Batman: Year One Page #8

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DAVE:

Um, I guess. There was this one

time my brother-in-law wanted to

open a bar and the wife says...

The conversation is interrupted by GORDON'S RADIO.

RADIO:

Four-Sixteen. DUTTON HEIGHTS

HOUSING PROJECTS. Hostage

situation. Suspect armed and

dangerous. SWAT teams have been

deployed. Responding officers

report to Commissioner Loeb on

site.

GORDON:

What the HELL is Loeb doing there?

GORDON jumps to his feet and grabs his coat.

DAVE:

What's up Jim, that's not even your

beat?

GORDON:

(running for the door)

Loeb's an animal. It'll be a

bloodbath.

GORDON runs for the door and out onto —

EXT. THE STREETS OP GOTHAM CITY - MOMENTS LATER

GORDON drives like a madman through the run-down East End.

SIRENS BLARING.

LIGHTNING rips across the clear sky. A storm is rolling in.

EXT. THE DUTTON HEIGHTS HOUSING PROJECTS - MINUTES LATER

UNIFORMED POLICE OFFICERS hold back curious residents.

A GUNMAN yells unintelligibly from the roof of the projects.

GORDON arrives the same time as the TV NEWS VAN from Channel

One Eyewitness News.

Parked at the center of the police encampment: A SWAT VAN.

Inside a half dozen men strap on BODY ARMOR and check their

MACHINE GUNS.

LOEB:

Ah, the COWBOY. Came to see how

REAL policemen earn their pay?

GORDON:

Where's the negotiator?

The SWAT guys are climbing out of the van, ready for action.

LOEB:

He's working a jumper on the Herzog

Bridge. We don't have time to wait.

Time is money, tax-payer's money.

GORDON:

More like VOTERS' money. That's it,

isn't it? You're here for the TV

cameras.

GORDON, disgusted, heads back toward his car.

SOMEONE IN THE CROWD

Oh my god he's got a baby!

GORDON STOPS. LOOKS UP.

The GUNMAN in fact holds a LITTLE BABY. LOOKS OVER.

LOEB's SNIPERS have taken their positions.

LIGHTNING.

The GUNMAN is spinning around with the child in his arms,

yelling at the lightening. The SNIPERS try to line up their

shots.

It's all happening too FAST.

LOEB talks to the SNIPERS on a RADIO.

LOEB:

Take your shots.

SNIPER:

(on radio)

The baby is in the way. It's a

tough shot.

LOEB:

Just do your job. SHOOT HIM!

The GUNMAN waves a 9mm over the edge of the roof.

The TV CAMERAS zooms in on the GUNMAN.

The situation slips OUT OF CONTROL.

SOMEONE IN THE CROWD

Someone save the baby!

GORDON:

(to himself)

Aww, f*** it.

GORDON steps out from behind the POLICE BARRICADE.

LOEB:

Gordon! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE,

NOW!

GORDON ignores him and holds up his REVOLVER with two fingers

on its barrel.

GORDON (SHOUTS)

Hey! HEY YOU! I'm coming up!

GORDON drops his WEAPON —

THUD:

— and enters the building.

The TV CAMERAS eat it up.

Meanwhile, across town in -

INT. BRUCE WAYNE'S APARTMENT - DAY

BRUCE is A BALL OF NERVOUS ENERGY;

Outside, the RAIN beats down on his window.

He PACES back and forth.

CRASH.

LIGHTNING rips across the blue sky.

He tries to write a letter.

BOOM:

THUNDER rolls.

He can't sit still.

BRUCE (V.O.)

October 3. Dear Father, It's only

getting worse. It's tearing me

apart. I'm afraid it's happening.

I've let it out. Father, I've let

you down. I may have KILLED A MAN

last night. I may be a MURDERER. I

am no better than he was, a

monster.

Back at the —

INT. DUTTON HEIGHTS HOUSING PROJECTS - MOMENTS LATER

GORDON creaks up the stairs.

He approaches a DOOR that says "ROOF". He eases it OPEN.

The scruffy GUNMAN yells up at TV NEWS HELICOPTERS.

GUNMAN:

No identifying marks. A million

losers never finish.

His blond hair, going gray, sticks to his lips as he screams.

GUNMAN (CONT'D)

Spider nasty. Don't noise it. No

gangrene lunch.

GORDON steps out on the roof, hands open in front of him.

The GUNMAN has a 9mm pressed into a LITTLE BOY'S MOUTH.

HE HOLDS THE CHILD AGAINST HIS OWN CHEST. If he fires he

will kill the child AND himself.

The TERRIFIED child cries for his mother.

GORDON:

Hi, my name is Jim.

GORDON steps forwards to shake hands. The guy freaks —

GUNMAN:

Loudmouth fraud. Liberty is an ape.

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