The Crow Page #13

TOP DOLLAR:

(pissed off)

The

night is young.

SKANK:

(hot)

The found T-bird flash-fried to

what was left of his f***ing car!

Top is angry too, but won't show it to

Lao. He rises and goes

to the window. Neon glow. Top sees something

outside, below,

that really torques him off.

EXT. STREET OUTSIDE

SHOWTIME - NIGHT (TOP'S POV)

A phantom GRAFFITI ARTIST is spray-painting

a crow shape on the

condemned building right across the street.

INT.

TOP DOLLAR'S LAIR - NIGHT

Top whip-drawing an auto pistol and shooting

below.

TOP DOLLAR:

Hey, you little fuckweed! That's

against the law!

His gun smoking. Momentary empowerment.

TOP DOLLAR (CONT'D)

I don't

give a sh*t what kinda

bird this guy is.

EXT. WINDOW - NIGHT

As Top

turns from the window, PULL BACK to incorporate the

chunky shadows where

the lights don't fall. Eric is there,

perched on the narrow exterior

ledge...but we don't know it

until he opens his eyes, two dots of white

in the blackness.

INT. TOP DOLLAR'S LAIR - NIGHT

LAO AT TABLE --

angered by this macho horseshit, annoyed at his

time being frittered.

LAO:

I am sitting over here.

He SLAMS a palm on the table and the room

goes silent. Top

looks sheepish.

LAO (CONT'D)

Do you think this

childish

machismo impresses me?

(regains composure)

When I was a

boy in Saigon I

watched my country change one

block at a time, one

building at

a time. Whole lives erased. A

way of life, polluted.

Today, no

one forces me to move. I use my

powers to change your

country, one

block at a time, one building at

a time.

TOP DOLLAR:

Nice speech. What's it supposed

to mean?

LAO:

Your comprehension is

not

required. Your cooperation and,

indeed, your ability are the

issues on the table.

Top rallies to this.

TOP DOLLAR:

Whatever you

say, I can do.

Skank looks around, nervous and jumpy, a contradiction to

Top's

guarantee.

LAO:

That's reassuring.

CLOSE-UP - TOP'S SHELL

CASING IN ERIC'S HAND

from the ledge. Endstamp is for a .45 caliber.

ANGLE - ERIC ON LEDGE

He sniffs the cartridge. We can see Funboy's

cartridge in his

hair. He fists the shell casing tightly.

ANGLE -

DOWN-TABLE, AT SKANK

Jittery, grabbing a clip for his own automatic.

SKANK:

What was that -- !?

It wasn't anything. Skank loads, stands and

jacks the action on

his gun. Lao looks questioningly to Top Dollar.

TOP DOLLAR:

Too many poppers, Skank. Relax. Heel.

ANGLE - WINDOW

BEHIND TOP DOLLAR

A black blur as Eric arches through, spilling Top.

ANGLE - MEN SEATED AT TABLE

Eric back flips the length of the table and

kicks the gun from

Skank's hand. All react. Weapons out.

CLOSE-UP -

SKANK'S GUN

spinning mid-air to land in Eric's open hand!

GENERAL ANGLE:

- BIG MOBY SHOOTOUT - (VARIOUS)

Death cleans house. Standing on the

table, Eric fires rearward

under his own arm to clip Lao Guard #1. He

pivots, shooting,

and takes out Lao Guard #2 -- who slams backward into

the steel

door as it being opened by the Sentry outside. Crash! The

door is shut again.

ANGLE - GRANGE AND LAO

Grange sprays the room with

a Calico 950 Auto, shoving Lao

beneath the table for cover.

ANGLE - ERIC

Bullets hit him and demolish everything behind him. Skank hits

the deck

again. Eric fires and Lao Guard #1 sucks three hits

across the chest,

firing convulsively against the ceiling, blowing

the lights.

ANGLE - TOP

DOLLAR:

springing up from behind table. But Eric is gone from the field

of fire and one shot strikes Skank, rising at the far end.

ANGLE - LAO

AND GRANGE:

making for the door, Grange as shield. Lao draws a pistol.

The door

opens and Lao shoots a Sentry to clear him out of the way.

ANGLE - TIGHTER ON LAO

A last look back toward Eric and Grange hustle

Lao out.

Door SLAM o.s. Top is out of ammo as Eric lands from above

frame right in front of him and slaps the gun from his hand.

TOP:

DOLLAR:

(awed but maintained)

You want my attention, man you

got

it.

ANGLE - SKANK UNDER TABLE

Wounded but clawing toward Eric just the

same.

SKANK:

It's him, Top! He dusted T-Bird!

ANGLE - ERIC AND TOP

DOLLAR, FACE-TO-FACE

ERIC:

You have to be SKank.

(to Top Dollar)

One moment.

As he speaks, WIDEN FRAME as he turns and grabs the incoming

Skank by the hair.

ERIC:

Thank of a snappy comeback for me

on your

way down.

Without a beat he pitches Skank right out the window! Skank

howls

all the way down.

EXT. STREET - ON POLICE CAR - NIGHT

Damaged

from the wreck, limping home, piloted by our pals Speeg

and MJ. Skank

smashes down into the roof, imploding the

flashbar and windshield. MJ

drenches his lap in fresh coffee.

MJ:

OwwwAAHHH son of a B*TCH!

ANGLE:

- SIDEWALK ACROSS THE STREET - ON ALBRECHT

who watches with slow marvel

from the shadows

ALBRECHT:

Jesus Christ...

He runs to assist the

demolished cruiser.

INT. TOP DOLLAR'S LAIR - RESUMING - NIGHT

Just

Top, Eric, corpses, and lazily drifting gunsmoke.

ERIC:

Top Dollar,

you're the only one

here still wasting good air...

TOP DOLLAR:

Five

large, in the drawer right

over there. I never saw you.

ERIC:

Do

you know what you destroyed?

TOP DOLLAR:

Take the dope, too.

Eric

backhands Top into the wall. Gets in his face, seething.

ERIC:

A year

ago. A very nice lady

circulated a petition. She died.

Last

Halloween. Answer yes or no.

TOP DOLLAR:

That's ancient history.

ERIC:

It's yesterday! Do you know what

you destroyed?

Top Dollar yells

right back at Eric's anger.

TOP DOLLAR:

Who gives a f***! I'm a

businessman. You gonna do me,

then do me and shut you're face!

ERIC:

You don't even remember...

TOP DOLLAR:

I never forget anything,

d*ckhead.

That building was a sweep-and-

clear; the b*tch was a

nuisance

with her goddamned petition. It

got a little rowdy... end of

story.

ERIC:

Rowdy. Let me fill in some gaps

for you.

And he grabs

Top's head the way he grabbed ALbrecht's earlier,

slams Top into the

wall. Nose-to-nose.

FLASH:
Shelly backing away from oncoming Funboy in

the loft,

trying to retreat, nowhere to run, her home invaded, scared.

FLASH ENDS.

ANGLE - TOP DOLLAR AND ERIC

Top is quivering, almost

helpless in Eric's hypnotic grasp.

Eric winces, hard, and --

FLASH:

Shelly cut, bleeding, struggling against T-Bird. Wild.

FLASH ENDS.

ANGLE - RESUMING TOP DOLLAR AND ERIC

Viciously close, more intimate and

lethal than anything.

ERIC:

You're a detail man, Top -- you

need to

see more.

This time Top tries to twist from Eric's grasp but it's no

good.

FLASH:
Shelly, comatose in ICU, eyes fixed and staring,

hoses

darting in and out, cold blue refrigerator light.

Bloody, bruised and

broken (from Albrecht;s memory)

FLASH ENDS.

CLOSE-UP - TOP DOLLAR

arching, stiffening in pain.

CLOSE-UP - TOP DOLLAR AND ERIC

ERIC:

All

of her pain, Top. Thirty

hours. All at once...

Eric bears down on Top

Dollar again. Top screams. Blood begins

to leak from his eyes, nose,

ears.

ERIC (CONT'D)

...all for you.

FLASH:
Rapidfire CLOSE-UPS. A

jagged compound fracture,

jutting, Shelly's eye, blood-red sclera,

purpled and sunken.

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