- Batman: Our scars can destroy us, even after the physical wounds have healed. But if we survive them, they can transform us. They can give us the power to endure, and the strength to fight.
- The Riddler: [message] From your secret friend / Who? Haven't a clue / Let's play a game / Just me and you.
- Alfred: If this continues, it won't be long before you've nothing left.
- Bruce Wayne: I don't care about that. Any of that.
- Alfred: You don't care about your family's legacy?
- Bruce Wayne: What I'm doing is my family's legacy.
- [Inside Arkham, Nashton is distraught that Batman has foiled his plans. Someone in a nearby cell speaks to him]
- Unseen Arkham Prisoner: Isn't that just terrible? Them raining on your parade like that? What is it they say? One day you're on top, the next you're a clown. Well, let me tell you, there are worse things to be.
- The Riddler: Who are you?
- Unseen Arkham Prisoner: Well, that's the question, isn't it? Riddle me this - the less of them you have, the more one is worth.
- The Riddler: [whispers] A friend.
- [the obscured criminal begins laughing unsettlingly, only a bit at first, then slowly more maniacal, and Riddler joins in, their laughs echoing the quiet hallways of Arkham Asylum]
- [Oz is held captive by Batman and James Gordon]
- Oswald Cobblepot: What the hell is this? Good cop, *bat-shit* cop?
- Batman: I'm starting to see now. I have had an effect here... but not the one I intended. Vengeance won't change the past, mine or anyone else's. I have to become more. People need hope. To know someone's out there for them.
- The Riddler: It can be cruel, poetic or blind. But when its denied, it's your violence you may find.
- Batman: Justice. The answer's justice.
- Batman: [Finds and holds up a USB flash drive with a severed thumb attached] Thumb Drive.
- James Gordon: Jesus.
- James Gordon: [Opens the flash drive on the computer] It's encrypted.
- Batman: [Dangles the severed thumb in front of Gordon and opens the thumbprint reader on the drive] Try this.
- James Gordon: Oh, this guy is hilarious.
- [Batman and Gordon explore an abandoned building; Gordon un-holsters his gun]
- Batman: No guns.
- James Gordon: Yeah, man, that's *your* thing.
- Batman: Thursday, October 31st. The city streets are crowded for the holiday. Even with the rain. Hidden in the chaos is the element, waiting to strike like snakes. And I'm there too. Watching. 2 years of nights have turned me into a nocturnal animal. I must choose my targets carefully. It's a big city. I can't be everywhere. But they don't know where I am. We have a signal now, for when I'm needed. When that light hits the sky, it's not just a call- it's a warning. To them. Fear is a tool. They think I'm hiding in the shadows. But I AM the shadows. I wish I could say I'm making a difference, but I don't know. Murder, robberies, assault- 2 years later, they're all up. And now this. This city's eating itself. Maybe it can't be saved, but i have to try. PUSH MYSELF. These nights all roll together in a rush, Behind the mask. Sometimes in the morning i have to force myself to remember everything that happened.
- [Oz manages to outrun the Batmobile, caught in a huge explosion]
- Oswald Cobblepot: [laughing uproariously] I got you! I got you! Take that, you friggin' psycho! I got you!
- [the Batmobile leaps through the explosion, catching up to Oz and crashes into his car]
- The Riddler: You came.
- Batman: Who are you?
- The Riddler: Me? Nobody. I'm just an instrument, here to unmask the truth about this cesspool we call a city.
- Batman: Unmask?
- The Riddler: Yes! Let's do this together okay? You're part of this too.
- Batman: How am I a part of this?
- The Riddler: You'll see.
- Batman: You lied to me... my whole life. I spoke to Carmine Falcone. He told me what he did for my father. About Salvator Maroni.
- Alfred: He told you Salvator Maroni...
- Batman: Had my father killed. Why didn't you tell me all this? All the years I've spent fighting for him, believing he was a good man.
- Alfred: He was a good man. Your father was a good man. He made a mistake. A "mistake."
- Batman: He had a man killed. Why? To protect his family image? His political ambitions.
- Alfred: It wasn't to protect the family image, and he didn't have anyone killed. He was protecting your mother. He didn't care about his image or the campaign, any of that. He cared about her and you, and in a moment of weakness, he turned to Falcone. But he never thought Falcone would kill that man. He never thought that Falcone would do anything to finally have something on him that he could use. That's who Falcone is. And that was your father's mistake. But when Falcone told him what he'd done, your father was distraught. He told Falcone he was going to the police, that he would confess everything. And that night, your father and your mother were killed.
- Batman: Was it Falcone?
- Alfred: Oh, I wish I knew for sure. Or maybe it was some random thug on the street who needed money, got scared, and pulled the trigger too fast. If you don't think I've spent every day searching for that answer... It was my job to protect them. Do you understand? I know you always blamed yourself. You were only a boy, Bruce. I could see the fear in your eyes, but I didn't know how to help. I could teach you how to fight, but I wasn't equipped to take care of you. You needed a father. And all you had was me. I'm sorry.
- Batman: Don't be sorry, Alfred. God. I never thought I'd feel that fear again. I thought I'd mastered all that. I mean, I'm not afraid to die. I realize now there's something I haven't got past. This fear... of ever going through any of that again. Of losing somebody I care about.
- Oswald Cobblepot: [firing a submachine gun] Hey, Vengeance! You think you can come after my money, huh?
- Batman: Who's the mustache with the broken nose?
- James Gordon: That's Kenzie. Narcotics.
- Batman: He's one of the guys I got into it with at the Iceberg Lounge.
- James Gordon: What are you saying? Kenzie moonlights for the Penguin?
- Batman: Or he moonlights as a cop.
- Batman: You think you'll be remembered? You're a pathetic psychopath, begging for attention.
- The Riddler: No.
- Batman: You're gonna die alone in Arkham.
- The Riddler: No. No, no, no!
- Batman: A nobody!
- The Riddler: NO! AHHHHH! This is not how this was supposed to go! Ahhhhh! I had it all planned out! We were gonna be safe here. We could watch the whole thing together.
- Batman: Watch what?
- The Riddler: Everything! It was all there. You mean you didn't figure it out? Oh, you're really not as smart as I thought you were. I guess I gave you too much credit.
- Batman: Wednesday, November 6th. The city is underwater. The National Guard is coming. Martial law is in effect, but the criminal element never sleeps. Looting and lawlessness will be rampant in the parts of the city no one can get to. I can already see things will get worse before they get better. And some will seize the chance to grab everything they can.
- Bella Reál: [at a press conference] We will rebuild. But not just our city. We must rebuild people's faith in our institutions, in our elected officials, in each other. Together, we will learn to believe in Gotham again.
- The Riddler: You know, I was there that day. The day the great Thomas Wayne announced he was running for mayor, made all those promises. Well, a week later he was dead, and everybody just forgot about us. All they could talk about was poor Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne, the orphan. Orphan. Living in some tower over the park isn't being an orphan. Looking down on everyone, with all that money. Don't you tell me. Do you know what being an orphan is? It's 30 kids to a room. 12 years old and already a drophead, numbing the pain. You wake up screaming with rats chewing your fingers. And every winter, one of the babies die because it's so cold. But, oh, no. Let's talk about the billionaire with the lying, dead daddy, because at least the money makes it go down easy.
- [interrogating Cobblepot at the Iceburg Lounge]
- Batman: I wanna know who she is, and what she has to do with this murder.
- Oswald Cobblepot: Whose murder?
- Batman: The mayor's.
- Oswald Cobblepot: [looking at the picture Batman's given him] Is that the mayor? Oh, shit, it is! Look at that.
- [Batman slams Cobblepot against a window, cracking it]
- Batman: Don't make me hurt you.
- Oswald Cobblepot: You better watch it. You know my reputation?
- Batman: Yeah, I do. Do you?
- Oswald Cobblepot: Look... I'm just the proprietor, okay? I mean, what people do here ain't got nothing to do with me.
- Batman: We didn't do anything together.
- The Riddler: We did. What did we just do? I asked you to bring him in the light, and you did. We're such a good team.
- Batman: We're not a team.
- The Riddler: I never could have gotten him out of there. I-I'm not physical. My strength is up here.
- [indicating his brain]
- The Riddler: I mean, I... I had all the pieces, I had the answers. But I didn't know how to make them listen. You gave me that.
- Batman: I gave you nothing.
- The Riddler: You showed me what was possible. You showed me all it takes is fear and a little focused violence. You inspired me.
- Batman: You're out of your goddamn mind.
- Commissioner Pete Savage: [to Batman] This must be your favorite time of year, huh pal? Happy fuckin' Halloween.
- Oswald Cobblepot: [when Selina sees Batman for the first time] It's okay, baby. Mr. Vengeance here, he don't bite.
- Carmine Falcone: [Batman perp-walks him out of his club] Jesus. Look at you, man. What do... what do you think this is? You think you're gonna scare me with that mask and that cape? I'm gonna start crying and all of a sudden, some big secret's coming out? Let me tell you something. Whatever I know, whatever I've done, it's all going with me to my grave.
- [seeing Gordon]
- Carmine Falcone: What, are you with Zorro over here? Don't you know you boys in blue work for me?
- James Gordon: [leading him out, where a group of GCPD officers wait] I guess we don't all work for you.
- Batman: Was it worth it?
- Selina Kyle: What?
- Batman: Compromising yourself for money. What'd you have to do to set up that score? How close did you have to get to Penguin? To Falcone?
- Selina Kyle: You don't know what the hell you're talking about. Falcone owes me that money.
- Batman: He owes you?
- Selina Kyle: Yeah, and a lot more.
- Batman: Oh, really? Why's that?
- Selina Kyle: You know what? I can't even talk to you.
- Batman: [stopping her from leaving] No! I want to know why a guy like Falcone would owe you anything.
- Selina Kyle: Because he's my father! My mother worked at the 44 Below. Just like Anni. She used to take me there when I was a little girl.
- Batman: To the club?
- Selina Kyle: Yeah. I hid out in the dressing room while she worked. Used to see him there. He scared the shit out of me. And I could never understand why he looked at me the way he did. Then one night, my mother told me who he was. When I was seven, my mother was murdered. Strangled. Never found out who. Probably some creep from the club. Anyway, social services came to take me away, and he didn't say a thing. Couldn't even look at me. He owes me that money.
- Batman: I'm sorry. For what I said.
- Selina Kyle: Ah, it's all right. You assume the worst in people. Which, well... maybe we're not so different after all.
- Batman: Cat burglar pulling another score?
- Selina Kyle: What?
- Batman: Wasn't sure I'd see you again.
- Selina Kyle: Yeah, well, things were getting a little hot for me, so... how could they do that to her? That piece of shit cop, Kenzie. Her body was in his car. I'm gonna find him and I'm gonna make him pay. You gonna help me?
- Batman: Help you?
- Selina Kyle: Yeah. I thought you were "Vengeance."
- Batman: Your friend got involved with the wrong people. She didn't know any better. Maybe you should have explained it to her.
- Selina Kyle: What the hell is that supposed to mean?
- Batman: It means your choices have consequences.
- Batman: You're leaving.
- Selina Kyle: [jumping in surprise] Jesus. Don't you ever just say hello?
- Batman: Where will you go?
- Selina Kyle: I don't know. Upstate. Bludhaven, maybe. Why? You asking me to stay?
- [getting her answer from his silence]
- Selina Kyle: You know this place is never gonna change. With Carmine gone, it's only gonna get worse for you. There's gonna be a power grab. It'll be bloody.
- Batman: I know. But the city can change.
- Selina Kyle: It won't.
- Batman: I have to try.
- The Riddler: Hey, guys. Uh, thanks for all the comments, and, uh, a special thanks to everyone for the tips on detonators.
- Officer Martinez: Detonators?
- The Riddler: I just want to say this will be my last post for a little while, and, uh... what this community has meant to me these weeks, these months, let's just say none of us... is alone anymore. Okay?
- Batman: Jesus.
- The Riddler: Tomorrow's Election Day. And Bella Reál will win. She promised real change. But we know the truth, don't we? You've seen Gotham's true face now. Together, we've unmasked it. Its corruption, its perversion masquerading under the guise of renewal. But unmasking is not enough. The day of judgment is finally upon us. And now it is time for retribution. I've parked seven vans all along the city seawall. And on the big night, they will go boom. When the vans blow, the flooding will happen so fast, evacuation will not be an option. Those who are not washed away will race through the streets in terror.
- Batman: Call Gordon.
- Officer Martinez: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
- The Riddler: As breaking news hits higher ground in Gotham Square Garden, celebrations will turn to panic as the venue becomes the city's shelter of last resort. And that's where all of you come in.
- [looking at the video's comments, Batman sees mentions of rifles and calibers]
- The Riddler: Now, when the time arrives, I will already be unmasked. The pigs will have me in their custody, but that's okay. Because then it will be your turn. You'll be there, waiting. It's time for the lies to finally end. False promises of renewal? CHANGE? We'll give them real, real change now. We've spent our lives in this wretched place, SUFFERING! Wondering, "Why us?" Now they will spend their last moments wondering, "Why them?"
- Oswald Cobblepot: Goddamn rat.
- Carmine Falcone: What'd you say?
- Oswald Cobblepot: Enjoy your night at Blackgate, Carmine. Probably be your last.
- Carmine Falcone: Oh-ho! So you're a big man now, Oz, huh?
- Oswald Cobblepot: Maybe I am.
- Carmine Falcone: Really, Oz? Because to me, you were always just a gimp in an empty suit.