SCENE TEN
EXT. FACTORY – NIGHT
The Factory is moodily backlit by a rising full moon. All is quiet, save a few typical night sounds, crickets and so on. Peaceful.
Zooming in slowly, subtly, just for something visually interesting. Just when the image is beginning to get boring---
---a line of actinic blue electricity LEAPS from the cover of the sewer hatch, connecting to the bridge across the river for a fraction of a second, then arching on to the Factory itself before winking out with a noise like a gunshot.
SCENE ELEVEN
INT. FACTORY – COMPUTER ROOM
On the doors of the elevator as they open, allowing Zao Quin out into the computer room. He looks bored.
ZAO QUIN: Bored, bored, bored.
He pauses behind Brooke's computer chair and looks at the map on the screen. Two green and one yellow dot are traveling upwards, towards a red dot. Brooke, who has not yet acknowledged Zao, frowns at the image.
BROOKE (to her earpiece): Krabb, straight ahead. Careful. They're weak, but fast.
ZAO QUIN (dramatically): I. Am. BORED!
One arm extended in a thespian manner, the other hand resting lightly on his forehead, he staggers backwards towards the left (Brooke's left) wall of the Factory and collapses against it, monologueing as he goes.
ZAO QUIN (CONT'D): Alas, stricken by the deadly plague of boredom, I, Zao Quin Cheng, have no choice but to fade away into the background, attenuating and… (etc.)
As he speaks, cut back to the computer, over Brooke's shoulder, then zoom in to---
LYOKO – MOUNTAIN SECTOR
---Yumi, Diana and Derrik taking the place of the two green and one yellow dot in that order. The red dot is replaced by a krabb, shooting at our heroes; Zao's whining fades into the sound of laserfire.
Yumi looses a fan with a battle cry. Hold it in frame as it zooms towards the krabb, which scuttles backward to avoid it. Another fan enters the frame from off screen (right), thrown by Yumi OS, and again the krabb dodges.
Krabb's POV: It lines up on Yumi, target display etched on the screen, and fires. She catches her fans – flying in from OS – and immediately brings them up to block, taking a few steps backwards under the volley of lasers. Derrik cringes behind her, glancing backwards over his shoulder to make sure he isn't about to plummet over the edge of the world (again). One of the lasers makes it through Yumi's defense, then another, and she dissolves into fluttering squares. Derrik watches in terror as the targeting bullseye centers on his face ---
Wide again: Diana has been creeping up while the krabb tackled Yumi. Now she LEAPS atop its shell, both guns in hand, jams the muzzles against the EYE OF XANA symbol, and pulls the triggers. The krabb collapses.
INT. FACTORY – COMPUTER ROOM
---and zoom out to the computer screen again. The red dot representing the krabb winks out, but Yumi's green dot is gone too. Zao's voice fades in again.
ZAO QUIN: …yawning, I am bored. I am bored to the point of exhaustion. I am- stuck?
His tone changes on that word, making Brooke look up, swirling her chair so she faces the left wall, from whence Quin's voice came. Over her shoulder: Zao is trying to pull his foot free of a tangle of cables anchored to the wall and floor, without success.
BROOKE: Oh, for… (into the earpiece mike, irritated:) Diana, Derrik, you should have no problem getting to the Tower from there. I'll be right back.
Removing her earpiece, Brooke stands up from her chair. Without warning ---
CRACK! A bolt of BLUE LIGHTNING spears down from the ceiling! It narrowly misses Brooke, the force of it sending her sprawling, and leaves a scorch mark on her chair.
BROOKE (CONT'D): What the- ?
She scrambles backward on knees and elbows towards the wall. There are blue sparks crawling along the ceiling. Quin jerks his foot with a small, scared whimper, but it remains stuck; off on his terrified expression---
LYOKO – MOUNTAIN SECTOR
A long shot of the landscape sweeps along a narrow mountain-sector path, catching up with Diana and Derrik, who are racing down it, and pacing them. All looks clear. Past their heads and shoulders, we can see the path ends, but it's only a short drop to a wide island beneath. The Tower is centered on that island. Pan upward to the top of the Tower – wreathed in red mist, of course – upcut to---
INT. FACTORY – COMPUTER ROOM
---the crash and flash of blue as another lightning bolt briefly connects the ceiling and floor. Brooke is sprawled on the floor again when the light dies down enough to see, but she lifts her head groggily and gamely attempts to clamber to her feet.
The elevator doors crack open, and Yumi steps out – well, she's ELLIE again, red hair and turtle shirt. She has time to take in the stuck Quin and prone Brooke before a third blue bolt crashes down from the ceiling. Brooke throws herself away from it, dodging by the slimmest of margins.
There is a new sound in the background, a low rumble like distant thunder or the echo of those gunshot-cracks of XANA's lightning, barely discernable, adding to the grim ambience.
As Brooke once more lifts herself from the ground, she sees the returning warrior with some relief.
BROOKE: Get ---
CRASH! Another bolt of lightning, between her and Ellie this time.
BROOKE (CONT'D): Get Zao to the scanners!
As Brooke surges to her feet and sprints for her computer chair, Ellie nods and races over to the trapped Zao Quin, sizing up the situation at a glance. She grabs his calf, clinically, without a thought of propriety.
ELLIE: Kick backwards!
She and Brooke are both speaking loudly to be heard over that distant, thunderous rumble and steadily rising, threatening music. Another crack of the lightning – Brooke finishes her sprint with a slide, ending up under the computer desk.
The thunder and music briefly die with that last crack of lightning. There is a ringing silence; Zao kicks his foot free and falls on his bottom with a thud. Brooke scrabbles her hand across the top of the computer desk until her fingers find her earpiece – a few stray blue sparks cling to it - which she pulls down and speaks into.
BROOKE: Brooke here again. What's going on over there?
LYOKO – MOUNTAIN SECTOR
The pair in Lyoko are hesitating for a teetering instant at the drop between the path they are on and the Tower island. Diana jumps after a fractional pause, landing on her feet with a small exhalation, almost an 'oof.'
DIANA: We're just fine.
INT. FACTORY – COMPUTER ROOM
Brooke is cowering under the desk, the low rumble of thunder and music rising again in the background – muffled by the sheltering desk.
DIANA (CONT'D)(OS): In fact, we're – AH! Something just fell from the sky! Oh, wait, it's Derrik.
DERRIK (OS): He-ey…
LYOKO – MOUNTAIN SECTOR
Derrik is at Diana's feet on the Tower island, standing up and then brushing himself off out of habit.
BROOKE (OS): Hi-larious. I'm going to see about sneaking Quin in for backup, but XANA's trying to fry me, which may pose a problem. Just deactivate the Tower, will you? (there is a crash, muffled, as of XANA's lightning) Over and out.
Diana and Derrik exchange glances, then Diana unholsters both guns and stalks warily closer to the Tower. Derrik follow, equally cautious. Their POV: pan up from the base of the Tower to its dizzying heights. Cut to a high angle shot, as though looking down at them from the top of the Tower.
DIANA: Alright, Pink, you're on.
The perspective returns to normal.
DERRIK: I resent that.
He passes Diana and places one hand against the Tower's side.
Pull out: a pair of kankrelats scuttle out from around one side of the Tower. Derrik, oblivious, frowns in concentration. Diana does notice, but before she can shoot them down, another pair scuttle out from around the other side. She tries to keep them all covered.
Derrik growls and drops his hand to his side.
DERRIK: It's no good. I can't do it.
DIANA: You better.
DERRIK: I—
The four kankrelats suddenly open fire, focusing on Diana. She drops to the ground defensively and returns fire.
INT. FACTORY – COMPUTER ROOM
Brooke rolls out from under the computer, grabbing at the keyboard. The lightning strikes instantly, cracking down towards her; a second later, another bolt spears down between Ellie and Zao and the elevator. The two students are thrown back against the wall.
Brooke is forced to duck back under the desk. She picks up the earpiece and speaks into it, sounding less flippant.
BROOKE: Diana?
LYOKO – MOUNTAIN SECTOR
Diana, on her stomach, uses her elbows to crawl into the relative shelter of one of the huge cables feeding the Tower. The zing and crash of lasers, from her guns and the monsters, is every bit as loud as the rumble of building lightning in the Factory.
DIANA: Brooke! Derrik can't get into the Tower. He's- giving up or something!
INT. FACTORY – COMPUTER ROOM
Tight on Brooke's face.
BROOKE: Don't you dare.
Her voice is low and fierce, so intense that--
LYOKO – MOUNTAIN SECTOR
--Derrik turns his head, as though expecting to see her behind him. She is not, but he speaks to the empty air as if she were.
DERRIK: I can't! I just can't. There's no Aelita, no way to get in, just nothing!
INT. FACTORY – COMPUTER ROOM
Close on Brooke's face, holding the microphone of the earpiece to her lips, tight with desperation.
BROOKE: Try. Again.
She closes her eyes.
LYOKO – MOUNTAIN SECTOR
Derrik's eyes also slide shut, and he places both hands on the Tower, but his eyebrows are drawn into a frown, his face scrunched up in concentration, and he keeps shaking his head. The Tower isn't letting him in.
On Diana. A well-aimed laser from one kankrelat smashes into her, and she dissolves into fluttering blue squares.
On Derrik. He looks about ready to give up (again) when a new voice speaks from the ether – JEREMIE'S VOICE.
JEREMIE (OS): Aelita?
INT. FACTORY – COMPUTER ROOM
It's Brooke speaking, eyes closed, microphone held close, in an eerie imitation of Jeremie.
JEREMIE: Aelita, we need you to deactivate the Tower.
LYOKO – MOUNTAIN SECTOR
Derrik's frown is fading.
JEREMIE (OS): You have to stop XANA, Aelita. Aelita?
We're close on Derrik's face, now totally serene, as his eyes open. THEY'RE BRILLIANTLY GREEN.
Go wide. We can see Derrik, dazed. Kankrelats are scurrying up behind him, taking aim – but he suddenly steps forward, through the wall of the Tower.
INT. FACTORY – COMPUTER ROOM
Crackles of blue lightning illuminate Brooke's face in inconsistent flashes. She reaches out, stretching to touch the top of the desk, and eases her fingers across the keyboard to hit several commands, followed by the 'enter' key. Then her hand drops to her side and her chin to her chest – spent.
LYOKO – INT. TOWER
Derrik/Aelita walks across the symbol of XANA in a somnambulistic trance, rises to the top of the Tower, and rests a hand on the computer screen. There is a frozen moment while it blinks 'identification,' but no name, as though he might be rejected… then 'Aelita' types itself across the screen.
DERRIK (voice whispery, but still his own): Tower deactivated.
Everything fades to blackness, except a single point of light. There is a noise like the world on rewind.
INT. FACTORY – COMPUTER ROOM
Brooke is still slumped. Nothing moves except her mouth.
BROOKE (whispered, or mumbled): Return to the past. Now.
A sheet of white light expands outward from the computer core.
It passes over the immobile Brooke.
It passes over Zao Quin and Ellie, slumped against the wall near the elevator.
EXT. KADIC – GYM – NIGHT
It passes over a group of teachers (Mr. Zarego, Ms. Rucci, Ms. Hertz, Ms. Roberts), walking towards the gym with their flashlights.
INSERT – WORLD
It expands across the globe.
And everything goes back.