Batman: Gotham by Gaslight

1

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(TRAIN CHUGGING)

(CHATTER)

PRESENTER:
A woman?

Of course.

But, is she human?

Well, that's another story.

The Gotham Gaiety Girls

presents...

Ivy, the Plant Lady.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

But, be warned, fellas.

This ivy is poison.

Dare you taste

her forbidden fruit?

(CHUCKLES)

MAN:
Ah.

MAN 2:
Ooh.

Disarm them all already.

Let's see those leaves fall.

- (MEN WHISTLING AND CHEERING)

- (SCOFFS)

(PIANO MUSIC PLAYING

FROM CLUB)

(DOG BARKING IN THE DISTANCE)

(FOOTSTEPS RECEDING )

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

(BREATHING RAPIDLY)

(GASPS)

You gave me a start.

I thought for a minute...

Well, you're clearly

a real gentleman.

You lonely?

I hate to see a man lonely.

I got a generous nature.

And I'm sure

you're generous too.

Ain't ya, mister?

My room's not far.

Or maybe you

don't want to wait.

No. No!

No!

BOY:
You took the shortcut

through outsider's territory.

You gotta pay the tariff.

Ain't that right, Dickie?

Name's Jason. 'Member?

DICKIE:
We don't

say our names.

Oh, let's go back

to the flop, fellas.

It's getting awful late.

Don't go yellow on me, boy,

or you know what you'll get.

Don't you worry, Bill.

We're on the job.

What are you scared

of the dark, Little Tim?

Nah, it's just...

After what happened

to Johnny Gobbs, I...

That ain't real, Timmy.

He's like Santa Claus.

DICKIE:
Just a story they tell

to keep young turfs like us

from making an honest living.

Oh, he's real, all right.

That's why you gotta pay us.

JASON:
For protecting you

from monsters.

Now pay up.

(STAMMERING)

(IMITATES STAMMER)

I think we might have

broke 'em, boys.

- B-bat!

- (GASPING)

Holy sh*t!

Stick 'im, boys.

(GRUNTS)

(YELLING)

You're the galumph who's been

making a nuisance of yourself

all over Gotham, ain't ya?

Well, now you're

in Big Bill Dust's territory,

interfering with my amiable

Cock Robins.

You're bad for business.

Bad all 'round.

- Too bad for you.

- (CRACKING KNUCKLES)

(GRUNTING)

Aah!

(GRUNTS)

(GROANS)

Go home.

Am home.

Home to mommy.

He ain't got one.

None of us do.

Or we run off from something

even worse than this.

This is our family now.

Making something here.

Taking something back

from Gotham.

Make something else.

Something better.

We got no choice.

He'll just chase us down,

find us again.

- (CRACKS)

- (SCREAMS)

He won't be chasing anyone

for a long time.

Go to St. Caduales,

ask for Sister Leslie.

She'll help you.

(WOMAN SCREAMS)

Get off the street, now!

(WOMAN CONTINUES SCREAMING)

(GASPING)

(EXHALES SLOWLY)

MAN:
Blood, sweat and tears.

That's what turned this dream into

a magnificent reality, gentlemen.

That and Bruce Wayne's money.

(ALL LAUGHING)

(CHUCKLES)

Spoken like a true,

county prosecutor, Mr. Dent.

Money always helps.

But it is the ingenuity of the

city's captains of industry

that provided these marvels.

MAN:
And may you select few truly

enjoy this special preview

of the Gotham World's Fair.

(SWEEPING MUSIC PLAYING)

(ENGINE ROARING)

The stairway to heaven.

MAYOR:
A fully electronical lantern,

bright enough to illuminate

the very celestial

firmament above.

Higher even than

the police department's

new lighter-than-air

patrol craft.

Let's see it.

The light tends to show off a bit

better in the night time, Ambrose.

But here's a sight you needn't

wait to marvel at.

Gotham's own answer

to the Eiffel Tower.

The fox wheel will elevate you

two hundred and fifty feet

into the sky,

at the astonishing rate

of 15 miles an hour.

Heavens! Can the human body even

survive that kind of motion?

Most certainly, ma'am.

I refer you to medical expert

and Gotham's premier alienist,

Dr. Hugo Strange.

The human organs can withstand

velocities up to 35 miles per hour.

Ride the wheel,

and I give you my guarantee

as a physician and surgeon,

you will live.

SELINA:
It's a shame

you won't provide this

same assurance

to the ladies of Gotham,

Mr. Mayor.

Women are being gutted

in the streets

like wild game,

and the Gotham police stand

twiddling their thumbs.

I'm sure Ms. Kyle's

lovely voice

is better suited to the stage of the Monarch

Theater than a city council meeting.

(SIGHS) Mr. Dent...

Sure, and no ladies

have been killed, Ms. Kyle.

Some gin-soaked women

of the street

have met their fate.

As is common to their kind.

Belay that, Chief.

Ms. Kyle, I assure you visitors to

this fair, men and women alike,

- will be safe from...

- SISTER LESLIE:
Jack.

Jack the Ripper.

That's what he calls himself in the letter

he sent the Gotham Gazette, isn't it?

Now, Sister Leslie, that letter's

likely just another hoax.

Really, Bulldog?

Strange it would arrive with a

human kidney in the envelope.

There's a butcher in this town

preying on poor women.

And if you don't stop him, so

help me, I'll raise holy hell.

Sister, your selfless dedication

to Gotham's poor is...

Poor is the word.

If these murdered ladies were from

Crest Hill instead of Skinner's End,

you'd have the killer by now.

My men are working

triple shifts

combing every inch

of this city for this mad man.

You know I've pledged to clean

up Gotham and I mean all of it.

It's that bat creature

we've been reading about.

That's who it is.

That could very well be.

He's a devil, that one.

My men just can't seem to...

To do anything, Chief Bullock, but

sit on their fat arses and...

Just a damn minute.

Your charity house is what draws

these pests in in the first...

- (HORSE WHINNIES)

- (ALL MURMUR)

Whoa!

Well, as I live and breathe.

If it isn't himself.

Welcome! A hearty welcome to

Gotham's favorite native son.

- (CROWD CLAPPING)

- Bruce Wayne.

Thank you, thank you,

Mayor Tolliver.

Please don't stop

on my account.

You know I like to keep

a low profile.

(CROWD LAUGHING)

I heard about this

little city council meeting,

and thought it was

a good opportunity

to see how my money

was being spent,

and all I see is sour faces.

Think nothing of that, my boy.

They're just a few disruptive

females in attendance.

Don't worry, sir. I was just about

to have them escorted away.

Leslie!

You were saying, Chief?

BRUCE:
There were newspapers

in Europe, James.

Is it as bad as I read?

Worse. Despite your best efforts

with this World's Fair,

the city seems to be getting

more deplorable every day.

First, this masked

Batman vigilante,

then this

Jack the Ripper lunatic.

They're not the same man?

(LAUGHS) Rubbish.

The parish home is full

of unfortunates

who swear the Batman

saved them from the gangs.

SISTER LESLIE:
He's on

the side of the angels.

This Ripper, however, is not.

I've seen the bodies, Bruce. Cut

to pieces, like an autopsy.

GORDON:

Just absolutely appalling.

Strange the top man at Arkham

tells us he's never seen

this kind of controlled

savagery before.

Bruce, the latest victim was

one of our orphanage girls.

It was Pamela.

What? No. You wrote me.

You said she was working.

Dancing, then the opium.

And now...

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