[BATMAN and BATGIRL are back in the Batcave.]

BATGIRL: So let me get this straight. You actually want her to go to Arkham?

BATMAN: It's not up to me.

BATGIRL: She killed 13 people!

BATMAN: 12.

BATGIRL: Huh?

BATMAN: Roaner wasn't in any of the Secrets ledgers Fury gave me.

[Puts ROANER murder scene on the screen]

BATGIRL: That doesn't mean anything.

BATMAN: The Wonder Woman costume, being stripped naked, the ball gag...the point was sexual humiliation.

BATGIRL: I could go the rest of my life without hearing you say "ball gag" again.

BRUCE: That element was kept out of the media. And Roaner's murder doesn't fit the pattern.

Because whoever did it didn't know that a dominatrix was behind the other killings.

BATGIRL: So who did it?

Before I had a hunch that Shreck might be Uncle Sam, you're his meal ticket and getting rid of Roaner frees up his organization to endorse you.

BATMAN: It wasn't Shreck. Trust me. That's not his style.

BATGIRL: So who?

BATMAN: [close-up] I've seen that flag before.


[BATMAN is casing a nondescript Gotham office-building. We see GIARDINO step out, gets into a normal car. BATMAN follows him quietly in the shadows, using his grappling hook.]

[GIARDINO arrives at a warehouse. BATMAN waits a bit before following him.]

[BATMAN enters. Four hoodlums jump him as he enters. BATMAN fights them off, one at a time, but as he's just got them out of the way a gunshot from an unseen gun hits him in the shoulder. He briefly falls back, which is enough for the hoodlums to forcefully subdue him, grabbing him by the arms to force him to look ahead.]

[BATMAN sees SCARFACE, w/a gun-wielding henchman, along with GIARDINO.]

SCARFACE: We were wonderin' when you might join us.

[From the Batcave]

ALFRED: [rushing to get to the Batcave computer] I'm calling the calvary.

BATMAN: No! Hold on!

SCARFACE: You heard 'im, hold on! I want him to hear this, anyways.

ALFRED: Yes, sir. I'll stay with you.

BATMAN: What are you up to? What is this about?

GIARDINO: It's about homeostasis. It's about equilibrium. It's about the natural order.

And what is it ever about? We're gonna control Gotham.

BATMAN: Why Roaner? How does killing him help you defeat Wayne?

GIARDINO: Defeat Wayne? Who said we wanted to do that?

SCARFACE: We're his giggest fans!

Why else do you think I hit county records?

BATMAN: It wasn't Firefly?

SCARFACE: If that idiot McClintock could touch me...I've got people so far up in his office I get a text every time he wipes his ass.

I destroyed records cause I knew if I threw him that straight pitch Wayne'd hit it.

And he sent it sailing over the stands.

BATMAN: Why?

GIARDINO: Because the only thing better than beating a self-righteous prick like Wayne...is controlling him once he's in office.

SCARFACE: You know how City Secrets got started? I know you're a history guff.

GIARDINO: It was a partnership. The Pact, they called it. You heard the rumors.

BATMAN: Back in the day-the major Gotham power centers.

GIARDINO: All working together, all sharing the spoils. But do you know who was involved?

The mob. GCPD. The judges. City hall. Sewage and sanitation. International Gotham Laborers. The Owls-or at least, they condoned it.

And, last but not least, Gotham Central Hospital.

[ALFRED watches the Batcave screen solemnly. Then he closes his eyes.]

GIARDINO: Could give soldiers question-free operations, produce insurance reports with no trace, had a boatload of bureaucratic no-show jobs.

And, at the time, was directed by one Thomas M. Wayne.

[BATMAN stares.]

SCARFACE: MD.

GIARDINO: You think this is just some story? Well-

SCARFACE: A picture is worth a thousand woids.

[From an elegant wooden box, GIARDINO produces photo with Thomas Wayne at a meeting of what appears to be Gotham's elite and powerful, including mob bosses.]

SCARFACE: Look at your face, Bats. You really swallowed all that Wayne is the future jazz, didn't you? World's greatest detective, eh?

When are you gonna learn? Some hero ain't gonna save Gotham!