Batman #244

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE DEMON LIVES AGAIN! Batman and his small team have captured Talia after witnessing the death of her father Ra's al Ghul in their secret hideout. However, as they approach the cable car that would take them down from the snowy mountains, they are utterly shocked to see Ra's al Ghul coming after them. Ra's had been revived by the powers of the Lazarus Pit and Talia explains that after the process, his strength is extremely increased while his mind is struck by a fit of madness. True to her words, Ra's seems to be unable to control his actions and Lo Ling tries to stop him, but fails miserably. Knowing that Ra's could harm the others, Batman confronts the crazed man, but despite his best efforts, he is easily defeated by Ra's. With Batman knocked unconscious, Talia talks to her father, bringing some reason to his mind and she takes him to a secret hovercraft they had concealed in case of emergencies. When Batman recovers, he is informed about Talia and Ra's escape before he starts following their trail with Molly Post by his side. Using Molly's skis, they follow the hovercraft and Molly reaches the vehicle first. She throws one of her poles to the engine of the vehicle and manages to bring it down, but the pole ricochets towards her and injuries her shoulder. Batman watches as Talia and Ra's make their escape by foot, but he can't give chase to them as he has to take Molly to a medical center.  After Molly and Ling are taken to medical centers for their injuries, Batman finds himself alone since Harris Blaine has decided to stay with the injured and Batman has to continue his quest to bring down Ra's alone. Batman starts by investigating the wreckage of Ra's hovercraft, where he finds a camel's bridle and he knows where to locate his dreaded enemy.   Far away from Switzerland, Ra's al Ghul and his daughter have gathered enough people and supplies on their desert hideout in order to rebuild many of the damages caused by Batman. While his men work endlessly, Ra's explains to Talia that he might no longer be able to use the Lazarus Pit to renew is life, since he has used it many times over the years and soon it will no longer work on his body. For this reason, he finds himself in need of hasten his plan to cleanse the world. At that moment, Batman breaks into Ra's tent, where he attempts to capture Ra's and bring him to justice. Ra's al Ghul is not intimidated by Batman's sudden appearance and he tells Batman that he is not going anywhere without a fight. Ra's then shows his respect and admiration for Batman by informing the "Detective" that he won't have him shot by his men if he is able to defeat him on a duel to death.  The final duel of the fates is to take place right then and there, and both adversaries prepare for their last stand. Ra's commands Talia to bring him his finest weapons and she delivers a couple of magnificent swords, one for each fighter. Ra's and Batman take away their upper garbs for the combat and then the battle starts, much to Talia's sorrow. Batman and Ra's are both skilled swordsmen and their fight is a sight to behold. For hours, they exchange attacks and counter-attacks, worthy of only the greatest duelists.   The fight continues for hours until twilight with no clear winner, until fate ends the fatal combat. While fighting on the hot sands of the desert, Batman's foot reaches a small, but deadly scorpion, which stings Batman's foot, making the Dark Knight unable to continue the duel. Ra's declares himself the victor and he decides to leave Batman to his eventual death by denying him the antidote for the scorpion's poison. As Ra's walks away from his defeated enemy, Talia approaches Batman and claims that she wants to give him one last kiss. However, Talia is really giving Batman the antidote to fight the scorpion's venom and a few hours later, Batman recovers from the deadly attack.  Batman starts walking alone in the desert night and follows the trail of Ra's al Ghul, back to his base of operations. When Batman appears once again in Ra's tent, Ra's al Ghul is utterly shocked to see Batman alive, deeming him as a supernatural being. With unprecedented rage, Batman knocks down Ra's al Ghul, who doesn't even try to evade Batman's attack. With Ra's unconscious, Batman wonders why the most dangerous of enemies he has faced, didn't try to resist and Talia tells him that perhaps Ra's recognized him as his superior. Finally, knowing that Batman will take Ra's to the authorities, Talia asks her beloved if she is to be imprisoned as well, to which Batman simply replies by holding her in his arms and giving her a long passionate kissing before parting. Talia then watches as Batman strides away, carrying Ra's along with him. TEEN-AGE TRAP! Robin tracks down the thief of college funds and realizes that it is a young boy from a local town near Hudson University. After learning that the boy is simply bitter for not being able to attend college like the people from the big cities, Robin decides to change the young boy's attitude by becoming his friend as Dick Grayson. This proves to be succcesful, but Dick soon realizes that the same mentality is shared by almost every other teenager in town. For this reason, Dick decides to start acting as Robin in order to change things with help from his college schoolmates.