Well Bruce, here I am. Back where it all started. Back in Gotham. Didn't think I'd ever be back here again, did you? Over my dead body, right?
Close enough.
When was it that we started drifting apart, Bruce? It had been building for a while, I remember that much. You and I were just to different. No, that's not true. We were to much alike.
I guess it really ended after Alfred's funeral. I came back from Bludhaven, and we got in that shouting match, remember? I came pretty close to taking a swing at you then. Before that, we were getting so that we could spend more than five minutes in the same room with each other. After that fight, though...It's probably my fault. I just turned around and left, and never came back. Well, here I am, Bruce. And it's too late now.
Remember when I first came to the manor, Bruce? I was just a kid. Looking back on it, you were pretty young too. Remember how hard it was trying to talk to me? You never had much experience with the whole family thing, and I wasn't about to try opening up to you. Remember that one night at dinner? It must have been about a week after you took me in. You just looked at me, and said "I know what you're going through, Dick." I told you that unless you'd actually had your parents blown away by some nut right in front of you, you couldn't possibly know what I was going through.
I can remember the pain in your eyes like it was yesterday. You told me about your parents then, and Alfred walked into the room a little later to find us both crying.
Alfred. He kept us sane, you know that? He was always there to keep us from each other's throats, always ready to intercede when we wweren't speaking. He was a touchstone with reality when we needed it, after nights spent hunting freaks and thugs. I guess after he was gone, you started getting harder, meaner. He wasn't there to keep you sane.
He also wasn't there to try and get us to patch things up. I guess that's why I never saw you again. Well, I'm here now. It'll have to do.
What'll Gotham do without you, Bruce? Without Batman to keep the evil in check, this city would have been dead and gone a hundred times by now. Now...
We were talking about last night, when I first got back to town, me, Tim and Babs. Oracle, for obvious reasons, can't resume the mask. I've got Bludhaven to worry about. That leaves Tim, the latest boy wonder. He may be the most capable teenager on earth, but he's still a kid. Now he needs to decide wether or not he's ready to take the mantle of the Bat. I know I wasn't at his age. Maybe for now, Robin will be enough. But someday, someday soon, we're going to need a Batman. I only hope we can find one.
I never expected this to happen, you know that? I always figured that you'd be around forever. You were always so...solid. You weren't a man, you were a myth. Larger than life. Immortal, invincible. And now you're gone. I've got to hand it to you Bruce; you planned for every contingency. Batman gets pumped full of lead by a gang of drug dealers Tuesday night, and Bruce wayne has a car wreck wednesday morning. You even arranged it so that Leslie was the one to fill out the death certificate. It kind of reminds me of the time Bane broke you over his knee. Tim told me how he and Alfred trashed you car; made it look like an accident. Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to get around to saying is what I should have told you years ago, definitely before now, now that they're throwing the dirt into your grave.
You may not have been able to replace my dad, but you did the best you could. I love you, Bruce.
End
Close enough.
When was it that we started drifting apart, Bruce? It had been building for a while, I remember that much. You and I were just to different. No, that's not true. We were to much alike.
I guess it really ended after Alfred's funeral. I came back from Bludhaven, and we got in that shouting match, remember? I came pretty close to taking a swing at you then. Before that, we were getting so that we could spend more than five minutes in the same room with each other. After that fight, though...It's probably my fault. I just turned around and left, and never came back. Well, here I am, Bruce. And it's too late now.
Remember when I first came to the manor, Bruce? I was just a kid. Looking back on it, you were pretty young too. Remember how hard it was trying to talk to me? You never had much experience with the whole family thing, and I wasn't about to try opening up to you. Remember that one night at dinner? It must have been about a week after you took me in. You just looked at me, and said "I know what you're going through, Dick." I told you that unless you'd actually had your parents blown away by some nut right in front of you, you couldn't possibly know what I was going through.
I can remember the pain in your eyes like it was yesterday. You told me about your parents then, and Alfred walked into the room a little later to find us both crying.
Alfred. He kept us sane, you know that? He was always there to keep us from each other's throats, always ready to intercede when we wweren't speaking. He was a touchstone with reality when we needed it, after nights spent hunting freaks and thugs. I guess after he was gone, you started getting harder, meaner. He wasn't there to keep you sane.
He also wasn't there to try and get us to patch things up. I guess that's why I never saw you again. Well, I'm here now. It'll have to do.
What'll Gotham do without you, Bruce? Without Batman to keep the evil in check, this city would have been dead and gone a hundred times by now. Now...
We were talking about last night, when I first got back to town, me, Tim and Babs. Oracle, for obvious reasons, can't resume the mask. I've got Bludhaven to worry about. That leaves Tim, the latest boy wonder. He may be the most capable teenager on earth, but he's still a kid. Now he needs to decide wether or not he's ready to take the mantle of the Bat. I know I wasn't at his age. Maybe for now, Robin will be enough. But someday, someday soon, we're going to need a Batman. I only hope we can find one.
I never expected this to happen, you know that? I always figured that you'd be around forever. You were always so...solid. You weren't a man, you were a myth. Larger than life. Immortal, invincible. And now you're gone. I've got to hand it to you Bruce; you planned for every contingency. Batman gets pumped full of lead by a gang of drug dealers Tuesday night, and Bruce wayne has a car wreck wednesday morning. You even arranged it so that Leslie was the one to fill out the death certificate. It kind of reminds me of the time Bane broke you over his knee. Tim told me how he and Alfred trashed you car; made it look like an accident. Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to get around to saying is what I should have told you years ago, definitely before now, now that they're throwing the dirt into your grave.
You may not have been able to replace my dad, but you did the best you could. I love you, Bruce.
End