Recaps

Batman investigated the Wayne Foundation’s school lunch records and found a coordinated fraud that claimed meals had been delivered and collected when children had received none. He uncovered evidence implicating the delivery, school, and education department systems, while the records still declared everything normal.

• Batman checked the delivery records and found that a truck supposedly delivered 1,900 meals in four minutes, though surveillance showed only two crates brought through the school entrance.
• Batman compared cafeteria footage with collection logs and saw successful meal claims recorded while students went without food and the serving window sat empty.
• Batman traced the false collection entries to an administrative computer using Ms. Morris’s operator ID, even though she was elsewhere at the time.
• Batman found that Irene Baker submitted a normal project inspection report while attending an online meeting, completing the report in nineteen seconds.
• Batman compared the foundation, provider, school, student, and education department records and found that every system showed the meals as accounted for despite the fraud.

Chen Mo tracked stolen Wayne Foundation relief meals to Red Velvet and stopped the club manager and gang members from controlling their distribution. After the meals ran out, he forced the manager to donate the club’s cash to the women who had gone without food.

• Chen Mo followed the meal crates to Red Velvet and subdued the guards at the back entrance.
• Chen Mo entered the club, disarmed two gang members, and webbed the manager after finding relief meals relabeled as employee food.
• Chen Mo halted the women’s scramble for meals and organized a line to distribute the food fairly.
• Chen Mo heard the five women left without meals describe their hungry children and pressured the manager to provide more help.
• Chen Mo took cash from the club’s register, gave portions to the five women, and entrusted the remaining money to the oldest-looking worker.

Chen Mo webbed up Red Velvet to keep the gang from retaliating against the women and decided he needed Batman’s help to protect them. After finding a crude Bat-Signal in the storage room, he switched it on and summoned Batman.

• Chen Mo sealed Red Velvet’s exits with webbing and restrained the employees and gang enforcers inside.
• Chen Mo reassured the women that he was keeping the gang from pursuing them, while the manager and enforcers denied they would retaliate.
• Chen Mo realized he could not protect the women or coordinate the police by himself and decided to find Batman.
• Chen Mo asked a Batman fan among the enforcers about a Bat-Signal, and the enforcer revealed one in the storage room.
• Chen Mo brought out the crude searchlight and projected its bat symbol into the rainy night.

Batman and Chen Mo exposed a gang’s theft of Wayne Foundation relief meals and exploitation of workers, then helped Gordon arrest the suspects and protect the victims. Batman continued investigating the delivery chain and drove Chen Mo away in the Batmobile.

• Batman found diverted Wayne Foundation relief meals in a refrigerated warehouse, restrained the gang members, and spotted Chen Mo’s unauthorized Bat-Signal nearby.
• Chen Mo kept the Red Velvet Alley gangsters contained and spoke with Batman about the club’s workers and witnesses.
• Batman contacted Gordon and explained that the gang had diverted relief meals and controlled backstage workers and their families.
• Gordon’s officers arrested the suspects and sent the women to the Wayne Shelter for protection.
• Batman said he would continue investigating the delivery chain, then invited Chen Mo into the Batmobile and drove off with him.

Chen Mo and Batman pursued the remaining distribution sites after Red Velvet and Cold Storage Seven were compromised, while three refrigerated trucks began moving to destroy evidence and eliminate witnesses. Black Mask learned that Spider-Man and Batman had disrupted his operation and revealed his plan to turn Wayne Foundation meals and money into leverage.

• Batman told Chen Mo that Red Velvet was one of several distribution points and drove him toward the Cold Storage Sorting Point.
• Batman detected three refrigerated trucks moving through the East End and said they might be carrying people, ledgers, or other evidence.
• Black Mask heard that Spider-Man had shut down Red Velvet and Batman had reached Cold Storage Seven, while Gordon's men and the Wayne Shelter took in witnesses.
• Black Mask dismissed Spider-Man as an irritating do-gooder and explained that he wanted to use Wayne Foundation meals and money as a leash on Bruce Wayne.

Batman and Chen Mo pursued three refrigerated trucks carrying a decoy bomb, a ledger signal, and hostages, then split up when the trucks took separate exits. Chen Mo rescued two captives and hurled their truck’s bomb into an empty parking lot, where it exploded; Batman remained in pursuit of the ledger truck.

• Batman and Chen Mo chased three refrigerated trucks, and Batman disabled the first, which exploded as an empty decoy.
• Batman identified a ledger signal in the second truck and hostages in the third, so Chen Mo pursued the hostages while Batman chased the ledger.
• Chen Mo fought his way past the third truck’s cutting wires, electric defenses, and armed enforcers as it sped into the North End.
• Chen Mo opened the truck and found two bound men beside a bomb with a thirty-one-second countdown, then rescued them and webbed them beneath a laundromat awning.
• Chen Mo diverted the truck into an empty parking lot and threw the bomb clear before it exploded, while Batman continued after the second truck.

Chen Mo abandoned his pursuit of Black Mask’s convoy after his Spider-Sense led him to the badly injured Penguin in an alley. He carried Penguin across Gotham’s rooftops for treatment, but had not decided where to take him and refused to bring him home.

• Chen Mo stopped to investigate a faint cry for help and found the injured Penguin in a rain-soaked alley.
• A flashback showed Black Mask’s killers attacking Penguin’s warehouse deal, beating him, and dumping him in the alley alive to frame Maroni and taunt Batman.
• Penguin deliriously called for his mother, and Chen Mo agreed to carry him while checking on his wounded men and securing Penguin’s umbrella.
• Chen Mo swung across the rooftops with Penguin on his back, reassuring him as he repeatedly called for his mother.
• Chen Mo ruled out taking Penguin home because Bruce was staying there and he did not want a villain in his apartment.

Chen Mo and Batman tracked Black Mask to a North End sorting center, where he had set a trap involving hostages, evidence, and children’s meal crates. They began fighting through his men and racing to save everything before the deadlines.

• Chen Mo left the injured Penguin on an abandoned laundry roof, where Batman arrived and arranged guarded transport to Blackgate.
• Chen Mo and Batman headed to the sorting center, where they found Black Mask’s crew waiting among tied-up workers, fake labels, and children’s meal boxes.
• Black Mask triggered chains, lowering cold-storage doors, and flames beneath the ledgers, while warning that the hostages, evidence, and food could not all be saved.
• Chen Mo and Batman rejected Black Mask’s forced choice and attacked his men; Batman disabled a floodlight and a flame nozzle while Chen Mo swung toward the hostages.

Chen Mo and Batman fought Scarecrow and Killer Croc while trying to rescue the hostages in Black Mask's warehouse. Scarecrow's Fear Toxin triggered Chen Mo's childhood-fire hallucination, and the battle continued with Batman bloodied and Scarecrow still rising.

• Chen Mo dodged Scarecrow's scythe, moved a hostage to safety, and confronted Scarecrow and Killer Croc as Black Mask began the feast.
• Chen Mo saved hostages from gunfire and falling shelves, while Batman arrived and helped hold the shelves clear of them.
• Chen Mo fought Scarecrow with webbing as Batman battled Killer Croc, who smashed them both into the long table.
• Chen Mo pulled a black ledger away from a brazier, but Scarecrow released Fear Toxin that made Chen Mo hallucinate a fire and children in danger.
• Chen Mo used a gas mask to resist the toxin and slammed Scarecrow into a crate, while Batman rose from the shattered table with blood at his mouth.

Batman and Chen Mo fought Killer Croc and Scarecrow while rescuing the hostages and securing Black Mask’s ledger and hard drive. After Black Mask announced that the main course was still coming, Batman ordered Chen Mo to pursue the villains.

• Batman caught the ledger Chen Mo had recovered and confirmed it was an index for Black Mask’s transport network.
• Batman freed the hostages while Chen Mo tried to disable the document case’s anti-tamper device, and they worked together to fend off Killer Croc and Scarecrow.
• Chen Mo redirected Scarecrow’s fear-gas canister away from the hostages, and Batman rescued the remaining captives.
• Chen Mo distracted Killer Croc and Scarecrow while Batman disarmed the document case and copied its hard drive.
• Scarecrow retreated toward cold storage as Black Mask announced that the main course had not yet been served, and a rolling shutter separated the warehouse sections.
• Batman reviewed the ledger and hard drive, then told Chen Mo to go after Scarecrow and Killer Croc.

Chen Mo and Batman entered Black Mask’s cold room and fought Killer Croc and Scarecrow. After Killer Croc destroyed Chen Mo’s Silk Launcher, Chen Mo revealed his organic webbing and landed a full-strength punch that sent Croc crashing into a refrigerated cabinet.

• Chen Mo and Batman forced their way beneath the rolling shutter and entered the cold room, where Black Mask announced them to the villains.
• Batman attacked Scarecrow while Chen Mo fought Killer Croc, dodging Croc’s charge and using the overhead rails to evade him.
• Killer Croc tore down the rail and crushed Chen Mo’s Silk Launcher, prompting Chen Mo to reveal that he could still shoot organic webbing from his wrist.
• Chen Mo webbed Killer Croc’s face, then punched him hard enough to drive him into a refrigerated cabinet and burst its refrigerant pipe.

Chen Mo and Batman defeated Killer Croc and Scarecrow in the cold storage room, then followed Black Mask’s broadcast to the surveillance room. There they discovered the real Black Mask tied up and the apparent host revealed as the Joker, who warned that the main course had not yet been served.

• Chen Mo steered Killer Croc into standing water, where Batman electrified and froze the water while Chen Mo bound him in webs.
• Batman overcame Scarecrow’s fear toxin, punched him, disabled his gas equipment, and restrained him.
• Black Mask applauded over the loudspeaker and announced that the fight had been a show, so Batman traced the broadcast to the surveillance room.
• Batman and Chen Mo avoided a shotgun trap and entered the surveillance room, where they found the real Black Mask tied beside a heating pipe.
• The person posing as Black Mask removed his mask and revealed himself as the Joker, who laughed after saying the main course had not yet been served.

Joker revealed that he had hijacked Black Mask’s operation and added a dangerous trap to the Wayne Group food crates before escaping into Gotham’s drains. Batman and Spider-Man returned to the warehouse to confront the crates, while Joker wondered which of them would become his favorite.

• Joker revealed himself in the surveillance room, taunted Batman and Spider-Man, and escaped through a hidden passage after forcing them to stop Black Mask’s bomb.
• Batman and Chen Mo defused the bomb, but Joker escaped through the underground drainage system after the passage was sealed and destroyed.
• Chen Mo and Batman discovered that the blue crates were rigged with blinking red devices, and Black Mask confirmed that Joker had tampered with his goods.
• Batman took Black Mask outside, where Chen Mo webbed him to a streetlight and left a note identifying him and his crimes.
• Joker walked through the drains wearing a purple shirt, played with the voice changer, and wondered which of Batman and Spider-Man would become his favorite.

Chen Mo, Batman, and Gordon rescued children trapped in booby-trapped relief food boxes at Black Mask’s warehouse. They discovered Joker had exposed Black Mask’s operation to stage a spectacle, leaving the next move uncertain.

• Chen Mo and Batman found children bound inside the food boxes, where pressure-triggered bombs would explode if the children were removed.
• Chen Mo used spider silk to support the boxes while Batman disabled the bombs, and Gordon’s officers and medics helped evacuate the children.
• Batman identified the bombs as Black Mask’s, and Chen Mo realized Joker had exposed the hidden operation as part of a show rather than added his own traps.
• Chen Mo threw the defused bombs through the warehouse skylight, where they exploded above the city as Gordon’s officers watched.
• Chen Mo rescued the last child, who held his finger and called him Spider-Man, and the team finished evacuating all hostages without casualties.

Chen Mo and Batman helped police rescue the children and arrest Black Mask, Scarecrow, and Killer Croc, while Joker escaped and threatened them with a coming surprise. At Blackgate, Penguin used his existing influence to humiliate Black Mask and establish his power over him.

• Gordon matched the ledger against container records as police identified rescued children and prepared to trace their families.
• Police sent Scarecrow to Arkham and Black Mask and Killer Croc to Blackgate after removing them from the warehouse.
• Black Mask warned Chen Mo that Joker had targeted him and Batman and was preparing a surprise gift.
• Batman promised to pay for Chen Mo's broken web-shooter and warned him not to act alone because Joker would return.
• At Blackgate, inmates mocked Black Mask, and Penguin confronted him, asserting his control over the prison and welcoming him inside.

After Batman suggested that Chen Mo needed a safe house and support, an explosion at the warehouse interrupted their conversation and sent them back to rescue trapped people. Once everyone was evacuated, Chen Mo sat exhausted by the roadside, reflecting on the chance to join Batman's family that the chaos had cut short.

• Batman told Chen Mo he needed a safe house, medical care, equipment, training, and a stable living environment.
• An explosion tore through the warehouse, and Batman and Chen Mo rushed back when Gordon reported people were still trapped inside.
• Chen Mo and Batman rescued the remaining officers and medical workers from the burning, collapsing warehouse.
• The warehouse's floor gave way beneath Chen Mo, but Batman caught his arm and hauled him to safety.
• After the fire was brought under control, Chen Mo sat outside the warehouse, exhausted and regretting that the explosion had interrupted Batman's apparent offer.

After a sleepless night, Chen Mo arrived at school and discovered that gangs and Wayne Enterprises were recruiting students for part-time jobs. When Barbara described a student reporting position, he rushed downstairs to apply, confident he could meet its high requirements.

• Chen Mo arrived at school exhausted and found the classroom empty, then spotted students lining up for job placements on the sports field.
• Barbara explained that Penguin had reorganized Gotham’s gangs and that their businesses were offering students community jobs as part of his bail conditions.
• Barbara told Chen Mo that applicants had to meet academic, attendance, and disciplinary standards, and that Wayne Enterprises also offered safer jobs and internships.
• Chen Mo became excited about a student reporting position and rushed downstairs to apply despite Barbara’s warning that its requirements were high.

Chen Mo failed to get a Wayne Enterprises reporting assistant job because he lacked photography equipment, so he emailed the company to pitch himself and request a camera. Barbara then told him about a new food oversight system, leaving Chen Mo cautiously relieved that students could get meals in a Gotham where gangs, Wayne Enterprises, and the police were keeping one another in check.

• Chen Mo interviewed for a reporting and editing assistant position, but the interviewer rejected him because he had no photography experience or camera.
• Chen Mo returned to class and told Barbara about the rejection, then emailed multiple Wayne Enterprises inboxes offering vigilante coverage in exchange for a job and camera funding.
• Barbara told Chen Mo that Wayne Enterprises and Penguin's side had opened food oversight inboxes with rewards for verified reports of food fraud and abuse.
• Chen Mo remembered the children found in food crates and reflected that, despite Gotham's problems, some students could now count on getting a meal.

Bruce Wayne connected Chen Mo to Spider-Man and the underground Gotham Phantom comics, then reviewed Chen Mo’s request for a student reporter job and camera. Bruce approved a trial position and began preparing upgraded gear, while leaving the question of guardianship unresolved.

• Bruce compared Chen Mo’s drawings with Spider-Man’s chibi signature and the Gotham Phantom comics, concluding they were likely by the same person.
• Bruce read Chen Mo’s long application for a Wayne Enterprises student reporter position and discussed it with Alfred.
• Bruce reviewed a reinforced red-and-blue Spider-Suit design and decided to offer Chen Mo a supervised Student Public Service Observer position with equipment and allowances.
• Bruce reopened Chen Mo’s unfinished guardianship dossier and agreed with Alfred that Chen Mo needed a clear choice.
• Bruce sent Chen Mo a formal offer email and added that Wayne Enterprises would cover reasonable fieldwork equipment damage.
• Bruce continued preparing the Spider-Suit while Chen Mo slept at school.

Chen Mo received a system reward that raised his strength limit to sixteen tons, while Helen Morris explained new school rules connecting grades and attendance to jobs, meals, and support. The school’s reforms gave students a reason to prepare for exams, and Barbara invited Chen Mo to dinner at her home.

• Chen Mo woke to learn that his physical strength limit had increased to sixteen tons.
• Students discussed their new job registration slips and ways to cheat on the next exam.
• Helen Morris announced that class placement and employment opportunities would depend on grades, attendance, and conduct, while promising tutoring and a minimum safety net.
• Helen Morris warned that cheating could cost students their job slots and access to meals, subsidies, and future class placements.
• Chen Mo noticed that students were beginning to take school more seriously because grades and attendance now offered practical benefits.
• Barbara invited Chen Mo to dinner at her home, and he asked for Chinese food.

Ms. Morris taught her students by day and worked for Gotham’s gangs at night, but Wayne Enterprises’ school support had made leaving the gang possible. She confronted a thug suspected of meddling at the school and questioned him about informants, meal theft, and contraband sales.

• Ms. Morris finished lecturing her students, then changed out of her teacher’s clothes at a laundromat after school.
• Damian-no asked Ms. Morris to identify promising students and report rumors about gang activity, but she warned him not to bring contraband into the classroom.
• Ms. Morris told Damian-no that her school wages now covered her expenses, though she agreed to keep watch at school because her ties to the gang were not easily severed.
• Ms. Morris questioned a captured thug about who was investigating school informants, whether he had tampered with meals, and who was selling things at school.
• Ms. Morris finished both her teaching work and her nighttime work, hoping school support could keep some students out of the alleys she had known.

Helen Morris killed Damian-no after refusing to help him recruit students into the drug trade, but an unexplained force made her laugh and left her wounded. Joker arrived, killed Damian-no, and declared Morris the opening act as the Killing Joke event began.

• Damian-no told Helen Morris to identify students who could be recruited to sell drugs and run errands.
• Morris pretended to agree, then shot Damian-no and ordered his henchmen to leave.
• Morris confronted Damian-no about exploiting children, but she began laughing uncontrollably as an unknown presence approached.
• Damian-no shot Morris, and she collapsed while still laughing.
• Joker shot Damian-no, then called Morris perfect for the opening act and announced that the Killing Joke event had begun.

Batman discovered that Joker had escaped Arkham after replacing himself with an impostor, while Chen Mo shared dinner with Gordon and Barbara across Gotham. The chapter ended with Gordon judging Batman a difficult but dependable presence and suspecting Spider-Man was too young to be operating as a vigilante.

• Batman entered Arkham and ordered the staff to open the maximum-security wing.
• Batman wiped away the impostor’s makeup and removed his green wig, then learned Joker had replaced him days earlier.
• Batman left as Arkham’s alarms sounded and laughter spread through the corridors.
• Chen Mo joined Gordon and Barbara for dinner, where they teased each other and discussed rumors about Batman and Spider-Man.
• Gordon described Batman as troublesome but someone people hoped would arrive, then said Spider-Man seemed too young.

Chen Mo cooked a successful dinner at Gordon’s home, while Joker explored the abandoned Happy Valley Amusement Park and remembered Spider-Man’s offer to work for smiles. Joker’s interest in Spider-Man lingered as he continued through the park with his guide.

• Gordon warned Barbara and Chen Mo to avoid dangerous rumors and focus on being students.
• Chen Mo insisted on cooking, carefully prepared a stew, and earned praise from Barbara and Gordon.
• Gordon served pie as the family ate while cold weather persisted outside.
• Joker’s guide led him through the abandoned Happy Valley Amusement Park, where Joker admired its decayed attractions.
• Joker recalled meeting Spider-Man and became fascinated by his claim that he accepted no tips, only smiles.

Joker toured an abandoned amusement park and decided to buy it and recruit Gotham’s desperate residents to create a park full of smiles for Spider-Man and the bat. At dinner with Barbara and Gordon, Chen Mo’s Spider-Sense erupted when someone knocked, and he warned them not to open the door.

• Joker explored the abandoned amusement park with its temporary caretaker and settled on the ruined circus tent as a fitting place for Spider-Man’s web.
• Joker stuffed bills into a clown statue instead of giving the caretaker a deposit, then said he would buy the park.
• Joker announced he would recruit Gotham’s unemployed, desperate, and dangerous people to staff the amusement park and give Spider-Man and the bat an entire park’s worth of smiles.
• Chen Mo enjoyed a home-cooked dinner with Barbara and Gordon, joking about his stew and his cooking.
• Someone knocked at Gordon’s door, Chen Mo’s Spider-Sense warned him of extreme danger, and he told Gordon and Barbara not to open it.