Breakwall - 7.0.2 - Only Waves as Witness
Through the waves
Breakwall - Episode 7.0.2 - The second half of episode 7.0. Jonny rises to her fate to face the seemingly unstoppable Derby Bell. Everything has come down to this. Follow us on Twitter for news and updates. Join us on discord to hang out with cast and crew! Want to support the show? Please check out our Patreon as Cybernautica is 100% Fan Supported!
Cybernautica is intended for mature audiences on account of mature language, theme and violence. Please be advised.
CREDITS:
Abigail Turner as Jonny
Veronica Pierce as Estella Morgan
Travis Storey as Evan
Madeline Dorrah as Ella
Forenza as Derby Bell
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Dan Boud as the Narrator
Written, Designed and Edited by Damian Szydlo
Script Editing by Jupiter Sanders
Show theme by Doug Maxwell
Music and Sound Effects from Syrinscape & Audioblocks
Transcript
FADE IN
[Sound effects of the car landing hard on top of the breakwall after a dramatic pause]
The mangled car came to rest; sliding along it’s passenger side on top of Neo-Atlantis’ mighty sea wall. They’d crash landed somewhere on the north side of Boeotia, not that it really mattered. The only thing that did matter in this moment was that Flightcar life preserving technology had come a long way over the last fifty or so years: especially on top end models like this one. Where the outside body of the vehicle was now nearly an unidentifiable heap of twisted metal alloy - the passengers inside remained relatively safe, if banged up a little.
Using the superhuman strength granted by her cyberarm, Jonny slowly peeled up the damaged drivers side door before climbing out. With a somewhat absent gesture she reached her hand back down to help Estella up to join her. Standing on the side of the wreck like it were a platform they waited; headlights from the approaching Interceptor washing over the survivors. Changing bodies to mere silhouettes against the night sky. There were no more words of assurance. No more pretending that this job was anything but a shuttle to this moment. Stepping off the car to drop to the ground with a wince, all of Jonny’s focus was on the landing interceptor and the figure that was now stepping out of it.
JONNY
[calling out]
“Why’d you do it? Huh!? If you’d wanted me all you needed to do was call! I’d of come runnin’ to protect what was mine. Hell, I’d have slapped the head off your shoulders for free.”
DERBY BELL
[speaking as she approaches the crash site]
“Maybe. It wasn’t my intention to settle for collateral damage at first. Truth is… You’re right. I could have waited for you. To come home. Then I remembered what you and that fishman made me relive. Opened a door I’d locked tight. So this last kill needed to be poetry. It had to be art. It needed to MEAN something. To both of us. Either that, or perhaps I just wanted your FULL attention.”
JONNY
[emotional, the goad worked too well]
“Well, you’ve sure as hell got it now.”
[Jonny pulls her pistols out and begins firing wildly as she yells, enraged]
Springing to action, Derby Bell shifted out from the path of the incoming bullet storm as if she’d seen each of them coming. It wasn’t agility that guided her now, even if she had that to spare. No, it was as if she’d been dreaming of this moment. As if she’d watched it play out in her head a hundred times before now. Enough to know where each bullet might land.
Reflexively urging her adrenal pump to engage only resulted in a pained gasp from Jonny as she was forced to stop the barrage, clutching both gun laden hands to her chest before stumbling. It was only a momentary misstep before gathering herself enough to shake the feeling off. It was however enough time that her adversary had closed the distance between them, forcing her to defensively swat away Derby’s incoming flurry of overhand, kendo-like chops with her cyberarm. In a desperate attempt to change the momentum, the mercenary dropped low, pounding her shoulder into her opponents stomach to drive both women roughly to the ground.
It was the assassin, though, who was first to her feet. With her Katana left behind she extended her hands ahead of her, strained fingers clutching the air as telekinetic energy began to culminate around them like a storm. Before Jonny could react she was yanked up from the ground, her pistols ripped from her hands before being struck in the face by a force that sure felt a lot like a punch. The strikes continued with the mercenary unable to counter, blow after blow impacting at the will of the psychic. Finally, thrusting her arm towards the ground, Derby bounced her prey off the breakwall with devastating finality before turning back to retrieve her blade.
ESTELLA
[yells out]
“Stop! Please! This was my idea. If you just… stop this… I’ll go back with you willingly.”
DERBY BELL
“You don’t get it, do you?”
[sounds of a telekinetic push throwing Estella to the ground]
Another telekinetic blast threw Estella Morgan roughly against thier wrecked escape vehicle. Giving Jonny a quick, sweeping kick as an exclamation point before stepping over the mercs body, she shook her head at the situation.
DERBY BELL
“You really don’t remember? Alright, then. Let me explain it to you so that you don’t ‘haunt’ me once we’re done here tonight. Over fifteen years ago I accepted a long contract. Over twenty million credits, half up front to keep me warm at night, half upon the jobs eventual resolution. Long story short, I was hired to make sure that you’d never get out. That every chance you ever had to spring the lock on your cage would be crushed. You’d become your predecessor, lean into her identity… because you’d be afraid to be anyone else. Hope abandoned. And if you ever actually did get out? Well then you’d have a taste for it. For freedom. They’d consider the project a failure… I think we both know what that means.”
ESTELLA
“That’s impossible. The board doesn’t have the power. I have… I’ve set up precautionary measures. My death would be the end of Intra-call. They wouldn’t dare!”
DERBY BELL
“Ohh, you’re not wrong there. You told me yourself, afterall.”
ESTELLA
“What?”
DERBY BELL
“Just imagine if you could remake yourself. To any vision you imagined. [restrained laugh, as if she’s trying to swallow something hilarious]. Gods, that’s precious! You actually think you were flawlessly beautiful in your last life? That you were the perfect corporate head-taker? [getting closer to Estella, her voice almost a seductive whisper] I can only imagine the tweaked memories they’ve filled your own head with. You’re an ideal… an abstraction to how that old crone saw herself.”
ESTELLA
“That can’t be true! My memory is a comprehensive web… there aren't any holes. I remember everything… I remember my life…”
DERBY BELL
“You really believe that they can remake us like that? That you can buy immortality? You’re nothing more than a biography with the juiciest parts left out. Take when you personally hired me for this contract in the first place, for example. If you managed to leave out that little memory then just ‘imagine’ how deep this pool gets. Imagine what else you don’t want you to know about.”
Derby finished picking her way towards Estella, watching as she clumsily tried to stand; using the car she’d been slammed against to stabilize herself. With a shaking hand the heiress pulled out the small pistol Jonny had given her, though she found it heavy in her tired grip. Gently, the assassin lays her hand upon the top of the gun, guiding it away from any threat until it fell to the ground, a reflection of defeat.
DERBY BELL
“Oh, baby. It’s going to be fine. You made sure of it yourself. They have another version of you living on the floor above yours, afterall. Living the same, meaningless life you have in her own control group, maybe a couple of years behind you. But I was never her guardian angel. I was yours. And now it’s time to reap what’s been sown.”
JONNY
[pained]
“You talk too much.”
Sloppy. She’d pay for it too as Jonny drove her augmented fist into Derby’s side. If it wasn’t for the battle-suit that protected Bell’s body, Jonny knew she'd of felt ribs shatter on that hit. Intent on pressing her advantage, she followed the blow with a haymaker that clearly left Derby staggered and off-balance before ending the flurry by putting a knee into her stomach. That one pitched the assassin forward to land hard on the palms of her hands, out of breath. Now was the time to finish this. With a flourish the merc tucked her hand under Derby’s chin and felt the click of her wrist holster. She’d expected to see her spare pistol pop up into her waiting hand to finish the job off. This of course was impossible as she realized all too late that her spare was the very gun Estella had let fall to the ground moments before. Just like that the tides would turn as Derby found her feet in a near instant; administering a quick but devastating knife-hand chop to the would be victor's throat.
Derby didn’t dare take time to toy with her prey, not after that near fatal mistake. That had been far too close and it was more than apparent that her retirement had taken a toll on her instincts. To have allowed a clumsy merc like Jonny to sneak up on her would have been unthinkable to the Derby Bell of yesterday. Better to finish the both of them off and payout this final contract that had been her last tether to this life.
[long pause, sword drag, then impact as Evan and Ella ram into Derby with the skycab]
EVAN
“Holy shit! We actually just killed Derby Bell. Who’ll never amount to shit now, Derby? Huh?”
ELLA
“Did you see her face!? So good. That was like six years overdue for sure. Plus, we totally just saved the day.”
EVAN
“Right!? Hey, Jonny. I know you told us to lose your number and everything soooo I hope you don’t mind that we sort of followed you.”
JONNY
[gasping for air, over holo-comms]
“...How?...”
ELLA
“I sewed a tracker into your coat two years ago? I mean it paid off right? Also, Evan? Don’t look now but I’m pretty sure Derby’s still hanging onto the bumper.”
JONNY
“...A what!?...”
EVAN
“A tracker. T R A C K E R. One second. [checks bumper camera] Ew. You’re right. I hate when they cling on. I mean… I totally have never run anyone over before.”
ELLA
“Like can you just give it up already, Derby? We get it, you’re the bad guy.”
EVAN
“Just hold on, let me shake her off. [sound of trying to shake Derby] How’s that?”
The question was met with a combat knife embedding itself into the hood of the cab. Using it as an anchor point the battered assassin pulled herself up onto the hood of the car. With one eye swollen shut and a split lip, Derby stared at her former lackeys with contempt as Evan gave a quick second shake of the car that more realistically served to annoy the unwanted passenger then pose any threat of dislodging her.
ELLA
“Is it just me or is this basically exactly like the story we just told earlier? The one about Jonny all bloody and splattered on your hood?”
EVAN
“And what did we learn from that story, Ella?
ELLA
“Do you want me to say it? FINE. I promise not to open the door for this one. Are you ‘happy’, Evan?”
EVAN
“Very. Hey, Jonny? If I come back around do you think you can pick her off? She’s vibing me in the worst way right now.”
JONNY
[over holo-comms]
“You’re damn right I can.”
EVAN
“Great. Swinging around now. And Jonny, we really are sorry - [Evan effort sound as he gets stabbed through the stomach]”
[sound of Derby’s katana going through Glass and then into Evan]
The lunge came from a reserve of power even Derby Bell hadn’t expected of herself. Powered by resentment and hate, she gripped the hilt of her Katana; all the while keeping eye contact with the man behind the wheel as the blade passed through his stomach as well as the seat behind him. A blank look of surprise was all that met her gaze in return as the color quickly began to drain from his already pale complexion.
ELLA
[shots start to ring out as Ella overcomes her fear of Derby and starts firing her own pistol at her, screaming as she hits the trigger, sound of Derby tumbling off the hood.]
Derby tumbled from the hood as Jonny watched it all, too far away to be able to do anything. She could only lower her head as both the assassin and the cab fell from the sky; down to the waves below.
[very long pause, sound of waves continues to rage on]
ELLA
[crackling com-signal - Ella sounds shaken by what just happened]
“Jonny. Jonny do you read me?”
JONNY
[Jonny suddenly overjoyed to hear Ella’s voice]
“Jonny here! Reading you loud and clear! I thought you were goners for sure, you… Stupid idiots. It’s damn good to hear your voice. Just stay put where you are, I’m comin’ to get you. Is… is Evan…?”
EVAN
[coughs]
“Evan’s in need of medical assistance. You…”
ELLA
“Shut up, Evan. Just don’t talk okay? You did great…
Jonny - You can’t be here. They’re for sure going to send back up, right? We’ll be… we’ll be okay. The cabs distress signal… surprisingly still works.”
JONNY
“Nonsense. I’m coming to get-”
EVAN
“Just… trust us. We won’t fuck up again. Let us be mercs. We knew the risks, right?”
ELLA
“I mean that’s what these cool tattoos are all about.”
JONNY
“Alright… alright. You… Just keep him together, Ella. We’ll… we’ll talk soon, okay?”
ELLA
“Aye, Aye. Captain.”
[hangs up the call]
JONNY
“Estella. It’s time to go. I’ve never hotwired an Interceptor before, but now's as good a time as ever to learn, I suppose.”
ESTELLA
[somewhat unresponsive]
“It was all… a lie. I should never have left.”
JONNY
“I’m going to say this once and only once. Whatever that god-damned parasite told you about yourself was bullshit. There’s nothin’ that she knows that you can’t make a liar of her about. Heard her waggin’ on about more copies of that corporate hag being back there at Intra-Call. Means piss all. You get where you’re supposed to go and you make all of them pay for what they did. You’ve all the memories of a tycoon in that head of yours. One that never quit. Claim your spot.
ESTELLA
“You’re right… You’re absolutely right. I’m Estella Morgan… and not Estella Morgan. They don’t know what they’ve done… but they will.”
JONNY
“That’s the spirit. Now come on, I’ve got some people you need to meet.”
FADE OUT