ACT III
EXT. CENTRAL CITY
SQUARE – DAY – CONTINUOUS
Doyle gets SHOVED
outside the bike-rack fence surrounding the stage and audience.
He WALKS away from
the crowd when a RED BLUR MATERIALIZES into the Flash before his eyes.
FLASH
We need to talk.
Flash GRABS Doyle
by his jean jacket with the cutoff sleeves and they both SPEED away.
EXT. ALLEY –
CONTINUOUS
Flash and Doyle
appear out of thin air – the alley is completely empty.
DOYLE
You wanna know how I do it?
On Flash –
puzzled.
Doyle holds up the
knife.
DOYLE
The trick?
FLASH
Oh.
DOYLE
I use a…
FLASH
No. That’s not what I wanted to talk about. I need you to come with me.
DOYLE
Where?
FLASH
Somewhere
safe. Hidden.
DOYLE
Uh
huh. And secret.
FLASH
Yes.
DOYLE
Why?
FLASH
Because
I think you might be sick. And I wanna
help you.
DOYLE
(A
quiet “Fuck off”)
I
don’t need that kinda help.
FLASH
What?
DOYLE
Just
because a person’s into the macabre doesn’t mean they’re crazy. It doesn’t make them “sick.”
FLASH
No,
this isn’t about what you’re into…
DOYLE
No,
of course not. That’s what my mother
said when she took me to see a psychiatrist for the first time. What my father said when he took me in, on
the condition that I visit with a social worker once a week. And when none of those panned out – when no
“solutions” to my “disturbing preoccupations” could be found, what did they
both do? Left me alone. Ignored me.
Treated me like a living ghost.
FLASH
Doyle,
I’m sorry. I don’t wanna change you, I
swear. I think there’s a poison running
through your veins. Something that,
given enough time, will kill you.
On Doyle.
FLASH
And
all I wanna do is find it, and get rid of it.
On Flash.
FLASH
Will you come with me? Please?
DOYLE
Ok. I’ll go with you. On one condition.
FLASH
What? Doyle, I’m tryin to save your life.
DOYLE
I believe you. My question is, why?
FLASH
Because…I’m
the Flash. It’s what I do. Come on man, you don’t wanna die.
DOYLE
I
don’t. But I can’t pass up the
opportunity to do a killer magic trick featuring Central City’s most famous
superhero either.
FLASH
So…what? You’re gonna make me disappear? Saw me in half, or something?
DOYLE
Something
like that. One grand trick on the Battle
of the Bands stage tomorrow.
FLASH
Battle
of the Bands?
DOYLE
Where
I just got booted from.
FLASH
Of
course it’s a battle of the bands.
DOYLE
We’ll
do it after the last act. Before the
crowd leaves. They won’t say no to a
special appearance by the Flash.
FLASH
Sometimes
I hate where I live.
DOYLE
Till
then, I’m all yours. Tests,
treatment…I’ll do whatever you say. And
when we’re on stage…
FLASH
I
do whatever you say, yeah, I get it.
DOYLE
No
need to be snippy.
FLASH
Oh
excuse me, I’ve just never had someone make me do them a favor to save them
before.
DOYLE
No
one asked you to save me.
FLASH
You’re
right about that.
Doyle holds out a
hand.
DOYLE
Do
we have a deal?
On Flash as he
considers – finally, he DISAPPEARS IN A HAZE OF RED.
There’s a beat as
Doyle stands in the alley all alone.
Then, the haze of
red REAPPEARS – Flash stands inches from Doyle – the hero puts something in the
street magician’s hand.
FLASH
Be
at this address at eleven tonight. No
later. And be sure to drink a lot of
caffeine. It’s gonna be an all-nighter.
DOYLE
You
got it.
Flash VANISHES in
a WHOOSH OF RED.
Doyle brings up
his hand – he’s looking at the BUSINESS CARD Flash gave him.
ON THE CARD:
S.T.A.R. LABS
1956 INFANTINO WAY
INT. S.T.A.R. LABS
– MAIN TERMINAL
Cisco walks in
with two large coffees. He sits at the
main computer terminal.
On Barry as he
focuses in on the coffees.
BARRY
Oh, thanks man.
CISCO
What?
Barry points –
Cisco looks down at the two large coffees he’s holding.
CISCO
Oh. No, these are both for me.
BARRY
Really? Have you learned nothing from your
earlier…deluge?
CISCO
When
it comes to caffeine, I will never learn my friend.
Cisco takes a seat
– SIPS his coffee.
CISCO
Ok. I’m ready.
Where is this guy?
BARRY
Should be here any minute.
On Cisco as he
TAKES BARRY IN.
CISCO
You ok Barr?
BARRY
Something about this guy
doesn’t feel right.
CISCO
Really?
Something off about a teenage
proto-terrorist? Color me surprised.
BARRY
He’s
also the same guy who came back in time looking for redemption.
CISCO
I
guess. So long as this is the right guy.
BARRY
Oh,
he’s the guy. But he’s so different from
his future self. He’s showy. Opportunistic. In return for coming here tonight, so that we
could save his life, he wants to use me for some high-profile magic trick, just
to get his name out there.
CISCO
He’s
younger. A kid. Lookin to stand out, trying to find
himself. I thought the whole point of
this was to show him he doesn’t need to do all that through terrorism.
BARRY
It
is.
CISCO
Then
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but maybe cut him a little slack? Not a lot of slack. As it stands, he still grows up to destroy
Central City. But maybe a skoch of
slack?
BARRY
You
have a point Cisco. Maybe I’m jumping to
conclusions.
CISCO
Wow. I had a point. I’m not usually the voice of reason. The expert, sure. The technical explainer slash simplifier,
absolutely. The repository of kick-ass
bad guy names, no question.
A LOUD BUZZ
interrupts Cisco. He hits something on
the terminal.
Barry circles
around to Cisco – they both look at the video on the screen.
ON THE COMPUTER
SCREEN
A security camera
style video of Doyle Fox as he stands at the front door of the lab.
BARRY
Time to get started.
INT. S.T.A.R. LABS
– MED BAY
Doyle sits up on a
gurney – a rubber cord tied off at his arm.
Cisco FINISHES
taking blood.
CISCO
Ok. That’s it.
DOYLE
I can go?
CISCO
Ha. No.
You need to stick around while we run these tests and figure out what we
need to do, because whatever it is, we’ll need to do it fast.
DOYLE
Cool.
On Doyle as he
takes in the med bay.
DOYLE
I
can’t believe I’m in the actual S.T.A.R. Labs.
Can I take photos?
CISCO
No. Everything in here is top secret. You snap anything, you post anything, your
accounts will get locked down faster than you can blink. Your whole virtual identity will disappear –
as if you never existed on the internet.
DOYLE
Got
it. Hey, where’s Flash?
INT. S.T.A.R. LABS
MAIN TERMINAL – CONTINUOUS
Barry sits
watching the computer monitor’s feed of the Med Bay.
CISCO (O.S.)
On patrol.
DOYLE (O.S.)
Right. Fighting the never-ending battle.
CISCO (O.S.)
Ha. Totally.
INT. S.T.A.R. LABS
MED BAY – CONTINUOUS
DOYLE
Does
he ever think about what’s gonna happen when he loses?
CISCO
What
do you mean?
DOYLE
Well,
it’s a never-ending battle. But the Flash isn’t never-ending, right? Unless he is.
Is he?
CISCO
No.
DOYLE
There
ya go. He can be stopped. Killed.
Eventually, someone’s gonna do it.
I just wonder if he’s thought about what happens when that day comes.
CISCO
Someone
else takes up the fight.
DOYLE
That’s
right. Flash has a team of super
friends. But isn’t that the route
they’ll all go down? Again, never-ending
battle. You put on a mask to fight in
that war, your days are numbered. And in
the end, what good will you have done?
CISCO
It’s
not about making a difference tomorrow.
It’s about making a difference today.
DOYLE
That’s
where you and I part ways, Mr. Med Tech.
People will remember me. Tomorrow
and beyond. I’m gonna do great things.
CISCO
Bro,
I hate to burst your bubble, but street magic isn’t gonna change the world.
DOYLE
True. But I’m not lookin to change the world. I’m just lookin to make it stand up and pay
attention.
INT. S.T.A.R. LABS
MAIN TERMINAL – CONTINUOUS
ON MAIN COMPUTER
SCREEN
We pull back
slowly as Cisco takes a beat to appraise this guy. We move past the chair that Barry was sitting
in – but Barry isn’t there anymore, and the chair spins slowly.
CISCO
Yeah,
well…the computer’s doing it’s thing. Bathroom’s around the corner. I’ll be back when we have the results.
Cisco walks out of
the room – Doyle looks around, finally looking up to the camera that’s on him.
EXT. SUBURBAN HOME
– NIGHT
In a WHOOSH OF
RED, Flash appears on the lawn of an idyllic four bedroom.
He PUTS ON THE
SPEED – FLYING TOWARD THE FRONT DOOR – with no signs of slowing down, he
VIBRATES HIS BODY – PHASE SHIFTING THROUGH THE DOOR.
INT. SUBURBAN
HOME’S MAIN FOYER – CONTINUOUS
Flash SNEAKS down
the hall – he’s LOOKING EVERYWHERE. The
staircase leading up, the hall, it all looks normal.
INT. SUBURBAN HOME
LIVING ROOM – CONTINUOUS
Flash finds the
fireplace – one by one, he PICKS UP THE FRAMED PHOTOS ON THE MANTLE.
ON PICTURE FRAMES
From one frame to
the next, Flash sees the same image – the ugly, posed family photo with Doyle
sitting and his parents standing behind him, all smiles.
Nothing changes
from photo to photo except for the age of Doyle – his parents look EXACTLY THE
SAME, EVEN DOWN TO THEIR CLOTHES.
INT. UPSTAIRS HALL
– CONTINUOUS
Flash races
upstairs – there are two doors, one in front of him and one to his right. He opens the one to his right.
He sees what is
clearly Doyle’s room – messy bed, props for magic tricks strewn about.
Flash turns to the
other closed door – the master bedroom – he opens it and walks in.
INT. MASTER
BEDROOM – CONTINUOUS
And he finds,
NOTHING. It’s a completely empty room –
no bed, no furniture, stark.
Barry FLIPS THE
LIGHT SWITCH.
CISCO (O.S.)
Barry? Where are you?
FLASH
Investigating Cisco.
Flash looks down –
he’s IN SHOCK.
CISCO
Investigating what?
On the ground,
Barry finds TWO FADED RED BLOTCHES – separated by where a bed must have been.
Flash stands
between them, looking from one to the other.
FLASH
I think Doyle Fox is a
murderer.
CISCO
You mean future murderer.
FLASH
No. I mean now. See what I’m seeing.
No. I mean now. See what I’m seeing.
A PAIR OF LENSES
COVER FLASH’S EYES in his cowl.
INT. S.T.A.R. LABS
MAIN TERMINAL – CONTINUOUS
Cisco watches the
monitor, seeing through Flash’s eyes.
ON MONITOR:
Flash’s view,
moving between one huge blotch to the next and back.
FLASH
Cisco, what do these look
like to you?
The image is
pulled out and zoomed in on. And in the
light, on a large screen, the truth becomes clear.
CISCO
They look like…bodies.
INT. SUBURBAN HOME
MASTER BEDROOM – CONTINUOUS
FLASH
That’s
what they look like to me too. I’m
bringing you a sample.
Flash bends down
and PULLS SOME CARPET FIBERS – TUCKING THEM into his belt.
CISCO (O.S.)
What does this mean Barry?
FLASH
This
much blood? It means these people bled
out for a long time. They must have been
stabbed or punctured, either very deeply or many times over and in many
different spots on their bodies.
CISCO (O.S.)
Could
they have done this to themselves? With
a gun or something?
FLASH
No. A self-inflicted gunshot wound would result
in one area of heavy blood concentration.
Maybe some would travel, but not far and not in such high volume. From how heavy and spread out the stain is,
it looks like these folks lost all of their blood. I mean, to be thick enough to show these…
CISCO (O.S.)
Blood
angels.
No response.
Through Barry’s
earpiece, a BEEP sounds.
FLASH
What’s that?
CISCO
The
results of Doyle’s blood test. You were
right, he’s definitely our guy.
FLASH
What
does he have?
CISCO
You’re
not gonna believe this…nanites.
FLASH
What?
CISCO
Little robots circulating in his blood stream. This is real future tech, Barry. Ray Palmer was just on the verge of creating a nanite that move forward and backward. These things are swimming like gold medalists.
Little robots circulating in his blood stream. This is real future tech, Barry. Ray Palmer was just on the verge of creating a nanite that move forward and backward. These things are swimming like gold medalists.
FLASH
How
can they hurt him?
CISCO
Any
number of ways. They could stop blood
flow to his heart. They could cause a
clot in blood vessels, or pierce the blood-brain barrier so blood gets into his
brain. They could even be literal time
bombs, set to explode…whenever.
FLASH
Can
you get rid of them?
CISCO
I
don’t know Barry. I don’t know…this
technology hasn’t even been invented yet.
Flash and Cisco
sit with that together for a beat.
CISCO
Wait! I may be able to use my sonic blast to…
FLASH
Don’t!
CISCO
Flash?
FLASH
Don’t
do anything. Not until we figure this
out.
CISCO
Flash,
we don’t know how much time we have. If
we don’t act now, we may not save him.
FLASH
I
know Cisco.
On the bloodstain
angels as Flash takes them in.
FLASH
But I don’t think he’s
worth saving.
END OF ACT III
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