EXT. OCEAN AVENUE — DAY
(Bob and Louise walk briskly. Bob keeps adjusting his too-shiny wig; Louise scans for trouble like a tiny general.)
LOUISE(needling)
So what's the plan, Sandman? How do you fight villains if you don't even know how your sleep-punching works?
BOB(deflecting, palms out)
I don't—fight-fight. I was thinking more… demonstration. Like, I find a boulder, I smash the boulder, the bad guys see the boulder, they go home, we all sleep. Separately.
LOUISE(fake agreeable, already fishing a rag from her back pocket)
Mm-hm. Love a boulder-based justice system.
BOB(warming up to his own bad idea)
Right? Like a "Hey, look what I could do to you but won't, because I'm very mature" situation.
LOUISE(twirling the rag)
Totally. Mature. Rock ethics. Keep talking.
(Bob's phone RINGS. He fumbles it up.)
BOB(answering, cheerful panic)
Hi, Linda—hi, what—what's happening? You sound—are you in a wind tunnel?
INTERCUT — INT. LINDA'S CAR / EXT. OCEAN AVENUE
(Linda white-knuckles the wheel; Gene leans across the dash, hollering; Tina is in the back, head down, furiously sketching Robot Mickey.)
LINDA(frazzled, words tumbling)
Bobby! There's—oh my god—there was a robot and then a shark but the robot was a man—kind of—and your daughter has a Sharpie—
GENE(overlapping, pure chaos)
ROBOT! SHARK! IT'S A ROBARK! A SHABOT! A SHARKBOT! IT'S A—!
TINA(calm, not looking up)
I'm drawing the robot Mickey's calves. Please hold.
BOB(cupping the phone, trying to parse)
Okay, okay, slow down, is everyone okay? Is the car okay? Is the upholstery okay? Linda, talk one at a—one at a—
LINDA(snaps, then apologizes mid-snap)
OH WOULD YOU ALL SHUT THE— (she SLAMS the car horn) —FOR A MINUTE!
(The horn BLARES. A visible psychic shockwave ripples from Linda like heat off asphalt.)
GENE(instantly stunned, flops back, whisper)
…condiment… gel…
TINA(eyes glaze, pencil dragging a slow diagonal across the page)
I can't stop… the line… is choosing me…
LINDA(blinking, phone back to ear, mortified but practical)
Sorry! I just—you know how I get with the noise!
CUT BACK — EXT. OCEAN AVENUE WITH BOB & LOUISE
(Bob stands rigid, eyes roll, he TIMBERS straight down onto the sidewalk. His phone clatters beside his face.)
LINDA (V.O., tinny from the phone)
Bobby?
(Louise freezes, the rag in her hand. She looks at Bob, looks at the rag, shrugs, and tucks it back into her pocket like, "Well, that solved itself.")
(A BLOCK AWAY: the façade of a low-rise EXPLODES outward. The GIANT ROBOTIC SHARK bursts through in a glittering spray of brick and glass, hydraulics CHITTERING, buoy-lights strobing. It swivels and LOCKS on Bob and Louise.)
LOUISE(very small, very excited)
Dad…
(She drops to her knees, grabs Bob by the shoulders, and starts shaking him like a cocktail.)
LOUISE(full volume)
DAD YOU NEED TO GET UP PUNCH IT RIGHT NOW!
(The shark LOWERS its head and CHARGES, pavement shuddering with each piston-pounding step. Bob sleeps like a log. Louise braces over him, eyes huge, grin feral.)
SMASH TO BLACK — END SCENE