Rachel, let me see.
- Can I see? - Finders keepers. And I found it.
In my garden.
Finders keepers.
Bruce?
Mom! Mr. Alfred!
Did you have dream?
Nightmare.
Worse than this place?
They are going to fight you.
- Again? - Until they kill you.
Can they kill me before breakfast?
You are in hell, little man.
And I am the devil.
You're not the devil.
You're practice.
Solitary.
- Why? - For protection.
- I don't need protection. - Protection for them.
Get in.
Are you so desperate to fight criminals...
...that you lock yourself in to take them on one at a time?
Actually, there were seven of them.
I counted six, Mr. Wayne.
How do you know my name?
The world is too small for someone like Bruce Wayne to disappear...
...no matter how deep he chooses to sink.
Who are you?
My name is merely Ducard, but I speak for Ra's al Ghul...
...a man greatly feared by the criminal underworld.
A man who can offer you a path.
What makes you think I need a path?
Someone like you is only here by choice.
You have been exploring the criminal fraternity...
...but whatever your original intentions...
...you have become truly lost.
And what path can Ra's al Ghul offer?
The path of a man who shares his hatred of evil...
...and wishes to serve true justice.
The path of the League of Shadows.
- You're vigilantes. - No, no, no.
A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification.
He can be destroyed or locked up.
But if you make yourself more than just a man...
...if you devote yourself to an ideal...
...and if they can't stop you...
...then you become something else entirely.
Which is?
Legend, Mr. Wayne.
Tomorrow, you will be released.
If you are bored of brawling with thieves and want to achieve something...
...there is a rare blue flower that grows on the eastern slopes.
Pick one of these flowers.
If you can carry it to the top of the mountain...
...you may find what you were looking for in the first place.
And what was I looking for?
Only you can know that.
You turn back. You go back.
Ra's al Ghul?
Wait.
What are you seeking?
I seek...
...the means to fight injustice.
To turn fear...
...against those who prey on the fearful.
To manipulate the fears in others...
...you must first master your own.
Are you ready to begin?
I can... I can barely stand.
Death does not wait for you to be ready!
Death is not considerate or fair!
And make no mistake, here you face death.
Tiger.
Jujitsu.
Panther.
You're skilled. But this is not a dance.
And you are afraid.
But not of me.
Tell us, Mr. Wayne...
...what do you fear?
Bruce?
It's okay. It's okay.
You'll be okay.
Will we be needing an ambulance, Master Wayne?
No, I'll set the bone and take him for an x-ray later.
Very good, sir.
- I'm very sorry, sir. I've told... - Don't worry. It's fine.
Took quite a fall, didn't we, Master Bruce?
And why do we fall, Bruce?
So we can learn to pick ourselves up.
Just a little fall. It's just a small fracture.
The bats again?
You know why they attacked you, don't you?
- They were afraid of you. - Afraid of me?
All creatures feel fear.
Even the scary ones?
Especially the scary ones.
I got something to show you.
- You think your mother will like them? - Yeah.
- I think it's time to get up. - Maybe.
No going back to bed.
Did you build this train, Dad?
Gotham's been good to our family, but the city's been suffering.
People less fortunate than us have been enduring very hard times.
So we built a new, cheap, public transportation system to unite the city.
And at the center...
...Wayne Tower.
- Is that where you work? - No, I work at the hospital.
I leave the running of our company to much better men.
- Better? - Well...
...more interested men.
Can we go?
Please.
Okay. Let's go.
- What's wrong, Bruce? - No, no. It was me.
I just needed some fresh air.
A little bit of opera goes a long way. Right, Bruce?
Come on. Let's go.
Wallets, jewelry. Come on, fast.
- That's fine. - Fast.
Take it easy.
Here you go.
It's fine. It's fine.
Now just take it and go.
- I said, jewelry. - Hey...
Thomas!
Bruce.
It's okay.
Don't be afraid.
Is this your father's?
It's okay.
Come here.
There you go.
It's okay.
Gordon.
Hey.
Good news.
We got him, son.
You're in excellent hands.
We'll be watching the empire.
When you grow up, it'll be waiting for you.
I thought I might prepare a little supper.
- Very well. - Alfred?
- Yes, Master Bruce? - It was my fault, Alfred.
- I made them leave the theater. - No.
- lf I hadn't gotten scared... - It was nothing that you did.
It was him, and him alone.
Do you understand?
I miss them, Alfred. I miss them so much.
So do I, Master Bruce.
So do I.
And do you still feel responsible for your parents' death?
My anger outweighs my guilt.
Come.
You have learned to bury your guilt with anger.
I will teach you to confront it and to face the truth.
You know how to fight six men. We can teach you how to engage 600.
You know how to disappear. We can teach you to become truly invisible.
Invisible?
The ninja understands that invisibility is a matter of patience and agility.
Always mind your surroundings.
Ninjitsu employs explosive powders.
- As weapons? - Or distractions.
Theatricality and deception are powerful agents.
You must become more than just a man in the mind of your opponent.
- Who is he? - He was a farmer.
Then he tried to take his neighbor's land and became a murderer.
- Now he is a prisoner. - What'll happen to him?
Justice. Crime cannot be tolerated.
Criminals thrive on the indulgence of society's understanding.
Your parents' death was not your fault.
It was your father's.
Anger does not change the fact that your father failed to act.
- The man had a gun. - Would that stop you?
I've had training.
The training is nothing!
Will is everything!
The will to act.
Yield.
You haven't beaten me.
You have sacrificed sure footing for a killing stroke.
Rub your chest.
Your arms will take care of themselves.
You are stronger than your father.
You didn't know my father.
But I know the rage that drives you.
That impossible anger strangling the grief, until the memory of your loved one is just...
...poison in your veins.
And one day, you catch yourself wishing the person you loved had never existed...
...so you'd be spared your pain.
I wasn't always here in the mountains.
Once, I had a wife.
My great love.
She was taken from me.
Like you, I was forced to learn there are those without decency...
...who must be fought without hesitation, without pity.
Your anger gives you great power.
But if you let it, it will destroy you...
...as it almost did me.
- What stopped it? - Vengeance.
That's no help to me.
Why, Bruce?
Why could you not avenge your parents?
Will you be heading back to Princeton after the hearing, sir...
...or can I persuade you to stay on for a day or two?
I'm not heading back at all.
- You don't like it there? - I like it fine.
They just don't feel the same way.
- I've prepared the master bedroom. - No.
My room will be fine.
With all due respect, sir, Wayne Manor is your house.
No, Alfred, it's my father's house.
- Your father is dead. - This place is a mausoleum.
If I have my way, I'll pull the damn thing down brick by brick.
This house, Master Wayne, has sheltered six generations of your family.
Why do you give a damn, Alfred? It's not your family.
I give a damn because a good man once made me responsible...
...for what was most precious to him...
...in the whole world.
Miss Dawes has offered to drive you to the hearing.
She probably hopes to talk you out of going.
Should I just bury the past out there with my parents, Alfred?
I wouldn't presume to tell you what to do with your past, sir.
Just know that there are those of us who care about what you do with your future.
Haven't given up on me yet?
Never.
Alfred still keeps the condensed milk on the top shelf.
Hasn't he noticed you're tall enough to reach now?
Old habits die hard, I guess.
- Never used to stop us anyway. - No, it didn't.
How's your mom?
She misses this place.
So do I.
Yeah.
But it's nothing without the people who made it what it was.
- Now there's only Alfred. - And you.
- I'm not staying, Rachel. - You're just back for the hearing.
Bruce, I don't suppose there's any way to convince you not to come.
Someone at this proceeding...
...should stand for my parents.
We all loved your parents, Bruce.
- What Chill did is unforgivable. - Then why is your boss letting him go?
In prison, he shared a cell with Carmine Falcone.
He learned things, and he will testify in exchange for early parole.
Rachel, this man killed my parents.
I cannot let that pass.
And I need you to understand that, please.
Okay.
The depression hit working people, like Mr. Chill, hardest of all.
His crime was appalling, yes, but it was motivated not by greed, but by desperation.
Given the 14 years served, as well as his extraordinary level of cooperation...
...with one of this office's most important investigations...
...we strongly endorse his petition for early release.
Mr. Chill?
Your Honor...
...not a day goes by that I don't wish I could take back what I did.
Sure, I was desperate, like a lot of people back then...
...but that don't change what I did.
I gather there is a member of the Wayne family here today.
Has he got anything to say?
- He's coming out the side! - He's coming out the side, guys!
Bruce Wayne!
Joe! Hey, Joe!
Falcone says hi.
Come on, Bruce. We don't need to see this.
I do.
The DA couldn't understand why Judge Faden insisted on making the hearing public.
Falcone paid him off to get Chill out in the open.
Maybe I should thank them.
- You don't mean that. - What if I do, Rachel?
My parents deserved justice.
You're not talking about justice. You're talking about revenge.
- Sometimes, they're the same. - No, they're never the same.
Justice is about harmony. Revenge is about you making yourself feel better.
- Which is why we have an impartial system. - Your system is broken.
You care about justice? Look beyond your own pain, Bruce.
This city is rotting.
They talk about the depression as if it's history. It's not.
Things are worse than ever here.
Falcone floods our streets with crime and drugs...
...preying on the desperate, creating new Joe Chills every day.
Falcone may not have killed your parents, Bruce...
...but he's destroying everything that they stood for.
You wanna thank him for that? Here you go.
We all know where to find him.
As long as he keeps the bad people rich and the good people scared, no one'll touch him.
Good people like your parents, who'll stand against injustice, they're gone.
What chance does Gotham have when the good people do nothing?
- I'm not one of your good people, Rachel. - What do you mean?
All these years, I wanted to kill him.
Now I can't.
Your father would be ashamed of you.
You're taller than you look in the tabloids, Mr. Wayne.
No gun? I'm insulted.
- You could've just sent a thank-you note. - I didn't come here to thank you.
I came to show you that not everyone in Gotham's afraid of you.
Only those who know me, kid.
Look around you. You'll see two councilmen...
...a union official, couple off-duty cops...
...and a judge.
Now, I wouldn't have a second's hesitation of blowing your head off in front of them.
Now, that's power you can't buy.
That's the power of fear.
I'm not afraid of you.
Because you think you got nothing to lose.
But you haven't thought it through.
You haven't thought about your lady friend in the DA's office.
You haven't thought about your old butler.
People from your world...
...have so much to lose.
Now, you think because your mommy and your daddy got shot...
...you know about the ugly side of life, but you don't.
You've never tasted desperate.
You're... You're Bruce Wayne, the prince of Gotham.
You'd have to go 1000 miles to meet someone who didn't know your name.
So don't come down here with your anger, trying to prove something to yourself.
This is a world you'll never understand.
And you always fear...
...what you don't understand.
All right.
Yeah, you got spirit, kid. I'll give you that.
More than your old man anyway.
In the joint, Chill told me about the night he killed your parents.
He said your father begged for mercy.
Begged.
Like a dog.
Should've tipped better.
- For what? - Your jacket.
Okay.
Hey, hey, hey. Let me have it. It's a nice coat.
Be careful who sees you with that.
- They're gonna come looking for me. - Who?
Everyone.
It's...
It's a nice coat.
When you lived among the criminals, did you start to pity them?
The first time I stole so that I wouldn't starve, yes.
I lost many assumptions about the simple nature of right and wrong.
And when I traveled...
... I learned the fear before a crime...
... and the thrill of success.
But I never became one of them.
Fool. What do I care what your name is? You're a criminal.
Tell that to the guy who owned these.
You've traveled the world to understand the criminal mind and conquer your fears.
But a criminal is not complicated.
And what you really fear is inside yourself.
You fear your own power.
You fear your anger...
...the drive to do great or terrible things.
Now you must journey inwards.
You are ready.
Breathe.
Breathe in your fears.
Face them.
To conquer fear, you must become fear.
You must bask in the fear of other men.
And men fear most what they cannot see.
You have to become a terrible thought.
A wraith.
You have to become an idea!
Feel terror cloud your senses.
Feel its power to distort.
To control.
And know that this power can be yours.
Embrace your worst fear.
Become one with the darkness.
Focus.
Concentrate.
Master your senses.
You cannot leave any sign.
I haven't.
Impressive.
We have purged your fear.
You are ready to lead these men.
You are ready to become a member of the League of Shadows.
But first, you must demonstrate your commitment to justice.
No.
I'm no executioner.
Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share.
That's why it's so important.
It separates us from them.
You want to fight criminals. This man is a murderer.
- This man should be tried. - By whom?
Corrupt bureaucrats?
Criminals mock society's laws.
You know this better than most.
You cannot lead these men...
...unless you are prepared to do what is necessary to defeat evil.
And where would I be leading these men?
Gotham.
As Gotham's favored son...
...you will be ideally placed to strike at the heart of criminality.
- How? - Gotham's time has come.
Like Constantinople or Rome before it...
...the city has become a breeding ground for suffering and injustice.
It is beyond saving and must be allowed to die.
This is the most important function of the League of Shadows.
It is one we've performed for centuries.
Gotham...
...must be destroyed.
You can't believe in this.
Ra's al Ghul rescued us from the darkest corners of our own hearts.
What he asks in return is the courage to do what is necessary.
I will go back to Gotham and I will fight men like this...
...but I will not become an executioner.
Bruce, please.
For your own sake, there is no turning back.
- What are you doing? - What's necessary, my friend.
I will tell him you saved his life.
Master Wayne, you've been gone a long time.
- Yes, I have. - You look very fashionable.
Apart from the mud.
Are you coming back to Gotham for long, sir?
As long as it takes.
I want to show the people...
...their city doesn't belong to the criminals and the corrupt.