Batgirl # 3 (2008)

 By Mark Rodriguez

Cassandra Cain went to live with the Waynes to help curb her killer tendencies. However, she is secretly using Batman's resources to track down and kill Cain and Deathstroke. During her search she ran into another deadly woman turned ally named Marque. As they stake out an abandoned school they get caught in an electric minefield, a trap left by Deathstroke! What will happen next?

 

"Batgirl// Redemption Road Chapter Three- Three Daughters" opens with an odd dream sequence as Alfred, Lady Shiva, Dick Grayson and Tim Drake welcome Cassandra home after a day at school. The principal called saying Cassandra killed again. Her 'father' which is a mix between her own father and Bruce calling himself 'Bruce Cain' berates her and asks what she has to say for herself. Her father tells her to start talking, which turns into Batman demanding her to start talking.

We snap back to reality as Rose Wilson, Deathstroke's daughter, holds her dual swords up against Batgirl and Marque's throats. Also known as Ravage, Rose demands to know what they know about her father's location. Marque smirks and says Rose wasn't raised by David Cain as she has no style. Rose says he was raised by The Terminator and right now her style is inches from Marque's jugular. Rose tells Batgirl that she might think Slade is hers due to how he messed her up, but she wants to kill him herself. As she talks, Batgirl subtly works on her restraints. Rose has used any spare time away from the Titans to track him down and that led her to Batgirl. She tells her to talk or get hurt.

 

Batgirl tells Ravage to help them as all three of them want Cain and Slade. Marque says they don't need her and Batgirl tells her to be quiet. Batgirl says Cain and Slade are working on an army and are poisoning more girls. This pauses Rose and she decides to let them free. She says if she's dealing with an army those two can serve as diversions.

Ravager demands to know everything they know. Marque draws her blades and crosses them over Rose's throat. Batgirl stops her and Rose says she's lucky she did. Marque said they talked to a 'senile old fool' named Hannemaier that didn't tell them anything. Rose tells them they have to leave now. As they run out she tells them that Hannemaier is a brilliant chemist but a better actor and is far from senile. They run into three lethal ladies in Deathstroke-ish outfits.

 

Meanwhile at Platinum Plats, Barbara Gordon as Oracle is wondering if she should have let Cassandra off the hook so easily. She wonders if any deaths caused by Cassandra would be on her hands as well. She monologues that if she was in Cassandra's place, she'd be after Cain and Slade too. However Barbara was raised by Commissioner Gordon and Batman, so there's a line she'll never cross. She wonder if, when the time comes, will Cassandra stay on the right side of that line.

Just then Nightwing shows up, grabbing Misfit as she tried to stop him. Nightwing tells Barbara that her security used to be tighter. Nightwing says this isn't a social call. He noticed there was a fourteen-minute section of the Batcomputer that shows idle cycling. It's not something Batman would notice unless he was looking for it, but Nightwing knows her well enough to recognize her fingerprints. He asks if she erased something Batgirl was doing.

The fight begins between Batgirl. Marque, Ravager and the three assassins. Cassandra ponders that these are Cain's new soldiers and her sisters. She always dreamed about having a family but not like this. The assassin swings her nunchucks at Batgirl, who ponders that her moves are just like her own but faster and stronger.

Another assassin, armed with a lance, knocks one of Rose's swords out of her hand, calling her weak and easy prey. Rose says to spare her the head games as she has already met the best. The assassin slashes her across the face and says she hasn't met the best until tonight. The third assassin smacks Marque off her feet and says the drugs in their system along with the skills taught by Cain make them many times stronger than them. 

The woman with the nunchucks wraps its chains around Batgirl's neck and tells her to give up. She says now that Cain knows they're after him, they won't let them anywhere near him. Batgirl grabs the chain and flips the woman over. The woman, still holding on, flips Batgirl over. Batgirl uses the momentum of being tossed through the air to land a flying kick on the woman fighting against Rose.

Batgirl asks Ravager if she's ready, and they brace for battle. The assassin tosses her lance towards Ravager, who knocks it away with her sword. One of the assassins rushes into Batgirl and the one with the nunchucks swings said weapon into Ravager's face. The assassin grabs Batgirl by the face and says she can't imagine how often her father talks about her. Batgirl slams her face into the floor. She turns to see the other assassin grappling with Ravager and asks if she needs help.

Ravager knees the woman and regains control. She grabs her sword and is ready for some payback but Batgirl stops her, saying they've been hurt enough. Masque suddenly grabs both of the assassins and snaps both their necks to the surprise of her sisters.

Batgirl says that they said no killing. Masque says that Batgirl says no killing. She said she left one of them alive for questioning. She was left knocked out and tied up with her own whip. They turn to see that she escaped. Rose says now they have no one to question. Masque says they have one to track, and they all leap off the rooftop in pursuit. 

Speaking of questioning, Nightwing continues to do so with Barbara. Barbara says she didn't have anything new info on Cain and Slade to tell Cassandra anyway. She just found her using the Bat-Computer and she promised not to tell Batman. Nightwing says there are lives at stake, not just Cain and Slade's but Cassandra's as well. Barbara starts to tell her about what was taken from Cassandra. Nightwing says they've all had things taken from them, which is why they're in this business. He says that doesn't make them judge, jury or executioner, nor does it give them the right to put others at risk. Nightwing leaves. Misfit tells Barbara that he probably won't be coming back with flowers any time soon.

Elsewhere the three women are still in pursuit. Marque says the remaining assassin seems to have stopped covering her tracks, thinking that she lost them. Rose says she's probably leading them to a trap, a trap that wouldn't be set if Marque didn't kill the other two. Rose's sword accidentally tears off one of the sleeves of Marque's arm revealing a long set of scars. Marque says if they're being led somewhere, they better not let her get too far ahead. 

As they head onwards, Cassandra ponders how Marque wants to kill Cain or die trying. She wonders what Marque will want after Cain dies. She wonders if either of them can live without that mission. Cassandra points to a building and the girls go up the fire escape. Cassandra looks through a window and sees several women dressed in similar outfits, training at a gym. Rose and Marque ask if she sees Cain or Slade. As all three women looking through the window... Deathstroke is watching them from the rooftop right across the building!!

 

My Thoughts-  

Despite hating her father with a passion, Rose's Ravager outfit is extremely similar. When Batgirl and Marque got zapped last issue, we saw a boot standing near them, which I assume was Deathstroke, but it turns out it was his daughter instead. There's no fake-out this time as we see Deathstroke finally making the scene at the end of this one.

This is the first time I heard of Misfit, who started off wearing a wannabe-Batgirl outfit. Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe had a brief stint with the Birds of Prey and only had a brief cameo in The New 52.  At this point she was hanging around Oracle a lot.

 

While Barbara is worried about Cassandra's willingness to kill, she has been doing a good job in not doing so. While she can't control Marque and Ravager all the time, at least she's not killing people. 

The story was pretty straight-forward. The three women's reluctance to work together (I mean Masque barely trusts Batgirl and now she has to work with Ravager too?), their fight with the assassins and now finding a training area for more. All the while Cassandra is having internal monologues not just about her place in life but what to do afterwards. 

One of the cool things was looking back and seeing where the Bat-Family was at the time, mostly Barbara still being the wheelchair-bound Oracle and Mistfit hanging around. We're at the halfway point of this 6-parter, so let's see what happens next issue! 

One ad that stood out in this issue was the start of, at the time, newly remastered Dragonball Z DVD boxed sets, what many fans would call the 'Orange Bricks'. I remember sometime previous they were releasing standalone 'ultimate uncut' DVDs but then they stopped mid-Saiyan Saga to release these box sets.