Time Lady of L.A. #13: Pages 15-16
Page 15, 7 Panels- Secret Free Tahrir Safehouse, 1985 Cairo Egypt
Panel 1-2: A two-part set of panels centered back in Mona's direction a couple of beats later. The doorway seen off in the distance in the background. In Panel 1, we see her cautiously look at both of them in response to the question she was handed. In the next panel, within mere moments, Mona shrugs and starts to turn back around toward the door, dismissing the search for an answer behind said question.
MONA [confused; Panel 1]: Beka... MONA [Cont.; Panel 2]: But that's not really important to the matter at hand.
Panel 3: Cut to the shot of the hallway just outside of the room. Mona is the first to step out, charging out of the room while slipping her blade (whose energy descends into the handle) back into its holster. Giana and Amanda follow out of the doorway, eight steps away from the young Mona.
MONA [looking forward and in charge, to Giana and Amanda]: For starters, we already know who the spy is. GIANA [to Mona, slightly surprised]: How?! MONA [Bubble 2]: Someone at HQ...just after I got out of the burning building.
Panel 4-6: A three-part set of panels that center around our three heroines in the center of the panel view as they make their way toward the front of the house by Panel 6. There is a conversational pace to them that stands in contrast to the quick steps they're taking to the door. As for the background, it changes slightly moving up with each following panel.
MONA [to Giana, sternly; Panel 4]: It was just as the explosions were taking place. No more than a couple of hours I think... MONA [Cont., growing sullen; Panel 5]: In the middle of the commotion at headquarters, the son of a heel revealed himself, wearing some type of dynamite belt and took hostages. One of which was...Ra'hel. MONA [Cont., fully saddened; Panel 6]: The building was saved. But he...wasn't.
Panel 7: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. As the three of them reach the front door, we start to see the faintest sign of tears going down the right side of her cheek. Amanda looks on with a degree of sadness over her shoulder, though it's Giana who is the first to start to quicken her stride in order to walk alongside her maybe Mom.
AMANDA [saddened and stunned, reaching out with her left hand; to Mona]: Oh my God, I'm--I'm so sorry! GIANA [muttering to herself]: The "Sadiq Eaziz". That's who she was talking about...
Page 16, 6 Panels- Secret Free Tahrir Safehouse/M's office in E.o.M. Watchtower, 1985 Cairo Egypt
Panel 1: Same setting as the last panel of the previous page. The focus shifts properly toward Giana and Mona as they approach the door. Mona looks back from the door in the direction of Ms. Franklin, overhearing what she'd just said. Her hand gripping the doorknob. Amanda is seen at the tail end of the line in the background, looking on at the scene as it takes places prominently in the foreground.
MONA [to Giana, seeking clarification]: What was that? GIANA [to Mona, in a fog very briefly but straightening back]: Umm...ne--nothing. Just thinking out loud. AMANDA [to Mona, compassionately]: Were you and Ra'hel ever an item?
Panel 2: Cut back to Mona at the door, now fully opened to reveal the little section of Cairo streets bathed in mid-morning sunlight. She looks over in Amanda's direction and gives her a highly dismissive glance in response to the question. Her eyebrow lifted as if to say, "Are you serious?!"
MONA [scoffs, to Amanda]: You mean were we ever in a relationship? Hell no! He...he just helped me find a solid path to my life.
Panel 3: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. A few seconds later, we see Mona turning around 180 degrees and making her way through the door. At the same moment, you can see the front of a car (a light gray 4-door sedan of indeterminate company make) start to pull up to the street just in front of the safe house.
MONA [Cont., with a laugh]: Besides, I never thought of them that way. It would be like having relations with my brother if I had!
Panel 4: We shift perspectives to the inside of M's office inside the Watchtower later that evening. Replacing the personage of Mona, we see M's assistant in the same type of uniform that we saw him in back in the previous issue. He has a manila folder pressed to his chest as he walks with the door is partially opened behind him.
M [Off-Panel, through the robotic filter into Egyptian Arabic]: The last sweep of the city revealed no sight of Free Tahrir activity. That being said though, W...
Panel 5: Cut to a shot of M pacing back and forth behind the desk, talking to the mysterious W through a built-in comm device inside M's helmet. You can see a lime green wallpaper that doesn't have much in terms of photos or paintings on it, save for a couple of framed black-and-white photos that were taken outside of Cairo that can be seen over M's left shoulder. You can also hear the sound of footsteps approaching the general area.
M [Cont., to W; Bubble 1]: I think we should keep the launch date for the Ifrit as it is. The brushback for the tests could be dam... M [Bubble 2]: Yes, there isn't threat of retaliation from Free Tahrir. But my sources on the ground have told me of unease amongst the populace as a result of the dead.
Panel 6: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. A half-minute later, M has stopped pacing and standing to the left area behind the desk. Their helmet lifts skyward upon hearing the nondescript conversation from the high-ranking official in the Eyes of Mubarrak, signifying a degree of weariness as to the tone.
M [to W, conciliatory]: Yes...Yes, sir...