Post by Admin on Jun 13, 2008 7:13:28 GMT -5
Elseworlds: Batwoman #1
"Mid-Knight Skies"
by Jayson Morriseau-Lussier
Pencils by Michael Kaley
Ink and Colours by Jina B.
Edited by Jay McIntyre
"Mid-Knight Skies"
by Jayson Morriseau-Lussier
Pencils by Michael Kaley
Ink and Colours by Jina B.
Edited by Jay McIntyre
Revelations taught that you don't take your eyes off the sky, but Pappa wouldn't understand. The real truth was that she didn't know herself sometimes Gotham City was a town with more crime than one could shake a stick at. But the cold October wind swirled which caused her to draw her cape around her a bit tighter.
She was Batwoman and much like her counterpart... she had no love for the criminal element in Gotham. She launched her grapple gun as she looked at the mist from the rain that was moving in on the streets below. Not long ago she had been down there... and a victim of crime. Now she was in the pillars of the Gotham canyon and fighting crime her way.
She swung from one ledge to the other. She would see the highest pillar in the city of Wayne Enterprises which served as a hub station for the dilapidated train system that was destroyed last year by Batman in an attempt to save Gotham City. She reached her penthouse in Kane Tower just across the street from Wayne Tower. She removed her mask and unzipped herself from her suit. She hadn't encountered the Dark Knight just yet... he had been busy fighting crime in Metropolis apparently. What he was doing there made her wonder.
She stripped down naked and turned on the hot water, steam rising to meet her body, and stifled a yawn as she tried to stay awake, but the problem was she had been up for 36 hours and was ready for sleep anyway, but she had promised Renee she would be up to take her call.
She finished her shower as she wrapped a towel around her and she looked at the clock as it read 2:30 AM, just about the time Renee would be finished with her shift and get home herself.
The phone rang. She came over and picked up the receiver. "Kane."
"Kate, sorry to wake you..."
"No, I was waiting for your call."
Renee smiled to herself. Since they had broken up things had been strained between them. "Oh well, I am glad, how was your day?"
She yawned. "The same ole same ole, Pappa wants to meet with me tomorrow about taking a more active real in the Social scene..."
"Oh, that's fun." her tone was laced with her sarcasm that she wielded openly.
"I guess." She grinned herself because she knew Renee had an extreme dislike for her father and family in general.
"Kate, I was thinking about us recently..."
"Renee, we can't.."
"Why not?"
"It's over... you put that out for a while, and I was angry for a long time, but now, I am just in a good place in my life..."
"You know I love you." Renee's heart was broke now, but she had been the one to end it with Kate because she thought that Kate Kane was nothing more than a rich daddy's girl, but a few years had passed and the two of them had remained friends but once in awhile one of them would try to revisit old times and the other would snuff it out.
"I know, and I love you, but things change." Kate's response was typical.
"Things change." her tone was submissive this time, not the usual role she had taken in their relationship, but she knew Kate had grown up some... Gotham had a way of doing that to you.
"I need some sleep, Renee so I will call you tomorrow.. err later today?" she looked at the clock and realized that she needed to keep her schedule for tomorrow. A meeting with Wayne Enterprises Board was rare and she wanted to take advantage of her opportunity.
"Okay, Kate, sleep well." she hung up the receiver.
Kate breathed in a little now she knew that Renee was trying to edge towards a relationship with her again, but she simply wasn't ready for one... not now.
~*~
Kate had tossed and turned and realized she was more and more worried about her father's health, but the board meeting really was important to her, she wanted to take her place among Gotham's business leaders.
She had reports that Pappa was getting sicklier than her sister had told her. She pulled her coat over her as she crossed the street to Wayne Tower. She wondered what Bruce Wayne did with all his money, she was rich, but nothing close to what he had. She had read an article recently said that she had 49 billion dollars at last estimate by Forbes Magazine. She told herself that she would use her money for good and that's what Batwoman was about, but she wondered what the money like that did to someone...
She had made to the Boardroom floor as she had been instructed to by Lucius Fox, the CEO of Wayne Enterprises. She saw the the marble columns that supported the lobby walls and marveled. The Wayne family had been around since the 17th Century in Gotham and they had been the champions of Gotham for a long time. "Miss Kane, Mr. Wayne will see you now."
She raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Wayne, but I thought, Mister.." she paused and was quiet; she hadn't expected to meet the head honcho himself. "Right, thank you."
She went into the Boardroom with her portfolio and her proposals. She hoped the Baron of Gotham was in a good mood this morning. "Mr. Wayne, it's a pleasure to get to meet you, I was told I was going to talk with Mr. Fox..."
Bruce Wayne smiled openly and warmly. "Well Lucius has a sick daughter at home so he asked me to cover his appointments, so here I am." He nodded. "But I have read your prelims on your proposals for Wayne Foundation Grants.."
"Oh.. then, should I present it to you then?" she looked at the man's blue eyes and saw nothing but integrity from him. She tried to think of herself as a good judge of character and Bruce Wayne seemed to be genuine to her.
"Please do, I know you've put in a lot of hard work so I don't want to cut you out in any way..."
"Yes, thank you Mr. Wayne." She smiled at him as he pulled out some graphs and charts and she prayed to the Goddesses that he was in the buying mood also.
~*~
Arthur Kane looked at his daughter with a woeful eye. She wore clothes that showed more than he preferred, but she had told him many times that he was an old fuddy duddy more times than he could remember but today she seemed happier than she had in a long while.
"What's the scoop, Kitten?" He offered her a buttered toast as they shared their breakfast on Mondays as always; she cherished this time she had with her father.
"Mr. Wayne said he would approve a 1.4 million dollar grant for the Arthur Kane Society Center in the Narrows.." she looked at him with a fervor and smile as wide as Gotham River.
"Oh did he now?" He coughed as he covered his mouth with his hankerchief. "I wish you would name that building after your grandfather."
"Pappa, I love you... and I want this city to know how much you love it back." She looked at him with her stern blue eyes.
"Well, Kitten, if you want it then I will approve." He coughed as he looked at her. He didn't like to hold anything back from his eldest daughter, she had been more of a success in his eyes than her sister had been. "I am just glad that you are getting involved with Gotham again.."
"Me too Pappa.." She reached out and held his hand for a moment and felt how cold it was. "What did the doctors say yesterday?"
"Kitten..." he coughed as he tried to deflect the subject. She knew that that he didn't have long for the world, but she was persistent.
"Pappa, please." Kate held her father's hand again this time as his daughter not his CEO of Kane Tech.
"Pancreatic cancer.."
Her eyes widened to utter horror... a death sentence. She knew it was coming, but she didn't think it would be this soon. "Daddy.." she teared up some.
"Kitten, I am 73 years old and I have had a good life... since your mother passed I have raised you girls with all the love and caring I could." She allowed him to preach from his soapbox because she loved this man... the only man she loved.
"I am... I don't know what to say or do.." She was shaking a bit.
"Nothing to do, Kitten, we all have our time." He reached over and lifted her chin to look into her welled eyes. "This family is strong and we will face it together..."
There was his damn courage again. She admired this man more than she could tell him openly. She had been there when she had seen her mother gunned down by crooks in their store at the time that they had on the Riverfront. Her mother was about the age she was now when she had died, but she was only four when she saw her mother collapse from the bullets she took to the head and chest. Paramedics were there instantly, but she had died almost instantly. She swore to herself she would find the men that killed her mother when she was very young...
It's the guiding light that had created the Batwoman. She had seen what Batman had done for Gotham City last year and she was inspired by him.
"I know Pappa.. I know.." she wiped her tears as she squeezed his hand back.
Once he was gone... her sister and she were the only ones left of the Kane family.
The morning mist was still spewing against the glass veranda of her father's house as they finished their meal. So many things were running through her mind...
~*~
Kate had chosen to return to her penthouse at Kane Tower which stood nearly as tall as Wayne Tower, but it was a reminder that the Waynes weren’t the only city fathers around still. She looked out at the midnight skies and realized that things seemed quieter than she could have recalled. Tonight would be a night that she would take to the streets and see the side of life that her father had preached against. She donned the mask and outfit that she had chosen and she had joined the darkness. Reaching into the darkness could mess with a person’s soul, but she realized that there was a certain balance that you had to maintain. The truth was that there was more to ambition to rid crime on the street… she just hadn’t figured that out quite yet.
“I’ll take a hit, okay?” A young man reached in his pocket and pulled out a fifty and put it into the hands of elder man but he seemed to be just a bum.
“They cost more than fifty,” the old man retorted.
“S’all I’ve got, Jesus Christ man.” Suddenly there was a batarang that came in and knocked the stash from the older man and he looked up and saw The Batman swoop down with a kick to his face.
“Holy Christ!” The younger screamed out as he saw Batman send a fist into the older man that sent him into the trash heap.
The young man was shaking as he took out his gun. The Batman turned around but before he could do anything the gun went off. The shot took The Batman by surprise as the bullet struck him through the mouth. He fell down dead. The young man looked as the Dark Knight lay dead at his feet and he blinked several times and then he screamed out in joy. “I killed him! I did it! Holy Hell I did it!” He ran away as the cops finally arrived on the scene.
Renee Montoya got out of the squad car as two more squad cars came in and surrounded the kid as the cops got him and the older man restrained and threw them into the back of beat cops’ squad car and she went over and knelt down by The Batman and lifted up his mask. “Good God… He was..”
“What’s that, Montoya?” Harvey Bullock came over as he saw what she did. “Holy Shit,” he exclaimed.
“Yeah.” Montoya took a sheet from the squad car and covered him up. “Our jobs just got a helluva lot harder, Harv.” She sighed and made the call to St. Mary’s Hospital. “A lot harder.”
~*~
“This is Elizabeth Gary with Gotham Action News. Our top story tonight; The Dark Knight is dead and turns out to be one of Gotham’s elite citizens.” She shuffled her papers as she looked to her left, as the camera angle put her straight on again. “Gotham Police arrived on the scene where The Batman had foiled a drug bust but was taken down by a surprise shot. Police were able to identify The Batman as Bruce Wayne and Wayne Enterprises was informed by…”
Kate Kane put a hand to her face as she shut the T.V. off. “Omigod.” She sat down at her desk as she realized that things had become a nightmare overnight. She went to her phone as it was ringing and picked it up. “Kane.”
“Katie! Can you believe it?!” It was her sister as she was nearly screaming into the phone.
“No, I can’t, Mal,” she said almost in a low whisper.
“I gotta tell everyone!” she squealed as her sister quickly hung up the phone.
Kane looked over at the suit that she had created and realized her role had changed completely and that she would need to take on the mantle of the Bat.
~*~
Renee Montoya was folding the Gotham Globe as she looked at Bullock as he ate a greasy hamburger that just disgusted her, but she was beside herself, which was pretty much the emulation she had taken on from the reaction of other Gothamites around town. She put the newspaper down as she looked over and saw Commissioner Jeph Loeb was still speaking with Lieutenant Gordon. As Gordon walked out he saw Montoya looking over at him asking if she could speak with him. Gordon saw her and waved his hand over as she got up and walked over to him. “I understand that you knew The Bat somewhat?” Montoya asked him.
“Yeah, he had chosen to make contact with me.” He nodded somewhat.
“What was he like?” She knew that his personae had been exposed but she wanted to know the man as he was known as the vigilante.
“Convicted by his principles.” Gordon merely said.
“I gathered that much.” She could see she wasn’t going to get anywhere with Gordon so she decided to disengage with him slowly. “I’ll see ya later Jim.” She waved her hand at him and she picked up her holster and put her badge on and she headed out to see Kate; she had to try and make sense of things.
She headed out of the precinct and took the subway to downtown where Kate’s penthouse was. She figured Kate would turn her away, but being that was her last connection to reality… in terms of what love was, she thought he could try and turn things around with her.
She reached Kane Tower and took it to the top of the world and knocked on Kate’s door. She was surprised to find that Kate was home as she had opened her door just in a bathrobe. “Renee… what are you doing here?”
“I needed to talk to someone.” Renee looked down and then back into her former lover’s eyes.
“I.. I was just about to head out.” Obligation speaking? Kate thought that mainly out of obligations that she felt on all sides.
“Kate.” She looked at her and Renee just put her arms around Kate’s waist and Kate returned her hug hesitantly.
“Renee, I need to go.” She said quietly but didn’t push off from her.
“Okay. Can I stay here?” It was a bold request, but she knew Kate’s heart was pounding because she could feel it.
“Yes.” Was all Kate said, but she pushed back finally. “I’ll be back later.” She went to an elevator and headed back to what Renee thought was going to be work.
Renee peeled of her coat and went and stood over to watch the city from Kate’s perch atop the world. What did the aristocrats of Gotham see that people like her did not…
~*~
She was looking over the city herself now in her guise as Batwoman. She stood near the ledge and she saw what looked like a robbery in progress as she jumped from the ledge and flew down and fired the grapple gun as the grapple snagged to the flagpole as she flipped down and grabbed a couple smoke pellets and she kicked open the jewelry store doors and saw the crooks with semiautomatics. She threw the pellets to the floor and it filled the store with smoke. She grabbed a sprinkler pipe that ran across the ceiling and swung up and kicked the guns from both men. She swung a punch into the mouths of both crooks as they went flying back against the walls.
She saw the other man running off as she flung her bola that wrapped the final crook’s legs and she flipped down the alarm. She bound him up with the other two as she walked out and saw a woman with a dragon tattoo down her arm as she looked at the Dark Knightess with just a stare that would have turned her to stone if she had been Medusa. “Your skills are impressive.”
“I am not sure I care about your assessment.” Batwoman retorted as she finished bounding the men.
“I was one of the ones that helped Batman become what he is…” The mysterious woman looked askance at her.
“I doubt that,” Batwoman merely said.
“I am Lady Shiva from the League of Assassins,” she said quietly.
“I have heard of you… you’re a terrorist.”
“No, that’s the media’s portrayal of my people.” She pulled back the hood she wore as she looked Batwoman in the eyes. “Meet me at the King’s Lounge tomorrow.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.”
“I would if I were you Miss Kane.” She said it where only Batwoman could hear it.
“Now you have me intrigued.” Batwoman looked at her.
“Good, because I know you will want to.” She disappeared into a stretch limousine and they drove off as Batwoman clenched her fist as she grabbed a grapple gun and fired a line that snagged the top of a building ledge and she disappeared into the night herself.
~*~
Renee had peeled down and slipped into a hot bath as she started to drift off to sleep when she heard a door close. She got out of the tub and draped a towel around her and saw Kate come in and she opened the refrigerator and took some orange juice and downed half of the carton and then peeked over her shoulder at the appearance of her ex-lover wearing nothing but a towel and she then put the orange juice back into the fridge and closed it. “I thought you would have been asleep by now?”
“It’s only midnight.” Renee looked at Kate as her eyes conveyed something indescribable in most ways.
“Midnight skies are clear.” She looked out the window as she walked past Renee and she tried to suppress her emotions that were starting to brew loudly.
“Full moon.” Renee came over and wrapped her arms around Kate. “I missed you.”
“I can’t…” Kate muttered but her resistance was breaking down.
“I love you though, Kate.”
“I know you do, but this is too much for me right now, Renee.”
“Why? Is there someone else now?” Renee was starting to feel a growing rejection herself; she had tried everything she was coming up short.
“No there isn’t anyone, Renee.” Kate shook her head.
“Then give us a chance.” Renee turned her around as she dropped her towel. Seeing her naked did nothing to strengthen her resistance, but Renee leaned into her and kissed her lips deeply which Kate did not fight as well. The two women embraced as Renee pulled her towards Kate’s bed and the two lovers renewed their ties that night.
~*~
Lady Shiva had returned to her lair that night and saw the gleaming eyes of Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter Talia with her arms crossed. “Did you find her?”
“Yes, but it wasn’t what I expected,” Shiva offered.
“What do you mean?” Talia sauntered down to where Shiva was.
“She’s not as smart as The Detective was.”
“Which is why we need to incorporate her into our plans.” Talia nodded.
“Ra’s is dead. Batman is dead… and all that is left is this woman,” Shiva added.
“True, but she’s not the only key, but once we have her then the plans of the League can continue and Gotham will burn to the ground.” Talia smiled. “This was the plans my father had before The Detective interfered with his plans.”
“Well that obstacle has been eliminated.” Shiva nodded.
“Fortunately that’s the most complicated matter we’ll have to deal with that’s for sure.” Talia smiled.
“We’ll see, don’t take this Batwoman for granted, because if she’s as committed to the cause as the Dark Knight was then we’ll have problems.”
“Maybe, but we’ll be prepared.” Talia nodded, “This isn’t going to be an issue, that much I can assure you.” Shiva merely nodded and left the room as Talia looked at her as she left and realized that Shiva had a dangerous streak that she was going to have to rein in some. She would need to control every facet of this operation for this mission to work.
~*~
TO BE CONTINUED!!!
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