Nightwing #97

Issue Details

Synopsis

WAR GAMES ACT 2 PART 3 -CLARIFICATION Nightwing, whose guilty conscience about his part in the murder of Blockbuster still haunts him, patrols Gotham City right after the police curfew begins. He meets Batman and together they go to Tarantula's turf, to make sure that she has her gang under control. Batman leaves them alone and Tarantula expresses her comfort working so close to Nightwing.  At that moment, a mysterious person attacks a member of the Lucky Hand Triad and tortures him for information.   At The Hill, Orpheus is gathering his gang and trying to establish a plan of action during the curfew and Onyx joins them after her escape from the Thompkins Clinic. Orpheus is glad to see her and they set their plan in motion.   Oracle and Batman discuss about Tarantula's presence in Gotham due to her reputation after killing a police officer, but Batman insists that she is helping the city and he hangs up the line on Oracle, making her more frustrated than she already is with the whole situation.   At that moment, the mysterious man has captured and is torturing another crime boss for information.   Nightwing and Robin crash the same nightclub at the same time. They start taking down the thugs inside and while they do it, Robin wants Nightwing's opinion. Nightwing is paralyzed, knowing that he has no moral responsibility to give him advice. One of the thugs prepares a Molotov bomb and throws it at Robin, who saves some of the girls of the night club using his insulated cape. However, Nightwing starts seeing visions about the murder scene of Blockbuster and he actually sees the body of Roland Desmond in the fire. Nightwing collapses and starts crying in the middle of the fire until Robin approaches him, gives him a rebreather and they get out of the burning building. Robin is shocked after watching Nightwing in that state and he tells Nightwing that all he wanted to know was if Batman was still mad at him for leaving the role of Robin, but instead he just leaves to make sure his father is safe. Nightwing softly mutters that Batman is not mad at him, but Robin has already left.   At the east end, at Holly and Karon's apartment, they listen to the news on the radio while they watch over Spoiler. However, when they need to open some bottles, they ask Spoiler to bring the bottle opener on the kitchen. Spoiler looks for it and finds big box of kitchen matches, making her feeling of guilt to overwhelm her and she leaves the apartment, much to Holly's concern.   Meanwhile, at the Thompkins Clinic, Leslie Thompkins is looking at the Gotham City Adoption database until she is interrupted by one of the nurses.   The Ventriloquist and Scarface prepare the gang for an assault on Gotham and by the time most of the thugs have left the place, he is attacked by the mysterious person who has been attacking other crime bosses and after the coward henchman Mister Fun runs away, the mysterious attacker tells Scarface that he is now working for him.   Nightwing goes to Chinatown and stops a gang battle before calling to Tarantula to make sure that she is doing fine. Tarantula has no worries, but Nightwing tells her to have her flashlight ready, just before the lights on the entire city go off, following Batman's prediction.   At the Iceberg Lounge, Penguin lights some candles and reveals that he has taken control over the electric power of Gotham City.