Bruce smirked as he caressed the side of the wooden clock fondly, "I'd be lying if I said I'm only in this for the good of my city or because I swore on my mother and father's graves I would rid this city of evil...though those are partially why I do it." He turned to Ciel and Sebastian then, "I suppose another reason, a more selfish one..is because of the thrill...and the fact that I can't help, every time I'm breaking some thug's arm or terrifying a predator of children or smashing a mobster's face in? I imagine they're him...the man who took everything from me that night..who sent me on this path at 9 years old."<br/><br/>Sebastian smiled at what this man was saying, it sounded so like his young master long ago.<br/><br/>"I have a different way of looking at things with the idea of killing the scum I encounter." Bruce smiled darkly at Ciel, "Why would I kill someone when they can be made to suffer and be afraid while alive? If I simply kill them then they can't live with the fear of what Batman will do to them. It's not about the fear that I will kill them...it's about the fear of what I'll do to them instead.....and make them wish for death."<br/><br/>"I look at some of the others who are ranked among Gotham's elite and wealthy and powerful, the spoiled brats, the people who've never had to work a day in their lives. I imagine their own parents taught them they were special, that they were some sort of gift from the heavens and blah blah....but mine taught me a different lesson: Laying in the puddles of rain in the gutter, shaking in deep shock and dying for no reason at all." Bruce pressed a hidden switch on the side of the clock, causing it to click and reveal a hidden doorway behind it.<br/><br/>"They taught me: the world only makes sense when you force it to."<br/><br/>Batman frowned as he pulled back the clock and Sebastian smiled at the ingenious passageway leading down a tunnel. "The Gotham City Police Department doesn't like me because I make them look bad. After their corrupt commissioner Loeb and his loyal toadie Flass got the boot and indited on corruption charges and suppressing evidence...they've put in a commissioner more willing to work with me: Jim Gordon. Though that's probably helped along because I saved his infant from being thrown off a bridge by Carmine Falcone's men."