zero hour

The Incorrigible Mr. Zeppo's Reign Of Terror (I)

Part 1 / Chapter 1 / Scene 1

Establishing shot- Fly over of The Pentagon in Langley, Virginia.

[Text in the lower left corner of the screen- The Pentagon, Langley Virginia]

[Music: a spoof mash up in the style of Mission Impossible, James Bond, Jason Borne series]

Zooming into and through various hallways and layers of the maze-like building commonly known as the Pentagon, until we arrive at a set of massive elevator doors. With a decidedly retro sounding "bing" of an elevator bell that sounds like it hasn't been replaced since the building was originally built, the doors open, revealing Agent Jerkins. He is clearly nervous, jumpy, and perspiring. He stands there at the doors so long without moving that the antiquated bell "bings" again and the doors begin to close. He jumps at the sound and squeezes himself through the slowly closing doors.

On the landing, he looks around a bit, not entirely sure of which direction to go. After a moment, he proceeds down a hallway and quickly finds himself standing at the door of the office of the Director of National Security Investigations.

Agent Jerkins hesitantly knocks, and then enters... like a child entering his stern father's den after doing something terribly, terribly bad.

The Director, preoccupied with a phone call, waves him in and then points to the pair of empty chairs directly in front of his desk, and then motions absentmindedly to the back of the room. Agent Jerkins, still standing at the door, hand on the knob, is immediately taken aback by the presence of a strikingly beautiful and dangerously smart looking woman, who is standing at the rear of the Director's office. He's so captivated by this woman, and her decidedly unprofessional choice in clothing, that he entirely fails to notice her companion- another woman sitting perfectly still in a chair in the corner directly behind the door. This second woman is dressed much more severely, much more appropriately for government work. She remains there, perfectly still and without saying a word for some time, like a stenographer accustomed to being essentially invisible to all else in a courtroom.

Agent Jerkins had expected a private meeting with his boss. He had expected a severe reprimand, and quite possibly to be "disciplined"... possibly even demoted. The very last thing he could have imagined was a tactical meeting with a woman who appeared to be dressed for a night "out on the town". Unsure of her identity or security clearance, he approaches the Director's Desk with a curios expression on his face, and refrains from speaking.

The woman is quite tall. Athletic and refined with luxuriously long and curly red hair, remarkably fair skin with just a dash of freckles in all the right places. She is pouring herself a drink at the bar built into a cabinet along the back wall of the office. Her low-back silk blouse, black and flowey, and bordering on inappropriately revealing, exposes her muscular back. The contrast of black silk and strawberries & cream skin is undeniably striking. Jerkins' eyes linger there a moment. Her presence commands attention. She stands there as if she were alone in her own office and not in the office of the Director of Operations for NSI.

Unsure of himself, Jerkins sits down abruptly... and then stands back up awkwardly, and then almost immediately sits back down again... only to pull himself back up to his feet at attention. Turning towards the mysterious woman in order to politely introduce himself, he's interrupted by the Director, who is finally done his call. The Director slams the receiver down on the antiquated rotary dial phone. There is a ponderous, lingering metallic tone, followed by a deep silence, after the receiver hits the cradle. Jerkins stands there with his hand extended towards the woman as if to shake her hand, or receive a drink from her, as she finally turns to face the two men. The neckline of her black silk blouse is even less work-place appropriate than the cut along its back.