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-{"train":["BLACK Sounds of a train rolling to a halt, a shrill whistle. EXT. CAMP - DAY UP ON the door of a weathered cattle car as a German soldier steps into frame wearing that familiar gray of the all-too familiar era. He throws the door to reveal a mass of huddled and frightened people inside. The words are not necessary.  The language is not ours and the images say enough. Men, women and children are herded off the train like cattle toward a large open yard.  There they huddle until the Germans begin to shout and shove through the mob. FENCE CORRIDOR - DAY We are looking up at rows and rows of fences topped with barbed wire all designed to create a separator for the thousands of Jew who pour through each day. Then we see the eyes themselves that look up at them. A LITTLE BOY.  A boy who will not die this day.  A boy who will live to see the end of the war and the world of the future. He stares at the metal wire with an unusual fascination. The boy looks up at HIS WORRIED PARENTS - a sturdy- looking couple who try to smile and comfort him. The corridor comes to a junction where it splits in several different directions. Soldiers here push the mob using rifles as pikes, screaming and terrorizing the lot of them.  Suddenly it is clear what they are doing.  They are dividing the mob into smaller groups. Soon, the groups themselves become evident. Men from women.  Children from adults. The family tries to stay together, clinging to one another dearly, until finally, they are put upon by a number of gray uniforms and pulled apart. The boy is dragged screaming his feet no longer touching the ground. Two soldiers carry him as they follow the back of a large column of children being led through a gate of barbed wire so dense, it resembles wool. The gate closes and the boy looks back to see his parents - along with many others - being restrained by a number of soldiers.  The screaming is deafening. And the boy s can be heard above it all.  The soldiers seem to be having a hard time carrying such a frail child.  The farther they get from the fence, the heavier he seems to get, until they are literally pulling him as though he were anchored to something. His outstretched fingers claw at the thin air and he screams until the blood in his face is blue. The soldiers are literally pulled back a step and they begin to slip in the mud. They look at one another and then over their shoulders as they hear a sound. A groaning, creaking sound.  And then the unmistakable twang of wire stretched to snapping.  The fence.  The gate that separates the parents.  It bows toward them like iron filings to a magnet, and several of the strands of barbed wire have given way. The boy continues to scream as all the other faces simply freeze and wonder. One of the soldiers pulls a wooden baton from his belt and brains the boy violently. He slumps and the soldiers carrying him spring forward as through a rope that was holding them back has been cut. They nearly fall, looking at one another with some concern, some confusion.... Then they follow the line of children that has gotten ahead of them.  The boy s parents watch him as he -- as they, are taken away. The rest of their story is as you would expect. SKY - DAY Bright, bright blue framing a blinding white sun. PAN DOWN AGAIN TO REVEAL: The cracked, drought-stricken soil of nowhere. KENYA -  A group of children at play.  Tribal children who, without the help of the titles, could be from any age. They run through a tiny village of tents, playing.  Every child holds a long reed-like stick and they chase each other playing their version of tag. As each child is tapped, they chase the others.  Each trying to avoid being  it , though never going far enough away to miss the fun. One girl in particular.  A PRETTY GIRL OF   , with unusual white hair, is tagged and immediately shunned. She chases kids this way and that, but to no avail.  She is not strong enough, nor agile enough, to win. She tumbles and lands on her stick, snapping it.  She stands and, when the children see that her stick is broken, they begin to giggle. The giggles become laughter and the laughter becomes a taunt, and before we even realize, the inherent cruelty of children let loose becomes evident. They have now formed a circle, at first avoiding her touch with distance, but now growing tighter with menace. In the unspoken manner of children at prey, the group begins to chant in their native tongue - a song we have not heard but sung in a way none-too inviting.  They begin to poke at her with the reeds, driving her back. The girl now moves to the center of the circle, no longer wishing to tag anyone. ONE DEVIOUS CHILD seems to get an idea.  He takes his stick and smacks it across her shoulder.  She turns to face the child and another swings his stick across her back with a solid THWACK.  Before long, mob rule gives way and all the kids are swinging at her and laughing. It grows to the brink of frenzy, the laughing and the shouting not too unlike the noise of the previous scene. So much so, we may miss the first flake of snow.  The children certainly do.  It is snowing for a good ten seconds before the last of them stops. By then, the snow is thick as flies and wafting down to melt instantly on the hot African soil that has never seen snow before.  Adults come out of their huts and in from the fields and the whole of the village is soon gathered around the little girl, staring up from the clear blue sky and the snow that falls from nowhere.  From nothing. One by one, all eyes fall on the little girl and the looks of curiosity become looks of fear.  Of superstition. Punctuated by a solid thump. And then another. AN OLD MAN looks down at his feet and sees a tiny, misshapen ball of ice, no bigger than his eye.  He looks at it, bites it, then pops it in his mouth - breath turning to steam. Another such chunk of ice pops him on the head.  THE CROWD LAUGHS. They look up again and see that mixed with the snow are tiny pellets of hail, seeming to increase in number as the snow mysteriously wanes. And the pellets are getting larger.  Until they land as hunks. The white haired girl drops to the ground and covers her head as hailstones the size of baseballs plow into the Earth. Before long, tents are collapsing and panic ensues. And all along the white haired girl sits huddled in the dust, crying. As hailstones fall in a circle around her, never coming closer than then a few feet or so. INT.  HIGH SCHOOL GYMNASIUM - NIGHT ONE MORE SKY.  This one a backdrop.  Cheap paint and tissue paper hung with hooks on a wall just behind the basket on a full court. As we pull back, we see the skyline of New York, crudely made out with its silhouette buildings of dark gray and black - windows of yellow. Among the famous landmarks represented is the Statue of Liberty, complete with a real light bulb burning in the torch. We are at a prom. The theme is RHAPSODY IN BLUE and the decor has made tragic efforts to show it.  The tablecloths are blue, the napkins are blue - far too many of the tuxes are powder blue, and the blue eye shadow is as heavy as expected. Peter Gabriel s  In Your Eyes  gives painful indication of the era, but here it is, nonetheless  SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA -  MOVE ACROSS THE FLOOR and through the swaying, clutching, sweating dancers to the bathroom. Through the door to the usual -  BOYS BATHROOM - NIGHT Several boys are here, bow ties undone - unclipped in most cases.  Smoking, drinking from whatever inventive container was used to smuggle in booze.  Breath freshener and Visine are the chaser. Some of the guys are rolling joints while others make the sad effort to wave smoke away.  Who are they kidding? It s a fog in here. MOVE DOWN THE ROW OF TOILET STALLS to one in particular. Here we find A FRECKLED KID standing in front of mirror, clearly holding himself up from the effect of God knows what. He talks to his friend in the he stall behind him.     FRECKLED KID   Man, what s the matter with you? His friend is on the toilet with his head in his hands. He seems to be in some pain.  He is SCOTT SUMMERS - AGE   .     FRECKLED KID   Dude.  Lighten up.  She s just a girl.   You just gotta-     SCOTT   No, my eyes... my eyes are killing me. The Freckled kid offers a small plastic bottle.     FRECKLED KID   You want some Visine, man?     SCOTT   My... eyes... The freckled kid looks and sees that Scott s eyes are watering so badly that tears are literally streaming through his fingers. He goes back to the mirror to look at his own.     SCOTT   ... they re burning... The freckled kid turns back to him.     FRECKLED KID   Dude, how much did you smoke?     SCOTT   I didn t smoke anything. Scott looks up, taking his hands away, revealing for an instant that his eyes are merely bright red embers in his head.  Featureless but for the color. Freckles takes a step back.   GYM - OUTSIDE BOYS ROOM - NIGHT A blinding flash of light shows through the frosted glass in the double door and cuts through the crack into the dark of the gym. All who see it are stunned. Frozen.  A lingering moment of confusion, then  BOOM, the doors to the Boys Room burst open and the occupants scatter into the gym.   GYM - STALL - NIGHT Freckles is still there, legs locked. FRECKLES  P.O.V. He looks at Scott who is now crying meekly in the stall, covering his eyes again -- afraid to open them. The door of the stall across from him swings closed TO REVEAL  A HOLE, PUNCHED THROUGH THE STALL DOOR framing Scott s face perfectly.  Pull back to reveal that the hole continues through the wall, into the girl s bathroom next door. In the corner several girls huddle together, they are afraid.   SENATE HEARING ROOM - DAY Packed with reporters and photographers.  There s a dais - a raised panel of senators - and a second, lower panel. This is where the  experts  are testifying. Panning across the faces of several G.O.P. creeps as they watch something with varying degrees of interest. TITLES  WASHINGTON D.C. - THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE A woman s voice holds over the proceedings.  It is the voice of JEAN GREY - whom we will soon meet. As she is speaking, we come to a large screen television at one end of the room.     JEAN   In every organism on Earth there   exists a mutator gene - the X-factor,   as it has come to be known.  It is the   basic building block of evolution -   the reason we have evolved from homo   habilus... FOOTAGE REFLECTS THE VARIOUS STAGES OF HUMAN EVOLUTION. Accompanying it is a GRAPH with a DIAGONAL LINE indicating the ascent of the  human being  as we know it. Accompanying the graph are evolving images of the  evolution of man.    JEAN     ... to homo erectus, to homo sapiens   Neanderthals, and, finally, to homo   sapiens. The animated demo on the screen zooms in on the lowest order of human depicted - homo habilus - a primitive, ape- like humanoid covered in hair.  As he is singled out, the terrain of his time appears, along with the harsh signs of his winter.     JEAN     Taking it s cues from the climate,   terrain, various sources of   nourishment, the mutator gene tells   the body when it needs to change to   adapt to a new environment.  The   process is subtle, normally taking   thousands of years. As the graphic changes and depicts WARMER CLIMATE, the HAIR STARTS TO DISAPPEAR ON THE MAN s BODY - gradually evolving into the human we now know as ourselves. Now the terrain is modern, the weather pleasant.  The image pulls back and places this man back in line at the front of evolution.     JEAN     Only in the last few thousand years   did mankind begin to make clothes for   himself, build shelters, use heat and   grow food in large quantities.  With   this man-made environment remaining   relatively stable, the X-factor became   dormant.   early huts, early clothing; then early homes, later homes, air conditioning, cars, modern high- rises, etc. PULL BACK WIDER     JEAN     Until now. On the room, the reactions, and on JEAN herself. A strong, attractive woman in her early    s.  A simple placard before her  JEAN GREY.  GENETICALLY ENHANCED RIGHTS ASSOCIATION. The screen shows the words  PRESENT DAY,  where the  evolution line  has resumed its rise.     JEAN   For reasons still not known to us, we   are seeing what some are calling the   beginnings of another stage of   evolution - A MICROPHONED VOICE interrupts.  Bearing down is the flamboyant SENATOR SCOTT  FRANK  KELLY, a conservative from Florida, and the hearing s Chairman. Just behind him sits his aide HENRY GUYRICH - mid    s, typical government cog.     KELLY   You re avoiding the question I posed   to you at the beginning of the   hearing, Ms. Grey.  Three words Are   mutants dangerous?     JEAN   I am avoiding a question that is   decidedly loaded, Senator.  The wrong   person behind the wheel of a car can   be dangerous. Another SENATOR (LUCINDA ROWEE) speaks into her microphone    SENATOR ROWEE   Well, we do license people to drive.     JEAN   But not to live. Kelly raises a hand, continuing his tirade.     KELLY   Ms. Grey -- you work at a school for   mutants in Westchester, New York.  Can   you tell the members of this committee   what exactly you are teaching these   mutants?     JEAN   Math.  History.  Science.  English.   Athletics --     KELLY   You wouldn t happen to be teaching   them how to use their powers to --     JEAN   Control, Senator...  we teach them   control. Kelly raises a blown-up photograph a grainy, super- zoomed, somewhat obscured image of a CAR ON A FREEWAY which appears to have  melted. Now he s really playing to the crowd.     KELLY   This was taken by a state police   officer in Secaucus, New Jersey.  A   man in a minor altercation literally   melted the car in front of him.  I   don t know where you come from, Ms.   Grey, but where I come from, you don t   go melting people s cars when they cut   you off.  You do it the old fashioned   way -- you give  em the finger.   (laughs from the crowd)   But what you presume to tell this   committee -     JEAN   I presume nothing, I am here to tell   you that in time, the mutator gene   will activate in every living human   being on this planet.  Perhaps even   your children, Senator.     KELLY   I can assure you, there is no such   creature in my genes. The room LAUGHS.  Kelly mistaken thinks it is for him, until the double meaning occurs to him.  He is momentarily embarrassed, but he quickly recovers.     KELLY   Ms. Grey, we are not here to weed out   mutants.  The Registration Act is   designed merely to assess their   potential threat - if any - to   national security. The crowd reacts loudly in support of the Senator.  Some cheer, some roar, some yell obscenities at Jean. Jean stands and walks out, pushing her way through reporters now moving in for her response. All the while, Kelly is delivering his last words.     KELLY   Mutants are very real.  They are among   us.  We must know who they are.  And   above all, we must know what they can   do. AS THE SHOUTS OF THE MOB RISE AND GIVE WAY TO   CAPITOL BUILDING - WASHINGTON D.C. - DAY An angry mob outside the Senate hearing.  Voices roar in dissent when Jean emerges, coming down the steps without hesitation. She sees signs condemning mutants, a scarce few supporting them. A group of reporters are behind her and more meet her in front, closing her in.  Microphones are shove in her face.     REPORTERS VARIOUS   Dr. Grey, how do you feel about the   Senator s Statement   How is the   mutant community reacting?  Is it true   that mutants are dangerous?   Is there   a mutant plot to overthrow the   government? She ignores them all, trying to push through.  A KID IN THE CROWD holding a full can of Coke.  Smiling to his friend beside him.  He fires it over the heads of everyone toward Jean.  Perfect trajectory.  Closing fast. Suddenly  Silence falls over the crowd.  A total silence.  An absolute silence. All eyes watch in awe at the can and its liquid trail, frozen in mid-air a few inches from Jean s face.  It simply hovers there.     JEAN   We re not the ones to be afraid of. Using telekinesis she slowly lowers the can to the ground.  She shakes her head, almost ashamed of the display.  Almost as if to say ìI didn t want to do that.î The can rolls down the steps.  People move away from it as though the can itself were dangerous. The crowd steps back in genuine fear.  Jean simply moves ahead now, unimpeded, still shaking her head. CABIN IN THE SNOW COVERED WILDERNESS - DAY Smoke curling from the chimney, warm light emanating from the window. A well-worn pick-up truck parked axles deep in the snow, the back filled with a cord of cut wood.  A hand painted scrawl on the door reads  Firewood for Sales A slope, just behind the cabin leading to a frozen lake. PUSH IN SLOWLY TOWARDS THE CABIN.  Ten beers sit cooling in the snow outside the door.  We hear LED ZEPPELIN S ìBLACK DOG.î   CABIN - DAY Music thunders, quite a contrast to the surroundings.  A cosy little abode, showing signs of neglect, as though decorated with a gentler touch that passed not too long ago. A large shelf replete with books.  An electric mix from Sun Tsu s The Art of War to Mark Twain s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A fire burns in the fireplace.  On the mantle sit a few old black and white photos of a slightly younger Logan posing with a group of HARD-CASE MILITARY TYPES in a heavily wooded area.  We can not tell if they are true Military or simply mercenaries. In the wall above the mantle, a sketch of a beautiful woman. And finally we come to the occupant of the house, sitting at the only table in the center of the room.  His back is to us.  His hair is coarse and black, sprouting wildly from his head.  He is LOGAN.  We will come to know him well.  As well as we can. Despite the loud, pounding music, he is working with the meticulousness of a watch maker.  At the same time, he smokes a thick cigar.  A tall bottle of beer on the floor next to his chair.  A SINGLE, SILVER DOG TAG hangs from his neck from a battered chain.  As we get closer, we look over his shoulder and see what he is working on so intensely. Pencil rubs against paper furiously.  He is sketching, what we cannot see.  But he is definitely caught up in his own minds eye. HIS HEAD SUDDENLY TURNS.  He listens to something we cannot begin to hear. A momentary pause, and he goes back to sketching. Just as he seems to be settling back into the details again. WHACK He reaches over and shuts off the music coming from the box beside him.  He listens. He stands, turning around slowly in a circle.  He drops the sketch pad on the chair. Only the crackle of logs in the fire. LOGAN S   We follow his gaze around the room.  Past the fire which sounds suddenly like a blazing inferno, past the clock which ticks as loud as clapping hands, past the simmering tea-kettle which hisses like a seething cauldron. Finally, he glances at the cigar which we hear crackling nearly as loud as the fire. Logan s senses are amplified many times more then ours, he walks to the door.   His nostrils flare. He raises his fist beside his face.  For a moment, it seems as if he is just chinking.  Then -- SHOOK - THREE STEELY CLAWS some nine inches long, emerge inexplicably from the skin just above Logan s knuckles. Logan barley turns his head before. BOOM THE WINDOW EXPLODES, letting in freezing wind and billowing snow. Logan is hit from behind. The attack is so ferocious that we are unable to make out the attacker.  Whatever it is, it is HUGE.  We can hear it snarling and see flashes of its claws as it slams Logan back. CABIN - DAY The front door SMASHES OPEN.  The two combatants roll madly down the hill obscured by flying snow. Finally, we see Logan separate from his attacker and CRASH THROUGH THE ICE of the frozen lake.   - A MASSIVE CLAW-LIKE HAND lifts into frame the SHINING DOG TAG hanging from it.  The tag s chain slides off and too the ground. UNDER ICE Logan struggles, already short of breath. As he struggles -- water starts to fill his lungs.  His skin goes pale.  He is drowning. ABOVE ICE - DAY We hear an angry grunt as the thing starts to hunt for Logan.  It stalks across the ice, searching.  We catch a glimpse of shoulder, a CLAWED FOOT, a MANE OF HAIR. UNDER ICE Logan s struggle has decreased somewhat as his strength wanes. CRACK The ice above Logan shatters as a clawed hand reaches through. ABOVE ICE - DAY A violent YANK.  The ice gives way to the soaked and half- frozen Logan. The creature picks Logan up by his face, CUTTING DEEPLY into his cheek, and holds him up like a rag doll.  The two are face to face.  This is called SABRETOOTH.  The reasons are obvious. Teeth like said animal and cat s eyes to match. A mutant, certainly a member of a class remote in the extreme. And then it speaks.     SABRETOOTH   It s not gonna be that easy. Logan, half-drowned, opens his eyes and looks right at Sabretooth as though he s going to say something. Instead, a LUNG-FULL OF WATER comes shooting out. With that, Sabretooth ROARS, as he hoists Logan up and throws him.  Logan flies nearly ten yards.  He lands head first. Sabretooth skulks over to him. With the sound of Sabretooth s breathing comes the rising of the wind... Snow from the ground begins to swirl in the bitter cold air. Sabretooth is nearly upon Logan now and the wind rises further, until he must shield his eyes from the bitter icy air. As he approaches, we see a fresh cut on Logan s face HEALING BEFORE OUR VERY EYES, leaving not so much as a scratch. THEN  A SUDDEN FLASH OF LIGHT Lightning.  No.  Lightning is not red. Sabretooth looks around, puzzled, then down at Logan s motionless body.  Then to his feet where a hole in the ice sprouts bubbling water. The wind blows so violently now that he nearly misses two figures standing only a few yards away - mere silhouettes in the icy haze. A closer look tells us it is a man and a woman, THEY WEAR STRANGE UNIFORMS of form-fitting material - the man wears a reflective visor that hides his eyes.  The woman s face is care revealing dark skin, penetrating eyes and unusual white hair. ANOTHER FLASH - one that seems to come from the man s visor itself.  An intense beam of red light. Sabretooth looks down and sees the ice at his feet has broken away. He plunges through the ice like a mark in a carnival dunking tank.  His massive weight and hairy coat quickly suck him down. The TWO FIGURES - CYCLOPS (Scott Summers) AND STORM (Ororo Munroe) - obviously two of the children we saw earlier now grown - move over the hole and calmly watch Sabretooth gather himself and swim back to the surface. Storm looks down at the hole, concentrating her intense gaze.  The wind whips further and the water in the hole begins to freeze over. UNDER THE ICE Sabretooth wisely concedes. With one last look at the two mysterious figures now nearly obscured by the ice, he turns his body and swims away with the same agility he had on land. ABOVE THE ICE THE SNOW AND WIND ARE NOW VIOLENTLY RAGING Cyclops and Storm walk over to Logan and look down at him curiously. LOGAN S   They look at one another, wondering.  Above them, a black shape looms into frame, bringing with it the whining of jet engines. This is the X-JET and it is like no other plane we have seen before. Logan s eyes begin to close as they obscure the last of all perceptible detail.   CAVERNOUS ROOM - NIGHT CLOSE UP ON  The Periodic Table of Elements.  A chart made up of blocks depicting the elements and their chemical symbols. Among the standards like Gold (Au) and Iron (I) and Oxygen (O  ) is a new square on simple red construction paper tacked to the top. It contains simply a large letter ìA.î TRACKING SHOT THROUGH  We are in a laboratory of sorts, quite different from any we have ever seen -- and so are its occupants. MORTIMER TOYNBEE, a dim, loyal thug whose agile leaping ability and superhuman strength have earned him the name TOAD. Across the room, JOHN ALLERDYCE, a wiry redhead whose ability to control fire with his fingers has earned him the name PYRO. In the corner we see BLOB, no explanation needed, devouring a BUCKET of cereal, preariously balanced on his huge belly. They are a bestial and sinister bunch. Toad and Pyro are working on  A MACHINE A fantastic device which occupies a hallowed space in this lab.  It is meticulously designed, and with its intricate circuitry, wires, and power boards, it resembles most closely (and only resembles, because truly it s like nothing we ve ever seen before) a combination of an upright torpedo and a fantastic light source -- only far more dark and foreboding. Pyro holds a stick of solder in one hand.  He lights a lighter with the other, then drops it.  Strange thing -- the flame remains hovering about his finger.  Quickly the flame intensifies and turns blue, melting the solder over a small circuit board.  Then, the flame is gone. He sticks out his hand like a surgeon.     PYRO   Hand me the dykes. Toad, both hands occupied, flicks his long tongue and grabs a pair of pliers which he rests in Pyro s hand, leaving them slicked with SLIME.  The flame in his finger goes out.  The slimy coat over the pliers quickly HARDENS, freezing their action.     PYRO   I asked you not to do that. Blob laughs.  Toad shrugs. In the background, almost ignored by them, something is on the television.  The news.     NEWSCASTER   Preparations are nearly completed for   the upcoming anniversary gala   celebrating the formation of the   United Nations.  With nearly every   invitation confirmed, the occasion   promises to be the largest single   gathering of world leaders in history. The image in the screen is a helicopter shot of ELLIS ISLAND, with Liberty Island and the famous Statue in the background.     NEWSCASTER   Ellis Island, once an arrival point   for thousands of immigrants crossing   the Atlantic with the hopes of a   better life, will open its doors   again.  Only this time it will be to   leaders and their families from over    nations. Blob belches his skepticism deafeningly. TRACK FURTHER THROUGH THE LAIR AND OUT THE DOOR as the Newscast drones on.   CORRIDOR OFFICE - NIGHT WE MOVE through subterranean corridors and past dozens of projects that share some similarity to the machine we have seen, including crude designs that have been rejected or stripped of their good ideas. FAINTLY we become aware of a clicking sound.  Almost like a stopwatch very far away, always growing louder. The newscast has faded and another voice is getting closer from somewhere down the hall. Sabretooth emerges around a corner heading towards us, turning just as we get to him.  The clicking is loud and clear now. Sabretooth enters an office and we follow him.  Seated at a desk in the center of the room is MAX LENSHERR - age - somewhere after sixty, but strong and vital for his years.  He is more often called MAGNETO. The clicking is from the sound of an executive pendulum thingy on his desk.  The six steel balls hang onto one another from string supports in formation depending on how many are let to fly from either end.  One ball strikes one and one ball swings out from the other.  Two balls and two, and so on. Slight difference.  There are no strings supporting the balls, thus defying gravity. A chess set - all of its pieces made of beautifully crafted iron - sits on the far end of the desk. He is watching television, or more accurately listening - his eyes looking off into space, deep in thought.     INTERVIEWER   ...and the leading voice in the call   for Mutant registration is Senator   Scott Frank Kelly, of Florida, who   claims to support the constitutional   rights of the genetically enhanced,   but whose crusade to register mutants   is gaining popularity. Now Kelly is on the screen.  Magneto shakes his head.     MAGNETO   Not this one again. When Sabretooth clears his throat, the clicking balls instantly freeze and hover there. The volume on the television drops, though no remote is in sight. Magneto notices Sabretooth s apparent exhaustion, his torn clothing, including the slashes in his side.  His look asks ìwhat happened?î Sabretooth crosses the room and places the shining dog tag on the table.  The one he ripped from Logan s neck. He sits at the desk, puzzling over it.     MAGNETO   Your expression tells me the news is   not good, brother.     SABRETOOTH   I lost him.     MAGNETO   How?     SABRETOOTH   It was Xavier s people.  They knew. Frustrated.  Magneto inspects the dog tag.     MAGNETO   I want him.  That is all they know   because that is all you know. Nothing odd about the tag at a glance, military dog tag, weathered and beaten, but certainly plain, Canadian Military, Logan s name, rank, and a faded serial number. His thumb feels the indention of the word at the bottom of the tag that does not seem to fit here. WOLVERINE We hear the voice of Senator Kelly on the TV.  Kelly is on the screen giving good face. As he turns up the television, and again, we don t see how, he places the dog tag on his desk, thinking.     KELLY   I think the President s pre-occupation   with international affairs has drawn   his attention away from this problem.   American s deserve the right to decide   whether they want their children to be   in school with mutants.  To be taught   by mutants.  They also have the right   to know the dangers.  That s the   purpose of registration.  And mark my   words, if the President isn t strong   enough to do what needs to be done... As the Senator continues we PULL BACK and see Magneto watching this.  He begins speaking over Kelly s diatribe.     MAGNETO   And you may mark my words, Senator   Kelly.  All your plotting, all your   hatred.  I have plans for you.  I ve   seen you come, and I will see you go. As Magneto turns Logan s dog tag between his fingers, we can t help but notice FADED PURPLE SERIAL NUMBERS TATTOOED IN HIS ARM. He then drops the dog tag on the desk, Magneto stands and heads for the door, Sabretooth follows.  The television shuts off and Magneto waves a hand as though beckoning someone to follow.  Or some thing. He stops and looks back at the dog tag on the desk and waves again.  A paper clip just next to the dog tag skips off the desk and into Magneto s hand.  He drops it, annoyed and tries again. A slight rattle, then nothing more, as though the dog tag were held down by an unimaginable weight. He walks over and picks up the dog tag, inspecting it, then trying to bend it.  Nothing.     MAGNETO   Can it be..? He puts it back on the desk.  Now Magneto concentrates - sending a wave of magnetic force that ripples the air around it. The tag trembles, but does not budge.  He looks at Sabretooth and smiles.     SABRETOOTH   Is that what you re looking for?     MAGNETO   A piece.  Only a piece.     SABRETOOTH   Is it enough?     MAGNETO   Enough for a test. And as Magneto looks up at Kelly on the television we  PAN OVER TO A BULLETIN BOARD on the wall beside him. To a periodic table, smaller than the first. But still with that red square and added letter ìAî. WHITE HOUSE - PARKING LOT - DAY Kelly and Guyrich walk out of the White House on their way to their limousine.     KELLY   I can t believe the President can t   see it.  I wouldn t be surprised if he   has a mutant on his staff. Kelly and Guyrich climb into the limo and slump back in their seats.   LIMOUSINE - DAY     GUYRICH   Have you thought of a demonstration of   some kind?  Maybe use the UN Summit to   our advantage.  The whole world will   be watching.     KELLY   I m not interested in the whole world,   Henry... I m interested in America.   Let the rest of the world deal with   mutants their own way.     GUYRICH   Where to? Kelly rubs his eyes.     KELLY   Home. Guyrich leans to address the driver.     GUYRICH   Dulles Airport.   LABORATORY - DAY Medical monitors beep, keeping track of the vital signs of -- Logan, who lies in a bed in the middle of a medical lab. In the wall beside Logan s bed is a light board on which hang Logan s X-rays.  Logan s skeleton seems to be more the creation of a Deco architect than of nature. Streamlined, refined... almost manufactured. He is asleep, recovering. Jean Grey enters the lab.  She walks over and examines the X-rays, fascinated by their unique structure.  She notices what appears to be an unusually complex network of bones in the forearm.  Jean looks down and runs her fingers over the traces of three incisions on the backs of Logan s hands.  Jean s eye moves across his body.  His rippling muscles. Jean uncaps an IV needle and moves to the middle of Logan s arm.  We cannot help but notice a diamond ring on her left hand. Jean starts to put an IV in Logan s arm. Just as she is sticking the needle in his arm HE JOLTS VIOLENTLY. SNAP Logan s hand reaches up quickly, breaking the needle off in his arm.  He grabs a startled Jean by the throat. He is out of bed.  She is unable to speak, choked silent by his grip. He places his fist near her face.  We see the three faint scars just above his knuckles. Hesitation.  Logan looks at her for a moment.  Taken by her beauty.  Then he is on his feet. Jean is on the floor, gasping for breath. Logan realizes something is missing.  He reaches to his chest and feels for the dog tag.  Gone.  He stifles a curse.     LOGAN   Where is it? He looks at Jean who recoils from him in terror.  Logan thinks, then bolts.   HALLWAY - DAY Logan comes out into an empty hall.  Strange.  Deathly quiet.  It is very sparse and modern, matching the lab we have just left.  Logan runs and goes through the first door he comes to, to keep Jean from seeing where he has gone.   READY ROOM - DAY He looks around and sees he is in some sort of locker room.  A row of lockers run along one side of the wall. And hanging from the other side in a row, are UNIFORMS, much like the ones Cyclops and Storm were wearing in the snow. He starts to rummage through the lockers, coming up with a shirt and pants that almost fit.  A pair of sneakers as well. He hears the sound of approaching foot-steps coming from the hallway.  He spots another entrance on the far side of the room and, carrying his clothes, he staggers out, still in considerable pain.   HANGER - DAY Logan rushes through the door, looking behind to see if he has been seen.  He closes the door and leans back to catch his breath... which stops momentarily as he looks around the massive hanger he has entered. The X-Jet, the stealth plane we saw in Alaska, now sits parked and quiet. Logan walks to the plane and stops -- listening.  We hear a strange THUMPING.  He listens for a second.  The sound picks up in speed and we realize that we are listening to the SOUNDS OF A BASKETBALL GAME coming from above. As Logan tries to digest this, the door that he had just come through begins to open, letting in a shaft of light. Logan looks around wildly for a moment, looking for a place to hide when - BING. An elevator door opens in the wall of the hanger ten feet from where Logan now stands.  He whips around and runs for it. There is a button marked ìG.î  He presses it.   HALLWAY - DAY The elevator opens on a hallway that doesn t match the rooms we have already seen at all.  It is plush and stately, the hallway of a great mansion. He hears a voice coming from a room. As he gets closer to it, we can begin to hear    VOICE   ... until the Emperor Constantine   converted to Christianity.  With that   one act, history was changed.  The   Christians who were once prosecuted   and fed to the lions, became accepted. Now the voice is clear as a bell, coming from a room with the door slightly ajar.   CLASSROOM - DAY Logan peeks in and sees in front of a chalk board, a massive blue furry creature called BEAST.  Besides two arms and two legs, the only remotely human thing on his ape-like face is a pair of wire spectacles.  He addresses a class of kids between the ages of  and   . Besides the occasional physical alterations, there is an overall oddness to the group, giving way to the fact that in some way or another these are all mutants.     BEAST   So as their leaders went, so did   follow the hearts and minds of the   people of the Roman empire.  Which   made for some very happy Christians. Now he sees Logan standing in the door, looking back at him in mute shock.     BEAST   Can I help you? All the students turn to see Logan, standing in a hospital gown with a mean case of bed head.  They start to giggle. Logan turns and heads down the hallway to the left.   HALLWAY - DAY Logan hears footsteps and quickly does a one eighty back down the hallway.  He turns a corner, hugging the wall. He halts.  A large oak door stands down the hall.  He smells something, taking in a deep breath, his head cocking to the side - listening. He turns and looks behind him.  More foot steps.  Someone is about to enter the hall. He turns again, ready to run the other way when he sees the SHADOWS of two more people coming from the other direction.  Logan is trapped.  He lunges for the large oak door and bursts through.   XAVIER S OFFICE - DAY Logan shuts the door and leans his head back against it, exhausted.     VOICE   Good morning, Logan. Logan, still clutching his stolen clothes, opens his eyes and sees a man sitting behind a large mahogany desk -- PROFESSOR CHARLES XAVIER, an intense and intelligent man just to look at him.     XAVIER   Would you like some breakfast? Logan, who was prepared for anything but this, just stares.     XAVIER   I m sorry, allow me to formally   introduce myself -- I am Professor   Charles Xavier.  This is my school.     LOGAN   How do you know my name? Xavier taps the side of his head with his finger.     XAVIER   You re not the only one with gifts. When he speaks, his lips do not move.  We realize Logan ìhearsî the voice in his head.  In addition, the voice is accompanied by the FAMILIAR SOUND OF FOOT STEPS indicating that perhaps Xavier had herded Logan through the mansion with his mind.  He does not like it. Xavier comes out from behind his desk.  We see that he is in a MOTORED WHEELCHAIR.  Realizing that he is safe for the moment, Logan begins putting on his stolen clothes.     LOGAN   What am I doing here?     XAVIER   I brought you here so that you would   be safe from Magneto.     LOGAN   Who?     XAVIER   A very powerful mutant who for some   reason has taken an interest in you.   I m not sure why, but until we find   out, I must ask you to stay. Logan looks Xavier over.  He is obviously a kind man who is offering his help.  Logan is silent for a moment.     LOGAN   No thanks. Logan goes to the door. Xavier, disappointed, just watches him go.   FRONT HALL - DAY Logan sees a grand entrance with two huge oak doors and brightly-polished steel knobs that scream ìexit.î  He starts in that direction when the doors begin to open. A moment of traffic, laughing, chatter... then they are all gone. He gets to the doors and pushes them open.  Bright white sunlight floods in, nearly blinding him. MANSION - DAY The first thing he sees through the haze is wings - GIANT WHITE, FEATHERY ANGEL WINGS. A young boy, no more than fourteen, has them sprouting from his back.  He is stretching not only his limbs, but his unusual appendages in the morning breeze. Sensing something - the boy turns, and sees this shambling ruin of a man in the doorway. Off Logan s expression, we hear the flapping of wings and see his awestruck face following the boy onto the sky. This only holds his attention for a moment.  Logan looks across an expanse of grounds that house the Mansion.  A high, wrought-iron gate surrounds the entire property. He watches as several children play basketball across a large court. Logan shakes his head and is out the closing door. Xavier simply watches from his window. MANSION - FRONT GATE - DAY Logan heads for the gate. SHOOK -- Logan pops his claws. Suddenly, the gate slowly opens -- Inviting him to leave. He pauses, momentarily confused.  He takes one long look back at the mansion.  And then leaves. Stay for a moment.  Watch him go.  Then pan across a sign which reads --   PROFESSOR CHARLES XAVIER S SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED    Westchester N.Y. PANNING slowly across the road to the thick woods on the other side of the street. SOMETHING MOVES in the trees, catching our eye.  Someone is watching.  It is Toad, camouflaged amidst the trees and branches. SKY - DUSK A helicopter streaks across the sky.   HELICOPTER - DUSK Kelly sleeps fitfully in the large seat.  A bump of turbulence.  He wakes suddenly and looks out the window seeing the ocean below. Kelly looks out the window again and sees water.  They are flying low. He looks at Guyrich, who sleeps as well.  He wakes him.     KELLY   Where the hell are we? Guyrich looks out the window and looks at Kelly, puzzled. He stands and goes to the door to the cabin of the helicopter.     GUYRICH   Pilot? No answer.  Guyrich tries to open the door.  It s locked.     GUYRICH   Pilot? Kelly looks out the window now and sees the helicopter is closing in on an island - where, is anyone s guess.  What is known is that the place is no pleasure resort. It is in fact some sort of refurbished island fortress, complete with turrets, built right into the side of the cliffs. ISLAND HELIPAD - DUSK A clearing in the middle of a ring of trees at the base of a rocky rise.  The helicopter touches down. THE PILOT, wrapped from head to toe in a flight suit and helmet, gets out and opens the side door, exposing Kelly and Guyrich to the intense wind of the rotors.  They cover their eyes, cowering. KELLY S   Two figures come out of a hole in the mountain.  One seems extremely larger than the other. Guyrich and Kelly step out.  As they get closer he can make out Magneto and Sabretooth.     KELLY   Dear God... Dear... God. The Pilot removes his helmet to REVEAL  Pyro, smiling.     KELLY   What the hell is this? Kelly is utterly confused.  As Magneto nears, Guyrich steps forward to greet him, putting arms around Magneto s neck and kissing him deeply.  Then Magneto looks deep and lovingly into Guyrich s eyes. And with that GUY SHAPE SHIFTS into a beautiful woman who herefore will be known as MYSTIQUE.  Her body is covered in iridescent blue scales, which complement her lovely, solid yellow eyes. Kelly, of course, is shocked.  Mystique shows a little hip, raising the scales at her mid-section mockingly, as the last of what we thought was Guyrich slips underneath.     KELLY   You... wha... Who are you... Where is   Henry?     MAGNETO   Mr. Guyrich has been dead for some   time Senator.     KELLY   You mutant bastards... Pyro grabs the Senator as he runs back for the helicopter in vain.     KELLY   Whatever you do to me... no matter   what you ll make me right.  Every word   I have spoken will be confirmed.     MAGNETO   Gosh, I hope so. As Kelly struggles against all hope.     KELLY   People like you are the reason people   like me exist. And with that, Mystique walks up.     MYSTIQUE   And people like you are the reason I   was afraid to go to school as a child. With that, Mystique punches Kelly.  Knocking him out cold. BLACK   MACHINE ROOM - MAGNETO S LAIR - NIGHT Kelly comes to. Magneto walks past him, holding Logan s dog tag. His thumb crushes one last time over the curious ìWolverine.î PULL OUT TO REVEAL  Kelly is strapped to a metal chair, bound impossibly tight.  He struggles.  Mystique watches from the far side of the room.     MAGNETO   Are you a ìGod-fearing man,î Senator? Kelly s reaction tells him he is certainly afraid of something right now.     MAGNETO   That term always confused me.  As if   there were something to fear. Kelly looks around wildly, terrified.     MAGNETO   God after all, is often defined as all-   forgiving.  A description I rather   like.  I think what you really are   afraid of... Magneto uses his mind to move Kelly s chair a little closer.  Kelly nearly loses it.     MAGNETO   ...Is me and my kind.  The Brotherhood   of Mutants. He touches Kelly s face and Kelly recoils.     MAGNETO   And this law.  Your mutant   registration act is only the   beginning.     KELLY   The intention of registration act -     MAGNETO   INTENTION?  Intention, Senator?  We   are talking about mankind here.  His   fear.  It is only a matter of time   before mutants will be herded into   camps.  Studied for weaknesses.  And   eventually wiped off the face of the   Earth. Kelly shakes his head.  There is nothing he can say to sway this man. Magneto turns and admires his machine.     MAGNETO   Well, we re much more giving than   that.  We simply want to share with   you... To help you understand.     KELLY   What is it you intend to do to me?     MAGNETO   (smiling)   Let s just say, God works too slowly. Magneto moves to the machine.     MAGNETO   You re a leader, Senator Kelly -- you   set an example.  And if more of you...   were like more of us?  Well, you ll   see. Kelly watches as Magneto takes Logan s dog tag and places it atop a tube at the bottom of a large spire in the center of the room some thirty feet high. He walks toward the opposite side of the room and watches as the tag is raised to the top of the device, through the shaft.     MAGNETO   Don t fear God, Senator.  And   certainly - most certainly... don t   fear me. A beat.     MAGNETO   Not any more.  MAGNETO raises his arms and a series of metal rings up from the machine platform that holds the dog tag.  With a slight motion of his hand, the rings begin to spin slowly gaining in speed as Magneto controls it with his power. The air around it ripples, gaining in intensity. WAVES OF MAGNETIC ENERGY POURS from Magneto s hands toward the machine. Now, Magneto has the rings spinning around the dog tag at such speed, the rings themselves are no longer visible - merely a blur around the stationary tag.  Magneto lowers his hands.  The machine is now working on its own. Kelly s eyes grow wide with fear as the metal dog tag begins to glow.  Dull at first... the brightly... too brightly. The deafening whine of the machine builds louder and louder. Suddenly -- SILENCE FIVE SECONDS OF ABSOLUTE SILENCE. The sphere vanishes, enveloped in a light so white, it defies description. But I ll try  A light that seems to ooze rather than radiate.  A light that fills the room as it expands outward and engulfs everything in sight. It is liquid light.  Creeping and unstoppable. From outside the room, Pyro and Sabretooth watch through the window.  It comes through, first casting its shadows darkly against the wall, then erasing them as it swallows them -  as though they were never there.   HALLWAY - NIGHT From under a door, the light leaks in, filling the room. All through the lair, air vents, keyholes, drainpipes and the like, the liquid light fills the lair to the gills. MAGNETO S LAIR - NIGHT THROUGH THE TURRET ATOP THE LAIR, the light beams up into the night sky, shinning like a beacon for miles. Then the white light obscures all.  Fueled by this tiny piece of metal, the light extends like an ever growing bubble, out and up over the ocean. PULL BACK FROM THE SMALL ISLAND The bubble of white light is easily five miles across.   MACHINE ROOM - NIGHT Kelly grits his teeth, barely visible in the whiteness. Then it is gone.  He hangs his head in exhaustion. Magneto himself is a bit overwhelmed.  He looks at his own skin - no apparent change.  He shakes his head, blinks his eyes. Sabretooth and Pyro are also a bit struck by the display and they also seem a bit dazed. Magneto walks over and reaches into the still steaming metal device.  His hand comes out holding the dog tag - actually its remains. A frazzled, blackened wire, warped and spent.  Nothing more.  And this turns to dust in his fingers. Magneto has amazed even himself this time. The silence is shattered by a phone ringing.  Sabretooth picks it up.  He listens, then hands the phone to Magneto.     SABRETOOTH   We ve found him. Magneto puts the phone to his ear.  He smiles.     MAGNETO   Where? ANGLE on Kelly, his skin glistening slightly, almost luminescent.  Pinker (healthier?) then it was when he came in.     KELLY   Oh... Oh God... what have you done to   me? Magneto hangs up the phone.  He crosses to Kelly, leans in and whispers in his ear.     MAGNETO   Welcome to the future... brother. Magneto stands, looks at his machine, then back at Kelly.     MAGNETO   Now if you ll excuse me...  I have a   train to catch. TRAIN - NIGHT The silver Amtrack moves speedily through the dark countryside.   TRAIN - NIGHT A CONDUCTOR makes his way through a half filled car of commuters taking tickets.  He passes a restroom and exits the car.  He takes a seat. Logan emerges from the restroom, having avoided paying his fare. A few seats in front of him, in a grouping of seats that face one another, sit four large guys, early twenties -- They re the guys from your college named Brad that used to get drunk and try to drown freshmen in the toilets. We ll call them BRADS , , , and .  They are drinking from beer cans in paper bags. Across the aisle from them sits a lone oddly pretty twenty year old girl.  Her name is ROGUE -- a dark-eyed and somewhat distant creature.  From the shawl around her head to her boots, layers of odd clothing wrap every inch of her body, except her face and hands.  She looks worn, it is the face of a runaway.  Next to her, a dirty duffle bag. The Brads are staring at Rogue, making lewd comments about her.  They have obviously been drinking for awhile.     BRAD    Hey. Rogue looks at him, then quickly looks away.     BRAD    Hey... Hey I m talking to you. The Brads laugh amongst themselves at her reaction.     BRAD    (looking at her duffle bag)   Where are you going?     BRAD    Awww... look guys she s shy.     BRAD    Maybe that s why she s alone.  Is that   why you re alone? Brad , who is closest to Rogue, leans toward her.     BRAD    I ll keep you company. Rogue is silent and turns her back on him, trying to ignore him.     BRAD    Hey...  I m talking to you. Rogue continues to ignore him.  This gets Brad  angry. The other Brads watch his failure and laugh.     BRAD    (louder)   I said I m talking to you!  Logan, his ears picking up everything. Rogue looks down trying not to look at them. Brad  will not be ignored.  He reaches out to the one place which is not covered by clothing that he can reach - - Rogue s hand lying at her side.     BRAD    (louder still)   I said...! He grabs her hand. Suddenly, Brad  s eyes open wide as if he s in shock, an instant later, he COLLAPSES. Rogue reels back. Brad s , , and  stand up, they are angry.     BRAD    Hey, what did you do?     ROGUE   Don t touch me. Rogue stands, frightened and confused.  Brad blocks her in.     BRAD    Hey Brad, she s a mutant! Rogue moves to get away, but Brad  shoves Rogue.  Rogue falls to the floor of the train, right next to Logan s feet.  Brad  moves toward her. Suddenly, Logan steps in front of Brad .     LOGAN   How about you sit down and leave the   kid alone, alright?     BRAD    She s a mutant.     LOGAN   Yeah, well, nobody s perfect.  Rogue, she gets up and huddles toward the rear of the train.     BRAD    (who is considerably larger  than Logan)   I think you should take a seat little   fella. He shoves Logan backward.  Logan gathers himself.  Brad  is very weak but regaining consciousness. Brads  and  stand to back their friend against Logan. It s now three against one.  All the passengers are watching --     LOGAN   Listen -- I don t want any trouble.     BRAD    Well you got trouble. Brad  slams his fist into Logan s stomach.  Logan grabs the man s fist and lifts him up and over, slamming him into the train floor. Brad  grabs a commuter s briefcase and smashes it on Logan s head.  Bursting open, its contents fly everywhere. Logan turns.  Brad  stares wide-eyed as the gash on Logan s head starts to heal. Suddenly, Brad  is up.  He grabs Logan around the neck from behind.  He holds Logan in his head lock while Brad  and  start punching  him in the stomach and face. Logan is taking quite a beating and naturally the entire train of people are doing nothing.  Logan s eyes, his pupils are getting smaller. His brow furrows like a wolf.  A low guttural GROWL. Suddenly rage -- PRIMAL RAGE Logan s feet kick out, his left foot strikes Brad  in the face knocking him backward, while his right foot hooks around Brad  s head dragging him forward.  With his left hand Logan grabs Brad  by the throat, squeezing the esophagus. Brad  is paralyzed.  His eyes roll up as the oxygen is cut off.  Brad  collapses.  Brad  running out of the car with the other passengers.  A TRANSIT COP pushes past the fleeing passengers, into the car. Brad  still bear hugs Logan from behind.  Logan reaches pushing his knuckles against Brad  s leg.  Suddenly  SHOOK -- the sound of metal extending.  Brad  howls in pain.  SHOOK -- the sound of metal retracting. Brad  releases Logan and stares down at three punctured holes in his leg.  Logan wheels around, kicks him to the floor, and punches him. All eyes in the train are on Logan, as he raises his fist. SHOOK -- Logan extends his claws. Logan is at the peak of his rage.  The passengers stare in disbelief.  Even Rogue is astonished.     TRANSIT COP   Freeze... transit police.  Drop your   weapon. Logan pauses, only for a second.  Brad  is wailing for his life. But rage has taken over.  Logan raises his blades to finish what he started. Suddenly, THE TRAIN LURCHES VIOLENTLY.  Logan goes flying backward. TRAIN - NIGHT The train has been brought to a sudden stop -- but the wheels are still turning.  Finally, they are shut down.   TRAIN CAR - NIGHT The lights are out.  Everyone gathers themselves.  Then comes a low grinding creak.  The sound of metal bending. Rivets popping. TRAIN - NIGHT Like the top of a sardine can, the entire side wall of the train car is peeled off.  Revealing the terrified passengers inside -- and Magneto, Sabretooth, Mystique Toad and Pyro on the outside.  With a final thrust, the air RIPPLES and Magneto tosses the car wall to the side. Passengers from the other cars stare wide-eyed out their windows.  The train has stopped at a railroad crossing, the gates are down.     MAGNETO   You can come out now, Logan.  You re   among friends. The transit cop rises to his feet, brandishing his pistol.     TRANSIT COP   Freeze! With a turn of his finger, Magneto draws the pistol to him.  The cop holds tight and is yanked off the train, onto the ground.  With another twist of his hand, Magneto makes the gun leap from the cop s grasp and HOVER, pointing at the cop s head.     MAGNETO   You Homo Sapiens and your guns. The gun cocks.     XAVIER   That s enough, Max! All turn to see Xavier, seated in his wheelchair -- flanked by Cyclops, Jean and Storm.  All, save Xavier, are in uniform. THUNDER RUMBLES ACROSS THE SKY  Storm, a GUST OF WIND.     MAGNETO   I ll never understand your regard for   them, Charles.     XAVIER   And I ll never understand terrorists.     MAGNETO   I am trying to save our kind, Charles.   You should do the same.     XAVIER   Not at the cost of lives, Max. Xavier s metal chair is gripped by magnetic forces.  It shakes and begins to inch towards Magneto.     MAGNETO   Magneto. The chair is pulled closer to Magneto.  Cyclops steps forward.  Xavier need not turn to know help is coming. Magneto sees and respects Cyclops s power.  The chair stops moving.     XAVIER   (to Cyclops)   It s alright... it s alright. Magneto glances at Storm, then Cyclops.     MAGNETO   The two in Alaska.  Just how do you   people manage to be in the right place   at the right time?  Still tinkering   with Cerebro?     XAVIER   (referring to Logan)   What do you want with him? Magneto smiles now, tapping his METAL HELMET.     MAGNETO   Can t read my mind? Xavier s expression falters.  It appears as if the helmet has been made to block Xavier from doing just that.     MAGNETO   I ll tell you something, Charles, we   are more alike now than we were when   we started.     XAVIER   Is that so?     MAGNETO   Still trying to make the world safe   for our kind.  Still trying to find a   way to introduce ourselves --   definitively.     XAVIER   You definition of definitive was   always a bit extreme for me, Max.   What is it like these days?     MAGNETO   Let s just say that I am out to make   some radical changes.  Now come on   Charles.  For old times sake, for your   sake...  Leave him to me. Logan slowly rises from the huddled passengers. Sabretooth fighting the urge to move on him.  Logan glares back at Sabretooth.     MAGNETO   Ahh... there you are brother.  I   believe you possess something I am   very much in need of. Just then, SABRETOOTH ROARS UNCONTROLLABLY and punches Toad in the stomach, doubling him over.  Oddly - Toad is laughing.  He stands upright.     TOAD   Do it again. Another roar and another punch.  Toad is crying and laughing at the same time.     TOAD   Oh God it hurts.  Do it again. Magneto watches this, momentarily stunned. Suddenly, Pyro grabs hold of his face.     PYRO   I M BLIND. And Mystique MORPHS into a small child and begins tugging at Magneto s pant leg.     MYSTIQUE   I have to go to the bathroom. Magneto looks at the cause of it all XAVIER, HIS EYES CONCENTRATING, HAS ALL OF MAGNETO S MINIONS UNDER HIS PSYCHIC CONTROL. Cyclops cannot help laughing.  Storm and Jean smile. Magneto is furious.     MAGNETO   If I could make you understand.  If   you could just be made to see it the   way I do.  The way it s going to be.     XAVIER   The way what is going to be?     MAGNETO   I m going to change the world with or   without you as a witness, Charles.   (Points to Logan)   And this one gets a front row seat.     XAVIER   What do you mean to do? And Magneto steps back a little further.  His oddly behaving consorts follow.     MAGNETO   This checkmate goes to you.  I didn t   want to hurt anyone.  But you leave me   no choice.     XAVIER   WHAT DO YOU MEAN TO DO? Sabretooth and Toad walk away, still with the punching and asking to be punched. Magneto takes the little girl Mystique by the hand and the blind Pyro by the arm and leads them away, humiliated, to their waiting helicopter. Xavier turns back to Logan, still standing in the train car, amidst all the huddled passengers.  Suddenly, all the passengers except Rogue lay on the floor and seats and go to sleep.  A few of them even snore.     XAVIER   Now will you come back with us? A look crosses Logan s face.  Uncomfortable.     LOGAN   Look, I appreciate your concern.  But,   I do better on my own. Xavier indicates the wreckage of the train.     XAVIER   You got less than sixty miles today.   I ll make you a deal.  Two days.   If we haven t figured out what Magneto   wants with you by then...  I ll bring   you back myself. Logan looks up at Xavier suspiciously, hating that he is making sense.  Xavier moves closer. Logan looks over at Rogue, covered in her layers of clothes.  Storm is helping her off the train, yet taking care not to touch her skin.     LOGAN   What are you going to do with her? Xavier looks to Rogue.  A warmth comes over his face.  An look of understanding.  At a glance he has read her mind. He knows her pain -- her struggle.  Rogue looks to Xavier.  Their eyes meet.     XAVIER   Rogue is a beautiful girl, with an   extraordinary power.  One that even   her own family isn t able to accept.   She s been on her own for weeks now,   searching for a home.  A place to   belong. Xavier turns to Logan.     XAVIER   -- We re going to give her that. Logan looks at rogue, contemplating this.  Then to Xavier.     LOGAN   Forty-eight hours, old man.  But if   you cross me, I won t feel any guilt   about what I do to you.     XAVIER   Deal. Logan eyes the rest of the gang until he settles his gaze on Jean.  He offers a faint seductive smile.  This is not lost on Cyclops.   MAGNETO S LAIR - CELL - LATER - NIGHT A cell with bars, but no visible door. Kelly is hunched over his toilet, heaving.  His suit is rumpled and dirty, showing signs that time has passed. There is a television just outside the door  We see SEVERAL NEWS HELICOPTERS circling a platform built against the backdrop of the main entrance to Ellis Island.  We see massive security measures, the likes of which have never been attempted, being prepared. (Voice plays over the rest of the scene)     NEWSCASTER (V.O.)   Is there such a thing as too much   security?  A possible complication   adding to the United Nations   Anniversary is the sheer number of   security personnel for what will be   the largest single summit in the   history of the planet. He walks towards the cell and tries to look down the hall, pressing his face to the bars.     NEWSCASTER (V.O. CONT D)   While the Secret Service has never had   difficulty handling one or even   several world leaders, it has never   had to handle the daunting task of   watching over all of them. It is only then that he hears a slight crack and his head squeezes between the bars like a soft-shelled egg.  He gasps in pain, but more from shock.  He pulls his head back with some difficulty and POP, it squeezes right back through.     KELLY   What have you bastards done to me? Kelly is horrified.  Disgusted.  He paces the cell, unable to comprehend what has happened to himself. It is only when he hears the sound of a HELICOPTER IN THE DISTANCE that he reacts.  He starts to panic, then collects himself.  Then he goes over to the bars again. He pauses, afraid... then  He pops his head through again.  He turns his shoulder toward the bars and begins to push.  His feet slip in the floor and his fingers stretch and crack inside, then his ribs begin to pop one by one with the brittleness of undercooked spaghetti.  It is agonizing, but Kelly finally manages to pull his horribly-altered body through the bars.   HALLWAY - NIGHT Kelly s whole chest and pelvis are slightly flattened beneath his clothes, but with a hideous crunching sound, they seem to inflate again back to normal. Kelly looks at his body with a mixture of fascination and disgust.     VOICE   HEY. Kelly turns and screams.  Blob has just walked into the room and lunges, grabbing him by the arms.  Kelly is enveloped in this fat, hulking mass.  He manages to keep one hand free and all he can do is push it against Blob s face.  It is futile.  Until... Steam begins to come off Blob s face.  And Blob SCREAMS IN PAIN. HELIPAD - NIGHT Senator Kelly s helicopter, which has obviously been pilfered for Magneto s use, lands. Magneto, Sabretooth, Pyro, Mystique (no Toad) all climb out, having returned from their ill-fated attempt to get Logan.   HALLWAY - ELSEWHERE - NIGHT Kelly peers down the hall where we first went on our way to meet Magneto. Kelly, with only that way to go, does so, passing once again the odd assortment of machines, very reminiscent of the one he was exposed to. He hears voices coming toward him and he looks around wildly, wondering what to do.  Shadows foretell the arrival of the brotherhood headed this way. Kelly turns to run back from where he cam from.   HALLWAY - ELSEWHERE - NIGHT Magneto and Sabretooth come walking from the other end of the hall and pass the very spot where we just saw Kelly. No sign of him.   CELL - NIGHT From which Kelly has escaped.  The bars bend to make room for Magneto as he walks into the room.     MAGNETO   How are we feeling today, Senator?   Advanced, I hope... But he freezes when he actually enters the room. First, he sees that Blob is laying on the floor with a purple, welt-like hand print across his face.  It is blistered and hideous.  Blob is gasping for air. Magneto looks and sees the cell is empty.  He looks at Sabretooth.     MAGNETO   I want him alive.     SABRETOOTH   I ll find him.     MAGNETO   ALIVE. And Sabretooth bolts back from where they came. MAGNETO S LAIR - NIGHT Kelly hits the fresh air, looking around wildly.  He runs for the edge of a cliff high over the ocean. He raises his hands, we see his palms are covered with those wicked spines and they are dripping a venomous fluid not too different in color from the wound on Blob s face. But then suddenly, something is wrong.  Kelly buckles, clutching his stomach again.  He squelches what would have been a scream of agony. He looks at his palms and the spikes are gone. Kelly hears footsteps.  Suddenly out of the darkness Sabretooth barrels toward him. Kelly turns and LEAPS.  Sabretooth comes to the edge of the cliff. When he looks over, Kelly s body has vanished.  Swallowed by the sea. Only his clothes remain on the rocks below.   LOGAN S ROOM - NIGHT Jean shows Logan the simple dorm cube with a bed and a small desk.  Jean opens the door for Logan and he inspects the sparse surroundings grimly.  Cyclops stands just outside the door - eavesdropping.     JEAN   Anything else I can get you?     LOGAN   Some cigars.  Case of beer.     JEAN   There s no smoking or drinking on the   school grounds.     LOGAN   I won t light the cigars - how about   that?     JEAN   I ll see what I can do -- You should   get some sleep.  Even with your   healing ability, you re going to be   hurting for a while.     LOGAN   What if I like the pain? Jean doesn t know what to make of that.  She is about to leave, then pauses.     JEAN   The Professor said you were a solider.   Actually, I believe he used the word   mercenary.     LOGAN   Yeah?  Well I don t like to talk about   my past.     JEAN   Maybe, the Professor could help you   with that.     LOGAN   By reading my thoughts?     JEAN   If necessary.     LOGAN   (smirks)   What if they re naughty? Jean smiles politely at his knowing glance.     JEAN   Get some shut-eye, slick. She shuts the door.   HALLWAY - NIGHT Jean hesitates at the door, thinking.  Smiling.  She turns and only then does she realize Cyclops is standing there. She is startled.     JEAN   Scott.. I -     CYCLOPS   I don t like him being here.     JEAN   What are you talking about?     CYCLOPS   You saw what happened tonight.  You   think Magneto won t come after him   again.  You think he won t come here   if necessary.  This is a school, for   God s sake.     JEAN   If Magneto is planning to use Logan   for some terrible purpose it s our   responsibility to do something. Cyclops shakes his head.     JEAN   What s wrong?  There s something else   bothering you. Cyclops gets closer to Jean.  She puts her hand on his chest.     CYCLOPS   I have a bad feeling about this. Jean leans in slowly and kisses Cyclops just beside his mouth     JEAN   You know I love you, Scott. Cyclops pulls her close.  The hold each other.  LOGAN S ROOM - NIGHT   Logan s ear.  His super-sensitive hearing has picked up the whole conversation. Logan looks over on the bed and sees a new sketchbook and several pencils. A small note is attached. I hope you don t mind.  I understand this helps you relax.     - X Logan shakes his head.  XAVIER S OFFICE - LATER - NIGHT A white light board.  Beast s blue furry hand slides a long, full-body x-ray in place. Beast is showing Logan s x-rays to Cyclops, Storm, Jean and Xavier.     BEAST   Adamantium.  Until today I thought it   to be a myth.  Impenetrable,   unbendable, resistant to the most   extreme heat, cold, indestructible. Beast points to the x-ray.     BEAST (CONT D)   It s been grafted to his entire   skeleton.     XAVIER   He also has accelerated healing   abilities - uncharted regenerative   capability, making his age impossible   to determine.  He could very well be   older than I am.     STORM   Is the Adamantium part of his   mutation?     XAVIER   No.  Someone put it there, relying on   his healing abilities to keep him   alive.     CYCLOPS   What do you think Magneto wants with   him? Xavier wheels himself to the window, starring out, deep in thought.     XAVIER   I m not entirely sure it s ìhimî that   Magneto wants.  X-ray of Logan s Adamantium skeleton.   MANSION - NIGHT Rogue.  The waifish young thing who hides so well in the shadows seems more comfortable to be moving through the mansion at night. She passes through the halls and rooms not making a sound in her strangely-swathed body suit.   LOGAN S ROOM - NIGHT She creaks a door open slowly, letting a shaft of dim light slice the darkness. The light shines across a nightstand.  Rogue stares down at the notepad, a sketch it.  It is of an animal, small but fierce - a wolverine. She walks in to a figure laying in the bed and stands over him.  Over Logan. He lays under a single sheet, sweating, his eyes moving quickly this way and that in R.E.M.  His hands twitch. Rogue leans closer. PUSH IN ON LOGAN S EYES AS THEY MOVE UNDER THE LIDS. FLASH - DREAM SEQUENCE   MILITARY LAB - THE PAST - NIGHT Like none we have ever seen thus far.  In fact, judging by most of the instruments here, we are looking at a laboratory some fifty years old. Logan looks down and we can see his body, naked, strapped to a table. A hand puts a mask over his mouth and - BLACK He awakens - STILL LOGAN S   He struggles weakly with restraints as doctors in lab coats and thick, red rubber gloves stand over him taking notes, paying very little attention to him at all. On the other side of the room is a huge vat filled with some kind of molten metal. At the base of the vat is a giant electromagnet generating a huge gyroscope which created enormous friction energy - the apparent source of the intense heat for melting the metal in the vat. AGAIN THE MASK PUTS HIM UNDER AND  BLACK Awake again, but this time sinking into water - restrained completely now. Logan looks down and gets only a glance of his body, seeing that he is a series of incisions from head to toe - literally split open - the flesh held back with hundreds of clamps. HE SINKS INTO THE STRANGE LIQUID - LIKE WATER BUT THICK AND VISCOUS. And the sound of a DROWNING SCREAM. AND THE METAL IS POURED IN AFTER HIM. THE SOUND OF MOLTEN METAL HITTING LIQUID IS UNNERVING. Mixed with screams, it is unbearable.   LOGAN S ROOM - NIGHT SCREAMING Logan s screaming as he comes to. Logan s eyes FLASH OPEN.  He looks up and sees a figure looming over him.  In a flash he reacts. THUD.  Nothing more.  Then silence. The door bursts open and Cyclops stands in the doorway shocked.  Frozen.  Jean is next and finally Storm.  They can only stare. Logan sits upright in bed, CLAWS EXTENDED, INTO ROGUE S CHEST.  She is literally frozen at the end of his arm. Finally, Cyclops breaks the silence and moves to grab her.     STORM   DON T TOUCH HER. Cyclops freezes. Logan finally pulls his claws free and retracts them. Rogue staggers, she pitches forward and touches his face gently with her hands, as though she would like him to be the last thing she sees on this Earth. Logan and Rogue, locked in a fatal moment of tenderness snaring a look of loneliness that only they can understand. But suddenly, Logan seems to change. And before he can say another word, he begins to tremble, then he starts to howl in pain. Rogue SNAPS BACK, mouth open in a gaping, silent scream. What sound comes out does not match the expression at all.  Merely a gasp, like steam escaping.  Through the huge slash in her clothes, we see the wound on her chest slowly vanish. Before long, she transforms back into a healthy young girl with no sign of injury. Then, her escaping breath begins to accelerate, much in the way Logan s did - too much like Logan s did.  It is as if she has taken in his trait of berserker rage.  Soon she is smashing things all around her.  One hand rakes the wallpaper like claws. Finally, she gets a hold of herself, becoming the introverted Rogue we all know so well. Then she stands slowly, looks at the others. And she runs from the room.  Storm runs after her. The rest turn to Logan, who lays on the floor, convulsing. Jean goes to help him.  She looks back at Cyclops.  His expression makes it clear that his worst fears about Logan have come to pass. PUBLIC BEACH - DAY A familiar scene of suburban escapism.  Crowded enough that most people can move about unnoticed. In fact, most people do not notice the very large jellyfish shooting through the water at remarkable speed. And only a few notice the COMPLETELY TRANSPARENT MAN emerging from the water. It is Senator Kelly, and he resembles in many ways a jellyfish.  His skin and innards are clear and gooey.  It is only when he comes completely and naked out of the water that he returns to somewhat normal. He walks up to the beach and people recoil from the very sight of him.  Pointing, whispering.  Then just laughing at the naked man. Kelly grabs a towel off an empty chair, a Hawaiian shirt off another. Suddenly, he buckles, grabbing his stomach and lurching away in terrible pain. He barely pauses when he hears a child s voice in semi- whisper    CHILD S VOICE   Mom, is that a mutant?   HALLWAY - DUSK Storm and Logan walk down the hall.  Logan is wearing sweats.  He has obviously just woken up.  The sun is low in the horizon and the hall is suffused with an orange glow. Students pass by them.  By now, the students have heard rumors about what happened the night before.  They watch Logan fearfully as they pass by him.     LOGAN   Why is everybody up at sunrise?     STORM   The sun is setting, Logan.  You ve   been asleep for nineteen hours.     LOGAN   What did she do to me?     STORM   She borrowed your power to save her   life.  When she touches someone, she   absorbs their strengths -- their   gifts.  In your case -- your ability   to heal.  That s why she keeps her   body covered.     LOGAN   I felt like she almost killed me.     STORM   If she held on any longer she could   have.     LOGAN   And you think it helps calling her   Rogue? Storm shakes her head, but remains patient.     STORM   We ve learned to embrace what we are   rather than hide it like an   affliction.  For some, it has become   their identity.  You mock the names   these people choose but they wear them   as badges of pride. They arrive at the door to the gym.     LOGAN   Inspiring -- Now what am I doing here?     CYCLOPS   I wanted to talk to you. Logan turns and sees Cyclops.     CYCLOPS   Storm, would you excuse us please?     STORM   Of course. She exits.     CYCLOPS   Let s take a walk. Cyclops begins to walk away in the other direction. Logan just watches him go.  After a moment, he decides it might be more interesting to see where this is going.  He follows.  They walk across the hall to  GYMNASIUM - NIGHT On first glance, the gym looks really average.  A fairly standard boxing ring in the middle.  A fairly standard weight set nearby. Then you notice the weights themselves are abnormally large.   .  .  . pounds.  All the way up to . And that is just one stack. Cyclops enters first with Logan coming in behind him.     CYCLOPS   How long have you been in Alaska?     LOGAN   I don t remember.  Is that what you   wanted to ask me? Logan is barely through the door when Cyclops whips around on Logan and thumps his finger into his chest.     CYCLOPS   I just wanted to make you clear on   something.  Personally, I don t care   what Magneto wants with you.  He can   take those claws of yours and use them   for Barbecue skewers.  What I do care   about is the safety of this group.   The Professor is in charge, and after   the Professor, there s me.  So, for   the remainder of your time here,   you re going to keep that killer   instinct of yours locked down so no   one else gets hurt. Beat.     LOGAN   (smirks)   I ve served with men like you before.   Methodical.  Systematic -- Naive.  You   know what happens to those men in a   real fight?     CYCLOPS   You know, you --     LOGAN   Shut up.  I got no interest in you,   Xavier,   (he points mockingly at the  X s on Cyclops  uniform)   or your... X-Men. Logan takes him in for a moment.     LOGAN   And I don t think this has anything to   do with my ìkiller instinct.î  You   just don t like the way I m looking at   your girl -- Or maybe you don t like   the way she s looking back.  And maybe   you think you re man enough to do   something about it. Cyclops is enraged.  A red light begins to glow around the edge of his visor and the ruby-quartz lens brightens. We can faintly hear the low hum of immense power that is now barely contained.  Before Cyclops can even react, Logan puts his fist against Cyclops  throat.  SHOOK! Logan extends one claw up one side of Cyclops  neck.  He smiles.     LOGAN   C mon sport.  You think you can blow   the meat off my bones before I gut   you?  Let s find out. The air is now charged with tension.  The two men are about to attack when-     XAVIER   Cyclops! Logan whirls and sees Xavier regarding them sternly. Logan turns his building anger on Xavier.     LOGAN   I have a question for you, Chuck.   What s the point? Xavier sits calmly as Logan, claws still extended, marches over to him.     XAVIER   The point of what?     LOGAN   This.  This whole God damn thing.   (derisively, at Cyclops)   Making yourselves into some sort of   ìteamî of super-powered freaks.   Teaching wayward mutants about   classical literature.  For what? Logan continues to advance on Xavier.  Cyclops moves to stop Logan, but Xavier waves him off.     XAVIER   The point is to step into a more   evolved position of social   responsibility.  To recognize that   there is a world out there and that we   mutants are as much a part of it as   normal human beings.     LOGAN   What if it never happens?  What if   they re so afraid of us that we become   the enemy? -- This place is gonna be   one giant cemetery. Xavier has heard this argument before.     XAVIER   Now that s Magneto talking.     LOGAN   No.  That s me talking.  And you know   what?  It s only been thirty-two hours   and you still have no idea what this   guy wants with me.     XAVIER   I believe he wants you for your   Adamantium. Logan raises his hand to his chest grasping for something that no longer hangs from his neck.     XAVIER   You re thinking of your dog tag.  It   was made of Adamantium wasn t it?     JEAN   Professor. Logan turns and sees Jean walking towards them.     XAVIER   What is it?     JEAN   Rogue s missing. Logan looks at Jean with concern.   CORRIDOR - NIGHT A long, dark subterranean corridor with gleaming walls and floor.  Well lit and strangely echoless. Logan follows Xavier, who are in turn followed by Storm, Cyclops and Jean to a thick steel door at the end of the hall.     LOGAN   Where are we going?     XAVIER   To find Rogue.     LOGAN   How?     XAVIER   The brainwaves of mutants are quite   different than those of the average   human being. At Xavier s eye level is a black screen with a chin-rest like you see at the eye doctor.  Xavier rests his head in it and the screen lights up.     XAVIER   Cerebro amplifies my power.  It allows   me to browse the world s consciousness   and find the genetically enhanced. A vertical beam scans across his eye and a picture of Xavier s retina appears on the screen next to a computerized image of the same.  The two images overlap and match perfectly.     XAVIER   This is how I found you. A small beep and a loud KNOCK of tumblers rolling and the vault door opens. They walk inside.   CEREBRO - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT They come into a room with a high sphered ceiling - entirely black. In the center of the room is a huge - for lack of a better term - device.  Part computer, part super- structure, it is the sort of precision tangle of metal and wire that would make Da Vinci weep.  It has a space in the bottom that seems to fit Xavier and his chair perfectly.  Suspended above its center -- a web of wires, tubes, and cables all connecting to the heart of the device -- a CHROME SKULLCAP. Logan slowly circles the device. Logan looks at Xavier, perhaps even a little impressed.     LOGAN   You designed this yourself?     XAVIER   Actually, Magneto helped me put it   together.     LOGAN   He helped you?     XAVIER   We were friends once...  But that was   a long time ago. Jean, Logan, Cyclops and Storm watch as Xavier fits his wheelchair into the huge machine, and the chrome skull cap lowers onto the Professor s head, fitting like a second skin.  It comes to life.  What was dark and menacing is now a brilliant explosion of colored lights. CLOSE UP ON  XAVIER - into and through his eyes and  SPACE - NIGHT Closing in rapidly on the planet Earth. Passing into its atmosphere, making a few orbits, all the while hearing the deafening voices of billions. Every country, every city, every town, berg, hamlet and village. Every language. Every thought. The voices descend to a sizeable crowd of millions, then thousands, gradually working their way to one. SKY - OVER WESTCHESTER - NIGHT Down a tree-lined road and around a corner into a parking lot. Single out a figure that - by the clothes - can only be Rogue.  Close in faster and faster, lower and lower until we go right through the back of her head to  BLACK SILENCE     ROGUE   I don t belong...  I don t belong...   I m sorry... so sorry... there s   nowhere...   CEREBRO - NIGHT Xavier s eyes open.     XAVIER   I ve found her, Westchester Mall.     LOGAN   I ll go.     CYCLOPS   No...  I ll go. Logan looks over to Jean.     LOGAN   O.K. sport... you go.   WESTCHESTER MALL - NIGHT A mother and child wander in a typical shopping daze. PULL OUT TO REVEAL Crowds of shoppers mill about, a typical crowded evening at the mall.  Rogue comes up the escalator, wandering through them all. She walks under a high-sphered glass ceiling, revealing the night sky outside. She walks over to a Victoria s Secret store and looks up at the mannequins in the windows who wear almost nothing at all.  Quite a contrast from her own, stifling garb. She touches the glass as though trying to reach them, then she moves on. ROGUE S   She looks all around the mall at the many oblivious people here.  Children playing tag on one side.  A young couple holding hands. Human contact all around. She walks past a small child, her hand nearly brushing the girl s hair. Rogue takes a seat on a bench, alone. A figure comes into frame.     STORM   Rogue. Rogue looks up and sees Storm standing right in front of her.  Her eyes dart around, looking for a way out.     STORM   You don t have to run. Finally, Rogue surrenders.     ROGUE   I m sorry.  I m not like the rest of   you -- I m tired of hurting people. She starts to cry now.     STORM   It s okay.     ROGUE   Why did I have to be like this?  What   purpose does it serve? And when Rogue looks up, she sees another figure - this one filling the frame behind Storm. A huge clawed hand grabs Storm around the throat and lifts her up as she struggles in vain.   MALL - LOWER LEVEL - NIGHT Cyclops looks up and sees Storm is being CHOKED BY SABRETOOTH, her feet not touching the ground. Rogue is frozen with fear. He tries to get a shot with his visor, but too many people are in the way.   MALL - UPPER LEVEL - NIGHT Sabretooth smiles as Storm struggles to turn.  He whispers in her ear.     SABRETOOTH   Scream for me. CLOSE UP ON  STORM S EYES as the life is being squeezed out of her.   XAVIER S OFFICE - NIGHT MIRROR SHOT OF XAVIER S EYES Suddenly, Xavier touches his throat, then raises a shaking hand to his head.     XAVIER   Dear God. Xavier wheels himself from the room.   MALL - LOWER LEVEL - NIGHT Cyclops has a clear shot now.  His eyes start to glow brightly. Suddenly, a familiar movement on the pedestal behind him. Toad has been camouflaged the entire time.  He comes down and FLICKS HIS LIZARD-LIKE TONGUE, snatching the visor from Cyclops  face. Deep red light far greater than anything we have ever seen before comes blasting out of cyclops  eyes without any sort of control, as if a fire hydrant had been ripped from the ground. His head comes back and the light blows the whole of the glass ceiling to smithereens, bringing it down on panicking shoppers who scatter. Toad leaps to the second level and then again out of sight.   MALL - UPPER LEVEL - NIGHT Sabretooth reacts, surprised by the sudden shift.  This gives Storm one last chance to breath. We notice now that something is happening to her body.   MALL - LOWER LEVEL - NIGHT Cyclops stumbles helpless, his eyes are shut to prevent further destruction.     CYCLOPS   GET OUT OF THE WAY.  GET OUT OF THE   WAY.   MALL - UPPER LEVEL - NIGHT Storm, nearly lifeless now, struggles with what little strength she has to get free of Sabretooth.  He relishes the slow kill. But suddenly ALL THE HAIR ON HIS BODY STANDS ON END. Sabretooth is momentarily confused. Storm s eyes open wide as her body convulses. BOOM A huge bolt of lightning shoot from her body into Sabretooth s chest, knocking him back in shock.  Storm falls to the ground, not breathing. Sabretooth, stunned and scorched, gets to his feet and smiles at his handiwork.  He is about to move in and finish them both when the rumble of a helicopter can be heard above. He looks up and sees SENATOR KELLY S HELICOPTER passing over the hold in the roof.  Sabretooth leaps up and pulls himself out of the opening. Toad is a leap behind. Rogue rushes to Storm, struggling with how to give her mouth to mouth, CPR, anything to resuscitate her without touching.  She is starting to panic now.  She looks around, but anyone still left in the mall is running for the doors.     ROGUE   SOMEONE HELP ME.  SHE S NOT BREATHING.   MALL - LOWER LEVEL - NIGHT Cyclops stumbles blind and helpless, covering his eyes. He hears Rogue screaming.     CYCLOPS   ROGUE?     ROGUE   HELP ME.  STORM ISN T BREATHING. Cyclops tries to find a way up, but he trips over all the debris, helpless.     CYCLOPS   YOU HAVE TO COME AND GET ME.  I CAN T   SEE. STREETS - NIGHT Xavier is in a specially designed car that enables him to drive solely with his hands.  He races towards the mall.   MALL - UPPER LEVEL - NIGHT Rogue is talking, walking backwards towards Storm, trying her best not to lay a hand on Cyclops.     ROGUE   Here, here, here... a little left.   Careful.  Cyclops drops to his knees, the sprinklers still gushing. His eyes are tightly shut. He feels for Storm s face and touches her lips.     CYCLOPS   Oh God. He immediately begins mouth to mouth, though it may have been too long. MALL - NIGHT Xavier fights the rush of traffic - people fleeing madly from the mall. As he pulls up to the front doors, he sees Cyclops emerging, carrying Storm.  She is conscious, but her breathing is shallow.  His eyes are shut tightly and he must follow Rogue s direction. Sirens wail in the distance. Xavier looks at the lot of them waifish Rogue, blind Cyclops, unconscious Storm and his wheelchair-bound self as their guardian.     XAVIER   But why would they do this? Then a look of realization... MANSION - MEANWHILE - NIGHT Rogue hurries past several students. She runs up to the large front doors of the school, but they are locked.  She looks around and then runs toward the side of the building.   LABORATORY - NIGHT Beast, continuing his research into Magneto s plan, is analyzing the x-rays of Logan s skeleton.  Several books about metallurgy are scattered across the table.   LOGAN S ROOM - NIGHT Logan is sketching quietly.  He chews a cigar, keeping it politely unlit. He hears something.  He stands, goes to the door and opens it.  He cocks his head... listening... smiling... We hear it too, sharing his ears. It is a woman breathing, groaning.  He smiles and follows the noise. MANSION - NIGHT Rogue climbs through a student s open window.   MANSION - NIGHT She darts down a hallway and around a corner, looking around, staying low.   GYMNASIUM - NIGHT Jean is working out on an average-sized set of free- weights, sweating, pushing hard.  Obviously the sound Logan heard.  She is on her back doing presses. Suddenly, she looks up and sees Logan standing over.  She is startled and starts to drop the bar.  He catches it.     LOGAN   You should always work with a spotter.     JEAN   He s busy right now. Logan cannot help but glance at her left hand, still clinging to the bar.  The shimmering diamond on the third finger.     LOGAN   I was thinking maybe you and me could   go into town.     JEAN   Were you now?     LOGAN   What do you say?     JEAN   Not interested. Logan shrugs, starts to take his hands away.  Jean is not ready to take the weight of the bar.  It almost comes down on her when he catches it again.     JEAN   Let go.     LOGAN   Suit yourself. And he does.  And so does Jean at the same time.  She gets up and faces Logan - the bar simply hovers in mid- air. Logan smiles.   LABORATORY - NIGHT Beast looks at his watch.  It s stopped.  He puts it to his ear -- shakes it.  Then his ears perk up.  He hears something.  He glances at the wall.  All things METAL -- picture frames, chairs, objects on tables, etc. start to move one after the other. It is as if some magnetic force is moving past the wall, just outside the lab, heading for the open door. Beast, sensing the danger, makes a run for the metal door.  Just as he reaches it, it SLAMS closed -- knocking him back across the room. Beast CRASHES into the wall on the opposite side of the lab.  His leg badly hurt, Beast tries to crawl toward the door. But as he does this, METAL OBJECTS from around the lab fly in front of it sealing him in.   CORRIDOR - NIGHT Rogue moves quietly down the corridor that leads to Cerebro. She comes to the retinal scanner - she brings her eye to the screen. It lights up and scans her eye.  A PICTURE OF XAVIER S RETINA appears on the screen. A SINGLE WORD APPEARS ON THE SCREEN beneath it  ACCESS DENIED The scanner scans again.   ON ROGUE S EYE Something is wrong.  The eye not being scanned is a familiar yellow.  It is Mystique. Her other eye changes in the light of the scanner.  The retina reshaping itself in minute ways.   The screen -- ACCESS GRANTED -- CHARLES XAVIER The door to Cerebro opens. Rogue or rather Mystique, rushes in.  She goes to a small panel on the side of Cerebro. She opens it.  She reaches in.  SHE REMOVES A COMPUTER CHIP -- No more than three inches wide.   HALLWAY - NIGHT   The black boots of a man, walk down a hallway, as students peer from their sleeping quarters, terrified.   GYMNASIUM - NIGHT Jean is casually wiping sweat from her brow.  Logan s eyes possess a certain focus intent.     LOGAN   He s uptight.     JEAN   He takes his work seriously.     LOGAN   He takes himself seriously.     JEAN   What is it you re failing to get at?   Are you interested in me?     JEAN   I m just interested. Holding out her left hand.     JEAN   Logan, do you see this ring?     LOGAN   I ve seen a lot of rings.     JEAN   Yeah, I ll bet you have. Before he can reply, Rogue is standing in the doorway looking at them.     JEAN   Rogue, where have you been?     ROGUE   Logan.  The Professor wants you to   come with me right away.   on Logan s nose.  His nostrils flare... sensing... Logan squints the tiniest bit.  We know he knows something is wrong, but he is hiding it.     LOGAN   (to Rogue)   Hey Rogue, tell Jean what you were   telling me last night. Rogue pauses.  Confused.     ROGUE   The Professor-- Logan walks towards her.     LOGAN   You remember.  About women. He moves closer.     ROGUE   Logan--     LOGAN   Whatever you say about them being the   same... SHOOK.  The claws are out.  HE LUNGES.     LOGAN   No two women smell alike. He grabs Rogue by the throat.     JEAN   Logan, what are you doing? Jean, seeing Logan threaten Rogue with his claws for the second time, RAISES A VAULTING HORSE INTO THE AIR.     LOGAN   This ain t Rogue! He keeps his claws pointed at her face. ANGLE TIGHT Logan s left hand is wrapped around Rogue s throat but part of it is TOUCHING THE EXPOSED SKIN OF HER FACE WITH NO ILL EFFECTS. Jean realizes that Logan is right.  ROGUE MORPHS INTO MYSTIQUE.     MAGNETO   Telekinesis. Jean spins around and sees MAGNETO.  Without hesitation, the vaulting horse FLIES AT MAGNETO. Simultaneously, one of the thousand-pound weights flies from the weight set and smashes the vaulting horse aside.     MAGNETO   Fascinating.  What I wouldn t give for   that.  Alas, metal is all I m good   for.  But it seems to serve me well   enough. Jean is completely unaware of the huge set of lockers rising behind her.     LOGAN   Jean! WHAM. The lockers hit her in the back, sending her flying. Jean lies motionless on the floor, unconscious.  The heavy lockers are floating above her, wavering between a few feet and a few inches.     MAGNETO   I do love a good check mate.     LOGAN   What do you want?     MAGNETO   Come with me and I ll let her live.     LOGAN   You think I care about her?  I m the   only one who s sure to walk out of   here. Pause.     MAGNETO   Then why don t you kill her. This catches Logan a little off guard.     MAGNETO   Go on.  Kill her.  You can do it   quicker than I will.  Maybe I ll just   cripple her. The lockers now stand upright, hovering over Jean s knees.     MAGNETO   So do her the favor.  Show her mercy. Logan thinks for a moment -- looks at Jean still unconscious on the floor.  Then  Logan retracts his claws. Mystique has morphed back into her natural state with the exception of ONE OF ROGUE S POCKETS, which still clings to her hip.  Mystique produces a large syringe from the pocket and sticks it in Logan s neck.  Logan s legs weaken instantly.     MAGNETO   (to Mystique)   Call the others and tell them we have   what we came for. MANSION - LATER - NIGHT The fence that surrounds the property has been bent and buckled violently.   MANSION HALLWAY - NIGHT Xavier wheels down the hallway, pajama clad students are milling about the halls.  Their faces showing that they are afraid to go back to their rooms.  One GIRL, younger and smaller than the others, seems particularly upset. Xavier wheels over to her and gently touches the side of her face.     XAVIER   It s going to be alright. She manages a faint smile.  Then Xavier looks to the other students -- their frightened faces.   LABORATORY - LATER - NIGHT Beast reclines in his lab chair, a splint on his leg. Jean stands with Cyclops who watches through a new visor. Rogue sits off to the side, bearing the guilt.  While Storm, her neck badly bruised, stands near her. For the first time we have seen -- Charles Xavier is angry.     STORM   When Rogue left the mansion, they must   have followed her. Xavier shuts his eyes furious.     XAVIER   Yes... they wanted me out of the way.   If I had been here... I... Xavier opens his eyes and sees Rogue sitting on a chair in the corner.  She is visibly upset.  Xavier wheels over to Rogue.  Xavier reaches out and softly touches her clothing covered shoulder.     XAVIER   This was not your fault.  I knew there   was a danger, I should have never left   the school. And with that he turns his wheelchair to the door.     XAVIER   I am going to find Logan. Xavier leaves.   CEREBRO - NIGHT Xavier enters and wheels himself into the giant machine. It immediately comes to life - lighting the room.  The chrome skull cap descends onto Xavier s head. Xavier closes his eyes as the machine powers up.   ON XAVIER S EYES They fly open.  And then a terrible noise.  The sound of a well tuned machine suddenly going horribly wrong. Xavier is in terrible pain. His back arches and he falls from his chair onto the floor.  He struggles to reach for a fire alarm on the wall.  His fingers stretch until finally -- he pulls it. Warning bells wail.  Xavier falls unconscious, convulsing.  Cyclops and Jean as they burst into the room.   LABORATORY - LATER - NIGHT Xavier lies asleep in a hospital bed.  Several electrodes are taped to his head.  A screen next to the bed monitors his erratic brain waves. Jean and the splinted Beast stare at the monitor following its rhythm.  Storm and Rogue stand at the foot of the bed.  They are each trying to hide their fear, and not doing a very good job of it.  Cyclops looks on, the stress shows on his face.     CYCLOPS   What s wrong with him?     JEAN   His vital signs are weak and getting   weaker.     BEAST   I m in the process of running more   tests.  But it seems that every minute   that goes by he gets weaker. All are silent.  Rogue looks to Beast with desperate eyes.     ROGUE   Can you help him?     BEAST   I don t know. Xavier lies in bed, motionless.   FRONT HALL - DAY Two huge wooden front doors -- morning light shines through the jagged holes in the wood where the knobs had been pulled off.  The antique steel knobs lay twisted and mangled on the floor. The small girl from last night kneels in front of the door with a dustpan, sweeping up the mess. Something catches her eye.  She sits up and leans in closer to the jagged hole in the door.  The little girl -- light from the hole washes over her face.  Then suddenly the light is cut off, as if something is blocking the hole. DOLLY IN as the small girl steps back, a look of fascination comes across her face.  As if she sees something coming through the hole.   CEREBRO - DAY Cyclops, Jean and Storm stand before the device.  Beast rises awkwardly on his splinted leg, his back to the open control panel.     BEAST   It s gone.  The neuro-filter, someone   removed it. Jean stands.     STORM   What does that mean?     BEAST   The neuro-filter acts like a surge   protector, regulating the infinite   flow of information from Cerebro to   the Professor s mind.  It s what keeps   him from being crushed by the   consciousness of millions. Cyclops steps away, pondering Beast s words.  He understands the ramifications -- the damage that has been done to Xavier.     CYCLOPS   Can the Professor repair his own mind?     BEAST   I m afraid without Cerebro s help, he   won t have the strength to heal   himself -- And without the neuro-   filter... there s no Cerebro. Jean is noticeably upset.     JEAN   He s already losing control of his   vitals.  Respiratory.  Cardiovascular.   Unless we manage to replace the filter   by tomorrow morning, I m afraid.     CYCLOPS   We have to find Magneto. He exits.  Jean follows him.   HALLWAY - DAY Cyclops is standing, motionless.     JEAN   Are you all right?     CYCLOPS   No.  I m...  I don t know if we can do   this without Charles. Jean puts her hand lovingly to his face.  Cyclops takes her hand.     JEAN   He put you in charge for a reason,   Scott. She goes to kiss him.     SMALL GIRL   Dr. Grey?... The small girl stands alone in the hallway.     SMALL GIRL   Someone is here to see you. Jean s eyes widen -- and around the corner steps Senator Kelly, wearing the clothing he had taken from the beach. He trembles as though from a high fever.  His body is covered with a layer of sweat.     KELLY   Dr. Grey.     JEAN   Senator?     CYCLOPS   How did you get in here?     KELLY   Your front door was damaged... there   was a hole... Kelly makes a hole with his hands that is not much larger then that of a coffee can.     KELLY   ... I squeezed through. Kelly buckles in pain, but then catches himself. Jean and Cyclops rush to help him.  Beast crutches himself out to see what s happening. Kelly notices Beast.     KELLY   What in God s name are you?     BEAST   I m Beast.     KELLY   Of course you are.   LABORATORY - LATER - DAY Xavier is in bed, eyes closed. Rogue holds vigil at his side. Kelly is in the bed next to him, trembling, burning up from what seems to be a bad fever that keeps getting worse. Jean has a syringe in her hand and is swabbing some alcohol on Kelly s skin.     KELLY   I m sorry to come here, Ms. Grey.  I   was afraid if I went to a hospital,   they would...     JEAN   (interrupting)   Treat you like a mutant?  We are not   what you think.  Not all of us.     KELLY   Tell it to the ones that did this to   me. Jean looks closer at his hands.     JEAN   I don t see these spikes you re   talking about.  I m going to give you   an antibiotic for the - Oh my God. Jean and Kelly both look as the cotton swab ignites like flash paper in her hand.  Everyone is shocked.  Jean pauses and takes the bottle of alcohol from the shelf. She pours a small amount on Kelly s arm and it instantly catches fire.   LABORATORY - LATER - DAY Rogue is still sitting in a chair, next to Xavier s bed -- Xavier s opens his eyes.  He looks at Rogue and smiles softly.     XAVIER   Hello, Rogue? Rogue almost jumps out of her chair with excitement.     ROGUE   Hold on, I ll get the others. Rogue exits.  Xavier slowly looks over to Kelly lying in the bed next to him.  Both men are weak and getting weaker.     XAVIER   Senator... Kelly?     KELLY   Yes...  Who are you?     XAVIER   I am Charles Xavier.  This is my   school. Kelly tries to speak, but his strength is waning. The two men are a pitiful sight, both slowly coming apart.     XAVIER   Can you tell me what happened to you? Kelly is in pain.  It s a struggle to speak.     KELLY   (weak, delirious)   I was kidnapped...  They killed   GUYRICH... mutants...  There was a   light... a bright... light. Xavier turns to Kelly, looking deep into his eyes. He begins to PROBE KELLY S MIND.   EXT. VARIOUS FLASHBACK - DAY NIGHT FLASH The following is an audio-visual collage of Kelly s perspective from throughout the film, coming back to us in a new order. THE CAGE OF SENATOR KELLY in Magneto s lair.  NOW HIS   as seen by Xavier. Vision fades in and out in a sedated haze. He is laid out of a gurney.     KELLY (V.O.)   Whatever you do to me... no matter   what -- you ll make me right.  Every   word I have spoken will be confirmed. He looks up and sees Mystique wheeling the gurney, smiling down at the Senator.     MYSTIQUE (V.O.)   And people like you are the reason I   was afraid to go to school as a child. FLASH Kelly is looking around a large, sphered room.  In the center is the MACHINE.     JEAN (V.O.)   The mutant gene tells the body when it   needs to change.     KELLY (V.O.)   I can assure you, there is no such   creature in my genes. FLASH The DOG TAG as it is elevated into the machine.     JEAN (V.O.)   In every organism on Earth there exits   a mutator gene -- The X-factor.  The   beginnings of another stage of   evolution. SLOWLY BUILDING LIGHT, growing brighter and brighter.     MAGNETO (V.O.)   God works too slowly. Pull back as if the camera is pulling back through his eye, into his head -- A MICROSCOPE S VIEW OF HIS CELLS, suddenly and violently disturbed.     KELLY (V.O.)   What have you bastards done to me?     CHILD S VOICE (V.O.)   Mom, is that a mutant? Kelly s reflection in the metal of the sink in his prison.     MAGNETO (V.O.)   You re a leader Senator Kelly, you set   an example... Blob s face, burned by Kelly s hands. Over the cliff.     GUYRICH (V.O.)   ... A Demonstration of some kind? The venomous spike emerging from Kelly s hands.     MAGNETO (V.O.)   Because if more of you... were like   more of us... like more of us...     GUYRICH (V.O.)   ... the UN summit... the whole world   will be watching.     KELLY (V.O.)   What is it you intend to do to me? The woman staring up at him on the beach.     KELLY (V.O.)   Oh...  Oh God... what have you done to   me? The boy on the beach. JARRING FLASH     KELLY (V.O.)   Dear God.... dear... God.     NEWSCASTER (V.O.)   ... the largest single summit in the   history of the planet.     JEAN (V.O.)   ... the mutator gene will activate.     MAGNETO (V.O.)   Welcome to the future... brother...   The brotherhood of mutants. A VIOLENT COLLISION OF NOISE, IMAGE AND LIGHT AND THEN  Xavier s eyes burst open.   LABORATORY - NIGHT Rogue leads Storm, Jean, Beast and Cyclops quickly into the lab. Xavier is lying in his bed.  Jean looks up at the screen above him and sees Xavier s brain waves have dropped severely. Kelly lies unconscious in his bed, his heart monitor weakening. Beast limps over to Xavier.  Xavier struggles to speak. Beast bends down so that Xavier can whisper into his ear.   Xavier s lips move as he tells Beast what he knows.   LAB - LATER - NIGHT Jean, Storm, Beast and Cyclops talk while the news plays silently on the TV in the background.     BEAST   It appears as though Magneto has built   a machine which somehow triggers the   mutator gene in normal human beings.   And he is using Adamantium as its   core.     CYCLOPS   Its core? Beast grabs a wax pen and draws a lightbulb on a glass drawing board.     BEAST   Thomas Edison knew how to make the   light bulb.  He had the energy source.   He had the vacuum.  But he didn t have   the filament.  He tried metal after   metal but nothing would hold to power.     STORM   (nods -- now understanding)   ... until he found tungsten. Beast finishes his lightbulb by drawing the filament.     BEAST   Correct...  Apparently, Adamantium is   the only metal strong enough to hold   the energy this machine produces.  He   used the Adamantium in Logan s dog tag   to test it on the Senator.  And I   assume now he plans to use the rest of   Logan s skeleton for a larger   demonstration.     CYCLOPS   For what purpose?     BEAST   Yes -- Only there s a problem.  The   mutator gene is not responding to the   radiation the way it would in mother   nature.  It s forcing the body s cells   to replicate thousands of times faster   than they re accustomed to.  The   Senator s body is literally burning   itself out.  Scott -- this machine   kills people and I don t think Magneto   realizes it.     CYCLOPS   So where do you think he s planning   this larger demonstration? Jean looks down and sees Xavier pointing with a trembling hand, trying to speak. Xavier is pointing to the television.     XAVIER   There... He is looking at yet another report on Ellis Island. Cyclops and Jean walk over.  All they see on the TV is an aerial shot of Manhattan, slowly coming around toward the harbor. The television image is from the of a helicopter circling Ellis Island, taking in all the security and construction.  The grand main hall to Ellis Island and finally, what the helicopter sees as it comes around for one more pass. SUDDENLY - The sound of Kelly s heart monitor begins to PICK UP SPEED.  Jean rushes to Kelly and touches his pale neck.  She draws her hand back quickly as if burned.  The heart monitor keeps speeding up until it is racing faster than a human heart could possibly produce. Jean backs away helplessly. The sheet that covers Kelly s body begins to flatten out. The sweat covering the hapless Senator s body thickens into a viscous, clear liquid and begins to run off the table.  Kelly is literally melting away.  Cyclops holds Jean as she turns away.  THE TV -- the gathering leaders of the world, the water clogged with boats, and the thousands of onlookers on Manhattan Island.  All well within range.   READY ROOM - NIGHT Storm finishes preparing to leave in another section of the ready room.  Beast stands by on his Beast-size crutches feeling useless.     BEAST   I wish I could go.     STORM   We all do.     BEAST   Storm.  Try to look for the highest   vantage po    From what I can figure, he ll need to   gain as much altitude as possible to   blanket the island.  It is my feeling   that Magneto has to--     STORM   Beast. Beast looks at her.     STORM   We ll be fine.   LAB - NIGHT Cyclops stands looking down at Professor Xavier.  He starts to walk away but he is stopped.  He looks down and sees that the Professor has weakly grabbed his sleeve. Cyclops looks at Xavier but he is still unconscious.  His hand falls back to the bed.     CYCLOPS   You can still hear me... can t you. Xavier lies still.     CYCLOPS   I want to thank you for taking me in.   Taking us in...  You have taught me   everything in my life that is worth   knowing. Cyclops grimly regards Xavier.     CYCLOPS   And I want you to know that I ll take   care of them.   READY ROOM - NIGHT Cyclops and Jean get into their uniforms. Jean is about to go to the hanger when Cyclops stops her.     CYCLOPS   Hey.  I m sorry.  About Logan.  I was   jealous.     JEAN   (putting her arms around him)   Well, I think that s perfectly   understandable.     CYCLOPS   I ll tell you one thing though.     JEAN   What s that?     CYCLOPS   He calls me sport one more time, and   I ll blow a watermelon-sized hole   through him. She smiles and kisses him.     CYCLOPS   Now let s go get him.   X-JET - NIGHT Cyclops, Storm, and Jean board the X-Jet.  They find -- ROGUE, strapped into a seat, ready to go.   HANGER - NIGHT ROGUE stands outside the jet, obviously having been kicked off.   X-JET - NIGHT Jean reaches out a hand.  Cyclops takes it.  They squeeze tight.  The X-Jet s engines begin to fire up.   HANGER - NIGHT The hatch slowly starts to swing closed.  From where she stands Rogue debates, and then runs, dashing inside as the hatch to the X-Jet closes behind her. BASKETBALL COURT - NIGHT A basketball sits on the ground near the middle of the court. Suddenly the asphalt starts to vibrate and the basketball rolls a few inches. THEN  There is a grinding noise and the surface begins to separate at the half court line.  The basketball falls through the widening hole and bounces off the wing of the rising X-Jet. LIFT-OFF.  The jet turns and clears the hanger before blasting off into the night sky. ELLIS ISLAND - NIGHT An aerial shot showing us the whole of the event. Security of every kind covers every inch of the island. Helicopters are coming in at the rate of about one every minute to deliver dignitaries and their families from all over the globe. ELLIS ISLAND - BRIDGE TO NEW JERSEY - NIGHT A steady flow of limos pour onto the island over a simple two-lane bridge from New Jersey. A NEWSCASTER IN THE FOREGROUND.     NEWSCASTER   With the ceremonies beginning shortly,   it looks as though the last of the   dignitaries have landed at Newark and   Teterboro airports and will be   arriving momentarily.  It would seem   the United Nations has had their wish   tonight.  There doesn t seem to be an   empty seat in the house. BATTERY PARK - NIGHT The pier of the Ferry to Liberty Island. A great many families have come to watch curiously the going on. MANHATTAN HARBOR - NIGHT The harbor is filled with police and Coast Guard vessels watching the water closely.   NEW YORK CITY APARTMENTS VARIOUS - NIGHT A series of shots showing the many folks gathering to watch the historic event on television. In some of these apartments, Ellis and Liberty islands can be seen from their windows in the distance.   SECURITY CONTROL CENTER - NIGHT The OPERATING COMMANDER monitors the countless video screens that display nearly every crevice of Ellis Island as well as other parts of New York Harbor as well as the network news feeds of the event... ELLIS ISLAND - MAIN ENTRANCE - NIGHT The front of the Great Hall of Ellis Island, where once immigrants poured into the new world by the millions. A huge military band off to one side plays music from the different countries to help with the milling about and shaking of hands. The PRESIDENT himself is in the crowd, meeting and greeting, a mob of Secret Service always right there. Follow him into  ELLIS ISLAND - MAIN HALL A YASSAR ARAFAT TYPE, who we will call Yassir Arafat, comes up to the President and smiles. The President introduces his WIFE AND CHILD as more delegates approach. The two men LAUGH and then HUG to the flashing of a million bulbs. Smattering of ass-kissy applause.  Arafat and the President wave to press and the like. OBSERVATION DECK - ELSEWHERE - NIGHT We are looking down on what APPEARS TO BE a deserted part of the island.  Away from the action. PAN ACROSS THE EDGE OF THE ISLAND Every fifty feet or so, uniformed Secret Service agents keep tight watch on the island.  One Secret Service guy in particular. PUSH IN FROM ABOVE - We realize we are pushing in unusually fast, as though we are falling. WHAM.  A sickening crunch. Toad lands on top of the Secret Service guy.  We have been watching from his  The Secret Service man is tumbled into a heap.  A real frog rabbits O.S. Toad looks around quietly, listens...  THEN LEAPS out of frame.  Hold on the body of the Secret Service guy. LONG PAUSE. ANOTHER SICKENING CRUNCH OFF SCREEN. LIBERTY ISLAND - NIGHT Two Secret Service guys approach one another.  One is holding a smoke, the other is producing a lighter.  Just as his smoke is about to hit the flame, the flame dodges to one side.  He moves the smoke to follow it, and the flame dodges the other way. The guy with the smoke looks at the guy with the lighter as if to say ìknock it off.î  The guy with the lighter shrugs as  THE FLAME INSTANTLY GROWS TO A RAGING INTENSITY, ENGULFING THEM. As they are incinerated and their ashes fall to the ground, Pyro climbs into view from the seawall below, dripping wet. He has come dressed to make trouble tonight.  Strapped to his back is an impressive looking flame thrower.  A three tanker. SEAWALL - NIGHT A Coast Guard boat crawls into view just off shore.  A Secret Service man in the foreground waves to the boat as it passes by. COAST GUARD BOAT DECK - NIGHT A thirty footer.  Fast and sturdy. The PILOT OF THE BOAT, a man in his late forties, waves back. SEAWALL - NIGHT As the Secret Service guy waves, he jolts upright, his face contorting in impossible pain.  Slowly, he is lifted off the ground. COAST GUARD BOAT DECK - NIGHT PILOT S   Sabretooth holds the last Secret Service man aloft, impaled on his claws.  He waves now, the body swaying this way and that before he casually throws it to the ground. The Pilot turns to the wheel of the boat as he MORPHS INTO MYSTIQUE and turns the boat toward the island. BOTTOM OF THE SEAWALL - BOAT - NIGHT Man-made rocky shore.  The boat bumps and grinds on the rock.  Sabretooth jumps down to the deck and meets Magneto coming up from below.  They nod to one another and walk toward the front of the boat.  On the deck is something covered with a tarp.  Sabretooth pulls back the tarp to reveal Logan, still unconscious from the drug. ANOTHER, MUCH LARGER OBJECT is on the back of the boat under another tarp, but we cannot see what it is. Magneto steps off the boat and looks up -- up at someplace we cannot yet see. ELLIS ISLAND - GREAT HALL - NIGHT The dignitaries take their seats as the ceremony commences.   X-JET - NIGHT Cyclops pilots the plane as Manhattan comes into view. They bank to the south.  Cyclops checks his monitors.     CYCLOPS   Radar Stealth Mode checks out.  All   right, there ll be less security north   of the George Washington Bridge.  I m   taking her down.     JEAN   Into the Hudson?     CYCLOPS   (smiles)   Uh-huh. HUDSON RIVER - NIGHT The X-Jet slows to a hover.  It s Harrier Jet engines tilt back until they are vertical to the water.  The engines cycle down and the plane lowers until it is hovering a few feet off the surface.   X-JET - NIGHT     CYCLOPS   V.T.O.L. off. HUDSON RIVER - NIGHT The Jet s engines cut and the plane splashes down into the water.  It floats there for a moment and then sinks below the surface. BELOW RIVER SURFACE - NIGHT As the X-Jet sinks, the hatches close off and the wings retract to transform the plane into a submarine.  The engines pull tight to the body of the craft and begin to propel it forward. HUDSON RIVER - NIGHT AERIAL VIEW The water ripples as the submersed aircraft passes under the bridge and into the harbor.   SMALL ROOM - NIGHT C.U. on Logan.  He wakes.  His arms are cuffed behind his back.  He is delirious and weakened from the drug. He looks around and sees that he is in an oddly shaped room with barely enough space for him and Magneto, who smiles at him in the half darkness.     LOGAN   (very weak)   Where am I?     MAGNETO   You re backstage at the encore of   creation. He looks at his watch.     MAGNETO   Three minutes to curtain.     LOGAN   What are you going to do?     MAGNETO   In the road to survival, there is   always sacrifice Logan.  We are the   future... not them.  We must protect   ourselves.  After tonight, when the   leaders of the world return home --   They will return as brothers, as   mutants... and our cause will be   theirs.  This is survival, I know you   understand that, Logan... or is it   Wolverine? He steps out of the hatch and closes it. LIBERTY ISLAND - NIGHT Magneto who looks down.  From atop what, we cannot tell. Magneto comes to stand on a railing outside from his high perch, overlooking the island.  From here we pull out to reveal at last where he is. HE IS NOT ON ELLIS ISLAND AT ALL Instead, he stands on the catwalk around the torch of the Statue of Liberty, about a mile away. He has his back to it s gold translucent flame, looking over at the activity on Ellis Island, hearing the band and inhaling the cool evening breeze.     MAGNETO   Give me your tired, your poor... And he turns to the bright lights of Manhattan and it s millions of inhabitants.     MAGNETO   ... Your huddled masses. He brings a radio to his lips.     MAGNETO   Lights. POWER STATION - NIGHT Sabretooth is tearing the padlocks off of the generator shed that powers the island.   POWER STATION - NIGHT Sabretooth grabs a hold of a fuse lever marked ìLiberty Display Lightsî and pulls it down.  Turning it off.   TORCH - NIGHT Logan is now in darkness.  He frantically pulls on his binds.  No use.   X-JET - NIGHT Cyclops is monitoring the area above-water on a video screen.     JEAN   (points to the monitor)   The lights on the Statue of Liberty   are off.     STORM   Beast said that he would have to take   a high vantage po  Cyclops, motioning to an open area of water next to Liberty Island.     CYCLOPS   Let s dock over there. Cyclops pulls a lever.  The X-Jet begins to surface.     CYCLOPS   Storm, give us some cover.   APARTMENTS VARIOUS - NIGHT Televisions all over the city show the Statue sitting dark to countless curious viewers.   X-JET - NIGHT The water level outside the X-Jet lowers as the plane surfaces. X-JET - NIGHT The plane rises until it is nearly flush with the surface of the water -- Not a hundred yards from an obvious Coast Guard cutter.  Out the jet s window, the Statue rises away into the fog that is now rolling in over the Harbor.   SECURITY CONTROL CENTER - NIGHT  The OPERATIONS COMMANDER raises a radio to his mouth.     OPERATION COMMANDER   Liberty One, Liberty One, this is   Horizon, do you copy. AN AGENT S VOICE RESPONDS.     AGENT S VOICE   Go, Horizon.     OPERATION COMMANDER   (on radio)   Liberty, what s the situation with the   lights, over? LIBERTY ISLAND - NIGHT IT IS MYSTIQUE.  The lower part of her face and the whole her neck are that of a stocky man.     MYSTIQUE AGENT S VOICE   Uhhh, Horizon, we ve seem to have had   a shutdown at the generator, we re   five by five.  There now, checking it   out.  Everything is fine other-wise.     OPERATION COMMANDER   (on radio)   Roger Liberty one.  Horizon out. She MORPHS back into her full self and smiles.     MYSTIQUE   Darling...  We re clear. SEAWALL - NIGHT Jean, Cyclops, Storm and Rogue step off the wing tip of the X-Jet onto the island.  They climb over the fog encased seawall and stand staring up at the Statue and the desolate island. TORCH - NIGHT Magneto takes this moment in the darkness to point his hands and all of his concentration on the bottom of the torch. The air RIPPLES with magnetic energy as -- the cap-like end piece of the torch begins to vibrate, metal groans, twists... WITH A CRACK OF METAL, it comes free, dropping to the ground.   TORCH - NIGHT Logan stares down through the hollow torch as the cap falls away into the fog. STATUE - BOTTOM - NIGHT The foursome are deciding how to proceed.     CYCLOPS   We should check out operations, see if   the Secret Service is still around. Storm is surveying the layout of the island.  She looks up at the Statue.     STORM   LOOK OUT. They all look up.  The cap of the torch is SCREAMING DOWN towards them out of the sky.  It crashes down as they leap out of the way.     CYCLOPS   I m going to assume that means that   the Secret Service is out of   commission.  Jean, can you raise me up   there?     JEAN   It s too far.     CYCLOPS   (assessing the situation)   Storm, Rogue, -- you take the south   entrance.   (pointing to the main  entrance)   Jean and I will go in here. Storm and Rogue start for the south entrance.     CYCLOPS   (to Storm and Rogue)   I ll see you both soon. TORCH - NIGHT Magneto prepares to execute the next stage of his plan when he looks out over the island.  A DENSE FOG has rolled in, obscuring his view of the bottom half of the Statue.  He looks out towards Ellis Island and sees that the fog is localized over Liberty Island.     MAGNETO   (into radio)   Be careful everyone...  I think we may   have company. SEAWALL - NIGHT The Coast Guard boat Magneto came in on.  The giant tarp on the boat and what is under it. IT RISES IN THE AIR, standing upright.  The tarp slides to the deck to reveal  THE MACHINE.  The one Kelly and Xavier saw.  The air ripples as it rises higher in the air.   MUSEUM - NIGHT Storm and Rogue quietly enter the Statue s museum.  It is filled with scale models and full size displays documenting the history of Lady Liberty.  One display showcasing the METAL STRIPS which line the Statue for support.  They quickly head for an exit on the far side of the room. SUDDENLY  The lights go out.  Darkness. A low guttural CROAK echoes in the void.     STORM   (whispering)   Rogue... run. Rogue runs into the darkness, heading for the exit.  She dashes past a six foot copper replica of the Statue and out the door. As soon as Rogue is past, the Statue s HEAD TURNS and watches her go.  The replica blinks and the eyes turn Mystique yellow.   TORCH - NIGHT The machine is rising.  Logan yanks at the manacles in an attempt to pull his hands free.   OLD TORCH ROOM - NIGHT A giant room that welcomes the many visitors to the Statue.  In the center is the old torch, placed there after the Statue s  restoration.  The only light in the room is a soft red glow that emanates from the old torch. Cyclops notices a map of the Statue on a pedestal.     CYCLOPS   Over there. Cyclops and Jean study the map, looking for the way to the torch.  In front of them is the old torch.  It s eerie red glow is growing brighter. STATUE - TORCH - NIGHT THE MACHINE rises up and into the bottom of the torch itself.   TORCH - NIGHT The machine is now almost on him.  Logan s struggles turns to rage.  SHOOK -- He pops his claws and frantically cuts at the wall behind him, as the machine draws closer.   MUSEUM - NIGHT We hear an ominous LOW RUMBLE, as you hear on an overcast day just before a thunderstorm.  SHEETS OF HEAT LIGHTNING begin to roll across the ceiling, lighting the room in sporadic bursts. Toad darts around the room. FLASH -- Reptile eyes -- DARKNESS. FLASH -- A WEBBED CLAW -- closer -- DARKNESS. FLASH -- leaping body -- closer -- DARKNESS. Silence.  Darkness. The heat lightning continues to expose the room in rolling flashes. Silence.  Darkness. Suddenly, behind Storm the sound of ELEVATOR DOORS OPENING.  Storm spins and unleashes a BOLT OF LIGHTNING. The lightning strikes an empty GLASS HYDRAULIC ELEVATOR SHAFT.  No TOAD.   OLD TORCH ROOM - NIGHT  The map of the statue.  Cyclops watches as the dim red glow turns brighter and brighter.  He turns to look up at the old torch -- it glows FIERY RED HOT.     CYCLOPS   Get down! THE TORCH EXPLODES. A RING OF FIRE wipes across the room. Cyclops and Jean duck behind the marble map pedestal as fire whips around them. Move up through the CEILING OF FIRE to reveal Pyro at the center of the old torch.  His eyes wide, manipulating the fire like an orchestra conductor.   HALLWAY OUTSIDE THE MUSEUM - NIGHT Rogue runs down the hallway, she stops.  The sound of footsteps echo from behind her.  The footsteps quicken from walking to running.  Rogue runs to get away as the footsteps of her pursuer get closer.   MUSEUM - NIGHT Darkness.  Silence -- except for the sound of Storm s own breathing.  Storm s eyes dart around the room, her senses are in overdrive. Suddenly, SLIME drips onto her cheek.  A low guttural CROAK.  Storm looks up -- TOAD clings to the ceiling. WHAM.  Webbed feet slam into Storm s chest sending her flying into the elevator shaft.  She crashes helplessly to the bottom -- stunned. Toad s head peers through the open elevator doors to the level below, looking down on the helpless Storm.  Toad SMILES.  His webbed finger presses the elevator button. The elevator doors above her close, sealing her in the glass tubular shaft. The ROAR of the hydraulic engine coming to life, the elevator begins its crushing descent down toward Storm as she lies at the bottom of the shaft dazed.   OLD TORCH ROOM - NIGHT C.U. on Jean and Cyclops both pinned down. Fire sweeps around the map pedestal.  Cyclops turns. BOOM -- He fires a series of OPTIC BLASTS blindly through the fire, blasting the ceiling. Chunks of debris from the ceiling shower down onto Pyro. The inferno stops. Smoke fills the room, Jean tries to catch her breath. Cyclops stands and heads toward the old torch trying to draw a bead on Pyro.  Cyclops doesn t see him.  When  A COLUMN OF FIRE erupts from the thick smoke, rocketing at Cyclops. Cyclops dodges, flipping a heavy wood table with flaming pamphlets on it -- using it as a shield against Pyro s fiery onslaught. TORCH - BACK - NIGHT ANGLE FROM DIRECTLY OVERHEAD  Magneto on the side of the torch s flame raises the huge machine -- while on the other side -- LOGAN PUSHES HIMSELF THROUGH THE HOLE -- his hands still bound behind his back, and slams against the outer railing of the torch. Logan looks around in shock.  He realizes where he is. He looks out at all the activity on Ellis Island, drawing a greater understanding of Magneto s plan. TORCH - FRONT - NIGHT With a MAGNETIC RIPPLE of the air Magneto drives the machine right up through the bottom of the torch like batteries in a flashlight. TORCH - BACK - NIGHT Logan turns his back to the hole he has just emerged from and braces his cuffs against the rising machine.  The machine pushes against Logan s wrists driving his cuffs up against the top of the hole. CRACK. The pressure leaves the cuffs apart.   ELEVATOR SHAFT - NIGHT Storm s eyes open, looking straight up.  The elevator continuing its crushing descent. Storm struggles to her feet.  Her hand presses against the thick glass elevator shaft, it surrounds her like a coffin. LIGHTNING strike the glass -- to no effect. Storm frantically searches for a way out.  She looks up to see the elevator closing fast. Storm raises her hands above her head.  WIND begins to lift Storm s hair.  The wind picks up and starts swirling violently against the sides of the elevator shaft. Wildly, the wind whips around causing a CYCLONE within the glass shaft buffeting upwards against the elevator. The elevator groans as the hydraulics fight the unrelenting vortex of wind.  Smoke begins to pour from the hydraulics, which whine in protest.  At the center of the tornado stands Storm, a force of nature. As the elevator continues its descent the cyclone pushes outward.  Small cracks start to appear on the glass walls. She is now forced almost to the ground.  The elevator is now inches from Storm s head.  The floor is made of a thicker version of the same Plexiglas and we look up through it, the massive elevator looming over Storm. BOOM. The glass walls explode outward, showering the museum. Storm partly rolls and is partly blown from the shaft to safety.  The pressure of the cyclone released, the elevator SLAMS to the bottom.   OLD TORCH ROOM - NIGHT Jean, having caught her breath, looks over to  C.U. on Cyclops.  He s pinned down as fire wraps around the table -- the fire is burning through. Jean, seeing Cyclops defenseless, stands up from behind the marble podium.  She quickly scans the room and spots, on opposite walls near the old torch, TWO LARGE FIRE EXTINGUISHERS. Jean stretches out her fists and focuses her telekinesis. Pyro spots Jean -- with one hand continuing to blast Cyclops, he uses the other to unleash an ARM OF FIRE toward Jean. Jean focuses as she brings her outstretched fists closer together.  Suddenly -- the two fire extinguishers crash through their glass holders. Like two gunslingers in a showdown. The extinguishers bullet toward Pyro. The arm of fire rockets closer to Jean. Suddenly, the EXTINGUISHERS COLLIDE EXPLODING in front of Pyro. Inches from Jean s face, the ARM OF FIRE disappears. The COLUMN OF FLAMES against Scott VANISHES.  The flames once covering the room are gone, a choking smoke is all that remains. Through the smoke, at the center of the old torch, Pyro lies dead, covered in a sea of white foam. Jean starts choking on the smoke.  Cyclops stands and motions for her to get out of the smoke filled room. TORCH - FRONT - NIGHT The machine finally locks into place.  Magneto raises a walkie talkie to his face.     MAGNETO   Lights on.   POWER STATION - NIGHT Sabretooth grabs a hold of the lever for the ìLiberty Displayî power breaker and pulls up.  Turning it on.   ELLIS ISLAND - GREAT HALL - NIGHT The lights of the Statue come back on.  The crowd of dignitaries burst into enthusiastic applause as if it is part of the proceedings.   SECURITY CONTROL CENTER - NIGHT The Statue now lit up in the monitors.     OPERATION COMMANDER   Roger.  We see the lights. TORCH - FRONT - NIGHT Magneto turns and opens the hatch.  Magneto sees the hole -- Logan is gone. TORCH - BACK - NIGHT Magneto walks over and stares at the hole, clearly out by Logan s claws. Magneto looks at his fingers after wiping the edge of the hole.  Logan s blood.  Magneto looks down and sees Logan s claw marks down the arm of the Statue, marking his escape. Magneto scans the island from his high perch.  He does not see Logan. STATUE - MAIN ENTRANCE - NIGHT The doors to the old torch room burst open -- SMOKE BILLOWS OUT.  Jean runs out coughing violently. Suddenly, Toad lands in front of Jean, grabs her head and before she can react, his tongue launches at her face. His tongue covers her face with an ADHESIVE SLIME.  Jean falls to the ground.  Toad looks back at the main entrance, sees Cyclops emerging and LEAPS up, out of frame.  Cyclops stumbles out of the smoke filled building. Seeing Jean lying on the ground, he runs to her. Cyclops turns Jean on her back, ready to perform CPR.  He is shocked, the slime has now hardened to Jean s face. She is suffocating.  He desperately tries to pry it off.  The camera quickly pulls higher and higher revealing -- TOAD S   OBSERVATION DECK - NIGHT Toad looks down, perched on top of the railing surrounding the base of the Statue -- the same position he had before crushing the Secret Service agent. Toad arches his back ready to spring downward.  He will kill two birds with one crushing leap. The sound of WIND. C.U. Toad s face static, his eyes slowly look to the side.  His head twists, looking over his shoulder.  Storm stands behind him. Toad turns and hops off the railing towards Storm. C.U. on TOAD S FACE.  Which is horrible.     TOAD   Don t you people die? Suddenly the wind picks up violently.  Toad moves closer -- fighting the wind. Storm is MAD.  A face we remember seeing on a young girl in Africa. Toad fights the gale force winds, his webbed feet adhering to the ground.  He inches closer to Storm.  Toad bares his FANGS. STATUE - MAIN ENTRANCE - NIGHT On the ground Cyclops notices the wind howling with rage above him.  He frantically pulls on the encrusted slime suffocating Jean. OBSERVATION DECK - NIGHT Storm s eyes widen.  HURRICANE force winds blast Toad. Try as he might to use his sticky feet to hold on, Toad is blown back off his feet, catching the deck with his hands. The piece of the deck TEARS LOOSE still attached to Toad s hands.  He flies off the deck, past the metal railing.  Toad s tongue LASHES OUT AND ATTACHES TO THE RAILING.  For a moment, Toad just flaps there like a flag. Storm RAISES HER ARMS. CRASH -- A huge BOLT OF LIGHTNING strikes the railing. Toad is blown off the railing in a flash of electricity and -- HARBOR - NIGHT Toad lands in the water.  He disappears below the surface leaving nothing but bubbles. OBSERVATION DECK - NIGHT Storm moves to the railing.  She looks down at Cyclops and Jean.  Suddenly, the metal railing on which her hands rest BEGIN TO BEND TOWARD HER. STATUE - MAIN ENTRANCE - NIGHT Cyclops continues to pull on the slime.  Jean s struggles are becoming more panicked. Cyclops stops and puts his hands on Jean s shoulders, pinning her down.     CYCLOPS   Jean.  Jean stop.  Stop moving. Jean continues to struggle for a moment.  She starts to calm down, her chest still hitching involuntarily for air.     CYCLOPS   Jean, trust me.  Don t move. He takes a hold of her chin and grips it tightly.  He FIRES A THIN, FOCUSED OPTIC BEAM INTO THE ENCRUSTED SLIME, splitting it in half.  He pulls the remains away from her face. Jean GASPS for air.  Then she looks up.  Her face turns to horror.  Behind Cyclops, towering over him is -- Sabretooth. WHAM!  Sabretooth smashes down. BLACK   HALLWAY OUTSIDE THE MUSEUM - NIGHT Rogue turns the corner of the hallway and trips, tumbling to the ground. Rogue watches from the floor as the shadow of her pursuer bends around the corner.  The sound of their footsteps get closer.  The shadow is upon her, turning the corner. It is LOGAN.     LOGAN   I didn t mean to scare you.     ROGUE   Thank God.  Logan... we have to help   Storm we have to. Logan looks around to make sure it s clear.     LOGAN   I ll go back, but first let me find   you a safe place. Logan extends his hand.     LOGAN   Here, take my hand. Rogue looks at Logan confused.  Logan grows impatient.     LOGAN   Take it!  Over Logan s shoulder.  On the back of his neck we see some BLUE SCALES.  Logan is not Logan, Logan is MYSTIQUE.   STATUE - HEAD - NIGHT  -on Magneto s belt, which is lined with METAL STRAPS.  Magneto s hand comes into frame holding CYCLOPS  VISOR and places it against one of the straps.  The strap WRAPS ITSELF BACK AND AROUND, pinning the visor to the belt.  He brings a radio to his mouth.     MAGNETO   (into radio)   Mystique...  Mystique, where are you? Magneto turns to Sabretooth.     MAGNETO   Find Logan. Sabretooth exits as Magneto turns to reveal -- Jean and Cyclops, without his visor, are trapped in a hideous tangle of metal (taken from the Statue s steel bracing) forcing the two to face each other.  Two sharp points of metal rest on either side of Cyclops  head, locking it in position.  Cyclops  is close enough to feel Jean s breath -- if he opens his eyes, he will destroy everything in his path, including Jean. Storm is also encased in a myriad of sharp metal bands, pinning her to the wall.  Razor sharp pieces of metal warp and close on her throat. All in all, they are completely disabled. Jean struggles to free them with her telekinesis, to no avail.     CYCLOPS   (whispering)   Jean... can you?     JEAN   (whispering)   I m sorry.  I m not strong enough. Magneto stands next to Storm.  Close.     MAGNETO   (whispering)   If the temperature changes a single   degree...   (looking at Jean)   I only need one hostage. Magneto stares icily at Storm. As if to accentuate the threat, a piece of metal pokes ever so slightly into the side of Storm s throat.     MAGNETO   (raising his voice)   Now if you can hear me Logan... SEAWALL - NIGHT We find Logan -- The real Logan.  He has made it off the Statue and is about to jump off the seawall.  He stops suddenly.   of his ear.  His powerful hearing enables him to hear Magneto.     MAGNETO (V.O.)   ... and I know you can -- It is a five   minute run from the furthest distance   on this island.  If you are not back   in this time...  I will kill these   friends of Xavier s.  Including the   young lady from the gymnasium.  I   think they came here to ìrescue you.î   STATUE - HEAD - NIGHT Magneto looks to his hand -- the CHIP from Cerebro.     MAGNETO   I also have a small piece of Cerebro   that might be of interest to you, if   you hope to save Charles Xavier. SEAWALL - NIGHT     MAGNETO (V.O.)   Xavier is dying you know.  Five   minutes Logan. Logan s face shows the frustration.  Again, he is forced to make a decision.   STATUE - HEAD - NIGHT Magneto pulls out the chip taken from Cerebro and walks over to Jean.     MAGNETO   Here -- Xavier s life. He tucks it in an exposed part of her uniform.     MAGNETO   If I get what I want, you can try and   save him... for old times sake. Magneto turns to Storm.     MAGNETO   Now... shall we talk about the   weather.   ELLIS ISLAND - MAIN ENTRANCE - NIGHT The President addresses the audience.  We move across all the world s leaders sitting with their families.  Men, women and children of every race, color and creed that the planet Earth has to offer.   STATUE - HEAD - NIGHT     JEAN   Magneto.  I ve seen the results of   your machine.  I ve seen Senator   Kelly.     MAGNETO   Ahhhh, so the good Senator survived   his fall?  And the swim to shore?  He   is stronger than I ever could have   imagined.     JEAN   The experiment was a failure.  Kelly   didn t make it.  Yes, you were   successful in activating his mutator   gene, but you failed to take into   account the rest of his body -- it   wasn t ready for the strain.   Kelly was dead within hours.  Your   machine kills.     MAGNETO   Quiet... Magneto pauses.  Shock registering on his face that he could be wrong.  Thinking.  Considering what Jean is telling him.  His mind races and calculates the possibility.  Then    MAGNETO   I don t believe you.     JEAN   You don t understand. Magneto gets angry -- squeezing the metal surrounding Jean s head.  Jean gasps.  This drives Cyclops crazy, but he is helpless to stop it.     CYCLOPS   (yelling)   Stop it!     MAGNETO   Why can t you see what I am trying to   do?  Why do you stand in my way? Magneto s anger is boiling over. THUD -- the sound of footsteps, then another and another. The faces around the room look at the stairs as the footsteps get closer and louder.     MAGNETO   Check and mate. PAUSE. SUDDENLY  SHOOK -- Logan s claws shoot up through the floor, and through Magneto s feet.  Magneto howls.  The claws retract and Magneto falls. Magneto, writhes in pain, rolling onto his stomach. Logan quickly comes up the stairs and into the Statue s head.  He stands over the crippled Magneto. Logan turns to Jean who is still pressed eye to eye with Cyclops.  He is relieved to see her alive.  Storm.  She sees something.  Several of the steel bands that support the top of the Statue s head begin to move.     STORM   Logan! THREE METAL BAND peel off the ceiling, coming to life with magnetic energy.  They leap across the room and wrap around Logan.  Forcing his fists to press against his chest. Should he so much as extend his claws, he will rupture his own vitals.  The metal bands wrap behind his back. Magneto raises his hand and MAGNETIC WAVES RIPPLE.  Metal groans as Magneto peels open a gaping hole in the top of Lady Liberty s head.  Magneto looks up at the torch.  The wind howls. The AIR RIPPLES again as Magneto levitates the steel bands holding Logan, lifting Logan off the ground and out the hole in the Statue s head. STATUE - HEAD - NIGHT MAGNETIC WAVES thrust Logan through the air and --   TORCH - NIGHT WHAM -- THROUGH the metal skin of the flame.  Logan lands in the center of the sphere on top of the machine. Inside the sphere is a metal structure resembling the model of an atom.  Its rings expand as it receives Logan. Logan looks through the hole in the frame, down into the hole in the Statue s head, at Magneto.   STATUE - HEAD - NIGHT Magneto struggles to his feet, pulling himself up by his hands.  Magneto stares at Logan, impatient. Magneto stands with a hand raised up toward the machine. Then a slight motion of his wrist --   TORCH - NIGHT The rings start revolving just as it did with Kelly, back at the lair.  Spinning slowly, then gaining in speed. The air around it RIPPLES, gaining in intensity.   STATUE - HEAD - NIGHT MAGNETIC ENERGY POURS from Magneto s hands toward the machine, behind him Jean and Storm watch helplessly.   TORCH - NIGHT The rings are spinning around Logan at such a speed, the rings themselves are no longer visible -- merely a blur around the stationary Logan. Logan yells.  Unthinkable pain, his skeleton beginning to glow through his skin. His eyes look down, through the hole in the torch, into the Statue s head, searching for Jean. The deafening whine builds louder and louder.   STATUE - HEAD - NIGHT Magneto looks at the incredible displays as MAGNETIC ENERGY flows from his hands continuing to charge the machine. Mystique emerges from the stairwell behind Magneto.  Her eyes widen in awe.     MAGNETO   Ahh, there you are. Mystique walks slowly toward magneto.  Storm and Jean watch the torch in horror.     JEAN   (to Mystique)   You have to stop him, the machine...   it kills people... Mystique ignores Jean.  She stops behind Magneto.  She looks up and sees Logan staring back in agony.     JEAN   ... Please do something. Magneto tilts his head slightly, acknowledging Jean, but not moving from his task.     MYSTIQUE   Don t listen to her... it s a trap. Magneto turns.     MAGNETO   What is?     MYSTIQUE   This is. And she grabs the sides of his face and kisses him deeply.  There is an awkward moment.  Until  MAGNETO CONVULSES.  Once, then again.  Then he struggles to be set free. And MYSTIQUE TRANSFORMS INTO ROGUE. It has been her all along, using SHAPE SHIFTING powers borrowed from the real Mystique. Magneto fights to get free, but his power is being drained from him.     JEAN   ROGUE, DESTROY THE MACHINE! Rogue goes to pull away, BUT MAGNETO WON T LET HER GO. Magneto grabs hold of Rogue s throat -- CHOKING HER.   TORCH - NIGHT Logan looking down, through the hole in the Statue s head for Jean, sees Rogue and Magneto struggle. Logan watches helplessly as MAGNETO STRANGLES ROGUE. LOGAN YELLS -- THE WHITE LIGHT BEGINS TO EMANATE FROM HIS BODY.  His flesh starts to SMOLDER.   STATUE - HEAD - NIGHT Magneto is strangling Rogue, who clings to his face -- drawing his powers. The walls GROAN as magnetic energy RIPPLES through the Statue s head.  Rogue, choking to death, looks frantically at Cyclops for help.  She raises one of her hands and uses Magneto s stolen power to BEND BACK THE METAL POINTS so that Cyclops is able to move his head again.  Without his visor however, he is still unable to open his eyes. Magneto, feeling the last of his power draining from him, grabs Rogue tightly and SLAMS her into the wall.  Rogue slumps in Magneto s arms and the two collapse to the ground.   TORCH - NIGHT The sound from the machine is DEAFENING.  SUDDENLY -- SILENCE. ABSOLUTE SILENCE. At the silence, all eyes turn to the torch. It is too late -- THE MACHINE IS FULLY CHARGED. Logan s eyes tense.  He clenches his teeth.  Logan does the unthinkable. SHOOK. The glowing white claws extend through Logan s chest and out his back cutting three metal straps binding him. Logan ROARS in pain as he -- Pulls his claws from his chest. SLASH -- his claws rip through the inside of the machine - - cutting apart the rings spinning around him. The translucent torch of the Statue is CUT TO PIECES BY THE FLYING METAL.   ELLIS ISLAND - GREAT HALL - NIGHT The President and the dignitaries turn.  Secret Service rush to the window.  A wave of panic sweeps the crowd.   SECURITY CONTROL CENTER - NIGHT The flaming torch lights up one of many screens.     OPERATION COMMANDER   Liberty one this is Horizon...  I   repeat... do you copy?  Liberty one   this is Horizon ... I repeat... do you   copy? STATUE - TORCH - NIGHT Where the flame of the torch once stood, now stands Logan, his skeleton cooling down. Logan leans on the torch s railing, his chest bleeds from the six claw wounds.  Logan is exhausted.  He looks down at his comrades still trapped by the metal bands.  And Magneto lying powerless on the floor.  SUDDENLY, from below -- A MASSIVE CLAWED HAND strikes Logan s chest.  The blow sends Logan sailing back to the far end of the torch. Logan lies against the railing.  Opening his eyes he sees -- TWO CLAWED FEET following upward to a very angry, very large Sabretooth, towering over him. Sabretooth leaps at Logan.  Against the New York skyline THEY GO AT IT, SLASHING AND HOWLING. MANHATTAN HARBOR - NIGHT Several Coast Guard cutters head full-speed toward Liberty Island.  Their decks covered with armed Secret Service. TORCH - NIGHT Sabretooth picks up Logan over his head and throws him like a rag doll into the railing on the other side of the torch. Logan struggles to his feet -- dazed.  Suddenly, Sabretooth, running at full steam, tackles him.  Slamming Logan into the railing. The metal railing bends. Sabretooth holds Logan by his wrists, trying to push him over the edge.  It is several hundred feet to the ground below. Logan is weakening.  Sabretooth is in complete control, he leans down near Logan s ear.     SABRETOOTH   (whispering)   Your girlfriend is next. With all his might, Logan pushes his clenched fists as close to Sabretooth s face as he can.  SHOOK!  The claws pop.  Sabretooth springs back to protect his face. LOGAN KICKS WITH ALL HIS MIGHT AND SABRETOOTH flies back to the other side of the torch. LOGAN leaps up and running at full speed, tackles Sabretooth -- like a train plowing into a stalled car. The metal railing snaps and they both go flying through the air. STATUE - HEAD - NIGHT CRACK. Sabretooth and Logan slam onto the top of the Statue s head. Logan rolls off the back of the Statue s head and falls. Sabretooth stands and looks over the edge - nothing.  All he can see is the Statue s body curving away towards the ground.  He smiles, and turns back to the hole. STATUE - HEAD - NIGHT  LOGAN - Hanging from the ear of the Statue, the claws of his right hand embedded in the lobe at the end of three sets of long claw-marks. He looks up.  A look of brutal determination crosses his face.  Straining, he pulls himself up by his right arm. The cords stand out on his neck as he tries to get to shoulder level.  He aims his left claw a little further up on the ear and -- THUNK. He drives it in.   STATUE - HEAD - NIGHT WHAM -- Sabretooth s feet as he lands on the metal floor.  He quickly takes in the situation, Magneto and Rogue are still unconscious.  He walks towards Storm. The air in the room starts to CRACKLE and Sabretooth s hair begins to stand on end as it did when these two last confronted each other.     SABRETOOTH   I don t think so. Sabretooth backhands Storm across the jaw, knocking her out.  As her head drops, he draws his claws and slashes it down.  It STOPS, just before tearing open Storm s throat, HELD BY AN UNSEEN FORCE.  He turns and sees that Jean has focused her power in his arm.  He smiles. He walks to Jean and tears off her bonds.  He reaches out to grab her neck but his claw is stopped again in mid- air.  Sabretooth just smiles wider and forces his hand forward.  The outcome never really in doubt, the claw wraps around Jean s neck.  She begins to choke.     CYCLOPS   Jean! Sabretooth lifts Jean by the neck and walks away from Cyclops as he chokes her.     SABRETOOTH   Sorry about this sweetheart, but I   made Logan a promise. Jean struggles desperately against Sabretooth s unbreakable grip, the life draining from her.  Then --     LOGAN   Hey, ya big pussy. Sabretooth whips around, still clutching Jean to see - LOGAN - Bleeding, beaten and panting, and yet still standing defiantly over Magneto s unconscious body.     LOGAN   I ain t finished with you yet. Sabretooth looks at him, disbelieving that this man can still be standing, let alone challenging him... and he starts to laugh.     SABRETOOTH   You? Logan grins.     LOGAN   Not just me. And with that he extends ONE CLAW from his right hand, squats down, and cuts the piece of metal holding Cyclops  visor to Magneto s belt.  He lifts it up and it slides down his claw to his hand.  He casually throws it in the air.     LOGAN   Jean? Logan looks at the visor and it freezes in the air. It flies across the room, right past Sabretooth s head. He lunges at it with his free claw but just misses it. The visor lands square on Cyclops  eyes, and attaches itself to Cyclops  face. He turns. BOOM! A focused OPTIC BLAST hits Sabretooth like a FREIGHT TRAIN.  He drops Jean and SLAMS THROUGH THE WALL. STATUE - NIGHT We see the side of the Statue s head.  Suddenly, Sabretooth BLASTS THROUGH THE EYE. For a moment Cyclops  beam continues to fire through the eye as if the Statue itself is imitating Cyclops  power. SEAWALL - NIGHT Magneto s boat still sits quietly next to the seawall. CRASH. Sabretooth s body SMASHES THROUGH THE ROOF of the boat. The tarp flies up and drifts back down to rest over Sabretooth s body.   STATUE - HEAD - NIGHT Logan s breathing is strained, a blood stain in the middle of his shirt, but he is in control.  Logan looks up, his eyes met by Jean s. He walks over to Storm and Cyclops and SHOOK! cuts them loose.  Jean and Cyclops catch Storm, who begins to come around. Cyclops smiles.  Logan kneels down beside Rogue.  He wants to comfort her but cannot touch her.  She opens her eyes and sees Logan.     ROGUE   Hey...  There you are.   (sudden apprehension)   Is it really you?     LOGAN   (not quite sure what she s  talking about)   Yeah, it s really me.     CYCLOPS   Come on, let s get out of here. Logan stands.  He takes a couple of steps before collapsing in Cyclops  arms.     LOGAN   (sliding to the ground)   I m o.k.  I m o.k.     CYCLOPS   Sure you are, sport. LIBERTY ISLAND - DOCK - NIGHT Several Coast Guard cutters and police boats reach the island.  Men run across the dock as we pull up -- LIBERTY ISLAND - NIGHT The Coast Guard, Secret Service, and FBI descend upon the island.   OLD TORCH ROOM - NIGHT Security enters the smoldering remains of the old torch room.  The walls blackened by a past inferno.  At the center, Pyro lies motionless in a sea of foam.   MUSEUM - NIGHT Push in on MYSTIQUE who is tied up.  Across her feet a crack of light as the door begins to open.  Swish pan over to the NYPD entering the room.  Swish pan back. Mystique has taken the form of a Secret Service agent.     AGENT MYSTIQUE   Hey, could somebody untie me! SEAWALL - NIGHT A Secret Service spots the wreckage of Magneto s boat and the large tarp which covers it.  He pulls his gun.     SECRET SERVICE MAN #   (to other agents)   Hey!  Over here. Three other agents pull their guns and aim at the tarp. The first agent pulls it back to reveal... nothing. Sabretooth is gone.   STATUE - HEAD - NIGHT NYPD and Secret Service rush up the stairs and into the head.  Magneto lies unconscious on the floor. The lead guy, an NYPD OFFICER in a flak jacket, holding a shotgun, stares up at the ceiling.  He peers out through the gaping hole.  Beyond the damaged torch the star filled sky is momentarily eclipsed by a aircraft -- the X- Jet. The officer turns to say something, but stops -- wondering if his eyes were merely playing tricks on him.   MANSION - DAY Cyclops, Jean, Storm, Rogue and about two dozen students all sit in front of a wide screen TV watching the Special Report on the Mutant Registration Act vote. As the Anchorman speaks we move over the concerned looks on all of their faces.     ANCHORMAN   Even after last weeks terrorist   vandalization of the Statue of Liberty   by an unidentified mutant   organization, the outcome of the vote   was  to  in opposition to the   Mutant Registration Act. A LOUD CHEER as the room erupts into celebration.     CYCLOPS   Quiet.  Quiet everybody.     ANCHORMAN   This narrow defeat was probably due in   large part to the surprising last-   minute reversal by Senator Scott   ìFrankî Kelly, who until today   provided the loudest voice in the cry   for Mutant Registration.  Earlier   today, Kelly had this to say  The TV cuts to a shot of Kelly being grilled by reporters as he walks down the Capitol steps.     KELLY   (struggling to get through)   If we can not go into the future   together, the divisions of fear and   prejudice will tear this country   apart. As he is speaking, we cut to  CAPITOL BUILDING - WASHINGTON D.C. - DAY Kelly pushing past reporters.     KELLY   No more questions.  Please, no more   questions.   The back of Kelly s neck as he passes.  A BLUE SCALE is visible above his collar.   LOGAN S ROOM - DAY The FAINT CHEERS are heard through the walls. HAZY THEN FOCUS INTO -- light pushes through blinds.  A gentle breeze moves them slightly. Logan sits up in his bed, his chest bandaged. VRRRIP -- the sound of blinds being pulled open.  Bright sunshine fills the room, washing across a box and a card sitting on a bureau.  the card as Logan reads it. LOGAN -- WELCOME HOME.  It is signed simply, X. Logan reaches in the box, pulling out -- a UNIFORM.  He lays it on the bed.  He pulls on one of the gloves, stretching his fingers in it.  Perfect fit. SHOOK -- He pops his claws through THREE METAL RINGLETS on the back of the glove -- clearly it was made specifically for him. Logan looks down into the box for him.   LOGAN S ROOM - LATER - DAY From behind Logan we see him finish putting something on over his head.  Logan turns into frame, he is wearing a dark blue MASK. It fits his head neatly.  The sides arch up shadowing his ears, giving him a wolf or fox-like appearance.  The shape is reminiscent of Logan s sketch -- the wolverine. Logan stands facing a mirror.  The mask looks good on him and he seems to know it. Xavier is in the doorway. Logan pulls off the mask, embarrassed.     LOGAN   Don t you knock?     XAVIER   They re all asking how you re doing.   Are you feeling up to saying hello to   everyone?     LOGAN   (pulling the glove off)   Actually I m feeling up to leaving. Logan walks over to the closet and pulls out a shirt.  He puts it on.     XAVIER   (surprised)   Why?  You have a home here now, if you   want it.  Everyone will...     LOGAN   What?... miss me?  Charley, I m gonna   walk out the front door and trust me,   it won t be soon enough for everyone   here. Logan pulls a duffle bag out of the closet.     LOGAN   Can I, umm?     XAVIER   Of course.  Everything in this room is   for you. Logan seems genuinely touched by the gesture.     LOGAN   Thanks, I ll pay you back. Logan shoves some clothes into the bag, but not all.     XAVIER   Well if you re going to leave then you   at least owe them a goodbye. Logan smirks.  He picks up his bag.  They exit the room together.   MANSION - DAY The celebration continues unabated.  The newscaster on the defeat of the Mutant Registration Act muted, in the background -- Storm, Jean, and Cyclops all sit around a table chatting.  Rogue sits on the couch with other students, trying on a new pair of leather gloves.     XAVIER   Excuse me.   (louder)   Excuse me. Xavier is in the doorway.     XAVIER   Everyone, Logan would like to say... Logan steps into the doorway.  Everyone can see him now. Before Xavier can finish his sentence he is interrupted by -- APPLAUSE -- simple, genuine, applause. Students slowly stand up.  Proud of Logan.  For he is one of them.  He is a mutant.  And he is a hero. As the unconditional applause echoes around him, Logan seems sincerely touched by their spontaneous outpouring. He is almost choked up -- almost. The applause quiet.     XAVIER   Well, Logan. All eyes are on Logan.  Logan pauses.  He looks to Xavier, then back to the room.     LOGAN   What s a guy gotta do to get a beer   around here? Logan puts his duffle bag down.  He walks over to the table with Storm, Cyclops and Jean.  Jean smiles at him, so does Cyclops -- his arm around the back of her chair. Logan sees them together, they are happy, and finally he offers a smile. Xavier holds for a moment at the door.  A look of pride on his face, the pride a father has for his children.   PLASTIC PRISON - DAY A CLEAR PLASTIC HALLWAY That s right, PLASTIC.  Everything we can see -- walls, ceiling, floor -- is made, entirely, of thick, clear plastic. DOWN THE HALL TO  A THICK PLASTIC CELL There, in the middle, at the clear plastic desk, with two clear plastic cups filled with the only thing of color other than the two men in the room. Xavier and Magneto. They play a friendly game of chess. Magneto is notably without his trademark helmet.  Two casts encase his legs from his Logan-inflicted injury. Xavier is on a modified plastic chair with plastic wheels.     MAGNETO   I wouldn t really have let you die,   you know.  I just needed...     XAVIER   (interrupting)   I know. Magneto thinks for a while; then    MAGNETO   Doesn t it ever wake you in the middle   of the night?  The feeling that some   day, some day very soon, they will   pass that foolish law - or one just   like it - and they will come for you   and your children?  Take you all away?     XAVIER   It does indeed, Max.     MAGNETO   And what do you do when you wake up to   that?     XAVIER   I feel a great swell of pity for the   poor soul who comes to that school   again looking for trouble. He stares right at Magneto. Xavier makes a move, Magneto counters.  Xavier moves again.     MAGNETO   But you know that it is a war, old   friend.  And to win a war it takes the   will to fight it at all costs, by any   means necessary.  And for that reason,   I will always have the advantage.  No   matter how you trap me, how I am   contained - Chess pieces seem to visually mimic their conversation Xavier s white pieces slowly surrounding Magneto s Black King.     MAGNETO   - I will always find an escape.     XAVIER   And I will always be there, old   friend. And with that, Xavier places his queen gently down, taking away a knight.     XAVIER   Check. Just then, the door to the cell opens.  A Guard waits. Magneto and Xavier stare at one another before Xavier turns and wheels himself out of the room. The door closes behind him, leaving Magneto alone with his plastic chess set in his plastic cell. And Magneto looks at the pieces before him.  Something occurs to him.  He smiles a wicked smile. And his rook LEVITATES, despite its properties, moving across the board and toppling Xavier s king.     MAGNETO   And mate.",
-		"A BLINDING WHITE SCREEN, under which we hear an ominous low end Dolby THX Big Screen rumble. We re not in   television land anymore, Toto. As the rumble builds, TWO BLACK FIGURES appear on what now has resolved into a distant horizon. From their movements we can shortly see that the figures are men. Moving along a windswept ice sheet in an otherwise featureless land. A LEGEND appears: NORTH TEXAS, ,  B.C. CLOSER ON THE TWO MEN Continuing toward us, we can now see that they are dressed in crude garments made of animal skins. If we squint we can see their hair is long, their jutting foreheads significant of primitive Homo Sapiens. They continue toward us, the wind beating against them, CAMERA IS CRANING DOWN to the snow that lies before them. To LARGE THREE-TOED TRACKS. FOLLOWING THE PRIMITIVES As they track the three-toed prints to a rocky crevice in the hard-pack ice. The prints stop here, and so do the men. Dropping down into the crevice in pursuit of their quarry.   ICE CAVE Dark in here, except where the sunlight penetrates the thick, glassy ice walls. The silhouettes of the Primitives stark against the glistening cavern. The sound of flint being struck, then A TORCH CATCHES FIRE, illuminating their faces. And: A CREATURE Deeper in the cave. Fleeing the light and the men. We get only a brief glimpse of it in the torch light, seeing that it moves upright on two legs and has gray, dinosaur-like skin. And large black eyes. But it moves quickly enough away that any other identifying feature is lost in the deeper shadows. THE PRIMITIVES Removing crude weapons made of sharpened bone from under their thick fur garments, and scrabbling into the constricting cavern, giving chase. Following them as they moves with animal-like agility through the tightening space. Predatory hunters. Their torchlight catching: THE CREATURE As it disappears into a tight opening in a smaller crevice leading off the main one. The Primitives entering frame after a moment, only a few steps behind. The LEAD PRIMITIVE dropping to the cave floor, pulling himself into this same tight fissure in pursuit. Splitting off from his partner who exits frame still on the run. SMALLER ICE CAVE - HIGH ANGLE DOWN The fiery torch comes through first, held by the lead man. Throwing dancing shadows on the walls of what appears to be a box cavern. CLOSE ON LEAD PRIMITIVE Rising quickly to his feet. Not seeing what the torch illuminates just behind him: The face of a dead Primitive Man, his body frozen into the ice. He does finally notice this, turning to see it, when he s ATTACKED VICIOUSLY FROM BEHIND. The torch falls to the floor so that the fight is difficult to see, but it is loud and cruel. The creature squealing wildly as the grunts of the Primitive now turn to the sounds of painful struggle. Until: THE SECOND PRIMITIVE MAN Suddenly appears, driving his bone weapon into the body of the Creature. Again and again, until the Creature is driven away into the shadows. The Second Man grabs the torch now, not to see if his hunting mate has survived, but in pursuit of the Creature. In the light we see that he and his weapon are covered with spatters of OILY BLACK BLOOD. As is the First Primitive whose body lies heaving on the floor. The Second Primitive stepping over his hunting mate, stalking the Creature into the shadows, where it has collapsed. The torch finally landing, for the first time, on its face. When the torchlight hits its face, the Creature attacks. But the Primitive prevails. He drops his torch and dispatches the already wounded Creature with strong hard stabs of his weapon, one of which penetrates the Creature s eye. LOW ANGLE ON THE DEAD CREATURE The torch, which lies on the ground, illuminates the dead creature s face. Its wounds are flowing with the oily black blood, which, oddly now, BEGINS TO POOL. As if it has intelligence, sentience. Pooling and traveling into a fissure in the cave floor. And disappearing. ANGLE ON THE SECOND PRIMITIVE Watching this, unknowing. His chest heaving from the fight, as the spots of Oily Black Blood which have spattered onto him begin to crawl. Crawling toward his eyes and mouth. Causing him to let out grunts of fear. Which are the sounds we hear as the CAMERA SLOWLY CRANES UP past the struggling Primitive to the roof of the cave, where the dancing shadows of the torch FADE AWAY with the sounds of struggle. Moving into darkness and silence. But only for a moment. Until: SUNSHINE BREAKS THROUGH THE ROOF OF THE CAVE - PRESENT DAY Along with the spade of a shovel. And then -- the earthen cave ceiling gives way and A BOY wearing Nikes and an old t-shirt falls through it. Falling PAST CAMERA. We hear a YELL, then a THUD, and a CLATTERING of the shovel that s fallen in with him. Then a pained GASPING. Then SEVERAL HEADS appear in the opening. These are BOYS of ten to eleven, staring down into the cave. Hot sunlight blazing in. We have traveled far, far forward in time.   ND BOY Hey, Stevie. You okay? CAVE - PRESENT DAY THEIR POV OF STEVIE On the floor below covered with dirt, in his nose and mouth. Spitting out.  All these boys have Texas in their voices.   STEVIE I got...I got....I got.... straining  ....the wind knocked out of me. This draws no sympathy from above, only LAUGHTER. THE BOYS UP ABOVE Staring excitedly.   RD BOY Looks like a cave or something.   ND BOY What s down there, Stevie? Anything? OVER THE BOYS ABOVE Stevie has gotten up, moving out of the patch of sunlight. Disappearing from view for a moment. Then reappearing, still spitting out dirt. But holding:  STEVIE Human skull. One side partially missing from the cranium. But it brings WHOOPS of delight from the boys above.   RD BOY Toss it up here, dude.  STEVIE No way, buttwipe. I found it. It s mine. ANGLE UP ON STEVIE The other boys looking down at him. Stevie looking at the skull. Strangely, the light shines through it. It is milky, opaque, as if it s bone that s turned somehow glassy in places. Then:  STEVIE Anyways, there s bones all over the place down here. Stevie looks down at his feet. CAMERA FOLLOWING HIS LOOK DOWN to where there are indeed more human bones. And something else. He takes a couple of steps in place, standing in a familiar BLACK, OILY substance -- which is climbing up his tennis shoe from the rock floor, over the edge of the shoe and down into the shoe itself. Then the SKULL drops in the frame, clattering on the hard floor of the cave. CAMERA SLOWLY RISING UP FROM STEVIE s SHOES Following SUBCUTANEOUS WORMS which have begun locomoting aggressively up his legs. As his whole body is WRACKED by a shivering seizure of some kind. CAMERA RISES, following the path of the worms as they move up the legs of his shorts. Some appearing on his bare arms, but the great majority continuing up to Stevie s neck, toward his face. Stevie stands paralyzed. Letting out guttural sounds not dissimilar to when the wind was knocked out of him.   RD BOY  O.S.  Hey, Stevie.... But Stevie cannot answer him. CAMERA CONTINUING UP to the boys above. Looking down at their friend. Their eyes go wide.   ND BOY You okay? But what they see next answers that question for them. THEIR POV OF STEVIE His face suddenly alive with the subcutaneous worms. Moving toward his eyes which begin filling with BLACK OIL. Looking much now like ALIEN EYES. CLOSE ON THE BOYS ABOVE Freaked by what they see. And doing what any kid would do now.   RD BOY Hey, man. Let s get outta here. And they do. Bolting from the hole in the top of the cave. CAMERA PUSHING UP THROUGH THIS HOLE to REVEAL we are: EXT. SMALL DIRT FIELD - NORTHERN TEXAS - DAY In a dirt hole that was being dug by the three kids. RISING UP out of the hole to REVEAL the parched dirt patch where THREE KIDS are running away from us, as fast as their feet will take them. Toward A NEW HOUSING TRACT  five floorplans to choose from, including the model home.  Disappearing into the neighborhood. A LEGEND appears: NORTH TEXAS, . CAMERA CONTINUES RISING ABOVE THE ROOFTOPS to see the surrounding expanse of empty Texas flatland. And in the distance, the DALLAS SKYLINE. As CAMERA SETTLES, there are a few moments of nothing but the sound of the wind gently whistling across the landscape. In which we bury a short TIME CUT. EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - NORTHERN TEXAS - DAY Then we HEAR it, before we see it: FIRE ENGINES pulling into the neighborhood, sirens WAILING. CAMERA DROPPING AGAIN as the lead engine pulls up. FIREMEN are hopping off, moving to the hole the boys dug. LOW ANGLE UP FROM BELOW GROUND LEVEL, IN THE DUGOUT HOLE TWO firemen carrying a ladder clamber down PAST CAMERA, THREE OTHERS appearing on their heels. The other two firemen clamber down, too. THE CAPTAIN at the edge of the hole watching them. Holding a radio.  FIRE CAPTAIN This is Captain Miles Cooles...we ve got a rescue situation in progress... CAVE - CONTINUOUS As the LEAD FIREMAN steps down the ladder into the cave. He scans the darkness, illuminated only by the shaft of light permitted by the hole above. As the  ND FIREMAN drops down next to him. The both stand motionless now, as if sensing something. THEIR POV Stevie s feet are just visible on the floor of the cave, a short distance away. RESUME FIREMEN - LOW ANGLE They start cautiously toward Stevie. CAMERA FINDING their feet. Tracking through the same OILY, BLACK SUBSTANCE we saw bleeding from the creature thirty five thousand years ago. As they move into the shadows, we HOLD ON THE SUBSTANCE....and see it MOVE. It s alive.   TIME EXT. DIRT FIELD - SHORT TIME LATER CAMERA RISES out of the dirt hole, finds A GROUP OF NEIGHBORS: Concerned PARENTS, KIDS, including Stevie s friends. They re held at a distance by the remaining firemen. Everyone turning their concerned gazes skyward. Looking at: A MED-EVAC CHOPPER Coming off the sun-setting horizon. Moving toward us at high speed. The WHOP, WHOP of its blade soon shaking the neighborhood as it banks in and around and hovers just over the dirt field. Landing gently on the parched hard scrabble. The side door flies open and FIVE HAZ-MAT RESCUE PARAMEDICS jump out carrying a bubble litter. CAMERA PANS THEM to the dirt hole past THE FIRE CAPTAIN. The Haz-Mat Paramedics moving down into the hole. The Fire Captain watches this, then stares toward -- DR. BEN BRONSCHWEIG  in shirtsleeves, tie , exiting the chopper, following up the rear. The Captain meeting him in route.  BRONSCHWEIG over the chopper  Keep those people back. Get them out of here.  FIRE CAPTAIN to his men  Move them all back. dogging Bronschweig  I sent four men down after the boy. They re not responding. Dr. Bronschweig s focus is elsewhere, though. He s making a bee line to the earthen hole where young Stevie is being pulled out and lifted into an enclosed QUARANTINE BUBBLE LITTER by the rescue squad. Bronschweig watches with great concern. Getting a good look now at Stevie s paralyzed body as it passes him. ANGLE ON CHOPPER As Stevie s body is loaded aboard, the side door is slid shut. The engine throttles up and the chopper takes flight again, almost as quickly as it arrived. The prop wash blowing: DR. BRONSCHWEIG And the gathering crowd. Bronschweig watches the chopper bank away, then turns his look to: THE NEIGHBORHOOD Where A SERIES OF UNMARKED CARGO VANS, TRUCKS are rolling in. A fleet of vehicles, driven by what looks like MILITARY PERSONNEL. Most conspicuously TWO WHITE UNMARKED TANKER TRUCKS.  There are NO MARKINGS on these vehicles.  RESUME BRONSCHWEIG As the Fire Captain moves around to face him off.  FIRE CAPTAIN What about my men?  DR. BRONSCHWEIG brusquely  We re doing all we can. And he moves off toward the approaching trucks where the MILITARY PERSONNEL are pulling out tents, tent poles, scientific equipment. Leaving the Captain to wonder what the hell s going on. Watching the first of many REFRIGERATION UNITS being unloaded. The personnel carrying it paying him no mind as they blow past him. Moving RIGHT TO CAMERA and plunging us into BLACK. HOLD. Then OVER BLACK, a familiar sound again. The sound of a chopper auguring in. As we FADE UP, revealing we are: EXT. TOP OF A SKYSCRAPER - DAY The chopper is banking over the side of the building, preparing to touch down on the rooftop where FIFTEEN FBI AGENTS in dark ID windbreakers are standing. A LEGEND appears: FEDERAL BUILDING, DALLAS, TEXAS. ONE WEEK LATER. The chopper touches down and, again, the side door is thrown open. But now only one man exits: SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE  S.A.C.  DARIUS MICHAUD. Michaud moves with the measured pace of authority, approaching the waiting FBI Agents. One of whom steps up.  FBI AGENT We ve evacuated the building and been through it bottom to top. No trace of an explosive device or anything resembling one.  S.A.C. MICHAUD Have you taken the dogs through?  FBI AGENT Yes, sir.  S.A.C. MICHAUD Well, take them through again. This is given as a non-negotiable order, to the somewhat weary FBI man. Who turns back to his charges, Michaud does not register this attitude, though. Something else has caught his attention. Causing him to walk to the edge of the building. CAMERA FOLLOWING HIM, seeing what he sees now. On an adjacent skyscraper is what appears to be AN FBI AGENT in an ID windbreaker exiting onto the roof. CAMERA CONTINUING AROUND into A CLOSE UP PROFILE of S.A.C Michaud. Staring at this, his jaw set. He doesn t like what he sees. And what he sees is: EXT. ROOFTOP OPPOSING SKYSCRAPER - DAY - CONTINUOUS Special Agent Dana Scully is coming out the door leading onto the roof. The door slams shut behind her. She, too, is dressed in an FBI windbreaker. She s dialing her cell phone as she moves around the rooftop looking for something. Dialing the number of:  SCULLY Mulder -- it s me --  MULDER  FILTER  Where are you, Scully?  SCULLY I m on the roof.  MULDER  FILTER  Did you find something?  SCULLY impatiently  No. I haven t.  MULDER  FILTER  What s wrong, Scully?  SCULLY I ve just climbed twelve floors. I m hot and thirsty and I m wondering, to be honest, what I m doing here.  MULDER  FILTER  You re looking for a bomb.  SCULLY I know that. But the threat was called in for the Federal Building across the street.  MULDER  FILTER  I think they have that covered. WE ARE TRACKING WITH SCULLY.  SCULLY impatience  Mulder... when a terrorist bomb threat is called in, the logical purpose of providing this information is to allow us to find the bomb. The rational object of terrorism is to promote terror. If you d study model behavioral pattern in virtually every case where a threat has turned up an explosive device. If we don t act in accordance with that data -- if you ignore it as we have done -- the chances are great that if here actually is a bomb we might not find it. Lives could be lost -- Scully, engrossed in her own argument, realizes she s been the only one speaking for the last short while. She stops walking.  SCULLY Mulder...?  MULDER What happened to playing a hunch? Scully almost JUMPS out of her own skin. The voice has come not over the phone, but from two feet away where: ANGLE TO INCLUDE AGENT MULDER Standing in the shadow of a large air conditioning unit. Cracking a trademark sunflower seed between his teeth. Clicking his cell phone off. Moving out.  SCULLY Jesus, Mulder...  MULDER The element of surprise, Scully. Random acts of unpredictability. If we fail to anticipate the unforeseen or expect the unexpected in a universe of infinite possibilities, we find ourselves at the mercy of anyone or anything that cannot be programmed, categorized or easily referenced... Mulder has moved to the edge of the building where he sails his sunflower seeds into the air. Dusting his hands off as if lost in a wistful through for just a moment.  MULDER What are we doing up here? It s hotter than hell. And he s on the move. Scully moving to catch up. NEW ANGLE Mulder is moving toward the stairs, Scully catching him. Mulder allowing her to lead him up the steps.  SCULLY I know you re bored in this assignment, but unconventional thinking is only going to get you into trouble now.  MULDER How s that?  SCULLY You ve got to quit looking for what isn t there. They ve closed the X-Files. There s procedure to be followed here. Protocol.  MULDER What do you say we call in a bomb threat for Houston. I think it s free beer night at the Astrodome. Scully gives him a look. It s no use. She reaches the door first, grabs the knob but... it won t open. Turning to Mulder.  SCULLY Now what?  MULDER suddenly nervous  It s locked? She wiggles the knob again.  SCULLY So much for anticipating the unforeseen... Scully squints into the sun, staring at Mulder. But he s quick on the draw, and realizes what she s up to. He grabs for the door and... it opens. Looking to Scully whose hard look of mock-scolding has become a smirking smile.  SCULLY Had you.  MULDER No you didn t.  SCULLY Oh yeah. Had you big time. And that s how it continues as they re-enter the stairwell, the door slamming shut behind them.   BUILDING LOBBY - DAY As an elevator DINGS and the doors open. Scully and Mulder exit into the lobby where people move in and out. Heads turn due to their FBI jackets.  Included atmosphere: a GROUP OF KIDS on a field trip, being led into an elevator by THEIR TEACHER.   SCULLY I saw your face, Mulder. There was a moment of panic.  MULDER Panic? Have you ever seen me panic, Scully?  SCULLY I just did. You re buying. Mulder fishes for change, but more out of sportsmanship.  MULDER Alright... what ll it be: Coke, Pepsi? A saline IV?  SCULLY Something sweet. Scully flashes a thin victory smile, as Mulder heads off. HALLWAY OUTSIDE VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS Mulder moving to a door with a small shingle above it which says SNACKS BEVERAGES. As he approaches, sorting through the change he s fished up, the door opens and A MAN IN A VENDOR s UNIFORM appears. He makes casual and ever-so-brief eye contact with Mulder as he brushes past him. Mulder making no note of this as he moves to catch the door before it closes.   SNACK AREA AND SODA VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY Mulder takes a few steps down into the windowless room. Moving past the snack machines to a LIGHTED soda machine. Finding the correct change and plunking it in. Hitting a button, but... nothing comes out.  MULDER Oh, come on. He beats his fist a couple of times on the front of the machine. Nothing. He finds more change. Plunking it in. Hits the button. Nothing. He stares at the machine a minute, then BEATS IT HARD with his fist. Nothing. Moving around to the back of the machine, looking for: ANGLE ACROSS BACK OF MACHINE Mulder s face peering in on the slim space between the machine and the wall. Reaching down and lifting the PLUG on the end of the electrical cord. It isn t plugged in. Realizing now why the machine hasn t spit out his sodas. RESUME FRONT ANGLE ON MACHINE As Mulder appears, stepping very lightly in front of the machine that he was just pounding away on. Looking at it, then moving quickly to the door he entered through. Grasping the knob, but finding it... LOCKED. He jiggles the knob, pulls on it. But there s no two ways about it, he s locked in.   BUILDING LOBBY - DAY Scully stands looking at her watch. Wondering where Mulder is. When her CELL PHONE starts ringing. She answers it.  SCULLY Scully...  MULDER  FILTER  Scully, I found the bomb.  SCULLY thinks he s joking  Where are you, Mulder?  MULDER  FILTER  I m in the vending room. Scully is on the move, but she doesn t believe him for a second. HALLWAY OUTSIDE VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS Scully appears, heard A POUNDING. Following this noise to the door Mulder is obviously on the other side of. Tries the door.  SCULLY Is that you pounding? SNACK AND SODA VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY Mulder holds his phone to his ear, using his other hand to pound.  MULDER Scully, get somebody to open this door.  SCULLY  FILTER  Nice try, Mulder. CAMERA FOLLOWING MULDER as he steps back, revealing now that he s gotten the hinged front of the coke machine open. But we can t yet see what s inside.  MULDER Scully -- listen to me. It s in the coke machine. You ve got about fourteen minutes to get this building evacuated. HALLWAY OUTSIDE VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS Scully is shaking her head. Tries the door again.  SCULLY C mon. Open the door. His response to this is MORE HARD POUNDING.  SCULLY Mulder? Tell me this is a joke.  MULDER  FILTER  Thirteen fifty nine, thirteen fifty eight, thirteen fifty seven... As he is doing this, Scully is bending to see: THE KEYHOLE It s been freshly soldered over. SNACK AND SODA VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY Mulder stands pacing in front of: AN ELABORATELY ENGINEERED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE Wired with circuit boards, electric belts and generally looking like it would take an expert a good long time to figure out where to even start. A lot longer than the : that reads on the digital read-out.  MULDER ...thirteen fifty six...  SCULLY  FILTER  Hang on. I m gonna get you out of there. The line goes dead. And off Mulder s deepening anxiety, we:   BUILDING LOBBY - DAY Scully enters like General Patton, taking charge. Barking at the security guards who sit behind their security console.  SCULLY I need this building evacuated and cleared out in ten minutes! I need you to get on the phone and tell the fire department to block off the city center in one mile radius around the building --  SECURITY GUARD In ten minutes.....?!  SCULLY DON t THINK! JUST PICK UP THE PHONE AND MAKE IT HAPPEN! And she s moving, dialing her cell phone now.  SCULLY into phone  This is Special Agent Dana Scully. I need to speak to S.A.C. Michaud. He s got the wrong building --   EXT. BUILDING - DAY UNMARKED FBI VANS, CARS are pulling up out front. Agents in windbreakers are exiting, moving at a run to the building. Among them S.A.C. Darius Michaud. Moving to: ANGLE ON SCULLY Exiting the building. Behind her, WORKERS are beginning to stream out of the building, as well as the young FIELD TRIPPERS. Michaud meeting up with Scully mid-plaza. As the windbreaker Agents move past them, entering the building.  S.A.C. MICHAUD Where is it? MOVING WITH THEM now, back toward the building. As FIRE TRUCKS are pulling up out in the street out front. Suddenly this has the distinct feel of a situation veering out of control.  SCULLY Mulder found it in a vending machine. He s locked in with it.   SNACK AND VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY THE DIGITAL READ OUT hits  :  . Pull back to REVEAL MULDER staring at it. If he wasn t sweating enough on the roof, he s certainly sweating now. When his cell phone RINGS. Answering it.  MULDER Scully?  SCULLY  FILTER  Mulder. Move away from the door. We re coming through it. No sooner is this said than the CAMERA WHIPS OFF MULDER to the door, where A GAS PLASMA TORCH FLAME is sizzling along the hinges.   HALLWAY OUTSIDE VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS Where Michaud himself, wearing a Kevlar vest now, is wielding the torch. Expertly cutting the metal while Scully and TWO AGENTS and TWO DALLAS BOMB SQUAD men look on. In the b.g. BUILDING EMPLOYEES are streaming out. Michaud finishes and shuts off the torch. Yelling:  S.A.C. MICHAUD Go. The other Agents kick the metal door in sending it crashing to the floor. Mulder stands on the other side. Watching Michaud pick up a heft tool kit, stepping over the downed door. Scully right behind him. Along with the Agents, Bomb techs. ANGLE OVER MULDER AND THE SODA MACHINE BOMB As Michaud steps in next to him, sizing up the time on the ticking digital readout:  :  . And just exactly what kind of defusing work he s got cut out for him.  MULDER Tell me this is just soda pop in those canisters.  S.A.C. MICHAUD No. It s what it looks like. A big I.E.D. - ten gallons of astrolite. studying the bomb  Okay, get everybody out of here and clear the building.  MULDER Somebody s got to stay with you --  S.A.C. MICHAUD I gave you an order. Now get the hell out of here and evacuate the area.  SCULLY Can you defuse it? Setting his tool kit down, opening it. As the other Agents heed his word, exiting the room.  S.A.C. MICHAUD I think so.  MULDER You ve got about four minutes to find out if you re wrong. Michaud turns on him with unexpected intensity.  S.A.C. MICHAUD Did you hear what I said?  SCULLY Let s go, Mulder. Scully starts out. Mulder stares at Michaud for a moment, but Michaud s focus is on the bomb now. He won t meet Mulder s look. Finally Mulder moves off, following Scully. CAMERA HOLDS ON MICHAUD, just staring at the bomb. Just staring.   EXT. PLAZA OUTSIDE BOMB BUILDING - DAY - CONTINUOUS The last of the building occupants are being hauled off in CITY BUSES which have moved in curbside. As these buses pull away, so do the fire trucks that have positioned themselves out front. And the police squad cars. As Mulder and Scully exit the front door. Moving quickly, until Mulder hits mid-plaza and slows. Scully not realizing this for a few steps, then turning.  SCULLY What are you doing? off his non-response  Mulder -- One last windbreakered Agent is exiting. Moving past them to the last cop car other than the car waiting for Mulder and Scully.  LAST AGENT OUT All clear. Mulder has stopped and is looking back to the building now as Scully hustles back the few steps separating them.  MULDER Something s wrong. ANGLE OVER THEM TO THE WAITING CAR As the Last Agent Out s car zooms away. Leaving only their car and the man driving it: a WINDBREAKERED AGENT.  WINDBREAKERED AGENT What s he doing? The plaza is desolate now, void of life.  MULDER Something s not right...  SCULLY -- Mulder! Get in the car! Scully is pulling him now. Pulling him toward the car and the obviously impatient Windbreakered Agent.  SCULLY There s no time!   SNACK AND SODA VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY CLOSE ON BOMB. The seconds ticking off now, as it passes the : mark. CAMERA PULLING BACK, ADJUSTING to Michaud. His tool chest is closed up, and he is sitting on it improbably. Still staring at the bomb, then pulling his head down in what appears to be resignation. As the seconds tick away.   CUT BACK TO: EXT. PLAZA OUTSIDE BOMB BUILDING - DAY - CONTINUOUS Mulder has relented now, against his better instincts. Moving with Scully to the car, faster as they go. The Windbreaker Agent standing in the open door of the driver s side. Getting in behind the wheel...   CUT BACK TO: VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS S.A.C. MICHAUD Sitting motionless in front of the bomb as the seconds tick down.  - - - - - - - - --   HARD CUT BACK   TO: EXT. PLAZA OUTSIDE BOMB BUILDING - DAY - CONTINUOUS Mulder and Scully getting in the car. TRACKING BACKWARDS with them now as the Agent driving pulls away, getting only thirty, maybe forty yards when: the BOMB DETONATES and the building EXPLODES. And this is no fatwa symbolic little terror strike. This is Oklahoma City. Or do we say, Independence Day. REVERSE ANGLE ON CAR As all the windows blow out and the car is lifted up, slamming into the corner of a parked car. The air so quickly full of debris that it would seem the whole city has been destroyed. RESUME BUILDING As the debris starts to clear somewhat, much of it still floating to the ground, though. We see the fires raging on every floor. That most of the front of the building has been torn away and we can see right into many floors. RESUME ANGLE ON CAR Where it sits half cocked against a parked car. The air is full of debris, particulated matter. The rear door of the squad car opens now and Mulder gets out, covered with glass. Moving to the front passenger door, opening it for Scully.  MULDER with darkest irony  Next time you re buying. EXT. AERIAL SHOT OF WASHINGTON D.C. - DAY HIGH ABOVE the U.S. capital, the entire beltway. With a LEGEND, to establish. LOWER AND TIGHTER NOW On the J. Edgar Hoover Building, FBI Headquarters. Descending low on the three-sided monolith and its large interior courtyard. As another LEGEND appears, under:  WOMAN s VOICE  V.O.  In light of Waco, and Ruby Ridge...   FBI OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL REVIEW - DAY A formal hearing. Several ASSISTANT DIRECTORS sit at a head table, going over documents. NAME PLACECARDS in front of them. PANNING the group, the sound of papers shuffling, the occasional clearing of a throat creating a stale air of importance, under:  WOMAN s VOICE  V.O.  ...there is a heightened need at the Attorney General s office to place responsibility as early as possible. CAMERA LANDING ON ASSISTANT DIRECTOR JANA CASSIDY A no-nonsense  year-old lawyer cum FBI Agent.  CASSIDY ...for the catastrophic destruction of public property and the loss of life due to terrorist activities... Next to Cassidy is Assistant Director WALTER SKINNER, Mulder and Scully s former superior on the X-Files. Looking ruefully at: AGENT SCULLY At a small table, the chair next to her conspicuously empty.  CASSIDY Many details are still unclear; some agents  reports have not been filed, or have come in sketchy, without a satisfactory accounting of the events that led to the destruction in Dallas. But we re under some pressure to give an accurate picture of what happened to the Attorney General, so she can issue a public statement. The door to the room opens behind Scully now, and Mulder enters, his manner that of a man who knows he s late to a function. RESUME A.D. CASSIDY She looks up at Mulder and Scully with a stern glare.  CASSIDY We now know that five people died in the explosion. Special Agent in Charge Darius Michaud who was trying to defuse the bomb that had been hidden in a vending machine. Three firemen from Dallas, and a young boy. OVER MULDER AND SCULLY Mulder pulls out his chair to sit down, but remains standing. They trade a look. This is new news to them.  MULDER Excuse me -- the firemen and the boy -- they were in the building?  CASSIDY Agent Mulder, since you weren t able to be on time for this hearing, I m going to ask you to step outside so that we can get Agent Scully s version of the facts. So that she won t have to be paid the same disrespect.  MULDER We were told the building was clear.  CASSIDY You ll get your turn, Agent Mulder. Please step out. Mulder trades looks with: A.D. SKINNER Who stares at him evenly, but not unsympathetically. He s been here with Mulder on many occasions. Seen Mulder run up against the Bureau and its stiff conventions. Always in the middle.  MULDER It does say there in your paperwork that we were the ones who found the bomb...  CASSIDY Thank you, Agent Mulder. We ll call you in shortly. RESUME MULDER, SCULLY As Mulder slides his chair in. Scully watching him exit.   HALLWAY OUTSIDE OPR HEARING ROOM - DAY Mulder sits by himself in a chair, head down. When the door to the hearing room opens. Mulder rising as A.D. Skinner exits.  SKINNER Sit down, they re still talking to Agent Scully.  MULDER About what?  SKINNER -- They re asking her for a narrative. They want to know why she was in the wrong building.  MULDER She was with me. Skinner studies Mulder, shaking his head.  SKINNER You don t see what s going on here, do you? off Mulder s look  There s four hundred million dollars in damage to the city of Dallas. Lives have been lost. No suspects have been named. So the story being shaped is this could have been prevented. That the FBI didn t do its job.  MULDER And they want to blame us?  SKINNER Agent Mulder -- we both know that if you and Agent Scully hadn t taken the initiative to search the adjacent building, you could have multiplied the fatalities by a hundred --  MULDER grasping the irony  But it s not the lives we saved. It s the lives we didn t.  SKINNER reciting the dictum  -- if it looks bad, it s bad for the FBI --  MULDER -- if they want someone to blame, they can blame me. Agent Scully doesn t deserve this.  SKINNER She s in there right now saying the same thing about you.  MULDER I breached protocol. I broke contact with the S.A.C. I ignored a primary tactical rule and left him alone with the device.  SKINNER Agent Scully says it was she who ordered you out of the building. That you wanted to go back. Mulder doesn t get to respond, because the door opens again and Agent Scully exits. She looks like she s been through it.  SCULLY to Skinner  They re asking for you, Sir. Skinner gives one last look to Mulder, then re-enters. Leaving Mulder and Scully alone. Scully wearing a pained look.  MULDER Whatever you told them in there, you don t have to protect me.  SCULLY All I told them was the truth.  MULDER They re trying to divide us on this, Scully. We can t let them.  SCULLY They have divided us, Mulder. They re splitting us up.  MULDER beat  What? What are you talking about?  SCULLY I meet with the OPR day after tomorrow for remediation and reassignment...  MULDER Why?  SCULLY I think you must have an idea. They cited a history of problems relating back to .  MULDER They were the ones that put us together.  SCULLY Because they wanted me to invalidate your work, your investigations into the paranormal. But I think this goes deeper than that.  MULDER This isn t about you, Scully. They re doing this to me.  SCULLY They re not doing this, Mulder. off his look  I left behind a career in medicine because I thought I might make a difference at the FBI. When they recruited me they told me women made up nine percent of the bureau. I felt this was not an impediment, but an opportunity to distinguish myself. But it hasn t turned out that way. And now, if I were to be transferred to Omaha, or Wichita or some field office where I m sure I could rise, it just doesn t hold the interest for me it once did. Not after what I ve seen and done.  MULDER You re... quitting?  SCULLY There s really no reason left for me to stay anymore. off his look  Maybe you should ask yourself if your heart s still in it, too. The door opens to the hearing room again now. A.D. Skinner steps part way out, gesturing to him.  SKINNER Agent Mulder. You re up.  SCULLY regretfully  I m sorry. Good luck. Mulder rises. Scully studying his poorly disguised hurt. Before he turns and goes into the room. Scully watching the door close behind him. Her feelings poorly disguised, too.   DOWNSCALE D.C. BAR - NIGHT CLOSE ON A SHOOTER OF TEQUILA being poured. CAMERA ADJUSTING to reveal the ATTRACTIVE BARMAID tipping the bottle. Pushing it across the bar to where TWO EMPTY SHOOTERS sit, making the exchange.  BARMAID I d say this about exceeds your minimum daily requirement. The person she s talking to us: MULDER He sits by himself on a stool, staring down at the bar. Staring at the shooter which he spins with his fingers.  BARMAID Gotta train for this kind of heavy lifting. Mulder tosses back the shooter anyway. She watches him as she retrieves the small shot glass, intrigued by his dark silence.  BARMAID Poopy day?  MULDER Yup.  BARMAID A woman? Mulder shakes his head no  Work. Mulder nods, pointing to the tequila bottle again. The Barmaid agrees to pour another one, reluctantly. ANGLE OVER TO A MAN AT THE END OF THE BAR Staring at Mulder intently. He s older than Mulder, dressed in an old Brooke Brothers light summer suit. Mulder notices him, feels his gaze, but doesn t give it thought. RESUME BARMAID, MULDER  BARMAID What do you do?  MULDER What do I do. off her curious look  I m a key figure in an ongoing government charade. An annoyance to my superiors. A joke among my peers.  Spooky,' they call me. Spooky Mulder. Whose sister was abducted by aliens when he was a kid. Who now chases little green men with a badge and a gun, shouting to the heavens and anyone who ll listen that the fix is in. That our government s hip to the truth and a part of the conspiracy. That the sky is falling and when it hits it s gonna be the shitstorm of all time. She stares at him for a moment, startled by his drunken screed. She pulls back the shooter she s just poured Mulder.  BARMAID I think that about does it, Spooky.  MULDER Does what?  BARMAID Why don t you go home to the old lady --  MULDER Sorry. Don t have one. Mulder slides off his stool, noticing: MULDER s POV The Watchful Man is gone. RESUME MULDER He feints toward the door, then reverses direction. Heads to the back of the place. REAR OF DOWNSCALE BAR - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS Mulder appears, moving to the bathroom door. Only to find an OUT OF ORDER sign on it. He moves to the woman s room, but it s locked. Gathering what s left of his wits, Mulder does what any red-blooded man would do in this situation. He goes to the back door of the bar and exits into the alley. EXT. ALLEY BEHIND BAR - NIGHT Mulder has found a place against a wall, between two dumpsters. Jerking around in surprise at the sound of a VOICE.  WATCHFUL MAN s VOICE That official FBI business?  MULDER startled  What? ANGLE TO INCLUDE THE MAN FROM THE BAR He s not far from Mulder. His name is KURTZWEIL.  KURTZWEIL Bet the Bureau s accusing you of the same thing in Dallas. Mulder s weirded out as the stranger moves to him un- threateningly.  MULDER How s that?  KURTZWEIL Standing around holding your yank while bombs are exploding. Kurtzweil enjoys a little laugh over this.  MULDER Do I know you?  KURTZWEIL No. I ve been watching your career for a good while. Back when you were just a promising young agent -- before that. Mulder stares at this man as he finishes, zipping up.  MULDER You follow me out here for a reason?  KURTZWEIL Yeah, I did. Kurtzweil unzips his own pants now. There is a moment; one of those awkward moments where Mulder s not sure what s about to happen. But Kurtzweil s just relieving himself, too. Shuffling up to the wall, Mulder takes this as an opportunity to head back toward the bar. But Kurtzweil hails him again.  KURTZWEIL My name s Kurtzweil. Dr. Alvin Kurtzweil.  MULDER I know the name. Why?  KURTZWEIL Old friend of your father s. Kurtzweil continues peeing. Knows this got Mulder s attention.  KURTZWEIL Back at the Department of State. We were what you might call fellow travelers, but his disenchantment outlasted mine. beat  I never believed in the Project. Mulder stares at Kurtzweil now. He s being toyed with. He turns, opens the door into the bar. As Kurtzweil gets a little louder.  KURTZWEIL Oh, come on. Don t pretend you don t know about the Project. Your father died for it. Your sister was taken because of it. Kurtzweil finishes nature s call. Zips up. Heads after Mulder.   DOWNSCALE D.C. BAR - NIGHT Mulder is coming from the back. Kurtzweil moving to catch up. And he does, at the coat stand. The place has pretty much cleared out, except for the Barmaid and some help.  MULDER How d you find me?  KURTZWEIL Heard you come here now and again. Figured you d be needing a little drinky tonight.  MULDER You a reporter?  KURTZWEIL I m a doctor, but I think I mentioned that. OB-GYN.  MULDER Who sent you?  KURTZWEIL I came on my own. After reading about the bombing in Dallas.  MULDER Well, if you ve got something to tell me, you ve got as long as it takes me to hail a cab... Mulder starts out the door, but Kurtzweil grabs his arm.  KURTZWEIL They re going to pin Dallas on you, Agent Mulder. But there was nothing you could ve done. Nothing anyone could ve done to prevent that bomb from going off. Because the truth is something you d never have guessed; never have predicted. Mulder pulls away from Kurtzweil, but Kurtzweil dogs him to: EXT. STREET OUTSIDE DOWNSCALE BAR - NIGHT The street is empty, the hour is late. Mulder moves to the curb.  MULDER And what s that?  KURTZWEIL S.A.C. Darius Michaud never tried or intended to defuse the bomb.  MULDER rhetorical disbelief  He just let it explode.  KURTZWEIL What s the question nobody s asking? Why that building? Why not the Federal Building?  MULDER The Federal Building was too well guarded.  KURTZWEIL No. They put the bomb in the building across the street because it DID have federal offices. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had a provisional medical quarantine office there. Which is where the bodies were found. But that s the thing... Mulder s got his hand up for a taxi coming. It s pulling over as Mulder steps from the curb, stepping away from Kurtzweil.  KURTZWEIL ...the thing you didn t know. That you d never think to check. Mulder s got the taxi door open, turning to Kurtzweil.  KURTZWEIL Those people were already dead.  MULDER Before the bomb went off?  KURTZWEIL That s what I m saying. Mulder stares at Kurtzweil for a moment.  MULDER Michaud was a twenty-two year veteran of the bureau --  KURTZWEIL Michaud was a patriot. The men he s loyal to know their way around Dallas. They blew that building to hide something. Maybe something even they couldn t predict.  MULDER You re saying they destroyed an entire building to hide the bodies of three firemen...?  KURTZWEIL And one little boy. Mulder gets in the cab, closes the door. Rolls down the window.  MULDER I think you re full of shit.  KURTZWEIL Do you? Kurtzweil raps the top of the roof and steps away from the car. As the taxi takes off. WE STAY WITH KURTZWEIL, watching Mulder s cab speed away.  NOTE: This should also be covered from inside the cab with Mulder, to play the scene out on him.  AGENT SCULLY s BEDROOM - NIGHT Scully is in bed, lying awake. Staring at the ceiling. When she reacts to a POUNDING AT HER DOOR.   SCULLY s APARTMENT - NIGHT CLOSE ON THE FRONT DOOR. Scully peeks in the peephole. Then she removes the safety chain, opening the door.  MULDER strangely intense  I wake you?  SCULLY No.  MULDER Why not? It s three AM. Scully gets a whiff of his breath. As he moves past her into the apartment. Radiating a kind of manic intensity.  SCULLY Are you drunk, Mulder?  MULDER I was until about an hour ago.  SCULLY Is that before or after you got the idea to come here? Mulder looks at her curiously.  MULDER What are you implying, Scully?  SCULLY frowning  I thought you may have gotten drunk and decided to come here to talk me out of quitting.  MULDER Is that what you d like me to do? Scully hesitates. Long enough to indicate her own wavering heart.  SCULLY Go home, Mulder. It s late.  MULDER Get dressed, Scully.  SCULLY Mulder -- what are you doing?  MULDER Just get dressed. I ll explain on the way.   EXT. TEXAS FLATLAND - NIGHT The moon is rising over the horizon, across the curvilinear distance of endless scrub and sagebrush. When FLYING OBJECTS cross between it and us, their forms unidentifiable in the rising heat waves off the earth. But they are moving towards us, SILHOUETTES in the background of the moon. They move silently, their size INCREASING as they move closer. And then we hear them, moments before they arrive at our position, UNMARKED HELICOPTERS just overhead. Hugging the ground as they blast across the dark Texas night. UNMARKED BLACK HELICOPTERS - NIGHT Flying at dangerously low altitude over the almost featureless night landscape. Heading for something that we see ahead in the distance. What looks like a LARGE GLOWING DOME surrounded by the lights of a residential area we ve already seen, on the edge of suburban Dallas sprawl.   EXT. SMALL DIRT FIELD - CENTRAL TEXAS - NIGHT The field where the kids had been digging has been transformed into some kind of worksite. A LARGE WHITE DOMED TENT has been erected over almost the entire patch of ground, surrounded by the CARGO TRUCKS that we saw earlier, and more unmarked vans and trucks. There are men in black fatigues moving about, and scientists in haz-mat suits. As the UNMARKED BLACK HELICOPTERS bank overhead. Coming in for a landing in the glow cast from the tents. CAMERA MOVING TOWARD one of the helicopters as it lightly touches down and its black door swings open. A man stepping out, and as CAMERA PUSHES UP INTO HIS FACE we recognize him as The Cigarette Smoking Man. The figure that we ve come to know as an assassin and a model of modern self-interest and amorality. One of the central protagonists in the conspiracy to keep the truth from the American people about the existence of extraterrestrial life. Something known only as:  The Project.' He walks out from under the whirring prop, just far enough to get a flame from his lighter, to get a cigarette lit. As we:   LARGE WHITE TENT - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS A SCIENTIST in a haz-mat suit is moving through the maze of clear plastic tubing that divides work areas within the tent. Areas where scientists are working at tables doing what appears to be some kind of high-tech archeological work. It is a hive of activity within, as the Scientist leads us past the REFRIGERATION UNITS to the earthen hole where Dr. Bronschweig  we ve met him earlier, coming out of a med-evac chopper that landed when the tent city was erected  appears out of the earthen hole, which is reason for all this excitement. Climbing out A CLEAR HATCH which has been fashioned to cover the hole. Seeing: THE CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Now suited up himself. Bronschweig approaches him.  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN You ve got something to show me.  DR. BRONSCHWEIG nervous excitement  Yes.   ICE CAVE - CONTINUOUS What we originally established as icy, and what later became the unfrozen Texas field where the boys discovered the human skull, has been turned to its previously icy state. Thanks to two large vents that Dr. Bronschweig is pointing at:  DR. BRONSCHWEIG We brought the atmosphere back down to freezing in order to control the development, which is nothing like we ve ever seen.  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Brought on by what?  DR. BRONSCHWEIG Heat, I think. The coincident invasion of a host, the fireman, and an environment that raised his basic body temperature above ninety eight point six. They step over to a section of the cave which has been draped with more plastic, the lights from inside this are giving off a cool blue light  passing by TWO PORTABLE DRILLING RIGS which have been erected, their pumps moving up and down like rocking horses.  Bronschweig pushes away the plastic, revealing A MAN lying on a gurney draped in plastic. he is hooked up to various and sundry machines which are monitoring his life signs. His skin has turned almost translucent, the veins and capillaries now clearly visible, as is his pulse. His heartbeat sending life-sustaining blood and energy through his body.  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN This man s still alive.  DR. BRONSCHWEIG Technically and biologically, though he ll never recover. The CSM is shaking his head in nervous, uneasy wonder.  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN How can this be?  DR. BRONSCHWEIG The developing organism is using his life energy, digesting bone and tissue. We ve just slowed the process. Bronschweig redirects a light so that it shines hard into the man s face and; then we see it. Movement. CLOSE ON MAN s FACE Though the man s eyes still blink occasionally, we can actually see through his tissue and the bones in his skull to see something IS LIVING INSIDE HIM. ANGLE UP ON CSM AND BRONSCHWEIG The Cigarette Smoking Man s mind is working intently on all the possibilities, and consequences.  DR. BRONSCHWEIG Do you want me to destroy this one, too? Before it gestates?  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN No. No...we need to try our vaccine on it.  DR. BRONSCHWEIG And if it s unsuccessful?  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Incinerate it. Like the others.  DR. BRONSCHWEIG This man s family will want to see the body laid to rest.  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Tell them he was trying to save the young boy s life, and that he died heroically like the other firemen.  DR. BRONSCHWEIG Of what?  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN They seemed to buy our story about the Hanta virus. You ll make sure the families are taken care of financially, along with a sizeable donation to the community. beat  Maybe a small roadside memorial. He watches the CSM exit, then back to the prostrate fireman. CLOSE ON PROSTRATE FIREMAN There is more movement within his body. Within his chest and neck, as if the creature gestating inside is continuing to stretch and grow. So that now we can see one of its BLACK EYES staring from through the clear flesh of the fireman. An eye which BLINKS at us. As we:   BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - NIGHT Mulder and Scully appear at the end of a long hall. Moving TOWARD CAMERA where a YOUNG NAVAL GUARD sits in f.g. As a LEGEND appears, to establish. Mulder and Scully moving the long distance to the Guard s station. Where the Guard looks up at them with military scrutiny.  YOUNG NAVAL GUARD ID and floor you re visiting. They both show their FBI IDs.  MULDER We re going to the morgue.  YOUNG NAVAL GUARD That area is currently off limits to anyone other than authorized medical personnel.  MULDER On whose orders?  YOUNG NAVAL GUARD General McAddie s. Mulder doesn t miss a beat.  MULDER General McAddie is who requested our coming here. We were awakened at three AM and told to get down here immediately.  YOUNG NAVAL GUARD I don t know anything about that.  MULDER Well, call General McAddie.  YOUNG NAVAL GUARD I don t have his number.  MULDER They can patch you in through the switchboard. The Guard is nervous about this, checking his watch. He picks up the phone, going through a large directory.  MULDER Hey! We don t have time to dick around here watching you demonstrate your ignorance in the chain of command. The order came direct from General McAddie. Call him. We ll conduct our business while you confirm authorization. Mulder is already directing Scully past the Naval Guard who tentatively picks up the phone again.  YOUNG NAVAL GUARD to their backs  Why don t you go on ahead head and I ll confirm authorization.  MULDER Thank you. LEADING Mulder and Scully, moving they ve pulled off a con.  MULDER Why is a morgue suddenly off limits on orders of a general?   BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - MORGUE FREEZER - NIGHT TRACKING TABLE HEIGHT across gurneys where white sheet-wrapped bodies lie. CAMERA LANDING ON Scully. Standing next to Mulder who is undoing the peculiar ropey stitching on the sheet used to secure the bodies.  SCULLY This is one of the firemen who died in Dallas?  MULDER According to this tag.  SCULLY And you re looking for?  SCULLY I can tell you that without even looking at him. off Mulder s look  Conclusive organ failure due to proximal exposure to source and flying debris. Scully pulls out an autopsy report that was laid on the gurney under the body of the sheet-wrapped corpse.  SCULLY This body has already been autopsied, Mulder. You can tell from the way it s been wrapped and dressed. Undeterred, Mulder works to get the sheet off. The first thing we notice is that he s still in his fireman s uniform. His face looks familiar to us, not because we know him, but because of the translucency of skin we saw in the other fireman.  We will also notice he s missing an arm, a leg and large part of his torso.   MULDER Does this fit the description you just read me, Scully? Scully comes around, reacting to what she sees.  SCULLY Oh my God. This man s tissue... Scully is quickly removing a pair of latex gloves, stretching them on to palpate the man s tissue.  MULDER It s like jelly.  SCULLY There s some kind of cellular breakdown. It s completely edematous. She palpates the spongy skin on the man s face, neck. Unbuttoning the uniform now, seeing:  SCULLY And there s been no autopsy performed. There s no Y incision here; no internal exam.  MULDER You re telling me the cause of death on the report is false. That this man didn t die from an explosion, or from flying debris.  SCULLY I don t know what killed this man. I m not sure if anybody else could claim to either. Off Mulder s reaction to this:   MORGUE - PATHOLOGY LAB - NIGHT - MINUTES LATER The gurney with the fireman is pushed through a pair of swinging doors into the darkened lab. Scully flips the lights on, looking around at the giant facility.  SCULLY pushing him  You knew this man didn t die at the bomb site before we got here.  MULDER I d been told as much.  SCULLY You re saying the bombing was a cover-up. Of what?  MULDER I don t know. But I have a hunch what you re going to find here isn t anything that can be categorized or easily referenced.  SCULLY Mulder, this is going to take some time, and somebody s going to figure out soon enough we re not even supposed to be here. beat  I m in serious violation of medical ethics.  MULDER We re being blamed for these deaths. Scully, I want to know what this man died of. Don t you? Scully stares at Mulder, then back down at the body. How can she refuse, given the finality and the personal appeal of the request? After a moment s hesitation, she turns to the body, and to the tray table of tools nearby. Resigned, if not resolved.   EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - NIGHT A LEGEND appears: WASHINGTON D.C., DUPONT CIRCLE.  : AM. The street is fairly empty, save for a garbage truck picking up the stacks of green garbage bags laid out on the sidewalks. Then A TAXI turns off a main street, MOVING TOWARDS US. WASHINGTON D.C. STREET - TAXI - NIGHT OVER MULDER to the street: Where the taxi is moving forward toward a spot where two ARLINGTON PD cruisers are pulled up to the curb. Mulder checks the address he has written down.  MULDER to the Cabbie  I think this is it up here. EXT. SIDE STREET - NIGHT The taxi pulls over and Mulder exits, starting up the steps of a walk up where the door is open. KURTZWEIL s APARTMENT - NIGHT There are UNIFORMED OFFICERS inside, and a DETECTIVE. Mulder steps into an office. FOUR PAIRS of eyes give him the once over. The Detective stepping over to him.  MULDER Is this Dr. Kurtzweil s residence?  DETECTIVE suspiciously  You got some kind of business with him?  MULDER I m looking for him.  DETECTIVE Looking for him for what? Mulder pulls out his ID, flashes it at the Detective.  DETECTIVE to his partners  Feds are looking for him, too. turns to Mulder  Real nice business he s got, huh?  MULDER What s that?  DETECTIVE Selling naked pictures of little kids over his computer. Mulder nods, though this is news to him. He steps in a little further, noticing a shelf lined with books. Their spines all have the author s name written large: DR. ALVIN KURTZWEIL. Mulder picks up one of these books, with the title: THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE GLOBAL DOMINATION CONSPIRACY.  DETECTIVE You looking for him for some other reason?  MULDER Yeah, I had an appointment for a pelvic examination. They stare at Mulder like he s a sicko. He smiles and they break into RAUCOUS LAUGHTER.  DETECTIVE You want a call if we turn up Kurtzweil?  MULDER No. Don t bother. Mulder puts the book back among the others on the shelf. And exits. Onto: RESUME EXT. KURTZWEIL s APARTMENT - NIGHT Mulder starting up the street when he notices: MULDER s POV Kurtzweil has stepped from between two apartments. He s staring at Mulder, nodding furtively to him. Then stepping back. RESUME MULDER Slows, then speeds up. EXT. SPACE BETWEEN TWO APARTMENTS - NIGHT Mulder appears at the end of the narrow walkway, finding Kurtzweil tucked a few yards in.  KURTZWEIL See this bullshit...? Somebody knows I m talking to you.  MULDER Not according to the men in blue.  KURTZWEIL What is it? Kiddie porn again? Sexual battery of a patient? I ve had my license taken away in three states.  MULDER They want to discredit you -- for what?  KURTZWEIL For what? Because I m a dangerous man. Because I know too much about the truth.  MULDER You mean that apocalyptic trash you write? I knew your name was familiar. I just didn t know why.  KURTZWEIL You know my work?  MULDER pointedly  Dr. Kurtzweil, I m not interested in bigoted ideas about race or genocide. I don t believe in the Elders of Zion, the Knights Templar, the Bilderburg Group or in a oneworld Jew run government --  KURTZWEIL I don t either, but it sure sells books. He says it with an ironic smile. Causing Mulder to turn and start off. But Kurtzweil hurries to grab him, to prevent this.  KURTZWEIL I was right about Dallas. Wasn t I, Agent Mulder?  MULDER How?  KURTZWEIL I picked up the historical document of the venality and hypocrisy of the American government. The daily newspaper.  MULDER You said the firemen and the boy were found in the temporary offices of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Why?  KURTZWEIL According to the newspaper, FEMA had been called out to manage an outbreak of the Hanta virus. Are you familiar with the Hanta virus, Agent Mulder?  MULDER It was a deadly virus spread by field mice in the Southwest U.S. several years ago.  KURTZWEIL And are you familiar with FEMA? What the Federal Emergency Management Agency s real power is? FEMA allows the White House to suspend constitutional government upon declaration of a national emergency. To create a non-elected government. Think about that. beat  What is an agency with such broad sweeping power doing managing a small viral outbreak in suburban Texas?  MULDER Are you saying it wasn t such a small outbreak? Kurtzweil is getting intense now.  KURTZWEIL I m saying it wasn t the Hanta virus. They are both given a start when a POLICE CRUISER rolls by on the street, giving a burp of its siren. It rolls past as the two men tuck in tighter.  MULDER What was it?  KURTZWEIL When we were young men in the military, your father and I were recruited for a project. They told us it was biological warfare. A virus. There were rumors about its origins.  MULDER What killed those men?  KURTZWEIL What killed them I won t even write about. I tell you, they d do more than just harass me. They have the future to protect.  MULDER I ll know soon enough.  KURTZWEIL worked up  What killed those men can t be identified in simple medical terms. My god, we can t even wrap our minds around something as obvious as HIV. We have no context for what killed those men, or any appreciation of the scale in which it will be unleashed in the future. Of how it will be transmitted; of the environmental factors involved.  MULDER A plague?  KURTZWEIL The plague to end all plagues, Agent Mulder. A silent weapon for a quiet war. The systematic release of an indiscriminate organism for which the men who will bring it on still have no cure. They ve been working on this for fifty years. While the rest of the world was fighting gooks and commies these men have been secretly negotiating a planned Armageddon.  MULDER Negotiating with whom?  KURTZWEIL I think you know. The timetable has been set. It will happen on a holiday, when people are away from their homes. When our elected officials are at their resorts or out of the country. The President will declare a state of emergency, at which time all federal agencies, all government will come under the power of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA, Agent Mulder. The secret government.  MULDER And they tell me I m paranoid.  KURTZWEIL Something s gone wrong -- something unanticipated. Go back to Dallas and dig. Or you re only going to find out like the rest of the country, Agent Mulder. When it s too late. Kurtzweil turns, starts off. Mulder stares after him. Then:  MULDER How can I reach you?  KURTZWEIL You can t. Mulder moves to catch up to Kurtzweil, pulling out his cell phone. Kurtzweil stops, turns. Truly and intensely paranoid. Mulder makes him take the cell phone.  MULDER No calling Hawaii. Mulder turns and moves back out onto the street.   MORGUE - PATHOLOGY LAB - NIGHT Agent Scully wears a surgical mask, latex gloves. Working on the body of the fireman...when she reacts to a NOISE. Doors opening, closing somewhere o.s. CAMERA MEDIUM WHIPS to a door where she and Mulder entered the morgue. Where...the Young Naval Guard and TWO MPs push through and enter. They stand looking at: THEIR POV Where Scully stood moments ago, there is now just an unattended gurney. A sheet over the fireman s body. Scully is gone. RESUME YOUNG NAVAL GUARD, MPs Tense. Listening, watchful. Moving into the room.   BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - MORGUE FREEZER - NIGHT Scully enters the space where she and Mulder found the fireman s body. Trying to quietly click the door shut. Standing now near the door, tense, listening. When the CHIRPING of her cell phone breaks the tense silence. She pats frantically at her coat, trying to get it answered before it rings again. Unsuccessfully. Finally getting a hold of it and hitting the send button. Scully sits breathing heavy, nervous breaths -- waiting for the Young Naval Guard to come running in.  MULDER s VOICE  FILTER  Scully...? She puts the phone slowly up to her face.  SCULLY low whisper  Yeah. INTERCUT WITH: PHONE BOOTH - WASHINGTON D.C. - MORNING Mulder s at the pay phone.  MULDER Why are you whispering?  SCULLY I can t really talk right now.  MULDER What did you find?  SCULLY Evidence of a massive infection.  MULDER What kind of infection?  SCULLY I don t know.  MULDER Scully -- listen to me. I m going home, then I m booking a flight to Dallas. I m getting you a ticket, too.  SCULLY Mulder --  MULDER I need you there with me. I need your expertise on this. The bomb we found was meant to destroy those bodies and whatever they were infected by.  SCULLY I ve got a hearing tomorrow --  MULDER -- I ll have you back for it, Scully. Maybe with evidence that could blow that meeting away.  SCULLY Mulder -- I can t -- I m already way past the point of common sense here -- Scully hears VOICES in the hall outside the freezer.   MULDER  MULDER Scully...? Hello...? But the line OFF, goes dead. Mulder  hangs up the phone, frustrated. Exits the booth in a hurry.   BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - MORGUE FREEZER - NIGHT The door opens and the Young Naval Guard steps inside, followed by the MPs. Moving into the room. LOW ANGLE - TRACKING with the Naval Guard s feet as they pass by the rolling carts on which bodies are laid. TRACKING to find SCULLY, where she hides under one of the carts. Huddled and cold. The Guard s feet stop near here. He stands motionless for a moment, then moves off. HOLD her until the door slams shut. FBI OFFICE - DALLAS - MORNING - MULDER enters a forensics lab with a FIELD AGENT. A LEGEND reads: FBI FIELD OFFICE, DALLAS : : AM.  FIELD AGENT You re looking for what amounts to a needle in a haystack. I m afraid the explosion was so devastating there hasn t been a whole lot we ve been able to put together just yet. They are walking amid BOXES of evidence. STACKS of debris. There are FORENSIC TECHS sorting through this material. It looks like the most tedious and painstaking job in the world.  MULDER I m looking for anything out of the ordinary. Maybe something from the FEMA offices where the bodies were found.  FIELD AGENT We weren t expecting to find those remains, of course. They went right off to Washington.  MULDER Was there anything in those offices that didn t go to D.C.?  FIELD AGENT Some bone fragments came up in the sift this morning. We thought there d been another fatality, but we found out FEMA had recovered them from an archeological site out of town.  MULDER Have you examined them?  FIELD AGENT No. Just fossils, far as I know. Mulder is nodding, when both men look off at something that s caught their attention o.s.  MULDER I d like this person to take a look, if you don t mind. THEIR POV - AGENT SCULLY Standing in the doorway to the lab. She looks at Mulder as if she s come in spite of her misgivings. Moving toward them now.  FIELD AGENT Let me just see if I can lay my hands on what you re looking for. The Field Agent nods to Scully as he passes, exiting deeper into the room. Leaving Mulder and Scully by themselves momentarily.  MULDER You said you weren t coming?  SCULLY I wasn t planning on it. Particularly after spending a half hour in cold storage this morning. But I got a better look at the blood and tissue samples I took from the firemen.  MULDER What did you find?  SCULLY voice lowering pointedly  Something I couldn t show to anyone else. Not without more information. And not without causing the kind of attention I d just as soon avoid right now. off Mulder s look  The virus those men were infected with contains a protein coat I ve never seen before. What it did to them it did extremely fast. And unlike the AIDS virus or any other aggressive strain, it survives very nicely outside the body.  MULDER How was it contracted?  SCULLY That I don t know. But if it s through simple contact of blood to blood, and if it doesn t respond to conventional treatments, it could be a serious health threat. Mulder s reaction is postponed, or at least subdued by the reappearance of the field agent.  FIELD AGENT Like I said, these are fossils, and they weren t near the blast center, so they aren t going to tell you much.  SCULLY May I? He offers Scully the small glass vials in which the bone fragments have been separated. She takes them, looking at them on her way over to the microscope. Tapping out a tiny fragment onto the viewing bed. She puts her eyes down to the stereoscope eyepieces, then almost immediately looks up at Mulder who translates this look almost instantly.  MULDER You said you knew the location of the archeological site where these were found.  FIELD AGENT Show you right on a map. Off Mulder and Scully s traded looks:   EXT. SMALL PUBLIC PARK - WEST TEXAS - DAY The domed white tent is still in place, the fleet of trucks and equipment surrounding it unmanned. Several large sound-dampened generators still hum away, but the work being done here would be a mystery to anyone who didn t have access to the tent.   DOMED TENT - DAY An electric Bobcat-like bulldozer maneuvers a very high tech-looking CLEAR CONTAINER to the edge of the earthen hole. The container has monitors and gauges on it, oxygen tanks and what looks like a circulation refrigeration unit. A self-contained life support system. The inside of the container is covered with a thin layer of frost. When the small bulldozer gets the container over near the hole, several technicians lift it down off the shovel, hand carrying it toward the hole opening. As Dr. Bronschweig APPEARS, moving to a ladder that leads down into the hole. He s dressed in a haz-mat suit, with the hood off.  DR. BRONSCHWEIG I need to have those settings checked and re-set. I need a steady minus two Celsius through the transfer of the body, after I administer the vaccine. The men nod to Bronschweig, begin checking the settings as Bronschweig puts his hood on, starts down into the hole, through the clear hatch. SMALLER ICE CAVE - DAY The refrigeration vents are still pumping in arctic air when Dr. Bronschweig appears descending a fixed ladder. It is dark in here, save for the ice blue glow of light coming from the plastic draped area where we saw the fireman acting as an incubator host for some kind of organism growing inside him. Bronschweig steps over to this area, moves aside the plastic drapery to enter. ANGLE INSIDE, PLASTIC LINED AREA Where the body of the fireman is still inside the quarantine bubble litter in f.g. Bronschweig takes out of his pocket a SYRINGE and an AMPULE. Turning now to the body. Stepping to it. Moving a work light, as he had done for the Cigarette Smoking Man, so that it shines on the face of the fireman. But when he does this, Bronschweig nearly JUMPS, his breath stolen away. Reacting to: ANGLE ON FIREMAN s BODY The chest and torso have imploded. It has been turned into a muddy mass of blood-stained jelly; bone and tissue melted into an oozing mass which has sunken due to the fact that the creature which was inside is now gone. CAMERA WHIPS from Bronschweig to the wall. To the temperature gauge which reads about degrees Celsius. WHIPPING BACK to Bronschweig who is now panicked.   INTERCUT WITH: DOMED TENT - DAY ANGLE DOWN ON EARTHEN HOLE, where the Technicians Bronschweig was speaking to minutes ago react to Bronschweig s MUFFLED VOICE. He s down below them in the cave, looking up. Pulling his haz-mat hood off. Yelling up to them.  DR. BRONSCHWEIG It s gone!  TECHNICIAN It s what? OVER THE TECHNICIANS TO BRONSCHWEIG DOWN BELOW  DR. BRONSCHWEIG It s left the body. I think it s gestated -- Bronschweig is starting up the ladder when something stops him. RESUME ICE CAVE CREATURE s POV OF BRONSCHWEIG He stands frozen on the ladder, squinting into the darkness.  DR. BRONSCHWEIG Wait -- I see it -- BRONSCHWEIG s POV In the shadows there is movement, the creature edging into the light cast from the draped area. We see it is fully formed -- a replica of the Creature we saw at the opening of our story. Though it does not make any kind of aggressive move. As if, newborn, it is tentative. RESUME BRONSCHWEIG - CREATURE s POV He remains standing on a rung of the ladder for a moment, then takes a gentle step back down to the ground.  DR. BRONSCHWEIG nervous wonder  Oh my god. Oh my god.  TECHNICIAN You see it?  DR. BRONSCHWEIG Yes. It s...amazing. You want to get down here -- sotto to himself  Jesus Lord...so much for little green men. Dr. Bronschweig moves shakily to put the syringe in the ampule again...when, suddenly, the Creature STRIKES. CAMERA RUSHING FORWARD TO BRONSCHWEIG.   MATCH OVERHEAD ANGLE - OVER THE TECHNICIANS As the Creature slams into Bronschweig, knocking him out of the line of sight from the top of the earthen hole. There are SCREAMS OF PAIN from Bronschweig, then they abate. RESUME ICE CAVE Bronschweig can be heard, but not clearly seen. He is in the shadows himself now. Trying to pick himself up, and when he manages to do this, teetering back into the light we see that he is bloodied. He is hurt, injured. Making his way back toward the patch of light that comes from the hole above. Hoping to see that help is on its way, while keeping a watchful, wary and worried eye on the shadows, for another attack by the Creature.  DR. BRONSCHWEIG Hey -- I need help. But the Technicians looking down on him offer him nothing of the sort. All they do is quickly close the clear hatch that seals Bronschweig inside the cave.  DR. BRONSCHWEIG Hey! But he gets no answer, climbing the ladder shakily. A moment later the first Bobcat shovel-full of dirt falls onto the clear hatch and partially obscures the light. They are burying Bronschweig alive. DOMED TENT - DAY ANGLE DOWN ON BRONSCHWEIG through the glass hatch. His SCREAMS continue. ADJUSTING to the small bulldozer which is quickly hauling the mound of excavated earth into the hole from which it came. While, all around, there is a hive of activity. Men running everywhere.   RESUME ICE CAVE Bronschweig reacts in silent horror now, only to turn in further horror when he feels the impending attack of: THE CREATURE Right behind and just below him. Its grotesque features in momentary high resolution, BEFORE IT ATTACKS CAMERA. Over and over, savaging Bronschweig in a violent fury. Its hideous teeth tearing at his flesh - AT CAMERA - driving him off the ladder where the attack continues in momentary glimpses of teeth, of bloody flesh, and of OILY BLACK BLOOD being spattered about. At the height of the violence we hear Bronschweig SCREAM. Matching the wound of this, as we:   EXT. ESTATE SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE LONDON - EARLY EVENING A CHILD s SCREAM OF JOY. ENGLISH CHILDREN are playing tag or some kind of children s game in the well-manicured garden of a man who the CAMERA FINDS IN F.G. -- the man we have come to know as THE WELL-MANICURED MAN. He is also a member of the syndicate running  The Project', though his venality is cloaked in civility and statesmanship. Right now he s watching the children from the back steps of his mansion, charmed by their game. When he is called by someone o.s.  VALET s VOICE Sir -- you have a call. The Well-Manicured Man turns to see: HIS VALET Holds the door. After a moment the W.M.M. enters past the Valet. As the screams of the children continue to rise and fall.   SUBURBAN LONDON ESTATE - A BEAUTIFUL STUDY - EVENING The Well-Manicured Man enters, picks up a blinking line. Through a window he can still see the children playing.  WELL-MANICURED MAN Yes.  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN   FILTER  We have a situation. The members are assembling.  WELL-MANICURED MAN Is it an emergency? INTERCUT WITH TIGHT CSM AT KENSINGTON BUILDING  NEXT LOC.   CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Yes. A meeting is set. Tonight in London, to determine a course.  WELL-MANICURED MAN Who called this meeting?  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Strughold. He s just gotten on a plane in Tunis. This pronouncement has the power of ending any further questions. An immediate sense of gravity of the situation. The W.M.M. hangs up, moves to the window where he sees some of the HELP is running from the house. The children have all gathered around a BOY who seems to have hurt himself. He s lifted and being carried by the man who s called the W.M.M. into the house. Off the Well-Manicured Man s concern, we:   EXT. LONDON STREET - NIGHT A discreet Town Car pulls up out front an understated building in a better West End neighborhood. A driver exits coming around for the Well-Manicured Man who is already exiting, moving to the building. As a LEGEND appears: KENSINGTON, LONDON:  : PM.   KENSINGTON BUILDING - NIGHT The Well-Manicured Man is admitted by a Valet. The interior has the well-heeled look of money, or a finely appointed residence that no one lives in. The Valet takes the W.M.M. s coat.  WELL-MANICURED MAN Has Strughold arrived?  VALET They re in the library. He leads the W.M.M. down a hall, to: LARGE STATELY LIBRARY - NIGHT A GROUP OF MEN are standing, looking at something on a TV monitor. A surveillance video. They turn when the W.M.M. enters. CAMERA FAVORING A SMALL LEAN MAN with close-cropped hair. He is at once elegant and imposing with eyes that hold you with laser-like acuity. He is CONRAD STRUGHOLD. The others are of various ethnicities, tailored and dignified. This might be a collection of U.N. delegates. Indeed some are. Their business here, however, doesn t represent anyone s interests but their own. As tipped by the attendance of a GROUP ELDER from the U.S. who we ve come to know. But, more importantly, by the Cigarette Smoking Man who holds the VCR remote. He pauses the picture.  STRUGHOLD We began to worry. Some of us have traveled so far, and you are the last to arrive.  WELL-MANICURED MAN I m sorry. My grandson fell and broke his leg. The non-response to this has the same effect as a reprimand. But the W.M.M. will not apologize of kowtow.  STRUGHOLD While we ve been made to wait, we ve watched surveillance tapes which have raised more concerns. The Well-Manicured Man glances to the TV, sees the frame paused. HIS POV OF TV MONITOR Where Mulder and Scully s faces are seen in a hallway that we recognize as the Bethesda Naval Hospital. RESUME WELL-MANICURED MAN  WELL-MANICURED MAN More concerns than that?  STRUGHOLD We ve been forced to reassess our role in Colonization by new facts of biology which have presented themselves.  GROUP ELDER speaking up  The virus has mutated.  WELL-MANICURED MAN On its own?  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Its effect on the host has changed. The virus no longer just invades the brain as a controlling organism. It s developed a way to modify the host body.  WELL-MANICURED MAN Into what?  STRUGHOLD A new extraterrestrial biological entity. It takes a moment to sink in. The weight of this fact.  WELL-MANICURED MAN My god...  STRUGHOLD The geometry of mass infection presents certain conceptual re-evaluations for us. About our place in their Colonization.  WELL-MANICURED MAN This isn t Colonization, it s spontaneous repopulation. All our work... if it s true, then they ve been using us all along. We ve been laboring under a lie!   ND ELDER It could be an isolated case.  WELL-MANICURED MAN How can we know?!  STRUGHOLD We re going to tell them what we ve found. What we ve learned. Turn over a body infected with the gestating organism.  WELL-MANICURED MAN In hope of what? Learning that it s true?! That we are nothing more than digestives for the creation of a new race of alien lifeforms?!  STRUGHOLD Let me remind you who is the new race. And who is the old. beat  What could be gained by withholding anything from them; By pretending to ignorance? Our knowledge may forestall their plans to step up the timetable. To start Colonization early.  WELL-MANICURED MAN And if it doesn t? By cooperating now we re but beggars to our demise! Our ignorance was in cooperating with the Colonists at all.  STRUGHOLD Cooperation is our only chance of saving ourselves.  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN They still need us to carry out their preparations.  STRUGHOLD We ll continue to use them as they do us. If only to play for more time, to continue work on our vaccine.  WELL-MANICURED MAN Our vaccine may have no effect!  STRUGHOLD Well, without a cure for the virus, we re nothing more than digestives anyway. All eyes go to the Well-Manicured Man. He is respected, if not the odd man out in this room. But he is all restrained anger now.  WELL-MANICURED MAN My lateness may have well been absence. A course has already been taken.  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN There are complications. He turns back to the TV monitor where Mulder and Scully remain frozen on the screen.  WELL-MANICURED MAN Do they know?  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Mulder was in Dallas when we were trying to dispose of evidence. He s gone back there again. Someone has tipped him.  WELL-MANICURED MAN Who?  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Kurtzweil, we think.  STRUGHOLD We ve allowed this man his freedom. His books have actually helped us to facilitate plausible denial. Has he outlived his usefulness to us?  WELL-MANICURED MAN No one believes Kurtzweil or his books. He s a toiler. A crank.  STRUGHOLD And Mulder?  ELDER Our new situation makes us vulnerable. If he learns information as we do, he could jeopardize the Project s secrecy.   ND ELDER Control of information means control of Mulder.  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN I can control Mulder. I ve always controlled Mulder.  STRUGHOLD This may take another approach. He says this, casting his look toward the Well-Manicured Man. A look of cold malevolence. The W.M.M. s reaction is disdain.  WELL-MANICURED MAN You can t kill Mulder. He s got too much light on him.  STRUGHOLD You need not kill a man to destroy him.  WELL-MANICURED MAN personalizing the  inference  No, you need only take away what is most precious to him.   HARD EXT. SMALL PUBLIC PARK - CENTRAL TEXAS - DAY AGENT SCULLY She stands against a backdrop of Texas flatland, squinting into the sun. Shaking her head.  SCULLY I don t know, Mulder... We are: WIDE ANGLE REVERSE, TO INCLUDE MULDER, standing in the middle of a park, replete with jungle gyms, playground equipment. All brand spanking new. They are standing right where there had once been a hard scrabble, parched and barren little field. Where the earthen hole had been dug by the young boys. And what had later been the site of so much activity by the group of scientists. But where there s now a park, thick green grass covering the parch of ground, including the spot where the hole had been.  SCULLY He didn t mention a park.  MULDER This is where he marked on the map, Scully. Where he says those fossils were unearthed.  SCULLY I don t see any evidence of an archeological or any other kind of digsite. Not even a sewer or a storm drain. Mulder scans the area, confounded. Shaking his head as they walk.  MULDER You re sure the fossils you looked at showed the same signs of deterioration you saw in the fireman s body in the morgue?  SCULLY nodding  The bone was porous, as if the virus of the causative microbe were digesting it.  MULDER And you ve never seen anything like that?  SCULLY No.  It didn t show up on any of the immunohistochemical tests -- Mulder is listening to all this while looking down at his feet:  MULDER This looks like new grass to you?  SCULLY It looks pretty green for this climate. Mulder stops, kneels, touches the thick green carpet of turf. He digs around, lifting up a corner of a new square.  MULDER Ground s dry about an inch down. Somebody just laid this down. Very recently, I d say.  SCULLY looking off  All the equipment is brand new.  MULDER No irrigation system. Somebody s covering their tracks. They both turn, looking at something that s caught their attention on the street where their rental car is parked. Three kids, all of whom we recognize from earlier. Stevie s  friends'. Tooling down the street on new BMX bikes. Reacting to Mulder s loud WHISTLE. This stops them, staring at Mulder blankly across the distance.  MULDER Hey! They don t answer. Just keep staring, squinting into the sun. Mulder and Scully start walking toward them.  SCULLY Do you live around here?   ND BOY Yeah. As the Agents approach.  MULDER You see anybody digging here? The kids don t answer quickly.   ND BOY Not supposed to talk about it.  SCULLY You re not supposed to talk about it? Who told you that?   RD BOY Nobody.  MULDER Nobody. Same nobody who put this park in? That new equipment... off the boys guilty looks  They buy you these bikes? The kids shift uncomfortably.  SCULLY I think you better tell us.   ND BOY We don t even know you.  SCULLY Well, we re FBI agents.   ND BOY You re not FBI agents.  MULDER How do you know?   ND BOY Cause FBI agents wear like suits and goofy ties. And dresses like my mom wears to church. Like on that one show. Mulder and Scully pull their badges. The kids  mouths drop.  MULDER Maybe you ve been watching too much TV.   RD BOY They all left twenty minutes ago.   TH BOY Going that way. The kids all pointing in the same direction. EXT. CENTRAL TEXAS HIGHWAY - LATE DAY As Mulder and Scully s rental car RACES by at high speed.   MULDER AND SCULLY s RENTAL CAR - DAY - CONTINUOUS Mulder at the wheel, foot to the floor. Scully s got a map out. The mood is urgent, tense.  MULDER Unmarked tanker trucks... what are archaeologists hauling out in tanker trucks?  SCULLY I don t know, Mulder.  MULDER And where are they going with it?  SCULLY That s the first question to answer, if we re going to find them.   CUT BACK TO: EXT. CENTRAL HIGHWAY - LATE DAY Mulder slows down to a stop. They ve come to a three-way intersection in the middle of absolutely nowhere that offers them three choices. The car sits idling for several beats. RESUME RENTAL CAR Mulder s got his hand on his face rubbing his eyes.  MULDER What are my choices?  SCULLY About a hundred miles of nothing in each direction.  MULDER Where would they be going?  SCULLY We ve got two choices. One of them is wrong. They are both looking in different directions. The car idling.  MULDER You think they went left?  SCULLY I don t know why I think they went right. A few moments of silence. Then Mulder steps on the gas and goes straight. Heading out onto the only unpaved road. Accelerating away. Scully looks at him, wondering. As they bump along at speed. Mulder won t look at her for a few moments. Then, turning to her:  MULDER Five years together -- how many times have I been wrong.   DISSOLVE TO: EXT. TEXAS HIGHWAY - NIGHT HEADLIGHTS appear in the distance on a long, dusty stretch of road. GROWING as they approach, then coming to a stop in a cloud of dust as they move into f.g. Where a LINE OF FENCEPOSTS, BARBWIRE blocks their path. As the car brakes, the passenger door opens and Scully exits. A hot Texas wind blows. A dog is BARKING somewhere. Scully walks into the headlight wash, looking at a sign on the fence. After a moment, the driver s door opens and Mulder exits.  MULDER Hey, I was right about the bomb, wasn t I?  SCULLY This is great. This is fitting. REVERSE ON SCENE On the fence sign, painted in crude letters, are the words: SOME HAVE TRIED, SOME HAVE DIED. TURN BACK -- NO TRESPASSING.  MULDER What?  SCULLY I ve got to be in Washington D.C. in eleven hours for a hearing -- the outcome of which might possibly affect one of the biggest decisions of my life. And here I am standing out in the middle of nowhere Texas, chasing phantom tanker trucks.  MULDER We re not chasing trucks, we re chasing evidence --  SCULLY -- of what exactly?!  MULDER That bomb in Dallas was allowed to go off, to hide something: bodies infected with a virus you detected yourself.  SCULLY They haul gas in tanker trucks, they haul oil in tanker trucks -- they don t haul viruses in tanker trucks.  MULDER Yeah, well they may this one.  SCULLY What do you mean by haul? off his reaction  What are you not telling me here?  MULDER This virus -- it... afraid to say   SCULLY Mulder --  MULDER It may be extraterrestrial.  SCULLY I don t believe this. I don t fucking believe this. reaching her limit of  impatience  Y know, I ve been here... I ve been here one too many times with you, Mulder.  MULDER Been where?  SCULLY Pounding down some dirt road in the middle of the night. Chasing some elusive truth on a dim hope, only to find myself standing right where I am right now: at another dead end -- As she says this A BELL starts to sound. A flashing light hits Mulder and Scully. They both turn to see: HIGH ANGLE OVER A RAILROAD CROSSING SIGN Sitting all by its lonely self. No swinging arms or gate. Just one little sign between Mulder and Scully and their car. CAMERA PANNING to the light of a locomotive speeding toward us. WIDE ANGLE OVER TRACKS TO MULDER AND SCULLY They move toward their car, but the train is coming fast. Mulder and Scully stop and wait, watching the train. As the engine breaks frame, eclipsing Mulder and Scully from view. And as it passes by we see TWO VERY FAMILIAR WHITE TANKERS loaded piggyback atop flat bed cars. The train, which is not much longer than this, passes. And Mulder and Scully make a mad dash for their car. The lights come on and Mulder swings the vehicle into a hard accelerating turn, taking the spoke of the intersection that parallels the tracks. As the car hauls ass after the train, we:   DISSOLVE TO: EXT. OPPOSITE END OF MOUNTAIN PASS - NIGHT The rails come up a grade where they appear out of a long bending turn. Exiting the mountain pass near the summit of the mountain. And now HEADLIGHTS appear, bouncing toward us. It s Mulder and Scully s rental chugging up the grade. And now pulling to a stop as it REACHES CAMERA. Then the car doors open and Mulder and Scully exit. Putting jackets against the cold desert night. Running over the gravel on the rail bed into sharp f.g.  SCULLY What do you think it is?  MULDER I have no idea. They start out toward it anyway, whatever it is. But the image that we see next might cause us to ask the same question. REVERSE ANGLE -- MULDER AND SCULLY s FORMER POV The Agents are moving off the tracks now, picking their way toward the horizon where, at the edge of the great plateau that lays out before them, there are TWO GIANT GLOWING WHITE DOMES. It is otherwise pitch dark out, almost giving the impression that the domes are floating. It would give the distinct impression of otherworldliness, if we hadn t seen a similar, smaller glowing dome over the dirt field where the boys found the skull. And if we could not see the lights of the TRAIN rolling to a stop near the mysterious domes.   EXT. GREAT PLATEAU - NIGHT - HIGH WIDE ANGLE SLOWLY CRANING DOWN as Mulder and Scully move through the low scrub of the high desert. Moving towards us as CAMERA CONTINUES ITS SLOW CRANE DOWN, REVEALING in f.g. the tops of CORN STALKS  yes, corn stalks.  What is the perimeter edge of: REVERSE CRANE DOWN  TO MATCH  Acres and acres of corn fields, laying out before us in the dark night. Running all the way to the WHITE DOMED TENTS in the b.g. Mulder and Scully enter the perimeter edge, disappearing into: EXT. ACRES OF CORN - NIGHT TRACKING WITH Mulder and Scully as they move through the field.  SCULLY This is weird, Mulder.  MULDER Very weird.  SCULLY Any thoughts on why anybody d be growing corn in the middle of the desert?  MULDER Not unless those are giant Jiffy Pop containers out there. CONTINUE TRACKING as they move through the tall uniform rows. ANGLE BEHIND THE AGENTS Shooting down the long straight rows. CRANING UP to REVEAL DOMES once again. Like space ships that have landed.   OPPOSITE PERIMETER OF THE FIELD OF CORN The Agents exit the edge of the crop field. They have come upon the glowing tents now. Tall and pillowy against the dark sky. There is no evidence of anyone about. No sound, no signs. Mulder and Scully stand at the edge of the field for a moment. Then move cautiously across an open area to one of the domes.   WHITE DOME TENT - NIGHT Mulder pulls open the steel door leading in. It opens with a SUCKING SOUND which suggests the interior is pressurized. And as he and Scully step in -- they both JUMP when LARGE FANS just overhead hit them both with hard blasts of air. Stepping quickly out of the downward blasting air, into the still silence of the space beyond.  SCULLY Cool in here. Temperature s being regulated.  MULDER For the purpose of what? HIGH OVERHEAD ANGLE Our view is down through the crosswires and cables that create the tension support. The effect is a combination of simplicity and perfect function. Stark and high tech. The flooring is gray and flat, featureless. But we don t yet see from this angle exactly what the white domed tent houses. Though the air is still and there is no movement of any kind, there is a sound that permeates the interior. A STEADY HUM. Almost electrical hum, but different. Mulder and Scully move together toward the middle of the space. WIDE ON TENT - MULDER AND SCULLY s POV Laid out in a grid, low to the ground, are what look like BOXES. Fixed in place like roof vents, except these are on the floor, no more than three feet tall, and about the same measure square. NEW ANGLE - TRACKING WITH MULDER AND SCULLY As they continue to move cautiously, walking out into the grid of box-shaped objects. Coming to the center of the capacious, arena-sized space. Standing over one of the mysterious boxes, which we now see have LOUVERED TOPS. The louvers, however, are shut so that whatever is inside the boxes cannot be seen.  SCULLY I think we re on top of something. I think these are some kind of venting. Mulder lays his head and ear to the top of the box.  MULDER You hear that?  SCULLY I hear the humming. Like electricity. High voltage maybe.  MULDER Maybe. Maybe not. Scully looks skyward.  SCULLY What do you think those are for? Mulder takes his ear off the box, looking up now, too. THEIR POV At the top of the dome are two LARGE corresponding LOUVER VENTS. RESUME MULDER AND SCULLY Looking up at these vents.   WHITE DOME TENT - NIGHT HIGH WIDE ANGLE OVER MULDER AND SCULLY, staring up JUST PAST CAMERA at the louvered vents at top center of the tent. When A LOUD METALLIC NOISE makes them jump. AGENTS POV THE LOUVERED VENTS ABOVE THEM One of the vents is opening automatically, its large metal louvers straining from their flat closed position into an up-and-down open position. When this is complete, the SECOND LOUVER does the same. The straining sound of galvanized metal-on-metal. LOW ANGLE ON MULDER AND SCULLY As Mulder turns his look from the ceiling back down to the mysterious box they re standing next to. Something occurs to him. Something frightening.  MULDER Scully....?  SCULLY Yeah...?  MULDER Run. Mulder grabs her hand, pulling her along. Though she doesn t know why. Or what s about to happen. TRACKING FAST WITH THEM as Mulder leads her back toward the door they entered, which is a good hundred yards away.  SCULLY yelling, on the run  What are you doing?  MULDER yelling back  Come on! When the LOUVERED VENTS on all the low grid-arranged boxes OPEN IN DOMINO-LIKE SUCCESSION -- out of them pouring THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF BEES, rapidly filling the atmosphere of the domed space. As if the insects are being shot out of non-stop cannons. HIGH ANGLE THICK STREAMS of bees head RIGHT AT CAMERA, flying for the open louvers at the top of the dome. As Mulder and Scully run for it down below. TRACKING WITH MULDER AND SCULLY Scully s hand slipping from Mulder s as she pulls her jacket up over her head. Mulder doing the same now, ducking his head inside his own jacket. The Agents are slowed by the bees but still make their zigzag way toward the door -- bees clinging to their clothes. But motion seems to be the key. As Mulder RUNS TOWARD CAMERA -- where the downward blast of air knocks all the bees off him. In the b.g., we see that Scully has fallen behind. Still running, but losing her way in the process, losing her bearings as the thickening swarm of bees descends. CLOSE ON SCULLY When Mulder enters frame, jacket pulled over his head again. Taking Scully by the back of her coat and swinging her toward the direction of the door. Whipsnapping her the rest of the distance to the doorfans. Following right behind her as the fans BLASTING them and the Agents continue right out the doors. To: EXT. WHITE DOMED TENT - NIGHT Scully and Mulder comes blasting out themselves now, but they haven t even had time to catch their breaths when they react to MOVEMENT. Something coming at them in the night. THEIR POV s - STRAIGHT DOWN THE ROWS OF DOMED TENTS Where BRIGHT BEAMS BLAST ON, moving fast toward them. The RUSHING WHIR of the turbine engines of the unmarked choppers. The bright beams skimming across the ground toward Mulder and Scully, traveling right along the edges of ends of the white domed tents. Threatening to spot the Agents, unless they -- RUN. And they do -- bolting just as the beams and the helicopters blast over the spot they held just moments before. Running to: EXT. ACRES OF CORN - NIGHT - MULDER AND SCULLY - VARIOUS HANDHELD Running flat out now, knocking away the stalks and leaves that block their way. Following and leading shots. POVs and Tracking shots. And chasing angles, as the Agents run through the only cover they ve got. As: ANGLE JUST OVER THE TOP OF CROPS The unmarked helicopters swoop right overhead, their BRIGHT SPOTLIGHTS searching and cutting through the cornrows. As the Agents zig and zag just out of the discovering beams. As the choppers zoom right over their heads. REVERSE ON CHOPPERS Traversing the field, then doing sharp banking turns and swooping back over the field now in low drifting hovers. The wash from the blades knocking the corn stalks down so as to reveal anything hidden within. The bright spots making sure that nothing might escape detection. LOW ANGLE - CAMERA SEARCHING AND FINDING SCULLY as she runs up INTO FRAME. She s lost sight of:  SCULLY Mulder?! ANGLE ELSEWHERE ON MULDER As he too runs to a stop. Hearing his name.  MULDER Scully?! RESUME SCULLY Reacting to the sound of her name, but there s no time to find her bearings on Mulder. Not before she has to take flight again. As one of the choppers appears overhead, hovering into view. Knocking the corn down in a path moving straight toward her. CAMERA LEADING HER as she runs from the oncoming craft. PASSING CAMERA to the left, as the chopper passes CAMERA RIGHT.   TRACKING FAST WITH MULDER Beating his way through the corn like Bomba through the jungle. Matching this action, as Mulder runs toward us. When one of the unmarked helicopters BREAKS INTO FRAME in an intersecting path, its BEAM passing right over Mulder and ILLUMINATING HIM. But while it doesn t slow Mulder down, the helicopter maneuvers into a hard banking turn, sweeping over the far end of the corn field and heading RIGHT BACK AT MULDER - AT US.   NEW LOW ANGLE ON EDGE OF CORN FIELD Where Mulder bursts out of the perimeter, turning on a quick dime and running an out pattern, just before the chopper BURSTS into frame overhead, its search beam narrowly missing Mulder. NEW ANGLE ON MULDER Running the corner of the field, looking frantically down each corn row until he comes to a stop. No sign of:  MULDER Scully?! Mulder reacting to the sound of her response:  SCULLY distant o.s.  Mulder! NEW ANGLE ON SCULLY She s exiting the field behind him. Running toward him, and when she gets to him they both break into a run across the desert. CAMERA FOLLOWING THEM as they sprint away. FOLLOWING THEM until they both start to slow. Slowing to a stop in the darkness. Turning to see: THEIR POV The helicopters have disappeared. RESUME MULDER AND SCULLY Reacting to this.  SCULLY Where d they go?  MULDER I don t know. Then they both turn again and continue running. As fast as their feet will take them. Back towards the bluff where their car is parked. EXT. BLUFF OVERLOOKING CORN FIELDS - NIGHT Where Mulder and Scully s car is parked. Stillness, until Mulder and Scully s heads appear as they climb up from the direction of the corn fields. They get in their car and start it quickly. Mulder turns the ignition, but the car doesn t start immediately. He turns it over and over but it won t kick. As he does this, unbeknownst to the agents ONE OF THE BLACK HELICOPTERS rises up from below the bluff, appearing in their rear windshield. Hovering just behind the car like a giant bumblebee. Just as... ...Mulder gets the car started, throwing the transmission in gear and spinning the tires. As they head off back in the direction they came, without their lights on. As they do this, the black chopper continues to hover for a moment, then BANKS OFF AND AWAY. Into the night. Mulder and Scully speed off in the opposite direction. As we:   DISSOLVE TO: FBI OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL REVIEW - DAY CLOSE ON A FILE Being leafed through by a woman s hands. CAMERA TILTING UP to Special Agent Cassidy, the woman we met earlier running the OPR hearing. She takes a quick glance at her watch, looking up when: THE DOOR TO THE ROOM opens. A beat, then Skinner enters with a wearied look.  SKINNER She s coming in. Skinner ducks his head back out to look at:   INTERCUT WITH: HALLWAY OUTSIDE OPR HEARING ROOM - DAY Where Scully stands looking into the glass of a display case, trying to put her hair and clothes and person together. She s still in the same clothes we saw her in. Seeing Skinner now moving toward him. RESUME OPR HEARING ROOM Scully enters past Skinner. Though she has straightened them, and her hair, there is no mistaking that she s been to the dust bowl and back to get here. Her manner is chastened. Scully tries to keep her eyes on the table where she ll be sitting. Venturing only a brief, polite look to: ANGLE TO INCLUDE CASSIDY AND THE OTHER PANEL MEMBERS They reshuffle their papers, pulling up their chairs. Ready to get down to business now.  CASSIDY Special Agent Scully --  SCULLY I apologize for making you wait -- I ve brought some new evidence with me --  CASSIDY Evidence of what? CLOSE PROFILE ON SCULLY Reaching into her satchel, pulling out an evidence bag. Whatever she s reaching for she s reluctant to present with confidence.  SCULLY These are fossilized bone fragments I ve been able to study, gathered from the bomb site in Dallas... As Scully speaks we see A BEE crawl out from under the collar of her suit jacket, crawling toward the back of her neck. Crawling slowly, as if stretching its legs from its long journey. CAMERA DOLLYING around Scully as the bee does, moving into an OVER to:  CASSIDY You ve been back to Dallas?  SCULLY Yes.  CASSIDY Are you going to let us in on what exactly you re trying to prove --  SCULLY That the bombing in Dallas may have been to destroy the bodies of those firemen, so their deaths and the reason for them wouldn t have to be explained --  CASSIDY challenging  -- those are very serious allegations, Agent Scully --  SCULLY Yes. I know. There is a hush of murmured responses to this, the panel members speaking to one another. Assistant Director Skinner shifts uneasily in his chair. He s been here before with Agents Mulder and Scully. He s sensing something outrageous.  CASSIDY And you have conclusive evidence of this? Something to tie this claim of yours to the crime --  SCULLY grudgingly  Nothing completely conclusive -- We have returned to the OVER ANGLE on Scully, where we see the BEE just below her jacket collar on the back of her neck. It CRAWLS back under her collar, DISAPPEARING from sight.  SCULLY I hope to. We re working to develop this evidence --  CASSIDY Working with?  SCULLY Agent Mulder. Off Cassidy s knowing nod, a general shifting in chairs, we:   DOWNSCALE D.C. BAR - LATE DAY Mulder pushes through the front, scanning the room for: ANGLE ON KURTZWEIL Sitting at a booth at the dark rear of the establishment. Mulder enters frame, sitting down across from him. Kurtzweil is jumpy, but he sees from Mulder s expression that something s up.  KURTZWEIL You found something?  MULDER Yes. On the Texas border. Some kind of experiment. Something they excavated was brought there in tanker trucks.  KURTZWEIL What?  MULDER I m not sure. A virus --  KURTZWEIL -- You saw this experiment?  MULDER What did it look like?  MULDER There were bees. And corn crops. Kurtzweil smiles at Mulder, laughs with nervous excitement. Mulder doesn t quite realize it yet, but this is news to him.  MULDER What are they? Kurtzweil slides from his seat, rising.  KURTZWEIL What do you think?  MULDER A transportation system. Transgenic crops. The pollen genetically altered to carry a virus.  KURTZWEIL That would be my guess.  MULDER Your guess? But Kurtzweil doesn t respond to this. He s moving toward the back of the bar. Mulder slides out, pursuing him. ANGLE ON BARMAID The few PATRONS sitting at the bar, all turning in reaction to this sudden flurry of activity. REAR OF DOWNSCALE BAR - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS Near the bathrooms. Mulder catches up to Kurtzweil.  MULDER What do you mean, your guess? Kurtzweil doesn t stop. So Mulder must physically stop him.  MULDER You told me you had answers.  KURTZWEIL Yeah, well I don t have them all.  MULDER You ve been using me --  KURTZWEIL I ve been using you?!  MULDER You didn t know my father --  KURTZWEIL I told you -- he and I were old friends --  MULDER You re a liar. You lied to me to gather information for you. For your goddamn books. Didn t you? Mulder is getting heated, rough with Kurtzweil. When, unexpectedly A MAN suddenly exits the bathroom. REACTING to this scene. Kurtzweil uses the moment to break from Mulder. Slipping out the back door. Mulder takes a beat, then goes after him. Pushing out the back door into the blinding brightness.   EXT. ALLEY BEHIND BAR - DAY Mulder busts out the back door, chasing Kurtzweil.  MULDER Kurtzweil! Kurtzweil turns to him. With restrained ferocity.  KURTZWEIL You d be shit out of luck if not for me. You saw what you saw because I led you to it. I m putting my ass on the line for you.  MULDER Your ass? I just got chased across Texas by two black helicopters.  KURTZWEIL And why do you think it is you re standing here talking to me? These people don t make mistakes, Agent Mulder. And with that he turns now, striding off. Leaving Mulder to deal with the excellent logic of this. When suddenly Mulder reacts to A NOISE. Somewhere above him. MULDER s POV Up on a fire escape, A MAN is moving. Mulder can only see his feet and legs from this angle, but it is clear he has been watching Mulder. Upon being spotted, the figure slides away and disappears. ANGLE FROM INSIDE FIRE ESCAPE BUILDING We get a glimpse of the man who was watching him. A face we recognize as that of the man who brushed past Mulder coming out of the vending room, not long before the building in Dallas blew. He is moving quickly now, disappearing into the shadows. CAMERA TILTING DOWN to find: MULDER. He stands staring up, but only for a moment until he turns and hurries off in the opposite direction Kurtzweil disappeared in.   MULDER s APARTMENT - MAGIC HOUR ANGLE OVER MULDER s DESK at the far end of the living room. The sound of keys in the door, then Mulder enters his apartment in a hurry. Moving to the desk and going at this pace through the drawers. Looking for... A PICTURE ALBUM. Which he takes now, leafing through it. Flipping the pages, looking for: ANGLE OVER MULDER Finding old pictures of young Fox Mulder with his SISTER, Samantha. With his father and mother. The plastic-covered page is peeled back and one of these photos is removed. It is an old family snapshot. A picnic possibly. Mulder stares at the picture. INSERT PHOTO - In the b.g. of the picnic, his head turned to camera, is a young KURTZWEIL. Mulder studies the photo intensely, when there s a KNOCK at his door. Mulder turning to see: SCULLY In his haste, Mulder had neglected to lock his door. Scully is pushing it open. She s still in the same clothes. She looks beat. Her eyes meeting Mulder s. A gaze that says bad news.  MULDER What? What s wrong?  SCULLY Salt Lake City, Utah. Transfer effective immediately. Mulder is shaking his head. Not wanting to hear this.  SCULLY I already gave Skinner my letter of resignation.  MULDER You can t quit, Scully.  SCULLY I can, Mulder. I debated whether or not to even tell you in person, because I knew --  MULDER We re close to something here -- we re on the verge --  SCULLY You re on the verge, Mulder -- please don t do this to me --  MULDER After what you saw last night -- after all you ve seen -- you can t just walk away --  SCULLY I have. I did. It s done.  MULDER Just like that --  SCULLY I m contacting the state board Monday to file medical reinstatement papers --  MULDER I need you on this, Scully --  SCULLY You don t Mulder -- you ve never needed me. I ve only held you back. beat  I ve got to go. And with that she exits his apartment, the argument too painful, and her ability to be persuaded too clear to herself. HALLWAY OUTSIDE MULDER s APARTMENT - NIGHT WIDE ANGLE FROM END OF HALL where we see Scully, leaving Mulder s apartment. Moving at a hurried clip to the elevator -- TOWARD CAMERA. As if anticipating her own impulse to turn around and go back. As she moves into f.g. Mulder exits his apt. door.  MULDER You re wrong -- He hurries to catch her. As she turns on him.  SCULLY Why was I assigned to you? To debunk your work. To reign you in. To shut you down.  MULDER You saved me, Scully. off her look  As different and frustrating as it s been sometimes, your goddamn strict rationalism and science have saved me a thousand times; have kept me honest and made me whole. I owe you so much, Scully, and you owe me nothing. beat  I don t want to do this without you. I don t know if I can. If I quit now, they win. She is silent, moved. In spite of all her desire not to be. She moves to Mulder, holds him. They break slightly and she looks up at Mulder with deep respect, admiration and... kisses him on the forehead. When... ...suddenly a physical intimacy we ve never seen. A heat and passion that can t be denied. The opportunity for the inevitable has presented itself. The moment of truth has arrived. Mulder is staring at Scully as she s looking back at him. His head moves slightly toward hers -- as one of his hands moves up to her neck, drawing her to him. Where there is hesitation on her part, there is also desire. When:  SCULLY OUCH!!! Scully pulls away from Mulder, RUBBING at her neck where his hand had been.  MULDER What? What happened?  SCULLY I think... something stung me. Scully s hand comes out with THE SQUIRMING BEE, which she holds in her hand while Mulder moves around her, checking her neck.  MULDER It must... But he doesn t finish his sentence before he has to catch Scully from falling. Her head bobs and she has to catch it.  MULDER Scully...  SCULLY Something s wrong... fighting for clarity  I m having -- lancinating pain -- my chest. My... motor functions are being affected. I m... Mulder lays her down on the floor during this. Scully continues to speak, though her eyes are not focusing. She is limp in Mulder s arms.  SCULLY ...my pulse feels thready and I ve got a funny taste in the back of my throat.  MULDER I think you re in anaphylactic shock --  SCULLY No -- it s -- Her voice is getting thin now, too.  MULDER Scully --  SCULLY I ve got no allergy. Something... this... Mulder... I think... I think you should call an ambulance. And Mulder is on his feet in a flash, running for:   MULDER s APARTMENT - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS CLOSE OVER PHONE as Mulder races into the apartment, dashing TOWARD CAMERA, picking up the receiver, dialing. HOLDING ON THE PHONE during this action. TILTING UP for:  MULDER This is Special Agent Fox Mulder. I have an emergency -- I have an agent down -- HALLWAY OUTSIDE MULDER s APARTMENT - NIGHT SCULLY - HANDHELD Picked up and one-two-three loaded on a gurney by TWO PARAMEDICS.   ST PARAMEDIC Can you hear me? Can you say your name? Scully is trying, but the words won t come out.   ST PARAMEDIC She s got constriction in the throat and larynx -- are you breathing okay? He lays his head down to her mouth.   ST PARAMEDIC Passages are open. Let s get her in the van -- NEIGHBORS are in the hall now, along with Mulder. Who is moving beside the Paramedics as they hustle the gurney down the hall.   ST PARAMEDIC Coming through people -- here we go. Coming through --   EXT. MULDER s APARTMENT - NIGHT - CONTINUED HAND HELD The Paramedics bang out the front door, stutter-stepping the gurney down to the walk, to their EMT VAN which sits at the curb with the LIGHT BAR FLASHING. Mulder following close by.  MULDER She said she had a taste in the back of her throat -- there was no pre-existing allergy to bee-stings -- the bee that stung her may have been carrying a virus --   ND PARAMEDIC A virus?   ST PARAMEDIC Get on the radio, tell them we have a cytogenic reaction, we need an advise and administer -- They get her to the back of the vehicle, guiding the gurney in with experienced hands. Scully s eyes are on Mulder as she s slid into the brightly lit interior. The  st Paramedic blocks Mulder somewhat as he steps toward the van, anticipating that he s going with them to the hospital. But the doors are closing on him before he gets an opportunity. FOLLOWING MULDER around to the driver s side of the van now, moving to the driver s window where THE DRIVER can be seen in the rear view mirror, his eyes watching Mulder. ON MULDER A moment of vague recognition -- a catch in his step. RESUME As Mulder s momentum carries him to the driver s window where se see again the man from the vending room, who was also surveilling Mulder. And he has a HANDGUN pointed at Mulder, which he FIRES THROUGH THE WINDOW. The glass shattering. RESUME MULDER Throwing himself away backward, but the bullet catches him in the head. Blood and glass spraying onto the side of the van. He goes down to the ground -- as the paramedic van accelerates fast away. LOW ANGLE REVERSE ON MULDER Lying in the street, his head bleeding profusely. While in the b.g., A SECOND AMBULANCE IS SPEEDING TO THE SCENE. As it skids to a stop and TWO NEW PARAMEDICS jump out, we:   DISSOLVE TO: EXT. WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT - NIGHT A MEDIUM SIZED PRIVATE JET is taxiing down an alley off the main runway where a is speeding toward takeoff. The private jet turning TOWARD CAMERA and nosing into f.g. NEW ANGLE ON TARMAC Where MEN IN FAMILIAR BLACK FATIGUES are unloading something from an unmarked cube truck that is also familiar: the very high tech-looking CLEAR CONTAINER, with its monitors and gauges, its oxygen tanks and refrigeration unit. A self-contained life support system. The inside of the container is covered with a thin layer of frost, through which we can see AGENT SCULLY. She lies as if in a state of paralysis, but a blink of her eyes is enough to tell us that she is... alive. TRACKING WITH THE MEN moving the container. As they hustle it to the waiting jet. As The Cigarette Smoking Man is descending the steps of the plane onto the tarmac. Watching as the container is moved to the cargo hold and loaded inside. The hold is closed and the jet engines wind back up. As the Cigarette Smoking Man reboards the aircraft and it taxis away. FADE SLOWLY TO BLACK HOSPITAL - NIGHT Voices fade in slowly, inaudible at first. For regular viewers of the show, they will recognize the voices of the Lone Gunmen. Three nerdish paranoiacs who publish a magazine which charts and cataloged conspiracies past and present, among other government malfeasance. They are Langly, Byers and Frohike.  BYERS I think he s coming out --  LANGLY He s coming to.  FROHIKE Hey, Mulder... FADE UP, as if our eyes are blinking open. We are in Mulder s POV, and the face right above us is Frohike s.  FROHIKE Mulder...? Behind Frohike, looking down at Mulder, are Byers and Langly. REVERSE ON MULDER Staring at the diminutive Frohike, the long-haired Langly and the courtly Byers with dawning recognition.  MULDER Oh god...  LANGLY What s wrong?  MULDER to Byers, then Langly  Tin Man. Scarecrow. to Frohike  Toto. Mulder sits up now, rubbing his face, feeling the BANDAGE he s got on his head.  MULDER What am I doing here?  BYERS You were shot in the head. The bullet broke the flesh on your right brow and glanced off your temporal plate.  MULDER woozy  Penetration but not perforation.  LANGLY Three centimetres to the left and we d be playing the harp. Mulder is still shaking out the cobwebs.  BYERS They gave you a craniotomy to relieve the pressure from a subdural hematoma. But you ve been unconscious since they brought you in.  MULDER When was that?  FROHIKE Two days ago. Your guy Skinner s been here with you around the clock.  LANGLY We got the news and made a trip to your apartment. Found a bug in your phone line.  FROHIKE And one in your hall. Byers holds up the first small device. Frohike holds up a vial containing A BEE. Mulder realizing:  MULDER Scully had a violent reaction to a bee sting --  BYERS You called  . Except the call was intercepted.  MULDER sitting up  They took her -- Mulder pushes the covers off. Swinging his legs to the ground. As A.D. Skinner enters the room. Surprised to see Mulder up.  SKINNER Agent Mulder --  MULDER Where s Scully?! As he says this he loses his balance slightly, has to hold onto one of the Gunmen. Struggling with his faculties.  SKINNER She s missing. We ve been unable to locate her or the vehicle they took her in.  MULDER Whoever they are -- this goes right back to Dallas -- it goes right back to the bombing --  SKINNER I know. off Mulder s reaction to  this  Agent Scully reported your suspicions to OPR. On the basis of her report, I sent techs over to S.A.C. Michaud s apartment. They picked up PSTN residues on his personal effects consistent with the construction of the vending machine device in Dallas.  MULDER reeling  How deep does this go?  SKINNER I don t know. Mulder sees A MAN IN A SUIT passes by the small window in the door, casting a furtive glance in, then moving off. He turns his look back to Skinner.  MULDER Are we being watched?  SKINNER I m not taking any chances. Mulder nods. Pulling now at the bandage on his head. Peeling it away and revealing the wound beneath.  MULDER I need your clothes, Byers.  BYERS Me?  SKINNER What are you doing?  MULDER I ve got to find Scully.  FROHIKE Do you know where she is?  MULDER No. But I know someone who might have an answer. Who better. Mulder is undoing his hospital gown now, his white buns gracing the screen for the first time in history. As he ducks into the bathroom. As the men left standing in the room all look to Byers, reluctantly removing his duds. Off this:   HOSPITAL HALLWAY - NIGHT ANGLE OVER MAN IN A SUIT standing with his back to Mulder s room, reading a section of a newspaper  the rest of the paper sitting on a chair, as if the man s possibly set up here.  As the door to Mulder s room opens in the b.g. and Frohike appears. Frohike keeps his eyes on the Man as Langly appears now, followed by...Byers? We can t see clearly as the other two block our POV and the third man out doesn t show us his face. The threesome starts down the hall, their footsteps drawing the attention of the Man in a Suit. ANGLE OVER MULDER AND THE OTHER GUNMEN As they head TOWARD CAMERA. Walking at a pace. In the b.g. the Man in the Suit is drifting toward Mulder s hospital room. ANGLE ON MAN IN SUIT Suspicious. He moves to the door, looks in the little glass window. Seeing...Byers, the sheets pulled up to his nose to hide his beard and mustache. Skinner standing next to him, talking on the phone. The Man in the Suit looking down to the end of the hall again. RESUME ANGLE OVER MULDER AND THE GUNMEN As Mulder and his two flankers MOVE RIGHT TO CAMERA. Mulder is taking a cell phone being handed to him by Frohike. Dialing on the move.   EXT. ALLEY BEHIND DOWNSCALE D.C. BAR - NIGHT A FIGURE appears at the end of the alley, moving toward us. It could be Mulder from this distance, but as the figure comes closer we recognize him as Kurtzweil. Moving into the f.g., checking behind him, ahead of him. Jumpy. He takes a cautious beat, then moves to the door leading into the bar  established , reaching for the knob. Opening it, finding the Well-Manicured Man standing there.  WELL-MANICURED MAN Dr. Kurtzweil, isn t it? Dr. Alvin Kurtzweil?  KURTZWEIL Jesus Christ. Kurtzweil is shaken by the sight of this man. Backpedaling a bit, looking around and behind him for an ambush.  WELL-MANICURED MAN You re surprised. Certainly you ve been expecting some response to your indiscretion. The W.M.M. steps out of the doorway, following Kurtzweil.  WELL-MANICURED MAN I m quite sure whatever you told Agent Mulder, you have your good reason. It s a weakness in men our age; the urge to confess. stopping his walk  I forgive you that. Kurtzweil is thrown by the words, and the delivery. Stopping his backward progress. Studying this upright and civil man.  KURTZWEIL What are you doing here? What do you want from me?  WELL-MANICURED MAN You must try to understand, what I m here to do is only to protect my children. You and I have but short lives left. I can only hope the same isn t true for them. On this note, Kurtzweil turns and hoofs it back in the direction from which he came. TRACKING BACK WITH HIM until HEADLIGHTS hit his face. REVERSE ANGLE A TOWN CAR has pulled into the alley behind him. Accelerating fast down the narrow corridor. Effectively trapping Kurtzweil in. As he squints into its headlights, then turns back with fear in his eyes to the W.M.M.   EXT. STREET OUTSIDE DOWNSCALE BAR - NIGHT Where a figure is coming down the street toward us. Running, it s Mulder, going balls out. Running to the entrance of the bar and yanking open the door. DOWNSCALE D.C. BAR - NIGHT Moderately crowded as Mulder enters, stopping to catch his breath. Moving to the back of the bar. Looking for: THE BOOTH WHERE HE MET KURTZWEIL EARLIER It s empty. RESUME MULDER Moving through the bar -- real panic in his expression. He heads to the back. REAR OF DOWNSCALE BAR - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS Mulder passing the bathrooms, moving to the door where we saw the Well-Manicured Man standing just a short bit ago. But there is no one back here now. Mulder moves to the back door, the one leading to the alley, pushing it open and finding: The Well-Manicured Man stands with HIS DRIVER closing the trunk on the idling Town Car  which has been turned around.  The W.M.M. turns to see:  WELL-MANICURED MAN Mr. Mulder.  MULDER What happened to Kurtzweil?  WELL-MANICURED MAN He s come and gone. The W.M.M. moves to Mulder, who doesn t trust him for a second. Mulder is still breathing hard, sizing up this scene.  MULDER Where s Scully?  WELL-MANICURED MAN I have answers for you.  MULDER Is she alive?  WELL-MANICURED MAN Yes. Mulder stares at the W.M.M. - measuring him.  WELL-MANICURED MAN I m quite prepared to tell you everything, though there isn t much you haven t guessed.  MULDER About the conspiracy?  WELL-MANICURED MAN I think of it as an agreement. A word your father liked to use.  MULDER I want to know where Scully is. The Well-Manicured Man suddenly reaches into his jacket pocket, without warning or explanation. Mulder tensing slightly. He removes a thin felt envelope.  WELL-MANICURED MAN The location of Agent Scully. And the means to save her life. off Mulder s look  Please... He gestures toward the car where the Driver stands with the back door open. Mulder hesitates, then steps from the doorway. Moving past the W.M.M., sliding in. The W.M.M. gets in after him, closes the door. The car pulls away.   LIMOUSINE - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS WE SEE MULDER in the back seat, reflected in the rear-view mirror. Where we also see the eyes of the DRIVER watching him. Mulder is handed the felt envelope by the W.M.M.  MULDER What is it?  WELL-MANICURED MAN A weak vaccine against the virus Agent Scully has been infected with. It must be administered with ninety six hours.  MULDER beat  You re lying.  WELL-MANICURED MAN No. Though I have no way to prove otherwise. The virus is extraterrestrial. We know very little about it, except that it is the original inhabitant of this planet.  MULDER dubious, to say the least  A virus?  WELL-MANICURED MAN A simple, unstoppable lifeform. What is a virus but a colonizing force that cannot be defeated? Living in a cave, underground, until it mutates. And attacks.  MULDER This is what you ve been conspiring to conceal? A disease?  WELL-MANICURED MAN No! For God sake you ve got it all backwards. This outburst comes suddenly, unexpectedly.  WELL-MANICURED MAN Aids, the ebola virus -- on the evolutionary scale they are newborns. This virus walked the planet long before the dinosaurs.  MULDER What do you mean, walked?  WELL-MANICURED MAN Your aliens, Agent Mulder, your little green men, first landed here millions of years ago. Those that didn t leave have been laying dormant underground since the last Ice Age. In the form of an evolved pathogen. Waiting to be reconstituted when the alien race from which it came returns to colonize the planet. Using us as hosts. Against this we have no defense. Nothing but a weak vaccine. beat  Do you see why it was kept secret? Why even the best men -- men like your father -- could not let the truth be known? The force and conviction of his delivery leave Mulder shaken.  WELL-MANICURED MAN Until Dallas, we believed the virus was simply a controlling organism. That mass infection would make us a slave race.  MULDER That s why you bombed the building. The infected firemen, the boy --  WELL-MANICURED MAN Imagine our surprise when they began to gestate. My group has been working cooperatively with the alien colonists, facilitating their programs. To give us access to the virus. In false hope we might be able to secretly find a cure. So that we might save ourselves, as the last of the species. beat  Your father wisely refused to believe this, choosing hope over selfishness. Hope is the only future he had: his children, beat, then self-revealing  The only future any of us have. This draws a look back in the mirror from the Driver.  MULDER But... he sacrificed his own daughter. My sister, Samantha.  WELL-MANICURED MAN The only true survivors of the viral holocaust will be those immune to it: those vaccinated against it and human alien hybrids. Your father arranged for your sister s abduction. He allowed her to be taken to an alien hybrid program, so that she would survive. As a clone. beat  He had different hopes for you. That you would uncover the truth about the Project. That you would stop it. That you would fight the future. Mulder sits stunned by this. As if somehow his destiny has been validated, if not pre-ordained. Or maybe just justified.  MULDER Why are you telling me this?  WELL-MANICURED MAN I thought it only fair you should know, given how hard you ve worked.  MULDER What happened to Kurtzweil?  WELL-MANICURED MAN As your father knew, things need to be sacrificed to the future.  MULDER Where is he?  WELL-MANICURED MAN Dr. Kurtzweil is in the trunk. Mulder stares at the W.M.M., at his cold-blooded expression.  MULDER Let me out. Stop the car.  WELL-MANICURED MAN motioning  Driver. Mulder reaching to this as the limo pulls to a stop. Trying the door, but the door is locked. When he turns back to the W.M.M. he has produced a handgun, which is now pointing at Mulder. Laid casually across a folded arm. Mulder reacts on seeing it.  WELL-MANICURED MAN The men I work with will stop at nothing to clear the way for what they believe is their stake in the inevitable future. I was ordered to kill Kurtzweil. A necessary action to protect my grandchildren s lives. beat  I might just as easily kill you. Mulder is recoiling as he says this. Then, without hesitation in one quick move, he SHOOTS the Driver in the head. The blood spattering on the front windshield -- and on Mulder who has barely had a chance to react.  WELL-MANICURED MAN Trust no one, Mr. Mulder. Mulder looks at The Well-Manicured Man, expecting to be next. And for a moment, we do too. But the W.M.M. simply opens the door and steps out of the car. Holding the door open for Mulder who is still frozen by the actions that went just before. EXT. DESOLATE D.C. STREET - NIGHT Mulder steps out of the car, holding the felt envelope. The Well-Manicured Man stands with a sober, intense look.  WELL-MANICURED MAN with quiet force  You have precious little time. What I ve given you the alien colonists have no idea exists. You hold in your hand the power to end the project.  MULDER How?  WELL-MANICURED MAN The vaccine you hold is the only defense against the virus. Its introduction into an alien environment may have the power to destroy the delicate plans we ve so assiduously protected for the last fifty years. beat  Or it may not.  MULDER What alien environment?  WELL-MANICURED MAN Find Agent Scully. Save her. Only her science can save the future.  MULDER What about you?  WELL-MANICURED MAN My life is over. beat  Go. Mulder stands speechless for a moment. Until the W.M.M. points the weapon he s still holding at him.  WELL-MANICURED MAN Go now! And Mulder does. Moving away from the car, looking back over his shoulder. As the Well-Manicured Man gets back into the limousine, closes the door. A moment later... THE CAR EXPLODES INTO FLAMES, knocking Mulder to the ground. ANGLE ON MULDER The felt envelope has been jarred from his grasp. Its contents loosed from inside: a piece of paper with COORDINATES on it and an AMPULE and SYRINGE. Mulder gets up, looks back. Then he picks up the envelope and its contents -- and begins to run. Running as fast as he can go. Until, far down the block, he disappears. As the SCREEN DISSOLVES TO WHITENESS -- under which we hear an ominous low end Dolby THX Big Screen rumble. The same sound that opened our story. Then there is movement, as the curvilinear line of a horizon becomes visible, bi-secting the screen between the white of the earth and the white of the sky. We are: EXT. POLE OF INACCESSIBILITY - ANTARCTICA Across the expanse of whiteness, a DARK IMAGE appears on the long flat horizon. Moving toward us. As a LEGEND appears, to establish. CLOSER ON A SNOW TRACTOR Crawling across the harsh frozen land like a domed insect. SNOW TRACTOR Agent Mulder sits behind the controls of the enclosed cabin, several days growth on his face. Dressed in thick, bundled outerwear. He maneuvers the vehicle to a stop. Reaching for a handheld GPS monitor to check his position. Catching his breath for a moment -- all movement is exertion in this climate. Mulder stares hard out the front window, the wipers beating time, but there is nothing out there but whiteness. He wipes the fog from a side window with his gloved hand, seeing nothing but more whiteness. Checking the GPS device again, then reaching for the door latch. RESUME WIDE EXTERIOR Agent Mulder exits the vehicle, hopping down onto the snowscape crust. Setting out on foot with the GPS device held before him. In this forbidding environment he might as well be taking a space walk -- without the security of a lifeline. Which is the impression we get as his tiny figure trudges across the ice, increasing the distance between himself and the snow tractor. MOVING WITH MULDER Up a gentle grade, the snow tractor now behind him. Moving into tight f.g. where he stops, seeing something now which allows him to pocket the GPS device. Dropping instinctively to his knees, so as to avoid being seen by: MULDER s POV In the distance is an ICE STATION. A row of interconnecting WHITE DOME TENTS, whose design is now familiar to us. There are what look like snow tractors and other snow vehicles parked alongside the structures. RESUME MULDER Pulling a compact pair of binoculars from one of his deep jacket pockets. Training them on: THE ICE STATION - BINO MATTE PANNING across the domes and vehicles, where there is no sign of personnel -- until MULDER PANS off the building, finding in his field glasses AN APPROACHING SNOW TRACTOR. Moving across the landscape toward the ice station. When it pulls to a stop, A MAN exits out of one of the domes: THE CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN. Moving to the vehicle and getting in. The vehicle reverses now, transporting the CSM back away from the ice station. CLOSE ON MULDER Taking the field glasses away from his eyes. The excitement he feels expressed now in his breathing, which has become harder and shallower. Mulder rises, beginning to move the still great distance between himself and the ice station.   WIDE ON SCREEN Mulder moving slowly across the white horizon toward the domed tents. LOW ANGLE ON MULDER s FEET Moving cautiously, and with effort on the snowscape crust. CAMERA RISING up to Mulder s face, determined and watchful. FOLLOWING MULDER The ice station still several hundred yards in the distance, when MULDER SUDDENLY FALLS OUT OF FRAME, disappearing into a hole in the snowscape crust that just moments earlier had been stable footing.   HARD SNOW ICE BUBBLE - CONTINUOUS Where Mulder s body falls through a ceiling of snowscape crust, landing on his back with a THUD on a hard surface. It takes him a moment to catch his breath, somewhat reminiscent of Stevie at the beginning of the picture. Wincing through the pain. Until he turns over, regaining his wits, and his bearings. NEW ANGLE Mulder has fallen on a hard, narrow metallic structure. Its dull black color a stark contrast to the white ice it s encased in. The bubble has been created by air coming out of vents in the structure, carving out corresponding patterns in the ceiling; softening the ice and snow above. CLOSER ON MULDER rising to his knees, the AIR from one of these vents blowing onto his face. Pulling off the hood of his jacket, looking deep into the vent which is open, ungrated. And big enough for a man to crawl into. Which, after considering the hole he s fallen through high above him, is really Mulder s only choice.   RIBBED CORRIDOR DUCT - CONTINUOUS Mulder pulls himself forward through the ribbed corridor duct with his elbows, moving lizard-like into the constricted darkness.   UPPER RIBBED CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS Above a frozen ice lith, Mulder s head appears, squeezing his shoulders and body out of a venting. With effort, Mulder slides out of the small space, using some architecture above as a handhold. Pulling his legs free and dropping onto the floor. MULDER s POV It is dark in here, the features of the corridor ill-defined. RESUME MULDER - WIDER Mulder pulls a flashlight from a pocket in his parka, snicks it on. Its beam reflecting off tall frozen liths of ice regularly spaced on both sides of the corridor. NEW ANGLE ON MULDER Training the light down the corridor, which curves away in both directions. Then pointing it at something right in front of his nose: something that gives him a start. Reaching up with his hand to brush away frost from the lith. Finding A MAN FROZEN IN ICE. Naked, his eyes staring into some long-forgotten distance. His hair is dark, his flat features familiar to us. He is the prehistoric hunter from the opening scenes of the movie. His flesh has the opaque, see-through quality that we ve seen before. Inside of which, frozen along with the man, is an EMBRYONIC CREATURE. REVERSE ON MULDER Reacting to this sight, then moving off down the corridor, his pace quickened.   EXT. POLE OF INACCESSIBILITY - ANTARCTICA LOW ANGLE on the great white expanse. Across which a snow tractor is moving. PANNING with the vehicle to... Mulder s snow tractor, where the first tractor stops, its headlights trained on Mulder s ride. A beat, then the discovering machine moves out again, following the tracks that Mulder has left, which brings it STRAIGHT TOWARD CAMERA. As it passes us, we can see the DRIVER and the Cigarette Smoking Man sitting in the cabin. As we:   CUT BACK TO: UPPER RIBBED CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS MULDER comes to the end of the dim ice corridor where soft light is penetrating through several low, arched openings. Mulder has to drop down to his knees to see into the openings. ANGLE FROM OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE BALCONY PASSAGEWAY Where Mulder is seen looking TOWARD CAMERA. The Balcony passageway is short. Mulder drops to his stomach again, pulling himself through, toward us. When he reaches the opposite end, Mulder pokes his head out, looking up in wonder at: CENTRAL THEATER - BALCONY - CONTINUOUS - WIDE ON A STADIUM-SIZED DOME --  CGI SET EXTENSION  Imagine a domed sports arena -- this is the scope and scale of the space that Mulder has penetrated. We see him as only a small speck on a balcony midway between floor and ceiling. Pulling himself out of the balcony passageway, which is like countless other passageways. Which are actually ventilation ports. ANGLE OVER MULDER Pulling himself to his feet. Beholding the space before him. Looking down to the center floor where a large central theater gives off a light different from elsewhere in the dome. An icy, bright glow. Leading down to the central theater far below are several LARGE TUBULAR SPOKES.  One of which leads up right next to Mulder s position.  ANGLE ON MULDER Reacting to this. Then something captures his attention. MULDER s POV There on the floor, far down below, is THE BUBBLE LITTER Scully was transported in.  NOTE* Scully s clothes are still in the bubble litter.  Standing out as a rather human artifact against the otherwise dull gray bulwarks and architecture surrounding it. CENTRAL THEATER - BALCONY - CONTINUOUS - WIDE ON MULDER looks beside him where the joint that connects two sections of one of the long tube spokes is designed with an allowance -- a separation that might allow a man to slip through the joint into the tube. Which is what Mulder does here.   TUBULAR SPOKE - CONTINUOUS WIDE ANGLE FROM INSIDE TUBE TERMINUS Mulder squeezing through into the tube, looking down past what looks like a chair lift-like track, on which the chairs are actually empty cryopod mechanisms; the same structures Mulder saw in the ribbed corridor in which bodies were encased in ice. Except these cryopods are empty. Mulder begins to creep down TOWARD CAMERA, picking his way around the empty cryopods. REVERSE ANGLE ON MULDER Creeping away from us. Heading toward: LOWER CRYOPOD CORRIDOR Where Mulder pops out at the lower tube terminus. Which leads into this bulwarked corridor at the base of the large stadium structure. Where: REVERSE ON THIS CORRIDOR Where Mulder is walking past frozen CRYOPODS hanging on a track. Each icy pod containing a HUMAN BODY frozen within. Partially visible behind clear blue ice. But these are modern men, and women. Their expressions a confused horror, as if they have been somehow frozen alive. They are slowly tracking. Walking along the slowly moving carousel of frozen humanity. Stopping, turning, almost as if having sensed: NEW ANGLE OVER OPPOSITE CRYOPOD PUSHING IN ON MULDER s FACE. Recording the horror and fear he s experiencing, on seeing: CAMERA RISING UP A FROSTY WALL OF BLUE ICE Where a woman s body is encased, its naked features hidden behind the opacity of the newly frozen blue crust. But whose face is unmistakable as that of Agent Scully s. Frozen in a similar expression of far-away horror, her eyes cast slightly heavenward. MULDER hurries to get his jacket unzipped. Removing the FELT ENVELOPE, removing the syringe body, the needle and the AMPULE. Hastily putting the syringe together, getting the needle poked into the soft rubber cap of the ampule. Bleeding the syringe now, the substance inside squirting out of the end of the needle onto the floor of the ship. And the moment it does, the whole floor SIZZLES like water being dropped onto a hot skillet. Spreading out from Mulder in every direction. A VIOLENT CHEMICAL REACTION, as predicted by the man who gave him this substance. A moment later the entire structure Mulder is in SHUNTS. Shuddering violently and setting up a low-end RUMBLE. Causing Mulder to accidentally drop the syringe. LOW CLOSE ANGLE on the floor, where the syringe hits and bounces, but does not break or leak. Mulder scrambling into frame to re-collect it. Seeing the floor where the liquid from the syringe hit -- where it has been ETCHED AWAY by the substance. EXT. HULL OF SPACESHIP ICY BUBBLE - CONTINUOUS Where Mulder crawled into the duct. Condensed air is streaming out of all the ducts now. The ice and snow above beginning to melt from the force and heat of the blasting all.   CUT BACK TO: EXT. ICE STATION - CONTINUOUS We can hear low end rumble and vibration. TWO DOZEN MEN are streaming out of the dome tents. Moving to their carious snow tractors and starting the vehicles. A small exodus, the tractors pulling out of camp in a rush. Heading off in various directions. CAMERA FINDING THE CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN moving to his tractor, with THE MAN WHO SHOT MULDER. Taking the last drag of his cigarette before throwing it into the snow. He stares down at it a moment, as if caught in the grip of some emotion conflicting with duty. The Man who shot Mulder inside the tractor now, throwing open the door for the CSM.  MAN WHO SHOT MULDER C mon. It s all going to hell. He climbs up onto the vehicle, gets in and closes the door. And the vehicle pulls away as we:   CUT BACK TO: LOWER RIBBED CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS - AGENT MULDER Back on his feet, SMASHING now at the crust of brittle blue-ice that encases Scully. BASHING, SMASHING and then finally breaking through the hard outer later, its inner slushy contents spilling out of the puncture that exposes Scully s face and shoulder. Watery aqua-tinted liquid drains from her mouth and nose. But Scully is not conscious, and there is no indication she is even alive, her face frozen in a blank, almost beatific expression. OVER MULDER TO SCULLY As he plunges the needle into Scully s arm at the front of her shoulder. To which there is an immediate reaction -- as if given a shot of adrenalin. Her eyes blinking away the cold moisture.  MULDER Scully -- Scully s lips move goldfish-like as she tries to suck in air, an almost fearful expression overcoming her like a swimmer who s been held under too long. But no words are coming out yet.  MULDER Breathe -- can you breathe?! Scully is straining to do just that -- when liquid suddenly SPEWS from Scully s mouth. And she begins to cough and gag -- taking big gulps of air as her eyes focus on Mulder as if on a phantom, or a miracle. Finally faint words ushering forth, whispering breaths that Mulder cannot discern.  MULDER What? CLOSE ON MULDER AND SCULLY As he leans into her, putting his ear up to her mouth. As the softest sound comes out in Scully s frosty breath.  SCULLY Cold...  MULDER Hang on. I m going to get you out of here. As she continues to suck air.   EXT. HULL OF SPACESHIP ICE BUBBLE - CONTINUOUS The hot air blasting from the ducts is causing the ice pack above to melt and collapse.   EXT. ICE STATION - CONTINUOUS - WIDE As the ice tractors head away in all directions from the domed structures. A misty fog now emanating from the seams of the domes. Heat and condensation.   CUT BACK TO: UPPER RIBBED CORRIDORS - CONTINUOUS Filling with misty condensation, too. The small beams of light that lighted Mulder s way earlier are now small shafts piercing the gathering interior cloud. Illuminating: THE PREHISTORIC MAN Frozen in his icy pod, the hard semi-translucent surface of which is now etched with small streams of water running to the floor. Everything is melting and in motion. Including the CREATURE which is vaguely visible inside the frozen man. It TURNS slightly inside the body, like an animal in utero. Its eyes now looking at us, blinking. As it presses against its own fleshy container, the body of its human host.   CUT BACK TO: LOWER RIBBED CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS It, too, is filling with misty condensation. VARIOUS SHOTS Of the ice encasing the human forms sweating and melting. CAMERA ADJUSTING UP TO REVEAL Mulder pulling Scully along in a fireman s carry. She is dressed now in Mulder s snow parka and the outer nylon pants he was wearing. Scully s legs are weak beneath her. Her body limp, but not lifeless. Mulder laboring to get her up the INTERIOR of the steep curving cylinder spoke, as the air fills with mist. LONG TUBE TERMINUS NEW ANGLE ON MULDER AND SCULLY - LOOKING DOWN THE TUBE Moving toward along the now-halted cryopod carrier hanging from the transport track. Mulder struggling against his own fading energy, pulling Scully up toward: ANGLE ON BALCONY CATWALK Mulder pushing Scully up, though she seems to have at least some limited ability to do this on her own. The DEEP, LOW RUMBLE we heard in the open frames of the movie reaching full volume now. The whole environment vibrating as Mulder boosts Scully up on the catwalk. Climbing up over the prostrate body. Picking her up from the floor, pulling her back into the fireman s carry. LOWER RIBBED CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS Where the bodies are all beginning to melt. VARIOUS SHOTS of rivulets of water forming on the icy liths that encase the bodies. The water from them seeping onto the circular central floor. The condensing mist thick and swirling. CLOSE ON PODS Where the body it houses seems to move. Though AS CAMERA PUSHES IN we see that it is the creature inside this body moving, as if the heat and the defrosting are bringing the embryos to life. UPPER RIBBED CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS - ANGLE DOWN CORRIDOR Scully s head pokes through now, as she s pushed through the opening that Mulder used earlier to get into the vaulted arena. Pushed in fits and starts until she s all the way through. Mulder now straining and squeezing to do the same on his own. The corridor is filled with heavy condensed mist now as Mulder finally slips out of the low passageway, trying to get his bearing now as he huddles low over Scully. Turning his attention to her as she COUGHS HOARSELY -- in some kind of acute spasm of pain -- but alive.  MULDER We ve got to keep moving.  SCULLY weakly  Where are we?  MULDER You got me. But I think I know what they did with Jimmy Hoffa. Scully is struggling now as Mulder tries to pull her to her feet again. In real physical pain.  SCULLY I can t... Scully can t finish speaking, her voice becoming a hoarse cough.  SCULLY barely a whisper  I can t go any farther.  MULDER Yes you can. You re going to make it, Scully. Mulder hauling Scully up off the floor AWAY FROM CAMERA now. NEW ANGLE ON RIBBED CORRIDOR CAMERA MOVING THROUGH SPACE in the empty corridor, moving at a speed equal to Mulder and Scully s as they round the semi-circular ribbed corridor to meet us. Coming out of the mist, Scully back in the fireman s carry. Approaching the place where Mulder slipped down into the corridor. Mulder stopping and seeing: THE BODY IN THE MELTING ICE LITH As it too moves, the embryonic creature inside it turning slightly, as if coming awake. REVERSE ON MULDER Reacting to this -- and then to Scully who suddenly starts GASPING FOR BREATH. Falling now from Mulder s grasps as her legs buckle and she goes down. LOW ANGLE ON SCULLY Her face is going red, straining for air. Her eyes rolling, seeking relief. As Mulder drops down beside her.  MULDER Shit -- But she is unable to answer. Mulder hastening to unzip her his jacket. To get to her neck and find a pulse.  MULDER Scully -- Mulder cannot find a pulse. Scully straining harder now as Mulder reaches his fingers into her mouth, clearing her passageway. Moving on top of her now, and pumping forcefully on her chest -- trying to get air into her. One - two - three. And putting his mouth down to hers  FINALLY! , breathing his life into her. Pulling away from her to see that he is unsuccessful at this -- that Scully is continuing to strain. Pumping her chest again --  MULDER You re not dying on me now -- godammit godammit godammit -- As he pumps her chest. Placing his mouth over hers again and BREATH - BREATH -- BREATH. Lifting his mouth from hers, feeling for a pulse again, putting his eat down to her mouth, praying he ll feel the breeze of a breath. Nothing. While: ANGLE OVER HIM TO THE CREATURE IN THE ICY POD As it moves again, MORE VIOLENTLY NOW. As the ice around it continues to melt and fissure. RESUME MULDER His hands going to a pocket on the inside of the jacket Scully is wearing -- his jacket -- finding again the syringe that he used on Scully. It is still partially full of vaccine. Mulder finding this, getting ready to use it when -- -- Scully s body suddenly comes back to life beneath him. Labored breaths which turn into a coughing spasm. Mulder breaths relievedly for a moment, watching Scully coughing, coming back to life. Her eyes trying to focus on him, finding him. Seeing his labored relief. The panic melting away.  SCULLY weakly, pained whisper  Mulder... She wants to tell him something. He leans down next to her.  SCULLY continued weak  Had you big time. Mulder has but a moment to savor this weary victory though when he REACTS to something, that causes him to WHIP HIS HEAD AROUND. MULDER s POV DOWN RIBBED CORRIDOR Through the condensed mist he can see CREATURES BEGINNING TO HATCH, sprouting from the melted ice-encased bodies they have gestated in. Their THREE FINGERED HANDS beating at the soft ice. Their powerful feet kicking at it, too. RESUME MULDER Looking the other way down the corridor, seeing -- MORE CREATURES The slushy material that makes up the inner core spilling out with them as the creatures KICK out of their tombs. RESUME MULDER Lifting Scully up with all his strength he has left in him. He s got to get her overhead now, back up the venting that he slipped down from. She is weak and of little help. Mulder gets her propped up on his strength so that he can use the power of his legs to boost her toward the opening. Which puts him face to face with THE EMBRYONIC CREATURE. Its eye looking directly at him, blinking, before it goes into another FITFUL SPASM inside its host body. ANGLE DOWN FROM VENT Where Scully is boosted up TOWARD CAMERA. Her hands reaching feebly for something to grab onto. Finding a handhold.  MULDER Keep breathing, Scully. She utters something guttural, unintelligible as the next thrust up from Mulder gets her head and shoulders into the opening of the vent. RESUME MULDER Beneath her, pushing with all his might. His hands under her shoes now, forcing her up into the vent like a rolled carpet into the rafters. RESUME SCULLY Struggling with her arms and elbows, barely conscious, but somehow able to manage herself forward. RESUME MULDER Pushing Scully up the last little way. Then reaching up to find a handhold for himself. Grabbing hold and lifting himself as one of his feet kicks at the ice -- where the creature he was just face to face with BURSTS from its icy pod. One hand, then the other shooting out of the ice where they have broken through the host. Ripping open the front of the body, including the man s face. Making a slimy, gaping tear in what was formerly flesh. Its hands grabbing at Mulder as he thrashes to free himself from it getting a grip. As Mulder struggles to pull himself up, fighting off the creature which he cannot see beneath him. RESUME CREATURE As it emerges from the ice, still grasping and TEARING at Mulder s legs with its claws. But as it BURSTS COMPLETELY from its place, Mulder is able to pull himself up and into the vent in one athletic movement. ANGLE FROM INSIDE THE VENT - SCULLY lies motionless in the ducting, her body forced forward by Mulder s in this last surging move. TIGHT ANGLE ON MULDER Drawing his legs up quickly inside. Not wasting a moment shoving Scully s butt forward in front of him.  MULDER Scully -- you breathing? RESUME SCULLY Letting out another low, guttural sound -- which STRAINS out of her with each push forward.   EXT. SNOW ICE BUBBLE - CONTINUOUS Scully s head and arms push up through the vent where Mulder first entered. The ice and snow surrounding it, which had created the bubble structure, have melted and fallen. So that above Scully s larger hole has opened up to the surface. The air is full of condensation, swirling around them. ANGLE FROM ABOVE - THROUGH THE HOLE IN THE ICE Where, through the swirling steam we see Mulder push Scully clear of the vent. Climbing free himself now. When the surface they are upon SHUDDERS AND QUAKES. As if it has come unloosed, destabilized. And with this comes A MIGHTY FORCE OF STEAM from the vent Mulder and Scully just crawled from. Blasting up past them with terrible HISSING FORCE. Causing Mulder to throw Scully away from its superheated energy. Pulling her up the now climbable embankment created by the melting snow; pulling her toward the surface of the ice sheet.   EXT. POLE OF INACCESSIBILITY - ANTARCTICA - WIDE Where a wide radius of steam rises from similar and regularly spaced holes in the ice sheet, defining a circular structure beneath. The White Domed Tents of the ice station are in the center of this, dwarfed by the enormity of the melting radius. RESUME MULDER AND SCULLY Mulder pulling her up the softened and collapsed snow. The hot steam blasting up with hideous force behind them. The sound DEAFENING. NEW ANGLE OVER MULDER AND SCULLY Pulling her to the surface of the ice sheet where behind them in the distance the ICE STATION can be seen through the atmosphere of condensed air. When suddenly the ice beneath it gives way and the ice station falls away, caving in to the center of the radius. Which is what begins to happen to the rest of the ice sheet that spreads out to where Mulder and Scully are standing. Causing Mulder to realize:  MULDER over the din  We ve got to run! She is weak, but is able to find her footing. Dragged behind Mulder as the ice behind them begins to break away, falling down into an ever-expanding center and sending up magnificent geysers of steam created by the superheated surface below. WIDE ON SCENE Mulder and Scully running AT CAMERA just ahead of the collapsing center. The mass of ice around them beginning to break up. Steam vents erupting instantaneously everywhere.   HIGH ANGLE ON SCENE A black dome is becoming visible through the giant circle of steam, in the ever-widening center hole that Mulder and Scully are running from. Which is chasing them to the edge of the radius.   ANGLE FOLLOWING MULDER AND SCULLY As Mulder struggles to pull Scully fast enough to outrace the icy debris that is tumbling away just behind them. Large chunks falling and bouncing off the superheated surface below, blown back up like water being dropped onto a hot skillet.   EXTREMELY HIGH AND WIDE The Agents mere specks fleeing the circle of churning ice and steam. As it cascades away in three hundred and sixty degrees. From here the deafening sound if absorbed into the vastness, tricking us of the reality of the massive movement of frozen material down below.   ANGLE LEADING MULDER AND SCULLY As Scully loses her footing, falling to the ground. Mulder dragging her back up to her feet, though, maintaining forward momentum. While behind them the thundering force of the superheated melting snow and ice is moving in on them. And then suddenly -- MULDER AND SCULLY are gone! The radial edge of the falling snow continuing only a few feet beyond where they disappeared. The violent upheaval of snow abating but slightly. Beat, beat... THEN THE AGENTS APPEAR AGAIN. Thrust upward by a RISING BLACK PRECIPICE which catapults them off its leading edge. As they fall the distance to the sheet of ice below.   LOW ANGLE ON ICE SHEET Where the Agents hit hard on the ice sheet. The rain of ice chunks pounding all around them. As the monolithic wall of the craft continues to rise. Mulder trying to get to Scully in this hail of debris which he shields his face from. WIDE ON LEADING EDGE Rising faster now out of the earth as it begins to increasingly shed and break free of the frozen weight it carried. Until the bottom of the edge of the wall appears, lifting clear of the ice sheet and the crater that held it.   EXTREME HIGH WIDE ANGLE ON SPACE SHIP Where now we see the scope and shape of the ship, which is breathtaking. The domed center sloping off to a gentle gradient, which is the surface that Mulder and Scully were running on. The ship is now slowly rotating as it moves upward in a gently rising hover. Mulder and Scully are on the ice sheet below. RESUME MULDER AND SCULLY Scully face down on the ice. Mulder lifting his head when THE HEAVY SHADOW of the ship comes over them. Looking up from this position to see: THE SPACE SHIP Moving slowly, laterally just overhead. Thunderously rumbling. The dark detail of its underside visible in this angle. As it continues to rise, the shadow passing over Mulder and Scully.   NEW ANGLE OVER MULDER AND SCULLY Scully is still face down on the ice, as Mulder watches the ship s shadow cast over Mulder s SnowCat which is still parked in the distance. Moving up and off. The ship continues up into the Antarctic sky where it rises toward the sky where it begins to get WHITEHOT. Transforming itself into pure energy. It is visible for several moments during transformation. Then it disappears completely. As it does the RUMBLE, which dopplers across the white, barren landscape. Then it is gone. MULDER Watches this then lays his head down on Scully s back. He is spent, at the brink of complete exhaustion. His whole body heaving. But now starting to shiver, and to lose consciousness. Scully s body is motionless beneath him, for a moment we might believe that this is the way it might end. Out here on the ice with Mulder and Scully freezing to death. A chill wind blows off the Antarctic plain, the same LOW RUMBLE, the only taint of silence in vastness of this literal end of the world. Then Scully coughs -- the same hoarse cough. She s alive. Struggling to consciousness. Her head lifting slightly, TURNING TO CAMERA. Her eyes blink open and she coughs again. Feeling Mulder s weight on top of her, unaware of his condition or even where she is.  SCULLY weakly  Mulder... There is no answer. Scully struggling to pull herself out from under the weight of his body. Rolling over so that her face is opposite Mulder s now. Seeing that he has lost consciousness. Finding the strength to roll him over, so that she can cradle him and warm him. HIGH WIDE ANGLE ON THIS SCENE With the Snowcat a short distance away, Mulder and Scully in each others arms. The way it should end. FADE TO BLACK Silence. Longer than we would like. Long enough to make us nervous, then certain, then angry. Then...we FADE UP a prelap of the sound of a CRACKLING FIRE. FADING UP ON: EXT. ACRES OF CORN - MAGIC HOUR TRACKING LOW WITH MEN IN FATIGUES, moving along the perimeter of the corn field as they set fire to the corn stalks with small handheld butane burners. While other Men in Fatigues are moving between the rows dousing the furrows with accelerant.   DISSOLVE TO: FBI FIELD OFFICE - DALLAS - NIGHT The large room filled with the evidence and debris from the bombing. It is dark. Until A FLASHLIGHT BEAM pricks the blackness, moving toward us into f.g. Carried by the man we now recognize as The Man Who Shot Mulder. He moves with directness, purpose. Finding what he s looking for amid the cataloged material, he finds on a work bench. Next to the microscope Scully had used. It is the BONE FRAGMENTS, held in an evidence container. He pockets them and exits as quiet and directly as he entered.   DISSOLVE TO: EXT. ACRES OF CORN - WIDE - CGI PLATE The sky aglow with orange flames as the crops burn to the ground. We hold on this shot, PRELAPPING the sound of:  JANA CASSIDY s VOICE ... in light of the report I ve got before me; in light of the narrative I m now hearing... FBI OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL REVIEW - DAY Jana Cassidy sits at the head of the desk, just as when we first met her. She is flanked by the other members of the review board, including A.D. Skinner who sits at the end of the table. Cassidy flips through a file she s referred to before she continues. Looking up with consternation as she resumes.  CASSIDY ... my official report is incomplete pending these new facts I m being asked to reconcile. Agent Scully... AGENT SCULLY Sitting where she last sat, at the small table. The seat next to her conspicuously empty. Her face bears the signs of slight frostbite, somewhat healed. Her expression is even, her attitude composed, but her eyes are filled of dark, restrained defiance.  CASSIDY ...while there is direct evidence now that a federal agent may have been involved in the bombing... the other events you ve laid down here seem too incredible on their own, and quite frankly implausible in their connection. PANNING THE OTHER BOARD MEMBERS - curious, bemused like Cassidy. Skinner shifts uncomfortably.  SCULLY What is it you find incredible?  CASSIDY Well...where would you like me to start? Antarctica is a long way from Dallas, Agent Scully. I can t very well submit a report to the Attorney General that alleges the links you ve made here. Bees and corn crops do not quite fall under the rubric of domestic terrorism.  SCULLY No, they don t.  CASSIDY Most of what I find in here is lacking a coherent picture of an organization with an attributable motive. I realize you re very lucky to be alive Agent Scully. The ordeal you ve endured has clearly affected you -- though the holes in your account leave this panel with little choice but to delete these references from our final report to the Justice Department. Until which time hard evidence becomes available that would give us cause to pursue such an investigation. Scully has her hand in her coat pocket now. Moving around the table and approaching Cassidy. Removing something which she puts on the desk in front of her. A small vial.  SCULLY I don t believe the FBI currently has an investigation unit qualified to pursue the evidence in hand. Cassidy picks up the vial, studying the contents of this vial: the dead bee that stung Scully. Studying it as Scully turns and moves to the door, without permission, no further adieu. ANGLE TO INCLUDE A.D. SKINNER Watching Scully exit.  CASSIDY  O.S.  Mr. Skinner....? CAMERA PIVOTING TO INCLUDE CASSIDY. Looking at him. CASSIDY Please ask Agent Scully to come back to this hearing. We re not quite finished. As Skinner rises, unsure of the intent behind this directive, we:   DISSOLVE TO: EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - DAY We are JUST ABOVE THE TREETOPS. The Capitol Dome is in the far distance. CAMERA CRANING DOWN to find Mulder sitting by himself on a park bench. We are WIDE. There is no one else around. Until the Cigarette Smoking Man appears. Walking through the otherwise deserted park. Joining Mulder on the park bench. CLOSER ON MULDER, THE CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN They do not speak for several moments. A quite tension as the CSM lights up a trademark smoke. Inhaling, exhaling. Then:  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Congratulations on your survival. Your life is worthless now, I hope you know that.  MULDER And yours?  CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN derisive  You think you ve stopped it. What I ve worked for fifty years to create. You haven t stopped it. You can t stop it. takes a drag  You re just one man.  MULDER You re wrong. WIDE ANGLE Mulder rises from the bench heading TOWARD CAMERA. The CSM rising, watching him. As Mulder continues toward us. ADJUST TO REVEAL Agent Scully in the f.g. Mulder moving to her as the CSM watches from the distance. Their eyes meet, an unspoken restored bond exchanged in this moment. Before Mulder takes Scully by the arm, leads her off. Leaving the CSM standing alone in the distance. As we:   DISSOLVE TO: EXT. CORN FIELDS WHITE DOMES - TUNISIA - DAY TRACKING LOW WITH A PAIR OF FEET The wearer of them sporting peasant sandals. We realize shortly that while the feet are moving across sandy ground, that the foliage in the near b.g. is corn. And that the person we are tracking with is passing row after row of stalks. CAMERA RISING AS IT TRACKS REVEALING A TUNISIAN MAN dressed in peasant clothes. He is carrying a piece of paper. Moving with hasty purpose. Stopping at the end of one of the long rows of corn where CONRAD STRUGHOLD is coming toward him. Making his way between rows of stalks. The Peasant waits patiently as Strughold approaches, handing him the piece of paper. Strughold reads it, his otherwise steely countenance reflecting a disturbance seen only in the slight narrowing of his eyes. He looks up at the Peasant and says something to him in Tunisian Arabic. Said as command, which causes the Peasant to nod dutifully and move off as he came. Strughold stands for a moment, then crumples the paper slightly and drops it. Moving off down the same corn row in which he approached. CAMERA DROPPING TO THE GROUND where we find the paper on which we see a flat section that is not so crumpled we cannot read the words: X-FILES RE-OPENED. STOP. PLEASE ADVISE. STOP. CAMERA RISING NOW. Rising up past the stalks. Where we can still see Strughold walking. RISING UP AND UP to reveal ACRES AND ACRES OF CORN. Many times more than we had seen previously. Stretched out across the Tunisian Desert, ending only where THREE WHITE DOMES stand on the distant horizon."]}
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