Bolton's good mood had evaporated the instant he'd set foot in the decrepit old shelter and saw the four fellow security guards waiting for him in a back room inside. Or rather, who he didn't see. "Where the Hell's Morton and the brat!?" he demanded.

One of the guards, a brown-haired man named Blake who was almost as tall and bulky as Bolton himself, shrugged. "We left one group at a time to get here like you said we should. Morton said he'd take the girl and leave last. He should've been here by now."

Another guard, a shorter, somewhat weaselly looking man named Burns looked nervously at Bolton. "You think the cops pulled him over, or somethin'?"

Bolton growled, remembering his earlier conversation with Morton, and the reluctance in his voice. "Or he's gotten soft on us. How long ago did you leave?"

"Forty minutes," Blake answered. "You think we should call him?"

Bolton nodded. "Yeah. And if he doesn't pick up, we're going after 'im."

"What about Strange?" another guard, Pierce asked. "Should we tell him?"

"No," Bolton said. The last thing he needed was Strange to know and cuss him out for this. He could just imagine what the 'good doctor' would have to say. 'Is disposing of a single teenaged girl too difficult for you, Bolton? Should I replace you with someone more competent?' "We can still handle this ourselves. Call Morton, Blake." Blake did as he was told and Bolton began to pace. As long as Sanchez did what he was told and kept his mouth shut, as long as Morton didn't do anything stupid, they were in the clear. He walked past Burns, who he noticed seemed jumpy. "What's the matter with you?"

Burns shook his head. "Nothin'. It's just...this is Red Hood's territory, isn't it? What if he comes by?"

Bolton looked askance at him, then let out a loud, disbelieving laugh. "Seriously, Burns? You're scared of a guy with a red tin can on his head?"

"That guy's no joke, Bolton," Pierce said. "He almost brought down Black Mask singlehandedly. And he ain't afraid of killin'."

"Neither are we, right?" Bolton sneered. "Stay calm, ladies. Soon as Morton shows up, we'll kill the kid and be home before Red Hood or any one of the other masked freaks comes out to play."

"We're gonna have a problem with that, Bolton," Blake said, hanging up his cell phone and putting it back into his pocket. "Morton's not pickin' up. His phone's off."

Bolton gnashed his teeth. Son of a bitch had turned on them. "Alright. It's a twenty-minute minute drive between here and the safehouse. There's only so many places he could've gone. Pierce, you and McIntyre go North. Blake and Burns will go South. I'll go back to his house then go East. Find him and the girl."

The other guards nodded, then moved towards the door that led back to the hallway of the shelter. Just before he went to open the door, Burns froze. "Wait. Did you guys hear that?"

The other four men paused. Bolton rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a little girl Burns-" then he heard it. Creaking wooden floor panels. Footsteps. Someone else was in here.

"Morton?" McIntyre whispered.

"No," Bolton whispered back, his eyes narrowing. "He would have said so." He pulled his pistol out of its hoster. A vagrant? A Bat? Didn't matter. Either way, they were about to get a bullet between the eyes. "Look alive, boys. We've got company."

The interior of the shelter was dark, save for a dim light coming from a room at the end of the long hallway that ran between the back of the building and the front door. Stephanie moved as silently as she could, straining to pick up any noise. As she drew closer to the source of light, she overheard a man's voice. She stopped about three feet from the door, craning her head forward to listen. "Where the Hell's Morton and the brat!?"

The brat? That had to mean Enigma's friend. So wait, she wasn't even here? A low murmuring answered the man, murmuring that she couldn't quite make out. One voice said, in a tone she could barely hear, "What about Strange? Should we tell him?" Stephanie frowned. Strange? Wait, Dr. Hugo Strange? The new Warden of Arkham, and, according to Oracle and Bruce, Mayor Sharp's right-hand man? What did he have to do with this? She almost missed another man nervously ask about Red Hood, and the first one she'd heard, Bolton, she thought his name was, laugh it off. Yeah, laugh it off tough guy, she thought. You should be glad it's me on the other side of this door and not Jason.

"Morton's not pickin' up. His phone's off."

"Alright. It's a twenty-minute minute drive between here and the safehouse. There's only so many places he could've gone. Pierce, you and McIntyre go North. Blake and Burns will go South. I'll go back to his house then go East. Find him and the girl."

At those words, Stephanie was at the ready. She'd heard at least five men in there, who may or may not be armed. She was in a cramped hallway, which limited her use of her bo staff. She'd faced worse odds, but there was Enigma to consider. She couldn't run the risk of her getting in the middle of a drag-out brawl. Stephanie frowned a bit. Maybe if Cass was here, they could have taken them on, but the better thing to do may be to pull back, slash their tires, and try to find this Morton guy and Enigma's friend. She took a step back, only to hear the wooden floor creak beneath her. Crap.

"Wait. Did you guys hear that?"

Looked like she didn't have much a choice now. Stephanie stepped backward, as quietly as she could, her hand going to the compartment on her belt that had her smoke grenades. She ducked behind the corner at the end of the hall, her smoke grenades in her hand. She waited until she heard the sound of a door opening. She quickly rolled the smoke grenades down the hallway floor, then pressed herself back against the wall, bracing for what was about to come.

"What the-" she heard Bolton say before she heard the distinctive hiss of the smoke grenades and the panicked, coughing noises of the men down the hall.

"Oh, God!" she heard who she thought was Burns call out. "It's the Red Hood! He's here!"

"Guess again," she called out. "You boys are in a heap of trouble."

"Who's that? Batgirl?"

Bolton coughed, then let out a low laugh. "Seriously?" Then Stephanie heard bullets whizz past her down the hallway.

She rolled her eyes. Every time the creeps underestimated her, and every time, she showed them why that was a bad idea. She waited until she could hear the sound of him reloading, then stepped around the corner to throw a batarang at Bolton, hitting him dead on in the face. He cried out in pain and anger and clutched his nose. "Get her!" he yelled at the other four men. They hesitated for a moment before braving through the smoke to charge toward her. Stephanie darted back into the more open former waiting room of the shelter and pulled out her bo staff. As she could see the men make their way to her, she hoped that Enigma did what she said and stayed put.

Ellen sat with her back against the shelter building, looking impatiently towards the where Batgirl had left every few moments. She leaned her head back against the cold brick building and pouted. How long was it gonna take for her to get Marisol out? She should've gone in with her. And do what? A voice that sounded like the Old Man asked. Get in her way? She's the seasoned crime fighter, you're just a kid in a costume who got lucky and went up against idiots. Ellen shook her head. Batgirl had just been a kid in a costume once too, right? So had the Robins. Even the Old Man had to start from somewhere too. Speaking of, Ellen kind of wondered how the Old Man was going to react to this. She cringed. Maybe if she was really lucky, she could convince Batgirl not to tell anyone.

Just as she looked down the alleyway again, she heard loud popping noises, one right after the other. Ellen jumped up to her feet and took a step back from the building. Was that a gun? Then she heard the sound of loud voices and scuffling coming from inside the old shelter. Oh shit, she thought. Batgirl must be fighting the creeps who took Marisol. A grin came to her face. Good. She hoped Batgirl knocked their teeth out. She heard a loud shout of pain and the sound of breaking furniture. She bit her lip. She hoped Marisol was okay and wasn't in the middle of whatever was going on. She heard a thudding noise coming closer to her and briefly, she pondered pulling apart the plywood that covered the window to see what was going on inside when she heard another loud grunt. Wait. That sounded like a girl. Marisol! Ellen grabbed the piece of plywood that she'd pulled off the window earlier and ran down the alley. She was just about to round the corner when she heard the sound of something crashing out the front door to the building. She pressed herself flat against the wall before slowly peeking her head around the corner. She stifled a gasp.

Batgirl lay on the ground, flat of her back, dazed. She must have been thrown out the building at some point during the fight. Why wasn't she getting up? From her vantage point, Ellen watched as a tall, lean weasely looking man advanced toward Batgirl. Come on, get up, get up...Batgirl let out another groan, then started to slowly move. The man continued to advance and Ellen heard him speak. "Now who's in big trouble, little girl?" He kicked her, sending her back to the ground.

His back faced Ellen and she had the plywood in her hands. He moved his foot back as if to kick Batgirl again, and Ellen reacted. She ran as fast as she could until she was just behind the man. Without any hesitation, she swung the piece of wood back like a baseball bat as far as she could, then swung at the back of his head with all her might. The world seemed to slow down as her aim was true and she heard the sharp crack of wood along with loud shout of confused pain from the man. He staggered, then turned to face her. Without a moment to lose, Ellen swung again, hitting the man dead on in the face, sending the already cracked top half of plywood flying and the man sprawling to the ground, blood gushing from his nose. Batgirl's blue eyes widened when she saw Ellen and she began to pull herself up. Ellen placed the wood on the ground and reached her hand out to help Batgirl to her feet when a voice reached her ears.

"What the fuck!? Burns!"

Ellen turned to see three other men in the doorway of the shelter, each of them tall and almost as large as the man she'd seen outside of Marisol's apartment. They looked at her and their fallen member, confusion and anger on their faces. One of them, a man with a blond crew cut, pointed at her. "Who the Hell are you!?"

Unlike earlier with the men who had tried to rip her off, Ellen knew exactly what to say. Adrenaline still pounding through her veins, she puffed out her chest and smirked. "Riddle me this, assholes. What's ugly and dumb and about to be covered in blood like this guy?" She pointed at them, then flipped them off. "You losers, after Batgirl and Enigma get through with you!"

"E-Enigma?" The men looked at each other. "Who the Hell is Enigma!? Some Riddler rip-off?"

"I'm Enigma!" Ellen shouted. "And I'm not a rip-off! I'm the Riddler's daughter, and he's taught me everything I need to know to wipe you guys off the face of the Earth!" Well, no he hadn't, not at all, but these idiots didn't need to know that.

The blond man began to look a bit uneasy. "Hey! Bolton! Get out here! There's some brat calling herself the Riddler's kid with Batgirl!" Bolton? Wait, that was-A fourth man showed up at the rear of the group and Ellen gasped. It was him, the man who'd been at Marisol's apartment. He pushed his way to the front and made eye contact with her. His beady black eyes almost bugged out of his face when he recognized her.

"You!" he shouted. Then his eyes narrowed. "I knew I recognized you from somewhere! You're Nigma's brat!?"

Ellen squared her shoulders. "Where's my friend!?"

Bolton chuckled a bit. "You really wanna find out? MacIntyre, Pierce, grab her!" The blond man and another tall man with back hair began to advance towards the two vigilantes.

Batgirl placed herself in front of Enigma. "This is fun, but it's time to go to jail now." She pulled a batarang from her belt and threw it at the blond man, who caught it.

"Did you mean to do that?" Ellen asked.

"Wait for it," Batgirl smirked.

The batarang suddenly jolted with electricity, making MacIntyre shout out in pain. He collapsed, only missing the ground when Pierce caught him. Pierce turned back towards Bolton. "Lyle, this isn't doing us any good! We need to find Morton!"

Bolton's face darkened, but he nodded. Ellen then watched as he pulled a pistol from his side. "Scatter!" he shouted. "Meet up at Morton's place!" He then turned his gun towards Ellen and Batgirl. Ellen froze as she watched Bolton's fingers press the trigger, and it seemed to finally dawn on her just how dangerous what she was doing actually was. It wasn't just a game. She could die. If she didn't move, she would die. Her legs felt rooted to her spot though. Then she felt a hand grab her own and begin to pull her towards the safety of the alley.

"Run!"

Batgirl's voice brought Ellen back to life and she reacted, following her as fast as she could towards cover, hearing the bullets pass over them and trying not to cringe at the sound they made. Wait, was he missing them on purpose? What was he doing? They were about halfway down the alley when another sound reached Ellen's ears. The sound of car tires squealing and speeding off. Now she understood. Bolton had missed them on purpose to scare them off, so they could escape! Ellen turned around and saw for herself the three cars speeding off down the street. No! Marisol! She broke away from Batgirl's grip and ran back down the alley. "No! They're getting away!"

"Enigma! Wait!"

Ellen ran as fast as she could, but by the time she made it back to the front of the shelter, the last car, Bolton's ugly red car had rounded the corner, out of sight. Even if she unlocked her bike, there was no way she could catch up to them. She'd failed. Marisol was as good as dead. Ellen collapsed to her knees, letting out a cry. "No!" she shouted. "No, no no!" Tears began to stream down her face and she started to cry in earnest. She startled a bit when she felt a gentle pressure on her shoulder and looked up to see Batgirl, looking at her with a kind expression.

"We're too late," Ellen sniffled. "We're never gonna be able to save her now. They took her-"

"No," Batgirl said. "Enigma, I heard those guys talking when I was inside. Your friend was never here. There was a fifth guy who was supposed to bring her, but he didn't. If we can find him before they do, we can still save your friend."

Ellen blinked. "W-what?" she asked. "She wasn't-but why wouldn't he bring her?" She sniffled again. "Maybe he already killed her-"

"I really don't think so. Bolton and the others wouldn't have run off the way they did if they thought she was dead. The way that Bolton was talking, it sounds like maybe the fifth guy has a conscience. He might be keeping her, or maybe he dropped her off somewhere. Either way, we can't give up hope just yet." Then Batgirl smiled down at her. "Come on! Batgirl and Enigma still have four more guys to get through with, right?"

Looking up at the girl who had been an idol of hers, Ellen felt her hope and her confidence come back. "Yeah," she said, wiping her nose and eyes with the back of her hand. She got up to her feet. They could do this. They'd come this far already. They'd save Marisol and they'd make that Bolton creep eat dirt. Then her face fell again. "But how are we going to find her? We don't know who that fifth guy is!"

"No, but we know someone who does." Batgirl gestured behind them. Ellen turned and saw that the man she'd knocked out, Burns, she thought the others called him, was still lying on the pavement. He groaned a bit. "Looks like his buddies didn't care enough about him to bring him with them."

"Sucks for him," Ellen said with a smirk.

"Right." Batgirl and Ellen sauntered up to the fallen man until both were standing over him. "So," Batgirl began. "Looks like your buddies left you high and dry. Care to tell us what exactly's going on here?"

"Oh no," Burns wheezed, blood still trickling from his face where the plywood had hit him. "I'm not tellin' you a damn thing!"

Batgirl shrugged. "You don't have to tell me anything. But I'm warning you, I'm a lot nicer than Enigma here," she gestured to Ellen, who let out an admittingly evil grin. "Riddler's taught her a lot of his old tricks, right Enigma?"

"Right," Ellen answered, cracking her knuckles. "First thing Pops ever taught me was how to break a guy's leg."

Burns' eyes bugged out and he turned pale. "Keep that little brat away from me!"

"Aw, what's wrong, chuckle fuck?" Ellen taunted. "Scared of a teenager? Didn't stop you from kidnapping one! Where's my friend!?" She stomped her foot down hard, right next to Burns' face. "Next time I'll stomp right down on your face!"

Burns cringed. "Morton! She's with Morton! His place is at 250 62nd street! I swear!"

Batgirl nodded. "Was that so hard? Now, tell us why exactly you kidnapped her friend."

"It wasn't my idea!"

"I don't care!" Ellen shouted, stomping her foot down again. "Why did you kidnap her!?"

Burns squealed. "Bolton said that we needed her to keep her brother from opening his mouth about what happened at the asylum!"

"The asylum?" Batgirl repeated. Then her eyes widened. "Wait. Arkham Asylum?" She turned to Ellen. "You said the brother was an orderly, right?"

Ellen nodded. "Yeah. I didn't know he worked at Arkham though." Arkham Asylum? That would explain why Marisol and Miguel's parents freaked out so much. Ellen involuntarily shivered. Arkham Asylum? What exactly had Miguel seen?

"What happened at Arkham that you didn't want her brother to talk about?" Batgirl asked. "It must have been pretty big if you were willing to kidnap his sister to keep him quiet."

Burns shook his head. "No, I can't. He'll kill me."

"Who?" Batgirl asked. "Bolton? We can protect you from-"

"No. Not him," Burns said, frantic. "I can't, you don't know what he does to people who get out of line. I can't, I can't, I can't!" Burns' eyes shut and he lay still. Batgirl leaned down and pressed two fingers to his neck.

"Is he dead?" Ellen asked, hating how shaky her voice sounded.

"No," Batgirl answered. "I think he fainted."

Ellen rolled her eyes. "Oh, great! Fuckin' wimp!"

She couldn't tell because of the cowl, but with the way Batgirl was looking up at her, Ellen wouldn't be surprised if she was raising an eyebrow. "No offense, but you got a heck of a mouth on you. You must get sent to the principal's office a lot, huh?"

Ellen shrugged. "Look at me, I'm 5'3! I need to come up with some way to keep people from messin' with me!"

Batgirl laughed a bit. "I'm going to go check in with my contact, then we'll go get your friend. Stay here until I get back, okay?"

Ellen nodded. "Got it."

Batgirl stood back up, then started to walk past her down the street a bit. Before she passed her by, she put a hand on her shoulder. "By the way," she said. "Thanks for helping out back there. You did great."

Ellen felt her face flush. "Thanks-I mean you're welcome." Batgirl smiled, then continued to walk away, stopping about fifteen feet away from her. Ellen took a breath, her mind a jumble of conflicting emotions. Fear for Marisol, unease about what exactly Miguel was involved in. Above all though, she was thrilled. She'd fought alongside Batgirl and received praise from her.

The Old Man would never believe it.

Stephanie waited until she was certain she was out of earshot of Enigma but close enough to keep her in her line of vision before she pressed her communication link. "Oracle, it's me."

"There you are! I saw your suit readings spike up a little while ago. Everything okay?"

Stephanie let out a long sigh. "Where do I start? Enigma's friend wasn't being held at the shelter. One of the guys who kidnapped her as her somewhere else, but the four other people who are involved were here. Get this. Their leader is Lyle Bolton."

"Lyle Bolton? As in head of security at Arkham Asylum Lyle Bolton?"

"One and the same." Stephanie let out another breath. "We need to tell Bruce what's going on. Whatever this girl's brother is involved in is serious stuff."

"I agree. What about Bolton's accomplices?"

"The other names I got were Blake, Pierce, MacIntyre, Burns, and Morton. Morton's the one who has the girl, Bolton, Blake, Pierce, and MacIntyre are in the wind, and Enigma took down Burns."

"Hold on-Enigma took down one of these guys? How did that happen?"

"I got in a fight with the guys in the shelter, then Burns picked me up and threw me out the front door. Enigma blitz attacked him from behind." Stephanie shook her head, then looked back up to where Enigma was pacing up and down in front of the shelter, working off nervous energy probably. "I don't know if she's been wearing a costume longer than we thought, or if she's just been really, really lucky, but she's kind of a natural at this."

"We're not taking her in," Oracle said sternly. "Bruce would never go for it, never mind what Nigma would say."

"I know, I know. Speaking of Daddy Dearest, has Bruce had any luck reaching him?"

"No. He and Damian are still bogged down on the North Docks, so he sent Tim and Cass to go get him."

Stephanie stifled a laugh. "Oh, he'll love that. In the meantime, we're going to track down Morton. Hopefully, we can find him and the girl before Bolton does."

"We?"

Stephanie paused before responding, knowing Barbara wasn't going to like what she was about to say. "I'm bringing Enigma with me."

"Stephanie, no. I know she probably brings back memories for you, but you can't drag Nigma's kid along with you on this."

"Barbara, I know it's not a good idea, but I don't exactly have a lot of other options. I don't have time to take her back home and then go find her friend, and I'm not leaving her alone. Unless Nigma decides to actually act like a parent and come get her, she's staying with me. If Bruce has a problem with that, I'll deal with it."

There was a long pause before Barbara spoke again. "Alright, but keep her out of the fray as much as possible. I'll call you as soon as I get word from Tim and Cass about Nigma. And when Nigma comes to get her, hand her over to him. I know you have a history with him, but he's her father."

"Understood," Stephanie said. "I'll call if anything changes. Batgirl out." Stephanie hung up the call and walked back over to where Enigma was waiting for her. 'Her father'. Maybe biologically, but from what she saw, Enigma must have gotten every good quality she possessed from whoever her mother had been.

Ellen stopped pacing when she saw Batgirl approach her. "We ready to go?"

"Yep," Batgirl said. He reached over to her belt and pulled a small electronic out of her compartment. It looked like a remote.

"What's that?" Ellen asked.

"It's to call my motorcycle," Batgirl explained. "You didn't think we were going to walk to get your friend, did you?"

"So it can run on autopilot? That's so cool," Ellen gushed.

Batgirl opened her mouth to say something else when her eyes suddenly darted up to the rooftop of a building next to the shelter. Her eyes widened, then narrowed. "Enigma, get behind me! Now!"

"What?" Ellen turned around to see what she was looking at and gasped. Standing on the rooftop, staring right down at them was a tall figure. His clothing was dark, but Ellen could see he was wearing a leather jacket. Her attention though was drawn immediately to the red metallic helmet that the man wore, that covered his entire face. She'd never seen this man except in the papers and the brief clips the news networks had shown, but she knew exactly who he was and what he did to criminals in the Narrows. "Red Hood," she whispered.

Batgirl roughly pushed Ellen behind her at the same moment the Red Hood jumped down from the rooftop onto the pavement, maybe fifteen feet or so away from them. Batgirl's hand went to her belt and in an instant, she had another batarang in her hand. "What do you want?" she hissed out and Ellen was struck by how angry she sounded. It was the most aggressive she'd seen Batgirl that entire night.

"Well, nice to see you too," Red Hood said, the helmet amplifying his voice somewhat. It was a deep voice, but somehow, it was younger than Ellen thought it would be. Ellen's blood ran cold when she realized that Red Hood was staring past Batgirl to look at her. "I see you brought a new friend. Care to introduce us?" He took a step forward.

Batgirl pressed the middle of the batarang she held and it sparked with electricity. "Only warning. Don't take another step."

Red Hood scoffed. "Come on. You know I don't hurt little girls." He stayed exactly where he was though. Ellen clung onto Batgirl's cape a bit, trying not to look directly at Red Hood. She'd heard the stories. He could kill both of them in a second if he wanted to. "So," she heard him say, and she realized that he was talking to her. "Did I hear you right? 'Enigma'? 'Riddler's Daughter'? That a gimmick, or are you actually his kid?"

Ellen gulped. "Y-yeah." Then a surge of annoyance ran through her. She'd just helped Batgirl take down a kidnapper, she shouldn't him any fear. "Yeah, I am! What's it to you, ass munch?" She covered her mouth as soon as the words had left her mouth.

Red Hood stared at her, and for a moment, Ellen thought he'd shoot her. Then he did something she never expected. He laughed. "Yeah, you're Eddie's kid alright. You got his smart mouth, that's for damn sure." He turned his attention back to Batgirl. "So, care to explain to me what you're doing down here? Thought Batman didn't let you down here."

"We're leaving," Batgirl said curtly. "It's none of your business."

Red Hood gestured to Burns' prone form in front of the shelter. "There's a guy bleeding on the street in my territory thanks to you. I'm making it my business."

Once again, Ellen blurted out without thinking. "I did that," she said.

Red Hood turned his attention back to her. "Yeah?" he said. "Not bad for a little girl. What did he do to you?"

"He and a bunch of guys from Arkham kidnapped my friend. I came down here to get her back and Batgirl found me. It's not her fault."

Red Hood was silent again. "Kidnapped your friend? Why?"

The sound of an engine came up from behind Ellen and Batgirl, and Ellen turned to see that it was Batgirl's motorcycle. "Get on it. We'll stop by your bike and grab your stuff before we go." Batgirl said. Ellen did as she was told, sitting as far back on the seat as she could and watching the standoff. "Like I said," Batgirl said. "It's none of your business. We're leaving." Then, without taking her eyes off of Red Hood for a moment, Batgirl walked backward, then got on the motorcycle. As soon as she was on, she revved the engine, made a sharp turn right and drove down the street. Ellen looked behind her to see that Red Hood was watching them as they left until he disappeared into the night.