Stephanie has graduated from high school, is a student at Gotham University, and is living with her mother still. Cassandra Cain has become disillusioned following Bruce Wayne's apparent death and gives Stephanie the Batgirl costume. After operating as the new Batgirl in Cain's costume, Stephanie is confronted by Barbara Gordon, who was notified of her activities by Dick Grayson. Barbara tried to reason with Stephanie to get her stop being a vigilante, as she still saw Stephanie as an impetuous youth and remembers of her role in causing a city-wide gang war and her near-death experience at Black Mask's hands. However, a new type of recreational drug is hitting the streets of Gotham known as "Thrill," which they discover was manufactured by the Scarecrow and Black Mask. Both women find themselves needing each other to stop this drug trade. Stephanie eventually confronts and defeats Scarecrow, which impresses Barbara and shows that she now has the maturity for the responsibility and is capable of facing her fear and failures,and allows her to continue on as Batgirl. Barbara later takes a job as an assistant professor at Stephanie's school in order to continue to keep in contact with her. Barbara also designs Stephanie a costume for her to replace Cassandra's tattered costume.

As Stephanie is taking steps to balance her double-life as a college student and a vigilante, Barbara makes a test run on Stephanie's Batsuit, which includes monitoring Stephanie’s vital signs along with allowing both women to communicate with each other through their comm-links. After battles some of the criminal elements in the city, Stephanie finds herself against Livewire, who causes a blackout on the city while draining its power. Fortunately, Stephanie's costume is insulated, which she is able to easily overpower the villainess. Stephanie also develops an attraction to Gotham PD's newest young recruit Detective Nick Gage, whom also attracted to her as Batgirl and Commissioner Gordon is trying to set as a blind date for Barbara. The elder Gordon finds their mutual attraction unsettling, even though he's not yet awares of the current Batgirl's identity, but knows that she's still a teenager. Her activies also have led her and Barbara came to a blow with the new Dynamic Duo: Batman and Robin. However, even though Stephanie and Damian Wayne initially don't get along, there is a hint that he harbors a crush on her.