Batgirl: An Unofficial Novel

Barbara Gordon is a young kid in Ballet class, which she finds very boring, but as she ends her class she looks across the street to see the martial arts class. She sneaks into the class and watches the students and instructor, including Jason Bard and Alysia Yeoh. After the class she witnesses a bigger kid hassling the two students, she jumps in to stand up to him. They laugh at her when they see her ballet uniform, but she shows her photographic memory by using the same moves taught in class against him.

 

After the class, officially befriending Jason and Alysia, Barbara is picked up by her parents in his police car. In the car she expresses how cool the class was. They promise to talk about it, but first Jim has to work while also taking care of her. Her mother suggests taking her on patrol, which he’s uncomfortable with. But as he can’t abandon his job he reluctantly agrees. Barbara becomes excited about joining Jim on patrol.

On patrol Barbara is told explicitly to stay in the car when Jim steps out to confront a gang. They attack him and almost kill him, with Barbara stuck in the car. But he's rescued by Batman, of which you mostly see a shadow beating the criminals. Barbara watches in amazement, her eyes following the Batman as he disappears into the city.

Later Jim finishes his statement with the detectives as they arrest the gang members. He returns to the car, asking if his daughter is alright. She nods, asking if he was okay. He suddenly hears a call over the radio reporting a fire at his house. He races home with sirens blazing to find their home on fire, hearing his wife screaming. He races out to the front door with Barbara behind him. The door explodes, knocking him out on the pavement. Barbara tries to wake him but then frantically runs in to find her mom. She ends up inhaling a lot of smoke, but sees a large man in the flames before she passes out.

 

Years later: Barbara now works a desk job at the GCPD, environment cues portraying how Jim retired with get well soon cards illustrating he had a heart attack. She finishes her shift and returns home on her bike to take care of him, as she often does, the years of grief and hardship taking a toll on him. During her trip to the grocery store on her way home, she witnesses a worker (Garfield) losing his temper with a customer and shouting at them before another member of staff intervenes. She walks on, in a hurry to get home. Around her home and work life she also spends time with her best friend Alysia and her boyfriend Jason, including joining them at a bar to hang out.

Meanwhile, Ted Carson, who we see briefly working in a grocery store in the previous chapter when Barbara visited, he is brought into the managers office who fires him due to his temper. Garfield is forced to return home where we see his sick wife. He lies about his job, promising to pick up her medication. He approaches the Bressi crime family, seeking his old job. As he waits he overhears a few names on Bressi's hit list, including Killer Moth. But the boss rejects him, explaining he’s running for mayor and believes the old man has grown soft. Ted is dejected, driving to a pharmacy to pick up his wife's meds. But he’s unable to pay, due to the city cutting his benefits, and asked to leave when he becomes outraged. Finally snapping, he climbs back into his car he pulls out a can of gasoline, marching back in and attacking the clerk behind the counter. The scene cuts to him walking out of the burning pharmacy carrying his wife's medication with sirens in the distance.

Barbara prepares for the Costume Christmas party, dying her hair red and reminding her farther he promised he’d come. She wears a Batman costume while he attends in his trench coat (with a "nudist on strike" sign on the back). There’s a brief moment where they think about her mother (a photo showing the four of them) before they leave the house. They arrive at the party, hosted by Bruce Wayne who gives a speech to a crowd of wealthy patrons and public figures. The party is interrupted however by Killer Moth and his goons intending to rob the party.

Barbara sneaks away on a balcony to try and find her dad, keeping her eyes on the ceiling expecting Batman to show up any minute. When he doesn’t she ends up confronting a goon pointing a gun at her. She disarms him, but the scuffle leads to them falling to the Christmas tree, sending it falling and crashing in the middle of the party. The crowd scatters as the goons turn, mistaking her for Batman due to her costume. She weaves through the gunfire, racing to disarm and stop Killer Moth who is suddenly tackled by Gordon. Bruce Wayne is dragged by a trio of goons, but he disarms them and takes them out in a restrained display of prowess (hiding his skill). Barbara sees Killer Moth throw Gordon away before turning his gun on Bruce, leaping in to save the billionaire. With the police surrounding the party Killer Moth escapes in the chaos. Barbara leaves before Bruce's security could grab her, running to check on her dad finding he's okay and ordering uniforms around. She slips away to get out of her costume before she’s arrested.

Outside Killer Moth ducks into an alley to catch his breath, frustrated his crime failed. He’s suddenly found by Firefly, who is looking to get his job back by hunting the men on Bressi's hit list. He then uses a flamethrower to incinerate the man, watching him burn before returning to the crime family with his grill. Dropping it at the henchmen's feet, they call their boss to explain the situation. he is rehired by the family to hunt down the other names.

The next day Barbara visits Alysia at her bar, who asks if she dyed her hair red to be like batgirl. Barbara asks what she's talking about, leading to her showing the footage of this new hero who saved Bruce Wayne at the party last night. Jason arrives to join the conversation, asking his girlfriend if she and her dad are okay. News of this vigilante was breaking and becoming popular, but Barbara played along hiding the fact Batgirl is her. But as she monitors the news, she finds she loves being a vigilante.

After looking over her Batman costume, she abuses her photographic memory to break into the evidence lockers. We see various Easter eggs, but she steals an old batarang and Catwoman’s cowl. She sneaks them with her and uses the cowl to make her own. She stitches her own bat suit together and goes out on patrol.

As she’s riding through the streets on her motorcycle, she wonders how Batman can get around this city so well. After intervening with a mugging and beating up a few thugs, she is suddenly grappled and yanked into an alley. A voice asked her what she’s doing, prompting her to look up and see Batman dropping into the alley to confront her. At first she’s afraid, but then she’s in awe. Batman tells her to stop being a vigilante, warning her she’s out of her depth, ignoring her pleas for him to train her. Summoning the Batmobile, he leaves her in the alley. But during their "talk" Barbara steals his grapple gun.

Seeking to level up her patrols, she begins looking into the gangs of Gotham. During her investigations she learns about Anthony Bressi, son of the crime family, who is working to help Gotham's homeless in the sewers. She talks her way into speaking to him, who convinces her he’s not like his family while giving him a tour of the homeless village. She finds him charming as he asks her to diner some time, giving her his phone number before leaving. Jason arrives doing his own community work, specifically raising funds to support the GCFD. He remarks seeing Barbara with Anthony, but she promises it’s just for work.

She returns to her investigation, which brings up the name "Firefly". The moment she sees a photo of the arsonist she gets a flash of the night her mother died, becoming convinced he was responsible. Looking into the Firefly's activities, she discovers his real name is Ted Carson, arrested previously for arson after the house fire, and previously a firefighter. When Gordon discovers she’s looking into him she tells him she saw him that night. But he tells her he didn’t see anyone in that fire, upsetting her as he orders her to leave this alone.

That night she lights up the bat-signal, seeking Batman's help. But when he arrives he warns her taking cases personally never ends well. She asked how many cases he took personally, but he doesn’t answer. But he does inspire her to look into it on his own, if only to get closure.

It’s after this she gets a call from Anthony, inviting her to diner which she accepts. They talk about his family and how he as aspirations to make the Bressi name a legitimate one, not of criminal activity. He notes how his community work is a path to become a candidate for mayor, which could put him against his father. During their dinner She begins falling for him, which puts a strain on her relationship with Jason when he sees her with Anthony at the restaurant. Racing out she tries to explain while Jason, who she’s been neglecting for the last few days, asks if there's something she's not telling him. She’s forced to lie, which he assumes means it’s about her new relationship with Anthony. She insists it isn’t but she can’t be honest with him and until age lets him go in a huff.

She investigates the files the GCPD collected on Ted, using her work ID, to distract from her collapsing love life. But inside she discovers the files have already been taken, signed out by Jim Gordon himself. She realizes her father has already been investigating him. And during his investigation, he discovered the chief of GCFD (fire department) is corrupt and works for the Bressi Crime family. At home however, Jim is confronted by Firefly who explains "he’s on the list".

Firefly tries to kill Gordon, but that’s when Barbara comes home in her civilian clothes to find them. Gordon tells her to run, but she fights Ted without his weapons, the two brawling in the house until he is forced to slip away leaving Gordon alive. Barbara calls an ambulance while Gordon calls the police, but Barbara sneaks away to get answers.

In her costume, Batgirl confronts the chief of GCFD, holding them out of a window demanding answers. She confesses under threat of gravity, confessing she sent firefly to kill Jim Gordon that night to hide her criminal activity. But when Firefly got there, only Mrs Gordon was present, so he burnt the house down anyway to send a message. Batgirl struggles to control her rage, using her willpower not to drop the chief before pulling her back in and disappearing.

Despite their relationship being tense, Barbara goes to Jason Bard to explain all she’s discovered while keeping her secret identity a secret. He agrees to help her bring down the Bressi Family, Firefly and prove his involvement in her mother’s death.

Elsewhere Ted is confronted by Bressi's goons, who are disappointed he failed to kill Gordon again. They tell him the boss has determined he’s not as reliable as he claimed. They try to kill Ted, who overpowers them and kills them all. He returns home to find his wife has also passed away, angry he wasn’t there for her at the end. Channelling his rage, he seeks revenge on the Bressi family and builds a new suit, prepared to burn down the city to do it.

Their investigation into Bressi leads Barbara and Jason to attend his mayoral speech that evening. It’s here Anthony greets Barbara, leading to some butting heads with Jason as he comments about their dinner. The event is suddenly attacked by a rageful firefly, who plants explosives around the area to create chaos and trap/kill the crime family. He marches straight up to the boss and uses his twin flamethrowers on the man, killing him in front of the whole city while he protests he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Running to her motorcycle to change into her Batgirl costume, Batgirl leaps in to confront him. Jason boards a fire truck to put out the fires and save the crowds. However, Firefly boards the truck as it veers through the streets, the driver panicking and fleeing the cabin leaving it out of control.

Jason climbs the truck to get to the drivers seat, but he ends up fighting Firefly as he sprays fire all around Gotham, wielding a fire axe until Ted deflects it into the man's leg. Batgirl chases them on her bike, dodging fire while Jason fights firefly until she finds an opportunity to vault of a ramp, off her bike and onto the truck, interrupting Jason's fight to confront the man who killed her mother. The fight is brutal, fire shooting everywhere, and Ted sees the young Barbara Gordon through her cowl. He blames her for failing to kill her father, for Bressi firing him and for not being there for his wife. She fights back, cutting the fire hose with the batarang she stole from the evidence locker seating his suit on fire. Jason manages to reach the cabin, but he’s unable to stop the truck from careening into the entrance for the homeless village. Batgirl grabs him and uses the grapple gun to save them both, leaving firefly to crash with the truck.

In the village Ted is alive but badly burnt and injured, his weapons broken. Batgirl lands after leaving Jason somewhere safe, standing over the arsonist. Now she’s learnt the truth, she’s content to leave him to be arrested. However the police don’t arrive first, instead Anthony Bressi does with his goons. They hold Batgirl back so Anthony can walk up to the injured Firefly and shoot him in the head, revealing he was the boss sending Firefly to take out his father's enemies so he could take over the family business. Turning to Batgirl he reveals he knows she's Barbara and that he’s allowing her to leave alive because he's come to care for her. As a gesture of good faith he promises no more attempts on her family, letting a Gordon live while he takes over the crime family and his father's Candidate seat. Barbara promises she’ll stop him one day, seeing him for who he is now, before reluctantly leaving him free to pick up the pieces.

Christmas comes around and we cut to the Gordon household setting up decorations while the news recounts Anthony's rise to his father's place as a mayoral candidate. Barbara and Jason manage to get back together following several weeks of apology from the girl. Jason entertains the notion about running against Anthony, which Alysia begins to encourage. Jim takes Barbara aside and tells her he's seen how much she’s grown and tells her she’s okay with her going on patrol at work. But she declines, telling him she’s happen to put criminals away from her desk using the database.

Batgirl takes up residence in the old clock tower, where she puts together a large computer setup. On one wall is her investigative board for Anthony Bressi, along with open case files for other cases. She finds a case sitting on a table as Batman steps out of the shadows, (advising she improves her security), asking her if she’s ready to become a hero. She asks if she can be his partner now, but he retorts he works alone before promising to keep an eye on her. He leaves her an improved bat suit and her own gadgets, after taking his grapple gun back. She tries it on, making a few of her own adaptations before standing on a gargoyle looking over the city before leaping off.

 

End of movie

 

Post credit scene [which I’ve chosen to add]: a shot in a psychiatric unit in Arkham Asylum, zooming into a cell with the name Gordon. Specifically, James Gordon Jr.