Chapter Summaries

William recounted how Kate’s call led him and two rookie officers to a murder at Gotham Theater, where they rescued her and arrested the killer. The chapter left William comforting Kate after she revealed her fear of the dark, before he turned to Alfred to explain what had happened to him that night.

• Kate called William and reported that her coworkers had killed someone and were disposing of the body at Gotham Theater.
• William, Renee, and Chris Pass arrived at the theater, where the leading man threatened Chris Pass with a gun until William tricked him into dropping it.
• Renee and Chris Pass found bloodstains, a corpse hidden beneath the stage, and Kate bound nearby.
• William and the rookies established that the leading man had killed his replacement with an ashtray and arrested him.
• Kate clung to William and said she feared the dark because her soul had spent too long drifting through it.
• On the drive home, Alfred told William that Bruce had experienced something similar before, then asked William what had happened to him.

William returned to the Police Station with Morse in custody, but Chief Locke planned to secure Morse’s release by morning. After Morse humiliated William and Renee by boasting that he would get away with murder, William ordered Pang Lai to kill him; Batman interrupted William’s account and revealed that Gotham’s Four Great Families were cursed.

• William let Morse remain in the holding cell after Chief Locke asked him to alter the case and release Morse in the morning.
• Casey thanked William for helping Kate and invited him to dinner on Sunday.
• Morse taunted Renee by declaring that he would be released despite having killed someone, and William left to call Pang Lai.
• William ordered Pang Lai to kill Morse when he was released, rejecting Pang Lai’s suggestion to use Morse as leverage against Barlock.
• Batman interrupted William’s story and said Gotham’s Four Great Families were cursed.

William learned that Chris had abducted Morse and went to the old Adams docks with Renee. When the system offered him a mission to help Chris dispose of Morse, William agreed, but Chris tried to stop him as the mission warned of imminent failure.

• William beat Morse in the holding cell, then learned that someone had struck Morse with a car and taken him.
• William suspected Renee, but she denied involvement, and he realized Chris Pass was likely responsible.
• William picked up Renee and searched the waterfront for Chris, who sent a message directing them to the old Adams docks.
• William found Chris at the docks just as the system offered a mission to help him dispose of Morse.
• William told Chris he had done well and offered to help, but Chris grabbed his wrist to stop him as the system warned that the mission was about to fail.

William helped Chris and Renee deal with Morse, then revealed to Commissioner Norman that his real name was William Maroni and confronted him at gunpoint. The chapter ended with Norman facing a choice as William challenged him to shoot in Gotham’s shifting power struggle.

• William persuaded Chris and Renee to participate in shooting Morse, but secretly loaded the revolvers with rubber bullets and swapped his own round before firing.
• William and his partners sealed Morse’s body in a cement-filled drum and disposed of it in the port.
• Chris explained that he had acted after meeting a blind woman searching for her child, whose name he had just marked as deceased, which left William suspicious because Kate had said the victim was an orphan.
• William returned to the Police Station with Renee and Chris, where Commissioner Norman discovered Morse was missing and demanded an explanation.
• William told Norman that his real name was William Maroni and used Norman’s past collusion with the Maroni Family to threaten him.
• Norman drew his gun, but William aimed at him first and challenged him to risk a shootout.

William challenged Batman’s habit of refusing help, then joined the investigation into Arkham Asylum’s conspiracy. Batman identified Jeremiah Arkham as the man found underground, but unexplained evidence left the truth about Hugo Strange’s account uncertain.

• William argued that Batman should not assume he had to fight alone, but Batman remained silent.
• Gordon called William to the Police Station about the major Arkham case, and William arrived after admiring Batman’s Batmobile.
• Batman showed William security photos of him touching the Batmobile, then explained that Jeremiah Arkham had been imprisoned while Hugo Strange stole his identity and used the Mad Hatter’s device to control the asylum.
• William told Batman that Deathstroke had said Hugo’s confession named Jeremiah as the mastermind, and Batman agreed to question Deathstroke again.
• Batman said Hugo might be telling the truth but pointed to old chemical supplies, long-running patient testimony, and different residue as evidence that the case remained unresolved.

William received the assignment to find Hugo Strange and used a Date Invitation to lure a target to police headquarters. Meanwhile, Hugo Strange and the Mad Hatter discussed their plan to save Gotham and met the Riddler, who urged them to move faster now that Batman was involved.

• William took the case file assigning his team to find and arrest Hugo Strange, then sent Chris to help Gordon while he stepped away from work.
• William used his Date Invitation and set Gotham Police Department headquarters as the date venue.
• Hugo Strange revived the Mad Hatter and warned that Batman had discovered their hideout.
• The Mad Hatter suggested telling Batman their plan was meant to save Gotham, but Hugo said it was too late and they had to trust their ally.
• The Riddler arrived at Hugo's hideout, solved his own riddle, and told Hugo they needed to speed up their plan.

Riddler forced Hugo Strange to help with his plan by threatening him and taking Mad Hatter, then left Hugo with a set of clues to solve. Soon afterward, a compulsion drove Hugo to the Gotham Police Department, where he turned himself in, and William prepared to interrogate him.

• Hugo Strange refused to help Riddler until Riddler revealed the bombs strapped to his body and promised to keep Jervis Tetch safe.
• Riddler gave Hugo an envelope of clues, then left the basement carrying Mad Hatter.
• Hugo felt an overpowering urge to go to the Gotham Police Department, like the compulsion that had once driven him to murder.
• Norman scolded William for slacking off until an officer announced that Hugo had arrived to turn himself in.
• William told Norman that interrogating Hugo was his job and stood to begin the questioning.

William and Batman learned that Hugo had secretly treated Gotham’s water with an antidote and that the Riddler had taken the Mad Hatter. The chapter ended with Edward Nygma using the Mad Hatter’s head to brainwash workers on Wayne Tower.

• Hugo told William that Jeremiah had poisoned Gotham’s water for twelve years with refined Madman’s Blood, while Hugo had recently added an antidote.
• Batman interrogated Hugo, broke two of his fingers, and learned that the Arkham Knight was in Otisburg at 3A105 and that the Riddler had taken the Mad Hatter.
• Hugo said that the Riddler had supplied the antidote’s raw materials through the dark web before betraying him and taking the Mad Hatter.
• William and Batman questioned how Jeremiah, the Riddler, the Mad Hatter, and the Court of Owls fit into the case.
• Edward Nygma used the Mad Hatter’s head to brainwash the workers atop Wayne Tower, then retrieved the head from a concealed compartment in the signal amplifier.

William traced the Riddler through Hugo’s Dark Web account and learned that the Riddler was waiting for Batman to follow his clues. A mayoral candidate then publicly exposed William as a Maroni informant and described his role in stopping a criminal, leaving William under the police officers’ scrutiny.

• William checked the Riddler’s letter for toxins, solved its riddle as “a limestone cave,” and failed to identify the Riddler through the police database.
• William used Hugo’s Dark Web account to find the Riddler’s chat logs, and the Riddler recognized him as Batman.
• William let the Riddler believe Batman had discovered his identity, making the Riddler panic and wonder if Batman was nearby.
• At a live mayoral speech, Laka Jon accused Commissioner Norman Steele of partnering with Falcone and named William Hans as William Maroni.
• Laka praised William’s work as a Maroni informant and revealed that William had stopped Councilman Baroque’s criminal son from escaping justice, drawing every officer’s attention to him.

Laka exposed Gotham’s corruption in a fiery speech, then shot himself on live television, leaving the city stunned and poised for chaos. Oswald used the crisis to offer Alberto a chance to destroy the Maroni Family and take control of Gotham in exchange for cash and weapons.

• William admitted that he had killed someone, surrendered his badge and gun, and warned Gordon that chaos would soon engulf Gotham.
• Acting Mayor Delon prepared to discredit Laka by publicizing Raka Jon’s history of abusing workers and deceiving a young woman.
• Laka ended his speech by declaring that his mission belonged to the people, then shot himself before security could stop him.
• The audience, Delon, and William watched in shock as Laka died on the live broadcast.
• Oswald told Alberto that his boss had arranged the plan and offered to guide the Falcone Family for one hundred million in cash and a warehouse of heavy weapons.

Batman abandoned the surrounded Batmobile to rescue a boy from a burning apartment while Gotham’s riots escalated into an armed uprising. Oswald and Roman Sionis armed the protesters and moved toward the Police Station, where William remained trapped until Baron was knocked unconscious and dropped the keys beside him.

• Batman escaped the crowd with Hugo and spotted a boy clinging to a curtain in a burning apartment, while a fire engine remained trapped nearby.
• Commissioner Norman sent Gotham police officers to City Hall and called in the military after gunmen attacked the Police Station.
• Oswald armed the protesters with weapons from a warehouse, while Roman Sionis joined him and prepared to head for the Police Station.
• Oswald and Roman planned to help Alberto Falcone capture William and ensure William died at Alberto’s hands.
• William tried to reach the cell keys, but Baron picked them up before a violent impact knocked Baron unconscious and dropped the keys at William’s feet.

William armed the Gotham Police Department and organized its defenders against an assault by masked gunmen. After the attackers breached the entrance, the officers repelled their advance, and Ethan prepared a rocket launcher to target those taking cover.

• William took Baron’s service pistol, accessed the armory, and distributed riot gear and weapons to the people defending the station.
• Old Ethan demonstrated his skill with a Remington 870 by shooting a vase in the Commissioner’s Office.
• Masked gunmen arrived in pickup trucks, planted a bomb at the entrance, and blasted their way into the Police Station.
• An officer fired the M60 at the gunmen’s advance team, then relocated after William warned that they would target the machine gunner.
• The attackers used flashbangs and suppressive fire to launch a second assault, but William and the defenders had moved to the second floor and drove them behind cover.
• Ethan prepared an M72 LAW while two forensic pathologists helped settle the launcher on his shoulder.

William and Pang Lai fled the Gotham Police Department as Alberto's Revenge squad attacked, only for William to be captured outside by Black Mask. William did not recognize his captor, who greeted him as an old acquaintance.

• The gunmen's assault on the Police Department was crushed, and Pang Lai arrived after a mortar strike destroyed their convoy.
• Pang Lai entered the station and found William alive, but the Falcone Family's Revenge squad attacked and overturned the Maroni armored vehicles.
• William and Pang Lai rigged grenades through the station and escaped through a basement passage as the attackers pressed in.
• William emerged from the passage and found his colleagues captured and disarmed.
• Black Mask confronted William, but William asked who he was.

Batman and Hugo concluded that the Riddler had used Hugo’s antidote to help fuel Gotham’s riots and that a cave was the clue to finding the Mad Hatter’s head. Meanwhile, Oswald saved William from Sionis, who survived being shot and began to realize that he was transforming into something vampiric.

• Batman rescued the last residents and pets from a burning apartment building, then reunited with Hugo on a rooftop.
• Hugo told Batman that the Riddler had helped incite the riots and that the antidote caused aggression and emotional instability; they decided a cave was the answer to the Riddler’s clue.
• Sionis prepared to shoot William, but Oswald intervened, shot Sionis, and told William he was repaying an earlier kindness.
• After Oswald left, Sionis recovered, dug bullets from his forehead, and noticed his fangs, pale skin, and growing thirst for blood.
• Sionis recalled his mother dragging his father away with her teeth and remembered that his family mansion had burned down and Harold Wayne had taken the family assets.

Oswald persuaded Alberto and the Revenge squad to blame their failed attack on bad luck and then led them toward the Glacier Club. Batwoman and Alfred searched the ruined Police Station for William, while Deathstroke woke to find thieves breaking into his mansion.

• Alberto threatened Oswald after the Revenge squad lost many men, but Oswald invoked his grief for Roman Sionis and calmed the squad.
• Alberto accepted Oswald's plan to exploit the communications outage and attack the Glacier Club, and the Revenge squad left the Police Station.
• Batwoman found Black Mask consuming an arm in the ruined Police Station, fought him, and learned he claimed to have eaten William before he escaped.
• Alfred arrived, joined Casey in searching for William, and suggested they contact Slade Wilson after identifying the remains as connected to the Wayne Family.
• Deathstroke woke in his mansion, discovered masked thieves cutting through his front door, and confronted them while brushing his teeth.

Deathstroke survived a gang’s attack and learned about Gotham’s upheaval, while William used the Riddler’s “CAVE” clue to identify Bat Magazine and set off on a motorcycle. Batman and Hugo reached the magazine’s headquarters, where its editor Noah was interrupted by a knock at his office door.

• Deathstroke killed the thieves who invaded his home, took seven dollars from one of them, and questioned the last survivor about events outside.
• William studied Gotham’s map and connected locations beginning with C, A, V, and E to a block in the Diamond District where Bat Magazine stood.
• The bartender gave William keys to Bruce Wayne’s motorcycle, and William rode out toward the Diamond District.
• Batman knocked a rioter unconscious after finding him defiling a portrait of Bruce Wayne, then carried him away as he and Hugo crossed the district to Bat Magazine.
• Noah considered exploiting Batman fandom for his magazine and planned to invent an eyepatch-wearing male companion for Batman before someone knocked on his office door.

Batman and Dr. Hugo searched Noah Kant’s office for a clue to the antidote while Gotham’s riots continued. A hidden explosive killed Noah, and Batman found a note from Riddler that promised a riddle capable of saving Gotham.

• Noah Kant told Batman and Dr. Hugo that no one had visited recently and let them search his office.
• Batman discovered Noah’s medical record of an anal tear and found a hidden metal tube inside him.
• Dr. Hugo forced the cavity wider, triggering the tube’s explosion and killing Noah.
• Before dying, Noah revealed that he knew Batman was Bruce Wayne and laughed about the game prepared for him.
• Batman opened the tube and found a note from Riddler offering a riddle that could save Gotham from the riots.

William solved Riddler’s coded poem as a clue to a television signal, and Batman took him to confront the threat tied to Wayne Tower. Outside City Hall, military reinforcements arrived and fired on the rioters as they charged.

• William rode the Batcycle to the magazine offices, where he found Batman and Dr. Hugo beside Egg-Bomb Kid’s body and a coded poem.
• William identified the poem’s cipher as Vigenère and decoded the answer, “TELEVISION SIGNAL,” using BATCAVE as the key.
• Batman connected the clue to Edward Nygma’s television signal enhancement device atop Wayne Tower and asked William to help confront Riddler.
• A mission appeared for William to help Teacher Hugo Strancky manage her class, offering him an AI Clone use among its rewards.
• Gordon watched the City Hall standoff as Norman’s military reinforcements arrived and threatened the rioters.
• The rioters charged the tank, and the gunner pressed the firing button.

Batman and William rode the Batcycle through a rioting crowd and up Wayne Tower’s glass exterior to reach the rooftop signal booster. There, they confronted the Riddler, who learned William had solved his riddle and was left doubting himself.

• Bruce took William on the Batcycle toward Wayne Tower and reflected on his own past hopes of sharing the company’s wealth with the poor.
• Batman launched the Batcycle over the crowd and used cables and plasma exhaust to ride up the tower and crash into his office.
• William climbed off the bike on unsteady legs and complained that he had only been used to its speed on level ground.
• Batman and William reached the rooftop and turned on the television to contact the Riddler.
• The Riddler accused Batman of neglecting to investigate him, then learned William had solved his poetry riddle.
• William answered the Riddler’s next riddle with “Pain,” leaving the Riddler in profound self-doubt.

Batman, William, and the Riddler confronted the choice between activating a deadly dream machine and letting Gotham’s violent uprising continue. As the military crushed the crowds, Gordon turned against the forces occupying the city and led police officers to stand with Gotham’s people.

• The Riddler broke down after William solved his riddle, then challenged Bruce Wayne to decide whether Gotham’s resistance would continue.
• The Riddler revealed that activating the Signal Transcription Tower would trap Gotham’s citizens in a dream and burn out their minds within forty-eight hours.
• William urged Batman to activate the machine to stop the riots, while the Riddler argued that Gotham’s desperate citizens were choosing to fight for themselves.
• As tanks and gunfire killed rioters, Gordon confronted Commissioner Norman Steele, tore off his badge, and took a SWAT officer’s gun.
• GCPD and SWAT officers joined Gordon in blocking the military, and Gordon warned the tank crew to leave Gotham.