The Dark Knight Rises Page #29

Tough-looking Revellers crack open champagne - spraying it,

swigging it - Selina amongst them, watching...

BANE (V.O.)

Blood will be shed...

INT. SEWERS - DAY

Hundreds of Police living underground. Dividing up supplies

lowered by ropes... Ross opens a pack of supplies.

BANE (V.O.)

But the police will live, until

they are ready to serve true

justice...

EXT. GOTHAM STADIUM - NIGHT

Moving in on the bright glow of the core...

BANE (V.O.)

This great city will endure...

Close enough to see the flickering digits of its

countdown...

BANE (V.O.)

Gotham will survive.

Mercenaries load the core into the back of a black truck.

INT. STONE CELL, UNDERGROUND PRISON - DAY

Wayne rolls off his cot. Grunts. The Prisoner realizes Wayne

is trying to do a push-up. From the next cell, the Blind

Prisoner says something...

PRISONER:

He says you must first straighten

your back.

The Prisoner helps Wayne roll over, painfully.

113.

WAYNE:

How would he know?

PRISONER:

He was the prison doctor. A

morphine addict who incurred the

displeasure of powerful people.

Including your masked friend.

WAYNE:

How?

PRISONER:

Many years ago, during a time of

plague, Bane was attacked by other

prisoners. The doctor's fumbling

attempts to repair the damage left

him in perpetual agony. The mask

holds his pain at bay.

WAYNE:

Is Bane the child you spoke of? Was

he born here?

PRISONER:

The legend is that there was a

mercenary working for the local

warlord who fell in love with his

daughter. They married in secret.

The Prisoner takes a rope - ties it under Wayne's arms.

PRISONER:

When the warlord found out, he

condemned the mercenary to this

pit. But then exiled him instead.

INSERT CUT:
the Mercenary is dropped at the side of a barren

road. He starts to walk.

PRISONER:

The mercenary understood that the

warlord's daughter had secured his

release, but he couldn't know the

true price of his freedom. She had

taken his place in the pit.

INSERT CUT:
a Woman is lowered into the prison. The

prisoners below all have their faces covered with muslin

masks...

114.

PRISONER:

And she was with the child. The

mercenary's child.

INSERT CUT:
the Woman watches as the Doctor, (the Blind

Prisoner, younger-looking, sighted) examines her small

child. The Doctor exits, locking the cell...

PRISONER:

One day the doctor forgot the lock

the cell...

INSERT CUT:
Prisoners move into the cell towards his mother.

The child runs at them with a knife...

PRISONER:

Innocence cannot flower

underground. It was to be stamped

out. But the child had a friend. A

protector...

INSERT CUT:
the Protector, face covered, pulls the Child off

the attackers. One grabs for the Child - the Protector snaps

his arm, carries the Child into a corner...

PRISONER:

...who showed the others that this

innocence was their redemption. The

mother was not so lucky.

The Blind Prisoner shouts at the Prisoner. He nods.

PRISONER:

This is Bane's prison now. Bane

would not want this story told.

The Prisoner pulls - Wayne screams in pain as he is pulled

upright. The Prisoner ties him off. Checks his spine.

You have a protruding

vertebra...I'm going to force it

back...

WAYNE:

How -?

The Prisoner punches Wayne in the back, hard. Wayne screams.

PRISONER:

You stay like this. Until you

stand.

Wayne passes out from the pain and we FADE TO BLACK.

Wayne is hanging in his cell, delirious.

115.

R¯'S AL GH¯L (O.S.)

A U:

Did you not think I'd return,

Bruce?

R¯'s al Gh¯l, in his Ducard guise, steps in front of Wayne.

A U:

R¯'S AL GH¯L

A U:

I told you I was immortal.

WAYNE:

I watched you die.

R¯'S AL GH¯L

A U:

There are many forms of

immortality.

Wayne looks inward, remembering...

INSERT CUT:
R¯'s at the campfire (from Batman Begins).

A:

R¯'S AL GH¯L

A U:

Once I had a wife. My great love.

She was taken from me...

INSERT CUT:
the Woman is lowered into the prison...

Wayne looks at R¯'s.

A:

WAYNE:

You were the mercenary. Bane is

your child. Your heir.

INSERT CUT:
the Mercenary at the side of the road. R¯'s.

A:

R¯'S AL GH¯L

A U:

An heir to ensure the League of

Shadows fulfills its duty to

restore balance to civilization.

WAYNE:

No...

R¯'S AL GH¯L

A U:

You yourself fought the decadence

of Gotham for years. With all your

strength and resources, all your

moral authority. And the only

victory you could achieve was a

lie. Finally you understand...

Gotham is beyond saving...

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