Mort Flintwich and the Outworlder War – Episode 4 – The Center Won’t Hold

Below we present the complete text of The Center Won’t Hold; episode 4 of Mort Flintwich and the Outworlder War.

Mort Flintwich and the Outworlder War

EPISODE #4 – The Center Won’t Hold

by Philip Craig Robotham

Cover illustration by Philip Craig Robotham

Copyright 2022 Philip Craig Robotham

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Episode 4: The Center Won’t Hold

Mort Flintwich considers himself a charlatan… but he can see ghosts – real ghosts. Claudette Moreland is a kid with a supernatural gift. And a gangster named Caesar Cordova wants to use her to win a gang war. Star City is getting stranger.

The Center Won’t Hold

CAST LIST

MORT FLINTWICH

JAKE SPENCER

CAESAR CORDOVA

MADAM SOFIA MALEFICENT

LILLY MORELAND

CLAUDETTE MORELAND

WU CHENG

OUTWORLDER SPOKESBEING

BRUNO

JULIO

SANCHO

LITTLE GIRL IN TRAFFIC

JIMMY

STAN

CHARITY COLLECTOR

DOCTOR

RECEPTIONIST

WAITRESS

CUSTOMER #1

CUSTOMER #2

WOMAN (KNOCKED OVER BY LILLY AND SANCHO)

MRS HARGREAVES

POLICEMAN #1 (WHO DIES)

POLICEMAN #2 (AT WAREHOUSE)

POLICEMAN #3 (AT WAREHOUSE)

SCRUG

SCRAT

OUTWORLDER #3

OUTWORLDER CAESAR

OUTWORLDER (RIVAL TO THE SPOKESBEING)

OUTWORLDER MINION (KILLED WITH SWORD ON STREET CORNER)

OUTWORLDER MINION (ATTACKING LILLY)

OUTWORLDERS

GANGSTER SPOKESMAN

GANGSTERS

OUTWORLDER LEADER

SFX ARTISTS

SCENE 22: INT – CAESAR’S HEADQUARTERS – MIDNIGHT
(CAESAR, OUTWORLDER SPOKESBEING/ OUTWORLDER CAESAR, BRUNO)

1. MUSIC: OPENING THEME – LET IT FINISH
2. NARRATOR: Mort Flintwich and the Outworlder War, Episode 4: The Center Won’t Hold.
   It’s 1934 and Star City is a depression-era town gripped by unemployment and crime, but in its shadows a hidden but desperate war for the future of the human race has begun.
   Previously:
   Mort Flintwich, a medium-for-hire who pretends to be a charlatan, finds Lilly and Claudette Moreland, two women hunted by the crime-boss Caesar Cordova, and takes them to his safe-house.
   Cordova attempts to summon monsters – outworlders – from another dimension to help him win the gang war he is embroiled in and sends them after his enemies.
   Mort, Lilly and Claudette, escape the outworlder attack and the outworlders prepare to hunt down Cordova himself.
   Meanwhile, Cordova waits with some trepidation for news regarding the progress of his war.
3. SOUND: MURMUR OF GANGSTER VOICES IN BACKGROUND AT CORDOVA’S HQ – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
4. BRUNO: Thanks, Javier. I’ll let the boss know.
5. SOUND: PHONE HANGING UP – LET IT FINISH
6. BRUNO: Boss, the phones are running hot. I’ve got reports from all over the city.
7. CAESAR: How are we doing?
8. BRUNO: Boscone and Tremere… Their whole operation… It’s falling apart. The bosses themselves are confirmed dead. We are mopping up their men.
9. CAESAR: It sounds like victory is approaching.
10. BRUNO: Boss, you did it. We’ve won.
11. CAESAR: Not yet, we haven’t. This is good, but the creatures we set loose in the city–?
12. BRUNO: What do you mean?
13. CAESAR: If they can do this to Boscone and Tremere’s organisations in one night, what else will they do when they are free?
14. BRUNO: But they’re doing what you want, right?
15. CAESAR: I haven’t tested my power to control them yet. I think it would be better to send them back, instead.
16. BRUNO: I’d rest easier without things like that in the world. Can it be done?
17. CAESAR: Maybe. You heard the gypsy woman. Without the girl, Claudette, we don’t have the power we need to control them. We’ve got to push them back through that door we created.
18. BRUNO: But that door’s gone. It collapsed.
19. CAESAR: I know. We have to open it again. And this time I have to push the ones that came here back while making sure no others come through at the same time.
20. BRUNO: Sounds tricky, boss. What do you need?
21. CAESAR: I always could rely on you, Bruno. Get those mirrors set up again. And make sure the candles are lit.
22. BRUNO: Anything else?
23. CAESAR: Marble’s too easy to scuff, so we need to check that the magical circle is still complete – no gaps. I need to make sure I get the words right, too. They will start arriving back here soon.
24. BRUNO: Sure boss.
25. SOUND: WHOOSHING, HOWLING APPROACHING – ESTABLISH UNDER AND STOP AT 27
26. CAESAR: Too late. Here they come.
27. SPOKESBEING: Oh, human. You disappoint me.
28. CAESAR: Why’s that, monster?
29. SPOKESBEING: It took a Chinese emperor with three times your power and ability to banish us from the earth the first time… and you’re trying to do it here?
30. CAESAR: Lets just say we’re highly motivated.
31. SPOKESBEING: I can’t work out whether you’re brave, reckless, or too ignorant and stupid to be allowed to live. Perhaps you’re all three.
32. BRUNO: Hey, monster, you can’t talk to the boss that way.
33. SPOKESBEING: I’ll speak any way I want to. In fact, the only thing I can’t do is this. I can’t abide mewling meat-sacks that don’t know their place.
34. BRUNO: (GASPS) Urk.
35. SPOKESBEING: (TO CORDOVA) Do you think you’ll miss this man when I kill him? Hmmmm? Let’s find out–
36. CAESAR: No!
37. SOUND: WET TEARING NOISE – LET IT FINISH
38. SOUND: TWO WET THUMPS – LET IT FINISH
39. CAESAR: Bruno!
40. SPOKESBEING: Oh, you will miss him. I guess you feel it’s a pity I tore him apart. Well, it’s too late now.
41. CAESAR: I’m going to kill you monster. I’m going to… urk!
42. SPOKESBEING: You’re going to hold your tongue, weakling. And if you don’t, I may take it for a trophy. There are far worse things I can do to you than kill you, you know?
    In fact, can you feel that? That’s me sliding into your brain–
43. CAESAR: No–
44. SPOKESBEING: …taking over this ridiculous piece of meat you call a body–
45. CAESAR: (WEAKENING) No–
46. SPOKESBEING: Possessing you.
47. CAESAR: (LAST DITCH EFFORT) No! I… must… resist. I must… call for… (FILTERED WITH REVERB) Help!
48. SOUND: MAGICAL BAMF! – LET IT FINISH
49. OUTWORLDER CAESAR*: Oh, you did have some power, didn’t you? But almost no idea of how to use it. Minions?

*(THE TWO VOICES – CAESAR AND THE SPOKESBEING – SPEAK SIMULTANEOUSLY AS ONE TO CREATE THE OUTWORLDER CAESAR’S SPEECH)

50. SCRAT: Master!
51. SCRUG: Yes, Master!
52. OUTWORLDER #3: What is your bidding?
53. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: This weakling is more interesting than I thought.
54. SCRAT: Master?
55. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: I’m looking around inside his head and… oh my… he’s a leader, with lots of troops at his command. He’s fighting me but… perfect!
56. SCRAT: What have you found?
57. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: He has a family he wants to protect. If you want them to survive long enough to be eaten last, human… Well, then you had better stop fighting me. (BEAT) Ah! That’s more like it. I see you understand.
58. SCRUG: What are your orders, master?
59. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: (TO SCRAT) There is a woman upstairs and unconscious. She is being kept as leverage over that human who vanished. Keep her for now – her usefulness is not yet over.
60. SCRAT: Is there anything else of use to us?
61. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: (BEAT) Oh yes, we can use this Caesar Cordova… and… Oh, dear! This is too delicious. He sent out a powerful summons across the city for aid. Everyone in the city who has abilities will have received it. BWAHAHAHAHA!
62. SCRUG: Why are you laughing, master?
63. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Most of the weak ones will come. They won’t be able to help themselves.
64. OUTWORLDER #3: But master–
65. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Idiots! Don’t you see. They are weak. And they are coming right to us. The most delicious food in the city is coming right to us!
66. OUTWORLDERS: (LAUGHING) BWAHAHAHAHA!
67. MUSIC: SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 23: EXT – STREETS OF STAR CITY – PRE-DAWN
(MORT, LILLY, CLAUDETTE, JAKE)

68. SOUND: HUM OF STREET LAMPS, DISTAT SIRENS, OCCASIONAL DISTANT CARS – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
69. SOUND: FOOTSTEPS (MORT, LILLY, AND CLAUDETTE) HURRYING ALONG STREET – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
70. LILLY: (COUGHING) It sounds like the city’s on fire.
71. MORT: Something’s wrong. Those sirens are everywhere, not just the warehouse.
72. LILLY: Where do those things come from?
73. CLAUDETTE: The outworlders? They come from somewhere else. Somewhere not our world.
74. LILLY: (SCOFFING) Like another planet?
75. CLAUDETTE: No. More like another space. A cold place. Dark… and scary.
76. LILLY: This isn’t the time to let your imagination run wild, Claudette.
77. MORT: No, I think she’s right. They’ve been arriving for a while… growing in numbers.
78. CLAUDETTE: There have never been this many of them before?
79. MORT: Ah-huh. Like I said, I think this is Cordova’s doing. He’s done something to let them in. I hope he can send them back once they’re done.
80. CLAUDETTE: He can’t.
81. MORT: How do you know?
82. CLAUDETTE: Remember what they said at the warehouse? About being too powerful to send back. I don’t know how I know, but I know they’re right.
83. LILLY: Mort, you can’t take everything Claudette says at face value.
84. MORT: Huh?
85. CLAUDETTE: Mom!
86. LILLY: She never lies deliberately. But she does convince herself of things that aren’t true and then–
87. CLAUDETTE: Mom… I’m not–
88. SOUND: MAGICAL BAMF – LET IT FINISH.
89. MORT, LILLY, AND CLAUDETTE: (GROAN IN SUDDEN SIMULTANEOUS PAIN)
90. MORT: Not again!
91. CLAUDETTE: Mr Cordova’s trying to send them back.
92. MORT: I don’t think it’s working, though.
93. LILLY: Your noses. They’re bleeding again!
94. MORT: Yours too.
95. CORDOVA: (ECHOING) Help!
96. CLAUDETTE: We have to go!
97. MORT: Claudette, no!
98. LILLY: What? What’s happening?
99. CLAUDETTE: (URGENT) We have to go! Now!
100. MORT: No, Claudette. Resist the summons.
101. LILLY: (GETTING ANGRY) Claudette, stop this!
102. CLAUDETTE: (PANICKED) No, I have to go.
103. SOUND: CLAUDETTE STARTS RUNNING – UNDER
104. MORT: Stop! Damnit!
105. SOUND: MORT RUNS – UNDER UNTIL [107].
106. SOUND: STRUGGLE – UNDER UNTIL [108]
107. MORT AND CLAUDETTE: (AD LIB) GRUNTS, No! Got you! Etc.
108. SOUND: BODY DROP – LET IT FINISH
109. MORT AND CLAUDETTE: (GRUNT).
110. LILLY: You crash tackled my daughter!
111. MORT: Stay still, Claudette. The urgency will pass.
112. CLAUDETTE: But I have to–
113. MORT: Ow! My face.
114. CLAUDETTE: Get off… you–
115. LILLY: Claudette! What’s happening?
116. MORT: The compulsion. It’s fading. (TO CLAUDETTE) Easy, now. Are you okay?
117. CLAUDETTE: (BREATHING HEAVY) Yes. I think so. It’s easing off.
118. LILLY: What’s easing off? Someone tell me what’s going on?
119. MORT: Sorry, Lil. Cordova sent out a… a kind of psychic summons. Claudette wasn’t able to resist.
120. LILLY: He tried to take my little girl– magically?
121. MORT: Sort of. I don’t think it was targeted. I got it too.
122. LILLY: So why weren’t you–?
123. MORT: I’m older, and we’re a fair way away from its source… and I’m more practiced at resisting.
124. LILLY: And me? I didn’t feel anything.
125. MORT: Are you sure about that?
126. LILLY: Of course, I’m–
127. MORT: You’re bleeding again.
128. CLAUDETTE: Um… and you’re pretty heavy.
129. MORT: What? Oh, sorry Claudette. Here, let me help you up.
130. LILLY: Oh, Mort. Your face. Claudette scratched you.
131. MORT: Hmmm? Wow. Blood. You want to do something about those nails, kid.
132. CLAUDETTE: (MORTIFIED) I’m so sorry.
133. MORT: Don’t worry about it. I can give you a pass. You saved our bacon back in the sewers after all… but I’m glad you missed my eyes.
134. LILLY: I’m getting too old for this! All I want is a shot at Cordova – one clear shot… And you… You’re not what I thought. I’ve been expecting you to take off. Instead you let my daughter gouge a hole in your face.
135. MORT: Yeah, well. I can afford the makeover. My looks have never been my strong point.
136. LILLY: (HEAVY COUGHING)
137. MORT: Easy, Lil. Chinatown isn’t much further.
138. MUSIC: SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 24: INT – WU CHENG’S HOUSE – MID MORNING
(MORT, CLAUDETTE, LILLY, JAKE, WU)

139. SOUND: WINDOW RAISES – LET IT FINISH
140. LILLY: (COUGHING) Seriously, Mort? Going in by the window?
141. MORT: No-one was answering the door. Besides, Claudette can barely stand up. We need to get off the street.
142. LILLY: I told you we should have rested.
143. MORT: Yeah, yeah. Come on. (BEAT) Claudette, give me your hands honey.
144. CLAUDETTE: Yawns.
145. MORT: That’s it. In you come. (BEAT) Now you, Lil.
146. LILLY: I can climb in myself, thank you.
147. MORT: I never said you couldn’t.
148. SOUND: CRASH – LET IT FINISH.
149. LILLY: Ugh! Ouch. (BEAT) If either of you so much as smile, I’m gonna rip your throats out. And I don’t care if I did give birth to one of you.
150. MORT: Never crossed my mind.
151. CLAUDETTE: Swear.
152. LILLY: (GETTING UP) What the hell happened here?
153. MORT: What do you… oh!
154. CLAUDETTE: This place is trashed.
155. LILLY: It still looks more like a medium’s den than your office did, Mort. Tapestries, masks hanging on the wall, candles. The wreckage of that table’s even got a crystal ball in it.
156. MORT: Damn. It looks like those things must have hit here too. (BEAT) But that doesn’t make sense.
157. LILLY: How so?
158. MORT: Well, from what we’ve been able to figure out, those creatures were sent after Cordova’s enemies. I doubt he’s ever even heard of Wu!
159. SOUND: MUFFLED CRASHING AND BANGING – LET IT FINISH
160. LILLY: What the?
161. CLAUDETTE: Mom? Mort? I’m scared.
162. MORT: It’s all right. It came from over here. (BEAT) Does this wall seem a little… dense to you?
163. LILLY: (COUGHS) I’m pretty sure it’s not normal for a doorway to be a foot and a half thick.
164. MORT: Tug on that candle holder for me, would you?
165. LILLY: This?
166. MORT: Yeah, that?
167. SOUND: SQUEAK THEN GRINDING OF WALL OPENING – LET IT FINISH
168. WU CHENG: (EXAGGERATED ACCENT) Ah, honorable one’s, I am your humble servant, Wu Cheng. How may I help you?
169. MORT: Well, well. Fancy finding you here, Wu… and drop the showmanship, we’re not tourists.
170. WU: (DROPPING THE ACCENT) Hmmm. Mort Flintwich. Good to see you. (BEAT) Are those shoes around your shoulders covered in… blood?
171. MORT: Uh-huh. Long story. What’s with the hidden compartment in the wall?
172. WU: Meh. I was hiding. What does it look like?
173. MORT: It looks like the kind of thing us charlatans use to listen in on, and observe, our clients before we begin a session.
174. WU: What can I say? Real ghosts have been getting more and more scarce. I have to pay the bills. (BEAT) And I know that you’re no charlatan, by the way, Flintwich. No matter what you say.
175. MORT: Yeah, well. Do me a favour and keep it under your hat. I won’t mention this to anyone and we’ll call it even.
176. LILLY: Well, it’s nice to see you boys know each other. (COUGHING) But I need to give Claudette somewhere to sit down.
177. WU: And you don’t look too well yourself, Ma’am.
178. LILLY: Hey!
179. WU: But I don’t have any furniture handy… having broken most of mine up. Feel free to scrape some aside and sit on the floor.
180. MORT: Ever the gracious host.
181. WU: Hey, you broke into my house, not the other way around.
182. MORT: And why’s it look like this?
183. WU: You felt the summons. And you must have felt those things flying all over the city. I thought I’d make it look like one of their groups got me, and try to get out of town.
184. MORT: Not a stupid thing to do.
185. WU: I thought, maybe, it would buy me a bit of time. I was about to leave when you rang the damn doorbell.
186. MORT: Sorry to mess with your plans, Wu, but I need your help.
187. WU: (INTERESTED) Really? What’s the job pay?
188. CLAUDETTE: I could give you one of my paper flowers?
189. LILLY: Not now, Claudette.
190. WU: Thanks little girl, but that’s not the kind of currency I’m interested in. Maybe another time.
191. MORT: How’s a big favour sound?
192. WU: Not as good as cold hard cash. You have some for me?
193. MORT: Easy, Wu. I’m not a rich man, and what I’ve got, I need to keep for a rainy day.
194. WU: If that was your office that was blown up earlier today – yesterday now, I guess – I’d say it’s raining pretty hard.
195. MORT: Maybe, so. But wait ’til you hear what I want before you start negotiations, huh? I might even be offering you the chance to become a hero.
196. WU: Hah! Do I look like a hero, to you?
197. LILLY: He’s got a point, you know? We did find him hiding inside a wall. (TO CLAUDETTE) Here, Claudette. Sit down and rest.
198. MORT: (SARCASM) Thanks for that, Lil. (BEAT) Alright, I’ll stick to appealing to your self-interest.
199. WU: Always a good policy.
200. MORT: Uh-huh. (BEAT) Well, here goes. Here’s the theory: Caesar Cordova has started dabbling in some dangerous juju. He was being rubbed out by his rivals and decided to try and summon some supernatural artillery. I got dragged into this because he wants Claudette, the little girl–
201. CLAUDETTE: (YAWNING) I ain’t so little?
202. WU: She’s powerful, yes?
203. MORT: Yes. But she’s not in full control of her abilities yet. And Caesar wants her to power a spell or incantation.
204. WU: And you have her because?
205. MORT: I’ve been helping keep her safe. Cordova couldn’t find her. He attempted his spell without enough juice. The things he summoned have got loose in the city… and we think this book–
206. SOUND: HEAVY BOOK BEING PUT DOWN – LET IT FINISH
207. MORT: …might be the key to sorting this mess out.
208. WU: Those are a lot of guesses and surmises, Mr Flintwich. And you haven’t gotten to what you think I can contribute, yet. (BEAT) (ASTOUNDED) Where did you get this?
209. MORT: Claudette. She was led to it by a vision she had.
210. WU: A vision?
211. CLAUDETTE: (EMBARRASSED) Well, sort of–
212. WU: Hmmm. Let me look.
213. SOUND: BOOK BEING OPENED. PAGES TURNING – UNDER
214. WU: Yes, this is… astonishing. Do you know what this book is?
215. MORT: I recognize the text, but I can’t read it. That’s what I want from you… a translation. Anything that might help us reverse what is going on.
216. WU: Reverse? This isn’t like you Flintwich. You stick your neck out for nobody.
217. MORT: Yeah, well. Let’s say I’m compelled by circumstances.
218. WU: Compelled by… let me take a proper look at you? (BEAT) Hmmm. You’re under a compulsion. A binding pact of some kind… but that’s not all of it. Well, well. You believe in what you’re doing don’t you? I think these women have woken up your inner boy-scout. It’s been a while.
219. MORT: Wu, so help me–
220. WU: (IMPATIENT) Shhhh! Let me look at your book. Yes… Yes… this is a copy of an ancient text. The original from which this book was copied was supposed to have belonged to the first of the great Chinese Emperors.
221. MORT: And–
222. WU: You should hear the legend. It explains much. And I am willing to tell it to you… on one condition–
223. MORT: (SUSPICIOUS) Uh-huh?
224. WU: You must admit to me that I am the better medium.
225. MORT: What?
226. WU: That is my price.
227. MORT: (GROANS) Oh for crying out… (BEAT) Right. If that’s what it takes. (BEAT) Oh mighty Wu Cheng, you are by far the greatest of all living mediums upon the face of the earth.
228. WU: (SULKING) But that wasn’t even remotely satisfying. You didn’t mean a word of it.
229. MORT: Wu, so help me… I did what you asked, now do what you promised.
230. WU: Hmpf. Next time I stick to asking for cash.
231. MORT: Wu–?
232. WU: Alright. In the time of the first great emperor, a great invasion occurred. But not of men. Things came into the world and laid waste to much that was beautiful, noble, and strong.
233. MORT: Pretty standard folklore so far.
234. WU: The emperor gathered magicians and sorcerers from far and wide, a coalition, to fight against the invaders and together they worked great magic, inventing new and dangerous spells that were able to withstand the encroachment of these beings.
235. LILLY: That sounds more encouraging.
236. WU: At last they developed a way to banish them from the earth altogether into another plane, a place of howling cold and darkness. The emperor opened a gateway into the mirror realm and the creatures poured through and were sucked into the darkness.
237. MORT: Hang on. What do you mean by the “mirror realm”?
238. WU: Behind mirrors there is a place… a plane into which the invaders have been locked. But the barrier is weak.
239. MORT: How so?
240. WU: It is said that if you stare into a mirror or a still body of water for long enough, you can see them. Your own reflection will give way to that of a monster.
241. LILLY: Nice.
242. WU: And if mirrors are set up facing one another a temporary and unstable gate can be created that will allow one or two of them to come through.
243. MORT: And?
244. WU: The secret to creating a stable gate, however, was, with many other rituals, recorded in a book the emperor had inscribed upon the bones of the many dead who sacrificed their lives in the war. The book was thought lost. But this claims to be a copy of it.
245. CLAUDETTE: It does? (BEAT) I mean, I told you.
246. MORT: Then translate it for us. We can stop Cordova before this gets any worse.
247. LILLY: Hang on a minute. I don’t understand. If these things are locked away in some other… place, how is it that they are showing up here? Does this mean that Cordova knows the gate ritual?
248. MORT: That’s a good question.
249. WU: I think that if there is one copy of the book, then there may be others. But I do not understand how an ordinary gangster came to possess one.
250. MORT: Is it possible someone else is helping him?
251. WU: Maybe. As for how and why they have been coming through before this, I believe I have a theory, or at least a working hypothesis.
252. MORT: Yes?
253. WU: Mirrors.
254. LILLY: Mirrors?
255. WU: When mirrors are placed face to face, creating an infinite line of reflections, unstable gates are created. They last moments but outworlders can re-enter our world through them.
256. LILLY: (CATCHING ON) And mirrors have been rare throughout human history, but in our modern age they’re everywhere. Reflections can be seen in glass and chrome and steel.
257. WU: Everywhere from houses to handbags. There are numerous opportunities for the creation of unstable, short term gates.
258. MORT: And that explains how more and more of these things have been seen?
259. WU: Yes. And why ghosts have become so scarce. The outworlders feed on the souls of human beings, both the living (if they are weak enough) and the dead, but the dead are easier to hunt and have less protection than the living.
260. CLAUDETTE: That’s awful.
261. MORT: Can you translate the rituals… give us a means to fight these things?
262. WU: Of course, I can. Am I not Wu Cheng? (BEAT) Fifty bucks.
263. MORT: What?
264. WU: My going rate for translating impossible ancient books is fifty bucks.
265. MORT: I don’t believe this!
266. WU: I am a business man. You can’t blame me for wanting to make a reasonable stake in exchange for my skills.
267. MORT: Even in the face of Armageddon? The world could end!
268. WU: Ah, yes. But you may succeed in stopping it. I mean, that is your intention, yes? And if you do stop Armageddon from happening… well, it seems fitting that my contribution earns me a few groceries at the least.
269. LILLY: Yeah, right. I oughta–
270. MORT: It’s okay, Lil. (TO WU) You’ll get your fifty, but only if your translation contains something worthwhile.
271. WU: Then you’d best let me work.
272. MUSIC: TIME PASSING SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH

SCENE 25: INT – WU CHENG’S HOUSE – LATER
(MORT, CLAUDETTE, LILLY, JAKE, WU)

273. SOUND: SNORING (LILLY AND CLAUDETTE)
274. WU: It’s a miracle I can do anything with those two buzz-saws in the room.
275. MORT: Leave them be, Wu. They haven’t slept in over thirty-six hours.
276. WU: As you say. I take it you know that the mother is dying, yes?
277. MORT: What? No. I mean, I knew she was sick, but–
278. WU: She doesn’t have much time left. The illness is advancing. Her aura indicates she is in a great deal of pain.
279. MORT: Aw hell.
280. WU: I’m sorry. But I thought you knew. She should not be running around the city. She needs to rest.
281. MORT: She won’t rest while Claudette’s in danger. And her desire to get even with Cordova is the only thing keeping her going right now. But she’ll be able to rest soon. What have you got, Wu?
282. WU: There are two rituals that may be of use to you. One is, of course, the banishing ritual, but it takes three sorcerers of, not insignificant power, to make it work.
283. MORT: Sounds perfect.
284. WU: The other is an exorcism that will dispossess a host body that has been taken over by one of them.
285. MORT: I didn’t know they could possess people.
286. WU: They can if they are gathered in sufficient numbers.
287. MORT: Is that all?
288. WU: No. It also talks about enchanted weapons. Weapons of polished iron that can be used to destroy the creatures in their incorporeal state.
289. MORT: Wait. You mean, they can be harmed by physical weapons even when they’re not in a physical form?
290. WU: If the weapon is made of polished iron… yes.
291. MORT: That’s great! But… no. Where can we find some polished iron?
292. WU: As it happens, I have two fine polished-iron swords. One thousand dollars.
293. MORT: Are you nuts? Where am I going to get a thousand dollars?
294. WU: (DEFENSIVE) They are antiques, dating back to ancient China. It is a fair price.
295. MORT: Come on Wu. We’re talking about the fate of the world.
296. WU: Cash up front.
297. MORT: I got through telling you–
298. LILLY: (WAKING UP) Ugh! Oh, I must have been sleeping funny. I’ve got the worst pain in the neck.
299. WU: I think she’s talking about you.
300. MORT: You’re a funny man, Wu!
301. CLAUDETTE: (YAWNS) Mom? Have we been asleep?
302. LILLY: What’s all the commotion about?
303. MORT: Wu wants a thousand dollars for some swords that might help us.
304. LILLY: So?
305. WU: See? She understands!
306. MORT: I don’t have a thousand dollars.
307. LILLY: I’ll tell you what, Wu. We’ll rent them from you.
308. WU: Rent?
309. LILLY: Uhuh. With a promise to bring them back to you in good condition. How about it? Do you agree?
310. WU: Three hundred dollars.
311. LILLY: Two hundred.
312. WU: Two seventy-five.
313. LILLY: Two hundred, plus the fifty for the translation.
314. WU: Done.
315. LILLY: (TO MORT) Pay the man.
316. MORT: It’s everything I have!
317. LILLY: Now who’s quibbling over money in the face of Armageddon?
318. MORT: (ANNOYED) Okay, I give in.
319. WU: Here are the ritual translations. I will go and get the swords.
320. MORT: Can the girls stay here while you and I go and deal with Cordova?
321. WU: (SIMULTANEOUS OVER LILLY) What? I’m not going to face Caesar Cordova. You’re on your own for that.
322. LILLY: (SIMULTANEOUS OVER WU) No way. You are not leaving us behind. We are coming with you if you are going to take Cordova down.
323. MORT: Whoah. I’m not even sure Cordova is still alive. That cry for help we received–
324. LILLY: Look, if he’s an ongoing threat to Claudette, we can’t ignore him. I’ve come too far to miss out on delivering some payback.
325. MORT: Well, he may have been attacked and killed. We don’t know.
326. WU: I know.
327. MORT: What?
328. WU: I know. I have been keeping an eye on him. (BEAT) (DEFENSIVE) What? You think I’d hang around here if I didn’t have a way to tell whether he was coming for me or not?
329. MORT: But we found you hiding in the wall.
330. WU: That was before you came and filled in the blanks. I didn’t know who was behind it at that stage. Knowing who to watch makes all the difference.
331. MORT: And–
332. WU: Cordova is alive and he is playing host to one of the creatures that came through when he attempted to make a gate.
333. MORT: Then all the more reason why you and I should–
334. WU: (EMPHATIC) No! I will not.
335. MORT: But I don’t have enough power to push them back through the gate alone.
336. WU: You don’t have enough power with me, either.
337. MORT: But–
338. CLAUDETTE: What about with me? I could do it.
339. WU: (APPRAISING) Maybe. For a little while.
340. MORT: No. That is not an option.
341. WU: It is an option. She wants to help. And with her it’s possible you might succeed.
342. MORT: But together–
343. WU: No. You and I, our abilities are negligible. The girl, however, her aura glows like a sun. Beside it we barely flicker. She could dispossess Cordova and his minions while you destroy them with my swords.
344. LILLY: Then that settles it. (COUGHING) If I understand things properly, and those things come through en masse, we’re all dead anyway. If you’re going to confront Cordova, we’re coming too.
345. MORT: Wu seems to be gambling on being able to hide.
346. WU: It’s a big world. Some few will survive.
347. LILLY: I don’t care about myself. Cordova must pay!
348. MORT: But why would you risk Claudette this way?
349. LILLY: What’s the bigger risk? Almost guaranteed destruction if we hide, verses at least a small chance of removing the threat if we come with you.
350. CLAUDETTE: I want to try.
351. MORT: But… but… Aw, hell.
352. WU: Give in. It is happening no other way.
353. MORT: Get the damn swords. But, I’m taking the book with me. And as for you two… you can come with me, but you’re going to have to do what I say and, if things get bad, you need to get the hell out of there – no waiting around for me, capiche?
354. LILLY AND CLAUDETTE: Sure Mort. Whatever you say.
355. MORT: No, I mean it. You have to do everything I say.
356. LILLY: Absolutely.
357. CLAUDETTE: You’re in charge, Mr Flintwich.
358. MORT: (DISBELIEVING) Argh!
359. LILLY: (BEAT)So why are you sticking your neck out? You like to think you’re as risk-averse as Wu here. (BEAT) Well?
360. MORT: (MUMBLING) I’m under a spell.
361. LILLY: What?
362. MORT: (CLEARLY) I’m under a spell. I traded a magically binding favour to a ghost in exchange for finding you in that alley. The price was to try and get rid of the Outworlders.
363. WU: (LAUGHING) You are inept at the art of bargaining, aren’t you?
364. MORT: I didn’t know what she was going to ask when I made the deal.
365. WU: (LAUGHING MORE) Even worse.
366. CLAUDETTE: Shut up! (TO WU) You’re a coward. You don’t have the right to speak to him that way. (TO MORT) And you… you’re just pretending you don’t care. You pretend we don’t matter… you… (BREAKS DOWN CRYING)
367. LILLY: Now look what you’ve done.
368. MORT: Claudette… Claudette, I’m sorry. It’s this place… this city. The older you get, the uglier it seems; the more you want to protect yourself from it. I’m not doing this just because of the spell. Really.
369. CLAUDETTE: (SNIFFING) I know. I can see when you’re lying – even when it’s to yourself. I thought, maybe, you were trying to hurt us – to force us away.
370. MORT: (BEAT) Your mom told me you make attachments fast, kid. Truth is, it turns out you’re not the only one. (BEAT) Are we okay?
371. CLAUDETTE: (GETTING HERSELF TOGETHER) Sure, Mr. Flintwich. We’re okay.
372. MORT: (SIGHS) Alright… (BEAT) There’s a way into Caesar’s HQ through the basement from the sewers.
373. LILLY: How’d you know?
374. MORT: I was brought in that way years ago, when I first made my deal with Cordova. Once inside, we can take a little used stairway up to a balcony that will give you line of sight for any magic that’s needed.
375. LILLY: And you?
376. MORT: I’ll have to be on the ground for my part. Whatever happens to me, I want you to stay hidden and get away at the first opportunity.
377. LILLY: (COUGHING) You’re a good soul Mort.
378. MORT: And you’ll need to do something about that cough. If you let one of those out at the wrong moment we’ll all be dead.
379. WU: Here are the swords. Be careful with them. They are valuable.
380. SOUND: CLANKING – LET IT FINISH
381. WU: Keep them in their sheaths for now.
382. MORT: Alright, it’s nine A.M. We’ll be on our way. Thanks Wu.
383. WU: Aren’t you forgetting something, Flintwich?
     MORT: Huh?
384. WU: The money.
385. MORT: Oh, right. Um. Here.
386. SOUND: MONEY CHANGING HANDS – LET IT FINISH
387. WU: A pleasure doing business with you.
388. MUSIC: SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH

SCENE 26: INT – CAESAR’S HEADQUARTERS – MORNING
(OUTWORLDER CAESAR, THUGS)

389. SOUND: CHOMPING SLURPING NOM-NOM NOISES – ESTABLISH AND LET FINISH.
390. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Ah! That was delicious.
391. SOUND: BODY DROP – LET IT FINISH.
392. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Do we have another?
393. OUTWORLDER #1: Yes, master. Here. She’s blindfolded.
394. NAOMI WALKER: What? What are you? What do you want?
395. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: We want you, my dear little medium. I believe your name is… Naomi Walker? You’ve come here in response to our… my… summons. (TO OUTWORLDER #1) Remove her blindfold and make her comfortable.
396. NAOMI: Thank you. I… Oh! So many bodies… So much death.
397. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: The combination of fear and surprise gives the soul such a delicate flavour.
398. NAOMI: No… leave me alone. Stay away! Aaaargh (SCREAMS)
399. SOUND: CHOMPING SLURPING NOM-NOM NOISES – ESTABLISH AND LET IT FINISH
400. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Urk…
401. CAESAR: No! I will not… let you… Urk!
402. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: You are proving more resilient than I thought, pesky human. But you cannot (SLURP CHOMP) resist me. You grow weaker each time you try.
403. SOUND: CHOMPING NOISES – LET IT FINISH.
404. SOUND: BODY DROP – LET IT FINISH.
405. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Mmmm. They are delicious. But ten minutes later, you want another one.
406. OUTWORLDER MINIONS: (LAUGHTER)
407. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: (BEAT) Bring in the lieutenants. If they cooperate they will make excellent tools… and they’ll be easier to control than this mortal frame I am using – though he still has his uses.
408. SCRUG: Why not cast him aside?
409. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: There’s too much useful information rattling around in this brain. Despite the way he struggles to unseat me, I doubt a more useful host could have been chosen.
410. SOUND: DOORS OPEN – LET IT FINISH.
411. GANGSTERS: (MUTTERING AS THEY ENTER) Get your claws off me. What’s this all about? When I get my hands on you–
412. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Gentlemen. You’ve had time to think about it, and now I want your answer. Will you pledge your loyalty to me?
413. GANGSTER #2: Go on Joey! Tell him.
414. GANGSTER #1: Boss, we always done what you said. And you always led us good. Nice paydays. No sucker jobs. And you kept the cops off our backs. And we’re grateful.
415. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Yes?
416. GANGSTER #1: But this? Some of us was altar boys. We don’t keep with this “magic” stuff you’re doing. We don’t want to be swearing no pacts or nothing. We’re happy to collect our pay as always, but we gotta say “no” to this.
417. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: You dare! You defy me! (BEAT) (TO THE OUTWORLDERS) Rip him apart!
418. SOUND: RUSHING WIND – UNDER UNTIL [420]
419. GANGSTER #3: (SCREAMING) Aaaaargh!
420. SOUND: WET TEARING AND DROP OF TWO BODY SECTIONS – LET IT FINISH
421. GANGSTER #4: He was torn in half.
422. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: And he will not be the last. Your spokesman is dead. I suggest you reconsider my offer.
423. GANGSTER #4: Yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever you want. I pledge loyalty.
424. GANGSTER #5: Yeah, loyalty. I pledge it.
425. GANGSTER #6: You bet.
426. OUTWORLDER: You heard them, my brothers. Take control.
427. GANGSTERS: (ADLIB) What? Huh? Etc.
428. SOUND: RUSHING WIND – UNDER UNTIL 395
429. GANGSTERS: GROANS AND GRUNTS AS THEY ARE TAKEN OVER GANGSTER
430. OUTWORLDERS: We have control of these bodies.
431. *Voices are layered together.
432. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Good! Now I have some jobs for you. This city is stratified. There are those in power and those who follow orders.
433. SCRUG: Not unlike our hives.
434. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: If my plans are to be brought to fruition, then we must control those who control the people. Politicians, judges, officials in law enforcement and captains of industry.
435. SCRAT: Your orders?
436. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: You are to go out and find our brethren and you are to use them to take over as many of these leaders as possible. If we control the population we can secure this city as a staging ground for the return of our people… and they will be easier to control and use for food.
437. GANGSTER OUTWORLDERS: Yes, master!
438. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: And one more thing… bring me the mortal called Madame Sofia. She is interesting to me. Interesting indeed! She knows how to open a gate to our plane of existence… and, she knows how to power it so that it remains open.
439. GANGSTER OUTWORLDER #1: Didn’t she come with these others?
440. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: She is strong and resisted the summons. But this mortal body knows where she can be found.
441. GANGSTER OUTWORLDERS: We obey!
442. SOUND: RUSHING WIND, HOWLS ETC. – FADE
443. MUSIC: TIME PASSING SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 27: INT – CAESAR’S HEADQUARTERS – MORNING
(OUTWORLDER CAESAR, SOFIA, GANGSTER OUTWORLDER)

444. SOUND: DOORS OPEN – FOOTSTEPS – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
445. SOFIA: GRUNTS
446. GANGSTER OUTWORLDER: Bow before the master, witch!
447. SOFIA: Ugh. I am no witch! And you should have better manners.
448. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: I see that my minions found you.
449. SOFIA: And I see you survived… somewhat. I take it that Caesar Cordova is no longer in control of that body?
450. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: You are as perceptive as his memories led me to believe.
451. SOFIA: What should I call you?
452. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: You may call me… Master.
453. SOFIA: Mmmm. No. I do not think so.
454. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Pride? From a woman who lives in poverty and by her wits upon the streets of this uncaring city? (BEAT) I believe I will enjoy breaking you.
455. SOFIA: Many have tried. (BEAT) What do you want?
456. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: You would do better to adopt a less insolent tone, mortal. You have knowledge that I need. A means of opening a permanent gate to the place we have been banished to.
457. SOFIA: Banished? So the legends are true. And what makes you think I will give you what you seek?
458. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: I don’t believe you will give it to me. Instead I intend to take it. (BEAT) One of my minions has not yet gained a body to possess. You shall be his.
459. OUTWORLDER: Let me enter her, master. I am so hungry!
460. SOFIA: That thing there? Ha! Let him try!
461. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: (BORED) She is yours.
462. SOUND: WOOSH – LET IT FINISH
463. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH
464. OUTWORLDER: Master, she resists me!
465. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: What? Impossible.
466. SOFIA: My spirit is well warded against the likes of you. None of you could take me over.
467. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Insolent! You will obey me! Or I will…
468. SOFIA: You will what, oh mighty leader?
469. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: You dare mock me? If I cannot have you taken over then I will have you killed. Your body has little protection.
470. SOFIA: And if you kill me, then what will you do? You need me.
471. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Do you think so? We are ageless. And you must have seen that in this era of glass and steel, my kind have been finding their way back into this world.
472. SOFIA: Slowly. In dribs and drabs.
473. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Your “assistance” will speed up a process that is already under way. I do not “need” you. (BEAT) And don’t be so sure that death is the only card I have in my hand to play. There are worse things than death.
474. SOFIA: More empty threats.
475. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: I can inflict pain upon you such as you cannot begin to imagine. I can keep you on the edge of life in such agony that death will seem like the greatest of blessings rather than a threat.
476. OUTWORLDER: (LAUGHS MALICIOUSLY)
477. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Or I can give you to my minion here to torment and torture physically. He might not have the same finesse as I… but he would enjoy it.
478. SOFIA: And if I agree? What then? Torment and death, but delivered later?
479. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: What do you suggest?
480. SOFIA: I want to survive. I don’t care about this world or the people in it. I have wanted my revenge upon them for more years than I care to count. I have seen the future and it doesn’t belong to this worthless race of beings.
481. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: Oh, but the petty malice of your species never fails to surprise me. And so?
482. SOFIA: Promise me that I will be left free to live my life in peace. You will want to farm those you conquer. To rule and feed off them. Promise me that I will never be enslaved and the world is yours to take.
483. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: A world of billions of souls made accessible to my kind against one soul left free? That is acceptable. And you will perform the ritual?
484. SOFIA: I will, but we still require the girl.
485. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: (ROARING) Then our agreement is worth nothing. (TO OUTWORLDER) Kill her. Tear her apart.
486. SOFIA: Wait. She will come. Today. This very night. Search Cordova’s memory. He is exchanging the woman upstairs for the girl. The woman is leverage and the ritual will be far easier to perform with willing participants than not. Spare me and you will see… master.
487. OUTWORLDER CAESAR: (LAUGHS) Broken already? Then I will wait a little. If she does not come, you will know pain that few mortals have ever experienced.
488. MUSIC: SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 28: EXT – STREET – MID-MORNING
(MORT, LILLY, CLAUDETTE)

489. SOUND: STREET AND PEDESTRIANS – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
490. MORT: …That’s the plan. You’ll have to follow it to the letter. Are you sure you still want to come with me?
491. LILLY: (COUGHING) You’re not doing it without us. In fact, it won’t work without us.
492. CLAUDETTE: Yeah.
493. LILLY: (BEAT) Weird isn’t it?
494. MORT: What?
495. LILLY: Look at all these people, going about their lives as if nothing’s happened… while we–
496. MORT: We wander around the streets with bloody boots dangling from our necks, a pair of magic swords wrapped up in a carpet, an ancient spell-book, and a bunch of guesses about a sorcerous mob-boss and an inter-planar invasion?
497. LILLY: (ARCHLY) Well, when you put it like that… (BEAT) What are we doing now?
498. MORT: Going back to the house so we can wash our boot soles, eat something, and get a little more shut-eye.
499. LILLY: Seriously?
500. MORT: Don’t forget, while you two got a couple of hours sleep at Wu’s place, I still haven’t closed my eyes for more than a few seconds during the last thirty six hours. And even with the little you’ve had, you and Claudette look like you could use some more rest.
501. LILLY: Thanks, Mort. I… I appreciate everything you’ve been doing for us.
502. MORT: Quiet. Quick into the doorway.
503. CLAUDETTE: What is it?
504. MORT: Those are some of Cordova’s guys… talking with a homicide detective with a small cloud of outworlders hovering nearby.
505. LILLY: What are they doing?
506. MORT: I’m not sure… Great Scott!
507. LILLY: What? What is it?
508. MORT: They’re recruiting.
509. LILLY: What?
510. MORT: One of the outworlders dived into the detective. He’s possessed.
511. LILLY: They’re taking people over?
512. MORT: Looks like. Hang-on. Duck!
513. CLAUDETTE: One of them’s sniffed something. He’s looking for us.
514. MORT: Stay still. Don’t even breathe.
515. LILLY: Look, the thugs and cop- They’re moving on.
516. MORT: (BREATHES) The outworlders are going with them, but that last one isn’t moving. (BEAT) Uh-oh. It’s coming this way.
517. OUTWORLDER: (APPROACHING) You think you can hide from me, mortals? Ha!
518. MORT: Stay back!
519. SOUND: MORT DRAWS SWORD – LET IT FINISH.
520. OUTWORLDER: You can see me! And you think that little pig sticker will do anything to deter me? Step aside, little man. It’s not you I’m after. I want the girl. You can walk away.
521. MORT: Like hell. Take that, monster! (GRUNTS WITH EFFORT) Ungh!
522. SOUND: FLESHY RIPPING NOISE – UNDER TO 524
523. OUTWORLDER: (SCREAMS) Aaargh! But how? How have you killed me? (FADES OUT)
524. LILLY: What? Is it gone?
525. MORT: It’s gone. The sword worked.
526. CLAUDETTE: I’m scared, Mort.
527. MORT: Don’t be, kid. This is the first encouraging thing that’s happened.
528. LILLY: (BEAT) Mort, I need to tell you something. It’s important. I feel like I owe it to you.
529. CLAUDETTE: (WARNING) Mom–?
530. MORT: It’s okay, Lil. I think I know. And you don’t have to–
531. LILLY: You know? How long–
532. MORT: A couple of hours. Wu was able to read your health from your aura and he told me that–
533. LILLY: (HURRIEDLY – TO PREVENT MORT SPILLING THE BEANS IN FRONT OF CLAUDETTE) No. I mean, that’s not it, and… that’s my business…
534. CLAUDETTE: Mom? What are you?–
535. LILLY: It’s okay, Claudette. No, Mort. It’s not that. It’s–
536. MORT: Is it about my office, then?
537. LILLY: How’d you even–?
538. MORT: Someone let Cordova know you’d come to see me. He hasn’t got a permanent watch on my place and you left my office pretty sore.
539. LILLY: Mort, I’m–
540. MORT: It’s okay. I was pretty angry before – about Jesse – and maybe I still am, but the building was insured and we’ve got much bigger problems now.
541. LILLY: I keep underestimating you, Mort. But that’s not it either. It’s about Jesse.
542. CLAUDETTE: Mom, don’t do this–?
543. MORT: About Jesse? What about Jesse?
544. LILLY: I… When… Back at that house you helped close down years ago. There was a girl who was brought in about the same time as me.
545. MORT: Jesse, right?
546. LILLY: We were friends. The owner was brutal and would beat us for the smallest mis-step. She took the blame for something I did and ended up in a coma. I’ve always felt I owed her.
547. MORT: Yeah, Jesse was like that. It’s why I’ve been looking after her all these years. I owe her from my days in the orphanage too.
548. LILLY: Mort. (STARTS COUGHING) The girl you’ve been looking after isn’t Jesse.
549. MORT: What?
550. CLAUDETTE: Mom, don’t. Please!
551. LILLY: Her name’s Lilly. I’m Jesse.
552. MORT: She’s not… But you’re… Aw, hell!
553. LILLY: Think about it a minute. You know it’s true. You’ve always suspected. Deep down.
554. MORT: (DEEPLY UPSET) What are you doing? Why’d you have to go and tell me this now?
555. LILLY: (COUGHING) I’m sorry Mort. If Mr. Wu told you… well, you know why. I couldn’t let you go on believing a lie. I want you to know I trust you… now.
556. MORT: Damn it, Lil… Jesse… what the hell should I call you?
557. LILLY: I’m Lilly now. Jesse’s been gone a long time.
558. MORT: (BITTERLY) Replaced by a grifter. I can’t believe you played me like this.
559. CLAUDETTE: Damn it, mom. You’re ruining everything.
560. LILLY: I’m sorry. I owed her so much. And I couldn’t help her. I had nothing. And when you didn’t recognize me right off, and you were so desperate to find Jesse, I thought you’d be able to get her some help.
561. MORT: You betrayed me.
562. LILLY: I didn’t know you were going to pay for her care yourself. And… then… once she was getting looked after… I couldn’t tell you. So I ran away.
563. MORT: (BEAT) (QUIETLY) Lil?
564. LILLY: Yeah?
565. MORT: Don’t talk to me for a while, okay?
566. LILLY: Okay.
567. CLAUDETTE: Mom, I hate you!
568. MUSIC: SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 29: INT – THE SAFE HOUSE – EARLY MORNING
(MORT, CLAUDETTE, LILLY, JAKE)

569. SOUND: DOOR UNLOCKS AND OPENS – LET IT FINISH.
570. SOUND: FOOTSTEPS ENTER – ESTABLISH AND STOP.
571. MORT: (SUBDUED) Home sweet home. Let’s get in and off the street.
572. JAKE: Well, at least you came home – eventually. Where the hell have you been? I’ve been waiting here for hours.
573. LILLY: This place looks like a hurricane hit it. Give me a minute, Mort. I’m gonna put Claudette to bed.
574. CLAUDETTE: (YAWNING) Goodnight, Mort.
575. MORT: Goodnight, sweetie.
576. SOUND: FOOTSTEPS DEPART – LET IT FINISH.
577. JAKE: Nice to see all of you, too. You couldn’t even acknowledge I’m here, Mort?
578. MORT: Stop it. You sound like the ex-wife I never had. Keep this up and I might start to believe you do exist when I’m not looking at you.
579. JAKE: Ha. Ha.
580. MORT: (BEAT) We were visiting a sorcerer, if you must know. You never want to be anywhere you think you might be exposed as a figment of my imagination, so don’t blame me for this. It’s how you wanted it.
581. JAKE: Hmpf!
582. SOUND: FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING – UNDER
583. LILLY: I’ve put Claudette to bed. She’s mad as hell at me. Wouldn’t even look me in the eye.
584. MORT: Uh-huh.
585. LILLY: (BEAT) Did I hear you talking to yourself?
586. MORT: I was thinking stuff over.
587. LILLY: (COUGHING) She doesn’t know… about my illness, I mean.
588. MORT: I guessed as much. But you’re not just ill. You’re dying, Lil. When are you going to tell her?
589. LILLY: (BEAT)
590. MORT: I thought so… You owe her, you know? She needs the truth.
591. LILLY: I said I’m sorry about keeping things quiet, didn’t I?
592. MORT: To me, sure. But sometimes sorry isn’t enough. Sometimes, sorry takes action. That little girl needs her mom. She needs a future.
593. LILLY: This is none of your business!
594. MORT: I think I’ve earned the right to–
595. LILLY: (ANGRY) What have you earned, Mort? Huh? What? (COUGHING) You’ve been involved with Claudette less than thirty six hours. You know nothing about her… about us.
596. MORT: She needs to know. 
597. LILLY: (BEAT) I can’t do it, Mort. I can’t tell her. And I can’t give her a future. But our lives aren’t yours to fix.
598. MORT: Are you sure you don’t want me to–?
599. LILLY: (ANGRY) Damn it, Mort, I told you before. I want you to stay away from Claudette. This is my business. The girl you thought you knew is long gone.
600. MORT: You want to bring that up again? Okay. It’s like you say. Jesse’s been gone a long time. (BEAT) Do what you want.
601. SOUND: MORT WALKS AWAY – LET IT FINISH.
602. LILLY: (SOFTLY, ALMOST TO HERSELF) Thanks for letting me have the bed.
603. SOUND: LILLY WALKS AWAY – LET IT FINISH.
604. JAKE: Trouble in paradise?
605. MORT: Oh, shut the hell up!
606. MUSIC: TIME PASSING – SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

 
SCENE 30: INT – THE SAFE HOUSE – LATE AFTERNOON
(MORT, CLAUDETTE, LILLY, JAKE)

607. SOUND: MORT SNORING – ESTABLISH AND UNDER
608. CLAUDETTE: (FILTERED ECHOING/REVERB) Mort! (FADE FILTER TO NORMAL) Mort, wake up!
609. MORT: Hmmm. Is something wrong?
610. JAKE: Wake up, sunshine. The day’s getting away from you.
611. CLAUDETTE: It’s getting late. The sun will go down soon.
612. MORT: Aw hell. Is Lil awake?
613. CLAUDETTE: Mom’s sleeping. I didn’t want to wake her up. Her breathing doesn’t sound so good.
614. MORT: We’ll let her rest a little longer. I still gotta think things through.
615. CLAUDETTE: You don’t know whether you want to help us anymore, do you?
616. MORT: Aw, honey, it’s not–
617. CLAUDETTE: But if Mom’s Jesse, and you’ve been spending all these years looking after Lilly instead–
618. MORT: Yeah, it makes it hard to know why I should keep going. Nothing’s like I thought it was.
619. CLAUDETTE: (ANGRY) Why does she have to mess everything up?
620. MORT: Claudette?
621. CLAUDETTE: (STARTING TO CRY) Whenever we meet someone who’s good or kind, she has to mess it up by starting a fight.
622. MORT: (GENTLY) Hey… Claudette, take it easy. She’s got a lot on her mind.
623. CLAUDETTE: Don’t make excuses for her. She lies and uses everyone in her life.
624. MORT: Except you. You mean everything to her.
625. CLAUDETTE: That’s not true. She lies to me too. And she gets so angry… and she always puts getting even ahead of me.
626. MORT: I know you’re mad at your mom, but–
627. CLAUDETTE: Can you forgive her?
628. MORT: Honey,… I–
629. CLAUDETTE: See? She messes up everything.
630. MORT: Listen to me for a minute, Claudette. We’ve talked about this before. Your mom’s been through a lot, more than I know… and more than she’s willing to tell you.
631. CLAUDETTE: But people who care about each other shouldn’t have secrets.
632. MORT: Everyone’s got secrets. Your Mom thinks she’s protecting you.
633. CLAUDETTE: She says. (BEAT) But maybe you’d stay… for me. If I needed you enough–
634. MORT: Claudette… that’s unfair.
635. CLAUDETTE: Everything. She messes up everything. But wait, I remember what Wu said, something about a compulsion and how you believe in what you’re doing.
636. MORT: Don’t believe everything you hear, kid.
637. CLAUDETTE: You’re doing this ’cause it’s the right thing to do, though. That’s right, isn’t it?
638. MORT: Claudette, we don’t have time for this right now. Your mom and I will sort things out later.
639. CLAUDETTE: But–
640. MORT: Right now I need you to get focused. I’m relying on you to make this work tonight. If you can’t face Mr. Cordova… if you’re too distracted–
641. JAKE: What the hell? You’re not going to confront that lunatic are you?
642. CLAUDETTE: I can do it. Honest. (BEAT) We sneak into Mr Cordova’s mansion. We go upstairs and, when I can see him, I read the words from the page Mr Wu gave you.
643. MORT: And then you and your mother run for it – back the way you came. I’ll take care of the rest.
644. CLAUDETTE: Got it.
645. MORT: Good girl. I knew I could rely on you. (BEAT) Let’s see what we can rescue from the kitchen to eat. There must be a can of something that survived the outworlder attack, then we’ll wake up your mom.
646. JAKE: Hey. You’re not thinking of leaving me behind again, are you? (BEAT) Jake? (ANNOYED AND SLIGHTLY HURT) Okay, I’ll stay here, shall I?
647. MORT: I’m getting my shoes from the bathroom. They’re ruined, but they’re all I’ve got.
648. SOUND: DOOR CLOSES – LET IT FINISH.
649. JAKE: Aw, Hell. (BEAT) (CALLING OUT) Wait up, damn it. I’m coming with you!
650. MUSIC: SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.
651. NARRATOR: Can Mort, Claudette, and Lilly successfully take the fight to Caesar Cordova? Can the plans of the outworlders be thwarted? Can the gate be closed and the world made safe from invasion? Tune in to episode 5 for the finale.
652. MUSIC: CLOSING THEME AND CREDITS – LET IT FINISH

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Philip Craig Robotham grew up in a house full of books and has held numerous jobs as a teacher, computer programmer, graphic and web designer, an e-learning consultant and, most recently, writer. He currently lives in Victoria, Australia with his wife and two sons. When he was younger and fitter he enjoyed martial arts, but in recent years his hobbies have tended towards more sedate fare (board games, movies, books, and role-playing games).

He is extremely grateful for the encouragement he receives from his biggest fans — his wife and two boys — all of whom read and enjoy his scripts and, in general, make his life worth living.

You can contact the author regarding performance rights (or simply to say hello) through his website: https://www.weirdworldstudios.com.

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This post and all its content is copyright © 2013 Philip Craig Robotham and has been released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. This play cannot be reproduced, shared, or performed commercially without the written permission of the author.  The production of derivative content, merchandise, or creative works and materials is expressly forbidden under this agreement. However you may share, reproduce, and perform this play freely so long as authorship is acknowledged, no money changes hands, and the play is not modified in any way.

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