Batwoman #40

Issue Details

Synopsis

NOCTURNE IN RED While patrolling Gotham City in search of Morgaine le Fey, Red Alice spots emergency vehicles outside a nearby building. Checking the news, Batwoman sees that socialite Alexandra Witherspoon has been brutally murdered, and Natalia Mitternacht may be involved. Kate, however, isn't convinced that it wasn't her doing, with all of her lapses in consciousness lately. She remembers menacing Alex Witherspoon quite vividly, but could she have murdered her?   In Slaughter Swamp, Morgaine has raised all of the dead and demons from its depths. She intends to use the magic of the stone she stole, but needs a vantage point from which to do so. One of her creatures suggest that she use the moon.   Kate confronts Natalia about Alex's murder, and Natalia responds that she is keeping Kate's secret, having found her bloodied gloves at Kate's apartment. She assumes that Kate killed Alex for her. Grinning, Natalia comments that the girl was far from innocent. She had tried to put her in jail, after all. She tries to influence Kate to accept and enjoy this, but Red Alice intercedes. She had been onto Natalia's manipulations from the start, but she'd taken it too far, now. There could be no more doubt. Angrily, Natalia forces Kate to attack her own sister, to kill her. Alice responds that Kate is under the delusion that she's been made a vampire. It isn't true. To prove it, she exposes her own neck and invites Kate to bite into it and take her life.   Kate tries, but she can't bring herself to do it, and Natalia's manipulation is broken. Kate realizes that she'd been hypnotized - that Natalia doesn't love her. Disgusted, Natalia responds that she doesn't even like her. Kate's heartbreak over Maggie had made her easier to ensare; harder to resist. Kate had wanted her, so she'd taken advantage of it, and framed Kate for Alex's murder. Fortunately, Beth caught this last confession recorded on her camera-phone, and has already streamed it to the police.   Outside the city, Morgaine breaks into a WayneTech facility, and forces its sole working employee to use a satellite to send her and her army into space. Elsewhere in the city, Ragman, Etrigan, and Clayface see the beam of magic shooting toward the moon, and they prepare to bring Morgaine down.   Kate beats herself up about all of the mistakes she made, and Beth tries to teach her to follow her own advice and accept that people make mistakes. For a long time, Kate has put herself before others, but the truth of it is that the things we do for others are the things that are most worth doing. Feeling a little better, the twins hug, but they are interrupted by Ragman's sudden appearance, as he warns of Morgaine's activities - and they're going to need a space shuttle to do anything about it.