1. INT. MAX CUBE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT MAX sitting in the middle of
the room, naked. In a yoga position, eyes closed. To his right side is a
sealed envelope with MAGS written on it. To his left is a handgun.
MORGANFOKKER (voice) You can do it. Come home. End this charade now.
CUT TO: 2. EXT. MAX CUBE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT MAGGIE is leaning against Max's door. She looks like she's been crying.
CUT TO: 3. INT. MAX CUBE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT MAX not moving. Still like the buddha. Brings the gun to his temple.
MORGANFOKKER (voice) That's right, my son. End this game and come back home.
CUT TO: 4. INT. HAPPY HONG'S DINER - NIGHT We
see SUKI and GONER and FRANK sitting at a booth. SUKI is sipping a
milkshake, while GONER is mowing down on a chicken fried rice combo.
FRANK has a tea sitting in front of him.
SUKI Now what do you think is going to happen?
FRANK That depends on what Cube does next.
SUKI You think he's going to do it?
FRANK I truly don't know what he's capable of.
SUKI We got to him before this version of Morganfokker did. Didn't we?
FRANK I hope so. I truly hope so.
CUT TO: 4. EXT. MAX CUBE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT MAGGIE
is standing facing the doorway. The metal door to the
apartment has several big dents in it. It looks like she is focusing all
her might on the steel door.
The nightclub was hot and humid, like a South African jungle before the change. Mags was sitting at a table in the
upper tier, sipping on a ice tea and peering down at the crowd. She
couldn't hear the pounding mesh of music due to the silence dome, but
she could feel the bass on the floor. It made the people down below seem
like clockworks jerking around to a unheard melody.
"There you are," a voice said.
"I'm
here like you asked," Mags replied without turning around. She signaled
to the hoverbot floating above the crowd that she wanted
another drink. It read her signal and headed for the bar.
"You're looking youthful as ever," she said. "What's your secret?"
"I
wish I knew, maybe it's a curse," Mags said with a slight laugh. She
turned to face the woman who was dressed a red power suit. "Let's cut to the chase.
What do you have for me this time, Lucy?"
The communicator at Maggie’s side beeped. Which
caused the other patrons to give her a look. More than being
just a foreigner, she was an angelic looking one at that. She politely
smiled, reached down and brought the comm to her lips. She held it close to
her mouth as she continued walking down the crowded city street, dressed in a
rain slicker.
"Give it to me," Mags said.
"That lead that
you sent us on. We've got a situation over at the Golden Palace," a
man said, his voice worried. "It's something uncanny and
scary and it's got the locals spooked."
"I'll be there in a
jiffy," Maggie said. She snapped the communicator closed and entered the
alleyway. Dropping the rain slicker, revealing a midnight black body
suit, she slung the katana over her shoulders and then jumped to a
ladder to get to the roof.
Max was the first to recover from the shock; his eyes flickered open
like a television set in the morning. The wave had washed over them,
knocking them off of their feet. "That hurt."
The four of them were getting to their feet. Looking around to see if they could spot anything different, or familiar.
"No kidding," Maggie adding, dusting herself off. "One would think that we should be able to get used to it."
Max grunted.
"What just happened?" Suki asked in disbelief; this was her first shift.
MAX, wearing a red t-shirt with a Psycho For Hire logo, runs through an UNDERGROUND PARKING GARAGE. He's being chased by three men).
MAN 1: There he goes, he's rabbiting!
MAN 2: Damn you Cube, just stop!
MAN 1: (pause) Man, this is like deja vu.
MAX glides behind a corner, his mp3 player headphones showing, flings
open a door and runs up a flight of stairs. He runs down a hall,
gunshots fly. He dives in an elevator as bullets riddle the insides. The
doors close. He stands up and straightens his shirt and presses 13.
After he presses 13 he hits the stop button. The elevator stops. He hits
13 again and the doors open to a bright light. The sound of techno music
fills the elevator.
CUT TO a NIGHTCLUB INTERIOR. MAX and MAGGIE sit at a table. MAGGIE:
You sure it was Big Lo Pi? He's a real scumbag. I hope you didn't lead his thugs here, or else I am
going to kick your ass... but I already said that before, didn't I?
MAX gives MAGGIE a wink.
MAGGIE:
Oh sweetie, don't tell me that this is just a loop we're caught in? And in
seven seconds some hit-men are going to be pouring out of the
elevator... again.
MAX: I played the Time Card.
MAGGIE: That was a one-time thing only, for an dire emergency.
MAX just shrugs.
MAGGIE looks towards the elevator, seeing the numbers flashing on the door above
the entrance to the nightclub. Her hand reaches underneath the table
just as the elevator opens and several dark-suited fully
armed men enter the nightclub. MAGGIE: Well, might as well play this out again.
Max nodded. A cigarette dangled from his
lips; he was leaning up against the wall as if posing. A gun hanging at his side and dark sunglasses on.
After all, got to look good. You never know who is watching this, he thought.
"Good," Dex replied, slinging the rucksack onto his shoulder. "Let's rock."
Dex picked up the baseball bat, his pride and joy, his signature weapon, and kicked the door open.
Max
glanced back at the rag-tag crew that he had recently teamed up with; a Shaolin monk who was a tiger at one time, a stubborn ninja who killed with
silent ease, a street punk with a bible fetish, and a huge street-savvy cop.
Is this my story that's unfolding? he thought. Or am I just a secondary character to one of them?
Max
could see the camera angle on the shot. His mind working in overtime,
he was going through an unscripted scene, but since this was only a
series of movies he felt as comfortable as James Bond. Because Bond was
always back in the next movie. Not always the actors who portrayed
Bond, but Bond himself.
If I am going nuts, I am going to go out in style.
Dex
led the way through the door, bringing that bat down on the head of the
first of the Mooks. Max could hear the crack of the Mook's skull.
They always die easy. Mooks are only extras who don't even know that they are pawns.
Max lay on his bed, sheets unfurled about him. He was hot and sweat
clung to his body like an LA smog. His arms crossed above his head,
staring upwards, watching a house fly crawl across the ceiling.
He was thinking that he should get up and get going, but he couldn't
remember where he was supposed to get to.
The fan by his bed was
steadily blowing the air on him, cooling the body but not the mind. His
brain, the size of Venus, was on standby waiting for the switch on the
power bar to be turned on.
He watched the fly take off from the
ceiling and head elsewhere, when suddenly it got caught in a
spider's web. The fly trying to break free, its wings fluttering fast,
pulling back, but in its attempt it alerted the web's creator.
Max
watched the drama unfold. The spider crawled from its hiding spot
to consume the blood of its victim. The fly sensing danger fluttered
faster but it was a futile effort. The web held it fast. The
spider began to pick up pace, but before it reached the target it
disappeared.
Max, still lying on the bed, had pulled out a gun
from behind a pillow. He was holding it skyward; smoke drifted from
the barrel as if it had finished a sexual encounter.
