Several high-ranking members of various criminal organizations debated over what they should do now that Blockbuster was dead. They needed to appoint a leader so that they could save their manpower and resources to keep Black Mask and his gang out of Blüdhaven.
One of them said that there was only one man fit to lead them, and he
gestured to a figure that appeared to be Blockbuster―despite everyone's
certainty that he was dead.

In Gotham Cemetery, Bruce Wayne attended the funeral of Stephanie Brown. Tim Drake
stood a ways back from the crowd of mourners. Bruce approached him to
see how he was holding up, unsure of why he was standing so far back
from the group since he and Stephanie were close friends. Tim felt numb
and unable to spare any emotional bandwidth to grieve Stephanie after
the deaths of his father and his friend Darla Aquista.
He blamed himself for their deaths, implying that their proximity to
him put them in danger. He stood back from the funeral because he felt
he couldn't afford to get close to or associate with civilians for fear
of imperiling them as well. Bruce empathized and asked if he could do
anything, calling him “son” which upset Tim. Bruce apologized, then
asked what his plans for the immediate future would be. Tim said that he
intended to continue as Robin, but he needed space and time away from Gotham.

Seemingly changing the subject, Tim brought up his stepmother,
Dana Winters. Dana wasn't coping well with her husband's death and
couldn't care for herself or Tim, so she checked in to a residential
clinic in Blüdhaven specializing in “disabling grief”. Tim asked Bruce
to cover the cost of her stay, which he agreed to. To be close to Dana
and away from Gotham, Tim decided to operate out of Blüdhaven.

12 days later, Robin settled into his new town. Over the period
of a few days, he cased the city, beat up some thugs to warn them to
behave, and recruited a would-be purse thief named Ronald Sekowski
(under the threat of being turned in to the authorities) to infiltrate
the gang of Fish Eddie, a prominent mob boss. Robin gave Ronald some
stolen jewelry as an offering to get into the gang; he secretly planted a
tracking device on the box.

Later, Alfred
arrived to help Robin set up a base of operations. While he was there,
Robin managed to pinpoint the hideout of Fish Eddie's gang. Alfred
inquired as to the nature of his operation, concerned about the danger
to his informant. Robin replied that it didn't really matter as “Ronald
chose his life” and his plan would be successful whether or not Ronald
carried out all of his assigned duties or got hurt. Alfred was surprised
at this; he criticized Tim for having too “callous” of an attitude
about people's lives. Tim rebutted defensively that being overly
concerned about the safety of criminals at the expense of innocents was
what contributed to the uncontrolled escalation of the recent gang war in Gotham. He would repeat the strategy that he used with Ronald as many times as it took to carry out his mission.

The next night, Robin fought three men on a rooftop and
incapacitated them without much difficulty. However, Robin realized too
late that they weren't there to take him down―they were just supposed to
attract his attention and keep him engaged until the assassin Shrike arrived. Shrike sliced Robin's staff
in two. Robin tried to stand his ground and defend himself, but Shrike
was much more skilled than him and got several hard hits in on Robin's
ribs and stomach. He tried to use his tools to slow down the assassin
and get away, but Shrike was hardly bothered and caught up to the
panting boy easily. Shrike praised his performance for someone of his
age and offered an out―if Robin surrendered, went back to Gotham, and
sent Nightwing
in his stead, he could leave alive. Robin refused despite his injuries
and exhaustion, so Shrike continued his relentless attack, mocking him
all the while.

At the same time, Alfred returned to Wayne Manor
and served Bruce dinner. Alfred told him that he felt disturbed by what
he saw in Tim. Bruce misinterpreted this to mean that Tim was still
grieving and struggling because of that, but Alfred corrected him: Tim
had been hardened by the recent tragedies and was going down a dark
path. Instead of Alfred's hope that Bruce would become "brighter and
more optimistic" like Tim, it was Tim that ended up adopting traits of
Bruce.

Back in Blüdhaven, Shrike was still on his feet while Robin was
slumped in front of him. He shoved the struggling form of Robin down to
the ground fully, causing his head to slam into the ground. Shrike
kicked at his injured side while Robin tried to curl up. He taunted
Robin, telling him that he would send “just enough” of him to his
mentors so he could have a real challenge. He positioned his sword at
Robin's neck in preparation to make a clean cut.

Just before Shrike was about to deal the final blow, Batgirl arrived and snatched the sword out of his hand.