Unreleased UNITY 2000 #5 script - 1st time available!

[valiantdude]

jim gave permission for this to be released, so here it is. The plot has been available for some time, but this is the 1st time the script has been available. For completionist-ists. Jim said he would be open to a fan project to finish these like that secret weapons comic.. What would that look like?



UNITY 2000 #5

Script for twenty-two pages
5/21/00

Jim Shooter


TITLE: Treachery, Lechery and Strange Bedfellows

PAGE ONE:

1. Outside Alexandre Darque’s Westport, Connecticut mansion.

2. X-O, no, don’t…!

3. Solar’s made of pure energy…! Ooh, geez…!

4. Ahhrrr!

5. Oww! Idiot! You broke my containment!

6. Might as well put the hand in the sun.

7. Watch out! There’s white-hot plasma squirting everywhere!














PAGES TWO AND THREE:

1. Careful with that sword, Ninjak. Didn’t you see what happened to X-O?

2. Yeah, yeah, careful. I’ll only make small holes…

3. Wow, that blade must be made of pretty tough stuff.

4. Guys? Hey, listen! Stop it! We need to talk to him! Look, he’s not even fighting back.

5. Talk come after he beat down.

6. What’s wrong with you, Pete? You told us Solar’s planning to wipe out whole universes. You want to chat with him?

7. Pete probably would have invited Hitler to tea.

8. Keep hammering him! Don’t let him recover!

9. Ohhuh…

10. Oh, good! My sword didn’t melt either. It’s magic, you know.

11. He has the power of a god, but a human consciousness…

12. (SMALL, as if to himself) …contained in an intricate pattern of organized energy. Fascinating, really…

13. We have to keep him dazed and reeling until we can destroy him!

14. And just how will we do that?

15. Ahhh…I’m working on it.

16. Keep beating on him. Just don’t bust him open.










PAGE FOUR:

1. Wow, you’re really healing fast, Mister Darque.

2. I do that, Lucy. What’s going on here?

3. That guy from Solar’s home reality, Pete, or “Sting” or whatever, came here after you, and—I’m guessing here—stopped along the way to boff my daughter…

4. ...and when he got around to it, he rummaged around in your mind and found out what Solar’s really up to…

5. Now he’s on your side, brother dearest. Isn’t that a muck’n’fuddle…!

6. Daddy, really…! “Boff?”

7. Hey, I’m in favor of it, young lady. The human body was designed for pleasure—I had a lot of input, you know. All those nerve endings are there to use. Like with Sandy and me…

8. Enough! The battle that may decide the fate of many universes is going on right below this terrace, in case you hadn’t noticed.

9. Damn! I wish my head would stop hurting…!

10. Pete, we gotta do something! They’re killing him!

11. No, wait…I just caught a glimpse of Solar’s thoughts! That sliver of his arm he gave you, Zep…

12. Yike! Guess he’s taking it back!

13. Sure, there’s a lot of his power in it.

14. Uh-oh…

(NOTE TO EDITOR: X-O’s hand, damaged on the previous page, should not be suddenly fine again.)

15. Wow. It went off like a bomb.

16. I am so glad you saw that coming and shielded us, Pete.




PAGE FIVE:

1. Solar, we need to talk.

2. No.

3. Hm. Interesting, the way Pete sculpts energy into those protective barriers of his. Got to figure out how he does that.

4. Oww…I was farthest away from that…and still feel like I was whacked…with a ten-ton flyswatter.

5. You’ve done your best, Trinity Angel. It’s up to me, now.

6. Let Mother take over, sister.

7. Do what the spirit says.

8. That…seems like a good idea…because I’m…not…feeling…well…

9. Another one.

10. Another one of the same one, you—you…demon!























PAGE SIX:

1. Trinity Angel destroys demons. It’s my…our job.

2. Ahhkg!

3. That “magic” crap again…! I know its just energy, but it’s weird. Slippery. I can’t seem to get a handle on it.

4. Hey, now that is one complicated lady. I’m not fond of Trinities in general, but it might be fun to have her—I mean them—join me and Sandy for, y’know, a fivesome.

5. Morningstar, I’m sick of hearing about you and my sister and your…feh! Never mind!

6. Call me Lou, willya, Alex. (NOTE: I used a period on purpose.)

7. I’m taking some advice you gave me…Lou. While he’s distracted, I’m going to strike at Solar’s Achilles’ heel…

8. All that old girl has to do is buy me a little time…!

9. Enough of being ripped in half! Even I can’t take too much of that.

10. Ah! Got the shield thing figured! Take a bunch of energy, push it and pull it at the same time. Compress it into shape…! That must be how Pete does it.

11. Whatever. It seems to be working. Even against her magic.

12. Uh…oh…

13. What’s going on? What are we doing?

14. Feel the push in your mind? It’s Darque! He’s sending us through that portal he made.

15. Where?

16. I think Solar’s world. And I think I know why…







PAGE SEVEN:

1. Let’s see…reduce electrochemical activity in her brain? Yep. There.

2. At this point, it wouldn’t surprise me if magical weirdoes could keep fighting when they’re asleep—but it appears, at least, that this one can’t.

3. Solar, you can’t be serious about destroying worlds like this one. Billions of people.

4. Pete, I’m doing the right thing. I don’t care if you believe it or not. My patience is exhausted.

5. Before you do anything rash, I’ll allow you a glimpse into my mind. Now.

6. (WHISPER) Let’s get him.

7. Umm…that would not be a good idea right now.

8. Right.

9. Getting rid of you wouldn’t be enough, Darque. The multiverse would still need reconfiguring. But for two cents, I’d start by reducing you to ash right now.

10. Oh, come now. You’re too nice to murder someone in that personal way. You even had trouble bringing yourself to fight my little militia.

11. No, you prefer sanitized murder. “Reconfiguring” all of us and all our annoying parallel realities out of existence.

12. So, we’ll play out the drama and see if it’s you and yours who end up dead, or everyone else.

13. Take any more action against me and mine, Darque, and I will kill you in that personal way.

14. Your “militia” won’t be able to…

15. Wait a minute—where…?








PAGE EIGHT:

1. They went after your wife, Solar. I felt Darque pushing them. Picked up enough of his thoughts to figure it out.

2. I don’t know why I’m telling you, except…I don’t like tactics like that.

3. That son of a…

4. You moron! What the hell did you tell him for? If Solar’s gone nuts what chance is there to stop him except by holding whatsername hostage?

5. I can’t…be party to that.

6. You were wonderful, Peter. I was terrified when you were face-to-face with the Man In the Red Suit! The way you stood your ground…! I’m so proud of you!

7. Thanks, Lucy…

8. P-Pete…? Who’s…she?

9. Um…why don’t you just go away, Chris. It’s over between us. I’ve had enough of your *SQUEE*. Never again.

10. But…I thought you and I were…were…

11. Over. All right. Fine. Saves me having to dump you.

12. (SMALL, as if to herself) Oh, my…!

13. Another reality. Where the home of Phillip Seleski, also known as Solar, once stood.

14. Magnus…dead.













PAGE NINE:

1. (SMALL) S…Solar…!

2. Geoff?

3. (SMALL, as if weakly) They killed Magnus. Caught me by surprise. Couldn’t bring the power of your hand to bear…quick enough.

(NOTE: Geoff is supposed to have Solar’s hand, as mentioned in the description of this scene in the plot and as established last issue, not a disk-like sliver of arm.)

4. What about Gayle? Where’s Gayle?!

5. (SMALL) You’re pretty clever. It’s…hard to keep secrets from a Geomancer…but you almost did it.

6. (SMALL) You did something to everything around here so that I couldn’t pick up any vibes…couldn’t find out what you were really up to.

7. (SMALL) I…told Magnus…it’s like you made every molecule keep its mouth shut.

8. (SMALL) But… lying here…I realized you forgot one thing…your own hand.

9. (SMALL) I asked it…and it whispered to me…

10. Gayle’s gone. They took her.

11. (SMALL) You…suck, Solar. H-hope they…rip you a nnn…

12. Hm. Big influx of energy. Something—or someone—is arriving.

13. There he is! Get him!

14. My erstwhile allies. I suppose Geoff got word to them. Gossip sure spreads quickly.











PAGE TEN:

1. They used my power to ‘port in.

2. At the first sign of trouble I should have reclaimed the slivers of myself I passed around. Stupid. Oh, well.

3. Aric, wait! Don’t hit him!

4. Obviously, the iteration of Aric from this universe…

5. …the real universe…my universe…is just as rash as the one in Darque’s reality.

6. Seen one berserker in X-O armor, seen ‘em all, I suppose.

7. This time I’m ready, though.

8. Aric!

9. Gahh!

10. Might as well make myself whole. There.

11. There was a time when the X-O armor would have posed a threat—but I’ve gotten smarter since then…and fortunately, I stockpiled a lot of energy—just in case something went awry.

12. So long, armor. You were valiant.

13. Back off, all of you. Now.

14. Sorry, Mister Seleski. We’re not the backing-off type.

15. I am.

16. Shut up, Armstrong.










PAGE ELEVEN:

1. All right, Solar, cool it.

2. We have a message for you from Darque.

3. Magnus! Oh, God, no…!

4. Darque has your wife hidden someplace. He said to tell you she’s beyond your reach and alive only as long as he actively maintains her safety. Hurt him, she dies automatically.

5. Look, we don’t necessarily approve of his tactics, but I don’t think I approve of your reshaping the universe to suit yourself and killing everyone you find extraneous either.

6. False doppelgangers…

7. …shadows. Troublesome shadows.

8. No use arguing with her, though.

9. Got to think…

10. Poor Chris. She seems devastated, Flamingo.

11. Well, it’s hard to explain, sugah—it’s one of those Back to the Future time paradox things—but Magnus is her son.

12. Since Pete stayed on that other world with that girl Lucy…guess you could say she lost both of her men today.















PAGE TWELVE:

1. I’m starting to feel good about things, Lou. I know that Solar won’t simply go away, but…yes, I’m feeling good about the situation.

2. Don’t feel too good…

3. As long as the Armageddon Clock is still ticking down, all existence is still in jeopardy.

4. Here, I’ll make it so you can see it, too.

5. Betcha the Man in the Red Suit’ll make some kind of desperate move…there’ll be some kind of showdown…

6. …four cosmic ticks from now.

7. Perhaps. But as long as I have his darling Gayle…

8. Yeah. The way I see it, the only problem you got is if he finds her and…

9. Hey, where did you stash her, Alex? Maybe I can suggest someplace better.

10. No thanks.

11. Playin’ it close to the vest, huh? Good idea. Yep. Loose lips sink boats and all that.

12. Well, hey, my wife’s probably worried sick that I’m having a good time. Guess I’ll say good-bye to Sandy, crawl home and grovel my way through another lambasting. Seeya.

13. Soon.

14. The recruits all here, Darque. Every one (NOTE: “Every one” is deliberate) we contact. Some brought friends. They waiting for you.

15. Thanks, Anansi.

16. Ah! Ladies and gentlemen…







PAGE THIRTEEN:

1. It’s nice to see so many different universes, so many different realities represented here…

2. …because, as you know, the Man in the Red Suit threatens every universe, every reality except the one he calls home.







































PAGE FOURTEEN:

1. Though I am only a humble Necromancer, I have been at the forefront of defending all our worlds against Solar.

2. I see the look on some of your faces—notably those among you with whom I’ve had…differences of opinion. I can literally hear you thinking: “You, Darque?”

3. Don’t be dense. I haven’t suddenly become altruistic. I live in the multiverse, too, dammit. Of course I’ll fight to save it.

4. Saving it means destroying Solar. There is no alternative. I have a plan afoot to accomplish that.

5. (SFX) bzzzz…

6. In the meantime, your job is to protect me—and, if possible, take the offensive against our common enemy.

7. So…go to it, troops. That is all.

8. (SFX) bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

9. Moments later.

10. All the troops are deployed, Darque. Where are you holding the girl? Maybe Anans’ and I should guard her.

11. No need. And her location is for no one to know but me.

12. (SFX) bzzzzzzzzz…

13. That fly, he come to the meeting, now he goes. Odd.

14. (SFX) bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

15. Lou! Look at you…! That’s surprising!

16. Hey, didn’t you ever see a fly turn into a sex fiend before?

17. Of course. What I meant was I’m surprised that you’re using magic so overtly. I thought under the terms of your penance you weren’t allowed.

18. I’m not…but to Hell with the penance!


PAGE FIFTEEN:

1. Sandy, I’ve had it up to here with wretched life I have to live again and again and again…the battleaxe wife, the crummy job. Damn few little stolen moments of respite—like our little play sessions.

2. Right now there’s an opportunity for me—much better than the first time I tried to oust the Big Boss and take over. Yep. Time to carpe the ol’ diem…

3. Won’t the Big Boss just stop you?

4. Nah. He’s hung up on this free will thing. Even I have choices. I’d love to make that bonehead idea blow up in His face. But…I’m going to need your help, doll.

5. What do you have in mind, you horny devil, you?

6. I need you to find out for me where Alex is keeping Gayle.

7. Will you help me, Sandy? In return, I’ll make you an independent being, completely separate from Alex. Wouldn’t you like that?

8. Fine…but what I really want is to be with you, lover…all the time.

9. Why, certainly, Sandy! You’ll be mine. Indeed. Mine all mine.

10. Somewhere beyond all realities, in the substratum of existence.

11. All right. He has Gayle. But he’s unlikely to risk hurting her unless he really has no choice. He might bargain…but only if he thinks he can’t win outright.

12. So…first, I have to strip away all his defenses.

13. Uh-oh. His defenses have become offensive.













PAGE SIXTEEN:

1. Wonder how they found me out here?

2. Darque’s doing. “Magic.”

3. Look at them. I just can’t get over how ridiculous some of these weirdoes are. That one has a cape!

4. Ow! They can still hurt you though.

5. And that’s the problem in a nutshell.

6. I hate to have to do this…

7. No. No I don’t. Not any more. It has to be done.

8. If I want a positive outcome to all this, I have to be as ruthless as Darque.




























PAGE SEVENTEEN:

1. Besides…they’re just shadows. It’s not as if they’re real.

2. All quiet on the Western Front…

3. Wait. What…?

4. Oh, god, not that again…!





































PAGE EIGHTEEN:

1. The Chaos Monster!

2. It would have been bad if that shot had hit me.

3. So glad I figured out this energy-shield thing…!

4. Alex! What’s going on? Why is the house shaking?

5. There’s a creature in sub-reality, dear sister, that feeds on the energy generated by the multiverse as it endlessly divides and replicates. A dark god of chaos. It has attacked its natural enemy—Solar.

6. Because it is linked to every reality, as it writhes in battle all existence shudders.

7. It took a great deal of unpleasant, humiliating groveling before that thing to get it to serve my purposes. I have to say, it’s paid off handsomely.




























PAGE NINETEEN:

1. Hmm. Solar’s very clever. He’s not slugging it out. He’s parrying, jabbing…

2. …and running.

3. Damn. He got away.

4. Alex, I’ve never seen you like this. So troubled, so worried.

5. I’m used to being the one lurking, waiting for the moment to strike, Sandria—not the one nervously hunkered down behind armies of guards. Look at me, I’m the friggin’ guardian of the multiverse. The hero. It’s rather an uncomfortable role for me.

6. Yes. I’m worried. Scared, if you want the humiliating truth.

7. Then let me hold you, lover. We are one, after all. Your worry is my worry.

8. Is that so? The way you fawn over Morningstar…

9. Silly Alex. I pretend he amuses me to make you jealous.

10. But I am part of you Alex. The part of you that you spit out, yes. Your weaknesses—what you think of as your feminine side.

11. Maybe you hate me and all that I am—but you made me to be your chattel and you succeeded. I am, dear Alex, irretrievably yours.

12. Alex, maybe…just possibly, I can help. You know, provide a fresh, chattel’s eye view of the situation? Talk to me, love.

13. Fairfield, Connecticut.

14. Hiya, sweetie. How’s tricks?

15. Don’t “Hiya, sweetie,” me, Lou. You’ve been out screwing around with some tramp again, haven’t you?

16. Yep.

17. I knew you were low. I knew you were a pervert. But I never knew just how vile you really are…

18. Hey, let me show you!

19. This is how vile I really am.

20. Go to Hell, woman.

21. Eeeeeeeeeee…!










































PAGE TWENTY:

1. Heh, heh…

2. Daddy, where did Mommy go?

3. Elizabeth, New Jersey, Muriel. Her and the human brats. You get to stay with Daddy, though, sweetheart, because you’re like me. You’re special. You’re one of Daddy’s little angels.

4. Like Aunt Lucy?

5. Like Lucy.

6. Daddy, I’m glad Mommy and the brats are gone. I never liked them, anyway.

7. My squirt gun leaks. Can you fix it?

8. Let me see that, sweetie pie. Hmmm…

9. I think I may have a use for this, just the way it is. Can Daddy borrow it?

10. Why?

11. (SFX) BRNNNNNG-BRNNNNNG

12. Hello…? Sandy! He told you? How did you…never mind. Where…?

13. Nice work. Thanks.

14. Daddy has to go out for a little while, Muriel.

15. Okay.

16. Um…if you get hungry, sweetheart, just, uh…kill something and eat it.

17. Okay.

18. A certain cincture wormhole located outside of real space—the prison of Erica Pierce.

19. Erica…? You don’t know me, but I’m a friend.

20. Here, let me give you a little energy—perk you up a little.

21. Who the hell are you?

22. A kindred spirit, Erica. I’m also in prison, in a way—like you, being punished by Someone for trying to set things right.

23. Solar imprisoned you for trying to do exactly what he’s doing now, right? How would you like to kill him?

24. With this? A water pistol?

25. Yep. You’ll see.

26. I have a proposition for you. I suspect that, sooner or later, Solar will come to you for help. There’s no one else he can turn to. He’ll probably allow you to reclaim a bit of your power—enough to serve his purpose, but not enough to threaten him.

27. Go on…






























PAGE TWENTY-ONE:

1. All I want you to do is tell him where his darling, kidnapped wife is being held—and pretend that you figured it out yourself.

2. Then, I’ll load your gun…and at the appropriate moment, you can use it on him.

3. And then?

4. Well, with him out of the way, you’ll be the ultimate power in the multiverse. You can do as you please.

5. You know, you can’t imagine how lonely I’ve been…and there’s something intoxicatingly sexy about you…

6. So I’ve been told. Let me tell you where Gayle is, then we’ll, um, seal the deal? I drive a…hard bargain. Heh, heh.

7. Soon, in sub-real time.

8. Phil! Jeezus, couldn’t you knock first or something?

9. How is it you’re looking so hale and hearty, Erica?

10. Uhhh…I don’t know, Phil. Maybe you gave me a bigger booster shot of energy than you thought last time…

11. …or maybe this little psycho-active hell-hole isn’t ripping me apart as much as it used to. Maybe I’m getting saner.

12. Erica, I…I’ve come to ask for your help. If you agree, I’m willing to give you your freedom…um, on some kind of limited basis. A parole sort of thing.

13. I’m listening.

14. Non-moments later.

15. Hmm. You know, Phil, I think I have an idea where Darque might have hidden Gayle. Just a guess…

16. Do you accept my terms, Erica? Will you help me?

17. Yes. Yes. And thank you, Phil. Thanks for giving me a chance.

18. Good. Let’s go.

19. (SFX) bzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

20. Whoooo!

21. That was close.

22. (SMALL) I hope she can keep that gun tucked out of sight till she finds a better place to stash it.






































PAGE TWENTY-TWO:

1. Loremaster’s sanctum, Red Hook, Brooklyn.

2. You found something? It’d better be good. I’m busy.

3. It’s important. A critical piece of data, in fact. I’m shocked, frankly. It’s contrary to all the accepted lore…

4. I’ve always thought that our reality was a derivative reality—but I was wrong. Ours is the primary reality. I have proof!

5. The Man in the Red Suit who’s causing all the trouble—? his universe is just another alternate reality that split off from the original one—the one we’re in!

6. And the power behind the creation of that alternate reality was Lucifer Morningstar.

7. Morningstar?! But…

8. Yaahhh!

9. What’s up with these earthquakes? My books! My comics!

10. The Armageddon Clock! I can see it even without Morningstar’s help, now. Of course—it’s the final moment…probably even mere adepts can see it now.

11. And probably even an adept would have suspected that old devil was up to something. But, no, I was too busy saving the multiverse. Being the hero.

12. Damn. I feel as screwed…as Sandria.

13. At a corresponding non-moment, in the substratum.

14. I should have thought of using Erica before. With her help, I can put an end to this for once and for all.

15. Erica, you’re a godsend.

The end of the beginning of the end!

[Phantom]

looking forward to the 4 hour talk with Jim. Well done! Huge effort for both of you.
Well done with the scripts, and teasing it out of Jim.
Thanks for sharing!

[IMJ]

Nice work, man. This is how you do it. Nice work.
I would scan your pages into a PDF file and send them to Greg and maybe they can be archived onto the site forever.

I'm on a really great Stone Temple Pilots community and this is how we do it as well. Share what we can that otherwise wouldn't have been seen. Nice work.

[greg]

Nice work, man. This is how you do it. Nice work.
I would scan your pages into a PDF file and send them to Greg and maybe they can be archived onto the site forever.

No need - it's done: http://valiantfan.com/valiant/u2k_5_script.pdf

[betterthanezra]

Back in 2006 at the ValiantFans Panel I was asked about this book

I said it then I'll say it again

The story was so bad I honestly feel it being NEVER finished was the best thing to come out of it

-Brian

[Sunlight on Snow]

Thanks for getting and posting the script. Appreciated.

[syzhang28]

Back in 2006 at the ValiantFans Panel I was asked about this book

I said it then I'll say it again

The story was so bad I honestly feel it being NEVER finished was the best thing to come out of it

-Brian

i feel the same way. its curious to see shooter write the same characters so well at vh1 and then so badly here

[Ryan]

Nice work, man. This is how you do it. Nice work.
I would scan your pages into a PDF file and send them to Greg and maybe they can be archived onto the site forever.

No need - it's done: http://valiantfan.com/valiant/u2k_5_script.pdf

Thank you guys. Does anyone have a link to all the scans of Starlin's art from the unpublished issues? Haven't re-read this series in like 20 years might give it a shot with the new script.

[Ryan]

I found this thread viewtopic.php?t=33265 that links to Sonicdan's scans https://sonicdan.com/Valiantart/Unity2000/ small but readable. Thanks Dan! Unfortunately seems as though there's a few missing pages from issue 6.

Anyone know what ended up happening with the U2K project? (btw I'm not the Ryan mentioned in that thread, damn common names lol) I must've been out of the loop at that time.

I found a couple pages from U2k no. 4 colored by Jayjay on here https://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPie ... ce=1084476 looks pretty cool.

[valiantdude]

There's a very readable version of all 6 issues on [no links to illegal sites].to

[Ryan]

There's a very readable version of all 6 issues on [no links to illegal sites].to

[valiantdude]

I thought the script for Unity 2000 #4 was already released, I guess not?