Gotham Lockdown

“Sorry, what?” Ryan said. “It’s going to what?”

“I’m pretty sure you heard him,” Sophie said.

The team was gathered around a blinking metal box. Luke, in full Batwing gear, was kneeling beside it, gingerly looking at the connections and a read-out on his armour.

Poison Ivy’s brief resurgence had a few unexpected consequences. Ivy herself had been involved in multiple plots in the past, and this was apparently one of them; there was a piece of vine behind a pane of glass, wired into an unnervingly complex looking machine.

It had been dormant for years, so no one had found it secreted below the city, until a few days ago when it had started to emit an energy signature. Ivy returning to full strength had apparently restored the artefact.

“She must have pheromoned a few scientists to make it for her. Technology isn’t her usual MO,” Luke said.

“I’m still stuck on the ‘Nudity inducing gas’ part,” Ryan said.

“Do you want me to tell you what she was thinking? Because I can’t,” Luke said. “Maybe it was her idea of bringing people closer to nature, or maybe she really wanted to fight for the rights of cotton plants, don’t ask me what the supervillain was thinking.”

“I mean, I could take a guess,” Sophie said, her voice coming through over comms.

She cleared her throat. Ryan and Luke looked at each other, and then back at the machine. As mechanical as it looked, it was quite literally rooted into the ground, a thick tree trunk steadying it.

“Anyway,” Luke said, pointedly. “By my calculations, in a day’s time it’ll activate and blanket the whole of Gotham City in a fog that’ll make human skin unable to bear the touch of any kind of clothing - we’re talking fabric, metal, plastic, whatever.”

“And you can’t move it?” Ryan said.

“This wasn’t designed by idiots. Any tampering - with it, or its roots - will set it off,” Luke said.

“Block it?” Sophie said. “Seal it under a glass dome or something?”

“It’s wired directly into the Green,” Luke said. “There’s nothing we have that could block it. In a day’s time, all of Gotham City will be naked.”

---

Bureaucracy could move fast when it needed to. Team Bat sent the word out as soon as they could, at least warning the city of what was coming, even if they couldn’t prevent it. Almost instantly, the shops were filled with people trying to stock up and avoid needing to shop during the coming months, and the roads out of town were full with the people who had relatives to stay with.

Some people, however, didn’t have any chance to leave Gotham.

A giant digital clock had been set up in the Bat-Cave, currently at the 14 hour mark. Luke sat at the screen, liaising over comms with a few contacts in the police department, setting up a last few things. Behind him, the rest of the team was talking.

“Ryan. No offence,” Mary said. “But I’m kicking you out of the apartment. I have a few med school friends who need somewhere - on-campus is not an option right now.”

“Yeah, fair,” Ryan said. “Er, are you okay with that?”

“We had wild enough parties, we should be,” Mary said. “No strangers allowed.”

Ryan nodded. Her gaze darted up to the countdown.

“Luke, any idea how long this’ll last?” Ryan said.

“The gas should dissipate in a couple of months,” Luke said.

“Months?!” several voices said at once.

“Yeah, not thrilled about it either,” Luke said. “Done all I can from here. Speaking of, Bat-cave is off-limits: it’s not like there’s any Batwoman without the suit anyway, and I’m gonna take this chance to get some work down.”

Ryan meandered back. Her girlfriend, Sophie, was on the phone. She made a face as she ended the call.

“So, babe,” Ryan said. She smiled. “Not exactly what I planned, but…”

“There are some upsides,” Sophie said, perhaps a little too optimistically. “I know it’s maybe a bit soon to move in, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t imagined a no-clothes-allowed vacation.”

“Same,” Ryan said. “Which I guess is the one upside to a couple of months.”

“Yeah…” Sophie said. Her voice trailed off. “Is now the time for bad news?”

“Really?” Ryan said. Sophie made a face.

“Jordan wants to stay with me,” Sophie said. “Sounds like she does not want to hang with her housemates.”

“Your sister. Seriously?” Ryan said. “I was hoping for a little just-us time.”

“Me too,” Sophie said. She grimaced. “I’ve never been able to get Jordan to not do something though.”

Ryan sighed. Well, it was a little short term to do any concrete planning, last minute wrinkles were to be expected, and an extra roommate was… ugh.

“I guess we take advantage when it’s her turn to do the shopping trip then,” Ryan said, reluctantly.

She a smile. Sophie smiled back, and kissed her.

“You’re amazing,” Sophie said. “Sorry, it’s not quite what we wanted.”

“Well, it’s one more person to make do the shopping trip,” Ryan said.

That was the other issue. Months. Despite their best efforts, there was no way to stockpile enough for that long on short notice. There’d be journeys to the shops for food and drink - public decency laws had necessarily been relaxed for the duration of the situation, but that didn’t make the prospect any more encouraging. Ryan had seen more than a few annoyed tweets from shop workers.

Most people were at least trying to find a way to work from home, anyway. Not everyone had the option.

Months studiously avoiding leaving her apartment, in her birthday suit, with her girlfriend and her girlfriend’s sister tagging along. Not ideal.

Her phone buzzed. Ryan lifted it up to glance down.

“Huh,” Ryan said.

“What is it?” Sophie said.

“Text from Jada,” Ryan said.

“Your mom?” Sophie said. “She didn’t seem like the casual-texting type.”

Ryan tapped it open. Jada Jet. Their relationship was… complicated, and had only really started recently. Of all the times she expected Jada to reach out to reconnect, this wasn’t it.

“Oh. Huh,” Ryan said.

“What?” Sophie said.

“She’s asking me to stay with her,” Ryan said. Her face warmed. “She’s given all her penthouse staff a holiday, and has deliveries booked so we wouldn’t have to leave the house.”

“Ryan, I love you, but I think rooming naked together with your mom would be worse than with my sister,” Sophie said. Her expression softened. “Though if you did want to talk more with her, I’d understand.”

“Rooming with her for this isn’t what I had in mind!” Ryan said.

She hesitated. For all the complexities, she did want to talk more with Jada, even if she’d imagined it being in more clothed circumstances. There were a lot of things to unpack and untangle, and she didn’t want to wait months for that chance. And the opportunity to not have to go outside while stuck naked was undeniably enticing.

But spending the next couple of months with Sophie, exploring the honeymoon phase of their relationship without even the ability to put on clothes, she was okay with that. Though Jordan’s presence, and the trips out to buy enough for three people, for as long as this situation lasted…

“Ryan?” Sophie said. “I don’t mind if you want to change your mind, really - we can always stay in contact. Where do you want to stay?”