Life as the BatGirl Issue # 4
Gotham Old Town – Abandoned Shop Baby Girl
I could feel my fingertips dig into my palm as I clenched my fists as hard as possible. Before me was one of the most deranged criminals I had ever encountered before. The amount of lives he had permanently scarred for life already was unforgivable. Despite his pig mask, his eyes sparkled with the joy of a kid at the thought of mutilating me next so I could become his ideal doll. There was no trace of remorse, only of glee and joy at the 'good' he was doing. The fact that he could take such joy in destroying the psyches and bodies of his victims was absolutely sickening.
I was happy I was wearing gloves; otherwise I might have started to bleed just from squeezing my hand too hard.
I made my way over with the intent to give this pig the beat down he deserved, but grew weary as he seemed exceedingly confident. I tried to see if maybe he was about to reach for a concealed weapon, aside from his blade, but instead he just seemed to be inviting me with open arms.
"That's right, come closer to Professor Pyg so that I may properly fix you." His disgusting grin made my hair want to spontaneously combust in anger, if he was going that far to invite me I might as well accept the invitation; with a fist to his face.
Before I could attack though I heard Detective Yin shout out a warning. Instinctively I changed directions and rolled forward. One of the poor doll men had tried to grab me for behind, apparently the earlier knock down hadn't been enough for a proper knock out. I transitioned my roll into a handspring, twisted my body around to face my assailant and rebounded off the wall to drive my elbow into his gut. He bent over my elbow in pain and as quick as I could transitioned his forward bend into a full on flip onto the ground.
"An impressive display Batgirl but my doll-o-trons are the perfect fighting tools, they feel no pain!" Professor Pyg boasted as the floored assailant started to get back up again. I sensed a presence to my right but by this time Detective Yin had also recovered and managed to trip up my other would be assailant.
"Thanks detective!" I said, quite happy for the assist.
"Just returning the earlier favor!" Yin smirked, but soon had no time for any more quipping as the other doll-o-tron quickly recovered, forcing the detective to fight so I could avoid being double teamed.
They weren't impressive fighters by any stretch but the fact that they felt little to no pain, meant they could ignore most injuries. Without limits though, a body wouldn't last very long so I needed to end the fight quickly or risk the doll-o-trons permanently injuring themselves even more than they already were. If I was the Batman from the stories I’ve heard from my father, I’m sure I would already have a plan for safely taking them out and the atrocious Pyg but I’m not him, nor do I have the vast amounts of equipment he used to have.
While I might not have a tool for every situation in my utility belt there was still quite a bit one could cook up with outdated police and military surplus equipment. It could be really hard to find or make replacements though, but if I wanted any chance at stopping this madman I couldn’t afford to be stingy. The doll-o-trons couldn’t really feel pain, but their senses would still be vulnerable, maybe even more so than with their sense of pain intact.
They didn’t stay down for long and were already on top of us, so while we were fending them off I quickly clued Detective Yin on my plan.
“Detective, let’s push them as far away as possible then we need to quickly take cover!” I unclipped a cylindrical flash bang, dyed black with a fun little yellow circle with a bat symbol in the middle and made sure Yin got a glance. Detective Yin nodded, though I could tell she was a little concerned that a vigilante had such equipment but knew what needed to be done.
Was the symbol and paint really necessary? No, but a Batgirl couldn’t just use some regular old equipment without some kind of paintjob! What kind of a vigilante would I be without proper looking equipment?
I nodded back and we both rushed the animal masked men and rammed them as hard as we could, they were taken aback by the sudden shove and we quickly rushed back as far as we could while I took out the pin and dropped the package. The tube rolled over to them, the doll-o-trons looked down dumbly as I quickly covered both myself and detective Yin with my cape, the dark fabric being perfect to protect our eyes from the flash to follow and we both covered our ears as best we could.
The poor victims screamed in pain as they were blinded and the full force of the blast overloaded their senses causing them to collapse to the ground, I sure hoped I hadn’t caused more harm but I needed to end this quickly to prevent more casualties. Unfortunately Professor Pyg had been smart enough to take cover, which just showed that even though he was mad, his intelligent was still intact which made him even more dangerous.
“A pity but I do believe that is my cue to leave.” I heard the pig saw while I quickly checked to see if Detective Yin was alright before turning on him.
“Not so fast professor, the detective and police would like to have a word with you about doll cruelty.” Perhaps not the best quip but we were in a doll house after all and he did call those poor thugs his dolls.
“Another time perhaps, I have a circus that needs my attention. Baby Doll, if you would so kindly secure us an exit; I believe some uninvited guest will no doubt be coming any minute now.”
I mentally cursed in my head, Professor Pyg had realized any more delays would no doubt allow the cops to block off any escape routes if he stayed any longer, also I had nearly forgotten about Baby Doll. I thought about rushing him but I could see Baby Doll had managed to avoid the scuffle and was now protecting Professor Pyg with her teddy of nightmares that was packing a dangerous gun in its belly. They were already near the back door, which meant there was not enough room for me to maneuver to avoid becoming a poached bat.
Detective Yin grimaced as she remembered her gun as somewhere in the room, probably thinking if she had it then maybe we could turn this situation around. Unfortunately I was out of stun grenades and I had to rush here so fast I didn’t have the opportunity to properly scope out the store to know how to cut them off if they escaped. As I glared them down I tried to think of a way but nothing was coming to me.
“Ya ya, I hear ya liddle piggy,” Baby Doll spoke in her usual childish manner as if to hide her true age, “Make sure to give Baby plenty of candy once we say goodbye to the nice ladies.”
“Of course Baby Doll, I’ll even give you a little extra for being such a good sport about everything.”
“Oh goody!” Baby Doll squealed in delight as the two made their way out the back. “Well ta-ta now; I’m sure we’ll get to play again someday.”
“I’ll be sure to perfect you the next time we meet, you have my sincere promise.” Professor Pyg sounded disappointed as they disappeared out the back. I wanted to go after them right away, but if I went out the same door I was sure to be gunned down by Baby Doll.
“Damn it! If only I hadn’t fallen right into their ambush!” Detective Yin slammed a fist on a counter top in frustration. “I should have been more careful after seeing that button; I should have known such an obvious clue could only mean he wanted to be found.”
I could feel her frustration and certainly sympathized with her. If she hadn’t gotten caught like that could I have formulated a plan to capture Professor Pyg? If I had time maybe, but I didn’t have time and at least we were not completely empty handed.
By this time the two doll-o-trons had recovered and were standing again but just stood there, staring at the wall blankly. It was like the flash bang had completely fried what little brain they had left and they were now only empty shells. Mostly likely their moment of unconsciousness had made them forget their previous orders and without Professor Pyg to tell them what to do, they were stuck like a program not being given the start command.
I walked over to the one with a wolf mask and looked at him; his eyes were devoid of emotion and completely empty. It was depressing to look at, a man, who probably had been a terrible person, was now more like a walking corpse than a person, no matter what crimes he had done, he didn’t deserve such a fate.
“I know it’s not much consolation but we did manage to save two people today, if there is any of them left in there.” I waved hand in front of his face but not even a blink, though that could just be because his vision hadn’t returned yet. I certainly hoped that was the case at least.
“If I had been more careful that pig wouldn’t have a chance to make more victims like this!” I winced a little as I heard Yin’s rant, if I had been Batman, I’m sure I could have taken him down and saved Gotham from such a plague of a psychopath. I was not Batman though, I was Barbara Gordon most of the time and Batgirl when I had a decent lead. Could I have done better if I had made my Batgirl activities more of a priority? But if I did it too much I wouldn’t be able to do so well in school and secure my future.
Seriously, from the stories I heard about Batman it seemed like he was working the night shift all the time! How in the world did he manage to work so much? Did he have a forever caffeine drip or something?
I sighed as I heard polices sirens closing in to the shop, it was time to leave before the real heroes of the day could pick up where we left off.
“I’ll see if I can pick up their trail but that pig had this thing entirely planned out so I doubt I’ll find anything. Don’t worry detective, we’ll be sure to bring him to justice before he can do too much more damage.”I saw the crestfallen look on the detective’s face one last time before I disappeared into the night. I wish I could believe my own words after being so easily outmaneuver by that hell spawn of an artist. I knew this work was never easy, but knowing I had let such a dangerous individual get away to wreck havoc on more citizens hurt a lot more than you’d think.
I could only hope that it was possible for those two poor souls to recover from Professor Pyg’s
‘help’.
Lord Wraith
Anyway yes, I'd be interested in the Crisis plot so count me in!