Yggdrasil

by ragnarok23456

After "Lokasenna", Hela sets events into motion that could destroy all the Nine Realms. Can our heroes overcome their feuds and defeat her plans? Written as a shooting script, this story follows "Thor: The Dark World" and is a sequel to "Ragnarök" and "Lokasenna". Ties into the Infinity Gauntlet / Thanos storyline. Lokane, Shogun, and more. Movie 3 of the Ring Cycle Trilogy.

25. Scenes 38-42

38. EXT. BEIJING STREETS - LATE AFTERNOON

CUT TO the streets of Beijing on Earth - in a state of chaos. Jane and Loki are standing together in a dark alley as rain pours down on them. Jane has Darcy's pink iPhone pressed against her ear, inside the hood of her green poncho.

JANE
(in a whisper)
No, I'm sorry, Doctor Banner - this is Jane.
(beat)
Hello?

She waits a moment.

JANE
Doctor Banner, are you there?

Jane ends the call and dials again - no response.

JANE
Great.

She thumbs through the contact list on Darcy's phone.

JANE
The only other people she has in her contact list are me and...

She laughs.

JANE
(continuing)
Domino's.

Loki arches an eyebrow.

JANE
A pizza delivery place.
(beat)
It's food. Not much use to -

LOKI
(interrupting)
Call them.

JANE
(sputtering, laughing)
Wh- what? Why?

Loki leans in toward Jane.

LOKI
Trust me.

Without looking away from Loki, Jane dials Domino's - and hands the phone to him.

JANE
All yours.

Loki takes the phone and holds it, awkwardly, about three inches away from his ear. As the phone rings on the other end:

LOKI
Something I found in the mind of your friend, Mister Barton.
(grinning)
The only thing, really. It was an empty, desolate wasteland in that brain of his.

Jane gives him a LOOK. On the other end of the phone, someone picks up:

VOICE
(O.S.)
Domino's Pizza Willowdale - may I take your order?

LOKI
Protocol 334556, L-B, S-K-J 08U7342 -
(beat)
- execute.

CUT TO a Wachowskian shot of green ones and zeros, racing at breakneck speed across a field of black, towards -

39. AN UNIDENTIFIED AIRFIELD - DAY

PHIL COULSON! Coulson is walking across a vast, sunny tarmac as a SHIELD quinjet is being loaded behind him.

COULSON
(relieved)
Barton! Where the hell have -

40. EXT. BEIJING STREETS - LATE AFTERNOON

LOKI
This is - ah -

He stops short, and abruptly SHOVES the phone back at Jane. Jane nearly fumbles it as she takes it:

JANE
Director Coulson?

CUT BACK to Coulson, now pressing one finger to his opposite ear as he ducks into a nearby hangar. He stops walking suddenly:

COULSON
(bewildered)
Doctor Foster?

JANE
Yes!
(glancing up at Loki)
Listen, I don't have a lot of time, but there's something you need to know.

41. AN UNIDENTIFIED AIRFIELD - DAY

CUT TO Coulson. We hear Jane's voice in the background:

JANE
(O.S.)
Those creatures - the draugr - some of them are sentient.

Coulson starts to respond - but he is distracted by something he is seeing off-screen. SLOW PAN around him to show the far edge of the tarmac, and brilliant white desert beyond. Something black and indistinct is flickering - hanging in the air. Growing.

COULSON squints as he steps forward to get a better look:

COULSON
(to himself)
What in the name -

42. EXT. BEIJING STREETS - LATE AFTERNOON

CUT BACK to Jane and Loki in the alley, as rain pours down on both of them.

JANE
(continuing hurriedly)
I know, it's troubling - they can think, and plan, and strategize. I've seen it. And Director -
(hesitating)
- there are copies of us - all of us. There are draugr Avengers.

Through the phone there is a loud, harrowing SCREAM - followed by a loud burst of static.

JANE
Hello? Hello?
(beat)
Damnit!

Jane stares down at the phone in frustration. She looks up at Loki - but he's looking past her, into the street. RACK FOCUS behind her.

Lurching forward, down the middle of the street and toward a vehicle barricade, is a FIGURE. Its metallic exoskeleton is tarnished, ink-black liquid drips from various joints, and half of its helmet has broken away to reveal a rotting, fleshless jaw -

- but it is unmistakably an armed, armored, and thoroughly undead TONY STARK.

This draugr Iron Man drags one dead leg behind it, and raises one arm, palm forward. There is a high-pitched KEEN, then the scene is ROCKED SUDDENLY as the creature activates its hand cannon, BLASTING three parked cars out of its way. Around him, feral draugr race forward, darting through the gap between two overturned vehicles.

WHIP PAN down to the far end of the street - the living CAPTAIN AMERICA, Steve Rogers, is standing alone, blocking his body with his shield as the draugr rush toward him. He touches one hand to his ear:

STEVE
Uh, Tony? You're really -

The first draugr reaches him; he sends it FLYING to the side with a well-timed SHIELD BASH -

STEVE
(continuing)
- really -

And BAM! another -

STEVE
(continuing)
- not going to like this.

CUT TO the living, human Tony Stark in the classic Iron Man suit, flying low over Beijing streets now overrun with draugr. He fires cannon blasts into the hordes, causing some of them to disperse - but there are thousands more. He does a barrel roll and flies LOW toward Steve.

TONY
There are a lot of things I really don't like, Elsa. Burnt popcorn -
(fires a hand-cannon)
- Dire Straits -
(fires again)
- the sound of candy wrappers being crinkled in a quiet room.

Tony reaches Steve's fight and balances in the air near him.

TONY
(continuing)
How bad can this really -

Then Tony SEES draugrIron Man for the first time.

TONY
Oh, no. Oh, hell no.
(beat)
Friday, I'm gonna need you to give m-

Tony is cut short when he takes a CANNON BLAST to the left shoulder. He spirals quickly downward and SLAMS into the asphalt with an earth-shaking CRASH, sending up a massive cloud of dust that temporarily blocks the view.

As the dust clears a little we see Steve, with draugr crawling all over him. He writhes as he tries to pick them off.

STEVE
I could - ah - I could use a little help, buddy.

CUT BACK to Jane and Loki, still in the alley.

JANE
We have to do something.

Loki looks at Jane - then at Steve - then back at Jane again. He hesitates - then takes Jane's upper arms in both hands.

LOKI
(gravely)
Promise me you will stay here.

Jane holds up her right wrist, and the cuff glints in the light.

JANE
I can help.

Loki shakes his head.

LOKI
(gravely)
Swear it.

Jane gives him a strange look.

JANE
I'm not swearing anyth-

She stops short and looks down. Her entire body - beginning with her arms under Loki's hands - gradually becomes INVISIBLE. She looks quickly back up at Loki and opens her mouth to protest - but soon her face, too, has become translucent.

Loki gives Jane one last look - then, without hesitation, LEAPS into the pile of draugrsurrounding Steve. As arcs of GREEN FIRE burn around his hands, he begins to TEAR the creatures off of Steve.

A short distance away, Tony begins to pull himself back up to his feet, his armor groaning with the effort. CUT TO Tony's helmet-internal view, with status messages and numbers flickering across his view in crisp green font.

FRIDAY
(V.O.)
Suit integrity at 16%. Sir, you should know that the alien Lo -

TONY
(V.O.)
Not now, Friday -

The draugr Iron Man LEAPS out of the dust cloud on to Tony's back, and begins raining heavy blows down on him like a gorilla. Sparks fly from under draugr Iron Man's fists as he hammers into the superstructure of Tony's red armor.

Tony gets low and ROLLS sideways, away from the undead Iron Man. He scrambles to his feet and gets off a HAND CANNON SHOT - but the draugr Iron Man dodges away from it, and continues his unrelenting charge toward Tony.

QUICK CUT down the street - CLOSE ON Steve's face, behind his shield. He has been backed into a corner by a huge draugr. The creature's face and claw-like hands are visible behind and at the edges of the shield. Then, suddenly, the creature WAILS in agony and arches backward, its body crisscrossed by arcs of green lightning. With effort, Loki PULLS the creature off of Steve and hurls it aside. He then extends a hand to Steve, who stares at him in complete SHOCK before taking it:

STEVE
Uh -
(beat)
- thanks.

Loki begins to respond, but is interrupted by a loud metallic CRACK. CUT OVER to see draugr Iron Man pinning Tony to the ground, twisting Tony's left arm at an unnatural angle. The armor is cracking at the elbow joint. Tony HOWLS in agony as the undead Iron Man drives one of its knees into the arc reactor on his chest.

In one motion, Loki gets a running start, draws his two blades, and LEAPS onto draugr Iron Man's back. He PLUNGES the blades into the thin seam between its neck armor and its helmet, causing the creature to release Tony's arm and thrash backward wildly. Steve takes advantage of the moment and SLAMS his shield into draugr Iron Man's face.

Both draugr Iron Man and Loki are knocked backwards - but Loki deftly rolls away from the fall. He then scrambles over to the fallen creature and drives one of his twin blades into draugr Iron Man's flickering arc reactor. There is a massive EXPLOSION and both Loki and the creature are wreathed in white light. The light subsides - in its wake, the draugr is dead, and Loki is on his hands and knees, coughing up blood on to the ground.

He looks up at Steve and Tony as a string of black blood drips from his lower lip:

LOKI
Well, this is -

SLAM! Loki is interrupted by a thundering blow to his back that knocks him to the ground, stunned. The creature is the same huge draugr that had pursued Steve - not yet dead, and back for more. The creature leans low over Loki and brings its claws to his neck, ready to snap his spine.

But SUDDENLY, the creature releases Loki and ROARS in pain. It reaches backward, toward its own shoulders, and thin gray liquid sprays from a fresh, gaping wound on its back. The monster flails its limbs in every direction, heaves a final breath, and SLAMS to the ground.

The air above the creature begins to shimmer and shift. JANE appears there - kneeling on the dead draugr's back, a long, jagged fence-post clutched in both hands. She is COVERED in gray draugr blood, except for a clean stripe of skin around her eyes, where her motorcycle goggles had been a moment ago.

Jane climbs down from the creature's back, and pulls the fence-post back out of its back with a sickening POP. She turns to Loki with a smirk:

JANE
Well?

Loki begins to push himself up, out of the pool of blood that his face had been resting in. He returns her smile, then doubles over again in pain.

LOKI
Not -
(wincing)
- not bad, Doctor Foster.

RACK FOCUS behind him. A red metal BOOT comes into view.

TONY
(O.S.)
Hey - uh -

PAN UP to Tony's face. His helmet is off, and he has extended one hand down toward Loki.

TONY
(continuing)
- thanks.

Loki takes Tony's hand and pulls himself up, so that the two men are face-to-face.

LOKI
It was my pleasure entirely.
(smirking)
Only I have the right to beat you that badly.

Tony laughs in spite of himself. He begins to respond, but -

STEVE
Guys. Guys.

Steve nods toward the end of the block. Jane, Tony, and Loki all turn to look. CUT BACK to Steve.

STEVE
It can't be. Is that -