Batgirl # 2 (2008)

By Mark Rodriguez

Cassandra Cain, the second Batgirl, is living with the Waynes trying to get her life in order. However she is really using Bruce's resources to track down Slade and Cain to kill them, breaking her promise to never kill again. Her current trail leads her to an abandoned school where she finds a woman who is killing other women. Now she directs her sights onto Batgirl!

Face to face with this deadly woman, she sees the murdered women were more of Can's 'daughters'. The woman sees Batgirl's costume and says 'she knows who she works for' and won't let her stop her. The woman lunges forward with her deadly blades as Batgirl flips over it. She says she will send Batgirl to hell first, then the man who made them. She's another one of Cain's daughters that also seeks to kill him. Batgirl wonders if Slade and Cain have perfected their drug by now. The woman manages to slash Batgirl on the back of the head. 

Batgirl hits her face with a palm strike. The woman recognizes Batgirl as another one of her 'sisters'. Batgirl says she no longer belongs to Cain and is on her side, but is caught off by a punch to the midsection. Batgirl tackles her through the window as they both smash their way out of the building.

The woman explains she was older than the rest when Cain took her in. She never let him in her head, she knew she was to used as a tool. She took what he taught her and waited. She finally took her chance and called herself Marque. Batgirl legsweeps her and tells her she swears that their mission is the same. Marque doesn't agree and she says this is the closest she's ever been to take Cain down and she won't let another of his toys stop her now. Batgirl asks how she can convince her that they're on the same side.

Marque tosses Batgirl up against a steel post. Batgirl says she has to show her she's not working with Cain anymore. As Marque takes a swing, Batgirl uses her cape to catch her wrist. She then grabs Marque from behind and tells her that she knows she could kill her right now if she wanted. Marque says she knows, so she's not lying or she could be setting her up for a trap to find out what she knows. In this case, Batgirl already knows who trained her and the big risk it is to let her go. 

Batgirl says they could fight all night but it won't change anything. Marque says maybe she can help her, she needs to know what target Slade and Cain have chosen to establish their new business and how far along they are. She wants to go to the Batcave and use their resources. Cassandra says she'll try to find answers but she must go the Batcave alone. Batgirl says she doesn't work for her, they will do this together. Marque comments that trust only goes so far. Marque says she will use her own resources and they will meet again at the school the following night. Cassandra says no killing in the meantime. Marque comments that she's not her mother. 

Batgirl ponders on the blood on the blade used when she was slashed. She returns to the Batcave to examine the blood sample. She is caught by Oracle, Barbara Gordon's alias, telling her she can see everything she's doing on the computer and that Batman doesn't know. Barbara tells her not many people can stop her if she does plan to kill Slade and Cain and all she can do is beg her not to do it. Killing them won't make her feel better. Cassandra asks her for a favor. Oracle will send her the raw data on the bloodwork but not the analysis and she will erase her computer in a way that Batman won't know about. Oracle tells her it's the most she can be a part of this without Batman knowing. She says all of them would help her if this wasn't her killing them, she's doing this alone because she chooses to.

At a cybercafe, Cassandra keeps working. She says Barbara may not agree, but she understands. She wonders if Barbara would kill the Joker if she could. She asks how can she not kill them after all the things they made her do. The data is incomplete but better than local police files. She finds a common person when checking the files on both Slade and Cain. Just then, someone calls her name. 

An old classmate Sal recognized her. He used to sit behind her in class and wonder why she suddenly stopped going. Cassandra says she was sick. Sal says she looks better now and gives her his number. He says he's going back to Jakarta for a visit in two weeks and hopes she calls him before then.

Later that night Cassandra does ponder whether to call him or not, she likes his eyes. She meets up with Marque who tells her she found an old mercenary pilot who flew Cain to Congola to assassinate their president in 1975. He heard rumors that Slade was also there and that's all he knew. She says she asked him several times as she washes blood off her hands. Batgirl tells her that Slade was in Congola at the same time. There was also a chemist who sold stimulants to mercenaries and his name appears in both of their files. He's currently in Gotham in a prison nursing home. Marque says they will go there next and question him. 

Batgirl asks Marque if she killed the pilot. Marque says she doesn't to know. Batgirl tells her that they're not going to kill the old man, he's already paying for his crimes. Marque says he helped Cain, so he hasn't paid her for his crimes. Batgirl says that they only need to kill Slade and Cain, no one else needs to die. Marque says Cassandra has her definition of needs and she has hers.

Later at the Narrows Island Federal Penitentiary, both women sneak inside. Batgirl stops Marque from killing one of the staff members. She plants devices to stop the cameras and picks locks to make their way into the old man's cell. Marque asks him about Slade and Cain, but at this point the elderly Hannemaier is off in his own world. Marque says he is pretending, but Cassandra tells her he is old. Batgirl asks him again about Cain, Slade and Congola. 

Poor dude never knew how close he was to death

Hannemaier remembers back to Congola 1975. After the bomb killed the president, Slade called him to arrange transport out of the country. There Slade ran into Cain, both men thinking they set the explosion to kill the president. They both fought each other over the bounty and with every punch thrown they started to gain each other's respect. Sirens interrupted them and they ran. Slade knew he could measure his career against that of David Cain. Slade tells him every desert smells like Congola to him. Batgirl asks when did he tell him this. 

The old man tells them Slade visited him recently and said he needed his old skills to help make a formula more stable. Batgirl asked him if he fixed the formula. The old man smiles blankly, off in his own world again. As the women leave, he frowns. Hannemaier tells one of the staff that he wants to call his daughter. The staff member says it's two in the morning and he can call later on. The old man yells that he is entitled to three calls a month and the guy gives him the phone to shut him up. Hannemaier calls Cain and warns him that the women are coming for him.

The women return to the school assuming that the formula has been stabilized and Cain might have his army of super powered assassins ready. Just then they notice that the broken glass from their previous fight is now gone, despite the school being long abandoned. Just then both are hit with electricity coming from the ground beneath them. Deathstroke taunts them both for falling for such an obvious trap and says 'what would daddy say'?

My thoughts-

So rather than be an enemy outright, Marque turned out to a potential ally, an uneasy alliance sure, but both women share the same goals. Marque though, shows us what Cassandra would have been had she never been living with Batman for a while and made the promise not to kill. I mean c'mon guys, those poor security guards are just doing their job. Also, Batgirl feels the old guy in prison is already paying for his crimes for what's done back in 1975, so I think there's more of a sense of justice rather than solely not killing over a promise.

I like the fight between Cass and Marque and we even got a scene with Oracle and how she's slightly getting involved. For the uninitiated, once Joker shot and paralyzed Barbara Gordon, she retired as Batgirl and eventually became Oracle, a super hacker and leader of the Birds of Prey. 

I also like the fact that this time we see actual flashbacks of Deathstroke fighting David Cain rather than just a pin up of the old guy with a whole bunch of speech bubbles. Of course, this flashback is all new information and not callbacks to previous issues, but I still say last issue's info-dump needed some cool panels like this with mentioned characters like Deathstroke, Supergirl and the Titans East.

Overall a good and engaging story that goes deeper into the emotional damage Cain has caused these girls and how far they will go to get revenge against him. Sooner or later Batman has to find out, so I'm also curious what's going to happen then. Plus, now Oracle knows, so we'll see what entails. We also have to see just how far the trust towards Marque will go. I do find it silly that she just asked for Cass to take her to the Batcave, as if she was gonna say 'yeah sure, follow me'. 

As for what was going on around this time, I see more ads about SoulCalibur IV and DC Universe Online. One thing for sure, I never remembered there being Batman Fruit Roll Ups based on the movies????