a nightmare.
i fought them yesterday.
can't they kill me before breakfast?
you're not the devil.
you're practice.
why?
i don't need protection.
i thought the point of solitary confinement was the solitary part.
who are you?
i've heard the legends. master warrior, international mercenary, feared by the all the underworld.  some even swear he's immortal.
code? aren't you criminals?
and what am i looking for?
i need food.
ra's al ghul?
ready? i.  i can barely-
my anger outweighs my guilt.
as weapons?
the man had a gun!
i've had training-
beyond saving? you believe that?
yield.
to lose myself. i couldn't do anything as bruce wayne. i felt useless.
how long?
i needed to understand the thoughts and feelings of those who stand in the shadows.
the first time you're forced to steal not to starve.
you lose many assumptions about the simple nature of right and wrong.
i needed to feel the fear before a crime.
and the thrill of success.
without becoming one of them.
i thought i would find something.
i thought i would learn what i needed to do with my skills and my anger.
but the harder i looked the less i saw. the less i knew.
until i wasn't even sure what i'd been looking for in the first place.
and i was lost.
why the masks?
i haven't.
where will i be leading these men?
you want me to go back to gotham?
for what?
what?!
you can't believe in this.
what's necessary.
tell him.  i have an ailing ancestor who needs me.
alfred.
yes. yes it has. i need a ride.
bhutan, i think.
i'm traveling a bit light, yes.
very good. oh, and alfred?
bring some painkillers.
have you told anyone i'm coming home?
no one can know i'm back. not until i'm ready. i'll need everything on the company- shareholders' reports, holdings. everything.
gotham needs me, alfred. gotham needs.  a symbol.
i'm not sure. something for the good to rally behind.
and the criminals to fear.
is it closed?
respect?
morning.
yes, i can.
sorry to barge in, but i was in the areas.
what can i say? "reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated".
you can ask.
actually, i thought i'd get to grips with what we actually do around here. from the ground up- one division at a time.
applied sciences caught my eye.
actually, i've got a one o'clock tee- off, and it took me all morning to convince the club to honor my old membership. apparently they don't have to meet the same high standards as you when it comes to declaring someone dead.
no, let's go.
none?
they didn't tell me anything.
you were on the board?
you knew my father?
bullet-proof?
tear-resistant?
why didn't they put it into production?
i want to borrow it. for spelunking. you know, cave-diving.
listen, i'd rather mr.earle didn't know about me borrowing-
okay! give it a try.
alfred, come up here.
don't turn around.
i've been watching. you're a good cop. one of the few. what would it take to get falcone?
he brings in shipments of drugs every week, nobody takes him down. why?
what would it take?
rachel dodson in the d.a.'s office.
watch for a sign.
now we are two.
keep your elbows in.
this is wayne industries, mr.earle- i'm sure they'll call back.
i thought a few promotions might be good karma forgetting my new job.
three month's time- i'm having a huge blowout and i expect everyone to be there.
great- there's some cool stuff down there. although that mr.fox goes on a bit once you gte him talking.
business.  sure.
offering shares?
right, who's turn is it?
via a shell corporation.
put it together ourselves.
how large?
least we'll have spares.
sper-lunking. and no, today it's base-jumping.
i need some kind of lightweight grappling hook.
base jumping's illegal-you can't just take the elevator.
any good?
too expensive for the army?
look, mr.fox, if you're uncomfortable-
fair enough.
what kind of shapes can you make?
what's that?
does it come in black?
at least they gave us a discount.
a man, however strong, however skilled, is just flesh and blood. i need to be more than a man. i need to be a symbol.
bats frighten me. and it's time my enemies shared my dread.
bats are nocturnal.
theatricality and deception are powerful weapons, alfred. it's a start.
i'm not learning polo, alfred.
what does someone like me do?
a guy who dresses up like a bat clearly has issues.
if he's so benevolent why does he hide his face?
well, they're european.
mr.earle, i'm buying this hotel. will you please broker a deal?
i think we should make some new rules for the pool area, don't you?
ladies?
rachel.
oh, kind of all over, you know.
you didn't?
rachel, all that.  that's not me, inside i'm.  different. i'm-
how long did i sleep?
it was some kind of gas.  i only breathed the slightest amount.
i've felt those effects before.  but this was much more potent.
it's some kind of weaponized hallucinogen. administered in aerosol form.
could you synthesize an antidote?
so you can't.
do you know what a wayne industries m-emit42b is?
what?
could you find out?
i'm sorry, i'll come back.
i'm sorry, have we?
i wanted to invite you a party-
today's my birthday. and i wanted to apologize.
i thought you could never quite give up on me.
i hate the place. i'd tear it down if i could.
the place is nothing without the people who made it what it was. now there's only alfred.
you're going to arkham now? it's in the narrows, rachel.
keep them happy until i arrive. tell them that joke you know.
rachel's sedated. you can take her home.
is fox still here? tell you staff to stop serving drinks and move everybody on after the cake.
any word on that.  item.
could you sue it to put a biological agent into the air?
mr.earle, good of you to come.
sorry to disappoint. how did the stock offering go?
who was buying?
have you met lucius fox?
fox is showing me the ropes down at applied sciences.  he's a great untapped resource at our company, aren't you, mr.fox?
mrs delane, i can't just now.
you're not ra's al ghul. he's dead.
or cheap parlor tricks to conceal your trues identity, ra's?
your quarrel is with me. let these people go.
crane was working for you.
you're going to unleash crane's poison on the entire city.
you're going to destroy millions of lives.
you're inhuman.
what part was that, ra's? to put my company at your disposal? to obtain your microwave emitter and plant it somewhere in gotham?
you underestimate gotham.
to kill me?
to take power.
i will not take life. i will not be a part of this.
i frighten criminals.
perhaps you taught me too well.
what have i done, alfred? everything my family.  everything my father and his father built.
i thought i could.  help gotham.  but i've failed.
still haven't given up on me?
it is my company.
and i bought most of the shares. a controlling interest, in fact. through various charitable foundations, trusts and so forth.
look, it's all a bit technical, but the important thing is.  my company's future is secure.
do you remember the day i fell?
as i lay there, i knew.  i could sense it.
that things would never be the same.
childhood's end.
true things. you made me see that justice is about more than my own pain and anger.
about what?
rachel, this life i chose.  i can give it up.
i'm going to rebuild it just the way it was. brick for brick.
yes, why?
in the south east corner?