The Rocket Clears the Tower

by twof

Usually, Batgirl’s only concern as she faced imminent death was to escape. This time, however, as the machinery continued the tedious process of rending her and Jenny, Batgirl’s mind couldn't help but turn to the plight of others.

‘This poor girl,’ Batgirl thought. ‘An innocent pawn in Penguin’s mad scheme - held captive for months - and now to go through this!’

Larger issues then occurred to the Masked Maid. ‘If Penguin manages to cut all the power in Gotham City, hundreds, if not thousands, will die! Patients on life-support in hospitals; jet airliners might fall from the sky! I’ve got to stop him!! I’ve got to!!!’

Batgirl once again surveyed their surroundings. The keys were hopelessly out of reach. Untangling herself from Jenny’s body had already proven impossible.

Batgirl stared at the wall in front of her, which was tortuously moving away. The metal plate holding the chain binding her right wrist seemed a little off center. Maybe that indicated a weakness!

“Jenny, brace yourself.” Batgirl whispered in the co-ed’s left ear. “I’m going to try to pull the chain on my right arm out of the wall.”

“Go for it!” Jenny moaned. Perspiration ran down her high cheekbones, which perfectly accented her darting eyes, pink lips, white teeth and flawless ears. Jenny was still clad in her one-piece black swimsuit. It did little to conceal the wondrous physique underneath. Her smooth bare limbs strained uselessly against the relentless grasp of her bonds.

Through her pain and fear, Jenny was getting hot - in more ways than one! She had always admired Batgirl and dreamed of meeting the Dark Knight Damsel. She had even fantasized about being tied up with her heroine. Jenny felt all she had been through since her kidnaping would have been worth it - - - if they were to survive!

Batgirl grabbed the chain with her right hand. The women’s tight bodies, one in spandex, the other in lurex, strained and struggled. Batgirl pulled with all the strength she had left in her right arm, putting even more force on their physiques.

The plate stubbornly refused to budge.

“Damn,” muttered Batgirl. It was one of the few times she had used an explicative of any kind.

It was both a blessing and a curse that the machinery moved so slowly. Death was still some time off, but the duration of their torment was extended. The two victims sat in silence for a while. Finally, Jenny got up the courage to talk to the Gotham City icon.

“Batgirl?”

“Yes, Jenny?”

“If Penguin wants to kill us, why go through all this? Why not just shoot us?”

Having been placed in so many elaborate deathtraps, Batgirl had considered the same question many times previously. “I think it has something to do with the psychology of the self-styled super-villain or villainess. In general, they are not simple murderers. They see killing costumed crimefighters as an art form, requiring a certain style.”

Jenny let out a little yelp as the machine ratcheted away another notch. Batgirl decided to go on with her explanation, to try to distract the girl, at least temporarily, from their torture.

“They want to be able to brag to their peers about how the deed was done. In addition, most of them are sadists, getting pleasure out of the suffering before death.”

“Why don’t they ever unmask you?” Jenny asked.

“I’ve had arch-criminals tell me they wanted to defeat Batgirl, not whoever I am under my mask. I believe it has something to do with how they view themselves. The super-villain wants to defeat a legend, not a civilian.”

Batgirl cleared her throat when she realized what she had just said. If her face hadn’t already been red from her exertions, she would have blushed. “Not that I think of myself as a legend, you understand!”

“Oh, I think you’re legendary, Batgirl!” Jenny gushed, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. Jenny felt her nipples harden under her swimsuit. Silence hung in the air again for a moment.

“Batgirl - - - I don’t want to die.”

Batgirl was taken aback by the unvarnished honesty of Jenny’s statement. As the pressure on her limbs and torso increased, the Caped Crimefightress continued to try to come up with a means of escape. She began to refocus her concentration.

Jenny misunderstood Batgirl’s failure to respond. “I haven’t been with a boy yet,” she admitted, “because they don’t think I’m sexy. They’re put off by my swimmer’s muscles and my small breasts.”

The older woman tried to comfort the young collegiate. “Oh, no. You’re very sexy, Jenny.”

“Really, Batgirl? I think you’re sexy, too.” Jenny strained to look into Batgirl’s eyes.

At first, Batgirl was a little uncomfortable with where all this was going. Then, her mood suddenly brightened.“You’ll find a man who’ll appreciate you, Jenny. I’m sure of it - - - but, first, we have to get out of this - - - and I think I just figured out how!”

“You have?!” Jenny said with renewed hope.

“But it’s going to put the worst strain yet on your waist and left shoulder. I’m going to lean forward with my right arm. I’m sorry, but it’s going to hurt you terribly.”

“Don’t worry about me, Batgirl,” Jenny said with false bravado. “Just get us out of this so you can save my grandfather - and bag that mangy bird!”

“OK. Get ready.” The pressure on Batgirl’s right arm had reached the point she thought her plan just might work. Back in her apartment, she had been experimenting with almost dislocating her right thumb. By curling it into her palm, she was able to reduce the radius of her hand so that it almost matched that of her wrist. Barbara had thought the ability might allow her to slip out of handcuffs.

Sweat lubricated her wrist and the shackle encircled her purple glove. Batgirl hoped these facts would combine to allow her, with one swift tug, to pull her wrist out of her glove and away from the shackle.

“Now!” Batgirl leaned her right arm forward as far as she could.

Jenny screamed in pain, right into Batgirl’s left ear.

Batgirl curled her right thumb into her palm, then, in one motion, jerked her arm back. Her glove - and the shackle - came free!

Immediate freedom for the pair, however, was not the instantaneous result. With one arm loose, though, it was not long before the two athletes were able to contort themselves into a position where Jenny could slide right up and over Batgirl’s body.

Sweaty bodies, spandex and lurex rubbed hard in close contact, but soon Batgirl and Jenny were free of each other. The keys Penguin had provided to add to their mental distress now conveniently enabled them to completely escape in mere seconds.

“Jenny, you stay here. I’ll find your grandfather and send him to you.”

The athlete’s eyes hardened. “No, Batgirl. I’m coming with you.”

The Dominoed Dare Doll started to object, but Jenny plunged ahead, “I’ll lead grandfather to safety while you take care of Penguin and his goons.”

Observing the determined look in Jenny’s eyes, Batgirl knew it would be useless to object. Short of knocking her out or chaining her back up, there wasn’t much else the crimefightress could do to dissuade the comely co-ed.

“You’ll leave the fighting to me?”

“Yes, Batgirl.” Jenny smiled. “Cross my heart.”

“All right, then. Come on.”

Batgirl turned to lead the way out of the room, but Jenny put a restraining hand on Batgirl’s shoulder. “Before we go, there’s one thing I have to ask first.”

The costumed heroine turned back to Jenny. “Yes?” Batgirl asked warily.

Concern filled Jenny’s eyes. “Do you know anything about my friend, Delisha?”

Batgirl smiled in relief. “Yes, Jenny. She’s fine. I saw her in Gotham City just before I came up here. In fact, she’s the one who gave the clue that enabled me to find you.”

A broad grin crossed Jenny’s face. “Thank you, Batgirl.” Then a look of grim determination replaced the smile. “Now, let’s rescue grandfather, get Penguin and put an end to this!”

With Batgirl leading the way, the pair stealthily crept out the door and down the corridor. Deftly, the Caped Crimefightress picked the locks to the first two doors. The first led to nothing more than a storage closet, but behind the second was - - -

“Grandfather!”

The eminent scientist sprang off the cot he was sitting on to rush forward to embrace his granddaughter. Despite his ordeal, the physicist still was in possession of great energy.

“Jenny, Jenny!” he repeated. Dr. Akasofu looked to Batgirl standing in the doorway. “Thank you, Batgirl! Thank you for saving us-,” the doctor’s mind quickly shifted gears, “but The Penguin must be stopped!”

“How exactly does Penguin intend to cut all the power in Gotham City, Doctor?” Batgirl asked.

“I discovered a means to artificially generate aurorae by introducing ions into the thermosphere via a rocket,” explained the professor. “By threatening Jenny, The Penguin forced me to modify my design so that the aurorae generated would be strong enough to disrupt power generation and transmission on the ground. If the payload in the rocket on the launching pad now is discharged as targeted, all the electricity in Gotham City will be cut!”

“Then I have to disrupt Penguin’s plan - right now!” Batgirl declared. She ran off down the corridor.

Batgirl paused at the threshold to the main room of the Churchill Northern Study Centre. Carefully she opened the door just a crack and peeked inside.

Penguin was addressing two of his men next to launch control. “In less than 72 hours, unless Gordon broadcasts the acceptance of my terms, we’ll launch this rocket and plunge Gotham City into the darkest night it’s ever known. Then, with the equipment the good doctor has developed, we can re-locate and threaten another city - maybe Washington! Quack, quack, quack! We’ll be able to demand anything!”

“The only thing you’ll get, though, Penguin, is a life sentence!”

The Penguin whirled to see the Purple Paragon standing some fifteen feet away, hands on her hips. “Batgirl! Phaw!” Penguin stepped between Newton and Hawking, then moved back while pushing his hoodlums forward. “Attack!” he ordered.

Hawking was put off balance by the shove in the back from his boss. Batgirl took advantage by catching him on the chin with a high kick. Newton tried to take advantage of the crimefightress’s posture by lunging from the side, but Batgirl whirled, sidestepped the goon and whacked him on the back of the neck as he went by.

Penguin tried to skewer the Curvaceous Cutie with the razor sharp tip of his umbrella, but as she had done so many times before, Batgirl skipped out of range. She then administered knockout blows to Hawking and Newton. As Albert was no where to be seen, she surmised that Penguin’s third thug had returned to his post at the Polar Inn.

The Fowl Fiend knew he was no match for Batgirl in a one-on-one fight. Jenny and Dr. Akasofu were watching the action from the doorway, but even assuming Penguin could overpower them, Batgirl was between him and his potential hostages.

Overcome with rage, Penguin decided to salvage what little solace he could from another grand scheme wrecked by a caped crime fighter. Before Batgirl could lasso him with her Bat-rope, he waddled over to launch control and stabbed a button with the point of his umbrella.

Instantly, the building shook. Dr. Akasofu exclaimed, “Oh, no!”

Batgirl grabbed the brolly away from Penguin. As she quickly secured Penguin, she demanded, “Penguin! What have you done?”

“Wak, wak, wak!” Penguin chortled. “You may have captured me, Batgirl, but you’ve failed! In less than a minute the rocket will explode, blacking out Gotham City!”

Batgirl looked at rocket control panel in dismay. There were so many buttons, dials and levers, she had no idea what to do. She considered that the wrong action might even make things worse. She started to reach for a likely looking control, when suddenly-

“You forget, Penguin, I designed this system.” Dr. Akasofu was standing at Batgirl’s side. “Allow me.” The geophysicist pushed a button - some distance from the one for which Batgirl had been reaching. “This is the abort switch.”

A sound like thunder was heard in the distance. The rocket had self-destructed, harmlessly spreading its payload into the lower atmosphere.

“Phaw!” bellowed The Penguin.

Batgirl tied Hawking and Newton in a tidy bundle with their boss. She then did a quick search of the Study Centre and SpacePort complex to confirm that there weren’t any more of Penguin’s hoods on the premises. Meanwhile, Dr. Akasofu telephoned the Churchill headquarters of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Before long, Penguin and his three evil employees were in the hands of the Mounties. Batgirl wondered if the top-hatted villain would be extradited to the United States or if this time he would face the Canadian criminal justice system.

By now the storm off Hudson Bay had finally abated. As Batgirl sped back to Tamarrack Rentals on the leased snowmobile, she took satisfaction in the fact that she had apprehended The Penguin and his gang, rescued Jenny and Dr. Akasofu and prevented a massive power failure in Gotham City, all without any help from Batman or Robin.

She couldn’t quite decide, however, if she hoped the Dynamic Duo would show up to fly her back to Gotham, or if she preferred taking the train back to Winnipeg - - -

Batgirl was delighted her sub-Arctic adventure had concluded in time for her to make a rare public appearance. Weeks ago, she had arranged to attend the first anniversary of Mr. Barron Hilton’s new hotel, the Batman Hilton.

Naturally, she was mobbed as she arrived on the Batgirlcycle. It took several minutes for the manager to reach her, turn her vehicle over to a valet, and escort her to the room where she could prepare for her speech and hours of intensive autograph signing.

The manager explained he had been lucky to get her. Of course, Batgirl had no idea Bruce Wayne and Katherine Kane were being kept busy by their time-consuming duties running international corporations, making them focus all of Batman and Batwoman’s time on crime fighting. Nor did Batgirl realize Dick Grayson and Betty Kane’s busy class schedules had lately limited Robin and Flamebird’s public appearance schedules as well.

Batgirl’s speech proved inspirational and autographing moved along quickly enough for the hotel publicity department to try prevailing upon her to pose atop a gigantic anniversary cake, which had been donated anonymously to the hotel.

As the curvaceous crime fighter climbed to the summit of the publicity pastry, she was unaware a terrible temptress was watching and waiting to waylay her.

"That’s right, Batgirl," the blonde bombshell said. "Climb all the way up to the top. I’ve been waiting to take you down for a long time." She smiled as Batgirl spread her legs to shoulder width and rested her hands on shapely hips. Minutes slipped by as the purple glow of flashbulbs illuminated the healthy heroine. "Almost done, and done for as well," the villainous vixen said, twirling a switch resembling a mechanical pencil in one hand. Far above her, Batgirl glanced around to accommodate all of her would-be photographers. "Game over, Girlfriend," the blue-eyed beauty said engaging the switch as Batgirl gave her fans a farewell nod.

"That’s it, Batgirl," the manager said through a bullhorn. "Thank you for everything. The valet will have your motorcycle ready by the time you get down." Batgirl nodded and moved to step from her position atop the cake, BUT SHE COULD NOT!

"I seem to be stuck up here," Batgirl called through cupped hands.

"Oh, it’s much worse than that, I’m afraid," Batgirl’s wicked watcher told her through a microphone and a hidden speaker with a laugh.

"Wait a minute. I know that voice. It can’t be, though. Can it? Playgirl?"

The crowd of sun-worshipers around the hotel pool were oblivious to the drama being orchestrated from just a few feet away. "The one and only. Happy Death Day, by the way."

"What do you mean?" Batgirl asked sharply.

"Oh. Like, you can so totally stop pretending you have no idea what I’m doing to you."

"If you must gloat, please have the decency to at least do so in English."

The Gangster Gal of Games sighed. "Whatever. Look. I got the idea when I met The Riddler, okay. He said, like, ‘Riddle me this, Playgirl.’ Sorry. Anyway, he told me all about trying to sink Batman and Robin in a quicksand cake."

"He didn’t kill them, you know."

"Don’t be lame, okay. Like, so I heard the Batman Hilton was getting Batgirl to appear at their anniversary. So I had this cake made and filled it with three stories of quicksand. Now, of course, you’re, like, sinking into it. You can call it overkill if you want to, you know. Personally, I’d call it delicious. Can you see your feet, by the way?"

Batgirl looked down and realized she was already almost ankle deep in the soft surface. "Your trap may work at first, Playgirl. But, you’ll regret it in the end."

"Hey! The only end that is going on around here is yours, Girlfriend, okay? Now, back to what I was saying. Riddler told me all about his cake and I realized, like, right away how the Dynamic Dimwits must have escaped. So I figured if I could, like, figure out how to get out of it before the bad guy finished explaining it, how totally quickly Batman must have realized the same thing. You know?”

"So, you’ve worked in some improvements?"

"Totally. You have already realized, I’m sure, that anyone coming onto the surface of the cake to rescue you will step in it just like you did. That means the most obvious way to get out is have a helicopter fly overhead and drop you a rope or something."

"I was thinking about that. I’ll admit it."

"Well, for the record, any flying object coming into range of my miniaturized radar will be shot down with compact surface to air missiles I bought used from the military. Penguin told me he got a submarine that way once. The missiles are, like, doubling as candles. I don’t have very many, of course. Though, I guess if you don’t want innocent people to die trying to rescue you, I only need one. You know? Oh yeah, about the missile thing, that so totally includes you if you try some Captain Kirk rocket boots trick."

"Mr. Spock used those to rescue Captain Kirk."

"Like, whatever! The point is I am so totally going to kill you!"

"I see you’ve thought this out carefully."

"You bet your sweet ass I did. Now, you can kiss it goodbye, Batgirl. Forever," Playgirl said laughing. "Admit it. I’m not like the others. I’ve clipped your wings at last."

"Never."

"Oh, joy, success, and revenge will all soon be tied up in one sweet package. I will prevail because the game is mine already."

"It’s barely begun, Playgirl."

"Then I’ll leave you to play it out. Farewell. Forever, Batgirl." The voluptuous villainess concluded her terrible transmission with a laugh.

Having sent her foe to her fate, Playgirl stopped transmitting and settled down comfortably, preparing to watch Batgirl die.

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