Even next to disease and earthquake and the everyday madness of this city...this is too much. How does Gotham come back from this? 
- — Robin
Robin (Volume 2) #68 is an issue of the series Robin (Volume 2) with a cover date of September, 1999.
Synopsis for "War Beneath the Streets!, Part One: Rats!"
Tommy Mangles and Gearhead are dragged by the water along the sewers and they end up in a different place from where they were before.
Outside in Gotham, Batman gives Robin a job: to find the source of the food that has been circulating in Gotham for the last few days.
In the sewers, the group of people that were displaced by Mangles and Gearhead venture again in the place where they stored canned food and other goods. They spot a rat and try to kill it, but in a few minutes they are surrounded by an army of rats and the vermin attack them and and they run away. The rats are commanded by The Ratcatcher.
Robin starts asking the people in Gotham for answers about the source of the food and goods but the information isn't really helpful.
Outside Gotham in the suburbs, Stephanie Brown arrives at her home after jogging and finds her mother Crystal cleaning up her bedroom and taking the maternity clothes to sell them. Stephanie is happy to finally return to her optimal physical condition but her joy is crushed when her mother finds her Spoiler costume and requests an explanation.
Back in Gotham, Robin finally discovers the gang that is auctioning the food and goods and he forces them to tell him where did they got the stuff. Robin learns about a storage cache down in the sewers that a group of people are selling to the outside and making profit of it. Robin ventures again in the sewers, without knowing what to expect.
Mangles and Gearhead are still wandering the sewers and after a lot of time, they realize they are lost.
Robin looks for any sign in the sewers but find nothing. Robin catches the sound of a voice coming from down of a tunnel. He goes to see who is it and discovers that it is the Ratcatcher. He has gathered a great group of rats in the storage vault and is planning to feed his animals with all that food and make them grow in numbers so that he can take the outside city and claim it for his own. Robin is listening to all of the madman's plan when he is surprised by a rat that bites him and makes him lose his balance and fall down to the ground. Ratcatcher is glad to see another source of food for his animals and Robin finds himself surrounded by hundreds of rats.
Appearing in "War Beneath the Streets!, Part One: Rats!"
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Notes
- This story continues directly from Robin #67.
- This is the first part of the storyline titled War Beneath the Streets and it takes place after Catwoman #74. No Man's Land and War Beneath the Streets continues in Robin #69.
- This issue is reprinted in Batman: No Man's Land (2011/2012 Edition) Vol 3.
Trivia
- There is a reference to Hitler.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Robin Recommended Reading
- Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying
- Batman: Dark Victory
- "Batman: Year Three"
- Batman and Robin (Volume 1)
- Batman and Robin (Volume 2)
- Batman & Robin Eternal
- New Teen Titans (Volume 1)
- Robin: A Hero Reborn
- Robin II: The Joker's Wild!
- Robin III: Cry of the Huntress
- Robin (Volume 2)
- Robin (Volume 3)
- Robin: Son of Batman
- Robin: Year One
- Robins (Volume 1)
- Teen Titans (Volume 3)
- We Are Robin
- Young Justice (Volume 1)
- Young Justice (Volume 2)
