When Justice Is Done (Pt 3) is the third episode in the When Justice Is Done Arc.
Overview
Partial Auction Catalog - For this season’s full catalog, please call (555)-432-43684
Lot One
A set of five Dutch miniatures in the style of Jeremiah Myer, circa 1730. Painted on ivory, these five figures demonstrate perfectly the advancements that were made in the style during the early part of the eighteenth century. These miniatures are thought to display figures of Dutch nobility and society, and are an essential addition to any serious collector of mid-eighteenth century Dutch portraiture.
Lot Two
A pastoral American landscape painted in oil on canvas during the early part of the nineteenth century. This work is notable for the broad range in technique shown, from the sparse, quasi-impressionistic brushwork on the distant mountain range to the fine detailing on the coats of the sheep in the foreground.
Lot Three
A series of photographs depicting Bluff City’s most prominent casinos at night, during the thunderstorm of last year. The artist, known for her bold use of light and colour, brought an intricate lighting setup to each of her shoots, thunderstorm notwithstanding, in order to more accurately capture the striking shapes of the buildings themselves.
Lot Four
A still life of a bowl of fruit and an ox’s skull, surrounded by honeycombs and bees, painted during the mid-twentieth century still life revival. Revivalist paintings like this do not find their way to the market frequently, so this is an excellent opportunity to acquire an excellent example of a much maligned form.
Lot Five
A large portrait of a young girl[1] seated on a swing in a garden, date and provenance unknown. Note the detailing on the ropes of the swing, on the curls of the bark of the tree that it is suspended from, on the paint flaking from the fence in the background. There is an object in the middle distance. When I was very young, my father built a similar swing for me in our back garden. He went to the garage and fetched a tall ladder that he rested against the trunk. Earlier that day we had driven to the home goods store on Minnow and bought a long, thick rope. I had been asking for a tree swing for years. Later that day, I was watching television when I heard the sound of something hitting the ground hard, and a cry, and I rushed into the garden to find my father below the ladder, holding onto his ankle. It’s broken, he said. It’s broken! Call an ambulance. My mother wasn’t home. I looked up at the ladder, and down at the tools scattered near the foot of it, and I stood there for a long moment. Did I stand there for too long? My father walked with a heavy limp for the rest of his life. Should I have rushed for the phone? When he was old, he would raise himself from a chair and pain would cloud his face. Did I do enough? Was I fast enough? My father was buried with his cane, and I have never swung on a swing suspended carefully from a tall tree.
Opening Narration
Instead of the opening narration, there is a recap of the previous episodes.
Music
When Justice Is Done by Jack de Quidt
Cast
- Austin Walker
- Hilda Quick aka Paternoster (Jack de Quidt)
- Elana Flores aka The Champ (Art Martinez-Tebbel)
- Chanti Park aka Grouse (Janine Hawkins)
- Franklin Bano aka Mr Good (Keith J Carberry)
Plot
Chanti and Elana sneak up towards the party. They’re been told to cause a distraction in five minutes, and after some discussion they decide to cause the distraction in four minutes, to throw her timing off. Elana jogs up to the closest guard and tells him that the building is on fire. When he turns, she punches him and knocks him out, giving them access to the side door where the fire alarm is located.
Inside the auction, the fire alarm goes off. Vinny Veranda stands up, directing people to exit, and the auction tells everyone to leave apart from the guards (in order to protect the paintings).
Outside, Chanti attempts to summon the albatrosses, although she does feel guilty about technically committing a crime by taking the art. A few birds come in, one with specific instructions on what to take and the others being told to take whatever they like.
Hilda sees the painting that Thresher was commissioned to steal, Gale Green On A Bench, and is struck by how strange the painting seems and feels afraid of both the painting itself and the eyes of the little girl in the painting (the gaze of the little girl makes Hilda feels as thought “she should never show her wings”). She is shaken out of this slightly as albatrosses pick up the painting and fly away with them.
On the roof, Franklin spots a red laser sight on one of the birds and traces it to a sniper on a rooftop. The sniper takes a shot at the birds but misses, and the birds continue back towards Bluff City. The sniper is revealed to be Sonny Veranda, who begins running towards the auction.
Elana looks inside of the auction house, spotting Mr E Masque, who transforms from a door at the side of the room into a man and seems to float through the chaos. He demands to know where the painting is, revealing that he was the mysterious buyer that Thresher was stealing the painting for. Thresher and her lackeys enter the room, cutting off Hilda’s exit.
Mr E Masque is stopped by Thresher, who is confused as to why he is here as he had commissioned her to steal the painting for him. He says that he just “needed to be sure”. Mr E Masque recognises Hilda as Paternoster. Thresher is surprised that he recognises Paternoster (as the team had stopped her previous crime), and he tells her that he “needed to be she that [she was] desperate”, revealing that he had sent the team after Thresher on purpose so that she would be willing to do the high-risk job of stealing the painting.
Franklin jumps through the skylight into the room to jump on Mr E Masque. He is about to land on the ground beside Mr E Masque and Paternoster flaps his wings to blow him back on course. Mr E Masque looks afraid, grabbing a hold of Franklin’s shoulders and making eye contact with Franklin in an attempt to take control of his mind. Franklin leaps back, feeling shaken but having resisted the mind control.
Two Veranda family guards flee out of the side exit, unknowingly heading towards Elana. She clotheslines both of them, knocking them both out.
Meanwhile, Chanti changes into her superhero costume and goes to block Thresher’s escape. She spots Sonny, who has reached Heritage Hall but is not yet inside. Not wanting Sonny to be at her back, Chanti calls Rupert to her, as she knows he has a vendetta against the Veranda family.
Sonny swears at Rupert, baffled and exasperated to see the bird again. Rupert leaps at Sonny. Sonny attempts to shoot him, but Rupert knocks the gun away. Sonny throws a grenade at Rupert and the bird knocks it away. An explosion goes off behind Chanti as she runs into the building, destroying the main door exit of the building and shaking the building’s foundations. Thresher turns to face Chanti, and her lackeys begin to surround Chanti.
Meanwhile, Franklin lunges forward to attack Mr E Masque and hits him and pulls his mask off, revealing his face to a chitinous shell with spikes on the top, the top of a horseshoe crab. Thinking it’s another mask, Franklin tries to pull it away, only to realise that it is in fact Mr E Masque’s face (“what did you expect Franklin?” “Human face! I expected human face!”).
Hilda lifts out of her chair, her wings catching the various light sources of the room and covering the room in strange, bright lights. It catches the attention of people in the room, and the lights grow brighter and sharper until they form physical laser beams which cause items in the room to become discoloured and then pop and shatter. The building shakes, threatening to fall into the sea.
Elana charges into Heritage Hall from the side door to aid Franklin against Mr E Masque, hitting him from behind and ending up between Mr E Masque and Franklin. She takes a defensive stance, and a drop of blood hits the ground, showing that Elana has been cut by Mr E Masque’s chin spike. Her fist slowly begins to open, showing that Mr E Masque is beginning to take control of her mind.
Meanwhile, Chanti attempts to talk Thresher into leaving (“this doesn’t have to end as bad as it seems”). Thresher waivers before slamming her tail through the floor for her and her lackeys to escape. The building shakes again from the impact. Vinny Veranda carefully makes his way around the outside of the room and escapes out of a side door.
Franklin sees that Mr E Masque is trying to mind control Elana, and hits him with an uppercut in an attempt to force Mr E Masque to break eye contact with her. Luckily, he manages to angle his fist in the right way to miss being cut by Mr E Masque’s chin spike. The blow frees Elana from Mr E Masque’s control.
Hilda struggles to get control back over her powers, going up through the roof. Light beams arch across Bluff City, causing small scattered explosions along the shoreline. The light goes out as Hilda gets control of herself, leaving her hovering for a moment in the darkness above Bluff City before she begins to fall, the light of her wings flickering out.
Chanti tries to summon herons to catch Hilda, but the flock is too thin to catch her properly, dropping her upside-down. Hilda continues to fall, hitting the ocean and sending a big wave towards the already-unstable Heritage House. Elana dives into the ocean after Hilda.
Mr E Masque floats higher, telling them that they are dealing with things that are “beyond their comprehension” (“begone children!”). Franklin tackles him in an attempt to arrest him and give enough time for Chanti to get out of the collapsing building via the amphibious car to rescue Elana and Hilda.
The wave hits Heritage House, causing it to collapse. Franklin struggles out from the building, and spots Mr E Masque half-pinned in the debris. Despite the danger of the collapsing building, Franklin grabs some hanging electrical cables and swings himself towards Mr E Masque to kick him.
Mr E Masque spins around with the force of the blow and grabs at the cable, using it to spark a nearby piece of wood, starting a fire, before floating away (“I don’t need to fight you here [...] leave with your life”). Franklin grabs a piece of on-fire debris and throws it at Mr E Masque but it explodes, sending Franklin flying backwards.
Mr E Masque begins to use the debris to build a doorway in the air, opens it, and walks through, disappearing.
Chanti arrives with Elana and Hilda in their car, picking up Franklin and driving away. Back at the base, they examine the paintings and patch each other up. Franklin insists he “always got him” (“you got closer than the rest of us”). Hilda tries not to make eye contact with the painting, but she feels like the painting is trying to make eye contact with her.
Waxwing rushes towards them, concerned for their injuries, and telling them that they should have called her for help before she looks at the paintings. She sees the painting of the little girl, staring at it for a long moment before she asks them why they have a painting of Goldfinch.