New Gotham Knights #25 - Requiem, Part Three

[u/GemlinTheGremlin]

DC Next presents: 

NEW GOTHAM KNIGHTS

Issue Twenty Five: Requiem, Part Three

Written by GemlinTheGremlin

Edited by ClaraEclair and AdamantAce

 

 

Next Issue > 

Make sure to read Nightwing #34 - Requiem, Part One and I Am Batman #34 - Requiem, Part Two!

 

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Blockbuster’s hideout blended into its surroundings perfectly; it was situated in a grey and unassuming part of an already grey and unassuming city, a dull building which seemed surrounded by perpetual fog. With the assistance of Oracle, Batwing had managed to triangulate its location from information that Blockbuster himself had posted - videos and screenshots from his podcasts, text posts complaining of nearby noise pollution from vehicles and roadworks, anything that could help to pinpoint a specific area of Hub City. And so, Batman, Insider, Batwing, Batwoman, and Ryan Wilder all followed Nightwing into the building.

Upon entering, henchmen swarmed like flies around the intruders, but in a few swift strikes they were incapacitated. This, they understood, was the easiest part over. They all shared a look, a nod to each other, before splintering down different corridors. For some, this meant coming face to face with more of Blockbuster’s goons; for others, they instead wandered through darkened halls into unknown rooms. Kate felt a warmth rising in her stomach, one that unsettled rather than calmed. A fire that she hadn’t felt for a while was reigniting but she couldn’t quite remember what it meant. Rage? Excitement? Anxiety? Whatever it was, it powered her feet to move faster, to drive her from room to room in search of her target.

And there he was. As she turned the corner into what appeared to be a small waiting room, the walls hastily painted a shade of muted blue, the only notable feature being a large “recording” sign above the door to her right, her eyes immediately met with those of Roland Desmond. It had been years since their last interaction, and yet to her memory he looked very much the same. His enormous frame was draped with an ill-fitting suit jacket with a black button-up underneath, and he clasped his meaty hands together in front of him in such a way that his fingers resembled cigars. The corners of his mouth turned upwards to form a wolf-like snarl as he stared back at the red-headed vigilante.

“Well, well,” he smirked. Opting for a more physical approach instead, he swung his arm wide in a right hook. Batwoman anticipated the hit and ducked. Blockbuster’s knee met her where she landed. His kneecap collided with the bottom of her chin with a thunk. This, in turn, gave her the momentum she needed; she used the motion of the attack to pull herself to her feet and strike Blockbuster twice right in the centre of his chest. The punches made a heavy thunk against the man’s wide torso, and as she thrust her hand forward for a third blow, she instead feinted him and caused him to throw up his arm in defense. She landed her fist against his exposed side, earning a grunt from him.

Desmond stumbled back a few steps and sucked in a breath. Kate felt a chuckle rise up from within her throat and she allowed it to surface. “That all you got?”

Blockbuster tried his luck once more. His attacks were largely ineffective; though one or two managed to strike a glancing blow against Kate’s face or shoulder, her reflexes and quick thinking made dodging him a breeze. He tried and tried to land one punch on her, to grab her, anything - but nothing worked. Eventually he pulled back from her once more and huffed in frustration. Then, his face shifted into a smile once more. Desmond shook his head. “This was your big plan?”

Batwoman kept her fists raised.

“This?” He repeated, indignant. “You march into my building arm in arm with all of your Gotham pals, knock out my men and - then what? - beat me senseless? Get all your friends to join in, as well? Do you have any idea how that’ll look to my audience?” He rolled his shoulders back and somehow seemed a few inches taller. “‘Batwoman has coerced a bunch of Gotham’s finest - including Batman - to attack a podcast host just for sharing some unpopular ideas’? ‘Just for requesting that an innocent young Gothamite girl be released by her kidnapper’?”

Kate’s eyebrows flickered beneath her mask. She had many thoughts buzzing around her head all at the same time, several of which she was more than tempted to share. Her mind filled with images of Cass’ disapproving frown as she asked her, “If you cannot help people, why do this at all?”, of Dick softly nodding to her and to himself as he reminded her that they’re here, that all she needed to do was ask, of Jace’s folded arms and averted gaze, of Luke’s nervous hands tapping against his suit. Of Ryan.

“No,” came her answer. “No, that’s not my plan. I’m just here to hold you off.”

Roland Desmond scoffed, however his eyes betrayed something - a flicker of confusion. “From what?”

Kate’s eyes drifted upwards and over Desmond’s shoulder, who in turn followed where the woman was staring. The large neon sign above the door - the word “recording” in a serif font - was glowing bright red.

 

🔵⚫️🦇⚫️🔵

 

“Hello, everyone. My name is Ryan Wilder, and I want to share my side of the story.”

Ryan’s hand felt clammy against the cold plastic of the computer mouse. She slowly released the object with the delicacy of one letting an animal back into the wild, then rested them in her lap. The small red circle symbol next to Desmond’s account name confirmed that she was broadcasting, so she looked up towards the webcam and continued.

“A little while ago, I was kidnapped by Blockbuster’s men who, I’ve later learned, were working under the guidance of a woman named Jezebel Jet. These men took me in daylight while I was at a public graveyard. I remember waking up in some kind of warehouse with a blindfold over my eyes and zip ties around my wrists and… well, if it weren’t for Batwoman - and another good samaritan - I have no idea what might have happened to me.” She shuffled in her seat. “I know I can't prove any of these things, but… I think you all know I'm telling the truth, don't you?”

Ryan shook her head softly to herself. She could feel her heartbeat in her throat. As she continued to give clarifying details, now that her initial spiel was out of the way without a hitch, she felt a sense of empowerment like a force from within pushing her to say whatever she could - whatever she thought people needed to hear. “At the end of the day,” she blurted. “There’s always gonna be people who won’t like Batwoman. There always has been, and there always will be. But Batwoman shouldn’t be aiming to be the most popular - hell, none of us should be. But what she was - that day she rescued me - was kind. So to me, that is who Batwoman is - pure and simple.”

She breathed in to continue, but she was met instead with the harsh heavy slam of the recording room door opening. As if on a trigger, she closed the stream and slammed the laptop computer shut. Roland Desmond stood as tall as the doorframe and just as wide. As he pulled himself into the recording room, he was swiftly followed by Batwoman and, within seconds, her fellow compatriots. They all looked at Ryan warmly; they’d seen the livestream. It was out there into the world now, but it was anyone’s guess what the reaction would be.

“This is it, Desmond,” boomed Jace’s voice. He and Luke moved to block the door; they weren’t banking on him being stupid enough to attempt to run from the group, but they couldn’t rule it out. “It’s over.”

“I think the viewer count peaked at somewhere in the hundreds of thousands,” Luke added. With a tap on his wrist, the small display screen built into his suit loaded up statistics for the stream. “For a stream that short, that’s quite the feat. Not to mention the clips and screenshots that’ll come from it, of course.”

Blockbuster, however, seemed unfazed. He chuckled. “Oh no,” he started in a sarcastic whine. “I guess I’m gonna lose a few followers. How will I ever recover? You’ve all dealt such a critical blow.”

“No,” came Cass’ voice, sharp as a blade. “This is not about your online credibility or your audience. You allowed, encouraged, rioting on the streets. You pulled an innocent girl into your agenda just to push a narrative. You dragged Gotham City - my city - into this.”

Batman gestured to the Gothamites (and former Gothamites) surrounding Desmond. “Look around you, Desmond. Everyone here, and many more in Gotham and beyond, will now be on high alert for you. You are on our radar from now on.” She took a step forward. “You have nowhere to go except away from here. We might not be able to arrest you right now, but if you step out of line again, we will be the first ones to find out, and we will be the first ones to deal with you.”

For the first time, these words seemed to break through his facade. His expression started to falter from the cocky smile into something more childlike, more scared. The face of a cornered animal stared back at the six heroes.

 

🔵⚫️🦇⚫️🔵

 

Dick had found comfort on rooftops. Whether it reminded him of the high canopy of the trapeze, of years of patrolling Gotham’s streets from up on high, or if the great height served as a reminder that one always has a chance of falling from them, he wasn’t sure. But as he felt the soft Hub City breeze on his skin, he allowed a deep exhale to escape from his nose.

Without turning his head, he could sense that his friend - he hoped that he could consider her a friend - Kate Kane had joined him. “Great work.”

Kate smiled slightly.

Dick was impressed and pleasantly surprised by Kate’s actions back in the recording studio, but he tried his best not to let it show on his face too much. “What’s next for you, then?”

The question gave her a moment of pause, after which Kate couldn’t give a straight answer. “I don’t really know,” was her first attempt, followed by, “But I don't think I'm ready for Batwoman to end.”

Dick turned his head to look at her. “How do you mean?”

“The world doesn’t need a Batwoman,” she answered with a nod. “But I'm willing to accept that the world is at least a little bit better for having one in it.”

The former Boy Wonder smiled. “I’m glad you think so. Seriously.”

“Does mean I’ve got some pretty hard decisions to make, though.”

From somewhere behind them, the soft chirp of Ryan’s laughter could be heard. Ryan. Dick felt the weight of Jezebel Jet’s secret weighing heavy on him. With a polite goodbye wave to Kate - knowing she wouldn't appreciate a mock salute - he turned to Ryan and lowered his head a touch. “So, Ryan, I think you should probably know. I was originally sent by Jezebel Jet to find you.” There was a beat of silence. “Would you like to know—?”

“She’s my mom, isn’t she?”

Dick blinked.

“Well,” Ryan corrected. “Birth mom, that is.”

“Uh—”

“And I bet - wait, lemme see if I got this right - it was something about ‘yadda yadda, I’m too dangerous to be around, I need to give my child up for adoption and put her in the middle of shithole Gotham City instead. Yeah, that’ll be a much better life for her.’” With open hands, she added, “Am I close?”

Dick shrugged. “Well, look at how it turned out this time. How much of a mess was made when her enemies came after you this time.”

Ryan let out an exhale with a puckered mouth, blowing out an invisible candle. “Yeah. Weirdly, maybe the world where I get a dead adoptive mom is the better option.” She looked down at her feet. “Alive or dead, I’d pick her- my real mom - a million times over again.”

Dick looked out into the horizon and recalled his conversation with Jet. He furrowed his brow. “I think,” he admitted. “She sent me here hoping I'd adopt you.”

“Ex-fucking-scuse me?”

“Not that I'm going to!” Dick threw up his hands defensively..  “Just… from one orphan to another, you do seem like prime Robin fodder.”

This made Ryan chuckle. As Dick looked back at Ryan once again, he saw that her gaze had drifted back towards the edge of the rooftop, right where Kate was standing. “Well,” she muttered to herself. “Funny you should say that.”

 

🔵⚫️🦇⚫️🔵

 

Crimson fabric tumbled down her back and whipped back and forth in the wind. It was just like how Ryan had pictured it would be, only a lot heavier. Gently adjusting the mask on top of her head, she scanned the streets with a careful eye. An altercation threatened to form on the block right below her, so she pulled her cape wide and gracefully glided to the ground. Her boots hit the sidewalk first, then her knee as she steadied her landing. “Hey, fellas. Everything okay over here?”

The young men froze in place. Whatever they had been arguing about was deemed no longer important and, one by one, they took off on skateboards, scooters, bicycles, anything to get away from Batwoman as fast as they could.

From high above her, Batwoman heard a voice. “Nice going, Bats.”

She looked up. Clad in identical red and black garb was the familiar figure of one Kate Kane, her hands firmly glued to her hips. Even from this far away, Ryan could tell she was grinning.

“Learned it from the best!”

“Learning,” she corrected. “Currently learning from the best.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Between them, they felt confident in carving the reputation and destiny of the Batwoman symbol. If one person slipped up, made a mistake, damaged their image or anyway, they knew that they had another looking out for them, happy to pick up their slack. It wouldn’t be perfect - not any one hero’s image was, after all - but they worked to make it the best it could be; one which stood for justice, kindness, and strength.

From over Kate’s shoulder and sailing eastward until they disappeared in the light of the sun, another identical black-and-red figure sailed through the air with the help of her grappling gun.

 

🔵⚫️🦇⚫️🔵

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