February 4, 1989. Around 10 PM.
In the still-tallest building in all of Gotham, the sound of the elevator descending to the basement could be heard again—strange at this hour for its usual visitor.
William Earle: "Surprised you haven't buried yourself down here yet with all this junk."
Lucius Fox: "Too much dust. And not enough space. And what brought your type down here?"
William Earle: "This is building of my rule. My job is to know about each of a cockroach between its walls."
Lucius Fox: "Well, it's not becoming for a king to descend from his throne to visit the dungeon in the basement."
William Earle: "Don't flatter yourself, Fox. I'm here to talk about last night's robbery."
Lucius Fox: "Haven't received the report yet? Maybe it got lost on the way up? How many floors between us again, seventy-eight?"
William Earle: "To your dismay, I did receive the report. And noticed a few… just to say, coincidences." He says, sitting in the chair next to Lucius, the one usually occupied by another regular visitor to this place.
Lucius Fox: "If you mean that on the day my car broke down and I didn't come to work and an engine happened to miss from the warehouse that same day, then I put my hands up, you got me."
William Earle: "No, something else. You see, recently a grappling hook went missing from the warehouse. The report for January 31st shows one less. Before that, a batch of Kevlar fibers, titanium plates, and other stuff disappeared."
Lucius Fox: "I don't even know what I'd need a grappling hook and Kevlar with titanium for. Though… the hook could make a good fishing rod, and the Kevlar and titanium a nice boat of it. You know what, thanks for the idea."
William Earle: "What concerns me isn't so much what items went missing, but the dates. The Kevlar disappeared precisely on the 29th. And that same night, the first rumors of Bat-Man started spreading through the city. Then the grappling hook disappeared on the 30th. That same night, Bat-Man was seen using a similar device."
Lucius Fox: "So you're convinced it's Bat-Man stealing our resources? Heard that a flamethrower went missing recently, can you think of what he could do with that?"
William Earle: "Don't evade to theme, Fox. You're Bat-Man's armorer. Only you would allow things to disappear from the warehouses so easily, and on such precise dates. Listen, Fox… Lucius. I don't care that you're supplying Bat-Man, or that you're essentially stealing from the warehouse. Not out of the goodness of my heart, but because it's a drop in the bucket for Wayne Enterprises, something I'm willing to overlook. But I do care that, of all people, you're harboring a criminal."
Lucius Fox: "If you're so unhappy about it, maybe make Bat-Man pay for the gear. Maybe that will make you overlook these too?"
William Earle: "The thing is, Lucius. See, this entire company is all I have. Imagine if someone found out that an employee of my company is illegally funding a guilty criminal? Do you understand what would happen to me, what whould happen to you, to all of us? So hear me out now. I'm giving you time until morning. Either you give me Bat-Man's identity, and I turn him over to the police. Or you can start packing your things and prepare to leave. Oh, sorry, I forgot. You don't have any things here in this warehouse." He says, getting up from the chair. "Make the smart choice, Fox." After which he leaves.
An hour later, around eleven, the sound of a pen scratching on paper can be heard.
"Mr. Bruce Wayne.
It is with regret that I must inform you I have made the firm decision to leave Wayne Enterprises and to cease being your supplier. Don't misunderstand, it's not due to any personal animosity toward you or your hobby. I have encountered legal complications arising from your activities. The long arm of the law has cast too long a shadow over me today. I am not ready to live under that cloud, because I respect it as a quiet one, and wish for it to remain so. I can only ask for your forgiveness for placing my personal safety above my obligations." - Lucius Fox
Later, already on the other side of the city, the sound of paper being ripped to shreds is heard, then again, and one more time.
Alfred Pennyworth: "You know, Master Bruce, paper is not a log, no need to split it into firewood before throwing it in the fireplace. You can just throw it in."
Bruce Wayne, his tone higher and more serious than usual: "Is that even the timing right now, Alfred? You've heard the thing."
Alfred Pennyworth: "Hmm, don't be upset. The paper waste problem isn't that serious, even nowadays."
Bruce Wayne: "I'm not upset. I'm disappointed. Care to know why? Here's your answer, Alfred, right here, in front of you, on these pieces of paper. You can put them together like a kid puzzle if you still don't get it. … And I did have hopes for him. And how it turned up?"
Alfred Pennyworth: "You do understand Mr. Fox had his reasons. You know Bat-Man is hunted by the police. Mr. Fox does not wish to share your problems with the law, Master Bruce. He follows the law and does not want to oppose it, unlike you."
Bruce Wayne, after a short pause: "Alfred, how can you fail to got one thing. How long've you lived in Gotham? Twenty years? Twenty-five?"
Alfred Pennyworth: "Twenty-two, if it matters this much to you."
Bruce Wayne: "And in these twenty-two years, you still haven't captured it. Here, the law is not a shield the police use to protect the people, Alfred, it's a weapon the police wield against anyone who doesn't serves it."
Alfred Pennyworth: "For your information, that's not unique to Gotham, it's the case in many places out there."
Bruce Wayne: "That doesn't change what I said."
Alfred Pennyworth: "And it doesn't change that for most people, the law remains rules they must follow to avoid punishment, Master Bruce."
Bruce Wayne: "Alfred, sorry, but you're no right there. The law is not rules to follow. It's a belief. The belief that humanity can be better than itself. The belief that every bad person will face punishment. The problem is, that belief doesn't exist here."
Alfred Pennyworth, making a slight pause, then thinking for a moment, begins to speak more slowly than usual: "Master Bruce. May I ask you out for one question?"
Bruce Wayne: "Go ahead, one more or less," he says, sitting in the chair next to Alfred and covering his face with his hand in a peculiar manner—his left palm covered the lower left part of his face, completely covering his mouth, his thumb on his left cheekbone, his index finger exactly to the left of his left eye up to his left eyebrow—almost covering it—his middle finger angled from his nose to his right eyebrow between his eyes, his ring finger passing over his mouth under his right eye and touching his right cheekbone, his pinky passing right under his mouth.
Alfred Pennyworth: "Master Bruce. What 'belief' does mean for you? For example, the belief in God, what is it for you?"
Bruce Wayne: "The belief in God… the closest one is the belief in miracles."
Alfred Pennyworth: "The belief in miracles. And what do these 'miracles' mean for you? For ones, a miracle is food on the table and water in the cup, for others it's a new house with a sea view or a sport car."
Bruce Wayne: "Alfred, don't drag it out."
Alfred Pennyworth: "My point is that belief is subjective. People are not obligated to look at one thing and see the same thing in it. One thing can give people far more than one kind of belief. I don't know, and can't know, what Mr. Fox does belief in, but the fact that he doesn't share your beliefs doesn't make him weak. You know, even the very fact that he was able to find belief in anything makes him strong."
Bruce Wayne: "That still doesn't change what I said."
Alfred Pennyworth: "And I'm not trying to cancel out your words. I'm trying only to give you a different belief in your own words."
Bruce Wayne: "If that's the case, then be aware, you out of success. And for your best to know, Alfred. I don't believe in God."
Alfred Pennyworth: "Hmm, your father sure would not be proud of it. He was quite the devout Catholic. Can you imagine how that must be, to have an atheist son?"
Bruce Wayne: "And I'm not even an atheist, Alfred. I don't believe in religion as an idea. That believing in God is believing in a miracle. The thing is, God doesn't care about us, Alfred, when we aren't playing by his rules, and when we do, he looks at us not as followers, but as servants. If it makes it easier for you, I don't deny God, I do deny the point of belief in him and his attachment to us. That's why my father failed, Alfred. He waited for a miracle from heaven instead of creating one himself. The common mistake of the men."
Alfred Pennyworth, dryly and unimpressed: "So this is what your goal is about, Master Bruce? To 'create a miracle'."
Bruce Wayne: "Missed again, Alfred. All I need to is finish what my father failed to, to make this place into a better one."
Alfred Pennyworth: "Then what's the point of trying to prove me all this?"
Bruce Wayne: "None. You see, miracles are coming streight up from your very life. If it sees a point in miracles for you, it will give you one. That what means 'to create a miracle'. To give a miracle reason to exist."
Alfred Pennyworth: "So you planning to give a miracle reason to exist in your life."
Bruce Wayne: "Alfred, in my life, there's no miracle to exist. I couldn't give my life a reason to give me one, no matter what I would ever do. Consider my words my confession of that this Bat-Man is no anything of my miracle to this city, just something that happened to be in city because of me."
Alfred Pennyworth: "You know your father would never approve to something like this, Master Bruce."
Bruce Wayne: "That's why I'm saying this to you, Alfred. You would never oppose me, unlike my father."
Alfred Pennyworth: "You know I could never tell you how to treat your father, but you should know how disrespectful to his existence he would consider it."
Bruce Wayne: "And do you personally consider that would be disrespectful for him? Personally, anf factually. Be honest."
Alfred Pennyworth, after a small pause: "No, I don't. But I think I wish I do."
Bruce Wayne: "Listen, if I was disrespectful to my father, I would never ever even enter the stage I am in right now. Now sorry, Alfred, the night is coming, I have to go."
Alfred Pennyworth: "One more thing, Master Bruce, before you get to go. Considering Mr. Fox. Not every man who ended up on a battlefield, happened to be a soldier."