Shadow Series Episode 14
Batgirl's Rules
INT Gotham City College
James Rola shifts his head onto his hands which are under his elbows on the desk. He looks at the clock to see he still has 30 minutes left. The whole class is bored of the maths lecture. James looks across at Stephanie Brown. She is 3 seats to his left and one in front. She is almost asleep on her desk. She looks at him and he looks back at the lecturer.
The lecturer continues "So we know that". James looks at his page and he already has the answer with the working. He sighs in boredom. He looks around the class. People have buried their faces in their hands, some are sleeping on the desks. James can't blame them, this two hour lecture has been brutal.
James loses focus as he already knows the topic and looks back at Stephanie. The lecturer's voice drones on in the background.
Stephanie pulls out her cell phone and texts James: this blows; we should go do something exciting.
James replies to her: I know this is boring but we have to do it for the grade. I got 2 more lectures after this anyway.
Stephanie is about to reply but the lecturer says "Miss Brown, what is the answer to this question?"
Stephanie looks at it and answers "After simplifying the equation, there is two negatives being multiplied together, you cancel the negatives to end up with positive 43". James slightly nods in approval.
The lecturer gives her a stern face and says "That is correct Miss Brown but please pay more attention".
Stephanie says "Sorry". She smiles at James after the lecturer turns back to the board. He sighs in annoyance.
Just then, the whiteboard disintegrates and the lecturer falls over. James watches as Energy Queen appears in the now hole in the wall. She flies and grabs Holly Graham.
Holly struggles but Energy Queen says "You and I need to have a talk about parenting".
Energy Queen leaves the lecture room with the lecturer absolutely stunned.
James finishes his final lecture with Ben and they walk out of the lecture room.
Ben says "There is that blonde again". He vaguely points in the direction of a blonde leaning on the building. James recognises it as Stephanie.
James says "I'll see you tomorrow morning for practice". Ben wave's goodbye as James walks up to Stephanie.
Stephanie says "You got your Shadow suit handy?" She shows him her bag with her Batgirl suit inside it.
James says "Yeah inside my bag. I think I made sense of what Energy Queen meant about parenting".
Stephanie says "Go on". They start to walk in the direction of his car.
James says "It was not about her parenting, she is not a mother. It was about her parent. Energy Queen used to work for King Research. Obviously Energy Queen would like something from Mr King".
Stephanie says "That does make sense. We need to get Holly to safety though".
James nods as they reach his car. James and Stephanie get in and drive off.
James drives his car into the Batcave and they change into Batgirl and Shadow.
Shadow gets to the Batcomputer and checks the current status of the Batclan. It shows:
Batman: Absent with the Justice League
Nightwing: In undercover operation in Bludhaven
Robin: Away with Titans
Shadow says to Batgirl "We are the only two operatives".
Batgirl says "She's mine. I have a score to settle with her".
Shadow says "Is it personal?" He knows the two have had a couple of tangles.
Batgirl replies "No, she evaded me once. I need to level the score". Batgirl stretches her arms.
Energy Queen is at the amusement park in an abandoned tent.
Holly is tied to a chair as Energy Queen Stands over her.
Energy Queen says "Call your father".
Holly says "Are you stupid? I'm tied up".
Energy Queen slaps Holly's face before pulling up her mobile and asks "What is the number?"
Meanwhile, Shadow and Batgirl are interviewing Mr King in his office
Mr King slams his hand down on the desk and yells "I'll get that Energy Queen and destroy her!"
Batgirl says to Shadow "Is he normally like this?"
Shadow replies "Not usually, normally there is a bit of posh in it". Shadow mocks his enemy.
King asks "Are you two going to help?" He looks pleadingly at both.
Batgirl says "I'm leading this investigation and I think she will call you for ransom".
The phone rings, Mr King answers it with a "Hello?"
Holly says "Dad, it's me".
Mr King's face changes to relief as he says "Thank Goodness you are ok, where are you? I'll get you". Batgirl looks at Shadow and he nods.
Holly replies with desperation "Dad, she wants 3 million in cash in a briefcase at the old side of the amusement park. She said you have 3 hours or I will die". The phone clicks off.
Energy Queen says "See, wasn't that hard was it?"'
Holly looks sad as Energy Queen evilly laughs.
Batgirl says in astonishment "3 million dollars? In 3 hours?"
Mr King replies "I can't get that kind of money in that amount of time".
Shadow asks "How much can you get?"
Mr King replies as he starts to sob on his desk "About a million".
Batgirl watches the grown man, the vicious, ruthless gangster sob. She does not feel sad for him.
Batgirl says "How much does Holly mean to you?"
Mr King raises his head and answers "Apart from the company, she is everything to me. I have no living relatives and she is all I have left". He puts his head back down to sob.
Batgirl says "Looks like a million dollars will have to do".
Mr King straightens up quickly and wipes his eyes "No, I could send in my task force to do a smash and grab on the place".
Shadow immediately says "No. As soon as Energy Queen senses danger, she will kill Holly".
Mr King's shoulders drop. He politely asks "Well my dear enemy, what do you suggest?"
Shadow says "I have a plan". The camera zooms in on his face before fading to black.
The scene jumps back to Energy Queen who is playing with a stuffed animal. She throws it into the air then catches it again. She does this a couple of times while Holly watches. Energy Queen then shoots the stuffed animal with her beams and it is vaporized. Holly gasps as Energy Queen Laughs at the stuffed animal. Holly looks at her mobile clock which is open on her knee. She has 2 and ½ hours left. She sighs in defeat.
Shadow says "My plan is we use fake cash. We place a tracker on the briefcase. Hopefully, Energy Queen cannot tell the difference at the time and when she leaves, we can track her and catch her".
Batgirl says "That may work".
Mr King, who is a lot more composed, says "I like that idea a lot better than Batgirl's".
Shadow says "I know you dabbled in the money laundering game so I know you have some realistic fake money somewhere". Mr King Shoots Shadow a glare.
They hop into cars and drive off. Mr King is in a Hummer and Batgirl with Shadow in her Batmobile. Mr King has a support team with him. There are two vans trailing them with King's support.
Holly hears engines and looks at her phone. It shows an hour to go.
Energy Queen says "Looks like your despicable father decided to show". She leaves the tent.
Mr King gets out the Hummer and says to Energy Queen "Where is she?" He looks angry and desperate.
Energy Queen says "First, the cash". She replies with an in charge tone.
Mr King slides the briefcase along the ground. Energy Queen opens it and inspects it.
Energy Queen announces "One moment please". She goes back into the tent and moments later she comes back with Holly.
Mr King says "Holly!"
Energy Queen releases Holly who runs into her father's waiting arms. They embrace.
Shadow watches in the car what Energy Queen is doing. He says to Batgirl "This is too simple".
Energy Queen then shoots the briefcase much to everyone's surprise.
She says to King "That hurt your pocket; I'm going to hurt you a lot more soon". She flies off. But before she does, she shoots out Mr King's Hummer tires.
The briefcase burns, the tracker is destroyed.
Batgirl sighs and says "Back to square one".
She gets out of the car to go and speak with Mr King. Shadow does the same.
Mr King says "I cannot believe I'm thanking my enemy for saving my daughter but thank you".
Shadow says "It's not over; I think she is going to now target King Research".
Shadow says "She went for your daughter, your loving emotional side of your life. She went for your money, the man you are and now I think she is going to attack your last major part of life, your company". Batgirl nods.
Batgirl says "It all makes sense. She is trying to destroy everything you are".
Mr King says "We better go back". They get into cars and hurry back to King Research.
Shadow, Batgirl, Mr King and Holly are back in his office.
Batgirl says "She will most likely target the important research and development block; I will go down and with a number of your guys, defend it". She leaves the office.
Mr King says "I'm glad you're safe Holly".
Holly is sitting in a chair with an icepack, holding it on her face. She briefly smiles.
Shadow says "She may go for you King, I'll stay here".
Mr King nods his head as Shadow takes a seat.
Holly asks "Who is this woman?"
Shadow replies "Energy Queen. Her real name is Stacey McIsaac. She used to work at King Research until your father disallowed funding for her research. She self-experimented with biochemistry and DNA make up. She made a mistake and did not change the dosage from a man to a woman. The results made her able to fly and have super strength. She also can shoot energy beams from her hands and she is entirely living energy".
Mr King says "Her research was showing nothing new at the time when she applied for the funding. Professor Milo and his genetics research were making breakthroughs".
Holly says to Shadow "Do you have any superpowers?"
Shadow replies "No". Holly looks confused.
Holly asks "So why do you go save people is you don't have powers? You don't owe the people anything".
Shadow replies "To stop people having to experience what I did". This leaves King and Holly confused but they take the answer.
King asks "How do you propose to stop her?"
Shadow shows him a freeze grenade. Shadow explains "It will slow her atoms down enough for us to lock her into the Arkham Asylum freeze prison".
Down where Batgirl and some of King's men are, they watch the experimental floor be secured and locked down. Sure enough, Energy Queen breaks through a wall and enters. King's men open fire but it is useless. She absorbs it then shoots living energy at the men. It gets most of them and they are vaporised. Batgirl hits Energy Queen in the face with a right hook. It knocks her back but does not cause any harm. Energy Queen says "You do remember I beat the snot out of you last time Bratgirl. If your Shadow friend hadn't stopped me, you would be buried".
Batgirl replies "You will never get the chance". Batgirl engages in combat with Energy Queen. Energy Queen takes a lot of hits but gets a good hit in herself. Batgirl is sent flying into the wall. Batgirl watches as Energy Queen flies over to land on her. Batgirl smiles and reaches into her belt. She pulls out a freeze grenade. Energy Queen Gets too close and Batgirl throws it into Energy Queen. Energy Queen Solidifies and lands 5 yards away from Batgirl, completely ice. Batgirl sighs. She gets up and calls Shadow down. Shadow gets down to the floor with King and Holly.
Shadow says "Police are on their way. Good Job". Batgirl smiles, Shadow does not often dish out praise.
Shadow hears guns click. He looks around to see what was left of King's men and King himself holding a gun. Holly is shocked. King says "Holly, look away if you want. I have waited too long for this".
Batgirl is puzzled and asks "Why are you doing this?"
King laughs and explains "You two are still my enemies. You disrupt my other activities and pose a threat to my business".
Batgirl yells at him "Only because you break the law!"
King says "Debatable, so do you". He aims the gun. Shadow smiles a little. King is about to pull the trigger.
Shadow reacts faster. Shadow drops a smoke pellet, throws one at King and his men, then throws a Shard of Darkness at their guns. He hits some. He doesn't care. He tackles Batgirl to the floor while the men fire blindly. Shadow points to the hole in the wall and Batgirl nods. They crawl over to it and climb up and onto the edge. They are one story above the ground. Shadow slips himself down so he is holding the edge and is now outside. Batgirl does the same and they drop to the ground. They jump into Batgirl's Batmobile and drive off. King looks around and sees no bodies. He yells "What!? No blood! No bodies! I'll get them!" He raises and shakes his fist.
Holly looks at him and says "You are a monster". She leaves.
Shadow says "So, lead lady, where now?"
Batgirl smiles and says "Wherever we are needed".
The End
(I will publish more stories from this series so it makes more sense)