As Batgirl, Cassandra Wayne had been avoiding the Park Row neighborhood lately, at least as much as she could. It was Doug's neighborhood, and she felt terrible about the request -- or maybe ultimatum -- she'd made back during Mojo's age-swapping trickery, when she'd wanted him to stop being a vigilante and just be himself.
She knew how much it hurt him to put that part of himself into a box and store it away; she supposed it was like someone asking her not to be Batgirl. But she couldn't take it back; it was the right decision to make, one that would allow her Brave Stupid Boy to live to be the man she knew he was destined to be. She was doing him a painful kindness, and every night she hoped she wouldn't see him in costume as Cypher the Crimefighter. So far, she'd been lucky; she hadn't seen him, and she didn't know whether that was because he wasn't out fighting crime, or because she just hadn't spotted him doing so. In a bizarre way, it was the equivalent of convincing one's significant other to give up an addiction, and then turning a blind eye to the likelihood that he was still feeding the addiction in secret.
It was driving Batgirl to distraction. She couldn't keep doing this.
It was actually something of a guilty relief when she patrolled a neighborhood away from Park Row and spotted him dressed in black. It wasn't quite his Cypher suit, but maybe that was the loophole he'd found in her agreement. It tugged at her heart in conflicting directions.
He was talking to a woman in a purple hooded outfit who was clearly not Stephanie Brown as Spoiler -- that possibility didn't even occur to Batgirl, as this woman was so vastly different in costuming and more importantly demeanor. They were just talking; there was no threat, no danger of a disagreement or scuffle breaking out.
So why was Batgirl feeling her pulse pound in her ears as she watched this scene?