Detective Comics # 792 2004 The Surrogate, Part Two: The Blinding pg 6 by Pete Woods & Cam Smith

Detective Comics # 792 May 2004
Inks over pencil on 11x17 DC Vertigo art board
"The Surrogate, Part Two: The Blinding" pg 6
Writer: Andersen Gabrych
Pencils: Pete Woods (Signed top left)
Inks: Cam Smith (Signed top right)

Neisha Dupris and Leslie Thompkins have been kidnapped by bodyguards in the employ of singer L'Shea, who is in actuality Helen Dupris, Neisha's sister.

Batman continues the search for Neisha's sister, who is enraged when she discovers it was her husband, Capo Siegel, who ordered Neisha to be shot; all the more so since the baby Neisha is carrying is to be passed off as L'Shea's own after it is born. As Leslie attends to Neisha, L'Shea refuses to decide whether Leslie should attempt a caesarean delivery which could kill Neisha or let the baby come naturally, which could be fatal to the child.

Batman fears for Leslie and he recalls past events that happened years ago, when Leslie left Gotham City to be part of a relief effort in Africa. In the summer before Bruce Wayne's 12th birthday, he and Alfred traveled to Africa to visit Leslie. Alfred told Leslie that after she left, Bruce has "developed a rather acute fixation with fighting...self defense, boxing, martial arts...that sort of thing". Later, Leslie and Alfred are attacked in the clinic and Bruce tries to defend them both but is knocked out in the ensuing fight. Afterwards, Leslie moved to a new township, but as the violence grew increasingly worse, she returned to Gotham within a year.

Batman listens in on a conversation between Biggie Tiny and Mr. Freeze, who is heading up the Hill's street gangs, with Siegel as a subordinate, thanks to a listening device the Dark Knight planted on Biggie after their fight. Using information he learned from Tiny as well as locations provided by Oracle, Batman manages to track everyone down just as Tiny and others, armed with three freeze-suits, attack L'Shea. During the ensuing melee, as the fire (or ice) fight escalates, the building begins to collapse.