INT UNDERGROUND GARAGE - NIGHT

A door is kicked open. Loki enters, brushing himself off. Bartleby follows.

LOKI
The Apostle is here!
BARTLEBY
I noticed.
LOKI
If that's the case, then chick with him must be...
BARTLEBY
The Scion, I'd imagine.
(leans against the wall; slides down)
LOKI
(in a panic)

(5) Maybe we should rethink this whole thing! I mean, you heard
the guy - he said there were consequences. Azrael tells us we're marked.
Maybe there's more to this than we thought about.

(Bartleby leans against the wall, sitting on the ground. His demeanor has
changed. He stares into space.)

BARTLEBY
There sure is.
(beat)
It's them.

LOKI
(beat)
(10) What?
BARTLEBY
(shakes his head)
Them.
LOKI
(thinks)
The movie about the giant ants?
BARTLEBY
Them - the humans. It's what it all comes down to. you know? Us against
humanity... kind of like that giant ant movie.
LOKI
(beat)
(15) Are you alright?

BARTLEBY
I'm better than alright. I've had an epiphany, my friend.
LOKI
An... epiphany. Yes, well... that'll happen.
BARTLEBY
When that sweet, innocent girl let her mission slip, I suddenly understood
it all - everything. For the first time in all these eons, I get it.
LOKI
(beat)
(20) Get what?
BARTLEBY
In the beginning, it was just us and Him. Angels and God. And then He
created the humans. And He gave them more than He ever gave us. Ours was
designed to be a life of servitude and worship--adoration. But He gave the
humans more - He gave them a choice. They can choose to ignore God, choose
(25) to acknowledge Him. All this time we've been down here, everyday I have felt the
absence of the Divine presence. And it pains me... as I'm sure it must
have pained you sometimes, even though you'd gloss over it with jokes. But
we feel his absence, and why? Because of the way He made us -as servants.
Had we been given free will, we could ignore the pain... like them.
LOKI
(30) You know - maybe you should take a nap or something.
BARTLEBY
Loki, don't you get it? It's the humans - it's always the humans. They were
given paradise; they threw it away. They were given this planet; they
destroyed it. They were favored best among all His endeavors; and some of
them don't even believe He exists. Their ego-mania corroded Hell and made
(35) it dark and crimson.
(looks at Loki)
I asked you to lay down your sword years ago - why?
Because I felt sorry for them. And the result?
Our expulsion from paradise. We've paid our debt. Don't you think it's time we went home? And to do that, I think we have to dispatch our would-be dispatchers.
LOKI
(40) Wait, wait, wait - kill them?! You're talking about the Last Scion, for
Christ's sake! And what about Jay and Bob - I mean, those guys were
alright.
BARTLEBY
Don't, my friend. Don't let your sympathies get the best of you, as they
did me way back when. Scion or not, she's just a human. And regardless, our
(45) sins are forgiven by passing through that arch. No harm, no foul.
LOKI
I’ve heard a rant like this before.
BARTLEBY
Don’t you go there!

LOKI
You sound like the morning star, man, you’ve lost it!
(Bartleby reaches out and grabs Loki, slamming him against the wall.)
BARTLEBY
I'm going home, Loki. And nobody - not even the Almighty Himself - is going
(50) to make that otherwise.

Bartleby releases Loki and smiles. He exits. Loki watches him.