Descent /Transcript

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===1888, London===
(Jack the Ripper is hunting down his victims.James Xavier is put on the case of stopping the serial killer by Scotland Yard.)
Inspector:With all due respect, Doctor, I still can't believe that these sinister goings-on in Whitechapel, are the work of a man in his 60s.
Inspector:I mean, be serious, Dr.Xavier!
Dr.Xavier:You must believe me, Inspector!
Dr.Xavier:Dr.Nathaniel Essex is responsible for these crimes!
Inspector:Every person who has seen this butcher agrees that he's a younger man.
Inspector:And I can't credit a man of science with these inhuman atrocities!
Dr.Xavier:Essex isn't human, Inspector!
Dr.Xavier:Not anymore.
Dr.Xavier:And after tracking him round the world for half my life, I begin to think he never was!
Man One:Whoa!
Man Two:Hey, move this wagon out of the way!
Inspector:Now, Doctor, how is it you know this mad doctor, Essex?
===Flash To 1859===
Dr. Xavier:I first became aware of his obsessions in the year of our lord, 1859, while in the employ
of Lord Grey, his patron and father-in-law.
Dr.Xavier:Essex had been fascinated with the theories of Charles Darwin.
Dr.Xavier:In particular, the groundbreaking work assembled in his Origin of Species.
Darwin:And therefore, I am convinced that natural selection has been the main, but not exclusive means
of species modification.
Darwin:I open the floor for questions.
Dr.Xavier:Mr. Darwin, while your theory may explain diversity in the lower animals, how can your natural selection account for the human soul?
Dr.Xavier:Were we not created in God's own image?
Darwin:I have not, uh, as yet, applied my observations to mankind.
Darwin:Though I may do so at some future point.
Man:But, Mr.Darwin, shouldn't natural selection operate within any naturally occurring population, be it animal, vegetable or man himself?
Darwin:Yes, yes, quite right.
Man:And, given that we have removed ourselves from the mechanisms of natural selection, isn't mankind overdue for the next evolutionary step?
Darwin:No, no, not at all.
Darwin:Man is still in direct competition with his fellows, and thus subject to natural selection.
Darwin:Uh, yes, you had a question.
Mister Sinister:Mr.Darwin, I am Dr. Nathaniel Essex.
Darwin:Ah, a pleasure, Doctor.
Mister Sinister:Gentlemen, I wanted to speak to you about my own research.
Mister Sinister:I have made detailed observations on mutated humans, incorporating some of your theories.
Darwin:I must caution you, these are dangerous times for free-thinking men of science.
Darwin:I shall very much look forward to reading it when you publish it, sir.
Mister Sinister:But I have irrefutable evidence to back up my claims.
Mister Sinister:And I'm sure with your support...
Darwin:In light to the lukewarm reception my theories received here, sir, I believe it is I who am in need of your support.
Mister Sinister:Thank you, sir.
Darwin:Be patient, my boy.
Darwin:And discreet.
Mister Sinister:Oh, Mr.Darwin, may I present Dr.James Xavier, family physician to Grey Hall.
Darwin:So, Dr.Xavier, do you believe me a heretic or merely a madman?
Dr. Xavier:I have the utmost respect for your early work, sir, but natural selection seems to deny the divine hand in creation.
Darwin:Heretic it is, then.
Darwin:Gentlemen, if you'll excuse me.
Dr.Xavier:But I grow weary of this debate.
Dr.Xavier:How is Rebecca faring?
Mister Sinister:If my wife's condition has changed at all, it is for the worse.
Mister Sinister:Will you be coming by to check on her this evening?
Dr.Xavier:Of course,
Dr.Xavier:Though Essex was qualified to treat his wife's disorder, it was considered improper then, as now,
for a physician to treat members of his own family.
Lord Grey:James, can you give me any good news about my daughter?
Dr.Xavier:Not as yet, sir.
Dr.Xavier:But I'm confident my treatments will prove effective in time.
Mister Sinister:Treatments?
Mister Sinister:Why can't you admit you haven't the slightest idea what's wrong with my wife?
Dr.Xavier:You insult me, sir!
Mister Sinister:No, I...
Mister Sinister:Please forgive me, my friend.
Mister Sinister:My frustration got the better of me.
Dr.Xavier:I understand.
Mister Sinister:Lack of sleep, I expect.
Mister Sinister:I bid you goodnight.
Dr.Xavier:It is his work that worries me, sir.
Dr.Xavier:I tell you, his ideas verge on blasphemy.
Lord Grey:I understand.
Lord Grey:But he is my son-in-law.
Lord Grey:And one of the few things that bring a smile to my daughter's lips.
Dr.Xavier:Though I dared not admit it, Rebecca's illness confounded me.
===Rebecca's Bedroom===
Mister Sinister:Rebecca, darling, I need another sample of your blood.
Rebecca:Am I your wife, or your guinea pig?
Mister Sinister:You are the most precious thing in all the world to me.
Mister Sinister:And that is why I must do everything within my power to make you well.
===Essex's Laboratory===
Dr.Xavier:Essex's laboratory was located in an asylum for the physically infirm...(knocking)...on the west end
of the estate.
Dr.Xavier:As director of the asylum, Essex took in those poor unfortunates who, through some accident
of birth, could not function in normal society.
Dr.Xavier:Disreputable procurers knew he would pay well.
Dr.Xavier:So they aided him in seeking out these curiosities in the traveling carnivals and dumb shows, where they were obliged to earn their keep.
Dr.Xavier:I shall never forget the day I arrived, along with Darwin, to witness the unveiling of Essex's great work.
Darwin:You've caught me in good health and high spirits, Dr.Essex.
Darwin:We're all most eager to hear of your discoveries.
Mister Sinister:And so you shall, gentlemen.
Mister Sinister:Please, step this way.
Mister Sinister:As you know, my interest lies not in the gradual mutations that occur over millennia, but in the leaps that manifest themselves in a single generation.
Mister Sinister:Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the men of tomorrow.
Mister Sinister:Mr.Fuente.
Mister Sinister:You will, no doubt, recognize the electroscope, a device for demonstrating the effect of an electromagnetic charge.
Mister Sinister:Mr.Flannery, if you please.
Darwin:Dr.Essex, I am speechless.
Darwin:I came today expecting some minor breakthrough in biology, and instead,you insult these learned men
with parlor tricks and quackery!
Mister Sinister:But, but...
Darwin:Now if you'll excuse me, Doctor, I have no time for such foolishness!
Mister Sinister:No!Wait!
Mister Sinister:I have discovered the mechanisms of heredity!
Mister Sinister:In time, I shall bring an end to hereditary disorders to all disease!
Mister Sinister:Man shall at last possess complete mastery over his own body!
Mister Sinister:We shall become more than men!
Mister Sinister:We shall be Gods!
Darwin:Good heavens!
Darwin:You're quite mad!
Mister Sinister:Fools!
Mister Sinister:You blind old fools!
Mister Sinister:You require proof?
Mister Sinister:I'll provide you with proof!
Mister Sinister:In abundance!
Mister Sinister:I shall show you, I shall show the world!
Inspector:But I don't see what that's got to do with the butchery here in the East End.
Dr.Xavier:That's only half the tale, Inspector.
Dr.Xavier:Please, if you could just...
Inspector:Well, Doctor, do you still think this is the work of a slighted scientist?
Dr.Xavier:He has altered nature itself.
Dr.Xavier:I believe the creature responsible for this outrage to be the result of this man's sinister experiments.
Dr.Xavier:Inspector, I implore you to accompany me to Mansell Street!
Dr.Xavier:This may be a chance to stop the most diabolical madman the world has ever known!
Dr.Xavier:I shall finish the tale as we ride.
===Flashback===
Dr.Xavier:After his expulsion from the Royal Society, Essex became even more obsessed with his research.
Dr.Xavier:But still he met with failure after failure.
Dr.Xavier:As time passed, he grew more reclusive.
Dr.Xavier:Eccentric.
Dr.Xavier:A fanatic.
Dr.Xavier:Stories of strange goings-on at the Grey Hall Asylum circulated around Parliament and made their way
into the papers.
Dr.Xavier:Essex and Lord Grey became estranged, while Rebecca's condition worsened.
Dr.Xavier:Even the most advanced techniques of medical science were to no avail.
Dr.Xavier:And though Essex still fought to save Rebecca, his growing fascination with human mutation became all consuming.
Mister Sinister:Yes!
Mister Sinister:Yes!
Mister Sinister:I've done it!
Mister Sinister:Mad, am I, Darwin?
Mister Sinister:Fool!
Mister Sinister:You are a mere spectator to creation, while I, I have become the creator!
Mister Sinister:Excellent.
Mister Sinister:I feel like a new man!
Flannery:What...
Flannery:what are you doing to us?
Mister Sinister:Have no fear, my friends.
Mister Sinister:With these transfusions, you shall become more than men!
Mister Sinister:Much more!
Mister Sinister:Remarkable!
Mister Sinister:Not even a blister!
===Flashback===
Dr.Xavier:I don't understand it.Other than a slight pallor, your daughter is making quite an amazing recovery,
Lord Grey.
Lord Grey:What is it, my dear?
Rebecca:He made me promise not to tell you.
Rebecca:I-I suppose it doesn't really matter now.
Rebecca:Nathaniel has been giving me treatments!
Lord Grey:He's been what?
Dr.Xavier:What kind of treatments?
Rebecca:No professional jealousy, James.
Rebecca:You said yourself my recovery was amazing!
Lord Grey:How dare he!
Lord Grey:That arrogant, insolent little jumped-up pipsqueak!
Dr.Xavier:Sir, I think we'd best not disturb Rebecca at this critical stage.
Lord Grey:James, you must speak with Essex.
Lord Grey:Perhaps he'll listen to you!
Lord Grey:We must learn what that madman has given to my daughter!
Dr.Xavier:Essex! It's Xavier.
Dr.Xavier:Please, I must speak with you.
Mister Sinister:Very well, James.
Mister Sinister:Do come in.
Dr.Xavier:Dr. Essex, I--
Mister Sinister:I am no longer a doctor, James.
Mister Sinister:Tell me, do they speak of me still at the Royal Society?
Dr.Xavier:Indeed.They speak of...sinister experiments you are rumored to perform.
Mister Sinister:Sinister.
Mister Sinister:I'll have to remember that when Queen Victoria knights me.
Mister Sinister:After you.
(Essex shows James his basement, where he kept his mutants locked up.)
Dr.Xavier:This is your asylum?
Mister Sinister:Thus out of small beginnings, greater things have been produced.
Flannery:Please, sir, no more!
Dr.Xavier:Good lord, man!
Dr.Xavier:Even animals don't deserve such treatment!
Mister Sinister:And the treatment they'd receive outside these walls would be better?
Dr.Xavier:Release these poor creatures!
Dr.Xavier:At once!
Mister Sinister:They are unfinished, Doctor.
Mister Sinister:I cannot allow you to do this!
Dr.Xavier:Ah!
(James gets into a fight with Essex.)
Dr.Xavier:Ah!
Dr.Xavier:You truly have gone mad.
Mister Sinister:I am not mad!
Mister Sinister:I won't let you stop me, James.
(The mutants are able to escape in the midst of the struggle.)
Dr.Xavier:It is over, Nathaniel!
Mister Sinister:No!My work!
Mister Sinister:My subjects!
Dr.Xavier:What are you...
Mister Sinister:Don't go!
Mister Sinister:My children! No!
(One of the mutants, Thomas Flannery, accidentally uses his powers to set fire to a building.)
Man:Demons!
Man:Spawn of the Devil himself!
Man:They appeared from the darkness, demons spewing the fires of Hades!
Flannery:I didn't mean to.
Mister Sinister:Flannery, Vochek!
Mister Sinister:My children!
Man:Get him!
Flannery:I'm frightened, Lord.
Flannery:Why do you forsake me so?
Flannery:If you truly have mercy, deliver me from this.
Flannery:Oh!
Flannery:Please don't hurt me, sir.
Dr.Xavier:The lord cares for all his creatures.
Dr.Xavier:Why do you believe he has forsaken you?
Flannery:I only wanted to find work so I could send money back to my family in Ireland.
Flannery:The... the famine.
Flannery:We... we...
Dr.Xavier:I'm not going to hurt you.
Dr.Xavier:My name is James Xavier.I'm a doctor.
Flannery:No! No, no, t-that's what the other one said!
Dr.Xavier:I'm nothing like that madman!
Dr.Xavier:I want to help you.
Dr.Xavier:What's your name?
Flannery:Flannery, sir.Thomas Flannery.
Man:There's one of them! Demon!
Dr.Xavier:Listen to me!
Man:That's Dr. Xavier!
Man:Let him speak!
Dr.Xavier:This man is no demon!
Man:He's a monster!
Dr.Xavier:No!He is different, true!
Dr.Xavier:Born with abilities that may frighten us.
Dr.Xavier:But he had no choice in the matter.
Dr.Xavier:Any more than we choose the color of our eyes.
Dr.Xavier:The true monsters walk amongst us undetected.
Dr.Xavier:There is your monster.
(James switches their focus from Flannery to Essex.)
Dr.Xavier:Nathaniel Essex!
Woman:Essex!
Man:That madman at Grey Hall!
Man:Butcher!
Man:Heretic!
Mister Sinister:No! Stay away from me.
Man:What in blazes!
Mister Sinister:Fools!
Mister Sinister:Who are you to judge me?
(Essex rushes home.)
Rebecca:What is going on?
Rebecca:The noise!
Mister Sinister:My dear, we must flee at once to the continent.
Rebecca:What is this all about?Ah!
Rebecca:You're hurting me!
Rebecca:Ah!
(Shocking Rebecca when she sees his changed form.)
Rebecca:What have you done to yourself?
Rebecca:The treatments.
(Gasps)
Rebecca:What have you done to me?
Mister Sinister:Do not fear, my darling.
Mister Sinister:Together we shall be the Adam and Eve of a new genesis.
Mister Sinister:Rebecca!Rebecca!
(Essex flees alone.)
Dr.Xavier:The mob's justice was swift.
Dr.Xavier:Nothing would spare their vengeance.
Dr.Xavier:Essex was gone.
Dr.Xavier:His laboratory and notes destroyed in the fire.
Dr.Xavier:All I could find in the rubble was the madman's journal.
Dr.Xavier:Lord Grey spent his remaining years quietly working on behalf of the mutant humans of London.
Dr.Xavier:Most of whom disappeared into the sewers.
Dr.Xavier:Rebecca never spoke another word.
Dr.Xavier:As for myself, I traveled the world in search of Essex, chronicling the carnage left by his terrible experiments by his unfortunate "new men."
Dr.Xavier:And here my search has ended.
===1888===
Dr.Xavier:I've tracked Essex to the upstairs flat.
Inspector:Let's go, men!
(Jack the Ripper returns to his master, Essex (who now calls himself 'Mister Sinister'.)
Jack:I got the samples you wanted, Dr. Essex. 
Mister Sinister:Jack, you fool!
Mister Sinister:I told you I wanted this one alive!
Mister Sinister:I gave you life, Jack.
Mister Sinister:Do you doubt I could undo my own creation?
Jack:Sorry, Dr. Essex.
Mister Sinister:Essex is no more.
Mister Sinister:From this day forward, you shall address me as Mr. Sinister!
(James and the police burst into Sinister's base but the villain has already left for America, leaving behind a book.)
Dr.Xavier:I do not understand.
Dr.Xavier:A final taunt.
Dr.Xavier:I fear now I shan't catch him in my lifetime.
Dr.Xavier:But if I cannot, then I pray that someone else can.
(In the present day, Professor X keeps the book on his nightstand.)
Category:X-Men Untold Chapter Five
Category:Chapter Transcripts