Scribblers: Casus Belli
Issue the Second
1. INT. DINAS CENTRAL HOSPITAL - DISUSED STORAGE ROOM. Day 1 - 1052
Room full of boxes and large broken shiz like beds a ballu. No windows, one door, one extractor fan in the corner. FINESSE is crouched between pile o' stuff and the wall at one end, holding the important cannister in one hand; the five NIOBIDS are spreading out throughout the room, destroying everything they get to to try and find her. Holo-NIOBE stands by the door, fanning herself idly and humming, apparently quite at ease.
NIOBE
You really would favour me, you know. Sort of. For the underlying aim. And I don't just say that because of your history with dear Sintaro-san, either.
GAS NIOBID is gaseous; she drifts closer to Finesse's hiding place. Three metres to the right FIRE NIOBID is prowling, coming slowly closer. Finesse grits her teeth, tips her head back against the pile behind her and closes her eyes, apparently concentrating hard.
NIOBE
My way is better. Trouble is, he does have better contacts. Mostly because he gives people money and then blackmails them, it's very efficient, I must say. I just find all that so dull.
STRONG NIOBID seizes a filing cabinet and tears it in half; Finesse frowns, concentrating, and TELEPATH NIOBID suddenly pauses, and looks around to her hiding place.
NIOBE
But it's very inconvenient. It means it's almost impossible for anyone else's business interests.
Telepath Niobid starts walking towards Finesse; the others, seeing him, follow suit; Finesse grips the cannister so hard her knuckles turn white -
Niobe smiles, and moves forward herself -
NIOBE
You can't establish competition -
CHRONAL (oov)
Yes, it's almost like the free market isn't self-regulating, isn't it?
And CHRONAL arrives! The Niobids spin about to attack him -
He blurs -
And Telepath Niobid crumbles to the floor, unconscious. Finesse grins. Gas Niobid swoops in to Chronal -
He blurs again, scooping up some old blinds and stopping by the extractor fan; he whirls his arms -
They blur into a windmill -
And Gas Niobid is sucked towards the extractor fan. Niobe looks alarmed. VIBRO-NIOBID sends a shockwave through the floor to Chronal -
Fire Niobid throws out an arm, and a plume of fire leaps for Chronal -
Finesse stands -
The fire is deflected back to Fire Niobid. Gas Niobid vanishes through the fan. Chronal blurs entirely -
And the floor shockwave stops. Strong Niobid begins charging; Finesse extends a hand -
Shockwaves hit both Fire Niobid and Strong Niobid, knocking them down. Chronal blurs once more -
And all remaining Niobids are left unconscious and bound on the floor, Niobe pouting irritably at them. Chronal unblurs, and turns to her. Finesse grins.
CHRONAL
When I find you instead of your hologram, you are going be extremely arrested.
NIOBE
What? I don't follow.
CHRONAL
Because you just tried to kill my wife, you psychopath!
NIOBE (indignantly)
I did not!
(beat)
Wait, which one's your wife again?
FINESSE (reproachfully)
Me.
NIOBE
Oh are you? Yes I did, then. Ah well. This round to you, Scribblers. Bye!
The hologram blinks out. Finesse and Chronal turn to each other -
And hug each other hard, clinging on.
FINESSE
Thank you.
CHRONAL (proudly)
I ran all the way! Knackered now.
FINESSE (grinning)
I guessed. Serious husband points, that gets you.
CHRONAL
Hooray!
FINESSE
Lemon cake and Doctor Who tonight, I think.
CHRONAL
Yay! In that case, I think I might wake them up again and do it again.
FINESSE
Yeah? In exchange for...?
CHRONAL
Wine!
FINESSE
Good shout. I'm getting so drunk tonight. Doctor Who drinking game?
CHRONAL
Oh my god yes!!! We're so cool, aren't we?
FINESSE
Oh, we're so cool.
CHRONAL
I knew it.
CUT TO:
2. INT. THE SWINGING BLUE GENES PLC - COMPUTER LAB. Day 1 - 1110
SHIFT, DOG, GOAT, OCTOPUS, AMITY, WRAITH, LYRIC, CHRONAL and FINESSE are sitting in a loose circle of sofas,pulled together in the middle of the computer lab (apart from Octopus, who is in its tank). A large screen against the wall shows the sealed lab below, where AMALGAM and KAYLEIGH are in hazmat suits, working around either the frozen GOON BOY or the small sample of serum provided by BLOCK. An open comm link lets them all talk between each other.
Most are clutching tea or hot chocolate. Finesse and Chronal are curled up together contentedly; Dog has crawled onto the sofa next to Amity, and is slowly creeping closer, in the way of dogs.
AMITY
So, basically, two rich business-people want to do business using people as a commodity, and as part of their business competition, melted three hundred people, killed dozens more and caused hundreds of thousands of pounds of property damage, also putting many small sole traders out of business in the process.
FINESSE
That would appear to be the case, yes.
SHIFT (thoughtfully)
And Niobids have super powers now.
CHRONAL
But on the plus side, Doctor Who drinking game tonight!
LYRIC
Epic.
AMITY
But that's just - that's so annoying! The business people, that is. Obviously the Doctor Who drinking game is a splendid idea.
Dog wags its tail, and sneaks closer to her. Goat, unnoticed, places a fork at her feet.
SHIFT
Yes. It's like - I've contacted the government to tell them about the virus. Dinas Central has put everyone from the Paul Ball Mall into quarantine, in case any of the others were also sickly types.
WRAITH
Hang on, how is that like Doctor Who drinking -?
SHIFT
Yes!
WRAITH
What?
SHIFT
Exactly!
LYRIC
That's what I like about you, Shift. You're bloody insane, and use it to make Wraith feel unbalanced.
KAYLEIGH('s voice)
Which we can all agree is a good thing.
WRAITH
Ehhhhhhh...
FINESSE (to Shift)
Well done. Any ideas for our next move, other than trying to make a cure/antidote?
SHIFT
Well... we need a cure/antidote.
FINESSE
Thanks.
SHIFT
Something is a minor worry, though.
WRAITH (sympathetically)
Is it... it's... Lyric's face, isn't it.
SHIFT
It is in fact your hair.
WRAITH
Ehhhhhhh...
SHIFT
And there's another worrying thing. Now, I think this business of Sintaro's -
AMITY
The one where he mutilates and sells people as a commodity?
SHIFT
That very one. I think we probably won't have to worry about that. He has other plants in other places, and he probably has more shipments planned -
CHRONAL (disgustedly)
Oh, he'll definitely try to move them. Definitely.
Finesse closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. Dog whines, slightly uncertain.
AMITY
Dog voice.
AMALGAM('s voice)
Sorry. I meant to say - I've never met this Sintaro fellow, but surely if he's been sabotaged once in a day he won't try again within hours? Those would be the staggeringly stupid actions of a lunatic.
LYRIC
You've never met him, you say?
AMALGAM('s voice)
Ah.
WRAITH
Guy's a rebass.
CHRONAL
It all comes down to what contracts he might have. Because if he's got an important one, I can totally just see him risking it anyway.
SHIFT
Well, I don't think so. Like Finesse told Block, he cannot afford any more bad publicity for his terrible business. And it'll probably have lowered his faith in his security elsewhere; the Dinas branch of TORY is the highest security one, according to my ratty friends.
AMITY
Yes, and if I've learned anything in this job it's that we should always listen to rats.
Dog makes a curious whiney-bark, echoed by goat, who bleats. After a few seconds it becomes clear that they're trying to laugh. Wraith casts a terrified look at Dog.
SHIFT
But anyway, the really worrying part is that those Niobids had powers. That's never happened before.
FINESSE
Yes, I agree. Okay. We have to find Niobe, because Sintaro is, lest we forget, a moron. Chronal, get hacking. What are the various denizens of the underworld actually saying about all of this? Any word on Sintaro's plans? While you're at it, find out if they know about Niobe yet.
CHRONAL
Okay!
FINESSE
Although for god's sake don't tell them yourself.
CHRONAL
That's an even better idea!
SHIFT
And find out every building attached to Niobe.
CHRONAL
Better still!
He blurs, and vanishes. Finesse falls over, sighs, and pushes herself back up again. Lyric snorts.
LYRIC
As fast as he earns those husband points, eh?
SHIFT
And I'm going to see if I can find out where her lab is.
FINESSE
Yeah?
SHIFT
It can't be anywhere we know she owns, you see. She comes across as a big flaky, but she's clever. The Supervillain Clause means anywhere attached to her can be searched at any time with due suspicion, and this altered serum of hers is too important to allow into the wrong hands.
AMITY
If by 'the wrong hands' you here mean 'the Law'.
SHIFT
Correct. Also other villains.
FINESSE
Okay. Scientists? What are we looking at?
AMALGAM('s voice)
Ooh, me! Well; still no evidence of a virus having developed, but we'll keep monitoring. But the serum itself may not be as bad as I thought, actually.
FINESSE
Really?
KAYLEIGH
It causes a random effect on the genes, but we think the serum itself isn't random. If that makes sense.
AMALGAM('s voice)
I'll test a tissue-sample in a bit - with Amity's help, if you wouldn't mind?
Dog looks imploringly up at Amity, who beams.
AMITY
Of course!
Dog wags its tail, and creeps an inch closer.
AMALGAM('s voice)
Excellent! Er - yes. Well, it's all to do with how specific it is in the first place-
KAYLEIGH
Come and join in, Finesse! We're dressed like an Eighties punk-rock band called the Hazmats while working with a volatile substance and a time-frozen mutate, it's great.
LYRIC
She has a point. That sounds brilliant.
FINESSE
Yes it does. Fine. Go, Shift. Come, Amity. Silence, Lyric.
Finesse and Amity leave; Shift becomes a robin and leaves via the window. Lyric sits back contentedly, speaks a sketch-pad into being, and begins sketching. Wraith watches Dog doubtfully, who looks mournful.
WRAITH
So... you know your action-name, Lyric - ?
LYRIC
Stop.
CUT TO:
3. EXT. DOWNTOWN DINAS - WAREHOUSE DISTRICT. Day 1 - 1114
A run-down, industrial area, all warehouses and lorries and grey, although young trees have been planted at intervals along the road sides to bring joy. A solar farm basks to one side. Behind one warehouse is an open, dry drainpipe, waiting for renovation.
A ROBIN flies down to it, lands, and pecks at a worm for a moment before remembering itself. It transforms into a RAT, and scurries down the pipe.
CUT TO:
4. INT. THE SWINGING BLUE GENES PLC - COMPUTER LAB. Day 1 - 1115
WRAITH and LYRIC are still sitting in their sofa circle with GOAT, DOG and OCTOPUS. LYRIC is sketching wearily. WRAITH is looking around.
WRAITH
So, he said the other one is on the roof.
LYRIC
He's standing right there.
WRAITH (looking around)
What? Where?
LYRIC
The animals, you special, special boy.
WRAITH
Oh yeah. So what do you think it is?
LYRIC
Why don't you ask him?
WRAITH
Son. Can't go asking what people's animals are. They don't stop talking about them.
LYRIC
Are you thinking of pets?
WRAITH
What's the difference?
AMITY('s voice)
Well, pets are animals you keep, while his are like, um, arms. Stop talking about him.
Dog wags its tail.
WRAITH
Soz.
FINESSE('s voice)
This is why we don't take you out to socialise, Wraith.
WRAITH
Lol.
LYRIC
I'm bored. Is there anything for us to do?
WRAITH
Hey! Don't volunteer me, you nagger!
LYRIC
I ask with particular reference to making Wraith do something.
CHRONAL arrives in a blur, making Dog jump. He goes straight to the screen.
CHRONAL
Bad news! We need to do something!
LYRIC
Heh.
WRAITH
Baps.
CHRONAL
No word at all from Sintaro, except to say that he regrets he will not be able to fulfil a contract intended for noon today to a man whom I believe to be more criminally insane than anyone we've ever faced before because he genuinely calls himself Mr Stinkwealthy.
FINESSE('s voice)
He - what?
LYRIC
That may just be the world's worst name.
CHRONAL
He wants to conquer the Caymen Islands for the banks, and had ordered a shipment of powered goons for delivery at noon.
(beat)
That's in forty four minutes and seventeen seconds. But Niobe! She recently had important dinners with various underworld types who will only say they talked 'business' at her Cardiff mansion. I think she's there. Can I go and arrest her, Finesse?
LYRIC
Do ever so want.
FINESSE('s voice)
Alright. If she's there. All three of you, take the Trans-Jet and go - Shift can catch up. Invite anyone Cardiff-based to join in. Breathing apparatus, Lyric; I'm taking no chances with a potential infectious mutating disease.
LYRIC
Will do.
WRAITH
Byes.
They blur and vanish.
Dog looks sad.
CUT TO:
5. INT. SEWER SYSTEM. Day 1 - 1117
RAT!SHIFT is scurrying along a walkway over a sewage flow. Ahead, a FAT GREY RAT with long, drooping whiskers like a handlebar moustache is surrounded by a ring of others; CLEVER RAT with a scar running down her face from ear to nose, another across her leg, and OTHER RAT#1 and #2, who, in spite of being rats, seem to look doubtful. Shift approaches.
FAT GREY RAT
I mean it! And then when I tells 'em to bugger off, they goes and shoves me in the river! Nearly drowned!
CLEVER RAT
But... you're a rat, Sqeyke. You can swim.
FAT GREY RAT WHO IT TURNS OUT IS CALLED SQEYKE
They wun't to know that!
CLEVER RAT
They're water rats, Sqeyke. Of course they knew.
SQEYKE
But I'm a tunnel rat! Born and bred. They dun't know I can swim.
OTHER RAT#1
He's got a point. Them water rats, they've been gettin' right up 'emselves, thinking they're all that.
OTHER RAT#2
That's true. One pinched my chips the other day.
CLEVER RAT
That was a pigeon.
SQEYKE
What's the difference, though, eh? Am I right?
SHIFT
No.
OTHER RAT#1
Shit! It's Un-Rat!
OTHER RAT#2
She can be Un-Cat!
The rats turn, and a few scatter, leaving only Sqeyke, the Clever Rat and Shift.
SQEYKE
Hey! I was just getting somewhere!
SHIFT
You're a moron, Sqeyke.
CLEVER RAT
Finally. He doesn't listen when I tell him.
SQEYKE
Urgh. All I need, that is. Both of you. This here's ShiftRat, Chrrrp. She's important.
SHIFT
I'm flattered.
CHRRRP
Why important?
SQEYKE
Brings chocolate for information. And sometimes tells us of Extermination so we can get out, like.
CHRRRP
Ooh. I'm sold.
SQEYKE
Problems though, ShiftRat. Them water rats are after a war. No one listens, though. You in season?
SHIFT
I have no problems with becoming ShiftCat. I'm looking for somewhere, and I reckon you'll know where it is.
CHRRRP
What is it?
SHIFT
A lab. You know; lots of dead whiters, lots of chemicals. But this might be something else - what?
Sqeyke and Chrrrp have gone very still, staring at her, wide eyed. Neither speaks for a moment.
CHRRRP (quietly)
Blackhall.
SQEYKE
It's true, then? We thought it was just rumours.
SHIFT
What's - ?
SQEYKE
Hang on. What's it worth?
SHIFT
Potentially eight Mars bars.
SQEYKE
Bloody hell!
CHRRRP
West, by the Barriers. Then go up Midtown. Blackhall. We heard the rumours long ago. Rats went there and started disappearing, and then we got the smell.
SHIFT
They were dying there?
CHRRRP
More than that. Something else, we could smell it. Spuq went in the end -
SQEYKE
Territory war he thought, see, so -
CHRRRP
Idiot. He was fast, though, and he made it out; he only lived for a few minutes then, though. He was babbling. He said it was whiters had changed. They were huge, and became wrong shapes. He said they brought frosts.
SQEYKE
Frosts! Down here! Said their claws and fangs were too big. And he said they died and went runny, like they'd been long dead.
CHRRRP
So then Reee went to eat them, because, you know, a meal's a meal -
SQEYKE
Never saw her again either. So everyone's been avoiding it. Bad feeling in these tunnels, ShiftRat.
CHRRRP
I thought it was new Extermination.
SHIFT
Possibly. It's spreading to humans.
CHRRRP
Oh, good. It might get solved, then.
SHIFT
Can you take me to the closest exit?
SQEYKE
Only for an extra Twix. Plus the Mars.
SHIFT
You're a moron, Sqeyke.
CUT TO:
6. INT. THE SWINGING BLUE GENES PLC - LAB. Day 1 - 1119
FINESSE, AMITY, AMALGAM and KAYLEIGH are standing about a lab bench in Hazmats, GOON BOY still frozen behind them. A screen shows them all what a microscope is seeing. Amalgam is carefully adjusting the focus, while Kayleigh readies a pippette; Amity is concentrating on the sample below the microscope. Finesse is scrolling through digital notes.
FINESSE
I see what you mean by it being specific.
AMITY
I don't.
AMALGAM
Well -
AMITY
You're going to have to explain it really very slowly, I'm afraid.
AMALGAM
Ooh, okay! Well - DNA is made of genes, and genes produce proteins. Protein markers. Different ones. Now, the XGH makes new genes and inserts them - or, well, it makes the body make new genes by - well, anyway - you get new genes. Except, in the form of this serum the 'effects' are temporary. After a few days those proteins remove the new genes, which dissolve harmlessly into the body.
FINESSE
Mostly harmlessly.
KAYLEIGH
Yes, oddly enough this would produce side-effects after a while.
AMALGAM
It means the added genes have very distinctive protein markers, though. Which the real serum can isolate and remove. So, hypothetically, we could make a counter-serum that would sort of cancel out the first.
AMITY (enthused)
Ooh, so you can cure it?
AMALGAM
Er... well... no. Not yet, certainly. Apart from anything else, we don't know if the mutating genes have protein markers that would be recognised by the serum, so this may all be academic. But it's a start!
AMITY
Yes it is! A very clever start!
AMALGAM
Hooray!
FINESSE
So we need to examine the protein markers.
AMALGAM
Correct!
FINESSE
We'll need you for that for speed, Amity.
AMALGAM
Hooray!
FINESSE
And then Amalgam may need to calm down for a second.
AMALGAM
Hoor - oh. Sorry.
Amity giggles.
CUT TO:
7. EXT. NIOBE'S MANSION. Day 1 - 1142
Cardiff is very visible in the not-so-distant-distance, with an ancient Greek mansion on the other side of manicured and elaborate gardens. Currently, the gardens contain around fifty Niobids, with more pouring out of the mansion courtyard. LYRIC, WRAITH and CHRONAL are present, along with HAFAZA (dry, honest, moral), a hero with a costume based around Arabian trousers, long boots and a niqab, and WILDFIRE (20s, drearily revolutionary, bit of an idiot), with the glowy orange skin and armour from that one that Iceduck did ages ago with the medical exam, remember that one? That was a good one.
They are fightings. Fighty fighty. Wraith is invisible.
WRAITH (oov)
They can't see invisi-me.
HAFAZA
That information was superfluously obvious, Wraith.
Three Niobids leap at her. She blasts them away with forcefields.
WRAITH (oov)
Hey!
LYRIC
No, she's right.
WILDFIRE
Why don't they speak?
Chronal zips past in super speed.
CHRONAL
They -
(he punches one)
- aren't -
(kicks another)
- actually -
(knocks one out)
- really -
(scatters four like dominoes)
- sentient.
WILDFIRE
How can they not be - ?
CHRONAL (pausing)
No idea. But Finesse said they don't have sentient minds.
HAFAZA
But... Wraith talks, and he doesn't -
WRAITH (oov)
Hey!
HAFAZA
You have to hear it or you won't get better.
LYRIC
I don't think there was ever a chance of him getting better.
There is an electric crackle, and HOLO-NIOBE appears in the middle of them. They fight on, ignoring her.
NIOBE
Hello Scribblers. Why are you here?
CHRONAL
To arrest you. Where are you?
NIOBE
Hmm? Oh, god, sorry, not here - I never actually stay in places I could be traced to. Wait, you aren't Scribblers.
WILDFIRE
I'm here on community service.
HAFAZA
I'm not.
NIOBE
Oh goodness! You brought a Persian.
HAFAZA
What - ? My family are Iraqi, you damn racist. And we call it Iran, not Persia.
NIOBE
Oh, I don't know. It's all so difficult telling these days, isn't it? Things were simpler in my time.
HAFAZA
Yeah? Turkish, aren't you?
Holo-Niobe rounds on her, indignation pouring out of every pore.
NIOBE
How dare you! I'm Greek, you jumped up Mesopotamian! Kill them, Niobids!
She winks out. The battle continues.
HAFAZA
Heh. Owned.
CHRONAL
I'd high five you if I weren't fighting.
WILDFIRE
You know, this is exactly the sort of behaviour that wouldn't happen if the government would put tighter controls onto the finances of the rich.
LYRIC
Do you think so?
WILDFIRE
It's very entitled, you see that?
LYRIC
In fairness, so is burning down a housing estate.
WILDFIRE
... That hurts.
CUT TO:
8. INT. THE SWINGING BLUE GENES PLC - COMPUTER LAB. Day 1 - 1148
FINESSE, KAYLEIGH, AMITY and AMALGAM are back in normal uniform plus lab coats and clustered around a large computer screen, looking excited.DOG keeps jumping up and down absently, while GOAT is chewing paper. OCTOPUS is slowly weaving its legs into something resembling a DNA strand in its tank. On the lab monitoring screen, GOON BOY remains frozen in the lab below.
AMALGAM
Yes! We were right! Those are very distinct markers, you see that?
KAYLEIGH
Well, I think we should have tea to celebrate.
AMALGAM
Hooray! And then maybe the others will come home!
AMITY
What?
AMALGAM
Oh. Er... nothing.
FINESSE
How much will this actually help, though? Practically speaking, now. We know that the mutations can be removed, hypothetically without damaging the native DNA; but how do we manufacture a cure?
KAYLEIGH
Oddly enough, that's going to be harder. We could reverse-engineer something from the serum sample, technically, but that would take weeks. We need the actual data of how the serum itself was created, all the data on how to make it specific, on how she changed it... all that.
FINESSE
We'll need her lab, then. I'll go and see if I can get hold of Shift yet.
KAYLEIGH
Good plan! I'm going to make celebratory tea!
They leave. Dog looks sad. Amity looks curiously at Amalgam.
AMITY
Is it... the dog part of you? You like having people around?
AMALGAM
Yes. Er... well, sort of. Not just people, as such. More like... pack.
AMITY
Pack? Really? How lovely! We only met you today. Apart from Shift.
AMALGAM (slightly oddly, fiddling with the microscope)
Yes. But most people I meet take longer than an hour to get used to the animals. And no one else has ever instantly accepted that we're all one person before.
He looks at her seriously.
AMALGAM (quietly)
And I've never met anyone like you before, Amity.
There is a pause.
AMITY
I - it's not just me. Finesse -
AMALGAM (earnestly)
Is doing remarkably well given that her inherent understanding of my condition is no better than a random off the street. She can feel my powers, and she can feel the same powers in Dog, Goat and Octopus, so she knows objectively that there's a link. But she's still having to stop herself from looking at the animals, and stroking Dog, and feeding Goat. I mean, I really don't at all hold it against her, or the others. Like I say, they've all just... instantly socially accepted me, and it does take a little while to adjust to the details. They're brilliant. It's why I'm sort of thinking of them as pack already after about an hour of exposure.
AMITY
Even Wraith? Because, you know, we try not to let him socialise with new people too much anyway -
AMALGAM
Ha! Yes. Even Wraith. He's brilliant too.
There is another pause, and Dog comes and leans its head against Amity's leg. She puts a hand to it automatically, watching him. He smiles.
AMALGAM
But you are the first person to ever completely and utterly accept me. Right down to understanding the personality traits that spill over, which can be admittedly difficult even for people who have known me for a long time to handle what with them being eccentric and strange and not always entirely appropriate. Like, er, the fact that I'm currently licking your hand. I'm so sorry.
Amity laughs as Dog steps away, slightly abashed.
AMITY
It's totally fine. Shift does that sometimes. And - you know that your mind is amazing, yes? It really is. It's so... comfortable to feel. And weirdly familiar, probably from all the stuff we have in common. I keep feeling like I could just throw out a random three things about myself, like... I'm vegetarian, I'm left-handed, I grew up on a council estate; and you'll say -
AMALGAM
Hey, me too!
AMITY
Exactly!
(beat)
Wait, you meant that, didn't you? Are you actually a left-handed vegetarian from a council estate?
AMALGAM
Yes!
AMITY
Oh my god! Okay, well the new game is clearly to find something we don't have in common.
AMALGAM
Ooh, okay; well, I call myself Amalgam because my real code name is too silly to be taken seriously in the scientific community.
AMITY
Really?! What is it?
AMALGAM
Amalgaman.
AMITY
Ha! That's brilliant! Finesse would hate it.
AMALGAM
Yes, I get that impression.
AMITY (enthusiastically)
Ooh, although you know what you could call yourself?
(beat)
Animalgaman!
AMALGAM (thrilled)
Oh, wow, that's brilliant!
AMITY
Yeah it is!
AMALGAM
Amazing!
They beam at each other for a moment -
Very deliberately, Amity reaches out and strokes Dog's head, who leans into the touch; she and Amalgam look at each other -
Enter Finesse, the cock-blocker.
FINESSE
Okay, I've called Shift. We think we've found the lab; it's a bit difficult to tell timings from rats because when they say 'long ago when I was young' they generally mean 'last year' -
Amity and Dog separate. Amalgam busies himself looking at the notes.
FINESSE
- but, they've reported what sounds like a lot of lab rats being loosed into the sewers with the same symptoms of random powers followed by melting.
AMITY
She did this to rats?!
FINESSE
She did it to humans. I doubt she found rats much of a stretch.
AMALGAM (morosely)
That's true. And rats are so clever.
AMITY
What a horrible person.
FINESSE (reproachful)
You know, she did try to kill me today.
AMITY
Well, I was including that in my reasoning.
AMALGAM
And you're much cleverer than a rat.
FINESSE (mock smugly)
Yes I am, my friend. Amity, saddle up. We've a dangerous lab to break into.
CUT TO:
9. INT. THE TRANS-JET. Day 1 - 1201
FINESSE, CHRONAL, LYRIC, WRAITH, AMITY and SHIFT are all present, Finesse flying the jet. Wraith is doodling bits of Amity's arm invisible; she is staring out of the window, lost in thought.
CHRONAL
So Hafaza and Wildfire are handling the police liaison stuff, because Hafaza's good at politics and Wildfire wants the extra hour on her timesheet. There wasn't anything there, though. And I still don't know how the Niobids now have powers.
FINESSE
Well, we've never known how she makes them in the first place. I don't think I've ever actually met Niobe in person, which makes her the cleverest villain I personally have ever faced - she's completely unknown to me. All I have to go on is a character from Classical mythology.
LYRIC
Hafaza owned her with Classical geography earlier.
FINESSE
Really? Did she call her Turkish?
WRAITH
Yeah.
FINESSE
Heh.
LYRIC
So what's the plan, Batman?
FINESSE
Don't call me Batman.
LYRIC
You're so sensitive to that...
FINESSE
When we arrive we're going to split up, okay?
CUT TO:
10. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET LAIR - ENTRANCE CORRIDOR. Day 1 - 1203
SCRIBBLERS arriving, creeping down the corridor.
FINESSE (v/o)
Firstly, make sure you all remember that this is likely where the unstable serum comes from. She may well have more. There's always a chance she might have weaponised it in some way. And we don't think our own power genes will do much more than simply slowing the mutations down if we're lucky. So be careful.
CUT TO:
11. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET LAIR - LONG CORRIDOR. Day 1 - 1204
AMITY and LYRIC are moving down a long corridor sporting busts and paintings galore of either Classical scenes or Niobe herself.
FINESSE (v/o)
Primarily, we're looking for the information on the serum; the most likely place will be the labs. Amity and Lyric, you're checking the west wings.
CUT TO:
12. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET LAIR - STAIRCASE LEADING DOWN. Day 1 - 1204
WRAITH and SHIFT are descending down a flight of unremarkable stone steps, into a darker area. Wraith is turning invisible. Shift is a bat.
FINESSE (v/o)
Wraith and Shift, you're the best at stealth. You're looking underground. Shift, be careful of any mutated lab rabs if you're in animal form.
CUT TO:
13. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET LAIR - ATRIUM. Day 1 - 1204
FINESSE and CHRONAL are moving through the atrium at double speed.
FINESSE (v/o)
Chronal and I will check the rest, because we'll be able to cover more ground. Keep your comms open at all times. And if you find the information, send it straight back to Kayleigh and Amalgam. Good luck.
CUT TO:
14. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET LAIR - WAR ROOM. Day 1 - 1208
A large room, decked out a bit like an old-fashioned library in wood with books all around the walls. A long oval table sits in the centre, with holo-emitters on it and a small panel of buttons at one end. A Greek-style chaise lounge, comfy-looking, has been placed before it.
SHIFT and WRAITH, invisible and a bee irrespectively, enter. Shift flies to the table, lands on the buttons, waits for a second and then transforms human again. She hops down to the floor and looks around.
SHIFT
What a curious mix of decorative styles.
Wraith becomes visible, and crosses to her.
WRAITH
Looks lame. Has your magic bee-sense told you this is important?
SHIFT
Well, if you mean that the ring of iron oxide around my bee abdomen that allows bees to navigate but also picks up on electromagnetism has alerted me to the presence of very strong electric currents in this room presumably controlled by these buttons - yes.
WRAITH
Awesome.
He examines the buttons for a moment, then presses one. At once, the hologram in the middle of the table springs to life. Files of information haver there, waiting to be read. Shift peers at them closely.
WRAITH
Whoa. Have we found it already?
SHIFT
I don't think so.
WRAITH
Damn. I wanted to beat Lyric.
SHIFT (slowly)
I think... we may have found something quite important, though. Open this file?
WRAITH
Yeah. Sec.
He presses a few buttons, and the file opens. Shift reads.
SHIFT
Oh dear.
CUT TO:
15. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET LAIR - DINING HALL. Day 1 - 1209
FINESSE and CHRONAL are moving through the deserted dining hall. The comm sounds.
FINESSE
Hello?
SHIFT ('s voice)
Hello! How are you?
FINESSE
I'm okay, how are you?
SHIFT ('s voice)
I'm fine!
FINESSE
Oh good!
SHIFT ('s voice)
So, you know when she said if you knew the details you'd prefer her to Sintaro?
FINESSE
Yes?
SHIFT ('s voice)
I've just found out why. She's been spying on him.
CUT TO:
16. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET LAIR - WAR ROOM. Day 1 - 1209
SHIFT is avidly reading the holo-file. WRAITH is prowling the rest of the room.
SHIFT
Sintaro's goons are the complete package. He doesn't just power them up - he gets Dischord to actually brain-wash them. They're made to be completely loyal to whoever hires them, with their only higher priority being loyalty to Sintaro himself. Then at the end of the contract the serum wears off and the loyalty to the client is taken away.
LYRIC ('s voice)
But not the loyalty to Sintaro?
SHIFT
No. But there's more. Firstly, it means their mental states are a complete mess from all the meddling, so they start developing actual mental illnesses after a while, like schizophrenia; but, there's also the serum itself. It's addictive. Which means he can eventually get away with paying them less and less, because they just want their fix.
There is a pause.
FINESSE ('s voice)
Wow. There are days where I forget just how textbook evil he is.
AMITY ('s voice)
So he actually - ?
WRAITH
Er, Shift?
Shift looks up, winking invisible just as NIOBIDS spill around the doorframe and run in, powered up and ready; one extends a hand and a bolt of energy blasts the spot Shift was just standing in, but it passes harmlessly through. The Niobids move cautiously into the room -
A gorilla lands on the lead Niobid, flattening her.
WRAITH (oov)
Solve our maze, rebasses.
Fighting and that.
CUT TO:
17. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET LAIR - LABS. Day 1 - 1210
Labs, very expensive and swish, with many workstations and computers and the like. There is a vid-screen beside the computers, and a glass cabinet containing dozens of phials in the centre. AMITY and LYRIC enter, looking cool and suave.
LYRIC
Lab get! Awesome. For a given value of.
AMITY
Yes, I suspect "wildly depressing" is going to be the correct description. Is that the serum in there?
She points to the cabinet. They back smartly away from it.
LYRIC
Could be. Let's not find out.
They move to the computer, and Lyric removes his comm link. A USB slides out of the end, which he inserts into the first computer. At once, the computer springs to life. Information slides past on the screen, too fast to read. Amity frowns suddenly, and turns to look at the door.
LYRIC
Looks like it could be it -
AMITY
Lyric!!
She tackles him aside -
Fire roars over their heads as they land. Lyric rolls smoothly to his feet, sword in hand; Amity looks up, part-fascinated, part-horrified.
Niobids move in.
AMITY
My god; they're so basic. I think the only things I could do to disrupt them would be hard enough to kill them -
LYRIC
Punch them then?
A Niobid shoots out an arm that becomes a sword; Lyric parries -
Amity rolls to her feet and ducks the hammer-like fist of a grey Niobid, letting him take out the Niobid beside him; punches another in the face -
Lyric kicks out -
Etc.
CUT TO:
18. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET LAIR - THRONE ROOM. Day 1 - 1210
Huge room, vaulted ceiling, all white marble and Doric architecture. Small fountains line the walls. At the far end stands an enormous throne, inlaid with marble.
FINESSE and CHRONAL enter, walking cautiously into the room.
FINESSE (quietly)
She's got a hell of a god complex going on, hasn't she?
CHRONAL (quietly)
Yes, but I want that chair.
FINESSE
Throne.
CHRONAL
Yes. I think it'll look amazing around our dining table.
FINESSE (grinning)
Really? Complete with -
She freezes, and looks to the end of the hall.
Well, well. I was right.
NIOBE (oov)
Oh, yes, darling.
NIOBE appears from around the throne, around thirty Niobids appearing also and moving to the sides of the hall. Chronal watches them warily, ready to change time. Finesse moves forward. Niobe sits in the throne, unconcerned.
NIOBE
And it is a wrench, you know. You now knowing. I mean, we both know you'd guessed, but that's not the same as knowing, is it? Ah well.
CHRONAL
What are you knowing?
FINESSE (not taking her eyes off Niobe)
She creates the Niobids out of her own tears. And chooses how much life to give them at the moment of creation. They're linked to her, then, psionically.
CHRONAL
Can you break the link?
FINESSE
Not without killing them.
(beat)
How do you give them the powers, though? Those don't come from you.
NIOBE
Sorry, what powers - ? Oh, yes! Oh, well, the serum. If they're mixed with it while they're still tears, they take on the powers. All very simple, really. But!
She stands; Finesse tenses, ready.
NIOBE
But, really, this has gone on long enough. Dispose of them, Niobids.
Chronal blurs and is off as the Niobids advance; one streaks towards Finesse -
She blurs and parries him, leaving him crumpled as she spins to the next, scattering the oncoming blast of ice with an arm -
She turns -
And cries out, not fast enough as a pulse hits her, knocking her down. A male Niobid stands behind her. The remaining Niobids all move to Chronal. Niobe smiles, and advances on Finesse.
NIOBE
Yes, this one's my favourite! He affects the equilibrium, I think. You can't stand, can't use your powers, can barely see or hear or think... so much fun! And very good for dealing with you. You're very dangerous. Dear Sintaro-san never gets that, does he?
Chronal zips about; the Niobids are falling before him. Finesse's arm twitches, jerking slightly towards her head.
NIOBE (to Equilibriobid)
Well done, baby! Him too, now.
Chronal cries out from the other side of the room, and falls; Finesse's arm jerks higher, unnoticed by Niobe, touching her ear.
NIOBE
You were wrong about one thing though, darling. My Niobids... they aren't alive. You can't kill what isn't alive. Do you see now? Why my way is better? Silly Sintaro, he takes real people and does all sorts of things to them - well, you're a hero, you must hate it. But I supply my Niobids to my clients. They aren't people. They can't think, or speak; they can't ever develop. They're not alive. They're robots made of flesh, you see?
She kneels beside Finesse,stroking her hair casually.
NIOBE
Do you favour me now?
CUT TO:
19. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET LAIR - LABS. Day 1 - 1212
Back in the labs. AMITY and LYRIC are still fighting; the labs by now are looking distinctly worse for wear, with most of the benches overturned and broken. One or two Niobids are down; but they're fast overwhelming Amity and Lyric. One throws fire at Lyric, who ducks.
LYRIC
And you definitely can't knock them out?!
He throws himself aside as HAMMERHAND NIOBID swings again, knocking a hole in the wall.
AMITY
Not safely! And even if I tried -
An ICY NIOBID blasts at them and they scatter, Lyric against the computers, Amity against the glass cabinet.
AMITY
It'll take so much power, I don't know if I can - !
Hammerhand Niobid swings wildly -
A Niobid renders down into sand and blasts at Lyric, who just shouts a shield up in time -
Hammerhand hits the glass cabinet which instantly shatters -
Amity starts to roll away, too slow -
The glass rains down -
His hand slams into the phials of serum inside -
Which fall too -
Lyric starts to shout, one hand outstretched, desperate -
The shield forms above her -
Too late. Glass and serum hit her, slicing her arms and ribs. Her momentum carries her away; Hammerhand follows -
Raises both fists -
And is sliced in half by Lyric, standing behind him.
LYRIC
Amity - !
Niobids attack and he fights, desperately trying to keep them from her. She rolls onto her stomach, forehead on the floor.
AMITY (strangled)
I... we have... to -
LYRIC (frantic)
Don't you dare! Don't you dare die! Use your powers, hold it, get it -
Three Niobids rear simultaneously; the one with sword arms thrusts forward -
Ystradebol slices through both, cutting the swords off -
A tentacled Niobid catches them -
Icy Niobid blasts forward, to be decapitated by Lyric -
And tentacled Niobid drives both swords into Lyric, one impaling his shoulder, one through his thigh. He yells and falls -
A Niobid hits him with an energy blast, and he lands unconscious.
AMITY (whispering)
No.
The comm crackles into life suddenly, as the Niobids all near.
NIOBE ('s voice, on comm)
... supply my Niobids to my clients. They aren't people. They can't think, or speak; they can't ever develop. They're not alive. They're robots made of flesh, you see?
And Amity pushes up on her arms, the fury in her eyes.
AMITY (hissing)
I see.
She lashes out, mentally, the psionic shockwave filling the room -
And the Niobids all drop simultaneously, inanimate.
She grits her teeth, and drags herself hand over hand to the computer, still with Lyric's communicator in it -
Reaches up, and presses a button on the side.
The word 'Sending' appears on the vid-screen; after a few moments, AMALGAM's face appears on it.
AMALGAM
This is it! Well done! We're looking through it - Kayleigh's sounding excited at the computer next to me, anyway - Amity?
AMITY (strangled)
I'm here.
AMALGAM
Are you - ? What's - ?
(beat)
Oh god.
CUT TO:
20. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET PALACE - WAR ROOM. Day 1 - 1213
WRAITH and SHIFT are just finishing off their Niobids, Shift transforming back from a Shire horse.
WRAITH
They failed to solve our maze.
SHIFT
Indeed. Also - wait, my comm is flashing.
WRAITH
Well aren't we special, snowflake.
SHIFT
No, it's a distress beacon! It's Finesse! We have to get up there.
WRAITH
Run, go, abort...
They run.
CUT TO:
21. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET PALACE - LABS. Day 1 - 1213
AMITY is lying on the floor before the vid-screen, watching AMALGAM's face on it, unfocused. Blood is pouring from the cuts over her arms and torso. LYRIC is still unconscious to one side. Amalgam is openly crying.
AMITY
I can... feel it... spreading. In me. It's... cold.
AMALGAM (desperately)
Can't you stop it? You can feel chemicals -
AMITY
Too hard... anyway. But... I can't... focus my powers... anymore. I -
She closes her eyes for a moment, and opens them again, glassy.
AMITY (whispering)
S'going to hurt... so much, isn't it?
AMALGAM
We're making the cure. Right now, you know that? Kayleigh's running the data through the simulation. Can't you hold it off until - ?
He breaks off. There's silence. Amalgam watches her, agonised.
AMALGAM (quietly)
I'm coming, you know. I'm nearly there. I don't want you to face this alone.
AMITY (smiling painfully)
Good. Thank... you. Which...?
AMALGAM
The last of me for you to meet, actually. I sort of followed you all earlier, I was only outside.
(beat)
You know, I just changed my desk plate to 'Animalgaman'.
She starts to laugh, crying simultaneously, and stops, eyes closed and breathing hard. In the vid-screen, DOG and GOAT appear.
AMALGAM
I'm so glad I met you, Amity. I'm so glad. You feel like family. I mean, I tend to feel that more quickly than other people anyway because I'm part dog, but - you play games, and you're moral, and good, and clever, and... a fantastic dancer.
She half-laughs again.
AMALGAM
And you like everything I like. And you don't mind my animals. And you described them earlier as being like arms for me, and... I've never, ever felt that - that accepted, that understood.
(beat)
I'm here.
A RAVEN flies into the room, an extremely modified waistcoat like those worn by Dog and Goat and Amalgam around it. It flies straight to Amity and lands in front of her, settling down as though nesting. She moves a hand to it, weakly, unable to even stroke it.
AMALGAM
I'm here.
AMITY
Thank... you.
She breathes rapidly for a few seconds, and smiles.
AMITY
He'll think... it's... his fault. Tell him it's... not?
Raven nods, cawing once.
AMITY
Tell them all... I loved them. And... I really wanted to... get to... know... you more...
AMALGAM (whispers)
You did.
AMITY
Bye... Animalgaman...
He laughs through the tears as she pushes a hand out with the last of her strength towards Lyric, concentrating -
He stirs, gasping awake as the pain hits him, crying out -
And meets her eyes just before she falls unconscious, her skin starting to develop a sheen, the blood from her wounds becoming darker.
Raven croaks loudly, pushing at her limp arm with its beak.
CUT TO:
22. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET PALACE - THRONE ROOM. Day 1 - 1215
FINESSE and CHRONAL are still down, EQUILIBRIOBID standing mutely between them. The unconquered NIOBIDS are standing patiently around the walls. NIOBE is humming to herself, plaiting bits of Finesse's hair.
Suddenly, she notices Finesse's hand. Touching the communicator in her ear. Niobe's hand darts forward; pulls it out -
And her eyes narrow as she sees the flashing light of the distress beacon.
NIOBE
Oh, now, darling, that's completely unfair. Now you're going to be problematic, aren't you?
Huffily, she gets to her feet, and stamps over to the throne, pulling something out from under one arm of it.
NIOBE
I would like to point out that this is your fault, you know. Your powers are far too useful. When your friends arrive, if they overwhelm my baby there - well. I can't have you loose. You're much too dangerous. I'm just going to have to keep you down.
And she turns, holding a small gun not unlike a tranquilizer gun; as she starts back toward Finesse a Niobid approaches, and hands her a phial. She clicks it into the gun.
Chronal grits his teeth, and somehow drags himself up to his elbows.
NIOBE
And anyway, I'm going to have my hands full with Sintaro in the coming weeks. You'll be an annoyance. Especially now you know about this place. Bye!
She levels the gun at Finesse -
Chronal lurches to one knee -
A RHINO charges in! The Niobids close in -
Two fall to the pipe of INVISI-WRAITH -
Niobe rolls her eyes -
And pulls the trigger, shooting her through the right shoulder.
CHRONAL
NO!!!
He leaps drunkenly to Finesse's side, freezing her -
And collapses over her, all his concentration taken up by it.
NIOBE
What? Which one were you - ? Oh the husband. Hmm. Ah well.
She looks up to where another Niobid is falling from an invisible blow, and then freezes, looking at Shift. The rhino has now become gorilla-shaped, but retaining the rhino-skin, meaning projectiles and elemental attacks of the Niobids simply bounce off.
NIOBE (fascinated)
Oh, goodness.
CUT TO:
23. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET PALACE - LABS. Day 1 - 1216
The broken lab, smashed up; fallen NIOBIDS are still on the floor. RAVEN is perched, head bowed and dejected, on AMITY's shoulder; by now her skin is slowly turning blue in patches, her fingernails lengthening into claws. AMALGAM is still on the vid-screen, his head in his hands.
LYRIC is dragging himself to the screen with his good arm and leg. He reaches Amity, and takes her pulse.
LYRIC (voice hoarse with pain)
Have you - have you got the cure?
AMALGAM (dully)
Yes. Theoretically. But there's no time to synthesise it even to get it to Goon Boy, we certainly couldn't -
LYRIC
Describe it.
AMALGAM
What?
LYRIC
Describe it to me, right now. In - in detail, I need to know how it works, what it - what it feels like synesthetically, I need to know what goes into it and its chemical structure and... everything.
AMALGAM
I can't.
LYRIC (desperately)
Why the hell not?!
AMALGAM (hopelessly)
Because! I can't decribe a synesthetic feeling to you! Those are different for people, and I don't know the nuances of what you need describing, I -
KAYLEIGH (oov)
But I do.
She appears on the vid-screen, tea in hand, print-out in the other.
KAYLEIGH
Because I remember having your powers. You'l need to make it straight into her bloodstream, if that makes sense. Ready?
Painfully, leaning against the computers, he pulls Amity into his arms, Raven hopping frantically around them.
LYRIC
Captain Ready.
CUT TO:
24. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET PALACE - THRONE ROOM. Day 1 - 1217
CHRONAL is still lying beside FINESSE, her frozen in time. The remaining NIOBIDS are fighting WRAITH and SHIFT, who is adopting multiple characteristics at once, fighting the good fight. NIOBE is watching her carefully.
NIOBE (to herself)
Interesting... very interesting...
GAS NIOBID from earlier, remember her? Surrounds Wraith, his outline becoming visible.
NIOBE
Although... hmm? Oh, no. Remove him. Just... leave her for a while. I wish to see what she can do.
Gas Niobid whirls, choking Wraith; as he staggers, a LARGE NIOBID throws out a hand to him, and marble errupts from the ground, forming over Wraith's body and encasing him like a sculpture.
WRAITH
Baps.
NIOBE
Hmm? Sorry, was that supposed to be speech?
WRAITH (morosely)
No. I'm a mess. I'm a sculpture and I haven't done anything with my life.
NIOBE
Oh dear. Well, chin up! I'll kill you soon.
WRAITH
You are a bad motivational speaker.
Shift fights on, surrounded by Niobids.
CUT TO:
25. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET PALACE - LABS. Day 1 - 1220
LYRIC is holding an unconscious AMITY in his arms still, leaning against the computers. Her skin seems to be slowly fading back to normal colour, but she is still covered in sweat, and trembling faintly. Bandages are appearing rapidly, covering her arms and torso. RAVEN is perched on her knee, watching her intently. On the vid-screen, AMALGAM and KAYLEIGH are watching, looking somewhat harrowed and holding specs and print-outs between them.
LYRIC
- gauze, bandage, fibre.
The bandages finish appearing, and he sighs in relief, leaning back with eyes closed for a moment.
KAYLEIGH
That's it?
LYRIC
That's it. Now we... hope.
AMALGAM
It looks promising. Her skin colouration is normalising.
(beat)
God, I hope this works.
KAYLEIGH
Meanwhile, this might be a bad time to tell you, but... er, all of the distress beacons have been activated.
LYRIC
Oh, frap a dog's -
KAYLEIGH
Don't finish that, bach.
AMALGAM
And you're losing blood. Can you heal yourself? You need -
LYRIC
No time. I need to get to them.
KAYLEIGH
But - !
LYRIC
No time.
He starts muttering, metal forming over his leg. It appears in lines, at first running along the bones -
Then more appear, criss-crossing the muscles and forming a perfectly-contoured cage over the leg, a rounded hinge either side of the knee as it spreads up over his thigh -
Then wires, delicate and elegant, spreading out as plates start to form over the cage, encasing it all -
It forms a seal around the blade protruding either side of his thigh -
And finally the whole thing hums to life, a mecha leg.
Grimacing in pain,Lyric stands. The mecha takes his weight.
KAYLEIGH
That is so cool.
LYRIC (strained)
I need to go. Look after her.
He turns to the door, muttering, more metal starting to appear over his injured shoulder. Raven stays with Amity.
AMALGAM
Wait.
Lyric turns; Amalgam sighs.
AMALGAM
Keep you comm active. I think there's something else I can tell you.
CUT TO:
26. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET PALACE - THRONE ROOM. Day 1 - 1222
FINESSE and CHRONAL are still as they were, all frozen and collapsy respectively. WRAITH is looking bored as a statue. NIOBE is slowly walking around SHIFT, where she's fighting wave after wave of NIOBIDS. Currently, she is part tiger, part shire, her skin like a rhino and teeth now fangs.
NIOBE
Incredible. Like a monster.
WRAITH
Hey! Don't call her a monster, you hypocrite!
NIOBE
Hmm? I don't follow.
WRAITH
You've murdered people!
NIOBE
Have I? Oh yes, so I have. Well, it's a word that means something very different to me.
Shift launches at a Niobid, claws knocking her back; as they go down she kicks out with her hind shire legs and knocks another back. As she bites the Niobid below her another two rear up behind -
She kicks again, hitting one; the other dodges and lunges in -
And she grows a scorpion tail, the barb sinking instantly into the Niobid's side and felling her.
NIOBE
Incredible.
CUT TO:
27. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET PALACE - LONG CORRIDOR. Day 1 - 1223
LYRIC is moving down the corridor steadily, Ystradebol in hand, still muttering. Metal is continuing to form around his body, faster now; it lines his other leg, his torso, both arms, his neck and head, the circuitry beginning to span the framework.
Piece by piece, the coverings coalesce in the air.
CUT TO:
28. INT. NIOBE'S SECRET PALACE - THRONE ROOM. Day 1 - 1224
FINESSE is still frozen, CHRONAL is still collapsed over her, EQUILIBRIOBID still standing blankly to one side of them, watching SHIFT. WRAITH is still part-statue.
Over twenty Niobids lie on the floor, inanimate. SHIFT is in the middle of them, fighting off fresh waves of NIOBIDS; she is changing rapidly from one form to the next, but is clearly approaching exhaustion, her desperation starting to lose her logic through each form. NIOBE is watching her covetously, with two SERVING NIOBIDS standing behind her, mutely holding trays. One tray carries phials of serum; the other an ancient Greek serving bowl, filled with tears.
Periodically, Niobe dips her hand into the tears, the liquid rolling straight into her palm against gravity, and adds a drop or two of serum. A new Niobid forms from it, and moves straight to fight Shift.
NIOBE
Fascinating...
A Niobid blasts fire at Shift, who becomes a sort of tiger-rhino, snarling, the flames deflected off her hide and burning three other Niobids. One blasts a forcefield at her -
It knocks her backward, as though in a high wind -
She becomes an anaconda, retaining her forelegs with the claws, which dig in, holding her in place -
Her tail lashes around, crippling the Niobid. Others rush in -
NIOBE
I've seen enough, baby. Stop her now.
The Equilibriobid cocks his head -
And Shift roars as she falls, changing back to human form -
The STATUE NIOBID steps forward -
And the marble erupts from below her, catching and encasing her and bearing her upwards until she is held before Niobe, panting and trying to get her human mind back in order.
Niobe beams at her.
NIOBE
Now you are fascinating! I always thought you could just be animals! I had no idea you were also a monster!
WRAITH
Stop calling her that, you gippo!
NIOBE
Oh, hush. I told you; where I'm from, it means something else.
She reaches forward and strokes Shift's face, lovingly; Shift flinches, blinking.
NIOBE
I really think you should be with me, you know.
SHIFT (struggling)
... What?
NIOBE
Oh, think! I'm a goddess, darling! And you... are a Chimaera. Here I've been, all alone in this... new world, strange and full of our designs but none of our people! Olympos is gone. They are all gone.
Her face is hard; and just for a moment, she looks old. Far older than she should.
And then it's gone, her beaming smile back.
NIOBE
Still, though, money and luxury are the same. But! Here you are! A Chimaera. Was your father a demon, by any chance?
WRAITH
Ooh, she went there.
SHIFT (with difficulty; teeth gritted)
No... nor a... serpent...
Niobe laughs, delightedly.
NIOBE
You know how this works! Don't you see, darling?
She strokes Shift's hair.
NIOBE
We belong to the same world, you and I. The last ones, the only ones left. Join me. Come to me. There's nothing I can't give you.
Shift looks up, eyes burning.
SHIFT
Except a life, you indolent freak.
WRAITH
Lol!
For just a second, Niobe is frozen, face unreadable -
And then she steps back, lowering her hand, her smile cold and terrible.
NIOBE
Silly, silly Chimaera. You always were a race that didn't understand what it had. Keep her still, baby.
Equilibriobid nods and Shift shudders, head drooping as his power hits her. Niobe sighs petulantly, irritably, and walks back to the throne, followed by her serving Niobids. The attack Niobids move back to the sides of the room, standing to attention.
NIOBE
Oh, so what do I do with you all now? Now you've forced my hand. I hate that.
WRAITH
You should let us go?
NIOBE
Oh, sorry, did I leave you to speak? Gosh. You're the annoying one, too.
WRAITH
Hey!
NIOBE
Can you silence him for me too, baby? I don't particularly want you all dead, you know. Although goodness knows it'll be useful for at least one of you.
She gives Finesse a sour look where she lies, still prone, the bullet wound in her shoulder not yet bleeding even. Wraith yelps as he's hit by Equilibriobid, and falls quiet.
NIOBE
Apart from anything else, you're government agents. It's going to be such a headache. Oh, but I suppose I have to, don't I? You all know far too much now. Very irritating.
There is silence in the room as Niobe surveys them all, irritably -
And suddenly, in the distance, there is a faint clunking sound, a regular sound of metal on stone. Niobe frowns.
NIOBE
What an annoying sound. Well, anyway, I think -
The sound gets louder, coming closer; the rhythm changes suddenly, as though it's moving at double speed, or something else is now clunking too. Niobe narrows her eyes, watching the door.
NIOBE
Let him speak, baby. Scribble Child? What is that?
WRAITH (groggily)
What's... what?
NIOBE
That noise! It's so annoying! What did you do?
WRAITH
I don't... know...
And the sound echoes through the throne room, loud, the even rhythm of footsteps -
NIOBE
Hang on - how many of you are there, again?
And the huge door of the throne room slams back -
The attack Niobids all jerk to attention, Niobe standing -
And in comes LYRIC. He is covered in armour, silver with blue lights here and there, glowing at hinges and power points; Ystradebol gleams in his hand, the blade giving off a faint blue tinge. Every step rings throughout the hall. He moves forward, not even slowing down.
NIOBE (impressed)
Well, well! A hero! Were any of your family members gods?
Lyric doesn't answer. He keeps walking, past the others, past the Niobids, steadily moving for Niobe.
NIOBE
Well, it's rude to just totally ignore me, you know. Although I expect the answer is 'no'. Which one are you again?
And he keeps moving for her, completely covered in the armour, sword glowing brighter. The attack Niobids begin to move in again, moving steadily for him, none attacking yet. Niobe looks annoyed.
NIOBE
I'm going to kill you all, you know. You're just ruining things. But I want you to know that you've forced my hand. I didn't want this. My only argument was with Sintaro.
He keeps coming, unwavering, about ten metres from her.The Niobids close in.
NIOBE
Really? You're not even going to do the dreary hero speech about the - wait.
She freezes, staring at him.
NIOBE
What are you muttering under your breath?
And he raises his free hand -
Built into the armour is what looks like a repulsor unit in his palm, the final components added as we watch.
LYRIC
Something meant to help humankind.
And he activates it as the Niobids reach him -
And it kills them all, dropping them immediately, their bodies rendering down into tears. Niobe shrieks as the psionic link between them is severed -
The Scribblers jerk awake as Equilibriobid vanishes -
The serving Niobids drop -
And Niobe lunges for the serum phials, gripping them before they hit the floor.
NIOBE
No!
LYRIC
Yes.
NIOBE
How could you?! I don't even know which one you are!
LYRIC
Then that's your mistake. And you're under arrest.
NIOBE (laughing bitterly)
Oh, no.
She leaps up, the tears rolling down her cheeks, grinning at him.
NIOBE
No, I think not.
She pours a phial into her palm; her tears fly towards it as though attracted -
The Niobid springs forth, fully formed, and wraps her arms around Niobe -
Lyric raises the psionic repulsor -
Too late. There is a bright light that envelops them, and them Niobe is gone, teleported away.
LYRIC
Oh, dock a monkey's giblets.
WRAITH
That's gross, dude.
CUT TO:
29. INT. THE PIT - MEDICAL BAY. Day 1 - 1830
The room is a cosy medical ward, very modern medical equipment and that everywhere with comfy hospital beds and the walls painted a cheerful yellow. FINESSE is sitting on the edge of one bed, rotating her shoulder carefully and inspecting the bullet-scar, while CHRONAL stands anxiously beside her. LYRIC is sitting on the edge of the next bed facing her, and examining his own healed shoulder and thigh scars. KAYLEIGH is looking at the notes of both of them. At one end of the room, AMITY is sleeping in one bed, various banks of monitoring equipment beeping away. DOG is curled up at the end of the bed, with RAVEN on the head board. There is a small pile of teaspoons on the bedside table. AMALGAM is checking her vitals.
KAYLEIGH
Well, this all looks fine. As we thought, there's no trace of terrible mutating serum in you, Finesse, so Chronal apparently froze you before the bullet could crack open and infect you.
FINESSE
Twice in one day. What a lot of husband points.
CHRONAL
Yay! Enough for super lemon cake in the Doctor Who drinking game?
FINESSE
Definitely. And thanks, Lyric.
LYRIC
Got to say... I've done a pretty bitchin' job on us.
KAYLEIGH
No pain?
LYRIC
None.
FINESSE
Nah.
KAYLEIGH
Then you can both go.
CHRONAL
Hooray!
FINESSE
Cool. But first...
She gets up and moves straight to Amity. Dog wags its tail. Finesse examines Amity's scans and read-outs for a moment, and looks at Amalgam.
FINESSE
We're going to need to go and do the debrief as soon as possible, and contact the government... and so on. I need someone here, though. Can you keep monitoring her?
AMALGAM
Of course!
FINESSE
Thank you. Let's go, gang.
CUT TO:
30. INT. THE PIT - CORRIDOR OUTSIDE THE MED-BAY. Day 1 - 1831
FINESSE, CHRONAL, LYRIC and KAYLEIGH all file out into the corridor. As the door closes, Kayleigh gives Finesse an odd look.
LYRIC
Are there complications, then? Did I do it wrong?
KAYLEIGH
No. It's worked perfectly.
FINESSE
She's completely fine.
CHRONAL
So why did you - ?
FINESSE
Guys. You really need to learn animal behaviour better.
KAYLEIGH
Ooh, ooh, I know! The teaspoons, and the foil earlier and stuff!
FINESSE
He's part raven. They present shiny things when trying to attract a mate.
CUT TO:
31. INT. DARKENED, SINISTER OFFICE. Day 1 - 2015
An extremely plush, swish office, the walls adorned with Japanese screens and potted acer trees, the furniture all aligned according to feng shui principles. Behind the desk is a large winged swivelling armchair, currently turned to look out of the window over downtown Dinas. In front of the desk stands DISCHORD, looking serious.
DISCHORD
... and they've seized three branches of TORY, and are talking about slavery investigations; the contracts are covering us for the moment, but we'll see how that pans out. Block has been arrested, obviously, but he won't speak.
He hesitates; at no sign of life from the chair, he carries on.
DISHCORD
We've lost four contracts with various clients -
SINISTER VOICE FROM THE CHAIR
As I suspected. It was her aim from the start.
DISCHORD
Yes, sir.
(beat)
There's no sign of her. As far as we cal tell, she went underground today after a run-in with the Scribblers.
SINISTER VOICE FROM THE CHAIR (bitter disgust)
Naturally. Well. It seems I owe them a fruit basket, at least. Although I note they weren't competent enough to actually arrest her.
DISCHORD
No.
(beat)
She hasn't quite won then, really, has she, sir?
SINISTER VOICE FROM THE CHAIR
Won? She hasn't won at all, Dischord. This wasn't even a battle.
The chair turns -
Revealing MR SINTARO! (40s, Japanese, megalomaniac) (Yes, it was obviously him.) He leans forward and props his elbows on the desk, fingers steepled.
MR SINTARO
This was a declaration of war.
END.
Coming soon: Tartaromachy.
Sunday, 22 April 2012
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Scribblers: Casus Belli part one
Scribblers: Casus Belli
Issue the First
1. INT. T.O.R.Y., DINAS BRANCH. Day 1 - 0900
A plush office, very flash, all floor-to ceiling windows; outside we can see a compound that looks a bit like a sort of army base-cum-prison, with a troop of identically dressed men combat training in the courtyard. Inside, though, since that's where I said we were in my instructions, stands BLOCK (pretty, self-important, designer-cool costume), facing a large plasma screen. The face of RINGTONE (late 40s, toupee, tediously extravagant) is upon it. They are conversing, as you do.
BLOCK
So that's four hundred ready for shipment, sir. We're just powering them up now, and they'll be deployed to you in half an hour from now.
RINGTONE
Excellent!! Yes!! It's an important day, you know. And you say they'll be loyal??
BLOCK (slightly smug)
Unswervingly, for the duration of the contract. We're very thorough.
RINGTONE
Oh good good, fuck me yes!! I look forward to it, Mr Block. See them in half!!
The screen goes blank, and Block turns on his heel, attempting a dramatic and cool sweep from the room.
He fails, and just looks a bit like a tit.
CUT TO:
2. INT. T.O.R.Y., DINAS BRANCH. Day 1 - 0902
A long white-and-chrome room, with long medical stations running down its length including hundreds of individual examination tables with robotised syringe-wielding machines hovering above them. Most of the tables are currently occupied by muscly types in cheesy uniforms with a picture of a phone and the letter R on them. A large electronic control panel stands against one wall. BLOCK enters and moves over to DISCHORD (disdainful, sadistic), who on seeing him turns and strides to the doors.
BLOCK
That's it, we're just - hey, where are you going?
DISCHORD
Home. I finished them, I don't need to be here.
BLOCK
But - hey! We're supposed to both get them loaded up! You can't just - !
DISCHORD
Oh, shut up, Block.
He pulls open the door.
BLOCK (shouty)
No! I'm not doing all the work again! Stop ignoring me! Stop - !
Dischord gives him a look of pure condescension, and leaves. Block looks pouty and sulky.
BLOCK (muttering)
Can't believe he's done it again...
He turns to the control panel, and sniffs.
BLOCK (still muttering)
That's the last time... He won't get away with it again... I'll show him... Commencing empowerment...
The lights dim, except for over the costumed fellows on the tables.The tannoy flickers to life, and a robo-voice speaks.
COMPUTER
Empowerment Programme commencing. Please lie still.
The machines with the syringes in move and lower over the chest of each goon, and inject them smoothly and swiftly before lifting up and away and becoming inanimate once again. Block sniffs again as the goons all shift uncomfortably, some grunting in pain, and picks up the microphone to the tannoy himself.
BLOCK (importantly)
Alright, you goons. You have ten minutes to get into the transports in the yard, and then -
He is cut off by a scream from the far end of the hall; as he pauses, the other goons all start screaming too, suddenly bucking and writhing on the tables. Block looks alarmed.
BLOCK
Er... there may be some side-effects if you aren't... aren't used to the serum -
Machinery starts crashing as the thrashing goons knock it down; at the far end of the hall a few have started sounding less like they're screaming and more like roaring, more primal. At this end two start sprouting horns and barbs over their limbs, nails becoming claws; another flings out an arm and breaks a table in two. Block backs away a few steps, clutching the microphone.
BLOCK
Er... everyone... everyone, stay -
A goon in the middle climbs to his feet on lizardy legs, his face contorted with fangs, and breathes a stream of fire clean across the room to the wall, where it melts a hole. Another stands with a misshapen, clay-like body and roars; in the corner, four or five start fighting each other, one melting the others by touch and another seizing and ripping them apart.
BLOCK (whispered)
Please stay calm.
And finally, they all finish transforming; most no longer look human, some with rocky or scaly skin, some with skin that looks diseased; some have fangs or claws, and some have mutated eyes; some are already covered in blood, and some blatantly have powers that they aren't themselves immune to, meaning their own limbs and skin are being corroded as they stand; and as one, they look to the ceiling and howl, a long, unending sound.
Block throws the microphone down and sprints for the nearest empty exam table, where a full phial of the serum injected into the others is waiting; he grabs it -
And the howling stops.He turns.
They're all looking at him.
CUT TO:
3. INT. THE PIT. Day 1 - 0930
The Scribblers are chillin' in Da Pit although in a break from the norm this is not happening in the first scene, because I am a writer of variety and professionalism. The Scribblers are sitting around in the living room - CHRONAL is playing the Minute Waltz in an actual minute on the piano, as he so often does, while LYRIC is sketching idly by just speaking the pencil lines into being on the page. AMITY and FINESSE are building a house of cards with Uno cards, following a complicated system of rules for which colours go where. SHIFT is huddled under a quilt on the sofa, unseen.
WRAITH enters. Finesse looks up. On seeing each other they freeze and stare at each other for a moment, like weird wild animals, before Finesse sniffs disdainfully and goes back to her cards.
FINESSE
Oh god, it's you again.
WRAITH
Yeah, well, I have a theory. You like to be disappointed really, which is why you keep me around.
LYRIC
Surely that's why she keeps - ?
CHRONAL
Hey, I know where that mean comment is going!
LYRIC
Heh.
FINESSE
Amity, confirm that what Wraith said is untrue.
AMITY (absently)
Hmm? Oh, yes - she doesn't crave disappointment.
WRAITH
Ehhhhh...
AMITY
She loves you really.
WRAITH
Ah ha!
FINESSE
God damn it, Amity.
WRAITH
No, too late. I am your favourite member of this team, even beating Chronal.
LYRIC
That's because he's disapp-
CHRONAL
Hey!
FINESSE
Now, you know that's not true.
CHRONAL
Excellent.
FINESSE
My favourite is Shift.
SHIFT (muffled)
In your faces.
CHRONAL
Awwwwwww.
FINESSE (mock-sternly)
Don't whine. This is why.
CHRONAL (slightly mopey)
Yeah, I suppose...
WRAITH
So Shift, you know your action-name?
There is a pause.
Shift emerges.
SHIFT
My what?
WRAITH (mock-sincerely)
So, I think you need a new action-name, because -
SHIFT
I suspect I'm going to be offended by this.
AMITY
Yes, I think this is a premise you're going to struggle to save, Wraith.
FINESSE
Plus, her what name?
CHRONAL
No no, that part I approve of.
WRAITH (in the fake tones of an idiot trying gently explain an erroneous fact)
No, because you need a new action-name, right, because 'Shift' is... it's a bit... keyboard, you know? Might as well be "Windows key", or "capslock".
SHIFT
For the record, you haven't saved it yet.
WRAITH
Plus... you know... when Finesse shouts your name, I think she's telling me to move.
SHIFT
Oh, good.
FINESSE
Silver linings.
LYRIC
I'm going to regret asking this, but... what's your new suggestion?
WRAITH
Well, you see... you can fly, can't you? And see in the dark? And you really like light. You're always turning lights on at night.
SHIFT
Er...
WRAITH
So I just thought: Moth Child.
Chronal bursts out laughing. Amity grins at him.
FINESSE and LYRIC and SHIFT (together)
Moth Child?!?
AMITY (sincere tone)
Yes, and the best thing about that is, it's not at all a really stupid name.
CHRONAL (breathlessly)
I love it!
FINESSE
And you are forbidden from having it.
The front doorbell rings, sounding like the 60s Iron Man theme tune.
FINESSE
Wraith, your penance is answering that.
WRAITH
All this, just for a suggestion...
SHIFT
A truly disquieting suggestion. And you never did save that premise before offending me. Begone.
WRAITH
Ehhhhhh...
He goes.
LYRIC
That's telling him.
Suddenly, the TARDIS sound happens. The police phone! Lyric gets up.
LYRIC
Don't even pretend, guys. I'll get it.
FINESSE
Good - o.
He goes to the police comm.
SHIFT
You know, I think I might become Moth Child.
CHRONAL
Do it!
FINESSE
Don't.
AMITY
Well, as the one with the deciding vote, I -
She stops, and suddenly leaps to her feet.
AMITY
Something's wrong with Wraith -
LYRIC (from the vid screen)
Guys, over here, quick! There's an emergency!
FINESSE
Chronal, get Wraith. Everyone else...
They hurry to the vid-screen, Shift morphing into a robin to fly the distance faster. COMMISSIONER MORGAN (50s, stern, alignment: lawful-good) is looking even sterner that usual, while panicked-looking people in police uniforms race around behind her like headless chickeny types.
COMMISSIONER MORGAN
Silence. There's no time for pleasantries.
FINESSE
I hadn't -
COMMISSIONER MORGAN
Nor corrections. Seven minutes ago, a wave of what the public, press and police are somewhat hysterically calling 'mutates' attacked the Paul Ball Mall in downtown Dinas. We don't know where they came from, but they're wearing this costume.
A photo of a man with muscles on his muscles, Image comics-style, half an arm, a series of fang-laden mouths running down his chest and stomach and sort-of melty skin appears on screen. The Scribblers recoil, and react simultaneously.
FINESSE
Jesus god!
AMITY
Argh!
SHIFT
Oooohh, that's not nice...
LYRIC
That is right 'angin', like.
COMISSIONER MORGAN
We also have no time for horrified reactions. Know the uniform?
FINESSE
Well, as far as I can tell under the - skin... slime, it looks like Ringtone's.
AMITY
Oh, surely not? He's a closetted mid-life crisis, not... this.
COMMISSIONER MORGAN
His name is a start. We can question him now under the Supervillain Clause, and he might give us leads. Meanwhile we need you all downtown.
SHIFT
How many of them are there, and what powers do - ?
CHRONAL (v/o)
Guys, quick!
They turn. Chronal and Wraith are entering the room, sagging slightly under the weight of BLOCK. He's in a bad way -most of his chest and one arm are covered in a bad burn, but the skin looks slightly frozen over it. Claw and talon marks cover most of him, meaning any part not covered by his extremely ripped designer-cool costume is all blood and that. He's unconscious. There's a lump on his skull,with a trickle of blood coming from it making its way down the side of his face.
Amity sprints to his side. The others also approach, except Shift, who stays to be briefed by Commissioner Morgan.
FINESSE
What the - ?
AMITY (authoritatively)
Lie him down, I need to see him.
CHRONAL
Well, it seems Block here came calling, and then Wraith opened the door, and then Wraith panicked and brained him with a pipe, and now he's unconscious.
WRAITH
Player got all nemesis-y in my face and that.
CHRONAL
He said "Help me, they're after me." Or tried to.
They get Block onto the sofa.
LYRIC
Please tell me you didn't do the rest.
WRAITH
Of course not! I don't have fire powers. I'm not Fire Child.
LYRIC
He came like that?
FINESSE
We should send him back to seller. Amity?
AMITY
Well, he's suffering from enormous mental trauma and is now also concussed, but I think I can bring him round for a moment or two. I doubt we'll get much sense out of him, though. And he needs a hospital fast - specifically a burns ward.
FINESSE
Let's listen to whatever he wants first.
WRAITH
Really? He's your nemesis! You want to give him any of your time?
FINESSE (pained)
No, I'm his nemesis. There is a distinct difference.
LYRIC
And that's telling him.
(beat)
Or would be if he weren't unconscious.
AMITY
Also, mutates attack and a villain arrives looking mauled. Hang on... I think...
CHRONAL
Mutates?
AMITY
There!
Nothing happens for a second, and then Block awakens, his eyes glassy and unfocused; he whimpers, writhing slightly in obvious pain. Finesse crouches next to him.
FINESSE
Alright, what did you do, you absolute tool?
AMITY (in token mild reproach)
Finesse. We don't know he did anything yet.
LYRIC
He's a known criminal.
AMITY
Yes, I know. I just had to say it to clear my conscience. Carry on.
BLOCK (hoarse whisper)
He's... they're... please...
He grabs Finesse, who doesn't fight him off but gives him the most displeased look she can muster.
BLOCK
Please... it went wrong, something... something...
FINESSE
Tell me what and stop wasting my time.
AMITY
Oh, he can't. He's very unfocused; he's not even sure if you're real.
FINESSE
Tool.
BLOCK
It changed... it shouldn't have... the serum -
FINESSE
What?
She freezes, staring at him; looks at the vid-screen; looks back at him.
FINESSE
XGH? Is it XGH, you absolute sodding moron?
BLOCK
It shouldn't have done that... it was safe...
Finesse closes her eyes. Amity lays a hand on her arm.
FINESSE (evenly)
Knock him out again before I do.
AMITY (doing so)
Er... right. Well, that wasn't the answer you wanted.
Shift arrives.
WRAITH
Is that what Pricktaro used on the nemeses?
LYRIC
Yes. On a scale of one to ten, how bad is this?
FINESSE
I don't have words. It's supposed to be practically impossible to get hold of, so if he's found a way to - how many mutates, Shift?
CHRONAL
Mutates?
SHIFT
Ah, bad news. A few hundred.
AMITY
A few hundred?
FINESSE
So he can manufacture XGH for hundreds, now. He can synthesise it, albeit apparently badly. That is already terrible. But it's made mutates.
CHRONAL
I think I was out of the room when the mutates were -
AMITY
Is there a cure, though? I mean -
LYRIC
It changes genetics, doesn't it? That's not the sort of thing you can just cure.
FINESSE
No, it's not. And this looks like, just... random mutation.
SHIFT
Well... Kayleigh can help... and I have a friend I went to university with who does bioinformatics.
WRAITH
Bio-what?
SHIFT
It's a bit complicated. But relevantly he was heavily involved with mapping out super-genes, and then creating inhibitor technology. It's made amazing strides towards curing genetic disorders, though. They're in the final trial stages for curing Huntingtons at the moment.
AMITY
Really? You have a friend who cured Huntingtons?
LYRIC
And inhibitor tech?
CHRONAL
And might explain the mutates?
SHIFT
Yes to all three. Among other things. The inhibitor was to help contain criminals - he worked on a psychic disruptor for similar reasons, but then realised just how badly that technology could be abused when all he wanted was to help humanity, and so burned the research for noble reasons.
AMITY
... Wow.
SHIFT (thoughtfully)
He once told me, though, that in an alternate universe he'd probably want to be a starship captain or a time traveller.
AMITY
...
SHIFT
Anyway. The estimate is around three hundred mutates, and a full range of powers. And they seem to be very rampagey and unreasonable and attempting much property damage and death. The police have managed to get a cordon around it, but they can't contain them, and they've no idea how many civilians are still in there.
FINESSE
Then we've no time for this tool. Stretcher please, Lyric. Amity, get him to a hospital. We'll call Kayleigh and Shift's noble scientist friend on the way, so the second Block is in someone else's hands go and liaise with them, make sure they're up to date. We'll try and catch one of these mutates alive for them to examine.
AMITY
Will I be any use to them? I'm no scientist.
FINESSE
You can read body chemistry better than a machine. Of course you will. Let's go.
They all get up and file out, carrying Block on Lyric's freshly made stretcher toward the Trans-Jet bay. Chronal and Wraith hang back as the others go through.
CHRONAL
So... you were out of the room for longer than I was. Why aren't you asking what's going on with these mutates?
WRAITH
What, you mean, I haven't been told yet?
CHRONAL
What?
WRAITH
Dude, I never know what's going on.
CHRONAL
Oh yeah.
CUT TO:
4. EXT. PAUL BALL MALL. Day 1 - 0934
Big, sprawling mall, big like Cribbs Causeway, sort of thing. The Trans-Jet flies overhead.
CUT TO:
5. INT. PAUL BALL MALL - FLOOR 3. Day 1 - 0934
Modern mall interior, all swish chrome and soft brown-and-beige colour scheme and artfully-positioned escalators. Walkways overlook the floors below, where there is a fountain, and the floors above, where a glass dome forms the ceiling. Shops about. Normally prettiness abounds.
Currently, mentalness abounds. Mutates are everywhere, destroying everything. A pair of teenagers are sheltering beneath a back-to-back pair of benches, as a mutate with three-and-a-half arms covered in bristle rips up the floor plan and swings it violently towards the benches; the teenagers scream -
And a Rhino gallops in from the side, charging the mutate clean out of the way.WRAITH appears out of nowhere, and sidles up to the bench.
WRAITH
Hey. Uh... I'm Wraith.
TEEN#1
Oh my god, was... was that a rhino?
WRAITH
Yeah, no, that's my friend Shift. She's like that some times.
TEEN#2
You're the Scribblers! You'll save us!
WRAITH
Um, that's the plan. So, I'm going to turn you invisible now, and we're going to get out, agreed?
TEEN#1
Definitely...
WRAITH
Yeah. Good. Go.
They all become invisible. The eye of the beholder draws away to a few metres away, where the mutate is swiping at a rapidly-transforming SHIFT, who keeps changing between small-and-mobile and large-and-punchy animals to avoid/punch him.
CUT TO:
6. INT. PAUL BALL MALL - FLOOR 1. Day 1 - 0935
FINESSE and LYRIC are fighting mutates through ninja techniques and occasionally shouting fire extinguishers, nets and the like into being. CHRONAL knocks out a scaly mutate beside the fountain, and approaches a gaggle of ADORABLE CHILDREN crouched in a ruined shop doorway.
CHRONAL
Hey -
ADORABLE CHILDREN
Argh!!!!
CHRONAL
No no, it's okay, they can't get you, look -
He freezes time.
CHRONAL (beaming)
There, you see - ?
ADORABLE CHILDREN
Argh!!!!
CHRONAL
Oh. Er... it's okay! I am a Scribbler, and I shall now save you! From the mutates I still don't understand!
ADORABLE CHILDREN
Argh!!!!
CHRONAL
Hmm. This is a lot harder than comics would have you believe.
Meanwhile in Real Time, Finesse and Lyric are fighting three angry mutates. One breathes fire at them.
FINESSE
Shield!
A shimmering in the air indicates the shield, which deflects the fire.
LYRIC
Cheers! But there are hundreds of - darts! - them, think we can keep this up?
FINESSE
Well, they - chains! - aren't clever, so I reckon so. They - shield! - don't have a sense of reason, or strategy.
LYRIC
Like Wraith?
FINESSE
Ha!
A mutate rears to the left, and she directs his energy blast clean into the flamey one, knocking him out.
FINESSE
Awesome. Let's take that one home.
LYRIC
Chains, gag, hood.
They appear on the now-prone flamey one.
LYRIC
Hate to ask, but why can't you do that to all of them?
FINESSE
Well -
She leaps onto the fountain plinth and spreads her hands; the energy bolts tear out of the mutate in question, and deck the twenty nearest that were approaching. Lyric hastily binds them all; but as he does, the mutate seems to overload, and collapses with a gurgled yell.
FINESSE
Dammit. That's why. They're still mutating, Lyric.
LYRIC
What?!
FINESSE
I know. Whatever that bloody serum did, it's still doing it. Their powers keep changing.
LYRIC
I'll tell Amity. The scientists will need to know.
CUT TO:
7. EXT. THE SWINGING BLUE GENES PLC OFFICES. Day 1 - 0938
Big, sleek, glass-fronted building, with a multi-coloured sign over a set of doors. There is an intercom thingy. AMITY is also there, talking on the comm.
AMITY
They're still mutating?
LYRIC('s voice)
Yeah. 'Tis mingin' beyond, like. We've got you one, though, so you'll be able to experiment soon. In, you know, a totally humane way.
AMITY
I really love it when we remember that part.
She reaches the intercom and presses the button.
AMITY
Anyway, I'm here, and Kayleigh's en route. I'd better go and meet this scientist of Shift's.
The intercom crackles into life, sounding static-y for a second.
LYRIC
Ah, yes, the one you clearly fanc -
AMITY
Shut up, Lyric...
INTERCOM VOICE
Er... sorry? I'm not Lyric.
AMITY
What? Oh god, no, I didn't mean - Hello! I'm Amity! I'm here to meet a Professor Amalgam?
AMALGAM('s voice)
Oh good! I am that one.
AMITY
Excellent!
AMALGAM('s voice)
I think so too! I'm coming out to let you in now, don't worry. Sorry, we used to be able to buzz people in, but -
A DOG appears inside the building, visible through the glass, wearing a waistcoat. It trots happily to the doors. Amity grins at it, and then blinks.
AMALGAM('s voice)
- after I invented the terrible psychic disruption technology that could have so harmed humanity and had to burn it we've been stronger on security. And, er, sometimes I can be a bit... territorial, anyway, because... oh...
The dog jumps up at the glass for a second, pawing at the keypad beside the door, before pausing and looking mournfully at Amity. She stares at it, mesmerised.
AMALGAM('s voice)
Oh dear. Wrong one. Sorry, let me try again.
AMITY (in wonder)
I'm very sorry if this is a sensitive question, but... are you this dog?
Inside the building a GOAT appears, also in a waistcoat.
AMALGAM('s voice)
Didn't I - ? Damn. In fact, I... am, in a manner of speaking. Partly. Well -
AMITY (delightedly)
Oh my god, are you this goat, too?
AMALGAM('s voice)
The goat? Shit, did I send the goat? Wait, let me use the mirror this time...
There is a pause, during which Amity beams happily at the faintly awkward-looking dog and goat, while the dog looks back at her, slowly wagging its tail.
AMALGAM('s voice)
Oh, bugger. Of course. I'm still using the intercom, which means the human mouth is still here. Sorry. I'm on my way...
AMITY (cheerfully)
Thank you!
She crouches down to the dog and goat. The dog wags its tail harder and takes a small step forward before apparently remembering itself, and looking slightly embarrassed.
AMITY
Your mind is amazing, you know! I can feel it from both parts of you. Same mind, two - three - bodies. But different instincts live in your different heads, don't they? I've never felt anything like it. Oh, sorry - can you still hear me through the glass?
The goat nods, and makes a series of strange bleats, as though trying to talk. Amity giggles.
AMITY
Sorry. That was your goat mouth.
A HUMAN appears at the door, and she stands.It is AMALGAM (eccentric, witty, playful), wearing a costume including a matching waistcoat and a Victorian frock-coat and hunting boots combination. This one is a white frock-coat, for working in the lab. He opens the door, and shakes her hand.
AMALGAM
Hello! Again. Sorry - I meant to say, I actually have five bodies, but one's on the roof and the other is in my tank. I feel I should stress that I'm not normally this bad.
AMITY
Bad?
AMALGAM
Mixing myself up like some benzadrine loon. I've just been working quite hard this morning...
AMITY
That's okay! I'm extremely clumsy too! And that's just with one body to pilot. It probably borders on farcical that one of my favourite hobbies is dancing, therefore.
Dog actually jumps into the air in its excitement and barks before suddenly fleeing to the lab. Amalgam looks at her, apparently delighted.
AMALGAM
You dance? Me too!
AMITY
Really? Hooray! Ooh, what types -
Her communicator beeps, and she sighs.
AMITY
Yes?
FINESSE('s voice)
We have a serious problem.
CUT TO:
8. INT. PAUL BALL MALL - FLOOR 1. Day 1 - 0940
FINESSE and SHIFT are fighting MANY MUTATES around CHRONAL, who is kneeling over the BOUND MUTATE from earlier, keeping him frozen. LYRIC is fighting a few metres away.WRAITH may also be there, but if so he's invisible, and besides, no one cares.
FINESSE
The transformations aren't just ongoing - they're definitely random!
AMITY('s voice)
Really? What does - ?
FINESSE
They're incomplete! One'll get the gene to throw fire, but won't be fire-proof!
SHIFT (mildly)
It's true. It's really disgusting.
FINESSE
And I don't know how much - shit...
A mutate rears up in front of her, his flesh glistening and red, and throws his hands towards her; liquid shoots out of them that Finesse deflects to either side where it scorches the floor and fountain -
And the mutate screams, suddenly clawing at his own body wildly, his fingers digging in and tearing without blood -
His flesh bubbles, moving like molten wax -
And it runs off his skeleton, leaving him to melt to the floor until the screaming finally stops.
The Scribblers stare at the puddle in shock for a moment, until a sound like thunder jerks them back to attention, and they look up numbly. The mutates are hurling themselves against an invisible dome around them.
AMITY('s voice)
Guys? Guys, what happened? Can anyone hear me?
FINESSE (without emotion)
One just melted in front of us. Their DNA is coming apart. Tell Amalgam.
SHIFT
Well, that was displeasingly horrific.
LYRIC
What's protecting us?
FINESSE
Me. The one at the back. It's already slipping away, though.
There is another pause.
CHRONAL (voice low)
Are any of them going to survive this?
FINESSE
No.
CHRONAL
Will it be that painful?
FINESSE
Yes.
They watch for a second more as the dome slowly disintegrates around them, one mutate glowing like a candle and screaming, another rapidly deforming.
LYRIC (quietly)
Okay then.
The dome vanishes, and the mutates rush in.
LYRIC
Ystradebol.
The Scribblers attack.
CUT TO:
9. INT. THE SWINGING BLUE GENES PLC LAB. Day 1 - 0952
AMITY is standing at a work bench, staring blankly through illustrated notes on a holo-screen. AMALGAM comes in with a tray bearing a teapot and two tea cups. One has a small piece of foil next to it.
AMALGAM (gently)
Any better?
AMITY (sadly)
Okay. Well, they're all incredibly traumatised, but they've pushed it aside to focus on being totally livid instead.
(beat)
Especially Finesse and Lyric, but they're sort of like that anyway.
AMALGAM
I meant you. I know a bit about psionic bonding.
AMITY (smiling)
Yeah. I'll be fine. Tragically we've all seen worse. Although this is the first time we've had to do the put-out-of-misery thing on this kind of scale.
AMALGAM (glumly)
Yes. Well, they were right to do it. I suspect the pain levels for the goons were comparable to radiation poisoning.
AMITY
Oh no! Like the tenth Doctor?
AMALGAM (brightening)
Yes! Wasn't that a brilliant episode?!
AMITY
I know!! And everyone was so good in it, and it was just the perfect start for Matt Smith!!
AMALGAM
Who, by the way, is excellent!
AMITY
Yes he is!
(beat)
Oh. Off-topic. Sorry. Um... the XGH. What the hell is going on?
AMALGAM
Oh yes. Well, it's impossible to say for certain given that I don't have a sample or a patient, but... XGH works by creating the right mutations in the DNA to produce a super power. In the case of those fellows calling themselves your nemeses it seems to have been straightforward, relatively speaking. They've never changed have they?
(beat)
Powers, that is. I assume they change clothes.
AMITY (giggling)
Yes, me too, and one might argue in any case that it would be an irrelevant question.
AMALGAM (grinning)
It would be fairly irrelevant, yes.
AMITY
No. Their powers have always been stable. Deliberately engineered, too.
AMALGAM
Here... the XGH caused random mutations. For safe superpowers you need several mutated genes, not just one - like Finesse said -
AMITY
You need to be fire-proof if you can throw fire.
AMALGAM
Pretty much. The problem is the nature of DNA, though. Mutations occur essentially when the DNA chain splits in half, and replicates wrongly. It sounds like it was split too many times, too fast for these people. It couldn't keep fixing. They literally fell apart.
AMITY
Right.
She looks up at the holographic DNA chain splitting.
AMITY
Gosh. I'm very cross now, you know.
AMALGAM
Yes, me too. Genetic science is meant to help humankind, not destroy it!
AMITY
I agree! Let's have tea.
AMALGAM
Ooh, lets. The milk's in the tank.
He puts the cup, with its piece of foil, in front of her. Amity turns, and takes the carton of milk from the octopus tentacle that holds it out to her.
AMALGAM (musing)
Hmm. I wonder how tea-based superpowers would work?
Amity stops dead, and looks up at him.
AMITY (not daring to hope)
... Did you just ask me a hypothetical question...?
CUT TO:
10. INT. DINAS CENTRAL HOSPITAL - BLOCK'S ROOM, SECURE WING. Day 1 - 1005.
A private hospital room with two doors, one leading out to the main hospital corridor, the other to the storage rooms. The room contains one bed, a sod-load of medical equipment beeping away and a chair containing a SECURITY GUARD (40s, humourless, kind). His name is Norman. Hello, Norman. BLOCK is in the bed, heavily bandaged, unconscious and handcuffed to the bedrails. A DOCTOR (30s, tall, very long dreadlocks) is talking quietly to the security guard, holding Block's notes. Her name is Dr Osoba. Hello, Dr Osoba.
DR OSOBA
It's actually not as bad as it looks. We've cleaned the burns, but either he was very lucky or very good with his powers - he managed to get them frozen almost immediately after getting them, so it's saved the flesh and most of the skin. Hopefully he won't even need a skin graft.
NORMAN
Looks like agony, mind.
DR OSOBA
That's more of an issue. We've got him on Orimorph at the moment, which hopefully will help, but until he wakes up we won't know if we need to increase the dose or not. And he's in shock.
NORMAN
Not too surprised. I hear it's been carnage downtown.
DR OSOBA (heavily)
Yes. We've got 56 patients either here or en route to us, and more were -
She stops as Block suddenly whimpers and then screams, rushing to his side and scanning the monitors efficiently.
DR OSOBA
Mr Block, my name is Dr Osoba, and you're in Dinas Central. Can you - ?
BLOCK (hoarsely)
The - where is it? I had - I had it -
DR OSOBA
Your possessions are here.
She indicates a tray beside the bed, containing a cracked pocket mirror, a crumpled packet of polos and a small cannister; Block goes to throw a hand towards it, but is halted by the handcuffs.He stares down at them.
DR OSOBA
Also you're under arrest, but try not to worry about that right now.
BLOCK
But... I can't be.
DR OSOBA
You really are. Try not to worry.
NORMAN
A lot of people died today, mate. We're still getting the reports in -
BLOCK (urgently)
What time is it? Quick! How long was I out?
DR OSOBA
Just gone ten, I believe, so not long. About half an hour.
BLOCK
Finesse. I need to see Finesse of the Scribblers.
NORMAN
She's just been cleaning up your mess, mate. I doubt she'll want to see you -
BLOCK (almost screaming)
It doesn't matter! We're all going to die if she doesn't! She'll understand that! Please, please you have to get her here!
Norman stands, alarmed, and hurries out to call his superiors.
BLOCK (still mentals)
We'll die! We're all going to die!! She has to come, she -
DR OSOBA (calmly)
Do you want any more morphine?
(beat)
BLOCK (meekly)
... yes, please.
CUT TO:
11. INT. THE SWINGING BLUE GENES PLC. Day 1 - 1015
In the lab, AMITY and AMALGAM are dancing the lindy hop to music. OCTOPUS is doing very similar movements in its tank. The buzzer goes for the front door and they both stop, guiltily. Octopus keeps going.
AMITY
Oh. Er, that'll probably be the rest of the team.
AMALGAM
Oh yeah. I'll be back in a jiffy!
DOG runs out.
AMITY
That was Dog.
AMALGAM
I'll be back in a jiffy!
He runs out. Amity grins to herself, and goes about making more tea and two hot chocolates.
After a moment, the SCRIBBLERS PLUS KAYLEIGH file in, carrying MUTATE MAN on a stretcher. CHRONAL is carrying a glowy device. Amity stops and hugs LYRIC; Amalgam is talking to SHIFT, apparently trying very hard not to bounce up and down. Dog is running excitedly around the lab. Octopus continues to lindy hop. FINESSE watches Dog in apparent fascination.
AMALGAM
Amity, look! People! And Shift, whom I already know!
SHIFT
This is why we're friends, you see. He doesn't see me as 'people'.
AMALGAM
It's so exciting!
KAYLEIGH
Would we class 'outbreak of mutates' as exciting?
WRAITH
It was pretty boss. Well, except for the end.
LYRIC (wry)
Yeah. You can tell you've being doing a job too long when this sort of thing is just a 'bad day at work'.
Amity smiles sadly, but doesn't push it.
AMITY
I prescribe tea for all.
KAYLEIGH
Hooray!
AMALGAM
Hooray!
CHRONAL
No! I've suffered enough!
AMITY
I made you and Finesse hot chocolate!
CHRONAL
Hooray!
AMALGAM
Hooray!
FINESSE (fascinated)
So... one mind, four bodies?
AMALGAM
Yes! Well... five, actually. The other is on the roof.
FINESSE
Wow.
(Her communicator beeps)
Urgh. Hang on.
She leaves. Lyric and Shift have placed Mutate Man on a table, and Chronal is attaching the glowy device to his chest.
WRAITH
I vote we call him Goon Boy.
SHIFT
I vote no. He's already dying. He doesn't need the additional pain of being named by you.
WRAITH
Hey! What's wrong with Moth Child?
LYRIC
So once Chronal lets him go... is he going to die?
AMALGAM (peering at Goon Boy intently)
If we can't find a cure. What's the device?
CHRONAL
My latest toy! I invented it after Time Wang. This is a Freeze Frame!
KAYLEIGH
Good name.
CHRONAL
Thank you. What I do is, look, I freeze something - in this case Goon Boy - in time -
SHIFT
Oh dear. That seems to be sticking.
WRAITH
Because it's boss.
CHRONAL
- and then, right, then, I calibrate the Freeze Frame, and it holds the time bubble stable for me! So I don't have to!
AMITY
Wow! That's so clever!
AMALGAM
That's amazing!
CHRONAL
I know! I'm so clever. Honestly. You've no idea.
LYRIC
Yes, you really are. So how are we curing Goon Boy?
CHRONAL
Awww. You ruined my narcissism.
Finesse enters.
FINESSE
Hey guys. Block's woken up and is demanding to see me, apparently, or else, and I quote, "We'll all die." Tool.
LYRIC
Eh, don't bother. That doesn't sound serious.
SHIFT
You just don't like anyone on that team because your nemesis is a crazy who wants to psycho-marry you.
AMALGAM
Gosh, really? That sounds frightful.
WRAITH (morosely)
Mine's a sociopath who knows my life and keeps plaigiarising my artwork.
FINESSE
Mine's a tool. Anyway, I'd better go. We still need to interview him anyway. Laters.
She leaves. Amalgam and Kayleigh start setting up equipment, as Chronal fiddles with the Freeze Frame.
AMALGAM (to Amity)
So what's your nemesis like?
AMITY
Oh, you know. A sadistic and malicious telepath who forced at least one of the others into becoming what they are.
SHIFT
Mine is Metal Man. He didn't know they weren't going for ironic nicknames until they'd handed their forms in.
Everyone laughs at Metal Man.
CUT TO:
12. INT. DINAS CENTRAL HOSPITAL - BLOCK'S ROOM, SECURE WING. Day 1 - 1032
FINESSE is sitting in the chair beside BLOCK's bed, looking bored and disgruntled, reading a crappy hospital-waiting-room magazine with 'The 100 Hottest Superheroes of the Year!!!' splashed across the front.Block is just stirring; slowly, he turns his head and tries to focus on her.
FINESSE
Huh. Chronal at number one again. No surprise there.
BLOCK (groggily)
Nng... Finesse...?
FINESSE (not looking up)
Oh, you aren't listed. This list is exclusively for people who aren't total losers.
BLOCK
Ugh. This is you people through and through, isn't it?
FINESSE (bored)
I am, of course, desperate for your clarification of that statement.
BLOCK
You people, people with powers. Always. The arrogance.
FINESSE
My irony meter just exploded.
BLOCK
I'm serious!
FINESSE
So am I, moron. You just played God with the genetics of three hundred people and melted them.
BLOCK
That - it shouldn't have - that wasn't our fault! It couldn't be! And that's not the point! It's the entitlement, listen to you! You get these powers naturally, just gifted them, and you don't appreciate them.
FINESSE
Ah.
She puts down the magazine, sits up and leans forward over his bed, resting her forearms on the bed frame, watching her intently.
FINESSE
That's Medium I hear, yes?
BLOCK (defiantly)
She's right, though.
FINESSE
Of course she's not, you halfwit, try actually thinking about it. When Amity was thirteen years old her powers began to activate. An empath. At thirteen. And they don't kick in all at once like I imagine yours did, did you know that? It happens slowly. You get symptoms first - hints of what your power will be, and you haven't a prayer of being able to control it at that stage. So do you know what she went through?
BLOCK (sulkily)
No.
FINESSE (quietly)
At thirteen years old, when she was starting to develop as a human being, at the most formative and emotionally intense stage of her life, she realised she was able to influence other people's decisions. If she wanted something, she just... pushed a bit of seratonin here and there when she suggested it. Or lowered a dopemine level or two, so they couldn't link a bad experience with what she was asking, and so wouldn't think to object. She didn't know that was precisely what she was doing, of course - but she did. Can you imagine that, for a moment? At thirteen, at her most emotionally insecure, she could completely rob people of their humanity and choice to please herself; make people go out with her, break up friendships and relationships, force new ones, make teachers do what she wanted... the list goes on. Which meant, as time went by, that the people she came into contact with started to develop mental illnesses. Bi-polar was the big one. And she came to realise what she was doing. So, at fifteen, now with more powers at her command and a better understanding of how they worked, and full of a brand new set of good intentions - do you know what she did?
BLOCK (still sulking like a bitch)
Became a hero?
FINESSE
I think that was the basic idea. More specifically, she decided to use her powers for good. So can you guess what she did? She tried to make people happy.
Block stares at her blankly.
BLOCK
I don't get it.
FINESSE
Nor did she at first. But the fact is, you earn happiness for yourself. That's how it has to be. You can't force it on someone unnaturally, or they can't learn and develop. Both the mind and the brain make links, emotional and physical, where they programme themselves to respond to specific input. She had a friend, a good friend. She wanted him to be happy. And his brain learned that "normal" was to make seratonin all the time. His mind learned that everything in the world, every input, would make him happy - to this day, he has the emotional intelligence of a fifteen-year-old, because he could never learn the basic lessons the rest of us do. If you get burned, you don't touch fire again. He couldn't get that. And when he eventually did, it nearly drove him insane.
There is silence for a few seconds as they both watch each other.
BLOCK (really listening now)
So what happened?
FINESSE
She realised how dangerous she was. How dangerous she could be. She came to the realisation that there are no easy answers, and her powers were a double-edged sword that she was going to have to learn to wield properly before she killed someone. So she decided that, firstly, if she wanted to help people in this world, she was going to learn how to do that as anyone else can, powers or not. A real hero. She became a medic.
BLOCK
And then?
FINESSE
Then she learned how brain chemistry works. Every nuance of it that we understand, before joining scientific teams across the country doing studies into the areas we don't understand. She can confirm and deny things, see. By this point her powers had developed their psionic edge, so she could read an emotion as easily as you or I can see if someone is smiling or not. Humanity's knowledge of mental illness, emotion and several areas of psychology advanced phenomenally in that time, because of her, and all along she drank in every bit of information she could get, to make herself safer to everyone around her. And then, once she'd done that, she went back and cured everyone she'd ever given bi-polar disorder. And then - and only then - did she become a superhero.
There is another pause as they look at each other again. A bird sings cheerfully outside the window.
FINESSE
That is a truncated version of the story of just one of my team members. She struggles every day - every single bloody day - with the knowledge of what she could so easily be. So do we all. And you think we don't appreciate our powers? You think they're just a gift?
(beat)
Well, here's what I think. I think you, and Medium, and Dischord, and all of the rest of you, are a sad little group of tiny, pathetic people who never amounted to anything or achieved anything for a single day in your entire god damned lives.
BLOCK
Hey!
FINESSE
You dreamed big, but totally lacked the grit, determination or effort to ever actually achieve. You wanted fame and power for their own sakes. You wanted to be big, but not if it involved actually putting in any hard work. You were, and remain, a pack of losers with pretentions to grandeur, as long as working for it means just doing whatever you want. And so you talked yourselves into believing that it's because the world is so unfair. Life would be so much simpler with powers! Powers are so cool! How come you don't get to have powers? That's the only reason you aren't succeeding... because all those powered-up people are instead!
BLOCK
That's not - !
FINESSE
And so, along comes a supervillain with a special formula, and offers you everything you ever wanted. Money, fame, the chance to be defined by someone of reknown - and, best of all, that set of superpowers you always wanted! At last! And here you are, believing you've hit the big time. Let me ask you this, Block - you've got those powers now, but what have you actually achieved with them?
BLOCK
What? Well... I -
FINESSE
Because it seems to me that for all those shiny new powers and the designer-cool costume, and the team of villains you're such an important part of; you haven't actually done anything. And if I were to give up superheroism tomorrow, you'd be out. Sintaro wouldn't need you anymore. You're only making up numbers. For all the world, you matter so little that you might as well not exist.
BLOCK (small voice)
That hurts.
FINESSE
Good. Now what the hell do you want, you tool? I haven't got all day.
CUT TO:
13. INT. THE SWINGING BLUE GENES PLC LAB. Day 1 - 1045
WRAITH is sitting cross-legged in the corner, locked in a staring contest with GOAT. CHRONAL is still calibrating the Freeze Frame, watched by an interested-looking LYRIC, while AMALGAM and KAYLEIGH take tissue samples and the like, moving about between microscopes and scanners and spectrometres and such. AMITY and SHIFT are sitting to one side, drinking tea and talking quietly.
SHIFT
So you like him, hmm?
AMITY
Oh god, is it that obvious?
SHIFT
Ah, well, it is clear as bells to one such as me. Who can read body language.
AMITY
Of course! Hey, so does he - ?
SHIFT
No idea. He has five bodies, and they all use different body languages that spill over into each other. Beyond broad emotions like "happy", "vulnerable" and "please play", I've never been able to read him that well.
AMITY
Damn.
SHIFT
Stop being inept. You're an empath. Surely you know?
AMITY (sighs)
No. Same problem. I've never seen a mind like it. I think with practice I could learn it, but...
SHIFT
But you like him, hmm?
AMITY
Oh my god, he's totally awesome! He's so... awesome! He dances! And when he stops, his octopus keeps going!
They look at the tank, where OCTOPUS is indeed still going.
AMITY
And look at his costume! And the waistcoats! And he's perfectly willing to discuss hypothetical situations about nonsense! And, right, I'm not holding out hope, but I think he might be amenable to games -
SHIFT
He is.
AMITY
Oh my god!!
SHIFT
Yes, now I come to think of it, I have no idea why I never introduced you before. He also plays musical instruments.
AMITY
Really, now, this is getting silly. He can't be real.
(beat)
Oh my god, what if he's not real?
SHIFT
Stop being crazy, you loon. Of course he is. I know him, and I'm very sane.
AMITY
Well, now I definitely think he's fake.
SHIFT (brightly and nonsensically)
Yes!
KAYLEIGH (urgently)
Hey - oh, shit - Amalgam!
Everyone looks over except Wraith, who continues attempting to out-stare Goat. Amalgam hurries over to Kayleigh, where she hastily steps aside from the microscope and all but forces his head onto it.
KAYLEIGH
Tell me that's not -
AMALGAM
Oh no.
KAYLEIGH
Shit!
AMALGAM
Also ouch.
KAYLEIGH
We've no time for me to be sorry! Where are the decontamination showers?
AMALGAM
Over there. Quick! Everyone in! I'll seal the lab!
Everyone stands immediately except Wraith, who only moves when headbutted by Goat.
AMITY
Oh goodness. Heroic and brave, too.
CHRONAL
There. The Freeze Frame is in place. What's going on?
KAYLEIGH
Has Goon Boy been frozen all that time?
CHRONAL
Yes?
AMALGAM
Then if we're quick we'll be fine. Go go go!
They race to the decontamination showers, and leap into cubicles as Amalgam sprints around the lab, gloved up and wielding tongs, throwing slides and samples into the incinerator.
CUT TO:
14. INT. THE DECONTAMINATION ROOM. Day 1 - 1047
A row of airlocked cubicles are currently in use by a SCRIBBLER each - DOG and GOAT are sitting patiently waiting for AMALGAM in the end one.The Scribblers continue to shout to each other.
WRAITH
Now my hair is wet and may swell to twice its volume. I demand to know why I've had to do this.
KAYLEIGH
Well, Goon Boy had a cold.
WRAITH
A cold? You've made me run into a shower with no conditioner for a cold?
LYRIC
Conditioner.
CHRONAL
Argh!
LYRIC
Oh, sorry, I thought Wraith was in that one. Conditioner.
WRAITH
Argh!
LYRIC
There we go.
AMITY
So what's the problem with him having a cold? Other than it meaning he is really not having a good day.
KAYLEIGH
It's a virus!
SHIFT
I knew that.
AMITY
I'm still not -
Amalgam arrives, and leaps into the cubicle with Dog and Goat, slamming the door behind him. There are some comical squashed sounds and a truncated bleat before the water starts.
AMALGAM
Okay! We should be alright, but we're going to have to suit up before we go back in.
AMITY
Er... why's a cold so bad, though? So far we've covered that it's a virus, but I'm not understanding the relevance yet.
KAYLEIGH
Viri replicate by splitting DNA and replacing strands with their own. Sort of. Bits of strands. Ish.
AMALGAM
It's why they don't really count as alive, you see, and that's why it's very difficult to kill them, so antibiotics have to just nuke all cells, and that's why they aren't good for you. Although we've been doing work with a type of gene therapy here in the case of really bad viri -
SHIFT
Ah, your octopus is making you fixate, old friend. We were in the middle of exposition.
AMALGAM
Oops. Oh yes! The cold! Well, do you see? If it absorbs mutating DNA, and then the virus spreads -
AMITY
Oh my god!
CHRONAL
I don't want that!
AMALGAM
Yes. The mutations could become viral. A virus that mutates people.
WRAITH
... how good is this shower, did you say?
CUT TO:
15. DINAS CENTRAL HOSPITAL - BLOCK'S ROOM, SECURE WING. Day 1 - 1048
FINESSE and BLOCK, back in the hospital room.Block is still handcuffed to the bed, Finesse sitting and watching him, arms crossed. All samey samey.
BLOCK
It wasn't us.
FINESSE
That strikes me as unlikely.
BLOCK
If it was us I wouldn't have been there to get burned, would I?!
FINESSE
You're not that bright.
BLOCK
But - !
FINESSE
Convince me. Come on. Tell me what you think happened. Evidence would be useful. And explain why we're all apparently going to die.
BLOCK
Finesse, I swear, there wasn't any need for us to do it intentionally! They were goons! We were shipping them out to Ringtone.
She stares at him.
FINESSE
Were you now?
BLOCK
It's one of the businesses, I - anyway, the point is, we give them minor but effective superpowers for the job, we hire them out. And it works! And we're good at it! Maybe if one or two had gone then I'd say it was us who mis-calibrated, but - all of them? And this badly? The serum was altered. Someone tampered with it, I'm telling you.
Finesse stares into the middle distance, thinking hard.
FINESSE (faintly)
But why? A diversion? No reports so far of anything else amiss in Dinas, but it's early days... No clear victims, so mindless violence? The thrill of having done it?
BLOCK
I've got a sample. Of the serum.
FINESSE
What? Where?
BLOCK
In the tray. In the cannister. It's how I got burned.
(beat)
I know I'm not that bright, you know. Not compared to most. But I did know this was important, Finesse.
She stands, and moves around to the tray, where she takes the cannister.
FINESSE
Possibly more than you know. You've just described a very lucrative business, haven't you? Goon production. That must be a money earner and a half.
BLOCK (uneasily)
Yes. Although I won't tell you -
FINESSE
The more I think about it, you see, the more I think this was an attack on you people. Sintaro, the business - a 'shipment' with another villain's name on goes publically AWOL and leads to said villain's arrest? That's the worst business reputation in the world. And now you can't trust your own production until you've flushed it all of every possible trace of corruption, so you can't fulfil any other contracts to set things right... I think Mr Sintaro has a rival.
VILLAINOUS VOICE FROM THE SHADOWS
Oh, very good, darling.
Finesse spins around, as enter VILLAIN and FIVE HENCHPEOPLE -
FINESSE
You? But how - ?
She freezes, and then rounds on a terrified Block.
FINESSE
Stop blocking me, you fucking idiot!
BLOCK
Oh. Sorry.
VILLAIN
Yes, I was going to say I was surprised we caught you unawares, Finesse. He's quite foolish, though.
FINESSE (quietly)
Yes he is.
(beat)
So tell me, Great Niobe. Am I right?
Niobe laughes, and fans herself with a black fan. The Niobids around her start to fan out, dressed in black chitons; warily, Finesse edges towards the second door.
NIOBE
Oh yes, top marks! The irony is, if you had all the facts, you'd probably thank me. Well, not thank me as such. Agree. Well, not agree. But you'd favour me for the underlying principle.
BLOCK (terrified)
Are you here to kill me?
NIOBE
What? Sorry, which one are you again - ? Oh, oh no. Not now. It was that serum sample we wanted. Although it is a shame a Scribbler has it. That does complicate things.
FINESSE
Block, please could you actually block the sodding telepath yourself now?
NIOBE
Oh, if you do, I will then kill you.
Block whimpers. Niobe smiles.
NIOBE
I identified the flaw in your powers a while ago, Finesse. You have total, inescapable control over others, don't you? But only as long as you're focusing on them. Two at once, and with just a touch of effort they can start to pull away and resist. Three, and they might even have a chance of fighting you off completely if they were strong enough. But five? Try all of them at once, and you're reduced to the equivalent of gentle shoving to try to knock someone over. And when one is a telepath? You can't take the risk of not focusing on that one.
FINESSE
For the record, Block, if I get out of this I am going to line my team up specially just to punch you in the burn.
She reaches the door and grips the handle behind her; Niobe sighs.
NIOBE
Naturally; don't touch that. In addition to my telepath, we have here a pyrokinetic, a terrakinetic, one Niobid that can render herself into smog and one Niobid with super strength. Mostly because I like super strength. Gives fabulous muscles. Oh, and I am right about you, aren't I?
FINESSE (evenly)
Oh yes.
(She grins)
But you've really underestimated my speed with two.
It happens very fast - Gas Niobid has time to make a surprised noise before she explodes into a thick smog, surrounding the heads of the others - Telepathic Niobid takes a slight step forward and then halts, clutching his head again - they choke and gasp for air for a second, except for Niobe, who simply folds her arms and looks irritable -
And then Gas Niobid solidifies again, and Finesse is gone.
NIOBE
Go.
And they're off, racing for the door.
CUT TO:
16. INT. DINAS CENTRAL HOSPITAL - BACK CORRIDOR. Day 1 - 1052
Long twisting corridor, several right-angled corners, with various store rooms leading off it. FINESSE tears through the door and sprints. Just metres behind her the NIOBIDS enter, GAS NIOBID becoming gas and surging forward -
FIRE NIOBID hurls a bolt of fire at her as FINESSE reaches a corner -
She dives around the corner, the fire splashing harmlessly against the wall where it scorches, but doesn't catch. Finesse throws a hand back -
And brings Gas Niobid abruptly crashing back down to the floor in solid form, causing VIBRO NIOBID to trip over her. They climb back up and keep coming, the others in front of them; they race around the corner -
STRONG NIOBID casually rips a door out of its frame as they sprint past, and prepares to throw it -
Finesse glances back -
Mid-throw he yells and drops the door, strength gone. Gas Niobid becomes airborne again, and sweeps forward -
Fire Niobid throws another bolt -
The flame sweeps upward and ignites Gas Niobid, who drops solid again with a shriek, extinguished.
Finesse sprints around the next corner; the Niobids speeding up -
They round the corner -
The corridor ends at a single door, with no sign of Finesse.
CUT TO:
17. INT. DINAS CENTRAL HOSPITAL - DISUSED STORAGE ROOM. Day 1 - 1052
Piles of hospital supplies are everywhere, boxes, broken beds waiting to be fixed, broken bedside cabinets. The NIOBIDS enter, looking around warily. GAS NIOBID becomes gaseous again, and starts to dissipate. NIOBE strolls leisurely in.
NIOBE
I will let you live, you know. I'm not unreasonable. I just want that sample.
(beat)
I mean that. It would cause ever such a fuss if I killed a government agent. I mean, you know, I will if I must, but I'd really rather avoid it.
(beat)
And I assume you would.
FIRE NIOBID melts an old filing cabinet. Niobe sighs.
NIOBE
Then let me explain, darling. You cannot get out of this room. If you let go of my telepath, even for a fraction of a moment, he will know where you are. We will find you in minutes at most. If you try to attack, my pyrokinetic would start a fire, which is the last thing we want in a hospital, I'm sure. And my terrakinetic starting an earthquake wouldn't be much better. Super strength is quite useless to you -
STRONG NIOBID punches an old bed. It crumbles like paper.
NIOBE
- although rather useful to me. And the smog wouldn't incapacitate us quickly enough. And, crucially, darling - the telepath wouldn't work, would it? My darling Niobids - they don't have minds like you or I, do they? They can't be disrupted. And as you've no doubt spotted by now, I am not actually here. Holograms are so wonderful.
VIBRO-NIOBID reaches out and touches a box. It explodes.
NIOBE
So really; what are you going to do?
Cut to FINESSE, crouched behind a pile of broken stuff at the far end of the room, the cannister in one hand, staring evenly at the wall in front of her.
NIOBE('s voice)
What are you going to do?
END OF THE SHOW.
Issue the First
1. INT. T.O.R.Y., DINAS BRANCH. Day 1 - 0900
A plush office, very flash, all floor-to ceiling windows; outside we can see a compound that looks a bit like a sort of army base-cum-prison, with a troop of identically dressed men combat training in the courtyard. Inside, though, since that's where I said we were in my instructions, stands BLOCK (pretty, self-important, designer-cool costume), facing a large plasma screen. The face of RINGTONE (late 40s, toupee, tediously extravagant) is upon it. They are conversing, as you do.
BLOCK
So that's four hundred ready for shipment, sir. We're just powering them up now, and they'll be deployed to you in half an hour from now.
RINGTONE
Excellent!! Yes!! It's an important day, you know. And you say they'll be loyal??
BLOCK (slightly smug)
Unswervingly, for the duration of the contract. We're very thorough.
RINGTONE
Oh good good, fuck me yes!! I look forward to it, Mr Block. See them in half!!
The screen goes blank, and Block turns on his heel, attempting a dramatic and cool sweep from the room.
He fails, and just looks a bit like a tit.
CUT TO:
2. INT. T.O.R.Y., DINAS BRANCH. Day 1 - 0902
A long white-and-chrome room, with long medical stations running down its length including hundreds of individual examination tables with robotised syringe-wielding machines hovering above them. Most of the tables are currently occupied by muscly types in cheesy uniforms with a picture of a phone and the letter R on them. A large electronic control panel stands against one wall. BLOCK enters and moves over to DISCHORD (disdainful, sadistic), who on seeing him turns and strides to the doors.
BLOCK
That's it, we're just - hey, where are you going?
DISCHORD
Home. I finished them, I don't need to be here.
BLOCK
But - hey! We're supposed to both get them loaded up! You can't just - !
DISCHORD
Oh, shut up, Block.
He pulls open the door.
BLOCK (shouty)
No! I'm not doing all the work again! Stop ignoring me! Stop - !
Dischord gives him a look of pure condescension, and leaves. Block looks pouty and sulky.
BLOCK (muttering)
Can't believe he's done it again...
He turns to the control panel, and sniffs.
BLOCK (still muttering)
That's the last time... He won't get away with it again... I'll show him... Commencing empowerment...
The lights dim, except for over the costumed fellows on the tables.The tannoy flickers to life, and a robo-voice speaks.
COMPUTER
Empowerment Programme commencing. Please lie still.
The machines with the syringes in move and lower over the chest of each goon, and inject them smoothly and swiftly before lifting up and away and becoming inanimate once again. Block sniffs again as the goons all shift uncomfortably, some grunting in pain, and picks up the microphone to the tannoy himself.
BLOCK (importantly)
Alright, you goons. You have ten minutes to get into the transports in the yard, and then -
He is cut off by a scream from the far end of the hall; as he pauses, the other goons all start screaming too, suddenly bucking and writhing on the tables. Block looks alarmed.
BLOCK
Er... there may be some side-effects if you aren't... aren't used to the serum -
Machinery starts crashing as the thrashing goons knock it down; at the far end of the hall a few have started sounding less like they're screaming and more like roaring, more primal. At this end two start sprouting horns and barbs over their limbs, nails becoming claws; another flings out an arm and breaks a table in two. Block backs away a few steps, clutching the microphone.
BLOCK
Er... everyone... everyone, stay -
A goon in the middle climbs to his feet on lizardy legs, his face contorted with fangs, and breathes a stream of fire clean across the room to the wall, where it melts a hole. Another stands with a misshapen, clay-like body and roars; in the corner, four or five start fighting each other, one melting the others by touch and another seizing and ripping them apart.
BLOCK (whispered)
Please stay calm.
And finally, they all finish transforming; most no longer look human, some with rocky or scaly skin, some with skin that looks diseased; some have fangs or claws, and some have mutated eyes; some are already covered in blood, and some blatantly have powers that they aren't themselves immune to, meaning their own limbs and skin are being corroded as they stand; and as one, they look to the ceiling and howl, a long, unending sound.
Block throws the microphone down and sprints for the nearest empty exam table, where a full phial of the serum injected into the others is waiting; he grabs it -
And the howling stops.He turns.
They're all looking at him.
CUT TO:
3. INT. THE PIT. Day 1 - 0930
The Scribblers are chillin' in Da Pit although in a break from the norm this is not happening in the first scene, because I am a writer of variety and professionalism. The Scribblers are sitting around in the living room - CHRONAL is playing the Minute Waltz in an actual minute on the piano, as he so often does, while LYRIC is sketching idly by just speaking the pencil lines into being on the page. AMITY and FINESSE are building a house of cards with Uno cards, following a complicated system of rules for which colours go where. SHIFT is huddled under a quilt on the sofa, unseen.
WRAITH enters. Finesse looks up. On seeing each other they freeze and stare at each other for a moment, like weird wild animals, before Finesse sniffs disdainfully and goes back to her cards.
FINESSE
Oh god, it's you again.
WRAITH
Yeah, well, I have a theory. You like to be disappointed really, which is why you keep me around.
LYRIC
Surely that's why she keeps - ?
CHRONAL
Hey, I know where that mean comment is going!
LYRIC
Heh.
FINESSE
Amity, confirm that what Wraith said is untrue.
AMITY (absently)
Hmm? Oh, yes - she doesn't crave disappointment.
WRAITH
Ehhhhh...
AMITY
She loves you really.
WRAITH
Ah ha!
FINESSE
God damn it, Amity.
WRAITH
No, too late. I am your favourite member of this team, even beating Chronal.
LYRIC
That's because he's disapp-
CHRONAL
Hey!
FINESSE
Now, you know that's not true.
CHRONAL
Excellent.
FINESSE
My favourite is Shift.
SHIFT (muffled)
In your faces.
CHRONAL
Awwwwwww.
FINESSE (mock-sternly)
Don't whine. This is why.
CHRONAL (slightly mopey)
Yeah, I suppose...
WRAITH
So Shift, you know your action-name?
There is a pause.
Shift emerges.
SHIFT
My what?
WRAITH (mock-sincerely)
So, I think you need a new action-name, because -
SHIFT
I suspect I'm going to be offended by this.
AMITY
Yes, I think this is a premise you're going to struggle to save, Wraith.
FINESSE
Plus, her what name?
CHRONAL
No no, that part I approve of.
WRAITH (in the fake tones of an idiot trying gently explain an erroneous fact)
No, because you need a new action-name, right, because 'Shift' is... it's a bit... keyboard, you know? Might as well be "Windows key", or "capslock".
SHIFT
For the record, you haven't saved it yet.
WRAITH
Plus... you know... when Finesse shouts your name, I think she's telling me to move.
SHIFT
Oh, good.
FINESSE
Silver linings.
LYRIC
I'm going to regret asking this, but... what's your new suggestion?
WRAITH
Well, you see... you can fly, can't you? And see in the dark? And you really like light. You're always turning lights on at night.
SHIFT
Er...
WRAITH
So I just thought: Moth Child.
Chronal bursts out laughing. Amity grins at him.
FINESSE and LYRIC and SHIFT (together)
Moth Child?!?
AMITY (sincere tone)
Yes, and the best thing about that is, it's not at all a really stupid name.
CHRONAL (breathlessly)
I love it!
FINESSE
And you are forbidden from having it.
The front doorbell rings, sounding like the 60s Iron Man theme tune.
FINESSE
Wraith, your penance is answering that.
WRAITH
All this, just for a suggestion...
SHIFT
A truly disquieting suggestion. And you never did save that premise before offending me. Begone.
WRAITH
Ehhhhhh...
He goes.
LYRIC
That's telling him.
Suddenly, the TARDIS sound happens. The police phone! Lyric gets up.
LYRIC
Don't even pretend, guys. I'll get it.
FINESSE
Good - o.
He goes to the police comm.
SHIFT
You know, I think I might become Moth Child.
CHRONAL
Do it!
FINESSE
Don't.
AMITY
Well, as the one with the deciding vote, I -
She stops, and suddenly leaps to her feet.
AMITY
Something's wrong with Wraith -
LYRIC (from the vid screen)
Guys, over here, quick! There's an emergency!
FINESSE
Chronal, get Wraith. Everyone else...
They hurry to the vid-screen, Shift morphing into a robin to fly the distance faster. COMMISSIONER MORGAN (50s, stern, alignment: lawful-good) is looking even sterner that usual, while panicked-looking people in police uniforms race around behind her like headless chickeny types.
COMMISSIONER MORGAN
Silence. There's no time for pleasantries.
FINESSE
I hadn't -
COMMISSIONER MORGAN
Nor corrections. Seven minutes ago, a wave of what the public, press and police are somewhat hysterically calling 'mutates' attacked the Paul Ball Mall in downtown Dinas. We don't know where they came from, but they're wearing this costume.
A photo of a man with muscles on his muscles, Image comics-style, half an arm, a series of fang-laden mouths running down his chest and stomach and sort-of melty skin appears on screen. The Scribblers recoil, and react simultaneously.
FINESSE
Jesus god!
AMITY
Argh!
SHIFT
Oooohh, that's not nice...
LYRIC
That is right 'angin', like.
COMISSIONER MORGAN
We also have no time for horrified reactions. Know the uniform?
FINESSE
Well, as far as I can tell under the - skin... slime, it looks like Ringtone's.
AMITY
Oh, surely not? He's a closetted mid-life crisis, not... this.
COMMISSIONER MORGAN
His name is a start. We can question him now under the Supervillain Clause, and he might give us leads. Meanwhile we need you all downtown.
SHIFT
How many of them are there, and what powers do - ?
CHRONAL (v/o)
Guys, quick!
They turn. Chronal and Wraith are entering the room, sagging slightly under the weight of BLOCK. He's in a bad way -most of his chest and one arm are covered in a bad burn, but the skin looks slightly frozen over it. Claw and talon marks cover most of him, meaning any part not covered by his extremely ripped designer-cool costume is all blood and that. He's unconscious. There's a lump on his skull,with a trickle of blood coming from it making its way down the side of his face.
Amity sprints to his side. The others also approach, except Shift, who stays to be briefed by Commissioner Morgan.
FINESSE
What the - ?
AMITY (authoritatively)
Lie him down, I need to see him.
CHRONAL
Well, it seems Block here came calling, and then Wraith opened the door, and then Wraith panicked and brained him with a pipe, and now he's unconscious.
WRAITH
Player got all nemesis-y in my face and that.
CHRONAL
He said "Help me, they're after me." Or tried to.
They get Block onto the sofa.
LYRIC
Please tell me you didn't do the rest.
WRAITH
Of course not! I don't have fire powers. I'm not Fire Child.
LYRIC
He came like that?
FINESSE
We should send him back to seller. Amity?
AMITY
Well, he's suffering from enormous mental trauma and is now also concussed, but I think I can bring him round for a moment or two. I doubt we'll get much sense out of him, though. And he needs a hospital fast - specifically a burns ward.
FINESSE
Let's listen to whatever he wants first.
WRAITH
Really? He's your nemesis! You want to give him any of your time?
FINESSE (pained)
No, I'm his nemesis. There is a distinct difference.
LYRIC
And that's telling him.
(beat)
Or would be if he weren't unconscious.
AMITY
Also, mutates attack and a villain arrives looking mauled. Hang on... I think...
CHRONAL
Mutates?
AMITY
There!
Nothing happens for a second, and then Block awakens, his eyes glassy and unfocused; he whimpers, writhing slightly in obvious pain. Finesse crouches next to him.
FINESSE
Alright, what did you do, you absolute tool?
AMITY (in token mild reproach)
Finesse. We don't know he did anything yet.
LYRIC
He's a known criminal.
AMITY
Yes, I know. I just had to say it to clear my conscience. Carry on.
BLOCK (hoarse whisper)
He's... they're... please...
He grabs Finesse, who doesn't fight him off but gives him the most displeased look she can muster.
BLOCK
Please... it went wrong, something... something...
FINESSE
Tell me what and stop wasting my time.
AMITY
Oh, he can't. He's very unfocused; he's not even sure if you're real.
FINESSE
Tool.
BLOCK
It changed... it shouldn't have... the serum -
FINESSE
What?
She freezes, staring at him; looks at the vid-screen; looks back at him.
FINESSE
XGH? Is it XGH, you absolute sodding moron?
BLOCK
It shouldn't have done that... it was safe...
Finesse closes her eyes. Amity lays a hand on her arm.
FINESSE (evenly)
Knock him out again before I do.
AMITY (doing so)
Er... right. Well, that wasn't the answer you wanted.
Shift arrives.
WRAITH
Is that what Pricktaro used on the nemeses?
LYRIC
Yes. On a scale of one to ten, how bad is this?
FINESSE
I don't have words. It's supposed to be practically impossible to get hold of, so if he's found a way to - how many mutates, Shift?
CHRONAL
Mutates?
SHIFT
Ah, bad news. A few hundred.
AMITY
A few hundred?
FINESSE
So he can manufacture XGH for hundreds, now. He can synthesise it, albeit apparently badly. That is already terrible. But it's made mutates.
CHRONAL
I think I was out of the room when the mutates were -
AMITY
Is there a cure, though? I mean -
LYRIC
It changes genetics, doesn't it? That's not the sort of thing you can just cure.
FINESSE
No, it's not. And this looks like, just... random mutation.
SHIFT
Well... Kayleigh can help... and I have a friend I went to university with who does bioinformatics.
WRAITH
Bio-what?
SHIFT
It's a bit complicated. But relevantly he was heavily involved with mapping out super-genes, and then creating inhibitor technology. It's made amazing strides towards curing genetic disorders, though. They're in the final trial stages for curing Huntingtons at the moment.
AMITY
Really? You have a friend who cured Huntingtons?
LYRIC
And inhibitor tech?
CHRONAL
And might explain the mutates?
SHIFT
Yes to all three. Among other things. The inhibitor was to help contain criminals - he worked on a psychic disruptor for similar reasons, but then realised just how badly that technology could be abused when all he wanted was to help humanity, and so burned the research for noble reasons.
AMITY
... Wow.
SHIFT (thoughtfully)
He once told me, though, that in an alternate universe he'd probably want to be a starship captain or a time traveller.
AMITY
...
SHIFT
Anyway. The estimate is around three hundred mutates, and a full range of powers. And they seem to be very rampagey and unreasonable and attempting much property damage and death. The police have managed to get a cordon around it, but they can't contain them, and they've no idea how many civilians are still in there.
FINESSE
Then we've no time for this tool. Stretcher please, Lyric. Amity, get him to a hospital. We'll call Kayleigh and Shift's noble scientist friend on the way, so the second Block is in someone else's hands go and liaise with them, make sure they're up to date. We'll try and catch one of these mutates alive for them to examine.
AMITY
Will I be any use to them? I'm no scientist.
FINESSE
You can read body chemistry better than a machine. Of course you will. Let's go.
They all get up and file out, carrying Block on Lyric's freshly made stretcher toward the Trans-Jet bay. Chronal and Wraith hang back as the others go through.
CHRONAL
So... you were out of the room for longer than I was. Why aren't you asking what's going on with these mutates?
WRAITH
What, you mean, I haven't been told yet?
CHRONAL
What?
WRAITH
Dude, I never know what's going on.
CHRONAL
Oh yeah.
CUT TO:
4. EXT. PAUL BALL MALL. Day 1 - 0934
Big, sprawling mall, big like Cribbs Causeway, sort of thing. The Trans-Jet flies overhead.
CUT TO:
5. INT. PAUL BALL MALL - FLOOR 3. Day 1 - 0934
Modern mall interior, all swish chrome and soft brown-and-beige colour scheme and artfully-positioned escalators. Walkways overlook the floors below, where there is a fountain, and the floors above, where a glass dome forms the ceiling. Shops about. Normally prettiness abounds.
Currently, mentalness abounds. Mutates are everywhere, destroying everything. A pair of teenagers are sheltering beneath a back-to-back pair of benches, as a mutate with three-and-a-half arms covered in bristle rips up the floor plan and swings it violently towards the benches; the teenagers scream -
And a Rhino gallops in from the side, charging the mutate clean out of the way.WRAITH appears out of nowhere, and sidles up to the bench.
WRAITH
Hey. Uh... I'm Wraith.
TEEN#1
Oh my god, was... was that a rhino?
WRAITH
Yeah, no, that's my friend Shift. She's like that some times.
TEEN#2
You're the Scribblers! You'll save us!
WRAITH
Um, that's the plan. So, I'm going to turn you invisible now, and we're going to get out, agreed?
TEEN#1
Definitely...
WRAITH
Yeah. Good. Go.
They all become invisible. The eye of the beholder draws away to a few metres away, where the mutate is swiping at a rapidly-transforming SHIFT, who keeps changing between small-and-mobile and large-and-punchy animals to avoid/punch him.
CUT TO:
6. INT. PAUL BALL MALL - FLOOR 1. Day 1 - 0935
FINESSE and LYRIC are fighting mutates through ninja techniques and occasionally shouting fire extinguishers, nets and the like into being. CHRONAL knocks out a scaly mutate beside the fountain, and approaches a gaggle of ADORABLE CHILDREN crouched in a ruined shop doorway.
CHRONAL
Hey -
ADORABLE CHILDREN
Argh!!!!
CHRONAL
No no, it's okay, they can't get you, look -
He freezes time.
CHRONAL (beaming)
There, you see - ?
ADORABLE CHILDREN
Argh!!!!
CHRONAL
Oh. Er... it's okay! I am a Scribbler, and I shall now save you! From the mutates I still don't understand!
ADORABLE CHILDREN
Argh!!!!
CHRONAL
Hmm. This is a lot harder than comics would have you believe.
Meanwhile in Real Time, Finesse and Lyric are fighting three angry mutates. One breathes fire at them.
FINESSE
Shield!
A shimmering in the air indicates the shield, which deflects the fire.
LYRIC
Cheers! But there are hundreds of - darts! - them, think we can keep this up?
FINESSE
Well, they - chains! - aren't clever, so I reckon so. They - shield! - don't have a sense of reason, or strategy.
LYRIC
Like Wraith?
FINESSE
Ha!
A mutate rears to the left, and she directs his energy blast clean into the flamey one, knocking him out.
FINESSE
Awesome. Let's take that one home.
LYRIC
Chains, gag, hood.
They appear on the now-prone flamey one.
LYRIC
Hate to ask, but why can't you do that to all of them?
FINESSE
Well -
She leaps onto the fountain plinth and spreads her hands; the energy bolts tear out of the mutate in question, and deck the twenty nearest that were approaching. Lyric hastily binds them all; but as he does, the mutate seems to overload, and collapses with a gurgled yell.
FINESSE
Dammit. That's why. They're still mutating, Lyric.
LYRIC
What?!
FINESSE
I know. Whatever that bloody serum did, it's still doing it. Their powers keep changing.
LYRIC
I'll tell Amity. The scientists will need to know.
CUT TO:
7. EXT. THE SWINGING BLUE GENES PLC OFFICES. Day 1 - 0938
Big, sleek, glass-fronted building, with a multi-coloured sign over a set of doors. There is an intercom thingy. AMITY is also there, talking on the comm.
AMITY
They're still mutating?
LYRIC('s voice)
Yeah. 'Tis mingin' beyond, like. We've got you one, though, so you'll be able to experiment soon. In, you know, a totally humane way.
AMITY
I really love it when we remember that part.
She reaches the intercom and presses the button.
AMITY
Anyway, I'm here, and Kayleigh's en route. I'd better go and meet this scientist of Shift's.
The intercom crackles into life, sounding static-y for a second.
LYRIC
Ah, yes, the one you clearly fanc -
AMITY
Shut up, Lyric...
INTERCOM VOICE
Er... sorry? I'm not Lyric.
AMITY
What? Oh god, no, I didn't mean - Hello! I'm Amity! I'm here to meet a Professor Amalgam?
AMALGAM('s voice)
Oh good! I am that one.
AMITY
Excellent!
AMALGAM('s voice)
I think so too! I'm coming out to let you in now, don't worry. Sorry, we used to be able to buzz people in, but -
A DOG appears inside the building, visible through the glass, wearing a waistcoat. It trots happily to the doors. Amity grins at it, and then blinks.
AMALGAM('s voice)
- after I invented the terrible psychic disruption technology that could have so harmed humanity and had to burn it we've been stronger on security. And, er, sometimes I can be a bit... territorial, anyway, because... oh...
The dog jumps up at the glass for a second, pawing at the keypad beside the door, before pausing and looking mournfully at Amity. She stares at it, mesmerised.
AMALGAM('s voice)
Oh dear. Wrong one. Sorry, let me try again.
AMITY (in wonder)
I'm very sorry if this is a sensitive question, but... are you this dog?
Inside the building a GOAT appears, also in a waistcoat.
AMALGAM('s voice)
Didn't I - ? Damn. In fact, I... am, in a manner of speaking. Partly. Well -
AMITY (delightedly)
Oh my god, are you this goat, too?
AMALGAM('s voice)
The goat? Shit, did I send the goat? Wait, let me use the mirror this time...
There is a pause, during which Amity beams happily at the faintly awkward-looking dog and goat, while the dog looks back at her, slowly wagging its tail.
AMALGAM('s voice)
Oh, bugger. Of course. I'm still using the intercom, which means the human mouth is still here. Sorry. I'm on my way...
AMITY (cheerfully)
Thank you!
She crouches down to the dog and goat. The dog wags its tail harder and takes a small step forward before apparently remembering itself, and looking slightly embarrassed.
AMITY
Your mind is amazing, you know! I can feel it from both parts of you. Same mind, two - three - bodies. But different instincts live in your different heads, don't they? I've never felt anything like it. Oh, sorry - can you still hear me through the glass?
The goat nods, and makes a series of strange bleats, as though trying to talk. Amity giggles.
AMITY
Sorry. That was your goat mouth.
A HUMAN appears at the door, and she stands.It is AMALGAM (eccentric, witty, playful), wearing a costume including a matching waistcoat and a Victorian frock-coat and hunting boots combination. This one is a white frock-coat, for working in the lab. He opens the door, and shakes her hand.
AMALGAM
Hello! Again. Sorry - I meant to say, I actually have five bodies, but one's on the roof and the other is in my tank. I feel I should stress that I'm not normally this bad.
AMITY
Bad?
AMALGAM
Mixing myself up like some benzadrine loon. I've just been working quite hard this morning...
AMITY
That's okay! I'm extremely clumsy too! And that's just with one body to pilot. It probably borders on farcical that one of my favourite hobbies is dancing, therefore.
Dog actually jumps into the air in its excitement and barks before suddenly fleeing to the lab. Amalgam looks at her, apparently delighted.
AMALGAM
You dance? Me too!
AMITY
Really? Hooray! Ooh, what types -
Her communicator beeps, and she sighs.
AMITY
Yes?
FINESSE('s voice)
We have a serious problem.
CUT TO:
8. INT. PAUL BALL MALL - FLOOR 1. Day 1 - 0940
FINESSE and SHIFT are fighting MANY MUTATES around CHRONAL, who is kneeling over the BOUND MUTATE from earlier, keeping him frozen. LYRIC is fighting a few metres away.WRAITH may also be there, but if so he's invisible, and besides, no one cares.
FINESSE
The transformations aren't just ongoing - they're definitely random!
AMITY('s voice)
Really? What does - ?
FINESSE
They're incomplete! One'll get the gene to throw fire, but won't be fire-proof!
SHIFT (mildly)
It's true. It's really disgusting.
FINESSE
And I don't know how much - shit...
A mutate rears up in front of her, his flesh glistening and red, and throws his hands towards her; liquid shoots out of them that Finesse deflects to either side where it scorches the floor and fountain -
And the mutate screams, suddenly clawing at his own body wildly, his fingers digging in and tearing without blood -
His flesh bubbles, moving like molten wax -
And it runs off his skeleton, leaving him to melt to the floor until the screaming finally stops.
The Scribblers stare at the puddle in shock for a moment, until a sound like thunder jerks them back to attention, and they look up numbly. The mutates are hurling themselves against an invisible dome around them.
AMITY('s voice)
Guys? Guys, what happened? Can anyone hear me?
FINESSE (without emotion)
One just melted in front of us. Their DNA is coming apart. Tell Amalgam.
SHIFT
Well, that was displeasingly horrific.
LYRIC
What's protecting us?
FINESSE
Me. The one at the back. It's already slipping away, though.
There is another pause.
CHRONAL (voice low)
Are any of them going to survive this?
FINESSE
No.
CHRONAL
Will it be that painful?
FINESSE
Yes.
They watch for a second more as the dome slowly disintegrates around them, one mutate glowing like a candle and screaming, another rapidly deforming.
LYRIC (quietly)
Okay then.
The dome vanishes, and the mutates rush in.
LYRIC
Ystradebol.
The Scribblers attack.
CUT TO:
9. INT. THE SWINGING BLUE GENES PLC LAB. Day 1 - 0952
AMITY is standing at a work bench, staring blankly through illustrated notes on a holo-screen. AMALGAM comes in with a tray bearing a teapot and two tea cups. One has a small piece of foil next to it.
AMALGAM (gently)
Any better?
AMITY (sadly)
Okay. Well, they're all incredibly traumatised, but they've pushed it aside to focus on being totally livid instead.
(beat)
Especially Finesse and Lyric, but they're sort of like that anyway.
AMALGAM
I meant you. I know a bit about psionic bonding.
AMITY (smiling)
Yeah. I'll be fine. Tragically we've all seen worse. Although this is the first time we've had to do the put-out-of-misery thing on this kind of scale.
AMALGAM (glumly)
Yes. Well, they were right to do it. I suspect the pain levels for the goons were comparable to radiation poisoning.
AMITY
Oh no! Like the tenth Doctor?
AMALGAM (brightening)
Yes! Wasn't that a brilliant episode?!
AMITY
I know!! And everyone was so good in it, and it was just the perfect start for Matt Smith!!
AMALGAM
Who, by the way, is excellent!
AMITY
Yes he is!
(beat)
Oh. Off-topic. Sorry. Um... the XGH. What the hell is going on?
AMALGAM
Oh yes. Well, it's impossible to say for certain given that I don't have a sample or a patient, but... XGH works by creating the right mutations in the DNA to produce a super power. In the case of those fellows calling themselves your nemeses it seems to have been straightforward, relatively speaking. They've never changed have they?
(beat)
Powers, that is. I assume they change clothes.
AMITY (giggling)
Yes, me too, and one might argue in any case that it would be an irrelevant question.
AMALGAM (grinning)
It would be fairly irrelevant, yes.
AMITY
No. Their powers have always been stable. Deliberately engineered, too.
AMALGAM
Here... the XGH caused random mutations. For safe superpowers you need several mutated genes, not just one - like Finesse said -
AMITY
You need to be fire-proof if you can throw fire.
AMALGAM
Pretty much. The problem is the nature of DNA, though. Mutations occur essentially when the DNA chain splits in half, and replicates wrongly. It sounds like it was split too many times, too fast for these people. It couldn't keep fixing. They literally fell apart.
AMITY
Right.
She looks up at the holographic DNA chain splitting.
AMITY
Gosh. I'm very cross now, you know.
AMALGAM
Yes, me too. Genetic science is meant to help humankind, not destroy it!
AMITY
I agree! Let's have tea.
AMALGAM
Ooh, lets. The milk's in the tank.
He puts the cup, with its piece of foil, in front of her. Amity turns, and takes the carton of milk from the octopus tentacle that holds it out to her.
AMALGAM (musing)
Hmm. I wonder how tea-based superpowers would work?
Amity stops dead, and looks up at him.
AMITY (not daring to hope)
... Did you just ask me a hypothetical question...?
CUT TO:
10. INT. DINAS CENTRAL HOSPITAL - BLOCK'S ROOM, SECURE WING. Day 1 - 1005.
A private hospital room with two doors, one leading out to the main hospital corridor, the other to the storage rooms. The room contains one bed, a sod-load of medical equipment beeping away and a chair containing a SECURITY GUARD (40s, humourless, kind). His name is Norman. Hello, Norman. BLOCK is in the bed, heavily bandaged, unconscious and handcuffed to the bedrails. A DOCTOR (30s, tall, very long dreadlocks) is talking quietly to the security guard, holding Block's notes. Her name is Dr Osoba. Hello, Dr Osoba.
DR OSOBA
It's actually not as bad as it looks. We've cleaned the burns, but either he was very lucky or very good with his powers - he managed to get them frozen almost immediately after getting them, so it's saved the flesh and most of the skin. Hopefully he won't even need a skin graft.
NORMAN
Looks like agony, mind.
DR OSOBA
That's more of an issue. We've got him on Orimorph at the moment, which hopefully will help, but until he wakes up we won't know if we need to increase the dose or not. And he's in shock.
NORMAN
Not too surprised. I hear it's been carnage downtown.
DR OSOBA (heavily)
Yes. We've got 56 patients either here or en route to us, and more were -
She stops as Block suddenly whimpers and then screams, rushing to his side and scanning the monitors efficiently.
DR OSOBA
Mr Block, my name is Dr Osoba, and you're in Dinas Central. Can you - ?
BLOCK (hoarsely)
The - where is it? I had - I had it -
DR OSOBA
Your possessions are here.
She indicates a tray beside the bed, containing a cracked pocket mirror, a crumpled packet of polos and a small cannister; Block goes to throw a hand towards it, but is halted by the handcuffs.He stares down at them.
DR OSOBA
Also you're under arrest, but try not to worry about that right now.
BLOCK
But... I can't be.
DR OSOBA
You really are. Try not to worry.
NORMAN
A lot of people died today, mate. We're still getting the reports in -
BLOCK (urgently)
What time is it? Quick! How long was I out?
DR OSOBA
Just gone ten, I believe, so not long. About half an hour.
BLOCK
Finesse. I need to see Finesse of the Scribblers.
NORMAN
She's just been cleaning up your mess, mate. I doubt she'll want to see you -
BLOCK (almost screaming)
It doesn't matter! We're all going to die if she doesn't! She'll understand that! Please, please you have to get her here!
Norman stands, alarmed, and hurries out to call his superiors.
BLOCK (still mentals)
We'll die! We're all going to die!! She has to come, she -
DR OSOBA (calmly)
Do you want any more morphine?
(beat)
BLOCK (meekly)
... yes, please.
CUT TO:
11. INT. THE SWINGING BLUE GENES PLC. Day 1 - 1015
In the lab, AMITY and AMALGAM are dancing the lindy hop to music. OCTOPUS is doing very similar movements in its tank. The buzzer goes for the front door and they both stop, guiltily. Octopus keeps going.
AMITY
Oh. Er, that'll probably be the rest of the team.
AMALGAM
Oh yeah. I'll be back in a jiffy!
DOG runs out.
AMITY
That was Dog.
AMALGAM
I'll be back in a jiffy!
He runs out. Amity grins to herself, and goes about making more tea and two hot chocolates.
After a moment, the SCRIBBLERS PLUS KAYLEIGH file in, carrying MUTATE MAN on a stretcher. CHRONAL is carrying a glowy device. Amity stops and hugs LYRIC; Amalgam is talking to SHIFT, apparently trying very hard not to bounce up and down. Dog is running excitedly around the lab. Octopus continues to lindy hop. FINESSE watches Dog in apparent fascination.
AMALGAM
Amity, look! People! And Shift, whom I already know!
SHIFT
This is why we're friends, you see. He doesn't see me as 'people'.
AMALGAM
It's so exciting!
KAYLEIGH
Would we class 'outbreak of mutates' as exciting?
WRAITH
It was pretty boss. Well, except for the end.
LYRIC (wry)
Yeah. You can tell you've being doing a job too long when this sort of thing is just a 'bad day at work'.
Amity smiles sadly, but doesn't push it.
AMITY
I prescribe tea for all.
KAYLEIGH
Hooray!
AMALGAM
Hooray!
CHRONAL
No! I've suffered enough!
AMITY
I made you and Finesse hot chocolate!
CHRONAL
Hooray!
AMALGAM
Hooray!
FINESSE (fascinated)
So... one mind, four bodies?
AMALGAM
Yes! Well... five, actually. The other is on the roof.
FINESSE
Wow.
(Her communicator beeps)
Urgh. Hang on.
She leaves. Lyric and Shift have placed Mutate Man on a table, and Chronal is attaching the glowy device to his chest.
WRAITH
I vote we call him Goon Boy.
SHIFT
I vote no. He's already dying. He doesn't need the additional pain of being named by you.
WRAITH
Hey! What's wrong with Moth Child?
LYRIC
So once Chronal lets him go... is he going to die?
AMALGAM (peering at Goon Boy intently)
If we can't find a cure. What's the device?
CHRONAL
My latest toy! I invented it after Time Wang. This is a Freeze Frame!
KAYLEIGH
Good name.
CHRONAL
Thank you. What I do is, look, I freeze something - in this case Goon Boy - in time -
SHIFT
Oh dear. That seems to be sticking.
WRAITH
Because it's boss.
CHRONAL
- and then, right, then, I calibrate the Freeze Frame, and it holds the time bubble stable for me! So I don't have to!
AMITY
Wow! That's so clever!
AMALGAM
That's amazing!
CHRONAL
I know! I'm so clever. Honestly. You've no idea.
LYRIC
Yes, you really are. So how are we curing Goon Boy?
CHRONAL
Awww. You ruined my narcissism.
Finesse enters.
FINESSE
Hey guys. Block's woken up and is demanding to see me, apparently, or else, and I quote, "We'll all die." Tool.
LYRIC
Eh, don't bother. That doesn't sound serious.
SHIFT
You just don't like anyone on that team because your nemesis is a crazy who wants to psycho-marry you.
AMALGAM
Gosh, really? That sounds frightful.
WRAITH (morosely)
Mine's a sociopath who knows my life and keeps plaigiarising my artwork.
FINESSE
Mine's a tool. Anyway, I'd better go. We still need to interview him anyway. Laters.
She leaves. Amalgam and Kayleigh start setting up equipment, as Chronal fiddles with the Freeze Frame.
AMALGAM (to Amity)
So what's your nemesis like?
AMITY
Oh, you know. A sadistic and malicious telepath who forced at least one of the others into becoming what they are.
SHIFT
Mine is Metal Man. He didn't know they weren't going for ironic nicknames until they'd handed their forms in.
Everyone laughs at Metal Man.
CUT TO:
12. INT. DINAS CENTRAL HOSPITAL - BLOCK'S ROOM, SECURE WING. Day 1 - 1032
FINESSE is sitting in the chair beside BLOCK's bed, looking bored and disgruntled, reading a crappy hospital-waiting-room magazine with 'The 100 Hottest Superheroes of the Year!!!' splashed across the front.Block is just stirring; slowly, he turns his head and tries to focus on her.
FINESSE
Huh. Chronal at number one again. No surprise there.
BLOCK (groggily)
Nng... Finesse...?
FINESSE (not looking up)
Oh, you aren't listed. This list is exclusively for people who aren't total losers.
BLOCK
Ugh. This is you people through and through, isn't it?
FINESSE (bored)
I am, of course, desperate for your clarification of that statement.
BLOCK
You people, people with powers. Always. The arrogance.
FINESSE
My irony meter just exploded.
BLOCK
I'm serious!
FINESSE
So am I, moron. You just played God with the genetics of three hundred people and melted them.
BLOCK
That - it shouldn't have - that wasn't our fault! It couldn't be! And that's not the point! It's the entitlement, listen to you! You get these powers naturally, just gifted them, and you don't appreciate them.
FINESSE
Ah.
She puts down the magazine, sits up and leans forward over his bed, resting her forearms on the bed frame, watching her intently.
FINESSE
That's Medium I hear, yes?
BLOCK (defiantly)
She's right, though.
FINESSE
Of course she's not, you halfwit, try actually thinking about it. When Amity was thirteen years old her powers began to activate. An empath. At thirteen. And they don't kick in all at once like I imagine yours did, did you know that? It happens slowly. You get symptoms first - hints of what your power will be, and you haven't a prayer of being able to control it at that stage. So do you know what she went through?
BLOCK (sulkily)
No.
FINESSE (quietly)
At thirteen years old, when she was starting to develop as a human being, at the most formative and emotionally intense stage of her life, she realised she was able to influence other people's decisions. If she wanted something, she just... pushed a bit of seratonin here and there when she suggested it. Or lowered a dopemine level or two, so they couldn't link a bad experience with what she was asking, and so wouldn't think to object. She didn't know that was precisely what she was doing, of course - but she did. Can you imagine that, for a moment? At thirteen, at her most emotionally insecure, she could completely rob people of their humanity and choice to please herself; make people go out with her, break up friendships and relationships, force new ones, make teachers do what she wanted... the list goes on. Which meant, as time went by, that the people she came into contact with started to develop mental illnesses. Bi-polar was the big one. And she came to realise what she was doing. So, at fifteen, now with more powers at her command and a better understanding of how they worked, and full of a brand new set of good intentions - do you know what she did?
BLOCK (still sulking like a bitch)
Became a hero?
FINESSE
I think that was the basic idea. More specifically, she decided to use her powers for good. So can you guess what she did? She tried to make people happy.
Block stares at her blankly.
BLOCK
I don't get it.
FINESSE
Nor did she at first. But the fact is, you earn happiness for yourself. That's how it has to be. You can't force it on someone unnaturally, or they can't learn and develop. Both the mind and the brain make links, emotional and physical, where they programme themselves to respond to specific input. She had a friend, a good friend. She wanted him to be happy. And his brain learned that "normal" was to make seratonin all the time. His mind learned that everything in the world, every input, would make him happy - to this day, he has the emotional intelligence of a fifteen-year-old, because he could never learn the basic lessons the rest of us do. If you get burned, you don't touch fire again. He couldn't get that. And when he eventually did, it nearly drove him insane.
There is silence for a few seconds as they both watch each other.
BLOCK (really listening now)
So what happened?
FINESSE
She realised how dangerous she was. How dangerous she could be. She came to the realisation that there are no easy answers, and her powers were a double-edged sword that she was going to have to learn to wield properly before she killed someone. So she decided that, firstly, if she wanted to help people in this world, she was going to learn how to do that as anyone else can, powers or not. A real hero. She became a medic.
BLOCK
And then?
FINESSE
Then she learned how brain chemistry works. Every nuance of it that we understand, before joining scientific teams across the country doing studies into the areas we don't understand. She can confirm and deny things, see. By this point her powers had developed their psionic edge, so she could read an emotion as easily as you or I can see if someone is smiling or not. Humanity's knowledge of mental illness, emotion and several areas of psychology advanced phenomenally in that time, because of her, and all along she drank in every bit of information she could get, to make herself safer to everyone around her. And then, once she'd done that, she went back and cured everyone she'd ever given bi-polar disorder. And then - and only then - did she become a superhero.
There is another pause as they look at each other again. A bird sings cheerfully outside the window.
FINESSE
That is a truncated version of the story of just one of my team members. She struggles every day - every single bloody day - with the knowledge of what she could so easily be. So do we all. And you think we don't appreciate our powers? You think they're just a gift?
(beat)
Well, here's what I think. I think you, and Medium, and Dischord, and all of the rest of you, are a sad little group of tiny, pathetic people who never amounted to anything or achieved anything for a single day in your entire god damned lives.
BLOCK
Hey!
FINESSE
You dreamed big, but totally lacked the grit, determination or effort to ever actually achieve. You wanted fame and power for their own sakes. You wanted to be big, but not if it involved actually putting in any hard work. You were, and remain, a pack of losers with pretentions to grandeur, as long as working for it means just doing whatever you want. And so you talked yourselves into believing that it's because the world is so unfair. Life would be so much simpler with powers! Powers are so cool! How come you don't get to have powers? That's the only reason you aren't succeeding... because all those powered-up people are instead!
BLOCK
That's not - !
FINESSE
And so, along comes a supervillain with a special formula, and offers you everything you ever wanted. Money, fame, the chance to be defined by someone of reknown - and, best of all, that set of superpowers you always wanted! At last! And here you are, believing you've hit the big time. Let me ask you this, Block - you've got those powers now, but what have you actually achieved with them?
BLOCK
What? Well... I -
FINESSE
Because it seems to me that for all those shiny new powers and the designer-cool costume, and the team of villains you're such an important part of; you haven't actually done anything. And if I were to give up superheroism tomorrow, you'd be out. Sintaro wouldn't need you anymore. You're only making up numbers. For all the world, you matter so little that you might as well not exist.
BLOCK (small voice)
That hurts.
FINESSE
Good. Now what the hell do you want, you tool? I haven't got all day.
CUT TO:
13. INT. THE SWINGING BLUE GENES PLC LAB. Day 1 - 1045
WRAITH is sitting cross-legged in the corner, locked in a staring contest with GOAT. CHRONAL is still calibrating the Freeze Frame, watched by an interested-looking LYRIC, while AMALGAM and KAYLEIGH take tissue samples and the like, moving about between microscopes and scanners and spectrometres and such. AMITY and SHIFT are sitting to one side, drinking tea and talking quietly.
SHIFT
So you like him, hmm?
AMITY
Oh god, is it that obvious?
SHIFT
Ah, well, it is clear as bells to one such as me. Who can read body language.
AMITY
Of course! Hey, so does he - ?
SHIFT
No idea. He has five bodies, and they all use different body languages that spill over into each other. Beyond broad emotions like "happy", "vulnerable" and "please play", I've never been able to read him that well.
AMITY
Damn.
SHIFT
Stop being inept. You're an empath. Surely you know?
AMITY (sighs)
No. Same problem. I've never seen a mind like it. I think with practice I could learn it, but...
SHIFT
But you like him, hmm?
AMITY
Oh my god, he's totally awesome! He's so... awesome! He dances! And when he stops, his octopus keeps going!
They look at the tank, where OCTOPUS is indeed still going.
AMITY
And look at his costume! And the waistcoats! And he's perfectly willing to discuss hypothetical situations about nonsense! And, right, I'm not holding out hope, but I think he might be amenable to games -
SHIFT
He is.
AMITY
Oh my god!!
SHIFT
Yes, now I come to think of it, I have no idea why I never introduced you before. He also plays musical instruments.
AMITY
Really, now, this is getting silly. He can't be real.
(beat)
Oh my god, what if he's not real?
SHIFT
Stop being crazy, you loon. Of course he is. I know him, and I'm very sane.
AMITY
Well, now I definitely think he's fake.
SHIFT (brightly and nonsensically)
Yes!
KAYLEIGH (urgently)
Hey - oh, shit - Amalgam!
Everyone looks over except Wraith, who continues attempting to out-stare Goat. Amalgam hurries over to Kayleigh, where she hastily steps aside from the microscope and all but forces his head onto it.
KAYLEIGH
Tell me that's not -
AMALGAM
Oh no.
KAYLEIGH
Shit!
AMALGAM
Also ouch.
KAYLEIGH
We've no time for me to be sorry! Where are the decontamination showers?
AMALGAM
Over there. Quick! Everyone in! I'll seal the lab!
Everyone stands immediately except Wraith, who only moves when headbutted by Goat.
AMITY
Oh goodness. Heroic and brave, too.
CHRONAL
There. The Freeze Frame is in place. What's going on?
KAYLEIGH
Has Goon Boy been frozen all that time?
CHRONAL
Yes?
AMALGAM
Then if we're quick we'll be fine. Go go go!
They race to the decontamination showers, and leap into cubicles as Amalgam sprints around the lab, gloved up and wielding tongs, throwing slides and samples into the incinerator.
CUT TO:
14. INT. THE DECONTAMINATION ROOM. Day 1 - 1047
A row of airlocked cubicles are currently in use by a SCRIBBLER each - DOG and GOAT are sitting patiently waiting for AMALGAM in the end one.The Scribblers continue to shout to each other.
WRAITH
Now my hair is wet and may swell to twice its volume. I demand to know why I've had to do this.
KAYLEIGH
Well, Goon Boy had a cold.
WRAITH
A cold? You've made me run into a shower with no conditioner for a cold?
LYRIC
Conditioner.
CHRONAL
Argh!
LYRIC
Oh, sorry, I thought Wraith was in that one. Conditioner.
WRAITH
Argh!
LYRIC
There we go.
AMITY
So what's the problem with him having a cold? Other than it meaning he is really not having a good day.
KAYLEIGH
It's a virus!
SHIFT
I knew that.
AMITY
I'm still not -
Amalgam arrives, and leaps into the cubicle with Dog and Goat, slamming the door behind him. There are some comical squashed sounds and a truncated bleat before the water starts.
AMALGAM
Okay! We should be alright, but we're going to have to suit up before we go back in.
AMITY
Er... why's a cold so bad, though? So far we've covered that it's a virus, but I'm not understanding the relevance yet.
KAYLEIGH
Viri replicate by splitting DNA and replacing strands with their own. Sort of. Bits of strands. Ish.
AMALGAM
It's why they don't really count as alive, you see, and that's why it's very difficult to kill them, so antibiotics have to just nuke all cells, and that's why they aren't good for you. Although we've been doing work with a type of gene therapy here in the case of really bad viri -
SHIFT
Ah, your octopus is making you fixate, old friend. We were in the middle of exposition.
AMALGAM
Oops. Oh yes! The cold! Well, do you see? If it absorbs mutating DNA, and then the virus spreads -
AMITY
Oh my god!
CHRONAL
I don't want that!
AMALGAM
Yes. The mutations could become viral. A virus that mutates people.
WRAITH
... how good is this shower, did you say?
CUT TO:
15. DINAS CENTRAL HOSPITAL - BLOCK'S ROOM, SECURE WING. Day 1 - 1048
FINESSE and BLOCK, back in the hospital room.Block is still handcuffed to the bed, Finesse sitting and watching him, arms crossed. All samey samey.
BLOCK
It wasn't us.
FINESSE
That strikes me as unlikely.
BLOCK
If it was us I wouldn't have been there to get burned, would I?!
FINESSE
You're not that bright.
BLOCK
But - !
FINESSE
Convince me. Come on. Tell me what you think happened. Evidence would be useful. And explain why we're all apparently going to die.
BLOCK
Finesse, I swear, there wasn't any need for us to do it intentionally! They were goons! We were shipping them out to Ringtone.
She stares at him.
FINESSE
Were you now?
BLOCK
It's one of the businesses, I - anyway, the point is, we give them minor but effective superpowers for the job, we hire them out. And it works! And we're good at it! Maybe if one or two had gone then I'd say it was us who mis-calibrated, but - all of them? And this badly? The serum was altered. Someone tampered with it, I'm telling you.
Finesse stares into the middle distance, thinking hard.
FINESSE (faintly)
But why? A diversion? No reports so far of anything else amiss in Dinas, but it's early days... No clear victims, so mindless violence? The thrill of having done it?
BLOCK
I've got a sample. Of the serum.
FINESSE
What? Where?
BLOCK
In the tray. In the cannister. It's how I got burned.
(beat)
I know I'm not that bright, you know. Not compared to most. But I did know this was important, Finesse.
She stands, and moves around to the tray, where she takes the cannister.
FINESSE
Possibly more than you know. You've just described a very lucrative business, haven't you? Goon production. That must be a money earner and a half.
BLOCK (uneasily)
Yes. Although I won't tell you -
FINESSE
The more I think about it, you see, the more I think this was an attack on you people. Sintaro, the business - a 'shipment' with another villain's name on goes publically AWOL and leads to said villain's arrest? That's the worst business reputation in the world. And now you can't trust your own production until you've flushed it all of every possible trace of corruption, so you can't fulfil any other contracts to set things right... I think Mr Sintaro has a rival.
VILLAINOUS VOICE FROM THE SHADOWS
Oh, very good, darling.
Finesse spins around, as enter VILLAIN and FIVE HENCHPEOPLE -
FINESSE
You? But how - ?
She freezes, and then rounds on a terrified Block.
FINESSE
Stop blocking me, you fucking idiot!
BLOCK
Oh. Sorry.
VILLAIN
Yes, I was going to say I was surprised we caught you unawares, Finesse. He's quite foolish, though.
FINESSE (quietly)
Yes he is.
(beat)
So tell me, Great Niobe. Am I right?
Niobe laughes, and fans herself with a black fan. The Niobids around her start to fan out, dressed in black chitons; warily, Finesse edges towards the second door.
NIOBE
Oh yes, top marks! The irony is, if you had all the facts, you'd probably thank me. Well, not thank me as such. Agree. Well, not agree. But you'd favour me for the underlying principle.
BLOCK (terrified)
Are you here to kill me?
NIOBE
What? Sorry, which one are you again - ? Oh, oh no. Not now. It was that serum sample we wanted. Although it is a shame a Scribbler has it. That does complicate things.
FINESSE
Block, please could you actually block the sodding telepath yourself now?
NIOBE
Oh, if you do, I will then kill you.
Block whimpers. Niobe smiles.
NIOBE
I identified the flaw in your powers a while ago, Finesse. You have total, inescapable control over others, don't you? But only as long as you're focusing on them. Two at once, and with just a touch of effort they can start to pull away and resist. Three, and they might even have a chance of fighting you off completely if they were strong enough. But five? Try all of them at once, and you're reduced to the equivalent of gentle shoving to try to knock someone over. And when one is a telepath? You can't take the risk of not focusing on that one.
FINESSE
For the record, Block, if I get out of this I am going to line my team up specially just to punch you in the burn.
She reaches the door and grips the handle behind her; Niobe sighs.
NIOBE
Naturally; don't touch that. In addition to my telepath, we have here a pyrokinetic, a terrakinetic, one Niobid that can render herself into smog and one Niobid with super strength. Mostly because I like super strength. Gives fabulous muscles. Oh, and I am right about you, aren't I?
FINESSE (evenly)
Oh yes.
(She grins)
But you've really underestimated my speed with two.
It happens very fast - Gas Niobid has time to make a surprised noise before she explodes into a thick smog, surrounding the heads of the others - Telepathic Niobid takes a slight step forward and then halts, clutching his head again - they choke and gasp for air for a second, except for Niobe, who simply folds her arms and looks irritable -
And then Gas Niobid solidifies again, and Finesse is gone.
NIOBE
Go.
And they're off, racing for the door.
CUT TO:
16. INT. DINAS CENTRAL HOSPITAL - BACK CORRIDOR. Day 1 - 1052
Long twisting corridor, several right-angled corners, with various store rooms leading off it. FINESSE tears through the door and sprints. Just metres behind her the NIOBIDS enter, GAS NIOBID becoming gas and surging forward -
FIRE NIOBID hurls a bolt of fire at her as FINESSE reaches a corner -
She dives around the corner, the fire splashing harmlessly against the wall where it scorches, but doesn't catch. Finesse throws a hand back -
And brings Gas Niobid abruptly crashing back down to the floor in solid form, causing VIBRO NIOBID to trip over her. They climb back up and keep coming, the others in front of them; they race around the corner -
STRONG NIOBID casually rips a door out of its frame as they sprint past, and prepares to throw it -
Finesse glances back -
Mid-throw he yells and drops the door, strength gone. Gas Niobid becomes airborne again, and sweeps forward -
Fire Niobid throws another bolt -
The flame sweeps upward and ignites Gas Niobid, who drops solid again with a shriek, extinguished.
Finesse sprints around the next corner; the Niobids speeding up -
They round the corner -
The corridor ends at a single door, with no sign of Finesse.
CUT TO:
17. INT. DINAS CENTRAL HOSPITAL - DISUSED STORAGE ROOM. Day 1 - 1052
Piles of hospital supplies are everywhere, boxes, broken beds waiting to be fixed, broken bedside cabinets. The NIOBIDS enter, looking around warily. GAS NIOBID becomes gaseous again, and starts to dissipate. NIOBE strolls leisurely in.
NIOBE
I will let you live, you know. I'm not unreasonable. I just want that sample.
(beat)
I mean that. It would cause ever such a fuss if I killed a government agent. I mean, you know, I will if I must, but I'd really rather avoid it.
(beat)
And I assume you would.
FIRE NIOBID melts an old filing cabinet. Niobe sighs.
NIOBE
Then let me explain, darling. You cannot get out of this room. If you let go of my telepath, even for a fraction of a moment, he will know where you are. We will find you in minutes at most. If you try to attack, my pyrokinetic would start a fire, which is the last thing we want in a hospital, I'm sure. And my terrakinetic starting an earthquake wouldn't be much better. Super strength is quite useless to you -
STRONG NIOBID punches an old bed. It crumbles like paper.
NIOBE
- although rather useful to me. And the smog wouldn't incapacitate us quickly enough. And, crucially, darling - the telepath wouldn't work, would it? My darling Niobids - they don't have minds like you or I, do they? They can't be disrupted. And as you've no doubt spotted by now, I am not actually here. Holograms are so wonderful.
VIBRO-NIOBID reaches out and touches a box. It explodes.
NIOBE
So really; what are you going to do?
Cut to FINESSE, crouched behind a pile of broken stuff at the far end of the room, the cannister in one hand, staring evenly at the wall in front of her.
NIOBE('s voice)
What are you going to do?
END OF THE SHOW.
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