Page 36
Panel 1
Full-length panel of Bremerton skyline, complete with skyscrapers, most under construction. The Olympic Mountains are in the background, with the sun above.
But there are also ominous signs of trouble. Many police and military helicopters traverse the sky surrounding downtown. The extra-tight security is required because an extra special event is going on tonight. A minister of the Euro-American Union is descending upon Bremerton to meet with the mayor and city council of Bremerton and the commander of Naval Base Bremerton. The highlight of his visit is the grand opening of Dictel Tower. Though Dictel corporate headquarters has long since departed for Colorado Springs and then Geneva, the company’s presence is still strongly felt in its original hometowns (the other being nearby Bangor).
CAPTION
April 15, 2014.
CAPTION
Today a minister from the Euro-American Union is coming all the way across an ocean and a continent...
CAPTION
...from Brussels to Bremerton to celebrate the opening of the Dictel Tower, the city’s tallest skyscraper.
Panel 2
Shot of the Dictel Tower arising from among many smaller buildings.
CAPTION
Its construction has been years in the making, as Dictel corporate headquarters has long since left.
CAPTION
But it is now complete.
Panel 3
Terrorists in hiding, biding their time.
CAPTION
But not everyone here is in any mood to celebrate...
Panel 4
Closeup on Adam Gabriel...
Panel 5
...and Talon Reston, both in work clothes from one of the many divisions of Dictel.
Panel 6
Focus on the bomb they’ve just planted beneath the speakers’ platform...
Panel 7
...and the platform itself as Adam and Talon leave.
Page 37
Panel 1
Jennifer is at the main security entrance for the area surrounding the Dictel Tower. Outside, protesters are gathering despite the ban on protests, or for that matter any criticism whatsoever. The guard stands with his arms crossed between her and the gate, everything about him says nothing but “no”. But Jennifer is determined to get in.
Jennifer
You have to let me in.
Guard
Sorry, miss. My orders are to let no one in without permission.
Jennifer
So you really want the Toymaker to kill a lot of people and laugh at his victims yet again, do you.
Panel 2
Middle shot of the guard with his arms crossed. He doesn’t look particularly smart, and in fact he isn’t.
Guard
Sorry, but orders are orders.
Panel 3
Middle shot of Jennifer.
Jennifer
Well, you can’t keep out the one person who can foil every one of Toy boy’s complicated bombs.
(LINKED)
Keep me out, and you’ll be giving that psychopath a big present.
Panel 4
Shira, with seeming blitheness, walks through the security checkpoint. No one notices her, because she is using her power to hide in plain sight. She looks back at Jennifer and the guard behind her.
Guard
I’m sorry, miss. I need the order first. Otherwise, I can’t let you in.
Jennifer
Thank you anyway, sir. You’re a terrorist’s best friend.
Panel 5
Jennifer walks away from the guard as the protesters and cops enter the uneasy stating point of what will become a nasty riot. The guard keeps the same position and continues to look as stupid as ever.
Panel 6
Shira sneaks through a crowd being herded by security, unnoticed by anyone because unnoticeable.
Panel 7
Then she hides behind a security checkstation...
Page 38
Panel 1
...through an even thicker crowd, toward the platform (in the first panel of a panorama)...
Panel 2
...and closer (in the second panel)...
Panel 3
...and closer (in the final panel)...
Panel 4
...until she reaches the platform...
Panel 5
...and sneaks underneath it.
Panel 6
She crawls underneath it...
Panel 7
...to where the bomb is planted.
Page 39
Panel 1
Focus on the bomb in a large panel.
Shira
Well, well, well. Looks like our friend the Toymaker’s outdone himself yet again.
Panel 2
Closeup on Shira. She is relishing this latest opportunity to do battle with the Toymaker once again. She intends to disarm his latest creation.
Shira
Clever. Fiendish as usual.
(LINKED)
But as usual he hasn’t figured on me crashing the party.
Panel 3
At a security booth near one of the checkpoints, a team of FBI and Europol agents man the monitors. Diana Shockley stands behind the agents at the monitors.
Panel 4
Focus on Diana, with a few people in headsets and illuminated by the monitors in front of her. An agent behind her taps her on the shoulder.
Panel 5
She turns to the other agent.
Diana
What is it?
Agent
There’s somebody here who says there’s a threat.
Diana
Send her in.
Panel 6
Jennifer is brought in by a pair of agents to see Diana.
Panel 7
Insert panel closeup on Diana, who is unpleasantly surprised to see the daughter of her stepmother. Jennifer looks uncannily like her mother...and is certainly the girl in the precogs’ vision. Fear strikes her as she suddenly realizes that things are about to go horribly wrong here, just as the self-destruction of the precogs’ vision foreshadows.
Page 40
Panel 1
Jennifer and Diana face each other. Diana is about 5 inches taller than the girl, but looks far more intimidating and dominant. But Jennifer still calmly holds her ground.
Diana
Jennifer. It’s been a while.
Jennifer
Yes.
Diana
So you came here to warn us about a threat?
Jennifer
I did.
Panel 2
Focus on Diana.
Diana
So what’s the problem?
Panel 3
Focus on Jennifer. She is calm yet determined.
Jennifer
It’s the SRO. They’ve planted a bomb underneath the speaker’s platform in front of the Dictel Tower.
Panel 4
All the agents in the tent turn to look at Jennifer and Diana. Some of the visible faces register shock or surprise.
Panel 5
Closeup on Diana. She maintains a seemingly calm face but cannot conceal her outrage from Jennifer.
Diana
Did anyone we know make the bomb?
Panel 6
Closeup on Jennifer.
Jennifer
The Toymaker.
Page 41
Panel 1
Shock and fear in the faces of agents...
Panel 2
...continued...
Panel 3
...continued.
Panel 4
But Diana’s face is a seemingly impassive mask that fails to conceal her rage.
Diana
The Toymaker...
Panel 5
Diana and Jennifer are surrounded by concerned agents. Even the agents at the monitors have turned around to look at them.
Agent
Agent Shockley, you think we’ll have to evacuate the area?
Page 42
Panel 1
Jennifer’s cellphone rings. Diana’s eyes widen in surprise as she recognizes the presence of the only other person who can outwit the Toymaker: Shira--her own nemesis.
Panel 2
Closeup on Diana, with a wry look on her face.
Diana
So she’s here.
(LINKED)
Figures she’d find a way to sneak herself in.
Panel 3
Jennifer looks at her phone’s screen. A female agent pulls back the hair over her right ear, to reveal a small ear-mounted Bluetooth headset.
Jennifer
(to the agent)
Yes, I’m wearing a headset.
(to Shira over the phone)
What have you got?
Panel 4
Focus on the cellphone screen, on which is the an illuminated picture of the bomb shot by the camera on Shira’s phone.
Shira
(through the speaker)
Look at this. He’s trying to outdo himself. I think he knows we’re onto him.
Panel 5
Jennifer looks down at the screen, like one of the agents at one of the security monitors. She smiles ironically at what she sees on screen.
Jennifer
It looks too complicated for his style. Methinks he’s getting a little overconfident.
Panel 6
Diana barks an order to the agents.
Diana
Tell all the agencies not to send anyone to the platform. Tell them someone from the bomb squad’s working the case.
Panel 7
Diana turns to Jennifer.
Diana
Make sure to let us know your progress every step of the way.
(LINKED)
We don’t want either of you to get yourselves killed.
Jennifer
I don’t think you’ll have to worry about us or the Toymaker.
(LINKED)
Worry about the terrorists. They couldn’t have planted the bomb if they hadn’t found a way to sneak in.
Page 43
Panel 1
Outside, the protest is beginning to escalate into a full-blown clash between riot police and militants. Most of the peaceful protesters are gone or leaving, fearing the inevitable battle that always leaves some militants and occasionally a cop or a few dead.
Panel 2
A few terrorists...
Panel 3
...and a few more terrorists...
Panel 4
...and Adam and Talon are lurking in the shadows, hiding in plain sight (though nowhere near as uncannily as Shira), wearing the uniforms of participating Dictel divisions, waiting for the opportunity to strike.
Panel 5
Underneath the platform, the bomb. Its timer--another one like the one that ticks in each episode of Countdown--continues to count down.
SFX
tick tick tick tick
Panel 6
Closeup of Shira’s face, looking up at the bomb.
SFX
tick tick tick tick
Page 44
Panel 1
Closeup on Shira’s eyes, reflecting the timer in a pair of mirror images.
Panel 2
Then a larger closeup of her left eye. A circuit board motif announces the activation of the computer implanted in her head.
Panel 3
The motif takes over the panel, with electric circuits firing. Numbers like the digits on an LCD timer are scattered all over. Transparent Python code in OCR-A font overlays.
Panel 4
Bottom left: Closeup of Shira’s face, surprised by some sudden intuition.
Panel 5
Bottom right: she starts snipping wires connected to the timer, using a needle-nose wire cutter.
Page 45
Panel 1
The speakers’ platform. Cascadia governor Pete Ross is at the microphone to begin the ceremony.
Gov. Ross
Thank you, thank you everybody.
(LINKED)
This is a very auspicious occasion...
Panel 2
The riot escalates outside the perimeter as screaming, raging militants launch themselves into battle against armoured riot police bearing their shields and truncheons.
Panel 3
Closeup on Adam Gabriel, slightly above and right (he faces center page). He has a sinister look of triumph on his face, with a slight smile.
Adam Gabriel
It’s time.
(LINKED)
The mission will be accomplished very soon.
Panel 4
Closeup on Talon from the exact opposite angle. She is not pleased.
Talon
If we can trust that “mad bomber” you’re so hyped on.
Panel 5
Closeup on Gabriel’s smiling mouth, saying:
Adam Gabriel
Trust me.
Panel 6
Adam takes Talon in his arms and kisses her deeply. This is one of the means by which the incubus wields his power. (And the succubus, as Cedric will later point out, having made the mistake of marrying one. Shira, the Charmer, has a similar power in her kiss, and uses it often.)
Panel 7
Gov. Ross basks in the adulation of his hand-picked neoconservative, military, and military-industrial audience.
Page 46
Panel 1
Wide shot of the three patriarchs of Dictel Corporation and the Becket clan, sitting behind their puppet governor and smiling on him benevolently; yet they exude the sinister aura of power that marks true Synarchs.
Panel 2
First, Colonel Tom Becket, looking very old indeed, but still every bit the monstrous villain of Bad Company...
Panel 3
...then Dr. C. Henry Becket to the right, looking utterly grim and humorless...
Panel 4
...and, finally, between his two brothers and facing nearly the camera, Lord Richard Austin Becket, the second of the Becket brothers in birth order but very much the all-powerful patriarch of the clan. Think of Christopher Walken playing Baltar from the original Battlestar Galactica, only with an annoying habit of being snarky that annoys his sisters and utterly disgusts his brother Henry.
Panel 5
In Shira’s vision, the layout of the Toymaker’s complicated circuitry resolves schematically before her eyes. She speaks to her “analytical”, AEGIS, for the first time.
Shira
Scan it, AEGIS.
Page 47
Panel 1
The circuitry scan is overlaid by AEGIS’ analysis of the circuitry, depicted as trails of different colored light.
Panel 2
The scan continues...
Panel 3
...and continues...
Panel 4
...and finally completes as AEGIS labels the wires to cut, three of them, in the colors red, green, and blue. It doesn’t need to indicate the order of cutting to her because she’s experienced enough at this that has no need for reminders from her analytical.
AEGIS
(text overlay)
Analysis complete.
Panel 5
Intense closeup of Shira’s eyes.
Shira
Hmph! Still too easy.
Panel 6
Shira takes out her wire cutters and starts furiously cutting wires, severing the timer from the bomb.
SFX
snip snip snip snip
Panel 7
Closeup of the timer area, where Shira continues to furiously snip wires.
SFX
snip snip snip snip
Page 48
Panel 1
Gabriel checks his watch. It’s several minutes later.
Panel 2
Angle closeup on Gabriel’s face, eyes wide open in utter surprise.
Panel 3
Opposite angle closeup on Talon, who looks seriously worried.
Panel 4
Diana checks her own watch.
Panel 5
Mid shot of Diana, surrounded by worried agents and other agents manning the monitors.
Agent at Monitor
Agent Shockley, no sign of bomb activity at the platform!
Diana
When did the Toymaker set his timer for?
Panel 6
Jennifer looks down at her PDA/cellphone.
Jennifer
Right about now.
Panel 7
Closer shot of Diana, with a sinister (for lack of a better adjective) smile on her face.
Diana
Looks like your cousin has done well.
Panel 8
Jennifer looks directly into Diana’s eyes, almost defiantly.
Jennifer
I know what you’ll say next.
(LINKED)
You’re going to offer us a position with the FPD.
Page 49
Panel 1
Closer shot of Jennifer from the same angle.
Jennifer
However, there’s always a catch.
(LINKED)
We have our own lives to live.
(LINKED)
We’re not about to give away our souls.
Panel 2
Diana laughs. Some of the other agents look at her in confusion or annoyance.
SFX
ha ha ha ha ha ha
Diana
Well, just make sure you girls keep yourselves out of trouble, Jennifer.
Panel 3
Closeup on Diana. She’s smiling, but it’s obvious to one as sensitive as her stepsister that the thought of Shira pains her greatly.
Diana
Not that I think your cousin is capable of staying out of trouble...
Panel 4
Closeup on Jennifer again. She is still unsmiling and serious, knowing that Diana Becket is always bad news.
Jennifer
Thank you, Diana.
Panel 5
Shot of Diana and Jennifer, angle preferring Diana in the background. The agents surrounding them are, of course, suspicious of Jennifer. Diana pretends to be cheery and gives the gesture to dismiss Jennifer.
Diana
Agents [agent-one] and [agent-two]! Please escort my stepsister safely out of here.
(LINKED)
Make sure nothing happens to her, or I’ll have your heads on a silver platter.
Agents
Yes, ma’am!
Panel 6
Full-width bleed panel of the speaker’s platform. Gov. Ross is finished with his speech, and the minister is up and ready to take the microphone, smiling that hideous smile that has become the trademark of the French technocrat adopted by the Eurocrats.
Gov. Ross
Thank you, thank you! And now, I have the extreme honor to introduce to you the Minister of [eu-ministry] for the Euro-American Union, [eu-minister]!
PA Voice
All rise and salute the flag for the anthem of the Euro-American Union!
Page 50
Panel 1
Upward angle on the minister as if from the audience close in. He is waving, that smile fixed on his face as if he has been injected with Smylex.
SFX
clapclapclapclapclapclap
SFX
fweeeeeeew fweeeee
SFX
(cheering)
Panel 2
Downward angle on the audience from the platform behind the minister, who dominates the center of the panel.
SFX
clapclapclapclapclapclap
SFX
fweeee fweeeee fweeeeeew
SFX
(cheering)
Panel 3
Upward angle of behind the platform as the one-star flag of the Euro-American Union starts to descend.
Panel 4
Full-width bleed panel: Slightly downward angle above the platform as the descent of the flag is complete.
Page 51
Panel 1
Beside the platform is the band. They and their leader look up there.
Panel 2
The mayor, looking serious, gives the nod, the signal for the band to begin.
Panel 3
The bandleader conducts the band in the Euro-American Union anthem, originally chosen by the bureaucrats of the old European Union: the music from the “Ode to Joy” segment of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.
Panel 4
Underneath the platform, Shira is gone. The Toymaker’s bomb is completely disassembled, its fragments lying around the area where Adam and Talon had put it there.
Panel 5
All the people in the audience salute the EU flag during the national anthem.
Panel 6
The dignitaries stand before their seats on the platform, saluting not so much the flag as the audience. Their hands are on their hearts if they’re civilian, at their caps if they’re military or police.
Panel 7
Bottom right-hand corner: Cascadia State Police director Michael Corson, in charge of security at this event, widens his eyes in surprise. His nose is twitching. This is not a good sign.
SFX
sniff sniff sniff
Page 52
Panel 1
The smoke Corson’s smelling emanates from the lower right hand corner of the flag.
Panel 2
Flames emerge from that corner: the flag is burning!
Panel 3
The audience stops saluting. Most of them are frozen in fear; a few point toward the burning flag.
Panel 4
The dignitaries on the platform turn around and stare in horror at the burning flag.
Panel 5
Closeups on the faces of the minister...
Panel 6
...the mayor...
Panel 7
...the governor...
Panel 8
...Corson...
Page 53
Panel 1
...Tom Becket...
Panel 2
...Richard Becket...
Panel 3
...Henry Becket...
Panel 4
...and, raising the visor of his helmet, William Becket.
Panel 5
Diana Shockley and her agents stare at the monitors in disbelief. Diana can no longer hide her rage.
Panel 6
Insert panel: closeup of Diana, snarling. Her nemesis has beaten her again!
Diana
Not again!
Panel 7
Adam Gabriel and Talon Reston stare up in shock at the burning flag.
Adam Gabriel
That’s impossible!
Panel 8
Insert panel: closeup of Talon.
Talon
Shira?
Panel 9
Insert panel: closeup of Gabriel’s eye, open in shock.
Adam Gabriel
!
Pages 54 and 55
SPLASH
Panorama of the entire scene. All the audience, all the dignitaries, all the band members, and all the security personnel look at the shocking scene before them:
Dominating the scene, in the smoking area where the EU flag used to be, is a beige American revolutionary “rattlesnake flag”. Where the legend “Don’t Tread on Me” would normally be, it is written, in traditional German “Fette Fraktur” lettering, the motto:
“Freiheit oder Tod!”
Page 56
Panel 1
Diana looks down at the monitor, obviously in a rage.
Diana
Spanner!
Panel 2
Corson looks up at the unwanted sight of the revolutionary flag in shock and rage.
Corson
Spanner?!
Panel 3
Richard Becket looks up, his face now grim and coldly angry.
Lord Becket
Spanner.
Panel 4
Henry Becket looks up, his face contorted in hatred and hot fury:
Dr. Becket
Spanner!
Panel 5
Closeup on Adam Gabriel, enraged because Spanner has just ruined his op.
Adam Gabriel
(growling low through clenched teeth)
Spanner.
Panel 6
Closeup on Talon, not just defeated but concerned. She knows exactly who Spanner is...
Talon
Shira...
Panel 7
The mayor, governor, and minister look up in shock and fear, completely unable to speak.
Panel 8
The bandleader looks at the flag, perturbed because he understands the joke and knows it’s on him. A French horn player holds his horn down and looks at the bandleader.
Bandleader
“Freiheit”?!
French Horn Player
That’s what it says.
Page 57
Panel 1
Will Becket takes off his helmet and smiles ironically as he continues to look at the scene before him, clearly looking forward to the inevitable confrontation. His Delta Force men surround him, still looking at the flag in shock and dismay.
Will
So this is the celebrated Spanner.
(LINKED)
We will meet, Spanner. Count on it!
Panel 2
Outside the perimeter, away from the chaos around it, the two agents drive up their car to the Chester Avenue access to Olympic College. In the dark of the night, the area is illuminated only by the scattered lamps and streetlights.
Panel 3
At the dead end, they let her out.
Panel 4
Jennifer shuts the car door.
SFX
slam
Panel 5
She watches as the car drives away.
SFX
vroooom
Panel 6
She walks into the college area...
Panel 7
...to meet a darkened figure leaning against a nearby building, silhouetted against the light.
Page 58
Panel 1
The figure walks from the darkness, slinging her hoverboard on her back, into the light...
Panel 2
...to reveal herself as Spanner. The figure removes her helmet...
Panel 3
...to reveal herself, in a closeup, as none other than Shira Thomas herself.
Panel 4
Shira and Jennifer kiss passionately: Jennifer on the left, Shira on the right.
Panel 5
Then they break their kiss and look at each other. Jennifer gazes upon the love of her life with that look of pure love that never fails to melt Shira’s heart. Shira smiles in the ecstasy of triumph at fooling the world and getting away with it.
Jennifer
We did it.
Shira
Let’s go.
Panel 6
Shira and Jennifer ride away on Shira’s hoverboard. Shira grasps the control handles; Jennifer holds tight onto Shira from behind.