Second Chances: Batwoman

Chapter 27

After having Mary take over Ryan duty, Kate rushed back to Wayne Tower, where she found Luke and Helena waiting for her.

"What do we know?" Kate asked as they walked towards the Batcave.

"GCPD and the Crows are going crazy, putting the city into lockdown, preparing for evacuations, the whole city is about to go to hell and for Gotham that is saying something." Helena said.

"Any luck tracing the Joker's message to wherever he's holding up?" Kate asked, since if they could find him first, they could end his twisted game before it even really got started.

"No more luck than usual. The guy's insane, but he's not stupid. He knows how to keep his signal from being detected. The signal was scrambled so many times it's a miracle the video came through at all." Luke said, all three of them were so caught up in their conversation, they didn't notice their phones buzzing or someone sneak in behind them.

"And do we have any ideas on who his first pawn is, since we all know that no matter what the Joker told them, they're nothing more than pawns to him." Kate said.

"Yeah, I'll tell you downstairs." Luke said as he opened the secret passageway, only for all three of them to jump when they heard someone gasp behind them.

"No way." Ryan Wilder said in shock.

"Ryan, what are you doing here?" Kate asked.

"I wanted to see why my new mom ditched me on move in day and after spending years on the streets, I know how to be sneaky." Ryan said.

"Not even a day." Kate said.

"This isn't what you think." Helena said.

"Really, because it looks like my new mom is Batwoman, which means she just got a thousand times cooler than I thought." Ryan said and Kate couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"She's got us and I'm guessing she knows how important it is that she keeps her mouth shut about it." Kate said.

"As long as I get to see the Batcave." Ryan said and Kate rolled her eyes, but she did nod.

"It's probably the safest place for her to be right now, since the Joker has unleashed all of the worst of Bat villains past on us." Kate said and neither Luke or Helena could disagree with that.

"I was younger than she was when Batman first brought me down there." Helena said.

"Don't even think about it." Kate said, knowing the look on Ryan's face.

"Can we please focus on the army of villains running loose in Gotham." Luke said.

"Right. Come on, let's go downstairs." Kate said as they all, including Ryan, piled into the elevator.

"Okay, I have to admit, I was expecting the batcave to be a lot more high tech." Ryan said as she looked around.

"Don't worry, plans for a remodel are already in progress, but in the meantime, Luke, who do you think the first challenger is?" Kate asked.

"My best guess, meet Arthur Brown, aka, Cluemaster." Luke said as he brought up Cluemaster's folder.

"I don't remember Batman ever fighting Cluemaster." Helena said.

"That's because he didn't. Cluemaster is one of the only psychopaths in the city the Crows actually put away themselves." Luke said.

"One of the only good things they've ever done." Ryan said and none of them could disagree.

"I really want to introduce you to my dad just so I can watch you yell at him." Kate said with a chuckle, which Helena shared.

"Any time." Ryan said.

"Anyways, what do we know about him?" Kate asked.

"Well, Arthur Brown used to be the host of this old jeopardy ripoff called Quiz Bowl and he felt like the questions were too easy and he snapped." Luke said.

"Right, I remember this. I actually went to high school with his daughter Stephanie. She's even more brilliant than he was and could maybe give Luke a run for his money brains wise. We were good friends before I left for Harvard and she went to MIT." Helena said.

"Do you still have her number?" Kate asked.

"She's not into girls." Helena said.

"Her loss, but not why I'm asking. Get in touch with her. If she doesn't already know her dad's loose, she needs to, and she might be able to provide us some insight into whatever he's doing." Kate said and Helena nodded.

"Should we hack into the Crows database for more information?" Luke asked.

"We could, or we could ask a crow directly." Kate said.

"You beat up Crows?" Ryan asked eagerly.

"Only if they deserve it, but that's not what I meant. I can't help but notice a familiar name on the arrest record. Specifically the arresting officer." Kate said.

"At the time rookie crow Sophie Moore." Luke said.

"So, what's the big deal?" Ryan asked.

"Aside from the fact that she's my ex who doesn't know I'm Batwoman, she's also the one who gave me the tip about you. Not all the Crows are bastards, just the ones who are too much like my dad." Kate said.

"Then why is she your ex?" Ryan asked, thinking that it was because Sophie was a hardass.

"Whoa, way too personal for day one." Luke said.

"It's fine. She's my ex because she betrayed me because she wasn't ready to be outed yet, since her mom is super old fashioned. And while Kate Kane is still pissed at her about it, Batwoman can use an inside woman in the Crows. Besides, we at least need to let them know that we've figured out who the first villain in the upcoming marathon. That way they can at least keep the city out of the crossfire while I do the dirty work, since they spend more time putting innocent people in prison than they do putting people like this in prison. Besides, anyone who's broken out of Arkham is out of their league. I think Cluemaster is the only Arkham inmate the Crows put away. Batman put the rest of them away. But anyways, Luke, you know the drill, send Sophie an encrypted message to meet me at the Bat signal." Kate said.

"Copy that. I'll retask Wayne's satellites to start looking for Cluemaster, see if we can get the jump on him before he starts whatever he's got planned." Luke said and Kate nodded as she activated her watch to suit up.