! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! BACK ROOM PRODUCTIONS BZN and BACK ROOM PRODUCTIONS Presents BATMAN “NINE LIVES” WRITTEN BY LEE A. CHRIMES CREATED FOR VS BY ADAM SCOTT BASED ON CHARACTERS CREATED BY BOB KANE AND APPEARING IN MAGAZINES PUBLISHED BY DC COMICS FADE IN: EXT. FIRST BANK OF GOTHAM - EVENING The imposing, sturdy Art Deco of Gotham's primary banking institution sets the sunset scene, a small crowd gathered around the front steps and a smaller crowd within that surrounding a floodlit PODIUM, set up for a press conference. Microphones, TV news cameras and reporters, and a line of puffed up executive men and women hovering behind the raised stage like peacocks at feeding time. A middle-aged, balding man steps up to the podium, met by a series of CAMERA FLASHES - this is MARCUS HASLAM, and he is the proudest man in Gotham right now. HASLAM Thank you, thank you, ladies and gentlemen for your time here today, on the auspicious occasion of the unveiling of the First Bank of Gotham's all-new security vault. Singled out in the crowd is: BRUCE WAYNE Incognito, peering over shades at the Bank before looking down at his phone screen: Where the front page of the Gotham Broadcasting Company's news blog yells back at him: 'THE CATWOMAN STRIKES AGAIN' It's a story detailing a daring theft the day before, framed around a blurry CCTV image of the thief in question. And which just happens to have been penned by one Vicki Vale. Bruce looks back up at the Bank, a familiar grit in his jaw as he watches, discretely scanning the crowd. ALFRED (O.S.) Thinking of taking in a stray? Bruce glances over his shoulder as ALFRED PENNYWORTH joins him, the butler nodding towards the story on Bruce's phone screen. Bruce gives him a mild look. BRUCE Aren't you supposed to be pretending to be my butler? ALFRED You're not supposed to be here. In disguise, remember? (MORE) 2. ALFRED (CONT'D) So if you're expecting me to bow and scrape then you've got another thing coming. BRUCE (amused) So noted. He looks back at the screen. Alfred cranes his neck for a look. ALFRED So back to my original question-- BRUCE She interests me. Let's call her a 'person of interest'. ALFRED This is the same person of interest who half-inched a priceless statuette the other evening? BRUCE The same. And she's got some skill. CUT TO: INT. MUSEUM - NIGHT BLACK AND WHITE, FIRST PERSON footage as we race up to a display case containing a jade CAT STATUETTE. BRUCE (V.O.) Highly agile, detailed knowledge of each of her targets and enough tech support to infiltrate security. Plus, her skills suggest she's been trained rather than picking it up as she went along. With a few discrete taps, two BLACK-GLOVED HANDS open a swing door in the side of the case, carefully removing the statue. CUT BACK TO: EXT. FIRST BANK OF GOTHAM - EVENING As before. Alfred looks amused. ALFRED A kindred spirit, then, only on the opposite side of the looking-glass. BRUCE Something like that. Bruce's attention drifts back to the press conference: 3. HASLAM Thanks to advances in one hundred and twenty-eight bit security algorithms, courtesy of our friends at Wayne Enterprises, plus the latest in promethium alloys, we can now make a claim no other bank in the world can dispute... (pauses for effect) We have the world's first and only theft-proof vault! More FLASHES and a hubbub of a dozen reporters firing questions all at once. Haslam waves for them to quieten down, soaking up his moment in the limelight. ALFRED Ah, the unbreakable vault. BRUCE Pretty tempting target for someone looking to raise their profile. ALFRED And this is relevant to our work on the Brotherhood because...? BRUCE Because it's not just money the First Bank keeps. Their servers have all kinds of secure information - Wayne Enterprises keep a chunk of our data in there. That makes this a personal case. ALFRED And you're sure she'll make a move tonight? He picks out a handful of faces - the wealthy, pampered and publicity-seeking of Gotham, all assembled in a section of the crowd ring-fenced before the podium. His eyes linger on a WOMAN with long, black curly hair doing her best Audrey Hepburn in a large hat and glasses as she moves through the crowd, before Haslam continues: HASLAM Now I'm sure you'll all have plenty of questions, so... (gesturing) ... learned friends, members of the press, if you'd like to follow me, we can head in for a closer look. 4. BRUCE (to Alfred) All these people, the circus, the distraction, the attention of the press. (shrugs) I would. ALFRED Really? BRUCE If I was trying to make a statement, sure. Theatricallity, deception - any of this ringing a bell? ALFRED I still think you're off your nut. (off his look) But you're probably right. The reasoning is sound. BRUCE (points) Come on. Haslam steps down off the podium, the group around him making to follow him into the bank. Bruce and Alfred start to head off, away from the crowd. BRUCE (CONT'D) She'll wait until tonight. Case the place out first, see what she's up against. Might even be in the crowd right now but there's no way for us to identify her yet. ALFRED Shall I go get your gear ready in the car, then? BRUCE (nods) We can swing back this way later tonight after we've taken care of our other business. Besides, Lucius assures me that quick-access suit will be as easy as pulling on a pair of gloves. ALFRED I look forward to hearing whatever inventive curses your vocabulary produces when you try to get into it, then. 5. Alfred peels away, and with a last gaze at the crowd outside the bank as Haslam's group head indoors, Bruce follows. As the journalists cluster together, FOCUS on one in particular - a harrassed-looking man, fiddling with a handheld audio recorder far too advanced for him. BUMP! He's jolted out of his daze as a TEENAGE GIRL rebounds from him. She's slim, pale, unassuming, and raises her hands to apologise with a sweet smile. Reporter nods back, stealing another glance at her as she moves away, before the crowd of onlookers engulfs her. TRACK the girl as she weaves through the hustle, soon arriving at the waiting Aubrey Hepburn lookalike, positioned carefully out of direct sight of any cops or cameras. A nod of recognition between them, the girl striding past without slowing: And slipping a PRESS PASS into the woman's hand, the practised manoeuvre done in an instant. GIRL Got you one without a photo. WOMAN Good girl. The girl melts back into the crowd with practiced ease. Heading towards the crowd of journalists, the woman quickly ditches her hat, slips off her coat and reverses it with a flourish before shrugging it back on. Letting her hair down out of its bun and pinning the press pass onto her lapel, the woman arrives at the security barricade looking every inch the newshound. As she follows the others inside, we CUT TO: INT. BANK OF GOTHAM - FOYER - NEXT Haslam leads the gaggle, the high-vaulted ceilings hinting at the building's more illustrious past. Armoured glass booths and other anachronisms clash with the stonework facades. Haslam comes to a halt in the middle of the open space, the press and dignitaries clustering around. HASLAM Quick show of hands, who here today has any savings or valuables stored here at the First Bank? 6. Swapped glances in the crowd before, one by one, pretty much everybody has their hand up. HASLAM (CONT'D) (grins) The aim of today's demonstration is to show that everyone from Gotham's elite all the way down to the little people can be safe in the knowledge the First Bank will keep their Benjamins safe and sound. (waves) If you'd like to follow me? He heads on, the crowd fanning out behind as murmured conversations fill the space. Unseen by all, our mystery woman slips round and into an alcove out of sight, already detached from the group. INT. BANK OF GOTHAM - CORRIDOR - NEXT Haslam leads the group down a lavish, red-carpeted corridor heading towards a set of heavy duty doors. Haslam is gushing enthusiastically to one of the reporters: HASLAM Nobody's ever attempted a design like this before. Karthain Security have outdone themselves this time! As the group continue and Haslam's rhetoric fades, the Woman reappears, carefully tailing them all towards the vault. The Woman pushes her hair back - revealing a BLUETOOTH EARPIECE hidden by her flowing locks. WOMAN (into earpiece) Camera jammers online? VOICE (filtered; through earpiece) All green. You're a ghost. WOMAN Always thought I was an Aries. She glances up to her left: A small CCTV CAMERA pivots lazily, the Woman cautiously moving out into its sweeping pattern. INT. BANK OF GOTHAM - SECURITY OFFICE - NEXT Where the camera's feed displays on one monitor among a bank of dozens. 7. Where the Woman should be, there's merely a ripple, refracted light as if the lens was blurred. A ghost indeed. INT. BANK OF GOTHAM - VAULT ENTRANCE - NEXT Haslam strides into frame, leading the group down a plush hallway and heading up towards: THE VAULT An imposing, steampunk monstrosity of a bank vault, all sliding cogs and bolts framing a massive wheeled handle.