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DC Infinity Presents

Batgirl # 14

Salvation Run

"Family Trauma."

Part 3

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Gotham City

Batgirl tensed. Much like her mentor, superhumans, be they heroes or villains, made her anxious. They were harder to intimidate, more easily moved to violence and on average a hundred times more destructive than a normal human being of the same disposition. In her darker moods, Batgirl just thought of them as sources of destruction just looking for an excuse to cut loose.

And as luck would have it, Batgirl now found herself facing a team of them, who with a sense of irony called themselves the Masters of Disaster.

Batgirl didn't have to be told that they were here for Windfall, herself a fugitive from the law. Just like she didn't have to be told that they weren't leaving without a fight.

"Step aside Batgirl," New Wave ordered, "Wendy is coming with us."

"Not happening," growled the Daughter of Destruction.

Batgirl removed two bataranges from her belt, but before she could attack, a high pressure stream of water shot out of New Wave's mid-section and slammed into the young crimefighter, pitching her down the hall. Batgirl, her body wracked with pain, reached into her belt and withdrew a smoke grenade.

"Typical Bat," New Wave sighed when she saw Batgirl disappear in a cloud of smoke, "if they can't find some shadows to be mysterious in, they make them. Heatstroke, Cold Snap, deal with her!"

"Got it," replied the two lovers.

New Wave watched her teammates take off after Batgirl, and then turned her attention to her sister, who was pressed up against the wall in terror. Wendy Jones knew better than anyone the type of person New Wave was. When they were younger, Wendy watched her sister kill their mother barely days after their powers developed, in outrage for allowing a doctor to experiment her. Whether or not their mother allowed herself to be used as an experiment, neither Wendy nor New Wave knew, but it didn't matter much to the older sister. Her life was permanently changed, and someone had to suffer.

And now, Wendy found herself helplessly before the sibling who'd so ruthlessly slain their mother, alone. Wendy couldn't imagine a time she felt more vulnerable, which said a lot given the tailspin that was once her life.

"Relax, Wendy," New Wave said calmly, "I'm not here to hurt you."

"Then why are you here?" Wendy's eyes darted to Cold Snap and Heatsroke as the two casually strolled by to deal with Batgirl. Windfall didn't know if Batgirl could handle the pair, and felt like a coward for just standing there, offering the villains no resistance.

Not for the first time, Wendy felt her life spiraling out of her control and into the hands of others. When would it end?

"I'm here because I'm family," New Wave replied, "I made it a point to keep tabs on you, I heard what happened. And I want to help."

"You…you did?" Wendy looked at her sister in shock. Despite herself, Wendy found she couldn't believe how much her older sister's sympathy and love meant to her just now. But then she remembered why she left her sister and her friends behind…

"No…no, I'm not like that anymore…" Wendy said weakly, "I'm not a criminal…"

"There are a few corpses that disagree with you," New Wave replied simply, "do you really think that your hero friends will let you forget that?"

&&&

Coldsnap and Heatstroke moved down the hall slowly, carefully. The floor was almost completely deserted by now, all the occupants having fled when they heard the police chopper open fire, or saw the Masters of Disaster disembark from the elevator.

"We shouldn't even be here," Coldsnap growled, "fighting Bats has never gone well for us, and I'm not so sure I want Wendy back. She sold us out to those damn Outsiders! And New Wave killed Shakedown, remember?"

"We don't have much of a choice, honey," Heatstroke replied. She was wrapped in a sheath of flame, and it took all her concentration just to ensure that the rug was all she burned, "remember when we struck out on our own? We were stuck merged together by some drunk scientist who was supposed to cure us!"

"I know, but…"

"But nothing," Heatstroke snapped, "without the Masters of Disaster, we're just two B-listers who can get short changed by anyone who would hire us, and two victims by any scientist who could cure us! We don't have a choice!"

"Wrong," the two turned their heads, and saw Batgirl at the end of the hall. She was standing in front of the floor's fire equipment, with a limp hose in one hand, "there is always…a choice. Surrender, and I promise you…will get help."

"We've heard it all before," Coldsnap spat, "only way we're going to get help is if we help ourselves."

"Don't think that fire-hose will help you," Heatstroke warned, "New Wave disabled the building sprinklers and fire alarms before we entered. How do you think I got in without setting off every smoke alarm? And if you fire that hose, handsome here will have twice the moisture he needs to freeze you inside out!""

The pair stalked forward.

"Last chance," warned Batgirl.

"I'm not scared of a useless fire-hose," Heatstroke smirked.

"You should be," Batgirl threw the fire-hose like a baseball bat, and it smacked Heatstroke upside the head with a loud –whak!-. She crumbled like a puppet with its strings cut.

"You little bitch!" Coldsnap lashed out with a beam of absolute zero.

Batgirl casually bent to the side, and his team struck the pipe for the fire-hose.

"Aww crap."

Batgirl smashed the now brittle metal pipe with the back of her hand. It shattered like glass, and water spew out carpeting the floor.

"This is a fine mess, but not a problem for someone like me," Coldsnap explained.

Batgirl said nothing for a moment, but began to stroll forward.

"Okay, you asked for it."

Coldsnap let loose a blast of pure cold, and Batgirl ducked it easily. In one fluid motion, she reached down, cupped some water in her hands and then splashed it on Coldsnap's face.

"Arrrhh!" Coldsnap screamed as water splashed his face, and instantly froze, blinding him and searing his eyes painfully as the ice mixed with the fluid in his eyes.

Batgirl's fist connected with Coldsnap's jaw perfectly, but the man was a veteran of metahuman combat. Blinded and in pain, he still had the presence of mind to throw himself backwards, and aimed his hand at the one target he couldn't possibly miss. The ground.

A wall of thick, solid ice shot up between Coldsnap and Batgirl, who barely flipped backwards in time to avoid it.

Batgirl glared at the wall, as if the annoyance she felt for it alone could melt it. She briefly considered using explosives to get through, but deemed it too risky. She wasn't fond of the idea of ice chunks flying everywhere, and knew that Coldsnap could repair the wall easily if she used too little.

Batgirl pondered for a moment. There were four empty apartments behind her, it'd be easy to circumvent the ice wall by going out the window, but she'd still have to deal with these two sooner or later.

Better to stay and prepare an ambush, Batgirl thought. The two would think her cornered, and she could use that to her advantage, make them play into her hands while pretending to be in theirs.

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"What we used to do, I hated that!" Wendy said defiantly, "I won't go back to hiding in some hole in the ground!"

"Do you really think you have a choice?" New Wave asked, "if you don't come with me, your so called friends? They'll toss you in a hole themselves without a second thought. Did they offer you help bringing your attackers to justice? Or did they hunt you down like an animal?"

"I…", Wendy hugged herself, and felt as stupid as she did when she remembered asking someone to hold her drink and weakly confessed, "I didn't ask. I should have, but I was so ashamed…"

"They have their code, and now you're not part of it," New Wave sneered, "there are only good guys and bad guys in this world. You're with them, or with us. All you need to do, sweetie, is make it official."

&&&

Oracle drummed her fingers impatiently. At the moment, she had several irons in the fire. Two involving members of the Outsiders, one involving her husband and one involving one of the finest Doctors in the world, to whom she'd just emailed a report. But while multi-tasking came easy to Barbara Grayson, waiting did not.

So she was a little surprised when Dr. Midnite called her back almost immediately.

"Oracle, I took a look at the autopsy reports, I know who killed those boys," Dr. Mid-Nite said quickly.

"Already? You're a quick reader, Doctor."

"That's because I've seen something exactly like this once before," answered the Legacy hero.

Oracle listened intently, as Dr. Mid-Nite explained his conclusion, how he came to it and how the first doctors missed it.

"Wow…" Oracle said in disbelief. As a crime-fighter in Gotham, she had encountered her fair share of sick cases, but this one seemed as if it were in a class by itself, "are you sure about this?"

"I'd stake my medical career on it."

"I'm convinced. Thanks, Doc," Oracle signed off, then activated her radio for Batgirl.

"Batgirl, come in. This is Oracle, I've got some information you need."

No reply.

Oracle did a quick equipment check, and saw that all beacons were functioning perfectly. Which likely meant that Batgirl was running in radio silence, and that meant close combat with someone powerful, likely meta-human.

"You better be careful," Barbara said under her breath.

Suddenly, a light-bulb went off in Oracle's head. Someone was keeping tabs on Wendy as she ran to Gotham, constantly tipping off the police and DEO, constantly putting her behind the eight ball and on edge and Oracle suspected she knew who, after her discussion with Mid-Nite.

It took less than ten minutes of hacking to confirm her suspicions.

"Damn, she really did…" Oracle leaned back in her chair, dumbstruck by what she'd learned. After living and fighting in Gotham, she'd built up a tolerance to the insane actions of villains, but she learned early on that some things could always slip past that wall. And this was certainly one of them.

&&&

Heatstroke projected a tiny fraction of her heat outwards, melting the wall of ice her husband had created to separate them from Batgirl.

"When I get done with that little witch, there won't even be ashes of her!" Heatstroke rubbed her throbbing head.

"I'll try to save a piece for you if I get her first, but no promises," Coldsnap said, "if she's anything like the first Bat, she's dangerous."

"She's nothing like him," Heatstroke growled. She looked around. Four doors, all closed and likely locked, "I'll bet she even rabbitted."

"Well, lets make sure. New Wave doesn't like loose ends, and I don't like being sloppy."

"I'll get the right two, you get the left," Heatstroke proposed.

Heatstroke didn't even bother trying to open the door with her hands. Since she'd first gained her almost uncontrollable powers, she'd grown accustomed to not doing anything like a normal person, even opening a door. She lashed out casually with her powers, burning the thing to cinders but careful not to start a larger fire.

She floated inside, eyes checking the shadows. She did her best not to take in the couch, TV or anything else that was the staple of a normal life, which was hard given that they were scattered all around the apartment. They were all painful reminders of the life she wanted to live with Coldsnap, with Darryl, but because of these damned powers of hers she couldn't even feel his touch. For a moment, Heatstroke wished she were more like New Wave, able to lose herself in mindless violence and just torch the room as an exercise in therapy.

But Heatstroke swore long ago never to become like that woman, and wasn't about to start now.

She moved into the bed rooms, checking each one and eying any possible hiding spots in each room. As the meta-human examined the rooms, she expected Batgirl to jump out whenever she approached a closet, or dark corner. She searched each room, her body tense and ready for action. She took a spare second to relax when she was done, and then pushed forward.

She had just finished the final bedroom of the two apartments she agreed to search when Batgirl attacked.

The Daughter of Shiva threw a length of the fire-hose over Heatstroke's head, and spun her around and flung her down the hall with all her strength. Heatstroke stumbled, unable to get her bearings and slammed face first into the tile wall of the bathroom.

Heatstroke saw Batgirl swing something, and the next thing the fiery villainess knew she was crash landing in the shower.

Batgirl was inside the small bathroom in seconds. She spun the shower knob, and a torrent of cold water blasted down from the shower nossel and damped Heatstroke's ever present flames. Almost instantly steam engulfed the room, making it impossible for the villainess to see her foe.

"That won't…" Batgirl smacked Heatstroke in the gut with something hard and long, and then elbowed her in the face, knocking her out.

"Burn?" Batgirl offered. According to Nightwing, snappy comments could actually help crime fighting when used right, so Batgirl thought she might practice it every now and then. But only when her foes were unconscious and no one was around.

Batgirl plugged bath tub, and left Heatstroke in the shower with the water running. It wasn't the best method of restraint, but Batgirl was improvising. She was just glad that the handle she'd cut off the fire-axe was as fire resistant as she had hoped.

&&&

"Honey? Are you okay? I thought I heard something," Coldsnap entered the apartment where his lover lay unconscious in the bathroom, and immediately noticed the steam. He looked around the apartment nervously, "baby, can you hear me?"

"I can."

Coldsnap spun around to see Batgirl standing less than five feet away with a glass of water in one hand. The subzero villain brought his hands up to blast her, but Batgirl swung the glass at him, and remembering what'd happened last time, Coldsnap hesitated and used every last ounce of willpower to suppress the temperature dampener field that surrounded his body constantly.

And when he accomplished that, Batgirl punched him in the face, kneed him in the gut and then slammed her elbow into the side of his face. He was unconscious before he felt the water on his face.

Batgirl stepped past her enemy, and reactivated her communications equipment.

"Oracle, come in."

"Batgirl, oh thank God!" the computer Goddess sighed in relief, "I was beginning to worry. What's your situation?"

"I taken down two meta-humans," Batgirl stated, "Heatstrike and Coldsnap."

"Heatstroke," Oracle corrected, "where's New Wave?"

"Don't know. With…Wendy, I assume."

"You need to approach her carefully," Oracle warned, "and there's something you need to know…"

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"They won't help you," New Wave continued, "you saw how they treated Wonder Woman. All so called heroes have the same line in the sand, and you crossed it."

"They…they're my friends," Wendy said softly, half believing.

"Once you've killed, you can never go back!" New Wave growled, "you can never be a hero after that!"

"Wrong."

A batarang soared through the air and struck New Wave in the center of her chest, and instantly began to crackle with electricity. New Wave, made entirely of water, screamed as it tore through her very core.

Unfortunately, the batarang's charge was limited, not nearly enough to cripple New Wave. She slithered away as a puddle of water and assumed human form, albeit in the loosest sense possible several yards away.

"There's something you need to know," Windfall blinked, and suddenly Batgirl was standing between her and New Wave, "those boys…who died. They drowned, not suffocated."

Windfall looked at Batgirl as if she'd just said the earth was flat.

"There's more," Batgirl reached into her belt and removed a special digital recorder.

"Don't listen to her!" New Wave lashed out with a high pressure blast of water, strong enough to chip stone and pierce flesh like a knife, but Batgirl dodged it easily, and pressed play on the digital recorder.

Like a great deal of Batgirl's equipment, this recorder was a far cry from those sold in regular electronic stores. For one thing, it had internet access and download abilities that would make the Iphone green with envy. Perfect for when someone needed to download important information.

"Hello, 911. What's your emergency?"

The recorder was loud enough for everyone to hear. Batgirl almost enjoyed the sunken expression on New Wave's face as the villainess realized her plan was coming undone.

"I'd like to report a fugitive," Wendy's eyes widen when she heard that voice, "I think she's a supervillain called Windfall, and she's at…"

"You called them," Windfall could barely believe the words that passed her lips. Even if being made entirely of sentient water didn't make one's voice unmistakable, Wendy knew her sister's voice as well as she knew her own. Windfall summoned her powers without even realizing it, her rage over the betrayal and suffering she'd endured flew past her breaking point, "you were following me the whole time, weren't you? I didn't see Batman lurking in the shadows, I saw you pretending to be him!"

"Wendy, I can explain…!" New Wave said carefully.

"You bitch!" Windfall's rage returned full control of her powers, and then some, to her in full force, "how could you do this to me?!"

"It was for your own good!" New Wave answered defiantly, "we're family, we should be together!"

"Windfall, don't!" Batgirl shouted, but she went ignored or unheard. Terrible winds began to fly through the air, and Batgirl felt herself being pushed backwards, away from Windfall. She swiftly removed two razor sharp batarangs from her belt and with a burst of strength, swung them towards the floor, where they sank in deep. Batgirl hunkered down and held on tight, the only thing she could do to survive.

"Family?!" Wendy's hurricane force winds tore her tears from her eyes, "family doesn't take the most painful day of my life and make it worse! Family is there for one another! Family isn't supposed to take your pain and make it even worse!"

A small tornado wrapped itself around New Wave, and the water villain struggled to keep herself in one piece.

"You're my sister, but you have never been my family!"

Wendy used her powers to throw New Wave out of the building with such force, New Wave's body broke the sound barrier.

&&&

Agent Kastle of the DEO heard the sonic boom, and looked up expectantly.

"Does anyone have eyes on her? Anyone?"

When his agents reported negative, DEO agent Kastle smiled. Windfall hadn't run, which meant that she was still inside and since she'd just used her powers, was now helpless. His for the taking. He might not even need his reinforcements.

"Alright people, lets move in and get our prize!"

&&&

At first, Wendy barely felt anything past her thundering heart and heaving sobs. Sheer disbelief mingled with terrible outage left her mind racing to catch up with her body.

But it only took seconds for her mind, and body, to feel the effects of the DEO power dampening nanites. Wendy felt a dozen muscle spasms, as if she'd pulled every muscle in her leg, chest and arms at once, and slumped to the ground as if she'd fallen asleep.

Wendy, her body aching with pain, tried to command her body to stand, to move, to even flinch but it defied her. She lay on the ground, wracked in pain and unable to move, and knew that she was still in terrible danger.

Unbidden, her mind drifted back to that terrible night in the Fraternity House. Weak, vulnerable and helpless, she was abused until they no longer had a purpose for her. She never felt more helpless in her life, and here she was in the exact same situation. Alone and helpless, all because of her own inability to ask for help, and even now she was unable to even defend herself.

"Not alone," Wendy turned her head when she felt Batgirl squeeze her hand.

"Just leave," Wendy sobbed, "I…I did this. This is my screw-up, I can't drag you down too, just…"

"No."

"But…but you said I'm innocent," Wendy stammered, "a night in jail, or two. That's not so bad…"

Batgirl's thoughts went back to Agent Kastle, and all the events up until now. There was more going on with him than just hunting a rogue meta-human. He wanted Wendy for something, Batgirl was convinced. It was only a gut instinct, but she hadn't made it this far in life without trusting her gut.

"Not happening."

"But I can't run, I can barely even move!"

Batgirl smiled beneath her mask, "But I can…very, very well."

On the ground floor beneath the two heroines, dozens of DEO agents poured into the building.

Outside, Agent Kastle smiled as he saw his plan coming together. He glanced as a special armored paddy-wagon at the end of the street. If things continued to go this well, he mused, he wouldn't even need his trump card.

Next Issue: It's Batgirl vs. dozens of DEO agents for Windfall's future! But can even Batgirl beat hordes of trained agents? And just what is Kastle's trump card?

Aftertword:

Glad this issue's out of the way, so that I can explain why I did this arc.

It actually started in DC's latest Suicide Squad mini-series. In it, it was revealed that Windfall was raped in a college party, and killed the entire Fraternity when the cops refused to do anything. The scene where it was discussed was underwhelming, and several issues later Wendy was pointlessly killed. A better example of fridging I cannot imagine.

It annoyed me for several reasons.

First and foremost, Wendy isn't a killer. As a matter of fact, that was one of the reasons why she defected from her first team

Second, I simply cannot believe that her teammates in the Outsiders would abandon her like that. While we refer to characters as B or C list, they refer to each other by name. Friendship isn't determined by popularity

Finally, if you're going to off a long standing character like Wendy, you need to put some effort forth. That simply was not done.

So the current storyline is my therapy for such a horrible plot and how, IMO, it should have been done.