Chapter Summaries

Li Jie struggled with precinct paperwork and delegated preparations for a magic tour before Batman and Robin investigated a murder marked by a forced, horrific smile. They discovered an unknown laughter-inducing toxin and a vivid purple artificial flower, leaving them searching for clues to identify the killer.

• Li Jie learned Tony Zucco was implicated in the Graysons' murder and told Gordon to seek information from Cobblepot.
• Li Jie assigned Bushnell and Hearn to plan security for the Zatara Grand Magic Tour using counterterrorism standards.
• Felicity Smoak arrived from Queen Industries to help the precinct with networking and software, but she could not make a program automatically write reports.
• Li Jie dismissed a report of one smiling murder victim as a case for Central Headquarters.
• Batman, Robin, and Gordon examined the victim on Mayflower Street and found no obvious injuries, but a sampler detected an unknown toxin that forced laughter amid pain.
• Batman collected a vivid purple artificial flower as possible evidence, and Robin began searching the alley's high vantage points.

Li Jie investigated Jack Napier after reports of the Mayflower Street smiling murders, but found him working peacefully at Old Wu’s performance hall. Li paid Old Wu what he owed and left Jack under observation, unaware of the ominous thought Jack voiced as he swept.

• Li Jie heard that Lex Luthor had been arrested for redirecting a nuclear warhead toward the West Coast, and read that Superman had stopped his scheme.
• Li Jie saw a crime bulletin about the Mayflower Street smiling murders and called Old Wu, only to learn that Old Wu had blocked him over unpaid rent.
• Li Jie and Zilton went to Old Wu’s hall, where they found Jack Napier sweeping and performing jokes for the elderly regulars.
• Jack told Li Jie he was happy at the hall and delivered a new Chinese line, “Just kidding!”
• Li Jie gave Old Wu twenty-eight hundred dollars and told him to keep an eye on Jack before leaving.
• Jack resumed sweeping and wondered aloud why they did not make people laugh a little more.

Harleen helped Pamela Isley embrace her new identity as Poison Ivy and took her to Wayne Botanical Gardens, where she discovered plants were suffering from pollution. Poison Ivy and Harleen traced the distress to ACE Chemicals, where Poison Ivy demanded the company open its gates.

• Harleen visited Pamela Isley in the hospital and witnessed her revive a dying pothos and create an outfit from living vines and roses.
• Harleen persuaded Poison Ivy to leave the hospital and took her to Wayne Botanical Gardens.
• Poison Ivy delighted in the garden’s plants until she sensed their cries of pain and traced them to a poisonous substance nearby.
• Harleen followed Poison Ivy upstream along a polluted creek to the gates of ACE Chemicals.
• Poison Ivy confronted the locked gate and shouted at the company to open it and answer for dumping wastewater.

Li Jie intervened when Poison Ivy and Harleen confronted ACE Chemicals, using Poison Ivy’s Kane family ties and connection to Bruce Wayne to persuade the plant manager to suspend wastewater discharges for one day. The manager agreed, while Li Jie arranged to get the two women away from the gate.

• Poison Ivy tore down ACE Chemicals’ rear gate with a vine, prompting the guards to call for backup.
• Li Jie arrived and stopped the guards and the two women from clashing, then rebuked Harleen for joining the protest.
• Harleen accepted Li Jie’s offer to trust him, but Poison Ivy insisted she would not abandon her effort to protect the plants.
• Li Jie warned the guards to fetch their manager and told him Poison Ivy belonged to the Kane family and was Bruce Wayne’s cousin.
• The manager agreed to suspend wastewater discharges for one day if Li Jie got Poison Ivy and Harleen away from the plant.

Li Jie warned Poison Ivy that using her powers to attack ACE Chemicals could provoke a war against plants, leaving her unsure how to help the people suffering from pollution. Poison Ivy decided to leave Gotham for a remote wilderness, but Harleen urged her to stay until they caught the person who had transformed her.

• Li Jie told Poison Ivy that storming the chemical plant would invite armed resistance and could lead humans to wage war against plants.
• Poison Ivy demonstrated how she could turn nearby vegetation into deadly weapons, startling Harleen and Li Jie.
• Harleen agreed with Li Jie that an escalating conflict could destroy Gotham and everything they cared about.
• Poison Ivy asked what she could do to help the people harmed by pollution, then said she planned to leave for a remote wilderness.
• Harleen declined to join Poison Ivy and asked her to stay until they caught the person responsible for what happened to her.

Harleen stayed in Gotham and persuaded Li Jie’s rookies to join her team. Meanwhile, Batman rescued a hostage from Clown’s bomb and laughing gas, leaving Clown in police custody as Batman disappeared into the rainy night.

• Poison Ivy gave Harleen a vine bracelet that let her hear Harleen, then withdrew into the vegetation as the plants around them withered.
• Li Jie challenged Harleen’s assumption that she could become sheriff, but his rookies and Bushnell chose to join her team.
• James Gordon called for Batman after Clown took a hostage and demanded to speak with him.
• Batman chose to disarm Clown’s bomb instead of chasing him, but the device released laughing gas when the countdown stopped.
• Batman used a partial antidote to resist the gas, knocked Clown unconscious, freed the hostage, and handed Clown to Gordon before vanishing.

Li Jie and Wilson joked about Wilson’s humiliating vacation encounter, while Hugo Strange tried and failed to recruit and break Clown in Arkham. Strange ordered Clown locked in total isolation, but Clown remained amused and defiant.

• Li Jie questioned Wilson about his exhausted appearance, and Wilson confessed that after drinking in Florida he had woken up in bed with several people, including men.
• Li Jie and Wilson whispered about Wilson’s experience under a table, but nearby diners overheard them and left Wilson embarrassed.
• Hugo Strange offered Clown a partnership to study Batman and turn Gotham into their laboratory, but Clown mocked Strange as a jealous imitation of Batman and the real clown.
• Strange tortured Clown with electric shocks and repeated near-drownings, but Clown laughed through the pain and unsettled Strange.
• Strange ordered Clown placed in an isolation chamber without sound, food, water, or light, intending to make him beg for mercy.

Li Jie learned how Wilson had motivated Owen to start running, then helped Bob McGinnis return to work after a costly Las Vegas trip. The chapter left Li Jie surprised by Raven’s new cowboy outfit and resigned to reimbursing her and Anna for their purchases.

• Li Jie saw Owen running and learned Wilson had taken him to Lisa and the girls, where a paid encounter had inspired Owen to help a woman in a difficult situation.
• Li Jie found Bob McGinnis angry about the station, discovered Bob had lost $130,000 in Las Vegas, and persuaded him to return to his office by promising to find more money.
• Li Jie assigned Wilson to train Hearn Hunt, Owen, and Tiago in street policing, and Wilson agreed after Li Jie offered to make mapo tofu.
• Raven arrived dressed as a cowboy and told Li Jie that Anna was bringing their purchases back to their room.
• Li Jie agreed to reimburse Raven and Anna for the things they had bought.

Li Jie discussed recruits and Gotham’s recent troubles with Bob, who agreed to hire Harleen Quinzel as a police officer. After Harleen began training at the precinct, Li Jie and his housemates watched the NFL draft, where the Metropolis Suns chose Waylon Jones first overall.

• Bob and Li Jie reviewed recruits’ files, and Bob agreed to handle McNaught while discussing the warrants for Tony Zucco and Jason Woodrue and Harleen’s interest in joining the police.
• Bob envisioned using Poison Ivy’s powers for a reforestation project and potential business, while Li Jie kept the plan tentative.
• Harleen told Li Jie she had resigned from Gotham University, and he brought her to the precinct after Bob agreed to hire her.
• Harleen kicked a suspect who whistled at her, then began learning police work and told Li Jie she preferred a lead-wrapped baseball bat to her Glock.
• Li Jie made tofu for the household, and Wilson turned on the television so they could watch the NFL draft.
• The Metropolis Suns used the first overall pick to select Waylon Jones.

Li Jie watched Whelan become the Metropolis Suns’ first overall pick and learned that Whelan’s greedy aunt had disappeared after rejecting a settlement. In Gotham, Batman and Robin stole evidence from Sal Maroni’s safe, including a notebook that named Harvey Dent, and set out to bring it to the district attorney.

• Whelan became the Metropolis Suns’ first overall pick, and he told reporters that he was an orphan with friends who would be proud of him.
• Li Jie questioned a neighbor, who said Whelan’s aunt had disappeared after demanding five million dollars from two men seeking her signature.
• Batman briefed Robin on their plan to break into Sal Maroni’s club and find evidence connecting him to crime and corruption.
• Robin opened Maroni’s safe and took ledgers, an encrypted hard drive, burner phones, and a notebook listing Harvey Dent among the people under surveillance.
• Batman and Robin escaped with the evidence, and Batman decided to deliver the notebook to Dent so he could expose Maroni and his protectors.

Li Jie refused Hugo Strange’s request to assign Harleen Quinzel to Arkham, while Harvey Dent prepared to prosecute Sal Maroni and pursue former Police Chief Loeb. The chapter ended with Alfred telling Bruce Wayne about an invitation from ACE Chemicals and rumors about his relationship with Miss Kane.

• Gordon told Li Jie that Hugo Strange wanted Harleen Quinzel assigned to analyze an Arkham patient, but Li Jie refused after learning the patient was a poison-gas killer.
• Edward Nygma returned with research notes on magic and alchemy, and Li Jie asked him how to ruin a prominent public figure.
• Harvey Dent reviewed evidence against Sal Maroni and declared that it was strong enough to secure an arrest and prosecution.
• Gordon warned Harvey about Maroni’s influence and the risk of retaliation, but Harvey insisted that he would prosecute Maroni and then investigate Loeb.
• Bruce Wayne learned that Harvey was preparing to prosecute Maroni, and Alfred told him ACE Chemicals had invited him to visit and rumors were circulating about Miss Kane.

Li Jie avoided explaining his concern about the Clown to Harleen, then met Sofia Falcone and Oswald Cobblepot as Sofia offered the police a new alliance. He left both sides vying for his support, saying he would cooperate with whoever could bring stability and prosperity to the East End.

• Li Jie asked Harleen whether one terrible day could drive a sane person mad, but denied that his question had any personal significance.
• Harleen dismissed an Arkham professor’s inability to manage a patient, and Li Jie watched her leave without learning what the Clown was planning.
• Oz told Li Jie that he had arranged a meeting with Sofia Falcone, and the two met her at a café.
• Sofia praised Carmine Falcone’s role in Gotham’s stability, then accused Cobblepot of betraying the family and offered Li Jie a partnership to build a new order.
• Cobblepot pleaded with Li Jie to side with him, but Li Jie said he would support whoever lowered crime and improved life in the East End.

Li Jie and Harleen investigated reports that Batman had stolen an artifact from the Gotham Natural History Museum and found two costumed fighters instead. Harleen arrested the younger fighter, who was identified as Barbara Gordon, while the other escaped.

• Li Jie responded to the museum director’s report that Batman had broken in, and Harleen joined him despite being off duty.
• The director told Li Jie that two Batmen were fighting inside the museum.
• Li Jie and Harleen found two costumed figures battling near Tutankhamun’s golden mask, and Li Jie ordered them to stop.
• The taller fighter kicked the slimmer one aside and escaped through a stained-glass window using a Grappling Hook Gun.
• Harleen restrained the slimmer fighter, and Li Jie discovered she was a teenage girl who refused to identify herself or explain the fight.
• A veteran officer recognized the girl as Barbara Gordon, Detective James Gordon’s daughter.

Li Jie brought James Gordon to the precinct, where he found Barbara safe after she had joined a fight against an antique thief and broken a valuable pot. Harleen explained Barbara’s actions as a plea for her father’s attention, leaving Gordon and Barbara reconciled before Li Jie interrupted them with a joke about discipline.

• Li Jie told Gordon that Barbara had broken a museum pot worth two hundred thousand dollars, then explained that it had broken during the fight and could be blamed on the thief.
• Gordon entered the interview room, found Barbara safe, and comforted her as she apologized for worrying him.
• Harleen told Li Jie that Barbara had copied Batman to draw her frequently absent father’s attention.
• Gordon and Barbara tearfully admitted their regrets and embraced, with Gordon calling her by her childhood nickname.
• Li Jie interrupted their reconciliation and offered Gordon a belt soaked in povidone-iodine as a joke about disciplining Barbara.

Li Jie attended the opening of a temporary shelter school for rescued children, funded by Gotham’s wealthy donors. He left Bruce Wayne flustered by revealing that the police had footage of Batman’s embarrassing Bat-Shaped Robot and were considering selling it.

• Chief Bob McGinnis delivered a speech at the school’s opening ceremony and cut the ribbon with Bruce Wayne.
• Li Jie joked with Wilson about Bruce Wayne’s adopted son, Dick Grayson, and watched Dick meet Doctor Leslie Thompkins.
• Li Jie greeted Harper and Karen, then asked Raven to watch them while he spoke with Bruce Wayne.
• Bruce Wayne questioned Li Jie about Falcone and Cobblepot supporting the school, and Li Jie defended the charity project.
• Li Jie told Bruce that police footage showed Batman’s Bat-Shaped Robot declaring, “I am the night! I am vengeance! I am Batman!”
• Li Jie said media outlets had offered up to three million dollars for the footage, leaving Bruce visibly unsettled.

Clown escaped Arkham Asylum by disguising himself as a wounded guard and cutting the power, then found Doctor Strange hiding in a secret room dressed in a replica Batsuit and knocked him unconscious. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne prepared for a banquet and explained to Dick Grayson why he had paid a sheriff for a video and tolerated Mr. Short’s dealings.

• Doctor Strange ordered Clown removed from isolation, but Clown killed a guard, stole his uniform, and escaped the cell.
• Clown cut the power throughout Arkham, triggering a prison riot as Doctor Strange fled toward his office.
• Doctor Strange put on his replica Batman gear in a hidden room, where Clown found and mocked him.
• Doctor Strange attacked Clown, but Clown struck him down with a guard’s baton and left him unconscious.
• Bruce Wayne prepared for a banquet while Alfred named possible guests, and Dick Grayson questioned Bruce’s payment to the sheriff.
• Bruce Wayne told Dick Grayson that Doctor Fries’s profits and East End stability made the payment worthwhile, and said he could afford to indulge Mr. Short’s tricks.

Nygma and Harleen analyzed the Museum footage, identifying the unknown suspect as a moth-themed figure they tentatively called Mothman. After the meeting, Li Jie asked Nygma to alter the footage to conceal Barbara’s damage, then revealed that Gordon’s daughter had been chatting with Bruce Wayne’s adopted son, Dick Grayson.

• Nygma examined the Museum footage and praised Owen for noticing that the suspect’s costume resembled an insect.
• Nygma identified the emblem and cape design as moth-inspired and tentatively named the suspect Mothman.
• Harleen interpreted the moth symbol as evidence of a painful past, transformation, and skill at disguise, then summarized the suspect as a strong, trained man with childhood trauma and money.
• Li Jie asked Nygma to corrupt the original footage so the damage caused by Barbara would appear to be Mothman’s fault.
• Li Jie told Nygma and Harleen that Gordon had brought Barbara to a school ceremony, where she chatted with Dick Grayson.

Li Jie turned Kara’s planned breakup scene into a display of underworld status to stop her classmates from humiliating her. He drove Kara and the girls away in a convoy, telling her to play along with his act.

• Li Jie and Wilson’s team raided a factory, arrested surviving drug dealers, and collected evidence while Wilson crossed suspected names off his list to find Moth.
• Kara called Li Jie to arrange a staged meeting in a cafe, where she planned to reject his request to get back together after he professed how much he missed her.
• Li Jie met Kara and her three classmates at Oak Tree Grove Cafe and introduced her as Gotham’s underworld’s young mistress rather than as his ex-girlfriend.
• Li Jie summoned a convoy and bodyguards, threatened Kara’s classmates for insulting her, and brought the group to the cars.
• Kara asked what was happening, and Li Jie told her to follow his lead and wave inscrutably whenever she did not know what to say.

Li Jie brought Kara and her classmates to the Iceberg Lounge, using its wealth and power to frighten the girls who had mistreated her. As Kara settled into the penthouse, Clark arrived and said they needed to talk.

• Oswald Cobblepot welcomed Kara and Li Jie to the Iceberg Lounge and led them toward the penthouse suite.
• Kara’s classmates followed to a lower-floor suite and grew frightened as they saw how deferentially Cobblepot treated her.
• When bodyguards presented a bloodied man as a traitor, Kara waved as Li Jie had instructed, and Cobblepot ordered the man executed.
• Li Jie told Kara that overwhelming her classmates with wealth would make them stop bullying her, and said she could stay at the hotel as long as she liked.
• Clark arrived at the penthouse and told Kara they needed to talk.

Li Jie warned Clark Kent that Gotham’s dangers and human nature could turn his willingness to help into a vulnerability. He offered to show Clark and Kara Gotham’s nights if they agreed to follow his instructions.

• Kara left the Presidential Suite looking distressed and told Li Jie that Clark wanted to talk to him.
• Clark thanked Li Jie for helping Kara and offered to come to his aid whenever he faced danger.
• Li Jie explained that people could become dependent on Clark’s help, exploit his kindness, and resent him when he could not answer every request.
• Clark said that refusing to help a friend in danger went against his principles, while Li Jie warned that trusting human nature in Gotham could be fatal.
• Li Jie invited Clark and Kara to join an embedded report with the Gotham Police Department, provided they followed his instructions and acted only when he gave the order.