INT. DAGGETT’S PENTHOUSE – NIGHT 96
Daggett watches the TV coverage, concerned. Stryver enters.
STRYVER
Bane says the Batman interfered, but the task was accomplished.
DAGGETT
What about the men they arrested?
STRYVER
He says, and I quote, they would die before talking.
DAGGETT
(grins)
Where does he find these guys?
Daggett gets to his feet, relieved, moves to his inner office.
Open the champagne …
INT. INNER OFFICE, DAGGETT’S PENTHOUSE – CONTINUOUS 97
Daggett comes through the door, calling back.
DAGGETT
And can we get some girls in here?
CATWOMAN
(o.s.)
Careful what you wish for.
Catwoman grabs him, throws him across the room. His back slams against the wall – he draws a gun, but – whack! – Catwoman pins his wrist to the wall at shoulder height using the high heel of her boot. He whimpers as she leans in …
CATWOMAN
Cat got your tongue?
She plucks the gun from his trembling hand.
DAGGETT
You dumb bitch.
CATWOMAN
Nobody ever accused me of being dumb.
DAGGETT
Dumb to show up here tonight.
CATWOMAN
I want what you owe me –
Click – Stryver has a gun to her head.
DAGGETT
‘I want’ never gets …
Stryver looks appreciatively at Catwoman as she lowers her leg …
STRYVER
Nice outfit … those heels make it tough to walk?
Catwoman digs her stiletto into his calf, hard. He screams.
CATWOMAN
I don’t know, do they?
Catwoman spins, disarms Styver, grabs Daggett.
CATWOMAN
So where is it?
DAGGETT
Where is what?
CATWOMAN
The program. The ‘Clean Slate’.
DAGGETT
Oh, yeah – the ultimate tool for a master thief with a record. I don’t have it.
The Bodyguard bursts in, gun drawn. Catwoman, holding Daggett, spins, kicking the window with the point of her heel. The glass shatters. She pulls Daggett through the window. He screams – they drop …
EXT. WINDOW-CLEANING PLATFORM – CONTINUOUS 98
… ten feet onto the window-cleaning platform. Catwoman uses her bladed heel to cut a rope – the platform plunges down the side of the building.
EXT. FLAT ROOF – MOMENTS LATER 99
Catwoman dumps Daggett onto the roof, towering over him.
CATWOMAN
Where is it?
DAGGETT
The ‘Clean Slate’? Type in a name and date of birth and within a couple hours that person ceases to exist in any database? Little too good to be true.
CATWOMAN
You’re lying. Rykin Data took it to prototype stage –
DAGGETT
That’s why I bought them. But they had nothing. It was a gangland myth.
Catwoman leans back from Daggett, taking this in … Shapes drop onto the rooftop. Emerge from fire exits. These are not Daggett’s bodyguards, these are Bane’s men … Catwoman holds Daggett by the throat, threatening him.
CATWOMAN
Stay back!
They continue to approach. One of them screws a silencer onto his gun.
CATWOMAN
I’m not bluffing!
VOICE
(o.s.)
They know …
All eyes search for the source of the voice. Catwoman spots it – a dark shape, crouched on the roof above: Batman.
BATMAN
They just don’t care.
As the Mercenary with the silencer looks up, Catwoman leaps forward, grabs his gun. Batman drops into the middle of the fray, fighting back Mercenaries at Catwoman’s back – she fires at one, clipping him, he drops. She spins aiming at another’s head – Batman yanks her arm down, forcing her to miss the Mercenary. Batman takes him out with a kick.
CATWOMAN
You’ve got to be kidding.
BATMAN
No guns. No killing.
CATWOMAN
Where’s the fun in that?
As more Mercenaries come out onto the roof, Batman runs for the far edge.
BATMAN
Come on!
Catwoman follows, confused, as Batman leaps off the roof. She gets to the edge, pauses to look down into the alley – sees the black angular roof of the Bat, cockpit open.
Shots impact around her – she leaps, landing hard but gracefully on the back of the vehicle, slides into the cockpit. As the engines thunder into life, and the canopy hisses shut, taking bullets from above.
CATWOMAN
My mother warned me about getting into cars with strange men –
BATMAN
This isn’t a car.
Catwoman flinches as the Bat thunders into the sky, downdraft forcing Mercenaries down onto the roof, all but one, who walks slowly across the roof, strong against the wind … Bane. He watches the Bat roar off into the night.
EXT. ROOFTOP, SKYSCRAPER, GOTHAM – MOMENTS LATER 100
The Bat lands – the canopy opens. Catwoman jumps out.
CATWOMAN
See you around –
Batman steps down after her.
BATMAN
You’re welcome.
CATWOMAN
I had it under control.
BATMAN
Those weren’t street thugs – they were trained killers. I saved your life. In return I need to know what you did with Bruce Wayne’s fingerprints.
Catwoman looks at him. Considering.
CATWOMAN
Wayne wasn’t kidding about a ‘powerful friend’. I sold his prints to Daggett. For something that doesn’t even exist.
BATMAN
I doubt many people get the better of you.
CATWOMAN
Hey, when a girl’s desperate …
BATMAN
What were they going to do with them?
CATWOMAN
I don’t know. But Daggett seemed pretty interested in that mess at the stock market.
Batman considers this. A police chopper sweeps past, searching. Batman turns to it. Then turns back.
BATMAN
Miss Kyle –?
But she is gone.
So that’s what that feels like.
INT. BATCAVE – NIGHT 101
Alfred is studying security camera footage of Bane killing at the stock exchange. A roar builds – the waterfall glows brighter until … smash! The Bat breaches, downdraft spraying water. Two cubes rise – the Bat lands, Batman jumps out. Alfred brushes water off his suit.
ALFRED
Very inconspicuous. Shall I tell the neighbors you got yourself a new leaf-blower?
WAYNE
We bought all the neighbors.
Alfred takes the cowl from him, then the cape, as they walk.
ALFRED
From the look of the television coverage, you seem to have your taste for wanton destruction back.
WAYNE
(pulls out USB drive)
I retrieved this.
ALFRED
Shouldn’t the police be gathering the evidence?
WAYNE
They don’t have the tools to analyze it.
ALFRED
They would if you gave them to them –
WAYNE
One man’s tool is another man’s weapon.
ALFRED
In your mind, perhaps. But there aren’t many things that you couldn’t turn into a weapon.
WAYNE
Alfred. Enough. The police weren’t getting it done –
ALFRED
Perhaps they would’ve if you hadn’t made a sideshow of yourself.
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WAYNE
Perhaps you’re upset you were wrong.
ALFRED
Wrong?
WAYNE
You thought I didn’t have it in me.
Alfred looks at him. Puts down the cape and cowl.
ALFRED
You don’t. You led a bloated police force on a merry chase with some fancy new toys from Fox. What about when you come up against him. What then?
Alfred points to the monitor – Wayne sees Bane killing …
WAYNE
I’ll fight harder, like I always have.
ALFRED
When you had something to fight for. What are you fighting for now? Not your life.
Wayne moves to switch off the monitor. Alfred grabs his hand.
ALFRED
Take a good look. At his speed, his ferocity. His training. I see the power of belief. Of the fanatic. I see the League of Shadows resurgent.
WAYNE
You said he was excommunicated.
ALFRED
By Rā’s al Ghūl. Who leads them now?
WAYNE
Rā’s al Ghūl was the League of Shadows. And I beat him. Bane’s just a mercenary, and we have to find out what he’s up to.
Wayne plugs the USB in, hits keys. Text scrolls.
WAYNE
Trades of some kind. Coded …
The screen blanks, a thumb print appears.
ALFRED
Is that –?
WAYNE
Mine. Courtesy of Selina Kyle.
Wayne pulls out the USB, rises.
Get this to Fox – he can crack the code and tell us what trades they were executing.
Alfred looks at Wayne. Takes the USB.
INT. HALL, WAYNE MANOR – CONTINUOUS (NIGHT) 101A
As Wayne hits the bottom of the stairs, Alfred calls.
ALFRED
I’ll get this to Fox. But no more.
Wayne hears his tone of voice. Turns to him.
ALFRED
I’ve sewn you up and set your bones … but I won’t bury you.
I’ve buried enough members of the Wayne family.
WAYNE
You’d abandon me?
ALFRED
You see only one end to your story. Leaving is all I have to make you understand: you aren’t Batman any more – you have to find another way. You used to talk about finishing. About life beyond that awful cave –
WAYNE
Rachel died knowing we’d decided to be together. That was my life beyond this cave and I can’t just move on. She didn’t. She couldn’t.
Alfred considers this. Looks away.
ALFRED
What if she had? What if she wasn’t intending to make a life with you?
WAYNE
She was, I can’t change that –
ALFRED
What if, before she died, she’d written a letter? Explaining that she’d chosen Harvey Dent over you?
Wayne watches, confused, as the old man prepares to say –
ALFRED
And what if, to spare you pain … I’d burned that letter?
Wayne stares at Alfred, shocked.
WAYNE
Why would you say such a thing?
ALFRED
Because I have to make you understand.
WAYNE
You’re lying.
ALFRED
Because you are as precious to me as you were to your own mother and father and I swore to them I’d protect you and I haven’t.
WAYNE
You’re lying!
ALFRED
I’ve never lied to you. Except when I burned Rachel’s letter.
Wayne turns on the old man, furious.
WAYNE
How dare you use Rachel to stop me!
ALFRED
I’m using the truth, Master Wayne. Maybe it’s time we all stopped trying to outsmart the truth and just let it have its day. I’m sorry.
WAYNE
Sorry?! You expect to destroy my world, then shake hands?!
ALFRED
No. I know what this means –
WAYNE
What does it mean, Alfred?!
ALFRED
It means your hatred. It means losing the person I’ve cared for since I heard his first cries echo through this house. But it might also mean saving your life. And that is more important.
Wayne looks at Alfred. Furious. Summons the worst thing to say and says it quietly and calmly.
WAYNE
Goodbye, Alfred.
ALFRED
(quiet)
Goodbye, Bruce.
Wayne mounts the stairs … Alfred watches him go. Turns.
INT. MASTER BEDROOM, WAYNE MANOR – MORNING 102
Wayne is woken by the doorbell.
INT. STAIRCASE, WAYNE MANOR – MOMENTS LATER 103
As Wayne moves through the empty house, tying his dressing gown, he can’t resist one tentative.
WAYNE
Alfred?
But Alfred is gone.
INT. FRONT HALL, WAYNE MANOR – CONTINUOUS 104
Wayne opens the front door to find Fox. Fox is surprised.
FOX
Answering your own door?
WAYNE
Yes. Could you decode the trades on that drive?
Fox hands Wayne a newspaper – the main headline: BATMAN BACK TO FOIL OR MASTERMIND STOCK RAID …
FOX
I didn’t need to. Page three.
Wayne turns the page: WAYNE DOUBLES DOWN – AND LOSES …
FOX
It seems you made a series of large put options on the futures exchange. Verified by thumb print. The options expired at midnight last night.
Wayne looks up from the newspaper, reeling.
FOX
Long term we may be able to prove fraud, but for now … you’re completely broke. And Wayne Enterprises is about to fall into the hands of John Daggett.
WAYNE
The weapons – we can’t let Daggett get his hands on Applied Sciences –
FOX
Applied Sciences is shut up tight, and off the books. The energy project is a different story.
WAYNE
Miranda Tate. We need to convince the board to get behind her. Let’s show her the reactor –
FOX
We’re meeting her there in thirty-five minutes. You better get dressed.
EXT. WAYNE ENTERPRISES RECYCLING PLANT – DAY 105
A scrapyard on the Gotham river. Across the water, the towers of Gotham. Lucius leads Miranda from her car.
MIRANDA
You brought me out here to show me a rubbish dump, Mr. Fox?
FOX
Bear with me, Miss Tate.
They arrive at a Portakabin, and enter.
INT. PORTAKABIN – CONTINUOUS 106
Miranda looks around the derelict office. Fox smiles at her.
FOX
Keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times.
He hits a button and the floor descends, Miranda is shocked as the office becomes an elevator into –
INT. ELEVATOR, FUSION REACTOR – CONTINUOUS 107
They descend diagonally into a massive concrete tunnel …
MIRANDA
This is it, isn’t it?
FOX
The reactor is beneath the river so that it could be instantly flooded in the event of a security breach.
MIRANDA
Is Bruce Wayne really that paranoid?
FOX
I’m gonna plead the fifth on that one.
Miranda marvels as they step off the elevator. She spots a figure deep within: Bruce Wayne.
WAYNE
I thought you might like to see what your investment built.
MIRANDA
No radiation, no fossil fuels. Free, clean energy for an entire city.
WAYNE
If it worked. It doesn’t.
Wayne leads Miranda to the core. Two perpendicular rings of electromagnets susp
end a bowling-ball-sized mass of metal … Wayne hits buttons – the ball glows, then dies to cold.
WAYNE
Ignition, yes. But no chain reaction.
MIRANDA
You’ve built a lot of security around a damp squib.
Nothing.
About three years ago a Russian scientist published a paper on weaponized fusion reactions. One week later your reactor started developing problems … (Looks at Wayne.) I think this machine works.
WAYNE
Miranda, if it were operational, the danger to Gotham would be too great.
MIRANDA
Would it make you feel better to know that the Russian scientist died in a plane crash six months ago?
WAYNE
Someone else will work out what Dr. Pavel did. Someone else will figure out how to turn this power source into a nuclear weapon. I need you to take control of Wayne Enterprises and this reactor.
MIRANDA
And do what with it?
WAYNE
Nothing. Until we can find a way to guarantee its safety.
MIRANDA
And if we can’t?
WAYNE
Decommission it. Flood it.
MIRANDA
Destroy the world’s best chance for a sustainable future?
WAYNE
If the world’s not ready. Yes.
MIRANDA
Bruce, if you want to save the world you have to start trusting it.
WAYNE
I’m trusting you.
MIRANDA
Doesn’t count. You have no choice.
WAYNE
I could’ve flooded this chamber any time in the last three years. I’m choosing to trust you, Miranda, and that’s not the easiest thing for me. Please.
His eyes are genuine. Pleading. Miranda nods.
FOX
We have a board meeting to get to.
INT. BOARDROOM, WAYNE ENTERPRISES – DAY 108
The Board Members, including Daggett and Miranda, take their seats. Fox at one end of the table, Wayne at the other.
DAGGETT
I’d like to point out that we have a non-board member here. Highly irregular, even if it is his family name above the door …
All eyes go to Wayne. An older member of the board pipes up.
FREDERICKS
Bruce Wayne’s family built this company –
BOARD MEMBER 2
THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY: The Complete Screenplays with Storyboards Page 31