INT./EXT. – HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION SITE – OPEN WORK YARD - CONTINUOUS
Main gate, quitting time. HERO stands back, waving, as the last pickup heads out. She rolls the big gate closed, chaining it...
...as six THUGS in dark suits converge on the worksite.
HERO takes the open elevator to an upper floor.
INT./EXT. – HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION SITE – 4TH FLOOR - CONTINUOUS
HERO snaps on a light over a table covered with plans.
THUGS move into position...
...as HERO senses a presence. She looks up and sees...
...a lot of presences. She’s a deer in headlights.
HERO
(as THUGS advance on her)
Shouldn’t -- shouldn’t you be wearing helmets?
Two THUGS move in, grab her, slam her back onto the worktable, stretching her out, zip tying her wrists.
An EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL looms over her, aiming a claw-like DEVICE.
WE fall down through HERO’s eye into...
FLASHBACK – MAKESHIFT OPERATING ROOM - NIGHT
...same DEVICE over a different face, a non-human face...
BACK TO PRESENT
...rising up through HERO’s eye back to HERO’s own face.
HERO, suddenly fearless, grabs the FIRST THUG by the ears, forces the zip tie into his teeth, knees him in the chin, cutting the tie.
She rolls of the table, sweep kicking the legs from under another THUG and dashes for the open stairwell.
The THUGS still upright pull their weapons...
EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
You’ll damage the package!
... very unhappy, they holster their weapons. They scatter...
...three follow down the stairwell...
...two swing down between the open floors.
FIRST THUG
(through bloody teeth)
I’ll kill her--
EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
She won’t survive extraction.
FIRST THUG
One shot.
EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
There’ll be nothing left to shoot.
FIRST THUG holsters his weapon and joins the pursuit.
INT./EXT. – HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION SITE – GROUND FLOOR - CONTINUOUS
HERO pivots off the open stairs...
... right into a THUG. He’s a windmill. She blocks and blocks and blocks, finally able to lay him out with a shot to the nose.
She looks at her hands. She can’t believe she has such hands!
A THUG yanks her by the collar...
...she mule kicks him, elbows him, and snugs his necktie noose-tight, leaving him to fight for air.
She doesn’t know what to say, so shrugs an apology and flees.
The two THUGS swing down, bracketing her...batons snap open.
HERO grabs up two conduit elbows, improvising wrist guards.
They circle.
She counters, her arms up, her head swiveling to watch them.
They both lunge...
...she whirls...
CRUNCH!
...catching one THUG in the jaw...
CRUNCH!
...the other THUG upside the head.
Two more out of action.
EXT. – HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION SITE – OPEN WORK YARD - CONTINUOUS
Finally! She’s in the open...
...but the FIRST THUG waits, smiling through bloody teeth.
He attacks. This guy is way better, landing blows, fending off her strikes.
He forces her back into the building.
She grabs for anything that might be a weapon...
...a handful of wirenuts flung at his face...
... length of duct tape ripped to catch his arm...
...lukewarm coffee from a plastic cup. Not great weapons.
They thrash furiously, blocking, landing blows, kicks...
...FIRST THUGS slams HERO into a concrete pillar...she’s stunned, she slumps...
...he picks her up and throws her against a metal tool locker. She flops over onto the ground. That should break some ribs.
She struggles to her feet, reeling, bracing against the locker.
FIRST THUG advances. She holds up her hands, ready to give. He lowers his hands...
...she slams the double door open into his face...
...he staggers then lunges at her...
...and she slams the upper door in his face again! He slides to the ground, holding his face groaning, blood pouring through his fingers.
HERO
(bent over, hands on knees)
I told you to wear a helmet.
She straightens up and jogs for the front gate, the EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL appears out of the shadows. He ignores the FIRST THUG as he passes.
EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
(disappointed, into communicator)
Use the drones.
Four mechanoids tear through the cyclone fencing converging on the HERO. These are too big for anything hand-to-hand. There’s nothing to fight with. Unless...
...HERO throws her ass into a tiny Bobcat skid-steer loader. She speeds at the closest mech, driving the bucket between its legs, lifting it off the ground, throwing it headfirst into the open subbasement.
SMASH!
She pivots, swinging the bucket like a hammer at the knees of the second mech, buckling and immobilizing it.
The third mech slams down on the cab, denting the cage. She scoots free, spins and back up as it advances while the fourth mech lumbers up from behind.
She holds as they close in...
...holding...holding...
...then pivots, as the two collide head on head. One loses its head, flopping backward, dangling by a cable. The other mech reels, dancing backward to regain its balance, tripping on the rebar and falling into the semi-soft concrete, trapping it.
HERO gets out of the Bobcat, but the ground shakes as a super mech appears out of the darkness. Too big to fight with the little Bobcat...
...She hops back in, spins and aims to speed around...
...a giant metal hand karate chops the ground, blocking escape. She pivots and speeds the other way. Another karate chop. Another escape blocked.
A hand lifts, reaching for her...she races backward, up the ramp, slamming into the lift cage.
The lift shoots skyward...
...as the super mech climbs the outside of the building, using the open floors as a ladder.
EXT. – HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION SITE – ROOF TOP - CONTINUOUS
The lift slams against the stops at the rooftop. She backs the Bobcat out onto the unfinished deck.
The super mech levers itself up onto the roof, right behind her.
A giant hand clamps onto the driver cage, crushing it as the super mech lifts the Bobcat and swings, holding over the side, the street forty-two stories below.
EXT. – HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION SITE – OPEN WORK YARD - NIGHT
The EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL stares up at the fight.
EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
Don’t drop it!
RADIO VOICE
(filtered)
Just a little scare.
EXT. – HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION SITE – ROOF TOP - CONTINUOUS
The driver cage snaps off the body and the Bobcat drops to the street
EXT. – HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION SITE – OPEN WORK YARD
As the EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL watches.
RADIO VOICE
(filtered)
Damn.
EXT. – HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION SITE – ROOF TOP - CONTINUOUS
HERO crawls between the legs of the super mech, spots the open catwalk to the tower crane. She runs for it.
The super mech, staring over the side of the building...until its sensors pick up HERO’s movement over the catwalk.
HERO clambers into the crane’s cab. She pivots the giant boom arm, lowering it as it turns, the metal struts screech at the strain, until the boom rests on the parapet of the building opposite.
The super mech puts a foot on the catwalk, then sets down the other foot. The catwalk bows, but holds as the super mech walks to the cab...
...the HERO has vacated, clambering up on the boom arm...looking down on the street below...a dizzying sight. She inches along the boom’s thin metal inspection walkway.
The super mech twists itself onto the boom. The parapet opposite crumbles under the added weight...
...HERO must run, arms windmilling to keep her balance. She reaches the jib. No more walkway. Only the crossbars to reach the building edge...
...as the parapet crumbles...
...she takes a deep breath, holds it, and strides crossbar-to-crossbar, leaping for the building edge, landing, rolling to safety.
Behind her the super mech is a clumsy wire walker, balancing, leg to leg, the sound of SERVOS straining, the building edge almost in reach.
HERO turns to look, sees the super mech almost on her. She throws herself at the exit door...
...as the boom arm buckles under the super mech. It flings itself at the parapet edge, one hand grabbing hold...
CRASH!
...then stillness. The hand inert, gripping the building edge. Then the sound of SERVOS as one finger, then another finger struggle for a better grip.
HERO edges to look over the side of the building.
Only the hand remains, sheared connector cables sparking. The rest of the super mech is in pieces forty-two stories below.
EXT. – HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION SITE – OPEN WORK YARD
EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL grimaces. Slowly its eyes open.
EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
(into communicator)
That’s coming out of your paycheck.
EXT. – OFFICE BUILDING LOBBY- NIGHT
HERO slips out the stairwell door, nods to random SECURITY GUY and exits into the night.
INT. – SEEDY MOTEL – HERO’S ROOM – NIGHT
HERO examines herself amazed at the lack of damage. She does a few muscle poses, a few martial arts moves, baffled. She opens a beer from an ice chest. She’s earned it.
