| WARNING: PROFANITY FOLLOWS |
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| The following content contains profanity that may not be suitable for readers of all ages. Please proceed with caution. |
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DLSV |
| Ben 10: Heroes of Evolution | |
| Season 1, Episode 8 | |
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| Air date | April 19. 2015 |
| Episode Guide | |
| Previous "The Number Game" |
Next "Coin, Bill and Bullet - Part 2" |
"Coin, Bill and Bullet" is the two-part 8th episode of Ben 10: Heroes of Evolution.
PLEASE READ THIS EPISODE ONLY ON PC. IT HAS A LOT OF IMAGES AND SOUND EFFECTS WHICH WON’T WORK ON MOBILE.
Episode[]
(A loud gust of wind is heard blowing over a black screen.)
(The screen is hit with a flash of white, which becomes less intense and creates a bright, hazy outline around a first-person camera.)
(Through this lens, we see an overlit montage of events. Diamondhead stabs Magister Newell in the hand with a shard and is heard yelling at him about the mole. Max is seen getting shot, and computers screens fill with malicious code. KABOOM! A ship comes flying into a hangar, and several people go flying.)
(The screen flashes again and Ben is seen wrestling a few Plumber guards. Diamondhead is seen throwing Newell against a wall.)
(James Spader's echo-y voice vibrates through the scene: "Ben, I cannot control what you have coming for your actions. But you've played my game well. I look forward to continuing.")
[Max's voice]: Ben, you are going to be facing consequences for this. I'm sorry, but despite how much I may defend you, the entire organization is going to hold you accountable for the chaos. Do you understand?
(The screen's whiteness fades into pure black...
32 DAYS LATER
(...before a clanging noise is heard. Max's silhouette is standing at a doorway.)
[Max]: Ben, do you understand? Ben?
(A few seconds later, a loud, prolonged snore is heard. This is followed by some heavy breathing, before the camera's first-person view "blinks".)
[Ben's tired voice]: G-Grandpa? Hey, good morning! Is it even morning? I'm sorry.
(A guard walks in.)
[Guard]: Ben Tennyson?
[Ben]: *(Yawn, raising hand)* Present!
[Guard]: We're ready for you.
MUSIC: Collective Soul - Heavy
(The screen zooms in and flashes to darkness, before cutting to Ben's wrists being cuffed. A little "brace" device is wrapped around the Ultimatrix.)
(Ben, in a prisoner outfit, is escorted down the halls of a dimly lit hallway with two guards flanking him. A door opens to a greenish-blue neon walkway going between several rows of seats. At the other end is a rather exaggerated-looking courtroom with dramatic white lighting up the sides. Several aliens flank the judge, a Sylonnoid.)
(Ben is seated and leans back casually. The "court justices", which include Max, sit and gaze sternly at a bored-looking Ben, while the grand jury members converse amongst themselves.)
[Head Judge]: Good morning, Mr. Tennyson. I am Plumber High Councilman Zatark, you can address me as-
[Ben]: Did they just appoint you that position because you go around showing your brain off? Your honor?
[Max]: (Nervously leans forward, smiles) Eh, l-let's just get started. Excuse my grandson.
[Zatark]: 'Excuse', you say... (chuckles) the charges will dictate that.
(Cut to a high-tech looking analog clock spinning rapidly while illegible chatter and loud babbling is heard in the background. The clock suddenly stops at 4:03 AM. A mallet is heard banging three times.)
[Zatark]: Mr. Tennyson, the jury votes you guilty on exactly all charges. And because you are now officially considered (clears throat) a terrorist, I'm afraid you must be transferred to our most maximum-security holding cell: the Labyrinth. You will be denied access to all basic inmate privileges for a month, then we shall perform an evaluation of your behavior to see if you deserve any form of reward. Do I make myself clear?
[Ben]: Yeah, just- what will I have access to?
[Zatark]: (Smirks) Your clothes. They have been ironed, sanitized, and traced, mind you, so don't even think about getting clever.
[Ben]: Says Mr. Brain-Head.
(A guard hands Ben his shirt and green coat. Ben picks it up and sniffs it.)
[Ben]: Good god, you actually use Tide to clean these?
[Zatark]: Get him out of here!
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(Two guards take Ben with them down a curving hall, and an automatic door opens into a dimly-lit hallway. The walls are dark-grey and rusty, with cheap-looking yellow neon lights lining the ceilings and glowing red pinstripe bars on the cells.)
(The guards pass by another guard in shades, who confidently walks past them.)
(Ben is thrown into a cell and the doors are locked. Ben puts up a defensive pose while on the ground, but looks around the deranged inmates, most beating the crap out of each other. He smiles in awe, before looking to the left. Vulkanus is sitting there meditating.)
(The guard outside leans against a wall with his arms crossed. He checks his watch. Suddenly time speeds up and the clock rapidly counts up to 5:19:55. The scene fades into six guards, clad in red and black armor, waiting outside the door.)
(The guard at the front counts down from five using his fingers... KABLAM! Two guards shoot locks above the entrance door and yank it open, and two guards stand outside while the other four go down the halls firing their guns in the air.)
(Ben gets up and looks around excitedly - his cell bars deactivate and a crowd of inmates floods the halls. Ben walks out and shyly makes his way through all the fighting. Through the crowd, he sees two guards yanking the exit door up.)
(The camera looks at all the inmates, and goes super slow-motion as their faces all turn surprised and they start bolting for the door. Many of them jump at the camera, and while they're in midair, the camera speeds up as they fly at screen.)
(An aerial tracking shot shows a stampede of inmates rushing through a hangar and wrestling each other to get into a Plumber ship.)
(The camera zooms out and time speeds up into a timelapse shot of figures rapidly moving around the hangar, with many ships taking off.)
(Cut to a real-time shot of Ben, racing a big thug and a snake-like creature to the last ship. Right before he can lose the race, however, Ben grabs the snake and throws it into the thug, and the two start fighting while Ben hops into the ship. The thrusts engage and the ship rises into the air.)
[Thug]: NO!!
(BOOM! The ship bolts off into space.)
(Inside the ship, Ben sticks his fingers underneath the security brace he has over the Ultimatrix, and presses the sides of the device. A green light shines out of the Ultimatrix, and the brace begins to electrocute before overloading and popping off in a spark. Ben winces and shakes off his hand, which has a few burns on it now.)
(Cut to a security monitor displaying "SECURITY BRACE OFFLINE". The camera zooms out to slightly show the corpse of the security operator.)
(Ben grips the joysticks on his ship and boosts forward, letting out a loud "WOO!!!!!" that echoes while the screen goes black and the music stops.)
THEME SONG
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(The last seconds of a holographic prison breakout surveillance simulation replay, where the ships are taking off. The video stops, and the camera rises up with Max, who stands up and takes a deep breath.)
[Max]: When the hell did this happen?
[Cooper]: About an hour ago.
[Max]: And you just got word of it now?
[Cooper]: Those guys fried all the security and communications systems. Entirely. It took a while to get them back up, but until then, whatever went down in there, stayed in there.
[Max]: (Inhales, presses hand to eyes) Okay... (Exhales) I have at least a dozen questions, but I'll ask the key ones - what happened after this?
[Cooper]: Well, reports are incomplete, but the team that investigated told me that they surrounded the men, but then the men committed, and I quote, "synchronized suicide".
[Max]: Jesus Christ... (Clears throat) And then?
[Cooper]: And then they just spent time looking for where to repair the servers, et cetera. Got it done in the end, thankfully.
[Max]: Are the bodies of the guards in the morgue?
[Cooper]: Well, sir, we don't really have bodies. Plumbers on the scene told me they all shot up some drug that "incinerated them from the inside."
[Max]: And you BELIEVE that shit?
[Cooper]: Well, a few weeks back I had a look at some of Ben's recent cases, trying to see if we really were done for with this Devil Watcher crap. Turns out that an old foe of theirs was smuggling around some drug he called "Demon's Blood". Guy was lured into a Null Void projector later on.
[Max]: Wait, was this drug some kind of acid-based-
[Cooper]: Chemical compound? Yeah.
[Max]: Like the ones Krill and Wyatt were carrying... (Deep breath, slams table) GOD DAMMIT!!!
[Cooper]: Whoa, easy there.
[Max]: It's him! He compromised our security literally one doggone month after the whole crisis up in space! I feel like the whole agency's abandoned us, as though they really did give up.
[Cooper]: Well sir, I'm still hanging by your side. I promise you, we will find Ben.
[Max]: Right... were there any notable inmates among the escapees?
[Cooper]: Oh, how I could I forget? That scumbag Vulkanus led most of the party on their way out.
[Max]: Perfect.
[Cooper]: I'm still trying to find out where he could be headed. I tried establishing a communication channel with Ben. No luck.
[Max]: You get Gwen and Kevin on this. I don't care how much they protest.
[Cooper]: Oh, I already did that. I'm just waiting for an answer.
[Max]: What's that supposed to mean?
[Cooper]: Well, they've rented this little campout cabin somewhere in the woods, out in northeast Bellwood, much like yours, actually. Little honeymoon spot, from what it looks like. Anyways, I visited the place roughly a half-hour ago, with this simulation, some extra prerequisite details, and uh, two bags each containing their favorite breakfast choices.
[Max]: Croissant for Gwen and a chocolate-glazed doughnut for Kevin?
[Cooper]: Impeccable! But yeah, and Kevin behaved like his usual self, told me off, kicked me out. As for Gwen, I wasn't so sure. But I didn't want to wait for them to finish their decision-making couples' banter, so I did them a favor and left.
[Max]: Why would you do that? Were you really that confident that they would come through-
(The door opens, and a security guard walks in.)
[Plumber Guard]: Agent Daniels, there are two visitors here to see you, claim to be here via your invitation? This true?
[Cooper]: (Grins) It sure is. Let 'em in.
[Plumber Guard]: Understood.
(He leaves, while Max and Cooper sit down. Cooper smirks at Max, who cracks up and lets out a chuckle/exhale. A few seconds later, Gwen and Kevin walk into the room with the guard.)
[Gwen]: Grandpa!
[Max]: Have a seat, you two.
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(The scene flashes to a more distant shot as Ben's ship is visible, with small, cropped-off and barely visible shapes peeking out the sides of the frame.)
(Cut to Ben snoring while resting against his seat, his blanket having slightly slid off.)
(BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!)
(His systems beep exactly six times, waking him up a little.)
[Ben]: (Murmuring/groaning through sleepiness) I thought I turned off the volume...
(BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!)
[Ben]: Ugh, shit...
(He slightly opens his eyes... the camera goes first-person as a blurry orange color fades to black...)
(He blinks and opens his eyes...)
(BAM! The entire window is covered by the view of a massive asteroid. The camera view opens up fully.)
(Ben jolts up like a foosball figure and grabs the controls, aggressively steering to the left.)
(BOOM! The underside of the shape barely grazes the asteroid and chips off some dusty rock bits while the ship shakes. Ben steers right to steady it...)
(He looks up and around in shock and horror.)
(Cut to a large, open shot of a massive army of ships flanking Ben and dotting the starry screen.)
[Ben]: I've... caught up?
(The first-person camera abruptly looks straight... towards chaos and explosions in the distance, in front of what appears to be a large planet.)
(Cut to a directly overhead map-view shot that slides forward through ships and explosions... and towards a massive orange-and-purple planet, blotched with black clouds and dotted with city lights to look like Star Wars' Coruscant.)
(Cut back to Ben, who's panicking. He looks around frantically as ships are blasted out of the sky and red lasers pass by...)
(The window to his right faces a giant purple electric laser coming towards him...)
(KABOOM! The ship shakes before the screen cuts to black.)
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(The camera zooms through the room, where a crowd of technicians is now seated in front of Kevin, who is giving a presentation next to a holographic board. Max and Cooper stand near the back while Gwen is seated near the front.)
[Kevin]: Hey, everyone listen up!
(Several technicians all shift in their seats and look up.)
(Inside Ben's ship, his comms systems begin to flicker. Intrigued, he presses the button and hears some staticky chatter.)
(Kevin's voice is heard narrating while the camera slowly moves through space, overlooking Kryzeen while ships fly past.)
[Kevin]: Most of you here know that Ben's flight path sees him headed towards the Kryzeen system.
[Cooper]: Correct.
[Ben (inside ship, talking to himself)]: Kryzeen?
(Kevin narrates while a shaky but unmoving shot shows a closer look at the planet Kryzeen. Ships fly past the screen.)
[Kevin]: Kryzeen is a corporate-ruled metropolis laid over what they call a planet. It's a completely loose, un-ruled, uncontrolled cesspit, and heaven for any black-market trash-with-a-pulse wishing the world abided by the way they think. All this is masked by bright lights and next-gen tech, but the world knows it's got nothing to hide. Everything to fear.
(Cut to a zooming shot racing through explosions and debris and ships pulling acrobatic stunts before getting shot at.)
(Kevin points to a red ring around the perimeter of Kryzeen.)
[Kevin]: This right here is called the Red Belt.
[Gwen]: What's that?
[Kevin]: The Red Belt is the layer of reddish haze encompassing Kryzeen's gaseous atmosphere. It's used to support the point that the planet doesn't believe in authority, and knows where to rat out every authoritarian entity.
(An extremely fast ship zooms between satellites and is grazed by a laser, still zooming past until it catches flame and breaks to bits while it flies.)
[Kevin]: ANYTHING that even hints the word "rules" will never get past the red belt.
(Another ship explodes in between a corkscrew.)
[Kevin]: Highly advanced and weaponized drones are sent out to launch whatever the hell they can fire to make sure unwanted company stays at least a hundred kilometers away from the atmosphere. If anything's inside, it's open season. 24/7. It's the #3 job in the planet's employment inventory, preceded only by CEO and bounty hunter.
[Max]: And Ben is about to enter this Red Belt?
[Kevin]: That would be right, yes. I have no idea what he plans to do, but-
[Cooper]: Say no more. I need five techs monitoring the live feed from the trackers placed on the stolen ships! I and three others will monitor the condition of the tower network!
[Gwen]: What tower network?
[Cooper]: Oh, right. When I was going through the details of this with you, I forgot to mention that the drones in the red belt appear to be operated through a control tower somewhere deep inside the belt. There's a strong signal source highlighted on our holographic map, which I'll show you in a moment. But I'm pretty sure that the best way to make it through the belt is to eliminate this tower.
[Kevin]: Which I'm guessing is impossible.
[Cooper]: Can't your friend usually achieve the impossible?
[Kevin]: Damn straight, bud.
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(Cut to a shot of the Red Belt, which basically looks like the rings of Saturn met Audiosurf. Bright red arcs of light provide a digitized border to a luminous mass of reddish-gold cosmic haze, and synchronized rows of magenta-lit drones travel in rings around Kryzeen. From above, they look like hundreds of fan blades. Up close, it feels like trying to cross a highway or racetrack by foot.)
(The camera follows a wide, V-shaped formation of spacecraft as they majestically enter the belt... KABOOM! They all explode at the same time as the drones whizz by in a purple-black blur. More and more ships collide head-on with the tornado of drones, while the camera zooms out to view a hovering ship off the corner of the frame.)
(Inside, Ben is staring at the Red Belt like a little child at Disneyland, mouth and eyes wide open, head shaking back and forth watching the flying craft take their toll on the poor visitors.)
[Ben]: What the hell is this?!
(KABOOM! Ben's body rocks back and forth while his ship goes tumbling into the Belt. Another ship that crashed into him swerves to the right, its hood having fallen off. The camera cuts back to Ben's ship, which comes plummeting towards the red haze...)
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(Cooper is sitting at a computer with headphones on, and a red dot is frantically moving through a map. It suddenly stops and beeps while blinking.)
[Cooper]: Tracker's located Ben!
[Gwen]: Where is he?
[Cooper]: Oh, shit. OH, SHIT! He's headed right into the Belt!
(Max's chest tightens and he looks appalled, placing his hand on his head and shaking his head.)
[Cooper]: Whoa, I just got a comms connection.
[Max]: That tracker's about to fry!
[Cooper]: Doesn't matter. Here, I'm trying for a call.
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(Ben's comms systems begin to blink. Ben sighs and slams the button.)
[Ben]: Guys, this isn't the best time!
[Max]: Ben, you have to get out of there!
[Ben]: Look, I could hear everything you were saying. I'm headed into a deathtrap here, but it's the only way I can keep pursuing this case! (Chuckles) It's been a month and I'm a bit excited at the moment.
[Max]: Ben, did you make some kind of "deal" with the Devil Watcher? To break you out?
[Ben]: Of course not!
[Max]: Well, you sound a bit too laid-back to me.
[Ben]: I figured sooner or later that I'd be free. I've been sorta fantasizing over my escape plans during the days I was in your little slammer. Vulkanus is headed towards this place, and he's the most blatant lead I've seen in ages.
[Max]: Yes, and did you ever wonder why it's so obvious?
[Ben]: What, are you gonna go all Admiral Ackbar on me? We are in space anyways and I could do with a bit of movie crap to ease the tension.
[Max]: What tension?
[Ben]: Wish me luck!
(The intercom goes out. Max looks confused and slams on the speakers.)
(Ben, meanwhile, rolls his shoulders, before engaging his boosters full-on, aiming for a clearing between the drones.)
(Ben winces as his ship goes in head-on with the chaos...)
(CRASH! A drone comes like a torpedo and hits Ben's ship, sending it tumbling to the left... KABOOM! Three drones explode on impact with the ship, turning it upside down... PEW! PEW! Drones above fire away at the ship from above, pushing it downwards and causing it to ricochet off of a large piece of metal debris. BOOM! The back catches fire and some parts fall off, drifting off into the belt and following with faintly visible explosions.)
(Ben's broken ship floats freely outside the belt, while its internal alarms go mad.)
[Ben]: OW!!
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[Cooper]: What the hell just happened? I lost the tracker at least four times!
[Tech]: Sir, those were four collisions.
[Cooper]: How does someone survive that?!
[Max]: (Sigh) Where is he right now?
[Tech]: He's just floating around outside the vicinity of the belt. His tracker's about to go out any second. Ship's really battered up.
[Kevin]: Can't we just send in an undercover rescue squad?
[Cooper]: We've tried that on systems very similar to this one. They didn't stand a chance.
[Max]: And it's far too late to do something like that.
(Cooper looks back at his screen... Ben's tracker dot is going flying right into the Belt.)
[Cooper]: (Mouth drops open) You might want to see this.
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(Cut to a first person shot, shuddering like crazy and zooming through space like a bullet. The camera looks to the right, but Ben isn't inside. A few seconds later, green circuits pulse through the ship...)
(Ben's voice, slightly robotic, his heard screaming madly as he darts through the red belt and approaches the drones...)
(At that second, the sides of his ship extend green, holographic "wires" that reshape into some sort of frame. The contours are filled with films of laser shields, right as six rows of drones come in...)
(KABOOM!! BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!)
(The ship corkscrews past the belt and into even thicker clouds. The vague shadow of the control tower is visible up ahead.)
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[Cooper]: That tower just lost fifteen percent of its network coverage.
[Max]: That's bullshit!
[Cooper]: Wait, our signal strength on Ben's ship just came back! Guys, get over here! I can access the camera feeds!
[Max]: This is ridiculous.
(The screen flickers before some footage starts to pop up.)
[Kevin]: I can't see Ben anywhere!
[Gwen]: (Gasps excitedly) I can! I-Is he Upgrade right now?
(She and Kevin look at each other grinning.)
[Cooper]: Whoa, whoa! He's going headfirst into the control tower!
[Max]: (Smiles) He's gonna make it.
(Cooper looks up at him with a grin, somewhat surprised at his sudden optimism.)
[Cooper]: If you say so.
(He looks back at the screen... the tower's image flies right into the camera.)
[Everybody]: AAH!!!!
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(Cut to a slow-motion shot of Ben's circuit-covered ship, pummeling through the control tower as it explodes like a coconut. Smaller explosions occur around the area while more ships fly past, having made it through the clearing.)
(One piece of the control tower floats around, its light still blinking.)
[Control Tower Piece]: Security breach in progress. All units convert status to standby.
(Kaboom! It explodes right after that.)
(Ben, meanwhile, is almost through...)
(BOOM! The rest of the tower implodes around Ben, knocking his ship and sending it somersaulting forward. The circuits flicker and electric sparks burn through the ship.)
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(The camera feeds go out abruptly.)
[Cooper]: What?!
[Gwen]: Did he revert?
[Cooper]: (Mashing keys) Looks like it! I can't get back on, what is this?
[Max]: (Putting hand on Cooper's shoulder) Leave it, son. He's gone. Everyone, your work here is done!
(A few of the techs get up and go while the others look confused.)
[Cooper]: With all due respect, sir, are you crazy?
[Max]: That is actually a good question, but Kevin's here.
[Kevin]: Whoa, when did I become important?
[Max]: You said Kryzeen was one of the galaxy's largest black market home fronts, yes?
[Kevin]: Yes, I did... wait, you want my help to understand their inner workings? Sorry, but that place is next-level-
[Max]: Why don't we go see for ourselves, if it really is what you describe?
(Kevin, Gwen and Cooper turn to look at a smug-looking Max, rather stunned.)
[Max]: Come on, we just have to dump everything Plumber inside your plane, and we have a free pass through their hunting ground.
[Kevin]: It's not that easy, you know?
[Max]: Say that again.
(Kevin closes his mouth.)
[Gwen]: Wait, you don't think this has something to do with-
[Max]: By this point, that condition is dead obvious. Now who wants to help me with some auto repair?
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(Inside Ben's ship, all the green circuits shrink over to a light source at the center. Once they join, they extend out again into the outline of a human, and the shape is filled with a flickering transparent green light. This green "mesh hologram" gets digitized bones and muscles rendered inside it, followed by a flash of light and then normal Ben. Who is more bloodied and bruised than usual.)
(Ben staggers forward and hops into his seat, grabbing the controls. He squints through his windshield, as all he can see are dusty clouds.)
[Ben]: System, are you online?
(The system flickers and beeps.)
[Ben]: I'll take that as a yes. Estimate remaining power.
[System]: Eighteen percent.
[Ben]: That'll have to do.
[System]: Sorry, didn't catch that. Please repeat your command.
(The camera pans around Ben's ship as it speeds through the thick mass of dust clouds, winded by flying debris. Cut to a shaky shot behind him of the shadowy cloud of debris.)
(Suddenly, some silhouette-like shapes start to fall out of the debris, and zoom past the frame.)
(Ben's ship systems begin blinking and beeping.)
[System]: Enemy aircraft proximity alert!
[Ben]: Where the hell are they coming from?
(WHIZZ! Two ships flank him and go left and right. Ben, slightly annoyed, jerks his joysticks to the right and corkscrews under them, but two more come up.)
[Ben]: Oh, give me a break!
(Three more zoom past on the far right...)
(KABOOM! The clouds ahead light up while those three ships are reduced to dust. Several ships jolt to the left while Ben corkscrews northeast.)
[Ben]: What, there's lightning now?
(The next shot is taken from an angle, with a vertical sheet of clouds being illuminated in flashes from thunderous crashes of lightning.)
(A first-person view spirals through a descent into the lightning. Triangular borders are created by bright blue bolts that destroy some ships up ahead. Ben keeps his joysticks controlled, gritting his teeth and keeping his hands tight. Suddenly, another ship comes in on the right and crashes into his. They're both about to go headfirst into a giant bolt of lightning...)
(CRASH! Ben slams his ship to the right, colliding with the other and sending them both tumbling in opposite directions. The lightning back there stops flashing while the ships arc over into a straight glide.)
(A close-up of Ben's ship hood shows small raindrops lining it.)
USE THIS FOR THE RAIN SOUNDS. STOP WHENEVER THE RAIN IS SHOWN TO STOP, AND REPLAY ACCORDINGLY.
(CRASH! Another lightning flash transitions us to a wide overhead shot of a thinner mass of clouds, with rain gushing down. Small white lights dot the area below the clouds. Suddenly, Ben's ship flies past the camera, knocking it aside and shifting the view to look down.)
(BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!)
[System]: Aircraft systems compromised! Emergency landing imminent! Warning: Thrusts at low power!
[Ben]: Great news!
[System]: Sorry, didn't catch that.
(CRASH! More lightning. The ship that crashed into Ben corkscrews into what looks like the final layer of clouds. A large splash of water drenches Ben's windshield. Ben panics and looks to the side, squinting...)
(KABOOM! The camera shakes violently while Ben's ship slams into some kind of satellite pillar. All sound becomes muffled and the image gets extremely hazy. Ben is seen in slow-motion, clutching his bloodstained head while muffled beeping is heard.)
(The camera looks up at the bottom of Ben's ship through the clouds, as it comes flying into the screen... The screen goes black. BOOM... a muffled hum of crashing lightning is heard. Static plays periodically while more resonant booms fill the soundscape.)
(Ben's gasping is heard, while some bluish shapes move through the black. A loud gust of wind engulfs the screen...)
(Suddenly, the camera "gets up" to look through the windshield.)
MUSIC: "Take Down 2" by David Fesliyan
(Ben screams and gets back, startled, while his ship plummets through the stormy air of Kryzeen.)
(The camera watches the ship, back blazing with fire, as it soars through crashing thunder and bucketloads of rainwater, accompanied by other aircraft gliding down like shooting stars. They serve as a foreground to a bright, vast expanse of blues and reds illuminating a futuristic, "eye-candy" metropolis. Another satellite comes whirling towards Ben like a boomerang, but Ben loop-the-loops under it... CRASH! A piece of his engine thrusts falls off and floats away. Ben jerks to the right while his ship shudders in midair.)
(Three more ships come arcing together under him. Ben looks to his sides, and sees a few ships descending. He looks up ahead, and over a few buildings is a gigantic black platform surrounded by a body of water.)
[Ben]: Is that a landing pad?
(The ship that crashed into him earlier zooms up ahead.)
[Ben]: Oh, hell, no.
(He shoves his controls forward. The engine rattles loudly and sparks.)
[System]: WARNING! Heat levels extreme! Fuel decrease rate at 82%! Estimated engine time remaining: 1 minute.
[Ben]: (Mutters) Minute to win it. Oh, did you catch that?
(The camera looks up from the line of buildings as Ben's ship zooms past, followed by four others.)
(BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!)
[Ben]: Shut up, please!
(Ben flies past the screen, right before a flash of lightning hits and a ship crashes into it. The camera steadily watches lightning flashes burst one-by-one in a line, that travels across the skies of Kryzeen. The camera then descends as ships zip downwards, towards the giant black landing platform.)
(BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!)
(The ship that crashes into Ben's comes near him...)
(PEW PEW PEW!)
(Three lasers go right into the engine thrusts...)
(KABOOM!!)
(The music stops as the lights on Ben's ship flicker and go out instantly. What is now a scorched ship frame comes arcing towards the water like a football. Ben leans back and braces himself, before repeatedly kicking the glass windshield. It cracks a little, covering the image of the buildings rising...)
(POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!)
(Into the water it goes. Underwater, Ben is surrounded by a greyish-blue aura of light, while his hair dances and his cheeks are puffed. All the sound is muffled, but low booms are heard above to indicate ships landing.)
(Above, three ships land. The ship that shot Ben is heading right towards them, with its landing space taken... PEW! It fires and slides them out of the way. Their passengers attempt to jump out as their ships go skidding like hockey pucks, over the metal railing and into the crashing waves. The burly criminals piloting them go rolling across the steel floor and to the edge. The camera follows them from above as they hang by their bloody elbows.)
[Criminal 1]: SON OF A BITCH!
(Cut back to Ben, who is frantically groping through the water, looking for something to grab. He takes grip of the window frame above the windshield, and pulls himself up. He butterflies up the water, with bubbles sinking down with the ship.)
(Cut back to the loud overworld, where the evil ship makes a safe landing before its lights flicker out. The doors open, and out steps Vulkanus, watched by a shaky camera looking up timidly from the floor.)
(Vulkanus pulls out a black metal rod and swings his arm, lighting it up and extending a stock and barrel. He takes his shotgun and walks to the right, where the two angry criminals are staggering towards him.)
(BOOM! BOOM! They both get shot by purplish-yellow darts. They burst like water balloons in blood.)
(Cut back to Ben, whose head pops up out of the water. Peeled scars/scratches line his forehead and cheeks while he frantically looks left and right. The waves crash loudly against the suspended platform. Ben watches the silhouettes of a few men joining Vulkanus. Vulkanus gives them cards of some sort and points north, towards Ben's direction. Ben dunks his head underwater. Beneath the surface, Ben waves his arms about and squints, before noticing his wrist.)
(Up above, Vulkanus stomps over to the edge of the platform, going up to a security panel that looks like a parking meter. He presses a few buttons on it, and suddenly, some metal squares rise up from the surface of the water. They go in a long line that bridges the gap between the platform and the city up ahead. Vulkanus watches as railings come up and light up with a neon blue, in a line going from the city up to him. A ramp comes up and connects with the platform.)
(Vulkanus then walks to the right. He pulls up a handle from the edge of the platform, then yanks it towards him. Gears are heard cranking while a rectangular platform carrying a speeder bike flips up and rests itself atop the landing area. Vulkanus presses a button on the speeder handle, activating a blue holographic power cord that looks like a Green Lantern creation. Vulkanus "pulls" the power cord, dissolving it in particle effects and lighting up the edges of the bike. Vulkanus smirks in admiration, before hopping on. He shoves his fists into the handlebar compartments.
[Vulkanus]: Everybody grab one and go! Meet me at the rendezvous!
[Criminal #1]: Yes sir!
MUSIC: Paul Oakenfold - Ready Steady Go
(Vulkanus pulls his hands away from each other, revving up the speeder and lifting it off the ground. Its sonic thrusts project a turquoise-blue hue of light, while his bike glides gracefully onto the mechanical bridge and zooms off in a bluish blur. The other criminals follow on similar bikes, colored with yellow light.)
(The camera slowly zooms out from the bridge, so the water is visible. From behind, a white-skinned shark head pops out of the water, with a bulb-like antenna giving off a soft glow. The "shark" dunks underwater... before leaping out, front-flipping and landing on the edge of the platform, his legs drooping with seaweed.)
(Ripjaws follows Vulkanus' steps to get his speeder out and activate it. This time, three settings screens pop up out of the handle. Ben spots a dancing color gradient on the left, and moves his finger around. The color of the speeder's LED lights changes accordingly. Ben opens his mouth in astonishment and makes his green, before sighing.)
[Ripjaws]: (Growl) Too obvious.
(He changes his to a bright red, before hopping on and jumping his speeder onto the bridge. He presses something and it accidentally boosts forward, and the scales on his face fly backwards.)
|
(The camera descends through a colorful line of short buildings. It reaches the ground, where blurry and vibrant reflections dance, before an object zips past with a motorcycle sound.)
(Cut to a first-person shot racing through the streets. Ben takes a curving road that goes to the right, before reaching the end of this area... and towards a clearing overlooking the tallest skyscrapers. A holographic blue neon bridge ramp extends upwards...)
[Ripjaws]: AAAHHHH....
(He leans back, then fully forward, and his speeder goes like a bullet up the ramp. The camera follows Ben as he rises up above the water - it looks like an airplane takeoff. The city lights pass by as we enter an area covered by orange skies. The holographic road is literally going through the sky and in between skyscrapers. WHOOSH! A massive structure covers the city view as Ben enters the metropolis. He grins his big shark teeth.)
(This area is like Coruscant from Star Wars. Rows of speeders are going left and right on multiple layers, while vertical shafts of neon signs and oddly-shaped buildings pass by in various directions. Ripjaws grins giddily while he is illuminated by light coming below him. Still smiling, he arcs around and towards a skyscraper, with an archway that makes way for the road to go through it.)
(His smile fades suddenly as he spots Vulkanus' gang going underneath. He looks to his sides to observe how people switch lanes. A Crystalsapien on his right presses a button on his right handle, dropping him through the road and onto the lane below.)
(Ben nears the archway, and spots a glowing red button on his handle. He pulls it back with his thumb, and his boosters abruptly stop. He is dropped at least 50 feet through the air, before releasing the switch. His ship drops below a lane before floating back up and resuming its course. Ben exits the archway and glides over an expanse of shorter buildings bordering water. More holographic lanes pass him, while he excitedly looks about. He then glances back to Vulkanus, who appears to be corkscrewing diagonally to switch lanes. He descends onto an arcing path on his left, which extends northeast into a section of neon skyscrapers under purple/blue sky.)
(Ben stays on the current road he's in, and passes through some electric gates. He comes under the darker blue sky, where it begins raining again.)
[Ripjaws]: What the hell?
(On the left is a gigantic bridge with at least six layers of lanes.)
(Vulkanus glides way down towards an oddly shaped roof with gaps that reveal a lot of light. Ben presses the red button again, dropping him four lanes down and right up above the road. Vulkanus is above him, coming down at an angle. He levels himself onto the same road as Ben, who's tailing him close behind.)
(They cross another bridge, then take a left, approaching the commercial district. This is a market street that's rather crowded. Ben keeps watch for Vulkanus' men, who don't seem to notice Ben. They continue through this street, taking a right and into the commercial area. It's all blue here with a lot of red neon lights. The streets are crowded.)
(Vulkanus appears to be pulling out a radio. He says something into it, and then takes a left. His men, however, take a right. Ben skids to a halt at this intersection. The first-person camera looks around at the mass of creatures walking and slithering and crawling about, while Ben is still confused whether to go left or right...)
THE MUSIC STOPS.
(Cut to a zooming shot coming in straight ahead, with a loud engine sound audible. It's coming right into Ben...)
(KABOOM!!! Some kind of jet-based discus crashes violently into Ben's, sending him and his vehicle tumbling down the street. Three purple/red enemy hovercraft stop in the center of the road. Armored bounty hunters reminiscent of ninjas leap out. The one on the left pulls out glowing rods, the one on the right pulls out two machine guns, and the one in the center carries a neon-edged katana sparking with lightning. The one in the center is Sevenseven.)
(The camera goes overhead, following them from behind while the rain puts out the fire on Ben's speeder. Cut to Ripjaws' crippled body, with the broken light from the speeder flickering on him. Sevenseven and his men briskly walk towards Ben - Sevenseven makes a backhand motion, hurling his katana at the speeder and slicing it in half. Still within his stride, he stomps the handle, flipping it up. He catches it and holds the tip to Ripjaws' neck, while the other two ninjas flank Ripjaws with their weapons pointed.)
(Ripjaws' antenna begins to glow again and he wakes up, and starts worming around on the ground like a fish without water. He clumsily slips and rolls over, getting startled. The hunters aim their weapons closer.)
[Ripjaws]: (Cough) G-good evening, gents! Or ladies, you could definitely be ladies, judging by the look of your uniform, who knows?
(Sevenseven rasps something in his alien language.)
[Ripjaws]: Oh... is that really you? Long time no see! (He timidly waves)
(Sevenseven rotates his sword like a fan before raising it up to stab Ben. At that second, Ripjaws kicks Ninja 2's shin and rolls to the side, accompanied by a green flash. Sevenseven, still in combat stance, signals his men to take a few steps back.)
MUSIC: John Wick OST - "Assassins"
(Within the green flash, a holographic model of a humanoid repeatedly backflips while Ben's anatomy changes within his acrobatics. His body splits apart into multiple cubes that stretch into parallelogram shapes, before rapidly sliding into and out of each other and reshaping into a blade-like exoskeleton. The "bones" lay themselves in place, looking like slivered almonds, and Ben's head cracks into a fan of blades, that morph into a bird-like shape. Wires pour out of his back and provide an outline for wings, which then form holographically into a cloak. A veil-like mesh drapes over Ben's head to form a hood, and his chest splits apart to reveal a red glow beneath his silvery armor. The Ultimatrix symbol rotates and locks into place at the center.)
(Ben has become some hooded, armored warrior reminiscent of a Promethean from Halo 4. His armor is sliced-up everywhere and looks like a slivered skeleton, with glowing red skin underneath. His head is a fully black, triangular shape with two bright green eyes. Suddenly, two golden-orange, dual-ended axes form in his hands. This alien speaks with two voices layered over each other: one is very deep and smooth, while the other is very distorted and almost autotuned.)
[Ben]: W, T, F.
(He looks up, and Sevenseven and his ninjas advance towards Ben. Sevenseven extends his arm, and four red-tipped turrets extend out. They rain luminous ammunition at Ben - his alien's chest literally opens up, forming a bubbly, blanket-like holographic "net" which "catches" the lasers like a blanket and corrodes them. The shield then melts into a ball of energy - Ben makes a hurling motion, unleashing this energy at Sevenseven and causing it to explode in hundreds of fiery flashbangs.)
[Ben]: Okay, I did NOT just do that!
(He looks up, and Ninja 1 (with the rods) comes flip-jumping at him, rotating faster than a baseball. Ben's alien backflips three times, pushes himself off his hands, then comes crashing down with one of the axes. It creates a flaming area effect on the ground, but Ninja 1 dodges it. Sevenseven grabs Ben by the neck using his legs and somersaults forward, followed by three strikes to Ben's face. At the fourth, Ben's head opens up and blasts a ray of sunlight, much like the Sentinels from X-Men: Days of Future Past. Sevenseven staggers backwards, and Ben rushes him, hooking him hard in the face.)
(BANG! BANG! Ninja 2 fires two rounds - Ben jumps up, rolling to the side in midair and landing by swinging his two blades apart from each other. Ninja 2 backflips to dodge it, and Ben lunges at him, striking multiple times with the two blades. Ninja 2 blocks most of them, but his chestplate is slashed open by the last strike. Ben side-kicks him into a neon sign, then spins around and catches Sevenseven as the bounty hunter tries an air-kick on him. Ben throws Sevenseven's leg backwards, then conjures a ball of energy from his right hand. When he fires it, the ball unleashes smaller bolts of energy that shrink it gradually, with the final blast being a burst of flame.)
(The lights on Ben's body pulse. Ninja 2 comes at him from behind, but Ben turns around and jabs him in the face, the sound echoing. He kicks behind him and hits Ninja 1's abdomen. BAM! Ben's face gets hit by one of Ninja 1's rods, and his chestplate gets slightly scorched by a flurry of bolts fired by Sevenseven.)
(All three ninjas come leaping at Ben - he backflips down the street while the three tail him like leopards. Ben stops at a speeder bike, which he grabs by extending his right arm like a slinky. KABOOM! He slams the speeder into the three. He then leaps off the bike and lands on Ninja 1's head, boxing him nearly unconscious...)
(KABOOM! Ben goes tumbling through an alleyway at the blast of Sevenseven's shotgun. Sevenseven gets up frantically, signaling his men to retreat. Ben, in the alleyway, is caught in a neon fence. He looks between the buildings... the three ninjas drive their speeders right into him.)
(BAM! Sevenseven slams into Ben, destroying the fence and sending the speeder bouncing back. Ben begins to revert while all three ninjas go speeding ahead, plowing over him and driving off into the night.)
(Ben reverts back to human, his right shoulder and chest stained vigorously with blood. He crumples to the ground in the middle of a crowd bustling with diverse species. Ben crawls across the wet, neon-bordered sidewalk, but everyone seems to just be walking around him without noticing.)
(Ben breathes heavily, looking up - a cloaked figure suddenly begins walking towards him, excusing himself through the crowd and swiftly making his way forward. Ben starts to angle his head away and crab-walk backwards, but the figure walks over to him and picks him up. Ben starts to scream, but feels a needle in his shoulder. All the lights become blurry circles.)
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(Cut to a close-up shot of a blue box Kevin is carrying. He walks through a gray-walled corridor and opens a steel door, leading into a vast warehouse. The Rust Bucket III is there... and its paint is all rusty and brown. Kevin drops the box and becomes completely shocked, running over in panic.)
[Kevin]: WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?!
[Max]: Hey, cool down! Couple o' guys from the construction crew just sprayed this with flamethrowers. Gives it that gritty look we're aiming for.
[Kevin]: Gritty? You literally rusted my entire damn ship! Guys, do you have any idea how long it takes to paint this ship? Any, you know, consideration?
(The ship door opens. Gwen walks out.)
[Gwen]: Oh, hi Kevin! You got refreshments?
[Kevin]: Yeah, right back there. (Points) Hang on, did he brainwash you with something? How are you not completely flipping out right now?
(Max chuckles and puts his hands on his hips.)
[Gwen]: We're entering Kryzeen, Kevin. Even if Ben was able to make it through, I doubt a few of my shields will protect us from the wrath of the Red Belt.
[Max]: And it's a much easier alternative to repainting this, which would take hours, as you said. But hey, I'm expecting you of all people to understand.
[Kevin]: Are you calling me lazy?
[Gwen]: You're the most sedentary person I know. And somehow my boyfriend.
[Kevin]: Haha, hilarious. Everyone who knows me knows my passion for mechanics. Especially, ESPECIALLY you, "darling". I devote my time and effort to-
[Max]: -Adding stolen engine parts to a six year-old Mustang. Right. Now why don't you take a look inside?
(Cut to the inside of the ship. Laced with magenta neon lights and a plethora of weapon shelves, as well as leather couches.
[Kevin]: (Puts hands on head and starts shaking head, murmuring 'no no no no no') You turned this into a PARTY BUS?
[Gwen]: I'd call it more of a mix of that and a nightclub owned by the Russian mafia.
[Kevin]: (Turns around) I'M the one who's supposed to know that stuff!
[Gwen]: Look, most people are anyways gonna assume you spend your time in places like these, so no worries.
[Kevin]: Wow, you miss Ben so much you're acting like him now?
(The door in the corner opens. Cooper comes in.)
[Cooper]: Hey, guys- WHOA, this is quite the paint job! Anyways, I've got our wardrobe all set up, so depending on the progress you've been making, feel free to check it out. (Looks at box, opens it) Oh wow, this is green tea in here? (Picks up a can, pops it open)
[Kevin]: (Points to Cooper) HIM dealing with the WARDROBE? Okay, one of you obviously threw us out of our comfort zones for the sake of variety. Am I correct?
[Gwen]: Actually, yes. That was my idea.
[Kevin]: And may I ask why?
[Gwen]: Practice! We're gonna be neck-deep in muddy water the second we land on the planet you called a "cesspit". We might as well prepare while we can.
[Kevin]: Dammit, you people and your good points. But yeah, I'll go see what bikini you're putting me in.
[Cooper]: Oh, end of this hall and to the right. I think you'll like your costume the most.
[Kevin]: At this point, I have no idea, and am too afraid to ask. (Walks out)
[Cooper]: Good call.
|
(Black screen. BAM! An intense white light shines over the camera, and a first-person shot shows the viewer "getting up". Ben is in a white tank top, with bandages over his right wrist, and some slight bloodstains on his shirt. He wipes his eyes and lifts his shirt, revealing stitches on his right hip, and thoroughly dressed gauze on his chest.)
(Ben grunts while getting up, and then slides off of the stretcher. He looks around - he's in a surprisingly clean room - the ceilings are an obsidian black with lights rimming the edges. The floor is a dark gray carpet, and graffiti covers the walls, looking rather out of place with the sleekness of the room. There is one door at the other end. Next to Ben is a table with a few drug needles and a slip of paper.)
(Next to this, a coat hangar is sitting there, with a black biker's jacket covered in red, white and magenta circuitry designs. There's also a black undershirt and a skull-emblazoned face mask. Contact lenses sit on a table.)
[Ben]: Hello?
(He looks behind him. Just another graffiti-laden wall, with a large jelly bean bearing a maniacal grin on its face, and carrying a rocket launcher. Ben looks back ahead, and notices the sheet of paper. He picks it up.)
- That's morphine for the pain. Use sparingly.
- Follow the lights.
P.S. Call the new guy Splice. It suits him.
(Ben looks at the paper oddly before shrugging. He walks over to the coat hanger and grimaces while putting on his shirt, then puts the new coat on and slips the paper in his pocket. He then picks up the contact lenses and winces while applying them to his eyes. His eyes are now an indigo color. He puts the facemask over his mouth and puts his hood over him.)
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MUSIC: Nightcrawler OST - "The First Accident"
(Ben opens the door and strolls out into a rainy, bustling market district that looks like this:)
[Ben]: (Murmuring to himself) Follow the lights...
(He peeps over random aliens and people, looking around for signs. He sees a cluster of neon entrances to bars, strip clubs, banks, alien grocery markets, etc. One parlor calling itself "Xenoburger" has a sign made of four red arrows. The arrows blink in a sequence, pointing to the right. Ben smirks and begins his way down the road leading to the right.)
(Ben pushes through the crowd, and is about to cross the street, when a neon-wheeled motorcycle zooms past. Ben staggers backwards before crossing.)
[Ben]: So they do have wheels here.
(A big splash of rainwater off an awning pours over Ben, drenching his hair. He shakes it off like a dog and stumbles into a covered area. He looks up at a wall, and three blue LED's blink in a downwards sequence. He looks down and finds a silver rack of umbrellas... whose fabric coverings are somehow screens projecting animated image loops. Ben chuckles in amazement and grabs one that displays ocean waves at night.)
(Ben walks out onto a sidewalk full of rambling street vendors. He leans left and right and looks over a group of aliens at the "Neo Sushi" stand. A red, green and blue light blink, in that order, to the left. Ben hops up and walks out into an inclined street, with a traffic jam of speeders. He notices a holographic walkalator of people hovering above the road, and goes over to two metal railings. He stands in between them, and a few seconds later, a holographic yellow platform renders beneath him and lifts him up to the walkway. He notices the guardrails on the walkway pulsing with light that leads in the direction of the walkway.)
(Cut to a low cafe rooftop, with more glowing umbrellas covering guests busy with their odd-looking food. Ben walks onto the rooftop from the air-walkway, and sees a speeder parked there. He walks over it and instinctively notices a turquoise-blue bridge going off of the rooftop. He walks over to the speeder, attaching his umbrella to a holder, then activates it and rides across the bridge. He finds himself in a midair plaza of some sort with a Las Vegas-esque fountain gushing in the middle. He reaches a ramp and leaps his speeder over it, his hair flying back as he approaches a curving road.)
(He stops at a large black skyscraper, lit by strobe lights going up the sides. Dotted yellow neons along the edges pulse their way up. Ben is confused as to how he'll make it up, until he rides his speeder around the road... and notices a vertical tunnel. He observes another speeder entering, then gradually going up in a spiral. Ben rolls his shoulders, cracks his knuckles, then boosts his speeder up.)
(WHOOSH! It leaps up as though it's being attracted by a tractor beam, then starts spiraling up the tunnel. Ben yells until his speeder jumps out and lands on a road going around the rooftop. The guardrails blink with yellow lights that go around the perimeter. Ben takes his speeder over to a shallow gutter in the roof, filled with a transparent blue light. He takes this lane around the circular balcony... until he reaches a blinking neon smiley face. He stops his speeder and gets off, noticing the speeder automatically place itself on the side of the lane. Ben gets out on the other side and stands within an indentation in the wall.)
(Ben looks about, and up the wall, before turning around and jumping back, startled. The cloaked figure stands there.)
[Ben]: Shit, dude, this isn't a PVP server!
(The "faceless" figure hands him what looks like a solid glass box with glowing edges. Ben takes it, but notices how easily it bends, as though it's paper. He looks up at the figure, somewhat confused.)
(The figure in turn snatches the "envelope" and opens up a flap on one side, shoving its contents in Ben's view.)
[Ben]: (Holds it up) Thanks.
(He looks back down and examines the envelope, before looking back. The figure's gone. Ben glances around and runs over to the edge of the guardrail, looking over the edge to see if the guy jumped off. Nothing to be found.)
(CRASH! Ben looks up at the sky and sees a bright flash of lightning... followed by the stoppage of rain under it. Ben looks on while the lightning flashes one-by-one down the sky, putting out the rainstorm underneath each radius of the lightning strike. The camera steadily rises at an angle behind Ben, while his coattails and hair fly as silhouettes against the blinding light of the storm. One more resonant boom of thunder sounds above the clouds, until the sky reaches a sense of tranquility to contrast with the bustling chaos of Kryzeen's urban utopia. Lightning is seen flashing far away, within the distant, ghostly skyline of the cities up ahead.)
[Ben]: Wow...
(Ben blinks rapidly to regain attention and looks back at the envelope. He finds a thick stack of ID cards, each with a "mugshot" of a separate alien he has in his collection. He flips through Heatblast, Big Chill, Swampfire, Diamondhead, and Splice, before noticing a commonality among the cards: they all register to the "Snowcourt Hotel".)
(Ben seems to recognize this, and peers over the edge again. He paces left and right before identifying a glossy building - black on two sides and white on the other, and lit by blue, purple, red and emerald-green strobes - bearing the logo of the Snowcourt Hotel on its frieze. The top of the building projects a holographic neon globe that reanimates into S N O W C O U R T H O T E L.)
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MUSIC: The Mentalist OST - "Qasimico"
(The camera descends while arcing around a bustling street corner... before lowering even more... the road is like a bridge or walkway, suspended above another street below. Here is where the corner of the Snowcourt Hotel lies, with the building's corner surrounded by a gigantic, semicircular, glowing blue pool of water. Down the middle of the pool is a walkalator of sorts, colored yellow-orange and sparking with electrical animations in motion.)
(On the street above, Ben parks his speeder into an extended parking platform on the edge of the road. He looks over and raises his eyebrows, before looking around. He finds a catwalk stairwell leading to the street above.)
(The camera looks over a rather crazy-looking lobby. The floors and walls are all an obsidian black with a hint of blue, very glossy. Bluish reflections dance wildly and a multicultural, mixed-species ocean of people go here and there. Cut to Ben nervously walking through all of them. He goes over to the concierge, which is a cave-in cut into the wall. The clerk is a magenta-skinned Polar Manzardill (Arctiguana's species).)
(Ben shuffles through his ID cards while in line. He finds one for Big Chill, and looks about before running behind a pillar in the lobby.)
[Concierge]: Next!
(A hotel card is suddenly placed on the desk, and Big Chill's image fades into view with a crystallized effect, powdery ice bits flying everywhere. The concierge looks up, a little stunned.)
[Big Chill]: Haven't seen one of these before?
(The concierge shakes her head before giving Big Chill a door card.)
[Big Chill]: Thanks. (Walks off)
(Cut to a glowing tubular elevator stopping in the middle of a circular balcony. A bridge extends over the drop, where Big Chill strolls out, and casually reverts human while walking. The locked doors all have blue forcefields over them. He scans his card in front of a security panel, and the shield dissolves in pixels. Ben walks in.)
(He turns on the lights, having walked into quite a lavish living room. Zebra-patterned couches around a glass table (with a built-in holographic touchscreen), under one of Ikea's "Death Star lamps". A glowing blue curtain which looks like it's made of jellyfish skin is partially draped over a large glass window overlooking the city.)
[Ben]: Well, this is a bit much...
(He looks down at the envelope and places it on the table. He empties its contents and spreads them across the table, before sitting down with his chin resting on his hands.)
THE MUSIC STOPS.
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(A door opens.)
MUSIC: Marilyn Manson - Killing Strangers
(Cut to a shot of black-and-gold boots striding down a concrete floor. We then see a pair of black boots lined with red vine-like designs also walking. Next are a pair of silver, black and blue boots also coming in with a mean pace. You get the idea - the camera starts to pan up while switching between these three.)
(Cut to an armored torso with a golden skull over a black chestplate, and two steel hammers in a hefty belt alongside two guns. Cut to a black leather zip-up suit with thick red bands going around the stomach, and a sword, dagger and coal-black pistol mounted in the belt. This is followed by a silver chestplate with white stripes and a blue hexagon in the center, with a diagonally-worn belt of bullets. Two pistols are mounted in the belt.)
(The camera goes overhead as the three characters meet at the center to form a triangle. The camera pans around inside the formation - black-and-gold bounty hunter Kevin has a dark-gray camo mask going over his mouth and nose, and eye contacts that make his eyes glow bright red. Cut to Gwen, the red-clad assassin, who has reflective red sunglasses and black-and-white streaks in her hair, followed by Cooper, the blue soldier, who's wearing sleek aviator glasses and has black patterns inked over his cheeks and chin.)
(They all stand there glaring menacingly at each other, before cracking up and bursting out laughing hysterically, clutching their stomachs and falling on the floor. A door opens again, with Max walking in wearing a black jacket lined with bright green stripes, as well as large sunglasses that look like 3D glasses. The three "bounty hunters" get up and catch their breath, with Max smirking at them.)
[Max]: (Whistles) Good god damn! Now if you three don't look deadly, either I need to get my eyes fixed, or we're gonna have to waste a lot more time with this crap.
[Kevin]: You sure it's not the glasses?
[Max]: (Takes off sunglasses, looks at them) Nope. You all are scaring me just upon sight, and it's nothing to laugh at. We're gonna rock this.
(They all crack up again.)
[Max]: Jesus, people, are you a bunch of fifth-graders? Start behaving like a bunch of second-graders, for crying out loud, and actually be excited about this!
[Gwen]: Can you at least tell us what the plan is?
[Max]: You're right, we can't lose anymore time. In the plane, all of you! Let's get moving! It's just us, remember?
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("Killing Strangers" is still playing. Don't stop it until indicated.)
(Ben walks over to the glass window, placing his hand on a rounded rectangle embedded in the glass. It lights up and allows him to slide the door aside, and walk out into the balcony.)
(He lets the breeze embrace him for a moment, before looking left and right. He walks back into the house, and reaches to his sides. Two white, transparent curtains with white stripes are on the sides, and Ben drapes them over the window, and their opacity slightly increases somehow. Ben sits back on his couch, opens the envelope, and spills its contents on the glass table.)
(The camera briefly pans through them. There's a stack of registry cards for the hotel, a credit card, a few energy bars, and a big stack of magazines, newspapers and city maps.)
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(Music is still playing. Cut to a tracking shot of the Rust Bucket III taking off, hovering in close proximity to all the forests and mountains. The engine scream increases in pitch - the camera goes first-person as the ship tilts up. The engine roars in the background while the camera shakes, and the plane soars through puffy clouds.)
(Cut to Max and the gang, who shudder violently in their seats while gritting their teeth. The plane is seen from a distance as it ascends past the clouds and corkscrews into a steady glide, increasing in altitude more slowly while the stars above become more visible.)
(Max unbuckles his seatbelt and takes a crouched walk over to the booth seats, signaling the other three to follow him. He stomps a pressure pad on the floor, and a table rises up. Max reaches under his seat and pulls out a bag with a laptop in it. He opens it up and logs in.)
(THE MUSIC STOPS.)
[Max]: So, you wanted to know our mission, yes? Well, since my dress-up took a considerably shorter time than yours, I did my research.
(He clicks an image, opening up the living room that the Devil Watcher had shown them at the end of "The Number Game".)
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(Ben picks up a physical copy of the same photo. Max's voice is heard narrating in the background.)
[Max]: Remember this? It seemed like a mostly random house, but after I learned about Kryzeen, I surfed through various interior design entries belonging to or reminiscent of the planet. The room the 'Watcher' gave us last month is somewhere in the range of eight-hundred-fifty-million lunar credits based on what it looks like versus what I found.
[Kevin]: Did you get somewhere?
[Max]: Well, I didn't even get to finish just now. (Kevin frowns) (Max chuckles) Sorry. Well, turns out that that price was put on the twenty-sixth most expensive property on the whole of Kryzeen. That belongs to this man.
(Ben pulls out three business magazines all with one man on their cover. He's what you'd call extremely handsome except with electric blue hair, and irises with crimson outlines. Otherwise he's moderately well-built, has streaky-smooth eyebrows and a sinister/seductive firmness to his lips, with his facial expression on all three magazines bearing an almost predatory-looking charm, all defined by the glare he casts upon the camera. Magazine at the top of the stack juxtaposes this illustrious sheen with the man's clothing choice - a black, silver-lined suit embedded with glowing blue disk patterns that look like he's wearing a Tron Legacy costume. All the pictures have a distinctly polished light upon them.)
[Max]: I give you Julian Diamond. CEO of StarZyne, which is Kryzeen's Microsoft. Tech conglomerate with every device on the streets to answer for.
(Kevin, Gwen and Cooper look through a few pictures of him.)
[Cooper]: And what's the matter with this sleazy pimp?
(Ben pulls out a few polaroid photographs of Diamond that look like surveillance.)
[Max]: Word's been passed around criminal networks that he has a price on his head.
[Kevin]: Yeah, probably put up by some lucky lady's angry husband.
[Gwen]: Kevin!
[Cooper]: Vulkanus could definitely be involved, he escaped from the Labyrinth and came here.
[Max]: I've been itching to pursue that lead further, but I could find exactly zero connections between him and anything on the planet.
[Cooper]: Hm.
[Max]: And here's the part I find hard to believe about Diamond. He's only 23.
[Kevin]: Bullshit!
[Max]: You learn to watch that tongue of yours, bud.
(Kevin literally sticks out his tongue and tries to look at it sarcastically.)
[Gwen]: 23?
[Cooper]: Old enough to get as naughty as the vibe he gives off, but to own a company? And you said this was Kryzeen's biggest tech empire?
[Max]: I would assume so. But get this - the real reason his company's gotten so famous is because...
(Ben pulls out a few newspapers and skims through the headlines, reacting with surprise.)
[Max]: ...because they've apparently developed a way to- to turn computer data into weaponized artillery.
[Kevin]: Okay, now we're talking. Except that broadens the category of who'd want him dead.
[Gwen]: And focusing within the scope of the black market doesn't do us any favors either, because Kevin, you said that the entire planet was consumed by corruption, right?
[Kevin]: Look, this is my first time to the place, and all the intel I could gather is from shady dudes I knew from the gutters. Assumptions are the greatest kind of risk-taking, but it sounds accurate.
[Cooper]: (Reciting "profoundly") 'Assumptions are the greatest kind of risk-taking'... did you hear that from somewhere?
[Kevin]: No, why?
[Cooper]: Pretty damn deep for someone like you, of all people.
[Kevin]: (Grins) Gee, thanks! (Flips him off)
[Max]: (Clears throat) Moving on...
(Ben finds a few links on papers in the envelope and opens up several articles on the Kryzeenian Internet using his table-tablet.)
[Max]: ...financial opponents to Diamond say he's using his own company as a facade while he backchannels funding for the illegal weapons market. (Ben reads the headline "STARZYNE CHARITY FUND BOOMING") The media agrees on the possibility since Diamond's recently started a charitable branch to StarZyne, to provide next-gen equipment to military units outside the planet.
[Gwen]: And he's picking a place like Kryzeen to achieve his "ambitious and good-natured goals"?
[Kevin]: Well, considering there isn't much of a law system on Kryzeen, I'd say these white-collar attackers are trying to rat him out for a paycheck from the crooks whose arms they're under. Why else would a Kryzeen native want to seek any sort of justice, in a civilization built upon the principle of benefits?
(Cooper is looking at him strangely.)
[Kevin]: (Sits up a little, spreads arms) What NOW? Do I have food on my lips?
[Gwen]: Cooper, he just sounds really smart when he's talking about crime. Get used to it.
[Cooper]: (Nods casually) Sure thing, no worries.
[Kevin]: So am I gonna like a politician to you next? (mutters) Jackass.
[Max]: Heard that.
[Kevin]: Good. Now what's our strategy? We need to get this guy and find Ben all in one sitting.
(Ben finds a few blueprints on various weapons manufactured by StarZyne.)
[Max]: Well, I've got more spots we can search in. That treacherous pig Thomas had been handling some weapons transactions when they passed through Mount Rushmore, remember? (Cut to a flashback shot from "The Number Game" where Thomas and Highlander find blueprints to custom-made technology manufactured near Rushmore)
(Max continues to narrate over a silent scene of Plumber commandos sneaking through forests at night with guns aimed.)
[Max] Our final Earthbound infiltration to one of those shipments happened in the Rushmore National Park. (The troops are seen blasting a train with a rocket launcher and derailing it, followed by them raiding the seats and finding gun crates under the seats) We closed the case on Earth while our units outside completed most of the other planetary systems. There were indeed leftovers, Kryzeen being one of them. We can probably use evidence from the case to narrow down our search.
[Kevin]: Hang on a sec... StarZyne, I kept thinking where I heard that name. And now it hit me: Vulkanus' friend once asked me to help him out with a little scam o' his, which ended in an opposing group getting all their weapons stolen. That stuff was crazy powerful, but I heard the guy mention StarZyne. The other part I always remembered...
(Ben finds a few membership passes for something called "the Firefly Pit".)
[Kevin]: ...he wanted to take it to Vulkanus at a club he called the "Firefly Pit". Didn't invite me along.
(Ben, at the same time, is seen scrolling through brochures for the nightclub - it looks shady and secretive, like a "members only" pass.)
[Gwen]: How long ago?
[Kevin]: Dunno, year or two? It's a pretty commonly mentioned place among black market goons, probably has a joint down in Kryzeen.
(Ben starts getting up, holding several papers and files in his hand, examining them vigorously.)
[Cooper]: Seems pretty discreet-sounding to me.
[Kevin]: Hey, it's a start.
[Max]: You know what? Let's go there. It's the only cohesive lead we've found all day. Kevin, good job.
(Kevin, looking a bit surprised, just shrugs.)
[Max]: (Smirking) I mean it.
[Kevin]: Well... thanks!
[Max]: You're welcome.
(BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!)
(They all look out the window and gasp.)
[Cooper]: We made it!
[Max]: To the belt. Here goes nothing.
|
(Cut to a music-free zooming shot of the tubular elevator descending. Ben stands inside with his hands in his pockets.)
(Cut to the Snowcourt door opening. Ben walks over the little pool outside. The camera descends through the road down to the one below, where the speeders are parked. Ben strolls over to his speeder.)
(He opens up a mapping screen, and enters in directions from "My Location" to "Firefly Pit". After a few seconds, the map plots out a glowing green path to Ben's destination.)
(Ben looks at the screen condescendingly, then presses a few buttons on the Ultimatrix. A holographic touchscreen pops up, and Ben opens up his hand to zoom in a camera on the map.)
[Ben]: Activate data reader.
[Ultimatrix]: Scanning data. Please hold device steady.
(Ben looks around suspiciously while the Ultimatrix sends a green laser pointer to draw a box around the map. It makes little scrolling/beeping noises and then flashes through a pixel grid on its screen.)
[Ultimatrix]: Reading contents. Please stand by.
(The Ultimatrix screen shows the map diagram, then zooms out and opens another random aerial map on a side screen. That screen scrolls through various map applications before finding one similar to Ben's. Both screens start rapidly scrolling through a plethora of code before the device beeps three times.)
[Ultimatrix]: Data found to match identified software. Name: "StarZyne Pathfinder". Extracting and transposing contents. Please stand by.
(The Ultimatrix dial begins to spin for a few seconds before it stops and beeps twice.)
[Ultimatrix]: Code functions now usable through Ultimatrix mainframe. Secure offline availability in status: green. Usage permitted.
(The Ultimatrix literally programmed the features of the speeder's GPS into itself. Ben attempts to operate it.)
[Ben]: Find directions from current location to Firefly Pit.
[Ultimatrix]: Working...
(The map screen shows a green path being drawn through the streets and over to a blinking dot.)
[Ultimatrix]: Multiple seismic layers detected. Surveillance feed unavailable on layers B, C, and D.
(The map changes into a 3D model of four "layers", with the top level having 3D schematics of the streets while the middle layers are all filled with static.)
[Ben]: Proceed with current path. Enable compass.
(The Ultimatrix's dial rotates, until Ben suddenly jolts forward and shudders. A first-person shot shows his eyesight rimmed by this greenish haze. Ben can now see a path of green smoke going down the roads, as though it's a video game with a line guiding the player towards the destination.)
[Ben]: Okay, THIS is awesome!
MUSIC: Varien & 7 Minutes Dead - Neo Tokyo
(Ben scrolls through the Ultimatrix's holograms, before slamming it down. His body is covered with a green pixel grid that blinks down each row, before his veins turn green and his body "splits" at the creases, with green light beaming out the gaps. His skull streaks backwards and sharpens, while his arm hairs extend in a split second, becoming a furry mass which discolors and sends itself streaking past his elbows.)
(A first-person shot through his blood veins shows a bolt of lightning sparking past his blood cells and electrifying his heart, sending his heartrate up rapidly. Small plates of armor wrap around his legs and light up in a line, down to his feet, which "ignite" like jet boosts. He starts jumping up and down before a green streak speeds out of the resulting halo of green energy.)
(Fasttrack sprints through downtown Kryzeen, approaching a bridge leading to another island. A shot shows his fierce eyes glaring confidently at the scenery ahead.)
(The camera pans up to look at the night sky, bursting with the dancing colors of spacecraft enjoying themselves above the ocean. Suddenly, a fiery streak zooms by.)
|
(The Rust Bucket III rattles and shivers in midair while gusts of wind blow past it in the night sky.)
(Max, Kevin, Gwen and Cooper all get out from under their seats. Cooper stands up and looks around.)
[Cooper]: Holy CRAP!
[Kevin]: What, did we make it?
[Cooper]: We sure as hell did!
[Kevin]: Woohoo! Everyone grab the champagne! What time is it?
[Cooper]: (Checks watch): 8:30 AM on Bellwood, but I assume it's a lot different here.
[Kevin]: Dammit dude, "adventure time"!
[Cooper]: You still watch that shit?
[Kevin]: Well, the ads keep popping up.
[Cooper]: Get up here and look at this.
(Kevin climbs up and looks out the window, completely awestruck.)
[Kevin]: Okay, even I can appreciate this.
(Max and Gwen eagerly get up at that and look out.)
[Max]: I'll be damned. THIS is a cesspit?
[Gwen]: Looks can be deceiving, grandpa.
[Max]: And they can make for a great picture.
(Kevin takes out his phone and snaps a picture of the skyline...)
(KABOOM!)
(The ship violently rattles and shakes. Cooper runs to the controls, which are covered in static.)
[Cooper]: What the hell is wrong with the controls?
[Kevin]: Probably just a satellite.
[Cooper]: Wait, they're back up. You were right. Sir, where do we land?
[Max]: Look for some kind of riverbank, or a beach under a bridge. We aren't making any impressions just yet.
[Kevin]: Hang on a sec... I know a place. If I'm lucky, my theory's true.
[Max]: Go ahead, you're the expert.
(THE MUSIC STOPS.)
(Cut to a neon sign that says "Burgerplex". The camera descends underground, where Max, Gwen, Kevin and Cooper exit the Rust Bucket III parked in a garage off the corner of a rocky piece of land. The ocean rages behind them.)
[Cooper]: Did we really just land under a burger shop?
[Kevin]: I know the guy who owns the franchise. He lets his "friends" park in his garages.
[Gwen]: But how does he know it's us?
[Kevin]: By friends I meant criminals. The inconspicuous kind. And if the people here find something off, the customers take care of it.
[Max]: WHAT?
[Kevin]: It's best not to ask.
(Cut to a four-second shot of the "customers", all bulky brutes silently munching while their massive guns rest on the table.)
(Outside on the streets, Kevin, Gwen and Cooper walk over to a crossing in the middle of a brightly lit street corner. They're illuminated by an orange-pink hue.)
[Cooper]: You sure it's safe to leave Max there?
[Kevin]: That old timer can handle himself. For now, we need to find this Diamond guy before the market does.
[Gwen]: Where is this "Firefly Pit" anyways?
[Kevin]: Well, asking isn't gonna be so hard anymore. Not with these clothes.
(Kevin starts advancing towards a thuggish dude on the streets. The guy backs up.)
[Thug]: Hey, hey, we don't want no trouble.
[Kevin]: Neither do I. My friends and I are looking to collect a contract over at the Firefly Pit. Tell me where it is.
[Thug]: Come on, man, that shithole?
[Kevin]: Didn't ask for your opinion. Where is it?
[Thug]: Uh, keep going across that bridge back there... (points)
(Kevin looks to the side, but the thug suddenly whacks him in the head, kicks his abdomen, and runs off. Kevin gets up all irritated, but the thug is gone.)
[Kevin]: Asshole.
[Gwen]: Kevin, get over here!
(Kevin runs over to her - she and Cooper are at a speeder bike looking at a map screen.)
[Kevin]: Where'd you get that?
[Cooper]: There's hundreds just lying around. Look, these come with a built-in GPS device. Firefly Pit's back here somewhere.
[Kevin]: I... I recognize that area, we passed over it. Weren't too many lights on in the place.
[Gwen]: Bikes are back there, on the edge of the balcony. Grab one and let's go.
[Kevin]: Yes ma'am!
|
MUSIC: Skyfall OST - "Shanghai Drive"
(The camera speeds through streets in first-person. The heights of the buildings rapidly decrease as Ben enters a dirty-looking slum area. In a clearing is a street lit by red light. Fasttrack stops there, looking up at a rusty "MEMBERS ONLY" sign. His eyes move past the gate, and into a deep-looking tunnel.)
(Cut to a high-speed tracking shot going through a red tunnel. The camera suddenly exits the tunnel to show a gigantic red cave with upside-down skyscrapers hanging from the ceilings like stalactites. The buildings below all look like silhouettes - short structures forming bustling supermarket streets, almost like a less-colorful version of Omniverse's Undertown.)
(Ben looks around in awe, and suddenly finds the streets engulfed by blackish haze above the buildings, offering a grittier vibe.)
(BAM!)
(He's slammed into a Tetramand.)
[Tetramand]: Watch it, dumbass!
[Ultimatrix]: Destination reached. Waypoint disabled.
(The Tetramand looks at him weird. Ben shrugs and continues walking.)
(He looks to his sides, and begins breathing heavily as his enthusiastic mood begins to drop into something of despair. Innocents are dragged into dark halls while violent beatings occur out in the open, with chanting crowds looking on in fascination. Further to the side is an execution by gunfire. Homeless Arachnichimps are seen cooking human heads in a campfire.)
(Suddenly, a building on his left has a yellow arcade-like sign with downward arrows pointing to "the pit". Guards who look like Star Wars commando droids stand watch. Ben walks over and hands his ID card to them.)
[Guard 1]: Kirby Rooks?
[Fasttrack]: Y-yeah. That's me!
[Guard 2]: You may enter. VIP lounge is to your right upon entry. Take the stairwell.
[Fasttrack]: Got it. Thanks!
(Ben goes down a ramp in a dark hallway lit by golden LED's on the rails. He takes a right and enters a crowded nightclub, dimly lit by a reddish-magenta hue coming from the neon lights at the bar. Blue lights line the walls in stripes, making the area look like the Dance Central loading screens.)
(Ben goes to a corner and reverts human, still in the black leather outfit given to him earlier. He pushes his way through the mass of creatures and arrives at a blue-lit stairwell to the VIP lounge. He scans his card on the security panel and the gates open. Ben goes down and crosses a swimming pool, into an open, purple-lit area with ceilings and walls all black. The bar again has red lights on it, and various species all shirtless enjoy drinks in the pool with the club girls. Ben goes over to the bar.)
[Ben]: I'd like a club soda, please.
[Bartender]: That's two lunar credits.
(Ben hands him the money and receives a rather tall glass of carbonated water. He takes a sip and starts coughing loudly - the bartender smirks at him and moves onto the next customer.)
(Ben wipes his eyes, and then looks around cautiously before going over to a lounge seat in the corner. He pulls back his sleeve and whispers into the Ultimatrix.)
[Ben]: Activate local surveillance feed tracker.
(The Ultimatrix displays a "proxy loading" message before a few audio waveforms pop up, associated with different radio frequencies. Ben turns off the volume on the touchscreen and turns on English captions.)
(He scrolls through - "I went out with this guy once, he was completely wasted, they had to kick him out for...", "I'd like two vodkas please", "I need to piss", "sir, we're looking out for contracts at the moment". Ben puts the last frequency on the main window. He puts his hand over the Ultimatrix light while moving into the men's bathroom. He locks a stall door and leans back, watching the screen.)
HOW BAD HAS THIS SPREAD?
NO ONE'S COME IN FOR ANY CONTRACTS YET, SIR. THERE'S AN OPEN BOOTH FOR THEM IN ONE CORNER, DIAMOND'S NAME IS FRONT AND CENTER.
DID YOU TRY SHUTTING IT DOWN?
ONCE, BUT WE WERE ASKED TO BACK OFF. DIDN'T WANT TO MAKE A SCENE.
AND THAT PAIN IN THE ASS TENNYSON?
WE TOOK CARE OF HIM. HE'S LIKELY BACK ON HIS FEET RIGHT NOW, BUT HE HAS NO IDEA WHERE WE ARE.
WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL THE LITTLE BASTARD BEFORE?
HE APPEARS TO HAVE NEW TRICKS AT HAND. WE RAN HIM OVER WITH OUR BIKES, THAT SHOULD LEAVE A FEW BONES BROKEN.
OKAY, THAT I SHOULD'VE BEEN THERE TO SEE.
(Ben chuckles.)
HANG ON, THERE'S SOMEONE COMING IN FOR A CONTRACT.
KEEP AN EYE ON THEM, SEE WHERE THEY'RE GOING.
WAIT A MINUTE... WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON BACK THERE? HEY!
HELLO? HELLO?
(Ben closes the screen and runs out of the bathroom. Sevenseven and his ninjas are in the corner, staring while an armored figure holds the two VIP guards in the air by their collars... it's Kevin. Ben can't see that just yet.)
[Kevin]: I don't care whose list I'm on. I want Diamond's last location RIGHT NOW. I'm not even asking for your money.
[Club Employee 1]: Please, sir, my employers will be worried if I go off schedules!
[Kevin]: Your employers aren't my problem, and as far as I care, they can kiss my ass. WHERE IS DIAMOND?
[Ben]: Wait, that voice...
[Kevin]: WHERE IS HE?! Listen, bud, if I hit you right now, you're gonna break at least three bones. And I have no control of that. If you want to keep your job, and your body, intact, you are going to tell me where Diamond is.
[Ben]: Kevin?
[Club Employee 1]: OKAY! Okay! Please! He was at StarZyne last I saw! It sounds obvious, but he doesn't seem to give a shit about anything that goes down here!
(Several bounty hunters on the sides drop their drinks and begin to approach.)
[Kevin]: Thanks.
(Kevin shoves the employee aside and begins walking out of the club. Suddenly, eight suited guards come in with Tasers.)
[Guard 1]: Sir, we're gonna have to ask you to leave- OOF!
(Kevin jabs one guard in the abdomen and elbows the one to his left. The one on his right tases his suit, but pulls the rod away from him clonks a fourth guard in the head with it. He lunges at the fifth guard and tackles him to the ground before the first begins kicking him. Kevin catches the guy's leg and pushes him into the swimming pool, creating a giant splash. Ben's clothes get a few drops of water on them. The sixth guard hooks Kevin in the face, but Kevin head-butts him and knocks him into the seventh guard. Kevin knocks them both out, until a chair comes flying at him. The thrower, guard 6, runs at Kevin, but smashes a wine glass and stabs the guard in the shoulder with it. The eighth guard comes in with a flying kick to Kevin's back, before tripping him with a crowbar and hitting him repeatedly with it. Kevin is getting overpowered, until the guard is suddenly hit with a bottle and falls.)
(Kevin gets up and looks to the sides - Ben hides behind a wall. Kevin then turns around and sees the guard in the pool calling for backup. Kevin picks up a Taser rod and goes up to him.)
[Kevin]: If you don't get rid of that radio right now, I'm dropping this in the water.
(The guard abruptly throws the radio away and puts his hands up.)
(Kevin begins to leave, but suddenly, a stampede of bounty hunters follows him. Ben looks on in fear before timidly going after them.)
[Ninja 1]: (Into radio) Shit, they're all following this lunatic!
[Vulkanus]: (Via radio) Perfect. GO AFTER THEM, YOU MORONS! Beat them to Diamond!
[Ninja 1]: Yes sir.
"PUNX" STOPS PLAYING.
(Outside, Kevin sprints over to Gwen and Cooper.)
[Kevin]: We have to leave right now.
[Cooper]: Why? What happened?
[Kevin]: (Exhale) Let's just say I attracted too much attention.
[Gwen]: Yeah, great job. Now hop in. Where's Diamond?
[Kevin]: StarZyne building. We better be able to spot it.
(Ben makes it out of the club, and jumps out of the way before Gwen's speeder can run him over. He crosses the street and looks around for bikes, finding none. A few bounty hunters hop on hoverboards and take pursuit - Ben spots them heading to a blue-lit clearing at the top of the cave.)
(Ben dashes into an alleyway on the right, and slams the Ultimatrix while running. His spine is seen curling up into a circle with a wheel made of bones and muscle forming in the center surrounding the heart. The outer bones provide an exoskeleton for armor plating which locks into place, before "unrolling".)
(Cut to a few excited criminals taking pursuit on their bikes. KABOOM! Cannonbolt, in ball form, knocks them off-road and speeds through the curving road. He stops at a ramp, before doing a burnout and blasting himself out of the cave. He lands with a violent thud in a parking lot lined with blue neon. He gets up, grunting, and watches worriedly as speeders turn and make their way to the highway.)
(Cannonbolt smashes through the edge of the parking lot and onto the holographic road adjacent to the hunters. He starts bouncing down the road in massive leaps to avoid running other vehicles over. A bounty hunter on the road points to the scene to show his friend - they both get shot off the road and over the edge by Sevenseven and his ninjas. They salute Ben with two fingers, and Ben speeds up. The camera stops when Ben passes a large billboard with an advertisement for a new "eye glow" aesthetic, with a beautiful model shown with hair flying over glowing blue earrings and other neon jewelry. It appears to be a common trend around the area.)
|
(Cut to a slowly moving shot of the StarZyne building - and it is indeed recognizable. The entire building's floors are a huge spiral going up about 50 times, with layers of balconies in the gaps. The top is a giant glass honeycomb with a neon "ring of Saturn" around it, boasting "STARZYNE" in big red bold letters. Down the sides are blue strips of dancing, distorted blue holograms, and at the bottom is a circle of fountains surrounding the building. On either side of the fountains are blue, green and purple palm trees... bionic palm trees.)
(Cut to the penthouse. Diamond, shirtless, is sitting back in bed with the same model on the poster Ben passed - except they're sitting and playing a video game projected on a hologram coming out of a swimming pool. They're both laughing and acting excited while controlling two holographic robots in a Mortal Kombat-like fighting game. Suddenly, a quiet, muffled crash is heard. Diamond gets out of bed wearing glowing boxer briefs, and looks out.)
[Model]: Julian?
[Diamond]: Oh, god...
[Model]: What is it?
[Diamond]: Christina, we have to get going.
[Christina]: What's wrong, baby?
[Diamond]: (Puts hands on hips, leans back, takes deep breath) A few loonies are trashing the fountains, and what looks like the lobby.
[Christina]: W-what do we do?
[Diamond]: Well, you and I need to put some clothes on, wait for Maurice to come in-
(Julian's guard Maurice steps inside.)
[Maurice]: Sir, we're receiving reports of-
[Diamond]: Yes, I know, I have windows!
[Maurice]: -Hired guns coming to kill you.
(Christina gasps, Diamond chuckles.)
[Diamond]: Finally, a real price on my head. This should be fun.
(Maurice looks confused. Diamond looks up with a "what are you looking at" face before going wide-eyed.)
[Diamond]: Oh, right. Where do we go?
[Maurice]: Come with me, please, as soon as you, uh, get dressed.
[Diamond]: Yeah, sure thing. (To Christina) Well, that's gonna totally go well.
(Christina lets out a nervous laugh while Diamond runs in the closet, and tosses her a black shirt, her jeans and her blue overcoat. He hastily hops into striped Tron-esque pants, a silver shirt, black suit, and his watch. They run over to Maurice, who closes the door behind them.)
[Diamond]: So, where do we go?
[Maurice]: We have to keep you out of sight until we're out of the building. I'll cover you guys.
[Diamond]: Yeah, is that suit gonna camouflage with the environment somehow?
[Maurice]: Sir, with all due respect, isn't now a good time to take a break from acting like a prick to me?
[Diamond]: (Points) You're fired as soon you get us to safety.
[Maurice]: (Fistpumps) Yessss!
(BLAM! Maurice is shot in the head by a laser-harpoon. Diamond looks over the nearby balcony to see an armored sniper.)
[Diamond]: GET DOWN!
(CRASH! Diamond and Christina look up - the hunter screams while a grapnel pulls him over the edge.)
|
(CRASH! The hunter from above hits the ground after falling through at least ten layers of glass. The staff screams while the guy with the grapnel, a mutated-looking wolf-human, roars. This one gets shot in the back - behind him, Sevenseven stands with his gun aimed. He signals the ninjas to move in.)
(A tracking shot follows them from behind and moves through the lobby. The StarZyne staff all run while the desks and lights get shot and spark. Some automated shields and turrets open fire and kill a few bounty hunters, but Sevenseven shines some kind of ultraviolet light into the cameras and fries them.)
(Outside, Gwen, Kevin and Cooper get out of their speeders and run past the fountains, when pieces of glass start raining on them. A hulking brute falls out from the third floor while bullets spray out of the sides of the building.)
[Cooper]: WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT THIS?
[Gwen]: Hang on a sec- Grandpa?
[Max]: (Via intercom) Guys, I've accessed some of the feeds on the streets, and it does NOT look good.
[Gwen]: You don't say! Do you have schematics of the building?
[Max]: I do now. Security on the first five floors has been breached. Splitting up would be efficient if you weren't outnumbered.
[Kevin]: We need to do something fast! Everyone's dying in here!
[Max]: Wait, so there's an entry point near the eastern end of the building, and- (Static)
(Max's laptop screen goes completely distorted.)
[Max]: What the hell? Hello? (Presses button repeatedly) Hello, Gwen, can you hear me?
(The scene suddenly "rewinds." Cut to the three outside, in slow motion. The music stops and everything goes quiet and muffled.)
(The camera zooms past them and into the streets way behind. Still in slow-motion, inside an office building, a yellow ball comes flying through one window and out the other. Cut to Cannonbolt's screaming face in slow-motion. BOOM! BOOM!! BOOM! He goes straight through three buildings, and bounces off the top of the other...)
(In midair, Cannonbolt flips in non-ball form, and presses his chest. A green light erupts and his skin flattens, extending out and recoiling into an amphibian shape, which then zooms downward. A first-person shot shows Ben approaching the entrance.)
(A super-slow motion shot taken from the side shows Jetray inching towards the chaos while the other three get back...)
(Screen goes black.)
MUSIC: Pegboard Nerds - We Are One (feat. Splitbreed)
(At that first loud growl, a gust of wind blows past Gwen, Kevin and Cooper, and blasts through the entire building entrance, creating a gigantic explosion upon impact. The crowd at the entrance is all gone, and the gang is on the ground, staring in total shock.)
(The three all get up, blinded by a bright light. Another explosion - a few bounty hunters come raining at them. They dodge the flying bodies while making their way inside the building.)
(Diamond hears this from above and runs over to the balcony.)
[Diamond]: Okay, I need to record this. Hang on.
(He runs into his room, gets a holographic circular lens, and begins watching with giddy joy. The camera zooms in on the smoke clearing, where Heatblast has just shot three hunters into the fountains outside.)
(Gwen, Kevin and Cooper stand there staring dumbfounded. Heatblast stops and grins.)
[Heatblast]: Okay, I really missed you guys.
(He runs over and gives them a group hug, and removes his right hand to blast an incoming enemy. He then lets go of them and they all stand back-to-back, battle ready.)
[Heatblast]: (Blasting a criminal) Those are some real rad suits.
[Cooper]: (Shoots gun) I made them!
[Diamond]: Oh my god, this is like the Avengers all over again!
(Sevenseven suddenly lunges down at Heatblast, who blocks the attack, cartwheels over and throws the bounty hunter into a desk. Sevenseven's other ninjas rush in, but Gwen kicks them both.)
[Heatblast]: Okay, Gwen, you cover the lobby. Your shields should hold off the crowds. Cooper, Kevin, stop the security breaches on the other floors. I'll get Diamond.
[Diamond]: Oh, shit.
[Christina]: Where can we go?
[Diamond]: Back to the penthouse, alternate elevator.
(Heatblast grabs Kevin and Cooper and jets up the elevator shaft, tossing them over to the balconies. Ben continues his way up, scanning the halls, when he feels some anchor on his leg. Sevenseven, from below, yanks him downward and flies up, uppercutting Heatblast. They start fighting each other in midair, when Sevenseven is shot backwards. Cooper gives Ben a heads-up from the nearby balcony.)
(Sevenseven starts flying back to Ben, but Heatblast somersaults over to a nearby hall and transforms into Chromastone. He blasts several UV rays and reflects them across the windows, creating a complex web of lights that cuts off Sevenseven... and Diamond on the upper floor.)
[Diamond]: What the hell's this? Okay, new plan, take the stairs.
(He and Christina run into a stairwell, but they hear armed men coming up. They hide, gasping, but two gunshots are heard. Cooper comes in.)
[Cooper]: Julian Diamond, you're coming with me. I'm here to help you.
[Diamond]: Yeah, like I'm buying that.
(KABOOM! Before Cooper can do anything, Diamond blasts an electrical gun at him and runs, before he stops. Christina is gone.)
(Outside, Christina screams as Sevenseven, having found a way out of Chromastone's web, grabs her and flies off. Cooper grunts and gets up, and activates a jetpack. He lunges at Sevenseven, hooks him in the face, and grabs Christina.)
[Cooper]: Gwen, give me a slide going up the eastern end! You have two seconds!
(Gwen, at the lobby, kicks a ninja in the face and conjures a magenta ramp that reaches up the floors. Cooper jumps through a window and slides down, dropping Christina off near the fountains.)
[Cooper]: Stay here, I'm getting the others.
(Cooper flies back inside. Chromastone, meanwhile, is scouring the balconies up and down.)
(BOOM! Sevenseven kicks him over the edge. Gwen comes in with a flying kick at a ninja, sending him crashing into Ben right before he hits the ground.)
[Gwen]: BEN?
(Diamond, meanwhile, gasps while making it into the penthouse. He looks up and double-takes. At least twenty assassins stand there with smug grins on their faces.)
(Chromastone, below, gets up and activates his intercom.)
[Chromastone]: Kevin, how are you holding up?
[Kevin]: Nobody's here! Cooper's got the hostages out (cut away to Cooper standing near hundreds of employees outside) but I can't find Diamond or anyone- wait, oh god.
[Chromastone]: What?
[Kevin]: They're all heading upstairs! I see them!
[Chromastone]: To Diamond's penthouse...
[Kevin]: I can't stop them in time!
[Chromastone]: You don't. Your mission is now mine.
[Kevin]: The hell is that supposed to mean?
(Chromastone presses his chest, but is gone after the green flash.)
(Kevin is sprinting through the halls, desperately looking for anyone. Suddenly, he sees a figure on a grapple-rope, darting upwards. Spidermonkey.)
(Spidermonkey has attached a web line to the top of the penthouse, and his rapidly moving upwards. The hunters at the upper floors open fire, but they all miss.)
(In the penthouse, Diamond is backing up, when he suddenly falls in the pool. The hunters stand at the edge with their guns aimed...)
(CRAAAAAAASHHH!!!!!!!!!! Spidermonkey leaps up from the pool's glass bottom, grabbing Diamond and coming out of the ceiling. The hunters all fire their machine guns at him. On the top, Spidermonkey front-flips and lands in a speeder bike. He activates it.)
[Spidermonkey]: Cooper! Are all the hostages out of the building?
[Cooper]: Yes, why?
[Spidermonkey]: Sit tight, Julian.
(The engine of the speeder screams. Ben has it hover off the top of the building and lets it descend until it's level with the windows. It backs up...)
(WHOOOOSH!! Ben sends it straight THROUGH the windows and into the halls. A tracking shot follows it through the spirals as it plows through all the hunters in the halls.)
(Outside, a glowing shape is seen zipping through the spirals of the building like Superman orbiting the Earth. It goes down and down and down...)
(A still shot from the first floor, overlooking the ocean, shows the speeder coming in down the last spiral...)
(CRASH!!! Out it goes through the window, and jetting through the ocean. Kevin has made it to the top and watches in astonishment while Cooper and Gwen witness the scene from the streets, having arrived in time. A few seconds later, collective screaming gets louder and louder, until an army of hunters jumps out of hundreds of windows and into the ocean. Several heads pop out of the water and they all scream and roar like animals.)
[Cooper]: Ho-ly shit...
(THE MUSIC STOPS. Kevin stares on while the speeder boats off into the night. Lightning crashes behind Kevin, and the rain resumes.)
(Kevin activates his intercom.)
[Kevin]: (Sigh) Fine, guys. I'll say it.
[Gwen and Cooper, in unison]: Say what?
[Kevin]: (Chuckles, exhales, looks out with a smirk) I really have missed that kid.
TO BE CONTINUED
Characters[]
Main/Recurring[]
- Cooper Daniels
(first appearance)
Antagonists[]
- Devil Watcher
- Vulkanus
- Sevenseven
(first appearance)
- Sevenseven's Ninjas (first appearance)
Other[]
- Julian Diamond (first appearance)
- Councilman Zatark
- Christina the model
- Maurice (death)
- Mysterious man
Aliens Used[]
- Upgrade
(first appearance)
- Ripjaws
(first appearance)
- Splice
(first appearance)
- Fasttrack
(first appearance)
- Cannonbolt
- Heatblast
(first appearance)
- Spidermonkey