History Fanfic / AngelOfTheBat

Multiple attempts were made to write a third story entitled ''Da Pacem Domine''[[note]]"Give peace, Lord" in Latin, the name of a crusader prayer[[/note]] went in and out of DevelopmentHell in the years that followed. This plot follows a battle between Cassandra and a modern incarnation of the Knights Templar called The Order of Nephilim. and an alliance with The Question (Renee Montoya) and John Constantine. It can be read [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14337723/1/Angel-of-the-Bat-III-Da-Pacem-Domine here]].

Eventually, this led to a third story, ''Da Pacem Domine''[[note]]"Give peace, Lord" in Latin, the name of a crusader prayer[[/note]]. This plot promises a battle between Cassandra and a modern incarnation of the Knights Templar and an alliance with The Question (Renee Montoya) and John Constantine. It can be read [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13524968/1/Angel-of-the-Bat-III-Da-Pacem-Domine here]].

* CallBack: Sadie is said to be mistrustful when she sees an injured man being led into a cathedral, almost certainly because of her kidnapping by the Seraphim back in the first story.
* CastFullOfGay: The main ensamble consists of Cassandra (pansexual), Sadie (lesbian), the Renee Montoya incarnation of The Question (lesbian), and John Constantine (bisexual).

* FollowingInTheirRescuersFootsteps: Mildly. As someone Cassandra once rescued herself and knowing her girlfriend is always fast to throw herself into harm's way for others, Sadie resolved to try doing the same in her own small way. This is what drew her into the Constantine-Arlington plot.
* {{Gayngst}}: Being struck by an empathic weapon brings a lot of this to the forefront of the Question's mind, mostly in how her sexuality ruined most of her familial relationships and she doesn't even have a worthwhile lover to show for it. She does, however, manage to shake some of this off when she sees Cassandra and Sadie being sweet with one another.
* GenreShift: Per the writer, each of the three stories in the trilogy occupies a different places on the SlidingScaleOfRealisticVersusFantastic. In the original (Unusual), there are a handful of genuine supernatural elements, but most beyond that handful are played up as open to interpretation. The sequel (Unrealistic) limits its fantasy elements to its superheroics and a few coincidences. And the third is promised to be a fantasy.
* HeroicBSOD: The Question suffers one after being struck by an empathic weapon after her fight with Sandoval. The weapon brings all of her character flaws, sins, and regrets to the forefront of her mind and she struggles to overcome enough self-loathing to escape its clutches afterwards.
* HeroicFireRescue: When the Question's fight with Sandoval and his anchimayen unintentionally sets fire to a clothing salon, Cassandra rushes in from where she was sitting nearby to help anyone she possibly can.
* HolyGround: Constantine acknowledges its significance, as he and Abraham Arlington can hide from a demon inside of the Clermont Ferrand Cathedral, but Constantine's magical powers are shorted out within. While Arlington's powers are also supernatural, they notably are not.
* IrishPriest: Father Gallagher, referred to as a Chaplain. Seeing as how he serves the antagonists, this also makes him a SinisterMinister.

* LawyerFriendlyCameo: John Constantine mumbles to himself about, "That fellow from Chicago" who has a number in the phone book claiming he's a wizard, an allusion to ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''.

* SequelGoesForeign: The opening is set in Clermont Ferrand, France, where Sadie has been studying abroad for a semester.
* ShoutOut: As per the usual at this point...
** Upon seeing the Question's featureless face, a frightened Sadie wonders aloud if she's [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slenderman]].
* UndeadChild: The character Sandoval has control over an anchimayen, which is an undead creature out of Chilean mythology created from the corpse of a child. The monster initially appeared to just be an oddly proportioned adult, but the Question knocking its mask off reveals its child's face underneath.

As the story goes, Creator/GailSimone was approached to inject some new life into then-Batgirl [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl2000}} Cassandra Cain]]. The idea Simone returned with was for Cassandra to rescue a Christian minister while in uniform, to discover Christianity through him, convert, begin wearing a white uniform, identify as "The Angel of the Bat" and, for the first time in her life, feel truly happy. Ultimately, the idea was scrapped and only briefly mentioned in an interview Simone gave at one point.

* DropTheHammer: The Seraphim wields a rusty old bell-ringing hammer after Angel disarms him of his sword.

* HollywoodAtheist: Bruce is a pretty strong aversion. Though he is very much shown to be a {{Naytheist}}, he is depicted as very encouraging towards Cassandra's religious journey, openly acknowledging it is important that she make her own decisions and that her faith seems to make her happy.
** Barbara Gordon is a straighter example, stating that she hasn't been to church since she could walk.
** [[spoiler: Joshua Lebowitz]] is an interesting example. He goes through horrific things in his life and doesn't believe in God... But never believed in God to begin with. He only behaves in a stubborn way to piss off The Seraphim.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: No, no matter what kinds of drugs are used, you would probably never be able to [[spoiler: create a Pavlovian reaction to a hallucinogen to force the mind to react as if the subject had just inhaled simply by playing a whistle sound, as is done with The Mist.]]

* BetterAsFriends: Sort of. [[spoiler: Cassie admits she has romantic feelings for Stephanie, but doesn't want to separate her and Tim or hurt their friendship.]] Judging by their interactions later, the two are still very close, to the point [[spoiler: Stephanie]] openly states she loves [[spoiler: Cassie]] back, albeit platonically.

* BoomerangBigot: The Seraphim hates all religions except for his own and has a particular disdain for Jews. Fittingly enough, he is ethnically Jewish.

** [[spoiler:Cassandra, after learning homosexuality is sinful to the Catholic church and questioning if God hates her for loving Stephanie, temporarily backtracks on all the progress she made on getting her life together. Thankfully, she gets better.]]

* CircumcisionAngst: When referencing his mixed religious background, Tim mentions he has attended Communion and also had a bris. When Cassandra says she doesn't know what either of those are, Tim describes the latter as, "Horrifying to sit here and describe."

* ColdBloodedTorture: This is basically how The Seraphim recruits his "converts", a combination of starvation, sleep deprivation and madness inducing drugs.

* ChristianityIsCatholic: Despite its premise, the story manages to avert this by making Stephanie a Methodist and Dick as a [[UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} spiritual though not very knowledgeable Romani Christian.]]
* ContinuityNod: [[ComicBook/BatmanTheCult Deacon Blackfire]] used to be the leader of The Church of the Voice of God, and The Seraphim was one of his pupils.

** Damian states this is his opinion of religion in Heresy, having personally witnessed ComicBook/RasAlGhul deceive people into believing he was a god. His presentation is careful, since Cassandra is the only member of the immediate Bat-family he actually respects besides his father.

* BonusBoss: The epilogue includes a showdown between Angel and [[spoiler: her mother Lady Shiva.]]

%%* FightingWithChucks: The Question's .