CHAPTER 6

“BROKEN MAN”

ONE YEAR LATER

BREUKELEN / FLASH FORWARD

Cranes dot the strange skyline, glass and steel monstrosities that shoot high into the air.  Gone are the street vendors and bicycles and cobbled together infrastructure, replaced by condos, yoga studios and Starbucks along the main drag.

Construction workers are opening up a boarded up subway station.  They enter the darkness to find the destroyed remains of Broken Land.  Everything inside is smashed or burned, with a giant hole in the ceiling.  Snow drifts in thru the skylight, past shattered catwalks, and onto the smashed remains of the Tower filling the dance floor.  A beautiful red glow fills the room, emanating from the stalks of Vermillion that grow out of the tower’s remains.  The sole remaining occupant of the once grand edifice is a strange metal colossus on stage.  The mechanical man sits slumped against the wall, a silent witness to the devastation.

NOW

THE TERMINAL 

MANNNY’S corpse hangs in the center of the LOWS, as the last of his Mercury is drained into the Rust tanks.  Their work done, they power down as the circuit of energy flows directly between the club below and the Tower above. 

THEO and ARIA look on in shock.  But a brief rumble snaps them out of it. Flexing his hands, Theo feels his Aura returning.  A plan begins to  form.  

THEO

Split up! You’ve got to get the crowd out of here.  Find Sharon, 

but do not let Deadalus see you.  He’s more powerful than 

ever.  I have to get up to the Tower and stop the broadcast

before Deadalus kills everyone in Breukelen.

ARIA runs to down the stairs as THEO climbs out into the central airshaft, digging in to the wall with his Aura and up the wall towards the tower.

THE TOWER

The trapdoor slams open and Theo looks into the Tower.  Waiting for him are MINUS, a mind controlled CYRUS, and a ring of Minus’ minions.   

BROKEN LAND

ARIA peaks out from backstage to see DEADALUS standing in the booth, arms akimbo, channeling the incredible flow of energy.  The entire dance floor is froZen in the Dynamo’s grasp, as the life force of the Rusted is absorbed into the speaker stacks.  She runs out the side of the train car, crouching being the bar, and sprints to the front of the club.

THE TOWER

A scrum of Theo and the Broken tumble down the stairs to the roof deck.  They beat him savagely, a repeat of his first encounter with Minus.  The difference is, he knows them now, some are his friends.  He can’t handle losing another friend today; this place has taken too much from him already.  Russ, the Serb, even Manny.  So he hesitates, covered in a pile of them as MINUS and CY look on.  Suddenly, the crowd is thrown off in a blast of Black Light as Theo multiplies his Aura tenfold, creating an evenly matched army of Theos against the Broken.   He gains the upper hand, tossing them aside or knocking them out.  He’s got this.

Until the real Theo is blindsided by Minus and carried over the railing.  The two enemies plummet down the airshaft, smashing thru the skylight.

THE CATWALKS

They land hard on the catwalk.  THEO takes the brunt of it, MINUS on top of him.  As they stand, CYRUS, the ERINS and the remaining Broken climb down after them. They advance on Theo from both sides of the catwalk.  He’s trapped, with no way to fight without killing them.  He looks down at the DJ booth, seeing the energy of the Highs pour out of the monitors and into Deadalus.  With a sense of deja vu, he thinks back to the night in the Tower. 

Theo stumbles to the edge of the catwalk, where Aria’s silk lies draped over the railing.  He grabs hold and jumps.  Sliding down to the dance floor below, Theo lands badly on one ankle.  

THE DANCE FLOOR

The Lows begin sucking Theo’s Aura away…he knows he’s only got one shot at this.  He pushes out hard with his Aura, knocking DEADALUS down, and pushing the three HIGHS away from him, facing backwards.  The Black Noise hits the convex mirrored astrological clock on the back wall, bouncing back out and across the entire club like lights off of a disco ball.

A feedback loop is created as energy is pulled out of the crowd and then back in, straining the Dynamo and increasing the quakes around them.  The power was being sent back to everyone on the dance floor, and everyone in the catwalks.  They suddenly snap out of their trance, each one now glowing with a new Aura.  They were all monoChrome now, and pissed off.  None were more mad than the group of Minus’ lackeys.  CYRUS, now free of Minus’ control and shining brightly, grabs Minus in rage and throws him off the catwalk.  He falls screaming and lands on the edge of the bar.  With a loud snap of his spine, Minus crumples to the floor, dead.  ERYN, onstage and somehow still shooting photos, screams.

The sudden violence freaks out the crowd, and they panic.  Bottles of booze and crystal decorations fall and shatter around them as the quake intensifies.  They are all gonna die.

THE STAGE

The stage curtain begins to glow, as ARIA steps out, carrying a limping SHARON.  ARIA reaches out her Aura, finding a connection with the crowd, calming them down.  Sharon, taking charge, booms to the crowd

SHARON

Alright people,  this party is OVAH!  Let’s go!

Cy pushes his way past the crowd with two very bruised ERINS, demanding to go first.  

CYRUS

ERYN, you coming?

She strides up to him, a new confident look on her face.  

ERYN

I’m done Cy.  I quit!

She holds up a series of Poloroids like a gambler with a great hand.  

ERYN

Always get the shot, right?  

On it are some great of Cyrus and the Erins murdering Minus.  Cyrus goes to grab the pics, but Sharon steps in, grabs his arm and stops him cold.  Sharon is strong.

SHARON

Alright, mouth breathers, that’s your cue to leave.

Sharon pulls open the curtain, forming a glowing portal that somehow looks down from above a packed patio of brunching Chelsea boys.  The change in gravity pulls Cyrus and the evil Erins thru the portal.  On the other side, they tumble thru the the crease in a giant rainbow awning,  dumping them  unceremoniously onto a long table packed with eggs Benedict, bottomless mimosas, and ten very pissed off muscle boys.  

Sharon reopens the curtain to a new location and the crowd begins running thru.

BROKEN LAND

DEADALUS & THEO square off, staring at each other across the club.  

Deadalus, his powers amped to eleven, sends his triangular Aura thru the booth and into the dance floor, turning it into a warped and twisted tableau of walkways, stairs, and doors.  

THEO

I’m done with your smoke and mirrors.  I know where I’m going.

Theo walks straight thru the illusions towards his mentor, forcing the world to straighten around him as he marches up and punches him right in the face.  Deadalus flies back into the wall, shattering the astrological clock.  

DEADALUS

Ungrateful kid.  I made you.  I made all of this.  

Deadalus reaches his Aura further out, and up, and connects with the equipment in the Terminal above them.  A new rumbling, coming from backstage.  The back wall explodes out, and from it emerges a colossal clockwork man, charging at Theo. The speaker stacks formed its body, Red Mercury pumping thru its veins, and a bloody, bronze bull head sitting on top of it all.  This was a pure expression of Deadalus’ madness and it was coming to kill Theo.

The machine steps over the DJ booth and almost crushes Theo under its heel.  He holds it at bay, but just barely.  

THEO

Now you’re playing with puppets too?  Manny would be proud.  

Theo uses Manny’s powers to expand his Aura, growing to equally giant size.  They grapple, throwing each other about the room, adding to the devastation.  But Deadalus bears down, the tanks full of Rust pump harder, and the automaton gets stronger.  Theo reverses, shrinking back down to size and running between its legs.  He rips out the coil in its ankle.  Liquid Rust pours out in rivers of burning ichor, setting fire to the couches and tables on the dance floor, as well as Theo’s shoes.  Theo narrowly avoids it by climbing up onto Arias’ pedestal for safety.

SHARON pushes the last of the clubbers thru the portal.  ARIA steps inside, and screams for Theo to hurry up, just as the machine man collapses onto the stage.  The crystal curtain is ripped off the wall.  The portal disappears.  Theo is trapped.

Deadalus crawls in front of the Highs, absorbing their power. He stands, gaining strength.  

DEADALUS

I’m going to fix my mistakes, Theo.  The couldn’t appreciate 

me as an architect, but I had a vision,  A vision for the Dynamo,

  a vision of Vermillion and a vision for this club.  The last 

version of my Dynamo was flawed, I can see that now.  The

 earthquake it caused was a small price to pay for all this power.

 Now reality is my plaything.  I can fix Broken Land.  I can make 

it perfect.

Suddenly, the entire Tower comes crashing thru the ceiling, caught in the web of catwalks.  Mirrored shards rain down onto Theo and Deadalus below, skewering them both. They are trapped like bugs as the catwalks strain under the weight of the entire water tower.  Theo reaches is Aura up to hold the Tower in place.

Deadalus laughs and cranks up the Dynamo to the max. The LOWS pummel Theo.  So do the HIGHS.

…suddenly he’s sitting next to his brother in front of their old piano.  It sits in the middle of a graveyard, surrounded by fireflies.  Sheet music falls from the trees like leaves.  Above them, an eclipse blots out the sky.  Theo looks up at Herc, up past his Nirvana t-shirt, and finally sees his face.  

THEO

I guess this is it, huh?

HERC

Not today, little brother.

THEO

But it hurts so much.  I don’t know if I can keep going. 

HERC

Hey, there’s always gonna be pain. When you were a kid I 

taught you to focus. But you eventually have to learn to  just

  let it go”

He looks up at his reflection in the maze of cracked mirrors under the catwalks, and Aria’s silk hanging down over him.  He pushes thru the pain of his beatings and his fall, past the world crumbling around him, and feels his Aura bearing the weight of the Tower.  He releases the entire weight he’s been holding up, pulling his Aura in around him.   The catwalk bends, and finally breaks, sending the Tower down towards them both.  The silk covers Theo just as the whole Tower smashes onto the dance floor, the DJ booth, the speakers, and Deadalus.  Stillness as the dust settles. Snow drifts down thru the gaping hole in the dome.

THE WEST GATE

ARIA and SHARON stand around the gate, surrounded by the crowd they evacuated from the club.  They stare at the curtain, now black with soot and smoke.  Aria cries.  

Suddenly the portal begins to glow.  Dust and shattered wood fly thru the portal, as everyone backs up.  Amidst the debris, Theo is thrown thru and crashes to the ground, cut, bloody and barefoot.  But alive.  “How?”  Theo lays on the ground, staring up at his friends.  

THEO

Aria’s silk.  Sharon’s power.  The third level.  I just had to let go.

FADE OUT

 ONE YEAR LATER

BROKEN MAN

A beautiful cenote sits at the end of a river, a Mayan temple half crumbled on the edge of the cave.  Sharon is spinning vinyl on the temple steps, old house and disco records from their personal collection.  They are flanked by the Serbian, now just two overlapping ghostly halves, and Eryn, throwing paper confetti into the breeze.  Familiar faces from the club dance freely around the temple and in the shallow lake.  Black uniforms have been traded for flowing whites, and all glow equally with Black Light.  Luminous spores drift up out of the cave, floating like embers on the wind.  Campsites dot the surrounding landscape in a familiar pattern, with set-ups that look like the old Breukelen Main Street.

Theo and Aria stand in front of a small waterfall inside the cenote, swaying to the music.  She’s in front of him and wrapped safely in his arms.  Not being in control once in a while isn’t so bad.

They share a joint of Vermillion, the real stuff, and Theo remembers…

He remembers his vision from that night in the Tower loft.  He sees the last part of the dream as the virgin sacrifice falls into the cenote, at this very spot.  At the last minute, her Aura explodes out in the shape of a giant winged serpent with ebony wings.  She swoops up in flight, sailing into the air.  Not a sacrifice at all, but a glorious rebirth.  

He looks at Sharon and her new tribe.  He thinks about Cyrus and Erins out there somewhere, starting theirs.  Who knows, if the Serb’s Aura managed to survive the death of his body, maybe Russ is out there somewhere too.

Large ant hills dot the temple grounds, like the Zen stones from the 2012 monuments.  As if summoned by the ceremonial dancing, winged ants emerge from the mounds,  taking flight to feed, mate and set off to set up new colonies.  The ants glow a dark bioluminescent red, proof of the Vermillion’s dominance here.  They mingle with the spores in the air, creating a breathtaking light show.  The humans, looking up, marvel at the display of a magical ecosystem in action.  They are now a part of it too. 

In response to a once in a lifetime photo op, Aria nudges Theo.  

ARIA

What, no pictures?

THEO

Nah.  I’ve been giving writing a try instead.

He hefts his bag, a red journal in the side pocket with the photo of Russ taped to the cover.  

THEO

Let’s go, they’ll do great without us.  We have a whole world 

to explore.

He reaches into the waterfall and pulls the water open like a curtain, opening a portal looking out onto city lights glowing in the distance.  As they step thru, Theo turns and frames his fingers into a square viewfinder in front of his eyes.  He takes one last mental snapshot of the glittering sky, the temple, and his old tribe.  He says goodby, and follows her into the unknown.