X-Men: Rise
By Nic Wilson, draft Completed 07/08/07
black
Sounds of morning, birds, students talking in the distance just beyond earshot.
EXT. XAVIER MANSION- MORNING
The tombstones of Charles Xavier, Scott Summers, and Jean Grey stand in front of the Xavier Mansion. It's a bright spring morning, and the sky is beautiful, cloudless and blue.
EXT. XAVIER MEMORIAL CEMETERY- NIGHT
Lightning strikes and it's dark, raining. The mansion is gone, replaced with a cemetery full of mutants and super humans, including Peter Parker, Kurt Wagner, Sue Richards, and Ben Grimm.
UP ON Xavier's wheelchair as it rolls in front of Xavier's grave. PULL BACK to reveal MAGNETO in the chair, decrepit and twenty years older. He turns.
I can still smell your Adamantium.
PULL BACK further to reveal WOLVERINE behind him, smoking a cigar. Wolverine's barely aged, aside from streaks of gray at his temples, and deeper worry lines. KITTY Pryde rises up through the ground behind him and places a hand on Magneto’s shoulder. She’s in her mid-forties.
It's time, Erik.
EXT. CITY- NIGHT
Inside the ruins of a future city on a stormy night.
INT. WAREHOUSE- NIGHT
Wolverine, Kitty, and Magneto have joined COLOSSUS, STORM, CABLE and another man hidden in shadow.
We can’t wait around all day, Summers.
Cable nods, and the man in the shadows steps out enough that the "M" tattooed over his eye is visible. His name is BISHOP.
LeBeau’s information places the Nimrod program inside this facility.
I’m going to shoot you if you’re leading us into an ambush.
There’s no need to candy coat it, Summers. You’re going to shoot me either way.
CUT TO Wolverine puffing his cigar silently.
We go in quiet. Primary objective is to upload Forge’s virus into the sentinel mainframe. Secondary objective is the temporal gate. If we fail, Apocalypse sends Nimrod sentinels to exterminate weak mutants across time. I’ll keep us in touch. No one else uses a power without my say.
EXT. sentinel factory- night
ANGLE ON a chain link perimeter fence outside the factory, sliced down the center. PULL BACK, Wolverine’s cigar is smoldering on the sidewalk outside the fence.
INT. SENTINEL FACTORY- NIGHT
No light. Claws cut in through a heavy steel door and sheer away the bolts. Wolverine and Colossus push the door in.
Lead the way.
Cable shoves Bishop to the front with his rifle. They file down the hall.
At the end of the hall is a doorway, and as they pass through it, a subdued alarm goes off.
Mutant proximity alert.
Cable pushes Bishop against the wall, and presses the rifle to the back of his head.
That don't scare me.
Wolverine unsheathes his claws beside Bishop's face.
His talent absorbed ambient energy from the scanner in the wall. He did not mean to betray us, Nathan.
Cable lets Bishop go.
Things just got loud.
Wolverine rushes through the door across the hall, and Cable follows.
INT. COMMUNICATIONS ROOM- NIGHT
The room is large like a zeppelin hangar. Fifteen foot sentinels patrol along the aisles between thirty foot server towers. These represent the communications hub of the sentinels. Sentinel One notices their entry.
Halt, mutant.
Wolverine and Colossus break off from the others and rush at Sentinel One.
The sentinel fires a blast of red energy from his palm, and Cable lays down suppressing fire. Kitty pushes Magneto’s wheelchair to an access portal at the end of the wall of servers. She inserts a disc, and starts typing, and several screens change.
Wolverine uses his claws to climbs up the first sentinel, then cuts off its head at the neck. He stands on it as it collapses. Colossus tackles the second Sentinel’s right leg, tearing it off, and it falls.
Sentinel Three is facing away from them, with his right arm raised, sending the signal to open the hangar roof.
Reinforcement required. Event Level Three.
Give me a special.
Colossus grabs Wolverine and throws him at Sentinel Three.
Mutant Infil-
The sentinel turns it's head, and fires a blinding blast of energy from it's eyes.
ANGLE ON the floor as Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton clatters to the ground.
CUT TO Storm’s reaction.
Logan!
She rises into the air. Electricity leaps from her fingertips, shorting out the sentinel that killed Wolverine.
She failed to notice the roof open.
Several new sentinels fly in on jets in the soles of their feet. One of these sentinels fires a wooden spear from his left palm. She forms a wind funnel, but it’s too weak to stop the spear, and it punches a hole through her stomach.
Colossus screams madly. He smashes sentinel after sentinel.
Kitty stops typing and tries to go to him, but Cable puts his cybernetic hand on her shoulder.
Let him go, kid.
She phases through his hand and runs to Colossus. He continues smashing sentinel legs, as she stands next to him, phased.
Peter, take my hand.
He ignores her, and continues killing sentinels.
Peter.
She closes her eyes and tears fall down her cheek as her face is lit up by a large explosion. She unphases and falls to her knees.
Cable slings his rifle.
Goddamn amateurs.
Cable tries to take up where Kitty left off. A sentinel blasts the control panel, knocking Cable against the wall.
Cable shoulders his rifle and blasts the sentinel at the hip joint.
Magneto rolls his wheelchair between Cable and the other sentinels.
You up for this, Magnus?
There’s a little of the old spark left in me.
Cable and Bishop run through the room. Bishop rolls under a wooden spear from a sentinel, and Cable fires at it from his rifle, striking the neck joint, causing sparks to fly from it as it falls.
Another sentinel raises its right arm to fire on them.
Its arm crumples.
The sentinel turns to see Magneto, still sitting in the wheelchair.
Mutant class 4, subject Lensherr, Erik Magnus, alias Magneto. Running protoco-
The sentinel stops making noise as its head crushes like a tin can.
ANGLE ON the far end of the room, as metal blast doors slide open.
The MASTERMOLD is a thirty foot tall sentinel, so large that he has to duck to fit through the blast doors. He and his four attendants are made of hard plastics and ceramics, down to their circuitry.
Magneto raises his hand and two servers lift off the ground and fly into the first two attendants.
CU ON disabled Sentinel Three. It rises into the air.
Sentinel Three is joined by Sentinel One as they attack Mastermold’s attendants in the air. They push it to the ground, and tear its limbs off.
Magneto gathers the debris from the other sentinels in a ball and smashes the last attendant through the wall.
CLOSE as Magneto smiles, but he turns too slowly. Mastermold picks him up off the ground, and crushes Magneto in his wheelchair from the waist down, and pulls him close to its face.
Subject Magneto apprehended.
Magneto is dying.
Do you know... how close... magnetism is... to electricity?
INT. MASTERMOLD’S CIRCUITRY
ECU of Mastermold’s circuit boards. The electricity arcs together from one end of the board to another in a miniature lightning strike. Electricity arcs again, and again, congregating and growing larger, then shoots up Mastermold’s systems to his processor, which explodes.
INT. COMMUNICATIONS ROOM- NIGHT
The Mastermold smokes, then falls on Magneto.
More sentinels descend from the sky, and walk through the rubble of their fallen comrades. They analyze the damage and scan for the last of the mutants.
INT. TEMPORAL GATE- NIGHT
The temporal gate’s visible edge is a gigantic metal U at the tip of a particle accelerator. Half the room is a complex array of computers and controls for the device. The room is dark. CU on Cable’s eyes, closed.
They’re dead.
Cable opens his eyes, and shoves Bishop the rest of the way into the room.
How would you know?
You were smiling.
Cable stops him in the center of the room.
End of the line, traitor.
What are you going to do?
First I’m going to shoot you. Then I’m going to improvise.
Cable kicks Bishop’s knees so he’s kneeling, execution style. Then he blasts Bishop in the back of the head. Bishop falls, with smoke coming off him.
Cable starts to input a date into the machine.
PULL BACK as Bishop raises his fist, and blasts Cable through the instrument panel. The machine starts, and a portal opens.
Bishop runs through the portal.
Cable’s lip is bleeding, and he favors his ribs as he gets up. He drops a few grenades, and follows Bishop.
The machine explodes as Cable passes through. From Cable’s POV, he sees the length of the accelerator rush past around him and when he reaches the end the world goes BLACK.
EXT. XAVIER MEMORIAL CEMETERY- NIGHT
Back at the graves, ending on Scott Summers’ headstone. It’s still raining and dark. There’s a flash of lightning.
EXT. MANSION MEMORIAL- DAY
It’s day, and there are only the three graves.
EXT. MANSION LAWN- DAY
TITLES:
THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE
On the grounds beside the mansion, a group of mutants are playing football.
On the one team are DOMINO, RICTOR, SUNSPOT, WARPATH and MELTDOWN. Domino is a thin, athletic woman with pale skin, and a dark patch over her eye. Rictor is a Latino. Sunspot is from Brazil, and wears a red band. Meltdown is a skinny blonde whose fashion is almost as loud as she is. Warpath is a Native American, as big as Colossus.
The other team is made up of Kitty, BEAST, Colossus, JUBILEE and ANGEL. Beast is wearing a big blue Speedo.
Beast is quarterbacking, and his team is only a few feet from the end zone. Colossus and Angel are standing in the center, with Jubilee and Kitty at the wings. Opposite Colossus and Angel are Warpath, Rictor and Sunspot, with Domino guarding Jubilee, and Kitty guarded by Meltdown.
Blue, thirty two, blue, thirty two, blue-
Stop saying blue.
Hut hut hike.
Colossus hikes the ball to Beast. Jubilee and Kitty run forward, and hook across. Beast winds back like he's going to pass.
Blitz!
Warpath and company try to shove their way past Angel and Colossus, but Angel's wings slow them down just long enough for Beast to run at them. He flips over them and lands in the end zone. Beast starts to dance, and spikes the ball, which bounces once and lands in Domino’s hand.
I thought we agreed- no powers.
Can I help that I was born with sophistication, agility, and buns of tempered blue steel?
Beast shakes his tempered steel at her. Jubilee makes an "L" sign on her forehead.
Losers walk, so get to stepping, patches.
Domino and her team walk back down the field. She exchanges angry glances with her teammates.
Colossus kicks off, and the ball bounces right to Domino. Warpath slams through Beast and Colossus violently. Colossus manages to hold on.
Rictor extends his hands and uses vibrations to shake Angel off his feet. Sunspot throws black plasma at Jubilee, who leaps to the side, and shoots back fireworks from her fingertips.
Warpath shakes his arm to get Colossus off him, sending him through the air.
Meltdown runs at Kitty, who phases through her.
Jubilee continues after Domino. Sunspot misses her and hits Warpath. Warpath stops, and tears off his jacket and throws it on the ground, and stomps on it to put the fire out.
Jubilee catches up to Domino and tackles her as Domino leaps for the end zone, and just makes it.
Domino drops the ball, and she and Jubilee attack each other. Rictor and Sunspot smile.
Chicas luchan.
EXT. SKY ABOVE MANSION- DAY
Colossus is still sailing through the sky, a couple hundred feet away, on the other side of the mansion. Angel swoops by.
I’ve got you, Peter.
Angel catches Colossus in midair. They float above the memorial when suddenly Bishop appears out of the time gate.
EXT. MANSION MEMORIAL- DAY
Bishop lands head first on Cyclops’ headstone, cracking it in half. Cable’s a heartbeat behind, and rolls when he lands, and gets the drop on Bishop.
Forgot to switch it back to projectile. I must be slipping in my old age.
Cable flicks a switch on the side of the rifle.
Cable is suddenly shoved back. Between him and Bishop, who manages to groggily stand, is Angel, with his white wings spread wide.
Not here.
Cable considers shooting through the wing.
This man’s a traitor.
Colossus’ big hand lights on his shoulder.
Never here.
Cable is still considering a fight, when Beast snatches the weapon away. Cable lets his shoulders relax.
INT. BAR– MORNING
Alaska. It’s a tiny dive bar made from the planks of a shattered fishing boat, with chairs made from whatever spare wood could be had.
TITLES:
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA
ANGLE ON a game of solitaire, played with a deck so worn the pictures on the cards are faded. Sitting alone, the only person in the bar, is HAVOK. He’s a complete mess, with a thick beard and grungy hair. He’s been drinking for a while, nursing just enough beer to stay nostalgic.
I hear you used to be an X-Man. Me too.
Wolverine pulls up a chair beside him.
I don’t want company.
I didn’t ask.
ANGLE ON Wolverine’s freshly poured beer. NEW ANGLE, on the glass, now empty, with another four dead soldiers beside it.
Wolverine and Havok are playing cards as Wolverine smokes a cigar.
Xavier contacted me when Scott died. I thought about coming back.
But you didn’t.
No. I was never been able to fill Scott’s shoes. Him being gone doesn’t change that.
Wolverine lays down his cards, four tens and the Jack of Spades, then he stands up, dropping some bills on the table.
You’re right. Better not to try.
Wolverine takes a few steps, and puts on his hat.
It was Scott who picked you to replace him.
Havok doesn’t acknowledge Wolverine as he leaves.
INT. HALLWAY- DAY
Bishop and Cable are seated inside a holding cell. Angel and Beast are outside it. Angel smiles.
Good cop?
You resemble a being representing divine protection and grace, whereas I share a moniker with the opprobrious villain of Revelations. And don’t avoid the subject, Warren, it’s the weekend.
It’s the middle of the week.
It feels an eternity has ebbed and waxed since last we basked in the warmth of one another’s company.
We basked last weekend, and the smell still isn’t out of my back seat.
I could be your wingman.
The only way you can be my wingman is if a woman’s out with her mother. And stop poking fun at my-
Gift? Women fantasize about the airborne caress of angels, but the only ones dying for my azure embrace are--
Chubby Goths, I know. I remember from last weekend. Right before you filled my back seat with vomit. And the answer’s no. Right now, we’re the adults around here.
Then I’m resigned to pass the evening in my quarters, with only the supple kiss of a chardonnay to dull the sting of my isolation.
Angel smiles at him as he reaches for the door handle.
You are such a woman.
Int. HOLDING CELL - DAY
The door to the cell opens slowly. and Angel walks in with his wings wrapped around his chest, then spreads them once he’s past the door.
Gentlemen.
Beast enters on all fours, glaring at both Cable and Bishop in turn.
My name is Warren. This is Ha-
Beast.
His name comes out on the cusp of a roar.
Nathan Summers, operations codename Cable. I lead the X-Men.
Beast and Angel exchange a look.
Bishop.
You’re both mutants. We can offer you both asylum. But we have questions. Nathan, why were you trying to kill Bishop?
Actually, Worthington, I’d prefer Cable. And I was going to kill him because he’s mutant-hunting scum. That tattoo over his eye is a badge. It showed he was a part of Apocalypse’s security force.
Bishop looks away. Beast leans over his shoulder, and sniffs him. Angel looks confused.
You stink of fear.
Bishop looks at Angel, who stifles a laugh as Beast smiles comically from behind Bishop, then puts his frown back on immediately as Bishop looks over his shoulder. Bishop fixes Beast with a glare.
This mark is a brand. I was a slave in Apocalypse’s guard.
Beast looks at him with sympathy.
Mutant slavery? Where?
New York. In your future.
Beast spreads his massive fingers around Bishop’s neck and squeezes. Cable’s eye glows, and Beast’s hand is forced open.
Stop. He’s telling the truth. And if anyone’s killing the traitor, it’s me.
So you want us to believe you’re from our future?
No. We’re from a possible future. Our presence has altered this timeline already.
Beast circles around behind Cable; he snorts on the back of Cable's neck.
I don’t like to be lied to.
Can the act, Doctor McCoy. You were an ambassador to the United Nations. And I’m a telepath; I know you’ve been humming Beethoven’s Piano Concerto Number 2 in your head since you came in. And you don’t just drink chardonnay, you sip it. With your pinky out. Wings over there is more intimidating.
Told you I should have been bad cop.
INT. BATHROOM- DAY
Havok stares at himself in the mirror of the bar bathroom. He’s sobering up, and he’s thinking. He runs his fingers over his beard.
INT. HALLWAY- MORNING
Cable is handcuffed to a chair, sitting patiently.
Cable claims to be one of us.
Wolverine nods towards Bishop.
Him?
He says Cable’s an X-Man, too.
I’ve reached out to acquaintances within the government. They have no record of either man, nor does Interpol. And neither would seem to keep a discreet profile.
So who do we trust?
It presents quite the moral quandary.
I hate those.
INT. HOLDING CELL- DAY
Wolverine steps into the room, stalking angrily.
I’ve been over this with Beauty and the Beast.
Wolverine punches Cable, knocking him and his chair over. Beast smiles at Angel.
Bad cop.
Cable’s restraints suddenly open.
Wolverine lunges at Cable, unsheathing his claws. Cable’s restraints fly through the air and clasp around Wolverine’s wrists.
Cable sidesteps Wolverine as he falls and smashes him in the back of the head with his metal hand with a resounding metal on metal reverberation.
This isn’t necessary.
Wolverine snarls, and cuts his way out of the restrains and gets up.
Cable is sitting calmly with his leg crossed, very relaxed.
We can discuss this like adults.
Cable gestures, and a chair slides out towards Wolverine.
The Logan I know listens first, then slices.
Wolverine sheathes his claws.
INT. HALLWAY- DUSK
Wolverine leaves the interrogation room. He looks like he’s seen a ghost.
Where’s Storm?
Overseeing construction at Genosha.
I tried to tell her the Genoshans weren’t pets. Most of them aren’t housebroken.
What did he say?
Wolverine regards them both suspiciously.
He said to play my cards close to the vest.
EXT. FOREST OUTSIDE GENOSHA- NIGHT
Cut to the forest site of Magneto’s encampment from Last Stand. Small buildings have started to creep up, and construction is actively taking place on the site during the day.
Genoshans are curled up in the half-built buildings, sleeping.
TITLES:
GENOSHA
Torches light the camp. A man in a trench coat walks noiselessly through the forest, just past the edge of the light. His name is GAMBIT.
Another step, LeBeau, I’ll hand you your larynx.
SABRETOOTH steps out from the darkness and smells the air.
That the camp?
Gambit nods. He's terrified of Sabretooth, but trying like hell to hide it behind a suave demeanor.
Stay out of our way, and the boss says you get to live.
Sabretooth shoves his way past Gambit. Several more mutants follow him. They are the Marauders: MADROX, the Multiple Man, CALLISTO (who lost an eye during the fight on Alcatraz Island and wears a patch), as well as RUCKUS, SLAB, and SLUDGE.
Gambit follows them into the city at a distance.
EXT. GENOSHA- NIGHT
A small mutant girl with pink hair and skin and bony protrusions in her face, stops him.
Remy?
You need to get back to bed, petite.
I had a nightmare.
Gambit picks her up, and carries her back to her sleeping bag. He walks like a man with the devil at his heels.
Gambit tucks her into her sleeping bag.
It’s just a bad dream, chere. It’ll be gone by morning.
Gambit sees Sabretooth stalking past in shadow, and shudders.
EXT. GENOSHA STREET CORNER- NIGHT
A harmonica cuts through the silence, and what sounds like an old black man singing the blues.
On an unpaved stretch of road, framed in the circle of light given off by the city’s only working lamppost, leaned up against the half-finished edge of a corner store is CHICKEN-WINGS.
He dresses like an old blues man, but has a scrawny, birdlike appearance, complete with haggard wings and talons.
Callisto steps into his light, and Chicken-Wings looks up at her past the brim of his hat, still playing. She smiles, and opens a switchblade.
EXT. GENOSHA- NIGHT
ANGLE ON PIPER and MOTHER INFERIOR. Most of the Genoshans were homeless mutants, so their clothes are the worse for wear. Piper was a street musician who played a pipe. He has a long beard and wiry hair, and he’s playing. Mother Inferior is an inhumanly large woman in a cloak, resting on a stump. Raccoons and other rodents are gathered around her, and she crumbles off bread to them.
Piper stops playing as Sabretooth steps out of the shadows. For a moment Sabretooth isn’t menacing, because Piper’s powers sooth him. But when Piper stops, Sabretooth regains control of himself, and slashes open Piper’s throat.
Mother Inferior’s rodents scatter as Slab stomps a giant, rocky foot into the earth. Mother Inferior screams out, and her cry echoes throughout the camp, until she is quickly silenced.
APE, TARBABY, and SCALEFACE run toward the sound, but stop when they find the Marauders. Ape is a short and stocky man in his late forties, dressed like a seaman. He shape shifts into a large panther, and runs at Madrox.
Scaleface is an attractive Asian woman with scaly skin. A green, hard-hologram lizard projects out from her, and she stalks toward Ruckus. The lizard hisses at him. He throws the sound back at her in a high-pitched sonic squeal that cuts right through her projection, and rips a gash across her stomach.
CUT TO Ape, being overrun by Madri, multiples of Madrox, as they continue to multiply around him.
A few of the Madri run at Tarbaby. He is a young man whose features are impossible to determine, because he’s covered in a thick, black, tarlike ooze. He sprays some of this tar at the approaching Madri, who become stuck to the ground. Tarbaby covers Ape and the Madri attacking with the tar as well, and he folds his arms, satisfied with himself. Sludge slips out of the shadows, a giant gray tidal wave, and crashes over Tarbaby.
INT. GENOSHAN INFIRMARY- NIGHT
The Genoshan Hospital isn’t completed yet. It’s walls are in place, but doors and windows haven’t been installed, and neither has the roof. There’s a blue tarp laid over the top to keep it dry. Inside, there is hardly any medical equipment at all, but there are several beds. HEALER, the doctor, and his nurse, PLAGUE, are there. She’s trying to rush him out the back door.
Go to the Civic Center. You’ll be safe there.
She pushes him out the door. Sabretooth lumbers by. He sniffs the air, and brushes his way past the tarp over the door. Plague stands defiantly in his way, and raises her hands.
A greenish jelly secretes on her hands, and ejects like porcupine quills into Sabretooth’s face and mouth. He wipes what he can of it away, but he’s already infected. She gives him septicemic plague, which causes him to bleed into his skin, creating large black spots.
His healing factor starts fighting it, and he returns to health immediately. He grins, and bats at her like a bear, smashing her to the ground, unconscious. Madri rush up behind him.
Take her.
The Madri pick her up and carry her away.
EXT. GENOSHA- NIGHT
Ruckus and Sabretooth advance on the building where Marrow sleeps.
ERG and ANALEE protect Marrow, who cowers outside the burning husk of her former home. Erg is a renegade from a punk rock concert, complete with a terrible Mohawk.
Erg fires a blast of electrical energy at Ruckus. Ruckus leaps out of the way of the blast as Sabretooth approaches Analee.
PULL BACK to reveal Gambit, who watches from the shadows, hiding.
Analee’s in her early fifties, and looks like somebody’s aunt, but she’s angry. She glares at Sabretooth, and a psionic image of Sabretooth being beaten by his father with a belt flashes over the screen before being forced into Sabretooth’s forehead.
This only makes Sabretooth angrier.
Ruckus blasts Erg off his feet, as Marrow is splashed with Analee’s blood. Sabretooth’s shadow looms over Marrow, who cries.
Suddenly, there’s an explosion in Sabretooth’s face, and he backs up, favoring his nose like a dog smacked with a newspaper.
Gambit is standing in the light, arrogant, smiling, tossing a rock in the air. He catches it, and charges it with energy, and flings it at Sabretooth. It hits Sabretooth and explodes, knocking him back into Ruckus.
Gambit scoops Marrow up, and runs.
Hush now, chere. Remy’s got you.
Gambit disappears into the shadows with her as Sabretooth jumps to his feet, smelling the air. He gives chase.
EXT. X-MANSION GROUNDS- NIGHT
Jubilee is sneaking through the forest on the edge of the mansion grounds. She’s making a lot of noise, and mumbles curses to herself. She stops abruptly when she comes on Wolverine.
If you’re trying to sneak you’re doing a piss poor job.
A cigarette drops out of her mouth as she stares at him.
They’re bad for you anyway.
Wolverine bends over and picks up her cigarette.
Your friend there, she’s better. Stays downwind. You noticed you don’t hear her stepping on branches and swearing every time her foot slips?
Wolverine sniffs the air.
Is that Peter’s sister?
ILLYANA Rasputin steps out from the trees. She’s younger than Jubilee, and gives him an embarrassed smile. Jubilee looks at him skeptically.
You smoke.
I also don’t wear a seat belt. I’m a lousy role model.
Wolverine takes a very long drag off the cigarette then tosses it.
Where were you two?
The arcade in the mall. They just got the new Soul Caliber. You play?
I get my ass kicked enough just being me.
So does she.
Illyana kicks Jubilee in the butt.
Hey! Could you, like, teach me? Like kung fu or whatever?
Wolverine shrugs.
Come on. Teach me to kick ass.
Illyana kicks Jubilee in the butt again, and she turns and glares.
The mansion alarm goes off.
Can I come with?
Wolverine runs for the mansion without answering.
EXT. GENOSHAN CIVIC CENTER- NIGHT
MASQUE is an old woman, but the others seem to be taking their cue from her. She wears a hooded sweatshirt that partially hides her hideous, melted face.
The others are CYBELLE, MEME, BLISS, SUNDER, ENT, HUMP, CALIBAN, & SAMSON.
Cybelle is an African American woman in her mid thirties wearing an 80s style dress. Meme is a moderately overweight man in his mid forties, with a thin moustache and receding hair. Bliss is an attractive blonde in her early twenties. She doesn’t look like a mutant at all. Sunder is a tall, lean, bald man in a green shirt with torn off sleeves. Hump and Samson are both catlike musclemen who really could be twins, although Samson is the larger of the two. Caliban is thin, and sickly looking, with oversized yellow eyes, and dangling gray skin.
PESTER, Marrow and various weak mutants are gathered behind the line of the stronger mutants. Pester has a noseless face very similar to her lover Ent’s.
A black molehole opens in the ground behind Masque, and ZECK and MOLE emerge from it. Mole has long, furry hair, rodent features and hands that look suitable for digging.
Mole, get these lookyloos indoors before they get themselves killed.
Mole gives her a salute with his flipperlike hand, and he and Zeck start ushering people into the Center.
EXT. GENOSHAN STREETS- NIGHT
The Madri are running wild, setting fires, chasing mutants. An awkward teenage girl with purple skin and pointy ears runs by, and Madrox One picks her up. Her name is BLINK. She kicks him in the shin, and he drops her. She disappears in a flash of purple light. Madrox One stares, dumbfounded, and Madrox Two stops running after a mob of Madri with torches.
What happened?
I don’t know. I blinked, and she was gone.
Madrox Two stares at him for a moment without responding.
I’ve got to stop talking to myself. I wonder if this counts as having multiple personalities?
I know it doesn’t count as having friends.
EXT. CIVIC CENTER- NIGHT
The first Madri trickle from between the Genoshan buildings, and run at the line of Genoshans. Cybelle splashes acid from her hands across several off them. They scream as they burn.
Madrox Three gets too close to Masque, who seizes hold of him. She twists the flesh on his face until he looks like her, and she drops him, screaming, to the ground. Madrox Four bends down and looks at his face.
That’s not nice at all.
Madrox Four touches Madrox Three’s face, and absorbs him into himself.
ANGLE ON a flood of Madri issuing out of the streets, as Sabretooth and Slab bound out toward the Genoshans.
Ruckus emerges, protected behind a line of Madri guards. He nods, and they scream at him. He listens to their sound, and then blasts Cybelle across the shoulder with it.
A gang of Madri run at Bliss, standing in front of the strong men, with her leg out to garner a little extra attention.
Excuse me, fellas.
Madrox Five shoves his way past the others, pushing one of his multiples out of the way.
Hey. How’s about we find some place private and get to know each other.
Bliss doesn’t respond.
Come on, I thought it was every girl’s dream to get with twins.
Madrox Five snaps, and Madrox Six appears, also smiling at her.
Bliss smiles. She smiles wider. Her mouth opens up, like a snake swallowing a rat, and an entire human-head on her tongue pushes its way out. Her tongue is long and thick, like a terrible snake, and the head lunges forward, catching Madrox Five in the neck. She lifts him up in her bite, and his body quickly desiccates as she injects him with enzymes that begin to break his body down. The extra head drops his withered body in front of the others, who hesitate for a moment. Emo Madrox seems to like this turn of events.
Sup.
The other Madri push past him to rush her. Meme pushes her to the side. The first Madri is absorbed into his stomach, and Meme grows in size.
He grabs a second, and forces him into his stomach. This second Madri tries to push his hand up through Meme’s flesh, but he can’t force his way out.
The Madri hold back a moment, as Meme enjoys his victory.
But he grows larger. And larger. The Madri he absorbed continue to duplicate inside him.
More hands and feet and faces appear in his skin, trying to force their way out. Meme screams as they climb out of his skin.
Bliss grabs Madrox Six, but is overcome by the tide of Madri.
Hump, Ent, Sunder and Samson try to stop Slab, but he keeps moving forward, throwing punches.
Sabretooth looms over Caliban, who looks even more pathetic as he cowers. Sabretooth roars, and Caliban stops shaking. He takes on Sabretooth’s size and ferocity and claws. Caliban roars, and they attack one another.
INT. BEAST’S LAB- NIGHT
CU on Cable’s energy rifle, in a stand on a table. PULL BACK as Beast stares at it through a magnifying glass, and for a moment is distorted through the lens. The lab is eerily silent.
Fascinating.
Beast scrawls a note on his tablet.
On the wall, a view screen comes to life, showing chaos at Genosha. The settlement is on fire. Storm is off screen, trying to get her damaged uplink to work, and doesn’t realize that she’s succeeded.
X-Men, please respond, we have an emergency. Genosha is being overrun. We ha--
Beast stares in horror. Calisto stalks on screen and stabs Storm from behind. After she falls to the ground, Callisto spits on her, then stabs the monitor with the bloody knife.
My god.
exT. genoshan CIVIC CENTER- night
Things on the ground at the camp are not going well. Half of the Genoshans are dead, including Sunder, Hump, and Samson.
Ent is still standing up to punches from Slab, but he isn’t fighting back. Pester huddles with their child. Caliban has lost a lot of blood, and doesn’t have Sabretooth’s healing factor.
Masque has fallen back to the door of the Civic Center. A Madri approaches, and she grabs a hold of him and twists his face, and drops him in a single motion.
Slab knocks Ent into the wall beside his wife, who cowers over their baby. Ent is unconscious.
Colossus, in his armored form, drops like a cannonball onto Slab. Colossus walks out of the dust kicked up by his landing.
Slab stands up out of Colossus’ crater, and a small sliver, like a chip off a marble tile, falls out of his face, and he smiles.
Kitty dives from the plane, landing on a small child as Sludge shapes himself like a wave to crush her. Kitty and the child disappear into the earth, and rise a few feet away, as a phased Kitty carries the child away.
The Blackbird lands, and Wolverine and Beast exit. Nightcrawler teleports to the plane, badly cut up.
Mein gott.
He falls into Beast’s arms, and Beast immediately begins to render aid. Wolverine smells something familiar on Nightcrawler, and inhales.
Creed.
He runs into the fray. Wolverine slashes his way through three Madri.
Sabretooth is holding Caliban up by the collar. He’s unconscious, and bloody, and Sabretooth stops as he was about to gut him. He caught a scent on the wind, and he smells the air.
Logan.
Sabretooth drops Caliban, and runs towards Wolverine. They clash in midair like a pair of tigers, slashing at each other and biting and snarling.
They hit the ground bleeding, and rip and shred at each other.
PULL BACK to reveal that while the X-Men are making a difference, they’re still being pushed toward the Center. There are too many Mauraders.
EXT. THE SKY - NIGHT
PULL BACK further, as Angel carries Havok above the battle. Havok has cleaned himself up, and he’s wearing a black leather jacket with a yellow X on the front.
Just set me down, Warren, then go back to the mansion. The students are terrified, and they need someone-
A blast of focused sound from Ruckus hits Angel in the wing, tearing through it like paper.
exT. genoshan settlement- night
Havok rolls, while Angel crashes hard through gnarled tree branches.
Warren!
Angel gets himself up on one knee to prove that he’ll be fine. His left wing is wrapped around his torso, too traumatized to extend like his right one.
A Madrox approaches him from behind. Angel uses his good wing to knock him away.
I’ll be okay. Just go.
ANGLE ON Kitty running away. Sludge slides along the ground, and solidifies on the other side of her.
There’s no point to this.
Kitty phases through him without stopping.
I’m rubber. You’re vapor. It’s a bloody stale-
Plasma flies past Sludge, and he stops to look over his shoulder. Suddenly, Kitty punches him in the face, and he falls, splashing when he lands.
Kitty nods at Havok, then runs after a pair of Madri.
Havok blasts a Madri rushing after a small green child.
Everything on the Marauders’ side of the city is on fire.
Colossus has sustained massive damage, and his armor shows dents and warping. He’s having trouble standing. Slab punches him, and he falls to one knee.
Havok runs toward him, blasting away at the Madri. Colossus and Slab exchange blows.
Havok squares toward Slab, and blasts him from both of his extended fists. He pours it on, and the blast burns brighter and brighter. At the corners of his rocky flesh Slab begins to glow red. His flesh is melting, and burning off his impurities. His rock skin takes on the color of white marble.
Havok stops. Slab grunts as he tries to move but can’t.
The battle quiets as many of the Madri stare at Havok. Sabretooth and Wolverine continue to fight obliviously.
Ruckus directs a squadron of Madri to attack Havok. Havok roasts them in their boots, burning them so thoroughly that even their bones vaporize. Havok points to Ruckus, holding slightly behind a wall of Madri.
You will stand down. Now.
Ruckus appears to listen intently. ECU as Ruckus smiles, then returns the sound as a high-pitched soundwave.
Havok covers his eyes with his arm as branches and rocks fly in its wake, and blood dribbles from his ears.
Fine.
He fires through the Madri, and Ruckus rolls away. Havok blasts Ruckus across the throat.
The battle commences in earnest, but the tide turns. The Madri around Ruckus carry him off.
Sabretooth knocks Wolverine over with a powerful swipe, pounces on him, and slashes across his chest and face.
Havok blasts him off, and he slides through the dirt, stopping when he hits a tree.
Havok helps Wolverine up.
Never thought I’d be happy to see a Summers.
Wolverine glances at where Sabretooth fell, but he’s gone, and Wolverine chases after him.
Wolverine stalks through the shadows of Genosha. Wolverine notices Callisto is stabbing someone lying on the ground.
ANGLE ON Angel’s good wing, drenched in blood. PULL BACK as Callisto stands to admire her handiwork.
Wolverine sneaks up on Callisto, and puts his claws through her back. She drops.
ANGLE ON Angel, laying on the ground. His wounds have multiple fractures, some of them compound. Much of his plumage has been torn away, and there is blood everywhere.
Hank!
CUT TO Beast as he examines Angel’s wings. He looks up, horrified.
The damage is too extensive. We have to stop the bleeding.
Wolverine looks at him helplessly.
Logan, we’re twenty minutes from proper medical treatment. I need you to amputate his wings or he’s going to bleed to death.
Wolverine kneels beside Angel, and looks at him almost tenderly.
Don’t.
ANGLE ON Angel, who is still conscious. His eyes are full of tears.
Please. Please, Logan. Don’t take my wings. Please.
I’m sorry, kid.
Wolverine unsheathes his claws.
NEW ANGLE ON Gambit, carrying Marrow in his arms.
Madrox One bars his path, and he sets her down. Gambit kicks him in the face, and he splits into Madrox Two.
Gambit grabs the jacket of the first, and charges it with energy until it glows. Madrox Two rushes at Gambit, who trips him into Madrox One, and they explode. Gambit grins.
Sabretooth wraps his clawed hand around Gambit’s throat, and slams him into a tree.
Sinister said if you grew a conscience to bring back the fun parts of your brain.
Sabretooth reaches claws toward Gambit’s stomach. Marrow screams, and the bony protrusions on her face grow.
That’s quite enough, Mr. Creed.
Sabretooth finds himself unable to move, and is levitated backward. The other Marauders have fled. Everything is very quiet.
Let go.
Gambit slides out of his grasp to the ground.
I’m going to release you. Lay on your belly, and place your hands behind your back.
POLARIS is dressed in business clothes, and her green hair is pulled back in a bun. Wolverine steps up behind her. He is covered in Angel’s blood, and he unsheathes his claws, looking extremely unhappy.
Better do as the lady said.
Havok joins them. Sabretooth growls, and lunges at Polaris. Havok's fists glow, and Wolverine crouches, preparing to pounce.
Sabretooth stops in mid-air. His metal spine scrapes. He growls at her again.
Ain’t going down to no frail.
His arm twists behind his back until it pops out of its socket. His legs twist. His tendons and muscles pull apart, and ligaments snap.
Polaris stops when Sabretooth gives off the high-pitched whimper of a stepped-on dog. She turns to Alex, with her hand extended.
I don’t believe we’ve met, Mr.-
Summers.
She pauses.
I haven’t been briefed on you, Mr. Summers. I’m Lorna Dane, Bureau of Mutant Affairs.
He shakes her hand. She turns to Wolverine, and notices his bloody arms.
And Mr. Logan, we've met.
exT. CITY- NIGHT
New York City bustles with night life as couples walk down a crowded street lined with shops and restaurants.
The sky is filled with pregnant clouds.
INT. BEDROOM- NIGHT
ECU on the cover of a brail Bible on a nightstand. PULL BACK to reveal a blind, older woman sit up, suddenly. On the bed beside her is a blue throw pillow with the name “Raven” embroidered on it. Her dead eyes open. Her name is Irene Adler, and she is DESTINY.
God help us all, I’ve seen the Apocalypse.
Her old stereo flickers, then turns on. The volume fades up, the sound of a radio that isn’t set to a station enters the room.
exT. CITY- NIGHT
A dark cloud passes overhead. But it isn't a cloud, but a wide, black rectangle, the Ship of Apocalypse.
Doors open from its hull, and a large hologram shows Sinister from the chest up, towering over the city. His skin is deathly white, and his smile is horrible, full of sharp, inhuman teeth.
People on the street stop and stare up at the sky. His words are broadcast across frequencies to every available device in the city.
I am Sinister, herald of the Apocalypse. The day of the fit and the strong has arrived. The world is yours no longer. Soon it will be delivered into the hands evolution has deemed its inheritors- Homo superior.
Passersby are stunned for a moment as the hologram disappears. But the bay doors do not shut, and a million nanomachines are pumped into the air. Panic erupts in the streets.
A WOMAN was waiting tables at a sidewalk café throws her tray down, and runs, screaming.
The green nanomachines descend like a heavy fog, rolling in a transparent wave.
INT. MANSION ENTRY- NIGHT
The entry is dark. Everyone has gone to bed.
INT. MANSION HALL- NIGHT
The hall outside the dorm rooms is also dark.
INT. MANSION DORM ROOM- NIGHT
The dorms are dark, and the students sleep snugly in their beds.
All except Jubilee, whose blankets are up like a tent. Under the blanket, she’s playing her portable game with her headphones on. Her phone rings, and she sets the game down.
Hi Illyana. What’s up?
Jubilee’s expression drops. The phone slips from her fingers, and she runs out of the room.
INT. MANSION ENTRY- DAWN
Jubilee, in Sonic the Hedgehog pajamas, runs down to the front door.
She’s panicking, and quickly unlocks the door. Illyana collapses into the entryway, and Jubilee catches her and lowers her to the ground. Metallic, green sores are opening up on her skin.
INT. OVAL OFFICE- DAWN
CU as Bolivar TRASK drops some papers on the President's desk. PULL BACK to reveal the PRESIDENT, far beyond his depth.
I need your signature, sir.
I don't know, Bolivar. Are we going too far? How will this sound when our children read it in a history book?
Sir, this is a war of survival, and in your hand is humanity's last chance.
The President pauses a moment, then picks up his pen and signs hastily. He closes the folder around the documents, and on the folder is the title: PROJECT: WIDE AWAKE.
exT. X-MANSION- DAWN
The hangar doors open in the mansion, and the Blackbird lands.
INT. BLACKBIRD HANGAR- MORNING
Beast pushes a gurney with Angel strapped to it out of the jet. Angel is laying flat on his stomach, and his wing nubs are dressed, but not bandaged. Jubilee runs up to him.
Dr. McCoy! Illyana--
She stops abruptly when she realizes that he’s wheeling in Angel on the stretcher. She gasps, and covers her mouth. Beast comforts her.
Warren...
He’s in a medically induced coma. He would die from the pain if he was awake.
Beast pushes Jubilee back to look at her.
Has something happened to Illyana?
She snuck out last night to see some guy. And she came back sick. I called 911, but the hospitals are full, so she’s in the infirmary--
Beast wipes a tear off her cheek.
You’ve done well, Jubilation. I’ll check on her.
Beast pushes the gurney off screen.
INT. BLACKBIRD- MORNING
Havok and Polaris are in the belly of the Blackbird with Colossus. Colossus is so dented he can barely move. Kitty watches in silence.
What happens if you change back with these dents in your hide? Would your injuries change, too?
I don’t know.
I can force the dents out of your skin, but it will hurt. Like hell.
It’s your call, Peter.
Colossus looks at Polaris, then to Kitty. Kitty curls up to him, and bites her lip. She kisses him, then phases through the floor of the jet.
Katya.
Colossus fixes Polaris with his steel eyes.
Do it.
INT. HANGAR- MORNING
From outside the plane Peter’s screaming can be heard over the sounds of metal bending. Kitty crumples beneath the plane, crying.
INT. MANSION INFIRMARY- MORNING
Beast has stabilized Angel, finished cleaning his wounds and bandaging him. He's staring at the nubs where Warren's wings should be, when Jubilee surprises him.
Dr. McCoy. I think you should, like, see this. On TV.
Beast follows her out of the room.
INT. MANSION TELEVISION ROOM- DAWN
Several students are watching a news program, showing the attack on New York.
In the sky is Apocalypse’s Ship, spilling its green poison down on the city. The angle is from the street level, and a bit grainy. A black child, YOUNG BISHOP, runs by.
--and this footage from just a few hours ago, shot by our sister station in New York.
CUT TO video news footage of doctors performing triage outside a hospital entrance. Everyone has metallic sores like Illyana’s. A doctor points to a very sick man, and two male nurses put him on a gurney. One of the man’s sores is swollen, and opens, spurting green nanomachines at the nurses, who cough.
FEMA have quarantined the entire city following an attack by the mutant terrorist known as Sinister.
CU on a young boy’s sores.
The weapon seems to be viral or biological in nature, but a spokesman from Stark Industries has stated that the delivery system seems to employ nanotechnology. Many citizens have reportedly developed metallic sores, overwhelming local health care facilities.
ANGLE ON a roadblock manned by soldiers with face masks. Their commander is yelling through a megaphone at the crowd to return to their homes, although the sound is silenced. The soldiers have their weapons trained on the crowd, who are rowdy, but not quite out of control. Yet.
The National Guard are enforcing the quarantine zone, and sources within the administration say federal assistance, including a stronger military presence, can be expected in the near future.
Beast stares.
To recap tonight's top stories, a terrorist fringe group from an Apocalypse cult have engaged in the first large scale WMD attack on American soil on the same evening that a riot broke out in the mutant settlement at Genosha.
Beast is stunned.
EXT. X-MANSION- DAWN
Outside the range of the lights, Wolverine stalks Gambit.
Creed knew you.
Wolverine stays in the shadows.
That doesn’t seem to bother anyone else. It barely bothers me. And that bothers me.
Wolverine steps out of the dark, and into Gambit’s face.
I don’t like people rummaging in my head.
People like me.
Creed didn’t.
He like anyone?
He especially didn’t like you.
Wolverine gets close to him; he’s prepared to torture Gambit. PULL BACK to reveal a smoking hole in the mansion.
Wolverine runs off.
He’s like, scary, right?
Jubilee drops out of a tree.
I don’t think so.
Jubilee blows smoke from a cigarette.
You mind?
He takes her cigarette and starts to smoke it.
How old are you?
Jubilee reaches into her pocket to get herself another cigarette, but they’re not there.
Old en-
She finds they’ve been replaced by a pack of bubble gum.
No fair.
Gambit has her ID and her cigarettes from her pocket.
This the worst ID I’ve ever seen.
Shut up.
Gambit charges the ID and throws it against a tree, and it explodes.
Most women lie to be younger, chere.
He gives Jubilee one of her cigarettes, and she lights it with her fingertip.
INT. MANSION INFIRMARY- NIGHT
Illyana is sitting in a chair in the infirmary. Colossus is laid out on a specially-designed bed, built to withstand his metal frame.
She is wearing a mask over her mouth, and is holding his hand.
INT. HANGAR- DAWN
Wolverine calls over the intercom in the hangar.
Alex. The prisoners are gone.
We have prisoners?
Yeah. And there’s something else you need to see.
EXT. MANSION LAWN- DAWN
ANGLE ON Havok, kneeling in the mud as it starts to rain beside the graves of Scott and Jean. Their caskets have been dug up and stolen.
My dad was a supply pilot in Alaska. The last time we saw him, he threw Scott and me out of an airplane, wearing the only parachute. He told Scott-
INT. CARGO PLANE- MORNING
YOUNG CYCLOPS and YOUNG HAVOK are strapped awkwardly into a parachute. CORSAIR pauses a moment, and hugs his sons, strapped together into the parachute. Cyclops is between Havok and his father.
Take care of your brother.
YOUNG CYCLOPS tries to be brave, and nods.
EXT. MANSION LAWN- MORNING
And he did. He grew up taking care of me. And I think that was why I left. I got tired of being Scott Summer’s little brother. If I hadn’t, maybe I’d have been here to take care of him when he needed me.
Polaris hesitates, then puts her hand on his shoulder.
Wolverine approaches.
I found a scent. Madrox, probably a lot of him. Trail ends in the middle of the lawn, and there are depressions. I think they choppered the caskets out. There’s no way to know where they are now.
What about Cable?
His scent runs off in that direction before I lost him in a creek.
I need to go.
What’s in that direction?
Genosha.
EXT. CIVIC CENTER- DAY
Bolivar Trask stands before a podium.
It has long been a concern of this administration that mutants could pose a serious threat to the population. After outsiders incited a riot here in the mutant territory of Genosha, as well as the mutant terror attack on New York, we are unveiling our response ahead of schedule. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the sentinels.
Sentinel One lands from the sky and stands next to Trask. He scans the crowd.
Multiple subjects, human, unarmed. Standing by.
This is the Sentinel Mark I. He is one of five prototypes that we are going to make available to the mutant settlement, and there will be more as production increases. The Department of Defense believes these sentinels will be enough to keep Genosha isolated from threats without and within.
The other four sentinels fly overhead in formation, and land on either side of the first. There is applause from the audience.
Sentinel One’s chest bursts open from a timed energy bomb. Sentinel Two is sliced in half by black plasma from the left shoulder joint to the right leg joint. Sentinel Three is hit with vibrations that shake it apart. Sentinel Four has a tree thrown through its chest. Domino is a blur of motion as she scrambles up Sentinel Five and sets a charge on its neck, then flips off the sentinel as it detonates, landing just off screen next to Cable. He’s all business, holding a gun and standing like a military man.
The crowd gasps, on the verge of panic. Trask is now being ignored on his podium, fuming, and his eyes glow yellow.
INT. X-MANSION KITCHEN- DAY
Beast has just made himself a nice mug of cocoa, with lots of tiny marshmallows. He's been up all night. SIRYN, the Irish redhead, approaches.
Dr. McCoy.
What is it, child?
He took them.
Who took them?
Cable. He said being coddled in the school wasn’t teaching us to defend ourselves. And he took some of the students. He... he only wanted the strong ones.
Beast bounds to the sitting room.
INT. MANSION TV ROOM- DAY
Wolverine is standing, watching TV.
Logan, we need to quietly count the children. I fear some of the students have been taken.
Not taken, furball. They’ve been recruited.
On the TV, an impromptu news conference is being held by Cable.
EXT. CIVIC CENTER- DAY
Cable is standing flat on the ground with a handful of the reporters from Trask’s news conference, speaking into their microphones.
I repeat; we are not militants, we are not violent. We are simply here to protect the mutant colony. To show that mutants can protect themselves. With force, if necessary. That’s all I have to say.
The news cameras go down as Cable steps away from the reporters. Polaris approaches him.
Mr. Summers. I’m Lorna Dane, Bureau of Mutant Affairs. While I appreciate your offer of assistance-
It wasn’t an offer, and you’re only removing my people through force.
He pushes passed her, and she glares at him. His metal arm twists behind his back.
I wasn’t done.
His soldiers look at him. He’s put them in black military outfits and sunglasses, and armed them with rifles. They’re ready to attack. He tells them with his eyes not to move.
Cable looks back at Polaris.
Nice trick. Try mine.
Cable’s eye glows as both of Polaris’ arms are forced behind her back in the air. Cable saunters over to her.
We stay.
She drops.
EXT. MANSION LAWN- DAY
Jubilee hits the grass. Wolverine has just shown her a judo hip toss.
Oof.
She lays on the ground for a second. She’s chewing the gum Gambit gave her. Wolverine helps her up.
What were you saying?
You should totally give Remy a break. He’s nice, in a sleazy kind of way. I think you’d totally get alo-
Wolverine throws her onto the grass again.
Oof.
INT. MANSION ENTRY- DAY
The front door creaks open.
EXT. MANSION LAWN- DAY
Wolverine smells something on the air.
Oh, I am so totally coming with.
Stay here.
INT. MANSION HALL- DUSK
Bishop enters the main hall. Havok rounds the corner.
Security system caught you the moment you entered the property. You don’t take another step.
Bishop plants his foot again, and Havok blasts him across the chest. Bishop doesn’t move; he absorbs the energy.
INT. MANSION ENTRY- DUSK
Wolverine enters stealthily, as Jubilee closes the door loudly. He peaks around the corner, and sees Bishop and Havok, and suddenly has to hold Jubilee back.
Let me go. I can so totally take this guy.
He puts his finger to her lips to shut her up.
INT. MANSION HALL- DUSK
Bishop gives Havok back the entire blast, but it just leeches back into Havok without hurting him. Bishop nods. Touché.
Bishop and Havok circle each other. Bishop makes a feint, and Havok throws a hook.
Bishop has slight military training, fights for maximum incapacitation. Hit the soft spots with the hard.
INT. MANSION ENTRY- DUSK
Jubilee watches the fight from behind Wolverine as the sounds of fighting echo over the hall.
At the beginning, Jubilee punches and kicks along with the fight, but her enthusiasm wanes. She looks away, and flinches, no longer enjoying the violence.
INT. MANSION HALL- DUSK
Bishop falls.
Havok wipes the blood gushing out of his nose away.
You can come out now, Logan. Thanks for the help.
INT. HOLDING CELL- DUSK
Bishop's eye is swollen, and his lip is cut. Beast, Havok and Wolverine are standing around him. He’s still hesitant.
The history is unclear. The X-Men died at the hands of a traitor, and there was no one to oppose Apocalypse. His virus wiped out almost everyone on the planet, and those who survived had to fight to stay alive.
Wolverine leans in close, breathing on him.
Who’s the traitor?
LeBeau didn’t know, or wouldn’t say. He might have done it himself.
LeBeau.
Wait.
Logan.
Wolverine leaves.
Damnit. How did Scott handle him?
From what I hear, he didn’t.
EXT. FOREST OUTSIDE GENOSHA- NIGHT
Wolverine runs through the forest outside the mutant city at Genosha. He sneaks into the camp.
EXT. GUARD TOWER- NIGHT
Rictor and Meltdown keep watch from a tower, with their rifles at the ready. Meltdown is flirting.
Wolverine runs underneath them.
EXT. GENOSHA- NIGHT
Wolverine sniffs at the air, then runs towards a tent inside the half-completed court.
INT. GENOSHAN COURTROOM- NIGHT
Wolverine slices down the center of Gambit’s tent. Gambit holds a glowing switchblade.
EXT. GUARD TOWER- NIGHT
Rictor and Meltdown hear an explosion, and see light coming from the court.
Mierda.
They slide down a ladder.
INT. COURTROOM- NIGHT
Rictor and Meltdown find Wolverine holding Gambit against the wall. Wolverine has a large hole in his side where Gambit stabbed him, and then the knife exploded.
Meltdown steps forward, shaking.
Stop it, Mr. Logan. I don’t want to shoot you.
Wolverine starts to cut into Gambit’s stomach.
Meltdown fires into Wolverine’s back. The shot scares her more than it does him.
He glares at her and she drops the gun.
Better start talking, 'cause you're running out of stomach, Cajun.
It was Sinister. He--
Children.
Cable enters.
Wolverine drops Gambit, and levitates backward.
He fights his claws as they move toward his own throat. The claws start to cut into his neck but stop abruptly.
That will be quite enough, Mr. Summers.
Polaris enters. Cable tenses for a moment, and considers trying to take them both.
I’ll escort the wayward X-Man back to Westchester.
He’s all yours. But if I find him causing trouble in Genosha again, Ms. Dane- I don’t believe in catch and release.
Polaris levitates Wolverine away.
Go to bed, children. I’ll take the rest of the night’s watch.
Meltdown and Rictor nervously retreat.
Thank you, Mr. Summers.
Don’t thank me so quick, Remy. Cause I think I’ll be having those answers Logan was looking for.
CLOSE on Gambit’s red eyes, terrified.
EXT. GENOSHA- NIGHT
Polaris continues to levitate Wolverine.
I can walk.
Polaris lowers him to his feet.
Fine, but I'm keeping you on a short leash. And if you can't behave, I'll have you fixed.
INT. WAR ROOM- DAY
Polaris, Wolverine and Havok are in the room, having a videoconference with BETSY Braddock. Betsy is in her office, going through files on a second computer monitor. Betsy is British, has her hair in a bun, and a short pantsuit on.
I’ve been using my contacts within the Bureau to track Sinister. I finally got a hit with the Ministry of Mutants in London. Elizabeth, can you hear me?
Yes, Lorna.
Could you bring us all up to speed?
This is all rather tentative, but it’s the best intelligence we have to offer. A man operating under the pseudonym Sinister, real name Nathaniel Essex, has been alive for most of the century. The SIS believes he oversaw the human experimentation of Joseph Mengele and Unit 731 during the Second World War, but nothing could ever be proven. The only record of a birth certificate for Essex is from 1859. This Essex is presumably an ancestor, and was questioned briefly in the Whitechapel murders in 1888. He has no documented relatives, but there’s a rumor that Essex had an affair with Ellen McTaggert.
The geneticist?
No. Her mother.
INT. MANSION ENTRY- DAY
Dr. McTaggert. I’m so glad you could come on such short notice. I only wish the circumstances-
MOIRA McTaggert is very serious.
I’ve something to show you.
Moira leads Beast down the hall, towards the Infirmary.
How’s Kevin?
Hank. I wanted to tell you earlier, but he wanted to be sure he survived the transfer.
She’s brought the comatose, empty-personality man with her from Muir Island.
I think we have enough ills here without importing them from Scotla-
It’s good to see you, Hank.
Oh my stars and garters.
INT. MANSION WAR ROOM- DAY
Polaris tries to adjust the signal on the intercom. All she can hear is static, and all she can see is snow.
Elizabeth.
The static breaks, and Betsy comes through.
Betsy.
-rna?
We hear you, but we don't have visual. Please continue.
Essex is mentioned about a dozen times in seemingly random disappearances in the last twenty years, and a former lab assistant, Madelyne Pryor, made a complaint about illegal experiments ten years ago. Nothing was proven, the assistant killed herself, and-
Elizabeth? Agent Braddock? Damnit.
INT. OFFICE- EVENING
It’s late in England. The power to Betsy's office has been cut. Sinister stands behind her, and his voice is like snakes slithering beside her ear.
Miss Braddock. If you wanted to know about my experiments, all you had to do was ask.
Sinister smiles. Betsy screams, and the screen goes BLACK as her scream silences.
INT. MANSION INFIRMARY- MORNING
CLOSE ON the spokes of a wheelchair rolling down the hall. It is Xavier’s wheelchair, rolling into the infirmary.
Charles, you old fool.
Magneto’s fights back a smile.
Erik.
I apologize for stealing your conveyance, but my legs aren’t what they once were.
It’s yours as long as you need it.
I wouldn’t have come. After everything I’ve done, my presence isn’t welcome here. But with the attacks, I couldn’t stay away. Is it as we feared?
I do not know.
EXT. DESERT- NIGHT
Magneto and XAVIER wander through the desert, staring up at the night sky. Magneto and Xavier are very young, so young that Xavier still has the use of his legs.
TITLES:
EGYPT – TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO
How quickly we’ve forgotten the nightmare of our Holocaust. We undertake base division, and shun genetic unity and brotherhood.
Give them time, Erik.
Is that why you’ve brought me here, Charles? To walk amongst the pyramids, and tell me great things take time?
Dreams have guided my life. Dreams of equality brought us to Israel, and in time I believe we will prevail there. My nightmares have brought us here.
Xavier stops walking.
Something is coming, Erik, an evil we cannot allow to be born.
Magneto closes his eyes.
I can feel it, Charles. What have you involved me in?
The earth begins to quake. Xavier falls into the sand. A great, Egyptian structure rises out of the desert. At least it looks like a structure. In fact, it is part of Apocalypse’s Ship.
Magneto helps Xavier to his feet.
I desired your fellowship for the journey. I won’t compel you to follow me any further.
Magneto look at their footprints leading away.
Xavier leads the way into the structure, and Magneto follows.
INT. SHIP CORRIDOR- NIGHT
The interior is both Egyptian and alien, ancient mixed with high technology.
Xavier leads them down a long corridor.
Do you know where we’re going?
Of course.
Xavier stops at a door. There is an entry pad, with unfamiliar symbols on it. Xavier pauses a moment, remembering the sequence, and inputs them.
INT. LAZARUS CHAMBER- NIGHT
At the center of the chamber is an upright sarcophagus, carved into an idealized Egyptian pharaoh. The eyes are thin black slits. Xavier concentrates, as he pulls details out of the creature’s mind.
In Arabic, his name was Saba an-Nur, “The First One.” But he has always known himself as the Apocalypse.
Light emanates from within the sarcophagus, and can be seen in the eye slits. It is the same glow Trask's eyes had.
He is the antithesis of our dream. He demands death and victory, and would pit mutant against mutant in a world where only the strongest survive. And he has power enough to force his vision on the world.
Sounds of movement come from the sarcophagus.
Xavier focuses, trying to stop him from rising. He fails.
No. His mind is too strong.
The lid of the sarcophagus starts to open. Magneto pulls a strip of metal from the ceiling, and seals it across the lid.
Do not panic, Charles. It’s beneath you.
Apocalypse kicks through the stone bottom of the sarcophagus. Darkness, dust and powdered rock make it difficult to see him clearly. The metal floor folds up to contain Apocalypse, like a flower blooming in reverse.
Apocalypse shatters his way out of the top of the sarcophagus. Out of the cloud of dust Apocalypse thrusts his hand. It grows, like a girder, and crushes Xavier against the wall, grinding his spine.
The hand pulls back, and Xavier slides to the floor. Magneto glares, and the metal in the walls collapses onto Apocalypse.
Through the dust, Apocalypse struggles to rise.
Xavier, unable to feel his legs, finds his powers increased, and concentrates on the creature.
Magneto compresses the metal around Apocalypse tighter.
Apocalypse cries out, and falls to one knee.
Xavier collapses, and breathes heavily. Magneto forms a makeshift stretcher from the metal flooring, and gingerly lifts him.
Forget me, Erik; forget me and finish him.
Magneto levitates Xavier out of the room. Every step Magneto takes, the metal floor behind him tears away, and flies back towards Apocalypse.
Magneto stops at the door and turns. All the metal in the room is holding Apocalypse levitating place. Magneto squeezes his fist, and metal crunches off screen.
EXT. DESERT- NIGHT
Xavier’s stretcher lowers to the sand. The entirety of the ship that is above ground smashes flat at Magneto’s command.
Magneto rises into the air as he forces the ship back down, deep beneath the sand.
Magneto lowers to the earth.
We failed.
Xavier’s eyes glow as he concentrates, and Apocalypse’s eyes glow somewhere in the deep, darkness, then recede into BLACK.
INT. BARRACKS- MORNING
I trusted Xavier. He would never make us do something we didn’t want to. Cable... Cable I don’t know well enough to trust.
The door shuts behind Cable as he enters.
Da Costa’s right. I could have used telepathy to make you join me. I could have threatened to use telekinesis to break every bone in your bodies. But I didn’t. Because I won’t always be there to keep the pressure on. I won’t always be there to wipe your asses. I need soldiers, so I asked for them. You want to go, there’s the door, da Costa, but don't spread your discontent through my squad.
Sunspot looks from the door to Cable, then drops back down on his bunk.
EXT. CHURCH- DAY
The church is burning, as people throw bottles, and wave signs. It is a protest gone ugly.
And in the wake of the tragedy in New York, a wave of anti mutant violence has swept the nation. Angry citizens set fire to the First Unitarian Church of Rochester.
INT. CHURCH- DAY
Fuzzy quality footage, probably amateur, of a Bishop ordaining a woman with green skin.
Where last month the Unitarian church ordained the first openly mutant minister, a gesture applauded by mutant rights groups, and derided by some religious leaders.
EXT. CITY- Day
News footage shows a riot in front of a church.
This violence came less than a day after the first case of the Apocalypse virus was found outside the quarantine zone. As of this broadcast, 43 new cases have been discovered, one as far away as Pennsylvania. The outbreak has already claimed the lives of countless New Yorkers, and health officials fear that without a break through with treatment, there will be many more.
EXT. MANSION LAWN- MORNING
Beast stands on the lawn of the X-Mansion, before a podium full of microphones and television cameras.
Let me say first that Dr. McTaggert and I have been working tirelessly, and we have been exchanging notes with the CDC, as well as consulting with specialists at Stark and the Baxter Building. When definite progress is made, expect an announcement to come from their offices. However, in light of recent events, I’d like to say a few words. The twin tragedies in New York and Genosha underscore how important it is that we embrace our uniqueness: the color of a person’s skin, the choice of whom we love, the right of our neighbor to pursue their religious observance. This naturally extends to respecting the person born with a torso fin, cursed with an optic blast or blessed with the natural powers of telekinesis. Seeing past our differences, humans and mutants share a common, unbreakable bond. No amount of words can change the truth that each of us, underneath all of the labels, are related. We are all family. The threats we face today are not mutant and human, they are threats against us all. These extremists are not mutant murderers, but monsters from our collective nightmare whose poisons do not discriminate. This is not the beginnings of a genetic war, a Darwinian struggle for surv--
Beast is shot in the chest.
From between the crowded cameras a gun barrel smokes. A gun fired by Cable.
A REPORTER thrusts a microphone in Cable's face.
Who are you?
You might as well call me the man who saved tomorrow.
INT. MANSION INFIRMARY- DAY
Wolverine leans over Beast, unconscious and strapped to a medical bed.
Don’t die, furball.
Wolverine glances into the corner of the room, where a quarantine area has been erected, then leaves.
Illyana is laying in a bed inside the clear plastic quarantine tent. She’s lost weight already, and her skin is pale. Colossus is wearing a mask, and sits in a chair inside the tent. He holds her hand gently.
INT. barracks- DAY
Cable shuts the door.
How can you even come back here after what you’ve done?
You want to explain what you mean by that, da Costa, or should I just skip to the part where I break your jaw?
Meltdown steps between them, her eyes full of angry tears.
You shot Dr. McCoy.
Cable glares defiantly at her.
Rictor turns the TV on, and it’s replaying the footage of the shooting.
How many metamorphs and illusionists do you think there are?
Warpath stands in front of Cable menacingly, crossing his arms.
I’m hearing excuses, no denial.
Cable turns to leave.
They’ll come after us, now.
Then you’d better be ready. Remember everything I’ve taught you. You’ll be fine.
INT. MANSION INFIRMARY- DAY
PYRO, wearing a baseball cap, baggy clothes and sunglasses, sneaks into the room. Moira is giving Beast some antibiotics through an IV. Pyro coughs, and covers his mouth with his sleeve.
Dr. McTaggert?
He starts to hack again. As he pulls his sleeve away, his hand pops out, revealing a viral sore on his wrist.
Dear god, lad.
Moira grabs a mask and puts it over his mouth.
You need to be quarantined.
INT. WAR ROOM- DAY
We need to act. Now.
You and me?
Did I just gain the ability to turn invisible?
I talked to Bobby. He and Rogue can be on the next plane.
Polaris slams the door behind her.
This won’t hold that long. The public sees this as the start of a mutant civil war, and that makes everyone nervous. We have to bring in Cable and his X-Force before he ruins everything we were accomplishing in Genosha.
The sound of Colossus walking can be heard in the hall. He's still hurt, but he's moving around. He enters.
What do we do about Bishop?
Wolverine leans forward.
The way I see it, we trust him, or we don’t.
INT. HANGAR- DAY
Havok is standing in the doorway to the hangar, talking to Jubilee.
Jubilee. I know it’s a lot to ask, but we don’t have any more options. We can’t leave you and the rest of the students unprotected. If anything goes wrong...
Havok hands her a revolver. Inlaid into the handle is: Cpt. C. Summers.
Do you know how to use one of these?
Jubilee nods. Havok walks toward the Blackbird, and is met by Moira.
Alex. I remember when you were just a skinny thing chasing after your brother on the lawn.
He smiles.
I have to go back to Scotland. My son is ill, and I’m afraid Emma, God bless her, isn’t up to it.
But the epidemic-
My colleague, Dr. Reyes, will be here in the morning. I have samples from Illyana, and I can consult from my laboratories at home.
Without Hank, we need you-
Moira is gentle with him, almost maternal.
I’m sorry, Alex. I know my timing couldn’t be worse, but Kevin- my son’s condition is special, even more specific than this outbreak. He needs me, and I’m afraid I’d be of no use here, worrying about him.
Moira hugs him.
You’ll do fine, Alex. I’ve faith in you.
Thanks.
INT. GENOSHAN INFIRMARY- DUSK
There are more injured mutants than beds in the Genoshan camp. Storm and Nightcrawler occupy beds next to one another, each with a white blanket draped over them.
Next to them is Gambit. He’s been beaten and tortured. Healer is attending to him.
Gambit has been cuffed to his bed. Healer lays his hands on Gambit and his hands glow.
Suddenly Gambit grabs Healer’s hand. He’s awake.
INT. HANGAR- DUSK
Bishop and Jubilee watch as the Blackbird takes off.
What should I call you?
Bishop.
Jubilee is fiddling with the gun.
Is it John Bishop, or Lucas Bishop or--
Just Bishop.
He takes the gun from her, chambers the first round, slides off the safety, and hands the gun back to her.
When Cable comes, Jubilation, hide in the hall closet. Otherwise, he will kill you. Don’t try to shoot him.
If I’m not supposed to shoot him, why do I have the gun?
To shoot me.
EXT. BLACKBIRD - DUSK
The Blackbird starts its final descent over Genosha when black solar energy burns across its top.
INT. BLACKBIRD - DUSK
Havok is flying the jet.
Was that da Costa?
Stop thinking of them as kids. They’re soldiers.
Right. Kitty.
Kitty phases through her seatbelt, runs through the ship and leaps through the cockpit.
EXT. SKY- DUSK
She falls through the air, catching Sunspot. Since he’s phased, he can’t keep himself burning, and just has to fall with her.
Go limp, Roberto.
They phase into the ground when they reach it.
EXT. GENOSHA - DUSK
The Blackbird lands, but the ground around it starts to shake. The X-Men exit the plane.
Warpath charges at them, and Colossus meets him halfway, smashing into each other like freight trains.
Wolverine takes a bullet from Domino’s rifle through the throat, and goes down. Domino tries to fire at Polaris, who deflects the bullets.
Scatter!
Havok runs left, as Polaris goes right.
Meltdown tosses one of her energy grenades at Havok’s feet, and he stops in his tracks.
Wolverine stands up, holding his hand over the hole in his throat, with blood gushing out between his fingers. He unsheathes the claws on his other hand, and runs at Domino.
Polaris looks back in the jet and tears one of the metal chairs out with her powers, then flings it at Rictor, knocking him off his feet.
Havok stands slowly, his body smoking. He's surprised he didn’t absorb more of the blast. Meltdown throws another. He dodges it, and notices it came from the trees.
Colossus hits Warpath with a haymaker, and he staggers.
Polaris hits Rictor with the chair again, and he tries to blast her with a shockwave. She hits him again, then Kitty phases up through the ground and hip tosses him into a tree.
Domino switches the gun to full auto as Wolverine runs at her, and empties the clip into him. She pulls her hands back as he cuts the gun into pieces. She backflips several times as he slices the air, the last time kicking him in the face. She flings three knives at him as she lands. He stops to tear them out of his neck, shoulder, and stomach.
The butt of Domino’s gun hovers in front of her, and smacks her in the head. Polaris smiles at Wolverine, who runs toward Havok.
Havok sets the tree on fire with a blast, and Meltdown drops out.
She creates another energy bomb, and pulls back to throw it. Wolverine grabs her, immobilizing her head and arm.
Better put that thing out.
I can’t.
Then this is going to hurt you more than me.
He waits a second. Sweat drips down her jaw as she chews her gum.
He pushes her out of the way, covering her with his body.
The bomb goes off.
Sunspot hits Havok in the back with black solar energy. The energy leeches into his body without burning him.
Finally, someone I can work with.
Havok returns the blast as Sunspot flies by.
CLOSE ON the ground as Warpath collapses. PULL BACK as Sunspot crashes, kicking up dirt.
Havok, Polaris, Kitty and Colossus gather around Meltdown, still pinned to the ground by Wolverine.
Where’s Cable?
Wolverine has his claws on either side of her face.
I... I swear, Mr. Logan. I don’t know.
ANGLE ON Wolverine as he growls. Snikt.
ANGLE ON Meltdown, unharmed.
INT. GENOSHAN INFIRMARY- NIGHT
CUT TO Gambit’s bed. His restraints have been picked, and still dangle from his bed, but Gambit is gone.
INT. MANSION ENTRY- NIGHT
Bishop stands in the hall, facing the front door. Jubilee walks into the entry with two cups of coffee.
I just got off the phone with Alex. They’re heading back. Maybe your whole ‘get in the closet if you want to live’ thing isn’t going to happen.
Bishop scowls.
I made you coffee.
EXT. MANSION- NIGHT
The lights go out across the mansion.
INT. MANSION ENTRY- NIGHT
Jubilee stands behind him, almost hiding.
Jubilation.
She gets in the closet, watching out the wooden slats in the door.
CLOSE ON the bolt as the door unlocks. Both men are simply silhouettes in the moonlight.
Cable raises an energy gun and fires. Bishop falls.
Cable walks over Bishop. Bishop grabs his leg.
You never learn, Summers.
Bishop blasts him in the chest.
Cable is unaffected by the blast, and smashes Bishop in the face with the butt of the rifle.
He switches a setting on the side of the gun, and fires into Bishop’s stomach.
CLOSE ON the ground, as a metal spike nails Bishop to the floor.
Actually, traitor, I do learn.
Cable drops a plate-metal vest on the floor next to Bishop, still smoking.
Cable kneels beside him, and looks at Jubilee. The closet doors open up wide.
You can’t hide from a telepath.
Why are you doing this?
Cable leans in close.
My parents are dead already. I didn’t get to kill them, so I thought I’d piss on their graves.
Cable walks down the hall. Jubilee comes out of the closet, trying to aim the gun, and Bishop grabs her leg to stop her.
Don’t.
Cable turns back to her. The gun disassembles in midair, and the pieces clatter to the ground.
Sleep.
Jubilee’s mind shuts off, and she falls, unconscious. Cable leaves.
Another figure steps over the mansion’s threshold. He pauses over Bishop and Jubilee, and Bishop catches his red eyes in the dark.
LeBeau.
Gambit stealthily moves through the mansion.
INT. BOILER ROOM- NIGHT
Gambit watches from the shadows as Cable assemble a high-tech bomb in the boiler room. Cable looks up like he heard someone, then finishes quickly, and leaves.
Gambit steps out of the shadows. He stares at the device.
It’s far too complicated, and he’s fairly certain there isn’t much time left, despite the fact that the bomb’s timer is counting down in A’skani, based in Chinese and English.
He places a hand on either side of the bomb, and charges it with energy. The bomb begins to glow, and he closes his eyes tightly.
INT. HANGAR- NIGHT
The X-Men are leaving the Blackbird, escorting the defeated X-Force, wearing zip cuffs. An explosion rocks the mansion. Wolverine and Havok respond.
INT. BOILER ROOM- NIGHT
Wolverine and Havok run into the boiler room.
The room is filled with smoke, and Wolverine stops.
I’ll leech the heat out of the air.
He raises his hands, and the steam swirls into him and dissipates.
The walls are charred, but the explosion was limited. Gambit is in one corner of the room, badly burned.
INT. MANSION INFIRMARY- NIGHT
Gambit’s bandaged and lying in a bed. Havok and Polaris watch him with concern.
Remy.
Jubilee kisses him very gently.
Thanks.
He’s barely conscious.
EXT. WAREHOUSE- NIGHT
Cut to a warehouse, hidden in the stale industrial area of New York. Around it is a heavy chain link fence, ten feet high with barbed wire at the top, lights along the perimeters, motion sensors. The building itself is very non distinct.
Our experiment is progressing.
INT. SINISTER’S LABORATORY- NIGHT
Sinister lingers over high technology, watching several monitors showing various vital signs. One monitor shows a dark cell. Its inhabitant is not on screen. In the dark, a man sits. That man is Apocalypse.
The fatality rate in the flatscan population is almost universal. Rates among Homo superior range under sixty percent.
ECU as Apocalypse smiles.
Another thirty percent shuffle the additional DNA into junk chains at the end of chromosomes. The remaining ten percent react by manifesting secondary mutations.
Sabretooth, now wearing far more black, stalks in front of the camera in the cell. His forearms and teeth are coated in the same dark metal as the viral sores. Finger claws extend from the metal, and he slices the camera.
INT. HALLWAY- NIGHT
Havok and Polaris are outside the holding cell where X-Force are held. The wall has been repaired, as well as reinforced with metal beams, by Polaris.
I’m concerned about detaining them like this.
They’re only being held for their protection.
I don’t care for euphemisms, Alex.
Hank was well liked, in the government, internationally, even publicly he’s considered soft and approachable. People will be baying for blood. If the students had anything to do with what Cable did, we’ll turn them over to the authorities- but only after we know for sure. Until then, they stay where we can protect them.
INT. SINISTER’S LABORATORY- NIGHT
Sinister lingers over a table with a cylindrical metal hood in the center.
The cloning process is complete.
Madrox smiles, leaning against some of the equipment.
I always thought there was more to making a baby.
Sinister ignores him.
Perhaps the import of this moment isn’t lost on everyone. Your legacy is nearly fulfilled.
Sinister’s smile is terrible, full of shark teeth.
The hood slides into the table, revealing a baby, in a tank filled with green gel. The baby’s opens his eyes. The fluid drains out of the tank, and the glass also retreats into the table.
Sinister lifts up the child, cradling it softly. The child does not cry, nor make a sound, but stares at the world around it.
He will bear your name. Nathan.
NATHAN looks at Apocalypse, and his eye glows.
INT. HALLWAY- NIGHT
Havok and Polaris are looking in at the detained X-Force.
I grew up in foster homes. When I was eleven my hair turned green. It might have been a godsend, because foster parents that gave me the creeps wouldn’t touch me when they found out I was a mutant. They were all afraid to catch it. Eventually a social worker adopted me. She was an early mutant rights activist. Any time Xavier gave a speech, or Magneto attended a rally, we were there. I guess I just followed in her footsteps.
You never met your parents?
I remember my mother saying goodbye, but I never knew my father. He was a mutant, and that’s why my mother said she couldn’t keep me. At times like this, I don't know what Val would want me to do.
Havok holds Polaris.
They’re just children, Alex. I don’t understand how it’s come to this.
Polaris pulls away. She’s thinking about kissing him. Jubilee runs into the room.
Bishop left the infirmary. I can’t find him. And Wolvie’s gone.
EXT. MANSION GROUNDS- NIGHT
Bishop pauses among the trees.
How reliable is your nose?
Wolverine lights a cigar.
Reliable.
They start walking again. As they walk past a tree, the scenery changes.
EXT. CITY- NIGHT
Wolverine’s still smoking, but now they’re on the outskirts of the city.
Maybe it ain’t Cable that’s turned them this way. Maybe it’s just the way of the world. Maybe the dream is dead. Maybe we should all stop pretending, and accept that we’re living a nightmare.
The dream never dies. You understand that in your old age.
Wolverine blows out smoke.
Never thought I’d get an old age.
EXT. INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT- NIGHT
What do you know about Cable?
Mostly rumors. Nathan Summers was built by a man named Sinister from the stolen DNA of the two greatest X-Men who ever lived-
Jean and Scott.
Wolverine feels numb.
Sinister infected him with a virus created from Apocalypse's DNA. Apocalypse believes himself to be the mutant god of evolution. He planned to use Cable to make himself stronger, but the X-Men freed him. Cable was able to use telekinesis to keep his infection at bay. But Apocalypse was angry that anyone dared to oppose him. He closed the resettlement camps, and used the sentinels to cull the weak. Out of desperation, Cable attacked Apocalypse’s advanced sentinel program. All the X-Men died. Including you.
Way I see it, one of us walked away.
Wolverine sniffs the air. They stand outside a fence around a warehouse.
He’s here.
INT. WAREHOUSE- NIGHT
From the interior of a door, Wolverine slices with one claw through the bolt in the door, and it swings slowly open. The warehouse is dark.
ECU on the door hinge, as the opening door sets off an explosive charge.
Bishop pushes Wolverine out of the way, and he’s thrown by the blast. He’s burned, but absorbs most of the explosion. He lays on the ground, stunned.
Amateurs.
Cable points a gun at Bishop’s head. Wolverine knocks him away.
Cable fires several shots, but Wolverine is fast enough to avoid them.
You move too slow.
Wolverine slices at Cable, but Cable dodges, and punches Wolverine in the face with his normal hand.
And you talk too much.
Wolverine slices through the gun in Cable’s metal hand when he tries to fire it, and he drops it.
I’ll move faster.
Cable punches Wolverine with his metal hand, and the punch sends him flying against the wall.
You’ll talk less. Everyone’s happy.
Except that Bishop has recovered, and gives Cable the full force of the explosive charge in his back.
Cable falls. Bishop slaps a collar around Cable’s neck. Cable looks at Bishop and focuses. A light on the collar flashes, then dies.
Wolverine shoves Bishop out of the way. His claws are out and he’s breathing heavy. Bishop hovers over Wolverine’s shoulder.
Wolverine pulls back and stabs at Cable’s face. At the last minute he retracts the claws, knocking Cable to the ground.
We can’t let him live.
I have to be one hundred percent sure he’s guilty, because if I kill him, he’s one hundred percent dead.
INT. WAR ROOM- NIGHT
What can we do at this point? We don’t have any telepaths strong enough to locate them. And Wolverine’s nose was the last hope we had of tracking-
Wolverine appears on the video screen.
Alex. We have Cable. But there’s a larger problem. Sinister was responsible for the Genoshan Massacre and the virus. And we know where to find him.
I don’t want you rushing into anything. Come back to the mansion, we’ll marshal our forces, and we can hit them together.
We’re not waiting.
Wolverine cuts the transmission, and Havok looks to Polaris.
Lorna?
She smiles.
What the hell.
She puts her identification from the Bureau on the table behind her as Havok turns to leave.
Alex?
He turns back to her and she kisses him.
I wanted to do that before anything else got in the way. Now let’s go.
INT. HOLDING CELL- NIGHT
In the detention wing, X-Force sit in their restraints. The door opens, and Havok walks in, with Polaris and Jubilee at his heels.
Havok has a pocket knife, and he cuts Domino’s restraints.
I’m placing the safety of the students in your hands. Domino, you make combat decisions, but Jubilee has overall authority.
Jubilee sticks her tongue out at Domino, who just stares angrily. Gambit stumbles into the room, leaning heavily on the wall.
I’m coming with you. I got debts to settle.
He nearly collapses, but Polaris steadies him. Havok takes him off her shoulder, and helps him into the hall.
INT. HALLWAY- NIGHT
Havok helps Gambit towards the infirmary.
You’re not coming with us. But when you’re well, you’re welcome with us any time.
INT. MANSION INFIRMARY- NIGHT
Havok helps Gambit into his bed. Havok takes the worn deck from his pocket and sets it on Gambit’s table. Gambit’s already passed out.
Rest up, Gambit.
Havok's eyes linger on Illyana. Colossus is once again sitting with her. She's even more pale, even more thin. She's dying.
EXT. Shipyard- NIGHT
The perimeter fence has been cut.
TITLES
NEW YORK CITY QUARANTINE ZONE
INT. LOBBY- NIGHT
Cable, Wolverine and Bishop move stealthily through the dark Milbury Shipping Company. Cable has a large rifle, and Bishop two smaller guns. Cable stops.
Suggestions, Logan?
We sneak in, find Sinister, sneak out.
The lights come on.
Sounds like a solid plan. What would you like us to do?
The hallway is stuffed with Madri, many of them armed with rifles. Behind them are the Marauders, but the first charge is all Madri.
Wolverine, Cable and Bishop take the first wave apart with claws and bullets, but more come. They’re starting to be overwhelmed by the sheer size of the onslaught, literally drowned in Madri. Each one that falls is just absorbed by the next.
The side wall disappears in a fiery blast that tears through the sea of Madri. Havok stands on the other side of the wall with Colossus, Polaris and Kitty.
I told you to wait.
The Marauders pause. All of them except Ruckus, who listens intently to what Havok had to say.
Ruckus gives his words right back to him in a sonic scream. Havok covers his ears.
I don’t like you. Kitty, remove him.
Kitty dashes at Ruckus. The Marauders try to stand in her way, but she just jumps through them, tearing Ruckus through the floor, into the basement.
INT. BASEMENT- NIGHT
Kitty waves goodbye mockingly to Ruckus before running up through the wall. He runs to a door and opens it into a stairwell.
Int. Stairwell- night
A sign tells him he’s ten levels down, and he scowls as he looks up the stairs.
INT. HALLWAY- NIGHT
The Marauders are still holding back, uncertain without their leader.
No.
The new Sabretooth leaps over the Madri and tackles Wolverine. He has five long, dark metal claws coming out of his fingers, and slashes away at Wolverine, beneath him and off screen.
Havok blasts Sludge with a low-level plasma blast, and he starts to boil. As he heats up, he looses the ability to control his consistency, and splashes over several Madri, scalding them.
Slab runs at Havok, but Colossus intercepts him with his fist.
Polaris rips several strips of rebar out of the wall, and uses them to harpoon Madri.
Callisto circles Bishop. She’s much faster than him, and punches him three times for every one strike of his, which she easily avoids.
Colossus is full of rage. Every punch is saturated with emotion over what’s happened to his sister. Colossus pounds Slab straight in the face. They're evenly matched.
Wolverine is still on the ground, underneath Sabretooth, bleeding everywhere. He tries to raise his claws, but Sabretooth knocks them away. He wraps his hand around Wolverine's throat and squeezes. Wolverine starts to black out.
Heel.
Sabretooth growls, but bounds off and away.
Havok blasts Bishop in the back, and he looks over angrily at him, even as he absorbs it. Bishop blasts Callisto.
Kitty phases up through the floor behind Slab. She grabs him, and pulls him into the floor, so his fists and feet are stuck.
Colossus punches him one more time, and a seam travels from his face to his belly. One more punch would shatter him, but Colossus stops.
The rest of the Madri run.
That was too easy.
Bishop picks up and shows Havok the suppressor collar Cable had been wearing, torn off him and thrown on the ground.
Yeah. Cable’s gone.
Polaris helps Wolverine to his feet. He can barely stand. He stops, listening.
He slides to the wall, beside a doorway leading to the stairwell.
Ruckus bursts through the door, winded from his run up ten flights of stairs.
Wolverine grabs him by the collar and throws him to the ground, and puts a claw on each side of his head.
Where’s Cable?
Ruckus listens to Wolverine, and throws a scream back at him, point blank. His eardrums burst, and he bleeds from his eyes and nose.
Wrong answer, bub.
Snikt.
INT. HALLWAY -NIGHT
The X-Men continue down a hallway. Wolverine stops, smelling at a doorframe.
Open this door.
Polaris obliges him by peeling the door away.
INT. OPERATING THEATRE- NIGHT
The room has several operating tables, with young mutants strapped to them. Questionable exploratory surgeries have been performed on most of them, and some of them are still wriggling. Polaris stops in the center of the room.
Wolverine sniffs the air, and leads the others to the rear of the room. In cloning vats new copies of all of the Marauders but Sabretooth and Calisto, are growing.
Clones.
Havok incinerates the machines.
In the center of the room, where Polaris stopped is PSYLOCKE. She stopped because she spoke to her telepathically. When Psylocke speaks to her mind, it's with Betsy's voice.
Psylocke has a recently sewn up scar across her entire forehead.
Lorna? Oh thank God. I thought I was losing my bleeding mind.
Polaris is horrified.
Elizabeth? What has he done to you?
INT. SINISTER’S LAB- NIGHT
Sinister and Cable are talking in the dark room. Nathan has the virus growing on his eye, hand and foot. Sinister cradles him as he puts his hand on Cable’s shoulder.
For what it’s worth, Nathan, I’m sorry.
Havok blasts the doors open, and the X-Men enter the room.
You’ve shown your colors. You going quiet or not?
Wolverine unsheathes his claws.
Stop it.
Havok steps between Wolverine and Cable.
You shot Hank, didn’t you? And you tried to destroy the mansion. Why?
Because. You didn’t save me.
Save you? Save you from what?
Apocalypse. You left me with him. Every day was a struggle to survive. Every meal I had was because someone else didn’t make it to the table. And every day he reminded me that I would die so he could live. I waited years to be rescued. Every day that no one came he laughed at me. He knew. I tried to kill you for not giving a damn.
That baby. It’s you.
Sinister smiles with his shark teeth.
He is the legacy of the Summers and Grey lines. He represents the ultimate in genetic potential, surpassing even his mother. The dark lord wants his power- a power great enough to challenge Apocalypse himself.
But why did you attack Genosha?
I seek the perfection of Homo superior. I required more test subjects. My subordinates were simply overzealous.
INT. X-MANSION INFIRMARY- NIGHT
Gambit throws cards into Wolverine’s hat, bored, laying in his bed in the infirmary.
Along the wall are two beds with Angel and Beast. The third belonged to Colossus. Xavier and Magneto are playing chess, not talking, but content. In the corner is Illyana’s isolation tent. Pyro is sitting inside, holding her hand.
The room shakes.
INT. SINISTER’S LABORATORY- NIGHT
Logan, kill this piece of shit.
Wolverine slices through Cable’s metal arm, but Cable uses his telekinesis to fling Wolverine through the rear wall.
Polaris rips metal from an instrument panel, and wraps it around the baby in a sphere, taking it away from Sinister.
Sinister fires a blast of energy from his fist at Polaris, but Bishop steps in the way, and absorbs it.
Colossus punches Sinister in the face, and his head twists around backwards.
Hardly sporting, Rasputin.
His head moves back as his neck crackles.
You should have a timeout.
Colossus’ fist drops to his side, and he transforms back into flesh as he falls to the ground, unconscious.
Bishop blasts Sinister in the back of the head, and the energy erupts out the front. Sinister turns, smiling horribly, as the hole slowly closes.
Sinister moves towards Bishop. Bishop blasts him several more times, leaving large holes that close on themselves.
I’m pleased to find an X-Man worthy of the world we live in.
He backhands Bishop, flinging him into a wall.
Polaris causes a piece of sheet metal to fall from the ceiling, slicing down his shoulder and ending above his pelvis. He pulls it out as if it were a sliver, and knocks her cold.
Polaris’ cocoon around the child drops on the table and peels like fruit. Kitty phases up through the table and tries to take the child.
Ms. Pryde?
Sinister’s arm stretches and loops around her like a lasso of taffy.
Did you think you were the first little girl to walk through walls?
His arm constricts around her like a boa.
Cable is holding Havok in place, and his eye is glowing.
What about your students?
I taught them the best lesson I could: trust no one but the soldier beside you.
INT. TV ROOM- NIGHT
X-Force are sitting around in the main room, watching TV. Meltdown blows a bubble with her gum, and the room shakes.
Did you feel that?
I swear to God, Proudstar, if we have to open the window again-
Shut up, it wasn’t me.
The ground shakes again.
That you, Rictor?
He shrugs his shoulders.
I think we should call Alex.
There’s another rumble, and Domino stands.
I think we can handle ourselves.
Jubilee looks at her skeptically. The debate ends as Apocalypse’s fist comes through the wall, filling the screen.
INT. SINISTER’S LABORATORY- NIGHT
Cable stares at Havok.
You can’t fight me, Summers. I’m in your head. Your only hope is to kill the child. Apocalypse will use him to destroy everything you love.
Havok looks at the baby, staring at him with open eyes.
I can’t.
Cable fixes him with a glare.
Kill him.
I can’t. He’s Scott’s son. He’s my nephew.
Cable shuts his eyes, but not fast enough to keep a tear from sliding out of his good eye.
He punches Havok in the face. When Havok gets up, both Cable and the child are gone.
INT. MANSION INFIRMARY- NIGHT
Magneto rolls to the center of the doorway before Apocalypse, defiant.
You shall not have them.
I will kill you when you’re stronger.
Apocalypse morphs his hand over Magneto’s head, and holds him as a rag doll, limp, as he starts to suffocate.
Release him, monster.
Apocalypse smiles and advances on Xavier, dropping Magneto like a sack on the floor.
INT. SINISTER’S LABORATORY- NIGHT
Wolverine surprises Sinister, slicing through his back. Sinister drops Kitty, who passed out.
Wolverine slices him twice more, but the wounds start to seal as he turns, smiling. He fires a blast of energy at Wolverine’s right hand, searing the flesh off his metal to the middle of his forearm.
Bastard!
Havok fires a shot through Sinister’s chest. The wound smokes, but doesn’t close. Sinister turns, angry.
Summers.
Sinister tackles Havok to the ground.
Where is he?
Havok has his hands around Sinister’s throat. His hands start to glow.
You've grown so much like your brother.
Where is he?
You even have his rage.
His fists glow brighter, and Sinister is blasted into oblivion. Polaris slowly gets up as her cell phone vibrates. She walks over to Havok, kneeling beside what’s left of Sinister.
Alex?
He’s gone.
We have to go. Something's happened at the mansion.
INT. TV ROOM- NIGHT
Havok is kneeling beside Rictor, who’s coming to. He’s terrified, can barely speak. Domino has a cut on her lip but is by far the least injured.
I’m sorry.
It’s--
It’s not her fault. I thought we could handle it. I got lucky no one died.
Polaris enters the room through the hole the fist left.
Someone broke Sabretooth out of the Triskellion days ago.
She looks down at the damage to the room.
Someone messy. They didn't want anyone to know how vulnerable the government was after New York.
Is anybody missing?
Jubilee looks up at Havok.
All of the students stayed in their rooms.
He went to the infirmary.
Havok runs out of the room.
INT. MANSION INFIRMARY- NIGHT
Magneto lays on the floor, bleeding, but alive. Polaris stops to help him.
Three people are now missing from the room: Angel, Beast, and Gambit.
Xavier’s eyes are wide. He’s been infected, and already has sores all over his face.
What happened, Professor?
It takes him a moment to compose himself enough to form words.
The Apocalypse... has come.
EXT. MOUNTAIN- NIGHT
Snow is falling on Cable. He walks huddled, sheltering Nathan with his body, toward Apocalypse’s ship.
TITLES:
THE APPALACHIANS
I’m sorry, Nathan.
Cable kisses the baby on his forehead. A great metal door slides open.
I come from Sinister.
Apocalypse stands at the door, but it is dark and we cannot make him out.
Apocalypse takes the child, and the door closes. Cable is shut out, and very alone. PULL BACK to reveal that the door is the top of Apocalypse's Ship.
INT. APOCALYPSE’S SHIP- NIGHT
Apocalypse walks past an army of Madri, outfitted in cutting edge military uniforms. They’re standing at attention.
ECU on a face made blue by Apocalypse’s virus, with his eyes closed. Apocalypse’s heavy footsteps echo off the metal floor.
Arise, my Horsemen. Arise... and greet the future.
CLOSE IN on Angel’s face, the blue one from a moment before, onto one of his blue eyes, as it opens wide.
BLACK.
TITLES:
CONTINUED IN X-MEN: THE APOCALYPSE
CREDITS
