Pat Mills. Copyright May 2019

 

PLEASE NOTE: this story was previously called Agent Impossible.

Agent Impossible is a Futant.
I decided to drop my separate story about Futants and combine elements of it into this story and also in Jurassic Man.
This new title is more ‘modern’ than Agent Impossible, which is more of a classic title.
I also considered THE TALENT as a title, see below, but there’s already a super hero comic book out there called Talent – being made into a film – so I think FUTANT is the best choice.
THE TALENT could be the title of a collection.

 

NOTES

SEVEN PAGES

This story is one page longer than the others. If that presents a problem I may be able to find a way to lose a page – if the artwork is strong enough to justify the cut.

THE PROTAGONIST

FUTANT is a FUTURE MUTANT, a super-powered secret agent working for a sinister international management bureau – the IMB – who ‘manages’ Futants whom they refer to as THE TALENT. The Bureau assigns its ‘Talents’ to American intelligence agencies.

Our protagonist’s character flaw is that he feels guilty that he didn’t rebel like his fellow young Futants against injustice. They paid a terrible price for their rebellion and that’s why he didn’t fight back.

He has a very modern look, designer stubble. Very GQ man. There are endless possibilities including being inspired by a young Aidan Turner, Jonathan Rhys Meyer and Cillian Murphy. There are plenty of other sources of inspiration if you google GQ. But do avoid ‘chocolate box’ good looks, which can look bland in comics. And also avoid beards.

Facial expressions need to be strong, so no sunglasses, which will obscure his face.

He needs to be young and fashionable. Early 20s.

He’s a rebel, not a suit-wearing pillar of the establishment like James Bond. But he still needs to look sharp, fashionable and come over as a secret agent.

I’ve quoted some examples above who are Irish. Is it that Celtic look that suggests there’s so much going on behind the eyes? By comparison, IMHO Agent Mulder in X Files looks too bland for comics and doesn’t come across visually as a rebel.

The important thing is he needs to have ‘attitude’. To be a REBEL. The way our hero looks is everything.

There aren’t many comic artists who can give an SF hero without a mask or helmet the necessary charisma and handsome features, so I’m going to mention some that have succeeded.

Angela Kincaid’s first episode of Sláine. Glenn Fabry who turned Sláine almost into a kind of rock star. Fay Dalton – notably on ‘The Man Who Murdered Himself’. There were two gay guys featured in the latter with modern hairstyles and imagery. They were very impressive.

So this really is a job for a ‘face artist’.  

But really the character could be Irish-looking, Scottish, Welsh, Black, Asian or other ethnicity.

It depends so much on what works for a face artist, what or who you are drawing on. So really there are no rules. Just pointers.

New artist Simon Hodgkiss-Rogers on Jurassic Man is such a face artist. If he’d said to me ‘I’m going to feature a troubled hero in his early 40s with blonde hair, beard and fairly ordinary clothes, no visual props,’ I’d have said that was not a good idea. There was no way it would work. But Simon did it. His hero has a great, world-weary, lived-in look that makes him as real and as powerful to me as any actor or ubiquitous comic heroes with helmets or masks. I was very impressed.

Jurassic Man came from somewhere deep inside Simon (Simon does not look remotely like him – so, on this occasion, it’s not an ‘artist’s mirror’ character).

So that’s the place to find your Futant.

It’s also worth saying that although Futant is a super-powered secret agent like 2000AD’s Mach One, the similarity ends there. There is no physical resemblance to Mach One and no 2000D-style action SFX .

There are OTHER SFX that can be developed and used instead to suggest his power.

But the overall visual feeling for this character needs to be significantly different.

This story is set today.

 

ART STYLE

The story is in BLACK AND WHITE.

If the art is too conservative – e.g. like the original Mach One – it could look ponderous, leaden and even boring. This was a problem on Mach One, which I solved by having the art editor lay the pages out so they looked dynamic and exciting. I’ve described the process as ‘dressing mutton up as lamb’ and it worked. But when Doug, the art editor, stopped designing the pages, the character lost popularity and eventually died.

There was something about Doug’s designs that were unique. AFAIK, no other secret agent story since has ever been as popular in comics, apart from my Accident Man series. That’s worth thinking about and how to avoid the problems other artists haven’t solved when drawing a secret agent strip.

Specifically, a certain ‘flatness’ we associate with traditional secret agent comic art.

So this story may NOT be right for such a ‘traditional’ comic artist. Even if he is a good face artist.

Today, such a classic look can sometimes seem rather old fashioned and staid.

I’m not after Manga or a Cartoon style, but there is a case for a STYLISED interpretation. Sharp, hip, fresh, cool. Or the dynamic look that Doug – rather than the actual artist – provided. I feel it needs intrinsic visual élan.

To achieve that, I suggest you don’t rush the sample page, but carefully absorb the points I’m making and see if the story is really right for you.

I think we also need to avoid the ubiquitous long leather coats of characters in the Matrix and elsewhere. That look is starting to wear a little thin now.

The artist must also have a taste for reality and be able to draw real-life scenes, vehicles and hardware. This is important, as many SF artists prefer to only draw fantasy. Consequently when they illustrate real life scenes they can look empty because they get bored drawing them.

 

SAMPLE SCENE

It should be the Futant hero in action, in a sequence of pictures, showing off his super powers. Each picture should be exciting – no ‘treading water’ scenes. In that respect, superhero comics are probably relevant, because action is the one thing that the better superhero comics most definitely get right.

Definitely don’t draw the chat scenes or the Warp images from the church at this stage.

 

THE LOCATION

I have my own photo REFERENCES available for the mysterious Church of the Apocalypse featured. It’s based on Sant Joan De Boi in the Vall de Boi, Northern Spain. (St John: ‘Joan’ – wrote the Apocalypse.)

If you Google Sant Joan De Boi paintings the images will also come up. They show terrifying visions of the Apocalypse. Scenes of fantastic horrors yet to come.

These paintings of the Apocalypse are unique.

I was shown round the church recently by an archaeologist. The original paintings have been removed and are in the hands of private collectors. How that happened was a tale straight out of Indiana Jones and inspired this story. What I saw in the church were exact reproductions. The archaeologist – who is an authority on the 12^th century paintings – told me that no one understands why the church was painted in this sinister and strange way.

It’s a mystery.

In our story the Space Warp is the explanation.

The paintings would need a little adapting to work in a comic. They are, after all, a medieval artist’s depiction of horror, although their simplistic look has a certain graphic appeal.

THE STORY

 

PAGE ONE

TOP LINE on Page One of story:

Next to reduced Space Warp symbol (which is on the left of the words):

‘Mantids are like Cockroaches. But I’m Vermin Control…’

1. We start with a FULL PAGE action shot of FUTANT from a scene later in the story.

He is running towards us at impossible high speed. This might be conveyed by BLURRING SFX on either side of him. Not on him, though. But SFX are not mandatory.

He is being blasted by bullets from off frame so he has a series of bullet holes in his body. Not his head.

These might be stylised neat bullet holes or rather more graphic, exposing his torn flesh.

He’s clearly in pain.

And yet, IMPOSSIBLY and heroically, he still keeps coming!!

Possibly a half body shot so he’s close to ‘camera’, filling the page.

Behind him is a sinister figure of a menacing insectoid ALIEN. The Alien featured in this episode is a MANTID, named after the praying mantis. But it CAN’T simply be a bog standard praying mantis or the often boring UFO variants that can be found on Google. They can seem clichéd and stereotypical. They should just be a starting point for something far more malevolent and scary. Look at nymph versions of the Mantis, for example. If all else fails, it could be bursting out of its human host for visual impact, but I’d like it to be original and terrifying in its own right.

PANEL: WHEN THE WARP HIT THE EARTH, IT CREATED ‘GENE POOLS’ THAT MUTATED US, GIVING US AWESOME POWERS.

(2): THEY WERE LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS – THE YOUNGER THE BETTER. SO MY SCIENTIST PARENTS VOLUNTEERED ME AT SIX WEEKS. I WAS IMMERSED IN A GENE POOL WITH WHO KNEW WHAT CONSEQUENCES.

(3): IT WAS EVERY SCIENTIST’S DREAM: TO HAVE A CHILD WITH THE POWERS OF THE WARP. A FUTURE MUTANT.

(4): THE PRESTIGE OF THEIR SON BEING A FUTANT BOOSTED THEIR CAREERS. THEY BECAME CELEBRITIES. THERE WERE ENDLESS TV INTERVIEWS, A BEST SELLING BOOK, AND A DOCUMENTARY FILM SERIES.

(5): HOW SHOULD I FEEL ABOUT THAT? NO IDEA. I’VE STOPPED FEELING.

 

 

PAGE TWO

1. The 12th century Romanesque Church of the Apocalypse, the Pyrenees, Spain. A modern, open-topped HUMMER is parked outside. An anxious PRIEST hurries towards the open church door. He would be Spanish with lots of character. Think of Richard Burton who played a priest in at least one occult film.

PANEL: THE CHURCH OF THE APOCALYPSE, THE PYRENEES, SPAIN.

VOICE: REMARKABLE, ISN’T IT? THE WARP MUST HAVE SENT SUB-ATOMIC PARTICLES BACK THROUGH TIME, GIVING THE ARTIST NIGHTMARE VISIONS OF THE FUTURE…

(2) IT’S THE ONLY CHURCH TO SHOW THE APOCALYPSE. AND NO ONE KNOWS WHY.

2. In the dark interior. JONATHAN JONES, a smooth-talking, suave, bald, cool-looking, phoney good guy’ is supervising his men cutting frescoes from the walls. Prominent in his work force are RICK KEELER, a rough and ready artisan, and snide-looking, hyper-fashionable yuppie TOM BOLCHER.

You can restrict yourself to these three characters if you wish, although there would be others present.

There are crumbling lurid murals on the walls: men escaping from the fires of Hell (Hellbreaker)… Dinosaurs running rampant (The Jurassic Man)… The sick being cured (this story) and a Demon (Slayer) .

FYI … Bad guys and monsters are shown in side profile. Saints, and ordinary people are shown front-faced.

Some paintings will already be removed.

Here we need only focus on a 12th century depiction of the Warp.

Above or alongside a depiction of the sick and crippled entering a pool of healing water. A gene pool. There would be another where someone becomes a superman – but it’s not important to show here and there’s a further opportunity later.

Jones is indicating to Bolcher, who is expertly cutting the painting away from the wall.

The priest enters.

JONES: YOU SEE HOW HE PAINTS THE WARP SPLITTING THE EARTH INTO DIFFERENT REALITIES?

(2): HERE’S OUR EARTH WHERE THE GENE POOLS HEAL THE SICK AND TURN PEOPLE INTO SUPERMEN AND SUPERWOMEN.

PRIEST: WHAT IS GOING ON

3. Another fresco has already been removed from the wall and is waiting to be packed and taken away. It shows dinosaurs pursuing terrified humans.

VOICE OF JONES: THE OTHER EARTHS WEREN’T SO LUCKY. IN THIS ONE THEY WERE INVADED BY DINOSAURS.

PRIEST’S VOICE: THIS IS SACRILEGE!

4. View of another fresco that shows malevolent dead ESCAPING from the fires of Hell.

VOICE OF JONES: AND IN THAT ONE THE DEAD BREAK OUT OF HELL.

PRIEST’S VOICE: HOW DARE YOU? YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!

5. Jones looks up from admiring another fresco that shows a crudely drawn version of Slayer (Schlock). See Slayer for a full description of Schlock. The priest approaches.

JONES: MAYBE THIS DEMON IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WARP. OH, HELLO, FATHER.

PRIEST: I TOLD YOU, JONES. THESE PAINTINGS ARE NOT FOR SALE. THEY’RE AN IMPORTANT WARNING OF THE TERRORS TO COME!

JONES: NOTED.

6. Jones shoots the priest in the heart

PRIEST: WHY DO YOU WANT… AAAH!!

JONES: IT’S NOT PRACTICAL TO CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION.

 

 

PAGE THREE

1. Hunter looks down on the church (located in a valley) as the Hummer pulls away. The paintings are crated in the back. Hunter’s own suitably sharp, cool, impressive secret agent’ car is parked behind him. (FYI – He’s driven it at breakneck speed to get there in time to stop the villains getting away.)

PANELS:

THE PRIEST CONTACTED THE IMB TOO LATE.

(2): I COULD KILL THEM EASILY, BUT DON’T WANT TO DAMAGE THE PAINTINGS. BETTER TO DO THIS ON FOOT.

2. He’s running down the road towards us at super speed! He should look AMAZING! (see notes)

 

PANELS:

I’VE BEEN ‘MANAGED’ SINCE INFANCY BY THE IMB – THE INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT BUREAU. THEY CALL FUTANTS ‘THE TALENT’. FUTANTS (OR THEIR PARENTS OR GUARDIANS) AGREE TO THE IMB ‘MANAGING’ US AND OUR POWERS.

THE ALTERNATIVE IS TO BE BRANDED AS TERRORISTS AND IMPRISONED UNDER THE FUTURE MUTANTS ACT.

MOST OF US SIGN AWAY OUR RIGHTS.

3. In the cab of the Hummer. Jones driving. Their shock reaction as they see Hunter in mirror or looking back.

BOLCHER: THEY’VE SENT IN A FUTANT!

JONES: GUN HIM DOWN!

4. A dynamic depiction of Hunter drawing closer to the Hummer now. (Not a ‘link’ picture – but a further really exciting and dynamic interpretation of a man running at incredible speed)

 

PANELS:

I WAS KEPT IN ISOLATION FROM ORDINARY HUMANS. IN CASE MY POWERS HAD HARMFUL SIDE EFFECTS. LIKE RADIATION.

I SPENT MY CHILDHOOD TALKING TO MY PARENTS THROUGH AN INTERCOM.

5. Bolcher and Keeler have climbed into the back of the Hummer and are firing towards us with high-tech submachine guns.

PANEL: THE PAINTINGS CONTAIN A COMPLETE RECORD OF THE WARP AND HOW IT COULD DESTROY THE EARTH.

BOLCHER: AIM FOR HIS HEAD! BLOW IT AWAY!

6. He’s still coming – with bullets blasted through him. And some perilously close to his head!!

PANEL: OR TURN US ALL INTO GODS AND GIVE US FREEDOM.

(2): THAT MUST BE WHY THE MANTIDS WANT IT.

 

 

PAGE FOUR

1. Hunter leaps through the air – a leap any superhero would be proud of. Completely IMPOSSIBLE and enthralling to look at.

If it’s not, there’s something wrong with the approach.

(I have to stress this because there’s a very real danger that action scenes like this can look boring or unconvincing with super-powered secret agents, so I think superheroes are your guide here. It must amaze us.)

PANELS:

FINALLY, THE SCIENTISTS GAVE ME THE ALL CLEAR AND RAN A GEIGER COUNTER OVER ME FOR THE LAST TIME.

(2): I WENT OUT AND BOUGHT A GODZILLA SUIT AND DANCED AROUND A PARK IN IT.

2. Hunter lands in an equally SPECTACULAR way, scattering the two gunmen.

PANEL:

ON GRADUATION DAY I STILL HADN’T MASTERED MY GRAVITATIONAL POWERS.

3. Hunter delivers a devastating high-gravity punch to Keeler’s face that kills him.

(It depends on your style how this is depicted. If you have a very gritty style and Keeler’s face collapses it could look too gruesome. But with a different style it could look fine. Maybe a BLUR of impact could make it acceptable. It’s something you may need to experiment with.)

PANEL: SO I STAYED SEATED DURING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM. UNABLE TO MOVE.

(2): EVERYONE THOUGHT I WAS A REBEL, BUT THAT’S NOT MY STYLE. I’M TRAINED TO KEEP A LOW PROFILE.

4. Bolcher attacks Hunter – about to fire on him at point blank range!

PANELS:

TWO OF MY FELLOW FUTANTS REBELLED LOUDLY AND SPECTACULARLY: CARTER AND MANN.

THEY WERE ‘DEFANGED’ AND SENT TO EDEN AS SPARE BODY PARTS.

5. Hunter gives Bolcher a killer punch.

 

PANEL:

WHEN THE CRIMES OF TOP POLITICIANS, BUSINESSMEN AND FAMOUS PAEDOS ARE EXPOSED, THEY CONVENIENTLY ‘DIE’ AND GO TO THE SECRET GARDEN OF EDEN RETIREMENT ISLAND.

6. Hunter rips the driver’s door off. This is most obvious feat of strength in the story and should look suitably spectacular. (He’ll have climbed out of the back to achieve this at a suitably practical and cool-looking angle.)

 

PANEL: WHILE I WAS INVITED TO THE IMB DIRECTOR’S HOME TO CELEBRATE.

FOOT PANEL: I CELEBRATED BY CLEANING HIS TOILET WITH HIS TOOTHBRUSH.

 

 

PAGE FOUR

1. Hunter is inside the cab leaping on Jones.

PANEL: I OWED MY FRIENDS THAT. I OWED THEM MORE. BUT I DIDN’T WANT TO BE CUT OPEN AND HAVE MY ORGANS USED TO KEEP THE EDENITES ALIVE FOREVER.

 

2. They’re fighting.

PANEL: WITH MY HEALING POWERS, IT WAS A STRONG POSSIBILITY.

3. As they fight, Jones is revealed as a Mantid. He bursts out of the human!! It should be taller than a human here.

PANEL; SO HE’S CONTROLLED BY A MANTID. THEY CAN OPERATE AT LEAST FOUR HUMANS AT ANY ONE TIME.

(2): IT’S JUST LIKE US OPERATING OUR ARMS AND LEGS.

4. The Mantid tries to rip Hunter apart with a pincer. It can tear away some of his clothing and his flesh!

PANEL: THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF ALIENS INVOLVED HERE: THE GREYS, THE REPTILIANS AND THE MANTIDS.

(2): THE INSECTOIDS USUALLY GIVE THE ORDERS TO THE LOWER SPECIES.

5. Still fighting, they fall out of the speeding Hummer.

PANEL: SO THE PAINTINGS MUST BE REALLY IMPORTANT FOR THEM TO SEND IN A TOP GUN.

6. The Mantid has landed on top of Hunter and is poised to deliver a deathblow.

PANEL: THEY WANT TO STUDY THE WARP AND TURN IT INTO ANOTHER INSTRUMENT OF CONTROL.

(2): SINCE THE WARP APPEARED, ALIEN ABDUCTIONS AND UFO SIGHTINGS HAVE INCREASED DRAMATICALLY.

 

 

PAGE FIVE

1. It savagely wounds Hunter. He grimaces with the pain.

PANEL:

PANEL: WHY THEY DON’T JUST COME OUT IN THE OPEN? I’VE NEVER TOTALLY UNDERSTOOD. EVERYONE KNOWS ALIENS HAVE BEEN ON EARTH SINCE THE DAWN OF MANKIND.

2. It’s holding him down as it prepares to bite.

PANELS: AND THEY’VE WON. TODAY, HUMANITY IS CONTROLLED. SERVILE. EMPTY. NO ONE REBELS ANYMORE.

(2): THE ALIENS GOT WHAT THEY WANTED.

(3): BUT THE WARP COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING.

3. Hunter rips free and smashes its face in. This can be as nasty as you like.

PANELS:

DON’T BUY INTO ALL THAT STUFF ABOUT THEM WANTING TO PROTECT AND GUIDE HUMANITY.

LECTURING US ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING AND NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION UNLESS WE CHANGE OUR WAYS.

4. He fights on and breaks the Mantid’s back.

PANELS:

THAT’S STRAIGHT OUT OF THE PRESS RELEASES THE IMB USE TO PROMOTE THEIR FUTANTS IN THE MEDIA. AND EVEN MORE FAKE.

5. A SAVAGE expression on his face, he brings his foot down sharply on its head. Several times.

PANEL:

MANTIDS ARE LIKE COCKROACHES. THEY CAN SURVIVE ANYTHING

BUT I’M VERMIN CONTROL.

6. He gets to his feet, a ghastly figure. Wounded so many times… The bullet holes still there. Bullets spewing out of the holes. Blood pouring down his clothing. He’s also been savagely ripped by the Mantid.

BUT… The Alien is teleporting itself away. We can see its body starting to demolecularise

(The Hummer has come to a halt close by, although we may not see it here.)

It should be very clear Hunter’s gone through absolute Hell.

PANEL: WHEN THINGS GET ROUGH, THEY TELEPORT THEMSELVES BACK INTO THEIR OWN DIMENSION TO RECOVER.

 

 

PAGE SIX

1. Close-up of Hunter’s hand operating a Godzilla toy figure. There was one I saw in the early 90s that had a transparent plastic ‘straw’ projecting out of its mouth down to its base at a 45-degree angle. You press a control and the tube fills with light – suggesting flames coming out of Godzilla’s mouth.

I haven’t found this model, but there are plenty of others on Google with flames coming out of their mouths.   It should be a similarly old model.

We are in a darkened office, so the light/’flames’ lights up the darkness.

PANEL:

THE INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT BUREAU, NEW YORK.

VOICE OFF:

PLEASE DON’T TOUCH, HUNTER. THAT’S A VALUABLE VINTAGE MODEL.

2. Hunter turns from operating the Godzilla. It’s on Jo Felkir’s desk.

Felkir enters the darkened room.

She is big, powerful. Any ethnicity. Late middle-aged.

The office is in shade because she has numerous early (1950s) Japanese robots on display with their boxes alongside them. For collectors, the original boxes are everything and so they always keep them in a darkened room. Felkir also collects any amount of SF toys from the 50s and 60s – Thunderbirds, Doctor Who etc.

(Though it’s not necessary to read them, Felkir is based on Joy in Read Em and Weep Book One who has a similar vast collection of SF memorabilia.)

Hunter has fully recovered from his mission.

PANELS:

SHE COLLECTS EARLY JAPANESE ROBOTS, TOO. SO SHE KEEPS HER OFFICE DARKENED. SHE DOESN’T WANT THE BOXES TO FADE.

MY BOSS. JO FELKIR.

ANYONE WITH ANY COMPASSION AT IMB LEAVES. THE PSYCHOPATHS STAY. SHE’S BEEN HERE THE LONGEST.

FELKIR: A REMINDER OF THE THREATS TO OUR CIVILISATION.

3. Felkir and Hunter.

PANELS:

SHE HAS A HOLE IN HER SOUL SHE’S FILLED WITH FIFTY PAIRS OF LUIS VUITTON TRAINERS. HER MORAL COMPASS POINTS SOUTH.

LIKE MINE. I SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT FOR CARTER AND MANN. BUT I DIDN’T STAND UP AND BE COUNTED.

FELKIR: I REALLY DIDN’T EXPECT YOU TO GET THERE IN TIME, HUNTER.

HUNTER: I FLOORED IT THE WHOLE WAY, MA’AM.

4. Just Hunter.

PANEL: I STAYED SEATED. SO MY FRIENDS ARE DEAD NOW. THEIR ORGANS DONATED TO THE SCUM IN PAEDOPHILE PARADISE.

HUNTER: SO THE FRESCOES WILL BE RETURNED TO THE CHURCH?

5. Felkir sits down at her desk.

FELKIR: IT’S NOT THAT SIMPLE. THEY SHOW THE ALTERNATE EARTHS ARE UNSTABLE AND COULD MERGE BACK INTO OUR OWN EARTH WITH DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES.

(2); AND WE ALREADY KNOW THAT IS A STRONG POSSIBILITY.

 

6. She’s turned on a light and now we see the walls of his office are covered in the frescoes! She leans back in her chair and smiles. Hunter startled.

FELKIR: SO WE THINK IT’S BEST THE PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT THEM.

(2): THEY GIVE MY OFFICE A CERTAIN GRAVITAS, DON’T YOU THINK?

 

 

PAGE SEVEN

Good view of the paintings on this final page. Notably the Warp. And paintings we may not have seen clearly on Page Two.

1. Affable Felkir. Hunter responds sarcastically. The Warp very visible near Felkir if possible.

FELKIR: THE APOCALYPSE MAY NEVER HAPPEN, SO WHY ALARM THEM? IT’S IN THEIR BEST INTERESTS.

HUNTER: LIKE MY PARENTS DECIDED I SHOULD BECOME A FUTANT. IN MY BEST INTERESTS?

2.Hunter nods towards the fresco, which shows a god-like figure emerging from a gene pool.

HUNTER: THEY SHOW EVERYONE CAN HAVE POWERS.

(2): IS THAT THE REAL REASON YOU’RE WITHOLDING THEM FROM THE PUBLIC?

 

3. Felkir smiles at Hunter.

FELKIR: DON’T MAKE A BAD GUY OUT OF ME, HUNTER. POWERS ARE NOT FOR ORDINARY PEOPLE. YOU’RE THE TALENT.

(2); YOU CAN BE A GOD. A SAINT. A HERO.

HUNTER: I DESPISE GODS. I’M SUSPICIOUS OF SAINTS. AND WE CAN ALL BE HEROES.

 

4. Felkir looks at him coldly. Hunter opens or lifts his shirt or top. As a bullet is ejected.

FELKIR: NOT EVEN FOR ONE DAY. IT’S NOT PRACTICAL TO CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION.

HUNTER: LOOK, MA’AM, I KNOW YOU MEAN WELL, BUT –

 

5. Bullet klinks on to the floor. Felkir looks down at it, rather offended by this public process of getting rid of bullets.

Hunter is standing directly next to the Godzilla statue.

HUNTER: BULLET GOT STUCK BEHIND A RIB. TAKES LONGER TO EXPEL.

(2): SORRY ABOUT THAT.

FELKIR: OH, PLEASE.

6. Felkir smiles affably at Hunter as he leaves. Hunter smiles back, suitably deferential. We see the head of Godzilla poking out of his jacket pocket. He used the diversion of ejecting bullets to steal it from Felkir’s desk.

FELKIR: COME TO MY PLACE FOR THE WEEKEND. YOUR PARENTS WANT TO INTRODUCE YOU TO A SUITABLE FUTANT FEMALE. SO YOU CAN MAKE FUTANT BABIES. YOU ARE THE TALENT, AFTER ALL.

HUNTER: I’LL BRING A TOOTHBRUSH, MA’AM.