Batman Beyond

Derek Powers sits alone in a dark room while listening to a lecture from a scientist Walter Shreeve. Shreeve explains that sound is the first warning of danger and is under-appreciated. Just after that, Powers hears the sound of a train racing towards him and stares into its headlight. However, just as he screams, the illusion ends and Shreeve points out that it was only to prove his point. At first Powers is angry at the mediocre demonstration. However, Shreeve shows Powers the real reason he came: he has developed a sound suit capable of destroying solid objects through use of ultra low sound frequencies. Powers is still unimpressed stating, "Dynamite's cheaper." However, he does have a use for the sound suit. He wants Shreeve to kill Bruce Wayne.

Later, Bruce makes a speech to his board of directors expressing his disgust with Powers' idea to tear up Gotham City's Historical District (an old patch of Gotham left unchanged from the city's development) and build an industrial complex. He proposes that they hold a stockholders' meeting for a vote. The proposal is quickly seconded and Powers has no choice but to allow the meeting to take place. Nevertheless he's sure that his plan will succeed.

Bruce meets up with Terry and takes him to the Historical District. There, he explains to Terry why he's fighting so hard to keep the place preserved: it includes the theater where his parents were killed. As Bruce reminisces, Ace starts going crazy. Terry goes up to check on him while Bruce continues to wander: arriving at the old police headquarters building (at one point passing by a wanted poster of The Joker). When he gets near what was once Commissioner Gordon's office, however, Shreeve arrives in his sound suit and starts attacking with sound blasts powerful enough to tear up the floor. Batman arrives and manages to tear away one of Shreeve's sound generators. However, the former police headquarters building is damaged so much that it starts to collapse. Both combatants and Bruce are forced to evacuate. Batman and Shreeve are okay, but Bruce collapses.

Terry takes Bruce to the hospital and the old man gives the staff a horrible time. Bruce fumes over the fact that he has to stay in the hospital overnight and is skeptical of Terry's ability to deduce the identity of his attacker.

Back at Wayne-Powers Powers fumes over the fact that Bruce is alive and now guarded in the hospital. However, Shreeve believes he can still get to his target. Bruce suddenly starts hearing a voice claiming that there's something he must do. The voices order him to go to the window and open it. The voice indirectly encourages him to jump from the window, which would cause him to fall to his death. Bruce screams and alerts the staff but they cannot hear the voices. When Bruce tries to force his way out of the room, the orderlies come and sedate him.

Meanwhile, Terry does an analysis of the sound generator he got from Shreeve's suit and learns where it was made. With this lead, he disguises himself as a pizza delivery boy and cons his way into Shreeve's lab. Shreeve shows Terry some of his inventions such as a miniature radio receiver and transmitter and device to cancel out sound. However, when Terry asks about sound vibrations, Shreeve becomes suspicious and attacks him. Terry manages to escape and the police learn of Shreeve.

Looking for revenge, Shreeve prepares to kill Powers but Powers talks him out of it and renames him "Shriek." Shriek likes the idea and decides to use his newfound power. Powers then reminds Shriek that he still wants Bruce killed and if Batman intervenes, Shriek should kill him as well.

Batman pays a visit to Bruce and discovers the source of the voices: one of Shreeve's miniature radios hidden in Bruce's bandage. Together, the two men leave the hospital and trace the signal back to Shriek. Batman finds him in a car factory and the two start to fight. Shriek has the advantage with his sound blasts, and Batman tries to hide. But Shriek's suit gives him advanced hearing abilities, and he is able to find Batman with the sound of a screw dropping. Desperate to mask his sound, Batman turns on the factory's machinery, but Shriek reveals another of his abilities: his suit projects a dampening field that cancels out all ambient sound (for Batman as well as himself), then isolates the lone sound of Batman's footsteps, which he amplifies in order to hear it from far away.

Batman is pursued out of the factory in an eerily complete silence, nearly getting killed not only by Shriek but a series of dangers that he's unable to detect without sound. However, Ace is able to hear and Bruce releases him. Ace saves Batman from being hit by a truck then Batman attacks Shriek and overloads the circuits in Shriek's suit: the dampening field is removed, and suddenly Shriek is overwhelmed by the sounds of the city, amplified many times by his suit. Shriek collapses, and when his helmet is removed, he is horrified to realize that that he has lost his hearing.

With the trouble over, Bruce appears at the stockholders' meeting opposite Powers. They explain their relative positions, and ask the stockholders to vote. The vast majority votes "Nay" and the motion is defeated. Bruce has scored yet another victory over Powers.