Why is it That So Few Saturday Morning Cartoon Villains Have a Catchy Name for Their Lairs?

Previously. . .

We Now Continue. . .

BANDANA

Sometimes a woman just needs to be left alone.

The sound of a BEEPING HEART MONITOR fades in as we-

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INT, Care Room

A CLOSE UP of a hosptial bed. We see what appears to be a nurse walking up and taking the pulse of the person in bed. We PAN UP to reveal that the "nurse" is KAO LING. She's tense, and after a few seconds TEARS begin to stream down her cheeks.

Then, we hear a early-90's era PHONE RINGING.

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INT, Care Room, Continuous

KAO LING standing near a wall, the bulky old phone up against her ear.

CYPRINE(V.O.)

Eudial and Tellu have returned. Tellu's in pretty bad shape. This one's not long for the world. I don't think even a booster shot could help her.

KAO LING

Get Tellu prepped for transmigr-- No. Wait for me. Uh, where are you?

CYPRINE (V.O.)

Entry Bay 3.

KAO LING

Right. I'll be there in a moment.

KAO LING hangs up the phone. . . and notices that her hand is shaking. She tries to open her hand, but it's not moving.

KAO LING

Come on!

KAO LING squeezes her hand and forearm until her hand is able to move again. She turns to look back at the bed.

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KAO LING'S POV. We see the hospital bed, where a SMALL FEMALE FIGURE with black hair is lying, her face covered with an oxygen mask, her arms injected with multiple tubes, connected to about a half-dozen or so medical machines. The bed is surrounded by STUFFED ANIMALS and floating PHOSPHORESCENT ARTWORK in the shape of stars and the moon, hovering in the dark like deep-sea jellyfish, covering the bed in a dreamy glow.

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KAO LING. She stares at the bed for moment, then closes her eyes and VANISHES. All we see now is the open doorway leading into the room. After a couple of second's wait, PTILOL appears in the doorway, staring at the person in bed. . . smiling.

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INT, Entry Bay

CYPRINE waits near the back of the highjacked AMBULANCE. EUDIAL carrys the steaming, hissing ENERGY TANK out of the ambulance and sets it on the ground-- even EUDIAL, for all her strength, seems to have trouble carrying it. Then, out of no-where, KAO LING appears. EUDIAL and CYPRINE turn to her.

KAO LING

(to EUDIAL)

Where is she?

CYRPINE

Tellu's in the-

KAO LING

(sharply, to CYRPINE)

Was I asking you?

CYRPINE shuts up.

KAO LING

Eudial.

EUDIAL

She's in the back. In a stretcher. I've been monitoring her vitals the whole way here.

(beat)

Frankly, it's more than she deserves.

KAO LING

What is that supposed to mean?

EUDIAL

(beat, incredulous)

It means she set us up! Or were you not paying attention--

KAO LING

Watch what you say, Eudial.

EUDIAL

Watch what I say?

KAO LING

This mission was pivotal to our plans-

EUDIAL

And I saved it! While you were sitting here with the twins-

(points to CYPRINE)

- monitoring things, and while Tellu was being fed on by a creature she was too stupid and careless to control, I was ensuring that the energy that creature was harvesting-

(she kicks the tank)

-was being properly stored, and I was capturing our first, genuine new data on Sailor V in over twenty years. . . which would have been right after I was finished fixing the equipment that Tellu sabotaged!

(beat)

She was setting us up, Kao Ling! She's probably the one who messed up my tracking device, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it turned out that Mimete's "disappearance" had something to do with her too!

KAO LING'S taken aback by all this.

EUDIAL

As far as I'm concerned, I was within my rights to just let her die. But that's not my decision, Kao Ling. That's not how we do things.

(beat)

I brought her back here, and kept her alive, so that you could make the call.

KAO LING turns her head back toward the ambulance. . . then toward CYRPINE. She looks at her for a second before turning back to face EUDIAL. . . and in the same movement, she SLAPS EUDIAL with the same hand that was shaking uncontrollably a moment ago. The force is enough to knock EUDIAL to the ground. KAO LING then grabs EUDIAL'S arm with the same hand and pushes to down.

KAO LING

You clearly weren't ready for the responsibilities given to you.

(beat)

Maybe Viluy will do a better job.

KAO LING pulls in closer.

KAO LING

(whispering)

You can thank me later.

KAO LING lets her go. EUDIAL looks first at KAO LING, and then at CYRPINE.

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EUDIAL'S POV. CYRPINE, standing by the ambulance, looks down at EUDIAL.

KAO LING

(to CYRPINE)

Take Tellu to the infirmiry.

CYRPINE flashes a contemptuous smile at the humiliated EUDIAL.

KAO LING

Get a new Tellu ready for transmigration.

CYPRINE walks behind the AMBULANCE as we

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. . . whatever's coming next.