Time Lady of L.A. #11: Pages 9-16
Page 9, 5 Panels- Mansion, Garden City district of Cairo
Panel 1-3: A three-part set of panels that are centered around the mysterious person dressed in armor, walking up the carpeted second floor of the mansion. Her grip of the gun letting go and blending into the left leg of the armor. The doors to a couple of other rooms are visible in the first two panels, with Panel 2 being the first sign of a flicker of light coming from the right of the panel view. A light that comes into more definitive view in Panel 3, along with the sight of a door that is barely open acrack. There's also talking which becomes more and more definite over time.
MAN #1 [Off-Panel, translated from Egyptian Arabic; Panel 2]: ...Does anyone have any idea who this 'M' person is? MAN #2 [Off-Panel, translated from Egyptian Arabic; Panel 2]: He doesn't show up on any intelligence reports till the late '70s. For all we know, 'M' could be a CIA plant threatening to destroy this institution from the inside. MAN #1 [Cont., interjecting Off-Panel, translated from Egyptian Arabic; Panel 3]: And we should give this guy reigns over the E.o.M.? He's not even Egyptian, for god's sake! MAN #3 [Off-Panel, in English; Panel 3]: But he's also more skilled in hand-to-hand combat as well as firearms than many of the soldiers on your precioius outfit. Not to mention a glowing recommendation from the head of the M.O.M.
Panel 4-5: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. A couple of beats later, we see the mystery person stand in front of the doorway that was only seen partially via light in Panel 3. With the gun completely blended into the pants side of their uniform, they reach out with their right hand (covered in a sizable armored glove) and grabs the golden doorknob, readying to open and walk inside, which we see they do in Panel 5.
MAN #3 [Cont., Off-Panel; Panel 4]: Besides, thanks to our technological superiority, we still hold the advantage in case he becomes... MAN #3 [Cont., Off-Panel; Panel 4]: ...rogue!
Page 10, 6 Panels- Boardroom, Mansion, Garden City district of Cairo
Panel 1: We move to an interior shot of the boardroom connected to the door that we saw in the last panel of the previous page. The mystery person walks through the opened doorway, and spies a group of people seated around a round table. One of which is seen in the bottom of the panel view just as he turns around and notices the statuesque looking soldier coming into the room.
Panel 2: Same setting as the previous panel. The layout shifts slightly as it follows the mystery person as they walk around the edge of the table, showing more of the group of well-dressed (in matching gray suits) men that have come into the room. You can see in the background light blue wallpaper as well as, in the right side of the panel view, what appears to be a partial view of the Egyptian flag.
MAN [Off-Panel, in English]: Mister M...
Panel 3-4: Cut to the front of the table a split second later. A man who is dressed in the same gray suits as the other is standing up. The lone difference in terms of his clothing comes in the form of a pin on his lapel that has the same red and black color scheme as the logo for TyCorp. He has a wide smile, forming noticeable smile lines on his middle-aged, tanned caramel face. In Panel 4, the man walks away from his leather chair and around the left side of the table to meet the mystery person in armor.
MAN [to M; Panel 3]: How very nice to join us this evening! We were just discussing the incident in the New Star Hotel yesterday evening. MAN [Cont., Panel 4]: Particularly the young woman who was instrumental in taking down many of your best men.
Panel 5: Cut to the mystery person in armor standing in position, listening as the man continues speaking. At this point, feeling the need to interject into the conversation. You can see the heads of some of the other middle-aged and elderly men, who are mostly white with a smattering of locals from the country, in the bottom of the panel view and the background listening to them speak.
M [to the Man, through distorted deepening voice filter]: We are currently set to rectify that situation in the very near future.
Panel 6: We move to a shot of another of the underlings in the room, watching all this go on. He's also one of the more younger members of the boardroom at that time. He places his elbows on the table and leans forward as he speaks. The background showing more of the same wallpaper as well as very elegant looking paintings hanging on the wall.
MAN #2 [sarcastically]: And how will you achieve this, may I ask? Some type of futuristic, "Star Wars" technology?
Page 11, 5 Panels- Boardroom, Mansion, Garden City district of Cairo
Panel 1: Cut to M looking on a beat later, completely unphased by the attempt at humor from the underling in the suit. Even though you can see M's eyes through the circular helmet, you can sense the utter distaste in the body language they display. M takes a single half-step toward the table as the other board members in front of and around them watches with curious reverence.
M [to Man #2, through distorted deepening voice filter]: No. It will be done, unlike your attempt at levity, using more...covert methods.
Panel 2: We shift back to the leader in the boardoom at the top of the round table. He raises an intrigued eyebrow at the statement, leaning forward a small distance with his elbows pressed gently on the tabletop as he speaks. A slight grin over the left half of his face.
MAN [to M, impressed]: A spy...I was not aware the E.o.M. had anyone on the inside of Free Tahrir.
Panel 3: Back to M a moment later. We see the hulking person turned their attention back over to the right side area of the panel view toward the chief leader in the room. Her right hand, which was placed on the table top in Panel 1, has lifted off of it as she speaks.
M [to Man, through distorted deepening voice filter]: Infiltration occurred only a month and a half ago. We've been able to acquire a decent amount of information about pieces of their command structure.
Panel 4: Same setting as the previous panel. A second after the action that the person displayed in the previous panel, we see the layout focused squarely on them as they start to take a couple of big steps in the direction of the unseen leader of the group.
M [Cont.]: My spy was also able to procure, Mr. Sims, valuable intel on a planned attack on the Haddad Iffrit.
Panel 5: Back to Mr. Sims a beat later. He takes his elbows off the table, and leans back against the brown leather chair he's been seated on. A degree of great intrigue painted on his face as he looks down at the table in front of him, thinking for a moment.
MR. SIMS [Cont.]: What did your 'spy' learn?
Page 12, 6 Panels- Boardroom, Mansion, Garden Park district of Cairo/Street
Panel 1: Cut back to M in a scenario very similar in setting and layout to what we saw in the second to last panel of the previous page. This time though, the mystery person in armor has stopped their forward movement next to one of the other board members who, like the others in the room, are listening intently. You can see the person's arms are placed behind their back as they speak. You can also see in the background, around the left side of the panel view, the door leading in to the boardroom slightly in the distance.
M [to Mr. Sims, through distorted deepening voice filter]: Enough to elicit concern in President Mubarak's office...
Panel 2: Cut to an exterior shot of a street somewhere in Cairo far away from the setting of the boardroom as what we've seen has taken place. We see Giana, Amanda and Mona traveling on the hoverboards (in that order in the panel view) that we saw many pages back. Feli9 is seen on the top edge of Giana's board, looking on calmly as the citizens of the city pass by without noticing.
M [Cont., Off-Panel]: ...as well as those who pull his strings!
Panel 3: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. They make the turn toward another part of the city. Mona glances toward her left in the direction of Giana, who doesn't notice the action as she speaks. A look of incredulity on her face in regard to the story that the two ladies from the future have told her up to this point.
GIANA [in the middle of speaking]: ...a genuine invisibility filter! Never in my wildest dreams did I think tech like that could be possible today. MONA [as if by instinct, without any degree of thought behind it]: Yeah...
Panel 4: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. As the line of boards straighten out on the sidewalk area, Mona's incredulity grows to the point that you can sense her wanting to say something. Amanda mildly senses the growing tension in the group and tries somewhat to break it up as best as she can.
AMANDA [to Mona]: It must give you and your group a bit of an advantage against the E.o.M. MONA [as if by instinct, without any degree of thought behind it]: Yeah...we have a solid scientific braintrust. Though we steal some of it from some of their...bases...
Panel 5-6: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. Another minute of silence passes calmly by between our three heroines as they move across the ever changing late afternoon streets. The tension grows as they look around fruitlessly for any sign of the hotel that Giana and Amanda have said they allegedly came from. Mona is also looking, though her incredulity and skepticism has risen to a point that she appears on the verge of saying something.
AMANDA [after a pause; Panel 6]: We should be getting close. GIANA [slight nod; Panel 6]: Yeah. This feels...familiar.
Page 13, 5 Panels- Outside the Hotel Cairo, 1985 Cairo Egypt
Panel 1: Cut to a shot of the exterior of the Hotel Cairo. It is an unimpressive looking three-story building with the hotel's sign (Egyptian Arabic on top, and the English translation underneath it) in the center of the shot. You can see Giana (on the right) stepping off her board and Amanda (in the center) following a beat later. You can also see, via shadow, Mona start to drift out into position. The only barrier between them and the front of the hotel being the chainlink of the opposite sidewalk and the street in front of them.
Panel 2: Close-up on Mona's face a second later. She stops her forward momentum on the board, and looks out at the same setting that our two heroines are witnessing. Where Amanda and Giana try to give off the impression of familiarity, Mona still displays the same type of skepticism that she's had the past couple of pages.
MONA [with a slightly raised eyebrow]: Are you sure this is it?
Panel 3: Cut to a shot of Giana now firmly off the board. She glances over in Mona's direction. Her left foot pressing down on the edge of the hoverboard, lifting it off the ground and to its side as if it were a surfboard. A casual, unassuming smile on her face as she speaks.
GIANA [to Mona]: Oh yeah, absolutely! I remember quite clearly that I wanted to stay somewhere closer to the Nile. But this was the only place we could afford.
Panel 4: We move on to Amanda at the same moment this is happening. Amanda is a little bit behind Giana in terms of her movement. Her left foot just beginning to step off the board as she chimes in. Her face exhibiting the same type of calm, matter-of-fact demeanor in addressing the girl from the past.
AMANDA [with a shrug; to Mona]: Besides, there are a lotta cute shops nearby...can't fault a girl for that!
Panel 5: Back to Mona still on the board in the same type of body position that we saw her back in Panel 2. At this point, she gives a slight accepting nod at their overall story. Not because she believes it, but because there's a lot more important stuff to deal with in her life.
MONA: Right...
Page 14, 4 Panels- Outside the Hotel Cairo, 1985 Cairo Egypt
Panel 1-3: A three-part set of panels centered around the same layout that we saw at the start of the previous page. We see the back of Mona watching the other two heroines from the future and Feli9 enter with their respective boards placed underneath their shoulders. She doesn't move from that spot for the whole of the three panels.
Panel 4: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. As our two female heroines and their robotic feline companion near the front doors to the hotel, you can hear a chirp emanating from the back of her jean pocket. A large rectangular shaped object that, judging by the top section of the object jutting out of the top of it, is a walkie talkie.
RA'HEL [crackling, from the speaker; translated from Egyptian Arabic]: Mo...Mo!
Page 15, 6 Panels- Outside the Hotel Cairo, 1985 Cairo Egypt
Panel 1: Same setting as the last panel of the previous page. The layout closes in slightly on Mona a few moments later. Her back still primarily visible in the panel view as she turns around to answer the walkie talkie, which hums and whistles in the same way that we saw in the last panel of the previous page. Her free left hand reaching out to pick up the rectangular object.
RAVI [Cont., through the walkie talkie speaker; translated from Egyptian Arabic]: Mo, are you there?
Panel 2: Cut to a close-up of Mona's face a few beats later. The walkie talkie (a relic of the age in its look and design) in her hand and just about to go into position in front of her mouth. She carefully examines the hotel off-panel with her thumb pressed on the red button as she speaks.
MONA [translated from Egyptian Arabic; to Ra'hel]: I'm here, Rav. What's up? RA'HEL [from the walkie talkie speaker]: We need you back at HQ. There's been a development on Project Lion.
Panel 3: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. Mona's face changes slightly as she takes in the news from her superior, exhibiting a degree of apprehension at what's in front of her and anticipation over the prescience brought with Project Lion. As was the case in the previous panel, we see the ever changing sky in the background as it shifts from afternoon to evening.
MONA: I thought we were waiting till we knew where the Ifrit was being held. JAVID [through the speaker]: Hello, Ms. Rashid! It's Javid... MONA [Bubble 2, apprehensive]: Hi...Javid.
Panel 4-5: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. Mona's posture slouches slightly as she waits through Javid's explanation. Her eyes still focused on the off-panel hotel waiting for any new movement or action to come out. In Panel 5, a few beats later, you can see her free hand sliding down in the direction of her holstered sword as the young tech finishes up.
JAVID [Panel 4, slightly quickened]: A few weeks ago, one of our Gatherers snapped a photograph of a large semi-truck with government license plates moving up to a secret military base in the outskirts north of the city. JAVID [Cont., Panel 5]: It took some time to get through the defensive measures the E.o.M. installed over the secret base. That is till earlier this morning when, thanks to a sympathetic ally in the army, we were able to get in and take a look at the Haddad Ifrit for the first time. It...is humbling, to say the least.
Panel 6: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. At this point, you can see Mona's hand start to grip the very top of the handle to her energy sword with her free hand as Ra'hel speaks. Though she's been listening intently to the story, her mind for the for most part is still focused on the hotel and the two ladies from the future.
RA'HEL [to Mona, through the speaker]: We need you back at HQ to go over strategy and set teams up for... MONA [interjecting; to Ra'hel]: I'll be there, Rav. I just...[trails off] RA'HEL [Bubble 2]: What?
Page 16, 6 Panels- Outside the Hotel Cairol/Inside Hotel Cairo Lobby, 1985 Cairo Egypt
Panel 1: Same setting/layout as the last panel of the previous page. A few seconds pass by, and we see Mona's hand firmly wrapped over the handle of her blade. Her gaze, as was the case in the previous page, is focused squarely on the hotel as she speaks. The only thing keeping her at that moment from unsheathing it is listening to whatever Ra'hel has to say at that moment.
RA'HEL [Cont., translated from Egyptian Arabic]: Is this about the two girls from last night? I thought you were delivering them to their hotel room and leaving them at that. MONA [agreeing, translated from Egyptian Arabic]: I know. There's just something...off here.
Panel 2: Cut to an interior shot of the lobby of the Hotel Cairo. It takes place earlier than the past handful of panels that were focused on Mona. Giana and Amanda equally push open the glass doors and walk inside, carrying their respective hoverboards in their right hands. Feli9 strolls out between the two of them through the little opened gap that the door creates. You can see in the background, along with the little section of the nearby city that comes through the doorway, a shadow across the street representing Mona.
MONA [Cont., Off-Panel]: I'll be there in 30...
Panel 3: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. As the doors behind them start to close behind them, we see Mona's shadow quickly escape the scene in a blur. Amanda leans her head over to Giana, taking a step toward her direction as they walk. Giana, meanwhile, looks out in front in the direction of the front desk.
AMANDA [whispering, to Giana]: Do you think debit cards could be functional in 1985? GIANA [shrugs, doubtful; in equally whispery tones]: If only we could be so lucky...
Panel 4: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. A second later, we see our two human heroines walking away from the hotel's entrance doors which start to fade slightly in the background along with the cityscape that can be seen through them. Giana places her hand on the top of her pocket as she speaks. You can see on the edge of the right side of the panel view what appears to be an elevator and part of a staircase come into view. Amanda, meanwhile, leans her head back as her friend speaks.
GIANA [Cont., in regular voice directly to Amanda]: This feels more like an issue only paper money will be able to fix. AMANDA [also in regular voice]: What if this place doesn't take American money?
Panel 5-6: A two-part set of panels centered around the same type of setting and layout that we saw in the previous panel. In Panel 5, with the elevator and the staircase seen a little more on the right side of the panel view, we see the two of them stop. Giana, who's been all page long on the right side of the panel view, gives her friend a bit of side eye. Her right hand still firmly in the corresponding jeans pocket A silence that lasts into Panel 6 where Amanda finally responds to it.
AMANDA [nodding in silent agreement; Panel 6]: Yeah. Kinda knew it the moment it came out of mouth.