| abstract
| - Seventy-two hours ago, Batman worked over a mook named Raju. He was Batman's only hope left of getting confirmation on The Dollmaker's operations. Fortunately, after having his head shoved into a toilet a few times, Raju squealed. Now, on top of Gotham City Police Department Headquarters, Harvey Bullock and Lieutenant Forbes investigate after the Bat-Signal was activated while the Commissioner was missing. Forbes works for Internal Affairs, and suspects that Batman is involved in the murder of a police officer named McAlloy. Bullock is unconvinced, and demands all of McAlloy's files, to see what he was connected with. Before leaving the roof, Bullock notices the note that the Commissioner sent to Batman indicating that he is being held in the abandoned Mercy Hospital. Meanwhile, Batman himself has been captured by The Dollmaker, and attached to wires which make him a veritable human marionette. He is forced to fight with thugs dressed up as The Joker all to prove that he is the real thing, so that his eventually mutilated body can be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Elsewhere in the hospital, Olivia Carr, a young girl who The Dollmaker adopted into his 'family,' sneaks into the operating room in which Commissioner Gordon is being held. Gordon is weak from having had his kidney removed against his will. Olivia confirms that Batman has arrived, but that his prospects look grim. She admits that The Dollmaker put her up to luring Batman there, and then Gordon admits that he knew. He promises that all he cares about is saving her. Deadpan, Olivia apologizes as she brandishes a long knife. A messenger Raju arrives for The Dollmaker, offering a significant sum of money in exchange for the Batman, with the promise to return his corpse within twenty-four hours. The Dollmaker is intrigued, and stops the show, dangling Batman from his bonds in mid-air. Raju's client is the Penguin, who is prepared to pay in pure gold bars. The Dollmaker uses magnetized cables to immobilize Batman completely, and Batman is surprised to realize that the cables are of his own design; The Dollmaker has somehow gained access to Wayne Corp. Regardless, he uses a demagnetizer in his suit to free himself, leaping forward and knocking the Penguin's thugs out. Freed, he easily defeats the thugs dressed as The Joker, and begins his search for the Commissioner. Meanwhile, The Dollmaker receives a call from an unseen benefactor, who warns that the GCPD are on their way. The man orders that the commissioner be killed. The Dollmaker and Matilda make their escape while his thugs Bentley and Sampson prepare to deal with Gordon. Meanwhile, Batman begins kicking down every door in the hospital, in search of his friend. In the commissioner's room, Bentley approaches Gordon with a knife ready, but the commissioner leaps up from the bed apparently freed by Olivia with a gun pointed at his attacker. Bentley pauses for a moment, but before either of them can make a move, Olivia stabs Bentley in the back, killing him. Uncomfortable with these events, Gordon insists that she accompany him out of there. She has been rendered somewhat emotionless by the horrors she's experienced, but finally she breaks down and falls into his arms. Batman arrives in time to knock out the remaining thugs, noticing that the police have arrived. Gordon states that he can take care of getting both he and the girl out of the hospital, and Batman heads off in search of The Dollmaker. Seeing The Dollmaker escaping in a car, he leaps down onto the roof, crushing it down around him. Unexpectedly, though, the car explodes, and when Batman investigates, he discovers that the car was filled with dummies. The Dollmaker must have escaped in the police chopper. Later, Bruce spends some time with Charlotte Rivers his reporter girlfriend at her cabin in Colorado. The Dollmaker story has exhausted her, and she dreams of just moving from Gotham City to the cabin, to get away from it all. Naturally, Bruce can't imagine leaving Gotham, given his responsibilities. Back at Gotham Central, Olivia is in custody, and Jeremiah Arkham has asked to take her to Arkham Asylum for study. Mayor Hady is in favour, and Bullock begrudgingly allows it. Meanwhile, The Joker's goons have been creating shrines outside of the precinct because they are worshiping The Joker's removed face, which the GCPD is keeping in evidence. The Mayor orders that it be moved to a different location, and Bullock is happy to be rid of it.
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