Chapter Summaries

Pamela grew closer to Chen Mo as he helped with her plant research and celebrated her new adviser, while she secretly resolved to make him love her without harming him. After Chen Mo left, Pamela revisited her pheromone research and began planning a safer way to control his feelings.

• Pamela eagerly welcomed Chen Mo to her greenhouse, and he brought her a missing diagram and helped examine a plant.
• Chen Mo learned that Pamela had a new adviser who let her keep her research and authorship, and he encouraged her to preserve her drafts.
• Pamela grew jealous when Barbara messaged Chen Mo, but he told her they were good friends and stayed to study her diagrams.
• Chen Mo borrowed Pamela’s book, reminded her to call if she needed help, and left; Professor Woodrow then approved her laboratory use and continued work on her project.
• Pamela reviewed her old records, recalled that her pheromones had controlled her stepfather and caused his death, and decided she would not use them on Chen Mo as she sought another way to make him love her.

Woodrue prepared to test his plant-conversion machine on Ashley while Batman’s team investigated equipment that could spread poison gas across Gotham. At the target building, Chen Mo spotted rapidly growing plants and realized Pamela might be in danger, so he called her.

• Woodrue learned Batman had uncovered his supply warehouse and decided to speed up human testing by inviting Ashley to his laboratory.
• Barbara traced stolen equipment and a possible citywide dispersal system to a building, so Batman, Robin, Chen Mo, and Peter set out to investigate.
• Chen Mo and Peter joked with the team on the way, then split off to approach the building from the east.
• Chen Mo found fast-growing branches emerging from a drain and warned Batman’s team not to touch them.
• Chen Mo remembered Pamela’s recent plant experiments and called her to find out where she was.

Pamela called Chen Mo for help after Professor Woodrow restrained her and began transforming her with plants. Chen Mo and Peter rescued her, but her roots had fused with the laboratory equipment, and after the heroes stopped Woodrow’s machine, Pamela realized she could sense and control plants and feared she was becoming the greatest danger.

• Pamela used a vine to reach her phone and told Chen Mo that Woodrow had tied her up and that plants were growing beneath her skin.
• Chen Mo and Peter entered the laboratory to free Pamela while Batman and Robin subdued Woodrow and stopped him from activating the console.
• Chen Mo and Peter discovered that roots from Pamela’s back had grown into the cultivation tank, so they carefully detached the tank and chair together.
• Batman, Chen Mo, and Robin dismantled the machine’s supports and disconnected its output, stopping the plants from spreading across Gotham.
• While Peter shielded her, Pamela sensed the plants’ pain and realized she could feel and control the plants throughout the building, leading her to fear that she had become a danger.

Pamela’s transformation overwhelmed her, and she fled into the river in an apparent attempt to die despite Chen Mo and Peter trying to save her. The search found only scattered plants and a lock of red hair, leaving Pamela missing as Chen Mo struggled with guilt over what had happened.

• Pamela became distressed when the damaged plant was moved, and Chen Mo urged her to control the spreading roots while they prepared to leave.
• Pamela’s body transformed into a mass of branches and roots, which rolled through the window and plunged into the river with Chen Mo and Peter pursuing it.
• Chen Mo and Peter dragged part of the plant mass ashore, but found no Pamela, and Barbara later spotted more debris being carried toward the river mouth.
• Chen Mo and Peter searched downstream while Batman and Robin coordinated the rescue, but they found only plants and a small lock of red hair.
• Chen Mo told Peter that he had arranged for Pamela’s teacher to be replaced, then questioned whether he could have changed what happened to her.

Peter stayed home to keep Chen Mo company while Barbara searched for Chen Mo’s missing friend, and Jason visited Wayne Manor after worrying about Peter. Chen Mo recognized Jason as the future Red Hood and broke down in tears, while Harvey discovered that City Hall had withheld warehouse records that were already compiled.

• Peter skipped school to stay with Chen Mo, who waited for news from Barbara about the search for his missing friend.
• Jason questioned Dick about Peter, then went with him to Wayne Manor and learned Peter was staying there with the Waynes.
• Chen Mo recognized Jason as the future Red Hood and cried; Peter explained that Chen Mo was upset because a friend had gone missing, and Jason stayed with them.
• At City Hall, Harvey learned that Woodrue had died in custody and argued with an official who blamed masked heroes and spread rumors about Bruce Wayne’s household.
• Harvey challenged the official over the missing warehouse records, then called the municipal archives and learned that the documents had already been compiled.

Harvey Dent challenged a new bureaucratic delay while Harleen Quinzell grew more aware of her feelings for Joker, and Victor Fries returned to his work after being insulted on campus. Pamela discovered that Wayne Enterprises was clearing trees, then found a tabloid photo of Chen Mo and resolved to rescue him from Wayne Manor.

• Harvey Dent learned that the archive had added a coordination-office approval requirement and set out to confront the office responsible for delaying his request.
• Harleen Quinzell questioned Joker about his contradictory stories, noticed his attention to her mood, and realized she had fallen for him.
• Victor Fries heard students call him a freak but returned to the laboratory and continued checking on Nora.
• Pamela found severed roots where Wayne Enterprises was clearing trees for a factory expansion and learned that the new workshop would provide jobs for local families.
• Pamela saw a tabloid photograph of Chen Mo, decided he should not remain in Wayne Manor, and vowed to get him out, even if Bruce Wayne had to die.

Chen Mo and Peter helped Batman investigate a municipal official’s murder, leading them to suspect Harvey Dent and confront him about his past killing of Milos Grapa. Harvey admitted to the murder and set a coin toss to decide whether he would surrender or keep killing, leaving the choice unresolved as the coin spun in the air.

• Chen Mo and Peter joined Gordon and Batman at the scene of a municipal official’s murder, where Chen Mo identified pollen on the victim’s clothes that matched a plant at Harvey’s home.
• Batman reviewed Harvey’s movements and old case files, connecting Harvey to the unsolved killing of Milos Grapa.
• Chen Mo, Peter, and Batman found Harvey organizing former mob associates at a bar and learned he had obtained the upstream documents for the Nuclear Bomb Warehouse.
• Batman confronted Harvey with the evidence, and Harvey admitted that he had shot and killed Milos Grapa to get results.
• Harvey told Batman that he would flip a coin: heads meant he would surrender, while tails meant he would keep killing; the coin spun as the chapter ended.

Chen Mo and Batman raided a gang hideout to arrest Harvey, but Harvey declared that he would rule the streets through lethal force and escaped during a gunfight. As Chen Mo and Batman searched for him, Batgirl reported that Joker had escaped from Arkham.

• Chen Mo knocked Harvey's coin away and angrily challenged him for using it to decide who would die.
• Harvey took the coin's landing as a sign to become the boss of Gotham's streets, threatening to kill anyone who defied his orders.
• A gunman opened fire as Harvey retreated into the storage room, and Chen Mo, Batman, and Peter subdued the attackers.
• Chen Mo and Batman searched the passage beneath the hideout but found no sign of Harvey.
• Batgirl told Chen Mo, Batman, and Peter that Joker had escaped from Arkham.

Harleen followed Joker to a chemical pool, where he transformed her appearance and named her Harley Quinn; she embraced his plans to prepare presents for Batman and Spider-Man. At Gotham University, Pamela manipulated Victor Fries’s resentment toward students, and Victor began assembling a weapon while his wife remained in the Cryogenic Chamber.

• Harleen admitted that she had struck an Arkham guard three times after he grabbed Joker, and Joker led her to a chemical pool.
• Joker pushed Harleen into the pool, then pulled her out; seeing her skin turn white, he called her Harley Quinn, and she eagerly accepted the name.
• Joker and Harley discussed Victor Fries and a plant attack, then left to prepare presents for Batman and Spider-Man.
• Pamela visited Victor at Gotham University and stirred his anger about students who had mocked and filmed him.
• Victor resisted acting at first because his wife Nora was in the Cryogenic Chamber, but Pamela persuaded him that the students should fear him.
• Victor checked Nora’s monitoring data, then gathered metal tubing and connectors to make a gun.

After Chen Mo returned to the Batcave, Batman ordered him examined because Venom was intensifying his anger. While helping Barbara monitor Gotham, Chen Mo tracked a Mr. Freeze attack and then spotted vines growing near Wayne Tower, which led him to suspect Pamela was alive; he left for the tower despite Batman and Barbara telling him to wait for backup.

• Chen Mo admitted that Venom intensified his anger, and Batman sent him back to the Batcave for an examination while Peter continued pursuing Joker.
• After the examination, Chen Mo helped Barbara monitor emergency reports and located Victor Fries attacking people downtown with a freezing weapon.
• Chen Mo used surveillance footage to help Batman, Peter, and Harvey rescue injured people and clear an alley during Victor Fries's attack.
• Chen Mo and Barbara spotted abnormal vines growing near Wayne Tower, and Chen Mo suspected that Pamela was still alive.
• Chen Mo ignored Barbara's warning to wait for backup and ran toward Wayne Tower after Batman told him to stop.

Pamela, now Poison Ivy, took Wayne Tower hostage to force Bruce Wayne to stop destroying forests, while Spider-Man tried to protect the employees and talk her down. Pamela’s pheromones failed to affect Chen Mo through his mask, so she kissed the mask and sent him into a bewitching illusion.

• Pamela dangled a manager over the atrium and demanded that Bruce Wayne close riverside factories and halt woodland clearing.
• Chen Mo arrived as Spider-Man, rescued the manager and employees, and tried to persuade Pamela to release them peacefully.
• Pamela attacked Chen Mo with vines and pheromones, but his mask filtered the toxin and he bound her vines with webbing.
• Pamela used the hostages to stop Chen Mo from escaping her grasp, then kissed his mask and drew him into an illusion.

Chen Mo stopped Poison Ivy and helped Victor Fries regain access to Nora’s care, then visited Pamela and reaffirmed their friendship. As their situations settled into supervised care, Joker and Harley Quinn prepared to break inmates out of both Blackgate and Arkham.

• Chen Mo resisted Pamela’s pheromones, freed the people trapped in the café, and defeated her after she released him.
• Peter and Batman subdued Victor Fries, who asked them to keep Nora’s monitoring and care going; Batman assured him that someone was looking after her.
• Chen Mo argued that Pamela needed treatment and a suitable place to live, while Bruce arranged supervised care for her and Victor Fries at Blackgate.
• Chen Mo visited Pamela at Arkham, returned her botany book, and promised to keep seeing her as a friend while they worked through their disagreement.
• Joker and Harley Quinn planned to open both Blackgate and Arkham and set their inmates free.

Chen Mo responded when Harley took over Arkham’s broadcasts and opened its cellblocks, then discovered that prisoners at Arkham and Blackgate were affected by laughing gas. The mass breakouts spread across Gotham as the city erupted in uncontrollable laughter.

• Chen Mo saw Harley broadcast footage of abuse at Arkham and announce that the patients could take their turn treating the doctors.
• Harley opened Arkham’s cellblocks, and Chen Mo armored up, contacted Batman, and helped evacuate staff while trying to contain the riot.
• Chen Mo stopped Alberto Falcone and Calendar Man from forcing Scarecrow to attack a medical worker, then rescued the captive.
• Chen Mo noticed Alberto and Calendar Man laughing despite their injuries and warned Batman that they might have been exposed to laughing gas.
• Batman reported a mass breakout at Blackgate, where prisoners were also laughing as they escaped.
• Laughter and chaos spread through Gotham as alarms sounded, police arrived, and people rushed into the streets.

Chen Mo searched Arkham Asylum for Poison Ivy, then turned on laughing patients and villains as Venom covered his armor. Peter arrived and stopped Chen Mo from continuing to beat Alberto Falcone, leaving the two Spider-Men facing off over how to handle the inmates.

• Chen Mo found Poison Ivy missing from her care ward and asked Batman to check the cameras while he followed the sound of laughter.
• Chen Mo beat Mad Hatter and several other patients who had attacked people, ignoring Batman's order to stop after one man was incapacitated.
• Bruce saw Venom covering Chen Mo and redirected Peter to Arkham while he headed to Blackgate.
• Chen Mo injured Calendar Man and Alberto Falcone, but spared Scarecrow after confirming he had not joined the violence.
• Peter helped an injured medical worker escape, then returned to Arkham and caught Chen Mo's wrist as he prepared to strike Alberto again.
• Chen Mo refused to back down, insisting that the inmates needed to be hurt enough to remember their wrongdoing.

Chen Mo and Peter helped Batman and the others rescue hostages from Arkham and Blackgate, while Joker used the chaos to abduct injured villains and infect them with the Batman Who Laughs Virus. The prisons’ hostages were rescued, but Joker escaped with his newly controlled followers and began turning them against Batman.

• Chen Mo restrained himself from beating Alberto Falcone further and helped Peter evacuate Arkham’s staff and injured prisoners.
• Chen Mo, Peter, Batman, Batgirl, and Robin fought armed inmates at Blackgate and rescued the hostages, while Black Mask and Killer Croc escaped through a rear passage.
• Chen Mo found Victor Fries safely caring for Nora in a sealed room protected by the filtration system he had installed.
• Chen Mo and Peter rescued Penguin from inmates, and Batman’s team learned that Joker had attacked the remaining personnel at Arkham and taken the injured villains.
• Joker brought Calendar Man, Mad Hatter, and Alberto Falcone to a safe house, where he revealed that they had been infected with the Batman Who Laughs Virus and made them agree to follow him.

Roman Sionis returned from Blackgate and began rebuilding his criminal crew, only to find Harvey Dent recruiting former gang members as well. Meanwhile, Pamela searched Gotham University for Chen Mo, then headed to Wayne Manor after deciding he was probably safe there.

• Roman learned that the injured Penguin was hospitalized at Wayne Hospital and that Cobblepot had become Gotham's most powerful underworld figure.
• Roman ordered the garage owner to contact his remaining allies and began recruiting men to restore his gang.
• Roman found Harvey Dent hiring former Falcone men and challenged him, but Harvey let the workers choose whom to follow.
• Pamela searched Gotham University and its greenhouse for Chen Mo but could not find him.
• Pamela concluded Chen Mo had likely been taken to Wayne Manor and set off to check on him.

Chen Mo confronted Bruce about his brutal methods and Gotham’s cycle of recapturing criminals, while Bruce warned that Harvey had begun killing people he judged guilty. After learning Pamela had visited the Manor, Chen Mo set out to stop Killer Croc, leaving Peter behind to finish eating.

• Batman used high-frequency ultrasound against Venom, but Chen Mo had hidden the symbiote in his armor and mocked Batman’s contingency plans.
• Chen Mo defended his attacks on Gotham’s criminals, while Bruce pointed out that Peter had been the one to stop him.
• Bruce showed Chen Mo files about Harvey’s recent killings, and they argued over whether criminals should be handled through the law or killed.
• Alfred told Chen Mo that Pamela had visited the Manor and left; Chen Mo asked Alfred to let her wait if she returned.
• After Batgirl located Killer Croc attacking a shop, Chen Mo left to confront him and told Peter to stay and finish his meal.

Chen Mo defeated Killer Croc and helped evacuate people during Gotham’s crisis, then heard Harvey explain why he was using force to organize relief. After an elderly woman comforted him, Chen Mo stopped a gunman from targeting her and discovered she could defend herself too.

• Chen Mo rescued a clerk from Killer Croc, then beat Croc and webbed him up.
• Batgirl told Chen Mo that police and Robin were on their way to assist with the evacuation.
• Chen Mo helped Harvey and his men clear roads and rescue people, then questioned Harvey about ruling through force.
• Harvey described corruption that had derailed his investigation into a relief home exploiting patients and their families.
• Chen Mo helped an elderly woman escape a shop, and she comforted him as he struggled to hold back tears.
• A gunman aimed at the elderly woman, but Chen Mo webbed his gun off target and saw her raise a smoking cane of her own.

Chen Mo and Jason helped residents and workers during the chaos in Gotham, rescuing people from a burning processing plant and arranging medical transport. The chapter left Chen Mo watching Harvey’s gang members help the injured as Wayne’s rescue team headed to the area.

• Chen Mo stopped an armed man from attacking an old woman, and Jason arrived to check that she was safe.
• Chen Mo learned that Jason’s parents had died and urged him to stay close while they helped others.
• Chen Mo broke open the processing plant’s chained doors and rescued trapped workers while Jason led them to safety.
• The plant’s owner and foreman argued over the locked doors, and Harvey took the owner’s vehicle keys to transport the injured.
• Chen Mo contacted Batgirl for medical support, then helped the foreman treat a worker’s bleeding arm.
• Harvey’s gang members loaded and assisted injured workers as Wayne’s rescue team headed to the area.

Chen Mo helped evacuate injured people from a Relief Station, seized a shipment of guns, and reconsidered how fear could make Spider-Man more effective against people who hurt others. Meanwhile, Joker ordered Roman to disrupt Harvey Dent’s relief efforts, setting up a new threat to the aid operation.

• Chen Mo and Harvey’s men reached the Relief Station, where Chen Mo webbed up armed men blocking the entrance and broke one man’s wrist when he reached for a gun.
• Chen Mo helped treat and evacuate the injured, confronted the Relief Station’s manager about an account book, and had the weapons left behind so the men could carry patients.
• Jason told Chen Mo that criminals had returned to robbing people soon after Spider-Man caught them, and Chen Mo began to understand why some people feared him.
• Vines caught a falling woman and her child, while Wayne Enterprises vehicles arrived to transport the injured and distribute water.
• Joker watched footage of Spider-Man and Harvey helping people, then ordered Roman to make the aid recipients fight over supplies and cause trouble for Dent.