"It's doable, Mr. Adler," the man on the phone said as I paced back and forth around the pool at my house.
The man happened to be the scriptwriter of Suicide Squad.
"We can meet after New Year's, after I'm back in the city," I said.
"That would help in making sure we get what you want with the character," he said.
"Well, he'll be very different from his comic book persona. Very different. And we need to create a dynamic between him and Peacemaker."
"I see," he said.
I stopped pacing. "Also, maybe add in a Deathstroke cameo too. Yeah, yeah. That would work… somehow."
"Why?" he asked.
I paused. I didn't have an answer to that other than, well, Deadpool happened to be a knockoff of the character.
"Let's workshop that later," I said.
I ended the call.
I knew that Vigilante was nowhere near what Ryan's Deadpool would be. Yeah, they were similar superficially. Maybe they were both wisecracking sociopaths with similar costumes. But with Ryan's Deadpool, it's always a joke. He's crazy, he's wacky, he's weird, and he's a very violent killer, almost always played for laughs.
Vigilante, I guess, would be closer to comics Deadpool. Like from X-Force. A contained chaos, I guess.
But the most important thing I wanted from all this was that when the Deadpool movie came out in 2020, I wanted everyone to compare him to Vigilante. Some people needed to think, Oh, hey, didn't DC do this first?
I laughed, almost evilly, thinking of that.
From behind me, I heard Margot say, "You are going to ruin a great script."
I turned. "No, no, no. It'll be better. You'll see."
She was lying down on a poolside lounger. I walked over and sat on the one next to her.
"You know, I even convinced everyone to finally make the movie rated R," I said.
Margot sat up. "Oh… okay. That's good. Great, even. I always felt like it was missing something."
"I know," I said. Then I paused. "And all of this because of this stupid feud, as you called it."
I then launched into a monologue, which Margot watched, amused, about how I was going to destroy Ryan. How his career would never take off from what it was now. How Suicide Squad, now rated R, would come out first, and Deadpool would not be the second R-rated superhero movie.
Margot shook her head. "Still stupid."
She then looked behind me. "What do you think, Al?"
I heard the sound of a lightsaber igniting.
I turned to see Alice standing there in a black robe draped over her.
I smiled.
Alice had been completely immersed in all things Star Wars since we had watched all the movies this week. The Force Awakens was coming out tomorrow, and she had been very intrigued by it all. She was seeing ads everywhere and hearing some of her friends at school talk about it, so she had asked to watch the movies. And well, we watched them all, and she loved every one.
One would expect her to love Luke Skywalker, or Leia, or Han, or Anakin, or Obi-Wan, or even Darth Vader.
But my dear sister was now obsessed with Palpatine, for some reason.
"Well?" Margot asked. "What do you think, Al?"
Alice looked at me and said, in her best Emperor Palpatine voice, "Good. Let the hate flow through you."
It was cute.
"What?" Margot said, confused.
I laughed out loud as Alice ran back inside.
"You heard her," I said, grinning. "I'm letting the hate flow through me. It makes you stronger. Gives you focus."
Margot shook her head and lay back down.
Alice came back moments later with a Darth Vader mask and another lightsaber.
"Let's play!" she said, holding out the mask to me.
I smiled as I put on the mask. Then, in my best Vader impression, I asked, "What is thy bidding, my master?"
"We need to go kidnap Senator Mom."
I stood, igniting my lightsaber.
"As you wish, my lord."
.
.
.
Two days later
"We still need to remodel parts of it," Margot said as we walked through the main house, along with my family and hers.
The house was a modern architectural masterpiece. Glass, steel, and natural stone blended seamlessly into the landscape. Floor-to-ceiling windows offered panoramic views of the property. The interior was spacious but warm, with high ceilings, polished concrete floors, and open-plan living areas that flowed naturally from one space to the next.
Margot led everyone through, showing it all off.
"This is the main living area," she said, gesturing to the massive open space with a sunken lounge and a fireplace. "And over here," she continued as she walked toward the kitchen, "is the kitchen. All custom. We're going to update the countertops, but the layout is perfect."
Everyone followed, impressed.
"This is incredible," Margot's sister said, running her hand along the sleek marble island.
Margot's mother stood near the windows, looking out at the mountains. "It's so peaceful too. Very private."
My mom was equally impressed. She paused, looking around. "But why remodel the place? It looks great already."
Margot hesitated. "Well, the last owner had some… let's just say questionable—"
"He had a sex dungeon in the basement," I interrupted.
Everyone froze.
Margot's sister's eyes went wide. "What?"
Margot's brother started laughing. "No way."
Nathan raised his eyebrows. "Huh."
My mom blinked. "Oh."
Margot shot me a look. "I was trying to be subtle."
I shrugged. "What? We are all adults here."
My mom turned to me. "Okay. Remodel away."
"There is also this…"
Everyone stared.
My mom stepped forward, curious. "What's down there?"
"It leads to the sex dungeon," I said casually.
She immediately backed off. "Okayyy. Don't need to see that."
Nathan chuckled. Margot's brother was still laughing.
"I'm going to turn it into a Batcave/office. That would be perfect, considering what's going to arrive soon."
"Okay, I get why you bought this place," her brother said.
Margot continued the tour as I walked outside, looking for a missing person from the group who happened to be my little sister.
It had taken a lot of convincing from Margot to get me to buy this 800-acre estate in the hinterlands of Queensland.
The property was breathtaking. Rolling green hills stretched as far as the eye could see, with dense bushland and the distant silhouette of mountains framing the horizon. The air was crisp and clean.
I guess I needed to do something with all the money I was making. And this did not even put a dent in it.
The place had it all.
A private airstrip for smaller aircraft. A large garage complex. The last owner was a big car collector, or so I was told. It could be remodeled into something else, but I was thinking of buying more cars and starting a collection of my own. A guest house for visitors, spacious enough to host friends and family when they came to stay. A stable. I did not need that, though having a horse seemed fun. Miles of private trails winding through the bushland.
And, most importantly, space. Endless, quiet, private space.
We planned to spend a few months a year here from now on, splitting our time between the U.S. and Australia. I wanted to make my life less hectic and focus more on writing after Justice League came out.
The next phase of the DCU was already planned out. I intended to focus on making other movies and, well, writing. So this place was good for that. A way to get away from it all.
I stood there, breathing in the fresh air, and smiled.
Now, where is she? I thought as I began walking around, looking for Alice.
We would be spending Christmas here and also going to watch some cricket matches. Well, Margot was going to anyway. I planned to get some writing done.
I had bought a cricket team franchise called the Brisbane Heat, and the league, the Big Bash League, would be beginning tomorrow. Brisbane had a match the day after.
I walked around the property, enjoying the view. The main compound sat at roughly 600 to 700 meters above sea level, offering sweeping views of the surrounding valleys, mountain ranges, and the distant coastline on clear days.
Admiring the view, I thought of the property in Colorado I was looking to buy, mostly due to being influenced by Tom Cruise after Margot and I visited his home in the state last month.
Tom and I were moving ahead with our plans for Top Gun 2. I would be done with the script by 2018, and Tom wanted to begin filming that same year. So far, he was in love with the story I had pitched to him.
Even though Tom was full-on crazy with Scientology, he had never even mentioned it to me. That was what I liked about him, I suppose. The other popular actors involved always brought it up or tried to get me to look into it. Considering how they had tried to recruit me when I was a teen, I had always assumed they would keep trying.
I guess I was wrong.
I found Alice sitting on a bench overlooking the mountains, eating French fries from a paper bag.
"Hey, where did you get that?" I asked, sitting down next to her.
She looked over, chewing. "I found it in the kitchen."
"How do you like the place?" I asked.
She gazed out at the view. "I want to stay here forever."
I smiled. "Yeah, it's nice. But sadly, it's also Australia."
She tilted her head. "What's wrong with that?"
"Well, nothing," I said. "Other than all the spiders. And snakes."
Alice shrugged. "I love spiders. I've been asking Mom for one as a pet."
I looked at her, horrified.
She turned to me, eyes wide. "Can you get me one? Please, please, please, please?"
"I have no idea how we're siblings," I muttered.
Alice grinned at me. "You're just a big baby."
"Says the actual baby," I shot back.
"A big baby," she repeated, emphasizing it.
Alice did have a mean streak.
"I am not."
"You are too."
"I am not."
"You are too! Baby Daniel! Baby Daniel!" she kept repeating, laughing.
She was only interrupted by the sound of a helicopter arriving, the low thrum of rotors growing louder.
"What's that?" she asked, looking up.
I stood, grinning. "Come on. Let's go."
I led Alice to the car, where Margot and her brother joined us. We then drove to the airfield, following the helicopter carrying a large container, big enough to hold a large car.
By the time we arrived, the helicopter had already dropped off the package safely and landed on the pad.
There were people waiting for us.
We walked up to the container as Margot's brother leaned over and asked me, "Is it a truck or something?"
I did not answer. Instead, I greeted the three men standing next to the container, who were beginning to open it.
"Mr. Adler," the lead guy said, extending his hand. He was tanned, mid-forties, with a weathered face. "Good to finally meet you."
"Likewise," I said, shaking his hand. "Everything go okay?"
"Yeah, no dramas," he said. "Got her here safe."
"Thanks for getting it here," I said. "I know it wasn't easy."
"Nah, we've moved weirder stuff than this," he said. "But this one's definitely the coolest."
I grinned. "Let's see it."
The container door swung open, revealing, much to Alice's and Margot's brother's surprise, the Tumbler.
"Holy shit," her brother said.
Margot immediately smacked him on the back of the head. "There's a kid here."
Alice laughed.
The crew pushed it out, and there it was in all its glory.
The Tumbler. It had been used for the filming of Batman Pt. 3, along with another one. Since the upcoming movies would use a different Batmobile, the Tumbler had been retired. Well, this one anyway. The other still had one final use.
"Okay, let's go," Margot said, holding out her hand. "Keys."
I tossed them to her.
The car opened with a hydraulic hiss, the canopy lifting up like a jet fighter. We all walked over to it.
Alice tugged on my sleeve. "I want to come with!"
"You can," I said. "After we test it out first."
She reluctantly agreed to stay with Margot's brother.
I climbed into the driver's seat. Well, the right seat, since Margot was driving. Screens lit up as the systems powered on, showing feeds from cameras mounted around the vehicle.
Margot settled into the driver's seat, familiarizing herself with the controls. She turned to me and asked, "So they did upgrade this, right? We can go off-road?"
"Yeah, but let's take it easy first—"
I did not get to finish the sentence.
She took off at full speed.
"OH SHIT!" I yelled, grabbing the handle above my head.
Margot tore through the trails on the estate, racing down dirt paths and kicking up dust and gravel. Then she took it off-road, heading toward a wide open plain near the mountains.
She had become something of an expert after we had taken it driving whenever we could at Henry's airstrip outside L.A., where I had kept it all this time.
"Please don't wreck it!" I said. "It just got here!"
She laughed, taking a sharp turn that made my stomach flip.
Margot grinned. "This is practice for the movie."
"Where you wreck it," I said.
That was accurate. Harley does wreck the Tumbler in Suicide Squad.
Margot laughed. "Yeah."
She continued driving off-road until we were cruising through the plain, wide open golden grass stretching in every direction. It was nice.
Until I spotted something in the distance.
"Is that a little girl?" I asked as Margot slowed down.
She saw it too. What looked like a crying girl was walking toward the car.
"Strange," she said, bringing the vehicle to a full stop.
"Please don't tell me there's some Australian horror story about little girls in forests," I said, half joking, half serious.
Margot frowned. "Not that I know of."
She began driving toward her.
.
.
.
[NEWS SEGMENT OPENS]
[STUDIO - ANCHOR DESK]
ANCHOR: "Good evening. We begin tonight with a heartwarming story from Queensland, where a missing six-year-old girl was found safe today, thanks to an unlikely pair of rescuers: Award winning Author and Screenwriter Daniel Adler and his partner and actress Margot Robbie. Josh Thompson has more."
[CUT TO: Reporter Josh Thompson standing outside the hinterlands estate]
JOSH: "Thanks, Sarah. Six-year-old Emma Collins went missing yesterday afternoon while camping with her grandparents. She wandered away from the campsite and walked for several hours before ending up here—on the newly purchased estate of Daniel Adler and Margot Robbie."
[CUT TO: B-ROLL - Aerial shots of the estate, emergency vehicles]
JOSH (voiceover): "Authorities launched a massive search operation, but it was Adler and Robbie who found her first. And here's the twist—they were test-driving the actual Batmobile from the Batman films at the time."
[CUT TO: Photo of Emma Collins - smiling, blonde hair]
JOSH (voiceover): "We spoke with the couple earlier today."
[CUT TO: Interview footage - Daniel and Margot standing next to the Tumbler]
JOSH: "Daniel, Margot, can you walk us through what happened?"
DANIEL: "Yeah, so, uh, we'd literally just had the Tumbler flown in that morning. We were taking it out, just messing around on the property, and we saw someone in the distance. At first we weren't sure what it was, but as we got closer we could see it was a little girl. She was crying, looked exhausted."
MARGOT: "She was so sweet. The moment she saw us, well, I think it was actually the Tumbler. She stopped crying and just stared at it."
DANIEL (smiling): "Yeah. She thought Batman was coming to rescue her."
[CUT TO: B-ROLL - Close-up of the Tumbler]
JOSH (voiceover): "And in a way, he did."
[BACK TO INTERVIEW]
JOSH: "What did you do next?"
MARGOT: "We drove her back to the estate, made sure she was okay, and called emergency services right away."
DANIEL: "We're just glad we were out there at the right time."
JOSH: "Emma's family has since released a statement thanking you both. How does that feel?"
MARGOT: "It feels good. But honestly, anyone would have done the same thing. We're just happy she's safe."
DANIEL: "Yeah. And now she has a pretty cool story to tell her friends."
[Both laugh]
=========
@Channel7News
BREAKING: Daniel Adler and Margot Robbie find missing 6-year-old Emma Collins on their hinterlands estate while driving the Batmobile.
The little girl thought Batman had come to rescue her.
Full story: [Link]
[Photo: Daniel, Margot, and Emma standing next to the Tumbler]
Replies:
@Mjortaskmaster (2.1k likes)
Ah, of course he has the Tumbler.
@Polanis34 replying:
I mean, did we expect anything less?
@Quarrucgern65 (1.8k likes)
The man is living his best life. Fuck him.
@Whoreads replying:
Billionaire, dating Margot Robbie, owns the Batmobile, AND saves kids. Yeah, fuck him.
@Joshmathew (1.6k likes)
I'm not jealous. Not at all. Not at all.
@Drakeisdead replying:
Narrator: He was, in fact, very jealous.
@Tymama (1.4k likes)
How much money does this guy have? Like, what the fuck?
@Hadriandriscol replying:
Billions, my friend. Billions.
@Tymama replying:
I need to become a screenwriter or something.
@Dukedevelin (3.2k likes)
I will say that I am NOT jealous of the fact that he's a successful writer and producer. Or that he has Margot Robbie as his girlfriend. Or the fact that he's a billionaire.
No.
I am jealous that he has the FUCKING BATMOBILE.
@Haugueme (2.7k likes)
And he's basically LARPing as Batman now too.
@Adlernews replying:
Next up: He builds a cave under his house.
@Haugueme replying:
Bold of you to assume he hasn't already.
@Alexrothman (2.3k likes)
This does NOT beat the allegations. How long until he begins to patrol the streets of LA wearing a bat costume?
@Tymama replying:
Well, he does have the money for it.
@manuel replying:
Pretty sure vigilantism is still illegal, even if you're rich.
@RyanSatin (1.9k likes)
Okay, but can we talk about how sweet this story is? A little girl was lost and scared, and then the fucking BATMOBILE shows up. That's a core memory right there.
@BrandonRj replying:
She's going to tell that story for the rest of her life.
@JoeWrote (1.2k likes)
So did he move to Australia? Can we claim him now?
@Nikolaj (876 likes)
This is a PR stunt. He probably planted the kid there.
@Jeremy replying:
Or maybe things just happen sometimes?
@Nikolaj replying:
Doubtful.