22
BASEMENT, OVER THE GENERATOR
Jax goes down hard, spitting up blood.
He sees the sword, moves - but The Agent kicks him in the face. Picks him
up, Jax too tired to throw a decent punch.
"I'm sorry." The Agent sighs with honest remorse.
The Agent spins him and digs his bunched fingers right into the same nerve cluster that he paralyzed Tanzanaki with.
Jax goes rigid, his face a picture of pain.
The Agent goes near the railing and retrieves his sword.
Jax trembles, trying to move - but nothing happens.
"You should know there's no shame in this. You've done remarkable things. But you're fighting a war you've already lost."
He lunges – and Jax twists gracefully out of the way, grabbing The Agent's sword hand and pulling it forward - while driving his elbow into The Agent's neck with staggering force. "I'm known for that."
The Agent drops the blade, mouth open, stumbling back, unable to make a sound.
Jax spins him, grabbing both his arms and working his own through them in a twisted full nelson - then bringing his arms up suddenly, The Agent's mouth going wider as we hear his arms crack.
Jax drops him sitting against the railing, picks up his sword, saying: "Piece a shrapnel tore up that nerve cluster my first tour. Had it moved. Survived a fatal blow like that, they called me immortal."
He squats down, looks The Agent in the face. "Sorry 'bout the throat. Expect you'd wanna say your famous last words now. Just one trouble."
He reaches over the railing, pulls the back of the Operative's armour through and shoves the sword through the fabric, pinning The Agent in his sitting position.
"I ain't gonna kill you." Jax says softly as he moves to the console, starts prepping it.
"Hell, I'm gonna grant your greatest wish." He inserts the cylinder, turns it slightly. It hums to life. "I'm gonna show you a world without sin."
He hits "send all".
The cylinder lights up and the broadcast begins. Here it is projected as a two-dimensional image on the clear plastic partition, right in front of The Agent.
There are images first of the city - of bodies, on the street, in homes and offices... image after image, just as we saw on the research vessel - and in Ianto's mind.
Mary's gently voice begins to echo throughout the quadrant "These are some of the first sites we scouted on Hallett. There is no one living on this planet. There is no one..."
Jax hits the controls and a ramp extends towards the other side. He begins to cross. Never even looks back.
The Agent, trapped, watching in growing horror...
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BLACK ROOM
A Muncher.
Face full of fury, he is swinging his blade in a frenzy of hate.
And a small hand smashes that face so hard that teeth fly -the Muncher flying aside to reveal:
Ianto.
He is bloodied, but not killed. he's as he was in the bar - moving faster and more efficiently than anyone can, ducking and weaving and gutting and kicking and there are piles of Munchers already, he never breaks concentration as he uses their own blades against them, throws them, does everything in his power to stay one step ahead of – or above - the mob.
He slams backwards into a wall opposite the blast doors -and a grappling hook punches through it, just missing him.
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BASEMENT, OVER THE GENERATOR
The Agent watches the end of the broadcast. He watches through the clear plastic, so the images projected on it blur right before him: the Muncher, Dr. Mary - and her screaming doesn't stop til something is shoved in her mouth.
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The gang is still trying to patch themselves together when the elevator doors open. Jax staggers out, holding his bleeding side.
"Sir?" Martha gasps with fear.
"It's done." Jax barks "Report?"
Martha looks at the badly wounded Owen, is about to give a report - and the doors start to open behind her.
Everyone turns to look, those who can feebly raising weapons, as the square iris of the opening blast doors widens to reveal Ianto, standing alone.
He is holding two Muncher blades, is bloody but unbowed. And the only one alive. Then the wall behind him is ripped completely away.
Behind it, grappling hooks chained to a huge tractor pull the wall away as through the smoke come some fifteen Agency soldiers, who line up, rifles trained on our gang...
"Drop your weapons! Drop 'em now!" a soldier demands.
"Do we engage? Do we engage?" another barks into his coms with fear.
Jax and the others tense up. Ianto turns slowly to face the soldiers, blades still gripped... A soldier levels his gun at him, sweaty and frantic... others still shouting...
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BASEMENT, OVER THE GENERATOR
The Agent sits in silence, the voices coming over his com:
Targets are acquired! Do we have a kill order? Do we have an order?
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BLACK ROOM
The soldiers' fingers are squeezing at their triggers when the Agent finally manages to choke out….
"Stand down. Stand down"
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DESERT PLANET - SUNSET
We are close on a gravestone.
It is rounded, looks more like a bell than a headstone. It is topped by a jar built unto the stone. The jar is weathered tin at top and bottom, but glass in the middle. Inside the glass we can see one of those slightly moving photos. It is of Eugene and his lovebot Gwen, and the name Eugene is carved roughly in the stone beneath.
We see another such stone, this one bearing the image and inscription: Doctor Theta.
The third is Hoban Burne. The small boy that we now know was Toshiko's ward.
The next stone houses a small home-made rocket with pieces of paper taped to it instead of a picture-jar. And fixing another slip of paper to it is Ianto.
Ianto moves away from the stone as Jax does likewise. They're flanked by the crew: Rhys, Owen, who stands holding Ianto before him and hand in hand with Toshiko. He has a crutch supporting his other side.
There is a moment, then they all move aside, saying nothing.
Between them walks Martha, in a simple white gown, holding a burning taper.
Mickey follows with a reverent look, his own robes matching that of his wife as they give thanks to the gods for surviving, even as they must farewell those who fell.
Martha stands at the stones a moment, then holds the taper to the rocket fuse. Stands back with the others.
The rocket shoots up into the darkening sky. They all watch its sputtering tail a moment, then it explodes in a series of fireworks.