Batgirl #1 (2011)

Somewhere, an elderly Graham Carter waters his garden. A mysterious figure comes up behind him, and identifies him as a man who survived the sinking of a transport ship, when all 27 others of the crew did not. The strange man introduces himself as the Mirror, and then takes the hose from Mr. Carter, jamming it down his throat, and drowning him with the water within. Crossing Carter's name off the list, the name Barbara Gordon is written below it. Later, Barbara Gordon patrols Gotham City, finally having returned to her role as Batgirl. High above the city, she spots the killers she's been trailing. A group of masked thugs are holding the Ortega family at gunpoint while their leader explains why he likes home invasion and murder. He shows them a scrapbook documenting all of their recent killings, and introduces his gang as what the media has dubbed the "Brisby Killers." The leader notes that he picked the Ortegas out of the phone book, and that if the parents cooperate, they may leave the kids alone. Suddenly, Batgirl smashes through a window, knocking one of the thugs to the ground. She loves the exhilaration of leaping into melee combat, noting that her upper body strength is greater than most, as she knocks out a thug with one punch by accident. After taking out all of the others, only the leader - the gunman - remains. She can see it in his body language that he intends to shoot the Ortegas. Thinking on her feet, she tosses a batarang into the leader's wrist. Angrily, he tackles her, launching both of them out the window. He winds up dangling at her mercy, and she ties him to the balcony before securing the others and leaving the scene. That night, Barbara dreams of the past. She was once the Batman's star pupil, but one night, she answered her door to find the Joker standing there with a gun pointed at her. He shot her, and the bullet went through the first lumbar of her spinal cord, paralyzing her from the waist down for three years. She wakes from her nightmare, and remembers where she is. Fortunately, she regained her ability to walk, since that night. She walks in on her father, James, enjoying a cup of coffee. He informs her that it is actually evening, and she has slept all day. She has plans to move out today; to move into her own place, and "stretch her legs." Barbara's new place is in a building called Cherry Tree Hall, and her roommate is a bartender by night and painter by day. Despite her new roommate's quirky personality and penchant for activism, Barbara thinks they will get along well. She offers to help Barbara move in, but becomes distracted by the wheelchair lift in the van. She tries not to admit that it was once meant for her. At Sacred Hands of God Hospital, the thug that Batgirl injured with her Batarang is receiving treatment, and remains under watch by Detective Mel McKenna and her partner. In the same hospital, The Mirror asks to see a Theodore Rankin before punching the receptionist in the face and shooting a security guard. McKenna and her partner hear the shots, and prepare to face whatever awaits them. Barbara has rigged her phone to receive her father's messages, so that she can follow up on any calls for police assistance. Discovering what's happening at the hospital, she gets her motorcycle out of her van, and rides to the scene. She rides her bike right into the building and onto the elevator. As the Mirror makes his way to their room, McKenna and her partner warn that if he doesn't get away from the door, they will shoot. In response, the Mirror blasts through the door, shooting McKenna and her partner in the process. McKenna survives, but her partner is not so lucky. The Mirror approaches the injured thug, claiming that he should have fallen to his death during the altercation with Batgirl, and that has put him on the list. Barbara reaches the scene, and attempts to intervene, but the Mirror aims his gun at her in just the same area that the Joker had when he crippled her. Lost in her memory, she freezes long enough for the Mirror to shove the patient's bed out the window, into a long drop to the street below. Having watched the whole scene, McKenna accuses Batgirl of being a murderer as she stood there and did nothing to stop it.