Chris Fritz's Blog - Posts Tagged "throwback"

The Suit

There's one writing project that I've started and never finished that I kind of regret abandoning. It was a science fiction screenplay about an army ranger and a mad scientist who team up to steal a prototype, high tech, battle exoskeleton from the army and use it to fight crime on the dystopic crime infested streets of Los Angeles.

If you read that description and think it's a good story then thank you. I got half way through writing it and then gave up for two reasons I think. One was I was in college when I was writing it and when I graduated college I just got sucked into the havoc of finding a job and a place to live and actually making something out of my post grad life. Some of my time for writing screenplays had to go out the window and this screenplay was the one who had to suffer.

The second reason is I don't think the over all premise for this screenplay was very good. I think the way I wrote it was kind of a misstep and a misdirection for me and I just couldn't put myself into the world of the characters I made or go along with the plot I wanted. I think it wasn't very original and my insecurities got the better of me. So in a way I'll dispel some of my insecurities and post some chunks of my abandoned screenplay here on my blog. The title for this story was just called "The Suit" and who knows maybe I'll rewrite it someday in some incarnation if I can muster up the courage but for now here's a blast from the past of me in my college days. I can't assure the quality on this so read at your own risk.

ext. Los angeles streets - day

It is a hot summer day on the crime riddled streets of Los Angeles. Major street gangs commit crimes in broad daylight because they aren't afraid of any police and if they did encounter any they would just have a shoot out with them.

Damien(v.o.)

LA. Most people know as the city of angels where anybody can make it and become a star. I know it as some place completely different. A place where gangs and crime have turned the city into a war zone. I joined the army to help people. little did I know I would be shipped off to the middle east to police people who didn't need to be policed. Who am I? I'm Damien James and I am lost.

int. gym - night

Colonel MARK WILLIAMS enters the gym. He is wearing a formal army uniform and holding a manila folder. He looks very out of place as he crosses the gym floor and approaches DAMIEN JAMES who is finishing a set of cross legged pull ups.

mark Williams

Damien James.

DAMIEN

Hi colonel.

James gets up form the machine and the two shake hands.

DAMIEN

What brings you here?

MARK WILLIAMS

Your transfer request came through.

Williams hands him the folder and he opens it up and looks through it.

MARK WILLIAMS

It's an experimental weapons testing project. Its codename is project S.

DAMIEN

Excellent I'll do it.

Damien trys to hand the folder back to mark.

MARK WILLIAMS

Keep it. You sure you don't want to think about it? You know a lot of good men have passed on this.

DAMIEN

I don't need to think about I want to do it.

MARK WILLIAMS

You know when you asked me to find you something like this I was shocked. Didn't your first tour of duty go well?

DAMIEN JAMES

It did, I just need a change if pace.

MARK WILLIAMS

Well I hope you find it.

DAMIEN

Thanks.

The two shake hands and Mark walks away.

ext. street - night

Damien is walking back home to his apartment after a long day. He almost makes it to the door of his apartment building when he hears something. That something sounds like a struggle coming from just around the block. Damien turns away from his apartment and runs towards the sound of the struggle. He turns the street corner to find a WOMAN in her mid 50's who has been knocked on the ground and a MUGGER running away from her. Damien goes over and helps the woman up.

woman

That man stole my purse!

Damien starts running after the mugger. He starts gaining on him and their foot chase is on. After a while the mugger turns a corner and runs into an alleyway. Once he's there he runs into three gang member friends of his. He stops running once he meets up with them.

mugger

Hey guys can you help me out!

gang member #1

Oh no, what did you do this time?

MUGGER

I was trying get a payday and some loser thinks he could stop me.

gang member #2

Do you really get off on purse grabbing?

MUGGER

Hey don't judge my hobbies.

GANG MEMBER #1

Alright we'll help you this once.

Just then Damien rounds the corner into the alley way and them four of them are right there waiting with an ambush. They start a classic fist fight and Damien is eager to fight back. They all trade punches but of course with it being four on one the fight isn't very fair. Eventually they knock Damien down to his knees and one of the gang members pulls out a gun and puts it to Damiens head. This discourages him from getting back up.

Gang member #3

You got guts man. But whatever you think you're doing here isn't worth getting shot in the head. But like I said, you have guts. If you ever decide you want to do something with your life, join the 11 five mob. We can give you some much needed focus.

The gang member takes the gun away from his head. The other two members punch him in the face and throw him down into a pile of trash bags. The four criminals run off and away from their defeated opponent. Damien tries to pick himself up out of his defeat as he watches his opponents run away.

ext. desert - day

A helicopter is flying through the air across the baron desert. Damien is inside the chopper as it makes its way to the secluded testing facility.

int. army base - day

General ARMOND DIXON and Colonel Williams are walking through the halls of the facility.

MARK WILLIAMS

He arrives today. I'm sure you're anxious to get the testing under way.

Armond

Anxious is not the word I would use, I want to see the result of the millions of dollars that went into making this debacle. That doctor promised us a revolution in weaponry and so far I haven't seen anything explode.

MARK WILLIAMS

Well I'm sure we will change that today.

ARMOND

And tell me why do we have only one test subject? We can speed this whole thing up if we get more guinea pigs to test the equipment.

MARK WILLIAMS

Doctor Jordan was very adamant that as few personnel as possible were involved in the testing.

ARMOND

Yeah whatever I just hope we can finally get some results.

The two get to the door to doctor Jordans laboratory. They enter.

INT. LABORATORY - DAY

The General and the colonel enter the room it is filled with desks computer terminals. DR.DONALD JORDAN is sitting at one of the computers typing away. He doesn't greet the two as they enter.

ARMOND

Dr. Jordan.

The doctor doesn't respond.

ARMOND

Dr. Jordan!

Jordan turns.

donald

Wah! Oh general it's only you. You scared me there.

ARMOND

Working hard doctor?

DONALD

Hey I'm just going over some calculations and command protocols for the tests.

ARMOND

Well the test subject should be arriving soon. We should meet him at the helipad.

DONALD

Yes of course, let me just log out of here.

Donald turns back to the computer and logs himself out. He grabs a couple of his things and gets out of the chair.

DONALD

Okay lets go.

Donald walks over to the general and the three walk out of the room.

INT. ARMY BASE - DAY

The trio walk down the hall.

DONALD

We are going to change the world.

ARMOND

Doctor I have a serious question for you. I gave you a dozen suitable candidates for testing and you only approved one of them, why is that?

DONALD

Well I had to be very picky when it came to things like psychological profiles, health, risk factors, plus I really think we need to be cautious when dealing with experimental technologies. I mean it's not like we are driving around tanks here.

ARMOND

Yes well you've spent a lot of taxpayers money and the government does not like wasting it.

DONALD

Well depending on how the tests go we might need to wast a little bit more.

Armond flashes a strange look at Donald.

DONALD

Or everything could be perfect we'll see.

The trio reach a door. Armond opens it and lets Jordan and Williams through. It leads outside.

ext. army base - day

The fenced off base is in the middle of the desert. It is the only thing around for a hundred miles in any direction. Damiens helicopter approaches the bases airspace. It stops and hovers above a helipad. It slowly lands on the helipad. As the propellers wined down Armond and Donald approach the helipad area. The propellers stop and the door to the helicopter opens. Damien steps out and down on to the helipad. He walks up to the general and the doctor and they meet half way.

ARMOND

Damien James, my name is General Armond Dixon and this is doctor Donald Jordan.

Damien shakes Armonds hand then shakes Jordans.

DONALD

Its good to meet you.

DAMIEN

The same.

ARMOND

Come this way we'll show you what you'll be working with.

Armond leads Damien inside one of the facilities.

DAMIEN

Getting right down to business?

ARMOND

Yeah you don't have a problem with that do yah?

DAMIEN

No sir.

DONALD

You're going to love what we've cooked up for you.

They aproach the door to the testing lab. Armond opens the door and lets Donald inside.

ARMOND

Yes we will be jumping in with both feet so I hope you recover from jetlag quickly.

DAMIEN

What jetlag?

Damien enters and Armond follows right behind him.

INT. testing hangar - DAY

Jordan, Damien and Armond cross the wide open hangar making their way to the center of the room.

DONALD

So Damien I'm sure you've done the required reading.

DAMIEN

Yeah that was a really thick instruction manual.

DONALD

But you read it right?

DAMIEN

Uh yeah.

The trio make it to the center of the hangar where there is a high tech pedestal with the XY-10,000 exo-suit standing up right on top of it. Around it are two engineers, one on a computer and one moving around checking the suit and making final preparations. The trio approach the pedestal

DONALD

Well here she is the XY-10,000 exo-suit.

ARMOND

The guys around the base just call it the suit.

DONALD

I never approved of that name.

DAMIEN

So what does the suit do?

DONALD

Well it's supposed to increase your agility, speed, strength, and fighting ability several thousand percent. But we will find out the full potential of this thing when we start testing.

ARMOND

So let these eggheads strap you in and we will monitor you progress in there.

Armond points to a large window that leads to Jordans monitoring computer lab.

DAMIEN

Alright.

Damien steps up on the pedestal, Jordan and Armond walk over to an entrance to the monitoring lab.

INT. LABORATORY - DAY

There is a person at every single computer terminal. They are facing the wall sized window looking out to the the testing hangar where Damien is getting the suit on. Donald and Armond enter the room. Donald puts on a head set.

DONALD

(into head set)

Okay Damien can you hear me?

INT. TESTING HANGAR - continuous

Damien has one part of the suit on. The head apparatus that allows him to talk to Dr. Jordan in the lab. The two engineers are helping him put on the rest of the suit.

DAMIEN

(into head set)

Yeah doc I hear you.

DONALD

Alright we will be able to talk to each other through the suit. I'll be giving you instructions.

As the engineers attach the metal appendages to his limbs Damien moves around a little bit testing his own flexibility.

DONALD

We'll also be able to monitor all your actions and reactions with the equipment. This is important if you are ever in pain at anytime speak up.

DAMIEN

(sarcasm)

Really because whenever I'm in pain I'm usually as silent as possible.

The engineers finally finish putting Damien in the suit. He takes a few steps forward.

DONALD

Okay the suits on you, how are you feeling?

DAMIEN

So far so good.

DONALD

Okay we are going to take things slowly.

Damien jumps off of the platform and on to the ground. When he comes down a small crater is made at the point of impact and some of the equipment is knocked over.

DAMIEN

(startled)

Oh my god I'm so sorry.

DONALD

Um it's fine just walk yourself to the south side of the hangar.

Damien slowly walks over to the south side of the hangar. He walks a little awkwardly because he is still getting used to the suit. As he walks, the south side entrance wall opens up pretty soon the entire wall has reseated away just to reveal miles of open desert. Damien makes his way to the opening.

DONALD

Okay that's good enough.

Damien stops short of the desert.

DONALD

Right now we will test your speed. So when ever you're ready just run out into the desert as fast as you can.

DAMIEN

Okay.

Damien gets down into a runners stance.

DONALD

Just whenever you're ready.

DAMIEN

Count down.

DONALD

What?

DAMIEN

Can you just count down from three. I need to get ready.

DONALD

Okay. One. Two. Three.

Damien bursts through the opening with great speed. He runs through the open desert at an inhuman speed.

DAMIEN

WOOOOOOAAAAHHHH!!!!

INT. LABORATORY - DAY

The screens in the room light up with figures and data from the suits use. The scientists in the room are a flutter with excitement

scientist#1

He just hit ninety miles per hour.

scientist#2

Vitals are normal.

scientist#3

Suit integrity at one hundred percent.

EXT. DESERT - DAY

Damien keeps running at a break neck pace when he trips on a rock. He trips a little but does not fall down. He slows down and catches himself for a moment. As soon as he realizes he is fine he gets back to his running.

DONALD

You okay Damien?

DAMIEN

Yeah I'm fine just a little slip up.

DONALD

Do you know how fast you are going?

Damien looks at the speed icon on his headset display.

DAMIEN

Uh yeah 96 miles an hour.

DONALD

That's right, do you think you can go faster?

DAMIEN

Oh I definitely can.

Damien braces himself and starts to run even faster.

INT. LABORATORY - DAY

SCIENTIST#1

He just ramped it up to 120 miles per hour.

DONALD

(into mouthpiece)

Nice job Damien, this is a very successful test.

EXT. DESERT - DAY

DAMIEN

No I got more.

Damien jumps up in to the air he goes really high up and clears a long distance. He comes down and jumps a second time. He goes up higher and farther.

DONALD

Whoa wait a minute there hot shot we haven't cleared jumping yet.

DAMIEN

Trust me.

He jumps one more time and he goes up higher and farther then before. He flies through the air and lands on top of a large desert mesa. He crashes down on it and gets his footing back.

INT. LABORATORY - DAY

DONALD

Alright talk to me people, give me some stats.

SCIENTIST#1

Him and the suit are both in in good condition.

SCIENTIST#3

His top speed was 126 miles per hour and his top height was 512 feet.

DONALD

(into mouthpiece)

Congratulations Damien you just broke the human land speed record.

EXT. DESERT - DAY

DAMIEN

Isn't it cheating if I'm wearing this suit?

DONALD

We'll let the Olympic committee figure that out. For now you just come back to base so we can start the next test.

DAMIEN

Roger that.

Damien jumps of the large rock back in the direction of the base.

INT. LABORATORY - DAY

Jordan takes off his head set as Armond walks up to him and pats him on the back.

ARMOND

Looks like we have a success.

Armond walks away from him.

EXT. ARMY BASE - DAY

Jordan and Damien are walking across the base. Damien is still wearing the suit.

DONALD

So what do you think of the suit so far?

DAMIEN

This thing is awesome. When I signed up for this I never would have dreamed that this is what I'd be working with.

DONALD

Yeah this suit is definitely going to be a game changer. That last exercise was to test your speed this next one is to test your agility.

The two arrive at their destination which is a large obstacle course in the center of the base. The course is tremendous. It is filled with a wide array of stupendous and possibly deadly obstacles. General Dixon is stands in front of the course admiring it. He turns around and walks up to Donald and Damien.

ARMOND

Pretty impressive huh? I designed this course myself. Made it especially for these tests.

DAMIEN

It's alright. Let me guess I have to go through this course before the clock runs out.

ARMOND

Actually there isn't a clock but we can get one of you think it's too easy.

DAMIEN

Forget about it. Lets just get going.

ARMOND

Very well I'll show you to the starting gate.

Donald walks off and Damien follows Armond to the obstacle course starting gate.

DAMIEN

So just in case what is the best time for this course.

ARMOND

I don't know you're the first one to run it. Made it just these tests remember.

DAMIEN

I'm honored.

ARMOND

Yeah I can't wait until the test phase is over. I really want to use one of those suits in the field.

The two come up to the starting line.

ARMOND

Alright James good luck and don't damage the suit.

Armond walks off to the observation area.

DAMIEN

Thanks I guess.

Damien goes up to the starting line and starts stretching. Armond enters the observation area and goes up to Donald who is behind a computer terminal looking at some statistics.

ARMOND

Your first test went over pretty well lets hope this test goes over just as good.

DONALD

Yeah I hope so.

Donald goes over to a microphone on a desk and holds down a button on it.

DONALD

(into mic)

Alright Damien are you ready?

His voice comes out of speakers so Damien can hear him on the obstacle course. Damien looks over to the observation area and gives Donald a thumbs up.

DONALD

Okay we'll start on go. Ready...go!

The gate goes up and Damien gets into the obstacle course. The first obstacle is a rope jungle. He jumps up and swings from one rope to another across the area on to a platform on the other side. The next obstacle is a large swinging bar. Damien grabs the bar and swings over the gap and on to the next platform.

DONALD

Looks like he's beating your course general.

ARMOND

Those were the easy parts lets see how good he is when he has to climb over a twenty foot wall.

Damien comes up to the aforementioned twenty foot wall. When he sees it he speeds up, leads with his shoulder, and crashes through it.

DONALD

Oh ho wow.

Armond goes over to Donald's desk microphone and talks in to it.

ARMOND

You were supposed to go over the wall.

DONALD

Um you got to press the button. If you want him to hear you.

ARMOND

Oh.

Armond holds down the microphone button.

ARMOND

You were supposed to go over the wall not through it.

Damien stops running the course and turns to look at the guys in the observation area.

DAMIEN

I'm sorry I thought I had to smash through the wall! I'm gonna keep going!

Damien goes back to running the course.

ARMOND

What ever this next part is one of my favorites. The crusher.

Damien comes to the next obstacle which consists of three sections of two parallel walls that crash in to each other at random intervals. Damien runs through the first pair of walls untouched. He gets in to the second pair of walls. As the walls start to crash in on him, Damien puts his arms out to his sides catching the walls and stopping them. After a moment the machinery controlling the walls starts to spark and smoke. The machinery breaks leaving the walls wear they are. Damien walks through to the final pair of walls. He does the same thing to those walls. He holds out his arms and breaks them. He made it through the obstacle. His next obstacle is a high wire between two platforms twenty feet over a pool of water.

ARMOND

Lets see how he gets that clunky suit across that thin wire.

Damien take a running start and jumps from one platform to the next with out even using the high wire.

DONALD

That's how he does it.

Damien comes up to his last obstacle which appears to just be a large field of dirt and barbed wire.

ARMOND

Yeah, yeah.

Armond turns to his left to yell at one of his subordinates.

ARMOND

Que the land mines!

DONALD

Land mines?


Damien enters the muddy part of the obstacle course and as soon as he does land mines start going off all across the field at random intervals. He quickly runs across the field as explosions erupt at his feet. As he runs he ends up stepping on one of the land mines. It blows up under his foot and he is thrown in to the air. Donald gasps as he watches from the observation area. Damien does three flips in the air and lands right back down on his feet. As soon as he hits the ground he starts running through the mud field again. The explosions keep going off but the begin to die down as Damien exits the field. With that he has completed the obstacle course and crosses the finish line. He takes a moment to catch his breath as Donald and Armond come out from the observation area and meet him in the finish area.

DONALD

Way to go Damien you did fantastic!

ARMOND

You weren't that great.

DONALD

Oh don't mind him he's just butt hurt because you beat his course. You did great.

DAMIEN

Thanks that was one of the more difficult courses I've seen. Didn't expect the mines.

DONALD

Yeah you can thank general butt hurt for that.

ARMOND

Hey land mines are an imminent threat to anyone operating the suit. We needed to test for them.

DAMIEN

Yeah I'm sure. What was my time?

DONALD

Two minutes and twenty seconds. I got to tell ya, you had me worried at times.

Armond walks off.

DAMIEN

Oh really?

DONALD

Yeah I spent a lot of time making that suit and I would hate to see it damaged.

Donald walks off and after a moment Damien follows him.

INT. TESTING HANGAR - DAY

Damien is standing in the middle of the hanger wearing the suit. Jordan is in a smaller room in the hangar with all of the computer terminals watching Damien from behind a glass window. He pushes a button on his headset to talk to Damien.

DONALD

Okay Damien the next thing we want to test is the suits capacity to improve your fighting ability. Now do you think you are good at hand to hand combat?

DAMIEN

Yeah I think I've had my fair share of knockouts.

DONALD

Well if correct this suit should give you the martial arts skills of Bruce lee, Jet Li, and Jackie Chan combined.

DAMIEN

Thats a lot of martial arts skills.

DONALD

Yes it is.

As he says that several ropes start to fall down from the hangar ceiling. Damien notices this and looks up to find their origin. Finds a group of ninjas wearing all black pajamas and masks sliding down the ropes and landing on the ground. Some have weapons like nun chucks and sai, and some have only their fists. Soon enough Damien is completely surrounded in ninjas. He takes up a fighting stance and readies himself for attack.

DAMIEN

Who are these guys?

DONALD

They are the shoalin tigers martial arts fighting team. You're going to be testing your fighting abilities on them.

DAMIEN

Do they have health insurance?

DONALD

They all signed wavers so just go crazy.

DAMIEN

Cool.

Donald walks over to a microphone on a desk that goes out to the entire hangar. He presses the button and speaks in to the microphone.

DONALD

And ..... begin!


One by one the ninjas attack Damien and one by one he knocks them down and dish out attacks of his own. Pretty soon he is fighting like a martial arts master. In a desperate attempt some of the ninjas start to dog pile on top of Damien and his suit. Damien is quickly covered in ninjas. The pile starts to pulsate and Damien shakes off all the ninjas with an explosive move.

DONALD

Woh.

The fighters keep coming. One ninja attacks Damien with some nun chucks. Damien quickly knocks him on his back and takes the nun chucks from him. He uses his newly attained weapon to knock out three more ninjas. He wields the nun chucks with masterful precision. Finally he throws the nun chucks across the room at the last ninja standing. The nun chucks fly through the air and hit the ninja square in the face knocking him to the ground. With that all of the ninjas from the fighting team are either knocked out unconscious or writhing on the floor in pain.

DONALD

Well I think this test is a success.

DAMIEN

Yeah me too.

INT. TESTING HANGAR - DAY

Damien and Dr. Jordan are walking through the hangar towards the next test for the suit.

DAMIEN

Wow I can not believe this suit. I couldn't fight that well before I put it on. How does it do that?

DONALD

It's a special fighting command protocol. I designed it myself. It'll activate whenever the user needs it.

DAMIEN

Hopefully it'll come in handy for the field. So what's the next thing we are going to test.

DONALD

The next test is right here.

The two approach a green army jeep that is parked in the hangar.

DONALD

You see this car?

DAMIEN

Yeah.

DONALD

It weighs 3,156 pounds. You are going to lift it.

DAMIEN

Lift it?

DONALD

Yes. This exercise is to test to suits ability to increase your strength. So for all intensive purposes I want you to lift it.

DAMIEN

Okay I'll see what I can do.

Damien goes over to the jeep. He bends down and gets his hands on it. He gets a good grip on the jeep and starts to lift up. Just like the doctor said the suit allows him to starts lifting the jeep up off the ground. The doctor takes a few steps back as Damien starts to lift the vehicle higher over his head.

DAMIEN

Holy crap you were right this thing does increase my strength.

Damien starts to lose his balance. He starts to trip up and start wobbling form side to side.

DAMIEN

Oh oh no!

DONALD

Ah be careful!

Damien tries to keep his balance while holding the jeep but he does not succeed. Donald runs away as Damien falls to the ground dropping the jeep on the ground crushing it.

DAMIEN

Don't worry I'm okay. Oh man. was this test successful?

DONALD

Yes but not in the conventional sense.

DAMIEN

It means you broke the jeep.

INT. TESTING HANGAR - DAY

All the damage from the previous test has been cleaned up. Damien is wearing the suit and Donald is ready for more testing.

DAMIEN

Sorry I kind of bonked up that other test doc. What's next?

DONALD

Oh I think you are going to like this next test very much.

Donald turns to some other scientists in the hanger.

DONALD

Okay bring em in.

Some of the other scientists come up to Damien and start attaching something to the suit.

DAMIEN

What are these guys doing?

DONALD

They are giving you some fire power.

The scientists attach two gauntlet like machines to the forearms on Damiens suit. They attach some wires and make sure every thing in the suit is running well. As soon as the gauntlets are fully attached to the suit the scientists step away. Damien marvels at what they added to the suit.

DAMIEN

What are these things?

DONALD

These gauntlets are the XY-10,000's primary weapon systems.

DAMIEN

What do they do?

DONALD

We're about to find out.

Just as he says that two other scientists start wheeling in a large concrete wall with a a red target spray painted on it. They bring it in and stop it about forty yards away from Damien.

DONALD

The first weapon in the gauntlet is a new form of electro-sonic cannon. You are going to use that to destroy that wall.

DAMIEN

Great. How do I do that?

DONALD

The controls for the gauntlet are simple. First make fist.

Damien makes a fist with his right hand. The gauntlet on his right arm starts to make a whirring noise like it is powering up.

DONALD

Next point your gauntlet towards the wall.

Damien aims his right gauntlet at the wall. Donald gets out of the way between Damien and the wall.

DONALD

If you're having trouble aiming there's a targeting program that's on your display.

Without a doubt a circle with some cross hairs show up on Damiens display. As he moves his right arm the cross hairs move with it showing what exactly he's aiming at. He aims at the concrete wall.

DAMIEN

How do I fire?

DONALD

Uh right firing. Just push your four fingers in to your palm.

DAMIEN

Alright.

Damien does what the doctor told him and all of a sudden a beam of purple energy is fired out of a cylindrical barrel of the gauntlet. The shot of energy flies across the room and hits the concrete wall. The wall is shattered in to pieces.

DAMIEN

Wow!

DONALD

That's exactly what I said when I discovered it.

DAMIEN

What did I just fire?

DONALD

It's electricity bombarded with the right sonic frequency. If it's built up and aimed in the right direction it does ... well that. (points to shattered wall) I stumbled upon it back when I was in college.

DAMIEN

That's a game changer.

DONALD

That's the idea. Now I think we have enough data we need. But just to be safe would you mind testing it a couple more times?

As he says that some more scientists bring in three more concrete walls with targets on them similar to the one Damien just destroyed. In addition some concrete slabs with targets on them start repelling down from the ceiling on wires.

DAMIEN

I do not mind one bit.

DONALD

Good just let me get out of your way.

Donald moves about a hundred feet away from him and gets behind some bullet proof glass in a safety zone.

DONALD

Okay go!

Damien starts charging up the cannons on his gauntlets. He aims and fires the same purple energy as before right at the other concrete walls. He takes a couple shots and all the concrete walls shatter just like before. With those gone he moves on to shoot at the suspended targets in the air. He fires in quick succession and the targets all shatter and fall to the ground. With almost all of the targets gone Damien sees one last concrete target and it is directly above him. With out hesitation he fires at it. The target shatters and the concrete bits starts to fall down on top of him. Damien quickly does a tuck and roll out of the way. The concrete pieces fall to the ground with out hitting Damien.

DAMIEN

Whoa that was close.

DONALD

No kidding but good dodge. That really shows off the suits maneuverability.

INT. TESTING HANGAR - DAY

Damien is admiring the gauntlets on his suit. Donald and some other scientists are around him supervising and doing calculations.

DAMIEN

Wow these weapon systems sure are something. You made a really impressive suit here doc.

DONALD

Yeah it took me quite a while to perfect this beauty. But thanks to you I think we've finally got it right. There's more to those gauntlets. If you press each individual finger in to your palm it will give you a new tool.

DAMIEN

Like what kind of tools?

DONALD

Well see for yourself.

Damien presses his right index finger in to his palm. Out from the gauntlet pops a device with two metal nubs and electricity running through the two nubs.

DAMIEN

A taser?

DONALD

Yes we wanted something non lethal.

DAMIEN

Great how do I turn it off?

DONALD

Press your index finger to your palm a second time.

Damien does so and the taser recedes back in to the gauntlet. Damien presses his middle finger in to his palm and a long blade pops out of the gauntlet.

DONALD

And this one is something lethal.

Damien presses his middle finger to his palm again and the blade goes back in to the gauntlet. Damien then tuns his arm sideways.

DAMIEN

What else is in here?

Damien presses his ring finger in to his palm and out from the gauntlet comes a grappling cable. The cable shoots across the room and the three pronged end of it grabs hold of a leg of one of the other scientists in the room. That scientist falls and screams in pain.

DAMIEN

(panic)

Oh my god, oh my god!

DONALD

(panic)

Oh no!

DAMIEN

How do I stop it?

DONALD

Just push your ring finger in to your palm again.

Damien presses his ring finger in to his palm and the cable comes unhooked from the scientists leg. The cable recedes back in to the gauntlet. The scientist gets up from the ground.

DAMIEN

Sorry!

DONALD

Are you okay?

The scientist gives Damien and Donald the finger then limps away.

DAMIEN

How many gadgets are in these gauntlets?

DONALD

There's only one more.

DAMIEN

One more, so you only put four extra things in here?

DONALD

Oh I'm sorry. Did you need a whole Swiss army knife? Do you want a wine opener in there as well?

DAMIEN

Well that could come in handy if I'm hosting a diner party in the suit and don't to rummage through all my drawers to find the wine opener.

DONALD

Just shut up and press your pinky finger in to your palm.

Damien holds up his right hand and presses his pinky finger in to his palm. When he does this two large rectangular shields pop out of both sides of the gauntlet. Damien looks at the transformation that has occurred.

DAMIEN

What are these?

DONALD

Those are blast shields. They should be bullet proof. But just to test.

One of Donald's assistants wheel up a lectern to him. On top of it are a revolver, some ammunition, some eye protectors, and some ear protection. Donald puts on the eye and ear protection and starts loading up the gun.

DONALD

Hold your arm up. We're going to test the shield.

DAMIEN

Okay.

Damien holds his right arm shield towards the doctor. Donald takes aim and fires his gun at the shield. He shoots three bullets and all of them hit the shield and are repelled off.

DONALD

Now one potential problem with a shield like this is that the users arm would brake under the force. Do you feel like your arm is broken Damien?

DAMIEN

No I don't think it is.

DONALD

Good.

Donald continues to fire three more bullets in to the shield and the metal repels all of the bullets. Not one bullet makes a dent in the shield. From out of the blue general Dixon comes up to the doctor and his gun.

ARMOND

Doctor.

DONALD

Oh hi general Dixon.

ARMOND

I heard gun fire and I had to inspect it.

DONALD

Oh well we're just testing the shield system on the XY-10,000. Say you wouldn't happen to have firearm on you by any chance?

ARMOND

Are you kidding I always have my trusty 1911 on me.

DONALD

Well would you like to help us out by firing at the shield right there?

ARMOND

Well that sounds delightful.

Armond takes his gun out of it's holster and aims at the shield.

DAMIEN

Now hold on are just going to let anybody come up and shoot at me?

Armond starts firing his gun at the shield. The bullets ricochet of the shield without leaving a dent.

DAMIEN

Okay I see what we're doing now.

INT. LABORATORY - night

It is a dark night in the laboratory where doctor Jordan is entering some data in to the computer. Damien enters the lab. He is not wearing the suit as they are not doing any testing at the time. He goes up to the doctor at the computer.

DAMIEN

Hey doc.

DONALD

Hey Damien. Couldn't sleep?

DAMIEN

No, not after all the crazy tests we did this week.

DONALD

Well I hope you'll be happy to know that our testing phase is over and the results you gave us were overwhelmingly successful.

DAMIEN

Great. I just can't wait to use this in the field.

DONALD

Oh I'm sorry but you won't be using this in the field.

DAMIEN

What?

DONALD

You see what happens from now is I present my findings and give my blueprints to the army. They're going to make their own version of the XY-10,000 and send them to their military bases over seas.

DAMIEN

So we won't get to use them?

DONALD

No but you will be compensated for your service this week.

DAMIEN

That's not good enough.

DONALD

What did you think we were going to do?

DAMIEN

I thought we were going to change something. Listen I'm from Los Angeles and LA has just been filled to the brim with gang violence and street crime. Have you ever been to LA?

DONALD

Yes actually I was born in LA.

DAMIEN

Then you know, you've seen it. The city is just drowning in crime and gang violence. But we can change that.

DONALD

How?

DAMIEN

With your suit. We can take it in to the city and start fighting the gangs.

DONALD

The XY-10,000 is the property of the government. We can't just take it and do whatever we wanted with it.

DAMIEN

That suit is yours. You should be able to do some good with it.

DONALD

If we take the suit and do what you proposed. Start fighting crime like some kind of superhero. The government will come after us and they'll just kill us for committing treason. We won't even get a trial.

(beat)

DAMIEN

When I was ten years old my dad was killed. In a mugging. Gunned down for nothing more then the fifty dollars he had in his wallet. It's like he died for no reason. And it hasn't gotten better since then. I joined the army so I could help people but what I ended up doing was traveling half way across the world to police a bunch of people that didn't need to be policed. I thought I was making a difference but i wasn't changing anything.

DONALD

I know how you feel. My mom was killed when I was twelve. She was coming home and she just happened to get in the middle of two gangs shooting at each other. A stray bullet hit her temple and it killed her.

DAMIEN

That's why, that's the reason. That's the reason we need to do this. This suit, your invention is our chance to make a change. To help people. To stop LA from burning to the ground. You know I'm right.

DONALD

Fine, you're right. my invention can be used to help those people.

DAMIEN

We can save LA but we got to do it together.

DONALD

What like partners?

DAMIEN

Exactly like partners. You're the brains and I'm the brawn. What do you say?

Damien holds his hand out like he wants the doc to shake it.

DONALD

Okay, partners.

Donald shakes Damiens hand.

DONALD

So what's your plan for getting the XY-10,000 off of this base.

DAMIEN

I don't really have one.

DONALD

What?!

DAMIEN

Like I said you're the brains I'm the brawn. You're the smart one. I thought you could find a way to work this out.

DONALD

In order to work this out we would need a way to get all of my sensitive and experimental equipment out of a highly secure army base.

DAMIEN

Do you have any ideas?

DONALD

No but give me some time I'll think of something.

ext. warehouse - day

Damiens car drives through the streets of LA and up to a large white warehouse. He drives up through the gates and on to the warehouse property. There are no other cars there and the property looks to be almost empty. Damien gets out of his car and looks around. He sees an entrance to the warehouse. He walks up to it and enters the ware house.

int. warehouse - continuous

Inside the ware house it appears to be very barren. The only thing Damien sees is a large tractor trailer truck on the other end of the house. He goes over to it to find doctor Jordan come out from the other side of it.

DONALD

Hey Damien!

The two go up to each other meet and shake hands.

DAMIEN

Wow It's been a week since our little chat and you come up with all this.

DONALD

Yeah I was quite lucky to find this property.

DAMIEN

Wait, did you buy this place?

DONALD

Uh yes but the truck is rental.

DAMIEN

How much does the government pay you?

DONALD

Well without going in to actual figures I can say that the military does love their experimental scientists.

DAMIEN

So did you come up with a plan for getting the suit?

DONALD

Yes I did and like all the great plans it is simple and brilliant.

Donald hands Damien a couple pages of paper work.

DONALD

This is a list of all the hardware and components that go along with the operations of the XY-10,000. They are all still at the army base in the desert. This is an order signed by general Dixon to have all of those items transported to a facility in San Fransisco.

Donald hands Damien an official looking document with general Dixon's signature at the bottom.

DAMIEN

How did you get him to sign off on this?

int. general Dixon's office - day

General Dixon is in his office filling out some paperwork when doctor Jordan enters the room with some papers.

DONALD

Excuse me general Dixon.

ARMOND

Please don't tell me I have some more paper work to sign. If I have to sign one more thing I think I'm going to throw up.

DONALD

Well sorry to bring the bad news because I just have on more thing for you to sign.

Donald puts an official looking document on his desk.

ARMOND

Oh my god.

Armond quickly signs the document with out even looking at it. He hands the document back to the doctor.

ARMOND

Here. Now I'm going to throw up.

int. warehouse - day

DONALD

It wasn't that hard. Now the rest of the plan is simple. You drive on to the base and get them to load all this equipment in to the truck. If anybody gives you trouble just wave this document in their face.

EXT. ARMY BASE - night

Damien drives the big tractor trailer truck through the desert and up to the gate of the army base. He gets stopped at a checkpoint at the gate. Damien is wearing a baseball hat and some glasses so that nobody on the base recognizes him. A gate guard goes up to the truck and Damien rolls down his window to talk to him.

gate guard

What's your purpose here?

DAMIEN

(disguised voice)

Transporting some equipment.

GATE GUARD

I'm going to need some ID.

DAMIEN

Well I'm sorry I don't have any ID on me.

GATE GUARD

With out any ID I can't let you in.

DAMIEN

Look all I know is that I have to transport some stuff I don't even know what I'm supposed to get but here's the order I got for it.

Damien takes out the document signed by general Dixon and hands it to the gate guard. The guard looks the document over and sees the generals signature on the bottom.

GATE GUARD

Okay this will do. Go on in.

DAMIEN

Thank you. Can I get that back it's my only copy.

The guard hands the paper back to Damien. The gate opens up and Damien drives the truck on to the base. He drives up to one of the testing hangers he recognizes. He pulls his truck up and parks right beside the hanger. He opens his door and gets out of the truck. Just as he gets out two army officers come up to him and the truck.

officer #1

Can we help you?

DAMIEN

Yes you can. I need to get everything on this list on this truck so I can ship it out.

Damien hands his equipment list to the officers. The officers look it over.

officer #2

This is some really sensitive stuff. Where are you taking it?

DAMIEN

Some base in San Francisco.

OFFICER #1

Look this is some experimental we can't just give it to you.

DAMIEN

Look all I know is that I got to get the things on that list in the truck and drive all night to San Francisco. I don't even know what half the things on that list are. Look I got this order signed by some general.

Damien takes out the signed document he showed at the gate and shows it to the officers. The officers look at the document.

DAMIEN

So unless you want to wake up this general in the middle of the night with some stuff that he already knows. Then you better just start loading up my truck.

EXT. ARMY BASE - NIGHT

The tractor trailer truck is filled to the brim with all of doctor Jordan's equipment. Damien is inside of it checking to make sure all of the stuff on the list is there. The two army officers and some others are outside of the trailer. They just helped him load the stuff on to it.

OFFICER #2

Is that everything?

DAMIEN

Yeah I think that will do it.

Damien comes down to the end and steps down and out of the trailer.

DAMIEN

Well thanks guys for getting everything on there. Now I got to drive all through the night to make it to San Francisco.

OFFICER #1

Take it easy.

The officers disperse and Damien goes up and gets in the drivers seat of the truck. He starts up the truck and drives it off of the base.

EXT. WAREHOUSE - DAY

Doctor Jordan is waiting outside of his warehouse on a nice sunny day. When he sees his large tractor trailer truck drive up the street.

The truck turns on to the street and up to the warehouse. Jordan pulls open a large door on the warehouse making a big enough entrance way for the truck to come in.

The truck makes it's way up to the warehouse and goes through the large warehouse door. The truck full enters the warehouse followed by doctor Jordan who closes the door behind him.
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Published on July 31, 2020 07:42 Tags: old-writing, sci-fi, throwback, writing