Sasha Bordeaux

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Powers and Abilities

Bordeaux is a highly qualified, Secret Service-trained bodyguard and personal protection specialist. She is unusually driven, even for a professional. Bordeaux has proven able to sacrifice her own life for her principal.

Another asset is that she’s very good looking, and has the class and garde-robe to effortlessly join the parties of the rich and beautiful.

Sasha’s willpower was tested but not exceeded by one month of intensive training. This left her very fit physically, and with a solid base in standard Bat-skills – gymnastics, acrobatics, martial arts, fighting with batons, batarang throwing, moving across rooftops and via swing line, etc.

Sasha has now been trained further by Checkmate, but it is unknown if she was trained as a Pawn or Knight. At minimum she now has high-level commando and special forces training. Plus training in numerous espionage and black ops skills if she is a Knight.

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History

Sasha Bordeaux’s parents died to a bomb in Jerusalem along with eight other tourists when she was twenty. She has no other family.

She became a Secret Service agent. As such she operated under the orders of Special Agent W. Walker. Walker considered her to be particularly gifted and driven, but probably his most insubordinate agent. Bordeaux might have made it to Presidential detail, which eventually went to be overseen by Walker. But she chose to quit and join the private sector.

After the No Man’s Land catastrophe , the board of Wayne Industries voted that Bruce Wayne should receive close personal protection at all times. Given the circumstances, an attack on their figurehead could mean serious losses on the stock exchange.

Lucius Fox personally oversaw the recruitment. He chose Bordeaux both for her exceptional skills and professionalism, and because her beauty would help Wayne swallow the pill. It helped, but not enough. Thus, Fox had to threaten to resign to have Wayne accept the bodyguard.

That vapid, famous playboy

Obviously, having a dedicated professional watch him 24/24 was a huge problem for the Batman. Even on the first day, he told her he had to answer nature’s call and vanished for much of the day. He eventually found the furious Bordeaux sitting on the steps of Wayne Manor in the evening.

As Bruce Wayne, he started becoming even dumber, clumsier and prone to goofs and disappearances than usual. But Bordeaux’s infernal dedication to her job made this more and more problematic. Furthermore, she soon realised that Wayne wasn’t around most nights.

During the following months, Bordeaux was confronted to various threats. A hit was ordered by the Penguin on Wayne’s star lawyer, as revenge over a previous defeat. Sasha’s quick reactions were the only thing to save Ms. Green and Bruce Wayne when the hit took place.

Mmmm… something’s wrong here

During Commissioner Gordon’s retirement dinner, Sasha noticed that Bruce was exceptionally heavy, muscular and observant despite his slouched posture and catastrophic apparent absent-mindedness.

The same night, Wayne turned the both of them into comic relief when he tripped and drenched Bordeaux and himself in sauce in front of the assembly. This is when Two-Face came in. Despite the odds, Ms. Bordeaux was ready to intervene, but Batman came next to her and told her to wait. Gordon defused the situation by the madman flip his coin.

Later, at a children’s hospital charity, Sasha was knocked out by Harley Quinn shortly after Wayne left the grounds.

On his end, Batman wasn’t doing well. He had alienated most of his allies, such as Nightwing (Dick Grayson) and Robin (Tim Drake), and could only count on Alfred and Oracle. That was the result of his cold, secretive, ruthless behaviour.

The lonely Wayne thus came to care about the smart, intense and beautiful Sasha. But, unable to learn his lesson, he coped by deciding he would take control of her.

You can’t handle the truth

Wayne started leaving subtle clues. With these, Sasha became certain that something was majorly fishy. He then had her discover some pieces of bat-gear in a suitcase of his, which led to taking the bodyguard to the Batcave to tell her she had become a problem.

However, Bordeaux remained doggedly determined to protect her principal, even if that meant guarding Batman at night. The discussion became surreal, as they both refused to admit that they were in love with each other.

Wayne told Bordeaux she’d have a month to prove herself by passing an intense, record-breaking training program. She defiantly accepted and succeeded, qualifying to follow the Batman on his nightly patrols without being dead weight.

Bordeaux, while focusing at first on her mission, quickly discovered how exhilarating the nightly acrobatics and fighting could be. She received her own costume, mask and utility belt, but wasn’t given a code name.

The Gotham Gladiatrix ? The Caped Crusaderette ?

A few times, she even operated alone. Bordeaux had redefined her mission of protecting Bruce Wayne to working for the Batman, becoming a clear substitute for Robin. She also filled a gaping hole in his personal life. Sasha insisted upon celebrating Christmas despite Bruce’s poor reaction.

In 2001, the Joker gassed the Slab, turning many of the metahuman prisoners there into green-haired, chalk-skinned maniacs. A woman named Cucilla became one of the infectees and became a lethal danger on the Gotham dockland.

The costumed Bordeaux managed to bring Cucilla down. She received the invaluable help of the Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), though Sasha had to fend off the Huntress’ bitter hostility toward Batman as well as her attempts to kill Cucilla.

But Cucilla secretly was a Checkmate agent on an undercover mission within the Slab. Once she was cured, she kept precise memories about the events. Thus, Checkmate soon had a pretty detailed entry on the nameless blonde partner of the Batman.

Bordeaux still worked for Wayne as a bodyguard. Thus, she operated along with the Batman to “protect Wayne” from the Scarecrow. The madman had gone postal whilst giving a motivational speech at Wayne Industries. Bordeaux also disarmed a disgruntled employee who wanted to kill Wayne after Lucius Fox had a stroke.

Though Bordeaux was quite proud of her accomplishments, this didn’t entirely dull her sharp analytical intelligence. She slowly grew certain that her discovery that Wayne was Batman hadn’t been an accident, and that he had been manipulating her.

Bruce Wayne, fugitive

At that point, Vesper Fairchild was apparently assassinated by Bruce Wayne. The devastated Wayne ended up in prison. Bordeaux was arrested without bail, and judged separately. Her career, and quite possibly her life, were now over.

Thus, even Sasha became tempted to give up on Wayne. That lasted until he briefly touched her shoulder, which washed the doubts away.

Bruce Wayne eventually fled. While he was a fugitive, the prosecution and police tried to destroy Bordeaux, having her listen numerous times to the tape of Fairchild’s last panicked phone call. They worked her hard as she was the only possible chink in Wayne’s legal defense, but she didn’t give an inch. She was eventually sent to Blackgate.

Prison life didn’t go particularly well. Sasha acquired enemies among the female prisoners, earning her multiple attacks in the courtyard. She had little hope of being free before she was at least in her 50s. Ms. Bordeaux came to the depressing realisation she had taken the greatest step for a bodyguard. She had taken the bullet, given her life to protect her principal.

For a crime she did not commit

Bruce Wayne was eventually judged innocent. He wanted his lawyers to free Bordeaux. But while still loyal, she had come to hate his guts for having manipulated her all along. She pridefully rejected all help and said she would defend herself, dooming herself to decades in the pen.

She was then approached by a CIA man. The agent told her he could instantly get her out of prison if she wrote a confession about witnessing Wayne kill Fairchild. After several days of terrible temptation and actually writing the letter, Bordeaux burned it. The letter she gave the Agency man instead read “go to Hell”.

In late 2002, a brawl with a prisoner who hated her ended badly. The woman punched Sasha in the guts with a heavy dumb bell. With a low key death wish, Bordeaux refused to go to the infirmary. She collapsed a few days later, blood oozing from her mouth. Internal organs had been ruptured from the blow.

The wound kept getting bigger until she died from internal haemorrhaging.

Checkmate ! (part 1)

Bordeaux’s corpse was claimed under suspicious circumstances by her non-existent family. Batman went crazy following the trail of Bordeaux, whom he suspected was not dead. He eventually determined she was being held by Checkmate. Meanwhile Ms. Midnight, the Black Bishop of Checkmate, was offering Sasha the chance to become a full time Checkmate agent.

She was perfect for them – ex-Secret Service, highly trained and talented, with an impeccable career, and trained by the Batman. Furthermore, they knew she had been the mysterious blonde vigilante operating in Gotham, as they had matched the Bordeaux file with the observation of “Cucilla”.Lastly, she had the undeniable advantage of being declared death.

Bordeaux, wanting to serve her country, accepted.

Checkmate ! (part 2)

However, there was a small problem. Batman was systematically wrecking Checkmate operations in and around Gotham, and deeply hacked their systems to check their records. He clearly had a mad on Checkmate, and wouldn’t let go until he knew where Bordeaux was. The Black Bishop saw that only Bordeaux could possibly stop him.

Bordeaux confronted Wayne. At first she was angry at him, accusing him of having used and discarded her. As the conversation went off the rails, they came to admit they loved each other. After an uncontrolled kiss, Wayne admitted how he had manipulated Bordeaux. He also admitted that it was because he loved her and was clumsily attempting to control and protect her.

Though Sasha was now aware of how much she loved Bruce, the situation was unsalvageable. Besides both now had lives which made any relationship impossible.

Thus Sasha Bordeaux walked away in distress, asking the badly shaken Bruce Wayne never to seek her again.

Checkmate and the Dark Knight

Since Checkmate knows that Sasha was Batman’s partner, they presumably know that Bruce Wayne is the Batman. Bordeaux’s handler, the Black Bishop, always made a big show of not asking Sasha to tell her the secret, but that’s presumably to mark her appreciation for Bordeaux’ samurai-like integrity. Sasha probably knows that they know, but obviously will never tell Checkmate.

Still, it is important to note that Checkmate has a terrible relationship with President Luthor. They have actively investigated CIA black bag ops launched by Luthor using narcotics-derived money, and have plainly admitted to the Batman they were extremely wary about the billionaire industrialist.

It is thus highly probable that any conclusions about the Batman’s identity have not been distributed to other government agencies.

Furthermore, it is quite likely that Oracle has access to Checkmate computers. Remember, she is a close ally of Amanda Waller. And the Wall is the US intelligence community’s 700 lbs gorilla.

Description

Bordeaux is a beautiful blonde in her late 20s with a determined air, natural elegance and an athletic body.

When she became a Checkmate member, her face was surgically reconstructed to change her looks, and she changed hair colour.

Personality

Sasha is actually a sensitive, caring, vital young woman with powerful emotions and a great capacity for love. But she hides her own emotions, even to herself.She remains a stern, deadly serious professional 24/24 over a vast variety of circumstances.

Her most obvious trait of character when she has her professional mask is her dedication. She will do *anything* to protect her principal and ensure they are always living under secure and controlled circumstances.

If the principal tries to deny her the proper amount of control and discipline, she become angry and bossy. She can accept authority, but this has clear limits. By nature she doesn’t take orders well since she knows she’s more competent at her job than most, and prefers to trust her own judgement.

One fine lass

Despite her control freak tendencies and her strong emotional reservation, she has a remarkable array of qualities. Sasha is smart, observant, stubborn, stable, compassionate, etc.. She is on the introspective side, and tends to analyze things a lot.

While she was in awe of the Batman, her drive was such she stood up to him repeatedly, insisting on accompanying him so she could protect him. Obviously, he was quite beyond even her abilities to protect. But Sasha is nothing if not a woman of duty, even under surreal circumstances and when nearly mentally broken.

Furthermore, Bordeaux took exception to most deadly violence in her vicinity. For instance, she was adamant in protecting the Jokerized Cucilla from the Huntress.

A rare glimpse of Sasha without her emotional rigidly was seen when she was pretty much hurled from a building by the Batman to learn how to use a de-cel swingline, and when she stopped her first street criminal with a precise acrobatic kick. She was flushed, super-enthusiastic and almost giggling – briefly resembling the 16-years old Spoiler in her reaction.

With some shortcomings

While she could deconstruct how Wayne had manipulated her, she ironically had trouble accepting that her main reason for loyalty was love. Even though it became obvious, at the latest, when he touched her in Blackgate.

But despite her obvious intelligence, she didn’t understand before it was too late that Bruce’s tortured actions were due to his love for her.

Due to her peculiar job, Sasha lives in solitude. This meant that her ambiguous relationship with Wayne made her as uneasy as he was.

Quotes

Bishop Midnight : “98% on tests. You’re ready for field work.”
Sasha : “No. Field work is at 100%.”

(To Bruce) “You know, I’m beginning to think I’m not qualified to protect you. You don’t need a bodyguard. You need a therapist.”

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Helper(s): Roy Cowan, Danielle Mendus, Myrnag2555.

Source of Character: Batman comics in 2002.