Chapter 4
TRAIN CAR – MORNING
(The train which is carrying Vito Scaletta, Joe Barbaro and Anya is chugging through the beautiful show covered Russian countryside as the engine blows its whistle and chugs across to leave the city of St. Petersburg behind.)
(Vito now wearing his Rain Coat and his hat that he wore in Empire Bay City while Joe is wearing his Rain Coat and his Golf Hat)
LOW ANGLE ON ENGINE APPROACHING
(The mighty locomotive is plowing up huge furrows of snow as it steams toward its intended destination as we X-dissolve into the car carrying the group.)
TRAIN CAR - MORNING
(Joe Barbaro is forging their travel papers. He has a box with ink and papers in it. Pooka playfully pushes the luggage that supports his open briefcase in ink bottle. Joe tickles Pooka with the feather portion of his quelled pen.)
(Vito Scaletta enters the train car with & suitcase in his hands. He reaches high above Anya to store his luggage)
(ANGLE on Pooka as Vito begins to sit on him. Pooka growls. Vito stands up straight again. Pooka settles back down, but still growls at Vito. Vito stands indignant. He forces a smile at Anya. Joe is snickering at the situation.)
(CLOSE on Pooka smiling and panting, innocently. Vito, sneezes and moves over and sits next to Anya.)
Joe: (laughter)
Vito: (Growls back at dog) So the dog gets the window seat.
(Anya fiddles with her necklace nervously.)
Vito: (re: the necklace) Hey maybe you should stop fiddling with that thing your playin with… and maybe sit up straight - remember – you're a Grand Duchess.
Anya: How is that you know what Grand Duchesses do or don't do.
Vito: Because I make it my business to know it.
Anya: Oh
Vito: Look, I'm just trying to help. Alright?
(ANGLE on Joe as looks over at Vito and rolls his eyes.)
Joe: mmm… Sure you are Vito.
Anya: (innocently) Mr. Scaletta …
Vito: Yeah?
Anya: Do you really think I'm royalty?
Vito: Of course I do so...
Anya: Then stop bossing me around!
Joe: Well she doesn't like being push around from you Vito.
Vito: Yeah, I get it Joe Woman likes to be pretty on their looks.
( Anya sticks out her tongue at Vito. Quickly turning back to the window before Vito see her.)
(Joe exchanges forged papers for score card, Vito Scaletta 3, Anya 30.)
TRAIN ON TRACKS
(The train travels down the track away from camera revealing a picturesque landscape with snow falling.)
TRAIN CAR – AFTERNOON
(Anya sitting reading a book)
(Vito enters the train compartment and sits before Anya who is pretending to read a book. He gathers his thoughts and tries to gain her confidence back.)
Vito: Hey listen, I think we got off on the wrong foot.
(Anya puts her book down and looks straight at Vito and responds.)
Anya: Well, I think we did too
Vito: Ok.
Anya: But I appreciate your apology.
Vito: Apology? I didn't said anything about an apology? I was just saying …
Anya: (struggling) Please …V…
Vito (CONT'D): that we could..
Anya (CONT'D): … Don't talk anymore, OK? It's only gonna upset me.
Vito: Yeah Fine then. I'll be quiet. quiet if you will be.
(Anya and Vito angrily rebuff each, other, assuming confrontational poses.)
Anya: Alright I'll be quiet.
Vito: Fine
Anya: Fine
Vito: Fine.
Anya: Fine.
(Anya and Vito both sit with arms crossed, sulking.)
(Anya looking out the window.)
(She breaks the silence.)
Anya: You think you're gonna miss it?
Vito: Miss what … your still talking to me?
Anya: No, Russia.
Vito: No.
Anya: But it was your home.
Vito: It was a place I once lived there. End of the story.
Anya: Well then you must plan on making Paris your true home.
Vito: What is it with you and homes to live in anyways where you could of live in a apartment instead?
(Anya stands up with arms crossed. Vito lifts his legs and positions them on Anya's seat, blocking her exit. Anya climbs on the seat and walks around Vito's legs.)
Anya: Well, for one thing it's something that every normal person wants besides an apartment, and for another thing, it's a thing where you …
Vito: (interrupting) What?
(Vito and Anya are face to face yelling at each other)
Anya (CONT'D): Y… you know … oh, just forget it!
Vito: Fine Whatever.
Anya: AAAH!
(Joe enters Train Car with Pooka in his arms. Vito stands solemnly at the window.)
Anya: Gasp! Thank goodness it's you. Just please remove him from my sight.
Joe: What did you do to her now Vito?
Vito: (shuttering) Me? It's her!
Anya: Ha! Just trying to have a simple conversation.
(Anya reacts to Vito's accusation. She spins in exclamation and moves toward the door. Pooka barks. Joe gets spun around and holds Pooka up carefully so that he is not hurt. Anya slides the door closes with exasperation. Mad, she stomps down the corridor away from the camera.)
(Vito and Joe react to the door slam.)
(Joe lifts Pooka up in the air, speaking to him.)
Joe: I can't believe this … an unspoken attraction!
Vito: Attraction? Really Joe? To that skinny mean little brat … have you lost your mind Joe?
Joe: Hey calm down Vito Chill! I was just only asking a simple question.
(Vito slides open the compartment door and exits the car, slamming the door behind him. He also stomps done the corridor.)
Vito: Attraction man this is getting stupid and Ridiculous!
TRAIN – NIGHT
(Meanwhile, we hear an explosion and crashing through brittle tree limbs. Rasputin's Minions navigate toward the train and the three unsuspecting travelers. As they rocket beneath the train and the engine they leave a wake of flames on the tracks behind them.)
(We see the Minions as tiny creatures crawling all over the engine and entering it by going through its open dome, causing the engine to glow red, but overheat, then speed up, now run out of control, catch fire, and rattle as if it might fall apart.)
TRAIN PASSAGEWAY – NIGHT
(Joe Barbaro, in passageway of train, papers in hand, walks past a couple discussing their traveling papers. )
(Joe stops to look at the couple's papers. He sees their print is in "red". He looks at his and back at theirs.)
TRAVELING MAN: Last month, the traveling papers were blue, but now they're red.
GUARD: Papers! Papers, papers.
(Joe turns back to his own papers and we see that he has forged his documents in black ink. Flustered, he abruptly turns and makes his way back toward their train compartment.)
(He opens the door to the compartment and enters.)
Joe: Oh. Pardon Ma'am.
CONDUCTOR (OS): Tickets!
WOMAN (OS): How rude
Joe: Bad news just got worse Vito were in a lot of trouble right now I am started to hate about this government everything's in red instead of blue.
Vito: Red? Shoot we're dead Joe!
(Joe shows Vito the forged papers. Anya is asleep.)
Joe: I think we need to move fast as soon possible Vito and take our things and move to the baggage car quickly, no telling when those guards show up in here!
(Joe and Vito quickly grab their baggage.)
Vito: No I think we should get off this train right now.
(The window above a sleeping Anya suddenly glow's green as the minions pass by. Pooka becomes alert. Dimitri is pulling suitcases down from the rack and does not see the Minions. Pooka is looking out the window.)
(Pooka's POV looking out the window. We see flying minions, green backlit silhouettes, flying just outside the window, leering back at Pooka.)
Pooka: Growls.
(Vito tries to wake Anya up.)
Vito: Hey wake up it's time go now!
(On reflex she slugs him. He falls-backwards into the opposite seat holding his nose.)
Anya: Ugh!
Vito: OW What the heck?!
(Anya rises up shocked, apologizing.)
Anya: Sorry, I thought you were some … Oh! It's you. Well, that's okay then.
(Pooka is growling and barking.)
(Vito picks up luggage, then turns and grabs Anya hand, pulling her from the bench seat toward the compartment door)
Vito: C'mon, we gotta go!
Anya: Where are we going?
(ANGLE on the train corridor. Joe is heading down the corridor as Vito, Anya and Pooka exit the compartment. Pooka runs out the door, barking frantically, and runs to pass Joe in the distance.)
Vito: I think you broke my nose!
(ANGLE on Anya as she puts on her coat, exasperated)
Anya: Men are such babies.
(Anya follows Vito and Joe up the corridor.)
INT. BAGGAGE CAR – NIGHT
(The four of them enter the baggage car.)
Vito: (whispers) Ah, yes, yes, this will do nicely.
Joe: She'll freeze in here to death.
CUT TO:
Vito: So what? She can thaw in Paris or somethin.
Anya: (to Vito) The baggage car?…There wouldn't be anything wrong with our papers would there, Maestro?
Vito: Of course not Princess, it's just that I really hate to see you forced to mingle with all those commoners.
UNDERCARRIAGE OF TRAIN KABOOM!
(The Minions uncouple the train from the runaway locomotive and the baggage car by blowing up the couples to separate the engine and baggage car)
INT. BAGGAGE CAR
(The gang is thrown to the floor, Vito and Anya are half- buried in luggage.)
Vito: What the heck was that?
(Their POV: the rest of the train recedes in the distance. Joe sits up and looks out the rear door.)
Joe: How the heck I know Vito?
(They struggle amidst the luggage)
Anya: Get off of me!
Vito: Oh Shut up I'm trying to get up.
Anya: Ouch! (Trying to move a suitcase, she accidentally kicks him.)
(ANGEL on Joe now at the front window. Peering at the engine, he sees sparks and fire raining down.)
Joe: Vito!
Vito: (hopping, holding his shin) What?!
Joe: I think someone hasflambédour engine!
(Vito and Anya move forward and see that the engine is blowing smoke and fire. Vito starts for the coal car.)
Vito: (to Joe and Anya) Something's not right. Wait here, I'll check it out.
(He climbs over the coal tender to run across to enter the engine's cab.)
EXT. ENGINE
(Shielding his face from the intense heat, Dimitri jumps down into the cockpit.)
Vito: Anybody here? … Hmm, aah SHOOT!
(ANGLE on the pressure gauges, pushing into the red. Vito grabs a lever and burns his hand). Green fire explodes upward.)
(Vito scrambles back toward the baggage car from the burning locomotive in a hurry.)
BACK TO BAGGAGE CAR
(Anya and Joe look out the door.)
(Trees are whizzing past.)
Anya: We're going way too fast!
(Vito returns to Anya and Joe, dirty and singed)
Vito: Nobody's driving this train! We're gonna have to jump out of the train!
(They all look down.)
(A sheer cliff drops into a chasm.)
Anya: Did you say jump?
Anya (CONT'D): After you.
Vito: Fine, then we'll uncouple the car!
CUT TO:
(Train undercarriage. On hearing this, the minions weld the coupling of the car so it cannot disconnect. Vito jumps onto the coupling and begins working the connection to uncouple the baggage car from the possessed locomotive.)
Vito (OS): Come on, I need a wrench, an ax, anything!
INT. CAR
(Joe and Anya search desperately through the baggage compartment. He then struggles to pull a toolbox near the door.)
(Pooka starts BARKING. Anya looks down and sees he's yapping at a box, labeled: Danger: Explosives.)
(She smiles.)
TRANSOM VLADIMIR: Here.
(ANGLE on Joe as he hands him a hammer. He pounds on the coupling. The head of the hammer SNAPS OFF.)
Vito: Come on, there's gotta be something in there better than this.
(Anya hands Vito a lit stick of dynamite.)
Vito: (impressed) Nice I been waiting to use this!
(He shoves it into the coupling.)
BAGGAGE CAR
(Anya, Joe and Vito race to the other end of the car)
Vito: Go, go, go!
(They land in a pile, behind a steamer trunk …)
Vito (CONT'D): (awed) What do they teach you in those orphanages?
(BOOM! The front of the car is blown away. Debris whips through the car. Vito looks to Anya with a new respect.)
BENEATH THE ENGINE
(ANGLE on the minions. They look back and see that the baggage car has separated from the locomotive. GROWLING in disapproval, they race off ahead of the train, toward the bridge.)
MOUNTAINS
(The engine and its coal tender speed along, the baggage car not far behind.)
BAGGAGE CAR
(Joe turns the brake wheel.)
Joe: The brakes are out I can't turn Vito!
Vito: Turn harder Joe!
(The wheel comes off in Joe's hands.)
Vito: Don't worry. We've got plenty of track, we'll just coast to a stop.
BRIDGE AHEAD
(The Minions MURMUR gleefully, then unite into one large minion that destroys the bridge in a flash of green fire.)
BAGGAGE CAR
(Our trio stares at the crumbling bridge, dumbstruck)
Anya: You were saying?
WIDE ON TRAIN (The baggage car picks up speed as it heads downhill toward the collapsed bridge.)
INT. BAGGAGE CAR
(Vito grabs a chain holding down some cargo.)
Vito: I got an idea Joe, give me a hand with this.
(Joe looses his balance and falls into a box.)
TRAIN
(Vito edges his way out of the car. The ground whizzes by beneath him as he lowers himself underneath the carriage.)
Vito: Hand me the chain!
(He reaches up and is stunned to see Anya hanging out over him with the chain.)
Vito: Not you!
Anya: Joe's busy at the moment
(Vito accepts the chain from Anya and hooks it onto the undercarriage. CRUNCH sound. Vito's POV: Twisted steel from the front of the train flies back at him like shrapnel.)
Vito: No! No! Yaaaaa!
(With Anya's help he yanks himself up just as the shrapnel whips by, shattering a tree. They land in near embrace, and catch their breath. Their eyes meet, stirring some distant feeling. Vito snaps out of it first, glancing back to the shattered tree receding it the distance.)
Anya: And to think, that could have been you.
Vito: If we live through this, remind me to thank you.
(SHOTS OF THE SPEEDING TRAIN as they approach the gorge with the damaged baggage car and the train engine)
TRAIN
Vito: Here goes nothing. Brace yourselves.
(Vito throws the other end of the chain out the back. It also has a hook on it. )
(ANGLE on the GRAPPLING HOOK - as it bounces several times, then bites into a railroad tie, WHIPPING TAUT. It instantly pulls but the tie, then several more. PLINK PLINK PLINK then, one holds. THE CAR separates from the wheel base, turns sideways on the track, plowing through the snow and slowing down.)
(Anya turns to Vito Scaletta and Joe Barbaro.)
Anya: Well, this is our stop. (They all jump, Joe carrying Pooka, and not a moment too soon as they land in the snow, the overheated train engine and the ruined baggage car reach the end of the broken bridge and plunge over it and violently explode into a ball of fire, smoke and flying sparks at the bottom of the gorge.)
RASPUTIN'S LAIR
(Seething, Rasputin watches the following through the Reliquary, seeing that Anya, Vito Scaletta and Joe Barbaro have landed safely in a snow bank.)
Vito: I really hate trains. Remind me never to get on a train again.
Rasputin: Screams. (In agony) Noooooooo!
Bartok: Wow, hey take it easy there. You know, sir, really you should watch your blood pressure. My nephew Izzie just keeled over one day, mid-mango. Stress. it's a killer sir. And he's a fruit bat, no meat, no blood even.
(Rasputin stares blankly at Bartok for a beat, then)
Rasputin: HOW COULD THEY LET HER ESCAPE?!
Bartok: Ha wow … Ah, you're right. It's very upsetting sir. (PICKS UP RELIQUARY) Eh, I guess this Reliquary thing's broken.
(Bartok tosses the Reliquary over his shoulder- It flies through the air. Rasputin's eyes go wide in terror as he leaps to catch it.)
Rasputin: You idiot!
(As he skids across the floor he flings his own hand ahead.)
(The hand lands under the Reliquary, breaking its fall just in time. Rasputin turns on Bartok, eyes red with fury.)
Bartok: (backing away) Alright now sir, take it easy there. Just remember what I said to you about stress –
(Rasputin shoves the Reliquary against Bartok's nose)
Rasputin: I sold my soul for this. My life, my very existence depends on it, and you almost destroyed it!
(Bartok is trying to squirm away.)
Bartok: I get it! I get it! 'you break it, you bought it.
Rasputin: See that you remember, you miserable rodent.
(Rasputin lets Bartok drop.)
Bartok: (to himself., sulking) Oh, sure, blame the bat. What the heck we're easy targets always hanging … ar…
Rasputin: What are you muttering about?
Bartok: Anastasia, sir. Just wishing I could do the job for you - Sir, I'd give her a Ha then a hi ya and then a woowah and I'd kick her, sir.
(Bartok mimes karate chops with his wings. He gets tangled up in his own wings, tripping himself. Rasputin watches disgusted.)
Rasputin: Oh, I have something else in mind … something more enticing, something really cruel …
