Summary: Doing the right thing isn't always easy, but Bruce knows what has to be done. Plus it's time to return the favor.
A/N on the collection: I actually wrote this in July, shortly after watching The Dark Knight the weekend after it opened, right before I left for Japan. The movie blew me away, and I just felt compelled to write something about all the main characters. Thus the "Fall" collection was born (haha this sounds like something from a fashion designer, not a fanfiction writer). I had kind of forgotten about the collection until recently when I watched it with my friend on DVD. The title, 1250 Foot Fall , comes from the number of words each vignette contains, excluding quotes and title, multiplied by the number of vignettes. It seemed rather appropriate since there's a lot of plummeting off of tall buildings in the movie. I looked up to see how high 1250 feet really is, and it's the exact height of the Empire State Building. Cool, ne?
A/N on this vignette: I don't know why I bother with a summary, but I guess it gives you a clue as to whether you want to waste the couple of minutes reading the 250 (well, more technically) words on this page. In any case, I wrote this first because I wanted to grasp Bruce's nobility, which doesn't seem to exist in the real world. Maybe that's the point of this movie: to inspire us to retain our faith in mankind.
-- Hana Li
Disclaimer: I don't own Thomas Aquinas or anything in the Batman franchise...or Christian Bale (sadly).
Taking the Fall
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"Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do."
- Thomas Aquinas, Two Precepts of Charity
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Bruce Wayne was not hero material. He was selfish and cowardly. He hid behind a mask– two, actually– carefully crafted so that he could return to his penthouse suit in peace at the end of the day. Even as Batman, he hid in the shadows, waiting for the criminals to make the first move.
When Harvey Dent proclaimed that he was Batman, Bruce slipped out of the press conference unnoticed. It was so easy to let someone else take the fall.
Now, standing on the ground that had become his beloved Rachel's grave, facing the distorted remnant of Gotham's Golden Boy, Bruce was confronted with a choice. He could try to get Gordon's son out of Two-Face's hold and risk somebody getting shot. Or he could jump out the ledge with Two Face and the boy in tow, taking a two-story fall. Once again, he had other people's lives in his hands. The wrong choice would lead to more unnecessary deaths.
The decision was already made. He wasn't going to leave this up to chance. He had to take the plunge.
Gotham's star of hope plummeted to the ground, but his light would remain shining on the city. Nobody was going to discover that Harvey Dent was Two-Face. Bruce couldn't let all the good get undone. He knew what he had to do.
"I'm not a hero."
This time, he would be the one protecting someone's secret identity. This time, he would be the one taking the fall.