#sacrification

We begin this issue with a young woman dying because of a new drug called „GHD“, that’s been filling the morgues in Gotham. Batman tracks down her dealer and kicks him out of a window, with Batgirl waiting to catch him. Batman gets the name of his supplier, but Cass keeps on tailing him, because she’s noticed that something is off about Bruce. He promptly assumes that this is about Steph and reiterates that she is not fit for vigilantism, then disappears on Cass in a cloud of smoke.

Later, Barbara calls him to ask him if his strange behavior has anything to do with what specific day it is and tells him to call her if he needs to talk. He doesn’t, of course, and instead goes to arrest the man who manufactures the drugs.

In the end, Bruce calls Cass and takes her to a cemetery. Turns out that it is the day Jason would have turned 18, had the Joker not killed him. Cass says no one ever talks about him, and so Bruce starts telling her about Jason (with a few dashes of heart-warming and some dashes of victim-blaming), leading to Cass realizing that Bruce fired Stephanie to prevent her from meeting a similar, horrible end or reaching the point of no return (to a normal life), like Cass and Bruce already have. Batdad: 30 Permanent Plight Of Perfectionism: 12

-> "Males were predicted to scarify those body parts indicative of sexual maturity and strength, such as the face, shoulders, and arms."