Chapter Summaries

William rescued Victor Zsasz from Deathstroke and learned that Arkham Asylum had been conducting secret experiments on its patients. He brought Zsasz to Alfred for testing, and as the results neared, Alfred showed him a hidden base beneath the bar.

• Deathstroke delivered a battered Zsasz to William, who questioned him and learned that Arkham's injections caused his hallucinations and memory loss.
• William persuaded Deathstroke to give him one week before turning Zsasz over to his client, then took Zsasz to Alfred's bar.
• Alfred proposed testing Zsasz's blood for traces of unknown drugs and collected a sample in the basement.
• Alfred discussed William's ideas about controlling Gotham's underworld and offered to train him alongside Bruce, but William remained uncertain about working with Bruce and worried about his scarce Beacons.
• Alfred took William through a hidden compartment in the wine cellar to show him the secret base while they waited for the blood test results.

William and Alfred investigated Victor Zsasz’s claims about Arkham, and Bruce interrogated Zsasz before beginning his own investigation. After William asked about the missing Talon, Bruce discovered a hidden chamber beneath Wayne Castle filled with owl-masked portraits and a warning about the Song of the Owls.

• William examined Bruce’s training equipment at the Second Base while Alfred analyzed Zsasz’s blood and found traces of psychiatric medication.
• Alfred called Bruce, who arrived and frightened Zsasz into revealing his terror of being sent back to Arkham.
• Bruce warned William that he would keep watching him, then apologized after Alfred prompted him and said he would investigate the case.
• Alfred told William that Bruce thought he was not a bad person but feared he could be corrupted by his associates.
• William asked where the missing Talon had gone after Harold’s arrest.
• Bruce entered a secret chamber beneath Wayne Castle and found owl-masked portraits, a skeleton, and a note warning the Wayne descendants to flee.

William read about mayoral candidate Raka Jon’s campaign to replace aging water pipes in Gotham’s East End and No Man’s Land, while Bruce struggled to persuade the city government to help. Exhausted from his duties as Bruce Wayne and Batman, Bruce prepared to continue investigating Arkham Asylum, as Roman Sionis returned to the apartment on Bowery Street.

• William read that Mayor Charlie had been poisoned and that Raka Jon was running for mayor on a platform that included clean, affordable water for the East End and No Man’s Land.
• Bruce told Alfred that Gotham’s officials had refused to replace the deteriorating pipes, despite Wayne Enterprises offering materials for free.
• Bruce recalled how exhaustion had caused him to freeze during a raid on Maroni’s drug lab, leaving him badly injured by buckshot.
• Bruce accepted Alfred’s advice that responsibility now drove him and planned his day around short naps before resuming his Arkham Asylum investigation.
• Roman Sionis returned to the Bowery Street apartment, where someone opened the door and invited him inside.

William tried to reassure Sionis while explaining his plans to improve the Maroni Family’s businesses, but Sionis misread his actions as proof of a sexual fixation. After Gordon delivered a new Zsasz assignment, William took Sionis to inspect his territory and began advising a struggling bar owner.

• William outlined his plan to reduce violence by shrinking illegal operations and improving their service, then prepared to tour Sionis’s territory.
• Gordon arrived with a case file and told William that Commissioner Norman wanted them to visit Arkham at nine that night to investigate contradictions in the Zsasz case.
• While hiding in William’s wardrobe, Sionis found a Batman mask, rope, ether, and candles and took them as evidence of William’s disturbing intentions.
• William and Sionis traveled to inspect the territory, and William learned that Sionis’s name was Roman.
• At a quiet bar, William advised the owner to soften the music and lighting, reduce the number of dancers, and make the bar more welcoming to middle-aged customers.

William and Gordon went to Arkham Asylum to question Zsasz, but the visit was delayed. William encountered Batman in the restroom, and after Batman asked for help, William demanded that he leave Maroni alone for three months.

• William spotted eyes in a ventilation duct, but a guard said the ducts were used by rats and cats.
• A guard told Gordon and William that Zsasz had been sedated, and Gordon insisted on waiting for him.
• William heard a gasp in the restroom and was pulled into a stall by Batman, who returned his pistol.
• Batman asked William to distract a guard by the locked corridor between the B2 and B3 wings.
• William handcuffed Batman and demanded that he leave Maroni alone for at least three months.

William persuaded Batman to let him help keep Zsasz in line, then discovered that Arkham’s visiting room was creating a convincing illusion. After William and Gordon staged a fight to draw the guards away, Batman intervened, and Alfred later summoned them to a bar.

• William used a jungle-and-honey-badger analogy to persuade Batman to accept his plan for handling Zsasz.
• William saw what appeared to be Zsasz in the visiting room, noticed clues that the scene was an illusion, and alerted Gordon.
• William and Gordon left the room and reached the guarded boundary between Arkham’s B2 and B3 sections.
• William punched Gordon and provoked him into a staged fight, drawing the guards toward them as Batman dropped from a vent.
• Gordon and William left Arkham, and Alfred paged them both to meet Bruce at a bar.

Bruce and William investigated a blood-based substance that caused realistic hallucinations, and Bruce identified the Mad Hatter as a possible link. The chapter ended with Bruce realizing he might still be hallucinating when the discarded shisha vanished.

• Bruce and Alfred examined a vial from Arkham and found that it contained animal blood, while William and Gordon's blood tests came back normal.
• Bruce suggested testing their nasal passages, and the samples from William and Gordon contained traces matching the vial.
• Bruce inhaled the heated blood to test its effects and remembered a short man in a green hat, identifying the Mad Hatter.
• Bruce hallucinated William shooting Gordon and threatening him, but Gordon used a stun gun to wake Bruce before the hallucination could continue.
• After Alfred called them to dinner, Bruce noticed that the half-used lump of shisha was missing and feared he was still hallucinating.

William encountered mayoral candidate Raka Jon and considered persuading Maroni to fund his campaign, while Deathstroke agreed to help investigate Arkham in exchange for William’s future assistance. The chapter ended with William asking Maroni to invest in Raka, a candidate Maroni had never heard of.

• Bruce woke from the hallucinogen-induced ordeal, discussed the threat with Gordon and Alfred, and left to continue investigating Arkham.
• William asked Deathstroke to help investigate Arkham, and Deathstroke agreed in exchange for William’s promise to help locate his vanished special operations unit if he became Gotham’s mob king.
• William met Raka Jon handing out campaign flyers in his apartment building and considered securing Maroni’s support for his mayoral campaign.
• Deathstroke saw Raka and suspected he recognized him, but did not explain why.
• William visited Maroni and proposed investing in Raka’s campaign, but Maroni had never heard of him.

William began training with Alfred, who put him to work hauling crates at a meat warehouse. After nearly two hours of carrying cargo with bare hands, William was exhausted and resolved to demand an explanation from Alfred.

• Maroni rejected William’s proposal to fund Raka Jon’s election campaign and insulted William for backing him.
• William visited Alfred’s tavern to begin training and exchanged an awkward, flirtatious conversation with Casey about her waist and back dimples.
• Alfred suspected someone was watching the tavern and took William away in disguise, while Charloes secretly followed and waited for a chance to gather evidence.
• Alfred brought William to a meat warehouse, where he made William haul crates barehanded as physical training.
• William struggled through nearly two hours of work and finished exhausted, determined to ask Alfred what the training was meant to accomplish.

William was caught by Maroni’s gang after Charloes claimed he had helped Alfred transport supplies, and Maroni confronted him with evidence. William refused to defend himself, and a witness arrived to identify who had caused a disturbance at a tavern.

• Alfred explained that William’s training focused on correcting basic walking and running habits, then William spotted a watcher near the warehouse and fled home.
• Charloes and armed gangsters seized William at his apartment and took him to Maroni’s private suite.
• Charloes accused William of working with Alfred, and the warehouse manager identified William’s swollen, abraded hands as evidence.
• William refused to explain himself and warned Maroni that he had been framed, making Maroni hesitate before shooting him.
• A witness reported that someone had used Charloes’s name to assault guards and kiss a dancer at a tavern, then was asked whether William was the culprit.

William exposed Charloes’s frame-up with an AI Clone alibi, beat him, and secured Maroni’s promise to sponsor Raka Jon. Later, Bruce investigated a hallucinogenic drug and learned Wayne Pharmaceuticals had an untested LSD antidote; the story left him considering the unfinished treatment as his only lead.

• Maroni ordered Pang Lai to investigate the bar witnesses, and Pang Lai’s report confirmed William’s alibi.
• William fought and severely injured Charloes, then asked Maroni to sponsor Raka Jon.
• William discovered that his AI Clone seemed immune to damage, though its remaining usage time was nearly exhausted.
• Bruce reviewed research linking a South African lizard’s venom to LSD-like hallucinations and asked Lucius to search for an antidote.
• Bruce learned Wayne Pharmaceuticals had suspended development of an untested LSD antidote and had no other solution available.

Charloes Maroni hired Deadshot to kill William Hans, but Floyd panicked when he recognized the target and called Deathstroke for help. Deathstroke traced the job to Charloes and set out to confront him after forcing the middleman to reveal his employer.

• Charloes Maroni hired Floyd to kill William Hans for five hundred thousand dollars, and Floyd recognized William in the photograph.
• Floyd took his daughter to Bane and tried to reach Blackgate Penitentiary by boat, evading a police patrol and GCPD officers along the way.
• Floyd called Slade Wilson and told him he would turn himself in rather than take the job against William again.
• Deathstroke confronted Scarface, survived a gunshot, and forced him to reveal that Charloes Maroni had hired the hit.
• Deathstroke cut Scarface's neck and left as Scarface's mansion went up in flames.

Charloes was exiled from the Maroni Family’s business, but Deathstroke confronted him and uncovered his plot with Roman Sionis against William. Deathstroke killed Sionis, while William remained unaware of the betrayal and focused on his new police position and the plans involving Bruce and Arkham.

• Pola sent Charloes to manage a belt factory, and he vowed revenge against William as he left.
• Deathstroke confronted Charloes in the car and forced him to reveal that Roman Sionis had supplied information for the plot against William.
• Deathstroke spared Charloes after he apologized, then went to the Kane Hotel to kill Sionis.
• Deathstroke shot Sionis, confirmed his identity, and set fire to the hotel room to obscure the body.
• Maroni told William that Roman had died, and William mourned his assistant without learning of his betrayal.
• William reflected on his promotion and gang position, while preparing for Bruce’s possible return to Arkham and Maroni’s contact with Laka.

Batman prepared to infiltrate Arkham Asylum, reluctantly bringing Deathstroke along after Alfred arranged for him to join the mission. The pair reached the asylum's outer wall and opened a rusted door, leaving them poised to enter.

• Pang Lai beat Laka and pressured him to accept the Maroni Family's money, and Laka soon used a newspaper interview to publicize the East End's water problems.
• Gotham's acting mayor promised to fix the East End's pipes and contaminated water, while William grew suspicious of Alberto Falcone's silence and Arkham's hidden plans.
• Batman prepared his equipment for the Arkham mission and tried to leave Deathstroke behind, but Deathstroke survived his tranquilizer and hallucinogen rounds and agreed to follow Batman's orders.
• Batman and Deathstroke evaded an Arkham guard and crept beneath the Watchtower toward the asylum's outer wall.
• Batman unlocked a rusty iron door, and a cold, moldy draft seeped out.

Batman and Deathstroke infiltrated Arkham Asylum and reached a sealed underground section after clashing over their approach. Batman explained the asylum’s connection to the Arkham family’s history, and they discovered a hidden shaft leading deeper underground.

• Batman and Deathstroke evaded the patrols and approached the guards at the Hydraulic Door.
• Deathstroke charged ahead, knocked out both guards, and removed a rifle’s magazine while Batman dealt with the door.
• Batman confronted Deathstroke over his impulsive actions, then changed his tone and acknowledged him as a partner.
• Batman told Deathstroke that the old hospital had treated the Arkham family’s hereditary madness, including his grandmother and mother.
• Batman and Deathstroke followed marks to a secret passage and found a concealed shaft with an iron ladder descending into darkness.

Bruce and Deathstroke infiltrated the buried Arkham Mental Hospital and discovered Hugo Strange directing patients to pour gasoline into an exposed water pipe. They followed Strange into a hidden office, where Deathstroke found a report describing a werewolf-like creature in the Ezekiel Arkham Transformation Project.

• Bruce and Deathstroke entered the upside-down ruins of Arkham Mental Hospital and saw an owl ring on a portrait of Ezekiel Arkham, matching the design from the Wayne Family's secret chamber.
• Bruce and Deathstroke found dozens of patients pouring gasoline into an exposed water pipe while Hugo Strange directed them.
• Bruce secretly followed Hugo Strange through a noisy iron door, and he and Deathstroke continued down a corridor where Batman glimpsed glowing red eyes behind an observation window.
• Bruce searched a modern office for Hugo Strange while Deathstroke examined a report about combining biological organisms with machinery.
• Deathstroke found a creature resembling a werewolf in the report for the Ezekiel Arkham Transformation Project.

Batman and Deathstroke captured Hugo Strange after resisting his hallucinogen, but a powerful Batman-like cyborg attacked and carried Hugo away. Batman and Deathstroke joined forces to fight the creature.

• Deathstroke shook off the hallucinogen and waited until Hugo Strange emerged from a hidden room, while Batman pretended to be affected too.
• Batman punched and handcuffed Hugo, then began interrogating him as Deathstroke searched the secret room and found a chained man.
• A mechanical creature burst into the office, grabbed Hugo, and threw Batman aside while blocking his pursuit.
• Deathstroke charged the creature but was knocked into a wall, then agreed to team up with Batman.
• Batman and Deathstroke attacked the mechanical creature from opposite sides.

Batman and Deathstroke fought Hugo Strange’s mechanical monster, then split up to pursue Hugo and rescue a prisoner. Hugo fled with the Mad Hatter, while Batman discovered the prisoner was Jeremiah Arkham; the disabled monster began transforming as the chapter ended.

• The mechanical monster copied Batman and Deathstroke’s fighting techniques, but Batman disabled it with an Electromagnetic Disruptor Grenade.
• Deathstroke took the Tracker and went after Hugo while Batman freed the prisoner from the secret room.
• Hugo ordered the patients to flee, disguised himself, and went to retrieve the Mad Hatter.
• Deathstroke confronted the Mad Hatter, who blamed Jeremiah Arkham and Harold Wayne for the conspiracy in Arkham.
• Batman freed the prisoner, who identified himself as Jeremiah Arkham and wore an Owl Wax Seal Ring.
• The disabled Arkham Knight reopened its eyes and began transforming, growing bristles, a muzzle, and larger teeth.

Batman was attacked by the werewolf-like Arkham Knight and collapsed after being bitten, then began transforming. Meanwhile, Deathstroke spared Hugo and the Mad Hatter when the werewolf appeared, only to encounter a transformed Batman with bat-like wings.

• The werewolf-like Arkham Knight bit Batman, and Batman drove it off with his weapons before collapsing from the wound.
• The man Batman had shielded fled without helping him, and Batman began undergoing a strange transformation after losing consciousness.
• The Mad Hatter begged Deathstroke to release him and Hugo, but Deathstroke prepared to kill them because of their past betrayal.
• A wolf howl interrupted Deathstroke, and the Arkham Knight raced past him and fled into the stairwell.
• Deathstroke spotted Batman below and realized something was wrong when bat-like wings spread from Batman's back.

Deathstroke fought Batman after a mutation turned him into a monstrous bat creature, and his sword strike unexpectedly purged the mutation. After Batman was taken to safety, Deathstroke demanded answers about the strange events at Arkham Asylum.

• Batman attacked Deathstroke, who shot apart Batman's left wing and sent him crashing to the ground.
• Batman used his Combat Grapnel to pull Deathstroke in and smashed half his face with a punch.
• Deathstroke's heightened senses sharpened as he fought the mutated Batman, then he pierced Batman through the torso with his sword.
• Batman's wings shriveled away and his wound healed as Deathstroke's killing blow purged the mutation.
• Deathstroke found Mad Hatter and Hugo missing, then handed the unconscious Batman to Alfred outside Arkham Asylum.
• Deathstroke demanded an explanation from Alfred and William, and Alfred said Batman should wake within forty-eight hours.