Batman: Masked Souls Part 3
From Jalassociatecomics
Welcome to Part 3 of the fan-fiction screenplay. If you would like an introduction, wish to read the preceeding sections or continue on, please use the links below. Enjoy!
Part 3
INT. BRUCE WAYNE’S BEDROOM-THE NEXT DAY
Bruce Wayne is just about to get up from bed, as Alfred enters with a tray of early morning tea and the newspaper.
Alfred: Rise and shine, Master Bruce
Bruce Wayne: (yawns) Good morning Alfred. (gets up from bed)
Alfred: Rather interesting headline today, sir.
Bruce Wayne takes the newspaper, labelled “The Gotham Globe”. The headline reads “Gotham’s ‘Most Eligible’ Adopts”.
Bruce Wayne: (mutters) Just as Commissioner Gordon said…
Alfred: Do notice that “Most Eligible” is in inverted commas.
Bruce Wayne: Very funny, Alfred.
Bruce pulls on a shirt and gets out of bed.
Alfred: Either way, you have a very busy day ahead of you. And Master Dick will be coming along?
Bruce Wayne: Yes. That way they’ll get their picture, and odds are we won’t be harassed any further.
Alfred: Shall I wake Master Dick, then?
Bruce Wayne: Go ahead. I’ll be waiting at breakfast.
INT. DINING ROOM IN WAYNE MANOR
Dick Grayson comes down the stairs in a tailored suit.
Bruce Wayne: You look great!
Dick Grayson: Sorta…didn’t get enough sleep…
Bruce Wayne: You’ll get used to it. I did. Anyway, have your breakfast and we’ll get into the car.
Dick Grayson: Where are we going? School’s out at the moment.
Bruce Wayne: Thank goodness for that. A little tour of Wayne Enterprises shouldn’t hurt. There’ll be lots of reporters about though.
Dick Grayson: Something else I have to get used to?
Bruce Wayne: Sorta.
EXT. OUTSIDE WAYNE ENTERPRISES HEADQUARTERS
Reporters, photojournalists and paparazzi have clogged up the area in front of the WE building, all wanting to get a good shot of Dick Grayson. The limousine pulls up and Bruce Wayne with his ward emerge. The cameras start flashing in frenzy. The reporters then ask many questions simultaneously; none clear enough for the viewers to catch. The camera then follows the duo into the building, while the media is shut outside.
Lucius Fox: Good to see you Bruce … (attention turns to Dick) and you too.
Bruce Wayne: Dick, meet Lucius Fox, CEO of Wayne Enterprises. He still enjoys hanging around R&D, where he first started off.
Dick Grayson: Hi, sir.
Lucius Fox: (chuckles) Follow me, we’ve got things to check out.
INT. LABORATORY
The camera follows Bruce, Lucius and Dick to a large laboratory in the headquarters. The camera pans to reveal a mammoth tank filled with water, containing a small robot.
Lucius Fox: What we have here are actually two innovations. The tank is actually a pressure simulator, able to copy, almost exactly, the pressure that will be exerted onto this unmanned vehicle at the depths in which it will operate. The vehicle is designed to withstand the extreme pressure simulated here in the tank and will face it soon enough in the open oceans. A remotely-operated vehicle, this will go where it isn’t safe for people to explore, and will be controlled from a distance.
Bruce Wayne: That’s quite impressive…
Dick Grayson: Yeah.
Lucius Fox: We already have a couple of maritime technology-related businesses on the waiting list. At the moment, it isn’t perfect, but is going pretty well.
Bruce Wayne: How about a demonstration?
Lucius Fox: That…can be arranged. (to Dick) How would you like to try?
Dick Grayson: That’d be cool…
Lucius Fox: (chuckles) Follow me then.
The three go over to a console nearer to the large tank.
Lucius Fox: Basically you just manipulate the joystick over here, while paying attention to the video feeds from the five cameras built into the ROV. It’s a rather simple system compared to the predecessors. Here, I’ll set the pressure for you (Lucius toggles the controls) The ROV will now behave as if it were at a depth of 2000 metres.
Dick Grayson gingerly moves the joystick. The ROV moves as the joystick does. However, Dick’s hand slips and the vehicle slams into the wall of the tank.
Dick Grayson: Sorry!
Lucius Fox: No worries kid, the only thing that can damage the glass is an intense pulsar wave, such as one released from an explosive charge.
Bruce Wayne: Nice to know! Well done Lucius. We'll see you around.
Lucius Fox: Thanks for dropping by Bruce (turns to Dick Grayson) nice seeing you too.
INT. DICK’S ROOM – THAT NIGHT
Dick Grayson is fiddling with photographs of his dead parents. He is visibly less traumatized, but still noticeably sad. A knock on his door is heard.
Dick Grayson: (looks up from the photographs) Uh huh?
Bruce Wayne opens the door and walks in.
Bruce Wayne: It must be…uh…a little strange, isn’t it, knowing the truth now. (Chuckles)
Dick Grayson: I don’t know if I can get used to it…not only that, but living this life. All the attention and everything… It’s not that I’m ungrateful for you bringing me in…
Bruce Wayne: …I understand. I was wondering if there’s something more I can offer you, out of all this emptiness.
Alfred steps in
Alfred: If I may, sir, you know full well…
Bruce Wayne: (suddenly stern) It’s a serious matter, what we discussed…
Dick Grayson: There’s more with regards to Batman that I can do, more than just keeping the secret.
Alfred: You told me he’s ready, sir…
Dick Grayson: …and helping you is something I very much want to do…
Bruce gets up.
Bruce Wayne: (sighs) we’ll talk about this later.
Dick Grayson looks slightly distraught and a little confused. Alfred, sensing this, puts a reassuring but trembling hand on his shoulder.
Alfred: Don’t worry about Master Bruce…I think I may have troubled him with this subject. It’s not any of your doing, Master Richard. (sighs) I’ll tell you the truth: I think you have it in you, and I think Master Bruce feels the same way too.
Dick Grayson understands and smiles.
Dick Grayson: (smiles slightly) Alright Alfred.
Cut to –
INT. PENA DURO PRISON HALLWAY CONT.
The prison hallway is very much dilapidated, with yellowing walls and flaking paint. The only signs of modern day technology are the complex locks and the secure doors of cells that hold highly wanted criminals in this wing of the maximum security prison. A lone prison warden holding a newspaper walks past the cells, heading towards one at the very end. We see the door open, but what lies inside is not at all clear.
Prison Warden: (In Spanish) Here’s your paper. (Shrugs) Don’t get why you don’t read the local ones anyway.
The camera turns to reveal who the warden is speaking to – a grotesquely muscular figure, bolted to the prison wall and with a peculiar – almost sinister - system of tubes carrying a substance networked around his body, leading into his masked head.
Bane: (In Spanish) Just give me the newspaper and get out of here.
Prison Warden: (In Spanish) be happy they allow you this luxury, and don’t pick on me either.
The Prison Warden thrusts the paper into his face. Bane examines the English headlines: EXCLUSIVE FROM GOTHAM CITY: FIRST PICTURES OF THE “FLORONIC MAN” – CRIMINAL DOCTOR’S SHOCKING APPEARANCE AFTER ENCOUNTER WITH BATMAN.
Bane: (In Spanish) (Growling) Batman…many things I’ve heard about him…how he terrorizes by fear…
Prison Warden: (In Spanish) Much like you used to in this prison…why they bolted you up in the first place…
Bane: (In Spanish) The Demon Bat who haunts my dreams…I’m going to Gotham to find out more.
Prison Warden: (In Spanish) (laughs) What makes you think I’m letting you out?
Bane: (In English) You don’t need to.
Prison Warden: (In Spanish) What?
The mysterious substance in the tubes surges and Bane suddenly breaks free from his constraints in one dramatic display of strength. The Prison Warden is taken aback.
Prison Warden: (In Spanish) (confused and afraid) They were supposed to hold you…
Bane: (In English) Supposed.
Bane grabs hold of the warden before he can call for backup, then mercilessly slams him into the ground. The other prisoners, hearing this commotion, all start yelling in Spanish for Bane for to free them.
Bane: (In Spanish) Inferior fools.
Bane runs, slamming his full force into the side wall of his prison cell. The camera cuts to -
EXT. OUTSIDE PENA DURO PRISON
The Prison guards scramble to secure the area outside the prison, but they are all a step behind the burly figure. Bane moves with surprising agility, accompanying his strength. He stops short of the electric fence, briefly studying how he can overcome this obstacle. Bane then ducks into a ditch, dug by desperate prisoners long ago.
Bane: (Quietly to self) (In English) Never thought I’d be using the same ditch dug by desperate convicts…
A prison guard, dressed in metallic armour shines a torch in the direction of Bane’s hiding place, seemingly noticing something.
Armoured Prison Guard: (In Spanish) Hello? The prison guard draws his standard issue revolver and points it in the direction of Bane, as he steps forward cautiously.
BANE’S POV:
Armoured Prison Guard: (In Spanish) (Speaking into radio) I may have found him…over here…
Bane hears – and sees – all of this from the ditch, but takes no action. When the guard steps close to the fence, Bane suddenly rises from the ditch and in one strong movement takes the guard with his hands, slamming him into the electric fence full force. The guard attempts to shout for help, but is overcome by the shock. The shock has partially fused his armour to the fence, the rest of his unconscious form hanging limply. Bane admires his handiwork for a second, and then runs off to another hiding place. More prison guards arrive, accompanied by bloodhounds. They see their colleague fused to the electric fence.
Prison Guard 1: (In Spanish) (Speaking into radio) we have discovered Armoured Prison Guard (reading off armour plate) C-31 fused into the electric fence. Requesting deactivation of the fence to extricate victim.
Voice Over Radio: (In Spanish) What? Are you crazy? Deactivate the fence? He got himself into this mess, we can’t compromise prison security.
Prison Guard 1: (In Spanish) (Speaking into radio) Please sir, we might be able to save him. We have the equipment coming soon. And you don’t need to deactivate the other one.
Two more guards arrive carrying a toolbox and a medical kit.
Voice Over Radio: (In Spanish) (sighs) Okay…just for a few minutes! Better make sure our fugitive does not escape.
Prison Guard 1: (In Spanish) (Speaking into radio) Thank you sir.
A series of alarms sounds, signalling the deactivation of the fence to the guards. They stand at the ready, in order to prevent any convicts from escaping during this crucial moment of weakness. With a mechanical buzz, the fence is deactivated and the team quickly gets to work extricating their injured colleague from his armour. Some distance away, Bane takes advantage of this moment of weakness planned all along, and crashes through the fence with his full strength and into the concrete wall behind it. This concrete wall houses sentry towers at each corner, and the guards feel the shock. He discovers another electric fence he never knew existed. This time, five more guards emerge from camouflaged hatches in the prison grounds, ready to apprehend Bane.
INT. PRISON SECUTRITY CONTROL ROOM
The control room bears some semblance of comfort, and is filled with high technology. The head of security observes the happenings through video screens and thick observation glass.
Security Head: (In Spanish) (Through microphone) That’s right men, get him!
The security head than reactivates the electric fence, trapping Bane in two layers of electricity. On both sides he is faced with heavily armed guards.
Bane: (In Spanish) Interesting efforts.
Bane instinctively punches at the rest of the concrete, repeatedly.
Security Head: (In Spanish) (Through microphone) That’s it! Deadly force authorized! Evacuate the sentry towers immediately!
INT. SENTRY TOWER
Sentry Guard 1: (In Spanish) Whoa! You feel that?
Sentry Guard 2: (In Spanish) It’s the escaped fugitive, the one with the steroids pumped into his head!
Voice From Below: (In Spanish) Get down! He’s breaking the wall!
Sentry Guard 1: (In Spanish) that’s ridicul...
A strong rumble interrupts the Sentry Guard’s words. The other guard is already scrambling down the access hatch.
EXT. BELOW SENTRY TOWER
Several snipers have gathered and are attempting to shoot at Bane, readying their weapons. Before they can take aim, Bane fells the weakened concrete structure, grunting heavily, pushing half towards the prison and half the other direction. This takes out both electric fences and collapses into most of the prison itself. Plenty of commotion is audible. Bane takes advantage of the mess to escape from the compound.
Batman: Masked Souls
Batman: Masked Souls Part 2
Batman: Masked Souls Part 4
Batman: Masked Souls Part 5
Batman: Masked Souls Part 6
Batman: Masked Souls Part 7
