Stranger And Stranger
[CIRCUS MUSIC PLAYS]
ARCHIVIST
[echoing] Hello? I – anyone? What’s – what’s going on? What is this place? Where…
Help? Please? Anybody?
SARAH!NIKOLA
I’m somebody.
ARCHIVIST
[stammering] What? Who are you?
SARAH!NIKOLA
What an excellent question.
ARCHIVIST
You – you stay away from me.
SARAH!NIKOLA
“Sarah”, “Daniel”… sometimes I think I’m just not built for names. A hundred puppets, a hundred pointless names.
ARCHIVIST
I-I don’t understand.
SARAH!NIKOLA
Of course you don’t. You can’t. Not anymore.
ARCHIVIST
What? I don’t… I don’t… who are you?
SARAH!NIKOLA
[chuckling] It’s me, John. It’s Tim.
ARCHIVIST
John. John?
TIM!NIKOLA
Yes, that’s your name, and I’m Tim, your friend.
ARCHIVIST
Tim?
TIM!NIKOLA
Yes. John, you can relax.
ARCHIVIST
No – no, no, no –
TIM!NIKOLA
[overlapping] Everything is going to be alright.
ARCHIVIST
No, Tim, we’ve – we’ve got to stop it.
TIM!NIKOLA
Stop what?
ARCHIVIST
I…
TIM!NIKOLA
And how are you going to stop it?
ARCHIVIST
[stammering] I have, I have… I thought that this, this…
I – I don’t know.
TIM!NIKOLA
Well, don’t you worry. I’m sure we can work it out together.
ARCHIVIST
Oh, yes. Yes – Tim, I just I need a second, to… uh –
TIM!NIKOLA
Of course, John.
ARCHIVIST
John. Yes, that’s – that’s me.
TIM!NIKOLA
Give it to me.
ARCHIVIST
[disoriented] Yes, yes, if you could, I’d – I’d value your input on it…
TIM!NIKOLA
Tim.
ARCHIVIST
Yes, Tim. Tim.
TIM!NIKOLA
Now let’s take a look at this.
ARCHIVIST
Please.
TIM!NIKOLA
Right now, what we have here is our handheld remote detonator.
ARCHIVIST
A what?
TIM!NIKOLA
It talks to a bomb.
ARCHIVIST
Wait. Wait, uh…
TIM!NIKOLA
I imagine if you’d used it, we’d all have come to quite a nasty end.
ARCHIVIST
That was – uh, that was –
TIM!NIKOLA
[giggling] Don’t you worry, Archivist, it’s all in good hands.
ARCHIVIST
I don’t understand.
TIM!NIKOLA
And you never will again.
BREEKON
Hello, Daisy.
HOPE
You alright?
DELIVERYMEN (BOTH)
Daisy?
DAISY
No.
BREEKON
I’m sorry?
HOPE
Don’t follow you.
DAISY
Leave… no.
BREEKON
Come on Daisy.
HOPE
Don’t be like that.
BREEKON
It’s me, Basira.
DAISY
No, you’re not. Because nothing is anything. Leave.
BREEKON
And if I don’t?
HOPE
What will you do?
DAISY
I’ll kill you.
BREEKON
Will you now?
HOPE
Ooh, pretty scary. If you can, that is.
BREEKON
You don’t even know what a gun is.
DAISY
I don’t care.
[SOUNDS OF GORE AND THE DELIVERYMEN GROANING IN SHOCK. DAISY BEGINS LAUGHING.]
TIM
Get away from me!
BASIRA
[slurred] It’s alright. I’m not – I’m not one of them.
TIM
Everyone is, this isn’t – just get back.
BASIRA
Okay, okay who – who are you?
TIM
[agitated] I don’t know, do I?
BASIRA
What can we do?
TIM
It’s too late. There’s nothing.
BASIRA
There must be. We just need to figure this out. I – I know I’m me…
TIM
So what’s your name? Huh? Who exactly is “me”?
BASIRA
Doesn’t matter. Names don’t matter. I just… I know – I know I’m me and I know I’m here.
TIM
Bullshit, “here” is just – [groans]
BASIRA
There’s things that – that they’re not me, they want to hurt me, but. I don’t want to hurt you.
TIM
I don’t believe you.
BASIRA
I don’t want to hurt anyone.
TIM
Get back!
BASIRA
No, we can do this, I – I can do this, I just need you to –
TIM
I said get away!
[SOUNDS OF STRUGGLE AND GRUNTING]
BASIRA
Don’t… wait. I don’t… I don’t understand.
ARCHIVIST
It isn’t – it isn’t real.
NIKOLA
What isn’t real, John?
ARCHIVIST
I-I-I don’t know. None of this is real.
NIKOLA
But it is! Just because you don’t understand doesn’t mean it’s a lie.
ARCHIVIST
Who are you?
NIKOLA
[unconvincingly] Why, I’m…. Tim of course! Who else would I be?
ARCHIVIST
You’re not. You’re not Tim.
NIKOLA
Oh, you caught me! I’m Sasha!
ARCHIVIST
Shut up!
NIKOLA
Really, it’s me! Sasha… whatever-her-name-was! Back from the dead, just like you wanted!
ARCHIVIST
Get away from me or I swear, or I’ll –
NIKOLA
Or you’ll what? Hit me? Go on then, try it – make a fist.
ARCHIVIST
I… I…
NIKOLA
Do you even know which of these hands is yours?
ARCHIVIST
Stop… stop, stand still.
NIKOLA
Do you even know what a hand is?
GERTRUDE!NIKOLA
Pathetic.
ARCHIVIST
Wait. Wait, I – I know you.
GERTRUDE!NIKOLA
I would hope you do.
ARCHIVIST
How are you here?
GERTRUDE!NIKOLA
Don’t be obtuse, John. I’m here because you failed.
ARCHIVIST
I-I tried. I tried, I almost –
GERTRUDE!NIKOLA
You almost what? You almost didn’t doom the world? No, you almost let reality be the plaything of a lazy, foolish liar.
ARCHIVIST
No, no – I would – I could have stopped them.
GERTRUDE!NIKOLA
How? You didn’t even know what it was. Do you know how many people I killed to keep the world in one piece? The sacrifices I made, and you didn’t even know what you were fighting.
ARCHIVIST
N-no, I didn’t –
GERTRUDE!NIKOLA
I suppose it’s of no consequence now, it’s far too late.
ARCHIVIST
What can I do?
GERTRUDE!NIKOLA
[gleefully] You can scream, I suppose. Weep, maybe. Have you considered curling into a ball?
ARCHIVIST
Why are you doing this?
GERTRUDE!NIKOLA
I’m not. You know, it’s probably for the best I’m dead. Can you imagine how I’d hate having to watch you fumble around as my replacement? I really cannot express how much of a disappointment you are.
ARCHIVIST
I’m sorry, I didn’t even –
GERTRUDE!NIKOLA
I fought for years to stop the Stranger in its tracks, you didn’t even notice when they desecrated my corpse. And now look at me. You’ve made me part of their ritual. This is your fault.
ARCHIVIST
It is not. It’s not, I didn’t know. It’s not my fault you died.
LEITNER!NIKOLA
[distorted] No, I suppose not. Me, on the other hand… that one is very much your fault.
ARCHIVIST
[despairing] No, not – not you as well…
LEITNER!NIKOLA
Oh, yes.
ARCHIVIST
He told… why – why didn’t you warn me it would be like this?
LEITNER!NIKOLA
I hardly had the chance, did I? Before you left me to get my head bashed in. I understand, of course. You needed a cigarette? I suppose you should have remembered that smoking kills. [giggles]
ARCHIVIST
That’s not – I don’t know…
LEITNER!NIKOLA
Come now, Archivist. Surely you know what a cigarette is. Or a pipe?
ARCHIVIST
It’s hard to think.
LEITNER!NIKOLA
If our earlier conversation was anything to go by, I hardly think you can blame your faults on the ritual. Your problems go far deeper than that.
ARCHIVIST
Just – give me a moment, please.
LEITNER!NIKOLA
You think that would help? Honestly, if I wasn’t so dead I’d be impressed. I always thought my own hubris to be quite exceptional, but you’ve managed to somehow deliver more bad decisions into two years than I managed in a lifetime. But by all means take your moment.
ARCHIVIST
What do you want?
NIKOLA
I already have what I want, little Archivist! Now I just want you to join me for a dance!
[JOHN SCREAMS]
[DAISY GROWLS]
BREEKON
You killed him! Do you even know what you’ve done?
[DAISY BEGINS TO LAUGH]
BREEKON
You stupid animal.
DAISY
[growling] Kill you…
BREEKON
No.
[DAISY CONTINUES TO LAUGH]
Shame you don’t know your own coffin. But you will. [chuckles] You will.
BASIRA
[talking to herself] Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Just close your…
[groans] Ignore it. ignore the uh… don’t listen. Focus, think. This is a place. You are you and you’re in a place now. If… if it’s a place, and it’s now, then… then… then it has an end. The other things, the…
[BASIRA GROANS IN FRUSTRATION]
Too much, too much. There’s – there’s too many. and they wanna hurt me so – so… you leave the place. You leave the place and the now. No place is forever. You know how to move, so do it. Pick a where… then the move.
Good! Then – then keep moving. Keep moving until you find another place. A place you know… just keep moving. Keep moving.
NIKOLA
Do you feel it, Archivist? it’s almost there, the new day.
GERTRUDE!NIKOLA
A terrible new world. It is all your fault.
LEITNER!NIKOLA
Though I suppose you never really had a chance.
ARCHIVIST
I see you.
NIKOLA
Do you now?
ARCHIVIST
Yes… yes. I see the sad clown, bitter and hateful. I see him finding his way into the circus where nobody knew him. I see him torn apart, becoming the mask, remade by a cruel ringmaster. Sometimes a doll, sometimes a mannequin, always hiding in somebody else’s skin. Somebody else’s name.
NIKOLA
[petulantly] Not always. And it’s far too late for any of that. Nothing you see can help you.
SARAH!NIKOLA
Not without the detonator.
NIKOLA
Really, Archivist! After all this preparation, all your research! All this magnificent grotesquery, and what – you were just going to blow it up?
SARAH!NIKOLA
Probably the hunter’s idea. She killed one of the couriers.
NIKOLA
Oh dear, how sad.
SARAH!NIKOLA
She was also the one that damaged this shell.
NIKOLA
You have hundreds of shells, Sarah! And soon you will have tens of thousands. You can have your little girl within every dark corner of the whole world!
SARAH!NIKOLA
Not until you finish the dance.
NIKOLA
Oh, just let me enjoy myself for a moment! This is a once in an eternity event after all.
SARAH!NIKOLA
This in-between is not as comfortable for all of us as it is for you.
NIKOLA
Oh, fine. Archivist, it’s been a pleasure but I really must –
[TIM YELLS, NIKOLA GRUNTS]
ARCHIVIST
Wait, no –
TIM
I’ll kill you. All of you!
SARAH!NIKOLA
Will you now.
[SOUNDS OF STRUGGLE BETWEEN TIM AND JOHN]
NIKOLA
Let them fight! It’s adorable!
JOHN
[strained] Wait, Tim! What do you see?
TIM
[angered] I see my asshole boss!
Or – or… wait… wait.
NIKOLA
[displeased] Spoilsport.
SARAH!NIKOLA
Tim.
TIM
[snarling] Grimaldi.
NIKOLA
Once. A long time ago, before Orsinov made me. And sometimes, even now, for special occasions. Like your brother. [distorted] SHALL I?
ARCHIVIST
Tim, what’s in your hand?
TIM
[strained] It’s… I don’t… The detonator.
NIKOLA
That’s quite enough from you, I think.
[JOHN YELLS]
And now you.
TIM
Go on, I’ll race you. See if you can do it again before I can squeeze.
SARAH!NIKOLA
It’s too late.
NIKOLA
The world is ours! That toy won’t help you now.
TIM
So come and take it.
[PAUSE]
That’s what I thought.
NIKOLA
I am losing my patience.
TIM
Back! Get back. That’s right.
John. I don’t know if you can hear me, but if you can… then I don’t forgive you. But thank you for this.
NIKOLA
You idiot! Do you really make the world will fare any better under the Watcher? You think you’re saving anyone?!
TIM
I don’t care.
NIKOLA
You can’t even save him!
TIM
But I can hurt you.
NIKOLA
It will not end like this.
TIM
[dryly] You sound stressed. You know I hear the great Grimaldi’s in town. You should go see it, cheer yourself up.
NIKOLA
That’s. Not. Funny.
TIM
I know.