Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #160

Issue Details

Synopsis

LOYALTIES PART 2 Bruce Wayne lands at Meigs Field in Chicago where he is greeted by a horde of reporters. He tells them he came for deep-dish pizza. Alfred asks him if he ever tires of making himself look like an idiot, to which Bruce replies that it worked for Zorro.   Bruce takes the Wayne Enterprises where he goes over all the information he has discovered about the case: Alderman Maseryk is the representative of a working class and white ward where no one cares what he does so long as he keeps the streets clean and the neighborhood white, so nobody was willing to stop him until Jim Gordon found a witness who saw his chief bagman, a Chicago Police Department detective named Axel Hatchett, shaking down Dwight Petersen. It took two years before it went to trial, and in that time, Gordon got swept up in a scandal and had to relocate to Gotham City. Now Dwight Petersen is dead, and everyone is after the original witness.  Bruce dons the disguise of a motorcycle messenger and leaves to get a feel of the area. He needs to find Gordon before Maseryk learns the name of the original witness.   Meanwhile, Barbara Gordon is at home showing off her proficiency with computers to her friend Adrianna. Adrianna asks if she's going to go work for a computer company when she's older, but Barbara is torn between her many options... she also loves dancing, her gymnastics coach thinks she could try out for the Olympics, and part of her wants to be a detective like V.I. Warshawski. Adrianna knows Barbara's late father was a police detective, and Barbara tells her that her father's older brother Jim is a detective too.   Barbara goes downstairs for an iced tea and overhears her mother Jennifer talking on the phone with her aunt Barbara about her uncle's disappearance. Her aunt wants Barbara to come forward as the witness, but her mother has already lost her husband and she refuses to risk her daughter's life. Her aunt replies that she's risking her husband's life.   Barbara Eileen apologizes before hanging up to answer the door. It's Inspector Hatchett, whom she recognizes. He tells her that he will kill her husband if she refuses to come with him or if she fails to get the information he wants. Her son is coming with.   Babs suggests that her mother take her pills and go to bed early, but Jen says they're leaving tonight. Barbara pokes holes in her plan until Jen gives up, and Barbara again suggests that she go lie down. They'll talk about it in the morning. Jen agrees, and she wonders when her daughter became an adult and she became this mess.   Barbara asks Adrianna to go home because something came up, and once her friend is gone, Barbara sits down to hack into the police database and learn everything she can about Hatchett, leaning forward as the glow of the screen highlights her face in green...   Jim Gordon is held suspended inside the church with only a single guard, whom he identifies as Bennie Morse's son Dan. Dan took his father's place in Hatchett's hit squad when Bennie died a year ago. Gordon wishes he could say he's sorry to hear that, but Bennie was a jerk. Dan punches Gordon in the stomach.   Gordon tells Dan that he isn't in too deep yet and he can still make this right, but Dan supports Alderman Maseryk because he grew up in his ward, which Maseryk kept clean and all-white. Gordon mocks his racism and asks him if he feels good about killing another cop. Gordon tells him to think hard about what he owes to Maseryk.   Alderman Maseryk is on the phone with Hatchett, who is on his way with Barbara Eileen and Jimmy, when Batman comes up behind him. Batman threatens him, saying he'll throw Maseryk out the window if he doesn't tell him where Gordon is, but Maseryk believes he's bluffing. He won't get what he wants if he throws Maseryk out the window. It will convince the next person he threatens that he isn't bluffing.   Two of Maseryk's lackeys come in and see Batman holding Maseryk up by the neck. Batman throws Maseryk on top of one and escapes when the other draws a gun. They're amazed and confused to see Batman glide away. Maseryk tells them to call in every available unit and hunt Batman down. They shoot to kill.   Batman drives off on the motorcycle as police cars chase after him, but his escape is hindered when Lasalle Street Bridge goes up. A freighter is coming through, and all the bridges from Randolph through Clark Street are up. His only option is to reach the Michigan Street Bridge before it goes up too, but he can't make it. He's surrounded by police cars.