Kate Kane/Batwoman

Subject Facts

Full Name: Katherine Rebecca "Kate" Kane
Codename: Batwoman
Age: Mid-to-late Twenties
Gender: Female
Archetype: Vigilante
Aliases: N/A
Marital Status: Single
Affiliation: (formerly) Batman Inc., Justice League, United States Army.

Subject Attributes

Meta-Human Abilities: N/A

Standard Abilities:

Advanced Physical Combat: Kate was trained at West Point and then continued her martial arts training as she traveled the world. She now uses a blend of many different styles to her advantage and is well prepared to adapt on the field.

Espionage/Investigation: As Batwoman, Kate has been forced to become extremely talented at not being noticed. Her stealth was recognized by Batman himself and has allowed her to become an expert at reconnaissance, spy work, etc. *Kate has studied under experts in forensic science, law, behavioral science and criminology, learning methods both high-tech and old-school for tracking down criminals.

Acrobatics: Thankfully, Kate has been involved in althetics since a young age, including gymnastics. She now puts those skills to use traversing city rooftops and battling super-human foes.

Hacking/Gadgetry: She doesn't have a deep understanding of computer hacking, but she does know enough to get through basic security protocols and the like, as well as keep her own information well protected. Along with this, Kate loves to tinker and is very good with her hands, allowing her to alter and build some of her own equipment/gear.


*Excerpt taken from DC Wiki.

Paraphernalia:

Arsenal: Thanks to her and her fathers background in the US Army, Kate has access to a variety of military grade weaponry. Although, she is most often seen using her own self-made variation of a compact batarang.

Utility Belt: Her belt holds many of her frequently used gadgets including her grapple gun, mini tear gas grenades, lock picks, collapsible batons, etc.

Connections: Being a respected Vigilante and having worked with groups such as the Bat-family and the Justice League, Kate has a pretty extensive pool of resources to call on for different scenarios.


Subject Weaknesses:

Mortality: Batwoman consistently goes up against super powerful enemies, multiple foes at once, etc. Although she's a skilled fighter, there is always the risk that something could slip her guard and seriously injure or even kill her.

Cardiac Damage: Having been stabbed through the heart by Bruno Mannheim, Kate recovered but still has extensive scarring on her heart; which could lead to future issues/cardiac weaknesses.

Subject History

Kate Kane was born the daughter of Colonel Jacob Kane and Captain Gabi Kane, both high-ups in the US Military Intelligence Services. She and her twin sister, Elizabeth, grew up moving from place to place as their parents military careers took off, her father often leaving for "work". While living in Belgium her family was separated during a terrorist attack, the Religion of Crime. Her, her sister and their mother were kidnapped. Eventually, a team lead by her father located the group and came on a rescue mission, but not before her sister and mother were both executed by their captors. The sight rightfully traumatized Kate.

Trying to please her father and looking for a sense of belonging, Kate enrolled in the United States Military Academy. She quickly excelled in all areas, earning herself the title of *Brigade Executive Officer, as well as completing both Air Assault School and the U.S. Army Airborne School and earning prestigious awards like the RECONDO badge and the Superintendent's Award for Excellence. She also began her first intimate relationship with her roommate, Sohpie Moore, which was disrupted when an anonymous accusation of homosexuality was given against her. When confronted, Kate confirmed her sexuality and was discharged from their services.

Her father, surprisingly, forgave her, saying that it was more important that she stayed true to herself. Soon after, he remarried to Catherine Hamilton, a weapons heiress. The new wealth helped Kate establish herself as a socialite in Gotham City where she became well known for being the life of the party in Gotham's nightlife crowd. One night, Kate got pulled over on her way home from a party by officer Renee Montoya of the GCPD. The two had immediate chemistry and instead of getting a ticket, Kate gained a girlfriend. The relationship was short-lived, the two breaking up after a nasty argument over Kate's lack of direction in life.

She found her new calling soon after when she was attacked in an ally by a mugger. Kate fought the man off and was on the verge of seriously injuring him when Batman intervened. Coming face to face with the Batman made her realize something; she could be a vigilante too! She spent the next year preparing herself, six months collecting intelligence and six months operating in the field, before Jacob (father) found out about it. At first angry over the situation, her father soon agreed to help her in her fight against crime after hearing her out and seeing how serious she was about everything. With his help, Kate was able to travel the world to train and fund experimental weaponry/armor.

Having returned to Gotham to begin her own crusade against crime, Kate soon ran into her ex girlfriend, Renee, when she crashed a party in order to help The Question with his investigations. Getting her information from Kate, Renee left after refusing to tell her what was going on. Naturally, Kate tailed Renee and Question as Batwoman. Thanks to her following them, she was able to rescue them from an attack by Whisper A'Daire's shapeshifting goons. Making quick work of two monsters, Kate caught Renee aiming to kill and knocked the shapeshifter she was targeting out of window before stating that the cops were already on their way, and asking the both of them not to mention her involvement.

Kate was next contacted by Renee via bat-signal, after her and The Question had learned of the Book of Crime and it's prophecy fortelling the execution of the "twice named daughter of Cain." Together, the three joined forced to foil the plans of Intergang. Kate came across fellow Vigilante, Nightwing, during her missions and the two became something close to friends, Nightwing even offering her an authentic Batarang on Christmas Eve.

Shortly after, the Intergang came to the realization that the "twice named daughter of Cain" and Batwoman were one in the same, which lead them to storm her apartment and kidnapped Kate. They intended on sacrificing her, like the prophecy fortold, and Renee came to her rescue. However, she wasn't quick enough to stop Bruno Mannheim from stabbing Kate through the chest. With what seemed to be her dying breath, Kate pulled the knife from her wound and threw it into Bruno's back before he could hurt Renee, and then collapsed. Luckily, Renee was able to use pseudoderm to patch the wound and deliver Kate to a hospital in time for them to save her.

Batwoman next came in contact with Renee Montoya when she confronted The Flash's enemies about Bart Allens death, having trailed them from the Iceberg Lounge in Gotham. Renee leaves town again, which infuriates Kate, but she puts it aside to help Renee find a copy of the Crime Bible. The two want the book for their own reasons, and they eventually fight over it before Kate finally tells Renee that she never cared about what she wanted, and leaves, letting her keep the book.

After the Batman's death during the Final Crisis, Batwoman joined "The Network", a group dedicated to keeping Gotham City safe in Bruce's absence. During this time, she begins to investigate a new leader of Religion of Crime and even meets with Dick Grayson about it. During their conversation, Dick realizes that Kate has gathered far more information about the group, and concedes the case over to her. Batowman had frequent run-ins with the Religion of Crime, specially Whisper A'Daire who strongly believed it was Kate who had to be sacrificed in order to destroy Gotham City. Kate thwarted her plans time and again, occasionally with help, until Whipser was deposed.

However, the thirteen covens of Gotham were soon taken over by a new leader, Alice, who had an even deeper obsession with Batwoman herself. In their first altercation, Batwoman attempts to get answers by holding Alice over a buildings edge, but instead of being intimidated Alice spat a poisoned blade at her face, which gave Kate hallucinations. She was saved by Kyle Abbot, a former Religion of Crime member, and his new sect of the Religion who didn't believe that Batwoman was the key to their doctrine. After recovering from the attack, Kate didn't immediately seek revenge but instead attended a charity ball for the Gotham City Police Department. During the ball, Kate met Margaret Sawyer, who she soon began a relationship with. Kyle Abbot interrupted the ball to fill Kate in on Alice's new plans to destroy Gotham, and Kate realized too late that her father had been kidnapped by the Religion of Crime.

With Kyle's help, Kate is able to sneak aboard the plane that Alice intends to use to release toxic gas down over Gotham City. The two brawl and it ends with Alice being knocked out of the plane. Trying to save her, Batwoman catches her arm only for Alice to say "You have our father's eyes." before stabbing Kate in the arm and plummeting from the aircraft. Kate then realized that she had been lied to by her father, and her twin sister Beth hadn't been killed, but had somehow ended up as Alice.

When the Justice League of America came to Gotham in order to track down the super-villain Prometheus, Batwoman was quick to follow them from the rooftops. She later reaches out to the Justice League about her confrontation with super-villian Delores Winters, who mysteriously died as she was about to be taken into custody. Once the Justice League retrieved the body they discovered that Delores had been mind controlled. Kate was then, once again, captured and taken to London to be sacrificed at an active Lazarus Pit. Luckily, she was saved by Dick Grayson who was planning on using the Pit for Bruce. Kate voiced her disagreement, but was ignored.

Batwoman briefly worked with Batman Inc. in Argentina to track down Dr. Daedalus. Together with Batman and other British heroes, Batwoman was able to defeat a villain named Scorpiana before they discovered that Dr. Daedalus was simply an old man suffering with Alzheimer's now. Shortly after, she returned to Gotham City.

Subject Interview

She was back. Sitting on the rooftops of Gotham City like so many nights before, Kate Kane looked out over the monstrous architecture as rain pelted her and the landscape. She sported her Batwoman costume, cape and hair flipping around wildly behind her as the wind picked up and took the rain at a diagonal. It was chilly, but the cold woke her up, put energy into her bones, made her itch for movement and confrontation. Placing her leather boot on the edge of the building she currently perched on, Kate took in a shaking breath before throwing herself over the edge. She threw her cape out as she fell, letting the material catch on the hefty gusts and carry her across the street. Cars and people still covered the road below, umbrellas out and wipers on, creating a familiar scene for Batwoman.

The weather would make the terrain that much more treacherous, luckily her boots and gloves were designed for better grip. Side note, Kate was really ready for the adrenaline rush. It'd been a couple of days since she'd experienced such a thrill as tucking into a tight roll as she came in contact with the next slippery surface. Coming out of the roll in a sprint, Batwoman raised her grapple from her belt and aimed, firing only after she jumped off the next ledge. It caught on a flagpole a few stories up, allowing her to sail further along the street than before. Reaching the height of the swing, Kate released the trigger and let the grapple return, casting out her cape to catch the wind one more time. She'd missed the danger of even just the simple things, like trying not to plummet to an untimely death.

The next building she landed on, crouching as she did so to absorb some of the impact and better conceal herself, was an apartment complex on the upper east end. She'd picked a fine place to venture to on her first night back. Sliding the hook of her grapple-gun into place along an air vent, Kate moved carefully to the edge of the complex and stepped over the ledge. She released the grapple slowly, letting herself descend at a controlled speed. She slid right between two sets of identical balconies, a narrow gap but so dark at this point that it definitely hid her. The rain kept the residents in doors, although she could still hear screaming, a baby crying, movies being played at volumes much too loud. As she touched down in the alleyway behind the enormous building, Batwoman snapped her grapple back into place on her belt and aimed herself at the nearest entrance, clearly an access to the garbage chute, laundry units, maintenance area, etc.

It usually required a key, but a specially-crafted batarang also did the trick when she used it to pry the door open, breaking the lock in the process.. oops. The place smelled horrible and no one had attended to the hallways she crept through in ages. Dumpsters on one side, laundry on the other, Kate wasn't surprised to hear people bustling about, even though she was fairly positive it was nearing 3 AM, it just meant that she'd have to be quick on her toes. She darted across the doorway to the laundry quick as the Flash, probably, and kept it moving as she came upon the trash units, noticing the man yanking his garbage bags into the dumpster had his back turned at just the right time. Batwoman didn't have to go too far, the specific apartment that she was looking for was only on the second floor, or she might have opted for a window-entrance.

She came to the stair well and didn't stop, peaking up towards the second story to make sure that her way was clear. She was almost there now. The apartment she was looking for, unit 16C, was the last place Henry Dustman had been seen alive. Her intel came from some Religion of Crime low-lifes that she'd roughed up earlier that day. Or was it yesterday, at this point? Regardless, Henry Dustman had been under her watch for awhile now. He was a higher-up in the covens, a member for a long time and a former friend of one Bruno Mannheim. He'd been dodging her or awhile, always away, always hiding, and Kate was a little frustrated that she hadn't learned of this secret hideout of his a little sooner. Ok, way sooner.

She was at the door now, glad to see that nothing looked out of place and even happier that none of his neighbors were out to get in her way. This entrance needed to be a little more subtle, she didn't want anyone coming in to bother her as she searched the place. Instead of reaching for a batarang, Kate pulled free her lockpicks and went to work. It was a standard lock, not even changed out from what the landlords had given him, which raised a lot more questions, frankly. It took her 47 seconds, which made her feel a little rusty, but she kept it in check pushing the door open and stepping inside before quickly closing it behind her. Turning to the dark apartment, Batwoman immediately knew that something was wrong. Her eyes narrowed, her muscles tensed, ready for action as lightning cracked through the sky and revealed someone standing in the living room, someone who she hadn't seen in far too long. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Author's Notes

Player Alias: Kommy

Other Characters: Komand'r/Blackfire

How did you find ARFD?: I got the url off a ouija board.