XXX Page #20

On the bridge is a chaos of COPS, FIREMEN and CROWDS OF

PEOPLE. They are desperately trying to herd people away from

the river.

Xander pounds Yorgi's face and dunks him underwater. Yorgi

slips and falls back to the tail section, dragging along in

the torpedo's wake.

Ahab starts making noise and it's payload doors swing open.

Inside Xander can see the row of glass cannister containing

Silent Night. The first one rises up into FIRING POSITION.

XANDER:

No you don't.

He pries the first rocket off it's launcher. The thing is

BEEPING menacingly.

IN SLO-MOTION - Xander blinks at the liquid death in his

hands. He looks over at Petra. She's shouting at him, but he

doesn't hear a thing but his own HEARTBEAT.

He looks the other direction, to the mass of PEOPLE on the

bridge above him. Total strangers...

The fate of the whole world is in the hands of a former

nihilist.

Through the crowd, Xander sees Gibbons break through with

his squad of Agents. Gibbons and Xander make eye contact.

Then Yorgi lunges onto his back, trying to pull him into the

water. Xander HITS BUTTONS on the control panel and Ahab

starts to DIVE.

EXT. UNDERWATER - DAY

With Yorgi hanging on his back, Xander turns the rocket upside

down and stuffs it BACK IN THE LAUNCHER.

Ahab heads down to the bottom of the river, the two men

fighting.

We see one man get THROWN FREE, the other is caught up on

Ahab and continues downstream.

Then the booster rocket FIRES, giving off SPARKS and BUBBLES.

It's all in silhouette now as WHAM! The rocket EXPLODES,

setting off a CHAIN REACTION. WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! Ahab and

it's unfortunate passenger are DISINTEGRATED by the BLASTS.

The chemicals BELCH OUT in harmless clouds.

EXT. THE RIVER - DAY

A FUNNEL OF WATER blasts into the sky. The crowd recoils.

EXT. THE RIVERBANK - DAY

Ivan 2 helps Petra off the motorboat. They look down at the

water, but there's no sign of Xander.

Gibbons and his men push through the cordon of POLICE,

scanning the water. Nothing.

Tears well in Petra's eyes. Even Gibbons looks dejected.

Then Petra let's out a gasp and they look downstream.

There's a boat ramp leading into the water. At first they

see a ripple, then the top of a SHAVED HEAD emerges.

The whole crowd looks on as Xander rises from the water,

walking up the boat ramp.

His shirt is tattered, his tattooed body battered. But there's

a look on his face, a calm, a self-confidence we haven't

seen before. The Phoenix has risen.

Petra runs down to him and throws her arms around him. Xander

shakes Ivan 2's hand and then turns to Gibbons.

GIBBONS:

Thought you bought the farm down

there, X. Glad as hell to see you.

XANDER:

I'm pretty happy to see me too. So

are you done with me yet?

GIBBONS:

You've kept up your end of the

bargain, I'll do the same. But you

really should consider staying on,

you make a decent agent.

XANDER:

But I hate cops, remember? Except

for her.

GIBBONS:

Cut the crap, X, I saw you down there.

You're a hero. Don't be afraid to

join the good guys.

XANDER:

Who says you're the good guys?

He starts walking off with Petra.

GIBBONS:

You know what they say, the only way

to change the system is from the

inside.

XANDER:

Oh yeah? Why don't we start by taking

this thing off my ankle? The poison

needles?

GIBBONS:

On come on, X. Did you really think

we were that barbaric?

XANDER:

No needles, huh? What about the acid

bath?

GIBBONS:

All for show. Just a psychological

mind game to get you to do the right

thing.

XANDER:

(smiles)

You're a jerk-off, you know that?

Gibbons waves.

GIBBONS:

We'll be talking soon, you'll see.

You'll be back.

Xander and Petra move off through the crowd arm in arm.

PETRA:

I can't believe my mission is finally

over. I don't even know what to do

with myself.

XANDER:

You can't welch on me now. We had a

deal.

DISSOLVE TO:

ANGLE ON - a big "X" spelled out in SEASHELLS on the sand.

The camera shoots up into the sky, showing a perfect white

beach, a perfect lagoon, a lush green island... BORA BORA...

Then we hear the BUZZING of a TATTOO NEEDLE.

CUT TO:

A THIRD "X" BEING TATTOOED ON THE BACK OF XANDER'S HEAD.

INT. HUT - DAY

His ink done, Xander walks out onto the back deck.

EXT. BORA BORA - DAY

Craggy mountain peaks and perfect turquoise blue water.

Xander steps out of a hut built over the water.

We see Petra sprawled out on the deck in a bikini. She's got

a bucket of HINANO BEER chilling down. It's a vision of

heaven.

He lays down next to her, starts pulling her bikini bottom

off.

PETRA:

(laughing)

What are you doing?

XANDER:

It's about your next mission. You

need to be debriefed.

FROM UNDERWATER - we see the two of them dive into the lagoon

nude. There's too many bubbles to see any real skin, but we

know what they're up to.

Back on the surface we see BUBBLES rising and catch glimpses

of their outlines beneath the water.

The Camera pulls back to the deck, where we see Xander's

COMMUNICATOR on the table next to the beers. We hear them

surface and start SPLASHING off camera.

Then the damn communicator starts to BEEP.

FADE OUT.

THE END:

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