Chapter Summaries

Chen Mo, Barbara, and Dick investigated the mysterious Tea Party and learned that students who received hat-marked slips sometimes disappeared or left school. Fresh cards appeared in the hallway, naming Good kids and Bad kids and pointing the trio toward a dangerous story near the Old Auditorium.

• Chen Mo, Barbara, and Dick paid a student five dollars for information about the Tea Party, its scattered invitations, and students who vanished or left after attending.
• The student explained that Good Kids and Bad Kids were labels used to praise, monitor, and trade favors, but he did not know who assigned them.
• Barbara warned Chen Mo that registering the camera’s high-risk assignment could alert the school, its foundation, and Wayne Enterprises, and she proposed checking the nine names first.
• Dick volunteered to help investigate, and Chen Mo joked about him becoming a Robin before the school bell rang.
• A card slipped from a locker saying, “Good kids sit on the left,” while Barbara spotted a fresh pencil mark beside a name on her photographed list.
• Dick found another card reading, “Bad kids wear hats,” and Chen Mo tucked both cards away before declaring the Old Auditorium his first story.

Chen Mo, Barbara, and Dick connected a school tea-party scheme involving hats and student roles to Mad Hatter, while a Wayne camera flagged the incident. Bruce Wayne reviewed the warning, found Jervis Tetch listed as in custody despite a failed live check, and ordered immediate access to Arkham.

• Chen Mo examined the tea-party clues with Barbara and Dick and suspected Mad Hatter was using the school's sorting system to shape children into roles.
• Chen Mo suggested Mad Hatter might be trying to create a new Alice, and his camera flagged a high-risk campus incident.
• Bruce Wayne received the camera's data during a board meeting and grew suspicious of Chen Mo's knowledge and past.
• Bruce checked Jervis Tetch's Arkham file, found him listed as in custody after a review three days earlier, and failed to verify his live status.
• Bruce ended the meeting and demanded immediate live access to Arkham.

After Bruce told Chen Mo that the Mad Hatter had escaped Arkham, Chen Mo went to the Batcave to discuss the case. Bruce also warned him that he considered Venom a threat, but Chen Mo agreed to help search for the Mad Hatter.

• Chen Mo received a call from Bruce, who said Jervis Tetch was missing from Arkham and asked Chen Mo to meet him at the Batcave.
• Chen Mo left Dick and Barbara and used Venom to swing across Gotham to the Batcave.
• Bruce showed Chen Mo that someone inside Arkham had falsified the Mad Hatter's records and said an investigation was underway.
• Bruce told Chen Mo he did not trust Venom, and Chen Mo pushed back against Bruce's suspicions.
• Chen Mo agreed to help find the Mad Hatter and asked Bruce to have Alfred bring them a meal.

Chen Mo and Bruce tracked Jervis Tetch to an abandoned children's theater, where the Mad Hatter held twelve students hostage and manipulated them through hats, paperwork, and threats. As Tetch moved to place a ribbon in a frightened girl’s hair, Chen Mo waited in the ventilation duct for Bruce’s signal.

• Alfred brought Chen Mo tea and snacks while Bruce identified the theater as the site of the Mad Hatter’s tea party and explained how Tetch had hidden students’ disappearances in school records.
• Chen Mo and Bruce flew to the abandoned theater, agreeing to prioritize the hostages and approach quietly.
• Chen Mo entered through a roof vent and found a note warning that late children would get no candy.
• From the vent, Chen Mo saw twelve students divided between a restrained group and children wearing mind-control hats as Tetch described how he had silenced parents, teachers, and school records.
• Tetch selected a blonde girl to become Alice and raised a blue ribbon toward her hair while Chen Mo waited for Bruce’s signal.

Chen Mo and Batman rescued a group of students from the Mad Hatter’s forced tea party, freeing them from his mind-control devices and turning him over to the arriving police. Batgirl revealed that old Arkham credentials had opened the east gate, and Chen Mo found a hidden string of numbers on the invitation, suggesting someone else had arranged the delivery.

• The Mad Hatter tried to rename a girl Alice and fasten a device-laced ribbon in her hair while Chen Mo and Batman prepared to intervene.
• Chen Mo burst into the theater, restrained the Mad Hatter, and used webbing to stop the controlled students from attacking.
• Batman disabled the speakers, and Chen Mo removed the students’ black hats while Batman disconnected their restraints and removed their control devices.
• Chen Mo destroyed the Mad Hatter’s remote and ribbon, comforted the students, and kept the Mad Hatter from staring at the girl as police arrived.
• Batgirl told Batman that old Arkham credentials had opened the east gate and that the access logs had been wiped.
• Chen Mo found a hidden string of numbers on the soaked invitation and told Batman that the tea party had been the Mad Hatter’s, but the invitation had not.

Batman, Chen Mo, and Batgirl found evidence that someone had arranged the Mad Hatter’s escape and manipulated records, while Gordon secured the rescued children and the Hatter. As the team headed to Arkham to investigate, the east gate records began restoring themselves, and the tampering continued.

• Batman examined the wet invitation and found a concealed batch number, while Chen Mo suspected someone had prepared it for the Mad Hatter.
• Batgirl traced old access credentials to Arkham’s east gate and found evidence that its records had been wiped; Batman linked the gate record to the invitation number.
• Chen Mo blocked the Mad Hatter’s view of the rescued blonde girl, and Gordon ordered the Hatter transported alone with his restraints secured.
• Batgirl received electronic notices claiming the Mad Hatter had returned to custody before he had left the theater, followed by a notice that the east gate records were restoring.
• Batman told Batgirl to back up the records and Gordon to document the transport by hand, then he and Chen Mo took the Batplane toward Arkham as the restoration reached forty-two percent.

Chen Mo and Batman secured photographic evidence of the Mad Hatter’s crimes while debating privacy rules and Chen Mo’s field allowance. At Arkham, they found that the east service passage had been opened through a buried legacy authorization, but the records stopped before revealing who was behind it.

• Chen Mo showed Batman photos of the Mad Hatter’s equipment and concealed needle, and Batman sent the originals into the evidence database while keeping the children’s identities sealed.
• Chen Mo agreed to submit a carefully worded article and learned that his student reporting field allowance was pending review.
• Chen Mo and Batman arrived at Arkham before the Mad Hatter’s transport and checked the east gate’s recovery records.
• Batman traced the east-side access authorization through old facility records and found that staff on duty could not have accessed it.
• The recovery process stalled at forty-nine percent after Batman captured part of an old facility number, and Chen Mo wondered whether Penguin or the Court of Owls was responsible.

Chen Mo and Batman traced the records behind the Mad Hatter’s transfer to Arkham staff using temporary access and falsified paperwork, but the trail ended at an encrypted number and a partial facility code. Joker appeared in the corridor, singing about owls hidden in the walls, as the investigation turned toward the Court of Owls.

• Chen Mo and Batman questioned the east gate guard and identified an outsourced cleaner with temporary access to the service corridor.
• Chen Mo stopped the cleaner from fleeing, and Batman found a maintenance card issued by the transport coordination office.
• Batman and Chen Mo raided the transport coordination office and detained three men while recovering logs of deleted records, restored tasks, and backfilled transport forms.
• A clerk admitted that an unnamed encrypted number had instructed him to alter records, but the trail provided no direct identity for whoever held the key.
• Batman said Penguin still needed investigating, and Joker appeared humming a song about owls hidden inside Arkham’s walls.

Chen Mo and Batman contained the Arkham transfer scheme, and Chen punched Joker after Joker taunted them about Gotham. On the flight back, Batman told Chen that a red-suited, sword-wielding man had come looking for Spider-Man, and showed him the visitor’s surveillance footage.

• Joker hummed an eerie owl rhyme and taunted Chen Mo and Batman about Gotham while the Arkham evidence and transfer remained unresolved.
• Chen Mo punched Joker, and Batman ordered the guards to take him back into custody.
• Batman secured the records, told Arkham staff to hand three suspects over to Gordon, and left with Chen Mo aboard the Batplane.
• Chen Mo asked whether anyone had come looking for him during his four-month absence, and Batman said a red-suited man with two swords, guns, and a healing factor had searched for Spider-Man.
• Batman showed Chen Mo footage of the red-and-black visitor asking Gotham’s surveillance cameras whether they had seen Spider-Man.

Deadpool searched Gotham for Spider-Man and learned from Batman that Spider-Man was no longer in that world. He followed the trail to New York, was destroyed when the city and world collapsed, and slowly began regenerating in the void, where he resolved to meet Spider-Man later.

• Deadpool questioned Gotham punks about Spider-Man, fought Batman, and learned Spider-Man was not in that world.
• Deadpool left Gotham and followed Spider-Man’s trail to New York.
• Deadpool arrived as the city was being destroyed by a clash between superheroes and was swallowed by the world’s collapse.
• Deadpool regenerated from a tiny cell in the darkness until he could speak again.
• Deadpool greeted Spider-Man and accepted that he would have to wait longer to meet him.

Batman investigated the old numbering beneath Gotham and confronted the Old Gangsters attacking Penguin over his work with the Wayne Education Project. The next morning, Chen Mo found that the project’s student placements and allowances were being suspended, leaving him worried that the reforms were being undermined.

• Chen Mo returned to Gordon's House after Batman dropped him off, found Gordon's note about using the door, and ate a sandwich.
• Batman traced the old facility number to an abandoned streetcar station, where he found an old copper plate, numbered archive boxes, and signs that someone had recently entered.
• Batman stopped the Old Gangsters from attacking Penguin and learned they resented his logistics work for the Wayne Education Project; one gangster warned that the old streets had an owner.
• Chen Mo read the published report about the tea party incident and saw that his fieldwork allowance had been approved and his article payment was pending.
• Chen Mo arrived at school and saw notices suspending work-study placements and postponing transportation allowances, then concluded that something was wrong.

Chen Mo, Barbara, and Dick saw how Gotham’s gang violence had suspended students’ work placements, while Chen Mo listened to one student describe losing his job. Barbara then reminded Chen Mo that his birthday was approaching, a fact he had forgotten.

• Chen Mo and Barbara discussed how fighting between the Maroni and Falcone families had disrupted off-campus placements, especially at businesses in dangerous neighborhoods.
• Dick joined them and described students’ reactions to the closures, while a student told Chen Mo that his auto-repair shop had been damaged and told him not to come in.
• Students sang a grim rhyme about unemployment and gang violence, and Chen Mo recognized its references to the Owls.
• Barbara reminded Chen Mo that his birthday was near, and Chen Mo checked his records and realized he had forgotten it.

Chen Mo rescued a schoolgirl from men recruiting her into sexual exploitation, then returned to the Gordons’ home and found that Gordon had made him a bedroom. When dispatch reported that Batman was pinned down by a Talon, Chen Mo suited up and rushed into the night to help.

• Chen Mo used his webbing to stop three men in an alley, free a schoolgirl, and preserve evidence for the police.
• Chen Mo received his article payment and celebrated that he had earned money of his own.
• Chen Mo found that Gordon had cleared out the storage room and made it into a bedroom for him, with no rent required in exchange for his cooking.
• Gordon received a dispatch report that Batman had been pinned down by a Talon, and Chen Mo transformed into his combat suit.
• Chen Mo left by the door, then swung into the Gotham night to reach Batman.

Chen Mo helped Batman fight a Talon beneath the old courthouse, uncovering evidence of the Court of Owls before the Talon escaped underground. Back in the Batcave, Batman connected the Court to Gotham’s old facilities and opened the Holiday Killer case as Thanksgiving approached.

• Chen Mo freed Batman from Talon’s attack and helped drive Talon away from the underground fissure.
• Batman and Chen Mo found an owl emblem and an identification number linking Talon’s armor to Arkham’s east side gate and Old Town’s abandoned tram station.
• Talon warned that the Court was watching before an underground mechanism carried him away.
• Batman identified the Court of Owls and reviewed evidence connecting the group to Gotham’s old facilities.
• Batman opened the Holiday Killer cold case, which began on Halloween, as Thanksgiving drew near.

After the Court of Owls ambush, Bruce tested Venom and found it was feeding on Chen Mo, then let Chen Mo stay at Wayne Manor. Their dinner brought the Holiday Killer’s ties to the Falcone Family and Johnny into focus, while Harvey Dent’s press conference loomed the next morning.

• Bruce compared Chen Mo’s combat readings with his baseline, found that Venom was consuming him, and took a sample while Chen Mo changed into Bruce’s old pajamas.
• Bruce brought Chen Mo upstairs for dinner, where they reviewed cases linking the Mad Hatter’s holiday schemes to the Holiday Killer investigation and the Falcone Family’s money laundering.
• Bruce explained that Johnny had been ordered to deal with a bank president but died on Halloween, and Chen Mo recognized Harvey Dent in a news report announcing his arrival in Gotham.
• Venom’s sample showed low-level absorption of nutrients and repair-related substances, with long-term risks unknown, so Bruce asked Chen Mo to stay at Wayne Manor for monitoring.
• Bruce returned Venom to Chen Mo and noted that Harvey Dent would hold a press conference about the Holiday Killer at nine the next morning.

Chen Mo started school after spending the night at Bruce Wayne's home, where Barbara teased him about the overnight delivery and discovered he had made a Batman fan comic. Harvey Dent held a press conference about the Holiday Killer case as Gotham's vulnerable students were drawn toward dangerous work, and Dick invited Chen Mo and Barbara to his circus performance on Chen Mo's birthday.

• Bruce arranged clothes and daily necessities for Chen Mo, then dropped him off near school while warning him not to wander off.
• Barbara confronted Chen Mo about staying at Bruce Wayne's home and the delivery of clothes and supplies tailored to him, then realized he had created the Gotham Phantom fan comic.
• Chen Mo, Barbara, and Dick watched Harvey Dent's press conference about the Holiday Killer case during class.
• The teacher marked several students absent, while messages and a delivery slip revealed that some were being recruited for cash work; Chen Mo and Barbara discussed Gotham's cycle of poverty and lost opportunities.
• Dick gave Chen Mo two tickets to Harry Osborn's Circus for Chen Mo's birthday and invited Barbara as well.

Chen Mo used Spider-Man to stop a Maroni gang operation that exploited children, but the camera he had set up captured another child taking over the newsstand after the police left. The chapter ended with Gotham’s cycle of sacrificing children to the Moloch Machine still turning.

• Chen Mo set up a camera near the school and watched Maroni take over a block previously marked by Penguin.
• Chen Mo caught children distributing hidden packets and confronted them as their adult handlers watched from a laundromat.
• Chen Mo webbed up the children and four adults, seized the gang’s cash and contraband, and left everything for the police.
• Chen Mo gave a girl who needed money a wallet taken from the adult gang members, and she accepted it instead of getting into a waiting car.
• Chen Mo reviewed the camera photos and saw a smaller child retrieve another burner phone from beneath the newsstand after the police had left.

Harvey Dent brought Bruce Wayne evidence that children were being used in Gotham street operations and pressed him to help protect them through Wayne’s education program. Harvey sought to meet student reporter Chen Mo, whose photographs documented the operation, while Bruce resisted exposing him and the children to the prosecution.

• Harvey gave Bruce the Holiday Killer investigation files and explained that Falcone-affiliated companies had sought loans from Wayne Enterprises before Johnny Viti was killed.
• Bruce opened Chen Mo’s photographs, and Harvey compared cooperative Spider-Man pictures with the unflattering shots of Batman.
• Bruce and Harvey reviewed photographs showing children delivering goods and watching streets while armed adults operated from a laundromat, and Harvey identified the images as possible evidence.
• Harvey argued that the children needed witness protection and schooling through Wayne, while Bruce warned that revealing their neighborhoods and routes could put them at risk.
• Harvey insisted that the adults who profited should face charges for each child they used, challenged Bruce’s control over the case, and asked to meet Chen Mo.

Chen Mo challenged Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne to provide immediate, practical support for endangered students before asking them to testify or complete lengthy forms. After the program began preparing food, transit cards, rooms, and cash for that night, an explosion struck Harvey’s home while Gilda was inside.

• Chen Mo showed Harvey the original camera files and confirmed that nobody touched the camera, though he had not witnessed the child retrieve a burner phone.
• Chen Mo refused to reveal his source and questioned how quickly the students would receive money and protection.
• Bruce arranged immediate meals, transit cards, temporary rooms, and cash, while Harvey sent victim assistance staff to collect only voluntary contact details.
• Chen Mo left the office as staff prepared supplies, and an unknown person watched Harvey’s car leave and reported his movements.
• Harvey arrived home while Gilda prepared dinner, and an explosion blew the Dent home’s windows outward and sent fire into the street.

Chen Mo questioned Bruce about Harvey Dent’s investigation and Bruce’s surveillance of him, then rushed toward Dent House after a drone captured an explosion there. The chapter left Spider-Man swinging toward the blast while Bruce prepared to follow.

• Chen Mo returned to Wayne Tower and persuaded the staff to let him go back upstairs to speak with Bruce.
• Chen Mo asked why Harvey was investigating the Holiday Killer, Falcone, and the students in his photos, and Bruce explained Harvey’s prosecution work and his interest in the evidence.
• Chen Mo questioned Bruce’s trust in Harvey, and Bruce admitted Harvey took on too much while still trying to restore the law in Gotham.
• Chen Mo discovered Bruce had sent drones to monitor Harvey and asked whether the relief supplies contained listening devices.
• A drone’s feed showed an explosion engulfing Dent House, and Chen Mo transformed into Spider-Man and swung toward the address as Bruce prepared to follow.