Disclaimer: Batman and all related characters belong to DC Comics.
Summary: Gotham deserves a hero, and Batman has already made his choice. Bruce Wayne in three quotes.
--.--..--..--..--..--..--..--
Pretty soon you're gonna have to make a choice.
Bruce never wonders what the choice is or how exactly he'll have to make it. He knows, has known since the day he put on the mask, and everything the Joker has said only confirms it. His fists clench. He will leave bruises tonight, regardless of who or what he touches.
It seems that way for a lot of things. All the time.
I think we're destined to do this forever.
He holds the ashes of whatever life he could have had in the palms of his hands, the mask held steady in his lap, and he can actually feel it looking, as if a ghost has inhabited it. Wayne Manor might be rebuilt, and the Joker might be put away for a year, ten years, but it will not bring back everything that he has lost. His time, his energy. His efforts.
Rachel.
This is what happens
Gotham needs a hero, but it deserves its dark knight. And Bruce does not have will or heart enough left in him to deny it. And to think he had tried to give it up, to give the city a hero with a face. A hero they could love, a hero that could inspire them and show them the way.
when an unstoppable force
The Joker is a mad dog: dangerous, but also pointless. Directionless. But there are others out there who are not as forgiving. The leash will inevitably lead back to the owner, and Bruce is determined. Gotham does not need any more chaos; now is a time for it to heal.
So he will be the Batman. He will be Gotham's pariah, its scapegoat, whatever it needs. Because, eventually, there will be a hero, one with a face that can be cherished and loved and praised.
Until then, he will keep the villains away. He will be their keeper, their jailer, and, if need be, their judge, as well. He will lead the mad dogs astray. And he will keep them in the moonlight, with him, for as long as it takes for the dawn to come.
meets an immovable object.