Round Robin Story #2 From the entire FX forum Started 09/03/97-- Completed
Scenerio: Angie receives a strange call from Rollie telling her to stay
away from the shop for a few days while he "takes some time alone." Upset
that he wouldn't just talk to her, Angie goes to the shop to find Rollie
has disappeared. She calls Francis and together they search for him.
And.... find him traveling across the world, and conning people with his
dad. Rollie acts like he hardly even knows Angie and Gatti. But seems to
be really close to Dingo. Angie and Gatti decide to trail them for a bit.
Then... Francis and Angie find another mysterious couple are following the
Tylers. After following Rollie, Dingo and the mystery couple for a day,
Angie suddenly realizes that Rollie, her leftie boss, is using only his
right-hand! : : : : : :
Fade in... :-) Dingo seems paniced that Angie and Francis are anywhere near
the right-handed Rollie. He makes up the most unbelievable stories
imaginable to keep Angie and Gatti from talking to their friend. Angie
intercepts a cell phone transmission. Upon analysis, they discover that the
"Rollie" that is travelling with Dingo is not really Rollie. Angie is
versed enough in FX to know that the Rollie face is not just latex. Dingo
finally manages to call them and leaves a cryptic message. It says...
: : : : : : " Angie ; be at the shop at 10 :00 pm tomorrow . Don't bring
anyone with you . "
: : : : : : Angie paces the floor in the shop the next day, impatient to
find out what the HELL is going on with the fake Rollie and the real Dingo.
What sort of scam is he pulling now and where is the real Rollie? She turns
with a start as Dingo enters through the phone booth entrance, out of
breath and obviously distressed.
"What is going on..." she starts to question him.
"Don't ask. I only have a minute. Every second that I'm missing,
they will get more suspicious. Some guys I used to deal with in Texas have
Rollie. They found out what he does and they are forcing him to rig some
FX. They threatened you, Angie. He will do anything they ask as long as
they leave you alone. Don't come near us, or they'll kill him and walk
away"
Dingo gasped out, then vanished back into the phone booth.
From the loft, Francis called down, "I got him on tape like you
asked, Ang."
Then.... Francis and Angie try to match Dingo's recorded voice
against on old taped letter they have, it's really him.
Later that night, Angie's PDA beeps. A message scrolls up.
"Don't try to find me and everything will be okay. Just make sure you leave
the Ambler online tonight. R." ...
Angie , being as worried as she is , sits at the Ambler all night waiting
for a response . She tries her best to stay awake , but at about 3 : 00 am
she falls asleep . She 's awakened at 7 : 00 by Blueys barking in her ear .
She suddenly remembers the Ambler and checks the screen
The only thing up is a blueprint labeled "Tower of London". The
blueprint has the electronic security system highlighted in red....
Angie studies the Tower , but can't make any sense out of it .
Then she notices a note at the bottom of the page in incredibly small
lettering . She begins to zoom in on it , but suddenly the power goes
out....
Before the power comes back on, Blue starts barking like
crazy...someone is breaking in!
: : : Before Angie even has a chance to turn around , she feels a sharp pain
in her arm . The last thing she hears before the world goes black is Blues
barking .
: : : * * *
: : : Angie wakes up lying on a cement floor on her side , gagged and bound
. She tries to turn her head , but horrible pain at any movement makes her
change her mind . Angie groggily looks around the room as best she can
without moving her head , and what little she can see shocks her : Rollie
rigging a bomb . She closes her eyes to try and forget it , but amolst as
soon as as she closes them she hears a faint sound , almost
like.....breathing , coming from right above her head . As much as it hurts
, she twists her to look and finds the biggest shock yet : another Rollie in
the same situation she's in , only he's still unconscious , and there's a
bright red gash along his cheek .....
: "You couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?" Rollie's voice, full of
venom, echoed off the solid walls. It rang in Angie's ears and did nothing
for her aching head. She knew it had to be the fake Rollie, but damn it
sounded like her best friend. She could tell by the lack of movement, and
the annoying drip--pause--drip--long pause--drip of blood from his cheek
that the real Rollie wasn't speaking.
: "Now, because you couldn't listen to you machine and give Rollie the
space he asked for, the three of you have to die."
: Angie's mind whirled. The three of them? Who else was the fake Rollie
planning to blow to bits?...
Suddenly, Angie realized the fake must be talking about Dingo! Who else
could he be referring to? Even though Dingo was no where in sight it was
the only answer that made sense. As if anything in this nightmare made
sense. And it was up to her to get them out, Rollie was obviously in no
condtion to do anything. A feeling of grim determination settled over
Angie, she had to save them, but how? What could she do with this fake
Rollie watching her?
Keeping an eye on the angry man, now pacing the floor in front of her,
Angie cautiously began to try to wiggle out of the ropes. This stranger
with her best friend's face would leave before the bomb went off. That was
when she'd make her move, but she had to be ready for it!
Angie heard Rollie, the real Rollie, begin to stir, as did the imposter.
"What is this all about?" Angie asked, loudly, trying to distract the fake
Rollie. He was headed toward the real Rollie, seemingly intent on keeping
him from regaining his faculties. Angie was surprised when he knelt down
and gently cradled the real Rollie's head in his lap. Taking 4x4 bandages
from a first aid kit that seemed to appear out of nowhere, he began to
bathe her best friend's face with sterile water until he go the bleeding
stopped. The real Tyler pulled away a bit, like a dreamer being disturbed,
or a drunk after a bout with the bottle, then relaxed back into darkness
again. The imposter applied steri-strips to close the wound with a
practiced hand. He had obviously had some experience with treating
injuries.
Ignoring Angie for a moment he spoke to Rollie after he finished his task
in a quieter voice, like one friend to another while discussing some
serious matter.
"Rol, I'm sorry about your face man, but I had to be sure that it was all
mine, that I had all your mojo."
"It's all about money and power, Angie, sweety," the fake Rollie spoke to
Angie, standing up and turning away from the still semiconcious Rollie tied
up on the floor.
"Well, what about the makeup job.?"Angie asked, baiting him.
"Makeup?" he snarled, angry once more, "Makeup? Angie you've been in the
f/x business long enough to know that this isn't makeup. It took five
plastic surgeons three years to build this face"
"Why are you doing this?" Angie continued, half out of an attempt to keep
him distracted, half out of curiosity.
"Because he always got whatever and whoever he wanted in life with this
face. I always figured if I looked like him, I'd get whatever I wanted,
too. How could you not trust this smile? It was working just fine until
you came along and messed it all up. Now, instead of just letting him work
behind the scenes, I have to kill him and you, too." He sounded rather sad
at the mention of Rollie's demise.
"Rollie went along with this?"Angie asked, incredulous.
"Of course not, you silly woman. He doesn't even know I'm borrowing his
face for the rest of my life. He didn't know what he had. I saw everyone
look at him and trust his smile. I saw the women stare into those eyes and
never give me a second glance. He didn't see it though. He was always
embarrassed when some girl would make over him or try to drag him home with
her at the end of shoot. But I knew. I knew if God had just given me that
angellic, innocent smile, I would know what to do with it."
"Shoot?" Angie quizzed, "You're an actor?"
"Stunt driver." he said, proudly, as if he were telling her he owned the
Taj Mahal. "Rollie and I used to wreck cars together. He gave it up,
though. "
"And for that you kidnap us and steal his identity?" Angie commented, hostilely.
"You don't understand. I needed his brain to rig some of the f/x for a
con. I knew some people who knew Dingo, so I figured I could lure him here
and use Dingo to get him to do what I wanted him to do.?"
"What about his face? You stole his face, what was he supposed to say
about that?"
"He doesn't know. He hasn't seen me since the wreck that ruined my own
pathetic mug. I had some friends of mine "convince" him to come here.
Dingo has been the go-between ever since. Rollie hasn't got a clue that I
took his power. And thanks to your meddling, he never will."
"Petie?" A groggy Rollie's voice called out from the floor, confused and
disoriented. "Petie Jessup, is that you?"
Petie dosn't move . He hesitates for a minute , then moves away to
help finish rigging the bomb . Rollie groans and sets his head down again .
" Angie ?"
Angie turns around in surprise .
" How did you know it was me ? "
He sighs .
" I never did like that perfume....."
"You gave it to me for my birthday last year, Rollie. I only wore it
because I thought you'd be mad if I didn't."
"That settles it, if we ever get out of this I am going to personally
blow that jar of bottled smog to bits." Rollie said, groaning as he
manipulated the ropes. Angie could see his left hand slip free, then his
right. She prayed that the fake Rollie wouldn't see it as well. Rollie
rolled over to face her, reaching to untie her while his double fiddled with
the timing mechanism of the bomb....
Francis had been trying to reach Angie all morning, anxious to find out what
she had learned the night before. Unable to get an answer, he headed for the
workshop only to find it empty without a trace of Angie, only a frantically
barking Blue. "This is just GREAT!" Francis groaned to the little robot.
"Now they've both disappeared! How can I find them?" Suddenly, his face lit
up. "All I have to do is find Dingo! He's up to his eyebrows in whatever is
going on. I don't care what he said before, this time he's going to explain
and tell me where they're at." Determined, he immediately set out to locate
Rollie's troublesome father. A couple of hours later, thanks to a tip from
one of the snitches he inherited from Leo, Francis was staked out in front
of a seedy hotel. After a short wait, he spotted Dingo. Before he could
approach Dingo, the mysterious couple that had been following before rushed
up and hustled the older man into a car. The detective cautiously pulled out
into traffic behind them, certain that the threesome were going to lead him
to his missing friends. Half an hour later, he watched as they pulled up to
an abandoned tenement and forced Dingo inside. As Francis, eased up to the
side of the building, gun in hand, he heard voices coming from a broken
window leading to the basement ... it sounded like Rollie and Angie. He
slide quietly down to where he could see through the window. Yeah, there
was Dingo, Angie and TWO ROLLIES????? One Rollie was definitely the worse
for wear, there was blood on the side of his face and bandages, he looked
like
he hadn't shaved in days, or for that matter, slept for a week. The two
Rollies were yelling angrily at each other. Something about how could you
and it's my face..no its my face and now Francis was totally confused! How
could he tell which was the real Rollie? Was it the battered-looking one? Or
the other one?
That question was answered very simply when the other one pointed a gun in
his right hand at the exhausted one. "Police! Drop it!" Francis barked,
aiming at the gun welder. The man spun toward the broken window and fired a
shot.
Rollie, it had to be the real thing, yelled out. "There's a bomb, Francis!
Don't shoot or we may all go up with it!" With that he sprang at the
distracted fake, wrestling for the gun. Dingo darted past the fighting pair
to where Angie was tied up. Quickly, pulling out a pocket knife, he cut
Angie loose.
"We've got to do something! We've got to help Rollie!" Angie's eyes were
fierce as she looked around for something to take out Jessup. Spotting part
of a 2x4, she scooped it up and carefully approached the two men. Jessup
punched Rollie, knocking him to the floor and pointed the gun at him. Angie
swung her improvised bat at the fake's head, connecting hard! Poleaxed, the
crazed man collapsed in slow motion.
Francis cuffed the downed imposter, making sure that the unconsious man
stayed put until the ambulance got there.
: As the ambulance pulled away, Gatti looked to Angie for answers.
: "What was all this about?" he asked, bewildered.
: "His name is Pete Jessup. He was a stunt man that started out with Rollie.
Somehow he got the idea that if he became Rollie, then his life would change
for the better. What is even worse, he decided that he should be the kind of
Rollie that Dingo wanted him to be." Angie explained as she examined the
bandaging job on the real Rollie's face.
: "I'm really glad that he failed,"Francis said with a faint smile and a
glint in his eyes. The world isn't ready for the Rollie that Dingo didn't
want him to be let alone the one he did want him to be."
