Detective Comics #7

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE SNAKE AND THE HAWK At the Iceberg Casino's grand opening celebration, Chase angrily beats Snakeskin in the face for having apparently killed her sister, investigative reporter Charlotte Rivers. Eventually, she relents, admitting that she needs his strength to get them through their plan.  Meanwhile, Batman struggles to hold himself and an unconscious and heavily bleeding Charlotte aloft as they dangle precariously over the rapidly spinning fan of the Iceberg Casino's ice generator. He radios to Alfred to have the Bat-Sub lock on to his current location, and position it beneath him. Alfred warns that the sub will crash into the ice generator in that case, but Batman insists he do it urgently. Just as Batman loses his grip, the sub smashes through the ice generator, preventing his and Charlotte's being sliced to pieces. Calling out to Alfred, Batman has him fill a life-raft with ice for Charlotte.   Chase equips Snakeskin with a plastic gun, so he can get through Penguin's metal detectors. Just then, they feel the rumble caused by the destruction of the ice generator, and outside, GCPD blimps and boats are approaching. Despite that, and Snakeskin's apparent inability to return his face to a less grotesque shape, he and Chase press on with their plan.   Meanwhile, at the Casino, Penguin's security adviser informs him that there has been a bomb threat and requires that he be taken to his bunker. Penguin's guests are not extended an invitation to the bunker, and suddenly become less confident in their agreement to let him protect their money.   Outside, Batman and Alfred bury Charlotte in ice, hoping that by inducing hypothermia, they can slow her rapid blood loss enough to save her life. In the meantime, Alfred has determined that Charlotte's sister Jill has been connected with various crime sprees in Russia and China, and she is well versed in martial arts. Before the coast guard can catch him, Batman leaps into the water, realizing that the clown he chased down in the park the other day was Jill. It was she who left the casino chip with her lover's finger prints on it, and it was she who killed Nicholas Pog before stealing all of his C-4. All that's left to wonder is what Jill is doing with Snakeskin. She must be using him.   As Jill makes her way to Penguin's vaults, Snakeskin makes his way toward Penguin. Using a special matrix in her hand, Jill opens every door in the vault. Snakeskin makes his way through the evacuating crowd until he stands before the Penguin, but when he pulls the trigger on his plastic gun, it explodes, and leaves him collapsed on the ground with his arm splattered all over the room. Seeing this, Penguin's new business partners decide to pull out of the deal, and they head toward the vaults themselves. Penguin's security head informs him that Snakeskin had an accomplice, and he orders that she be brought to him.   In the vaults, Batman confronts Jill, and as they fight, he informs her that he knows that she and Charlotte are twins separated at birth - both daughters of Mayor Hady. Surreptitiously, Batman places a tracker on her cuff, while pinning her against a wall. They are interrupted when Penguin's erstwhile business partners get a hold on Jill, accusing her of stealing their money from the vaults.   With relative ease, Batman knocks the low-rent villains around, and Jill manages to escape. As he thrashes them, Batman explains that they aren't Penguin's business partners; rather, they're the competition. He fooled them into letting him 'keep their money safe.' Mr. Combustible realizes that Batman may be right when he senses the presence of high explosives in the vault. Batman ushers them all out just before the vault explodes.   Jill makes her way to the Penguin's secret bunker, and calls on him to come out. Apparently, they had planned together to defraud the second-string criminals of their money - but the deal was that they must die. They survived, and so Penguin has his security adviser point her weapon at Jill's head. Fortunately, Batman crashes through the wall. He arrives just in time to push Jill aside when Penguin attempts to shoot her down with his umbrella-gun. Penguin is unbalanced, and he slips and falls. Meanwhile, Batman takes Jill to the police.   Later, Jill is in prison, where she is visited by Mr. Mosaic, who is disinclined to help her get out of prison since she ditched him in the middle of nowhere. Mosaic assures Jill that Mayor Hady - her father - knows she's there, and that he has sent the best attorney. She is visited by George Weaver, a criminal defense attorney hired by her father, but as soon as the cell door closes behind them, he admits that he is not a lawyer, and he was not hired by her father. He is Snakeskin, and he's come for vengeance on the Penguin's orders.