Chapter 4: Phantasm killed Buzz Bronski
(Cemetery, that same night…)
The camera catches an owl as it pans over the spooky grounds. The owl's eyes sparkle as he hoos and takes wing, flying o.s. Leaves are blown across the road as a limousine pulls up.
It opens. Another gangster, Buzz Bronski, gets out. Though sixty-something, the guy's a brick wall. He holds up a flashlight which he flashes around. Doesn't see anyone or anything. Buzz glances at…
"You guys wait here." Buzz said.
"Whatever you say, Mr. Branski." Passenger Bodyguard.
Buzz reaches back to pull out a black wreath.
"They say the Dark Knight iced this guy." Driver said.
"I know." Passenger Bodyguard.
Suddenly, there were crickets chirping. They looked around.
Buzz flashlight beam hits the gravestone. It reads: CHUCKLE SOL. The beam doesn't hit the last two numbers.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. Chuckle, Chuckle." Buzz said, as he threw the flower.
The wreath is tossed down.
"You always were a loser." Buzz said.
Just then he hears…
"Buzz." a voice said.
"Huh?" Buzz asked, as he looked around to something hears.
"Who's there?" Buzz asked.
Buzz looked moving back… he turned and looked down at Chuckle's grave.
"Buzz Bronski," a voice came, as Buzz looked around Just then Phantasm's death's head emerged from behind a gravestone as if rising from the underworld. "Your angel of death awaits."
The head moves forward as if floating on the mist.
Buzz pointing his flashlight at him.
"Get away from me, you freak." Buzz said, as he started moving back fearfully.
As Buzz bumps into a wheelbarrow with digging tools, including a digging fork (shovel size). He drops the flashlight and picks up the fork.
Who backs into the mist as Buzz slices the fork through the mist. It connects with nothing. Suddenly from behind he hears…
"Time to pay for your sins, Mr. Bronski." Phantasm said.
Bronski turns to see Phantasm behind him. Again he swings, but Phantasm is too quick, ducking back into the mist. Buzz opened his eyes and was shocked to Phantasm's gone.
"Buzz…" a voice came.
Buzz turns to Phantasm.
"All right, creep, catch this!" Buzz said.
But just as he's about to throw it, he falls into the mist as if the earth had swallowed him up.
"What the-" Buzz was shocked.
Buzz turned around and ran.
"DAVE! DOUGAN!" Buzz yelled.
Phantasm walked.
"BOYS!" Buzz yelled.
Still in the car. They're already looking in the direction of Buzz's voice.
"Come on." Dave said.
They rush out of the car.
Suddenly they hear a muffled o.s. Crash.
"He was up here." Buzz said.
Dave and Dougan looked around.
"Boss?" Dave asked.
"Boss?" Dougan asked.
"BOSS!" Dave called.
"BOSS!" Dougan called.
Dave and Dougan ran and found Buzz.
As Buzz still ran.
"BOYS! HURRY!" Buzz yelled.
As Buzz fell and the ground at the mist dissipated. He suddenly realizes that he's lying at the bottom of a deeply-dug grave. A rope hangs down the side of the pit. As Buzz stood up, facepalms, looked up at the angel's statue. As Phantasm walked.
"You always were a loser, Mr. Bronski." Phantasm said.
Buzz turned and looked up at the smoke and Phantasm. Buzz is horror, moving back, turns running and he sees the rope, grabs hold and starts to climb out.
"Farewell, Mr. Branski." Phantasm said.
It's tied to a lever of some sort. We're not sure for what yet, although as the rope is tugge~ the lever ratchets into another gear and we suddenly hear a grinding noise.
Wider to show that the lever is on a dump truck piled high with dirt, it's parked almost flush to the side of the grave. Buzz has just pulled the lever that is causing the rear to upend, spilling the dirt into the grave.
Buzz pushed back down by the dirt. He suddenly realizes he's in big trouble.
"AH…AH…AAH!" Buzz screaming.
By now the dirt is up to his waist and still pouring in. He claws at the sides.
As they approach, guns in hand. Dave and Dougan lead.
"BOSS!" Dave yelled.
"BOSS!" Dougan yelled.
Another angle the grinding abruptly stops a split second before Dave steps into frame. They look ahead in shock.
"Oh, man." Dougan said, as he facepalms.
Dave and Dougan turned around and looked down.
"HEY!" Dave called, as he pointed at something.
Dave and Dougan were shocked. They take one last look back. From the flow of the cape you'd swear it was Batman.
"IT'S THE BATMAN!" Dougan called.
Dave and Dougan start firing like crazy.
Phantasm, who swirls his cape and disappears behind the ridge.
Dave stopped the gun and Dougan stood up.
"IT'S THE STINKING BATMAN!" Dougan yelled.
They looked like he was gone.
(Old brownstone, that morning…)
The windows are covered with wrought iron. Even in the morning light the place looks dark and foreboding.
An old, skull-faced man is seated at a tray in a large shadowy den, sipping his tea. This, as we are to learn, is Salvatore Valestra, ex-mob boss.
Valestra, when he opens· the paper next to his tray.
It reads: 2nd MOB BOSS SLAIN.
It reads: HAS BATS GONE BATS?
"Buzz." Valestra said.
Valestra read a picture of Buzz. He reacts in shock and reads a picture of Batman. Valestra was shocked.
"NO!" Valestra called, as he dropped his forkful of grapefruit wedges.
Valestra going into a wheezing fit. He throws down the paper in disgust and horror, then fumbles around his tray and the sides of his chair trying to find something. He pulls out a portable oxygen inhaler and brings the mask up to cover his nose and mouth. He starts taking big gulps as he lays his head back against his chair, the picture of a troubled spirit. Valestra has big gulps of air.
(Later at Commissioner Gordon's office…)
Gordon sits at his desk as Reeves turns around and points a dramatic accusing finger at him.
"What do you mean? You have to go after him!" Reeves said.
Reeves reaches over and grabs polygraph papers from Detective Stephens. He flings it at Gordon dramatically.
"He didn't do it." Gordon said as he rises, trying to restrain his fury.
Gordon swipes the paper off his desk.
"It's garbage, Mr. Reeves." Gordon said.
Reeves looked down at the paper.
"The Batman does not kill, period." Gordon said.
Reeves is angry.
Batman is crouched down, eavesdropping. He ain't happy.
Gordon's at his door, about to leave. And he opens the door.
"You want him? You get him." Gordon said, as he pointed at Reeves. "I'll have no part of it."
Stephens, Reeves, and the other cops looking in Gordon's direction. The door slams, causing a couple of the cops to flinch. Not Reeves, though. Gordon's impertinence only serves to bolster his misbegotten resolve. He turns to the cops.
"Well, gentlemen?" Reeves asked, as they turned to him. "Any ideas?" He said, with a smile.
(Overcast night sky…)
Suddenly the Bat Signal flashes in the sky. Hold for a beat.
Police rooftop on the Bat Signal spotlight.
Stephens and the police we saw below are looking in all directions for Batman's arrival.
Stephens walked and looked around.
"Hmm. He's usually here by now." Stephens said.
This includes Reeves who smiles wryly as Stephens checks his watch.
On Bat Signal in the sky. As the Batmobile barrels toward, away from the city and the Bat Signal shining above.
(Later at the Cemetery…)
The scene of Buzz Bronski's demise, now surrounded by yellow police tape. The slab has been propped up by chains on a crane-like vehicle. Pan over to Batman on bended knee. We hear him talking before we see him.
"There appears to be some chemical residue on the lawn." Batman said.
Batman sees that he is speaking into a mike wired to his utility belt. He picks up a tuft of grass as he speaks. It has some grayish specks on it. Batman stood up.
"Could match the traces I found on the glass. Not much, but it's been that kind of day." Batman said.
As Batman clicks off the mike and slips it back into his belt he notices something o.s.
The Wayne Monument, Batman softly lit by moonlight.
As he rises and steps toward it.
On the Monument, as Batman steps up to it. He touches the marble softly. A solemn moment, broken by…
"You think they could afford a weed eater." Andrea O.S. said.
Batman paused, turned around and walked.
At Victoria Beaumont's grave, Andrea is kneeling, tearing weeds from around her mother's tombstone.
"Sorry, Mom, but the whole world's going to seed." Andrea said.
At that moment, Batman's shadow moves in.
Andrea looked up and stood up with a start and rising with a similar look of stunned surprise. The weeds fall from her hands. Andrea gasps.
"Oh…" Batman said.
Batman can read the surprise and anguish in his face. He steps back.
"You." Andrea said.
Batman is still backing up. He finally turns and bolts, disappearing into the darkness.
Andrea walked and saw… He's gone, but she keeps looking, wide-eyed, stunned. She realizes intuitively that he must be, has to be… The Wayne's Monument…
"Bruce?" Andrea asked.
To Be Continued…