#It's not fatal by any means but this just adds to Steve's guilt

[valkyrie-echo]

Project Echo, Part 3: Chapter 25 (41 Days Before the Explosion)

Part 3 Summary: Seven years after the events of “Part 2”, Avengers Tower explodes, fulfilling Bucky’s vision. All evidence points to Avengers Shadow-Ops leader Inessa Ryker, who is forced to seek out Bucky in hiding. Together they must determine who the traitor is in their ranks and if their friends are still alive- all while trying to survive deadly ambushes orchestrated by Sam Wilson and his hand-picked army.

Chapter 25: 41 Days Before the Explosion

Noelle had no idea what was about to happen when she stepped into the void that led through the Valley. It was automatic at this point- when the shadows open you go through, no questions and no hesitation. No time for, "Do I trust this?" or, "Is this the only way?" Whatever issues she might have with Inessa they lost all meaning the second that doorway opened. She took the weapon and ran, fully expecting to come through the other side wherever was deemed safest for the mission's end.

But someone else had a mission too.

She made it as far as the Valley. Inessa could open the path so close together her feet never touched the silver venom lake, but in the span between them a new path was laid for only a second. It nearly killed her. Her skin felt like it had been marked with a hot brand, then frozen solid. She shivered uncontrollably and locked her hands around the weapon to protect it as the universe was jerked around her. It was a bastardization, an incomplete door stretched farther than should have been possible by a thin connection that hadn't existed for more than a few weeks.

"Are you insane?" Noelle's temper flared over her better judgement. A golden marble throne room solidified around her and she was more than happy to dump her cargo- cracking the silver floor in the process. A new shiver ran up her spine and she glared into the darkness behind her for a moment, "Half-breed."

"We don't fight," the familiar deep voice did little to reassure her. The echo of her father's footsteps reached the room moments before he did, "Save it for your enemies." With him he brought the beacon that pushed back the psychic barrier he'd used to shield her mind from the Avenger's probes. The mirage life- the one the heroes took as canon- slid away and left only her.

She felt the cold ebb slightly and the creature left, "I don't see why we need that thing," it wasn't the first time she'd protested, "I could have undergone the procedure."

"Our advantage is Inessa Ryker believing she knows precisely what is going on. If you are changed, do you not think she would notice? Her perception of what is true will win us our war. If she figures out the truth-"

"I know," Noelle held up her hands in surrender, "that is why I agreed to trust your judgement. I just wish I could trust our new friend."

"She is older than you," he reminded her, "and she has been loyal to me far longer."

"You're obviously not accounting for the cryogenics."

He sighed, "Rushing his plan was Sebastian Morris' fatal error. That is why he was only my second, a recruiter. This is not going to turn into another Berny Barton scenario."

"Forgive me if I can't trust a plan I don't know."

He gently grabbed Noelle's arm to stop her from pacing before she could really get started, "What would Inessa Ryker say?"

"The plan most likely to succeed is the one no one knows about."

"And?"

"And questioning that is a sign that you've lost faith in your leader." Noelle shook her head and put a hand over his, "I'm sorry. We're close to the end game, I just want this to be done with."

"Because you are nervous?"

Noelle nodded, "I've seen her do amazing and terrible things. She's a genius, and her genius is strategy. We are so close now, this is the breaking point of your plan, and if she figures it out or if she convinces the Avengers to trust her then we will never get this close again. I'm sorry, but I am nervous. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course," he released her arm and pulled her into a warm hug, dispelling the cold from her abrupt and sloppy transport, "if you weren't nervous you'd be a fool, and I didn't raise you that way. Your sister had no fear, and she's nothing more than a stain on the rock outside of an Avengers facility now. That fate is not going to be yours. You are a beacon. You are what Sebastian Morris did not have. He sought the wrong child of Hydra."

He released her and she smiled at last, "You have two traitors on her team. Marie could be useful, but Amadeus Cho will never turn."

"He will. They all will… Noelle, my child, I will not tell you all of my plan, but I would appreciate your assistance on the next phase."

"Anything."

Her father smiled and turned to think, "An Avenger must die, and Inessa will be to blame. Call it a preview of sorts. Something only she could accomplish, something that would cement her guilt and turn even the most loyal against her. Even Amadeus Cho."

It was a tall order, even knowing the Avengers as intimately as she did. Noelle wracked her brain and tried to see the problem from every angle, "Motive is going to be the hardest part. Any death involving the venom or the Valley will turn them against her, but Amadeus will keep looking for a reason to forgive her. If you want to turn him, set a motive."

"What would you do?" he walked over to the Hydra weapons case and inspected the outside.

"T'Challa," she answered quickly, "strategically he's the best target. He and Inessa have a history- a single date that ended with a mutual agreement to never try it again. That's the closest she's ever gotten to anything non-platonic with an Avenger and it would be the easiest to spin into a love affair gone sour. Inessa never dates, barely leaves the Tower on anything except business, and even inside the Tower her movements are difficult to follow. T'Challa dies, Inessa denies an affair and anything she says will be taken by the younger Avengers as protesting too much. The older ones will think it fits their puzzle perfectly. Maybe T'Challa noticed behavioral changes and challenged her or was going to reveal she wasn't as perfectly in control as she claims."

He tapped the control panel and smiled as the machine hissed and began to decompress, "T'Challa's death adds pressure to the Avengers. Charge Inessa with his death, or they will have the new Black Panther, his sister, and the entire kingdom of Wakanda turn against them. You're right, of all Avengers, he makes the most strategic sense."

Noelle rolled her eyes, "If you think I can't hear a 'but' coming-"

"-but," he winked at her as the machine tipped to allow the door in the top (the side facing the ground) to open, "Inessa is very much the queen of strategy. She'd see it for what it was, Amadeus would as well, and who knows how many other Avengers. The doubt would still be there. No matter how T'Challa died, his death would make sense. She's already voiced to them her suspicions that Thanos jumped my gun and attempted to be the conqueror before the armies were loosed. If it makes military sense then it might fuel the fire she's set."

"So someone who doesn't make sense," she shrugged, "pull a name out of a hat? How do you want me to decide? I can cook up a narrative no matter the victim."

Silver goo slid out of the box onto the floor in a thick mass. It was rotten, congealed, and rancid. Noelle put a hand over her mouth to try and bury the stench in the smell of dirt and forest still on the sleeve of her combat suit, "Who makes no sense and perfect sense, all at the same time?"

"Sharon Carter? Strike for Steve's heart?"

"Strategic."

"Daisy Johnson. Not an Avenger, but the one responsible for Thanos' death."

"Strategic."

"Eoin O'Meara, someone she's threatened to kill anyways?"

"Strategic."

"This is why you're the planner," she gave up, "you have a target in mind, you always have, since before you woke me up and built the credentials I'd need to get into the Avengers. Who makes no sense and perfect sense at the same time?"

He tapped the side of the container and something larger slid to the floor- something twisted and half-dissolved. A caricature of a living creature. The silver was nothing like Inessa's poison, it was something dangerous, something burning. Noelle suppressed the urge to puke as it stirred on the ground like the abomination was waking up. She stepped back from it and it seemed to shift. If the melted, disfigured upper portion was a head, and the trunk a torso, it would be turning to see her.

Two impossibly thin appendages held it up. Long tendrils hung from it to the ground as it dragged itself towards her. She stepped slightly to the side to get out of its way, but it followed. Noelle glanced up at her father to see his reaction- pride, fascination, and a sliver of ice.

Who makes perfect sense and no sense at all? The Avenger Inessa already threatened. The one who'd vanished mid-trip with a top-secret Hydra weapon. The one with just enough psychic training and built-in defenses to keep that blasted fool Ellie from seeing the lies.

When Noelle tried to run the creature attacked. It moved faster than should have been possible and tore into her calf with a strength she'd never have guessed it possessed. She screamed as it ripped at her, pulled out her tendons so she couldn't run, bit into nerves to send shock-waves of pain through her body. The creature was in no hurry to kill her. The slower the death the better. Noelle screamed herself raw, but nothing could spare her from the agony and horror.

"If it's any comfort," her father came over to watch with a dark fascination, "your sacrifice guarantees me victory."

A small piece of her mind was calm enough to remember the final escape open to her. She forced her mouth open just a fraction further, prepared to bite off her own tongue and swallow it. The creature wanted her to suffer, but she could be free sooner. Her father clicked his tongue once and, before her mouth closed, the monster reached in and tore out the problematic muscle for her.

"Turn her head," Johann Schmidt advised his new friend, "you don't want her drowning in her own blood. Not for a few hours still. The worse it is, the less they'll look." It obeyed, then returned to its bloody work.

Sin thought she was the pinnacle of his creation, when really she was nothing more than a means to an end, a failed experiment. Noelle was victim to the same hubris. She believed herself important, but for the wrong reasons. She was most important like this- with her strangled howls spraying blood across the floor and the whites of her eyes all that were visi- oops. Well, the white of her eye. Oh, never mind, at least it left the back half in her head, "Don't be greedy," he advised the feasting abomination before it could remove the rest of the eyes, "shock, remember. Half an eye is worse than no eye. And leave the left cheek, it was always her best side."

Noelle had thought this was the make-or-break point in their plan, and she was right. Turning the last of the Avengers was a monumental task, and he'd only win with a bit of a sacrifice. Besides, it was just as she said- there were two turncoats on Inessa's team. Two was too many.

Chapter 26: Calling the Bluff

[spryfilm]

“A Dark Song” (2016)

Horror/Fantasy/Drama

Running Time: 99 minutes

Written & Directed by: Liam Gavin

Featuring: Steve Oram and Catherine Walker

Joseph Solomon: “You’ve been looking shit up on the Internet. No, this is Gnosticism.” 

Sophia Howard: “I was told it was based on the Kabbalah.” 

Joseph Solomon: “It’s there as grammar. A structure. The Kabbalah is an exploration of god. We’re doing something much darker…”

The horror genre is absolutely full of unoriginal ideas, rehashed stories, half hearted attempts at telling what may seem like original ideas, but aren’t – each year sees more and more low budget time wasters that really needn’t have bothered – but sometimes, just sometimes something magical happens, a film comes along that not only breaks the mould but aims to rise above not just filling a horror narrative with jump scares and retreads – I am happy to say that “A Dark Song” (2016) is just that kind of movie. This is what genre films should be, metaphors for something real as well as adult, that has ramifications in the real world, with characters who are not only believable but also have agency as well as have real risk to what they are doing. This is such a well crafted horror film with pacing that belies its scares that you would be forgiven for thinking this was an experienced director and not a first timer.

This is a stunning debut from Liam Gavin who seems to have come out of nowhere to deliver a film that has one toe firmly in reality, while skimming the borders of horror as well as fantasy as easy as anyone ever has. Gavin has not only written a tightly plotted story with a fairly simple story as well as employing only two characters, but has also made something that is pretty unique within not only the genre but also for first time directors. This is a story about isolation, love, anger as well as forgiveness. There is so much that is so right about this film that it will stay with the viewer long after the end credits roll. “A Dark Song” is something the horror genre lacks, a memorable experience that will leave a viewer wanting more.

The film is based around Sophia (Catherine Walker), a middle-aged English woman grieving the death of her murdered son, seven-year-old Jack, who was abducted by a group of teenagers for a cult ritual. She rents a house in rural Wales and hires occultist Joseph Solomon (Steve Oram) to perform a months-long rite detailed in the Abramelin, European Kabbalistic grimoire, used to summon one’s guardian angel.

The one word that I would use to describe “A Dark Song” is authentic, it is a film that takes itself seriously for its entire running time, which it has to if it is to work on any level at all. Gavin seems to have researched and written this film so well that it is easy to believe that the enchantments, spells and dogmatic rules that the main characters follow are all authentic and could be done by an experienced practitioner. That is something that is missing from many horror films which may seem odd but there is a large proportion of this film that is dedicated to process while ratcheting up the tension between the two characters as well as all the actual horror they both endure. “A Dark Song” is more than jump scrares, gore and creaking floorboards, there is an unsettling amount of reality and low-fi effects that add to the general eeriness inherent within the film.

This is for all intents and purposes a two hander that is full of dialogue between the two extremely capable actors, Steve Oram and Catherine Walker who have been a staple of many independent movies as well as television in the UK for many years. Both are playing co-leads here and their experience counts for so much as does the trust they obviously have not only in each other but also in their director. It falls on Oram to do much of the heavy lifting for the first half of the film where he has to play his character on two levels, while being a manipulator throughout. It is up to Walker to be the instigator as well as antagonist and protagonist to almost everyone and everything else in the film, she also acts as not only a kind of femme fatale but unreliable narrator to the audience and Oram’s character as well. Without giving too much away this erstwhile revenge story takes Walker’s character on a journey to places she may never have really believed in or wanted to face about herself – she has to convince the audience of a variety of motives that lead to an original emotionally satisfying ending that much of the genre do not face up to, that is reality in relation to living life after tragedy.

“A Dark Song” is all about loss and what that can mean to people, their identities as well as what they are willing to do to negate that loss. Of course at the heart of this film is a mother mourning the loss of her child, what that means to her as well as her inability to move on from that loss. Sophia hides aspects of her loss from Joseph, which makes things difficult between them, but it is not until she comes clean with him that the story really takes off as does Sophia’s journey into darkness. Throughout the film Sophia also loses her inhibitions, her innocence, her identity, her partner and ultimately choses to lose guilt as well as her hatred and want for some kind of revenge. Of course the story would not be complete without her gaining something as well, but it is with the loss that she really gains something, but that is for audiences to experience, which again is something unique about this film and has to be experienced.

It is a joy to watch a film that is so perfectly paced as this one is, especially by a debut director who has the courage to stick to his guns in relation to not rushing the narrative to get to the plot. If anything this film is light on plot in terms of the actual story as well as the aims of the main characters, this is all accomplished naturally as there are only two characters to contend with, their own motivations are in fact relatively simple. This comes from the fact that there are few revelations or false starts as we see everything on the screen as it happens so it is a natural style of storytelling following a cause and effect style narrative which does have a natural conclusion. This to is something refreshing in the horror genre, as many films either set up some ambiguous ending, as the writers or directors either want to set a future up, or do not know how to end a story.

The music by Ray Harman is an aspect of this film that is so impressive, Harman has a huge amount of experience in film and television, which shows when you experience how this movie is put together. This is not the normal horror soundtrack with a deep bass, loud then silent effects to influence an audience, not once does this soundtrack get manipulative, it is all subtly and atmosphere, which is also how the sound mix is – it is one eerie sounding film, I dare you to watch this in a dark room at night then try not to think about it as you go to sleep.

This is not only one of the best as well as more enjoyable horror films I have ever seen, it has to stand as one of the best movies of 2017 in my opinion. For its budget, its small cast, the subtle effects as well as sound design and the fact it is a debut from a new writer/director this is a truly great film. This is just the latest horror film that the UK is producing seemingly at will. I cannot recommend this film highly enough, it proves that no matter how mined a genre is there is always something original to say with thought, emotion and originality – go and get this now, it is eminently rewatchable.

“A Dark Song” is released on DVD on 18th March 2018.

A Dark Song… Photograph by Paul Doherty Photography http://www.studiodoherty.com

  DVD & Streaming review: “A Dark Song” (2016) “A Dark Song” (2016) Horror/Fantasy/Drama Running Time: 99 minutes Written & Directed by: Liam Gavin Featuring: Steve Oram and Catherine Walker…