Scene X
Open to a small office setup (dim lights) as the MYSTERIOUS MAN talks
with the HEAD HONCHO, who’s sitting at the desk.
HEAD HONCHO: Excellent job, Agent Twelve.
Already, that blood money has been sent to our missionaries overseas.
MM: (in a gruff voice) And the king?
HEAD HONCHO: I don’t know? Should we bring
him in? Do you expect him to talk?
MM: No, Mr. Job, I expect him to die.
HEAD HONCHO: That’s rather harsh, even for
you J…
MM: Agent Twelve.
HEAD HONCHO: Agent Twelve, right. Guards!
CHRISTIANS 1 AND 2 enter.
HEAD HONCHO: Escort Agent Twelve to his next
assignment. I’m going to stay here and try to decipher this map we acquired.
CHRISTIAN 1: Yes sir.
CHRISTIAN 2: Ya got it, boss.
HEAD HONCHO: (pulling out a cross necklace he
was wearing) For Him.
MM, CHRISTIANS 1 AND 2: (imitating HEAD
HONCHO with similar necklaces) For Him.
CHRISTIAN 1 escorts MM offstage, while CHRISTIAN 2 watches them, his
back facing HEAD HONCHO. After a little bit of him studying the map, GOLIATH
sneaks up behind him, holding the full knapsack above his head.
GOLIATH: If this helps, this wasn’t my idea.
HEAD HONCHO: What the…
GOLIATH knocks out the HEAD HONCHO with the knapsack. CHRISTIAN 2
responds, turning around and threatening GOLIATH with a slingshot. MARTHA and
PILATE sneak up behind CHRISTIAN 2. PILATE taps CHRISTIAN 2 on the shoulder and
waves hi. He does a politician’s handshake with her, which distracts her enough
so that MARTHA can plant a pie in her face. With CHRISTIAN 2 falling over and
rolling on the ground wrestling with the pie, PILATE beckons in SOLOMON and JC
as MARTHA and GOLIATH drag the two bodies away. JC stands guard as SOLOMON
begins searching the desk. He quickly finds the map and holds it up for the
rest of the party to see.
SOLOMON and JC search the desk for anything
useful as PILATE, GOLIATH, and MARTHA dodge and chase various other CHRISTIANS.
Eventually, MM returns and joins the chase, clearly giving the CHRISTIANS the
upper hand. MM and the CHRISTIANS (at least 15 of them) have everyone in the
party surrounded at the end of the chase, in a circle, around the desk. MM
steps into the circle.
GOLIATH: Request permission to smash their
bones into pancakes, sire.
SOLOMON: Not now… we still have an ace.
MARTHA: Whatever it is, just show it already!
MM: Pilate, Goliath, and the former king
himself.
SOLOMON: Current! I should still be king.
Don’t believe anything I might have told you.
MM: You’re one of many surprises here. But your time has come. (Pulls out cross
necklace) For Him.
ALL OTHER CHRISTIANS: (without moving) For
Him.
PILATE: (as MM approaches and starts to
circle around them) Now hold on just a minute… look at me. Do you really think
you can arrest a public servant like me?
MM: Pontius Pilate. You condemned Jesus to
die on a cross. You deserve no mercy. True Christians don’t care about big
names.
SOLOMON: That’s an interesting accusation for
you, ‘Agent Twelve.’ I know who you are. Take a step closer, and so will they.
MM: You bluff.
MM takes a step closer.
SOLOMON: (holding up classified documents he
found) Or do I… Judas?
Everyone freezes. Slowly, MM takes his mask off, accepting the reality
that MM is JUDAS, who’s bizarrely handsome.
JUDAS: … how did you know?
SOLOMON: Not from your face, apparently.
Plastic surgery?
JUDAS: Several times.
MARTHA: (to SOLOMON) It can’t be… he’s dead.
They told me he killed himself, ashamed that he betrayed Jesus to the
authorities for thirty silver.
SOLOMON: Around the time of Jesus’s death,
there’s a record here of a man, broke and near-suicidal, approaching a newborn
organization, begging to find a way to erase what he had done since no drug
could do it for him. The pieces put themselves together.
JUDAS: … it’s true. It’s all true. I thought
I could escape the crime I committed. Martha should be right; I should have
died on that night, the night I sold Him. He will hate me for defiling his name,
and I know he’s watching. (To CHRISTIANS) I report that I am no longer fit for
duty. (Takes off cross, throws it on the ground) For Him.
He begins to walk away, but is stopped by some CHRISTIANS.
JUDAS: You shouldn’t touch me.
CHRISTIAN 3: With all due respect, sir, we
don’t care who you were before coming here.
CHRISTIAN 4: You’re done too much good for us
to just stand away.
CHRISTIAN 5: You really want to throw away
those good times? Remember Nineveh? Remember the inside job with the walls of
Jericho?
JUDAS: Those were some of the best years of
my life. But can anyone here look me in the eye and tell me they would
willingly serve with such a traitor?
ALL OTHER CHRISTIANS stand at attention and look at JUDAS square in the
eye.
ALL OTHER CHRISTIANS: For Him!
JUDAS: Then it is to be. (To the party)
Standard procedure is to put you all in ‘the comfy chair,’ but I want to know
who organized you and why your map has a pentagram drawn on the old junkyard.
GOLIATH: Oh, that is easy to explain. We are
going to get together to be a strike team for the devil, and we were supposed
to invite you. Here, read this letter.
GOLIATH gives JUDAS the letter and the map (taking both from SOLOMON’s
hand). There’s a long, stunned silence on all parts.
JUDAS: What.
PILATE: What!?
MARTHA: What’s wrong with you!
GOLIATH: I don’t know! You said I should take
initiative!
SOLOMON: But not now! Why can’t you take
initiative after we tell you to take initiative?
PILATE: Finally, someone’s making sense
around here!
GOLIATH: I am truly sorry! Please don’t hurt
me!
SOLOMON: So much for the proud brute!
JUDAS: Enough!
The party turns to face him. JUDAS holds up the letter in front of them,
folds it twice, and then rips it up. Everyone in the party but JC panics.
MARTHA: What’s wrong with you!?
JUDAS: I won’t allow this deal with the devil
to pass. You’re not leaving here until we decide how to finish off The Great
Tempter.
SOLOMON: Wait… hold on a bit… thinking,
thinking… got it! Judas, what do you want to do to this Tempter?
JUDAS: Destroy him for good.
SOLOMON: But you need to find him first,
right? Come on, Judas, this is the perfect undercover mission. We go in, get
the gold, and deliver him straight into your hands.
JUDAS: But you know I’ll betray you.
SOLOMON: He doesn’t. I just want his gold. And
the chicks. The chicks would be nice too. You can do what you want with Satan.
JUDAS: I’d chance that. But I can’t let you
take that evil money from that man.
SOLOMON: And the…
JUDAS: And the evil chicks, yes.
SOLOMON: Oh, but it’s a good thing I’ll be
taking his gold! I already explained my brilliant reasoning to Mr. Jacob Caro…
JC: (leaning in to JUDAS) Jus’ go along with
it. I’ll explain later.
SOLOMON: … and I won’t be doing any evil
deeds for that creature.
JUDAS: … promise?
SOLOMON: (shaking hands with JUDAS, clearly
crossing his fingers with his other hand behind him) I promise.
Blackout. End scene.
Interesting choices with Judas. He's alive, for one thing, and you set him up as the "least villainous" of the bunch since his guilt seems to make him want to do good. I'm curious to see where this goes since this scene promises much more to come, and I hope you don't rush through things to get to the end.
ReplyDeleteI'll repeat my earlier comment that this story might work better on film than onstage since this tenth scene seems to set up so much for later and the sheer number of scenes would make this logistically difficult as a play.