Act II, Scene XI
WayneCorp Tower. Most of the building is in darkness, but the top few floors are lit still. We go inside and find Lucius Fox poring over schematics. He rubs his eyes and blinks, checks his watch.
Seeing the time, he sighs, and places the schematics inside a folder which he seals several times. He also takes out a handwritten letter and we focus in on the final line where he has written:
'…goodbye, and good luck, Mr. Wayne. Your friend, Lucius.'
He places the letter on top of the confidential folder and exits the small office, switching off the lights as he does so. He walks alone across the laboratory floor, past a treasure trove of armour designs, gadgetry, and assorted trinkets, until he gets to the sliding doors marking the exit to the elevator. He flicks the main lights and the illumination over the entire floor dies, one set of lights at a time, from the far end to Lucius himself.
There's a noise. Lucius, who'd just been about to step into the elevator, half-turns and stares into the darkness. The only light being shed on the entire floor is that coming from the open elevator behind him.
LUCIUS: That you, Mr. Wayne? You know that silent trick gets on my nerves.
BATMAN: (unseen) Sorry. Force of habit.
LUCIUS: (sighs) Yeah. Well, it's late. All this stuff is yours anyway so have fun exploring. I'm going home.
BATMAN: (still unseen) You're resigning, Lucius.
LUCIUS: I am.
BATMAN: You've talked to Alfred.
LUCIUS: Mmm. It's what friends do, Mr. Wayne. Talk.
BATMAN: How-?
LUCIUS: How do you think he is?
BATMAN: I had to-
LUCIUS: Yeah. (sighs again)Thank you for the opportunity to work here. If you'll excuse me, my wife and I have a trip to England to prepare for. Alfred's promised to teach me cricket. Goodbye. And good luck.
BATMAN: Turn on the light. At least look at me before you go.
LUCIUS: (smiles sadly, looking into the darkness) Aren't I already, Mr. Wayne?
He gets into the elevator and it closes behind him, throwing the entire floor into complete darkness, until a switch is flicked and the lights come back on.
Batman stands alone. He's wearing a new and repaired Batsuit, no longer the damaged one from the dock fight the previous night.
We cut to him thumbing controls on a device, entering a reinforced chamber surrounded by thick soundproof concrete walls. He removes his chest armour.
BATMAN: Fire.
COMPUTER: Warning. Safety override engaged.
BATMAN: Disable safety override. Fire.
A wall-mounted machine gun at the opposite end of the chamber jerks into life, spitting out bullets at a fantastic rate. We go into super-slow-motion as the first spate of bullets emerges, tracking the first four or five as they fly from the gun barrel and make a beeline for their target; the torso of Batman.
The first bullet impacts, and we see it flattened as it impacts on Batman's naked skin, dropping to the floor harmlessly. The same fate befalls the next four or five bullets, and as we exit super-slow-motion and go into real-time, the same fate befalls the next hundred, two hundred bullets, until Batman is standing ankle-deep in flattened bullets and until the machine gun's ammo runs dry and the barrel stops spinning with a long drawn-out click, coming to a complete halt.
Batman reaches down and experimentally prods his skin. He kneels and picks up one of the bullet casings, examining it, seeing its new shape.
We cut to him reloading the gun, stepping back into the firing line.
BATMAN: Tracking program Alpha. Disable safety override. Fire.
Once again the bullets fly, but this time, rather than simply wait for them to impact, Batman actually dodges each one as it comes. The gun tracks him. We follow this in slow-mo for a few moments, Batman staying ahead of the spray of bullets, including backflipping off the nearest wall to stay ahead of the hail, until we snap back to real-time and see exactly how fast Batman is moving; he's impossible to follow with the naked eye.
Once again, the gun clicks to a halt. The far side wall has been almost completely destroyed by the bullets, but on Batman, now stopped and visible once more, there is not the merest scratch. He's not even out of breath.
We cut to him emerging onto the roof of WayneCorp Tower, armour back in place, and walking to the edge of the building, with Gotham spread out all around him.
Snatches of sounds start to filter through. Voices. Conversations. Tyres screeching. Birds. The myriad noises of a living breathing city, home to millions. Batman jerks his head to the side, putting his hand over one ear, seeming overwhelmed by the sheer level of sensory input he's receiving. And then-
-the white noise filters out, and is replaced by one voice.
VOICE: Help! Oh God, help me! Please!
Batman's head snaps around in the direction the voice came from. He jogs to the rooftop edge, hops up onto it, looks down. WayneCorp Tower is one of Gotham's tallest buildings. Far, far below, traffic no bigger than matchboxes moves along Gotham's downtown avenues.
He takes a step off the roof. And doesn't fall. He bobs up and down gently, looking like a swimmer treading water without actually needing to move his arms and legs to do so.
BATMAN: I could get used to this.
And a second later, he's moving through the air. At first he kinda forces his way through, adopting an awkward swimming motion, propelling his arms, but after a few moments of this he experiments with stopping the arm & leg movements and simply arrowing his body in the general direction he wishes to travel. It works.
And it's only then that it sinks in. What he's doing. The reality of flying.
For a few moments we see him take in the beauty of Gotham from above; the lights of the city, the sights. The wings of his cape extended fully, he's able to swoop between buildings in a graceful, unencumbered way that Batman never could have before.
At ground level, as he passes beneath the neon billboards of Gotham's avenues, a Bat-shaped shadow travels along the ground, causing Gotham's citizens to pause and look up, and see him. They point.
VOICE: …please…
Shaking off the temptation to simply revel in the glory of his newfound ability, Batman zeroes in on the source of the distress call and ups the pace, gathering speed…
We cut to below. A store clerk, clutching a handgun, is hiding behind his shop counter. Three hoods are spread throughout the store, with a fourth behind the wheel of the getaway car outside. All three hoods have shotguns.
CLERK: (whispers, to himself) Oh God, help me…I don't wanna die…
His is the voice Batman heard before, we realise.
The lead hood steps out from behind cover and lets rip with the shotgun, shattering the items lying on the countertop, destroying the till, sending debris fragments raining down on the terrified clerk behind, who whimpers all the more.
LEAD HOOD: Don't be a stupid dead hero, man! Throw out the gun and let us do what we gotta do and we won't touch you, swear to God!
There is a pause. The handgun arcs over the counter, clattering to the floor. The lead hood smiles. He motions to one of the others. They advance on the counter.
LEAD HOOD: Okay, good choice. Now come on outta there. We hit the safe, we're done. Everybody's happy, right?
The clerk stands. He sees the shotguns trained on him from all sides.
LEAD HOOD: You got the keys?
CLERK: Y-yeah…
He fishes the keys out of his pocket and brandishes them, and only then seems to realise his mistake. The lead hood shrugs as if to say 'sorry', and then opens fire-
-but the clerk isn't there anymore.
And then the lights go out.
And then, the lights go back on again.
Batman stands there, directly in all three's field of fire.
BATMAN: Sorry about the lights. (pause, he shrugs)Force of habit.
LEAD HOOD: Get him!
All three open fire. None miss. Batman doesn't move a muscle and doesn't seem remotely bothered by the impact of three pointblank shotgun blasts to the chest. His armour takes a pounding but that doesn't seem to bother him either.
BATMAN: Ow.
The hoods look at each other in what is clearly a moment of awful realisation.
BATMAN: My turn?
We cut to outside, and a police cruiser pulling up to the store. Central is talking to the officers inside.
RADIO: Reports of a robbery in progress. Shots fired. Backup en route.
OFFICER #1: Roger that. Unit 23-14 on scene now.
RADIO: Proceed with caution-
And that's when the entire glass front of the store caves outwards as one, two, three bodies smash through it. The leftmost and rightmost bodies sail right past the advancing cruiser, but the centre body - the lead hood - impacts the police car full-on and smashes right through the windshield, terrifying the officers inside, causing the car to swerve and screech to a halt.
A second cruiser pulls up. An officer gets out and surveys the wreckage.
OFFICER #3: Jesus Christ…what the hell happened here…?
Unseen by him, a black shape perched on the store's roof takes off vertically into the Gotham night. We follow Batman as he rises, all of Gotham calling out to him, his cape fluttering out behind him as he soars.
Never before has he so resembled the creature he sought to emulate. And all of Gotham is now his to hunt in. But he has designs on one person only.
BATMAN: Ramirez…
Act II, Scene XII
Gordon's car pulls up at his house. Jason is out the door to meet it, and Clark is out of the car almost before it has stopped. The two meet each other and envelop one another in a hug. There is a crack, much the same as we heard between Clark and Bruce in an earlier scene, except this time it's coming from Clark's ribs.
CLARK: (softly) Ow.
Jason lets him go and looks up at him disbelievingly. Clark stares back at him, unable to say anything due to Gordon's presence, but there's a lot of communication going on behind the eyes.
JASON: Mom…? You've found...?
CLARK: Not yet.
JASON: I should have let him die.
Clark opens his mouth to reply, and seeing Jason's expression, simply swallows his words and puts his hand on the boy's shoulder instead. Gordon, who has been keeping a discreet distance until now, moves in. His radio squawks and we overhear the officers reporting on the store robbery.
OFFICER #3: (V/O) …owner swears it was Batman. These guys are in pretty bad shape. He really busted them up. I've never seen anything like it. Guess Superman pissed him off.
Clark reacts. We see him absorb the significance of Batman being at large in the city.
GORDON: (into the radio) Just the facts, officer. Cordon off the area, standard search pattern.
JASON: He can help! Batman can help us look for Mom! I know he can!
Barbara is outside now too. She beckons her husband over urgently. Jason sees this. He looks afraid, upset. He looks to Clark.
JASON: I'm sorry. When I heard about my Mom and Luthor…my eyes, they...
He points to the house and Clark sees the destroyed window and the scorch marks on the wall to either side. Clark's eyes go wide as he absorbs the significance of this. His arm goes around Jason instinctively, protectively.
JASON: They, they saw me. I'm sorry…
Clark hugs him.
CLARK: It's okay.
Gordon, having talked with his wife, comes back over to Clark. He glances at Jason long enough for us to know that he knows. Clark moves the boy subtly behind him, in much the same way as the girl with the cellphone in the Narrows shielded her own children.
GORDON: Keeping anything from me, Kent?
CLARK: Nothing that matters right now, Commissioner.
James Gordon peers around the front door of his home. Jason sees him and starts to wave. James notices Jason's attention moving and hides back inside the house again. Jason's hand, fingers about to uncurl, drops slowly back to his side again.
CLARK: We need to find Lois. You suggested taking me to the station.
JASON: I'm going with you. I don't want to stay here.
Gordon nods, a trifle reluctantly. Moments later they are pulling away from Gordon's house in his car, with Clark and Jason in back. Jason looks out the window for James, but his friend has not come to say goodbye.
GORDON: Kent, I like you. And as I said before, I'm not a huge fan of the press as a rule. So don't screw up your good standing with me now.
CLARK: Commissioner-
GORDON: What the hell is going on with Superman and Batman? You're one half of the Official Superman Press Pack, aren't you? So if you know anything, now's the time to tell me.
CLARK: (after a pause) I wish I-
GORDON: Goddamit, Kent! I'm not asking you as a cop, but as a guy concerned for the safety of people caught in the crossfire! I know Batman! He can'tthrow street punks through shop windows and break damn near every bone in their bodies!
And as he says that, something seems to click in Jason's young mind. He looks up at Clark, open-mouthed. Clark sees the look and shakes his head warningly as if to shush the boy, but it's too late.
JASON: Unless he took Superman's powers...
CLARK: Jason...
JASON: That's it, isn't it?! He took...(he pauses, just in time, as he looks at Clark) he took Superman's powers away somehow.
Clark doesn't reply. Gordon keeps on driving, but we can see him deep in thought.
GORDON: Y'know ten minutes ago I'd have laughed that suggestion away. But after what my wife just told me she saw, I'm thinking you might know more about Superman than most kids. Is it true, Kent?
CLARK: For the moment.
GORDON: So we have a super-powered Batman. What does that make Superman?
CLARK: (softly)At a guess, Commissioner? Pissed. Very pissed.
Act II, Scene XIII
Gotham Central. Gordon, Clark and Jason proceed through the main foyer and negotiate through the back rooms to Gordon and his unit's offices.
GORDON: You know more about Superman than most of us will have forgotten, Kent. So what are we looking at? What can Batman do now? What can we expect?
CLARK: (shakes head) It's not that simple. He can't just absorb Superman's powers and expect to be able to use them all right away. That's not how it worked for...for Superman. It takes time to-
Jason has stopped walking. He cocks his head in the air.
JASON: Something's com-
There is a tremendous CRASH ahead of them. Gordon shoves Clark and Jason back and draws his gun, breaking into a run down the corridors until he opens the door that leads to his unit's offices-
-to find a gaping hole in the wall, and Lieutenant Anna Ramirez being held down on a desk by Batman, his cape billowing in the breeze kicked up by the wind whistling through the wall's sudden over-ventilation.
Batman doesn't even look up when Gordon enters the room.
BATMAN: Jim. Good to see you.
GORDON: What the hell is going on?! The entire precinct will be coming-
As Ramirez gasps for breath, Clark and Jason arrive at the door behind Gordon. Their reactions on seeing Batman couldn't be more different; Jason's eyes open wide and he grins in delight. Clark's jaw sets, his nostrils flare, and his eyes narrow. He places a protective hand over Jason's chest.
RAMIREZ: (strangled voice) Help me…
JASON: It's you! It's really you!
CLARK: Keep back, Jason.
BATMAN: Man's got a point, Jason. Don't want to get too close. Never know who might betray you.
GORDON: What are you talking about?
BATMAN: How's the sick mother? Hmm? Still getting good treatment? (bellows in fury) How is she, Anna?
He throws her aside, sending her crashing into the wall, where she impacts the Gotham Tribune article showing Dent's face. As she slides to the floor, blood from her impact has seeped through the cracked glass of the framed article, staining Dent's face.
RAMIREZ: (to Gordon) I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…
Gordon's gun wilts. He can't quite believe what he's hearing. More police arrive behind Clark and Jason.
BATMAN: Call them off, Jim. I'm not in the mood.
Gordon motions for them to stay back and they comply.
RAMIREZ: I only did what I thought-
GORDON: Save it for the judge, Anna.
BATMAN: Judge?
He turns on Gordon now, advances on him until he's uncomfortably close. For the first time, Jim Gordon takes a step back when confronted with Batman.
BATMAN: You know this town. She won't get time.
GORDON: She will. I'll see to it.
BATMAN: Sure you will. Like you promised to clean up this city, Jim? Like you promised that me being the villain would mean something?
GORDON: You almost killed three people tonight! You destroy half my office! Now, what, you want to be judge, jury, and executioner? What the hell's gotten into you?
Batman looks at Clark. Clark stares back.
CLARK: You can't control them. You don't know what you've done. Trust me on that.
BATMAN: Like I should have trusted the Big Blue Boy Scout to hand me over? Went meekly into the cells and watched as the underworld set about killing everyone I ever cared about in revenge for the things I've done to hurt them?
CLARK: (hotly)They would have been protected. You would have had justice. Don't do this. Don't make an enemy where you could have made a friend.
BATMAN: Game's changed. I'm tired of being hated. Tired of being hunted.
He moves to the hole in the wall he created. Jason breaks free of Clark and runs to Batman.
JASON: But - but - you have to help us! My Mom – Lois – Lex Luthor has her, and Superman...please, you have to give him his powers back-
BATMAN: Your Mom is fine. And as for Superman…well…
He rises gently into the air and floats out the window. Clark, Jim Gordon and Jason all look on, astonished.
BATMAN: …nothing lasts forever.
He flies off into the Gotham night.
GORDON: I thought you said he wouldn't be able to-
CLARK: It's impossible.
We cut to the main foyer, to where a woman has just walked through the entrance doors.
It's Lois.
She stands unaided, but only just, swaying, looking as if she's just woken up from the world's deepest sleep. A female officer spots her.
LOIS: My son…Jason…
Upstairs, Jason's head snaps up.
JASON: Mom?! Mom's here! She's here!
He bolts for the door. We cut to back down in the foyer, as Lois continues to try to stay upright.
OFFICER: Get her some help!
Officers rush toward her as she very gently keels over. It's Jason who catches her, zipping between the police officers seemingly moving in slow-mo. He gathers his mother's body in his arms. She's still awake, if weak. She smiles up at him and cups his cheek.
JASON: Mommy…
LOIS: I'm okay, baby. Mommy's okay. Just...so tired...
Clark and Gordon arrive on the scene. Clark kneels beside Jason and helps him bear the burden of Lois, wiping her hair from her face and checking her pulse. He breathes a sigh of relief.
CLARK: Pulse is strong. (to Jason) She's going to be okay.
GORDON: She looks drugged. Somebody, get an ambulance!
JASON: Clark…I want to go home. I want to go home, all of us. Back to Metropolis. Please? Can we go home? I don't want to be in Gotham any more.
Clark looks at his son, at the tears streaming down his face as his mother lies unconscious in his arms.
All he can do is nod in agreement.