Disclaimer:  I don't own any of the following characters, DC does.  I 
have snuck into their super secret headquarters and borrowed them for a 
quick story.  Luckily I returned them with no one being the wiser...

Author's notes:  In "Secret Files and Origins: Batgirl" the second 
little mini-story is about the search for whoever bested Shiva and 
stuck her in a jail.  My story assumes that she hasn't yet broken out.

***

Whole World In Her Hands
By The Seitz (no1swinger@hotmail.com)

***

It seems the Paper Monkey has finally been caged.

I had never thought it possible.  I have fought, bested and killed the 
greatest the world has to offer, and now here I am, stuck in a prison 
cell awaiting trial for killing the follower who put together my "wall 
of fame."

I am Shiva, the destroyer of worlds.

Well, almost all worlds.  Sitting here, in this dank, dark, little room 
I still can't believe it.  She beat me.  A little girl in a cape, 
wearing a Bat beat me.  And she didn't kill me doing it.  She beat me 
and then dumped me here to wallow in my shame.

I never should have brought the little brat back from the dead.

I had to, I know.  The second I saw her, that night, the night of our 
duel, I knew she would let me kill her.   When I look back on it, I 
knew she wouldn't allow herself to win.  I knew that when we battled 
she would die.

Maybe that's why I did it.  Why I trained for a year, to throw that one 
punch.  The one punch that would start her heart beating and bring her 
back.  I figured maybe if the girl died, whatever weight she held on 
her shoulders would be lifted and maybe we could finally have a duel 
befitting warriors.

It wasn't complicated really, the punch.  The first strike stopped her 
heart.  It was the timing that was tricky.  I had to get her back to 
the shrine and changed into her little suit before her body truly died.  
People don't understand that.  Just because a person's heart stops 
doesn't mean they have died.  No, you die when your body finally 
releases your soul.  That was the trick.  To throw the second punch 
just as her body decided to give up.  And how do you know when that 
moment is?  Train for a year, a lifetime, then you should be able to 
tell.

And I threw the punch.  And it worked, and look what it got me.  She 
won, sort of.  She didn't kill me.  So I guess that means she didn't 
really win.  The deal was I use my killing moves she uses hers.  We're 
both still alive and kicking so I guess that means we are still in our 
duel.  I just need to find her.  Then, I promise this time, I will not 
be bringing her back.

I just have to find a way out of here first.  This is a nice prison, as 
far a maximum security ones go.  I'm stuck down here in solitary.  The 
guards won't even come into the cell to give me food.  They have a 
special slot in between the bars they open.  I hear they keep David 
Cain around here somewhere.  It's a small world really, from what I've 
heard he turned himself in at the urging of his daughter.  So she put 
us both here, maybe if I'm good they can put me someplace where I can 
talk to him.  Get some info, maybe plan a breakout.  I'll get out of 
here eventually, they think that this little jail can hold me.  Ha, I'm 
Lady Shiva, I can't be held I can't be. . . .

A quiet rustling interrupts my thoughts.  I lift my self from the bed 
and turn to look.  "You."

She regards me with a twist of her head, it is her only answer.

"What?"  I ask as I lift myself to my feet.

Again, she says nothing, but pulls back her cape to show her hand.  She 
is holding something.  She steps forward and gently moves it between 
the bars to set on the floor of my cell.  It is a present, a small box 
wrapped in dark blue paper with little cartoon reindeer.

"Christmas."  She says simply.

"You bought me a present?"  I ask as the initial shock wears off.

"It's... a thank you gift... for training me... for giving me back... 
what I lost."  Her voice is quiet, almost embarrassed at her situation.

Not knowing what else to do I step forward and pick up the gift, 
holding it in my two hands.

"I talked with... The warden and... I made him promise not to... take 
it from you."

"This changes nothing between us."  I tell her.  "I meant what I said 
at the shrine."

"I know."

"And you don't care."

"No... we can.. Cross that... bridge when it... comes."   She smiles at 
her own wit.  "Please. . .open it."

Not knowing what to else to do I tear off the wrapping.  A small object 
wrapped in tissue rest inside the box.  A small gasp escapes me when I 
see what it is.

It looks almost too delicate to hold.  It is a small snow globe, the 
base is fashioned to look like a mound of snow and little white and 
clear crystals float around the little model of the earth inside the 
glass.  She has given me a snow globe with the earth inside.

"To show that. . .some things. . .are to pretty . . .to destroy."  She 
says in answer to my unspoken question.

I look at the globe and then back up to the girl.  I notice another 
wrapped box, slightly larger than mine sitting next to her feet and it 
hits me.  She put us both here.  "Merry Christmas Cassandra."  I say, 
with a smile.  Then, "Good luck."  As I nod to the box at her feet.

Under her mask I can see her smile.  "Merry Christmas."  She tells me 
then picks up her other box and vanishes back into the shadows.

Sitting back down on the bed I turn the snow globe over in my hands 
before looking back to the spot where the girl just stood.  This 
changes nothing.  We will battle again when I get free.  And I will 
show no mercy when it happens.  I cannot show mercy.

"I am Shiva," I say out loud, "I am the destroyer of worlds."  But then 
I look down at my gift and watch the flakes dance and float around the 
little world I now hold in my hands.

I am Shiva, I am the destroyer of worlds. . .just not this one.

fin