well-funded but the recent recession had hit even criminals hard. Noah had needed to replenish.

It turned out, however, the vigilantes were more than a pack of brutes. He should've figured that out when it became clear the police were openly cooperating with them, but Noah had been a bit busy with building up his forces and marveling at his little girl's genius and how rich it was about to make him. Truly, Felicity was wasting her time slaving away at that nine to five job in Starling.

The one called Black Canary had been the one to take down his first crew. That hadn't been an issue, he had quickly recruited another one, plus an extra for redundancy, only for the one called Batman to stop one heist and Nightwing to stop the other. Already word had started spreading about how much of a bust the heists were turning out to be, so Noah had been forced to up the percentage of loot the crews could have in order to make his offers more enticing. He hadn't stopped until he had enough for four crews, guaranteeing at least one of the crews would succeed with the heist and get with the goods, but he had to admit, he was beginning to run out of potential bodies to use.

So he needed to cut them off at the pass. Send them a message. Luckily, there was no shortage of freaks in Gotham that had grudges against Batman and his flock, as Noah had come to learn. The matter was choosing which one to go after them.

Then word came in about one Dr. Jonathan Crane breaking out of Arkham. One of the aforementioned "freaks", he was apparently looking for funding. And, well, if there was anything Noah had learned over the years, it's that it was always wise to invest in the future.

Plus, if Crane were to take a little suggestion from Noah in regards to his next target… well, he was the one paying him.

Gotham City

It turned Bruce was off by a few days. Selina was barely in Blackgate for a day before the news reported she had broken out… again. When Laurel saw that, the only thing she could do was shake her head. One thing she had learned about Gotham over the months since she had started her vigilante training was that this city had terrible prisons. Both Arkham and Blackgate had multiple breakouts to their name, and very little had been done to remedy the problem.

When Laurel questioned her new teammates about why they hadn't solved this, Bruce flatly told her it was because the existing administration in Gotham was corrupt and actually benefited from having such "cardboard prisons". He had been doing his best to solve the issue, but with constant supervillains and rampant criminality running around, he hadn't been able to give it the proper attention it needed. With all of that put into perspective, it was no wonder Ra's had been able to so easily justify killing the criminals of Gotham — he had (not entirely correctly) believed that was the only way they were ever going to face real justice.

Laurel could understand that frustration, but she knew she could never go down that road. Not again, not after she was forced to by fate and the whims of men who thought they knew better than everyone else. So she just shrugged, dedicated some time later in her schedule to maybe figuring out some solutions Bruce could try out, and continued on with her life.

Part of that included expanding her patrol routes. The Bats had determined she had enough experience to begin patrolling some of the more crime-heavy areas of Gotham, and had assigned her a route that ran through Crime Alley. It was still a relatively light compared to what Bruce and Dick dealt with regularly, but it was still a sign of their growing faith in her. Laurel vowed to make sure that faith was not misplaced.

The first few days had gone well enough, but the atmosphere of the alley became tense about a week after Laurel started the route. "It's because Scarecrow has escaped Arkham again," Babs had told her when she mentioned it. She looked particularly grim. "He usually tests new variants of his Fear Gas there. They're probably antsy about when he's going to strike the place next."

Completely understandable. Laurel herself had read up enough about Scarecrow to recognize he was the kind of villain not to take him lightly, powers or no powers. She had already been loaded up with antidotes to inject herself with if she ever ran into the man in question.

About another week after Jonathan Crane's escape from Arkham, Laurel was once more patrolling the alley when she heard a cry for help. Drawing out her grappling hook, she swung down towards the direction of where the cry came from, and found a band of thugs harassing a sobbing woman. The victim had completely curled up into a ball as she tried to shield herself from their vicious blows.

Snarling, Laurel drew out her quarter staff and made quick work of the punks. By the time she was done, they were all fleeing for their lives, beaten and sobbing themselves. Huffing, she turned to the woman. The victim was no longer sobbing, at least. But there was no mistaking the trembling of trauma and shock.

Putting on a more comforting, sympathetic expression, Laurel bent down to check in on her. "Hey, are you alri—"

Quick as a mongoose, the woman suddenly shot up, her hand holding some kind of canister. Laurel only had just enough time to spot the raggedy straw mask that had been plastered all over the city for the past week, before she found herself inhaling some kind of strange, yellow smoke. Almost immediately, she felt herself start to become dizzy and her body weak.

The vigilante dropped her quarter staff and fell to her knees as her eyes began to become bleary. The woman — no, not a woman, Scarecrow — tilted his head and she could practically sense the smirk behind his stitched smile. "A little gift from the Calculator, my dear," he purred. "Enjoy."

Laurel had enough time to give him a weak glare before collapsing on her back.

And then, it started.

Shado appeared first. A picture of herself from Lian Yu, with a dark, angry countenance that was so unlike the Shado Laurel knew. "You abandoned me, Laurel," she said, accusingly. "Why does a freak like you get to be free while I'm still rotting in that hellhole?"

"Yes, why?" Yao Fei asked, appearing next to his daughter. "After everything I did for you, why did you leave my daughter to suffer?"

Laurel shook her head. "No, it wasn't like that…"

"Wasn't it, though?" Slade's insidious voice whispered into her ear. The woman turned her head, shocked, seeing Slade laying right next to her, a bloody grin and an empty eye socket with an arrow sticking right out of it. "Look at what you did to me. I gave up everything for you, and yet the moment I wanted something you didn't, you left me high and dry. Isn't that right, Laurel?"

"No… no…"

"Look at you," And there was Ollie now, glaring down at her, colder than she'd ever seen him before. "A murderer who abandons her friends when she doesn't get her way. How could you think any of us would you want back? Will you kill us too, Laurel?"

He was soon followed by others: Sara, their parents, Tommy, Thea, Mrs. Queen. Even Robert appeared, mounting her body with a hand around her throat.

"To think I gave my life for you," he scoffed, squeezing her throat. "What a mistake that was. If it hadn't been for you, I could've been with my family by now. But instead, I'm cold and in the ground, and here you are, running around like a jumped up thug, abandoning everyone you love so you can play vigilante. Where is the justice in that, Laurel?"

Laurel clenched her eyes closed, and tried to block it all out. If it was the fear gas talking; none of it was true. None of these people were here, they were just her greatest fears come to life to torture her. It wasn't real.

But the hand slowly choking her to death did. It felt more real than anything. Laurel tried to fight it off, but she couldn't. Slowly, her vision began to black out. The end was near.

I'm sorry, everyone…

There was a single prick in her neck. A familiar shade of red. Bright, blue eyes.

And then, nothing.

Seattle

Despite their initial plans, Sara didn't see Alex again until after winter break, when classes started again. When they saw each other right in front of the classroom, they both clammed up and did everything they could to avoid looking at each other. Sara had made sure to take the seat farthest away from Alex, and Alex had made sure to do the same with her.

Normally, class was an agonizing slog of waiting for the period to be over. But with everything going on between the two of them, Sara had been oddly focused on what was being taught. Before she knew it, class was over, and everyone was scrambling to leave. She quickly followed their lead, and was out the door in minutes.

Before she could leave to go to her next class, and hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder. "Sara," Alex's voice said, and Sara quickly found herself whirling around, doing her best to shake the appendage off.

The two women stared at each other, the awkwardness of the moment ratcheting up by the second. "Alex," Sara said carefully.

Alex swallowed. "Can I speak to you? We need to talk."

Massive understatement right there. Slowly, Sara nodded. "Not here, thought," the younger woman insisted.

"Right. My place, after class?"

"Sure." That was as private as they were ever going to get, after all.

Sara spent the rest of the day on eggshells, nervously looking up at the clock and waiting for the minutes to tick down. When class was finally over, she practically threw all her things into her bag before darting out of the room and to her car. She sped all the way over to Alex's apartment, and it was only when she got there that she realized she made a grave miscalculation. Shit, Sara cursed, she's not here yet.

Indeed, it was another hour until Alex returned to the complex, an hour upon which Sara spent finding the nearest hot dog cart so she could snack on something while waiting. By the time her friend arrived, Sara was sitting on the curb, licking off the last of the ketchup and mustard as she took a final sip of lemonade. She looked up to see Alex staring down at her in fond amusement. Sara smiled up at her and gave a wiggle of her fingers. "Hey."

Alex's smile widened into a grin. "Hey," she greeted back.

They beamed at each other, until they remembered why they were here and the atmosphere turned awkward again. The redhead cleared her throat. "Upstairs?" she suggested.

"Upstairs," Sara agreed, nodding.

"I'm sorry," was the first thing Alex blurted out the moment the door was closed and locked behind them.

Sara blinked. "You're sorry? About what?"

"The kiss," Alex replied, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "I sprung it on you out of nowhere. I shouldn't have done that."

That caused Sara to blush to divert her eyes. "It's fine," she said, quickly waving Alex's apology off. "I really didn't mind. To be honest, I actually kind of liked it."

Now it was Alex's turn to blink. "Really?" she asked in surprise, trying not sound too pleased.

"Yeah," Sara confirmed, pursing her lips. "But before we talk about that, I need to ask you something, Alex."

"What?"

The younger woman grew even more nervous. "Are you… gay?"

Alex didn't say anything at first, and for a moment Sara was afraid she overstepped her bounds. But then the older woman sighed and gestured for Sara to follow her to the couch. The two settled onto the cushions quickly, and Alex took Sara's hands into her own. For some reason, Sara couldn't find it in herself to pull away. "I am," Alex confessed, confirming Sara's suspicions. "I've tried dating guys before but I've never really been attracted to any of them. And while I've never dated any other women before…"

"…you've been attracted to them," Sara finished.

Her friend nodded. "You remember my former friend, Vicki Donahue? The reason our friendship fell apart is because I developed a crush on her and didn't know how to deal with those feelings. So I pushed Vicki away because it was easier to do."

"I tried not to think about what happened for years, and it was easy because I had college and med school to think about instead. But then I met you, and started spending a lot of time with you. I had more fun with you than I have with anyone else in a long time." She looked away. "I didn't understand why, though, until I met Vicki again and dredged up all those old feelings. That's when I realized I had feelings for you, much like I used to for her."

That… made a lot of sense, to be honest. Alex had been repressing her sexuality for years now. She wouldn't know how to recognize her growing feelings since it had been so long since she had those feelings for anyone at all. No wonder they had eventually overwhelmed her into finally acting on them that fateful winter night.

"Look, Sara, you're not obligated to do anything just because I have feelings for you," Alex insisted. There was some desperation in her eyes. "If you just want us to be friends, that's fine. We can just be friends, and we'll never have to talk about this again. I'm sure my feelings for you will fade in time."

She was trying to be comforting, Sara realized. Her friend wanted to make sure she knew she wasn't beholden to anything. It was… sweet of her, Sara had to admit. And it gave Sara the courage to finally speak from her heart.

"You don't have to do that, Alex," Sara cut in. "Like I said, I enjoyed the kiss. And as for what that says about my own sexuality…"

A sigh escaped the young blonde. "Look. I know for a fact I'm attracted to guys. I've dated and slept with more than my fair share. But as for girls… I honestly don't know. There have been several moments where I've noticed how pretty or sexy another girl was. How attractive they were. I've always tried to tell myself it was because I was jealous of them, but now…" She trailed off, then sighed once more.

"Now?" Alex prompted.

"I don't know. I really don't," Sara admitted. "What I do know is that I really enjoyed kissing you, and I wouldn't mind doing it again." A roguish grin accompanied her statement.

Alex blinked at the unexpected invitation, but soon returned the grin with one of her own. They leaned in and their lips met, and soon Sara found herself melting into the embrace. Now that she was an active participant, Sara found herself more aware of everything that she was feeling. The warmth of Alex's lips, the tingling on her skin, the butterflies in her stomach. All of it in concert, making her feel more alive than she had ever felt.

It was nice. Really, really nice.

Eventually, they had to pull away for air. Alex laced their fingers together and gave Sara a tentative smile. "I guess this is the part where I ask you out on a proper date?"

Sara, panting, lit up. "Yes," she said, a touch cheerful. "Yes, it is."

Took me a little bit to get through that fear gas stuff — I do not like writing those "what is your greatest fear" scenes. But, I managed it. And of course, Bruce and Selina are being, well, them.

By contrast, the Sara/Alex stuff was much easier to get through. But then again, it is fluff. Sara isn't quite sure she's bisexual yet (which is expected, considering she's only shared a kiss with Alex thus far), but she's becoming more open to the idea. And of course, she's now dating Alex, which means she's at least attracted to her.

Next Chapter: Laurel meets her unexpected savior.