CHARLES
Please take a seat, Dr. Isley. We've so much to catch up on.
LILLY
[takes a seat across from Charles] Let's cut the bullshit, Charles. What did you call me in here for? I don't even work for you anymore.
CHARLES
I have a proposition for you that I think will make both of us very happy. And the fact that you even agreed to this meeting, it's a good sign, I think.
LILLY
I'd rather you kill me than ever work with you again.
CHARLES
[chuckles] You're like a cockroach, Dr. Isley, you never seem to die no matter how many times we try to crush you. And you know as well as I do that killing me won't solve anything, either. So we're at an impasse here. Why not make a deal?
LILLY
What makes you think I want to kill you?
CHARLES
Well, you did try killing me, and you failed. You've been driven mad before, and just look at the mess you made the last time you went off the rails.
LILLY
I did what I had to do. Everyone else was collateral, I didn't want to involve them, but they-I didn't have a choice.
CHARLES
Oh, but you feel guilty about it, don't you? You're not a psychopath like everybody's saying. You felt their pain, too.
LILLY
[gulps] And who’s saying that, exactly?
CHARLES
Your old colleagues, the ones who left, too. The ones who blacklisted you from working anywhere else but a lower tier community college.
LILLY
I chose to work at Hatchetfield College.
CHARLES
[chuckles] You were always ambitious, Dr. Isley. What happened to that ambition? You know you can do more than waste away at that place. A woman of your talents and abilities is a treasure to a world, not someone to be hidden away in academia.
LILLY
[stays quiet for awhile]
CHARLES
You're considering it, aren't you? You know it's true. You can do so much better than a mediocre college. You were a pioneer in your field before, you can be one again. You can join me and others like you, brilliant scientists and engineers, to create a better future for a world that is constantly teetering on collapse.
LILLY
[angrily] No, what you and your ilk want is to hoard power and wealth that doesn't belong to you. What you and them want is ultimately control.
CHARLES
I'm just trying to bring order to the world. Peace. That's what you want, too, isn't it?
LILLY
No, what you want, especially, is all the money in the world. You said so yourself to me years ago, you want people to eat dirt while you thrive off their sacrifices.
CHARLES
When only one entity has all the money in the world, what's the point of fighting each other?
LILLY
I'll never work for you again, Charles. This conversation is over, this has been a massive waste of my time. [She gets up and starts to walk away]
CHARLES
I was hoping for a peaceful resolution to this...I was really hoping you'd see reason and join us, Dr. Isley. You see yourself as some sort of hero to save the world from some inevitable climate disaster, don't you?
LILLY
[she turns back around and laughs bitterly] I'm a villain in some people's stories, and I'll never be more than that to them. But I don't care. I'll stop you and all your creators. Whatever it takes.
CHARLES
You think you're the only one with superpowers who's tried to stop us? It's your ego that's your downfall. Your white knight routine isn't going to save the world, it's going to destroy it. You'll regret this. Just you wait.
LILLY
[Exits the room]