"The Batman"...

EXT. ALLEYWAY - NIGHT

ALLAN AMBRY slams into the brick wall, his faces scratching the rough surface. He slides down to the wet pavement. His eyes slide shut

VOICE
You are going to tell me where he is AMBRY; you are going to tell me, now

Ambry shakes his head and his eyes slip open as a black shadow slips over him

AMBRY
I don’t know nothing, I swear!

The shadow bends down to reveal THE BATMAN. His face is in a dark grimace.

THE BATMAN
You know where he is, don’t lie to me

Ambry still shakes his head

AMBRY
I swear I don’t know BATS I really don’t

THE BATMAN
That's funny, cause this...

He pulls out a small blade

THE BATMAN (CONT’D)
...says you do

THE BATMAN slides the blade across Ambry’s face. Ambry lets out a blood curdling scream

AMBRY
You can’t do this...you can’t do this!

THE BATMAN
Tell me what I want to know!

Ambry shivers with terror

AMBRY
There’s a black and purple house on the end of Gresham Street...he’s
there, he’s there!

THE BATMAN lowers the blade from his face and smirks

THE BATMAN
Thank you

He gets up and lets his long flowing cape flap into Ambry’s face.

AMBRY
He’s going to kill me now

THE BATMAN turns

THE BATMAN
Have you ever felt what a .22 Caliber bullet can do?

Ambry shakes his head

THE BATMAN
Its a once in a lifetime feeling

THE BATMAN draws a .22 Special and fires. The bullet slams into Ambry’s head spraying his brains on the brick behind him.
The barrel of the gun smokes as THE BATMAN slips into the shadows.

[FADE TO BLACK:]

EXT. THE JOKER’S HOUSE OF FUN - NIGHT

Two armed clowns, BUBBLES and JOJO, stand outside keeping watch
The SWISH of metal ripping through the night air turns JoJo’s head to the left, his head follows the sound off away from Bubbles

JOJO
You hear that?

JoJo looks back over to his fellow sentry to find a BATARANG lodged in Bubble’s throat. JoJo spins towards the door, but quickly two more Batarangs lodge into his back. He collapses to his knees. He falls on his side and looks out at the darkness; two white eyes appear and begin to move towards him. He twitches in fear, blood gurgling out of his mouth

JOJO
He’s here...

JoJo passes in a last twitch of synapses.

INT. JOKER’S HOUSE OF FUN - NIGHT
A comically large desk sits in the center of the gigantic dark and empty room. A bright red chair sits positioned directly in front of a floor length window. The chair twists back and forth as the playful giggle of THE JOKER creeps over the soft velvet surface.

A commotion in heard in another room. A few gunshots are fired and bodies hit the floor in unison. Empty shells clank to the ground as footsteps echo into the cavernous room.

The chair twists furiously now as a shadow creeps closer to the chair.
A crackle grows in The Joker’s gut

THE JOKER
Guess my jig is up, should come out with my hands up, prepared to face the press and all that?

The footsteps stop

THE JOKER
There’s days I wish Johnny Cochran was still alive, I say if he can get O.J. off, he can definitely expunge me of my crimes

A heavy breathing answers him

THE JOKER
Not much for talking tonight huh Bats? Well I am...I want to know what you’re here for?

No answer

THE JOKER
Come now there must be something driving you...maybe a little revenge?

Still silence

THE JOKER
OK, allow me to fill in the hole that brought you here...your good friend, the DA’s assistant, she met a cheery and happy end water skiing in Gotham Harbor. All you had to say was “This is not a boating accident” and poof you show up here...sounds good Bruce?

Nothing

THE JOKER
Shoot me if you must, but remember one thing...

The chair spins to reveal a jack in the box with a walkie talkie next to it

THE JOKER
I always get the last laugh

In front of the jack in the box stands a clown, MAXIE, with a letter in his hands with the insignia of THE BATMAN. The video camera embedded in the jack in the box zooms in.

THE JOKER
(over the walkie talkie)
Open it you fool

MAXIE opens the envelope and the Joker’s camera zooms in on the words. It reads, “The joke is on you”

CUT TO:

INT. JOKER’S SECRET HIDEOUT - NIGHT
The Joker looks inquisitively at the video screen, his white face caught in a quizzical look, but his ruby red lips still smiling.

THE JOKER
What in the hell does that mean?

The business end of .22 Special pushes against The Joker’s cheek

The Joker’s eyes look to his right

THE JOKER
Oh...that explains it

The hammer on the revolver clicks back

THE JOKER
You can’t do this; Gotham won’t stand for another murder to cover up on your behalf

THE BATMAN
You think that bothers me a bit

The Joker shakes his head “No”

THE JOKER
Not in the slightest actually, I was just trying to appeal to the soft sensitive side of the Bat, maybe goad the undercarriage a little

THE BATMAN
You don’t want to go back to lock and I don’t want to have to take you back there

THE JOKER
Sounds like we have something in...

THE BATMAN
Shut up

THE JOKER
Right

THE BATMAN
You and I are going to strike a deal Jack

THE JOKER
I like deals

THE BATMAN
If you keep talking the only deal you will be making is with the tip of a bullet

THE JOKER
Gotcha

THE BATMAN
You’re going to tell me everything I want to know about “Him”

The Joker quickly becomes more anxious, it’s almost as if a Howitzer is point at his head

THE JOKER
“Him”, “Him” who, I know a lotta hims, Jim Him, helluva ball player, had a lotta little bastard kids running around when I was at the ripe old age of 5
The Batman digs the barrel of the gun deeper into The Joker’s white face

THE BATMAN
He murdered 20 police officers in cold blood, without a single shot being fired at him...you know more then I do...now tell me

The Joker drops his smile, getting far more serious then he has since his accident

THE JOKER
I swear to you all I know is this, if you mention his name he comes to you, comes to you in your dreams and rips your heart out watching it beat slowly in his hands...

THE BATMAN
Are you scared?

THE JOKER
More of him then I will ever be of you

THE BATMAN
Where is he hiding?

THE JOKER
Some say the docks, others say the sewers...

THE BATMAN
And what do you say?

THE JOKER
What I say doesn’t much matter in this situation

THE BATMAN
It does if you value your life

THE JOKER
He’s in city hall, that’s all I know, he’s in there and he’s plotting something bigger then the rest of us ever could dream of

THE BATMAN
And what’s that?

THE JOKER
He says he has a way to kill you

The Batman creeps in close

THE BATMAN
Good

The Joker closes his eyes and in a flap of his cape, he reopens them to find that The Batman is gone. The Joker lets out a small chuckle of relief

THE JOKER
And let that be a lesson for you, ya lousy rodent
- To be continued... (I hate Batman entirely however he is an excellent villian for a certain special someone close to my heart...stay tuned for a showdown of the finest) -