FADE IN:

EXT. CITYSCAPE - NIGHT

Gotham City. The City of Tomorrow: stark angles,
creeping shadows, dense, crowded, as if hell had erupted
through the sidewalks. A dangling fat moon shines
overhead.

EXT. GOTHAM SQUARE - NIGHT

PUSHERS wave to HOOKERS. STREET HUSTLERS slap high-fives
with three-card monte dealers. They all seem to know
each other... with one conspicuous exception:

A TOURIST FAMILY, MOM, DAD, AND LITTLE JIMMY, march
warily down the main drag. Just out of a show. But the
respectable theatre crowd has thinned out, and now --
Playbills in hand -- they're on Gotham's meanest street.

MOM
For God's sake, Harold, can we
please just get a taxi??

DAD
I'm trying to get a --
(shouting)
TAXI!!

Three cabs streak pass and disappear. Jimmy reads map.

JIMMY
We're going the wrong way.

Nearby, STREET TYPES are beginning to snicker.

DAD
Put that AWAY. We'll look like
tourists.

TWO COPS lean on their patrol car outside an all-night
souvlaki stand, sipping coffee and chatting with a
HOOKER.

The HOOKER smiles at Jimmy. Jimmy smiles back. Mom
yanks him off down the street and glowers at Dad.

DAD
We'll never get a cab. Let's cut
over to Seventh.

JIMMY
Seventh is that way.

DAD
I know where we are!

EXT. SIDE STREET - NIGHT (THAT MOMENT)

Deserted street lined with stripped-down cars. Family
marches into the darkness.

VOICE
Hey, mister. Gimme a dollar?

A DERELICT -- nineteen or twenty, acne-scarred -- his
ratty T-shirt -- "I LOVE GOTHAM CITY" -- family moves on,
pretending not to hear.

DERELICT
Mister. How about it. One dollar?
(standing up)
Are you deaf? -- Do you speak
English??

TOURISTS cross street. DERELICT doesn't follow.

Their pace quickens. A SHADOWY FIGURE in the alleyway.
A GLOVED HAND slams a GUN across Dad's neck.

He crumples. Mom grabs Jimmy and backs up against a
brick wall, too terrified to scream. The DERELICT races
across the street to join his confederate, the STREET
PUNK, who's already searching for Dad's wallet.

Mom's ready to snap -- STREET PUNK trains his gun on
Jimmy.

STREET PUNK
Do the kid a favor, lady. Don't
scream.

TEARS stream down her face. She stifles a scream and
clutches Jimmy. He's paralyzed with fear.

The two PUNKS CHUCKLE and race away.

Mom's self-control disintegrates -- she begins to SCREAM
before moving to unconscious Dad. SCREAM ECHOES.