Time Lady of L.A. #11: Pages 1-8
Intro Page, 6 Panels
Panel 1: We start with a shot of a luxurious looking living room area with a stereo playing music in the background. The whole thing resembles an old set from "Masterpiece Theater." Seated on a lovely brown leather recliner is Deeliah McFly. She's reading a copy of H.G. Wells "The Time Machine" while apparently, from what we see of her shoulders and her legs, naked.
DEELIAH MCFLY [laughing as she reads; muttering to herself]: Wouldn't someone have tried to steal it? It's the size of a fracking escape pod! How exactly didn't someone notice something that size in the middle of a street. Then there's the whole underage sex thing with the Eloi...
Panel 2: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. A few beats later, Deeliah looks up from the book at the reading audience. The book lowers down ever so slightly, revealing a little more of her chest.
DEELIAH MCFLY [to the reader; smiling]: Oh, hello! Didn't see you there. Welcome back to the big show, guys. I am the time-hopping, ass-kicking bee-yotch of the time stream Deeliah McFly, here on the Martha Jones somewhere above...Jupiter, I think.
Panel 3: Action shot of her standing up from the chair and placing the book back toward a nearby end table. As this happens, you can see more of her naked body. At the same time though, you can also see what appears to be a covering for both her cleavage and her private areas.
DEELIAH MCFLY [Cont.]: You caught me here outside the holodeck taking a little break with me and my lady's favorite April Fool's Day activity- "fooling" around. You'd be surprised how sexy, in some parts of the cosmos and the Multiverse, April Fool's Day can be. And to those pervy amongst you...
Panel 4: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. Ms. McFly is now on her feet and starts to take a few steps away from the chair, which shifts toward the left of the panel view as she speaks. We see covering her chest and private areas a black bar with the words "I'm 17, asshole" and "...and taken. #stepoff!"
DEELIAH MCFLY [wide grin]: Anyway...to the real reason you're here. Last we left the Time Lady, she and her friend Amanda were back in Cairo, Egypt in 1985 on the hunt for a rare Ankh bracelet to give her mom as a Christmas present. A beautiful and genuinely sweet idea....until a bunch of officers, including an armored dude with a massive, overcompensating gun (who strangely looked familiar to me, but...might be wrong) came in and arrested them. Hate when that happens!
Panel 5-6: Action shot that follows Deeliah's movements across the setting; the grin now gone to a baseline. We see in Panel 5, around the right side of the panel view, a closed door with the words "HOLODECK" written on a plaque next to it. In Panel 6, the layout goes to a close-up of her face with one last aside to the reader.
DEELIAH MCFLY [Cont., Panel 5]: Just as things started to look bleak for our heroines though, there was a crash in the middle of the street that both saved (and subsequently knocked them out). When they came to, they popped up in a spacious looking basement somewhere in the city with a well-dressed intellectual named Ra'hel and [SPOILER]. DEELIAH MCFLY [looking up in disbelief; Panel 6, Bubble 1]: Really? You're gonna go the [SPOILER] route for that?! You save [SPOILER] [SPOILER] and keep that from the good reader... DEELIAH MCFLY [Panel 6, Bubble 2]: Whatever. Enjoy, folks!
Page 1, 5 Panels- Unknown Location, 1985 Cairo Egypt
Panel 1: We open to the last image that was on display in the last panel of the previous issue. Namely, a very close-up shot of Giana's face as she wakes up and takes the first sight of the two of them. A look of shock clearly placed on her upon seeing the woman standing next to her. You can partially see the pillow that her head is resting on as this goes on, along with the bed itself.
GIANA [stunned]: ...Ummi?
Panel 2: The layout pulls back to take in the other members of the shot at this point. We see Giana slowly rising up on her bed, trying to get a grip as to the sheer weirdness of the situation with Feli9 resting on her lap. As for Ra'hel and Mona, they stand around the right side of the panel view, visibly confused by the situation.
GIANA [Cont.]: Oh my god, this is amazing! I... MONA [whispering to Ra'hel; translated from Egyptian Arabic]: "Ummi?!" What the hell is she talking about? I'm not her mother...
Panel 3: The layout changes slightly to take in both Giana and Amanda at their bed. We see Amanda immediately leap into view, clasping her friend's mouth a split second after the action of the previous panel in order not to incriminate herself any further. You can see our other locals via an over-the-shoulder shot.
AMANDA [to Ra'hel and Mona, overly correcting]: Gummy! She meant--gummy worms. She's absolutely wild for them. We--
Panel 4-5: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. Amanda turns her attention back toward her friend who looks back trying to compute precisely what is going on. She only slowly but surely starts to get what she's trying to say. You can see Feli9 pop her head up from her resting position as they speak.
AMANDA [Cont., Panel 4]: We were thinking of having some...when we got back to the hotel. Didn't we, Giana? GIANA [slow to grasp, then fully does, to Amanda; Panel 4]: Yes. Yes we were... GIANA [Cont., apologetically to Ra'hel and Mona; Panel 5]: Sorry about that. I...I guess it must have slipped out somehow.
Page 2, 7 Panels- Unknown Location, 1985 Cairo Egypt
Panel 1: Cut to a shot of Ra'hel and Mona a few beats later. Their attentions both focused on the two mystery ladies. They collectively accept the weirdness of the situation, albeit with a sense of cautious trepidation as to their identities. Mona places her hands over her chest and takes a step toward the two ladies from the future. The handle of her sword placed on her side.
MONA [to Giana and Amanda]: Okay...who the hell are you two?
Panel 2: Action shot back to our two human heroines as they begin to step off of their respective hard-mattressed beds. Amanda is the first to do it, taking a step forward toward the two people who saved them. She points in the direction of Giana with her right hand who is seen slowly moves toward her right side in the opening attempt to step off the bed herself, still woozy by the after-effects of the original accident.
AMANDA [to Ra'hel and Mona, timidly at first but better in time]: Umm, well, my name is Amanda Clarke. And this...
Panel 3: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. A few moments later, just as Giana starts to walk over in thes ame direction, we see her stumble and lose her footing. Only the sleak timing of her feline robot companion saves her from a hard fall, flying up and using part of her body as a crutch.
AMANDA [Cont., after a brief pause; back to a slightly more confident tone]: ...is my friend Giana Franklin. We're...exchange students, from Los Angeles. RA'HEL [Off-Panel]: Americans...
Panel 4: Back to a shot of Ra'hel and Mona a moment later. Ra'hel takes a couple of steps past Mona, who drops her arms to her side and looks to her right at him ever so briefly, and toward the two ladies. A look of disgust firmly placed on his face as he moves past his friend, holding the hijabs Giana and Amanda were wearing pre-accident in each hand.
RA'HEL [Cont., with a snarl getting increasingly angrier]: The same Americans who give hundreds of millions of dollars to a virtual despot? Who sit silent as one man sinks his claws deeper into my country, just because he doesn't look like a radical...
Panel 5: Close-up on Ra'hel's angry face a few moments later. The anger just beginning to reach its peak as he approaches the young ladies. Their shadow appearing on his face slightly as he speaks.
RA'HEL [Cont.]: ...as businessmen come by the hundreds to rape and pillage our land, build machines designed to subjugate us, providing us a blinding pittance for our silence?!
Panel 6-7: Side shot in Panel 6 of Ra'hel a moment later next to Mona just as he's about to reach out and attack Amanda who, along with Giana who appears somewhat upstage next to her, is on the left side of the panel view. In Panel 7 though, he's stopped by the outstretched arm of his friend who pushes him back just before he enacts any semblance of pain. Giana appears here in the background, albeit briefly, over their collective shoulders.
RA'HEL [near yelling, Panel 6]: Tell me who your handler is? Who do you report to?! AMANDA [offended, to Ra'hel; Panel 6]: I don't report to anyone. Though I am open to beating some self-righteous ass when the time is right! MONA [trying to keep things civil, to both of them; Panel 7]: Whoa, whoa! Relax...the both of you! GIANA [piping in to the conversation; Panel 7]: Yeah, relax. No need for either of us to get pissy at one another. We both have a lot of stuff to sift through on both sides...
Page 3, 6 Panels- Unknown Location, 1985 Cairo Egypt
Panel 1: Same setting/layout as the last panel of the previous page. As Amanda split out of view in opposite directions, in the center of the panel view, we see Giana, Ra'hel and Mona remain in the same position in the center of the panel view speaking to each other.
GIANA [Cont., to Ra'hel]: Like how exactly did you learn English? RA'HEL [to Giana]: I spent a handful of years in the United States.
Panel 2: Slight close-up on Ra'hel's face a moment later. His eyes look away slightly from the young teenage girl for a bit as he reminisces for a period about his past. Around the right side of the panel view, you can see a little slice of Mona's hair and face next to him.
RA'HEL [Cont.]: I was on the path to an academic life in university when I heard about the assassination of President Sadat. Then, like a flash...they came!
Panel 3: Cut to a flashback shot of Cairo from 1981. In particular, Tahrir Square which is filled with hundreds of soldiers. Each of them dressed in the same kind of futuristic-looking armor that we saw near the end of the last issue, armed with high-tech weaponry that frightens the little bits of the citizenry that are outside at the moment.
RA'HEL [Off-Panel]: An armada of soldiers, hundreds of them. Each armed with weaponry far beyond anything the nation's military had. They pacified the city in a matter of weeks, the rest of the nation in months.
Panel 4-5: Back to the present day inside the unknown location, and a shot of Ra'hel who looks on in the same melancholy direction that he showed in Panel 1. Though the layout resembles more of what we saw in the first panel of this page. We see Giana around the left side of the panel view, while young Mona stands next to Ra'hel listening to the rest of the story that she's heard often. In Panel 5, she chimes in and takes a single step toward the young woman in front of her.
RA'HEL [Cont., Panel 4]: I knew then I had to go back and do something to stop them and their facilitating puppet in government, Mubarak. So I left the U.S. in 1982, and founded Free Tahrir. MONA [interjecting, Panel 4]: Which brings us to the present day. GIANA [curious, to both of them; Panel 4]: "Free Tahrir?" MONA [nods; Panel 4, Bubble 2]: It's a bridge between those we lost in the past, and the hope of the future. MONA [Cont., slight grin; Panel 5]: And it has a bit of a...personal significance too. GIANA [remembering; Panel 5]: Oh right...
Panel 6: Cut to a close-up of Giana's face a moment later. Her left arm is folded underneath her stomach. Her right elbow touching the middle of it, and her hand cupping slightly the bottom of her chin as the thought that popped up in her head comes out.
GIANA [Cont., to Mona]: You had your first kiss in a cafe in Tahrir Square! I almost forgot about that.
Page 4, 5 Panels- Unknown Location, 1985 Cairo Egypt
Panel 1: Action shot of Mona a few beats later, heightened by a sudden spike in tension brought about by Giana's statement. She reaches out with her left hand and grabs the young woman from the future by the collar, while her right hand (hidden out of view) pulls out her energy-infused sword. In the background, their respective friends watch on with a great deal of concern to stop the situation.
MONA [angered; to Giana]: How do you know that? RA'HEL [trying to temper the situation]: Mo... GIANA [scared; to Mona]: I...
Panel 2: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. A second later, we see her trusty sword that was on full display in the middle of the last issue now unsheathed. The tip of the blade now placed on the base of Ms. Franklin's neck. Mona leans her head closer to make sure she's heard, as Giana correspondingly pulls her head back with great fear. As Ra'hel reaches out to pull back his friend, you can hear in the background to the left of the panel view the sound of footsteps rushing to the scene.
GIANA [Cont.]: I--I---I--Well, I... MONA [Cont.]: Unless you really are EoM! Khayin-- RA'HEL [louder, to Mona]: MO!
Panel 3: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. An action shot taken a split second later, just before the spiky haired Mona is able to move the blade onto any part of Giana's body, Ra'hel pulls her back from the abyss. His arms wrapped around her waist as he pulls her back. Amanda also appears in the shot, pulling her friend backwards. Albeit at a smaller distance than the others.
Panel 4: Cut to a close-up of Ra'hel and Mona a couple of beats after what happened in the previous panel. He has his arm draped over his younger compatriot in a compassionately friendly manner, trying to calm Mona down. The sword is back down to his side with the tip of the blade millimeters from the tile floor.
RA'HEL [forcefully asking, to Ra'hel]: What the hell happened to "talking things out," huh?! MONA [sighs, shaking her head]: I'm---I'm sorry. I just...haven't gotten much sleep for the last month.
Panel 5: Close-up on Mona's face a few seconds later. For the first time we've seen of the character, she shows a little bit of the rigors of sleeplessness in her eyes and face. You can see in the background Ra'hel's arm lifting off of his friend's shoulder and back toward his side as she speaks.
MONA [Cont.]: I'm sure you probably heard about it from one of Jerry's friends, gloating like a little... GIANA [Off-Panel, interjecting]: It's fine...
Page 5, 6 Panels- Unknown Location, 1985 Cairo Egypt
Panel 1: Cut to a shot of our two heroines from the future. Amanda is doing the same type of action that we saw from Ra'hel in the last panel of the previous page, letting go of her friend. She glances to her right in the direction of Giana who has regained her mental faculties.
AMANDA [standing alongside to the left and a step in front of Giana]: Yeah, that's exactly who we heard it from. Some schmuck we heard in the cafe when we got to town, mentioned your life...isn't that right? GIANA [a pause, but then nods]: Right--Yeah...
Panel 2: Same setting/layout as the previous panel after three beats worth of silence in the room. The attention of our heroines moves slightly up toward the ceiling of the bunker, trying to figure out where they're being held. Feli9, meanwhile, roams around below Giana's feet, doing the same type of action that her human counterparts are doing; using her eyes and ears to do the job.
GIANA [Cont.]: So...where is this place anyhow? AMANDA [quick sniff x2]: It sort of smells like coffee...freshly bound books-- GIANA [interjecting; Bubble 2]: And computer hard drives...my kind of Saturday night!
Panel 3-4: Cut to Ra'hel standing in the same position on the floor equidistant to our two heroines, watching as they slowly search the area. He lets out a small chuckle at the statement, smirking ever so slightly around the left side of his face. In Panel 4, although occupying the same space in Panel 3 alongside Ra'hel, we see Mona with an equal smirk at the statement and adding in her piece to the explanation.
RA'HEL [to Giana and Amanda; Panel 3]: This is a refuge for friends and allies of the movement as well as anyone caught in the glare of the EoM. There are a handful of other locations such as these throughout Cairo which we utilize for resources like weapons and intelligence when the situation warrants it. MONA [to Giana and Amanda; Panel 4]: Each one covered by a location that would feasibly pass from view from any soul in the Ministry of Justice. MONA [Cont.; Panel 4, Bubble 2]: ...it pays to have friends who love punk music! RA'HEL [Panel 3, Bubble 2]: Indeed...
Panel 5: Same setting/layout as the previous couple of panels. Though the split in layout design changes slightly to combine both of them nicely into one single panel. Ra'hel turns his attention down and over to his compatriot who gives an equal glance from her periphery. You can see in the background, as was seen partially in the previous page, the bodies of a few others from the Free Tahrir movement walking behind.
RA'HEL [Cont., tossing the hijabs off toward the beds behind Giana and Amanda; to Mona]: Now, if you don't mind, Mo...let's show the ladies out. MONA [nods, to Ra'hel]: Of course!
Panel 6: Cut to Giana and Amanda watching as Mona walks up to the two of them. In particular, the top half of their bodies. We see Amanda leaning over toward her friend's face and whispering into her ear.
AMANDA [whispering with a touch of sarcasm]: "show the ladies out"...that's not ominous at all! GIANA [replying back to Amanda in a slightly muted voice]: It'll be fine, Mandy.
Page 6, 5 Panels- Elevator, Unknown Location, 1985 Cairo Egypt
Panel 1: Cut to the interior of an elevator a minute later. We see the assembled group standing inside waiting for something to take place, bathed in a collective awkward silence for a moment. Giana is standing on the left side of the panel view, Mona on the right side and Amanda in the middle of the panel view. Feli9, meanwhile, rocks out to a song playing ("Good Intentions Paving Co." by Joanna Newsom) inside of her head.
Panel 2-4: A three-part set of panels centered around the same setting and layout as the previous panel. The song in the metal feline's head continues on a little bit louder, drawing the attention of the other people in the room with each preceding panel. Particularly Mona who glances down at Feli9 with a great degree of disbelief and surprise at its existence. Giana and Amanda, meanwhile, continue to look around at the area with a higher degree of casualness.
MONA [trying to come up with words; Panel 3]: Ummm... MONA [Cont., pointing at Feli9; Panel 4]: What the hell is that?! GIANA [glancing down at Feli9; Panel 4]: Oh, her? That's the robo-cat I built. MONA [confused; Panel 4, Bubble 2]: Robo-cat...are you sure the two of you aren't spies? AMANDA [interjecting; Panel 4]: We're definitely not spies.
Panel 5: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. A split second later, just as Giana's about to answer the question, we see Amanda inject herself into the conversation, literally splitting the difference between the young woman and her future daughter. The music in Feli9's head continues playing as the elevator nears its destination.
AMANDA [Cont., to Mona]: It was a gift from her mom...Japanese. GIANA [adding on to Amanda's statement, with a little flourish of swagger]: Yeah. It came in a big box of parts, though I added in a few flourishes here and there because I'm a genius-- AMANDA [interjecting; Bubble 2]: And I keep her from becoming a "Mad" one. MONA [disbelieving, but generally accepting]: Right...
Page 7, 6 Panels- Unknown Location, 1985 Cairo Egypt
Panel 1: Cut to a minute later. The elevator doors open and we see our three heroines step out of the lift in the same arrangement of bodies that we saw in the previous page, with Mona taking a slight lead. Giana is a half-step behind her, addressing her as she looks around at the scenery around her. An act that Amanda also shares as Feli9 continues playing the music from within its metal body.
MONA [Cont., looking behind her as she walks]: Anyway, you mind keeping that 'robo-cat' quiet while we're up here? There are some things here on the ground that are sound activated, and I happen to like this shirt! GIANA [confused, to Mona]: Sound-activated? What do you have, like sonic grenades or...
Panel 2-3: We move to a side shot of our heroines a few moments later. The lights flicker on to show many rows of books and native artwork around the top left side of the panel view. Mona's head turns back toward the path in front of her as Amanda reaches down to press the button on the tip of Feli9's left ear. A little distance away from that scene, in Panel 3, we see Mona stopping in front of a bookcase.
MONA [interjecting; Panel 2]: Actually, they're over at the weapon shelter next to the retractable swords. What I'm thinking about is something considerably... MONA [Cont., Panel 3]: cooler!
Panel 4: Cut to a shot of Giana and Amanda standing next to each other, watching as the young lady goes about unlocking the sequence in the bookcase that will open whatever hides inside it. Amanda leans her head slightly toward Giana, who has her eyes focused squarely on what will come to view.
AMANDA [whispering in Giana's ear]: I'm not sure what can possibly be cooler than retractable swords or sonic grenades... GIANA [corrective, in equally muted tones]: Outside of a time-traveling tablet, of course! SOUND EFFECT [Off-Panel]: CHIGN CHIGN CHIGN...
Panel 5: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. A few moments later, they watch as the bookcase opens up off-panel and reveals itself. A light shining from within its confines hitting the faces of our two human heroines looking at it with a collective sense of surprise at what they're seeing. Giana, meanwhile, has a wide smile at what she's seeing.
AMANDA: Okay...that'd do it! GIANA [thinking to herself; Caption]: I know this is impossible, and wrong on many logical levels--yet I can't stop smiling!
Panel 6: Cut to a shot of the opened bookcase showing a row of three genuine hoverboards lined up next to each other. You can see the backs of Giana and Amanda in the foreground of the shot as well as Feli9 who is resting between them, watching as Mona presents the highly advanced modes of conveyance to the ladies from the future.
GIANA [Cont., thinking to herself; Caption]: Is this the new baseline to my life?
Page 8, 7 Panels- Mansion, Garden City district of Cairo
Panel 1-2: Cut to an interior shot of a front door. The only hint as to what is attached to the door can be found in the little section of the front area that can be seen in the corners of the panel view; wealthy, affluent, with a glass window on the right side. In Panel 2, the door starts to open a crack. A little slice of the person walking inside visible in the center of the panel view.
GIANA [in caption box; Panel 1]: A giddy rush of scientific joy... GIANA [Cont., in caption box; Panel 2]: Mixed with an odd sense of impending doom!
Panel 3: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. A few seconds later, with the door widened enough to where we can see the person standing in the doorway, we see that it's the same mysterious person in armor that we saw trying to shoot Giana and Amanda in the previous issue. The gun that the person used for the job is firmly placed to their side as they walk.
Panel 4: Action shot of the person moments later as they walk past the tile and carpeted area still locked in their full gear. You can see in the background what appears to be a hallway as well as part of a chandelier from the top of the panel view dangling downward.
Panel 5-7: A three-part set of panels taken, showing the back of the mysterious soldier as they ascend the staircase bit by bit. With each panel, we see her ascending the steps (two images of her body per panel) till they reach the top area of the staircase in Panel 7. You can also hear a steadily growing noise starting in Panel 6 from an unseen area of the panel that can't be deciphered at this point.