| abstract
| - Since the Prankster first issued the mayor an ultimatum - pay back 52 million embezzled tax dollars or the people of Chicago will suffer - the city has been suffering. Of the policemen the Prankster held hostage at gunpoint, only five survived. An electronic attack on the transportation grid overloaded traffic lights. Explosives at the Navy Pier caused a flaming ferris wheel to cause a lot of damage. As a result, the city was put on lockdown, while protesters at City Hall demanded their money back. All the while, Mayor Cole claimed that he had done no wrong. In the meantime, the Prankster's army of followers has been wreaking havoc. Fortunately, Nightwing is eager to put a stop to it all, and having spent a few days following leads, he has learned that a thug named Danny is supposed to know where the Prankster might be. After saving an innocent woman from a several-story drop, he catches up with Danny, and makes him reveal that the Prankster will be at an old Brewery later today. Meanwhile, neither of Dick's roommates Joey or Michael have heard from him for days. This worries Joey because she has seen the news reports explaining how Tony Zucco, whom the Mayor is said to be protecting, murdered Dick's parents when he was a boy. Michael, a photojournalist, promises Joey that he will try to get the police to trace Dick's phone for her, given that he is already with them on the scene of a possible hideout for the Prankster. Unfortunately, the place is rigged to blow up, and though Michael survives the blast, he soon becomes a captive of the Prankster. Nightwing arrives after the blast, and manages to pull Detective Morgan from the wreckage, only to learn that Michael has been kidnapped. Meanwhile, in Gotham City, Sonia Branch has garnered much unwanted attention thanks to her father's reappearance on the news in Chicago. In fact, she is surprised to learn just what's happening in Chicago. In Wisconsin, Tony Zucco is still on vacation with his new family under the name Billy Lester. Unfortunately, the news has reached them there, and his wife Nancy soon susses out the fact that he really is a criminal. However, he warns that they can't go home yet - because he knows who the Prankster is, and things are about to get a lot worse for Chicago. Angrily, Nancy notes the irony of how Tony had been trying to teach their son lessons about taking responsibility for his actions all week, and now, he refuses to go back and face what he did. What's worse is that one day, his son Brian is going to figure out what he really is, and that it was all a lie. Outside Chicago City Hall, protests continue while, inside, Mayore Cole's staff urge him to put an end to this mess by paying the money back. Though he claims that he didn't take anything, one of his Aldermen warns him to stop lying - everything that happens to Chicago until he comes clean is his responsibility. Suddenly, gunfire shoots down the Alderman, and the Prankster appears in Mayor Cole's office. Elsewhere, Nightwing manages to rescue Michael and several others from the boat that the Trickster placed them on, though gasoline in the water has been set ablaze, making it difficult to get at them. After the third rescue, Nightwing is exhausted, and he is surprised when he hears a familiar voice once back on the shore. It is the voice of Tony Zucco who warns that there is more to what's going on that Nightwing is aware of. The Prankster is more than he seems. And in order to save Chicago, Nightwing will have to work together with the man who killed his parents.
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