Detective Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 2005. It was published on October 5, 2005.
Synopsis for "City of Crime, Part 10: Pearls and Fine China"
At the Mayor's Office, Norman Stein, the Mayor's assistant, celebrates their triumph on the next elections, but his happines is destroyed when Mr. Friendly arrives at his office.
Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne, under the disguise of Donnie Maloy, has decided to go inside Raleigh Park and discover the mystery behind The Body, but as soon as he reaches the border of the park, he is paralyzed with fear and starts remembering his painful past including the death of his parents, the death of Haddie McNeil and the disappearance of Cassie Welles. After a few seconds he passes out in the middle of the street.
Meanwhile at Gotham Mercy Hospital, The Body has located the room where Ventriloquist is being guarded and try to get to him by any means, but they are stopped by Robin, James Gordon and a couple of Gordon's friends. All of them are trying to keep Wesker and Frank Ivers safe, but The Body's numbers are countless.
In the meantime, Bruce has been taken to Raffi's home, where he is placed in bed. Bruce is still unconscious and Raffi tells his wife Siran to take care of him while he goes to work. On his way out, Raffi encounters an old woman that tells him that it's not a good idea to leave his wife with a stranger alone at home.
Bruce dreams about the corpse of Cassie Welles in the middle of a fancy party when he suddenly wakes up and Siran tells him that she knows how to find the girl on his dream, but in exchange she wants to leave with him. When Bruce refuses, Siran makes him feel guilty and Bruce tries to comfort, turning the situation very quickly as they start kissing. Raffi comes at that moment and his anger gets out of control. Raffi beats Bruce and kills Siran. After this, more men come to help Raffi and they attack Bruce armed with pipes and bats. Bruce jumps off the building and lands on a trash container. He crawls outside and starts looking for answers about Cassie Welles among the criminals of Crown Point. His search takes him to an abandoned building and upon entering he sees the corpse of Haddie McNeil on a bed. Bruce sits beside the corpse and recalls his past once again, but then he feels something strange and as he turns his head, the corpse speaks to him.
Bruce finally awakes from the bad dream and he realizes he is still in Raffi's place and that Siran was taking care of him. She tells him that he was speaking the name "Haddie" and he explains that she was a girl who died and he feels responsible for her death. Bruce asks Siran if she knows of a shelter for women and after learning all he wants to know, Bruce tells Siran to pack her things as he is going to take her away. As they're leaving, Raffi arrives and his anger gets out of control, but this time, Bruce was prepared and gets rid of the abusive animal with no effort. Once they were safely away from Crown Point, Bruce goes to a public phone, calls Alfred and tells him to meet him at their location, so he can take Siran to her family and also he asks Alfred to bring "the package".
Meanwhile, Norman Steiner has been informed about a terrible situation and he knows that his time is short. At that same moment, The Body has breached inside the hospital, forcing Robin, Gordon and the others to move out of the room they were before. The hallways of the hospital turn into a battleground and after a while, they are empty. Gordon and the others know that it is just a prelude for something much worse coming their way.
At the GCPD Headquarters, the Mayor calls Commissioner Akins and tells him to turn the Bat-Signal on.
Alfred delivered the package for Bruce with everything that Bruce needed to face the darkness of Raleigh Park including the Batsuit. Commissioner Akins turns the Bat-Signal on, but at that same moment Bruce dons the cape and cowl and silently, Batman enters Raleigh Park in the darkest hour of night.
Appearing in "City of Crime, Part 10: Pearls and Fine China"
Featured Characters:
- Batman (Flashback and main story)
Supporting Characters:
- Robin
- Jim Gordon
- Commissioner Michael Akins
- Frank Ivers
- Siran Moosakhanian
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Norman Steiner
- Jane
- Haddie McNeil (In dream sequence only)
- Cassie Welles (In dream sequence only)
- Tiny
- Slim
- Nichols
- Ventriloquist
- Alfred Pennyworth (Behind the scenes)
- Thomas Wayne (Dies in flashback)
- Martha Wayne (Dies in flashback)
Locations:
- Gotham City
- GCPD Headquarters
- Crime Alley (Flashback only)
- Raleigh Park
- Crown Point
Items:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in Batman: City of Crime.
Trivia
- There is a reference to Wile E. Coyote in this issue.
See Also