damper effect? The Factory has special field generators that prevent anyone from broadcasting out on any wavelength — INCLUDING the theta-plosive frequencies of most telepathy.
PANEL FIVE: SOME GUARDS are MOVING FORWARD (and ANTHONY and the others are BACKING AWAY) but BYZANTINE holds up his HAND.
CELL: Yeah? Yeah? I can still do a few tricks with microwaves — I’ll take some of your thugs down with me!
BYZANTINE: And now, Factory newcomers, we answer the question that was in all your minds: We are giving out valuable knowledge and equipment. How do we make sure our students pay us back after they graduate our little program?
PANEL SIX: CLOSE on BYZANTINE’s COLD FACE, COLD SMILE.
BYZANTINE (Cont.): The answer is — the same way we keep order among a collection of immature, super- powered sociopaths, of course. We knock them unconscious before we bring them here, then inject them with nanobots. Pyroactive nanobots that we can activate…any time we want.
PAGE 7
PANEL ONE: (BIG) BYZANTINE GESTURES and CELL GOES UP IN an INFERNO of FLAME.
CELL: AAAAHH! AAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGHGHHHHH!
PANEL TWO: Everybody SCRAMBLING AWAY while CELL burns.
PANEL THREE: NOTHING MUCH LEFT of CELL BUT A CHARRED SKELETON.
BYZANTINE: I trust this little demonstration has refined the thinking of our new trainees. Until you have learned all the rules, I suggest you consider your every action in the Factory very carefully.
BYZANTINE (Cont.): Welcome to Byzantium Gates.
PAGE 8
PANEL ONE: The SIX ROOKIES are walking back toward their SLEEPING ROOMS. Some other FACTORY “students” move either direction in the background — it’s a main corridor.
THROWBACK: Jesus! Did you SEE that?
ANTHONY: We all saw it.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 1: And now we’re all accessories, too.
PANEL TWO: THROWBACK, in his horrified enthusiasm, accidentally brushes COLDBLOODED’s SHOULDER.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 2: As far as I can tell, the ones who came in with me — or who got kidnapped and booby-trapped with me, to be more exact — are a cross-section of street kids and psychopaths
THROWBACK: I mean, that was CRAZY! They burned that guy UP! That was…it was…
COLDBLOODED: Take your hand OFFA me, cracker.
THROWBACK: Whoa, yeah, sorry…
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 3: Like Coldblooded there. I know him, even though I never met him before today. He’s half the brothers I used to run with before I went into the service and out of the life. He’ll fight you for anything — or nothing. There’s no doubt I’m gonna have to throw down with him before this is over. The only question is, should I get it out of the way fast or wait ‘til it happens on its own?
PANEL THREE: THROWBACK has stopped to watch PROFESSOR NACHTIGAL walking by, a very tall, thin middle-aged man with gelled-down hair and a face so thin and bony you can see the SKULL underneath the skin. The other ROOKIES pay no attention.
PANEL FOUR: THROWBACK IS EXCITED. MINK notices, and watches the retreating NACHTIGAL.
THROWBACK: DUDE! Did you see? That was Professor Nachtigal, I swear it was! What’s he doing here? He’s a major supervillain!
MINK: Major or not, you can bet HE don’t get it without payin’ double for it.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 4: And the women, oh God, I know them too — battered, abused, living off men because they can’t see any other way, hating every minute of it.
SNAIL: Nightingale. Fight in jail.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 5: The white boys I can’t figure out at all. Well, maybe little Darren there, what’s he call himself, Snail? He’s a bit crazy to start with, and he’s from one of those backward country places like my daddy was.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 6: Even a life of crime is better than that.
PANEL FIVE: THROWBACK approaches ANTHONY.
CODY: You saw him, right? Professor Nachtigal?
ANTHONY: You a fan?
PANEL SIX: ANTHONY is darkly AMUSED by THROWBACK.
CODY: Not so much him, but he’s FAMOUS, man — I got one of his skins! He fought Twilight Man. He even broke out of Las Sombras, so you know he’s earnin’ the big cheddar! The Godzilla scrilla!
ANTHONY: Oh, yeah, sure. Nothing like doing time in an institution for the criminally insane to boost your earning power.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 7: This Carter kid — what IS his damage? He’s stronger than any of us, he can’t shut up for ten seconds, and he seems to think this whole thing is a game. A man was just burned to death in front of him, and he…
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 8: Screw it. Doesn’t matter, Hakim. He’s picked his own path — they all have. I’m not here to save souls. I’m here to get some PAYBACK…
PAGE 9
PANEL ONE: An old man (his GRAMPA) opens the door to ANTHONY, in STREET CLOTHES. GRAMPA looks shocked, nervous.
CAPTION: EIGHTEEN MONTHS AGO.
GRAMPA: Hakim? Jesus, what happened to you? Those army fellows keep coming to the door, asking about whether we heard from you yet!
PANEL TWO: GRAMPA hurries ANTHONY INSIDE — a modest living room. ANTHONY is wearing his SUNGLASSES even in the HOUSE.
GRAMPA: We hear you in trouble, boy. Dorothy said they’re gonna arrest you. I don’t think she wants you around, see, and I’m sorry, but you know it IS her house…
ANTHONY: Tell Dorothy not to worry — I’m not going to be around long enough to get anyone in trouble. It’s not like there’s anything to MY side of the story…
PANEL THREE: ANTHONY looking toward a PHOTO on top of the TV.
ANTHONY (Cont.): No, forget it. I don’t have time for this. Where’s Jameel?
PANEL FOUR: We see the PHOTO — ANTHONY, about 12 years old, and JAMEEL, a skinny 8 year old with a LEG BRACE, both trying to look TOUGH in their Sunday school clothes.
GRAMPA (Off Panel): That little brother of yours is no good. Always in trouble. He left my house and my rules months ago.
PANEL FIVE: ANTHONY has let the picture FALL OVER on the television and he’s WALKING OUT.
ANTHONY: It’s not your house, Grampa, remember? It’s Dorothy’s.
GRAMPA: Now boy, come back. Don’t be that way! We’re kin!
PANEL SIX: BANG — ANTHONY hits the front door and he’s down the steps to the STREET, a seedy but not dreadful neighborhood. He looks MAD.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION: When I heard he wasn’t there, I went cold. I knew then that everything I’d heard on the street was true. After I enlisted, Jameel had started running with gangbangers. He was small, but he had powers, just like I did. He could kind of SMELL thoughts — get a feeling for what someone was thinking, what they were going to do. And sometimes he could even make people do what he wanted. Everybody called him Headcase, and a lot of folks in the neighborhood were afraid of him, but he was still my baby brother.
PANEL SEVEN: ANTHONY with his CAP PULLED DOWN, walking out of the NEIGHBORHOOD.
CAPTION: When we were little, he used to crawl into my bed at night when Mama was fighting with one of her boyfriends. Sometimes, if the screaming got too bad, he’d be so scared he’d pee in my bed. I beat him about
