Chapter Summaries

Batwoman confronted Joker about the Gotham Police Department murder, but he mocked her and revealed that he had captured the assassin and hidden him away. He challenged her to join his game, leaving the first stage about to begin.

• Joker revealed himself to Batwoman and fought her while taunting her about a gift and a game.
• Batwoman asked Joker what he knew about the Gotham Police Department murder, and Joker hinted that he knew the victim had been replaced.
• Joker used a concealed Nth Metal spike to shock Batwoman and break free from her grip.
• Joker threw Batwoman a photograph showing a captured person in a Deathstroke uniform guarded by masked mercenaries.
• Joker declared the captive a clue sought by the Justice League and invited Batwoman to begin the first stage of his game.

Deathstroke and his companions visited the Doom Patrol after Robotman reported that Chief was acting strangely and Guy seemed close to losing control. Rita led them to the study, where they found the team gathered with several troubled new members.

• Deathstroke and the Justice League arrived at the Doom Patrol mansion and found Robotman repairing the team's bus.
• Robotman said Chief seemed possessed and was making a scene inside, so Deathstroke decided to investigate while seeking Guy's help.
• Rita welcomed Deathstroke and warned that Chief had an inexplicable problem and Guy was close to going mad.
• Rita led the group to the study, where Negative Man explained that the Doom Patrol sheltered people whose powers had made them outcasts.
• Deathstroke met Folk Song, Flex Mentallo, Casey Brinke, and Trinone among the gathered Doom Patrol members.

Deathstroke and his companions visited the Doom Patrol, where the Chief behaved like a deranged cat and proved impossible to restrain. As Negative Man introduced the team, Deathstroke and Bobo suspected something was wrong with the Chief after he effortlessly dodged Deathstroke’s attempt to grab him.

• Deathstroke took charge of the conversation and asked Negative Man to introduce the Doom Patrol while he examined the Chief.
• Donna greeted Element Woman, Shazam hid in a corner with his phone, and Wally and Bobo settled in as Negative Man began introductions.
• Negative Man introduced Steve Dayton, who had recently returned after being trapped in the Reality of the Chin.
• Bobo wondered whether a Voodoo curse had transformed the Chief, but Deathstroke dismissed the theory and tried to lure him down with catnip.
• Negative Man introduced Flex Mentallo, who demonstrated his bodybuilding pose and described his unusual muscle-based powers.
• After the catnip failed, Deathstroke tried to seize the Chief with Force Choke, but the Chief dodged nimbly, and Bobo agreed that something was fishy.

Deathstroke’s group met the new recruits while Wally chased the transformed Chief across the ceiling. The introductions ended in chaos when the Chief sprayed liquid over the room and Wally called for help.

• Deathstroke gave Wally Kang’s helmet to protect his face as Wally pursued the cat-like Chief around the ceiling.
• Trinone introduced herself as a wealthy, eccentric magic trainee whose only spells turned people into ice cream or cotton candy.
• Shazam greeted Trinone, who overwhelmed him with questions and offers while he played a game on his phone.
• Cassie introduced herself as an ordinary girl, though Deathstroke knew she was an alien with machine-talking and Superman-like abilities.
• Wally caught the Chief, but the Chief sprayed liquid as Wally restrained him, sending everyone else fleeing.

Wally sacrificed himself to shield his teammates from Chief’s urine, only to learn he had not died. After Wally left to clean up, Su Ming tried to summon The Mother through Beautiful Polly and instead invited Polly to dance, leaving her pleased and ready to accept.

• Wally used his body to protect his teammates from Chief’s spray, and Deathstroke knocked Chief unconscious before Wally could mistake the incident for his death.
• Beautiful Polly appeared beside Wally, and Deathstroke explained that she was one of Guy’s personalities.
• Wally realized he was safe, then ran off to find someone to disinfect him while Bobo examined Chief.
• Su Ming asked Polly to call out The Mother, but Polly refused because she did not want to give up her time.
• Su Ming invited Polly to dance, and Strangle cleared Chief and the stained carpet from the room before Polly accepted his hand.

Su Ming arranged a series of elaborate dance settings to draw Polly out, but the evening’s spectacle captivated her instead. Polly departed, leaving The Mother in control and teasing Su Ming, who turned to confront Adjutant.

• Su Ming ordered Adjutant to create a time bubble and project a grand ballroom for him and Polly to dance in.
• Su Ming danced with Polly through several imagined settings, while Adjutant changed the scenery and audiences to increasingly bizarre locations.
• Su Ming silently warned Adjutant to stop after she used Lickers and G3 William as applause props, and Adjutant changed the setting to a galaxy.
• Polly handed Su Ming her fan, said she had enjoyed the evening, and left as The Mother took over.
• The Mother teased Su Ming about inviting her to dance, and Su Ming summoned Adjutant to answer for her antics.

Su Ming questioned the Adjutant about Gin’s secret order to help him attract women, then had The Mother investigate the phone taken from Delly. The recovered messages pointed to Blüdhaven, while the phone’s hidden virus bore the mark of Brother Eye.

• Su Ming learned that Gin had ordered the Adjutant to help him attract more women, and he told the Adjutant to inform him if Gin issued further orders behind his back.
• Bobo passed the enemy’s phone to Su Ming, who asked The Mother to recover its messages and trace where they had been sent.
• Su Ming told The Mother that Delly had received help from someone called “My Lord” and was trying to replace him.
• The Mother found a hidden virus designed to kill high-intelligence AIs and identified its logo as Brother Eye’s.
• The Mother restored Delly’s message inbox and traced the sending base station to Blüdhaven.

Su Ming discussed Blüdhaven and Gotham with The Mother, then compensated her for her help by sharing movie memories. The chapter ended with Su Ming asking Bobo what was wrong with Chief, who had apparently been affected by a curse or blessing.

• Su Ming explained why Blüdhaven had been devastated and later become an unremarkable city.
• Su Ming told The Mother that Gotham drew major crises and that the military had considered destroying it.
• Su Ming asked The Mother what she wanted as payment, and she said she could not think of anything she could bring back to her station.
• Su Ming had Strangle transfer movie memories into The Mother's mind as payment, and she teased him about watching them with Beautiful Polly.
• Su Ming handed the phone to Bobo and asked what illness Chief had, and Bobo said it was a curse or perhaps a blessing.

Bobo deduced that the Chief had been cursed by the Cheetah Goddess Bastet after analyzing the pink ballet tutu he wore. The team suspected the curse involved a second Hunting Blade and decided they needed to save the Chief and learn who had stabbed him or where he encountered the artifact.

• The others described the Chief’s past perversions, forcing Bobo to revise his reasoning about the tutu.
• Deathstroke pointed out that the Chief did not usually wear skirts, and Rita confirmed the pink tutu was unfamiliar.
• Bobo explained that pink tutus were associated with ballet works tied to nature and concluded that the Chief’s outfit was a dying message.
• Bobo identified the Chief’s condition as Bastet’s curse, which gave him speed while stripping away his human rationality.
• Donna noted that Bastet’s Hunting Blade was in the Hall of Justice, but Bobo suggested it might have been one of a pair.
• Bobo proposed that the African Pantheon might also be in danger and said they needed to save the Chief to find out who stabbed him or where he found the blade.

Su Ming summoned Dream of a Thousand Cats to cure Chief, who had been cursed into a leopard-like creature, and asked the Dream for information about the Book of Destiny. Dream revived Chief by setting him on fire and said it could not read the book.

• Donna explained that Chief resembled someone infected by Cheetah rather than a true leopard, while Su Ming concluded that an artifact had given him super speed.
• Su Ming sent Wally to fetch a cat, knocked the stray unconscious, and used it to summon Dream of a Thousand Cats.
• Dream of a Thousand Cats refused to explain the Book of Destiny but agreed to heal Chief, then set him ablaze.
• Dream said it had changed Chief’s setting so he could be reborn from the flames, and Su Ming declined its invitation to play.

Batwoman recovered the Joker’s dangerous fireworks, then learned that his next stage lay northeast of Gotham. Batman calculated the destination as a reef 38 kilometers offshore and headed there with the Joker as his passenger.

• Batwoman recovered the Joker’s fireworks after spotting the smiley faces he had painted on them.
• The Joker warned Batwoman that Deathstroke’s progress and the fake Deathstrokes might be connected to a larger game.
• Batwoman threatened to leave Gotham and investigate Deathstroke, persuading the Joker to give her a clue about the next stage.
• Batman worked out that the clue meant 38 kilometers northeast, toward a reef off Gotham’s coast.
• Batman drove toward the destination in the Batmobile while the Joker joined him and told a joke.

Batwoman followed Joker to a submerged hideout, where he revealed Catwoman and a man trapped in separate seawater cubes. Joker forced Batwoman to choose which one to save, leaving her facing his deadly game.

• Batwoman drove the Batmobile through Gotham’s sewers and fought off Joker’s giant octopus in the sea.
• Batwoman reached Joker’s lighthouse island and descended in an elevator to an underwater room.
• Joker showed Batwoman Catwoman and a long-haired man imprisoned in separate cubes behind thick glass.
• Joker played footage of Catwoman with the man and claimed she had been unfaithful to Batwoman.
• Joker demanded that Batwoman choose one hostage to save while the other would be crushed by seawater pressure.

Batman rescued two captives from the sea, then learned he had been acting under the influence of The Batman Who Laughs Virus and fled to continue the investigation. Meanwhile, Su Ming and his group arrived in Blüdhaven and discussed the city’s quiet atmosphere and forgotten history.

• Batman ignored the Joker’s apparent ultimatum, broke through the cage wall, and rescued two people from the seawater.
• Green Lantern told Batman there had been no Joker and that the captives were men in Deathstroke uniforms, not Catwoman and her companion.
• Green Arrow showed Batman satellite footage indicating that Batman had captured and drowned the two men, and warned that he had lost control because of The Batman Who Laughs Virus.
• Batman insisted he was fine, ordered the investigation to continue, and drove away in the Batmobile.
• Su Ming and his group reached Blüdhaven, where Donna and Wally recalled visiting the city before, while Shazam agreed that he felt something was missing.

Deathstroke sensed something ominous over Gotham but found no immediate trouble in the surveillance footage, so he decided to proceed with his team’s operation in Blüdhaven. Bobo laid out their three objectives as the group prepared to investigate.

• Deathstroke asked the Adjutant to investigate Gotham after his instincts warned him something was wrong.
• The Adjutant showed Batwoman traveling home, Joker hunting his own gang members, and the Justice League capturing two impostors posing as Deathstroke.
• Deathstroke ordered the Adjutant to keep monitoring Gotham and called for Howard and Tesla to help improve their surveillance equipment.
• Deathstroke gathered the team and had Bobo list their goals in Blüdhaven: find the person who contacted Delly, locate an Egyptian deity and recover a Hunting Blade, and investigate New Checkmate and New Colony.
• Shazam admitted he had not understood the plan, and Bobo told him to follow along.

Su Ming followed the Chief’s discoveries to Blüdhaven, adding the Shogi Society and New Colony to the search for the person who sent the text and the wielder of the Hunting Dagger. The group reached Nightwing’s former base to investigate the city, where a hostile homeless man drew Deathstroke’s attention.

• Su Ming learned that the Chief had found signs of New Checkmate and Colonel Kaine’s New Colony forces in Blüdhaven, and that someone had attacked him with a Hunting Dagger.
• Su Ming decided to investigate the Shogi Society, New Colony, and the original text-message lead, while the Mother stayed behind in the Main Dimension.
• Su Ming’s group flew to Nightwing’s former secret base, and Donna offered to help them access its surveillance system.
• The group arrived in the Ford Joseph District and prepared to enter Nightwing’s covered cake shop so Bobo could crack the base’s password.
• A homeless man shouted at the masked vigilantes to leave Blüdhaven, and Deathstroke turned toward him with a sinister laugh.

Deathstroke met the homeless former Gotham villain Blockbuster, who explained that he wanted masked vigilantes out of Blüdhaven to keep the city from becoming like Gotham. Blockbuster agreed to share what he knew in exchange for money and for Deathstroke to take the young people with him away from the city.

• Bobo urged Deathstroke not to let Strangle eat the vagrant, and Deathstroke had Strangle drag him over for a conversation.
• The vagrant recognized Deathstroke and introduced himself as Blockbuster, an old adversary of Batwoman who had fallen into ruin.
• Bobo recalled Blockbuster's history, and Deathstroke gave him food and liquor before asking why he opposed masked vigilantes.
• Blockbuster said he did not hate Batwoman but feared masked people would turn Blüdhaven into another Gotham by multiplying and driving the city mad.
• Deathstroke offered Blockbuster money for information and a warm place to spend his final days if he would help get Nightwing's young associates out of Blüdhaven.
• Blockbuster accepted the deal, and Deathstroke called Flash over to pay him.

Su Ming questioned Blockbuster about who controlled Blüdhaven and why New Checkmate and New Colony had arrived. Blockbuster revealed that both groups had occupied port areas the previous week, but he knew nothing more.

• Su Ming arranged a cheap room for Blockbuster, and Wally reluctantly paid for it before Su Ming gave him gold coins in exchange for the cash.
• Blockbuster told Su Ming that Blüdhaven had no vigilantes and relied on its citizens and honest police, while its thirty-four gangs were small-time.
• Su Ming asked Blockbuster why New Checkmate and New Colony had appeared in Blüdhaven.
• Blockbuster explained that New Checkmate had occupied a dock district in Fear Gorge and New Colony had taken Bick Beach, with both groups arriving the previous week.
• Blockbuster said he had no further information about what the groups were planning.

Su Ming questioned Blockbuster about the Hunting Dagger, Blüdhaven’s museums, and the Court of Owls before sending the old man away. He then met Tarantula, gave her a way to bypass Titans Tower’s defenses, and stopped her when she mentioned Batwoman attacking a guest dressed as The Batman Who Laughs.

• Su Ming asked Blockbuster about Blüdhaven’s museums and whether one displayed a curved dagger with a cat-paw relief, but Blockbuster did not know the exhibits.
• Blockbuster said Blüdhaven’s wealthy families had rebuffed the Court of Owls and advised Su Ming to investigate the sewers.
• Su Ming gave Blockbuster a blanket and sent him away after the old man warned him to stay away from Gotham.
• Su Ming caught Tarantula listening outside Nightwing’s shop and told her that Nightwing was at Titans Tower.
• Su Ming gave Tarantula a Super EMP to help her get past Titans Tower’s defenses and reach Nightwing.
• Tarantula told Su Ming that Batwoman had beaten an innocent guest dressed as The Batman Who Laughs, and Su Ming asked her to explain what happened.

Su Ming and his team investigated the place where Chief had been attacked, following Nightwing’s surveillance footage to an abandoned theater. They entered together after Strangle detected several living people inside, and Su Ming prepared to confront whoever was leading them.

• Bobo searched Nightwing’s surveillance recordings and found footage of Chief leaving Blüdhaven from a theater rooftop.
• Su Ming led Donna, Wally, Shazam, and Bobo to the theater instead of letting anyone scout it alone.
• Su Ming found the theater abandoned and forced open its locked entrance.
• Strangle detected several living people inside, so Su Ming told the team to prepare for a fight.

Deathstroke and his companions searched the abandoned theater for the Hunting Blade while discussing the danger of combining its curse with shapeshifting technology. Su Ming left them heading toward the rear storage rooms, determined to contain the threat before it spread.

• Deathstroke and Bobo searched the principal dancer’s dressing room, found it empty, and continued deeper into the theater.
• Bobo asked whether the Hunting Dagger was connected to the Clayface Plasma Nanites, and Deathstroke said there was no direct link yet.
• Deathstroke warned that combining shapeshifting plasma with Leopard Transformation’s contagious curse could create a dangerous horde of controllable, shape-changing monsters.
• Donna suggested the enemy’s experiment involving Zeus might involve combining technology with divine power, while Wally and Shazam reacted to the idea and Deathstroke’s Lightsaber.
• Su Ming explained that they needed to control the Hunting Blade’s curse before it worsened, then reassured Bobo that he was his friend as they headed toward the rear storage rooms.