Chapter 6

Barbara slept until 9:00 in the morning. When she woke, she showered, dressed, and packed her bags knowing that Bruce had gotten the reservations taken care of. She put her Batgirl suit in her suitcase too. She had called her dad to tell her, she would be out of town for a few days, he told her to go off and have fun. If she did encounter Ra's, she would be having more than fun. She got into her car and drove off. Meanwhile at Wayne Manor, Bruce planned on spending a few hours at work then heading to the desert to find Ra's Al Ghul. The phone rang and as Bruce picked it up, he was in no way prepared for what he was about here.

"Bruce? Hi, it's Lucius."

"Hello Lucius." said Bruce.

"I've got bad news. Somebody handed over the weapon we were building. Just because he was offered $1,000,000."

"WHAT?" Bruce screamed into the phone. "I want you to find the guy who did it and fire him right away! I won't be coming into work today Lucius, I'm taking the day off now."

Before Lucius could answer, Bruce hung up the phone. Tim came walking in with his crutches.

"What happened?" he asked, curiously.

"Some idiot sold the weapon. That's why Ra's wanted the money, someone in my business was corrupt and he knew it. I never should have approved the making of such a weapon in the first place. This changes everything, Barbara's on her way to the New Jersey beach and now I'm going straight to Phoenix." said Bruce angrily as he headed towards the entrance to the cave.

As soon as he was in his costume, he almost immediately took off in the Batwing. Still angry from having a corrupt employee in his business, he was able to let it go in order to get to Phoenix.  Barbara meanwhile arrived at the hotel, Bruce told her to check into. She got out of the car and headed inside, carrying her luggage. "Hi." she said, to the concierge. He looked up.

"Reservation for Gordon?" she asked.

"Yes, I believe so." he said, checking through his reservation files. "Yes, here we are. You're in room 245 on the 3rd floor. Would you like me to get someone to escort you there?"

"No, I can find it."

"Very well, here is the key to your room." He said, handing her a silver key.

"Thanks." she said, pocketing it. Fortunately the elevators weren't very hard to spot; she headed on the elevator and pressed 3. The concierge then dialed a number on his phone.

"Master? The girl detective is here."

"Excellent."

"What are my orders, sir?"

"Do not engage her. I will deal with her tonight."

"Yes, Master."

Barbara went into her room, she unpacked, she decided to rest a bit from the long ride before heading down to the beach to investigate. She'd have to make it look like she was relaxing. Meanwhile Batman arrived in Phoenix. He stepped out of the plane and walked towards what looked like an abandoned factory in the desert.

"Good plan Ra's, what would a factory be doing in the desert? This would probably attract many tourists." he said.

But as he entered, he found out why nobody would come to this factory. It was a clever setup. It looked like the factory had been torn apart by a desert storm, but he knew Ra's kept his real base underground. Meanwhile Barbara changed into her black bikini, put on sunscreen and headed down to the beach. Finding a chair she sat down, put her towel down and lay back in the sun. There were children playing in the sand and many teenagers in the water. She wondered how Ra's could have a base out here.

"Well, I guess I have to get off my butt and find out." she said in thought. So she got up and went into the water. Swimming past the teenagers. She dived underwater. Finding she was not very deep she kept swimming on the surface. Panting, she looked up and gasped. She thought she could glimpse a small base it was too far to see it all though. Diving back under the water, she swam toward the beach. She would not have needed to for there was a wave coming, and the New Jersey beach was known for big waves. She found herself caught and before she knew it she was on the sand. She coughed and covered her mouth; she saw that several other teenagers were on the sand too along with some surfers. Several were shouting "What the hell kind of a wave is that?" Barbara too was wondering the same thing. A lifeguard came over to them and answered they're questions.

"If you think that wave was bad, wait till you see the big storm coming tonight that was just a prelude."

Barbara decided that this storm might have been caused by Ra's. Well tonight she was going to come back to the shore as Batgirl. Meanwhile Batman was looking for any kind of secret entrance in the factory. He searched the walls for a kind of switch. He found one it was cleverly devised it blended in the steel wall. But when you have 20/20 vision, you can spot anything. It opened up, it led down a staircase.

"If Ra's is still here, I'll find out soon enough." he thought.

He walked down the stairs and found it abandoned. Ra's had completed the move into the base at the shore apparently. He stepped inside, finding only a Lazarus pit. The door shut itself behind him. There was no trace of evidence anywhere. Batman knew it, Batgirl was in trouble. But he had almost no way out. Meanwhile Barbara showered and changed into her Batgirl costume, waiting until the last person had left the beach, because of the big storm that was coming, and she headed down to the beach. Not knowing what she could do, since she didn't have any way of getting to the base other than swimming.

"Wait, Ra's men must have a way of getting from and of that base around here and I've got to find out how."

She searched the beach for a cliff. She found one and began searching the rocks.

"If I know Ra's he must have some kind of switch here. Ha! Got it!" she said, triumphantly. The switch opening up a cave in the clearing inside was at least one vehicle, capable of traveling the water. But she found some of Society of Assassins members preparing the boat.

"Oh, no." she said.

"The girl detective, she's here just like the master said."

"Take her alive!"

"Oh, great." Batgirl thought. The men were coming at her. She looked in front; she saw a huge computer which must be what they use to communicate with Ra's. She knew she could reach Batman with that. The men came out here, she knocked one down with a punch, using her feet, and she tripped two of them. Then with a last kick and punch knocked the remaining two down.

"That was easy." said Batgirl, walking to the computer; she failed to see one was getting back.

She had just type in a few keys, when he grabbed her by the wrist, then he wrapped her arms behind crossing them holding onto them both. Another one also got up and removed her utility belt.

"Hey, what's going on? I thought I had you guys knocked out." she said, surprised.

"We've trained to withstand far better blows than this girl." the one who had her hands said; he was also trying her hands together with rope.

"Well we got her, should we take her to the master now?" the other one asked, holding her utility belt.

"Hmm, I'd say we should tie her up more, these detectives have a very easy time escaping when they're only tied by hands it seems."

"Yeah, they are." Batgirl said, smiling. She head butted the one who had just finished tying her hands together. She didn't have time to untie herself so she ran. Unfortunately the other 3 had woken up too and tackled her to the floor. She struggled, she thought for a minute about calling for help since there was no doubt someone still awake who could help her, but she didn't get too, for one placed a white cloth across her mouth, gagging her. They also tied rope around her ankles and thighs so she couldn't move her legs. Lastly they placed rope around her waist, pinning her arms to her sides.

"MMPH!" she shouted through her gag. "How do I keep getting myself into these messes." she thought. She struggled with the ropes that bound her but they were just too tight.

"Well, we have her tied up pretty tight now, don't you think?"

"I suppose. Let's go."

One picked her up and carried her over her shoulder. She let out many muffled shouts through her gag and continued to struggle with the ropes. They laid her down in the boat and climbed in themselves; one pushed the boat into the water and climbed in himself.

"Comfortable?" he said to Batgirl, laughing.

"MMPH!" she shouted angrily, glaring her eyes at him. "Of course, I'm not comfortable you idiot." she thought.

The engine started and soon they were off.

"Hurry it up, the storm will start soon."

Batgirl began cutting the ropes that bound her with a knife. She was not going to be a hostage for Ra's to use against Batman.

"Oh no!" said the one that tied her hands together. "The storm's starting, we're too late, and this is going to make it a lot harder.

Batgirl finished getting the ropes and took her gag off. "Yeah, so am I." she said triumphantly.

"Shit, we forgot to check for knifes, they always keep them hidden in their gloves."

Batgirl gave no second sooner to attack, striking the one who had her utility belt, she reached down to take it, but they grabbed her and tossed her to the spot where she previously laid. Before he could advance any further, thunder raged in the sky, Batgirl looked up, she knew they were in for a hell of a ride. The waves began to pick up. She found herself holding to the boat so were the assassins, some were tumbling over the boat. One came over to her and picked her up and threw her in the water. She screamed as she hit the cold dark, water. She could hear the others yelling at the one who threw her in.

"You idiot! We were supposed to bring her to the master alive!"

Batgirl didn't care about that. But she wanted to stay alive, she could feel the waves taking off her costume, her cape and cowl came off her and floated to the surface, she blacked out wondering if she was going to survive.