Chapter Text
Far beneath the polished marble and gleaming glass of Kiramman Industries, there existed a lab that did not officially exist.
No blueprints.
No mention in any company database.
No trace.
The entrance was tucked away behind a secret sliding bookshelf in an abandoned records and archives sublevel, accessible only through a biometric scanner neatly disguised as a rickety old thermostat. Beyond that, there was an elevator that plunged deep enough into the bowels of the city that it nearly existed in its own little world.
Down in this lab, there was only the hum of machinery, the whirring of servers and computers.
And Jinx.
“...let’s blow this city to ashes, and see what Pow-Pow thinks,” Jinx hummed lowly alongside her radio player, fingers dancing across an RGB keyboard. “It’s such pathetic neatness, but not for long cause it’ll get jinxed!”
The bass faintly rattled her workstation, the light of six monitors reflected off the goggles sitting on her forehead. On one workbench sat a dozen prototypes in varying states of disassembly, some for grappling hooks, others for surveillance drones. Kevlar weaves and material samples. Another held various engine parts and throwing stars. Some knicknack Jinx had stacked too high, fell to the ground with a clang from Jinx’s excited typing.
“Whoops,” Jinx said, not even glancing over.
She liked it down here.
No board meetings. No nosy coworkers. No rich idiots nickel and dimeing materials and output.
Just creation.
Her latest? A nifty armored cowl, wires connected it to Jinx’s computers as she linked it to a new interface she had designed.
PAIRING SUCCESSFUL
The monitor in front of Jinx flashed green with the message. “Bingpot,” Jinx said to herself.
She kicked off the desk with one foot, sending her rolling chair gliding across the lab floor and toward an armored mannequin, lit nice and pretty by overhead lamps. Jinx’s latest designed suit stood proudly in the display.
Jinx stood up and crowned it carefully with the new cowl.
The armored base of the suit was no longer black, but a matte gray. Ballistic plating segmented and reinforced in all the right places. And the accents…
The cowl was a deep, cobalt blue. The cape matched it, regal and dramatic.
Blue gauntlets. Blue boots.
And, boldly across the chest where once there had only been a raised, monochrome subtlety, now displayed a proud and unmistakable blue Bat symbol.
The utility belt spanning the waist gleamed bright gold under the lights, no longer dulled and muted.
Caitlyn probably wouldn’t like it.
Scratch that, Caitlyn would probably think she shouldn’t like it.
Two years ago, when the two of them began this crazy crusade, Caitlyn had been very specific on the design of the suit. Adamant about the symbolism.
Black armor.
Black cape.
Black bat insignia.
Black cowl, adorned with pointy, bat-like ears.
Fear.
“Why bats?” Jinx had asked when they first discussed specifics.
“Bats frighten me,” Caitlyn said simply, “it’s time the criminals of this city share my dread.”
And she was right.
Back then, Piltover had been rotting. Chembarons ran the city through fear and addiction, while corrupt officials in their ivory towers pocketed bribes. Witnesses and informants disappeared, as did their cases, all while the wheel kept turning.
Violent crime littered the streets, people desperate for a living, or carrying out hits for higher-ups, terrified the rest of the general population. An entire city suffocating.
Then Batwoman appeared.
An urban legend at first.
A myth that muggers warned each other about in hushed tones. Some cryptid that had wiped out an entire smuggling operation at the docks, leaving a wake of unconscious gangsters. Corrupt cops found ziptied outside of police precincts, evidence of their crimes stapled to their uniform jackets.
By night, criminals slowly began to fear operating. Anywhere a shadow could be found, so too could the Batwoman.
Fear had worked.
But things were different now.
Jinx glanced over at her computer terminal. Monitors displayed images from local news reels. Batwoman carrying a little girl and her pet cat out of a burning apartment building. The rocket-powered Batmobile peeling into the front entrance of Piltover General Hospital, Batwoman hopping out and carrying a heart attack victim to aid.
Children drew chalk bat symbols on sidewalks.
A mural painted on the side of a restaurant building, showing Batwoman’s masked face, underneath the painting were the words “Piltover’s dark knight.”
Hope.
That’s what Batwoman was now.
Not vengeance.
Not terror.
Hope.
Sure, criminals would still freak when they saw her emerging out of dark corners, descending onto them from lampposts. The new suit would still look horrifying to a mugger in the dead of night in some alleyway.
But maybe… maybe the people Batwoman saved didn’t need to be scared as well.
Jinx watched the feed from Caitlyn’s lenses every night, assisting Batwoman in the field from her cozy chair, and she saw it. The slight hesitation when Caitlyn asked if victims were injured, the split-second panic, frightened old ladies thinking for a split second that some demon had come for them before realizing they were safe.
If the city had changed, and the symbol had changed, Jinx thought the suit should change as well.
Jinx took a step back, framed the cowl of the suit between her hands and squinted as she stared at it thoughtfully. The mayoral debate happened last night, too. Both candidates raved and raved about Batwoman, how they wished to work alongside the mysterious hero when they took office, should contact be possible.
Jinx snorted. Caitlyn spent too much of her day in board meetings, Jinx doubted she wanted to also sit in on city council meetings dressed in armor.
Still, Jinx was certain Mel Medarda would win the election and become Piltover’s next mayor, and when she inevitably offered Batwoman the key to the city, or asked her to cut the big velvet rope to some new hospital, Jinx thought it would be unbecoming for Caity-Cat to stand in front of all those politicians and photographers looking like a horror movie villain.
This suit, though? Heroic. Regal. Some other fancy words that Jinx couldn't–
Pulling Jinx from her thoughts, the elevator behind Jinx whirred open, and only one other person had biometric access to this lab.
“You said you had something for me?” Caitlyn Kiramman asked. Currently the perfect image of the billionaire CEO, dressed in an immaculate, Navy three-piece suit and tie, tall and confident.
Only Jinx, through decades of knowing the woman, and years of endless and brutal nights with her on this mission, noticed the tiredness in her eyes. The slightest limp in her step from some idiot cracking a baseball bat over her armored knee last night.
Caitlyn approached the armor display and froze.
Jinx grinned, she had her right where she wanted her.
“You do like it,” Jinx said, “don’t even argue, I can see that look.”
“...Jinx,” Caitlyn said warily, “I was very specific with the design parameters.”
“Well hear me out, Bats,” Jinx said, “I know the blue is–”
“Conspicuous.” Caitlyn cut in, “Gaudy. Bright. The opposite of fear-inducing.”
“I was gonna say new,” Jinx said, “but that’s what I wanted to speak to you about. All that fear stuff? That was great two years ago, this city needed a monster. A legend. But now…”
Caitlyn waited silently for Jinx to continue.
“Now things have changed,” Jinx said, “Batwoman isn’t just something bad guys in alleyways whisper to each other about. That big light Sheriff Grayson shines in the sky every night isn’t just a warning to them. Regular folk look at it and smile, that bat on your chest makes them think someone is watching over them. This whole city loves you, what you represent now.”
“And that is?” Caitlyn asked cautiously.
“Hope.” Jinx said.
Caitlyn was suddenly very interested in inspecting the boots of this new suit, head ducked way low. Jinx smiled. Still not good with compliments.
Jinx circled around Caitlyn and then launched herself onto the older woman’s back in a surprise piggyback, arms and legs wrapping themselves around Caitlyn.
The sudden force and weight barely even staggered her, she adjusted her arms underneath Jinx’s thighs to better support her. “This jacket is Brioni,” Caitlyn complained.
“...bless you?” Jinx said.
“It is expensive,” Caitlyn said, “and you are currently tracking mechanical grease all over it.”
Jinx plopped her chin down on Caitlyn’s shoulder, undeterred. “So you like it?”
Caitlyn reached out and ran the material of the cape through her hands, admiring the blue fabric.
“There are… impracticalities,” Caitlyn argued weakly, “I do a lot of stealth work. This ridiculous shiny belt alone is egregiously inconvenient.”
Jinx hummed, unconvinced.
“I do like what it represents,” Caitlyn admitted finally, “the way you see Batwoman. The way Piltover sees her.”
“Love ya, Bats,” Jinx said brightly.
Caitlyn made a soft noise but said nothing.
After a pause, Caitlyn shifted, “may you get down?” she asked, “I have a board meeting in twenty minutes.”
“You gotta say thank you first, rich girl,” Jinx said stubbornly, “you weren’t raised in a barn.”
Caitlyn shook her head and headed back towards the elevator.
“I am not walking into that boardroom with a maniacal engineer draped over me like a backpack,” Caitlyn informed Jinx.
“Sounds like you gotta say the magic words,” Jinx said.
“I complimented the suit.”
“Not the same thing.”
“I was emotionally vulnerable.”
“And it was adorable. Still not a thank you.”
“Jinx.”
“Batwoman.”
“I imagine you still have work down here.”
“Maybe I wanna get some fresh air. Take my lunch break.”
Caitlyn sighed, “thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Jinx chirped as she hopped off Caitlyn’s back, “meet me down here when your day is finished? I gotta show you the new interfacing system in the cowl.”
The elevator doors opened up.
“Looking forward to it,” Caitlyn said.