abstract
| - Commissioner Gordon has just shot Ricky Gutierrez, unaware that the boy had just been trying to protect his brother Rolo from the wrath of the Sixty-Eight Kings street gang. He is also unaware that the girl currently crying over Ricky's wounded body is his own daughter, Barbara. She had been on one good date with Ricky, and she had liked him - but now he was dying, and it was her father's fault. If things go wrong for her here, she could be unmasked, and ruin everything. Barbara is not content to go down that way. Instead, she begins fighting the cops, drawing them close to her so that nobody can get a clear shot at her. She knows that, somehow, somebody set up this whole ordeal. Tyrell and the Sixty-Eight Kings had been armed with expensive weaponry by somebody powerful. That somebody is Charise Carnes - aka Knightfall, Barbara is sure. She is the only one in Cherry Hill who has the kind of disposable income and influence required. So, Barbara decides it's time to get out, get Charise, and then get out of the vigilante business forever. Spotting Tyrell reaching for his weapon, she clubs him over the head, and nearly punches her own father in the face when he lays a hand on her. In an awkward moment, she drops her fist, and simply runs out the front door. Trying to escape through an abandoned train yard, Barbara hopes that Ricky will get the medical treatment he needs to survive when she feels the muzzle of a police-issue handgun against the back of her head. With little time, Barbara asks Detective Melody McKenna to answer a question before calling the capture in: why would Knightfall arm a gang of street punks with high-tech weapons? Melody responds that Carnes calls it outsourcing. Arming a gang with superior weapons usually sees every rival gang in their territory wiped out. After that, she cuts support, and arms someone else the same way. The cops never bother to do anything about it, because dead thugs are dead thugs. Suspiciously, Melody demands that her captive turn around, but Barbara warns that the detective would probably rather not know who she is. Melody at least assumes that she has caught Batgirl, and realizes that it would be better to let her go. Wishing she could check on Ricky at Gotham General, Barbara instead returns home to her roommate Alysia. Having received a number of agitated calls from Barbara's father, Alysia worries that something is up with her roommate, and offers an ear if Barbara has anything to reveal - perhaps about her late nights and bruises. Unfortunately, Barbara has fallen asleep on the couch before she can get any answers. That night, the Commissioner breaks with protocol and heads home alone. Looking over the photos of his family, and seeing his lost wife, his lost son, and his estranged daughter, he feels crestfallen. The next day, Barbara visits Gotham General, and finds Ricky's mother outside his room. Worriedly, Barbara wonders if she will hold a grudge about the fact that her father shot one of her sons and jailed the other. Instead, Mrs. Gutierrez leaps out of her seat and hugs Barbara to her. Over coffee, Mrs. Gutierrez complains that the police won't let her see Ricky. They've told her he is in a coma and may never wake up. Uncomfortably, Barbara suggests that she could beg her father to let the woman see her son, apologizing for the situation. Mrs. Gutierrez professes that Barbara has nothing to be sorry for, having done nothing but bring Ricky happiness. Feeling the weight of the sad irony on her shoulders, Barbara bites her lip, but is spared the tears by a call from her father. She doesn't pick up, but she hears his voice-mails, begging her to talk to him about what happened. Sadly, she decides it's time to explain things. As night falls, Jim has been sitting alone, drinking for some time when he is surprised by a visit from The Mirror, who is not prepared for Jim's ability to fight back. Elsewhere, Charise Carnes has Bleak Michael ensure that the Mirror knows that the Commissioner's death is to be messy, but that he should take no pleasure in it - after all, Jim Gordon is a good man. Unfortunately, their assassins are off the grid. Hurriedly, Jim rushes up the stairs toward his gun, thrusting Gretel aside. In the upstairs hall, though, he receives a heavy shock from Grotesque. Outside the house, Barbara arrives, noticing with distress that the power on the entire block is out - and that Bleak Michael is standing watch nearby. Realizing that she had little option left, Barbara decides that it is time to don her Batsuit, one last time.
|