Cassandra felt a hand on her shoulder as she awoke in a haze. A moment later, she felt a something press into her right ear, then her left. She tried to resist, but her movements were slow as if she was inebriated, the person standing over her didn't need to push her back down. Almost as soon as whatever was inserted was in place, the fog in her vision started to dissipate. With a squint, she saw Nijah in her flaming form standing over her, one firm finger pressed to her lips to indicate she stay quiet. Cassandra needed a moment more to remember her recent dream, and even knowing what she did it was more than a little shocking to see it confirmed their fight and conversation apparently had been real. Ultimately, she gave Nijah a silent nod as the last of the sleep brought on by Father Gallagher dissipated. She still knew she'd need to fake it, but it felt so good to be awake again. With a nod of her own, Nijah shapeshifted into wind again and slipped out of the cell.

With a smack of her lips to force out bile, Cassandra looked around for a sign of the time. There were no windows to the outside to be found in her cell and no sign of any changes to the environment offered her any hints either. If she started moving around while she was expected to be unconscious, Kedar and his forces would know something was wrong. Considering they had a backup plan to kill her if Bruce and the others didn't cooperate, she wished they'd at least offered her a customary last meal, that would help restore some of her strength.

As if her mind was read, a warm breeze came in through the tiny window on the door. Nijah reappeared, again put a finger over her lips, and laid a few pieces of flat, spongey-looking bread on Cassandra's lap. Cassandra nodded her thanks, then tapped her wrist in the hopes of getting an idea of the time. Nijah shook her head and disappeared again. Though unsure why she couldn't have just raised fingers or something like that, Cassandra turned her attention toward the food. There was a slight tang to it, and she had the feeling it was meant to be dipped in something, but at least it filled her stomach. Between two pieces, she found a tiny, copper key. She ate every bit of the to ensure there was nothing for the enemy to detect and slipped the key up one of the sleeves of her undermost layer.

When all the bread was eaten, Cassandra gently laid down on the mat again and shut her eyes. There would be no falling back asleep, she felt sure of that already, but it would be expected. Prayer felt like the best way to spend the wait, and reciting the rosary would probably feel like it passed time the fastest. She always struggled with some of the lesser-utilized prayers, but she did her best. First an Our Father, then three Hail Marys, then a Glory be. There was something after that, she was aware, but she was blanking on it, so she pressed on. One Our Father, ten Hail Marys, one Glory Be, and that other short one she could never remember the name of. Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of your beloved mercy, amen. Hell remained a non-factor in her beliefs, and maybe if she and the rest of the world survived, she'd discard that prayer when she sought out a new church. Or maybe she wouldn't, there was still something comforting in having consistent devotionals to turn to in times of need.

She prayed over a hundred Hail Marys before the words felt like they started to run together in her brain. At that point, after a minute or two to collect herself, she gave up on organized prayer and just spoke in her mind.

God, I never stopped wanting to be a good Catholic. I only struggled when the church felt like it fell short of your will. The Hell talk, the pushing people out, not what your son came to preach. The silver cross necklace she wore was pressed tight against her skin thanks to her armor, and it almost felt like it might burst out. Know I say it a lot, but I want to live. Not just my body, but my spirit, my heart. That when this is over, there will be more than the pain Kedar is dreaming of. She lingered for a moment on the figures from the stained glass during her dream, the place Nijah called the core of her being. With memories of her friends, her family, and her beloved, she added, Thank you for them. Always. Learned to love them. They helped me to love you. You all helped me love myself. Prior to any of this, had she ever really believed she might fall in love someday? She wasn't sure, but to have had the chance, even while it was threatened, felt right to say thank you for.

A voice, very slightly muffled, interrupted her prayers. "All right, girl. Nijah and Gedeyon are making the pickup now. It's time to go."

Determined to play her role, Cassandra only barely squinted her eyes open as Father Gallagher entered her cell. The priest hummed a tune as he walked over, and she still heard it, but the sleep-inducing effects didn't take hold. Whatever the headphones were doing, it seemed they did it well.

As Cassandra milked her exhaustion for all it was worth, Father Gallagher helped her sit up and slipped the manacles back onto her wrists. With a little pushing, Cassandra felt confident she could slip the key out of its place up her sleeve, so she did not resist.

After fastening the cuffs, Gallagher pulled her back up by them and commanded, "March."

With her head down and clumsy steps, Cassandra allowed herself to be led down the citadel's winding corridors. With enough pushes in one direction or another, she heard the creak of one of the ancient doors, felt the cool of a spring night's wind, and squinted her eyes open to see a dark night waited outside.

Gallagher kept up his humming as he led her down a flight of stairs to the ground level. In one of her unsteady steps, she bumped into one of Kedar's other enforcers. She didn't look up at him, but by the sound of his grunt, she assumed it was Joaquin. Eventually, with her head still down, she stumbled into another body on the lower floor.

"She's still on the edge?" It was the voice of the figure Cassandra just bumped into, and it was, without question, Kedar.

"Yes, sir. Until the icon is in your hands," Gallagher said.

"No," Kedar said. "Until the icon is shattered and the Spectre and I are one."

"Of course."

"Mmm… Nijah and Gedeyon, do you suppose they're safe? I'm worried now. Should we have figured out something else? Should I have gone? What if they're taken prisoner?"

"We are aware of the Batman's principles, remember," Gallagher said. Even if he takes them prisoner, he is unable to take a life. He cannot make a truly difficult decision such as that."

Kedar uttered a long, tired sigh. "God forgive me."

While the two spoke, Cassandra considered if she could go for an escape right then and there. Kedar stood behind her, dressed in a suit of Kevlar armor with a white crusader's surcoat and a Jerusalem Cross emblazed across his chest. What she would have given to tell him the design wasn't even original. He also, almost certainly, had that spear on hand. The effects of her pressure point strikes never lasted long on immortals, but she only needed a few seconds worth of advantage to steal the weapon and use it against him. Just the threat of it stealing his eternal life away might be good enough to get an escape started. But even with a surprise attack, she didn't know the grounds of the citadel or a decent way of escaping it. And if she did, she may still need to contend with Joaquin's monsters and a Benjie she hadn't been able to account for yet. It wasn't time, she had to accept.

Twenty minutes later, she heard the distant sound of clanking metal, like an ancient, poorly handled garage door. The hum of a large car engine followed shortly thereafter, then stopped. Cassandra kept her head down and offered no response as the sound of echoing steps reached out to her.

When a voice broke in, it was Kedar's. In spite of the cold control she anticipated, he spoke fast and seemed thrown off. "What the—what are you doing? Put those swords down!"

"No." That was Sadie's voice, bold and defiant. Cassandra had to stifle a smile. "We're not letting you back off on the bargain. You're gonna trade Angel nice and easy, or I'm going to use these and rip that spirit of revenge out."

Behind Sadie there came a teeth clenched remark from Gedeyon. "Nijah, you said you messaged him."

"I did!" Nijah said. "Cellular is spotty out here, you know that."

Father Gallagher stopped singing long enough to say, "Careful with that. Those swords are more limited than the spear. Someone without the proper credentials could infuriate the angel within—"

"You wanna flip the coin of how much I care? I'm an atheist, you know, I'm not scared of what's going to happen."

Cassandra's face didn't betray any reaction, but something was wrong. That was clearly Stephanie's voice. Last she was aware, Stephanie was a Methodist—a lax practitioner, to be sure, but she'd never called herself an atheist. But more significant than that, why was Stephanie pushing antagonism in that moment?

"Send Angel this way." That voice was Bruce's, she knew for sure. "We'll send you the icon at the same time. But no matter what happens, both girls are leaving with us."

Kedar let out an annoyed snarl and then said, "She comes alone, keep those swords away."

"Not happening," Sadie said. "We're not throwing out our only leverage."

With another vocalized scowl, Kedar said, "Gedeyon, Nijah." He paused and, judging by the changed projection of his voice, looked upward. "Benjie, all of you, don't take your eyes off these two for an instant."

Three calls of, "Yes, sir," followed.

Kedar laid his hand on Cassandra's back and pushed her forward. As she proceeded, gently as she could, she started to work the key out of her sleeve. She didn't know to what further extent Nijah would be assisting in her escape, so she had to assume she'd mostly be responsible for herself. As they crossed the courtyard, she slowly raised her head and squinted her eyes. She saw Stephanie and Sadie as they approached, Sadie with her left hand extended, Stephanie in her Batgirl uniform with the two swords held at the ready.

Except—wait— something was wrong. What?

What in the world was going on?

-000-

Sadie became aware of a number of things in the last few days of travelling across Europe. Her love and loyalty to Cassandra, while tested a little back in France, was utterly affirmed. The lengths to which this family of costumed superheroes cared for her was absolutely evident. And, whatever grand conclusion she may ultimately determine on the matter of her own agnosticism, religion, folklore, and mythology were all a lot more real than she'd always given them credit for.

But there was always one other tiny refrain she'd picked up on: she and Stephanie wore the same size of clothes. And, though she was subconsciously aware anyway, she was reminded they were of similar builds. She felt desperate to have something to contribute to the Bat family besides being a bartering chip, so she made her proposal just before they departed Umbria.

"What if me and Steph switched places?"

Bruce, Tim, Stephanie and Alfred all paused in their preparations when she asked the question. After a few beats of consideration, Stephanie was the first to ask, "What?"

"Kedar and his little cabal have us backed into a corner because they think they know how everything's going to go down, right?" Sadie said. "They're making us rush in there before you can call in any reinforcements, replenish any equipment, whatever. They think there's nothing we can do to mess with their plan." She then pointed back and forth between herself and Stephanie. "But what if they thought they were getting me stepping up to give them the rock, but they got Steph instead. If you got in close enough, could you, I don't know, use one of those goop bombs of yours?"

As if wheels were turning in his head, Bruce slowly looked back and forth between the two women. "You two are about the same size. If we added a wig to the Batgirl uniform…"

"We'd need to cut Steph's hair, and fast." Tim turned half of a sad smile to her. "I know you wanted to curl it for the wedding—"

"If this is viable, I don't care if we have to shave me bald." Stephanie looked to Alfred. "Al, think you can cut and dye my hair at twenty thousand feet?"

"Under normal circumstances, I might tell you it's a bad idea. But we left normal circumstances behind a long time ago."

"We need to get moving now," Bruce said. "Gather the things you'll need, we'll discuss this plan more on the flight."

Stephanie and Sadie went back into the villa together. When they returned, they held a blonde wig, a bottle of fast-acting brunette hair dye, an extra change of clothing, and a small barber's kit, all retrieved from one of the closets full of disguise equipment. Thirty minutes after that, with their ride flying high and stable, Alfred busily wet and combed down Stephanie's hair while the two discussed how to pull off this plan.

"None of the bad guys know any of us very well, but they've seen me in action some," Sadie said. "I pulled Benjie back into that church and really messed him up, I got Gedeyon in the side with one of those sin knives. And you probably wanna sell me hating Nijah a lot. She screwed around in my head, I'm not over that."

"I don't blame you," Stephanie said. "Okay, I'll give her the worst stink-eyes. The thing in your hand, does it hurt when it gets touched or anything?"

"No, there's not really any feeling there." Sadie opened and looked down at her palm. "Even when Kedar stabbed it with that spear I didn't really feel anything." She bit her lip. "If he stabs you in the hand, I'm really sorry."

"I've dealt with worse." Alfred just started clipping when she said, "You sure you didn't just come up with this scheme so you could wear a batsuit?"

"Everything I'm doing I'm doing so I can rescue Cassie. If I happen to get to do something cool like that, it's just a bonus."

"Speaking of which, we probably need to make sure everything fits." Tim rose from his seat and headed for the back of the plane. "It's probably going to be rough changing in the bathroom, I hope you can figure it out."

"I was an extra in a production of Six Swans back when I was a freshman in high school," she said. "First, I was a noble, then I was a goose, then I was a tree, then I was a peasant, then I was a noble again. Think I can handle this."

As Alfred continued to snip away at Stephanie's hair, Tim returned and with a folded bundle in his hands. Sadie accepted the clothes when he offered them and stepped into the aforementioned bathroom. A minute or two later, a few bumps and bangs started to sound off from the other side. Occasionally, Tim, Stephanie, and Alfred heard an "Ow."

Stephanie called over, "You good?"

"I don't think—ack! I don't think anyone or anything has ever clung to my ass this hard."

Tim and Stephanie both struggled to suppress laughter.

"And this cape—does it unclip or anything?"

"Yes," Tim said. "Should be some snappers up by the shoulders."

"Couldn't help but notice Cassie quit wearing these," Sadie said. "I think that was a good move."

All the way up in the pilot's seat, where, by all rights, he shouldn't have been able to hear, Bruce called back, "The cape extends the shadow, it makes you look far larger and more dangerous. But a white cape wouldn't work in the dark."

After a moment of silence, Sadie muttered to herself, "Does he have bat-hearing too? Wild."

After a few more minutes of quieter bumps and struggles, Sadie slipped the door open and stepped into the plane's sitting area. She pulled at a few bits of black and purple to straighten the uniform out, but by the time she was finished, everything seemed in place. Stephanie smiled and clapped as she sat down.

"You look awesome," she said.

"Well, glad I look the part. If this is on the list of achievements, I think I just got my first bat-wedgie." Even Alfred smirked a little at that one.

Sadie stared out the window as land started to give way to ocean again. The coordinates and instructions Kedar gave Bruce led to an ancient fortress of some kind in Acre, Israel. She'd explained the latest plan she'd come up with to the team just before they all left the villa, in a moment that felt absolutely amazing, Bruce said he thought she was on to something. The swords were accounted for, everyone with a fresh uniform to put on slipped into them, and Stephanie helped Sadie with a little outfit coordinating of her own. Bruce's piloting had them rushing toward the enemy at hundreds of miles an hour, she just hated that she didn't feel like there was much more she could do.

An idea came to her as Stephanie was getting into costume. "Hey, Steph, you have any relaxing music on your phone or whatever?"

-000-

The sun had set by the time Bruce, again in his own uniform, lowered the plane. Stephanie and Sadie sat across from one another. Sadie adjusted a wig of long, blonde hair one more time before she clipped on the Batgirl cowl she retrieved from the villa. Stephanie, in turn, pulled Sadie's jacket over the big Vision Divine T-shirt, which, along with the sweatpants she wore, were both oversized enough to cover the Batgirl uniform she'd worn on and off all week. In the center of her ungloved left palm sat a cross of dark green makeup, the wings of gooperang slipped off, and the adhesive payload secured to the center.

Sadie smirked when she examined at her would-be reflection. She looked around to confirm Tim was out of earshot before she said, "Cassie's admitted she's attracted to you, you know. No wonder she likes me—I do kinda look like you, just gayer."

"Oh please." Stephanie laughed. "We don't look that alike. You're in costume, I'm in costume, all that stuff." She flicked a little of her shortened, dyed hair. "Gotta admit, I kinda like not having so much of this in my face." She called over, "Hey, Tim, would you still marry me if I started cutting my hair all short?"

He didn't miss a beat. "I've got enough hair for both of us, these days. We can still add, 'in pixies and in ponytails' to our vows if you want."

Both women laughed as the plane finally touched ground again, then they shared a silent look and nod that meant it was time to be serious. Intersecting with the end of the tarmac was another stretch of pavement, a military jeep sat and waited for them on an otherwise uninhabited stretch of land. Batman led the group out of the plane, followed by Alfred, then Robin, then Sadie dressed as Batgirl with the Swords of Sin and Salvation in her hands. The rear was brought up by Stephanie dressed as Sadie. Out of the jeep stepped Gedeyon and, with her face turned elsewhere, Nijah.

Gedeyon scowled as they came into view. "The swords stay here."

"No," Batman said. "If there is an attempt to cheat this agreement, we'll remove the diamond ourselves."

"Do you want us killing your apprentice?"

"Do you want to tell your leader why you lost the Spectre?"

Gedeyon's anger slipped into nervousness as he looked back and forth between the swords and the short-haired brunette. He turned toward Nijah in the hopes she might assist, but she said nothing. "… All right, fine. All five of you, get in the car. It'll be a tight fit."

"I'm not sitting next to that Freddy Kruger psycho of yours," Stephanie said. "And I feel bad for whichever one of you does."

Nijah looked up long enough to glare at her, then slipped into confusion for a moment, and shook it off.

"I'll sit in the back with you." Sadie laid her hand on Stephanie's shoulder. "She won't get close."

"Just hurry up and climb in," Gedeyon said. "Let's finish this."

Robin crammed himself into the front seat alongside Nijah and Gedeyon, the rest loaded into the backseat. The landing strip sat atop a hill and the road down was a long spiral. Within a minute of the drive leveling off, the car was headed toward a large fortress built into another rocky hill. Spires rose out from its top like a medieval castle, and the road led directly into a dark cave. No one in the car spoke as the distance was closed, all aware they approached a crossroads for the entire rest of the world.

-000-

In spite of the head of shortened, brown hair and the leather jacket, Cassandra recognized it was Stephanie standing before her. And it appeared to be Sadie in the Batgirl suit a few steps behind. She could only guess at what ploy they were pulling, but whatever it was, it made her stomach roil in nervous anticipation.

Stephanie-disguised-as-Sadie caught her in a moment of eye contact and gave the quickest, tiniest wink. As she approached Kedar, she pinched the spot in the center of her left palm where Sadie's mark was.

Kedar and Gallagher approached, the Eldest of the Nephilim raised his spear and said, "Extend your hand and give me the icon."

With her right fingers closed around whatever was pressed to her left palm, Stephanie presented the hand to him. In her palm sat a facsimile of the green cross in Sadie's hand.

"You have chosen well," Kedar said. "You will all have a place in the new world I will make."

Kedar thrust the spear downward.

Stephanie yanked her hand back, pressed the center of her adhesive bomb, and threw it toward the ground. Sadie leapt back, Stephanie grabbed Cassandra by her wrist and yanked her as well.

In the moment before the eruption of goop, Kedar let out a shout of pain and stumbled to his left. Gallagher turned to him in confusion and got a look at Nijah, now in her jinn form, and suddenly running one of her daggers into Kedar's body.

Sadie made it as far as her eyes going wide and asking, "What the—" before the bomb went off.

Gallagher shouted as his lower half was doused in the green adhesive. But thanks to the sudden attack by Nijah knocking him off balance, Kedar avoided the eruption. With his hand pressed to the ethereal wound and his eyes wide he asked, "Ha—habibti? Why?"

So quiet only he could hear, she whispered, "I'm sorry, Khāl." Then grabbed ahold of the spear in his clutches and turned toward the Bat family, still unaware she'd interfered in their plan. "Get out of here, all of you, before—"

Kedar jerked the spear from her grip and thrust a shallow cut into her side. Nijah screamed as the flames all over her body started to struggle.

Horrified, Cassandra called, "Nijah!" Before Stephanie, hand still on her wrist, tried to run her toward the exit.

With a disgusted look on his face, Kedar leered up at his retreating guests. Then shouted, "Gedeyon, destroy the van! Joaquin, Benjie, to me." He cast a glare down at Nijah for a moment before she disappeared into wind, then leveled it toward Cassandra. "Have you turned my own blood against me now? None of you will escape. You will all be the first to be scorched by the fires of Hell's promise!"