Create Urban Setting Manga

# Sons of Samson — Manga Script ### Panel-by-panel adaptation, Chapters 1–3 Camera terms used throughout: **WS** (wide shot), **ES** (establishing shot), **MS** (medium shot), **CU** (close-up), **ECU** (extreme close-up), **OTS** (over-the-shoulder), **POV**, **2-SHOT**, **INSERT** (object focus), **LOW/HIGH ANGLE**, **DUTCH ANGLE**, **BIRD'S EYE**, **REACTION SHOT**. ### Visual quick-reference - **Ace** — 21, 5'9", sharp-jawed, dark hair growing past a once-precise cut, lean/ectomorph build gaining sudden definition, brown-gold eyes, easy rich-kid posture. - **Anna** — 20, athletic, red jacket rarely off her shoulders, expressive/smirking face. - **Guil** — 21, shaggy hair over one eye, permanently a little hazy, paint-stained hands. - **Lotus** — 21, all black but clean/deliberate, short hair, guarded expression that rarely shows what she's thinking. - **Rosetta** — 30s, warm but sharp-eyed, practical clothes, sleeves rolled. - **Jaguar** — wiry, capable hands, unnervingly calm. - **Elena** — hair so pale it reads almost white, bright blue eyes, freckles, soft-spoken. - **Hushim** — massive, blunt, dead-eyed calm rather than rage; grip-and-mass build, not athletic. - **Tod** — deliberately plain, forgettable, until he isn't. --- ## CHAPTER ONE: BORN ### Page 1 **Panel 1** **Camera:** ES, low and slow — a black SUV's dashboard glowing faintly in an otherwise dark interior, shot through the windshield from outside the car so the forest is visible wrapping around it. **Setting:** Woodcreek Forest at night — dense treeline, no streetlights, a sliver of moon. Humid late-summer air, faint mist low to the ground. The only light source is the dashboard and the orange ember of a joint. **Characters:** Interior silhouettes only — Ace in the driver's seat, Guil passenger, Anna and Lotus in the back, all barely lit. **Action:** The radio crackles on. No characters visible clearly yet — this panel is mood-setting. **Dialogue:** > **RADIO (DJ)** *(warm, lazy late-night radio cadence, slightly bored with his own script)*: "It's Wednesday, ten-thirty p.m., and the night is looking good. How are we feeling tonight, Themelio City?" **Panel 2** **Camera:** INSERT — tight on the radio dial/dashboard display, the DJ's voice as the only content of the panel (radio waves rendered as small motion lines). **Setting:** Same dark interior, dashboard glow only. **Dialogue:** > **RADIO (DJ)** *(tone shifts — leans in, half-amused)*: "I'll tell you — I'm feeling jazzy. But before that, some news." **Panel 3** **Camera:** WS, exterior — a chain-link and concrete prison wall shattered outward, rubble scattered across a floodlit yard, several security lights knocked crooked. (This is a cutaway/imagined image over the radio narration, rendered slightly desaturated to mark it as reported, not seen firsthand.) **Setting:** North Prison exterior, night, harsh sodium floodlights, dust still hanging in the air over the broken wall. **Dialogue:** > **RADIO (DJ)** *(voiceover, more serious now)*: "Not too long ago we had ourselves a massive breakout at the north prison. Witnesses say the wall came down like it took a direct hit from a boulder." **Panel 4** **Camera:** ECU — a single mugshot-style photo of Hushim (heavy brow, dead-eyed stare) filling the panel, as if flashed on a TV chyron. **Setting:** No physical setting — this is a graphic/text-overlay panel, his name stamped beneath in bold. **Dialogue:** > **RADIO (DJ)** *(voiceover, grave)*: "There's one name police did confirm — Hushim. Stay indoors tonight. Walk in groups. Lock your doors." --- ### Page 2 **Panel 1** **Camera:** MS, from outside the passenger window looking in as it cracks open. **Setting:** Interior, dashboard light now catching Guil's face — shaggy hair falling over one eye, an unlit joint between two fingers. **Characters:** Guil in profile, leaning toward the gap in the window. **Action:** Guil lights the joint; the ember flares orange, briefly lighting his face from below. **Dialogue:** > **GUIL** *(lazy grin, exhaling as he speaks — unbothered, half-teasing)*: "Well, isn't that perfect. Y'all ever wonder if Hushim's one of them superhumans? I heard he's the one that busted the wall down himself." **Panel 2** **Camera:** OTS from behind Guil, framing Ace at the wheel, dashboard light carving sharp lines across his face. **Setting:** Driver's seat, forward-facing, headlights not yet on. **Dialogue:** > **ACE** *(one eyebrow raised, dry, unconvinced)*: "You actually believe that superhuman stuff is real?" **Panel 3** **Camera:** CU on Guil, turned slightly toward Ace, pointing a finger for emphasis. **Dialogue:** > **GUIL** *(mock-philosophical, proud of the line)*: "The absence of evidence isn't the evidence of absence, bro." **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Ace, flat stare. **Dialogue:** > **ACE** *(deadpan)*: "You can't be serious." **Panel 5** **Camera:** 2-SHOT, back seat — Anna with arms folded over her red jacket, Lotus beside her looking out the window, unreadable. **Dialogue:** > **ANNA** *(exasperated, half-laughing at them)*: "There is no way you two are sitting here debating rumors while there's an actual killer on the loose. Can we please wrap up and go home?" --- ### Page 3 **Panel 1** **Camera:** MS, Guil twisting around in his seat to face the back, grin wide. **Dialogue:** > **GUIL** *(playful, stretching the moment out)*: "So soon? Night's still young, what's the rush. Besides — even if Hushim finds us, we got this." **Panel 2** **Camera:** INSERT, tight on Guil's hands popping the glove compartment and pulling out a handgun, flipping the chamber open with practiced ease. **Setting:** Dashboard light glinting off the metal. **Action:** No dialogue — pure hand-focus panel, checking the rounds. **Panel 3** **Camera:** CU, Guil, smug. **Dialogue:** > **GUIL**: "And it's registered. How great is that?" **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Lotus — first clear, direct look at her face this chapter. Calm, but firm, eyes locked on the gun rather than Guil. **Dialogue:** > **LOTUS** *(quiet, even, no room for argument in the tone despite the softness)*: "Please put that away. We don't want another accident like last time." **Panel 5** **Camera:** WS, full car interior, all four visible for the first time in one frame. **Action:** Ace, Anna, and Guil all burst out laughing at once. **Dialogue:** > **GUIL** *(groaning, dragging a hand down his face, still grinning)*: "Oh, come on. There is no way you all still remember that." **Panel 6** **Camera:** MS, Ace, wiping his eyes, still laughing, hand moving to the key in the ignition. **Dialogue:** > **ACE** *(teasing, warm)*: "You pissed your pants, bro. There's no way any of us could forget that." --- ### Page 4 **Panel 1** **Camera:** LOW ANGLE, exterior, headlights snapping on and sweeping gold across the treeline as the engine turns over. **Setting:** Woodcreek Forest, the Range Rover's headlights the brightest thing in frame. **Dialogue:** > **ACE** *(more serious now, under the humor)*: "But he's right, we should get moving before Hushim actually does find us." **Panel 2** **Camera:** WS, tracking shot alongside the car as it exits the treeline onto the main road, the distant orange glow of Themelio City's skyline replacing the dark forest on the horizon. **Setting:** Transition from forest to city outskirts — sodium streetlights beginning to appear. **Panel 3** **Camera:** OTS from the back seat, Anna leaning forward between the front seats, chin propped on her hand, close to Ace. **Dialogue:** > **ANNA** *(sing-song, casual)*: "Heyyy, Ace. When are your parents coming back?" **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Ace, eyes still on the road, unbothered. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "Mmh — two or three weeks, they said. Not totally sure. Why?" --- ### Page 5 **Panel 1** **Camera:** CU, Anna's face in profile, biting her lower lip, leaning in close to Ace's ear. **Setting:** Interior lit only by passing streetlights, sliding across her face in bands. **Dialogue:** > **ANNA** *(voice dropped low, teasing but genuinely flirtatious)*: "Well... do you mind if I sleep over tonight, handsome?" **Panel 2** **Camera:** CU, Ace, heat visibly rising in his face, throat working as he searches for a response. **Action:** No dialogue — reaction panel. **Panel 3** **Camera:** INSERT — the rearview mirror, framing just Lotus's eyes reflected in it, watching Ace. Not smiling. **Setting:** Small mirror-shaped panel border to emphasize this is specifically what Ace sees. **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Lotus, turning away fast the instant their eyes meet, facing out the window instead, expression carefully blank. **Action:** No dialogue. **Panel 5** **Camera:** POV from Ace's eyes — the road ahead drifting out of focus, his attention clearly elsewhere. **Setting:** Motion blur creeping in at the edges of the panel to signal his distraction. --- ### Page 6 **Panel 1** **Camera:** WS, sudden — Guil lunging forward from the passenger seat, alarm on his face. **Dialogue:** > **GUIL** *(shouted, all caps energy in the linework — sharp jagged speech bubble)*: "ACE, WATCH THE ROAD!" **Panel 2** **Camera:** DUTCH ANGLE, exterior, the Range Rover swerving hard, tire smoke and skid marks rendered with heavy motion lines. Sound effect lettering: "SKRRRRRT — BANG." **Setting:** Dark empty road, no other cars, something unseen struck low near the front bumper. **Panel 3** **Camera:** INTERIOR WS, all four bodies jolted forward against seatbelts, the whole car frame drawn with a hard shake-line effect. **Action:** No dialogue. **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Ace, both hands locked white-knuckled on the wheel, eyes wide. **Dialogue:** > **ACE** *(short, breathless)*: "Shit." --- ### Page 7 **Panel 1** **Camera:** CU, Anna, hands flying to her mouth, eyes wet and panicked. **Dialogue:** > **ANNA** *(cracking voice, rising panic)*: "Oh my God, we hit something. Oh my God, oh my God — I don't want to go to jail—" **Panel 2** **Camera:** MS, Lotus twisted around in her seat, staring out the rear windshield at the empty dark road behind them. **Dialogue:** > **LOTUS** *(barely above a whisper, flat with shock)*: "What did we hit." **Panel 3** **Camera:** CU, Guil, face gone unusually serious, no trace of his earlier looseness. **Dialogue:** > **GUIL** *(flat, urgent, none of his usual humor in it)*: "Bro, just drive. It's late, we're high, we can't deal with this right now. Cops'll sort it out whenever they find it." **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Ace's jaw, tight, foot coming down on the gas pedal (INSERT of his foot/the pedal in the same panel, split composition). **Dialogue:** > **ACE** *(quiet, resolved)*: "Yeah. Agreed." **Panel 5** **Camera:** WS, rear view — the Range Rover's taillights shrinking into the dark, the road behind it empty and still. **Setting:** No characters visible, pure atmosphere — the aftermath, the thing they hit already lost to the dark. --- ### Page 8 **Panel 1** **Camera:** WS, montage-style — three small sequential panels-within-a-panel or a soft dissolve showing Guil's, then Anna's, then Lotus's front doors, each goodbye visibly shorter and quieter than the last (body language closing off, less eye contact each time). **Setting:** Suburban streets, porch lights, night. **Panel 2** **Camera:** MS, interior, Ace alone now, driving in silence, streetlights sliding across an empty passenger seat. **Setting:** The absence of the others is the point of this panel — empty seats, quiet. **Panel 3** **Camera:** INSERT, the radio dial/speaker, faint visual "static lines" rendered around it to suggest sound without a clear source. **Dialogue:** > **VOICE (unseen, radio static)** *(barely audible, wordless — rendered in faded, half-transparent lettering)*: "..." **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Ace, glancing at the dashboard, uneasy. **Dialogue:** > **ACE** *(muttering to himself, shaking his head)*: "The hell was that. Guilt, probably. Or just the weed. I'll sleep it off." --- ### Page 9 **Panel 1** **Camera:** WS, LOW ANGLE — the Richard mansion's gates rolling open onto a long gravel driveway, the house looming pale and huge in the dark. **Setting:** Establishing shot of wealth — manicured hedges, security lighting, the house itself several stories tall. **Panel 2** **Camera:** MS, the garage door lowering behind the car, Ace stepping out into silence. **Setting:** Clean, spacious garage — this is not a family that has money trouble. **Panel 3** **Camera:** INSERT, tight on the front bumper — a deep dent folded into the metal beside the headlight, paint scraped down to bare steel. **Action:** No dialogue — this panel lingers, letting the damage speak. **Panel 4** **Camera:** MS, Ace already turning away from the car, shoulders tight. **Dialogue:** > **ACE** *(muttered, avoiding his own reflection in the car's paint)*: "I'll deal with it after school tomorrow." **Panel 5** **Camera:** WS, LOW ANGLE from the base of a wide circular staircase, Ace climbing it, small against the scale of the house. **Setting:** Grand foyer, dim overnight lighting, everything quiet and cold. --- ### Page 10 **Panel 1** **Camera:** MS, Ace collapsing onto his bed fully dressed, shoes half-off. **Setting:** A teenager's version of a rich kid's room — expensive but lived-in. **Action:** No dialogue. Panel fades toward black at the edges. **Panel 2** **Camera:** FULL BLACK PANEL — no linework at all except a single faint outline of Ace standing, alone, in featureless dark. **Setting:** The dream. No floor, no walls, no horizon line — just void. **Panel 3** **Camera:** WS, the darkness beginning to bend — a seam of light splitting open at the panel's center, forming the vague outline of something massive and humanoid. **Setting:** Same void, now with a single light source. **Panel 4** **Camera:** MS, the figure resolved further — broad, towering, hair falling all the way to where its feet should be, wrapped in a pulsing electric-blue aura. Still blurred at the edges, six and a half feet of light and muscle. **Dialogue:** > **VOICE (the figure)** *(low, resonant, filling the whole panel border with faint echo-lines around the lettering)*: *"Ace."* --- ### Page 11 **Panel 1** **Camera:** CU, the figure's hand — vast, glowing, fingers spreading — reaching out across the black expanse. **Setting:** Extreme close focus on the hand alone, dwarfing the panel. **Panel 2** **Camera:** MS, Ace, already moving, hand rising to meet it, mid-stride. **Dialogue:** > **ACE** *(uncertain, urgent)*: "What are you?" **Panel 3** **Camera:** WS, the gap between them shown not shrinking — the figure rendered slightly smaller, further away, the void itself stretched thin with visible distortion lines between them. **Setting:** Visual trick panel — same "distance" but the figure now smaller in frame. **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Ace, stopped, listening — his name breaking apart into overlapping echo-text scattered across the panel in multiple directions. **Dialogue:** > **ECHO (his own name, fragmented, coming from everywhere)**: *"Ace... Ace... ACE—"* **Panel 5** **Camera:** DUTCH ANGLE, the ground beneath Ace's feet visibly dissolving into more darkness — no floor left at all. **Action:** No dialogue. --- ### Page 12 **Panel 1** **Camera:** VERTICAL WS, Ace falling through pure black, wind-motion lines streaking upward past him though there's nothing to generate wind. **Setting:** Full-void free-fall, disorienting, no up or down indicated. **Panel 2** **Camera:** IMPACT PANEL — sudden hard cut, jagged panel border, sound effect lettering: "BANG." **Setting:** Ace's actual bedroom floor, him sprawled half out of bed, sheets tangled around one leg. **Panel 3** **Camera:** LOW ANGLE from the floor looking up, Rosetta standing over him, hands on her hips, an alarm clock visible behind her still glowing on the nightstand (just silenced). **Dialogue:** > **ROSETTA** *(dry, affectionate, entirely unsurprised)*: "Young Master, seems like you had a great fall." **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Ace, face pressed into the carpet, one eye open. **Dialogue:** > **ACE** *(muffled by the carpet, groaning)*: "Please, Rosy. I had a pretty shitty dream." --- ### Page 13 **Panel 1** **Camera:** MS, Rosetta, arms crossed, unimpressed eyebrow raised. **Dialogue:** > **ROSETTA** *(deadpan)*: "Yeah, I can tell. You planning on getting up, or should I just cover you with a blanket?" **Panel 2** **Camera:** CU, Ace, half-grinning into the carpet. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "Honestly? It's pretty nice down here. Just cover me with the blanket." **Panel 3** **Camera:** ACTION PANEL — a broom mid-swing, motion-lined, connecting with Ace's backside; his whole body drawn mid-flinch. **Action:** No dialogue — the impact itself is the joke. **Panel 4** **Camera:** WS, kitchen, breakfast laid out, a wall-mounted TV angled to be visible from both the kitchen island and the sitting room beyond it. **Setting:** Bright morning light, sharp contrast with the dream sequence's darkness. --- ### Page 14 **Panel 1** **Camera:** INSERT, the TV screen — a news chyron reading "HUSHIM: ESCAPED PRISONER FOUND DEAD," a reporter mid-broadcast. **Dialogue:** > **NEWS ANCHOR (TV, voiceover)** *(clipped, professional)*: "An update on Hushim, the recently escaped prisoner. His body was found on the side of the road early this morning. Preliminary reports suggest he was struck by a vehicle." **Panel 2** **Camera:** CU, Ace, frozen mid-bite, eyes locked on the screen, all color draining slightly from the panel around his face. **Action:** No spoken dialogue — internal thought only. **Thought (caption box):** *Well, damn. Guess that was Hushim I hit. Right — I still need to fix the car. I'll do it later.* **Panel 3** **Camera:** MS, Rosetta, not even looking up from wiping the counter, completely casual. **Dialogue:** > **ROSETTA** *(light, almost sing-song, devastating in how casual it is)*: "Hey, Young Master. Seems like you committed your first murder." **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Ace, halfway out of his chair, panicked. **Action:** No full dialogue — stammering lines rendered as broken, half-formed speech bubble fragments. --- ### Page 15 **Panel 1** **Camera:** CU, Rosetta, one finger raised, expression softened, no longer joking. **Dialogue:** > **ROSETTA** *(quieter now, gentle but firm)*: "Calm down. I won't tell anyone. But you should really get that car fixed after school. Your friends are waiting outside." **Panel 2** **Camera:** WS, exterior, Lotus's car idling at the curb outside the gate, Ace jogging down the front steps, bag on one shoulder. **Setting:** Morning light, driveway, the mansion's scale visible in the background. **Panel 3** **Camera:** 2-SHOT, interior of Lotus's car, both facing forward, Ace just climbing in. **Dialogue:** > **LOTUS** *(concern not quite hidden under a level tone)*: "Did you watch the news?" **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Ace, exhaling. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "Yeah, I saw. We killed Hushim." --- ### Page 16 **Panel 1** **Camera:** CU, Lotus, a small unwilling laugh breaking through despite herself. **Dialogue:** > **LOTUS**: "Mm, you mean *you* killed Hushim. The only 'we' I know is Nintendo Wii." **Panel 2** **Camera:** CU, Ace, smirking despite everything. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "Yeah, well, you saw it happen and said nothing. That makes you an accomplice." **Panel 3** **Camera:** CU, Lotus, eyes on the road, deadpan. **Dialogue:** > **LOTUS**: "If the cops show up at my place, I have never met you in my life." **Panel 4** **Camera:** MS, Ace turning to actually look at her now, humor fading. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "Jokes aside. What do we do?" **Panel 5** **Camera:** CU, Lotus, glancing at him, voice softer. **Dialogue:** > **LOTUS**: "Honestly? I have no idea. How are you feeling?" --- ### Page 17 **Panel 1** **Camera:** CU, Ace, rubbing the back of his neck. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "Not sure. Had this weird dream — probably just the joint. Or the fact that we hit someone with a car." **Panel 2** **Camera:** MS, Lotus, a long pause rendered visually — her knuckles tightening slightly on the wheel, eyes flicking toward him and away. **Dialogue:** > **LOTUS** *(careful, a beat too long before she speaks)*: "Makes sense you'd have a bad dream after a day like that. All four of us were pretty shaken." **Panel 3** **Camera:** CU, Lotus, jaw set, working up to something. **Dialogue:** > **LOTUS** *(hesitant, almost inaudible)*: "Uhm... Ace." **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Ace, curious, turning toward her. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "Yeah? What's up?" **Panel 5** **Camera:** CU, Lotus, expression closing back off, eyes forward again. **Dialogue:** > **LOTUS** *(retreating, forced casual)*: "Do you... actually, never mind." --- ### Page 18 **Panel 1** **Camera:** CU, Ace, exasperated. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "Oh, come *on.*" **Panel 2** **Camera:** WS, the car pulling into the school lot, parking beside Guil's motorcycle. **Dialogue:** > **LOTUS** *(brisk, closing the subject)*: "We're here. I'll ask you later." **Panel 3** **Camera:** WS, Guil and Anna on the curb mid-conversation, lighting up as they spot the car pulling in. **Setting:** School parking lot, morning, other students in the background. **Panel 4** **Camera:** MS, Guil, excited, leaning toward the car window as it stops. **Dialogue:** > **GUIL** *(loud, oblivious)*: "Yo, bro, did you hear about the news? Can you believe we hit—" **Panel 5** **Camera:** IMPACT PANEL — Anna's hand connecting with the back of Guil's head, his whole posture jolting forward. **Dialogue:** > **ANNA** *(hissed, furious whisper)*: "Are you *dumb*? You trying to get us all sent to jail? Why would you say that out loud?" --- ### Page 19 **Panel 1** **Camera:** CU, Guil, rubbing his head, entirely unbothered. **Dialogue:** > **GUIL**: "My bad, my bad. Hey, Ace — what time you heading out to fix your car?" **Panel 2** **Camera:** MS, Ace, slinging his bag higher, already walking. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "Later. After school. For now, class." **Panel 3** **Camera:** WS, the four of them falling into step together down the school hallway, other students a blur in the background. **Setting:** Bright fluorescent hallway lighting, lockers. **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Anna, tilting her head, studying Ace. **Dialogue:** > **ANNA**: "Hey, Ace — did your hair get longer?" **Panel 5** **Camera:** CU, Ace, running a hand through his hair, frowning. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "I don't think so? It can't just grow overnight." **Panel 6** **Camera:** 2-SHOT, Guil and Anna. **Dialogue:** > **GUIL** *(smirking)*: "I don't think the joint was *that* strong, Anna." > **ANNA** *(swatting at him)*: "Oh, shut up." --- ### Page 20 **Panel 1** **Camera:** WS, classroom, teacher at the whiteboard mid-sentence, students filing in. **Setting:** Ordinary classroom, morning light through blinds, "Book of Judges" partially visible written on the board. **Dialogue:** > **TEACHER** *(routine, mid-lecture cadence)*: "Alright, class, today we'll be looking at a rather interesting story from the Book of Judges..." **Panel 2** **Camera:** CU, Ace, clearly not listening, tearing a corner off notebook paper and folding it. **Action:** No dialogue. **Panel 3** **Camera:** POV, Ace's eyes scanning the room, landing on the back of Tod's head two rows up. **Setting:** Tod visible in profile, oblivious. **Panel 4** **Camera:** ACTION PANEL, the folded paper mid-flight in a clean curved arc, motion lines trailing it. **Thought (caption box):** *Baseball really is useful.* **Panel 5** **Camera:** CU, Tod, turning around slow, glaring, tired in a way that has nothing to do with sleep. **Action:** No dialogue — Ace laughing under his breath just visible at the panel's edge. --- ### Page 21 **Panel 1** **Camera:** WS, men's washroom, fluorescent lighting, empty except for two figures — Tod already waiting, arms crossed, near the sinks. **Setting:** Sterile, tiled, echo-prone space — good for a confrontation. **Panel 2** **Camera:** MS, Ace walking in, easy, unbothered. **Dialogue:** > **ACE** *(light, mocking)*: "Oh, hey, Tod. What do you need? I'm usually the one looking for *your* dumb ass. This is new." **Panel 3** **Camera:** CU, Tod, jaw tight, done pretending to be calm. **Dialogue:** > **TOD** *(low, controlled anger)*: "I'm getting sick and tired of your shit." **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Ace, smug, unfazed. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "And what are you gonna do about it?" **Panel 5** **Camera:** IMPACT PANEL, jagged borders — Tod's fist connecting square with Ace's face, sound effect lettering: "CRACK." **Setting:** Motion blur, Ace's head snapped sideways. --- ### Page 22 **Panel 1** **Camera:** CU, Ace, dazed, eyes unfocused, ringing lines drawn radiating from his head. **Thought (caption box):** *That was unexpected. My head is buzzing.* **Panel 2** **Camera:** FULL BLACK PANEL, fractured text scattered across it in overlapping directions — his name and fragments of the morning's lesson bleeding together. **Dialogue:** > **ECHO**: *"Ace..."* > **ECHO (teacher's voice, fragment)**: *"There was a judge well known for his divine strength—"* > **ECHO**: *"Ace..."* > **ECHO (teacher's voice, fragment)**: *"—and hair he was never allowed to cut—"* > **ECHO (louder, filling the panel)**: *"ACE."* **Panel 3** **Camera:** WS, back in the washroom, Ace snapping back to awareness — Guil's arms locked around him from behind, restraining him. **Setting:** Two other students in the background hauling Tod up off the floor. **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Tod on the ground, blood streaming from his nose, barely conscious. **Action:** No dialogue. **Panel 5** **Camera:** CU, Ace, staring at his own hands, horrified confusion. **Dialogue:** > **ACE** *(quiet, shaken)*: "What just happened..." --- ### Page 23 **Panel 1** **Camera:** WS, hallway outside the principal's office, Ace sitting alone on a bench, staring at a wall clock. **Setting:** Muffled shouting audible through the door — rendered as faint jagged lettering bleeding through the panel border. **Panel 2** **Camera:** WS, the office door swinging open, Tod's parents storming out, dragging him between them. **Action:** No dialogue — pure motion and tension. **Panel 3** **Camera:** MS, the principal in the doorway, watching them go, then turning to Ace with a tired expression. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "Am I expelled?" **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, principal. **Dialogue:** > **PRINCIPAL** *(measured, matter-of-fact)*: "No, you're not. Lucky for you, the washroom door was open, and the camera caught him throwing the first punch. Self-defense, plain and simple. You've already been to the nurse. Head on to lunch." **Panel 5** **Camera:** MS, Ace standing, expression not matching relief the way it should. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "Thank you, sir." --- ### Page 24 **Panel 1** **Camera:** WS, cafeteria, loud and bright, Anna, Lotus, and Guil already at their usual table. **Setting:** Typical school cafeteria noise and clutter, visible in the background. **Panel 2** **Camera:** ACTION PANEL, Anna shooting up out of her seat the moment she spots the bandage on Ace's face, crossing the room fast. **Action:** No dialogue yet — motion lines trailing her. **Panel 3** **Camera:** CU, Anna cupping Ace's face in both hands, turning it side to side, genuinely fretting. **Dialogue:** > **ANNA** *(dramatic, genuinely worried underneath it)*: "Oh my darling, are you *okay*? Nooo, your handsome face — will you be alright?" **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Guil, rolling his eyes. **Dialogue:** > **GUIL**: "Geez, Anna, drama queen much. Man's gonna be fine. Right, Ace?" **Panel 5** **Camera:** MS, Ace sitting down, ignoring the question. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "Hey — Guil, what actually happened?" --- ### Page 25 **Panel 1** **Camera:** 2-SHOT, Guil and Lotus trading a look across the table. **Dialogue:** > **GUIL**: "You don't remember?" **Panel 2** **Camera:** CU, Ace. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "No. Not really." **Panel 3** **Camera:** CU, Guil, scratching the back of his neck, reluctant. **Dialogue:** > **GUIL**: "Uh... you broke Tod's nose. And his hand." **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Ace, visibly startled. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "His *hand*?" **Panel 5** **Camera:** CU, Guil. **Dialogue:** > **GUIL**: "Yeah. I walked in and found him on the floor, and you just — standing there, staring at him." --- ### Page 26 **Panel 1** **Camera:** CU, Lotus, watching Ace closely, quieter than the others. **Dialogue:** > **LOTUS**: "You really don't remember any of it?" **Panel 2** **Camera:** CU, Ace, clearing his throat, uncomfortable. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "I got punched in the face, my head was ringing — I don't know, it's all kind of blank after that." **Panel 3** **Camera:** CU, Lotus, shrugging it off a little too quickly, eyes dropping to the table. **Dialogue:** > **LOTUS**: "Alright. Let's just forget about it." **Panel 4** **Camera:** CU, Ace, noticing — really noticing — the distance behind her eyes. **Action:** No dialogue — held beat. **Panel 5** **Camera:** CU, Ace, starting to speak. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "Hey, Lo—" **Panel 6** **Camera:** INSERT, the lunch bell mounted on the wall, mid-ring, motion lines around it cutting him off. **Action:** No dialogue. --- ### Page 27 **Panel 1** **Camera:** WS, PE field, bleachers, the coach checking a clipboard, students in gym uniforms scattered around. **Setting:** Bright midday sun, baseball diamond. **Dialogue:** > **COACH** *(brisk, no-nonsense)*: "Since Tod's not with us today, Ace, you're up to bat." **Panel 2** **Camera:** CU, Ace, groaning. **Dialogue:** > **ACE**: "Coach, seriously? I'm more of a—" **Panel 3** **Camera:** CU, coach, cutting him off, unimpressed. **Dialogue:** > **COACH**: "Don't want to hear it. You're the reason he's not here. Grab a bat, get in position." **Panel 4** **Camera:** WS, Ace walking to the plate, jaw tight, teammates visible in the outfield background. **Panel 5** **Camera:** CU, a teammate in the outfield, cupping hands around his mouth. **Dialogue:** > **TEAMMATE (background)** *(mocking, carrying across the field)*: "Hey, look — rich boy can't hit the ball." --- ### Page 28 **Panel 1** **Camera:** CU, another teammate, laughing. **Dialogue:** > **TEAMMATE 2 (background)**: "Didn't your dad ever teach you how to hit? Oh wait — he wasn't around, was he?" **Panel 2** **Camera:** CU, Ace, grip tightening on the bat, jaw set, eyes narrowing — the laughter from the outfield rendered as jagged, overlapping background lettering pressing in on the panel edges. **Action:** No dialogue. **Panel 3** **Camera:** WS, the pitcher winding up, ball already a blur leaving his hand. **Setting:** Everything else in the panel slightly motion-smeared except the ball itself, razor-sharp — visual cue for time distorting around Ace. **Panel 4** **Camera:** IMPACT PANEL, full-panel-width crack lines radiating from the point of contact, bat and ball drawn mid-shatter, splinters frozen in the air. **Setting:** Sound effect lettering, oversized, jagged: "CRACK." **Panel 5** **Camera:** WS, the entire field frozen — every visible student and the coach staring in dead silence, nobody moving. **Setting:** No dialogue at all — the silence is the panel. **Panel 6** **Camera:** CU, Ace, still mid-follow-through, staring down at the two broken halves of the bat in his hands. **Dialogue:** > **ACE** *(low, stunned)*: "What the actual fu—" ---