Nightmares of a Heroine (o)

Participants: TBD
Open/Closed: Open!
Location(s): What turns out to be an abandoned apartment building.
Time of Day: 3 AM, the witching hour.
Weather: Storming, heavy rain and thunder.
Summary: Kate has had a rough time since coming back to Gotham. Nightmares, hallucinations, hauntings. What she thinks is just a crazy fever dream leaves her questioning everything. Is the Religion of Crime bringing the fight to Kate, or bringing Kate to the fight?


Kate was lost. She couldn't remember how she'd got here, or where exactly she was. She just remembered stumbling over bones in the dark, reaching for anything that might give her leverage in the mud and grime. Everything seemed to be uphill or downhill, always sending her tumbling after she fought through the climb. The tunnels were varying in size, some allowing her to sprint and others making her crawl on her belly like the worms and the rats that accompanied her. Batwoman wasn't an easy one to spook but she could feel the terror in her chest, squeezing at her lungs and pounding on her ribs. What was she so afraid of? Rationality was so hard to pin down right now.

Every time she got herself to slow down, to listen and learn, something like a breath on the back of her neck or a voice in the darkness would send her spiraling. She knew she couldn't keep this up forever but the time she'd already spent had her convinced that she'd try.

She spun around a corner, her shins meeting with stairs that she hadn't seen coming. Kate recovered well, moving up the stairs on hands and feet because of how steep they were. She could hear the clammer of someone behind her, starting up the bottom of the steps themselves. She couldn't stop, she wouldn't, not until she'd exhausted herself and every option she had. Peering up ahead, Batwoman's energy renewed when she spotted a small line of light, like the bottom of a door. Kate threw herself upwards, taking two steps at a time and then lunging for the door. Her hand grasped around in the dark for just a moment before she found the handle. It turned, thank god.

She could hear the person, or thing, behind her and she slammed the door with all her might, pressing her back into it to keep it closed. Her predator came barreling into the door, the hinges shaking under the pressure. And then there was nothing. She was prepared for more attempts at the door, for a voice or a growl even. Nothing. Kate looked for something on her belt that she could use to keep the door shut. Her belt wasn't there. She never left her utility belt behind. Where had she even been headed? Her mind was starting to clear up, slowly. She began to turn, pressing into the door behind her all the while until she finally came to face it... nothing but a wall.

No handle, or hinges, or break in the hideous wallpaper. Was she losing her mind? The fear was starting to fade, allowing her to catch her breath as she sat with her back against the opposite wall. She was in a hallway, a window to her left showing a raging storm in the sky outside. Thunder shook the whole building that she'd found herself in. The carpet underneath her had her thinking maybe a hotel? The wallpaper was old and peeling, the wood underneath grey from age. Nailing down some of her surroundings had given her enough time to clear some of the fog in her head. The last thing she remembered was coming home to her apartment, stripping out of her uniform, showering off all the blood and grime from a night of crime fighting and promptly passing out.

So how had she gotten into those tunnels? Where were those tunnels? Where was she now? So many questions and not a single answer, but Kate had become accustomed to having to figure s**t out the hard way. Pulling herself up, she checked the rest of her costume, mask, cape, gloves and boots, bullet proof body suit. Interesting. She looked now to the other side of the hallway, noticing for the first time other doors, numbered. 102, 103, probably continuing around the opposite corner, mailboxes hanging beside them. Kate was headed towards the window she'd spotted when she heard it. A terrifying, chills inducing scream from somewhere inside the apartment complex. And it didn't stop.