The Strongest Force Alive, Part 4.3
Page 29
Panel 1: Cut to her in front of the first cell a short time later, going to work on the lock to its door. He looks on at Reina with no shortage of awe at her- a feeling that's shared by the other soldiers who happen to share said cell in the background.
PRISONER, CELL #1
(reverential, to Reina; translated from Russian) The great Reina Kimmich, live and in person...what an honor!
PRISONER, CELL #1
(Bubble 2; reacting to Panel 2, Bubble 1) Hahaha...picked it up from some metal grunts in a bar on our last leave back home. We could do better though.
Panel 2: Close-up on Reina's face a beat later, glancing at the soldier while her hands busily work the lock.
REINA
(half grin, to Prisoner, Cell #1; translated from Russian) Didn't know Fronary was popular enough we'd have humans pick it up so quickly.
Panel 3: A short time later, the lock is broken and the gate to the cell is opened upward. As the womech makes her way panel left to the next cell, you can see one of the prisoners in the background trying to move up to the front.
(to Reina, curious; translated from Russian) Where are your colleagues?
REINA
(busy, to Prisoner #2, Cell #1) They're outside in the support ship that'll take you back to freedom. I'm your ticket out of there.
Panel 4: We move back to a shot of Reina making her way into position toward the door for the next cell, readying herself to repeat the process.
REINA
(Cont.) And I've only got half an hour to free all of you and break out before the jackboots come to chuck said ticket in the garbage. If we're lucky.
Panel 5: Slight close-up on Prisoner, Cell #2 as he comes up to the front of the gate with a knowing question in regards to said answer.
PRISONER, CELL #2
(translated from Russian) What about die Muschelmühle, down in the basement?
Panel 6: The womech stops just as she slides her instrument into the lock, looking at Prisoner, Cell #2's direction in search of more information; her eyes holding back rage as she guesses what a Muschelmühle is.
REINA
(to Prisoner, Cell #2) ...You're certain of this
Page 30
Panel 1: Cut to the Muschelmühle- a long dark basement of the compound stretching out seemingly forever. Filling each inch is a line of broken down soldier mechas on the edge of life being slowly pushed back to the fiery bowels at the top of the panel view.
Caption
(Narrator)
"It was said that, upon seeing the Muschelmühle- one of dozens they found out a year afterward- that Reina laid waste to the entire compound outside Dnipro within 5 minutes; the rage of years of atrocities fueling her rage with the intensity of a million suns.
Caption
(Reina)
"That last part's not quite true, Hi-Hi..."
Panel 2: We move to a shot a short time later of Reina and the Soviet soldiers leading the broken and disabled soldier mechas down a trail that would eventually lead to Orkun's airship.
Caption
(Cont., Reina)
"First, Fran, Orkun and I lead the broken mechanical soldiers to safety and a hopefully better life westward."
Panel 3: Close-up on the brave womech a few beats later, looking on in the other direction where the compound is at; a grin filled with righteous anger and rage as she speaks.
Caption
(Narrator)
"True. But you can't deny that you came back, with the spirit of thousands of her brothers and sisters at her back who were torn and melted for bullet shells, to unleash pure and righteous hell..."
REINA
01-1_01-1-00-01-1-01...!
Panel 4: Action shot of the entire compound going up in a massive ball of flames as a result of the powerful grenades that were in her satchel earlier.
Caption
(Reina)
"I didn't say that last part, Hi-Hi!"
Page 31
Panel 1: We jump to a little apartment in London in 1945, focused squarely on Hi-Hi at a desk. You can see a typewriter in front of them, and a large stack of papers to the left where they've been typing up this story all this time.
HI-HI
(defensive, to Reina; translated from German) I know that, Ren. But I'm trying to provide a nice rousing close to the story. This will essentially be the three of yours' memoir of your time here. It should have some style behind it.
Panel 2: Orkun chimes in to the conversation, holding a cup of tea and nodding in agreement to Hi-Hi's point.
ORKUN
(to Reina, translated from German) Hi's right. We should give the people a little bit of flash and style along with the tough bits we've been through since Ghent.
REINA
(counter, to Orkun) What about that incident with the cows and the power fluxes in Bergamo? Not to mention the time we were nearly killed in China after that linguistic error.
ORKUN
(Bubble 2) Those were more funny than flashy, in my view.
REINA
(Bubble 2) Fran, dearest- help me out here.
Panel 3: A two-part set of panels that shifts to Fran at another part of the room, monitoring a complex communication system via a slightly larger tablet.
FRAN
(shakes her head, not engaging; translated from German) I'm not going to step into this argument, except to say that I thought the Chonqing anecdote was both funny and flashy...
FRAN
(Bubble 2, to Reina; reacting to Panel 4, Bubble 1) Where's the assignment?
Panel 4: In the second part, a separate alert emanating from the tablet draws her attention toward more pertinent business at hand.
FRAN
(Cont., businesslike) We can table this for later, my dears. We have an assignment from one of the Allied Generals at one of the camps that deserves our attention.
Panel 5: Action shot of Reina and Orkun listening to the rest of the order a beat later; the latter finishing off the rest of his tea.
FRAN
(Off-Panel) It's over in Mauthausen. We should be there by nightfall, given the upgrades.
REINA
(confident nod, to Fran) Tell 'em we'll be there with the blaze of pure motherfucking hell...!
Panel 6: As the two of them walk over to the door, we see Mr. Herne tilt his head to the right for one last command to his friend.
ORKUN
(assured, to Hi-Hi) You've got a good handle on the book from here while we're out, correct?
Panel 7: Hi-Hi flashes back a confident half-grin from the desk; their hands already moving toward the keyboard to resume typing.
HI-HI
Indeed. I have the perfect finish in mind, actually.
Caption
(Placed in the Lower Corner of the Panel, not in a Box)
The End