Chapter Summaries

Amanda Waller's convoy was ambushed and steadily reduced by an unseen attacker as it traveled through Gotham toward the docks with Floyd Lawton and Mark Desmond. Waller agreed to surrender the prisoners, but the attacker refused and left her with a riddle about its identity.

• Waller paid the impostor Rodis Oboni to clear a police checkpoint, while Wilson confirmed the convoy had passed the first position and that a device was in place.
• Gunfire trapped the convoy in Gotham's old quarter, and Rick Flag and five others vanished when they went to investigate the missing fifth van.
• An IED disabled the lead van, and a caller threatened to destroy the remaining vehicles unless Waller released Lawton; smoke and sparks revealed the attached devices were decoys.
• Two more agents were dragged away, leaving Waller with only five other people, and she offered to give up Floyd Lawton and Mark Desmond in exchange for her missing personnel.
• The caller refused Waller's offer, ordered her to continue to the docks, and posed a riddle that made Waller insist the attacker was not Batman.

Amanda Waller released Floyd Lawton and Mark Desmond, but Gotham’s hidden forces trapped her convoy and forced her to apologize and accept restrictions. After A.R.G.U.S. withdrew, Edward Nygma warned that Waller would likely return with a more calculated plan.

• Amanda Waller freed Floyd Lawton and abandoned Mark Desmond at a roadside grocery store, warning Lawton that A.R.G.U.S. would remember them.
• Li Jie and Nygma watched Waller’s retreat and debated how to handle her surrender and the remaining threats.
• An unknown attacker shot up Waller’s vehicles, while road crews blocked the convoy and forced it to stop.
• Waller apologized for A.R.G.U.S.’s unauthorized operation, relinquished its claims to Lawton and Mark, and agreed not to enter Gotham or send anyone there for two years.
• Nygma told Li Jie that Waller would likely return, and Li Jie decided to take responsibility for Lawton while Mark would be sent back to Arkham.
• Nygma drafted a threat assessment concluding that Waller’s retreat may have been reconnaissance and recommending preparations for a more covert future attack.

Li Jie failed to shoot Amanda Waller before she disappeared from his scope, then helped Floyd Lawton say goodbye to Zoe as Lawton prepared to work for Oliver. The chapter left Zoe at Shelter School under Li Jie’s protection while Lawton returned to Blackgate Penitentiary to await parole arrangements.

• Li Jie lost his lock on Amanda Waller when she boarded a boat, and Batman confronted him for not shooting before vanishing from the rooftop.
• Li Jie brought Floyd Lawton to Shelter School to enroll Zoe and introduced her to Harper, who took her toward the dormitory.
• Lawton told Li Jie that prison had shown him he could not live within the routines of law enforcement and planned to become Oliver’s security consultant.
• Lawton recalled that he and Oliver had once fought to a draw with guns and bows, then tied three times at darts.
• Li Jie promised to protect Zoe at the school, and Lawton agreed to contact him if trouble arose before returning with him to Blackgate Penitentiary.
• Zoe waved to Lawton from a second-floor window, and he waved goodbye before leaving.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps struggled against Starro’s adaptive spores in space as their comrades fell under its control. On Earth, Li Jie discovered Gotham’s East End overrun by mind-controlled people and learned that fire could drive the starfish off, just as a crowd began battering the police station doors.

• Hal Jordan ordered the Green Lanterns to regroup as Starro’s spores adapted, overwhelmed the Corps, and turned Arisia, Guy, and others against their comrades.
• Li Jie woke with a small starfish on his face and saw the people in the East End standing motionless with starfish covering their faces.
• Nygma called Li Jie and told him that heat and flames made the starfish detach from their hosts.
• Li Jie used a lighter to free Officer Jackson from a starfish, and Jackson offered to find more sources of flame.
• Li Jie and Jackson heard a crowd repeatedly slamming bodies or objects into the police station’s front doors.

Li Jie organized the rescue of mind-controlled officers at the police station and learned from Edward Nygma that the starfish formed a hive mind controlled by Starro. After failing to reach Bruce Wayne, Li Jie set out with Harleen Quinzel to check the school and then Wayne Manor.

• Li Jie sealed the police station behind the blast door and freed controlled officers with fire, ordering them to arm themselves and gather in the lobby.
• Li Jie found Anna Ramirez and Harleen Quinzel, who helped organize the officers; Harleen destroyed a starfish with her Baseball Bat.
• Li Jie discovered Otis and Edward Nygma sheltering in the Forensics Division, where Nygma explained that the starfish formed a hive mind and that finding or destroying Starro could free the controlled citizens.
• Li Jie failed to reach Bruce Wayne and prepared to check on him, leaving Otis in charge of the police station and giving Harleen a protective helmet.
• Li Jie asked Harleen to check the school with him before they continued to Wayne Manor.

Li Jie and Harleen found Raven had protected the school from the starfish, then went to Wayne Manor, where a possessed Alfred attacked them. The chapter ended with Alfred pinning Li Jie down and pressing a starfish toward his face as Li Jie called for Harleen.

• Li Jie and Harleen arrived at the school and found it safe, with the starfish reduced to pink-glimmering ash.
• Raven explained that she had destroyed the invading starfish and freed the teachers and students they had taken over.
• Raven ordered Jason Todd to drop a surviving starfish, crushed it, and accepted Li Jie's Badge as sheriff of the school.
• Li Jie and Harleen entered Wayne Manor and found Alfred possessed by a starfish in the kitchen.
• Alfred disarmed Harleen, fought Li Jie, and pinned him down while a starfish crawled from his sleeve toward Li Jie's face.

Li Jie, Harleen, Alfred, and Dick freed Bruce Wayne from Starro’s control in the Batcave. After Bruce recovered, he checked on everyone else and prepared weapons in case the alien threat had spread.

• Alfred woke after Li Jie burned the starfish off his face and said Bruce and Dick had gone to the workshop downstairs.
• Dick evaded Starro-controlled Batman through the Batcave and tried to reach Bruce by calling out his frustrations and memories.
• Li Jie, Harleen, and Alfred helped Dick restrain Batman while Dick used a flame to burn the starfish off his face.
• Bruce regained consciousness, recognized Harleen, and learned that an alien creature had controlled him.
• Bruce checked the Batcave systems, raised a platform of weapons and ammunition, and said they needed to prepare for the worst.

Batman left the Batcave to confront the mind-controlled Superman while Dick Grayson and Li Jie took responsibility for Gotham’s failing infrastructure and public order. As Gotham descended into looting and fires, Batman reached Metropolis and prepared to attack Superman with Kryptonite missiles.

• Batman assigned Dick Grayson to restore Gotham’s electricity and water systems and ordered Li Jie to maintain order in the streets before departing in the Batplane.
• Survivors across Gotham began looting abandoned stores and setting fires as starfish-controlled residents stood helplessly among them.
• Li Jie confronted a crowd of looters, shot a young man who threatened him, and warned the crowd to stop.
• Alfred monitored Gotham from the Batcave while the city’s systems continued to fail.
• Batman arrived near Metropolis, saw Superman flying toward him, and armed six Kryptonite-coated missiles.

Edward Nygma developed a way to counter the starfish’s electric-field control and sent Otis Flanagan and Gotham’s rats to attack them. Meanwhile, Li Jie left Harleen with Poison Ivy for help, and Batman fought the starfish-controlled Superman, preparing to remove the creature from his face.

• Edward Nygma identified the starfish’s control frequency and began designing portable devices to disrupt it, then realized Otis’s rats could eat the starfish.
• Otis gathered thousands of rats, fed them, and sent them to clear starfish from Gotham’s streets on Nygma’s orders.
• Li Jie brought Harleen to the Wayne Botanical Gardens, where Poison Ivy’s mutated plants were killing starfish, then left to seek more help.
• Batman survived attacks from the starfish-controlled Superman and weakened him with kryptonite dust and knuckles.
• Batman approached the fallen Superman and took out a flame blowtorch.

Batman freed Superman from the Starro parasite with kryptonite and incendiary weapons, then learned Starro was fighting the Guardians of the Universe above Earth. As Gotham recovered, Nygma ordered a covert cleanup and document seizure, Li Jie recruited Cobblepot’s men to help restore order, and Dick continued repairing the city’s infrastructure.

• Batman weakened Superman with kryptonite, burned the Starro parasite off his face, and learned the Guardians of the Universe had nearly been wiped out in a battle with Starro.
• Superman borrowed Batman’s blowtorch to free others, then returned and agreed with Batman that they needed to take out the biggest Starro.
• Edward Nygma ordered Zilton to disinfect the streets cleared by Otis’s rats and directed Anna Ramirez to seize original documents and devices from key government offices.
• Li Jie found Cobblepot and recruited his men as emergency community volunteers to help maintain order across Gotham.
• Dick Grayson continued repairing Gotham’s water system as Alfred reported that Cobblepot’s volunteers and the Sheriff’s food distribution efforts were helping restore the city.

After Starro’s attack, Li Jie checked on Gotham’s casualties and learned that Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent had left to pursue the threat. As the cities struggled to recover, Batman and Superman received a telepathic message from J'onn J'onzz asking them to unite against Starro’s approaching main body.

• Alfred told Li Jie that Dick had slept for four hours after helping repair Gotham’s substations, and Li Jie learned that indirect deaths from the invasion could exceed two thousand.
• Alfred reported that Bruce had restored Clark’s senses and that the pair had departed in the Bat-6, an experimental aircraft capable of traveling beyond the atmosphere.
• J'onn J'onzz contacted Batman and Superman telepathically, warned that Starro’s approaching main body would strengthen its mind control, and asked them to combine their forces.
• Li Jie spoke with Kara, learned she had graduated from high school, and agreed she could visit and stay at the hotel again.
• Oliver told Li Jie that he, Diggle, Lawton, and Laurel had kept Star City under control despite at least six hundred deaths or injuries and numerous prison escapes; Li Jie wondered why Gotham had seen fewer escapes.

Oswald Cobblepot’s men helped Li Jie and the police stop escaped Blackgate inmates and restore order in the streets. Cobblepot then turned his volunteer force toward the Dock District and imagined himself becoming a city councilman.

• Hank the Hammer led a group of escaped inmates into Gotham, where they tried to loot a convenience store.
• Cobblepot’s trained volunteers defeated the inmates and held them until Darnell Wilson and other officers arrived to arrest them.
• Wilson ordered the inmates returned to Blackgate and thanked Cobblepot’s men for helping keep the streets clear.
• Li Jie praised Cobblepot’s work and thanked him, while Cobblepot agreed to keep order in the area.
• Cobblepot sent teams to the Dock District to stop dockworkers from seizing warehouses and thought about winning a seat on the City Council.

Jeremiah Arkham managed the Starro-afflicted patients at Arkham while superheroes failed to penetrate Starro’s force field above Earth. The chapter ended with Batman requesting a suit deployment to confront the threat.

• Jeremiah found Arkham’s patients celebrating with starfish and decided to let them remain together while staff monitored their health and provided food.
• Jeremiah learned that Mark Desmond slept through the starfish’s influence, and staff burned the starfish off without waking him.
• Starro’s enormous main body entered Earth’s atmosphere and spread spores that synchronized people across Europe.
• Superman, the Flash, and Diana attacked Starro, but its biological force field dispersed their efforts without harm.
• Batman asked Alfred to deploy the suit series, specifying that it have no BGM.

Batman deployed five brightly lit bat-mechs that combined into a giant robot to fight Starro. Later, Gordon showed Li Jie Harvey Dent’s philosophical writings after his recovery from Starro’s control, and Li Jie urged Gordon to focus on Harvey’s ordinary needs and his family.

• Alfred explained that Mr. Short designed the brightly colored mechs to attract enemies and appeal to children, and warned Batman that they had no reserve units.
• Batman entered the black mech and activated its flashing lights and synthesized battle cry as the five mechs combined into one robot, thrilling Barry Allen and astonishing the other heroes.
• Gordon told Li Jie that Starro had controlled Harvey Dent after landing on his hospital windowsill, but the police removed it with a blowtorch.
• Gordon showed Li Jie Harvey’s disjointed reflections on free will, justice, identity, and Starro, and said Harvey refused to discuss law or his cases.
• Li Jie joked that studying philosophy could make Harvey struggle to find work, then reminded Gordon to consider Harvey’s livelihood and the well-being of Sarah, Barbara, and himself.

Batman’s team used cryogenic missiles to breach Starro’s biofield, while Superman attacked from within and J'onn J'onzz overcame his fear of fire to protect him. As the assault made little progress, Amanda Waller sent Turner and Harkness to investigate Otis Flanagan’s apparent ability to communicate with rats in Gotham.

• Batman directed the mechs to freeze a section of Starro’s biofield, creating a breach for Superman to enter.
• Superman’s fire attack triggered J'onn J'onzz’s traumatic memories, but Batman’s threat helped him maintain the psychic connection.
• Superman bored into Starro with his Heat Vision, while Batman ordered him to retrieve a tissue sample because the attack was doing little damage.
• Amanda Waller reviewed footage of rats devouring fallen starfish in Gotham and identified Otis Flanagan as someone who might communicate with rats.
• Waller ordered Turner and Harkness to sneak into Gotham, ask around about Otis Flanagan, and report back.

Batman discovered that calcium carbonate could destroy Starro’s cells, and the heroes began gathering enough lime to attack its massive body in New York. In Gotham, Harkness and Ben Turner sought Li Jie, while a prisoner demolished Peña Duro and escaped after sending the deputy warden to warn the outside world.

• Batman found that calcium carbonate triggered a destructive reaction in Starro’s cells, and Superman was sent to collect calcium oxide while Batman arranged purchases.
• Harkness and Ben Turner arrived in Gotham and went to the East End Police Department to meet Li Jie.
• Harkness revealed that Amanda Waller had recruited him and sent him with Turner to gather information in Gotham.
• A prisoner engineered a riot at Peña Duro, opened the electronic locks, and caused part of the prison to collapse.
• The prisoner defeated the deputy warden’s guards, spared the deputy warden to carry a warning, and escaped toward the sea.

Li Jie questioned Harkness and Turner, who reported to Amanda Waller from the police station after Li Jie hired them. Meanwhile, the Justice League used an explosive sacrifice and calcium oxide to attack Starro, but the creature began fleeing toward space as Superman escaped its core.

• Li Jie questioned Harkness and Turner about their work for Amanda Waller, and Harkness complained about their poor pay and bomb-controlled service.
• Harkness and Turner told Waller they had infiltrated the police station, while Turner chose not to provoke the heavily armed officers.
• Superman held open a passage inside Starro as four overloaded mechs detonated to expose a route to its core.
• Superman opened a container of calcium oxide powder inside Starro, causing its tissues to turn to dust and releasing people from its mind control.
• Starro severed its damaged tissue and accelerated toward space, while Diana and Barry tried to restrain it.
• Superman escaped Starro's core and asked Batman how the plan had worked, and Batman said they had only won the first step.

Li Jie and Nygma discussed how to handle Waller’s agents while Starro’s destruction ended its control over humanity, leaving a global cleanup and dangerous research into its remnants. Batman secretly kept samples of Starro and rejected J’onn’s proposal for a cooperative organization.

• Li Jie asked Nygma to remove the bombs on Waller’s agents and turn them into informants, but Nygma proposed feeding A.R.G.U.S. mostly trivial truths mixed with false intelligence instead.
• Superman destroyed Starro’s final core while the Flash, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter kept it from escaping.
• Starro’s spores released their human hosts but left some survivors with lasting neurological damage, and its offspring hid across the world.
• Batman organized a global search for the spores and warned authorities to prepare for survivors’ psychiatric disorders and disabilities.
• Researchers at the Pentagon studied active Starro spores, while Batman secretly kept a living spore and a piece of Starro’s core in the Batcave.
• J’onn invited Batman to help form a cooperative group against future threats, but Batman refused, and Superman told J’onn that the refusal was polite.

Oswald Cobblepot took office as a city councilman after his Community Service Team helped maintain order during the crisis. Li Jie urged him to improve the East End and climb higher in politics, leaving Cobblepot eager to begin playing the legal game of City Hall.

• Li Jie and Wilson watched Cobblepot give an inaugural speech promising improvements for the East End.
• Bruce Wayne discussed Cobblepot’s political rise with Alfred and sent a flower basket to remind him that he was now in the public eye.
• Cobblepot welcomed Li Jie to his new City Hall office and thanked him for helping him pass the background check.
• Li Jie asked Cobblepot to repair the streetlights on Seventh and Ninth Streets and to use his political influence to improve Gotham.
• Cobblepot promised to fix the streetlights within a week and ordered the work done with municipal funds without inflating the bill.
• Cobblepot prepared for his first municipal dinner, smiling as he considered the legal game beginning beneath City Hall.

Clark, Diana, J'onn, Barry, and Arthur visited Bruce Wayne to persuade him to help form an independent team for global threats, and Bruce agreed to discuss creating one under strict conditions. Meanwhile, Li Jie hosted a celebratory East End dinner, where he prepared Otis for questioning by Waller's agents and invited more friends to join the festivities.

• Alfred welcomed Clark, Diana, J'onn, Barry, and Arthur to Wayne Manor, where Bruce refused their request to join a league.
• At the East End Police Department dinner, Bob thanked Jay and the officers, announced a dividend payout, and Li Jie encouraged Nygma, Harleen, and the others to enjoy the celebration.
• Diana, Barry, J'onn, and Clark explained why they wanted a team independent of governments, and Bruce agreed to discuss forming one if Gotham remained under his control and he commanded operations.
• Bruce required the organization to be free of government control and funding, agreed to build its headquarters, and the group considered naming it the Justice League.
• Li Jie told Otis that Waller's agents were gathering information on him and advised him to share mundane details about his life.
• Li Jie called Clark to invite more friends to the dinner, and Bruce called Clark soon afterward to ask why Jay had contacted him first.