Batman's eyes slowly opened. His head was throbbing with pain. He examined the room he was in. For the first time in a while, he hadn't the slightest clue how he had gotten here. He tried to move his arms but couldn't. Once his sense of direction slowly came back, he was able to realize that he was wrists were over his head. He looked up to see what was holding him so tightly. A thick, cold steel bar ran from the ceiling down, and he was tied to it by the wrists and by the ankles. He pulled harder. He couldn't even budge.
"You can pull all you like, Batman. The steel bars won't disappear."
Batman looked in front of him. Willie walked forward from the shadows.
"And don't bother yelling. This building's coming down in a couple days, meaning no one will be anywhere near here to hear you squeal."
"Willie Watt. I'm glad the ghost of Hamilton High is still infatuated with me after all this time." Batman said sarcastically
"How could I forget?" Willie said. "Last time we met you tried to put a tranquilizer in my chest."
"You put a tree in mine!" Batman yelled
"I was just returning the favor"
"If I recall correctly you did that to yourself."
Willie didn't respond.
"Bygones?" Batman said with a smile
Willie looked amused. Then he frowned. Suddenly, Batman couldn't breathe.
"Shut up." Willie said. He began to slowly pace closer to Batman. "That was before I was able to properly control my powers. Now I can be much more precise. You may have gotten a streak of luck the first time around. But I can guarantee you. I never fall for the same trick twice. Never."
Batman was struggling for air. He was suddenly able to breathe again. Willie had mentally let go. Batman started breathing heavily.
"Watt, stop this now! Your power is dangerous!" Batman yelled while trying to collect his breath.
"You know that there are people out there who believe that you're not even human? Back in Juvi, I heard stupid rumors every day about how the Batman is some creature from another planet. But do you know what the absolute stupidest rumor was? That the Batman now is the same Batman from fifty years ago. But I know that can't be true."
Batman couldn't breathe again.
"It's depressing isn't it? Batman, the real Batman, would have found a way Houdini his way out of here by now. And the only power he had was the power of his mind. But as for you…all we do is shut the lights off in that special suit of yours…and you're just as useless as every other punk in Gotham. At my mercy."
Batman tried to say something, but nothing came out. Willie chuckled.
"Did you ever wonder what would happen to the citizens of Gotham if you weren't around to play savior? This city's based its entire confidence around a stupid bat. But when you put that bat back in its cage, the door's open for us to rule the town. Right? I mean, that's the standard answer you hear. But I can't help but wonder. Maybe it doesn't take the death of Batman to bring Gotham to its knees. Maybe all it takes is just a little doubt. If Gotham could just see how pathetic you look now, then fear would be this town's master. Just like it was before."
Willie prepared to make a final choke
"What are you doing?"
King walked up from behind him. Willie looked very annoyed. Batman was able to breathe again. This time, gasping much heavier than before.
"I'm doing what we're supposed to be doing! Getting rid of him!" Willie pointed at Batman.
"What we're supposed to be doing is waiting for our money to come in."
"You can't be serious about this!"
"Don't worry. No one's stupid enough to try to double cross us. They know we have you."
"But…"
"But nothing. We haven't heard any word from Gordon yet, but if she shows up and demands to see him in exchange for the money, then we need to show him to her alive. We wait for the money as planned, and then we get rid of him. You won't even have to lay a finger. Just stick to the plan, and we'll be fine. Now go keep watch with Sable. I don't trust you around him."
"Fine."
Willie angrily walked off, shoving King aside. King walked up to Batman.
"Don't get hopeful. I want you dead just as much as he does. But I see an extra profit in all of this and he doesn't. But either way Batman, you'll pay for splitting up my family."
"The only one who's responsible for splitting up your family is you" Batman answered back
"Now I see why Willie wants you gone so fast. You're even more annoying than before. But there's no need to rush."
King turned his back towards Batman. Suddenly, he started chuckling.
"What's so funny…"
"I'm sorry, I just find it ironic. It's weird isn't it? That you spend your life apparently "saving" so many people you don't even know. But now that we're in your time of need…"
King turned his head
"name one person who's coming to save you."
-x-
Melanie could hardly move. Her muscles were growing tired. She was dangling from an edge with only one arm. The other arm was at her side, but she couldn't use it to help her up because it was too busy supporting a sixty pound weight. Bruce Wayne was waiting at the top, leaning on his cane. Finally, Melanie used the little strength she could muster to pull herself over the ledge. Once she was over, she dropped the weight and breathed heavily. Her left wrist which had been holding the weight was killing her.
"That's three of six." Bruce said calmly "Your forth will be in forty five seconds
"I think I broke my wrist!"
"So?"
"I thought you said you were gonna give me real training!"
"I am…"
"This is the exact kind of thing that my dad would have me do years ago!" she yelled
"I said I would give you real training. I never said that it would be any easier than what you were doing before."
Melanie decided that it would be more worth her while to close her eyes and attempt catch her breath rather than argue. Bruce kept talking.
"You can't say that you want to be Batgirl when you have no idea how hard she worked to earn that persona. And for your information, this is different."
"Yeah, how?" Melanie spat back
"Running through a fake jungle dodging robots and bullets…that's not training. It's stupid. It teaches you nothing. All it does is attempt teach you the flawed criminal mindset: Run so I can get what I want now, think about the consequences later. But if you do that, for all you know, you could be running straight into a trap. The true solution is almost never what it appears to be, and your dad's training sessions had no way of portraying that. Not to mention that all the consequences will come back to bite you if you think like that. Now this. This teaches you endurance. When you're hanging off a ledge, you have a special opportunity. You have more time to think things through than ever before. For the few seconds it takes for you to get up, think not only of an attack strategy, but of the consequences that will come with that attack strategy.
Melanie stood up. She was already fed up with this guy. She was trying to ignore him.
Bruce smirked
"But of course if you don't like that exercise…."
He took her by surprise and hit her in the chest with his cane. Melanie fell off the cliff and screamed. Bruce quickly picked up a grapple gun and shot a rope around her ankle. He tied it to a firm post behind him.
"ARE YOU CRAZY!" she yelled from below. Bruce looked over the edge. "YOU ALMOST HAVE KILLED ME!"
"Before you can fly in a batsuit, you need to know the balance and the weight of your own body. It's a lesson that McGinnis never got, and it almost got him killed! Think of this as a leg-up on him. Quite literally." He stood back up. "When your foot completely falls asleep, feel free to give me a ring."
He threw down a miniature signal. Melanie caught it as if her life depended on it.
"I'm going to a meeting. I'll be back in a little over two hours"
"What? I thought you said you'd get me down when my foot…"
"What I said was feel free. I never said I would do anything about it."
He walked out of sight.
"That old man's whacked out of his mind if he thinks I'm staying like this for two hours."
She looked down to the ground. She was pretty high above the ground. But there was also a thin dark blue pillar about halfway down to the far right. If could turn her fall into something of a leap, then she might be able reach the pillar and somehow break her fall with that. If she was successful, then she should be just fine when she hit the ground. The question was, how on earth would she break free from the thin black wire that she was hanging from. There was obviously nothing in the batcave that she could access. Nothing but that stupid beeper Wayne gave her. She examined it. Maybe she should just press the button on the beeper now. It was highly doubtful that Wayne would already be in the car, so maybe he would have sympathy and come back down for her.
"Wayne. Sympathy. Yeah right…" she said out loud
She took another look at the beeper. It was a small square with one button, and a blinker on top of it. She considered using the edge to cut herself down. She ran her finger across it. It was way too blunt to be used as anything of that nature.
"Now what?"
She thought through the few training exercises she already had to see if anything could help her now. She got very frustrated. What kind of training was this? What was the point of all of this anyway? She highly doubted that Bruce Wayne went through any sort of training before he became the first Batman. She slowly snapped herself out of it. If she kept annoying herself like this, she may never find a way down. For the third time, she looked at the transmitter. Then she suddenly remembered something Bruce said to her.
"The true solution is almost never what it appears to be…"
Could this apply to her now? She turned over the transmitter. There was nothing there except the cover to the battery pack. She opened the cover and dropped it on the ground. She was getting too lightheaded to hold anything else. Her entire leg was starting to fall asleep too. There was nothing. Just plain old triple A batteries. She did the only thing she could think to do, which was take the batteries out. For a second she hesitated.
"If I'm wrong, and I take the batteries out, then I can't beep him. And if that happens, knowing him, he may never decide come and get me."
She was tired of thinking. And tired of hanging. She took the batteries out and dropped them to the ground. Perfect! Absolutely nothing! Just as she was beginning to think of how long it would be before she passed out from lightheadedness, she saw something. A small hole right above where the top battery was. She pulled it closer to take a look. Then she held it back and tipped the transmitter upside down, and put her hand under it. A miniscule, silver blade fell out. She dropped the entire transmitter, and used the knife to cut the wire. It snapped almost instantly. It took her by surprise so much that she almost forgot what her plan for doing it was in the first place. She tried her best to hit the blue pillar. To her luck, she barely did. She grabbed onto it for half a second, and then fell down to the ground. She somehow managed to land on her feet, even though she could hardly feel them. She panted for a moment, and then heard clapping. It came from right behind her. She turned around, and to her surprise, Bruce was standing right there.
"How did…but…" Her head hurt too much to think.
"I hid it in there, but the only way that you would have been able to find it was if you gave up the simple solution."
Melanie pointed at him. She was furious
"I can't believe you! I didn't sign up for this. You can play your stupid games by yourself, because I'm out of here! You're out of your mind old man, you know that?"
She began to quickly walk towards the door
"If I wasn't, being Batman would have never worked."
She turned around
"And if you can't handle one exercise that tests your endurance and makes you think on your feet like that, then maybe Ten is the only name that will ever suit you after all."
She slowly turned around.
"Fine. I'll stay. So what do you have planned next? You gonna have me hang on top of an alligator pit now?"
"Well, okay. If that's what you want, but I was thinking more along the lines of combat training."
She looked up at him
"In uniform." He said
Melanie couldn't help but crack a smile. She nodded.
"Alright Mr. Wayne. Let's go"
-x-
Bruce and Melanie, both of whom were wearing gas masks, were standing in front of a giant table. Melanie's Ten suit was laying flat down on it.
"I have to warn you" Bruce said. "If you do this then this suit could define you."
"I've already been defined by this suit, Bruce. I can't change that. But the one thing I can change is who it defines me as."
She picked up the black paint spray gun and re-painted the black half of her suit. She then moved onto the white half. She watched as her past was being covered away. She stopped for a second before she reached the number "10." She took one last look before she painted over it.
-x-
The scene cut to the training simulation. Her suit was being covered in shadows. All that was visible were her black, suited legs. She fought off simulations of classic Batman villains such as Killer Croc, Two-Face and Black Mask.
-x—
The scene cut back to them in front of the table. They took off their gas masks.
"How's your wrist doing?" Bruce asked.
"It's still in pain from holding that heavy weight."
"Here's something I customized."
He dragged it out. It looked like an oversized wristwatch with a wire attached to the bottom of it.
"It's a Batarang launcher. You slip it on…"
He put it on his wrist.
"Aim and fire."
He pointed it towards the wall. A batarang folded out of it. When Wayne tugged on the wire, the Batarang launched out.
"Cool…" Melanie said.
"You can adjust the power on it. It's defaulted at 4, I wouldn't go above 8. Maximum is 10. Don't use it at that level. At that level, if it hits at the wrong spot, you can kill someone."
"Did you used to use it?"
"I thought I would need it in my old age, and McGinnis never needed it. So I suppose you can use it. You mind if it's red?"
"I think yellow would match the suit better."
-x-
Firefly flew towards Batgirl who was still covered in shadows. She flew up and Firefly chased her. Suddenly, she pointed the launcher at him and a Batarang flung out and hit him in the head. He hit the ground.
-x-
"Your suit was already equipped with radio technology. I'll adjust the frequency so that you can hear me and Batman through this."
"Okay."
"Next, we'll put in the wires so that you can fly like Terry does, and so that you can be as strong as he is…"
"Okay…"
"Now this."
He held out a chip.
"This is what will amplify your suit's strength. Terry has it in the wrist of his suit. I bet his kidnappers fried this, and that's the reason why all of his power is gone. I'll put yours somewhere else, but when you go get him, I need you to get this spare to him."
He brought out another chip
-x-
Bane ran for Batgirl. He smashed the ground and made a giant crack in it. She slid under his legs, flew up and kicked his face to the side. He tried to let in a couple more punches, but she dodged them. She punched him under the chin, and he was sent flying up.
-x-
"This yellow fabric is what will keep you up in the air. It's derived from a memory cloth."
It was attached to the suit. Melanie felt it with her hands.
"It seems really firm"
"If it's not, then you'll find yourself falling before you know what hit you."
He pulled out something else. It was a yellow belt and a yellow circle for the middle.
"This is going to be your utility belt. The middle circle is what you can use to accelerate your speed when flying."
"Can I turn invisible?"
He shook his head
"I can no longer use the camouflage feature. I used up most of the technology on Terry's suit, and the millions of dollars more it would have cost me to just have it lay around wasn't worth it."
"But I can still carry things in it."
"Smoke bombs, yellow and black Batarangs, you have it all."
Melanie looked at something else on the counter. It looked like some sort of dart gun
"What's that?"
Bruce looked at it
"A retired item. It's a tranquilizer dart. It's what we tried to use on Watt the first time he developed his powers, but we failed. Now, we'll have to think a lot more advanced than this if we're serious about wanting to stop him."
-x-
Newer villains, such as Spellbinder and Inque went for her. She tried to punch Inque, but Inque disfigured and appeared behind her. Spellbinder was also taking jabs at her, some of which were successful. Batgirl was laying on the ground looking up at her two foes. She pressed the button on her belt, and a booster rocket kicked in, and she slid backwards. She crossed her arms and shot out a blue batarang and a yellow batarang. The yellow one hit spellbinder in the face and the blue one electrocuted Inque.
-x-
"So what do you want your hood to look like?"
"Like hers"
"Just like hers?"
"Except we could keep my pretty blue eyes covered."
"Right…." Bruce said slowly. "And the symbol. You want it to be solid yellow right?"
"How about a yellow outline?"
"We'll see what we can do…"
-x-
Shriek hit the floor. His armor broke. Batgirl stepped out of the shadows, and now, for the first time, her suit was clearly visible. She was now facing Blight. He shot out two beams from his arms. She somersaulted over it and prepared to take him down. But then she stopped. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the last opponent. King. She stopped in her tracks.
Bruce yelled from behind a screen door into the microphone. "Move!"
Batgirl forgot about Blight and flew straight for King. She set the Batarang Launcher at 8 and shot a batarang at his face. Then she tackled him and then beat him to the ground.
"Melanie, that's enough!"
She had lost her defense. Next thing she knew she hit the ground. Blight shot her from behind. Blight stood over her and prepared for a killing shot. Then, he disappeared. Everything else disappeared. The simulation was over. Bruce got out of the room and walked over to her. She slowly got up and dusted off her suit. She pulled off her mask to get a better look. Bruce stood next to her.
"A near perfect performance."
It seemed that Bruce wasn't going to lecture her. There's a first time for everything.
"This is a really cool looking suit. I'm impressed."
Bruce nodded
"Where's he being held?" She asked
"I actually don't know. Barbra Gordon's the only one who does."
"The commissioner?"
"Get the information from her."
"How do I know she'll talk to me?"
"Don't worry. She will."
"Alright. Wish me luck."
She prepared to put on the mask.
"Melanie."
She turned around.
"Something tells me that your respect for Batman isn't your only motivation for wanting to save him. It's King, isn't it? Your dad."
"This is none of your business."
"Do you know what happens when people go out looking for revenge?"
She didn't respond
"They get it. Along with all of the remorse goes along with it."
"And I suppose you would know…" Melanie said sarcastically. She tried not to laugh.
"I do know. Because I used to fight for the same reasons as you. It never mattered whether I was fighting the Joker, Scarecrow or anyone else because the real battle was always with myself. Sure, I had wards working for me in and out all through my career as Batman, but I was working for someone too. And his name was vengeance. Don't let that be you. You'll regret it."
"Thanks for all your help Wayne…" She put on her mask. "But I can handle this by myself. And I can guarantee you that when I see him, he'll be as good as dead. "
She flew off. Bruce Wayne was left standing there to contemplate whether or not he had just made a big mistake.