The Second Batgirl

Chapter Two: "Red Hood? Never Heard Of You"

At around nine, Samantha got into her Batgirl costume and went to her and Batman's usual rendezvous point. She was surprised when the Dark Knight yelled at her, through his communicator to, "go to Gotham harbour before he dragged her there."

Very unlike Bats. Samantha sighed, before doing as instructed. If it wasn't anything big, she'd have his head for breakfast.

When she got there, however, Batman and Nightwing had already taken care of her.

"Wow, you boys didn't wait for me," she said, coming out from behind a crate.

Batman motioned at her to come, whilst Nightwing gave a smile and a friendly wave. Samantha grinned in return. She and Dick had always been close; not as close as her and Jason had been, of course, but he was the next best thing.

"Who are you working for?" Snapped Batman, as he interrogated some poor souls.

"What were they caught at?" Samantha murmured to Dick.

"Hoarding ammunition. They keep saying that they were doing it for themselves though."

Samantha turned to see Batman drop some kind of goo on them, from what had been an Android. "So you ran into an AMAZO?" She asked casually.

"Yup. He was difficult."

"With me here, it could have been half the time, and we'd be home in time for a late sleepover," Samantha scoffed.

"Stop! Stop! I'll talk!" Yelled one guy. "It was Red Hood! He-"

The guy was shot dead. The other two men followed suit. Samantha, Nightwing and Batman all turned to see where the shooter had been.

"That was a long range sniper," Samantha frowned, "and he's a good shot too."

"Batgirl, come on!" Yelled Batman, as he ran to the Batmobile.

"Wait, what, where are we even going?" Samantha shouted as she jumped in, just as the car zoomed off.

"The sniper is getting away. Switching to aircraft."

Looking out of the window, Samantha could see a veering car across the road, as they flew above Gotham's motorway.

"So, I'm guessing we're after the bed driver." She mused.

They followed him, through a tunnel, and to a warehouse, where Batman and Samantha crashed through the roof to get to him. They had arrived in a large storage room where there were big vats of orange bubbling liquid. Samantha reckoned they were radioactive.

She looked around, and then to Bruce, who to her surprise was looking a little distant, as he stood in front of a tub, staring at the fizzy mass. She didn't really know what was up with him, so she went a little further on, going to a darker part of the room.

Samantha switched her eyes from left to right, before a voice jolted her out of her thoughts.

"I don't think you know what's happening with him back there."

She turned to see a guy with a leather brown jacket, biker boots, and some black trousers. The strange thing was that he was wearing a red helmet that covered his face. She supposed a domino mask was under that to hide his eyes.

Jason wore a domino mask, Samantha's brain unhelpfully reminded her. She pushed the thought away and glared at the man.

"He's having deja Vu. It was one of his biggest tradgies."

Samantha kept quiet.

"I think that you've convinced yourself that you have a great failure." He crossed his arms, and leaned against the railings. "Trust me, Sam. It's not your fault."

Samantha's heart stopped. "You," she spat venomously, "don't get to call me that!"

"Was it reserved for someone? Or is it still reserved for someone?" He jerked his head. "Get out of here while you can, I'm gonna blow the place."

Samantha stared at him. "Why are you letting me escape?"

He shrugged. Then he walked off into the darkness.

"Hey wait!" Samantha yelled running after him, but he had disappeared into the inky black.

She left the warehouse confused, until she remembered Bruce. Then she ran in again.

"Batman! It's gonna-"

The house went up in flames, just as Batman jumped out of it. He walked towards her.

"Where were you?"

She kept her gaze on the ground.
"If you knew the place was going to go up, why didn't you tell me?"

"He knew," Samantha looked up at him, eyes full of fear. "He knew my name. He called me Sam."

-

"This Intel brought me to town." Nightwing said, back at the Batcave. He produced a flash drive. "Lucky I've always had perfect timing. Take a look." He pushed it into the computer systems.

Samantha looked up at him, one eyebrow raised skeptically. "You... You don't have perfect timing."

"Says who?"

"Says me,"

"Quiet!" Batman said, zooming in on a photo. It was one of Red Hood, with a sniper rifle.

"I got this shot from a snitch," Dick continued. "He said that his guy's been making some serious moves."

"The Red Hood." Batman stated.

"Might be, he bares a resemblance to the original."

"Several criminals have utilized this persona."

"One criminal of particular interest though, huh?"

The first Red Hood appeared on the screen. Samantha made a face. "But he's locked up!"

"Not his MO either. There's been an uptake in heavy trafficking, but crime is down."

"Indeed it is. Master Bruce got three hours of sleep last night." Alfred's English accent came from behind. "True buss man's holiday."

Dick and Samantha grinned at the eccentric butler.

"But he is locked up," Dick said, as he took some water from Alfred's tray. "Like, a lot locked up. Maybe we should go for a visit."

Dick turned to see Batman and Samantha already getting into his car.
"Could you just once say, let's get in the car?!" He complained, running to the starting vehicle. "Is that so hard?!"

"He does it a lot," replied Samantha from the middle seat. "You get used to it. Or maybe you're just getting soft,"

"Am not!"