The Avenger (Script for unproduced episode) Thanks to Jamie
Phillips
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THE AVENGER MAY 12, 1959
Story by Danielle Alexandra
Teleplay by Danielle Alexandra
MIDNIGHT AVENGER May 12, 1959 TEASER
FADE IN QUANTUM LEAP IN EXT. CENTRAL PARK – NIGHT – CLOSE ON SAM A blue flash of quantum light configures into a masked figure, all in black, sheathed in the dark shadows of Central Park. He wears a black fedora pulled low, a dark overcoat hiding all but his boots underneath and a mask sheathing most of his face. He presents a strangely haunting figure crouched in the shadows, a strange relative of Darkman or the Phantom. A woman’s scream calls out. The figure spins around in its direction. NEW ANGLE – CLOSE ON EYES Then WIDER as he takes off through the park through the sound. ANOTHER ANGLE A young woman struggling beneath her attacker. LILLY Please… No… As the attacker raises his arm to strike her: WIDER ANGLE Sam charges in, hitting the man full force and throwing him to the ground. The man lies facedown on the ground as if knocked out. Sam moves over to the young woman, LILLY, kneeling beside her. ON SAM AND LILLY SAM Are you okay? Lilly nods and tries to get up shakily. As Sam reaches out his hand to help her up, the man turns over. WIDER ANGLE He is holding a gun, pointed directly at them. ANOTHER ANGLE INCLUDING ALL Sam takes a step backward separating himself from Lilly. They form a triangle with the gun still pointed at Sam. SAM Easy… easy now. Sam continues moving backward. The mugger stands and faces him. SAM Wait…we can work this out. As Sam speaks, the man raises the gun to shoot him. LILLY God! The gun fires. Slamming Sam against the wall with the force of the bullets. Hold on Sam. CLOSE ON SAM Winded, dying, stunned… SAM Oh, boy! FADE OUT
END OF TEASER
FADE IN CENTRAL PARK – NIGHT – CONTINUING – CLOSE ON SAM Eyes closed. Dead. WIDER ANGLE We see clearly for the first time the suit he is wearing beneath the overcoat, which has fallen open and the hat which has fallen off on the impact. CLOSE ON THE COSTUME An armor made of a heavy black rubber-like substance, black gloves, a black half mask hiding his face, and black body suit covering his body. The breastplate of the suit is uniquely patterned with the markings of one hundred crosses. CLOSE ON SAM’S CHEST – A MEDIEVAL COIN Hangs on a chain around his neck. ON LILLY As she rushes over to him. LILLY Oh no. She tries to lift his head, hear his breathing, feel a pulse, anything. ANOTHER ANGLE – CLOSE ON SAM His hand slowly stirs to his chest. He speaks in a winded whisper. SAM I’m not dead. ANOTHER ANGLE – THE ATTACKER As he grabs Lilly and thrusts her back onto the ground. ANOTHER ANGLE – CLOSE ON SAM’S FACE As he struggles to his feet unsteadily, then realizing what’s happening, he moves over and grabs the man on Lilly. Wider angle to include: THE FIGHT – ON THE ATTACKER The attacker throws a punch. ON SAM Punch deflected. Sam tries to hold the attacker, but he can’t. The attacker breaks free. ON ATTACKER The attacker runs at Sam. WIDER Then hits him in mid-stomach, propelling Sam up against a tree. Sound of the thud. CLOSE ON SAM’S ARM As he hits the tree a button is pushed, and a knife thrusts from his arm into the bark pinning Sam. ON THE ATTACKER The attacker throws a punch which connects. As his fist lands, it connects with the rubber of the suit and recoils quickly in pain and surprise. ANOTHER ANGLE Also surprised, Sam realizes he’s protected by the suit and struggles to free himself. ANOTHER ANGLE Realizing that strange stuff is happening and that the masked man, Sam, is momentarily trapped, the attacker runs off, escaping into the night. ON LILLY AND SAM As Sam breaks free. But the attacker is gone. He turns to Lilly, who is looking at him strangely. LILLY You’re alive. (circling him) I…I saw him shoot you. Sam looks down at the spot where the bullet hit, massages it, then realizing he’s dressed in acrylic rubber. SAM (baffled) It’s…it’s rubber. ANOTHER ANGLE – ON AL (SFX) As the imaging chamber door opens and Al walks through. WIDER TO INCLUDE SAM AND LILLY SAM (continuing) I’m wearing a suit made of rubber.
LILLY (staring at him, realizing) You’re him.
SAM Him?
LILLY The Midnight Avenger. (beat) You saved my life.
SAM (bluffing, winded) Nothing to it. Are you all right?
LILLY I’m the one who wrote the articles about you. I’ve been waiting all night to meet you.
SAM In the park at midnight? That’s crazy.
AL (fiddling with the handlink) She’s Lillian Cormac. (impressed) Hmm. With the New York News.
LILLY For the chance to meet a real live American hero. (beat) I want to do a personal story.
AL Uh-oh, someone’s coming, Sam. Sound of approaching footsteps. They’re close. AL You’ve got to get out of here. Now. ANOTHER ANGLE ON SAM As he starts to back away. SAM I’ve got to go. Are you going to be okay? She nods. LILLY But… Sound of people moments away. AL Now, Sam. It’s the cops and the avenger character is not real hight on their list. Go!
SAM (as he turns away) …I’m sorry. ON SAM As he runs off across the park, back into the shadows of the trees. BACK ON LILLY LILLY (calling) Wait…wait…Where can I find you? No answer as Sam disappears into the night. BACK ON LILLY Watching Sam disappear. She turns to leave, but something catches her eye on the ground. LILLY’S POINT OF VIEW – THE GROUND An ancient medieval coin lays there. It is the one which hung around Sam’s neck. Lilly bends to pick it up. LILLY 1250… On Lilly’s reaction:
CUT TO
EXT. CENTRAL PARK – NIGHT – ON SAM Running through the park, hiding from passing cars. SAM (V.O.) Leaping about in time I’ve often found myself on the run. But this time, I’m running and I don’t know to where or from whom. I have no idea who I am, stuck in a strange city, no pockets, no ID, nothing. All I know is I’m heading down a long dark path and I don’t know where it ends. ANOTHER ANGLE Sam turns a corner and finds himself at the entrance to Central Park on the east side corner of 85th Street. EXT. 85TH AND CENTRAL PARK EAST – ON SAM Out of breath, hiding in the shadows. Al POPS in under a streetlight. AL Nice suit. Who are you, rubber man?
SAM Al, bullets bounce right off me.
AL What happened?
SAM She was screaming. I went to save her. The mugger shot at me, dead center, but the bullets just bounced off. He had me, Al. (beat) Who the hell am I and what am I dressed like…
AL (chuckling) Actually, you look kind of like a giant cockroach.
SAM Al!
AL I know this is gonna be a little hard to swallow, but according to the guy in the waiting room, you’ve leaped into a superhero.
SAM He thinks he’s Batman?
AL Actually, the Midnight Avenger. Kind of catchy, huh! (beat) And he’s like a werewolf on a full-moon night trying to get out of the waiting room.
SAM Well, don’t let him out! (beat) Who am I, Al?
AL All we could get was a name. Doctor Cooper. Doctor Phillip Cooper.
SAM That’s it?
AL (fiddling with the handlink) Ziggy says the only Doctor Phillip Cooper around in ’59 was a museum curator. He worked for the Museum of Natural History. He was an expert in ancient history, particularly the Middle Ages. (curious) He disappeared after the death of his wife in ’57. No record of him since.
SAM Where does he live?
AL He’s a superhero who vanished out of society two years ago. What do you mean where does he live?
SAM Well, I can’t run around dressed like this for very long!
AL Okay, okay. (with the handlink) He used to get his mail at the museum, three blocks from here.
SAM Well, that doesn’t mean he lived there.
AL You got a better idea?
Sam shakes his head and takes off.
CUT TO
EXT. MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY – NIGHT – ON SAM As he climbs the stone wall surrounding the museum and jumps onto the lawn inside. ON SAM AND AL Who pops in as Sam peers in a museum window. SAM’S POINT OF VIEW A wire leading from the window up to an alarm on the wall. ANOTHER ANGLE As they walk silently around the museum. Everything is dark and locked. ANOTHER ANGLE As they slip around the back of the museum. Sam tries a basement door and to his surprise, it’s unlocked. INSIDE THE BASEMENT – CORRIDOR They move quietly along a long, dark hallway until they come to a door. Sam tries it, but it’s jammed. ANOTHER ANGLE ON AL – CLOSE ON AL (SFX) As Al’s upper body reaches through the door, he peers into the area on the other side of the door. ANOTHER ANGLE As Al pulls back out. AL Ooh, it’s wired, Sam
SAM (examining the door) Look at this. This is a pretty sophisticated lock for ’59.
AL Looks pretty old and rusty to me. (closer) Interesting. Not like the ones around the project. Titanic maybe?
SAM I don’t think so. This isn’t high-tech. It may look old and rusty, but… (realizing) …this is a Sumar Lock
AL What’s that?
SAM An ancient Egyptian mechanical system. A trip lock designed by a Third Century architect. It was discovered and annotated by Doctor Mortimer Sumar at the University of Cairo in the late eighteen hundreds. (beat) …and if I don’t miss my guess, there’s got to be a release around her somewhere.
ANOTHER ANGLE FEATURING LOCK The face of Ra is rusted and bent but it holds fast as it connects to a series of rods. Sam feels the walls. His hands move up to the door and over nearby surfaces, but nothing happens. AL’S VOICE Maybe it’s just an old door that’s been locked up for ages. A storage area that nobody uses anymore. ON SAM AND AL Sam looks down at the floor, notices something and bends down to look. SAM’S POINT OF VIEW – DRY MUD on the floor. BACK ON SAM moves to exit. SAM Someone’s been here recently. Sam stands and walks back, counting his steps. SAM One, two, three, four… On four, Sam steps down hard, slamming his foot on a certain spot on the ground. Nothing happens. AL I think it’s a little more sophisticated than that.
SAM Didn’t you ever read about the technology of the Egyptians? They moved mountains of stone with no machinery, built pyramids, the Sphinx and crypts with countless secret passageways and countless secret locks. (beat) Now if I can…. As Sam speaks, he steps hard on another spot. As he does, the door pops open. SAM Bingo. (beat) Shall we? They enter. INT. MUSEUM BASEMENT HALLWAY – STAIRCASE – TRACK – NIGHT A long descending staircase leads to another set of doors. Sam walks down into the darkness to the doors. Al is waiting. Sam hesitates before reaching to open them. AL Just try the knob this time. Sam reaches for the handle and pulls the door open. INT. AVENGER’S CAVERN LAIR – NIGHT – SAM’S POINT OF VIEW The sanctuary home of the Avenger, a dark room covered in shadows well below the museum. A light blinks on and off. It’s the Avenger’s warning system. As the light blinks, the room is illuminated. It is a giant area with a front section library and rear laboratory. Several suits of armor hang throughout the room, two or three stand in glass display cases. An eerie feeling as they enter. AL This place gives met he creeps.
SAM It’s amazing. A hundred feet under the museum. I bet no one knows it’s here.
SADIE’S VOICE (interrupting) Good morning. On Sam and Al as they jump. They can’t see anyone there. ANOTHER ANGLE – WIDER TO INCLUDE ALL As SADIE SPOONER, the Avenger’s long-time housekeeper and friend, enters. Black, older, night cleaning lady for the museum. AL I hate it when people do that!
SAM (taking a breath) Good morning. SADIE (as she helps him off with his coat and takes it) You catch any bad guys?
SAM …almost. (re coat) Thank you.
SADIE Well, maybe tomorrow. Now soup’s on the table. Go on and eat it, then get some sleep.
SAM Soup? Oh yeah, soup. Okay. Thanks.
SADIE You’re not gonna eat it. You never do.
Sadie reaches up to hug him. Sam gingerly puts his arms around her. SADIE Well at least get some rest. You can’t keep going out all night on no sleep or nothin’. I’ll be back at ten. ON SAM Unfamiliar with the territory, he doesn’t move. SADIE (misunderstanding) You’re gonna go to work, aren’t you, no matter what I say? I don’t know why I should try, you’ve been this way for the last twenty years since I’ve known you.
SAM Twenty years?
SADIE Since the day you started working here, and I was cleaning. All through the good times and the bad. And you haven’t done what I told you yet.
AL He always had a stubborn streak.
SAM I always had a stubborn streak.
SADIE Well, if you’re gonna work, I’m gonna get that soup. As Sadie exits, Sam and Al move around the room. INT. LIBRARY SECTION – NEW ANGLE ON SAM AND AL Standing alone in the Avenger’s cavern-like, sitting-room-styled lair. Sam moves to an old Thirteenth Century oil lamp and lights it. He does the same thing with several others and the room lights up. Walls of books line the room in high bookcases. At the far end, a step leads down to the lab/work area. AL You’d think he’d have a little Edison. NEW ANGLE The library section is exquisite, much like a museum. Sam focuses on a case of ancient weapons (maces, swords, etc.). SAM Magnificent. It’s like the days of yore in here.
AL (off handlink) According to his notes, he recreated a Thirteenth Century lair because he believed he was a true knight and wanted to live as they did. Personally, I think he was nuts. Sam moves over to another large display case. CLOSE ON ARMOR IN DISPLAY CASE Ancient armor from the medieval and crusade period line the walls in glass cases. Al and Sam move around the room looking. Sam peers into one as he speaks. SAM Well, if he is, he’s got good taste. This stuff’s really from the crusades, Al. 1206, 1240…. SAM’S POINT OF VIEW – MIRROR SHOT As he looks into a tall display case, he sees Dr. Cooper’s reflection peering back at him in front of the suit of armor. Cooper is handsome, dark, thirty-five, wearing black-rimmed glasses which mask a handsome, strong-jawed face. BACK ON SAM AND AL Al studies a Twelfth Century sarcophagus. An ancient knight lays chiseled in the stone, his shield rests upon his chest. AL (squirming) This guy’s into dead people. Weird, Sam.
SAM When I was a kid, I had a real thing for knights. The folklore, legends and stuff. Sir Gwaine and the Holy Grail, King Arthur, Excalibur, Richard the Lionhearted… It seemed Like there was so much honor and glory. My dad took me over to the museum in Indianapolis once, but all they had were pictures of the weapons and suits of armor. It was years before I saw the real thing. Always thought it’ve been great to have lived then.
AL No running water, no bathrooms, if you’re the king, your son’s always trying to kill you… I don’t think so, Sam.
SAM Princesses, damsels, wenches… Al considers for a moment, then his eye catches a display case of chastity belts and sexual prevention devices. CLOSE UP ON A PAINFUL-LOOKING CHASTITY BELT With a sketch of it in use. AL Not me. It’s like being in a candy store and having a cavity.
SAM (coming to one display) Look at this. Al moves over to Sam. THEIR POINT OF VIEW The suit of armor breastplate matches exactly the pattern on Sam’s suit, one hundred crosses. The case placard reads: THE BLACK KNIGHT, circa 1240. SAM (looking down at his own) The patterns on the breastplate are the same.
AL (reading) Who’s the Black Knight?
SAM According to this, he was a knight errant from the twelve hundreds. ANOTHER ANGLE As Sam speaks, he moves over to the stacks, looking for something. Sam pulls a book from high on the bookcase. AL (off handlink) Ziggy says they had some kind of secret societies back then? Initiation rites, ceremonies, rituals, quests… Just like the Delts.
SAM Who?
AL My fraternity. You hang out, get drunk, go on road trips, scam women that aren’t going to say yes anyway… (looking at Sam) You didn’t miss much.
SAM These were honor societies, Al, sworn to seek out enemies of the Prince. Each man cut off his small toe and promised never to divulge the names of the others.
AL That’s disgusting. Not as disgusting as the time Huey Lombart threw up all over the backseat…
SAM No one knew where they met or where they lived. But they traveled for the cause, and always brought justice with them. AL’S POINT OF VIEW He’s looking at an article among several, which hang pinned to the wall. AL I think that’s what Cooper wants.
SAM What?
AL Justice. Look at these. ANOTHER ANGLE As Sam moves over to see. NEW ANGLE – THEIR POINT OF VIEW – THE ARTICLES Several articles line the walls. It’s a progression from the early success of Dr. Cooper, through his marriage to a beautiful woman, to articles on the exploits of the Midnight Avenger and the victims he’s saved. AL ‘A stranger dressed in black saves sixty children from school fire…Man saved from drowning, three captured in robbery attempt, man found guilty of arson…’
SAM ‘…disappears into the night. Can’t be found. Is he vigilante or Friend…?’
AL Good question.
SAM I think I know. Listen. Sam opens the book and begins to read. SAM ‘In the year 1242 of our Lord, the Black Knight…’
AL (re the empty suit in the case) Nice looking…
SAM ‘…returned home from the crusades to find that his land and wealth had been stolen from him by the bishops. He challenged the rights of the bishops but lost. The imprisoned him, and forced him to watch as his beloved wife, Diana, was tortured and her throat slit in front of him. To teach all others, they gathered one hundred innocents from the village and slit their throats as well. He was helpless to help them. From that day forward, the Black Knight painted the herald of his tunic black, and wandered the land protecting the innocent from evil. The hundred crosses on his vestment were for the hundred who died. The gold coin medallion he wore, was for his wife.’
AL Ziggy says there’s no record of his Christian name. Who he really was. Everything he did, he did alone, at night, and then disappeared like smoke evaporating.
SAM I know who he was.
AL Who?
SAM Cooper’s hero. ANOTHER ANGLE Al has moved over to a different set of framed articles. AL Sam, Cooper’s wife, Donna, was murdered in Central Park, almost two years ago. He watched her die and he couldn’t help her. (beat) Diana… Donna…? NEW ANGLE – CLOSE ON AN ARTICLE With photo of beautiful woman, and headline, "PARK MURDERER STRKES AGAIN." NEW ANGLE Sam moves over to the news page and pulls it off the wall. SAM He couldn’t help her?
AL It says, he was held and forced to watch.
SAM No wonder he can’t forgive himself… I don’t think I could either.
AL No one could. It’s a pain so great, it’s almost unbearable. Sam looks questioningly at Al. AL (off Sam’s look) I never told you this. It was before I ever got married. She was sixteen. And I loved her. But I couldn’t save her.
SAM You never told me about her before.
AL Some things are so unthinkable, you just can’t speak of them. I knew Rebbecca was going to die. Sixteen year olds don’t survive drunk drivers.
SAM I’m so sorry, Al.
AL I don’t think the dying was as hard as the watching. I had to sit there and wait when I just wanted to scream, yell, do anything, do something. But I couldn’t. Sometimes, it just happens that way.
SAM But you survived it.
AL Maybe Cooper couldn’t. The truth is it took me a long time to forgive myself for being the one who lived.
SAM Forgiving yourself is always the hardest. ANOTHER ANGLE As Sam speaks, Sadie enters with the hot bowl of soup. She hears, the "forgive" part. Sam picks up a well-used journal and glances at it as Al and Sadie talk. SADIE It’s been two years. It’s time. (beat) There was nothing you could do. Miss Donna loved you.
AL (reading handlink) According to the police report, she ran out that night after an argument with Cooper. He went after her, but lost her in the park. When he found her she was dying.
SADIE Sometimes you can’t control what happens to people you love. What you got to accept is that sometimes people die and there’s nothing you can do. (beat) God wanted that girl with Him and that was that.
AL They’d been married only one year when it went down. He disappeared a few weeks later. TIGHT ON JOURNAL Sam reads. SAM’S VOICE ‘Sometimes you have to do something or it just boils up inside until it explodes… I fight to protect others. To avenge her, my love…’ ON AL There is a sadness in Sam as he looks up from the pages. AL Looks like he made himself the knight errant of Central Park
SADIE But now it’s time to stop. You promised. By May fourteenth, it’d be over.
AL (reading) ‘Two days from now. That’s the anniversary of her death.’
SADIE I can’t keep hiding you here any longer. They’re gonna catch me and fire me. I’ve been here thirty-six years, I don’t want to lose this. (beat) And you can’t keep hiding, either.
SAM May fourteenth? On Al, who nods, then wider: SADIE May fourteenth. (beat) And then you’ve got to get back to the living. Sadie kisses Sam on the cheek, smiles, then walks out. SAM Why am I here? What happens to Cooper? On Al, fiddling with the handlink. AL According to Ziggy, Cooper was accused of murder and shot in the head by the police… (beat) …On May fourteen, 1959. (beat) Sam, May fourteen, 1959. Two days from now, you die! FADE OUT
END OF ACT ONE
FADE IN EXT. MUSEUM – ESTABLISH INT. AVENGER’S LAIR – NIGHT – ON SAM – CONTINUING SAM’S VOICE I die? He starts to pace, pulling pieces of the Avenger’s suit off. He studies the various pieces. SAM That’s ridiculous
AL Ziggy says that’s the day that Cooper dies.
SAM If Cooper was trying to kill anyone, it would have been a mugger or a rapist or…
AL (fiddling with handlink) Uh oh… that’s weird. (curious) Well, first Ziggy said you were shot in the park, now she says, you’re shot in some alley on the eastside.
SAM She must have got her data crossed.
AL At midnight in two days, you’re going to be a goner unless we find out.
SAM Then I just won’t go out that night.
AL You can’t do that. According to Ziggy, two innocent people that Cooper saved, will die. You’ve got to.
SAM How do you know?
AL There was an article written about you the day after you were killed. In the story, three people reported that you saved them.
SAM But you said ‘two.’
AL I know. Ziggy said it changed.
SAM I want to go back and find out everything that happened to Cooper that night.
AL Where are you going? He fidgets with the sleeve blade. SAM To do some research of my own. Off Sam’s look, Al POPS out. We hold on Sam as his eyes go back to the journal. He sets the blades down and picks up the book as we… CUT TO EXT. NEW YORK NEWS – AFTERNOON – ESTABLISHING SHOT (STOCK) A bustling New York in the late Fifties, with period traffic and people running the race of the sidewalks. INT. NEWS – LILLY’S CUBBYHOLE Lilly sits at her desk which is covered by thick history books. She’s studying them, clearly searching for something. CLOSE ON HER DESKTOP Where the medieval coin sits. Lilly picks it up and looks at it again as though she’s done this twenty times before. LILLY Damn…
MC BRIDE What was that?
LILLY Frustration.
REPORTER What about this time?
Lilly closes the book and piles it atop the other volumes. She writes something down, then: LILLY Can’t tell you, McBride.
MC BRIDE You know I might just be able to help.
LILLY So you keep saying.
MC BRIDE You know one of these days…
LILLY Who’s got the time… (beat) What do you know about Thirteenth Century loose change? She shows him the coin. ANOTHER ANGLE As McBride takes the piece and examines it. NEW ANGLE As he moves over to her desk, reaching for a book as his chest bends over her a little too closely. LILLY I could have passed it to you, McBride
MC BRIDE Where’d you get this?
LILLY You don’t need to know.
McBride searches for something in the book, then finding it, hands the book to her. Lilly takes it and sees what he’s showing her. MC BRIDE I think this is one of the coins of Chelsea. Very rare and very valuable, Lilly. You could be in over your head.
LILLY It wouldn’t be the first time. Would it?
MC BRIDE There’s one problem with this. He hands the coin back to her. LILLY What’s that?
MC BRIDE There are supposed to be none of these left. (beat, off her look) King Edward destroyed them in the Sixteenth Century. Melted into oblivion… (beat) …or so the book says. ANOTHER ANGLE As Lilly looks down at where McBride’s pointing. MC BRIDE Try the Museum of Natural History. It’s too bad, though. The curator was a guy named Cooper who specialized in this stuff, but he disappeared two years ago after his wife was killed. I remember covering the story. (beat) They may still have some stuff… ON MC BRIDE As he hands her back the coin, and shrugs shyly. MC BRIDE Hope it helps you, Cormac.
LILLY (sincerely) Thanks, Tim. ON MC BRIDE As he says nothing, but smiles and bows like a courtier of the period, then moves off. ON LILLY She looks after him a beat, then down at the coin in her hand. CLOSE ON COIN It turns in her hand and stops as her fingers close around it. CUT TO EXT. MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY – DAY – ESTABLISHING (STOCK) INT. MUSEUM – DAY SAM’S VOICE Waiting for night, I thought I’d see the place Cooper really called home. I found an old guard uniform and fit right in as I walked among the relics. ANOTHER ANGLE ON LILLY As she walks across the marble in the Twelfth Century rooms. She walks up to a display of medieval weaponry – maces, spiked balls, lances, etc. As she looks into the display case: LILLY (to herself) Looks like fun. ANOTHER ANGLE ON SAM Peering into the same case from the other side. COOPER’S REFLECTION – MIRROR SHOT Sam’s lost in his own thoughts, but hears… SAM They weren’t designed for fun. They were for survival in a hostile time.
LILLY Those were the days. Right was right. Wrong was wrong. And you didn’t have to wait for the police to save you.
SAM I don’t know. Things would be pretty wild if everyone just took matters into their own hands, don’t you think?
LILLY (a little bit flirtatiously) I guess that would depend on how wild you like it.
SAM You’re interested in medieval history?
LILLY Just recently. There are so many Mysteries hidden in the mysticism.
SAM Mystery?
LILLY I like figuring things out.
SAM Maybe I could be of some help?
LILLY (smiling) Only if it includes dinner.
SAM There must be plenty of men interested in buying you dinner.
LILLY But I’m interested in you.
SAM Why me?
LILLY Because I need to find somebody who can tell me about days gone by.
SAM And you think I can do that?
LILLY I hope so. (beat, grinning) You’re wearing the uniform. Sam looks and realizes that the shirt he took to wear of Coopers has a museum employee pass on it, no name or picture though. SAM (smiling, relaxing) Oh, right. (beat) How far gone?
LILLY What?
SAM …the days gone by.
LILLY (smiling) Eight centuries. (off Sam’s look) I really am interested. What we are, came from then. They just had clearer choices.
SAM (getting intrigued) Clearer choices? I’m not so sure.
LILLY Morality. Justice. An eye for an eye.
SAM Maybe we learned something since then.
LILLY Maybe we didn’t learn enough.
SAM I’m curious. History is full of turbulent times. Why did you pick then?
LILLY Because of this. (holds up the coin) Can you tell me about this? Lilly holds out the coin that she found in the opening. SAM (recognizing it) Where did you get this?
LILLY Uh…it was a gift from my… grandmother.
SAM (taking it) The One Hundred.
LILLY Excuse me?
SAM That’s the inscription.
LILLY What does it mean?
SAM There’s a display case over there that I think can better answer your questions. NEW ANGLE As Lilly walks over to the case as Sam remains standing there. She keeps talking as she walks. LILLY Right before my grandmother died, she asked me to come see her… said she had something very special for me, but she died before I could get there. This was in her estate… but no explanation… Lilly momentarily looks down into the case, then back at Sam NEW ANGLE Sam is gone. BACK ON LILLY HOLD ON Lilly’s expression, then: CLOSE ON THE INSIDE OF THE CASE Several medieval coins and medallions are displayed. The placard reads: THIRTEENTH CENTRY EUROPEAN COIN COLLECTION DONATED BY LORD HENRY HARRINGTON. ON LILLY Lilly fingers the coin and realizes that it’s similar, but not exact, to others of that period. ANOTHER ANGLE As Lilly looks up in the case. Suddenly something catches her eye. LILLY’S POINT OF VIEW She sees a photograph of several dignitaries, and a young woman. She looks closer into the picture. CLOSE ON THE PHOTO Standing there in the forefront is COOPER accepting the collection from Lord Harrington. The caption reads: DR. COOPER ACCEPTS THE CHELSEA COIN COLLECTION FROM LORD HARRINGTON. Standing beside Cooper is Cooper’s wife. Lilly looks more carefully at the photograph. The names listed include DONNA COOPER. CLOSE ON COOPER’S WIFE She is wearing the coin medallion in Lilly’s hands. ON LILLY As she pulls back. She looks down at her coin, then over to where she stood with Sam, then realizes. LILLY (to herself) Cooper… but he’s supposed to be dead. On her expression as she puts two and two together. CUT TO INT. AVENGER’S LAIR – LATER THAT NIGHT – ON SAM Standing in front of Cooper’s lab table. The suit hangs nearby. Several pieces lay on the library table in front of him. Sam studies each one. AL’S VOICE Hope you can put that thing back together. INCLUDING AL He stands looking over Sam’s shoulders. SAM I’ve got to figure out how the hell it works first. It must’ve saved Cooper’s life a dozen times. If I can make an adjustment or two, maybe it’ll do it on last time and save mine.
AL Looks like you’ve made a few.
SAM I had a little help. ANOTHER ANGLE Sam turns the page of an ancient ledger. AL What’s that?
SAM An ancient scribe with secrets about alloys and alchemy, Middle Eastern engineering, old Greek weaponry… the secrets to building this suit. As he speaks, Sam continues playing with different mechanical parts of the suit. SAM (continuing) It’s brilliant. I think Cooper found this ledger on one of his trips for the museum and kept it. It’s been a long time since I’ve spoken Latin, but I think he combined theoretical and physical principles to recreate the Black Knight. Look at this. ANOTHER ANGLE Sam holds up the suit and slashes it several times with a knife. SAM (continuing) Won’t penetrate. It’s an alloy that the ancient alchemists combined using lead, iro |
