The Dark Knight Rises Page #23

SELINA:

Girl's gonna eat.

BLAKE:

You have an appetite. Why run? You

can't hide from us with this

record.

SELINA:

Maybe it's not you I'm running

from.

BLAKE:

Who then? Bane? What do you know

about him?

SELINA:

(QUIET)

That you should be as afraid of him

as I am.

89.

BLAKE:

We can offer you protection...

Selina looks at him with contempt. Blake shrugs, switches

off the tape, moves to the door.

BLAKE:

When I spotted you, I was looking

for a friend...Bruce Wayne.

Selina turns to look at Blake. His eyes plead with her.

BLAKE:

Did they kill him?

SELINA:

I'm not sure.

And we -

CUT TO:

BLACK SCREEN. Sounds: screaming, laughing, CRYING. Sights:

LIGHT, bodies FALLING, a DARK SKULL... And we are -

INT. STONE CELL - DAWN

Wayne opens his eyes. Unshaven. Filthy. Someone else is in

the cell - Wayne cannot move to look - even the attempt is

painful...the skull drifts into his sight. Bane. Squatting

at Wayne's bedside, muscled shoulders curving into his mask.

WAYNE:

Why didn't you just kill me?

BANE:

You don't fear death. You welcome

it. Your punishment is to be more

severe.

WAYNE:

(SCATHING)

You're a torturer...

BANE:

Yes. But not of your body. Of your

soul.

Wayne exhales. Eyes losing focus from sheer pain.

90.

WAYNE:

Where am I?

BANE:

Home.

Wayne's eyes dart about: filthy stone walls, distant

sunlight from above, iron bars: an underground prison.

Where I learned the truth about

despair. As will you. (Rises.)

There is a reason that this prison

is the worst hell on earth...

Bane steps to the bars - looks up at a bright opening five

hundred feet above. Like being at the bottom of a gigantic

well...

Hope. Every man who has rotted here

over the centuries has looked up to

the light and imagined climbing to

freedom. So simple. So easy. And,

like shipwrecked men turning to sea

water from uncontrollable thirst,

many have died trying. I learned

that there can be no true despair

without hope. (Turns to Wayne.) So

as I terrorize Gotham, I will feed

its people hope to poison their

souls. I will let them believe they

can survive so that you can watch

them clamber over each other to

stay in the sun...

Bane points to an old TV, just outside the bars.

You will watch as I torture an

entire city to cause you pain you

thought you could never feel again.

Then, when you have truly

understood the depths of your

failure, we will fulfill R¯'s al

A:

Gh¯l's destiny. We will destroy

U:

Gotham. And when it is done...when

Gotham is ashes...then you have my

permission to die.

Bane rises. Leaves. Wayne drifts back to unconsciousness.

EXT. BLACKGATE PRISON - DAY

A van pulls through the gate. Selina, inside the van, looks

up at the formidable grey building.

91.

INT. BLACKGATE PRISON - CONTINUOUS

Guards lead Selina down the cells. Whistles and catcalls.

GUARD:

We're locking her up in here?

WARDEN:

The Dent Act allows non-segregation

based on extraordinary need. First

time she broke out of women's

correctional she was sixteen.

Selina passes a Huge Inmate who strains through the bars...

HUGE INMATE:

Little closer, baby...

SELINA:

Why, honey, you wanna hold my hand?

Without breaking step, she slips his outstretched hands

between her handcuffed ones and cartwheels, snapping his

arms - he screams in agony - she keeps walking...

WARDEN:

She'll be just fine.

INT. WAYNE ENTERPRISES - DAY

Fox comes out of the elevator with Miranda.

FOX:

I don't see the need for a board

meeting on the energy project -

MIRANDA:

Bruce got a lot of things right.

Keeping the board in the dark

wasn't one of them...

Fox swings the doors to the boardroom open...

INT. BOARDROOM, WAYNE ENTERPRISES - CONTINUOUS

The board is there. Scared. At the head of the table - Bane.

BANE:

This meeting is called to order.

Fox and Miranda freeze. Staring at the mask.

92.

BANE:

Chair and President. I also need

one ordinary member - Mr. Fox,

would you care to nominate?

FREDERICKS:

No. I volunteer.

The dignified older board member gets to his feet.

Mercernaries round the three up.

FOX:

Where are you taking us?

BANE:

Where you buried your resources.

The bowels of Gotham.

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY

Gordon, with a Nurse's help, pulls himself to a seated

position as Blake watches.

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