GWS:Scene One

From RPGnet
Jump to: navigation, search

Landshark and the Thing

The moon shines, full and glowing, over a tranquil scene of night time mountains. A man in homespun walks up the winding road, leading a goat. Suddenly the boxy, official form of an automobile tears its way around the narrow curve. It barely misses killing the man's goat.

As one policeman (designated by his cylindrical hat, with chin-strap) drives frantically, another looks out the window, across the valley, to the train tracks. A train comes rattling up those tracks toward a trestle. It belches smoke and gouts of flame, and glitters with gold and silver highlights in the moonglow.

The policemen pull their car boldly onto the crossing of the tracks and leap out. They stand to either side of the car and pull their pistols. As the huge engine, its front blazoned with a huge metal swastika, bears down on them they fire, but their bullets merely draw sparks. They leap aside, and the train smashes through their car, flinging it from the tracks to tumble down the slope onto the rocks below.

Inside the train, a huge crate, chained to the floor, shifts violently as the train lurches with the impact. Jackbooted Nazis holding machine guns eye the box warily.

On the swaying roof of the train a man crouches. His black leather jacket, emblem of the Gestapo, flaps open like a cape in the surging wind. With one hand he casually grips a railing to keep from being swept off the roof. With the other he brushes back his long, pale blond hair. His features are strikingly handsome, but his skin is too, too pale, with an unearthly pallor like porcelain that is drawn out by the moonlight.

As the police car shatters, burning, below the man laughs loudly and joyously.

"Pathetic!" he says happily. "Did they really think that anything could stop the pride of the Reich? Nothing can! Within the hour we will reach Eisenstadt, and our prize will be beyond their grasp." He looks over the side for a moment longer, and chuckles. "Now that I have rid us of that troublesome American, there is nobody who can stand against us."

Just out of sight, Devon McWilliams hangs by the most tenuous of grasps to the back railing of the caboose. "I knew that trying to infiltrate the Nazis was a bad idea. I'm just not cut out for this game of subtlety." With no thought to the danger of losing his grip, he lets go with one hand and pulls out a flask. He quickly slurps down the contents of the flask and within moments, in a surge of chemical energy, his form shudders and his Nazi disguise rips in half as he grows from a mere 4 foot 11 inches to a full six feet! The slight McWilliams has been replaced by the ever-surprising, dramatically powerful Landshark!

Landshark easily lifts himself up onto the caboose and places his trademark domino mask on his face. After shedding the remains of his Nazi disguise, Landshark is revealed in his special stretchable uniform, which has sent countless Kriegsmariners fleeing at the mere sight of it!

Landshark climbs around to the other side of the caboose and swings himself up onto the train. He taps the Gestapo thug on the shoulder. "Vas? Who is this?"

"Landshark!" POW! Landshark surprises the Gestapo thug with a blow that would send any normal man flying off of the train...but the German simply wipes the blood from his lip and smirks!

"Ah! Sehr gute! They sent someone to entertain me. Is this the legendary Landshark?"

Von Marek looks Landshark up and down while the two pace carefully around each other, looking for advantage.

"I thought you would be ... taller."

Stung by the Nazi's barb, Landshark grits his teeth...a sight that has sent lesser men to fleeing!

It is as well that Landshark has his teeth fully grit, for the instant that each razored array engages with its partner, the DRG Rheingold, it's bold reds and blacks sparkling mischievously in the moonlight, lurches to the side, wheels coming off tracks and carriages groaning with the strain, as if to buck off its newest passenger.

It is to no avail, however, for this half-man, this mighty Landshark, is made of sterner stuff than to worry at the prospect of a thousand tonnes of Ruhr steel crushing him beneath its weight. With ease, he pulls himself back to his feet as the train crashes back on to its two tracks, sparks flying and sleepers buckling.

Landshark's impressive teeth are grit more grittily than ever before...

Regaining his footing before the most heinous von Marek, Landshark circles the Nazi ominously. Von Marek loses his composure for just a second as he is forced to swirl around to keep an eye on the Carcharodon of Liberty.

Beneath the uneasily shifting feet of the two combatants, in a darkened cargo compartment, lies a large, riveted, wooden crate. Several uniformed guards, their faces obscured in the dim light, stand ready, backs to the crate .

The is a "Click" from the crate, strangely audible over the sounds of the tracks and the engine. The guards see a band of white light pass under their feet, up the wall, onto the ceiling and out of sight. Whirling around they see the next wave of light pouring out between the tightly fastened boards of the crate. A rhythmic "Rrrmmmmp, rrrmmmmp" is heard as the waves of light ascend.

One of the guards says something in German and subtitles appear saying "Is it supposed to do that?" The guard in charge starts speaking harshly and slaps the other guard on the back of the head, "Idiot. Go tell to the engineer to increase speed." The other guards turn to fearfully watch the light as the idiot heads to the front of the train.

The DRG Rheingold has slowed somewhat as it crests the final rise in the foothills, the rainkissed tracks sparkling as they trail off down the moonlit valley which leads to Eisenstadt.

The guard, shocked to find that the engineer is not in his position, pushes at a lever or two in the engine and, with a childish glee, forces the train to creep over the crest and then to pick up speed as it descends into the valley. Remembering the one time he went skiing as a youth, the soldier forces the train faster and faster, the engine straining, the slope pulling it down as if to some doom.

Pushing his head out of the side window, the guard shouts with a primal joy, the wind whipping his cap away into the night, and then...

The headless body slumps to the floor, leaving the locomotive once more unmanned. But its speed is such that, back in the boxcar, the crate is straining at its moorings until with a sudden CRACK, the chains snap and the crate slides along the floor to crash into the field gun behind it.

With a crunch, the barrel of the artillery piece slides straight through the crate and, with a grinding squeal, slides straight into whatever it is which is in the crate.

As the jackbooted thugs are running away--err--getting reinforcements to defend the crate, they notice their brave Aryan leader facing off against a teeth-gritting Allied villain. The sergeant smacks the thugs in order, and they charge on to the rooftop enmasse with their guns a-blazing! Nazi blitz!

"Eat LEAD you Allied Shark Thing!" The sudden haze of bullets takes Landshark off-guard. A bullet twangs off one of his teeth (good thing he has more in back!), and he falls off the top of the traincar to the exposed walkway below, where more thugs are getting ready to join the fray. The thugs smirk and get ready to kick him off the side.

One of the thugs takes some time in the lull to inform Marek that no one is controlling the train and that the crate is flashing ominously. He's not the brightest thug in the squad.

"Allied? I wish! If America joined the Allies full-time, you Nazi thugs would be down for the count in no time!" Landshark grabs the ankle of the thug trying to kick him over the side and flings him off the back of the train. "Your so-called 'German efficiency' is no match for good old American pluck and the can-do spirit!" Landhsark knocks another Nazi thug into a pile of his Axis buddies, knocking them all to the ground. "Now to take care of your leader!"

Landshark looks up at the cieling of the train car, then leaps up and bites a huge hole in it! Von Marek falls through the tooth-shaped gouge in the traincar roof, landing on Landshark and knocking him sprawling to the ground!

Von Marek swings a sweeping kick against Landshark's legs as the Aquatic Titan heaves himself to his feet. Landshark falls with a thump and rolls off of the shaking walkway between the cars. He manages to clutch a cluster of brake cables and dangle over the flashing wheels and racing tracks.

Von Marek grins all the wider. "All too easy," he says, looking fondly down at his helpless enemy. "Really, did you think you could defeat me? Look at the two of us! I am the pinnacle of human evolution, and you're nothing but a beast. I'm doing you a favor, putting you out of your misery."

"Pinnacle of human evolution?" Landshark yanks on the brake cables and pulls himself up onto the train in one, fluid motion, landing face to face with von Marek. "You think the pinnacle of human evolution is a mere bruiser? You and your National Social ist friends are nothing but thugs and bullies. The true pinnacle of human evolution is compassion and science! Two things that your magic-loving Fuhrer knows nothing about!" Landshark puffs out his chest and punches von Marek, knocking him back into the Nazi thugs like a game of tenpins. "It is a man's actions, not his form that define him. Your actions show you to be much more the beast than I."

The DRG Rheingold has slowed somewhat as it crests the final rise in the foothills, the rain-kissed tracks sparkling as they trail off down the moonlit valley which leads to Eisenstadt.

The guard, shocked to find that the engineer is not in his position, pushes at a lever or two in the engine and, with a childish glee, forces the train to creep over the crest and then to pick up speed as it descends into the valley. Remembering the one time he went skiing as a youth, the soldier forces the train faster and faster, the engine straining, the slope pulling it down, as if to some doom.

Pushing his head out of the side window, the guard shouts with a primal joy, the wind whipping his cap away into the night, and then...

The headless body slumps to the floor, leaving the locomotive once more unmanned. But its speed is such that, back in the boxcar, the crate is straining at its moorings until, with a sudden CRACK, the chains snap and the crate slides along the floor to crash into the field gun behind it.

With a crunch, the barrel of the artillery piece slides straight through the crate and, with a grinding squeal, slides straight into whatever it is which is in the crate.

The flashing light and sound stop as the barrel crashes through the crate. The DRG Reingold rises over a small hillock causing the gun to withdraw, tearing apart the crate as it goes. As the train resumes its downward plunge, a small bronze chest tumbles out of the demolished crate, rolling slams into a wall, and pops open. The pulsing light fills the room again. A single black cockroach climbs over the edge of the chest and scurries out onto the floor. Zooming in on its beady evil eyes, we cut to outside. We see rats beginning to congregate along the side of the tracks and jump onto the wheel housings. Hundred are crushed, but hundreds cling and live to climb. Amidst the titanic battle waged on the roof of the train, an impossible hoard begins to descend. Blotting out the twinkling night, flies surround the combatants.

The rats gnaw, the flies bite, and a man in a slightly torn, and blood stained, engineers uniform climbs out of the coal car and into the engine room. Smiling a wolfish grin, he pulls back the throttle, slowing the train.

Landshark delivers a powerful blow that flings von Marek into the coal car, distracting the bloodied engineer.

The Courageous Cacharadon leaps after, but is distracted as the vermin of the world swirl in black eddies around the train. Von Marek crows "And what does your precious science make of this? Like your compassion, science is just a delusion with which you blind yourself to the truth of the world! Your interference has freed our cargo, and perhaps doomed this entire region, and science has no remedy to offer you. No, nor compassion either."

He wipes away a long dripping line of blood from his mouth, and rises to his feet, ready to continue the fight. "Not that I'm complaining," he says. "Everybody likes a good apocalypse."

Grasping the wall to steady himself, Landshark's highly advanced sense of smell picks up a familiar scent. "Science? I'll show you science!" Landshark grabs a small crate from the back of the coal car marked "synthetischeKohle" and flings it into the hopper. Immediately, the DRG Rheingold surges forward, skipping off of the rails as the track goes around a curve.

Everyone goes flying!

Landshark manages to grab hold of the side of the train, but von Marek misses the handhold and teeters on the brink of falling...until the Crate itself, careening down the train, smashes into him and knocks him into the pile of coal.

For just a moment, his eyes focus on the inside of the crate... ...as he groggily attempts to rise to his feet.

His mind vaguely registers the moon disappearing behind a hill. A hill which is suddenly looming immensely before the train, then WHACK!

The brickwork of the top of the tunnel entrance explodes as it impacts Landshark's head, sending him flying...

And then...

The DRG Rheingold continues through the tunnel despite having come off the tracks, sparks flying as its sides scrape the walls of the tunnel. The coal car catches fire as the train disappears into the darkness of the tunnel. Landshark picks himself up and shakes his head. As his vision clears, the image of von Marek dusting himself off and sneering comes into focus.

"I guess we both got off at this stop. Looks like your train's going to tip over as soon as it makes it out of that tunnel. Think it'll be able to get where it's going on its side?"

"Let's find out together!" von Marek calls excitedly. He grabs a length of chain trailing behind the receding locomotive, whips it in a blurringly rapid circle, then throws it unerringly at Landshark. The chain wraps tightly around the man-fish's burly neck, and Landshark is dragged forward with a jerk. He is pulled nearly off his feet, having to run and stumble over the broken ground and shattered railroad ties. With a huge leap, Landshark manages to get up onto the train itself, mere moments before being pulled face-down over that improvised cheese grater. Von Marek, of course, has already clambered up the chain and is clinging to the canted roof of the rear-most boxcar.

The train comes bursting out of the tunnel in flames, burning coal and lamp-oil billowing out in all directions. Nazi thugs leap for safety, but Kurt simply straightens up, shifting his balance as the train starts to slew, like a sailor on the deck of a rolling ship.

"Mein gott! What a beautiful night!" he says, as the flames wrap around him, carressing his half-dead flesh without being able to burn it. Over his shoulder, the moonlight shows a sharp turn in the tracks ahead, a narrow trestle over a wide, shallow river valley. The train continues lurching rapidly toward a seemingly inevitable crash into that river. Kurt tosses the chain aside. He looks at Landshark with avid interest. "This is where we live, ja? In the heat of these moments. Can you deny that you feel it as well?"

Landshark puffs his chest to answer the Nazi's challenge, "I--" but is cut off as the chain goes over the side of the train, link by link speeding over the edge with a clinking sound. Landshark tries to disentangle himself in time, but the chain is too short! Landshark goes sliding over the edge!

Von Marek, a bit shocked at how easily Landshark was dealt with, leans over the edge to make sure Landshark is down, but sees simply the chain, lying in the grass alone! "Vas ist---" is all von Marek manages to get out before Wham! Landshark swings over the opposite guardrail, slamming into von Marek and knocking von Marek clear of the train, where von Marek slams into the ground.

Von Marek can only look on as the train skids away from von Marek, down the hill toward the river, leaving the tracks far behind. Landshark turns and heads toward the front of the train, intent on finding the crate that this "Doc Achilles" woman was so keen on keeping out of Nazi hands.

Von Marek dusts off his trench-coat as he watches the train tumbling away from him.

"That one's got pluck, for a mongrel," he says with a smile. "What a shame I don't have time in my life for a pet."

As the train chugs towards its watery death, dark bestial shapes break from the surrounding forest. Powerful legs fling one of them up to the back car. We see the beasts wolfish head in the cold moonlight as it runs and jumps along the car roofs toward the engine, flying over Landshark's head as it goes. Landing in the coal car, clawed and furred hands force the lid of the chest down. It barks down to the "engineer" and jumps in beside him. The engineer smiles that toothy grin again and wraps a length of pure white silk over and under the chest, quickly tying a complicated knot in front of where the chest's clasp should be. Smiling at each other, they both jump and roll into the thick grass.

Cut to a side shot of the train chugging and sliding toward the river. From the front we see it slide, cutting deep into the ground, down the bank of the river and plow into the dark waters. It stops with a "crack!" in mid-river, the top of the engine barely visible above the slow moving water. We don't see Landshark or what happened to him. An ominous grown of metal is heard, and a large, but unnoticed, nozzle at the side and base of the engine begins to leak a phosphorescent white liquid. As it spreads it changes color, like a rainbow done in light glowing colors. The liquid lazily rides toward the surface in beautiful thick curls. It touches the open air and we hear the death cry of a man, then a woman, and then more cries. A skeletal fist and arm shoot up from the water's surface, coated in the bare remains of flesh. We see the arm and bright slick from a distance now, our view quickly lowering in perspective to show an abandoned engineer's uniform lying on the thick grass, as behind it we see more skeletal arms rise from the river while the slick spreads.

more...