Batman #88

Issue Details

Synopsis

THEIR DARK DESIGNS, PART 3 Selina Kyle is digging a grave. She is also trying to contact Edward Nygma through a once-compromised frequency. She wants to know if the Designer really is back or not. Edward initially resists from answering, but he's convinced when Selina reveals him Batman already knows about the fact his code is in every camera and microphone in Gotham. He will move against him soon, this time locking him in the Black Block and not in Arkham to keep him away once and for all. Eddie accepts then to share some info: the Penguin is convinced the Designer has returned, and is acting accordingly, even if Nygma thinks he's quite an underdog against Deathstroke. But he's not sure about how much their old ally is involved: just as Selina said, they resolved the problem years before. The Riddler thinks that the fourth conspirator that wanted to perform the perfect crime together with them might be behind the whole thing: the Joker. Does Selina, or Batman, know where the clown prince of crime is right now? As Riddler asks this question, Selina finishes digging, finding a Jokerized body inside of the grave.   Selina asks to Eddie if it could be the real deal, and Riddler answers her, of course, with a question: why doesn't she call his lover, Batman, to find out? He'll have all the necessary tools for sure. But of course she won't: she hopes she can get out of trouble without revealing nothing to Batman. When did the Dark Knight stopped seeing her as another costumed freak? Eddie knows they are all going to die soon if the Designer is back, but he's happy Selina will experience the hardest fall of any of them. The Dark Knight won't forgive her this time. As Eddie cuts down the communication, the false Joker's body starts speaking, much like the man Selina stopped inside the Wayne Campus. The Designer is coming for her. As Selina seems condemned, an unexpected ally comes to the rescue: Harley Quinn.  As Batman is securing Cheshire for transport, Lucius contacts him to inform him about what happened at the Black Block: comms are down and probably the prisoners already escaped. Batman contacts Bullock, who confirms that the killers are not there anymore, but they did not really escape. They were taken. Batman must move fast: utility belt, pocket 17. In there, the Dark Knight finds the Echo, a device able to override the speed limits of any vehicle, then projecting on it an holo that will make the car look like one of Batman's own rides. Bruce applies it to Lucius' own car, puts Cheshire in and rushes to his destination.   Inside a slaughterhouse, former base of Mr. Freeze, the Penguin is holding the four killers attached to meathooks. He payed officers inside the new headquarters to get into the Black Block, and then he used the mechanism to take away oxygen to knock Slade and his allies out. He transported them there: he will pay Merlyn and the other two out of the city, and they must leave and not come back for a year at least. But Slade, he's a different kind of problem. Slade is stoic: Oswald does not have enough money to afford him, and he won't betray his employee. Cobblepot should have killed him. But saving Oswald is the Batman, who comes crashing through the wall and takes Deathstroke by surprise. But as Batman moves to take out all the killers, Slade cuts the Penguin's throat: he will die of hemorrhage if Batman does not transport him to the hospital.   The five killers get out, and now they can go undisturbed to kill their target. Meanwhile, Batman tries to take him to safety, but Oswald must communicate him the truth. Him, the Riddler, Catwoman and Joker decided to contact, in the past, a criminal known as the Designer. With him, they created the perfect crime to rule Gotham. Someway, somehow the Designer is back: the targets of the five killers will all die eventually, but they are all false. The real target, the one that matters, is Bruce Wayne.