Heavy Is the Crown (Script)

NETFLIX BUMPER

CUT TO: INT. COUNCIL ROOM

Fade in on Jayce. He comes to amidst the rubble of the council room and holds Mel. As he speaks, the dialogue is muffled.

JAYCE: Mel. Mel, are you okay?

He lifts her to her feet. Enforcers enter the room and search through the wreckage.

JAYCE: It's okay.

A dazed and injured Shoola walks by them. Jayce is shocked to see the corpses of Torman and Bilbok as he looks around the room. Nearby, Salo is helped out from under some wreckage by an enforcer. Jayce gasps and runs to the corpse of Cassandra Kiramman.

JAYCE: No…

Ambessa runs into frame and grabs Mel.

ABESSA: Are you hurt?

MEL: I'm fine.

Ambessa begins shouting orders to those nearby, but her words are muffled. Jayce sees Viktor amidst the rubble. Cut back and forth between Jayce taking in Viktor's fragile state and him carrying Viktor to their lab.

CUT TO: INT. VIKTOR'S LAB

Jayce pours over Viktor's notes and sees Viktor's body react to the hexcore in the room. He picks up the hexcore with tongs and brings it closer to Viktor. The hexcore merges with Viktor's body.

TITLE SEQUENCE

CUT TO: KIRAMMAN HOUSEHOLD

A montage plays as while "I Can't Hear It Now" by Freya Ridings plays. Cassandra Kiramman is shown in an open casket. Caitlyn stands next to it while her father holds his head in the background. A group of mourners stand at a memorial. A young girl places a flower amongst other flowers, candles, and notes. Vi, amidst the crowd, looks up at the destroyed council chamber. Caitlyn drops some flower petals in her mother's casket. Vi puts her hood up and walks away from the mourning crowd. Enforcers close Cassandra's casket to take it away. Caitlyn looks on sadly as the casket is taken.

CUT TO: INT. COUNCIL ROOM

Caitlyn remains in frame as the background shifts from her house to the council room. She stares at her mother's broken seat at the table. Mel puts a hand on Caitlyn's shoulders.

MEL: She was a great woman. A good friend. I don't know how we'll face this crisis without her.

Salo, now in a wheelchair, enters the room. A wide shot shows Caitlyn, Mel, and Shoola standing at the council table with the wall behind them in ruins. Ambessa is pushing Salo's wheelchair.

SALO: To think we nearly extended sovereignty to the creatures who did this. We're charged with imposing order. And we've been asleep at our posts. Well, my eyes are open. There will be no more fairy tales of peace until we scour our basement of its demons.

MEL: So kind of you to assist Councilor Salo, Mother.

SALO: As we are at war, I thought it prudent to solicit the advice of such an experienced veteran.

SHOOLA: Let us address the matter at hand. Our people are scared, suffering. They need to know their leaders have the situation under control.

SALO: An unprecedented show of force. We flood the undercity with Enforcers, armed with Hextech.

CAITLYN: Innocents will be caught in the crossfire.

SALO: How many more councilors have to be blown to pieces before you wake up? We are under siege!

Shoola and Mel take in his words. He gestures to Caitlyn.

SALO: What is she doing here?

MEL: Officer Kiramman witnessed the attack firsthand. She confirmed this was the act of a single deranged individual.

CAITLYN: Jinx.

MEL: Silco is dead. The underground, leaderless. If we follow your plan, we risk unifying them against us.

Salo makes his way further into the room.

SALO: So, what is your solution? Chastisement? A firm reprimand?

MEL: We use their division against them. Pin the attack on Jinx, post a reward too substantial to ignore.

SHOOLA: I'm sorry, Mel. I'm not comfortable trusting our fates to chance. Jinx has proven elusive. Our healing can only begin once she's been brought to justice.

SALO: Then it's settled, 2 to 1. We invade.

They stand in silence for a moment.

AMBESSA: If I may? In crises such as these, it's imperative you present a unified front to the public, whatever your personal feelings.

MEL: How wise.

She walks up to Salo.

MEL: I'll agree to endorse the invasion. But I draw the line at Hextech. We have an ethos. Such force must be a final resort.

She looks at Shoola.

SHOOLA: Agreed.

MEL: Then it's settled, 2 to 1.

Ambessa looks annoyed and nods to her guard Rictus at the front of the room. He walks out. Rain falls on Salo's hand. He looks up through the open roof.

CUT TO: INT. KIRAMMAN HOUSEHOLD

Cut to an establishing shot of the Kiramman household as rain continues to fall outside. Through a window, Caitlyn is shown holding a letter. Cut inside. She cuts open the letter and reads it, then several more. Near the bottom of the pile is a black letter with a wax seal. She cuts it open and looks at it. Her father, Tobias, enters the room and sits next to her. She puts the letter down and offers him tea but he doesn't take it.

CAITLYN: I had the shot.

They sit in silence for a few moments before Tobias pulls something out of his pocket.

TOBIAS: Your mother left this to you.

CAITLYN: The Kiramman Key? No, I'm not… I don't deserve it.

TOBIAS: It's your legacy now, Caitlyn.

She holds the key in her hands. Vi is revealed to be standing against a wall nearby. Tobias notices.

TOBIAS: What is she still doing here?

Vi leaves. Caitlyn puts a hand on her father's shoulder before going after Vi. Cut to another part of the house. Vi looks out a large window in a hallway at the rain outside. She turns as Caitlyn approaches.

VI: Hey.

Caitlyn chokes up and runs to embrace Vi. They hold each other for a moment before pulling back.

VI: You were right, Cait. Powder's gone. I can make this right. If you get Jayce to fix the gauntlets, I can do this myself. No one else needs to get hurt.

CAITLYN: No. No more rogue missions. No more reckless plans. My mother was right. My arrogance led me to take on more than I could handle, and she paid the price.

They hold hands.

CAITLYN: They're sending all the enforcers after Jinx. I'm going with them.

VI: Please, I have to help.

CAITLYN: You can.

Caitlyn hands Vi an object. Vi opens it to find an enforcer badge.

CAITLYN: As one of us.

VI: Cait, I can't wear this.

Vi begins to back away.

CAITLYN: People are calling for blood.

Vi drops the badge on the floor.

CAITLYN: The Council won't stop them. You can show that not all of Zaun supports Jinx. We can show them. Together.

VI: I watched them kill my parents. Do you have any idea how that feels?

CAITLYN: Yes. I do. I thought you were on our side.

VI: You didn't think at all.

Vi leaves. Cut to a shot of the hallway from outside.

CUT TO: EXT. PILTOVER STREET

Vi walks down a rainy street. She sinks down underneath an archway next to some empty bottles. She throws one angrily but accidentally hits Loris, who grunts.

LORIS: Hey, watch it.

VI: Sorry.

LORIS: Not my first.

He gets up from where he was sleeping and walks over.

LORIS: You all right?

Vi doesn't respond.

LORIS: You, uh… lose someone in the attack?

He hands her a flask. She drinks without answering.

CUT TO: INT. VIKTOR'S LAB

Jayce sits at Viktor's lab table. Viktor is in the center of the room, unconscious and encased in a strange material. Mel enters.

MEL: How is he?

JAYCE: Same as before. Breathing. Pulse is consistent. Beyond that, your guess is good as mine.

The substance Viktor is suspended in reacts to Mel as she brings her hand close to it. She shirks away.

MEL: What's it doing to him?

JAYCE: The Hexcore has been evolving. Shifting through runic patterns faster than I can keep up. All I know for certain is that it's keeping him alive. It's the sort of puzzle Viktor would love if he wasn't… It should be me up there instead of him.

MEL: Don't say that. He'll come back to us.

JAYCE: I still don't understand. He was right next to me. How does the explosion do that to him, and I just… I just walk out without a scratch?

MEL: There's no sense to these things, Jayce.

JAYCE: How'd it go with the Council?

MEL: My mother's entered the game. She's already gotten her hooks into Salo. Using his grief to make a play for Hextech.

They glance at the hextech gloves sitting on a table nearby.

JAYCE: Mel, I promised Viktor, never again.

MEL: It's all right. I handled it. I won't let them corrupt your dream.

He leans against her lap.

MEL: Caitlyn was there. You might pay her a visit. She hides it admirably, but the poor girl's in so much pain.

CUT TO: EXT. PARK

Cut to Caitlyn in a park. She sits on a bench near a large air fountain and lets the wind carry some flower petals out of her hand. She imagines the petals falling to the ground and becoming a charred wasteland where she confronts Jinx. She prepares to shoot Jinx before Jayce arrives and interrupts the daydream.

JAYCE: Hey, Sprout.

Jayce walks over to her.

CAITLYN: How'd you find me?

JAYCE: Your dad.

CAITLYN: Mother and I used to come here when we needed an escape.

A wide shot shows the idyllic scenery.

CAITLYN: One of the few places we never argued.

JAYCE: I'm sorry I haven't been around.

CAITLYN: How's Viktor?

Jayce sits on the bench next to her.

JAYCE: I can't even tell if he's still in there.

CAITLYN: Ever since it happened, three faces keep spinning through my mind. I see Mother.

A shot of Cassandra's corpse is shown.

CAITLYN: When they found her. And every fiber of me just sinks, like a stone swallowed in dark water. But then there's Jinx. Laughing.

A shot of Jinx from their confrontation is shown.

CAITLYN: I want to tear that laugh from her throat forever.

JAYCE: Cait.

CAITLYN: I know. I just understand now how easy it is to hate them. One vicious act. Then I see Vi. I asked her to put on the uniform. Suffice to say, she declined.

JAYCE: Vi? Wear a badge?

CAITLYN: She thinks those gauntlets of yours will solve all her problems.

JAYCE: What if she's right?

CAITLYN: Hextech may keep us alive, Jayce, but it's not what will save us.

CUT TO: EXT. PILTOVER STREET

Cut to a shot of Vi drinking. An aerial shot shows her and Loris laying down next to a street, surrounded by bottles.

VI: Me. Join the peanut patrol. Ha. And I thought she had no sense of humor.

LORIS: I like peanuts.

VI: Her dad's right. There's no point in sticking around up here. Except… I'm the one who created the monster.

She lets her bottle roll into the street. A foot stops it.

MADDIE: Vi?

Vi sighs and sits up. Two enforcers, Maddie and Steb, approach.

VI: Who are you? And how do you know my name?

MADDIE: Junior Officer Nolen. Maddie. And, uh… it's written on your face.

VI: So, what is it? Random search? Escort off the property? Or you just here to waste my time?

MADDIE: Search? No. No, no, ha. Uh, you're something of a legend amongst the Enforcers. Caitlyn made quite a scene at the station when they tried to deny your enlistment. Now I have to ask, is it all true? You went after Silco alone when the Council wouldn't back you? Took on his whole gang?

VI: Cait said all that?

MADDIE: She said if every Enforcer had a heart like yours, we could take on Noxus itself. Then she threatened to withdraw her family's funding. Anyhow, I'm glad you're joining up.

Vi glances around the empty bottles at her feet.

MADDIE: After the sheriff betrayed us, well, let's just say, it's nice to know there are still good ones left.

She extends her hand to Vi. Vi hesitates before shaking it. Music begins playing in the city. People begin walking. A voice offscreen calls for Maddie.

ENFORCER: Officer Nolen.

MADDIE: Duty calls. A real honor, Vi.

Steb and Maddie leave. Vi taps Loris. He pretends to still be asleep.

CUT TO: EXT. COUNCILOR MEMORIAL

Cut to a wide shot of the city. Cut to a large pavilion set up around a statue of the deceased councilors. Citizens make their way through a checkpoint into the audience. Vi and Loris find their way into the crowd. Mel gets up to a podium with a speech. Other characters shown in the audience include Caitlyn, Amara, Salo, Elora, Shoola, and Jayce. Vi and Loris come to a stop. Steb and Maddie guard next to the stage. Several figures with concealed faces make their way past the checkpoint. Mel grabs a microphone and begins her speech.

MEL: One of the many privileges of serving as your councilor is having the occasion now and again to stand behind this podium to behold so many joined together not by birth or dictum but by all that we share.

An enforcer with a duffel bag is shown closing some doors and making his way toward the stage. One of the concealed onlookers stops right behind Jayce in the crowd.

MEL: Our hope. Our curiosity. Our compulsion to leave behind us a world better than that before. These things we share are what make us one people.

Vi notices a gang tattoo on the enforcer with the duffel bag and begins making her way through the crowd.

MEL: Today we share an unthinkable loss. Councilor Irius Bolbok, Councilor Torman Hoskel, and Councilor Cassandra Kiramman were taken from us. But they shall not be forgotten.

Mel's words sound distant as Vi approaches the enforcer.

MEL: We commissioned this statue so we may remember them for their countless contributions… their lifetimes of service. Not for the craven act that stole them away.

Vi attempts to follow the suspicious enforcer but is stopped by other enforcers.

ENFORCER: Ma'am, you can't go in.

Vi tries to push her way past. Caitlyn glances behind her as the suspicious enforcer leaves the duffel bag at the feet of the mysterious audience member behind Jayce.

MEL: Though we've suffered a terrible blow, I assure you the rule of law prevails in Piltover. We will find those responsible.

Mel's voice comes back into focus.

MEL: And they will account for their crimes.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Awful, isn't it?

The suspicious enforcer begins to get up on stage.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Losing a loved one.

Everything begins to slow down. Jayce glances back to the audience member. Vi looks on in horror. The suspicious enforcer pulls out a gun as he approaches Mel. The audience member removes their disguise to reveal themselves as the chem-baron Renni. The suspicious enforcer hits Mel to the ground as Renni pulls out a large chainsaw-like weapon from the duffle bag. Jayce narrowly dodges out of the way as she whips it around. Mel looks on in horror as the fake enforcer points his gun at her, but instead of shooting her he smiles and fires a flare into the air, breaking the ceiling of the memorial.

FAKE ENFORCER: You aren't safe up here, toppers!

Time returns to normal as the crowd begins to exit in a panic. The flare highlights an airship hidden in the clouds.

FAKE ENFORCER: None of you are safe!

Steb tackles the fake enforcer to the ground. Renni kills two enforcers who come between her and Jayce. Caitlyn grabs a gun from another enforcer as the airship comes closer. Cut inside the airship where six shimmer-powered gang members await. As the memorial devolves into chaos, they jettison down through the roof, one of them killing an enforcer as they land. Caitlyn begins firing at them as they start their attack, killing several enforcers. Vi begins fighting one of them. Jayce is backed up some stairs by Renni and they begin fighting on the stage. He rips one of the chemical tubes on her face out and escapes her as she comes to her senses. Elsewhere, Salo is loaded into an armored vehicle by several enforcers. Maddie helps Shoola in as well. Caitlyn takes out one of the attackers. Vi continues her fight with another. Maddie and Steb prepare to drive the councilors away, but the whole vehicle is knocked on its side by another attacker. Caitlyn is pinned against the downed vehicle by an attacker and is saved by Vi. They both take down the attacker and Caitlyn extends her hand to Vi afterwards, lifting her off the ground. They both take in the chaos unfolding. Vi looks up at the hextech lab.

VI: Get the counselors out of here. I have an idea.

Vi runs off.

CAITLYN: What are you doing?

Elsewhere, Renni looks for Jayce in the room behind the stage. He narrowly dodges an attack from her and finds a small hammer. In the downed vehicle, the councilors wait in terror as one of the attackers stalks outside. Maddie is pulled out of the driver's seat. Steb hesitates before spotting an axe. Behind the stage, Jayce strikes Renni in the head with the hammer, but she rises unphased. He drops the hammer and tries to run away, but Renni manages to slice him across the back. Inside the hextech lab, Vi runs through the halls, bumping into an enforcer before spotting the lab's entrance. Back at the memorial, Steb slams into one of the attacker's legs with the axe he found before the attacker can kill Maddie. It runs after him and tosses him to the ground. Loris jumps in the way with a shield just in time to save Steb. Caitlyn shoots the attacker several times. On stage, Jayce crawls his way to the podium as Renni stalks towards him.

RENNI: For my son!

Before she can strike, she is hit with a blinding flash of light and sent tumbling across the stage. Jayce sees Vi wielding his hammer. She walks towards him before noticing Caitlyn, Loris, Maddie, and Steb surrounded by attackers. Caitlyn fires as the main attacker charges.

VI: Come on.

She struggles to get Jayce's hammer to fire again.

VI: Shit.

Caitlyn continues to fire at the charging attacker. Jayce is able to grab the hammer and help Vi try to fire it, but before either it or Caitlyn's firing are able to hit the attacker, he is instead hit by a spear from offscreen. Several more spears take out the remaining attackers. Rictus and several other Noxian soldiers are revealed to have arrived. Caitlyn watches as Ambessa unceremoniously kills Renni. Cut to later that day as the memorial is cleaned up. Vi makes eye contact with Ambessa from afar.

RICUTS: Perimeter secured.

AMBESSA: We'll see.

Steb examines Caitlyn's eye with a light while Maddie stands nearby. Steb and Maddie both leave when they see Vi arrive.

VI: Thought you were gonna get yourself killed.

Caitlyn doesn't immediately respond. Vi watches an enforcer nearby take a child in his arms.

ENFORCER: Here, come with me.

CAITLYN: A memorial.

ENFORCER: I got you.

CAITLYN: What kind of animals?

VI: They wanted the spectacle, alright? They're trying to scare you.

CAITLYN: All they did is piss me off.

VI: You… You need to find a way to call off the invasion.

CAITLYN: What?

VI: This battle was on your soil. Down there, you'll be on their terms.

CAITLYN: None of this is on our terms.

VI: Maybe you should change that.

CAITLYN: Well I don't know how, okay? She dies and leaves this giant hole, and I'm just supposed to fill it. Like she was never there to begin with.

Vi takes Caitlyn's chin with her hand.

VI: Hey. You won't. The hole gets smaller, but… you never fill it.

Caitlyn holds Vi's hand to her face before pulling away.

CAITLYN: I was wrong to spring the badge on you. It's just, every way I slice it, if I go after your sister alone, one of us comes back in a box. It's all coming apart.

VI: No, it isn't. We won't let it.

Cut to a wide shot of the memorial. Corpses are strewn everywhere. Vi sits down next to Caitlyn.

CUT TO: INT. KIRAMMAN HOUSEHOLD

Cut inside the Kiramman household. The camera pans past several portraits of Kiramman family members, including Cassandra. Voiceover of Cassandra is heard from the black letter Caitlyn read earlier in the episode.

CASSANDRA: (Voiceover) I know you doubt the merit of your birthright, Caitlyn.

Caitlyn sits at a computer console.

CASSANDRA: (Voiceover) There's wisdom in that. But remember: You're a Kiramman.

Caitlyn uses the Kiramman key on the console. Images flash on the console's screen before Caitlyn as "Heavy Is The Crown" by Mike Shinoda and Emily Armstrong plays. Caitlyn's search on the screen is interspersed with several shots of Jayce arriving at the forge in his lab.

CUT TO: INT. DUNGEONS

Cut to a shot of an elevator descending. Cut to the interior of a dungeon where the councilors and Ambessa are gathered.

SALO: Never in our lifetimes has Piltover's leadership been forced into the dungeons of our capitol.

Cut to Caitlyn taking the elevator down.

SALO: But here we are. Does anyone still doubt that our enemy is greater than one deranged individual?

Several enforcers get off the elevator.

SHOOLA: How did they sneak so many of these things into the ceremony? I thought we took every measure to secure it.

MEL: They must have had help. From someone up here.

Ambessa looks around at the councilors. Caitlyn leads several enforcers down a hallway.

SALO: We can't afford any more hand wringing. If we do not defend ourselves with Hextech, our principles will mean nothing.

MEL: I…

She looks up as the door opens.

CAITLYN: We aren't prepared for a full-scale invasion. The undercity's attack proved that.

Caitlyn walks to the central table.

SALO: This is a closed Council meeting. Who let you in here?

CAITLYN: I am a decorated officer. Leader of House Kiramman. Address me with respect, or keep your mouth shut.

Salo and Shoola look at her in shock, while Ambessa looks mildly impressed. As Caitlyn speaks, Jayce is shown at his forge.

CAITLYN: I will lead a strike team into Zaun with three objectives: Locate Jinx, dismantle Shimmer, and neutralize any agents still loyal to Silco.

SALO: What makes you think you'll fare better than our forces today?

CAITLYN: We've got a few surprises of our own.

Jayce pulls something out of his forge. In the dungeon, Maddie tosses a hextech gun to Caitlyn. The other enforcers, Maddie, Loris, and Steb, are all shown to have new hextech gear as well. Finally, Vi walks out in an enforcer outfit with her gloves repaired. Jayce rests at his forge, exhausted.

CUT TO: INT. VIKTOR'S LAB

Cut to Viktor's lab. The notes on his table rustle as the hexcore he's suspended in gently writhes.

CUT TO: EXT. WILDERNESS

A figure is shown walking away from a bloody bear trap. The figure is seen from behind approaching a cave. Cut to the figure's face, revealed to be Singed. Two wolf-like faces peer out of the cave ahead of him, their eyes glowing. They snarl. He unlocks a canister of gas.

END CREDITS