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scans_dailyThe dark is the Batcave under Wayne Manor, where he took Gotham cop Beam Boonma after issue #4.
The Living Gotham, the super-AI that was that city's systems incarnate, had turned Beam into its Sword to wield against Batman. Terry'd freed her from weaponhood, necessarily injuring her in doing so.
He sought shelter in the remains of the place he'd self-destructed against Gotham - and found Gestalt from #2, also using the cave as shelter from Gotham.
Terry asked them again for help, this time for a single person: " This isn't about me.
" It's about her. "
Gestalt probed Beam to understand her case - how Gotham'd been able to make a Sword of her.
Gestalt and Terry hypothesized that Gotham'd infected the city's water with its agent - and concluded that they were also at risk of being turned into an agent of the city.
(The infection implicitly only enables Gotham to turn the infectees into Swords - with regards to any non-related information about them, or any other action it has to take, it has to do additional work. If that wasn't so, its problems with Terry and Gestalt would be trivial to resolve.
The Sword being a distinct personality from the host explains the bantering with Terry.)
Gestalt set to work on an " antibody ".
' I'm going down into the pit. '
He was down there, keeping himself ready as Gestalt worked on Beam, kept safe in the facilities of the cave Terry hadn't destroyed (" air-gapped " when they were built by Bruce, inaccessible to Gotham - and not used by Terry before because that wouldn't have been optimal for how he was fighting Gotham).
One hundred days passed, and Gestalt had their solution ready to test. Terry was there too, wearing a Bat-mask to keep his identity secret from Beam the Gotham cop.
Gestalt pushed a button that did their work - and then let Beam out of her tube.
" I.. it..
(There isn't anything to easily shave with down in the cave.)
(The Living Gotham, textually a literalization of " Batman fighting Gotham ".)
Terry removed the old mask.
(" Gotham killed my dad " sounds off, since that was very specifically Derek Powers - but Derek Powers as both " human criminal " and " superhuman criminal " was a pure product of Gotham, so it still works.)
Time passed.
The Living Gotham, readying itself for the action it would take at Donovan Lumos' climactic public celebration of his work, gloated ' This is the New Year, Batman..
(Pagecount's 7 and under 2/10ths of 22 from Batman Beyond: Neo-Year #5 back in August 2022.
Writing's Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing. Art's Max Dunbar, colors're Romulo Fajardo Jr., and letters're Aditya Bidikar.
Publisher's DC.)
The Living Gotham, the super-AI that was that city's systems incarnate, had turned Beam into its Sword to wield against Batman. Terry'd freed her from weaponhood, necessarily injuring her in doing so.
He sought shelter in the remains of the place he'd self-destructed against Gotham - and found Gestalt from #2, also using the cave as shelter from Gotham.
Terry asked them again for help, this time for a single person: " This isn't about me.
" It's about her. "
Gestalt probed Beam to understand her case - how Gotham'd been able to make a Sword of her.
Gestalt and Terry hypothesized that Gotham'd infected the city's water with its agent - and concluded that they were also at risk of being turned into an agent of the city.
(The infection implicitly only enables Gotham to turn the infectees into Swords - with regards to any non-related information about them, or any other action it has to take, it has to do additional work. If that wasn't so, its problems with Terry and Gestalt would be trivial to resolve.
The Sword being a distinct personality from the host explains the bantering with Terry.)
Gestalt set to work on an " antibody ".
' I'm going down into the pit. '
He was down there, keeping himself ready as Gestalt worked on Beam, kept safe in the facilities of the cave Terry hadn't destroyed (" air-gapped " when they were built by Bruce, inaccessible to Gotham - and not used by Terry before because that wouldn't have been optimal for how he was fighting Gotham).
One hundred days passed, and Gestalt had their solution ready to test. Terry was there too, wearing a Bat-mask to keep his identity secret from Beam the Gotham cop.
Gestalt pushed a button that did their work - and then let Beam out of her tube.
" I.. it..
(There isn't anything to easily shave with down in the cave.)
(The Living Gotham, textually a literalization of " Batman fighting Gotham ".)
Terry removed the old mask.
(" Gotham killed my dad " sounds off, since that was very specifically Derek Powers - but Derek Powers as both " human criminal " and " superhuman criminal " was a pure product of Gotham, so it still works.)
Time passed.
The Living Gotham, readying itself for the action it would take at Donovan Lumos' climactic public celebration of his work, gloated ' This is the New Year, Batman..
(Pagecount's 7 and under 2/10ths of 22 from Batman Beyond: Neo-Year #5 back in August 2022.
Writing's Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing. Art's Max Dunbar, colors're Romulo Fajardo Jr., and letters're Aditya Bidikar.
Publisher's DC.)
