Episode 4, "The Changeling"
Written by Greg D’Angelo

Scene 1:

Connor answers the phone, "hello?" "Connor . . . it’s Jimmy’s mother. The hospital just called . . . he, he . . . he’s gone Connor." "What? No, that can’t be."

Scene 2:

A young man is changing in a locker room. His comrades walk in. "Hey, getting ready for the big game?" says the leader. "Hells yeah!" "Glad you’re with us. Without your spirit, who knows if we could win." The young man laughs "I’m just the mascot, you guys have all the skill." "Yes, but it’s you who the crowd believes gives us the spirit, and if there was no crowd, we wouldn’t be allowed to play." "I suppose."

"Another steps forward, and gives a light punch on the undressed mascot’s shoulder. "So, join us for a victory party, after the game?" "Sure." The guys cheer, and walk out. The mascot is left alone, and grabs his costum. He puts it in his locker, and walks out to the fleid. As he walks his body transforms into that of his costume.

*Opening Credits*

Scene 2:

The players all come off the field, yelling cheers of victory. "Oh man, I need a good shower." says one of the players. "I know what you mean, I’m beat." says the mascot. "But not to beat to meet us later for a drink, right?" "Of course not!" he replies. "Party time!" shouts another, running forward, and slapping them both on the butt.

Scene 3:

Connor goes over to meet Jimmy’s mom. He sees her crying, and slowly approaches. "Mrs. Franko . . ." She looks up, and sees Connor. "Connor," she says, and gets up to hug him. "I’m so sorry this happened. "Do not feel guilty Connor. It’s not your fault." "But I feel as if it is. I was there too." "I hear Sally is doing well," Mrs. Franko says to change the topic, as she forces out a fake smile.

"Connor, I Didn’t hear you come in." says Mr. Franko walking into the room. "Hi," Connor says, and walks over to shake his hand.

Scene 4:

The boys are all at a party, they are drinking and having a good time. Three girls walk in (2 are blond & the other is brunette), the boys stop what they are doing to look at them. "Come on," says one, and two others follow to go meet the girls.

"Erica," says the lead boy. "Peter, glad to see you again." Says one of the blonds stepping forward, and puts her arms around his neck. They embrace for a kiss, but make it quick. "Uh, this is Dan, and this is Richie Meet Erica, and her friends; Jennifer & Carmen."

Erica turns back, and whispers to her friends. "See, I told you they were cute." Peter then gives an elbow nudge to each of his friends, and they approach the girls. Carmen, who is the brunette, is near Dan, who is the mascot. "You’re the mascot aren’t you," She says. "Yeah, that’s me." "That’s like cool," she replies.

Peter grabs Erica’s hand and leads her to the couch. "Would you like to get a drink," says Richie to Jen. She nods, and they go off. Dan is left alone with Carmen. "So, how long have you been here at college?" "Oh, this is my 1st year. Yeah, I’m new." "It’s ok, gotta` start sometime," he says with a smile.

"Let me show you around," he says. And the two go for a walk. They walk outside, and a bunch of guys are sitting out there. They are drunk, and singing "We Are The Champions."

However they stop when they see the two walk by. One runs up to the girl, and says "where’re ya goin` with tree boy?" They both ignore the guy, and walk on. However he is not done. He grabs Carmen’s arm, and pulls her. "I'm not a bad guy. Have a drink and you’ll see that. Not to mention that I’m also not a dork." His friends laugh, but Dan is not amused.

He throws a punch right into the guy’s face, and it goes so fast no one notices it changes into cold steel. The guy falls down, and his friends turn and laugh at him. He turns back, and takes Carmen by the hand, and they walk off.

Scene 5:

The guy is laying on the floor, and his friends come over to him. "Joey? Are you ok?" "Yeah, but the tree hits like a truck." "Either that, or you had one or two, or thirty to many beers." "Yeah, I must be drunk. no way a geek could hit that hard." The boys just laugh it off.

Scene 6:

"I’m sorry," Connor says to Mrs. Franko. "I know this is hard for you." "Thank you Connor, it is going to be hard for all of us." She replies with tears in her eyes. "You were very close with him, he regarded you as the brother he never had." "It’s just, well, I feel responsible, like I should have been able to protect him." "There was nothing you could do to stop a car, Connor." Says Mr. Franko. But your concern makes us feel a little better."

Connor turns and looks. "Plus, I heard you dragged the guy driving out of the car and beat him senseless." Mr. Franko adds. "There were 2 of them," replies Connor. "But the driver got away, and even though the passenger was arrested, his lawyers got him off." "Well at least they weren’t able to prosecute you with assault," says Mrs. Franko. "The last thing we need is more bad news."

Scene 7:

"This is my favorite spot," Dan says. Carmen just smiles. "I come here to get away from all the noise." Just then Carmen looks around, and realizes how secluded they are. "You’re uncomfortable," he says seeing her unease. "We should go back. "Thank you," she says.

They walk off, going back to the party, but he stops. "I’m sorry, I dropped my wallet. I’ll be right back. With that he runs off. Out of nowhere, Joey, the drunken lout comes running at Carmen in a mad rush. She screams in terror.

Scene 8:

Joey is in his dorm room reading a book. There is a knock at the door, and he opens it. To his suprise, there are 2 police officers. "Can I . . ." "Are you Joseph Lynch?" asks one, cutting him off. "Yes." "I’m afraid you’ll have to come with us. Put your hands behind your back please." Joey complies, and the second officer cuffs him. "You are under arrest for the rape of Carmen Sanchez, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law."

Scene 9:

Connor is walking through the dorm. When a guy waves him over. Connor goes next to him, and the guy whispers to him "did you hear, there was a rape on campus." "What? When?" "Last night. After the game, you know the guys had a party." "Did they find they guy?" "Yeah, it’s that jock Joey what’s his face!" "Joey? No way." replies Connor. "He has sex with dozens of girls, why would he resort to rape?" "It’s about the sex, perhaps he just hates women. Or perhaps he just ain’t used to hearing no?" Connor nods his head, and his expression shows deep thought.

Scene 10:

Connor goes to swimming class, which so happens Carmen is also in. She stands looking over the pool, but does not swim today. He walks by her, and smells her. She sees him, and he lowers his head quickly, to avoid being noticed. He then enters the pool. "Alright," begins the coach. "We’re going to do some laps, and raise your endurance."

Scene 11:

Connor is visiting Sally in the hospital. "Connor, she’s not lying! Why would she lie?" "I’m not saying lying, I’m just saying mistaken." "Then what? I don’t . . . understand." "I saw her, I know she’s not lying. But the smell on her . . . it’s not human." "What do you mean?" "I mean it smells like a demon." "But one that looked like Joey?" "I don’t know, there are things, strange things." "If you’re worried about Joey, and if he is innocent, he’ll be fine." "I’m worried about this thing, it could hurt more people."

Scene 12:

Dan is walking down an isolated path. He sees a woman walking ahead of him. He changes his form, and becomes much taller. He walks by the woman and grabs her. He easily covers her mouth. She taken by such suprise, that she has no time to scream. He glances around, and takes her into a patch of trees.

Scene 13:

Connor is on the phone. "I need your help," he says. Angel on the other end says "what’s wrong? Is it Wolfram And Hart?" "No, worse! There’s a shape shifting demon on campus, I think, and it just raped a girl the other day." "And you want to know how to kill it?" "Well, yeah!" "Being that I’ve never met one, I can’t say for sure, but I did hear a bit about them. They’re strong and fast. Faster then you, but not as strong!"

"Thanks. I owe you one." "No, you don’t own me son. And don’t thank me yet. Be careful, ok." "I will." "I wish I could be there with you." "Fight the evils of the world, back to back?" "Best way to do it!" Connor gives a joyous laugh.

Scene 14:

Joey is in jail with his hands over his face. The cell is opened. "Out!" says the officer. Joey stands and looks. "You’ve been bailed. He walks out the waiting area, and an older man & woman run towards him. The woman hugs him. The man places a hand on his shoulder, and says "don’t worry son, we’ll get through this."

Scene 15:

Connor is walking through an isolated part of campus. He uses his enhanced senses to find the spot of the attack. He then follows the shape shifters tracks all over campus. Suddenly, Connor stops, and makes an expression of caution. He slowly tip toes over to a wooded section.

To his shock he see a rather large man pinning down a young woman. In a flash he tackles the man off her, but he is very agile and easily counters Connor. He gets the upper hand, and tackles Connor. He delivers a fury of punches, but Connor grabs onto his head and slams his face into him. He falls off Connor, who is quick to his feet. Connor is up, and kicks him in the gut, however the man grabs onto his leg, and begins to change shape

He pulls Connor down, and in liquid form he rises to a standing position and begins to pummel Connor again. Connor starts to bleed, the woman in shock runs over and kicks the changelings back. It turns, and slaps her, and she falls. Connor grabs it, and again tackles it to the ground, this time face down.

Once again it turns to a more liquidly form, and oozes onto Connor back, now pinning him onto the ground. However Connor is smart, and rolls to the side, which stops it from becoming fully corporeal again. After a bit of rolling, the two become separated.

Connor knows he has no way to stop this creature, but must find away. He glances around, and he sees is the girl’s bag. In a flash, it comes at him, but he is ready. Connor side steps him, and kicks him into a tree.

It turns back to Connor and morphs into the form of a giant wolf with big teeth and foam poring out of the mouth. "What a joke!" says Connor not impressed nor caring how menacing it thinks it looks. Connor walks up to it, and it goes to bite him, but Connor is the faster, and lays a swift punch to it’s jaw. He grabs the beast by the neck, and throws it into a tree, where it gets impaled on a branch. "I love trees," he says to himself.

It reverts to humanoid form, and Connor doesn’t waste anytime. He again looks at the bag, and run for it. He quickly pours out the contents, and looks at them. Luckily he finds something useful; a lighter and a can of hair spray.

The shape shifter pries himself off the branch and jumps down in front of Connor. Connor takes a kick to the face, and falls. "You should have minded your own business, boy!" Connor turns his body towards the creature and rips open the can of hairspray, which falls all over it.

"What is this? You expect to drown me in liquid?" asks Dan. "This, is called alcohol, dumbass!" replies Connor, as he flicks the lighter and set him on fire. The girl looks on with shock & horror. Connor goes over to her, ignoring Dan’s cries for help. "Are you ok?" She nods yes.

Scene 16:

Carmen is in a populated section of campus, but has taken her seat off to the side to be alone, and stares out at only she knows what. Connor approaches her, but she does not see or hear him. She gets startled.

"I’m sorry," he says. "I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m Connor, from swim class." "Oh yeah, I didn’t recognize you out of the water." "I’m sorry about what happened. I took care of it." The other young woman walks over.

Carmen looks at the woman not understanding what he is talking about. "This is Jill, she too was attacked, she’ll explain everything."

Scene 17:

Connor walks into his bathroom. He looks down at the changelings blood on his hands. "Why must the world be like this? You’re right Angel, we exist to protect this world, we must keep fighting, cause evil will not. No matter much peace is found between battle, it will always return." He turns on the water, and washes his hands.

-The End-

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