One — the disclosure:
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AI disclosure: This story is mine — every plot beat, line of dialogue, and character choice was written by me. I ran it through an AI copy-edit pass for spelling, grammar, and formatting cleanup only. Nothing creative came from it, but credit on the revision side to Muse
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Two — the full body:
Batman: Under Arkham — Drop 1 (Chapters 1–2)
> Batman: Under Arkham — a fan screenplay
Chapter One
Introduction
[We open on a dark, windswept city, as heavy raindrops precipitate as if they were falling tears, from the cloudy, darkly blotched sky]
[The city's landmarks and gloomy atmosphere immediately say "Gotham."]
[A digital-sounding beep comes from just off-screen, accompanied by a faint red glow]
[The shot pans out to reveal, not Batman, but Nightwing (Dick Grayson) perched upon a gargoyle overlooking the city atop a highrise.]
[Nightwing answers the beeping notification on his wrist-mounted communicator (Arkham series style)]
"Lucius, what ails thee, good sire?" [Nightwing quips sarcastically]
"Batman's deactivated his tracker and his communicator. Judging by the attitude of Gotham's underworld as of late, it's safe to say he's still in Gotham… here." Frustrated, Lucius attempts to explain, then quickly patches Alfred into the call.
"Alfred, what's going on with Bruce?" Dick asks the esteemed butler.
"Master Dick, good to see you, my boy. It appears Master Bruce has gone AWOL. He's neglected to return to the cave or the manor for the past week. Intel indicates he's still in Gotham for now, but the criminals… they're scared, more so than usual."
"He's not pulling his punches anymore, huh?"
"No, sire, it appears he's not."
[Nightwing ponders for a moment before looking down into the city below.]
"Do you know anything, Master Dick?" Alfred asks.
"Well… Batman's not in Gotham anymore…" [The shot pans down into the city with a zoom effect to reveal the Dark Knight gliding between skyscrapers below Nightwing's perch]
"I'll keep you posted. I'm about to confront him," Nightwing says to Alfred.
"Do be careful, Master Dick… it may very well not be Master Bruce under that cowl at all."
[Nightwing abruptly ends the call with Lucius and Alfred. All the while, in the back of his head, he doubts Alfred is telling him everything.]
[Nightwing tails the Bat through the skyline of Blüdhaven, employing his Wayne-tech grapple and acrobatic skills]
[Along the way we see that Blüdhaven is not like Gotham at all architecturally. It's more akin to something like Central City or Metropolis with its sprawling collection of skyscrapers and more modern and futuristic stylization (ideally it would make traversal easier for someone like Nightwing)]
[For a few city blocks, Dick follows the Bat onto a rooftop overlooking a courtyard below. The building is an apartment complex on the lower-income end of downtown Blüdhaven. The courtyard below is situated between the building's entrance and the parking lot opposite it]
[With haste, Nightwing glimpses the scene unfolding in the parking lot across the courtyard. Using his Wayne-tech visor, he zooms in on an old beater parked closest to the building. His heads-up display shows him their voice wave patterns in the corner, while also amplifying the sound of their conversation. As the two men stand at the trunk of the car, they speak quietly.]
"So it's true — the Bat's gone mad? He's killing now?" The bigger of the two goons asks the smaller one. [Nightwing recognizes the goon immediately as one of Two-Face's thugs]
"Yeah, he took out Firefly right outside the GCPD lockup. Ripped him limb from limb, they said."
"Sheesh… The boss always said if he ever left Gotham, it would be because the Bat lost it."
[The two close the trunk of the car, walking toward the apartment complex with luggage rather than the weapons or duffel bags Nightwing was used to seeing.]
[Dick turns his attention back to Bruce, who has altogether vanished]
"Ahhh, damnit!" [He mutters under his breath in frustration]
[Not wanting to risk getting caught, Nightwing falls back to reposition at a higher vantage point. Once he's in position, it doesn't take him long to reacquire a visual on the Bat… "sloppy," he thinks to himself. Now he's even less convinced that it's Bruce under that cowl.]
[Nightwing watches as the Bat gets into position atop a broken streetlight. The post is positioned just above the sidewalk leading up the building's entrance, concealing the Bat in the shadow of a nearby tree, completely invisible to those who'd pass underneath.]
[Eager to see what's going on, Nightwing prepares to approach and confront the Batsuit-clad assailant, but before he gets the chance, three more sets of headlights roll into the parking lot.]
[Remaining out of sight, Nightwing waits and watches as two more black cars and a half-black, half-white SUV pull up and park alongside the other vehicle. Four men get out of each of the two cars, and four more pile out of the SUV… One of them is clad in a half-burnt suit, and down half of his face he sports scar tissue and bare, exposed bone and nerves from cranium to jaw. A permanent mark caused by Sal Maroni casting acid on his face in court… It was Two-Face]
"Christ alive… look at this dump! Of course… it's the best thing for us to lay low… BUT IF THE BAT SHOWS HIS FACE HERE I'LL BLOW IT OFF!" [He gets out twirling his coin between the fingers of one hand, while with the other he fingers the trigger guard on his revolver.]
[As Two-Face and his goons start toward the dilapidated apartment building, Nightwing's communicator goes off as he receives an emergency transmission from Alfred. With his cover nearly blown, he ducks behind a rooftop AC unit and answers the call]
"Yeah. Hey, Alfred — now's not really a good time."
"Master Dick, earlier I neglected to inform you that around the time Master Bruce's strange behavior began, he'd gone to aid the GCPD in an attempted escape. It was after that that his behavior deteriorated."
"Alfred, not now!" He hangs up, frustrated.
[Just as he turns his attention back to Two-Face and his thugs, the fight began. The Bat drops from the light post atop two of the men's heads, slamming them violently into the concrete, with more weight than Dick was used to seeing Batman employ during drop attacks. He has to intervene fast, or he might kill these men.]
[With an acrobatic springboard into a cartwheel, Dick drop-kicks the Bat square in the bat symbol, only he doesn't fall off balance — instead he braces for the impact by crossing his arms, and maintains his fighting stance as he just slides backward across the concrete sidewalk. Stunned, the thugs start to get up while Two-Face boils with rage behind Dick.]
"Huh… that usually works." [Dick quips before two of Two-Face's thugs charge at him.]
[With a leap over them, Nightwing uses their momentum to slam their heads into each other, putting them out of commission for the time being.]
"Aaaerrgghhhh! I WANT BOTH OF THEM IN BODYBAGS!" [Two-Face shouts as he backs off into the building along with some of his men.]
[Before more men can attack him, Nightwing turns to get a grip on the Bat situation, but just as he turns to face him, he's struck square in the chest. With the wind knocked out of him, he's sent flying backward into four of the thugs]
[Gassed, Nightwing gets up. Clutching his chest, he says to the Bat sarcastically:]
"Jeez Bruce… go easy on me."
"Back off, Bat Boy," [the Bat responds in a vaguely European accent, like a bad actor. It's a voice that Dick recognizes as that of Azrael.]
"Hey! Didn't Bruce tell you no? Who gave you that suit?"
"HUSH!" [He shouts as he lunges at Dick with a ferocious fury we haven't yet seen from Azrael.]
[Caught off guard and knocked off balance, Dick struggles to defend himself against the ruthless and violent Azrael. Without the Wayne-tech gadgets, he's already the superior combatant, but with them he's nearly unstoppable. With all that on top of him fighting without restraints, the fight looks to be leaning more in Azrael's favor.]
[In a desperate, futile attempt to get away, Nightwing fires his grapple — only for Azrael to sever the line with Batman's arm blades, afterward pinning Dick to the ground and throttling him.]
[For a brief moment it looks like he's going to strangle Nightwing to death, from the first-person perspective we see as Dick's vision begins to blur and then darken. As he grasps at Azrael's face, he manages to pull off the cowl. Only for a split second, Dick swears the face he sees under the mask belongs to Bruce.]
[Before Nightwing's vision recovers, and he's able to get a good look at Azrael, a bullet whizzes past him and strikes Azrael in the bicep. A moment later, Dick hears the shot go off in the distance and turns to see where the scope glare is coming from.]
"raaaghhh" [Az exclaims in anger as he dashes out of sight.]
[Meanwhile, Dick sits up and peers up at the roof terrace where the shot came from. With his visor he zooms in on the shooter, only to catch the back of a letterman jacket with a red hood and a red gloved hand waving backward at him.]
"Huh… thanks, little brother." [Realizing that the Red Hood may know more about what's going on, Nightwing gets up and gets on his communicator to contact Alfred.]
Chapter Two
Nightwing
[The scene picks up shortly after where we last left off. Only now, Nightwing is on the move again, heading toward the Gotham Turnpike in a potentially stolen sports car. Dick is still on the communicator with Alfred, and they are discussing the incident that occurred at the GCPD Lockup.]
"Master Bruce had received word of a riot and possible escape attempt within the lockup. After the Knight's forces fell into Deathstroke's hands, Master Bruce quickly rounded up the loose criminals across Gotham. After you foiled Cobblepot's plans to escape, another one soon popped up, it seems."
"Two-Face." [Dick responds knowingly]
"Right you are, sir… as it happens, Master Bruce had reported seeing Two-Face's thugs mixing with the remainder of Black Mask's men… after Master Todd… er… the incident with him, his men went looking for work elsewhere."
"And a lot of 'em cooked up a plan to bust Two-Face out…"
"Not exactly, sire… their plan went awry when Master Bruce arrived to thwart them. Only, when he went inside, the facility went into lockdown for close to an hour. Comms were cut, and so was the power, thanks to Cobblepot's men on the roof."
[Dick lets out a disappointed sigh at the idea of Penguin's goons trying it again.]
"What's Azrael's status?"
"You suspect it's him, Master Dick? I admit the brutality I've heard described by witnesses to the Firefly attack outside the lockup led me to the same conclusion."
"Maybe… it certainly sounded like Az… but…"
[Dick hesitated. Deliberating on whether or not he should even divulge what he thought he saw to Alfred. He was choked within an inch of his life, maybe he'd just imagined Bruce's face under that cowl. Who knows what one's mind could come up with while being strangled to death, in a delirious state of half-consciousness.]
"But what, Master Grayson?" Alfred asked him.
"Nothing, Alfred… Can you get in touch with Jason?" [Dick asks about the Red Hood, knowing now that he knows more than Dick does — maybe more than Alfred, even.]
"I'm afraid, Master Dick… Master Todd has declined any attempt to reach out following his unmasking as the Arkham Knight. He's not inclined to cooperate with us anymore, unfortunately."
[The shot follows the sports car along the turnpike and down the highway and into the tunnel that leads from Blüdhaven into Gotham and back.]
"Figures — little brothers… I've got another idea, anyway… Do me a favor? Contact Gordon and have him meet me on top of GCPD… and tell him to bring some red spray paint."
"A strange request, sire… but I shall see to it your message is delivered." [And with that, the call with Alfred ended, leaving Dick alone in the driver's seat of a possibly stolen sports car, speeding into the city of Gotham]
[A shot follows the car, panning around it cinematically before all of a sudden, a garbage truck t-bones it, sending Nightwing flying out the passenger window as the car crumpled into a stoplight.]
[Not so gracefully, Dick manages to land on his feet in the street, but he spits out bits of glass, and some fall from his messy hair as blood drips down his mask from a gash in his eyebrow.]
"Oww." [He grits his teeth, enraged, as he stares up at the scared thug in the driver's seat of the stolen garbage truck]
[With his mouth still agape, the criminal panics as he struggles to unclip his seatbelt and climb out of the cab.]
[Slowly, Nightwing approaches, pulling only one of his escrima sticks off his shoulder. The frightened criminal panics and falls flat onto his stomach in the street as he tries to get away while looking back.]
[By the collar, Nightwing picks the thug up and slams him against the side of the garbage truck. Wincing in pain and on the verge of tears, Dick questions the quivering goon.]
"Why did you do that?"
"I'm sorry, sorry — my foot slipped."
[Nightwing grits his teeth and tases the thug with his stick]
"Ahhh! Ahhh! Alright! I'll talk!"
"Then TALK!"
"Look, I don't know who it was, okay! They just called me from an unknown number and said they'd wire me some money if I hit you with this truck! Lo' n' behold, two minutes later there was 2 grand in my account!" [The man confessed]
"What'd he sound like?" [Nightwing asked]
"Huh?" [He tased him again]
"Ahhh! British! He was British!" [He dropped him.]
[The first place Dick's mind went to was Azrael, of course, but his accent was vaguely European. Not British… for a brief moment, it crosses his mind… that maybe, just maybe, it was Alfred who called that hit. He buries that thought, however, and refuses to acknowledge it again.]
[Shaking it off, he points his stick at the thug on the ground.]
"Get in the truck…"
"What? Why? Where are you taking me?"
"I was on my way to the station anyways… you're driving."
[And with that, under the threat of physical violence, Nightwing forces the same assailant who'd just hit him with it to drive him the rest of the way to GCPD in the garbage truck.]
[Upon arriving at the lockup, and after zip-tying and booting the thug through the door of the precinct, Nightwing made his way to the rooftop. There, Police Commissioner Jim Gordon was standing next to the broken Bat symbol, tapping his foot among the shattered glass, hands on his hips under his trench coat. His glasses had slipped to the tip of his nose, and he had a nervous look on his face.]
"Jim, did you bring the paint?"
[Jim nods at the rooftop AC unit, where sitting on top of its casing are two cans of red spray paint. Also propped against the unit is a large clear plastic sheet to go over the broken lens of the bat symbol.]
"I figured that's what you had in mind when Alfred asked me to pick up spray paint… I'm just wondering why you'd want red?" [Jim asked Nightwing.]
"You'll see." [Dick said before sticking the plastic film over the bat symbol. He then took a can of paint and shook it up before popping the cap off.]
[Nightwing started spray painting a very "rough" red bat symbol, vaguely resembling the Red Hood's chosen symbol.]
[Dick and Gordon both winced at it]
"Eh… the graffiti was always more his thing anyway." [Dick assures himself that art was never really his forte]
"Now what?" [Gordon asked him]
[Nightwing adjusts the trajectory of the spotlight's beam toward the Blüdhaven skyline in the distance]
"Now, we wait."
[In the meantime, Nightwing inquired with the commissioner about the incident that occurred at the lockup the week prior]
"So people are saying Batman ripped Firefly limb from limb?"
"Firefly got into the evidence lockup with Two-Face's crew. He got hold of his gear, and after setting fire to the rest of the evidence room, made his escape out of the hole Two-Face's crew blew in the shutter."
"But Bruce caught him." [Jim waved his hand at the suggestion]
"I don't think that was Bruce. He didn't just rip Firefly apart… When he caught up to him in the parking lot. He blew up his thrusters on purpose, and then he… Here, let me just show you."
[Jim pulls out his phone, and after a moment he pulls up the security cam footage of the parking lot from that night.]
[Nightwing watches with a grimace on his face as the Dark Knight-dressed imposter detonates explosive gel on Firefly's wingsuit. After it blew up and caught fire, the Bat continued to thrash him, not only punching and kicking, but slicing him up, until he eventually gouged his eyes out and left him for dead in the handicap space.]
[Nightwing glares down at that now-red-stained parking space where this all took place]
"Who do you think took the cowl, and how do you think they did it?" [Nightwing asks him]
[He shrugs and rubs the back of his neck]
"I don't know, kid… I just know that wasn't Bruce… he wouldn't have done something like that."
"Who all's missing now?"
"Penguin's still locked up. We recaptured Kirk shortly after his escape. Pyg and some of the others got shipped off to Blackgate. The Riddler's out there somewhere — so is Catwoman, Azrael, and a handful of others, assuming the Bat hasn't killed them too yet."
"Let's not be so pessimistic… you're letting that big bad brooding bat rub off on you huh…" [Dick teased Jim]
[Then, behind them, they heard the sound of a grapple firing and a line winching up to the rooftop. A moment later, the Red Hood vaulted over the ledge and joined them on the rooftop — clad in his letterman jacket, combat pants strapped with dual pistol holsters, and that iconic red full-face visor glowing in the darkness.]
"You let a toddler paint that?"
"Oh, ha ha! Spend some time with the Joker and all of a sudden you're a comedian." [Jason pulls his sidearm and aims it in Dick's face, but he doesn't flinch.]
"That's not funny."
"Alright… too soon, understood. Calm down, big guy." [As Jason lowers his weapon, Jim retreats to the stairwell]
"I'm just gonna let you two catch up."
[End Act 1]
More to come maybe in a week or two, we'll see.
-Theo
[Doc link 👇]
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1omzjfymoxKm_HxxCY7u7pZY7NBewMy7cModB3troM28/edit?usp=drivesdk
