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"Superheavy, Part Six": A press conference on the roof of the Powers Building, where James Gordon was expected to step down as corporately sanctioned Batman, has been violently interrupted by Mister Bloom. Despite indiscriminately

Quote1 Batman was human. He had no powers. He stood next to gods and said, "I handle my city." He was the start of something, and these suits are the continuation. They're a way of saying that we can be our own superheroes. Quote2
Geri Powers

Batman (Volume 2) #46 is an issue of the series Batman (Volume 2) with a cover date of January, 2016. It was published on November 11, 2015.

Synopsis for "Superheavy, Part Six"

A press conference on the roof of the Powers Building, where James Gordon was expected to step down as corporately sanctioned Batman, has been violently interrupted by Mister Bloom. Despite indiscriminately killing several of the prominent business and government officials at the event, he claims that he is only there to celebtrate with them. He had once been a soldier, he claims, trying to grow something from what little he had, for the betterment of the city. All the while, he kills off more people, prompting Geri Powers to interject, demanding to know what he really wants there. Slyly, he responds that all he really wants is for her to continue the Batman program, mockingly offering her a one-dollar donation to the cause.

Leaping down from his vantage point, Jim attacks Bloom with several electrified Batarangs, straight to the back of the head - but to no avail. Unaffected, Bloom thrusts Jim into a wall, commenting that it is interesting to see him without his robot. Sneering, Jim responds that Bloom shouldn't insult his partner, calling on the robotic suit to help him out. Unfortunately, Bloom is too quick, and pierces through its armour, shorting its circuits and tearing the Bat-Symbol from its chest. As he prepares to stab Jim with its sharpened corner, he is surprised to be yanked up off his feet and trapped by a magnetic field, holding him to the underside of the Batplane. The Bat-Signal there uses an electro magnet to hold the robotic suit before launch, and Bloom's seeds are also electromagnetic, so Julia Perry had deduced that it would work on him just as well. Despite being caught, Bloom unflinchingly remarks that he Jim is the best Batman yet, breaking free of the trap and making a run for it before Maggie Sawyer and the GCPD can even get a shot off.

In the meantime, Bruce Wayne notices from the shower that his girlfriend Julie is a bit distracted, having been staring into a fogged up mirror for several minutes, and failed to button her shirt properly twice. She concedes that she is just tired, but with some further pressing admits that her father will soon be up for parole. Though she hadn't told him the truth of it, Bruce admits that he already knew her father was Mallory Madison, a gun runner - and quite likely the man who sold a gun to Joe Chill. Though Julie is shaken up by this knowledge, Bruce's convenient amnesia has distanced him emotionally from the facts of his past, and he explains that all he wants from her right now is to marry her. After losing several years of his life, he now wants to ensure that he won't lose anymore, and insists that they be married within three months, if she'll have him. Teasing, she suggests that she might find a better ex-billionaire amnesiac fiancé by then, and with a smirk, he drags her into the shower with him.

Duke Thomas, meanwhile, is on the phone with his friend Daryl Gutierrez, who warns him not to give up hope on finding his parents. While they may be the only people left unaccounted for after the Joker unleashed his virus on the city, they must turn up eventually. Unbeknownst to Daryl, Duke is ignoring his friend's advice not to get involved with Batman's conflict with Mister Bloom, secretly infiltrating the new Iceberg Lounge. When he sees some armed thugs there, he abruptly ends the call, and prepares to break in. Since the place's pipes are rigged to set off an alarm if the temperature rises around them, he opts to use science to thwart the system by using an even colder substance than ice to bore a hole into the roof - liquid nitrogen. Soon, he is inside the Penguin's office, knowing that the information broker likes to keep his records on paper, so that Batman can't access them. Hoping to find records on Bloom, he goes through the Penguin's desk, and discovers something surprising.

Elsewhere, Geri Powers reveals a warehouse full of prototype robotic bat-suits, which he rightly worries could be made into an army. She explains that the company had hoped to expand the program - if successful - to other cities, tailored to each one. While some cities may have super-powered guardians, the suits are a way of saying that humans can be their own super-heroes. In any case, Geri has come around to the idea that Bloom needs to be taken down, and Jim reminds that they don't know where Mister Bloom is. Geri disagrees, noting that the tracer Jim had planted back at the Devil Pigs' headquarters had worked, and Bloom is hiding at a place along Old Blossom street. Before they do anything, Jim warns that he knows Bloom's type. He wants them to attack with a show of force so that they seem desperate. If they go in with big guns blazing, they will lose Gotham. Daryl backs up Jim's position, reminding that the people in that neighbourhood are still barely recovered from the Joker's attack, and a push from Bloom could bring the whole thing down.

Geri puts the issue to Maggie, who asks Jim for an alternative plan. He suggests - characteristically - that he should go in alone. Geri had fired him, and while he had not intended to resign at the press conference, he had meant to tell her that if he had one chance to get Bloom, and he failed she would get what she wanted anyway. The right way to get Bloom, he says, is how Batman would do it - alone.

At the Lucius Fox Center for Gotham Youth, Bruce is troubled by one of the kids' drawings of Mister Bloom, wondering why she would draw it. She had seen him on the internet, killing people at the Powers Building, and it had frightened her. Bruce recognizes the style of his costume and realizes that he is connected to the seed that he was given - but when he checks his desk for that seed, it is gone.

Duke, having got what he came for, can barely believe the truth of it. As he makes his way to leave the Lounge, he is interrupted by the Penguin and his associates, who admit that they have also been discussing Mister Bloom. They remind him of the rumours about the birds who perch on the Lounge's roof - that they are the souls of those who died in the place. Duke responds that he knows they're just birds, and like most birds, they fear the sound of death metal. Covertly, he presses play on an audio device, causing the speakers he set up at the top of his escape hole to blare abrasive music that sends the swarm of birds there chaotically into the room. Hurriedly, Duke makes his way up even with in all the confusion.

Jim makes his way to Bloom's location, knowing that nobody will be there to help him. Julia reminds that the blocker they designed to suppress whatever abilities the seed in Mister Bloom gives him can only be activated within 50 metres, and he can't be inside his suit when he activates it. Jim knows this area as Blossom Row - a local name for a footpath that ran through the city in the 18th century, marking the border between the farmlands and rich estates in the north end, and the working city to the south. The wealthy Gothamites would come and buy flowers from working children for more than they were worth. It was a place of charity. As the city grew, though, Blossom Row vanished into the urban sprawl, and was forgotten.

As Jim steps inside the old building, he finds that Bloom knows he's there rather quickly, and invites him to talk about the change in Gotham that will soon be unleashed. Jim tries to warn Bloom that there's no way out, and when he is met with indifference, he decides to activate the blocker, calling on the suit to help him - but it does nothing. Bloom calls out to the suit that it should capture the bad guy, and to Jim's surprise, the suit grabs him by the neck, and holds him aloft.

Appearing in "Superheavy, Part Six"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • Joker (Mentioned only)
  • Mallory Madison (Mentioned only)

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Notes



See Also


Links and References

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