Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #3

Issue Details

Synopsis

WHO IS ORACLE? - ALL YOUR LIFE In a flashback to Black Canary's past, we see a young Dinah Drake on her birthday talking out loud to a mother who had abandoned her to the foster system. The young Dinah believes that her mother had her reasons but before she could finish, her softly spoken testimony is interrupted by her foster father, Dave, forcibly puts her back in her bed. Dinah runs away from her foster home soon after telling another foster child that if she stays, she'll kill Dave.   In modern day Gotham City at the Gotham Watchtower, headquarters of the Birds of Prey, Frankie Charles has just finished decrypting the corrupted files the Birds retrieved from a server farm that they believe may lead them to the whereabouts of the hacker calling themselves Oracle. While Batgirl investigates the lead, Huntress comments on how aggressively Fenice is attacking the ruling crime families. We also see Batgirl's realtor and an accomplice trying to get into the Clock Tower again. The Birds don't do anything to stop them and their upgraded defenses seem to repel them. Now that they have the files decrypted the discover they contain information on a reservation for another crime family, the Dallessandro Family. Thinking that this is the Snake Gang's next target, the Bird's rush to the restaurant.   We see a young Dinah Drake again, this time training with Sensei Lamar. Though she tries her best she cannot land a successful attack on her sensai. In response, Dinah speaks to a mother that isn't there. She cries saying she doesn't have anymore to give while her sensai watches from a darkened doorway.   The Birds of Prey arrive at the mexican restaurant where the Dellessandros are eating. They evacuate the building and prepare to defend the crime family from the Snake Gang until the get a text from Oracle indicating the Birds have been duped. It turns out the safe house housing Cassamento was the target all along.   By the time Commissioner Gordon suspects something is wrong the Snake Gang, Asp, Copperhead, Cottonmouth, and Lady Viper, are already in the basement of the safe house with two dead GCPD officers on the floor beneath them. The Snake Gang attacks but are quickly interrupted by the Birds of Prey. The Birds are able to fend off the Snakes but not before they apprehend their true target, Cassamento. In the fray, Huntress fatally shoots Cottonmouth. Batgirl berates Huntress for her methods saying that heroes don't shoot to kill. Batgirls anger is soon abated by the fact that Huntress' shot saved Commissioner Gordon's, Batgirl's father, life.   While the Bird's argue, we flash back again Dinah Drake. Sensei Lamar surprises her with a birthday present on her 16th birthday. Lamar surprises Dinah with her black belt and tells her that she did it, she is now a sempai. Left alone, Dinah lets go of her anger and her pain and says goodbye to her mother. She cries out, shattering the dojo mirror and discovering her metahuman gift, the Canary Cry.   After their argument, Huntress leaves the Birds of Prey. Now prisoner of Fenice and the Snake Gang, Cassamento is surprised to see Fenice because he had thought she was dead, but who exactly is this woman?