Archive of Our Own

“Our lead story tonight: The spread of what experts are describing as Acute Necropathy a.k.a., ‘the zombie disease’ seems to have reached its peak. News has come out that the labs at Jeturian Industries in partnership with Wayne Enterprises have come together to develop a miracle drug that is able to cure those infected with the disease and prevent others from developing it if bitten. While it may sound too good to be true, preliminary testing has concluded and the first batch of the vaccines will be going out early tomorrow morning. It looks like the sun might finally be shining on Gotham once again.”

Marquis perched on the edge of the couch and watched as the news anchors continued to speculate on what the vaccine could mean for Gotham. Agitated, he turned off the television and walked into the dining room where Harvey was sitting at the table, looking over a large map of Gotham. “Hey Harv, did you hear?” 

Harvey cut his eyes at Marquis. It was a clear warning that he was not amused by the nickname.

“Sorry. I mean, Hey Mr. Dent did you hear? It looks like Commissioner Moore’s mess is almost cleaned up.” 

Harvey continued assessing the map in front of him, not bothering to look up as he addressed Marquis. “Wasn’t it you who filled a blimp with barrels of acid rigged to explode and decided to drive it over Gotham?”

“Yeah, so?” 

“So… don’t you mean your mess is almost cleaned up?” 

Marquis laughed, proud at the acknowledgment that he had such a large impact on the city. “I didn’t tell her to blow up a bunch of acid over an amusement park, she did that all on her own.”

“No.” This time Harvey did look up. His displeasure was evident in the way he looked at Marquis. “But you had no issue providing the gunpowder and matches.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is you have no regard for the future. You were willing to destroy this city. And for what? A laugh?” Harvey sneers. “You are just like your predecessor, pathetic.”

Marquis didn’t take kindly to being talked down to. He dealt with that enough from all the shrinks his mom dragged him to. He wasn’t about to allow some washed-up rival of Batman to get away with it. “Hey, it's because of my pathetic ass that you’re not in a cell at Arkham right now. Don’t forget that.”

“You are in my house. Don’t you forget that.” Marquis started walking towards Harvey when Victor came into the room and stepped between them.

“Boys. Boys. Let’s all calm down. We’re all here for the same reasons, right?” Zsasz grinned, looking between the two of them. 

Marquis stepped back and sat at the table when he noticed that Victor was still looking at him expectantly. “Oh, you’re serious?” 

“C’mon Joker Jr., humor me.” 

“Fine. I’m here for revenge. And to force Ryan to choose between killing me or watching as I kill everyone she loves in front of her.” Marquis was practically vibrating 

“Ok. A little dramatic, but I like the energy.” Zsasz turned to Harvey. “What about you Dent? Who are you trying to take down?”

“I don’t worry myself with trivial, petty, and pathetic causes.” He pointed a look towards Marquis. “I am here for power. Gotham has been ruled by the weak-minded for too long. It’s time for someone who understands how Gotham is meant to be run to take control.”

“Says the person who has to flip a coin, to decide what to wear.” Marquis says under his breath, but Harvey heard it. So did Zsasz, so he quickly changed the subject.

“Well, I’m not here for any of that. I just love creating chaos. Plus, I have a few empty spots on my back that I wouldn’t mind filling. Of course, I’ll need some help getting to those hard-to-reach areas.” He turned to Marquis and winked. 

Marquis smirked back, looking Zsasz up and down. “I’m sure I can be of assistance.”

“God. Will you two just sleep together and get it over with?” Amunet came in and sat at the table followed closely by Tobias and Clayface. “I’m here for an actual logical reason, money. Once Harv takes over the city, he promised me I could have first dibs on all the tech companies, starting with Wayne and Jeturian.” She smiled brightly.

“You promised her my companies?” Marquis questioned, his anger thinly veiled.

“Last I checked, you needed undetectable transportation and she provided the extrapolators. Wayne and Jeturian are her compensation. Also, neither of those companies are yours . You weren’t even thinking about them until she mentioned them. Childish.”

“You’ve got one more time to call me a name before I’ll stop caring about your little plan for the future.” Marquis called out. 

Harvey was about to respond when Tobias jumped into the conversation. “Can both of you shut up? This is why I hate working with teams. You’re so hellbent on getting respect when neither of you has earned that shit.” 

“I know the born-again corpse isn’t talking about earning respect.” Marquis turned to him and laughed. “I looked up your obituary, buddy. You got your ass handed to you and had to have someone dig your dusty ass up and bring you back to life.”

“Boy, you ain’t nothing but a footnote in this city. My name has weight behind it. Dead or alive.” Tobias stared Marquis down, waiting for him to say something else. When he didn't, Tobias turned to Zsasz. “I’m here for Hamilton Labs. It’ll be the perfect place to start a new greenlight operation. Freeland was overrun with too many self-righteous negros. But with everyone thinking I’m dead, Gotham is the perfect place to rebrand.”

Clayface spoke up next. “I’m here because you all are the first group to accept me for who I am. You saw my abilities as a strength instead of a neat trick or something that needs to be fixed .”

It was Zsasz’s turn to laugh. He cocked his head and looked at Clayface. “Basil, you broke out of Arkham asylum and joined a gang of criminals because you wanted to be accepted ?” He sighed and shook his head. “Maybe you should look into taking over a couple of therapy sessions once this is all over.” 

Clayface sank down in his seat at the statement. Harvey had had enough. He cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “Alright enough of this sentimental crap. The clown was right about one thing. With the whole town focused on stopping the zombie outbreak, this is our best opportunity to put the final step of this into motion.” He stood up from the table and placed the map on the empty wall behind him. “First, we need to gather the remaining canisters of fear toxins from where we stored them and load them into local warehouses. Which is here, here, and here.” He pointed to the circled areas on the map. “Then we need to decide where we’re blowing them up.”

Amunet raised her hand and wiggled her fingers. “I vote for the diamond district.”

“We should do the dam. It’s already weakened. Plus, if we put fear toxin in the water, we don’t have to worry about pesky civilians trying to fight back.” Zsasz said.

“What we need to do is take out the minority neighborhoods. The police ain’t gonna respond quickly which gives us more time to take over.” Tobias offered.

“We should hit multiple places all at once.” Marquis suggested. 

Harvey shook his head. “We don’t have enough firepower for that.” 

“If we plan strategically, we won’t need a lot of firepower.” Marquis answered.

Harvey scoffed. “And what strategy is that?”

Marquis leaned back in his chair and shrugged as if the answer was obvious. “We take a page out of Cluemaster's book. Set up the canisters around Gotham, but only have an explosion at one location. We broadcast a message about there being more scattered around the city and a riddle they have to solve to find them, by the time they realize it's just the canisters without the bombs, it’ll be too late. Everyone will be panicking and no one will be looking as we walk right in and take over this city.”

“You wanna use a plan inspired by the dead guy.” Tobias’s tone was dripping with sarcasm.

Marquis turned his attention to Tobias and shrugged. “He was a necessary sacrifice.”

“You pushed him through a portal into space.” Clayface pointed out.

“We needed to test the boundaries of the extrapolators.” Marquis looked around trying to plead his case for killing Authur. “And he was getting on my nerves with all his damn questions.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Harvey interrupted again. He turned towards the map and began assessing the different places they could put the canisters. “The plan is solid. We’ll do it. I assume you already have a location you want to target.” He glanced at Marquis.

“As a matter of fact, I do.” Marquis’s smile could rival the OG Joker’s at that moment. He knew exactly where they should hit. “City Hall.”

— — —

Sophie knocked softly on the mayor’s door before walking into the office. The mayor was fully engrossed in the file she was reading.

“Mayor Hartley, is now a good time to talk?”

“Commissioner Moore, come on in.” She put the file away. “Good to see you in one piece. I heard about the kidnapping. Are you sure you’re okay to return to work?”

“Yes ma’am. That’s actually why I wanted to talk to you.” Sophie sat on the opposite side of the desk. “It turns out that the men who kidnapped me were working with Harvey Dent and were responsible for helping with the breakout that happened at Arkham.”

“Ok.”

“They are also tied to the warehouses full of fear-toxin popping up around Gotham.”

“Ok.”

Sophie paused, taken aback by the mayor’s nonchalance about what she was saying. “You don’t seem surprised.”

“My apologies, I’m still waiting to hear what this has to do with us.”

“Ma’am. This has everything to do with us. We need to take Marquis and Harvey down now!”

“Did you get a confession?” Mayor Hartley asked.

Sophie looked away. She knew where the mayor was going with this. “Not yet.”

“Without a confession, I can’t authorize any action on the scale you’re asking me to. I’m not risking people’s lives on speculation.”

“Especially during an election year.” Sophie muttered under her breath.

Now it was the mayor’s turn to be shocked. “Excuse me?!”

“Mayor Hartley, I used to look up to you. I thought this city finally had a woman in a position of power who was willing to take risks to make long-lasting change. When did that change?”

“It didn’t.”

“Oh, so you were always incompetent and apathetic towards the safety of your constituents?”

“Commissioner Moore! You are crossing the line!”

“Good!” Sophie stood up from her chair. “I’ve already worked for an organization that prioritizes itself over the people it serves. I have no desire to do that again.”

The mayor sat back and sighed. “Look Sophie, I hear you. Get me the evidence that links Marquis and Dent to the fear toxin and your kidnapping, and I will bring them in myself. But until then, I can’t help you.”

Sophie rolled her eyes and promptly left the office. Once she was out of earshot, she called Ryan. “Hey, we need to meet today. Call everyone.” She walked back to her desk and began searching through the city’s database for any information on this new injustice league. If they were gonna have to go up against a team of villains, Sophie was going to put together a team of her own.

— — —

When Sophie arrived at the Batcave, no one else was there. She checked her phone to see if she had missed any messages from Ryan or the rest of the team. She was about to call her when a familiar yellow streak and crackle of lightning caught her attention.

“Hey, Barry. What are you doing here?”

“Ryan called me and brought me up to speed with what’s been going on.”

“Great. Where is she?”

“Oh, she’s at the Hall of Justice?”

“The what?”

“The ha– It’s better if I just show you.” Sophie had only a moment to brace herself before Barry grabbed her. In an instant, she was being transported at unimaginable speeds. Moving at superspeed was unlike something she had ever experienced before. It was exhilarating, terrifying, and slightly nauseating all at the same time. Then as quickly as it started, it was over and Sophie was standing in the middle of what appeared to be a renovated warehouse.

“Sophie, you made it.” Ryan walked over and wrapped her tight embrace. “I was worried that Barry wouldn’t get to you in time.”

“Which is completely ridiculous, by the way.” Barry countered as he walked over to a group of people waiting further inside the building.

“In time for what? What’s going on?” The worry in Sophie’s voice was clear.

“Don’t worry. It's nothing that we can’t handle. But let me introduce you to someone, first.” Ryan guided her over to the group.

Sophie recognized almost everyone there. She waved to Iris, Mary, and Jada. She noticed Luke and Cisco off to the side having what looked to be a very intense conversation over whatever was on the screen of the tablet Luke was holding. The only people she didn’t recognize were the two women who were talking with Barry. Judging by their outfits, they seemed to be heroes as well.

“Sophie, this is Annisa Pierce and her wife Grace Choi. Anissa and Grace, this is my amazing girlfriend, Sophie.” Ryan beamed and she unconsciously squeezed Sophie’s hand.

Sophie reached out and shook their hands “It's nice to meet you.”

“Same. Ryan has told me so much about you.” 

“She has?” Sophie raised her eyebrows and looked over at Ryan. 

“Only good things, of course.” Ryan gave Anissa a look before continuing. “ Anyway . Anissa is Black Lightning's daughter. She and Grace live and operate out of Freeland. So they’re very familiar with Tobias Whale.”

“Right, Tobias. According to our records, he’s supposed to be dead.” Sophie said, jumping right back into commissioner mode.

“Considering that I watched him die, I would be inclined to agree with you. But we just got confirmation that his grave is now empty. So it's possible that it's really him.”

“Alright, we’ll add resurrected crime bosses to the list of possible foes.” Sophie remarked. “Intel from City Hall claims that Clayface and Amunet are the only ones with metahuman abilities. Harvey and Marquis had incidents that affected their psychological states, but nothing that would alter their physiology. Zsasz and Cluemaster are just psychopaths. What’s Tobias’s backstory?”

Anissa gave them the rundown on Tobias’s history and how he started off in Metropolis, running with the 100 until her grandfather spoke out about it and Tobias killed him. “He takes this drug to keep himself from aging. I assume that's what gives him enhanced strength, but as far as I know, he’s not a metahuman.”

“Good that means as long as we avoid hand-to-hand combat, we should be able to take them out without risking further destruction to Gotham.” Sophie explained. “Now all we need to do is figure out what they’re planning.”

“We might not have much time.” Luke called out, getting everyone’s attention. “According to Cisco’s tracking software, there’s just been an influx of extrapolator usage. It seems like they’re going to all the places where the fear toxin was being hidden and bringing it back to Gotham.”

“It's true.” Alex said. Everyone turned towards where she, Kelly, and Kara just landed. “The warehouse we were monitoring in National City has been cleaned out. Whatever they’re planning, it's about to happen soon.”

“Of course it is.” Sophie could feel the anxiousness settling in the pit of her stomach. 

“Hey, Soph. We got this.” Ryan gave her hand another squeeze.

“Yeah.” Kelly came up and put her hand on Sophie’s shoulder. “You wanted us here and we’re here for whatever you need. Just tell us what to do.”

“I was hoping we had a bit more time to plan, but we’ll have to work with what we know.” Sophie gestured to the board standing near the round table. “Do you mind writing, Flash?”

Barry was at the board before she could finish her question. “Ready when you are.”

“Thanks. Ok, so we have six villains total. All with unique strengths and motives.” Sophie began pacing. “Marquis Jet wants to make people pay the price of his childhood trauma, namely Ryan and Jada. Speaking of, why is Jada here?” She looked at Ryan. 

Jada spoke up instead. “My company specializes in microtechnology and unlike the founder of my daughter’s company, I’m actually involved in day-to-day operations. Meaning, I am here to help.” She smiled, pleased with her response.

“She’s helping with your suit.” Ryan admitted. “What? You said to call everybody.”

Sophie knew there was no stopping Jada or Ryan from doing what they wanted once they got decided they were going to do it. She moved on with her debrief. “Since Marquis appears to be the driving force behind this, he needs to be neutralized first. We already tried a second shock from the joy buzzer. I think it's time we considered that he’s passed reform.” Sophie turned towards Jada. “Can we trust you not to interfere?”

“He is still my son. But I know he needs to be back in Arkham where he can get the help he needs.”

“Yeah, sure.” Sophie turned back to the group. “Next we have Harvey Dent a.k.a. Two-Face. Marquis might have come up with the idea, but I do not doubt that Dent is who’s running point on whatever they're doing with the fear toxin.” She turned to see if Barry had caught everything she said and was surprised to see two large monitors set up next to the board that had info about each one of the Injustice League members. “I think our best bet is to incapacitate them with some type of biological agent. I searched the GCPD database and there were a few files that mentioned these.” She held up three vials of opaque yellowish liquid. “This is Crane Serum.”

This caught Luke’s attention. “Crane Serum? As in Jonathan Crane, the man that invented the fear toxin we’re trying to stop from infecting the city?”

“Yes. If we dilute this enough, its effects will paralyze them in fear just long enough for us to get them back to their respective cells without causing too much damage.”

“Um, guys,” Mary called out from where she was sitting in front of a wall of computers. “According to this medical report, anyone who is exposed to larger-than-average doses of the serum will still see their greatest fear/inner demons through hallucinations but twisted into a much darker, more demonic form. Also, prolonged exposure can induce minute brain damage, placing the victim in a constant state of intense terror.”

“So we’ll be careful with the dosage.” Sophie insisted. “If Barry and Kara don’t mind being on transport duty, we won’t need them out for longer than thirty minutes.”

Barry and Kara nodded their heads. “Whatever you need.” Kara agreed.

“Ok.” Mary began plugging away at the computer before turning back to Sophie. “It’s gonna take at least 12 hours to synthesize.” 

Sophie could feel the confidence seeping from her shoulders. “We don’t have 12 hours.”

“Maybe we do.” Iris spoke up, “Jada, you said that news outlets had been reaching out to you for comments about the new vaccine, right?”

“Yes.”

“What if we schedule a press conference?”

“What will a press conference do?” Sophie questioned. 

“We’ll circulate a news story saying that while Gotham is working to heal from one crisis, it's about to be faced with another one. From what I read about Harvey Dent, he doesn’t want to watch Gotham burn. He wants to be the one that saves it and Marquis wants revenge. So we give them an opportunity for both.” Iris explained.

Sophie shook her head. “I’m still not following.”

“Ryan and Jada schedule a press conference tomorrow morning at City Hall. Sophie and the Mayor also attend, representing Gotham’s city officials. Marquis and Dent won’t be able to resist the chance to take you all out in one go.” Everyone looked at her, surprised at her wording. “Sorry for the harshness, but it should be enough for them to delay their plan at least until tomorrow and give the biotech team to synthesize the correct non-lethal dose. 

Sophie considered it for a moment, then nodded her head. “It could work.”  

Ryan looked at Sophie like she had grown a second head. “Or it could fail. I don’t like the idea of being out there without my suit. It's too dangerous.”

“Ryan, you have to trust us.” Jada said in her best mother-knows-best voice.

“I trust you all.” Ryan looked around at the whole team. “Really I do. I don’t trust Marquis and his criminal crew. This plan works if they play by the rules we’re setting, which they may not. And then what?”

“Then you’ll have us.” Luke stepped up. “We’ll hack into the cameras around Gotham and keep tabs on any suspicious behavior. At the first sign of something being off, we call it off and pull you three out of there.”

Ryan still looked unconvinced. “Ryan, can I talk to you?” Sophie pulls her to the side. “What’s going on with you. I thought you were ready to end this.”

“I am.” Ryan huffed.

“Then why are you hesitating? When this works we will finally catch everyone once and for all.”

“It’s if this works Sophie, not when.” Ryan emphasized. 

Sophie grabbed both of Ryan’s hands and stepped closer into her personal space. “Ryan, I trust you with my life. Do you trust me with yours?”

Ryan nodded with a sigh. “Of course I do.”

“Then trust that if something goes wrong, I will do everything in my power to get back to you. The same way I know you will.” Sophie promised, using Ryan’s words on her.

Ryan stared into Sophie’s eyes for a moment. Seeing the same love and dedication reflected there, she conceded. “Ok. Let's do it.” Ryan and Sophie walked back over to the group hand in hand.

“Judging by the lovey-dovey looks y’all are giving each other, I take it we’re going forward with the plan.” Anissa smirked. 

“You hush,” Ryan laughed. “and yes we are.”

“Yes, we are.” Sophie echoed. “Which means we don’t have much time to get to work.” She walked over to the board and monitors where all the information was set up. “Since they’re storing the canisters at three different warehouses, we need to be prepared for anything.” She picked up a marker and began writing on the board. “Barry and Luke, I want you at the location near downtown. Kara and Alex will be staking out the warehouse in West Gotham. Anissa, Grace, and Kelly, you’ll be at the warehouse on the upper east side. Cisco, I want you to run interference and breach to anyone that needs assistance.” 

“Aye aye captain.” Cisco gave her a dramatic salute.

“Iris, you’ll be over comms in the Batcave. Mary, I need you to set up emergency measures at the clinic in case anyone gets injured.” Sophie commanded.

“Also Ryan, you’re right. This is a dangerous operation. We’ll need as many heroes as possible. So, you won’t be going to city hall as Wayne’s CEO. You’ll show up as Batwoman.” Sophie gave Ryan a small smile. 

“Ok.” She was relieved to be able to be out there with her suit on. 

“We don’t know who is gonna be showing up where. So I think we should take this time to get prepared. Luke and Cisco, can you work on upgrading everyone’s tech and suits?”

“On it.”

“Jada. Since you were so involved in the day-to-day at Jeturian, you can help Mary with diluting and stabilizing the serum.”

“Yes ma’am.” Jada beamed, pride evident in her voice.

“Iris, start reaching out to your media contacts and spreading the word about the press conference. Luke can get you access to Wayne’s satellites to broadcast to all of Gotham.”

“Why stop there?” Cisco added. “The Star Labs satellites can reach the whole country.”

“Even better. Let’s get as many eyes on this as possible.” Sophie made another note on the board. “Barry and Kara?”

“Yes?” They answered together.

“Can you two grab lunch?”

They gave each other mischievous smiles before racing out of the building. Everyone else went off with their own groups to get started on the work Sophie assigned them. Ryan lingered behind and pulled Sophie in for a kiss.

“What was that for?” Sophie asked, pleasantly surprised by the display of affection.

“Leadership is sexy on you, commissioner.”

“Thank you.” Sophie leaned in and kissed Ryan back.

“Seriously Soph, you’re doing a great job. Now, come on. I already talked through some upgrades for your suit with Luke and I want to get your opinion.”

Ryan began walking towards the workshop area. Sophie took a moment to look around the space with pride. She was finally going to make some real positive change in Gotham and she didn’t have to sacrifice her morals to get it done. This is what she dreamed of as a child and it was finally all coming true. 

— — —

By the end of the day, everyone was ready for tomorrow. Mary and Jada were able to find what should be a perfect dosage for the serum and it only had six more hours until it was stabilized and ready for usage. Thanks to Barry’s ingenuity and forethought, Cisco and Luke had a fully stocked workshop and had everything they needed to make the needed upgrades for everyone. The most significant being Sophie's suit. 

They upgraded her mask to have the same tech and display as Ryan and Luke’s batsuits. Cisco had the idea to add a choker to house her suit’s panic button. Mary even found enough time to synthesize a chemical aerosol with similar properties to the pheromone powers she had as Poison Mary. She thought it could be a play on traditional catnip spray and whenever Sophie used it, her opponents would be temporarily dazed. It fit perfectly next to the line launcher in her utility belt. Finally,  Luke used Nth metal, the same material that batarangs are made of, to create an unbreakable watch with another panic button for her to wear whenever she’s not wearing her BlackCatsuit.

Once everyone had ample opportunity to test out their new gadgets and get in some much-needed sparring practice, Barry and Kara ran out to get dinner. They all sat around the large table and reviewed the plan for tomorrow. 

“I think it’ll be easier if we all stay here tonight and then Cisco and I can run and breach everyone to Gotham in the morning.”

“No offense Barry, but I’m not sleeping on a concrete floor.” Anissa said, looking around the mostly empty warehouse.

“What?” A look of realization flashed across his face. “Oh no. There’s a bunker underneath the building. I had it built in case there was ever a nuclear apocalypse style crossover.”

“That’s really smart.” Kara praised.

“What’s a crossover?” Ryan and Anissa asked at the same time.  

“Well, it's a…” Barry's words faltered as he tried to think of the best way to describe it. 

“It’s like a regular get-together. With… more fighting?” Kara was having a hard time explaining it too. “You know I don’t know how to describe it.”

“Essentially all of our friends who are heroes come together to fight some type of cosmic threat.” Barry stated.

“Sounds exhausting.” Grace pointed out. 

“Oh, it is. But it's fun too. In fact, this could totally count as our annual crossover for this year. Usually, we would have a Legend or two with us, but last I heard they were in jail.” Kara said as if everyone knew what she was referring to.

Sophie was about to ask for more information, but she decided it was best to leave it alone. Soon the conversation shifted to more understandable topics. Which led to Ryan and Anissa telling the team how they had met. 

“Mama Cora had family down in Freeland, and we would go down there every summer. I met Anissa when she nearly broke her arm trying to get a basketball out of a tree in the front yard.”

“Yeah, Ryan ran underneath the tree to try and catch me, but all she did was break my fall.” Anissa laughed. “We’ve been friends ever since that afternoon in the hospital waiting room.”

“That is so sweet.” Iris said, yawning halfway through her sentence.

“I guess that’s our cue to get some sleep.” Ryan said. 

The rest of the team agreed and they all followed Barry to the entrance of the bunker. Ryan and Sophie were the last to join them and as they walked hand in hand behind everyone else, they noticed Luke and Mary walking awfully close together. Before Ryan could make a comment, Luke put his arm over Mary’s shoulder and pulled her closer to his side. Mary seemed to be enjoying the affection, and she leaned her head onto Luke’s shoulder as they continued walking. 

Ryan looked over at Sophie at the same time Sophie looked at her. They both smiled knowingly. “We’re definitely coming back to that once this is over.” Ryan said. 

— — — 

“If you haven’t heard about the upcoming press conference tomorrow. I’m gonna assume you’re living under a rock.” Murray Franklin, the late-night talk show host said. “A national spotlight is being placed on Gotham tomorrow as everyone waits to hear what announcement could possibly have a titan of industry like Jada Jet teaming up with Batwoman and Gotham city officials. I had my team do some digging and it appears to be related to the recent Arkham outbreaks and explosions that have been happening around the city.” He raised his hands and shrugged. “I’m not sure what it is, but I will say this. Jeturian is already at the forefront because of the zombie vaccine. If Jada is making a play for a defense contract with the city and Batwoman herself. She will definitely be a force to be reckoned with.”

Harvey turned off the television and threw the remote. “That should be me! I’m supposed to be taking over this city, not Jada Jet.” He began pacing in the living room. “Everyone, get in here NOW!” The members of the makeshift injustice league filed into the living room.

“Harvey darling, what’s going on?” Amunet attempted to touch his shoulder, but he shrugged her off.

“Forget the plan, we’re blowing all the canisters at City Hall tomorrow.”

“Because of the press conference? That seems a little irrational, Dent” Zsasz speculated.

“When I want your opinion Victor, I’ll ask for it.” 

“He has a point though. We should stick with the original plan.” Marquis argued. 

“The original plan is weak. We need to make a bold statement and take everyone out at once. This press conference is the way to do it.” Harvey looks around the room at everyone. “Are y’all in or out?”

Clayface was the first to respond, “I’m in.”

“Me too.” Amunet added.

Tobias shrugged and walked over to stand next to Harvey. “As long as you don’t blow up my labs, I’m down.”

Harvey looked at Marquis and Zsasz expectantly. “Well lovebirds, what’s it gonna be?”

Marquis looked at Zsasz before stepping forward. “I’m in.”

Zsasz released a sigh. “Whatever. I said I wanted chaos. Let’s do it.”

“Good. We move out first thing tomorrow morning.”

— — —

The next morning, everyone was in position in Gotham. Sophie was standing in City Hall with Jada. She did a quick communication check into her watch.  “Check one, two. Is everyone’s comms good?” A chorus of confirmations and check-ins flood Sophie’s earpiece. “Sounds like everyone is good to go. Check in if you need anything.” Sophie walked over to the window facing the street. Hundreds of news outlets were in front of City Hall awaiting whatever news was about to be delivered. 

“I can see the tension in your shoulders from over here, Sophie,” Jada said, You need to relax. Everything is going to be ok.”

“We don’t know that. Maybe Ryan was right. What if this is too big of a risk.” Sophie circled her lips as she looked out of the window again.

“My daughter is right about a lot of things, but so are you. Yesterday, you told her that she needed to trust her team. So you need to do the same.” Jada walked over and rubbed Sophie’s arm. “Trust your team and trust yourself. You’re making the right call.”

Sophie nodded and released the breath she was holding. She was making the right call. She could do this. 

“Are you ladies ready?” The mayor walked up, adjusting her blazer. 

“As ready as we’ll ever be. Come on Sophie, it's time.” Jada’s tone alerted Sophie that she wasn’t just talking about the press conference. She was trying to assure Sophie that no matter what happened, this was the right call. Sophie began to follow after Jada when the mayor called after her. 

“Sophie, I’m sorry I made you doubt your belief and trust in my dedication to improving Gotham. I really am trying to make a difference, but there are rules—”

“It's ok Mayor Hartley. I know.” 

The three of them walked out onto the steps of city hall. Sophie looked up just in time to see Ryan swinging down from a nearby building. She landed right in front of Sophie. “Nice of you to show up, Batwoman.”

“Well, when the commissioner asks, I do my best to oblige.” Ryan said and winked at Sophie. 

“Alright you two, let's save the small talk for after the press leaves.” Jada chuckled. She walked up to the podium and began addressing the crowd. 

— — — 

The plan worked… sort of. Within minutes of Jada starting her address, breaches began opening at all three warehouses.  Amunet and Clayface showed up downtown and faced off against Barry and Luke. Barry quickly distracted them while Luke flew up and was able to shoot a serum-filled dart in each of their necks. They were passed out in a matter of seconds. Barry ran Amunet back to Iron Heights while Luke cuffed Clayface to a support beam to make sure he didn’t get away.

 Harvey arrogantly went to the warehouse in west Gotham alone. Kara and Alex easily took him down. Kara grabbed him and stopped by to pick up Clayface, and dropped them both back off at Arkham. Both teams checked in with their success and headed back to the Batcave to regroup.

Where things went wrong was at the Upper East Gotham warehouse. Tobias, Marquis, and Zsasz arrived and began gathering canisters. Anissa, Grace, and Kelly were ready and immediately started going toe to toe with the three of them. It was going well until Tobias woke up from the first dosage of serum after only a few minutes. He caught Grace off guard and tackled her to the ground, forcing Anissa and Kelly to focus on injecting Tobias with two additional doses. In the chaos of it all, Marquis and Zsasz breached away. Barry came and took Tobias back to The Pit in Freeland. Everything was over in under 45 minutes. They checked in and told Ryan what happened. She advised them to go back to the Batcave with everyone else and wait for her, Sophie, and Jada to arrive. 

Once the press conference was over, Jada, Ryan, and Sophie joined the rest of the group to discuss what happened. Kara tried flying over the city and checking in with her contacts in National City, but there was no sign of them. Barry ran through the city three times but he couldn’t find a trace of them. Cisco checked his tracker but after they breached from the warehouse to Harvey’s house, their trail went cold. 

“Dammit!” Sophie slammed her fist against the desk. “We were this close, and he got away again!”

“Soph, it's ok. We’ll catch him.” Ryan tried to calm her down.

“Where, Ryan?! He’s gone and he has an extrapolator. He could be anywhere right now!” Sophie felt an errant tear run down her cheek and she stormed away from the group and sat in one of the chairs defeated. Ryan turned to Luke. 

“Hey, can you take them to The HoldUp? We’ll touch base there in a bit.”

“Sure. Take all the time you need.” He guided the rest of the team towards the elevator. Ryan walked over to where Sophie was sitting and leaned against the console.

“Soph–” Sophie held up her hand to stop Ryan from trying to coddle her.

“I know we’ll get them, Ryan. I just– I’m upset and I would really love it if you could just be here with me.”

“Ok.” Ryan outstretched her arms to Sophie. “Come on, get in here.” 

Sophie smirked at her silliness, but she stood up and walked into Ryan’s arms. Ryan looped her arms around Sophie and held her tight. Sophie rested her head against the top of Ryan’s. They stood there like that for a while and Ryan was reminded of how many times Sophie had been that support for her. She was so grateful that she had the opportunity to return the favor.

— — — 

By the time Sophie and Ryan arrive at The HoldUp, everyone is in much better spirits. Most people had drinks in their hands courtesy of Mary and there was a lively debate happening about something that Sophie or Ryan couldn’t make out. Anissa was the first to see them.

“Look who finally decided to show up.” She teased.

Ryan rolled her eyes and smiled. “What have y’all been doing? Other than talking about us .”

“We were waiting for you, too.” Luke chimed in.

“Oh, so everyone’s got jokes now.” Ryan walked over to the bar and sat down. “Well, we’re here. What’s so important?”

Iris cleared her throat and stepped forward hand in hand with Barry. “We actually have an announcement.” She looked at him with a wide smile and nodded. 

“We’re having a baby!” Barry blurted out.

“Actually,” Iris interrupted and held up two fingers. “We’re having babies . Twins.” She chuckled at Barry’s shocked expression before he pulled her into a kiss, earning a series of congratulations, wolf whistles, and hoots from the rest of the team. 

Barry looked absolutely smitten with his wife. “We gotta go.” He turned back and waved at everyone before picking Iris up bridal style and zooming her out of the bar.

“Well,” Anissa downed the rest of her drink. “I’m happy for him and all, but he was our ride.” 

“I got you” Cisco opened up a breach “Your chariot awaits.” He waved back at the rest of them and then followed Grace and Anissa to make sure they arrived safely.

“I think we’ll head out too.” Kelly spoke up. “It was wonderful seeing you two again.” She hugged Sophie and Ryan. “Don’t be strangers, now.”

“We wouldn’t dream of it.” They followed them out to the street where Kara grabbed Kelly and Alex and took off into the sky. 

“So… back to the Batcave?” Luke asked.

“More like back to bed.” Ryan declared. “I’m pulling rank as team leader and ordering us all to take the night off.” Ryan turned to Luke and Mary “Especially you two. Go on a date or something.” 

“Ryan!” Mary gasped as she started blushing.

“What? All that pent-up romantic tension between you two is getting out of hand. You need to do something about it.”

“Bye, Ryan.” Luke said, attempting to scold her despite his laughing.

Ryan locked up the bar behind them and turned back around to see Sophie watching her.

“What are you looking at?” Ryan joked.

“The most amazing woman I have ever known.”

“Even more amazing than Supergirl?”

“ Way more amazing. You, my dear, are more than just this city’s Scarlet Knight. You are my hero and I love you.”

“Ooh, I love hearing you say that.”

“I love you.”

Ryan kissed her. “Say it again.”

“I love you.”

Another kiss. “Say it again.” 

“I love you.”

And another. “Say it again.”

“I love you.”

They continued this cycle all the way up the stairs and into bed. Their love for each other led to another night full of heated kisses, tangled bodies, and the sweetest most sinful sounds of lovemaking. 

— — —

Sophie and Ryan waited behind the two-way glass as an officer interrogated Harvey Dent. 

“We don’t have time for games Harvey. The longer they’re on the run, the more damage they will do. We both know deep down that’s not what you want.”

Harvey leaned back in his seat. “ Do you have a coin?”

“Dent, I’m warning you.”

“You want to know where Zsasz and Jet went, fine. Do you have a coin?”

The officer reaches into his pocket and pulls out some change. “Do you have a preference?”

“Use the quarter. If it's heads, I refuse to speak and go back to my cell to rot. If its tails, I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“Fine.” The officer flipped the coin. It landed on the table with a loud clang. Harvey leaned in and smiled fondly.

“Today's your lucky day, officer.” He unfolded his arms and sat up. “What do you want to know?”

“Where are the other two from your crew?”

“You know, those two had no ambition. No desire for stability.”

“Dent, I’m only gonna ask you one more time.”

“They wanted revenge and relaxation. They kept going on and on about going to some island once they were done in Gotham. They called it by some name.” He snapped his fingers, trying to recall what had been said. “Oh yeah. I remember, they called it Coryana .”

To be continued.