/* Tonus Peregrinus
"Mad World"
Mad World (2007) */

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces

FADE UP ON:

INT. – WORLD WIDE BUILDING – DAY

JANICE BARLOW opens the door to her apartment to reveal STEVE ROGERS standing outside. Cap’s expression is grim. He’s holding a small box in one hand and a yellow envelope in the other.

Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere

CAP

Sergeant Barlow?

Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression

JANICE stands motionless, the envelope in her hand, a dawning horror in her eyes.

FADE TO:

EXT. – OUTDOORS – TWILIGHT

SIVAR WAR-GOD stands atop a grassy cliff, looking down at the tiny fire of a crude encampment in the valley below. A pillar of blue light arches into the artificially-blue sky from somewhere behind his head.

SIVAR

...and upon that day, you will behold my wrath.

SIVAR turns and walks away in the direction of the beam tower.

Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

FADE TO:

INT. – ARMORY – NIGHT

Three flashlight beams play slowly across an empty armory; their black-clad wielders are looking for something, or perhaps for the lack of something. A rack of Salusian-issue battle rifles adorns one wall; crates of gear are piled on the floor. An abandoned MJOLNIR stands to one side. As the beams draw closer, the armored figures’ unit insignia is made visible in the half-light. They are ORBITAL DROP SHOCK TROOPERS, the elite forces of the Royal Salusian Marine Corps.

ODST #1

So we’re agreed.

ODST #2

There’s only two of them, after all.

ODST #3

Two humans.

ODST #2

How bad could they be.

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad

As the ODSTs turn to leave, a hint of greenish light plays across the MJOLNIR’s visor. It slowly raises a hand and wipes two fingers across its faceplate.

FADE TO BLACK

The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had

FADE IN

EXT. – SPACE

A Covenant battle fleet passes slowly between the viewer and a planet. The ships begin releasing gouts of plasma, a wake of fire and destruction trailing them on the world below, leaving nothing but cooling glass.

I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take

EXT. – CITY STREET – DAY

CHAD COLLIER, in full adventure-cameraman gear, fells a fleeing Grunt with a backhanded swipe of his Woodman’s Pal and extends a hand to a figure before him. As the other man accepts the hand, we see that it’s JOHN TRUSSELL.

CHAD

Come with me if you want to live.

When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad world
Mad world

EXT. – SPACE

A distant star rises over the edge of an orbital ringworld.

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
And I feel the way that every child should

FADE TO:

INT. – IPO HEADQUARTERS – NIGHT

JANICE BARLOW bites her lip and reads the terminal screen again, tensing her hand on the arm of her chair reflexively. We see green letters scroll across the glassy surface of her cybereye, but we can’t make them out.

Sit and listen, sit and listen

JANICE stands and pushes the chair towards the desk with a sudden slamming motion. She heads towards the door and all we hear is...

JANICE

...the devil you know, huh.

CRASH TO:

The MASTER CHIEF lands in his signature crouch on a raging battlefield. He stands and readies his rifle as another figure, clad in blue MJOLNIR battle armor, lands behind him and surveys the scene.

Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me

The blue SPARTAN is considerably more agile than John; he or she quickly disables a couple of assailants and sprints into the chaos of the battlefield.

Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me

CUT TO:

INT. -- OFFICE

XANDER CAGE swings his boots down from a desk and stands up, his entire attention focused on the person on the other side. He rests both hands on the edge of the desk, transforming the gesture into a half-shrug.

CAGE

So you'll just have to take me as part of the deal.

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad

The desk's apparent owner is an elderly Salusian woman-- elderly even by the standards of her own long-lived race-- who returns CAGE's stare with apparent disinterest. She steeples her fingers in front of her face and keeps her own counsel.

The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had

CUT TO:

EXT. -- BATTLEFIELD -- DAY

SKULD RAVENHAIR, clad in a Black Talon battlesuit, cuts down an approaching enemy with a wrist-mounted Getter blaster. Her motion is almost casual, unthinking. The leader of the Valkyries flips back her faceplate one-handed and extends her free hand to a downed warrior. A slight radiance begins to suffuse the battlefield.

I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take

SKULD

It’s time.

When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad world
Mad world...

EXT. – SPACE

A distant planet is engulfed in a titanic explosion, shock wave silently racing outward.

CRASH TO BLACK

Picturing Dame Judy Dench as M here. :)