2
Jun
PAGE TWENTY TWO
As the priest raises his arms to the sky, he lets out a primal scream.
PREIST: ADRIANNNNNNNNNN!
Then, just hysterical laughter. In an instant, the priest is gone. In his place is another man, dressed in full body armor and lofting a sword. Then, in an instant a small girl licking a lollipop and wearing tap shoes replaces the Knight. Who? KITTY, still hidden, blinks,
KITTY: ADRIAN? OH, CRAP!!
The little girl starts to shadow box and dance around. The Aborigines, confused and upset by this strange behavior begin to murmur and look at each other. This was clearly unexpected.
JONAS, from his perch on the outcrop, floats to the ground and readies himself to face the creature by the fire. The aborigines scatter. Suddenly, the dancing girl stops dancing and hollering and stands stark still, facing JONAS. She changes in a way JONAS has never seen before. The girl is no longer there. In a blink she morphs into something, or someone, else.
PAGE TWENTY THREE
The girl no longer appears as she once was. Now, to KITTY’S horror, the priest/knight/girl is no longer the being she was watching. In its place now stands a nearly naked, red haired, blue skinned, yellow eyed woman. Her attention is entirely on the masked man, JONAS.
MYSTIQUE: ME-YOW.
MYSTIQUE: WANNA DANCE?
He stands ready to fight, his eyes ablaze with energy.
KITTY, on the other hand, can hardly believe her eyes. How on earth did MYSTIQUE find them and more importantly, WHY??
CAPTION: TO BE CONTINUED. . . .
-MRC
26
May
PAGE TWENTY
Near the Aborigine’s village, JONAS awakens perched high on a rock outcrop overlooking the inhabitants. The village priest is making something in a cooking pot. He makes many chants and flails his arms around the fire. The villagers seem eager but stay at arms length of the priest while he makes magic. Even the dogs hide in shadows of stones.
PAGE TWENTY ONE
KITTY, in full secret agent mode, sneaks by the Sisters of Mercy near the front of the convent. Passing through one wall after another until she reaches the main yard. She heads for the aborigine’s village closer to the edge of the Desert. She is no longer wearing her habit, but instead wears her X Men uniform.
It is a little warm for it but she doesn’t complain. The habit is much too heavy for spy work. The Great Victoria Desert is inhospitable to most and KITTY is certainly not going to complain. She nears the edge of the encampment and sees a group of Aborigines circling what appears to be the village priest. There are very few places to hide, so KITTY has to move from boulder to outcropping to tree with great care. The priest is busy making incantations and making lots of arm movements. JONAS sees KITTY from his perch but is focused on the priest and lets her be.
-MRC
19
May
PAGE NINETEEN
Top Half: a great expanse of outback desert. A morning sun brings a warm glow and long shadows to the landscape.
CHAIRMAN BUTLER appraises the view out his office window. The building resides on the outskirts of The Great Victoria Desert.
A land prosperous with untapped veins of Gold. Open pit mining has been an ongoing industry in the Goldfields region of Western Australia for nearly 100 years. Each new vein of Gold comes with a new set of problems with the native populations. Butler is nearing his final solution to his most recent problem. One masked vigilante shouldn’t be able to cause this much trouble for very long.
Bottom Half: Butler returns to his desk and addresses a small group of men seated throughout the large, ornately decorated room.
BUTLER: TODAY IS THE DAY GENTLEMEN.
BUTLER: OUR MAN IS FINISHING HIS TASK AS WE SPEAK. WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO CLEAN EM OUT WITH VERY LITTLE RESISTANCE BY MID AFTERNOON.
(INSET)
The company agent that failed to kill JONAS the previous night is neck deep in sand. His head is covered with deadly fire ants. His screams are muted by the desert.
BUTLER: LAST NIGHTS FAILURE HAS BEEN ADDRESSED APPROPRIATELY. THERE WILL BE NO MORE DELAYS, I ASSURE YOU.
-MRC
12
May
PAGE EIGHTEEN
CAPTION: SUBSTANCE ANALYSIS
The computer didn’t take long to determine the exact chemical make up of the root collected by Agent Pryde. Opium.
KITTY: SERIOUSLY? THEY ARE ALL HIGH?
KITTY: OPIUM ISN’T A ROOT, LAST I HEARD.
KITTY shows concern. HANK explains from thousands of miles away.
HANK: THIS PRIEST SEEMS TO BE PASSING OFF A MANUFACTURED DRUG THAT LOOKS LIKE A NATURALLY OCCURRING ROOT. WHY?
EMMA: HAS ANYONE INVESTIGATED THIS PRIEST? SEEMS LIKE AN ODD THING?
KITTY: I’M ON IT.
And she disembarks the jet, in full Nun disguise.
-MRC
5
May
PAGE SIXTEEN
The wounded Aborigines lay flat and are being attended to by tribesmen and women. Several Sisters from the Kalgoorlie Convent have arrived to help with the wounded and dying. KITTY is one of them. She is a skilled emergency medical technician and needs very little assistance. Without any warning, the headman quietly asks the Sisters to leave. He gives no reason.
HEADMAN: JUST LEAVE US NOW. THANK YOU.
The Sisters, having learned never to argue with headmen, pack up and leave. KITTY wanted to protest but was not allowed to speak.
KITTY: (TELE) EMMA ARE YOU GETTING THIS?
KITTY: (TELE) EMMA? ARE YOU THERE OR ARE YOU IGNORING ME?
PAGE SEVENTEEN
Now that the Sisters of Mercy are out of the area. The headman makes a sound with a small instrument. Everyone circles him and sits near a dying fire. They are eager for what he says next. He introduces the tribal priest. The priest steps out of a small hut and approaches the group.
PREIST: WE MUST NOW ENTER INTO DREAMTIME.
PREIST: EVIL HAS ENTERED OUR LIVES AND WE MUST HURRY.
PREIST: ONLY DREAMTIME WILL MAKE US WELL AND HEAL OUR WOUNDS. FOR THERE ARE NO WOUNDS IN DREAMTIME.
He hands them all a small satchel from which each member of the tribe removes a small root and immediately chews it and swallows. Within moments they all enter into a deep trance-like state. Their eyes roll up into their heads and they writhe on the dusty ground. The priest smiles and walks back towards the village.
(INSET)
A hand reaches out from inside a large rock. Then KITTY PRYDE’S head peeks out. She finds a small piece of the root ingested by the tribe. She takes it and disappears back into the rock.
-MRC
28
Apr
PAGE FIFTEEN
EMMA FROST is having a fitful sleep. She is dreaming. It is a nightmare. These are rare for her lately. What she sees are images from another time, another place. An ancient place. Warriors collide on a battlefield. She does not know where. Many sudden twists and turns confuse her as the time line is erratic. She can not control the dream. Someone is watching the battle. A shadowy figure from a high place watches and smiles.
Dread fills EMMA FROST and she fears death, not her own, but the death of others by her hand. Only the hands are not hers, they belong to someone else. She awakens in a sweat. (The man on the hill, watching the battle, is not revealed but parts of him are. He resembles APOCALYPSE)
-MRC
21
Apr
PAGE TWELVE
CAPTION: NOW
The bonfire sends burning ash and smoke high into the twilight sky. The men chant and stomp their feet turning up even more dust. The whole spectacle has an ethereal air to it as the fire makes the smoky/dusty air glow orange red. Their ebony skin, painted with white streaks and shapes of the Dreamtime along with the noise of chanting and musical instruments stirs the emotions of the spectators. A religious fervor blooms in the desert night. The tribal elder holds aloft his spear and prepares to make a song in high praise.
(INSET)
The gun barrel blasts echo off the rocks and trees. It is hard to know how many guns there are in the confusion.
(INSET)
Many of the Aborigines scatter, many lay wounded and dying.
PAGE THIRTEEN
A stranger, dressed in black and masked, sets his sights on the first gunman he sees and buries his foot in the man’s back. The man screams in agony and falls. Several other gunmen meet a similar fate but who is causing their grief is not clear. The stranger moves too quickly and stealthily.
(INSET)
Rifles, in various stages of disrepair, bent, and useless lay on the desert floor. The stranger hovers over a body of a dying native. He whispers softly.
(INSET)
JONAS, the stranger revealed, gives last rights to the dying man. Tears fill his eyes.
PAGE FOURTEEN
As the young Aboriginal man dies in JONAS arms, a shot rings out and catches JONAS square in the side of the head. He topples over and lays flat on his back. Two men appear out of the dark.
JOE: NICE SHOT, MATE.
They approach the dead men. The second man nudges the Aborigine with his foot and then approaches JONAS to do the same. As his foot touches JONAS the padre grabs the man’s foot and tosses him like a small stone about 50 yards away into a set of nearby trees. He is impaled by a branch and dies instantly. The second man screams and starts to run. JONAS moves so fast his movements are not perceptible by the human eye. He stops directly in the killer’s path and stares menacingly with energy burning out of his eyes, filled with rage. The man runs right into JONAS and falls to his knees crying for mercy. JONAS is about to strike the man but something makes him stop. In a blink JONAS is gone. The man is left, with his own soiled shorts, to wonder why he was spared.
-MRC
14
Apr
PAGE ELEVEN
A continuation of the same briefing. THE X MEN are confused by EMMA’s description of their latest subject. How can one of the most powerful telepaths on the planet NOT know more about a mutant with the help of CEREBRA?
KITTY’s nervousness is palpable to everyone.
KITTY: I’M NOT FEELING OVERLY CONFIDENT ABOUT THIS ONE. HOW CAN WE NOT KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS GUY?
HANK McKOY chimes in.
HANK: THIS MUTANT IS OLDER THAN MOST AT THIS STAGE OF OUR DISCOVERY PROCESS. HE MAY HAVE BEEN OFF PLANET OR IN DEEP HIBERNATION DURING HIS GENETIC CHANGE. HE MAY BE A “REPOWERED” MUTANT. WE JUST DON’T KNOW. INTELLIGENCE GATHERING IS THE MAIN GOAL OF YOUR MISSION. NOT, NOT, APPREHENSION. IS THAT CLEAR?
KITTY: CRYSTAL.
(INSET)
As the supersonic jet rises from its subterranean lair, a small object ejects from the right “missing” arm of the Venus de Milo statue in the nearby garden, colliding with the hull of the BLACKBIRD and attaches itself there undetected. A clearly visible shadow of a figure near the statue makes a hasty retreat. Is Venus smiling?
-MRC
7
Apr
PAGE NINE
CAPTION:-TWO WEEKS AGO.
CAPTION: -MISSION ASSIGNMENT
KITTY can hardly believe what she just heard.
KITTY: A NUN. SERIOUSLY?
EMMA FROST has not changed the look on her face. This is not negotiable. SCOTT chimes in.
SCOTT: YOU DON’T HAVE TO BECOME CATHOLIC OR ANYTHING KITTY. IT IS JUST AN ASSIGNMENT.
KITTY straightens her face.
KITTY: NOTHING COOLER WAS AVAILABLE? OK. FINE. I CAN HANDLE THAT. I APPRECIATE YOUR CONFIDENCE. I’LL TAKE IT.
PAUSE.
KITTY: WHERE ARE WE GOING?
PAGE TEN
CAPTION: SUBJECT BRIEFING
The images coming from CEREBRA are hazy at best. Why such a powerful piece of equipment can’t make things more clear is something that KITTY will never get over. But what she sees is intriguing enough. It seems the subject of her assignment is located in a very hot and dry place. Africa? Australia? Egypt? The Midwest? Deep in the fog of Cerebra’s imagery is a tell tale sign of the place this new mutant lives and works. Aborigines dancing around a fire during a dark night. Is this mutant an indigenous person? Then a fleeting image of a robed, bald man looking forlornly at a large crucifix in what appears to be a church of some kind. The subject is a monk?
EMMA: THIS MUCH WE KNOW. OUR MYSTERY MUTANT IS A MONK, HIDING OUT IN THE OUTBACK OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
SCOTT: HIDING FROM WHAT?
HANK: OR FROM WHO?
EMMA continues
EMMA: THIS IS YOUR OBJECTIVE MS. PRYDE. WE NEED A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF HIS NEEDS AND CIRCUMSTANCES. EVEN CEREBRA CAN NOT GET A CLEAR READ ON THIS MUTANT. I ONLY KNOW A LITTLE ABOUT HIS MOTIVATION AND, THIS IS IMPORTANT, HIS ABILITIES ARE RATHER CURIOUS.
KITTY: PRETTY CRYPTIC CHOICE OF WORDS MS. FROST.
-MRC
31
Mar
PAGE FIVE
From high, looking down on a great expanse of nothingness, a small figure is making its way across the desert floor. He leaves only elongated footprints, like drag marks. He is clearly injured.
He heads for nearby shelter. It is a series of low lying rocks in an outcropping. In one corner is a small entrance to a cave.
CAPTION: 20 YEARS AGO
CAPTION: GREAT VICTORIA DESERT-WESTERN AUSTRALIA
PAGE SIX
As the injured boy enters the cave, he realizes that the cave has an occupant already. A small fire burns near the center of a clearing. Illuminated all around, like a cathedral, many drawings and written passages line the walls like a prehistoric Sistine Chapel. But there is no Michelangelo commissioned to work this masterpiece. Instead, a small man wearing little and covered in Tattoos works diligently on a part of the wall.
MAN: THIS IS A PRIVATE PLACE, YOUNG MAN, I THINK YOU ARE LOST?
The boy, barely able to stand, stutters.
BOY: I AM HIDING, KIND SIR. I DIDN’T KNOW SOMEONE LIVED HERE.
Then he collapses. He is wounded and bleeding from his side. The man drops his paint and brush and hurries to the boy.
PAGE SEVEN
Near the cave entrance there is a commotion. Several Australian Soldiers have arrived on horseback and are investigating the entrance. The captain of the Desert Patrol calls out.
CAPTAIN: I KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE, BOY. CONSIDER THIS YOUR TOMB!
The soldiers prepare a small package of TNT to explode and seal the cave. The old man waves a finger and at once all the soldiers are gone. In their place is a series of large stones. Nothing more. No trace of the Desert Patrol exists. With tears in his eyes, the man turns his attention to the injured boy.
PAGE EIGHT
An odd glow envelopes the whole cave as the tattooed man places a hand on the boy’s chest. The man closes his eyes and at once the boy is healed. He opens his eyes and with a speed and energy he didn’t know he had, jumps to his feet. He appraises his body. Except for a large hand print on his chest, he is without flaw.
The tattooed man is silently sobbing.
BOY: DON’T CRY OLD MAN. YOU HAVE GIVEN ME A GREAT GIFT. I FEEL, I FEEL, STRONG. SO, STRONG.
MAN: I DO NOT WEEP FOR YOU. BE ON YOUR WAY AND NEVER FORGET THIS DAY.
BOY: YOU CAN BE ASSURED I WON’T KIND SIR. I SHALL USE THIS GIFT TO ITS FULLEST.
With that, he flees the cave.
-MRC