Batman #703

THE GREAT ESCAPE

Batman and Robin are following a new criminal who calls himself the Getaway Genius, which is an alias used by an old foe of Batman. However, during the chase, the dynamic duo lost him and they decide to search in the sewers, to no avail.  They return to the Batcave, where Damian is pissed at Dick for allowing a common thief to escape. The whole scene reminds Dick of a time when he would berate at Bruce for allowing the original Getaway Genius escape. Dick starts explaining the situation to Damian, but they are interrupted by Red Robin, who arrives with bad news, as their latest failure to capture the thief has made it to the front page of the Gotham Gazette. Dick decides that it's time to put and end to the persecutions and he goes to talk to the person responsible for the article; Vicki Vale.  After a long time of searching for her at the Gazette building, Dick finally finds her and gives her a message to stop following Bruce Wayne and trying to make connections with him and Batman. However, the visit was not only a warning as Dick manages to place a tracer on Vicki's camera before leaving.  Elsewhere in Gotham, the thief, who turns out to be a woman under the name of Olivia Reynolds II remembers her father, the original Getaway Genius and she starts planning her next robbery.  In the meantime, Damian keeps training in the Batcave, where he is still frustrated at Dick for allowing the thief to escape. Alfred tries to calm him down by telling him that even Bruce, his father, would have reasons to let a "common thief" escape on certain occasions. However, they are both left wondering if Bruce would ever come back to them.  Moments later, there's a Victorian ceremony taking place in Gotham, and Vicki Vale is the main reporter and photographer at the Gazette. She keeps track of the people in the gala, but soon she spots a robbery in progress and starts taking pictures of Batman and Robin getting into action. The duo know that the thief is the Getaway Genius again, but they soon lost the thief in the crow. Batman locates her and knocks her out with a strong punch. It is then that they learn that the thief is a female, but she tricks them and manages to run away with her special cloaking suit. Olivia reaches her car without the stolen loot, but when she tries to start it, she realizes that the car has been damaged by Red Robin.  The police arrive soon and arrest Olivia. Batman, Robin and Red Robin watch the scene from the distance and after Red Robin leaves, Dick tells Damian that when Bruce allowed the original Getaway Genius to escape was because he knew that the man was stealing medicine for his own illness. Bruce would then pay for the stolen medicines and allowed the man to be alive long enough to share time with his daughter. Damian is touched by the story and he would like to know more about his father, but Dick tells him that he will, whenever Bruce returns.  Later that night, Vicki is watching some of the pictures she managed to take from the vigilantes and she is determined to prove their connections to the Wayne family. Vicki has also discovered the traced that Dick placed in her camera and is only a few steps closer to find the truth.