[color=f7976a][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]Gotham, America:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][INDENT][sup][COLOR=SILVER]May 15[SUP]th[/SUP], 2019 - 2:00 AM,
60 yards beneath street level[/COLOR][/sup][/INDENT][/color]
                                                [img]https://i.imgur.com/Fdp6vXO.png[/img]

Everything had changed when Kryptonians entered the picture. Their childish heroics only hindered the sickening crime in Gotham. Cancer spread below the streets while they flew above. And only when the righteous threatened the lives of dirty politicians did these co-called Super-people land. They didn’t see that you can’t reason with cancer. Can’t lock it up. It doesn’t stop just because of a few punches. Cancer has to be eliminated by its source.
Or at least that was the sales pitch that had put a serious damper on the family reunion. Behind his stern look, the anticipation shinned through, as Jacob awaited Kate’s response.
Tonight, Kate had just been, [i]well, [/i][i]Kate[/i]; the daughter that had so eagerly followed in her father’s footsteps and joined the military. When she quit and joined the war on crime, he supported it without a second’s hesitation. Even provided a suit worthy of her skills. One she later modified in the spirit of the Bat.

[color=f7976a]“You’re gonna take them all on at the same time?” [/color]she asked, standing in her Batwoman suit. The fingers holding her mask started getting a life of their own. Twitching ever so slightly.

[color=fff79a]“They will take me on when I announce myself. Their dogmatic narrow viewpoints won’t allow for anything else. So, I’ll strike first and with this.” [/color]Jacob padded the Kryptonite arsenal at his disposal.  [color=fff79a]“They are all dead anyway. Once the real danger comes around all those meta-humans and otherworldly beings are going to drop from the sky. You know this.”[/color]

Kate lowered her gaze and took a long look at her mask, realizing yet another reason to wear it. [color=f7976a]“I do,” [/color]she nodded. [color=f7976a]“The people in the sky aren’t enough.”[/color] After an uncharacteristic long hesitation, she put on the face of Batwoman once again.[color=f7976a] “So I’ll be there too.”[/color]

The disappointment was clear on Jacob’s otherwise emotionless face. [color=fff79a]“Stop hiding behind that thing. Bring back my daughter.”[/color]

[color=f7976a]“This is your daughter now.” [/color]Batwoman raised her fists, as did her father. For a moment they were twisted images of each other. Same stance, same firm look. Not even a blink.
Meanwhile not a single of Jacob's mercenaries intervened or even reached for their gun.  
The first to strike was Batwoman, firing a left hook at his defending arm and following up with a knee-strike that removed all sense of balance in her opponent.
Jacob stumbled back before getting back his footing and returning to the stance he taught her years ago. [color=fff79a]“You hesitate to strike down your opponent. I taught you better than that.”[/color]

[color=f7976a]“You got nothing left to teach, father. I succeeded you years ago.”[/color]

[color=fff79a]“Yet, you don’t go for the kill. Merely stand there while your opponent has time to gather himself.” [/color]Jacob jumped and came down with all his weight in that one punch.
Batwoman felt its numbing pain against her forearm and moved out of reach of the following combos. A whole series of stable hooks and kicks that kept her on her toes. She blocked a haymaker and delivered two side kicks to her father’s ribs he was sure to feel, before she hit and missed with a hook of her own. While dodging another attack she was surprised how sore her arms felt, how heavy her shoulders, and how deep her breaths had gotten. Already tired, she was like a grunt girl back at military school.
Suddenly her father could take his time retaliating. And retaliate he did: Sent a neckchop and two outstretched palms to either side of her head, removing all sense of hearing for a few seconds, leaving nothing but an unbearable high-pitched ringing.
In a last-ditch effort, Batwoman deliberately dropped her parade and took a jab to the jaw, in order to then grab a hold of that arm subsequently and reel him in. She got in real close, both hands around his wrists. A headbutt should still hurt him more than her anyway. [color=f7976a]“What did you do to me?”[/color] she scorned, using every inch of frustration she had built up from losing.

[color=fff79a]“Nothing. It’s the suit.”[/color]

She grinned her teeth. Anger as much as exhausting. [color=f7976a]“You… s-sabotaged it?”[/color]

At this point it didn’t take much for the man to break loose and bring her down with a well-timed throat-punch. Before she knew it, he tightened his arm around her neck. [color=fff79a]“Listened to me,”[/color] he whispered to the still struggling Batwoman. [color=fff79a]“It’s important to me that you understand. When I gave you that suit, I didn’t intentionally compromise it in any way. I gave you the very best my people could deliver. A gift from father to daughter. But even the strongest walls have a crack, and I only found this weak spot months later. It’s the liquid shock absorption between the layers of titanium fabric. At the right frequency it hardens, becomes stiff. It restricts your movement, makes you exhaust your great stamina. A regular soldier wouldn’t even be standing at this point.” [/color]Jacob reached down and showed the small device that produced the ultrasonic sound.

[color=f7976a]“Go to hell!” [/color]Batwoman felt his warm breath on the back of her head and somehow knew he nodded in approval.

[color=fff79a]“Even when you oppose me, I could never be prouder. You’re everything a father could want, Kate. It should be you leading my men to a clean tomorrow.”[/color]

[color=f7976a]“… little hard with a malfunctioning suit…, Jacob.”[/color]

The fact that she had stopped referring to him as [i]father [/i]clearly didn’t go unnoticed, yet he merely answered: [color=fff79a]“It’s not permanent, or we would have discovered the bug much earlier. That being said, should you oppose us when we resurface, I won’t hesitate to use it again. Turn your second-best weapon into lead and take out my frustration on those at your side: Barbara, Helena, Natalie. Unlike you they seem so soft once they’re in the comfort of their home. I’ll see you around, kid.”[/color]

[color=f7976a]“You better hope you do. Cause if you don’t, your little plan about dropping senators and Supers from the sky, is gonna have an abrupt end.”[/color]

All but Jacob had already left.
And as he released her, she didn’t turn around. Merely sat there, gathering her strength.
On every level she gathered it…