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Alice:
Alice stared at the shape as it lit the sky. She loved the way it moved and distorted as the clouds rolled slowly under it. The light transformed from a beacon of hope to a monster in a horror film and back again. Alice knew the monster was its true form. She had firsthand experience. Something that she would not, and could not, ever forget.
The city was large and bright and only a few stars were visible at night. A few stars, the moon and The Bat. It had been lit up for years. Nothing had come of it as far as Alice could tell. She had free rein. No Batman, no matter how long his signal had been lighting the sky. She could direct her minions to do anything in this city and, with the exception of Jacob Kane’s Crows, no one would seriously attempt to stop them. Sure, the police would arrive and put on a show of trying to thwart her plans, but most would simply stop when they saw the masks. They knew what those white rabbits meant, who was really in charge.
Kane was a bit more of an issue. The Crows, a private security firm with a delightfully feathered mascot, would actually put up a fight. They would try to stop her minions, her white rabbits, as they did her bidding. They were not often successful, but they tried. This annoyed Alice.
How do you stop that irritating little puppy nipping at your heels? You take away its heart. The plan was already formed in her mind. The pieces were coming together. Alice and her Wonderland Gang were finally going to show Jacob Kane and his Crows who really ruled Gotham.
Beth:
Kate smiled at her, bright blue eyes crinkling in the corners. Beth was a little jealous of Kate’s eyes if she was being honest. They were a rich blue, like the ocean. They looked happy and fun. The kind of eyes you could get lost in. Beth’s eyes were ice blue. They looked sharp and hard, like icicles. No one wants to get lost in a sea of icicles. She sighed. What could she do? They were not identical twins after all. Beth smiled back at her sister.
Thirteen. They were thirteen now. Adults – responsible for their own actions – if all the bat mitzvah classes were to be believed. She didn’t feel particularly grown up, sitting in the back of the car with her sister, but the Rabbi had proclaimed it and who was she to contradict the Rabbi. Their father had work to do, or so he said. Jacob Kane was always working. Their mother was driving, she and Kate chatting in the back. The light streaming through the windows caught the stone in her new necklace. It had been a gift for her bat mitzvah from her mother. Of course, Kate got one too. They seemed to always get similar gifts, even though they were very different people. It was that way with twins.
Kate – her twin. Kate was strong in both body and mind. She knew what she wanted and was not afraid to ask for it. She would walk right up to their father and speak her mind, no matter the topic, something Beth had seen grown men shy away from. Kate was also completely open about who she was.
It wasn’t like they were living in the dark ages, like when their parents were young. All kinds of people were different and it wasn’t such a big deal, at least in Beth’s mind. When they were little Kate never liked to wear dresses or anything fancy. She was sometimes teased about it in school, but it never seemed to bother Kate. Beth would spin and dance in her sparkly skirts and pink high tops, and beg her mom for lace gloves. Kate was always in dark leggings and chunky skate shoes.
Beth remembered when they were 10 or 11, seeing the latest Star Wars movie in the theater. She had gushed to Kate about how cute Anakin Skywalker was and how his robes were so awesome, and his eyes and his hair. “Huh,” Kate had said while scrunching up her face, “I thought Padmé was way cuter.”
“But she’s a girl . . .”
“I know.”
“Oh . . . cool.”
That was their entire discussion on the matter. Kate was Kate and Beth thought she was awesome no matter which Star Wars character she found cuter.
Done with her nostalgia, Beth looked over her mother’s shoulder out the front windshield of the car. She could see the upcoming bridge. Beth hated going over bridges. They had read Bridge to Terabithia in school. Ever since then she just couldn’t shake the feeling that she, like Leslie in the book, was going to fall off a bridge and drown in the water. She knew this was probably not going to happen and that she was just being silly. But it sat there, lurking, in the back of her mind.
Alice:
She had done her research. Sophie Moore was the ideal target. Jacob Kane had taken Moore under his wing – was grooming her to lead the next generation of Crows. Her life was neat and regulated. Precise in its details. Nice husband, nice apartment, seemingly perfect life. Moore had a routine and she stuck to it. A quick snatch and grab should be easy for even the dimmest of her minions.
Alice had had to do a lot of investigating into Moore’s background to prepare for the capture. She wondered why Jacob Kane had become so invested in this woman. Was he sleeping with her? No, Alice had found no evidence of that.
What she did find was that Moore was a graduate of Point Rock, the military academy Kate had gone to. She graduated the same year Kate would have, had she not been kicked out. They must have known each other. While Point Rock was open to both men and women, the former made up most of their ranks. Kate surely had some kind of relationship with Moore, even if it was just as a passing acquaintance, being that they were both a part of the small female contingent in their class.
Were they friends? More than friends?
When she had first begun her plan to take down the Crows, Alice had begun research into Jacob Kane and the whole Kane family. She wanted to see what Jacob and Kate had been up to while completely forgetting she had ever existed.
Jacob Kane had remarried. His new wife was the incredibly smart, and incredibly rich, Katherine Hamilton Kane. Ha! – Alice wondered how Kate liked that her new mommy shared her name, as well as her father. A new wife for him, a shiny new sister for Kate. Mary Hamilton had been just a little girl when she had joined the Kane family. She was following in her mom’s footsteps and was now well into her studies in medical school. Funny how the best schools, a loving family and freedom lead to success. She wondered how quickly Kate and Mary had bonded as she rotted away in confinement.
Kate had been doing well at Point Rock until she had been expelled for not denying who she was. Alice thought it was a bit shortsighted of the military academy to kick out her sister just because she liked girls. She thought they wanted (needed) every warm body with half a brain cell to fling at the current enemy of the state. Kate had floundered a bit after that. She had put on a show of being the young, rich socialite. She was at all the hot parties with all the hot ladies. It had to be an act though – that was not the Kate that Alice remembered.
Sophie Moore was just this new Kate’s type – attractive, intelligent and ambitious. Alice was starting to think that Moore may have been involved, intimately, in Kate’s removal from service.
This plan might just kill two birds with one stone.
Beth:
She heard the bus before she saw it. It was revving its engine as it approached their car from behind. They were onto the bridge now and the large yellow school bus was quickly advancing. Too quickly. Beth turned in her seat as much as the seatbelt would allow and looked out the back window.
It was going to hit them. No – calm down. It was just going to pass them and everything was going to be fine. That’s when she felt the impact. The seatbelt bit into her chest as her head was flung forward. The car swerved to the right, colliding with the bridge’s guardrail. The front end broke through as the car jolted to a stop. Beth panicked. They were going to fall. They were going to die. She shot a look at Kate. Kate’s eyes were wide but she didn’t look as panicked as Beth felt.
It was quiet for a long time, but then she heard it, the voice she would never forget. It was loud in her ears, disturbing the silence of the car. It didn’t sound human, like a robot was talking to them.
“Are you okay?” came the question through the broken glass.
“Um, I think,” Kate was turning in her seat and looking back at the dark figure moving toward the car.
“Good. Stay here. The car looks secure. I have to go stop that bus.”
“No, don’t leave us.” Beth was staring, dumbfounded, at her sister as she carried on a fairly calm conversation with the dark figure. A bat – the figure was dressed as a bat.
“You’ll be fine. I have to save those kids.”
Kate was already unbuckling her seatbelt. Their mother had never disabled the child-safety features on the doors so there was no way to open them from the inside. Kate was pushing on the shattered back window. “Wait,” she yelled, but the figure was already running to a shiny black car, preparing to chase the bus.
Oh God. We’re going to die. Kate and Mom and me – Die. Dad is going to be alone. He’ll probably really miss us. Maybe he’ll come – come and save us now. Maybe he’ll just KNOW we need him.
Kate had managed to climb out the ruined back window of the car and was shouting for Beth to follow. Beth was frozen. She wanted to follow her sister – to be brave. But she just couldn’t move. Her attention was pulled to the front of the car – to her mom. She was slumped in her seat, the seatbelt holding her in place. She was unconscious – frozen, like Beth.
I can’t leave her.
“Mom! Mom, wake up! We have to go. We have to climb out like Kate.” Beth shook her mom’s shoulder but the woman did not move. Beth turned again. Kate was shouting at her to climb out and join her on the bridge. She had managed to undo her seatbelt and twist so she could see through the back opening. Kate was still yelling and flinging her hand out. She even tried to crawl up onto the trunk of the car. But, light as Kate was, her weight was enough to shift the vehicle. The grinding noise startled Beth and she surged toward her sister with her hand outstretched. Her fingers brushed Kate’s; just for a moment she was safe with her sister, but panic took over and she pulled her arm back.
“Come on. You can do it. Climb out!”
Beth shook her head rapidly. “I can’t. I can’t. It’s too hard.”
She was ashamed. She should be brave like Kate, like their father. But she was not brave, at least not at this moment. She wanted her mom to wake up and tell her what to do. She wanted her dad to come in, like a hero, and save the day. Tears were streaming down her face. She was openly sobbing now. She could see Kate still yelling, still trying to save her.
Then the impossible, the unthinkable. The car shifted again. Beth could feel it rock forward. She knew what was happening. She was going to die, like Leslie on her way to Terabithia. Plunge off a bridge and drown in the water below. She screamed as the car lunged forward. She reached for Kate – her twin. Kate was the last thing she saw as the car dropped over the side of the bridge. Beth closed her eyes and waited for the cold water to take her.
Alice:
Sometimes Alice let her mind wander. Let her brain pull up whatever it wanted. She liked to think it said a lot about her mental wellbeing, that she was able to just let loose. It proved that she wasn’t a total wacko like the Joker. No, you weren’t supposed to say wacko anymore . . . nut-job? Anyway, her current purpose was not to plan heists or revenge on her enemies. It was simply to let her brain choose its own thoughts. Sometimes she was thrust back into the water, struggling to breathe, to swim. She would recall the relief that washed over her as she pulled herself onto the shore. The excitement when the man, Cartwright, approached. The fear and hopelessness when she realized he was never going to let her see her family again . . .
Tonight, however, her thoughts went right to Kate.
Last she’d heard Kate was traveling around the world. Taking a “grand tour” like upper class daughters used to do to prove their worldliness. The idea intrigued Alice. She had been locked away for so long she felt like she hadn’t seen or done much. Sure she had survived capture, imprisonment, torture, but she had never been to Paris. Alice thought she would love Paris, and that Paris would love her right back.
Maybe, after she had taken her revenge on her father and sister, she would book a nice rental apartment in the heart of Paris. She could visit the museums and sit at outdoor cafes each morning eating baguettes and drinking tiny coffees out of tiny cups.
Her time would come, but for now she focused back on the task at hand. Kidnap, and likely kill, Moore, find Kate and let her get a taste of confinement, rule over Gotham. It was a lot, but Alice was up for the job.
She yawned and looked back over city. The cars continued to zip around, busy people trying to get home to their families. Family – something she had once, but doubted she would ever have again.