Post by fenris on Feb 3, 2006 13:08:12 GMT
Episode #2: Apocalypse 2.0
Previously on Hex: We see brief clips from the first episode - Malachi being introduced on the chat show as the founder of the New Church; Leon being introduced as a debunker; Malachi's uneasiness in the face of Leon's accusations; Jo telling Malachi that if anything happens to Leon, it would cause suspicion; Ella surprising Alex in the lift and hitting her.
A black car slowly passes a large, slightly rundown-looking townhouse in an unassuming urban street. The car pulls in and parks further down the road. The doors open and four people get out, all dressed in black: Alex (whose face is still bruised) and three members of ‘the Medenham set’ - two well-built young men and a dark haired girl named Shannon. With Alex leading, they walk back towards the townhouse. Malachi’s mark can be glimpsed on their necks. They reach the front door, which opens directly onto the street. There’s a metal panel to one side, containing almost a dozen doorbell buttons: the townhouse has been converted into flats. Alex looks about, up and down the street, as though expecting to see someone or something, but everything’s quiet. No movement. She’s ruffled by this, but hides it well. She turns and starts running her finger down over the labels alongside each button
“So this is it?” Asks Shannon, as Alex’s finger stops at FLAT 5: L. TAYLOR.
“We traced him here shortly after he launched his website” confirms Alex. “We’ve kept him under occasional surveillance ever since, depending on how much of a threat he seemed. After Ella’s escapade yesterday, I assigned Guy to watch the place until we arrived.”
As she speaks, Alex moves aside and one of the young men steps forward, crouches down and starts to pick the lock. Although the street is empty, Alex, Shannon and the other man flank him, so what he’s doing can’t be seen.
“Guy was supposed to join us when we arrived, but I can’t see him or the van” murmurs Alex. “Be careful, everyone.”
The door opens, the foursome enter, and head up the stairs. The two men lead, followed by Shannon and then Alex.
The next shot is from inside Leon’s flat, looking straight at the door. Suddenly it’s collapsing into the flat, torn off it’s hinges, and the two men trample over it in their haste to gain entry. The men round a corner, entering the (cramped & small) main living area, and suddenly stop in their tracks, looking at something off-camera. Shannon follows them and also halts, the look of their faces indicating they’re not quite sure how to react to what they’ve found. Alex brings up the rear. As she joins the others, we finally see what they’ve discovered: the room has been stripped, any furniture removed. Leon has flown the coop. The only thing left is Thelma, standing in the centre of the room, a big smile on her face, wearing her cheerleader’s uniform and holding a pair of poms-poms to her chest. Unlike the others, Alex isn’t phased. She moves past Shannon and inbetween the two males to stand a few feet in front of Thelma, who breaks into a routine;
“Give me a T! Give me an O! Give me another O! Give me a L, A, T, E! You’re toooooooooo LATE!” She cheers, shaking the pom-poms a few inches in front of Alex’s face.
“Where are Ella and Leon, Thelma?” Alex hisses.
“Charming.” Exclaims Thelma, “No ‘Hello Thelma, how are you? Long time no see. Love the outfit.’ On no, it’s all straight to business with you.”
“Are you going to tell me?” Demands Alex.
Thelma stops smiling: “I’ll tell you one thing. Sometimes being able to see the spirit world isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And in a moment you’re really going to regret not being able to see through me…”
Thelma steps to one side, revealing directly behind her a high-backed chair facing Alex and the others. On the seat of the chair a large paint can has been propped up at a 60 degree angle. The can is lidless, and filled not with paint, but a dark powder. Sitting next to the can is a cheap digital clock and behind it, a large battery with twin terminals. Instead of showing the time, the clock’s display is counting down: 00:05, 00:04. Alex sees spiralling insulated wires leading from the clock, to the terminals, to the bottom of the can. Her eyes flash golden yellow. 00:03.
“Protect me!” She yells, her voice containing an unnaturally deep tone.
00:02. The two men grab Alex by the waist and jerk her backwards (so violently they lift her off her feet), twisting round as they do so, trying to cover her with their bodies.
00:01. Alex lands on her backside, the two men between her and the chair. Shannon throws herself over her. 00:00. BOOM! There’s a muffled explosion and the powder in the tin blasts out into the room, covering everything in front of the chair. Through the clouds of powder, screaming and yelling can be heard. The powder storm starts to clear. Completely untouched, Thelma walks up to Alex’s group. The two men are completely covered in the powder, both curled up on the floor, choking, clawing at their faces, unable to open their eyes, screaming in agony. Shannon is rolling about, shrieking in pain, frantically scratching her exposed arms and screaming that she’s burning and she can’t see. Alex gets shakily to her feet, covered in just a light dusting of the powder. Grabbing the waistline of the top she’s wearing, she rips off a large strip of material and uses the unexposed side to wipe the thin layer of dust from her face and neck, then shakes her head to try to get it out of her hair.
“Isn’t it amazing what you can do” says Thelma “with a tiny amount of gunpowder from a few fireworks, and a tin filled with St John’s Wort?” She adds extra emphasis to the last three words, staring unblinkingly at Alex as she does so.
As her underlings continue to writhe around on the floor, Alex glares at Thelma through air still heavy with dust. She goes to speak, but suddenly coughs instead. And coughs again. Then a third time, more violently. She looks at Thelma, pain and panic starting to show in her eyes. Thelma leans in, and talks as though to a child: “You do realise you’re breathing it in right now, don’t you?”
In Alex’s face, we see the realisation hit. Huge, hacking coughs erupt from her, one after another. She can’t stop herself. She bends almost double, then collapses to her knees, her body racked with a gutwretchingly painful coughing spasm.
“You know, this is even more fun that I thought it would be.” Says Thelma cheerfully.
Opening titles.
We see a street of large terraced houses. A large black van is parked outside one house, with it’s rear doors open. Midge is lifting a couple of cardboard boxes out the vehicle. Within said house, Ella and Leon are in the main living area of a small, self-contained, basement flat, trying to shove/lift/pull a double mattress through a doorway into a tiny side room.
“It was nice of the New Church to loan us a van.” Mutters Leon. “I would have had to leave some stuff behind otherwise. It’s almost a shame we’ve got to dump it somewhere once we’ve finished.”
After a brief struggle they manoeuvre the mattress through the door, and lower it onto the floor of the room. Once it’s laid flat, there’s barely a foot of space between it and the walls on all four sides. On two opposing walls, lengths of clothes line have been strung up, supporting some of Ella’s outfits on hangers, but otherwise the room is bare.
“This was where I used to meditate.” Explains Ella, “It’ll be our room now.”
“I’m really sorry about this, Ella.” Says Leon, but Ella waves his apology away.
“It’s not a problem. We knew that your flat wouldn’t be safe once I showed my face again. I’ve been here for two years, and Malachi and his circus haven’t located me so far. But we’ll have to be prepared to move again at short notice, if need be.”
Leon nods. He steps closer.
“I know we’ve discussed this before,” he says “but I just want to say that I know where I stand, in regards to you, to us. I gave you a lot of grief at Medenham, wanting you to put us first. But I understand now. The mission comes first. It has to. We’ll just try to grab what moments we can.”
Ella smiles, steps up to him, and they hold each other. She looks up at him.
“The mission comes first.” She confirms. Leon grins.
“Putting trying to save the world and the human race before our lovelife,” he says “I don’t think anyone can accuse us of not having our priorities in the right order.”
“Speaking of grabbing what moments we can…” Murmurs Ella suggestively.
They laugh and kiss. Midge appears in the doorway, laden down with boxes.
“Where do you want these?” She asks.
“Put them in the corner Midge. We’ll go through them later.” Says Leon.
He and Ella kiss again. Behind them, through the doorway to the rest of the flat, we see two pom-poms being thrown across. Then Thelma pokes her head around, before stepping into the doorway. She has a box under one arm and is holding a standard lamp with her other hand.
“If you two are going to have sex, would you mind closing the door first?” She says.
“Thelma! How did it go? Did the New Church turn up as expected?” Asks Ella.
Thelma looks at the two of them still embracing.
“You know what, I’ll tell you later. After you’ve caught up on some quality time.” Thelma declares, grinning.
Leon reaches out and shuts the door. Thelma looks about for somewhere to put the box and the lamp, and finds a spot. Giggling can be heard coming from behind the door. “C’mon Midge,” says Thelma, “Let’s go for a walk and give the lovebirds some privacy.”
Cut to a nearby park. Thelma is sitting on a bench by a large pond. Midge walks up holding a paper bag and with a newspaper tucked under one arm. She holds the bag out to Thelma;
“Got you some sausage rolls.”
“Hey, thanks.” Says Thelma, as Midge joins her on the bench and starts reading her paper. Thelma dives into the bag and starts scoffing one of the rolls.
“So, what’s happening in the world?” Asks Thelma with her mouth full.
As Midge replies, we can see that the headline of the paper reads ‘War Imminent in Balkans?’ “The usual. Another major charity’s been forced to close due to a unprecedented slump in donations. That’s the fourth this year. The divorce rate has skyrocked and has already overtaken last year’s figures. Crime’s also up again. And there’s social unrest, rioting, armed uprising, and civil wars taking place at record levels on every continent. Or did you want the bad news?”
“It’s Malachi.” Mumbles Thelma, still eating. “The worse things great, the more people turn to him. The more followers he gets, the more powerful he becomes. And the more powerful he becomes, the more his presense influences everything. He’s affecting events, making the human race become more selfish, more greedy, more angry, more prone to violence. He’s like a cancer on the entire planet.”
They sit in silence. A duck waddles up to the bench. Thelma bends down and tosses it a piece of pastry.
“Quack quack.” Says Thelma. The duck devours the pastry and waddles off.
“Do you know that some animals can see me?” Thelma chats. “Well, maybe not see me, exactly, but I’m sure they can sense that I’m around. Dogs can. Not sure about cats though, but cats only ever seem interested in themselves, so I can’t tell if they’re ignoring me or not.”
This leads to a conversation about how Midge is psychic and has been able to see ghosts since she was a little girl – strange people who used to stand around, but whom nobody talked to. As a child, she didn’t realise this was out of the ordinary, and thought that everybody could see them. She only became aware of how unique she was shortly before becoming a teenager. Midge and Thelma then discuss how they first met, two years ago, when Midge attended a séance that Thelma was hanging out at for a laugh.
Cut to the New Church’s London headquarters. Malachi enters the building’s small but well equipped medical wing. Everything is gleaming white or polished metal. He stands next to Jo, and they look through a glass wall at Alex, who’s in a bed wearing a oxygen mask, apparently unconscious. Her face is slightly red and enflamed. A nurse wearing a face mask and a disposable apron and gloves is carefully picking up Alex’s dust-covered clothes one item at a time, and placing them in a container marked ‘Medical Waste. Hazardous’.
“What happened?” Asks Malachi.
“Some kind of booby trap. St. John’s Wort.” Explains Jo, in the clear tones of the schoolteacher she used to be. “I arranged for private ambulances to bring them here.”
“Will she be alright?” Murmurs Malachi. Jo half-turns her head and looks at him.
“You sound as though you almost care.” She comments.
“Just tell me, Jo.” He mutters angrily.
“What were they doing there, Malachi?” Quizzes Jo. “I’ve told you that Leon Taylor is off-limits. If anything happens to him, it’ll raise too many questions. Ella’s reappearance doesn’t change that.”
“I knew nothing about it.” Insists Malachi, not too convincingly, trying to slip into salesman mode. “Alex must’ve taken it personally when Ella hit her yesterday. You know what she’s like. She never thinks things through.”
Jo regards him coolly for a moment, then turns to look back at Alex.
“She has serious irritation in her throat and lungs, and they had to sedate her, but she should make a full recovery.” Jo walks alongside the glass wall. Malachi follows, and they come to the next room. It’s identical to the one containing Alex, but with several monitors beeping. Shannon lies still in bed, also wearing an oxygen mask, with her arms and hands bandaged, and another bandage across her eyes, holding dressings in place.
“Shannon received heavier exposure.” Explains Jo. “The damage to her throat and lungs is more serious, but she should heal, given time. They also don’t think there will be any permanent scarring to her face or arms. Oh, and they’ll fairly confident they can save the sight in at least one eye.”
“What about the two who were with them? And the other one, Guy?” Asks Malachi.
“Guy was found tied up and unconscious in the bathroom of the flat.” Reports Jo. “He has a slight concussion, nothing more. The van he using to stake out the building is missing. It’s been reported to the police. As for the others..” Jo turns and looks him unblinkingly in the eye.
“Nothing can be done.” She declares. “They’ve been sedated. I’ll take care of it. You should prepare yourself. You may have more followers now, but the loss of two incubus…”
Malachi nods a little too quickly, failing to disguise how apprehensive he is. He’s sweating slightly.
“Why is it so stuffy in here?” He mutters.
“I had the air-conditioning turned off throughout the building.” Says Jo. “These rooms” She nods towards Alex and Shannon. “are sealed, but they had to be transported through open corridors when they were brought here. A clean-up crew is on it, but we don’t want to risk any particles drifting about.”
“Good thinking.” Murmurs Malachi, then he walks off, quickly.
Jo smiles enigmatically, then turns and approaches a set of heavy double doors at the end of the wing, which open unaided. She passes through them and faces another set of doors. She waits until the doors behind her close, then the second set open with an audible hiss. In the room Jo enters, the two members of the Medenham set who received the heaviest dose of St John’s Wort are lying in single beds placed next to each other. Both men lie still, are wearing oxygen masks, and are connected to a heart monitor each. Their faces are extremely swollen, their skin an angry and painful-looking shade of red. Jo walks inbetween the two beds, turns, and places a hand on each man’s chest. “In case you ever wondered what happens to your soul, boys,” She murmurs “they come to me.”
Both men’s bodies jerk suddenly. The monitors start beeping rapidly, the readouts spiking with more and more frequency, the men’s bodies keep twitching, and the florescent light in the ceiling flickers once, then glares extra bright. Jo lifts her hands off their chests – and immediately the readings flatline, the light returns to normal, the men are immobile, and the monitors emit a single endless note. As Jo raises her hands, we see that she’s clutching a small, hazy, formless mass of glowing energy in each one.
Cut to Malachi walking hurriedly into his penthouse apartment. Suddenly he cries out in pain, clutches his chest, and almost collapses onto the floor. He falls down onto one knee, and the camera pans across and up, to show Roxy gazing down at him sadly.
Back in the medical wing, Jo presses the men’s lifeforce to her chest, absorbing them into her body. She shuts her eyes, shuddering, and gives a heavy sigh of satisfaction. She stands there for a moment, then opens her eyes and collects herself. The monitors are still issuing their single note. She switches each of them off with a glance, then leaves the room.
Cut to Ella’s flat. Apart from what is now her and Leon’s room, the only other rooms are a tiny bathroom, in which a sink, a toilet and a shower all jostle for space, and the main living area. The latter room contains a two-seater sofa that’s seen better days, a chair and a battered desk on which a computer sits, and a collection of boxes piled dangerously high in the corner, with a few other boxes crammed into whatever space remains. In addition, one end of the room is the kitchen area: a metal sink and draining board, a couple of cupboards with the doors hanging off, and a shelf which is home to a secondhand microwave oven.
Ella and Leon are sharing the sofa, Midge has the chair by the desk, and Thelma sits on the draining board, her legs hanging over the side. Midge recounts that six months ago, she was contacted by an on-line friend, a teenage computer programmer called Flo who believes there’s something underhand going on at WitZends Programs, the software company where she works. She’s seen a woman visiting the company’s headquarters to meet with the chief executive, and has recognised her – from photographs on Leon’s website – as being Jo. Midge explains that she and Leon have done some digging and discovered that the business is owned (via a chain of dummy corporations) by the New Church. Thelma volunteers to go snooping round the company’s premises.
That night, Thelma hangs around outside the office building in question. As the last employee leaves, she simply runs through the automated door before it shuts and one of the security guards locks it. The camera lingers on a sign that Thelma hadn’t noticed in her rush to enter the building: ‘Warning: Guard Dogs Running Free.’ Making her way to the chief executive’s office, Thelma picks the lock on his desk drawer and finds within a disc labelled ‘Apollyon.’ After quickly copying the disc using the executive’s own PC, and returning the original to the drawer, Thelma’s then discovered by a pair of guard dogs roaming free in the building, who raise the alarm with their barking. Although the security guards who swiftly arrive to investigate what’s disturbed the dogs cannot see Thelma, she’s forced to leave.
Back at the flat, by using the name on the disc as a password, Midge & Leon manage to hack into WitZends Programs’ system. Several files are in code, but the disc Thelma copied contains the key to deciphering them. Midge & Leon discover that the company has just finished work on perfecting a virus that is stored on it’s main server, and is about to be encoded into all the new lines of software they‘re due to release in a month’s time. Ella recognises ancient spells forming part of the virus’s code, making it undetectable & unstoppable. The virus is designed to infect every computer it comes into contact with, multiple and spread, then stay dormant until the New Church’s website releases an activation code as the End of Days draws near, causing millions of computer systems across the world to irretrievably crash, sending mankind into panic and chaos.
“So what do we do?” Asks Thelma.
Ella pauses for a moment, thinking things through.
“We need to go to a builder’s merchant.” She declares.
Cut to the bedroom of Malachi’s penthouse apartment. Malachi is in his vast bed with his four harem girls (I’m thinking of calling them the Malachiettes). He’s lying awake, looking thoughtful but very pleased with himself, while they are sleeping. The double doors of the room open unaided and Jo walks in. She surveys the scene.
“Don’t get up.” She murmurs.
“What can I do for you, Jo?” He asks, with his usual, cocky, partly dismissive smile.
“There was a disturbance at WitZends Programs last night.” Reports Jo. “It could be nothing, but I thought I’d send an incubus to oversee things there.”
“Anyone in mind?” Yawns Malachi.
“Guy. It’ll do him good to go back out in the field after his encounter with Ella.” Says Jo.
“Putting him straight back on the saddle, you mean?” Ponders Malachi. “Okay, see to it.”
Cut to the premises of WitZends Programs that night, as Ella, Leon, Midge and Thelma successfully break into the building. Thelma is carrying a large & cumbersome reel of thin copper wire over her shoulder. Ella & Thelma head for the roof, while Leon & Midge run off through the building, deliberately attracting the attention of the guard dogs. On the roof, while Ella prepares a incantation, Thelma ties one end of the copper wire to the aerial that is the building’s highest point, then ventures downstairs, unravelling the wire as she goes. Meanwhile, Leon & Midge are running all over the building with the hounds and the security guards – lead by Guy - in pursuit, nearly getting caught several times. With the wire unwound behind her, Thelma reaches the server room, gains entry with a pass code hacked by Midge & Leon, and wraps the remaining wire repeatedly around the main server. She then telephones Ella on her mobile, and tells her that's everything's set.
However, Guy has realised that Leon and Midge are merely a diversion. He orders the guards to keep after them, then heads to the server room.
Using the incantation that her father, John Dee, once used to prolong his life via electricity, Ella summons a bolt of lightning. Dark storm-clouds gather over the building, directly above her.
Down in the server room, Guy bursts in and discovers Thelma. Seeing the wire, he realises what’s happening and lunges at the length strung tautly between the door to the room and the server.
“Ella, do it now!” Yells Thelma into the phone.
At that moment, a massive bolt of lightning erupts down from the sky and strikes the aerial. The immense electrical charge travels along the copper wire threaded throughout the building, down several floors, and fries the server. A streak of electricity arcs out from the wire and hits Guy in the chest, violently throwing him backwards to crash through one of the room’s large glass walls. The wire instantly melts with the heat, causing fires throughout the building, and the sprinkler system kicks in. Leon, Midge and Ella escape in the confusion, while an ecstatic Thelma spins and dances along the drenched corridors.
The following morning, fire engines and police cars crowd the street outside the WitZends Programs building. A limousine pulls up and Jo steps out. A pair of paramedics are carrying an unconscious Guy out of the building, strapped down on a stretcher. They place him in the back of a waiting ambulance. His face is badly burnt.
“Can I have a moment with him?” She asks the paramedics.
As one of them goes to say something, Jo’s eyes glimmer a faint red. The paramedic’s eyes go distant for a second, then focus again as though nothing’s happened.
“Sure,” he says, “but try to be quick. He’s very weak and - I don’t want to alarm you, but his condition is serious.”
Jo nods and steps into the ambulance. Leaning over Guy, she softly places her hand on his chest. The paramedics remain standing out in the street. A couple of seconds pass. We hear sirens, car doors slamming, various voices overladen.
“Miss, I’m sorry, but we have to take him now.” The paramedic says.
Jo turns, and we see her removing her hand from her chest.
“Thank you.” She says, emerging from the ambulance.
“Do you want to go with him to the hospital?” The paramedic asks. Jo smiles politely.
“That won’t be necessary.” She says, and walks off towards her limousine.
Cut to Malachi sitting bolt upright in bed, gasping in pain.
Final scene: Jo is visiting the patient at the mental asylum. Again, we can’t see who the patient is.
“To lose one incubus would be bad luck.” Jo comments, “To lose three – within two days – well, that just smacks of carelessness. I have a meeting with our associate tomorrow. I would say that things are getting very interesting indeed."
Previously on Hex: We see brief clips from the first episode - Malachi being introduced on the chat show as the founder of the New Church; Leon being introduced as a debunker; Malachi's uneasiness in the face of Leon's accusations; Jo telling Malachi that if anything happens to Leon, it would cause suspicion; Ella surprising Alex in the lift and hitting her.
A black car slowly passes a large, slightly rundown-looking townhouse in an unassuming urban street. The car pulls in and parks further down the road. The doors open and four people get out, all dressed in black: Alex (whose face is still bruised) and three members of ‘the Medenham set’ - two well-built young men and a dark haired girl named Shannon. With Alex leading, they walk back towards the townhouse. Malachi’s mark can be glimpsed on their necks. They reach the front door, which opens directly onto the street. There’s a metal panel to one side, containing almost a dozen doorbell buttons: the townhouse has been converted into flats. Alex looks about, up and down the street, as though expecting to see someone or something, but everything’s quiet. No movement. She’s ruffled by this, but hides it well. She turns and starts running her finger down over the labels alongside each button
“So this is it?” Asks Shannon, as Alex’s finger stops at FLAT 5: L. TAYLOR.
“We traced him here shortly after he launched his website” confirms Alex. “We’ve kept him under occasional surveillance ever since, depending on how much of a threat he seemed. After Ella’s escapade yesterday, I assigned Guy to watch the place until we arrived.”
As she speaks, Alex moves aside and one of the young men steps forward, crouches down and starts to pick the lock. Although the street is empty, Alex, Shannon and the other man flank him, so what he’s doing can’t be seen.
“Guy was supposed to join us when we arrived, but I can’t see him or the van” murmurs Alex. “Be careful, everyone.”
The door opens, the foursome enter, and head up the stairs. The two men lead, followed by Shannon and then Alex.
The next shot is from inside Leon’s flat, looking straight at the door. Suddenly it’s collapsing into the flat, torn off it’s hinges, and the two men trample over it in their haste to gain entry. The men round a corner, entering the (cramped & small) main living area, and suddenly stop in their tracks, looking at something off-camera. Shannon follows them and also halts, the look of their faces indicating they’re not quite sure how to react to what they’ve found. Alex brings up the rear. As she joins the others, we finally see what they’ve discovered: the room has been stripped, any furniture removed. Leon has flown the coop. The only thing left is Thelma, standing in the centre of the room, a big smile on her face, wearing her cheerleader’s uniform and holding a pair of poms-poms to her chest. Unlike the others, Alex isn’t phased. She moves past Shannon and inbetween the two males to stand a few feet in front of Thelma, who breaks into a routine;
“Give me a T! Give me an O! Give me another O! Give me a L, A, T, E! You’re toooooooooo LATE!” She cheers, shaking the pom-poms a few inches in front of Alex’s face.
“Where are Ella and Leon, Thelma?” Alex hisses.
“Charming.” Exclaims Thelma, “No ‘Hello Thelma, how are you? Long time no see. Love the outfit.’ On no, it’s all straight to business with you.”
“Are you going to tell me?” Demands Alex.
Thelma stops smiling: “I’ll tell you one thing. Sometimes being able to see the spirit world isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And in a moment you’re really going to regret not being able to see through me…”
Thelma steps to one side, revealing directly behind her a high-backed chair facing Alex and the others. On the seat of the chair a large paint can has been propped up at a 60 degree angle. The can is lidless, and filled not with paint, but a dark powder. Sitting next to the can is a cheap digital clock and behind it, a large battery with twin terminals. Instead of showing the time, the clock’s display is counting down: 00:05, 00:04. Alex sees spiralling insulated wires leading from the clock, to the terminals, to the bottom of the can. Her eyes flash golden yellow. 00:03.
“Protect me!” She yells, her voice containing an unnaturally deep tone.
00:02. The two men grab Alex by the waist and jerk her backwards (so violently they lift her off her feet), twisting round as they do so, trying to cover her with their bodies.
00:01. Alex lands on her backside, the two men between her and the chair. Shannon throws herself over her. 00:00. BOOM! There’s a muffled explosion and the powder in the tin blasts out into the room, covering everything in front of the chair. Through the clouds of powder, screaming and yelling can be heard. The powder storm starts to clear. Completely untouched, Thelma walks up to Alex’s group. The two men are completely covered in the powder, both curled up on the floor, choking, clawing at their faces, unable to open their eyes, screaming in agony. Shannon is rolling about, shrieking in pain, frantically scratching her exposed arms and screaming that she’s burning and she can’t see. Alex gets shakily to her feet, covered in just a light dusting of the powder. Grabbing the waistline of the top she’s wearing, she rips off a large strip of material and uses the unexposed side to wipe the thin layer of dust from her face and neck, then shakes her head to try to get it out of her hair.
“Isn’t it amazing what you can do” says Thelma “with a tiny amount of gunpowder from a few fireworks, and a tin filled with St John’s Wort?” She adds extra emphasis to the last three words, staring unblinkingly at Alex as she does so.
As her underlings continue to writhe around on the floor, Alex glares at Thelma through air still heavy with dust. She goes to speak, but suddenly coughs instead. And coughs again. Then a third time, more violently. She looks at Thelma, pain and panic starting to show in her eyes. Thelma leans in, and talks as though to a child: “You do realise you’re breathing it in right now, don’t you?”
In Alex’s face, we see the realisation hit. Huge, hacking coughs erupt from her, one after another. She can’t stop herself. She bends almost double, then collapses to her knees, her body racked with a gutwretchingly painful coughing spasm.
“You know, this is even more fun that I thought it would be.” Says Thelma cheerfully.
Opening titles.
We see a street of large terraced houses. A large black van is parked outside one house, with it’s rear doors open. Midge is lifting a couple of cardboard boxes out the vehicle. Within said house, Ella and Leon are in the main living area of a small, self-contained, basement flat, trying to shove/lift/pull a double mattress through a doorway into a tiny side room.
“It was nice of the New Church to loan us a van.” Mutters Leon. “I would have had to leave some stuff behind otherwise. It’s almost a shame we’ve got to dump it somewhere once we’ve finished.”
After a brief struggle they manoeuvre the mattress through the door, and lower it onto the floor of the room. Once it’s laid flat, there’s barely a foot of space between it and the walls on all four sides. On two opposing walls, lengths of clothes line have been strung up, supporting some of Ella’s outfits on hangers, but otherwise the room is bare.
“This was where I used to meditate.” Explains Ella, “It’ll be our room now.”
“I’m really sorry about this, Ella.” Says Leon, but Ella waves his apology away.
“It’s not a problem. We knew that your flat wouldn’t be safe once I showed my face again. I’ve been here for two years, and Malachi and his circus haven’t located me so far. But we’ll have to be prepared to move again at short notice, if need be.”
Leon nods. He steps closer.
“I know we’ve discussed this before,” he says “but I just want to say that I know where I stand, in regards to you, to us. I gave you a lot of grief at Medenham, wanting you to put us first. But I understand now. The mission comes first. It has to. We’ll just try to grab what moments we can.”
Ella smiles, steps up to him, and they hold each other. She looks up at him.
“The mission comes first.” She confirms. Leon grins.
“Putting trying to save the world and the human race before our lovelife,” he says “I don’t think anyone can accuse us of not having our priorities in the right order.”
“Speaking of grabbing what moments we can…” Murmurs Ella suggestively.
They laugh and kiss. Midge appears in the doorway, laden down with boxes.
“Where do you want these?” She asks.
“Put them in the corner Midge. We’ll go through them later.” Says Leon.
He and Ella kiss again. Behind them, through the doorway to the rest of the flat, we see two pom-poms being thrown across. Then Thelma pokes her head around, before stepping into the doorway. She has a box under one arm and is holding a standard lamp with her other hand.
“If you two are going to have sex, would you mind closing the door first?” She says.
“Thelma! How did it go? Did the New Church turn up as expected?” Asks Ella.
Thelma looks at the two of them still embracing.
“You know what, I’ll tell you later. After you’ve caught up on some quality time.” Thelma declares, grinning.
Leon reaches out and shuts the door. Thelma looks about for somewhere to put the box and the lamp, and finds a spot. Giggling can be heard coming from behind the door. “C’mon Midge,” says Thelma, “Let’s go for a walk and give the lovebirds some privacy.”
Cut to a nearby park. Thelma is sitting on a bench by a large pond. Midge walks up holding a paper bag and with a newspaper tucked under one arm. She holds the bag out to Thelma;
“Got you some sausage rolls.”
“Hey, thanks.” Says Thelma, as Midge joins her on the bench and starts reading her paper. Thelma dives into the bag and starts scoffing one of the rolls.
“So, what’s happening in the world?” Asks Thelma with her mouth full.
As Midge replies, we can see that the headline of the paper reads ‘War Imminent in Balkans?’ “The usual. Another major charity’s been forced to close due to a unprecedented slump in donations. That’s the fourth this year. The divorce rate has skyrocked and has already overtaken last year’s figures. Crime’s also up again. And there’s social unrest, rioting, armed uprising, and civil wars taking place at record levels on every continent. Or did you want the bad news?”
“It’s Malachi.” Mumbles Thelma, still eating. “The worse things great, the more people turn to him. The more followers he gets, the more powerful he becomes. And the more powerful he becomes, the more his presense influences everything. He’s affecting events, making the human race become more selfish, more greedy, more angry, more prone to violence. He’s like a cancer on the entire planet.”
They sit in silence. A duck waddles up to the bench. Thelma bends down and tosses it a piece of pastry.
“Quack quack.” Says Thelma. The duck devours the pastry and waddles off.
“Do you know that some animals can see me?” Thelma chats. “Well, maybe not see me, exactly, but I’m sure they can sense that I’m around. Dogs can. Not sure about cats though, but cats only ever seem interested in themselves, so I can’t tell if they’re ignoring me or not.”
This leads to a conversation about how Midge is psychic and has been able to see ghosts since she was a little girl – strange people who used to stand around, but whom nobody talked to. As a child, she didn’t realise this was out of the ordinary, and thought that everybody could see them. She only became aware of how unique she was shortly before becoming a teenager. Midge and Thelma then discuss how they first met, two years ago, when Midge attended a séance that Thelma was hanging out at for a laugh.
Cut to the New Church’s London headquarters. Malachi enters the building’s small but well equipped medical wing. Everything is gleaming white or polished metal. He stands next to Jo, and they look through a glass wall at Alex, who’s in a bed wearing a oxygen mask, apparently unconscious. Her face is slightly red and enflamed. A nurse wearing a face mask and a disposable apron and gloves is carefully picking up Alex’s dust-covered clothes one item at a time, and placing them in a container marked ‘Medical Waste. Hazardous’.
“What happened?” Asks Malachi.
“Some kind of booby trap. St. John’s Wort.” Explains Jo, in the clear tones of the schoolteacher she used to be. “I arranged for private ambulances to bring them here.”
“Will she be alright?” Murmurs Malachi. Jo half-turns her head and looks at him.
“You sound as though you almost care.” She comments.
“Just tell me, Jo.” He mutters angrily.
“What were they doing there, Malachi?” Quizzes Jo. “I’ve told you that Leon Taylor is off-limits. If anything happens to him, it’ll raise too many questions. Ella’s reappearance doesn’t change that.”
“I knew nothing about it.” Insists Malachi, not too convincingly, trying to slip into salesman mode. “Alex must’ve taken it personally when Ella hit her yesterday. You know what she’s like. She never thinks things through.”
Jo regards him coolly for a moment, then turns to look back at Alex.
“She has serious irritation in her throat and lungs, and they had to sedate her, but she should make a full recovery.” Jo walks alongside the glass wall. Malachi follows, and they come to the next room. It’s identical to the one containing Alex, but with several monitors beeping. Shannon lies still in bed, also wearing an oxygen mask, with her arms and hands bandaged, and another bandage across her eyes, holding dressings in place.
“Shannon received heavier exposure.” Explains Jo. “The damage to her throat and lungs is more serious, but she should heal, given time. They also don’t think there will be any permanent scarring to her face or arms. Oh, and they’ll fairly confident they can save the sight in at least one eye.”
“What about the two who were with them? And the other one, Guy?” Asks Malachi.
“Guy was found tied up and unconscious in the bathroom of the flat.” Reports Jo. “He has a slight concussion, nothing more. The van he using to stake out the building is missing. It’s been reported to the police. As for the others..” Jo turns and looks him unblinkingly in the eye.
“Nothing can be done.” She declares. “They’ve been sedated. I’ll take care of it. You should prepare yourself. You may have more followers now, but the loss of two incubus…”
Malachi nods a little too quickly, failing to disguise how apprehensive he is. He’s sweating slightly.
“Why is it so stuffy in here?” He mutters.
“I had the air-conditioning turned off throughout the building.” Says Jo. “These rooms” She nods towards Alex and Shannon. “are sealed, but they had to be transported through open corridors when they were brought here. A clean-up crew is on it, but we don’t want to risk any particles drifting about.”
“Good thinking.” Murmurs Malachi, then he walks off, quickly.
Jo smiles enigmatically, then turns and approaches a set of heavy double doors at the end of the wing, which open unaided. She passes through them and faces another set of doors. She waits until the doors behind her close, then the second set open with an audible hiss. In the room Jo enters, the two members of the Medenham set who received the heaviest dose of St John’s Wort are lying in single beds placed next to each other. Both men lie still, are wearing oxygen masks, and are connected to a heart monitor each. Their faces are extremely swollen, their skin an angry and painful-looking shade of red. Jo walks inbetween the two beds, turns, and places a hand on each man’s chest. “In case you ever wondered what happens to your soul, boys,” She murmurs “they come to me.”
Both men’s bodies jerk suddenly. The monitors start beeping rapidly, the readouts spiking with more and more frequency, the men’s bodies keep twitching, and the florescent light in the ceiling flickers once, then glares extra bright. Jo lifts her hands off their chests – and immediately the readings flatline, the light returns to normal, the men are immobile, and the monitors emit a single endless note. As Jo raises her hands, we see that she’s clutching a small, hazy, formless mass of glowing energy in each one.
Cut to Malachi walking hurriedly into his penthouse apartment. Suddenly he cries out in pain, clutches his chest, and almost collapses onto the floor. He falls down onto one knee, and the camera pans across and up, to show Roxy gazing down at him sadly.
Back in the medical wing, Jo presses the men’s lifeforce to her chest, absorbing them into her body. She shuts her eyes, shuddering, and gives a heavy sigh of satisfaction. She stands there for a moment, then opens her eyes and collects herself. The monitors are still issuing their single note. She switches each of them off with a glance, then leaves the room.
Cut to Ella’s flat. Apart from what is now her and Leon’s room, the only other rooms are a tiny bathroom, in which a sink, a toilet and a shower all jostle for space, and the main living area. The latter room contains a two-seater sofa that’s seen better days, a chair and a battered desk on which a computer sits, and a collection of boxes piled dangerously high in the corner, with a few other boxes crammed into whatever space remains. In addition, one end of the room is the kitchen area: a metal sink and draining board, a couple of cupboards with the doors hanging off, and a shelf which is home to a secondhand microwave oven.
Ella and Leon are sharing the sofa, Midge has the chair by the desk, and Thelma sits on the draining board, her legs hanging over the side. Midge recounts that six months ago, she was contacted by an on-line friend, a teenage computer programmer called Flo who believes there’s something underhand going on at WitZends Programs, the software company where she works. She’s seen a woman visiting the company’s headquarters to meet with the chief executive, and has recognised her – from photographs on Leon’s website – as being Jo. Midge explains that she and Leon have done some digging and discovered that the business is owned (via a chain of dummy corporations) by the New Church. Thelma volunteers to go snooping round the company’s premises.
That night, Thelma hangs around outside the office building in question. As the last employee leaves, she simply runs through the automated door before it shuts and one of the security guards locks it. The camera lingers on a sign that Thelma hadn’t noticed in her rush to enter the building: ‘Warning: Guard Dogs Running Free.’ Making her way to the chief executive’s office, Thelma picks the lock on his desk drawer and finds within a disc labelled ‘Apollyon.’ After quickly copying the disc using the executive’s own PC, and returning the original to the drawer, Thelma’s then discovered by a pair of guard dogs roaming free in the building, who raise the alarm with their barking. Although the security guards who swiftly arrive to investigate what’s disturbed the dogs cannot see Thelma, she’s forced to leave.
Back at the flat, by using the name on the disc as a password, Midge & Leon manage to hack into WitZends Programs’ system. Several files are in code, but the disc Thelma copied contains the key to deciphering them. Midge & Leon discover that the company has just finished work on perfecting a virus that is stored on it’s main server, and is about to be encoded into all the new lines of software they‘re due to release in a month’s time. Ella recognises ancient spells forming part of the virus’s code, making it undetectable & unstoppable. The virus is designed to infect every computer it comes into contact with, multiple and spread, then stay dormant until the New Church’s website releases an activation code as the End of Days draws near, causing millions of computer systems across the world to irretrievably crash, sending mankind into panic and chaos.
“So what do we do?” Asks Thelma.
Ella pauses for a moment, thinking things through.
“We need to go to a builder’s merchant.” She declares.
Cut to the bedroom of Malachi’s penthouse apartment. Malachi is in his vast bed with his four harem girls (I’m thinking of calling them the Malachiettes). He’s lying awake, looking thoughtful but very pleased with himself, while they are sleeping. The double doors of the room open unaided and Jo walks in. She surveys the scene.
“Don’t get up.” She murmurs.
“What can I do for you, Jo?” He asks, with his usual, cocky, partly dismissive smile.
“There was a disturbance at WitZends Programs last night.” Reports Jo. “It could be nothing, but I thought I’d send an incubus to oversee things there.”
“Anyone in mind?” Yawns Malachi.
“Guy. It’ll do him good to go back out in the field after his encounter with Ella.” Says Jo.
“Putting him straight back on the saddle, you mean?” Ponders Malachi. “Okay, see to it.”
Cut to the premises of WitZends Programs that night, as Ella, Leon, Midge and Thelma successfully break into the building. Thelma is carrying a large & cumbersome reel of thin copper wire over her shoulder. Ella & Thelma head for the roof, while Leon & Midge run off through the building, deliberately attracting the attention of the guard dogs. On the roof, while Ella prepares a incantation, Thelma ties one end of the copper wire to the aerial that is the building’s highest point, then ventures downstairs, unravelling the wire as she goes. Meanwhile, Leon & Midge are running all over the building with the hounds and the security guards – lead by Guy - in pursuit, nearly getting caught several times. With the wire unwound behind her, Thelma reaches the server room, gains entry with a pass code hacked by Midge & Leon, and wraps the remaining wire repeatedly around the main server. She then telephones Ella on her mobile, and tells her that's everything's set.
However, Guy has realised that Leon and Midge are merely a diversion. He orders the guards to keep after them, then heads to the server room.
Using the incantation that her father, John Dee, once used to prolong his life via electricity, Ella summons a bolt of lightning. Dark storm-clouds gather over the building, directly above her.
Down in the server room, Guy bursts in and discovers Thelma. Seeing the wire, he realises what’s happening and lunges at the length strung tautly between the door to the room and the server.
“Ella, do it now!” Yells Thelma into the phone.
At that moment, a massive bolt of lightning erupts down from the sky and strikes the aerial. The immense electrical charge travels along the copper wire threaded throughout the building, down several floors, and fries the server. A streak of electricity arcs out from the wire and hits Guy in the chest, violently throwing him backwards to crash through one of the room’s large glass walls. The wire instantly melts with the heat, causing fires throughout the building, and the sprinkler system kicks in. Leon, Midge and Ella escape in the confusion, while an ecstatic Thelma spins and dances along the drenched corridors.
The following morning, fire engines and police cars crowd the street outside the WitZends Programs building. A limousine pulls up and Jo steps out. A pair of paramedics are carrying an unconscious Guy out of the building, strapped down on a stretcher. They place him in the back of a waiting ambulance. His face is badly burnt.
“Can I have a moment with him?” She asks the paramedics.
As one of them goes to say something, Jo’s eyes glimmer a faint red. The paramedic’s eyes go distant for a second, then focus again as though nothing’s happened.
“Sure,” he says, “but try to be quick. He’s very weak and - I don’t want to alarm you, but his condition is serious.”
Jo nods and steps into the ambulance. Leaning over Guy, she softly places her hand on his chest. The paramedics remain standing out in the street. A couple of seconds pass. We hear sirens, car doors slamming, various voices overladen.
“Miss, I’m sorry, but we have to take him now.” The paramedic says.
Jo turns, and we see her removing her hand from her chest.
“Thank you.” She says, emerging from the ambulance.
“Do you want to go with him to the hospital?” The paramedic asks. Jo smiles politely.
“That won’t be necessary.” She says, and walks off towards her limousine.
Cut to Malachi sitting bolt upright in bed, gasping in pain.
Final scene: Jo is visiting the patient at the mental asylum. Again, we can’t see who the patient is.
“To lose one incubus would be bad luck.” Jo comments, “To lose three – within two days – well, that just smacks of carelessness. I have a meeting with our associate tomorrow. I would say that things are getting very interesting indeed."
I was a bit dubious about the whole computer virus idea, I thought it was a bit cliched but you pull it off. Well done. 
