“Each time an actor acts, he does not hide… he exposes himself.” Rodney Dangerfield
In Los Angeles, Daken is dressed in a Captain America mask and fires a rocket launcher at a nearby helicopter. Along with other individuals dressed in Captain America masks, Daken and his accomplices attack the military troops standing in front of them. As he does, Daken says here’s a note for the hopeful wannabe coming out to Hollywood to make your mark… first impressions are just so important. After all, there is an enormous amount of competition out there. So many seeking stardom. The obstacles to success in one’s path are daunting, to say the least. So, you have to ask yourself… how, exactly, is he going to get himself noticed?
Making it to the armored car, Daken prepares to crack into it but then suddenly grabs his chest. Pulling a pill, the Heat, out of his pocket, Daken notices that the withdrawals are getting closer. He swore he wouldn’t before the heist, but… %$#& it. Removing his mask, Daken downs the Heat. Smiling, he asks what’s a healing factor for? Right? Oh… Just then, Daken’s entire view on life goes crazy. He says oh god. The door… He knows… He doesn’t want to know… what’s behind that door.
Seven days ago, in the Hollywood Hills, Daken is attending a party. Looking around, Daken sees people. Beautiful, perfect people. Actor, directors, musicians, agents, executives, writers, even… How deeply bored he is by them all. How easy it would be for him to kill everyone in the room.
On a couch, Daken is in between a young blonde woman and a young man. The woman points out to Daken that he’s smiling, good. She wants to make him smile. The man remarks that they could both make him smile. Hell, all three of them could smile a lot. He introduces himself as Glenn and tells them that he has the Heat pills. What say they… Before Glenn can finish his sentence, Daken gets up, eats the three pills and informs Glenn to read a book all the way to the end without needing to lie down afterwards and then he’d smile.
Making his way down the hallway, Daken remarks that he’s so tired of this. He’s been in L.A. for two weeks. He was given the impression that, since the Pride fell, Los Angeles was there for the taking. But persons unknown appear to have taken it. It’s slightly difficult to kill your way to the top when you don’t know who to kill. His fixer tells him the owner of this little soiree, Marcus Roston, star of screen and Botox, has certain connections but he’s yet to spot…
Upon reaching a door, two bodyguards stop Daken in his tracks. They inform him A-list inside, rest of the alphabet outside. Mr. Roston’s party, Mr. Roston’s rules. When Daken says he’s big time, trust him, one of the bodyguards approaches him and tells him he doesn’t recognize him. With a quick move, Daken proceeds to break the bodyguard’s nose. Just then, Daken grabs his head and begins to fall to the ground. He remembers the pills and asks what was in them. Laughing, he says thank you. He is Jim Morrison reincarnated and they actually found something that works on his healing fac…
Before he can finish his thought, Daken is punched out by the other bodyguard. Lying on the ground, Daken remarks the pills… Heat. They beat the healing factor… they… they actually work… With that, Daken blacks out.
Outside, a man wearing the same shoes that Daken was originally wearing asks the man standing in front of him that his name is Glenn. He said his name was Glenn. Is he right? Is he an actor, an up-and-comer? The shirtless man standing in the rain, Glenn confirms that he has a pilot coming… coming… %$#&… fall schedule. The “man” says to him that most TV pilots don’t get picked up. They don’t… survive. He then tells Glenn to run.
As Glenn runs, the man counts eight… nine… ten… He loves this game. Sixteen… seventeen… Ready or not… here he… comes. Just then Glenn finds himself face to face with his attacker. He tells him the thing about being chemically influenced is that it can alter your perception. Make you see things that might not actually be there. And it can show you hints of an individual’s true nature. What Glenn sees of his attacker is a large monster with long, sharp nails. When Glenn tries to run away, he loses his footing, tumbles down a hill, and narrowly misses being hit by a car.
Once his attacker catches back up to him, he asks Glenn if he wants to know one of his favorite Woody Allen lines. He’s probably paraphrasing here, but he says, “Hollywood is worse than dog eat dog. It’s dog doesn’t return other dog’s phone calls.” That’s pretty funny. But he’s wrong, it’s dog eats dog. With that, the “monster” kills Glenn with a swipe of his sharp claws.
The next day, a number of cops and detectives are on the scene where Glenn was murdered. One of the detectives tells his buddy Peter that it’s bad enough he has to see his inspiring face first thing in the mornin’ but now they got this kinda crime scene? Peter replies that it’s enough to make a sensitive Irishman hurl. His buddy proceeds to ask him if he knows any sensitive Irishmen.
Just then, Peter whispers to his partner code red, Narnia, Narnia! When his buddy asks that he’s %$*&%#& kidding? Peter states that he is not. She’s here. In all her warm’ n’ friendly glory… FBI agent Donna Kiel. As Donna approaches the scene, Peter says what he could use right now is some Turkish delight. His buddy agrees. He loves that sickly &$%#.
Peter then asks Agent Kiel if she likes Turkish delight. With a stern face, Donna tells Baxter and Rodriguez that while she’s enormously impressed that they’ve read books, albeit children’s ones… spare her the men’s room crap. Turkish delight. She’s the Ice Queen of Narnia because she’s so cold. She gets their complicated little shtick. She then asks them that they worked with Arthur Scherbius for a while, didn’t they? When Peter asks “huh?” Donna informs them that Scherbius designed the first enigma code machine in Germany in the 1920s. Forget it. Same as the other Beverly Hills killings, same weapon, same little nasty murder fetish… claws.
In another location, Daken wakes up. When he does, Marcus Roston states that, for what it’s worth, he’s glad he didn’t die. An O.D. corpse at your party and you can forget about Middle America showing up for your latest romcom with Jennifer Aniston. He introduces himself as Marcus Roston. This is his house.
Daken says he knows who he is. He’s rather famous and the current Hollywood himbo du jour for the ladies. Holding his head, he remarks those pills… Marcus asks him they’re good, right? That’s Heat. They’re the latest big thing around there. People like the latest big thing. And guess what? He hasn’t the slightest clue who he is. Which means he’s not a big thing. He’s not even a thing. So, get the hell out of his house before his boys throw his weak constitution out on the…
Before Marcus can finish his sentence, Daken quickly and easily takes out both of Marcus’ bodyguards, much to his surprise. With fear in his eyes, Marcus tells Daken let’s not get crazy here, what does he want. Daken says to him that he’s surprisingly short in reality, isn’t he? Marcus asks does he want money? Is that it? He’s got money. He can give him money. Daken says money would be nice. He supposes he does want that. Power too. Validation. He does know what that means, doesn’t he? He then tells Marcus to look at him. He’s a very powerful Hollywood player, so he reads on Deadline. And here he suddenly seems to have power over him. What an odd thing.
Marcus begs Daken not to hurt him. Just tell him what he wants. After lifting up his gun, Daken proceeds to give Marcus a kiss. In short time, Daken and Marcus are laying next to each other in bed. Daken informs Marcus that he wants a lot of things. He wants to know everything about his connections in the Los Angeles crime scene. He wants him to tell him where to find these people. And he wants more of those pills. A lot more of those pills.
Inside her office building, Donna Kiel holds a photograph of Glenn Ryan, 21, born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He moved out there 18 months ago. Just one less wannabe actor in L.A.. Cut up into little pieces. Nothing left of him to save. Just then, Donna enters a room that has a number of pictures and articles about Daken. There are also a number of notes that read “Fashion conscious, vain, narcissistic” “Check with Interpol” “Possible connections – Tyger Tiger?” “Origin of tattoo?” “Claw marks at scene” “Osborn’s Avengers.” Looking at the wall, Donna remarks Daken Akhiro. Boom.
