Batman: The Court of Owls Full Story Motion Comic #batman #courtofowls #batfamily

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you [Applause] [Music] every Saturday the Gotham Gazette includes a small lifestyle's piece called Gotham is in the column random gothamites are asked to complete the sentence Gotham is using three words or less The Gazette has been running the Gotham is Colin for years ever since I was a boy here are some of the words used to describe Gotham in the past few weeks damned cursed Bedlam murderous Gotham is villainous Gotham is a losing game Gotham is hopeless I want his space there's no place like home once in a while someone names one of the city's villains as their answer to the Gotham is question usually it's some kid a teenager going for shock value but now and then someone actually tries to make the argument that the city is best reflected in its villains for example Gotham is Two-Face meaning Gotham is a city at odds with itself meaning the city is a little more than a cannibalistic monster I've seen a few Mr freezes two black masks lately I've seen a couple of new names appeared too but for me Gotham's criminals or new will never Define this city got him because in the end they're simple and cowardly ruled by predictive desires granted now and then one of them will do something that catches even me off guard nowhere else to run now bats oh you're in trouble now something particularly depraved or twisted foreign there you are and here I was beginning to think you were going to die without even saying goodbye you ready to do this always so serious fine then let's cut to the punchline what are you doing behind you got it of course one of the most common answers to the Gotham is question is Batman Gotham is Batman Gotham is Batman city Gotham is the bat all answers I'm impartial to myself still I like to think a vote for Batman is a broader affirmation a vote for all of Gotham's Heroes the vote for the gcpd honest tireless men like commissioner Jim Gordon and I still don't understand a full-scale breakout with no warning it wasn't a breakout I've been investigating a weak Link at Arkham Asylum a guard named Matthews I was coming for him he sprang the doors to stop me not Dan Matthews he's one of the best men on payroll there I've known him since he was an academy boy he's got a father with health problems a divorce looming he and Bella are getting divorced I had no idea neither does she ah jeez who's the new pal cocktail waitress Iceberg Lounge impressive sheet of her own and you found him out how you had a man on the inside something like that Dan Matthews on the ticket Arkham there's nobody the scum of Gotham can't get to is there I wouldn't say that [Music] one more thing I'm the CC footage it almost looks like you're fighting alongside the Joker tell me that'd be ridiculous that'd be ridiculous Jim that's what I figured just a simple trick of the light foreign you do actually practice brooding I'd always suspected I'm working with the computer off satisfied impressed it's a new system I'm testing a contact lens with a remote access processor linked to the computer down here that dick take off the EMP mask believe me I've been dying to I just wanted to make sure you disconnected from the Mainframe first so a contact lens with remote access meaning anywhere you go the bat cave goes with you now that sounds healthy we should go for what it's worth how did I do as him are you asking me if you were convincing as a homicidal maniac dick I suppose I am then yes as a matter of fact you were score one for Alfred's School of acting still I can't believe you left me in there an extra day I needed to be sure it was Matthews besides with all you've been shouldering lately I figured you could use the day off a day off in Arkham only you Bruce only you finally it's a who's who of Gotham in there facial recognition go [Music] Drake former Robin current Red Robin Teen Titans number Access level hi Damian Wayne current Robin access level hi Dick Grayson former Robin current Nightwing access level hi tell me is not using facial recognition for the party the party he's using it to remember who you are Drake and Zing run Diagnostic and you call yourself a detective lately I've been asking myself that Gotham is questioned a lot what is Gotham City to me Bruce Wayne in a single word home family purpose but the truth the real truth is I couldn't answer the question but then I remembered something friends I remembered something my father Thomas Wayne used to say to me before bed sometimes back when I was a boy and I'd had a bad day when I'd fallen down a hole in the ground or skinned my knee at the end of a day like that he'd Pat my head and he'd say Bruce tomorrow is one dream away that was his phrase sentimental I know but still it worked for me now as most of you know my father died when I was just a boy he was gunned down along with my mother in Crime Alley across town and as you can imagine the days following his death were the worst of my life days of anger and fear and sadness still that phrase my father's phrase tomorrow is one dream away it kept coming back to me and deep down I knew much as it hurt right then things would get better now why am I telling you this well friends my point is this when circumstances are challenging or frightening asking ourselves what our city is this pointless because all we will see when we look around the buildings and streets will be our own fears our own frustrations our own demons but if we stop looking to the present and the past and instead we look to the future if we ask ourselves what can be what will be tomorrow that we're asking the right question because to hope to dream to predict is to shape the city yourself rather than to be shaped by it so putting my money where my mouth is next month Wayne Enterprises will begin investing aggressively and immediately in Gotham's future working with various domestic design firms we've already set in motion an initiative to rebuild some of Gotham's most derelict industrial neighborhoods from there we plan on moving boldly to expand and modernize Gotham's public transit system I cannot tell you how excited how hopeful I am about these plans much more will be relayed in the coming days but for now I ask you to do this look past what Gotham was but Gotham is and imagine with me just for a moment Gotham as it will be thank you now what I ask of you friends is to invest with me invest in Gotham's future because I promise you if we can all do that together a better brighter Gotham is one dream away [Applause] Alfred pennyworth caretaker Wayne estate access level highest well done master Bruce inspiring thank you Alfred though you did fail to mention the Myriad of new batch bunkers you'll be building throughout the city ah must have slipped my mind dear next presentation maybe Bruce there you are recorder for the guy do you fund the digitizing of The Gazette now you're rebuilding half of the city I'd say you were Gotham's own man of tomorrow that is if I wasn't already saying he is Lincoln March Bruce Wayne Lincoln is running for mayor yes I know and March Venture you underwrote Leslie Tompkins satellite clinic on the east side didn't you Lincoln March Cielo March Venture NATO candidates wow I'm impressed any friend of Leslie's does that mean I have your vote that depends do I have yours on this I'm certainly interested cannot ask how many investors you have lined up already you can ask that many like I said we've been aggressive in our efforts to recruit Partners luckily the response has been largely enthusiastic well all kidding aside I really am interested in playing a part Bruce can we set something up of course what do you have in mind breakfast or lunch we could lip read go I'm sorry go on popular targeting too how many stab wounds God all right I'll be right down just give me 10 minutes to escape planet of the crepes grape it's a pancake never mind Bruce I'm sorry what I was saying I can do as early as tomorrow lunch talk about your Appliance of course tomorrow Alfred set it up will you now if you'll excuse me a moment Lincoln I need to get some air no you rank Stooges dropped the weather top voiced raindrops evidence no match geez they grow them stupid nowadays hello Harvey back to stealth mode I see come on let's go look at some odd [Music] landlord found him on a routine rent run he went by the name of Sam streaks but when we ran it it turned out to be a phony guy got no credible ID in the apartment nothing on his Prince he paid everything in cash a true blue John Doe yep the evidence points to a TOD five maybe six days ago when someone decides to use him as a human dart board thing is whoever did it missed every one of John those major arteries on purpose meaning they wanted to hurt him very badly for a long long time the pot stickers are antique throwing knives professional grade the grooves are filled with Mercury for steadier flight I'd like to take one hell it's not like we gotta run out make anything another symbol it's an owl our heart I meant do you think it has anything to do with the old wives tale about the court of I know what you meant run DNA analysis looks like skin beneath the victim's fingernails possibly The Killers what what is it give me your cigar my cigar all right that smell is linseed oil a common paint thinner but the intensity is too strong so our guy spilled together paint thinner so what maybe he was using it to leave a last message a warning before he was murdered well our John Doe wasn't any Nostradamus that's for sure I'm just saying if our time of death for him was a week ago that tomorrow he thought would be Wayne's last day already came and went so Wayne's in the clear unless John Doe knew when he'd be found you said the landlord was making a routine run now you assuming always on the second Friday of the month so it's possible a victim knew he was going to die knew he was going to be found today and so left a warning that whoever killed him would be coming out the way next then that a killer I say good luck when security has security anyone who's going to take a crack at the guy is going to have to be someone close someone in Wayne's Circle would be my guess makes you almost feel bad for the guy almost I know you wouldn't win her Pals and all that but guys like Wayne they don't know how the City Works the way we do I mean I listen to his speech tonight on the radio all about what Gotham is and was and will be when it comes to Gotham though quiet you're sure quite sir the skin cells beneath the victim's fingernails came back a perfect match look I didn't mean to knock your boy Wayne I'm just saying my view is when it comes to Gotham you don't know it brother it knows you and the moment you think otherwise the moment you get too comfortable that's when it stabs you right in the back because above everything Gotham is a mystery DNA match Dick Grayson [Music] the original Wayne Tower if you came to Gotham City today right now I took a tour of the building here are some things your guide would tell you the tower was constructed in 1888 under the watch of my great great grandfather Alan Wayne he built the Tower to serve as a symbol of Welcome to people coming to Gotham and as your guide will point out from the ground up it's designed to give visitors like you the feeling that they're cared for and protected for example your guide will say the building has 12 gargoyles or Guardians as Alan insisted they be cold one to watch over each passageway into the city the five guardians at the first tier were placed there to watch over the five original gateways into Gotham the Three Bridges and two tunnels higher up the tower is a ring of seven Guardians one to protect each of the seven train lines that converge at Union Station below Wayne Tower Space and at the top of the tower is his observation deck which Allen insisted remain free and open to the public every weekend all year round for the windows Allen demanded that only the best glass be used a kind of double bonded laminated float glass designed to be Crystal quality weatherproof and most important Unbreakable unbreakable that is unless like the assassin who just kicked me through them you know how to hit the glass just right make impact at the edge of the plate rather than the center where it's designed to bend and flex the throwing knives are perfectly placed too lodged tight in my brachial arteries the pain and blood loss make it almost impossible to grab onto anything to break my fall impossible to do anything except bleed and drop and watch the city rise up to greet me I'm positive I hit him with two pounds of stem tanks two pounds waiting just past the strikes to take the statues why are you going so damn slow I thought this thing was supposed to cruise at 200 knots it is but it destroyed the soul with that bat thing you want faster dump a few of the pretty ladies but our guy said all 10 of these things from the Hellenistic Wing 10. he isn't the one about to go down in the middle of the Avenue start tossing them hell I never was much for pale girls anyway and at least these ones won't scream got her off what are you doing man get the hell away from him dog shot up the bad wants to play chicken let's play chicken oh Jesus oh God oh my whole baby Jesus no please what what is he doing [Music] he wouldn't okay the damn Valley is too Narrows so Commissioner Gordon has arrived at the morgue noted Alfred shall I assume you won't be back for the autopsy I can power down there I'll be there but sir I have you all the way over on relax this will only take a moment I'm afraid there's little more to rely on than the obvious our John Doe was stabbed multiple times likely in an act of torture died from the oral wound here which caused him to Hemorrhage into his own throat choked on his own blood ah Gotham pleasant as ever I should be going they're waiting on me down in the burns Hit the lights on now my way out Bill don't you think I know the drill by now night commissioner well you're there I'm here Jim step back oh that's colorful should work ready so what we have here is a genuine mystery man paid is rented cash no identification in the place we checked his DNA against state and federal not one ping they know nothing about him except he made a pretty decent dartboard for someone here there's extensive scar tissue around the ribs and abdomen calcification at his brow side of the skull but a pugilist beauty marks you think our John Doe was a fighter in His Glory Days maybe but he's got more callous material around his palms and wrists than his knuckles defensive scarringer trainer there are scars along his forearms common injuries from Sword Play so the guy is a high-end trainer he's tough is the idea but now someone even tougher someone he knows he can't beat is coming for him and the messaging leaves for us is Bruce Wayne will die tomorrow it's curious I contacted Wayne you know asked him if he wanted police detail for the next 24 hours but he turned me down all right take it you're keeping an eye on him I have it covered Jim his third molar right side the scanner's picking up an abnormal fracture right wisdom tooth got it yeah take a look [Music] same emblem on the throwing knives used to kill him it's an Athenian owl it appeared on coins in ancient Greece it was a symbol of wealth and power beware the court of owls that watches all the time ruling Gotham from a shrouded perch behind granite and lime they want you at your Hearth they want you in your bed speak not a whispered word of them they'll send the Talon for your head I know the nursery rhyme Gemma but the court of owls is just a legend to be blunt so were you for a while they don't exist and you know that because I just know well whoever the Killer is he wants us to believe the ghost story so what we've got is a victim who was some kind of secret high level bad guy trainer a killer who's even tougher than him apparently out to get Bruce Wayne you know we really know about either of them is they have a thing for hours and the tissue beneath the victim's fingernails forensics came back empty-handed anything on your end no knock knock but I'm looking into it I'll be in touch whoa you installed a photogrammetric scanner in the city morgue it simplifies things no more sneaking in and out come on though admit it you're gonna miss that ventilation shaft the one with this is the John Doe I briefed you on Dick the one who had your DNA under his fingernails yeah good thing we keep all of our bat family DNA protected do you recognize him I do it was about a week ago at the end of the groundbreaking for our new West Side Promenade I was leaving the Press was taking pictures asking about your new Gotham initiative and I was hightailing it out of there and all of a sudden this stranger you're John Doe came up to me and grabbed my arm he looked Haggard really at the end of his rope and then before I can get away from the press and talk to him he said something like they're real they're everywhere they're sending him for you all of you and then and then security got to him before I could follow up he was gone I noted it but honestly I assume by the looks of him he was a zealot or something all fire and brimstone now though still I don't get why he would approach me when you were the one in danger and your DNA when security pulled me off he still had my arm I can take off my glove and show you it was a week ago but the scratch marks are still there there's no need for that well well look at this I'll let you know if there are any more developments that pertain to you you already checked the surveillance footage from the groundbreaking didn't you that's why you don't care about checking my alibi dick you know me better than anyone except perhaps for Alfred of course I checked the surveillance footage I have to go well enjoy yourself partner because according to your John Doe's flaming note you've got less than 12 hours to live I just want to say how much I appreciate you meeting with me Bruce I can only imagine how busy you must be these days not too busy to meet with Lincoln March the next mayor of Gotham is that what the gossips are saying some I don't doubt it either I've been reading up on you self-made captain of Finance turned philanthropist you've got a good story you've done good work too funding the boy's home setting up the after school read and write so what do you think does this number look satisfactory Bruce I'm not here to ask for money don't get me wrong every dollar is appreciated hell Mary Hattie has about 10 lines of credit running at all times from sources that are questionable at best if you're asking for a public endorsement I'm afraid I don't do that I'm not after a public endorsement either all I'm really after is your Vault I vote you've come a long way for one vote Lincoln that's true but I believe in what you're doing Bruce this initiative to rebuild Gotham is a good thing and to be frank I see a friend in you a cynic would say you see an opportunity that's true and a cynic will see you're spearheading this new Gotham Initiative for the image of your company because it's a public holding and so on for private purposes is that what the gossip say some maybe they're right they should be going I'll leave the check on the table you know Bruce I lost my parents when I was a boy too it's strange isn't it the way it's just the details the details that stay with you I can barely remember my mother's face anymore but I remember this pen clear as day this pain she was wearing the day of the accident I made it for her at school and Ceramics it was his little heart but it was all lopsided with one side bigger than the other she was wearing a pen to this fancy dress of hers my little ugly pen I don't remember the drunk driver hitting us I don't remember much of the accident I do remember seeing the pin on the ground though as the paramedics took me away the pin perfectly preserved not cracked or broken just lying in the road all I wanted was for someone to pick it up I lost everything I had that night for a long time after I lived in a state of total hopelessness I hated the world but then I got funny for school I was able to go to City College the city saved me Bruce Gotham saved me it gave me a purpose when I was alone just like I bet it did for you when I look at you I see an ally a real one as I am sure you know this is a city where allies are few and far between especially now especially now why something bad has come back to Gotham Bruce something ancient and powerful and evil Lincoln what are you talking about you if you think you could scare Lincoln don't recognize him man someone new someone fast just me and him but still have to be careful restrain myself never know who's watching go for strikes that look like lucky blows solar plexus mandibular nerve all right play time's over doesn't make sense it only takes 11 pounds of pressure to collapse a windpipe I'm applying over 100 and he's not even flinching must be on something some kind of Venom Bruce Wayne the court of owls has sentenced you to die too far out to grab for the ring of seven by the time I reached the other five guardians I'll be at terminal velocity the force will rip my arms off how I love killing waves there's something I didn't mention earlier about the design of old Wayne Tower something your tour guide wouldn't mention either because there's one Guardian people don't tell you about when you visit they don't bother to mention it because it was added later in 1930 then because it sits in the middle of the building and can't be seen from the elevators or the deck the 13th Guardian installed by Alan's son Henry my great-grandfather the guardian for visitors to Gotham arriving by air [Music] whoever it was that just tried to kill me he was good but he made one mistake he tried to use Gotham's Legends against me but I'm the only Legend This City needs in many ways it's my oldest and truest friend and it knows me better than anyone just as I know it which is why I can say that there is no court of owls [Music] not in Gotham not in my city foreign [Music] City winter 1922 help someone help me they're coming for me help please ever polyacast Jimmy don't you recognize him that's Ellen Wayne I got Bill to have this city geez getting my blankets William before he freezes they're after me please it's okay Mr William Warrior now who's after you no everywhere don't you see the 13th Hour it's upon us the coming the nests are all around my home please what should we do get the Patty the Patty what are you crazy the Press would drag the poor guy down until there is a manhood did he fall or jump I didn't see Mr Wang Mr Wayne are you down there Gotham City now okay okay I'll tell you where he will be no talk you say you are looking for a man in dark costume and then force her with a mask to hide his face I will tell you that tomorrow there will be one in the more the man making the questionable jokes is named Luca Volk he's the pakhan of a Gotham branch of the Ukrainian mob they call themselves whisper gang and they're one of five gangs that control smuggling in and out of Gotham by rail [Music] two days ago an assassin dressed like an owl tried to kill me while I was meeting with a local politician with no security footage of the Assassin coming or going from old Wayne Tower my assumption is that he came in through the Rail lines that converge beneath the building then found a way up through the service elevators which means one of the rail gangs saw him and took some toll from him The Gangs have divided the lines among them one line for each gang one is Yakuza one is La M five Rail lines five gangs I've already chatted with the other four gangs whisper gang is known to be the most vicious and brutal of the five though the candidates or sixths are given extensive weapons training overseas before being allowed to travel to the states [Applause] once here they're fitted with an Iron Mask symbolic of their loyalty to the gang a muzzle to prove they'll never snitch soldered together at the back of the head and can't be removed for at least a year until the sixth has proven himself all of which makes them pretty tough unless you're a magnet do not short short please I was about to tell me everything you know about the Assassin you let into Old Wayne Tower but I tell you the truth I don't know anything about this owl man lie detection assassin assassin truth get out of my tunnels second Matrix ready for voice analysis launch Voice analysis now let's see who you are Bruce Wayne the court of owls is you to die searching searching voice analysis search failed damn run again I'll leave this in Arms Reach sir if I may though the morning before last I came across an article in the science portion of the Gazette it appears that researchers in Germany ornithologists recently discovered that most bats depend on the sunset for long distance navigation we choose to say they need to experience Twilight in order to calibrate their internal compass in other words master Bruce bats need a little sunlight once in a while to fly straight if you will I know plenty about bats Alfred tell me what you know about owls sir the man who tried to kill me made a comment about how much he loved killing Wayne's no Wayne in the last 50 years has died suspiciously to my knowledge rather than your parents of course I know that but whoever he is this man wants me to believe that he isn't just a killer but that he's the talent the Talon from the court of owls folk song except he wants me to believe that the court isn't a folk tale that in reality some secret group of men has actually been ruling Gotham from the Shadows since Colonial time so I'm assuming the Wayne killing he's referring to involves some incident from the past something to give credibility to the bedtime story so again what do you know about owls just common trivia carnivorous masters of camouflage they're natural predators of bats but in relation to your family sir the only reference I can think of is irrelevant I haven't apparently Unstoppable killer running around Gotham with my name on his list nothing's irrelevant at this point Alfred your great great grandfather Alan Wayne near the end of his life he suffered from aggressive senility so I've heard yes but he supposedly developed a particular obsession with owls he suffered from severe paranoia about the birds some obsession with the idea that they were conspiring against him to hear my father tell it master Allen boarded up his windows for fear that one night the owls would come for him but even this didn't help as he soon became gripped by the notion that they the owls were roosting inside his home in the walls if you look at his last portrait in The Gallery at the buildings he designed featured in the background you'll notice owls perched along the moldings but his death no you're correct he drowned from having fallen into an open manhole in the Gotham sewer now foul player was suspected him I've taken the liberty of preparing you some black tea with medicinal no time Alfred I'm on my way out may I suggest you take the day to rest Sir with the injuries you sustained in the fall and the stab wounds you said it yourself Alfred even bats need sunshine you're making me look bad Bruce after all I took one knife you took two and got kicked out of a 30-story window but I'm the one in bed eating jello in the buttless nightgown good thing you're not running against me actually like in I am that's what I came to tell you don't make me laugh actually I wanted to speak with you privately just before the attacker came in you were talking about something bad having returned to Gotham yes I've been getting warnings Bruce Whispers from people to drop my bed for me here and then two weeks ago I woke up and found an owl in my apartment just pushed there in my closet a little pile of bones beneath it still I really didn't believe it was them behind the threats that it could be them but it scared me enough to ask my friends at the gcpd to keep a bid on anything related so when the report came in about you being targeted by them too about how that man left you a message that John Doe killed by the talent the verdict on who killed that man is still out beware the court of owls Bruce that watches all the time ruling got them from Shadow perch behind the granite and lime they watch you at your heart they watch you in your your bed speak not he whispered word of them or they'll send the talent I've been hearing that old rhyme a lot lately Lincoln frankly I'm getting tired of it now if there really was a court of owls don't you think with my roots in this city I'd have learned they were real long ago unless unless what unless they didn't want you to until now maybe this new Gotham initiative of yours reshaping the city maybe they're not just paying attention to you too same with me I'm not afraid of ghost stories then you shouldn't be either hell yes I'm afraid but I'm not dropping my beard for mayor if that's what you're implying Gotham has given me everything I have and I'll be damned if I hand it over to a bunch of old birds then you'll have my vote Lincoln Bruce the Home For Boys I lived in after my parents died it had this old wooden floor always creaking drove everyone crazy knowing the nuns bought in could figure it out then one day sister Allison noticed this depression by the corner of the building turns out the place was on a sinkhole within a year the whole building would have collapsed with us inside she hadn't realized it my point is sometimes we become so concerned with little dangers that we don't see the bigger one right beneath our feet that's all Bruce I'm sorry Lincoln I have to go I'm going to have my own people watch our room they're the best get some sleep but Bruce if they're watching me who's watching you historically cities are places of superstition after all people come to them from all over the world small towns and Villages places they've lived for generations to inhabit giant mazes of glass and steel Shadow and merciless light they cling to beliefs from home about what keeps you safe and what to avoid a black cat crosses your path you'll be plagued with bad luck a 13th guest at the dinner means someone in the party will die at midnight my great-grandfather Alan Wayne understood the power of superstition as such he was one of the first men to eliminate a 13th floor from his buildings funny thing though to really make good on the Superstition you were supposed to leave a small space in the building between floors 12 and 14. a false floor to contain the bad luck of number 13. a space sealed off from the world inaccessible just a blank slot in the building an absence like a breath held when passing a graveyard a space just big enough in theory for a man to hide in perhaps a killer dressed like an owl foreign and on the subject of owls here's a fact about them they're one of the rare birds that doesn't build its own nest instead what they do is find nests abandoned or in use by rival Birds then take them over in essence they invade an enemy's territory and build their nests inside his home bingo foreign Alfred sir the fund established in Alan Wayne's name it still exists doesn't it the Alan Wayne trust for assisting young Architects it's a fund to be used for Progressive additions to Gotham Skyline pull up the addresses of all the buildings funded by their trust of the last century and a half now I'm uploading the addresses now there are nearly 20 buildings in all roughly one every decade for the last 150 years the most recent was built just five years ago Alfred I want you to open Alan Wayne's Crypt sir he was right I don't understand about the owl nests what about them they're in our homes all this time right under our feet sir [Music] foreign [Music] the danger of a tripwire lies in the blast not so the real threat from the tripwire comes later in the aftermath the truth is a tripwire is a greater instrument of fear than of violence it demoralizes and terrorizes everyone in range suggesting that the enemy knows the terrain better than you do that this is their home and they're everywhere at once ready to Bear down at any moment in Gotham there's an old Legend a nursery rhyme about the court of owls a group of men who the rhyme goes rule the city from the shadows and enforce their will by means of an assassin named the Talon a highly trained killer the court keeps hidden in vases around the city tonight I discovered a series of such faces seeming to date back to the 19th century bases hidden in the buildings constructed by my own family the wings I was inspecting this one in the most recent when the tripwire went off lucky for me if I don't scare easily if all this is true then the end the real end is near and frankly I just can't accept it to be fair he has taken an extraordinary bit of punishment of late Master Richard huh Bruce resting Mitch drusa yeah and how many do you need to slip him nowadays Alfie five milligrams five milligrams of Ace that'd bring down I'm aware of the effects Master Richard no I'm afraid I must return to my duties if there's nothing else you need Bruce Bruce are you awake and all is right in the world analyze residue metamorphic continue analyzing further well if you're not going to introduce me to your friend this is just going to be awkward he's not a friend he's family Alan Wayne my great great grandfather the man responsible for the Gotham Skyline what's the occasion a case I'm working on anything I can help with I'm fine computer analyze analyzing further I met with Commissioner Gordon earlier just to touch base he mentioned what's going on the discovery of the court of owls bases he says he thinks the dates are legitimate I'm still running tests but yes right now they appear to be authentic still I'm not entirely convinced he mentioned that too you know he thinks he might be overly skeptical on this one for some reason there are ways of beating even the most sophisticated carbon dating program stick you know that as well as I do I do but I also know that you're burning it at both ends on this one you're working like a man obsessed or or more obsessed than usual and as such it's possible you're not seeing the forest for the trees analysis continue the point is hold on I was talking to the computer computer Bruce we're worried about you all right twice this month you came close to getting killed and some of us think it's because you're underestimating your enemy here Jim said that yeah yes he did the John Doe who came up to me a highly ghosted ID he's killed by an assassin calling himself the Talon you dropped the guy off a building and he gets up and kills his ride to the morgue now you discover that these bases hidden in Wayne buildings bases that seem to be from different decades dating back to the 1800s how can you not be a little apprehensive about what might be on the other side of the equal sign here I'm being objective dick like I taught you to be computer run a secondary test for Shale take care Bruce I have a plane to catch dick there is no court of owls I know because I looked into it when Bruce I never heard about it and I was here for it was before that when I was a boy shut up it was after my parents were killed in the weeks following their murder I was lost I couldn't accept it you were a kid Bruce I was the same how are you supposed to accept no dick I couldn't accept that it was random that some plain old Joe Chill some no name had killed my parents over nothing but pocket change and Pearls deep down I believed I knew there had to be something bigger at work of course growing up I'd heard the old legend of the court of owls I'd asked my father about them but he always laughed off the idea but even so in the days before my parents death there'd been a sign a nest an owl nest in the Attic he chewed the birds away but they'd come back in an older version of the rhyme and there's a line about heeding the signs the Omens of the court in the aftermath of their death I saw the nest as a sign a warning my parents hadn't heeded and then and there I vowed Revenge I was just a boy but I'd find them the court of owls and I'd expose them I'd Crush their world as they had mine so I began my own investigation into the court in many ways it was my first case as a detective and I was determined to solve it immediately Clues began presenting themselves in a matter of days it seemed everywhere I looked there was some sign some new piece of evidence pointing to the Court's existence so I began delving deeper if the court was made up of powerful Gotham families there was no better place to start looking than my parents friends and business partners despite his work as a doctor my father had been deeply involved in the Civic mechanics of Gotham not just Charities but everything from museums to the Gotham Shipyard anyone could be one of the Court no one could be ruled out in the course of just a few weeks I compiled notes on some of Gotham's most prominent families to my mind the mind of a boy detective all of it was evidence evidence of a far-reaching conspiracy against my family I'd even located a building an old abandoned social club with a double owl on the crest a place called a Harbor House it was I know it all of the families I suspected had belonged to the club at one time or another and looking at the schematics of the building I discovered a room in the upper Tower what looked like a windowless meeting place right above the crest outside I was sure this was it I had found the court of owls the men behind my parents death but what I actually found that night up there in that secret room was something much more frightening dust nothing no answers no villains just an old empty room that hadn't been used in years I was so shocked I didn't see the door closed by my foot I was locked up there for over a week when Alfred finally found me I was already comatose I spent three weeks in the hospital recovering when I woke up though I'd learned a valuable lesson a lesson I built my skills as a detective on never let your emotions guide you on a case I needed there to be a court of owls some great evil behind my parents murder I let that need guide my investigation and it almost killed me you were just a kid Bruce I've looked into the court since then and always come up empty how hard have you looked though deeper than the evidence warranted because there's never been any look Bruce no one knows Gotham better than you it's your city it's Batman City but it's also nearly 400 years old which means over the years maybe it belonged to something else too something big something dark I have to go I have a lead to follow up on thank you my great great grandfather Alan Wayne was behind the construction of some of Gotham's tallest Towers his naked body was discovered here beneath the city in the sewers the corpse had been down here so long that Alan had to be identified by the fillings in his teeth the nightmarish end for a man who spent so much time building Gotham up to drown in its sewage the dirty blood of the city he helped build there are worse ways to go though like the way he actually went because examining his body myself I discovered tiny punctures not unlike stab wounds in his bones a lot of his bones too which is to say he was stabbed to death most likely by throwing knives almost 50 of them but I found something else on his bones a residue dust from a metamorphic rock not unlike marble strange given that the sewer system is constructed almost entirely out of granite that's Gotham never ceases to wowing Gotham from a shadowed Purge behind granite in lime you at your horse this you in your bed speak not a whispered word about them or they'll send the Talon for your head welcome Batman you'll be dead soon you know huh shiggy the bad signal you've been running him hot all week you gotta blow his boat yeah moving on Harvey I hate to say it commissioner but it's been eight days the bad isn't coming leaving the light on for him just it's not just for him Lieutenant Pollock it's for the scum who thinks Gotham's a damn Playground now it's for the other guys too the ones on our side [Music] the ones are hurting because they know him man underneath that mask the man that's missing right now hell for the whole damn City Lieutenant so like I said the light stays on they want me to come out of the dark but I won't I won't I'll stay here where it's safely safe from them from the owls here again always here at the source shouldn't drink probably dropped but I have to so thirsty like every part of me is crying out screaming just a little a sip no no not too much drink too much and stay still Bruce they hear everything they have special ears asymmetrical with one ear opening higher than the other to locate prey and the way they watch the eyes hurry hurry no rope to climb no belt you have to go get out of here away from the light back to the dark have to find the darkness how could I be here again because it's a story Bruce they're telling you a story room by room over and over every part and this part of the story is All About The People they've killed here in this very maze hundreds of people over hundreds of years hunted down something chasing them a Minotaur watching Once Upon a Time in Gotham and you're the star now smile I won't listen to you I'm not listening keep your head straight Bruce Focus get back in the dark the dark where it's safe I found you I've got you a terrible limb from limb you think you can fool me you think so because I know all the tricks hell I invented them and sooner or later I will find you wherever you are you can't hide from me hide in the dark because I live here in the dark in Gotham it's my city I know every alley every rooftop so tell your story with your pictures and your models and maps of Gotham Through The Years try to tell me you've been here longer that's what you're saying right that I don't matter that's why you didn't even bother to take off my mask and all these names the names on the wall they're people you used or members of your little flock or enemies you killed it's all the same to me all the same story I've heard it all before heard it all well well let's look at this a new chapter so what are you trying to tell me now with the Talon on the wall and these coffins these faces children generations of children you turned into monsters is that it young men and women you trained for years so they could kill for you and one open one missing what does it means no stop it Bruce I'm not listening I'm not listening not listening not listening not listening not listening stop stop it's just a story Bruce just an old bedtime story and you're the star it's your story not theirs your city your story yours Bruce tell it you were born to Thomas and Martha it can't mother father Bruce my God is it really him Thomas is it it's me yes but how how we've been down here so long Bruce waiting is you isn't it Bruce of course don't you recognize me we we can't see any more Bruce we haven't been able to for years but it is you isn't it it's me I found you I found you oh if only I could see you Bruce what I wouldn't give to see foreign not real not real not real trying to steal my story steal my no no you can't change it can't change my story you can't trick me I invented all the tricks huh see I beat you you hear me I beat you thank you [Music] no it can't be no no no [Applause] no I'm not I'm not listening I'm not listening to you son of a God damn it what should we do with it got a new one now I said now now please Batman the court of owls has said to shoot To Die [Music] but you should die knowing that your body will never be returned to the surface because the court has decided to keep your bones down here to be displayed and elaborate forever a monument to a valiant enemy only three times throughout history has the core honor of someone in this way do you wish to speak to this honor before you're dead you moved the camera yes no final address stand so all there's left to do is decide the manner of your death my court is prepared [Music] I present to you the Batman how do you wish him to die is that no bleed here take his feet his spine he pulled his spine let the littlest decide yes yes let her choose what do you want to see dear hurt him more my pleasure my lady heard him like this as you wish [Music] foreign [Music] all the wrong places the whole body every bone saying let go let go and let them take you let it end the pain the fight become a ghost the face behind the glass a face his face Alan Wayne his face his face scared so scared begging calling out for someone someone to help him to help him stop them [Music] well well still some fighting you and look at you happy new ways gnashing your little which you know what miles do to pray that I know that I am sick to death of owls yeah dear oh I do come here for days you've been leading me around showing me things down here what you wanted me to see now it's my turn so take a look you see this the city at your feet it's not the real Gotham it's an arts and crafts project but wait quiet but there's more because you Talon I said quiet I see what you are too you're nothing shut up but a hired thug you're a pawn you're not special no matter what they've told you yeah and now what you really are is finished that that goes for all of you you hear me do you [Music] do you hear me Court of owls whoever you are can't hide from me I know this city down to its foundation for example I know that this place the taste of the water in the fountain the minerals were near the river and I know the base of your big ugly Fountain that's white marble not construction marble like the rest of this place which makes it softer more vulnerable to say explosions and you know it explodes potassium chlorate when it ignites which is why I slipped out the supply of filament plates from your camera before I'll be back for you all of you out bust get out now get out and go home home to the cave and never never come back here no can't get away can't break to the glass they won't ever let me go the court I'm already dead aren't I bones in the dark nothing but a dead face a face well that was thrilling what a wonderful Gladiator the Batman yes yes he is what should we do with this one yes what we should dispose of him yeah didn't him and he'll heal if you give him that truly he won't not in the important way not from that beating oh don't worry my dear we have so many more of them now all we have to do is wake them up all of them [Music] thank you foreign s believed that the moment of death brought with it Visions not just visions of one's past or of the things known to the dying but visions of oneself as one truly existed in life yes Father I shall become a bat they believed the ancients that these final Visions often went beyond what was known to the dying man in life that they constituted secret truths about his life revealed some droves were comforting some were heart-shattering either way these Visions Were Meant to offer a sense of closure so that he may leave the world in peace knowing all there was to know about himself a vision of himself as he truly was reflected in the burning eyes of his God [Music] oh come back come back come back know you can hear me come on that's it damn it come on work work work [Music] wait who are you it's just just me you I'm sorry the jumpers well I had and you flatlined and this is my boss's van and I told you once already leave me alone I meant it nice one Harper Epic bat fail but the legend has it if a dying man resists the Visions resists the pole toward truth and Journeys back to the land of the living he may find himself greatly changed upon return and you you who stand before us now will surely find yourself changed when you open your eyes what you will do now yes open those eyes for US Open Your Eyes for your court you have traveled so far from the banks of the river Lethy the river of mindlessness where the shades walk back to this world to your City yes look look at your body it has been restored and made stronger than before much stronger you drank from the cup of immortality and you cannot be killed your wounds in battle will heal you are faster stronger than ever and we are stronger to your court we've been Gathering our resources our power and waiting as the great owl Waits in plain sight until now for now it is time for us to strike to reclaim this city and rip out the heart of our enemy port identify yourself it's me master Bruce my God when I saw the hole in the ice I concluded that you'd climbed out of the harbor yourself but when you never appeared I feared one of your enemies had removed you and of course someone else password Fairbanks [Music] but she's dead sir no we discovered his body in the frozen water near the spot we detected the short Beacon from your suit I moved his body here to the bat cave for examination let's get you to the medical station no but sir we really get him on the table look upon our enemy the bat look upon his image like you he is just now journeyed up from the underworld but while you have returned stronger more powerful the years returned broken and weak we have moved your armor here your arms we ask you now to let us arm you arm you for battle for tonight we will strike down our enemy not you strike him down but tear him apart limb from limb and eat his bones Bruce I asked Alfred yeah to tell me you needed privacy I know but I wanted to come down and see you jeez Bruce what did they do to you the man on the table is the Talon an assassin for the court of owls is he dead yes and no there's a compound of isolated in his cells something the court must have managed to synthesize it's capable of reanimating dead tissue bringing bodies back from the dead only bodies specially prepared prepared how the court has an affinity for classical Antiquity in ancient Greece there was a tradition of placing coins Beneath The Corpse's tongue before burial supposedly to pay for a passage into Hades the rich sometimes had their coins made from a metal called electrum a highly conductive alloy of silver and copper in this man's body I found a significant amount of electromat not just in his blood but in his cells the alloy seeped down over years and years from a deposit embedded in his tooth in shape of a tiny owl like the John Doe he killed he carried his ferryman's coin with him all the time for years by the time he was retired he was a walking conductor waiting for a spark and from a chemist's standpoint that's all this compound is a spark to light up the wire so they use the compound to bring him back from the dead to kill for them and his first Target was his old trainer the John Doe after all who needs a coach anymore when you can reanimate your star athlete and his healing Factor once the compound is bonded with the cells they're capable of reactivating and healing over and over which is why he was able to walk away from the fall off Wing Tower and why he's technically still alive right now so how do you take him down the cold the compound turns the body into a kind of heat-powered factory for cell regrowth the way to shut it down is to lower the host's core body temperature put him back on ice I'm running freezing solution into them now do you have a name for him yet yes his name is Cobb William Cobb and he's your great grandfather My my what I took a tissue sample dick and what you weren't going to tell me that's why you wanted privacy that's one part of it yes and you're not gonna tell me the other part of course you're not you know Bruce I get that you think that you're protecting me by keeping your secrets or rather I get that you want to think that's why you keep secrets like this but since we're both being so honest and upfront right let's just admit that both of us know the person you're really protecting is yourself from needing to have a damn human emotion but you have no idea what I've been through these last few weeks no idea the things I've had to deal with and I'll tell you what Bruce if you think learning my ancestor some guy I never knew was a criminal if you think that's gonna phase me then frankly you don't know me at all you were supposed to be the one too dick ah I I was supposed to be a Talon in pre-modern times potential Gladiators were sometimes escorted to the coliseums by parades of performers jesters and acrobats an ancient version of the circus of course but how did you know he came to see you first the trainer of the Court's last Talons are John Doe the identity of this Talon here simply confirmed it every decade Haley's circus presented a crop of child athletes to the court and the members chose one in secret to be trained as that heiress Talon you were meant to be the most recent one but when your parents died and you took me in you know some nights dick on patrol I felt the city looking at me I always thought it was watching over me though like a partner or even family you asked me before what the court did to me what they did was show me the truth that the Gotham City I thought I knew my city doesn't exist they showed me that the real Gotham the Gotham out there is a city of birds a city of owls it's a stranger and an enemy it always has been and I'll tell you dick if someone could have protected me from that truth I'd have been grateful well here's some truth for you you might be seeing sides already all of us Birds on one and you the bat on the other hell you're probably throwing up walls right and left but the fact is I don't care who my ancestor was or what the court of owls wanted me to be I don't we are who we choose to be Bruce not the role the past says we should play the court of owls is just another bad guy Bruce they're just a little grayer around the temples is all yes you made a mistake and underestimated them but they are not Gotham City Bruce and neither are you yes this way come see for tonight we will not only kill our enemy but we will take that our city [Music] take Gotham City [Applause] [Music] I've always believed the best way to know the city is to stay close to the ground to feel the cracks in the sidewalk under your shoes the strange bright Silence of the park under snow the hissing rain of Sparks that comes down when the elevated train passes overhead on Third Avenue the late night ticking of traffic lights it's only been in the last few weeks that I've come to understand how wrong I've been because I know now that you can spend your whole life learning Gotham from deep inside and still know nothing about it at all foreign shut it off Alfred it's hurting my eyes if you wish sir but they say low-level laser illumination can be therapeutic for eye injuries you want a metaphor old friend here's one I'm a man standing over a toy City he made himself while the real one the one that matters operates behind his back I wasn't trading in wordplay sir you've been sitting in the dark for hours and you have inflammation most of the tissue around your eyes and a conjunctive I've been a fool Alfred an arrogant fool perhaps but then you come from a long line of such Mensa and that city across the bay is a better place for all of their arrogant foolishness and if you sir I heard it someone's trying to get in get to the cave I'll take care of the Intruder but sir I can I have the earpiece and lens help me from down there go foreign I'm picking up Intruder signals all around the Mana but they're not making sense the pulses are oh no master Bruce you must get down here master Bruce Wayne the court of owls has sentenced you yeah I got it the first time seems you have some moves Mr Wayne well so do I maybe so no but yours went out of style 200 years ago Alfred Alfred I need positions Alfred I'm I'm trying sir but they're all around you yes I can I can but others that's what I mean sir there are so many others and they're getting into the house from all sides sir you need help I can Alfred Alfred are you there Alfred damn Mr Wade go ahead Bruce try to run away will follow you wherever you go [Music] you won't Brothers I am being nowhere left to go Bruce Nowhere to Run you're going down now good choice of words what get up he's escaping it's locked we'll get you Bruce Wayne we're coming for you [Music] stupid Bruce stupid you should have seen this coming you should have been watching for it not lost in your own head Alfred Alfred are you all right well well seems you have a secret Bruce don't you huh you're lucky penny sir are you all right right so good now let's get some answers how many I said how many are coming for us enough and not just for you but don't worry you'll find out soon or sooner correct look what we have here oh we're coming for you it's time to wake up brother you can't stop the court there are ways to butcher you can't hold us back there's nowhere to run anymore we're in the heart of your house Bruce the house of Wayne and of Batman the Armory Alfred get inside sir quickly that's okay Bruce we'll find a way in we always do I'm afraid he's right sir the doors won't hold them forever take this some kind of micro drive it was in the talents Gauntlet see if you can pull up anything figure out what they're planning then Alfred dropped the temperature in the cave to Sub-Zero fast as you can the regenerative compound in the Talon's blood is heat sensitive bring their core body temperatures down low enough and you'll freeze the whole lot of them or at least slow them down but sir that will take minutes and in the meantime they'll tear you apart besides the temperature in the cave will become inhospitable to you yourself in a matter of don't worry about me Alfred I'm sure I've got something warm in here [Music] again Wayne's always trying to do but it's no use in open up get the hell out of my house get this friends Bruce came out to play you know what we do to bad Spruce we eat them all bones and all not in this cave you don't master Bruce I've uploaded the material but the fire will wait this can't be right what is it Alfred God help us all Alfred it's a list sir a list of what a list of targets and nearly every public figure in Gotham City is on it everyone who shapes the city the city comptroller Gotham City deputy sheriff [Music] Davis oh God please don't Kane County Supreme Court Justice and spits Gotham public Advocate bloody Traffic John Lee speaker of the city council in madrida Guadalupe the head of the City Planning Commission has sentenced you to die Commissioner Gordon they're going to kill them all put out the call to call Alfred o put the call out to the family now yes yes of course sir putting in house now to all the allies all our greatest urgency tonight the court of owls has sent their assassins to kill nearly 40 people across the city the Court's targets are all Gotham leaders people who shape this city I have uploaded a list of the targets names here the courts assassins the talents are already on route to their targets they are highly trained Killers with extraordinary regenerative abilities well many of their targets I fear it may be too late to I will keep the at the line to the cave open I'm right here we will grind your bones into dust we're coming for you two old man going to tear the skin off your back good luck to you now take him God help us all [Music] the first members of my family to live in the manor were Solomon and Joshua Wang Brothers they bought the house in 1855 but they didn't move in until two years later the reason was bats the massive infestation of bats in the cave system beneath the land they brought in a kiroptologist from Gotham University and according to him to get rid of the bats they'd have to introduce a predator into the cave [Applause] so the Wayne brothers did they carted in all sorts of birds from peregrine falcons to kestrels and unleash them in different sections of the Cave the most effective killers of bats though were the tiger owls my ancestors let owls loose in the cave and within a year all the bats were gone Alfred how are we doing on temperature I'm dropping it as fast as possible sir it needs to be faster it should dip below zero no more than a minute drop to negative 20 maybe even 30 in under five minutes by then the restorative compound of the tunnel cells should begin to freeze but sir I implore you come back inside the Armory they're strong Alfred the doors won't keep them out long enough the doors May no strength the healing capabilities please but you would mean certain what it means Alfred is that I can play rough for once my suit is Built For War it's made of meta-era mid fibers of my own design tougher than Kevlar made to withstand burning heat and freezing cold temperatures as low as the Arctic winter it uses a semi-solid flow micro battery it has enough oxygen for weeks meaning it's built for battle in the most alien territories on Earth and I'm wearing it here in my own home come on I said come on you London Alfred is right they'll get through the suit the talons because in a way they already have master Bruce Wayne nothing left to keep us out no more barriers the court always spots away into your home you waves always try though don't you well go ahead try whatever you like more gates more alarms maybe try a guard dog actually I already have one activate Fido activating Fido [Applause] poor master Bruce your vital signs you're going to black out I've got him say goodbye Wayne Nowhere to Run master Bruce yeah I'm coming out to help you how many doors open oh override Armory doors locked down no master Bruce master Bruce you're crashing we'll catch up my ancestors they used owls to kill the bats owls everywhere but I forgot the thing I forgot is as soon as the owls left the bats came back yes I remember now The Backs had simply hidden deeper in the caves in the darkest Parks the parts of the owls couldn't tolerate and when the bats came back it was with a Vengeance sir it's negative 20 and dropping the talents should be feeling the effects of the cold by now but please expose to such cold your vital signs the cold brought the bats out of the dark Alfred I feel fine sir one of them is headed for the bridge trying to make an escape oh I see him sir he's got a healing Factor let him heal use the cool that I prepared for Cobb to freeze the talons yes sir but you must stay here and there's an owl symbol in the sky over Gotham Alfred I'm going out [Music] the list of people the court of owls is targeting I'm sending it to the main console the names in blues are the ones the Allies have already gone to protect and the ones in red I'm afraid for them it's already too late the green names they're the only targets still unaccounted for there are barely any green Alfred just Jeremiah Arkham and Lincoln March I'm afraid of this night largely belongs to the owls sir the night's not over yet I'm going to Arkham Asylum first and then I'll go after March Lincoln March I'm here to help March Mr March I you Bruce Wayne [Music] for Bruce Wayne I have a message for Bruce Wayne don't talk Mr March an ambulance will be here any moment no please here here take this there are three names try to follow the donations to figure it out it's as close as I got could be all three of them were in the court could be none Mr March the more you talk I'm dead he killed me I got him back though armor piercing a friend on the force but Bruce Bruce you know him please tell him to fight them this city is worth it it can be a good place remind him that a better Gotham is just his one dream master Bruce the talents have been contained I have news on the other assassination attempts as well I know where they live Alfred but sir they came to my house now I'm gonna burn Theirs to the ground [Applause] [Music] what you're looking at is the most expensive private residence in Gotham City valued at 58 million dollars the complex takes up the top three floors of the famous Powers hotel and is occupied by the powers family patriarch Joseph and his wife Maria the place was built during the Depression as a fortress against the masses it has its own wooden gymnasium pool bowling alley it even has a zeppelin more on the balcony protected by both hotel and private guards armed with encrypted wireless security it has never seen a visitor not employed or invited by the powers family until tonight dear God security I said security help me I'm going down you you can't be in here I'm calling that that that's not Joseph's I know Mrs Powers it's yours I found the case for your husband's mask but it's empty where is he gone out of the country and you and your friends you might think you have the upper hand right now but you don't and never will in in fact if I were you I'd leave the city and never come back and if I were you I'd get used to that view your Scare Tactics worked sir she's dialing her husband now tell me you can track the call Alfred it looks as though we can there his line is basically impenetrably coded we're now able to piggyback on hers to locate his phone is that the talent I moved them into the cold storage laboratory sir they seem to have retreated into some kind of preservatory stasis good oh tell me when you have a lock on Mr Powers it's strange sir the phone appears to be located in some kind of blackout Zone a blackout Zone yes something has created a dead area about a quarter mile in radius I can place the phone within the Zone itself but beyond that at the location the blackout zone is located on Gotham's South Side sir along the road yes and judging by the emission field I calculate the epicenter to be somewhere around perfect 10. I'm sorry sir 77 Irvington right where it always was yes but how did you know sir Master Bruce I'll read Ducar the great detective once told me that there's a feeling you get on a case sometimes the feeling that comes when the pieces suddenly fit into place and the answer you've been looking for all that time begins to appear the feeling Dakar said is like a remembering not so much a discovery or something new as a remembering of what you knew all along something right in front of you the feeling is the best indicator you have your answer said Dakar earlier tonight when Lincoln March gave me his short list of names I felt it I saw Joseph power's name on the list and I knew not just because he was responsible for the founding of the Gotham Aviary for its exceptional collection of rare owls not because his finances seemed skewed but because I felt it in my gut that remembering and now here I feel it again outside this building I came to Harbor House when I was a boy I was looking for the court of owls that time I found nothing not tonight tonight the court goes down once and for all no more hiding no more plotting from the Shadows tonight their story ends their little song will be forgotten their name vanishes from Gotham's history they know it too rushing to meet here in the middle of the night the report from Alfred is that many of the assassination attempts tonight were stopped most of the Court's Talons are down and now I have them cornered no security no traps nothing can keep me from them not tonight not standing for vital signs scanning scamming not again scanning no Vital Signs detected 22 confirmed dead damn you damn you all master Bruce you're not stressed don't forget you're meeting with the firms bidding on the elevated Park in less than an hour I told you I'm waiting on the gray Alfred but it seems to have snuck up on yourself so why don't you give me those morbid things so I may return them to their case and you can start thinking about trees and ponds and a Greener City it doesn't make sense Alfred members of the Court taking their own lives just like that I rather think it does sir you've taken the city back from them then there's the money money siphoned from the dead members accounts in just the last few weeks it feels more like a setup like subterfuge you saw the autopsies master Bruce the Court members are quite dead something doesn't fit about it Alfred there's something behind it I can feel it someone close all along that may be sir but the answers will come you'll now know the identities of at least several of the quarter vowels major frigates and while their organization as you've discovered is clearly much larger than this one grouping I'm certain you'll eventually bring them all to Justice if I may speak freely sir perhaps the thing that doesn't fit about this ending is that it is an ending I know when you were a boy you thought you might find answers to your parents murder in the court of owls and my suspicion is that perhaps you were hoping you might find more answers now what gave you that idea when it comes to them does that matter you are the answer to that mystery Bruce Wayne and that answer is enough Now put on that Bloody suit and get out of here all right all right I'm going just call Roberts and tell tell him tell him what sir tell him I won't be able to make it but sir where are you going I'm going after him Alfred after who master Bruce sir who him the answer to all this the one behind it the one I forgot [Music] Follow Me Down The Rabbit Hole analyzing handwriting through script file database right behind you old friend sinkholes are tricky things they can form in more places than most people think in cities they form particularly quickly often exacerbated by leaky pipes and overly heavy structures Gotham has a sinkhole just one it's the only one in Kane County in fact and it sits beneath this place the Willow Wood home for children years ago it was Gotham's satellite Hospital for Children suffering from mental illness and neurological disorders it operated until 18 years ago when a sinkhole swallowed the orderly's quarters in the days that followed the catastrophe the truth about Willow Wood became clear the abuses the children had been subjected to the neglect children alone naked rotting in their filth left to starve now it's it's abandoned and children dare each other to spend the night inside they say the sadness of the Lost Children caused the sinkhole they say the place is haunted by their spirits Tonight I almost believe it after all I'm here to catch a dead man I'm here so tell me Batman who who am I I don't know but you're not Lincoln March because Lincoln March doesn't exist he's a paper man set up by the court of owls good so if I'm not Lincoln March then who am I you're a traitor and a thief you are a member of the court of owls but you betrayed them just as everything was crumbling on them you took money from the Top members you invited them to an emergency Council and you poisoned them you made it look like they killed themselves meanwhile you included your name on the list of targets you had one of the talons come after you and you faked your own death not faked no not faked you took the serum before the attack the compound that brought the talons back to life the court will come after you Lincoln the members you killed were only a small handful of oh they'll come after me all right but I'm pretty damn hard to kill now you know Bruce for a while there was talk of training the new Talent before the CERN was developed to allow for the Awakening of the town has passed there was even a suit developed something tough and modern something to rival the Batman but all this gets away from the question because you're telling me what I did not who I am so who Bruce who I know you have a theory by Siri you were an inmate here at one time good so tell me how you deduce that men like you criminals always leave Clues behind not because you're sloppy but because you're egotistical you like to taunt your pursuers so the sinkhole the story you told me when I visited you in the hospital after we were attacked at Old Wayne Tower you are daring me to look deeper into you you knew the records the court of owls created were too good to penetrate but even so you left a clue the truth inside the lie a truth inside the LIE exactly just like with you like when I saw you fight that Talent during our first meeting you were supposed to be an easy target the court said that I could be there to watch and when I saw what you were Batman that's when I knew what I had to do what I had to become but I saw who they were too the court they said the talent attacked me by accident and he made a mistake but I saw the truth and that lied to so who am I Bruce go on I was an inmate here as a child the court took me in why because you were someone with nothing someone they could prop up and control someone they could create from scratch their own candidate Lincoln March no because I already know who I am you're making me angry avoiding the question Bruce if you don't want to answer it answer this how what tipped you off what sent you to the morgue say it the pin the pin what pin in the story you told me an old Wayne Tower about your mother's death the car accident that killed her there's the LIE well where's the truth you mentioned a pin she wore a misshapen heart pin made of clay and you saw the picture of my mother wearing that pin and you used it in your no the truth in the lab Bruce that pin it was only given to the mothers of children who lived here at Willow Wood so who am I Bruce I asked like the great owl you're sick you're nothing you're you're Brother Bruce I'm Thomas Wayne Jr your brother that never was from the other side of the mirror I don't have a brother oh but you were supposed to though remember I know you do think back to before I was there in mother's stomach there was an accident Bruce remember you were there I was born early born hurt and our parents hid me here at Willow Wood to heal away from the world I don't know what the hell you're talking about Lincoln what story the court concocted for you but that's their mistake my parents wouldn't do that they wouldn't put a son of theirs sick or not in a place like this see but it wasn't like that back then at the time of the accident it was a premier Children's Hospital that is until the funding dried up when the hospital's biggest donors died Thomas and Martha Wayne tragically shot into alley you wanted to know if the core had anything to do with our parents death Bruce the answer is no they didn't that was all your fault brother and I'm going to make you pay so finish cutting through the net and let's add this out once and for all for the city of Gotham Lane to Wayne you're out of your mind brother two brothers [Music] foreign are you just playing nice you're not my brother you're a lunatic in a bird suit and I was done playing nice a long time ago is it my turn now good the story as old as man Bruce two brothers son of a fable line like Romulus and Remus educlease and polynices Bruce and Thomas sons of Gotham mid to share the city but one brother always gets greedy and takes it all in those stories doesn't he he takes the city for his own and forgets his kid Lisa's Fallen brother to rot just like you did well this time the story has a Twist standing Bruce because this time a falling brother wins in the end all right Lincoln you wanna be my Fallen brother so bad then start falling okay you want to spend a little bit more time together first I'm glad let's do it you've had your Gotham for so long now now let me show you mine the city I knew from my bed in Willow Wood first the crown Tower nothing special to most people just an office building but on clear days from my bed I could see wayne Industries in the reflection bus now brother take a close look see the kingdom as I did every day reversed and unnatural welcome to the other side of the mirror Bruce now live as I did right from the start feel yourself being born again as me in that car crash you're like a bird dropped from the nest smashed awake now you're a child you're growing but you're broken something is wrong you can't move you can't talk you can see through through the beers of slits between your eyelids you watch everyone thinks you're a sleep inside your way die every day you're supposed to but you don't because you're alive in there you're awake you don't even know who you are but you're someone you feel it oh no oh and there's the woman she comes often she sits on your bed you know she's your mother she's the king but she can't call to her can't move and then one day she's on the television in your room and you know a revelation suddenly you know what you are because the owls are there now too whispering to you at night telling you what you already knew all along that your Thomas Wayne Jr is son of the city your bears are gone but your brother your brother is still out there and you think to yourself you'll come for me he'll come for me you wait every day all day the owls Whispering as the owl surrounds you goes to hell but he doesn't come only the owls come and soon enough they save you from their place they start to help you heal venture mind steal you wait for your brother he must remember you you know he does but all you hear is the time is The Big Church Bill ringing [Music] so you finally accepted you accept that your brother has forced you out of his mind so he can have it all the whole city and you accepted this reversity is yours the one your brother exiled you to a pure reflection in backwards City that people enter but never leave it Gotham that traps you in place I mean that literally Bruce see the Gotham airport over there the runways are all directly east for takeoff and West for landing so all day I heard planes coming never leaving never ever leaving and so means our tour brother I'll watch the pieces of you come out of the other side scattered over the city you thought you knew so well but didn't know it all it's okay Bruce you can let go now your brother is watching over you just as he always has he must have felt that sometimes Bruce that sensation of being watched well those were my eyes that you felt my eyes watching you day and night hating you for not seeing me for not looking back hating you with every fiber in my body in all that time you spend watching over your little kingdom nose to the streets and windows all that time I was getting bitter stronger with the owls getting ready to become their King all that time watching your own back and you should take your own advice ah what is that supposed to mean no this is your Capital speaking thank you for flying air Gotham well I'll be damned he can fly suit Dead nothing left no power can't hold on any longer nothing to hold on to not anymore she looks so beautiful from up here dick you always liked taking the plane seeing the city this way and I see why I try to let go but even as I do the city she calls me back to her she saves me she reminds me we still have work to do switch to High Velocity bat rope now [Music] you just won't stay dead will you brother well this time I'll make sure this building the tower that was supposed to be the centerpiece of your little Gotham initiative now it'll be your tomb our tomb for a minute the Wayne brothers but I'll come back the compound in my blood will make sure of that and this time you will be the one left alone to rot buried inside your own broken body and you'll stay dead not like the other times you remember the first time you came back Bruce it was back when I just finished healing under the owl's care you've been gone for years you left to travel the world and you disappeared the court has said that you died somewhere in the Himalayas or the back alleys of Paris I was healed and the owl's plan was to present me to the city as myself as Thomas Wayne Jr I was going to bring the House of Wings to its greatest Heights with their health returned out of nowhere and the court thought the spotlight on the Wayne family was too bright so they came up with Lincoln March a man I could become to reclaim the city for them in a different way you'll be the beaker the great owl they said but that's not what I wanted Bruce I wanted the city and artists it was my time never having I know that but if I can't be this City's future I'll be a secret pass I'll be the past to come get you the Gotham of the Dead the ghost City all the ones that you never look back at in your arrogance I'll stand for them so God knowing this brother you you're nothing but a footnote it below destined to be forgotten me I am Gotham's history finally something we agree [Applause] Run Bruce run from the truth run like you always have but when you feel that Franklin on the back of your neck know that I'm coming for you reaching for you from the other side of your reflection the whole Tower was destroyed down to its foundation I conducted a search privately and came up empty too no casualties no bodies found in the wreckage at all no I'm just glad no one was hurt what yes Jim I'm telling you all there is to know there's no one I expected to find under there Bruce I have to go all right I snuck in before Alfred could tell me you don't want company right now don't worry I'm just here to use the computer no I'm glad to see you dick huh well you shouldn't be I've planned on getting you back for that punch as soon as you were well and honestly you're looking better than I expected how about an update first while you can still talk the cork I'm still making inroads following the money but the truth is the resources are staggering and the Maze they've made to hide their Trail without a doubt they're still out there but they're hurting and I'll make sure they keep hurting until I find them all and wash away the stain of the Court altogether and the captured Talons I've had the move to a cryo prison beneath Blackgate Wayne funded of course as for the ones who got away we'll find them soon enough of course we will just a matter of time I'll be seeing you Bruce dick wait I assume Alfred told you about Lincoln March's claims he did but how things have been between us lately honestly I didn't want to pry no I'd like you to know there was another Wayne child I was three when my mother was pregnant with him we were in a car accident together I don't I don't remember the accident but there's a record the child was born premature with neurological damage severe enough that he would have remained in a permanent vegetative state had he lived through the initial trauma he didn't live though he did for a single night hospital records at Gotham Mercy suggest he was born under duress named and immediately intubated he died 12 hours later but for one night here in Gotham I did have a brother forgive me Bruce but Playing devil's advocate is it in any way possible that your brother survived that first night at Mercy and that afterwards my parents secretly moved him to Willow Wood for treatment are you asking if I think they could have falsified the records the answer is no I don't believe they could I investigated the mercy records from all angles and there's no sign that we're falsified good so you have your answer and you can move on I was also able to dig up some of the original pencil and paper records from Willow Wood and there was a John Doe a baby admitted about a week after Thomas was supposed to have died the records also show that my mother visited the hospital often but she visited every Charity she funded often the heart pin could easily have been honorary all of this is evidence the court would have used to convince Lincoln he was my brother but in the end if what you're asking is whether it's possible that Lincoln's story is true all I can say is that without his DNA I can't know for sure hell there's no way to know if Lincoln's claim to be Thomas wasn't part of the Court's plan maybe they sacrificed some members themselves and put him up to it to throw me off their Trail or by time it's still a mystery for now and you're all right with that no I'm not but I suppose in this city I have to be well that's very big of until I find that evidence the court of owls tried to undermine everything I believe in but one thing they could never make me question is my belief in my parents if Thomas Jr had lived past that one night they'd have told me they would have I know it I believe you believe Bruce but still if Thomas was never supposed to recover I mean if it was hopeless look all I'm saying is that sometimes protecting the people you care about from a painful truth and carrying it as a private pain instead I now see that it could be a noble thing you know dick listen I know it must have been hard finding out that you were meant to be a Talon to be one of the owls well thank you I'm not done I know it might seem like I saved you from that Destiny but you could never have been one of them never they might have seen something in you back then but so did I man the truth is I didn't save you from some dark fate those years ago you saved me from one and you still are saving me every day ah damn it Bruce now I can't hit you I'll just have to do it some other time it's fine though I'll just sneak up on you and surprise you you'll try so you're going to rebuild the tower I am taller in fact I'm redoubling my efforts with the initiative well it's nice to know that the owls didn't scare Bruce Wayne back into his cave the opposite actually it's strange dick lately right up until all this with the court I'd come to think of the city as mine as Batman's even with the initiative part of me was doing it to have more Lookouts more bases for Batman rather than for the city itself but I see now that I was wrong because Gotham isn't Batman Gotham isn't the owls Gotham is Gotham is all of us it's a little bit Batman come on in the end I have to say I'm grateful to the court of owls for the lesson but even so if they re-emerge when they re-emerge I'll be watching that always [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] to my dear son Alfred Shadows move within Wayne Manor and I fear that I may no longer be safe but frightened as I am for myself I am more frightened for you Alfred should I not survive the journey home to Britain it is imperative that you read what I have to say you've long known that it is your duty to fulfill my role with the wanes upon my retirement or passing I know you believe this is what I want for you and I did Alfred for a long time I did but no longer I implore you dear sir if you take only one line from this hurried letter let it be this never come to this house never you see there's a secret to the house of Wayne known only to those who have served the family and that secret is this Alfred this family this house the very ground I now walk is cast if I'd only seen it sooner I've written if only I'd understood but I was blind or blinded rather blinded by the Grandeur of the Wings by the storied history of their line I couldn't see the darker Legacy the Shadows behind the portraits for the danger a terrible danger eyes I see you see you Jarvis many words and I'm coming for you oh man I don't think I may never see you again Alfred never see you laugh or perform on the stage never see you marry or raise children of your own come on you bloody it's more than I can bear I cannot tell you son how I regret not seeing more of you these last few years krishnaires as I thought of you often and in my own mind in my heart I believed that all the effort all the time spent serving Martha and Thomas Wayne and their young son that all of it was for you Alfred but I was convinced that in doing my best to serve to help in my own way to improve this home and this family I was making a better future for you especially when it came to Young Master Wayne whom I knew you would one day serve I loved and cared for him so that he would one day care for you at least this is what I believed then perhaps I was lying to myself bro Alfred perhaps I simply lost myself in the happiness of those days that young family but they were happy times my son know that too for a while at least I've had it Thomas the mayor has shut down another five schools that corrupt short-sighted idiot you know it's only because the schools haven't figured out a way to pay him off it it's disgusting well he'll get an earful the next time he comes knocking at our door for fundraising we need to do more than that Thomas it's time you know it too I want Gotham to be a place that any son of ours would be proud to call home what do you think Jarvis time for us all the venture out of the nest the fine idea madam I'll roam we were though my son I hesitate as I write this because the temptation to blame all that followed on Martha Wayne is incredibly powerful and particularly since I am writing this to you my son I am ashamed to tell the truth you see what happens to the Wayne's and whatever might happen to me is entirely my own fault looked but how where is the cold Art Truth my boy it is I who now is I who have doomed us all or the vows has sentenced you to Die the hour is late my boy my Alfred if I do not Escape soon I fear I will never leave these wretched grounds the shadow draws closer with every passing moment I fear for my life but more for the secret Horrors I have Unleashed not only upon the lady Martha and master Thomas but the very Legacy of the Wayne family you see Martha had resolved herself to the creation of a new school for Gotham's underprivileged its forgotten children she believed that through this school she could shape the city into something brighter for young master Bruce and for her second child who was nearly due to be born I spent my days caring for Bruce as his mother tended to her plans and to her pregnancy even at three years old Bruce was an exceptional child smart and kind I knew you would love him one day as I do but now none of that will come to pass Jarvis can you come in here for a moment yes Madam gather up Bruce and get him ready for bed I'll be up just after this call I'm sorry Mr Mayor I no I beg your pardon sir these men said they represented the city who the hell else would I think you don't appreciate my tone these men threatened my unborn child if they call again I promise that the lawyers of both the cane and Wayne families will come down on you so fast your head will spin how does that sound to you run up to your room now just let them try to stop me in this city like Gotham there will always be those who stand firmly against broadness my entire life I had heard rumors rhymes and a deadly superstitions of such figures my father even told me once never to push away towards greatness happiness is a more worthy goal and far less deadly I never took the admonition seriously until the day I received that fateful call we're in Manor Jarvis speaking now may I help you ah Mr bennyworth just the man I wish to reach I need you to listen very carefully the next time you take Mrs Wayne into the city you will take her to dock 17 at the Gotham arena for a conversation between friends why would I ever fail to comply and I promise you you won't be pleasant for you or your Masters past present and future who is this who the hell do you think Madam I've just received a call a threatening call the mayor's goons still want to frighten me do they I think they'll find I don't scare easy I have a suspicion this might be bigger than City Hall they want me to take you to some unwatched corner of the docks well I guess we're not going to the docks then are we no of course not Madam but in your condition I still must urge caution Jarvis in my condition or not I will not be terrorized in my own City now let's get the car ready I've promised Bruce I'd show him the grounds for the new school I'm Brave Mommy you're the bravest boy in Gotham Bruce always will be Martha's hope and purity of spirit pushed me to agree but I knew in my heart I should have insisted that we stay home I had my suspicions now as to what figures haunted the wings the owl in the window had sealed my dread I could hear that shitty rhyme growing louder in the back of my head the closer we got to the school grounds the closer we got to that damned intersection on the corner of Lincoln and March screeching metal burning rubber and Fire followed by Perfect Blackness a Blackness punctuated by the screams of the injured Martha Wayne that's what I remember of that terrible night Alfred the streams and the blood mine hers bruises on my face my hands oh my boy the blood lady Martha had taken the brunt of the crash shielding young Bruce from danger and the trauma of the accident had caused the early birth and loss of her unborn child that is following the crash with a blackist Martha was so consumed by sadness one night I actually overheard her whispering to master Thomas as though their unborn son was still alive when she saw me approach she seemed horrified at her own words to honor their lost baby and perhaps to expedite a healing the Wayne's planted a willow tree on the edge of the Wayne symmetry so he might look over the family for generations to come but the tree brought no closure for any of us and sir Master Thomas decided it would be best if they left the country for the summer so they might heal away from the city as I helped him pack his belongings I wished deep in my heart that I could simply forget the trauma of these days like young master Bruce that I could reclaim the sheer Joy of life I had experienced just a few short months ago but the back of my mind itched with the original threat that sent us out on the road to that fateful afternoon and when the phone rang a second time this evening I knew who would be on the line you didn't go where we told you Mr pennyworth but we still took what we wanted the school is gone and a little Wayne too now that our larger work is done the eyes of the owls have turned towards you what do you mean Jarvis penny worth we are a powerful enemy to have in Gotham not just for you but for those you love your own family your son Alfred you you leave my son alone you monsters you hear me we watch you watch you your heart we watch you in your bed tonight Alfred the Shadows haunting Wayne Manor have come for me my goal I only goal is to reach you my dear son and hold you again but should we never meet again in this lifetime remember these simple truths remember my love for you forgive me for all my many fatherly sins and no I tried my hardest to create a better life for you anyway s a sentence you die and remember please to fear Gotham City never visit even in the event of my passing this is a cursed place a place that tricks you into loving it into hoping and the wind runs they are the most Unholy of all peace lovely grounds but I must hurry I trust that if I should die this warning will reach you and keep you safe from harm with deep love and regret your father Jarvis many worth the flowers are beautiful Alfred I'm sure your father would have loved them I'm not sure he would you never did have time for my little eccentricities acting botany he was always pestering me to take up a trade more sensible for my upcoming life here at the Manor as if anything could have prepared me for my life these past years certainly not my father no matter what shape his death actually took so this is about my finding the pennyworth name in the Alice Labyrinth this isn't about cause of death master Bruce I want to deny there's a specter of design to the discoveries of these last few weeks the re-emergence of my father's name we can learn the truth Alfred on Earth the body and determine the real cause of death a man who died violently a few years after your mother miscarried the brother you never knew you lost which is why I think it's our responsibility to act we are acting each in our own way hmm I remember the cloud of darkness when I first came to this place at the time I truly felt the manor was cursed somehow haunted I suppose it was in a way I imagine the accident would have loomed large during your first year it was more than that did you know I never came to visit my father here and I barely knew him when he died and yet in those early years I felt him hovering over me like a force trying to impart something but there was nothing I could do but try to live up to the man he wanted me to be my point master Bruce is that I've already spent a lifetime trying to dig up a sense of who my father was I have no desire to literalize the process if the court of owls had anything to do with my father's death your actions these past few weeks have been tribute enough we could know for sure Alfred but that's just it master Bruce I already know everything I need to know about my father just as you do about your deceased brother and the outlandish claims of Lincoln March you know I'll find Lincoln Alfred I will find the truth you'll find the facts the truth is that even if you and Lincoln share the same blood you still lost your brother in a car accident when you were just a boy I know you'll do what you must when the time arises but for now the specters of these long-lost kin deserve to rest undisturbed

Channel: The Russian ComicBook Geek

Views: 686,834

Keywords: Batman: The Court of Owls Full Story Motion Comic, Court of Owls, The Batman 2, Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls, Batman: The City of Owls, Batman Vol. 2: The City of Owls, Batman, The Batman, DC Comics, dc comics comic dub, batman comic dub, Batman: Motion Comics, Batman The Court of Owls | New 52 Full Comic Dub Movie, Court of Owls Motion Comic, The Russian ComicBook Geek, Gotham Knights, Bat family comic dub, Court of owls comic dub, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth

Id: XSN9m9PYuo4

Length: 150min 19sec (9019 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 23 2023