DC Infinity Presents
Batgirl # 46
The Art of Destruction
Part 2
"Broken Homes."
Gotham's International Art Exhibit
Red Robin and Batgirl found themselves surrounded by KGBeast and over a dozen gunmen.
"Isn't it great, being back?" said Batgirl.
"I will admit, Gotham death threats do bring back some warm memories," Red Robin said.
KGBeast clenched his fist in anger, infuriated at being so easily dismissed.
"Enough!" KGBeast snapped, "kill…"
Smoke pellets were already sent flying.
"…them!"
Sightlines vanished, and Red Robin and Batgirl plunged into the mist.
"So, name change?" Batgirl's boot connected with the stomach of one gunman, and her fist connected with the jaw of another.
"Thought it was time to establish myself as more than Batman's partner," Red Robin swung his bow-staff, disarming two men at once, "but I didn't want to completely leave it behind."
KGBeast watched as his men fell. He knew that the Robin he fought in the past and this Red Robin were one in the same, and he idly wondered how he might have changed in other ways. He looked forward to finding out.
"The boy is mine," KGBeast said to his companion, "deal with the girl."
"KGBeast is mine," Red Robin said, "you handle his partner."
"Wait, partner?" Batgirl said.
Batgirl felt a blow to the face, and a kick to the stomach. Battle tested reflexes blocked the next attack with her wrist, but Batgirl realized that she saw nothing.
"Sorry, did I forget," Red Robin said, as he stalked towards KGBeast, "KGBeast is working alongside Echo. Must have slipped my mind."
"Slipped your mind," Batgirl muttered, "right."
oooOOoo
Home
Tatsu removed the katana that had been concealed in the hall closet. While not as impressive as her original blade, it was forged with elements of nth metal and bore several enchantments etched by Zatanna herself.
It was a pale imitation of her original blade, Soul Taker, but was far more dangerous than any run of the mill sword. With this sword, neither sorcery or science was immune to her blade.
It wasn't Soul Taker, but it would do in a pinch.
Weapon in hand, Tatsu considered her options. She could send an alert to Cassandra or Oracle, but didn't want to raise any undue alarm. No matter how good she was, the last thing Cassandra needed was an undue distraction.
After all, this wasn't the first time Tatsu had sensed something was amiss with her ancestral blade. The upheaval of magic had taken a heavy toll on both it and her, yet it had remained secure thus far.
So rather than needlessly alarm her family, Tatsu simply opened an app that Oracle had given her, and programmed a five minute delay. If nothing happened, she could easily deactivate it.
If something did happen, well, Tatsu was realistic enough to know that Cassandra would never reach her in time.
Moving up the stairs, no louder than a breeze, her senses cast outwards. She sensed nothing, natural or otherwise, and found nothing. But Tatsu wasn't so full of herself to think that her stealth abilities, or situational awareness skills were on par with Bruce or Cassandra, so she remained on guard.
Having reached the top of the stairs unmolested, Tatsu stalked towards her room, and silently opened the door.
She found it almost exactly as she had last left it. The bed made, clothes in the hamper, a few odd letters scattered.
And the glass case that had been given to her by Dr. Occult to contain her was still in the corner, a blade still resting inside. It had become just a permanent fixture of the room, untouched, unused, that most days Tatsu barely gave it any regard at all. There was a thin layer of dust on the glass that Tatsu still hadn't ben able to motivate herself to remove.
"False alarm," Tatsu said aloud, trying to reassure herself. She felt very little relief, all things considered. Her bond to the sword was growing stronger, and yet had she felt such distress.
Tatsu looked at the glass case again, and her fear reached new heights. Where there were supposed to be two swords, a decoy and Soul Taker, there was only one.
"No, no, no!" Tatsu rushed to the case and flung it open, her fears confirmed. The remaining sword was not the blade she carried as Katana, just an ordinary family heirloom.
The floor behind Tatsu creaked, and the former heroine spun around, blade at the ready.
But what she saw, and sensed, made Tatsu freeze in place.
"You?"
"I'm sorry."
For a split second, Tatsu forgot her training. And that was all the time her foe needed.
oooOOoo
Gotham's International Art Exhibit
Red Robin fought the urge to roll his eyes, as KGBeast sized him up as he'd done so many times before.
"Little Robin," KGBeast smiled underneath his mask, "come back home to die."
"I've come home for a lot of things," Red Robin used his bo-staff to vault towards KGBeast, his foot slamming into the Russian's stomach, "but that's not one of them."
KGBeast swept his prosthetic gun arm with his bayonet at the end, for Red Robin's head but Red Robin ducked under the strike without breaking stride.
"When was the last time you upgraded?" Red Robin brought a quick chop down on the prosthetic weapon, where flesh and metal met. The impact sent a surge of pain and discomfort through KGBeast, and he staggered.
"That long, huh?"
oooOOoo
Batgirl felt a kick to the stomach, but was able to block the punch aimed at her jaw with her wrist.
Blind fighting wasn't Batgirl's preferred method of combat, but she didn't have much of a choice. Inability to see her opponent move was a hurdle, but not one she couldn't overcome.
In her mind's eye, Batgirl was building a database, reviewing what Batman had reported about Echo, the few training images that they had managed to recover.
For her part, Echo moved quickly, and Batgirl could feel her foe's telepathy trying to worm her way into her mind.
Batgirl swept her leg for Echo's head, but with a nod it missed by inches. Echo responded with a quick punch at Batgirl's head that her foe dodged. Echo recovered quickly, though, and grabbed Batgirl by the shoulder, and tried to knee her in the gut.
But Batgirl caught it with both hands, head-butted Echo, and then knocked her arms aside.
Batgirl and Echo threw themselves at one another, but Echo's telepathy was the perfect match for Batgirl's combat prowess. Echo's invisibility was a hurdle, Batgirl found, but she recognized her style as if it were splashed across a billboard. Echo used a sophisticated form of systema, and Batgirl recognized her adaptions, and could predict her attacks regardless of sight.
The two young women, raised from childhood as warriors soon found themselves perfectly matched, and in a firm stalemate.
oooOOoo
"I don't need upgrade!" KGBeast snapped, as he lashed out at Red Robin.
Red Robin tapped his belt, and then spun his bo-staff with a cocky smirk.
"You know your problem, KBGeast?"
Red Robin swung lunged forward, jamming his bo-staff into the Russian's gut.
"You got complacent."
KGBeast tried to aim his arm cannon, but Red Robin removed a pre-prepared capsule from his belt and splashed on the weapon. It engulfed the weapon in yellow foam that jammed the trigger mechanism.
"No!"
Red Robin cartwheeled forward, both feet slamming into the Beast's jaw.
"You beat Batman. Once."
When KGBeast stumbled, Red Robin fell to the floor, landing on his hands. He lashed out with both legs, kicking the murderer in the shin, knocking his foot out from under him.
"And ever since then, you've taken that to mean you're good enough as is."
Red Robin was on his feet in a blink, and leapt towards KGBeast, his knee smashing the former spy's jaw.
"But you're not. You don't push yourself. You're just a thug."
Red Robin brought his bo-staff smashing down on KGBeast's head.
"That's why the rookie who you nearly killed only a few years ago is beating your ass, without breaking a sweat."
The flat of Red Robin's right hand slammed into KGBeast's cybernetic eye.
"And why I was able to record this weeks ago, one day after I knew you would be involved. Good night, Beast. I don't care about your dreams."
Red Robin's boot struck KGBeast's thick neck. Red Robin pulled his blow, but it was still enough to render his foe unconscious.
oooOOoo
As Batgirl struggled to match her foe, she couldn't help but think about how alike they were. Both raised as weapons, experiments, by those that should have cared for them, abused by those that they should have been able to trust and forced to survive in an indifferent world.
"We are but two sides of the same coin," said Echo.
Underneath her mask, Batgirl smile. She grabbed the side of Echo's head and pulled her close. The Vigilante ignored all the training she'd been given regarding telepaths. Instead she opened her mind and allowed her foe inside. All while asking, one simple question.
"Let me go, let me go!" Echo demanded, her voice panicked.
Echo took several steps back and leveled her sidearm at Batgirl. Her hand trembled as tears ran down her eyes. Batgirl stood there, unflinching.
Echo looked down the barrel of the gun at her enemy, at a range too close to miss, but lacking any of the willpower to actually pull the trigger.
Instead, it fell from her trembling hand, as Echo turned and ran away as fast as her legs would carry her.
"Wow, what was that?" said Red Robin.
"I made her read my mind," Batgirl said, "and I asked her when the last time she woke up in the morning for anything other than a mission."
"Hmm, nice thinking," Red Robin said.
"Ha!" Batgirl chuckled.
"What?"
"Made a pun," Batgirl said, "not notice?"
"Hmm, wasn't intentional," Red Robin said, "anyways, we've dealt with the opposition. Lets check out the office, see what we can get in way of records."
The dynamic duo made their way to the manager's office. After a quick but methodical search, Batgirl found a hidden drawer, and offered Red Robin the small handbook within.
"Looks like we have delivery time, sources," Red Robin flipped through the pages before sliding it into a compartment in his belt, "I'll examine it later."
A siren could be heard in the distance.
"Lets go."
oooOOoo
Batgirl paused, once the two crimefighters reached the roof.
"I think I'm going to call it a night," Red Robin said, "I need to review this intel and decide where to go next."
"We should patrol," said Batgirl. She looked out over Gotham, with Red Robin at her back, "more fun."
"Fun is ending an investigation," said Red Robin.
"Lying to family," Batgirl turned to face Red Robin, "is that also fun?"
Batgirl found she was actually impressed by Red Robin's stoic lack of response.
"What are you talking about?" said Red Robin.
"You arranged for Sarah to have extra tickets," Batgirl said, "during the fight, you didn't care the Lieutenant for the Russian mob that slipped away. This was…feint?"
Red Robin's body language said everything.
"You marked their stolen material already," said Batgirl, "just removing their muscle?"
"…right," Red Robin sighed, "look Cass, I'm sorry about all this cloak and dagger stuff, I just needed to clear the board before I brought the hammer down. Bruce is sending in a Checkmate team, I just needed to set things up. Care to join us?"
"Who is coming?"
"Bruce, Connor, and Dinah," Red Robin replied, "Thorn has his hands in some dangerous cookie jars, and Bruce wants it shutdown ASAP. We should have everything we need by Friday, if you'd like to join us."
"You don't want me there," said Batgirl, "not even comfortable with me here, now. Should stop lying."
Red Robin was silent.
"Silver Shrike is involved," Batgirl said, "so you don't want me involved."
"I know about your relationship," Red Robin said.
"And I know it's not date night," Batgirl said, "Nightwing is out of town. You lied."
Red Robin was silent.
"Do you remember, what is it was like, when I joined?" said Batgirl, "we didn't…mesh. You were…tense around me."
"Our world view was a little different," Red Robin observed, with a slight smile.
"I remember. Thought you lacked…focus. Determination. I couldn't understand why you were there," said Batgirl, "and not home…with your family."
"I remember your focus, dedication," Red Robin said, "back then, you reminded me of Bruce without the charm."
"You remind me of him, now," Batgirl said.
Red Robin rubbed the bridge of his nose, "See, this is why I was dodging Oracle. I never expected you, of all people, to lecture me about overcommitting to the mission."
"Didn't know better then," said Batgirl, "do now. And I don't understand…why you are so eager…to give it up."
Batgirl felt a stab of regret, when she saw Red Robin's reaction.
"The choice was made for me."
"No, it wasn't," Batgirl said, "I started with less. You could have more, if you wanted. If you tried."
"I have what I want," Red Robin replied, as he placed a thumb drive in his belt, "thanks for the help tonight, Cass. We'll can handle the rest."
Batgirl watched as Red Robin, Tim Drake, melted into the shadows more easily than he ever would have been able to years ago.
Batgirl turned away, her heart heavy. Before now, she never really knew how the mission could change someone. In the past she had always put her family's costumed identities first, with little thought about their civilian lives. To her, they were a distraction at best, and a mystery she never cared to investigate at worst.
Knowing all that a civilian life held, Batgirl wished she'd taken to it sooner. And it broke her heart, seeing Tim walk away from it all.
And that was when Batgirl heard an alarm she never wanted to hear.
oooOOoo
The second Batgirl entered her home, she immediately knew something was wrong.
The stillness that hung in the air reminded Batgirl of countless different crime scenes. That nothing was disturbed did nothing to alleviate her fears.
Sensing nothing on the first floor, Batgirl raced upstairs, and instinctive headed towards Tatsu's room.
Flinging the door open, time seemed to stand still.
Cassandra found Tatsu on her knees in a round pool of blood, eyes closed.
And Soul Taker through her heart.
Next issue: Batgirl's most important arc begins!