[FADE IN: A view of the full moon high in sky above a sea of dark clouds.]
[Pan down to the clouds, and into them. As the camera passes deeper into the clouds, an ominous drone becomes audible.]
[Camera bursts down through the cloud deck. Below, a squadron of truly massive six engine bombers stretches nearly to the horizon in all directions, each one bristling with machine guns and escorted by swarms of twin engine fighters. Desultory flack bursts around them. The unmistakable whistle of falling bombs competes with the drone of the engines, while on the ground below chains of explosions illuminate an otherwise darkened city.]
[Camera zooms in on the swastika emblazoned on the wing of one of the bombers before panning down.]
[View hurtles downward to ground level on a road leading into a city rocked by explosions and in flames. Searchlights scan the sky, highlighting the underbellies of the huge Nazi bombers. Air raid sirens wail.]
[Camera pans to the right of the road, to a sign impossible to read in the darkness.]
[An explosion suddenly lights up the night, revealing the words of the sign: "Welcome to Washington, D.C."]
[The light fades. Text fades in at bottom center of screen: "July 27, 1943".]
[Camera pans down again, into the ground. Darkness reigns for a few moments before an underground laboratory comes into view. A handsome but disheveled middle-aged man in a lab coat bustles among bulky machinery, sparking Jacob's ladders, and bubbling flasks, checking readings and adjusting dials. In the center of the room lies a scrawny blonde youth in a loose white jumpsuit, strapped to a metal table inside a horizontal cylinder of glass and steel.]
[The room shakes under the impact of an explosion high above. As the dust drifts down from the ceiling, the scientist hurries to steady a wobbling vial of bubbling blue-green liquid. He checks a nearby dial for the second time, nods to himself, and turns to the man on the table.]
[SCIENTIST:] "You're sure you want to go through with this? The procedure hasn't been tested. There could be-"
[Another explosion shakes the lab.]
[YOUNG MAN:] [Nodding.] "Do it, Doc. It's the only way."
[SCIENTIST:] [Nodding regretfully.] "All right, then. God speed."
[Scientist reaches up for a switch, hesitates just a moment, then throws it.]
[An electric hum fills the air as the overhead lights dim. An eerie blue-green glow suffuses the room, its source the interior of the metal cylinder. The young man screams and struggles as the light grows stronger, backlighting his skeleton like a living X-ray. Lightning crackles across the lab equipment. Camera pans back quickly to a close-up of the youth's transparent hand and forearm as they begin to -grow-.]
[One of the banks of equipment explodes, sending the scientist flying across the room. Smoke fills the room as the hum and glow both fade.]
[The scientist struggles to his feet, shaking his head... then looks up in amazement at the figure stepping forward out of the smoke, silhouetted against the flames of the burning equipment. It is the scrawny youth, now a muscular titan of a man wearing the tattered remnants of the jumpsuit!]
[YOUNG MAN:] "You... okay, Doc?"
[SCIENTIST:] "Y-yes... I'm fine. The question is, how are _you_?"
[YOUNG MAN:] [Flexes his arms experimentally, then grins.] "Doc, I've never felt better."
[Another explosion from the bombing shakes the lab.]
[SCIENTIST:] [Nodding and offering his patient a small smile.] "Then you'd best get to work, hadn't you?"
[The youth grins -- the square-jawed grin of a Hollywood hero.]
[The scientist presses a button on the wall. A concealed circular aperture opens on the ceiling, revealing a tunnel to the surface. Sounds of the air raid grow louder.]
[The youth gives the scientist a parting nod and smile, then tenses his legs and leaps into the air, flying straight up the tunnel and into the chaotic night.]
[SCIENTIST:] [Watching the youth fly off.] "Go get'em, Carl."
[The whistle of a falling bomb grows suddenly louder. The scientist's expression becomes one of grim resignation.]
[Deafening explosion! The lab caves in, having taken a direct hit from the bomb.]
[CUT TO: Carl rising higher and higher into the night sky toward the Nazi bombers.]
[CUE THEME MUSIC. "Teasing" with the rumblings of the first strains, slowly building in strength and tempo.]
[CLOSE-UP of Carl.]
[CARL:] [Determined look.] "Okay, Ratzis... Time for a little taste of Justice!"
[Carl flies up and out of sight. Music builds steadily now. Cloudy sky fades to black.]
[Opening credits begin, quickly rushing forward at the audience out of the distance from center of screen. (Small fanfare of music with each line.)]
[Lines read as follows:]
"Hero City Productions Presents"
*****
"Dum da-da dum...!"
*****
"A Steven Spielberg Film"
*****
"Dum da-da dum...!"
*****
"Kurt Russel"
*****
"Dum da-da dumdumdum...!"
*****
"Max Von Sydow"
*****
"Dum da-da dumdumdum...! DumdumDUMdumdumDUM da-da dumdumdum...!"
*****
[Music builds to crescendo! "Captain Justice" emblem burns its way onto the screen.]
[Camera hurtles forward through the emblem. Title hurtles forward in giant gleaming silver letters!]
"CAPTAIN JUSTICE: THE MOVIE"
[-- clip from "Captain Justice: The Movie", copyright 1978, Hero City Pictures, Ltd.]
*****
"DA-DA-DAAAAAAH! DA-DA-DA-DA-DAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! HAHAHAHA!!"
"Hey, shut the fuck up! I didn't pay five goddamn metabucks to hear YOU sing the goddamn... ah... holy Christ..."
The greasy seat of the ancient moviehouse creaks in protest as its occupant turns to regard his accuser. The heroic visage on tattered screen echoes his glowering face.
Not even attempting to hide the spreading wetness at his waist, the disgruntled patron flees up the aisle. The esrtwhile target of his ire snorts his contempt, then turns back around to watch the show.
-His- show.
*****
[CUT TO: A balcony of a high-rise apartment building. Captain Justice, his costume scorched and tattered, drifts gracefully down out of the night, the lovely Margo Mason in his arms. He lands, gently lowering her to her feet.]
[CAPT. JUSTICE:] "You're safe now, Mar-... Miss Mason. It's all over."
[MARGO MASON:] [clinging to him] "No, it isn't. Not _really_. Dr. Destruction. He's still out there somewhere."
[CAPT. JUSTICE:] [grimly, as he gently disengages her] "You're right, Miss Mason..."
[MARGO MASON:] "Please, Captain... _Margo_."
[CAPT. JUSTICE:] [small smile] "You're right, Margo." [distant look] "He's still out there. And that's where I have to go, too. To bring him in."
[MARGO MASON:] [clasping his hand] "No, please, Captain... Won't you stay here with me? Just for a little while?"
[Captain Justice gently removes her hand from his arm, kissing it before lowering it again.]
[CAPT. JUSTICE:] [shaking his head sadly] "No, Margo. I can't. There's a lot of bad out there. A lot of things that need setting right. And I've sworn to do my part."
[Margo seems about to protest, then smiles and nods tearfully.]
[Captain Justice tenderly wipes away one of her tears and kisses her forehead, then turns and launches himself from the balcony.]
[CAPT. JUSTICE:] [over his shoulder] "I'll be back."
[CUE THEME MUSIC: Slowly builds in intensity as Captain Justice rises into the sky.]
[CAPT. JUSTICE:] [smiling] "Okay, Doc... Time for a little taste of Justice!"
[Music reaches quick crescendo!]
[FADE TO BLACK; ROLL CREDITS]
*****
Carl stretches and squints as he steps out of the darkened theater and into the hazy sunshine. God, what a load of crap! He'd demand his money back, if he'd paid in the first place. And if he hadn't already seen it 38 times.
Having nowhere in particular to go, he turns right. In this neighborhood, it doesn't really matter. One direction is just as bad as another.
Waves of late afternoon heat-stink rise off festering puddles of gutter filth. A stray dog urinates on a fire hydrant, sniffing Carl's leg for a follow-up before fleeing a threatened kick. Further up the street, a muttering bum pushes a shopping cart full of putrescent treasures crowned by two sleeping cats.
Carl wrinkles his nose and scowls. You'd think a theater in a halfway _decent_ neighborhood would show that damn m-
"Help!!"
The cry brings Carl up short at the mouth of an alley. He peers into the shadows with the curiosity of a bored Basset.
Three leather-clad teenage toughs -- two Skrills and a Human -- have a small, terrified Human boy backed up against a dumpster in a replay of the eternal preying of the young upon the younger.
"Shut the fuck up, Deeb!" the larger of the two Skrills snarls, roughly shoving the boy back against the dumpster with a hollow clang. "Just give us those creds, and maybe you don't get hurt _too_ bad."
'Deeb' glances around desperately like the cornered creature he is. And there, silhouetted at the mouth of the alley, he sees Carl. Or, more accurately, he sees Adult, and therefore Hope.
With a sudden lunge, he breaks from the semi-circle of tormentors and runs at Carl -- the sight of whom shocks the toughs long enough to prevent an otherwise easy recapture.
"Please, Mister!" Deeb tearfully pleads, clinging to Carl's right leg like a spooked cat on a tree trunk. "_Help_ me! They're gonna beat me up again!"
"H-hey!" Carl blinks, prying the boy from his leg with one finger. "Beat it, runt!"
"No, _pleeeeeease_!" the boy wails. He looks fearfully over his shoulder at the toughs, who in turn cast sideways glances at one another -- each hoping the others will take the lead against this new and unexpected threat.
Carl looks down at the boy. Carl looks at the punks. Carl looks down at the boy again, and sees _another_ boy: a small, puny boy, forever tormented by his peers for his weakness. Weakness that that small boy would one day cast aside forever -- not for himself, but for his country and the greater good.
And he scowls, and gently eases the boy to one side.
The toughs blanch.
"Oh, shit..." the large Skrill stammers. He breaks and runs up the alley, his comrades quickly following suit.
Carl doesn't run after them.
He _leaps_.
And when he craters into the ground again ahead of the fleeing punks to cut off their escape, the shockwave sends them sprawling.
They moan. Blood trickles from the smaller Skrill's nose, and from one ear of the Human.
But when they look up to see Carl looming over them, fear sweeps away such insignificant concerns.
"Now listen UP, you little shits!" Carl thunders, his huge finger hovering inches from their faces. "Deeb over there, he's a pal of mine. I don't like people who rough up my pals. So if I EVER hear you've been pulling this shit again..."
He puts his fist through the wall -- much to the dismay of the Saurian answering the call of nature in the bathroom on the far side.
The toughs stumble to their feet and flee.
And as Carl dusts off his hands, Deeb runs to reassert his hug on Carl's leg. "_Thankyouthankyouthankyou_, Mr. Strongman Sir!"
Carl chuckles. "All right, all right, runt. Now beat it! I'm busy!"
"Yessir!" Deeb beams, scurrying off with a spring in his step and a swell in his chest.
Carl watches him go silently. He continues to look after him for a long while after the boy is out of sight.
When he finally strolls out of the alley, it's with a rare smile on his face.
And with a song on his lips.
_His_ song.
"Dum da-da dumdumdum...! DumdumDUMdumdumDUM da-da dumdumdum...!"
Do not copy or quote the above material without the expressed consent of the owner of this page.