History: (Batgirl Annual #1) - Madras, India; A child born to a pair of untouchables demonstrated an early mutant ability to shapeshift. The child could not control the power at an early age, and the child's parents never knew if it was a boy or a girl. One day a group of mysterious men kidnapped the child's parents, and the child had to fend for itself. S/he child took different human identities to gain menial jobs in the cities of India, until one day s/he overheard movie producers bemoaning the fact that one of their actors who was to play a monster was sick, and s/he offered hir services to them. S/he was a hit, able to take on the forms of monsters that were more realistic than any devised by special effects experts. S/he was nicknamed Aruna by one of her employers, and after taking on the female persona of Aruna Shende she soon had fame and fortune in the Indian movie industry, though she never revealed how she managed her stunts or "special effects." Aruna met Batman ad Batgirl after Ashok Ramanan, the star of the latest movie she was in, was kidnapped. Together Aruna, Batman and Batgirl solved the mystery, Ashok had been kidnapped and killed by his neighbor Mr. Lahiri, who discovered that Ashok was an untouchable, and didn't want him living in the neighborhood. Aruna told Batman and Batgirl that they would never be able to save all the untouchables in India from crime and persecution, she felt it was something too deeply ingrained in Indian society. Batman told Aruna that if the police refused to protect the untouchables, maybe someone needed to be their champion. Aruna got the hint.

Comments: Created by Scott Peterson  Mike Deodato

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