Batman Issue 619

Hush (Part XII of XII): The End
Batman cradles the dead body of Harold, his former aide. Hush is standing over them, his guns still smoldering. Batman still has no idea who Hush truly is. He launches into him with a flurry of blows, but Hush keeps a safe distance from him. Hush finally reveals himself to be Tommy Elliot. Batman had believed that the Joker had previously killed Tommy, but that turned out to merely be Clayface in disguise. As Hush, Tommy wants revenge on the Wayne family. Dr. Thomas Wayne had saved the life of his mother after a staged car accident. Elliot wanted his parents to die so that he could collect the inheritance. Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent arrive to give Batman back-up. Harvey shoots Hush two times in the chest, and Hush falls backwards into the bay. Gordon is forced to arrest Dent.

Over the next two weeks, Batman systematically figures out Hush's plan from the beginning. As he explains to Superman, Hush had been planning the attacks for over a year, and had the chips Harold placed in the Batcomputer leave subliminal messages showing Thomas Elliot's image, which is why Batman thought of him after the Batline was cut. Superman has already done several sweeps of the river, but never found Hush's body. Knowing that Hush knew where he was, Batman deduces that Hush placed some sort of tracker on him during the surgery, and asks Superman to burn it out with his heat vision. Reluctantly, Superman complies.

Although Hush seems to be gone, Batman still has to figure out who the true mastermind of this entire affair is. Who told Hush that Batman was secretly Bruce Wayne? The trail leads Batman to Arkham Asylum. He finds that it has been the Riddler pulling the strings the whole time. The Riddler had been dying of terminal cancer and had used one of the Lazarus Pits to save his life. In his temporary insanity caused by the pit, Batman realized that Bruce Wayne was Batman. Healed from the illness, he decided that he wanted to make it big in Gotham. He was tired of being just another crook with a gimmick. So he hooked up with Thomas Eliot (whom he met while researching his illness) and the two decided to play the ultimate Riddle against Batman using all of Gotham's super-villains as pawns. Batman, however, pulls a trump card on the Riddler: his obsession with riddles will prevent him from revealing Batman's identity, and Batman warns him that if he tries something like this again, he'll turn him over Ra's al Ghul.

After conferring with the Riddler, Batman buries Harold on a hill near Wayne Manor, having forgiven his betrayal, where he meets up with Catwoman. Catwoman knows that it is impossible for her to continue a romance with Batman. He simply won't allow himself to fall in love. She walks away from him.

Individuals

 * Batman
 * Alfred Pennyworth
 * Catwoman
 * Huntress
 * James Gordon
 * Superman
 * Harvey Dent
 * Hush
 * The Riddler
 * Harold Allnut (Deceased)
 * Martha Wayne
 * Thomas Wayne

Items

 * Batarang
 * Batcomputer

Locations

 * Gotham County
 * Mercey Island
 * Gotham City
 * Arkham Asylum
 * Batcave