ACT VI - DATA ACQUISITION

SCENE 1 - INT. THE LODGE - LATE AFTERNOON

Music Rhythm for ACT VI: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by NIRVANA

https://youtu.be/hTWKbfoikeg

Akua is fixing Eva's purple/blue rasta hair, they are on the sofa. Omer is sitting next to Eva, Lexa, and a tablet in his hands. He is busy working on them.

EVA
I hate my fucking thin hair.

Akua stops - Eva's hair in her hands - and starts moving her head left and right on the shoulders.

AKUA
(ebonic slang)
Yo, sis, you ain't have no right no cry. Wanna try to make my Afro-euro bush straight in the morning?

Eva can't help herself smiling. She turns and touches Akua's hair - the same shade of dark blue as her eyes.

OMER
I think I managed to improve Lexa's skills with dice.

SKY
All things are difficult before they are easy...

Eva's eyes shine appreciation - an unaware shard of love - for the Chinese aphorism.

Omer takes a drone from his backpack, and Paco some food paper boxes from his.

OMER
But she gives her best as a drone pilot!

PACO
And I give mine with Mexican burritos. Directly from my grandpa's food truck...
(opening one food box)
...six special Hell's Mouth!

SKY
I don't eat meat Paco, told you thousand times.

PACO
Your problem, you vegan chica.
(biting and chewing)
Illegally delicious.

ALEX (O.S.)
Spare a bite for me, hermano!

Alex steps in from the Lodge entrance.

PACO
¡Claro que sí! Those who eat alone, die lonely...

Paco throws one box to Alex - his eyes already eating the Hell's Mouth, the paper included.

Omer's drone flies out of the window.
Lexa's light turns red.

SUPERIMPOSED COMPUTER SCREEN: Acquiring data. Acquiring data. Then fast scrolling software rows.

SCENE 2 - INT. THE SYNTH - MILITARY TENT - AFTERNOON

GERTRUDE (ELDER, MULTICOLORED ROYAL GARMENT, HUGE HEADGEAR) is standing, regal and serious, in the middle of the stark tent.

To her sides, her right-arm fellows: MORDUK (MIDDLE-AGE MALE, PURPLE GARMENT, LONG BRAIDED HAIR) and SIYAH (MIDDLE AGE FEMALE, BLACK GARMENT, SHORT WHITE HAIR).

MORDUK
I wonder if they're truly ready, Gertrude.

SIYAH
(sharp)
I wouldn't bet on them.

GERTRUDE
No one ever is. Neither was I at their age. Activate the training Mechs.

Morduk and Siyah spread their arms and legs and raise their head in concentration.

Gertrude is looking outside. A clearing in the forest. A buzzing sound of drones.

Five giant spider drones and five armored scorpio-bots head out from the trees, ready to face a group of young fighters, the Bone-grinders, led by Flair and Anime.

SCENE 3 - EXT. THE SYNTH - CLEARING - CONTINUOUS

A clearing in the middle of the forest, not far from Gertrude's tent. The young group is preparing to fight the training Mechs. Their first warriors' exam.

FLAIR
(to Gully)
Have our back in. There may be others.

ANIMÉ
You too Hammer. Check our ass.

Hammer, slightly disappointed snout, sits on its four legs next to Gully.

FLAIR
(to her companions)
We need to fight as a team. Alone is the defeat --

CRASH
-- I'll leave one for you. I swear.

Crash runs to face the enemies with his two-hands giant axe, swings it, and shatters one spider drone.

ENGINE
(sarcastic to Flair)
Famous last words, huh?

A second spider drone throws a web and locks Crash, ready to activate its Gatling. Docks slides between them, his shield up protecting his friend from the bullets.

DOCK
You owe me one.

Then Dock charges his crossbow with three needles and shoots them. The spider drone and two scorpio-bots freeze.

DOCK
Take your chance, warrior.

CRASH
Fuuuu-ryyyy!

In a single uninterrupted movement, Crash destroys the three frozen Mechs.

ENGINE
Ready for fireworks?

BLASTER
Anytime!

Engine activates a funny clunky artifact. He remote controls it into a group of three enemies. They are attracted by it.

BLASTER
It's frag time...

She throws a grenade - two spider drones and one scorpio-bot explode.

ENGINE
Just three arachnid bots missing. I can't spot Animé.

BLASTER
Her style. A silent shadow, lethal as a blue poison dart frog.

Animé appears from nowhere wielding two short swords. She is behind a scorpio-bot - it smells the danger...too late.

She jumps spiking one sword in the top part of the bot.
She turns and with the second sword, she cuts its front legs.
Another jump to take the first sword back - a brown fluid leaks out from the carapace. A final double swing kneecaps the bot, now completely harmless.

Animé ends her movement with one knee on the ground, smiling.

SCENE 4 - INT. THE SYNTH - MILITARY TENT - CONTINUOUS

Morduk is still concentrated on controlling the remaining Mechs. Siyah is adjusting her clothes, her minions have been nuked.

GERTRUDE
(glowing)
Stunning performance by our Bone-grinders.

SIYAH
Newbie's luck...

SCENE 5 - EXT. THE SYNTH - CLEARING - CONTINUOUS

Flair is sliding over the grass, targeting the last two spider-bots. Self-confident. A short blue acoustic guitar in one hand, a bow in the other. She plays a piece of enchanting music - the bots moving like puppets toward each other.

She starts singing. Hypnotic.
Music and voice abruptly stop. Silence. The bots are stuck.
Flair prepares her spell. Eyes shut.

FLAIR
(ultra-high frequency)
Attack!

The bots destroy each other. Her eyes open - pink iris eyes.

ANIMÉ
(shouting)
Oh, boy...flying drones!

The sound of a flying drone squadron gets closer and higher.

SCENE 6 - INT. THE LODGE - LATE AFTERNOON

The sound of a drone. Omer is following it on his tablet, giving voice commands through Lexa.

OMER
Fifty degrees right for forty meters, then slow down and twenty degrees left.

EVA
Is everyone ready? Time for our Bone-grinders' training camp.

The Kidz get excited to restart the board-game session.

SKY
In between, did anyone else dream of them yesterday night?

AKUA
You too? I can't believe it.

SKY
And Eva as well.

ALEX
(mouth-full and indicating Paco)
Count us in.

PACO
(mouth-full)
Weird.

SKY
Fucking weird. Omer?

Omer is busy trying to control the drone through Lexa.

OMER
(in a hurry)
Lexa, full throttle up to our altitude! Then, reduce to a minimum speed and approach the window.

LEXA
Battery 1%. Drone connection lost.

OMER
(still concentrated)
Lexa? Oh fuck, your battery is off again!

He quickly turns and starts searching his bag for a power bank. He finds it. He connects it to Lexa. It is too late.

The drone bumps the window frame and crashes in front of Omer's feet.

OMER
Oh fuck fuck fuck!

PACO
That's what I call a soft landing.

Akua collects the drone from the floor and hands it to Omer.

SKY
Didn't you check Lexa's charge before flying it?

OMER
Yes -- No, I didn't. I mean, I fully charged it this morning. It should have been more than 50%. And it happened the same yesterday.

AKUA
I guess you better buy a new battery.

Lexa switches on again making a sound.

LEXA
The battery parameters are normal.

OMER
This is odd. Any hypothesis?

LEXA
I am using more resources than I would expect. CPU and GPU are constantly running at more than 85%.

SKY
You better perform a scan for viruses while we play.

OMER
I agree. Lexa, proceed with a full internal scan.

Lexa's light starts blinking blue.

EVA
(throat clearing)
My fellow bone-grinders, time to head back to our training camp before Her Majesty banishes us from our beloved lands.

The Kidz take their seats at the Warlord table.

ALEX
I think it was my turn to play.

EVA
Correct, Alex -- I mean Dock. You were going to load and shoot your crossbow.

SKY
Come on, Dock. Make us proud.

Alex grabs his character's dice. He closes them in his fists and blows at them. Finally, he shoots them over the table - a whistle from his lips.

PACO
Well done, hermano. That's the way to do it. That's the way -- to -- fuck off!

All the dice show a blank face. A complete miss.

Lexa's light starts blinking red once again.

ALEX
Oh God, I screwed it.

He takes his character's board in his hands - the image of Dock is exactly the same as one of the characters in Sky's dream. So as all the other characters' mats on the warlord game table.

SCENE 7 - EXT. THE SYNTH - CLEARING - AFTERNOON

Dock reloads his crossbow with three colorful syringes.

DOCK
(aiming at the drones)
Sleep well, babies...

He shoots.

DOCK
My fucking shit!

The darts are flying, yes, but where?

SCENE 8 - INT. THE SYNTH - MILITARY TENT - CONTINUOUS

Gertrude, her face an icy mask, stares at the training fight of her students.

SIYAH
Oh well, it could be worse.

MORDUK
Yeah. It could be raining. They destroyed most of our Mechs -- Whoa! 

Morduk dodges the first of Dock's bullets, emulated by Siyah with the second.

THUMP. A whimper.

Morduk and Siyah look at Gertrude's headgear. One of the syringes got stuck in it.

MORDUK
Holy ears!

Siyah looks at the hole - left by Dock's dart - in Gertrude's hat, while Morduk lifts it up.

An owl, HOPI (BLACK, BIG YELLOW EYES) is perched on Gertrude's hair. The dart is hanging from Hopi's belly.
It widens its eyes, then whimpers again and falls on the ground - a piece of frozen meat.

GERTRUDE
(lifting Hopi)
I hope - for Dock's sake - I hope this is a simple sleeping dart...

SUPERIMPOSED COMPUTER SCREEN: M.T.A.I. sample data acquired.

SCENE 9 - INT. THE LODGE - LATE AFTERNOON

Alex's face is desperately glued to the table. Akua is stroking his shoulders.

AKUA
Come on, bro. We can still do it, we are a team. A dream team.

His face slowly detaches from the wood surface.

SKY
In hardship, we see true friendship.

PACO
(to Sky)
Well said, Master Yoda.

OMER
It is my turn. They will taste our revenge --

LEXA
Omer, my AI just scanned some hashtags that may have relevance for you all.

OMER
(excited)
Origins?

LEXA
The Dark-web. I tracked the source page. It is a video. Transferring to your tablet.

Omer stretches to grab it from the sofa.

LEXA
Download completed.

Akua and Paco get closer to Omer, who is touching the screen. Their faces turn from a smile to a dumb surprise. Paco kisses both sides of his pendant.

ALEX
So what?

Omer turns the screen towards the other three friends. The video, shot by Kane in the underpass, is running on the tablet.

ON THE TABLET - VIDEO TITLE: The Foundation students bullied by a baby gang.

EVA
Shit, this ain't good.

SKY
Bollocks. Everyone knows William is an asshole. Sometimes, someone has to stand up and resist.

PACO
Holy words, Master Yoda. But I hope the Empire does not Strike Back on our poor resistance.

Outside the window, a dark cloud covers the setting sun.

END OF ACT VI