The following footage is property of the M.O.P.A.
Any unauthorized viewing of this footage will result in immediate arrest and interrogation.
INTERVIEWER:
Please, have a seat.
SUBJECT: Cheers, mate. INTERVIEWER: Please state your name. SUBJECT: My name? Jim, we’ve known each
other for years. GORDON: I’m sure we have. It’s for the record. SUBJECT: Ah, I see. My name is
Alfred Pennyworth. GORDON: Very good. What brings you here today, Mr. Pennyworth? ALFRED: God…
where to begin? I’ve kept his secret for so long.
It feels like a betrayal to tell the authorities, but… I don’t have a choice. GORDON: What
secret would that be? Who are you talking about? ALFRED: My employer, Bruce Wayne.
I’ve been his butler for years. I was sworn to secrecy, and I would have continued to keep it.
The secret is that Bruce Wayne is the Batman. GORDON: I see.
ALFRED: …I would have thought you’d be more shocked to hear that. GORDON: Well, it makes
sense. What prompted your reporting this? You mentioned it felt like a betrayal. Why betray him
now? ALFRED: He’s taken things too far. GORDON: Farther than beating criminals to a bloody pulp?
ALFRED: This is no joking matter. He’s… well, maybe it’s best if I start from the beginning.
BATMAN:
Joker! Are you there? What do you want?
JOKER: Well, hello, Big Boy! How’s it hanging?
BATMAN: Don’t waste any time, Joker. Just tell me what it is you want.
JOKER: Oh, I think you can guess… We want YOU. In here. With us. In the MADHOUSE. Where you belong.
BATMAN: And…and what if I say no?
JOKER: (scratching noise) Well… we have so many friends here, sweetheart. Say hello to Pearl.
(Woman stuttering and crying)
JOKER: Such a crybaby isn’t she? (scratching noise) Pearl is nineteen years old.
(scratching noise) She just started work in the kitchens here to earn some extra money.
Pearl wants to be an artist, don’t you, Pearl, darling?
(Woman crying) (Scratching noise)
JOKER: She just drew me a beautiful house.
She drew it with this pencil (very loud scratching noise) The one I’ve just sharpened. Open your eyes wide, Pearl! Beautiful… blue… oh… (Woman screaming)
BATMAN: JESUS, NO!
GORDON: So this all started because of the Joker? ALFRED: Yes. He would have never faced the horrors
inside Arkham Manor that night if the Joker hadn’t instigated a takeover.
GORDON: That tracks. Some hesitate to even call the Joker human. I’ve never been a subscriber to such crazy theories.
ALFRED: Then you’ve never truly known the Joker, Jim. Hate to break it to you. That son of a bitch is evil.
GORDON: (Laughs) You don’t have to tell me twice. What happened next?
CLAYFACE: Sick. Sick. Sick. My skin is sick, Batman.
It’s rotten and seeping. Only you can help me. Bat. Man.
BATMAN: Don’t touch me!
CLAYFACE: I just want to share my disease.
BATMAN: Don't!
(Impact and bones crunching)
CLAYFACE: No… wait! Ahh! Oh shit, my leg!
GORDON: Clayface, aka Basil Karlo. After his transformation and a rampage throughout Gotham, he was apprehended
and locked up in Arkham, correct? ALFRED: Indeed. GORDON: Am I also correct that his touch is deadly to normal
humans? ALFRED: That is correct. Karlo’s transformation left him capable of fully dissolving people.
Poor blighters. GORDON: And what happened after that?
SCARECROW: “Take the beak from out my heart…”
BATMAN: Crane?
SCARECROW: “…and take thy form from off my door…”
“Quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore.’”
(Audio screeching)
ALFRED: Crane has always been an odd duck. His arrest may only have happened recently, but it exposed
a number of problems with Arkham Asylum. Gotham is better for that place being closed.
GORDON: And what of the rumors that Dr. Jonathan Crane discovered a portal to another dimension? One
accessed through fear? ALFRED: I always thought it was poppycock… but then again, the things I’ve seen…
It’s hard for me to rule it out. GORDON: Mm-hmm. After the Scarecrow, what happened next?
CROC: Hey there, Bats. (Roars)
(Impact and blood spatter)
(Metallic clang)
CROC: (Roars)
GORDON: And after he battled Croc?
ALFRED: That is all the archival footage he allowed me to see. He erased the rest.
GORDON: So why did it affect him so much?
ALFRED: All I have are speculations.
Maybe it was the horrors he had to face within himself. Maybe it was the rage he lets himself
be consumed by every day. Whatever the case, that night changed him.
GORDON: What happened next?
ALFRED: He became obsessed with an idea. He had seen the horrors that each new enemy was capable of inducing;
Joker’s madness, Killer Croc’s ferocity and hunger, Scarecrow’s fear gas, Clayface’s sickness,
Man-Bat’s ghastly murder spree. He thought that he could utilize the strengths of these creatures
without suffering any of the weaknesses. This idea gripped him; his every thought, his every action.
With each “enhancement” —as he called them— I began to recognize him less and less. GORDON: These “enhancements,”
what did they do to him? ALFRED: They turned him into the very thing he’s been fighting all these years.
He became a monster. This is why I’m reporting him now. This is why I’ve betrayed him.
That… thing isn’t Bruce Wayne anymore. GORDON: Well this has been very helpful. I thank you for your
time, Mr. Pennyworth, as does the M.O.P.A. ALFRED: M.O.P. … what? I thought this was a GCPD building. GORDON: Not important.
(radio static) This is Gordon. Please move Mr. Pennyworth to a secure holding cell. ALFRED: Now hold on just
a minute— GORDON: Nothing to worry about. It’s for your own safety. ALFRED: Bullshit! Stay back! Stay ba—
Incoming Emergency transmission from M.O.P.A. Officer Number 0011. Special attention: M.O.P.A.
Director, Identification Number 0002. Emergency transmission will now begin.
GORDON: Director, this is Gordon with an emergency status report.
I have reason to believe that the target will be active again soon. All factors point to the 27th. Our
facility here has been compromised. If you don’t hear from me in the next 48 hours, assume the worst.
We’ve successfully remained undercover for the last 2 months, but we think that
the target has located us. Six of us are dead, and I got separated from the rest.
I could be the only one left. I hope this transmission aids in the mission;
if nothing else, we now know that even forty of us isn’t enough to stop him. (loud banging noise) Wait… what’s that?
(Growling)
No… no!!
(Deep breathing)
(Breathing stops)
(Roar)
Connection severed. End Emergency Transmission.