BAE Chapter 80

“Zsasz was there. It got hairy,” Stephanie says shortly. “We’re on, Babs. Talk later.”

It looks like Kate was right. Even as that SUV is coming to a halt at the curb, the buyers are coming out of the woodwork. There’s a sense of eagerness that isn’t good, old-fashioned American capitalism. At least, that isn’t all it is.

Seed is hot. This can’t be driven purely by misogyny. There must be women buying.

Images and memories of what happened with Riley Beaumont flash through Stephanie’s mind. There’s no getting around this. A lot of people like the Seed formula. Not everyone, certainly. That’s why it’s important that Barbara’s on this crusade of hers to get a cure. But… people like it.

They really like it. And these crooks want to get their hands on it and sell it at a high price when demand is highest because it’s not a **** that one uses continually. You use it once and you’ve got what you need. Once Wayne Enterprises brings a safe version to market, no one will want this black market stuff. The dealers have to move quickly.

But not every buyer is a woman looking to experiment. That’s why Kate and Stephanie have to put a stop to this.

People are moving down there. The cargo space of the SUV is open. Stephanie uses her binoculars to look more closely. She’s seen all that she needs to. They aren’t making this difficult by doing it in the open.

“Back me up,” Kate says over comms.

Flash bombs explode in the middle of the street, followed by smoke. Kate erupts from the shadows, locking her arm around the throat of the man who’d been driving the SUV. She drags him into the alley as everyone else reacts. Some go for weapons and others cut and run without hesitation. An engine roars.

Stephanie braces herself, ignores the pain of her developing bruises, and vaults over the railing, slapping a Batrope on so that she can swing down.

One guy makes the mistake of charging through the smoke to pursue Kate. Stephanie hits him from behind with both boots and a full-power, gravity-assisted swinging kick. He’s flung forward, slamming into the side of a building hard enough to crack bricks.

Stephanie hits the ground and rolls, flicking out an explosive Batarang and throwing it at the front wheel of the SUV. Gunshots ring out as she leaps into the air and brings her elbow down in the face of an opportunistic henchman who wants to get at the supply in the SUV while it’s unattended. Stephanie smashes him to the ground as her Batarang goes off, stumbling everyone nearby. The front wheel of the vehicle is blasted away; the SUV isn’t going anywhere.

Kate materializes, gracefully kicking a Falcone goon in the face.

Red light flashes, catching in the smoke. Stephanie sees the laser sights playing on Kate’s back and acts without thinking: she drops to the ground and sweeps Kate’s leg as bullets shred the air. Lots of bullets. An infinity of bullets.

The gunfire is fully automatic and suppressed, but still loud because it’s so heavy. Kate’s smoke bombs are the only reason they’re still alive. Stephanie throws smoke pellets of her own. There are shooters in the buildings, even the corner store. Second-floor windows.

Smoke fills the air even more thickly. A gunman emerges immediately. Stephanie tackles him as Kate picks herself up in time to intercept the next one. Without a clear shot, these people aren’t afraid to go hunting. Stephanie’s grappling with a woman under that tactical gear. They’re evenly matched in strength, and Stephanie is just barely able to edge her out in technique by locking her arm and slamming her head against the ground.

There’s another one behind her, but Kate launches a flying kick that sends the shooter flying one way while her shotgun goes another.

“It’s an ambush,” Stephanie gasps, putting in her respirator and throwing down more pellets.

“You think?” Kate snaps. “Get out!”

Stephanie throws a Batarang to upset the aim of a gunman drawing a bead on Kate as she tosses an incendiary grenade into the van. Sirens are approaching.

They grapple out in a flutter of capes as more gunmen advance into the smoke.

Stephanie lands lightly back on the roof, six stories above the street. Kate touches down beside her. They both land ready to fight with bombs in their hands, but there’s no one on this roof. The shooters were all in the buildings, hidden.

“GCPD’s got it from here. Car?” Kate asks.

“Car,” Stephanie agrees without hesitation. That was a lot of automatic gunfire from rifles. Her armor will not stop that. That was a bad situation. “Alfred, can you pick us up?”

“Yes, Ma’am. Bertel Street. Ten seconds.”

They take off at a run, leaping the alley to grab a fire escape, which clatters as they make their way up two flights that aren’t worth wasting a grapple on. They splash through puddles on the flat roof and Kate has her rope ready. It’s all perfectly swift, quiet, and graceful until they realize a moment too late that they’re both aiming for the driver’s seat.

Kate was the first to slide down, so Stephanie simply lands on top, narrowly avoiding kicking her. Kate squawks and flails, shoving against Stephanie’s bottom. Stephanie topples into the passenger seat upside down and scrambles to sit up while Kate hurriedly fumbles with the controls.

“How do you close this thing?” she demands, looking in panic at the homeless guy a few paces away, staring at them. “You didn’t see that. How do we close it?” she snaps at Stephanie.

“I don’t know.” Alfred usually does it for her.

Kate starts pushing buttons at random, and Stephanie grabs her wrist to stop her.

“Hey, man, I’m sorry,” Kate’s saying to the homeless guy. “We don’t have any money in here.” There’s an awkward pause. “I would so give it to you. It’s… it’s the Batmobile,” she adds lamely.

The guy stares at them.

The cockpit hisses shut and the car starts to move.

“Fuck me,” Kate says miserably. “We don’t tell Barbara about this. And Alfred? Can we not put some cash in the Car? I felt really bad just now. Like the worst person in the world.”

“I’ll see to it, Ms. Kane.”

“Thank you.”

“What the hell happened back there?” Stephanie bursts out. “Who were those guys?”

Kate grimaces, sobering. She straps in and tries to fix her cape.

“Elite Pride,” she replies shortly. “I’m sure of it. And they were ready. But I don’t understand.”

“An ambush at a **** deal? Seems legit,” Stephanie says.

“No. Babs crashed the first deal for the formula and she’s confident that Elite Pride is the one that walked away from it with the goods. We’re almost a hundred percent sure that they’re the ultimate suppliers or at least enforcing for them locally. The merch in that car was theirs. Why hit their own buy?” Kate asks. “Something’s not right.”

“Maybe you’re wrong.”

“Maybe.” Kate shakes her head. “We’ll see what Babs thinks of it. But there was no buy. The distributors scattered and I torched the stockpile. GCPD will get some collars too, and we didn’t get shot.”

“So?”

“So it’s cool,” Kate says, as though that should be obvious. “Batwoman and her sidekick Batgirl slayed it.”

Stephanie balks. “Sidekick?”

“More importantly,” Kate says, turning to look at her. She holds up a plastic baggy with pills in it.

Stephanie blinks at it. “What is that?”

“It’s the merch from tonight. Seed.”

“You took it?”

“Confiscated is the word that I use,” Kate replies demurely.

“Why?”

Kate gives her this look. Stephanie’s baffled expression doesn’t change, although it is hidden behind her ninja mask.

“We take it,” Kate says.

“What?”

“Babs has been sad since she lost her peepee.” Kate smiles and jiggles the bag. “You know? We can, uh, cheer her up.”

“Oh my god.”

“What? Aren’t you a little curious?”

Is Stephanie curious?