Detective Comics #30

Issue Details

Synopsis

ICARUS, PART ONE In Gotham City's Chinatown, a gang of junkies addicted to a new drug called Icarus have holed up, keeping their drug runners - street kids - locked up and starved. They have direct access to the Icarus because one of their members is related to the drug lord called The Squid.   However, it isn't long before Batman finds their hideout and frees the kids. One of the gang members, Jonny, tries to escape, but is caught by a rival gang called the Kings of the Sun. Rather than let Jonny get arrested after he stole from them, the Kings of the Sun kidnap him, and speed off on their motorcycles, trying to outrun Batman. Unwilling to let his quarry get away, Batman rappels ahead of them, and stretches a line across the road, knocking the bikers from their vehicles as they collide with it. Unfortunately, the biker carrying Jonny manages to avoid it and escape.   Afterward, as Bruce Wayne, he attends a business meeting with Elena Aguila, who insisted that their meeting be held at a motocross event in which her daughter Annie Aguila is competing. Annie eats pralines for luck, and begins her performance; a four-time X-treme champion at just eighteen years old. Despite her talent, Annie's attitude is somewhat hostile, and Elena apologizes on her behalf, suggesting that Bruce would likely have to deal with the same thing when his son reached that age. Bruce says nothing, but he is struck, then, by a pang of loss before returning the subject to their business deal.   He reminds that his company stands to lose millions if his investment in her venture fails. Elena responds that it would cost him billions in potential profit that he could earn instead by developing the Gotham City East End's waterfront commercially. In any case, she knows he will agree to the deal, because she saw him, six years ago, explaining what the city of Gotham meant to him. Her plan to revitalize the area with free medical clinics, drug treatment facilities, and education centers will transform the worst of Gotham by helping them to help themselves. She can't imagine how he'd refuse. As Annie pulls off an amazing stunt, and pulls up next to them in a cloud of dirt and dust, Elena takes Bruce's hand, and they shake on it.   With news of Bruce's partnership with the Aguila Healthy Families initiative, Congressman Sam Young announced that he was baffled by the decision to forgo the waterfront development. Unfortunately, Bruce's plan has upset the plans of the men who own Sam Young's opinion. Bruce Wayne owns the city waterfront, and if he is set against the development, there isn't much more they can do. His employer warns that it is time for them to apply some pressure by using the contents of a briefcase he has brought.   Meanwhile, on the waterfront, Jonny is reunited with his brother, the Squid. As punishment for stealing from him, Squid makes Jonny watch as another man is tortured for his crimes. That torture involves dangling the man over an aquarium, to be torn apart by the tentacles of a giant squid.   At the Batcave, Alfred Pennyworth delivers Bruce his tea, commenting that Elena Aguila is a lovely woman, hinting heavily that it might be nice to establish a relationship. He admits that he completed Ms. Aguila's background check, finding that she is a self-made woman who acquired wealth without unethical behavior. Grunting, Bruce asks that the tea and the report be left for him while he works on completing modifications to his deceased son Damian's bike, as he'd promised to do. Sadly, Alfred begs Bruce not to put himself through the trouble. He had done everything he could as a father. Bruce responds that he'd wanted to hold on to Damian's youth for longer than he could. The bike had brought his son freedom.   Suddenly, an alarm from upstairs catches their attention, and Bruce hurries up to the manor. He hears a woman's screams, and opens the front door to see Elena Aguila, burning up from the inside.