Oracle’s research into Commissioner Gordon’s benefactor has landed her in the crosshairs of Gotham’s oldest secret organization, according to Joker.
Since a woman named Cressida hired Jim Gordon to find and kill the Joker. She has been the attention of Oracle, who is determined to know out who she is. However, while Oracle looked for any clues as to who her father’s secret benefactor was, readers already knew Cressida was linked to the Court of Owls.
Barbara’s antics have attracted the attention of one of their Talons. But this isn’t the first time she’s taken the law into her own hands to defend her father. One of their talons has even defected and joined the Birds of Prey.
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Barbara immediately saw that the work her father had been hired for was quite suspicious. Barbara diverted her focus to Cressida while her father searched for the Joker. Surprisingly, she couldn’t find out anything about her other than the fact. That she was staying in a fancy hotel and had ties to the Athena Bank, a cunning hint to Cressida’s true puppeteers. Barbara suspected Cressida knew. She was being watched and was doing ordinary things to keep Oracle at bay because she made so little progress.
Storyline
Barbara was so concentrated on Cressida. That she didn’t see one of the Court’s Talons had crept inside her base and was about to attack her from behind.
This isn’t the first time she’s put herself in danger to protect her father from a Talon. During the storyline Batman: Night of the Owls in 2012’s Batgirl #9 by Gail Simone, Ardian Syaf, and Dave Sharpe, the Court of Owls unleashed an army of reanimated Talons. Against the city, vowing to kill every single individual who stood in the way of their rule and corruption. Jim Gordon, as police commissioner at the time, was one of the Court’s most valuable targets.
Thankfully, Batgirl was nearby to protect him. One Talon was put on the road to redemption as a result of her intervention. Mary Turner was a Talon who had been scarred for a long time before the Court enslaved her. She was forced to wear a mask for the rest of her life due to a tragic accident, but she found a kindred spirit in Batgirl, who also donned a mask.
Final Thoughts
Mary would later run across Batgirl again when Catwoman, paid by a Court agent to return Mary to them, broke her out of jail. Catwoman, with Batgirl’s help, stopped the Court’s plans after realizing what was going on. Mary, on the other hand, was left in a bind because she had nowhere to go. Batgirl found a solution once more by providing her a spot in the Birds of Prey and a new codename: Strix.
Barbara is now up against a new Talon, one that has been assigned particularly to assassinate her. However, given Barbara Gordon’s violent nature, this new assassin may have taken on more than he can handle.
