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"Law of the Jungle": A Native American watches in awe as machines clear a patch of the Amazon rainforest and suddenly comes upon Batman, running away in fear from him. Bruce has come to Brazil after a series of murders of government officials and industrial leaders involving their bodyguards, wh

Batman Giant (Volume 2) #2 is an issue of the series Batman Giant (Volume 2) with a cover date of January, 2020. It was published on November 15, 2019.

Synopsis for "Law of the Jungle"

A Native American watches in awe as machines clear a patch of the Amazon rainforest and suddenly comes upon Batman, running away in fear from him. Bruce has come to Brazil after a series of murders of government officials and industrial leaders involving their bodyguards, who had no explanations for the killings. Batman suspects Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins, and investigates the party hosted by the CEO of Madeiras Lumber.

Batman realizes that it was Poison Ivy who has been behind the string of killings because they were harming plant life, after spotting her at the party with his drones. Batman interrupts the assassination attempt on the CEO by his bodyguard Joao, under the possession of Ivy and makes her flee using a military-grade herbicide. Bruce asks her to surrender but she refuses, instead running away to rainforest area that still contains trees.

Ivy attacks Batman with a tree and knocks away his herbicide, leaving him struggling to fend her off before he is knocked away into a Native American village, belonging to the same tribal who saw him before. Ivy refuses to spare them despite Batman's pleas and he throws a kid out of harm's way, causing the tribals to attack Ivy with frog poison she isn't completely immune to.

Ivy however soon recovers and tries to kill the Native Americans, but Batman knocks her out using a prototype knockout pod. As he sends her back to Arkham Asylum in his Batwing, Bruce decides to buy up part of the land for a nature reserve.

Appearing in "Law of the Jungle"

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  • Madeiras Lumber CEO
  • Native American tribals

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Synopsis for "Lifelines"

Duke tells Alfred about a kid he used to babysit named Danny Wong, whose mothers took on a heavy debt to conceive him through in vitro fertilization. The same kid however turned out to be the Xiqu gang-member who stabbed him with an injection knife this morning, while he was trying to stop the gang from stealing prototype goods.

Duke states he can't figure out why he turned to a life of crime as there's nothing in his file and Alfred states he should have learnt by now from Batman to seek answers himself. While meeting up with Danny in the Narrows, Duke challenges him to a game of pool and questions him about his association with the Xiqu.

Danny rejects his help when he offers it and accuses him of abandoning in return for his internship at Wayne Tech. He doesn't like his mothers worrying about him trying to make something of himself and get out the Narrows, which is why he prefers the Xiqu who he states are more a family than a gang.

Duke asks Danny to leave the Xiqu and promises to always be there when he needs him, but their conversation is interrupted by a SOS from Batman. Danny feels he is abandoning him again, but Duke hands him a tracker he can use to call for help whenever he wants. Danny is then shown activating the tracker after a Xiqu gangster calls on him to commit a heist, while Alfred assures Duke that showing up will make a difference.

Appearing in "Lifelines"

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  • Xiqu Gang (Flashback and main story)
    • Danny Wong (Flashback and main story)

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Synopsis for "Trust Fall"

This story is reprinted from Batman (Volume 2) #2.

Wayne Tower was built in 1888 by Alan Wayne, the great, great grandfather of Bruce Wayne. It was built as a symbol to welcome all of those who enter Gotham City. For each entry point into the city, there was built a gargoyle or 'guardian,' to welcome visitors. At the top of the tower is an observation deck, surrounded by windows made with special glass which is, in effect, unbreakable. That is, except when someone like the assassin who has just attacked Bruce Wayne knows that the glass can be broken with an indirect hit. Smashing through the glass, Bruce Wayne plummets toward the street below.

Twenty-four hours earlier, Batman was in pursuit of a group of thieves who had stolen some statues from the Hellenistic Wing at the Gotham museum. The thieves flew their helicopter into a train tunnel, and Batman followed on his Batcycle. The copter caught up to a nearby train, and racing ahead of them, Batman got his vehicle onto the roof of the train, and turning around, launched the bike through the helicopter's windshield.

Meanwhile, at the morgue, Commissioner Gordon examines the body of the mysterious victim that was found stabbed to death recently, with a message warning the death of Bruce Wayne. After the mortician leaves, Gordon contacts Batman, who remotely scans the body with a laser, providing him with a projection of the body in the Batcave.

Batman notices some scar tissue on the man's face and hands from which Gordon determined that they were the defensive scarring of someone who trained strong fighters. Additionally, they discover an unusual mark on the victim's right wisdom tooth: an Athenian Owl. The owl reminds the commissioner of a nursery rhyme about a rumoured underground organization called the Court of Owls. Batman states flatly that the Court of Owls is a legend.

After examining the body, Batman is interrupted by Nightwing. Dick recognizes the body in the projection as a man who accosted him at the groundbreaking for the West Side Promenade. The man had gripped his arm, which explains how Dick's DNA was found under the man's fingernails. The man had said, "They're real. They're everywhere. And they're sending him for you... all of you." As it turns out, Bruce had already ruled out Dick as a suspect, having reviewed the surveillance footage at the groundbreaking already.

At the Old Wayne Tower, Bruce Wayne takes an appointment with Lincoln March. Bruce offers March a check, but the mayoral candidate explains that it isn't money he wanted, just his vote. Lincoln March confides that he sees an ally in Bruce, since he also lost his parents at a young age. March claims that he and Bruce are similar, not only because of their tragedies, but also because they were both saved by Gotham. Gotham gave them a purpose.

March confesses that something bad has come back to Gotham, something ancient, and powerful, and evil. But before Bruce can ask what he meant by that, they are attacked by a masked assailant in a black costume. The intruder throws one of the Owl-inscribed knives into Lincoln's belly, and as Bruce runs towards him, he catches a knife in his own arm. In the ensuing fight, the killer kicks Bruce out of the tower's window.

Now, as Bruce falls, he realizes that his injuries will prevent him from gripping anything. Likewise, he will reach terminal velocity by the time he reaches the lower five gargoyles, and will snap his arms if he tried to grip them. The assailant jumps through the window too, trying to deliver a final blow. He intimates that he loves to kill members of the Wayne family, suggesting a more sinister motive.

However, the assassin falls to his own apparent death as Bruce grabs onto a hidden thirteenth gargoyle adorning the Old Wayne Tower. The thirteenth guardian was installed by Alan Wayne's son, Henry Wayne to greet those arriving in Gotham by air. Bruce realizes that his attacker had tried to use Gotham's legends against him, but he believes that the Batman is the only legend that the city needs.

Below on the streets, the mysterious assailant is placed inside an ambulance and driven off. Down the road, and unbeknownst to anyone, he rises from his stretcher and kills the EMT and the driver, and then drives off.

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Synopsis for "Elegy Part One"

This story is reprinted from Detective Comics #854.

Over a year ago, Kate Kane was stabbed in the chest by a crazed religious sect that was obsessed with carving out her heart. The memory of the event seems to haunt her - lingering on the periphery of her subconscious.

But she can't think that now. She can't afford to. That same Religion of Crime seems to have found a new leader and the activity of all thirteen covens within Gotham City has gone into hyper-drive in anticipation of their new leader's arrival in town. Given their expressed obsession with her, Kate only sees fit that she be there to greet the new leader and put a stop to her activity once and for all.

A child of certain privilege, Kate lives in a nice large studio apartment littered with music memorabilia and workout equipment. In a hidden section of the apartment is where she keeps her 'cave' of sorts. Large metal walls surround a giant tree which grows in the center of the command hub and are lined with scores of military grade crime fighting paraphernalia - most likely supplied by her father, a military Colonel. His latest gift is a specialized super-silent short range pistol of sorts left over from some top secret covert ops mission somewhere in the Middle East. Perfect, Kate realizes, for the hunt she's about to embark on. Aside from providing his daughter with her equipment, the Colonel also oversees her operation, listening to hours of playback from a recording device placed on her person during her nighttime capers.

She trains obsessively and her father worries that she's pushing herself too far. And perhaps she is. A few reps is all it takes to begin testing her pain tolerance. Not to mention the fact that her late hours and unaccountability seems to have just cost her her latest relationship with her most recent partner, a lawyer named Anna. Nevertheless the job does have its perks. Her unavailability makes for the perfect excuse so that she can duck out of a dinner with her step-mother.

On the other side of a set of large bay doors, she climbs upon her cycle and sets out through a tunnel which connects to an unassuming warehouse letting her out onto the streets. Hitting each coven one by one Kate finally gets to meet with the new leader of the Religion of Crime face to face. A woman dressed like a psychedelic Alice in Wonderland with skin so powder white she almost appears to be glowing stands before her in the dimly lit chapel. But Kate isn't here to visit. She draws her newly gifted pistol, aims it at Alice and fires.

Appearing in "Elegy Part One"

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Synopsis for "Better than Batman, Part Two"

This story is reprinted from Nightwing (Volume 4) #2.

Beginning with a flashback from Nightwing's Robin days, his memory is of Batman throwing a criminal off the roof of a building and being told that their fear is the only way to get the truth during an interrogation.

In current times in Moscow with Raptor, Raptor lays out the assignment they've been given. They need to get to a ship that has been hijacked by the Kobra Cult and rescue the passengers. He reminds Nightwing that while he might be the Talon's “big get” trained by Batman, Batman isn't there to help. Raptor offers to spot Nightwing while they're working together. Nightwing accepts.

Barbara calls in the morning while she's in Tokyo, letting Nightwing know that she's planning on being outside of Gotham for awhile since the city seems to be under control. They make a date to meet up the next night at Hachiko Square.

Nightwing and Raptor dive into the ocean near the ship. Nightwing brings up the bird branding that Raptor has, naming his helicopter after a type of hawk and his diver's mask looking like a beak. Raptor monologues about the importance of branding as protection, using Nightwings suit as a example of a “brand extension of Batman”.

Aboard the ship, Nightwing realizes that he and Raptor have some fighting styles in common. Disturbed by this, he goes ahead without him. Raptor is stabbed by a woman that cuts her way out of the belly of someone, who Raptor shoots in the head and kills. They find the refuges that Raptor says the Kobra's genetic research division had plans to use. While walking through the crowd, Nightwing is recognized by a child because of the bat symbol on his chest, and he realizes that Raptor is right about him a brand extension of Batman. Nightwing asks what the Parliament of Owls would want with these people, and Raptor explains that they would be used to build the Parliament's planned new nation in Greece, a stronghold for the elite outside the rules that govern the rest of the world.

Chania, Crete. Greece. The Parliament of Owls welcomes the partners back and express they are satisfied with their service in getting back the ship and cargo. They are given another mission together.

Nightwing is upset with Raptor for giving the ship and the refugees to the Court and once again tries to leave, but while they fight Raptor explains that he understands what Nightwing is doing by being undercover. He knows he wants the Court destroyed and brought to justice, and he knows that it bothers him that he has been partnered with someone with one foot in the dark. He says his similarities to Batman is why Nightwing should trust him on their next mission, and he won't let Nightwing fall too far into the darkness.

Barbara calls Dick and leaves a voicemail asking if he got the location that she texted. The picnic that she is next to seems like it will be wasted without him there. Nightwing reads his texts and then leaves with Raptor without responding to her.

Appearing in "Better than Batman, Part Two"

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  • Buteo



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