Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic #1 (2023)

In a poor area of Lower Gotham, a group of kids sneak out of their homes in the middle of the night and pay a splicer to let them through a gap in a wall that leads to a verdant garden full of fruit trees. The kids begin eagerly eating and harvesting the fruit, when they are suddenly grabbed and dragged away by vines. The splicer sees this but runs away rather than try to help. Meanwhile Batman is running ragged trying to fight the crimewave that has struck Neo-Gotham since the Living Gotham was overthrown. While he battles criminals and supervillains he calls his girlfriend Beam Boonma, formerly a detective in the GCPD, and asks her if the city council voted to approve their "Gordon Initiative". The Initiative proposes to take responsibility for fighting crime away from the GCPD, which is controlled by Wayne-Powers, now Lumos Industries; and hand it over to a collective of civilian volunteers. She tells him it is unlikely to pass as the government is still in disarray after the death of the mayor and emergency elections; and Barbara Gordon, their best advocate, has retired and left the city. Later that night at the apartment the two now share, Terry gets a call from his mother, who has been living in Metropolis with his brother since he ordered them to leave the city over a year ago. Terry answers the call, much to Mary's shock as she has called him multiple times without him picking up. She tells Terry that she misses him and that he missed Matt's graduation. Terry is clearly uncomfortable talking to her and insists that he can't come to see her and Matt or allow them to return until he has Gotham under control. Mary tells him that she bumped into Dana Tan and Terry admits that he hasn't tried to contact her since the night Bruce died. As they're talking, Beam walks in and silently pulls Terry towards their bedroom, and he ends the call with his mother as she warns him not to get lost in the darkness. The next morning, Gestalt calls Terry to the cave, where they tell him that children have been disappearing from areas in Gotham without ready access to fresh and nutritious food. The disappearances are being blamed on sinkholes in old, unsafe buildings but Gestalt tells Terry this is not true. Donovan Lumos, the corrupt CEO of Lumos Enterprises, has taken advantage of the situation and bought the entire city block where the last disappearances took place with plans to demolish it, although he promises every resident will be rehoused within 24 hours. Beam, who is on the scene, tells Terry that the missing kid's parents say they went through the crack. A satellite photo of the area behind the wall shows wasteland rather than the jungle that was there before, and sinkholes in the ground. Terry realises the kids have been pulled down into the ruins of Old Gotham below the city. Terry journeys down into the "Gotham Deeps" in civilian clothes and sees the splicer from earlier selling fruit on the street. Terry approaches him and offers to buy information; the splicer initially readily agrees but evades when Terry asks him if he knows anything about missing kids and storms off when he asks where he got the fruit. Terry follows him and confronts him again in costume. The splicer, a member of a splicer subculture known as "catbois", warns Batman to leave him alone or his "pride" will attack him, but Terry correctly identifies that the catboi is an outcast from his matted fur. He offers to pay the man, who Terry correctly guesses is named "Kyle" like most catbois, to guide him into the lower levels of the "Undergoth" looking for the kids, and with no other alternative Kyle agrees. Kyle asks Batman for his real name but Terry flat-out refuses. As they walk towards one of the holes into the lower levels, they are confronted by a gang who refuse to let them pass, but Terry easily beats them. As they continue he quizzes Kyle about why he was in trouble with them but Kyle refuses to talk about his past. Terry identifies him as a former inmate of Gotham Juvenile Detention, and admits that he is one too. When he learns Kyle spent far more time inside that he did, he tells Kyle that his name is "Terry". They reach the way into the lower levels and jump down. A huge monster appears out of the darkness, grabs Terry and drags him off to devour him.