7.13 Exit by MR & AoT (Part VIII)

As retold by Bill C

MR: After that nice segue, we open on an exterior shot of the Mutant Recruitment Center. Over it we hear Lucius's voice: "You want me to do what?"
KK: Lionel and Martha want a threesome?
TW [sticks fingers in ears]: Lalalalalalalalala...
JG: They want to swing, baby!
TW [louder]: ...lalalalalalalalalala...
MR: Cut to the office we saw Lionel, Martha, Otis, and Lucius in earlier.
ED [nudges TW, loudly]: It's okay! They stopped!
MR: Lucius is pacing back and forth in front of Lionel and Martha, and he sounds annoyed. "You asked me to help you once, Martha, and I did. You asked me again, and I did...and I still have no idea what happened to Mr. O'Donnell. But now you're asking me for a third favor?"
JG: Lionel steps forward. "That's exactly what we're asking you."
MR: "And this favor can cost the lives of our people?"
AoT: "Lucius, believe me, we wouldn't be asking if we didn't think you could help."
MR: "Help is one thing. Creating some kind of...suicide squad is another."
JG: "It wouldn't necessary be suicidal, Mr. B--"
MR: Lucius stops pacing. "Mr. Luthor. You just told me that you want us to help you fight a threat that, as you yourself said, may well be more than a match for the police. Where I come from, that's called one of two things--it's either a military action, or suicide."
JG: "It could be a third thing as well, Mr. Best."
KK: Yup. It could be utterly stupid.
JG: Quiet, Kreuk. "It could be a move showing how metahumans really are just like everyone else in a very specific way--when they are threatened, they will fight to protect themselves and other innocent people."
MR: Lucius actually chuckles at that. "Martha, your friend is even more silver-tongued than you are. No wonder you're so fond of him."
AoT: "The thing is that he's right, Lucius."
MR: "So you both think that it would be in the best interests of all metahumans if I, say, got twenty or thirty of us together and marched off to die in glorious defeat? You'll understand if I beg to--"
AoT: At this point, an assistant leans into the office. She looks concerned. "Lucius...Mrs. Kent...I think you should come see this."
MR: Lucius, Martha and Lionel all exit the office and follow the extra over to a large open meeting room which has a big-screen TV mounted on the wall. Otis and a couple of other extras are already there, watching what appears to be aerial footage of the police fighting Hasaad's goons outside the warehouse with an onscreen subtitle reading "GUNFIGHT IN SOUTH METROPOLIS." A couple of vehicles appear to be on fire and every so often flashes of reddish light can be seen.
ED: I can't believe it's not Baghdad!
KK [groans, smacks ED in the back of the head]: Bad Erica, bad!
ED: Ow!
MR: A male voice is talking over the footage, and we briefly cut back to a reaction shot of Lionel and Martha as he talks about how the police were apparently tipped off about the location by an unknown source an hour or so ago and how the police initially appeared to be outmatched, how there appears to be at least one metahuman involved in the fight, blah blah blah.
AoT: We then cut to Lex's office at LuthorCorp, as Lex is sitting on the edge of his desk watching the same footage. Dr. Richards walks into the office, sporting a fresh bandage on his head. "Lex--"
MR: Lex holds up a hand to stop him from talking. "Doctor...it may be time to prepare Revision Two."
JG: Why does he get the cryptically evil stuff?
MR: Hello? My episode?
ED: Revision Two? Vault Black? What the hell is Lex doing, using the PAS as a starting point for making an unstoppable robot army?
TW: Don't tempt him, Erica.
MR [wistfully]: Oh, Erica, if only. If only.
AoT: We go back to the MRC right after Lex's line, as the one male voice stops talking and another one starts. Martha turns to Lionel. "Zod?"
JG: "I think so...Mr. Best. We need an answer, and we need one now."
MR: "Risking the lives of people I consider my friends...intervening in something the police may be ill-equipped to handle. You're asking a lot of me."
AoT: "Lucius, you've already intervened in things the police definitely would not be equipped to handle at all. We're simply asking you to intervene again."
MR: At this point Titian Vinebracer walks into the room. Tom, would you?
TW: Sure. "I got here as fast as I could, Lucius, once I got your call. What's going on?"
MR: Lucius brings him up to speed on Martha and Lionel's request, and Titian laughs bitterly.
TW: "We've somehow lost one of our own thanks to you two. Why should we help you again?"
AoT: Dramatic slow zoom on Martha as she goes into impassioned mode. "Because this is a more significant threat than anything you've ever seen thus far. Because this is more than just 'your' people at risk if those 'terrorists' succeed at doing whatever it is they're doing. This is now all our people--humans and metahumans alike--who are in danger. And if we don't do something--anything--to help, together, we stand to lose everything together."
KK [after a few seconds]: Annette, are you absolutely sure you haven't been reading X-Men?
AoT: No comment, Kristen.
KK: I knew it!
MR: Lucius considers Martha's words, with a quick back-and-forth cut between him and Martha. After a while, he finally answers. "All right, Martha. I'll need to talk to--"
TW: Titian cuts in. "Hold on, Lucius. Mrs. Kent...what's in it for us if we help you this time?"
AoT: "I don't understand."
TW: "It's pretty obvious, isn't it? I think we might be willing to help you...but this time we definitely will need something in return."
AoT: "Such as?"
TW: "Our most powerful metahumans--the ones deemed most dangerous--are ironically the ones you probably need most if you're planning any sort of attack. Some of them are imprisoned at Belle Reve."
JG: "You want us to get them released?"
TW: "At the very least, see if it can be done. Though between the two of you I imagine it probably can be..."
ED: This will be followed by selling refrigerators to Eskimos and getting Hillary Clinton to admit to being a raging megabitch on live national TV.
AoT: Martha frowns, and looks at Lucius. "Well?"
MR: Lucius appears to consider everything recently said. "Titian has a point. While there are powerful metahumans who are not in Belle Reve, it would help if those who are were free to help us. Perhaps...pardons could be arranged for them."
AoT: Even Martha is taken aback by that. "Lucius, you and I both know that some of them aren't stable--"
MR: "And some of them are simply...unlucky."
JG: Lionel suddenly pipes up. "Otis? We need the inmate records for Belle Reve, as soon as possible--assuming LuthorCorp is now safe, you can retrieve them from the terminal in my office. Bring a summation here."
TW: As previously said: this can't possibly end well.

AoT: Martha looks at Lionel for a moment as Otis exits, then back at Lucius. "I don't think anyone could pardon the ones who have, say, committed cold-blooded murder. But I might be able to do something for the ones who committed lesser crimes."
MR: "Fair enough."
AoT: "And in the meantime...do we have your support again, Lucius?"
JG: "It could be considered...a second chance of a sort for some of them."
MR: Titian snorts at that, but Lucius nods. "We have work to do."
KK: And so is born...can we call them Martha's Marauders?
AoT [laughs]: Why not?
JG: Dammit, why doesn't Lionel have his own conscript militia?
ED: He has Otis. And Martha.
JG: Good point.
TW: Could we trade Martha for the conscripts?
MR: What, just so Clark can finally go all Oedipal on us?
JG: Screw that.
TW: Never mind.
AoT: Okay, going back to the warehouse. We cut to a group of SWAT officers with full-body shields advancing under fire to recover a wounded cop, no music, then to the goons firing at them, and finally to a police command vehicle set a distance behind the battle lines. Some guy in a suit is yelling for a status report about more units being sent to reinforce them when something--a large red blur--suddenly passes by him with enough speed to knock him and three other cops down.
MR: Through a series of jump cuts, with heavy dramatic music kicking in, we see the red blur make a beeline for the warehouse--knocking cops and goons alike out of the way. Then we cut to the inside of the warehouse, just as part of a wall on the opposite side of the portal generator from Lois and Bittleman and Hasaad implodes inward.
KK: He's heeeeeere...
MR: Yup. Everybody whirls around and there's Zod, floating a few feet off the ground and looking pissed. He silently glares around the warehouse, finally locking in on Hasaad--who looks suitably stunned, even as he whips up the weapon he got from Space Cujo. "General--"
AoT: And Zod heat-visions the weapon, partially melting it. And he growls, "Zod. It is good to be remembered--isn't it, Hasaad?"

Continued...