This is the untold story of Batgirl's first escape. If you will recall, in Ring Around the Riddler,
Batgirl survives The Siren's Three Octaves above High C and gets a bit smug about the fact that
she can't be effected. The Riddler then sends two of his henchmen at her. Batgirl slowly backs up
toward the spiral staircase from which she entered, as two more henchmen (unknown to her) approach from the back. She turns to run up the staircase, only to have the second set of henchmen each grab an arm and effortlessly lift her off the ground. As she is carried away kicking (and very nicely, I may add), The Riddler yells, "Now toss her into The Steam Room . . . Bat-Girls wilt just as quickly as other women."
Now, here is what we didn't see . . .
Batgirl is taken to the Steam Room by the four henchmen who simply throw her in. She lands flat on the floor, but quickly rises to her feet. The henchmen have already exited and begin to shut the door. Batgirl makes a dash at the door, but is too late . . . she's trapped. Instinct has her immediately looking for an escape. It is hot in the Steam Room, but nothing she can't handle. She notices a small window, starting about seven feet up, across from the door. It is large enough for her to just barely crawl through, but three metal bars run the length of the potential exit. Batgirl leaps up and grabs the bars, but they are solid, resisting her best effort to dislodge them.
Cut to next scene.(Da da da da Da da da da da Da !)
Unable to find an escape, Batgirl knows she must take any chance that comes her way. Suddenly, she hears the lock to the Steam Room door opening. She quickly positions herself to the side of the door. As the door opens inward, it hides Batgirl from anyone entering the room. In comes one of the henchmen. He quickly moves to the center of the room, shocked not to see Batgirl. She knows she can handle this one guy with a sneak attack. She emerges from behind the door as the henchman turns. She whacks him with what we'll come to know as a classic Batgirl kick, staggering him back. Sensing that her opponent's dazed, she quickly follows him to the center of the room and hits him with another kick, sending him to the floor unconscious. Unfortunately for our heroine, before this goon even hits the floor, another henchmen rushes in the room from behind her. He grabs her and easily lifts her off the ground. With her arms pinned to her side, she thrashes her head side to side and kicks her legs. At this point, The Riddler and the two other henchmen enter. One of the henchmen grabs Batgirl's flailing legs. He gets a firm grip and holds them close to his body with both arms. She is now completely helpless, but still struggles. The Riddler approaches her and says "Boys . . . it's time we take the fight out of this Bat-Girl . . . permanently! (Good spot for Classic Riddler Laugh)"
The two henchmen holding Batgirl quickly lay her flat on her back on the floor. The third henchman approaches with several strands of rope. The three goons tie Batgirl's hands in front of her and then tie her legs and ankles together. She is then lifted to her feet by two of the goons as the third ties a much longer piece of rope around her already bound wrists, leaving plenty of unused slack. They toss the slack over a pipe running across the ceiling, near the wall opposite the door. A quick tug is given so that Batgirl is pulled upward, so her toes barely touch the floor. She grimaces at this move. The remaining slack is tied off on Batgirl's wrists, securing them even more. The Riddler commands two of the henchmen to remove their unconscious buddy. They obey and do not return. Riddler approaches Batgirl as she tries to work her wrists free. The remaining henchman stands directly behind her.
"I'd heard that a female Bat had joined the menagerie here in Gotham City," The Riddler says, quite casually. "You had something to do with the recent capture of The Penguin, right?"
"Yes," replies Batgirl, angrily, "and no matter what you do to me, Batman and Robin will see to it that you join him in prison!"
"Now, that's just it, isn't it?" responds The Prince of Puzzlers, with mock sympathy. "I have nothing against you personally, but I can't abide the company you keep!"
The Riddler walks back in forth in front of Batgirl, examining her closely. Tugging on his gloves, he continues, "You know, Batgirl, some people are dying to spend just a short time in a steam room."
He moves his face close to hers. She turns her head to the side.
"You, my dear, may be the first to die because of one!"
"You see . . . this particular steam room is special," he says, backpedaling. "It will literally take your breath away . . . and give you a nasty sunburn."
He begins to laugh hysterically and then abruptly stops as he glances at Batgirl's utility belt.
"I refuse to make any mistakes this time!" he says in a very low, serious voice.
"Remove her belt and give it to me!" he commands the goon behind Batgirl.
Now Batgirl begins to struggle even more frantically against her bonds. She knows that without her utility belt, she will be completely helpless against whatever The Riddler has planned. The henchman reaches both hands from behind and around Batgirl's waist. He clamps both hands on either side of the Batgirl emblem on the utility belt and begins to search for a clasp. Batgirl struggles hard and . . . for a brief moment . . . her struggles keep him from having any luck at removing her belt.
Suddenly, she hears a ‘snap!' and feels her utility belt slip off her waist. The goon tosses it to The Riddler.
"Riddle me this, Batgirl! When is this room like a Glenn Frey hit song?"
Batgirl stares back at him, puzzled.
"When The Heat is On!" answers the Count of Conundrums.
Giggling wildly, The Riddler turns and swiftly exits the Steam Room. The goon follows. Through the open doorway, Batgirl can see The Riddler open a panel on the wall outside. He pushes two buttons and then shuts the panel. The lights in the Steam Room suddenly switch from plain white to bright red.
"Heat lamps!" she realizes.
The Riddler orders the henchman to shut the door of the Steam Room. He obeys and reaches in and pulls the door shut.
Batgirl, now alone, continues to work on her restraints.
Suddenly, there is a flash! Batgirl realizes that the heat lamps have just intensified. The heat on her face is now becoming rather uncomfortable . . . and the lamps seem to be getting brighter . . . and hotter. She works the ropes on her wrists . . . no luck. Her bound legs, along with the fact that she's practically hanging from a pipe, gives her zero leverage.
Then, a pipe, about a foot in diameter, rises from floor level, about two feet in front of her. Without warning, the Steam Room lives up to its name. Batgirl is blasted in the chest and engulfed by a powerful burst of steam, emitted from a nozzle in the pipe facing her. The shock of this procedure, along with the intense heat, causes Batgirl to pull hard at her wrists. For a moment, she actually pulls herself off the ground. She can barely be seen through the cloud of steam, as she struggles to free her limbs. After ten seconds the shooting steam stops.
Batgirl studies the source of the blast. The nozzle has a hole about an inch in diameter. On the pipe above the nozzle is a solid yellow light. She stares at it for about twenty seconds and then looks up at her bound wrists.
She knows that she has to keep trying to escape, but before she can even start working at the ropes again, Batgirl notices that the yellow light begins to blink -
two times
three times
four times
. . . and on the fifth, she is once more hit with a jet of intense steam. She is again engulfed. After another ten seconds the steam stops. This time, Batgirl just hangs there, breathing heavily, completely drenched and looking as if she's been beaten.
The intense heat lamps, the steam jet and the fact that her utility belt is in the hands of The Riddler, begin to take their toll. She's already exhausted. For the first time, she begins to doubt the wisdom of assuming the identity of Batgirl. Maybe she wasn't prepared to be a costumed crime fighter. Maybe she didn't have what it took.
"NO!" she declares. Barbara pushes the misgivings back into her mind. She was ready! She had trained hard while at college, so that she could become Batgirl. If Batman and Robin (a teenaged boy!) were effective crime fighters, so could she!
. . . but, she realizes that if she is to survive her second adventure, she must free herself . . . soon!
She resumes her struggles . . . determined, but a little less energized.
The yellow light begins to blink again.
Two times
Three times
Four times
The pattern is clear, as she again disappears in a cloud.
Batgirl pants as sweat streams out of every pore of her body. She knows she can't take much more of this. A few more steam treatments . . . and she would lose consciousness. Then it would all be over.
Batgirl stares ahead at the pipe before her, blinking to keep the perspiration out of her eyes. "The Riddler had the pipe placed this close to me, to make sure that I would receive the full force of every eruption," Batgirl thinks. Then, inspiration strikes! "Yes, it could work!" she concludes.
Pulling with her arms, she lifts her feet off the floor. Next, she braces her back against the wall behind her, while positioning her boots over the nozzle. The yellow light begins to blink - once . . . twice . . . three times . . . . four . . .
The steam bursts forth once again. Batgirl feels as if her back is going to be pushed right through the wall, but her muscular body allows her to maintain her position. Like the result of holding a thumb over the end of a running garden hose, the steam is directed between the soles of Batgirl's boots in a super-intense, fine stream.
"Good thing I aimed high," Batgirl says to herself, "or I might have put a new hole in my body!" The laser-like stream cuts into the wall above Batgirl's head like a sandblaster, throwing bits of grit into the room. She redirects the steam into the window. The glass instantly shatters, but soon the Red-Headed Heroine has hit her target. The stream cuts one of the iron bars in two!
The steam stops. Batgirl's feet feel like they have been cooked. "Now I know what a steamed vegetable goes through!" she thinks to herself with a smile. Yes, her escape plan will work! Cut through the remaining two bars and then through the rope binding her above. Then it will be a simple matter to climb up and out through the window.
Batgirl does so, and we return to the episode as broadcast . . .