- Batman and Robin stake out the warehouse of a child pornography ring awaiting police backup, but Robin rushes in recklessly against Batman's orders.
- Batman also mentally notes Robin's odd, moody behavior of late.
- Bruce decides to remove Jason from Robin duty. Jason angrily leaves.
- Joker has escaped Arkham. Joker reveals to his goons a cruise missile he obtained from a military contact. He decides to sell the weapon to Arab terrorists.
- While walking through Gotham, Jason visits his mother's friend, Mrs. Walker. She gives Jason a box full of personal effects from his deceased parents. In it, Jason finds his birth certificate with his mother's name blotted out and beginning with the letter S. Realizing Catherine Todd was his stepmother, Jason searches the box and finds an old address book containing the names of three women whose names start with S, one of whom might be his biological mother. He uses the Batcomputer to locate them. He leaves Wayne Manor to begin his investigation.
- Both Joker and Jason travel to Lebanon. Batman also follows to stop the Joker. It is after arriving that he finds out Jason is also in the middle east.
In Israel, Robin breaks into a military base to find the whereabouts of Sharmin Rosen, an intelligence agent who may be his mother. He learns Rosen is working undercover and staying at the Hotel Blu in Beirut, Lebanon.
- Meanwhile, Batman learns that a man named Peter Brando is offering the weapon for sale at the same hotel.
- Jason arrives at the Hotel Blu and finds Bruce. Jason tells Bruce about his investigation but becomes downtrodden when he is told Bruce is there to stop the Joker.
- They spot Brando with Rosen and follow in a pair of jet-powered bat gliders. The weapon is fired, but it explodes in its launcher and the warhead fails to detonate. The Joker escapes in the ensuing confusion
Robin learns Rosen is not his mother and the three return to Beirut. Robin insists on finding his mother and Batman agrees to help. However, a disguised Joker books a flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
