Natalia gets out of the car to stare at a row of oceanfront warehouses that are, remarkably, not on fire.
“Huh,” she says to her partner. “I thought you said Hood called this in.”
“I did!” Isha remarks, as upbeat as ever. “Maybe he’s gotten therapy for those pyromaniac tendencies.”
Natalia snorts. Fat chance. The Bats are allergic to therapy—anyone who dresses up to fight crime is certainly not dealing with their feelings in a constructive manner. Before she can point out to Isha that every one of the agents in their office are woefully behind on their mandated therapy—it’s hard finding a decent therapist that isn’t also moonlighting at Arkham, and no one wants to drive to Metropolis and traumatize those poor counselors—her phone rings.
She stares at the familiar name and exhales slowly. “Boyfriend?” Isha remarks with a knowing smile.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Natalia snaps. She’s not supposed to be answering personal calls while she’s doing her job, but Rafa can and will start calling everyone around her if she doesn’t pick up. He’s gotten a bit clingy since he found out that Deathstroke is her neighbor. Isha, for some reason, finds it cute.
“Hi Rafa, good evening, I haven’t been murdered yet,” she answers, turning away from Isha’s smirk.
“That sounds great, queriña,” Rafa chirps. “How are the neighbors?”
“Existing,” Natalia replies. “You know, you really have to stop these check-in calls. Dick isn’t going to hurt me, Slade doesn’t take contracts in Gotham, and people have stopped believing me when I say you’re not my boyfriend.”
“That sounds like a you problem.”
“Rafa,” Natalia rolls her eyes.
“You would not be having these problems if you came back to San Diego like I suggested,” Rafa offers.
“I’d love to come back to San Diego,” Natalia says, “I really would, if it weren’t for the minor problem of all the people there that want me dead.”
“Gotham has people who want you dead,” Rafa says darkly.
“Gotham also has people who want me alive,” Natalia says.
“I want you alive.”
“And if Gustavo del Toro asked you to again get rid of the pesky FBI-agent-shaped thorn in his side, this time permanently?”
Silence.
“Goodbye, Rafa,” she says with a tone of finality, and cuts the call. She’s lost patience with his protectiveness, coming as it does with terms and conditions. She’d consider changing her number, but it didn’t work the last time, and besides, she has bigger problems than a sulky assassin on the other side of the country.
“How’s the boyfriend doing, Agent Padilla?” a mechanized voice asks.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Natalia growls as she spins to face the Red Hood. Hood raises gloved hands in the universal sign of placation. “Did your explosives fail to detonate or did you run out of bombs, Hood? I know it’s too much to hope that you decided not to make our jobs more difficult by setting all our evidence on fire.”
“I prefer to think of it as cleansing.”
“And I prefer to get home to bed at a reasonable hour, but clearly that isn’t working out for me,” Natalia says coolly. “What do you have for us?”
matthewlopez: One of my favorite moments in Casey McQuiston’s novel is when Henry explains himself to Alex in an email, using the literary tradition of a fairy tale. I wanted to get that idea into the movie and so I wrote this scene inspired by that moment in the book. I ended up cutting it as we didn’t ultimately learn anything we didn’t already know/intuit and because the three and a half minutes the scene runs was ultimately hindering our momentum. It was a painful but necessary cut and I’m happy to finally share the scene with you all. The speech ran over a page and half in the shooting script and Nick performed it beautifully in a single extended take that we then got coverage on for the end. For those of you who know the film (and there are a few of you), it was intended to go after the scene between Alex and Oscar in the kitchen and before the scene on the raft. I hope you enjoy!
Do you like Stanford Pines or Gravity Falls deleted scenes (or both)? Well, do I have a treat for you! Back in August, Gravity Falls storyboard artist S. H. Cotugno shared some NEVER BEFORE SEEN deleted scenes from A Tale of Two Stans over on Tik Tok! These include Ford encountering mermaids and a mysterious traffic light creature!
Link to the Tik Tok Post
I also posted the boards on Imgur
Even in 2023, we're getting new Gravity Falls content in the form of deleted scenes!
The way Valkyrie called Carol "My Captain" and then immediately made a strap on joke in front of a 16 year old that she thought was Carol's wife is sending me.
Found some extra shots from the cut Starboy scene! The scene is longer on digital and DVD, but I managed to get these. I think it shows how Star changed shape underwater after they escape Queen Amaya. God, Starboy was just so awesome....The last pic is giving me the "At All Costs" vibe, for real! 😍