For posterity
I did once consider resigning from my position in the Wayne household.
“I need a disguise”, he said and I thought he’d finally gone mad with grief, especially those next words…
… But when I saw what he meant, when I watched how he surrendered himself to an ideal; how he used each ordeal, each heartache and failure, to become a better man, in the service of others…
… What could I do but stand in humble awe?
And keep his wounds clean and his uniform tidy, and send him safely on his way.
“I shall become a bat.”
* * *
“Alfred,” he said not too long ago. “If anyone ever asks for an obituary, tell them Batman’s big secret was the classic whodunit?. Only it’s not about who killed Batman but who kept him alive all these years.”
And he stopped there, leaving the rest to me.
The whereabouts of Batman remain unknown.
And yet… I can see him now, in the grip of implacable forces, innumerable foes. Somewhere without hope. In a place where all seems lost.
And I know this… the enemy will look away, for just a moment, underestimating him for that single fraction of a second too long.
And no matter how dark the night…
… There will be no hiding place for evil.
“I need a disguise”, he said and I thought he’d finally gone mad with grief, especially those next words…
… But when I saw what he meant, when I watched how he surrendered himself to an ideal; how he used each ordeal, each heartache and failure, to become a better man, in the service of others…
… What could I do but stand in humble awe?
And keep his wounds clean and his uniform tidy, and send him safely on his way.
“I shall become a bat.”
* * *
“Alfred,” he said not too long ago. “If anyone ever asks for an obituary, tell them Batman’s big secret was the classic whodunit?. Only it’s not about who killed Batman but who kept him alive all these years.”
And he stopped there, leaving the rest to me.
The whereabouts of Batman remain unknown.
And yet… I can see him now, in the grip of implacable forces, innumerable foes. Somewhere without hope. In a place where all seems lost.
And I know this… the enemy will look away, for just a moment, underestimating him for that single fraction of a second too long.
And no matter how dark the night…
… There will be no hiding place for evil.