7.13 Exit by MR and AoT (Part XI)

As retold by Bill C

AoT: After that flashback, though, Zod's bitch realizes he cannot live without Zod in his life...
[TW groans]
AoT: ...and charges the portal at super-speed...just as a smaller group of parademons comes out of it. He actually stops, they notice him, and they start firing their staff weapons at him--some of the bolts of green energy hit him as he dodges, and he winces in pain.
TW: So when is Clark going to start beating down suckers?
MR: Now, kindasorta. Two of the critters charge him and he ends up in a fistfight with them--just as something explodes near the generator, and the mutant posse runs into the warehouse followed by a handful of soldiers, and they start fighting the rest of the new group of critters.
AoT: This is also about where Lois starts to regain consciousness.
ED: Thank God.
AoT: Just as a parademon flies over her and smacks into the wall with a crunch. Zod's b...Clark finally manages to punch the other one out, though it managed to cut him on the back and chest with a blade on its staff weapon first, and he super-speeds to and through the portal.
MR: And now the budget goes completely to hell: the second Clark reaches the portal, the entire screen goes blue for a split-second. We then go to a reverse-angle shot of Clark coming through the other side of the portal, onto a huge stone platform--the entire scene has a slight reddish tint--and we pan around him to see this huge CGI wasteland, mostly flat plains with what look like volcanic chasms off in the distance in multiple locations.
MR: And this really epic-sounding dark choral/orchestral music cranks up in the background as we do the obligatory pull back from Clark looking completely stunned to show the entire portal platform, the small village-like buildings around it, etcetera. Something saying "You sons of bitches are fucking doomed" in Latin with lots of drums.
KK: Nice place. Did you steal it from Episode III?
MR: What's your point?
AoT: Clark sees a fairly large mass of green and gold moving through a street towards a long incline leading up to the portal. So he runs off to one side and out of the shot, and we cut to him briefly hiding behind a stone column.
MR: We then cut back to Lucius and his mutant team, now with bonus Army, as they dust the few parademons in the warehouse. Lionel gets off a few shots with his pistol at one of them, but the finishing blow comes from a trio of soldiers with assault rifles. He calls for Otis to set the explosives.
JG: That's more like it. The henchman are competent, but the redshirts aren't.
AoT: As Otis sets the explosives around the base of the generator, a groggy Lois stands up. A couple of soldiers notice and aim rifles at her. "Hold it!"
ED: "No no, wait wait wait! I'm on your side!" Damn, that was easy.
JG: Okay, and Lionel notices and stops them from shooting her. Damn, can I object?
MR: No.
JG: I suppose she's a good source of exposition. "Lois? What are you doing here?"
ED: "I was following a lead...which got ugly. Really ugly. What are you doing here?"
JG: "Just helping out."
ED: "You're kidding, right?"
MR: Otis interrupts. "The explosives are set!"
AoT: Then so does Lucius. "Let's get out of here before more of those things arrive."
MR: Lionel turns to leave, then notices something underneath one of the dead critters--stuck on the blade bit of its weapon is part of Clark's jacket.
JG: Angst. Shit.
ED: Wait, there's more. "Oh, dammit--Ted! Where's Ted?"
JG: "What? Who--oh, your partner in crime from the Planet? He's here?"
ED: Lois starts looking around. "Yeah, he came with me...Ted? Ted!"
KK: Does anybody really care about Ted?
MR: Well, no, but we have to at least get him out of the way.
KK: Kill him, then. It worked for Jimmy.
MR: Yeah, and he still came back. Screw that.
AoT: Anyway. Brian and Belinda finally find Ted still conked out behind some crates, just as the portal flashes and some new critters come out.
MR: Cut back to Clark, who is now sneaking through a narrow and empty side street and avoiding the mass of parademons marching towards the portal. He comes to the corner of a building and flattens against the wall, waiting, as we see a single parademon walk around a corner behind him, see him, and bring up its staff weapon to fire--when Zod appears out of nowhere and beats it down.
KK: How dare anyone else hurt his bitch besides him!
TW: That particular cliche, guys? Dammit...
JG: Zod puts his bitch in his place, though. "Child, why did you follow me here? You have nothing to do with--"
TW: "I came to help you shut down the portal, Zod. That thing is letting those...things loose on Earth, and I--"
AoT: And then they get jumped by two more parademons.
TW: What the--come on!
MR: Back to the warehouse, as our gang makes a hasty retreat from it chased by parademons. A couple of redshirt mutants and soldiers get whacked along the way, of course, and Otis detonates the explosives he set with a remote control.
AoT: Obligatory shot of the portal generator being enveloped in fire, and then a shot of an entire section of the warehouse wall exploding outward, taking out some parademons...to reveal the generator, intact and unharmed.
ED: Lois, Lionel, and Lucius all turn to see the undamaged portal spit out even more parademons. "Oh, that's just great. How the hell do we shut that thing down?"
JG: Lionel. "We need bigger guns, Miss Lane!"
ED: Lois gets an idea, and turns to look at the now unmanned mobile rocket launcher the soldiers brought with them. "Or bigger explosives."
AoT: Back to the other planet, as we see a parademon go flying through the air with a hiss. Pan back from that to see Zod and Clark fighting a group of parademons--Zod fighting in a vaguely military-efficient style and Clark just going all Clark smash! on them.
MR: Warehouse again. Lois starts running for the rocket launcher.
JG: Lionel notices. "Lois, what are you doing?"
ED: "Bigger guns, right? Can't get much bigger than this!" She reaches the rocket launcher, just in time for a parademon to jump up from the other side of it and land on top of it.
JG: Defiant Lois-with-cleavage.
AoT: Planet. Clark goes flying sideways into a wall, as Zod is now fighting with a crystal in one hand and a stolen staff weapon in the other.
TW: It was actually less painful when Clark was simply Zod's bitch.
MR: This is where the parademons finally get smart and just blast the hell out of them with about a dozen staff weapons. Zod goes flying back into the same wall Clark just met, and drops his weapons.
AoT: Outside the warehouse again. The orchestral music is going full tilt now with Lois still staring up at the parademon--just before a bolt of green energy hits it and knocks it off the launcher.
JG: Lionel saving Lois? It's--
MR: He didn't. It's Lucius.
JG: Oh. [pauses] Dammit.
MR: Lucius yells, "Whatever you're going to do, do it!"
ED: Lois goes ahead and climbs up onto and into the launcher.
JG: Ah, okay. Lionel is dialing a number on his cellphone.

AoT: And back to the other planet. Zod and Clark look a bit worse for wear than they did a minute ago--torn shirts, some blood and cuts, and they're slumped against a wall surrounded by parademons all aiming weapons at them. This is when we hear...a voice.
ED: Huh?
AoT: A very low, very deep, very menacing bottom-of-the-well voice. "General Zod."
MR: Zod looks up and angled off camera POV, which is a wide shot of him and Clark and a few parademon heads, as the wall of alien critters parts to create an opening. A shadow comes into the shot and moves towards Clark and Zod.
KK: You're going to give people whiplash with this back-and-forth stuff, you know.
AoT: Tough.
MR: Back to--
ED: The warehouse?
MR: The Mutant Recruitment Center.
ED: Damn!
MR: Martha is still there, with Titian and some extras. And she answers her cellphone.
AoT: "Lionel? What's going on?"
JG: Lionel is crouched by his limo, which is still intact during all of this. "Martha, it's insane here. The Army is on the scene, and there are these...these--"
AoT: Martha is watching new aerial footage of the battle in progress on the big-screen TV we saw earlier. Only now, the title bar on the screen reads "BATTLE FOR METROPOLIS." "I know, Lionel, I know. Did you find Clark?"
JG: Lionel takes a moment with that, as we briefly cut to Lois in the gunner's chair of the rocket launcher.
ED: Where she takes a minute to examine the controls, whispering "Okay, Dad and too many video games as a kid, don't fail me now..."
JG: Back to the adults. "Martha...there's this portal here. It's a gateway to some other planet, and the creatures are coming through it. I think...I think Clark was taken through the portal to the other side. We tried to destroy it once and failed, and we're about to try again. Martha...if he's gone wherever that portal leads, once it's destroyed--he'll be trapped there. Forever."
AoT: Back to a tight shot on Martha as she realizes what Lionel's saying, even as we hear the tail end of it from the phone.
JG: Which would free up Martha to truly be with Lionel. Win-win.
[TW sighs]
AoT: Martha hangs up the phone, shaken, as we see a soldier enter the room behind her and call her name. When she turns, he simply explains that he was sent by General Lane.
ED: Wait...how do they know Martha's there?
AoT: Uh...um...
MR: The Belle Reve thing. She had to call people for that. We're just not showing it.
ED: Okay!
MR [shakes head]: Planet again. The shadow is still visible in the shot, but isn't moving. Zod looks up in its direction, his face the picture of rage. "You!"
AoT: And we hear the deep evil voice again. "You escaped your exile, General? I am surprised. Though I had forgotten about you."
JG: Zod struggles to get to his feet and yells, "I could never forget your brutality! What you did! I waited for years until this chance...so I could exact my vengeance upon you!"
AoT: Evil Voice. "Your vengeance...is proceeding apace."
MR: On the last word, a half-dozen parademons shoot Zod again with their weapons. He goes down.
TW: Okay, I'm not exactly broken up about that.
MR: Quick cut back to a POV shot from the rocket launcher, as its rocket pod slowly rotates and angles to point into the warehouse and at the portal generator. Then back to the other planet, as Zod lies groaning on the ground. Clark looks up at the shadow, as it slowly moves to cover him.
AoT: Evil Voice again. "Your lackey I shall have mercy on, General. His death will be swift."
JG: Zod, ever defiant...the mark of a true bastard. "Kal-El is nothing! Your fight is with me, you butcher! With me!"
AoT: The shadow stops, and it appears to raise an arm to its head for a moment. "Kal...El. As in...Jor-El."
TW: Clark gets only one line in this entire scene? Figures. "Who are you?"
AoT: "The general never told you?"
JG: "Kal-El is insignificant! Damn you!"
KK: Well...he kinda is.
MR: Next-to-last quick cut back to the launcher, as Lois flips the cover off the fire controls. Outside, Lionel yells for Lois to fire the damn weapons.
AoT: Planet again. The shadow moves slightly closer to Clark.
JG: Exposition at last. Zod is pulled to his feet by a group of parademons, with others holding weapons to his head. And he yells, "No--Darkseid! You will deal with me!"
AoT: Clark tries to do his best painfully-defiant look, while getting to his feet, and we cut from that to a very brightly backlit giant head. Basically just a silhouette lit by the red-tinted sun, so you can't make anything out and it looks almost like a giant football helmet. And it says, "Welcome to Apokolips, Kal-El."
MR: Cut back to the launcher. Lois grits her teeth. "God help me, here goes nothing." She hits the fire controls.
AoT: And we cut from that to a side shot of Clark's head as he's halfway to his feet. A shadow rapidly falls over him, we see his eyes widen for an instant--and then a giant armored fist bigger than his head suddenly comes in from camera-left and hits him in the face, as the choral music hits a crescendo. And it keeps going--straight into the wall Clark was leaning against.
TW [stunned]: What...the...hell?
KK: So...Clark just got punched...into a wall.
MR: Well, yeah, pretty much. And we cut straight from that to black, and the "To Be Continued..." title card comes up.
JG: That's just...wow.
KK [starts laughing again]: Into the wall!
TW: That's--that's just--
KK: Into the fucking wall! [falls out of her chair again laughing]
JG: Okay, that's getting old now.
ED: And you didn't even show the rockets being fired?
MR: It was either the rockets firing...or that. Which do you think people are going to remember?
[TW scowls, mumbles unintelligibly]
KK [still laughing]: Oh my God, the wall!

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