Chapter Summaries

Oswald discovered that Ririko had charged Victor Zsasz’s overnight and special services to his card, then learned from her that Jervis Tetch had hypnotized the protesters outside the Iceberg Lounge. At Gotham University, Ririko traded Dick Grayson’s contact details to Evelyn Knight for the location of Tetch’s private dorm room.

• Oswald saw protesters surrounding the Iceberg Lounge and suspected Maroni had sent them to harass him.
• Oswald received an invoice showing Ririko had spent money on Victor Zsasz’s drinking companionship, overnight service, and special service.
• Ririko called Oswald and told him the protesters were hypnotized by Jervis Tetch, advising him to spray them with water.
• Ririko discussed Victor’s punishing training of Bruce and agreed with Alfred that the trainer was worth his fee.
• Evelyn asked Ririko for Dick Grayson’s contact details, and Ririko offered them in exchange for Tetch’s whereabouts.
• Evelyn revealed that Tetch had a private dorm room on campus and agreed to take Ririko there.

Ririko discovered that Tetch’s hypnotic ability came from a Tomie Organization drug, but Evelyn and two students stabbed her and buried her. Oswald found and rescued Ririko, and they drove toward the Iceberg Lounge to seek revenge.

• Ririko broke into Tetch’s quarters and found a device bearing a code from Jeremiah’s Black Card, revealing the source of Tetch’s hypnotic ability.
• Evelyn stabbed Ririko, and Tetch’s students helped bury her after Evelyn manipulated them into taking part.
• Oswald searched the wooded hills, found Ririko’s hand sticking out of the dirt, and dug her up alive.
• Ririko told Oswald she wanted to kill her attackers, and he carried her down the mountain while agreeing to help her get revenge.
• Ririko’s system upgraded her Word-Curse Control ability to affect people within 10 meters, with a 72-hour cooldown.
• Oswald wrapped Ririko in a blanket, put her in his Mercedes-Benz, and drove toward the Iceberg Lounge.

Evelyn saw Ririko back at Gotham University, apparently unharmed after Evelyn and two boys had buried her, and the group planned to kill her again. Ririko later confronted Evelyn at the basketball gym, revealed she remembered the attack, and claimed Evelyn could not hurt her.

• Evelyn spotted Ririko in class and messaged the two boys, who wondered how she had returned.
• Ririko reminded Evelyn that she still had Dick's username, frightening Evelyn into fleeing the classroom.
• Evelyn met the two boys and proposed luring Ririko somewhere deserted to kill her again.
• Evelyn followed Ririko to the basketball gym and watched her warmly interact with Dick.
• After practice, Evelyn confronted Ririko, who said she remembered the attack and that Evelyn could not hurt her.

Evelyn and two boys attacked Ririko at the basketball gym, but Dick later found all three attackers dead and called Bruce and Barbara. Meanwhile, Oswald encountered Jervis Tetch at the TV station before Victor interrupted their conversation by stabbing Tetch’s hand.

• Evelyn grabbed Ririko and signaled two boys carrying knives to approach.
• Ririko told them they could all go die, and she later left the gym before Dick returned from his shower.
• Dick found Evelyn and the two boys hanging dead from the basketball hoop, then called Ririko, Bruce, and Barbara.
• Bruce headed to the mayoral debate after learning Ririko was helping Oswald with his campaign.
• Oswald met Jervis Tetch in the TV station’s parking garage, where Tetch asked him about Ririko.
• Victor threw a dagger into Tetch’s hand, knocking his pocket watch to the ground.

Oswald, Ririko, and Victor confronted Professor Tetch, but the Tomie Organization sample attached to his pocket watch transformed into a mass of hair and flesh that engulfed him. They escaped the burning parking lot, while Bruce turned his car around after Ririko told him the debate was canceled and she was waiting at home.

• Oswald revealed that Butch had submitted evidence against Thorne to the Gotham Police Department, and Tetch asked to be taken to the police.
• Ririko appeared and ordered Victor to kill Tetch, but the pocket watch sprouted hair and flesh that swallowed him.
• Victor's bullets failed to stop the creature, so Ririko lured it away while Victor used Oswald's Mercedes-Benz and its gasoline to set the parking lot on fire.
• Ririko, Oswald, and Victor escaped the blaze on Victor's Harley-Davidson as explosions erupted behind them.
• Bruce saw smoke and fire near the television station, received Ririko's message canceling the debate, and told Alfred to drive them home.

Oswald’s election victory led to his mayoral inauguration dinner, where he began asserting his ambitions and clashed with Sofia Falcone. Ririko agreed to attend with Bruce, while Oswald’s confrontation with Sofia left the dinner tense.

• Victor and Ririko escaped the Iceberg Lounge after Victor threw Oswald into Butch, who lowered his gun when Oswald stopped him.
• News of student suicides, the Thorne Family scandal, and a deadly Gotham TV garage explosion spread as Oswald’s approval surged and he prepared his administration with Edward.
• At Wayne Manor, Ririko accepted Oswald’s invitation to the inauguration dinner for herself and Bruce, then told Victor to pull Bruce from the pool before he drowned.
• At the inauguration dinner, Oswald waited for Ririko while Edward tried to discuss policy, then approached Sofia Falcone to propose working together.
• Sofia dismissed Oswald as a figurehead, and Oswald and Edward mocked her appearance, prompting Sofia to angrily insult them.

At Oswald’s banquet, Ririko balanced her dealings with Oswald and Bruce while avoiding Jeremiah Valeska. When Jeremiah confronted her, she condemned him for not caring what had happened to Jerome, leaving him stunned by her concern for his brother.

• Sofia left the banquet, angry that Oswald’s mayoral position threatened her claim to become Heir.
• Bruce arrived with Ririko, and Oswald welcomed them while hiding his jealousy as Ririko reminded him of their arrangement.
• Commissioner Gordon introduced Jeremiah Valeska to Bruce as a police criminal psychology consultant, and Jeremiah watched Ririko teasing Oswald.
• After Oswald hurried away, Ririko sampled caviar chocolates until Jeremiah approached and accused her of avoiding him.
• Ririko told Jeremiah that he was the one she hated and criticized him for not caring whether Jerome was alive or dead, leaving Jeremiah shocked that she still cared about his brother.

After Jeremiah drugged Ririko’s champagne and brought her to his room dressed as Jerome, she mistook their encounter for a dream. She woke in Jeremiah’s windowless purple apartment, realized who had been with her, and accused him of tricking her.

• Ririko told Jeremiah she disliked him because he did not care about Jerome, and he suppressed his reaction.
• After drinking champagne, Ririko grew unsteady, collapsed near a lounge, and woke in bed with Jeremiah disguised as Jerome.
• Ririko believed she was dreaming and initiated an intimate encounter with the man she thought was Jerome.
• Ririko woke naked in an unfamiliar purple room, found her clothes, and dressed before Jeremiah appeared with water.
• Ririko checked Jeremiah’s infatuation value, saw it had risen to 28, and accused him of tricking her into sleeping with him.
• Ririko recalled the champagne and suspected Jeremiah had drugged it before carrying her away and pretending to be Jerome.

After escaping Jeremiah, Ririko tried to clean herself up and avoid explaining her absence to Bruce, but she was abducted by gangsters who planned to use her to extort Bruce and sell her to Maroni. The gangsters threatened her, unaware that she was already considering how to kill them.

• Jeremiah restrained Ririko and taunted her, but she threw a drink in his face, told him he would never be Jerome, and left.
• Ririko found Bruce's unanswered messages on her phone, then went to a café to fix her makeup and order breakfast.
• Ririko spotted Harvey Dent watching her in the café and hurried out before he could question her.
• A man drugged Ririko with a cloth and abducted her as she walked toward a clothing store.
• Ririko woke bound in an abandoned warehouse as the men debated selling her to Maroni and demanding ransom from Bruce Wayne.
• The gang's burly boss approached Ririko and told his men they would assault her before handing her over.

Harvey rescued Ririko from her kidnappers, and she punished them before the police arrived. After leaving the station, she told Harvey she and Bruce were not officially dating yet, then Bruce arrived and Harvey agreed to keep quiet about what he knew.

• Harvey attacked the four kidnappers, freed Ririko, and let her take revenge on them before the police arrived.
• At the Gotham Police Department, Bullock questioned Ririko and Harvey, and Ririko warned him that she would have the mayor keep an eye on him.
• Outside the station, Harvey asked Ririko why she had been wandering alone and whether she was dating Bruce; she said they were not officially together and that she did not need a man to protect her.
• Bruce arrived in his Lamborghini, checked that Ririko was all right, and heard Harvey explain that he had happened upon the kidnapping and intervened.

Ririko returned to Wayne Manor with Bruce and met his parents and Dr. Lazlo Valentin, the new Wayne Pharmaceuticals consultant whose interest in her was immediately unsettling. After Valentin proposed having her endorse his beauty products, Ririko led Bruce into her room to talk, leaving him flustered.

• Bruce apologized to Ririko for failing to protect her, and she reassured him before they went home.
• Bruce trained intensely under Victor, returning home with fresh bruises as Christmas approached.
• Thomas and Martha Wayne met Ririko at the manor, and Martha recognized how much Bruce cared about her.
• Thomas introduced Dr. Lazlo Valentin, founder of the Valentin Beauty Center and a consultant for Wayne Pharmaceuticals.
• Valentin appraised Ririko and proposed that she endorse his future beauty products, while Ririko rebuffed his assumptions about her beauty.
• Ririko tugged Bruce into her room to talk, and Bruce nervously followed her inside.

Ririko tried to hint that Bruce should give her a Christmas present, while Bruce mistook her words for encouragement to improve himself. Their near-kiss was interrupted by Victor, who dragged Bruce away for extra training after Bruce and Ririko promised to spend Christmas together.

• Ririko reminded Bruce that Christmas was coming and hinted that they should mark their first Christmas together with a special gift.
• Bruce said his family would host a charity gala and promised to change himself so he would be worthy of Ririko.
• Ririko reassured Bruce that she already found him attractive, and she drew close to kiss him.
• Victor emerged from behind Ririko's delivery boxes and interrupted them, prompting Ririko to demand that he leave.
• Victor dragged Bruce away for extra training, while Bruce and Ririko reaffirmed their promise to spend Christmas together.

Ririko agreed to visit Mayor Cobblepot at City Hall after he threatened to change his credit card PIN, while Harvey arranged to accompany her. Dick won the basketball game and celebrated with Ririko, but the rival captain Golin Stacy mocked Dick’s poverty and his relationship with her, leaving Dick angry but holding back.

• Harvey told Ririko that Mayor Cobblepot wanted her at City Hall and would change his card PIN if she refused, so she agreed to go with Harvey the next morning.
• Ririko asked Harvey why he was good at fighting, and he said his father had treated him badly after his parents divorced.
• Dick helped Gotham University defeat Blüdhaven University 103-86, then waved to Ririko from the court.
• Dick showed Ririko his trophy and promised to buy her a Christmas present.
• Golin Stacy and his teammates mocked Dick for working delivery jobs and being unable to afford Ririko’s clothes and accessories, while Harvey stopped Dick from punching them.

Ririko defended Dick from Goring by forcing him and his teammates to run naked around campus, then celebrated the win with Dick and Harvey at an upscale restaurant. When Goring’s mother appeared at a beauty clinic and the naked-running scandal went viral, Harvey worried Ririko and Dick would face consequences and warned Oswald that Ririko might not make their City Hall meeting.

• Goring provoked Dick, but Ririko slapped Goring and made him and the D.Haven team run ten laps around campus without their clothes below the waist.
• Ririko took Dick and Harvey to dinner, where Harvey ordered more than a dozen dishes in fluent French.
• Dick explained that Goring was the spoiled son of D.Haven’s mayor, and Ririko grew suspicious of the nearby Valentine Beauty Clinic.
• Dick and Harvey found photos of the team’s naked run trending online, while Ririko spotted Goring’s mother leaving the clinic.
• Harvey messaged Oswald that Ririko might be unable to meet him at City Hall the next day.

Ririko and Dick were taken to a holding cell after the mayor’s wife accused them of forcing her son to streak, and Dick revealed why Mayor Stacey’s family had targeted him. Bullock interrupted their flirtation as a man approached the cell.

• Alfred told Ririko the police had come over the accusation, and she agreed to go to the station while reminding him Harvey could testify.
• Bruce promised Ririko a lawyer, but Bullock handcuffed her and took her away from Wayne Manor.
• The photographer could not get a clear mug shot of Ririko, so Bullock sent her to a holding cell with Dick.
• Dick apologized and explained that Mayor Stacey’s gang had killed his parents and continued to target him afterward.
• Ririko dismissed the mayor and his son as insignificant, and Dick leaned in toward her before Bullock struck the bars to stop them.
• Bullock made room as a man approached from the far end of the corridor.

Oswald got Ririko released from the police cell and brought her to his new mayoral residence, where she told him about her clash with Stacey’s people. As Ririko prepared to spend the night, Oswald shared news of unexplained disappearances and hurried to make himself look presentable.

• Oswald had Bullock unlock Ririko’s cell and took her away, leaving Dick behind.
• Ririko told Oswald that Stacey’s people had started the trouble, while Oswald warned that D.Haven’s mayor was pressuring Gotham over the scandal involving his son.
• Oswald said Maroni’s people had stopped throwing their weight around and Carmine had handed most of his business over to him.
• Ririko asked about trouble in Gotham, and Oswald told her that young men and women had been disappearing without any clear pattern or faction claiming responsibility.
• Ririko went to bathe at Oswald’s residence, and Oswald put on a robe and cologne, imagining that she would spend the night with him.

Oswald hid Ririko in the bathroom when Edward came looking for him, but Edward deduced that Oswald had a woman in his room and left them alone. Ririko discovered Oswald’s family-sized box of condoms, then tied him to the sink and taped his mouth shut.

• Oswald rushed into the bathroom with Ririko’s belongings when Edward called to him from outside the bedroom.
• Edward entered the room, spotted Ririko’s high heels, and figured out that Oswald was hiding a woman.
• Edward offered to get Oswald protection, then left and locked the bedroom door for them.
• Ririko found Oswald’s family pack of condoms and teased him about being so well prepared.
• Ririko led Oswald to the sink, tied him to its copper pipe, and taped his mouth shut.

Ririko freed Oswald after he broke the bathroom faucet trying to escape his restraints, then invited him into bed and spent the night with him. In the morning, she made Oswald stop Dick Grayson's transfer to D.Haven, and he ordered the faucet repaired.

• Ririko found Oswald soaked beneath the broken faucet and freed him from his restraints.
• Ririko told Oswald to share her bed, then initiated an intimate night together.
• Butch told Oswald that D.Haven had ordered Dick Grayson sent back to stand trial.
• Oswald agreed to send Dick away, but Ririko warned him to get Dick back, so he ordered Butch to stop the transfer.
• Oswald told Butch to have the faucet fixed.

Bruce and his lawyers stopped Dick Grayson from being taken to D.Haven by negotiating with Mrs. Stacey, but Ririko unsettled her by revealing that her face was splitting open. The D.Haven officers turned back toward Gotham, and Ririko explained that Mrs. Stacey had visited the Valentine Beauty Clinic the previous day.

• Bullock told Oswald and Ririko that Dick had been sent toward D.Haven to stand trial, so they chased the convoy.
• Bruce and Harvey blocked the D.Haven police cars with a legal team and tried to negotiate Dick's release with Mrs. Stacey.
• Bruce threatened to support Mayor Stacey's political opponent, but Goring demanded that Dick be humiliated and assaulted.
• Ririko insulted Goring and told Mrs. Stacey that her face was splitting open, prompting Mrs. Stacey and Goring to flee.
• Harvey told the D.Haven officers to return to Gotham while he arranged Dick's bail, and Ririko said Mrs. Stacey had visited the Valentine Beauty Clinic.

Ririko prepared for the Christmas charity gala while Bruce continued training with Victor for a chance to attend. Bruce finally turned the tables on Victor, leaving Ririko wondering whether their close, compromising position had made Bruce develop feelings for him.

• Oswald revised the Interstate Deportation Ordinance, while Ririko waited for his infatuation to cool and learned that Mrs. Stacey had dropped her charges against Dick.
• Ririko chose a dress for the gala, congratulated Harvey on passing his exam, and invited Barbara to attend with her.
• Bruce trained against Victor on the morning of the gala, and Victor repeatedly defeated him while Dick, Barbara, and Harvey watched.
• Victor revealed the scars he had carved into himself and challenged Bruce to hit him, promising to tell Bruce who had taught him if Bruce won.
• Bruce blocked Victor's attack, endured a knee strike, and threw Victor onto the mat before pinning him beneath his body.
• Ririko watched Bruce and Victor grapple in a compromising position and wondered whether Victor had made Bruce develop feelings for him.