Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #4

Issue Details

Synopsis

WHO IS ORACLE? - WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT The Gotham City mafia has its roots in 1860 Sicily where Gino Bertinelli and Salvatorre defend the village against thieves and bandits as vigilantes. Over time, power corrupts the mafia and they eventually become no better than the criminals they were originally defending against. Helena Bertinelli's Grandfather Salvatorre was the first Bertinelli to immigrate to Gotham City with along with the Cassamento family. The Bertinelli rose to the top of the five families in Gotham and, along with the three other families, turned against the Cassamento family. During this time, Helena's parents, Fenice and Frank Bertinelli, marry and have two children, Gino and Helena.   In present day Gotham City, Huntress surfaces from her memories about the past. Her intention is to kill Santo Cassamento for killing her family. To this end, Huntress sneaks into an antiques warehouse where Fenice and the Snake Gang are holding Cassamento. Before she is able to kill Cassamento, however, the Snake Gang discovers her and attacks. It looks like the remaining members of the Snake Gang, Asp, Copperhead, and Lady Viper, are going to easily defeat the solo Huntress. Just as it looks like Huntress is beaten Batgirl and Black Canary show up to save her. They quickly turn the tides against the Snake Gang, who promptly flee. Once the battle is complete, Batgirl and Black Canary reveal that they know Huntress identity and offer to show her what they have found from Oracle's files.   Back at the Gotham Clock Tower and Batgirl reveals that they found a file on Huntress. Huntress tells them her full story. She tells the Birds of Prey about her family and about not knowing what her father did for a living. One day, mafia thugs hired by Santo Cassamento broke down the and shot Helena's family. Helena survived by playing possum under the table. In the middle of her story, Batgirl traces the new Oracle's location and the Birds set out to find and confront them. On the way, Huntress remembers her parents funeral and going to live with her aunt and uncle in Sicily. Her uncle trained her in archery and in hand to hand combat. Once she was old enough, she returned to Gotham City to extract her revenge.   The Birds of Prey trace the new Oracle to the Gotham Tower skyscraper. Disabling the buildings security system with a batarang armed with an EMP, the birds gain control of the elevator and have to fight through a robotic rogues gallery (Including robot versions of the Joker, the Penguin, and Catwoman to name a few). Once the robots are dealt with, the Birds take the elevator up to the new Oracle's base of operations where they find pictures and memorabilia all centred around Batgirl.