BATMAN ENEMY OF THE STATE
Open in on Gotham, an unknown day in 1987, real stormy night without rain. There is no batsign, no lights as we close in on a deadend alley with a bunch of dumpsters. A young kid runs along the alleyway with a broken radio. The kid settles beside a dumpster holding the radio as he tries to find the correct channel. Static spewed into the kids face which prompts him to hit it twice with his hands and hit it twice on the ground. Suddenly the static starts receding as there is a faint tuning sound and the kid takes the chance to find the correct channel. There is a faint talking sound which starts to emanate and the sound is increased using the volume dial. “We have gathered here today to put an end to tyranny. The oppressed have lived in silent suffering for too long…”
Cut to a television screen showing a tall thin man with a thick mustache in a business suit. He looks vaguely Slavic and well fed. He is surrounded by militia members wearing military uniforms with a prevalent symbol, very analogous looking to the hammer and sickle. Their masks and blank stares indicate a cold yet sinister demeanor while the thick mustache man looks a lot more agitated with an air of smug superiority. He continues to talk
Mustache Man: The time has come to take back control from the fascists who wish to control us and the parasites who live off us. We will succeed in our efforts, we will destroy the darkness in our pursuit of the light. No more will the sick, the poor, the hurt and everyone else have to face their problems alone. Anyone who stands in our way will get annihilated starting today with this brave soul”
Camera pans to reveal a battered and bruised Batman sitting on a chair with his hands tied by fiber wire, bleeding through the side of his mouth and wire cutting into his wrists.
Mustache Man: The Saviors of the city, the caped crusader, the Dark Knight. This fascist and his cabal of extraordinary terrorist scum who you might know as the Justice League have used their undeserved power to persecute and control the general populace. What is Justice to these profiteers, these superiors, these “heroes”? Where are they when the poor starve, the sick suffer and the weak die? What does their work speak for them other than the destruction of capital, the villainization of the mentally ill and the war against the marginalized. This is not a war on crime, this is a hunt for sport. We will not tolerate this, the road to utopia is paved with the death of such individuals and we wil work towards a utopia, a better tomorrow for all and the liberation of oppressed worldwide. That path begins here, with the defacing and the defiling of the great Batman.
He calls upon three of his guards in a vague Slavic tongue. The gestures costumes and expressions involved invokes images of dictatorial regimes conducting capital punishment. Two guards grab Batman as he starts shaking in his chair to no avail, prompting said guards to take their rifles and sock him in the jaw and the back of the neck with their rifle stocks. They put their rifles back on their shoulders and hold his arms tight as another guard approces the chair from behind. Mustache man continues talking
Mustache Man: Let us see who the famous crusader really is, the one who can have endless opportunities and resources to wage a one man war.
They guard at the back tries to remove Batmans mask as he violently tries to shuffly either side. As the mask comes off, there is a man in his late 40s, teeth clenched, bleeding and exhausted with white streaks and a recognizable face. As he opens his eyes, light flashes into his face as he stares directly into the screen with dilated pupils and the stare of a caged animal. This is the face of Bruce Wayne.
Two Years earlier
Shot of Gotham during the day, focusing on the Wayne Industries office twoer as the skyrail whizzes by. Bruce was in a board meeting with Lucius Fox and couple others on the stakeholding and board of directors side. This wasn’t an average meeting, Bruce was an adult man and hit pretty hard by the wisdom coming with age. He was very attentive making some astute observations with sufficient back and forth.
Kriegstein: Mr Wayne Division C for processing industrial resources needs some extra funding and possible developments in tech
Fox: Sure Mr Kriegstein I can look into the developments part, can get you some reports by the end of the week if not by the next couple of days.
Kriegstein: Mr Wayne?
Bruce: Sure I can take up the investments. Lets settle with the primary investments for now and take a look at the results.
Kriegstein: I would give the suggestion of going all in, it’s a pretty competent division who have given very good results in the past.
Bruce: Cant do Mr Kriegstein. I might have a good feeling about this and you have one too Im sure but I would rather take a complete look at the results before going further. I hope you understand.
Kriegstein: Respectable decision. I look forward to seeing the research and processing in action. Thank you gentlemen, thatll be all.
Kriegstein walks out of the room with a bunch of his documents as Bruce and Lucius Fox lead him out. Once he leaves they come back to the table and put on a slightly secretive demeanor while organizing documents.
Bruce: So what developments do you have for me Lucius?
Lucius: Well we have a new coffee maker for breaktimes.
Bruce: No, the other developments. Those developments.
Lucius: Ah, we have some new Kevlar, stab resistant, made from a new compound micropolymer. Its stitched in layers so you can be assured it works against anything thrown at you, unless youre gonna be hacked by a chainsaw. Pretty good if you ask me for whatever you might go against.
Bruce: Excellent. What else?
Lucius: Theres a targeting system still in beta stages, seems good so far. You got your usual thermal and you got some extras on top of that, sweet extras. The most important of them being a vital systems monitor. This could get a guys pulse and the like even if the guys gonna scramble other systems, mainly thermal. I could get you a sample if you wanted.
Bruce: Useful but it can wait, Id like to keep my senses useful for as long as possible.
Lucius: Fair. You got some vehicular modifications, a new propulsion system which operates on carbon neutral fuel sources, mostly mineral ones and has a 25% increase over your previous speed limit. You got a new camouflage system, color sensitive plating, might give you an edge in environmental advantages, slightly vulnerable to high intensity lights as reflectivity is around 10 to 15% but I don’t think that’s going to be a problem for you.
Bruce: Very good, I see you’ve upped your game.
Lucius: Anything for the best, the brightest and the richest in all the land.
Bruce: Haha true. You got anything else, possibly?
Lucius: Some other stuff, it can wait. Anything else, Mr Wayne?
Bruce: Thatll be all Mr Fox. Thank you for your time.
Bruce shakes Fox’s hand and both of them leave the room with Fox leading the way. Bruce takes his leave to go back home when hes greeted by a lanky fellow in a business suit in the hallway, the dictatorial man from the television broadcast. He didn’t look particularly business like nor aggressive but his scrawny figure and solemn demeanor indicated something sinister. He shook Bruce’s hand as an agitated receptionist came running towards him.
Man: Hello Mr Wayne, Im Alex Dunwich, you can call me Alex.
Receptionist: I tried to allot him an appointment Mr Wayne but he was quite insistent and hurried.
The mans accent was complemented by his demeanor, there was something oddly peculiar about him like a humanoid rat ready to pounce at any moment.
Bruce: Oh its alright, Ill take it from here. You’ve been a doll.
The receptionist blushed and walked away.
Bruce: Now then, nice to meet you Mr Dunwich. What can Wayne Industries help you with today?
Alex: Ive come here as part of an organization which seeks to evaluate some metrics of social and…
Bruce: What organization is this?
Alex: The Strategic Plan for social and welfare services, no acronyms.
Bruce: Pretty good name, could use an acronym as Im assuming it’s a work in progress.
Alex: Yes, it is. Anyways getting back to the issue at hand, we need evaluation of social and welfare statuses of the American populace at large. We wanted your organization to lend its hand in such a philanthropic effort. The process would involve a routine analysis of the functions of your organization, workplace evaluations, anonymous psychometric evaluations of employees and analysis of multiple other metrics.
At that moment, Bruce knew.
Alex: Would you be interested Mr Wayne?
Bruce: Im not currently. This endeavor seems to be suited for an industry and business of a different caliber. My organization does not have a large workforce and not to brag but we are doing our jobs quite well. I will admit that this is a very bold endeavor but I am not interested.
Alex: But we are…
Bruce: As much as I admire your intentions Mr Dunwich, nothing you can say is possibly going to change my mind. I wish you all the best.
Alex’s face becomes a bit more sour but slowly becomes emotionless as he parses the response.
Alex: Thank you for your time, Mr Wayne.
Those last syllables came out more sharp than intended as there was a perceptible anger which was contained behind the façade. Alex exited the room as stern faced Bruce was unwilling to budge at the response which was bordering on negativity, albeit let it slip out with a smile to acknowledge it. At the end of the day, Bruce took his leave after a brief talk with the receptionist. Despite his age, his character remained the same.
Back at Wayne Manor, 8:00PM at the Batcave, Bruce was busy suiting up for a round of night scouting.
Alfred: Arent you a bit old to be doing this Master Bruce? You are reaching 50 after all.
Bruce: Crime doesn’t stop, does it Alfred? It has its ups and downs but it doesn’t stop. Why should I?
Alfred: I worry for you Master Bruce. Ive raised you since you were a little lad and Ive seen you wasting yourself away for the plight of others. An amorphous dream, one which could probably just kill you.
Bruce: Don’t worry Alfred. I wont die just yet, Ive done this for more than 20 years now. You wont be burying me any time soon.
Alfred: If you say so.
Bruce sees Alfred turn solemn faced. He sighs, walks upto him and puts a hand on his shoulder.
Bruce: Take the rest of the night off. Go make yourself something and get some rest. Ill be fine.
Alfred forces a smile, nods and leaves. Bruce goes to the computer and starts tapping away.
MATCH CUT
Batman on top of a building looking away into the blackness of the city streets. The city was pretty bustling at midnight but some neighborhoods were empty, alleys were empty. Batman spreads his wings and glides across the rooftops. He lands on one and picks out his NVG. He surveys some of the alleyways and spots a bunch of masked men, heavy built with assault weapons, waltzing around a pick up truck. There were 4 of them, presumably guarding the truck which on closer examination was open. Batman stealthily navigated the rooftops to find a better vantage point. Since the truck was parked in an alleyway it was easier to find a vantage point. The street lights were below the rooftops and the moonlight didn’t cast a shadow not that it mattered since both Batman and the rogue party worked in the dark. Batman hatched a plan to get access to the truck. But he then saw the masked men alerted to something. They were assuming strategic positions and raising their arms in anticipation. They could be receiving instructions in their earphones but there were no signs of it since they didn’t touch their ears. It could be something inside the truck but Batman couldn’t possibly find out without access to it. He suddenly felt something around him, he turned to see a drone staring right into him. He threw a batrang and missed it as it dodged his attack. He didn’t want to waste his batrangs on this thing and grabbed his retractable stun gun. He had sufficient ammo charges and fired at the drone. It dodged the shot again. Batman hatched a plan on his toes and threw a batrang at it which it dodged but was quick enough to anticipate its dodge and shot it with his stun gun, electrocuting it and bringing it down. By this time he could hear footsteps closeby and was quick enough to slink away
Two of the armed men were on the terrace, guns in hand. One of them signaled the directions to be inspected and both of them proceeded to travel in both directions inspecting the area. The Batman had hid himself on the fire exit stairs just as they entered the terrace. As one of the men approached near, he pulled the man down by his legs in a surprise maneuver. Before he could react he was held by the Batman, in a choke hold, mouth muffled by a gloved hand. The Batman analyzes his gear as his gun fell to the bottom of the alley, making a mild thud sound. After a quick look the Batman breaks his knees with a kick and knocks him out with a punch to the head. The other man had noticed his partners absence by this time and started to look around the terrace alerted. As he reaches the fire exit stairs, Batman did a backflip kicking the man in the face and vaulting himself up to the terrace. The man was dazed and reached for his fallen gun before getting his hand stamped by a dark figure. His scream was muffled by a gloved hand shoved into his mouth. The Batman bent down on him, knee on chest and broke his elbow.
