Tuesday 19 February 2008

Scribblers: Nemesis

Issue Three


INT. THE SCRIBBLERS’ BASE.  ABOUT MIDNIGHT.


CHRONAL and FINESSE are walking into the base where they all live.


CHRONAL


...so I said ‘hello’, and she immediately flipped on her head and stayed there for 30 seconds.


FINESSE

Like a celebration?


CHRONAL


No, I honestly don’t think she meant to do it.


FINESSE


You know what that is, don’t you, that’s a negative super power is what that is.


CHRONAL


Oh, yes!  You’re probably right.


They reach the door and walk in.  The bedroom nearest them has the door ajar, and distressed noises are coming from within.


CHRONAL


She’s in trouble!


HE moves to leap into action but FINESSE holds him back.


FINESSE


Er, you’ve never slept in a room with Amity before, have you?


CHRONAL


No, of course not.


FINESSE


Yeah, she’s pretty much always like that.


CHRONAL


Really?


FINESSE


She’s an empath, Chrone.  She can’t keep her emotional walls up when she’s asleep.


They walk into the adjoined living room (by the way, the Scribblers’ base looks remarkably like the Centre Parcs villa with more bedrooms and secret passages etc.) and find LYRIC there, sitting on the sofa by the lamp.


LYRIC is working on the fine details.  He is muttering under his breath and in the air in front of him, for moments each, hover tiny, intricate things - a fly’s wing, then a computer chip, a painted fingernail.


He looks up and the latest one vanishes.


LYRIC

Can you shut her up?


FINESSE

Hold on, I’ll do a bit of wall-building.


FINESSE goes to the door of Amity’s room and looks at her for a bit.  She starts to sleep peacefully.


A BIRD flies in through an open window, and morphs back into SHIFT, who looks very tired out.


Everyone looks up at her expectantly.


SHIFT

(Out of breath)

Nothing.  I went everywhere.


CHRONAL

Did you try the warehouse?


SHIFT

Yes.


LYRIC

And the old quarry?


SHIFT

Of course.  I went to all the old villain haunts.


FINESSE

Even the sewer cave?


SHIFT

Yes.


CHRONAL

Then we’ll have to force his hand.  We can draw Sintaro out with a show of force.


LYRIC

It’s too risky - do you know what he can do?


SHIFT

Maybe nothing at all.  The serum might have been unsuccessful.


CHRONAL

Then you know what we’ve got time for?  A PLAN!


LYRIC

A McPlan?


CHRONAL

Yes.


AMITY

Wraith, come out.


WRAITH

Like some kind of square?  No way.


WRAITH suddenly materialises on the sofa, wearing a dressing gown.  FINESSE looks smug.


WRAITH

Lame.


CHRONAL

OK, what do we know?


WRAITH

Sucky exposition.


AMITY

Good pont, Wraith.  Shall we get on with surprisingly accurate conjecture and forward the plot a bit?


LYRIC

Gets my vote.


FINESSE

OK, so the serum probably worked, although I doubt it worked perfectly, and he’s probably building a team of heroes with himself at the head.


SHIFT

It’s what I’d do.


Everyone looks at her.


SHIFT

You know, if I was an evil supervillain.  Which I am not.


CHRONAL

OK.  And where do you think you might have your super-lair under those hypothetical circumstances?


SHIFT

Hmmm.  Somewhere you wouldn’t suspect.  Maybe...rent-a-lair.


FINESSE

I am staggered we didn’t think of that.  


CHRONAL

To the Turbo-Jet!


WRAITH

I’m driving.


PANEL: Everyone except Wraith looking very worried in the Turbo-Jet, Wraith looking maniacally pleased.


CHRONAL does his blurry thing, then reappears looking confident.


CHRONAL

OK, we don’t know what to expect, so five of us go in together, that way if there is something big, he can’t pick us off individually.  Wraith, you’re the exception.


WRAITH looks round at him.


LYRIC

Eyes on the road!


They swerve wildly and then drive on.


CHRONAL

Wraith-don’t-look-at-me you stay invisible and keep back - if anything goes wrong we’ll at least have one trick left.


SHIFT

I’d better hide then.  I’ll be a moth.


CHRONAL

Fine, but stay with us.  Hide in someone’s collar.


FINESSE

Taxed.


AMITY

Oh, I wanted a daemon.


SHIFT

It’s still be me, Amity, and stop mixing genres.


AMITY

Sorry.


PANEL: The six Scribblers arrive.  They stand before a massive warehouse door, the drama of which is only slightly undermined by a sign saying “Rent-a-lair”, followed by a list of sympathetic insurance companies.  Shift flutters as a moth above Finesse’s head, Wraith is a faint shimmer mid-way between visibility and invisibility, and the others stand side by side looking Cool.


They go into the room, and there’s a security guard there, in one of those little booths.


CHRONAL

We’re looking for Sintaro.


The very ordinary-looking security guard looks up.


GUARD

Sintaro?  Where have I...ah, yes.  You’ll be the Scribblers, then.  He’s expecting you.


FINESSE

Where?


GUARD

Oh, right.


He consults a piece of paper.


GUARD

Third door on the left, second floor.


As they leave, we see (they don’t) a tiny purple tongue flick briefly from behind his lips.  Then he goes back to his newspaper.


The gang reach the appropriate door.


CHRONAL

Wraith?


Wraith does his trick with looking through doors.  He is completely invisible and therefore completely relaxed until he sees a girl looking back at him.  She waves cheerfully, then opens the door quickly into his face.  He falls down and in the shock, becomes visible again.


MEDIUM

Hello.  You must be the Scribblers.


WRAITH

How?


MEDIUM

I’m called Medium.


She looks directly at SHIFT, still hidden in FINESSE’s hair.


MEDIUM

I see what is hidden.  Team!


Four people turn up - three men and a woman.  Like MEDIUM, they are all wearing exclusively black.  It’s a bit designer-cool, to be honest.  They each stand opposite a different Scribbler, leaving a gap in the middle and the space opposite Chronal empty.  They all look pretty mean.


MEDIUM stands opposite WRAITH, who has got up by this point.  Opposite FINESSE is a handsome blonde man - muscular, with a sinister twist to his lip.  Opposite AMITY is a thin, dark man with a very steady gaze.  SHIFT is confronted with a strong-looking man with a sheen almost like metal across his complexion, and across from LYRIC is a woman with loads of long red hair down her back and very pale, empty eyes that are quite scary to look at.


DISCORD

Fair’s fair, Medium.  We already know who they are.


MEDIUM

Thank you, Discord.  Scribblers, allow me to introduce my friends.  


The words for this page appear in blocks at the top, and each panel contains one Scribbler and one villain.


MEDIUM

Block.  


BLOCK bows extravagantly.  Finesse could not look more disdainful.


MEDIUM

Discord.


DISCORD lets an unpleasant smile hover on his lips.  Amity looks uncomfortable.


MEDIUM

Eraser.


ERASER gives Lyric a sultry look.  Lyric clearly finds her a bit perplexing.


MEDIUM

Metal Man.


METAL MAN

(Mumbling)

I didn’t know we were going for ironic nicknames until we’d handed our forms in.


SHIFT finds this pretty amusing.


MEDIUM

As for what we can do, why don’t you let us show you...


FINESSE

Er, “Block” can block powers, “Discord”’s a telepath, “Eraser” can unmake matter, and “Metal Man” (she stops to smirk) can turn himself into anything non-organic.


CHRONAL

Shall we fight them?


WRAITH

Plan good.  Fight.


Each one squares up to their opposite number, except Chronal, who steps back thoughtfully, and Block and Finesse, who circle the group.


LYRIC

Ties that bind a rope would do give them enough rope a rope


PANEL

A large rope is half-materialised around all the baddies.  LYRIC is looking at it fiercely, but ERASER is looking at it too, standing almost right beside him.  Both are speaking.


FINESSE and BLOCK are circling the group, helping/hindering.


SHIFT is a saber-toothed tiger, in mid-air as she launches herself at the now metallic Metal Man.


AMITY and DISCORD stand motionless where they started, staring at each other.


MEDIUM looks gloatingly on, and WRAITH, semi-visible again, looks side-long at her with pure hatred.


PANEL


FINESSE stands behind SHIFT, strengthening her, as she transforms in mid-air into a buffalo - Metal Men can still be squashed, and he clearly knows it.


WRAITH has crept up behind MEDIUM while she’s distracted, and is about to knock her out with a stray pipe he has found.


LYRIC has caused a sword to appear in his hand, and has created loads of tiny darts in mid-air.  They are about to rain down on the baddies, but they are still translucent because ERASER is also muttering under her breath.


AMITY and DISCORD still stand in the middle of the room, motionless, but now Discord’s posture shows utter dejection.  He looks about to give up.


BLOCK is standing very nearby.


CHRONAL is suddenly right on the other side of the panel, watching events, helping where he’s needed.


ERASER

Undo the pipe take it away there won’t be any pipe today


WRAITH

A sword will help a mighty sword go easy on the jewels a real sword


PANEL

(Last massive crowded panel for a while, promise!)


SHIFT is now a wild cat, and is standing fiercely on the chest of the now prostrate metal man.


BLOCK is standing over AMITY, who is lying on the ground in distress.  DISCORD looks smug again.


MEDIUM has turned around but is being overpowered by WRAITH, who is still invisible even though she can see him (he prefers it that way).  He looks perplexed at his absent pipe.


LYRIC is making the panel look crowded and interesting by making jets of water shoot out of the cracks in the walls, overpowering ERASER, who is spluttering too much to speak counter-words.


PANEL

AMITY being helped up by FINESSE, clutching her arms.  In a bit of a state, really.


AMITY

He’s taken my empathy.


FINESSE

You’ll get it back.


AMITY

It’s how I know you’re all alive.  You’ve all gone.


FINESSE uses her powers to give AMITY back hers, and she stops being such a drama queen.


AMITY

Right.


BLOCK is occupied in stopping SHIFT’s powers from working.  She is suddenly human again, and METAL MAN is advancing on her with a stupid grin.


AMITY stands behind him, with FINESSE by her side.


He crumples into an emotional heap on the floor, then skulks from the room.


FINESSE

What did you give him?


AMITY

Self loathing.


SHIFT turns into a wolf, for a bit of a change, and goes back to intimidating the unfortunate Metal Man.


WRAITH has successfully pinned MEDIUM, so he drags her over to be guarded by SHIFT.


Damn, just realised the telepath hasn’t done anything at all.  Um...OK, he...oh whatever.  He’s been allowing them all to communicate freely for the whole time without words, or something.


DISCORD saunters over to where LYRIC and ERASER are still trying to outdo each other (she has stopped the water thing now).


LYRIC is about to speak.


DISCORD

Fire.


ERASER

No fire keep out the fire make no fire.


LYRIC is surprised.  He opens his mouth again.


DISCORD

Falling beam.


ERASER

Stable roof, strong roof, no damage no danger.


FINESSE walks over and stands behind LYRIC.


FINESSE

Now.


LYRIC opens his mouth.


DISCORD

Selective avalanche.


LYRIC

Avalanche careful fall on them keep us safe keep them under avalanche


WRAITH puts his hands around ERASER’s mouth to stop her from undoing it, and AMITY gives DISCORD an unaccustomed bout of self-doubt to keep him occupied.


With FINESSE’s support, LYRIC conjures an amazing, and selective, avalanche, which rains snow and rock and earth on the baddies, but more or less completely misses the Scribblers.  This looks amazing - everyone is up to their ankles in snow, and the scene is as above when it freezes.


MR SINTARO turns up.  He’s probably wearing a black suit, or something.  He is slow hand-clapping.


CHRONAL (sorry he hasn’t been about much - he’s about to make up for it) walks slowly towards him through all the frozen fighters.  This looks Really Cool, especially because he is wearing a much better outfit.


MR SINTARO

Hello again, Chronal.


CHRONAL looks at him, not prepared to engage in pleasantries.


MR SINTARO

As you see, I have kept my word...


CHRONAL

And your penchant for melodrama.


MR SINTARO

...and have acquired your powers.  Did you like my friends?  I did hope they would amuse you.


CHRONAL

Did they give their consent to this scheme?


MR SINTARO

Of course.  Discord saw to that.


(See?  He is useful.)


MR SINTARO

And now we are going to fight.  The same powers.  An even contest.  


CHRONAL

Really?


CHRONAL suddenly disconcertingly appears right beside MR SINTARO.


CHRONAL

Experience counts for a lot, you see.  For example, you probably think you have stopped time.  It was years before I could tell the difference between ‘almost’ and ‘quite’.


CHRONAL is suddenly tying the last knot in a rope that is now securely tying up Mr Sintaro.


CHRONAL

It is worth the effort.


He miraculously has hand cuffs and foot cuffs.  Both are now attached appropriately to Mr Sintaro.


CHRONAL

Shall we rejoin the others?


CHRONAL glances around the room to check that his friends are all winning, then goes back into normal time.


METAL MAN has turned himself into a metal shelter and the rest of the super-villains are now huddling underneath it to avoid being crushed by the mini-avalanche.


The Scribblers gradually disengage themselves from their enemies, and then walk out through the door.  Mr Sintaro stands bound in the middle of the room looking disgruntled.


The gang is back in the turbo-jet.  WRAITH is NOT driving.


LYRIC

Good work-out.


FINESSE

They’ll be better next time.


LYRIC

Better make sure we are, then.  Right, what I want to do is for you to start learning how to hinder us rather than help us, if you can.  They won’t be expecting it, and if I ever see that girl again I want to give her more than a quick avalanche.


AMITY

(To SHIFT)

Paned?


SHIFT

Good idea.


Not, I'm afraid, the most polished thing I've ever written, but there we are!  Sorry about the voices too - I sort of forgot about it when the action started.  Have included panels when I felt like it, in the hope that someone might draw them.  :-)

7 comments:

Steffan said...

Great stuff! It feels to me like we're playing at being super-heroes, and that lines like "stop mixing genres" are out of concern that one of us will mess it up. We're kids, playing!

Quoth the Raven said...

Yay! Scribbler goodness! They're so much fun to read/write. This was good - I love the idea of Mr Sintaro actually having a full on obsession with becoming Iceduck, I hadn't given any thought at all to what Sintaro's powers would be. (And I adore the negative super power. I laughed for fully five minutes at that.)

You say it's unpolished, but to be honest the only problems I had with it were Amity going from peacefully sleeping to inexplicably being in our midst at the start, and I think Lyric got labelled as Wraith for one line of dialogue. Both of those were pretty minor, though.

And the Rent-a-Lair made up for it all. Every possible mistake you could have made. There was a Rent-a-Lair. That's genius.

So, any more coming? Or was this stand-alone fun?

Blossom said...

Ah, glad you liked it, guys! I exerted a lot of energy on not making it serious - fighting the urge to do much darker things!

I'll definitely write more, but this was a standalone. I like the idea of finishing stories and leaving them a bit open-ended, so your friends can pick up some strands from it - makes it feel more coherent, and more like a collaboration.

Anyone up for writing the next one? They're such fun to read!! :-)

Quoth the Raven said...

Iceduck is going to do a time-travelling one, apparently, but only after he's done Power Rangers. I might do another two parter in the interrim, if I have time. They're incredibly fun to write as well - all comic book cliches.

By the way, if you want to try a darker one, feel free. That's the beauty of something like an interactive comic - you can go for whatever style you wish.

Blossom said...

Thanks! I might jsut do that! Is anyone going to get cross if I make their super-powered avatar have a dramatic backstory, moral dilemmas, issues, cowardice etc. though? I mean, pbviously all our characters are brilliant, so I would write them to come through heroically in the end but, y'know, I lieks a bit of drama!

And you're much better at comedy that me, Quoth!

Steffan said...

I'm up for anything as long as it's a logical extension of the characters. Like, I'd be dubious if someone gave Wraith some backstory where he used to be the prime minister, since that wouldn't really stem naturally from either Wraith in-continuity or Alabastor Lazermanifest in real.

(Crumbs, I've spotted why I don't naturally refer to people by their handles.)

But backstory's fun, and I like the idea of stretching this universe in all directions by everyone doing their own thing with it.

(And actually, I'm coming round to the idea of ex-Prime Minister Wraith ...)

Jester said...

This was brilliant! The Scribblers posts have so become my favourites, simply because we can all write them however we like. I think I'll write one about my birthday (like a big egotistical) so I can develop a bit of backstory for Shift.

I think the best moment when reading this post was when I was laughing at something and then the next line read "SHIFT finds this pretty amusing". Awesome.