Fireball Leonardo

LEONARDO COUGHS

This is where I do my pottering.

Fantastico!

Behold! The fireball -

key to ultimate power over the city of Florence,

and the vermin who...

The vermin...

Mi scusi.

The vermin...

Behold! The fireball...

-Oh, shut up!

-Excellency.

-One question. Does it work?

-Of course.

The sphere contains two separate, harmless liquids.

But when mixed, they create a ball of fire,

destroying everything within six feet.

-Mm. And it is activated how?

-By sound.

With one clap of my hands,

the ball of fire will reduce this table to ashes.

Behold!

I... My hands are a little sweaty. Once more.

Ooh!

-HE STAMPS FOOT

-Ooh!

Your Excellency, you're in great danger.

THUD!

I appear to be alive.

Praise be. There must be some technical hitch.

Here's the hitch... your bomb does not work.

And when things do not work, I dispose of them.

Your Excellency, I can fix it, trust me.

I have no time left for trust.

I need expertise. A child could do a better job than...

A child could do a better job than you.

I brought you some...

What are you doing?

Well, that's everything.

But you can't go.

I can't stay, Leo. I don't want to run into Verrocchio...

Tomaso! Leonardo!

Mark this day, for it is the greatest of your lives.

You have been summoned to create a painting for Piero de' Medici.

-A what?

-A painting, boy.

The application of oils to canvas for visual effect.

You might have seen them around.

-And His Excellency asked for us?

-Yes. I could hardly believe it myself -

that he has heard of you, let alone commissioned a piece.

You're to go to the palace immediately.

I'll take those blank faces as expressions of delight.

Presto, presto! We don't want him to change his mind.

Get your things.

Where's the cobalt?

It's just there.

You've been invited to the Medici Palace?

It's the ideal opportunity to find out what Piero is up to.

Or the ideal opportunity to get killed! Talk him out of it!

Piero knows I'm a girl. If we don't do this,

he could have Verrocchio arrested.

Oh, so better to be locked up, interrogated, killed?

He's not going to kill us.

Anyway, Verrocchio knows we're there.

Piero is a respectable man in the eyes of the world, remember?

And a dangerous one.

We don't know that for sure. See you later?

Yeah...I hope so.

What happens now?

We wait.

Piero comes and we find out what this is all about.

-Ciao!

-Lorenzo!

-We haven't seen you for days.

I know I've been helping my dad organize the Duke's birthday party.

No talking. Less this... more of this...

So...we are here to do a portrait?

Of course! You're painters, aren't you?

Yeah, but...

Do not speak to Master Lorenzo directly.

Any questions you address to me.

So...is His Excellency at home?

No. Not that it's any of your business.

-Could I go to the bathroom?

-No. Now get painting.

We need to get into his study again.

-You distract Lorenzo, while I...

-While you what?

So, how do you want me?

Um, could the...young master strike a noble, commanding pose?

Ahh!

Perfetto!

Grr...

They might be dead already. You know he chained me up?

Probably would have tortured and executed me,

had I not engineered a daring escape.

I wonder what's happening up there? I'm talking to myself.

KNOCK AT DOOR

-Are you Machiavelli?

-That depends.

I'm in urgent need of your assistance. I'm in fear of my life.

-I need help to escape the city.

-I know you.

-You're Piero de' Medici's engineer.

-He fired me.

-And now I think he wants to kill me.

-Oh really?

Interessante.

I wonder if the young master

would care to inspect the work in progress.

Um, no, thanks, I'll wait till it's finished.

Or...maybe a little glance. Yeah.

Oh... Well, that's not a picture, that's a series of pictures.

HE LAUGHS There's one of me looking at the canvas.

Shh!

So, here's the deal. I provide you with a whole new identity

for the bargain price of 200 florins.

The Duke himself couldn't afford that!

Or you could pay with some other form of currency. Like information.

-Information?

-About Piero de' Medici. What goes on at that house.

I couldn't tell you that.

I am in enough danger already, without betraying Piero's plans.

Oh, he has plans? See?

You've saved yourself a couple of florins already.

-Va bene, Master Lorenzo?

-No, not really, feeling a trifle hot.

Stand in for us a while would you, there's a good fellow.

No reason to shirk. Keep painting!

(Let's go!)

Master Lorenzo!

Sorry about the dirty trick there.

-But...?

-It's all in this sequence of pictures.

There's one of me giving you the helmet,

there they are escaping and... very clever,

they've even drawn the moment where you find me.

Oh, and there's one of you running out after... Oh.

-What are we looking for?

-There must be something here.

-Like what?

-Anything that'll show us what they're up to.

Perhaps I can help you.

I thought it was time we met properly.

That's why I invited you here.

I am Piero de' Medici.

Your names are Leonardo and, um...

-Tomaso.

-Lisa. That's right. Lisa.

I apologise for summoning you up to the palace in this way

but a man like me could hardly stroll into your workshop

for a chat. You have my permission to speak.

No? No need - I know everything you could possibly tell me.

I know, for example, that you are friendly with my son, Lorenzo.

That he visits you in your workshop

in the belief that I know nothing about it.

Clearly, you thought I was stupid.

Well, I do not extend the same discourtesy to you, Leonardo.

I think you are a very gifted boy.

So that's why you and your sinister friends stole my notebook?

-The Luminari?

-So, you know our name.

But you've got it wrong. We're not sinister.

You just like hanging out in the catacombs.

Do you know what it means, Luminari, eh? Shining lights.

We are the shining lights.

The bright minds, the visionaries.

Fine, so you're so clever, what do you want with me?

I want to offer you a job.

HE TUTS

Not interested.

That's a shame.

Never mind then, arrivederci.

-Sorry?

-I'm not going to force you.

Come on, Leo, let's go.

But I am surprised you don't want to see the prototypes.

-Prototypes?

-Of your designs.

Difficult to know which ones work until you build them.

-You've built my designs?

-Mm-hm.

-And do they work?

Why don't you see for yourself?

I can have you taken to my workshop.

No, Leo.

We're alike, you and I.

The future belongs to men like us.

Men of reason. Men who see the infinite possibilities.

Men of vision. And women too, of course.

Such a shame, such a crime,

that an artist as talented as young Lisa is denied

the chance to flourish just because she's female.

Such Dark Age nonsense.

Well, yes, it is a real...

It doesn't have to be that way.

You could help me to design a better world.

Just take a look, eh?

No. We can't. We need to go.

Then go. But I think young Leonardo here wants to visit my workshop.

Don't you?

I'll be fine.

I'll make sure everyone knows where you are.

I do like it when people come round to my way of thinking.

Tom! I've been looking for you everywhere. What's going on?

What was all that business with the pictures about?

Just a bit of fun.

Come on, I can see something's going on. Where's Leo?

-He went with your dad.

-What?! Why?

You'll have to ask your dad that.

LEONARDO COUGHS

Forgive the blindfold. This is where I do my pottering.

Fantastico. I...

My rotary blades!

My deep-sea diving suit!

Effective to a depth of eight fathoms.

You mean you've tested it?

Everything works, Leonardo, exactly as you designed it.

I could never afford to build any of these.

That's why we're such a great team. Your ideas, my resources.

-We are not a team.

-You don't trust me.

That's reasonable. I don't blame you for it.

How about this...

Join me for a day, or two.

A trial period. You'd be free to leave at any time.

You could look at a problem I'm having with one of your designs.

-I don't know.

-No, it is a very difficult problem.

You almost certainly won't be able to solve it.

Let me see.

-Signor Verrocchio.

-Hmm? Oh, it's you.

Have Leonardo and Tomaso returned from the palace?

How do you know they went to the palace? What do you want?

You look very dashing, Signore. Bellissimo!

Court appearance, is it?

Hmm. I have a very big day tomorrow.

Tomaso! Did you paint well?

Was His Excellency pleased? Were you a good ambassador for the workshop?

-Yes, Maestro.

-To which question?

-All of them?

-Eccellente!

Where's Leo?

He stayed behind to...

to do some extra work.

Bene, bene. Shows willing.

Oh, no not this coat. No, too shiny.

-What has Piero done to Leo?

-He's...

This is really weird. he's kind of, um, made friends with him.

Leo's with him now, looking at inventions.

Piero's plotting an assassination. He plans to kill the Duke.

He needs Leo's help to build some sort of sound-activated bomb.

A fireball.

That's ridiculous.

Leo would never help anyone build a weapon.

He doesn't know it's a weapon.

-He designed it as something else.

-What?

My flower ball!

Your flower ball. Precisamente.

-You remember designing this?

-Of course. It's a children's toy.

Clap your hands, a bunch of flowers pops out.

I wanted to present it to the Duke tomorrow

at his birthday celebrations in the piazza.

-And what's the problem?

-The sound activation.

It's crucial the ball can be operated at a distance.

And yet none of my engineers has been able to fix it.

-Can I meet your engineers?

-They've all...moved on, I'm afraid.

So difficult to find people who share one's vision.

BELLS CHIME

What's the time?

-Late?

-Later than late - it's early.

Maybe that's a good thing.

Maybe Leo couldn't fix this fireball - then there's no problem.

-Success!

-So much for that hope.

Mac, you won't believe what happened to us today...er, yesterday.

-Tom told me.

-I feel like an idiot. We got Piero all wrong,

thinking he had some evil plan, when really... What?

That feeling like you're an idiot?

Hold on to that, you're gonna need it again in a minute.

-What do you mean?

-Piero tricked us.

-No, he didn't.

He really is a decent man. He had me fix a birthday toy for the Duke.

-It's not a toy. It's a bomb.

-Bomb? No, no, it's a flowerball.

-I designed it myself.

-Piero adapted your design

into an explosive fireball,

-built to assassinate the Duke.

-No, Mac, it's a flowerball...

Clap your hands together and out comes a lovely bunch of...

I think I must be the most stupid person in the world, ever.

I fell for his act as well.

Yeah, but you didn't help him build a bomb.

-I've got to go, destroy it.

-Where? Where's his workshop?

I don't know, I was blindfolded.

But it's below the palace.

I'm sure it is. We must be able to find a way in.

Tom! What if you can't find it?

Be careful.

And don't worry, I've got a plan of my own.

Don't you always?

With a little help from my friend.

I gave you what you wanted.

Where are my papers?

You'll get them. Patience.

How can I have patience when I fear for my life?

Because, my friend, I am about to make you unrecognisable.

Wait here.

There it is. Grazie, Leonardo.

I...need to adjust...something. The...

There was no problem last night.

I realised this morning.

-You know, it might not work if I don't...

-It's fine. Trust me.

If we're going to work together, we must have trust, yes?

But I...

Placidi! Escort them out.

Yes, Excellency.

Oh, they're back. Are they carrying on with my portrait?

-Should I go with them, Papa?

-No.

It's time to get ready for the Duke's party.

I'm looking forward to it. It should be a lot of fun.

Ridicolo! Why must I be dressed up as an old crone?

-So you won't be recognised as we cross town to see the Duke.

-Do what?

Show the Duke those plans. Explain what Piero is up to.

He'll be arrested and your worries over.

That was not our arrangement. I just want to get out of the city.

I changed our arrangement - my friends are in danger.

Now if you'd rather fend for yourself, fine.

But I don't give much for your chances. Relax.

You look very convincing. You might even enjoy it too.

Buon giorno, Signor Verrocchio. Off to the Duke's birthday bash?

-That's right, boy. Big day.

-Oh...

-Signor Verrocchio, may I introduce my aunt. Elena.

-Charmed, Signora.

Tell me, have we perhaps met?

-No.

-Ah. Um, well...I-I must be...

See? Not only convincing but attractive too.

-Did you get to the fireball?

-I failed.

Me too. The disguise was too good.

-Oh, Mac.

-Andiamo, presto. We need to get to the Duke before Piero does.

TRIUMPHAL MUSIC PLAYS

This is hopeless.

We can't even get close, never mind speak to him.

-Something isn't right.

-Yeah, he's going to kill the Duke!

Exactly. Right here, in broad daylight.

If I was Piero, I'd get someone else to present the gift for me.

Oh, no...

Don't! Master Verrocchio! Please don't!

-It's dangerous!

-Put the box down!

-Don't give him the gift!

-Put it down!

APPLAUSE

THUD!

GUESTS GASP

Arrest that boy.

-Leo...

-No! I had to do it! The gift, it was going to explode.

-It was Piero de Medici!

-Silenzio!

It seems the boy has something to say.

Your Excellency, he's clearly not well.

Paint fumes can sometimes affect the brain.

-Yes, I have something to say.

-Leonardo!

-Well, out with it boy.

-Your Grace...

that gift was going to explode. It's a sound-activated fireball.

GUESTS GASP

A what?

If the boy's claims are correct,

he is a hero and I am indeed a terrible villain.

If, on the other hand, he is inventing stories...

But there is an easy way to find out.

Sound-activated, you say, hmm?

-Your Grace, would you be so kind as to clap your hands for me?

-Get back!

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

That's charming, charming!

Thank you, Your Grace. Buon compleanno.

-I don't understand.

-There! That man, he knows the truth.

He'll explain everything.

Valerio? He's my chief engineer.

Was your chief engineer, before you threatened to kill him.

Valerio, do you know these young men?

No, Excellency, I do not.

And have I threatened to kill you?

No, Excellency. What a suggestion, Excellency!

So it seems the boy has been inventing stories after all.

Tut-tut-tut...

-Take him away.

-No! Leo! Leo, no!

# It's empty in the valley of your heart

# The sun it rises slowly as you walk

# Away from all the fears and all the faults

# You've left behind

# Come out of your cave walking on your hands

# See the world hanging upside down

# But I have seen the same I know the shame

# In your defeat.. #

Buon giorno. Hungry?

I brought you an apple.

It was all real, you know.

Everything I offered.

You could have been my right-hand man.

You'd have had power, resources...

security for your little friend, Lisa Gherardini.

All you had to do was show loyalty. And obedience.

So the whole thing, the story your engineer told Machiavelli,

-that was all a set-up?

-That's right.

And now we can never be allies. Shame.

-I would

-never

-be your ally.

Clearly. But you did help me with the fireball.

And after your outburst at the banquet

no-one will take your accusations seriously ever again.

Oh, you're free to go by the way. I asked the Duke for clemency.

You're no threat to me any more, so why not?

It's fine. Thank me some other time.

Mmm, bello.

Leo!

Leo! I thought you'd be banished. That I'd never see you again.

Get back to the workshop, both of you.

Maestro...

I'm sorry for embarrassing you at yesterday's celebrations.

Behold.

-Ha-ha!

-Never again will you come to me with your technical hitches.

You might not be offered the same chance to redeem yourself.

No, Excellency. Grazie, Excellency.

Get it installed. By morning.

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