Cameron Kaiser builds a casino hotel modeled after the Joker, called "The Joker's Wild". The Joker sees this on the news and, enraged, escapes from Arkham again, with one thought on his mind: destroying the casino, unaware that this is exactly what Kaiser wants him to do as part of an insurance claim.

While following Count Vertigo's trail, Batman encounters Talia, daughter of the head of the Society of Shadows, who was sent by her father to prevent the capture of a sonic drill that the Count stole. But after his identity is mistakenly revealed to Talia, Batman remains off-balance as to where her true loyalties lie.