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Boston, now. PROLOGUE Self-styled mercenaries crash an armored truck through the gates of the Boston Zoological Gardens. Kill a security guard. Have already killed the truck guards. Pack money in satchels and set off across the zoo. The leader, Sarge, has big plans. They’re going to hide out in the zoo, use it as a base of operations to raid the city. Which is in chaos because of the “big shakeup” among the criminal gangs. The police are overwhelmed. And there’s no one to stop them from claiming the zoo. Except they’re being stalked by a mystery tigerish woman who leaps incredible heights and has eyes that glow in the dark. Plus she crackles with electricity when angry. As the mercenaries cross the zoo, they keep stumbling into obstacles. A rhino has been turned loose and gores one merc to death. Another gets separated and pitched into an alligator pit. A third captures that tiger woman as she saves a security guard. But she bashes him through glass into a display of rattlesnakes. As money blows away on the wind, Sarge freaks and uses the rookie Boot as a shield, running wildly. He spots the tiger woman in silhouette, rushes, but he’s attacked by a real live tiger that mauls him to death. The rookie Boot runs for his life, screaming he’s innocent. Lights track him until he stumbles to a telephone. The tiger woman pitches coins, and Boot calls 911, begging for rescue. Next morning, cops follow the bloody trail, finding mangled bodies. Lt Det Sarasota is in charge. He’s a handsome and cool Hispanic with only one arm. Oddly, he downplays all “were-tiger woman” sightings and covers up evidence she left. Done, alone, he walks to Tiger Island, the zoo’s big showpiece and calls out “Susan! You can’t hide in there forever!” No answer. But as Sarasota leaves, we see Tyger Tyger clearly for the first time, standing amidst real tigers in the tiger caves… Sarasota passes the zoo plaza, which is still taped off as a bombed crime scene. He stops to remember… ACT ONE BEGIN FLASHBACK. One sunny day, with happy families visiting the zoo, came an odd note. Gangsters of every type and race converged on the plaza for a meeting on neutral ground. All were screened for weapons before admittance. At the center of the meeting was a grand piano, with Piano Man playing. An aging don proposed dividing up the city to maximize profits. Criminals were mostly listening, seeing what they could get. Cops are in attendance too, as waiters and security guards and electricians. Sarasota, with two good arms, is one. “Watch for it. Something’s gonna go down.” Meanwhile, opposite, Susan Blake, zookeeper, was tending tigers on Tiger Island. She talked to Jack, an old zookeeper, about her happy future. She won an athletic scholarship to the University of Florida to study zoology. The two work to introduce a new wild tiger to the zoo. Rajah will be penned in a temporary old iron cage. Jack worries: “Something weird about this tiger. They had him in some kind of lab, experimenting on him, drove him wild. He was supposed to be destroyed, but we’ll try to rehabilitate him.” Susan’s boyfriend comes by with a going-away present: a U Florida orange sweatshirt. He leaves. Standing on the tiger cage, Susan watches the queer convention opposite. Notices the Piano Man stops playing and walks around a concrete barrier. Sarasota walks after him – just as Piano Man triggers a detonator. The grand piano explodes in a fireball. Criminals are killed by the dozens. So are civilian families. Sarasota loses an arm. Susan is knocked into Rajah’s cage. She and the wounded tiger tangle in a heap as twisted metal collapses, electricity coursing through it. Susan dies. And is revived by EMTs. Who have to rip the bars off her face. She’ll make it. But one EMT worries if she’ll want to “when she sees what’s left of her face”. Elsewhere, in an underground compound, the Piano Man calls his own meeting of criminals. He has two chief enforcers, both prickly with their own agendas. Wild Rose is a black Jamaican woman with a wire “thorn whip”. Bloodaxe the Viking is a brute who thinks he’s a reincarnated Viking. Piano Man has invited the surviving criminals to divide up the city. A few who object are shown the door – to a corridor that locks and riddles them with bullets. PM directs Wild Rose to clean up the mess, but she objects: “I’m not the cleaning lady.” Bloodaxe volunteers: “I don’t mind blood.” PM has one more assignment for Bloodaxe: “There was a witness…” PM then goes upstairs to reveal he owns a raucous popular nightclub, full up and roaring. In the hospital, Sarasota recovers slowly. Without his arm, he’ll be mustered off the force. His only bright spot is his mother and two daughters who pamper him. And when he sees Susan bandaged head to toe, he knows others are worse off. Susan’s boyfriend arrives on the day the bandages are to come off. He’s shocked by her black-scarred face and takes off. Susan is distraught and cries. Sarasota, recovering nearby, feels sympathy. That night, Susan dreams strange vivid dreams of being a tiger in a cage: is she infused with Rajah’s spirit raging to get out? Someone enters: Bloodaxe. He’s come to assassinate Susan with a Viking knife. He gets a surprise – and so does she - because she’s super-strong. They tussle. As Susan grows more angry, she begins to crackle with electricity. Finally she delivers an electric-eel shock that stuns Bloodaxe. Frightened and confused, Susan pulls on her torn and bloodstained zoo uniform, then the brand-new UF orange sweatshirt. Then she leaps out the broken window into the night. Sarasota’s not sure what happened: it’s all so strange. Bloodaxe talks his way out of trouble. He also chuckles, “I think I’m in love…” A nurse can’t believe Susan Blake did this because, she admits, Susan’s heart was irreparably damaged by the shock. It could explode any minute… Elsewhere, dazed and confused, Tyger Tyger wanders the streets. Dogs bark at her, she sets off electric alarms, police seek her. She wanders to the night time zoo and climbs the fence. Dodging security guards, she ends up climbing into Tiger Island, then entering the tiger caves. Tigers look up curiously as Susan says, “I’m home.” END FLASHBACK ACT TWO One night, Wild Rose and her gang are boosting expensive cars in a parking garage. But one by one the gangsters are ambushed by a crazy “tiger woman” with super-strength and electric-eel shocks. Wild Rose battles Tyger over cars, but finally flees. Incredibly, Tyger jumps from the fourth floor to the street and runs after the speeding car, and catches it! When Tyger blocks the windshield, the car smashes into a hydrant. At police headquarters, Sarasota has filed a report on the “zoo merc massacre”. His superior, Captain Moline, finds it too weird, and Sarasota’s reaction queer. He suggest Sarasota consider retirement. Sarasota counters that, if forced to retire, he’ll sue the city of Boston for discrimination against the disable. He wants to work the Organized Crime Detail. The city cops are all but paralyzed as the gangs fight for territory. No. Captain Moline assigns him to check out these “tiger woman” sightings. He’s a one-man flying squad for the “oddball cases”. Sidelined, Sarasota fumes. His best friend on the force is Sully, who sympathizes. But something is definitely weird. A newspaper article shows a woman in New Hampshire towed a destroyer across the river by hauling on the anchor chain. Another woman can start fires with her bare hands. They’re up for “adventuring” but so far haven’t done anything but move pianos. Sarasota hates the Oddball Detail and gripes. He needs something, some edge to get back in the game. And finds himself doodling tigers. Gets a call: “your weird tiger twist” is running wild. In a geyser of water, Wild Rose and Tyger and huge thugs battle. Tyger gets whip-choked, but sends a shock down the wire, knocking Wild Rose on her ass. Tyger demands to know, “Who do you work for? Who’s your boss?” Police arrive to arrest everyone, but Tyger leaps to a building top and escapes. Sarasota arrives too late. Only to be ambushed herself by Bloodaxe. They tussle, but he wants to talk. “I’m on my own hook here. We need to talk. We should work together.” Tyger “works alone”. Unexpectedly, Bloodaxe KISSES her, then gets knocked flying. He just laughs. He also warns Tyger to “trust nobody”. She bounds away perplexed. Over several nights, Tyger spoils a number of criminal thefts, spilling loot, breaking heads, always demanding, “Who do you work for?” But she’s stunned and disgusted to see that Wild Rose’s gang is back on the streets. Sarasota, meanwhile, keeps getting reports of “tiger woman” sightings. He’s intrigued she always demands, “Who do you work for?” But too he takes heat from Captain Moline, and sees his friend Sully whispering with the captain. Bailed out, Wild Rose reports to Piano Man about how Tyger spoiled the car-jacking and other money-making schemes. Bloodaxe arrives and listens in, keeping mum. Piano Man rages. He demands to know what’s going on. How can she do these stunts? Who does she work for? He wants her caught and questioned. Wild Rose proposes some “bounty hunters from the West Coast”. Send for them. Sarasota treks to the zoo, which is closed, and pitches a message into the tiger caves. Tyger finds the message and reads it. (We don’t see it.) That night, as Sarasota works late, he returns to his office to find it dark. Tyger perches atop a file cabinet in the dark. “What do you want?” Sarasota offers to work together. She’s “wasting time punching punks in the head”. All the criminals she beats up just get bailed out. “To convict, you need evidence.” He explains the “silver platter” rule that lets cops accept stolen evidence. Tyger doesn’t have time for legalities: her heart is a ticking time bomb. Sarasota, who’s also frustrated, convinces her to try. Get hard evidence and we can lock these guys up – and find who’s directing the operations.” Tyger will think about it. Sarasota points across the street to the parking garage: his boss, Captain Moline, has a brand new Mercedes while Sarasota has a crappy Toyota. Interesting… One night, a stripper arrives at a strip club – a stripper in full black-face makeup. She sashays in and tells the other dancers to leave, now. Breaking into the manager’s office, Tyger catches two bikers robbing the place and setting a bomb. “You’re not firebombing this dump – I am.” Tyger kicks them out windows and “rescues” the manager, but lets the bomb tick. He’s an accountant for some mob: she wants evidence. He gives up his laptop and password, and Tyger jumps out the window with him, just as the bomb goes off. Amid the crowd watching the fire, Sarasota waits. Tyger delivers the laptop and password, and Sarasota grins. “We’re in business.” Bloodaxe approaches Wild Rose. The two of them should consider working together. And why would they need Piano Man? Wild Rose refuses, but is clearly thinking about it. At the club, Wild Rose has brought the bounty hunters. They are Hook, Line, and Sinker, three martial artists/SWAT-types with non-lethal gadgets and specialty weapons: a pole hook, a lariat, and a weighted chain. PM orders a test: take down Wild Rose. She fight and snag her. PM orders the same for Bloodaxe. HLS nail him too. “OK, go get the tiger.” The hunters snag PM. “First we get paid for these two.” “Write ‘em a check.” Over days and nights, Sarasota pores over court records and accounting books, and begins raiding lawyers, city councilors, banks, etc. He’s assigned more guys to help him, including Sully, but he trusts no one, and won’t reveal his secret weapon is Tyger. And troubles compound: with extra help, he fears a mole in their ranks. And it might be Sully. Piano Man has his own troubles. Barely able to make payroll, bleeding money, he’s losing control of what gangs are left. His troubles seem to stem from the “tiger woman and the one-armed cop”. He’ll fix both with one blow. Tyger meets Sarasota on a roof top. (While someone hiding in the shadows reports their meeting over the phone.) They’re making good progress. They know a “Piano Man” is the gangleader, but don’t know much else. But they’ll nail him. Sarasota and Tyger are getting cozy. Her guards are coming down. He wishes “things had been different for her”, that she’d gone to school in Florida and gotten married and fat. Instead she’s a ticking time bomb on a suicide run. Still, they’ll keep working. Tyger bounds away. And two rooftops over, is ambushed by Hook, Line, and Sinker. A tremendous fight rages over the rooftops. The bounty hunter use tear gas, flash-bangs, beanbag shotgun rounds, and their capture weapons to snag Tyger. They finally drop and handcuff her – just as gangsters rush in shooting. Everyone was set up. Tyger hoists the three women on her shoulder and leaps onto a skylight. The four crash amidst dangerous whirling machinery in a printing plant. Even handcuffed, Tyger continues the battle, raging, “Idiots! You were double-crossed!” Hook is killed in a machine press, and Tyger bounds back out the skylight. But she’s wounded: shot and banged and scraped and handcuffed. She limps away, but not before seeing Sarasota talking to cops. She thinks HE set her up. The mystery man in the shadows reports by phone, and gets outrageous orders. “You want me to what?” As crooks are booked and patched, Sarasota’s mother arrives, beaten up. She has terrible news. Frantic, Sarasota visits Tiger Island, shouting for Tyger. When she won’t answer, he climbs INTO the cages and risks live tigers to confront her. She’s a mess: torn up, gunshot, black-eyed, coughing, and sawing off handcuffs. And angry at his “betrayal”. “This what I get for trusting people!” Huh? Sarasota’s just as angry. “My daughters have been kidnapped!” Tyger only lets her tigers growl. “You better go.” He leaves. Tyger sulks, wanders, frets, and takes out his old note, her first human contact. The note says: YOU CAN DO BETTER, 555-1374. Tyger cries. ACT THREE Sarasota fumes in his office. He’s sick with worry, raging, helpless. He bumps into Sully, who wants to help. Sarasota’s not sure anyone can. Sully: “Tell me…” He begins to, but worries about trusting people, when they hear a ruckus down the hall. They rush into Captain Moline’s office to find Tyger bashing him. Sully is stunned: “She’s real!” Moline demands they arrest her. But Tyger suggests, “First, listen to what he has to say…” Police vans converge on a side street near Piano Man’s club. Sarasota and Sully have assembled a quick detail with SWAT weapons. Sully: “Where’s your punk girlfriend?” Tyger has “gone to get her own backup”. They study building plans from the fire marshal’s office. And pull three of Piano Man’s goons from a police van. A Firebird car arrives from New Hampshire: the license plate is KEEPERS. Anchor and Firebird, previously seen only in the paper, introduce themselves. Where’s Tyger? Incredibly, she hangs back in an alley, too shy to seen “around people”. Sarasota coaxes her out, but her “backup” – two live tigers – stay hidden. They brought the three goons to question about the Piano Man’s fortified compound under the club. The goons won’t talk. Tyger hoists the first one and shocks him so bad his heart stops. Cops administer CPR and a defibrillator. Tyger reaches for a second – but Anchor intervenes. “My turn.” Anchor, a big woman, offers to hit the guy. And snaps off a lamp post to do it. Firebird also offers her talent. Picking up a night stick, she sets it afire, handling it easily. Sully: “You meet some interesting people on this job.” Armed with plans and inside information, Sarasota’s Squad breaks in. Anchor tears off doors. Firebird melts steel panels. Tyger trips electric locks. They brave one death trap after another: gas, water, bullets. While cops and goons battle, Sarasota’s chief concern is to find his daughters. Tyger wants Piano Man, but diverges to hunt the girls. Piano Man, Wild Rose, Bloodaxe, Line, and Sinker have retreated to the club proper. As the cops break in, lights flare, music blares, and the battle is on. Below, Tyger actually SNIFFS out the girls because they “smell like Sarasota” and break them free. With the girls safely moved off the premises, Tyger and Sarasota rejoin the battle. The fight in the noisy light-spinning club is chaos, but the heroes are losing. Until Sarasota and Tyger rejoin along with two real live tigers! The wild animals turn the tide. Wild Rose is knocked out. Bloodaxe escapes. Finally only Piano Man is left, cowering against his piano. Tyger leaps to kill PM. Sarasota stops her at gunpoint. “We do this by the book.” Tyger rages, “He took my life! He kidnapped your daughters!” Sara: “All the more reason. I have to show my daughters we’re the good guys.” Tyger tenses and Sarasota aims: he’ll shoot her if necessary. PM grabs for a shotgun hidden in his piano. Tyger LEAPS and crunches the piano lid on his hands, breaking them forever. Sully mops up. Anchor and Firebird have to go. Firebird: “It’s a school night.” They look around, but Tyger is gone. Days later, Sarasota escorts his daughters to the soon-to-open zoo. He wants them to meet “a friend”. Tyger isn’t in Tiger Island, but drops from a tree. Sarasota introduces his daughters properly. They hug Tyger, to her consternation. Oh, and Sarasota has news: Tyger’s medical record. Turns out her electric-eel charge screwed up the heart monitors. Her heart is fine! Tyger kisses Sarasota and bounds off. The daughters are shocked. “Daddy!” Roll credits to the theme song: “Tyger Tyger” by Greg Brown. | |
