Cadet Scrap
is a Batwoman fanfic written by Caivu, set during Kate Kane's final semester at West Point about a week before her resignation under DADT.
During the first week of their fall senior semester, Sophie Moore, Kate's roommate and girlfriend, takes her up on an offer Kate made to her at the end of Well-Matched: a private boxing rematch.
This fanfic provides examples of the following tropes:
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Played with.
- Sophie specifically sets up the match to be bare-knuckled as Ring Weekend is coming up soon, meaning that unless they both have good defense, she and/or Kate are likely going to end up with bruises and ruin any potential photos. At the same time, she also calls for all blows to be kept "at 75%" for the sake of protecting their hands. After the bout, neither Kate nor Sophie have any marks on them despite each taking some shots to the face.
- Averted in Kate's Imagine Spot before the fight, when she pictures herself and Sophie in the middle of a ring of screaming cadets, beating each other up to the point that their faces are "red and mangled".
- Broken Win/Loss Streak: Happens to both Kate and Sophie. Sophie manages to win by knockdown, breaking a four-fight losing streak to Kate, who beat her not only for the academy championship but also won their three graded bouts in their freshman boxing class.
- Continuity Nod:
- There's a brief recap of Well-Matched.
- The story contains the full sparring scene from Batwoman: Rebirth #1.
- Sophie mentions that Ring Weekend is coming up; that event was depicted in Batwoman: Elegy.
- Also from Elegy, it's mentioned that the plebes in company E-2 are causing problems, which Kate also mentioned in passing in the comics.
- Crushing Handshake: Played with. Kate gives Sophie a normal handshake after the match, but since Sophie injured that same hand earlier in the fight, she still winces.
- Doomed by Canon: Kate and Sophie partake in some trash talk about their planned rematch at the next Brigade Open, months down the road. However, the story is set about a week before Kate resigns from the academy, leaving such a rematch never to happen.
- Double-Meaning Title: It's a story about a scrap, or fight, between two cadets, but also a "scrap," or short story, about cadets.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Kate takes a moment to admire Sophie's looks upon arriving to the fight location, as Sophie is shadowboxing and doesn't notice her at first.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The whole story occurs within about 15 minutes.
- Fight Clubbing: Kate and Sophie meet in private to have a bare-knuckle fight.
- Fix Fic: A minor example. The story expands on a scene from Batwoman: Rebirth #1 and smooths over some of the implausibilities of the scene, such as making clear that Kate and Sophie's match is against academy rules.
- Friendly Rivalry: As in Well-Matched, Kate and Sophie are girlfriends but fully willing to throw down, and good sports afterward.
- Graceful Loser: Kate loses due to being the only one who gets knocked down, but is a good sport about it and congratulates her opponent with a handshake.
- Handwraps of Awesome: Kate and Sophie fight only with wrapped fists.
- Imagine Spot: While wrapping her fists, Kate imagines the room filled with screaming cadets watching herself and Sophie locked in a bloody slugfest.
- Invulnerable Knuckles: Averted. Kate and Sophie only wear hand wraps, and end up with at least some hand pain.
- Kiai: Sophie is described as making a breathy "ish" sound for most of her punches.
- Large-Ham Announcer: Kate does some mock fighter announcements in the style of one of these, partially to fluster Sophie.
- Lets Fight Like Ladies: Sophie lays down the rules for the fight just prior to starting. They're essentially the same as normal collegiate boxing rules, only modified to account for the lack of a ring and gloves.
- Lighthearted Rematch: Relatively, at least. Kate and Sophie fight intensely and without gloves, but the only thing at stake is bragging rights, and neither get beaten up like they did in their Brigade Open bout.
- Pseudo-Canonical Fic: The story is an expansion to a scene from Batwoman: Rebirth #1 that explains how the match was organized and gives context to the conversation from that scene, as well as offering connections to other pieces of Batwoman lore, both official and unofficial.
- Sex Is Violence:
- After arriving for the fight, Kate briefly wonders if she and Sophie might have sex afterward.note
- Once the fight is over, Kate makes the same suggestive joke she did in canon, the one implying her jaw is too sore to perform oral sex.
- Trash Talk: Kate and Sophie engage in a bit of it after the fight, boasting about how they'll beat the other at the next Brigade Open.
