So here is my attempt to have my way with some of my favorite comic characters. I am a huge fan of X-men comics and I loved to watch Batman: The Animated Series when I was in high school. However my favorite characters are Jubilee and Batgirl which never seem to get the amount of attention that I desire. As far as I know Jubilee has dropped of the face of the Marvelverse which REALLY pisses me off because she is my all time favorite. I think I read that they did revive her in some comic series, but I've been flipping through the latest X comics and haven't found her. As far as Batgirl goes, DC has really done some interesting stuff and I'm TOTALLY excited about the Birds of Prey. I haven't been an avid collector though, so some of my history and time lines will totally be off as will some of my representations of characters. Let me know what I can improve. Some of my story will come from a fanfic I wrote called "Sweet Revenge" which is posted and it is gruesome and very detailed. So if you decide to look it up be fore warned.
Key: " " speech
' ' character thoughts
/ intercom communication
() telepathy
There was darkness all around. Encompassing every fiber of existence. Trapped in the oppressive night with nothing but the passing of time. An eternity to wait for the opportunity to unite what should be once more. A glimmer, a sliver of hope beamed through the oppressive night. He could sense a rift forming, an opening out of oblivion and all Dr. Strangefate had to do was reach out for it.
Barbara lay on the operating table surrounded by what you might call an "elite" team of surgeons. Brainiac 8 had to die, and one way or another she would make sure that the last strands of the virus living inside her would no longer harm anyone. Under the direction of Dr.Mid-Nite, Cyborg and Superman were using powerful lasers from a distance to cut out and destroy what was left in Barbara's body. In her unconscious state Barbara was fulfilling the last kind act she could for the sentient remains of Brainiac 8. She remained with the virus so it wouldn't be alone, and watched the destruction of the thing that once was invading her body. While looking out over the ruins she saw a burst of bright light form in the middle of the slowly collapsing remains. The light grew slightly, then dimmed and jetted off into the sky. Everything in her vision disappeared and she knew she was free from the grips of Brainiac. At that moment someone was checking Barbara's vital signs with a hand-held monitor. There was a quick flash of the viewing screen that went unnoticed and soon the person was back at the bedside.
Somewhere in New York a man is underneath one of the two most beautiful people he knew. Her soft body was taking him closer and closer to sweet oblivion. He could feel her velvet wetness tightening all around him and in just a few more strokes...he feels something in the back of his consciousness spark and then die. His hard on instantly deflates due to the interruption as he tries to concentrate on what caused it. "Axe, baby, what happened?" says the beauty above him. His eyes shift into focus as he stares into the depths of her loving eyes, "Sorry baby, it was just too much for a minute." She feels him growing inside her and she smiles then leans down to kiss him.
(This would be where you would have to have read my other story "Sweet Revenge")
6 months later...
In another universe, a grinning, scorched and hairy man is running swiftly trough a forest. Away from the remains of burning building and with a large bear close behind. They both come to a halt when a swirling bright light flashes in front of them. The light quickly fades and what they see before them is astonishing. There is a dark alley in front of them. The dark harry man looks up at the sky behind him and sees two independent figures flying in his direction, he looks down at the bear, then back up at the alley. Cocking his head and shrugging his shoulders he says, "What the hell?"and jumps into the alley. The bear behind him squints his eyes and shakes his head then slowly passes over the thresh hold of the forest onto the concrete alley way before him. Suddenly the forest they were just in disappears.
"Guess were not in Kansas anymore, Cam." said a still grinning Sabertooth. The bear behind him started changing until a dark, muscular man formed behind Sabertooth. "That's alright. I love the smell of a new town." a slow smile spreading across his face. "Let's go see what sort of new trouble we can get into."
Barbara sat in her room staring at the ceiling with tears sliding down the sides of her face. She thought about what she had discovered and was wondering if she could ever deal with it. Dick, her Dick, and Helena had been sleeping together.
6 months ago when she had given him his ring back, she had done it in hopes that he would have the opportunity to find himself. She was also afraid that he was still in love with the memory of who she was when she was Batgirl and not what she had become. Although she could still do some major damage to someone if they tried to attack her, she was unable to help much with the dirty work on the streets in her wheelchair. She wanted to give him the opportunity to be with someone who could move freely and be able to stand beside him in battle, even though she truly hoped no one could fill his heart like she had.
He had promised to come back to her a whole person ready to commit completely to their relationship. She had assured him that she would wait for her best-friend and lover, she always had. Now what was she going to do?
She should have expected this, seen this coming. Dick runs when he is afraid, alone, or angry. She had just always expected him to run to her. But why is she such a fool? Did he run to her when he had his final fight with Batman as Robin? Did he run to her about his concerns of wedding Kory? Well he might have run to her on that occasion, but only to use her. Not to confide in her as the friend that she was. Now he ran to Helena because she turned him away so that he could find himself.
It was so funny; Bruce kept his emotions locked in a box and only brought them out to manipulate or, at the last moment, to attempt to save the tattered relationships he had, while Dick did just the opposite. Dick almost wore his emotions on his sleeve and he definitely shared them freely.
She knew she had the largest part of Dick's heart, and he had all of hers from the moment she met him...times two. But where does that leave them? It had always been her role in the Batclan to be strong one emotionally. She was caring, tough, and second only to Alfred as a confidant. It was her job to hold everything together but she was just running out of strength. So much had happened in her life and so much had changed; she was the one who needed a shoulder now, but couldn't allow her self to lean on anyone because she was the strong one.
Thank god Dinah had shown up because without her forced support she would have crumbled. This she couldn't share with Dinah though. Dinah, however forgiving and kind, may not be able to let this indiscretion of Helena and Dick's go. Her Birds where her legs that set her free into world and she wouldn't endanger that gift for anything. Crushed as her heart was to lose her soulmate, she would let him fly. His choice lead him to be with someone who was whole, strong, gorgeous, and intelligent. She would fold herself into the many layers of her chair bound cyberverse and be content with what she had.
Barbara sighed and put the thick book she had just written all of her anguish in under the false bottom of her night stand drawer. Moving to her wheelchair, she rolled herself into the main room of the Birds of Prey clock tower head quarters. Wheeling herself up to her station she began working on the series of robberies that had been executed over the last two weeks. There had to be a connection somewhere, but so far she hadn't been able to make one. The robberies were inconsistent, there were no patterns as to what the robbers were taking, and all of the perps had been caught by the police. In each instance the accused perpetrator had claimed innocence of the crime even though they had been blatantly caught on tape and their fingerprints were everywhere. Some of them had air tight alibis and most of them hadn't had a criminal record before the instances. The only consistencies were that they seemed to be happening at two day intervals, between 11pm and 1am, when forced entry was used it appeared that the doors had just been ripped of its hinges, and in all of the cases short yellow hairs had been found. Sighing, she began reviewing the latest case in hopes that she would get a break.
Dinah and Helena were out shopping. Dinah was lost in her own little world when Helena came up behind her. "That dress isn't going to come off of you magically." Helena gave her friend an impatient look. Dinah shook her head and came back to the present. She eyed Helena with a bit of apprehension and then said, "Have you noticed that Babs has been kinda down in the dumps lately?" Helena looked at her friend. She had noticed that Barbara had been less willing to go out lately and that Barbara had barely looked her in the eye in the last three weeks. "No, I hadn't really noticed." Dinah sighed, "I think it might have something to do with Dick. She hasn't talked about him in three weeks and every time I ask her about him she avoids the question." Helena had picked a shirt off a rack near by and was giving it a once over. "Well you and I both know those two have a roller coaster relationship. Don't worry about it." Dinah walked back in the dressing room. "I guess your right. It just seems like it might be more than that this time." Helena's hand dropped as she stared at the door her friend had just closed. 'She knows. Barbara knows.'
"Aha! Gotcha!" Barbara exclaimed as she finished her analysis. Finally she had found a pattern in the heists and had a good idea where the next job would go down. She smiled at her detective work and started to form a plan to capture the crooks. Tomorrow night was going to be a show down. /Birds, I have a mission.../
Across town in a run down warehouse two men are taking inventory of the goods they made away with the night before. Sabertooth stands up and starts to pace. "I'm getting tired of this place. There's no action!" "How am I suppose to keep up my skills tearing off doors?! I want to rip through skin!" "Temper, temper." Came a deep voice still in the shadows. "With a few more resources we can begin to build a power base. You and I both know that were ever it is we are there does not seem to be any mutants. We are the only ones! We can take this world by storm and no one can stop us!"
"I got plenty of pow'r as it is Camouflage! I need some action!" , growled the ferocious man as he punched through a brick wall. Camouflage sighed, then picked up the paper he had gotten earlier that day. Looking at the front page he saw the head line about their latest job and then he noticed something else. Camouflage looked up and smiled at Sabertooth, "Well then maybe we can draw this person's attention to our next job? It might allow you to get some exercise." Sabertooth turned in his partners direction and looked at the picture of a man in a bat suit. He snatched the paper away. A growling laugh escaped him as he read the caption underneath. 'This'll be fun.'
The following night at the Birds of Prey headquarters the team gathered around Oracle's station to listen to the plan. Barbara was showing her team the layout of the building she thought was the next target when she noticed a small light on the corner of her screen.. She continued to talk about the mission then ended with, "Is there anything you would like to add, Batman?" The other three girls turned their heads in surprise to a shadowed corner of the room were two men were emerging from. "Didn't I tell you Batman, she's on top of it!" said a smiling Nightwing as he strode over to the woman he loved. However when he laid a peck on her cheek he felt her back away a bit. He stood up and tried to look into her eyes but she was avoiding contact. Things had been off with them lately. Dick, aka Nightwing, had been away for the last three weeks helping out some friends in New York. The few phone calls they had shared had been very strained and they ended up getting off the phone much sooner than usual. He was afraid of what was happening. What if she had found someone else? God, he wasn't sure he could handle that. Batman walked toward the screens. "Oracle, I don't think you know what you are getting into. Please let Nightwing and I handle it."
"What IS your problem?!" shouted a very exasperated Black Canary. Batman looked up at the golden haired beauty. "Is there EVER going to be a time that you will actually TRUST that we can do our job?!"
"No." said Nightwing and Oracle in unison. Nightwing and Oracle looked at each other for a moment with a small smile on their faces. Batman gave an annoyed glance towards Oracle, though few other people would have been able to read the emotion behind to look. "Very well. Then I will give you the information I have." Batman explained that he had gotten some of the yellow hairs from some of the previous crime scenes and had them analyzed. The DNA from the strands were nothing like anything he had ever come across before. It was human, but the structure had been mutated somehow. There was one other thing. The hairs had a distortion field around them. "Like a temporal field?" asked Oracle. Batman shook his head. "Something similar, but not quite." Oracle sighed. This information did complicate things a bit. "So now we have a criminal who can possibly jump trough time and is genetically capable of having some sort of powers."
"Which is why," said the deep and stern voice of Batman, "you should leave it to Nightwing and me."
"Which is why," said a scowling Oracle, "you're going to need all the help you can get." Batman glared down at her with his patented unnerving gaze. The one that he gave to criminals to get what he wanted out of them, but Barbara wasn't going to budge. She had proved, over the last few months, that she and her teammates could hold their own in Gotham and elsewhere. She wasn't about to show a loss of faith in them now. So with clenched fists and the most defiant tone she could muster Oracle said, "It's getting late. Don't we have a job to do?"
And with that Batman turned quickly on his heal and walked into the shadows. Nightwing squeezed Oracle's shoulder and quickly glanced at each member of her team ending with Huntress. With his eyes holding the Huntress' he said, "Be careful tonight." And then Nigthwing disappeared the same way Batman had. The Black Canary, Lady Blackhawk, and Huntress all stared after the duo for a moment. Huntress was the first to face Oracle once again. Their eyes locked for a short space of time and Helena could see the pain and hurt gleaming in them. Oracle quickly focused her eyes on her computers and said, "You guys had better get going if we are going to beat them to the punch."
"We won't fail you, Oracle." said the Huntress. Oracle and Huntress have always had a bit of a strained relationship. Helena just couldn't help but feel that she was always having to prove herself to Barbara. The short-lived romance between Dick and herself was just a way to fill the void, for both of them. They both understood that, but would Barbara? She had never meant to hurt Barbara, but with their relationship as it was she wasn't sure she would get the chance to explain. Little did Helena know how short the time between them actually was. Oracle gazed at her teammates and offered a small smile, when her eyes connected with Huntress' once more she said, "None of you ever have."
The multistory building stood firmly planted in the shadowed streets of the downtown business district. Not many civilians were in this area after 7pm, so with the exception of a few over driven employees, the streets were free of people. On the roof of an adjacent building stood Canary, Huntress, Nightwing, and Batman. A gruff stern voice came from the man standing apart from the other three. "My game, my rules. I'm going to check things out and if I need assistance I will let Nightwing know. Until then stay put." The Dark Knight shot off a line and flew into the shadow of the building across from them.
"Hmmph, He doesn't seriously think we're going to wait here, does he?" said Canary crossing her arms and pouting like a child.
"We aren't going to, but out of respect I usually let him have a head start." said Nightwing with a smile. Canary gave a sly grin in return then paced over to the edge closer to the building they were watching and squatted down on her heals to get a better view of the ground below. Huntress watched Canary walk away and looked at Nightwing. She turned off her communicator and motioned for him to do the same.
"She knows." Huntress said to the man before her. Nightwing turned his head to the side and looked at the beauty before him. "Who knows what?" The Huntress cocked and eye brown and a horrified look of realization came over Nightwing's face. "Oh God, that's why she's been acting ..." His hands balled into fist and through clenched teeth he demanded, "Why did you tell her?"
"I didn't, she found out on her own somehow." her voice the only thing betraying any emotion she was feeling about the situation. From behind them there was a sudden explosion. Nightwing and Huntress stared intently at each other for a fraction of a second then Nightwing commanded to his companions, "Move out."
"There, I hope that attracts the attention of your playmate. Have fun. I won't be shopping long." Purred a sexy short haired brunette as she walked through the door of the high tech business building. Just a few more expensive gadgets and Camouflage would have all the tools he needed.
Sabertooth watched his partner be enveloped in the shadows of the building and then was suddenly knocked off his feet by a dark figure. 'Let the good times roll.' He thought as he got up to stand well over his would be attacker. The man didn't look very taken back by Sabertooth's size or looks. The larger man grinned and toothy grin. "Did anyone tell you that it ain't Halloween yet?" Next thing he knew he got a square punch to the jaw, and a swift kick to the groin. Sabertooth roared and back handed the smaller man in to the brick wall six feet away.
"Wow, what the hell is that thing?" Canary said. /What's happening Canary? Switch to visual./ Canary touched the device on her ear and Oracle saw Batman falling to the ground and a huge beast standing over him. /Well don't just stand there. We are the back up you know./ Oracle said into the comm link. /Easy for you to say./ Canary sassed back. The three dived into action and all of them were able to make square hits. Sabertooth stumbled back and fell on the ground. "Didn't mention ya got friends." growled an angry Sabertooth. Batman was standing up and the four of them squared off for battle. Batman threw two batarangs toward the angry beast. "Heh, ya missed." said Sabertooth and shortly after a large letter from the building's sign dropped on him. Sabertooth grabbed a hold of the N that was laying on top of him and chunked it toward the two darkly dressed men. Batman and Nightwing ducked and the letter crashed against the wall behind them. Black Canary charged toward the over grown man and did a jump flip over his head and landed behind him. She threw her two hardest punches at his kidneys only to have the man turn and sweep his hand under both of her legs to hang her upside down. /Huntress there is a large fire extinguisher inside the door./ Helena grabbed the object and threw it at the distracted man's face. /That's not quite what I meant for you to do with it, but it'll work./ Came the sarcastic voice of Orcale in her ear. Huntress hit her target squarely. Sabertooth dropped his victim and staggered back. Batman threw Bat-bola which quickly entangled the man's legs causing him to fall to the ground.
The sexy brunette that had entered the building before the show began was watching the fight with great interest, especially when the dark-haired beauty had reached into the door way without looking and grabbed a hold of the extinguisher like she had known it was there.
Sabertooth easily ripped his way through the nylon cord around his feet and grabbed the ankle of the blond he had just dropped. Nightwing reached for his tranquilizer gun and shot off two darts which both landed squarely in the large man's chest. The large man laughed and pulled out the darts. "Ha! Ain't been shot with that kind of crap in years."growled Sabertooth. Then he roughly stood up and spun around then let go of the blond's ankle to send her flying into the purple masked heroine.
The brunette that had been in the door way was now a dog and listening very intently at the happenings outside. /Huntress, you've got to get out of there we can't take this one down tonight./ There it was; what his intent ears had been waiting on. Confirmation that there was a "silent" partner feeding information. It would probably be the same silent partner that had figured out where he and Sabertooth were going to be tonight. He had seen the three figures on the roof long before he had set of the bomb. Camouflage changed one more time into an animal that would be able to detect the frequency of where the communication is coming from. All he needed was for her to talk one more time so he would know what to listen for.
/We're not leaving. This guy is going down Oracle./ Huntress stood up and helped Canary get back on her feet. /We need to think of another way to take him down, he's to strong for us to deal with this way./ Oracle stated in a firm voice.
There. That was all he needed. Now to cause some trouble so this Oracle would keep on babbling. The reason they had come to this corporation was because of an ultrasonic gun that the company was building. It was to be used for drilling in mines and through mountain sides for roads. The CEO had announced on the news that it wouldn't be long before they could do some test runs. Well Camouflage was about to see how well it worked.
The female brunette version of Camouflage had took a step out into the alley were all the action was occurring. Aiming the gun at the wall opposite him he pulled the trigger and suddenly the ground was shaking and bricks started tumbling from the sky. Nightwing, trying to stand on the shaking ground, threw a wing-ding in the new assailant's direction, but just before it left his finger tips a brick falls on his arm sending the wing-ding into the wall near Camouflage. Soon the whole wall topples over and buries the heros under rubble. As the dust clears the sexy brunette walks out onto the street to face her partner.
"Didn't need yer help ta finish 'em, Cam." "No doubt, but, if you've had enough fun with your playmates, we have another problem that needs to be dealt with." Camouflage and Sabertooth had made it a few blocks away from their encounter when Camouflage lifted the seal of a man hole and dropped his stolen prize into it. "Must think it's a big problem if yer willin' ta leave yer toys lyin' around." said Sabertooth. "Yes, yes it could be a big problem if left undealt with. However, I think it is something that you will enjoy taking care of since it is feminine in nature." Camouflage morphed from the tall, sexy brunette into a short, petite, Asian with blue eyes. "And as you can remember it has been a while since we have dealt with something feminine."
/Batman! Nightwing! Canary! Huntress! Come in. Can you hear me?! Ambulances are on the way. Anyone! What's happening?/ Oracle, in a controlled panic, was dispatching the nearest medical and law enforcement teams to the area that she had lost contact with her team. She should have guessed what the thieves were after! Batman must have known and that was why he didn't want her team to help. Now her poor judgement could have gotten her friends killed. /Batman! Nightwing!.../
In her distress, the red headed beauty didn't notice the bat that landed on the clock face of her headquarters, but she did see the flashing red light at the bottom of the screen that alerted her to an intruder on the first floor. She stopped calling for her friends and immediately started viewing the cameras in the area. "Crap! How the hell..." Oracle began typing as fast as she could maneuvering all of the laser guns and other security measures that she had in place to deal with this new threat.
/Oracle/ said a gruff voice that was obviously in pain. Still typing as fast as she could she answered. /Batman! Is everyone alright/Black Canary is still out cold, but breathing. Everyone else has regained consciousness./Great because I need you to get back here ASAP!/ Oracle said in a voice that allowed some of her fear to show. /Lady Blackhawk is near by to get you and .../ A large hand of a dark muscular man covers her mouth but she instantly puts the person in a lock and grabs one of her escrima sticks. The comm link remains open therefore Batman, Nightwing, and Huntress hear the crashes and hits being taken and given by their team mate. Nightwing in a mild state of panic cries, "We have to get to her!" Zinda lands her chopper in the vacated street, though sirens can be heard in the distance. Batman picks up the Black Canary as the other to run and board the aircraft. Soon they are all headed toward the clock tower in the heart of Gotham.
Sabertooth had made his way through the traps up to the top level of the tower. To say the least he was an angry man. This chick definitely knew how to booby trap a building and for all the cuts and bruises he had he wanted give her something to remember him by. He smashed through the door to find a red headed chick lying in the middle of the room with a pair of sticks in her hand and his partner getting his butt kicked. She had already managed to break Camouflage's wrist and give him a nasty black eye. "It is about time you joined the party." Camouflage said in his partners direction. The red head eyed the large yellow haired man and started scooting herself toward the wall in the opposite direction. He noticed a wheelchair that had been knocked over in front of the computers. "Ya've had the crap beat out o' ya by a cripple?!" Sabertooth was grinning from ear to ear. "Let some one with skills show ya how its done, Cam." He moved toward Oracle at a slow pace then eventually tried to make a rush for her to pin down her arms. She saw his intent and moved coming back with her escrima stick hard on his cheek bone. There was a loud crack and an even louder growl as Sabertooth swept her up in one of his hands and threw her against the opposite wall knocking her out.
When Barbara came to she is pinned to a wall by a hand that is tightly wrapped around her troat and her hands are secured behind her back with computer cable. She sees the black man that she had done battle with earlier standing in the back ground with an eerie smile on his face. "Nice ta have ya back Red, let's see what sort of goodies ya got for Uncle Sabertooth." He tore her blouse off to find her ample bosom trapped in a pretty lace bra. "Umm, looks tasty." he growled as he roughly pull down one side of her bra and began to suck on the breast that fell forth. He scrapped his claws down her stomach causing lines of blood to form then he undid the button and zipper on her jeans. "I always like to take my time opening the better gifts." He growled into her ear as she felt his hand slip into her pants and him rub a finger between her labia. She shut her eyes against her assailant and felt a forgotten emptiness in the pit of her stomach. 'God, not again! Where is everybody?!' As though her prayers had been answered the light from the chopper shown through the clock face momentarily blinding the two criminals. Not long after four people came crashing in. Barbara sucks in her breath when she looks at Nightwing for his eyes hold the most deadly look she has ever seen. Sabertooth tightened his hold around her neck and soon everything went black.
When she wakes up this time, the criminals, and her friends were all outside on the ledges of the clock tower. "Let her go." Growled a young man in a black and blue outfit. She looked behind Nightwing to see the black man from earlier start to change. She stared at him in disbelief. The man grew taller, started to grow hair from everywhere, and suddenly she was staring at an exact copy of the monster that held her captive. It wasn't long before the copy of Sabertooth had knocked out both Batman and Canary and had jumped on to the chopper to give Lady Blackhawk hell. Nightwing and Huntress were totally focused on her captor and were using all means necessary to free her from the mad man, but when the other Sabertooth had jumped to the chopper Huntress had quickly chosen to go along for the ride. Zinda couldn't fly and deal with that thing. Nightwing was standing before her and Sabertooth had her by her troat and had hung her far out over the edge. Barbara was scared, more scared than she had been in her life. There was so little time for her to convey what needed to be said before she did what she was going to do. "Dick," she rasped in Nightwing's direction. Nightwing looked deep into her beautiful green eyes and knew what she was planning. She could see the panic, pain, and love in his eyes. Nightwing shook his head and continued to stare into her eyes. She had managed free her hands and the moment was coming. A tear rolled down her cheek and she rasped to him, "Live" then took her hand and gouged out one of Sabertooth's eyes. Instinctively he let go of Barbara's troat and she started to fall. She looked up to see Sabertooth stumble and grab Nightwing as he lunged forward to catch her. She saw the large unbalanced man throw her Dick back and heard a crash. The force of throwing Nightwing set the already unstable man over the edge of the building and she could see the monster following her to the street far below. She closed her eyes, prayed that Dick was alright, and awaited what was to come.