(Opening Scene: Two men are fighting in fenced in ring. Normal is in the crowd that is gathered around the ring yelling, and waving money. )

Normal: Come on! Kill him! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Yeah. Get him, tubby. Oh, yes!

(Bloody fighter 2 delivers a series of blows to bloody fighter 1 mid section.)

Normal: Oh, yes!

(Bloody fighter 2 is thrown to the mat.)

Normal: Oh, no! Come on!

(Bloody fighter 1 is kicking his opponent and the bell sounds, ending the match. Normal screams at bloody fighter 2.)

Normal: You bum! You bald, large bum!

(Scene cuts to a woman entering the ring and addressing the crowd.)

Announcer (Annie): And now it's time for the main event of the evening. Grand prize, five thousand bucks.

(The crowd cheers lustily.)

Announcer (Annie): First, the champion. With a record of forty five wins and no losses, standing six foot ten and weighing in at 260 pounds, Stan "The Mangler" Miller!

(The Mangler enters the ring and raises his arms to the crowd.)

Announcer (Annie): And now the challenger. Undefeated in his three times in the ring, he hails from parts unknown. Standing six feet tall, weighing in at a lean 178 pounds, Monty Cora!

(Alec enters the ring. Normal hands a bookie some money.)

Normal: Three hundred dollars on the good-looking one.

The Mangler: (to Alec): I'm gonna tear your head off and stuff it up your ass.

Alec: Shouldn't we shake hands first?

(Alec offers his hand and laughs. The Mangler hits him hard knocking him into a corner nearby Normal.)

Alec: I'll take that as a "no."

Normal (to officals): Hey, he jumped the bell! He jumped the bell!

(The bell rings.)

Normal (To Alec): Go get him, tiger. Come on!

(Alec gets up and runs behind the Mangler and elbows him in the back.)

Normal: Oh, yeah!

(The Mangler growls at Alec. He then tries to land some punches, but Alec evades his attempts. Alec throws a series of punches into the Manglers body. The Mangler finally pin's Alec's arms and lifts him off the mat.)

The Mangler: What the hell are you?

Alec: Better.

(Alec head butts the Mangler and TKO's him with a punch.)

Normal: That's the ticket! Yeah! That's what I like to see!

(The Announcer enters the ring and raises Alec's hand in victory.)

Announcer (Annie): The champion!

(The crowd goes wild.)

(Scene switches to later in the locker room where Alec is getting dressed while talking to the announcer.)

Announcer (Annie): What do you mean, this is your last fight?

Alec: I'm done. Gonna retire undefeated.

Announcer (Annie): Retire? They love you out there. We've done twice the business since you showed up.

Alec: Look, Annie, as much as I enjoy beating people up, I've got bigger plans for my life. And this is gonna help me get started.

(Annie hands Alec a wad of money.)

Announcer (Annie): If you change your mind, you know where to find me.

(Annie leaves.)

(Alec finishes getting dressed and he notices two men in suits behind him.)

Alec: What do you guys want?

(One of the men use a taser on Alec and he falls unconscious on the floor. White stands over Alecs body studying him.)

White: Take him out the back.

(Scene cuts to show intro: They designed her to be the perfect soldier--a human weapon. Then she escaped. In a future not far from now, in a broken world, she is haunted by her past. She cannot run; she must fight to discover her destiny.)

(Scene switches to Logans apartment. Logan is in his kitchen chopping vegetables on a counter while Max watches nearby. They are smiling and laughing. Some sauce is heating on the stove.)

Logan: So the mayor of our fair city calls the cops and tells them somebody ripped off his TownCar last night.

Max: Wasn't me, swear.

Logan: Found it over in sector four with five hundred hits of X in the trunk.

Max: What, a drug dealer stole it?

Logan: No, the drug dealer got it from a hooker he pimps. The hooker got it from His Honor, as a gift. The mayor sobered up the next morning, forgot all about it, except she had the signed pink slip. Said she'd tell the press everything unless he dropped the charges against her boyfriend, and she said she'd really like to keep the car.

(Max laughs.)

Max: Where'd you hear this touching story?

Logan: I have my sources.

(Logan nods towards a pot of sauce.)

Logan: Stir that for me, will you?

Max: All right.

(Max gets up and walks to the simmering sauce.)

Max: So this is what the Eyes Only Informant Net has been reduced to, huh? Trading information about crooked politicians' sex lives?

Logan: Well, you know, you can only fight corruption and injustice so many hours in the day. Every once in a while you gotta kick back.

(Max stirs the sauce, uses the spoon to taste it, and puts the spoon back in it.)

Max: Mmm. This is great.

Logan: Thanks. It's a family...

(Logan turns around and realizes what Max has done. She notices his look and turns to look at the sauce.)

Max: I can't believe I just did that.

Logan: You know, it's okay, because if you just turn up the flame, heat kills pretty much anything.

(Max picks up the pot of sauce and dumps it in the sink.)

Max: Salmonella, maybe, but not a Frankenstein virus targeted specifically to your DNA. You know, it's bad enough they made it so we can't touch. Now we can't even have dinner.

Logan: You can still have some.

Max: I'm gonna go.

(Max turns to leave.)

Logan: Wait. We have bread; we have salad. I'm sure I can rustle something else up. Please.

Max: I can't do this. It's too hard.

(Max walks out of the kitchen.)

Logan: Max!

(Scene cuts to Logan's living room. Max is heading for the door but turns around.)

Max: My jacket.

(Max goes to pick up her jacket from the computer desk and sees Logan standing on the other side of the frosted glass, touching it. Max touches the glass where his hand is, then turns and leaves.)

(Logan sighs.)

(Scene switches to the exterior of a building at night, a hand touches a sign with the address "542". We hear a low growl.)

(Scene cuts to inside an apatment, a man is taking pictures of a woman. She pretends to do household chores while striking sexy poses.)

Blue Collar Husband: Ooh, yeah! Oh, yeah! Oh, baby. Oh.

Blue Collar Wife: Meow!

Blue Collar Husband: Good kitty. Good kitty.

Blue Collar Wife: Hot stuff.

Blue Collar Husband: Beautiful. Oh.

Blue Collar Wife: Baby, do me. Uh-huh.

Blue Collar Husband: Beautiful!

Blue Collar Wife: Ooh! Oh!

Blue Collar Husband: Oh. Okay, show daddy what you got. Come on, show daddy. Yeah!

Blue Collar Wife: Oh!

Blue Collar Husband: Ooh, ooh. That's nice. Let's get some shots of you vacuuming the sofa.

Blue Collar Wife: Okay.

Blue Collar Husband: Ooh.

(She turns the vacuum on.)

Blue Collar Husband: What are you turning that on for? Nobody's gonna know the difference.

Blue Collar Wife: Yeah, but I might as well get it done, right?

(The blue collar wife turns the vacuum off. A hulking figure creeps outside the window. The blue collar wife hears a noise.)

Blue Collar Husband: Thanks. Good, good.

Blue Collar Wife: What was that?

Blue Collar Husband: What? Oh, yeah.

Blue Collar Wife: There's something outside.

Blue Collar Husband: Relax, baby. Nobody here but me and you.

(Joshua bursts in the door, growling.)

Joshua: Where is he?

(The blue collar wife screams. The husband turns around and snaps a picture of Joshua before dropping the camera and holding up his hands.)

Blue Collar Husband: Holy mother...

Joshua: Who are you?

Blue Collar Husband (whispering to his wife): Call the police.

(The wife runs to the phone.)

Phone recorded message (female voice): You've reached Seattle Emergency. No one is available to take your call right now.

(Joshua growls and pulls aside some drapes to check out another room.)

Joshua: Where is he?

Phone recorded message (female voice): Please continue to hold.

(The husband grabs a baseball bat and stands by the doorway. Jopshua walks out.)

Joshua: Not here.

(The husband whacks Joshua in the gut. Joshua growls and throws him to the floor. Then he leaves.)

Blue Collar Wife: What the hell was that thing?

(The husband uncovers a Polaroid and it develops into a picture of Joshua's face.)

Blue Collar Husband: Good question.

(Scene switches to Logan's apartment the next morning. Logan's cell phone rings. Logan wheels into the room with a tooth brush in his mouth and answers the phone.)

Logan (on phone): Hello.

Lydecker (on phone): It's Lydecker.

(Logan takes out the tooth brush.)

Logan (on phone): I had a feeling I'd be hearing from you again.

Lydecker (on phone): Don't sound so happy about it.

(Scene switches to Lydecker calling from his SUV, parked on a street.)

Logan (on phone): Well, if you're calling to follow up on our previous conversation, Max made it back fine.

Lydecker (on phone): She always does.

(Scene cuts back to Logan talking on the phone at his apartment.)

Logan (on phone): Mmm. That's high praise coming from a man who spent the last ten years hunting her down.

(Scene cuts back to Lydecker in his SUV on a cell phone.)

Lydecker (on phone): Those days are over now. Tell Max I'll be in touch soon. I'm working on a lead.

Logan (on phone): Oh, no. Okay, I'm done taking down these cryptic messages for you. I want to know what's going on.

Lydecker (on phone): They did a DNA assay on Max when she was back at Manticore. There's something unusual about her genetic makeup...something even I didn't know about.

Logan (on phone): What does it mean?

Lydecker (on phone): I don't know yet. But Renfro must've thought it was important. I found the test results in her briefcase, along with a employee I.D. from a company that, as far as I can tell, doesn't exist. Tell Max I'm looking into it.

(Lydecker holds up I.D. card with Renfro's image. The I.D. card is from 'RCF DEMOLITIAN & DISPOSAL' and the name on the card is Elizabeth Renfro.)

Logan (on phone): I'll pass it on.

(Scene cuts back to Logan talking on the phone at his apartment.)

Lydecker (on phone): Thanks. I appreciate your help.

Logan (on phone): Yeah? Then maybe you can help me with something.

Lydecker (on phone): I'm listening.

(Scene switches to a run-down apartment. Max and Logan are talking to a man peering nervously out of a window. )

Logan: Lydecker said you worked as a lab tech at Manticore?

Lab Tech: I'm the one who spliced your DNA to the virus substrand.

Max: Keep bragging about it, I'm gonna kick your ass.

Lab Tech: Do you want my help or not? 'Cause as soon as I scrape enough cash together I'm leaving town. They're trying to kill me and anyone else who worked there.

Logan: How much?

Lab Tech: Ten grand.

Max: You gotta be kidding me.

(Max looks over at Logan. She sees him opening an envelope full of cash.)

Max: Where'd you get that?

Logan: Sold some stuff.

(Hands the money to the tech.)

Logan: Half now, half when you deliver.

Lab Tech: Gonna need a blood sample.

(The lab tech heads over to the nearby bed and opens a case full of vials.)

Lab Tech (smiling): Gimme a couple of days to figure out how to kill this virus of yours, and then you two lovebirds can get back to sucking face.

(Scene switches to Max entering Crash. Max sits next to Original Cindy at the bar.)

Original Cindy: What's up, boo?

Max: Logan found an ex-Manticore tech thinks he can cure the virus.

Original Cindy: When you gonna let your face in on the good news?

Max: I don't know. I'm starting to think things between me and Logan are...never gonna...

Asha: Hey, Max.

(Max turns to see Asha standing behind her.)

Asha: I didn't know you kicked it here.

Max: Yeah. I'm practically a regular. Original Cindy, Asha.

(Asha and Original Cindy shake hands. Sketchy approaches and leans on the bar.)

Sketchy: Max, we're having a disagreement at the table. Maybe you and your fine new friend here can referee?

Max: Sure, Sketch. Break it down.

Sketchy: The guys are dissin' on Eyes Only, sayin' that Manticore place that burned down and let out the superfreaks was really just a V.A. hospital. Come defend the great man's honor.

(Max, Original Cindy, and Asha all exchange looks.)

Max: I try and stay out of that political stuff.

Asha: Yeah, me too.

(Sketchy holds up a rolled-up tabloid.)

Sketchy: Says right here they're out there, looking to feed.

Original Cindy: One too many forties and now he's seeing zombies among us.

Sketchy: Not zombies. Creatures made in labs. Some look just like us, some don't. They all got barcode transmitters on the back of their necks so they can beam information about us to the main headquarters.

Original Cindy: Wigga, you faded. News said it was some terrorist group called SW1 that burned the place down and killed a bunch of vets. Period point blank.

Asha: Uh, it's the S1W, and they would never do anything like that. But, I mean, come on. You can't believe anything on the government news anyway, right?

Sketchy: If I was making creatures in a lab, I'd make 'em look just like you.

(They all laugh.)

Asha: Really? That's...that's really sweet.

Original Cindy: Leave her alone, fool.

(Original Cindy hits Sketchy on the head with the tabloid.)

Original Cindy: And stop reading this trash, before you ruin what's left of your brain cells.

(Max glimpses the cover story and grabs the tabloid.)

Max: I gotta go.

(Max walks through the bar and Original Cindy follows her.)

Original Cindy: Max! What's the matter?

(Max shows her the front of the tabloid. It has a picture of Joshua. The headline reads "MUTANT ATTACKS CONTINUE...CREATURE ON THE LOOSE.")

Original Cindy: This somebody you know, sugar?

Max: His name's Joshua. He helped me escape from Manticore. This is bad.

Original Cindy: Nobody believes this stuff anyway.

Max: Not yet.

(Scene switches to an abandoned warehouse. Alec wakes up and finds himself in a cage suspended from the ceiling. White stands nearby. A ligt turns on nearly blinding Alec. Alec holds up his arms to sheild his eyes.)

White: That was a very impressive display last night.

Alec: It's so nice to have fans.

White: Tell me, 494, have you been in contact with this girl?

(White takes out a computer generated photo of Max. Alec shakes his head.)

White: We know that you were breeding partners back at Manticore.

Alec: It was just a summer fling.

White: What about any other transgenics?

Alec: I make it a point not to fraternize with automatons. They slow me down. So what are you? FBI? NSA?

White: Let's just say that I've been sent to wipe out all evidence that Manticore ever existed, and leave it at that.

White (to operative standing nearby): Make sure you take a DNA sample before you dispose of the body.

(White turns to leave.)

Alec: Wait! Killing me isn't gonna solve your problem.

(Alec gets up.)

White: You're right. I have to take out all of them.

Alec: You gotta find 'em first. I can help.

White: Is that a fact?

(White turns back to face Alec.)

Alec: Who better to hunt transgenics than another transgenic?

White: You expect me to believe that you would turn against your own kind?

Alec: Try me.

(White nods at the operative standing nearby. A beeping sound is heard and the cage floor opens under Alec. He falls out and lands on the floor below. Immediately several guns are pointed at him by white's men.)

(Scene cuts to Alec is sitting in a chair. White's men train their guns on Alec as White faces him in another chair with a watch in his hand. A man uses an instrument to insert something into the back of Alec's neck.)

Alec: What was that?

White: Just a little something to make sure that you don't run off on me, as you were undoubtedly planning to do.

(White holds up a object.)

White: Microexplosive.

(White steps on it and it explodes.)

White: Not much punch to it, really, but enough, considering it's lodged against your brain stem. If it goes off, you will never know what hit you.

(Several of White men undo Alec's bindings.)

White: Locate and kill three transgenics, and I'll disarm it.

Alec: How long do I have?

White: The explosive is timed to detonate in exactly twenty four hours.

Alec (laughing): A day?

White: You come through, I have three less freaks to worry about. You don't...

(White makes a popping noise)

White: ..your head explodes.

(He stands up and hands Alec the watch. It says 23:59 and is counting down.)

White: Time's a-wasting.

(Alec looks at the watch but doesn't move.)

White: I'd get started, if I were you.

(Alec stands up and starts to walk away.)

White: Oh, one more thing. Bring back their barcodes. Proof of purchase.

(White tosses Alec a folding knife.)

White: Happy hunting.

(Alec leaves. White sits back down in the chair.)

White (to operative): This could prove to be a very interesting little experiment.

Operative (to White): Think he's lying about not knowing the girl?

White (to operative): Always assume they're lying. You'll live longer.

Operative (to White): We could get lucky. He brings in her barcode, we scrape it for DNA...answer a lot of questions.

White (to operative): Either way...I win.

(Scene switches to Logan's apartment. Max stands near a window while Logan sits in his wheelchair across the room and looks at the tabloid.)

Logan: Looks pretty dangerous.

Max: He's not. Don't judge him because of the way he looks.

(Logan tosses the tabloid on to the coffee table)

Logan: Well, fine, but apparently he is breaking into people's houses. Any idea why?

Max: Maybe he's looking for a place to sleep, or something to eat. I have to get to him before something really bad happens.

Logan: I'll see if I can get a hold of those police reports, find the addresses on the break-ins. They're probably all in the same area, near wherever he's hiding.

Max: Should narrow things down, at least.

Logan: I can boot up my police scanner, monitor the calls. If he shows up somewhere else, maybe you can get to him before the cops do.

Max: Thanks. He's so not ready to be out there in the world. I put him there. If something happens, it'd be my fault.

(Alec appears in the doorway behind Logan.)

Alec: Don't be so hard on yourself, Max. You put me out in the world, and I'm loving it.

Logan: Don't you people ever knock?

Max: What are you doing here?

Alec: Looking for you. The fact is, I should be with my own kind. Was wondering if you hooked up with any of the others.

Max: You looking to start a support group?

Alec: Ah, just bored, really. Ordinary people are so ordinary.

Alec (To Logan): No offense.

Max: I'll set up a play date later. Kind of in the middle of something.

(Max grabs Alec by the arm to escort him out. Alec notices the tabloid on the coffee table and picks it up.)

Alec: Whoa, isn't this your dog boy pal? Looks like he's gotten himself into quite a jam. Guess you're gonna swoop in and save the day, huh?

Max: I was thinking about it.

Alec: Well, you're gonna need a hand.

Logan: She's got two of her own, but thanks.

Alec: This affects me, too, you know. People catch wind that stuff like this is out there, it's exposure for all of us. Today the tabloids, tomorrow the nightly news.

Max: Logan's tracking down a few leads. In the meantime, thought I'd check out Terminal City.

Logan: Max...

Max: It's where I'd head if I was looking to lay low.

Alec: Why? What's...what's Terminal City?

Max: Come on. I'll show you.

(Max and Alec leave.)

(Scene switches to Max and Alec approach a fence that has a sign on it, saying "BIOHAZARD--DO NOT ENTER--BY ORDER OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE." They step through a broken part of the fence.)

Alec: What's the deal with this place?

Max: Used to be a bunch of biotech labs out here, and then when the Pulse hit, the power went down. A few of them lost containment. Some pretty nasty stuff got out.

Alec: Kinda like you and me, huh?

Max: City couldn't afford to clean up the mess, so they just sealed off the area. Nobody goes out here unless they got nowhere else to go and nothing to lose.

Alec: Lucky thing they made us immune to your common biowarfare agents. Hey, speaking of bioagents, how's that thingy with you and Logan?

(Max gives him a look.)

Alec: I was just asking.

(Scene switches to Lydecker standing across the street from the RCF building. On the fence around the building is a sign that says "R.C.F. ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP & DISPOSAL." Lydecker checks to make sure his gun is loaded and tucks it in his waistband he then crosses the street to the building. It is dark inside. Lydecker walks on a catwalk and sees a guard sitting in a chair below him, reading something. Lydecker draws his gun, walks down the stairs, and approaches the man from behind.)

Lydecker: Got a light?

(The guard turns around, Lydecker knocks him out. He grabs the guard's flashlight and looks around. In a pile of dirt and rubble he finds some small skeletons and takes pictures of them. On the wall he sees a painted image.)

(Scene cuts to Lydecker having flashbacks of the Manticore logo; the painting on the wall resembles it.)

(End flashback.)

(Scene switches to Terminal City, Max and Alec approach two homeless men, one of whom is holding a small dog.)

Skinny Homeless guy: You two lost?

Alec: We're, uh, looking for someone. Maybe you've seen him around.

Bill: What's he look like?

Max: Um...really tall, wears an Army jacket, kind of...uh...

Alec: ...hairy. Lots of growling, some barking...

(The skinny homeless guy's dog barks.)

Skinny Homeless guy: Hush, Bongo.

Alec: Like that.

Bill: Sorry.

Skinny Homeless guy: Saw a lizard guy the other day, though. Remember, Bill? I told ya.

Bill: You were drunk!

Skinny Homeless guy: Maybe he's a friend of yours, too.

Max: No, but we wouldn't mind talking to him.

Skinny Homeless guy: Check the sewer. That's where he went, along with his panther lady friend.

Max: Thanks.

(Scene switches to Max and Alec in a darkend sewer.)

Alec: Well, this is hands down the most disgusting sewer I've ever been in.

Max: What's that?

(Max sees some remains.)

Max: ...Ugh, it's a dog.

Alec: Something big took it out.

Max: Not Joshua.

Alec: What, he wouldn't turn against his own kind?

(Max's pager goes off.)

Max: It's Logan. I have to get to a pay phone.

Alec: Wait, wait, wait.

(Alec tosses her a cell phone.)

Alec: Come into the twenty first century, will ya?

(She calls Logan.)

Max (on phone): Logan, it's me.

(Scene cuts to Logan's apartment. Logan is on the phone sitting in front of his computer.)

Logan (on phone): I just hung up with my police contact. He managed to find the address of Joshua's last break-in.

Max (on phone): Where was it?

Logan (on phone): Across town in sector six, 542 McCallister. Name's Sandeman.

(Scene cuts back to Max on Alec's cell phone in the sewer.)

Max (on phone): Sandeman?

(Scene cuts to Max flashes back.

(Flashback: Max's first meeting with Joshua, then to Renfro's words in the lab.)

Joshua (in flashback): Father...Sandman. He made us all.

Renfro (in flashback): Find...Sandeman.

(End flashback.)

(Scene cuts back to Max on the cell phone in the sewer.)

Logan: Does that name mean something to you?

Max: Joshua called him Father. Got a feeling he founded Manticore or something.

Logan: Well, if that's true, then why would he turn Joshua away and report him to the cops?

Max: Think I'll ask him. Later.

(Max Hangs up.)

Alec: Did you get a lead on dog boy?

Max: Sorta. Come on.

Alec: You go ahead. We can cover more ground if we split up.

Max: Right. Hit me up if you find him.

Alec: You got it.

(Max leaves.)

(Scene switches to the apartment of the blue collr husband and wife. The Blue collar husband is comforting the woman with a brand-new deadbolt lock on the door.)

Blue Collar Husband: There you go, honey. Safe and sound. Ain't nobody gonna get through there.

(Max kicks in the door and the wife screams. Max grabs the husband by the neck.)

Max: You Sandeman? You don't look like the father of my country. Name Manticore mean anything to you?

Blue Collar Husband: Honest, lady, I don't know what you want.

Max: Hey! I asked you a question. You got any kids, any little mutant kids?

Blue Collar Husband: I don't know what you're talking about.

Max: You don't know anything about genetic enhancement?

Blue Collar Wife (indicating her breasts): He got me these.

(Max gives her a disgusted look.)

Blue Collar Husband: Marlene..

(Max drops the man and leaves.)

(Scene switches to the sewers. Alec walks through the sewer. He glances at his watch, which now says 13:47, and hears the man above ground looking for his dog.)

Skinny Homeless guy: Bongo, where are you, boy? Come on, boy!

(Alec peers around a corner and sees a she-beast about to chew on a dog. It is Bongo and he is yipping.)

Alec: You're not really gonna eat that, are ya?

(The She-beast turns and growls at him.)

Alec: Come on, sister, have a little dignity.

(The She-beast looks at Alec hungrily.)

Alec: Yeah, that's right, dinner bell's a-chiming. Come and get it.

(The She-beast approaches, slashing at him, and he kicks her down. She gets up and bites his arm.)

Alec: Oh! Bitch!

(Alec slams the she-beast head against a wall. They struggle for a minute until Alec pulls out White's folding knife and stabs her. The She-beast howls and falls dead.)

Skinny Homeless guy (voice): Bongo!

Alec: Oh, shut up! (Notices Bongo whining nearby.) Come here.

(Alec picks up Bongo and pushes him up through a drainage grate. Bongo barks and the Skinny Homeless man hurries over.)

Skinny Homeless guy: Bongo! There you are! Come on, fella.

(Alec turns the She-beast over to reveal her white barcode against the dark fur. Alec begins to remove it with the knife.)

(Scene switches to Logan's apartment. Logan is sitting in a chair and Max is sitting in another chair facing him. Voices come over Logan's police scanner in the background.)

Logan: If this guy Sandeman founded Manticore, how come you don't know his name?

Max: It's not like there was a statue in the quad. I never heard of the guy until Joshua and then Renfro said something. Some crap about me being the one they're looking for.

Logan: I wonder if that's what Lydecker was talking about. He called. Said something about your DNA being unusual.

Max: Whatever.

Logan: Not whatever. There's something going on here.

Max: Yeah, Joshua's out there and he needs my help. What about the other addresses? Did you get them?

Logan: Yeah, and they don't add up. None of the others are named Sandeman.

Max: It doesn't make any sense.

Logan: Plus the addresses are all over town. No pattern at all.

Max: So we've got nothing.

(Logan nods. Max looks up and sees an empty spot on the wall where a painting used to be.)

Max: Don't tell me you sold your Hockney to pay that lab tech creep.

Logan: Yep.

Max: Your grandmother left that to you.

Logan: Small price to pay. The creep called; says that he analyzed the blood sample you gave him. Thinks he's close to a cure.

Max: Are you serious?

Logan: Mm-hm.

(Logan turns around and reaches over for an envelope.)

Logan: He wants you to come by tomorrow.

(Logan hands Max the cash.)

Max: Whether he comes through or not...I'm kicking in for half of this.

Logan: It's okay.

Max: I want this too, you know.

Logan: Get it to me when you can.

(A voice speaks up on the scanner and Logan turns up the volume.)

Dispatch (radio): Says he has a crazed dog cornered in his garage. Make that a guy. No, make that a dog.

Cop 2 (radio): Whatever. We'll check it out.

Dispatch (radio): 349 Whitney.

Logan: Hey, do you think that--

(Logan turns to find that Max has already left.)

(Scene cuts to a garage. A man is pointing a gun at Joshua, who crouches behind a motorcycle and growls.)

Guy with shotgun: One move and I'll blow your head off!

(A police car pulls up and a male and female officer get out.)

Cop 1: What is it?

Guy with shotgun: Don't ask me. I found it rummaging through my garbage.

Cop 2: Maybe you should've called Animal Control.

Cop 1 (to Joshua): Stay back. I'm warning you!

(Joshua barks.)

(Max rides in on her motorcycle and uses it to knock down the female officer. She kicks the male officer down while Joshua takes the opportunity to jump through a window. Max takes a threatening step at the man and he runs away. Max runs to the window and calls out.)

Max: Joshua?

(Joshua is gone.)

(Scene switches to Alec walking down a street and finishes putting the She-beast's barcode into a small notebook.)

Alec: One down, two to go.

(Alec tucks the notebook in his jacket and checks his watch. It now says 7:59.)

(Scene cuts to Alec walking past a group of homeless people and recognizes the clothing of a young man sitting wrapped in a blanket. The young man gets up, tossing the blanket aside. He addresses Alec loudly.)

X5-292: Sir! Are we remobilizing?

(The other homeless people turn around and look at them.)

Alec: Follow me. Don't make a big deal out of it.

(X5-292 follows Alec into a narrow alley.)

Alec: Where's the rest of your squad?

X5-292: We got separated when the fire broke out. Then I saw the signal..the one that told us to go to ground.

Alec: So you're alone?

X5-292: Yes, sir.

(Alec glances around and grabs X5-292 by the neck. A moment later X5-292 stops struggling and drops to the ground, unconscious. Alec turns him over, looks at his barcode, and takes the knife to it.)

(Scene switches to later that night. Lydecker is sitting in his SUV, looking at prints of the pictures he took in the RCF building. He is talking on his cell phone to Professor Long who is sitting in an office and looking at some papers.)

Lydecker: What are we looking at here?

Professor Long: A Kiloma Indian burial site, probably from the early 1800s. These pictures...they're just like in the stories.

Lydecker: Stories?

Professor Long: Legend has it that a group of white fur traders kidnapped a young girl from the tribe....forced her to have a child for them.

Lydecker: With who?

Professor Long: A boy they had with them. He was only fourteen, but described as being over six feet tall. The baby was stillborn, terribly deformed.

(As the Professor Long talks, Lydecker looks through the pictures of the small skeletons.)

Professor Long: They forced her to have another, nevertheless. They weren't satisfied until the third was born. They took the child away...

Lydecker: ...and they killed the mother. Why was this child so important?

Professor Long: I don't know. I always assumed it was just a story.

Lydecker: What about the last picture...the one with the painting on the wall?

Professor Long: It's not a Kiloma design. I've never seen anything like it.

Lydecker: I have.

Professor Long: I might be able to tell you more if I can see the original photos.

Lydecker: I'll bring them to you...tonight.

(Scene switches to the warehouse. White is looking through Alec's bloody scrap book. The young man's barcode has been stuck to another page, next to the She-Beasts barcode.)

Alec: So I got two. I just need more time to get the third.

White: We had an agreement.

Alec: Just a few hours.

White: That's not what I'm talking about. I told you to kill them.

Alec: Yeah.

(White nods to the operative standing nearby. The operative hits a button on a remote control and the floor of the cage, which is still suspended from the ceiling, opens. X5-292 drops down, dead.)

White: Someone left him outside an emergency room with a bandage on the back of his neck.

Alec: He was just a kid.

White: You disappoint me. Now apparently you had no trouble with whatever this was!

(White indicates the She-beasts barcode.)

White: But him...one of your own...you couldn't do it. So now you're a dead man.

Alec: I can do it. Give me another chance.

White: All right. I'll let him count against your final total. But you still owe me one more. Say thank you.

Alec: Thank you. Can I have more time?

White: No. But you can have this.

(White tosses Alec a taser.)

Whote: Maybe if you don't have to listen to them beg and scream, you can actually go through with it. Tick tock.

(Scene switches to Logan's apartment. Max stands looking out the window as Logan works on his computer in the other room.)

Logan: I think I figured it out..why the addresses don't add up.

(Logan removes a sheet of paper from the printer as Max joins him.)

Logan: Joshua's been looking for Sandeman, all right; it's just his information's out of date.

Max: What do you mean?

Logan: Well, I ran the addresses I got against the listings in a pre-pulse directory. Ten years ago, people with the last name Sandeman lived at all six addresses.

Max: Joshua must've gotten his hands on an old directory and not realized it's no good anymore.

Logan: He's going through 'em one by one, in order.

Max: Any left?

Logan: Two more.

(Logan hands Max the printout.)

Max: Thanks, Logan. I'd hug you, but..

Logan: Maybe in a couple days.

(Scene switches to Max walking down a street, reading the printout. Alec suddenly steps in front of her.)

(Max gasps.)

Alec: Max.

Max (gasping): You scared me.

Alec: We need to talk.

Max: Wish I could, but I don't have time right now.

Alec: I'm afraid you're gonna have to make time.

(Alec fingers the taser wand in his back pocket.)

Alec: It's a matter of life and death..mine.

Max: Look, I don't know what your drama is, but I got a lead on Joshua and I'm outta here, now.

Alec: Joshua?

Max: Yup.

(Max bends over her bike and Alec sees her barcode. He checks his watch, which now says :59.)

Alec: I'll go with you.

Max: Fine. Ready?

Alec: Yeah.

(Alec gets on the bike behind her.)

(Scene switches to later at a fenced area. They step through a hole in the fence.)

Max: This is the right address. Guess they tore the place down.

(Max sees a figure sitting amongst the bushes and rubble, and smiles.)

Max: Joshua!

(Joshua turns and approaches Max.)

Joshua: Max.

(Max hugs him.)

Max: Hey, big fella.

Joshua: Hey, little fella.

Max: How you doing? I've been worried.

Joshua: Father not here...not anywhere.

(Max notices a crumpled piece of paper in his hand.)

Max: Where'd you get that?

Joshua: Took it, uh, from people upstairs, after Father left.

Max: See, those addresses are old. That means that those people may not live there anymore.

(Joshua glances at the paper and points to it.)

Joshua: One more.

Max: Okay. We'll check it out.

Alec: I hate to be a killjoy, but nobody's going anywhere.

(Alec pulls out the taser and zaps Max with it. She falls to the ground, shaking. Joshua swings at Alec but misses. Alec zaps him. Joshua gnores the shock and swings at Alec again. Alec zaps Joshua again, and he falls to the ground, gasping. Alec turns him over and looks at his neck, which is bare.)

Alec: Where is it? Where the hell is your barcode?!

Joshua: No barcode. I was first...special.

(Alec zaps him again and Joshua growls. Alec turns to Max and tosses the taser away.)

Alec: I'm sorry. There's no other way.

(Alec pulls out the knife and apporaches Max.)

Max: Alec.

Alec: I don't want to die.

(Alec kneels over Max and holds up the knife. He pauses for a minute, then stabs. Alec falls to the ground next to Max.)

(Scene cuts to a knife driven into the ground next to Max's head.)

(Scene switches to lab tech's apartment, Alec sits in a chair while the lab tech looks at his neck. Max paces in front of them. Joshua stands nearby.)

Lab Tech: Yeah, thought so. Planted a few myself back in the day. Mind my asking how you ended up with one of these pop guns attached to your brain stem?

Max: Because he's a cold-blooded, opportunistic showoff who thought he could run his game on a major bad guy who, it turns out, is an even bigger scumbag than he is! That about cover it?

Alec: Yeah, that's pretty much how it happened.

Max: Oh, before I forget, thanks so much for not killing me.

Joshua: Me too.

Lab Tech: I can disarm it. It'll cost you ten grand.

Max: That the only number you know?

(Alec hands the lab tech a wad of cash)

Alec: I can get you the rest later.

Lab Tech: Need it up front.

(Alec jumps up and chokes the lab tech on the wall.)

Alec: Where the hell am I gonna get that kind of cash in the next five minutes, huh?

Max: Wait. You're paying me back.

(Max pulls some money out of her jacket. Alec releases the tech and sits back down as the lab tech gasps for air.)

Alec: No problem.

Lab Tech: Great. I can leave town tonight.

Max: What?! You haven't finished my job!

Lab Tech: Have I not mentioned that my life is in danger?

Max: I'll make sure nothing happens to you.

Lab Tech: Not good enough. Look, you can have the work that I've done so far. Take my analysis. You can find some other Manticore geek to help you finish it off.

Max: Where?

Lab Tech: Don't know. If they're smart like me, they're probably already on their way out of town. We got a deal? This guy's got like two minutes to live.

(Max pauses. She looks at Alec, then at the lab tech.)

Max: Do it.

(Max hands the lab tech the money and he hands her some papers. A short time later, Alec glances at his watch while the man works on his neck. The watch has eight seconds left.)

Alec: Time's almost up, pal.

Lab Tech: Don't distract me.

(The lab tech removes the explosive and holds it in the air as it pops. Alec jumps at the sound and turns around to look.)

Lab Tech: Congratulations. You're not dead.

(Max looks at the papers in her hand. Alec rubs his neck. The tech closes a suitcase and heads for the door.)

Lab Tech: That's it. I'm out of here. Sayonara.

(The lab tech leaves. Max looks at Alec.)

Alec: I owe you, Max. I know I screwed things...

Max: Shut up! And listen, 'cause I'm only saying this once. That guy was the last chance for me and Logan. He's gone, and it's your fault. Don't think I'm ever getting over that.

Alec: I know.

Max: Just...do me a favor, all right? Go away. I can't even look at you right now.

(Max turns away. Joshua growls at Alec. Alec picks up his jacket and pauses.)

Alec: I'm sorry, Max...for everything.

(Alec leaves. Joshua stands behind Max.)

Max: I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up anyway. I just wish I knew what I was gonna tell Logan.

(Joshua puts his hands on Max shoulders and she looks down.)

(Scene switches to Lydecker driving his SUV down a road at night. A larger black SUV suddenly gets behind Lydecker, forcing him to swerve the car.)

(Scene switches to the next morning, some cops are pulling an SUV from the water. The pictures of the Manticore symbol float in the water.)

Trooper: Body must've been thrown clear. Guess we're gonna have to drag the river.

(Scene switches to Max and Joshua entering an abandoned house. Papers and books lay strewn about.)

Max: This is the last address.

(Joshua picks up a book off the floor and looks around.)

Joshua: Father's house.

Max: You sure?

Joshua: His books...I remember.

(Joshua smiles. Joshua sees a cane lying on the floor and shows it to Max. The top end of the cane is carved into the same shape as the Manticore logo and the painting on the RCF wall.)

Max: The Manticore symbol.

(Max turns over a patch of a Manticore logo on Joshua's jacket.)

Max: See?

Joshua: No. Father's.

(Scene cuts to a flashback)

(Flash back: A man using a cane and approaching a young Max. The man reaches down and picks her up.)

Sandeman: There she is. My little one. My special little one.

(End flashback.)

(Scene cuts back Ito Joshua attempting to get Max's attention.)

Joshua: Max. Little fella. Max.

(Max looks at Joshua.)

Joshua: Father not here.

Max: Nope. Looks like he hasn't been here in a long time. I'm sorry. I know that wasn't the plan.

Joshua: Joshua and Father. That's the plan.

Max: Max, Joshua, and Father. That's the plan. You wanna find him, I'll help you. I got some questions for this guy.

Joshua: He'll help you. Just like the man helped your friend.

Max: You think he can cure this virus thing?

Joshua: He made us. He'll make you better. And that's what you tell Logan...to have hopes up.

Max: Okay.

(Scene switches to Joshua sleeping on the floor of Sandeman's house; while Max watches him. Max extinguishes the candles around the room and kisses Joshua on the forehead. Max smiles.)