New Earth: Batwoman

Chapter 32

"It's about time." Bruce said when Kate entered the Batcave.

"Sorry, but I was stopping at the Crows to let Sophie know, since we need to use every asset we've got at our disposal, including them." Kate said.

"Wait, the Crows aren't a problem for you?" Bruce asked.

"They haven't been since I sent my dad to prison, bought the Crows and put Sophie in charge." Kate said.

"It helps that Sophie knows that Kate's Batwoman and she's agreed to keep it secret." Luke said.

"Okay, it seems like luck is definitely more on your side than it is mine, since one of the biggest problems I had was trying to protect the city while also having to contend with the Crows." Bruce said.

"It's because my dad hates competition, especially when he knows that the Bat does more good for Gotham than the Crows." Kate said.

"Or at least they did before you changed things, since now you and Sophie are changing the Crows so that they now protect the entire city and having their exclusive protection is like a premium service." Luke said and Kate nodded.

"It also helps that the new leader of the Crows wants to sleep with Batwoman." Helena said with a smile as she entered the Batcave.

"How did you get back here so fast?" Kate asked, trying to move attention off of what Helena just said.

"I was already on my way back to Gotham when I got your call. Man, Magpie is really pushing her luck." Helena said.

"Tell me about it. Please tell me that you put a GPS tracker on it." Kate said to Bruce.

"Considering the lengths I had to go to in order to get it back in the first place, I did, but it looks like Magpie was smart enough to find and disable it." Bruce said.

"Okay then. So what's the plan boss?" Helena asked, making it clear that she was talking to Kate and not her father.

"Luke, can you access GCPD's database and pull everything they have on Magpie's case? Past targets, forensics, basically anything you can on her." Kate asked.

"I'm insulted you have to ask." Luke said as he hacked into the police's online archives, since even though both he and Kate knew where she'd been based before, there was a chance that she was operating somewhere else in this reality.

"What exactly are you hoping to find?" Bruce asked.

"I want to see if we can find any kind of pattern that can be used to narrow down our search, since if we just search Gotham blindly, we'll just end up wasting time." Kate said.

"Why don't you reach out to Sophie, see if she'll give us access to the Crow's database, since they probably have more information than the GCPD does." Helena said.

"Actually, that might not be necessary." Kate said, wondering why she hadn't thought of this before.

"Why not?" Bruce asked.

"One of the perks of being the owner of the Crows is that I have my own login to the Crows database." Kate said.

"Just another reason to be glad we took down your father." Luke said.

"Wait, you should rig the system to conceal Kate's access from the Crows server so no one can trace it back to us." Bruce said.

"On it." Luke said as he got to work before allowing Kate to enter her login credentials.

"Okay, now we are in the Crows files and I have to admit, it went a lot faster since I didn't have to hack my way through the firewalls." Luke said.

"Okay, Bruce, since I know you're itching to get out there, why don't you suit up and start searching manually, I will stay here with Luke and keep tabs on the Crow's search, Helena, suit up and reach out to your contacts in the criminal underworld, since I refuse to believe that in your search for Frank Bertinelli you don't have any, see if any of them can help point us in the right direction." Kate said.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll head out at nightfall, since I don't want Gotham to know that Batman is back yet, especially since he's not staying, simply because he's not needed. I'm only suiting up because this is personal for me." Bruce said and Kate nodded as she watched her cousins leave.

"So, when are you gonna check to see if Magpie is hiding out in the same place she was before?" Luke asked.

"In about an hour, make it seem believable that we found something." Kate said and Luke nodded, right as the monitors beeped.

"I think you might have something else to focus on in the meantime." Luke said.

"What?" Kate asked.

"Someone's waiting for you in your office." Luke said as he pulled security footage to show Mary standing in her office.

"What's Mary doing here?" Kate asked.

"I don't know, but you should go find out." Luke said and Kate nodded.

"Let me know if something comes up." Kate said and Luke nodded as Kate headed out to take the garage exit.

"Kate, there you are." Mary said to her stepsister when Kate entered her own office.

"Mary, not that it isn't good to see you, but could you please call first?" Kate asked.

"I was hoping I could surprise you." Mary said.

"I hate surprises." Kate said.

"Right sorry, but I was hoping that maybe we could go get lunch, since honestly, we haven't spent much time together since you came back." Mary said.

"Look Mary, I wish I could, but I don't have time. Now that my mom's in rehab, I need to start catching up on the work I've missed, not to mention the fact that the newest crazy Magpie broke in and stole my Aunt Martha's necklace." Kate said.

"I swear, it feels like no one has any time for me anymore. Am I really that unimportant?" Mary asked.

"What are you talking about?" Kate asked.

"Are you forgetting that you're not the only one with a parent facing criminal charges? My mom is facing charges of corruption, not to mention the fact that the city is starting to blame her for creating Alice." Mary said and now Kate was feeling guilty.

"Mary, I'm so sorry. Things have just been moving so fast lately and I guess things just fell through the cracks. Look, I'm busy dealing with this theft, but once it's resolved, why don't we have sister night?" Kate asked and Mary smiled.

"Sounds great and Kate, I get it, I just don't want you to forget that you still have some family you can count on." Mary said and Kate smiled at her.

"I know. But thank you for reminding me anyways." Kate said.

"Well, I'll let you get back to work." Mary said and Kate nodded as she surprised Mary by actually hugging her before watching her sister walk out of the office and then once she was sure Mary was gone, heading back towards the Batcave.