Folding Man/Transcript

Teaser Sequence
'''EXT. - ESTABLISHING SHOT - OLD CITY - NIGHT'''

[Camera pans above the city, angled down looking at rooftops pass by below]

'''EXT. - ESTABLISHING SHOT - OLD CITY - PAWN SHOP - NIGHT - BREEZY'''

CARVER: Get 'em up! Do it.

'''INT. - OLD CITY - PAWN SHOP'''

[Two men are robbing a pawn shop. Carver is holding a gun on the owner. Malcolm is smashing the glass counters and taking jewelry.]

CARVER: On the ground. On the ground.

OWNER: Please don't shoot! Take what you want!

[The robbers hear a siren in the distance.]

CARVER: Son of a bitch.

[Carver runs and opens door to look out. He runs back toward owner.]

CARVER: He hit the alarm, the silent.

[Carver looks to Malcolm then shoots the owner.]

CARVER: Let’s get out of here.

'''EXT. - OLD CITY - PAWN SHOP - NIGHT'''

[Malcolm hand Carver the bag of loot and runs off. Carver takes off in the other direction.]

'''EXT. - OLD CITY - END OF ALLEYWAY - NIGHT'''

[Malcolm runs down alley which dead ends. Car lights shine on him. He looks up to see a police car coming into alley. He runs to end of alley and opens a door to a chute.]

POLICEMAN 1: Stop! Police! Don't move!

[The policemen have exited the car and are running down alley with guns drawn.]

POLICEMAN 1: Do not move! I don't want to shoot you!

[Malcolm climbs up and goes down chute. He pulls out a flashlight and looks around. As the policeman struggle to get the chute doors open, Malcolm sees a pipe that draws his attention. He pries the grate off and looks into it with his flashlight.]

POLICEMAN 1: Come out with your hands up!

[The policemen have managed to open the door to the chute. Malcolm raises his hands to the side of his head and squeezes his head. His head deforms making it narrower. The policemen go down chute into an empty room.]

POLICEMAN 1: He's gone.

Act I
'''EXT. - ESTABLISHING SHOT - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - MORNING'''

"FOLDING MAN"

'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - LIBRARY - AFTER 9:00 AM'''

[Will is walking into the library carrying a brown bag. He walks over to where Henry is sitting at a computer. Magnus and Ashley are standing on either side of Henry looking over his shoulder.]

MAGNUS: [to Ashley and Henry] I did say 9:00 [AM], didn't I?

WILL: Sorry I’m late. Bagel run -- Assorted savory, poppy seed for the Big Guy, and two kinds of schmear.

[Will receives blank stares from the trio.]

WILL: What? Okay, don't tell me that you wanted raisin.

MAGNUS: [to Will] There's an interesting case I’d like you to see.

MAGNUS: Henry?

[Henry touches the computer monitor. Will moves over to join them and watches images on the monitor.]

MAGNUS: [to Will] Security footage from a pawnshop robbery last night near the campanile.

WILL: [to Henry] How the heck did you get into the precinct LAN?

HENRY: Well, I’d like to take credit for that, but I got the password from the boss.

WILL: [to Magnus] And you got in? How?

MAGNUS: Now, where would a girl be without her secrets?

WILL: That's...not an answer.

MAGNUS: I know.

[Magnus smiles coyly at Will.]

MAGNUS: You'll see the owner shift his weight. That's the foot-operated silent alarm.

WILL: Henry, Henry, can you go back for a sec?

[Henry rewinds the footage.]

WILL: Yeah, right there. Now, zoom in.

[Henry zooms in the frame.]

WILL: [to group] Huh. Check that out. Looks like he's scooping up all of the gold jewelry and leaving everything else, including the diamonds.

ASHLEY: -Okay, that's just wrong.

MAGNUS: -Interesting.

MAGNUS: [to Henry] Fast forward, if you would.

[Henry fast forwards it]

MAGNUS: [to Will] Now, they react to the siren and become frantic. And this gunman fatally shoots the owner in the back.

WILL: Brutal.

MAGNUS: The two robbers split up, and one is pursued down an alleyway.

HENRY: There's the dashboard camera from the cruiser.

[Henry changes the footage from the pawn shop to the patrol car]

MAGNUS: And into a coal chute basement.

WILL: Okay, I’m still not getting why this ends up on our radar.

ASHLEY: Just wait.

MAGNUS: The officers enter the basement just moments after the gunman did, and once inside, they report that there's absolutely no sign of him.

WILL: So, what, he just...disappeared?

MAGNUS: According to the police, there was absolutely no way this man could have possibly exited. [Grabs file off table] It's all in the police report. Quite the enigma.

[Magnus hands Will a file.]

[Will turns and walks away studying the file closely.]

MAGNUS: Have I taken your mind off bagels?

WILL: Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure. Knock yourself out.

[Will picks up the bag of bagels and holds them out. Henry takes the bag and Magnus smiles knowingly.]

'''INT. - OLD CITY - COAL CHUTE BASEMENT - DAY'''

[Ashley slides down the chute into the room to join Magnus and Will who are already in room.]

ASHLEY: No tape. No seal.

MAGNUS: Crime lab finished their sweep this morning.

WILL: Concrete floor. No windows....

MAGNUS: This doorway was bricked over decades ago.

ASHLEY: And if he didn't leave the way he came in....

WILL: Oh, please don't tell me we have another teleporter.

MAGNUS: Not likely, but I’m not ready to rule anything out quite yet.

WILL: What about this?

[Will shines his flashlight on a 10 inch pipe.]

ASHLEY: -That?

WILL: -Yeah.

ASHLEY: Yeah, sure, if he morphed into a boa constrictor.

MAGNUS: No, Will's right, if only as a potential place that the robber hid his booty.

ASHLEY: I never saw a man with that small a booty.

[Ashley nudges her mother.]

[Will turns his head to look back at Ashley and Ashley smiles at him with a silent laugh.]

MAGNUS: We did bring Henry’s camera?

ASHLEY: Uh, yeah, we did. It's in the van.

[Ashley leaves to get the camera. They are kneeling down to peer into the pipe and Magnus places Henry’s fancy camera on wheels in the pipe.]

SCENE TRANSITION FLASH

WILL: That's a nice toy.

MAGNUS: A "toy" like this helped discover several secrets of the Great Pyramids. All right. Go slow.

[They all turn to look at monitor Ashley has set up that is receiving images from the camera.]

MAGNUS: Switch on the U.V.

ASHLEY: U.V. is up.

[We switch views to the camera's perspective inside the pipe. An image of a fingerprint becomes clear.]

'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - LOWER LEVEL - MAIN LAB'''

[Monitor showing fingerprint.]

WILL: So how does a fingerprint get that deep into the middle of a 10-inch pipe?

ASHLEY: Well, it doesn't, unless a person squeezed in that far.

WILL: Yeah, but you saw the size of that guy.

ASHLEY: Well, I’ve seen stranger things.

[looks over towards Henry]

HENRY: [to Ashley] Okay, seriously, why are you staring at me?

MAGNUS: If I didn't know any better, I’d say we were looking at a folding man.

WILL: -A folding man?

ASHLEY: -Urban legend. Crops up in city after city. Supposedly, a man who's capable of collapsing his skeleton to fit through narrow spaces.

MAGNUS: Although the legend falls short of a feat like this. But it is possible that we're looking at some sort of super-folder.

WILL: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, just... Help me out here.

MAGNUS: You're familiar with a newborn's fontanelles?

WILL: Yeah, the soft spot on the top of a baby's head, sure.

MAGNUS: Nature created it so the child could fit through the birth canal.

WILL: Yeah, but for a newborn, the head is the widest part of the anatomy. And what, you're talking about in an adult? It's impossible.

MAGNUS: Will, look around you. 10 days ago you, would have said all of this was impossible.

MAGNUS: -Henry, could you run the print?

HENRY: -I'm on it.

'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - UPPER LEVEL - LIBRARY'''

MAGNUS: These urban myths we're talking about go back a lot further than contemporary sightings.

WILL: But they're all part of what, the same phenomenon?

MAGNUS: No, no, there's quite a range. Flexpeople -- Whole tribes with genetic defects in collagen synthesis. There's a sect of Shinto Monks that are said to bow without bending.

ASHLEY: Then you've got your turn-of-the-century sideshow contortionists -- The Human Corkscrew. Henry Athol the Boneless Wonder, and not the least, my personal favorite, Elastic Ed.

WILL: But no one's ever been able to fully document these folding men?

MAGNUS: Well, if they even exist; they must be quite elusive.

WILL: You know, there was this case that I worked on at the agency that never got solved but had a very similar set of circumstances.

MAGNUS: Austin, Texas, 2005.

WILL: How do you know about Austin?

ASHLEY: Are you serious? She knows when you switched from boxers to briefs, man. What's the similarity?

WILL: Three bank employees gunned down in cold blood, and the robbers run into a vault with the cops on their heels, and apparently "disappear".

MAGNUS: According to Will's report, the only possible means of escape was a nine-inch-square ventilation shaft, a scenario that didn't win you many points, if memory serves.

WILL: No, but it gets weirder. Um, the only thing that was stolen in that robbery was half a million dollars... in gold.

ASHLEY: Whoa.

WILL: Do you think it's possible that Austin and our folding man are somehow connected?

MAGNUS: At the very least it's a working theory.

'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - UPPER LEVEL - HALLWAY'''

[Magnus and Will are walking down a hallway and meet up with Henry.]

MAGNUS: Henry?

HENRY: Got a rock-solid match on the fingerprint. Belongs to a career lowlife named Malcolm Dawkins.

MAGNUS: -Is there a last known address?

HENRY: -Nothing recent. Lago Vista, Texas, about four years ago.

WILL: Lago Vista, that's right outside of Austin. [voice over] I might be able to get the bank robbery case file from my old partner at the agency.

'''EXT. - ESTABLISHING SHOT - OLD CITY - SKYLINE - DAY'''

'''INT. - OLD CITY - SUBWAY STATION - PLATFORM'''

[Will is standing on subway platform. A man walks over to him.]

JAKE: Will.

WILL: Hey.

JAKE: Tell me the rumors aren't true.

WILL: What rumors?

JAKE: Working in-house for an internet gazillionaire, fired for insubordination, consultant for some sort of Area 51 freakazoids? Take your pick.

WILL: Can't a man just run away and join the circus without being second-guessed?

JAKE: I can't believe you want me to bail you out one more time.

WILL: How many times did I have to pull your fat out of the fire?

JAKE: -I kind of lost count.

WILL: -Is that it?

[Will takes the case portfolio from Jake]

JAKE: Case files, bloodwork, everything from Austin Federal.

WILL: You're a good man, Jake, I don't care what anyone says.

JAKE: I'll be gutted like a mackerel if they find out I brought this stuff to you.

WILL: I just want to take a second look, that's all.

JAKE: -Out of the blue?

WILL: -Yeah.

JAKE: Come on, Will.

WILL: Look, just call it a hunch, all right? If it bears any fruit, you'll be the first to know, I swear.

JAKE: Okay. You've got 72 hours. You compromise that evidence in any way, I'll swear you held a gun to my head.

WILL: That was my backup plan.

'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - UPPER LEVEL - MAGNUS'S STUDY'''

[Will is sitting at desk working as Magnus and Ashley come in.]

MAGNUS: Looks like your cold case file may have given us our first positive lead. I analyzed trace blood from that bank vault. It didn't match any of the victims.

ASHLEY: Which means it must have come from one of the robbers.

WILL: Do you have a DNA match? Because we could never find one.

MAGNUS: Nor did I, at least not to an individual who left it, but we did find someone right here in Old City whose DNA matches 16 alleles out of the 20 that we looked at.

WILL: That many genetic markers has got to be a close relative.

MAGNUS: Probably the Austin thief's father. He's a 71-year-old by the name of Oliver Braithwaite. His DNA was in the system from a suspect sweep a few years back.

WILL: Do you have an address?

MAGNUS: He's a drifter, from what we can tell.

ASHLEY: Hangs out in my favorite part of town, the old Bryant Street Corridor.

'''EXT. - ESTABLISHING SHOTS - OLD CITY - BRYANT STREET CORRIDOR - DAY'''

'''EXT. - OLD CITY - BRYANT STREET CORRIDOR - DAY'''

[Magnus, Will and Ashley are walking separately asking people questions.]

WILL: Excuse me, I’m looking for a man, Oliver Braithwaite.

MAGNUS: Good evening, ladies. I was wondering if you knew of a man named Oliver Braithwaite, an older gentleman....

WOMAN: No.

MAGNUS: Thank you.

[Will gets another 'no' in his search]

WILL: Thank you.

[Ashley strikes out as well]

Ashley: Thank you.

[The meet up in the street not far from Ashley's last individual.]

WILL: Any luck?

[Ashley shakes her head 'no'.]

MAGNUS: Did you find anything?

WILL: Oh, yeah, I got a great recipe for a rubbing alcohol martini.

ASHLEY: They know the name. They just seem afraid to talk.

[Magnus sees a man come out of a corner. He appears to be a folding man.]

MAGNUS: Stay close.

[She walks over to where the man is and Will and Ashley follow her. An older man walks from area and walks toward them. Other folding men appear.]

OLIVER: I believe you're looking for me?

Act II
'''EXT. - OLD CITY - BRYANT STREET CORRIDOR - DAY'''

MAGNUS: Oliver Braithwaite?

MAGNUS: Are you the police?

MAGNUS: No, absolutely not.

OLIVER: Then you really have no business being here.

MAGNUS: My name is Magnus, Dr. Helen Magnus.

OLIVER: The Sanctuary?

[Magnus nods 'yes'.]

[Oliver turns to the others.]

OLIVER: It's all right. Leave us.

[The others leave.]

OLIVER: I heard about the Sanctuary ever since I was a boy. A good place, where people like ours are treated like human beings.

WILL: -But you're not...

OLIVER: -We're better than human. -We have the gift.

MAGNUS: -The gift of folding.

OLIVER: My days of folding are long gone.

MAGNUS: We'd like to talk to you about your son.

OLIVER: Aaron?

[flashes of a scared Aaron appear]

OLIVER: -Do you know where Aaron is?

ASHLEY: -He's missing?

OLIVER: He's taken up with a madman. I can't contact him anymore.

WILL: We're talking about a folder?

OLIVER: They call him Nomad. He's taken the best of our youth, ripped them from their homes, turned them against their families. Aaron was going to study medicine.

MAGNUS: What's this Nomad's agenda?

OLIVER: Well, he may be crazy, but he's also a criminal genius. He gets folders hooked on this addictive drug of his. He's got some hotshot drug chemist to make it locally. If I could... find out where... ...I'd kill him myself.

MAGNUS: We want to stop this Nomad, too. Maybe we can help each other.

OLIVER: I just... want my boy back, that's all.

MAGNUS: We'll do everything we can. I promise you.

[Oliver nods and leaves.]

WILL: So, who would know about this high level of trafficking?

MAGNUS: What about our high-flying friend Mr. Jones?

ASHLEY: Worth a try.

WILL: You're going to trust an addict as an informant?

ASHLEY: Of course not. He's a crime boss, controls most of the city's drug traffic.

'''EXT. - OLD CITY - HIGH RISE - PARTIALLY DEMOLISHED BUILDING - DAY'''

[A man is standing far out on a beam which high above the city.]

ASHLEY: I like your office.

JONES: Can't beat the view. And you know I prefer our conversations private. Of course, you're taking your life in your hands coming up here.

ASHLEY: Well, I could say the same about you,

[Ashley walks out on opposing beam.]

ASHLEY: considering your line of work.

JONES: So now Miss Thang is working for the cops?

ASHLEY: You know me better than that. What can you tell me about folding men?

JONES: The only folding men I’m interested in are dead presidents.

[makes 'cash' hand gesture]

ASHLEY: I'm looking for a fugitive folder by the name of Malcolm Dawkins.

JONES: The folding men are like their own little tribe. They don't come to me or anyone else for their needs.

ASHLEY: Your crime network caters to abnormals, right? Drug distribution, prostitution, gambling... Am I missing something?

JONES: You left out my charity work.

ASHLEY: [scoffs] Right. Mr. Jones, the only one with the resources to find a folder on the lam is you.

JONES: Well, I'm not the only one who's well connected, which brings me to the reason I agreed to see you. Not that I don't always enjoy your company....

ASHLEY: Save the flattery.

JONES: My street troops have been getting signals in the past week that someone is about to make a very big move, as early as Friday evening.

ASHLEY: Nomad, right?

JONES: What he does with his own criminal enterprises is really not my concern.

ASHLEY: What is your concern?

JONES: That he's making his move on me. It's how he's planning to consolidate his power. I'm thinking we can do each other a solid -- I tell you where Malcolm is, you get a lead on Nomad and take care of my problem.

ASHLEY: More than fair.

JONES: Our good friend Malcolm’s been spotted near the old cannery. My men went to capture him, but he's, uh, slippery.

ASHLEY: Thanks, Mr. Jones. If this works out, I owe you.

JONES: I'll hold you to that. -Watch your step, sista girl.

ASHLEY: -Yup. You too.

[Mr. Jones flings his coat off and falls over side of building; he flies away over the city.]

'''EXT. - OLD CITY - DOCKS - NEPTUNE CANNERY - DAY'''

[Will and Ashley exit van.}

WILL: There he is.

[Malcolm runs and dives under a semi trailer.]

WILL: Get him.

ASHLEY: I've got him!

WILL: Malcolm!

[Malcolm stops and looks at Ashley and Will. He turns and starts running upstairs. He jumps down on the other side into the loading docks. He brings his hand to his head and starts to fold. He jumps through a small window in the fence. As he comes out the other side he lands inside the back of the van. Magnus is waiting for him and shuts the door.]

Act III
'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - LOWER LEVEL - MAIN LAB'''

[Magnus has Malcolm in MRI.]

MAGNUS: I've sedated him. He'll be out for at least a couple of hours.

WILL: You know, you pass him on the street, you have no idea what he's capable of.

ASHLEY: Of course, you could say that about almost anyone.

MAGNUS: Well, here's a reminder that he's not like anyone.

[Magnus presses a button on the remote in her hand to bring up an x-ray image of Malcolm's upper body on the drop-down computer screen.]

ASHLEY: All the gaps in the bone....

MAGNUS: Hinges. Crumple zones, if you will. Now, watch. I'll trigger a localized reflex.

[Magnus pushes a button on the remote to cause Malcolm's body to contract. They watch the changes of the position of his bones in the x-ray.]

WILL: Incredible.

MAGNUS: Efficiency of form, but at what price?

ASHLEY: I'd better see about transferring this guy to a cell.

MAGNUS: One without vents.

'''EXT. - ESTABLISHING SHOT - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - DAY'''

'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - UPPER LEVEL - MAGNUS’S STUDY'''

WILL: So, did his blood tell us what he's addicted to?

MAGNUS: Are you strapped in?

WILL: I have been since I got here.

ASHLEY: I'm guessing it's not your everyday heroin.

WILL: I'm guessing it's gold.

MAGNUS: TPG -- Tertiary Phosphine Gold. How did you know?

WILL: I didn't. I just figured it had to explain their obsession with it.

ASHLEY: So folding men steal gold and turn it into their own form of crack?

MAGNUS: Gold's unreactive to most chemicals, but it will bond to certain organic compounds. Now, this one's part of a whole new wave of metallotherapeutic pharmaceuticals.

WILL: -So it's a medicine?

MAGNUS: -For normals, yes. But for folding men, at least based on what I’ve seen of Malcolm’s DNA, it creates a virtually instant craving. It likely also dulls the pain of folding, acting like a sort of beta blocker. Without it, the pain would be beyond excruciating.

WILL: Well, if Jones is right, two nights from now, Nomad floods the market with this, cheap, powerful TPG. It turns the whole society of folding men into his private criminal army.

MAGNUS: (Well) If this quantity of designer drug is being made locally, it'll leave a trail -- we'll look for that. Meantime, find out what you can from Malcolm.

WILL: Hey, what about the police?

ASHLEY: What about them?

WILL: Well, I mean, this guy's an accessory to murder, maybe more. I mean....

MAGNUS: And what would you have us tell them? That their man's addicted to gold and that he slithers like a python?

WILL: That's a good point.

'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - LOWER LEVEL - VENT-LESS HOLDING CELL'''

MALCOLM: Where am I?

WILL: You're safe.

MALCOLM: Who says?

WILL: I'm Dr. Zimmerman, Will.

MALCOLM: What is this place?

WILL: We call it the Sanctuary.

MALCOLM: Am I... -The only one here?

WILL: -Only abnormal? Or do you mean another folding man? I don't know what you think you're hiding. We've seen what you can do.

MALCOLM: So are there more here?

[Will notices Malcolm's twitchy mannerisms]

WILL: What are you afraid of?

MALCOLM: You chased me, you trapped me, you put me in this... In this cage. You experimented on me.

WILL: Well, that might make you angry, but that's not what you're feeling.

MALCOLM: If he finds out I’m here, he'll kill me.

WILL: Nomad?

[Malcolm nods 'yes']

WILL: Why would he kill you?

MALCOLM: He gave me the signal, shoot to kill, and I... I hesitated.

WILL: And that's a capital offense?

MALCOLM: He came that close to executing me on the spot.

FLASHBACK TO ROBBERY

CARVER/NOMAD: Son of a bitch! He hit the silent.

[Carver looks at Malcolm.]

CARVER/NOMAD: Do it.

[Carver glares at Malcolm then turns and shoots the owner.]

CARVER/NOMAD: Let's get out of here.

RETURN TO PRESENT

WILL: How do I know you're not Nomad?

MALCOLM: [scoffs] Nomad never would've let himself get caught unless he wanted to be. He would've turned you into a stain on the sidewalk first. Why'd you bring me here? What do you want from me?

WILL: I want you to help us get Nomad before he can do any more damage.

MALCOLM: -Nomad's not the problem.

WILL: -No?

MALCOLM: You wouldn't understand.

WILL: Try me.

MALCOLM: You're the problem. The whole world of normals, you can't accept those who are different.

WILL: This whole place is full of those that are different.

MALCOLM: What does that make you, the zookeeper?

WILL: Well what about the drugs? They make it less painful?

MALCOLM: -What, normals don't use?

WILL: -They don't use gold.

MALCOLM: Ah, so if I shot heroin, I’d be a model citizen, right?

WILL: You know that he plans to exploit every last one of you?

MALCOLM: He wants to free us.

WILL: Children against their parents, abnormals against normals.... How many more people like that pawn broker need to get wasted on the road to freedom?

MALCOLM: -I need a fix.

WILL: -I'm sure you do.

MALCOLM: Let me guess, you used to set ant colonies on fire when you were a kid, right?

WILL: -Where's Nomad?

MALCOLM: -I may be weak. But I will not betray my kind.

WILL: If you give a damn about your "kind”, you'll see that what this lunatic is doing ensures their destruction.

MALCOLM: Go to hell.

'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - UPPER LEVEL - MAGNUS'S STUDY'''

[Magnus has a fire burning. Magnus and Ashley are sitting together on the couch looking at a book in Magnus's hands. Will is pacing.]

MAGNUS: It's pretty much what I expected.

WILL: I can get him to talk. I just need more time.

[Magnus closes the book, keeping her finger on the page inside to act as a bookmark.]

MAGNUS: There's an expression amongst creature hunters. If you could teach a lion English, you still wouldn't understand him.

WILL: We're not talking about a wild animal here.

ASHLEY: Oh, Will, that's exactly what we're talking about, only this guy’s way more intelligent than most.

MAGNUS: And, as a consequence, more dangerous.

ASHLEY: I'm late.

[Ashley gets up, grabbing her jacket along the way]

MAGNUS: -Going out?

ASHLEY: -Yeah. I owe it to Mr. Jones to tell him what we've learned.

[Magnus nods understandingly.]

MAGNUS: Stay safe.

[Ashley gives one last look back as she leaves her mother's study, opening and closing the door behind her]

'''EXT. - ESTABLISHING SHOT - OLD CITY - HIGH RISE - PARTIALLY DEMOLISHED BUILDING - NIGHT'''

'''EXT. - OLD CITY - HIGH RISE - PARTIALLY DEMOLISHED BUILDING - NIGHT'''

[Ashley and Bigfoot arrive at Mr. Jone's meeting spot, looking up at the building them down at his body on the ground.]

BIGFOOT: How does a flying abnormal fall to his death?

[Ashley kneels down next to Mr. Jones and lifts one of his wings.]

ASHLEY: Somebody literally clipped his wings.

Act IV
'''EXT. - ESTABLISHING SHOT - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - DAY'''

'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - MAGNUS'S STUDY - NEXT MORNING - AFTER 8:00 AM'''

MAGNUS: There was a struggle with the knife, undoubtedly at the top of the building. The assailant left traces of his own blood.

WILL: -Did you run it for DNA?

MAGNUS: -No matches to an individual. But genetic markers indicate it was definitely the blood of a folding man.

WILL: Retribution for the help that he provided us?

ASHLEY: Not retribution, a power grab -- control of the city's crime syndicate and hundreds of thousands in drugs and cash. [Sighs] Just as Mr. Jones feared.

MAGNUS: No doubt Nomad will use it to pay for his truckload of TPG. We've got less than nine hours. If we don't intercept that drug shipment and Nomad gets his way, the city had better brace itself for a major crime epidemic.

WILL: I still think Malcolm knows more than he's telling us.

MAGNUS: Has he ever talked about Oliver’s son?

WILL: Aaron. No, not yet. Why?

MAGNUS: Well, based on his father's description, I think he might be a chink in Nomad's armor -- Intelligent, close to his family... See what you can find out.

WILL: All right.

'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - LOWER LEVEL - HENRY’S ARRAY'''

[Henry is working on the computer.]

HENRY: TPG, TPG, TPG... Nope, nope...

[Magnus enters his lab and stands beside him.]

HENRY: I keep checking on all the key ingredients for making TPG, like you asked -- Looking for shipments to any nearby locations, but still nothing.

MAGNUS: Break it down further, Henry. The chemist may be making the constituent compounds themselves in order to avoid being detected.

HENRY: Oh, I get it. See who's buying the ingredients to make the ingredients.

MAGNUS: Precisely.

'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - LOWER LEVEL - MALCOLM’S CELL'''

WILL: The gold drug -- when does it arrive?

[Malcolm does answer.]

WILL: Austin Federal, 2005.

MALCOLM: That one took you down a notch, didn't it? What, did you expect me to deny it? Nomad knew more about you than you knew about him. Irony was, you came so close to breaking that case. He got a real kick out of that.

WILL: Were you in the vault with him?

MALCOLM: Yeah.

WILL: -That didn't bother you?

MALCOLM: -Of course it bothered me. The bank manager was begging for his life... said he had two little kids, one with serious mental problems. Nomad just shot him in the head, laughing the whole time.

WILL: All those years, you didn't think about just walking away?

MALCOLM: And go where? We had to stay together for safety. Why is....? Why is that so hard for you to understand?

WILL: Why don't you tell me about Aaron Braithwaite?

[flash of Aaron]

MALCOLM: Aaron wanted to stand up to him.

WILL: Did you ever consider listening to him?

MALCOLM: No, you don't get it. You have no idea what Nomad is like.

WILL: Tell me.

MALCOLM: He makes you weak, and then he tears you apart. And then he puts you back together, only it's his way this time.

MEMORY FLASHBACK

MALCOLM: [voice over] Aaron always said if we had any chance of breaking his hold on us, we'd have to stop using.

[Aaron Braithwaite walks over to table where a group of men are sitting.]

AARON: [Whispering] We can't keep doing this. It's wrong. You want to be free again, right? You want to see your family again?

MALCOLM: Of course, but --

AARON: We've got to be united if we're going to fight back.

MALCOLM: And then what? He'll hunt us down like dogs.

AARON: That's exactly what he wants you to think.

[Carver unfolds from between the corner of two rows of lockers.]

CARVER/NOMAD: Did I, uh, interrupt something?

MALCOLM: -No.

CARVER/NOMAD: -I didn't ask you, Malcolm. I was asking Aaron. You stirring up trouble again, Aaron, huh? Have you had your fix today? Hmm.

[Carver grabs Aaron and knees him. He collapses to the floor. Nomad puts his foot on Aaron’s head and squeezes his head causing his head to fold.]

CARVER/NOMAD: If anyone has something to say, they can say it to my face.

[Carver removes his foot from Aaron’s head.]

CARVER/NOMAD: Hey, relax. I brought you some glitter.

RETURN TO PRESENT

MALCOLM: The gold.... The gold drug has always been the key. Nomad has to keep us hooked on it.

WILL: You must be going through hell.

MALCOLM: I'll survive. I can fight it.

WILL: But can you fight him?

MALCOLM: Not by myself.

WILL: How many more innocents are you going to help him slaughter? Help me, Malcolm.

MALCOLM: Aaron talked about a place...

SCENE FADE INTO NEXT

'''EXT. - OLD CITY - RUN DOWN APARTMENT BUILDING - BACKLOT - DAY'''

MALCOLM: [voice over] ''About a place we could go to... if we ever got away from Nomad.''

[Will kicks down door to outside. Abandoned furniture litters the area.]

WILL: If Aaron was in that apartment, he must have moved everything out.

MAGNUS: You think these might be his things?

WILL: Maybe.

ASHLEY: Or maybe Malcolm led us on a wild goose chase.

[Ashley walks over to an old top-loader washing machine and opens the lid. Aaron's dead body is folded up inside of it.]

Act V
'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - UPPER LEVEL - MAGNUS'S STUDY'''

[Magnus is sitting next to Oliver on the couch. Will is sitting in chair across from them.]

MAGNUS: I'm so sorry. When we promised you that we would find your son, I never imagined that it would be like this.

OLIVER: I wanted Aaron... to be a doctor. I could imagine him working in a place like the Sanctuary. He... He was a smart boy. He was kind. [Sobbing] What is there left for me? What's left for any of us?

'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - UPPER LEVEL - MAGNUS'S STUDY - ALMOST 4:00 PM'''

[Magnus is sitting at computer with Henry and Ashley on each side of her. They are looking at the monitor.]

HENRY: When you broke it all down for me, the most basic recipe for TPG, no shortcuts, everything from scratch, the only local buyer is a small manufacturer just three miles north of the city.

MAGNUS: Aridan Labs.

ASHLEY: It's almost 4:00 [PM]. Our chemist will be leaving for his rendezvous any time now.

MAGNUS: Well, if we're right, he should lead us straight to Nomad.

[Magnus gets up and walks to table.]

MAGNUS: I've come up with a chemical test for the TPG, once we find it. It's about the only thing that will turn this liquid a brilliant blue.

ASHLEY: What about Will?

MAGNUS: He wants one more run at Malcolm. I don't think we should take him away from it.

'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - LOWER LEVEL - MALCOLM’S CELL'''

[Malcolm is shivering, trembling]

WILL: I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but we found Aaron at the location you gave us....

MALCOLM: No....

WILL: There's not much doubt about who's responsible.

MALCOLM: He was my best friend. If I had only supported him, he'd probably still be alive, if we had all just stood up to Nomad like he wanted.... His blood is on my hands as sure as if I pulled the trigger myself.

WILL: But you didn't pull the trigger. You're not a murderer, Malcolm.

MALCOLM: Aren't I? How do you know what I’m capable of?

WILL: You're right. I don't.

MALCOLM: I've watched him kill more than once and done nothing. I helped him beat a man to within an inch of his life. And guess what? I enjoyed it. I've given over what I am, who I am, to a monster.

WILL: Your awareness, your remorse, that's what separates you from Nomad.

MALCOLM: Nomad's just an excuse. My addiction is just an excuse. I'm the monster. I'm the monster!

WILL: Help me get him, Malcolm.

MALCOLM: Look at me. I can't even get through a day without gold pumping through my veins.

WILL: You're kicking it. And if you can do it, so can other folding men.

MALCOLM: I'm too weak. I'm too weak. My strength comes from the gold and from Nomad.

WILL: No, your strength comes from you. Malcolm, listen to me -- folding men are dying. Innocent people are dying. Now, you know where he is.

MALCOLM: I can't....

WILL: Why don't you do it for Aaron? He gave his life up for you guys. We're running out of time, Malcolm.

MALCOLM: I... I can only tell you where they used to be based. It's in an old factory. The city shut it down. Toxic metals. All kinds of places to hide. No matter where Nomad moved, he always kept information there, in loose floorboards, in the walls -- The locations of his safe houses, the drug labs, weapons caches....

WILL: Where would I find these things?

MALCOLM: I'll -- I'll give you the address, I'll, uh, draw you diagrams of it, describe it all to you.

WILL: Or you could just come with me.

MALCOLM: That's... That's not going to happen.

WILL: Do it for Aaron.

'''EXT. - OLD CITY - OLD FACTORY - FOLDING MEN HIDEOUT - DAY'''

[Will and Malcolm get out of Will’s car, a Toyota Prius.]

WILL: You're doing the right thing. Trust me.

MALCOLM: Okay. Let's go.

[They go inside factory.]

'''EXT. - 3 MILES NORTH OF OLD CITY - AIRDEN LABS - LOADING DOCK - DAY'''

[A man is taking large containers from the dock and loading it into back of a van. Magnus comes up behind him and stops him with a gun to his chest.]

MAGNUS: Sorry. No deliveries after hours.

ASHLEY: Hi.

MAGNUS: Do you mind telling us what's in those containers?

DELIVERY DRIVER: Yeah, sure. Just don't shoot me. It's... Its laxatives.

MAGNUS: Sorry, I don't believe you.

'''INT. - OLD CITY - OLD FACTORY - FOLDING MEN HIDEOUT'''

CARVER/NOMAD: Hands up! Get 'em up! Both of you.

[Men are holding guns at Will and Malcolm. They puts their hand up.]

'''EXT. - 3 MILES NORTH OF OLD CITY - AIRDEN LABS - LOADING DOCK - DAY'''

[Magnus is testing the substance in the containers.]

MAGNUS: It's not TPG.

'''INT. - OLD CITY - OLD FACTORY - FOLDING MEN HIDEOUT'''

CARVER/NOMAD: Sit down!

WILL: I'm sorry, Malcolm.

MALCOLM/NOMAD: Don't be. I mean, I’m sure under normal circumstances, you're a very good judge of character.

MALCOLM/NOMAD: [to group] I'd like you all to meet Dr. Zimmerman. You'll find you have a lot in common -- No backbone.

MALCOLM/NOMAD: -Carver, get me a chair.

CARVER: -Yes, sir.

MALCOLM/NOMAD: -And get me my gun.

CARVER: -Right away.

FLASHBACKS TO EARLIER

MALCOLM: [echoing] How do you know what I’m capable of?

MALCOLM: ''Nomad never would let himself get caught... unless he wanted to be. ''

OLIVER: He may be crazy, but he's also a criminal genius.

CARVER: On the ground.

CARVER: He hit the silent.

CARVER: Let's get out of here.

MALCOLM/NOMAD: You're not stirring up trouble again, are you, Aaron? Hmm?

MALCOLM/NOMAD: Have you had your fix today?

MALCOLM/NOMAD: If anyone has something to say, they can say it to my face.

MALCOLM: I'm the monster. I'm the monster!

RETURN TO PRESENT

[Will realizes that Malcolm is actually Nomad, not Carver; that while in the Sanctuary, Malcolm had switched their positions, portraying himself in his story as being in Carver's role and saying that Carver was in Nomad's role.]

WILL: You're Nomad. Carver is your pawn. They're all your pawns.

MALCOLM/NOMAD: Mind like yours, Zimmerman? Too smart for the room. Overthinks everything... The easiest to, uh, manipulate.

WILL: Can't you see what he is? He's just an addict. He's just an addict with a messianic complex. He doesn't care about any of you.

MALCOLM/NOMAD: You still don't get it. I love my people. I'm doing this for my people. No more cowering in the shadows. I'm bringing them into the light.

WILL: And what about anyone who gets in the way?

MALCOLM/NOMAD: I think you know the answer to that. In a little while, I'll have my hands on enough TPG to draw recruits from all over the continent -- A small army of the most powerful folding men.

WILL: Whatever you do to me, they'll know, at the Sanctuary. They'll know, and they'll be all over you.

MALCOLM/NOMAD: If I know Dr. Magnus -- And I do, at least by reputation -- she's undoubtedly already fallen for my bait. It's amazing the kind of disinformation you can plant with just a little know-how. Oh, and you'll love this, Will. The TPG, my TPG.... [Whispering] It wasn't made locally. It's coming from Austin.

WILL: [Sighs]

MALCOLM/NOMAD: [voice over] ''I wasn't worried about the police or Mr. Jones or anyone, for that matter, except the Sanctuary. I had to make sure that none of you would interfere.''

WILL: He ordered you to kill that pawnshop owner. All it took was a look.

MALCOLM/NOMAD: Well, unfortunately, all these revelations -- you won't be able to share them with the rest of the world.

WILL: And what about Aaron? You going to let someone take the rap for that, too?

CARVER: [to Malcolm] What's he talking about? Is Aaron....?

WILL: -He's dead!

MALCOLM/NOMAD: -Yeah, it's a terrible shame. Jones had him killed, and then he stuffed his body in a washing machine.

WILL: I never said how he was found.

CARVER: [to Malcolm] He was my friend.

MALCOLM/NOMAD: Put the gun down, Carver.

MAGNUS: Put the guns down, all of you.

[Magnus enters the room with gun drawn.]

'''EXT. - OLD CITY - OLD FACTORY - FOLDING MEN HIDEOUT - DAY'''

[Truck is pulling up to dock The driver goes to back up truck and starts to unload. Ashley is behind him with gun aimed at him.]

ASHLEY: That looks like barrels of fun.

'''INT. - OLD CITY - OLD FACTORY - FOLDING MEN HIDEOUT'''

CARVER: He was just a kid!

MALCOLM/NOMAD: He was trying to undermine me. He was trying to undermine all of us. He deserved a traitor's death.

MAGNUS: Drop the guns. I will not ask again.

CARVER: [to Malcolm] You son of a bitch.

[Malcolm shoots Carver but as Malcolm turns to shoot Magnus, Carver fires his gun at Malcolm as he is falling. They both collapse and die and the rest of the men lower their guns. Magnus moves to kneel by Will.]

MAGNUS: Will.

WILL: I'm sorry, I.... [Breathes heavily] How did you know?

MAGNUS: I had a tracking device put on your car.... Just in case.

'''INT. - OLD CITY SANCTUARY - LOWER LEVEL - HOLDING CELLS'''

MAGNUS: Four to six weeks and most of our folding men can be returned to their homes. Hopefully drug free.

WILL: Look, can you just say it, please? I mean, it's the elephant in the room. -I let myself get conned.

MAGNUS: -We all let ourselves get conned. Some of us just had a plan "B".

WILL: Yeah, well, that's the last time I play by the old rules.

MAGNUS: Don't be so hard on yourself. We stopped the destruction of an entire culture of abnormals. And you got to the bottom of one of your agency's biggest mysteries.

WILL: You're right. What am I talking about? I'm a hero.

ASHLEY: Actually, on a scale from zero to hero, you're more like --

MAGNUS: [nudges Ashley's shoulder with hers] -Ashley....

ASHLEY: -Almost respectable.

'''INT. - SUBWAY STATION - PLATFORM'''

JAKE: Just under the wire.

WILL: Thanks again, Jake.

JAKE: Did you get what you need?

WILL: Yeah. Yeah, as a matter of fact, I did.

JAKE: So.... What, are you going to try to reopen the Austin murders?

WILL: No, I couldn't make any more sense of it this time 'round than I did the first.

JAKE: It's a shame, really.

WILL: Yeah, well, we can't solve 'em all, huh?

JAKE: No, I mean you. I don't think I’ve ever met an agent with more raw potential.

WILL: I appreciate that.

JAKE: It's too bad you still can't seem to catch a break.

WILL: Ah, don't worry about it. Sometimes.... Sometimes you gotta know when to "fold" 'em.

End Credits
/Credits