In the UK, Bruce is on the trail of Dr. Kinsolving, and his pursuit is going from London to the countryside.

Batman: Shadow of the Bat #22

Written by Alan Grant
Pencils by Bret Blevins
Inks by Steve George
Colors by Adrienne Roy
Lettering by Todd Klein

Alfred & Bruce are driving to Monkleigh, as Alfred bemoans the Official Secrets Act and the lack of an equivalent to the FOIA. Bruce is putting the finishing touches of his disguise on, and they see some Animal rights advocates interfere in a fox hunt.

The person holding the hunt tries to give the “Bloody peasant” a thrashing, only for Bruce to interfere as his cover of Sir Hemingford Grey, who gives the upper-class twits a jolly good thrashing.

As Bruce gets into the car, he tells Alfred he recognized the protester – George Cross – as Hood. I now really wish Hood had a solo book, from DC UK or something.

Back at Monkleigh Hall, Asp and Yuri have been continuing their tests on Dr. Kingsolving. Asp is telling her that he’s developed a way to store her healing energy, which we know is a lie, and is implied to her by his threats.

Upstairs, Asp meats with “Hemingford Gray”. Bruce takes the opportunity to plant a bug in Assp’s study.

Down in the basement, Yuri has an updated model of psychic helmet, that lets them kill remotely, using Dr. Kinsolving’s stored psychic energy.

In town, Bruce goes for a walk, as the bug is only getting static, and in the process no-look catching an errant cricket ball flying at his head. Elsewhere, George Cross sees two MI-5 agents disembark from a helicopter at Monkleigh Hall.

And at this point we get Alfred’s side of the phone conversation from Robin #1 – giving a little context for where we’re at with Alfred & Bruce in that conversation.

The MI-5 agent meets with Asp in the study, and this time Bruce gets information. MI-5 was set off by the theft of Asp’s file. They brought the rest of the money, and they want the demonstration – tonight.

Asp carries out the demonstration, killing a bunch of people in the village.

However, they do the demonstration upstairs, which means Bruce (as Grey) sees Shondra, and breaks cover in front of her – and Asp. Thankfully, though Bruce doesn’t see it that way, Dr. Kinsolving doesn’t recognize him through the makeup.

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