uh.  great, could you wait a second.
stop!
okay, i want you all to just stand here for fifteen seconds, okay? fifteen, everybody got it?
good. nobody move, now.
i gotta give myself a raise.
really? you all need to get out more.
mr?
um. i'm pretty sure i'm bruce wayne. and you are?
i'm gonna need that hand back, ed.
mr. nygma, you'll forgive me for being rude. but what exactly is on your mind?
call my secretary, she'll set something up. factory looks great, folks. keep up the good work.
we'll talk some other -
i'm sorry, edward. just feels a bit like mind manipulation. it raises too many question marks.
lock.
capsule.
alfred.
i'll get drive-thru. go.
i think they're getting worse.
then you'd have nothing to complain about.
computer records can be forged. i'll have my people pull up --
what's this?
no postmark. no stamp.
the riddler? why can't anyone in this town have a normal name?
i could like this woman.
how's the sonar coming, alfred?
it'll never work.
she has an excellent mind.
i wonder if she'd go out with me.
they don't understand. they think i became batman to fight crime.
do you remember the night i fell into that cave and the bat chased me?
the night batman was born. what was i doing in the fields that night, alfred? what sent me running out into that storm? i keep dreaming about it but i just can't remember.
i remember the bat, though. his scream. those eyes. i was sure the fear would kill me. in time i came to believe that if i became a monster, that if i was feared, i wouldn't be scared anymore. i was wrong. they think i became batman to fight crime. i became batman to fight the fear. and instead i became the fear.
somebody's been sending me love letters. commissioner gordon thought you might give me your expert opinion.
just ones this beautiful.
on occasion. usually at night.
still play with dolls, doctor?
me? no. only things that need calming in my dreams are the rockettes.
wacko? that a technical term?
so what you're saying, this guy's a total wacko, right?
you have a thing for bats?
so, this riddler, he's dangerous?
not much.
it's a stretch but i'll manage.
to kill me.
no insights here, doc. just trying to get comfortable on your couch. oops. times up.
look, i'd love to keep chatting-
but i'm going to have to get you out of those clothes.
and into a black dress.
tell me, doctor, do you like the circus?
i'm sorry. who are you?
now we can just sit back and watch the show like normal folks.
what? this isn't normal?
that kid is amazing.
me? i'm easy. especially after a couple of martinis.
don't believe it. i'm just skin deep.
look, i'm rock climbing sunday. how about coming along?
but.
fast work. you just moved here.
he sure did.
i said i'm sure he did.
show's over.
gee, i'm not sure. alfred? how many rooms? total?
take any three you like. after you get settled we can.
excuse me.
where will you go? the circus is halfway to metropolis by now.
listen, dick. killing two-face won't take the pain away. it'll make it worse.
it's not just the sadness. is it? the shame is worse. feeling like somehow you should have saved them.
you're right. i don't know you. but i'm like you.
it's happening again. just like my parents. a monster comes out of the night. a scream. two gunshots. i killed them.
he killed them. two-face. he slaughtered that boy's parents.
don't be ridiculous.
riddler and two-face are tweaking the data before the computer pulls it off the emergency bands.
the style of the letters i'm getting matches those found at the crime sites. why would the riddler be sending me riddles? who's your decorator? u-haul?
what's this?
my parents were murdered. in front of me. i was just a kid.
a lot of what happened is jagged. pieces missing. i can't really remember. i just get flashes. usually in my dreams. i'd kind of gotten used to them. at least accepted them.
they've changed. the dreams, i mean. there's a new element i don't understand. a book. black. covered in leather.
why do i feel like the other man, here?
i'd say this goes a little beyond taking your work home.
maybe he just had a lousy childhood, is that it doc?
what?
i'm not-
rage. anger. passion. pain.
is he all right?
he ran away?
he boosted the jag? is that all?
the _rolls_?
absolutely not.
what i do isn't about revenge.
this isn't a game.
you don't understand. it's an addiction. you fight night after night, trying to fill the emptiness. but the pain's back in the morning. and somewhere along the way it stops being a choice. i want better for you.
too much wealth. too fast. half of gotham zombied-out. a technology that self destructs. he's protecting more than industrial secrets, alfred.
keep me off the couch, doc. your fees are a little rich for me.
so how goes your `scholarly' pursuit of batman?
spare me the diagnosis, okay? you're being ridiculous. i can't be jealous of batman. can i?
what? oh, edward. hi. congratulations. great party-
what? oh, it's very impressive.
nostrovia.
slanta.
banzai.
actually, i like to divest just before a major re-capitalization.
and the beast slouches towards bethelem.
emergency, alfred.
what the hell did you think you were doing?
how about richard grayson, college student?
we don't kill. killing is what damns you. it-. what am i talking about? this conversation is over. you're going away to school.
it's starting all over again, alfred. another boy lost to rage. and it's my fault. if harvey hadn't come gunning for me at the circus. his family.
maybe they're right.
jack napier's dead. my parents are avenged. the wayne foundation contributes a small fortune to police and crime prevention programs.
why do i keep doing this?
could i let batman go? for dick. for me. could i leave the shadows? have a life. friends. family.
she's the first woman in a long time that's.  no. she's the first woman ever. and she loves batman. not bruce wayne. if i let go of batman i'll lose her.
how? as batman, knowing she wants me? or as bruce wayne and hope?
who am i alfred? i don't think i know anymore.
happy halloween.
from this day on, batman is no more.
dick, let go. revenge will eat you alive. trust me. i know.
and when you finally get two-face?
exactly. and once you'd killed him you'd be lost. like me. all this has to be a choice. otherwise. it's a curse.
chase is coming for dinner. why don't you join us.
there's something i want to talk with you about. it's. well, we.
flashes. images. of that night.
i don't want to remember!
my parents are laid out in the library. their skin smells like talcum powder. i'm so small. my father's diary is on his desk like always. i'm opening the book. reading. i'm running out into the storm. the book is in my hands. i can't hear my screams over the rain. i'm falling.
i don't-.
the last entry read, bruce insists on seeing a movie tonight. bruce insists. i made them go out. i made them take me to the movie. to that theater.  it was my fault. i killed them.
not the bat?
i always thought it was the bat that scared me that night that changed my life. but it wasn't. the real fear was hiding underneath: what i read in the journal, that my parents' deaths were my fault. that's what i couldn't remember. that's the crime i've been paying for all these years.
chase. there's something i need to tell you--
what the hell?
go!
not that young. it's been a long time since you've called me that.
as well as can be expected, i guess. give me the bad news.
the case? what cave?
i'm batman? i remember my life as bruce wayne. but all this. it's like the life of a stranger.
there's one other thing. i feel.
afraid.
a bat.
i remember a bat. a monster. a demon. chasing me. oh my god, alfred.
bruce insists on seeing a movie tonight.
but martha and i have our hearts set on zorro, so bruce's cartoon will have to wait until next week.
not my fault. it wasn't my fault.
batman, alfred. i'm batman.
all the answers are numbers.
what do maniacs always want?
precisely. so this number is probably some kind of calling card.
letters in the alphabet.
how about, mr. e.
and another name for mystery?
exactly. mr. e. mister edward nygma.
good thing mr. e. didn't know about the cave under the cave.
claw island. nygma's headquarters. i'm sure that's where they're keeping chase. are all the batsuits destroyed?
tonight's a good night.