Batwoman #18

Issue Details

Synopsis

THIS BLOOD IS THICK: SECRETS For reasons unknown to Hawkfire and her uncle Jake, who has been helpfully guiding her via an earpiece, Batwoman has been tracking Mister Freeze all over Gotham City, culminating in the battle that she and Hawkfire now face with him. In fact, Batwoman has been tasked by the DEO with retrieving one of Freeze's weapons for study. Her working for the DEO is a secret, because they have threatened to pin a terrorism charge on Jacob, her father, if she would not join them.   Hawkfire's approach to crime-fighting is hot-headed and clumsy, a fact which annoys Agent Chase greatly. Still, Batwoman has chosen her cousin Bette as a sidekick, and would rather have her under her watch than alone. Bette's brashness gets her cornered by Freeze, with her feet frozen to the ground. Though Batwoman is there to help her, she insists on saving herself against warnings from Jacob that she should rely on her cousin. She blasts the ice away from her legs, sending shards flying, some of which pierce Freeze's own leg. Batwoman warns him to surrender, but he refuses, prompting her to thrust one of the ice shards deeper into his leg, crippling him.   As Batwoman collects Freeze's weapon, she and everyone else hear the voice of Batman warning that he will take care of things from there. Batwoman complains of his absence during the attack by Medusa, and insists that this is her turf. Batman senses that there is more to her being there - probably something to do with the DEO - and demands that she hand over the weapon to him. Instead, she smashes it on the ground, and leaves with Hawkfire, while Batman and Chase are both left to lament the weapon's destruction.   Chase rendezvous with Director Bones to complain of Batwoman's insubordination. Soon, Bette will realize that Kate is working for the DEO - though she rarely follows orders. With the Batman on their trail, Chase suggests that they reign the situation in, or get out of Gotham altogether. Director Bones assigns Chase a partner in Agent Asaf, whose training has mostly been in Psych Ops. Asaf explains that Batwoman seems to hate authority figures, despite an inner desire to be one, herself. Her need to control things is a vulnerability they can exploit. If they give her the illusion of control by raising the stakes enough that blackmailing her father is not all they have on her. Bones has something in mind for that - someone he merely calls the "Party Crasher". Chase warns that they should not be releasing another lunatic on Gotham, but she follows Bones' orders.   Later, Jacob returns home early to find his wife Kat waiting for him in the bedroom. She won't let him talk, explaining how she had accepted that his job would require some degree of secrecy, but while searching for the cat she discovered a bloody costume hidden in Bette's room, and realized that there was more to his secrecy than she thought. She understands that Bette is not the first one that he has trained to become a vigilante and put in danger. Sighing, she warns that he is going to get Bette and Kate killed.   Meanwhile, Maggie Sawyer visits the condo that she and Kate planned to buy together. It's location and accoutrements are exactly to the specifications that both she and Kate need - in every capacity. Still, she is visiting it by herself, because Kate works nights, and they see each other so rarely.   Elsewhere, Agent Chase meets with the person Director Bones ordered her to contact, bitter after not having seen her for two years.