Final Cut

"Final Cut" is the 28th episode of Batman Beyond. It originally aired on February 5, 2000. The episode depicts the return of Curaré, who has successfully eliminated the rest of the Society of Assassins, save one. That last assassin appeals to Batman for protection, backing up his appeal with a bomb threat against Gotham City.

Plot
A private jet touches down briefly at an airport to make a minor repair. Its passenger is the Master Assassin, head of the Society of Assassins. He is nervous about touching down on land, even briefly. His fears prove to be well-grounded: Curaré sneaks on board, and, once the plane is airborne again, attacks. The Master Assassin holds her at a distance with throwing stars, but she throws a small capsule that bursts against his chest, releasing a gas that erases his mind. She then bails out of the plane.

In Gotham City, someone takes a shot at the Batmobile while Batman is on patrol. He lands and confronts the shooter: Mutro Botha, the last surviving member of the Society. He tells Batman that, since Curaré failed in her mission to kill her mark, the Society ordered her execution. However, she turned the tables on them and hunted them down one by one. Now, Botha needs Batman's protection. Batman asks why he should protect an assassin from another, and Botha warns that once he is gone, she will go after Batman next. Batman is unmoved, but Botha then reveals his added "incentive": he's planted a bomb in the city that only he can disarm, which he will do as soon as Curaré has been defeated. The bomb is on a 12-hour timer, which Botha can re-start by remote control.

Batman confers with Max, who eagerly offers to help. Batman tells her the best thing for her to do is to try and contact Bruce Wayne, who is currently on a disaster-relief mission in Malaysia. Max is not satisfied with this.

Botha leaves his hotel room, with Batman shadowing him. While watching him, he calls Max, and is outraged to hear that she has sneaked into Botho's hotel room to look for clues. She assures him that she has things under control, even as Curaré enters the room behind her back.

Curaré attacks, and Max narrowly evades her sword, running into the bathroom. But the windows are sealed and she is trapped, so she can only hide in the shower. Curaré enters and slashes through the curtain, and Terry hears a scream over the phone. He abandons Botha and flies back to the hotel.

Terry finds Max, alive and shivering with terror. She says Curaré stopped as soon as she got a good look at Max and realized who she was. Terry orders her to go back to her apartment, and she obeys him readily.

In a park, Botha is impatiently demanding that Batman return to him, when Curaré attacks. Botha holds her off with skill, but eventually she disables him with another gas capsule. By the time Terry returns, Botha's mind has been wiped. Terry picks up the remote, which shows the bomb will explode in just over three hours.

Terry meets Max at her apartment. She feels horribly guilty, but Terry tells her to forget it: Botha was an assassin, he deserved his fate. And besides, their first priority is the bomb. Once she clears her head, Max displays her genius once again. The remote control doesn't give off a signal that can lead them to the bomb. However, Max examines the design specs for the remote and finds it only has an effective range of two miles; she triangulates the signal from the places where Botha used the remote, and isolates a small area of the city. Then she checks the location against a list of vendors on a cash card she took from his hotel room, and finds only one match: the Gotham Museum of Armaments — "What better place to hide a weapon...?"

Because they are running out of time, Terry reluctantly agrees to let Max come along to help search. At the museum, Terry unveils a miniature electronic detector that should locate the bomb's receiver. Just then, Curaré attacks. While Batman evades her, he throws the detector to Max and tells her to find the bomb. However, as Curaré slashes at the exhibits, debris falls which knocks Max to the ground, and smashes the detector. All hope seems lost, but then Max sees the bomb inside an old bomb casing that was cut down from the ceiling. There are only a few seconds left. Even Max doesn't know what to do, so she just rips the detonator and all its wiring out — which works. Terry manages to defeat Curaré, and takes her into custody.

Terry and Max patch themselves up at her apartment. Max, in a rush of excitement, asks him frankly how he can stand being a hero when no one knows it. Terry smiles and says he has her.

Continuity
This episode follows up on the events of "A Touch of Curaré" and alludes to Curaré's failed attempt on Sam Young's life. Max claims that she knew that Bruce Wayne was Terry's partner ever since the 'first day,' which would be when she found out that Terry was Batman, in "Hidden Agenda."