BACKSTORY PAGE
Previously On. Runs along the left side of the page interspersed with downsized panels from the previous issue where/if space permits.
Dimitri Sokolov makes bad decisions. Fleeing from a failed drug deal, he encountered the Shadowmancer, a sorcerer capable of manipulating the essence of shadows and drawing knowledge from the darkness. In a fit of desperation, Dimitri grabbed a mysterious ritual knife and buried it into the old warlock’s heart. The blow let off an explosion of magical energy and left Dimitri baring the mantle of the Shadowmancer.
Dimitri has continued his studies of the mystic arts, but his scholarly work was interrupted by the arrival of his old girlfriend Nikki. She asked him to come with her to Seattle to help her father and save him from a mysterious blackmailer.
The one responsible turned out to be an old enemy of his named Jessica. She offered him a job working for her new organization dedicated to using arcane power for blackmail and extortion on an international stage. When he refused, she moved to plan B- just kill him with a bomb…
Character Bios. Runs along the right side of the page and each section is matched with a close up of the character’s face.
1. DIMITRI SOKOLOV: Dimitri has worn many hats, amateur martial artist, gangster, graduate student, and sorcerer. He’s the child of a family of Russian immigrants originally from the east coast. After his mother died in childbirth, his father let Dimitri be raised by his Uncle Vlad, who installed the boy with a strong Mafiosi sense of honor.
2. NIKKI BARNES: Nikki was an undergraduate at PSU. Originally from Seattle, she came to Oregon to attend college. Soon after arriving she met Dimitri and the two have had a close relationship until their recent breakup. She is currently recovering from a painkiller addiction.
3. DAVID HUGHES: David is a graphic artist who lives next door to Dimitri and Nikki. They were only generally acquainted until recently, when Dimitri confided in him that he had begun to hear voices. He has a soft-heart for charity cases.
4. JUSTIN AVERY: Justin is a reporter for the Oregonian. He keeps an open mind and pursues his story no matter where it leads him, and never lets his assumptions get in the way of the truth. He has recently begun a romantic relationship with David.
5. MR. BARNES: Nikki’s father is the owner of a large software design company located in Seattle, Washington. He’s a survivor of the dot-com economic bubble, which he credits to his callous attitude in business. His only soft spot is his family.
6. BRANDON WAYNE: Brandon was Nikki’s friend since they were children. Their parents were business partners, and since the death of his own father, Brandon has been treated like an adopted son by Mr. Barnes. He displays all the typical symptoms of corporate sociopathy.
7. JESSICA GORDAN: Jess is a strange woman who was the lover and advisor of a major crime boss for years, and acted as the real power behind the throne. Although not a sorceress herself, she has evidenced a knowledge of the occult far greater than the average.
8. THE TECHNOMANCER: The Technomancer was an orphan, raised by aging hippy grandparents who had studied the occult all their lives. From a young age he combined their new age shamanism with his own intuitive affinity for computers to create a new hybrid form of technomagic.
PAGE ONE (four panels)
Panel 1. An establishing shot of PIERRE’s house. JAMES parks his car on the street in front of it.
Panel 2. PIERRE opens the door for JAMES.
Panel 3. PIERRE escorts JAMES into the main room.
Panel 4. In the sitting room, DAVID and JUSTIN are already waiting for them. PIERRE and JAMES also sit down.
1. JAMES: Alright, this had better be good.
PAGE TWO (six panels)
Panel 1. JUSTIN begins giving a presentation, with pictures of the solar eclipse on the television. JAMES looks incredulous and DAVID raises his hand. PIERRE sits back and observes.
1. JUSTIN: I’ll just get straight into it. Something in this city is killing people, and it isn’t human.
2. JAMES: You made a power point presentation about this?
3. DAVID: I made it actually.
4. PIERRE: Perhaps we should allow Justin to speak his piece and save our questions for afterwards.
Panel 2. JAMES sits back in his chair. JUSTIN resumes his presentation. The slide has changes to a map of the city covered in points, resembling his conspiracy map from the end of issue 6.
5. JAMES: Sure, I’m sorry. Please, go ahead.
6. JUSTIN: Thank-you.
7. JUSTIN: Something was released into the city during the eclipse. In the past few months, the violent crime and suicide rates in the city have quadrupled. We didn’t see anything like this in the aftermath of the previous eclipse.
Panel 3. JAMES sits forwards again. JUSTIN continues his presentation and the slide has changed to crime scene photos.
8. JAMES: If it started during the eclipse, then we know who’s responsible. It’s Dimitri.
9. JUSTIN: That was where my initial investigation led me as well. However, when I had the opportunity to speak to him in person, I discovered that he didn’t know anything about these deaths.
Panel 4. JAMES still seems upset. JUSTIN’s presentation has moved to memorial photos of average looking citizens.
10. JAMES: I don’t suppose it occurred to you that he could be lying?
11. JUSTIN: It did actually. But these victims were all average people, nothing like the skinheads, bikers, and militia member he had been busy with.
12. JUSTIN: Now he’s left the city and these mysterious deaths aren’t stopping. In fact, they’re becoming more frequent.
Panel 5. Everyone in the room looks at each other ominously. The presentation has moved to a picture of the desiccated body from the previous issue.
13. JUSTIN: The body you and your partner were called to yesterday wasn’t the first found in this condition. The department has been trying to keep it quiet
14. PIERRE: The Portland police don’t have the resources to meet this threat. The federal government does, of course, but they seem to be entirely focused on events in Texas at the moment.
15. DAVID: We’ve been conducting our own investigation, but we need your help. We’re the only ones who can stop this thing from killing anyone else.
16. JAMES: I…
Panel 6. A close up of JAMES looking resigned.
17. JAMES: Fine.
18. JAMES: But when is Dimitri getting back? Because if he thinks he can take some sort of a vacation while all this is going on-
PAGE THREE (one panel)
Panel 1. Intro page. Dimitri and the Technomancer examine the bomb which Jess has left for them.
1. JAMES (CAPTION): -He’s got another thing coming.
2. DIMITRI: Fuck.
PAGE FOUR (five panels)
Panel 1. DIMITRI and the TECHNOMANCER plan their next move while the bomb ticks down.
1. DIMITRI: Can you disable it?
2. TECHNOMANCER: No. It’s completely mechanical, she’s didn’t use a single electrical component.
Panel 2. DIMITRI looks at the lights surrounding them in frustration. The TECHNOMANCER begins thinking.
3. DIMITRI: And there’s nothing I can do with these lights on.
Panel 3. The TECHNOMANCER approaches the lights.
4. TECHNOMANCER: Hmm.
5. DIMITRI: You have an idea?
6. TECHNOMANCER: I need something I can make marks with.
Panel 4. DIMITRI hands over a pocket knife to the TECHNOMANCER and continues to search his pockets for anything else of use.
7. DIMITRI: No pens… shit.
8. TECHNOMANCER: This will work.
Panel 5. The TECHNOMANCER stabs the knife into the palm of his hand.
9. TECHNOMANCER: Ow! Damnit.
PAGE FIVE (six panels)
Panel 1. The TECHNOMANCER begins drawing a magic circle and symbols on the barrier in blood, using the knife as a stylus.
1. TECHNOMANCER: No electronics in the bomb, but she must have thought I’d be helpless without a computer.
Panel 2. The TECHNOMANCER continues to work while DIMITRI looks at the bomb.
2. TECHNOMANCER: I hate doing things manually, but that’s just the way it is.
3. DIMITRI: Twenty seconds, better hurry.
Panel 3. The TECHNOMANCER slams his palm into the center of the magic circle.
4. TECHNOMANCER: Got it!
Panel 4. The lights short circuit and plunges the death trap into darkness aside from the phosphorescence of the bomb.
5. DIMITRI: Nice work, kid.
Panel 5. DIMITRI pushes the bomb container into the corner and surrounds it with a barrier of darkness.
6. DIMITRI: Get into the far corner!
Panel 6. DIMITRI and the TECHNOMANCER take cover in the corner. DIMITRI does his best to shield the TECHNOMANCER with his body.
7. TECHNOMANCER: Three-Mississippi… Two-Mississippi… One-Mississippi…
PAGE SIX (four panels)
Panel 1. The sewer tunnels are rocked by a massive explosion.
1. FX: BOOM!
Panel 2. JESS and BRANDON are in their vehicle looking at a laptop.
2. JESS: It’s gone off.
3. BRANDON: Did that do it?
Panel 3. The laptop shows the wrecked headquarters through security cam footage.
4. JESS: When I think of how much money it’ll cost to set up shop somewhere new…
5. BRANDON: If the Shadowmancer’s dead than it was worth it.
Panel 4. The security feed shows DIMITRI and the TECHNOMANCER clambering out from the rubble.
6. JESS (OFF): Oh my God.
PAGE SEVEN (five panels)
Panel 1. BRANDON begins to panic which annoys JESS.
1. BRANDON: What are we going to do?! What are we going to do!?
2. JESS: Shut up and calm down!
Panel 2. JESS gives orders to the driver while BRANDON continues to react with fear.
3. BRANDON: He’s coming for us now! He’s going to kill us!
4. JESS: Not if I can help it. Take us to his girlfriend’s place, I’ll have the rest of our men meet us there.
Panel 3. An exterior shot of the car gaining speed and cutting someone else off.
5. JESS (OFF): And step on it!
Panel 4. DIMITRI surveys the rubble, the TECHNOMANCER seems to be looking for something in particular.
6. DIMITRI: I wasn’t sure we were going to make it out of that one.
7. TECHNOMANCER: Payback time.
Panel 5. DIMITRI approaches the TECHNOMANCER who pulls his tablet out from under a pile of debris.
8. DIMITRI: What’d you find?
9. TECHNOMANCER: My computer.
PAGE EIGHT (five panels)
Panel 1. DIMITRI looks over the TECHNOMANCER’s shoulder while he works.
1. DIMITRI: Are we going to leave mean comments on her social media?
2. TECHNOMANCER: Among other things.
Panel 2. A sepia toned flashback of the TECHNOMANCER working for JESS while she set up the underground base in the first place.
3. TECHNOMANCER (CAPTION): I only signed on with her for a quick payday, but she started pushing this permanent partnership thing on me right away.
4. DIMITRI (CAPTION): Women can sometimes be clingy. As you get older and have more experience with relationships, you’ll learn all about that.
5. TECHNOMANCER (CAPTION): Are you going to keep up an endless stream of inane commentary, or can I finish explaining how much of a freaking genius I am?
Panel 3. DIMITRI smirks at the TECHNOMANCER.
6. DIMITRI: Go ahead.
7. TECHNOMANCER: Well, I decided to do a little digging around in her networks and catalogued the passwords and account numbers for those Swiss banks she used.
8. TECHNOMANCER: Basically, I had complete access to all her money- Well… strictly speaking, it’s all the World Wildlife Federation’s money as of twelve seconds ago.
Panel 4. DIMITRI and the TECHNOMANCER walk through the underground tunnels.
9. TECHNOMANCER: I also have access to all her blackmail records on her network. I could delete them, but there’s no guarantee she hasn’t made local backups on a flash drive or something.
10. DIMITRI: I’m sure she has….
11. DIMITRI: …No, don’t delete the records-
Panel 5. DIMITRI stops the TECHNOMANCER and they look at each other.
12. DIMITRI: -Publicize them. Put them up online, send them to every journalist you can.
13. TECHNOMANCER: You’re sure?
14. DIMITRI: Blackmail’s worthless if everyone knows about it.
PAGE NINE (seven panels)
Panel 1. Establishing shot of HUGINN and MUNINN waiting beside a sewer manhole.
Panel 2. The manhole is pushed open and the birds react with excitement.
1. HUGINN: Caw!
2. MUNINN: Caw, caw.
Panel 3. DIMITRI pokes his head up into an alley, HUGINN is happy to see him, but MUNINN begins scolding DIMITRI.
3. DIMITRI: Hello again, my loves.
4. MUNINN: Caw. Caw, caw- Caw caw, caw!
5. DIMITRI: Don’t worry. I plan on avoiding sewers from this point on.
Panel 4. DIMITRI helps TECHNOMANCER up onto ground level.
6. TECHNOMANCER: You actually understand them?
7. DIMITRI: Sure, it’s not hard once you get the hang of it.
Panel 5. A close up of MUNINN on DIMITRI’s shoulder nuzzling him, she’s relieved that he’s safe.
8. MUNINN: Caw.
9. DIMITRI: But we can’t get distracted now. Who knows what Jess is up to? Can you track her?
10. TECHNOMANCER (OFF): We’re about to find out.
Panel 6. The TECHNOMANCER sits on a bench outside a convenience store, working on his tablet. DIMITRI leaves the store with a bag of crackers he feeds to his crows.
11. TECHNOMANCER: Oh no.
11. DIMITRI: Found her?
12. TECHNOMANCER: Not Jess, no. But her idiot partner Brandon left his cell phone on. He’s at Barnes house.
Panel 7. DIMITRI sets out with determination and the TECHNOMANCER follows him.
13. TECHNOMANCER: You’re going after them?
14. DIMITRI: Damn right I am.
15. TECHNOMANCER: They’re going to be preparing for you.
16. DIMITRI: Let them. I appreciate your help kid, but if you want to cut out-
17. TECHNOMANCER: Wouldn’t think of it. Let’s go.
PAGE TEN (eight panels)
Panel 1. NIKKI and MR. BARNES are waiting in his home office.
1. MR BARNES: I’m sure everything is fine.
2. NIKKI: His meeting was at noon, but it’s been hours and we haven’t heard anything.
Panel 2. NIKKI stands up and leaves.
3. MR. BARNES: Listen, if he’s everything everyone keeps saying he is, then Dimitri will be fine.
4. MR. BANRES: Where are you going now?
5. NIKKI: My room, I- I need to be alone.
Panel 3. NIKKI returns to her room.
Panel 4. NIKKI curls up on her bed.
6. BRANDON (OFF): Nikki…?
Panel 5. NIKKI looks up eagerly.
7. NIKKI: Dimitri?
Panel 6. BRANDON stands in the doorway. NIKKI rushes to embrace him.
8. BRANDON: Oh, real nice.
9. NIKKI: I thought you were-
10. NIKKI: -It doesn’t matter. He told me you were helping that evil woman, but I didn’t believe him. I didn’t! I explained it was all a horrible mistake.
Panel 7. NIKKI reacts with surprise when BRANDON pulls a gun on her.
11. BRANDON: I’m sorry Nikki.
12. NIKKI: What are you…
Panel 8. JESS enters the room with more of her punks. NIKKI sinks to the ground in despair.
13. NIKKI: No… no…
14. BRANDON: Just take it easy and you won’t get hurt. I promise.
15. JESS: Forget about her. The Shadowmancer will be here soon…
16. JESS: …And this time I don’t intend to let him get away.
PAGE ELEVEN (five panels)
Panel 1. Establishing shot of PIERRE’s house. It’s become evening and the sun is setting.
1. JUSTIN (OFF): You’re sure about this?
Panel 2. JUSTIN and DAVID are dressed for a night on the town and waiting outside the bathroom door. JAMES’s voice comes from the other side of the door.
2. JAMES (OFF): No, I’m not. I still don’t even believe in psychic powers or any of this other crap.
3. JAMES (OFF): I looked through my CIs appointment book like you asked, and this place stood out to me. I have no idea why, it’s just a hunch. That’s it.
Panel 3. PIERRE approaches them, while JUSTIN and DAVID continue to wait.
4. PIERRE: When one factors your ability to perceive anti-time, one realizes that nothing is ‘just a hunch’.
5. JAMES: See! Anti-time? I have no idea what that is or means.
6. DAVID: Well, worst case scenario, we don’t run into any evil monsters and just have a fun night out.
Panel 4. JUSTIN starts to brood, but DAVID embraces him. PIERRE also begins waiting for JAMES.
7. JUSTIN: Every day these things are running loose things get worse and worse.
8. DAVID: Hey, we’ll stop them. Don’t worry so much. You owe me a date night, remember?
Panel 5. JUSTIN and DAVID begin to get more friendly, but PIERRE clears his throat to remind them he’s there.
9. JUSTIN: How could I forget?
10. DAVID: And when we get back, I have a special surprise for you.
11. JUSTIN: Oh? That sounds-
12. PIERRE: *ahem.*
13. JUSTIN: -interesting.
14. JAMES (OFF): Alright, tell me what you think.
PAGE TWELVE (four panels)
Panel 1. DAVID, JUSTIN, and PIERRE look in shock at JAMES who is wearing a very loud and ugly outfit.
1. DAVID: Oh no.
2. PIERRE: By the spirits…
Panel 2. DAVID covers his mouth and looks worried; PIERRE also seems gravely troubled.
3. DAVID: I’m going to need to help, aren’t I?
4. PIERRE: Perhaps the brain abnormalities which allow him to perceive anti-time have also left him color blind…?
Panel 3. JAMES looks to JUSTIN for support, but he just shakes his head and pinches his nose.
5. JAMES: It’s not that bad.
6. JUSTIN: David will pick out something for you… Just- just listen to him…
Panel 4. DAVID takes JAMES by the arm and leads him away.
7. JAMES: I refuse to believe it’s that bad. I think this looks fine.
8. DAVID: Hush now. Don’t worry, daddy’s here.
PAGE THIRTEEN (six panels)
Panel 1. JESS sits back and naps on the couch in a luxurious lounge. Her punks have tied up all the staff as well as NIKKI and MR. BARNES, now they are on guard with their weapons drawn. A few are working on a set of generators. All the lights are on, but the sun is setting outside. BRANDON also has a gun, but is hunched over and looks like he might be sick.
1. BRANDON: Well, we’ve got them.
Panel 2. A worried BRANDON looks over at JESS who opens one eye at him.
2. BRANDON: What is your plan now, exactly?
3. JESS: We negotiate.
Panel 3. BRANDON starts to panic again. JESS closes her eyes again.
4. BRANDON: We tried that already!
5. JESS: I underestimated him then, overplayed my hand.
Panel 4. NIKKI is tied up and gagged, she looks terrified.
6. JESS (OFF): But this move puts us back onto an even playing field.
Panel 5. JESS has sat up and now looks annoyed at BRANDON.
7. JESS: This time we’ll take his first offer to leave the girl alone and live to rebuild and fight another day. Force a stalemate.
8. JESS: Are you getting all this, or am I going too fast for you?
Panel 6. MR. BARNES tries to comfort his daughter, but he is similarly restrained.
9. BRANDON (OFF): What about him? Won’t he call the cops the second we leave?
10. JESS: He can’t while we keep the records of his dirty little secrets.
PAGE FOURTEEN (five panels)
Panel 1. JESS begins trying to relax again. BRANDON seems unconvinced and angrily winds his watch.
1. JESS: You have tied him up and held a gun on him, so I wouldn’t expect to keep your job.
2. JESS: I suppose I’ll have to find something for-
Panel 2. The room is plunged into darkness. Everyone prepares for an attack.
3. BRANDON: The lights are down! He’s here!
4. JESS: Calm down! Get those generators on!
Panel 3. The lights come back on. JESS gives orders and begins storming outside. BRANDON approaches NIKKI.
5. JESS: Keep a gun on her at all times. I’m going to check on our men outside.
Panel 4. By an exterior wall of the house DIMITRI stands with his gun drawn over several unconscious punks bound in shadows. The TECHNOMANCER is nearby working on an electrical box.
6. TECHNOMANCER: Portable generators. Cute.
Panel 5. BRANDON and the punks take cover as their generators all short out and send sparks flying everywhere.
7. BRANDON: What the fuck!?
PAGE FIFTEEN (four+ panels)
Panel 1. JESS pokes her head around the corner of the house and sees DIMITRI and the TECHNOMANCER crouches beside a window.
1. DIMITRI: Good work. Now, stay out here and keep an eye out for anyone making a run for it.
Panel 2. DIMITRI bursts through the window in shadow armor with his gun drawn.
2. DIMITRI: Hey fuckers!
Panel 3(+). A battle unfolds in which DIMITRI non-lethally disables all the punks.
Panel 4. As the battle nears its conclusion BRANDON grabs NIKKI and drags her away at gunpoint.
3. NIKKI: Mnn?
4. BRANDON: Shut up!
5. MR. BARNES: Mmmm! Mmmm!
6. BRANDON: Both of you!
PAGE SIXTEEN (six panels)
Panel 1. BRANDON drags NIKKI through the hallways while the sounds of battle end behind them.
1. BRANDON: Shit. Shit. Shit.
Panel 2. BRANDON throws NIKKI down on the bed in her room.
2. BRANDON: Fuck!
Panel 3. BRANDON points his gun at NIKKI’s head and pulls out her gag.
3. BRANDON: Where is he!?
4. NIKKI: Mmnnn!
5. BRANDON: You know where he is, don’t you? Where!? Tell me where?!
6. NIKKI: I don’t know!
Panel 4. BRANDON climbs on top of NIKKI and keeps the gun in her face while he frantically looks around.
7. BRANDON: I know you’re watching me! I’ll kill her! I swear I will!
Panel 5. DIMITRI appears in the room wearing his shadow armor. Tendrils of darkness pull closer towards BRANDON and NIKKI. NIKKI sees the approaching darkness, but BRANDON is distracted by DIMITRI who terrifies him.
8. DIMITRI: No-
Panel 6. A close up of BRANDON’s gun. It fires, but it’s surrounded by solid shadows which blocks the barrel and causes the weapon to misfire and explode.
PAGE SEVENTEEN (six panels)
Panel 1. BRANDON collapses onto the bed. A piece of shrapnel from the backfire is lodged in his head and he’s dead.
Panel 2. NIKKI rolls herself off the bed, desperate to get away from the body. DIMITRI moves to untie her; his shadow armor dissipates.
1. NIKKI: Oh God…
2. DIMITRI: Here, let me get those off you.
Panel 3. DIMITRI has removed her bonds, NIKKI leans on him for comfort.
3. NIKKI: Is it over?
4. DIMITRI: For you it is, yeah.
Panel 4. NIKKI and DIMITRI, in each other’s arms, looks over at BRANDON’s glassy eyed body. DIMITRI grabs his pocket watch off the bed.
5. NIKKI: Is he…?
6. DIMITRI: Yes.
Panel 5. NIKKI tries to embraces DIMITRI, but he begins to turn away as his shadow armor reforms.
7. NIKKI: Stay with me. Please.
8. DIMITRI: I can’t.
Panel 6. DIMITRI fades away into the shadows completely, his voice is disembodied, and NIKKI is left alone to hold herself.
9. DIMITRI: We won’t see each other again. Good-bye, Nikki.
10. NIKKI: Good-bye…?
PAGE EIGHTEEN (five panels)
Panel 1. JESS runs back to her car which is parked on the street across from the mansion.
Panel 2. JESS throws herself into the driver’s seat and jams the key into the ignition.
Panel 3. JESS tries to start the engine, but nothing happens.
1. JESS: C’mon. C’mon!
Panel 4. The TECHNOMANCER sits on top of the wall around the mansion, and holds a small black box.
2. TECHNOMANCER: Not going anywhere without a starter relay, lady!
Panel 5. JESS slams the wheel. DIMITRI materializes beside the driver’s side window in his armor.
3. JESS: Fuck!
4. DIMITRI: Car trouble?
PAGE NINETEEN (six panels)
Panel 1. JESS looks over desperately at the glove compartment.
1. DIMITRI (OFF): Browning hi-power in the glove compartment, nice choice. I prefer revolvers myself, more reliable. My gun’s holstered, maybe you can reach yours first.
Panel 2. JESS looks back DIMITRI, now she is smiling and self-assured.
2. JESS: No.
3. JESS: I think I’ll just give up and walk away.
4. DIMITRI: What makes you think I’m going to let you just walk away?
Panel 3. JESS gets out of the car. DIMITRI has his gun in his hand, but points it at the ground.
5. JESS: You don’t have a choice. Unlike the thugs in the house, I know who you really are, Dimitri Sokolov. You can’t risk leaving me alive for the cops.
6. DIMITRI: I guess I’ll just have to shoot you then.
7. JESS: I’m sure you’d love to, that’s why you tried to trick me into trying to go for my gun. But I didn’t, and your insufferable ‘code of honor’ won’t let you shoot an unarmed woman in the back.
Panel 4. The TECHNOMANCER approaches DIMITRI and they both watch JESS walking away from them.
8. TECHNOMANCER: Seriously? Just kill her, woman like that is just going to be trouble later.
9. DIMITRI: What do you know about women, shrimp?
10. TECHNOMANCER: More then you, evidently.
11. DIMITRI: Without her money, henchmen, and secrets she’s completely impotent. A worse fate than death- so I hear.
Panel 5. DIMITRI and the TECHNOMANCER begin to fade into the shadows, the TECHNOMANCER is focused on his tablet.
12. DIMITRI: If you ever need my help again… Well, I’m sure you know ways to track me down.
13. TECHNOMANCER: And if you ever need my help, I’ll probably know about it before you will. Give me a sec-
14. TECHNOMANCER: Hey, you dumb ho! The cops are two minutes out, might want to get a move on!
Panel 6. JESS begins to run with a look of frustration on her fate. Behind her DIMITRI and the TECHNOMANCER vanish completely.
15. TECHNOMANCER: And don’t you ever try and kill me with a bomb again, stupid bitch!
16. DIMITRI: Any more shouting you want to do, or can we go?
17. TECHNOMANCER: Get us out of here.
PAGE TWENTY (five panels)
Panel 1. Establishing shot of a nightclub in downtown Portland. The character’s voices come from a car double parked on the street in front of it.
1. JAMES: They’re inside.
Panel 2. PIERRE is behind the wheel, JAMES, DAVID, and JUSTIN are taking off their seatbelts. JAMES has changed his clothes to something more fashionable.
2. JUSTIN: Who?
3. JAMES: I don’t know yet.
4. JUSTIN: Right…
5. DAVID: That’s still I good sign though, right?
Panel 3. JAMES, DAVID, and JUSTIN get out of the car, PIERRE speaks to them through the window.
6. JUSTIN: I guess.
7. PIERRE: I’ll stay on a call with you and drive in circles around the club. If you need a quick escape, I can meet you in the front or around the back.
8. DAVID: Sounds good.
Panel 4. JAMES, DAVID, and JUSTIN walk into the club and put in Bluetooth earpieces.
9. JAMES: Remember, this is a recon mission only. If you run into any trouble, get the hell out. We’ll make a plan for how to deal with these things once we know more about what they are.
10. DAVID: Yes sir!
Panel 5. The trio stands in line and approaches the bouncer. JUSTIN steps forward to speak for them after holding JAMES back.
11. JAMES: I’ll flash my badge and get us in.
12. JUSTIN: Let me try and talk to the man first and see if we can’t get inside a little more subtly.
PAGE TWENTY-ONE (seven panels)
Panel 1. The trio walks into a very full and trendy nightclub. DAVID kisses JUSTIN on the cheek, JAMES begins looking around and doesn’t seem to be blending in well.
1. DAVID: James Bond here knows all the tricks.
2. JAMES: Alright, spread out around the club and keep your eyes open.
Panel 2. JAMES sits at a table in a far corner. A female server, SANDY, walks by and he offers her some cash.
3. JAMES: Excuse me, miss. I’m friends with a regular, Johnny Irons. I think he may have left something for me here.
Panel 3. JAMES shows SANDY a picture of his dead confidential informant, taken while he was still alive. SANDY pockets the money and points off panel.
4. JAMES: Have you seen this guy around here? Do you know who I should talk to?
5. SANDY: Oh him. He’s always talking to our bartender Toro. His station is over there.
Panel 4. DAVID and JAMES are sitting at the bar and being served by TORO, a massive man with the build of a football player, but dressed in a very formal looking suit.
6. TORO: What can I get you gentlemen?
7. JUSTIN: Cuba libre, plenty of lime.
8. DAVID: Oh, I’ll have a sangria, please.
9. TORO: Right away.
Panel 5. JAMES approaches DAVID and JUSTIN looking confused. TORO still looks the same, but an ethereal form of a demonic bull with horns hovers over him.
10. TORO: And what about you, sir?
11. JAMES: Are you Toro?
12. TORO: That’s right.
Panel 6. TORO’s back is turned to mix the drinks. DAVID looks at JAMES, but JAMES waves him off to be silent.
13. JAMES: I’m a friend of Johnny Irons. He had a scheduled delivery; he didn’t make it.
14. TORO: I’m sorry to tell this my friend, but Johnny Irons has passed away.
Panel 7. TORO starts walking to the back and JAMES follows him. He motions subtly for JUSTIN and DAVID to stay behind.
15. JAMES: That’s a real shame, but deliveries still need to be made. Who should I speak to about this?
16. TORO: Come into the back, we’ll talk privately there.
PAGE TWENTY-TWO (five panels)
Panel 1. JAMES continues to follow TORO through back halls. He notices SANDY has also taken a man back there, and he can now see a hazy form of a horned woman with cloven feet following her as well.
1. JAMES: Where are we going?
2. TORO: Storeroom, nice and quiet back there.
Panel 2. DAVID and JUSTIN call in to PIERRE.
3. DAVID: He left with the bartender. I think he might have found something.
Panel 3. PIERRE is still in the car and talking on a headset.
4. PIERRE: I’ll pull the car around back, you two keep an eye on the front. But don’t rush in a spoil anything, I’m James will let us know if he gets into any trouble.
Panel 4. JAMES and TORO walk into the storeroom. TORO is ahead of JAMES and starts subtly opening his cuffs.
5. TORO: Don’t worry. No one will hear anything from in here.
Panel 5. TORO turns around in full rage demon form with horns, fangs and hideously bulging muscles. He screams at JAMES who is utterly shocked.
6. TORO: NOW YOU’RE A FUCKING DEAD MAN!