Scene opens back up as the taxi in a matter of minutes makes it to its destination.
"Let me off here" Penny demanded.
"I'd watch my step if I were you. This area has been restricted for the past few days. And I wouldn't think it wise for a young girl like you to go off roaming in a seedy section of this city" the driver warned Penny.
"I'll be fine" she replied, then to herself: "Done this so many times, seems like second nature."
After paying the driver, Penny leapt out while taxi sped off in the opposite direction. Checking the radar on her watch, a huge chunk of electromagnetic wave radiation was displayed and located within the warehouse district.
"Seems like a lot of activity for this part of the city. I'll bet that district must be oozing with M.A.D. activity."
She stealthily starts walking toward the signal's origin, eventually making it to the entrance when she accidentally criushed an empty soda can on the ground with her sneaker, making a loud "CRUNCH" sound. The door opened abruptly and two agents rush out. Penny hid behind several crates before they could spot her.
"What was that?!" one of them shouted suspiciously.
They look around, but see nothing unusual.
"Probably just a stray animal looking for food" the other retorted.
"Well, be on guard! Might be a cop snooping around. The clown wanted absolutely no trespassing on the premises."
"Man, he creeps me out. Always smiling all the time, never know what he's gonna do."
While conversing, they head back in the building, locking the door behind them. Penny leaps out from hiding and tries to open it, but to no avail.
"Nuts. There must be another way in…
She sneaks around the building until she spots a window barely ajar, enough to let some air in.
"Ah…The window"
Opening it slowly, she raised it enough to crawl through and into small room. Opening the door adjacent to it, she cracked it open to see a swarm of M.A.D. agents assembled in production lines.
"The place is crawling with M.A.D. agents. I can't see much though, maybe if I get closer."
Venturing forward out of the room, Penny hid behind some equipment as she strived to get a closer look at the picture. She gasped. The stolen fireworks were being loaded on conveyor belts while the agents stripped the insides apart and replaced them with the explosives stolen from Wayne Enterprises' storage facilities. Once done with that batch, they moved on to the next as the finished products were carted into boxes and loaded inside what appeared to be a hut. This process kept repeating itself.
"So that's it!" Penny shouted to herself. "M.A.D. is removing the fireworks' inner pyrotechnical components and replacing them with deadly semi-nuclear explosives. Why just one of those fireworks would be enough now to destroy an entire skyscraper! But where are they keeping Uncle Gadget?"
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
"Grab her!"
Penny jerked her head behind her and saw two M.A.D. agents ready to grab her. One lunged at her, but she dove underneath the space between his legs and kicked him straight up, which gave her enough momentum to collide into the other agent and slam him into some crates. Penny took to her feet and ran as fast as she could towards the main entrance.
"Intruder! Sound the alarm!"
Sirens start blaring loudly in the warehouse, alerting all the agents who immediately ceased what they were doing and joined in the chase.
"After her! Don't let her get away!" random agents shouted as they closed in on her.
Penny kept on running, faster and faster until she saw one agent blocking the main entrance. Building enough speed, she slid onto the ground, underneath his legs, and bolted out the front door. She relaxed a bit, thinking she was safe at that point. Yet, from on top the of the warehouse, another two agents threw a net down at her, entangling her, leaving enough time for the rest to come through the door and tackle her to the ground. The other man held her upside down by her ankles as the water continued to drain. Penny swung at them, but her shorter arms couldn't reach and no matter how she thrashed, she couldn't break the grip on her legs. Penny's arms were roughly jerked behind her back. She was forced to the floor and the weight of the group pinned her down. Just then a gas penetrated Penny's nostrils and she gasped out loud. It was knockout gas. She tried to resist, but it was too late, she breathed it in, slowly slipping into unconsciousness until she was out like a light. The last thing she saw were the wingtip shoes of the individual in front of her.
Scene shifts back to Wayne Manor, Bruce is sleeping peacefully, recovering from his injuries. But his thoughts were soon becoming clouded with nightmarish thoughts as disturbing images flashed across his
mind. He recounted the confrontation between him and The Joker…then an explosion…Finding a skeleton beneath an mass of rocks…An avalanche of rocks then falling on top of him -
Bruce jerked up suddenly as if he was a kid awaking from a nightmare. Panting and sweating, he tried to calm himself down, he looked around the room for something to take his mind off what just happened. Seeing nothing was helping, he got up from the bed, and made his way to Penny's bedroom. He knocked, but there was no answer. Opening the door, he noticed Penny wasn't in there. He then spotted Penny's picture scrapbook on her dresser. He sat on the edge of the bed and began to glance through it, taking his mind off things. The first section focused obviously on her and her parents. Then the mood changed when he saw for the next few pages a more depressed Penny, always sad, which signaled that her parents had died recently. Then her disposition changed in the next few pics when Gadget bought her a puppy to cheer her up, whom she named Brain, for demonstrating high intelligence. There was a wealth of pictures after showing the many travels the threesome had together (missions, vacations, etc.) to the many parts of the world, usually with every other photo depicting her uncle in an accident-prone situation. Bruce chuckled a bit at those.
"What an adventurous child."
"Bruce…."
A voice echoed that seemed to fill the whole house and Bruce's heart with dread, immediately causing him to drop the book to the floor.
"Who's there?" Bruce asked in fear.
"Bruce…."
"What do you want? Show yourself!"
The voice seemed to be coming from his head, but he gasped and backed away in terror as he saw two figures appear and come towards him.
"Stay away! Don't come any closer!" Bruce warned.
The figures came into the light. It was Thomas and Martha Wayne, still dressed as they were at the night of the murder. Bruce trembled as they cornered him.
"Hello son" Thomas began, "It's us. Your mom and dad.
"No…No, no, no. It can't be. It can't be you. You're dead…and buried…What do you want from me?!"
"Do you remember? That night we passed away…You made a promise to us. The vow you made to us the night we perished...that you would rid out crime and corruption and uphold justice for all.
"No…."
"Have you forgotten that night? That we died at the hands of some murderer for no apparent reason?"
"No. I haven't." Bruce said, looking up with tears in his eyes.
"Then why do you question your promise, your life, your destiny –
"Because I almost killed an innocent! I almost killed an innocent girl because I let The Joker…because I let my hatred get in the way of my vow. What is that showing to the people of Gotham? That the Batman can't protect the city because of his own insecurity? This time it was her, next time, it could be worse…maybe a bus-load of kids next time….
Martha walks over to Bruce puts her hand under his chin, raising his head up to her.
"But honey, the "next time" is happening now. That little girl has gone on her own to fight the evil that plagues her life, and she'll get killed doing it."
"Girl? What girl – No…She didn't…NO!" Bruce thought and then shouts it out loud, "NO!!"
He pounds on the floor in rage and anger, before finally breaking down into despair.
"Bruce, honey. That little girl will die tonight and others as well unless you stop them. Right now Gotham needs you. She needs you. She needs Batman."
(The two figures begin to fade away)
"No, wait! Don't go, please."
"Don't forget...Remember who you are…son…"
(They vanish and Bruce stares blankly for a moment, but is interrupted as Alfred comes in)
"Master Bruce? Alfred questioned as he helped him off the floor. "Are you alright?"
"Never better, Alfred. Never better."
With that Bruce dashes out the room, leaving Alfred dumfounded as usual. Cut to the Batcave. Bruce began dressing into his suit. The costume was slowly coming on. The boots, the gloves, the chest piece, the cape, the belt. His hands then shuddered as he picked up the final piece: the mask.
"For Gotham...for her...I will wear the mask…one more time."
Slowly he slid the mask over his face. Thunder sounds and bats of all sizes fluttered around him and the cave, illustrating a dark, threatening omen - the Dark Knight's return.