EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING
Zola looks around nervously while his mistress follows him, silently infuriated.
But despite Zola’s best efforts, two men in dark uniforms sneak up from behind. One clasp his hand over the mistress’ mouth and they pull her away.
Zola looks behind, but is himself blindsided by two men who knock him to the ground and slip a black hood over his head. He yelps, but is kicked in the stomach for it, and is dragged into a car that suddenly drives up from the corner.
FADE TO BLACK
INT. FLYING WING
The hood is YANKED off of Zola’s face.
Sweaty, dazed and confused, Zola looks around him franticly, before settling on the man in the seat opposite to his.
ZOLA
Johann… I thought you were dead.
RED SKULL
I was wearing body armor.
The Red Skull says nothing more, and merely looks intently at his associate. Zola examines his surroundings and takes note of the sounds of engines.
ZOLA
We’re on the Horten 229, aren’t we?
Good lord, what is going on?
EXT. FLYING WING – NIGHT
The Horten 229 begins to taxi down a runway in a derelict airport.
INT. FLYING WING
Zola grows more and more uneasy.
ZOLA
What have you done to Frieda?
Answer me, damn it!
RED SKULL
Your mistress is unharmed.
My men left her back at your love nest.
ZOLA
Your men? There’s warrants out for your arrest,
Von Strucker sold you, he is the new Red Skull.
You don’t run Hydra anymore! You have no men!
RED SKULL
I am Hydra, old friend. Cut my arm and I will
Rise with two more to strangle the life out of you.
ZOLA
Where are you taking me?
RED SKULL
What are you complaining about, you were planning
To leave the country anyway. Where were you heading?
Brazil? Aregentina?
RED SKULL
You wouldn’t have made it. There’s warrants for your
Arrest as well.
ZOLA
Where are you taking me?
RED SKULL
Somewhere you’ll be able to do astounding work, the
Kind that tickled you in your youth. A couple of days
Of it and you won’t remember that woman.
ZOLA
What are you talking about?
A beat.
RED SKULL
The cube.
ZOLA
The… Cube?
RED SKULL
The one Reinhardt spoke about.
ZOLA
I understood that. I just couldn’t believe my ears.
I’d heard the stories about you tearing through
Scandenavia, looking for something.
I thought it was a joke.
ZOLA
Reinhardt was mad and the rest of them were nothing but
Idle idiots!
ZOLA
There is no cube! There are no Asgardian gods!
There is nothing! Just us, the Americans, the Brits
And the Bolsheviks about to stamp us out!
Beat.
RED SKULL
I’ve already found the cube.
BIRD’S EYE. ISLE OF EXILES – DAY
An uninhabited island with a few ancient ruins, many crumbling.
EXT. RUNWAY – DAY
The Horten 229 touches down on a makeshift runway. Soldiers wearing Hydra uniforms, stripped of Nazi insignia stand nearby, vigilant.
The door to the flying win is opened and steps are lowered. Red Skull walks out, determined, followed by Zola, who is nervous.
RED SKULL
Welcome to the Isle of Exiles.
EXT. JEEP (MOVING) – DAY
Red Skull and Zola are driven by an underling through thick foliage.
INT. SUBTERANIAN CAVERN
Electric lights flicker on, dissipating some of the darkness as Red Skull and Zola come through a tunnel opening.
RED SKULL
Funny, really. If anything, Scandinavia would have been
The entry point. But the entry point was Tunguska.
Since it was moved, there was never any serious reason to
Believe it was moved anywhere in particular.
Red Skull heads over to an iron triangle on the ground.
RED SKULL
There will a buildup about to be released.
This won’t be pleasant.
Red Skull lifts the iron triangle, which functions as sort of a manhole cover. A burst of WHITE LIGHT fills the room for a moment, causing Zola to gasp and stagger back.
RED SKULL
Look, but do not touch.
Zola coughs, but hobbles to the hole in the ground.
ZOLA
You didn’t lie.
In the whole, a cube rests. Six inches wide, translucent and emitting an odd glow. It’s borders seems to twist and bend inward as Zola look at it from several angles.
ZOLA
It’s …. Beautiful.
Zola leans down for a closer look.
ZOLA
Why shouldn’t I touch it?
Red Skull pulls a tarp away, covering a group of black skeletons in dark green uniforms.
RED SKULL
Those were the men that did.
RED SKULL
A man associated with the group that moved the cube
Here thirty-six years ago told me that only someone
Deemed truly worthy by the Asgardian gods could
Bare hold it.
RED SKULL
My men tried handling it with insulating material, but
Nothing worked.
ZOLA
Did you try to…
RED SKULL
Don’t be ridiculous.
I’m many things, but an idiot I am not.
I’ve little idea what the Asgardians deem as worthy,
And I’m not concerned with finding out if I fit it or not.
I see a weapon that I can use to save Germany.
ZOLA
I suppose you don’t know how they moved the first time?
RED SKULL
You suppose correctly.
ZOLA
And you want to find a way to wield it? Weaponize it?
RED SKULL
Yes.
Beat.
ZOLA
I’ll need equipment.
RED SKULL
There is an assortment of instruments that we’ve acquired over
There. Anything else you need, you tell my men.