Chapter 17
Batgirl pulled her cowl back over her face. Getting her costume reasonably clean had been a pain, but she'd managed to reduce the smell to a tolerable level. She turned to pick up her utility belt, and started when she saw it wasn't there. Panic ran through her, as she realized it must have taken while she was occupied scrubbing the grime off on her suit.
Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid she repeated to herself, half out loud. They're probably long gone by now. Still, why just take the belt and not go after her? Unless…
Scanning the ground, she saw some tracks behind her, leading around the corner of the stone wall of the waterfall. They were the shape of a bare human foot, yet the soles and toes resembled a cat's paw.
Her feline stalker had caught her off guard. At least she no longer seemed intent on having her for dinner, now that she knew there was food in her belt. Silently, she crept around the corner were the tracks led, to see the same tigress/woman crouching, her belt in her paws. The tigress reached for a pouch on the belt, only to rear back as her hand met an electrical shock, visible from where, Batgirl stood. Confused, she reached again, only to be met with the same sharp pain. Desperate, she tried to aggressively rip at the pouch, perhaps thinking she could work through the pain. But instead an even larger spark laid her on her rear. With a growl, she flung the belt in disgust, landing at Batgirl's feet. Seeing her, she reared in fear, preparing to flee.
"Wait!" Barbara shouted. "Don't go. Only I can use the belt. If you want food, I can give you some." She reached down and picked up the yellow band. Only one "unauthorized" person had ever cracked open one of Bruce's special belts. And that was Lex Luthor, after a day's worth of tinkering and a room full of high tech equipment. "Here," she said, pulling a bar of rations out. "We'll share lunch, ok?"
The tigress didn't move. Barbara sighed, and tried to sound diplomatic. "Look, I'm Batgirl, maybe you've heard of me. My plane was shot down. I'm separated from my friends…I…thought we could help each other."
She kneeled down, offering an open hand with a bar of rations. Slowly, the tigress slinked toward her hand. Reaching forward toward the brown, plain looking bar, cautious, but almost shaking with hunger, she suddenly stopped, and looked up.
"I'm…n-not an, an-animal" She stuttered, "I-I'm not…some wild beast for you to feed…"
"I know," Batgirl said, smiling, "But you do need food. Look, you probably know more of what's going on than I do. Have some food, and we'll talk, OK?"
In an apparent affirmation, the tigress snapped up the bar, and greedily devoured it. Batgirl leaned forward, trying to be as casual as possible.
"So, your name?"
The tigress wiped her mouth, and swallowed. "Amanda," she said. "I was…am, from New York. They grabbed me off the streets. I'd only been out of my house for a few days, I was going to find a place at my aunt's. But they brought me here, with all the others and…"
Batgirl placed a hand on her shoulder, "Just take it slow ok? I came with Batman and a few friends that were changed like you were. I was wondering, have you seen any others like you, like a cheetah, a blonde cat, both female, or well…Batman?"
Amanda shook her head, "Honestly, there's so many of us here, I wouldn't know if I did probably, but I don't recall seeing them." She looked up, "You're going to save us right? You can change me back?"
Batgirl tried to smile, and sound confident, "We're here to find out what's going on here. And we'll do all we can to help you. But I need your help right now, OK?"
Suddenly, Amanda started, "Someone's coming! Not friends…run!"
"WAIT!!" Batgirl shouted, but it was too late. In a flash of black and orange, she vanished into the bushes. Barbara was on her own. She grabbed a batarang and stood in fighting position, facing the bushes.
Her poise was broken by an roar, followed by an in human scream, then silence.
"No…"
Out of the bushes, emerged the lifeless body of Amanda, impaled through the heart on the end of a long blade, being led by a man in black body armor, with a mask, half black and half orange covering his face. Lowering his victim to the ground, she slid off his blade, which he promptly cleaned, still holding an unmoving eye firmly on Barbara.
Batgirl spoke, almost in a whisper, "Slade…Slade Wilson."
He spoke smoothly, but firmly, with a stoic tone, "Yes, I see Robin…Nightwing now is it? Told you much about me. But please, let's keep this professional. You may call me Deathstroke, the Terminator. Or merely Deathstroke if you like."
"Why…"
"She was part of my contract…and so are you I'm afraid."
Batgirl reared back to throw, when she heard a cocky, sinister voice from behind.
"Not so fast little girl."
She turned slowly
A masked man dressed in gray body armor, with a single, glowing red laser eye piece was perched high on the rock above her. His arm had a wrist mounted gun, and it was pointed directly at her.
Deadshot.
"I guess you never heard of a distraction before?"
