Oh my God. Two updates within the same week! Impossible. What Madness has spread here?

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CUT TO:

INT. ASYLUM – FRONT OFFICE. DAY.

Cameron sits on a bench reading a magazine. A white bandage covers his left temple. He sips intermittently from a cup of coffee.

Behind him is a large glass partition, separating the waiting room from the offices. Inside, Fuyutsuki can be seen arguing with two doctors, one of which is Dr. Epstein.

A scruffy-looking man in white approaches Cameron cautiously. He sits on the bench opposite him.

The man stares.

Patient: Hey.

Cameron looks up, nods.

Cameron: Hey.

Patient: Hey, sometimes, you know, sometimes I can see tigers…

Cameron: Hm.

Patient: Yeah.

Cameron goes back to reading.

Patient: But, uh… just not right now, though…

Cameron continues flipping through the magazine. The patient shifts around in his seat.

Patient: I can travel through time…

Cameron: Cool.

They sit in silence for another moment.

Patient: I saw you die.

Cameron: Oh yeah?

Patient: Yeah.

As if by magic, a large, burly orderly appears behind him. He effortlessly lifts the patient off the bench by his arms.

Patient: Well… see ya.

Cameron: (Without looking up) Later.

The orderly drags the patient away. Cameron continues flipping through the magazine.

A door to the side opens and Fuyutsuki steps out. Cameron looks up.

Fuyutsuki: This might take a while. Head on down to, uh, room three-oh-nine. They'll bring her down shortly. I'll be there as soon as I can.

Cameron: Sure. Um…

Fuyutsuki: What?

Cameron: Like, what do I say?

Fuyutsuki: Brief her. Tell her what's going on. Mention the others. Make it so that she wants to help.

Cameron: What if she doesn't?

Fuyutsuki: I don't know… Bribe her.

Cameron: Oh.

Fuyutsuki: Good luck.

Fuyutsuki walks back in the room.

Cameron pitches the now empty cup into a trashcan, picks up some folders beside him, and heads down the hall.

CUT TO:

INT. ASYLUM – HALLWAY.

A plain white door with the numbers "309" on it. From the other side we can faintly hear singing.

CUT TO:

INT. ASYLUM – MEETING ROOM.

Asuka sits in a swivel chair, spinning languidly around as she croons to herself. She flips through a stapled document of some kind.

Asuka: Hey pretty… don't you wanna take a ride with me? Through my world… Hey pretty… Don't you wanna kick and slide? Through my world…

A swath of papers covers the small table at which she and Cameron are seated. Cameron sits across from her, staring at the girl in rumpled, white hospital attire.

Cameron: You finished?

Asuka: (Not looking up) What does "adjudicate" mean?

Cameron: To be convicted.

Asuka: Okay.

Asuka turns the papers various ways, seeing how many different angles she can see the same boring legalese from. Cameron can't help but notice that Asuka isn't really reading anymore.

Cameron: You done, then?

Asuka: Do you know what "anamnesis" means?

Cameron: A prior history or a, uh, recollection of something that's already there. It's a medical term, I think.

Asuka: Ah.

Cameron: Well, then –

Asuka: Do you know what "onomatopoeia" means?

Cameron: (Pause) A… word that… imitates how a sound, uh, sounds…

Asuka: Good boy.

Cameron: Well, as long as I have your attention –

Asuka: Do you know what "cunnilingus" means?

Cameron: What?

Asuka: Nevermind. What were you saying?

Cameron: Um… I was about to say that you'd also find… um…

Asuka tears one of the pages from the document and begins to fold it into a paper airplane.

Cameron: Can I have that back?

Asuka: Sure.

Cameron: It'd be best if you didn't…

Asuka gently tosses the airplane at Cameron. It skids along the desk and onto the floor.

Cameron: …yeah, if you didn't do that.

Asuka readies another airplane.

Asuka: Why?

Cameron: Well, it is your case history.

Asuka: (Shrugs) They can print more.

Asuka flicks the last page towards the far wall. She stretches in her chair like a cat, yawning.

Cameron: Anyways, having assessed your current progress, we'd be willing to –

Underneath the table, Asuka rubs Cameron's leg with her foot.

Asuka, meanwhile, stares at him innocently.

Asuka: Go on.

Cameron: Um… if you'd… uh… Could you stop that?

Asuka: Stop what?

She smiles, leaning back in her chair.

Cameron: I just wanted to let - …. um…

Asuka's foot has found its way further up Cameron's leg. She smiles.

Asuka: Go on…

Fuyutsuki chooses this moment to enter.

Fuyutsuki: Thank you, Lieutenant. That will be all.

Cameron: Sir! I was uh, just about to begin… um… with the debriefing and, uh…. whatnot…

Fuyutsuki: I'll take it from here.

Cameron: Right… yeah.

Cameron gets up awkwardly, holding the folders to conceal his, uh… excitement. Fuyutsuki regards him tiredly.

Cameron: (To Asuka) Uh, pleasure to meet you.

Asuka: Bye.

Fuyutsuki: (To Cameron) Just wait outside.

Cameron: Sorry.

Cameron exits. Fuyutsuki shuts the door behind him, sighing. He sits down at the table, facing Asuka.

Asuka says nothing. Where Cameron was regarded with a mean sort of playfulness, she exercises restraint in the presence of her former sub-commander. Her face belies little emotion.

After a frigid pause, Fuyutsuki speaks.

Fuyutsuki: Hello again.

No response.

Fuyutsuki: Don't feel like talking? (Pause) How you been?

Asuka: I won't dignify that with a response.

Fuyutsuki bites his lip, considering how to approach this.

Asuka: (Sighing) What do you want?

Fuyutsuki: Rather to the point. Maybe I just want to visit…

Asuka laughs – a short, derisive outburst.

Asuka: (Nodding to the door) Who's the comic relief?

Fuyutsuki: Cameron is with the American military. He's helping me collect a few things.

Asuka: Like what?

Fuyutsuki: You.

Asuka: Me.

Fuyutsuki: Yeah.

Asuka: Why?

Fuyutsuki: Something bad has happened. Something in Japan. Where you… we used to work, in fact.

Asuka keeps a poker face. Her hands, meanwhile, are wringing a sheet of paper underneath the table.

Asuka: Go on.

CUT TO:

EXT. TOWN SQUARE.

The camera pans slowly past the aftermath of the battle. Several vehicles are still burning. Smoke drifts from several fresh craters in the ground as medics carry the wounded on stretchers and NATO troops move to secure the area they thought was safe.

Fuyutsuki (v.o.): …He gave us forty-eight hours. That's only for the garrisons in Japan. With the right calls and enough pressure, we might be able to make it.

Cameron (v.o.): It's the only one of his demands that's feasible…

Rei (v.o.): But you're not even planning on giving him that.

Cameron (v.o.): Not if we can help it.

Fuyutsuki (v.o.): It's pressure from the U.N; they want this dealt with so they can get on with their war.

Rei (v.o.): That's why you're here?

Fuyutsuki (v.o.): Basically, yes.

Fuyutsuki, Cameron, and Rei sit on a pile of sandbags, talking. Cameron nurses a slight gash on his forehead, dabbing at it with a piece of gaze. In the background, a mobile artillery unit rests with its still smoking turret pointed at a row of houses across the street.

Rei takes a drag on the cigarette she holds. She looks up, surveying the scene around them.

Fuyutsuki: You cut your hair…

Rei self-consciously runs her fingers through the short, white hair upon her head.

Rei: One less thing to deal with in the morning. It also fits under a beret easier.

Fuyutsuki: And is that… dyed?

Rei: It's bleached. (Shrugs) I felt like something different. (Pause) How long did it take you to find me?

Fuyutsuki: Two days –  one just getting into the region and another tracing your company's movements. We arrived in town today.

Rei: Which already puts you at the first deadline…

Fuyutsuki: Not until eight pm, Tokyo time. The council assures me everything will be taken care of. Our only concern is collecting you and, uh, the others.

Rei: The others…?

Fuyutsuki: You know who I mean.

Rei: (Pause) Why do you want us?

Fuyutsuki: I think you can guess.

Rei: Who have you found, so far?

Fuyutsuki: He hasn't moved from where we left him five years ago, we've found you, and… well, she's in Nuremburg.

Rei: What did they say?

Fuyutsuki: We haven't been to Nuremburg yet… He said "yes".

Rei: (Pause) And what do you think I'll say?

Fuyutsuki shakes his head, shrugs.

Rei sighs and drops her cigarette on the ground. She watches it burn for a little longer before crushing it underfoot.

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