“ i’m not complicated, batman. war took my family. i lost one way to fight back. i found another. ”
intro -- bio -- headcanons
( zoë kravitz. 32. she/her. cis woman. ) are you a HERO ? something tells me that flaming red hair, leather jackets, bloodied knuckles make you who you are, KATE KANE. with the powers of ADVANCED COMBAT (emphasis on the BAT), you’re sure to have a resilient, stubborn personality — and you definitely belong to UNAFFILIATED. were you listening to BAD REPUTATION by JOAN JETT on your way to the subway? it suits you. we can’t wait to see what you do next! ( claire. 23. she/her. gmt. )
character name: katherine “kate” rebecca kane / batwoman
age: 32
faceclaim: zoë kravitz
voiceclaim: zoë kravitz
skill set: acrobatics, advanced military combat training, espionage, genius level intellect, gymnastics, martial arts, weaponry, indomitable will, interrogation, meditation, peak human condition
affiliations: batfam
family: jacob kane (father) ; gabi kane (mother, deceased) ; beth kane (twin, presumed deceased) ; bruce wayne (cousin) ; bette kane (cousin) ; damian wayne (first cousin once removed [the dc wiki calculated this for me ty dc wiki])
zodiac: pisces (march 21)
wiki link: xoxo (there are no non-comics versions of kate kane actually!!! i simply do not see them!!!!)
TW DEATH, ALCOHOLISM
what were they doing when they passed through the portal?
gonna be honest here... kate was at a bar, hitting on women. just because she’s trying to take slightly better care of herself doesn’t mean she’s succeeding, and sometimes you just need to go out for a night and flirt! she was a few minutes away from another meaningless one night stand when the portal opened up, taking her with it.
where are they living? are they living with anyone?
kate’s got her own loft in the village, because, even in another dimension, she’s gonna live in style (and absolutely no sunlight). it’s just her. she likes the quiet, and trying to live with bruce and the rest of his family would give her a migraine.
why is your character affiliated with who they’re affiliated with?
kate became batwoman before she knew that it ran in the family: a soldier kicked out of west point, training for a war she could never fight, never able to get revenge for her mother and sister, she needed to do something. she needed a mission. she needed a purpose, she saw the first traces of it in batman, and she found it in herself as batwoman. beyond the moral alignment, well. batman’s her first cousin. so. she’s kind of roped into this all now.
who are their major friends, allies, and foes?
major friends & allies: she’s not big into friends, per se. arguably: bruce wayne & co. (the whole messy gaggle of that family, with a particular affinity for the angry little queer ones <3) ; bette kane ; maybe, if pressed, selina kyle
foes: she has a very complicated relationship with her father. i don’t know which category it fits in, just that it’s big, and we don’t know how we feel about jacob kane. same goes with beth, her twin sister, who reappeared from the dead as a supervillain! kate thinks she’s dealt with for now, but... who’s to say! otherwise, just the rogues generally?
whose hands do they believe the country should be in?
just, good, fair people. honestly, this isn’t her biggest concern anymore. kate’s from a military family, but after being discharged months shy of her west point graduation just for being gay, she’s become more disillusioned. it’s more of a vigilante justice kind of world these days; she just hopes it ends up in the hands of people who will do right by the rest of them.
what’s their current mental state at? their physical state?
she’s... hanging in there? kate carries a lot of trauma with her (as is the kane-wayne family way!) that she’s never been able to kick, but having a purpose in batwoman helps. she can channel her worst into doing something important; punching criminals in the face helps her feel something. she has a history of self-medicating with alcohol and sex, trying to either feel less numb or numb the worst of it. right now, she believes her sister’s dead for good, and it’s her fault. she’s failed to save her family twice now, which isn’t great! this time, though, she has batwoman. it’s all she’s got, and she’s putting her everything into it. physically, she’s in great shape. she’s all muscle and spite!
bart has an eye for trouble, almost like he’s drawn to it. he’d been brought to live in manchester with the purpose of giving him a quiet place to grow up, and somehow bad guys still managed to find him. even on his best days, somehow he ends up getting involved in things he shouldn’t be. it certainly makes life more interesting, that’s for sure. new york is worse, of course, with trouble around every corner, and he’s more than willing to tangle with some bad guys.
so when he comes across a fight down a cliche dark alley, he has no problem throwing himself into the fray. it’s six thugs on one opponent, which seems incredibly unfair until bart sees who they’re fighting. these guys would need significantly more firepower to have even the slimmest chance of overcoming the batwoman herself. the fight is already leaned heavily in favor, clearly having everything under control with no need for interference. but it’s the most exciting scene bart’s seen all night and he can’t help but get involved. bart runs in for an assist, darting into the fray, dodging flailing limbs and swinging fists. maybe it’s rude to interrupt someone else’s fight, but bart makes quick work of several thugs, incapacitating them and even finding some wire a few blocks away to keep them tied up in a nice bow. he beams at his handiwork before returning for the rest. “hey, batwoman! need some help? well—want some help?”
&
Nowhere matched the depths of Gotham’s depravity, but New York still had its share of horrors. It was awful to admit out loud, but she was grateful for it: without the city’s underbelly, there would be no need with Batwoman. And if she didn’t have Batwoman, then she had nothing. She was nothing. This was her purpose, her mission, her war. And she was going to fucking fight it. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on where you were looking at it), she’d tailed six thugs from what looked to be a money laundering operation, cornering them in an alley.
She’d tossed her bike to the side, her cape streaming scarlet as she leapt from its seat. They fought hard, but she fought harder. Six guys versus Kate, one of the most highly-trained soldiers in the field? Not a chance. She had it under control, more than under control, nearly finished, when a sudden blur whizzed past her, nearly intercepting a batarang, narrowly missing a baton. In the time it took for Kate to swear, half her thugs were knocked out and tied up in a bow, and there was a kid in the midst of it all. Of course there was. “I had it under control, kid,” she hissed, jumping to avoid a thug’s incoming blow, returning it with a kick to his face. Another one down. But the speedster was still here, and she sighed. “You take right, I’ll get left.”
❝ kate kane ! in the flesh. ❞ and so it begins. one by one the bats are slowly but surely making it through the portal. it won’t be long before the whole family’s here. ❝ was wondering when you’d show up. ❞
&
“Lane,” she said with a curt nod. "Oh, I’ve been around.” If by around you meant spending your nights between the city’s skyline and its dive bars and your days sleeping off the hangovers. Not exactly Lois Lane’s beat. “You look well.”
“ it’s the sea salt. ” the joke is said with the most prideful of grins , eyebrows lifting at the other as namora finally let out a laugh. “ i suppose so , but i also think i’m immune to that kind of stuff. hasn’t really done anything to me so far. ” it was all trial and error with namora , wasn’t it ?
“Powerful stuff. Might have to invest in some.” This implied she had much in the way of a skincare routine at all, that she'd ever given more than the bare minimum amount of time or thought to herself. She had more important things to do. “So far,” Kate said. “That’s the operative word. Nothing does anything so far, and it comes back to kick your ass when you’re least expecting it. When you wake up turned into that big green guy on the news, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
·.· ✶ “ 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐮𝐩 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 ? “ – presumptuous smile , she’s teasing clearly with the upturn of her lips , because at least the other is being a gentlewoman about it and not making some crude comment about how it would have been better if she was wearing white. “ i’m sure that’s a very effective strategy usually but – “ she should say no , but this was a new job - and being a woman in military fields … often carol needed all the help she could get to remain respected. “ – i’ll make an exception this one time. i know krav maga … if you’re trying to pull anything. “
Kate smirked. “It could be.” It wouldn’t be out of character for her, she supposed. She’d made a reputation for herself back in Gotham, a socialite leaving women in her wake (and being left in the wake of the only two she’d really cared for.) “Or it could just be a kind stranger offering to help. Your call.” She jerked her head in the direction of home, started to lead the way. “Me too. And jiu-jitsu. Did alright in eskrima, too. You’re not special, is what I’m saying.”
“You were great up there,” Kate said. The bar was loud, a little bit grimy, more anonymous than not. Her favorite kind of place: booze (not cheap, because this was New York, and nothing was cheap, but not the worst in the city), secrecy, live music by a hell of a singer. “Almost made me forget this place is a shithole.” She ragged on it, but she smiled, raising her drink in salute. Shithole, affectionate. “Can I buy you a drink?”
It was never supposed to be a family affair. When she’d put on the cowl, she hadn’t known the face behind the other one was one she’d seen at family reunions, one she’d begrudgingly shared Hanukkahs with. Not close, exactly--no one in their family was warm and fuzzy, and Jacob had kept the Kanes and Waynes at arm’s length--but blood. Cousins. And here they were, Batman and Batwoman, two of Gotham’s knights in a world that wasn’t quite Gotham. She found Bruce where she’d expected, brooding in the shadows of a rooftop, a gentle breeze billowing both their capes. Red and black, blood and night.
"On your left,” Kate said. Then, “Don’t get all fighty. It’s just me.”
“ try a day over eighty. ” compared to most of the people that lingered the streets of new york nowadays , namora was still relatively young. it hadn’t been hundreds or thousands of years , but it was still something. “ what’s wrong with the bay ? it seems like it’s recovering quite nicely. ”
“Hell of a skincare routine,” she said. She shouldn’t have been surprised; this was a world where hundred-year-old soldiers looked barely forty, where ancient gods passed for millennial gym bros. Still. And maybe the bay wasn’t quite so bad as Gotham’s, but it still ran a horrible brackish brown-gray, still smelled of sewage and lost things. “City runoff,” Kate replied. “Shit’s probably loaded with radioactivity and bacteria. Could turn you green, or just full-on make you lose it.”
THIS WHOLE NEW WORLD THING WAS GOING UNDER harder than one of falcone’s guys with a brick tied around his ankle in the gotham river . harley surveys the bright city lights , the air that somehow seems cleaner and decides that maybe it ain’t all too bad . she’s got a cute apartment , her bat made the trip with her ( not that one - although , she swears she’d seen the scowling cowl lurking about ) and she’s … adjusting . also , panicking a bit . the blonde tugs on the edge of one of her pigtails , waving her hand to catch their attention . “ hey , you ! “ she calls , jogging over before they can make a run for it . “ have ya seen a cat about yay high ? “ she pauses to gesticulate around her hip . “ i’ll give ya a hint , she has a lot of teeth and she ain’t very friendly so i’d appreciate any tips . “ @reshieldedstart
Just as she was starting to find her footing, the floor had fallen out from under her. Again. (Wasn’t that how it always went? Find a place, shatter it, lose yourself, build yourself back up again. Rinse and repeat. The world hadn’t been kind to Kate Kane, and she had long since stopped being kind back.) This world wasn’t so bad, though. It wasn’t so different from the old one, just with a little more sunlight and a few more holes in the fabric of reality. At least she could leave the worst of herself back there; her past hadn’t yet come to find her. So she walked, sunglasses on, casing the streets, getting a feel for the city.
And a shrill voice interrupted her peace. A woman in pigtails--oh, goddammit. Was that Harley goddamn Quinn? Lovely. Good to know Gotham’s finest had made their way here, too. Kate pushed her sunglasses down to look at her, narrowing her eyes, a bemused smirk tugging at her mouth despite herself. “A cat,” she said. It wasn’t a question. “No, Harley, I haven’t seen a mountain lion. How do you lose one of those?”
“ you’re repeating yourself. ” it’s a touch brusque on the delivery, and helena winced internally when she heard her own tone of indifference. but, she doesn’t like wasting time, and company was starting to talk in circles. “ sorry, force of habit. continue. ”
Maybe she softened a few drinks in. Maybe her stories were less controlled, the angles of her face less sharp. Maybe she did find herself running in circles. Maybe she was distracted. “No,” Kate said, swirling the whiskey around in her glass. “It’s fine. Wasting your time, right? It wasn’t important. Tell me about your day.”
“ kinda fucked up, isn’t it ? ” hope shrugs as she points to the artwork on the walls at the mansion — why the put this sort of dreary stuff on the walls, she’ll never understand. “ gives me the creeps every single time i look at it. doesn’t it just freak you out ? ” hands are stuffed in her jacket pocket as she turns to face whoever it was that was now standing next to her. “ what are you doing here anyways ? the only time people visit is if they wanna stand and gawk at all of us. ”
She stared at it, her arms folded, a frown furrowing her eyebrows. It was grim, she’d give it that. “I don’t know what else I’d expect in this place,” Kate said. “It’s creepy out here.” She sighed then, looking at the young woman beside her, trying not to seem too embarrassed. This was how horror films started. (She was sure she’d hold just fine in a horror film, but she didn’t really have time for it today.) “I got lost heading back to the city. Don’t really know my way around this... world yet.”
·.· ✶ 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐋 𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃 – even if the marks of a steaming cappuccino down the front of lilac blouse might suggest otherwise , it’s with a confident smile ( perhaps an inch of annoyance , aimed at herself , in the taught pull of lips. ) she laughs it off. it was controlled , manufactured , she found no humour in the situation.
“ no . it was my own fault really , - what’s the best way to clean up something like this again ? “
She always looked where she was going. Really, she did. The one time she looked away, thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye, a flash of someone down the street, into an alleyway, she collided with a woman, spilling hot coffee down her pretty little blouse. “Fuck,” she hissed. “Sorry. That’s why we watch where we’re going, right?” She offered more grimace than smile, but it was something. She’d tried. “Hm. Seltzer? Shout?” (What do you use to get blood out of your clothes, Kate?) “Look, my place is just around the corner. Let me help you clean that up.”
namora’s neck cranes , head swirling in a slow circle as a hand lifts to her neck. “ god , the swim up here isn’t as easy as it used to be. ” the comment is made more to herself than anything else , deep inhale following her words with ease. still , she flashes a smile ! “ i must be getting old. ”
Kate sighed and raised an eyebrow. “You can’t be a day over twenty-two,” she said, though she knew it was a joke, a tease. He didn’t want to think about the day her own joints started to wear out; even as strong as she was, her body could only take so many years of restless combat, of her life under the cover of night. “Please tell me you didn’t just swim out of the Bay.”
[id: an edit of Kate Kane from DC, the background is a bright red to darker red gradient and is split by two transparent bars to make it look like three panels. At the top, Kate is swinging down from a chain, legs propelled forward. In the middle right Kate is seen from behind, her hair flowing. Near the bottom left, Kate is riding her motorcycle, her cape flowing behind her. /end id]
