The Grey Bishop: The Ruby and the Tiger
This was the first Strange Worlds story about The Grey Bishop. It was improvised on March 2nd, 2013.
Episode Summary
Two cops discuss what a slow night it is when a mysterious woman sneaks behind them and knocks them both unconscious with a light touch to their necks before stealing the precious ruby they had been hired to guard.
Martin Van Sant plays a game of chess with his old friend Lucius in his bookshop, lamenting the inelegance of the Sicilian defense before declaring checkmate in 19 moves. He offers to buy his friend a coffee.
The mysterious burglar, Marlene, meets with Frederick (and his flighty girlfriend Bitsy), proposing that they join forces as she is gathering the pieces together for a device that will sap the city’s electrical grid, and wants to put a team together with him to rob every bank in town. He agrees and they toast with whiskey and cookies.
The Grey Bishop confers with the two cops about their assailant and the theft, deducing from the impressions on their necks that she was a woman, and from her aquamarine nail polish and dyed red hair that she was Brazilian (a ceremonial color combination). The guard tells the Bishop that the ruby is called The Beacon (not to be confused with anything or anyone else using that name). The Bishop knows its history well, originating in India before changing hands several times. With this information in hand, he departs.
Marlene and Frederick assemble their gang of six goons. Marlene decides five is enough for their gang and kills one of the goons, unsettling a newer goon named Louie. Frederick assures Louie that he will be Frederick’s number one guy, making him the number two guy in the gang. Marlene tells the gang that tomorrow night they’ll be stealing a series of gears from around town to complete her device. She then executes a late arriving goon, upsetting Frederick (who wanted to kill one for once).
The Grey Bishop meets with a professor friend who is a collector of Indian artifacts, trying to remember something about a machine the ruby was supposed to be a part of to harness energy. The professor tells him the myth of the Tiger and the Ruby...that the sun was once a great gem that burst into flame, and one small shard landed on Earth in a great crater, with the power to draw all the energies of the world into itself when placed in the sun. He begins to tell the Bishop about the Tiger as well, but is interrupted as the Bishop is sure he has heard all he needs and departs, asking that the professor place a pair of rubber gloves in a specific mailbox.
Frederick and Louie rejoin the rest of the gang, who are assembling their components for the machine. The Grey Bishop announces his arrival, hidden from sight. He shoots out the lights and takes out half of the goons (including Louie) before being injured by a stray bullet. He is nearly taken prisoner by Marlene, but is able to escape her clutches and disappears into the night.
Martin hides out with a doctor friend, who removes the bullet from his arm and patches him up. He despairs that his tactics could fail him against something so random and unplanned, but knows if he does not stop Marlene an even worse fate awaits the city. He asks the doctor to prepare him a certain medicine that can simulate death for five minutes, but if improperly formulated can kill its victim for real. Martin tells her of the Pirc Opening, a risky first move that, if executed wrong, leaves a player open to defeat in three moves. He recognizes that risk is part of the game and trusts his friend, who prepares the medicine.
Marlene’s gang sets up the device and a series of booby traps at the city’s power plant, as she reveals to Frederick her plan not to rob the bank vaults of the city, but the National Reserve itself! Feeling more like an employee than a partner, Frederick is about to challenge Marlene when the Grey Bishop arrives. A goon fires at him to activate the booby trap, releasing an arc of electricity, but the Bishop is wearing the rubber gloves and grounds himself as the power moves out of control throughout the power plant, being drawn more and more into the ruby as it glows brighter, until a flame in the shape of a large cat emerges and engulfs Marlene, transforming her into a giant weretiger. She uses her tail to snare the Bishop and draw him in as he tells her of when the ruby was used once before, in a city that no longer exists. Before she can use her nerve strike on him, he slips a pill into his mouth. He collapses and is taken to a cage.
Bitsy and Frederick look over the apparently dead Bishop and open the cage to remove his mask, but before they can the Bishop awakens and shoots them both, escaping to finish his “game” with Marlene in a quick exchange!
The Grey Bishop finds Marlene by her device, evading her swipes to reach the ruby and, still wearing the rubber gloves, pulls it out of the device and smashes it to the ground. As it shatters, the flaming tiger gives one last roar before dissipating into the shards, leaving Marlene naked and human once more. The Bishop tells her it is never a good idea to repeat history, but leaves a rook upon her body and runs out of the power plant moments before the walls collapse behind him, appearing to bury his vanquished foe.
Back at the bookshop, Martin plays Lucius at another game of chess using the Pirc Opening, explaining that when you play for keeps you can’t hold anything back. Lucius immediately puts him in check. A frustrated Martin offers to buy his friend a coffee.
