Meta-tribes #2 Secret Identities

Brian Bowhay [email protected] FOR MATURE READERS All characters and civilizations are purely fictional and are in no way allegorical to any groups or individuals, past or present. __________________________________________________________________________________

META-TRIBES #2:

SECRET IDENTITIES She knows me, the jade; she is in the secret of my work, of my patience, of my trick, routine, or what you may. She lives in my innermost being, and into it sees more closely than you or I myself. She knows what machine faultless I have become Guy de Maupassant

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Vyriss and Shun It is the hour of sunrise, the shadows are long. Orange and red streaks illuminate the clouds on the horizon. There is a breeze in the cool morning air. A woman in armor is standing on a hill in Southern Kayn. A short scruffy man is standing next to her. The woman is throwing seeds on the ground all around her. About 20 or 30 black birds are feasting. PAGE 2 There are small funnel clouds like dust devils approaching in the far distance. The woman is Vyriss, an assassin from Persicaa. Man, “There! It’s him, that’s where he is.” Woman, “That’s where he was.” She throws the rest of the feed on the ground. “Leave me.” She watches as a band of P’lishtim raiders approach a helpless town. A streak of distorted light passes through the group. The bandits fall to ground. PAGE 3 A sonic boom erupts. The birds begin squawking and take flight. A dark and shrouded figure is seen in the scattering flock. It is Shun’ya Naq’qarah, the man Vyriss has been looking for. Shun, “You still think you can take me?” PAGE 4 Vyriss is quiet for a moment and then disappears, shrinking out of sight, “I think you don’t know me and you have no idea what I am capable of.” Her voice is distorted as if coming from a megaphone, but quite as if on a very narrow bandwidth. Shun maintains a relaxed posture, slowly scanning the area, “Okay, let’s find out what you are capable of.” Vyriss, “You were careless with the birds.” Shun looks at his left hand, there is a tear in the glove and his skin has been broken. “Special delivery a Chronal distortion detector; you won’t be sneaking up on me anytime soon.” Shun, “You put a beacon on me?” Vyriss, “An early warning system.” Shun is still looking around, “I could cut off your ears before the sound of an alarm ever reached them.” Vyriss, “Not if you’re already dead.” PAGE 5 Shun looks at his hand again clenching his fist and then slowly releasing it, “so the beacon is just a back up…very thorough…” “Well, shit.” Shun takes off his mask. “That’s not really how I imagined this going...” He turns around and starts walking towards town.

Vyriss, “Where do you think you’re going?” Shun, “If you just poisoned me and I’m about to die I’m not going to spend my last moments sparing with you. I’m going to go get a drink, maybe ask a pretty girl to dance.” Vyriss returns to normal size and watches him walk off. Shun shouts out, “You comin’?” PAGE 6 THE TAVERN is musty and lit by torches. The walls are covered with animal skins and tapestries. The women are ugly. Shun is seated in a corner watching a trio play. One old man is standing with a steel drum, another is seated playing two flutes at the same time, the third man is squatting on the floor playing a sitar. Shun raises his fist and shouts like an drunk frat boy at a metal concert, “YEAH!!! YEAAAAH!!!” He looks over and sees that Vyriss has entered the dark tavern. “Hello again.” PAGE 7 Vyriss looks around, sits down, and takes off her helmet. “If someone had struck me with a fatal blow I would still try to fight to the bitter end. I would do everything I could to kill them before my last breath.” Shun leans back in his chair and takes a drink, “There are endless horrors in this world. I do my best to fight them, but at the end of the day I just want to remember why I care, take pleasure in the fragile moments of peace.” Shun slides the drink across the table to her. “When I look back on my life, I think I did okay.” PAGE 8 Vyriss looks around, “Lucky for you you didn’t timeshift on your way here.” She plops a dead bird on the table, “The poison release is activated by chronal distortion.” She squeezes bird juice into the cup. “If you want the antidote, then the next round is on you.” There is tense silence for what feels like an eternity. He erupts into laughter. PAGE 9 MASKS A cloth mask with goggles and a helmet are next to each other on a trunk at the end of a bed. Next to the gear is a decorative plate with some sliced tomatoes, goat cheese, and two small dried fish. Shun is in his upper twenties is wearing a robe with a towel wrapped around his waist. He is slim and fit and pouring himself a drink in a sparse adobe villa with a few hanging plants and tapestries. Vyriss has strawberry blonde hair and an athletic build is lying on the bed wrapped in a sheet looking at the gear. She is in her mid thirties. Vyriss, “Why do you wear this mask, it offers no protection.” Shun, “It keeps me from swallowing bugs.”

Vyriss, “That’s it? You’re not keeping some secret identity?” Shun, “Secret identity?” Vyriss gives him a sly grin, “To keep a clever assassin from finding out who you are…where you live?” PAGE 10 Shun stands on the bed, “That’s funny, matching my face to my name doesn’t make me vulnerable, and it certainly doesn’t tell you who I am.” Vyriss, “Then who are you?” Shun jumps up and down on the bed posing heroically, “I am Shun’ya Naq’qarah, The Empty Shell, The Southern Ghost; no one can lay a finger on me…maybe a feather, but not a finger.” Vyriss rolls over to look at him, “You don’t make any sense. You’re not worried about putting your family in danger?” Shun, “The judges of Kayn are my family, and going after them? That would be suicide. No, I have nothing to hide.” PAGE 11 Vyriss raises her brow, “A life without secrets, you can just be yourself with anyone anywhere.” Shun sits down, “Well, I’m a little more ‘well behaved’ around Esh’la. I certainly wouldn’t drink around here and I would never speak to her ‘disciples’ the way I speak to everyone else, that would just be stupid…yea, now that I think about it, I tend to moderate around the rest of the judges too.” Vyriss, “They wouldn’t accept you the way you are?” Shun smiles, “Heh, you want to find out?” Vyriss rolls over again and smiles, “This really isn’t information I can use to kill you.” Shun lays down next to her running his fingers down her spine, “Isn’t it obvious what my weakness is?” PAGE 12 The P’lishtim Raiders Shun and Vyriss are dressed for a fight. They are standing on a hill over looking a village. They are watching a group of P’lishtim Raiders advancing towards the village. About five of the raiders are riding out in front. Shun, “Here they come.” PAGE 13 Vyriss looks at him, “Ladies first.” She shrinks and has sprouted an exotic harness for flight. She zips away. The raider in front suddenly falls off his horse grabbing his head and screaming in agony. The other riders look at him confused. his head explodes. PAGE 14 Vyriss emerges out of the man’s head growing to full size.

Before the first two riders can do anything she reaches her sides cross armed and extends her arms throwing two large discs like shurikens. One hits the man on the left in the adam’s apple. The other hits the second rider right in the middle of his face. PAGE 15 She looks at the next rider charging her. A beam of light shoots through her hands as a trident materializes in her grip. She spears the guy in the chest and uses his momentum to vault him over her head. She twists the handle and the pole becomes a whip. PAGE 16 She snares the last rider by the neck jarring him off his steed and on to the ground where she impales him with a spiked jute. Vyriss straitens up and Shun is standing next to her. Shun, “A little messy. When I’m done there won’t be a single drop of blood on me or my swords.” Vyriss, “Funny.” Shun, “Before you put your first weapon away I’ll finish this. And then we can see the grateful townies about some dinner.” Shun zips away; Vyriss hits a record button on her helmet. PAGE 17 Research Vyriss is by her self in the villa staring at the mirror. One side of her face is lit and the other side is in the shadows. She has her helmet hooked up to a hand held video monitor. She is watching the footage of Shun frame by frame. Shun is standing in front of a group of bandits on horseback. They look like they are charging at full speed, but are moving in slow motion from Shun’s perspective. Shun pulls out his sword from the sheath on his back and jumps up and cuts off the first rider’s head. The head stays suspended in the air about an inch from the neck. PAGE 18 Shun does a jumping back turn kick towards the second rider. The rider’s body slowly starts falling back as the head and limbs start coming off. Shun springs off the second horse and does a flip while pulling out a second sword from the horizontal sheath behind his torso.

Shun drops to the ground and cuts two riders (leaning forward) and their horses in half. PAGE 19 Video screen shot of multiple blurred images of Shun spinning and slashing as he continues down the line. Vyriss is pacing and talking into a device on her gauntlet. She hits replay on the video. PAGE 20 Back at the Villa Vyriss, “I was in love with a colleague, I never told him. I didn’t want to risk the relationship I already had with him, even if it wasn’t everything I wanted, it was still something…” Shun, “It wasn’t worth the risk?” Vyriss, “(sigh) I’m sick of talking about my stuff. What about you and your Kayin friends.” Shun, “It’s no big deal. There are things we wouldn’t see eye to eye on…It just wouldn’t go well, so I keep to myself.” Vyriss, “Screw em’, who needs the judgment.” Shun leans in to kiss her forehead, “If you’re always wearing armor, you can never be close to anyone.” Vyriss stares at the ceiling fan for a moment, “How do you know who to share your true self with?” Shun, “Maybe it’s the person that challenges who you thought you were…maybe it’s just a risk you take.” PAGE 21 Vyriss, “But if you think you’re untouchable…is anything risked?” Shun, “The fastest man alive can still be killed by misplaced trust.”

FROM GOD… A MACHINE

A’tahn Zhamas

Ziusustra

Saggatur

Ninurta

Dimmekur

Shinza

PAGE 1 SUSA Six Asian people are sitting around a futuristic conference table in a hi-tech observation room. A’tahn Zhamas, a bald muscular man covered in piercings and a dragon tattoo peaking out of his 30’s style British suit. Ninurta, an elegant woman wearing silk and elaborate jewelry. Ziusustra, a young man with rock star hair, also in a vintage suit. Shinza, a grey-purple skinned woman covered in tribal markings and a Mohawk draped over one side of her head. Dimmekur, a blue cloaked female ghost with strange gears and pistons moving seen as if through a portal in her form. Saggatur, a young man with metal arms and sunglasses and disheveled clothes. He is not paying attention to the meeting, he is looking at a broken toy soldier that he is holding. Zhamas stands and motions towards a wall of video monitors. Zhamas, “Do you know what that is, it’s the world. Zyga, Nin’eva, Kreas…” We’ve spent out entire lives saving the people from paradox dragons, mega-verse specters, and the $*&ing creeping curse. But these bastards running the rest of the world…they don’t care about the people. Did any of them lift a finger to stop the Meranti?” (looks around) “The Kayin judges spend their days and nights preoccupied with their bizarre ideas of crime. Other champions (pauses) toil to further the agenda’s of their gods and empires. They are self serving tyrants, oppressing the common man, exploiting the labor.” PAGE 2 (Zhamas places both hands on the table and leans forward) “The champions of this age are just as bad as any sentient moon spore that we’ve had to deal with, just as bad as the Meranti.”

(folds his arms). “This Meranti affair. They simultaneously attacked three citi-states; B’Shemah, Streinko, and Romati. All of them, gone. This magnificent campaign was just a test of the surface world’s defenses. This is just the beginning.” (pointing aggressively) “Inevitability we will be engaging the Meranti. I think this is an opportunity. Kayn restricts our access to the sea.” (slaps his hand on the table) “We can take our first step towards liberating the world beginning with the Kayns and deal with the Meranti in one move. (lifts up his fist) THIS IS WHO WE ARE!” PAGE 3 (camera moves to the window behind Zhamas. The scene outside reveals that they are in the middle of an Asian city. The facility that the Angkar is meeting in looks like a giant cricket sitting in the middle of an eastern city. There are large pagodas with ceramic tile roofs, gaslight posts, steam powered trains, all being choked by endless smoke stacks and telegraph poles. The camera moves through the city to a neighborhood interspersed with vegetable gardens and street urchins. People are burning trash and getting rides on rickshaws. There are a few street performers. But the city overall is sparsely populated. PAGE 4 The camera stops in front of a modest house. Inside shot of a slovenly man sleeping on a couch. He has no shirt or shoes and has disheveled hair; just beyond him is are several children, 5 to 7 years old, playing outside with a sticks. One boy is yelling and hitting things. The father wakes up angry with alcohol. The father comes outside swearing, some other older kids run away. Father: “...always making noise when I’m trying to rest” He takes the stick out of the boy’s hand. “Someone’s gotta work around here to support you.” The man goes to get some rope out of a shed. “What’s so special about you?” His breath wreaks and his eyes are blood shot. “People always bringing you things, how come they never bring me things? You want special treatment?” PAGE 5 Father grabs the boy by the arm and forcefully pushed him down against a tree. “I’ll give you special treatment.” The father starts tying the boys hands up behind him around the trunk of the tree. the tight robes are cutting off the circulation to the boy’s hands, they are turning purple. Boy, “Daddy it hurts.” The Father’s face is beet red, he lumbers back inside the house. The father flops on couch, looks at picture of him and a pregnant woman smiling. He Passes out cut scene PAGE 6 The father wakes up to angry men in uniforms that look like black pajamas.

They forcefully grab him and put him in the back of a black steam car. The father looks out of a barred window and sees that he is being taken to a hospital. The father’s son is in a bed with bandaged stubs on his arms. Zhamas is there with the doctors, he looks angry. Ziusustra whispers to the angry Zhamas, “It won’t play well if he disappears.” Zhamas whisper through his teeth, “If I see even a hint of pride, he’ll be a Boy says, “Daddy, if I’m a good boy can I have my hands back?” Silence, the father has a shamed and horrified look on his face. PAGE 7 Zhamas addresses the officers: “Get him out of here. Give the neighbor a reward and tell him to keep quiet. If he talks, scourge the whole neighborhood.” Officer: “We thought…” Ziusustra: “GO!” He waits for them to leave. Out on the street we see the Father is pushed out the front door on to an empty street. Ziusustra, “I told you we should have taken the boy from that pig.” Zhamas: “The point was to inspire the people, it wouldn’t have looked good.” Ziusustra: “Well this is inspiring, our national treasure, the last son of Susa…what’s left of him. Can we take him now?” Zhamas: “The people prayed for a child, he was the answer to those prayers, a son no less, the people need that symbol of hope…It’s still a delicate situation.” Ziusustra, “What about the actual father, we’re going to have to deal with him.” Zhamas, “He’s scared, I think the boy will be okay for now. Let’s send him home and see what happens.” cut scene PAGE 8 Father is home, silent montage Father looks at his boy sleeping, still has bandages. view from inside a cupboard, he is reaching in past the bottles of alcohol Close up of face Super close up of something close to his mouth the boys sits up in bed, suddenly awake Picture of boy crying over his father’s body “Daddy”

PAGE 9 DIMMEKUR MAKES SAGGATUR WHOLE AGAIN The Angkar are sitting around a table, the panels on this page are storyboarded like the dinner scene from Annie Hall. Ziusustra, “The re-education of the T’kele people is not going as planned. The assimilation process is much slower than projected. Those numbers were based on the Kiwatu, who were much less resistant. However, the children have all been placed and integrated. At the current rate of repopulation the Sushan Empire will be gone in 18 years. Ninurta, “Any change with the Lakroa situation?” Ziusustra, “Unless we move the Ark or get personally involved, the Lakroa campaign will cost us more than we will gain from the conquest.” Zhamas, “I grow weary of these matters. What are we doing for the boy?” Ziusustra looks at Ninurta, “Can’t you just snap your fingers and make him whole again?” Ninurta looks at him unimpressed, “We could, but I think that we can do better than that, something worthy of the Angkar. We could give him the hands of the gods.” Zhamas starts playing with the scruff on his chin, “What will it take to make this happen?” Dimmekur, “The Ark has all the mechanisms necessary. The Nav-com projector has brainwave nets, and AI receptors to translate the input. And the actual-” Zhamas, “Excellent! I think this could be good. I want Susha to see Saggatur standing before them in the glory of the Angkar.” cut scene PAGE 10 Dimmekur is in an operating room that looks more like a computer engineering lab. Dimmekur is standing above Saggatur who is lying in a hospital bed, “Hello dear boy, do you know who I am?” Saggatur is looking at her with wonder. “I am your fairy god mother.” She is smiling and gently stroking his hair. “I’m going to make you whole again.” cut scene Saggatur is testing his new arms, moving fingers. Zhamas and Shinza are outside watching through an observation window. Shinza is looking at Saggatur like she is hungry, “Is he still human?” Zhamas with arms crossed turns to her with a cross expression, “He is Angkar and that is all you need to know.” Zhamas leans towards the glass close to his reflection, “…it is our actions that make us who we are.” Dimmekur is standing next to the boy watching silently. Saggatur is picking up a calligraphy brush and clumsily writing, the brush snaps in his grip. A metal joint on his elbow accidentally pinches his leg and he lets out a yelp. Dimmekur, “Shhhhh, you’re okay baby.”

PAGE 11 The rest of the Angkar come in to see how the boy is doing. Saggatur recognizes Ziusustra and points towards him. A dart shoots out of Saggatur’s finger and shoots Ziusustra in the neck. The boy is surprised and scared, Ziusustra falls to the ground and Saggatur’s hands start sprouting out like wild garden hoses. Ninurta starts laughing. The boy lets out a short panicked cry and starts to retract his hands. A mirror falls off the wall behind Ninurta and breaks over his head, “Ow!, damn it.” Dimmekur turns to the others, “There will be a slight learning curve.” PAGE 12 SAGGATUR MEETS FLYING FOX IN ANTAKYA Scene: A bar in Antakya, a neutral party city, rigidly controlled by mobs. The Disciples of Esh’la are just finishing up a round of drinks. They are an intimidating bunch, leathery skin, and the kind of muscle that you get from a life of hard labor. Their look is somewhere between cowboy and pirate. They are all wearing their dark oiled traveling cloaks lightened by dust, they have concealed the standard of Kayn. Flying Fox is the oldest, he has brown hair and a square jaw. Hanan, she is wearing an oily cowboy hat that is more of a witches hat than anything. Her black bangs cover one eye and hang at her chin. Rahzel is wearing a biker jacket with a high collar; the painted designs on his jacket are almost completely worn and scratched off (He is the one that gave Dahud a hard time last issue). Hanan, “How many shells did you get for mule?” Rahzel: “Didn’t yet.” Hanan, “It’s late; finish up and get the donkeys to the yardie. And load up the rockets.” Rahzel smiles, “Watch who you call a donkey.”

Flying Fox, “How many times are you going to make that joke; it wasn’t funny the first time.” They pass by Saggatur who is at a table by himself. Flying Fox is passing his table Saggatur looks up and takes notice. Saggatur (who is now a teenager), “That crest on your glove, it is the crest of an Elamite family.

Flying Fox, “What of it?” shouts out excitedly, “My mother was from Elam.” Flying Fox, “Good for you.” Saggatur, “Today is my two-tens birthday! Come have a drink with me. Hanan leans in, “Hey kid, take a hint.” PAGE 13 Saggatur, still smiling, persists, “Surely a man of Elam knows how important the day of two-tens is. Tell her my friend. What school did you go to?” Flying Fox just looks at him. “I ain’t your friend, and you can take your day of manhood and shove it up your ass.” The bouncers crank their neck to check on the commotion. Saggatur has an unsure smile, “But…we are countrymen…I have no ill will towards you.” Flying Fox, “You’re not my countryman, you are Sushan. And thanks to your *%$@ing buddies there are no more of my countrymen.” Rahzel puts his hand on Flying Fox’s shoulder and motions to the bouncers who are watching. Flying Fox, “Count yourself lucky that we are having this conversation in Antakya and not the Ban’doons. Excuse me.” The Disciples all turn towards the door, FF waves at the bouncers. Saggatur stands up, “The Angkar are my friends, they took me in when-” Flying Fox, “Right, and where are they on this important day? What did they do, give you a sack of gold and then send you off to get laid?” PAGE 14 Saggatur steps towards Flying Fox, “Sir, I think you have mistaken me with someone else.” The whole bar gets quite. Hanan cups her fist over her mouth, “Low profile Fox.” Flying Fox isn’t listening, “Nope, I know who you are; everyone here knows exactly who you are.” Saggatur touches the emblem on his sleeve, “The Angkar are creating a utopia. The enemies of the State are-” Flying Fox, “Well who the hell are you to tell me what’s best? Who appointed you to decide who gets to keep their babies, that I’m better off being brainwashed, that my family is better off dead? Huh? Who the #&@% are you?” Saggatur’s mouth is trying to say something but he is speechless. Flying Fox, “What? What’s that? Nothing to say? Go sell your propaganda to plagueland, don’t bring that $#*% around here.” Saggatur’s eyes are watering up. “What? Are you going to cry now? Do us a favor, don’t cry here, go home and cry to your mommy.” Saggatur is stunned. “Hello, Did you hear me? I said piss the #$%* off.” Hanan is talking under her breath, “They’re calling the Mercs man, time to go.”

PAGE 15 THE MAINFRAME – A two-tone montage, hard contrasts and bold shadows, like a Mignola sequence Saggatur is alone in his room looking at the aged picture of his mother. His metal hands accidentally crush the glass and frame. He starts to scream. The whole ziggurat rumbles for a moment. Saggatur is surprised, the rumble calms down. Saggatur hears a chirping in the distance. He follows the noise down, deep into the bowls of the ziggurat. He comes to the door of a section that is off limits. He pauses for a moment and hesitantly raises his hand to the lock. The door opens by itself, Saggatur’s eyes get wide. PAGE 16 He hears the chirping coming from the dark corridor. He comes to a dark room with a figure in the center. It is 12 foot tall cricket. Saggatur walks up to it with wonder. He reaches out and touches it. The thing and the room light up, it is a part of a console. There is a cursor blinking on a screen that is chirping. PAGE 17 He reaches out again, this time a console illuminates, the screen reads, “Information database activated, system ready, submit query.” Saggatur looks at the ports on the console and runs his fingers down the front of them. The screen displays a series of files that begin to open and scroll meaningless characters. The files are labeled: Angkar, Kayn, Meranti, Elam, Saggatur.” Saggatur plugs the wire into his hand. He says out loud, “I am more than the limits of this vessel.” Text: DECOMPRESSION OVERWRITE… There is a massive surge. Saggatur’s body falls back, the metal arms disconnect from his body. Text: COMPILING FINAL ACTIVATION PROTOCOL … The hands start typing things into the console by themselves. Text: DOWNLOADING PROGRAM UPDATES… Dozens of submenus begin to open and scroll in each file.

Text: BIO-DRIVE FORMAT COMPLETE…

PAGE 18 THE PUPPET MASTER The Angkar enter their meeting room. Saggatur is already sitting at the table. He looks like he is dead, draped over a chair, feet awkwardly turned inward. They look at each other confused. Ninurta, “Saggatur?” Ziusustra is pressing two fingers to his right temple, “I don’t know, he’s not reading like Saggatur.” There is a loud voice. Saggatur, “The Meranti.” Saggatur’s face shows up on all the video screens surrounding the table. “Asleep for centuries,” the screen shows pictures of Meranti destruction, Text: RUN PROGRAM…

“only to awaken now at this time when a unique company of heroes of like mind, have gathered together,” Saggatur’s body is lifted up by the wires on his arms, still limp, his head hangs to the side, his eyes are open but expressionless, Text: MISSON: SECURE SUSHANESE EMPIRE… “to build something greater than themselves, to consider the good of world beyond their own empire, in the only living ziggurat” Wires start coming off of his hands. Text: THREAT: MERANTI INVASION IMMANENT… “These events were set in motion at the beginning of time and has now walked the aisle.” His body lowers down to the ground. “Long have men been troubled by a great and terrible mystery, what it is exactly that is wrong with this world?” Text: OBJECTIVE: SECURE ACCESS TO MERANTI AT MINIMAL COST TO COMBAT EFFECTIVNESS… Saggatur’s eyes open up. “The solution is the Angkar.” Text: WEAKNESSES: KAYN PRESENCE… PAGE 19 The wires disconnect from his arms. “Our procession to engage the destruction of the Meranti will usher in a glorious new era. This is who we are.” Text: OPPROTUNITY: EXPLOIT KAYIN WEAKNESSES… He stands before them and extends his arms and begins wiggling his fingers and speaking from his own mouth, “And consummate our role as the consort of the people.” Text: INCEPT DATE: 00:00:01… The whole ziggurat is shaking. Shots of various people in the ziggurat. Zhamas is looking around, “What the $&*@?” Inside, the ancient decaying ziggurat is lighting up, outside it begins to rise above the city. Ziusustra, “Are we being attacked?” Dimmekur, “The arc has been awakened. It is ascending to heaven.” Zhamas, “How is this happening?” Shinza, “It is the boy.” Ziusustra, “It’s a demon. He is possessed.” Dimmekur, “No, it is the boy that possesses the temple; he has made it a pet.” PAGE 20 The ship begins to fire a beam that scars the earth. Zhamas, “What is it?” Ninurta, “It is a road. It leads to Kayn.” Dimmekur, “No, it leads to the Meranti.” THE END