Elderly widow Mrs. Krupotnik attends the funeral of her husband,
Samuel Krupotnik. The funeral home director Mr. Yorrick opens the
casket. Mrs. Krupotnik exclaims that her husband is gone, and Mr.
Yorrick tells her that he has indeed gone to a better place. They point
out that the corpse is literally gone, and Mr. Yorrick says "not again." Alfred Pennyworth introduces Cassandra Cain to her new apartment, now that Batman has fired her as Batgirl.
Alfred explains that her every need will be taken care of, and tries to
comfort her. He tells her that Batman is not disappointed in her, and
she has achieved much more in her short career than most super-heroes do
in a lifetime. Alfred leaves and Cassandra sheds a single tear. Later
she walks through the streets of Gotham and spots a Batman t-shirt that
makes her upset. In the Gotham Clock Tower, Robin tells Oracle through the vidscreen that Soul
is back and worse than ever. He confides in Oracle that he wishes
Batgirl was on the streets helping them. Cassandra arrives at the Clock
Tower and Oracle is surprised to see her. Cassandra asks "Why?" and
collapses crying in Oracle's lap. Oracle tells her that there's so much
more to life than being Batgirl, and she's free to experience that now.
Cassandra tells Oracle that Batman said she was "erratic" and
"irresponsible." Oracle is frustrated by Batman's inability to express
any emotion other than anger. Oracle explains that Batman fired Batgirl
because he was feeling guilty about depriving her of a normal life.
Oracle tells Cassandra that Batman just wants her to be happy, and
Cassandra insists that she was happy. Oracle insists that Cassandra is
not happy, and offers to do anything she can to help. Cassandra asks for
Oracle's old Batgirl costume, and Oracle refuses. Cassandra decides to
steal it anyway, and sews it to fit her better. Robin struggles with a riot of Soul junkies that he cannot
contain. Batman is not responding to communication, and Oracle cannot
find back-up to help him. Robin is knocked down for a second. When he
gets up, every rioter has been knocked out. Batman arrives and
recognizes this move as the Falling Leaf, a nerve pinch invented in the 16th Century by Chinese
monks. By the time the rioters wake up, the drug will have left their
system. Batman tells Robin that he only knows two people who can use the
Falling Leaf, David Cain and Cassandra. Batgirl learns about the corpse thefts, and finds a truck full of stolen dead bodies. This leads her back to the Lost Girls in Gotham Cemetery, the female street gang who are distributing Soul. It's revealed that the scientist supplying the Lost Girls is Doctor Death.
Doctor Death requires fresh human cadavers to make Soul because he uses
a neural extract. Batgirl is hiding in the pile of bodies they use, and
she jumps out to attack the Lost Girls. The metahuman Hope kicks her
down and intends to kill her for the pile. Batman arrives and knocks out
Hope, looking very disappointed in Batgirl.