Batgirl: Ascension REDUX [CONTENT WARNING! REDUX Has More Action And Smut!]

Reality Sets In

The harsh reality sat in front of her. A dead teenager, sprawled out and gutted for the whole 7th street residents to see. Pictures flashed as cops moved in and around the crime scene. Batman, Robin, Robin 2 and Barbara were all on a roof of the adjacent street. Batman looked through binoculars. He grimaced before putting them away.
“Gordon’s got a lead on the girl.”
“Yeah?” Dick sighed. “Did any of you know her?”
Barbara looked down at the dead girl. She had to be a sophomore, maybe later. “No.” Barbara sighed finally. “Robin?”
“Yes?” Dick and Jason both said.
“Okay we need to figure this out.” Jason said.
“Batwing.” Dick said confidently with a grin.
Everyone stared at him with a you-can’t-be-serious look.
“Fine. What do you have?”
“Robiner.” Jason joked.
“Robin 2.” Batman grunted.
“Nightwing.” Barbara finally said.
Dick grinned from ear to ear. “Night…wing…”
“Catchy.” Jason pointed.
“Good.” Batman sighed. “Now that the important matters have been discussed…” He gave them all a serious glare that got them back on track for the case down below. “Here.”
Batman placed a small device on the ground. From it emitted a 3D hologram of the crime scene. It spun, about waist height and the width of a pizza box. Batman and Nightwing both leaned in and studied it. Jason and Barbara were more impressed by the tech.
“Uhm…” Nightwing turned his head. “What the hell is that?”
Nightwing pointed at a blade. It was like a curved machete. It looked futuristic and barbaric all at once. Barbara really looked at it too. The pommel of the blade had a unique design on it. She couldn’t quite place what though.
“The 3D scan, what does it make of the pommel?” Barbara finally asked.
“Good catch.” Batman went back to the edge and looked through his binoculars again. The image then scanned in a more clear image of the blade itself. They all turned and looked down at the 3D rendering.
“An owl?” Robin turned his head. “Am I seeing this right?”
“Looks like the common snow owl.” Batman shook his head.
“Riddle mentioned the…the bats, the league and the owls… think it’s correlated?”
Batman cleared his throat. “Of course it is. But how?”
“We know what the bats are…” Nightwing stroked his chin. “What about the other two.”
“The League is the League of Assassins.” Batman shook his head.
“How do you know?” Jason pressed.
“I used to be a member.” He simply stated. “Robin. With me. Night…wing. Take Batgirl and –”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Barbara stepped forward. “BatGIRL?”
“Problem?” Batman glowered down at her.
Barbara furled her nose. “I guess not…”
“Good. Nightwing, take Batgirl and find out more about this murder. Robin and I have to make a few pit stops around the city.”
“Where do we even start?” Nightwing asked.
“Girl has to have a past. Find out who she is and she might have gotten mixed up in all of this.”
“Got it.” Batman and Robin ran off the side of the building and down into the alley below. Batgirl and Nightwing stared down at the crime scene below them. Then they saw a familiar face: Montoya. She was directing some NCIS types to do something.
“God damn it Barry!” She screamed at a young NCIS type. “Glad you’re transferring out of my unit.”
“Poor Barry.” Nightwing chuckled.
Nightwing opened a comms channel with Montoya. Det. Montoya sighed and looked at her phone. A small grin reached her face as she answered.
“Hey there boy wonder.” Montoya chimed in their ears.
“Montoya.” Nightwing said, Batgirl studied his facial expression. He turned away as he talked. “We need to know the ID on the girl.”
Montoya turned to the dead teenagers body as the crime unit was pulling her down from her position. “Should’ve guessed you guys were on this. Her name is Stephanie Brown.”
“Anything else?”
There was a long silence.
“Montoya.” Nightwing pressed.
“Fine. She was a college student at Gotham U. The Wayne Dormitory.”
“Thanks, Monte.” Nightwing grinned.
“Anytime boy wonder.” She grinned and hung up the phone.
Batgirl watched this all unfold and raised an eyebrow as Nightwing started to leave. He turned, saw her expression and sighed. “What is it Babs?”
“You two have a thing?” Batgirl asked as non-combative as she could. She failed at it.
“Batgirl. Could we not do this now?”
Batgirl took an even breath in and nodded. “To Gotham University.”
The ride over wasn’t wrought with any drama. Batgirl knew there was something between Montoya and Nightwing. But it didn’t matter now. It shouldn’t, not when she was at work. She pressed her mind to linger on different things. Like, who was Stephanie Brown? And why did she die such a gruesome death?
Nightwing and Barbara pulled up the campus and hid their motorcycles. The crept around the campus until they found the dorm. It was a huge ten story, circular building.
“Ideas?” Nightwing looked up at it.
Barbara nodded and pulled out her smartphone. Using a local smart light bulb, she found a backdoor into the school’s network. In a matter of minutes she was looking at a plethora of information on one Stephanie Brown.
“Freshman.” Batgirl sighed. “Damn…”
“What?”
Batgirl took a shaky breath out. “Top of her class. She was only 15. Prodigal talent.”
“Snuffed out like that.” Nightwing put a light hand on Batgirl. “Anything else?”
“Tenth floor in Wayne Dorm.”
“Perfect.” Nightwing held out his hand.
“What is this?” Batgirl took a gun with a hook at the barrel end.
“Grappling gun.” Nightwing smiled and fired it up at the dormitory.
Soon he was traveling up and to the tenth floor. “Shit…” Batgirl aimed and fired. It had quite the strength. It nearly pulled her shoulder out of its socket. She rocketed up with a scream that she quickly covered with her mouth. She slammed into the side of the building and Nightwing steadied her. “Ow. Fuck me.”
“Maybe later.” Nightwing chuckled next to her. “Come on, Batgirl.”
Nightwing swung on to a balcony. He and Batgirl pushed their way into the room. It was empty and by chance the only room they needed. Nightwing flipped on the lights and pushed a towel near the door to the floor. Ensuring no one would know what to do.
“Look around.” Nightwing whispered.
Thus, they started pouring over everything they could to find any form of evidence.
“Some type of heads up display on what I’m looking at would help.”
“Bring it up to Bats.” Nightwing said as he pulled out a diary from the back of a bookshelf. “Ah.”
He laid it down on the desk and broke the latch open. He read the contents fast, looking for any details. Batgirl watched him for a moment before finally heading over to her computer. Batgirl didn’t find anything substantial in the real world, what about the digital? She asked herself. She opened the labtop and to her surprise a countdown started.
[10]
“What the hell?”
[9]
“What is that?” Nightwing asked.
[8]
“Shit, shit.” Batgirl breathed out.
[7]
“Bomb?” Nightwing turned his head.
[6]
“What do I do, Dick?”
[5]
“Shit, you can’t shut it down?”
[4]
“I’m tossing it.” Batgirl offered.
[3]
“Damn…”
[2]
Batgirl tossed the laptop out of the window as hard as she could.
[1]
“Well, I guess it was all for –”
*Boom*
The explosion rocked the building and started the warning signal in the dormitory.
“Shit.” Nightwing breathed out. “Gotta go, Batgirl. I think we found all we could.”
Batgirl pursed her lips but nodded. They took off and made their way back to the Belfry.