Issue Twenty-one: “Malicious Intent, conclusion: The Monkey, the Man, and the Gun.”
PAGE ONE
“Previously” page.
PAGE TWO
1/ Long Panel as Milo stands over Malice, just as we saw in the last panel of our previous issue, fire curling upward from his battle-ready hands. Malice, at his feet, holds out his own hands in self defense as Milo looks down on him, blue smoke emanating from his eyes in a pure, blind rage.
CAPTION: New Hope, Ohio. Malice’s Headquarters.
MILO: We’re DOING this, Malice.
MILO: We’re gonna settle the score, right here and now, and it would take a THOUSAND dampener spells to stop me NOW.
2/ Milo turns, looking off to his right in the direction of the prisoners and gesturing with his hand outstretched, palm open.
MILO: But first, I’m gonna even the ODDS.
3/ Donovan, hanging from his restraints, looks upward as the bonds holding him to the rusted old piece of machinery begin to undo themselves, Milo’s telekinetic gesture freeing the remaining members of the Knights of Columbus.
4/ The rest of the team, save Rhiannon, all drop their hands to the sides, free of their restraints. They rub their wrists and look gratefully at each other, stepping down to firmer footing on their own two feet.
BETH: Oh, thank GOD.
5/ Rhiannon still hangs helplessly from her restraints, Milo’s trick apparently not working because her restraints are stuck together. She protests, looking worried.
RHI: Uh, little help here?
RHI: Mine are STUCK.
PAGE THREE
1/ Donovan comes to her, working to remove her shoddy restraints, and he looks encouragingly at her. Rhiannon, however, looks warningly over his shoulder as someone approaches from behind, creeping into the panel.
DON: Hold on, Rhi, I’ve got you -
RHI: Donovan, Six O’clock.
2/ Donovan turns to see Brother Michael, approaching as threateningly as he can, his fist brought up to his chest in anticipation of an altercation. Donovan narrows his eyes angrily, and they begin to leak the orange fire that suggests he’s not completely in control.
MIKE: Stop RIGHT there.
DON: Goddammit.
3/ Long Panel as Donovan swings a powerful punch into Brother Mike’s unsuspecting chest. Unfortunately, Don is a lot stronger than he thought, and Mike is a lot weaker than Don suspected: Mike looks down in horror as Donovan has punched straight through his chest, almost certainly killing him. Gore explodes out the back of him as a tiny amount of blood leaks out from his mouth. Donovan’s eyes glow bright orange.
SOUND EFFECT: SKRUNTCH
4/ Mike looks up at Donovan, flabbergasted in his final moment.
MIKE (small, withered balloon): Uk…
5/ Donovan stumbles backward, horrified at what he’s done. No longer do his eyes glow, and the demonic look has been replaced with a startled and terrified stare as he backs away from the damage he’s inadvertently done.
DON: Oh, my God…
DON: I was - It was an ACCIDENT!
DON: I didn’t mean…
PAGE FOUR
1/ Long panel as Malice, several strides away at the spot where he and Milo were facing off, notices what has happened to Michael and comes running, fear and saddened disbelief in his eyes as he rushes to his Red Monk’s side. Milo watches him go, letting him have the moment. In the FG, Michael’s dead body slumps over on its side. In the BG, we see several more monks come running down a flight of metal stairs, racing to join the inevitable battle.
MALICE: Michael!
2/ Malice crouches over Michael’s body, his back to us as he lifts up the dead man’s head and turns it to face us. Michael’s eyes are completely washed over, blank as could be, and his skin has gone a sallow white color.
MALICE: Michael, are you -?
3/ Malice lays Michael’s head down and looks upward, glaring in Milo’s direction as his hair falls messily over his eyes, blood running down his forehead from a cut he acquired in the fall.
MALICE: Alright. So THAT’S how we’re gonna play this?
4/ Suddenly, Malice leaps to his feet and swings a vicious punch in the direction of Milo. Milo leaps back, dodging the punch by inches and stepping off his balance. In the BG, the other monks run to join the fray.
MALICE: Fine by me.
PAGE FIVE
1/ This is a FULL PAGE SPLASH, featuring the issue’s TITLE, CREDITS and INDICIA, as we cut to Landon, staring out the bars of his subway car cell, his hands hanging limply on the bars themselves as he lets a moment of shock and dismay wash over him. We see Thadeus from behind, looking at Landon as the latter man tries desperately to reconcile the knowledge that he and Beth only met because Thad wanted them to.
LANDON: No.
PAGE SIX
1/ On Landon, switching from shock to anger as he tightens his grip on the bars, scowling at Thadeus.
CAPTION: New York City. The Defectors’ Underground Lair.
LANDON: There’s no WAY.
LANDON: Beth and I -
2/ Thadeus cuts him off, sternly facing him like a parent forcing a child to accept reality. He casually tosses the cigar he’d been smoking off to the side, beginning the motion of turning away from Landon dismissively.
THAD: Are a product of a political COUP. Nothing more.
THAD: DEAL with it, Landon.
3/ Long panel as Landon grips the bars tightly, screaming angrily at Thad as the vampire walks away from him. Thad does not dignify his tantrum by looking at him, but rather waves his hand dismissively in the air, as though Landon is no more important now than a fly on the wall.
LANDON: LIAR!
LANDON: You’re a no good, lying -
THAD: Fine, man. Believe whatever you wanna believe.
THAD: I don’t give a rat’s ass either WAY.
4/ Thad suddenly spins on a dime, facing Landon triumphantly as he snaps his fingers, calling out to the rest of the defectors, who’ve been lying in wait for Thad’s signal. Behind him, we see several groups of Vampires and Werewolves creeping out of the alcoves and doorways in the station.
THAD: The war starts TONIGHT, and I’ve already GOT my ARMY.
5/ Large Panel, Bird’s eye view, from the ceiling, as hundreds of Vampires and Werewolves begin to pour into the abandoned subway station, crowding into the corners of the panel as they fill up the room.
PAGE SEVEN
1/ Long panel as we CUT BACK to Malice’s headquarters, where a fight now rages. Rhiannon and David stand center panel, Rhiannon firing blasts of kinetic energy as David holds his hands at his sides, green energy emanating from them as he gathers his strength for another attack. In the BG, we see the others all having their own private little battles - some fighting monks hand to hand, Donovan hurling people away with his demonic strength, his eyes glowing blue.
SOUND EFFECT (RHI): CHOOM
2/ Long Panel as we see Beth and Andrew, on the other side of the room. Andrew lunges with a rusted pipe, using it like a fencing foil as he slices at a Monk who jumps out of the way just in time. Beth blocks a Monk’s punch, deflecting his hand up into the air and striking at his solar plexus with her free hand, causing the Monk to double over in pain. In the BG, we see Rhiannon and David, continuing the fight we just saw in the above panel, and in the further BG, we see Malice and Milo, duking it out hardcore-style, batting each other back and forth like classic superhero comic book fights.
ANDREW: Have to admit, this is kind of refreshing, don’t you think?
BETH: Define “refreshing.” Just wanna see how your definition compares to MINE.
3/ Long Panel as Donovan takes a powerful punch to the face by an angry monk, toppling out of the panel and down to the ground, falling in the direction of a large wooden crate and landing behind it.
SOUND EFFECT: THOK
PAGE EIGHT
1/ Donovan lies face down on the concrete floor behind the cover of the wooden crate, lifting his head as he regains composure from the violent punch he just took. Blood runs down the side of his temple, and he crawls a little further behind the crate, out of harm’s way as he struggles to think straight. Overhead, Milo comes flying into the panel and smacks against the concrete wall, upside down, head toward the floor. The concrete cracks a little as Milo’s body strikes it violently.
SOUND EFFECT: CRUNCH
2/ Donovan turns, looking up from the floor in surprise as he sees Milo.
DON: Milo?
3/ Long panel as Donovan starts to pick himself up off the ground, leaning his shoulders against his upper arm strength and pushing himself up off the ground as blue smoke begins to pour from his tiffany blue, pupiless eyes. At his side, Milo, who has landed on the floor on his back, picks himself up and turns to face Donovan.
MILO: Donovan.
MILO: This got messy QUICK.
DON: It’s been messy BEFORE.
DON: We can handle it.
4/ Donovan motions to step out from behind the cover of the wooden crate, his eyes aglow, but Milo reaches a hand out to grab his shoulder, stopping him.
MILO (off panel): Don, wait.
5/ Milo looks seriously at Donovan, and we see that his glasses are cracked along one of the lenses. Sweat runs down the side of his face, meshing with the blood that flows gently from a cut on his forehead.
MILO: Just…just in CASE, you need to know that you were RIGHT.
PAGE NINE
1/ Long Panel as Milo leans against the crate for a moment, looking at Donovan. Donovan leans his shoulder against the crate, giving Milo the moment he needs. His eyes no longer glow blue.
MILO: My attitude, the way I was treating you…
MILO: It had nothing to do with the GAY THING, or anything else that STUPID.
2/ On Milo, continuing, as he looks straight at Donovan, stressing the importance of what he’s about to say.
MILO: On my birthday, I had…I had a VISION. Of you and RHIANNON.
MILO: She was…KILLING people.
MILO: And she was doing it because YOU forced her to.
3/ Donovan looks at Milo, grimly accepting the reality of his next statement as they take this moment to be honest with each other before stepping back out into the fray.
DON:…
DON: Milo, I’m - I’m being EXCOMMUNICATED.
DON: I haven’t TOLD her yet.
4/ Milo looks away, not sure of what to say, but knowing that Donovan obviously told him because he needed somebody to talk to.
MILO:…
MILO: Let’s take care of THIS.
MILO: And then you and I will have a nice long TALK.
5/ Close on Donovan, looking very seriously at Milo, his eyes never wavering.
DON: Milo, I promise you…your vision?
DON: I will NEVER let that HAPPEN.
PAGE TEN
1/ Long Panel as we CUT BACK to Thad’s headquarters, the army of Vampires and Werewolves all standing patiently as they surround Landon’s cell, waiting for the order to march on the Brotherhood. Thad faces them, addressing the group through a beat up looking old megaphone.
THAD: The time has COME!
2/ On Thad, seen between the shoulders of his troops as he marches past them, speaking to the group like a crusading general leading them to a final battle. In the BG, Landon looks on in disbelief.
THAD: We’re done WAITING, Gentlemen.
THAD: Tonight, Magda will KNOW what we STAND for!
3/ Landon pulls against the bars, beseeching Thad helplessly.
LANDON: Thad, you have to STOP this!
LANDON: THINK about what you’re DOING!
LANDON: You’re RIGHT, Thad, that the Brotherhood didn’t WORK - but you don’t fix it like THIS. There is a WAY to do this, and it’s not what YOU have in mind!
4/ Long panel as Thad turns to face Landon, the troops behind him watching. With Thad’s back to the troops, he doesn’t notice when suddenly a handful of them start to convulse, blood running out their eye sockets and ears as foam comes to their mouths.
THAD: Oh, I know EXACTLY what I’m doing, Landon. I -
PAGE ELEVEN
1/ Long Panel as Thad turns back around, noticing what’s happening to his troops. The convulsions begin to spread throughout the entire regiment: hundreds of vampires twitching and thrashing as they bleed and ooze out their facial orifices, some of them collapsing to the ground at Thad’s unsuspecting feet.
THAD: The HELL?
2/ Thad runs into the midst of the group, looking around fearfully as he sees the effect spreading to affect every one of them. All around him, the Vampires and Werewolves of his fledgling army collapse to the ground in violent spasms of true death. Thad does not notice as he steps into a slippery puddle of congealed blood.
THAD: What’s going on!?
THAD: What’s -
3/ Thad slips, tumbling backward toward the blood-soaked floor in shock as the chaos continues around him.
SOUND EFFECT (Slip): SLEEK
4/ Long panel as Thad turns himself over, resting on his stomach and bracing himself upward against his forearms as he looks up to find himself face to face with the corpse of one of his troops, the vampire’s eyes rolled back into his head, puss and blood oozing out the gaping mouth.
PAGE TWELVE
1/ CUT BACK to Malice, turning to face Milo as though he’s recovering from a particularly powerful strike to the face. Blood runs down his face from a cut next to his eyebrow, and his face is pure hatred.
MALICE: I’ve had enough of this.
2/ Milo stands amidst the chaos of the battle, a sea of broken glass at his feet, and strikes a combat ready pose, facing Malice challengingly. He, too, is covered in scuffs and bruises, small cuts oozing blood.
MILO: Tough titty, Malice.
MILO: You STARTED this.
3/ Malice raises a hand, gesturing like a Jedi, and glowers angrily at Milo.
MALICE: And now I’m ENDING it.
4/ Milo bends at the knee, reaching down to the ground and picking up a particularly large shard of broken glass in his hand, but his face is pure shock and fear, as he is not in control of his physical actions.
MILO: Wait - what’re you…what’re you DOING?
MILO: What’re you…MAKING me do?
5/ Donovan turns from whatever he was doing and lunges after Malice, trying to prevent the horrible thing he realizes is about to happen.
DON: Milo, NO!
6/ Malice, small and in the BG, turns in a fluid gesture. He continues pointing his controlling hand at Milo, but is able to spin and crack Donovan roughly across the face, sending the man flying backward. Donovan flies toward us, bouncing once and landing in a heap at the front of the panel.
SOUND EFFECT (punch): CRACK
MALICE: Stay back.
PAGE THIRTEEN
1/ Close on Milo’s hand, his wrist upturned, as he begins to drag the shard of broken glass vertically along the vein of his wrist. The glass digs in, and blood oozes upward, coating the flesh of his hand in a dark red sheen.
MILO (off panel): AGGHH!
2/ Milo looks up from the horrible task he can no longer control, fear, anger and disbelief mixing in his eyes as he faces Malice pleadingly.
MILO: Jesus CHRIST, man!
MILO: You can’t be SERIOUS!
3/ Malice continues to hold up the controlling hand, scowling grimly at Milo. He almost looks disappointed, as though he’s saying “this hurts me more than it hurts you.”
MALICE: Oh, I’m serious, Milo. Serious as a heart attack.
MALICE: All you had to do was play your PART.
4/ Rhiannon approaches Malice from behind, bolts of kinetic energy firing out of her hands and connecting with the concrete floor as she looks challengingly at the villain’s back.
RHI: Malice, you need to -
5/ Long panel as Malice turns once more, this time just waving a hand in Rhiannon’s general direction. Malice is in the FG as Rhiannon goes flying away from us, up into the air like a bullet and crashing into a tall stack of crates. The crates explode in a shower of splintered wood, and the threat of Rhiannon is neutralized.
SOUND EFFECT (crates): CRASHH
PAGE FOURTEEN
1/ Malice turns back to Milo, still holding out the controlling hand. He almost smiles, the edge of his lip curling upward beneath the evil scowl on his face.
MALICE: No…no one’s going to be interfering with THIS.
2/ Close on Milo’s other hand as the glass is dug deeply into that wrist as well, the fresh blood mingling with the pulsing blood that oozes from the first wrist as it drips down the shard of glass.
3/ Large Panel as Milo drops the glass, his hands held out away from his sides helplessly as he bleeds out. His face contorts in unimaginable pain as he begins to lose the strength to stand, his knees beginning to buckle beneath him. All around, the fighting has stopped. Nobody can do anything but watch in horror, including the monks, who never thought anything would go this far. Behind Milo, hanging from the wall, is Malice’s Mayan Tapestry - now tattered and torn from the fight, its edge singed from one of Milo’s fire blasts. The altar is upturned, its contents scattered across the cold, unwelcoming floor.
MILO (small font, withered balloon): I…don’t…
4/ Milo drops to his knees, his gushing hands upturned on his lap as he looks down at them and struggles to believe what’s happening. His legs are soaked in the crimson that pours from his veins.
MILO (small font, withered balloon): …want…
5/ He finally drops to the ground, face first, staring directly at us. Only his blood soaked hand and his sallow face are in the panel, his lifeless eyes staring out from behind his cracked spectacles as his hair begins to collect the pool of blood forming all around him on the floor.
PAGE FIFTEEN
1/ Long Panel as Malice drops his hand, looking down at Milo’s body with nothing quite like pleasure on his face, but certainly a sense of accomplishment. He curls his lip upward in a sneer.
MALICE: Now, then.
2/ Long Panel as the remaining four members of the team and David stand silently, their gazes blank in horrified shock as Malice turns to face them. All around them, everything is still and quiet, the monks no more certain of what to do than the Knights of Columbus are. A tear rolls down Rhiannon’s cheek.
MALICE: With your little friend all neatly taken CARE of…
3/ Malice walks up and gently takes the side of Rhiannon’s face in his hand as the others watch helplessly. He brushes her tear away with his thumb as he raises her face to meet his gaze. He smiles at her, wickedly, but she is too shocked to react at all.
MALICE: …I’d say the REAL fun can begin.
PAGE SIXTEEN
1/ CUT BACK to Thadeus, crawling through the chaos and gore of his decimated troops like a soldier crawling, hand over fist, through a battlefield.
2/ Suddenly he stops as a foot appears before him. The foot wears a thick brown boot and beige slacks, of the sort that fashionable grandmas would wear. He looks up the length of the leg, trying to determine who it belongs to.
THAD: Who…?
3/ Long Panel as we see through Thad’s eyes, and Magda looks down at us disapprovingly. She wears the beige slacks, with a dark, almost red pink blouse underneath her old but well-tailored brown coat. Her hands are plunged deep into her coat pockets, and she raises an eyebrow at Thad as she locks eyes with him.
MAGDA: Hello, Thad.
MAGDA: I would say “NICE TRY” if it were even remotely TRUE.
4/ Thad looks down at the floor, still on his stomach, and closes his eyes in anger and frustration. He did not expect Magda at all, and she is the absolute most infuriating person who could be responsible for the destruction of all his plans.
THAD: How did…how did you…?
5/ Magda has made her way to Landon’s cell, and she opens it, still looking in Thad’s direction. As Landon makes his way out of the cell, Magda produces a small business card and hands it to him. Landon takes it and looks at the writing on it.
MAGDA: Easily, you TWIT.
MAGDA: The BLOOD BANK you get your bootleg STASH from is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CHURCHILL INDUSTRIES.
PAGE SEVENTEEN
1/ Close on the business card as Landon reads it. It says “CHURCHILL INDUSTRIES, a proud member of the CHURCHILL FOUNDATION: founder ORAN CHURCHILL.” Magda continues speaking, off panel.
MAGDA (off panel): All I had to do was poison your SUPPLY chain.
2/ Magda turns to Landon, who looks up from the card in pleasant surprise, though he’s a little taken back by just how much his mom is capable of. Magda lights a cigarette, flicking at a silver butane lighter.
MAGDA: Landon?
MAGDA: Don’t say your FATHER never left me anything USEFUL.
3/ Thad pulls himself up onto one of the wooden chairs that were previously used for the defector’s board games. All around him, the dead army looks like a war-torn battlefield. He looks desperately at Magda.
THAD: But…WHY?
MAGDA (off panel): WHY!?
4/ Magda grabs Thad by his lapels and pulls him up, glowering scoldingly at him, inches from his face. She is furious, but actually contains her anger pretty well, coming off more like a disappointed mother than a vicious enemy.
MAGDA: You have the AUDACITY to look me in the face and ask me WHY?
5/ Long Panel as Magda lets Thad drop back down to the floor. Only her legs are visible as she walks away from him, and he falls into a crumpled heap. In the BG, Landon watches, having nothing to say and letting his mother run the show.
MAGDA: Burgess was assassinated by WHO the hell ever -
MADGA: -it doesn’t even MATTER anymore -
MAGDA: -and the first thing you DO is run off half-cocked with this ADORABLE little insurrection of yours?
PAGE EIGHTEEN
1/ Magda holds her cigarette away from her, smoke curling around her head. She looks down at Thad almost ironically, as he scrambles at her feet.
MAGDA: You stand on your podium and pretend you’re CHE BLOODY GUEVARA, when to call this little TEA PARTY of yours a POLITICAL MOVEMENT would be an EXERCISE in creative SEMANTICS.
2/ On Thadeus as Magda reaches down into the panel and caresses the side of his face, reflecting on the fact that he was once her son’s best friend, and the relationship they must have shared because of that. Thad looks at her like a stricken child, begging for forgiveness.
MAGDA: 150 years old, and you’re still a petulant CHILD.
THAD: Magda…you…you were like a MOTHER to me.
3/ Magda stands up straight, removing her gentle touch from him, almost as a punishment. She flicks her cigarette slightly, and her ashes fall to the ground. Thad looks up at her, terrified.
MAGDA: Sadly, Thadeus, you’ll never get the opportunity to understand just what a difference there is between being LIKE a mother and actually BEING one.
MAGDA: Loathe as I am to ADMIT it, Landon is RIGHT.
MAGDA: Yes, the system is BROKEN - but bloodshed is NOT the way to fix it. And you cannot fix a BROKEN system by replacing it with ANOTHER one.
THAD: What will I do now?
4/ Thadeus pulls himself up by clinging to the stone wall of the subway station, and Magda pokes her head into the panel, taking a drag from her cigarette. Thad looks over at her, leaning against the wall to support himself.
MAGDA: Now? You’ll RUN. Because, Thad? There’s something I want you to UNDERSTAND.
MAGDA: I am a great many things. A sanctimonious BITCH? Sure. A bitter old woman? Possibly. A self-righteous HYPOCRITE? Most certainly.
MAGDA: But I am also a POWERFUL WOMAN.
5/ Similar shot, but pull in closer as Magda stamps her cigarette out against the stone wall, close in the FG, and Thad’s eyes are drawn to the smoldering ember as it flickers down out of the panel. Thad still clings to the wall for support, and his face is pure dread as he realizes the gravity of what he’s done to himself.
MAGDA: And if you EVER go after my FAMILY again? I will hunt you down.
MAGDA: I will kill everyone you ever loved. I will destroy everything that was ever important to you and you will CEASE to EXIST.
6/ Magda slams Thad up against the wall and presses the small, smoldering ember that remains of her cigarette against his forehead. He winces in pain as it sizzles against his grey flesh, and Magda stares him straight in the face, her features an unmistakable look of dire warning.
MAGDA: Because you DO NOT.
MAGDA: CROSS.
MAGDA: A POWERFUL.
MAGDA: WOMAN.
PAGE NINETEEN
1/ CUT BACK to Milo…and his return to his ongoing alternate reality dream sequence. Abruptly, we see Alternate Milo standing tall in the midst of a war torn high street, looking down at us and Milo with a pleasantly unsurprised look on his face. At the bottom of the panel, splayed out on the ground in a pose of pure shock, is the Milo from our reality, whom we just saw “die.” Fighter jets fly by overhead, cutting a swath across the flame-tinted sky.
ALT MILO: Welcome back, Milo.
MILO: Jesus!
MILO: Talk about your inconvenient times for a goddamn DREAM SEQUENCE!
2/ On Alternate Milo, looking disapprovingly at our Milo, his face a mask of shamed disbelief. He crosses his arms across his chest, shaking his head. His red chunk of hair wiggles side to side.
ALT MILO: I’ll laugh privately about YOU, of all people, being concerned with TIME when I’m alone in my SHELTER later.
ALT MILO: But do you really still think that’s what these are? DREAMS?
3/ Our Milo stands up, dusting himself off and adjusting his broken glasses, looking like he just wants to return to the last task he remembers being a part of - fighting Malice.
MILO: Look, man…I’m a little BUSY, here.
MILO: Can we cut to the nitty gritty and spare me all this ELUSIVE crap?
4/ CLOSE ON Alt Milo, looking straight at our Milo, breaking the news.
ALT MILO: Milo, you’re not busy at ALL.
ALT MILO: You’re DEAD.
5/ Our Milo looks down at his hands, absorbing the reality of the statement with something less than surprise. He obviously knew, but was unprepared to blindly accept the notion of his death. He says nothing.
6/ Alternate Milo takes him by the shoulder, turning the Blue-haired Milo so that the two men face each other.
ALT MILO: Tell me: in all your TRIPS here, have you ever bothered to wonder WHY there’re all these different, variant REALITIES?
PAGE TWENTY
1/ Our Milo looks at him, nervously brushing a chunk of his hair behind his ear.
MILO: I didn’t think there WAS a ‘why.’
MILO: I just figured that’s how it WORKED.
2/ Alt Milo looks at him seriously, his baleful stare indicating that Milo should know better. His own glasses are perfectly intact, and he has no cuts on his face from battle.
ALT MILO: There’s ALWAYS a WHY, Milo.
ALT MILO: There are an INFINITE NUMBER of universes, did you know that? Wrap your head around that statement for a moment, because it’s a DOOZY.
3/ Our Milo looks at him honestly, slowly accepting that the conversation is obviously necessary and that he should involve himself in it.
MILO: Are they ALL variations on the same theme?
4/ Long Panel as the Milos look up to the sky. The red-stained clouds part and for a moment, we see the stars of the night sky played out in all their grandeur. The glowing white swath of the Milky Way stretches across the sky, and in the distance we can see great shining star clusters, home to countless worlds and countless space phenomenon.
ALT MILO: Actually, Milo…most of them are uninhabitable. There are only a few HUNDRED like yours or mine - that’s the POINT.
ALT MILO: God does not roll DICE.
ALT MILO: The fabric of reality is DESIGNED so that every conceivable approach to creation is TRIED, and of those infinite variable combinations, SEVEN HUNDRED have successfully yielded LIFE.
ALT MILO: Of those seven hundred, FIVE-HUNDRED and FORTY-TWO have yielded SENTIENT LIFE, and of those…
5/ On our Milo, looking up at the sky and pondering.
MILO: I get it.
MILO: And there are probably only a few hundred that have yielded SUSTAINABLE sentient life, and they all mostly look like OUR worlds, because there’s something special about this EQUATION.
MILO: What’s the point?
6/ Milo looks back down, and Alternate Milo is looking straight at him, stressing that this is important and that he should listen carefully.
ALT MILO: The point is, of those hundreds of similar REALITIES, none of us have gotten it RIGHT, yet, Milo.
MILO: Gotten it RIGHT? Meaning what?
PAGE TWENTY-ONE
1/ Alternate Milo takes a few steps forward, strolling as he talks, spreading his arms wide in an all-inclusive gesture. Our Milo follows him with his eyes, listening.
ALT MILO: Meaning the whole POINT of it!
ALT MILO: The purpose of EXISTENCE. The thing we were supposed to do RIGHT when it REALLY, REALLY, mattered.
MILO: You’re talking about destiny?
2/ Alternate Milo spins to face him, an ironic and serious look on his face.
ALT MILO: It’s not exactly DESTINY if you can screw it UP, is it?
3/ Our Milo looks away, thoughtful. He says nothing for a moment.
4/ He starts to walk, heading south down High Street, and Alternate Milo keeps pace with him a few steps behind. In the BG, a small group of deer go skittering across the abandoned thoroughfare, leaping over the wreckage of abandoned cars.
MILO: Why are you TELLING me all this?
ALT MILO: Because Malice just gave you a MOMENT, Milo, when you can CHANGE THE RULES.
ALT MILO: Where you can BREAK the cycle the universe has put in PLACE.
5/ Milo looks back over his shoulder and shouts resentfully back at his parallel duplicate.
MILO: I can’t do ANYTHING!
MILO: I’m DEAD!
6/ Behind him, Alternate Milo’s face cracks with a mischievous and self-amused grin.
ALT MILO: Strike me DOWN, and I shall become more powerful than you can possibly IMAGINE.
PAGE TWENTY-TWO
1/ Our Milo turns to look at him, a mix of amusement and irritation on his exhausted face. The cuts on his face from battle have congealed over, become dark lines of dried blood.
MILO: Somehow I never thought the first thing I would see when I DIED would be MYSELF quoting STAR WARS at me.
2/ Alternate Milo looks at him, done joking and ready to make his point.
ALT MILO: Yeah, well…DEAL with it.
ALT MILO: You’ve got a shot to make this RIGHT, Milo. You can’t prevent the WAR, but you can pull off the thing we all FAILED to do.
ALT MILO: We’ve - and by ‘WE’ I mean me and the other MILOS - we’ve all been trying to work WITH the universe, but after every one of us FAILED, we realized that wasn’t the KEY.
3/ Long panel as our Milo turns his back on Alternate Milo, crouching down on the cracked pavement to pick up an abandoned doll, its patchwork body soiled with dirt and chemical exhaust, only one of its beady black eyes remaining. All around it on the pavement were a cluster of abandoned dolls, probably 15 or so, all soiled and broken, every one missing both its eyes save for the one Milo claimed for himself. Behind him, Alternate Milo stands, looking down on Our Milo scoldingly.
MILO: Look, man - I don’t want this.
MILO: I am NOT the right man for the kind of thing you’re TALKING about.
ALT MILO: That’s exactly why you ARE the right man, Milo. Look at you. Look at me!
ALT MILO: You’re a self-righteous PRICK, half the time. You’re arrogant, you’re self-centered, and you’ve never even BOTHERED to figure out how powerful you really ARE.
ALT MILO: You don’t WANT to know. Malice WANTS it, and that’s exactly why he can’t HAVE it.
4/ Milo stands, turning around to face Alternate Milo questioningly.
MILO: All of you worked together to CONTACT me?
MILO: Is this REALITY-CROSSING thing something that we can just DO? It’s that easy?
5/ Alternate Milo looks at him seriously as Our Milo begins to edge his way back in Alt’s direction, opening himself up to the conversation.
ALT MILO: Don’t kid yourself, Milo. It’s NEVER easy, and you made it harder for us than ANY of the others.
ALT MILO: You have a pretty strong RESISTANCE to unwanted psychic ADVANCES.
MILO: Except for MALICE’S, apparently.
PAGE TWENTY-THREE
1/ Long Panel as Milo looks away, gravitating toward the red brick façade of a nearby building as Alt Milo stares at his back. Alt Milo looks cautious, telling Milo things he doesn’t want to hear and knowing how much they hurt, but knowing he has to say them anyway.
ALT MILO: That’s because you WANTED it, Milo.
ALT MILO: Something bad happened to you, once upon a time, and it was genuinely terrible. The same is true with all of US, and we’ve never quite gotten OVER it.
ALT MILO: It’s why you abuse sex, and spend time in wasteful relationships you know you aren’t invested in. Because it’s easier for you to be the VICTIM than the HERO.
MILO: Ouch.
ALT MILO: The universe KNEW this about you, Milo, and it pulled you into EXACTLY the kind of EASY WAY OUT it knew you would take - succumbing to Malice - so that it could drop this opportunity in your LAP.
ALT MILO: But you have to TAKE it. WE didn’t.
2/ On Alternate Milo as Our Milo turns to him, questioning. Alt Milo looks regretful, wishing he did not have to reveal this particular bit of information.
MILO: Wait…if I was so hard to CONTACT…
MILO:…how did you DO it?
ALT MILO: Oh, God. We…we sent an AVATAR.
3/ Our Milo looks at Alt Milo, stunned as he realizes what Alt’s talking about.
MILO: Jesus.
MILO: You’re talking about DAVID.
4/ Alt Milo looks stoically at Our Milo, refusing to let his ethical dilemma get in the way of what he knows needs to happen. He tries to be as straightforward as possible.
ALT MILO: No, not David.
ALT MILO: David’s BOOK.
ALT MILO: The Spell Book.
5/ Long, Large Panel as our Milo turns and punches the brick wall, letting his fist rest there as he sinks his confused and frustrated head against the wall, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth as he struggles with the information. Behind him, Alt Milo approaches, looking carefully and gently at him as he tries to explain.
MILO: Why didn’t you just send me the book by itself?
ALT MILO: Because you hate ARTIFACTS, Milo. Like ALL of us.
ALT MILO: Any magic that doesn’t come straight from you…
PAGE TWENTY-FOUR
1/ Milo, still leaning his head against the brick wall, opens his eyes, staring sadly down at the ground as he comes to grips with what he’s just been told. His fists remain against the wall, but they open slightly as Milo loosens up.
MILO: …I don’t touch with a ten foot pole.
2/ Alternate Milo stands behind him, looking at him gently, and as he does, several other Milos walk into view, each with a different colored chunk of hair. At first, we see only two additional Milos, with green and yellow chunks in their hair. They, too, look gently at their blue haired compatriot.
RED MILO: We would have made DAVID the Avatar, but believable GOLEMS are a lot harder to PULL OFF than you would THINK.
YELLOW MILO: So we just made a person. And we gave him a book.
YELLOW MILO: And we let him think he had a life all his own.
GREEN MILO: And if he CHALLENGED you, and helped you to GROW?
GREEN MILO: All the better.
3/ Our Milo turns away from the wall, facing the other Milos. Red Milo is in the panel, and he looks apologetically at Our Milo.
MILO: So you’re saying that David…?
RED MILO: Doesn’t EXIST, Milo. Not in any reality but YOURS.
RED MILO: But he’s THERE, and he’s REAL there.
RED MILO: He’s just an ANOMALY, made by YOU. Or rather, US.
4/ Milo doubles over, barely able to comprehend what’s happening. Green Milo looks down at him, touching his shoulder gently and changing the focus of the moment.
MILO: Good God.
GREEN MILO: Now, I need you to start PUSHING, Milo - because you’re about to give BIRTH, and it’s going to HURT.
5/ Milo looks up at him and suddenly cries out in pain, grabbing his head on both sides.
MILO: What?
MILO: AGGHH!!!
6/ Long, Large Panel as Our Milo bends over, gripping the sides of his head and screaming in agony, as a cluster of six Alternate Milos making up the full spectrum (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, counting Our Milo) stand all around him, all shouting to him in unison as he screams. The edges of the panel seem to crack and vibrate with the intensity of all Milo’s aspects of reality converging on him and combining their focus into one form, for only a moment - a moment that challenges reality itself and threatens to tear the host - Our Milo - to pieces. In the BG, the blood-soaked sky glows with the intensity of a nuclear war, and at Milo’s knees - skittering across the dusty, glass-strewn ground - is a single scorpion.
ALL OTHER MILOS: PUSH, Milo! You need to PUSH now!
ALL OTHER MILOS (huge font): PUSH!
PAGE TWENTY-FIVE
1/ CUT BACK to Malice’s headquarters, where we find ourselves CLOSE, face to face with the LAST image we saw of Milo alive: his wide-eyed corpse, his splayed-out hand, his broken glasses and the pool of blood beneath it all.
MALICE (OFF PANEL, to the left): …friend taken CARE of…
2/ Pull back to see more of Milo’s supposed corpse, but there’s substantially less blood - because it’s flowing back into Milo’s body, returning to the source. In the BG, the random monks still look on, shocked by Malice’s murder of Milo.
MALICE (off panel): I’d say the REAL fun can begin.
3/ Close On Milo, similar to the first panel, except that his eyes-wide death stare has disappeared, and his eyes clench tightly together as he comes to, slightly picking his head up off the ground. His glasses tilt askew on his face, and we can see that the blood has almost completely disappeared, returned miraculously to Milo’s body.
MILO: Ugh…
4/ Large Panel as Milo picks himself up, getting clumsily to his feet and reorienting his glasses on his scratched face. In the BG, the Monks turn in surprise to the newly resurrected Milo, as he pushes himself up into a precarious crouch.
MILO (withered balloon): Alright, scumbag…
5/ Malice whirls around in shock, and the previously threatened members of the team all stare in awe past him at Milo’s unexpected return. Malice looks furious and terrified. Milo kneels in the shot, regaining composure.
MALICE: No! What did you - ?
MILO: I died. I saw heaven.
MILO: God and his Angels told me that you’re WRONG, Malice. That I should come back and SMITE you with their SWORD of TRUTH.
MILO: And that’s what I’m gonna DO.
MALICE: It’s - it’s not POSSIBLE!
6/ Close On Milo, looking angrily at his killer.
MILO: You’re right. It’s not.
MILO: I just like telling people that they’re WRONG.
PAGE TWENTY-SIX
1/ Long Panel as Milo walks toward Malice, his hand held upward in a gesture that indicates his is using his telekinesis on Malice. Malice lifts upward off the ground, dangling helplessly in front of Milo’s vengeful form. He tilts forward to face Milo, his own features a mask of challenging disrespect.
MILO: You put me under some kind of MIND CONTROL.
MILO: Took advantage of me.
MALICE: Did I, Milo?
MALICE: Or did you do exactly what you WANTED to do?
2/ Tall Panel as we see downward over Malice’s shoulder, Milo looking up at him with no hint of mercy or hesitation toward Malice’s games. He is stoic and strong, if only for this moment, and he knows exactly what he’s going to do.
MILO: Shut up.
MILO: You’re a MONSTER, not a HERO. You ABUSE your power.
MILO: Do you feel that TINGLE?
3/ Tall Panel as we reverse angles, looking upward over Milo’s shoulder at Malice, whose face contorts in agonizing pain at the wave of Milo’s hand. He is completely helpless, his arms dangling at his side like useless chunks of wood.
MILO: That’s your BRAIN shutting down.
MILO: I’m deleting you, one brain function at a TIME.
MILO: I’m starting with MOTOR FUNCTIONS and SPEECH CENTERS, and working my way DOWN.
MILO: It’s EXCRUCIATING, I know, but I’m taking your PAIN RECEPTORS last, just to make sure you feel every minute of it.
4/ Long Panel as Malice’s brain-dead body drops to the ground at Milo’s feet - the only part of Milo still in the panel. Malice’s eyes roll back into his head, and in the BG we can see Beth and Andrew, looking on in horror.
MILO: Goodbye, Tommy.
MILO: Rot in Hell.
PAGE TWENTY-SEVEN
1/ Rhiannon, Donovan and David stare, unsure of what to do or say. Their jaws hang wide open, disbelieving.
RHI: Milo…
2/ Milo stands there, shaking with trauma and heartbreak. He looks over at them, unable to form sentences in his catatonia.
MILO (withered balloon): I…I don’t…
3/ Long, Large Panel as Milo collapses, dropping to his hands on the concrete floor, scattered with the same shards of glass that ultimately killed him. His legs fold out beneath him, and he supports himself only by what remains of his upper-body strength. He tilts his head downward and retches violently, his vomit splashing unceremoniously against the cold floor as he unloads the contents of his stomach. Behind him, Malice’s headquarters is strangely silent, and the monks all freeze, having no idea what to do with their leader gone.
MILO: RREETCHH
4/ Donovan looks on as Rhiannon springs from her shocked state and rushes out of panel to go to Milo’s side. Her face is pure fear and concern for her friend, and Donovan is frozen by the gravity of the situation.
RHI: MILO!
5/ CLOSE as Rhiannon reaches Milo’s side, taking his shaking form in her arms and whispering to him, rocking him back and forth as he slips deeper into catatonic shock. He grips the side of her arm, clinging desperately to something he knows is real, and he closes his eyes.
RHI: It’s gonna be OKAY, Milo…
RHI: It’s gonna be okay.
Next - Same Old Story
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Knights of Columbus #20
Issue Twenty: “Malicious Intent, part five: The Tesseract.”
PAGE ONE
“Previously” page.
PAGE TWO
1/ Open on Malice’s Altar Room, where Andrew, Beth, Rhiannon, Donovan, and David all hang helplessly from their chunks of abandoned machinery, tethered to them with their arms held uncomfortably over their heads. They have been left unsupervised, and the room is empty as they sit in awkward silence, staring everywhere but at each other.
CAPTION: New Hope, Ohio. Malice’s Cult Headquarters.
2/ On Andrew, looking dismayed and annoyed, staring at the floor.
3/ On Beth, looking up at the ceiling and looking antsy, irritated.
4/ On Donovan and David, side-by-side, as Donovan looks uncomfortably at the floor. David looks around at the group and breaks the silence, feeling vaguely like the odd man out and unsure of what to say.
DAVID: SO….
5/ Rhiannon looks up and raises her eyebrows as she addresses the group.
RHI: So, like…I love you guys. I really do.
RHI: You’re all wonderful and talented people.
6/ On Andrew, looking at Rhiannon with irritation as he senses where her statement is headed and not wanting to listen to it.
RHI (off panel): But, uh, if I were to rate your “RESCUE OPERATION” abilities on a scale of “we’re all safe at home laughing about this experience,” to “here we are, all chained to a bunch of old machinery, having systematically been captured by a WIZARD who lives in a WAREHOUSE in HICKVILLE…?”
7/ Back to Rhiannon, her kind look now switched to an angry scowl.
RHI: I’m gonna say the LEARNING CURVE is disappointingly SHALLOW.
RHI: Just throwing that out there.
PAGE THREE
1/ Beth looks up, recoiling a little in self-defense.
BETH: Hey, now.
BETH: That’s not exactly FAIR. I mean –
2/ Rhiannon looks over at her, nodding in mock agreement, her face serious to undermine the sarcasm in her tone.
RHI: No, no, you’re right.
RHI: You’ve all done a wonderful JOB here, obviously.
3/ LONG PANEL as Rhiannon continues, Andrew and Beth at her side. They look over at her, accepting her criticism with chagrin.
RHI: I’m just saying that there’s, you know, SAVING ME, and then there’s STUMBLING BLINDLY, one after another, into an obvious TRAP.
RHI: Those are two pretty DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED outcomes to a given scenario, is all I’m saying.
4/ Donovan looks back down at the floor, shamefully.
DON: I suppose this could have gone better, yes.
5/ On Rhiannon, continuing, loving every minute of her sarcastic diatribe. She continues to be completely deadpan, not cracking a smile for a moment.
RHI: Maybe, you know, if and when we get OUT of this, there should be some sort of GRASS-ROOTS MEETING.
RHI: I’m seeing POWER-POINT presentations: “Botched rescue missions and YOU.”
RHI: I’ll make cookies.
PAGE FOUR
1/ And looks over at her, patiently awaiting her silence.
ANDREW: Are you finished?
2/ Rhiannon looks at Andrew, calmly.
RHI: Yeah, I guess that’s all I had to say.
RHI: Any other brilliant plans up your sleeve?
RHI: Because maybe we should know ahead of time, so I can do the EXACT OPPOSITE of whatever you have in mind.
3/ They all return to silence, looking uncomfortably at each other.
4/ David looks up at the group, looking worried.
DAVID: So…can anyone offer me a NON-infuriating explanation as to why Milo is in the badguy’s BEDROOM right now?
5/ Rhiannon looks over at him, trying to be reassuring but not showing any sign of certainty in her expression.
RHI: Well, he’s obviously under some sort of MIND-CONTROL.
RHI (small font): At least, I hope he is.
PAGE FIVE
1/ LONG PANEL as we CUT TO Milo, sitting up abruptly in Malice’s bed, grasping at his aching head with his free hand. This is a portion of Malice’s hideout that we have not yet seen: the bedroom was once a glass-walled survey booth from which administrators could oversee the goings on in the old building, its plate-glass fourth wall looking down on the Altar Room below. The room is deep, its walls lined with loaded book shelves, stocked with what appears to be thousands of books. The bed itself is a beautiful antique, large and opulent, and flanking either side are antique night-stands with dim antique lamps. The room is carpeted in a complex pattern, weaving out from beneath the bed in all directions. Across from the bed is a solid oak table, shined vigorously and draped with a crimson table runner, two matching candles, and a dining setup for two. In the far corner, a small study is arranged by sequestering the furniture off from the rest of the room: a pair of matching leather chairs face a small nook created by the bookshelves, with a nightstand between them. In the opposite corner, some large object is obscured by the cream colored sheet draped over it, though we can see that it is some sort of oddly shaped machine, standing about as tall as a man and a half. Everything is shades of Earth tones, with the dominant color being crimson, and the room is lit by many candles. Not all of this is necessarily seen in the first panel, but the Milo and Malice scenes take place entirely in this room.
MILO: Oh, my God!
2/ Milo turns to find Malice, lying in bed next to him. Malice is shirtless, with the blankets pulled up to his stomach, indicating what has happened between this and the previous issue. Milo still wears his t-shirt. Malice lies with his hands behind his head, and he looks over at Milo quizzically, with concern and warmth.
MALICE: Are you okay, Milo?
3/ Milo looks down at him, putting on his glasses. He hesitates for a moment, and then opens up to the villain.
MILO: Yeah. It’s just…
MILO: I’ve been having these DREAMS.
4/ Malice gets out of bed and pulls his crimson button-down over his shoulders, preparing to button it as he watches Milo. Milo continues while Malice listens intently.
MILO (off panel): I see myself, in an alternate reality, and there’s been…some sort of WAR, or something.
MILO: Whatever it was, it was terrible, and I say – or rather, HE says…
5/ Milo looks away, rubbing his aching forehead and closing his eyes, trying to hold onto the dream and somewhat uncertain of why he’s telling Malice.
MILO: He says that it’s going to happen HERE. That it happens in EVERY reality.
MILO: It’s some sort of…PARADIGM CHANGE, that’s always part of the BIG PICTURE no matter which reality you’re IN.
MILO: I don’t…I don’t know what to make of it.
PAGE SIX
1/ Malice finishes buttoning his shirt, looking up at Milo as he takes in the information Milo has just given him. He smiles, trying to reassure Milo that it’s all part of some plan.
MALICE: It’s interesting that you should tell me that, Milo.
MALICE: It’s part of why you and your friends are HERE, actually.
MALICE: The APOCALYPSE is something of a hobby of mine.
2/ Milo turns abruptly to Malice, taken aback by the statement. Malice, off panel, continues, assuaging Milo’s sudden fears.
MALICE (off panel): Not in the traditional sense, Milo.
MALICE: Do you have any idea how hard people have worked to obfuscate the original meaning of that word?
MALICE: And for much the same reason they’ve worked so hard to obscure the message of MOST of the ancient TEXTS.
3/ Malice sits down next to Milo on the bed, his shirt now completely buttoned. He has also put on his black pants, and he looks at Milo pleasantly, as though they are having a fun little history lesson.
MALICE: Do you KNOW what the apocalypse really is?
MALICE: What its TRUE nature represents?
MALICE: “Apocalypse” means, quite literally, an UNVIELING. The great TRUTHS, finally revealed for all to see.
4/ Milo looks at Malice over the rim of his glasses, distrust in his eyes, though he is clearly intrigued by what Malice has to say. Malice’s shoulder can be seen at the edge of the panel.
MALICE: The CHRISTIAN CHURCH has worked very hard to lose the meaning of that word in the pages of HISTORY, and they’ve succeeded admirably.
5/ Close on Malice as he looks Milo straight in the eye, seriously.
MALICE: But there’s still an educated MINORITY that is keenly aware that the event we’ve come to think of as the “end of the world…”
MALICE: …is really just the “end of the world…as we KNOW it.”
6/ Milo looks right back at Malice, intrigued and worried. He seems a bit lost, as though he’s not sure how he wound up here, but he has no intention of interrupting Malice’s diatribe before he learns something important.
MALICE (off panel): The coming of the CHRIST, the BUDDHA, of the prophet MUHAMMAD – Krishna, Abraham, and Bahá'u'lláh – these were all “apocalypses” in the literal sense.
MALICE: All part of the UNIVERSE’S great CYCLE OF RENEWAL.
MALICE: There have been many apocalypses in the PAST, and there’re still many more yet to come.
PAGE SEVEN
1/ Malice gets up from the bed, walking over to his bookshelves and pulling down a copy of the Mayan “Popol Vuh.” It is an old, weathered, leather-bound book, and the gold-leaf print on the cover flashes in the candlelight as he removes it from the shelf.
MALICE: Some, like myself, believe that we are on the VERGE of the new apocalypse. Your dreams just serve to highlight how important it was that we MEET.
MALICE: The MAYANS believed that at the end of the 13th BAKTUN of their ancient calendar, the world would undergo a long-awaited REBOOT of sorts.
MALICE: All that we knew would come to an END – not to fade into oblivion, but to be replaced by a NEW vision of humanity.
2/ Milo approaches Malice’s side at the bookshelf, glancing down at the book in Malice’s hand. The pages are filled with elaborate Hieroglyphics and chunks of scattered verse. Malice is only slightly in the panel, with the focus on Milo as he sees the book.
MALICE: The end of the Baktun coincides with the end of the Hopi FOURTH WORLD, and the beginning of the FIFTH – a measurement of their OWN calendar.
MALICE: As a matter of fact, a LOT of ancient cultures have prophesied this event. It’s come to be known as the OMEGA POINT: when humanity has reached the only ZENITH it can reach in its current incarnation.
MALICE: When that day comes, the only place for mankind to go is FORWARD - on to the next stage of human evolution.
3/ Milo looks up from the book, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Malice – and at the reader. He speaks slowly, methodically, as he takes in Malice’s entire spoken manifesto. There is something ominous about all of this, and Milo is trying to put the pieces together.
MILO: This FOURTH WORLD we’re living in…when does it END?
MILO: When is all this supposed to HAPPEN?
4/ On both of them as Malice also looks up from the book, locking eyes with Milo. Malice is serious, foreboding.
MALICE: Sooner than you THINK, Milo.
MILO: Specifically.
MALICE: December 21st, 2012.
MALICE: Five months from now.
5/ Milo looks away, rubbing his forehead and closing his eyes.
MILO: Jesus.
6/ Malice slaps the book shut and looks excitedly at Milo, his tone changing from ominous to promising. He looks almost giddy.
MALICE: PRECISELY.
MALICE: Every apocalypse has had a JESUS FIGURE. Every cycle of renewal has begun with the arrival of a PROPHET, a TEACHER, a HARBINGER of times to come.
MALICE: And that’s just what I intend to BE.
PAGE EIGHT
1/ Milo looks up at Malice, locking serious eyes with him.
MILO: In my DREAM – or whatever it is – the ME from the ALTERNATE REALITY told me that you’re a CONSTANT.
MILO: That the CHANGE in the world always begins when – in every reality – a man named MALICE “saves the world.”
MILO: I don’t know what it MEANS.
2/ Malice reciprocates Milo’s serious look, feeling more vindicated than ever.
MALICE: It means that I’m RIGHT, Milo.
MALICE: That everything I’ve been doing all these years is VALIDATED.
3/ Malice continues as Milo examines the bookshelf, briefly pulling out a book labeled “Friedrich Nietzsche – Thus Spoke Zarathustra.”
MALICE: When I was young, I discovered PHILOSOPHY.
MALICE: It was the only thing that could…STIMULATE me, in the way that traditional ideas could never seem to DO.
4/ On Malice, gesturing toward the bookshelves as he continues, looking a little misty-eyed as he momentarily basks in his own self-importance.
MALICE: When I began to discover the OCCULT, and the prophecies of renewal in 2012, I knew I had found my PURPOSE.
MALICE: Growing up, I always felt that I was meant for something MORE. I was going to be a HERO.
MALICE: Since then I’ve traveled the WORLD, studying the FUTURE of cultures, communications, religion and science.
5/ Milo looks over at Malice, glancing up from the book to listen as Malice grabs at Milo’s wrist, preparing to drag him to the other side of the bedroom.
MALICE: Do you KNOW how close we are to a cultural singularity?
MALICE: We’ve built a machine in GENEVA that’ll soon unlock the mysteries of EXISTENCE! We’ve made advancements in robotics that place us on the verge of creating INTELLIGENCE from NOTHINGNESS!
MALICE: For christsakes, Milo, we’ve technologically unlocked PSYCHIC ABILITIES in APES!
6/ Malice now stands at the opposite corner of the room, by the big object covered in a sheet. Milo watches as Malice grabs the edge of the sheet and pulls it close to his body, preparing to yank it free and reveal what’s underneath. Malice faces Milo with a broad smile on his face, supremely excited to be showing Milo what he’s got hidden under the sheet.
MALICE: The day of transition IS coming, Milo, and not only do I intend to be its HARBINGER – I intend to be its ARCHITECT.
MALICE: I’ve built something, and I want you to see it.
MALICE: It’s a DEVICE, Milo, which will be INSTRUMENTAL on the day that GOD returns to the human MIND.
MALICE: I call it…
PAGE NINE
1/ This is a FULL PAGE SPLASH featuring the issue’s TITLE, CREDITS, and INDICIA as Malice yanks away the sheet and reveals his machine. Atop a thick base of solid metal, laced with wires and lights, sits a gigantic metal geometrical shape known as a Tesseract -an 8-cell or regular octachoron, the four-dimensional analog of the cube. The tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square. Just as the surface of the cube consists of 6 square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of 8 cubical cells. An image can be found on Wikipedia. At all of its corners, swivel joints gleam, indicating the device’s ability to make seemingly impossible fluctuations as it rotates in and out of itself. The device is, of course, physically impossible, but Malice has somehow accomplished it. He stands by its side looking proud as could be, as Milo looks on in confusion.
MALICE: …the TESSERACT.
PAGE TEN
1/ CUT TO a long panel, as Landon sits alone in the Subway Car jail-cell that has been designed for him. The lights inside the car have been turned on, and the harsh fluorescents flicker as he waits for something – anything – to happen. He leans against the wall, his arms folded impatiently.
CAPTION: New York City. Defectors’ Base of Operations.
2/ Long panel as Thadeus, his head cut off by the panel, approaches, placing a wooden chair in front of the subway car door and preparing to take a seat. Behind him, we see the aftermath of Landon’s rampage: several vampire and werewolf bodies strewn about the station, blood splattering the walls and floor.
3/ Long panel as Thadeus, now sitting in the chair, looks out at the audience and at Landon. He smiles sardonically, his eyebrow raised in defiance.
THAD: Landon.
THAD: Hi.
4/ Long Panel as Landon hurls himself against the bars, gripping them furiously and shouting at his captor and former friend.
LANDON: Thadeus!
LANDON: What the hell do you WANT!?
PAGE ELEVEN
1/ Thadeus looks up at Landon from his chair, his face a mask of faux-sincerity.
THAD: It’s been a while, Landon.
THAD: I’ve got to say, I didn’t really expect to SEE you again.
THAD: But then, I guess it was only a matter of time before MAGDA dragged you into this. Poor old woman.
2/ Landon glares at Thad through the bars, his teeth showing the hint of werewolf fangs as he struggles against the solid metal keeping him at bay.
LANDON: What are you DOING, Thadeus?
LANDON: What are you hoping to ACCOMPLISH, here?
3/ Thad nonchalantly examines his yellow fingernails, examining them the way a manicurist would examine her own, though they are more like claws than nails.
THAD: Tell me something, Landon.
THAD: When’s the last time you honestly felt like this Brotherhood MEANT something?
4/ Landon slams his head against the bars silently, in defeat. He closes his frustrated eyes.
LANDON: Jesus, Thad. I dunno.
LANDON: But I suppose you’re gonna tell me all about it.
5/ Long panel as Thad crosses one leg horizontally over the other, resting his hands on his legs and looking directly up at Landon.
THAD: When Vlad and Lycaon built this organization, they built it as a MONUMENT to what could be achieved when the community set ASIDE their differences, and became a UNIT.
THAD: Vampires, Werewolves and MAGI, all working together: EQUALS.
PAGE TWELVE
1/ Landon clings to the bars, looking furiously at Thad as he continues his self-important speech. Thad barely notices Landon’s fury, reciting without ceremony a speech he’s clearly performed hundreds of times.
THAD: But as their powerbase GREW, the inevitable happened and POLITICS reared its head.
THAD: The COUNCIL of the HIGH PROTECTORATE was born.
2/ On Thad, looking resentful as he speaks, though there is something phony about the way he talks politics – like a kid who doesn’t really understand the game he’s playing.
THAD: The wisdom of Vlad and Lycaon wasn’t ENOUGH for the most well to-DO members of our little ENCLAVE…
THAD: …and so a panel of NON-DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED nobodies would get to regulate who deserved a chance to SHINE and who did NOT.
3/ Landon turns away from the bars, glaring over his shoulder at Thad. His hair falls in front of his face, caked with sweat from his exhausting ordeal.
LANDON: Thanks for the HISTORY lesson, Thad, but I KNOW all this.
LANDON: What’s the POINT?
4/ Thad drops his leg to the ground and places his hands on his knees, leaning forward. His face turns to disgust, his lip curled upward in a vicious sneer.
THAD: As a BLOODLINE succession was being put in place to make sure the same FAMILIES were always the ones in CHARGE, the WIZARDS were making nice with the MUNDANES on the SURFACE-WORLD.
5/ Landon approaches the bars once again, still looking furiously at Thad but resolving to listen, since Thad is obviously going to continue whether Landon is listening or not.
THAD (off panel): See, THEY could fit in with the HUMANS better than Werewolves and Vampires EVER could…
THAD:…and it was only a matter of TIME before they let the MEAT-SACKS know we were HERE.
PAGE THIRTEEN
1/ Long panel as Thad continues, looking more and more resentful as he speaks, practically spitting the words at Landon.
THAD: Once that happened, the HUNTERS and HEROES came crawling out of the WOODWORK.
THAD: We had an ENEMY.
THAD: Not EVERYONE viewed the HUMANS as the enemy, and there are still poor SAPS like you who want to play PATTY-CAKE with them…
2/ Landon looks through the bars at Thad, scowling. We see Thad from behind, his shoulder sticking into the panel.
THAD: …but they are enemies NONETHELESS, and they have shrunk us to a FRACTION of the glory we once HAD.
3/ On Thad, looking as though he’s building to his climax. He stands from the chair, approaching the bars excitedly and angrily.
THAD: We’ve had no great SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENTS since LYCANTHROPENE! Our ARTISTS have long since VANISHED!
THAD: Our god-given RIGHT to the HUNT has been CURTAILED to a farcical bi-monthly RITUAL!
4/ Long panel as Thad turns away from the bars and walks deeper into the room, toward the chair. He looks back over his shoulder at Landon as he speaks.
THAD: We have been living off of BLOOD BANKS and BUTCHER SHOPS for far too long.
THAD: We have been hiding in SHADOWS and LURKING in SEWERS and waiting for our CHANCE, and I have been working behind the scenes for TEN YEARS to make this day a REALITY…
THAD: And then some disgruntled MORON did me a favor and took out BURGESS.
PAGE FOURTEEN
1/ Long Panel as Thad pops a cigar in his mouth and lights it with a silver butane lighter, keeping his back to Landon the entire time. Landon watches with distaste.
THAD: For YEARS, I’ve been consorting with LIKE-MINDED individuals - people who’ve READ the great thinkers, just as I have, and who KNOW there’s a better way.
THAD: We’ve been MANIPULATING all of the INHERITORS to the COUNCIL into leaving so we could make our MOVE.
2/ Thad turns to face Landon, waving his cigar in the air as he smiles with grim satisfaction.
THAD: And then the opportunity fell right into our LAPS.
3/ On Landon, listening intently as Thad continues.
THAD (off panel): With BURGESS out of the way, and most of the COUNCIL successors M.I.A., no one could stop us from waging our WAR.
4/ Thad turns away again, pacing as he speaks. He looks back over his shoulder.
THAD: We still rely on the BLOOD BANKS to fill in the GAPS, but the hunt is RETURNING as our numbers GROW.
THAD: It will only IMPROVE.
5/ Same shot, but CLOSE ON Thad. He glares triumphantly as he wraps up his speech.
THAD: We WILL take back our GLORY, and our POWER, and the streets will run RED with the blood of men, and they will KNOW.
THAD: My.
THAD: NAME.
PAGE FIFTEEN
1/ CUT TO a Long Panel as we return to the Altar Room, where the captured team members hang patiently, having no idea what’s going on in Malice’s bedroom. Donovan looks up from the ground at Beth, a curious and somewhat irritated look on his face. Beth begins to answer him, but is interrupted by an off-panel voice. Beside Beth, Andrew turns to face the voice.
DON: Beth…
DON: Why can’t you just WOLF OUT and tear this place apart?
VOICE: That would be ME.
2/ Brother Michael approaches the group, looking a little frazzled from his earlier ordeal in which he was knocked out by an unseen source. He glares a little triumphantly in Donovan’s direction, feeling proud of his supposed ability to restrain people’s powers.
MIKE: One of you may have found some way to KNOCK ME OUT from a DISTANCE, but I wasn’t out for LONG.
MIKE: I’m maintaining a POWER DAMPENER spell that keeps your little friend here from flexing her muscles.
MIKE: Not a bad spell, if I may say so myself.
3/ Beth looks up at him with disgust and superiority.
BETH: No, MORON.
BETH: It has nothing to DO with you.
4/ Michael turns to face her, looking concerned and embarrassed. She explains, looking at him like a teacher addressing a juvenile delinquent.
MIKE: It doesn’t?
BETH: Of course not.
BETH: Your little SPELL works on MENTAL powers. Mine’s BIOLOGICAL.
5/ David looks up from his own restraints, curious.
DAVID: Then what IS it?
PAGE SIXTEEN
1/ Beth looks away, a look of frustration that has long since boiled over into resigned annoyance crossing her face. Her arms still dangle limply over her head in her restraints.
BETH: It’s the LYCANTHROPENE.
BETH: I USED to be addicted to it, but Landon and Andrew helped me THROUGH it.
BETH: Without it, I’m losing my ability to TURN on COMMAND.
2/ Andrew looks over at her, confused and a little suspicious.
ANDREW: But you’ve been off it for YEARS.
ANDREW: Why is this just happening NOW?
3/ Beth looks down at the floor, avoiding eye contact but glancing up at Andrew shamefully out of the corner of her eye.
BETH: Because…when I said I’d been off of it for YEARS…
BETH (smaller font): …I may not have been entirely truthful.
4/ Andrew looks away from her, taking his own turn to face the concrete floor in resigned irritation. To whatever extent his shoulders can sag against his restraints, they sag in disappointment.
ANDREW: Dammit.
5/ David looks around the group, confused. He raises an eyebrow.
DAVID: Hey, uh…who would like to enlighten the NEW guy?
6/ Rhiannon looks over at David, explaining. Though she’s a bit annoyed by the situation, she does not share Andrew’s judgment or disappointment. She just wants to get out of the trap they’re in, and knows now why Beth can’t help them.
RHI: Lycanthropene is a DRUG that makes it so WEREWOLVES can turn whenever they WANT, rather than relying on a full MOON.
RHI: Apparently, it’s also really ADDICTIVE.
PAGE SEVENTEEN
1/ Long panel as Beth continues her explanation, stepping away from the emotional fallout and handling it as matter-of-factly as possible.
BETH: Landon and I…we had thought the worst of my addiction was PAST, and that I could go back to using it under NORMAL circumstances.
BETH: We were WRONG.
BETH: This was shortly before moving to Columbus.
2/ Close on Beth, looking up from the floor and leveling with them.
BETH: I’ve been off of it for SIX MONTHS.
BETH: Just long enough for it to be leaving my SYSTEM.
3/ Donovan looks over at her, completing her thought for her.
DON: And since it’s only a HALF-MOON…
BETH (off panel): Exactly.
4/ Andrew looks over at Beth, trying to handle the situation gently but treading a thin line, aware of the unfortunate spot this puts them in.
ANDREW: Beth…while I applaud your NOT being a DRUG ADDICT…
ANDREW: …this is TERRIBLY inconvenient.
5/ Beth looks over at him, her face contorting into a look of indignant resentment.
BETH: Thanks, Andrew.
BETH: That really HELPS.
PAGE EIGHTEEN
1/ Rhiannon looks over at the rest of the group, Brother Michael standing at her side. She looks confused, taking them back to the original question, and Brother Michael echoes her sentiment with a look of sheer bafflement on his face.
RHI: So…who DID take out Brother MIKE, here?
MIKE: Yeah, really.
MIKE: What WAS that?
2/ David looks up, somewhat sheepishly. He looks like somebody suddenly put a spot light on him, and he doesn’t know what to say.
DAVID: That, uh…
DAVID: I’m afraid I have to take credit for THAT.
3/ Andrew looks over at him, curious.
ANDREW: You?
ANDREW: No offense, but how the hell’d you do THAT?
4/ David tilts his head slightly, explaining as he hangs against his restraints.
DAVID: None taken.
DAVID: It was…see, Milo sensed the DAMPENER spell, but we weren’t sure what to DO about it, really. So I, uh, I found a spell of my OWN.
DAVID: In my BOOK.
DAVID: It was designed to neutralize an offending SPELL-CASTER without getting in his RANGE.
5/ Donovan looks at David, questioning him directly.
DON: Dave, seriously…
DON: WHAT is the story with that BOOK?
6/ David glances away, but maintains indirect eye contact, a little shy at revealing his weird secret about the book.
DAVID: Honestly?
DAVID: I, um…
DAVID: It sort of just APPEARED one day, in my BACKPACK.
7/ Donovan looks down at the ground, scowling.
DON: Sigh.
DON: I hate this MAGIC crap.
PAGE NINETEEN
1/ CUT BACK to Thadeus, sitting on his chair. He raises his eyebrow mischievously at us, and at Landon who is off panel. His lip curls into a dangerous sneer.
THAD: Let me ask you something, Landon.
THAD: Do you REMEMBER the night I tried to kill BETH?
2/ Landon leans away from the bars, remembering. His face becomes a stern mask as he reflects on the events of that evening through the kaleidoscope of hind-sight. This, of course, cues the flashback.
LANDON: Of course I do.
3/ Rounded panels as we begin the flashback sequence, opening on a startling scene as Thadeus stands in the midst of Landon’s apartment, holding Beth against the wall with his hand around her throat, threatening to choke the life out of her. She looks around the same age as the scene when she came to Landon for help, and this is in fact only a few short months later. She kicks and claws at Thadeus, looking confused and terrified.
BETH: Thadeus!
BETH: Thad, Jesus Christ! What’re you -?
4/ Thad stares at her, hatred and resentment turning his eyes into smoldering coals of intensity, and he screams at the top of his lungs.
THAD: DIE, BITCH!
THAD: Just DIE!
5/ Beth stops squirming and a vicious smile crosses her face as she looks over Thad’s shoulder to discover that they are no longer alone in the room. She locks eyes with the new arrival, but addresses Thad.
BETH: Ha.
BETH: Coff.
BETH: You are SO screwed, you son of a bitch.
6/ Thadeus turns away, facing the doorway to discover Landon, glaring at him with a calm, threatening demeanor. Landon’s form fills the doorway as he glowers at the man attacking his then-girlfriend, and his hands are balled into shaking fists at his sides. Thadeus recoils in fear, releasing Beth.
LANDON: Exactly what the hell do you think you’re doing?
PAGE TWENTY
1/ Thadeus steps backward, raising his hands in protest and self-defense. His face contorts in fear and surprise, searching for the words to make this betrayal of his friend seem like the right thing to do.
THAD: Landon, wait!
THAD: You need to LISTEN!
2/ Landon lunges, his hands and forearms transformed into menacing wolf-like flashes of fur and claws. He shoves Thad up against the wall, sinking his clawed thumb through the flesh of Thad’s shoulder and pinning him against the wall with the claws of his fingers. Blood erupts from Thad’s wound, and he cries out in pain as Landon pounces on him.
SOUND EFFECT: SCHHRIIP
THAD: GYAHHH!
LANDON: I don’t need to listen to a goddamned THING.
3/ Thad struggles, his punctured shoulder gushing blood as he hangs uselessly against the wall, pinned down by Landon’s powerful grip. He grits his teeth against the pain, staring into Landon’s eyes pleadingly.
LANDON: You tried to kill BETH.
THAD: Landon, she’s CHANGING you!
THAD: You’re running around with a SLAYER! That ANDREW prick is BAD NEWS.
THAD (small font, almost whispered): Have you SEEN the way they LOOK at each other?
4/ CLOSE ON Thad’s stomach as Landon sinks his other clawed hand into the Vampire’s flesh. The skin is ripped open, and gore flows freely from the new wound as Thad thrashes in pain.
SOUND EFFECT: SHUNK
THAD: GYAH!
5/ Landon spins, tossing Thad to the wooden floor of the apartment. Thad bounces painfully, his two gaping wounds dripping blood like a fountain. Landon looks down at him like a discarded piece of garbage.
6/ Landon picks Thad up by the collar of his coat, dragging him backward across the floor. In the BG, we see a recuperating Beth as she leans low against the wall, regaining her bearings and rubbing her aching neck.
THAD (small font, choked out): You…you were my best friend…
PAGE TWENTY-ONE
1/ Beth looks up from her spot against the wall, rubbing the back of her hand across her mouth to wipe away some of the blood she’s coughed up. She glares upward at Landon, her face a mask of barely concealed rage.
BETH: Kill him, Landon.
2/ Landon looks down at her, shock and hesitation on his face as he struggles with the intensity of the situation. He still holds Thad by the collar, but all of that is off-panel as he locks startled eyes with Beth.
BETH (off panel): Kill. Him.
3/ Landon picks up the broken vampire by the lapels of his coat, lifting him to eye-level so they can look straight at each other. His face is serious and demanding, leaving no room for further conversation.
LANDON: Thad.
LANDON: You’re going to LEAVE here. And you’ll never set foot in this apartment AGAIN.
LANDON: If you do? You’re DEAD. You can go now.
LANDON: Thank you.
4/ Landon pushes Thad away, releasing his lapels and letting the man stand on his own. Thad looks pleadingly and angrily at Landon, frustrated by how miserably he has just failed at his attempt. Landon continues to stand in front of him, his hands held open in the motion of releasing Thad.
THAD: Landon, you don’t UNDERSTAND!
THAD: I can EXPLAIN!
5/ Landon looks at him one last time, a not-so-veiled threat in his smoldering glare.
LANDON: My “thank you” meant “we’re DONE here.”
6/ Thad looks at him, shocked and hurt, at a loss for words. He holds his forearm up in front of his chest, holding it across his chest in hurt and self-defense.
THAD: …
7/ He turns away, heading toward the door, sad and defeated. His scowl pretends to anger, but is in fact the regret of having just lost a friend. He tugs at his coat lapels as he makes his way to the exit.
THAD: You two deserve each other.
PAGE TWENTY-TWO
1/ CUT BACK to the PRESENT, as Thad stares at Landon from his spot in the chair. His teasing smile is gone now, replaced with the pain of remembered loss.
THAD: Good.
THAD: Now let me ask you something ELSE.
THAD: Has it ever occurred to you to wonder WHY I tried to KILL her?
2/ Landon returns to his spot, gripping the bars angrily and practically spitting his venomous words at his old friend.
LANDON: Because you’re a goddamn PSYCHOPATH, Thad.
LANDON: Nothing more complicated than THAT.
3/ Thad leans back in his chair, taking pleasure in his big reveal. He folds his arms indignantly, smiling a little.
THAD: I wanted to KILL her because I had FAILED, Landon.
THAD: After all that WORK, I had gone and hooked you up with someone who actually went and JOINED the damn BROTHERHOOD.
4/ Landon recoils a little, latching onto the operative words in Thad’s statement and reeling with shock.
LANDON: Wait…
LANDON: What are you telling me?
5/ CLOSE ON Thad as he scowls at Landon, delivering the blow he’s been waiting to deliver for years.
THAD: I’m TELLING you, Landon, that Beth just HAPPENED to be seeing a movie at your favorite HUNTING spot for a REASON.
THAD: She’d been chatting ONLINE with a guy she came there to MEET that night.
THAD: That guy was ME.
THAD: I arranged for you two to MEET…
6/ CLOSE ON Landon, staring furiously through the bars at Thad.
THAD (off panel): …because I wanted you OUT OF THE WAY.
PAGE TWENTY-THREE
1/ CUT BACK to a Long Panel of Malice and Milo, their backs to us, as they stand before the Tesseract. Milo looks confused and awestruck by the complicated geometry of the mystery object, and Malice smiles triumphantly at his creation, looking over at Milo with glee.
MALICE: In GEOMETRY, the TESSERACT is an 8-cell, or regular octachoron, the four-dimensional analog of the cube.
MALICE: The tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square.
MALICE: Just as the surface of the cube consists of 6 square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of 8 cubical cells.
2/ On Malice, gesturing importantly as he continues to explain his masterpiece.
MALICE: It’s become a sort of UNIVERSAL SYMBOL for those aspects of reality HIDDEN from view by our own LIMITED perceptions.
MALICE: A fitting namesake for this machine and its PURPOSE.
3/ On Milo, approaching the Tesseract and staring upward at it, pawing hesitantly at its web of sleek tubing and intricate swivel joints. He looks both impressed and terrified by whatever this machine’s intended purpose may be.
MALICE (off panel): When the time comes to ACTIVATE the device, it’s going to AWAKEN the latent abilities and PERCEPTIONS that reside somewhere deep inside ALL of us…
MALICE: …and it will signal the beginning of a NEW ERA.
4/ Close on Milo as he turns to face Malice, a look of serious caution on his mystified face. Behind him, the Tesseract gleams, reflecting Milo’s image and distorting it in the unnatural shaped tubing.
MILO: A new era ruled by YOU.
5/ Malice loses his visionary stare and faces Milo directly, working hard to convince him but never succumbing to pleading or indignity. Malice is completely convinced that he is saving the world from itself.
MALICE: Not RULED, Milo.
MALICE: GUIDED.
MALICE: I’ll be the MOSES to a whole new EVOLUTION REVOLUTION.
MALICE: I’ll be the BENEFACTOR to a new CHAPTER in mankind’s STORY.
PAGE TWENTY-FOUR
1/ Milo looks down at the floor, breaking eye contact. He looks worried, and is suddenly feeling very self-conscious about how completely he’s fallen under Malice’s spell.
MILO: You’re a very powerful person, Malice. You don’t have to convince me of that.
MILO: The degree of CONTROL you already have over ME, it’s….well, I don’t know WHAT it is, really.
MILO: But call it what you WILL, you’re still talking about remaking the world to your LIKING.
2/ Malice turns away from him and gestures broadly, his arms spread wide, as though he’s addressing an auditorium full of people. His face lights up with bravado.
MALICE: To ALL our liking, Milo.
3/ He turns back to Milo, locking eyes once more with a demeanor that hides a certain degree of careful threat beneath its patient exterior.
MALICE: The EVOLUTION REVOLUTION has already BEGUN, and you and your friends are PROOF-POSITIVE.
4/ Milo looks uncertainly at Malice, growing uncomfortable and angry with the line of thinking that Malice is preaching. His chunk of blue hair hangs limply in front of his glasses, and he glares up from beneath it.
MALICE (off panel): Sooner or later, your team - and all the other teams in the INITIATIVE - will come to understand what’s happening AROUND you…
MALICE:…and you’ll REBEL.
5/ On Malice, his steady gaze refusing to break as he looks past Milo’s face and into his soul. He reaches out and places his hand on the side of Milo’s face, gently.
MALICE: You’ll no longer let the MUNDANE MASSES hold you DOWN, no matter how hard you try.
MALICE: It’s ANATHEMA to nature’s BETTER JUDGMENT.
6/ Close on Malice as he lowers his head, gazing up at Milo from beneath a furrowed brow, his hair falling in front of his face.
MALICE: You’re not a bunch of FREAK OCCURRENCES, and you KNOW it.
MALICE: You’re evolution’s SCOUTING PARTY, and soon, the CALVARY will come.
PAGE TWENTY-FIVE
1/ Milo turns to follow Malice with his eyes as Malice walks past him, turning his back to Milo. He has picked up the discarded sheet that covered the Tesseract, and he carries it across the room with him, planning to set it neatly to the side. He looks up as the ceiling as he speaks, as though he’s speaking to God himself.
MALICE: And his disciples said to him “when will the Kingdom come?”
MALICE: And he said unto them “ It will not come by WATCHING for it. It will not be said ‘LOOK HERE,’ or LOOK THERE!’”
MALICE: ‘Rather, the Father’s Kingdom is spread out upon the Earth, and the people do not SEE it.’
2/ Milo continues locking his gaze on Malice, his expression stern as he throws another quote back at the self-righteous villain.
MILO: Maybe. But then again:
MILO: ‘Something might be TRUE while being harmful and dangerous in the highest DEGREE.’
MILO: ‘ Indeed it might be a basic characteristic of existence that those who know it completely would PERISH, in which case the strength of a SPIRIT should be measured according to how much of the ‘TRUTH’ one could still barely ENDURE.’
MILO: ‘Or, to put it more clearly, to what degree one would REQUIRE it to be thinned down, shrouded, sweetened, blunted, falsified.’
3/ Long Panel as Malice turns, gripping both sides of Milo’s face in his hands and smiling jovially, letting out a hearty laugh at the exchange. He no longer carries the sheet with him, but it has been draped over a chair in the BG. Milo pulls back a little, looking more worried and angry than ever.
MALICE: I love this kid! I give him the GOSPEL OF THOMAS and he quotes NIETZSCHE at me!
MALICE: But Milo…
4/ Malice releases Milo and looks at him reprimandingly, like a parent telling their child that they’ve made up their mind and that they won’t be swayed by an adolescent’s opinion.
MALICE: Like it or NOT, we ARE the future, and I have every intention of ensuring that future’s SURVIVAL.
5/ Milo rubs his face begrudgingly, looking resentfully at Malice for dismissing him.
MALICE (off panel): The grand metaphor of QUETZALCOATL will RETURN on December 21st, and he will REUNITE the heavens and the EARTH, the body and the MIND, and I WILL be his Saint PETER.
PAGE TWENTY-SIX
1/ As Malice walks away, back toward the bed and the plate glass window, Milo watches after him, giving the man a warning look that he can’t see with his back to Milo. Milo’s fists ball into tight bunches as he pushes for the information he’s been avoiding, already knowing he’s not going to like the answer.
MILO: I’m going to ask you this ONE MORE TIME, Malice…
MILO: How do I know you?
2/ Malice looks back over his shoulder, his demeanor changed to a sad look of inevitability. He looks downward, bracing himself for the unfortunate moment that’s about to take place.
MALICE: I didn’t want to DO this, Elliot, but you’re too PERCEPTIVE to let it pass us by. I should’ve known better.
MALICE: For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for what it’s going to DO to you.
3/ Milo finally loses his temper, remaining in one spot but shouting out in anger and frustration, the entire stressful ordeal suddenly becoming too much for him to handle.
MILO: WHO ARE YOU!?
4/ Malice turns to face Milo, but looks away, rubbing his brow in regret. The regret may be for what he did, or for the fact that it’s going to derail his plans - it’s not clear which, and it doesn’t matter. What matters is that in this moment, Malice is visibly regretful.
MALICE: My name is Thomas Joseph Chapel…but you would remember me as TOMMY.
5/ Close on Milo, his eyes gone solid blue with the energy of an oncoming psychic outburst. Blue steam curls up from the edges of his eyes as he takes in what Malice is telling him with pure fury and horror and years-old resentment tearing at his soul. His teeth are bared in anger, and his temper has taken about all it conceivably could: Milo is about to totally lose his shit.
MILO: You... you're the babysitter who molested me for three straight years.
6/ On Malice, looking at Milo with genuine concern.
MALICE: Milo.
MALICE: Elliot. Talk to me.
MALICE: Are…are you okay?
PAGE TWENTY-SEVEN
1/ Long Panel as Milo backhands Malice across the face with the back of his fist, screaming out at the top of his lungs. Malice flies backward, toward us, crashing through the plate glass window in an explosion of glass, his arms and legs dangling out before him as he cascades toward us like a rag doll.
MILO: SHUT YOUR MOUTH!
SOUND EFFECT (punch): THOK
SOUND EFFECT (window): KKRRASHH
2/ Long panel as Malice flies like a projectile weapon into the Altar Room below, motion lines following him in one giant swoosh, reversing the angle of the previous panel. He crashes into a concrete support pillar, stone exploding behind him as he crunches into it with a devastating impact. Hanging from their restraints, the captured team members all look up in surprise.
SOUND EFFECT: CRUNCH
3/ INSET INTO THE NEXT PANEL, top left hand corner: Malice picks himself up from the wreckage of the pillar, glaring up at Milo challengingly. Blood runs down the side of his head, and his shirt is covered in dust and glass.
MALICE: You sure you wanna DO this, kid?
4/ LARGE PANEL as Milo stands furiously over Malice’s prone form, having leapt from the bedroom down into the Altar Room. His legs are spread wide in a combat stance and he holds his fists balled up in the air on either side of his torso, both hands vividly alight with their own private infernos of pyrokinetic energy. His eyes glow bright blue, leaking smoke from their edges, as he scowls down at Malice with the most hatred we’ve ever seen manifest on Milo’s usually kind face. At his feet, in a pile of concrete chunks, Malice pulls himself into a sitting position, ready to face Milo, his back to us.
MILO: Oh, you bet your ASS I do.
MILO: Nobody.
MILO: Calls me.
MILO: ELLIOT.
NEXT: The Monkey, The Man, and The Gun.
PAGE ONE
“Previously” page.
PAGE TWO
1/ Open on Malice’s Altar Room, where Andrew, Beth, Rhiannon, Donovan, and David all hang helplessly from their chunks of abandoned machinery, tethered to them with their arms held uncomfortably over their heads. They have been left unsupervised, and the room is empty as they sit in awkward silence, staring everywhere but at each other.
CAPTION: New Hope, Ohio. Malice’s Cult Headquarters.
2/ On Andrew, looking dismayed and annoyed, staring at the floor.
3/ On Beth, looking up at the ceiling and looking antsy, irritated.
4/ On Donovan and David, side-by-side, as Donovan looks uncomfortably at the floor. David looks around at the group and breaks the silence, feeling vaguely like the odd man out and unsure of what to say.
DAVID: SO….
5/ Rhiannon looks up and raises her eyebrows as she addresses the group.
RHI: So, like…I love you guys. I really do.
RHI: You’re all wonderful and talented people.
6/ On Andrew, looking at Rhiannon with irritation as he senses where her statement is headed and not wanting to listen to it.
RHI (off panel): But, uh, if I were to rate your “RESCUE OPERATION” abilities on a scale of “we’re all safe at home laughing about this experience,” to “here we are, all chained to a bunch of old machinery, having systematically been captured by a WIZARD who lives in a WAREHOUSE in HICKVILLE…?”
7/ Back to Rhiannon, her kind look now switched to an angry scowl.
RHI: I’m gonna say the LEARNING CURVE is disappointingly SHALLOW.
RHI: Just throwing that out there.
PAGE THREE
1/ Beth looks up, recoiling a little in self-defense.
BETH: Hey, now.
BETH: That’s not exactly FAIR. I mean –
2/ Rhiannon looks over at her, nodding in mock agreement, her face serious to undermine the sarcasm in her tone.
RHI: No, no, you’re right.
RHI: You’ve all done a wonderful JOB here, obviously.
3/ LONG PANEL as Rhiannon continues, Andrew and Beth at her side. They look over at her, accepting her criticism with chagrin.
RHI: I’m just saying that there’s, you know, SAVING ME, and then there’s STUMBLING BLINDLY, one after another, into an obvious TRAP.
RHI: Those are two pretty DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED outcomes to a given scenario, is all I’m saying.
4/ Donovan looks back down at the floor, shamefully.
DON: I suppose this could have gone better, yes.
5/ On Rhiannon, continuing, loving every minute of her sarcastic diatribe. She continues to be completely deadpan, not cracking a smile for a moment.
RHI: Maybe, you know, if and when we get OUT of this, there should be some sort of GRASS-ROOTS MEETING.
RHI: I’m seeing POWER-POINT presentations: “Botched rescue missions and YOU.”
RHI: I’ll make cookies.
PAGE FOUR
1/ And looks over at her, patiently awaiting her silence.
ANDREW: Are you finished?
2/ Rhiannon looks at Andrew, calmly.
RHI: Yeah, I guess that’s all I had to say.
RHI: Any other brilliant plans up your sleeve?
RHI: Because maybe we should know ahead of time, so I can do the EXACT OPPOSITE of whatever you have in mind.
3/ They all return to silence, looking uncomfortably at each other.
4/ David looks up at the group, looking worried.
DAVID: So…can anyone offer me a NON-infuriating explanation as to why Milo is in the badguy’s BEDROOM right now?
5/ Rhiannon looks over at him, trying to be reassuring but not showing any sign of certainty in her expression.
RHI: Well, he’s obviously under some sort of MIND-CONTROL.
RHI (small font): At least, I hope he is.
PAGE FIVE
1/ LONG PANEL as we CUT TO Milo, sitting up abruptly in Malice’s bed, grasping at his aching head with his free hand. This is a portion of Malice’s hideout that we have not yet seen: the bedroom was once a glass-walled survey booth from which administrators could oversee the goings on in the old building, its plate-glass fourth wall looking down on the Altar Room below. The room is deep, its walls lined with loaded book shelves, stocked with what appears to be thousands of books. The bed itself is a beautiful antique, large and opulent, and flanking either side are antique night-stands with dim antique lamps. The room is carpeted in a complex pattern, weaving out from beneath the bed in all directions. Across from the bed is a solid oak table, shined vigorously and draped with a crimson table runner, two matching candles, and a dining setup for two. In the far corner, a small study is arranged by sequestering the furniture off from the rest of the room: a pair of matching leather chairs face a small nook created by the bookshelves, with a nightstand between them. In the opposite corner, some large object is obscured by the cream colored sheet draped over it, though we can see that it is some sort of oddly shaped machine, standing about as tall as a man and a half. Everything is shades of Earth tones, with the dominant color being crimson, and the room is lit by many candles. Not all of this is necessarily seen in the first panel, but the Milo and Malice scenes take place entirely in this room.
MILO: Oh, my God!
2/ Milo turns to find Malice, lying in bed next to him. Malice is shirtless, with the blankets pulled up to his stomach, indicating what has happened between this and the previous issue. Milo still wears his t-shirt. Malice lies with his hands behind his head, and he looks over at Milo quizzically, with concern and warmth.
MALICE: Are you okay, Milo?
3/ Milo looks down at him, putting on his glasses. He hesitates for a moment, and then opens up to the villain.
MILO: Yeah. It’s just…
MILO: I’ve been having these DREAMS.
4/ Malice gets out of bed and pulls his crimson button-down over his shoulders, preparing to button it as he watches Milo. Milo continues while Malice listens intently.
MILO (off panel): I see myself, in an alternate reality, and there’s been…some sort of WAR, or something.
MILO: Whatever it was, it was terrible, and I say – or rather, HE says…
5/ Milo looks away, rubbing his aching forehead and closing his eyes, trying to hold onto the dream and somewhat uncertain of why he’s telling Malice.
MILO: He says that it’s going to happen HERE. That it happens in EVERY reality.
MILO: It’s some sort of…PARADIGM CHANGE, that’s always part of the BIG PICTURE no matter which reality you’re IN.
MILO: I don’t…I don’t know what to make of it.
PAGE SIX
1/ Malice finishes buttoning his shirt, looking up at Milo as he takes in the information Milo has just given him. He smiles, trying to reassure Milo that it’s all part of some plan.
MALICE: It’s interesting that you should tell me that, Milo.
MALICE: It’s part of why you and your friends are HERE, actually.
MALICE: The APOCALYPSE is something of a hobby of mine.
2/ Milo turns abruptly to Malice, taken aback by the statement. Malice, off panel, continues, assuaging Milo’s sudden fears.
MALICE (off panel): Not in the traditional sense, Milo.
MALICE: Do you have any idea how hard people have worked to obfuscate the original meaning of that word?
MALICE: And for much the same reason they’ve worked so hard to obscure the message of MOST of the ancient TEXTS.
3/ Malice sits down next to Milo on the bed, his shirt now completely buttoned. He has also put on his black pants, and he looks at Milo pleasantly, as though they are having a fun little history lesson.
MALICE: Do you KNOW what the apocalypse really is?
MALICE: What its TRUE nature represents?
MALICE: “Apocalypse” means, quite literally, an UNVIELING. The great TRUTHS, finally revealed for all to see.
4/ Milo looks at Malice over the rim of his glasses, distrust in his eyes, though he is clearly intrigued by what Malice has to say. Malice’s shoulder can be seen at the edge of the panel.
MALICE: The CHRISTIAN CHURCH has worked very hard to lose the meaning of that word in the pages of HISTORY, and they’ve succeeded admirably.
5/ Close on Malice as he looks Milo straight in the eye, seriously.
MALICE: But there’s still an educated MINORITY that is keenly aware that the event we’ve come to think of as the “end of the world…”
MALICE: …is really just the “end of the world…as we KNOW it.”
6/ Milo looks right back at Malice, intrigued and worried. He seems a bit lost, as though he’s not sure how he wound up here, but he has no intention of interrupting Malice’s diatribe before he learns something important.
MALICE (off panel): The coming of the CHRIST, the BUDDHA, of the prophet MUHAMMAD – Krishna, Abraham, and Bahá'u'lláh – these were all “apocalypses” in the literal sense.
MALICE: All part of the UNIVERSE’S great CYCLE OF RENEWAL.
MALICE: There have been many apocalypses in the PAST, and there’re still many more yet to come.
PAGE SEVEN
1/ Malice gets up from the bed, walking over to his bookshelves and pulling down a copy of the Mayan “Popol Vuh.” It is an old, weathered, leather-bound book, and the gold-leaf print on the cover flashes in the candlelight as he removes it from the shelf.
MALICE: Some, like myself, believe that we are on the VERGE of the new apocalypse. Your dreams just serve to highlight how important it was that we MEET.
MALICE: The MAYANS believed that at the end of the 13th BAKTUN of their ancient calendar, the world would undergo a long-awaited REBOOT of sorts.
MALICE: All that we knew would come to an END – not to fade into oblivion, but to be replaced by a NEW vision of humanity.
2/ Milo approaches Malice’s side at the bookshelf, glancing down at the book in Malice’s hand. The pages are filled with elaborate Hieroglyphics and chunks of scattered verse. Malice is only slightly in the panel, with the focus on Milo as he sees the book.
MALICE: The end of the Baktun coincides with the end of the Hopi FOURTH WORLD, and the beginning of the FIFTH – a measurement of their OWN calendar.
MALICE: As a matter of fact, a LOT of ancient cultures have prophesied this event. It’s come to be known as the OMEGA POINT: when humanity has reached the only ZENITH it can reach in its current incarnation.
MALICE: When that day comes, the only place for mankind to go is FORWARD - on to the next stage of human evolution.
3/ Milo looks up from the book, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Malice – and at the reader. He speaks slowly, methodically, as he takes in Malice’s entire spoken manifesto. There is something ominous about all of this, and Milo is trying to put the pieces together.
MILO: This FOURTH WORLD we’re living in…when does it END?
MILO: When is all this supposed to HAPPEN?
4/ On both of them as Malice also looks up from the book, locking eyes with Milo. Malice is serious, foreboding.
MALICE: Sooner than you THINK, Milo.
MILO: Specifically.
MALICE: December 21st, 2012.
MALICE: Five months from now.
5/ Milo looks away, rubbing his forehead and closing his eyes.
MILO: Jesus.
6/ Malice slaps the book shut and looks excitedly at Milo, his tone changing from ominous to promising. He looks almost giddy.
MALICE: PRECISELY.
MALICE: Every apocalypse has had a JESUS FIGURE. Every cycle of renewal has begun with the arrival of a PROPHET, a TEACHER, a HARBINGER of times to come.
MALICE: And that’s just what I intend to BE.
PAGE EIGHT
1/ Milo looks up at Malice, locking serious eyes with him.
MILO: In my DREAM – or whatever it is – the ME from the ALTERNATE REALITY told me that you’re a CONSTANT.
MILO: That the CHANGE in the world always begins when – in every reality – a man named MALICE “saves the world.”
MILO: I don’t know what it MEANS.
2/ Malice reciprocates Milo’s serious look, feeling more vindicated than ever.
MALICE: It means that I’m RIGHT, Milo.
MALICE: That everything I’ve been doing all these years is VALIDATED.
3/ Malice continues as Milo examines the bookshelf, briefly pulling out a book labeled “Friedrich Nietzsche – Thus Spoke Zarathustra.”
MALICE: When I was young, I discovered PHILOSOPHY.
MALICE: It was the only thing that could…STIMULATE me, in the way that traditional ideas could never seem to DO.
4/ On Malice, gesturing toward the bookshelves as he continues, looking a little misty-eyed as he momentarily basks in his own self-importance.
MALICE: When I began to discover the OCCULT, and the prophecies of renewal in 2012, I knew I had found my PURPOSE.
MALICE: Growing up, I always felt that I was meant for something MORE. I was going to be a HERO.
MALICE: Since then I’ve traveled the WORLD, studying the FUTURE of cultures, communications, religion and science.
5/ Milo looks over at Malice, glancing up from the book to listen as Malice grabs at Milo’s wrist, preparing to drag him to the other side of the bedroom.
MALICE: Do you KNOW how close we are to a cultural singularity?
MALICE: We’ve built a machine in GENEVA that’ll soon unlock the mysteries of EXISTENCE! We’ve made advancements in robotics that place us on the verge of creating INTELLIGENCE from NOTHINGNESS!
MALICE: For christsakes, Milo, we’ve technologically unlocked PSYCHIC ABILITIES in APES!
6/ Malice now stands at the opposite corner of the room, by the big object covered in a sheet. Milo watches as Malice grabs the edge of the sheet and pulls it close to his body, preparing to yank it free and reveal what’s underneath. Malice faces Milo with a broad smile on his face, supremely excited to be showing Milo what he’s got hidden under the sheet.
MALICE: The day of transition IS coming, Milo, and not only do I intend to be its HARBINGER – I intend to be its ARCHITECT.
MALICE: I’ve built something, and I want you to see it.
MALICE: It’s a DEVICE, Milo, which will be INSTRUMENTAL on the day that GOD returns to the human MIND.
MALICE: I call it…
PAGE NINE
1/ This is a FULL PAGE SPLASH featuring the issue’s TITLE, CREDITS, and INDICIA as Malice yanks away the sheet and reveals his machine. Atop a thick base of solid metal, laced with wires and lights, sits a gigantic metal geometrical shape known as a Tesseract -an 8-cell or regular octachoron, the four-dimensional analog of the cube. The tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square. Just as the surface of the cube consists of 6 square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of 8 cubical cells. An image can be found on Wikipedia. At all of its corners, swivel joints gleam, indicating the device’s ability to make seemingly impossible fluctuations as it rotates in and out of itself. The device is, of course, physically impossible, but Malice has somehow accomplished it. He stands by its side looking proud as could be, as Milo looks on in confusion.
MALICE: …the TESSERACT.
PAGE TEN
1/ CUT TO a long panel, as Landon sits alone in the Subway Car jail-cell that has been designed for him. The lights inside the car have been turned on, and the harsh fluorescents flicker as he waits for something – anything – to happen. He leans against the wall, his arms folded impatiently.
CAPTION: New York City. Defectors’ Base of Operations.
2/ Long panel as Thadeus, his head cut off by the panel, approaches, placing a wooden chair in front of the subway car door and preparing to take a seat. Behind him, we see the aftermath of Landon’s rampage: several vampire and werewolf bodies strewn about the station, blood splattering the walls and floor.
3/ Long panel as Thadeus, now sitting in the chair, looks out at the audience and at Landon. He smiles sardonically, his eyebrow raised in defiance.
THAD: Landon.
THAD: Hi.
4/ Long Panel as Landon hurls himself against the bars, gripping them furiously and shouting at his captor and former friend.
LANDON: Thadeus!
LANDON: What the hell do you WANT!?
PAGE ELEVEN
1/ Thadeus looks up at Landon from his chair, his face a mask of faux-sincerity.
THAD: It’s been a while, Landon.
THAD: I’ve got to say, I didn’t really expect to SEE you again.
THAD: But then, I guess it was only a matter of time before MAGDA dragged you into this. Poor old woman.
2/ Landon glares at Thad through the bars, his teeth showing the hint of werewolf fangs as he struggles against the solid metal keeping him at bay.
LANDON: What are you DOING, Thadeus?
LANDON: What are you hoping to ACCOMPLISH, here?
3/ Thad nonchalantly examines his yellow fingernails, examining them the way a manicurist would examine her own, though they are more like claws than nails.
THAD: Tell me something, Landon.
THAD: When’s the last time you honestly felt like this Brotherhood MEANT something?
4/ Landon slams his head against the bars silently, in defeat. He closes his frustrated eyes.
LANDON: Jesus, Thad. I dunno.
LANDON: But I suppose you’re gonna tell me all about it.
5/ Long panel as Thad crosses one leg horizontally over the other, resting his hands on his legs and looking directly up at Landon.
THAD: When Vlad and Lycaon built this organization, they built it as a MONUMENT to what could be achieved when the community set ASIDE their differences, and became a UNIT.
THAD: Vampires, Werewolves and MAGI, all working together: EQUALS.
PAGE TWELVE
1/ Landon clings to the bars, looking furiously at Thad as he continues his self-important speech. Thad barely notices Landon’s fury, reciting without ceremony a speech he’s clearly performed hundreds of times.
THAD: But as their powerbase GREW, the inevitable happened and POLITICS reared its head.
THAD: The COUNCIL of the HIGH PROTECTORATE was born.
2/ On Thad, looking resentful as he speaks, though there is something phony about the way he talks politics – like a kid who doesn’t really understand the game he’s playing.
THAD: The wisdom of Vlad and Lycaon wasn’t ENOUGH for the most well to-DO members of our little ENCLAVE…
THAD: …and so a panel of NON-DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED nobodies would get to regulate who deserved a chance to SHINE and who did NOT.
3/ Landon turns away from the bars, glaring over his shoulder at Thad. His hair falls in front of his face, caked with sweat from his exhausting ordeal.
LANDON: Thanks for the HISTORY lesson, Thad, but I KNOW all this.
LANDON: What’s the POINT?
4/ Thad drops his leg to the ground and places his hands on his knees, leaning forward. His face turns to disgust, his lip curled upward in a vicious sneer.
THAD: As a BLOODLINE succession was being put in place to make sure the same FAMILIES were always the ones in CHARGE, the WIZARDS were making nice with the MUNDANES on the SURFACE-WORLD.
5/ Landon approaches the bars once again, still looking furiously at Thad but resolving to listen, since Thad is obviously going to continue whether Landon is listening or not.
THAD (off panel): See, THEY could fit in with the HUMANS better than Werewolves and Vampires EVER could…
THAD:…and it was only a matter of TIME before they let the MEAT-SACKS know we were HERE.
PAGE THIRTEEN
1/ Long panel as Thad continues, looking more and more resentful as he speaks, practically spitting the words at Landon.
THAD: Once that happened, the HUNTERS and HEROES came crawling out of the WOODWORK.
THAD: We had an ENEMY.
THAD: Not EVERYONE viewed the HUMANS as the enemy, and there are still poor SAPS like you who want to play PATTY-CAKE with them…
2/ Landon looks through the bars at Thad, scowling. We see Thad from behind, his shoulder sticking into the panel.
THAD: …but they are enemies NONETHELESS, and they have shrunk us to a FRACTION of the glory we once HAD.
3/ On Thad, looking as though he’s building to his climax. He stands from the chair, approaching the bars excitedly and angrily.
THAD: We’ve had no great SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENTS since LYCANTHROPENE! Our ARTISTS have long since VANISHED!
THAD: Our god-given RIGHT to the HUNT has been CURTAILED to a farcical bi-monthly RITUAL!
4/ Long panel as Thad turns away from the bars and walks deeper into the room, toward the chair. He looks back over his shoulder at Landon as he speaks.
THAD: We have been living off of BLOOD BANKS and BUTCHER SHOPS for far too long.
THAD: We have been hiding in SHADOWS and LURKING in SEWERS and waiting for our CHANCE, and I have been working behind the scenes for TEN YEARS to make this day a REALITY…
THAD: And then some disgruntled MORON did me a favor and took out BURGESS.
PAGE FOURTEEN
1/ Long Panel as Thad pops a cigar in his mouth and lights it with a silver butane lighter, keeping his back to Landon the entire time. Landon watches with distaste.
THAD: For YEARS, I’ve been consorting with LIKE-MINDED individuals - people who’ve READ the great thinkers, just as I have, and who KNOW there’s a better way.
THAD: We’ve been MANIPULATING all of the INHERITORS to the COUNCIL into leaving so we could make our MOVE.
2/ Thad turns to face Landon, waving his cigar in the air as he smiles with grim satisfaction.
THAD: And then the opportunity fell right into our LAPS.
3/ On Landon, listening intently as Thad continues.
THAD (off panel): With BURGESS out of the way, and most of the COUNCIL successors M.I.A., no one could stop us from waging our WAR.
4/ Thad turns away again, pacing as he speaks. He looks back over his shoulder.
THAD: We still rely on the BLOOD BANKS to fill in the GAPS, but the hunt is RETURNING as our numbers GROW.
THAD: It will only IMPROVE.
5/ Same shot, but CLOSE ON Thad. He glares triumphantly as he wraps up his speech.
THAD: We WILL take back our GLORY, and our POWER, and the streets will run RED with the blood of men, and they will KNOW.
THAD: My.
THAD: NAME.
PAGE FIFTEEN
1/ CUT TO a Long Panel as we return to the Altar Room, where the captured team members hang patiently, having no idea what’s going on in Malice’s bedroom. Donovan looks up from the ground at Beth, a curious and somewhat irritated look on his face. Beth begins to answer him, but is interrupted by an off-panel voice. Beside Beth, Andrew turns to face the voice.
DON: Beth…
DON: Why can’t you just WOLF OUT and tear this place apart?
VOICE: That would be ME.
2/ Brother Michael approaches the group, looking a little frazzled from his earlier ordeal in which he was knocked out by an unseen source. He glares a little triumphantly in Donovan’s direction, feeling proud of his supposed ability to restrain people’s powers.
MIKE: One of you may have found some way to KNOCK ME OUT from a DISTANCE, but I wasn’t out for LONG.
MIKE: I’m maintaining a POWER DAMPENER spell that keeps your little friend here from flexing her muscles.
MIKE: Not a bad spell, if I may say so myself.
3/ Beth looks up at him with disgust and superiority.
BETH: No, MORON.
BETH: It has nothing to DO with you.
4/ Michael turns to face her, looking concerned and embarrassed. She explains, looking at him like a teacher addressing a juvenile delinquent.
MIKE: It doesn’t?
BETH: Of course not.
BETH: Your little SPELL works on MENTAL powers. Mine’s BIOLOGICAL.
5/ David looks up from his own restraints, curious.
DAVID: Then what IS it?
PAGE SIXTEEN
1/ Beth looks away, a look of frustration that has long since boiled over into resigned annoyance crossing her face. Her arms still dangle limply over her head in her restraints.
BETH: It’s the LYCANTHROPENE.
BETH: I USED to be addicted to it, but Landon and Andrew helped me THROUGH it.
BETH: Without it, I’m losing my ability to TURN on COMMAND.
2/ Andrew looks over at her, confused and a little suspicious.
ANDREW: But you’ve been off it for YEARS.
ANDREW: Why is this just happening NOW?
3/ Beth looks down at the floor, avoiding eye contact but glancing up at Andrew shamefully out of the corner of her eye.
BETH: Because…when I said I’d been off of it for YEARS…
BETH (smaller font): …I may not have been entirely truthful.
4/ Andrew looks away from her, taking his own turn to face the concrete floor in resigned irritation. To whatever extent his shoulders can sag against his restraints, they sag in disappointment.
ANDREW: Dammit.
5/ David looks around the group, confused. He raises an eyebrow.
DAVID: Hey, uh…who would like to enlighten the NEW guy?
6/ Rhiannon looks over at David, explaining. Though she’s a bit annoyed by the situation, she does not share Andrew’s judgment or disappointment. She just wants to get out of the trap they’re in, and knows now why Beth can’t help them.
RHI: Lycanthropene is a DRUG that makes it so WEREWOLVES can turn whenever they WANT, rather than relying on a full MOON.
RHI: Apparently, it’s also really ADDICTIVE.
PAGE SEVENTEEN
1/ Long panel as Beth continues her explanation, stepping away from the emotional fallout and handling it as matter-of-factly as possible.
BETH: Landon and I…we had thought the worst of my addiction was PAST, and that I could go back to using it under NORMAL circumstances.
BETH: We were WRONG.
BETH: This was shortly before moving to Columbus.
2/ Close on Beth, looking up from the floor and leveling with them.
BETH: I’ve been off of it for SIX MONTHS.
BETH: Just long enough for it to be leaving my SYSTEM.
3/ Donovan looks over at her, completing her thought for her.
DON: And since it’s only a HALF-MOON…
BETH (off panel): Exactly.
4/ Andrew looks over at Beth, trying to handle the situation gently but treading a thin line, aware of the unfortunate spot this puts them in.
ANDREW: Beth…while I applaud your NOT being a DRUG ADDICT…
ANDREW: …this is TERRIBLY inconvenient.
5/ Beth looks over at him, her face contorting into a look of indignant resentment.
BETH: Thanks, Andrew.
BETH: That really HELPS.
PAGE EIGHTEEN
1/ Rhiannon looks over at the rest of the group, Brother Michael standing at her side. She looks confused, taking them back to the original question, and Brother Michael echoes her sentiment with a look of sheer bafflement on his face.
RHI: So…who DID take out Brother MIKE, here?
MIKE: Yeah, really.
MIKE: What WAS that?
2/ David looks up, somewhat sheepishly. He looks like somebody suddenly put a spot light on him, and he doesn’t know what to say.
DAVID: That, uh…
DAVID: I’m afraid I have to take credit for THAT.
3/ Andrew looks over at him, curious.
ANDREW: You?
ANDREW: No offense, but how the hell’d you do THAT?
4/ David tilts his head slightly, explaining as he hangs against his restraints.
DAVID: None taken.
DAVID: It was…see, Milo sensed the DAMPENER spell, but we weren’t sure what to DO about it, really. So I, uh, I found a spell of my OWN.
DAVID: In my BOOK.
DAVID: It was designed to neutralize an offending SPELL-CASTER without getting in his RANGE.
5/ Donovan looks at David, questioning him directly.
DON: Dave, seriously…
DON: WHAT is the story with that BOOK?
6/ David glances away, but maintains indirect eye contact, a little shy at revealing his weird secret about the book.
DAVID: Honestly?
DAVID: I, um…
DAVID: It sort of just APPEARED one day, in my BACKPACK.
7/ Donovan looks down at the ground, scowling.
DON: Sigh.
DON: I hate this MAGIC crap.
PAGE NINETEEN
1/ CUT BACK to Thadeus, sitting on his chair. He raises his eyebrow mischievously at us, and at Landon who is off panel. His lip curls into a dangerous sneer.
THAD: Let me ask you something, Landon.
THAD: Do you REMEMBER the night I tried to kill BETH?
2/ Landon leans away from the bars, remembering. His face becomes a stern mask as he reflects on the events of that evening through the kaleidoscope of hind-sight. This, of course, cues the flashback.
LANDON: Of course I do.
3/ Rounded panels as we begin the flashback sequence, opening on a startling scene as Thadeus stands in the midst of Landon’s apartment, holding Beth against the wall with his hand around her throat, threatening to choke the life out of her. She looks around the same age as the scene when she came to Landon for help, and this is in fact only a few short months later. She kicks and claws at Thadeus, looking confused and terrified.
BETH: Thadeus!
BETH: Thad, Jesus Christ! What’re you -?
4/ Thad stares at her, hatred and resentment turning his eyes into smoldering coals of intensity, and he screams at the top of his lungs.
THAD: DIE, BITCH!
THAD: Just DIE!
5/ Beth stops squirming and a vicious smile crosses her face as she looks over Thad’s shoulder to discover that they are no longer alone in the room. She locks eyes with the new arrival, but addresses Thad.
BETH: Ha.
BETH: Coff.
BETH: You are SO screwed, you son of a bitch.
6/ Thadeus turns away, facing the doorway to discover Landon, glaring at him with a calm, threatening demeanor. Landon’s form fills the doorway as he glowers at the man attacking his then-girlfriend, and his hands are balled into shaking fists at his sides. Thadeus recoils in fear, releasing Beth.
LANDON: Exactly what the hell do you think you’re doing?
PAGE TWENTY
1/ Thadeus steps backward, raising his hands in protest and self-defense. His face contorts in fear and surprise, searching for the words to make this betrayal of his friend seem like the right thing to do.
THAD: Landon, wait!
THAD: You need to LISTEN!
2/ Landon lunges, his hands and forearms transformed into menacing wolf-like flashes of fur and claws. He shoves Thad up against the wall, sinking his clawed thumb through the flesh of Thad’s shoulder and pinning him against the wall with the claws of his fingers. Blood erupts from Thad’s wound, and he cries out in pain as Landon pounces on him.
SOUND EFFECT: SCHHRIIP
THAD: GYAHHH!
LANDON: I don’t need to listen to a goddamned THING.
3/ Thad struggles, his punctured shoulder gushing blood as he hangs uselessly against the wall, pinned down by Landon’s powerful grip. He grits his teeth against the pain, staring into Landon’s eyes pleadingly.
LANDON: You tried to kill BETH.
THAD: Landon, she’s CHANGING you!
THAD: You’re running around with a SLAYER! That ANDREW prick is BAD NEWS.
THAD (small font, almost whispered): Have you SEEN the way they LOOK at each other?
4/ CLOSE ON Thad’s stomach as Landon sinks his other clawed hand into the Vampire’s flesh. The skin is ripped open, and gore flows freely from the new wound as Thad thrashes in pain.
SOUND EFFECT: SHUNK
THAD: GYAH!
5/ Landon spins, tossing Thad to the wooden floor of the apartment. Thad bounces painfully, his two gaping wounds dripping blood like a fountain. Landon looks down at him like a discarded piece of garbage.
6/ Landon picks Thad up by the collar of his coat, dragging him backward across the floor. In the BG, we see a recuperating Beth as she leans low against the wall, regaining her bearings and rubbing her aching neck.
THAD (small font, choked out): You…you were my best friend…
PAGE TWENTY-ONE
1/ Beth looks up from her spot against the wall, rubbing the back of her hand across her mouth to wipe away some of the blood she’s coughed up. She glares upward at Landon, her face a mask of barely concealed rage.
BETH: Kill him, Landon.
2/ Landon looks down at her, shock and hesitation on his face as he struggles with the intensity of the situation. He still holds Thad by the collar, but all of that is off-panel as he locks startled eyes with Beth.
BETH (off panel): Kill. Him.
3/ Landon picks up the broken vampire by the lapels of his coat, lifting him to eye-level so they can look straight at each other. His face is serious and demanding, leaving no room for further conversation.
LANDON: Thad.
LANDON: You’re going to LEAVE here. And you’ll never set foot in this apartment AGAIN.
LANDON: If you do? You’re DEAD. You can go now.
LANDON: Thank you.
4/ Landon pushes Thad away, releasing his lapels and letting the man stand on his own. Thad looks pleadingly and angrily at Landon, frustrated by how miserably he has just failed at his attempt. Landon continues to stand in front of him, his hands held open in the motion of releasing Thad.
THAD: Landon, you don’t UNDERSTAND!
THAD: I can EXPLAIN!
5/ Landon looks at him one last time, a not-so-veiled threat in his smoldering glare.
LANDON: My “thank you” meant “we’re DONE here.”
6/ Thad looks at him, shocked and hurt, at a loss for words. He holds his forearm up in front of his chest, holding it across his chest in hurt and self-defense.
THAD: …
7/ He turns away, heading toward the door, sad and defeated. His scowl pretends to anger, but is in fact the regret of having just lost a friend. He tugs at his coat lapels as he makes his way to the exit.
THAD: You two deserve each other.
PAGE TWENTY-TWO
1/ CUT BACK to the PRESENT, as Thad stares at Landon from his spot in the chair. His teasing smile is gone now, replaced with the pain of remembered loss.
THAD: Good.
THAD: Now let me ask you something ELSE.
THAD: Has it ever occurred to you to wonder WHY I tried to KILL her?
2/ Landon returns to his spot, gripping the bars angrily and practically spitting his venomous words at his old friend.
LANDON: Because you’re a goddamn PSYCHOPATH, Thad.
LANDON: Nothing more complicated than THAT.
3/ Thad leans back in his chair, taking pleasure in his big reveal. He folds his arms indignantly, smiling a little.
THAD: I wanted to KILL her because I had FAILED, Landon.
THAD: After all that WORK, I had gone and hooked you up with someone who actually went and JOINED the damn BROTHERHOOD.
4/ Landon recoils a little, latching onto the operative words in Thad’s statement and reeling with shock.
LANDON: Wait…
LANDON: What are you telling me?
5/ CLOSE ON Thad as he scowls at Landon, delivering the blow he’s been waiting to deliver for years.
THAD: I’m TELLING you, Landon, that Beth just HAPPENED to be seeing a movie at your favorite HUNTING spot for a REASON.
THAD: She’d been chatting ONLINE with a guy she came there to MEET that night.
THAD: That guy was ME.
THAD: I arranged for you two to MEET…
6/ CLOSE ON Landon, staring furiously through the bars at Thad.
THAD (off panel): …because I wanted you OUT OF THE WAY.
PAGE TWENTY-THREE
1/ CUT BACK to a Long Panel of Malice and Milo, their backs to us, as they stand before the Tesseract. Milo looks confused and awestruck by the complicated geometry of the mystery object, and Malice smiles triumphantly at his creation, looking over at Milo with glee.
MALICE: In GEOMETRY, the TESSERACT is an 8-cell, or regular octachoron, the four-dimensional analog of the cube.
MALICE: The tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square.
MALICE: Just as the surface of the cube consists of 6 square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of 8 cubical cells.
2/ On Malice, gesturing importantly as he continues to explain his masterpiece.
MALICE: It’s become a sort of UNIVERSAL SYMBOL for those aspects of reality HIDDEN from view by our own LIMITED perceptions.
MALICE: A fitting namesake for this machine and its PURPOSE.
3/ On Milo, approaching the Tesseract and staring upward at it, pawing hesitantly at its web of sleek tubing and intricate swivel joints. He looks both impressed and terrified by whatever this machine’s intended purpose may be.
MALICE (off panel): When the time comes to ACTIVATE the device, it’s going to AWAKEN the latent abilities and PERCEPTIONS that reside somewhere deep inside ALL of us…
MALICE: …and it will signal the beginning of a NEW ERA.
4/ Close on Milo as he turns to face Malice, a look of serious caution on his mystified face. Behind him, the Tesseract gleams, reflecting Milo’s image and distorting it in the unnatural shaped tubing.
MILO: A new era ruled by YOU.
5/ Malice loses his visionary stare and faces Milo directly, working hard to convince him but never succumbing to pleading or indignity. Malice is completely convinced that he is saving the world from itself.
MALICE: Not RULED, Milo.
MALICE: GUIDED.
MALICE: I’ll be the MOSES to a whole new EVOLUTION REVOLUTION.
MALICE: I’ll be the BENEFACTOR to a new CHAPTER in mankind’s STORY.
PAGE TWENTY-FOUR
1/ Milo looks down at the floor, breaking eye contact. He looks worried, and is suddenly feeling very self-conscious about how completely he’s fallen under Malice’s spell.
MILO: You’re a very powerful person, Malice. You don’t have to convince me of that.
MILO: The degree of CONTROL you already have over ME, it’s….well, I don’t know WHAT it is, really.
MILO: But call it what you WILL, you’re still talking about remaking the world to your LIKING.
2/ Malice turns away from him and gestures broadly, his arms spread wide, as though he’s addressing an auditorium full of people. His face lights up with bravado.
MALICE: To ALL our liking, Milo.
3/ He turns back to Milo, locking eyes once more with a demeanor that hides a certain degree of careful threat beneath its patient exterior.
MALICE: The EVOLUTION REVOLUTION has already BEGUN, and you and your friends are PROOF-POSITIVE.
4/ Milo looks uncertainly at Malice, growing uncomfortable and angry with the line of thinking that Malice is preaching. His chunk of blue hair hangs limply in front of his glasses, and he glares up from beneath it.
MALICE (off panel): Sooner or later, your team - and all the other teams in the INITIATIVE - will come to understand what’s happening AROUND you…
MALICE:…and you’ll REBEL.
5/ On Malice, his steady gaze refusing to break as he looks past Milo’s face and into his soul. He reaches out and places his hand on the side of Milo’s face, gently.
MALICE: You’ll no longer let the MUNDANE MASSES hold you DOWN, no matter how hard you try.
MALICE: It’s ANATHEMA to nature’s BETTER JUDGMENT.
6/ Close on Malice as he lowers his head, gazing up at Milo from beneath a furrowed brow, his hair falling in front of his face.
MALICE: You’re not a bunch of FREAK OCCURRENCES, and you KNOW it.
MALICE: You’re evolution’s SCOUTING PARTY, and soon, the CALVARY will come.
PAGE TWENTY-FIVE
1/ Milo turns to follow Malice with his eyes as Malice walks past him, turning his back to Milo. He has picked up the discarded sheet that covered the Tesseract, and he carries it across the room with him, planning to set it neatly to the side. He looks up as the ceiling as he speaks, as though he’s speaking to God himself.
MALICE: And his disciples said to him “when will the Kingdom come?”
MALICE: And he said unto them “ It will not come by WATCHING for it. It will not be said ‘LOOK HERE,’ or LOOK THERE!’”
MALICE: ‘Rather, the Father’s Kingdom is spread out upon the Earth, and the people do not SEE it.’
2/ Milo continues locking his gaze on Malice, his expression stern as he throws another quote back at the self-righteous villain.
MILO: Maybe. But then again:
MILO: ‘Something might be TRUE while being harmful and dangerous in the highest DEGREE.’
MILO: ‘ Indeed it might be a basic characteristic of existence that those who know it completely would PERISH, in which case the strength of a SPIRIT should be measured according to how much of the ‘TRUTH’ one could still barely ENDURE.’
MILO: ‘Or, to put it more clearly, to what degree one would REQUIRE it to be thinned down, shrouded, sweetened, blunted, falsified.’
3/ Long Panel as Malice turns, gripping both sides of Milo’s face in his hands and smiling jovially, letting out a hearty laugh at the exchange. He no longer carries the sheet with him, but it has been draped over a chair in the BG. Milo pulls back a little, looking more worried and angry than ever.
MALICE: I love this kid! I give him the GOSPEL OF THOMAS and he quotes NIETZSCHE at me!
MALICE: But Milo…
4/ Malice releases Milo and looks at him reprimandingly, like a parent telling their child that they’ve made up their mind and that they won’t be swayed by an adolescent’s opinion.
MALICE: Like it or NOT, we ARE the future, and I have every intention of ensuring that future’s SURVIVAL.
5/ Milo rubs his face begrudgingly, looking resentfully at Malice for dismissing him.
MALICE (off panel): The grand metaphor of QUETZALCOATL will RETURN on December 21st, and he will REUNITE the heavens and the EARTH, the body and the MIND, and I WILL be his Saint PETER.
PAGE TWENTY-SIX
1/ As Malice walks away, back toward the bed and the plate glass window, Milo watches after him, giving the man a warning look that he can’t see with his back to Milo. Milo’s fists ball into tight bunches as he pushes for the information he’s been avoiding, already knowing he’s not going to like the answer.
MILO: I’m going to ask you this ONE MORE TIME, Malice…
MILO: How do I know you?
2/ Malice looks back over his shoulder, his demeanor changed to a sad look of inevitability. He looks downward, bracing himself for the unfortunate moment that’s about to take place.
MALICE: I didn’t want to DO this, Elliot, but you’re too PERCEPTIVE to let it pass us by. I should’ve known better.
MALICE: For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for what it’s going to DO to you.
3/ Milo finally loses his temper, remaining in one spot but shouting out in anger and frustration, the entire stressful ordeal suddenly becoming too much for him to handle.
MILO: WHO ARE YOU!?
4/ Malice turns to face Milo, but looks away, rubbing his brow in regret. The regret may be for what he did, or for the fact that it’s going to derail his plans - it’s not clear which, and it doesn’t matter. What matters is that in this moment, Malice is visibly regretful.
MALICE: My name is Thomas Joseph Chapel…but you would remember me as TOMMY.
5/ Close on Milo, his eyes gone solid blue with the energy of an oncoming psychic outburst. Blue steam curls up from the edges of his eyes as he takes in what Malice is telling him with pure fury and horror and years-old resentment tearing at his soul. His teeth are bared in anger, and his temper has taken about all it conceivably could: Milo is about to totally lose his shit.
MILO: You... you're the babysitter who molested me for three straight years.
6/ On Malice, looking at Milo with genuine concern.
MALICE: Milo.
MALICE: Elliot. Talk to me.
MALICE: Are…are you okay?
PAGE TWENTY-SEVEN
1/ Long Panel as Milo backhands Malice across the face with the back of his fist, screaming out at the top of his lungs. Malice flies backward, toward us, crashing through the plate glass window in an explosion of glass, his arms and legs dangling out before him as he cascades toward us like a rag doll.
MILO: SHUT YOUR MOUTH!
SOUND EFFECT (punch): THOK
SOUND EFFECT (window): KKRRASHH
2/ Long panel as Malice flies like a projectile weapon into the Altar Room below, motion lines following him in one giant swoosh, reversing the angle of the previous panel. He crashes into a concrete support pillar, stone exploding behind him as he crunches into it with a devastating impact. Hanging from their restraints, the captured team members all look up in surprise.
SOUND EFFECT: CRUNCH
3/ INSET INTO THE NEXT PANEL, top left hand corner: Malice picks himself up from the wreckage of the pillar, glaring up at Milo challengingly. Blood runs down the side of his head, and his shirt is covered in dust and glass.
MALICE: You sure you wanna DO this, kid?
4/ LARGE PANEL as Milo stands furiously over Malice’s prone form, having leapt from the bedroom down into the Altar Room. His legs are spread wide in a combat stance and he holds his fists balled up in the air on either side of his torso, both hands vividly alight with their own private infernos of pyrokinetic energy. His eyes glow bright blue, leaking smoke from their edges, as he scowls down at Malice with the most hatred we’ve ever seen manifest on Milo’s usually kind face. At his feet, in a pile of concrete chunks, Malice pulls himself into a sitting position, ready to face Milo, his back to us.
MILO: Oh, you bet your ASS I do.
MILO: Nobody.
MILO: Calls me.
MILO: ELLIOT.
NEXT: The Monkey, The Man, and The Gun.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
