Nature of the Beast

Legend tells of a caped crusader Batman, guardian of New Gotham and his one true love Catwoman, the queen of the criminal underworld. Their passion left behind something extraordinary: A daughter, Huntress. Half-metahuman, she has taken up her father's mantle and fights to protect the innocent and helpless. Joining her in this struggle, Oracle once Batman's protÂ¨Â¦gÂ¨Â¦e, Batgirl. She was caught in the crossfire of the war between Batman and Joker. Now she fights crime a different way: A master of the cyberrealms and trainer to heroes. Together, they have taken in Dinah. A metahuman herself with powers that she is only beginning to explore. These three are the protectors of New Gotham the Birds of Prey. My name is Alfred Pennyworth, and this is their story. He was never a very punctual man. Are you sure he's coming? He's got a lot of people after him. Might be afraid to come out of his rabbit hole. He'll come. From what I hear, there's very little danger of him being recognized by the police. He looks different now. How different? Very different. - How can I be sure it is you? - Because I say so. You'll have to take my word for it, Misha. Forgive my caution, but the Albert Hawke who stands before me now he is not the same Albert Hawke I once knew. The Albert Hawke you once knew was a bitter rival of the Petrov family. He now comes to the table with you, ready to discuss a merger. Come, drink. Ah. Cheers. Uh-huh. This guy pulled a total Michael Jackson. - You sure it's him? From what they're saying, yeah. I find this late-night meeting, I'm thinking routine scumbags, right? Wasn't expecting to find our runaway Hawke. You should see this guy. No wonder we couldn't find him. The scarring from the explosion probably put him halfway there. Surgeons must have done the rest. How many to go through to grab him? Five, including our old pal Frankie Spitz, by the way. Spitz walks away on a technicality. Hawke escapes police custody. I really should just start killing them. Might save us a lot of trouble. How about you stick to the snatch-and-grab and put Hawke back in jail? No, my friend, it was you who contacted me. That's bull. You reached out to us. If you did not contact us and we did not contact you Let's get the hell out of here. Huntress? Huntress, are you okay? Is anyone hurt? I'm taking a look. Wow. What is it? What's going on? Huntress! Freeze. - Ah. - Nice to see you too. The owner gave me the heads-up on a high-level meet. - I thought maybe Hawke - You thought right. One of these bodies belongs to him, but you won't recognize him. - Which one is he? - Behind the bar. - He's not here. - Damn it. He got away. That's a bad thing, right? Yeah, yeah, of course it's a bad thing. Look, I gotta call this thing in, so keep me posted if you hear anything, all right? I'm telling you, it was more like a sigh of relief. Maybe Reese just wants to bring Hawke in alive. - Nose? - Shorter, and wider at the end. - Like that? - Yeah, better. It was more than that, though. It was like Like Reese was afraid to find Hawke there. Well, he escaped under Reese's watch. Could be it got personal for him. No, it's personal for us. It was Dinah's mother who Hawke killed. We put him away, what, so he could waltz out of there? And I'm sure Reese blames himself. - Hair? None on top, buzzed on the side. He's impossible to read. He plays everything so close to the vest. Hazard of the job. Stop. That's him. Looks creepy. Who is he? A shoplifter. He stole, um, shoes. Blahniks, Tod's, very expensive shoes, yeah. Don't Don't worry, I'm, uh I'll hunt him down. It was a slow night. Uh-huh. I'll see you at school. - Uh, you got your new comm set? - Heh, are you kidding? I slept in this thing. I know you did, heard the snoring. Might wanna turn the mike off next time. - Shoes? - I was caught off guard. Besides, I didn't wanna tell her we lost Hawke. She's been obsessing since he escaped. Yeah, I know. And she's just starting to get over it. So we'll tell her after we catch him. It was like shooting fish in a damn barrel and you miss. What the hell do I pay you for, huh? Go on. Listen, you two better hide good, because when I find you I'm gonna kill you. - Are you certain that's what you want? Very certain? You must be the Specialist. - Are you as good as advertised? - What do you want done? That's good. It's to the point. No beating around the bush, I like that. I was talking to this buddy of mine the other day What do you want done? I want Al Hawke dead. Are you certain? Very certain? I just said so, didn't I? But I don't want my fingerprints on it. You got a rep for taking care of these things. I get the job done, always. So that's it, then, huh? That's your specialty: You never miss. It's not about missing, it's about commitment. It's not in my nature to quit. Indecision is a weakness. I don't tolerate it. Okay, but what I wanna know is what is it that makes you so "special"? Aw, come on. Oh, jeez. Certain yet? Hourly rate or flat fee? Is that necessary? Barbara? Helena? Alfred? Is anyone home? You must be one hell of a shoplifter. You've got company. I'm expecting him. He's a cop. He's my son. Have you told him that lately? You're the boss. But, if you don't mind, I'll skip the family reunion. I got some things to take care of. I'm sure you do. Junior. Give him his gun back. - You've changed. - It was necessary. I'm sorry about all the cloak-and-dagger, but you understand. I wasn't even sure that you would come, not without handcuffs and a SWAT team. I came for Mom's sake, not yours. So why am I here? Because you're the only one that I can trust. Oh, wow. Wow, you must really be in sad shape. I need your help. Your mother can't take it anymore. She wants me to retire. Please. She's been begging you to retire for years. Why this time? - Because I'm tired of the fight. - Really? I'm gonna tell you what. Turn yourself in, hmm. Offer up state's evidence. Do something right for a change and then maybe I will think about helping you. - All right. - All right, what? I'll do it. You realize witness protection won't happen unless you give up a whole lot in return. In my line of work, a lot of guys turn Judas. I always hoped that I wouldn't have to but I guess it's inevitable. You're serious? You really wanna do this? Want and need are two different things, two very different things. What the hell is that? You always have some trapdoor and escape route. - He's one of them. - Is there another way out of here? False back in the closet, leads down to the back Did you find anything? Because I came up empty. Facial-recognition program is drawing a blank at the points of entry. Which means he's probably still in town. It's Reese. Maybe he found our shoplifter. - He's at a hotel on 6th near Vernon. - I'll keep you posted. Cool. All right, Barbara, who is he? No one you need to worry about. Barbara, who is he? What's up? Did you find him? Look who's here. What do you say we break in that new face of yours? Give you a taste of what you put the Canary through. Maybe jail won't seem so bad. Come here. Come here. - We're not bringing him in. - The hell we're not. - He's gonna turn state's evidence. - Yeah, right. Listen to me. He can name every pimp, drug dealer and hit man in this city. He can solve cases dating back decades. - We can put away - I don't give a damn. Forget it, Jesse. Get her out of here. - Yeah, please try. - Huntress. You know what he did. You were there. Yeah, but I also know how valuable he is alive. - We have to protect him. - Why? - What aren't you telling me? - Look, I don't need her help. You, back off. - Why don't you shut your mouth? - Huntress. Huntress, you don't understand. Help me. Why are you doing this? What's he got on you? It's not about that. Then tell me. Tell me what the hell's going on here. Otherwise, I will take him down. Do you understand? - And not you or anyone else can stop me. - He's my father! Heh. What? He's He's my father. Hawke is Reese's father? I know. I can't believe he never told me. Well, it doesn't change anything. Unless Hawke really is gonna turn state's evidence. I don't care. He killed my mother. You of all people should know how that feels. - Yes, I do. - And so you know we can't protect him. I know I don't want to. - But it might be what we should do. - Why, because he's your boyfriend's father? The only thing that tells us is that Reese isn't as trustworthy as you thought he was. He's not my boyfriend. Boyfriends share things with girlfriends. - They don't hide massive secrets. - Helena. - I'm just saying. - Where are they now? Waiting on our answer at the hotel. Okay. Well, we're gonna need to find some place more secure. Wait a minute. I cannot believe you guys are considering this. That man, that animal, deserves whatever he gets! Okay, Dinah, calm down. Why should I? He has nothing to offer me that would make it worth helping him. Nothing! She's dangerous when she's pissed, huh? I should go talk to her. - Maybe after she cools down. - Yeah. Yeah. She's like that hit man, isn't she? Your girlfriend, she's one of them. She's not my girlfriend. She's not a killer either. But she does have some unusual abilities. So you know they exist. Black Canary was the first to cross my path. But the circles I travel in, you do come across some now and again. Then you know that they are just like us. Some are good and some are bad. Look, don't worry about it. She'll come through, trust me. I do. You turned out all right, Jesse. It took a lot of courage to go up against me. Not many have. But you, I look at you and I see I don't know, maybe a little bit of what I could have been. Maybe even what I still could be if I'm proud of you, son. - So? - So the plan is to keep him alive until he testifies. Might be helpful to know who's trying to kill him. - Frankie Spitz. - That was easy. He's the only one that knew I'd be both at Giuliano's restaurant and the safe house. Man, the loyalty you inspire. Impressive. Yeah, well, it's the price you pay for mentoring ambitious people. You stay put. I think we owe someone a visit. Yeah. Is he in there? Yep. Ah. Now we wait. What? Nothing. It's just hard for me to picture you and Hawke being from the same family. Yeah, well, uh, my mother's black. Yeah, obviously. Heh. What I mean is, there you are, being brought up in, well you know, "the family. " And somehow you find your way to being a cop. I guess I got seduced by the high pay and community respect. Or maybe Dad pissed you off real good. Actually, he loaned me his car. Okay. Humph. It was a nice one too. I used to open that thing up on the back roads. I mean, man, that thing, ha That thing could fly. So, what happened? All right. One night, uh, I get pulled over and the officer comes up to my window and he makes me step out. And he searches the car for booze, drugs. You know, the usual routine. And then he walks around back to check the trunk. And there was all this blood inside. I mean, it was everywhere. Next thing I know, I'm getting my face slammed on the hood he's getting ready to read me my rights. But right before he does it he takes a good look at my driver's license and he sees my name: Hawke. I mean, God, if you could have seen the look on his face. He just takes off. He was so damn scared of a 16-year-old kid and a name. He leaves me standing there. I'm staring at this blood. I'm trying to figure out where the hell it came from and who it belongs to. I mean, after that I just couldn't fool myself any longer as to who my father was. I couldn't live with it, either. So I don't know. Maybe I'm still just trying to find justice for whoever was in that trunk. Dinah. Can I talk to you for a minute? I want you to know, Hawke will pay for what he did to your mom. There's only one way he could do that. His death won't bring her back. But if he turns state's evidence Dinah, it could put an end to organized crime in New Gotham. It could actually make this a safer world. That's what Black Canary tried to do. And for a long time she was successful. Don't let vengeance get in the way of finishing your mom's work. I'm gonna go for a walk, clear my head. - Those things will kill you, Frankie. - Or maybe I will. Oh. It's you again, huh? What is this, some sort of crime-fighting date? Why don't we talk about the hit man that you hired to do your dirty work? I don't know what you're talking about. Funny, there's not a doubt in Hawke's mind it's you that's trying to kill him. Yeah, that explosion knocked something loose in his head. Frankie, have you considered you might be too stupid to run a major crime family? Look, what do you care? You hate your old man. I did you a favor by asking the owner of the restaurant to tip you off about the meet. Thought you'd wanna see Daddy bleed. The only person who's gonna bleed is you once word gets out that you tried to whack the boss. Nobody's gonna buy it, coming from you. The family might not listen to Reese the cop but they will listen to the son of Al Hawke. Yes, honey, I'm okay. Jesse came through, just like you said he would. Yes, I'm taking my B6 vitamins. Don't worry. - What do you want? - Take a guess. Nice trick. I don't like interruptions when I'm working. Uh Yeah. Listen, that's why I called you. I think I made a mistake. - I wanna call off the hit on Hawke. - I don't do that. Look, it's cool, all right? - I don't need you anymore. - You've been coerced. Or you're indecisive. I have no tolerance for either. I don't quit, ever. You do this time. Ah, ah. No cheating. What's the matter, can't go through people? Ow. No, Huntress, wait! Oops. Does it always have to end with you throwing a guy into a wall? Sorry. Bad habit, heh. Huntress. - What's up? Dinah left without her comm set. I don't think she wanted to be tracked. And I have a pretty bad feeling as to where she went. I'm on it. Don't think you're doing this for her, because she wouldn't want it. Don't you dare tell me what she'd want. Go ahead, kill me. You'll stop hating me and start hating yourself. I don't care, as long as you're dead. - Dinah. - Stay out of this. - Dinah, stop it. - Let go of me. You're letting him get away! - I am more worried about you. - I'm going after him. Then you're gonna have to go through me. I don't wanna hurt you, but I will. - Dinah, you don't have to do this. - Tell me you wouldn't. If he was the one who killed your mother, tell me that you wouldn't. Dinah, this isn't the way. You don't wanna do this. I want him dead. - Oh, my gosh. - It's all right. It's just a scratch. - No, I tried to kill - You didn't. - Where is he? - Gone. - Excuse me? - We'll find him. What happened here? She just got a little upset. A little? He asked me to protect him, now he's out there with a killer? - What were you thinking about? - Reese, please, just let I was thinking about my mother. I was thinking about the last time I saw her before he I'm sorry. - Is she all right? - Dealing with demons is never easy. Whether they're on the outside or the inside. Yeah, been there. Should I talk to her? She still needs a little time. And we still need to find Hawke. Again. Wait. In your fight with the wall-walker, did you have any physical contact? Sort of the definition of the word "fight," don't you think? - Blood. - Yeah, his. Why? I'm hoping you picked up a little bit of his DNA. Ew. Okay. I'll run an analysis, maybe get a clue as to how to stop him. That would be good, because from what I saw he's definitely not gonna stop himself. When Hawke goes into hiding, he doesn't fool around. I sure hope Reese is having more luck than I am. Well, I had a little luck. It looks like our wall-walker's neuroelectrical pulse activates some kind of molecular dispersion. That's what enables him to pass through inanimate objects. And here I just thought he was really skinny. What I mean is, his molecules just spread out. What I need to figure out is how to unspread them. Hopefully, before he finds Hawke. Wish Dinah wasn't out of commission. We could use extra eyes. But I guess we don't want her doing the hit man's job for him. - Just do what you can. All right. Sorry about that. She does have a point. Have you ever just felt completely out of control? You know, like you don't even know who you are anymore? - That's pretty scary. - Yeah. But when you felt it, knives didn't fly at people's heads. I don't know. Maybe I should stay away from people altogether. You don't trust yourself? Do you trust me? Dinah, if you really really wanted someone dead they'd be dead. Hey, did you find him? Ha. I wasn't even trying to scare you this time. - Don't worry about it. - Any leads? No. I just checked one of his old safe houses, but nothing. We'll find him. I was just trying to remember why the hell we're even doing this. State's evidence the end of organized crime, he's your father. Your friend, Dinah that look on her face, that's not the first time I've seen it. My father was never a good man. And now, all of a sudden, he's saying he's gonna change. I'm sorry but people don't just up and change because they say they will. My mother did. She was a pretty notorious cat burglar in her time. The best, actually. Humph, she had a hell of a lifestyle going: Money, danger, cool clothes. Life on the bad side of the law. The day I was born, she made a promise to give it all up. I doubt it was easy but she kept that promise. Sometimes people can surprise you. Yeah. Dad. - Oracle, we've got him. - Where are you? Okay. No, no, don't move. I'll be right there. He's across town at 26th and Paley. - I'll see you there. - All right. - I called Jesse. How did you? - Word got around. Look, I can't take back what I did. So we're both gonna have to learn to live with my mistake. And for that, I am sorry. You have a choice to make. You can either move or you can die. Run. - Oracle. - I'm here. I'm with Hawke. - Good. I'm on Lex and 28th. - Uh, make that 29th. - Gotcha. - Are you all right? - I think I pissed off that hit man a little. - Or a lot. There's an alley. We can lose him. No, Dinah, don't lose him. Head two blocks east to the hospital. Thanks for the vote of confidence. - It's abandoned. Go. Where to now? End of the hall there's a stairwell. Go down a flight. Go! Go! Go straight. There should be a door. "Radiology. " Got it. - Okay, I'm in. What now? Shut the door. Right. What's the matter? Hospitals make you nervous? Or are you just allergic to the lead-lined walls? It's not an allergy. The molecular structure of the lead will impede his molecular - Do you mind? - Right. Sorry. Looks like you got a problem. Me. Guess I finally found the right wall to throw someone into. You all right, Dad? Yeah. So I gave the feds a heads-up. WITSEC is already prepping a new location for you. I'm gonna give Mom a call, tell her to pack some things, and have her meet us. Do you think it's really necessary to uproot her? - I mean, she just planted her tomatoes - Dad. - She'd rather be with you than tomatoes. - Yeah, I know that. I just think your mother would be happier staying put. What are you saying? I'm tired. I need some time to think. Okay, so you think. - Then you're gonna go to the feds, right? - How about we see what happens? You're not gonna do it, are you? Witness protection? Ratting out my friends? It's just not my nature. I'm sorry. Look, you don't have to worry. I am out of crime for good. And if you want I'll be out of your life. I'll disappear. You're a good son, Jesse. Jesse, I'm your father. You can trust me. I'm sorry, Dad but it's just not in my nature. So you think this time they'll actually be able to keep him behind bars? By the looks of it, I'm guessing Reese will see to it personally. You were right, you know, back at the hotel. Before the famous knife incident. I would have done the same thing if I was facing my mother's killer. And could throw cutlery with my mind. But I don't know if I could have done what you did. You turned around and protected him. That's impressive. Your mom would have been proud. So, uh, does this mean I get to keep my comm set? Hell, I'm getting used to the snoring. - I don't snore. - I recorded it. Whatever. You're jealous because my comm set looks better on me. - Ha, please. - Ha, everyone says so. Except for maybe your boyfriend. - He's not my boyfriend. - Mm-hm.