Batman: The Animated Series (TV Series)

Off Balance (1992)

Kevin Conroy: Batman

Photos 

Quotes 

• Commissioner James Gordon : [Hears slight noise and sees door behind him closing]  Batman?

  Batman : [Stepping out of the shadows]  Over here, Jim.

  Commissioner James Gordon : I heard Twitch got away. Thanks to a couple of shadow agents.

  Batman : And when I tried to nail them, they used some sort of gas to erase their own minds.

  Commissioner James Gordon : Yeah, that fits with what little we know about them.

  Batman : But something Twitch said makes me think they're going after Wayne Tech's new sonic drill tonight when it comes into Gotham. Tell Bullock he should add more guards just to be safe.

  Commissioner James Gordon : Is there anything you don't know about? I only assigned that detail a couple of hours ago.

  [Turns back to Batman, but he's vanished] 

  Commissioner James Gordon : One of these days I'm going to nail his feet to the ground.

• Batman : Four against one. Nasty odds!

  Talia : I can take care of myself, thank you!

  Batman : So I see.

  Talia : Still, the gesture is appreciated.

  Batman : Don't mention it. Just whose side are you on?

  Talia : That would be telling.

  Shadow Agent : And it would make no difference!

  Shadow Agent #2 : As of now, this battle is ended.

• Talia : [shoos a rat away from Batman while she tends to his wounds]  Filthy creature!

  Batman : I've been called worse.

• Batman : Going somewhere, Vertigo?

  Vertigo : No. It's impossible.

  Batman : Nothing is impossible.

  Vertigo : Then I will finish you both myself.

• Talia : [escaping a sonically booby-trapped room]  How did you do that?

  Batman : Simple. I just kept my eyes closed.

  Talia : You what?

  Batman : The only way to neutralize the vertigo effect was to rely on my other senses to see us through.

  Talia : All right, I am impressed.

• Batman : Your little dizzifying trick won't stop us, Vertigo.

  Vertigo : Maybe, maybe not. You see, you'll have to get across this room alive. And that may prove difficult, considering this entire laboratory has been rigged to destroy you. Oh, and in case you think that once I go, my disorienting effect will go with me, think again. I've planted duplicate vertigo devices throughout the room to maintain the effect once I've departed. Goodbye and good luck. You'll need it.

• Alfred Pennyworth : But are you certain the lady in black was working with this Vertigo chap?

  Batman : Had to be, Alfred. He'd never have been able to escape if she hadn't shown up. And she was the only one who wasn't affected by his weapon.

  Alfred Pennyworth : Weapon, sir?

  Batman : That eyepiece of his. I think it gives off some kind of radiation. It must distort visual perception and sense of balance somehow, creating the illusion that everything around you is topsy-turvy.

  Alfred Pennyworth : My word.

  Batman : Not that it matters. Nothing about that can give me any clues to his whereabouts. He mentioned returning to his base before the tolling of the hour, which suggests a clock tower or a church bell, then fled west. Yet there's no such structure that could conceal a hideout, not within fifty miles to the west.

• Batman : You okay?

  Talia : My contact lenses, I lost them when we fell. They counter the distortion effect. Without them, I'm as helpless as you.

  Batman : I don't do helpless. Come on, take my hand. I can get us through this.

  Talia : How?

  Batman : I trusted you, now it's your turn.

• Twitch : What do you want?

  Batman : Information on the Society of Shadows. Word is they've started operating here. Tell me all about them.

  Twitch : Hey, there ain't that much to tell. I mean, only worked for 'em, okay? Not with 'em.

  Batman : It'll have to do. Now talk.

  Twitch : Okay, okay. They're supposed to have their claws in every dirty deal in Gotham. In fact, word on the street is they got something major going down tonight; gonna boost some kind of new ultrasound gizmo or something.

  Batman : Who runs the show?

  Twitch : Strange dude. Strangest thing about these guys, come to think of it. Goes by the code name Vertigo. They say he's...

  [he gasps, seeing a Shadow agent behind Batman; as Batman fights him off, another appears] 

  Twitch : Please, he... he made me talk. I didn't wanna.

  Shadow Agent : No one betrays the Society.

• Alfred Pennyworth : Might I suggest, Master Bruce, that you take a break? If you keep pushing yourself like this, you soon won't know your right hand from your left.

  Batman : Alfred, you're brilliant.

  Alfred Pennyworth : Yes, so I've heard.

  Batman : With my head turned around like that, I couldn't tell one direction from the other. They didn't escape to the west, they went east.

  [finding what could be Vertigo's hideout] 

  Batman : There, Alfred. That has to be the place.

• Batman : Without Vertigo to lead them, his agents have all fled?

  Talia : Yes. The Society of Shadows is no longer what it was.

  Batman : Well, I've got to get this back to Gotham City.

  Talia : Wait. I can't let you leave like this, not with the drill.

  Batman : [seeing she's holding a gun on him]  I thought I finally knew which side you were on.

  [discreetly placing something in the drill head] 

  Batman : I should have known better, considering that you knew where everything was in the monastery. How could you have... unless you were one of them?

  Talia : [Vertigo's plane pilot drops a rope ladder]  I am truly sorry, Batman. It could have been... sweet.