Work Text:
S: "Got it!"
L: "You're kidding."
S: "Guess we should have made this bet sooner."
L: "You've still gotta deal with Ryan."
S: "I'm not worried."
Luke had been living on the dark web, trying to track down the underground Novelty Weapons Exchange. As villains lost or carelessly discarded their weapons, those looking to profit would find and sell them to both the wealthy, who enjoyed the show and tell, and to copycats hoping to try their hands at major destruction. The bat team had already been working hard to reclaim all missing trophies prior to Renee Montoya blackmailing them so she could manage the hunt (for her own lovesick motives) and, with her departure, Sophie had taken over organizing their pursuit. It played to her strengths, as she'd just demonstrated by hacking her way into the time and location for the next Exchange meetup, to Luke's disappointment.
L: "Want to up the ante?"
S: "Whatcha thinking?"
L: "If she says no, which she will, I'm taking the rest of the week off of comms, and you can make yourself at home."
S: "And when she says yes?"
L: "IF she says yes, which she won't, I'll make you your own line launcher."
Sophie reaches out to shake Luke's hand.
S: "Deal!"
Ryan is in her office, taking calls from shareholders who still need answers to what had been happening at Wayne, recently, and assurances that things are going to improve. She is doing her best to ease their nerves with notes from the head of PR, Charlie Clarke. The team had decided that the next most important trophy to focus on was Scare Crow's fear toxin, because the last thing they needed was a repeat of the near zombie apocalypse that snake bite 2.0 had caused. So everyone was dividing and conquering.
Sophie had been goading Luke about how long it was taking him to get a lead off of the web, while she'd been tapping into her sources and seemingly getting further, faster; she'd already learned the frequency with which these meetings took place and that another one would be happening soon, when all Luke had uncovered was a lot of chatter about what weapons might be at the next meetup without much context around who had what items.
Sophie bet Luke that she could hack in and get the time and place for the meetup before the end of the day. If she was right, he had to skip the mission, because she was finally going to get Ryan to let her drive the batmobile. She was still bitter that Alice got behind the wheel before she did.
Sophie taps the button for the intercom to Ryan's office. Ryan hears the alert and answers the call.
R: "How's it going guys?"
S: "Hey Babe, come down so we can fill you in."
R: "On my way."
Luke sits back in his chair with a smug look on his face. He might have lost the first bet, but he's banking on Ryan's stubbornness to help him prevail in the end.
Ryan approaches the desk a few minutes later.
R: "So…what's the word?"
S: "Looks like you're done with calls for the night because it's time to suit up."
Ryan looks at Luke.
R: "You finally figured it out?"
S: "Actually, I did, and it's a good thing too, since it's going down in about an hour."
R: "Okay, Soph! Smart and sexy, lucky me!"
Ryan leans in for a congratulatory kiss.
L: "Okay, okay. The clock is ticking."
Ryan laughs and peers back to Luke.
R: "Alright, you ready, sidekick?"
Luke doesn't even roll his eyes, but his smug smile returns.
R: "What?"
S: "Luke's going to take a raincheck on this one."
R: "Everything okay? Is the suit acting up again?"
L: "Suit's great…"
R: "Then…what am I missing?"
S: "We decided that, since I found the meetup, it's only right that I get to go."
Luke coughs, and Sophie presses on, pretending to ignore him. She softens her expression so that her eyes communicate something different than her words do.
S: "And that I should get to drive."
Sophie bites her lip, and Ryan raises her eyebrow.
R: "You don't play fair."
L: "Agreed."
Sophie takes that to mean Ryan isn't going to argue with her, and plants a slow and soft kiss on her lips.
L: "Oh, what-ever. Just go."
Sophie winks at Ryan after they end their kiss, and then looks around her at Luke.
S: "Enjoy having the place to yourself, bestie."
Luke abruptly turns in his chair and scoots back to the computer and monitors.
~~~~~
In all black, Sophie sits behind the wheel of the batmobile and tests out its handling at top speeds. They are in a hurry, after all, so she's calling upon the skills she'd acquired while working undercover to find the location for the snakebite canister drops.
R: "Having fun?"
S: "Hell yeah! You might not get these keys back."
R: "Being Batwoman's driver seems a little low rent for you, Babe."
S: "Who says I'm the sidekick? I bet Robin wasn't driving Batman around."
R: "Touché."
S: "Probably best to stick with partners."
Ryan places her hand on Sophie's lap.
R: "I like that. So, what'd you bet Luke? Y'all were clearly up to something."
S: "I'll tell you later. We're here."
As they approach their destination, Sophie cuts the lights and begins to coast, to limit noise from the engine. Then, she finds a dark and semi hidden space to park the car.
R: "Batwoman to Batcave, we're at the site."
L: "Copy. Keep me posted."
R: "I'll take the top, and you've got the bottom."
S: "This time."
Ryan laughs and hops out of the car, unaware of the double meaning in Sophie's comment.
The meeting is taking place in a lot, outside of an abandoned warehouse in the Industrial District. Sophie is able to get pretty close to the group and remain hidden behind one of the containerized trucks. She clocks Ryan landing on the roof behind her and ducking down to remain out of sight. There are 10 men, various shapes and sizes, and they're on either side of a table of gadgets, tools, and munitions. Nothing they can't handle.
R: "I see a small tank. I think that's it. There's a bunch of other stuff we should grab, too."
S: "Ready when you are."
R: "Let's go."
Ryan shoots one Clonazepam dart at one trader, courtesy of Mary, and then throws a batarang to take out a large man at the knees before diving off the roof and kicking one more down in her landing. Sophie slides in low and round kicks another man's legs from under him. That's 4 out of 10, and the remaining men were so caught off guard that they're a tick late to the party.
The men divide in half so that it's 3 to 1, and each woman is using whatever advantages she has to bob, weave, and knock out their pursuers, occasionally leveraging each other for a swap or backup. They're down to 3, with Ryan fighting one and Sophie still managing 2. She knows she needs a weapon if she's going to do more than defend herself.
She rolls under the table to put separation between her and the dealers, looks up, and literally grabs the nearest thing she can reach. At first, she thinks it's a baton, but when she lifts it, she notices there is a long rope attached to it.
No. Not a rope. A whip. She doesn't have time to reflect on that, because one trader throws the table over and towards her. She shuffles backwards and follows her instincts, swiping the whip down in a way that she hopes will catch the man around the knees to knock him over. Her aim is off, and she catches him around the waist instead. The whip is so strong and taught that he ends up wrapping into it, and spinning almost into her. She reacts by retracing the whip, and he spins in the opposite direction, and into a pile of stacked, wood pallets. The other dealer had been watching the whole thing in disbelief. When she looks over at him, he puts up his hands.
D: "You know what, it's not worth it. You broads can have it."
He turns to run, and Sophie decides to try and improve her aim. She succeeds this time, and the whip wraps around his ankles, making him fall flat on his face. She pulls it back and he tumbles a few times until he's unconscious on his back.
She looks over at Ryan who'd also stopped to watch the show. Sophie is completely unaware of her ginormous grin.
R: "Is that Catwoman's whip?"
S: "I think so…"
R: "For a first encounter, I think you handled it kinda like a pro."
S: "Thanks! This thing is badass."
Ryan laughs.
R: "Okay Black Catwoman."
It did have a ring to it…Sophie bites back her grin, trying to be cool.
S: "Let's get what we came for before these guys come-to."
R: "Batcave, we're good here. Want to call it in?"
L: "On it! Great job ladies."
Sophie is taking pictures of everything to send to Luke, so he can start figuring out what they've got. And then they both start collecting everything.
L: "Hey, one of those things isn't from Gotham."
R: "What do you mean?"
L: " I recognize that round, metal thing with the button. It's not a weapon."
S: "So where's it from?"
L: "Central City. Cisco Ramon created it so that their team could essentially teleport anywhere they wanted to go."
R: "Seriously? That kinda tech exists! Why am I leaping between buildings?"
L: "Wonder how that got away from them. We'll have to give them a call."
S: "Okay, well, we're on the way back now."
R: "Still driving?"
S: "Sure am!"