The story opens a day after the previous issue. It's December and clothing and outdoor scenes should be appropriate.
The issue is narrated by PAUL SMITHSTEEN, in the form of notes from his private professional files -- his "casebook". His narrative captions should be lettered in some plain (serif) typeface and will be labelled PAUL's NOTES in the script to differentiate them from his speech.
An exterior view of a typical (i.e. small, cheap, and slightly run-down) Bates Motel. The sun is rising. We should be able to see the motel sign so we know where we are. (Under the name, the sign features the slogan "Grab a hot shower!")
1. RADIO VOICE (from motel cabin):
Good morning, howdy, and welcome to another warm Texan December. It's 8.30 a.m. and you're listening to the drive time program on WKJB, proud to be a part of the Brighter Media Group!
2. RADIO VOICE (from motel cabin):
And if you're heading for the Rock Stampede this weekend, our big story today is that Granite Head have confirmed that they will not be playing the festival. More on that—*click*
Inside the cabin, and we see that PAUL's hand has emerged from his bed to turn off the bedside radio.
3. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
At least I'm myself this morning.
PAUL in the cabin's tiny bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror.
4. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
I don't usually know who I will be when I wake up.
Still in front of the mirror, he's shaving with an electric razor.
5. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
For the last 24 hours my body has been possessed by Jesse, an ultra-conservative, hard-line, Texan preacher.
Back in the bedroom, he's dressing (putting on a plain blue shirt).
6. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
I'm pretty sure he was my father.
And finally, heading out the door.
7. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
Thank God I was adopted.
A rusty basketball hoop is attached to an outside wall. WANE's hand is dunking a ball through it.
1. WANE:
Yes! San Diego takes the lead!
In a wider view we see that the makeshift basketball court is a dusty square of ground at the back of the motel. It's early morning. WANE and JAMES are playing, while SARA sits on a box (or oil drum, or something), watching them. WANE is landing after his leap to dunk the ball. JAMES is retrieving the falling ball.
2. JAMES:
My turn.
JAMES stands some way from the hoop (far enough to make a pro basketball player think twice about making the shot), bouncing the ball on the ground. WANE is in a defensive position.
3. WANE:
No chance of getting past me, dude.
JAMES has thrown the ball and it is arcing high over WANE's head and outstretched arms, heading towards the hoop.
4. JAMES:
Past you?
JAMES and WANE watch as the ball drops neatly through the hoop. SARA is on her feet, jumping and cheering.
5. WANE:
Damn!
6. SARA:
Yayyyyy!
7. WANE:
Ok guys, I'm done. Catch you at breakfast.
Outside the motel is a telephone booth. Inside the booth, using the phone, is WANE.
1. WANE:
Put me through to Special Agent Brewster.
2. WANE:
No, I can't—
3. WANE:
Oh, ok. Tell him it's Charlie Wane.
Close-up on WANE inside the phone booth.
4. VOICE (from phone):
Wane? Where are you?
5. WANE:
Never mind. I'm safe. But listen, I saw on the news last night. You're letting the Leopard out?
6. VOICE (from phone):
Yeah. The Federal Attorney won't prosecute.
Longer view of the telephone booth again, showing PAUL walking past it. PAUL's head is turned to look in at WANE.
7. WANE:
Damn it, Brewster, you promised me—
8. VOICE (from phone):
No, listen Wane, you promised me you would take the witness stand.
9. VOICE (from phone):
Without you we've got nothing. You were our case.
A large and busy FBI office. Men (and women) in suits work at desks or stand around talking. In the foreground is AGENT BREWSTER, middle-aged, Caucasian, dressed in a shirt and tie with a pistol in a shoulder holster. He's standing by a desk with a phone held to his ear. He looks angry.
10. BREWSTER:
Where are you, Wane? We can come and get you.
11. BREWSTER:
If you're scared—
12. SFX (from phone):
*click*
13. BREWSTER:
Wane? Damn it!
Back outside the motel, WANE is leaving the phone booth. His face is troubled. PAUL is still watching.
14. PAUL:
Trouble?
15. WANE:
No. Well, yeah. But—
16. WANE:
Ah, skip it. Let's see what breakfast is like in this place.
Inside a cheap diner, JAMES and SARA sit at a table. There is room at the table for the rest of the group but currently they are alone. SARA is pushing some scrambled eggs around her plate. JAMES has apparently finished breakfast.
1. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
And believe it or not, Wane's the guy in the group with the least problems.
2. SARA:
—I should have been there to help her, James.
3. JAMES:
You've got to stop blaming yourself Sara.
4. JAMES:
Besides, it was my fault.
They look at each other.
No dialogue.
Same view.
5. SARA:
You do realize what you just said, don't you?
PAUL and WANE walk up to the table. PAUL is looking around the diner dubiously.
6. WANE:
I could eat a horse!
7. PAUL (softly):
That could be what they're serving here.
All four are sitting at the table.
8. PAUL:
Where are we heading next, James?
9. JAMES:
Fred wanted to visit some rock festival around here.
10. SARA:
Not now he doesn't. Granite Head have pulled out of the gig.
11. PAUL:
Oh, thank the lord!
A hotel suite. Four people lounge around the furniture. The two young men in the background are dressed in scruffy jeans and T-shirts and are playing a console game. They don't concern us and can remain in the background of the scene.
The pair who will concern us are sitting at opposite ends of a large couch. The man is thin, scrawny, dressed in jeans and a sleeveless t-shirt. His hair is in short blonde spikes and he has considerable facial piercings. He is engaged in soldering a circuit board balanced on his knee. He is BILLY G. The woman is SUZI G, someone we've encountered before (last in ISSUE 30, for example). She is dressed all in black as usual but her pale face is devoid of its usual heavy make-up. She has a black scarf wrapped around her neck. She is reading a newspaper.
1. SUZI (softly):
Billy, get us a gig in New York next week.
He has put down his soldering iron and is looking sideways at her.
2. BILLY:
That's insane. I can't!
3. SUZI (softly):
Yes you can. The Mine has been begging us for months. They'll book us on the spot.
4. BILLY:
No, I mean, we can't play next week!
Close up on her face. She is touching the scarf at her neck.
5. BILLY (off-panel):
Suzi, the doctors said it would be weeks until your throat heals—
6. SUZI (softly):
You can build me something that will amplify my voice. Nobody will know.
Close up on him, and he's furious.
7. BILLY:
No. Way.
8. SUZI (off-panel, softly):
Way, Billy.
9. BILLY:
You could do permanent damage. It's not worth it.
A POV down over SUZI's shoulder, looking at the newspaper lying on her lap, folded open to an interior page. We can read the headline of a short story on the page: "TEMPLE OF UNITY IN NEW YORK".
10. SUZI (softly):
Yes. Yes, it is.
The exterior of a large building with classical-style architecture, situated in a large metropolis. It's a dark evening (but the building is well illuminated). Snow covers the ground and is still falling. A Canadian flag flies outside.
1. CAPTION:
Montreal.
2. VOICE (from inside building):
You dance divinely as always, Marta.
Now the interior of a large ballroom. Several couples are waltzing around the room. It's a formal occasion and everyone is dressed appropriately (in addition to all the dinner jackets and evening gowns, we might see a couple of RCMP officers in dress uniform). Serving staff meander about with trays of champagne. A small string orchestra is playing. This should probably be from a high POV to give a good view of the entire room. Central to the scene is one particular couple. We'll see them more closely in the next panel but I'll describe them now.
The man is SEBASTIAN MAKEPEACE. We've shown him before, way back in ISSUE 14 PAGE 16, but as I can't expect readers to remember a cameo from that long ago I'll work his name into the dialogue. He's in his late 40s, slim but broad-shouldered, wears an immaculate tuxedo, and has short, neatly-groomed hair. The woman is new to us: MARTA WINKERNIKLE. She is of indeterminate age (possibly 40), very attractive, slim but "well built". Her blonde hair is straight and shoulder length, though possibly arranged in some elaborate style for the occasion. She wears an elegant and demure long evening gown.
The striking fact about this couple is that they are both remarkably tall (this will be more obvious from other perspectives but it should be noticeable even here). MAKEPEACE is 6'8" (he would say 203cm because he's Canadian) and MARTA is 6'1" (185cm).
3. MARTA:
Why thank you, Sebastian.
4. MARTA:
It's rare to find a man tall enough to dance with.
Now looking at the couple more closely, and from a lower perspective, we can clearly see they tower head-and-shoulders above the other couples. Naturally they are receiving many furtive (and not-so-furtive) looks from their fellow dancers. MARTA and MAKEPEACE are oblivious to this (probably quite used to it).
1. MARTA:
So you're travelling to New York with the ambassador tomorrow?
2. MAKEPEACE:
Just an escort job. Your father-in-law doesn't know what "retired" means.
Close up of their faces while they dance and converse. MARTA looks troubled.
3. MARTA:
While you're in the States... would you check in on Alice for me?
4. MAKEPEACE:
Why yes! Massachusetts isn't far from New York.
5. MAKEPEACE:
She's—she's ok, isn't she?
Another long-distance view of them dancing (just to vary the scene a bit).
6. MARTA:
Oh, I'm sure she is. It's just... She's very young to be away from home. And in a different country, even!
7. MAKEPEACE:
Relax, my dear. Alice is a very clever young lady. Why—
Another close-up. (Dizzy yet?) MARTA is laughing at MAKEPEACE's comments.
8. MAKEPEACE:
When she went to the States, their national IQ doubled!
The dance is over and they are applauding the band (yes they still do that in Canada; they're awfully polite).
9. MAKEPEACE:
Of course I'll look in on her, my dear. But there's nothing to worry about. After all, she's a thirteen-year-old hyper-genius—
The entrance to a military base. A chain-link fence is topped by razor wire and two armed men in U.S. Air Force uniforms stand guard by a sliding gate. The gate is open and a covered truck is being waved through by one of the guards. The surrounding terrain is wooded countryside, though most of the trees are bare as befits the time and place (December in New England). It appears to be day time.
We see this scene framed in the "OO" view of high-powered binoculars.
1. CAPTION (voice-over continuing previous speech):
"—What trouble can she possibly be in?"
2. VOICE (off-panel):
Cool!
Now we see the person holding the binoculars. This is ALICE WINKERNIKLE. (It may be a while before I actually give her name in the dialogue but I hope alert readers could figure it out). She is lying full-length on the grass, binoculars held to her eyes in one hand and a cell phone held to her ear with her other hand. She's wearing a bulky green coat (suitable for the season), a wooly hat, thick jeans and hiking boots. She is thirteen years old (though we may not see enough of her to estimate her age just yet), Caucasian, slim, with short curly brown hair (though we might not see her hair because of her hat).
3. ALICE:
Geek One? Are you receiving me?
4. ALICE:
Geek One?
5. VOICE (from phone):
You didn't say "over", Scout One. Over.
ALICE has lowered her binoculars so we see her face better.
6. ALICE:
Are you receiving me, over?
7. VOICE (from phone):
Loud and clear, Scout One. How goes the reconnaissance? Over.
8. ALICE:
I see a way to enter the base. Are you into their security system?
9. ALICE:
Over.
In a darkened room, a close-up of a teenage, Caucasian male wearing thick, round glasses. He's probably a little older than ALICE though it's hard to be sure. Reflected in the glasses we see the green text of a computer monitor, showing rows and columns of hexadecimal numbers. This, in case it's not obvious, is GEEK ONE (real name unimportant at the moment).
10. GEEK ONE:
Of course! I am The One! Over.
11. VOICE (from off-panel speaker):
Excellent! We'll hit them tomorrow. I'm coming back to the dorm, over.
12. GEEK ONE:
Excellent!
13. GEEK ONE:
I'll send for pizza.
14. GEEK ONE:
Over and out.
Back in the ballroom, MAKEPEACE and MARTA are walking towards a side table where food and drink is laid out.
1.MARTA :
You're right, of course, I worry too much. Being a mother is a lot harder than being a superhero.
At the table, MAKEPEACE is ladling punch into a glass.
2. MARTA:
Come on, Sebastian. What else is on your mind?
3. MAKEPEACE:
Actually, my dear, there was something I wanted to consult you about.
4. MARTA:
I knew it!
He hands her the glass of punch.
5. SEBASTIAN:
I don't think there's anything in that which is incompatible with your metabolism.
6. MARTA:
It's fine, I can tolerate most Earth fruits.
They stand together at the side of the room, watching couples dance. Nobody is within earshot.
7. MAKEPEACE:
Well then, just between the two of us—
8. MAKEPEACE:
As a strictly academic enquiry—
9. MAKEPEACE:
Into which you should read nothing at all—
10. MARTA:
Sebastian!
11. MAKEPEACE:
Marta... are there any Krai on Earth?
Exterior view of the building.
17. VOICE (from inside building):
Sebastian!
Inside a large and bare room, a K-MAN (in wolf form) leaps to attack two startled soldiers in U.S. Marine Corps uniform. They are both armed but their weapons are not ready -- as if the attacker has taken them by complete surprise (despite the bright lights and lack of cover). Observant readers should be able to tell that the marines are also K-MEN, in human form.
1. K-MAN:
NrrrrrAAARRRRRRghhhhh!
One marine dives agilely out of the way, the other goes down under the leaping wolf and drops his weapon.
No dialogue.
The wolf is on his feet again and turning towards the marine who dodged -- who is now rolling to his knees and readying his weapon.
No dialogue.
Before the wolf can make another spring, the kneeling marine sprays him with automatic fire. Several shots clearly hit the wolf and there are big splashes of red where they hit.
2. SFX (gun firing):
phut! phut! phut!
3. SFX (shots hitting):
splat! splat! splat!
4. DISEMBODIED VOICE:
Stand down!
We now see GENERAL HAMMERSTEIN looking down on the scene through a glass window. He is at a desk with various computer screens replaying the fight from different angles. He leans forwards to look out of the window while speaking into a desk-mounted microphone.
1. HAMMERSTEIN:
Weaver, you've got to be on your toes in your human form. Morphing when you're attacked won't always be an option.
2. HAMMERSTEIN:
Drake, you've got to stop thinking you're invulnerable. You're not, even as a wolf. If that had been Don Newman with real bullets instead of Wierbowski with paint pellets, you'd be dead.
3. HAMMERSTEIN:
Wierbowski—my office in thirty minutes.
4. HAMMERSTEIN:
Dismissed.
The three K-MEN walk towards the door out of the room. I'll now label them DRAKE (in wolf form), WIERBOWSKI (the shooter) and WEAVER.
5. WIERBOWSKI:
That sucks. I do everything right and I get hauled into the old man's office!
6. DRAKE:
Man, this paint takes forever to shower off!
7. WEAVER:
Try turpentine, Drake.
8. WIERBOWSKI:
Oh yeah, like you have problems. I'm gonna get canned and I don't even know why!
Back in HAMMERSTEIN's observation room, in a fuller view of the room we see the DOCTOR behind him. She wears her usual white lab coat and her usual disapproving look.
8. DOCTOR:
You're going to promote Wierbowski, aren't you?
HAMMERSTEIN is leaving the observation room. She follows.
9. HAMMERSTEIN:
That's my decision.
10. DOCTOR:
Did you read his last psych report?
They walk side-by-side down a corridor.
11. HAMMERSTEIN:
I need a man who can take effective decisions in the field.
12. DOCTOR:
Effective?
They have stopped outside a door with HAMMERSTEIN's name on it.
1. HAMMERSTEIN:
This conversation is over, Doctor.
We see HAMMERSTEIN's office from the inside (from a POV behind his desk). The lights are on. HAMMERSTEIN is in the open doorway.
2. HAMMERSTEIN:
Aaa!
A different POV shows us SMITH the SPY sitting behind HAMMERSTEIN's desk. He wears his usual dark suit and his usual superior expression.
3. HAMMERSTEIN:
God damn it, Smith, do you have to sneak around?
4. SMITH:
That is my job, General.
5. HAMMERSTEIN:
Not in my office it isn't.
SMITH has vacated the chair and HAMMERSTEIN is sitting down.
6. SMITH:
We have a problem with Newman.
7. HAMMERSTEIN:
Another one? Or just more of the usual?
8. SMITH:
He's looking for the girl. The Chinese girl. And he's asking embarrassing questions in the wrong places.
HAMMERSTEIN looks up at SMITH thoughtfully.
9. SMITH:
And we believe he's trying to contact Henry Franklyn.
10. HAMMERSTEIN:
Franklyn? Of course, that makes sense.
11. HAMMERSTEIN:
Put together a report and I'll formulate a plan of action.
The sitting room at HUEY's house, not seen since way back in ISSUE 23. HUEY and DON are here, sitting and drinking together.
1. CAPTION (voice-over continuing previous speech):
"—We could turn this into an opportunity."
2. HUEY:
Really sorry about Chi-Yun, Don. She was a good kid. Scatty, but—
3. DON:
I'm going to find her, Huey.
4. HUEY:
Do you have any leads?
Close-up on DON.
5. DON:
I'm trying to track down Henry Franklyn.
6. HUEY (off-panel):
Franklyn? Why?
7. DON:
The wolves aren't real Krai. They're humans with Krai DNA. The Pentagon made them—
Close-up on HUEY, his eyebrows raised.
8. HUEY:
You've found proof of that?
9. DON (off-panel):
Ed confirmed it.
Back to a view of the two of them. This can be a big panel to fit in a lot of dialogue without doing a whole page of little talking heads.
10. HUEY:
Ed Mallard? Hello! Not exactly a friendly witness, you know what I mean?
11. DON:
He's reliable. A jerk, sure, but a reliable jerk. And at the moment he's the best source I've got.
12. HUEY:
And Franklyn—?
13. DON:
Basically knew more about Krai biology than anyone else on Earth. If the military made Krai hybrids, he helped them do it. If he did it, he knows how to find them. And if I find them, I find Chi-Yun.
Final close-up of HUEY, still with a quizzical eyebrow raised.
14. HUEY:
Why do I get the feeling this won't be as easy as you make it sound?
PAUL sitting on a bed in yet another motel room, speaking on his phone.
1. PAUL:
That's right, Julie Martin. She would have been enrolled from ninety-eight to two-thousand and—
2. PAUL:
It's important that I trace—
3. PAUL:
No I'm not related, just a—
4. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
Fellow student. Close friend. Lover. And—what else?
Same scene. From this POV we are looking down onto the bed and can see a photograph lying on the bed in front of PAUL. It's the photograph we first saw in ISSUE 37 PAGE 15, showing a younger PAUL and a young woman (JULIE) together on a yacht.
5. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
I have no memory of this photograph being taken.
6. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
Julie and I planned a summer vacation in Hawaii but I don't remember making the trip.
7. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
And... I don't remember seeing Julie after that summer. I was under huge pressure with final-year studies and we—
Close-up on PAUL's frustrated face. He's still talking on the phone.
8. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
I don't know. I don't know what happened to her. To us.
9. PAUL:
Yes, yes I understand that but—
10. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
Look, would it help if I visited your office in person?
With his travel bag over his shoulder, PAUL walks towards the group's RV. JAMES is already in the driver's seat.
11. JAMES:
Morning Paul. You slept through breakfast.
12. PAUL:
I had—a bad night.
13. PAUL:
Any chance we could head up towards Boston?
14. JAMES:
I can't see any reason why not. Is something happening there?
15. PAUL:
Oh—
The gate of the military base that we saw back on PAGE 8. It is now night but powerful lights illuminate the gate and guard post. A truck is being waved through by the sentry.
1. CAPTION (voice-over continuing previous speech):
"—I don't think so."
2. CAPTION:
Hanscom Air Force Base.
3. CAPTION:
Twenty miles north-west of Boston, Massachusetts.
From a low angle, we can see underneath the truck as it drives along a paved road. It seems that there might be a person -- just a black silhouette -- clinging to the underside of the truck.
No dialogue.
Now the black silhouette drops to the ground.
No dialogue.
As the truck drives away, the figure is getting to its feet.
No dialogue.
A close up on the figure: it's ALICE WINKERNIKLE. She's dressed all in black, including a black wooly hat.
No dialogue.
ALICE stands in the shadows by a large storage shed and shines a small flashlight at a door. The sign on the door reads "RESTRICTED ADMITTANCE" and there is a numeric keypad and card-swipe slot next to it.
No dialogue.
ALICE has a card inserted in the slot. From the card a ribbon cable runs to a hand-held computer. GEEK's voice comes from a radio earpiece under her hat.
1. ALICE (softly):
Come on!
2. SFX:
beep
3. ALICE:
Yesss!
4. GEEK:
Shh!
5. ALICE (softly):
Oops!
ALICE makes her way furtively down a dimly-lit corridor.
6. GEEK:
Two sentries.
ALICE is hiding, un-noticed, in a recessed doorway while two guards walk past.
No dialogue.
ALICE continues down the corridor.
7. ALICE (softly):
America, you are so infiltrated!
Back in his darkened dorm room, GEEK ONE watches his computer screen. On it is a window labelled "CAMERA 16", showing ALICE walking down the corridor. A window labelled "CAMERA 17" shows an empty corridor.
1. GEEK:
Don't get cocky, kid. You might find yourself floating home.
2. VOICE (from off-panel speaker):
Just divert the next camera.
GEEK ONE is typing on a keyboard. CAMERA 16 is now showing a blank corridor and CAMERA 17 shows ALICE walking towards its POV.
3. SFX:
tak-a-tak-a-tak
4. GEEK:
Done.
ALICE walks down the corridor, waving at the camera she's approaching.
5. ALICE (softly):
Not bad, for a human.
6. GEEK:
Grrr!
ALICE is at another door, this one marked "NO ACCESS". Instead of an access card slot, this one has a lens at about eye level -- eye level for a normal man, which is almost a foot too high for ALICE to use.
7. ALICE (softly):
Doh! Retinal Scanner.
ALICE has the lens pulled out of the wall, wires trailing behind it. She is attaching small clips to the dangling wires -- clips which have wires trailing back to her palm-top. Of course she is doing all this standing on tip-toe with her arms stretching high above her head.
8. ALICE:
*Uhhh*
9. GEEK:
Brain the size of a planet, legs the length of—
10. ALICE (softly):
Just shut up!
ALICE is inside a dark room, kneeling by a large crate (four feet long by two feet wide by a foot high) and examining it by flashlight. Stencilled on the top of the crate, in military-style block lettering, are the initials "P.A.L.A.D.I.N." The top of the crate is held on by big metal clips.
No dialogue.
ALICE is snapping open the clips that hold the lid secure.
1. SFX (clip):
*clunk*
ALICE has lifted the lid of the crate and is looking down into it. She looks like a kid on Christmas morning. Due to the angle, we can't see what is in the crate.
2. ALICE:
Cool!
3. ALICE:
Er... I'm gonna need to steal a truck.
4. ALICE:
Unless I can get the flight unit working, eh?
Daylight again, and the group's RV is driving along an empty highway through a forested area.
1. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
In the last three months we've crossed this country one way, then the other, and now back again.
2. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
My life has become a series of motel rooms punctuated by moments of insane action.
Interior of the RV. JAMES is driving, PAUL next to him.
3. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
And I don't know how much longer I can keep it up.
4. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
The rest of them, they're kids. They hadn't found their paths in life and this situation — this team — has just become the next step in growing up for them.
Close up on PAUL, gazing blankly out of the window.
5. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
I've done my growing up. I had a life that I've walked away from.
6. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
We came together for protection. But more and more it seems that's not a strong enough purpose any longer. The only question now is, who will leave first?
Close-up on WANE on a seat in the back of the vehicle. He appears to be asleep.
7. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
Even after a week with us, Wane feels like an outsider. None of us really know him.
8. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
He's got unfinished business, and one day soon his conscience will win the battle and drag him back to San Diego to finish it.
9. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
And he won't ask us to go back with him.
Close-up on FRED. He is sitting and reading. The title of the book is "A MEDIA MOGUL: IN HIS OWN WORDS" by "JOHN BRIGHTER".
10. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
Fred. The outsider, who deep down doesn't want to be the outsider. He's desperate for a place to belong, even though he won't admit it to himself.
11. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
That's why he's always fighting against the group. It's his own need to belong that he resents.
12. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
When he walks away, which he eventually will, we'd better pray that he finds the right sort of group to satisfy that need. Because in the wrong group...
A wide view of the length of the RV (we can see WANE asleep and SARA lying on a couch, wearing headphones, as well as FRED and the backs of PAUL's and JAMES's seats). FRED has looked up from his book and is staring forwards, frowning.
1. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
With his psychic powers he's one of the most powerful men on the planet. Potentially one of the most dangerous.
2. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
In the wrong company, I don't know if his moral compass will be strong enough to keep the planet safe from him.
Close-up on JAMES, driving. He's relaxed but his eyes are alert and focused on the road. (This and the next panel should be large ones, even though they are static close-ups, in order to fit a lot of exposition.)
3. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
James is unshakeable. If we all walked away from him tomorrow he'd find a new team and start over, or go on fighting the good fight alone.
4. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
Helping people, fighting evil, defending democracy — it doesn't matter how he defines it, the truth is that he's a hero, plain and simple.
5. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
He'll tackle crimelords, monsters, aliens...
6. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
A few Krai are nothing to him. If an alien armada showed up and invaded Earth he'd be in the front lines, rallying the resistance until his last dying breath.
7. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
And the only thing that shakes his unshakeable confidence and self-belief—
8. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
—Is the thought that he might be fighting his own government.
Close-up on SARA. Her eyes are closed as she listens to music.
9. MUSIC (soft, from headphones):
I've got it all, it seems, for all it means to me.
10. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
Sara has come to terms with her past and is looking towards her future. She doesn't need Don to show her what to do any more. She's ready to define her own life.
11. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
This is the life she's chosen. With James.
12. MUSIC (soft, from headphones):
But I sing of things I miss and things that used to be.
13. CAPTION (PAUL's NOTES):
And with her powers she knows that whatever she chooses must be the right thing for her.
14. MUSIC (soft, from headphones):
And I wonder every night.
PAUL is in yet another motel room, typing on his computer.
1. SFX (door):
knock knock
2. PAUL:
Yeah?
The door has opened to reveal SARA. PAUL is shutting the lid of his computer.
3. SARA:
Can I talk to you?
4. PAUL:
Sure. What's up?
SARA is now in the room, door closed behind her.
5. SARA:
I mean really talk.
6. SARA:
Anything I tell you would be in complete confidence, right?
PAUL is now standing and looking concerned.
7. PAUL:
Sara, what's wrong?
8. SARA:
Especially, James must never know.
9. PAUL:
It's something about James?
SARA is now lying on PAUL's bed, the way you might lie on a psychiatrist's couch. PAUL is still standing, now bemused.
10. SARA:
No, it's about me. But he mustn't find out.
11. PAUL:
Then anything you say will —er, make yourself comfortable— be strictly between you and me.
Full-page splash panel of SARA looking up at PAUL and calmly and seriously saying:
1. SARA (off-panel):
I've lost my powers.
Next: A Small Inconvenience
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© 2007 by David Meadows