Second Chances: Batwoman - Rough Draft

Chapter 18

"Alright people, listen up. Capture of the criminal known as Alice is now priority number one, if it wasn't already. She's gone too far." Jacob Kane said as he and Sophie stood in front of the Crows, an image of Alice on the big screen behind them.

"Sir, we all want to catch her, but are you sure that making her our top priority is a good idea when we have so many other cases to deal with?" another agent, Russel Tavaroff, who Sophie knew was gunning for her position as the Commander's second in command, asked.

"The Commander is not asking you to drop your current assignments, since we acknowledge that the city does depend on us, but Alice's capture is now a top priority for us, especially since that woman kidnapped his daughter and nearly killed an innocent civilian." Sophie said, glaring at Tavaroff.

"I heard the woman will be fine, so why are we still making a big deal out of it?" Tavaroff asked.

"Are you saying that we shouldn't be pursuing this criminal?" Jacob asked.

"I'm just questioning if you're letting your personal feelings cloud your judgment." Tavaroff said and both Jacob and Sophie looked at him in shock.

"I think that you need to learn to keep your thoughts to yourself. Alice has proven herself to be a real threat to Gotham and the last thing we need is this city looking towards the Bat signal instead of us." Jacob said.

"Sir, is it true that your daughter was rescued by a new Bat?" another agent asked, this one more curious.

"According to Mary, yes, but I'm not giving this newcomer, Batwoman, a free pass. Her and Batman bring out all the crazies in Gotham and after we take out Alice, we're gonna take them down too before they can cause any more trouble and put any more civilian lives at risk." Jacob said as they finished the meeting and then headed towards his office, where he found his daughter waiting for him.

"Kate, what a surprise. I thought you were working for Bruce now?" Jacob asked, since Kate had taken a job at Wayne Enterprises.

"I am, but I'm here on behalf of Wayne Enterprises, since even though it's not technically my job, Bruce thought you'd be more likely to agree if I came to see you then if he came himself." Kate said.

"About what?" Jacob asked.

"Bruce wants to contribute funding and resources to help you find and capture Alice. Especially if she was telling the truth about mom." Kate said, since her father knew about that.

"If your mother is alive Kate, I promise we will find her and bring her home. I will use every resource at my disposal to make sure that happens." Jacob said.

"Not every resource." Kate said, deciding that she might as well get this out of the way now.

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked.

"Dad, why do you insist on going to war against Batwoman when you should be working with her. You both want the same thing. To protect Gotham and she can go places that you can't. I really don't understand why you insist on hating someone that even your own agents respect." Kate said.

"You used to hate that symbol too." Jacob reminded her.

"Then I had some time away to reflect and realize that I blamed Batman for not saving mom and Beth because if I didn't it would mean I'd have to blame myself for not at least pulling Beth out of the car. And now that I think about it, considering all the other lives Batman saved that day, before that day and after that day, hunting him down just so you can blame him for not saving two more, that's kind of petty. I mean he did everything he could, he's not Superman. And he didn't leave us because he cared more about catching the bad guy, he left because there were innocent kids on that school bus that he also needed to worry about." Kate said, since she knew why her father hated the Bat symbol, but until he admitted it to himself, she wouldn't be able to help him move on.

"You've really let go of your anger at that symbol." Jacob said, looking at her in surprise.

"Yeah I have. And I feel a lot better no longer carrying that anger with me." Kate said.

"It sounds like you already know why I hate that symbol." Jacob said.

"I know, but you need to admit it to yourself." Kate said and Jacob sighed, knowing that his daughter wouldn't drop this.

"Because if I don't hate that symbol, it means I have to hate myself for not saving my family. That was my job. It was my job as a husband and father to protect my family and I failed." Jacob said.

"So don't fail now. You want to find mom and make it right, don't turn away a resource that could help you with that. Let Batwoman and maybe even Batman help." Kate said.

"I'll think about it." Jacob said and Kate knew that was as good as she'd get from her father, but it was definitely an improvement over his pre-crisis attitude, which wouldn't have even fathom the idea of cooperating with a vigilante, let alone one who wore the Bat symbol.