1

RAPID CITY #18

BY JOSH DAHL

Page 1 Set up. 5 Panels

Panel 1 This page is five wide panels stretching across the

page. The odd numbered panels are flashbacks to a
conversation in issue number seven. That scene is
Hourglass and Kinetic talking to each other in the
gravel parking lot of a country church. They are
surrounded by wide open fields and big, empty, skies.
The sun is high above and they are just standing
there talking. It is the exact opposite of the scene
going on in the even numbered panels. This panel has
Kinetic and Hourglass fairly small. Just large enough
to tell who they are, but mostly showing the wide
setting. They at the far left of the panel.

HOURGLASS
You're a good person. I can tell. I know that's why
you're helping me, because you think it's the right
thing to do. You help people.

Panel 2 Full width panel. This one is set in the scene that
ended the previous issue. Kinetic is about to fight
the Red Alert Motos in their underground lair. This
is the opposite of the inter-cut scene. It is
chaotic, dark, cramped, and full of motion. This shot
shows the female Moto, Phillie, raising her hands to
shield her face as Kinetic bounds past her. She is at
the top of a small flight of iron stairs. One of the
Motos below her is firing stun pellets up from an
arm-mounted paint-ball gun. Kinetic is blocking these
pellets with an energy shield. The Moto and his gun
are not essential in the shot, but it would be cool
if they could fit.

Panel 3 Another full width Hourglass and Kinetic panel. This

one has moved in much closer. Kinetic has his back to
us and we are looking at Hourglass as she talks. The
"camera" has also moved so that the two of them are
roughly centered in the panel.

HOURGLASS
I've been awful to you, and you're
still here trying to help me. I want you to know
that....

HOURGLASS
right now, that means everything to me.

Caption 8 months ago.

Panel 4 Full width panel, back in the fight with the Motos.
The Moto who is firing the pellets (Comanche)is the
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main focus of this shot. He is shooting almost

directly at us. In his goggles or visor, we can see
the reflection of Kinetic's energy signature. Behind
the Moto, we see the other Moto reaching for or
slapping on, pieces of leg armor. The chaos and
action of these shots is a distinct counter-point to
the simplicity of the other ones.

Caption Last night.

Panel 5 Last full width panel. This one has pulled close and
is focused mostly on Hourglass as she talks. She is
now on the far right of the panel, looking isolated
in all that open space.

HOURGLASS
I can't tell you everything....

HOURGLASS
I can't tell you what this all means to me. But I
can tell you.....

HOURGLASS
and I hope you believe me....

HOURGLASS
this is the right thing to do.

Page 2 It's on. 1 Panel

Panel 1 Two page spread. A fish-eyed overhead shot looking

down at the Red Alert's hang out that we saw in the
last issue. Kinetic is in the center of the room,
airborne. Comanche has wheels and is moving up and
along the room's curving walls. He is still firing
stun pellets at Kinetic. While Kinetic twists in the
air, he is blocking these pellets. The other Red
Alert (Octane) is still fumbling with his leg armor.
Phillie is ducking from the top of the stairs back in
to the hallway from which they came.

Page 3 It's on. 1 Panel

Panel 1 The second page of the two page spread.

Page 4 Beats one of them. 5 Panels

Panel 1 Large panel from roughly Octane's point of view on

the floor of the room. Watching as Kinetic and
Comanche arc towards each other along the curved
wall.

Panel 2 Small panel of Hourglass using her time powers to

accelerate her movement. We can clearly see the
time-echo following her. Kinetic's words float over
the image like caption boxes.
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KINETIC
My friend, Hourglass, she died using her powers to
save my girlfriend and me from a lunatic.

Panel 3 Shot of Maxwell Murder looking dark and murderous, he

is looking toward the reader and Hourglass is
sneaking up behind him. Kinetic's dialog floats over
the image like caption boxes.

KINETIC
And now these guys are out there using her powers
to hurt people.

KINETIC
That's not right.

Panel 4 Another large panel of Kinetic and Octane leaping

from the walls to collide in mid-air. Kinetic has a
shield up deflecting Comanche's attacks.

Panel 5 Kinetic and Comanche landing on the floor of the

room.

Page 5 Initial encounter. 5 Panels

Panel 1 Kinetic has landed right near Octane. They are both
surprised to find themselves so close to each other.
Octane looks mildly amused, Kinetic looks mad.

Panel 2 Close on a woman's hands resting lazily on a leather

covered steering wheel.

Panel 3 Shot of an attractive middle-aged woman driving a

large SUV. This shot is from her passenger seat
looking at her past her expensive hand bag. She is
quietly singing along to a classic rock song on the
radio.

Caption One week ago.

Panel 4 Shot of Kinetic, on the same day, about 1/2 a mile

away. It is bright, but cold, day. Kinetic is
standing on the roof-top patio of a coffee shop. The
patio tables and things are all packed up for winter
and Kinetic is just standing there alone sipping
coffee from a to-go cup. We can see behind him, not
too far away, there is an elevated highway running
through the city. Kinetic seems very content.

Panel 5 Very similar to panel 3. But now there is a

disorienting flash of motion. What is actually
happening is that one of the Red Alerts is lunging
through the driver's side door window at super speed
and grabbing the purse. From this angle, though, all
we can make out is a blurry form erupting through the
shattering window. We can make out the time-echo
effects and a coherent hand seizing the purse. The
 4

woman has no idea what is happening and is screaming

in terror.

Page 6 Road rage. 5 Panels

Panel 1 Above average sized panel. We are on the highway that

the Red Alerts are robbing. Comanche is coming right
at us. We can see his time-echo trailing off behind
him. He has grabbed cash and cards out of the purse
he just stole and is letting the rest of it tumble
away. Behind him we see the SUV that he just robbed
swerving into a guard rail. We can also see at least
one other Red Alert streaking along the highway.

Panel 2 Shot of the woman who was just robbed, her face cut
slightly from the breaking glass, wincing to cover
her face as an airbag bursts open.

Panel 3 Wide shot of the strip of highway leading into Rapid

City. Just ahead is an 'S' curve winding around some
old brick buildings. The road is busy, but not thick
with traffic. Several yards up the road, we see
Comanche zipping along and punching out another
window. Closer to the foreground, we see Octane (also
with a time-echo) cutting over the hood of a car.
That car is swerving.

Panel 4 Close shot on Kinetic looking up from his coffee with

alarm. There is a crash sound coming from the highway
behind him.

Panel 5 Close shot on Comanche and Octane racing side by

side. It is a low angle shot from in front of them,
looking up and past them. In the sky behind them, we
see Kinetic curving into pursuit. If possible we can
see that the car that Octane was zipping across has
hit another car. Just a bump or fender bender.

COMANCHE
Unintelligible speed blur

Page 7 Chase is on. 6 Panels

Panel 1 Kinetic lunging at the two Red Alerts and them

dodging out of his way.

Panel 2 Octane yelling to Comanche and pointing to an off

ramp to their right.

OCTANE
blur

Panel 3 The two Red Alerts hit the off-ramp with Kinetic
right behind them.

Panel 4 Instead of using the ramp, they both launch off of

the side of it toward the city streets below.
 5

Kinetic zooms in right behind them on the street

level. This is right where the scene in issue #17
began.

Panel 6 Back to the previous scene. Kinetic and Octane are

nearly face to face. Kinetic is punching Octane's
face. Not super dramatic or superheroic. Just a sock
to the jaw.

Page 8 It's not on. 6 Panels

Panel 1 Kinetic standing over Octane as he crumples to the

floor.

Panel 2 Similar shot, but this one is wide enough to see the
tail end of Comanche, and some non-time-echo motion
streaks, going through the large access doors. We
can't see what is beyond them.

Panel 3 Large shot from inside the room into which Comanche
just fled. We are looking back at the door. The room
we are in is almost complete darkness. We can see
Kinetic opening the doors to look around. He is
back-lit and mostly in shadow, but it is clear that
it is him. The rest of the room is dark, though we
can make out a few large machine shapes in the
darkness.

KINETIC
Damn.

Panel 4 Kinetic walking back over to Octane who is now

starting to get up.

KINETIC
Hey.

KINETIC
Those speed powers you had last time we fought,
where did you get them?

OCTANE
Come on, piss off.

Panel 5 Kinetic kicking Octane's wheeled pack/unit thing out

of his grasp.

KINETIC
Oh, no ya don't.

KINETIC
Those powers weren't yours, and you don't have them
now. How did you get them?

OCTANE
I don't know.

Panel 6
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Kinetic leaning down to talk close to Octane.

KINETIC
OK, forget it. You're coming with me.

Page 9 Hartborn and the cops. 6 Panels

Panel 1 Close on Hartborn's face. He is looking serious.

Panel 2 Pull back a bit and we see that he is sitting in a

small office in a police station. His expression has
not changed.

Panel 3 The first of several cross-cut images in this scene.

They are all of Octane in a police interview room
getting antsy, but we don't know that yet. In the
cross-cuts, all we can see is his hands. This panel
is a tight close-up on his left index finger tracing
a twisty path along a segment of metal bar. Though we
can't see the part that is cuffed, this is the bar to
which his other hand is cuffed.

Panel 4 Now we can see the man sitting across the desk from
him. This is the officer or detective or whoever who
is in charge of the goings on at the Rapid City
Police Department at night. He is pretty typical
looking detective in a fairly neat office. He looks
exasperated.

DETECTIVE
Listen, Agent.... Hartborn, is it? I'm just saying
that we normally hear about this kind of thing from
Agent Seems.

HARTBORN
Agent Seems is home in bed, and that's got nothing
to do with anyone but Agent Seems.

Panel 5 Close on Octane's left hand still tracing little

paths around. Now he is tracing a curve across the
stainless steel table top.

Panel 6 The detective is looking down and shaking his head,

he is buckling.

DETECTIVE
Ok, ok, tell me exactly what you need.

HARTBORN
Only what I said.

Page 10 Questions. 6 Panels

Panel 1 Octane sitting alone in a holding cell, looking up

with worry as someone opens the door.

HARTBORN
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(voice over)
A holding cell....

Panel 2 Octane's hand again, now his finger is tracing little

swirls.

Panel 3 Octane being handcuffed to a metal bar on the table

in an interview room by a uniformed officer.

HARTBORN
(voice over)
one of your interview rooms....

Panel 4 View from behind Octane as he sits down. He is

looking right at Hartborn who is seated across from
him, looking much like he did a few panels ago in the
detective's office. Behind him is the uniformed
officer with his or her arms folded.

HARTBORN
(voice over)
and one of your duty officers to make it all
official.

Panel 5 Another shot of the finger racing around on the

table.

Panel 6 Mainly on the two men at the table, but wide enough
to show that the officer is still there. Octane is
hunched over and looking frustrated. We see clearly
now that it has been him tracing paths across the
table. He looks a lot like a scared kid.

HARTBORN
What's it going to be, son?

OCTANE
I don't want any of this, man. I just wanted to go
fast. Just go.

Page 11 Moving on. 4 Panels

Panel 1 Shot of Kinetic hiding on the ladder above the cement

steam tunnel. He tensed up and staring straight at
us.

Caption Just go.

Panel 2 Same position, but pulled in much closer on his face.

He is caught in indecision.

Caption Tell me something.

Caption Why are you doing this?

Panel 3 Fairly large shot of Kinetic and Hartborn sitting in

Hartborn's rented car. Hartborn is in the driver'
seat, but he is not driving, he is holding a
 8

styrofoam coffee cup and Kinetic is in the passenger

seat.

KINETIC
Doing what?

Panel 4 Shot from Kinetic's side of the car looking back at

Hartborn. Hartborn is about to sip his coffee.

HARTBORN
Why are you so hot to get after these Red Alerts?

KINETIC
Because I'm the good guy, and this is the right
thing to do.

HARTBORN
It is. But why now? What about when you first ran
into them a week ago? It wasn't the right thing
then?

Page 12 What we know. 5 Panels

Panel 1 Shot of Hartborn watching Kinetic talk. Kinetic can

be in the shot if he can fit, but it is not
essential.

KINETIC
I didn't know then. I didn't realize they were
connected to Hourglass until you mentioned her.

HARTBORN
So this is revenge for you?

Panel 2 Kinetic posed and shot just like Octane on page ten.
He looks a little frustrated.

KINETIC
No, that's not what I want. Besides, what revenge?
Maxwell died right along with her.

Panel 3 Hartborn watches Kinetic talk, but Kinetic is not

looking at him. He is looking at the glove box.

KINETIC
No, it's not that. It's like this, she asked me for
help..... and then she died. I still owe her.

Panel 4 Just Hartborn.

HARTBORN
She's dead. This isn't helping her.

Panel 5 Just Kinetic

KINETIC
What else can I do?
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What we can do. 6 panels

Panel 1 Hartborn talking. A larger panel to accommodate his

speech.

HARTBORN
Glad you asked.

HARTBORN
I'm here in Rapid City running down a particular
case. You bringing that kid to me might have helped
me out, so I'm going to tell you some stuff.

HARTBORN
I'm doing you a favor. This doesn't make you an
agent, or a deputy, or anything but someone who
knows something.

HARTBORN
We keep on like this, you tell me something and I
tell you something, and I think we'll both end up
getting what we want.

KINETIC
Ok, so what is it?

Panel 2 Tighter on Hartborn. He is smiling, pleased with his

own cleverness.

HARTBORN
I'm getting there. But first I got to make sure
that when I do get there, you're in the place I
need you to be.

KINETIC
I don't follow you.

HARTBORN
That's right.

Panel 3 Hartborn relaxes back into his seat as he begins to

tell a story.

HARTBORN
Something I learned playing college ball. You put
all you got into trying to catch someone and all
you end up doing is chasing him around.

Panel 4 Closer on Hartborn smiling at the memory of hurting

people.

HARTBORN
My thing was to know where he was going to be, get
there before him, and put the son-of-a-gun on his
neck.
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KINETIC
I'm sorry, I still don't...

Panel 5 Hartborn snapped back to the moment, looking right at

Kinetic.

HARTBORN
According to your boy "Octane", the Red Alerts got
their hands on a machine that gives them those
powers.

HARTBORN
What you saw was the test run. It was successful.

Panel 6 Both of them talking, focus mainly on Kinetic.

KINETIC
Ok.

HARTBORN
That machine, if it is what he says, could really
help my investigation. I'd like to get ahold of it.

HARTBORN
But that's not what I'm telling you. I'm telling
you what Octane told me.

Page 14 What Octane said. 5 Panels

Panel 1 Just Hartborn, looking very serious.

HARTBORN
Now that they know it works, the whole gang is
riding out all jacked up like that. You saw what
two of them can do....

Panel 2 Similar shot, but of Kinetic, looking very serious.

HARTBORN
imagine half a dozen.

KINETIC
Yeah. Ok.

Panel 3 Shot from above the hood of the car looking down
through the windshield at the two men.

KINETIC
When?

HARTBORN
Tonight.

Panel 4 Pull back very far to see the car sitting in a

parking lot. The word balloons are tagless and float
like caption boxes.
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KINETIC
Where?

HARTBORN
He said there's a hideout down in some steam
tunnels beneath...

Panel 5 Pull back even further. We can see the car very small
in the parking lot below. It is night in the city. We
can see Kinetic's characteristic energy streak
shooting out through the city from where the car is.
Again, the word balloons are tagless.

KINETIC
I know right where that is.

KINETIC
I'll be in touch.

Page 15 Hartborn goes home. 6 Panels

Panel 1 Hartborn walking through the lobby of his business

style hotel. It is evening and there are relaxing and
weary business travelers around him. He is wearing
the college pull-over that we saw him in in the
previous issue. He is talking on his cell phone.

HARTBORN
It's not too bad. I tell ya. I got some bar-b-q
from a little take-out place near the office and it
wasn't half bad.

HARTBORN
No kidding.

HARTBORN
Well, that....

Panel 2 Hartborn standing in front of the elevators.

HARTBORN
That is another story.

HARTBORN
Just a minute, I'm waiting for the elevator.

Panel 3 Hartborn inside the elevator as the doors are an inch

or two from closed.

HARTBORN
You can hear me? You were right about this office.
It's like Hamlet said, "something's rotten" in
Rapid City.

Panel 4 Shot of the lights above the door indicating the

floor. The light is on the second floor.
 12

HARTBORN
No, nothing solid. But that's the problem, you
know, lots of holes.

HARTBORN
Are you talking about an extended assignment, or a
full transfer?

Panel 5 Shot of Hartborn looking at himself in the

semi-reflective elevator doors. Still on his phone.

HARTBORN
You know me.

HARTBORN
Don't know if I'm up for a move like that, but I
will keep my eyes open.

HARTBORN
Of course. I appreciate it.

Panel 6 Shot of Hartborn walking out of the elevator and into

the hall.

HARTBORN
Alright. You have a good night, now.

Page 16 Sneaks in. 5 Panels

Panel 1 Kinetic on the roof of a medium sized building in the

science park area. Think Cyberdyne from T2. We are
behind him and he is looking down at the tunnel
entrance that Phillie showed him in issue 17. There
is one Red Alert Moto holding it open, and another
one dropping in. Kinetic has his phone to his ear.

KINETIC
I just saw two more of them going in. I'm going to
go down and see what they're doing.

KINETIC
Not sure if I'll get a signal down there, so this
might be the last you hear from me for a while.

KINETIC
Yeah. Thanks.

Panel 2 Shot from inside a dark steam tunnel as Kinetic drops

in from above. He is not glowing much.

Panel 3 Shot of Kinetic trying to walk sneakily through the

tunnel.

Panel 4 Kinetic is looking behind him with alarm. There is

light and noise coming from around the bend behind
him.
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KINETIC
Uh-oh.

SOUND EFFECT
rrrrrrrrrrr

Panel 5 Kinetic lunging toward a ladder built into the wall

about 20 feet ahead of where he was standing. The
ladder leads up to a manhole cover at street level.
Between the steam tunnel and the street, it leads
through about 6 feet of cement shaft.

Page 17 Duck and cover. 5 panels

Panel 1 Four Red Alerts blasting through the tunnel as

Kinetic's foot vanishes up the ladder shaft just
ahead of them.

Panel 2 From Kinetic's POV, looking down past his contorted

body clogging the ladder shaft, he watches the Red
Alerts zip past. However many (4 at most) will fit
into the cramped shot.

Panel 3 Tight shot of Kinetic's face, he has his phone to his

ear.

KINETIC
(whispering)
Hartborn? Four more of them just went by. That's at
least eight.

HARTBORN
(very faint through the phone.
Several previous words are too
small/faint to read.)
.......Just get out of there.

Panel 4 Tighter on Kinetic's eyes. We can still see the phone

near his ear.

HARTBORN
(through the phone)
You go. Right now.

Panel 5 Very tight on Kinetic squinting with determination in

the dull glow of his gauntlets.

Page 18 Red Alert! Red Alert! 5 panels

Panel 1 Tight on a pair of hands belonging to one of the Red

Alert gang. They are gripping two upright, molded,
hand grips with buttons on the tops of them. The
thumbs hover over the buttons. A voice comes from off
panel.

RED ALERT 1
It's charging, hold on... Ok...
 14

Those hands are still the central focus of the shot.

The thumbs slam down on the buttons. Though we can't
see all of him, the Red Alert who is operating the
buttons is standing in/on a make-shift "booth".
Essentially it is a power source, some conducting
materials, a control panel, the upright hand grips,
and a few mounted pods that control the energy field.
This booth is against the wall and the operator
stands in it and faces out. We are looking out into
the room past his hands, so we see them but not much
more of him. There is another Red Alert(1) standing
near by and guiding the procedure. Behind them, we
see a few motion lines with time-echoes blur past.

RED ALERT 1
NOW!

Panel 3 Now we see the whole machine as an energy field

bathes the guy in it. He is tensed up, but not
contorting or anything extreme.

Panel 4 A large, wide panel showing most of the room. This

was the formerly darkened room through which Comanche
escaped last time we were here. Now it is lit up and
crowded with at least a dozen Red Alerts. Almost all
of them are amped up and buzzing around the room with
speed powers. We see the guy from the previous panels
stepping out of the machine, he has a time-echo and
speaks in an unreadable blur. This shot is from the
POV of someone in the doorway from the club-house
room. There is a small word balloon on the far left
bottom of the panel.

KINETIC
So....

Panel 5 Very similar panel, but this one is from the other
side of the room, looking back past the big roomful
of Red Alerts. They are all stopping to look at
Kinetic who is standing in the doorway.

KINETIC
This is where you guy go to steal powers from dead
superheroes, huh?

Page 19 The brawl. 5 panels

Panel 1 Several of the Red Alerts looking over in varying

degrees of surprise, alarm and anger. In this scene,
all of the amped Red Alerts are moving at super speed
and have time-echoes behind them. Comanche is
reacting angrily. Their speech is also packed into
illegible blurs.

THIRTEEN
Who the hell are you?
 15

Shot of Comanche pointing at him and yelling. It is

speed-blurred.

COMANCHE (AMPED)
That's him. Get 'im!

Panel 3 All of the amped up Red Alerts swarm in on Kinetic.

In this shot, Kinetic is holding a few of them off
with a shield to his left while plowing through one
of them with a forward lunge.

Panel 4 Tighter on Kinetic and the Red Alert that he is

tackling back. Though Kinetic is shielding himself,
there are about ten different speed fists crashing
into him. At least one hits his head.

Panel 5 Big shot of Kinetic getting his feet on the ground

and swinging both gauntlets in a wide swath, clearing
an area around him.

KINETIC
Back off!

Page 20 Under siege. 6 panels

Panel 1 Tight shot on Kinetic's goggles. His eyes are worried

and all we can see in the reflection is a sea of
time-echoes and speed streaks.

Panel 2 Kinetic trying to put up shields with each hand. He

is stumbling and taking speed-hits in his mid-section
and in the back of the head. He looks surrounded.

KINETIC
Nnnn.

Panel 3 A punch to Kinetic's face sends him stumbling. He has

a hand out in front of him for balance. There is sped
up motion all around him.

Panel 4 Kinetic with his shoulder on the cement wall. He is

not stable, but now he is able to better defend
himself.

KINETIC
Those powers aren't yours. They won't last.

THIRTEEN
They'll last longer than you.

Panel 5 Tight on Kinetic with his back to the wall, he is

blocking attacks and looking to the left.

Caption ....put all you got into trying to catch someone

and you end up just chasing him around.

Panel 6 Kinetic lunging to his left, into the amp-up machine.

 16

.....get there before him, and put the son-of-a-gun

on his neck.

Page 21 Leveling the field. 4 panels

Panel 1 Shot from Kinetic's point of view, looking out at the

Red Alerts surrounding him. They all have time echoes
and are speaking in angry blurs. Kinetic's thumbs are
slamming down on the buttons and energy is crackling
around them.

Panel 2 Nearly identical shot, but now there are no visible

time effects. All of the Red Alert dialogue is normal
and readable. Kinetic's hands have left the grips and
have Kinetic's energy around them.

D-TRAIN
Oh no, look at him.

KING
I think it worked

BETA
What happened?

COMANCHE
Uh-oh.

Panel 3 Big shot of Kinetic attacking the room. His left hand
puts up a shield that holds back several Red Alerts.
He leads with his right. It is a powered up fist that
knocks back 3 or 4 of them. Similar to his attack on
page 19, but much more effective. Now he has a
time-echo as well. Almost everyone does.

Panel 4 The rest of the page should be filled with very tight
action shots. A fist in a face. Machinery breaking.
All quick cuts of all of the chaos that is going on.

Page 22 Rage against the machine. 6 panels

Panel 1 Wide, low-angle, shot of Kinetic triumphant. Details

are not important here, this needs drama. A
silhouette could work. It is kinetic with his fists
up ready for more. But the Red Alerts are not ready.
They are scattered all over the floor and a few are
zooming out the doors.

Panel 2 Tight shot of Kinetic's face as he looks angrily

toward the amp-up machine.

Panel 3 Shot of the machine.

Panel 4 Dramatic shot of Kinetic smashing the machine with

one powered up punch.

Panel 5 A small black panel.

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Kinetic standing over the open steam tunnel access

panel. He is talking on his phone.

KINETIC
Yeah. I'm ok.....I stopped them..... No, the
machine was there, but it's broken now.

KINETIC
I smashed it.

Caption The End.