Bond, Marc Bond
SCENE 1
(An middle-aged JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN is sitting on a low stool with his hands tied behind his back, dressed in a shirt and tie. The room is Japanese-style with screen windows made of translucent material. He appears to have just regained consciousness. He looks around seeming not to know where he is. A young Japanese man, TOSHIRO, enters dressed in black western clothes.)
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles) W-What? What is all this? Where am I? I'm supposed to be in Veridian city, Kanto.
(TOSHIRO walks around the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN.)
TOSHIRO: (Subtitles) Welcome to Johto. Lucky I didn't put you to sleep for good.
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles) Look, I don't think you know who I am. You're in deep trouble.
TOSHIRO: (Subtitles) I know exactly who you are. You're the man I'm about to put out of the
whaling business.
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles) What are you talking about?
(TOSHIRO draws a short katana and holds it against the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN's throat.)
TOSHIRO: (Subtitles) The entire world will know we are for real when "Time" magazine receives your finger in the mail.
(He moves his knife down to the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN's hand and prepares to slice off the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN's little finger.)
(Suddenly, the voice of a third man, speaking with a gruff Japanese accent, is heard.)
THIRD MAN: (Subtitles) You punk. You're going down.
(Both men look at the door. There is a large silhouette of a man in the light. The door slides
open and it is MONDO, dressed in Japanese style - a gold patterned top and white trousers, and much smaller than the silhouette.)
(TOSHIRO gets up with a sneering sniff. He and MONDO slowly move to face each other. TOSHIRO starts by slashing towards MONDO with his knife. The fight scene that follows involves MONDO making amazing moves, leaping many feet into the air. At one point he winks at the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN who is clearly astonished at what he's seeing. The fight ends when MONDO launches into an aerial attack, travelling most of the length of the room in the air, and kicking TOSHIRO in the chest, sending him crashing backwards through one of the paper windows. TOSHIRO runs away.)
(MONDO turns to the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN.)
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles) Who are you?
MONDO: (Subtitles and very bad Japanese dubbed voice) There may be others. Where is your whaling fleet?
(The JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN is silent. MONDO takes out an ID badge.)
MONDO: (Subtitles) Special Investigator. That man is an eco-terrorist. I need to stop his gang from destroying your company's fleet. Give me ship names and locations. HURRY!
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles) Taki-maru, Arashi-maru, Tokkan-maru.
(Cut to a computer monitor. The conversation is being listened to via microphone and voice
analysis software.)
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles and Voiceover) All three ships are in port in Yokohama.
(MAAIKE and SUSAN are listening in. Also there is TOSHIRO.)
SUSAN: Bingo. All three check out.
MAAIKE: Mission accomplished, Mondo.
(MAAIKE gives a 'thumbs-up' sign to TOSHIRO.)
(Cut to MONDO and the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN.)
MONDO: (Subtitles) I must go. Others will be here shortly to free you.
(As he turns and moves towards the door, the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN pulls his hands from behind his back with the rope loose.)
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles) Wait. I've freed myself. I'll contact my head of corporate security.
(Cut to computer screen. This is a complicated set up with a voice pattern screen.)
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles & VO) He can help.
(MAAIKE, SUSAN and the TOSHIRO exchange looks of concern.)
MAAIKE: (whispering) Answer him. Answer him.
(Cut to MONDO, looking worried, and the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN who stands up having untied the rope around his ankles.)
MONDO: (Subtitles) Good. I must go. Special Investigator. You punk. You're going down -
(Not only are the words the wrong ones, but the voice sounds garbled. Suddenly MONDO yells. Then we hear whistles and feedback sounds. Quite clearly whatever clever set-up the Rockets have been using has gone very wrong. The JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN approaches MONDO suspiciously. He and MONDO face off. Then the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN
grasps a very thin wire going from MONDO's back to the ceiling. He now realises how MONDO managed those high leaps. He pulls angrily on the wire and they both turn to see one of the paper screen walls collapsing towards them. It disintegrates when it hits them and when they both stand up again the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN sees that behind the screen are TOSHIRO, SUSAN and MAAIKE with two laptops.)
(The JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN looks around in disbelief. MONDO pulls out from his mouth an upper dental plate minus teeth but with what looks like a miniature transmitter.)
MONDO: Sayonara, baby.
TOSHIRO: Run for it.
(MAAIKE and SUSAN shut the laptops and run. MONDO tries but is brought up short by the wire still connecting him to the ceiling. Suddenly MONDO is pulled up into the air and is propelled backwards. The JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN sees him coming and yells. Quite clearly MONDO butts the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN with his butt as we fade to black.)
SCENE 2
FUCHSIA CITY, KANTO
3:03 AM
(Night. A house is seen set in its own grounds with a wrought iron gate which is shut. There is
some kind of armorial badge on the gates. The camera pans across a dark car, registration plate
YRB202, and onto the lawn where there are a number of golf balls. Then the camera pans up to
the large house where someone is standing on a balcony. He hits another golf ball.)
(Cut to the balcony. A hand places another golf ball on a tee. It's a young man, ALEX GOLDSMITH, who is crying. The view changes to show him from inside the room then turns to show three IBM Thinkpad laptops on a table. DOMINO enters the room and looks at the laptops. She sees "Deleting files" and then "Formatting complete".)
(Cut to outside. ALEX GOLDSMITH is continuing to hit golf balls.)
(Cut to inside. DOMINO takes out a gun and screws on a silencer.)
(Cut to outside. ALEX GOLDSMITH hits another golf ball and it smashes the windscreen of the car. He turns and sees DOMINO at the window, pointing a gun at him.)
DOMINO: (smiling) Fore.
(She fires the gun three times and ALEX GOLDSMITH falls backwards over the edge of the balcony. DOMINO walks to the balcony railing, looks down, shakes her head and then looks around before walking back to the window.)
SCENE 3
(Cut to view of metal mirror showing the Rocket's VW drawing up outside some rather dilapidated buildings.)
(Cut to inside the office. MONDO is holding an ice-pack to the left side of his neck.)
MONDO: Oh, man.
(He unlocks the door. The security monitor shows a woman getting up from sitting on the steps. It's MAAIKE.)
MONDO: Well, that was fast.
(MONDO looks outside, then turns back.)
MONDO: Hey! Where are the papers?
MAAIKE: Sitting on some loading dock somewhere. The printers would not give them to us on credit.
MONDO: Woah! Uh-uh. Maaike, we gotta get that Japanese whaling story out to the public.
MAAIKE: What do you want me to say. We spent our last twelve hundred dollars getting the story. We didn't save any money for publishing it.
(MAAIKE and MONDO have moved over to where SUSAN is sat at the computer.)
SUSAN: I figured that would happen.
MAAIKE: Oh, no more of your 'I told you so's, Susan.
SUSAN: Far from it. If you guys are interested, I've figured out the answer to all our money
problems.
MONDO: Oh, yeah. What's that?
SUSAN: We need to sell more papers.
(SUSAN picks up a paper from beside the desk.)
MAAIKE: Easier said than done.
SUSAN: (brandishing a Rocket Channel Interviews paper) Not when you got Rocket-woman of the Week.
(The paper has the headline "EXPOSED CRIMINAL WHALERS" and a picture of a woman wearing a Black with a red 'R' bikini.)
MAAIKE: Oh, good lord, Susan. You can't use that.
(MAAIKE stares at the cover. Looking disgusted)
MAAIKE: That's - ... That's ...
MONDO: That's amazing.
(SUSAN smiles. MAAIKE looks at MONDO disapprovingly. And Mondo notices this)
MONDO: And doesn't belong on the cover of any legitimate publication.
SUSAN: We're supposed to be fighting for truth, justice and the Rocket way, here.
MONDO: Well, what the hell is this? (he points to his wounds) This isn't fighting? I put my butt on the line week in and week out while you and Maaike just hide behind the scenes.
SUSAN: Yeah, your butt, my brains. I should be a dot com gazillionaire instead of gracing you two with my hacking brilliance.
MAAIKE: Bickering won't solve anything.
MONDO: Maaike, don't get holier than thou.
SUSAN: Yeah, Ms. Big Picture, Mr. Mission. It's easy to talk about the stories we need to write. Fighting whaling or illegal government surveillance, or who killed JFK. But you have to
ask yourself - how far will you go to print them?
MAAIKE: (nodding towards SUSAN's front cover) Not that far.
(The door bell sounds. MAAIKE goes to see who it is. MONDO turns his head and winces in pain, holding the icepack to his neck. As MAAIKE goes to open the door, SUSAN shows MONDO again her front cover enthusiastically.)
MONDO: Sorry, sis.
(SUSAN slams the paper down on the desk.)
(The security monitor shows JESSIE outside the door.)
MAAIKE: Uh, guys.
(SUSAN and MONDO come over and MAAIKE unlocks the door.)
JESSIE: Well, aren't you going to invite me in?
MONDO: Depends. You here to kill us?
JESSIE: Mondo, would you really be caught dead in that robe?
(She pushes her way in.)
JESSIE: I must admit, the thought of revenge did cross my mind. You cost me a tidy profit when you stole my Octium IV chip.
SUSAN: Our Octium IV chip.
MAAIKE: We have returned it to its rightful owner now that we've published our expose of it.
JESSIE: Mm. How wonderful of you.
(During this time JESSIE has been walking towards the computer, with the Rockets following her. She sees SUSAN's front page.)
JESSIE: Aah! Conspiracy theories and masturbation. I suspected there was a connection.
MONDO: What d'ya want, Jessie.
JESSIE: Right, down to business, then. This morning a body was found in a Long Island
dumpster. A young man called Alex Goldsmith, better known as Double Bogey.
SUSAN: DB. A golf nut.
MONDO: Hacker extraordinaire.
JESSIE: You knew him?
MAAIKE: By reputation. After the '97 Masters Tournament, he hijacked the Donphantron Screen in Times Square, made it flash 'Tiger is God' for 26 minutes.
MONDO: Classic hack.
(They have been smiling but now turn serious and look at JESSIE.)
MONDO: Who smoked him?
JESSIE: The police seem to think it was a drug deal gone bad but that doesn't take into the
account the three match-grade fan-dovelled slugs dug from his chest. Ammunition used by
intelligence services around the globe but certainly not gangbangers.
MAAIKE: So, who wanted one of the world's best
hackers dead?
MONDO: And why are you telling us?
JESSIE: There's a story to be uncovered here, wouldn't you say? Unless, of course, you're no
longer journalists but budding pornographers.
(JESSIE holds up SUSAN's front cover and the three Rockets all look somewhat uncomfortable.)
(Cut to later. Switchblade music. MAAIKE is brushing off a black jacket.)
(Cut to sliding door from RCI offices. SUSAN slides the door open, the VW is parked outside.
MAAIKE and MONDO go towards the VW and SUSAN slides the door shut. Inside the VW MONDO stashes away bag and then all three climb in the front, MAAIKE driving. They drive off a few yards (The VW Veridian license plate: TSD 596) when the VW grinds to a halt. End of Switchblade music. MAAIKE tries to start the engine, fails, then looks at the dashboard - the tank is completely empty.)
(Fade to black.)
SCENE 4
CERULEAN CITY, KANTO
(The VW draws up outside a small, two-storey house on a quiet residential street. The name on
the mail box is Goldsmith.)
MAAIKE: This is the place, right?
SUSAN: Yeah, yeah. (groans) Now turn off the damn engine and stop wasting my gas.
MONDO: Oh, here we go with the gas, again.
SUSAN: It's a known carcinogen, you ingrate. Got like a pint of it down in my stomach.
MONDO: You drew the short straw. How was I supposed to know that you don't know how to
siphon.
SUSAN: (to MAAIKE) And you, Misses Goody Two Shoes, Misses suck one gallon out of ten cars instead of ten gallons out of one car.
MAAIKE: Ethically it seemed more defensible.
SUSAN: Oh, you'll be sorry when I'm dead.
MONDO: Oh yeah, prove it. (pause) Come on, get out. Out!
(Cut to inside the house. Someone picks up a framed photograph of the young man playing golf, ALEX GOLDSMITH.)
MRS GOLDSMITH: Alex wasn't into drugs. That much I know for certain.
(The Rockets are sitting on a settee.)
MRS GOLDSMITH: He had so much going for him, with the computers. (She sits down.) He was brilliant, had such a good heart.
(SUSAN, who is clutching a cushion, belches. The other two looked at her sternly. She looks very nauseous.)
MRS GOLDSMITH: You put that in your article, that he didn't sell drugs.
(They nod.)
MRS GOLDSMITH: I guess you can see that I couldn't give him much, growing up, but I did
teach him right from wrong.
MAAIKE: How did Alex spend his time? Did he have a specific project he was working on?
MRS GOLDSMITH: I didn't see much of him for these last few weeks.
(She tries to stifle a sob. SUSAN belches again.)
MAAIKE: Um, may we see Alex's computer?
(Cut to Alex's room. There are at least two monitors on a desk. MONDO sits down at the
keyboard. The camera pans back to show a golf bag, covered with signatures. SUSAN is looking into it. MRS GOLDSMITH comes over to her.)
MRS GOLDSMITH: That was his very favourite thing in all the world. Alex said that if the house ever caught fire, it was the only thing worth saving. (SUSAN is looking very sick.) He even got it autographed by all the players in last year's US Open, even Tiger Woods, see? (She points to the autograph).
SUSAN: Wow.
MRS GOLDSMITH: I'm sure you nice kids could do with a snack.
(SUSAN looks even sicker.)
MRS GOLDSMITH: I'll be right back.
(She leaves. SUSAN is trying hard not to throw up but fails and vomits into the golf bag. Although her head in inside the golf bag, the sounds indicate clearly what she's doing. The other two Rockets are very dismayed.)
MAAIKE: Susan!
SUSAN: (lifting her head) It's OK. I'm better, thanks.
MONDO: Fix it! Quick!
(MAAIKE and MONDO point to their right. SUSAN drags the RING golf bag off to the bathroom.)
MAAIKE: Good grief.
MONDO: Ay, ay, ay, ay.
(Cut to the bathroom. SUSAN draws back the shower curtain, empties the golf bag into the shower, places the bag upright on the shower tray and turns on the water. She takes a bottle of
detergent from the window shelf and pours it into the golf bag. She turns the water off and uses a towel to wipe down the outside. She suddenly realises that she's wiping the autographs off.)
(Cut to computer monitor, there are some beeps.)
MAAIKE: What do you have?
MONDO: A big lot of nothing. The hard drive's been reformatted.
(MAAIKE sighs. SUSAN comes back in with the golf bag.)
MAAIKE: Did you clean it up?
SUSAN: Ohhh, yeah.
(She puts the golf bag, covered with the towel, on the floor in front of MONDO, who lifts off the towel to reveal the smears where the autographs had been.)
MONDO: You washed off all the names.
SUSAN: Anyone got any magic markers.
MRS GOLDSMITH: (off screen) Honey's? How does lemonade sound?
SUSAN: Oh, damn.
(They all grab pens and start writing on the golf bag.)
MONDO: (to SUSAN) It's Tiger, not Tigger, you imbecile.
(SUSAN grins sheepishly.)
(MAAIKE notices a piece of paper in one of the bag's pockets. She pulls it out.)
MRS GOLDSMITH: Here you are, darlings.
(MRS GOLDSMITH comes in with a tray of food and drink. The three Rockets turn round and smile at her.)
MAAIKE: Oh, that, uh, looks, that looks lovely, but, uh, -
MONDO: (checking his watch) We gotta go.
MAAIKE: Yes!
MONDO: Sorry.
SUSAN: Really. Really sorry.
(They exit the room quickly. MRS GOLDSMITH watches them, puzzled. Then looks slowly round the room. The Rockets are just exiting the front door when she screams.)
SUSAN: We'll make it up to you!
(They climb into the VW.)
SUSAN: Told you I was sick!
MONDO: Yeah, yeah.
MAAIKE: Guys. I'm not sure Alex was the Saint his mother thinks he was.
(She pulls out the paper she took from the golf bag.)
MONDO: What's that?
MAAIKE: It's a bank check dated four days ago, made out to Alex Goldsmith, for one million dollars.
(MONDO grabs the check from MAAIKE, then SUSAN grabs it from MONDO.)
(Fade to black.)
SCENE 5
FUCHSIA CITY, KANTO
(Day. Camera pans down from sky to show a low building and parking area surrounded by trees. A car is parked near the building and the VW is at the other end. The camera slowly zooms in on a circular object on the roof of the VW. The object rises - it's a periscope, and it turns to point at the car. On a monitor the periscope zooms in on the building. The sign on the door says "POE". The camera pans from the monitor to MONDO.)
MONDO: That's them. 'Philanthropic Outreach Enterprises'. P-O-E.
MAAIKE: (looking at the check) POE Corporation. Are we to believe Alex Goldsmith was working for a charity?
MONDO: I guess some charity, cutting million dollar checks to hackers.
SUSAN: Sounds good to me.
(Cut to monitor showing web page of the State Corporation Commission.)
SUSAN: Well, the State Corporation Commission has jack-squat on them. They have the CEO registered as a one James Bond, for God's sakes. A million bucks. I'd settle for four hundred dollars in cash to get my damned stomach pumped.
MONDO: SUSAN, run a plate.
(MONDO has focused the periscope on the car's registration plate.)
MONDO: Pewter City, M-O-D-I-V numero eight. Shut up about your stomach.
SUSAN: Oh sure, my liver's shutting down, but who cares?
(Monitor shows web page for POE.)
MONDO: Philanthropic Outreach. I bet the last donations these guys made was the three bullet holes they gave Alex Goldsmith.
MAAIKE: You're guessing he hacked for them and then they killed him.
MONDO: Mmmm.
SUSAN: The car's registered to one James Bond. Cute.
(Details of the owner appear on the screen.)
Owner Num: 974895-9048579
Licensed Owner: James Bond
Plate: MODIV-8
Car: Trans Am
Color: Black
..try Num: 9487593-994
MONDO: Hey, check it.
(MONDO is watching the periscope monitor.)
MONDO: Mr. Bond, I presume.
(The monitor shows a YOUNG MAN wearing dark glasses getting into the car.)
MAAIKE: Let's follow him.
(The car drives off and the VW follows.
Eventually the car stops in an area surrounded by
trees and bushes and the YOUNG MAN gets out.)
MAAIKE: He's certainly in a hurry.
MONDO: Late for a secret meeting?
(They get out of the VW and make their way
through the vegetation. They hear a constant
beeping. As they peer through a hedge, they now
hear several sets of beeps. They walk around the
end of the hedge onto a sports field where men
are practising American Football. A whistle
blows. The camera zooms in fast on a football as
it is kicked. The ball flies high with a chirping
sound. It lands and bounces, emitting a beep each
time. It rolls to a stop near the Rockets and
MONDO walks forward and picks it up.)
MONDO: (turning to the other two) So, what do you
figure?
MAAIKE: Uh, uh, Mondo!
(MONDO turns just in time to see three
footballers about to tackle him. They throw
themselves at him and they all land on the
ground, MONDO underneath. The YOUNG MAN sees what
has happened and blows a whistle.)
YOUNG MAN: Civilians on the field! Time out!
(The footballers climb off MONDO who is groaning.
The other two rush to help him up.)
MAAIKE: Mondo, are you OK?
MONDO: Oh sure. Somebody's car alarm keeps going
off.
SUSAN: (to the footballers) What the hell! You
guys blind or what?
(The footballers are all clearly blind, feeling
around for each other.)
MAAIKE: Uh, Susan?
(The YOUNG MAN pushes through the milling
footballers.)
YOUNG MAN: Check, guys. Coming through.
(He peers anxiously at MONDO.)
(Later, someone, presumably a first-aider, is
shining a pencil torch in MONDO's eyes. MONDO
also has cotton wool plugs in both nostrils.
MONDO: A blind football team?
(The Rockets are sceptical. The YOUNG MAN is
enthusiastic.)
YOUNG MAN: Not just a team, but a league. We're
the first but we got franchises starting up. In
Kanto, Johto and Hoenn. God bless modern
technology. Sonar helmets, beeping footballs. I know it'll work. I promise you, one day you'll be watching these men on LCVN.
(He becomes more serious and turns to MONDO.)
YOUNG MAN: How're you feeling?
MONDO: Oh, peachy.
TEAM MEDIC: Nothing broken.
MAAIKE: So, all this was your brain child, Mr. -
MARC: Bond, James Bond.
(He and MAAIKE shake hands.)
MARC: Call me Marc.
(There's a crash and they all look to see two
players have crashed into a bench.)
MARC: Nice hustle, guys. Now, give me some wind
sprints!
FOOTBALLER: You got it, coach! Whoo Rar!
(They run off making Rar! and Whoo! Sounds.)
MARC: Listen. I'm real sorry about you getting
tackled but this practice is private. You people
here for a reason?
MAAIKE: We're journalists. We're interested in
doing a story about your league.
MARC: Sports Illustrated?
SUSAN: The Rocket Channel Interviews.
MARC: Right on? interviews and fireworks? I like
that.
MAAIKE: Specifically, we're wondering how you
fund this operation. It must be expensive.
MARC: Yes it is. But how do you put a price tag
on a dream. Now, I know that it sounds corny but
when I look at those men's faces, when they make
a tackle, catch a pass - OK, that hasn't actually
happened yet - but still, to me, it's worth all
the silver in Fort Knox.
MONDO: Very touching.
MARC: I mean, this is America, and every citizen
has a God-given right to play football!
SUSAN: Where do you get your money from?
MARC: We're a charitable endowment. We have
benefactors that really believe in what we've got
going on here.
MAAIKE: Who are they? We'd love to talk to them.
MARC: So would I - to thank them. They're
completely anonymous. And they want to keep it
that way. They're not in it for the glory.
(pause) Shouldn't you guys be writing this down?
MONDO: Uh, yeah, um, look we're just gonna go
back to the mobile news unit - we're just gonna
grab a tape recorder -
SUSAN: We'll, we'll be right back.
(The Rockets have edged their way out of the
sports park. MARC, smiling delightedly, sits down
on a bench. Two footballers approach carrying a
plastic barrel.)
FOOTBALLER: Hey coach!
(They empty the contents of the barrel over the
other end of the bench and high-five each other.
MARC smiles to himself.)
(Cut to the Rockets walking back to their "mobile
news unit".)
MONDO: Sheesh! Can that guy be for real?
MAAIKE: Well' he's no criminal mastermind. Of
that I'm fairly certain.
(MAAIKE has handed the keys to the VW to SUSAN.
They all climb into the vehicle.)
MAAIKE: But this POE has a secret agenda, even if
he doesn't.
SUSAN: Let's get the hell out of here and stop
wasting our time.
MONDO: Yeah.
(SUSAN goes to start the vehicle. It doesn't, of
course. SUSAN sighs and picks up some plastic
tubing and hands it to MAAIKE and MONDO.)
SUSAN: guys - knock yourselves out.
(SUSAN gets out of the VW.)
MONDO: Where you going?
SUSAN: Somebody's got to suck the pipe and it
ain't gonna be me.
MAAIKE: Susan!
SCENE 6
(Cut to outside the POE building. SUSAN peers in through the glass front door. She checks the door - it's unlocked. She goes in. Switchblade music.)
SUSAN: Hello? Anybody?
(She walks along a corridor and into a room where there is a computer on the desk. She pushes up her sleeves and sits down at the computer. The computer shows screens similar to web pages. SUSAN, who has been rapidly typing, stops and sighs. End of Switchblade music.)
DOMINO: (off screen) Need any help?
SUSAN: I - can help you.
(The girl is the one who terminated ALEX GOLDSMITH.)
SUSAN: For a price. (pause) I'm guessing that you knew a kid named Alex Goldsmith, number two hacker in America. (shrugs) Why settle for number two when you can have number one.
DOMINO: That would be you.
SUSAN: Exactly. Whatever he was doing, I could do it better.
DOMINO: Without even knowing what it is?
SUSAN: Doesn't matter. As long as we're talking computers, I've got all the woman skills so it's all downhill, if you know what I'm saying. Come check me out.
(Switchblade music. The DOMINO comes over to watch the monitor. There are frequent scenes showing SUSAN doing techy stuff and then the screen shows The Department of Defence system with a clearance level of 5.)
SUSAN: Wanna be a five-star general? Just click the button.
(More scenes ending with: "SECURITY DETAILS: Bypassed Firewalls" and listing Department of Defence [Pentagon, DC], Jet Propulsion Lab [CA] and Queen's Bank of Georgetown [Cayman Islands]. End of Switchblade music.)
SUSAN: There, that makes the Pentagon, the Jet Propulsion Lab and the Queen's Bank of Georgetown, Cayman Islands. I hacked into them all inside of (checks watch) 19 minutes plus I reset your system's clock - daylight savings! I got the job?
DOMINO: You got the job.
(DOMINO opens a desk drawer, There is a roll of duct tape in there. SUSAN looks puzzled.)
(Cut to SUSAN's head, her mouth covered with duct tape, being slammed down onto the keyboard.)
SCENE 7
(The sports field. MARC hands a plastic petrol can to MAAIKE.)
MARC: Here you go. (MAAIKE takes it - it's clearly heavier than it looked when MARC was holding it.) Glad to help.
(The beeping sound is still sounding. There's another sound. MONDO looks around puzzled until he realises it's his cellphone. He answers it.)
MONDO: Hello!
(At this point he is tackled by a couple of footballers.yes, again)
(Cut to JESSIE sitting in her car, using a cellphone.)
JESSIE: Hello? Mondo?
(Cut to sports field where the footballers climb off MONDO who is still holding his cellphone to his ear, groaning.)
MONDO: Get off me! You're crushing my pelvis.
(Cut back to JESSIE.)
JESSIE: (Taunting) Are you talking to Maaike? Should I call back?
(Cut to MONDO - MAAIKE and MARC are helping him up.)
MONDO: No. It's not Maaike. It's just some huge guy - I mean - what is it Jessie?
(Cut to JESSIE.)
JESSIE: I just thought I should let you know the whereabouts of your obnoxious sister.
(Cut back to MONDO, MAAIKE and MARC.)
MONDO: Susan? Where the hell is she?
(Cut to JESSIE. She raises a small pair of binoculars to her eyes. She sees SUSAN, hands tied, being bundled into the trunk of a dark car. Fuchsia City licence plate DFO 604.)
JESSIE: At the moment, being loaded into a car trunk.
(Cut back to MONDO, MAAIKE and MARC. MONDO and MAAIKE exchange a look.)
(Fade to black.)
SCENE 8
(MONDO is looking at a white house through binoculars. There's a car and three men who look like security guards.)
MONDO: Susan's in there?
JESSIE: Top floor most likely.
(MONDO, JESSIE and MAAIKE are crouched down on the other side of the metal railings surrounding the house.)
JESSIE: I'm guessing this is where Alex Goldsmith was murdered.
MONDO: What is this place?
JESSIE: The Whirl Islands Embassy.
MONDO: Where in the hell are the Whirl Islands?
MAAIKE: A break-way republic from the former Hoenn Union. It was recognised by Johto last year.
JESSIE: At least there's one of you who isn't completely hopeless.
(MONDO looks hurt.)
MAAIKE: It looks secure?
JESSIE: Very. Motion detectors, armed guards, not to mention diplomatic immunity. SUSAN might as well be in the Whirl Islands.
(JESSIE gets up and walks off, the other two follow her.)
MONDO: But what has a break-away republic have to do with a bogus charity?
JESSIE: An arms deal. The ruling party is faced with a rebel faction it wants to quash. They reckon a few metric tonnes of nerve gas will do the trick nicely. POE is a shell company created to hide the transaction.
MAAIKE: For some reason they need a good hacker to complete the deal.
MONDO: (to JESSIE) You know a hell of a lot more about this than you told us before. What are you doing in the south of Kanto, anyway?
MAAIKE: I assume you're profiting from this somehow.
MONDO: What's your angle?
JESSIE: It's none of your business.
MONDO: I'll take a wild stab and say money, filthy lucre.
MAAIKE: If money's all you want, why don't you walk in there and do their hacking yourself.
JESSIE: Do you think they'll let Susan live to enjoy her profits?
(She walks off, leaving MONDO and MAAIKE very concerned.)
SCENE 9
(Inside the house. SUSAN is mumbling because of the duct tape. The tape is roughly removed, making SUSAN scream.)
SUSAN: Yoww! Man! Watch the lips! Mmmm. I gotta tell you so far this job sucks.
(She is sat at the desk in the room from where ALEX GOLDSMITH was shot. The three laptops are on the desk. DOMINO and a man are also there.)
DOMINO: You will use these. You have T1 access, of course.
SUSAN: What's the hack?
DOMINO: East stock online accounts. Set up a bogus corporation. Access the account debiting protocols and transact a fifty share outright purchase at ten dollars a share on every east stock account.
SUSAN: Every account.
DOMINO: Yep.
SUSAN: That's probably a hundred thousand people. Fifty shares at ten dollars a share and you'll raise fifty million dollars just like that. (snaps her fingers.) And just like that (snaps her fingers again) you'll have the SEC and Justice on your tail. You gotta know they monitor every online transaction for fraud.
DOMINO: Just make it happen by midnight.
(She and the man leave the room. SUSAN checks her watch. The door is closed and locked. SUSAN checks the door. She sighs then notices a golf club, she picks it up and notices blood on the head.)
SCENE 10
(Cut to woods outside the mansion. The VW is parked there. MONDO is at a computer which shows a floor plan of the building. Also there are MAAIKE and JESSIE.)
MAAIKE: We could kill their alarm system. That's a start.
JESSIE: Then what? You can't go bursting in there like the cavalry.
MONDO: What the hell's going on with Susan, anyway. It's like she hitchhikes all the way back to POE for what? Just to get grabbed? I mean, what was she thinking?
MAAIKE: She was thinking with her heart, not her head. It was the question she asked of me - how far will we go?
JESSIE: Meaning?
MAAIKE: How far will we go to tell the truth, to get the story, to fight the good fight. This is her answer - all the way.
MONDO: That dope. She's gonna get herself killed.
JESSIE: Not just yet, not if she's useful to them. I assume she is, which buys us a little time. I've dealt with these kinds of people more often than I can say. I know their type. At best, we've to find out exactly what's going on in there.
MONDO: I could sneak in.
JESSIE: In broad daylight? Not easy.
MAAIKE: Why sneak in when you can ring the doorbell? Especially if you're someone they know.
SCENE 11
(The sports field. The footballers have finished their practice session and are running off the field en masse.)
MARC: Good scrimmage, guys. Way to go. Benny, nice TD, high five.
(Benny is about to high-five MARC, when MARC hears MONDO and MAAIKE behind him and turns. Benny misses MARC's hand and falls to the ground with a thud.)
MARC: It's irresistible. The passion of these guys. I'm telling you, Monday night football better watch their butts! Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh! (he laughs) Love this game!
MONDO: Well, enjoy it while you can, I think you just watched your last blind football game.
MARC: What are you talking about?
MONDO: There is no league, bub. We checked. The other franchises don't exist. There's just you.
(MARC is still smiling - doesn't believe him.)
MAAIKE: POE is a front, set up to cover an illegal arms deal.
MONDO: And you're the fall guy.
(MARC is still smiling but incredulous.)
MARC: Me?
MAAIKE: Yours is the only name on record. Your company had a bank check cut to a computer programmer named Alex Goldsmith.
MARC: He was going to design our web page.
MAAIKE: He's dead.
MONDO: Murdered by your friend at POE.
(MARC's face falls.)
MARC: I knew it! I knew there was something up with that woman. Wouldn't give me her name, her phone number. She was talking about anonymous benefactors. Oh, man! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
(He hits himself on the forehead with the football when saying this, each time the football emitting a beep. He is very upset.)
MAAIKE: Anybody could have made the same mistake.
MONDO: Yeah. Blind football. Who wouldn't sign on for that?
MARC: Hey! That was my idea. I thought that up.
(Pause)
MARC: What about my team. What happens to them?
(Pause)
MARC: You know, some people actually laugh at those guys. Like blind football's funny. Like it's a lost cause. I think they're missing the point. These boys are out here because it's difficult, because people say it can't be done. They have courage. And God knows we need more guys like that, that have the courage to fight for the lost causes. Cos every now and then, one of them wins.
MONDO: That woman who set you up? We know where you can find her.
(MARC looks very, very serious.)
SCENE 12
(A monitor showing the Whirl Islands mansion. MARC walks up to the gates. We pan back to JESSIE watching the monitor in the VW. MONDO and MAAIKE climb in. Via a microphone, we hear MARC shouting "Hello! Hello!")
(The monitor shows MARC shouting into the intercom by the gates. He tries the gates - they're locked).
(Cut to shot of MARC through the gates.)
MARC: Open up - you - people! Open up!
(The gates start to swing open. MARC walks through and approaching him are DOMINO and a security guard. DOMINO has a golf club and she is smacking the head against her palm in a menacing manner.)
MARC: Hey there! Remember me? How's it shaking, cutie.
DOMINO: Mr. Bond. Why are you here?
MARC: I was in the neighbourhood. Came by to meet the anonymous benefactors. (shouts) Hello! Anonymous benefactors!
DOMINO: Mr. Bond!
MARC: (smacks his hand against his forehead) Oh! You know what I just found out? (shouts) There aren't any! (quietly) You know what else I found out? You're a murderer, who plans to buy a bunch of nerve gas and you set me up to be your (shouts) fall guy!
DOMINO: Where did you get these ideas?
MARC: I know some people, OK? Investigative journalists. They write for this interview and fireworks magazine, and they set me straight about everything. You're going down, my whirly friend.
DOMINO: I'm not from the Whirl Islands.
MARC: You're going up, up, up the river. I just wanted to tell you personally. So that every time you're in that prison TV room watching football, you'll think about me and my boys.
(MARC smiles and turns to walk away. DOMINO knocks him unconscious with the golf club. He falls to the ground.)
SCENE 13
(Cut to The Rockets where they are watching the monitor showing the unconscious MARC being dragged away.)
JESSIE: Please tell me that wasn't part of the plan.
(The monitor shows the gates slowly closing.)
(Fade to black.)
SCENE 14
(Fade into MARC lying unconscious on a carpeted floor. Off-screen someone is saying "Psst! Psst!")
SUSAN: Hey, guy! (MARC begins to waken.) Marc Bond!
(MARC lifts his head and looks in the direction of the voice. He sees a door which has a gap between it and the floor. Through this gap can be seen SUSAN's hand. MARC crawls over to the door.)
MARC: Is your name Susan?
SUSAN: Yeah. But what are you doing here.
MARC: I've brought you a little present from your friends. Though I don't think it'll fit under this door. Oh! Wait! Just had a thought.
(He punches his fist through the lower panel of the door just above SUSAN's head.)
MARC: (whispering) How's that?
SUSAN: By all means keep whispering. Don't want to alert anyone.
MARC: Here you go.
(He passes through to SUSAN a small device.)
MARC: This is what you call a "ghostly mode circle".
SUSAN: A ghost modem circuit.
MARC: Yeah, pretty much. It enables you to contact your friends outside, um, without fear of electrical surveillance overreach which has to do with the cadence -
SUSAN: Don't even try, all right?
MARC: You just plug it into your AC outlet over there.
SUSAN: DC! Thanks.
(Cut to outside the gates. It's night. The camera pans across to the VW.)
MONDO (VO): We've got traffic.
(Monitor shows video link to SUSAN.)
MONDO: SUSAN! What the hell are you doing in there, you moron.
SUSAN: (on monitor) I put my butt on the line trying to get the scoop on the POE here.
MAAIKE: And did you?
SUSAN: They want me to rip off east stock for fifty million dollars, but I don't know for what.
MONDO: But we do. It's their little slush fund for buying nerve gas, meant to be dropped on the rebels in Whurl - Whi...
JESSIE: Whirl Islands.
MONDO: Yeah.
MAAIKE: They'll kill thousands, Susan.
SUSAN: Alex Goldsmith must have found out about it. Probably refused to do the work.
MAAIKE: And then they murdered him for it.
MONDO: So, what are you thinking, Su?
SUSAN: Well, I'm not stealing their fifty million that's for sure. I'm not going to help them kill a bunch of Whi-whatevers.
MAAIKE: Then they'll kill you.
(They all contemplate this possibility.)
JESSIE: Do exactly as they say.
SUSAN: Excuse me?
JESSIE: Did they provide an account number to transfer the money into?
SUSAN: Yes, some eastern European bank.
JESSIE: (to MONDO and MAAIKE) Susan's just where we need her.
SUSAN: What?
(Cut to inside the mansion. A longcase clock is chiming midnight. DOMINO checks her watch and goes up to the room where SUSAN is.)
DOMINO: I trust you are ready.
(We see via the Rocket's monitor, SUSAN cracks her knuckles, rubs her hands together and winks at the video camera.)
MAAIKE: Mondo. Show time.
(MONDO is at the fence. He's fixed a spreader bar between two of the metal uprights.)
MONDO: OK. Here goes nothing.
(He activates the device and the two uprights are slowly bent outwards.)
(Cut to MARC looking anxiously out of a window in an outer door and checking his watch. He suddenly starts coughing loudly, to cover the sound of him smashing the door open.)
(Cut to SUSAN typing on a keyboard. She then leans back with her hands behind her head as various electronic noises can be heard. DOMINO looks enquiringly at her.)
DOMINO: And that's it?
SUSAN: That's it. Fifty million clams. Told you I was the best.
DOMINO: All of it transferred to the account number I gave you.
(SUSAN leans forward to the laptop and points to part of the screen which shows: $50.050.950)
SUSAN: Right here.
(The DOMINO looks carefully and then smiles.)
DOMINO: An excellent job.
SUSAN: Damn straight it is.
DOMINO: Let's see that you get paid.
(She moves behind SUSAN and takes out a gun. Then the door burst open and the security guard rushes in. There follows a heated conversation between the security guard and DOMINO. The security guard then leaves.)
SUSAN: What's going on?
DOMINO: I'll be back.
(She runs out the room.)
SUSAN: What the hell just happened?
(Suddenly something smashes through a window pane.)
(Cut to DOMINO at the foot of the stairs. She picks up the telephone.)
(Cut to MARC who is on the lawn outside the mansion. He looks up and sees SUSAN on the balcony.)
SUSAN: What?
MARC: Come on! Jump!
(SUSAN looks around. She's not sure.)
MARC: Do it! Just jump!
SUSAN: What, are you nuts?
MARC: I jumped. It's not that far.
(Cut to laptop screen. The bar showing the account balance is rapidly moving to the left and the amount is quickly reducing to zero.
(Cut to the VW. JESSIE releases what looks like a bank card from a device. She pats MAAIKE on the head.)
JESSIE: Good luck.
(She exits the VW. MAAIKE is confused.)
MAAIKE: What? Hey! Where are you going!
(Cut to MONDO. The gap between the fence uprights is wide enough for him to squeeze through)
(Cut to MARC still encouraging SUSAN to jump.)
MARC: Come on. I'll catch you.
(MARC holds his arms up ready to catch SUSAN.)
SUSAN: Catch me?
(SUSAN hears voices behind her.)
SUSAN: You promise?
MARC: Yeah.
(SUSAN climbs over the railing and rests her feet on a ledge.)
MARC: I got you. Come on. I gotcha.
(Behind MARC, MONDO approaches.)
MONDO: Hurry up! Come on!
(MARC turns at the sound of MONDO's voice, still with his hands raised. SUSAN falls to the ground behind him. MARC winces.)
(Cut to DOMINO who hears the noise, puts down the phone and gives orders to people off-screen.)
(Cut to the lawn. MONDO and MARC help SUSAN up. DOMINO and four armed men run out of the front door. MONDO, MARC and SUSAN reach the fence with bullets whizzing past them. They squeeze through the gap and run to the VW.)
MAAIKE: Come on! Hurry! Hurry! Come on!
(The three throw themselves into the VW and MAAIKE drives it away just as DOMINO and the armed guards reach the gate.)
(Cut to the VW.)
MARC: Yee-hah! Right on, man. You guys live life on the edge.
SUSAN: Maaike, we can't leave. I got that guy's money - she's gonna buy nerve gas with it.
MAAIKE: We won't. The ruling party of her country is bankrupt.
SUSAN: What are you talking about?
MAAIKE: Jessie siphoned clean that Whirl Islands government account you provided her - stole god knows how many millions.
SUSAN: What! What about the fifty million dollars I stole?
MAAIKE: You never stole it! Jessie only made it look like you did.
MONDO: Hey! Where the hell is Jessie anyway?
MAAIKE: She's gone. After having transferred the money to an untraceable account, I assume.
MONDO: Take the money and run. That was her plan all along.
SUSAN: We're right back where we started.
(MARC's face looks very disheartened.)
SCENE 15
(Cut to outside ALEX GOLDSMITH's house - a view from the VW. SUSAN comes out the front door and turns to MRS GOLDSMITH, they hug. SUSAN then walks down the steps, turns and waves to MRS GOLDSMITH who waves back, she is smiling. She has a piece of paper in her hands which she looks at happily. SUSAN gets into the VW.)
MONDO: So, uh, she forgives you?
SUSAN: Yeah, well, a million dollars forgives a lot.
MAAIKE: That was good of you, Susan. Giving her the check was the right thing to do.
MONDO: Yeah, man. I'm proud of you.
SUSAN: Aw, shut up the both of you. We're still flat-assed broke, we're sitting on yet another great story we don't have the money to publish and last week's issues are still sitting on the loading dock. Let's just go home.
(MAAIKE turns the ignition. The exhaust blows out black smoke and the engine dies. They all lean back in their seats and sigh.)
SCENE 16
(Cut to the VW silently making its way by the Rocket's office. Someone is whistling. As the VW goes by we see MONDO is sat in the driving seat and MAAIKE and SUSAN are pushing.)
SUSAN: (Downbeat) That's it. I'm getting a Rapidash.
SCENE 17
(Cut to piles of newspapers by a flight of wooden steps. The VW approaches. MONDO gets out and runs over to the newspapers.)
MONDO: Oh, man. Hey, guys!
(He pulls out one copy.)
MONDO: It's last week's Rocket Channel Interviews.
MAAIKE: How did this get here?
(SUSAN looks up at the steps.)
SUSAN: Oh. Oh, no. No way.
(MARC is sat on the steps, smiling.)
MAAIKE: Marc? You paid for these?
(MARC gets up and walks down the steps.)
MARC: You guys fight the lost causes. I wanna help.
(While the Rocket's contemplate this, the VW van moves silently and unnoticed behind them. Then there's a loud crash and the sound of breaking glass. The Rocket's look at each other.)
(Fade to black.)
THE END
SCENE 1
(An middle-aged JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN is sitting on a low stool with his hands tied behind his back, dressed in a shirt and tie. The room is Japanese-style with screen windows made of translucent material. He appears to have just regained consciousness. He looks around seeming not to know where he is. A young Japanese man, TOSHIRO, enters dressed in black western clothes.)
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles) W-What? What is all this? Where am I? I'm supposed to be in Veridian city, Kanto.
(TOSHIRO walks around the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN.)
TOSHIRO: (Subtitles) Welcome to Johto. Lucky I didn't put you to sleep for good.
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles) Look, I don't think you know who I am. You're in deep trouble.
TOSHIRO: (Subtitles) I know exactly who you are. You're the man I'm about to put out of the
whaling business.
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles) What are you talking about?
(TOSHIRO draws a short katana and holds it against the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN's throat.)
TOSHIRO: (Subtitles) The entire world will know we are for real when "Time" magazine receives your finger in the mail.
(He moves his knife down to the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN's hand and prepares to slice off the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN's little finger.)
(Suddenly, the voice of a third man, speaking with a gruff Japanese accent, is heard.)
THIRD MAN: (Subtitles) You punk. You're going down.
(Both men look at the door. There is a large silhouette of a man in the light. The door slides
open and it is MONDO, dressed in Japanese style - a gold patterned top and white trousers, and much smaller than the silhouette.)
(TOSHIRO gets up with a sneering sniff. He and MONDO slowly move to face each other. TOSHIRO starts by slashing towards MONDO with his knife. The fight scene that follows involves MONDO making amazing moves, leaping many feet into the air. At one point he winks at the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN who is clearly astonished at what he's seeing. The fight ends when MONDO launches into an aerial attack, travelling most of the length of the room in the air, and kicking TOSHIRO in the chest, sending him crashing backwards through one of the paper windows. TOSHIRO runs away.)
(MONDO turns to the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN.)
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles) Who are you?
MONDO: (Subtitles and very bad Japanese dubbed voice) There may be others. Where is your whaling fleet?
(The JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN is silent. MONDO takes out an ID badge.)
MONDO: (Subtitles) Special Investigator. That man is an eco-terrorist. I need to stop his gang from destroying your company's fleet. Give me ship names and locations. HURRY!
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles) Taki-maru, Arashi-maru, Tokkan-maru.
(Cut to a computer monitor. The conversation is being listened to via microphone and voice
analysis software.)
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles and Voiceover) All three ships are in port in Yokohama.
(MAAIKE and SUSAN are listening in. Also there is TOSHIRO.)
SUSAN: Bingo. All three check out.
MAAIKE: Mission accomplished, Mondo.
(MAAIKE gives a 'thumbs-up' sign to TOSHIRO.)
(Cut to MONDO and the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN.)
MONDO: (Subtitles) I must go. Others will be here shortly to free you.
(As he turns and moves towards the door, the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN pulls his hands from behind his back with the rope loose.)
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles) Wait. I've freed myself. I'll contact my head of corporate security.
(Cut to computer screen. This is a complicated set up with a voice pattern screen.)
JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN: (Subtitles & VO) He can help.
(MAAIKE, SUSAN and the TOSHIRO exchange looks of concern.)
MAAIKE: (whispering) Answer him. Answer him.
(Cut to MONDO, looking worried, and the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN who stands up having untied the rope around his ankles.)
MONDO: (Subtitles) Good. I must go. Special Investigator. You punk. You're going down -
(Not only are the words the wrong ones, but the voice sounds garbled. Suddenly MONDO yells. Then we hear whistles and feedback sounds. Quite clearly whatever clever set-up the Rockets have been using has gone very wrong. The JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN approaches MONDO suspiciously. He and MONDO face off. Then the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN
grasps a very thin wire going from MONDO's back to the ceiling. He now realises how MONDO managed those high leaps. He pulls angrily on the wire and they both turn to see one of the paper screen walls collapsing towards them. It disintegrates when it hits them and when they both stand up again the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN sees that behind the screen are TOSHIRO, SUSAN and MAAIKE with two laptops.)
(The JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN looks around in disbelief. MONDO pulls out from his mouth an upper dental plate minus teeth but with what looks like a miniature transmitter.)
MONDO: Sayonara, baby.
TOSHIRO: Run for it.
(MAAIKE and SUSAN shut the laptops and run. MONDO tries but is brought up short by the wire still connecting him to the ceiling. Suddenly MONDO is pulled up into the air and is propelled backwards. The JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN sees him coming and yells. Quite clearly MONDO butts the JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN with his butt as we fade to black.)
SCENE 2
FUCHSIA CITY, KANTO
3:03 AM
(Night. A house is seen set in its own grounds with a wrought iron gate which is shut. There is
some kind of armorial badge on the gates. The camera pans across a dark car, registration plate
YRB202, and onto the lawn where there are a number of golf balls. Then the camera pans up to
the large house where someone is standing on a balcony. He hits another golf ball.)
(Cut to the balcony. A hand places another golf ball on a tee. It's a young man, ALEX GOLDSMITH, who is crying. The view changes to show him from inside the room then turns to show three IBM Thinkpad laptops on a table. DOMINO enters the room and looks at the laptops. She sees "Deleting files" and then "Formatting complete".)
(Cut to outside. ALEX GOLDSMITH is continuing to hit golf balls.)
(Cut to inside. DOMINO takes out a gun and screws on a silencer.)
(Cut to outside. ALEX GOLDSMITH hits another golf ball and it smashes the windscreen of the car. He turns and sees DOMINO at the window, pointing a gun at him.)
DOMINO: (smiling) Fore.
(She fires the gun three times and ALEX GOLDSMITH falls backwards over the edge of the balcony. DOMINO walks to the balcony railing, looks down, shakes her head and then looks around before walking back to the window.)
SCENE 3
(Cut to view of metal mirror showing the Rocket's VW drawing up outside some rather dilapidated buildings.)
(Cut to inside the office. MONDO is holding an ice-pack to the left side of his neck.)
MONDO: Oh, man.
(He unlocks the door. The security monitor shows a woman getting up from sitting on the steps. It's MAAIKE.)
MONDO: Well, that was fast.
(MONDO looks outside, then turns back.)
MONDO: Hey! Where are the papers?
MAAIKE: Sitting on some loading dock somewhere. The printers would not give them to us on credit.
MONDO: Woah! Uh-uh. Maaike, we gotta get that Japanese whaling story out to the public.
MAAIKE: What do you want me to say. We spent our last twelve hundred dollars getting the story. We didn't save any money for publishing it.
(MAAIKE and MONDO have moved over to where SUSAN is sat at the computer.)
SUSAN: I figured that would happen.
MAAIKE: Oh, no more of your 'I told you so's, Susan.
SUSAN: Far from it. If you guys are interested, I've figured out the answer to all our money
problems.
MONDO: Oh, yeah. What's that?
SUSAN: We need to sell more papers.
(SUSAN picks up a paper from beside the desk.)
MAAIKE: Easier said than done.
SUSAN: (brandishing a Rocket Channel Interviews paper) Not when you got Rocket-woman of the Week.
(The paper has the headline "EXPOSED CRIMINAL WHALERS" and a picture of a woman wearing a Black with a red 'R' bikini.)
MAAIKE: Oh, good lord, Susan. You can't use that.
(MAAIKE stares at the cover. Looking disgusted)
MAAIKE: That's - ... That's ...
MONDO: That's amazing.
(SUSAN smiles. MAAIKE looks at MONDO disapprovingly. And Mondo notices this)
MONDO: And doesn't belong on the cover of any legitimate publication.
SUSAN: We're supposed to be fighting for truth, justice and the Rocket way, here.
MONDO: Well, what the hell is this? (he points to his wounds) This isn't fighting? I put my butt on the line week in and week out while you and Maaike just hide behind the scenes.
SUSAN: Yeah, your butt, my brains. I should be a dot com gazillionaire instead of gracing you two with my hacking brilliance.
MAAIKE: Bickering won't solve anything.
MONDO: Maaike, don't get holier than thou.
SUSAN: Yeah, Ms. Big Picture, Mr. Mission. It's easy to talk about the stories we need to write. Fighting whaling or illegal government surveillance, or who killed JFK. But you have to
ask yourself - how far will you go to print them?
MAAIKE: (nodding towards SUSAN's front cover) Not that far.
(The door bell sounds. MAAIKE goes to see who it is. MONDO turns his head and winces in pain, holding the icepack to his neck. As MAAIKE goes to open the door, SUSAN shows MONDO again her front cover enthusiastically.)
MONDO: Sorry, sis.
(SUSAN slams the paper down on the desk.)
(The security monitor shows JESSIE outside the door.)
MAAIKE: Uh, guys.
(SUSAN and MONDO come over and MAAIKE unlocks the door.)
JESSIE: Well, aren't you going to invite me in?
MONDO: Depends. You here to kill us?
JESSIE: Mondo, would you really be caught dead in that robe?
(She pushes her way in.)
JESSIE: I must admit, the thought of revenge did cross my mind. You cost me a tidy profit when you stole my Octium IV chip.
SUSAN: Our Octium IV chip.
MAAIKE: We have returned it to its rightful owner now that we've published our expose of it.
JESSIE: Mm. How wonderful of you.
(During this time JESSIE has been walking towards the computer, with the Rockets following her. She sees SUSAN's front page.)
JESSIE: Aah! Conspiracy theories and masturbation. I suspected there was a connection.
MONDO: What d'ya want, Jessie.
JESSIE: Right, down to business, then. This morning a body was found in a Long Island
dumpster. A young man called Alex Goldsmith, better known as Double Bogey.
SUSAN: DB. A golf nut.
MONDO: Hacker extraordinaire.
JESSIE: You knew him?
MAAIKE: By reputation. After the '97 Masters Tournament, he hijacked the Donphantron Screen in Times Square, made it flash 'Tiger is God' for 26 minutes.
MONDO: Classic hack.
(They have been smiling but now turn serious and look at JESSIE.)
MONDO: Who smoked him?
JESSIE: The police seem to think it was a drug deal gone bad but that doesn't take into the
account the three match-grade fan-dovelled slugs dug from his chest. Ammunition used by
intelligence services around the globe but certainly not gangbangers.
MAAIKE: So, who wanted one of the world's best
hackers dead?
MONDO: And why are you telling us?
JESSIE: There's a story to be uncovered here, wouldn't you say? Unless, of course, you're no
longer journalists but budding pornographers.
(JESSIE holds up SUSAN's front cover and the three Rockets all look somewhat uncomfortable.)
(Cut to later. Switchblade music. MAAIKE is brushing off a black jacket.)
(Cut to sliding door from RCI offices. SUSAN slides the door open, the VW is parked outside.
MAAIKE and MONDO go towards the VW and SUSAN slides the door shut. Inside the VW MONDO stashes away bag and then all three climb in the front, MAAIKE driving. They drive off a few yards (The VW Veridian license plate: TSD 596) when the VW grinds to a halt. End of Switchblade music. MAAIKE tries to start the engine, fails, then looks at the dashboard - the tank is completely empty.)
(Fade to black.)
SCENE 4
CERULEAN CITY, KANTO
(The VW draws up outside a small, two-storey house on a quiet residential street. The name on
the mail box is Goldsmith.)
MAAIKE: This is the place, right?
SUSAN: Yeah, yeah. (groans) Now turn off the damn engine and stop wasting my gas.
MONDO: Oh, here we go with the gas, again.
SUSAN: It's a known carcinogen, you ingrate. Got like a pint of it down in my stomach.
MONDO: You drew the short straw. How was I supposed to know that you don't know how to
siphon.
SUSAN: (to MAAIKE) And you, Misses Goody Two Shoes, Misses suck one gallon out of ten cars instead of ten gallons out of one car.
MAAIKE: Ethically it seemed more defensible.
SUSAN: Oh, you'll be sorry when I'm dead.
MONDO: Oh yeah, prove it. (pause) Come on, get out. Out!
(Cut to inside the house. Someone picks up a framed photograph of the young man playing golf, ALEX GOLDSMITH.)
MRS GOLDSMITH: Alex wasn't into drugs. That much I know for certain.
(The Rockets are sitting on a settee.)
MRS GOLDSMITH: He had so much going for him, with the computers. (She sits down.) He was brilliant, had such a good heart.
(SUSAN, who is clutching a cushion, belches. The other two looked at her sternly. She looks very nauseous.)
MRS GOLDSMITH: You put that in your article, that he didn't sell drugs.
(They nod.)
MRS GOLDSMITH: I guess you can see that I couldn't give him much, growing up, but I did
teach him right from wrong.
MAAIKE: How did Alex spend his time? Did he have a specific project he was working on?
MRS GOLDSMITH: I didn't see much of him for these last few weeks.
(She tries to stifle a sob. SUSAN belches again.)
MAAIKE: Um, may we see Alex's computer?
(Cut to Alex's room. There are at least two monitors on a desk. MONDO sits down at the
keyboard. The camera pans back to show a golf bag, covered with signatures. SUSAN is looking into it. MRS GOLDSMITH comes over to her.)
MRS GOLDSMITH: That was his very favourite thing in all the world. Alex said that if the house ever caught fire, it was the only thing worth saving. (SUSAN is looking very sick.) He even got it autographed by all the players in last year's US Open, even Tiger Woods, see? (She points to the autograph).
SUSAN: Wow.
MRS GOLDSMITH: I'm sure you nice kids could do with a snack.
(SUSAN looks even sicker.)
MRS GOLDSMITH: I'll be right back.
(She leaves. SUSAN is trying hard not to throw up but fails and vomits into the golf bag. Although her head in inside the golf bag, the sounds indicate clearly what she's doing. The other two Rockets are very dismayed.)
MAAIKE: Susan!
SUSAN: (lifting her head) It's OK. I'm better, thanks.
MONDO: Fix it! Quick!
(MAAIKE and MONDO point to their right. SUSAN drags the RING golf bag off to the bathroom.)
MAAIKE: Good grief.
MONDO: Ay, ay, ay, ay.
(Cut to the bathroom. SUSAN draws back the shower curtain, empties the golf bag into the shower, places the bag upright on the shower tray and turns on the water. She takes a bottle of
detergent from the window shelf and pours it into the golf bag. She turns the water off and uses a towel to wipe down the outside. She suddenly realises that she's wiping the autographs off.)
(Cut to computer monitor, there are some beeps.)
MAAIKE: What do you have?
MONDO: A big lot of nothing. The hard drive's been reformatted.
(MAAIKE sighs. SUSAN comes back in with the golf bag.)
MAAIKE: Did you clean it up?
SUSAN: Ohhh, yeah.
(She puts the golf bag, covered with the towel, on the floor in front of MONDO, who lifts off the towel to reveal the smears where the autographs had been.)
MONDO: You washed off all the names.
SUSAN: Anyone got any magic markers.
MRS GOLDSMITH: (off screen) Honey's? How does lemonade sound?
SUSAN: Oh, damn.
(They all grab pens and start writing on the golf bag.)
MONDO: (to SUSAN) It's Tiger, not Tigger, you imbecile.
(SUSAN grins sheepishly.)
(MAAIKE notices a piece of paper in one of the bag's pockets. She pulls it out.)
MRS GOLDSMITH: Here you are, darlings.
(MRS GOLDSMITH comes in with a tray of food and drink. The three Rockets turn round and smile at her.)
MAAIKE: Oh, that, uh, looks, that looks lovely, but, uh, -
MONDO: (checking his watch) We gotta go.
MAAIKE: Yes!
MONDO: Sorry.
SUSAN: Really. Really sorry.
(They exit the room quickly. MRS GOLDSMITH watches them, puzzled. Then looks slowly round the room. The Rockets are just exiting the front door when she screams.)
SUSAN: We'll make it up to you!
(They climb into the VW.)
SUSAN: Told you I was sick!
MONDO: Yeah, yeah.
MAAIKE: Guys. I'm not sure Alex was the Saint his mother thinks he was.
(She pulls out the paper she took from the golf bag.)
MONDO: What's that?
MAAIKE: It's a bank check dated four days ago, made out to Alex Goldsmith, for one million dollars.
(MONDO grabs the check from MAAIKE, then SUSAN grabs it from MONDO.)
(Fade to black.)
SCENE 5
FUCHSIA CITY, KANTO
(Day. Camera pans down from sky to show a low building and parking area surrounded by trees. A car is parked near the building and the VW is at the other end. The camera slowly zooms in on a circular object on the roof of the VW. The object rises - it's a periscope, and it turns to point at the car. On a monitor the periscope zooms in on the building. The sign on the door says "POE". The camera pans from the monitor to MONDO.)
MONDO: That's them. 'Philanthropic Outreach Enterprises'. P-O-E.
MAAIKE: (looking at the check) POE Corporation. Are we to believe Alex Goldsmith was working for a charity?
MONDO: I guess some charity, cutting million dollar checks to hackers.
SUSAN: Sounds good to me.
(Cut to monitor showing web page of the State Corporation Commission.)
SUSAN: Well, the State Corporation Commission has jack-squat on them. They have the CEO registered as a one James Bond, for God's sakes. A million bucks. I'd settle for four hundred dollars in cash to get my damned stomach pumped.
MONDO: SUSAN, run a plate.
(MONDO has focused the periscope on the car's registration plate.)
MONDO: Pewter City, M-O-D-I-V numero eight. Shut up about your stomach.
SUSAN: Oh sure, my liver's shutting down, but who cares?
(Monitor shows web page for POE.)
MONDO: Philanthropic Outreach. I bet the last donations these guys made was the three bullet holes they gave Alex Goldsmith.
MAAIKE: You're guessing he hacked for them and then they killed him.
MONDO: Mmmm.
SUSAN: The car's registered to one James Bond. Cute.
(Details of the owner appear on the screen.)
Owner Num: 974895-9048579
Licensed Owner: James Bond
Plate: MODIV-8
Car: Trans Am
Color: Black
..try Num: 9487593-994
MONDO: Hey, check it.
(MONDO is watching the periscope monitor.)
MONDO: Mr. Bond, I presume.
(The monitor shows a YOUNG MAN wearing dark glasses getting into the car.)
MAAIKE: Let's follow him.
(The car drives off and the VW follows.
Eventually the car stops in an area surrounded by
trees and bushes and the YOUNG MAN gets out.)
MAAIKE: He's certainly in a hurry.
MONDO: Late for a secret meeting?
(They get out of the VW and make their way
through the vegetation. They hear a constant
beeping. As they peer through a hedge, they now
hear several sets of beeps. They walk around the
end of the hedge onto a sports field where men
are practising American Football. A whistle
blows. The camera zooms in fast on a football as
it is kicked. The ball flies high with a chirping
sound. It lands and bounces, emitting a beep each
time. It rolls to a stop near the Rockets and
MONDO walks forward and picks it up.)
MONDO: (turning to the other two) So, what do you
figure?
MAAIKE: Uh, uh, Mondo!
(MONDO turns just in time to see three
footballers about to tackle him. They throw
themselves at him and they all land on the
ground, MONDO underneath. The YOUNG MAN sees what
has happened and blows a whistle.)
YOUNG MAN: Civilians on the field! Time out!
(The footballers climb off MONDO who is groaning.
The other two rush to help him up.)
MAAIKE: Mondo, are you OK?
MONDO: Oh sure. Somebody's car alarm keeps going
off.
SUSAN: (to the footballers) What the hell! You
guys blind or what?
(The footballers are all clearly blind, feeling
around for each other.)
MAAIKE: Uh, Susan?
(The YOUNG MAN pushes through the milling
footballers.)
YOUNG MAN: Check, guys. Coming through.
(He peers anxiously at MONDO.)
(Later, someone, presumably a first-aider, is
shining a pencil torch in MONDO's eyes. MONDO
also has cotton wool plugs in both nostrils.
MONDO: A blind football team?
(The Rockets are sceptical. The YOUNG MAN is
enthusiastic.)
YOUNG MAN: Not just a team, but a league. We're
the first but we got franchises starting up. In
Kanto, Johto and Hoenn. God bless modern
technology. Sonar helmets, beeping footballs. I know it'll work. I promise you, one day you'll be watching these men on LCVN.
(He becomes more serious and turns to MONDO.)
YOUNG MAN: How're you feeling?
MONDO: Oh, peachy.
TEAM MEDIC: Nothing broken.
MAAIKE: So, all this was your brain child, Mr. -
MARC: Bond, James Bond.
(He and MAAIKE shake hands.)
MARC: Call me Marc.
(There's a crash and they all look to see two
players have crashed into a bench.)
MARC: Nice hustle, guys. Now, give me some wind
sprints!
FOOTBALLER: You got it, coach! Whoo Rar!
(They run off making Rar! and Whoo! Sounds.)
MARC: Listen. I'm real sorry about you getting
tackled but this practice is private. You people
here for a reason?
MAAIKE: We're journalists. We're interested in
doing a story about your league.
MARC: Sports Illustrated?
SUSAN: The Rocket Channel Interviews.
MARC: Right on? interviews and fireworks? I like
that.
MAAIKE: Specifically, we're wondering how you
fund this operation. It must be expensive.
MARC: Yes it is. But how do you put a price tag
on a dream. Now, I know that it sounds corny but
when I look at those men's faces, when they make
a tackle, catch a pass - OK, that hasn't actually
happened yet - but still, to me, it's worth all
the silver in Fort Knox.
MONDO: Very touching.
MARC: I mean, this is America, and every citizen
has a God-given right to play football!
SUSAN: Where do you get your money from?
MARC: We're a charitable endowment. We have
benefactors that really believe in what we've got
going on here.
MAAIKE: Who are they? We'd love to talk to them.
MARC: So would I - to thank them. They're
completely anonymous. And they want to keep it
that way. They're not in it for the glory.
(pause) Shouldn't you guys be writing this down?
MONDO: Uh, yeah, um, look we're just gonna go
back to the mobile news unit - we're just gonna
grab a tape recorder -
SUSAN: We'll, we'll be right back.
(The Rockets have edged their way out of the
sports park. MARC, smiling delightedly, sits down
on a bench. Two footballers approach carrying a
plastic barrel.)
FOOTBALLER: Hey coach!
(They empty the contents of the barrel over the
other end of the bench and high-five each other.
MARC smiles to himself.)
(Cut to the Rockets walking back to their "mobile
news unit".)
MONDO: Sheesh! Can that guy be for real?
MAAIKE: Well' he's no criminal mastermind. Of
that I'm fairly certain.
(MAAIKE has handed the keys to the VW to SUSAN.
They all climb into the vehicle.)
MAAIKE: But this POE has a secret agenda, even if
he doesn't.
SUSAN: Let's get the hell out of here and stop
wasting our time.
MONDO: Yeah.
(SUSAN goes to start the vehicle. It doesn't, of
course. SUSAN sighs and picks up some plastic
tubing and hands it to MAAIKE and MONDO.)
SUSAN: guys - knock yourselves out.
(SUSAN gets out of the VW.)
MONDO: Where you going?
SUSAN: Somebody's got to suck the pipe and it
ain't gonna be me.
MAAIKE: Susan!
SCENE 6
(Cut to outside the POE building. SUSAN peers in through the glass front door. She checks the door - it's unlocked. She goes in. Switchblade music.)
SUSAN: Hello? Anybody?
(She walks along a corridor and into a room where there is a computer on the desk. She pushes up her sleeves and sits down at the computer. The computer shows screens similar to web pages. SUSAN, who has been rapidly typing, stops and sighs. End of Switchblade music.)
DOMINO: (off screen) Need any help?
SUSAN: I - can help you.
(The girl is the one who terminated ALEX GOLDSMITH.)
SUSAN: For a price. (pause) I'm guessing that you knew a kid named Alex Goldsmith, number two hacker in America. (shrugs) Why settle for number two when you can have number one.
DOMINO: That would be you.
SUSAN: Exactly. Whatever he was doing, I could do it better.
DOMINO: Without even knowing what it is?
SUSAN: Doesn't matter. As long as we're talking computers, I've got all the woman skills so it's all downhill, if you know what I'm saying. Come check me out.
(Switchblade music. The DOMINO comes over to watch the monitor. There are frequent scenes showing SUSAN doing techy stuff and then the screen shows The Department of Defence system with a clearance level of 5.)
SUSAN: Wanna be a five-star general? Just click the button.
(More scenes ending with: "SECURITY DETAILS: Bypassed Firewalls" and listing Department of Defence [Pentagon, DC], Jet Propulsion Lab [CA] and Queen's Bank of Georgetown [Cayman Islands]. End of Switchblade music.)
SUSAN: There, that makes the Pentagon, the Jet Propulsion Lab and the Queen's Bank of Georgetown, Cayman Islands. I hacked into them all inside of (checks watch) 19 minutes plus I reset your system's clock - daylight savings! I got the job?
DOMINO: You got the job.
(DOMINO opens a desk drawer, There is a roll of duct tape in there. SUSAN looks puzzled.)
(Cut to SUSAN's head, her mouth covered with duct tape, being slammed down onto the keyboard.)
SCENE 7
(The sports field. MARC hands a plastic petrol can to MAAIKE.)
MARC: Here you go. (MAAIKE takes it - it's clearly heavier than it looked when MARC was holding it.) Glad to help.
(The beeping sound is still sounding. There's another sound. MONDO looks around puzzled until he realises it's his cellphone. He answers it.)
MONDO: Hello!
(At this point he is tackled by a couple of footballers.yes, again)
(Cut to JESSIE sitting in her car, using a cellphone.)
JESSIE: Hello? Mondo?
(Cut to sports field where the footballers climb off MONDO who is still holding his cellphone to his ear, groaning.)
MONDO: Get off me! You're crushing my pelvis.
(Cut back to JESSIE.)
JESSIE: (Taunting) Are you talking to Maaike? Should I call back?
(Cut to MONDO - MAAIKE and MARC are helping him up.)
MONDO: No. It's not Maaike. It's just some huge guy - I mean - what is it Jessie?
(Cut to JESSIE.)
JESSIE: I just thought I should let you know the whereabouts of your obnoxious sister.
(Cut back to MONDO, MAAIKE and MARC.)
MONDO: Susan? Where the hell is she?
(Cut to JESSIE. She raises a small pair of binoculars to her eyes. She sees SUSAN, hands tied, being bundled into the trunk of a dark car. Fuchsia City licence plate DFO 604.)
JESSIE: At the moment, being loaded into a car trunk.
(Cut back to MONDO, MAAIKE and MARC. MONDO and MAAIKE exchange a look.)
(Fade to black.)
SCENE 8
(MONDO is looking at a white house through binoculars. There's a car and three men who look like security guards.)
MONDO: Susan's in there?
JESSIE: Top floor most likely.
(MONDO, JESSIE and MAAIKE are crouched down on the other side of the metal railings surrounding the house.)
JESSIE: I'm guessing this is where Alex Goldsmith was murdered.
MONDO: What is this place?
JESSIE: The Whirl Islands Embassy.
MONDO: Where in the hell are the Whirl Islands?
MAAIKE: A break-way republic from the former Hoenn Union. It was recognised by Johto last year.
JESSIE: At least there's one of you who isn't completely hopeless.
(MONDO looks hurt.)
MAAIKE: It looks secure?
JESSIE: Very. Motion detectors, armed guards, not to mention diplomatic immunity. SUSAN might as well be in the Whirl Islands.
(JESSIE gets up and walks off, the other two follow her.)
MONDO: But what has a break-away republic have to do with a bogus charity?
JESSIE: An arms deal. The ruling party is faced with a rebel faction it wants to quash. They reckon a few metric tonnes of nerve gas will do the trick nicely. POE is a shell company created to hide the transaction.
MAAIKE: For some reason they need a good hacker to complete the deal.
MONDO: (to JESSIE) You know a hell of a lot more about this than you told us before. What are you doing in the south of Kanto, anyway?
MAAIKE: I assume you're profiting from this somehow.
MONDO: What's your angle?
JESSIE: It's none of your business.
MONDO: I'll take a wild stab and say money, filthy lucre.
MAAIKE: If money's all you want, why don't you walk in there and do their hacking yourself.
JESSIE: Do you think they'll let Susan live to enjoy her profits?
(She walks off, leaving MONDO and MAAIKE very concerned.)
SCENE 9
(Inside the house. SUSAN is mumbling because of the duct tape. The tape is roughly removed, making SUSAN scream.)
SUSAN: Yoww! Man! Watch the lips! Mmmm. I gotta tell you so far this job sucks.
(She is sat at the desk in the room from where ALEX GOLDSMITH was shot. The three laptops are on the desk. DOMINO and a man are also there.)
DOMINO: You will use these. You have T1 access, of course.
SUSAN: What's the hack?
DOMINO: East stock online accounts. Set up a bogus corporation. Access the account debiting protocols and transact a fifty share outright purchase at ten dollars a share on every east stock account.
SUSAN: Every account.
DOMINO: Yep.
SUSAN: That's probably a hundred thousand people. Fifty shares at ten dollars a share and you'll raise fifty million dollars just like that. (snaps her fingers.) And just like that (snaps her fingers again) you'll have the SEC and Justice on your tail. You gotta know they monitor every online transaction for fraud.
DOMINO: Just make it happen by midnight.
(She and the man leave the room. SUSAN checks her watch. The door is closed and locked. SUSAN checks the door. She sighs then notices a golf club, she picks it up and notices blood on the head.)
SCENE 10
(Cut to woods outside the mansion. The VW is parked there. MONDO is at a computer which shows a floor plan of the building. Also there are MAAIKE and JESSIE.)
MAAIKE: We could kill their alarm system. That's a start.
JESSIE: Then what? You can't go bursting in there like the cavalry.
MONDO: What the hell's going on with Susan, anyway. It's like she hitchhikes all the way back to POE for what? Just to get grabbed? I mean, what was she thinking?
MAAIKE: She was thinking with her heart, not her head. It was the question she asked of me - how far will we go?
JESSIE: Meaning?
MAAIKE: How far will we go to tell the truth, to get the story, to fight the good fight. This is her answer - all the way.
MONDO: That dope. She's gonna get herself killed.
JESSIE: Not just yet, not if she's useful to them. I assume she is, which buys us a little time. I've dealt with these kinds of people more often than I can say. I know their type. At best, we've to find out exactly what's going on in there.
MONDO: I could sneak in.
JESSIE: In broad daylight? Not easy.
MAAIKE: Why sneak in when you can ring the doorbell? Especially if you're someone they know.
SCENE 11
(The sports field. The footballers have finished their practice session and are running off the field en masse.)
MARC: Good scrimmage, guys. Way to go. Benny, nice TD, high five.
(Benny is about to high-five MARC, when MARC hears MONDO and MAAIKE behind him and turns. Benny misses MARC's hand and falls to the ground with a thud.)
MARC: It's irresistible. The passion of these guys. I'm telling you, Monday night football better watch their butts! Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh! (he laughs) Love this game!
MONDO: Well, enjoy it while you can, I think you just watched your last blind football game.
MARC: What are you talking about?
MONDO: There is no league, bub. We checked. The other franchises don't exist. There's just you.
(MARC is still smiling - doesn't believe him.)
MAAIKE: POE is a front, set up to cover an illegal arms deal.
MONDO: And you're the fall guy.
(MARC is still smiling but incredulous.)
MARC: Me?
MAAIKE: Yours is the only name on record. Your company had a bank check cut to a computer programmer named Alex Goldsmith.
MARC: He was going to design our web page.
MAAIKE: He's dead.
MONDO: Murdered by your friend at POE.
(MARC's face falls.)
MARC: I knew it! I knew there was something up with that woman. Wouldn't give me her name, her phone number. She was talking about anonymous benefactors. Oh, man! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
(He hits himself on the forehead with the football when saying this, each time the football emitting a beep. He is very upset.)
MAAIKE: Anybody could have made the same mistake.
MONDO: Yeah. Blind football. Who wouldn't sign on for that?
MARC: Hey! That was my idea. I thought that up.
(Pause)
MARC: What about my team. What happens to them?
(Pause)
MARC: You know, some people actually laugh at those guys. Like blind football's funny. Like it's a lost cause. I think they're missing the point. These boys are out here because it's difficult, because people say it can't be done. They have courage. And God knows we need more guys like that, that have the courage to fight for the lost causes. Cos every now and then, one of them wins.
MONDO: That woman who set you up? We know where you can find her.
(MARC looks very, very serious.)
SCENE 12
(A monitor showing the Whirl Islands mansion. MARC walks up to the gates. We pan back to JESSIE watching the monitor in the VW. MONDO and MAAIKE climb in. Via a microphone, we hear MARC shouting "Hello! Hello!")
(The monitor shows MARC shouting into the intercom by the gates. He tries the gates - they're locked).
(Cut to shot of MARC through the gates.)
MARC: Open up - you - people! Open up!
(The gates start to swing open. MARC walks through and approaching him are DOMINO and a security guard. DOMINO has a golf club and she is smacking the head against her palm in a menacing manner.)
MARC: Hey there! Remember me? How's it shaking, cutie.
DOMINO: Mr. Bond. Why are you here?
MARC: I was in the neighbourhood. Came by to meet the anonymous benefactors. (shouts) Hello! Anonymous benefactors!
DOMINO: Mr. Bond!
MARC: (smacks his hand against his forehead) Oh! You know what I just found out? (shouts) There aren't any! (quietly) You know what else I found out? You're a murderer, who plans to buy a bunch of nerve gas and you set me up to be your (shouts) fall guy!
DOMINO: Where did you get these ideas?
MARC: I know some people, OK? Investigative journalists. They write for this interview and fireworks magazine, and they set me straight about everything. You're going down, my whirly friend.
DOMINO: I'm not from the Whirl Islands.
MARC: You're going up, up, up the river. I just wanted to tell you personally. So that every time you're in that prison TV room watching football, you'll think about me and my boys.
(MARC smiles and turns to walk away. DOMINO knocks him unconscious with the golf club. He falls to the ground.)
SCENE 13
(Cut to The Rockets where they are watching the monitor showing the unconscious MARC being dragged away.)
JESSIE: Please tell me that wasn't part of the plan.
(The monitor shows the gates slowly closing.)
(Fade to black.)
SCENE 14
(Fade into MARC lying unconscious on a carpeted floor. Off-screen someone is saying "Psst! Psst!")
SUSAN: Hey, guy! (MARC begins to waken.) Marc Bond!
(MARC lifts his head and looks in the direction of the voice. He sees a door which has a gap between it and the floor. Through this gap can be seen SUSAN's hand. MARC crawls over to the door.)
MARC: Is your name Susan?
SUSAN: Yeah. But what are you doing here.
MARC: I've brought you a little present from your friends. Though I don't think it'll fit under this door. Oh! Wait! Just had a thought.
(He punches his fist through the lower panel of the door just above SUSAN's head.)
MARC: (whispering) How's that?
SUSAN: By all means keep whispering. Don't want to alert anyone.
MARC: Here you go.
(He passes through to SUSAN a small device.)
MARC: This is what you call a "ghostly mode circle".
SUSAN: A ghost modem circuit.
MARC: Yeah, pretty much. It enables you to contact your friends outside, um, without fear of electrical surveillance overreach which has to do with the cadence -
SUSAN: Don't even try, all right?
MARC: You just plug it into your AC outlet over there.
SUSAN: DC! Thanks.
(Cut to outside the gates. It's night. The camera pans across to the VW.)
MONDO (VO): We've got traffic.
(Monitor shows video link to SUSAN.)
MONDO: SUSAN! What the hell are you doing in there, you moron.
SUSAN: (on monitor) I put my butt on the line trying to get the scoop on the POE here.
MAAIKE: And did you?
SUSAN: They want me to rip off east stock for fifty million dollars, but I don't know for what.
MONDO: But we do. It's their little slush fund for buying nerve gas, meant to be dropped on the rebels in Whurl - Whi...
JESSIE: Whirl Islands.
MONDO: Yeah.
MAAIKE: They'll kill thousands, Susan.
SUSAN: Alex Goldsmith must have found out about it. Probably refused to do the work.
MAAIKE: And then they murdered him for it.
MONDO: So, what are you thinking, Su?
SUSAN: Well, I'm not stealing their fifty million that's for sure. I'm not going to help them kill a bunch of Whi-whatevers.
MAAIKE: Then they'll kill you.
(They all contemplate this possibility.)
JESSIE: Do exactly as they say.
SUSAN: Excuse me?
JESSIE: Did they provide an account number to transfer the money into?
SUSAN: Yes, some eastern European bank.
JESSIE: (to MONDO and MAAIKE) Susan's just where we need her.
SUSAN: What?
(Cut to inside the mansion. A longcase clock is chiming midnight. DOMINO checks her watch and goes up to the room where SUSAN is.)
DOMINO: I trust you are ready.
(We see via the Rocket's monitor, SUSAN cracks her knuckles, rubs her hands together and winks at the video camera.)
MAAIKE: Mondo. Show time.
(MONDO is at the fence. He's fixed a spreader bar between two of the metal uprights.)
MONDO: OK. Here goes nothing.
(He activates the device and the two uprights are slowly bent outwards.)
(Cut to MARC looking anxiously out of a window in an outer door and checking his watch. He suddenly starts coughing loudly, to cover the sound of him smashing the door open.)
(Cut to SUSAN typing on a keyboard. She then leans back with her hands behind her head as various electronic noises can be heard. DOMINO looks enquiringly at her.)
DOMINO: And that's it?
SUSAN: That's it. Fifty million clams. Told you I was the best.
DOMINO: All of it transferred to the account number I gave you.
(SUSAN leans forward to the laptop and points to part of the screen which shows: $50.050.950)
SUSAN: Right here.
(The DOMINO looks carefully and then smiles.)
DOMINO: An excellent job.
SUSAN: Damn straight it is.
DOMINO: Let's see that you get paid.
(She moves behind SUSAN and takes out a gun. Then the door burst open and the security guard rushes in. There follows a heated conversation between the security guard and DOMINO. The security guard then leaves.)
SUSAN: What's going on?
DOMINO: I'll be back.
(She runs out the room.)
SUSAN: What the hell just happened?
(Suddenly something smashes through a window pane.)
(Cut to DOMINO at the foot of the stairs. She picks up the telephone.)
(Cut to MARC who is on the lawn outside the mansion. He looks up and sees SUSAN on the balcony.)
SUSAN: What?
MARC: Come on! Jump!
(SUSAN looks around. She's not sure.)
MARC: Do it! Just jump!
SUSAN: What, are you nuts?
MARC: I jumped. It's not that far.
(Cut to laptop screen. The bar showing the account balance is rapidly moving to the left and the amount is quickly reducing to zero.
(Cut to the VW. JESSIE releases what looks like a bank card from a device. She pats MAAIKE on the head.)
JESSIE: Good luck.
(She exits the VW. MAAIKE is confused.)
MAAIKE: What? Hey! Where are you going!
(Cut to MONDO. The gap between the fence uprights is wide enough for him to squeeze through)
(Cut to MARC still encouraging SUSAN to jump.)
MARC: Come on. I'll catch you.
(MARC holds his arms up ready to catch SUSAN.)
SUSAN: Catch me?
(SUSAN hears voices behind her.)
SUSAN: You promise?
MARC: Yeah.
(SUSAN climbs over the railing and rests her feet on a ledge.)
MARC: I got you. Come on. I gotcha.
(Behind MARC, MONDO approaches.)
MONDO: Hurry up! Come on!
(MARC turns at the sound of MONDO's voice, still with his hands raised. SUSAN falls to the ground behind him. MARC winces.)
(Cut to DOMINO who hears the noise, puts down the phone and gives orders to people off-screen.)
(Cut to the lawn. MONDO and MARC help SUSAN up. DOMINO and four armed men run out of the front door. MONDO, MARC and SUSAN reach the fence with bullets whizzing past them. They squeeze through the gap and run to the VW.)
MAAIKE: Come on! Hurry! Hurry! Come on!
(The three throw themselves into the VW and MAAIKE drives it away just as DOMINO and the armed guards reach the gate.)
(Cut to the VW.)
MARC: Yee-hah! Right on, man. You guys live life on the edge.
SUSAN: Maaike, we can't leave. I got that guy's money - she's gonna buy nerve gas with it.
MAAIKE: We won't. The ruling party of her country is bankrupt.
SUSAN: What are you talking about?
MAAIKE: Jessie siphoned clean that Whirl Islands government account you provided her - stole god knows how many millions.
SUSAN: What! What about the fifty million dollars I stole?
MAAIKE: You never stole it! Jessie only made it look like you did.
MONDO: Hey! Where the hell is Jessie anyway?
MAAIKE: She's gone. After having transferred the money to an untraceable account, I assume.
MONDO: Take the money and run. That was her plan all along.
SUSAN: We're right back where we started.
(MARC's face looks very disheartened.)
SCENE 15
(Cut to outside ALEX GOLDSMITH's house - a view from the VW. SUSAN comes out the front door and turns to MRS GOLDSMITH, they hug. SUSAN then walks down the steps, turns and waves to MRS GOLDSMITH who waves back, she is smiling. She has a piece of paper in her hands which she looks at happily. SUSAN gets into the VW.)
MONDO: So, uh, she forgives you?
SUSAN: Yeah, well, a million dollars forgives a lot.
MAAIKE: That was good of you, Susan. Giving her the check was the right thing to do.
MONDO: Yeah, man. I'm proud of you.
SUSAN: Aw, shut up the both of you. We're still flat-assed broke, we're sitting on yet another great story we don't have the money to publish and last week's issues are still sitting on the loading dock. Let's just go home.
(MAAIKE turns the ignition. The exhaust blows out black smoke and the engine dies. They all lean back in their seats and sigh.)
SCENE 16
(Cut to the VW silently making its way by the Rocket's office. Someone is whistling. As the VW goes by we see MONDO is sat in the driving seat and MAAIKE and SUSAN are pushing.)
SUSAN: (Downbeat) That's it. I'm getting a Rapidash.
SCENE 17
(Cut to piles of newspapers by a flight of wooden steps. The VW approaches. MONDO gets out and runs over to the newspapers.)
MONDO: Oh, man. Hey, guys!
(He pulls out one copy.)
MONDO: It's last week's Rocket Channel Interviews.
MAAIKE: How did this get here?
(SUSAN looks up at the steps.)
SUSAN: Oh. Oh, no. No way.
(MARC is sat on the steps, smiling.)
MAAIKE: Marc? You paid for these?
(MARC gets up and walks down the steps.)
MARC: You guys fight the lost causes. I wanna help.
(While the Rocket's contemplate this, the VW van moves silently and unnoticed behind them. Then there's a loud crash and the sound of breaking glass. The Rocket's look at each other.)
(Fade to black.)
THE END