Young Amazons

by Wanderer D

Chapter 40: Vendetta

“Okay, I’m back, I’m back,” Barbara announced the moment she walked through the door. Pamela and Sunset were lounging at Sunset’s apartment, waiting for the Commissioner’s daughter to come over and bring along what she was wanting to bring them.

It had been three whole days since the circus incident with the Graysons. The family thankfully left town the next morning, but unfortunately, Tony Zucco somehow gave the slip from Gotham’s APB; both him and his two brothers.

It was frustrating for Sunset to hear that. She probably had a good chance of getting him back during the circus clearing out with the accident. Of course, she had to return to the others rather than capture the man; and the evidence against Zucco might have been lost. She and the others hadn’t heard anything else about said evidence that would prove the sabotage so as far as they knew, it was safe and ready to be used against him in a trial sooner or later.

Still, Sunset wouldn’t feel comfortable until she was sure that the man was behind bars and unable to come back after the Graysons or anyone else. She only prayed either Bruce was already close to nabbing him or that he was still in town. If he bolted… Sunset was worried she might find a headline soon about the Graysons meeting an unfortunate end somewhere else in the country.

“Sunny, have you got like a chalkboard or some sort of board I could put all this stuff up?” Barbara asked. 

She nodded. “Yes, I do.” 

Sunset went back into her closet in her room to find a corkboard she had that she once used to properly plan out her double life of high schooler/crime fighter when she first started.

“Red, what on Earth is all that?” Sunset heard Pamela ask from the other room.

“Photos, newspaper clippings, the kind of thing you would need to properly connect organized crime members together,” Barbara explained as Sunset came to a stop when she heard that and nearly dropped the corkboard.

“Please tell me you didn’t steal any police documents from your dad?” Sunset asked.

“No,” Barbara chuckled. “Dad, while he tends to bring work home sometimes, would fully know if I touched the files. This mostly just is off of what I’ve overheard him say on the phone in his office, what I’ve seen on the news, that sort of thing. If I wanted actual files, I know only one man to ask, and I doubt Bruce would be willing to let us have copies.”
 
“Yeah, like he said before, tell us to just back off this thing and let him handle it himself. Nail some store burglars or purse thieves or something,” Pamela scoffed as she leaned back in the chair she was sitting in.

“I know what he said,” Sunset sighed. “But, the look that young Dick Grayson had, that guilt I could see him having, blaming himself for his parent’s near fatal fall. I just can’t feel comfortable knowing that Zucco might still be out there, just waiting for the moment for the Graysons to make a public appearance somewhere else and tie up loose ends.”

“We’re with you, Sunny.” Barbara smiled. “We’ll find Zucco and drop him right in front of Dad’s office in a present bow if we have to.”

“I think being restrained and waiting for the police to pick him up will be good enough,” Pamela rolled her eyes as she gave a small laugh. “Anyways, care to explain to us what you have planned there?”

“Sure,” Barbara started to pull out pictures that she had taped together with a few names and paper clippings she obviously printed off. “So, in case you two aren’t aware; the Gotham Outfit is mostly led by two main families, with a bunch of smaller ones working for one or the other. The Falcones and Maronis,”

“Now, the Maronis are a bit weaker since it’s only Salvatore and son Umberto; Pino would probably have had some power too, but the younger brother got himself killed in a drunk drag race, as I said the other night.” Barbara explained.

“I remember.” Sunset nodded. “And Zucco’s a high member on the Maroni side of things.”

“Correct; there’s also the Irish Riley family, the Sabatinos, Ibanescus, Panessas and the Galantes. All the other families line up under the Falcones. They obviously have had more of the power these past few decades but Salvatore has kept his family and underlings from being swallowed up.”

Both girls watched as Barbara pinned pictures and drew lines connecting the many faces together. Both honestly wondered if Barbara just skipped most of her homework to do all this gangster research. Sunset felt a bit guilty if this might end up causing her grades to slip a bit.

“So, our main goal obviously is to find where Tony Zucco is and bring him to justice. The only issue is that he and his brothers have gone missing. Leo’s the only one in prison and probably doesn’t know where they are at the moment.” Pamela said.

“Even if he did, it is doubtful we could get a one on one with him in jail,” Sunset added. “So, I’m guessing if they’re here in town, they’re lying low for the time being.”

“Probably with Umberto, the two have a fairly close connection in recent years according to Dad. He always warned me about many of these thugs in case they tried to get to him through me,” Barbara explained. “As for him, Umberto hasn’t been seen out that much in the past year. He’s gone mostly to ground himself.”

“So, if Zucco hasn’t left Gotham, then he’s probably with Umberto, and if he has left the city?” Pamela asked.

“Someone knows where they are,” Sunset said. “And I think I have an idea what you’re planning, Barb.”

“The plan is to start nailing down some of these lesser thugs, bodyguards, informants. Anyone that has a strong connection with the Outfit. Someone will squeal sooner or later and lead us right,” Barbara drew a circle around Zucco’s face at the center of the board. “to Zucco.”

The next three weeks would be some of the darkest times of organized crime in Gotham City’s history. The girls were on the warpath and no one in the Outfit was safe from their justice.
 
The plan was easy to follow for them; pick off the minnows at the bottom of the criminal pyramid and slowly work up from the information these lowly hands would squeal out. Confronted by the police was one thing; but the Amazons or worse, the Bat himself? Loyalty was finding itself abandoned amongst many of those they confronted.

One man, a lowly bookkeeper for protection rackets that the Falcones had was also organizing a few Maroni books lately, was running as fast as he could down one of Gotham’s alleyways on a rainy night. He knew he was being chased but wasn’t sure if it was Outfit hitmen or Gotham’s costumed crusaders.

All he knew was he had gotten away. He silently cursed himself for not owning a car and always relying on public transport; it meant he was unable to make a quick getaway. He continued to move as he ducked across another alleyway and then ran back out into the street. Had he been a bit slower, he might have been hit by the car he just beat across the street.
 
He skirted around another alley before taking cover behind a large dumpster; hopeful that he threw off his pursers. The moment he felt his wrists bound and practically glued to the brick wall behind him dropped that idea. He watched in fear as Alicorn slowly came around the dumpster to stare face to face with him.

“Evening, Charlie, in a bit of a hurry tonight, I see.” Alicorn said as she crossed her arms. Batgirl and Ivy soon appeared in his field of view as well. Batgirl dropped down to sit on a fire escape above him while Ivy landed on top of the dumpster to his left and looked down at him.

“Look, I-I-I don’t know what you girls want,” He stammered. “I’m just-”

“We know all about your little ledgers, Charlie.” Batgirl pulled out the books he recognized and she waved them a bit.

“We just want names,” Ivy said. “Word has it you’ve done a few moving zeros for Tony Zucco; is that right?”

“Zucco?” Charlie questioned. “Look, I haven’t had any dealings with that psycho, alright?”

“No? What about the Maronis? Anyone you know who might have dealt with him or know where he is?” Sunset asked as she leaned down to grab his cheeks and get him to look directly at her.

“I-I-I do,” He stammered once more. About an hour later back at Sunset’s apartment, another name and photo was crossed out of the board.

Another night a few days later; one of the hitmen employed by the Maronis was cutting through the streets into the alleys; the girls were all in hot pursuit as he turned and fired off two rounds from his pistol. Alicorn quickly threw up magical shields to stop the bullets mid-flight. They would’ve missed her, but she didn’t want to take the chance of one of them going stray and killing an innocent bystander anywhere.

The hitman kept moving, firing off another few shots in the direction he thought Ivy and Batgirl were. Alicorn chased on the streets, the other two were keeping up along the rooftops, ready to drop at the right moment.

Eventually that moment came when the man ran right into a woman and the little girl, who couldn’t be no older than three, she had with her. He thought fast and quickly picked up the girl, much to her mother’s horror and cries of panic as he kept running. He planned on using the girl as a hostage to escape; especially when he found the alleyway he ran into blocked by Batgirl, and Alicorn about to close off the way he came in.

“Drop it, girls!” He shouted as he pointed his gun at the girl’s head. “Show’s over!” 

Batgirl and Alicorn came to a dead stop as he pushed himself against the wall and held the girl tight; she cried as he pointed the gun back at Alicorn and Batgirl.

“Here’s how we’re going to play this,” he said as Ivy stood on the rooftop above and was calling out to a flower box nearby where a large vine was slowly starting to emerge from it and make it’s way down to street level. “I’m taking the girl with me, you’re staying here until I get away from you freaks. You come any closer, she dies!”

“You won’t be doing that.” Alicorn told him without a shred of fear or worry in her voice as Batgirl pulled out one of her Batarangs. “You got him?” She asked as Ivy’s vine was about to reach the man.

“Yeah, I got him.” She smirked as the man pulled back the hammer to his gun, ready to fire once more if his finger squeezed the trigger as he pushed it to the girl’s temple. Her cries and screams became even louder.

“You’ve got five seconds!” He shouted his demand before he pointed the gun outward, away from the girl to keep Alicorn and Batgirl at a standoff. “One!” He was slowly shaking his gun as the girls continued to stare him down. “T-“

“Take him.” Alicorn said before the man shouted when he found his leg yanked straight upwards and caused him to drop his gun and the girl. It was only now he realized that Ivy got him with a vine as he was hanging upside-down. Alicorn quickly ran to the girl and hugged her tight to try and make the girl feel safe after her horrifying ordeal while Batgirl threw a punch in the hitman’s face.

“Come on, let’s get you back to your mother,” Alicorn whispered as the girl hugged her tightly back.

“Thwank phew, Alywicon.” The girl whispered back that almost made Alicorn shed a tear behind that mask of hers. The girl was safe, that’s what truly mattered. And later that night, the hitman was off the board.

Valentino Rossa kicked open a door, panting heavily as he felt like he ran a pure sprint for almost a dozen blocks of Gotham. He found himself in a dark backroom, with nothing much in it. Whatever it was he kicked open, the place was mostly abandoned but he was a sitting duck.

He quickly shut the door behind him and got ready. He pulled out two submachine guns he had on him; extra protection he’d been lugging around since the Amazons started cracking hard on the Families. He planned to light the girls up the moment they opened the door. If he killed all three of them, he would earn the eternal respect of all of Gotham’s crime families.

He stood in the dark, waiting for the second that door would open as his fingers were ready to squeeze the triggers, his panting the only thing that could be heard in that nearly pitch black room.

The door broke open before he pulled and sprayed bullets forward at the exit; closing his eyes tight as he yelled over the gunshots. Everything went silent except for the sounds of the guns clicking as they signaled he was out of ammo in both of them. He looked forward, but saw no bodies on the ground.

Instead he found the dark silhouettes of the girls obstructing much of the light that came in from the outside. He dropped his guns before falling to his knees. They had seen right through his plan and just waited for him to make himself defenseless.
 
Rossa was off the board… and a line now was drawn directly to Dante Zucco.

Dante panicked when his hideout was engulfed with smoke a week before Halloween. Two of the Panessa family members he had been staying with quickly were subdued in the smoke. The moment Dante heard fists flying and people getting punched; it all finally clicked that he had been found and ran as fast as he could.

He made his way out of the apartment through the fire escape while he hoped the Batman or the girls were held up with the two Panessas; at least enough time for him to escape. He looked down and saw in the alleyway beneath him was the silhouette of Poison Ivy. His escape route on the ground was blocked which left him only the roof.

He first yanked out the fire escape ladder at the bottom of the rafters, to keep Ivy from coming up right behind him, before he turned and ran up the fire escape stairs to the roof. He glanced back and saw that Alicorn was coming right out from the window he escaped out of and moved faster than he thought possible.

He ran across the roof and leapt forward, trying to reach another roof, though he misjudged and nearly fell. He managed to catch the ledge and pulled himself up, but that delay cost him dearly as Alicorn caught up to him.

Alicorn ducked down at the swinging punch that Dante sent her way as he got ready to try to run again. She responded with a hard punch right into his gut that caused the man to take a few steps back.

The next minute would deal with the two of them throwing punches and blocks at each other; Dante was able to get a few good punches in on Alicorn but her spells and magic was able to suppress more of the pain that would come from the hits. The said could not be said for Dante as she threw an uppercut that nailed Dante in the chin.

And the force of the hit caused him to stumble back… right towards the edge of the roof before Alicorn grabbed him by the tie he was wearing.

“Been wasting a lot of time trying to find you, Dante,” Alicorn growled as she held the tie tightly while Dante was on the ledge, about to fall over.

“Don’t let me drop! Don’t let me drop!” Dante begged.

“Like how you were willing to let the Graysons drop?” She countered.

“The Graysons? That’s what all this has been about?” Dante quickly found that was the wrong thing to say as Alicorn loosened her grip and caused him to slip backwards a bit more. “No, no, no, no!”

“I’m really not in the mood for this tonight. You want to test and see if I am willing to save you from slamming against the concrete below?” Alicorn threatened.

“Look! Look! That was all Tony, alright? He wanted to make a point with that family after they embarrassed him! That’s all!” Dante shouted.

“And you were more than willing-”

“What was I gonna do? Run out of the crowd, steal the mic and warn them? Tony would shoot me dead right then and there!” Dante tried to argue. “Look, Leo, Rocco and I just follow him, as we always have. If you’re so obsessed with that night, go after him!”

“And where is he, Dante? You’re going to pay as much as him for being a part of that attempted killing, so you better talk now!” Alicorn let his tie slip another few centimeters.

“No! Stop! Please! I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” Dante begged once more as Alicorn pulled him away from the edge and threw him onto the roof.

“Where!?” She shouted; Alicorn deep down was almost worried if she was letting that dark side of her come back to the surface, but her mind was just so focused on getting Dante to rat out his brother. In a way, she was taking a page out of Batman’s book.

“Out west! Down the river! Old textile plant about thirty minutes out of the city limits! He’s with Umberto! Umberto’s got a sort of base and all he’s hiding. Big stuff in it too! Total power play against his father and the Falcones!” Dante sobbed at Alicorn’s feet.

“Thank you.” Alicorn said as she kneed him in the face and knocked him out right as Ivy and Batgirl joined her.

“Well?” Ivy asked as Alicorn cooled down to take a few breaths.

“I think he’s telling the truth. But I’m not planning on us just waltzing in without knowing what’s waiting for us.” She explained to the other two crimefighters.

“Good idea,” Batgirl nodded. “We can use a few nights to check it out and prepare.” Alicorn and Ivy agreed before turning their attention to dealing with the three criminals they knocked out to leave them with the police.

It was a stormy night that Batman found himself in. He was perched on the ledge of a high-rise with his binoculars looking at Salvatore Maroni sitting in his office. The old, gray haired, balding crime lord had his back against the window and in turn, against Batman, taking another drink of whatever he had in his flask.

Batman knew exactly what the girls were doing the moment Tony Zucco went to ground. It was obvious they were after him from the very beginning, but he knew he couldn’t stop them. They honestly had been proving themselves to be very capable; even if their training was not nearly to the level he forced himself on for years.

He knew why the girls were going all out on Zucco, the same reason why he was doing much of the same though he was going from a different angle. They found Dante, he found Rocco, both knew where Tony was but Batman had different plans to confront Umberto and Tony.

That night of the near fatal tragedy, Bruce nearly saw himself in the same position. Dick Grayson’s life would’ve been tragically similar to his own. Two loving parents ripped away from him thanks to crime in this city. It honestly haunted Bruce’s mind especially what would’ve happened had Sunset and her friends had not been there, or sat in a different spot.

It was especially troubling some of the nightmares Bruce had where he was in Dick’s position while Thomas and Martha were in the positions of the Graysons. Different from their actual deaths, but still rang the same as previous nightmares he had. The only good news was that the Graysons’ deaths had at least been avoided.
 
Or at least delayed as long as Tony Zucco ran free. He more than likely was lying low with Umberto until the moment the Graysons would start touring with Hailey’s Circus again before going out where they were and finishing the job he was unable to complete back in Gotham.

This was a man that needed to be stopped at all costs; but whether it was at his, the girls, or both of their hands remained to be seen. But Batman was going to make sure it was his first, as he knew exactly what was lying in wait at Umberto’s hideout. And he was going to make Sal know too as he leapt off the edge and landed right against the window before lightning struck and caused his shadow to be seen by Sal directly ahead of him.

Sal quickly turned in his chair as Batman kicked open the window while the crime boss fell to the floor, clutching his chest.

“You trying to give me a heart attack, Bat?” He scowled as he crawled back on the floor towards the wall.

“We both know the only medical issue you have, Sal, is stomach ulcers,” Batman said dryly.

“Yeah, well, another jump like that and I’m bound to drop dead. I’m sixty-four years old, I’m not a young man anymore.” He sighed as he leaned against the wall while Batman continued to stare at him. “So, it’s come to this? You and your girls wrecking everything we’ve built all these years and now you finally come for me?”

“Not exactly,” Batman said. “Believe it or not, Sal, we’ve actually been after Tony Zucco.”

“Zucco!” Sal sounded shocked hearing his name. “For that Grayson thing? That’s what this has all been about? Sheesh, if you just came to me from the start, I would’ve sold him down the river.”

“Which is where ironically he is along with your son. And they’re doing some things that I think you might want to know,” Batman pulled out a file he had on him and tossed it to the floor at Sal’s feet; revealing photographs of what exactly was in Umberto’s hideout. “Now, the way I see it, he’s been stockpiling some serious weapons and a litany of illegal substances. Correct me if I’m wrong, Sal, but normally dealing is a fierce punishment amongst the Outfit?”

“It’s because you’re easier to be pinched by the cops. Racketeering, numbers, all that’s a little easier to throw doubt and cover each other’s stories. Drugs? Forget it.” Sal stared at the pictures. There was without a shadow of a doubt that Umberto was indeed breaking practically every rule the Outfit laid for the sake of power and survival.

“I’m sorry, Sal. Umberto clearly has gone beyond your control and is playing a dangerous game along with Zucco.” Batman said as Sal closed his eyes and sighed.

“It wasn’t alcohol, you know that, Batman? What took my Pino? He wasn’t drinking when doing that drag race. I don’t know where exactly he got It from but,” Sal nearly started to tear up. “I already had to bury one son, I don’t want to have to bury the other.”

“You’re going to be doing that unless we stop him.” Batman told him.

“Please… just leave Umberto to me. Do what you wish with Zucco.” Sal said.

“Then we better go now.” Batman dropped a copy of the address at Sal’s feet as the crime boss slowly got back up.

“We taking your ca-”

“You drive your own car. I’ll be there first.”

The storm continued to rage as the girls watched the factory from a nearby forested hill. They had watched the place out these past few nights and Sunset was able to get close enough to check and see what was inside. Mainly, a full fledged arsenal and quite enough illegal substances to keep the DEA busy for weeks.

“I know your portals are quicker and all, Sunny, but personally, you think Bruce would let us get our own cars or motorbikes?” Barbara chuckled as Sunset kept watching the compound.

“I think I’ll stick with portals,” Pamela admitted as Sunset did the same.

“You girls don’t know how to have fun sometimes.” Barbara teased as Pamela gave her a slight slug to the shoulder.

“Hey, you two, serious mode.” Sunset warned as she placed on her domino mask while the other two masked up as well. Sunset’s eyes were focused on the familiar car that pulled up and hid not too far from the complex. “Well, looks like Batman figured out where Zucco is too.”

“Should we just let him take care of things then?” Ivy asked. “I mean, if he were here now…”

“Come on, Pam, we can’t simply let him take all those guys by himself. Even he has his limits.” Batgirl told her.

“Yeah, Dracula and D.A.V.E. certainly proved that a few times,” Alicorn shot back. “Wait, hold up a second, girls.” Alicorn turned her attention to an old sports car that also pulled up not too far away. Alicorn watched the man in it get out and walk over to Batman. “That’s Sal Maroni. What the heck is he doing here? With Batman no less?”

“Maybe to try to talk Umberto down?” Ivy suggested.

“It might make our job a lot easier.” Batgirl said. “Are we sure Zucco’s in there?”

“No doubt about it. I saw him last night on my recon.” Alicorn explained. “Come on, let’s end this.”

Alicorn threw up another portal so the trio could end up on the roof of the textile plant. The plan would be to wait and see what Batman and Maroni had in plan before moving in. It took a few minutes but the girls soon found themselves in a good position they could ambush and were looking right at Zucco next to Umberto.

“Next shipment will be moving soon. We just move this stuff down the river for a while until we can load it on some haulers and move them further south.” Umberto said as he looked over the guns.

“Sounds like a plan. Think I can smuggle aboard with the shipment, just to get out of town. If Rocco and Dante got nabbed-” Zucco had some slight worry to his tone. He wasn’t stupid, he knew what was going on. He didn’t know how the cops found out, but the noose was closing in on him for sure.

“Then word might reach me?” Both men froze as they looked up at one of the higher rafters to see Sal looking down on them. “Umberto, my boy, what have you done?”

“How-” Another lighting strike and the shadow of the Batman hung over everyone inside. “Unbelievable, my own father, working with the Bat?”

“Not as crazy as you dealing out those weapons and drugs, the same that killed Pin-”

“Pino was an idiot!” Umberto shouted. “Idiot decided to get addicted to that junk and then decided to drag race! That’s on him!”

“How dare you say that about your little brother!” Sal argued.

“Oh, I dare. Face it, Dad, we’re becoming more irrelevant by the day. Stealing from shipping containers, selling counterfeit cigarettes, running underground betting parlors. You and Carmine still hold on to those glory days that are long gone now,” Umberto grabbed one of the submachine guns near him. “And you and the Bat can do the same.”

However, before Umberto could fire; large clouds of smoke quickly raised up from the ground floor. Alicorn thought it would be a good idea to cause confusion and get the advantage on every as all chaos broke out.

The girls, along with Batman, moved through the cover of the smoke and started fighting off all of Umberto’s respective thugs. Alicorn landed next to two men and threw four quick punches that brought them both down on the ground.

Ivy turned to see one brute had a chair he was planning on smashing over her head before she dropped down; causing the chair to swing above her hair before she delivered a few punches including a hard one at the guy’s knee that caused him to collapse right to the ground. She was sure she broke his kneecap with one of those hits.

She then heard the clicking of a gun that was ready to fire before she turned to see a thug was about to shoot Batgirl before Ivy created a vine and swung out to strip the gun away and save her friend’s life. Batgirl realized what had happened and knocked out the guy with a roundhouse kick to the face after he had been disarmed.

“Ah!” Ivy screamed as she saw a knife coming right at her through the smoke. Batgirl and Alicorn froze as Ivy went backwards up against the wall.

“Ivy!” Batgirl shouted as she got close to Ivy as both were checking where the knife went. Thankfully, it just went into the top of Ivy’s hair; missing everything though pinning her head against the nearby wall.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Ivy sighed before she pointed into the smoke. “Alicorn! Zucco’s running for it!”

Alicorn turned and saw the man running. Another thing added to the list of crimes: nearly killing her friend. Ivy was lucky that Zucco’s vision was obscured by the smoke or Ivy might have died with his aim being more true.

Alicorn chased him through the stairwells in the back as she heard the fighting continue. Batman obviously was taking the brunt of the goons as she tried to keep up with Zucco. Eventually she reached the roof where he was and saw he was looking for a way off – more than likely contemplating jumping into the river as Alicorn got to her feet, ready for anything.

“No way out of this, Zucco. Only way now is with you behind bars; or do you think you can swim in that?”

“I’ll take my chances with the river; though not before I cover my tracks and silence you, permanently.” Zucco pulled out a few knives and tossed them right towards her. Alicorn just held up her hand and all of them suddenly stopped midair. She was channeling some old magic she remembered; similar to that of whenever a unicorn needed to pick something up.

Zucco was shocked to see her doing that before she turned the knives around and for a moment, it looked like she would do the same to him. Only he wouldn’t be able to stop them from impaling him in four different places.

But, despite how much she wanted to do it, her better side won out and caused the knives to fall to the roof floor. She pulled out her rapier and let off a stunning spell that struck Zucco and caused him to drop to the roof floor like his knives. Alicorn then walked up to him and looked down.

“Certainly made us do a lot of work to find you, Tony. You might have been better off turning yourself in,” Alicorn said.

“Yeah? For what?” He chuckled like he didn’t know while still having a crooked grin knowing full well what she meant.

“You were willing to kill a young boy and his parents just because you got stood up by them!” She growled as she kicked him in the gut. Zucco just laughed through the pain as he remained flat as a board.

“Something you don’t seem to understand about us, Alicorn. It’s a way of life, for us to live like everyone else is stupid. Just emotionless zombies stuck in dead-end lives. Suckers, all of them. But not us.” He grinned. “But for us to have our way of life, sometimes it's necessary to kill kids or families… to make sure no one ever crosses you again.”

Alicorn had enough as she kicked Zucco right in the face. She was certain she broke his nose, maybe even knocked a tooth or two out. It wasn’t even close to what he deserved, but she was a crimefighter for justice, not a cold, heartless killer like him. Not anymore anyways, she nearly went down that path once before and was sure it wouldn’t happen again.

The storm cleared up as the girls watched back from the hill of the Maronis and Zucco being dragged into police cars. Seems Batman left a little message with the GCPD to have units come all the way out in the area not too long after the fighting stopped.

“So, you really think that Sal Maroni will talk? Even give up his own son?” Ivy asked as she checked her rose bud hairdo. Aside from a few clipped hairs that quickly grew back, everything was just as before with her.

“Who knows?” Batgirl shrugged her shoulders. “If he does rat out a lot of people, they’re going to have to find him some real isolated ranch in mountain country to hide in for the rest of his life.”

“Either way, Zucco’s off the streets, and hopefully will be locked away for a long time,” Alicorn sighed. “Or if he does escape, he’ll be more wanting revenge against us than the Graysons.”

“And we have the advantage that he still doesn’t know who our normal selves are.” Batgirl chuckled.

“To be fair, Red, what is normal with us?” Ivy gave a small laugh that the other two joined in.