The Spiralling
Bonus Feature: Writer's Commentary Part 5
Beauty and Dust
I was underwater, while exploring a post-apocalyptic scenery. My eyes were open at the foot of the stairs I was swimming towards, and through the strangely clear water I saw something that doesn't fit the ruins of the building around me.
There was this young girl in a pale blue (can't really remember the color) school uniform, pale with radiant blonde hair that resembled shining gold. Her eyes were golden as well (if I could even remember...). On her right shoulder was a black bag. I surfaced and walked up to her, greeting her silently. I remember we walked together, made a rush towards somewhere or something I hadn't got the vaguest clue about by now.
We reached an open area of the ruins that were without ceiling and all of a sudden she uttered something about an irritation on her right arm which she was scratching. I told her not to touch it, but as I looked down I saw dust trickling down her right wrist. It wasn't the sands of the desert around the ruins; it was coming from within and without her.
The radiant girl fell forward, in pain and crying out, and I caught her, hugged her as she was suffering. Dust was trickling down her body at an alarmingly increasing rate. All I can remember was that I said she must be centuries old, and that I comforted her- told her she would be going to heaven. The girl was just looking at me- we regarded each other eye-to-eye, both of us suffering in our own way, pain in body and grieving at beauty's loss respectively. She was wincing, but not alone in doing so; my heart was aching at the sight of innocence lost.
The girl disintegrated soon after completely into dust.
Beautiful, sweet girl, I hope you're happy and in heaven now. I honestly hope you are. You've inspired me, made my morning tranquil and beautiful like you, even though it was sad that you had to go. Beautiful, sweet girl, be happy in heaven and... Don't worry about me.
The architect marvels at his own skyscraper...
Chapter 1: Vacation: Although it was not reflected in both title and not directly in the paragraphs, Chapter 1 acts as the introduction of the story, as does most initial chapters of most stories, if not all. Chapter 1 acts like a tour guide, to showcase the world in this sequel, which is unofficially the same as the original Kick-Ass world, but with changes, just like in real life. Chapter 1, like the historian of a museum, showcases these changes.
In 'Vacation', it was remarked that the superhero trend is falling out of favour almost as quickly as it was made a trend in the first place, with the help of the Armenian Guy who kick-started both the Kick-Ass movie and comic in the first place, and the fat blue blobman who was shown in one of the last few panels of Kick-Ass 1's epilogue. Their death and fall was the death and fall of the entire superhero movement. Big Daddy and Kick-Ass's fate on camera could be said to be prime factors as well. The fact that many of the unnamed 'superheroes' who took after Kick-Ass weren't actually so courageous didn't help either.
Another major change is the attitude of the New York police- you can say they became the direct successors to the superheroes trend, an ancient idea that restored itself like a Phoenix. They became inspired by the whole episode of Kick-Ass kicking crime's ass, starting from him taking on 3 thugs to him bringing down the D'Amico drug empire by decapitating it. Inspiration can never be enough, and you can say they are awakened to their conscious by his painful near-death situation on camera, the many deaths of the new costumed heroes to the shame that two kids could do what an entire army of blue jackets could not.
As for our dear protagonists, the relationship between Dave and Mindy has soured even before the story started. Mindy had changed- becoming rebellious and wayward as the first scene with her in it suggests. In school, she became the very same kind of knuckle-headed bully that she fought against in the epilogue of the original media, and more, demanding more than just lunch money and clearing the halls everywhere she stepped into. Yet, she was able to keep news of her misdemeanours within the walls of the school. She was very close to Dave, their relationship building rapidly ever since the original, but most of it fell apart as she isolated herself and went her way to make sure Dave hates him. Being a dedicated God-brother however, that's not possible.
Dave on the other hand, became a little Down-to-Earth and world weary, even serious and mature, but was still very prone to his flights of fantasy, which he undertook to run away from his troubles temporarily. His long-lived innocence was shattered when his golden age grounds to a halt, leading to the shit hitting the fan- dumped by girlfriend, Kick-Ass not needed, even doing more harm, his God-sister becoming an unstoppable and heavy-handed brat... You name it. He suffered and took a toll.
Another thing that this chapter showcased was an introduction to an all-important element of the story, the emotional fragility of Mindy, brought about by her pent-up stress and emotional breakdowns. This serves as a foreshadow to what is to come, but it won't be apparent (or at least I intended it to be so) until the back of the story.
Also, this chapter tells the reader that she went for a vacation- the icebreaker for the story's great big plot twist at the back. The small part where Dave was told she went on vacation serves to eliminate Mindy Macready from being suspected of being Demoness. In itself, this would not work, but put this together with all the other hints that seems to tell the reader that she's innocent, and it would- at least that's my intention.
In truth, she was compelled by the Demoness personality to go to Safehouse B to prepare for the operations that will take New York city by storm- she lost most of her control to Demoness during this chapter in other words. The 'vacation' she went for was just the cover story of the cunning Demoness. The title of this chapter refers to this 'vacation', and aims to trick the reader further.
As I wrote this chapter, was very excited about my idea. As this is just the beginning of the story, I was fresh and ready to go, as evident from me publishing chapters in rapid succession- I remember publishing two chapters within a day or two several times during this period of inspiration. However, I was also trying to get used to the general style and mood of the Kick-Ass kind- it was way different from my usual writing style. While I tend to be metaphorical, device-oriented, technical, serious and dark, writing the Kick-Ass way requires numerous pop-culture references, comedy, lightheartedness...
Thankfully, as I was also adapting some elements from the comics as well, I was allowed to be serious and dark- this is further encouraged as the general tone of this fan fiction that I planned was supposed to be angsty, tragic and dramatic. Regarding the general tone, it was already apparent right from this chapter, which cements it.
What I regretted about this chapter however, was the way I treated Katie Deauxma's character however. I would have preferred it, as an afterthought, that she was never toying with Dave and heterosexuality to begin with- I stick as close to canon as possible, and somehow, making Katie Deauxma an actual lesbian was what I did, which defeats the attitude I prefer to maintain. While I wrote that it was also because Dave went back on his promise of going back to the streets as Kick-Ass that Katie left, in retrospect Katie never felt complete and canon to me.
A great regret that I came to realise was that by eliminating Katie from this unofficial sequel right at the beginning, I was also eliminating alot of possibilities that came with this supporting character.
Chapter 2: The Return: Chapter 1 introduces the story and builds up a platform for things to take off, not just to any place, but to an airport of violence, blood, action, humor and emotions. It sets the stage for the bulk of the storyline to occur and explains why Kick-Ass has to return again. Chapter 2 builds on that by depicting Dave restarting his adventure by, first, doing the detective work first (this hints at his new approach to things which is to think and plan first rather than to just jump in, showing that he had grown a bit in the head since the events of the first movie).
His investigative work builds on his efforts to revitalise and improve his Kick-Ass suit. Together, it would be like the most recent Batman film's the making of Batman scenes, where Christopher Nolan's character, Bruce Wayne, progressively defines his equipment and improves on them, and does his research on the criminal activities in Gotham City. Only, in 'The Spiralling', this takes place over the course of 2 days, rather than the unsaid number of days and even weeks in Batman Begins. Although, to be fair, Kick-Ass's costume and equipment are more crude, and his methods of investigation much less deep and intelligent.
Chapter 2 is not exactly Dave Lizewski-centric though. 'The Return' fleshes out the backstory even more, of how Christopher brings crime back up to a point where a major bank robbery was successful, necessitating Kick-Ass's return.
Other than that, this chapter serves to expose Dave's relationships with the other characters, developing the strained relationship between him and Mindy as well, making it quite obvious that he was still feeling the guilt for indirectly causing Damon Macready's death, and that he and Mindy had once pledged to be more than friends but this relationship was soured because of past unforgettable events- their friendship and partnership grew to something of a brother-sister relationship, but was stained black by guilt, loss and emotional trauma. All this was revealed via the messages he sent to the respective people.
Of course, as part of the take-off from the Chapter 1 platform, the villainous Red Mist was reintroduced through his message to Kick-Ass. It was exactly the same one as the one he typed in the comics and to a lesser extent, the movie. This serves as a direct link between this and the originals. A second antagonist was 'introduced'- but was kept anonymous, unknown, to keep the readers on edge and guessing. The second antagonist here was overshadowed by Red Mist, or at least I intended it to be this way. This second antagonist was the whole point of the story, but I didn't want the readers to know it right from the beginning, serving as a minor twist to the story. This is to surprise the audience, though to what extent this worked I don't know.
The latter half of the chapter is a build up to the first climax in the next chapter, showing Kick-Ass pondering before he jump into action and travelling towards the arena he named for his confrontation with Red Mist and the unknown enemy.
'The Return', the title of this chapter, refers to Kick-Ass bringing himself out of retirement, drawn by the return of organised crime brought about by his archenemy, Red Mist.