CHAPTER FIVE

“SATURNALIA”

WINTER

UNDERGROUND / FLASH FORWARD 

It’s dark in the tunnels.  Not the grandiose subway station of the club, these are maintenance tunnels, damp narrow hallways, a twisting turning underground maze.  Theo is running, blind, covered in blood.  He’s being chased by something big and fast and it’s coming for him.

THE BAR  / EARLIER THAT NIGHT 

THEO gazes out at Broken Land, decked out for the Winter Saturnalia party.  The decor is fancier, more elaborate than usual.  The winter theme is more like “diamonds” than “ice.”  Theres’ a jeweled curtain on stage and crystal icicles hanging from the ceiling.  It’s packed, with guys in suits mingling with the regular crowd of misfits at bottle service tables on the dance floor.   What’s happened to this place?  It’s feeling more and more like GR€€D.

He air kisses SHARON, still badly bruised from her attack at GR€€D.  They do a shot together, then Sharon heads back out to work the door.  

Theo stares at his own photos, blown up and hung on the walls.  The center piece, hanging directly over the bar, is his multiple exposure photo of Aria from the memorial, her graceful dance movements captured in multiple ghost images.  Other photos fill the old subway poster frames along the walls of the bar area and along the subway platforms.  High contrast black and white photos. Candid photos of the staff, taken as they was getting ready to open the last party.  They have been solarized, so overexposed that they look like film negatives.  Bartenders, coat check girls, porters, go go dancers, all at their most unguarded and human.  His message…we are ALL monochrome.  It’s a surreal moment, getting recognition for his art.  Getting that thing you wanted, but not being able to appreciate it when it finally happens.  The angsty artist Theo was last winter feels like a different person.  He now had much bigger concerns.  Like solving Russ’ murder, getting back at Minus and figuring out Deadalus’ plan.

THE DJ BOOTH

Theo enters the booth, taking his requisite party photos.  A head nod to DEADALUS and one of the SERBS.  Daggers shot at MINUS.  He pulls ERYN aside and gives her his instant camera.  

THEO

Grab some pics will you?  I have to take care of something.   

He makes eye contact with ARIA as she goes backstage to prepare for her big number.  Aria’s performance will be the perfect distraction to get backstage, with all eyes on her and no one hanging out in the train car backstage.  

As the DJ brings the music to a crescendo, the ERINS go go dance on stage in costume.  Crystalline versions of the paper masks…a Witch. A Queen. A Wild Thing.  ARIA appears on the catwalks above, dressed in skintight metallic scales and black feathers.  Her Aura’s tendrils arc out to touch the entire crowd, captured in rapt attention and whipped into a frenzy.   She loops her silk around the railing for support, and dives off.  She falls to within inches of the crowd below, finally coming to a stop above her podium.  The Erins surround her, and tie her in intricate knots of red cord.  Its an amazing performance.  A winged serpent.  A sacrifice.   Theo’s hit by a wave of deja vu…this is like his vision.  

Theo heads towards backstage, but is stopped by MINUS.

MINUS

Where are you going?  You’re gonna miss the big finish.

Just then, The Serbian gets a message from his “other” at the door, and breaks the news to Minus.  

MINUS

Fuck, now what?

THE SERBIAN

There’s some asshole with an eyepatch asking for you at the

 door.  And he is pissed. 

Minus hurries to the door, as Theo ducks backstage. 

BACKSTAGE 

Making sure he’s alone, Theo walks into the train car behind the booth, searching  the back wall to try and open the door Deadalus disappeared into before.  There is no lock, no handle, no anything.  Just a concave relief of the back of the giant round mirrored astrological clock.  He reaches out his Aura, mimicking Aria’s power, but like beams of the sun shooting out to probe the area around him.  They bounce off the door and into the back of the clock, illuminating the sun in the center, the earth, and the moon. And three small crescent holes in a triangular pattern.  Theo gets an vision… a memory played backwards, of Deadalus taking his keys… combining  the intertwined pieces….each strand placed into the locks…turning.

He takes off his sword necklace, removing it from the scabbard.  It has the same crescent tube shape as one of the prongs of Deadalus’ key.  He concentrates and, like the Serbian, starts vibrating.  His Aura duplicates into two other bodies, clothes and jewelry included, overlapping like a blurry image.  It’s unstable, but lasts long enough for the three swords to go into the three locks and turn.  The slowly rotating gears in the clock stop, rotate quickly to line up Sun, Earth, Moon.  The door behind him opens.

THE DJ BOOTH

The two original Erins carry a still-bound Aria offstage, Manny meeting them just offstage to help.  The third Eryn moves into the booth, pulling out Theo’s camera to snap photos of DEADALUS as he begins the final part of his set.  He plugs his headphones into the microphone, and gives a speech about the four seasons.  The winter solstice.  The alignment of the planets.  Shaman.   Bruekelenhenge.  And the dawn sunlight that will light their way into the next phase of existence.  The crowd is rapt.  Eryn rolls her eyes.

With much bombast and flair, Deadalus slips on a special tape, and plays a 3 note chord on the synthesizer.  The Lows around the dance floor rumble to life. 

THE TUNNELS

Theo enters the corridor, past a steep spiral staircase and heads straight back into the depths of the subway tunnel.   He pushes onward into the darkness.

As he goes, the tunnel narrows, from the size of the subway to branching corridors, to narrow, claustrophobic passages.  Footsteps echo behind him.  Is he being followed?   

THE LAB

Theo emerges into a dank, echo-filled chamber.  Water drips from the ceiling.  Is he under the river?  At least close by….he’s walked for a while.  He stumbles around, finds a light switch, and turns it on.  The cavern is bathed in a sickly light, the Laboratory of a madman.  Photos of Mayan temples, Tesla’s Wardencliff Tower, and cross sections of ant hills and bee hives surround huge blueprints and maps of Breukelen and Broken Land, written over in crazed handwriting.  A city map of Breukelen with a significant locales marked off looks an awful lot like Theo’s window drawing.  He looks at his arm, the pattern on his tattoo.  The map shows the club, the East and West gates, Werk! and Art School, even GR€€D and the Dark Room.  A large circle surrounds the club, marking the edges of the earthquake devastation.  And there, equidistant along the circle are the three 2012 monuments.  The blueprints of the club are marked with the same diagram, but it’s the elevation view of the club that’s most striking.  The side view shows the Broken Land subway tunnel, topped by a long low warehouse and the water tower above that.  A pyramid in three parts, a temple to Deadalus’ madness.  Arrows move from club, up thru something important in the warehouse, up to the Tower, then out to the three 2012 monuments.  This whole thing is some massive machine.  An evil Rube Goldberg contraption that does WHAT exactly?     

He follows the diagrams around the corner, to see a row of seven sarcophagi.  Raised steel capsules are each attached to a series of wires and tubes, with singular port holes that look down into each one.  The echoes behind him grow, but he’s transfixed...looking for Aria and scared what he might find.  In One, a desiccated skeleton, a withered husk barely human at all.  Two, three, four… each cadaver seems newer than the last, stuck with tubes and wires.  The fifth almost seems human, a young girl. He looks into the sixth window to see RUSS, eyes forever open in terror, dead as the rest.  He jumps back.   In shock, he can only stare…first at his friend, then at the last beckoning porthole.  Steps become louder, splashes echoing around the damp room.  He looks in the last porthole.

It’s empty.

A VOICE (OS)

“HEY!” 

The SERBIAN comes into the room, angry.  

THE SERBIAN

What the fuck are you doing in here??  I thought I saw you 

sneak off.

THE ENTRANCE

MINUS is at the door, CYRUS screaming at him.  

CYRUS

I’m gonna get this place shut down for good.  You took my 

customers, my club, my eye!

The SERBIAN steps in to break it up, then suddenly vanishes.  

THE LAB

The Serb summons his duplicates to fight., and Theo powers up his Aura in return.  They grapple, shaving each other about the room, about to come to blows.   Theo gets him in an arm bar, and bends him over the sarcophagus, putting his face up against the porthole to stare at Russ.  

THEO

Explain this!

The Serb is shocked, his steely persona rocked by a wave of sadness.  He had no idea.  Theo lets him go.  

THEO

Then why are you following me?

THE SERBIAN

What?  No, I found the door backstage open, and came to 

see who had gone back here.  Even I have never been back

 this far.

THEO

Well if it wasn’t you who was following me, then…

The lights go out.

The Serb, all three of him, screams in pain.  His main form, illuminated only by the glow of the port holes, is shaken back and forth vigorously like a rag doll. 

A VOICE

Shut up!  Shut up!  Shut Up!  You’re ruining everything! 

The Serb’s neck snaps.  His entire body goes limp as it drops to the floor, his duplicates fading away.   Behind him, draped in shadow, is MANNY, a crazed look in his eyes.  As the darkness fades, so does his Aura, leaving the simpleton Theo recognizes. 

THEO

Holy Fuck!  Manny, why??

MANNY

It’s all gonna be ok.  He was just gonna ruin it.  We just have

to follow the plan.  Follow the plan and it’ll all be ok.

THEO 

I don’t understand.

MANNY

I’m sorry about Serby, but he was gonna ruin everything.  

Deadalus has it all figured out.  He’s the smart one.  The

 name Mercury 7 isn’t about all of us, its the 7 sacrifices 

Deadalus’ machine needs to get to full strength.  And now, 

with the last one, things will go back to the way they used to 

be.  We’ll all have enough Rust, Minus will be nice to me, 

Deadalus can put the city back together again.  And I can 

have my little ponies again!  Just one more sacrifice.

THEO

This is fucked up Manny.  I’m not gonna be

 your sacrifice.

MANNY 

“Oh, you don’t have to.  Deadalus likes you.   I mean, that 

was the plan.  But I already took Aria, right after her big air

dance.  I get to play with you while they take her Mercury.  I

 hope you last longer than the Serb.

Manny’s Aura expands, taking all available light with it, leaving Theo blind.  A huge hand smacks him across the room and crashing into the wall with the blueprints.  He gets up, and is smacked again, landing by the door.  Down the hallway, however faint, a hint of light.  He’s no match for Manny like this, he has to change the situation.  He runs into the tunnels, Manny chasing after.  

THE ENTRANCE

CYRUS is still screaming at MINUS, emboldened by the disappearance of the Serbian.  Minus summons his Aura, the chains snaking out from his hands.  They wrap around Cyrus’ throat, and find the Rust still lingering in his system.  He’s eyes go blank as Minus takes control of his mind.

THE TUNNELS

Theo runs, smashing into walls and tripping thru puddles, trying to put distance between him and Manny.  The darkness chases after him.  He follows his training, and expands his senses into the infra red.  He can see, barely, but he’s still lost and being chased by a murderous man-child.  He pushes his Aura out further, like Aria would, trying to feel her presence.  There, in the dark, a faint thread.  A barely perceptible trail, glowing, pulling at him.  It’s Aria.  He can sense her, trapped, somewhere up ahead.  More sure of himself, losing Manny for longer stretches, Theo figures out the route. He follows a gently sloping corridor, past old signs pointing to the Breukelen Terminal, with connections to the L Train, Air trams and Boats.  

THEO

L.A.B!  Russ, you crazy motherfucker.  You must’ve seen this

all in your vision

Theo comes to a staircase when he’s hit by a familiar wave of nausea, like that day on the dance floor.  Bass heavy waves rattle his teeth. He struggles up the stairs towards Aria and the source of the black energy.  His Aura sputters with each step.  Whatever is up there, he’s going to have to save Aria without the use of his powers.

THE TERMINAL

He emerges into a long, barn-like warehouse, the Terminal building that sits above the club.  Something is happening at the other end.

He walks forward, towards a central airshaft that leads up from the club’s skylights, thru the building, and under the water tower above.   A deep thrum fills the air.  ARIA is tied up at the edge of the air shaft, guarded by the ERINS.   Looming over her, mounted to the wall like a hunting trophy, is the head of GR€€D’s bull statue.  Aria’s hands are bound tight, lashed above her head to the metal ring in the Bull’s nose.  She is surrounded by three alien looking speaker stacks in a triangular layout, familiar black monoliths with large woofers ringed in red neon lights.  The Lows, identical to the ones installed on the dance floor.  Circular waves of sound and lights pummel Aria, and she writhes in agony.  Cables snake from each stack and into glass tanks along the walls, filled with a clear solvent.  

Aria screams as tiny droplets of Mercury are pulled out of her eyes and ears.  The droplets collect in the speaker cones, traveling into the tanks, diluted into a viscous, blood-like fluid.  It slowly filters thru various tubes and filters, condensed, distilled, and heated, finally falling like red snow into small vials as Rust.  

This is where it comes from.  Not plants, or in a lab, not from space or somewhere else, but from the brains of the Mercury 7 themselves.  And the process is both painful and lethal.  Those coffins downstairs contain the drained husks of the last six victims.  Theo retches in horror.  

He rushes to help Aria, pushing thru the waves of energy.  The pain intensifies as he gets closer, and his Aura is stripped away.   The ERINS step in to stop him, and he rolls his eyes.  “Just.  Don’t.”  He puts a hand on each of their faces and pushes, sending them flying.  He goes to untie Aria. 

From behind him, comes a yell like a spoiled toddler.  

MANNY

Stop!  You’re gonna ruin everything!

Theo turns as Manny slams into him, sending him bouncing off the nearest speaker stack.  They fight, trading blows, with a battered and powerless Theo on the losing end.  But he knows Manny’s moves, and maneuvers him closer to the stacks.  After taking a few more punches, Manny’s powers start being drained by the LOWS as well.  The next charge, Theo sidesteps, tripping him.  Manny’s momentum carries him into a tank of the Red Mercury.  Caustic liquid Rust sprays Manny across his face and chest, burning him.  Enraged, Manny’s Aura explodes outward as it absorbs all the electricity in the room, darkening everything.

The Dynamo sputters to a stop. Aria is ready.  She pulls a knitting needle from her wrist cuff and loosens her bindings.  Getting out of knots is kind of her thing; she just needed the opportunity.  She emerges from the chamber as the two Erins rush her, fighting like screeching cats.  De-powered but still acrobatic, Aria dances away from their lunges, landing high kicks and slicing with her knitting needles.  They move around the central shaft, Aria soundly kicking their asses.

Theo, however, is trapped in Manny’s preternatural darkness.  He waits, listening to Manny’s yelling and barely dodging his crushing blows. He can just start to make out shapes in the darkness, backlit by the rising sun peaking thru the windows to the East.  But Manny grabs him in a bear hug, spikes stabbing into his skin.   He’s thrown out of the darkness into the wall between the speakers, suddenly pummeled with the full force of the Lows.  Drops of Mercury are pulled painfully out of his ears and eyes.

Theo is wrenched out of his body, seeing the entire club from a distance, thru walls and street to comprehend its evil architecture in full.  Three versions of the system stacked on top of each other, the TOWER, the TERMINAL and the TUNNELS of the club itself, forming a pyramid that matches the temple from his dreams.  Three layers of HIGHS and LOWS, jump started by a sacrificial offering in in the middle, broadcast out thru a psychic antenna in the TOWER, and fed by the collective energy of the entire Rusted club crowd on the dance floor.  Theo sees the entire crowd froZen in place, and DEADALUS standing in the booth having his powers amped up to godlike levels.  He can feel his consciousness dissipating.  It would be so easy to just give in.

Theo hears Aria’s voice a world away, down near his physical body. 

ARIA

FOCUS!   

Theo shakes out of it and slowly gets to his feet.

Manny charges, an unstoppable force.  Theo feels the rope hanging from the bull’s nose, reaches up to grasp the ring.  He pulls hard, with both hands, tilting the head down.  Manny, with no time to stop, runs straight into it, the horns going all the way thru his chest.  His Aura fades, and a calm expression washes over his face, the old Manny returning.  He hangs limply from the horns, not even touching the ground.   

MANNY

I’m sorry Theo.  I just couldn’t go back to being small.

The Lows once again send out waves of energy.  Theo jumps aside as Mercury is pulled out of Manny’s eyes, ears, mouth and wounds.  The tanks fill with gallons of red mercury, completing the circuit up to the Tower, the full power of the Dynamo roaring to life.  The air ripples outward with energy, blowing out the windows.  

A stream of sunlight pours thru the East Gate, lining up with the face of the Terminal building.  Breukelenhenge.  The entire building begins shaking violently…. This is it.  Above them, three holes are blasted out of the walls of the Tower as waves of energy shoot from the Highs.  The signal is beamed directly to the three Monuments.  The stones vibrate and glow, electromagnetic loadstones humming to life.  The red metal sand lifts into the air and out into the entire city. Deadalus’ triangular Aura fills city blocks, the entire city his plaything.  This is it.  This is Deadalus’ crazy plan, to remake the entire city the way he built the club.  Walls shift, buildings crumble in reverse, and towering spires grow out of the devastation to form insane structures, uncaring for any in their path.  Morning joggers are thrown by the urban stalagmites, commuters are crushed by moving walls, and  dog walkers are entombed in the foundations of the impossible new skyscrapers.   Like a time-lapse, Breukelen is being rebuilt.  Like a dream.  Like a nightmare.

THE TERMINAL

ARIA and THEO quickly embrace as she steps over the unconscious Erins.  

ARIA

What’s happening?  Another quake?

THEO

Yeah, and now we know what caused the first one too.  

Deadalus is behind all of this!  Maybe Minus and Manny were

 using Mercury-powered  people to keep their supply of Rust

 going, but the real madman is Deadalus.  He’s willing to

 sacrifice everyone in Broken Land to create a New Breukelen

 in his own image.  You have to get down to the club and get

 everyone to safety.

ARIA

What about you?

THEO

I’ve got to get up to the Tower. It’s the antenna of this whole

 thing.  I’ve got to shut off the broadcast somehow before he

 kills us all!