" I didn't think you'd be here." " I figured I'd stick around." " So you got it." " Just barely." "Cops you're trying to nail - they knew we were coming." " You all got out okay?" " Yeah, but everybody's real spooked." "Well, the S1W takes on police corruption." "You didn't think it was gonna be easy, did you?" "Listen, just get Eyes Only to do the broadcast tonight, okay?" "I really need something on record." "Otherwise the cops can say anything they want and they can make us out to be the bad guys." " You got it." " Thanks." " Hey, are you okay?" " Yeah." "I don't know." "I " "Logan, I'm telling you something." "Somebody's on to us." "Do not attempt to adjust your set." "This is a streaming freedom video bulletin." "The cable hack will last exactly sixty seconds." "It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped, and it is the only free voice left in this city." "Activist group the S1W has again been busy in defense of your freedom, securing indisputable physical evidence of wholesale corruption in the sector police force..." "God, how many times have you played this before?" "Um, never." "You might want to move." "Get down!" "Everybody down!" "Freeze!" "Stop right there!" "God, man, that bullet - how'd you know?" " He needs a doctor!" " Quiet!" "That's all of 'em." "Good job." "They designed her to be the perfect soldier - a human weapon." "Then she escaped." "In a future not far from now, in a broken world, she is haunted by her past." "She cannot run;" "she must fight to discover her destiny." "Last night, here in sector four, an anonymous tip led police to this building - headquarters of dissident group S1W - and the arrest of at least six members..." "You hearing this, people?" "Anonymous tips." "That's how we get these outlaws off the street." " They're not outlaws." " Oh yeah?" "Says who?" "They're just trying to expose corrupt sector cops." "Well, that's an interesting theory, Miss Late-as-Usual." "And how exactly did you get to be such an expert on the S1W?" " So how do you know about the S1W?" " Why?" "Thinking of phoning me in?" " So what's up with our little Maxie here?" " What do you mean?" "Maybe we got ourselves an S1W type right underneath our noses?" "She fits the profile." "Yeah, I heard." "What do I do?" "Zero respect for authority, erratic behavior, lots of unexplained absences..." "Okay, I'll go get it." "Plus I think she's got a lot of underlying hostility." " What are you two lookin' at?" " Nothing." "I just got a, uh, delivery here for Alec." "Oh, what do you know, it's right near where the S1W was arrested." "I'll take that." "What'd I tell you?" "Hey, yo, Mikey - check me out, man, I'm winning." " What are you doing here?" " Right back at ya." " Looking for something." " Asha's address book?" "Yeah, me too." "Oh, what?" "Like it's some big secret?" "Asha's in the S1W." "And they got arrested here last night." " Yeah, so what's that got to do with you?" " My number's in the book." "Oh, sure." "You and the S1W, fightin' the power." "Who said anything about the S1W?" "Asha asked for my number one night at Crash." " She asked?" " Or maybe I offered it to her." "I don't know - it was during that whole mermaid thing." "I was feelin' kinda lonely." "Consider your lonely ass saved." "Here's her backpack." "Okay, question - have you ever pretended to write down a guy's phone number?" "What's this?" "Asha likes poetry?" "It's none of your business." "Hey, get a load of this. "Oh, love, let me raise you softer than moonbeams..."" "Kinda makes you wonder who she's writing to." "Could be anyone." "You're right, it could be about anyone, but, uh, here's an interesting fact." "Logan's name is in her book." " They work together." " Yeah, I'm sure they do." " They do, smartass." "That's why I'm here." " Oh, because they work together?" "No, because I don't want Logan's name to end up in some police file." " With Asha's." " With the S1W." "Oh, okay, right, right." "Now, Logan used to be your thing." "We weren't even like that." "So when Logan asks you to go get his poetess friend Asha out of jail, you jump at the cha..." "We weren't designed to be chumps, Max." "People were arrested here last night." "Do you even get that?" "People risking their lives for something more important than themselves." "They were rounded up because some snitch turned them in." "One guy was wounded." " Max..." "So forget the cheap shots, because even if that were true, it wouldn't matter, 'cause it's not about me." " Max..." " What?" "Or maybe it is about you." "Hey, neighbor." "Yeah, I'm kind of expecting someone at, oh, 7:03." "So I'll be away two days, at least." "So I was wondering, I mean, if it's not too much trouble, if maybe you could... get my mail while I'm gone?" "Huh, neighbor?" "I'm sorry, did you say something?" "You know, I can't actually remember what he looked like." "You kind of don't notice him." " Don't notice him?" " It's hard to explain." " He's got game." " Yeah, and he was barely trying." "He was just..." "I don't know..." "it's like he sees everything." " What do you mean, sees everything?" " Okay, this is gonna sound crazy, but... it's like he knows what's gonna happen before it happens." " Yeah, that sounds crazy." " He knew that raid was coming." "You see that bullet hole over there?" "He ducked before the shot was fired." "Made me duck too." "The bullet went right over our heads." "He saved my life." "You wouldn't by any chance know how to find this guy?" "Max." " What's that? "Brian"?" " Looks like "Brain"." "One-thirteen 125th Place." "Just like he said." "Told me the hottest chick I'd ever seen was gonna show up looking for him." "I guess that's you, huh?" "Shut up!" "...it's nature's miracle." "That's what it is." "White, hearty, and true." "Not ostrich, or emu, or goose." "It's straight from the chicken to you." "So if you want to feel healthy, here's what you'll do." "Break an egg." "That means you." ""Break an egg"." "Okay." " Keep your voice down." "Don't knock, either." " Why?" " 'Cause you lose the element of surprise." " What surprise?" "That kid said he's expecting us." " Yeah, but it could be a trap." " Please." "I think we can handle him." " Whoa. "We"?" " Nobody asked you to tag along." "That's right." "You were supposed to come alone." "Okay, this is totally unnecessary." " So this is the guy who turned them in?" " Looks like." "Says he admits he knew the raid was going down." "Although, according to him, only to a 73% certainty." "Hello?" "Okay, these things are a little tight." "I don't know if I mentioned it, but I bruise easily." "Look, I'm trying to help you, Max!" " You know him?" " I think he's got a little thing for Max." "Well, we'll have to deal with him and his "little thing" later." "They're moving the S1W to a federal facility in about an hour, and there's an opportunity to intercept on Highway 153." "Oh, that's a bad idea." "There's a railroad grade crossing in serious disrepair along the route." "It's about a mile from the Somerset Poultry Farm." "If you're thinking about the train track, think again." "What is this?" " It's 92% failure scenarios." " Okay, I need you to shut up." "County roads in the area allow unacceptable delivery rates of backup sector personnel." "I mean, the probability of subsequent apprehension is - is - is like... 3157 Mercer Street?" "!" "Is this your idea of a secret meeting place, huh?" " "I will love you like the..."" " Hey!" "What are you doing?" " Eyes Only?" " Put it away!" " It's okay." " Give it here!" "It's just nice." "I just want to read it." "Crossing'll be deserted." "Bus'll come to a complete stop." "It should be easy in, easy out." "What's that?" " Nothing." " Poetry." "It's nothing!" "Stay with what's-his-name and we'll do the rest." "So what's his name?" " Brain." " Brian." " Be careful." " "Be careful"." "That cost him." " I'll do this alone if I have to." " I'm on board." "Look, the only way it'll work is if you break an egg!" "You hear me, Max?" "Break an egg!" "Well, well." " Max." " Got your back." "Max." "It's a silent alarm." "The keys." "Find the keys!" "Alec..." "Drive." "Drive!" "You know, I'm thinking the fat kid may have been right." "We'll make it." "I'm glad to hear that, because we're being followed." " We're all clear ahead." " Yeah, except for the police cruisers." " Just find the key!" " Only a hundred and fifty more to go!" " What did Brain say before we left?" " "Bad plan"?" " I mean as we were leaving." " "Break a leg."" " No, he said "egg"." "He said "Break an egg"." " What's it matter what he said?" "Hold on." "Everyone hold on!" "Max, no..." " Let's go, lads." "He needs help." " Don't worry, I'm okay." " How'd it go, Max?" " Kinda weird, actually." "Hold on." " How'd you know?" " Know what?" " "Break an egg."" " And the cops, and the train..." " Did I get the schedule wrong?" " No." " Then what are you mad about?" " Just tell us how you knew." "How do you think I knew?" "I'm an X-series, just like you." " What are you?" " What am I?" "Yeah, she means you don't exactly look like a soldier there, big guy." "Oh, and you two do?" "I'm an I.T. concentrate." "A battle processor." "I'm basically a general, his staff, two database groups, and five logistical support teams, all rolled into one stealth package." " Stealth." "Yeah." " People look away." "They don't remember me." "There, are you happy?" "Yeah, that still doesn't explain your psychic ability." "Psychic?" "Please." "I combine near-absolute data knowledge with fast Fourier neural nets for heuristics." " Heuristics?" " Predictions using probability algorithms that are stored in my..." "Look, are you sure you want to hear this?" "Whatever you call it, you can tell the future." "I can see our future." "Yours and mine." "That's why I'm here, Max." "You getting the feeling that, uh, Puffy here's got something else on his mind than betraying the S1W?" "Oh, but I didn't betray the S1W." "It was one of them." "Come on." " I don't want to get out of town." " Well, you don't have a choice." "They have photos of you now." "Fingerprints." "It's just a matter of time before they pick you up again." "This yours?" " Thanks." " There's some personal stuff in there you might want to keep track of." "Address book... poems and things..." "Come on." "What are you doing, Max?" "S1W went down 'cause of him." "Or not." "That's what I'm thinking." "Don't worry" " I'll keep him on a short leash." " Oh, it was nice seeing you again." "You're right about the S1W." "One of them's gotta be a police informant." "I mean, they free political prisoners, play Robin Hood, even get fingered for taking down Manticore, and the cops leave 'em alone." "Then they attack police corruption head-on and get nailed." " Would you pay attention?" " I am." "What did I just say?" "You were wondering what, if anything, is going on between blondie and you-know-who." " Let's stick with who's the informant." " I don't know who." "Well, I pulled up the arrest report from the police database, so just... do your thing." "Okay." "Well, that's the guy that got shot, so we know it's not him, unless... that's what we're supposed to think, and it is him." "All right, on this next one, could you be a little more - what was it - heuristic?" "Ooh." "Yeah, she is gonna be a lot heavier than I am when she's thirty." "93% certainty." " Did she turn them in?" " No idea." " Okay, then." "This guy." "What about him?" "I don't know who he is." "Max went out to get your address book and came back with some crazy guy she found who knows a lot about the S1W." " Not a lot." "Everything." " Max seems to think he's okay." "Yeah, well, Max wasn't turned in, was she?" " So what you're saying is none of them did it?" " Maybe all of them did it." "Or maybe not." "Look, I'm not optimized for this!" " It's okay." "We're finally together, and I'm letting you down." "You don't remember me at all, do you?" "From back at Manticore?" "That's all right." "I'm designed to be forgettable." "But I remember you, with your short hair, and your cammies, and - and you could blur in everything." "I used to watch you and your friends running around, just having a blast." "It was no blast." "Believe me." "When you broke out, leaving the rest of us behind..." "I thought I was gonna die, I missed you so much." " Look, Brain, we didn't know each other." " I knew you." "They fed us data on all the X5's to predict battle behavior, and I stayed after every day, learning everything there was to know about you." "I knew you." "That data they fed you - it wasn't me." "I knew you'd come back to Manticore, and you did." "I knew you'd get involved the second S1W got into trouble." "That's why I'm here." " What do you mean, that's why you're here?" "I know you better than anyone, Max." "And I would do anything for you." "What I really need you to do... is tell me who the informant is." "Okay?" "What?" "There was a .05% chance that you were... gonna lean over and kiss me right then." "I was just... hoping." "Okay." " Let's go." "If she's supposed to be on our side, then why's she protecting him?" " She's not protecting him." " Then where is he?" "Why don't we just concentrate on getting you guys out of town?" "And why don't you call me when you get there." "You've got my number, right?" "Who's he working for?" "That's what I wanna know." "He's not working for anyone." "He saved your asses, if you wanna know the truth." " Yeah?" "Is that what he says?" " That's what I say." "You're blaming the wrong guy." "I think" " I think" " I think" " I think sector police will approach in a scatter "Y" formation." "Alpha team in the stairwell, bravo in the elevator." "Chances are dead even a third team will stake out the roof." " What is he talking about?" " He turned us in again!" "Shut up!" "Egress through a fire stairwell." "Fifty-four steps up to the second floor." "There's an exhaust fan behind a four-foot grate in the west hallway." "Use it." "It's your only way out." " When?" "When's this happening?" " Now." " Go!" "Do what he says!" "Get out of here!" "You trust him, you lead the way." "I got one!" "I think." " Yeah." " We're at the pickup point." "How you doing?" "I'm off to the frozen north." "I don't know who to trust." "I'm not happy about this, Logan." " Well, I'm not happy about it, either." "Well, if she's not happy, and you're not happy, then I'm not happy." "Max, are you happy?" "Shut up!" "No, not you." "There should be a loading ramp by the garage." " Okay." " A truck will back in at 4:05." "That's your ride to Canada." "Driver's a friend of Eyes Only." "He knows the entire situation." "He found him!" "Detective Sung said Brain's in lockdown at twelfth precinct." "I'm gonna get him." "Did you hear that?" "Big guy's in lockdown, so it's kind of hard to figure him for our police informant." "So until we know who is be careful." "You might want to keep your departure plans to yourself." "Logan, don't hang up yet." "It's just... are you there?" " Yeah, I'm here." "You're gonna be fine." "Good luck." "Just stay in touch." "What in the world do they see in you?" " Oh, it's you." " Spare me." "You knew I'd be coming for you." "Well, you must have been expecting someone, or did you think you could really slip through those bars?" " That's hurtful." " Come on." "Let's get going." "The guard I stole this uniform off of won't be out forever." "What's with the ankle?" "You know, while the cops were storming the place and you guys were all getting away," "I had this thought." "Oh, left." "Left." "Maybe people don't see me because there's nothing to see." "Are you sure this is the fastest way out?" "What's the point of knowing everything but doing nothing about it?" "I'm not seeing an exit anywhere soon." "Anyways, that's why I turned myself in." "You what?" "!" "I'm dying because you turned yourself in on purpose?" "!" "Well, I thought you were supposed to be strong!" "I'm not Superwoman!" "Oh, here." "Hurry!" "Ooh, right there." "Look, they're coming." "Gently - gently - okay - oh - oof!" " Do you have any idea what the chance of this is?" " Of what?" "You turning yourself in?" "No." "Of you and me here, together... in this exact precinct... in this exact office... you wearing that uniform..." "me and my sprained ankle... in this exact moment in space and time." " Do you know what the chance is?" " Who knows - one in a trillion?" "No." "It's a hundred percent." "We're here, right?" " Okay, I see where all this is going now." " Where?" "Where's it going?" "You mean where are you going." "Because you're running  running through a passageway, drawn onward by distant voices." "There's machinery... steam..." "it's some kind of factory." "No, it's a sawmill." "Oh..." " What?" " You look so beautiful when you run." "What are the voices?" "You said "drawn onward by distant voices"." " I said that? "Drawn onward"?" " That's what you said." "Well, okay then, you're drawn onward by distant voices... voices of the S1W being held captive by the traitor in their midst." "Okay, you descend a staircase into another passageway, headed for a door at the end." "There's a sign on the door." "It says..." "What?" "What does it say?" " "Drawn onward"?" "Look, I really said that?" " What's the sign say?" "Okay." "The sign, it says..." ""Danger"." "But because you're you, you don't stop." "Instead, you kick the door open..." "What?" "What happened?" " I don't know." "Nothing." " Nothing?" "What do you mean, nothing?" "I mean, why did I take so long to find you?" "Well, I don't buy any of it, anyway." "I mean, why am I supposed to believe you just happen to know all this?" "How could anyone just happen to know all this?" "Why do you think we're here?" " It's just like Asha's book." " It's an old CIA trick." " A poem?" " Not a poem." "A coded message, keyed to matching books." "That's how the informant's been communicating with the cops." " What are you saying?" "Asha's the traitor?" " Look at the bright side - at least she's not writing love poems to Logan." "No, it doesn't make any sense." "Betraying the S1W would hurt Logan." "She wouldn't do that." "Good point." "Musta been someone else's book you found." "Whose?" "Beats me." " Oh, you took my book." " No, it ended up in my backpack somehow." "Lucky for me." "I was afraid I'd lost it." " What does it say?" " "Oh, love, softness swelling"..." "I mean decoded." "The traitor's the group leader, the guy who got shot." "He's dangerous, Max, so..." " I know. "Be careful"." "I was gonna say why don't turn around and forget the whole thing?" "We can live happily ever after." "That's 97% certain." " Brain..." " Yeah?" "Watch the hands." " I'm just tryin' to hang on here." " Hang on a little lower." "Not that low." "It's 4:05." "Time to move." " Where?" " We got a ride to Canada." "Well, let's go, then." " Wish me luck." " Max, wait." "The poem you found in Asha's backpack..." " You mean the coded message." "Yeah, only you didn't know that at the time." "And you helped her anyway." " How do I look?" " What do you mean?" "How do I look?" "Is there something you're not telling me?" "Something that's gonna happen?" "Well..." "I never actually noticed before, but... kind of  magnificent." " Fall back!" "Fall back!" " Freeze!" "Stay where you are!" " This way!" "Come on!" " Where are we going?" " This way." " The gunfire stopped." " There's more coming." " How do you know that?" "Just go!" "Let's go!" "Let's go!" "Come on!" "Let's go!" "Move!" "Move!" "'Cause you're running... running through a passageway, drawn onward by distant voices... voices of the S1W being held captive by the traitor in their midst." "You descend a staircase into another passageway, headed for a door at the end." "There's a sign on the door." "It says... "Danger."" "Brain." "Shh, you'll be all right." "Egress through that door..." "ninety-three feet." "Turn right." "Hurry." "Let's go." " You saw this, didn't you?" " I saw you." "You saved me." "What are the chances?" "You... me..." "One hundred percent." "Max, I don't mind if no one else ever saw me." "I just wanted to be seen by you." "Clear the area." "Clear!" "Brain." "Brain?" "I got your message." "Is it true?" "Yeah, it's true." "All the police files from the arrest are gone." "Your record's clean." " So I can stay." " You all can." "God, Logan, thanks." "Don't thank me." "Apparently  a candy bar melted on the precinct system server." "Ruined all the data." " Wow, what are the chances of that?" " According to Max, they're, uh..." " What?" " Better than you'd think." "So you wanna come along?" "Tell the group the good news?" "I'd promised someone I'd do them a favor." "Um,  how 'bout if I meet you guys there later?" "Uh, tell Max I'm sorry, okay?" "About her friend?" "Okay." "Jim, when shall I see you?" "Where will you go?" "I'll meet you at the manor after I've seen Frank." " Take care of yourself, darling." " I will." "It's bright and warm outside, thank goodness." "I'll be all right." "Do not attempt to adjust your set." "This is a streaming freedom video bulletin." "The cable hack will last exactly sixty seconds." "It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped..." "I don't know how he stood it." "All that noise, I mean." "All around us, the battle rages - a battle between..." "Why are you here?" " Never a welcoming word with you, is there, Max?" " Well?" " The courageous among us do not give up..." " Maybe, uh... maybe I wanted to come by and make sure you were okay." "Did you ever think of that?" "The courageous among us are called more often than others to sacrifice." "A great and fearless warrior in this battle died today..." " "Great and fearless warrior"?" " It doesn't matter what they say." "I just want people to see him." " Overlooked in his lifetime by all of us..." "Why are you here?" " Like I said." " You sold his TV's, didn't you?" "No, not all of them." "I'm gonna keep one for myself." " You're moving in?" " Well, Max, it's not like he needs the place anymore." "You know, I never really noticed, but  he's actually kind of magnificent." "Yeah." "He was."