Justice League Femme

Chapter Twenty-Two: Batgirl

I paced throughout the cortex of the Batcave. It had just been an hour since the sparring practice. Twenty-two more hours until the ambush on Joker's hideout in Gotham. Images flashed through my brain. The silver barrel of the gun before his pale hand pulled the trigger. The red smile on his white face, revealing the most twisted of smiles to ever disgrace the Earth.

"Barbara?" Cisco's voice asked.

I looked over. Jesse and Cisco stood at the other end of the cortex. I sighed. "Oh...hi."

The two of them walked over to me. "Is everything okay?" Jesse asked.

"You've been pacing like crazy," Cisco added.

I sighed. "Yeah....I guess I have." I bit my bottom lip.

"This...this is about Joker, isn't it?" Jesse replied.

My eyes widened before I blinked a couple of times. I took in a deep breath.

Jesse gritted her teeth. "Oh shit. We...we didn't mean to."

"Wait," Cisco said, "something happened between Barbara and the Joker?"

"Cisco! It's clearly sensitive to her."

I put a hand up. "No, no, it's fine." I looked at Cisco. "Yeah, something did happen between me and the Joker. About four years ago."

"Can I ask about it?" Cisco asked.

"I don't mind."

"What happened?"

I sighed as my stomach turned. "When I was fifteen, about a year and a half after being Batgirl, the Joker decided to target my dad, who is the commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department. He wanted to see if he could break him. And so, he decided to raid our house. When I opened the door, I..." My stomach turned over. "I saw his deranged smile before he shot my chest."

I looked at Cisco. His brown eyes were wide.

"I was paralyzed from the waist down after that," I added, "as soon as my dad could, he got me into physical therapy. It wouldn't be another three years before my dad helped me get an experimental therapy to help me get the use of my legs back. Amazingly, it worked and I went back to being Batgirl." I sighed. "But that...that clown...he has haunted me for the past four years of my life."

"So this raid..."

"Is personal," I replied, "very personal."

Cisco covered his mouth. "Barbara, I...I'm so sorry."

I shook my head. "It's not your fault. Not like you're the one who pulled the trigger."

"Can I ask...what did you do in-between your paralysis and your treatment? I mean, like, besides the physical therapy?"

"I still fought crime if that's what you mean."

Cisco furrowed his eyebrows. "How would that even be possible?"

"Oh, Cisco," I said, "with the skills I have, anything is possible."

Jesse smirked. "Oh, are you talking about what I think you're talking about?"

"I was a informatioin broker for the Birds of Prey at one point in time."

Cisco's eyebrows shot up. His lips formed the shape of an "o". "So, you were like, the guy in the chair?"

My mouth opened. "I...I mean, I guess? Kinda. I had a codename then, too."

"What was the codename?"