In his twilight years, Britt Reid I sits in his study and writes his memoirs. He describes his grandfather's ill-fated career as a Texas Ranger, his father's education in journalism and the founding of the Daily Sentinel newspaper. Then Britt himself enters the narrative, and he describes a trip to the Far East during which he met and saved the life of Ikano Kato. The increasing criminal activity found upon their return to The City ultimately leads Britt and Ikano to become the Green Hornet and his associate in 1936. In the autumn of 1945 (the September 1, 1945 surrender of Japan has already formally ended World War II, while Sequence 2 indicates that an event subsequent to this story occurs on December 8, 1945) the Hornet turns the willing-to-testify accountant of mob boss Gatland Tobias over to Police Commissioner Higgins, and privately informs the head cop of his own decision to "retire." However, Tobias has learned that he is dying, and intends to take Britt Reid with him. Done being the Hornet, Reid begins making plans to marry his secretary, Ruth Hopkins, while Kato wishes to return to Japan and help his homeland, now freed from Tojo, recover from the war (it is explained to Ruth at this time that Ikano, with documents arranged by influential friends of the Reids, has been posing as a Filipino to avoid being placed in an internment camp). A few evenings later, Tobias' men attack City Hall. Word reaches the publisher, and he and Ikano hurry to the Sentinel offices, only to find a similar assault has occurred there, with Gunnigan, the editor, killed and Ruth kidnapped in the bargain. A message has been left with Britt's ex-cop bodyguard-turned-reporter Mike Sullivan that Reid had to come to Tobias if he wants to ever see Ruth again, but as their apartment is only a few blocks away, he and Kato decide to send someone else. The Green Hornet and his man invade the building and reach Tobias' penthouse. In the final, hand-to-hand encounter, Gatland rips the mask off the Hornet's face, his surprise at the face he sees allowing Reid to flip him over the edge of the balcony. The career of the first Green Hornet is over.