INT. GRAYSON'S HOTEL ROOM - PAUL AUMONT GRANDE - NIGHT
Verity wakes up next to Dick Grayson, his arm wrapped around her waist. Her eyes immediately go to the alarm clock on the end table. It reads: "12:32".
VERITY
Shit.
She explodes out of the bed and starts putting her clothes back on. Grayson watches her dress.
GRAYSON
He made you wait.
VERITY
You don't understand the kind of man he is.
GRAYSON
The jealous type?
VERITY
The dangerous type.
GRAYSON
In that case, you might want to fix your hair.
She zips up her dress and runs into the bathroom to fix her hair. This gives Grayson the chance he needs. He slips out of the bed and withdraws his wallet from his pants that are on the ground. From inside the wallet, he removes a short range tracker that he then hides in her open purse.
GRAYSON
If he's dangerous, why do you stay with him?
He carries the purse over to her and stands in the doorway of the bathroom to admire her as she fixes her hair.
VERITY
I'm not with him. I just work for him.
GRAYSON
Why do you work for him?
VERITY
Everyone has to work for someone.
GRAYSON
But you don't have to work for him.
Having put herself moderately back together, she takes the purse from him and kisses him on the cheek.
VERITY
This was fun, but there are two things you need to learn. One, don't ask questions.
She steps around him and heads for the door.
GRAYSON
And the second?
She winks at him and leaves.
He walks over to the desk in the room and retrieves his cell phone. On it, he opens up the tracker app. He gets dressed.
INT. HALLWAY - PAUL AUMONT GRANDE
Verity exits the elevator and heads for her room.
EXT. PAUL AUMONT GRANDE - NIGHT
Dick secures his Robin mask to his face, but is otherwise in his civilian clothes. He opens the window and climbs out onto the ledge. He shuffles to his left, over to a flagpole from which hangs the United States flag at a forty-five degree angle.
INT. HALLWAY - PAUL AUMONT GRANDE
Verity checks her cell phone as she approaches room 712. The clock app reads: "12:44".
She slides her card key into the door lock. The light on the lock turns green.
INT. VERITY'S HOTEL ROOM - PAUL AUMONT GRANDE
Verity enters. Waiting for her, seated at the end of the bed, is William King. Zomyaev and Slagg are also there with him, each standing on opposite sides of the room. She sees the three of them and does her best to swallow the knot in her throat.
KING
You're late, my dear.
EXT. PAUL AUMONT GRANDE - NIGHT
Robin walks to the end of the flagpole like a tightrope walker in the circus. When he reaches the end, he turns around to once again face the building. He then crouches down and stands up, several times in succession, with the pole bending from his weight a little more each time. After one final crouch, the pole bends to its max, and he uses the built up momentum to propel himself up two full floors. He grabs the ledge and climbs up.
On his cell phone, Robin tracks Verity's position to a specific room on his current floor. He shuffles across to outside that room and is just barely able to see inside through a small opening in the side of the curtain. Opening an eavesdrop app on his phone, he presses the back of it to the glass and is able to hear the conversation taking place within.
VERITY (V.O.)
I delivered the engineer.
INT. VERITY'S HOTEL ROOM - PAUL AUMONT GRANDE
King looks at his pocket watch.
KING
That was three hours and forty-seven minutes ago, during which time we were able to collect Mr. Simpkins, brief him on the mission, introduce him to the rest of our crew, and arrive here on schedule. You had only to come straight back to your room.
VERITY
I have other clients.
KING
And are they all so magnanimous with their timetables?
VERITY
I expect the other half of what I'm owed.
King smiles, stands.
KING
Do you?
He walks over to her, smells her hair. He licks his index finger and then wipes it across the smudged glitter of her exposed cleavage. She tries to not to react.
KING
Maybe I feel like you've already been paid for your exploits this evening.
VERITY
We've worked together many times.
KING
And never once have you made me wait, until today, on the eve of the greatest job of all our lives.
VERITY
Even you don't want to make an enemy of Mother.
KING
"Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
VERITY
What?
KING
I serve the Almighty. Whom shall I fear?
King clears out of Zomyaev's line of sight.
EXT. PAUL AUMONT GRANDE - NIGHT
Robin looks on helplessly as Zomyaev pulls a silenced gun and shoots Verity three times in the chest.
INT. VERITY'S HOTEL ROOM - PAUL AUMONT GRANDE
With Verity dead on the floor in a pool of her own blood, King motions for his men to follow him out. Zomyaev holsters his weapon. Slagg walks over to Verity's body and bends down.
SLAGG
Just a second.
He opens the front of her dress to sneak a peak at what's underneath.
SLAGG
Waste.
He stands up and sees King and Zomyaev staring at him.
SLAGG
What? I always wanted to know.
ZOMYAEV
Can we go now?
A knock...
The three men freeze. It was a definite knock, but it didn't come from the door.
The three men set their attention on the window.
KING
(to Slagg)
Check it.
Slagg draws his gun and approaches the window. Zomyaev follows, his gun also drawn. King stays by the door.
Slagg reaches the window and creates a small opening between the curtains to look out. After a quick glimpse, he grabs one of the curtains and yanks it wide open to reveal...
Gotham City at night.
He looks out, to the left, then the right. He turns around.
SLAGG
Probably just some bird drunk of its ass.
KING
Open the window and look, you idiot.
Slagg opens the window and looks left, right, and down. He turns back around.
SLAGG
I'm tellin' ya, boss, there's nothing out th-
He should have looked up.
Robin swings inside from above and lands a kick into Slagg's back, knocking the henchman into Zomyaev, and the both of them onto the bed. Zomyaev's gun falls from his hand and lands on the floor next to Verity's body.
Breathing through gritted teeth, the exposed areas of his face red with rage, Robin eyes King, who immediately turns and runs. Robin thinks about pursuing, but sees Zomyaev reach for his gun.
With no other choice but to abandon his pursuit of King, Robin kicks Zomyaev's hand away, and then the gun. Slagg gets to his feet on the other side of the bed and tries to point his gun at Robin, but the quick-thinking Grayson grabs the back of a nearby wooden chair and hurls it at Slagg's face.
Slagg's distraction gives Zomyaev opportunity to kick Robin away from the bed. He gets to his feet and launches a vicious barrage of punches, all of which Robin either dodges or blocks. Robin counters with a quick jab to Zomyaev's throat, then grabs the larger man by the collar and yanks him forward. This puts Zomyaev head first into a wall mirror, which shatters and slices up his face.
Slagg pushes the chair out of his way and tries to get up, but Robin leaps onto the bed and uses the mattress as a springboard to kick Slagg in the side of the head with both feet. The force of the kick is so strong, it puts Slagg's head through the sheet rock and knocks him unconscious.
A bloodied Zomyaev reaches down and picks up a shard of the shattered mirror, then goes for his gun on the other side of the room. Robin is fast enough to cut him off by lowering his shoulder and driving it into the man's chest. Zomyaev has time enough to stab Robin in the upper shoulder with the glass, but only once before he is driven into the wall opposite the bathroom, which jars the shard from his hand.
Zomyaev recovers fast, clenches his meaty fists and drives them from high above his own head and down onto Robin's back. Sensing he's lost the advantage, Robin turns so that his back is to the bathroom, then pulls Zomyaev forward into the bathroom straight for the tub. As they reach the tub, Robin trips backwards into it, but Zomyaev's momentum slams the larger man face first into the tiled wall of the shower. Unconscious, Zomyaev falls on top of Robin in the tub.
Taking just a moment to catch his breath, Robin pushes Zomyaev's body out of his way. He climbs out of the tub and runs out into...
INT. HALLWAY - PAUL AUMONT GRANDE
Robin looks left and then right, but William King is long gone. He retreats back into...
INT. VERITY'S HOTEL ROOM - PAUL AUMONT GRANDE
Robin closes the door, then walks over to Verity. He gets down next to her, on his knees, and caresses her face a moment before kissing her on the forehead. He picks himself up and walks over to the phone on the night stand and dials.
ROBIN
There's been a murder at the Paul Aumont Grande, room 712. There were three of them, two are down, one escaped. Send the police.
He hangs up the phone, then removes his own cell phone from his pocket. He takes Slagg's picture and scans the man's thumb. He then moves into the bathroom and takes Zomyaev's picture and scans his thumb. He uploads the scans to...
INT. BATCAVE
At the computer, Batman is surprised when what he's doing is interrupted by the upload from Robin. He and Alfred review the photos.
ALFRED
My word. He's beaten them to a bloody pulp.
BATMAN
That's his job.
The final scan is of Verity's body.
Both Batman and Alfred are speechless.
ROBIN (V.O.)
There was nothing I could do.
BATMAN
Come. Home.
ROBIN (V.O.)
Yeah, I'm on my way.
EXT. PAUL AUMONT GRANDE - NIGHT
William King scuttles outside just as Foulkes arrives in a black Mercedes. King gets in and Foulkes drives off.
INT. KING'S MERCEDES - NIGHT
Foulkes peers at King through the rearview.
FOULKES
Slagg and Zomyaev?
King shakes his head.
KING
Looks like we're gonna need another couple of guys.
King huffs.
KING
And make sure you're not tailed. There are bats about.
Foulkes nods.
EXT. GOTHAM CITY STREETS - NIGHT
The black Mercedes darts across several lanes of traffic to shake the tail that isn't following them.
-To be Continued...-