Batman 6 - The Dark Knight
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Authors: Dennis O'Neil
THE DARK KNIGHT
A light shines over Gotham, a light that projects the symbol of a bat. The citizens who embrace it have accepted a masked crusader as their protector, while the criminals and corrupt who shun it are prey to the Dark Knight.
The Batman continues to wage his war on crime, reigniting hope in the city and inspiring others, like newly elected district attorney Harvey Dent. Regarded as the White Knight who will be at the center of the city's resurrection, Dent is ready to carry on Batman's fight. But before Batman steps aside, he sets his sights on dismantling all of Gotham's organized crime.
With the help of his trusted allies, Alfred, Lucius Fox, and Lieutenant Jim Gordon, Batman corners the mob, giving Dent the opportunity to convict them all. But in the mob's wake, a new class of criminal is on the rise, one that can't help but laugh as he drives Gotham's elected savior to the edge of insanity and forces the Dark Knight ever closer to crossing the fine line between hero and vigilante.
Behold the Joker
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
THE DARK KNIGHT
A Berkley Boulevard Book / published by arrangement with DC Comics
PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley Boulevard mass-market movie tie-in edition / July 2008
BATMAN and all related names, characters, and elements are trademarks of DC Comics © 2008.
All rights reserved,
www.dccomics.com
Copyright © 2008 by DC Comics
Cover design by Judith Murello
Book design by Laura K. Corless
ISBN: 978-0-425-22286-7
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Contents
To the memories of
Walter Gibson and Bill Finger
They got there first.
He continues to evolve, this dark-cloaked avenger, this tragic lurker in shadows, as he has been evolving for decades now, and that constant, gradual change may be why the old gent is as healthy as he’s ever been. The book you hold, and the movie it’s adapted from, are the latest iterations of the ongoing Batman saga, and some acknowledgments are in order:
The story is by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, and the screenplay is by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan. Their work speaks for itself. I merely followed their lead.
Again, I nod gratefully to Chris Cerasi, gentleman and editor.
Marifran, who was once named McFarland and has been an O’Neil for twenty years now, was, as always, the cheerleader who alleviates what can be a lonely business.
Dennis O’Neil
Nyack, New York
February 2008
THE DARK KNIGHT
I
t was both a memory and a nightmare . . .
Batman reached the lead car, swayed for a moment as he considered his options, and decided that he could not afford to waste time strategizing. He had to operate in the moment, letting instinct guide him.
He might have only seconds left.
He sat on the edge of the car and swung his legs backward. His boots struck a shatterproof window and knocked it from its frame. As it dropped to one of the seats, Batman was already sliding and twisting through the empty frame and landing inside the car. He landed in a crouch on the floor facing the front of the train. A shadow on the floor alerted him that he was being attacked from behind and, without taking time to turn, he drove his elbow backward. It connected with the face of one of Rā’s al Ghūl’s men, who stumbled toward the car’s rear door.
The microwave transmitter blocked the aisle, humming and vibrating slightly. Behind it stood Rā’s al Ghūl.
“You’re still not dead,” Rā’s said.
“Obviously not. We can end this now, Rā’s. There’s no need for further bloodshed.”
“Oh, you are wrong, Bruce. There’s an enormous need.
”
“I’ll stop you.”
“No, you won’t. Because to stop me you would have to kill me, and you will not do that.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes. You could not stand to see another father die.” Rā’s edged around the machine and slid his sword from the cane. “But I have seen many of my children die. Another one won’t make much difference to me.”
Rā’s advanced, the sword in one hand, the cane in the other. He feinted with the sword and swung the cane at Batman’s head. Batman trapped it in one of his scallops, twisted his arm, and the cane went spinning over his shoulder.
Rā’s thrust the sword point at Batman’s chest. Batman pivoted, and the steel slipped past his chest, grazing his costume. Rā’s kicked. Batman sidestepped and Rā’s kicked again, striking Batman’s hip. As Batman stumbled, trying to regain his footing, Rā’s arced the blade downward toward Batman’s head, but he crossed his wrists and trapped the steel in the scallops of both gauntlets.
“Familiar,” Rā’s said. “Don’t you have anything new?”
“How about
this?”
Batman yanked his arms in opposite directions and the blade snapped in two. Then Batman drove the palm of his right hand into Rā’s al Ghūl’s chest, and, as Rā’s stumbled backward, Batman jumped onto a seat and past Rā’s to the train controls.
He looked out the front window and saw Wayne Tower looming ahead. He grabbed the brake lever, but before he could pull it back, Rā’s shoved his cane into the mechanism, jamming it. Before Batman could free it, Rā’s swung his clenched fists at the back of Batman’s head, bouncing it off the windshield. Rā’s struck again, and Batman fell and rolled onto his back. Rā’s was straddling him, his hands clenched around Batman’s neck, his thumbs pressing into Batman’s throat.
“Don’t be afraid, Bruce . . . you hate this city as much as I do, but you’re just an ordinary man in a cape. That’s why you can’t fight injustice in this city . . . and that’s why you can’t stop this train.”