DC Infinity Presents

Batgirl # 28

Misfire

Part 2

"Target Lock."

Hyde Park

Deadshot had breathed out as he had Matt Holmes in his crosshairs, and subconsciously went through his mental checklist. The wind was non-existent, the humidity was low and the counter snipers were in all the wrong places. The apartment was empty, as the tenants had won a free, all expenses paid evening on the town.

Well, hardly free Floyd reflected, because they'd be paying for a motel room for a while. Crime scene investigators liked to take their time.

Deadshot stood just inside the apartment's balcony, and had Matt Holmes resting perfectly in his sights. The marksman squeezed the trigger four times in rapid succession, and smirked.

"And that's a pay check," Deadshot tossed the rifle aside, and chambered a round in his wrist guns, "and here's where I earn it."

Two bataranges flew through the sliding glass door, and by the time Deadshot removed them from the air, Batgirl and Green Arrow were at the balcony.

Batgirl moved like a cat, while Green Arrow covered her with a flurry of arrows.

Deadshot lived up to his reputation, and picked each arrow out of the air, but in doing so left himself completely open to Batgirl.

Batgirl slammed her knee into Deadshot's stomach and then swung her elbow into his jaw, and the marksman crumbled.

"I honestly thought he'd be a little tougher," Green Arrow remarked.

"Marksman, not martial artist," Batgirl said. She tapped her ear, and the headset automatically began listening into the police-band. A part of her needed to hear the report, the list of fatalities, to punish herself for her shortcomings. It didn't matter that there really wasn't any other plan. All that mattered was…

"Deadshot missed…?!"

oooOOooo

Elsewhere

Tatsu took a sip of her tea, as Marnie Herrs stared at her from across the table.

"You have an impressive glare," Tatsu observed, "but I'm afraid that won't work on me. I've been stared down by the best."

"The people you deal with, I wouldn't describe them as 'the best'," Marnie said, "putting that girl on the front lines like they do…!"

"Cassandra has put herself on the front lines," Tatsu replied, "not Batman, and not me."

"Do you honestly believe that?!"

Tatsu raised her hand, "Lets start at the beginning, shall we? "

Marnie sighed, "Fine."

"Why have you not alerted the authorities?"

"Because part of me suspects you would vanish inside of a day."

"Correct," Tatsu said, "would you prefer that? I ask because I know of far too many who hold the heroes responsible for the actions of villains."

"If I wanted that, the police would already be here," Marnie said.

"Then what do you want?"

Marnie steepled her hands and took a deep breath, "I want to do what I do every day. Help kids. Help Cassandra."

Tatsu said nothing. She could see that Marnie had more to say.

"You know why I became started in psychology? Because my sister committed suicide. Her boyfriend had just broken up with her, and my parents were too busy with holding down three and a half jobs to take the time she needed," Marnie said, "I saw what was happening, and I had no idea how to handle it. And in a twisted way, I feel as if I'm watching it happen all over again."

"Why would you say that?"

Marnie glared at Tatsu, "Because I have little doubt that you enable, Cassandra. I've had to work around parents before, but I can't work against them, not like this."

Tatsu chuckled despite herself, "While I have never stood in Cassandra's way, I am not the one that sends her out on nights like this."

"Then why don't you stop her?" Marnie growled, "she's out there right now, isn't she? Fighting Deadshot! Do you know how many people that man has killed?"

"I don't stop her because I cannot," Tatsu said, "you only know one small part of Cassandra, Ms. Herrs. She's not just willful, she has a heart of steel. She goes out every night to make a difference because of guilt, because she can, because it's right and for a million other reasons. She is the reason she's out there, not me."

"I don't believe you," Marnie said flatly.

"That's your right," Tatsu observed, "so…"

"How could I convince you?"

oooOOooo

Elsewhere

"How the hell does Deadshot miss?" Matt Holmes muttered.

He had barely started his speech when he heard the shots ring out, and something in the podium seemed to explode.

Matt Holmes, a Gotham native, dove for cover as he heard even more shots. But while the world around him seemed to explode in a hail of gunfire (to him anyways), not a one seemed to even leave a scratch on him.

"Gotham, huh?" Matt remarked to the cop taking his statement, when it was all over, "guess even good miracles happen here, right?"

"Miracle?" the cop remarked, "Deadshot, the world's best marksman, misses an otherwise easy shot? That doesn't seem like a miracle to me, sir. Seems like he hit what he wanted to."

"He missed me by a mile!" Matt said.

"Yeah, like I said, he hit what he wanted."

Matt did his best to ignore the comment. Having been born and bred in Gotham, he wasn't a man of high principles but he refused to associate with Gotham's rogues all the same. He wasn't about to touch maniacs who'd killed more people than he'd ever met.

But as Matt stepped away from the police, he could see that his electorate didn't think that highly of them. Matt couldn't meet a single person's eyes without coming away with a seething hatred.

As his aide drove him away, Matt could almost feel his career spiraling down the drain.

oooOOooo

"He missed."

Batgirl and Green Arrow stood on the rooftop of the apartment overlooking the crime scene.

"Maybe he wasn't paid enough?" Connor said, half heartily. He didn't much believe it, but without proof one way or the other, he didn't care to form suspicions that casted blame on anyone.

"Unlikely," Batgirl said, "only a certain of person…cheats hired killers. Luthor, Savage…none of those would care about Holmes."

Batgirl turned on her heel, and Green Arrow followed without a word. They had another mission to complete before they delved into the mystery of Deadshot's attempted murder, and as luck would have it, the first would help with the second.

oooOOooo

Later

"So Rick, how are the kids?" Floyd Lawton smiled as he was loaded into the transport.

"My name's not Rick," replied Officer Kim.

"Your name is Rick," Deadshot said, "anyone got a smoke? This is the only break I'm going to get this week, and I need to unwind."

"You can relax plenty at Blackgate," Kim spat, "maybe trade your white ass for a whole pack."

Deadshot chuckled, "Rick, I'll be picking sand out of my ass inside of a week. You know that, Rick. With skills like mine, the world won't let them go dull."

As if to punctuate that point, there was a loud boom!, and the transport swerved and came to a sudden stop.

"Oh hell…" Floyd and Kim muttered, and then glanced at one another.

"Are these friends of yours?" Kim said.

"I've never needed help walking out of jail," Deadshot remarked.

"Then who?"

Deadshot shrugged. He could think of at least a dozen supervillains who wanted him dead, and wouldn't hesitate to step over the corpse of a few policemen to do it, including infamous names like Deathstroke and Cheshire.

But Deadshot wasn't about to volunteer that information, because he simply didn't care. He barely even blinked when the transport began to fill with a colored smoke.

"Come on," Officer Kim grabbed Deadshot by the collar, and flung the back doors open.

Kim and Deadshot were greeted by an archer covered head to toe in an all black suit. The man already had an arrow notched, and Kim was brought down by a taser arrow before he could even aim his weapon.

"Hmm," Deadshot said, "you are?"

"Black Archer, and your ride," the man replied.

"Don't recall asking."

The Archer pulled his fist back.

"Neither do I."

oooOOooo

Elsewhere

"Alright everyone, good work. We've had a busy and terrifying day, but we still haven't won," Jessica Harrington watched as her volunteers filed out, their nerves still frayed from the shooting.

Jessica did her best to project confidence and calm, and it seemed to work. A few of her people asked for the day off, but a greater number promised to come in the next day.

"Can't believe that ass thought hiring Deadshot like that would work," Billy Sykes, her long time assistant, said.

"This is Gotham, after all," Jessica said, as if nothing else needed to be said.

Jessica watched the last of her people leave, and then locked up her campaign office. She checked the bathrooms, checked the offices, and when she was satisfied the place was empty, went to lock the front door.

The front lock clicked, and when Jessica turned around, she was met by Batgirl.

"You hired Deadshot," Batgirl said plainly.

"Oh my God!" Jessica's hand flew to her heart, "what is wrong with you people?"

Batgirl simply gave her a cold glare.

"And what the hell are you talking about?" Jessica said defiantly, "I would never order a man's death!"

Batgirl saw the truth in Jessica's body language.

"You…"

Batgirl's next words were drowned out by the sound of a bullet, and Jessica screamed as blood splattered across her face.

Deadshot stood behind Batgirl, his wrist gun smoking.

"Jessica," Deadshot said simply, "we need to have a discussion."

"…you…you can't do this!" Jessica bolted past Deadshot, and towards the back door.

"You ruined my rep," Deadshot said, and Jessica heard another shot. She knew instinctively, that he was simply playing with her, like a cat playing with a mouse. And she knew it wouldn't last forever.

"Deadshot, don't do this!" Jessica slammed into the backdoor, and frantically yanked it open. The few seconds it took her brain to remember how to turn the knob seemed to stretch into a heart pounding eternity.

"Help, someone help!" Jessica screamed, as she heard even more shots. If someone in the night heard her, they gave no reply.

This was Gotham, after all.

Jessica made it to her car, but by the time she had her keys out, Deadshot was literally standing right behind her.

"You cost me my rep," Deadshot observed.

"You knew that when you took the contract! You knew no one was supposed to die."

Deadshot raised his wrist guns, and with a sigh, fired.

Jessica screamed as she clutched her chest.

It took her a few seconds to realize it wasn't full of holes.

"That fear? That terror? That's what Mr. Holmes felt when Deadshot was shooting all around him," 'Deadshot' said, "it doesn't feel so harmless, does it?"

"…blanks?"

Batgirl came from behind Jessica, covered in fake blood, and plucked a bat-shaped recorder from her breast pocket.

"Blanks," Batgirl confirmed, as Deadshot removed his mask, to reveal Connor Hawke.

"You really should have stuck with your core principles," Connor said, "no wonder my dad's so jaded about politics."

"You…you don't understand!" Jessica said, "you don't know what kind of person Holmes is! He's scum!"

"We didn't know what kind of person you were, until now," Batgirl countered. She held up the recording devise, "now we do. I will turn this into the police…within the next ten days."

"You can come clean first," Connor said, "still reclaim some of your honor."

"Or you can run," Batgirl said, "choice is yours."

oooOOooo

Four hundred feet in the air

Captain Tom Perkins, pilot of Delta flight 650 observed the fuel remaining in his plane's tanks with curiosity. Though he still had plenty of fuel left, especially now that he was coming up on approach to Gotham National Airport, he didn't have as much as he should.

The plane was only low by a hundred gallons, a drop in the bucket for an inter-continental flight, but Perkins had flown this route dozens of times before, but never had it run this low before.

That said, it was far from an emergency, just an oddity, the Captain told himself, and nothing more. The lost fuel could have easily been devoured by the engines because of a strong headwind.

They were some three hundred feet in the air when he opened the landing gear.

Perkins had no way of seeing the man who fell out of the front wheel well, though he felt his plane jump just a little bit. He chalked it up to another headwind, and proceeded to land perfectly.

The man who'd hidden himself in the landing gear fell like a lead balloon, and landed with all the grace of a missile.

He picked himself up slowly, not because of any pain, but because of his age. He dusted himself off, brushing globs of dirt off his heavy coat.

The Russian saw that he'd landed outside the airport, and smiled. Even at his advanced age, his edge remained. He turned his head towards the infamous city of the Bat.

"Gotham, the wolf returns for blood."

oooOOooo

A secluded alley, far from prying eyes.

"I think she'll turn herself in," Connor said.

"Maybe," Batgirl conceded, "hate how she tried to play…'the word game'. That I'd be fooled because she didn't order the killshot."

"I think she was just trying to give herself some deniability for her own peace of mind," Connor said, "she made a mistake, but that doesn't make her a killer."

"Just associates with and hires them," Batgirl pressed her finger to her ear, "hold on…Checkmate transport is approaching."

An old U-Haul began backing into the alley, and when it covered the mouth, the back opened up to reveal Huntress, Black Canary and Batman.

Cassandra tried to hide her shock, seeing her mentor arrive for something so mundane as a prisoner pickup.

"Where's Deadshot?" Huntress said.

"Where he should be," Connor walked to the other side of the alley, and opened the dumpster. He pulled Floyd out of the trash with one hand, and dropped him to the ground. Deadshot grunted, but didn't say a word.

"Ha!" Huntress chuckled, "seeing that is worth enduring the smell!"

"Hey, BG," Canary gave Cassandra a friendly hug, "heard about school, how's that coming?"

"Hard," Cassandra said, evasively, "but fun."

"It's totally worth it," Black Canary winked, "we'll definitely have to catch up some time. When we're not hauling murderers."

"Don't suppose you'd care to tell me where we're going?" Deadshot asked.

"Where your ass will rot in jail and not be sprung before breakfast," Huntress growled, "South Africa's nice this time of year, I'm told, 'Mr. Hopkins'."

Deadshot processed the information for a second, then shrugged, "Always meant to take a Safari vacation."

"Canary, Huntress, secure Deadshot," Batman ordered, "I need to…debrief Batgirl and Green Arrow."

Black Canary and Huntress hauled Deadshot up into the van, while Green Arrow and Batgirl instinctively stood at attention.

"How did the extraction go?"

"No police were harmed," Batgirl reported, "and we got away clean."

"Excellent job, the both of you," Batman said, and his protégé beamed, "any problems to report?"

"No sir," Green Arrow said, "the mission went according to plan."

Batgirl didn't volunteer the fact that her secret identity might have been collateral damage. In the unlikely event that Batman didn't know, she wanted to keep it that way until something, anything, had been decided.

"Then we need to head back to Checkmate," Batman said, "Batgirl, you've done an excellent job keeping Gotham safe with Nightwing. Keep up the god work. Connor, lets go."

"It was good working with you," Green Arrow said politely, as he turned to leave.

"Wait," Batgirl grabbed Connor's wrist with one hand, and pulled up her mask with the other, "I want to say goodbye."

Connor hadn't expected the kiss, but he certainly didn't fight it. The two young crime-fighters fell into it as easily as breathing, and though Cassandra intended the kiss to last only a moment, Connor politely objected.

The two crime-fighters lost themselves in their own world, and were only brought back into reality when Batman cleared his throat.

"We're needed in Star City after this drop off," Batman said in a neutral tone.

"Right," Green Arrow coughed, "goodbye, Batgirl. I'll see you later, promise."

Batgirl watched them leave, and felt a dread grow inside of her. With Deadshot gone and her mission finished, there was nothing keeping her from home.

oooOOooo

Cassandra returned to her cave, and removed her uniform. She dressed in civvies, and walked up to the townhouse she shared with Tatsu.

With each step, she wondered if it would be her last, if Marnie would expose her, and she'd have to leave it all behind.

Cassandra stepped through the concealed door, and into the living room.

She found Tatsu and Marnie waiting for her.

"Cassandra, take a seat," Tatsu said, "we have some things to discuss."

Next Issue: A Priest, a child and the sins of confession.

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