Batman: Family #6 is an issue of the series Batman: Family (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 2003. It was published on December 4, 2002.
Synopsis for "Machinery"
A giant mechanical monkey with a fez and clamoring cymbals comes charging through Gotham to serve a distraction. A group of robbers with ape masks ambush two guards who were driving an Ironclad Armor Transport. The robbers take over two hundred grand. Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen arrive on the scene to deactivate the loud clamoring monkey. Montoya and Allen managed to apprehend Beezer, one of the simian robbers who had a briefcase of money from the armored car robbery. Montoya knows that Beezer is a flunkie for Riley and Finn, top enforcers within the Simian Syndicate. However, she wants to know who sold the giant mechanical monkey to the syndicate. Beezer confesses that someone called the Technician was responsible for creating the mechanical monkey.
Oracle takes a closer look into Sloane's CD dives into the Network's covert plan in Gotham. Oracle couldn't find anything concrete on Freeway and Dr. Excess other than the fact that they could have been affiliated with intelligence agencies. As for Sloane's investigation into the Network, Roger noted his encounter with Linus Samuelson at a bar in Philadelphia. Samuelson was an executive of Arroyo Biotech, a Fortune 400 firm in Texas. The Network had systematically sabotaged the company. Six years ago, Arroyo Biotech launched the development of Immunolux, a drug that would halt and potentially reverse the metastasis of tumors. The FDA approved human trials but the results after 3 months were less than favorable. A substantial number of test subjects began experiencing deleterious side effects. The drug accelerated the cancer rather than stopping it. The government stopped all testing and shut down Arroyo which resulted in 900 employees losing their jobs as well as the suicide of Arroyo's CEO Lyle Bodean.
Sloane began digging around and found Samuelson's story had merit. The Immunolux disaster was based on more than just faulty research and mismanagement. Sloane asked other former employees at Arroyo about their take on what happened during the human trials. The employees felt like they were being watched at the office and in their homes. One researcher claims that internal lab reports and other secure documents were altered during the trials. Three senior members at Arroyo reported unauthorized personal at Arroyo but these employees were let go shortly after.
The disturbing part of this event was when the project head of the Immunolux trials had died of an unexpected heart attack. His replacement was Dr. Excess but under the assumed name Dr. Charles Ingram. Sloane tried to interview Ingram but he learned that the real Dr. Ingram was a general practitioner in Alaska who died in 1961. The FDA administrator who shutdown the project was killed in a freak golfing accident which was staged by Mr. Fun. The administrator's widow found a shoe box with over 20,000 dollars in his closet which would suspect that the administrator was paid to overlook certain peculiarities during the shutdown.
Dr. Fiona Kirkpatrick, a research team member, told Sloane that she had been threatened by someone who resembled Freeway. Kirkpatrick had discovered that some batches of Immunolax had been chemically altered. The circumstantial evidence suggested malfeasance which made Sloane wonder who profited from Arroyo's misfortune. His investigation led him to Recklinghausen LTD, a German pharmaceutical company which was a subsidiary of Helios International, a shipping company owned by Celia Kazantkakis. Interpol has after been after a woman named Athena who leads the Network. The Network's string of sabotages and financial gain stems from Milan, Rio and Taiwan as well. Tim wonders if they should confront Celia about their newfound knowledge but Cassandra Cain suggests deception. Bruce concurs with Cassandra and decides they will go after Celia's lieutenants first.
On the other side of town, the Technician heads to the abandoned Alexandria Theater where he converses with two retired felons: Sy Lefkowitz and Mickey Dunn. The two thugs recall when they robbed the theater back in 1941 and an expo robbery where they beat Little Mo Derringer to the punch. The Technician excuses himself when he gets a page from the Simian Syndicate. The Technician collects his final payment from the syndicate for the giant monkey distraction. Afterwards, the Technician goes to Little Moscow to give a demonstration of his armored van that has lightweight alloy for the Russian mob.
He also designed an explosive spider robot that will destroy a competitor of the Oasis Club owner. The Techncian's last stop involved giving Harley Quinn a supply of toy planes that will spell out messages with Joker gas. As the Technician heads back to his base of operations, he remembers his former but dreary life as Danny Tran in Orange County, California. Danny was always fascinated by the history of crime especially criminals who made their mark in Gotham like Edgy Tannenbaum, Zoot Suit Rudolph, Milo Reinhardt and Count Zefferelli. Danny first met Freeway when the two of them were working for Tommy Ng's chop shop.
Both Oracle and Nightwing go over their notes about Celia Kazantkakis. Celia is the daughter of Lucinda Delmont and Costas Kazantkakis, an exchange student from Greece who attended Gotham University. Costas returned to Greece before Celia was born and Lucinda committed suicide when Celia was three. At the age of 22, she travelled to Greece wherre she met her father and took over his textile mills when he died. She developed a lucrative business by supplying designer fabric to European fashion houses. She didn't marry Porter Endicott until she was 53. Her recent appointment within Wayne Enterprises, Celia has cut operating costs without sacrificing jobs. Oracle pulled an obituary column from Ivy Town. It turns out that the body of Linus Samuelson was found by campus police at the Ivy Town University.
Santos meets with Bruce to talk about the recent developments with the Rossettis. Batman informs Santos that the Suicide King and Tracker might be pulling a scam on the Rossettis. Batman asks how Rossetti got in contact with the Suicide King. Santos says a Vietnamese kid called the Technician referred the Suicide King to Rossetti. Batman figures that the Technician might be connected to the Network along with Tracker, Suicide King, Freeway and Doctor Excess. Santos tells Batman that the Technician's shop was located at a warehouse on Novick Street but the place has been cleared out.
Bruce decides to pose as Matches Malone in order to gather some intel about the Technician. As Matches, Bruce learns from Luisa, a local bartender, that her brother Arturo Rojas is going to a military armor demonstration which is being hosted by the Technician. At that same time, Montoya and Allen enter the bar. They question Arturo Rojas because they suspect that he was the one who put the Simian Syndicate in contact with the Technician. Matches tells the detectives that Arturo has never had any dealings with the Simian Syndicate. The detectives move on and question other patrons in the bar. Arturo shows his gratitude by telling Matches to meet him near the Augustine Bridge for the Technician's demonstration.
Bruce dons his cape and cowl before heading to the Augustine Bridge. He deactivates the Technician's complex security system before entering. The Technician shows Arturo a modified version of the LexCorp 3000 H-model battle armor suit which will enable him to take on any adversary or knock over any bank. The Technician then gets a call from Bugg. Bugg informs Danny that a SWAT team is in route to his location at the Augustine Bridge and that his security feed has been shutdown. Bugg resets the system and discovers that the Batman is already there. The Technician tells Arturo that their deal is off and he enters the armored suit to take out the SWAT team as well as the Batman. Batman calls Oracle and asks her to send him the override codes for the suit via frequency transmission. Batman aims the frequency at the Technician and the suit shuts down. Danny then makes a run for it on his motorcycle.
Batman remote controls his Batmobile to intercept the Technician. Technician plays chicken with the Batmobile but he doesn't realize that nobody is actually driving the Batmobile. The Technician hesitates and crashes his motorcycle. Batman apprehends the Technician and takes him to a safe house for interrogation. Meanwhile at the Zephyr Building, the Network learns of the Technician's capture. Freeway asks Celia to allow him to rescue Danny but Celia says "No". She orders Freeway to find out where Danny is being kept then she will send Mister Fun to take care of the situation.
Appearing in "Machinery"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Network (Flashback and main story)
- Harley Quinn
- Arturo Rojas (Single appearance)
- Mickey Dunn (Single appearance)
- Sy Lefkowitz (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Gotham City Police Department
- Dr. Fiona Kirkpatrick (Flashback only)
- Linus Samuelson (Flashback only)
- Luisa (Single appearance)
- Luke Santos
- Lyle Bodean (Dies in flashback)
Locations:
- Gotham City
- Gotham Clock Tower
- Wayne Enterprises (Flashback only)
- Zephyr Building
Items:
Vehicles:
See Also