(Question I #1, 2) - Lady Shiva was recruited by Wesley Fermin, the corrupt mayor of Hub City. Vic Sage was a crusading journalist doing exposes on Fermin's corrupt regime, and in his secret identity of the Question took his battle to the streets. Question broke into a safehouse where the Mayor was keeping a blackmail tape, and emerged victorious with the tape after a brutal fight with Fermin's goons. Shiva was present, but refrained from the battle because she hadn't specifically been tasked with fighting, and because she found brawling offensive. Vic broadcast the tape of Mitchell Doohan, Commissioner of Schools snorting coke and cavorting with the girlfriend of Adam Perch, who he'd just assigned a building contract to. Reverend Jeremiah Hatchdid Fermin's dirty work, and had one of his thugs inform Vic of a meeting of Fermin's men at a deserted pier. The goon was pleased with himself and got fresh with Lady Shiva, who busted his wrist and promised to cripple him if he tried to touch her again. Vic knew the meeting was a trap, but arrived as Question anyway. Lady Shiva met him in combat and easily bested him, at which point Hatch had his goons beat him bloody with a pipe before shooting him in the head and dumping him off the pier. With the thugs gone, Lady Shiva dove into the water and saved the Question, tending to his wounds. He muttered the name of Aristotle Rodor, and knowing he wouldn't be safe in a hospital she brought him to his friend. Question suffered some memory loss, and had fevered dreams about Batman, who he'd worked with once, prodding him to dedicate himself fully to his mission. He healed up somewhat, and Aristotle told him Shiva had chartered him a helicopter flight for a meeting. Question arrived to find not Shiva, but Richard Dragon, a legendary kung-fu master. Dragon was bound to a wheelchair, and Question was severely injured, but Dragon assured him he had to work on his mind before his body would heal. He chopped wood, subsisted on foraging and listened to Dragon's words of wisdom until Richard felt he'd learned all he could from him. Shiva appeared to check on his progress, and attacked him, telling him that if he didn't defend himself she would kill him. He fended off her attacks, and she was satisfied, saying she'd saved him because she saw in him a true passion for the martial arts. Dragon still maintained that Question's passion was curiosity, not combat.

(Question Annual #1) - The O-Sensei prepared to die, and had vowed his remains would rest with those of his wife. Lady Shiva owed him a debt, and recruited Batman and Green Arrow, who also owed him, to help fulfill his dying wish. She wanted the Question to accompany them, but he and his ally Prof. Rodor had been abducted by Jake, a former henchman of Reverend Jeremiah Hatch. She easily defeated Jake, and was offended when he said they once worked together. She said she never worked for anyone, only choosing her associated when her skills were required and she could fulfill the practice of her art. Jake once tried to touch her without permission, so she snapped his neck. . Rodor balked at going to the hospital, so Shiva used her powers to heal him. Question couldn't comprehend how she could be so brutal and so gentle at the same time, and she replied that it was not in his power to understand her. Sensei's father-in-law disapproved of his refusal to return to his family once he went on his quest for truth, but Sensei killed every gangster his father-in-law sent against him. They disappeared in fear of him, and Batman used his contacts to locate them and the family crypt in Malaya, off the coast of Java. Question was feeling completely useless, and asked Batman to stay behind, so he could provide the muscle. Batman agreed, and said that if he had something to prove he'd better do it. On the flight to Java Shiva asked Sensei if he had a parable to change Question's life in the way he'd done for GA and Batman, but he remained silent, and Question assumed he wasn't worth the effort. On the trip by boat to Malaya storms swelled, the boat sank, and Question was unable to save Sensei from drowning. On Malaya they found the family gone, and the crypt missing the remains of Sensei's wife. Question returned home, feeling like a failure, but Shiva learned that Sensei's wife's remains fell overboard when the families crypt was transported to Malaya, so he did indeed rest with his wife. Question remembered that before he drowned O-Sensei said that there were no failures, and if he continued to live he would change.

(Question I #28-30) - Lady Shiva traveled to Hub City, which had fallen into chaos after Mayor Fermin slipped into a coma, reasoning it would be the perfect place to practice her craft. Rival biker gangs ran the city and Shiva approached members of the Huns, who threatened her. She killed three of them and stabbed the fourth in the groin, telling him to relay a message to Loosh O’Fry, leader of the Huns, offering her services. He sent a hit squad to kill her, but she easily murdered them. Fermin recovered, and with the help of the Question sought to restore order to her city. Question kidnapped Loosh, saying he was going to have a sit-down with Fermin, but they ran into Shiva. Shiva told Loosh she hadn’t decided yet if she was going to kill him or offer her services again. Loosh said he’d gladly hire her to take out the Question, and Shiva told Question she hoped he’d been honing his martial arts, otherwise the next few seconds were going to be boring for her. Shiva found Question to be no match for her, saying he’d lost his flow and seemed to have forgotten everything Richard Dragon had taught him. She told him that if he didn’t fight harder she was going to kill him, but the Huns caught up with their leader and Loosh told them to kill Question and Shiva. Shiva agreed to team up with Question, saying he was no longer a worthy opponent and she still needed stimulation. They easily prevailed and Question delivered Loosh to Myra at Harry’s Pizza. Shiva contemplated fighting him again, but he told her he had obligations to attend to. He had to get Benjy Floper of the Grinning Ghosts to join Myra’s sitdown. Floper had hijacked a KBEL children’s show to talk up his gang, and Question realized he had a hunger for fame. He told shiva he was going to resolve the situation without violence as Vic Sage, and Shiva was intrigued. Shiva said she’d be his backup, but would interfere if she didn’t like the plan Vic came up with. Vic schmoozed Floper, saying he had star potential and promising him a meeting with Hollywood executives. He got him to Myra’s sitdown, and Myra proposed that the gangs work for her as Hub City’s police. Loosh and Floper initially refused to work with each other, but considered dividing their turf between Hub’s north and south sides. They said they needed to hammer out some details, and Vic and Myra went on a walk to give them some privacy. Vic thought Myra was crazy, but acknowledged that she didn’t have many options and vigilante justice was better than no justice. They returned to the sitdown to find Floper gone and Loosh stabbed. They took him in their car to the hospital, but were surrounded by angry Huns on their bikes. Myra and Vic tried to flee into the sewers, but the Huns soon caught them. They insisted that Floper had stabbed their boss, not them, and the Huns weren’t sure if they believed them, but agreed they could sort things out after they got Loosh to the hospital. After they reached the hospital the Huns decided to keep Myra captive and told Vic it was up to him to bring Floper to the hospital so they could deal out their brand of justice if Floper really stabbed their boss. Vic realized he was running low on options and time. Loosh had died on the ride over to the hospital, and he knew it wouldn’t be long until the Huns figured that out. Vic called out into the night for Lady Shiva, admitting his nonviolent approach had failed and begging her for help. Vic changed into Question and approached the Grinning Ghost headquarters, but was soon overwhelmed by the bikers. Shiva saved him, saying he reminded her of when she was still unfocused and taking pity on him. Question found Floper, who said he and Loosh had agreed on terms and had no idea who stabbed him. Shiva knew he wasn’t lying and Question said he couldn’t hand Floper over to the Huns if he was innocent. Shica reminded him that that would mean Myra’s life would be forfeit and told him morals made life overly complicated. They took Floper to the hospital, with Question saying he’d figure out what to do when they arrived. The threat had been defused by Myra, who told the Huns she was going to get them high and then giving them ether rags. The hospital sent out Loosh’s body as a John Doe and gave Myra a cover story, that Loosh had recovered, stole some drugs, and left the hospital. Vic confronted Harry, saying he knew he’d killed Loosh during the sitdown at his pizza joint because Loosh and his gang had raped his sister. Vic said he wasn’t going to turn Harry in, telling Harry it was up to him to determine how guilty he felt and what punishment, if any, he deserved.

(Question I #31) - Mayor Fermin called a city council meeting, announcing her decision to demolish Hell’s Acres. The public housing units had long been abandoned by law-abiding citizens and had become a haven of crime and drug use. Shiva decided to watch the demolition, calling it a beautiful thing. Question and Mayor Fermin were trapped inside by renegade drug dealers, but Question managed to get the Mayor to an abandoned section of water pipes minutes before the detonation, allowing them to survive. Shiva noted the rats crawling out of the building and said humans could learn much from them because rats left when it was their time and they did not dream.

(Question I #36) - Vic Sage decided that Hub City was beyond saving and he had to leave. Vic, along with Richard Dragon, Aristotle and Myra arranged for a helicopter to take them away from the city. When the helicopter arrived Lady Shiva was aboard, telling Vic she wanted to test herself against the anarchy of Hub City and would be taking his place.

(Superman / Batman #3) - Shiva, under the thrall of Gorilla Grodd, was among the number of supervillains that attempted to collect the billion dollar bounty President Luthor placed on Superman s head but failed.

(Batgirl I #68) - Nyssa Raatko, calling herself Nyssa al Ghul, followed in her father’s footsteps and took over his empire. She recruited a new generation of the League of Assassins consisting of Alpha, the Circle of six, Krunk, Los Gemelos, Mad Dog, Momotado, Ox, Shrike, Tigris and White Willow. She recruited Lady Shiva to act as their new Sensei and used the remaining female Ubus to act as her personal security. Shiva had a sparring session with her students, and finding Joey N’Bobo unfit as a fighter she disemboweled him, killing him and hopefully sending a message to her students about her standards of excellence. Batgirl tracked down Lady Shiva to Nyssa’s stronghold in the Balkans, hoping to learn her true parentage. Nyssa’s security systems detected Batgirl, but she wanted to see what would happen when she confronted Shiva. Batgirl found herself in Shiva’s dojo, where the new League all bowed down before her, calling her the One Who is All. Shiva said they respected her for being the League’s perfect living weapon and for having defeated Shiva in personal combat. Batgirl disliked their adulation, and liked it even less when Shiva said she’d be their teacher too. Shiva attacked Batgirl, reminding her they were supposed to have fought to the death, but admitting that she was grateful in a sense because Batgirl humbling her forced her to relearn. Batgirl demanded to know if Shiva was her mother, but she was evasive and asked Batgirl if she saw her creation or her destruction in Shiva’s eyes. Nyssa was intrigued, but didn’t want to risk either Batgirl or Shiva dying, and summoned her scientist Mr. Freeze, who froze Batgirl solid, putting an end to the fight.

(Batgirl I #69, 70) - Nyssa told Shiva that Batgirl was her father’s investment in human engineering and she had every right to claim her property, but paused to see if Shiva would object, which she did not. Nyssa asked Batgirl if she was hoping Shiva would fight for her, if that would prove anything. Nyssa allowed Batgirl to remain frozen and told Shiva to carry on with instructing her students. Shiva broke up a sparring match between Alpha and Mad Dog to demonstrate her skills on Mad Dog, complementing his raw talent, but criticizing his focus and badly hurting him. Batgirl wondered what point she was trying to make, and realized that against her better nature watching Shiva elegantly hurt people gave her a feeling of exhilaration. Nyssa had a video conference with Society members Talia al Ghul, Penguin, Deathstroke, Merlyn and Calculator, telling them all was going well with Mr. Freeze’s research to create a machine that could freeze half the world’s oil supplies. She surprised them by revealing she had Batgirl as her captive and told Penguin he should pay her the bounty on Batgirl’s head. She also mocked Deathstroke, who still hoped his daughter Ravager would be the one to take Batgirl out, saying his daughter should set her sights lower and go after third-stringer Flamebird. After the conference Talia confided in Batgirl that she was only working with the Society for her own ends, and hoped to initiate a hostile takeover of the group alongside Talia. Nyssa was sure the Society would conquer the world and told Batgirl that once she was in charge Batgirl could fulfill her destiny as the finest product of the League of Assassins. Instead of busting drug gangs and supervillains she could help Nyssa stop the corporate greed that starved some people and killed other due to making medicine unaffordable or unavailable. Batgirl was unconvinced and Nyssa put her in Mr. Freeze’s lab to reflect on her offer. Mr. Freeze had only agreed to work with Nyssa and the Society because he’d been promised the Lazarus Pit could resurrect his wife Nora Fries. Batgirl convinced him he was being used as a useful tool, and both he and Nora deserved better. Freeze unfroze Batgirl and together they fought past the Ubus Nyssa set up as security for Freeze’s lab. They made their way to the Lazarus Pit and Freeze pushed Nora in, but she emerged furious and insane. Years of alterations by Mr. Freeze’s machines had altered Nora’s biochemistry, allowing her to internalize the fires of the Lazarus Pit. She blamed Mr. Freeze for turning her into a monster, and rechristening herself Lazara she started raising zombies from the grounds of Nyssa’s stronghold. Nyssa admitted that she built her stronghold on one of the sites where Milosevic committed genocide, saying she never wanted to forget what true evil was. Lazara’s powers also resurrected Joey N’Bobo. Nyssa confirmed that the resurrected were not truly alive, and Batgirl had no reason not to hold back against them. Shiva was impressed, and sent her League into the fray. Batgirl took time during the fight to tell Alpha he didn’t belong with the League, and that his belief that he was a born killer was ruing his life. Alpha saw wisdom in what she said and ducked out of the fight. The zombies threatened to overwhelm them, and killed Los Gemelos. Nyssa tried to kill Lazara, but Batgirl staid her hand, saying there had to be a better way. She admitted to Freeze that she’d made a terrible mistake, and asked him to freeze Lazara again. He said he would not, but he did have a plan to stop the carnage he’d inadvertently caused. He blew up the freeze machine he’d been working on for the Society, and Nyssa’s stronghold began collapsing under tons of ice. Batgirl fled to safety with League members Ox, Tigris and White Willow. She witnessed Mr. Freeze and Lazara making their escape as Freeze chased after his wife, begging her to stop her rampage. Ox, Tigris and Willow looked to Batgirl for guidance as to what to do next, and she wondered if she could show them a life path that would lead them away from being hired killers. Shiva survived, and told her students Mad Dog, Kitty Kumbata, Wam Wam and shrike that she had a contest for them, hunting Batgirl and her defectors.

(Batgirl I #71-73) - Batgirl, Ox, Tigris and White Willow fled into the woods with Shiva and her League of Assassins in pursuit. Batgirl reflected on the death and destruction her quest to learn about her past and her parentage had already caused, and wondered if her motives weren’t selfish. She missed Bludhaven and finally having a life of her own. Shrike, Kitty Kumbata, Wam Wam and Mad Dog ambushed them as Lady Shiva hung back and watched the action unfold. Unbeknownst to both groups Alpha was watching them from a nearby treetop. Batgirl ordered Ox, Willow and Tigris to flee while she dealt with the assassins, saying that none of them had the skills to live up to Shiva’s expectations or replace her one day, which is what Batgirl assumed they all hoped for. Her new allies returned to surprise the League, but when Ox bearhugged Wam Wam, Mad Dog stabbed him from behind with a sword, killing both combatants. Kitty Kumbata told her fellow assassins to flee, saying Mad dog was out of control and would kill them all. White Willow tried to attack Mad Dog, only for him to rip her throat out with his bare hands. Batgirl finally realized that Mad dog was David Cain's first, failed experiment in creating the perfect assassin. Mad dog could so no goal further than killing whoever was around him when ordered, and called Batgirl his sister, promising he’d kill her too. Lady Shiva had convinced that Batgirl had stolen Mad Dog’s birthright after David Cain abandoned him. Alpha made his presence known, and tried to shoot Mad Dog, but Batgirl staid his hand as her adversary fled into the woods. Alpha told ?Batgirl that Mad dog could not change and was beyond redemption unlike them, but Batgirl insisted there would be no more killing under her watch and pursued Mad Dog by herself. Batgirl fought Mad Dog, insisting she could save him from himself, but he would not listen. Their fight ended when he stabbed Batgirl through the chest. Before she slipped into unconsciousness she told Alpha and Tigris she hoped she proved to them that they were worth saving and they could start a better life. Shiva picked up Batgirl’s lifeless form, saying she wasn’t supposed to die this way, and carried her off. Batgirl hallucinated Spoiler carrying her in her arms, saying she had a story to tell her before she died. Batgirl told Spoiler she finally wanted to live because she had a home, family and friends. Spoiler told her things didn’t always end the way you wanted them too and showed her a vision of Bludhaven, destroyed after the Society detonated Chemo over the city during the Battle for Bludhaven. Batgirl was shocked back to life when Lady Shiva put her in the Lazarus Pit. Shiva admitted to being Batgirl’s mother, but said Batman had taught her how to be her own person, which the League of Assassins could and would never do. Shiva told Batgirl how David Cain murdered her sister Corlyn Wu-San to bring out the rage in her. She originally wanted to kill Cain, but realized her sister had been holding her back and Cain had shown her what she was truly capable of. Batgirl asked Shiva how many she had killed after Batgirl spared her life. Shiva replied forty-eight and said she would never stop killing, but that Batgirl could stop her. Batgirl was ready to put an end to their conflict, and after an intense fight Batgirl snapped Lady Shiva’s neck. She wanted to put Shiva in the Lazarus Pit, but Shiva pleaded with her to allow her to die. Batgirl hung her from a meat-hook over the pit and Shiva thanked her as she walked away. Cassandra no longer felt like she deserved the name Batgirl, considering herself just a runaway named Cain.

(Question I #37) - Aristotle Rodor and Renee Montoya learned that the dead were rising as the Black Lantern Corps. Rodor wondered if it was possible Vic Sage could come back from the dead and plucked some hairs from Question’s old hat. Lady Shiva arrived at Rodor’s lighthouse saying she’d come to test Renee in her prowess of the martial arts as she’d challenged her predecessor as the Question. Aristotle asked them to fight outside, and although Renee wasn’t thrilled with the idea Lady Shiva said she’d kill her if she didn’t fight. They found themselves evenly matched, and while they were fighting a Black Lantern ring appeared, raising Question from the dead as a Black Lantern. Question attacked Renee and Shiva, both of whom realized that although he looked like their friend there was nothing of Vic Sage inside him. Question intended to kill them, but Rodor interrupted the fight by shooting Shiva in the arm. Rodor desperately wanted Question to tell him the mysteries of life and death, seeing it as a once in a lifetime opportunity to understand the meaning of life. Question told him to beg, and Rodor realized Question meant to kill him as well. Shiva realized the Black Lantern Question saw through the emotional spectrum, so she allowed herself to feel nothing, making her invisible to him. After some prompting from Shiva Rodor and Renee were able to do the same, and the Question, frustrated, left. Renee changed into the Question, saying she couldn’t let him remain on the loose.

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