Onset: The Rescue

PAGE ONE

Panel 1

HANNAH WILLIAMS has seized VARUN SRINIVASI in a telekinetic grip and slammed him hard into the stone wall of the monastery.

Hannah is a teenage girl, about 15 or 16, short, thin, with dark brown hair and eyes, a slightly tan complexion and facial features of indeterminate ethnicity. She's dressed as a fairly typical young American girl, with jeans, t-shirt, and a loose-fitting jacket. She doesn't look anywhere near as powerful as she actually is. Varun is taller, well-built, with clean-cut facial features and skin tone that clearly mark him as Middle Eastern. His hair is slightly on the long side for a guy, but well-kept. He's very pretty, in a way, with smooth, youthful features, rune-like tattoos on his face and hands, and a style of dress that uniquely marks him as a demon hunter.

There is a look of cold, dangerous fury on her face as she advances on Varun, who hits the wall with a hard thud.

1 CAPTION

The hidden Monastery of Medici. Italy.

2 HANNAH

Let. My brother. Go.

3 HANNAH

Right now, goddammit, or I'll—

Panel 2

Close-up on Varun, still being held up against the wall. His teeth are grit and body is tense in struggle, but he's actually smiling down at Hannah.

4 VARUN

 You'll what?

5 VARUN

 Tear this place apart? Bring the whole structure crashing down on us?

6 HANNAH (O.P.)

  MAYBE!

Panel 3

Medium shot. Varun is still pinned up against the wall and Hannah is facing him, one arm raised slightly as she maintains her telekinetic hold on him. She's barely holding her anger in as they talk. He's calm, but a little rattled.

7 VARUN

 Won't do you any good, sweetie. He'll still die, and I'll simply be succeeded by another hunter, as will all the monks.

8 VARUN
 The only difference would be that you'd die too.

9 HANNAH

 Maybe I don't care about that.

10 VARUN

 And maybe I think you're bluffing.

Panel 4

Close-up on Hannah, who is smiling mirthlessly—and mercilessly—up at Varun.

11 HANNAH

 You just don't get it. Do you, pretty-boy?

12 HANNAH

I don't care how cute you are. I don't care if you can fight demons, and vampires, and other things I can't put a name to. Right now, all I care about are two things.

13 HANNAH

That my brother's in there, where your monks are killing him—

Panel 5

Medium close-up on Varun as Hannah looks up at him. Varun looks like he's having a much harder time breathing now, and is struggling in vain against the telekinetic bonds Hannah has him in.

14 HANNAH

 —and that you will fix that, now!

15 VARUN

 <GASP!> Wind... pipe...! <GASP!>

Panel 6

Hannah releases her hold on Varun, who falls unceremoniously to the floor, coughing fitfully and gasping for air. Hannah is looking over him balefully, one fist clenched viciously.

16 HANNAH

 Now, get to work, before I really get angry!

17 VARUN

 <Coughing and gasping>

PAGE TWO

Panel 1

Varun has lifted his head up to look at her, an expression of anger and defiance on his face.

1 VARUN

 Even if I wanted to help, I can't!

2 VARUN

The monks have started a ritual to weaken your brother, both physically and spiritually, so the demon can be reaped from his body. Disrupting it would be extremely unsafe, for everyone involved!

Panel 2

Hannah is looking evenly at Varun as he rises. She's unimpressed by his anger, amply buoyed by her own.

3 HANNAH

 Details?

4 VARUN

 The monks themselves would fight me to ensure it's properly carried out.

Panel 3

Medium close-up on Varun. He is solemn and dead serious as he explains the risks to her.

5 VARUN

Assuming I survive, the ritual will have angered the demon that's trying to bond with him. If disrupted, it could change the nature of its hold on him.

6 VARUN

 And before you ask, no, I don't know how.

Panel 4

Extreme close-up on Varun's eyes, narrowed resentfully as he looks at Hannah.

7 VARUN

 Because no one has ever been foolish enough to interrupt it.

Panel 5

Medium close-up on Hannah, who is smiling a thin, dangerous smile at Varun. Her mind is made up, and she will not be talked out of it.

8 HANNAH

Well, you've been talking about how you want to impress this brotherhood of yours. Here's your opportunity.

9 VARUN

 Hannah...

Panel 6

Hannah has gotten in Varun's face, and is pressing a finger into his chest. Varun actually looks surprised, and cowed by her anger and rage.

10 HANNAH

 I never agreed to let you or your people murder my brother!

PAGE THREE

Panel 1

Splash page. Medium close-up on JASON WILLIAMS, lashed to a stone pillar with heavy-duty chains in the middle of a large, arena-like room in the monastery.

He is about 30, has a thin-medium build, with short dark brown hair and irises. Some crazy changes are overtaking his body. His skin has taken on an uneven, purplish-magenta hue, and his muscle tone has hardened considerably. His eyes have taken on a yellow color, and spines are starting to sprout in a line down the sides of his neck and shoulders.

Clipped to each of his forearms is a bracer-like mechanism, each with three chains attached to it. They are pulled taut in different directions, his arms stretched out from the rest of his body. It's not possible to see from this shot, but several monks have each taken a chain and are keeping him stretched tight. He is in agony, though whether it's from the changes he's enduring or the ritual the monks are inflicting upon him is not currently known.

1 HANNAH (CAP)

 And I will never let the people I love suffer or die needlessly.

2 HANNAH (CAP)

  Ever.

3 HANNAH (CAP)

That's my brother in there, and I know he's going through something I can't begin to imagine. Some demon thinks it can use him as a host to walk on this world.

4 HANNAH (CAP)

 You and your brotherhood seem to think the only solution is killing him.

5 HANNAH (CAP)

 Well, today, that changes.

PAGE FOUR

Panel 1

One of the monks holding one of the arm chains is suddenly lifted off his feet, surprise and fear dominating his features.

1 HANNAH (CAP)

 Because using destruction as a solution is cruel.

Panel 2

He's hurled violently into another monk nearby.

2 HANNAH (CAP)

 It's unfair.

Panel 3

Close-up on Jason, who's just noticed the chains on his right arm slacken. He looks around for an opportunity...

3 HANNAH (CAP)

 And today at least, I'm not having it.

Panel 4

Varun has charged into the arena, brandishing a blunt polearm that nonetheless looks intimidating, and sweeps several nearby monks off their feet with one wide, strong sweep. Several monks further off look shocked, surprised, and offended by the display. Hannah is nearby, staying clear of Varun's fighting arc, lifting and throwing a couple of other nearby monks.

4 VARUN

 Apologies, my brothers, but today's ritual has been postponed!

5 HANNAH

 What he said! Let my brother go!

6 MONK 1

 BETRAYAL! TO ARMS!

7 MONK 2

 We are undone!

Panel 5

Jason, taking advantage of the momentary confusion, whips the loose chains on his right arm around in a vicious arc, slamming them hard into the monks holding his left arm. He looks almost gleeful as he does it.

8 JASON

 Hear that, old Pharaoh?!

9 JASON

 “Let my people go!”

Panel 6

Wide shot. Monks begin to surround Varun and Hannah, who continue to hold them off and knock them down while Jason, hands free, gets a grip on the chains binding him to the pillar. Some monks have only just begun to notice that he's getting free, and are pointing at him.

10 HANNAH 

 He's doing it! They're starting to panic!

PAGE FIVE

Panel 1

Medium close-up on Jason and the pillar. The chains around him won't break, but the pillar is starting to crack and strain as he pulls on them. There's a vicious smile playing about his mouth, even as the exhaustion wears on his body.

1 JASON 

 Of course, as spirituals go, I prefer “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.”

Panel 2

Close-up on the pillar cracking and breaking from the stress. It starts to tip backwards...

2 JASON

 “And the walls come tumblin' down!”

Panel 3

The pillar falls, backwards from Jason, taking out an entire cone of the north side of the arena. Most of the monks have gotten clear, though some can be seen pinned beneath the wreckage.

3 SFX

 CRASH!!!

Panel 4

Close-up on Hannah and Varun, who are stunned by the display.

4 HANNAH

 Whoa.

5 VARUN

 What she said.

Panel 5

Jason makes his way towards Hannah and Varun, casually peeling off his chains and bracers. The monks have fled the scene, or are still doing so, afraid for their lives. Hannah and Varun regard him cautiously.

6 JASON

 Now that's what I call a command performance.

7 HANNAH

 You look like the Hulk.

8 JASON

 I sound like the Hulk.

9 JASON

 Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Panel 6

Jason takes Hannah in his arms for a hug, which she returns as Varun looks on, momentarily pleased.

10 JASON

 Thanks, noob. For coming after me like that. They would have—

11 HANNAH

 Shhh. No they wouldn't have. No way in hell I would've let them.

12 JASON

 Still. Thank you.