Batgirl # 5 (2008)

 By Mark Rodriguez

Cassandra Cain is living with Bruce Wayne and the rest to curb her killer instincts. However she is secretly using the Batcomputer to find and kill her father David Cain. After a mission involving Marque and Ravager resulted in Deathstroke blowing up Cain's assassin army, Cain now seeks another way to secure his investors. Cassandra finds out that Cain's target is Oracle, Barbara Gordon. Rather than warn her, Cassie plans to use Barbara as bait for kill Cain.

"Batgirl/Redemption Road- Chapter 5- As My Father Made Me" opens with Nightwing grabbing Batgirl by the cape, telling her that she isn't going anywhere. He's not going to let her fly off in the Batwing without clearance. Batgirl kicks him back and runs for the plane. As she flies off she monologues that she plans to fly to Platinum Flats where her father intends to kill Barbara, but she will kill him first. Once her secret mission is over, she'll see what the Bat Family will do to her.

Nightwing is hanging off the side of the Batwing and smashes the window with his Escrima Sticks. Batgirl does a sharp turn as Nightwing hangs on to the wing. He falls off and pulls out a parachute. He radios Batman that she took the Batwing without seeing a flight plan on the computer. The Batwing is covered in beacons but Batgirl would know that, so he set a mini-tracker on the plane.

 

Batgirl monologues that Nightwing is right not trust her. Nightwing knows Deathstroke better than anyone and he knows Cain as well. She ponders that Nightwing thinks she's still under their influence. She isn't and is going on a mission she can't share. Just then Batman radios the Batwing and tells Cassandra to land now as he is flying behind her in the Batplane.

Robin is with Batman and reminds him that they don't know the full story. Batman says it's about time they find out. Batgirl ponders that the Batwing is smaller than their vehicle and it has a few weapons so she has to make them count. She open fires upon one of the Batplane's wings which forces Batman and Robin to land.

 

As the Batplane lands, Batman and Robin ride out in Bat-Themed ATVs. Robin says Batgirl didn't shoot to kill, she only wanted them to land. Batman says it's time they stop making excuses for her. They lock onto the Batwing's beacons and roll out. 

Batman and Robin soon find the Batwing parked just outside Las Vegas. Robin jokes that maybe Batgirl bought some tickets to the Blue Man Group. The Batwing shows no signs of her and Nightwing's tracker never went online. They'll head to Vegas to pick up the trail. Meanwhile, Cassandra is her regular clothes and riding a bus to Platinum Flats, California.

Cassandra walks through the city. She knows her father would have sent her assassin sisters to kill Oracle tonight, but since they're gone, he'll have to do it himself. Cassandra will be waiting. She enters a building called Clockwork Systems, which is owned by the Birds of Prey. She sees Oracle in the distance and wishes she could warn her but she needs her as bait. She ponders that Oracle would have set security measures to prevent attack. A magnetic card is needed to get to the top floor and the elevator shaft probably have sensors set to detect tampering.

 

Cassandra checks the stairs but they only go to the roof, skipping Oracle's hidden floor. She studies the roof and determines that Cain will need a place where he can not just take the shot but also see the body fall. Simply blowing up the building will leave things up to assumption.

Cassandra is tired and wonders what awaits her after Cain's death. Will she find peace or more death? Will she return to family like Batman, or like Marque, her sister. She finds her lurking around the building and determines their mission is the same, except Marque doesn't care who dies in the crossfire. Cassandra approaches her and says they have to talk. Marque says they don't have to talk at the moment. Cassandra says she know what's coming and asks if she wants to do it out in the open where Cain might see. Marque follows Cassandra into a nearby alley as it starts to rain.

Cassandra socks Marque in the face and tells her they're real sisters as the blood tests prove it. As sisters, Cassandra asks Marque to let her deal with Cain for both of them. Marque says right now Cassandra isn't a sister, but someone in her way. She tosses her blade at her. Cassandra catches it before it hits her eye. Marque takes this as a chance to kick her across the face and punch her to the ground. Cassandra uses the knife to slash Marque across her ankle. Marque falls to the ground and Cassie says she'll walk again.

 

Cassandra says she will finish this, and then return to help her. As she walks off, Marque says she hasn't found a sister but an enemy now and forever. Cassandra monologues that those words hurt more than any blows, but she has her mission.

Elsewhere, Cain puts his sniper rifle together and is ready to shoot at Barbara through the window, when Batgirl shows up. Cain smirks and says she came to visit her old man.

My Thoughts-

So Batgirl has brief encounter with Nightwing and gets away from Batman and Robin. Flying around in Batwings and Batplanes is a bit different than the cover suggesting they'd be fighting it out directly. I'm surprised someone like Batman wasn't able deduce that Batgirl was headed towards Platinum Flats since California wasn't terribly far and it's a bit of a coincidence that the Birds of Prey base is there. What business would Batgirl have in Vegas?

So it turns out that Marque isn't Cassandra's sister in just a metaphorical sense, but her actual blood sister. They had a brief skirmish but besides that fact that Cass slashes her Achilles tendon, it might still not be enough to keep her action in the next and final issue. I did find it very abrupt how one page ends with Cassie leading Marque to the alley... then the next page skips straight to her socking her in the face. I guess Cassandra went for a sucker punch?

The next issue finally promises the epic showdown between Batgirl and her father. I still don't know how David Cain knows who Oracle is, where she is and what room or area she would be where he could kill her. I mean, to the outside world, Oracle could literally be anyone. How would he know that Oracle and the Birds of Prey own Clockwork Systems?

We'll have to see how it all concludes in the next issue. One thing that was notable in this issue were all the ads on the Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe game. First there's an ad on an official strategy guide. Then there's a four page ad showcasing the game as well a sweepstakes. The prizes include an original piece of custom comic book artwork, a one-year subscription to the choice of three DC titles, the absolute edition of Batman The Long Halloween and the MK VS DC Kollector's Edition Magazine. Pretty awesome. It was a fun game at the time. It was one of the first few games Johnny and I got for the XBox 360 back in the day.

 

There's also a cool add for DBZ Infinite World which was the final DBZ game for the Playstation 2. I honestly forgot if I own it, I'll have to check.

 

I remember finding the first 5 issues of this series in the several longboxes at Bent Wookee back in the day. I always figured I'd eventually find issue 6. What I wasn't counting on was the 6th issue being hard to find at a price that wasn't over a hundred bucks. After bouncing back and forth between Amazon and Hipcomic, I finally found the final issue at a sane place some time back. I'll get to the last issue soon.