Batman: Signal

An Audio Drama By
Mateen Manek

The characters created by Bob Kane

illitermat Productions illitermat@outlook.com

Sponsors Message.
JOSH
Hello and welcome back to GCNR . I
am Josh Spence, here with our guest
Amir Patel. Amir is an engineer
graduate from MIT and has been
heading one of the biggest projects
in Gotham; the Ace Chemical
Building. Amir, what can you tell
us about the building?

AMIR
It’s a two storey building lined
with concrete walls and using steel
as the foundation material. It has
no windows, and has a separate
drainage system. All of this is to
keep chemicals out of contact from
Gotham’s citizens. The building is
designed to handle massive chemical
operations without any damage to
the environment or the people
JOSH
And what is the purpose of this
building?

AMIR
Many people in the Arkham area were
complaining about how the exposure
to chemicals have been distressing
the citizens. When Mayor Loeb in
office, no one took action. Now
that Mayor Garcia has finally given
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 2.

AMIR (cont’d)
us the proper permits to build a
stronger chemical building, we can
now assure that the citizens of
Gotham will have no exposure to
dangerous chemicals.
JOSH
So what will this new facility
have?

AMIR
Other than the afformentioned,
there will be a state of the art
ventilation system, we have
invested a lot in that, so any
toxic fumes will be redirected to a
safer distance. Along with that, we
have reinforced the concrete so
that the building is stronger and
more durable.
JOSH
So the changes are mainly going to
take place structurally? What about
within the building?
AMIR
As far as maintenance of the place,
the co-ordinators for that feel
they should replace the current
staff with more qualified people.
JOSH
Doesn’t that mean you are
ultimately getting rid of many of
the present workers?
AMIR
Yes, we are offering them a chance
to also get the qualifications to
be able take part in our projects.
JOSH
I don’t know if many of these
people can afford to get the
qualifications for a job they
already have.
AMIR
Well, unfortunately, that is one of
the steps we will have to take. I
am only the engineer, but you
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 3.

AMIR (cont’d)
wouldn’t hire a monkey to do my
job, would you? It’s all a
relatively unfortunate-
JOSH
Sorry- Sorry Amir, I am going to
have to interrupt you as there has
been a disturbance in mid-town
Gotham. We are going live to Carrie
Allen. Carrie, whats going on?
The sound of sirens and screaming flood the streets, and
Carrie is on the scene.

CARRIE
Thanks Josh. There has been a
massive explosion near Gotham
Central bank just 10 minutes ago.
JOSH
Does anyone know what was the
cause?
CARRIE
Unfortunately, no. Many people were
said to hear a faint beeping just
before the bomb went off. They
believe it was coming from the
basement parking level. Police have
been trying to locate the bomb.

JOSH
What exactly is the damage?
CARRIE
Gotham Central Bank is now
completely out of commission. The
blast was strong enough to weaken
the foundations and the building is
slowly collapsing.
JOSH
Were there any casualties?

CARRIE
Atleast 14 dead with 20 injuries. A
few kids were- were injured and
rushed to hospital. There are some
people still stuck inside the
building and fireman are trying to
get in. Police are saying that
whoever did this left a mark or, um
a symbol of some sort.

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 4.

JOSH
What was it?
CARRIE
He left, what was described as- as
a green spraypainted question-

RANDOM #1
RUN!
CARRIE
What’s going-
A massive explosion is heard.
JOSH
Carrie? We seem to have lost signal
to Carrie Henderson. As you heard,
there has been a major explosion in
the mid-town area, specifically
around Gotham Central Bank. If you
are heading into mid-town, avoid
those areas. We are now going live
to the mayor of Gotham, who is
releasing a press announcement
about the bombings in mid-town.
Mayor

MAYOR
...These are acts of terrorism, and
we do not deal with terrorists.
There has been 17 deaths, with at
least 30 in the hospital. Please,
for any reason, don’t go near the
Gotham Central Bank as the police
are carrying out the investigation.
If your loved ones were in the
area, please do not--

Air of silence.
JOSH
Unfortunately there seems to be a
cut to our live feed, we are trying
to restabalize it- wait whats going
on with the lights?
BACKGROUND
(barely heard)
Cut the transmission!

(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 5.

JOSH
Wait, whats are you doing? Stop--
(smash to the head)
A silent buzz with a high pitch frequency. The frequency
pitch decreases, and a voice can be heard.
RIDDLER
Hello dear Gotham. I am Edward
Nigma, but to you inferior minds, I
am The Riddler. This message goes
out to the World’s greatest
detective; The Batman. I am the one
responsible for setting off the 6
explosions in Downtown Gotham, and
there is more to come. I have
planted 5 more plastic explosives
around the city, with a
sophisticated level of
technological jammers placed within
the bombs radius, so you cannot
trace it. Why am I telling you
this? Because I want you to find
it. I want you to come and save the
day, that is, if you can. I am
going to show Gotham that you are
not as intelligent as you claim,
and that you don’t deserve the
praise you receive over and over by
your mindless little fans. But,
onto the challenge. Here’s a little
"guide-line" to keep you on the
right track, wouldn’t want you
failing your first challenge would
we? "Kings and Queens may cling to
power and the jesters got his call,
but as you may discover the common
one outranks them all."...You
better hurry up, you don’t want to
dissapoint your city, now do you?

Riddler laughs off, and then transmission comes to an end.