cut.
“Not now,” he says.
“Really?” she asks, and there is another snap of her fingers and then there are three of her and the two copies begin kissing and the original starts jingling a vial of coke in front of him and the voices of the bus kids and the Tower burn victims and the drowned fishermen and fucking Francis … goddamn fucking Francis … always on his back …
He takes the vial.
27
TRANSCRIPT FROM TARNISHED LEGACY: THE SECRET LIVES OF CAPES
Season 1, Episode 5 (S01E05): “Kid Rapscallion”
REBECCA ROKERS
You’re looking for motivation where there isn’t one. Duplication Girl was always going to end in flames. I don’t think Jason (expletive) her and snorting coke with her led — in any way — to what happened to her.
NANCY CATHALL
Duplication Girl? Yeah, her and Jason … I mean … we all have demons, right? Those two made each other’s demons go away when they got together. That’s the secret of a good relationship, I think. (pauses) That’s not a terribly romantic sentiment, is it?
(off-screen interviewer asks: Is that what Ro’meo does for you? Makes your demons go away?)
It’s … (deep breath) … I need to take a break, ok?
JASON KITMORE / KR
(old interview from 2006 feature story with ANC)
I never even knew her real name. DG was always adamant about that. In hindsight … (shakes head) … in hindsight, I never even saw what she did coming. (chokes up) I wish I had. She was … look, we’re all screwed up, yeah? All of us, and I’m not just talking heroes here, but I mean every single living human body has some kind of darkness inside of them. With the cape and cowl crowd … our demons have a way of manifesting and I think the line between being a hero and being a villain is a whole hell of a lot thinner than the public realizes. Francis used to say that the big difference between one side and the other was that the heroes had gotten help in cutting a deal with their troubles, while the villains were controlled by theirs.
28
“More,” Jason urges.
“I … I can’t,” one of the Duplication Girls says beneath him.
“I want more,” Jason says, twisting his neck to look around at the naked bodies strewn about the room.
“I don’t think I can,” the Duplication Girl on his right says.
“I’ve never gone beyond eleven before,” the Duplication Girl on his left says.
“Do it,” he says, snorting a new vial of cocaine that he’s pretty sure is alien given to him by the Duplication Girl responsible for keeping them all high. The more DG creates copies of herself, the more he can see the slight variations in them, like different parts of her persona are either bubbling to the surface, or that the splitting process is somehow sorting those different traits out. The one with the tray of coke is like the mother hen. He doesn’t need her. He needs …
“I’ll do it,” the one he needs says, moving onto the bed to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him passionately.
And then there were twelve.
And then there were thirteen.
And at some point he passes out and when he awakes, he finds an entire day has transpired.
29
“You look like shit, kid,” the older, thinnish man with thinning black hair says with a smile from atop a stool.
“Get bent, Penthouse of Clubs,” Kid Rapscallion says as he stands before the glass prison cube that houses superpowered criminals here in the Stockade, a hero-controlled prison located in a pocket dimension. Vincent Vogelsung sits inside a glass cube inside a larger, igloo-shaped room of metal. Inside the cube is a stool, a bed, a desk, and a toilet.
“You’re as clever as they say,” the man smiles.
“I’m sorry, how do I address you?” Kid asks. “Five of Clubs? Penthouse Man? Traitor? Shitbag? What the hell kind of name was Five of Clubs, anyway? Couldn’t count to six?”
“Vincent will do,” the former hero and villain says, “and I picked that moniker
“Not now,” he says.
“Really?” she asks, and there is another snap of her fingers and then there are three of her and the two copies begin kissing and the original starts jingling a vial of coke in front of him and the voices of the bus kids and the Tower burn victims and the drowned fishermen and fucking Francis … goddamn fucking Francis … always on his back …
He takes the vial.
27
TRANSCRIPT FROM TARNISHED LEGACY: THE SECRET LIVES OF CAPES
Season 1, Episode 5 (S01E05): “Kid Rapscallion”
REBECCA ROKERS
You’re looking for motivation where there isn’t one. Duplication Girl was always going to end in flames. I don’t think Jason (expletive) her and snorting coke with her led — in any way — to what happened to her.
NANCY CATHALL
Duplication Girl? Yeah, her and Jason … I mean … we all have demons, right? Those two made each other’s demons go away when they got together. That’s the secret of a good relationship, I think. (pauses) That’s not a terribly romantic sentiment, is it?
(off-screen interviewer asks: Is that what Ro’meo does for you? Makes your demons go away?)
It’s … (deep breath) … I need to take a break, ok?
JASON KITMORE / KR
(old interview from 2006 feature story with ANC)
I never even knew her real name. DG was always adamant about that. In hindsight … (shakes head) … in hindsight, I never even saw what she did coming. (chokes up) I wish I had. She was … look, we’re all screwed up, yeah? All of us, and I’m not just talking heroes here, but I mean every single living human body has some kind of darkness inside of them. With the cape and cowl crowd … our demons have a way of manifesting and I think the line between being a hero and being a villain is a whole hell of a lot thinner than the public realizes. Francis used to say that the big difference between one side and the other was that the heroes had gotten help in cutting a deal with their troubles, while the villains were controlled by theirs.
28
“More,” Jason urges.
“I … I can’t,” one of the Duplication Girls says beneath him.
“I want more,” Jason says, twisting his neck to look around at the naked bodies strewn about the room.
“I don’t think I can,” the Duplication Girl on his right says.
“I’ve never gone beyond eleven before,” the Duplication Girl on his left says.
“Do it,” he says, snorting a new vial of cocaine that he’s pretty sure is alien given to him by the Duplication Girl responsible for keeping them all high. The more DG creates copies of herself, the more he can see the slight variations in them, like different parts of her persona are either bubbling to the surface, or that the splitting process is somehow sorting those different traits out. The one with the tray of coke is like the mother hen. He doesn’t need her. He needs …
“I’ll do it,” the one he needs says, moving onto the bed to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him passionately.
And then there were twelve.
And then there were thirteen.
And at some point he passes out and when he awakes, he finds an entire day has transpired.
29
“You look like shit, kid,” the older, thinnish man with thinning black hair says with a smile from atop a stool.
“Get bent, Penthouse of Clubs,” Kid Rapscallion says as he stands before the glass prison cube that houses superpowered criminals here in the Stockade, a hero-controlled prison located in a pocket dimension. Vincent Vogelsung sits inside a glass cube inside a larger, igloo-shaped room of metal. Inside the cube is a stool, a bed, a desk, and a toilet.
“You’re as clever as they say,” the man smiles.
“I’m sorry, how do I address you?” Kid asks. “Five of Clubs? Penthouse Man? Traitor? Shitbag? What the hell kind of name was Five of Clubs, anyway? Couldn’t count to six?”
“Vincent will do,” the former hero and villain says, “and I picked that moniker
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