Batman Chronicles #16

Issue Details

Synopsis

NO MAN'S LAND PART 20 TWO DOWN Right after the earthquake and before Gotham City was declared No Man's Land; Renee Montoya was told to take a rest from duty at the Gotham City Police Department. She reluctantly agreed and went to her parent's place and found out that her brother, Benny was missing for a couple of days already. She goes looking for him and finds that he was helping people with the aid of Two-Face. At first she can't believe that the notorious criminal is helping people but her brother tells her to give the man a chance to prove his worth. Renee agrees and she joins the rescue efforts and even teamed up with Two-Face to rescue a trapped man in a collapsed building. Renee is injured in the process and Two-Face takes her to her parent's place where she recovers and wonders why Two-Face is helping them.  Two-Face's decisions are based over the tossing of his coin and in every situation, the coin lands on the good side, leaving Two-Face no other choice but to help the people. Renee is aware that the coin will land on the bad side any time soon and she is worried about the moment. One night, a gang of criminals approaches Two-Face and asks him to join them and Two-Face turns down the invitation because the coin landed on the good side again. The gang attacks Two-Face and Renee used her only bullet to save Two-Face's life. The gunshot attracts Batman's attention and he arrives at the scene with the purpose of taking Two-Face away. Dent tosses his coin but before it can land, Renee takes it in mid-air and prevents Dent from looking at the outcome. Batman starts taking him away but Renee talks to him and convinces him to let Two-Face stay and that she will be responsible for the man's actions. Batman agrees and leaves. Renee then talks to Dent and tells him that he didn't need the coin to continue helping and that for now on, she is going to keep the coin. Two-Face does as Renee tells him and Batman, who isn't far away is convinced of Two-Face's behavior...for now. THE COMFORTS OF HOME A married couple is looking for supplies in Gotham City and they decide to enter an apparently empty house; they were stranded inside Gotham when they went looking for the man's mother without knowing that she had left days earlier. Batgirl spots them and goes to see what are they doing.   When the couple enters the place, they see a lot of weird things in the house. Smiley-faces was wallpapers, clowns everywhere and other weird things. One room is full of broken batsignals and some blood is splattered on the floor and the fridge contains human organs. More suspicious is that the TV and the telephone are working despite there is no power in Gotham. The telephone rings a couple of times but the couple don't answered out of fear.   The woman steps on a trap door and she falls into a pit filled with water. Her husband helps her out of it without realizing that inside the water are dozens of dead piranhas and the skeleton of a man dressed as Batman.   Later, the couple find a trophy room and look at some weird memorabilia, including an apparently original painting and some other weird stuff when the telephone rings again. The couple don't answer because they are busy checking the trophies.   Then, they open a dark room and find a lot of dead people with a sign that reads: Hostages. The couple freak out and run as fast as they can when the telephone rings for a third time. This time they are going to answer it hoping it is the police but Batgirl prevents them from answering the phone. She tells them to get out of the house and she answers the phone from afar using a Batrope and as soon as the phone is lifted, the house explodes.   Batgirl tells the couple that they were lucky to have survived that long in the Joker's house and she gives them a map pointing a place where they can go and be safe. The man gives his wife a canned drink he took from the fridge and before taking a bit of it, the woman is laughing without control until she dies with the rictus grin characteristic of the Joker Venom. HAROLD Harold Allnut was inside the Batcave when the earthquake struck and he remembers his mother's mean last words to him. He is devastated to see that the things he has built for Batman were damaged and he starts to repair them. Alfred arrives and tells Harold to stop fixing the Batmobile because that isn't really important right now. Alfred tells Harold to leave him alone and that also reminds him of his mother's last words. Saddened, Harold climbs out of the Batcave with his tool kit and walks to Gotham in a depressed state. He is glad to see Gotham broken, because he saw all the things that needed fixing and repairing in the city, and when Harold works he is happy.