We continue with Robin’s solo series as Tim Drake and Clyde Rawlins head to Hong Kong to stop King Snake from releasing a biological weapon.

Robin (1991) #4

Written by Chuck Dixon
Penciled by Tom Lyle
Inks by Bob Smith
Lettered by Tim Harkins
Colors by Adrianne Roy
Edited by Denny O’Neil and Dan Raspler

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In Hong Kong, Robin & Lady Shiva are tailing some fo the Ghost Dragons. They take them down and interrogate one of them – Robin plays Good Cop, Clyde plays Bad Cop, and Lady Shiva plays Distaff Ninja Frank Castle. They get lead to the improvised airstrip where the virus is being delivered.

Robin wants to stop them now, but Clyde and Shiva want to tail the virus to Dorrance. Clyde and Shiva win out, and they follow the cargo to a skyscraper downtown that Dorrance owns. Shiva says she has someplace they can use as a base.

At the loading dock, Dorrance confronts Lynx over Robin & Clyde still being alive. They also mention Lady Shiva – but not by name. However, Robin is Dorrance’s real worry, as he has ties to Batman. He hands Lynx off to his lieutenant, Bobbo, for an appropriate punishment.

Clyde, Tim, and Lady Shiva hole up at a mansion that one of Shiva’s “friends” owns on Victoria Peak. At dawn, Shiva comes into Tim’s room to wake him up for training, but Tim initially interprets Shiva’s purpose as (ahem) something else.

Shiva asks Robin to choose a weapon – he picks a collapsable staff. It feels like the original plan was to use a tri-section-staff, but they didn’t want to cause issues with publishing this in the UK (remember, at this point in history they’re still Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in the UK). Shiva tells him to pick again, this time a lethal weapon. Robin insists. Shiva’s response is literally “How White of you.”

From here, they train – it goes poorly for Robin.

In Dorrance’s office, he explains his plan to Bobbo – if the UK cannot have Hong Kong – no one can. He will turn it into a blighted diseased wasteland and leave China with nothing. Um… the handover isn’t for another 6 years – more than enough time to contain the outbreak.

At the mansion, Tim talks to Clyde while making alterations to his staff. Robin berates Clyde for endangering the people of Hong Kong, and Clyde shows a tremendous lack of empathy. Afterward, Tim uses some social engineering to get the details of Dorrance’s security system.

Meanwhile, Ducard is also watching the building and the Ghost Dragons. two HKPD officers pick him up and report to Dorrance. When Dorrance gives the order to kill Ducard, Ducard kills both cops instead, crashing their car into the harbor in the process.

Back at the mansion, Robin & Shiva continue to train, and this time Robin gets some shots in, thanks to his alterations to the staff.

And in Dorrance’s building, the water clock has been installed in the atrium, to serve as a delivery mechanism for the plague.