Batman and Robin #19

DENIAL

Carrie Kelley makes the long trek from Gotham City Community College to Wayne Manor, but is disappointed when no one answers the door. She had come looking for Damian Wayne, unaware that he had died weeks previous, and Bruce Wayne was in mourning. With her, she has brought a delivery of DVDs of Playhouse 90 for him, and a bill for $1000. With no answer at the door, Carrie leaves the bundle on the doorstep.  Having found the delivery and her note, Bruce decides at last to deliver the money Damian owed personally, though it perplexes him that Damian seems to have had some kind of relationship with this girl without his knowing about it. When he arrives at her door, he is taken aback when he sees her dressed in a Robin costume, as part of a super-hero themed costume party. Coldly, he passes her the letter she left Damian, and walks away. She calls out with some confusion that she had left it for Damian. Bruce continues to walk away, so she rushes up to her window and calls out again, wondering where Damian is. Rather than answer, Bruce just asks Alfred to get him away from there.  Nearly a week later, Frankenstein is dispatching some monsters from the lower stratum when a rope suddenly tightens around his waist, and he is towed away unexpectedly by the Batplane. Inside, Batman finally answers a communiqué from Alfred, who hasn't heard from him all week. As the plane nears the Arctic Circle, Bruce claims that he is merely looking for somewhere he can get some peace and quiet before shutting off the communication channel. Uncomfortably, Alfred makes a call to Red Robin for help.  Frankenstein finds himself again in the castle in which he was created by Victor Frankenstein, prisoner to the Batman. Batman explains that he had not expected the creature to come willingly, so he had to restrain him. Additionally, he has removed the S.H.A.D.E. Net Implant from Frankenstein's neck to prevent the creature's former teammates from locating them. From the renewed state in which he sees the lab, Frankenstein deduces that Batman is seeking something. Batman confirms that he needs the creatures help in the pursuit of resurrecting his son from death.  The help that Batman hopes to get does not require Frankenstein's cooperation. He can simply keep him restrained, and remove each body part, one at a time, in the hopes of reverse engineering whatever spark it is that can bring life to a corpse. It is quite clear to Frankenstein that Batman has become quite deranged, and breaks free from his bonds, challenging the Batman to face him head-on. He explains how he too had watched his own son die by his hand, and again by his bride's when the boy came back. Batman will not hear him, though, and he manages to wrestle free of the creature's iron grip, and gain the upper hand.  As Batman begins dissecting Frankenstein, Red Robin is on his way to his former mentor's current location, and after discovering the castle, makes his way inside. When he finally spots Batman, he is horrified to see that Bruce is slowly cutting all of the stitching on the creature's body. Without looking up, Bruce remarks that he has every intention of putting him back together. When Tim questions his activities, Bruce claims that he can bring Damian back. If he and Superman could die and return, surely Damian could.  Rather than allow Batman to continue, Tim leaps on his back, insisting that this plan won't work. From the operating table, Frankenstein explains that he allowed Batman to take him apart in this way because he wanted the man to see that he is not really alive. It would be best for Damian to be allowed to rest in peace than to be an abomination that defies the laws of nature. When it becomes clear that neither will be able to reason with Bruce, Red Robin reluctantly orders his own plane to destroy the castle's equipment. As Batman sees his plan go up in flames, he glares at Red Robin coldly before escaping, leaving his once protégé behind with Frankenstein in the burning building.  Elsewhere, Carrie Kelley and her room mate play a motion-controlled fighting video game. She remarks that while she had been training Damian for some time, she had never met Bruce Wayne. Damian had always been accompanied by his chauffeur, though she never saw him get into the car. In any case, it came as a surprise to her that Mr. Wayne hadn't known that she and Damian were acquainted, which made it all the more surprising that he had given her a check for $10,000.