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"The Network": Robert Langtrom walks the dark streets of Gotham City towards the Iceberg Lounge which is often regarded as the heartbeat of Gotham's underworld. Before Langstrom could step inside, Killer Croc bursts from entra

Quote1 How do you replace a man who's irreplaceable? How do you replace his detective skills? His stealth? His fighting ability? The only conclusion is that no one person can replace Batman. But perhaps one person won't have to. Quote2
Batgirl

Batman and the Outsiders (Volume 2) #13 is an issue of the series Batman and the Outsiders (Volume 2) with a cover date of January, 2009.

Synopsis for "The Network"

Robert Langtrom walks the dark streets of Gotham City towards the Iceberg Lounge which is often regarded as the heartbeat of Gotham's underworld. Before Langstrom could step inside, Killer Croc bursts from entrance while fighting a couple of meta-humans transformed into animals and he kills them without remorse.

Langstrom reckons that after Croc's return from Planet Salvation, the villain meta-humans are trying to claim back Gotham from the grasp of Intergang. One of Intergang men tries to attack Croc from behind, but he is turned into a block of ice by Mister Freeze, who seems to be working together with Croc.

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Man-Bat attacks Intergang

Langstrom manages to get inside the building and is approached by the owner, Penguin, but Langstrom refuses to talk to the man. Instead, he reaches a table where some Intergang men were sitting and he taunts them to attack him. As soon as they lay hands on him, Langstrom begins to transform into Man-Bat and beats all of them with no effort. Langstrom knows what he is getting into since Intergang won the Gotham Underground War.

Penguin approaches him once more and this time he thanks Man-Bat for ridding him of Intergang. Man-Bat takes money from coat pockets of the fallen Intergang goons and throws it at Penguin's face to pay for the damages. Man-Bat tells Penguin to give Intergang a message to step back or face this scenario repeatedly. Man-Bat believes that more Intergang men have arrived to attack him, but when he turns to fight, he is confronted by Batgirl, who following his advice, has come to him to ask for his help.

Meanwhile, at Intergang HQ, Johnny Stitches is running bets among the organization in which they decide what happened to Batman and why he has disappeared. While many of the Intergang men have their own theories about Batman's disappearance, Johnny Stitches doesn't really care what happened to him as long as he can keep running crime in Gotham. Johnny makes a joke that Batman is buried at Giants Stadium next to Jimmy Hoffa. Outside, a man tries to enter the building and when the bouncer asks for the password, the man pulls out a gun and kills the doorman. People start running away from the scene and the man put on his mask, revealing himself as Vigilante.

He gets inside the Intergang HQ and attacks some of the criminals inside until he reaches the main room, where Stitches was located. As they get ready to fight, Vigilante is attacked by someone invisible and he is pushed out of the building through a window. Vigilante keeps being punished outside until he uses a smoke pellet to locate his aggressor and he is finally able to see Spoiler, who explains that she was spying on Intergang to learn about Batman's disappearance and couldn't let Vigilante kill more people, following Batman's methods. Vigilante doesn't believe Spoiler and assumes she is in league with Penguin and/ or Johnny Stitches. They fight each other until they are stopped by Batgirl. Vigilante wants to keep fighting but Batgirl incapacitates him and tells them both that she has come to make an offer.

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Moments later, Batgirl returned to the Batcave, where she is gathering a list of people, whose combined forces and talents can prove useful enough to replace Batman if they are all working together. Alfred arrives at the cave and after checking the list by himself, he wonders if Batgirl is not choosing people that are seeking redemption, just like herself. However, his major concern is that Nightwing doesn't appear on the list. Batgirl explains that he wouldn't understand and leaves the cave in a hurry. Nightwing arrives shortly after and after realizing what Batgirl has in mind, he decides that they both need to settle things once and for all.

Appearing in "The Network"

Featured Characters:

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Notes

  • This is the last Outsiders title featured as a tie-in to the Batman R.I.P. storyline. The story however, continues in the next issue.
  • This issue shipped on November 19th, 2008.



See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References

Batman RIP
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Batman R.I.P. Crossover
The events from this issue or series are related to the "Batman R.I.P." storyline published throughout the Batman Titles in 2008, or its 2009 successor Battle for the Cowl. This template will categorize articles that include it into Batman R.I.P..

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