Firebreather Page #2

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wondering when I'd run into you.

Gym teacher?

That's your cover? Really?

You're coming down in the

world since the last school.

Barnes:
The whole vice principal

thing really cramped my style.

I could only yell at the kids.

Here I can get a

lot more physical.

[Whistle blows]

[Students grunting, laughing]

Troy:
A heads up! Unh!

Yeah! That's right!

Troy:
Two losers left.

Ken:
Up yours, Troy!

Unh!

[Light laughter]

Troy:
Time to take out the trash...

the trailer trash.

[Laughter]

Ken:
You really are the

king of the jerk wads.

Troy:
It's good to be the king.

[Laughter]

Duncan:
Enough!

Ken:
Huh?

Duncan:
[Chuckles]

[Bones crack]

Troy:
[Stifled laugh]

Huh?

Huh?

Troy:
Hey, spread out!

Duncan:
[Laughs]

Troy:
No way.

[Laughter]

Yeah!

Whoo!

How'd he do that?

Troy:
[Growls]

What?

[Ball bouncing]

Duncan:
[Laughs]

Barnes:
Troy, catch with

your hands, not your face.

[Laughter]

Ken:
I didn't ask you

to do that, you know.

Duncan:
I know.

Ken:
Didn't need you to save me.

Duncan:
I didn't.

I just got sick of hearing

the dillweeds crow.

Ken:
Well, that was fairly cool.

Actually, you could take that show

on the road and sell tickets.

Duncan:
No big deal.

[Bones crack]

Troy:
Get lost, trailer park.

[Laughter]

Ken:
Uh, it's a free

country, amigo.

Duncan:
It's okay, Kenny.

Go.

Troy:
[Chuckles]

You know what happens now?

Duncan:
Well, traditionally,

this is where I hand you your

meat, all nice and on a slab.

[Laughs]

Duncan:
But I pretty much promised my

mom I wouldn't fight, so... Later!

Hey!

Get him!

What is he doing?

Troy:
[Growls]

Duncan:
Hey, blitz.

[Laughs]

[Laughs]

Troy:
[Growls]

Ugh!

What?

[Girl screams]

Troy:
There he is!

Duncan:
[Laughs]

Troy:
Come on!

You all right?

Duncan:
[Exhales sharply]

Troy:
[Breathing heavily]

Duncan:
[Breathing heavily]

You don't want to fight me.

Troy:
Don't worry.

It's not going to be a

fight, just a beatdown.

Duncan:
Leave me alone!

Troy:
Oh, forget this.

Duncan:
[Breathing heavily]

[Gasps]

Ugh!

Barnes:
Holy hello, kid.

Way to keep a low profile.

Troy:
Dude breathed fire, man.

W-what is he?

Barnes:
Get to class now,

or you're expelled.

Duncan:
It's not my fault!

It just happened!

Barnes:
Later, kid.

Duncan:
If Troy's hurt,

he was asking for it.

Barnes:
Don't worry about it.

I was going to

bench him, anyway.

He runs fine, but he couldn't

hold onto a ball with a handle.

[Keypad beeps]

[Energy pulsing]

Well, this doesn't look too bad.

Duncan:
Are you kidding me?

My face looks like the

Australian outback.

Barnes:
More like the

surface of Mars.

[Laughs] Mars?

No, it's not mar...

I mean, a little bit Mars, but no.

Barnes:
Is this it, doc?

Or should we expect

other surprises?

Well, obviously, Duncan's

innate strength and resilience

have been growing steadily

since birth, but his natural

fight-or-flight response created

a hyper-stimulated state, which

manifested itself as

incendia respiro.

It's fire breath.

Yeah, you have it, Duncan.

You'll learn to control it in

time, but until then, you're

just going to have to stay out of

situations with, uh, potential conflict.

Duncan:
Like high school?

[Chuckling] High school.

I remember high school.

That place didn't

work out well for me.

Barnes:
What I'm asking is...

When will Duncan constitute a threat?

To humanity? Duncan?

No, no. He's a sweet boy.

He's not a pandemic.

[Chuckles]

Barnes:
It's only a matter of time

before... Margaret: Duncan.

Duncan:
Hi, mom.

Margaret:
Whose brilliant idea

was it to bring Duncan here?

Barnes:
Uh...

How have you been, Margaret?

It's been a while.

Look... I-I don't like this,

either, but there was little

incendia respiro incident at school and...

Margaret:
That's what we call

a "your problem."

I have a legal contract with

megtaf, stipulating my son have

as normal a life as

humanly possible.

Barnes:
And that's exactly

what I'm doing, Margaret.

Your son's a fine kid, especially

for a boy without a father.

I'd be happy to give you my two cents

about him over dinner sometime.

Margaret:
Ah.

Barnes:
A son of a buck!

Margaret:
[Gasps]

Duncan:
[Chuckles]

Not bad, huh?

Very interesting.

Margaret:
Oh, baby.

Barnes:
It's an old

gag, a classic.

The flash powder ignites on contact and...

poof!... Fireworks.

You can buy it at any

decent magic shop.

Troy:
What?

That is such a load of bullcrap!

The freak's mouth shot flames!

Ugh!

Troy, we have discussed school

policy on name-calling.

And, Duncan, your prank could

have ended in serious injury.

Troy:
No, I-it did!

My eyebrows were

totally burned off!

Troy, no offense, but I've had you in here

so many times, your name should be on that

chair on a brass plaque.

Now, since you're both at

fault, you can either choose

suspension, or work together

to clean up the damage.

Your call.

Troy:
Oh, yeah, right!

Like I'm gonna do

anything with that yob?

Duncan:
[Exhales sharply]

Look, Troy, um... I'm truly ashamed of my

thoughtless, dangerous, and immature prank.

I'm sorry.

Troy:
Are you kidding me?

I know what I saw.

You are some kind of freak.

Just stay away from me.

Isabel:
Could've told you

how that one would go.

So, you coming to the big party

on berkshire Lane Saturday?

Duncan:
I wasn't

invited to any party.

Isabel:
Nobody was.

It's a "someone's parents are out of town"

party, where everybody just shows up.

Duncan:
Uh, yeah, I-it's not

really my kind of scene.

I-I'm not totally comfortable.

Isabel:
Oh, come on.

You just tried to shake

hands with Troy Adams.

This is like 10 times

easier than that.

[Indistinct conversations]

Jenna:
Guys, seriously,

it was in my locker.

When I got back,

it was just gone.

Why were you keeping the money

in your locker, anyway, Jenna?

[Scoffs]

Isabel:
About that party...

Everyone is going, seriously.

Everyone.

Duncan:
Uh...

Maybe I might stop by.

[Crickets chirping]

[Dog barking]

[Owl hooting]

Duncan:
Hmm.

Margaret:
Duncan rosenblatt.

Duncan:
[Clears throat]

Margaret:
Where do you

think you're going?

Duncan:
Well, uh, it's like this...

I'm kind of going to a, um, party.

Margaret:
You were

invited to a party?

Oh, I'm so happy.

Duncan:
Your confidence in my

people skills is overwhelming, mom.

Anyway, it's probably going to be a couple

of dorks sitting around playing video

games.

Margaret:
Well, I

hope you have fun.

[Sighs]

[Tires screech]

[Dog barking]

[Electronic music playing]

Yeah!

[Indistinct conversations]

Duncan:
Hey, Jenna.

Uh, so, about my little dork show

in biology... Jenna: What?

Duncan:
Y-you see, there was this

thing, and I had to catch it.

Jenna:
What are you

talking about?

Duncan, right?

As humiliating as I'm sure that was, I

would trade places with you in a heartbeat.

Duncan:
What's up?

I saw everyone acting

weird around you.

Jenna:
You haven't heard?

I lost all the money we'd

raised for homecoming.

Duncan:
No way.

Jenna:
I thought it was in my

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