DC COMICS: Batman Family (Beware the Batman s1e2 Secrets)

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PLOT
The episode opens showing a man being electocuted in a warehouse by a woman in a black outfit. She takes the electrocution device from the man's head and places it in her pouch along with a stapler labeled "Property of Miskatonic Psychiatric Hospital". As she leaves she is confronted by Batman. He mentions that he has been after her for while as she has hit a half dozen other warehouses and stolen high end electronics. She introduces herself as Magpie and  states that she only took them because she liked they way they sparkled. She notices Batman's utility belt and asks if she can have it. Batman refuses, offering a pair of handcuffs instead. They fight but Magpie is able to evade Batman and escape. Batman goes to the injured man and asks who he is. The man replies that he doesn't know.

The next morning we find Lt. Jim Gordon having breakfast with his daughter Barbara. She asks what "perp" they are after today. She hopes that if she can help with her father's latest case, he might inroduce her to Batman. Jim tells her that anyone who takes the law into their own hands is not a hero. Later, Jim investigates the crime scene at the warehouse. An officer tells him that the victim is at the hospital with his mind completely wiped. Jim notices a place on a shelf where the dust has been disturbed. He finds a box labeled from Black Gate Prison and finds paperwork on a criminal called Lunk Head. He also finds Magpie's rope and a Batarang.

At Wayne Manor, Tatsu asks Alfred what he thinks of Batman. He feigns disinterest and she describes Batman as a "nut". She turns the subject to Alfred's new lifesyle at the Manor and says that she is happy to stay until his leg heals but no longer. He asks her to wait on her judgement as things are not always as they seem. Bruce comes in and asks how Tatsu is adjusting from her military background. She replies that Alfred has been taking care of her, referring to him as "Major". Bruce is able to deduce that Tatsu knew Alfred when she was a child. Tatsu is impressed with Bruce's skills and confirms that Afred and her father were partners at MI6 before he died. Later Bruce chides Alfred for never mentioning a partner who had died. Alfred responds that the man was killed in a car accident and Tatsu is his Goddaughter. As they enter the cave Alfred assures Bruce that Tatsu is more than capable and offers that Bruce test her.

Suited up, Batman tells Alfred that he had the Bat-Computer sweep for connections between Magpie and Joe Braxton, the mind-wipe victim. Apparently Braxton was part of a research team performing secret experiments at Black Gate Prison along with a psychotherapist named Bethanie Ravencroft. Batman decides to go to Ravencroft's practice in Gotham to interrogate her. Upon arriving, Batman sees Ravencroft through her office window but is distracted by two punks tagging graffiti in an alley. He tosses a batarang to scare them off and returns his gaze to the window only to discover Ravencroft is gone. He is immediately ambushed from behind by Magpie and knocked unconscious. He awakens to find Magpie standing over him. She asks what drives someone to wear a bat costume to which he responds; "Who says this is a costume?" She says the two should be friends as they have a lot in common. She presses close to him and is about to kiss him when he shoves her away. Magpie voices dissapoinment and that she still wants his belt. They fight and Batman is knocked off the side of the building and Magpie leaves in triumph however, it is revealed that Batman managed to save himself by grabbing a window sill. As Magpie runs along the rooftops he catches up with her and demands to know why she wiped Braxton's mind. She answers that she was looking for something that belongs to her. He demands to know more but she withholds, saying that she might tell if he can catch her. She runs and Batman pursues. Just as she is about to jump off of a building he catches her foot with a cable. However, before he pull her up she slices through the rope, saying she won't be caged again, and falls several stories onto a parked car. Amazingly, she is able to get back up and run away seemingly uninjured.

Batman calls Alfred with his suspicions that Magpie was a Black Gate inmate while Braxton and Ravencroft were conducting their experiments. He orders a computer search of female inmates in Magpie's age bracket that were there in that time frame. Meanwhile, Jim Gordon sees Lunk Head at his job loading freight trucks. His cell phone rings and this startles Lunk Head who throws a heavy box at him, though he misses. Gordon assures Lunk Head that he isn't in trouble and only wants information about Batman. The mention of Batman enrages Lunk Head who throws another box. Gordon finally manages to calm Lunk Head down with candy and gently interrogates him. It seems Lunk Head was part of the experiments that Ravencroft and Braxton performed involving mind control. Apparently they attempted to fix Lunk Head's brain but failed. He also remembered another inmate in the experiments; a lady who was nice to him named Margoret Sorrow.

Batman's computer search turns up the same name. Sorrow was a kleptomaniac who vanished five years ago after leaving Black Gate. Bruce Wayne has Tatsu drive him to Ravencroft's office. Privately, she voices her frustration at having to work for a "marshmallow" like Wayne. Wayne is greeted by Cassie, the receptionist, who is excited to meet a celebrity like him. In Ravencroft's office Wayne sees an inkblot that gives him a flash of the murder of his parents but recovers quickly. At a signal from Bruce, Alfred calls the office and impersonates an IRS representative. Cassie panics and interrupts Bruce and Ravencroft's session. When Ravencroft leaves to deal with the situation Bruce searches her office. In her desk drawer he discovers a key with an "A" inscribed on it, Braxton's wristwatch, and the Miskatonic stapler. That night Batman goes to investigate Miskatonic Psychiatric Hospital. Once there he is, once again, ambushed by Magpie. He tries to get through to her and offers to help her fight against her nature. She says that is a fight she has already lost and injects him with a knockout drug. Once he is unconscious she claims his belt.

Batman awakens strapped to an operating table with the same device on his head that was used to torture Braxton. Magpie promises that she didn't peek beneathe his mask as a person's secrets are sacred. When Batman tries to convince her he can help her she loses her temper and strikes him. She reveals that Braxton created the helmet to wipe a persons memories away and reformat the mind. Magpie has found a way to reverse the process and put the memories back. A scream is heard from the next room where Magpie says her memories await. She says that she would say it's been a pleasure but he won't remember anyway, so instead she gives him a kiss. She sets the helmet to wipe Batman's mind and leaves. Batman is able to pick his locks with a batarang and remove the helmet before his mind is destroyed and crushes it underfoot. On his way out, he spots a file on Margoret Sorrow who is revealed to be Cassie, Ravencroft's receptionist. Batman bursts into the room to find Magpie crouched over Ravencroft, about to kill her. He throws a batarang which takes the wig off of her head. Magpie looks into a mirror and doesn't recognize herself. Batman reveals that she suffers from a split personality; two different personalities in one body. Sorrow was part of Braxton and Ravencroft's experiments to strip the "bad" out of a personality and in her case it worked, at least for a while. They gave her a new name and a new life as Cassie but the "bad" personality was too strong and came back in the form of Magpie. Magpie can't accept this and once again moves to strike Ravencroft with her razor sharp claws but is interrupted when Jim Gordon shoots her claws off. Gordon orders Batman not to move. Magpie gathers her claws from the floor and throws them at Gordon, striking his arm. She leaps out of the room and Batman moves to pursue her. Gordon fires again and orders Batman to stay. Batman counters that there isn't time to argue and he will stop Magpie while Gordon helps Ravencroft.

In the next room Magpie finds the destroyed memory helmet and rails at Batman that he has destroyed the only way to retrieve her memory. Batman offers that they may still be a way to get Margoret Sorrow back. Magpie replies that Sorrow is gone and only Magpie remains and attacks Batman. Batman throws a batarang at a nearby oxygen tank which launches at Magpie and propels her into the operating table which shorts out and electrocutes her into unconsciousness. Batman turns to find Gordon holding him at gunpoint. Ravencroft is fine and had no idea that Cassie was once Margoret Sorrow. Batman guesses that Magpie subconsciously drove Cassie to work for Ravencroft in order to get close to her for revenge. Gordon says that she will now go back to prison but Batman counters that putting her back in the hole that created her isn't justice. Gordon fires back that it is the law. Gordon doesn't arrest Batman as he helped him out but the next time they cross paths will be different.

Back at Wayne Manor, Tatsu calls to Bruce that his car is ready. Bruce doesn't answer and walks into another room. She follows but Bruce is nowhere in sight. She approaches the fireplace where the secret entrance to the Bat Cave is. Bruce watches from the Bat Computer and says that the tests have begun.

CHARACTERS
HEROES


 * Batman


 * Alfred


 * Katana

VILLANS


 * Magpie


 * Lunk Head


 * Daedalus Bock


 * Junkyard Dog

GOTHAM CITY P.D.


 * James Gordon

GOTHAMITS


 * Barbara Gordon