7.13 Exit by MR and AoT (Part X)

As retold by Bill C

AoT: We come back to urgent/impending-doom background music as Lois runs over to the one control panel for the portal generator and frantically looks for an off switch.
TW: That'd be too easy, of course.
AoT: Of course. She finds a control labeled MASTER POWER FEED and flips it, but it doesn't appear to do anything to the generator. So she starts flipping all sorts of controls, which also don't do anything. Meanwhile, the portal generator itself is starting to glow a bit in addition to everything else it's been doing.
MR: Cut to outside the warehouse yet again as three separate groups of soldiers accompanied by Hummers with machineguns slowly advance on the building. Suddenly three balls of energy zip out from three separate windows of the warehouse, all within a few seconds; one of them takes out a Hummer, while the other two simply blow up some street and/or sidewalk and cause people to run for cover. This is where the gunners on the other two Hummers, followed by most of the advancing soldiers, start firing full-auto at the warehouse.
AoT: Wide shot from inside the warehouse in slo-mo of Zod super-speeding from window to window, bullets whizzing around him, now carrying two of the modified alien weapons, alternating between firing them from each hand whenever he stops at a window.
KK: Okay. That's pretty damn cool.
MR: I got the idea watching Transformers: The Movie the other night.
AoT: In mid-shot, we zip back to realtime and then crossfade back outside as more balls of energy pin down some troops and a couple of lucky shots take out an APC. This is when a couple of those attack helicopters we saw earlier swoop into the shot and fire two missiles at the warehouse, one of which Zod manages to shoot down. The other one corkscrews into the far side of the building and blows a huge chunk out of it.
JG: And this is where Zod starts quoting Apocalypse Now?
MR: No, but I love that idea.
JG [deep voice]: I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
AoT: Actually...we do have this one shot right after the last bit of firing of Zod pausing to admire his handiwork. He doesn't actually say anything, though.
JG: Do it, Rosenbaum! Do iiiiit!
KK: At least be subtle. Don't go chapter and verse with it.
MR [makes notation in script]: Okay, okay. So Zod's standing there by this window, looking out over what now is most definitely a battlefield, and he smirks and says...okay, got it. "Pathetic apes...they wouldn't ever know the smell of victory."
JG: Okay, I'll allow it.
AoT: And then this fist comes in from off-camera and punches Zod in the face, sending him flying.
JG: The hell?
MR: Pan over to show the fist belongs to a slightly battered, slightly pissed-looking, Clark.
TW: Yeah!
KK: Didn't you already use that visual in this episode?
MR: Zod flies across the warehouse and lands on the portal generator console, crushing it and very nearly taking out Lois. Lois, naturally, freaks.
ED: "Oh my God!"
JG [skims script]: ...oh, hell no.
ED: What?
JG: I can't believe you went there, Rosenbaum.
ED: What?
JG: Right after Lois says "Oh my God!", as he's getting to his feet, Zod growls "No...Zod."
MR: Someone had to make the joke!
TW: We could have waited another decade for someone to do it, Michael.
AoT: Anyway, Zod gets off the ruined console, drops one of the rifles he was carrying which got crushed in the fall, and super-speeds up to his bitch--who manages this one time to catch him by the arms and stop him. Zod glares at him and says--John?
JG: "Child, I told you to stay out of my way! How dare you interrupt my vengeance!"
TW: Clark looks off to one side, out at the battlefield beyond the warehouse, then back at Zod. "You call that 'vengeance'? I call that cold-blooded murder, Zod!"
JG: "Your precious chattel! They would have died anyway, at my hands or at Hasaad's!" Zod frees an arm to point at the portal generator. "Look! That is what Hasaad has been up to--creating a portal to his world, after seducing one of your apes into helping him! And thus preparing to lay siege to yours!"
ED: Lois, still over by the console, looks towards the partially darkened far side of the warehouse. But she can't see anything. "Zod? Who else is there? Dammit, I hope that's not more of them--"
MR: And then the reddish sky patch that has been growing all episode finally reaches the generator perimeter. The whole thing almost visibly oscillates once, then emits a blinding white light and a visible CGI shockwave that knocks Lois, Zod, and Clark down while making a sustained bass hum for about five seconds. Yet another cut to outside as we see the light glowing through the windows and holes in the building, followed by the shockwave knocking people down and pushing small vehicles a bit.
KK: I assume this is the "Oh, shit!" moment.
AoT: Inside the warehouse, we cut to a full-on frontal shot of the generator as the bass hum fades and is replaced by a continuous whooshing noise. Suddenly there's a blue flash near its base, and Hasaad walks out--but this time he's all in black with a cloak, instead of the gray suit he was wearing before going through the portal the other way. He stops when he sees Lois--see, now she's unconscious, Erica--and shakes his head. "Yes, human...perhaps you will be the first to see what is to come after all."
MR: And as he says that, additional blue flashes signal the march of a phalanx of Space Cujos into the warehouse. Hasaad simply points in the direction of the Army forces, who can be seen through a smaller hole in the wall and says, "Go!"
ED: I suppose "Sic 'em!" is out.
AoT: Back to outside, where said forces have regrouped a bit in the minute or so where Zod wasn't shooting at them and after the shockwave passed--and then they see a wave of green-and-gold armored creatures flow out of the warehouse, coming straight at them and either hissing or growling. The battle gets really ugly in a hurry.
MR: Pan and zoom over to the street to one side of the warehouse, away from the main battlezone. Zod and Clark are lying there, and they slowly get to their feet. Zod, of course, is first--and thus he sees the creatures attacking the humans and driving them back. He grabs Clark and turns him to face them.
JG: "Do you finally understand now, whelp? That is what your world has in store for itself!"
TW: Clark looks, for once, understandably shocked. "What...what are they?"
JG: "The parademons came through the portal Hasaad built! And now that portal is locked open--which means more can come through. And they and others will come through...unless I stop them at the source."
TW: "What source?"
JG: "The other side of the portal. The world they came from...where this all began." Side shot of Zod's head for this next part, and he looks pissed. "One last time, son of Jor-El--stay out of my way!"
AoT: Zod picks up his dropped everpresent backpack, gathers himself, and rockets back into the warehouse--once inside, we briefly shift into slo-mo as he barrels through a group of Space Cujos, heads straight for the portal, and disappears in a blue flash.

MR: Hasaad, meanwhile, doesn't notice. He's standing over Lois and looking down consideringly as parademons march by with the sounds of battle fresh and loud in the background. "I think you will make an excellent thrall...a lovely servant."
KK: You've got Baltar macking on Lois?
JG: It's the boobs. Everybody thinks that when they see the boobs.
ED: John!
MR: As Hasaad speaks, we see a shimmering in the air behind him. It abruptly resolves into a dark-haired woman, wearing normal clothes, who taps Hasaad on the shoulder--and punches him in the face when he looks up, knocking him down.
TW: Glass jaws: the number one liability of evil henchmen in the universe.
MR: Simultaneously, we see another shimmering to the other side resolve into a man who looks very much like the woman. He pulls out a walkie-talkie. "We're inside. It looks like all the creatures were sent to fight the Army and the police...there's just this one guy and his thugs, who are all knocked out. And there's some kind of...of device here, which is what the creatures are coming from."
AoT: Cut over the tail end of the dialogue to Lucius, who is standing in the middle of the street somewhere holding another walkie-talkie. As he talks, we pan past him to see Lionel, a couple of dozen redshirts, Otis, and the familiar black limousine. "Stand by, Brian. You and Belinda, stay alert."
MR: Brian and Belinda nod to each other, and shimmer into invisibility again.
JG: Oh yeah.
KK: So now Lionel machos up to impress his woman?
JG: It's not like he does it that often...
AoT: Lucius turns to Lionel. "It looks like the building itself is empty. No obvious security."
JG: "The Army is the real threat, I suppose, and they're trying to deal with that first. Which means that the device inside is vulnerable."
AoT: Lucius opens his mouth to speak again, but is cut off by a completely different voice on a megaphone. The voice belongs to an Army lieutenant sitting on top of a Hummer, which rolls up behind the limo followed by some foot soldiers and a couple of armored vehicles. "You there! What are you doing here? This area isn't safe--get out of here!"
JG: "They're with me, Lieutenant. And believe me, they can take care of themselves."
AoT: Lionel and the lieutenant thus get into a little discussion about being there to help versus being ordered to get the hell out of Dodge.
MR: And then a bolt of green energy zips by the lieutenant's head. Lionel and Lucius turn and see a small group of parademons running towards them.
JG: Lionel pulls out a pistol. "Otis. Are the explosives ready?"
AoT: Otis is carrying a backpack of his own, in addition to his own sidearm. "Yes, sir."
KK: Okay, this whole competent-henchman thing has got to stop. It's positively un-scifi.
JG: The lieutenant is shouting for them to get out of there, and he finally starts unloading on the critters with the machinegun on the Hummer. Lionel simply says, "Mr. Best?"
MR: Lucius nods. "You owe us, Mr. Luthor...let's go!" And he leads the group of redshirt mutants off to one side of the street as the parademons close to fighting distance, followed closely by Lionel and Otis, as the soldiers who came up fill the previous void and begin fighting them.
AoT: As they go, a few mutant abilities come into play...one parademon gets electrocuted, another simply gets punched through a wall, and so on. As the soldiers see that, they and the armored vehicles--an APC and a mobile rocket launcher--start following and/or supporting the mutant brigade towards the side of the warehouse and stop about a hundred yards away.
MR: Cut to Clark, who has now walked back into the warehouse. He hides behind a large crate, and sees another group of parademons march through the portal...most of them run out to join the fight, but three stay behind to apparently tend to the unconscious Hasaad.
AoT: This is where we get a very quick flashback to Return, to Martian Manhunter saying they needed Zod's help. Then an equally brief series of flashbacks to Zod dialogue from earlier in this episode...mostly "You cannot comprehend the threat that Hasaad represents", "That is what your world has in store for itself!" and most notably "You truly have no sense of what the Crusade tried to stop, do you?"
TW: It's not like Clark had a reason to trust Zod, though!
AoT: True, but we're still twisting the knife. It's the Smallville way.
TW: Thanks a lot, Annette.

Continued...