One of the men packing the crates into the shipping container turned to grab another when he suddenly fell to the ground unconscious as Batgirl leapt off forward from the grapple and flipped before delivering a swift kick to the side of his head. She dragged him beside the container and then climbed on top of one next to it.
Perfect, it's raining. Batgirl thought as she felt the rain begin to pour down on her. She listened as the men working to carry up more crates began to complain about the rain. She grinned when she saw four of them standing around talking and a fifth at the ship grabbing another crate. This will be too easy. She thought as she pulled out three small grey balls out of a pouch on her belt. She threw them towards the men and watched as the smoke began to envelope them. She activated her infrared sights and leapt down delivering a swift kick to the first man's forehead knocking into the container behind him and then he fell to the ground unconscious. Batgirl gracefully landed on the ground next to him and punched the next man in the solar-plexus knocking the wind out from his lungs before she delivered a vicious uppercut to his chin.
"You all really need a bath. You smell so bad that I could know where you were blindfolded." Batgirl laughed and as the smoke began to dissipate she leapt into the air and spun around striking the third man with a well-timed roundhouse kick on the side of his head that caused him to twist in the air and fall to the ground. Suddenly, all the flood lights on the ship came on nearly blinding Batgirl. She turned off the infrared and shielded her eyes as a large man approached her. A screeching sound suddenly filled the air before a voice came over the ships megaphone.
"Now, isn't this just rude. Do I come to where you work and beat on your employees?" A male voice with a deep southern accent said over the megaphone. "Wait, that's not the Batman. Another voice said something that was too muffled for Batgirl to understand. "Very well, we'll use her… attack." The male voice said after a moment and Batgirl twisted around in surprise as all the other shipping containers around her opened and several men stepped out of each one. Suddenly, they all turned towards the road as they heard the squealing tires of the bat-mobile. Then flashes coming from it as the machine guns sprayed. Batgirl dove for the ground and stayed there until she heard the guns stop. She got up quickly and then gasped and took a step back as she saw Batman scowling down at her.
"You were told to wait." Batman stated firmly. "C'mon, the rubber bullets knocked them out but not for long." Batman and Batgirl quickly made their way to the bridge of the of the ship when two large machine gun turrets popped up out of the deck and opened fire. "Get down!" Batman shouted as he tackled Batgirl to the ground just as the bullets from the turrets shredded the crates next to them. Batman pulled out a couple of blue metallic spheres from his belt and rolled them towards the large guns. The spheres rolled next to the guns and when they got within a few inches from hitting them the turrets began to spark and Batgirl watched as both guns caught fire and after a moment stopped firing.
"Wow, when did you make those?" Batgirl asked but Batman ignored the question and ran towards the bridge of the ship. When they entered the bridge of the ship they found that no one was there. "I know I should have waited. It's just that…" Batgirl began.
"Later," Batman said dismissively as he picked up a piece of broken glass off the floor. "There's residue on the glass… Andrea?" Batman's eyes widened and he quickly rushed towards the broken door on the other side of the bridge with Batgirl close behind him.
…
While Batman and Batgirl avoided the gunfire from the turrets a man was hastily packing his equipment. He stood six and a half feet tall and wore a red flannel shirt, jeans, and brown boots. His name is Westin Anderson known as Wes to his friends. He just closed the case that he packed everything in and something caught his eye so he twisted around quickly brandishing his Glock 9mm handgun. He saw a figure in a dark shroud and cape. It was too dark to make out the features but he could see a green mist floating around the figure.
"I don't know how you got up here Bats but I'm going to send you to yer maker." He pulled the trigger several times and was surprised to see the figure slowly seem to hover towards him. "Wait, yer… yer not the bat…. What are you doing here?" He backed away and the Phantasm slowly came into the light. Wes's eyes went wide when he realized that what appeared to be the grim reaper was coming after him. The next moment the Phantasm confirmed what Wes feared.
"Westin Anderson, your angel of death awaits." The phantasm said in a voice that sounded like a spirit's voice would to Wes. He threw his gun at the Phantasm who used her bladed gauntlet to cut the gun in half while Wes ran out the door on the other side of the bridge. He saw the two life boats hanging over the side and quickly climbed into the lower one before the mist from the Phantasm came closer. He began to lower the boat as quickly as he could and looked up in surprise to see the Phantasm watching him.
"You can't catch me now you son of a bitch." Wes shouted.
"Goodbye, Mr. Anderson." The Phantasm used the bladed gauntlet to cut the ropes holding both boats up and the last thing Wes saw was the lifeboat above him falling towards him.
…
Batman and Batgirl searched the area but they found no sign of the person who spoke or Andrea.
"What could cut a gun in half like this?" Barbara asked as she picked the pieces of the Glock up to show Batman what she found. "There are shell casings here so someone was shooting at something."
"Whoever was shooting didn't escape… He was killed." Batman said in an ominous tone. "We need to leave now." Batman said and headed back for the bat-mobile.
"How do we know he didn't escape?" Batgirl asked confused by Batman's sudden rush to leave. She quickly grabbed the case Wes had been packing and followed him knowing it was better not to argue.
"Someone killed him with a lifeboat." Batman said simply as the engine roared and he stomped on the accelerator. Batgirl just nodded.
"You know who killed him and we're going after him right?" Batgirl asked curiously. Batman didn't answer and she sighed. "Bruce, we're supposed to be a team." Batgirl added after a moment. Batman's eyes narrowed.
"You were supposed to wait for me but you were reckless and nearly got yourself killed… again." Batman said as he took a sharp left.
"I was careful and did everything you taught me. If I had waited then we both would have been caught by surprise instead of just me." Batgirl pointed out.
"I need to know that I can trust you or this needs to end." Batman said in a tone that he considered the conversation to be over. Batgirl mumbled something and Batman shook his head.
"Say what you have to." Batman said as the car made the jump from the ledge of a cliff through a waterfall and into the bat-cave.
"You never treated Dick this way. You trusted him, but after what happened to Jason…" Batgirl knew that she had gone too far then and Batman turned towards her slowly.
"I can't risk what happened to Jason to ever happen again. If you can't understand that then give me your uniform." Batman said. He managed to keep his voice calm even though he began to feel the building within him.
"I understand…" Batgirl said slowly. "I'm sorry Bruce I shouldn't have said…"
"No, you shouldn't have. Goodnight, Barbara. Wait for my instructions tomorrow night, and don't forget our sparring match tomorrow afternoon." Bruce said as he removed the mask and cowl and hung them up. He considered the matter to be closed and Batgirl quickly left not willing to provoke him further. Bruce quickly changed and began to leave the cave when he noticed light shining off something on his desk. He walked over towards the desk and then picked up the pendant. He opened it as he studied the picture of the younger Bruce and Andrea. Andrea, why have you come back here? Bruce thought as he closed the pendant and put it in his pocket before he turned the lights off and left the cave.
…
One month earlier…
Andrea Beaumont thought that she was finally able to move on since her last encounter with Bruce. After killing the Joker, she thought that she would feel better as if getting justice for her father's murder would make losing him not as painful. What she learned instead was how hollow her life had become with no purpose left she found her mind wandering more and more to the memories she cherished most. It was then she realized that all those memories included Bruce.
"Maybe his parents did send me." Andrea said mournfully as she remembered a conversation she had with Bruce after he spoke to his parents one dark and stormy knight in the middle of the graveyard. Andrea had read in the paper that Bruce's cruise ship was supposed to cross the Atlantic on its one-hundredth crossing. Bruce Wayne, himself was rumored to attend the crossing and Andrea knew that she had to be on that boat. She bought her first-class tickets that morning and bought an elegant white evening gown with matching high heel shoes and earrings. She went to the first announcement after the boat left excited to see him again but her chest tightened uncomfortably when the ship's captain announced that Bruce Wayne wouldn't be able to make it on this trip. The captain introduced the replacement CEO of Wayne Enterprises Lucius Fox as the host for the trip. The rest of the guests didn't seem to mind as the party began and Andrea walked out towards the stern of the ship and looked out over the water and for the first time in her life she contemplated how simple it would be to end it all. As she was contemplating that a man walked towards her and leaned over the rail next to her.
"Wow, some night huh?" The guy asked smiling wide. Andrea sighed.
"Yeah… some night." Andrea said after a moment with her voice full of sorrow.
"I…I'm sorry did you want to be alone?" The guy asked.
"I am," She said and closed her eyes as she could feel them beginning to tear up as the man backed slowly away. Andrea looked up at the sky once more and then went to walk back inside when she noticed a newspaper that someone left sitting on a table. The title caught her eye and she picked up the paper and began to quickly read through the article. She tossed it down hurriedly and raced towards her cabin. The paper that landed face up showed the title of the article that she read Napier Corp. owned by Jack Napier made a deal worth millions of dollars with Med-X Inc. a medical company known to experiment with different drugs and toxins. The owner of Med-x was shown in the picture announcing the deal. The owner's name was Westin Anderson.
