2003 Radio Play Script

GARGOYLES

"THE RECKONING"

RADIO PLAY EDITION

For the Gathering 2003

Teleplay by

Gary Sperling

Basedon a Story by Lydia Marano

Original Story Editors: Brynne Chandler Reaves and Gary Sperling

Adapted for the Gathering by Greg Weisman

One thousand years ago… Superstition and the sword ruled. It was a time of darkness. It was a world of fear. It was the age… of gargoyles!

CAST LIST

THE GOOD GUYS

GOLIATH 37 lines.

ANGELA 26 lines.

BROOKLYN 20 lines.

TALON 15 lines.

LEXINGTON 8 lines.

HUDSON 7 lines.

BROADWAY 6 lines.

ELISA 2 lines.

MAGGIE No lines.

CLAW No lines.

THE BAD GUYS

DEMONA 37 lines.

THAILOG 26 lines.

FANG 13 lines.

MALIBU 7 lines.

BURBANK 7 lines.

BRENTWOOD 6 lines.

DELILAH 5 lines.

HOLLYWOOD 5 lines

SEVARIUS 5 lines.

GARGOYLES

"The Reckoning"

(Radio Play Edition)

ACT ONE

THE NEW YORK WAREHOUSE DISTRICT - SUNDAY, JULY 14th, 1996

Someone is watching GOLIATH, BROOKLYN and ANGELA as they crouch on a rooftop opposite the Goldencup Bakery Building...

1. ANGELA

<sigh> How much longer do we have to sit here? There's so much happening in the city, and we're stuck on this roof.

2. BROOKLYN

(swats his neck) Yeah. And if the boredom doesn't get us, the mosquitos will.

3. GOLIATH

Patience. With all the recent thefts of technology, our best move is to stake out research facilities.

They hear a muffled <EXPLOSION> in the distance.

4. BROOKLYN

Whoa. Okay, you convinced me.

Another <EXPLOSION> and DEMONA emerges from the wreckage wearing a stolen EXO-FRAME.

5. BROOKLYN

Demona

6. ANGELA

(internalized) My mother?!

7. GOLIATH

<low growl> Demona must be gathering weapons for another offensive.

8. BROOKLYN

Then let's offend her first. <attack roar>

Brooklyn leaps toward Demona, blindsiding her.

9. BROOKLYN, DEMONA

<impact grunts>

Demona activates her exo-frame's ROCKETS. Brooklyn hangs on for dear life.

10. DEMONA

Well, well. Going my way?

11. BROOKLYN

<off-balance roar>

12. GOLIATH

Take care, Angela. Do not underestimate Demona.

13. BROOKLYN

(struggling) This tin can won't save you. <pained yell>

The exo-frame electrocutes Brooklyn, forcing him to let go.

14. DEMONA

Oh, but it's a very clever tin can.

She backhands him, and he drops like a stone.

15. BROOKLYN

<impact grunt>

16. ANGELA

Brooklyn!

He crashes, unconscious, into a warehouse roof.

17. BROOKLYN

<big impact grunt>

Goliath barrels toward Demona, who FIRES laser blasts at him.

18. DEMONA

I should've known - you always travel in groups.

19. GOLIATH

We are a clan, Demona. <lunge dive> That's something you forgot long ago.

Demona loops up and SLAMS into Goliath's back.

20. GOLIATH

<pained grunt>

21. DEMONA

I have forgotten nothing. Every betrayal is etched in my mind.

22. ANGELA

Stop this fighting!

23. DEMONA

You! I saw you in Paris! Who are you?! I know every remaining Gargoyle.

Goliath slams into a distracted Demona, holding despite the frame's energy charge.

24. GOLIATH, DEMONA

<impact grunts>

25. GOLIATH

(through gritted teeth) She is not your concern.

He PUNCHES the power unit on her back, causing it to short out and SHOCK him loose.

26. GOLIATH

<punch effort, shocked yelp>

Demona is also shocked, and begins to plummet, before crashing into a nearby roof, where the exo-frame explodes, throwing her clear.

27. DEMONA

<pained yell, falling scream, double impact, thrown>

Demona lies there, twitching. Goliath, Angela and Brooklyn approach.

28. ANGELA

Is she...

29. GOLIATH

She is alive.

(to Brooklyn)

Are you all right?

30. BROOKLYN

<deep breath> I guess. Just don't ask me how many talons you're holding up.

31. ANGELA

She looks so peaceful.

32. BROOKLYN

Yeah? Wait 'til she wakes up. Demona has this funny way of getting real excitable.

33. GOLIATH

We cannot release her. There have been too many battles. Too many casualties.

34. ANGELA

What options do we have?

35. GOLIATH

Long ago, we banished Gargoyles who turned against the clan.

36. BROOKLYN

Yeah, but where could we banish her to? And how do we make her stay?

37. ANGELA

Humans lock their criminals away in prison. Maybe we could do the same.

38. GOLIATH

During the day, Demona is human, and we turn to stone. There's nowhere we could safely guard her.

39. BROOKLYN

(grim) I think I know a place.

LATER THAT NIGHT - IN THE LABYRINTH

The homeless and the strange make their lives in these abandoned subway tunnels and laboratories... Demona, still knocked out, is lying on a cot in a heavily fortified cell. FANG is in the next cell. ELISA, and the Mutates, including MAGGIE THE CAT, and the Gargoyles, including HUDSON, have gathered. TALON slams the cell door shut.

40. TALON

Then it's agreed. We will guard the prisoners during the day, and you will stand watch at night.

41. ELISA

Do you realise what you're committing yourself to?

42. GOLIATH

There is no other way.

(to the gargoyles)

We will each take our turn in a nightly rotation.

43. ELISA

(slapping her neck)

<small pain gasp>

44. TALON

Sorry. I'm afraid we have mosquitos down here... and worse.

45. FANG

Hey! Hey!! I resemble that remark.

46. TALON

Fang is serving time for trying to force his way into power down here.

47. FANG

Yeah, yeah, but I'm expecting the Governor to commute my sentence any minute now.

48. ANGELA

I'll take the first watch

49. GOLIATH

(halting) Perhaps it's best if you don't...

50. ANGELA

(bristling) Am I a member of this clan or not?!

51. GOLIATH

Of course. But...

52. HUDSON

Take the first watch, lass. Just remember: she may be your mother, but she is capable of anything.

EARLY THAT MORNING - MONDAY, JULY 15th, 1996

Angela sits in a chair, close to Demona's cell.

53. DEMONA

<groans> Where am I?

(to Angela)

You again! What right do you have to jail me, a fellow Gargoyle? Who are you?

54. ANGELA

(shaken) Angela

(beat)

Your daughter.

55. DEMONA

(enraged) My daughter?! How dare you mock me? I have no daughter!

56. ANGELA

Yes, you do. The clan's eggs survived. You and Goliath are my biological parents... I'm told there's a resemblance.

57. DEMONA

(staggered) My daughter... after so long, can it really be?

58. ANGELA

(excited) I've been living on Avalon! Princess Katharine brought all the eggs there after Castle Wyvern was attacked.

59. DEMONA

Typical humans! They pillage the castle and steal our children!

60. ANGELA

No, it wasn't like that! The Princess saved us. She's part of my clan... as you are.

61. DEMONA

Know this, young one, humans have no place in any Gargoyle clan. Goliath has lost sight of this simple truth.

Demona reaches out to touch Angela through the bars.

62. DEMONA

If you truly are my daughter, we must always be there for one another. That is what it means to belong to a clan.

63. FANG

<loud theatrical sobbing> I'm moved. Deeply. I mean - the mother/daughter thing. Man, you chicks are better than soaps. <laughs>

64. ANGELA

Mind your own business.

65. FANG

No one knows how to take a compliment anymore, huh. <chuckles>

THE NEXT NIGHT - TUESDAY, JULY 16th, 1996

LEXINGTON stands guard. Fang uses bio-electricity to ZAP another hashmark into his cell wall.

66. FANG

And another day bites the dust.

DEMONA releases a small robotic mosquito from her belt buckle. It BUZZES out of the cell toward Lex.

67. LEXINGTON

(slapping his neck>

<small pain grunt> Stupid bugs.

Demona smiles. The bug zips away. We follow it out of a sewer grate and across town until it arrives at...

NIGHTSTONE UNLIMITED CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS

Where Dr. SEVARIUS awaits.

68. SEVARIUS

Ah, the prodigal bug returns. And whose DNA have you brought us tonight, my little thief?

Sevarius draws the contents from the big and injects them into a bio-module.

69. SEVARIUS

You know, when they call bio-engineering a "growth industry," they're not kidding. <chuckles>

There are now three active modules and two empty ones.

70. SEVARIUS

All systems perfect, of course.

Sevarius turns to address someone stepping from the shadows.

71. SEVARIUS

And there you have it. Three down and two to go.

It is THAILOG.

72. THAILOG

I just love it when everything goes according to plan. <building evil maniacal laugh>

END ACT ONE