DC Universe- 2100

At the museum, there was Lorelei, strapped to some sort of torture device. She was bleeding and exhausted. "I found a cute little Bat Communicator on her. I tried to get her to spill the identity of the face under that mask. Information I'm sure she knows. A riddle to which she has the answer. But she's a resilient little tyke. I'm almost certain she isn't your Bat-Brat at least. She went down too easily. The last time she took out at least fifteen of my men. No, Batman, you aren't going to find me here. I'm smarter than that. But this is your final test. You know...Batman has had a long running history with the 'Justice League'. So who led the massive organization of the world's heroes? Why, none other than Superman. Unfortunately, I don't think I could get the man here if I wanted to so...I settled for someone a bit more vulnerable...but every bit as powerful."

Suddenly a figure in dark blue and red rushes up behind Batman and punches him across the room. "Batman, I would like you to meet Super-Girl. Make it fast. She has to be back before bed time or her daddy will be very upset." Super-Girl stands there, here eyes empty but angry all at once. Mind Control...figured.

Batman slowly rose up onto his two feet. "You really have a fragile ego, Paradox... I feel sorry for you. You don't even have the courage to face me... so you torture random people in hopes of just getting to know who I really am...? Face me and I'll tell you personally."

"Haha!" Paradox says, appearing on the monitor. "You would like that, wouldn't you. But I am nobody's fool, Batman. That is quite the old trick. Once more, Super-Girl!" Super-Girl then launches herself forward with blinding speed and throws a punch at Batman.

Batman manages to dodge her punch and moves back. "It's not like I have a chance against a Kryptonian..."

"You're Batman, are you not? You always manage to conveniently FIND a way to come out on top. It's practically recorded in history. Which is why the hostages are involved. I can attack you...through them."

Lorelei, meanwhile, begins to stir, looking up to see Batman fighting with Super-Girl. The image is certainly blurry but she can make it out. She looks up and sees the chains binding her wrists and ankles and groans as she tries to come to her senses.

Meanwhile Batman is buying time to track where the video signal comes from, sending information to Bat-Woman as he tries to avoid Super-Girl.

Bat-Woman stands over a now dead...again Solomon Grundy and stretches before receiving the information on her communicator and heading out.

"B-Batman..." Lorie mumbles.

Meanwhile, Super-Girl tries to slice Batman in half with her heat vision.

Batman runs past Super-Girl avoiding her heatvision, throwing a dozen of batarangs that had an omnious green glow to them.

Super-Girl flicks them off but they still manage to rip her suit and cut her arms. "Not as potently weak to kryptonite as a pure kryptonian, you know," Paradox says over the P.A. Super-Girl did manage to get several cuts though. And did seem slower after the fact.

"We'll see.", Batman says as he pulls on two wires, a couple of batarangs flying back at Super-Girl wrapping around her torso and over her arms.

Super-Girl manages to pull herself loose though barely then turns to Batman and flies toward him. Before she can reach him, however, she drops to the ground at the slash of another kryptonite-laced batarang. Super-Girl's earlier struggle to use her heat vision on Batman had freed one of Lorelei's hands. She used the hand to set herself free and picked up the batarang, throwing it at Super-Girl. While only a minor distraction, it does its job in time. The angry mind controlled half-kryptonian turns to Lorelei but suddenly stops and drops to the floor unconscious.

"What? What happened? No...how is that? What? How'd you get here? No, I made sure to hide the signal perfectly!" Paradox panics as Bat-Woman enters the room of the place he'd been hiding.

"You did a smashing job of that, by the way," Bat-Woman says before punching him in the face.

Lorie drops to her knees there in the museum then. It was over. She may never get over what she'd endured that night...but at least, for now, it was over.

Batman walks over to Lorelei and stops beside her. He kneels down after removing his cape, wrapping it around her before picking her up in his arms.

Lorelei sits in bed that night, staring at the static on her TV. She doesn't say anything to Batman the entire way home or even once they'd arrived. She simply goes to her room and sits there.

Derek knocks on the door of her room.

Lorelei gets up and opens the door, her eyes practically dead....empty. Still though, she says nothing.

Derek looks into her eyes and places his hands on her shoulders gently and says, "I'm sorry.", before hugging her.

"It's okay. I don't blame you, Batman. Believe me, I don't." She speaks with a tone of both concern and emptiness. "Thank You though."

"No... I should've been there for you when I wasn't... I've made so many horrible decisions that I can do nothing about except to try and patch them up.", Derek says to her in an unusual tone of sincerety and slight waver in his voice. "I'm sorry..."

Lorie then pats Derek on the back. She was damaged beyond what she could describe. But the least she could do was repair the damage done to someone else that she knew how to fix. Later that night, though, Lorie sneaks out and goes to the Bat Cave when she hears something. Once there, she looks around until surprised by a familiar voice. "Kid, sit down. We really need to talk."

"What do you want?"

"Ah...feeling better, are you? Good. Listen, my offer still stands. Batman's just another broken record. He messes up, apologizes, he does it again. He did the same thing to the Bat-Girl before you. You, on the other hand, I know very well how your mind works."

"Back off. You don't know anything about me."

"Oh, but I do. You don't know who you are. Sure, you know your name. You know you're Lorelei and not Bat-Girl. That isn't your problem, it's Batman's. But are you that justice seeking superhero? The insecure little baggage for the bat, or an avenger of the night? Oh yeah, I know the thoughts swirling around in your head. You only went off on Batman for attempting to murder Clue because you were thinking it and didn't want to admit that it's the exact action you would've taken. You separated yourself from it to keep the temptation down but there's one thing you don't understand. The very instant you put on a mask shaped like a bat is the very instant your life changes in ways you will NEVER escape."

Lorie backs into a cavern wall as Bat-Woman slowly approaches her with every word. In due time, Bat-Woman disappears, leaving Lorie in the cave in front of the container holding her Bat-Girl costume.

The next morning, Lorie gets herself up early and cooks breakfast for Derek, bringing it to him whilst he's still in bed. "Good Morning," she says.

Derek looks up at her, his arm over his forehead. He sits up slowly dropping his arms and looks at the breakfast tray before looking at her again. "What's all this...? I was thinking about doing this for you, in the morning", he admitted.

"You...needed it more. You're not a morning person, after all."

"I guess... if you look at it that way.", Derek said with a slight smile. "Thank you... did she talk to you again?"

Lorelei says nothing. She merely places the tray on Derek's bed and stands back by the door. "I refined your Bat Claw a little. The cable's stronger. Made of a fiber I invented that should keep the weight from exerting itself along the entire cable. You should be able to use it to swing from less stable areas." She then turns and leaves.

Derek watches her leave and sighs burying his face in his hands. He ate the breakfast that was served to him before getting dressed, looking for the newspaper about yesterday's activities.

Paradox was captures and locked up in Arkham for the time being. The hostages were all alive and accounted for and the situation seemed to be settling well enough. At the same time, however, police witnesses claimed to have seen Batman releasing criminals from custody. There was no proof at this time to support this but it was a theory.