Batman Beyond 'Fan Fiction Story'
By Tayla Drago
Episode# 11 - A Touch of Curaré
Commissioner Gordon and her husband, D.A. Sam Young walk along in the park late at night.
"I heard the D.A.'s office is plea-bargaining the Densmore case. Do you know how hard my men worked to...?" Barbara said.
But her husband Sam Young just wants to spend time with his wife and not talk about work for today.
"Uh-uh-uh, no shop talk after hours. You want to discuss my shortcomings as a D.A., call my office and make an appointment, Commissioner." he then kisses his wife.
All was sweet, that's when a woman painted blue and wearing white rudely interrupts them. The woman attacks with daggers and a sword that is sharp enough to easily cut through a tree. Gordon defends herself and her husband, but the woman manages to deflect gunfire with her sword, and to slice through anything thrown at her. Batman and Batwoman appear none too soon, managing to save Sam, but the woman now attacks them next.
"(What type of person is she?)" questioned Gwen.
To Batwoman though, she wants to get the job done to save lives and stop the bad guys.
"Don't look at me, Gweny, I just see the danger to take action and then ask questions later."
From fire power from Batwoman to give it her all against the assassin to cut right through it and the light pole too as Batman was standing on there...That sword of hers was very sharp and deadly.
"I gotta get me one of those swords." he said.
"And I have to know how she does the wind cutting through fire power with it." Batwoman helps her partner out. "Just as soon as we stop this mummy-she-male first without getting cut into ribbons!"
The police soon arrive and start firing on three combatants until Barbara tells them to leave off Batman and Batwoman. In the confusion, the woman manages to escape. For Terry and Gwen have to get to the bottom of this mess right away.
"(Batman, I think we need to tell Uncle Bruce about this mess and see if Megan can help us out.)"
Later, they do just they. As both Gwen 'with her inner self' and Terry learn from Bruce that the woman is named Curaré, a member of the League of Assassins. Her scimitar has been laser-sharpened to an edge no thicker than a molecule.
"Tell us, Megan." Bruce asks Megan.
As she tells the three who Curare is...
"I'll be happy to. Curaré was a member of the Society of Assassins, and its best and deadliest killer.
Nobody remembers Curaré's real name, and nobody has seen her face. But everybody knows she's deadly, and possessed an unending knowledge of killer tactics. She was an excellent martial artist, and was designed to kill. She possessed a scimitar that has an edge no thicker than a molecule. It could cut through anything and deflect gunfire. Curare is spelled without the accent which is also the name of a poisonous plant used by some South American native peoples to tip their arrows, and by medical doctors as a muscle relaxant. Interestingly, one of the symptoms of curare poisoning is blueish skin nor does she speak at all. Out of all the bounties my team and I have face with, she's the only one who keeps getting away a lot."
Now they know of the danger Sam was in to have Barbara worried about her husband's safety. Let's not forget about the sword can be stronger than steel to cut through anything to also destroy a gun bullet in half.
"We're dealing with a bad person from the looks of it." said Gwen.
"I guess we'll have to keep our eyes on Commissioner Gordon, right?"
Terry volunteers to look after Barbara, but Bruce says she's not the target.
"Barbara's not the target." said Bruce.
"No, but someone else that Barbara knows of..." Megan calls her friend out. "Isn't that right?"
Barbara herself appears in the Batcave and chimes in, 'her husband is'.
"Her husband is." she shows herself. "Nice to see you marry couple are doing well to get things down with your...two new heroes."
Megan and Barbara hug each other, for this is the first time of Terry and Gwen to not know who Barbara really was from back then.
"Good to see you too, my friend." said Megan.
She explains that Sam is scheduled to testify against international arms dealer Fyodor Davic, who has hired the Society to kill him first. So that's why her husband is on the hit list...Barbara then sees her old costume in the Batcave.
"I see you've sewed up the bullet holes."
Soon enough, the two figure out who Batgirl was...
"Wait...Commissioner Barbara Gordon was..." Gwen gets it. "You were the original Batgirl!'
"(Bingo!)" said her other half. "(Gweny has one the prize!)"
Even Terry was surprised to see too.
"You're Batgirl!" he says it to Bruce as well. "She's Batgirl!"
Terry is shocked to see her in the Batcave, but she reveals that she was Batgirl a long time ago.
"I was Batgirl a long time ago, kid. Thanks for tonight both you and Gwen Grayson, wasn't it? A clone from his DNA to be a half one with fire powers...Different from you are, Megan." she said. "And trying to find out your mother next might be harder than knowing little about your father."
"Ah...Yes...Dick Grayson's sort of my father, and my mom will be hard to know who it is."
She warns Terry, Gwen, Megan, and Bruce that she has long since relinquished that identity and tells them to stay out of police business.
"Trust me when I tell you kids, this is for your good." Barbara said and then leaves.
"At least take this information disc about Curare."
Bruce gives it to Barbara before taking off, and for Terry and Gwen who both chosen the path to fight for Bruce, someone like her doesn't want them to by staying out of it? Great...For Megan won't allow it to lend a hand somehow.
"No help or not, Barbara will ask for it." Megan said to the others. "I want that bounty to get that reward by any means and protect Mr. Young."
For the Master Assassin groups wants Curare to get the job done by any means or else for she will in any way.
"You were taught to expect the unexpected, Curaré. Batman nor Batwoman should not have made a difference, nor the police, no matter how many there were. You know the price of failure. I only hope you haven't lost your edge."
Now it was personal for Curare won't lose like this...The next night, Sam is being kept in a safe house under heavy guard.
"I thought the man was supposed to protect the woman." Sam makes a joke.
But Barbara knows what she was doing to save her husband.
"Last century, babe." she said back.
Bruce, however, is skeptical about their ability to keep their quarry out. Barbara leaves for Megan was hired to watch on Sam, and Curaré makes her move. She easily manages to evade or incapacitate the guards and makes it into the house, pursued by Terry/Batman and Gwen/Batwoman.
"(Terry, look. There she is, Curare.)" Gwen points out.
Once getting through all of the guards, she sees Megan to try putting her gun out against her bounty.
"Not so fast, Curare! Don't move!"
Trying to shoot to move so fast to destroy her bullets...Batman steps in to punch Curare by making himself invisible and Batwoman to fire it up to use her fiery claws in battle.
"Ha! Made you look!" she makes a joke. "You want Barbara's husband, then you gotta go through us first."
Catching up to her, they briefly unmask her, to look...not so pretty from Batman and Batwoman's reaction.
"Wow!" shock Batman.
"Ah, man!" same with Batwoman. "Put the mask back on!"
Megan arrives at the scene leaving her confused since Curare gets her mask put back on her face. Whatever her real appearance was, I bet it wasn't pretty to look at.
"What did I just miss?"
"(Megan...I don't think you want to know...)" Gwen was left horrified.
But then, she traps Batman underneath a huge light and continues towards her target.
"Hey!"
"Batwoman, got after her." he tells his partner. "I'll be fine...!"
Megan helps him get out of it.
"Go!" she said. "I got this. I'm stronger than I look..." Megan uses her ESP powers. "I can still lift things with my powers."
And for that, Gwen/Batwoman go on forward.
"You better get back on your feet, Bats, I'll go and stop her right away!" Batwoman takes flight. "Help me feel this mummy freak out, Gweny!"
Batwoman goes after Curare while Megan helps out Batman get out in time. As Curare was making it to Sam's room, she hurls her sword and impales...a dummy.
"(Don't!)" Gwen warns Sam too late.
And it good to know it was only a dummy and not the real Sam Young for Megan and Batman to see once they arrived.
"A dummy?" confused both Batman and Megan.
"I guess we were both dummies on this one, huh?" Batwoman made a joke.
The whole thing was a trap, but unfortunately, Terry and Gwen are the ones who are both caught in it for Megan to not know about this.
"Don't look at me, Barbara hired me to look after Sam in this place. I didn't think it was a trap."
Curaré escapes into the night.
"Wait until I get my hands on her...!" angered Batwoman.
"(Calm down, we will. I take this to be a minor setback.)"
Terry and Gwen do as well for Megan to see them out, but a batarang left behind in the trap controls reveals their involvements. For Barbara has a few good words with Megan.
"Oh, Megan..." she gets her attention.
"Ah, it was a last moment notice...?" Megan makes something up. "Fine, I'll explain..."
Furious at the trap's failure due to Batwoman and Batman's intervention, Barbara confronts Terry and Gwen to warn them both that she'll arrest him, Gwen, and Bruce if they get involved again. But not Megan to be a bounty hunter to her works in Gotham and secretly married to Bruce Wayne.
"Don't make me warn you both more than once again."
For Gwen to feel something out from Barbara to look familiar from the labs she was made.
"Wait..." she looks at the commissioner carefully. "Barbara, I think...But it can't be..."
"What?"
"Are you my biologic mother like father?"
"Mother?!" Terry didn't see this part coming at all.
Wow! Now that's something out of the blue.
"What?" she was shocked. "But Sam and I didn't want children but a dog as our pet and child. How can you be my daughter, Gwen?"
"(Hey, Gweny just knows what she senses out, okay?)" Gwen's inner self tells Barbara. "(Don't believe in her? Get yourself a blood test from hers and yours and we'll prove it.)"
However, Terry asks her why she hates Bruce and she says that she doesn't hate him, she but rather that he's become such a lonely recluse.
"Why do you hate him?" Terry asks Barbara.
"You mean Uncle Bruce?" same with Gwen.
And her answer was this...
"Ancient history, McGinnis. And Gwen, I guess I'll see from your last doctor blood test, to match with mine with yours or not."
Barbara is thinking about it then...
"Look, if its alright to talk with us about you and Uncle Bruce, we'll understand." said Gwen. "You don't hate Megan and him being in love, right?"
"That's not it, no... We're best friends, all three of us. I guess I can tell you two."
Over coffee, she talks about her past as Batgirl, explaining that she broke up with Dick Grayson when he left Gotham, choosing to stay behind with Bruce. As a crime-fighting team, they were the perfect pair, but Barbara gave up the life when she realized that Bruce never would to end up falling in love with Megan instead. For the DNA to help out once more to have Gwen created for Barbara to remember it a little to be the same girl who was standing next her today being Gwen Grayson.
"So you and Dick Grayson like, dated." Terry said.
"In college. Puppy love." she said.
"So you and Father were once in love..." Gwen fixes her sentence. "Oh! Right, you're married. It just you are my Mom to have him as my biological Dad."
"Its fine, Gwen, I think I remember helping out on a project is all from a nice woman." Barbara gets it. "About Dick and me at one time being in love...Later on, we just never talked about it."
Continuing on with Gwen eating something and Terry the same thing with a donut.
"People should communicate more."
True, but with Dick Grayson once being Robin to become Nightwing was far from different communicate.
"Dick finally got fed up living in Batman's shadow. He decided to leave. He was hurt when I chose to stay behind with once having a thing with Megan to make this love harder to do...I liked Bruce, he loved Megan more to love him back, Dick loved her to cheat on me, and...it was hard."
Hard times back then, huh?
"Oh, I'm sorry..." Gwen gets it now. "So that's what really happened."
"As his partner." but Terry sees Barbara's grin widens. "His girlfriend?" Barbara again grins widen even further, leaving Terry shocked. "Whoa!"
"It was more a like a square kind of love going on." Gwen added. "But I guess we know what really happened in the end."
Oh, yes. We all do.
"On the street, it was like ballet. We were the perfect duo and with Megan." said Barbara. "And no, I don't hate him. I hate what he's become. Such a great man...so alone."
I guess Terry and Gwen learn a lot about Barbara to see if she might be Gwen's biologic mother who gave her life later...The night of the trial comes and Curaré learns of the plan to take Sam to the court. Bruce orders Terry and Gwen out, but they were reluctant, wanting to heed Barbara's warning.
"There should be some opening for you two to stop Curare this time."
"Ah...About that, Uncle Bruce..." Gwen was afraid to tell him.
"If we did, Commissioner Gordon will have Gwen as a criminal, and me brought back to jail." and Terry.
As Megan calls the three up, its now or never to stop Curare right away while they still have a chance.
"Look, you two. Less worrying, and more work!" said the old bounty hunter. "I know what Barbara said is harsh, but she just doing this because she doesn't want you both to get hurt. Trust me."
Bruce tells them on why Curaré is so dangerous: the Society of Assassins' standard practice is to kill any one of their own who fails; but Curaré has never failed—she is the best of them.
"(Now that's just mess up!)" said Gwen's inner self. "(Ah, Batsy, you might want to do it with Gweny, otherwise...She'll kill those Society of Assassins to be worse than she's already killing others.)"
I guess they have to do it for Terry to suit up.
"Oh, the heck with it."
"Yeah!" Megan sounded happy. "Bruce, we'll have to talk to Barbara again you and me later."
"Of course." he said.
And for Gwen to transform too to join wit Terry as Batman.
"If its for saving a life to stop the bad guys then okay. Burning Passion! Batwoman!" Gwen transforms.
Sam heads out on a train along with Barbara and Curaré manages to intercept the train. Once again she defeats the guards with ease and derails the car carrying her target, which crashes into the side of a meat processing plant. Barbara and Sam seal themselves inside a meat locker, but their communications are cut off and Curaré's sword is able to cut through the steel door with ease. She catches up to her target but before she can kill him, Batman and Batwoman intervene again.
"Ha! You're cold as ice, lady!" said Batwoman to burn her clothes a bit. "And that was only a little taste on what's to happen you next from the two of us."
Megan then arrives to fire off gels to be burn really hot-like as it gets to Curare a little but not as much as Batwoman use her fire powers a few second ago.
"Sorry, Barbara, but I needed to call for help like it or not!" she said. "I want that bounty head to reclaim my reward."
During the fight, the meat grinder is activated and some batarangs hit the wall near Barbara and Sam. Eventually, The fight carries the combatants over the meat grinder and Curaré prepares to slash Batman and Batwoman with her sword one last time.
"(She's too fast for us to stop her!)"
Just before she can do so, a batarang, thrown by Barbara, knocks her sword from her hand and into the grinder.
"Barbara?!" surprised Megan. "Nice hit!"
With Batwoman giving Curare an upper cut fire attack to the face...
"We got you."
Batman manages to capture Curaré and save his friends.
"Not bad." he said to his partner.
"Not bad yourself." Gwen touches Terry's hand. "Oh! Sorry!"
The two were blushing at one another again.
"No, it was me..." same with him. "But you do feel soft."
Cute huh? At least Megan has her reward for Curare to finally get arrested.
"Finally! I got you."
Nice team work to save Sam's life to have Barbara helping out Batwoman and Batman to know who they really are.
"Now that's what I call teamwork." said Batwoman.
"I guess you never lose the touch." Batman said to the Commissioner. "How'd it feel?"
"Like old times." she said to be smiling. "You two better go. Ii wouldn't look good if..." Barbara turns around to see Batman and Batwoman gone. "Like old times alright."
Later that night, Terry is on the phone with Bruce about how cool Barbara was in battle.
"You should have seen her, Bruce. She sure swings a mean Batarang."
Gwen hears Terry on the phone while helping out her step-uncle.
"It was cool to see." said Gwen.
"She always did." Bruce said with a smile.
And who also says that Sam's testimony has succeeded in convicting Davic, but a newscast report that Curaré has escaped. Bruce tells Terry and Gwen not to worry, as Curaré has 'other concerns'. As Megan goes on the search for her yet again. Elsewhere, Curaré desperately drives a police car out of the city, when a sword stabs down through the roof just next to her... Yep, those assassin people are now after her. For Gwen's other half could already tell.
"(Well, as the old saying goes...Once a killer, always going to be a killer for rest of their lives.)" she said. "(Nothing to fear, Gweny, as your uncle said for you and Terry to get back Curare again soon enough.)"
She will be back with vengeance I bet. Note to self: Do not work with people like them without getting the job done, or else.