The doorman turned towards the door and
was about to slide the peep-hole open to see who it was, his gun drawn
in case it was danger. He didn't realize what hit him and sent him
down on the floor.
Maggie kicked the door open and charged in, her
katana swung and she caught the other doorman off guard. Sending his
head one way while his body fell another.
She was a hellcat
unleashed and she was showing no mercy. Her hair alive and looked as if
it was on fire, her eyes seemed radiant with the intensity of hate.
Maggie flipped the card over and looked at it and smiled; she dropped it onto the table with a flourish.
"Read 'em and weep, fellows," she declared after the card landed on the top of the other cards on the table.
"Well
now," Frank replied. He leaned back in his chair, shaking his head
in disbelief. "You must be one of the luckiest people on this planet."
"It
has to be magic," Goner stated. He picked up the discarded card and
stared at it, flipping the card and rubbing it. "You know she's more
than she seems to be."
"Sore loser are we, Gondi?" Maggie asked as she began to rake in her chips.
Max sat at a table just outside the cafe, sipping a coffee and watching
the smoke drift from his cigarette and across the table. David Bowie was
singing about changes from a car passing by. Max smiled. His cellphone
sat on the table beside a package of smokes.
"You waiting for someone?" someone asked which took Max from the daydream he was about to enter and back into the fold.
"No," Max replied; he looked up into the eyes of an elderly nun. "Not really."
"Do
you mind if I join you?" she asked. "This cafe is ever so busy and I
saw you sitting alone. Hope you don't mind me imposing."
Being the gentleman he stood up and pulled out the chair for the nun. She sat down and gave him a nod.
"No
imposing at all," Max replied. He sat down and took a long puff from
his cigarette. "Hope you don't mind. It's a ritualistic habit of mine."
"No problem," the elderly sister replied with a disapproving smile.
Max gave her a I-know-something-you-don't-know wink.
TAKING THE BY a very stupid short play in one act by Control Cast of Characters Max (wearing a jeans & a bright yellow t-shirt that says CHOOSE) Maggie (wearing a futuristic robe like the kind in 'Logan's Run') Frank (wearing a Victorian-era suit complete with Bowler) Goner (wearing 1970's clothing along with a brimmed hat) Angst (in a cheerleader Go Team outfit complete with pom poms) and Mumbles CURTAIN OPENS [SCENE:
A coffee house. There are several low tables and comfy chairs about and
also a long table running with 6 chairs. MAGGIE, FRANK and GONER are
seated at the long table.] MAGGIE is sipping tea. FRANK is
hovering over a crossword puzzle. GONER has a gameboy he's playing with.
Once MAX enters they will put things down. There are other
customers sitting at tables in the background. MAX enters from stage right; he is tapping his cellphone screen. MAGGIE: Hi lover. MAX (leans forward and kisses Maggie's cheek then looks around): You see Danny Glover? MAGGIE: You silly fool. FRANK: What's the scoop? MAX: I've just received word from the Professor. He has another assignment for us. MAGGIE: Oh really now? We just got back from one of the levels of Hell and now he wants us to go off on another merry adventure. FRANK: You think you had it easy? GONER: We had our share of excitement as well. MAX: I told the Professor we would take a pass on this one. I still need to get the bugs out of the system. GONER: You ate a bug. MAX (doing a Brando voice): I ate a bug. MAGGIE: (laughing) Oh that's funny. SERVER (coming over to table with a coffee pot): Refills? FRANK (holding mug up for SERVER): Why do you ask a question that you already know the answer to? MAGGIE (putting hand to shield mouth and talking to SERVER): Next time bring an intravenous and stick the needle in Frank's arm. The SERVER pours Frank a cup and then continues on with the others around the table. GONER: That sucks. FRANK: What does? GONER: We've haven't truly had time to really sit down and have a night just to get reacquainted again. MAX (still doing Brando voice): The horror. The horror. MAGGIE: Well I guess that is one of the reasons why Max took the by. ANGST (entering from the left): So this is where everyone is hiding? MAX: Well maybe. FRANK (pulls out a seat for Angst): You thought we were lost? ANGST: You never really can be sure these days. GONER: Not really at all. ANGST: Have you guys seen Mumbles? MAX: Mumbles? MAGGIE: Whose Mumbles? FRANK (looking at Max & Maggie): Mumbles. The one who saved your sorry asses a few months ago. MAX (looking confused): Come again? GONER (leans forward): If it wasn't for Mumbles man, you wouldn't be here. MAGGIE (looking at Max): Ummm honey. MAX: You don't need to tell me. MUMBLES (pops out from the right) April Fools! FRANK, ANGST & GONER break out in a hearty laugh CURTAIN
MAGS runs into the shot, not looking
behind her, she is running at full speed. A few more seconds and we can
see why. Hundreds of dog-sized spiders are clamoring after her. Like a
massive moving wave of sheer terror.
We see MAGS pick up her cellphone. She hits a number with her thumb and brings it to her face.
MAGS: Professor.
PROFESSOR: (V.O.) Yes?
MAGS: Can you help me out here. I'm in kind of a bind.
PROFESSOR: (V.O.) Hold on.
MAGS: Well I can, but I don't think those behind me will.
Max's
eyes took in what was going on around him. He paused, his mind racing
through various actions he could take. It looked like he was
panicking for a second.
The
huge troll stepped out of the tunnel, with big battle axe in hand and
it came at Max like a runaway locomotive.
Max
had emptied his clips into the damn thing; it appeared that his
bullets didn't phase it.
With
no other option, Max turned the guns around to be used as blunt
objects and he ran towards the troll.
Frank
laid the cards down on the table, and sat back and grinned. It was
the first time that he had an actual grin that seemed to radiate what
he felt inside. "Read'em and weep boys."
Goner
tossed his cards onto the table in disgust. He was sure that he had a pat
hand, but seeing Frank's ladies staring up at him made him wince in
pain.
"Awww
poor baby," Suki said as she leaned over and gave Goner a hug.
"Do you want that towel now?"
Goner
shrugged her off with a nod. He wasn't sure how, but he thought Frank
had cheated.
Finger on switch, ready to pull, a look of excitement on the face of
one. The other's siting at the table, a half-smoked cigarette resting
in the tray – menthol light – half interested.
“How about if you pull that dimmer switch less than halfway down, just to make it zap us, but not too loudly…just a whisper.”
“What’s the point? Let’s just go all the way.”
This
little power struggle goes on for a bit of time. One suggesting
moderation, the other insisting full steam ahead, both infusing their
versions in that nice, and passive-aggressive kind of way.
“I just want a taste.”
“That’s just foreplay and masturbation – sauce and gravy – give me the meat!”
“You’re just gross. You’re an adrenaline junkie. And you’re trying to turn me into one too.”
“Geeeez!!!!!
Will ya’ just live a little? With you it’s always, ‘watch out’, ‘be
careful’, ‘not too much’. You’re the idiot who takes one fucking toe at
a time into the pool while everyone else already swam to the other side
of the crater."
“And you push too hard. Ain’t everyone like
you, you know. Nothin’ wrong with going slow! And besides, it can
hurt. Do damage to yourself. Why do I have join you on this shit?” A
long suck from the smoke was more calming than expected.
Well,
they weren’t passive-aggressive anymore. Finger on switch, one’s ready
to pull, while the other glaring, wordlessly daring defiance. The
catalytic electric inducer was better than sex, better than coke, better
than weed. A recent invention, it could give the receiver doses of
total euphoria-messed-upness that induced all the effects of any age-old
vice of choice, with the same range of effects from a buzz to
unconsciousness. But its effects were immediate…and maybe just a bit
unpredictable.
“Come on, let’s just do this! It’ll buzz for
bit, we’ll feel fucking awesome and then it’ll be over. You got nothing
to lose.”
“I just don’t like the zap. That just hurts – I hate pain.”
“Don’t be such a baby. Fine, how about instead of full tilt, we’ll go three quarters. You’re a loser.”
“Look, if we can’t go one-quarter, I’m not doin’ this with you."
This
half-negotiation goes on. They bully each other, half-heartedly,
exchanging insults along the way. Finger on switch, one’s tempted to
just pull without the other’s approval. The other inhales a mouthful of
cigarette smoke, then inhales a mouthful of rum-shine brew.
“So, we’re settled on one-third power?”
“Fine. Count of three?” Both
disappointed, but ready, one arches the back, takes a deep breath,
readying for the anticipated pulse of shock-buzz about to pulsate
through the veins. The other, finger on switch, eyeballs getting wild
with excitement and maybe even a glint of ……
“One………two……”
“I’m going to kill you after this.”
“Three!”
Finger
pushes switch. An ominous hum permeates the room. Punctuations of
little crackle noises. As the pulses engulf their bodies, the cat
walks by and can hear from one:
“YEEEEAAAHHHHH!!!!!! LET’S KICK IT!!!!!!!”
From the other:
“I’m going to …”
Then a bang and a white flash of light, a smell of burning magnesium, a cat screech, body-vibrations. Explosions inside the brain or outside? Euphoria and lift-off.
"Are you an angel?" the little girl asked Maggie. Maggie and Angst happened to be passing by her. "You're so beautiful."
Maggie smiled at the little girl in the old clothes. The child had been sitting on the steps of her home. "It's amazing isn't it?" Maggie said turning back to Angst.
"What is?" Angst said.
"No
matter how many shifts we go through, how many sites we capture, we
always end up with similarities in each world," she said. "I guess
there is no true utopia waiting out there."
"I guess if there was we wouldn't have a job," Angst stated. "And we would have never met." Maggie cracked a smile.
Maggie
and Angst walked down the street, the February evening air was bitter
and unwelcome. Winter was showing her true colours. Both girls walked
the brisk walk as if they were going somewhere important or they
didn't trust the neighbourhood that they were in. It wasn't a pretty section of the neighbourhood and they knew it wasn't the worst either.
"So what brings us here?" Angst asked. She kept in perfect stride with Maggie.
"Our feet," Maggie quipped back, making Angst chuckle.
"I know that," Angst added. "Does it serve a purpose or are we just getting our exercise?"
"Oh,
if I wanted exercise I would be battling demonic hordes," Maggie
replied. "Besides Angst, you should know that I have a purpose for
everything I do."
Mags walked into the convenience store and looked
upon the counter; she was looking at the instant win cards. Angst went
over to the cooler and took out a can of pop.
"I'll take that one, that one and that one," Maggie told the cashier as she pointed to instant cash tickets.
"What are you doing?" Angst asked. She had placed her cola on the counter and was fishing for change from her purse.
"Oh, it's called gambling," Maggie said smugly.
"Smart ass," Angst chuckled.
No sooner had they left the store than Maggie began to scratch one of her tickets.
"I still got it," she said to the card. Which made Angst do a double-take, her eyes widening with excitement.
"Oh my," Angst said, peering over at the card as they walked. Seeing the
secrets hidden behind the panel revealed. "What the heck are you going
to do with that?"
They were walking past the house where they had seen the girl. Maggie
placed the card into the mail slot, turning to Angst and saying, "They need
this more than I do."
Max sat on the bench waiting for the bus to come along, leaning back and
enjoying the warmth of the sun's rays, with a cigarette dangling from his
lips. His sunglasses sitting on the bridge of his nose and he was ready
to take on the world.
"Say sir," a voice stirred him from his
daydream. He was watching the clouds showing him how realities merged.
"Are you watching the clouds?"
Max turned his attention to the child. "Why yes."
"That's cool," the child said. "I like what they have to say now and then."
"Me too," Max said after he took a long puff and blew out a cloud-shaped smoke ring.
"That's way cool!" the child exclaimed with excitement.
MORGANFOKKER SAYS THAT WHAT MATTERS TO YOU DOES NOT MATTER TO EVERYONE
"How can you be positive?" Angst asked. She knew that for the past few days
Frank was getting antsy, as if waiting for a call. And then the Professor
had called Frank six hours ago and it had set off this current chain of
events.
"I'm sure," Frank stated; he glanced at his watch. He hit the
breaks and turned the van down another street. "Eyes peeled everyone."
"What are we looking for?" Goner asked.
"An anomaly," Frank stated. "Anything in the sky somewhere, something out of the ordinary. Something not supposed to be there."
"Is this what I think it is?" Angst asked no one in particular.
"There!" Aqua stated. "I see something over there."
Aqua
pointed to a high-rise tower; she saw a swirling mass of clouds over it,
releasing what looked to be blue lightning bolts. But she wasn't sure.
Frank
turned the van in that direction. He saw the
entrance to the tower and he pulled up to it. He hit the
breaks and jumped out of the van and went to the back. He broke out the armoury.
"What are you expecting?" Goner asked. "An invasion? More Horde? A LEGACY cell team?"
"I don't know," Frank replied. "Just taking precautions."
They
entered the building and walked through the main lobby; they had a
purpose. A security guard was walking towards them. The guard's hand was
resting on his glock, showing that he was going to mean business. After
all, these strangers were intruding on his domain.
"You know what to do," Frank said to Angst.
Angst
nodded at Frank and she walked towards the security guard, like a
college co-ed looking for a good time. Her hands behind her back and a
sultry smile across her face, as if she had a naughty secret.
Before
the security guard said a word, Angst spun around like a dervish and took
him down at the legs. She stunned him with a quick chop and they all
continued their way.
"Oh boy, Frank. I hope you know what you're doing," Goner said.
They
came to the row of elevators and Frank paused, looking at the numbers, and
pressed the down button beside one set. The door opened, Frank peered in, and
moved on to the next one.
The next set of doors opened and Frank nodded. He could
see the walls shimmering. He jammed an iron bar into the door to force
it open. He reached inside and hit the stop button as well.
"Is this it?" Aqua asked.
"Yeah," Frank said. He glanced at his watch; it was 11:59:43pm. "In a few more seconds we shall know."
The
sound of ripping and tearing could be heard from the open elevator,
which made Goner cringe and shudder. Frank stepped back and waited.
"OH my god," Angst let out a gasp as she saw a huge clump of flesh fall from the ceiling of the elevator.
"What is it!" Goner said in a horrified moment.
It
looked like a tangled blob of blood and sinew, but on closer inspection
it was a couple of bodies intertwined, and they began to move. They were
nude and seemed to be gasping as if tasting the air for the first time.
"Max!" Angst said. She couldn't believe her eyes but she saw his face.
Goner peered inside, his eyes a mix of horror and repulsion. "Maggie as well... but who is the third?"
"Goner,
find a bathroom, get some water and towels," Frank ordered. He reached
inside and began to pull the guck off the bodies. Goner nodded and
went off down the hallway searching for a bathroom.
"Is that..." Angst asked but trailed off.
The
small form of a girl could clearly be seen as Max and Maggie
moved about, taking in huge gulps of air. As if learning
to breath once again.
"Suki," Aqua said, finishing off Angst's sentence.
