A_Facility Application
OOC Information:
Name: Maggie
Age: 21
AIM: anigrl2008
MSN: N/A
Y!M: N/A
E-MAIL: anigrl2003@yahoo.com
IC Information:
Name: Barbara Gordon
Fandom: DC Comics
Timeline: Modern Age, just before The Killing Joke
Age: 23
Appearance:
Barbara stands at 5'5" and weighs about 126 pounds. She is toned and in great physical condition after years of sports, martial arts training and training with Batman. She has long curly red hair that falls down just past her shoulders and bright blue eyes, much like the rest of the Batfamily. She has the same light complexion that's typical in redheads with a smattering of freckles across her nose. When in costume she wears a black bodysuit with a yellow bat symbol on the chest, a blue short eared cowl and a blue cape. Her costume also includes short yellow gloves, a yellow utility belt with a weapons pouch and yellow high heeled knee boots. She later switched out the high heels for flat yellow boots with ridged soles made for hiking. When out of costume she dresses normally for a woman her age, usually in t-shirts and jeans or blouses and skirts when at work at the library.
Abilities:
Barbara spent most of her teenage years conditioning her body so she would be ready for a career as a crime fighter. She was a member of the track team as well as the gymnastics team at her high school. Besides that she is trained in boxing, dragon style kung fu and judo. She was trained by Batman for a time so she is a master detective like the rest of the Batfamily, as well as being an expert computer hacker. Her degree in information recovery and database technology allows her to find important information easily and her photographic memort allows her to memorize that information, placing it into an organized list in her head. She possesses a genius level intellect which allowed her to skip several grades while she was in school and go to college early. Besides that, she is just a normal human with no supernatural abilities. She is, however, armed with a utility belt of weapons including batarangs, smoke pellets and anything else that Batman has used. Her cowl is also equipped with special lenses including night vision and thermal.
Personality:
One thing that has always been a constant in Barbara's life is her determination to succeed. Ever since she was a little girl, she wanted to be a superhero so she could fight crime and make the world a better place. She worked hard to sharpen her mind and condition her body so that she could make it on the streets. Every aspect of her life from the time she was 13 was dedicated to getting ready for life as a hero. She was that determined to make it and it's the same in other areas of her life too. Whenever she is set on doing something, she goes all out and doesn't give up until it's accomplished. This leads to her sometimes becoming slightly obsessed with things, like hunting down Cormorant or figuring out how to stop the Killer Moth. If she really wants something she won't give up, no matter what. This can be a good thing and a bad thing, since her obsession on one detail sometimes leads her to miss others and causes her to make mistakes.
When she does make those mistakes and things don't go her way, she tends to get discouraged. When her first meeting with Batman didn't go the way she had always envisioned it, she almost gave up on her whole dream of being a hero. It's times like that that she needs a little pick up to get her back on track again, which was provided by Robin in that case. While she is overall confident she does sometimes get in a mood where she doubts and questions herself, specifically when bad things happen or plans fall through. She tends to let the bad things get her down and can become obsessed with the negative just as she can with things she wants to accomplish. Even the smallest failure can become bigger in her mind, to the point where it's all she thinks about, and it stays with her for a while.
She is a person who has to analyze everything and is very detail obsessed. She likes to have plans and know what she's doing before she does it. Control is a very big deal for her and she doesn't like not knowing what's going to happen. She likes being able to plan and control what's happening in her life, likes to sit back and take in all the details before acting. She thinks about things a lot, to the point of almost having internal monologues. Due to her photographic memory her brain is like a library that she goes through constantly, analyzing and reanalyzing things until they all make complete sense to her.
Her temper is very stereotypical for a redhead and she is usually pretty easy to set off. If someone says something that annoys her, she will go off about it. She has no problems telling people when they've done something stupid or annoying and can be very brutally honest at times. She's also prone to rare fits of immaturity, such as pouting or sticking her tongue out at people, usually brought on by annoyance or frustration.
On top of all this, she's pretty much a giant nerd. She loves computers and is a skilled hacker, prone to using these skills whenever she's bored. She generally doesn't gain anything of value from this, though on the rare occassion that she does she generally doesn't use it. Not unless there's a purpose at least. She also loves books, having spent much of her time in the library as a child. She'll read just about anything and is basically a sponge for information, soaking up anything she can from any source she can get her hands on. She is easily distracted by both of these things, as evidenced by running off to look at a rare book while she and Robin were supposed to be catching a criminal once. If someone starts talking about computers or books, she'll be entertained for hours and will never run out of things to say. It's the same way with her and law enforcement, though she tries to stay away from that topic to avoid giving away too much information.
History:
Barbara Gordon was born to Roger Gordon and his wife Thelma in Ohio on September 23rd. Growing up, she was always fascinated by the superheroes in Gotham and Metropolis, wanting to be just like them when she got older. She and her best friend Marcy would spend their time together designing costumes for themselves and coming up with superhero identities. They would read every story about the heroes from these big cities, wanting to absorb everything they could, Barbara paying special attention to what was happening. It was their dream to one day join the ranks of these heroes and this is more or less where Barbara's road to becoming Batgirl began.
When Barbara was thirteen, however, her parents were both killed in a car accident which was suspected to have been a result of her father's alcohol abuse. After the accident her uncle James Gordon, her father's brother and the police captain in Gotham, adopted her. Her father and her uncle didn't get along so this was the first time in many years that Barbara had seen the man. She was nervous about leaving Ohio for Gotham but she adjusted the best that she could and made the move. She found her uncle's job endlessly fascinating and loved the fact that he had access to secret police information, often stealing his files on criminals and reading through them. Her uncle didn't approve of her fascination with law enforcement and did his best to discourage it, which really just made Barbara more creative in her efforts to get the information she wanted. She couldn't be caught so she had to sneak around if she wanted to learn about crime in Gotham. One night she even snuck into her uncle's office at the police station and was almost caught. She hid and ended up witnessing a meeting between her uncle and Batman.
Batman knew she was there the whole time and left her a little note telling her not to get caught. This meeting renewed her fascination with superheroes and she became determined to work with Batman one day. She read every book she could on crime, continued to study her uncle's files and worked hard to strengthen her body so she could make it as a crime fighter. She studied blueprints and maps of the city, memorizing them until she was able to get around Gotham like she had been born there. She participated in gymnastics and track, molding herself into a great athlete. She also convinced her uncle to let her start taking martial arts lessons, figuring that she needed to be able to defend herself if she was going to fight crime. Through all this she continued to read everything she could find on Batman while also pushing herself in school so she could skip grades and graduate early.
She succeeded in this pursuit and graduated high school early, getting into Gotham University right after that. She studied just as hard in college, determined to take the university by storm. Soon she had almost forgotten about being a superhero and had earned her master degree. After that she took a job at the Gotham Library as head librarian, though she still dreamed of fighting crime in the city. When she was eighteen she attempted to join the Gotham Police Academy, despite her uncle's disapproval, but was rejected. She then turned her attention to becoming a detective but was turned away from that by her uncle. He said that police work just wasn't for her and even joked that she didn't even make the minimum height requirement for a detective. Frustrated and angry that no one was taking what she wanted seriously, she turned to a different method of fighting the crime in Gotham.
Using her knowledge in hacking she hacked into the security system of the Justice Society's Gotham headquarters, turning it off and then breaking into the building. She left a letter for Black Canary inside, telling her that she could help the Society's cause. She then left the building and went back to her house, hacking back into the system to turn it back on and erase all records that she had ever hacked in. A few nights later she was met by a member of the Society who basically dismissed her and told her to give up on the idea of becoming a superhero. More frustrated than before, she became listless and almost depressed, feeling like all her dreams had been crushed. It wasn't until a few nights later that she recovered after being presented with an invitation to a police masquerade by her father. She decided to get back at him for doubting her by making her own version of Batman's costume and wearing it to the party, hoping to shock him when it came time for the midnight unmasking.
Unfortunately, during the party, the Killer Moth showed up to attempt to kidnap Bruce Wayne. Barbara stepped in and fought the Moth, allowing Wayne just enough time to get outside and change into his Batman costume. Meanwhile Barbara continued to fight the Moth and his gang, eventually chasing him outside where he escaped in a helicopter. She was then confronted by Batman and Robin, who didn't appreciate this unknown person suddenly rushing into their territory. After a short fight between she and Robin the Killer Moth returned, allowing her to make her escape home while Batman and Robin were distracted. She never planned to tell her uncle about what had happened, though she feared that he knew anyway. She had gotten a taste of the life she had always wanted as a child and didn't intend to give it up. Instead, she started going out each night to hunt down minor criminals and take them on. She believed that she could handle it, though Batman wasn't convinced and even told Commissioner Gordon that he had nothing to do with her activities.
She became somewhat obsessed with her new life as a vigilante, spending money on supplies to build gadgets like Batman had and make herself a better costume. She wanted to make her own way, to fulfill her childhood dream no matter how little Batman cared about her. Unfortunately for her, Batman was watching. One night when she was out to test her new jump cable, she ran into Batman again. He cut her line and almost sent her tumbling down to the street below, only to have Robin grab her and save her. Batman questioned Barbara's motives for wanting to fight crime and used gas to knock her out so she could be taken to the Batcave. Once she woke up he put her through what was basically an obstacle course, telling her to give up after her perceived failure. When she refused and became argumentative, he knocked her out again. The next time she woke up she was in her car in front of her house, which led to a moment of panic because Batman know knew who she was and where she lived. The next day, much to her surprise, Robin sent her a box of weapons that he and Batman actually used. Slightly encouraged by this, she continued her vigilante activities with Batman watching her, having unknowingly made an enemy of the Killer Moth after stopping his kidnapping attempt.
Some time after this Barbara finally got the team up with Black Canary she had wanted, working with her to stop a robbery being committed by Killer Moth and his new partner Firefly. They chased the two villains all the way to their hideout but ended up caught in a trap and being held hostage. They somehow fought their way out of that, but not before Canary basically said she would never work with Barbara again. The next night Barbara met Robin again and was offered a new motorcycle with her very own insignia on it. It turned out that she was actually earning some approval from Batman, though she still wasn't totally trusted. She went with Robin to a hostage situation in the subway, though she ended up being momentarily distracted on the way by him suddenly kissing her. She recovered quickly and they continued to the scene, fighting a villain who had taken a subway train hostage. The police showed up on the scene after Barbara and Robin had defeated the villain and had left but Barbara had unknowingly left some hair on the scene, which led her uncle to deduce that she was Batgirl. He went through her room looking for anything that would prove his theory right. When he didn't find anything he just sat in her room and waited for her to return, which she did not long after, only to become angry when she realized what he had done.
Before they could really talk he was called off to the scene of an arson fire and Barbara followed him. Killer Moth and Firefly were responsible for the fire. Barbara fought and defeated them both, being ushered off to the Batcave again right after. She was put through Batman's obstacle course again and this time passed. She took an oath to protect the people of Gotham and Batman's secret, after which she was officially made Batgirl. She still had to deal with her father's suspicions though, which she did by having Robin dress up as Batgirl and going up to the roof of the police station to see her father just as Batman and "Batgirl" were leaving. Her father now had no reason to suspect that she was Batgirl and she could continue her vigilante activities without worry.
After that difficult first year, things went a lot smoother for the new Batgirl. Or at least as smoothly as crime fighting could ever go. She fought crime throughout Gotham, mostly working independently but occassionally teaming up with Batman and Robin. She teamed up with several other heroes as well, most notable Supergirl and Superman. She even teamed up with Catwoman once to defeat a man who was taking advantage of and killing young women. There had been a string of murders of young women in Gotham and Barbara took on the case after finding the body of one of the young women at the dump. She looked into the police records to find information on the victim and ended up heading out to a club that the girl used to frequent. She met a friend from high school at the club, Valerie Lewton, and spoke to her briefly before she left with a strange man. Meanwhile, Catwoman was making plans to steal from the very man Barbara's friend had gone to see, Ryder Burnham. She broke into his house to steal the good she was after but ended up rescuing Valerie when things got violent with Burnham. After getting the girl to safety, Catwoman headed to the home of a man who was working for Burnham, meeting there with Batgirl who had been tracking the man since he took Valerie from the club. The two interrogated Burnham's lackey and came up with a plan to take Burnham down. Barbara dressed as Catwoman to distract him so the real Catwoman could come in and they could take him down. After that, Barbara used the information she had gotten by hacking into the police database to connect Burnham to several other murders in Gotham and surrounding towns, turning Burnham in to the authorities.
Another specific event involved Zsasz and a string of murders he had been committing throughout Gotham. Women were being targeted again and Barbara stumbled across one of his victims in an alley. She investigated the scene, gathering clues, and headed back home to think it over. In the obsessive frenzy that she usually worked herself into during an investigation, she forgot about the funeral of a friend. The case was still on her mind during the funeral, so much so that she left the funeral abruptly after hitting a sudden breakthrough. She used a matchbox found at the scene of the last murder to track where Zsasz lived, only to be shocked and disturbed when she found a picture of her friend on the table with pictures of the other victims. Zsasz came home while she was still in the apartment and she took him down in a fit of anger. Batman showed up shortly after and asked Barbara to go with him to Nepal on a case but she refused, asking for time off so she could mourn her friend.
She was taken hostage by the Joker in an amusement park once after failing to save a family he was after. The parents were killed and it was just she and their little boy in the basement of an old amusement park that Joker had taken over. She told the little boy to run and took down several of Joker's thugs before meeting with him. Batman came in about then, only to be shot by Joker, who was horrified by the idea that he might have actually killed Batman. Or at least he was at first. When he was told that Batman was still alive he tried to shoot him again but Barbara stopped him. She ended up laughing at him and calling him insane, enraging him and earning her threats just as the police arrived to take him away.
Through all this, she managed to keep her uncle mostly in the dark about her being Batgirl. He eventually figured it out though and was going to confront her, just as she was planning on telling him. They made plans to meet at a diner but just as they both arrived, thugs took control of the diner and they both ended up as hostages. Commissioner Gordon was hurt trying to fight off the robbers and ended up being saved by Batgirl. After seeing his niece in action, he decided that maybe she did know what she was doing. Maybe this was what she was meant to do and he shouldn't interfere. He decided to just let the subject drop.
It was a very normal superhero career all in all, at least until the day she was confronted with an assassin named Cormorant. Someone had taken out a hit on her and it was Cormorant's job to kill her. He lured her onto the roof of a building by taking a hostage and shot her when she arrived. She escaped, injured, and allowed him to believe that he had done his job. The experience left her shaken and fearful, almost paranoid as she kept looking over her shoulder expecting him to show up. She managed to push through the fear and go about her job, eventually forgetting about the experience. Several years later, a chain of murders began in Gotham. All the men who were murdered had histories of abusing and raping women but the way in which the murders were done led Barbara to assume it was Cormorant. All the fear and anxiety she had been feeling after he "killed" her came back and she wasn't sure what to do with it.
She became obsessed with finding him, with ending this whole thing with him and getting rid of the fear she felt every time she thought of him. She used the library's resources to track down where he lived and went to his house, intent on ending his suspected murder spree. It turned out though that the real murderer was a masked woman named Slash. She was taking out these men to punish them for their crimes against women and her next target was Cormorant. Barbara ended up fighting them both of them at Cormorant's house, just barely able to do anything against the two of them. The fight ended in Cormorant's death and Slash's incapacitation. Barbara just barely made it out of the fight alive and ended up being badly injured during it. The trouble she had led to her questioning her role in the crime fighting world. What good could she do in a world full of people with powers if she couldn't even handle a normal human? What was she doing with her life? Why did she even bother. At this point, she was seriously considering just retiring as Batgirl.
Roleplay Sample - Log:
Barbara Gordon is totally sane and obviously knows what she's doing at all times. This is a statement that anyone who could see her now, perched on the ledge of a tall building with a jump cable in her hands, would question. To be honest, she was questioning it herself right now. Was she seriously considering jumping off this building and swinging across the road? Yes, she was indeed considering that. On a rope whose weight bearing potential she had never tested before this very moment no less. Most people would have at least done a couple tests at lower heights first but not Barbara. She was just going to jump right out there and hope for the best. This was clearly the best plan that anyone had ever come up with, except that it wasn't. It was actually vaguely suicidal but...well, here she was.
She stood up from her perch and swung the rope over her head, letting it fly across the street and attach to the roof of the building there. After giving it a tug to make sure it was nice and tight she scooted closer to the edge, taking a look down below. Wow, she was...really high up. Obviously she had noticed that she was really high up when she climbed up here but she hadn't really...NOTICED it before. It was different to look up to the top than it was to look down to the bottom. Why was she doing this? This was stupid. If the rope didn't break and send her crashing down to the street then there was still a chance she'd end up crashing into the side of the building across the street. On the other hand, if Batman could do this then so could she. Even though he was older, had more training and better equipment. Oh god.
"Now or never."
She took a deep breath then, getting a good grip on the rope and taking one last look down before jumping from the ledge. Sailing through the air was actually a bit of a terrifying feeling. Something about having no support below her and knowing that the ground was so far below her was just intimidating. She actually closed her eyes halfway through, not opening them again until she felt something solid beneath her. Looking down, she saw the roof of the building across the street below her feet. She let out a breath that she hadn't known she had been holding, a smile creeping over her face. The thrill of the moment was starting to catch up to her then, her heart beating a bit faster and her head fuzzy with excitement. Despite the initial "Oh god I'm going do die", that actually wasn't too bad. It was a tiny victory but she would take it. First small step to actually being able to do this crime fighting thing: complete.
Roleplay Sample - Journal:
[The camera turns on to show a redheaded woman in her early 20s seated at the desk in her room, chin resting in her hand. She's not panicking at the new surroundings at all, in fact, she looks bored]
The tech in this place is seriously questionable. [Yes that is the first thing she has to comment on]
But that's beside the point. I've already found and read through the write up on this place. Great job to whoever put that together by the way, very thorough. So I don't need any of the little details explained to me. What I need to know is this: Is everything in that write up completely factual and about how many people are here?
That's it.
Questions? Comments? Crazed and creative statements? Those go here.
Name: Maggie
Age: 21
AIM: anigrl2008
MSN: N/A
Y!M: N/A
E-MAIL: anigrl2003@yahoo.com
IC Information:
Name: Barbara Gordon
Fandom: DC Comics
Timeline: Modern Age, just before The Killing Joke
Age: 23
Appearance:
Barbara stands at 5'5" and weighs about 126 pounds. She is toned and in great physical condition after years of sports, martial arts training and training with Batman. She has long curly red hair that falls down just past her shoulders and bright blue eyes, much like the rest of the Batfamily. She has the same light complexion that's typical in redheads with a smattering of freckles across her nose. When in costume she wears a black bodysuit with a yellow bat symbol on the chest, a blue short eared cowl and a blue cape. Her costume also includes short yellow gloves, a yellow utility belt with a weapons pouch and yellow high heeled knee boots. She later switched out the high heels for flat yellow boots with ridged soles made for hiking. When out of costume she dresses normally for a woman her age, usually in t-shirts and jeans or blouses and skirts when at work at the library.
Abilities:
Barbara spent most of her teenage years conditioning her body so she would be ready for a career as a crime fighter. She was a member of the track team as well as the gymnastics team at her high school. Besides that she is trained in boxing, dragon style kung fu and judo. She was trained by Batman for a time so she is a master detective like the rest of the Batfamily, as well as being an expert computer hacker. Her degree in information recovery and database technology allows her to find important information easily and her photographic memort allows her to memorize that information, placing it into an organized list in her head. She possesses a genius level intellect which allowed her to skip several grades while she was in school and go to college early. Besides that, she is just a normal human with no supernatural abilities. She is, however, armed with a utility belt of weapons including batarangs, smoke pellets and anything else that Batman has used. Her cowl is also equipped with special lenses including night vision and thermal.
Personality:
One thing that has always been a constant in Barbara's life is her determination to succeed. Ever since she was a little girl, she wanted to be a superhero so she could fight crime and make the world a better place. She worked hard to sharpen her mind and condition her body so that she could make it on the streets. Every aspect of her life from the time she was 13 was dedicated to getting ready for life as a hero. She was that determined to make it and it's the same in other areas of her life too. Whenever she is set on doing something, she goes all out and doesn't give up until it's accomplished. This leads to her sometimes becoming slightly obsessed with things, like hunting down Cormorant or figuring out how to stop the Killer Moth. If she really wants something she won't give up, no matter what. This can be a good thing and a bad thing, since her obsession on one detail sometimes leads her to miss others and causes her to make mistakes.
When she does make those mistakes and things don't go her way, she tends to get discouraged. When her first meeting with Batman didn't go the way she had always envisioned it, she almost gave up on her whole dream of being a hero. It's times like that that she needs a little pick up to get her back on track again, which was provided by Robin in that case. While she is overall confident she does sometimes get in a mood where she doubts and questions herself, specifically when bad things happen or plans fall through. She tends to let the bad things get her down and can become obsessed with the negative just as she can with things she wants to accomplish. Even the smallest failure can become bigger in her mind, to the point where it's all she thinks about, and it stays with her for a while.
She is a person who has to analyze everything and is very detail obsessed. She likes to have plans and know what she's doing before she does it. Control is a very big deal for her and she doesn't like not knowing what's going to happen. She likes being able to plan and control what's happening in her life, likes to sit back and take in all the details before acting. She thinks about things a lot, to the point of almost having internal monologues. Due to her photographic memory her brain is like a library that she goes through constantly, analyzing and reanalyzing things until they all make complete sense to her.
Her temper is very stereotypical for a redhead and she is usually pretty easy to set off. If someone says something that annoys her, she will go off about it. She has no problems telling people when they've done something stupid or annoying and can be very brutally honest at times. She's also prone to rare fits of immaturity, such as pouting or sticking her tongue out at people, usually brought on by annoyance or frustration.
On top of all this, she's pretty much a giant nerd. She loves computers and is a skilled hacker, prone to using these skills whenever she's bored. She generally doesn't gain anything of value from this, though on the rare occassion that she does she generally doesn't use it. Not unless there's a purpose at least. She also loves books, having spent much of her time in the library as a child. She'll read just about anything and is basically a sponge for information, soaking up anything she can from any source she can get her hands on. She is easily distracted by both of these things, as evidenced by running off to look at a rare book while she and Robin were supposed to be catching a criminal once. If someone starts talking about computers or books, she'll be entertained for hours and will never run out of things to say. It's the same way with her and law enforcement, though she tries to stay away from that topic to avoid giving away too much information.
History:
Barbara Gordon was born to Roger Gordon and his wife Thelma in Ohio on September 23rd. Growing up, she was always fascinated by the superheroes in Gotham and Metropolis, wanting to be just like them when she got older. She and her best friend Marcy would spend their time together designing costumes for themselves and coming up with superhero identities. They would read every story about the heroes from these big cities, wanting to absorb everything they could, Barbara paying special attention to what was happening. It was their dream to one day join the ranks of these heroes and this is more or less where Barbara's road to becoming Batgirl began.
When Barbara was thirteen, however, her parents were both killed in a car accident which was suspected to have been a result of her father's alcohol abuse. After the accident her uncle James Gordon, her father's brother and the police captain in Gotham, adopted her. Her father and her uncle didn't get along so this was the first time in many years that Barbara had seen the man. She was nervous about leaving Ohio for Gotham but she adjusted the best that she could and made the move. She found her uncle's job endlessly fascinating and loved the fact that he had access to secret police information, often stealing his files on criminals and reading through them. Her uncle didn't approve of her fascination with law enforcement and did his best to discourage it, which really just made Barbara more creative in her efforts to get the information she wanted. She couldn't be caught so she had to sneak around if she wanted to learn about crime in Gotham. One night she even snuck into her uncle's office at the police station and was almost caught. She hid and ended up witnessing a meeting between her uncle and Batman.
Batman knew she was there the whole time and left her a little note telling her not to get caught. This meeting renewed her fascination with superheroes and she became determined to work with Batman one day. She read every book she could on crime, continued to study her uncle's files and worked hard to strengthen her body so she could make it as a crime fighter. She studied blueprints and maps of the city, memorizing them until she was able to get around Gotham like she had been born there. She participated in gymnastics and track, molding herself into a great athlete. She also convinced her uncle to let her start taking martial arts lessons, figuring that she needed to be able to defend herself if she was going to fight crime. Through all this she continued to read everything she could find on Batman while also pushing herself in school so she could skip grades and graduate early.
She succeeded in this pursuit and graduated high school early, getting into Gotham University right after that. She studied just as hard in college, determined to take the university by storm. Soon she had almost forgotten about being a superhero and had earned her master degree. After that she took a job at the Gotham Library as head librarian, though she still dreamed of fighting crime in the city. When she was eighteen she attempted to join the Gotham Police Academy, despite her uncle's disapproval, but was rejected. She then turned her attention to becoming a detective but was turned away from that by her uncle. He said that police work just wasn't for her and even joked that she didn't even make the minimum height requirement for a detective. Frustrated and angry that no one was taking what she wanted seriously, she turned to a different method of fighting the crime in Gotham.
Using her knowledge in hacking she hacked into the security system of the Justice Society's Gotham headquarters, turning it off and then breaking into the building. She left a letter for Black Canary inside, telling her that she could help the Society's cause. She then left the building and went back to her house, hacking back into the system to turn it back on and erase all records that she had ever hacked in. A few nights later she was met by a member of the Society who basically dismissed her and told her to give up on the idea of becoming a superhero. More frustrated than before, she became listless and almost depressed, feeling like all her dreams had been crushed. It wasn't until a few nights later that she recovered after being presented with an invitation to a police masquerade by her father. She decided to get back at him for doubting her by making her own version of Batman's costume and wearing it to the party, hoping to shock him when it came time for the midnight unmasking.
Unfortunately, during the party, the Killer Moth showed up to attempt to kidnap Bruce Wayne. Barbara stepped in and fought the Moth, allowing Wayne just enough time to get outside and change into his Batman costume. Meanwhile Barbara continued to fight the Moth and his gang, eventually chasing him outside where he escaped in a helicopter. She was then confronted by Batman and Robin, who didn't appreciate this unknown person suddenly rushing into their territory. After a short fight between she and Robin the Killer Moth returned, allowing her to make her escape home while Batman and Robin were distracted. She never planned to tell her uncle about what had happened, though she feared that he knew anyway. She had gotten a taste of the life she had always wanted as a child and didn't intend to give it up. Instead, she started going out each night to hunt down minor criminals and take them on. She believed that she could handle it, though Batman wasn't convinced and even told Commissioner Gordon that he had nothing to do with her activities.
She became somewhat obsessed with her new life as a vigilante, spending money on supplies to build gadgets like Batman had and make herself a better costume. She wanted to make her own way, to fulfill her childhood dream no matter how little Batman cared about her. Unfortunately for her, Batman was watching. One night when she was out to test her new jump cable, she ran into Batman again. He cut her line and almost sent her tumbling down to the street below, only to have Robin grab her and save her. Batman questioned Barbara's motives for wanting to fight crime and used gas to knock her out so she could be taken to the Batcave. Once she woke up he put her through what was basically an obstacle course, telling her to give up after her perceived failure. When she refused and became argumentative, he knocked her out again. The next time she woke up she was in her car in front of her house, which led to a moment of panic because Batman know knew who she was and where she lived. The next day, much to her surprise, Robin sent her a box of weapons that he and Batman actually used. Slightly encouraged by this, she continued her vigilante activities with Batman watching her, having unknowingly made an enemy of the Killer Moth after stopping his kidnapping attempt.
Some time after this Barbara finally got the team up with Black Canary she had wanted, working with her to stop a robbery being committed by Killer Moth and his new partner Firefly. They chased the two villains all the way to their hideout but ended up caught in a trap and being held hostage. They somehow fought their way out of that, but not before Canary basically said she would never work with Barbara again. The next night Barbara met Robin again and was offered a new motorcycle with her very own insignia on it. It turned out that she was actually earning some approval from Batman, though she still wasn't totally trusted. She went with Robin to a hostage situation in the subway, though she ended up being momentarily distracted on the way by him suddenly kissing her. She recovered quickly and they continued to the scene, fighting a villain who had taken a subway train hostage. The police showed up on the scene after Barbara and Robin had defeated the villain and had left but Barbara had unknowingly left some hair on the scene, which led her uncle to deduce that she was Batgirl. He went through her room looking for anything that would prove his theory right. When he didn't find anything he just sat in her room and waited for her to return, which she did not long after, only to become angry when she realized what he had done.
Before they could really talk he was called off to the scene of an arson fire and Barbara followed him. Killer Moth and Firefly were responsible for the fire. Barbara fought and defeated them both, being ushered off to the Batcave again right after. She was put through Batman's obstacle course again and this time passed. She took an oath to protect the people of Gotham and Batman's secret, after which she was officially made Batgirl. She still had to deal with her father's suspicions though, which she did by having Robin dress up as Batgirl and going up to the roof of the police station to see her father just as Batman and "Batgirl" were leaving. Her father now had no reason to suspect that she was Batgirl and she could continue her vigilante activities without worry.
After that difficult first year, things went a lot smoother for the new Batgirl. Or at least as smoothly as crime fighting could ever go. She fought crime throughout Gotham, mostly working independently but occassionally teaming up with Batman and Robin. She teamed up with several other heroes as well, most notable Supergirl and Superman. She even teamed up with Catwoman once to defeat a man who was taking advantage of and killing young women. There had been a string of murders of young women in Gotham and Barbara took on the case after finding the body of one of the young women at the dump. She looked into the police records to find information on the victim and ended up heading out to a club that the girl used to frequent. She met a friend from high school at the club, Valerie Lewton, and spoke to her briefly before she left with a strange man. Meanwhile, Catwoman was making plans to steal from the very man Barbara's friend had gone to see, Ryder Burnham. She broke into his house to steal the good she was after but ended up rescuing Valerie when things got violent with Burnham. After getting the girl to safety, Catwoman headed to the home of a man who was working for Burnham, meeting there with Batgirl who had been tracking the man since he took Valerie from the club. The two interrogated Burnham's lackey and came up with a plan to take Burnham down. Barbara dressed as Catwoman to distract him so the real Catwoman could come in and they could take him down. After that, Barbara used the information she had gotten by hacking into the police database to connect Burnham to several other murders in Gotham and surrounding towns, turning Burnham in to the authorities.
Another specific event involved Zsasz and a string of murders he had been committing throughout Gotham. Women were being targeted again and Barbara stumbled across one of his victims in an alley. She investigated the scene, gathering clues, and headed back home to think it over. In the obsessive frenzy that she usually worked herself into during an investigation, she forgot about the funeral of a friend. The case was still on her mind during the funeral, so much so that she left the funeral abruptly after hitting a sudden breakthrough. She used a matchbox found at the scene of the last murder to track where Zsasz lived, only to be shocked and disturbed when she found a picture of her friend on the table with pictures of the other victims. Zsasz came home while she was still in the apartment and she took him down in a fit of anger. Batman showed up shortly after and asked Barbara to go with him to Nepal on a case but she refused, asking for time off so she could mourn her friend.
She was taken hostage by the Joker in an amusement park once after failing to save a family he was after. The parents were killed and it was just she and their little boy in the basement of an old amusement park that Joker had taken over. She told the little boy to run and took down several of Joker's thugs before meeting with him. Batman came in about then, only to be shot by Joker, who was horrified by the idea that he might have actually killed Batman. Or at least he was at first. When he was told that Batman was still alive he tried to shoot him again but Barbara stopped him. She ended up laughing at him and calling him insane, enraging him and earning her threats just as the police arrived to take him away.
Through all this, she managed to keep her uncle mostly in the dark about her being Batgirl. He eventually figured it out though and was going to confront her, just as she was planning on telling him. They made plans to meet at a diner but just as they both arrived, thugs took control of the diner and they both ended up as hostages. Commissioner Gordon was hurt trying to fight off the robbers and ended up being saved by Batgirl. After seeing his niece in action, he decided that maybe she did know what she was doing. Maybe this was what she was meant to do and he shouldn't interfere. He decided to just let the subject drop.
It was a very normal superhero career all in all, at least until the day she was confronted with an assassin named Cormorant. Someone had taken out a hit on her and it was Cormorant's job to kill her. He lured her onto the roof of a building by taking a hostage and shot her when she arrived. She escaped, injured, and allowed him to believe that he had done his job. The experience left her shaken and fearful, almost paranoid as she kept looking over her shoulder expecting him to show up. She managed to push through the fear and go about her job, eventually forgetting about the experience. Several years later, a chain of murders began in Gotham. All the men who were murdered had histories of abusing and raping women but the way in which the murders were done led Barbara to assume it was Cormorant. All the fear and anxiety she had been feeling after he "killed" her came back and she wasn't sure what to do with it.
She became obsessed with finding him, with ending this whole thing with him and getting rid of the fear she felt every time she thought of him. She used the library's resources to track down where he lived and went to his house, intent on ending his suspected murder spree. It turned out though that the real murderer was a masked woman named Slash. She was taking out these men to punish them for their crimes against women and her next target was Cormorant. Barbara ended up fighting them both of them at Cormorant's house, just barely able to do anything against the two of them. The fight ended in Cormorant's death and Slash's incapacitation. Barbara just barely made it out of the fight alive and ended up being badly injured during it. The trouble she had led to her questioning her role in the crime fighting world. What good could she do in a world full of people with powers if she couldn't even handle a normal human? What was she doing with her life? Why did she even bother. At this point, she was seriously considering just retiring as Batgirl.
Roleplay Sample - Log:
Barbara Gordon is totally sane and obviously knows what she's doing at all times. This is a statement that anyone who could see her now, perched on the ledge of a tall building with a jump cable in her hands, would question. To be honest, she was questioning it herself right now. Was she seriously considering jumping off this building and swinging across the road? Yes, she was indeed considering that. On a rope whose weight bearing potential she had never tested before this very moment no less. Most people would have at least done a couple tests at lower heights first but not Barbara. She was just going to jump right out there and hope for the best. This was clearly the best plan that anyone had ever come up with, except that it wasn't. It was actually vaguely suicidal but...well, here she was.
She stood up from her perch and swung the rope over her head, letting it fly across the street and attach to the roof of the building there. After giving it a tug to make sure it was nice and tight she scooted closer to the edge, taking a look down below. Wow, she was...really high up. Obviously she had noticed that she was really high up when she climbed up here but she hadn't really...NOTICED it before. It was different to look up to the top than it was to look down to the bottom. Why was she doing this? This was stupid. If the rope didn't break and send her crashing down to the street then there was still a chance she'd end up crashing into the side of the building across the street. On the other hand, if Batman could do this then so could she. Even though he was older, had more training and better equipment. Oh god.
"Now or never."
She took a deep breath then, getting a good grip on the rope and taking one last look down before jumping from the ledge. Sailing through the air was actually a bit of a terrifying feeling. Something about having no support below her and knowing that the ground was so far below her was just intimidating. She actually closed her eyes halfway through, not opening them again until she felt something solid beneath her. Looking down, she saw the roof of the building across the street below her feet. She let out a breath that she hadn't known she had been holding, a smile creeping over her face. The thrill of the moment was starting to catch up to her then, her heart beating a bit faster and her head fuzzy with excitement. Despite the initial "Oh god I'm going do die", that actually wasn't too bad. It was a tiny victory but she would take it. First small step to actually being able to do this crime fighting thing: complete.
Roleplay Sample - Journal:
[The camera turns on to show a redheaded woman in her early 20s seated at the desk in her room, chin resting in her hand. She's not panicking at the new surroundings at all, in fact, she looks bored]
The tech in this place is seriously questionable. [Yes that is the first thing she has to comment on]
But that's beside the point. I've already found and read through the write up on this place. Great job to whoever put that together by the way, very thorough. So I don't need any of the little details explained to me. What I need to know is this: Is everything in that write up completely factual and about how many people are here?
That's it.
Questions? Comments? Crazed and creative statements? Those go here.