(Max enters Logan’s apartment.)

MAX: Logan! Logan!

BLING (sitting at Logan’s computer): Hey, Max.

MAX: Hey. His Holiness in?

BLING: Nope.

MAX: We’re supposed to be somewhere and we’re late. Where is he?

BLING: I don’t know exactly. Said he wouldn’t be back ’til later on.

MAX: That’s weird. He completely spaced we were gonna hang tonight.

BLING: I don’t know what’s going on with him. He hasn’t been himself the last few days.

MAX: Hard being a Messiah. Tell him I stopped by.

BLING: So where you two s’posed to be?

MAX: Kyoto Lakers exhibition. You know how Logan is with his basketball…Scalpers got me good for these, too.

BLING: Forget Logan. I’ll go with you.

MAX (handing him both tickets): Knock yourself out.

BLING: Max, you sure?

MAX: Not a big sports fan.

BLING: Thanks.

MAX: No problem. (Turns to go and notices the wall is blank.) Where’s the painting that goes there?

BLING: He sold it.

MAX: Sold it?

BLING: Guess he got tired of it.

MAX (leaving, distracted): Later.

BLING: Thanks for the tickets.

MAX: No problem.

(Logan drives his car through an alley and comes to a stop. He gets out, walks up to a door using his cane, and knocks. A woman answers and looks around.)

WOMAN: Come in.

(Logan enters and she closes the door behind him. The woman stands behind a desk, putting on a lab coat, and we realize she is a doctor.)

LOGAN (handing her an envelope): Your money. You’ll get the rest soon.

DOCTOR: $10,000 covers the first consultation. It’s $5,000 for each session after that.

LOGAN: That’s a lot.

DOCTOR: You can afford it. Most of my patients can’t.

(They walk into an examination room.)

DOCTOR: Will you undress, please?

(Logan strips down to an undershirt and shorts.)

DOCTOR (reading from a file): Six months ago a bullet severed your spinal cord below the eighth thoracic vertebra, causing complete loss of mobility in your lower extremities. Last week you suddenly felt sensation in your legs and eventually were able to walk again.

LOGAN: That’s right.

DOCTOR: In other words, a miracle.

LOGAN: I guess you could say that.

DOCTOR: Yes, I could, if I hadn’t seen the results of your blood test. Will you sit, please?

(Logan sits on the examination table.)

DOCTOR: Somehow you’ve obtained stem cell-enriched blood. I don’t want to know how or where from. You’re well-to-do; presumably you were able to buy it.

LOGAN: Presumably.

DOCTOR: The stem cells you got a hold of have been regenerating nerve and muscle tissue, giving you the encouraging results you saw initially. But now you’re finding it more difficult to stand, and walking is becoming increasingly painful?

LOGAN: Yeah. That’s right. So what’s going on?

DOCTOR: Your autoimmune system’s kicked in, attacking the stem cells and rejecting the new tissue that’s formed.

LOGAN: So there’s a chance that, uh, I could end up back in a wheelchair?

DOCTOR: Unless we can get your body’s defenses in check, your gross motor function will continue to deteriorate, yes.

LOGAN: Well, then, uh…I don’t care what it costs, or what you have to do. Just keep me walking.

(In their apartment, Original Cindy is sitting on the couch, watching Max pace back and forth.)

ORIGINAL CINDY: Wanna go to Crash and shoot some pool?

MAX: Mm-mm.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Feel like a pizza?

MAX: Mm-mm.

ORIGINAL CINDY: By the way, some of those black-helicopter stormtrooper folks stopped by, asking about a transgenic teenage killing machine. I said you were out.

MAX (stopping): Huh?

ORIGINAL CINDY (smiling): Are you gonna call him?

MAX: Call who?

ORIGINAL CINDY: Logan.

MAX: Why would I call Logan?

ORIGINAL CINDY: For ruining your evening.

MAX: He didn’t ruin my evening. He couldn’t ruin my evening even if he wanted to. My evening is fine.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Whatever you say, boo. I’m lofting. Night. (Leaves)

(Max looks after her for a moment, then picks up the phone and dials. We see Logan leaving the doctor’s office. His cell phone rings. As he pulls it out of his pocket, he trips over some debris in the alley and falls. His phone flies out of his hand and lands about four feet away, near his car. We see Max waiting out the rings as Logan struggles to reach the phone. His voice mail picks up.)

LOGAN’S VOICE: You’ve reached the number you’ve dialed. I’m not around. Leave a message.

(Max hangs up just before Logan reaches the phone, which stops ringing. He grabs the car and manages to pull himself up.)

(At Jam Pony the next day)

MAX: He didn’t call, didn’t leave a message, didn’t return my call. He just plain shined me.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Never underestimate the thoughtlessness and insensitivity of the three-legged gender.

MAX: I just got a weird feeling something’s going on.

NORMAL (handing Max a package): Hot run, 15 Cliff Road.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Uh-huh. He’s out the wheelchair now. And boys cheat.

MAX (laughing): That’s not what I’m talking about.

ORIGINAL CINDY: I know you don’t wanna hear it, shugga. But it’s what they do. Just like grabbing themselves when they’re anxious.

MAX (smiling): Logan can go anywhere and do whatever he wants with anyone, as far as I’m concerned.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Yeah, right.

MAX: Me and him aren’t like that.

ORIGINAL CINDY: So you keep saying. I just don’t wanna see my boo get hurt.

MAX: I just hope he’s not in any trouble.

ORIGINAL CINDY: I’m tellin’ you, girl, he’s probably just out bein’ a doggy-dog.

MAX: You make it sound like that’s the only thing guys ever think about, which I don’t happen to believe is true.

(They overhear Sketchy talking to Herbal and Sky.)

SKETCHY: So she opens the door to sign for the package…No bra.

(The guys bump fists and walk away.)

ORIGINAL CINDY: I rest my case.

(Logan walks out of his building as his neighbor walks in.)

LOGAN: Mrs. Moreno. How you doin’ today?

MRS. MORENO: One foot in front of the other, you know?

LOGAN: That’s a good thing.

(He walks down the sidewalk toward his car. Max meets up with him, walking her mountain bike.)

MAX: Hey, stranger.

LOGAN: Hey, Max.

MAX: Don’t I get an “I’m sorry I stood you up last night, but I was out saving the world from giant robots. Can you ever forgive me?”…or even “I forgot. Will you accept my apology?”

LOGAN: Yeah, something came up.

MAX: Are you okay?

LOGAN: I’m fine.

MAX: You in the mood to feed a female? I’m starved.

LOGAN: Ooh, another time. I’m running late for a meeting.

MAX: Right. Hey, what happened to that painting in your hallway? Bling said you sold it.

LOGAN (unlocking the car): Yeah.

MAX: I thought you loved that thing. Didn’t your mom leave it to you or something?

LOGAN: I got tired of it. Listen, I gotta get to this meeting. I’ll see you later.

MAX: Yeah, sure.

(Max watches him drive off.)

(We see a pair of black-gloved hands assembling a large gun. Once it’s assembled, the hands lay it back in its case and pick up a photo of the doctor.)

(At the doctor’s clinic, Logan is sitting on the examination table, bare-chested. The doctor prepares a syringe.)

DOCTOR: Nervous?

LOGAN: I don’t like needles. Or heights. Or spiders. What’s in that?

DOCTOR: An immunosuppressant. (Injects him)

LOGAN: Ow.

(We see a figure running on the catwalk near the ceiling somewhere in the building.)

DOCTOR: We use this in combination with intensive physiotherapy and biochemical management to protect the nerve cells that have regenerated.

LOGAN: As long as it works.

DOCTOR: I’ve gotten results in the past. The biggest hurdle is reorganizing the synaptic connections and training the undamaged CNS neurons to adapt to different signals.

(The doctor is standing in front of a monitor. Logan is sitting on a machine with pedals mounted at one end.)

DOCTOR: Can you move the pedals for me?

(Logan grunts and strains to turn the pedals. They don’t move.)

DOCTOR: The science isn’t new. Came out of the Hyogo College of Medicine in Japan at the end of the last century. I’ve just taken it to its logical conclusion.

(We see a figure on the roof, watching them through a skylight.)

(Later, Logan and the doctor walk out of her clinic.)

LOGAN: Good night.

DOCTOR: Don’t be discouraged, all right? We’ll try again tomorrow.

(Logan gets in his car and the doctor gets in her truck.)

(Max breaks into the clinic. When she sees the exam table, she remembers lying on just such a table as four Manticore doctors do something to her. Max starts to go through a file cabinet. Someone enters and Max whirls around to see the doctor pointing a gun at her. The doctor reaches over to a coffeemaker and shuts it off, her eyes never leaving Max.)

DOCTOR: Almost forgot. What do you want?

MAX: I’m asking myself why someone sworn to alleviate suffering is packing heat.

DOCTOR: Even doctors have the right to defend themselves.

(Max kicks the gun out of the doctor’s hand and into her own. She unloads it and throws it to the floor.)

MAX: Only guns make me nervous. So why did the guy who was just here come to see you?

DOCTOR: I’m not at liberty to discuss his condition.

MAX: What condition?

DOCTOR: You’d have to ask him. You’ve heard of doctor-patient privilege?

MAX: I don’t know what kind of quack sawbones you are or what kind of con you’re running, but there’s nothing wrong with my friend that he needs to be seeing you about.

DOCTOR: You might want to get a second opinion about that.

MAX: A back-alley dump like this? You must have quite a practice.

DOCTOR: I’ll have to ask you to leave now, before I call the police.

(Max sees something through the window behind the doctor as we hear a gun being cocked. Max tackles the doctor to the ground as rapid gunfire bursts through the window. A hand punches through the window and Max grabs it. The hand yanks Max outside. Max and the woman to whom the hand belongs fight each other. The doctor runs to her truck. Max and the woman stand and strike fighting poses as the truck starts. They finally get a good look at each other.)

(Max flashes back to the escape from Manticore. In the flashback, Max and another girl are in the rear of the group as they sneak through the building. The girl hesitates. Max waves her on, but the girl shakes her head and retreats around a corner. Max leaves with the others. In the present day, Max recognizes the woman in front of her as that girl, and looks surprised.)

MAX: Jace?

(Jace looks at Max with an equally surprised look on her face. She also flashes back to the escape. As the kids dive out a window and run through the snow, Jace stands at the broken window, watching them leave.)

(In the present day, anger returns to Jace’s face and she jumps in the air. Max jumps to meet her; Jace kicks Max to the ground. The doctor’s truck heads right for them. Jace runs out of the way. Max jumps and hangs from a covered walkway above. As the truck drives underneath her, she lets go of the walkway and lands in the passenger seat. Her lip bloody, she looks at the doctor, who is looking at her between glances at the road. Max flashes back to the operating room at Manticore and now recognizes the doctor as one of the ones who were working on her.)

MAX: You wanna tell me why a Manticore soldier’s trying to kill you?

DOCTOR: What are you talking about? Who are you?

MAX: Somebody who kept you from winding up dead. But that could still happen. I haven’t decided yet.

(In his apartment, Logan is standing at the counter, taking notes while talking on the phone.)

LOGAN: Any idea how the money’s being laundered?…All right. Yeah, I’ll pass this along to Eyes Only. I’m sure he’ll want to get into it right away.

(Max enters the apartment and angrily cuts off his call.)

LOGAN: Hey! What the hell did you do that for?

MAX: We need to talk.

LOGAN: That was an informant with evidence on how the sector police are extorting money from-- (Sees the blood on her lip) What happened to you?

MAX: Talk to me about Dr. Vertes.

LOGAN: I’m sorry?

MAX: I know you’re a patient of hers. I followed you over to her office.

LOGAN: Oh, you followed me? Can I ask why?

MAX: Because you’ve been acting really strange and I’ve been worried—apparently with good reason.

LOGAN (walking out of the room in a huff without his cane): Well, thank you for your concern, but, uh, I’d appreciate it if you’d keep your nose out of my business. Everything’s fine.

MAX (following): Really?

LOGAN: Really.

MAX: Then how come an X5 assassin tried to kill Dr. Vertes just a little while ago?

LOGAN (stopping): What? Is she all right?

MAX: Yes. Thanks to moi, her transgenic guardian angel, she’s fine. You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself mixed up in here, Logan. Dr. Vertes is from Manticore too.

LOGAN: I know.

MAX: You know?

(Logan walks over to the window and looks out, his back to Max.)

MAX: Wanna fill me in here?

LOGAN: I’ve spent the last six months trying to dig up everything I could about Manticore in order to help you find the others.

MAX: And you just forgot to tell me that the bride of Mengele was right here in Seattle?

LOGAN: Not everything I do is automatically your business.

MAX: Excuse me, but finding one of the bright young sadists who did experiments on us back in the day certainly is my business!

LOGAN (turning to face her): Let me see if I can break this down for you then, Max.

MAX: Please do.

LOGAN: Whatever else Dr. Vertes has done, she is probably the only person on the planet who can keep me from landing back in a wheelchair.

MAX: What are you talking about? If you need another blood transfusion, all you gotta do is ask.

LOGAN: That won’t help. My body’s rejecting your blood cells. The nerves in my spinal cord are unraveling as fast as they were repaired. We’ll know in the next 48 hours whether the treatment even works…if I’ll be able to keep walking.

MAX: I didn’t know.

LOGAN: There’s no way either one of us could’ve known. So where’s Vertes now?

MAX: At the safe house.

LOGAN: Look, Max, I didn’t want to tell you about this...for all kinds of reasons.

(He steps forward and falls flat on his face.)

MAX: Logan!

(She goes to help him up, but he waves her off.)

LOGAN: Don’t! I can do it!

(He struggles but doesn’t make any progress, so Max lifts him by the armpits and eases him into his wheelchair. He pushes her away and glares at her.)

LOGAN: I gotta ask you—is it easier for you if I’m in the chair?

MAX: Come on. Let’s go see her.

(She flings his jacket at him and leaves. After a second, he follows.)

(In the car)

LOGAN: I’m sorry.

MAX: I understand.

LOGAN: I’m not sure you do. I felt what it was like to function like a regular person again...to be whole and complete.

MAX: You’ve never not been that to me.

LOGAN: Staying out of that wheelchair matters more to me than anything else in my life. Anything. And if I wind up back in it…Let’s just say that I’m not gonna live my life like that.

(At the safe house, Logan is sitting in a chair and Max is standing behind him. Dr. Vertes is talking from across the room.)

DR. VERTES: I was recruited by Manticore right out of Johns Hopkins. They said I’d be working at the cutting edge of motor-function research, that funding would never be a problem. That was before the Pulse, of course. I worked on series X3 through the preliminary stages of X7—treating injuries, mostly. I also conducted medical experiments.

MAX (approaching Dr. Vertes): Like breaking the arms and legs of young children…your guinea pigs. Those kind of experiments?

DR. VERTES: I was conducting research into how to accelerate osteoregeneration…research that’s allowing me to help your friend here. I transferred out of Manticore. Couldn’t take it anymore. Went down to El Salvador, or what used to be called El Salvador before the invasion, and did charity work in the countryside.

MAX (sarcastically): You’re a great humanitarian.

LOGAN: Why do they want to kill you?

DR. VERTES (approaching Logan): They’re afraid I could be bought, sell information abroad. At first they were much more low-key about getting rid of the Manticore brain trust. Werner Stutzman was killed in a boating accident; Leopold Pacen’s car went over a cliff. In all, at least a dozen of us have died in the last six years.

(Max has a brief flashback to the operating table.)

DR. VERTES: So I changed my name and became much more careful about whom I worked with, socialized with. Thought I was off their radar screen. Apparently not. (Glances at Max) I guess I don’t have to ask where your stem cells came from.

MAX: That girl today—Jace—she was one of the X5s who stayed behind when we escaped.

DR. VERTES: And was reprogrammed.

MAX: Reprogrammed how?

DR. VERTES (approaching Max): As officers, X5s needed to be able to operate independently. But after the escape, it was felt that you’d been designed with too much independence. So they were simplified.

MAX: Simplified how?

DR. VERTES: Thankfully, I didn’t work in the neuropsych department. (To Logan) I can refer you to a colleague of mine in Tokyo who is familiar with my research…and, obviously, I’ll refund your money.

LOGAN: What do you mean?

DR. VERTES: Well, after what happened today, I don’t plan on sticking around Seattle.

MAX: I’ll take care of the X5. Your only concern is seeing he gets the treatment he needs.

DR. VERTES: I can’t go back to my clinic, now that they know where it is.

MAX: You’ll be safe at your clinic. You have my word.

(The next day, Max is sweeping up the broken glass on the floor of the clinic. Jace jumps through the skylight and knocks her down. Jace draws a knife, but Max grabs her wrist and stops it. Max punches Jace and kicks her away. Max jumps to her feet, as does Jace. Jace starts to kick, but Max grabs her foot and turns it, sending Jace spinning to the floor. Max backflips over the exam table and strikes a fighting stance. Jace rises and strikes the same stance, then grunts and collapses.)

(Later, Jace is lying unconscious on a bed in another room of the clinic, restrained at the ankles and wrists. Dr. Vertes hooks her up to an IV.)

MAX: X5s don’t just roll over without a fight. What’s wrong with her?

DR. VERTES: She’s pregnant.

(Later)

MAX: Tell me she’s not going to lose the baby.

DR. VERTES: They’re both okay. Baby’s like her mom…tough.

LOGAN: An X5 assassin in a family way.

MAX: How’d it happen?

DR. VERTES: In the usual manner, I suspect.

MAX: Sounds like Manticore’s gotten its swerve on since my day.

DR. VERTES: No, there’s no way the father could be transgenic. X5 males are routinely dosed with birth-control meds, as are most of the females. Only a few of the older ones are allowed to maintain their normal cycles, for research purposes.

MAX (angrily approaching Dr. Vertes): Subhuman, superhuman, what’s the difference? We’re all just a bunch of lab rats to you people.

(Dr. Vertes looks at her a moment and leaves the room. Max begins pacing.)

LOGAN: Look, the doctor may have done some questionable things in the past…

MAX: Try “despicable.”

LOGAN: But she just saved a baby’s life, is nursing her would-be killer back to health, and happens to be the one person I’m depending on to keep me walking.

MAX: So, what? Am I supposed to be nice to her?

LOGAN: Just consider the possibility that not everything and everyone involved with Manticore is evil incarnate.

MAX: We’ll agree to disagree on that.

LOGAN: Well, how do we know your classmate in there didn’t drop the dime to Lydecker and company already?

MAX: Not how it works. She’s on a deep-cover op. Minimal contact with base until the mission’s accomplished. Standard procedure.

LOGAN: Well, Max, I gotta tell you…I am not liking this situation a whole lot, her being here.

MAX: Duly noted.

(Later, Jace wakes up and sees Max standing next to her bed. Jace becomes angry and struggles against the restraints. She flashes back to Manticore after the escape. In the flashback, Jace is in a classroom; a man is lecturing at the front of the room. The screen alternates between pictures of the escapees and the words TRAITOR, SNAKE, TRAITOR, RAT, and PLAGUE. In the present day, the monitor beside her bed begins beeping rapidly.)

MAX: Take it easy, Jace.

(In the flashback, the words DESERTER, TRAITOR, SNAKE, DESERTER and pictures of the escapees flash on the screen as the man lectures angrily. While young Jace sits at her desk, the words DESERTER, COWARD, SNAKE, TRAITOR, PLAGUE, RAT flash on the screen. In the present day, Jace succeeds in breaking out of a wrist restraint. Max shoves her down and pins her by the throat.)

MAX: I will kill you if you leave me no other choice. But you need to ask yourself—do you want your baby to die too?

(Max releases Jace’s throat and puts her wrist back in the restraint.)

JACE: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

MAX: You’re pregnant, Jace. The doctor said everything’s fine, but you need your rest.

JACE: What is this, some kind of psy-op where you try to brainwash the prisoner into believing something that’s not true?

MAX: Only it is true.

JACE: You’re crazy.

MAX: What’d you do? Volunteer for this assignment so you could get away from Manticore…buy yourself some time to figure out what to do?

(Dr. Vertes comes to the doorway and listens.)

MAX: You know what they’ll do to you back there for this...never mind what they’ll do to your baby. They’ll take that child away and you’ll never see it again. Just like with our mothers.

(Brief flashback to a woman being dragged screaming from the delivery room.)

MAX: Is that what you want for your kid?

JACE: The only thing that matters is accomplishing the objective.

MAX: You stay out in the world long enough, you find out Manticore had it all backwards. Everything matters except the objective.

JACE: I’m not going to betray everything I believe in the way you did. You betrayed all of us…your brothers and sisters.

MAX: I’m not the enemy, Jace.

(Jace pauses to look at Max, then grits her teeth.)

JACE: I will complete my mission and return to base…I will surrender to military command…and I will accept whatever disciplinary action they deem necessary.

(Dr. Vertes turns and walks away.)

(Later, Logan is on the machine with the pedals. Dr. Vertes injects him.)

LOGAN: Ow. That stuff burns.

DR. VERTES: It’s a neuropeptide called Substance PK—a synthetic combination of amino acids, hydroxytryptamine, and thyrotropin.

LOGAN: Doesn’t make it hurt any less.

DR. VERTES: I could give painkillers, but that would diminish the drug’s effect.

LOGAN: No painkillers.

DR. VERTES: I’m going to start the machine.

(The pedals rotate rapidly. Logan struggles to keep up with them.)

DR. VERTES: Too much?

(The machine stops.)

DR. VERTES: Keep going.

(Logan grunts, trying to move the pedals.)

DR. VERTES: We’ll try again another time.

LOGAN: No!

(He strains against the pedals, and they finally move a little bit. He does it a second time.)

DR. VERTES: That’s enough. You’re on your way back.

(Logan smiles. Max, who had been passing through with a tray for Jace, stops and looks at them for a minute. When Dr. Vertes gives her a small smile, Max continues passing through without smiling.)

(In the next room, Jace is still restrained on the bed.)

MAX: Baby moving?

JACE: I’m not far enough along for that.

MAX: Do you miss him? The father, I mean?

JACE: His name is Victor. He’s a lab tech at the base. (Pauses) You’ve never regretted leaving Manticore?

MAX: Never once.

JACE: You’re happy out here? In a world that’s dirty…diseased…corrupt?

MAX: It’s all those things. But at least I get to choose how to live my life. It’s not up to some military command. It’s called freedom.

JACE: Spare me the propaganda.

MAX: You think anybody back at Manticore’s gonna ask you if you wanna keep that baby? The question won’t even come up. They’ll give you an order.

JACE: And I will follow it.

MAX: And you’ll hate yourself for it. Because what they don’t tell you is that you’re more than just a soldier. You’re a human being, with free will.

JACE: Easy for you to say. You’re not in restraints.

(Max frees Jace’s wrists.)

JACE (sitting up): How do you know I won’t try to kill you?

MAX: I don’t. I can help you, Jace, if you’ll let me.

(That night, Lydecker is standing near a pay phone, overlooking the water. When the phone rings, he picks it up. Dr. Vertes is calling him from a cell phone.)

DR. VERTES: Hello, Deck.

LYDECKER: Adriana. This is a surprise.

DR. VERTES: I imagine so, given what you’ve been trying to do to me.

LYDECKER: It’s nothing personal.

DR. VERTES: We used to chat over coffee, Deck. Now I have to go through all this hocus-pocus just to get you on the phone.

LYDECKER: If you called to beg, all the orders have been signed. It’s out of my hands. But if you want to turn yourself in, I could use your body for research.

DR. VERTES: You used to use it for a whole lot more than that.

LYDECKER: That was then.

DR. VERTES: I called to bargain, Deck, not beg.

LYDECKER: What could you possibly have that I would want?

DR. VERTES: What you probably don’t know is that the X5 you sent to kill me is AWOL because she’s in her first trimester.

LYDECKER: I’m listening.

DR. VERTES: What would you say if I gave her back to you, along with one of the X5s who escaped in ’09?

LYDECKER: Adriana, you just bought yourself a whole lot of birthdays.

(The next day, Max comes over to Logan’s.)

LOGAN: Morning.

MAX: Jace has decided to switch teams.

LOGAN: Just like that?

MAX: Not like she has a lot of options. Getting knocked up’s a real career-ender back at Manticore. Plus she wants to keep her baby.

LOGAN: Her maternal instinct notwithstanding, are we sure we can take her at her word?

MAX: You get away from that place…a little taste of freedom changes your whole worldview. Think you can make arrangements to get her out of the country?

LOGAN: Shouldn’t be a problem. And I will certainly breathe easier knowing she and Vertes are in different time zones.

MAX: There is that.

LOGAN: Where is she now?

MAX: At the safe house.

LOGAN: You left her alone?

MAX: Logan, I know what she’s going through. I trust her. How are those legs of yours?

LOGAN: Still a little wobbly. But I’ve got another appointment with Vertes this afternoon.

MAX: Life is good. (They both smile) I better bounce before I lose my job.

(At the safe house, Jace is lying on a bed. Lydecker enters with Dr. Vertes and two men, and Jace sits up. Later, Jace is standing at attention while Lydecker paces angrily in front of her.)

LYDECKER: You’re in one hell of a situation, soldier.

JACE: Yes, sir.

LYDECKER: Do you mind explaining why?

JACE: Because I am dumb! I am so damned dumb it would take ten acts of divine providence to raise me to the sublime height of blissful ignorance, sir!

LYDECKER: And what am I supposed to do about you now?

JACE: That is not for me to speculate, sir.

LYDECKER: You’re damn right it’s not. Your mission was to eliminate this individual here.

(He pulls out his gun and kills Dr. Vertes.)

LYDECKER: Mission accomplished. Now was that so difficult?

JACE: No, sir. Permission to speak, sir.

LYDECKER: Permission denied. Your current medical situation provides…a unique research opportunity. You have any problem with me trying to make lemonade out of the lemons that you’ve brought me?

JACE: No, sir.

LYDECKER: Good. Now you had something you wanted to say?

JACE: It was never my intention to abandon the objective. As a prisoner of the rogue X5, I gave the appearance of cooperation in order to gain her trust and redeploy.

LYDECKER: You will be debriefed by command about your activities, along with the activities of other individuals who contributed to the unauthorized medical status you have now.

JACE: Yes, sir.

LYDECKER: But for right now, the rogue X5 is our top priority. You will return to duty, soldier.

(At Jam Pony, all the messengers are crowded around a table, cheering. On the table, Sketchy is balancing his bike on the front wheel.)

MAX: C’mon, Sketchy!

HERBAL: Three minutes, thirty seconds!

ORIGINAL CINDY: Wigga got mad skills!

MAX: Ya know?

(Normal enters the crowd and looks at what’s going on. He draws a quarter from his pocket, aims, and throws it at Sketchy. The coin hits Sketchy in the head. He and the bike fall off the table. The quarter rolls back to Normal, who picks it up and blows on it.)

NORMAL: Bip bip bip! Let’s go! Let’s go! Get back to work!

(The crowd reluctantly disperses. Max’s pager goes off. She goes to a pay phone and dials.)

JACE (on phone): Max, it’s me.

MAX: What’s wrong?

(We see Jace calling from the safe house with Lydecker and his men standing by.)

JACE (tearfully): It hurts and I’ve started bleeding. I’m scared.

MAX: Okay, I’m on my way. Stay calm, lie down, and we’ll get you a doctor. (Hangs up)

(Jace hangs up the phone and her face changes from tearful to blank.)

LYDECKER (into a radio): This is Control. Stand by to seal the perimeter.

VOICE ON RADIO: Roger, Control.

(At Jam Pony, Normal holds out a package as Max goes by.)

NORMAL: Here, hot run.

(Max ignores him and leaves.)

NORMAL: Great. I’m talking to myself.

(Outside the safe house, Lydecker is standing next to a humvee with Sandoval. We see other soldiers and humvees in the area, waiting for Max. She arrives in the area on her motorcycle.)

VOICE ON RADIO: Visual contact with subject has been established.

LYDECKER (into radio): Do not move ’til I give the command.

(Inside the safe house, two soldiers are standing by as Jace goes to the window.)

LYDECKER’S VOICE ON RADIO: What is your range, Bravo?

OTHER VOICE ON RADIO: 200 meters and closing.

LYDECKER’S VOICE ON RADIO: Stand by.

(Outside the safe house)

SANDOVAL: You giving an order ten-zero-six?

LYDECKER: No. No, I am not.

SANDOVAL: Sir, she specifically authorized the use of deadly force.

LYDECKER: I don’t give a damn what she authorized! It’s not her show. It’s still mine, and we’ll do it my way.

(Max is approaching the safe house on her Ninja. Jace is still watching from the window.)

VOICE ON RADIO: Fifty meters and closing.

(Jace signals the two soldiers who are in the room with her, and they leave. She takes off her watch and holds it up, angling it to catch the sunlight. Max notices and stops moving forward. Jace uses the watch to flash a signal.)

MAX: Escape and evade.

(She glances around, sees soldiers hiding, and turns the bike around.)

VOICE ON RADIO: Subject is reversing course, sir.

LYDECKER (into radio): Initiate pursuit.

(Max stops to look back at the side door of the building. Jace emerges and looks around.)

LYDECKER (into radio): Return to your position, soldier. You’re disobeying a direct order.

(Jace removes her earpiece and runs.)

VOICE ON RADIO: X5 has ceased communications. Take her down.

(A soldier approaches Jace and she knocks him out. Max pulls up to her on the Ninja, punching out a soldier on the way. Jace kicks out another soldier and joins Max on the bike. A couple of soldiers fire tasers at Jace and Max. Max guns the engine and they break free of the taser probes. Max drives the motorcycle around a corner and up a ramp, flying over Lydecker’s head. Lydecker reaches for his gun. Max kisses her fingers at him and lands before Lydecker can pull the gun out. Max and Jace drive away as Lydecker and Sandoval watch.)

SANDOVAL: I hope you’re gonna be able to explain this to her in your report, ’cause she is gonna be one very pissed-off lady.

(Lydecker smiles and nods.)

(At Logan’s apartment, he and Max are sitting on the couch.)

LOGAN: Not the best news I could’ve gotten.

MAX: You would’ve thought Vertes knew Lydecker long enough to figure he can’t be trusted.

LOGAN: You would’ve thought.

MAX: She’s not the only doc around who knows about this treatment.

LOGAN: Only one I had access to. At least you’re all right.

MAX: I’m sorry, Logan.

LOGAN: Where’s Jace?

MAX: I stashed her back at my crib.

LOGAN: I set her up with a new identity. She leaves for Mexico tonight.

MAX: Thanks.

LOGAN: No problem. On another matter, you should swing by the clinic and yank my medical records. You’ve got exposure if Lydecker dumps Vertes’ files and reads about my transgenic blood donor.

MAX: Right.

(She gets up and starts to walk out, then stops.)

MAX: Logan…

(Logan, who had been scooting forward, stops and looks at her.)

MAX: This is gonna be okay.

LOGAN: Yeah.

MAX: See you later.

LOGAN: Yeah. See you later.

(Max leaves and Logan transfers to his wheelchair.)

(At the clinic, Max locates Logan’s file in the drawer and starts to walk out with it. She drops it and papers spill on the floor. As she goes to pick them up, she notices Logan’s psychological evaluation. In the doctor’s handwriting, we see glimpses of the words “despondent,” “from paralysis,” and “depression.”)

LOGAN (in flashback): Staying out of that wheelchair matters more to me than anything else in my life.

(In the doctor’s notes, we see the words “suicidal urges.”)

LOGAN (in flashback): Let’s just say I’m not gonna live my life like that.

(We see the words “depression,” “concern,” “despondent,” and “suicide.” Max jumps up and runs out.)

(Logan is sitting at the computer desk in his wheelchair. He bangs his legs into the desk several times, then stops.)

(Max roars down a road on her Ninja and turns a corner.)

(Logan opens a desk drawer and pulls out a gun and a box of bullets. He holds the gun up and looks at it.)

(Max roars down the road, past a group of people.)

(Logan puts one bullet into the empty clip, puts the clip in the gun, and chambers a round. He holds the gun in front of him, pointed up, looking at it. A drop of water lands on his computer keyboard. He looks up at the ceiling and sees a wet spot where water is soaking through. A drop lands on his face. He puts the gun down and removes his glasses to wipe his face off. Then he replaces the glasses and wheels away.)

(Max turns a corner.)

(Upstairs, in Mrs. Moreno’s apartment)

LOGAN: Mrs. Moreno?

(There is no reply, and he wheels down the hallway toward the bathroom. The door is partway open; he pushes it all the way open to reveal Mrs. Moreno, lying on the floor. She is groaning and has a gash on her forehead. The water is running and the sink is overflowing. Logan grabs the cordless phone off the hall table.)

LOGAN: Okay, stay still. I’ll call the paramedics.

(He puts the phone in his lap and goes over to shut off the water.)

MRS. MORENO: Maybe it would be better if I just died.

LOGAN: Let’s not talk nonsense, okay?

MRS. MORENO: You don’t know. You’re young. You’ve got everything to live for. But me…I’m too old.

LOGAN: I’m gonna ask you to stop talking like that, Mrs. Moreno.

(He dials 911 and puts a hand on Mrs. Moreno’s shoulder. They both smile.)

(Max pulls up to Logan’s building and sees an ambulance outside.)

(Max runs into Logan’s apartment, yelling.)

MAX: Logan! Logan! Logan!

(She sees the gun lying on the desk. Hearing the door open, she turns and runs toward it. Logan enters, and Max drops to her knees and hugs him tightly.)

MAX: I thought…I was so scared…The ambulance…

(Logan returns the hug.)

LOGAN (whispering): It’s okay.

(They draw apart and look at each other for a moment, their arms still around each other. Logan wheels to the desk and Max stands up.)

LOGAN: Little accident upstairs. Mrs. Moreno fell down. Bathroom sink overflowed.

(He puts the gun and the bullets back into the desk drawer as Max watches.)

MAX: She okay?

LOGAN (turning to face her): Yeah. She’ll be fine.

(They look at each other. Max smiles a little.)

(At South Market Street, Max and Jace approach a waiting bus.)

MAX: Money, sector passes, passport, and your contact’s name at the Mexican border is Raul.

JACE: I can’t thank you enough.

MAX: You don’t have to thank me at all. Just make sure that kid has an excellent life.

JACE: If there’s any way to get word to Victor…

MAX: Let me reach the baby’s daddy. If Lydecker found out who it is, it could be dangerous for you. Can’t take any chances.

JACE: Feels like I just woke up from a bad dream.

MAX: I know. One of the reasons why I don’t sleep. Let me know if it’s a boy or a girl.

JACE: Either way…name’s gonna be Max.

(They smile. Jace boards the bus. Max walks away as the bus leaves.)

MAX (voiceover): I hope Logan will be okay. Actually, I know he’ll be okay. He’s got me in his corner. Only sometimes I wonder if he really wants me there.

(Later, Max is sitting on top of the Space Needle, holding a bottle of champagne.)

MAX (voiceover): With everything that’s gone down, I almost forgot. Eleven years ago tonight, we escaped from Manticore. When I think of everything I’ve been through—the good, the bad, and the blur in between…Well, I’m not gonna think about it. It’ll just give me a headache.

(She pops the cork, raises the bottle in a toast, and takes a swig.)

MAX (voiceover): Donald Lydecker, wherever you are, you can kiss my genetically-engineered ass! Zack, Brin, Jondy, Tinga, and everyone—happy anniversary, kids. A baby…named after me…That is awesome.