queen of analogue (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tellitslant) wrote2010-09-02 10:15 pm
tellitslant) wrote2010-09-02 10:15 pm
Entry tags:
FIC: The City is a Drag (DCU, Renee/Kate, PG)
Title: The City is a Drag
Author:tellitslant
Recipient:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shadowsoffense in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
femslash10
Fandom: DCU Batverse
Pairing: Renee Montoya/Kate Kane
Rating: PG
Word count: 2000
Disclaimer: The characters belong to DC Comics, with heavy debt owing to Greg Rucka.
Warnings: n/a
Summary: Set during the Question backup feature "Pipeline" (Detective Comics 854-865). Renee runs into Kate in Gotham and lets her guilt get the best of her.
Rooftops.
It's always about rooftops, in Gotham, Renee thought. She bent at the waist, stretching out her calves, eyeing the scattering of pebbles that covered the roof of Helena's apartment block. Straightening, she breathed on her fingers, trying to coax some warmth into them. She was used to training in the cold – the wind in the Outer Banks could be just as crisp as any summer breeze in Gotham – but here, the threat was sharper. Here, falling was far more dangerous.
She settled her hands on the railings of the fire escape, getting a secure grip, and lifted her body slowly into the air, shoulders and back and hips and legs up, into a perfect handstand. Her biceps trembled, and she stared at the Gotham skyline, breathing into the strain until the upside-down lights dissolved out of focus and she could feel the blood rushing through her body with every beat of her heart.
Helena had offered her the use of her home gym, but Renee had refused. Too long at the lighthouse, too used to doing her thinking outside, she'd said, and Helena had rolled her eyes and questioned Renee's sanity, in Italian for the drama factor. "Just try not to attract his attention," she'd finally warned, but Renee figured the new Batman had more on his mind than some crazy woman doing gymnastics on top of an apartment block. They'd parted on good terms, anyway, although Renee owed him for that stunt with the ejector seat.
That was the last time she'd been in Gotham. Climbing around on the tops of buildings, as usual.
One, two. Lub-dub. She breathed, and thought about rooftops.
Even upside down, the shape of the GCPD roof was unmistakable, the solid hump of the signal a reminder of the best and worst of her life here. Was Stacy still responsible for turning it on? It was dark tonight, but Renee knew too well that the building beneath it would still be humming, even at this hour: more cases in red than there were cops to turn them to black, more secrets than there were chances to be honest.
She pivoted, switching hands so she was facing the other way. The clocktower came into view. Seriously? Commissioner Gordon’s daughter? she thought, and grinned, shaking her head. Helena was going to have to explain that on their next high-speed journey to... wherever the trail led them.
"Something funny?" a gravelly voice asked from above her, clearly unamused.
Renee turned her wobble into a controlled fall, rolling into a somersault across the roof and coming up to lean against the air-conditioning vent. It took all her self-control not to unfold into a defensive stance, but the adrenaline rushing through her veins wasn't the kind that could be resolved by a physical fight. "We have to stop meeting like this," she said calmly, crossing her arms and looking up.
Kate stared back at her from the roof of the stairwell, decked out in full Batwoman gear. "Why?" she asked flatly. "Will people say we’re in love?"
Renee shrugged, unwilling to give any ground. She was already on the defensive; Kate's sudden appearance had startled her badly. Their last meeting was one rooftop encounter she'd managed to push out of her mind completely. She breathed evenly, trying to centre herself. If she'd learned anything since Charlie, it was that her temper put her at a disadvantage – particularly with Kate. So she kept quiet and waited for Kate to make the next move.
Kate didn’t disappoint. She leapt lightly to the ground, but kept her distance, apparently just as wary as Renee of getting too close. "So what’s the story?" she asked. "You back in town for good, or just passing through?"
None of your business, Renee didn't say, instead keeping her expression carefully neutral. "On a case," she replied. "Needed some backup." Inwardly, she winced; she sounded like every cop she'd ever judged for being terse and uncommunicative.
The less she said, though, the less trouble she could get into. Probably.
"Oh, a case." Kate leaned back against the wall, mirroring Renee's stance. Renee fought a rush of self-consciousness. Kate moved like she was wearing silks and satins, not armour and a cape. In a t-shirt and a pair of Helena's sweats, Renee felt every thought she'd ever had about their respective social classes crowd back into her head. "Another vendetta against the Religion of Crime? If you're looking for the latest High Madame, you're a little late. I took care of her myself." She sounded bitter, angry, and Renee shivered.
"Nothing to do with the Dark Faith this time," Renee answered, glad to be telling the truth. "Just trying to do a good deed for someone who needed help." She thought about Hector's bruises, and Louisa's eyes, and the way they'd looked seeing each other again. If she could track the network to its end, there would be more of those reunions. Much better than throwing herself, again and again, at the smoke and mirrors of Flay's acolytes.
She'd have to deal with them eventually, but until then, the straightforward profit-and-loss model of human trafficking was disturbingly appealing. Go in, bash some heads, leave. Maybe she'd been hanging around Helena too long.
"Oh, so you gave up on that?" Kate asked. Her tone was light, almost conversational, but something in the way she held herself put Renee on edge. She squinted, trying to see behind Kate's mask. No luck, of course. The undercurrent crackling across the rooftop made her wish for her own mask, or some way to be less exposed. "You just moved on to the next damsel in distress, is that it?" Kate continued, still sounding like she didn't have a care in the world. "Don't you ever finish anything you started, Renee?"
"Hey!" Renee bolted upright, furious at the accusation. "You don't get to say that," she snapped. "You – " Sent me away, she couldn't say. You're the one who kicked me out, chased me off; it's because of you that I went running off across the world, ended up with a group of criminal lunatics who think they worship me. I killed a man for you, Kate. But the words stuck in her throat as Kate laughed nastily.
"I what?" Kate pushed. "I don't understand? I don't know what you gave up? Try me, Renee. I've lost a lot more to the Religion of Crime than you even know about."
"Is that what you stopped by for?" Renee asked, suddenly very tired. "To remind me of the ways I failed you? Trust me, you don't need to." The weight of that guilt rode with her all the time. Being back in Gotham, where she swore she could still smell the air burning, only made it worse.
"That's not what I – I didn't mean – " Kate stammered for a moment; unexpectedly, Renee felt the tension on the rooftop change, felt the balance of the situation shift towards her.
"You made it real clear you didn't want me in your life any more, Kate," Renee said, taking a step forward. "So what's this about? Want to make sure I'm not coming back to your city? Well, you've got nothing to worry about there. You can have it, believe me. I'm tired of all the Gotham ghosts trying to pick me to pieces. As soon as I get what I need, I'm gone." She turned away, taking a deep breath, letting the polluted air fill her lungs.
"Renee, wait, listen to me for a moment," Kate said, uncertain as the naïve co-ed she'd seemed like back when they first met, too young for her own good.
Renee scowled; Kate had never been as young as she'd sounded, or as innocent. "I'm listening," she said, against her best judgement.
"Renee? I thought I heard – " A new voice, and they both turned as Helena banged through the door from the stairway. She was in workout clothes too, but her crossbow was in her hand, loaded and cocked at Kate. She stumbled to a halt, taking in the tableau on the roof at a glance, but her hand stayed steady. "Who the hell are you?" she growled. Holding out an arm, she beckoned Renee over, and though it made Renee feel like she was a kid in the schoolyard, she went, standing shoulder to shoulder with Helena before she turned back to Kate.
"This must be your… backup," Kate said, a world of insinuation in the lengthy pause that made Renee feel like every part of her past was being laid out for Helena to snoop through.
Helena's crossbow never wavered. "Damn right I am," she said. "Now I'll ask you nice one more time, who do you think you are, Bat-chickie?"
"Me?" Kate showed her teeth in what was almost a smile. "Ask your friend there. If she sticks around long enough." Taking two rapid steps backwards, she threw herself off the roof and was lost to the shadows.
Renee shuddered, her whole body strung tight with the need to run after Kate, follow her over the edge and down to the pavement to see if, this time, she could prove herself. But Helena was there instead, unstringing her crossbow, muttering under her breath. "Damn," she said aloud, "can't go anywhere without a new Bat cropping up any more." She laughed bitterly. "Guess the field's not as crowded as it used to be."
"I hate this city," Renee said, only realizing when Helena turned to her that she'd spoken out loud.
"Yeah," Helena replied. She wagged her head in the direction of the ledge Kate had jumped from. "You wanna tell me what that was about?"
"I, uh." Renee ran through the story in her head. Well, that was my ex – did I mention I'm a lesbian? – who dropped out of school to become a crimefighter, which I didn't know about until she nearly got killed by a group of religious criminals who wanted to cut her heart out. I wasn't fast enough to stop them from stabbing her in the chest, and then while I was trying to stop them from coming after her I ended up killing their leader and now they think I'm their new messiah. Oh, and apparently, even though she told me to leave, now she blames me for not being around enough. She offered Helena a shaky smile. "No?"
Helena studied her for a moment. "Okay," she said with a nod. "In that case, I have a feeling we need chocolate. Coming?" She held the door to the stairway open and smiled.
Renee sighed. "Thanks, Helena," she said. "It's just, it's not all my story to tell, and – just, thanks."
"Hey." Helena clapped her on the back and started down the stairs, crossbow dangling at her side. "What are friends for?"
"Friends." Renee looked over her shoulder, searching, then ran a hand through her hair and followed Helena into the building. A new weight settled on her, half relief, half responsibility. Someone else to fight beside. Someone else to watch over. Friends. Partners. Yeah. I owe her.
Author:
tellitslantRecipient:
shadowsoffense in femslash10Fandom: DCU Batverse
Pairing: Renee Montoya/Kate Kane
Rating: PG
Word count: 2000
Disclaimer: The characters belong to DC Comics, with heavy debt owing to Greg Rucka.
Warnings: n/a
Summary: Set during the Question backup feature "Pipeline" (Detective Comics 854-865). Renee runs into Kate in Gotham and lets her guilt get the best of her.
Rooftops.
It's always about rooftops, in Gotham, Renee thought. She bent at the waist, stretching out her calves, eyeing the scattering of pebbles that covered the roof of Helena's apartment block. Straightening, she breathed on her fingers, trying to coax some warmth into them. She was used to training in the cold – the wind in the Outer Banks could be just as crisp as any summer breeze in Gotham – but here, the threat was sharper. Here, falling was far more dangerous.
She settled her hands on the railings of the fire escape, getting a secure grip, and lifted her body slowly into the air, shoulders and back and hips and legs up, into a perfect handstand. Her biceps trembled, and she stared at the Gotham skyline, breathing into the strain until the upside-down lights dissolved out of focus and she could feel the blood rushing through her body with every beat of her heart.
Helena had offered her the use of her home gym, but Renee had refused. Too long at the lighthouse, too used to doing her thinking outside, she'd said, and Helena had rolled her eyes and questioned Renee's sanity, in Italian for the drama factor. "Just try not to attract his attention," she'd finally warned, but Renee figured the new Batman had more on his mind than some crazy woman doing gymnastics on top of an apartment block. They'd parted on good terms, anyway, although Renee owed him for that stunt with the ejector seat.
That was the last time she'd been in Gotham. Climbing around on the tops of buildings, as usual.
One, two. Lub-dub. She breathed, and thought about rooftops.
Even upside down, the shape of the GCPD roof was unmistakable, the solid hump of the signal a reminder of the best and worst of her life here. Was Stacy still responsible for turning it on? It was dark tonight, but Renee knew too well that the building beneath it would still be humming, even at this hour: more cases in red than there were cops to turn them to black, more secrets than there were chances to be honest.
She pivoted, switching hands so she was facing the other way. The clocktower came into view. Seriously? Commissioner Gordon’s daughter? she thought, and grinned, shaking her head. Helena was going to have to explain that on their next high-speed journey to... wherever the trail led them.
"Something funny?" a gravelly voice asked from above her, clearly unamused.
Renee turned her wobble into a controlled fall, rolling into a somersault across the roof and coming up to lean against the air-conditioning vent. It took all her self-control not to unfold into a defensive stance, but the adrenaline rushing through her veins wasn't the kind that could be resolved by a physical fight. "We have to stop meeting like this," she said calmly, crossing her arms and looking up.
Kate stared back at her from the roof of the stairwell, decked out in full Batwoman gear. "Why?" she asked flatly. "Will people say we’re in love?"
Renee shrugged, unwilling to give any ground. She was already on the defensive; Kate's sudden appearance had startled her badly. Their last meeting was one rooftop encounter she'd managed to push out of her mind completely. She breathed evenly, trying to centre herself. If she'd learned anything since Charlie, it was that her temper put her at a disadvantage – particularly with Kate. So she kept quiet and waited for Kate to make the next move.
Kate didn’t disappoint. She leapt lightly to the ground, but kept her distance, apparently just as wary as Renee of getting too close. "So what’s the story?" she asked. "You back in town for good, or just passing through?"
None of your business, Renee didn't say, instead keeping her expression carefully neutral. "On a case," she replied. "Needed some backup." Inwardly, she winced; she sounded like every cop she'd ever judged for being terse and uncommunicative.
The less she said, though, the less trouble she could get into. Probably.
"Oh, a case." Kate leaned back against the wall, mirroring Renee's stance. Renee fought a rush of self-consciousness. Kate moved like she was wearing silks and satins, not armour and a cape. In a t-shirt and a pair of Helena's sweats, Renee felt every thought she'd ever had about their respective social classes crowd back into her head. "Another vendetta against the Religion of Crime? If you're looking for the latest High Madame, you're a little late. I took care of her myself." She sounded bitter, angry, and Renee shivered.
"Nothing to do with the Dark Faith this time," Renee answered, glad to be telling the truth. "Just trying to do a good deed for someone who needed help." She thought about Hector's bruises, and Louisa's eyes, and the way they'd looked seeing each other again. If she could track the network to its end, there would be more of those reunions. Much better than throwing herself, again and again, at the smoke and mirrors of Flay's acolytes.
She'd have to deal with them eventually, but until then, the straightforward profit-and-loss model of human trafficking was disturbingly appealing. Go in, bash some heads, leave. Maybe she'd been hanging around Helena too long.
"Oh, so you gave up on that?" Kate asked. Her tone was light, almost conversational, but something in the way she held herself put Renee on edge. She squinted, trying to see behind Kate's mask. No luck, of course. The undercurrent crackling across the rooftop made her wish for her own mask, or some way to be less exposed. "You just moved on to the next damsel in distress, is that it?" Kate continued, still sounding like she didn't have a care in the world. "Don't you ever finish anything you started, Renee?"
"Hey!" Renee bolted upright, furious at the accusation. "You don't get to say that," she snapped. "You – " Sent me away, she couldn't say. You're the one who kicked me out, chased me off; it's because of you that I went running off across the world, ended up with a group of criminal lunatics who think they worship me. I killed a man for you, Kate. But the words stuck in her throat as Kate laughed nastily.
"I what?" Kate pushed. "I don't understand? I don't know what you gave up? Try me, Renee. I've lost a lot more to the Religion of Crime than you even know about."
"Is that what you stopped by for?" Renee asked, suddenly very tired. "To remind me of the ways I failed you? Trust me, you don't need to." The weight of that guilt rode with her all the time. Being back in Gotham, where she swore she could still smell the air burning, only made it worse.
"That's not what I – I didn't mean – " Kate stammered for a moment; unexpectedly, Renee felt the tension on the rooftop change, felt the balance of the situation shift towards her.
"You made it real clear you didn't want me in your life any more, Kate," Renee said, taking a step forward. "So what's this about? Want to make sure I'm not coming back to your city? Well, you've got nothing to worry about there. You can have it, believe me. I'm tired of all the Gotham ghosts trying to pick me to pieces. As soon as I get what I need, I'm gone." She turned away, taking a deep breath, letting the polluted air fill her lungs.
"Renee, wait, listen to me for a moment," Kate said, uncertain as the naïve co-ed she'd seemed like back when they first met, too young for her own good.
Renee scowled; Kate had never been as young as she'd sounded, or as innocent. "I'm listening," she said, against her best judgement.
"Renee? I thought I heard – " A new voice, and they both turned as Helena banged through the door from the stairway. She was in workout clothes too, but her crossbow was in her hand, loaded and cocked at Kate. She stumbled to a halt, taking in the tableau on the roof at a glance, but her hand stayed steady. "Who the hell are you?" she growled. Holding out an arm, she beckoned Renee over, and though it made Renee feel like she was a kid in the schoolyard, she went, standing shoulder to shoulder with Helena before she turned back to Kate.
"This must be your… backup," Kate said, a world of insinuation in the lengthy pause that made Renee feel like every part of her past was being laid out for Helena to snoop through.
Helena's crossbow never wavered. "Damn right I am," she said. "Now I'll ask you nice one more time, who do you think you are, Bat-chickie?"
"Me?" Kate showed her teeth in what was almost a smile. "Ask your friend there. If she sticks around long enough." Taking two rapid steps backwards, she threw herself off the roof and was lost to the shadows.
Renee shuddered, her whole body strung tight with the need to run after Kate, follow her over the edge and down to the pavement to see if, this time, she could prove herself. But Helena was there instead, unstringing her crossbow, muttering under her breath. "Damn," she said aloud, "can't go anywhere without a new Bat cropping up any more." She laughed bitterly. "Guess the field's not as crowded as it used to be."
"I hate this city," Renee said, only realizing when Helena turned to her that she'd spoken out loud.
"Yeah," Helena replied. She wagged her head in the direction of the ledge Kate had jumped from. "You wanna tell me what that was about?"
"I, uh." Renee ran through the story in her head. Well, that was my ex – did I mention I'm a lesbian? – who dropped out of school to become a crimefighter, which I didn't know about until she nearly got killed by a group of religious criminals who wanted to cut her heart out. I wasn't fast enough to stop them from stabbing her in the chest, and then while I was trying to stop them from coming after her I ended up killing their leader and now they think I'm their new messiah. Oh, and apparently, even though she told me to leave, now she blames me for not being around enough. She offered Helena a shaky smile. "No?"
Helena studied her for a moment. "Okay," she said with a nod. "In that case, I have a feeling we need chocolate. Coming?" She held the door to the stairway open and smiled.
Renee sighed. "Thanks, Helena," she said. "It's just, it's not all my story to tell, and – just, thanks."
"Hey." Helena clapped her on the back and started down the stairs, crossbow dangling at her side. "What are friends for?"
"Friends." Renee looked over her shoulder, searching, then ran a hand through her hair and followed Helena into the building. A new weight settled on her, half relief, half responsibility. Someone else to fight beside. Someone else to watch over. Friends. Partners. Yeah. I owe her.
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That was just devastatingly beautiful. And now I'm hoping for more. Thank you for this. Even though it wasn't written for me. :)
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I likey.
Followed a link from bats_femslash. Mind if I friend?
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I'm a sucker for Kate/Renee fic. Gorgeous characterisations of both of them. And I love Helena interupting them.
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And Renee's voice in this is just lovely. I love the thing about rooftops and how it's so very Gotham. I also like how she sturggles with how much to tell Helena at this tenuous point in their new friendship.
This is just a great fic--I should enter one of those fic-swap things so maybe you can write me a story someday ;-)
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