Chapter Summaries

Miao Mu’s Rapid Response Unit stormed the television station while Jason and Alexis confronted Joker in the dark studio. Joker escaped the gunfight but was caught by Batman, whom he urged to kill him.

• Miao Mu led the Rapid Response Unit into the station, where they opened fire on Joker’s men while rescuing hostages.
• Jason attacked Joker in the studio, but Joker cut his scalp with a thrown knife and ordered two thugs to fire blindly.
• Alexis tackled Jason behind a desk as bullets shattered the studio’s glass walls.
• Miao Mu shot the two thugs, while Joker escaped through the broken glass and headed for the fire stairs.
• Batman, disguised in a GCPD uniform, caught Joker in the stairwell and beat him after Joker asked about Burning Angel.
• Joker told Batman he had been waiting for him and urged him to kill him.

After the Joker was captured, Miao Mu took the injured Jason to Leslie Thompkins's hospital, where a mysterious woman arrived. Miao Mu praised her looks and was struck from behind by someone whose identity remained unknown.

• Gordon evacuated the hostages, found the unconscious Joker, and arrested him after discovering the bomb timer had stopped at thirty-four minutes.
• Jason thanked Alexis, and she asked him to teach her how to fight; he agreed.
• Miao Mu took Jason to Leslie Thompkins's hospital, where she shaved both sides of his head to stitch his wound.
• A glamorous red-haired woman entered the hospital, and Miao Mu watched her admiringly.
• A woman behind Miao Mu asked whether the visitor was pretty, and Miao Mu answered honestly before turning to punch at the attacker.

Miao Mu fought Helena Bertinelli before they visited Leslie Thompkins, while Bruce Wayne received a Joker card and began considering what it meant. Bruce also learned that Zatanna’s circus would come to Gotham, and decided to see her performance.

• Miao Mu mistook Helena Bertinelli for an attacker, struck her, and pinned her against a wall before recognizing her as the Huntress.
• Miao Mu and Helena argued after he watched a woman leave, then Leslie Thompkins greeted Helena and gave Jason instructions after stitching his wound.
• Miao Mu left with Jason after Leslie asked him to bring Christmas gifts for the children as payment.
• Alfred brought Bruce Wayne an unsigned letter containing a Joker card, which Bruce identified as a gift from the Joker.
• Alfred mentioned Zatanna’s upcoming circus, and Bruce decided to attend her performance himself.

Joker broke into Falcone's penthouse, tortured him, and threatened to destroy his company before escaping after detonating an explosive. Falcone's daughter Sophia found Joker's final gift in a refrigerator, and Falcone collapsed after discovering it contained his mother's urn.

• Falcone woke to find himself tied to his bed while Joker ate roast goose in his bedroom.
• Joker stabbed Falcone's thigh, crushed his leg with a war hammer, and demanded that no one interfere with his plans.
• Joker promised to blow up Falcone's company, then leaped from the penthouse and detonated a truck bomb before opening his parachute.
• Sophia and Falcone's men found Falcone injured and discovered a murdered, frozen bodyguard inside the bedroom refrigerator.
• Sophia revealed the box in the refrigerator was Falcone's mother's urn, and Falcone collapsed after reading Joker's note.

Deadshot Lawton left Blackgate Prison after Miao Mu arranged his parole, returned his gear, and offered him work and help seeking custody of his daughter. At Miao Mu’s home, Jason sparred with Alexis while Miao Mu was away, and Jason blocked her feints and attacks.

• Miao Mu met Lawton outside Blackgate, paid his alimony and parole expenses, returned his combat gear, and gave him documents to help him seek custody of Zoe.
• Miao Mu offered Lawton a job at his shooting range and help finding a school for Zoe, while Lawton recognized that Miao Mu was trying to recruit him but felt unable to refuse after the help he had received.
• Lawton found his firearms had no ammunition and only one of his two wrist guns, then saw Zoe’s photograph in his vest and set off with his belongings.
• Alexis followed Jason into Miao Mu’s cluttered home, where Jason warned her not to touch the dangerous equipment in the study.
• Jason discovered that the Iron Fist Stone Monkey statue was missing, then prepared to spar with Alexis in the training room.
• Alexis attacked Jason with a feint and a kick, but Jason disrupted her balance, avoided her tricks, and stopped a punch just short of her face.

Miao Mu visited the imprisoned Bronze Tiger and offered to teach him Iron Monkey Fist in exchange for helping at his martial arts school. Bronze Tiger remained an Assassin League member and warned that he might still kill Miao Mu, but Miao Mu invited him out of the cell anyway.

• Miao Mu explained that Bronze Tiger was secretly chained and held beneath the Gotham Police Department, with Gordon's officers guarding him.
• Miao Mu brought the Iron Fist Stone Monkey Statue into Bronze Tiger's cell and offered to let him out if he would stay at the martial arts school.
• Bronze Tiger used qi sensing to draw the statue toward himself and asked Miao Mu what martial art he practiced.
• Miao Mu demonstrated Iron Monkey Fist, showing Bronze Tiger how the statue could draw him into a mysterious illusion.
• Miao Mu explained the statue's power and offered Bronze Tiger freedom in exchange for serving as an instructor, even though Bronze Tiger still intended to fulfill his mission to kill him.

Miao Mu showed Bronze Tiger his secluded martial arts gym and tested his fighting skills before leaving for home. Victor Zsasz ambushed him in his police car and forced him to drive to the cannery to meet the Roman.

• Miao Mu showed Bronze Tiger the warehouse gym, and Bronze Tiger gauged Miao Mu's strength with a single strike.
• Bronze Tiger agreed to use the martial arts school's tuition as rent and warned that he would not go easy on its students.
• Miao Mu left the gym and found Victor Zsasz waiting in the back seat of his police car with a gun aimed at him.
• Zsasz said the Roman wanted to see Miao Mu and ordered him to drive out of Arkham District.
• Miao Mu activated the Eye of True Sight with his Golden Hexagram pendant as he drove toward the cannery.

Miao Mu fought off Zsasz after arriving at the cannery, then learned from Falcone that Joker had returned and was ordered to capture him within ten days. Sophia threatened Miao Mu and everyone around him if he failed, while a Joker playing card served as proof of the threat.

• Miao Mu used a seat belt to disarm, restrain, and injure Zsasz inside the police car as the Roman's men surrounded him.
• Sophia led Miao Mu into the cannery and called Falcone, who accused him of letting the real Joker escape.
• Miao Mu insisted the Joker in custody was a copycat and offered to let Falcone's men kill him at Blackgate Prison.
• Falcone told Miao Mu that Joker was back and ordered him to capture Joker and bring him in or die.
• Sophia gave Miao Mu ten days to find Joker and threatened to put bounties on him and the people around him if he failed.
• Miao Mu demanded proof, and Sophia showed him a Joker playing card before ordering him out.

At a Gotham cemetery, Miao Mu investigated the Joker’s apparent return from the dead and discovered a strange clock-shaped treasure buried beneath a tombstone. After black and red lightning struck it, the clock began running, leaving Miao Mu stunned and unsure what it was.

• Miao Mu attended the funeral for the fallen officers and considered how the Joker might have been resurrected, suspecting his body had been switched.
• Miao Mu received an alert that an Adventure Treasure was nearby and found a clock-shaped tombstone buried beneath a pine tree.
• Miao Mu recruited Jerry to help dig up the stone object, joking with him as they uncovered its gears and movable clock face.
• Black lightning struck the grandfather clock, and Miao Mu shoved Jerry into the pit to protect him.
• Red lightning followed, activating the clock’s pendulum and gears as Miao Mu stared at the strange device in disbelief.

Miao Mu used the Time Grandfather Clock and discovered it could stop time for five seconds, though the activation swallowed several hours. After he and Jerry left the cemetery with the clock, The Flash, Barry Allen, fell from the Speed Force into the grave they had just filled.

• Miao Mu pressed the Time Grandfather Clock's button and briefly stopped time, noticing that roughly seven or eight hours had passed during those five seconds.
• Miao Mu checked that the date and world were unchanged, then persuaded Jerry that he had been knocked unconscious and made him carry the clock home.
• Miao Mu filled Jerry's hole with dirt, and the two left the cemetery under the moonlight.
• The Flash fell from the Speed Force and crashed into the freshly filled grave after Miao Mu and Jerry had departed.
• Barry emerged from the crater, found his Speed Force missing, and noticed faint traces of it along a nearby road.

Batman interrupted Catwoman as she tried to steal the Tears of the Atlantic, causing her heist to fail. On a rooftop, Catwoman attacked Batman in anger, and their fight began.

• Batman received a security alert and identified Catwoman at a jewelry store in Gotham Old Town.
• Catwoman cut through a window, disabled the cameras, and navigated the infrared beams to reach the Tears of the Atlantic.
• Batman’s Batarang triggered the alarms, forcing Catwoman to flee before she could steal the diamond.
• Catwoman threw the Batarang at the police, but Batman redirected and caught it with a remote control.
• Catwoman confronted Batman on a rooftop and slashed his gauntlet before continuing her attack.

Batman drove Catwoman from their rooftop fight, but she escaped through a door onto a fire escape. At home, Miao Mu caught a burglar who turned out to be Central City police officer Barry Allen, leaving him wondering why the future Flash had come to his house.

• Batman countered Catwoman's attacks and threw Batarangs as she fled across the rooftop.
• Catwoman escaped through a door on the fire escape, and Batman left after failing to find her.
• Miao Mu checked the world for signs that his time-related worries had come true, then noticed a burglar approaching his house.
• Miao Mu used a flashlight and stun gun to knock the intruder unconscious, and Jason found a police badge in the man's wallet.
• Jason identified the burglar as Barry Allen of the Central City Police Department, and Miao Mu suspected the Time Grandfather Clock had affected time.

Miao Mu interrogated a Barry Allen from ten years in the future, who claimed to know him and refused to reveal what Miao Mu would be like later. Meanwhile, a mysterious visitor entered Miao Mu’s home, examined Jason’s room and the study, and left with a canister of Fear Gas.

• Miao Mu restrained Barry and discovered that he was a stronger, older Barry Allen from another world who had arrived without the Speed Force.
• Barry recognized Miao Mu despite his paper-bag disguise and revealed that he had come from ten years in the future.
• A goggle-wearing visitor used a spare key to enter Miao Mu’s home, checked on the sleeping Jason, and searched the study.
• The visitor took a canister of Scarecrow’s Fear Gas and vanished into the night.
• Miao Mu asked Barry about his future self, but Barry refused to answer, so Miao Mu ordered Otis to deal with him.

Miao Mu agreed to let the time-displaced Barry stay with him until the Time Grandfather Clock could be used again, while Barry asked to observe Batman. Meanwhile, Constantine followed a magical trail to Gotham, where a trap branded him and left him temporarily blinded.

• Miao Mu freed Barry after questioning him and learned that Barry needed the Speed Force to return to his own time.
• Barry sensed the Speed Force in Miao Mu's clock, and Miao Mu told him it would not be ready for about a month.
• Miao Mu offered Barry a place to stay and a trainee police uniform, and Barry agreed while asking to see Batman from a distance.
• Constantine followed a golden chain into Gotham's frozen swamp and found the burned remains of a Volkswagen Beetle.
• Constantine's illusion revealed that a demon had used the car to contact the son of Hell's Demon King, and the scene triggered a trap that marked Constantine's hand.
• Constantine tried to look toward Gotham through magic, but a demon's face attacked him with fire and injured his eyes.

Jason left for school while Miao Mu and Barry planned to search for Batman after dark. Bronze Tiger practiced Iron Monkey Fist and met the mysterious guest from Miao Mu’s home, while a masked woman intervened when punks threatened Alexis and revealed she was the new teacher.

• Jason ate breakfast with Miao Mu and Barry, then left to help Alexis prepare for the Christmas rehearsal.
• Miao Mu told Barry they would look for Batman at night, and Barry agreed to follow his lead.
• Bronze Tiger used the Iron Monkey Fist forms to train through an illusion, then agreed to hear the mysterious guest’s request for a favor.
• A masked woman stopped a punk from attacking Alexis, drove off the delinquents, and announced that she was the girls’ new teacher.
• Jason arrived at school, rode over the injured punk, and hurried inside after Alexis warned him that a teacher planned to keep him after school.

Gordon and Sarah discussed the Joker Gang’s latest killings while preparing to attend the Zatara Circus, and Gordon rebuffed Flass’s demands at the police station. Meanwhile, Miao Mu took Barry shopping for supplies and gifts, leaving Barry wary of revealing what would happen ten years later.

• Sarah told Gordon that another batch of Joker Gang thugs had killed seven people, including a Mafia boss, and invited him to take the next night off for the circus.
• Flass demanded updates on the Struthers Street vandalism case and Batman, but Gordon stood his ground and left him a circus flyer.
• Miao Mu and Barry bought discounted canned food, candy, and chocolate at a crowded department store.
• Miao Mu asked Barry to share what would happen ten years in the future, but Barry refused because he feared changing the world.
• Miao Mu asked Barry to carry the purchases and gift boxes to the car while mentioning that Jason was away.

Edward Nashton endured the harsh conditions at Mrs. Gunn’s Orphanage, where older boys planned to leave and Mrs. Gunn controlled the children. When Miao Mu arrived with Christmas gifts from Ms. Thompkins, Nashton recognized him and received a mysterious green gas canister from someone outside.

• Nashton watched the orphanage’s older boys smoke and learned they planned to join the Roman when they left at sixteen.
• Mrs. Gunn scolded Nashton for opening a window as she came downstairs.
• Miao Mu arrived dressed in a police uniform and delivered Christmas gifts and canned food from Ms. Thompkins while Barry entertained the children as Santa Claus.
• Mrs. Gunn ordered Nashton to keep the children quiet, and Miao Mu secretly gave him candy.
• Nashton froze when he saw Miao Mu, then threw down the gift box and ran after a green gas canister tossed through the window by a departing figure.

Miao Mu and Barry waited for Batman while Barry explained that he had followed a familiar black Speed Force into this world. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne attended an auction reception with his uncle Philip and cousin Kate, where he met Selina and reunited with Cameron, leaving their hidden identities poised to intersect in Gotham at night.

• Miao Mu questioned Barry about why he wanted to meet Batman, and Barry said he had crossed into this world while pursuing a familiar black Speed Force.
• Bruce Wayne prepared to attend Philip Kane’s auction invitation, and Philip reminded him not to leave early.
• Bruce rode to the auction with Philip and Kate Kane, who teased him about his reputation as a playboy.
• At the reception, Bruce noticed a Morse-code message flashing on his watch and declined a drink from Selina before becoming intrigued by her.
• Selina told Bruce she was interested in his money, and the two flirted until Cameron arrived and exchanged introductions with her.

Miao Mu and Barry Allen patrolled Gotham in Santa and reindeer costumes, stopping robbers and interrupting a would-be attacker before following Batman’s trail. At the auction, Bruce sat with Selina as the diamond she had tried to steal was introduced.

• Miao Mu and Barry Allen stopped a supermarket robbery, disabled the getaway car, and arrested the robbers.
• Miao Mu and Barry rode a bicycle toward Batman’s trail, and Miao Mu scared off a man who was following an office worker with a knife.
• At the auction, Philip Kane bought an Indigenous shield for five hundred thousand dollars and promised to donate it to the Gotham Museum.
• Selina sat beside Bruce and asked whether he would show himself at the auction.
• The auctioneer introduced a diamond associated with Gotham’s mysterious master thief, and Selina waited for it to appear.

Joker and his gang hijacked a diamond auction, turning it into an armed robbery and forcing Philip to the stage. Bruce secretly contacted Alfred for police and equipment support as the gang held the guests at gunpoint.

• Kate Kane planned to bid on the Tears of the Atlantic diamond to attract the female jewel thief she admired.
• The auctioneer revealed the bound auction manager in place of the diamond display, while Selina spotted Joker standing nearby.
• Joker announced that the guests would surrender their money and ordered Philip to bring up the item he was auctioning.
• Joker struck the auction manager with the auction hammer and had his gang drag Philip away as Kate tried to intervene.
• Joker shot a guest who stood near Kate, and his gang forced her back into her seat.
• Bruce supported Kate and used Morse code on his watch to ask Alfred to contact the police and prepare equipment.