Batman: Gotham Knight Page #3

They say his momma didn't want him.

Flushed him into the sewers.

All that toxic waste down here|done turned him.

Made him strong.

Which way?

He gone down the coffin road.

Hey, bat, when you flying...

...what the city look like|from up on high?

It looks dirty.

I'm in some old railway.

There are coffins everywhere.

Used to be a pneumatic system...

...linking Gotham's cemeteries.

They used it to transport the dead.

[SNIFFS]

There's methane in here.|I'm switching to air-assist.

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

Got a lead on your Killer Croc.

His name's Waylon Jones.

He was an inmate at Arkham Asylum...

...and a former test subject in Dr. Crane's|fear-aversion therapy program.

He's twice as twisted...

...now that Crane's had a go at him.

Jones was a former circus sideshow freak.

''

EpidermoIytic hyperkeratosis.

Right.

to razor points, went on a killing spree.

Crane was working on averting?

Bats.

[GROWLS]

[GRUNTS]

[BATMAN SCREAMS]

Batman, what's going on?

I found Croc.

Something's wrong,|vision's all twisted inside out.

Croc bit me.

I think he's got the Scarecrow's fear toxin|boiling inside his veins.

Infected me with it.

Are you in pain?|-I work through pain.

[GROWLING]

[MO ANING]

Batman, talk to me. What's happening?

[GRO ANS]

Croc's down for the count.

the toxin? You still seeing things?

Definitely.

Death! Death! Death!

Death! Death!

Death! Death! Death!

Cardinal O'Fallon, I sentence you to death|for your crimes against Gotham.

Just like all the other enemies|that have come before you.

Please. I've done nothing wrong.

SCARECROW:
|Oh, but you have, cardinal.

You tried to help the city's homeless...

...tried to save the wretched|and forgotten.

But The Scarecrow|doesn't want them saved.

The Scarecrow wants them driven|downward into my kind and loving arms.

The Scarecrow's here, with an army|of escaped Arkham inmates and homeless.

They've all been poisoned with toxin.

Where are you, Batman?

Beneath the eastern reservoir, I guess.|In the old weir chambers.

I'm sending reinforcements now.|Just hold tight till we get there.

No time for that.

Can anyone here speak for the holy man?

[WHIMPERS]

BATMAN:
|I can.

[CULTIST SCREAMS]

[GRUNTING]

Take my hand.

[GRO ANS]

[COUGHS]

I can hardly breathe.

BATMAN:
|Methane gas, our ticket out of here.

-What are you doing?|-Lighting a match.

Now close your eyes.

[O'FALLON GASPS]

[RUMBLING]

[GRUNTS]

[MO ANS]

-Come on.|-Maybe next time.

MAN:
|Stay away from me! Stay away!

[GUNFIRE]

[MAN PANTING]

[SCREAMS]

[GRO ANING]

[PANTING]

[GRO ANS]

[SIZZLING]

[GRO ANS]

[SCREAMING]

Bruce, strap his legs down.

I'm trying.

So was this what you expected|when you volunteered for the relief effort?

I knew it'd be bad.

This bad?

I'm here to do whatever I can.

All right. Here's the artery.

No perforation of the bowel.|Give me a clamp.

[SCREAMS]

Okay, Bruce. Sew him up.

[PANTING]

[GRO ANING]

[GRUNTING]

[PANTS]

[GRO ANING]

[SCREECHES]

[HISSES]

[CROWD MURMURING]

[SCREECHES]

They don't always win, you know.

More often than not they lose|from what I understand.

So when do I get started with the fakirs?

ARMAN:
|Um, you don't. Ever.

But they've made me wait months|for this opportunity.

They will not train you.

Why? Is it a question of money?|Because if it is--

No, Mr. Wayne.

They're not concerned with your money.|Or anyone's, for that matter.

Then what is it?

Honesty, Mr. Wayne.

The fakirs said|you were not honest with them.

You are not looking|for enlightenment or truth.

This is what they said.

Perhaps...

...there is another who possesses|the knowledge you seek.

Not a fakir,|but she may be able to help you.

Why should I want to train you?

Because after agreeing that they would,|the fakirs would not, Cassandra.

What made them change their minds?

I don't know.

And what is it you seek to do?

I'm looking for a way...

...to deal with my pain.

Alfred.

Always, sir.

I'm making my way out.

I need you to follow my coordinates,|meet me up top.

I'll be there.

Unh! I've lost a lot of blood.

I'll bring some along.

[GRO ANS]

Pain exists in two forms:

Exterior, that which is caused|by forces we can't control...

...and interior, which we can.

Both, though,|can be managed through wiII.

I know, I've researched the techniques.|Breathing control, hypnosis.

What of the spiritual nature?

Have you researched that as well?

The interior is something you deny.

No. It's something I manage.

Do you?

[SIZZLING]

Does that hurt, Cassandra?

It feels like being caught in the rain.|An annoyance.

-Does it scar?|-Bruce...

...what pain doesn't?

[GRUNTING]

BRUCE:
|Pain cannot be overcome.

CASSANDRA:
|No, but it can be put in its pIlace.

That place|is where pain can work for you.

Pain doesn't work for you.

You work through pain.

haven't you learned?

[SIZZLING]

Cassandra.

Yes, Bruce?

How did you--?

Ah, the question that's hung in the air|since you arrived.

My knowledge was gained|through deceit.

I came to the fakirs seeking enlightenment,|masquerading as a boy.

I have no doubt that they saw me|for what I really was...

...but they agreed to show me the path.

Why?

So I wouId fail.

It became a game for them.

But I didn't fail.

And after many years,|they tired of their little game...

...cast me out and I was exposed.

They said I had tricked them.

I was branded a witch.

My famiIy turned their back to me,|as I caused them great shame.

PIease, Papa.

I swear I haven't done anything wrong.

[GRUNTS]

[GRUNTS]

take your pick.

[GRUNTS]

Why don't you leave?

Why?

Because this is where I belong.

In your life...

...isn't there such a place?

[PANTING]

[GRUNTS]

[TRUCK BEEPING]

[GRUNTS]

MAN 1 :
|We wanna talk to you.

MAN 2:
|Yes, come on out, traitor!

BRUCE:
|Cassandra?

It's nothing, Bruce.

Sounds like an angry nothing.

Just boys, playing at being men.

Remember? I'm hated.

BRUCE:
|And feared.

-Wait here.|BRUCE: No.

Please. It's nothing.

You shame yourself acting this way.

Shame? You're the betrayer.

Teaching an outsider|what is not his to know.

The ways of Bhusara|are open to everyone.

You would do well to bide by them.

Witch!

Now leave before your mothers see you.

[GRUNTS]

[GRUNTS]

[GRUNTS]

[GASPS]

[GRUNTING]

Cassandra, are you--?

You need to leave.

What? I just saved you from--

Nothing, Bruce.

Like the fakirs, they would have|grown tired of their game.

They would have left on their own.

You, though, must be sent away.

It's time.

You've learned what you wanted to,|haven't you?

Yes, I have.

Then go.

Thank you.

You shouldn't thank me, Bruce.

I failed you.

You came asking for help|in dealing with your pain.

But your pain is beyond my abilities.

Perhaps yours as well.

a path you desire.

Sir, give me your hand.

I....

I can't.

Bruce, don't run.

Tom, someone's over there.

Give me those pearls, lady.

MARTHA:
|No!

[MARTHA SCREAMS]

[C*CKS]

[PANTING]

I'm sorry, sir. But I was wondering what|you wanted to do with your gun collection.

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