(fast suspenseful music begins)
- [Bane] No one cared who I was 'til I put on the mask.
- If I pull that off, will you die?
- [Bane] It will be extremely painful.
- You're a big guy.
- [Bane] For you.
(fast suspenseful music continues)
Leave us.
- [Daggett] No, stay here.
I'm in charge.
(fast suspenseful music drops off)
- [Bane] Do you feel in charge?
(fast suspenseful music resumes)
- I've paid you a small fortune.
- [Bane] And this gives you power over me?
- What is this?
- [Bane] Your money and infrastructure have been important.
'Til now.
- What are you?
- [Bane] I'm Gotham's reckoning,
here to end the borrowed time you've all been living on.
- (breathing heavily) You're pure evil.
- [Bane] I am necessary evil.
(intense electronic music)
- You made a serious mistake.
- [Bane] Not as serious as yours,
I fear.
- Bane.
- [Bane] Let's not stand on ceremony here,
Mr. Wayne.
(intense percussive music)
Peace has cost you strength.
Victory has defeated you.
(fists thumping) (Batman grunting)
(heads bang)
(Batman growls) (fists thumping)
(kick slams)
(chain clattering)
(fists thumping) (Batman shouting, grunting)
(desperate dramatic music)
Oh, you think darkness is your ally,
but you merely adopted the dark.
I was born in it,
molded by it.
I didn't see the light until I was already a man.
By then, it was nothing to me but blinding!
(punch slams) (Batman groans)
Shadows betray you because they belong to me.
(fist pounding)
I will show you where I have made my home
whilst preparing to bring justice.
Then, I will break you.
(button clicks) This bomb is armed!
This bomb is mobile!
And the identity of the triggerman
is a mystery,
for one of you holds the detonator!
Now, we came here not as conquerors,
but as liberators to return control
of this city to the people.
And at the first sign of interference
from the outside world,
or from those people attempting to flee,
this anonymous Gothamite,
this unsung hero,
will trigger the bomb.
Return to your homes,
hold your families close,
and wait.
Tomorrow, you claim what is rightfully yours.
(microphone squeals)
- Why didn't you just
(sighs) kill me?
- [Bane] You don't fear death.
You welcome it.
Your punishment must be more severe.
- Torture?
- [Bane] Yes.
But not of your body.
Of your soul.
- Where am I?
- [Bane] Home,
where I learned the truth about despair.
(footsteps thudding)
As will you. (wind howling faintly)
There is a reason why this prison
is the worst hell on earth:
hope.
Every man who has rotted here over the centuries
has looked up to the light and imagined climbing to freedom.
So easy.
So simple.
And like shipwrecked men turning to seawater
from uncontrollable thirst,
many have died trying.
I learned here that there can be no true despair
without hope.
So,
as I terrorize Gotham,
I will feed its people hope to poison their souls.
I will let them believe that they can survive
so that you can watch them clambering over each other
to stay in the sun.
You can watch me torture an entire city,
and then when have you have truly understood
the depth of your failure,
we will fulfill Ra's Al Ghul's destiny.
We will destroy Gotham,
and then, when it is done,
and Gotham is
ashes,
then you have my permission to die.