Following the Equator
PAGE ONE (six panels)
Panel 1. BART, dressed in his clever disguise of an oversized parka and jeans, stands in the Sausage Man's storefront office. In a background corner, UNCLE JIMMY is slumping against his desk, gripping his toupee and complaining to his nephew, PETER. In the framed poster behind him, BART can see his reflection and an image of the street behind him, with a car entering the frame.
CAP:
3.5 seconds earlier…
BART CAP (caption showing BART's internal monologue):
Car.
Panel 2. The car moves further into the frame, revealing a machine gun barrel stuck out the back passenger window. BART's eyes grow wide, though otherwise he doesn't move. UNCLE JIMMY and PETER are the same.
BART CAP:
Gun!
Panel 3. A line of machine gun bullets flies from the gun toward the window, the first piercing the glass. BART zips out of his oversized clothing, leaving it standing on its own and leaving himself in his Kid Flash uniform.
SFX:
Popopopopopopopop!
BART CAP:
Bullets!
Panel 4. BART's arms whirl through the air as he grabs the bullets and larger shards of glass. His disguise, the parka pierced by bullets, starts to collapse. The car continues to roll along the road.
SFX:
Krasssh!
BART CAP:
Shards of glass!
Panel 5. BART deposits a heaping handful of bullets and pieces of glass on UNCLE JIMMY's desk. UNCLE JIMMY and PETER are just now showing shock at the sound of gunfire. BART's clothing hits the floor in a heap. The car outside speeds away.
SFX:
Krssh! Tinkle tinkle.
BART CAP:
Hot! Sharp! No gloves!
Panel 6. BART's trail shows that he has leaped through the gaping hole in the window and run off after the ASSASSINS. PETER and UNCLE JIMMY stare at the scene, aghast.
BART CAP:
Go! Go!
•
PAGE TWO (four panels)
Panel 1. UNCLE JIMMY and PETER stand in the Sausage Man office, now with a shattered front window, a pile of machine gun bullets and glass on the desk, and a heap of clothing on the floor. UNCLE JIMMY is remonstrating with his nephew, but PETER is a bit smug.
UNCLE JIMMY:
You brought a Flash to my office?!
HIRAM:
I think it turned out to be a very good idea.
Panel 2. BART darts after the assassins' car, not following directly but zigzagging across the street behind it from one hiding-place to another.
BART CAP:
Not too close.
BART CAP:
Don't let them spot me.
BART CAP:
Track 'em to their lair.
Panel 3. The car turns into a parking garage beneath a nondescript office building. BART watches from afar.
BART CAP:
Ha!
Panel 4. BART dashes into the garage, zipping under a metal security door as it closes. The door has a government seal and the initials "W.S.O." on it.
BART CAP:
Yeah yeah yeah yeah.
•
PAGE THREE (three panels)
Panel 1. BART spots the two men from the car entering the building through the right side of a double door. The left side is wide open.
BART CAP:
Like to see Batman do any better!
Panel 2. BART races into the left side of the double door, disappearing into an energy field.
Panel 3. BART races out of a similar energy field in the middle of a rocky desert with mountains in the distance. It's a clear moonlit night.
BART CAP:
This is some lair.
TITLE:
FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR
CREDITS
•
PAGE FOUR (nine panels)
Panel 1. BART races around the rocky landscape.
BART CAP:
Desert?
Panel 2. BART rescues a baby Bactrian (two-hump) camel being menaced by wolves.
BART CAP:
The Gobi Desert?
Panel 3. BART spots a herd of Bactrian camels and horses and a wide circular tent.
BART CAP:
Mongolia?
Panel 4. BART delivers the baby camel to the herd, which is overseen by a teen-aged Mongolian boy. Dawn is starting to break.
BART CAP:
Have I read any Mongolian?
Panel 5. As the teenager gratefully checks the baby camel, BART tentatively tries the one Mongolian word he's learned.
BART:
Uh, yurt?
Panel 6. The teenager, smiling, welcomes BART to a yurt, where the whole MONGOLIAN FAMILY greets him happily.
BART:
Genghis Kahn!
MONGOLIAN FAMILY:
Genghis Kahn!
Panel 7. The MONGOLIAN FAMILY offers BART a large bowl of their national dish--a mildly alcoholic yogurt made from fermented mare's milk. BART has his mouth wide open.
MONGOLIAN FAMILY:
Airag.
BART:
Airag!
Panel 8. BART reacts with wide-eyed surprise to the taste of airag.
Panel 9. Back outside in the early morning, BART asks a question, and the MONGOLIAN FAMILY point to the east.
BART:
America?
MONGOLIAN FAMILY:
America!
•
PAGE FIVE (six panels)
Panel 1. BART runs back into Keystone City after dark.
BART CAP:
Okay, let's try this again.
Panel 2. BART races up the side of the nondescript office building, determined to get in another way.
BART CAP:
Sneak inside.
Panel 3. BART races into a doorway on the roof, hitting another energy field.
BART CAP:
Open door!
Panel 4. BART ends up in darkness, lit only by stars behind clouds.
BART CAP:
Aw, man!
BART CAP:
So where am I now?
Panel 5. Closeup on BART's feet, sinking into water.
BART CAP:
Feet getting wet.
Panel 6. BART's feet start to run, keeping him atop the water.
BART CAP:
Must be on an ocean. That narrows it down.
•
PAGE SIX (six panels)
Panel 1. BART is running across the surface of an ocean at night, shielding his eyes from the nonexistent sunlight to peer into the distance, and seeing nothing.
BART CAP:
Ten whole minutes. No ships. No land.
Panel 2. Still running, BART pokes the Titans communicator unit strapped to his wrist.
BART CAP:
Phone a friend.
Panel 3. In Titans Tower in San Francisco, GARFIELD LOGAN stumbles out of bed, picking up the emergency communicator.
GAR:
Wha's up?
BART (radio balloon):
Hi, it's Bart! Where am I?
Panel 4. GAR shuffles into the Titans control room, with computers all around and screens on the wall, including a chart of the world.
GAR:
"Where are you?!"
BART (radio balloon):
Yeah. You've got some sort of tracking thingie, right?
GAR (muttering to himself):
Which we usually use if someone's totally out of it. So I guess that applies.
Panel 5. BART is still running around the dark ocean.
GAR (radio balloon):
Okay, Kid Flash. For the last fifteen minutes, you've been running in big circles 400K off the coast of Peru.
BART:
Circles? Darn it!
Panel 6. BART zips across the ocean surface into the distance, where dawn is starting to break.
GAR (radio balloon):
You're heading east now.
BART:
Toward land?
GAR:
Yeah. You know your new communicator is a GPS unit, right?
BART:
Cool!
•
PAGE SEVEN (five panels)
Panel 1. About nine o'clock in the morning back at that office building in Keystone City. Office workers are entering the front door.
BART CAP:
Time to infiltrate.
Panel 2. BART joins the line of office workers entering the office building. He's once again wearing his disguise of baggy pants and an oversized parka, the bullet holes patched with duct tape.
BART CAP:
Totally undercover.
Panel 3. BART gazes around the building lobby, not sure what to do. Workers are sliding their ID cards through readers on turnstiles and walking through metal detectors under the eyes of security guards. A sign behind the guards' desk says some part of "Weather Surveillance Office". A female SECURITY GUARD hails BART.
BART CAP:
Think. Think.
GUARD:
Can I help you, young man?
Panel 4. BART tries to play cool with the GUARD, who checks a clipboard.
BART:
Um, yeah. I'm Jake Dunlap.
GUARD:
You're not on the list for appointments. Are you delivering a package?
BART CAP:
Need a package.
Panel 5. The GUARD grows skeptical as she talks to BART.
BART:
Uh…
GUARD:
All packages have to be left here at the desk.
BART CAP:
Don't need a package.
•
PAGE EIGHT (four panels)
Panel 1. BART throws off his disguise and heads for the turnstiles in his Kid Flash uniform.
BART CAP:
Just run!
Panel 2. BART races into the empty metal detector.
BART CAP:
Go! Go! Go!
Panel 3. BART is still in running position, legs pumping, but no longer in the office building. Instead, he's thousands of miles up in the air, nothing below him but clouds. His eyes register surprise.
BART CAP:
Wha'?
Panel 4. The cloudscape looks just like the previous panel, but the only sign of BART is a whoosh trail pointing down out of the panel.
BART CAP:
Oh, come on!