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Big Break: Part 2
Feeding a Heat pill to a man bound to a chair, Daken asks him “why do we take the pill?” Simultaneously, Donna Kiel sits at her desk, brooding. She recalls back to her childhood when her parents had taken her to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist asked her why she wrote the novel. And why are there so many… nasty things in it. Smiling, Donna answered that the devil made her do it.
Six days ago in the Hollywood Hills, Daken sits in bed with Marcus Roston, watching a clip from a movie. As they watch, Marcus informs Daken that it’s from the final cut. It’s not out for another month. What does he think? It’s the latest Marcus Roston-starring vehicle. It’s gonna be huge. Watching Marcus dressed up in armor with a cape and attacking a monster holding a damsel in distress on the screen with a sword, Daken states that it’s rather… simplistic. Marcus says he’s kidding. People eat this blockbuster %$#& up. A monster, great looking noble hero, some quest or other, kickass action, and good defeating evil. Easy straight-forward accessible stuff. He then adds that he’d love to do something smaller, indie, more personal. But while you’re hot you gotta take advantage.
Daken remarks that a man is defined by his actions. Besides, shouldn’t he really be playing the queen? Lying on the bed, Marcus tells him $&%* you. Not if he wants to stay a Hollywood leading man. Does he have the slightest clue what would happen to his career if he came out? He plainly doesn’t know this business. No offense. Popping his claws, Daken says none taken and proceeds to jam them into the wall, barely missing Marcus’ head. Moving closer to Marcus, Daken states that he supposes he’s never been particularly respectful of boundaries. Holding his claws up to Marcus’ face, Daken tells him that he has such a good-looking face. Perfect cheekbones and skin texture. It would be simply career crushing should he be horribly scarred. Marcus begs him not to. Daken then asks about the Heat pills. Tell him where he gets them from. Marcus asks Daken why. Why does he like them so much?
As he gets into his car, the Heat pills begin to take effect. When Heat kicks in, it’s warm inside. The world is the temperature of a mother embracing a lost and panicking child. It actually works! The glow builds inside you and euphoria streaks across neural pathways, sparking synaptic fiber tracts. $%#& you, healing factor! This works! Everything feels better. The welcoming light that a bulb throws across your face, the comforting litheness of simple human movement… The pleasing kick of the pistol as he unloads two bullets into the thigh meat of Roston’s dealer.
Dealer gives up supplier. Daken can feel his claws swell and beat in time with his heart as he cuts into him. He hears his thoughts and drinks his memories. He knows his answers 2.4 seconds before he gives them to him. The healing factor isn’t fixing this! The dealer refuses to talk but then psychically tells him the location of a man who knows where Los Angeles’ crime bosses are holding a secret meeting. Daken travels to his nightclub on a passing UFO and speak alien languages to the doorman who wets himself in greeting. The trip has turned gangrene gutshot ugly and he does not care. Because, for once… he can actually feel something. A man is defined by his actions. Viciously, Daken makes the scared, bleeding man tell him the whereabouts of this oh-so-secret meeting. And then he can’t recall a thing as everything goes black.
In a Los Angeles police department briefing room, FBI agent Donna Kiel shows those present pictures of Daken Akihiro. The C.I.A., MI:13, and Interpol all believe he’s currently the ruling crime boss of Madripoor. And he’s got the FBI’s attention when he arrived in Los Angeles 15 days ago. Under an alias, of course. The commissioner asks how exactly she knows this. Kiel answers via FBI contacts who used to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. Her contacts who used to work for S.H.I.E.L.D.
Continuing, she explains that he disappeared almost immediately. His location and business within L.A. remains unknown, although he was accidentally snapped by paparazzi lunching at Morton’s on Melrose. First victim of their perp was discovered 12 days ago in an alley a quarter of a mile from Melrose. Three victims since then. Each one ripped to pieces by what appears to be claws of some kind. Hence the press sobriquet “Claw Killer.” The commissioner replies that they know this. He then asks agent Kiel if she wants to get to her point. His time’s kinda precious. Kiel continues that Daken Akihiro was briefly Wolverine in Norman Osborn’s Avengers. Daken Akihiro is Wolverine’s son. And yes. Claws are implicit.
Once she informs the room that, all those present are in shock. The commissioner asks this is confirmed. This isn’t confirmed, right? Kiel answers not the Avengers thing, not officially, anyway. But when she pushed it she was told, off the record, that he’s Wolverine’s son. But Daken’s taller than Wolverine. The photos of Osborn’s Wolverine were plainly a bigger, different person. And the body language, if you study as much footage of Akihiro and Osborn’s Wolverine as she has, it’s the same man. A panther rather than an attack dog. After one of the detectives make a lewd comment that is largely ignored, the commissioner asks what they know about this guy. Kiel replies that he’s a nasty thing.
Perched on the side of a helicopter, Daken makes his way to Catalina Island, located 22 miles off the coast of Los Angeles. It is the location of the L.A. crime boss emergency summit meeting to discuss who, exactly, has taken over their city. Forced to leave their own turf to ensure safety. Poor terrified things. All those criminals in one place. If a highly ambitious competitor were to find out this was happening. Well, that would simply be awful. A half-mile swim in strong Californian offshore currents. Then scale the sheer 150-foot cliff wall of the gated coastal mansion they’re using for the meet. Then the guards…
Daken tries to focus on the matter at hand but this is just so… easy, his mind wanders. And Heat fills the gaps in his thoughts. He wonders why he wants it so much. And he does want it. His stomach muscles twinge and contort at the thought of it. His mouth salivates like one of Pavlov’s gullible dogs. After killing the three guards, Daken remarks that they were sons, brothers, husbands, lovers, fathers. He does not care in the slightest. All he sees is the utter lack of challenge they offer. He is brilliant and beautiful. Anything he wants on this earth he can take and no one can stop him. Simply, he is bored. He wants this drug. It beats his healing factor. It challenges him. To summarize, it’s $#%&%$# great.
After blowing a hole in the skylight above where the crime bosses are meeting, Daken drops through the hole and onto the table, firing his automatic weapon which he took from the guards as he does. Addressing the crime bosses, he tells them not to panic; they’re alive. He could’ve killed every one of them but he chose not to. He trusts they’ll take that as a show of good faith on his part. He also found out about this little top-secret soiree of theirs and got past their rather laughable security. Meanwhile, they’re hiding out there on an island, unable to confidently hold a meeting on their own turf. They need him. Their turf has been taken away, and he is what evens the playing field for them.
After tossing a CD to one of the crime bosses and telling him to play it, Daken thinks to himself that he didn’t kill them because he needs their individual business structures. Sitting around the table are representatives of all Los Angeles’ crime districts, with local links going back decades. Befriend them, learn their secrets, take their secrets. Make them work for him.
Once the CD starts playing, Daken informs them that he came there to create something. Not to fill for the fun of it. He is not a monster. They’re losing the war. They need to make a statement. This is their statement. The Los Angeles Durrant armored facility grab of 1997 was America’s largest cash robbery - $19.8 million. Since then, the company’s given their rare convoys a small private army. Time and location are top-secret, dummy convoys throw criminals off the scent.
One of the crime bosses asks that he doesn’t think they know that? These runs? Beyond top-secret. Impossible. Daken says no, they just need the right contacts. Durrant’s security chief is an ex-CIA agent named Terrill Lee Mitchell. He lives in Santa Monica with his family under an alias. He recently picked him up on the way home from work one evening. If he disappeared, Durrant would shut the latest convoy down, so traditional torture methods were out. Daken said he’d kill his family and Mitchell refused to deal. He’s a pro. He force-fed him two Heat pills. The first hour or so he tried to fight it. Babbled. Spoke poignantly about his secret feelings. He begged him for the second pills an hour later. The third pills, despite his agony, he refused to give him. He told him the schedule of every Durrant armored car convoy for the next eight months. He let him go home to his wife and daughter with his new addiction. And the unbearable knowledge that, if he blew the whistle, he wouldn’t get his next fix from him.
Daken proceeds to inform the crime bosses that a Durrant convoy carrying $26 million is heading out in three days. He wants one senior member from each of their crews for the team. $21 million is shared among them all, equally. He gets $5 million for bringing them the job. When one of the crime bosses says yeah, they still have the helicopters and their own private army, Daken informs him that they have him.
Pulling up to Marcus Roston’s palatial estate in his car, Daken calls for him on his call-box. When the attendant asks who’s calling, a voice from behind the car says “Daken Akihiro.” Turning around, Daken asks who she might be. Agent Donna Kiel tells him that she might be an FBI agent on secondment to the LAPD currently investigating several extremely brutal killings in the area where claws were the murder weapon. She is Agent Kiel.
Daken tells her she’s very direct. Very young too, slight in frame. Shouldn’t she have an older male superior accompanying her when meeting a highly dangerous individual? Kiel asks an imposing father figure, he means? Does he know any of them? Daken says touché. How nice to finally meet a smart person in Hollywood. After a brief stare-down, Kiel informs Daken that Roston isn’t home. She’s been sitting out there for six hours since being told he attended one of his parties. Daken says that’s a shame. When Kiel asks what his relationship with Roston would be, Daken tells her they’re lovers and he’s his drug dealer. But don’t tell the press, eh? They’d have a field day. He presumes she’s not going to arrest him for something he hasn’t done. No evidence or warrants pending.
As he pulls away, Kiel calls out to him that she’s not done with him. Daken tells her that if she can find him, he promises he’ll answer all her questions. How’s that? He has a feeling she enjoys a challenge as much as he does.
Now… Daken stands amongst the carnage on the streets of Los Angeles. In a Heat-induced state, he remarks that the Heat’s turning, hurting him. Killing him. Why does he take the pill? It’s killing him. The devil made him do it. He can’t breathe. His heart’s boiling and exploding inside his chest and he knows. Opening up the back of the armored car, he knows what’s behind the door – a challenge. Emerging from the back of the armored car, Taskmaster asks Daken if he really thinks in this supper villain day and age, a company’s gonna transport millions like this without hiring some world-class muscle to protect it? What is he? High?


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[Assistant]
Big Break: Part 3
Looking around at the carnage around him and Taskmaster in front of him, Daken tells himself to focus. He’s an actor. Don’t forget he’s an actor. So put on the &%$#&$# Captain America mask. Play your part, inhabit the role, and pray you don’t get crappy reviews.
Just then, Taskmaster cracks Daken in the mouth with his shield. As he does, he exclaims that his name’s Taskmaster and he’ll be his armored car convoy secret escort today. He’ll also be the guy turning your jaw into a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. Continuing his assault on Daken, Taskmaster asks Captain America masks, huh? Is that supposed to be symbolic or somethin’? Damn, he hopes not. Captain America is the symbol of all that’s good and noble and heroic and star spangled about this country. He does not knock off armored cars for $26 million in notes and bonds. He’d have heard about it. When Daken falls to the ground, he tells himself to hold it together. No claws.
Before Taskmaster can bring his sword down on Daken’s head, Daken’s accomplices open up fire on him. Blocking their fire with his sword, Taskmaster turns his attention to them. He asks them if they have any clue how much it costs to hire him for a babysitting gig like this. Think getting Babs Streisand to rap an N.W.A. medley at your wedding. Then triple that. There’s a reason for that. He’s kinda good.
Taking out a few of the gunmen with his shield, Taskmaster tells others that this is their last chance. They can drop their weapons right here and enjoy jail time or… ah screw it. Lopping off two of the gunmen’s heads, Taskmaster adds that he’s getting kinda sick of getting shot at. From behind him, Taskmaster hears a voice behind him telling him that he’s about to feel utterly nauseous then. Turning around, Taskmaster asks whassat? Firing a missile at Taskmaster, Daken tells him to repeat from earlier… boom. Preparing himself for the oncoming blast, Taskmaster asks uh… shake-shake-shake the room?
As he fires the missile, Daken, in a Heat induced stupor, reminds himself not to black out. Ride with the Heat trip. Control this. You planned this. You planned this exactly. Mitchell told him Taskmaster would be the last line of defense. He didn’t tell the rest of his “team,” of course. He didn’t tell them he planned to get Taskmaster really, really angry. After all, where would the fun be in that? In short time, Taskmaster kills all of Daken’s accomplices.
Once it’s down to Taskmaster and Daken, they are surrounded by a number of S.W.A.T. team members and helicopters, all of them ordering Daken to surrender. Looking at them, Daken asks what the hopeful young actor wants most of all. He wants an audience for his art. Taskmaster proceeds to tell Daken that the show’s over. He figures he’s earned his paycheck today. If he gives up now, he lives, his choice.
In his head, Daken angrily calls Taskmaster a skull-faced fashion aberration. There are no choices made here. Only plans come to fruition. The Heat effect’s fading. He didn’t black out. That’s good. He’s learning to control it. He’s… bleeding. His healing factor… the Heat… it’s scrambling his healing factor. That might… complicate matters.
When Taskmaster points his sword at him and tells him decision time, Daken responds that, even according to the ludicrous standards of super-people, he really does have the most laughable costume. With that, Daken rushes towards Taskmaster. As he does, he is fired upon by all of the police and military personnel around them. After he picks up an automatic weapon, Taskmaster jams his sword into Daken’s chest. When he does, he asks him what he just said about his costume. He found that kinda hurtful. Pulling the sword out of his chest and falling to the ground, Daken says “final act. And final acts should always have a twist.”
A short time later, Taskmaster is lauded for his efforts in stopping one of the biggest armed robberies in U.S. history and departs. As the body-bag carrying Daken is placed into an ambulance, the driver is killed. Changing into a security guards uniform, Daken says that it’s the perfect crime. Thanks to his healing factor and the fact that no one identified him. The entire gang was killed by the ferociously heroic Taskmaster during the bungled heist.
So, who, exactly, made off with all those millions in the aftermath of the firefight? It is, simply, a mystery. The biggest cash robbery that’s ever taken place on U.S. soil. Yes, he thinks that should get the attention of L.A.’s mysterious new kingpin of crime. A fairly subtle statement of intent. He fills a body-bag with cash and bonds. The body-bag they put him in. It won’t be all of it but it’ll be millions which he then takes back to the various desperate L.A. families, assuring their loyalty. L.A. crime families who are seriously weakened thanks to Taskmaster recently killing off six of their top men. Perfect.
Just then, Daken falls to the ground. Looking down, he sees that the wound from Taskmaster isn’t… His healing factor’s shutting down. What… what is the Heat doing to him?
Just then, FBI agent Donna Kiel approaches Daken in the back of the armored car and points her gun at Daken. When she does, she tells him that he was right. She does enjoy a challenge. You cop-killing son of a bitch.
Looking up at her, Daken remembers her and calls her a clever girl. Kiel states that he’s in town, reports come in of a failed attempt at a record-breaking armored car takedown, lots of fatalities. She drives down there, checks the body-bag but guess what? One’s missing. Doesn’t tally with the number of dead. An then she thinks, ‘what if he’s got a healing factor same as his father?’ Daken weakly tells her he’s not his father. Kiel adds that she guesses that healing factor’s having a bad day.
Daken says to Kiel that he has a question for her. She hasn’t sounded the alarm and he’s shut herself in there with him so no one can see them. Why? Kiel tells him that she’s taking him in. But he said, he promised, that if she found him he’d answer all her questions. So she wants to know… why did he rip those people into pieces? What made him do it? Daken says he doesn’t know who she’s…
Kiel says the murder victims, her murder victims. The last one, the actor, Glenn. There was so little left of him. Why did he do that? Daken answers that he doesn’t… Glenn? Kiel angrily yells at him and orders him to tell her why he killed them. Daken begins to wonder what happened during the blackouts. Did the pills make him… Just then, Kiel points out that he’s scared. He’s scared that he’s an animal. Like Wolverine. Enraged, Daken lashes out at Kiel, knocking her backwards and hitting her head on the metal, knocking her out.
Later, two detectives ask Kiel if she got a good look at the guy. Police died there. Did that hit to the head scramble her brain or something? Kiel replies that it was Daken Akihiro.
Meanwhile, in his estate, Daken stands in front of a fire, holding a drink, a Heat pill and his chest wrapped where he’s still bleeding. After looking down at the pill for a time, he swallows it whole.


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[Assistant]
Moonwalk: Part 1
In a movie theater in Los Angeles, Marc Spector sits between Spider-Man and Captain America. Spider-Man says the greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world Santa Claus didn’t exist. Spector tells him that’s an incorrect movie quote. What’s his point? Cap states that his point, albeit garbled, is that Los Angeles has a new kingpin of crime, one currently unidentified to the world or intelligence sources. Plus there’s this serial killer loose in Hollywood – “The Claws Killer.” As the Avenger Moon Knight, he needs to find out their identities and take them down.
Spector says he’s working on it. But he’s also Marc Spector, Hollywood producer these days. He has to do some work. By the way, why isn’t Wolverine sitting with them? Cap replies that’s because he doesn’t like what they’re there to discuss. Let’s review what they know so far…
Opening up the file, Spector sees that Daken Akihiro is in Los Angeles. Crap. Cap adds that Daken was responsible for the recent Durrant armored car grab. Spector points out that the majority of the money was recovered and the perps were killed. Wolverine remarks that the L.A.P.D. say the dead gang was some super group of different L.A. crime families. Daken probably set them up, gained the families’ trust and then got his competitors wiped out in a blaze of glory. It’s his style. Kid’s real smart. He can’t trust him, understand? Spider-Man says smart’s one way of putting it. Charlie Manson was smart too, y’know what I’m saying. When Spector asks if they think Daken’s this claws killer, the people behind him tell him to shhhhh. Around him, the heroes aren’t there. Spector laments crazy. Great… thanks Cap. Crazy’s the last thing he needs.
Inside a church, Daken thanks F.B.I. agent Donna Kiel for coming. After Daken asks her why exactly they’re there, Donna readies her gun. She proceeds to say to Daken that that’s a profound question. And he doesn’t exactly strike her as the religious type. Daken tells her she’d be surprised. He takes it she’s not. He means, bringing a pistol is hardly a show of faith. Then again, she doesn’t seem to have brought the entire Los Angeles police department with her. She’s followed the instructions of his message and came alone. So perhaps this is a show of faith.
Donna tells him %#$& you. You killed cops. Good men. Daken replies good men? Do those even exist? They’re all compromised, shades of gray. Herself, for example… Clicking her gun, Donna tells him not to push me you bastard. Tell her why she shouldn’t shoot him right here for what he did with the armored car. Daken says because he doesn’t think she really cares about his actions at the armored car. If she did, she would’ve shot him there. He’s done a little research on her. She just wants to find her “Claws Killer,” doesn’t she? She’s the only one who can bring him in.
Standing up, Donna points her gun at Daken and tells him she agrees. So let’s go in. Daken says he’s not the Claws Killer; he thinks she knows that. Donna says she doesn’t know that. And even if he’s not, he’s still a multiple murderer. Daken says yes, she’s done rather a lot of research on him too, hasn’t she? To the point of obsession, he’s told. He then tells her to sit down please. She’s causing a scene. Besides, bullets can’t really…
Donna tells Daken that he looks like hell, he know that? Taskmaster really did a number on him. His healing factor’s on the fritz, right? So she’s figuring her bullets can. She saw his eyes by the armored car. Something’s happening to him and, whatever it is, he’s scared. Looking at Donna with a renewed interest, Daken asks need saving, does he? That’s… not really his thing, he’s afraid. And he has a strong feeling she’s exactly the same. No, he wants to help her. That’s why he called. He has contacts and abilities the L.A.P.D. do not. He can find this killer and stop him before he murders again. He can save lives.
Softening the look on her face, Donna asks Daken why he would do that. Silence conveys what he doesn’t tell her. Because he doesn’t know what the Heat drug is doing to him. Because he doesn’t know what happens when he blacks out, because he needs the answers. Leaving the church, Daken tells Donna that he is many things, but he is not an animal. Now is she coming or not?
Outside, Daken asks Donna to tell him about the latest victim. Donna informs him that it happened two nights ago. Happened in the early hours. Actress and singer. 22 year-old Caucasian. Party type. Same profile as the other victims. All showbiz wannabes. Audition fodder. Couple of uninspiring, very small TV parts, a few plays…
When Daken asks what her name was, Donna says it was Lucille Day. Her real name was Lucia Romanowski. She changed it when she moved to L.A. to make herself more hirable. She ran into the road about 200 yards from where they found the remains. Terrified but nothing apparently chasing her. Busy street. Lots of witnesses, even at that time of night. One car clips her. Then, according to a couple of eyewitnesses… she disappears into thin air before she even hits the road.
At the crime scene, Donna tells Daken that they find what’s left down there. And there wasn’t much of it. Ripped to little pieces. Again. Forensics found lots of traces of her and, as things stand, nothing from the killer. Which is near impossible. Much like her disappearing into thin air after being hit by a car. Donna then asks Daken if he has an enhanced sense of smell like his father. When Daken tells her no, Donna says not an animal, huh? So, if he doesn’t have daddy’s nose, what the hell are they even doing out there? Daken doesn’t tell her, but he wanted to see if he recognized this. He wanted to see if he did it. But… he just doesn’t know.
Thinking to herself, Donna says this rates pretty high on her “what the %#$@ am I doing?” list. And that’s a pretty long list. Breaking into a crime scene with Los Angeles’ most wanted man. A ruthless cop-killer. An emotionally erratic wannabe mob boss who’s definitely scared of something and suffering some form of physical decay. Alone with a murderer with claws who is the prime suspect in the Claws Killer case. Down a dark alley where a woman was eviscerated recently. At night. And she’s supposed to be smart. Question: does she think he’s the killer? This killer? No… maybe… it makes no sense for him to come to her this way. Does she think he can help her find the killer? Yes. And that’s really all that matters, isn’t it? So who’s the ruthless one here?
Watching Daken begin to walk away, Donna asks him where he’s going. Daken tells her there’s nothing there so he’s going to go find something. He’ll be in touch.
Driving down the road, Daken wonders where he was two nights ago. He doesn’t know. He was under from the Heat. He refuses to believe he would do this. Intellectually, it makes no sense. It is meaningless and random and… weak. An abhorrent word. A nauseating feeling. He tries to stay off the drug, for prudence’s sake, but it claws and scrapes at his insides, filling them with rust and tar. He actually feels impotent. This makes him very angry. So he’s going to do what any good bully does and take that out on someone…
Inside a warehouse, an older man talks with a prospective client while some thugs look on. The old man thanks the client for shopping at Mr. Meat’s store. Does he want to see the goods? Opening up the back of a van, Mr. Meat shows him a bunch of children, bound and gagged. All are in good condition. Runaways, vagrants, couple of addicts but still in the early stages. $10,000 each for the healthies. He’ll go $8,000 for the addicts. As the client pulls an envelope out of his jacket pocket, Mr. Meat asks he brought cash. Good. He loves a clean deal.
Just then, Daken shows up and kills the thugs and the client with a hail of automatic gunfire. He proceeds to tell Mr. Meat that he was going to physically attack him. He thought the workout would be stress relieving. But he’s a little off the whole claws-as-murder-weapons thing at the moment and it turns out that this is just as satisfying. The L.A. crime families, his L.A. crime families, told him about his tawdry little black market murder scene. They said if anyone had the identity of this “Claws Killer” in their rolodex it’d be Mr. Meat. So, who is it? And he suggest he answers quickly.
Mr. Meat stammers that he really doesn’t know. He honestly thought it was him. Daken knows that Mr. Meat is telling the truth. The Heat withdrawals make his reaction to this somewhat… cranky. With that, Daken shoots Mr. Meat in the head. Turning his attention the kidnapped children, Daken says to them that Hollywood is the land of dreams. Always time to dream, so keep on dreaming. “Pretty Woman?” Anyone? Slicing the restraints off of one of the young ladies, Daken tells her to free the rest of her friends if she chooses. That’s up to her. He suggests they all go home. To their families. He’s not an animal.
As Daken leaves, he takes the envelope of cash with him. Picking up his phone, Daken calls Donna and asks her if she owns a party dress. Back alleys. Dealers in atrocity. There’s nothing worthwhile down there in the underworld. So he raises his eyes up. The Heat withdrawals make the insides of his eyeballs itch, his tongue grates within his cobwebbed mouth and his guts are something fluid, black and vile. He wants the Heat but he tells himself he’s strong and threatens his weakness with violence, ordering it to shut up. But it just keeps wailing.
That night, at a party, Donna enters, wearing a party dress. Walking up to Daken, who is in a suit, she tells him that he has got to be $&%#$# kidding her. Making their way through the party, Donna asks Daken that this is his plan? Daken tells her that the Claws Killer’s victims were all at “business” parties. Stands to reason he or she attends these parties and this is the biggest party in town right now. And all evidence seems to point towards the killer being him. Perhaps that’s deliberate and they’re trying to frame him. In which case, his being there should attract them.
When Donna asks and her being there, Daken replies that, in “Jaws,” to attract the shark, the Sheriff Brody throws chunks of bloody meat over the side of the boat. Chum, he believes it’s called. Donna asks that she’s the chum in this analogy? That’s very flattering. Daken tells her indeed. All the victims have come from the lowest rung of the Hollywood scene. And she looks very out of place and uncomfortable there. Looking around, Donna says yeah. She thought the deaths were a Darwinian play. Hollywood’s own little wildlife savannah. Natural selection. The strongest picking off the weak. They’re looking for a player.
Putting his arm around Donna and pulling her close, Daken remarks undoubtedly. And she’s there to get noticed by them. So get noticed. Daken notices that Donna looks very good. For a moment, he forgets the ache. The welcome appeal of aesthetics makes the white noise fade.
But when the Heat changes hands nearby, he can smell it. And then he can think of nothing else. And his solipsism overrides fear, as ever. He tells Donna he needs the bathroom. This isn’t a lie. After taking a Heat pill from a dealer, the noise goes away. He doesn’t know what time it is when he eventually emerges. The world is welcoming and warped. It breathes warm and steady but it is not bloodstained. He’s shaking but he is in control. He just took half of the pill. Progress. He’s in the process of patting himself on the back when he notices that the majority have left the party. And Donna is nowhere to be seen.
In a darkened hallway, Donna has her gun pulled and asks where are you, you $#&%? She can hear him whispering.
Rushing up the stairs, Daken can sense that he’s here. For a millisecond he actually thinks he catches a glimpse of him in the darkness. And then his legs give away beneath him, his chest bursts and his lungs burn like they’re filling with carcinogenic blood. He wonders if he’s having a heart attack. Just then, Daken is slashed across the face. The perpetrator asks him, “Stalking girls with his claws ready to carve them up, huh? Yer a real piece of work, Daken.” When the perpetrator reveals himself as Moon Knight, brandishing a pair of Wolverine claws, he tells Daken that “it’s way past time daddy handed down some serious discipline. Bub.”


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Moonwalk: Part 2
Facing off against Daken, brandishing two sets of claws, Moon Knight tells Daken that’s right. He’s the best there is at what he does. And what he does best is bash his face in. Daken says you’ve got to be $%@#& joking.
Moon Knight asks him if he looks like he’s joking to him, bub. Here, lemme help him slip his sides laughing. With that, Moon Knight takes a slash at Daken. Dodging Moon Knight’s attack, Daken kicks him in the face and asks him if he’s supposed to be Wolverine. He’s insane. Fighting back, Moon Knight asks he’s insane? Daken is the one stalking women and cutting people into little pieces, like a wild animal. Even by his standards, that’s bringing shame on their family name. Grabbing hold of Moon Knight’s wrists, Daken angrily tells him he’s not his father and head-butts him.
Standing over Moon Knight, Daken tells him that he is the animal in his filthy horror of a bloodline. The grubby worker to his cerebral and cultured artist. He transcends him. He is nothing like him. As Daken goes on his rant, he reminds himself to concentrate. Moon Knight is not Logan. Suddenly, he grabs hold of his head and recognizes that it’s the Heat. It’s too difficult to tell what’s really there and what’s…
Moon Knight tells Daken that he’s a crummy, nasty piece o’ work, and a real disappointment. Y’know kid, it’s kinda funny. You wanna be powerful, be feared. But they both know that, really, people are always gonna be more scared of me. And that’s why you do it, right? Why you’re playing at being the master criminal. ‘Cause you know I’m the real deal and you’re not. And that you’ll never, ever be me. You’re just a cheap-ass copy.
With a perplexed look on his face, Daken rushes towards Moon Knight, claws at the ready. Somewhere, several levels down, he is fully aware of the ridiculousness of this action. The comedown from the Heat elevating his feelings, stripping his defenses bare, actually making him feel vulnerable, making him feel. To the point where a mentally ill stranger in a scarily impractical white mask and cape pushes him over the edge with the weight of parental issues. Just then, Daken lunges his body into Moon Knight and they crash through the window. Daken’s already falling towards the street far below when he finally remembers why he’s there. The Claws Killer…and Donna Kiel…
Inside a poorly lit stair-well, Donna holds her hand-gun steady and begins to make her way down the stairs. She yells out that she knows you’re there. She can hear you. C’mon, be the big man, lemme see you. You want to be the big man, don’t you? You enjoy scaring girls before you kill them? Gives you a sense of power. Power you know that you don’t really have. A voice tells her that they enjoy scaring boys and girls, actually. I’m an equal opportunity killer. And the lack of power hypothesis is a little Psychology 101, isn’t it?
Turning around, Donna asks “where are you?” The voice tells her maybe he’s invisible. Maybe he’s somewhere just out of sight, staring at her right now. Maybe he’s the bogeyman. Maybe he’s just in her head… Donna Kiel. She’s an intriguing one to play with – layers, contradictions. A cold, disciplined, bright mind. Smarter than your average bear. Even in a world of superhumans, you feel any problem or mystery can be unraveled by human intellect. Her intellect. Ace FBI agent. Head of her class. Promotions despite youthfulness yadda… yadda… That’s all rather dull, linear and mundanely ambitious. But what’s interesting in her is the fact that she finds killers, as though she were a hero. But she doesn’t really care about the victims at all, does she? She’s all about the hunt. About winning. Proving her superiority. And that nasty novel she wrote when she was just 14. Ooooh, the darkness… I like you, Donna. I think we have a connection. I think I will let you see me after all.
Looking down, Donna sees Daken standing there. Pointing her gun at him, Donna orders him don’t move, you bastard. You’re under arrest and I will shoot you where you… The voice tells her so disappointed. She didn’t think it was him, did she? She felt they had a connection. She sensed some form of kindred spirit. A shared ability to feel… absolutely nothing. Donna asks how… how can she hear him…? The voice replies that he thought that was obvious by now. He’s inside her head.
As Donna fires her gun down at Daken, he rushes off. As he does, the voice remarks oh dear, the brilliant and cerebral Ice Queen of Narnia appears to have melted. When Donna begins to give chase, the voice tells her the thing about being a psychopath is that you don’t feel any empathy for others. You can’t, your brain simply isn’t wired that way. So murder becomes a curiosity and nothing more. A… cold thing. Thankfully, less than 1% of the population are actually psychopaths. Pretty rare. Just imagine how arrogant an individual would have to be to decide that “less than 1%” was too common a definition. That they would prove themselves better than other psychopaths by being the one that catches psychopaths and locks them away. Or perhaps it’s not arrogance… maybe it’s fear. Fear of what an individual know they really are. An agile mind can construct a fresh personality but we cannot ever truly escape ourselves.
Nearby, on the street, amidst onlookers, Daken rushes at Moon Knight and stabs him in the gut. Stepping back, Daken remarks that this is not who he is. Animal, insanity, he turns his back on it. Looking down at his gut, Moon Knight tells Daken nice work with the claws there. If he hadn’t killed more people than cancer and car crashes combined he’d be making his daddy proud right now. He taught him good. Daken exclaims that he’s taught him nothing. Intellect also tells him the obvious truth. This is a deeply troubled man in a mask who somehow believes himself to be his father. His senses, however, tell him otherwise. Because of the Heat, Daken sees Wolverine standing in front of him and they are in Japan. Nearby, Itsu emerges from a building with a baby in her arms. Heat is a strange drug. It strips away the world. Slowly disintegrates the physical, and in reality’s place it reveals the truth.
As Daken continues to attack Moon Knight, Moon Knight tells “Captain America” and “Spider-Man,” both figments of his imagination that Daken is killing him. “Cap” tells him that he can’t cope with this kind of frenzy. That’s a beast right now, not a man. Moon Knight remarks that any advice is gratefully accepted. “Cap” tells him control, technique, skill, and restraint. They’ve all got an animal inside them but discipline and duty will always beat that down in a fight. That’s what this boy needs. He’s insane. Show him that he’s not. At that moment, Moon Knight is able to turn the tables on Daken. He tells him to control himself because if he doesn’t, then he will.
While Daken lies on the ground in a prone position, clarity and cognizance returns, riding alongside embarrassment and self-loathing. And pain… building pain. This drug has turned him into that which he most despise and he will not countenance this. It has broken his body and his mind. He uses others but this drug uses him. It has made him… weak.
Standing over Daken, Moon Knight tells him that he’s taking him in… uh… are you okay? Daken informs him that he’s having a heart attack. When Moon Knight asks that he’s not faking, Daken lurches in pain. Moon Knight tells him to hold on. He’ll call 911. Just hold on. Looking beyond Moon Knight, Daken recognizes that this… this isn’t a Heat vision. He then sees Itsu holding a baby and the baby popping claws out of its hands.
Picking himself up off the ground, Daken exclaims no and rushes off into a dark area. Seeing Donna, Daken reaches out for her and begs her for help. Donna responds by shooting him in the head. As Moon Knight and Donna stand over the bloodied and beaten body of Daken, an individual who looks exactly like Daken above them looks down on them. He remarks that it looks like they got the Claws Killer. Guess they can all sleep safe tonight.


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Moonwalk: Part 3
When a bullet leaves the muzzle of a gun heading for your brain, it’s traveling somewhere in the region of 2,000 miles per hour. Keanu Reeves couldn’t dodge one any more than the Wachowskis could deliver a coherent Matrix sequel.
There are eight cranial bones designed to keep your brain safe. A bullet slides through them faster than the speed at which your cerebral tissues tear. The ability to process information and solve problems is destroyed with your prefrontal cortex. Your ability to index memories fades forever with the destruction of your hippocampus. The brain tissues snap back toward the opening and overshoot their original position with the shock wave. If you’re shot in the heart, you’ve still probably got about 10 seconds of brain function for an oh-so-profound and memorable last utterance. Get shot in the brain and function stops almost instantly. Put simply… you’re gone.
At that moment, Daken finds himself wearing a business suit and sitting on a subway train, surrounded by a bunch of people of all ages, all of whom have claws like Daken. Once the train comes to a stop, Daken is one of the few to exit and looks back at the train. He remarks that’s very strange. They were all… looking at him. Just then, a voice asks “looking for him?” Yes, he was. Daken Akihiro, is he right? The man behind the voice introduces himself as Johnny Storm. It’s very nice to have him there.
On the streets of Los Angeles, Moon Knight checks on Daken’s fallen body. As the sirens ring out, Moon Knight mentions to Donna Kiel that the paramedics are coming. Thank god. Daken is breathing, but… she didn’t have to shoot him. Donna replies that she’s the F.B.I. Who the hell is he? Moon Knight introduces himself and then tells Donna that Daken was a mess. He wasn’t attacking her. He was asking for help.
Donna asks, “what?” Pointing her finger at Moon Knight, she informs him that Daken Akihiro is a monster. He’s the Claws Killer and the twisted bastard’s been stalking her and frightening the #@$% out of her for the last ten minutes. She was defending herself. Moon Knight asks her yeah? Pointing at the claw marks on his costume, he tells her that, if that’s true, then who’s been slicing him up like kebab meat for the last ten minutes? As he runs into the alley, he tells her that he thinks she’s wrong. He doesn’t think he’s the Claws Killer. She can follow him if she’s interested in the truth.
Just as the paramedics arrive on the scene, Donna follows Moon Knight into the alley. Once they get far enough away from the paramedics and police, Donna asks Moon Knight where he’s been fighting Akihiro. Pointing to a broken window many stories up in a building, Moon Knight tells her that he was tracking him. Followed him to a penthouse party, then they tangled on a lower floor when he saw him stalking a woman. Her, he guesses. He decided to take him on the express route to the street via that smashed window.
Donna states that Daken was in the stairwell with her. She chased him down to the street. Moon Knight says he begs to differ. The fact that he may collapse any second from blood loss begs to differ. Donna mentions his face. The Daken she saw in the stairwell was… perfect. But the Daken she was with at the party was beaten up all to hell. Moon Knight says that, if the Daken she shot isn’t the killer, that means the real killer’s still out there.
As Daken lies on the ground, being tended to by the paramedics, Donna and Moon Knight make their way into the building’s security room. Donna thinks to herself that she doesn’t know what’s more disturbing: the thought that the Claws Killer might still be on the loose or how badly she wants that to be true.
Looking at the monitors, Moon Knight tells Donna that she was right. There’s Daken and her fighting. Donna replies that she figured any building with a millionaire’s penthouse would have security cameras. Looking at the footage of Daken and Moon Knight falling out of the window, Moon Knight remarks that his ass still has some of that glass sticking out of it. Donna tells him okay. Now go to the stairwell with Daken and her – exact same time. The duo sees Daken but the image is blurred. Donna states that it was definitely Daken. She saw him; he spoke to her. Moon Knight says someone’s there, but it’s almost like they’ve got some kind of personal cloaking device. Hey, look on the bright side… at least she knows she’s not totally crazy. Donna then thinks to herself how could he know all the things he said to her – personal things?
In limbo, Johnny Storm tells Daken that he’s gotta say, he was delighted when he heard he was going to join them there. Daken asks really? Storm says sure. This job? There’s an awful lot of work involved. It’s very time consuming. And he knows they’re going to get along great. As they continue down the street, Daken asks Storm if he’s been there long. Storm answers not really. He was with a longstanding family business before this. Times got tough, though. Sacrifices had to be made.
Entering a building, Storm tells Daken that this is him. His new workplace. Hope he’ll be happy there. He should apologize now. It’s very straightforward work. He’ll be taking all these books and inputting their contents into the computer. If he needs anything, they’re upstairs. There’s the manager’s office. He… uh… doesn’t like to be bothered though, he’ll warn him. She shares the other office with his assistant. Feel free to knock if he needs anything.
When Storm asks him if he’s good to go, Daken says that fireplace… the heat. Ascending the stairs, Storm remarks that he likes a good fire himself. He’ll get used to it. It’s really good to have him there. Once Storm leaves Daken to his own devices, Daken picks up one of the books and opens it up. He proceeds to notice that it’s in Japanese, all in Japanese. Why can’t he speak Japanese?
At the hospital, members of the police line the halls as the doctor informs Donna that there’s very minor brain activity. Daken suffered a major cardiac arrest and was shot through the brain but he’s alive somehow. Donna says he has a healing factor but it’s not working properly at the moment. The doctor tells her that she doesn’t claim to be an expert on mutants but a healing factor would explain why he’s still alive. He really shouldn’t be. It may not be working properly but it must be fighting for him. He’s not improving. He should be dead. He could go any second but it’s like he’s hanging on the edge. The bullet hole in his brain isn’t regrowing, certainly. The man’s dead in all but name. She then adds that there’s a highly unusual drug in his system too. One she’s never seen before. Large quantities of it. She’d say his body shows signs of addiction. Donna asks a drug? Tell her everything she knows about this drug.
Later, on the roof, Donna tells Moon Knight that it’s a drug that’s totally new to the L.A.P.D. and the F.B.I. She’s just been through the records. Scarily strong. Moon Knight says the man’s got a healing factor. He could freebase Gram Parsons’ ashes and still be standing. How’s this connected to their Claws Killer? Donna answers that she went back and checked. Every victim of the Claws Killer had these exact compounds in their system. A drug without precedence anywhere else on the planet. Overworked coroner missed it because he didn’t even know what he was looking at. A drug that only seems to exist in Hollywood A-list party circles. And since he was plainly at the same party Daken and she were at, she’s guessing he mixes in those circles.
Moon Knight says clever. He hates clever. He then tells F.B.I. that he’ll look into who’s dealing this. Donna adds that maybe she’s crazy and she was talking to herself in that stairwell. But something was on that security tape. They need to find out who gave Daken the drug, because it must be the same person who gave it to the victims. They find the dealer, and they find their killer.
In limbo, Daken climbs the stairs and knocks on Johnny Storm’s office door. Opening up the door, Daken sees Johnny and a young woman in a tender embrace. As he backs out of the door, the head boss asks if there’s a problem. Moving over to his door, Daken tells him that he’s… uh… sorry to trouble him but… there’s been some kind of mistake. He’s new there and… well, all the books are in Japanese and he doesn’t speak…
The boss tells him that he speaks Japanese fine and that he can read it, too. Take a breath and look at it again. Daken replies that he really doesn’t… oh. They’re names. People’s names. Filling the books. All the books. Who are these people? The boss informs him that they’re the names of all the people he, Daken, has murdered. Just then, there is a large fiery explosion and Daken sees the form of Wolverine before him. Daken says he’s sorry but he’s told that it’s a little late for that. As he falls through the fiery floorboards, Daken comes face to face with a number of the people he has killed in his lifetime. Upon facing them, he continues to say he’s sorry…
In the hospital, a team of nurses rushes to the side of the ailing Daken. One of the nurses exclaims that he’s crashing and that he’s beginning to charge the defibrillator. The doctor tells him not to bother. This man’s brain is destroyed. He’s already suffered multiple cardiac arrests and his condition isn’t improving. Plus he’s a mass murderer and a cop killer. If he does have a “healing factor” she’d say it’s losing this battle. Sometimes people get what they deserve in this world. She can’t say she’s sorry about that.
In limbo, Daken continues to repeat over and over that he’s sorry. Just then, he sees Donna’s face in the crowd. Donna tells him that he’s making him look like a fool. He’s laughing at him as he dies in a hospital bed like an ordinary person. He thinks he’s smarter than him. He thinks he’s weak. The orphaned baby in his mom’s belly. And he’s proving him right. So, she has one final question for him… Is he sorry? Really? With that, Daken is able to free himself from his demons and changes from his business suit into his normal costume. He then proceeds to exclaim NO!
In the hospital, Daken sits up from his hospital bed and kills the police stationed in the hospital. As he does, he says now isn’t that interesting. He does believe his healing factor has healed him and purged the Heat from his system. As if he’d be the “Claws Killer.” Such a gauche sobriquet. Someone’s been playing him for a fool and he thinks he may know who it is.
Standing outside Marcus Roston’s estate, Donna recalls that this is the place she first met Daken. What was it he said at the time about Marcus Roston? “They’re lovers and he is my drug dealer.” Less shocking and more informative than he may have liked. Looking down at her ringing phone, Donna ignores the incoming call from Moon Knight. She says thanks, but she thinks she can deal with one vacuous little Hollywood playboy.
On the other end of the line, Moon Knight has hung a man upside down outside a window to get the information he needed. He yells into the phone for her to pick up. He’s got her a name and it’s a big one. Looks like their killer is the Marcus Roston.
Inside his estate, Roston sits shirtless on his coach with Donna sitting next to her. On her lap is a large plate of Heat pills. Marcus proceeds to tell her that she is an intriguing one to play with and offers another handful of Heat pills.


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Pride Comes…: Part 1
Sitting on his bed, only wearing a pair of shorts, Daken runs a knife blade across his arm. As his arms bleed from the knife wounds, he says he’s reminded of a proverb from Luke 4:23. “Physician... heal thyself.”
Just then, an attractive young woman enters the room and tells Daken that was a pretty wild night and asks if he has an espresso machine there. She’s got to kickstart the brain cells. Know what she’s on… Upon seeing what Daken is doing to himself, the young woman is in shock. Daken growls at her that his healing factor doesn’t work anymore. Going cold turkey from the Heat seems to have burnt it from his system. Get out.
Immediately, the young woman rushes out of the house. While she does, she exclaims that this town can kiss her #$@. Way too crazy for this… girl. Before she can get any further she comes face to face with the business end of a rifle by a team of police and S.W.A.T. members.
Earlier, at the home of Marcus Roston, Roston calls the L.A.P.D. and asks to be put through to the chief of police’s office. He adds that he’s sorry; he’s not really sure what the protocol is for this type of thing. Oh, okay. Well, it’s kind of about a dangerous individual. He has the current location of someone the L.A.P.D. is looking for. Handing the phone to Donna Kiel, who is sipping a drink, Roston tells her that they seem a little hesitant to believe him. Tell them.
Taking the phone, Donna tells the person on the other end to listen to her carefully. This is F.B.I. agent Donna Kiel. She has the current location of Daken Akihiro. Put her through to the chief of police. Now. Once the chief of police is on the line, Donna tells him that she does. Daken is way too dangerous to be approached by members of the force. His calendar would be full of funerals. It’s a mansion in the Hills but, fortunately, he went for privacy and it’s totally secluded. What does she suggest? This is an ex-Avenger they’re talking about. A cop-killer who’s killed more Americans than cholesterol. It may be illegal but… just how much power does he have? Well, if he had any military contacts, she replies, she strongly suggests he use them.
In his office, the chief of police tells Agent Kiel that this is his call. He’d also like to thank her for her discretion is this matter going forward and for handling this so cleanly.
At his penthouse, Daken hears the L.A.P.D. informing him that he is surrounded and to come out with his hands up. When he doesn’t, the commander radios in that they warned him and that he did not comply. They may deliver the package. With that, military planes fly in and destroy the penthouse. As the penthouse begins to burn, Daken leaps out and onto the front area. Once he lands, he is riddled with bullets from three waiting S.W.A.T. members. After filling Daken with bullets, one of the members begins to approach him. When he gets close, Daken leaps up, jams his claws into his chest and then uses his rifle to kill the other two S.W.A.T. members. As he traverses down the cliffside, Daken states that he can feel the skin on his back burn and the pain, instead of easing, builds and builds. Heat did this to him. Heat has made him… ordinary. And for that he wants to hurt it. He wants to hurt its maker.
At Roston’s estate, Marcus puts his hand on Donna’s shoulder and thanks her for that. If Daken survives, and he presumes he will survive, he’ll come there; he’s sure. He’s the one who gave him the Heat pills in the first place, after all. He thinks they’d be wise to leave. She goes back to her work as normal. Oh, and contact Moonboy in the fetching white cape too, eh? He’ll be in touch with her Heat delivery. But first, would she like another pill? It might be a while before her next one.
After virtually no reaction from Donna the entire time Marcus was talking to her, when he mentions the Heat pill she perks up and reaches out to take it from him. Feeding the pill to Donna, Marcus tells her that he created Heat to control people. Most are heavily addicted and will do anything he asks by the second pill. He didn’t think there was an ordinary human alive who wouldn’t be under its control by the third pill. It took five pills to get her. She should be very proud of herself. Marcus then tells her to speak to no one about this and follow his instructions to the letter. Contact Moon Knight. Get rid of him or he’ll take his arms off his body. She just needs to be Donna Kiel. Cold. Clinical. Transforming his look, Marcus states that he’ll be Daken. He loves playing super heroes.
As she leaves Roston’s estate, Donna gives Mark Spector (Moon Knight) a call and asks him to meet her. In an alley, Moon Knight says to Donna that she disappeared. Donna tells him she’s fine. She was tracking down some leads is all. Moon Knight says he’s not so sure he believes that. Nice bruise she’s showing. Donna answers that good leads tend to bruise sometimes. He knows that. And she’s there, isn’t she? She’s fine. The Claws Killer was Daken. The chief of police…
Moon Knight cuts her off and states that he (the chief of police) has turned the Hollywood Hills into Kabul going after him. Apparently, Michael Bay filmed the whole thing from his balcony. He’s thrilled. What about Marcus Roston and the Heat drug connection? Donna tells him that’s absolutely not to be touched. L.A.P.D. are running heavy surveillance on him to try and nail his suppliers. Look, the Claws Killer murders are over. She promises him. If they start again he can come contact her and they’ll start this up again. Daken Akihiro came to Los Angeles to try and become the West Coast’s kingpin of crime. And that quest killed him.
Running through Roston’s estate, Daken angrily calls out for Roston. Upon reaching his office, he yells at the figure sitting in the chair whom he believes to be Roston that he gave him the Heat pills. That actor Glenn was killed after his party. Talk! Tell him everything he knows about those…
Just then, Daken notices that the figure in the chair isn’t Roston, but a dummy. On its forehead is the work “junkie” and on its lap is a plate full of Heat pills with a sign that says “for you.” Stopping is his tracks, Daken stares at the pills. As he reaches out to grab one, the phone rings. Once the answering machine picks up, it records the voice of Marcus Roston. He tells Daken to take the pills. He’s had a tough time lately. He deserves it. He means… having him messing with him this way. Crazy luck, really. They’d never met before. He was happy at playing the Hollywood star. Well, he was starting to get bored with the nihilistic nature of it all, to be honest. Hence his little murder spree. And then he walks into the party. And boy was he exciting. What a fuuuun time they had that night. Does he know how often he comes across someone who’s actually a challenge to someone as powerful as him? It’s rare dude. You should be flattered. But a challenge? That has to be answered. That’s what sport is. Primal human drama. And that’s what they’ve got there. A fun little game that’s gonna make both their lives on this planet a lot more exciting… while it lasts. Anyway. Good catching up but he has to run. Somewhere he needs to be right now. See, he’s not done with ripping his oh-so-macho life to pieces. His little L.A. crime “empire.” See if he can stop him, huh? He knows he gets bored too. It’ll be a blast. Once Roston hangs up, Daken unloads his weapon into the dummy and is able to do so without taking a Heat pill.
“Your little L.A. crime empire…” Daken knows where Roston’s heading – Catalina island. Daken had convinced disparate L.A. crime families to work with him after the Durrant armored car heist. They were scared and ripe for a takeover due to being squeezed out by Los Angeles’ mysterious new crime king. Waiting for a hit that could rain down on them any second. He needed their connections in L.A. He’d taken over Madripoor, he wanted Hollywood next. They were terrified so they turned to him. They were going to be his network. His building blocks. Not anymore…
On Catalina Island, a number a number of crime families arrive via various means. One of them asks another if they know why Daken called the meet. Another asks if he looks like his press officer to him. Alvarez’s crew is already there. Ask them. Entering the mansion, the crime bosses are shocked to see the members of Alvarez’s crew sitting around the table, all of their heads cut off and sitting on plates in front of them. “Daken” tells them he’s so sorry. He hopes they don’t mind. He was hungry so they started without them.
With that, “Daken” unloads his weapons into the crime bosses, slaughtering them all. One of them manages to survive and begs Daken to please don’t. “Daken” tells him that it’s rude to stare, he knows that, right? He means, he knows this is Los Angeles, but movie stars deserve their privacy. They’re people too. “Daken” then kills the last crime boss and transforms back into his natural form – Marcus Roston. Looking at his handiwork, Marcus says ah… peace and quiet. He’s glad he’s not the one controlling L.A.’s underworld. It’s hard work. He has no idea why his idiot family did it for so many years. They could’ve been having so much fun.
Looking up at the skylight, Marcus sees a figure standing there and says ah… speaking of which. He can see him up there, you know, watching, he tells Daken. He’d have expected him to dramatically smash his way in, firing his little gun and roaring for revenge. But… y’know, he finds his current uncertainty so… endearing.
Just then, Marcus soars upwards and crashes through the skylight. Hovering over a concerned Daken, Marcus asks him if he knew that gods walk amongst ordinary people. And he’s not necessarily talking about movie stars. It gets very boring being a god. But every now and again, they get interested in certain people. And they play with them. He tells Daken that he’s weak but he is strong. That’s just how the world is. And now he’s going to kill him. For fun. See if he can stop him.


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[Assistant]
Pride Comes part 2
(Los Angeles Police Department)
Donna Kiel sits at her desk as several other officers mill around. She doesn’t look well. Her skin is pale and she stares into the distance as if something is on her mind. A detective informs her that there have been reports of heavy automatic gunfire on Catalina Island. It could be Akihiro-related. They have a chopper ready and she’s going with him. She stays in her seat so he stops and asks if she just heard him. “Nnnnn,” she mumbles before standing up and throwing up all over her desk. Once that’s out of her system her work face returns. “Okay. Let’s go.”
(Catalina Island)
Roston faces down Daken and he tells him that there are two kinds of people in this world; the weak and the strong. Everyone wants to be the strong and everyone thinks that they’re strong, but not everyone can actually be strong. They all have things that they desperately need and are all addicted to certain things. “That in itself makes us weak. Well, some of us anyway.”
He punches Daken in the mouth and blood spurts from his wound. He grins at the shirtless Daken and tells him that for everyone who’s addicted there has to be someone who can supply them. It’s the basic transaction of the capitalist system. One person in that dynamic has power and one does not. He asks Daken if he’s getting his incredibly subtle subtext. Daken responds with a growl and charges at Roston, but his opponent moves quickly and grabs him as he approaches. Roston applauds his move as it would have disemboweled 99.9% of the people on this planet. Sadly for him, though, he’s not 99.9% of people. “I’m a star.” He breaks Daken’s left arm at the elbow, snapping it in two.
Daken no longer has his healing factor to repair the injury, thanks to Roston’s Heat pills. Roston admits that he’s impressed Daken broke their hold and went cold turkey. Normally, you’d die doing that. This is how he controls people. Struggling with the pain, Daken replies that he tracked down and killed his supplier, but Roston laughs it off. The guy he killed was a Beverly Hills dealer who he hired to be a front man in case the L.A.P.D. ever came knocking. He was a good man and an honest worker. Daken tore his innards out like a mad dog. But then, that’s what he is, right? A mongrel. That’s what the other boys called him when they teased him.
Daken is surprised that he knows this, but Roston asks him not to be. He shape-shifts into Daken’s form and informs him that, aside from his other talents, being phenomenally strong, fast and quite ludicrously handsome, he can also look like anyone. He can also become invisible and is also a little bit telepathic too. He disappears and speaks directly into Daken’s mind to prove his point. Daken is at a serious disadvantage and swings wildly. Roston, still invisible, tells him that he can see inside his head at all those nasty little psychotic secrets. He reckons they are quite alike. It’s what attracted him to Daken at first. He thinks Daken should be flattered as it’s a courtship of sorts. A compliment. They both enjoy manipulating the ordinary to elevate themselves. They are both far too smart to play the games of others. They both seek the bright lights of hedonism, both fully aware that ultimately, narcissism leads to nihilism. And, he adds, they are both quite blindingly insane.
He appears behind Daken who swings around quickly, claws at the ready. “I am not insane!” he cries. He manages to thrust the claws from his right hand into Roston’s right shoulder, which surprised Roston but only momentarily. He grabs Daken by the throat and lifts him off the ground. “That hurt. Mad doggie. Bad doggie!” he replies. “And mad, bad doggies get put down.” A helicopter then appears nearby and bathes them in a bright light. Roston drops Daken as the detective orders them both to put their hands in the air. They’re under arrest. Agent Kiel looks down and is surprised to see Daken down there. Roston tells Daken that it’s his ice-cold girlfriend. “Daken and Donna, sitting in a tree. K.I.S.S.I.N.G.” He reckons Kiel thinks she has a real emotional connection with Daken. She senses the mutual intellectual superiority, the ability to feel nothing. So, at least he knows she’ll try and protect him.
On board the helicopter, Agent Kiel orders the sniper to shoot the cop-killing sonofabitch. The sniper begins shooting and Daken has to take evasive action. “Wow,” grins Roston. “She’s a fickle one, eh?” The sniper keeps firing at the lone target, wondering where the other one went. Kiel goes a bit nuts, shouting at him to kill the @%*$. The detective orders her to pull herself together.
On the rooftops, Daken heads towards the roof edge. Invisible and now using his telepathy once again, Roston asks if he wants to jump in his condition. Is he sure he can make it? Daken leaps from the roof as a bullet slices through his left thigh. Daken tumbles down the slanted roof and falls a long way down over the cliff edge into the water below. Roston reminds Daken that he came to Los Angeles wanting to creates something… something tangible that he could be proud of. Something that would distinguish him. How’s that working out? Up above, the helicopter is joined by a second but despite using searchlights, they are unable to locate Daken’s body. They reckon he must have sunk like a stone.
(soon)
Around the coast, an elderly couple is relaxing on board their yacht. A shadow crosses the husband and he looks up to see Daken silhouetted before him. “Get off this boat,” he demands. “Immediately. For your own good.” He tells them they wouldn’t believe how badly he needs to bully someone right now. The couple isn’t stupid and they leap into the water. Daken groans in pain as he slumps onto the lounger with his right arm giving him severe problems.
(elsewhere)
The LAPD detective and Donna Kiel are at a crime scene. One officer hurls into a trash can as everyone looks at the carnage before them. The bodies of several Los Angeles crime bosses sit around a large table but their severed heads sit on plates where the food should be. Kiel recognizes some of the faces and reckons it looks like Daken’s been cleaning house. A night of the long knives for L.A.’s crime scene. The detective guesses her stomach problem from earlier has cleared up, and Kiel replies that it has.
Daken, meanwhile, gets off the boat and makes his way to the shore with his arm in a sling. With no home, no power base, no resources and no healing factor, he thanks goodness he is still alive. He wonders if Roston knows this. He thinks he probably does. It’s no fun in a game when you’re the only one playing it. The thought hovers that he could head back to Madripoor and regroup and return to L.A. in strength. He could run. The word alone makes his bile rise and bubble with self-loathing. He feels Roston’s girlish giggle suck on repeat in his head. He heads to a seedy locale and robs a dealer of some of his Heat pills. He thinks about what kind of man Roston is. He is a shape-shifter so he could be anyone. He created the Heat drug in order to control people, so through Heat he will control Roston.
Daken heads to the home of a young chemist named Alan Tweedy and presents him with the drug. Alan checks it out and asks what it is. Daken informs him that it’s a party drug. He wants to know everything about it or he will hurt him quite badly. Alan tells him he’s a bit testy with hired help and asks how he found him anyway. He left S.H.I.E.L.D. when Norman Osborn ran his little coup and he’s kept clear of the scene ever since. Daken replies that he has contacts and asked for a brilliant spook chemist in Los Angeles. He wasn’t told that the spook chemist would not legally be able to purchase alcohol. Alan replies that he’s 29. He just looks younger. “29 and living with your mother,” replies Daken as she appears carrying a washing basket. She warns Daken that if he threatens Alan again she’ll call the police. Alan, embarrassed, shouts at her that she doesn’t control him and orders her to get out.
Daken tells Alan that it’s important to be respectful of your parents. It’s a personal code of his. Alan replies that he’s going to have to concentrate really hard so could Daken shut up and play Xbox or something? As Alan studies the drug, Daken hits the laptop and does a search on Roston. He discovers that he’s completely unheard of in the superhuman community, yet he seems to have the power set of a god. How is that possible? he wonders. Where has he been?
He checks on Roston’s background and determines that he was raised in Malibu by movie producer parents. He presumes this is false, of course. He went traveling in Europe for several years and got his first supporting role in a Scorcese movie just two years ago. A lead in a risible Todd Phillips comedy six months later made him a star. A shape-shifter, thinks Daken. How perfect to then become an actor. He recalls back when he was on Catalina, he overheard Roston say something about an ‘idiot family.’ Family… Los Angeles crime connections?
Eventually, Alan reports back on his findings. He explains that there is actually a lot of blood in the Heat drug. It’s largely created from blood, but it’s not human blood. So, he may have possibly kind of stolen S.H.I.E.L.D.’s superhuman database records when he left and he’ll never guess who the blood belongs to. “A member of the Pride,” replies Daken as he grabs his coat. Alan asks how he knew, but Daken simply asks him to give his mother his regards.
Daken knows things about the Pride. For a while, they were the covert rulers of the Los Angeles underworld for a quarter of a century. They included time-travelers, telepathic mutants, alien invaders, mad scientists and dark wizards and their existence went unknown for years before their apparent deaths. One of them, thinks Daken, plainly survived, or perhaps he was never part of their Californian cabal. Maybe he was traveling in Europe. When the Pride disappeared, a power vacuum was created in L.A. and Roston returned. Daken feels a little scared at just how badly he wants this @%*& dead. Unfortunately, he realizes that he currently has certain limitations and cannot achieve this alone. He needs help.
He calls Donna Kiel and informs her that he saw her in the helicopter. He assures her that he’s not the claws killer and he thinks she knows that too. He wasn’t responsible for the murders on Catalina. He tells her that he saw her in a vision he had whilst in hospital. He doesn’t know why, but he believes she’s meant to help him. He needs her. Kiel replies that Roston is strong whilst he is weak. He will rip him into bloody chunks of mongrel chunks when he tires of playing with him. She hangs up and Daken looks at the phone, surprised. Kiel then tries to hold in another barf.
(later)
Daken has a question. How does one kill a member of the Pride? He heads to Malibu and locates the house where the Pride’s children currently reside. He sneaks inside and heads into the kitchen, Unfortunately, he’s been spotted. Karolina Dean’s energies light up the room and Molly cries out that they have a creepy burglar. Before he can move, Klara Prast uses her control over plants to have shoots rip through the kitchen floor and grab his arms and leg. He manages to slash one of them with his claws, but he is punched to the floor by Molly, who kneels on him. He looks up to see Chase Stein, Nico Minoru and Victor Mancha also in the room. Nico tells ‘mohawk’ that the seventies called and want their look back. She asks who he is and what he wants with the runaways. Molly adds that they were kinda enjoying being left alone!


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[Assistant]
Pride Comes part 3
(Malibu, Los Angeles)
William S. Burroughs wrote of ‘the naked lunch’ moment; the instance where you see what is on the end of every fork. An individual realizing what is right in front of him… an epiphany of self-awareness. He believes he is privy to such a profound realization now. However, he’s not particularly good with children.
Daken stands up after being surprised by the runaways in their own kitchen. Nico points the Staff of One at him and demands to know who sent him after them and what he wants. Daken wants Marcus Roston’s entrails for Christmas decorations and reckons the children’s quaint naiveté will help him achieve that. He suddenly acts all innocent and tells them that he came for their help. They’re the runaways, right? He has some information… something they need to know. “The Pride has returned.” The runaways are stunned by the idea but only for a moment. “He’s from the Pride. Get him!!” yells Molly and everyone, except Nico, charges towards him. Before he can explain, Molly punches him clean through the wall of the house.
Daken lands outside and picks himself up. Behold, he thinks, the power levels of idiot teens and prepubescents. He knows that he is an intelligent man who is fully aware of his own limitations and can thereby strategically overcome them. However, there’s not a brain cell between this group but they have much he can use. Chase heads outside and stands over him, asking them not to panic. He’s got this “Travis Bickle” cosplayer.
Daken takes one look at him and reckons that, unlike the others, this surfing irritant seems both superfluous and powerless. He slashes at Chase with his claws and manages to draw blood on his stomach. Molly steps in to protect him and just manages to hit him on his shoulder, but it’s a glancing blow on the arm that Roston broke and Daken swats her away into the ground.
He tells her she shouldn’t have done that. He’s so very tired of hurting others. She looks up and realizes something. “Wolverine… you’re Wolverine’s little boy. And you’re running aren’t you?” she asks. “Just like us.” Before he can answer, Nico uses the Staff of One and says, “Freeze to the exact temperature and aesthetic appearance of a cheap popsicle from a 7-11.” Daken instantly freezes though he is still aware of what is going on around him. Nico informs him that what she holds is the Staff of One. It allows her to cast any spell imaginable, but only once. She adds that she’s frozen someone before so she couldn’t use it again. However, she’s learnt that the trick is to be really specific. So, she gets specific and asks Daken about everything he knows about the Pride. Daken tells them, which only serves to ensure he now has his army.
(later)
Once the spell has worn off, Daken sits with the runaways in the kitchen and has a brew. Using his heightened senses, he knows that their fear and stress levels are palpable at the mere mention of the Pride, as is the cheap lack of sophistication in the utterly appalling instant coffee he’s drinking. Chase is being tended to by Karolina and he calls Daken a jerk. Daken apologizes for hurting him but Chase was attacking him and he panicked. Karolina asks him to ignore Chase. He recently suffered a really bad auto accident. Daken says he’s sorry and asks what happened. “I got better,” snarls Chase as he pulls away from Karolina.
Nico tells Daken that this is nice and all, but he just turns up and tells them that a previously unknown member of the Pride has come to take over L.A and it just happens to be one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. “Marcus Roston’s a dreamboat, Nico,” says Molly. She asks Mol to be quiet and tells Daken that this makes no sense. If he were a member of the Pride he’d have come after them. Victor Mancha picks up a photograph. “This guy?” he asks. Klara tells him that he is quite attractive. “Ew. Creepy Uncle Eli,” sighs Chase. He then has a revelation. The picture is of his creepy Uncle Eli. They remember him, right? He then hopes he’s not suddenly having a previously repressed traumatic memory.
Daken stands and informs him that Roston is a shape-shifter. Marcus is almost certainly not his real name. He asks Chase to continue, so Chase explains that the guy used to come visit his parents when he was a kid. He’s pretty sure of it.
(flashback)
As a child he never liked Uncle Eli. He was a creepy dude and he’s an excellent judge of character. Nico reminds him that his parents were supervillains and he never knew, but he tells her to shut up. He remembers there was a big argument between Eli and his father but his mom got him away from there pretty quickly. Then, creepy Uncle Eli didn’t come around anymore. However, he did have this weird recurring dream. He remembers that. He thought Eli was at the end of his bed, just kinda… hovering there, smiling. He told his mom and she made him sleep with her and his dad for a while.
(present)
Daken informs him that it wasn’t a dream. Roston was making a point to his parents that he could get to their most precious object and hurt them terribly any time he wanted to. Nico asks who he’s saying Roston is. A brother of their parents? A member of the Pride who they threw out? Daken says probably. Nico explain that their parents were evil criminals, super scientists, wizards… bad people. They ran Los Angeles’ crime scene for years and they saw them sacrifice a young girl in cold blood. Why would they throw this guy out?
Daken reckons that from what he’s heard, their parents were professionals. Roston is insane. Chase asks if he was really in his bedroom all those times. “Yes,” replies Daken. Chase is grossed out and asks what makes him so sure. Daken says it’s what he would have done. He pours the rest of his dismal coffee away and heads for the door. He tells them he has their number and will call them once he’s tracked down Roston. For now, they should stay there whilst he attends to some personal business. As he leaves, Molly blocks the door. He asks what she wants. Molly says she likes Wolverine. He’s her favorite. She’s trying to work out if Daken’s like him or not. As soon as he’s gone, Nico asks Victor to pull up everything he can on Daken from the internet.
(Burbank, Hollywood)
A beret-wearing movie director is filming on set. Marcus Roston is sitting alone but he begins to cry. “Waiting around… on a movie set?” he moans. He gets up and heads to the set but the director spots him and tells him he’s not actually in this scene. Marcus wipes away the tears and tells the gathered crew that they don’t understand. He is Marcus Roston. He’s a star, and… he’s bored. The director gets in his face and warns him that this is his movie and Marcus is wasting everyone’s time with whatever this prima donna crap is. Wasting time and wasting money. Marcus grabs his arm and replies that he struggles to take direction sometimes. He then snaps the guy’s arm and walks away saying that acting was fun for a while, but now it’s over.
(L.A.P.D. administration building)
A detective calls Agent Kiel’s name and tells her that they’ve just got a report of a minor assault over on Malibu. The description fits Akihiro. As they never found a body over on Catalina, he figures… Kiel ignores him and the guy’s colleague tells him Narnia’s getting even colder. The detective replies that Kiel hasn’t thrown up over her computer all day. He calls that progress.
Kiel heads to the roof and stands on the edge with a Heat pill in the palm of her hand. Before she swallows it, Daken appears behind her and asks her not to do it. He doesn’t want her to. Kiel spins around and aims her pistol at Daken. She asks who he is - Roston or Daken. She can’t tell anymore? Either way, she reckons he has to be crazy to come here. She’ll shoot him dead right now. He replies that she shot him once already, but she tells him that she doesn’t care what the drugs do to her anymore. She doesn’t care what he can do to her. The drug, and Roston… they’re controlling her. She wants it to be over.
Daken replies by telling her she knows what a psychopath is, right. Of course she does. She’s a criminal profiler. There are myriad traits attributed to it; callousness, deception, a penchant for hedonism. But chief among them is the inability to feel empathy for others. “I am a psychopath,” he adds, “But if that’s true, with the entire L.A.P.D. after his blood, he has come here because he is concerned for her safety. Why would he do this? Donna Kiel struggles to speak, but tells him that ‘he’ will rip his innards out and gnaw on his entrails.
Daken continues to say that he feels a kind of connection towards her. A symmetry. He admits that he’s struggled with this thought; the thought of how he could possibly feel anything for an ‘ordinary person.’ Then he realized something. “You are not an ordinary person.” He reaches out and touches her pistol, telling her that he feels they are the same. He thinks she is a psychopath.
He asks her to give him the pill. She hands it over and he holds it between his fingers. He tells her that he beat the drug and so can she. She is strong enough and smart enough to break his control because she is his equal. Suddenly, they turn and see Roston hovering near the edge of the building. He is wearing an overcoat and looking right at them. As Daken wonders what he’s doing, he snikts his claws and reckons Roston’s finally decided to show the world that he’s special and that his pretense of normality is just that.  He’s quite blindingly insane.
Roston moves away and hovers in front of some large windows where the cops inside can clearly see him. One police officer recognizes him and she tells her colleagues who it is. She loves his movies. She reckons it must be a Punk’d stunt or something. He’s on wires. She asks someone to take his picture.  Outside, Roston’s eyes glow and he hopes someone does. He’s ready for his close-up now. With a thought, he unleashes a huge explosion that smashes every window in the building. Donna falls off the edge but Daken manages to catch her with his good arm. Roston moves to where they are and he punches Daken in the face, apologizing as he’d planned to string this out longer. But, he simply couldn’t wait.
Roston grabs Daken by the throat and squeezes. He explains that it transpires that nothing compares to playing with him. That must be gratifying for Daken’s ego, no? As he gloats, he is zapped from behind and yells out in pain. “Admit it,” says a voice from behind him. “You really want to say ‘who dares’ don’t you?” Roston turns and sees the Leapfrog with the runaways inside with Victor standing on top of it and Karolina Dean flying overhead. Chase asks what the old saying is. “You can choose your friends, but your family is a bunch of evil, murdering, scum-sucking inter-dimensional super villains!!! Creepy Uncle Eli,” he adds. “Waddup? You goin’ dowwwn boy!!!”
Watching, Daken cannot help but smile. ‘And lo, I have my army.’


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Pride Comes… conclusion
(Los Angeles)
Ordinary people go about their business every day. They immerse themselves in repetition and tedious minutia. They do their best to ignore the remarkable, the infinite and the cosmic. They do this for one reason - to protect themselves, because if they opened their minds to the endless possibilities this strange and deadly world offers, they would be brutally faced with their own limitations. And that, would drive them to madness.
Marcus Roston is on the rampage. People in the streets look up in horror as the man they know as a famous actor causes mayhem. A S.W.A.T. team arrives as they run in fear, while Marcus grabs the Leapfrog and throws it into the street amidst a plume of smoke. Marcus finds the idea of a giant flying frog insane. As he is distracted, Daken leaps from the rooftop with his claws out and plunges them into his chest whilst in mid-air.
Meanwhile, the Runaways recover. Chase gasps at the sight of the burning Leapfrog. “I just rebuilt that, he sighs. Victor wonders what’s happening up there. Nico reckons it looks like Daken’s killing him. Up above, Daken is giving it his best shot, but Marcus is simply too powerful. He smiles as he tells Daken that he’s quite an angry person. He wonders aloud why that is. He imagines it’s inherited from his oh-so-sadly absent killer daddy, just like his mental illness and healing factor… which he no longer has. He lifts Daken up and slides the claws out of his body before throwing him to the ground.
Nico reacts quickly by using her Staff of One to create a spell. “Princess and the Pea,” she shouts and a pile of mattresses appears beneath Daken, breaking his fall. Daken looks up and thinks for a moment. This isn’t his world, he ponders. The rules, paradigms of normality and mental stability are shattering and straining, carcinogenic, surreal and spreading out. He looks up and sees the sheer panic-inducing nonsense of a giant… beanstalk? He looks up and sees Donna Kiel hanging off Klara Prast’s beanstalk by the tips of her fingers. Luckily, Karolina Dean sweeps by and collects her before she falls, depositing her on the sidewalk next to Daken.
Daken asks if she’s okay. Donna sees Marcus who asks, “Donna. Who is your master?” His control of her takes hold and she screams at Daken and slashes with her nails. “He will eat your eyes and bathe in your blood!” She then drops to her knees and cries. She looks at Daken with fear in her eyes, telling him that Roston’s inside her. She can’t exist like this. She begs him to kill Marcus before this spreads.
The S.W.A.T. team fires on Roston but bullets slide off him. Marcus watches their efforts with amusement. He notes the fickle nature of a celebrity’s relationship with his public. “Does this suggest my star may be waning?” he wonders. A police helicopter swings around behind him and a marksman shoots. As he leaps to grab it, he says that one minute you’re on Letterman, Kimmel, Leno and invited into every A-List Hollywood party and bedroom. The next moment the potential audience for your upcoming family-friendly sword and sorcery epic are shooting at you with automatic weapons. He imagines his agents at C.A.A. are probably going to be slightly angry with him about this tiny career faux pas.
He swings the helicopter around and hurls it away. It explodes before it hits the ground. Down below, Nico saysta Roston’s just hovering there making himself a target. What does he want? Daken replies that he wants nothing. He’s insane! Chase says he must be insane to chase the Chaseter. No one chases the Chaseter! Molly asks what that even means, but he asks her to shut up. Nico reckons no wonder their parents threw him out of the Pride. There’s no order to this. You can’t allow random inorganized crime.
Daken tells her that they are children of the Pride. “Only you have the power levels to…” Nico tells him to shut up. Did he not think that they would research him? He is a killer and every bit as bad as Roston. She turns away and says they will remind everyone what the Runaways can do. She holds her Staff of One aloft and says, “Uranium kicks!” Chase thinks they need a better battle cry. Daken almost smiles as the children rush into battle with a monstrous deity. It’s quite the ego boost for him.
Nico’s spell works by creating large cumbersome boots made from uranium that bind themselves to Roston’s feet. He tumbles as Victor Mancha zaps him with powerful jolts of electricity, to which Karolina quickly follows up by blasting him with her alien energies, sending him flying into a van which explodes. As he climbs from the wreckage, Molly approaches and calls him a bad man. She smashes him in the jaw but he still stands. Chase, meanwhile, has climbed back into the Leapfrog and he fires a couple of rockets at Roston. “That’s right ya murdering doof!!!” he cries. “These’re jerk-seeking missiles!!!” Marcus Roston is lost in the explosion but manages to call on them to stop.
Daken can’t deny that it’s thoroughly entertaining to watch Roston experience pain in this way, but, like the majority of his utterly vacuous and facile movies, all these pyrotechnics lack substance. Marcus remains standing. He uses his mental skills to delve into their minds and says he can see and feel it in their power set. They are Minoru’s, Stein’s, Hayes’ and Dean’s. He calls the Deans terrible actors. He never rated their work. He says they are the children of the Pride, the idiots who banished him from Los Angeles just because he liked to have a little fun. He grabs Nico by the neck and asks what’s so wrong with a little fun. At her age he’d be out hitting the Viper Club. They look like they’ve been playing Dungeons and Dragons. “Really,” he adds, “Youth is wasted on the young.”
Marcus blasts Victor, giving him a taste of his own medicine. Daken looks on, biding his time until he sees a proper opening. He tries to lock away his rage and use his intellect instead. He waits for the children to weaken Roston as he rips them to shreds. He is cerebral, a strategist, descended from nothing and no one. So, he will let his sickly ‘my little pony’ alien dilute him a best she can.
Karolina’s blasts bounce off Roston and he hits Nico across the face and then Molly, too. Daken thinks that rage is letting go. It is weakness. Rage is madness. It is… is… He decides to *%&$ it and charges towards Roston, thrusting his claws into Roston’s stomach
His claws draw blood but Roston laughs. He asks if all Daken’s anger comes from them having slept together. He’s sensing some minor passive-aggressive tension. He throws Daken away with ease, calling him weak. It was his animalistic sheen that attracted him in the first place, but then he discovered his… nuanced contradictory mind. He explains that he honestly felt they had a connection. When you’re as extraordinary as he is, he adds, not many people interest you. But, Daken was actually worth playing with. He reckons Daken is mad, like him. “Insanity. The triumph over society’s meek subservience.”
Roston smashes Daken in the face and tells him that infatuation only lasts while the challenge is there. So, he asks Daken to prove his worth and stop him. Stop him if he can. He continues punching him until he becomes bored. He tells Daken the fling was fun while it lasted but now there’s no drama, no challenge. It’s so dull. He thinks they should see other people. “It’s not you darling,” he adds, “It’s… me…” He looks up as a shadow moves quickly across his face. A police officer on board a descending helicopter asks Donna Kiel if she’s crazy, a moment before bailing out. Donna lands the helicopter on top of Roston.
Daken stands up and asks Donna if she’s okay. “Just kill him,” she replies. Marcus laughs and says this is priceless. Daken grabs him by the hair and readies his claws. Marcus asks him to wait. Daken leans towards him and tells him he wants him to remember two things. One, he used children and a drug addict to beat him and leaves him a live to suffer with that knowledge. Two, he isn’t insane. “Only the weak are insane, darling,” he says before kissing Roston one last time.
He stands and turns to the Runaways. He tells them that Roston is theirs to do with as they please. As he helps Donna from the chopper, Molly tells him she doesn’t like him. He’s nothing like Wolverine. “No” grins Daken as he walks away. “I’m not.”