The Reluctant

A Graphic Novel Outline

Brad Wardell, July 2006

Chapter 6: Retribution
Chapter 5: Monsters & Eternity
Chapter 4: My dad isn’t a hero
Chapter 3: You will do what we tell you to do…
Chapter 2: We're from the government...
Chapter 1: They're coming for you Ha Ha.

DL and Mr. Miller are sitting in the living room of DL’s home. Ethan is playing in the other room.  DL looks up and looks gravely at Mr. Miller.

DL: Take Ethan and go into the cellar..now.

Frank: Trouble?

DL: Definitely.

Mr. Miller runs to Ethan and just after they have gone into the cellar a tractor crashes through the house.  DL looks back and can see the pole barn out a gaping hole that the tractor left.  In front of him is an Intruder standing amongst a lot of dead press people.

DL steps out and looks at what has happened.  The Intruder is sitting in a small impact crater. He had jumped from afar into the spot he currently stands. He then picked up the tractor that was next to him and threw it at the house – through a bunch of startled press people .

This Intruder is quite different from the three DL previously faced. This one still looked like a human being but had an alien hue to him. One could imagine some sort of monster that was using a human form to mask its inner evil.

Vagath: I am called Vagath, human. You killed two of my servants and injured another.

DL: I had little choice.  I have lived here for quite awhile and never sought your kind out. I was content to live quietly here with my family but your friends weren’t willing to leave well enough alone.

Vagath: This is our world now, human. None shall contest our will.

DL: (sighs). Look, it’s probably too late to undo the damage you’ve done to me. I have the press and the government hounding me.  But if you leave now and never come here again, I will leave you in peace.

Vagath: That is not an option I’m permitting you to have.

And with that, Vagath strides towards DL.  And with incredibly speed strikes out at DL with his fist.  DL blocks and cups his fist in his hand. The sound of the fist meeting DL’s open hand shatters windows. Any doubt that might have remained as to DL’s unusual nature is now gone as the press now sees that there is a human being powerful enough to block the punch of the mightiest Intruder on this world.

DL: This is your last –

But DL does not get to finish his sentence. Vagath pivots and in a flash kicks DL so hard that the impact shockwave knocks nearby onlookers down.  DL flies back through the house and crashes into the pole barn behind it.

Vagath jumps to the pole barn and with his arms makes a gesture towards the pole barn causing it to shatter into pieces with each half flying its own direction as if Vagath was parting dirt with his hands.

DL gets up amongst the ruin and a drop of blood flows down his forehead.

Vagath reaches out and a steel pole that was in a junk pile in DL’s back yard near some equipment flies into his hand and is then instantly javelined at DL who turns to dodge but is not quite fast enough. DL is knocked flat on the ground.

Vagath approaches DL who is trying to get up onto his hands and knees. DL coughs and blood comes out.

Vagath: Did you really think we were all the same?

DL: (coughing) I had..hoped you were anyway.

Vagath kicks DL in the chest as DL is on his hands and knees propelling DL 20 meters back into his own field.

As Vagath starts to walk again towards the fallen human, military choppers overhead begin firing Vulcan cannons – depleted uranium slugs – into Vagath.  All they succeed in doing is getting Vagath’s attention. Vagath reaches out with his hand and with an invisible force grabs one of the two choppers and with incredible speed rams it into the other chopper. Both explode.

The time is enough for DL to get to his feet and with a full run throws himself into Vagath causing Vagath to fly back into the debris of the pole barn.

Vagath: Umph. Enough of this.

And with that Vagath reaches out with his hand as if to grab DL like he just did with the choppers but is unable to grasp him.

Failing that, Vagath sends a bolt of that invisible energy. This time, DL is able to dodge Vagath’s malice but the bolt evaporates a news van behind DL.

DL picks up a wooden pole from the remains of the barn and hurtles it at Vagath. But the pole merely bounces of Vagath harmlessly..

DL: (to himself) This could be a problem.

With incredible speed, Vagath runs at DL, picks him up by the leg and throws him into the equipment shed that was next to the now destroyed pole barn. DL impacts it crashes inside.

At this moment, Tendath arrives and runs to DL.  DL is dazed and flat on his face on the ground.  Tendath lifts DL’s head up by his hair, takes out his sword and puts it to DL’s neck.

Tendath: Let me finish him.

Vagath: No you fool, get away from him!

But it is too late, DL snatches the sword from Tendath and in a blur of motion cuts Tendath in half.

DL: You can be sure I won’t be walking around without one of these again. (referring to the sword).

Vagath: It matters not. Your fate is sealed.  (Vagath takes his own sword out).

DL: With all your life spans, the best you can make yourselves are sharp metal sticks?  No technology at all.

Vagath: And with all your technology, it only took a dozen of us to subdue your world.

DL starts to approach Vagath when a tractor (the same tractor as before) smashes into DL from the side sending him flying.

DL: (to himself) That is getting old.

DL stumbles and is wary of the tractor which he sees in his mind is well behind him now.

Vagath steps towards DL and the two engage – sword to sword.  The thrusts and parries are too fast for anyone to see. It is a blur of motion that quickly turns into a stalemate.

But behind DL opens the cellar door from the heavily damaged homestead.

Ethan: Dad!

DL is distracted enough for Vagath to exploit an opening and with a quick thrust Vagath stabs DL through his right breast. He quickly removes his sword and is about to decapitate DL as DL falls to his knees when a round of buckshot bounces off of Vagath’s face. At the other end of that buckshot is Mr. Miller. 

DL falls from his knees onto the ground.

Vagath: It is over, human. For the trouble you have caused me, I will let you see your child die first.

But DL isn’t just a human anymore. And he’s not an Intruder. Already the near-mortal wound he received has begun healing and Vagath’s words spark something DL hasn’t truly felt in millennium – rage.

With terrible speed DL is to his feet and his hand reaches out and grabs Vagath by the neck lifting him from the ground.  DL’s eyes become pitch black and an otherworldly menace permeates the air around him.

DL: Ki’tin Va Unem!

The alien words rock Vagath for they are not the language of the Intruder but they are words he recognizes.  DL’s reaches out and the sword flies into his hand.  Vagath slashes with his sword repeatedly dealing DL a series of light wounds but he can’t quite make the reach to make a lethal blow.

DL impales Vagath with the sword ending the life of the mightiest Intruder on Earth.  DL then falls to the ground losing consciousness.

Next: Legacy