DC Infinity Presents

Batgirl # 29

Confession

Gotham, now

Cassandra Cain took a deep breath, and opened the door.

"Good evening, Cassandra. Please, have a seat."

Cassandra sat down gingerly, like a cat ready to spring at any moment.

"How was your day?"

"Fine," Cassandra said, her tone guarded.

"And your night?"

Cassandra gritted her teeth.

"We made a deal, Cassandra. I've kept my end of it, haven't I?"

Cassandra nodded.

"Now I need you to keep yours."

Cassandra winced.

"I…was on patrol…when…"

"Stop."

Cassandra obeyed, though her more because of her instinctive desire for secrecy than willingness to obey.

"I've heard you speak before, and managed to get my hands on some police reports. And I'm a teacher. I know when someone is hiding behind their disability."

"It's not hiding," Cassandra said, "it's just easier. I may be able to talk quicker, but I still have trouble with words, with properly expressing myself. It's easier when I'm Batgirl. I just…know what to say and how to say it."

"You're exceptional under pressure, Cassandra. But here you have to learn to be exceptional in every day life."

"Then why aren't we talking about that?" said Cassandra.

"Because we'll get to that later. Your night time activities have gone unaddressed for a while now. We're just trying to make up for lost time."

"Now, please tell me about last night."

Then, two nights ago

Batgirl moved through the shadows of Gotham effortlessly. She avoided the loose bricks on 10th and Flynn without a glance. She came down on the meth dealers behind Zings! with a yawn.

Batgirl knew the city like she knew how to breathe, and understood it like few others.

She was on a routine patrol, three blocks away from the church of 'Our Holy Father', when she spotted the gunman.

Batgirl didn't have X-ray vision or advanced scanners, and reading body language was hardly infallible, but she quickly learned a few things, living in Gotham.

The man's attention was focused on his concealed, his eyes darted all over the place and there was a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead, despite the cool air of the night.

Batgirl knew instinctively that none of that meant anything to the police, much less to the courts. Batman drilled the rules of evidence into her only a week after she'd gained language, and Oracle was always there to provide helpful reminders.

So Batgirl followed him from a distance. As she turned her attention to her (possible) gunman, Batgirl saw he was barely a man. He was sixteen at the oldest and his face was stained with tears.

When he stopped outside of the church, Batgirl came down in a side alley next to the boy, and removed a single batarange.

They waited, hunter and prey. Batgirl paid little attention to how much time passed. She watched her prey like a hawk, and when she saw his body language ripple, she moved into action effortlessly.

"Father Craemer!" Peter Hall removed a snub nose revolve from his pocket, "you have to pay for what you did to me!"

Batgirl threw her batarange before Peter could level his weapon, and it hit the revolver's chamber perfectly. The chamber popped out the side only seconds before Peter could have pulled the trigger.

With barely a thought, Batgirl pressed a devise on her belt that would automatically summon the police to her location, and moved to subdue Peter.

A kick, an elbow and Batgirl was only seconds away from sending the guman into complete unconsciousness, when she was yanked backwards off her feet.

"Stop it, please!" Father Craemer begged, "you don't understand!"

"Let go!" Batgirl yanked her cape out of the man's hands, and Peter used the distraction to take off running.

Batgirl was about to give chase, when Father Craemer seemed to trip and fell bodily over Batgirl's cape.

"Oh dear, oh dear," Father Craemer did his best to sound sincere, but Batgirl could see his lies as clear as day. But by the time she wrenched her cape free again, Peter was long gone.

Batgirl turned, and gave the Father her best scowl. In the past, it had more hired killers wet themselves.

Father Craemer, however, simply smiled.

"I'm so very sorry about that."

Lie.

"You knew that boy," Batgirl said.

"I know many young men."

"His name?"

Father Craemer shrugged, "Can't remember right this second."

Batgirl debated pressing him further, when she heard the sirens and saw the flashes of red and blue.

"This isn't over," Batgirl warned.

"It never is," Father Craemer sighed, "it never ends."

Batgirl disappeared before the police could turn the corner, but she lingered on a nearby rooftop. She aimed a directional microphone at the police as they questioned the Father, but he told them little more than what he'd told Batgirl.

In fact, the police came away with even less, as only Batgirl knew that he recognized the suspect. Strangely, the Father was careful with his words, saying that it had been dark (it was) and everything happened so fast (it did), but when asked if he recognized the subject, the Father quickly changed the subject.

The police noticed this, and it didn't take long for them to regard the Father with no small amount of suspicion.

Now

"They…quickly stopped caring," Cassandra said.

"They suspected the Father of wrongdoing, didn't they?"

"Yes, but I don't know why."

"I don't know how closely you follow the news, but…"

Cassandra scowled, "I know all about the Catholik church…matter. But I could see he wasn't like that. He cared. Always."

"Not everyone sees the world the way you do."

"No one does," Cassandra said softly.

"May I ask what happened next?"

Then, one night ago

Batgirl knew that the gunman would be back. It would have taken less than a glance to see how deeply the man was wounded, and Batgirl had seen far more than that.

At the church, she found a police detail parked across the street, but the police inside were giving their attention to anything but the Father's safety. As Batgirl avoided their attention, she saw at least another half dozen ways anyone else could have done the same.

Perhaps they were hoping for 'Gotham Justice', which was oft times anything but.

Batgirl stepped inside, and found the Father…sweeping the pews. He was in the middle of cleaning, when he stopped, and some, impossibly, turned to where Batgirl was standing in the dark, and smiled knowingly.

"You may as well come out," said Father Craemer, "I know you're there, and would enjoy a little company while I clean for tomorrow."

Batgirl stepped from the shadows, "How did you know I was there?"

"Have you ever met the Spectre?"

Batgirl shook her head no, though she knew of him. And words could not express how glad she was that she'd never personally met the supernatural monster that considered itself God's vengeance.

"Well, I have. And when you have, you get used to being able to tell what might be in the dark."

Batgirl gave Father Craemer another look. For anyone to speak so casually about the Spectre, to say nothing of how at ease he was with her presence, Batgirl had to admit, she felt her level of respect for the man rise.

But then she remembered that he was hindering the investigation of an attempted murder. True, his attempted murder, but murder all the same.

"Why didn't you identify your attacker to the police?" Batgirl snapped.

"Because I believe in forgiveness. Because I would rather see my attacker healed in soul than caged in body behind iron bars."

"He could hurt someone else!" Batgirl said.

"I don't believe he will. Despite what happened, I believe he is still a good young man. He's simply…fallen astray."

Batgirl took a menacing step towards Father Craemer, "Why did he want to kill you?"

"I'd rather not say," said Father Craemer, "in part because I feel he thinks I've said too much."

"You weren't supposed to say anything! You swore! To the church, to God and to me!"

Father Craemer snapped his head to the side, and saw Peter Hall stepping out from behind the confessional, with a dangerous blade in one hand.

"Peter, wait! Don't make this situation worse!" Father Craemer turned to glance at Batgirl, to get a sense of her reaction, but saw that she'd seemed to vanish into thin air.

But when the Father turned to look back at Peter, he saw her standing over him. Peter's knife hand was twisted behind his back, the blade gone and he was down on his knees.

"Stop, don't hurt him!"

Father Craemer tried to approach, but Batgirl gave him a stern look, and twisted Peter's arm just a little tighter.

The Father got the message.

"He tried to kill you," Batgirl said, "I want to know why. And I want to know now."

"He knows why!" Peter spat with righteous fury, "he swore an oath, to God! He took my confession and threw it in my face! He took everything!"

Batgirl looked at Father Craemer, and saw that there was some truth in Peter's words.

"Batgirl, please let him go," Father Craemer said.

"He'll attack," Batgirl said simply.

"No he won't, because he knows you'll do worse to him before he can even touch me."

"Fair enough," Batgirl released him, and Peter stood up gingerly. Father Craemer motioned for Peter to sit next to him on the pew.

"What I told you…you used my confession to destroy my life!"

Father Craemer looked at the young man sadly, "Do you know the purpose of the confessional, Peter?"

"To confess my sins, to you and God," Peter said, "to receive forgiveness. But you used that against me, and…!"

"Yes," Father Craemer said quickly, "to confess your sins. To ask our Father for forgiveness."

"And you turned it against me!" tears ran down Peter's eyes, "you destroyed my life! Why?"

"Because Peter, what you confessed to me, they weren't your sins. What your father and mother were doing to you…"

"Shut up!" Peter stood up and recoiled from Father Craemer as if he were a snake about to bite, "they were good parents! They loved me! They were just…"

"They may have loved you," Father Craemer said, "but that does not automatically a good parent make."

"I just…" Peter covered his eyes, and wept, "…I just miss them so much…."

"I know, son, I know," Father Craemer placed a comforting hand on Peter's shoulder, "that doesn't make you a bad person. Just a better son than they were parents."

Father Craemer turned his head to Batgirl.

"Please excuse us, for a moment. I think the city's police would better serve the community taking this young man home to his foster parents, than sitting outside my door."

Batgirl looked Peter up and down, and saw that all the violence had left his system. But all the same…

"Very well. I know his face now."

Now

"And that was all?"

Cassandra hesitated.

"That was all," she repeated.

"So attempted murder, assault and a stake out…"

Marnie Herrs sighed, "and I take it the last two nights were slow ones, weren't they?"

"Yes."

Marnie Herrs rubbed the bridge of her nose, "I thought so."

Cassandra saw Marnie's body language, and said, defensively, "…I didn't ask to be here."

"I know. But you need to be," Marnie said, "so, back to last night. Happy ending, I suppose? The boy was taken home, no more murder attempts?"

"Yes," Cassandra said.

"And that was it? Nothing you'd care to talk about? And before you answer, I feel like I should let you know, I know Father Craemer personally," Marnie studied Cassandra carefully.

In her career, Marnie thought she'd developed a keen sense of telling when one of her 'kids' was lying to her.

But then she learned that one of her students had been Batgirl the entire time, and she had no clue until she stumbled into it almost face first. So she doubted her instincts a little when it came to Cassandra.

"You can talk to me, Cassandra."

Then

Batgirl waited patiently for Father Craemer to return.

"He'll still blame you. Even if he won't come after you again."

Father Craemer sighed, and Batgirl knew she hadn't said anything he didn't already realize.

"But perhaps that is for the best," said Father Craemer.

"How can you say that?"

"Because better he blame me than an innocent child blame themselves for the sins of their parents," said The Father, "because in my experience, there is no worse poison than that."

Now

Cassandra felt a knot of emotions form in her stomach.

"No, nothing else."

Next Issue: From Russia…

Afterword: I know a lot of people were expecting the talk between Tatsu, Cass and Marnie, but that wouldn't have worked in the issue. And to be honest, I never really planned to show it, when the result is obvious. I've

And wow, I just realized how influenced my series has been by Suicide Squad what with Marnie Herrs, Windfall, Father Craemer, Deadshot and *spoilers*. Influence can come from anywhere, lol.

Lastly, if you like Cass, check her out in my Titans East series. Same Cass, more action!