Crisis Weeky #12

PAGE ONE

Panel 1

Lorraine Reilly is talking.  This is a close-up, so that we only see her face.  Variations of this will populate the next four panels.

LORRAINE REILLY: Ladies and gentlemen of these United States, and all those watching around the world, I stand before you at a moment of profound crisis.

Panel 2

Variation on Lorraine talking.

LORRAINE REILLY: This is a crisis of our own deliberate making.

Panel 3

Variation on Lorraine talking.

LORRAINE REILLY: When I was elected to the office of the vice presidency, I never imagined any of this would happen, much less ascending to the presidency itself.  The matter of my former existence as a superhero known as Firehawk was simply not relevant at that time.  No one talked about it.  I earned my political stripes the same way as everyone else.

Panel 4

Variation on Lorraine talking.

LORRAINE REILLY: Yet now, the only word anyone has on their lips when they speak of me is “Firehawk.”  Superhero.  And suddenly that is a bad thing.

Panel 5

Variation on Lorraine talking.

LORRAINE REILLY: I am not here to talk about myself, or superheroes, but the state of the nation as a whole.  As I have said, we at are in the midst of crisis, and I find that I am in a unique position to talk about it, for exactly the reason everyone talks about…

Panel 6

Black panel with text.

TITLE: “Independence Day”

Panel 7

Black panel with text.

WRITER: Tony Laplume

Panel 8

Lorraine has transformed into Firehawk, but otherwise the focus is the same.

LORRAINE REILLY: …but not as they are going about it now, not in a way that tears us apart, but in the same spirit in which I at one time proudly flew in the heavens as the superhero called Firehawk.

Panel 9

Silent panel.  Firehawk is looking with steely resolve (with a hint of disgust) at something we can’t see.
 

PAGE TWO

Panel 1

Wide shot around Firehawk, in which we see she has been standing inside the chambers of the House of Representatives, in the midst of the State of the Union address.  We see Karma floating above the assembled congressmen.

CAPTION: Chambers of the House of Representatives, US Capitol

KARMA: Allow me to summarize for you!

KARMA: The state of the union is rotten!

Panel 2

Karma is speaking to the assembled congressmen now.

KARMA: Your president has lied to you!  Misled you!  Woven false narratives around you!

KARMA: She will say anything she thinks she has to just so she can continue to control the message!

KARMA: Is that what your democracy is about, Americans?

Panel 3

Firehawk has risen into the air toward Karma.

LORRAINE REILLY: Democracy in this country began with angry men who yearned for change.  They stopped at nothing to achieve their goals.  They threw a tea party in Boston harbor.  They threw away the trash.

LORRAINE REILLY: Let me attempt to replicate that here today.

 

PAGE THREE

Panel 1

Both Firehawk and Karma are unleashing concussive blasts at each other, and the blasts are meeting in the middle.

Panel 2

They’re holding at considerable strain the concussive blasts.  We see some of the congressmen begin transforming into Man-Bats, with great alarm arising from those around them.

Panel 3

Firehawk breaks off her blast directed at Karma to redirect at the emerging Man-Bats.

Panel 4

As a result, she’s hit with a renewed blast from Karma.
 

PAGE FOUR

Panel 1

We find Firehawk in the upper balcony of the chambers, amidst some of the ordinary people and guests who are always present at these addresses.  Among them we can actually see superheroes, some of whom are in costume and some of whom aren’t.  We see Jason Rusch, who at one time was a part of the Firestorm matrix with Lorraine.  There’s also Blue Beetle, the armored Jaime Reyes version; Fire, ablaze in her green flame; Sasha Bordeaux, with her metallic eye, who was once part of the government agency Checkmate but is once again a civilian; and Guy Gardner.

GUY GARDNER: White Martians.

LORRAINE REILLY: Exactly.  Her, too.

Panel 2

Now it’s Firehawk’s turn to address the congressmen around them.

LORRAINE REILLY: Behold Karma!

Panel 3

Firehawk and Fire share a look.

Panel 4

They both unleash flame at Karma.

Panel 5

Karma, along with the Man-Bats, are transforming into their White Martian forms.  There is increased alarm and outrage sweeping through the chambers.
 

PAGE FIVE

Panel 1

Karma, having reconstituted her superhero guise, shrieks in rage.

Panel 2

She’s now building up an ominous-looking charge, worse than the blasts she’s been using to this point.

Panel 3

The charge is growing bigger.  You can see congressmen backing away from it, some of them outright running away.

Panel 4

She has now lobbed the charge, not at Firehawk but the fleeing congressmen.  And yet Firehawk is moving to intercept it.
 

PAGE SIX

Panel 1

Great pain registers on Firehawk’s face as she’s hit with the charge, which explodes into a blinding light.

Panel 2

Firehawk is now absorbing the light, renewed determination on her face.  Karma looks on in astonishment.  This was her biggest gun.

Panel 3

A smoldering Firehawk has turned her attention back to Karma, fury filling her eyes.
 

PAGE SEVEN

Panel 1

Firehawk has once again risen into the air, triumphant.  Behind her are Fire and Blue Beetle, as well as Martian Manhunter, who must have been disguised earlier, but now out in the open.

LORRAINE REILLY: Now, Karma.

Panel 2

Tighter focus on Firehawk again.

LORRAINE REILLY: We can continue this charade, or end it.

 

PAGE EIGHT      

Panel 1

Jack Ryder’s show!  He’s standing just outside the Capitol.

JACK RYDER: …went on to continue harping on her version of our “angry men” founders, claiming that if there was any tradition in America, it was constant discontent.

Panel 2

Jack’s show continues.

JACK RYDER: Clearly just another deflection.  Everyone I’ve spoken with about the speech agrees that it changes nothing, nor the rather impressive confrontation with the ambassador of hope, Karma, who turned out to be a White Martian all along.

Panel 3

Jack’s show continues.

JACK RYDER: But what did that really prove?  What was the point of the president’s theatrics?  Swooping in to save the day again?  Please!

Panel 4

Jack’s show continues.

JACK RYDER: Everyone saw the chambers packed with her superhero friends!  Even Guy Gardner was there!  Yet another misbegotten recipient of President Reilly’s rash pardons.

Panel 5

Jack’s show continues.

JACK RYDER: It seems the more she gets wrong the more she’s prepared to snub her nose at the public’s rejection of her!

Panel 6

Jack’s show continues.

JACK RYDER: To what end? 

Panel 7

Jack’s show continues.

JACK RYDER: I’m not alone in spotting the Martian Manhunter among her cronies?  Who’s to say we could ever have taken him at his word at being a “good” Martian?  We’ve now known the truth of the nature of the Martians for years.

Panel 8

Jack’s show continues.

JACK RYDER: And they have been among us.  And they are here still.  And we have the superheroes to thank for it.

Panel 9

Jack’s show continues.

JACK RYDER: But what if the so-called superheroes have been the villains all along?