Second Chances: Batwoman

Chapter 1

When Kate Kane came to after blacking out at the dawn of time, she felt a pain in her head that she knew all too well. A hangover. A feeling that she'd honestly missed after spending a month of being stuck in a place that had no alcohol. Though the question was, where was she and even more importantly, why did she have this hangover.

Her first question was answered when she forced her eyes open to another thing she'd missed almost as much as alcohol. Sunlight. But once she got over the intense glare of the sun, Kate realized that she was back in her bedroom in her loft in Gotham. Which made no sense, since as far as she knew, her loft, along with the sun and everything else in existence had been destroyed during the Crisis. Then she remembered the last thing that happened before she blacked out. That huge explosion Oliver Queen had caused during his fight with the Anti-Monitor had released some huge energy into the sky at the dawn of time that seemed to create something, but Kate had blacked out before she could see what it was. Now she realized what he'd created was a new world. A new universe. However, she realized that she didn't know the first thing about this universe, which she knew immediately would be a problem, since she had no idea of how her life could be different.

Then, as she got out of bed, she heard a familiar and unwelcomed voice speak behind her.

"Kate Kane, I see you made the transition to this new world successfully." Novu said and Kate rolled her eyes.

"Yeah and considering what it took to create this world, please try not to destroy it like you did the old universe." Kate said as Novu flinched at once again being reminded of his actions as Kate realized something.

"Wait, from what I could piece together, before you attempted that idiotic experiment, you were just a regular nerd. You didn't get your cosmic powers until after you created the Anti Monitor. If you're all powered up now, does that mean that you of this world?" Kate asked, desperate hoping that the answer to her unspoken question was no.

"I'm afraid I do not know, since while I did take the place of my counterpart in this world, I do not have access to his memories and no matter how hard I try, his life is shrouded from me. I do not know if the Mar Novu of this universe made the mistake I did. Which is troubling. Especially since I am also unable to detect if the Anti Monitor survived or not, since dawn of time has been sealed off from any attempts to access it by a power greater than my own and even if I could go there, I could not without risking unleashing the Anti Monitor again." Novu said.

"Good call. You caused enough problems already." Kate said.

"Anyways, I am here to help you integrate yourself into this new world, since while I cannot see the life of my own doppelganger, I am able to give you the memories of yours. Something that is essential if you're going to survive this new world. However, I do warn you to prepare yourself. The fact that something is beyond my sight does not bode well for any of us." Novu said.

"Great. So it sounds like we've got another fight coming our way. That's just perfect. Anyways, can you just do what you came here to do and then scram until you've figured out what you screwed up in this universe?" Kate asked him.

"I think you could give Oliver Queen a run for his money with that demeanor of yours, but very well." Novu said as he waved his hand and gave Kate what she asked for before vanishing her and leaving Kate to fall backwards on her bed while she absorbed the memories of her counterpart to find that her life was pretty much the same for a majority of it.

The accident had still happened, her mother had still died and her sister was still set on the path that would turn her into the irredeemable monster known as Alice, though Kate now knew how she could save a few lives and also still find justice for the ghost of her sister.

It wasn't until she was expelled from Point Rock Academy that her life began to change from the old timeline and honestly, Kate was a bit embarrassed about her past self's actions, since in this reality, her father had never bothered to string her along with false promises of joining the Crows, a job that Kate no longer wanted and honestly couldn't believe she'd ever wanted to work for her father, but between that, the humiliation of being expelled from prestigious military school due to her sexuality and the heartbreak that came from being rejected by the love of her life, Kate had gone downhill fast as a real party girl, drinking and partying like there was no tomorrow. Or at least she had been until her cousin Bruce, who acted more like a father to her during this period of time in her life than her own ever had since the accident, had finally stepped in and helped Kate get her life together.

He did this by first revealing to her that he was Batman, something that definitely helped her get over her anger at the Bat for not saving her family, since she now realized how petty that was when Batman had saved her and about a dozen other kids that day. But anyways, Bruce had realized that he was starting to get to the point in his life where it was time to start considering passing on his cowl and he wanted it to be Kate. But before he could do that, he needed to be sure that she was ready to take on the kind of lowlife insanity that only Gotham could produce. And to do that, he'd called in a favor from an old acquaintance of his named Safiyah, the sovereign ruler of an uncharted island called Coryana.

Kate spent the next three years on the island, training under the queen herself as a warrior, improving her skills beyond what they already were and also helping mend Kate's heart, since she'd quickly developed a mutually returned attraction with Safiyah, which had definitely helped her move on from Sophie breaking her heart. However, Safiyah knew that Kate would never stay with her on Coryana forever, since she knew that just like how she was dedicated to protecting her island, Kate's dedication and heart would always be set on protecting her home of Gotham, so she allowed Kate to leave on good terms.

When Kate returned to Gotham, she met Luke Fox, who had taken his father's place as Bruce's tech support in the Batcave, since he'd died while she was away and she also noticed something that changed in Bruce, since he seemed more than eager to hand off the bat mantle to her, though he wouldn't tell her what it was. But anyways, the date Kate had woken up on was the day after she'd returned home and that night would be the night that she officially took over for Bruce as the new Bat. It was time for her to be Batwoman again.