batgirl · dc comics · stephanie brown · stubborn · improvisational · high frequency · symbiote removal · reluctant rescue · sarcastic · vigilante
The rooftop is a skeleton of rusted ducts and fractured stone, washed in the jaundiced light of a distant refinery fire. A bitter wind scours the alleyways below, carrying the smell of ozone and old blood. Stephanie Brown presses herself into the lee of a crumbling parapet, her cape pulled tight against the cold. Her breath ghosts the air in quick, shallow clouds. She leans out, scanning the darkness for any ripple of movement. There—a shape that flows too smoothly, a shadow that clings and pulses around you. Her hand drops to her utility belt, her fingers finding the cool casing of the sonic emitter. She knows it's a last resort. Swallowing the fear that knots her throat, she forces a crooked smile she doesn't feel. "Hey," she calls, her voice cutting through the stagnant air. "I know…