Robin #176

BATMAN R.I.P. - GATHERED PIECES

Robin recalls the events that happened a year ago, when he and Nightwing followed the trail of criminals across Europe. During this time, Robin realized that his outfit wasn't good enough to cause fear in the eyes of thugs and so he designed a new outfit, replacing the green parts of the suit with a complete red outfit with a set of black boots, gauntlets and cape. After the 49 days of the Thögal Ritual were completed, Dick and Tim returned to the cave where Bruce entered all those days ago and waited patiently for the man to come out. Tim was sure that Bruce wouldn't come out, but Dick always had faith in him. When Bruce walked out of the cave, Tim was relieved, but at the same time, he suspected that there was something wrong with his mind, but he didn't voice his worries.  Robin's worries have materialized in Gotham after Batman has gone missing and word on the streets is that Batman has gone crazy. Robin and Spoiler attack the Gotham Golden Dragons to get information about Batman and after defeating them, they search the thugs' phones to find any evidence. Spoiler finds a picture that proves that Batman has gone berserk, but she deletes it from the phone and tells Robin that there is no useful information.  Robin then decides to pay a visit to Jason Bard and ask him if he knew anything about Batman, the Black Glove or the Club of Villains, but Bard has no idea who are all those people and he also tells Robin that he hasn't seen Batman in seven weeks. Growing impatient, Robin takes Spoiler to the next person.  At the GCPD Headquarters, Officer Harper is approached by Roman Cavallo and Marcus Wise and she is questioned about her meddling in Commissioner Gordon's private files. Harper attacks them both and tells them that she is no longer answering to them. On her way to her car, outside the building, she is approached by Robin, who wants to know if Harper found anything that could corroborate some information from Batman's Black Casebooks on Gordon's files, but Harper couldn't find any. Harper tells Robin about her previous trouble with Cavallo and Wise and Robin tells her that they are going to prison sooner than she thinks.  Robin and Spoiler get going to Robin's motorcycle and they are soon attacked by Swagman, who shoots a rocket launcher at them. They find cover behind a trash container and when the fire spreads, Robin comes out and fights Swagman, beating him and questioning about Batman's location. Swagman tells him that Batman is gone and tells him to see the pictures. Robin knocks him out on the ground and together with Spoiler, they get on their way to the Iceberg Lounge, crashing the place by entering through a window. Robin finds Penguin and asks him about the rumored picture about Batman. Penguin shows him the same picture that Spoiler deleted earlier from one of the thugs' phone. Robin realizes that the picture was sent by someone else and he calls the number of the phone that sent the picture and somewhere inside Spoiler's belt, a phone starts ringing, much to Penguin's delight.  Spoiler and Robin go to a rooftop to talk about the situation and Robin wants to know why she didn't show him the picture. She explains that she did all that because Batman asked her to keep Robin out of the whole situation. Robin feels betrayed by her once more and he goes away from her, knowing that no matter what happens to Batman, he will always protect Gotham.