EXT. LONDON EAST END TOWER BLOCK - EARLY MORNING
The tower block is strangely quiet. It can be seen in all its squalid beauty; two towers of urban brutalism. Lights are on in various windows. A ball of green flame envelopes the left hand tower with a brilliant flash. An unholy roar of triumph is heard and then everything goes back to normal, except there are no lights on in any of the windows and the street lights around the vicinity are out too.
CUT TO:
INT. HURT BROTHERS HEADQUARTERS - MORNING
The living room in the top floor of the right hand tower-block. The room is spacious, luxurious. In fact, it is two rooms knocked together. The HURT BROTHERS own both blocks and this floor is theirs. Their throne room. RONALD HURT is sitting on a large leather sofa, smoking a large cigar. Ronald is relaxed in every manner except for his eyes.
REGINALD HURT is fencing with a dummy. Reginald is very good with the rapier blade, despite his ungainly look. They are both talking to Freddy and Johnny. In the corner stands Dom. He is their hardman. He is completely bald with a beard and tattoos on his arms. He also wears glasses, similar to granny specs.
Reginald is six foot, balding and wears thick glasses. Ronald has black, slicked back hair and carries a scar on his left cheek and the remnants of a broken nose.
REGINALD: Green flame, you say?
RONALD: What the fuck were you smoking last night, Freddy?
Freddy looks at Reginald fencing and is unable to comprehend what is going on.
RONALD: Just ignore my brother’s fencing practice and fucking answer me.
FREDDY: I know you wouldn’t believe me, Ronnie. (to Johnny)I told you he wouldn’t fucking believe me.
Johnny shakes his head and takes a step back as Ronald gets up from the sofa and takes Freddy by the collar.
RONALD: Listen, you piece of shit. I don’t care who you used to be. You work for me now; for us. For the Y-Boys. You call me Ronald, right? Or Mr Fucking Hurt, and you have fucking respect… Else Dom will give you a visit.
Dom just stands in the corner and nods to Freddy.
FREDDY (gulps): Jeez, Mr Hurt. I meant nothing by it. I was just freaked out by last night. It really did happen! Never seen anything like it.
REGINALD: Well, I tell you what, Freddy. Mr Ascomb owes us some money; and he lives in Tower Block, right? So why don’t you and Johnny pay him a visit… and see if anythings changed… If there was a fire I want to know details, right? Details are important, right; Ronald?
RONALD: Right. Mr Ascomb lives on the 2nd floor, 21b, if memory serves.
Ronald and Reginald nod in unison. Ronald sits back down.
REGINALD: Off you go, the pair of you… 21b!
CUT TO:
INT. TOWER BLOCK, 2ND FLOOR, OUTSIDE 21B - MORNING
Freddy and Johnny are standing outside the flat, fidgeting.
JOHNNY: You had to make him mad, didn’t you?
FREDDY: Just shut up.
Freddy knocks on the door. They suddenly realise how quiet everything is. The knocks sound very loud. Johnny knocks again. The door opens. It’s not Mr Ascomb who answers but a five foot tall being in a flowing gossamer gown of shimmering pinks and greens. The being has wings and pointed ears, with pointed boots as well. Johnny and Freddy just look at each other.
CUT TO:
INT. HURT BROTHERS HEADQUARTERS - MORNING
Freddy and Johnny are back talking to the Hurt Brothers. Reginald is standing by the window, looking at the block opposite. He is holding an ornate cane. It suits him. Freddy is looking sheepish, his gaze on the floor. Johnny is wide eyed and rubs them from time to time. He has developed a strange, nervous tic.
REGINALD: So you visited him, yeah? Mr Ascomb.
RONALD: 21b? And you got the money, right?
Neither Freddy nor Johnny answer. Johnny looks to Freddy who still stares downwards.
REGINALD: (swinging the cane so it points at Freddy) For fucks sake! Did you or didn’t you?
Silence from Freddy and Johnny.
RONALD: Fuck’s sake. Dom - ‘ave a word, will you?
Dom walks over to Freddy and cracks his knuckles.
FREDDY: He’s a fairy… He’s a fucking fairy! We went to get the money and a fucking… f…f… fair answers the door!
Reginald and Ronald laugh hard.
RONALD: You were scared off by a fag?
REGINALD: By a poof? Are you fucking kidding me? This better be a joke or Dom is bugger you up something bad.
JOHNNY: No… you don’t understand. He wasn’t a fucking homo; Mr Hurt. He was… a fairy; a fucking… fairy tale thing…wings and all!
REGINALD: Right, I’ve heard enough. Dom, do them in. No one tries to make a mug out of us. Fairy stories; wings? Fucking hell.
Dom takes another couple of steps but Freddy sidesteps him and stands directly in front of the Hurt Brothers. He turns away; lifts up his coat and there is a bright orange tail hanging from his coccyx.
FREDDY: It’s real, Ronald. It’s all fucking real. We knocked on the door twice. This fucking fairy-fuck answered it, wings and fucking everything. Asked us what we wanted. Johnny tries to explain but the Fairy isn’t interested. I try to stab my finger at it. It didn’t like that at all, told me I was rude and I needed to learn a lesson. It touched me on the fucking nose and bang, the door shuts hard and I’ve got this fucking tail. Then we heard a fucking growl, like a bear.
JOHNNY: We didn’t think twice. We just ran…
RONALD: Well, I tell you what you’re going to do. You’re going to go back there. You’re going to be super-fucking polite and get us our fucking money. And Dom is going with you as well, just to keep an eye on you.
CUT TO:
INT. TOWER BLOCK, 2ND FLOOR, OUTSIDE 21B - MORNING
Freddy, Johnny and Dom stand outside 21B. Dom towers over the other two. Johnny knocks on the door, Freddy whimpers. The door opens and the Fairy stands there.
FAIRY: Oh. It’s you again. Hopefully you’re going to have more manners this time.
JOHNNY (trying to talk posh): We’re… dreadfully sorry to barge in on you again. We’re so sorry we were rude before, but we wonder if you know where dear Mr Ascomb is?
FAIRY: I don’t know any Mr Ascomb. We’re all new here. Why do you want Mr Ascomb?
DOM: He owes us money.
FAIRY: Does he indeed? Well, even I can understand that. Maybe if you talk to Mr Uruk on the 7th floor, he may be able to help. 72c.
DOM: Thank you. Thank you very much.
Dom nudges Johnny and Freddy.
JOHNNY & FREDDY (bowing) Thank you… thank you, sir…
FREDDY: Please can you take away my tail, Sir? I’m sorry for what I did earlier…
FAIRY: Well… it does look good on you… but as you asked nicely…
CUT TO:
INT. TOWER BLOCK, 7th FLOOR, OUTSIDE 72C - MORNING
Dom, Johnny and Freddy stand outside 72C. Freddy no longer has a tail and he looks visibly relieved. Dom knocks on the door. The door opens and an Ork opens, dwarfing Dom. The Ork has thick grey, green skin and bones showing on the ankle and knee joints. The Ork is wearing chain mail armour.
CUT TO:
INT. HURT BROTHERS HEADQUARTERS - MORNING
Freddy is now standing in front of Ronald and Reginald. He has a sack next to him on the floor. The sack is of a thick material, like brown leather. Freddy is standing alone and looks pale and bruised.
RONALD: You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. The fairy did that to you? I told you to be fucking polite!
REGINALD: Never mind that, where’s Dom? What the fuck happened?
FREDDY: I had to leave Johnny there. Dom is in the sack… and I’ve been told to give you this.
Freddy hands Reginald a scroll as Ronald gets up from the sofa and unties the sack.
RONALD: Jesus fucking Christ!
The sack falls open and Dom’s remains are in the sack. He has been neatly eighthed.
Reginald opens the scroll. It suddenly flies out of his hands and starts to shine. BOSS SCAR’S voice is heard. It’s a deep voice, meltingly calm but with an edge to it.
BOSS SCAR: The tower is now mine. As is your block. You owe me fidelity and you must pay me tribute. I am power. If you wish to parley with me then you will need to back it up with force; not with your puny henchmen but with your bravest warriors. If you can fight your way to the top of the Tower then we may… talk. If you refuse then everything you own, everything you are… will be mine. You have until the next full moon.
The scroll burns suddenly in Reginald's hands. He drops it.
REGINALD: Fuck!
Freddy looks shocked. Ronald just stares at the sack with Dom’s remains inside and then looks at Reginald.
RONALD: Son of a bitch… What the fuck is going on?
REGINALD: It’s very simple, Ronald. I don’t give a fuck who or what this fucking thing is. It all boils down to one simple thing. This. is. War.
CUT TO:
INT. THE ARMORY - MORNING
In the basement of the tower block. Rows and rows of shelves filled with knives, guns, clubs, chains. The gang help themselves to as much as they can carry.
REGINALD: Put those fucking bazookas away! I don’t want any property damage, right? No sawn-off shotguns; no sub-machine guns. Nothing like that.
RONALD: Remember, use the weapons that are going to extend your reach.
REGINALD: But keep something for close quarters, right? A shiv; knuckle dusters…that kind of thing.
Reginald is still brandishing his cane.
RONALD: You’re seriously not taking that with you!
REGINALD: You do you, right? And I’ll do anyone that comes in close to me.
Meanwhile Fatty finds a whole pile of riot shields.
FATTY (shouts): What about these, Reginald?
REGINALD: Now that is fucking good thinking, Fatty.
RONALD: Are you off your fucking rocker? When are we going to need them?
REGINALD: This is going to be a siege, right? Who knows what we’re going to encounter, right? Better to have them and not need them.. And be fucked without them. Besides, it takes me back.
RONALD (sighs): Yeah… the Toxteth riots. The fuzz had a fucking heart attack when we came out with these beauties covering our arses… Where’d we get them from anyway?
REGINALD: From Dom…
RONALD: Dom… Yeah… You lot ready? It’s about time we set things right again. We’re doing this for Dom as well.
EVERYONE: FOR DOM!
CUT TO:
INT. TOWER BLOCK TOP FLOOR -MORNING
Looking out through the top floor window down to the ground below. A line of twenty men walking from one block of flats to the other. Each person carrying baseball bats, crowbars, demolition hammers, machetes chains. A couple of thugs are carrying plastic bags filled with glass bottles with rags hanging out of them. Boss Scar is in shadow.
BOSS SCAR: Isn’t this nice? Our neighbors are paying us a visit. Instruct the Uruk brothers to lay on a suitable welcoming. Let the Hobs soften them up a little first though. I want to see what this lot is made of.
CUT TO:
INT. TOWER BLOCK, 2ND FLOOR, OUTSIDE 21B - MORNING
Everyone is standing, massed outside the Fairy’s front door. Freddy knocks on the door again. Ronald and Reginald are in the middle of the group so they are well protected. The door opens.
FAIRY: Oh… It is you. I was warned but I didn’t think anyone would be that stupid.
Freddy takes the Fairy by the scruff of the neck and shoves a shiv to its throat.
FREDDY: I’ve had enough of your shit. You’re going to take us to the boss or I’m going to slit you.
FAIRY: Silly boy.
The fairy places a finger on Freddy’s hand. Freddy turns into a four foot long fox. Kenny swings a pick axe down and cuts the Fairy’s arm off; the cold steel, killing him instantly.
FREDDY FOX: Well, that fucking cuts it for me too. So long, fuckers. I’m out of here!
The fox runs away down the corridor.
REGINALD: Come back here you bushy tailed, ginger fuck!
CUT TO:
INT. TOWER BLOCK, 3rd FLOOR - Mid-MORNING
The geography of the flat shifts slowly from the third floor. Graffiti scrawled, piss-streaked walls and stairwells lead to rocks and rough hewn stone steps until they come to a large wooden door that just appears. No more stairs, just blackness above. Carved in the door is a rune: ᚦ which means Thurisaz & represents a sharp defensive barrier, resistance, and a warning of danger.
RONALD: Fuck this… axes? Chop the fucker down!
Just as the six axe-wielding thugs walk up to the door it opens. There is a huge cavern inside, immensely tall with various passages running off in many directions. There are still remnants of the old furnishings though. There are settee’s, televisions, cookers, beds, sideboards. Whole indoor rooms in a cavernous environment, with dripping walls, mosses and strange fungi; huge stalactites and stalagmites.
RONALD: Right. Nothing's changed. This is still the same; we’re out for a pound of flesh. What’s ours is ours. I don’t give a shit for their internal decoration, I want this Boss Scar fucker. Kenny… Billy? Off you go, you're the advance party.
Kenny and Billy walk onwards, keeping an eye on everything around them. Kenny has a large length of bike chain as a weapon; Billy a crowbar. They get more than halfway through and turn around. They’re about to signal that everything is all clear when arrows are shot from nowhere. The arrows pierce Kenny’s throat and left eye and some more strike Billy in the groin, left eye and heart. It’s all over very quickly.
CHARLEY: What the fuck was that?
REGINALD: That was a fucking sniper, my son. (To Ronald) I think we owe it to Dom to show these fuckers what happens during a Toxteth riot!
CUT TO:
INT. TOWER BLOCK, 4th FLOOR - MID-MORNING
The thugs walk into the cavern now in classic siege formation. Three men in front with the riot shields held in front of them; in the next row one holds the shield above them and the other two create the sides with theirs; then the three rows behind them do the same. Behind them sneaks Freddy The Fox… They advance slowly inside the cavern and encounter no more resistance.
CHARLEY: What’s going on, Ronald?
REGINALD: Shut your fucking mouth. It could kick off at…
Arrows start flying from every direction. Hundreds of them. The siege tactics work and the thugs are able to slowly advance further into the cavern. They reach the bodies of Kenny and Billy.
RONALD: Leave the bastards be. Take their weapons though, you may need them.
The thugs walk over their body and the weapons are taken. They continue walking, it feels like they’re walking up a hill. They get within sight of the next door and then something comes up from one of the holes in the ground. It grabs BOBBY and slices the tendon of EDDY as well. It’s too quick to really see, but it’s a GOBLIN.
Another GOBLIN jumps from the ceiling and starts stabbing the shields with its knives. The Goblin is about five foot, grey-green skin; pointed nose, like a rat; smooth, ill-looking skin. Its eyes are yellow and its teeth sharp. One of the knives is serrated like the teeth of a saw; the other is a stabbing blade with a barb at the tip. Both are well used and blood stained, like the bodies of the Goblins. More Goblins join the fray, coming from all sides. The riot shields are holding, just but it leaves no room for the rest of the thugs. They either stay defensive or get swamped. The Goblins are all using strange sounds, a language of some kind. There are NO SUBTITLES. The Goblins attack in a frenzy with several trying to attack a single riot shield. This goes on for some time; 3 or 4 of the thugs are killed due to the sheer frenzy.
REGINALD: This is getting us nowhere!
RONALD (shouting): I’m thinking this is just like the fucking 1966 World Cup again… There’s no way I’m letting these little fuckers take the Tower from us. Are you with us?
REGINALD (Shouting): ZIGGER ZAGGER! ZIGGER ZAGGER!
THUGS (Shouting back): OI! OI! OI!
The Goblins look momentarily bemused by this. The Thugs all use their shields to suddenly push up and outwards. This dislodges the Goblins and they can now use their weapons. Those with the axes and steel pipes; hatchets and baseball bats are at more of an advantage. The baseball bats all have nails and spikes sticking out. The battle is fierce with many goblins taken out, but there are quite a few thugs killed as well. Sometimes the goblins become obsessed with the kill and keep stabbing / slashing at the body long after it's dead, but they easily killed themselves.
Slowly the thugs get pushed back until they’re close to their original formation. But Fatty has the Molotov Cocktails and lights them. Fatty hands them to Ronald and Reginald. They lob them out of the circle of thugs. The Goblins scream at the fire and run. More cocktails are lobbed at them. There are only seven of the thugs left, with Reginald and Ronald looking at the bodies strewn about.
RONALD: We haven’t got time for this shit. Grab whatever weapons you can and the shields. The door’s in front and that’s where we’re heading.
The thugs come across another door with this rune burned in: ᚼ. This represents sudden, unpreventable destruction, catastrophic change, and a force of nature that cannot be reasoned with. Again, the door opens and there is another cavern, sloping upwards.
CUT TO:
INT. TOWER BLOCK, 8th FLOOR - LATE-MORNING
As the last thug walks through the door it closes, but not before Freddy the Fox slips in and hides behind a boulder. The thugs advance, still in the siege formation. There is a thick mist making it difficult to see through. They get halfway into the chamber and a 10 foot tall Ork, similar to the one from earlier, walks towards them through the mist.
Fatty walks out with a molotov cocktail and throws it at the Ork. It smashes on the Ork’s body and it becomes awash with flame. The Ork walks closer, Fatty throws another one. The Ork laughs. The Ork lifts its huge mace and simply crashes it down on to Fatty with a sickening thud. Fatty’s legs just fold from underneath him and he falls down, dead. The Ork is still advancing.
REGINALD: Step aside fuckers.
Reginald takes his cane, and withdraws a sword from it in a poetic gesture. He then stabs the Ork in the throat, then in the heart. The Ork looks at him askew and falls down, dead.
There is a large grunt / growl and several more Orks emerge from the mist, all with huge Maces. They attack in a brutal fashion. Reginald kills several with his sword. He uses his fencing practice to keep out from the cumbersome strikes and swings. He decapitates some and just kills more. But the others don’t fare that well.
Ronald is able to hold his own. He uses a machete and a riot shield. Soon there is only Ronald and Reginald left. There is one Ork left. Reginald stabs the Ork in its heart but the Ork snaps the blade and holds the shaft, lifting it and Reginald high up in the air. It then lunges at Reginald and rips his throat out.
There is a cry from behind and Freddy The Fox jumps out from a rock onto the body of the Ork. Freddy, still being large for a fox, is able to do a lot of damage to the Ork. He’s able to bite chunks out its throat. The Ork is distracted by this.
RONALD: Oy! Fuck face! Have some!
Ronald uses his machete to decapitate the Ork with one swift blow. He turns round to look at all the bodies strewn about. He falls to his knees at his brother's body.
BOSS SCAR: (disembodied voice) Giving up? I thought we might have a talk.
RONALD: Yeah, and the rest.
BOSS SCAR: Right through the door then.
The mist lifts and right in front of Reginald’s body is a new door. No rune. It opens. Ronald picks up Reginald’s cane and then he and Freddy walk through the door.
CUT TO:
INT. TOWER BLOCK, 10th FLOOR - LATE-MORNING
The door closes behind them. Freddy is now a human again. The tenth floor was a penthouse at one time. There’s no glass in the windows and the window frames are all smashed. On the ground are skeletons and cadavers, some fresh; some old and decaying. There are also coins, diamonds, and large geodes of various crystals. The room is mostly in darkness.
BOSS SCAR: You’re to be congratulated. Many of these unfortunates never made it past the first three levels. Only a dozen made it past the Orks. I’m impressed.
RONALD: Show yourself, you bastard.
BOSS SCAR: Don’t be too impetuous. That one became tiresome too… and look what happened to him.
A large, scaled tail -the thickness of a body- snakes out of the darkness, spikes on its end. The tail points at one of the dead bodies without a head or neck. The body has bite marks on it.
FREDDY: Holy God, oh fuck, ohhhh fuck.
BOSS SCAR: You might as well call me your God; or your highness… but I am SCAR.
The huge head of a dark green dragon comes out of the shadows. The rest of its body slowly slumping out, wings folded either side. Its neck is short at the moment as it's looking directly at them. Its eyes are red and there is smoke starting to plume from either side of its mouth.
RONALD: So you thought you would just swan in and take over what you wanted and fuck the opposition?
SCAR: What opposition?
RONALD: You’re the one who needs to think about respect. You can’t come in here and just do as you please.
SCAR: And why not? Who’s to stop me? What happened to your army?
RONALD: I don’t need no fucking army. I’m Ronald Hurt. Reginald was my brother. We started from nothing and I’m not going to let some piss-ant little tadpole tell me who’s the king of the fucking castle.
Scar laughs. It’s a booming laugh. It’s the first time he’s laughed like this in centuries.
SCAR: I like you, human! No one has ever had the balls to talk to me like that before. Oh, they’ve been arrogant enough, but you? I like you, Ronald Hurt. I think we could cut a deal!
FADE OUT:
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