102 Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.
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- ACT TWO -
FADE IN:
INT. LABORATORY
We can barely make anything out. The lack of focus suggests
we're in a POV.
Things start to become clearer. We hear the rhythmic BEEPS
of a heart rate monitor, the lights and the ceiling
separate so we can distinguish between the two.
ON SCENE
The walls were clearly once white, now sporting bloodstains
and what looks suspiciously like burns.
Gwen has been strapped down onto an OPERATING TABLE, with
dozens of wires running off of her leading towards an
assortment of machines.
She GROANS as the effects of the fight hit her. As she gets
her bearings, she closes her eyes, trying to summon up a
little juice to help her get free. After a few seconds, she
gives up, nothing's coming.
GWEN
Damn it.
Not easily deterred from her escape attempt, she stars
writhing, hoping that the straps binding her to the table
will give just enough to allow her to free herself. No such
luck.
ADAM (O.S.)
I wouldn't bother.
The voice startles Gwen and she quickly looks around,
trying to identify it.
She can't see him, but right behind her head is ADAM KANE,
equipped with a clipboard and white coat sporting a big
blue ink stain.
He's young, no more than his mid twenties, short blonde
hair, and a smile that inspires trust despite the
circumstances.
ADAM (CONT'D)
Don't worry, you weren't supposed
to wake up yet, but this won't
hurt.
He leans over to press a button on one of the machines and
a red light shines down on the middle of Gwen's forehead. A
BEAT and a BLEEP later, the light disappears. No harm done.
Adam steps around so that he's in Gwen's line of sight and
smiles warmly.
ADAM (CONT'D)
Sorry about the sleeping
arrangements, can't be too
careful you know?
GWEN
Where am I?
ADAM
I can't tell you that.
Classified.
Gwen doesn't look impressed and shuts her eyes again. Adam
looks at one of the nearby monitors as it spikes and takes
down the readings, seemingly impressed.
ADAM (CONT'D)
That's some power you've got
running through you. If it wasn't
for the suppressor I'm guessing
I'd be fried by now?
Gwen frowns, how did he know what she was doing?
GWEN
Suppressor?
ADAM
You didn't think we'd bring
someone like you in and not take
a precaution did you? This thing
here...
He gently touches a pad attached to the side of Gwen's
head, she hadn't felt it until now.
ADAM (CONT'D)
It keeps you from using your
powers. We can read your
potential output with it, without
you actually discharging.
(beat)
Demons, they fight, they kill,
but give them a computer, a
handful of wires and a couple of
charms and they'll do wonders.
BEEP!
Adam checks his watch, apparently surprised.
ADAM (CONT'D)
(to no one in
particular)
Already?
GWEN
What is it?
ADAM
Time for another test.
He reaches over Gwen and tries to press a button on one of
the machines. The machine tilts backwards, very nearly
falling over, but Adam just about manages to keep a grip on
it, bringing it back onto four legs.
He breathes a SIGH of relief and presses the button,
managing to do it without causing any damage this time.
ADAM (CONT'D)
I'm Adam by the way, Adam Kane.
GWEN
Gwen Raiden. I wish I could say
it was a pleasure to meet you
but...
Adam grins, he's not about to hold that against her. He
takes a step back away from her, standing next to an old
looking computer, pressing a single key.
GWEN (CONT'D)
So, when you're not tying people
down, what do you do?
ADAM
Not a lot. I used to do...
(beat)
I was in recruiting for a while.
Didn't work out.
A loud BUZZING starts to come from the lights above us and
they appear to glow a little brighter. Gwen looks slightly
nervous.
GWEN
Okay, what's going on?
ADAM
Just lie still...
He picks up a pair of goggles, noticeably tinted so that we
can't see inside, and waits.
The light gets brighter and brighter and soon begins to
FLASH on and off like a strobe. Gwen appears to be in some
distress.
CLOSE UP ON: GWEN'S EYES
Unable to look away, Gwen focuses on the flashing lights
and her pupils constrict.
ON SCENE
Electricity starts to dance across Gwen's body, the
suppressor apparently unable to stop it.
ADAM (CONT'D)
(astounded)
Incredible.
Without warning, the lights GO OUT, leaving us in a
temporary darkness. A BEAT and they flicker back to life.
As she breathes heavily, clearly exhausted, Gwen passes
out. As she lies still the last of the electricity on her
body dissipates.
Adam looks around for any reason why the test failed, not
seeing anything obviously responsible. He glances upwards.
Looking down at the events as they fold from a walkway over
this lab and many others like it, is Joshua. And he's not
best pleased.
ADAM (CONT'D)
(quietly)
What now?
He walks towards a nearby staircase, and we:
CUT TO:
INT. CONFERANCE ROOM - LATER
Joshua and Adam are already inside, in the middle of a
heated debate.
JOSHUA
I don't know what the hell you
thought you were doing -
ADAM
(interrupts)
I was following your orders!
JOSHUA
I don't recall ordering you to
put this facility at risk.
ADAM
Oh please, there was no risk.
JOSHUA
The suppressor failed, for all we
know she was seconds away from
discharging.
ADAM
Oh please, I wasn't going to let
that happen!
JOSHUA
Do you know what kind of power
that thing down there has?
Adam looks away guiltily, obviously he does. He tries to
think of a sufficient reply, but doesn't come up with much.
ADAM
Her name is Gwen.
Beat.
JOSHUA
What?
ADAM
I said, her name is Gwen.
JOSHUA
And I care because...
ADAM
Because she's not an "it". Last I
checked, we're supposed to be
helping people not putting them
through tests just to see how far
we can push them!
There's a long silence, both men clearly need to take a
breather before they can start again.
ADAM (CONT'D)
What about the others?
JOSHUA
They're downstairs. No need to
run anything from what we can
tell, though they're asking where
their friend is.
(beat)
Talk to them, I've got a pickup
downtown.
ADAM
Another one?
JOSHUA
Four in one night. Get the job
done Adam.
ADAM
Yes sir.
With that, Joshua leaves the room, pulling on a black
leather jacket.
JOSHUA
(shouting back)
Oh, and move our friend to one of
the cells downstairs, but keep an
eye on her.
Adam stands there, not moving, just watching, resentful,
and we:
CUT TO:
INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - LATER
Alex and Maria are sat waiting, both have been secured to
their steel chairs, which have in turn been screwed to the
floor. Clearly there's no chances being taken here.
ALEX
So, any clues?
MARIA
No idea. Could be anything,
anyone. There's something really
wrong about all of this.
ALEX
I'd noticed.
The door opens and Adam, flanked by a SECURITY GUARD armed
with an intimidating amount of muscle and firepower on show
enter.
ADAM
I trust you're uncomfortable?
(beat)
Sorry about all of this. We'll
have you out just as soon as I've
explained what's going on here.
ALEX
Why not let us out now?
ADAM
Because...
He opens a file, quickly reading its contents.
ADAM (CONT'D)
Alex, is it?
(beat)
Because I'm not stupid. Miss
Sutherland is a vampire slayer,
perfectly capable of kicking
every little bit of crap out of
me and pretty much everyone else
in this facility without breaking
a sweat, and looking at your
record, you're about as
dangerous.
ALEX
(surprised)
You know who we are?
ADAM
Yes. We took some of your blood,
ran it through our databases, you
both have impressive records to
say the least, though quite what
you're doing in Los Angeles I'm
not sure.
(beat)
We'll get to that.
Neither Alex or Maria know whether to take the compliment
or not. Sensing that he's not quite getting them on his
side, Adam smiles nervously.
ADAM (CONT'D)
Okay, so truth time.
ALEX
Wait.
(beat)
What about Gwen? She was with us
when we...
(beat)
She was with us.
ADAM
She's here, and she's safe.
MARIA
All due respect and everything,
which is none because hey, you
kidnapped us, but we're going to
need a little more than that.
Adam takes a moment, thinking it over. He's not going to
get through this quite as easily as he'd hoped. He turns to
the security guard and nods. The guard silently exits,
leaving them alone.
ADAM
He'll be back in a moment.
There's a long, almost uncomfortable silence. Adam goes to
say something, but a single steely glare from Alex makes
him think better of it.
Finally, the door opens again, and the security guard
pushes Gwen into the room in a wheelchair. She's still out
cold from the test earlier, and the suppressor is still
stuck to her temple.
MARIA
Oh my God, Gwen!
She tries to move to help Gwen, but those pesky chains
holding her to the chair make it impossible.
ALEX
What have you done to her?
ADAM
Don't worry, she's fine.
No sooner are the words out of his mouth, Gwen starts to
stir. She opens her eyes and looks around, surprisingly
happy to see Alex and Maria.
GWEN
Oh thank God.
ALEX
You okay?
GWEN
I've been better.
She reaches for her temple and feels the suppressor, trying
to pull it free.
ADAM
I wouldn't do that if I were you.
GWEN
Why?
ZAP!
She gets her answer in the form of a small shock from the
device.
GWEN (CONT'D)
(wincing)
Wow, is that what it feels like?
ALEX
Not fun, is it?
Gwen looks a little guilty for a moment.
ALEX (CONT'D)
So, what are we doing here?
GWEN
More to the point, where is here?
MARIA
And when did the city go "Hell
A"?
Adam takes each of their questions in, he tries to hide it
but he's clearly getting overwhelmed here. He's a little
out of his depth.
ADAM
(formal, recited)
My name is Adam Kane, and I work
for the Los Angeles branch of The
Initiative.
The name doesn't mean anything to Gwen or Alex, but Maria
picks up on it straight away.
MARIA
This is The Initiative?
ADAM
(that's what I said)
One of our branches, yes.
ALEX
And what, if you don't mind
filling us in, is The Initiative?
MARIA
They're a government funded
project, they study demons,
vampires. Last I heard they shut
down.
ADAM
That's true, there were other
groups working for the same
cause, some on the government
books, some not. When the war
started we realised we couldn't
carry on the same way, and we
reformed. Took on the old name of
"Initiative".
ALEX
Hold on, did you say war?
Adam is a little surprised, confused even.
ADAM
Yeah, the war.
GWEN
What war?
ADAM
(beat, smiles)
You're not serious?
Beat. They clearly are, and Adam is completely confounded.
He looks at them as if they were completely stupid.
ADAM (CONT'D)
Thousands of demons walking the
Earth, wiping out every human
being that can't fight back and
you've no idea that there's a
war?
ALEX
That's life, that's not a war.
(beat)
So what happened to Los Angeles?
Try as he might, Adam can't help but laugh at the
situation.
ADAM
Okay, seeing as you seem to have
been living under a rock these
last four years. May 19th, 2004.
Mean anything to you?
Our heroes look at each other for a moment, a resounding
"no" in all their expressions.
ADAM (CONT'D)
This is impossible.
He leans back in his chair, not sure what to say.
ADAM (CONT'D)
(sighs)
May 19th 2004. Everything changed
that night.
FADE TO:
EXT. LOS ANGELES SKYLINE - NIGHT
Rain pours over the city, and yet it does nothing to quench
the fires burning all around. We hear the terrible ROARING
and SCREECHING of various demons all around, and then,
silence.
- FOUR YEARS AGO -
The rain slows, then stops, and for a moment, there's
absolute peace, minus the fires of course.
BANG!
An explosion rocks the city, the windows of every building
around us shatter sending a rain of glass down onto the
streets below.
With a flash, a great COLUMN OF LIGHT rises in the sky.
ADAM (V.O.)
The demon armies that came that
night wiped out most of Los
Angeles in a matter of hours.
The light grows and grows, slowly lighting the whole city
as dark clouds circle around it in the sky.
ADAM (V.O.) (CONT'D)
And then it just got worse.
CUT TO:
EXT. LOS ANGELES STREETS
In another section of the city, we see VAMPIRES running
away from the light, blood still caked across their faces.
It's disconcerting seeing them so afraid as one by one they
fall in to the light, EXPLODING into DUST as they do.
The light vanishes as quick as it appears, leaving behind a
great VORTEX in the sky, no longer just black but red and
green as well, with lightning ARCING across it.
ADAM (V.O.)
The vampires were wiped out all
over the world. We thought it was
a blessing at first, balancing
the scales between us and them.
We were wrong.
The scene goes into FAST FORWARD as the vortex in the sky
grows larger and the flames hit more of the city. Days fly
by as the sun rises and falls in the sky.
We return to NORMAL SPEED. The demons in the ground below
are in the middle of a battle with humans armed with
anything you could find in their desperate attempt to
reclaim the city.
ADAM (V.O.) (CONT'D)
It was no use. There were too
many demons out there to beat.
Just when we thought it couldn't
get worse, well, you can guess.
From inside the vortex, something starts to spiral towards
the ground. It starts off as one single trail, like smoke,
but soon it splits off into many more.
One races towards us, and we realise exactly what it is. A
Shadowform!
CUT TO:
EXT. LOS ANGELES STREETS - SAME TIME
The dead lie everywhere. No attempt has been made to move
them, to bury them. People of all ages, armed with swords,
axes, bows etc. Each of them fought to the last breath, and
here they lie, at peace finally.
Or not, as the case may be. At least twenty of them rise
up, many of them already thoroughly decomposed with parts
barely attached. Each of them sports a pair on inhuman
black eyes.
ADAM
The Shadowforms, were worse than
vampires ever were, they had an
infinite number of hosts with all
the dead here, and they spread
across the planet in days. We
fought so hard that it took us
two weeks to realise that the sun
hadn't risen.
(beat)
Half the globe in darkness for
all that time and we didn't know.
As the people possessed by Shadowforms march on toward the
carnage in the distance, we:
FADE TO:
INT. CONFERANCE ROOM
As we left them, Alex, Maria and Gwen are stunned by his
story.
ALEX
It can't be...
ADAM
I tell myself the same thing,
every single morning.
Surprisingly it doesn't help.
ALEX
No, I mean this isn't possible.
We've never seen anything like
that, no sign of a war, or bloody
living shadows. Plus the fact
I've killed my fair share of
vampires in the last four years,
their numbers have been going up
by the day.
MARIA
So what's happening here?
Gwen has gone quiet.
GWEN
(quietly)
It's me.
ALEX
What do you mean it's you?
GWEN
Think about it, the warehouse.
The amount of power I let out...
I could have changed the past
somehow, Whistler said it was
some kind of magical hot spot,
right?
(beat)
Wait, Whistler.
Adam's ears perk up at that name, but he doesn't push it.
ALEX
He has to be here somewhere.
ADAM
He's not here. Not yet at least.
(beat)
We picked you up, you were all
soaked in magic, our scanners
were off the charts when they saw
you.
ALEX
Your point being?
ADAM
There was a fourth, my boss went
out to pick whatever it was up,
it could be this "Whistler".
The door opens and another SECURITY GUARD walks in,
whispering in Adam's ear. He nods, and the guard leaves.
ADAM (CONT'D)
They just got back. Come on.
He stands and walks out of the door quickly, leaving Gwen,
Maria and Alex sitting there, unable to follow. A moment
later he walks back inside, realising his mistake.
ADAM (CONT'D)
I should probably...
GWEN
Yeah, might help.
As Adam starts to release their bonds, a little nervous
that they might make a move on him, we:
CUT TO:
INT. INTERROGATION ROOM 2 - MOMENTS LATER
Joshua walks into the room and closes it behind him. The
room is the same as the other only this time, there's no
sign of a security guard keeping an eye on the proceedings.
He takes a seat behind a desk, he's putting on his very
best intimidating face as he leans forwards in his chair.
JOSHUA
So, care to tell me your name?
We get a REVERSE ANGLE to reveal that the person he's
talking to is our very own WHISTLER!
WHISTLER
Nope.
Trying not to get angry, Josh blinks - moving on.
JOSHUA
Okay, what do you do?
WHISTLER
I'm in recruiting.
JOSHUA
And how's that working out for
you?
WHISTLER
It has its moments.
So, he's playing it difficult then. Joshua smiles, not in
the least bit irritated. In fact, he appears to be enjoying
things so far.
JOSHUA
So. What were you doing in
downtown L.A. soaked in more
magic than half the witches in
the western hemisphere?
Whistler just shakes his head.
WHISTLER
People like you are out there
saving the world and you can't
even put two and two together.
You really aren't as sharp as
you'd like to think, are you?
His smile slips. Joshua SLAMS his fists down on the table,
not that Whistler even blinks.
WHISTLER (CONT'D)
Good cop bad cop, better with
two.
JOSHUA
You're going to tell me what
you're doing here and what you
are, right now, or we're going to
have a problem.
WHISTLER
Oh we already know the problem.
It's the solution that's the
problem.
(beat, grimaces)
Wow, the cryptic does get
annoying.
Just as Joshua looks as though he's about to go for the
good old fashioned brutish method, the door opens and our
heroes, plus Adam enter the room.
JOSHUA
What the hell is going on here?
ALEX
Oh shut up.
Josh goes to respond, but Adam places a hand on his
shoulder and he takes the hint, the two Initiative
employees taking their leave.
Gwen and Maria smile as they see Whistler, but he doesn't
look pleased to see them. He looks around, stopping and
frowning as he sees Adam leaving. He quickly moves on.
WHISTLER
It's about time. Now, what are we
going to do?
Maria, Gwen and Alex all look astounded, he's asking them
questions?
ALEX
You're joking?
Beat. Apparently not.
ALEX (CONT'D)
What's going on here?
WHISTLER
Besides the obvious?
They all blink.
GWEN
Think you could fill us in on
the...
(air quotes)
Obvious?
Whistler looks astounded.
WHISTLER
You know this isn't Earth, right?
The penny finally dropping, our heroes stand in shock and
we take the opportunity to:
BLACK OUT.
- END OF ACT TWO -
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Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.