DARK ANGEL
Season One, Episode #15: "Shorties in Love"
First Aired 4/17/2001
(In the hallway of Max's apartment building, Herbal, Max, Original Cindy, Sketchy, and Jacinda are moving a hot water heater in.)
JACINDA: A little to the left. Careful.
SKETCHY: But why not? Hell, it's been 30 years. Grunge is due for a revival and I can get paid if I'm the one doing the reviving.
HERBAL: Ah. So this is not about making music. This is about making money.
SKETCHY: This is Babylon, dude. I want a car.
MAX: I'm so looking forward to hooking up this thing and having a nice hot shower.
JACINDA: Whoo! Amen to that. All my little boy can talk about is taking a bubble bath.
SKETCHY: Hey, Jacinda, has anyone told you you have beautiful eyes?
ORIGINAL CINDY: Ugh!
SKETCHY: What?
ORIGINAL CINDY: Sista gurl’s the bomb, but now is not the time or the place, fool.
(The gang is moving the heater up the stairs now.)
SKETCHY: Have you got rivalry issues with heterosexual males such as myself?
ORIGINAL CINDY: I’m gawna put the smack down on your ass.
(Sketchy sees a rat in between the steps and drops his end of the heater.)
ORIGINAL CINDY: You fool!
(Herbal and Max manage to hold on to their end of the heater)
HERBAL: I got it.
MAX: Okay, on three. One, two, three. (pushes the heater the rest of the way up the stairs) Herbal, you got some guns on you!
HERBAL (breathing hard): Yeah. Thanks.
(Later in the apartment, Max comes out of the bathroom in her robe.)
MAX: Ah. A hot shower in my own apartment. If that ain't heaven, girl, I don't know what is. (sits down on the couch next to Original Cindy)
ORIGINAL CINDY: I'm glad, 'cause that water heater cost enough.
MAX: It was worth every penny.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Give me your paw.
MAX: What are you doing?
ORIGINAL CINDY: What? You never had a manicure before, boo?
MAX: No. Sounds too much like Manticore. Besides, it's kind of girly.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Shugga, sometimes you so butch, it's hard for me to believe you don't play on the all-girl team.
MAX: I'm just not into the whole pampering thing. Give me a hot shower, clean undies, I'm good to go.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Yeah, well, there's nothing a man likes more than to know his woman minds the details.
MAX: Yeah, well, I'm no man's woman, okay?
ORIGINAL CINDY: Whatever. (Hears a squeaking sound from the ceiling) We got a rodent problem, boo. Hear them gnawing?
MAX: Yeah. So you really think men pay attention to this kind of stuff?
ORIGINAL CINDY: I know they do. Not consciously, though. I mean, the male mind likes to think it's thinking on some larger issues. Like, the workplace, conquest, meeting adversity head on, but it's way more subtle than that.
MAX: Original Cindy, an expert on men. Who'd have thunk?
ORIGINAL CINDY: Original Cindy's aiight with the mens . . . just don't ever ask her to go to bed with one.
(Suddenly, they hear the ceiling plaster cracking and the water heater comes crashing down through the ceiling)
MAX: Somebody out there just doesn't want me to be happy.
(Opening credits)
(At Crash, Original Cindy is playing pool against a guy and wins money. The gang is watching on.)
MAX: That's my girl.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Don't hate the playa, hate the game. (takes money from her opponent)
(Diamond enters the room)
DIAMOND: Who said you was a playa?
ORIGINAL CINDY (surprised and cautious): What's up, boo?
DIAMOND: We on? (They start a new game of pool)
ORIGINAL CINDY: I only play to win.
DIAMOND: Yeah?
ORIGINAL CINDY: And that's not been my experience with you.
MAX: Do we know who this is?
HERBAL: That is Diamond.
SKETCHY: She's hot.
ORIGINAL CINDY: How long you been back in Seattle?
DIAMOND: Not long. I just got paroled.
ORIGINAL CINDY: When are you going to quit being a bad girl?
DIAMOND: When you stop liking me that way.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Don't even try and put that on me. Do the crime, do the time.
DIAMOND: Only that's all over now. From now on, I'm living straight.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Mm-hmm.
DIAMOND: At least as far as the law is concerned.
ORIGINAL CINDY: And you came all the way back here to drop the knowledge that you turned over a new leaf. What makes you think I care?
DIAMOND: What makes you think I came looking for you? Maybe I just want to get my drink on. I'm just playing. Look, I... I heard you was going to be here so I came down to tell you . . . I been missing you. And I'm sorry.
ORIGINAL CINDY: You ain't done nothing wrong.
DIAMOND: Yeah, I did. I didn't work hard enough to keep you. This your crew?
ORIGINAL CINDY: Max, Sketchy, meet Diamond . . . and you remember Herbal Thought.
HERBAL: Mm-hmm. My sister.
DIAMOND: What's up?
SKETCHY: Can I get anyone an adult beverage? Diamond?
DIAMOND: Let me hold a forty -- long as you don't be thinking it gets you play.
SKETCHY: I pretty much get the drift here. You don't feature dudes.
DIAMOND: Let's just say Diamond's never met a man worthy of her kiss, but I know how you boys like a challenge.
SKETCHY: Forty coming up. (Diamond wins the pool game. Original Cindy puts down her cue and gives Diamond a bundle of money.)
DIAMOND: Diamond doesn't want your scrilla, boo. She wants this. (leans in and kisses Original Cindy)
(Max’s pager goes off and she leaves)
(At Logan's apartment, Max creeps up behind Logan and looks over his shoulder while he writes in his journal. He gasps when he realizes she’s there)
LOGAN: Max.
MAX: I didn't know you wrote poetry.
LOGAN: You startled me. (Max grabs Logan's journal away from him) It's not poetry.
MAX: Looks like poetry to me.
LOGAN: May I please have my book back now?
(Max gives the journal back to Logan)
MAX: Okay. You paged me?
LOGAN: Yeah. Uh, Pierpont Lemkin, the go-to guy from the Marbury cartel. . .
MAX: I met Original Cindy's ex tonight.
LOGAN: Oh, that's nice because Lemkin is paying off the sector police to look the other way so he can run arms unchecked.
MAX: You should have seen Sketchy's face when he heard they were making out and he missed it.
LOGAN: Mmm. 'Cause word on the informant net is Lemkin's crew is behind the heist of those nuclear warheads from March air force base.
MAX: What is it with guys and lesbians anyway? I mean, what's so damn fascinating about being unwanted by the opposite sex?
LOGAN: Have you heard anything I've been saying?
MAX: Every word. I parallel-process and multitask like there's no tomorrow.
LOGAN: Good chance we'll be out of tomorrows if we don't take Lemkin down and fast.
MAX: What do you need?
LOGAN: His records -- who he's paying and how much. It's all on this disc. A guy in his inner circle got me the encryption algorithms so I can bust the code, but I need the disk.
MAX: So get your guy to grab them for you.
LOGAN: He's dead. Executed. His body turned up on his mother's doorstep.
MAX: Nice.
LOGAN: However, he did manage to get the combination to the safe.
MAX: So this is a box job.
LOGAN: Yeah. I hacked into the mainframe of Lemkin's insurance carrier and dumped the blueprints to his house. The guy's a real security freak so you're going to have to do some recon before you hit the safe. (hands Max a copy of the blueprint of Lemkin's house.)
MAX: On another matter, not unrelated . . . that new hot water heater is non-operational due to an accident caused by rats eating up our building. If I happen to find some cash along with these disks you don't mind if I help myself? I realize your mission is to save the world and what I'm suggesting probably sounds opportunistic, but you know, stealing from a thief really isn't like stealing at all.
LOGAN: Just get me the discs. Anything else you do, I don't want to know about.
MAX: Cool. (Turns to leave)
LOGAN: So they were really making out?
MAX: Yeah.
LOGAN: Hmm.
(Max leaves and returns to her own apartment. She sees an opened jar of peanut butter and some bread on the counter. She is spreading some peanut butter on a slice of bread when she sees a rat crawling around on the counter.)
MAX: Rat bastard.
ORIGINAL CINDY: What's going on?
MAX: Mickey's cracked-out cousin thinks he's setting up house in our crib.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Um, could you try and keep it quiet 'cause Diamond's in there trying to sleep. She's beat.
MAX: I bet. How come you didn't talk about her before?
ORIGINAL CINDY: There's some things that words just can't explain.
MAX: You're that tight, huh?
ORIGINAL CINDY: Diamond opened my eyes. She turned me on and turned me out. Till then, I was a saddiddy thing -- all quiet and shy.
MAX: So she brought out your inner bitch.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Among other things. Diamond brought me sunshine. I ain't going to front, though. She brought me a gang of rain, too. She was always having issues with the law so I wouldn't see her for long stretches.
MAX: Do I need to lock my stuff up?
ORIGINAL CINDY: It ain't even like that. Besides, she says that's all in the past.
MAX: She gets her act together, maybe you two can . . . work out.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Maybe. Um . . . do you mind if she crashes here for a while?
MAX: No. No problem.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Thanks. Oh. Check it. She's going to be on the mike at Guru's tomorrow. We got love, if you want to drop by.
MAX: Diamond's a singer?
ORIGINAL CINDY: My gurl drops the word.
MAX: She got skills?
ORIGINAL CINDY: Diamond's the tongue-twister, aiight?
DIAMOND (from the bedroom): Where is my boo?
ORIGINAL CINDY: I'm coming, shugga. Good night.
MAX: Good night. (Returns to making her sandwich and sees the rat again. She grabs the rat by the tail and holds it up) Gotcha! But you know what? One rat deserves another.
(The next day at Lemkin's house, Max rings the doorbell. The maid answers.)
MAX: Hi. Delivery for a Mr. Lemkin.
MAID: Sure.
MAX: I'm going to need a signature. (drops the package) Oh, sorry! (lets the rat loose inside the house while the maid picks up the package, then pints at it and shrieks) Eeeek! It went over there!
(A bodyguard with a gun comes to the door. Max points him in the direction of the rat.)
MAX: A rat. It was this big, I swear.
(Max walks around inside the house. She sees an alarmed area with laser a grid. She memorizes how the laser beams crisscross the room with the safe. Lemkin appears behind her)
PIERPONT LEMKIN: Who are you?
MAX: If you're Mr. Lemkin, I just delivered a package for you.
PIERPONT LEMKIN: What are you doing here?
MAX: I got to pee. I was looking for the ladies.
PIERPONT LEMKIN: Pee outside. Get her out of here.
MAX: Fine. (The bodyguards escort her out)
(Max, Diamond, and Original Cindy are walking through the night market.)
ORIGINAL CINDY: You was kicking some dope rhymes in the club fo' real fo’ sho.
DIAMOND: Oh, when Diamond drop her word it go down and it stay down you. You feel me.
ORIGINAL CINDY: No doubt, no doubt. I mean, you were off da hook in there, boo.
DIAMOND: Well, you know . . .
MAX: Listening to you two, it's like reading original text. Talking about yourself in third person. The whole shugga boo dealio. I totally get where it comes from now.
ORIGINAL CINDY: If you saying that I'm biting Diamond's flava, I'm not even trying to hear that.
DIAMOND: Boo, don't even listen to her. She get her stilo from Diamond.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Original Cindy don't bite nobody's stilo. It don't come from nowhere 'cept me which is why the name is Original Cindy. Period, point blank.
DIAMOND: Boo, boo, I was just doggin' you. I gotcha.
MAX: Hey, I'm sorry I even brought it up. Jeez.
(Max spots some suspicious men ahead. She stops Diamond and Original Cindy from walking further.)
MAX: You guys get ghost. We got a situation here.
DIAMOND: What you mean, "situation"?
ORIGINAL CINDY: Just do what she says; she knows what she's talking about.
(Original Cindy and Diamond run away. Max turns around and sees a man with a gun behind her.)
MAN: Don't move.
(Max kicks the man down and fights the others. Diamond stops to watch for a bit.)
ORIGINAL CINDY: Come on, let's get out of here.
(Max finishes fighting off all the men and picks up one of their guns left on the ground)
(Back at Logan's apartment, he is lifting weights)
LOGAN: What makes you so sure these weren't Lydecker's people?
MAX: Well, they weren't jarheads, for one thing. Lydecker's posse's all "G.I. Joe, hut-hut-hut." Plus, they're strapped with way more firepower than this. (hands Logan the gun she picked up)
LOGAN: No shortage of folks looking for Manticore technology.
MAX: Run a check on that. It might narrow the field.
LOGAN: I'm all over it.
MAX: Well, this little girl's gonna go home and chill out before she knocks that safe over. (She sits down back to back with Logan)
LOGAN: It's worth noting, while you're right my mission is saving the world, it doesn't mean that I don't worry about you.
MAX: Worry accomplishes nothing. But it's nice to know that you think of me as more than your own private cat burglar.
LOGAN: Way more.
MAX: Can I take that to mean that my name shows up now and then in those little poems of yours?
LOGAN: Without stepping right into an admission that I do, in fact, write poetry . . . maybe.
MAX: Maybe, huh?
LOGAN: Mmm.
MAX: I can live off of that for a couple of days. Later.
(At Max's apartment, Original Cindy is doing Diamond's nails.)
DIAMOND: Hope your girl is okay.
ORIGINAL CINDY: She called from her boyfriend's crib before. She's cool.
DIAMOND: I wonder what those guys were after.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Who knows? Homegurl's a real trouble magnet, though, for real.
DIAMOND: Mmm. I need some air. Do you mind opening a window or something?
ORIGINAL CINDY: Mm-mm.
DIAMOND: So, boo . . .
ORIGINAL CINDY: Mm-hmm? It's stuck -- hold on. (goes to get something to help her pry the window open)
DIAMOND: If you could live anywhere . . .
ORIGINAL CINDY: I'm listening.
DIAMOND: . . . and money was no object, where would you go?
ORIGINAL CINDY: Someplace warm where it doesn't rain 362 days a year. Like Mexico.
DIAMOND: Yeah, right on the gulf.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Yeah. White sandy beaches, so warm.
DIAMOND: Maybe we'll make it there someday -- you and me?
ORIGINAL CINDY: Right, right. (Returns to the table with the item she used to open the window)
DIAMOND: What you doing with a slim-jim?
ORIGINAL CINDY: Belongs to Max.
DIAMOND: Use these for stealing cars.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Great for opening windows, too. Anyway . . . nice fantasy, but my arms are too short to even reach Mexico.
DIAMOND: Life's too short, baby. Sometimes you got to take what you need to be happy 'cause you might not get another chance.
(The door opens and Max walks in)
ORIGINAL CINDY: You all right?
MAX: Yeah, fine. They were just trying to get me to change long distance carriers.
DIAMOND: Girl, I've been in some street fights, but I ain't never seen no moves like yours before.
MAX: I took karate as a kid. (takes back the slim-jim)
ORIGINAL CINDY: Window was jammed.
DIAMOND: Uh-huh. (Looks quizzically at Max)
MAX: See you girls in the morning.
(The next morning)
ORIGINAL CINDY: So you want to hook up later and have lunch?
DIAMOND: Sounds good. Maybe tonight I can be the wife and cook you dinner.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Mmm . . . later.
(Original Cindy kisses Diamond on the cheek and leaves for work. Diamond makes sure Max is in the shower and goes into Max’s room. She checks out her gear and weapons and finds a blueprint of Lemkin's house with the location of the safe marked. The shower turns off and Diamond hurriedly puts Max’s stuff back and runs to the living room window to casually sip her coffee)
DIAMOND: Girl, you shower quick.
MAX: No point hanging out when the water's cold. (tips the empty coffee pot)
DIAMOND: Sorry . . . we drank all the joe. Did you want some? (offers her cup of coffee to Max.)
MAX: No.
DIAMOND: So, Max . . . I been wondering . . . just running things through my mind, you know?
MAX: What kind of things?
DIAMOND: Like the way you handled yourself in that fight and how you got a slim-jim just lying around and how you deliver packages for a living and can still afford this trick-ass rice-burner of yours.
MAX: Tips have been good lately.
DIAMOND: Or maybe you're supplementing your income with an alternative career? Not unlike the one I pursue myself.
MAX: Is there a point to this, 'cause I got work.
DIAMOND: If you ever looking for someone to get your back, step to me, I'm available.
MAX (suspiciously): I'll keep that in mind.
(At Jam Pony Headquarters, Sketchy is on the phone)
SKETCHY (holds the receiver out to Max): Max, throw me some details -- what's it like over at your crib? Three hot babies, hanging around and rubbing moisturizer on each other?
MAX (to the phone): Yeah, Sketchy. Then we put on our sexy lingerie and have pillow fights.
SKETCHY (to phone): See?
(Locker area of Jam Pony)
MAX: Hey, you got a sec?
ORIGINAL CINDY: Yeah.
MAX: Um . . . I think it would be better if Diamond wasn't staying with us.
ORIGINAL CINDY: You said it was okay.
MAX: I know, but the situation isn't working for me, I'm sorry.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Which means what, exactly?
MAX: Look, I'm not trying to make this personal, but I don't know who those guys were the other night and I don't know what they wanted and I can't have someone around that I don't know and who doesn't know what the score is with me.
ORIGINAL CINDY (angrily): She'll be gone in the morning. (Slams locker and walks away)
(Max’s pager goes off and she goes to the phone)
MAX: Logan, me hitting you back.
LOGAN: Yeah, the gun came back to a guy with nine different aliases hooked up with an outfit called the “Nomads.”
MAX: And I'm guessing they aren't a speed-metal band.
LOGAN: More like bounty hunters working out of Tacoma.
MAX: It just gets better and better. Do we know who the client is?
LOGAN: We don't -- that's going to take some digging. But these guys are very expensive. Whoever they're working for's got deep pockets.
MAX: Thanks for the heads up.
LOGAN: Max, you might want to think about getting out of town for awhile. Lay low?
MAX (smiling): First, I got to knock over a safe for a friend.
(That night, Max is getting ready with her burglar gear and clothes. She tries to sneak out noiselessly, but Diamond hears her. At Pierpont Lemkin's estate, Max leaps over the front gate. Diamond shows up moments later and climbs over the gate. Inside the house, Max approaches the laser grid alarm. She cartwheels her way through the lasers. She goes to the safe behind a picture and gets some money and the disks into a bag. Diamond is hiding outside the room. Max shoots a rope through to the other end with a crossbow. She slides the bag to the other side. Diamond removes the bag and makes the wire jump in the process, setting off the alarm. Gates coming down in each doorway, trapping Max.)
(Max is in a police questioning room)
DETECTIVE: You're lucky the cops got there before Lemkin took care of you himself -- he's a bad man.
MAX: Good fortune smiles on me wherever I go.
DETECTIVE: Only you got captured at the scene.
MAX: Heard there was a party at that address. I wanted to meet some boys.
DETECTIVE: Look, the maid IDed you from your little visit earlier.
MAX: Honest mistake on her part. I must have one of those faces.
DETECTIVE: And your partner's in the wind with all the cash.
MAX: My what?!
DETECTIVE (shows Max the surveillance tape with Diamond in it): Come on, give me Diamond and maybe I can make this all go away.
MAX: Is that her name? I've never seen her before in my life.
DETECTIVE: Lemkin wants back whatever was in that safe in a bad way. My boss wants this case closed and there are some very powerful people after your friend. Everyone goes away happy, you help us out.
MAX: You must be all worn out working for all these people like you do.
DETECTIVE: You and Diamond have a rendezvous point?
MAX: You just watched her swing with my hard-earned cash. You seriously think she's waiting over at the donut shop to split it with me?
DETECTIVE (to a man at the gate): She's all yours.
(Max turns around and the man shoots her in the chest with a tranquilizer.)
(Max wakes up tied to her bed in a different location)
SIDNEY CROAL (outside room): Have you been experiencing any headaches in the last 24 hours?
MAX: Where am I?
SIDNEY CROAL: Answer the question. Headaches, nausea?
MAX: No.
SIDNEY CROAL: Bleeding from your nose or gums?
MAX: No.
SIDNEY CROAL: Pain in the joints or limbs?
MAX: No, but I'm beginning to notice a very acute pain in my ass.
(The door opens and Sidney Croal and his assistant come in.)
MAX: Where am I?
SIDNEY CROAL: Where is Diamond?
MAX: Wish I could help, but like I told the cops I don't know the lady.
SIDNEY CROAL: No, my interest in her is on a rather urgent matter not to mention time-sensitive. (Max shrugs) Okay. I'll make arrangements to have you returned to police custody.
(The two men go back out.)
SIDNEY CROAL: Did she give us anything under Pentathol?
ASSISTANT: Nothing that gets us any closer to our girl.
SIDNEY CROAL: Get rid of her. As for Diamond, we have six hours tops before all hell breaks loose.
ASSISTANT: Okay. (comes back into the room and prepares to give Max a shot)
MAX: So, is this some kind of hospital or something? 'Cause you know I'm not sick . . . and I've already had my shots. Chicken pox, measles, whooping cough, tetanus . . .
ASSISTANT: Something to help you sleep.
MAX: I don't sleep.
ASSISTANT: You will.
(He turns around and walks over to Max with the needle.)
MAX: I don't think so.
(Max uses her legs to get the assistant in a headlock. She knocks him down and exits the room. She hiding in a truck to escape the facility.)
(At Logan’s apartment)
LOGAN: I've been paging you all day. I thought something might have gone sideways at Lemkin's.
MAX: Something did go sideways: Diamond.
LOGAN: Original Cindy's new, old, former, on-again girlfriend?
MAX: Yeah, and big surprise -- she's trouble. Does the name Synthedyne mean anything to you?
LOGAN (looks up files on the computer): Oh, yeah. Started out as a pharmaceutical company in the late 1990s. Synthedyne made billions during the influenza outbreak of 2011, stockpiling vaccine and then selling it on the black market at inflated prices. Gave them the capital to branch out. Lots of subsidiaries, into everything from orange juice to private prisons. Here's the CEO. His name is . . .
(Logan brings up a picture of the CEO on the screen)
MAX: Satan. We've met.
LOGAN: You did have a busy night.
MAX: He asked me lots of questions about Diamond. Man's on a mission for Miss Thang.
LOGAN: So why would a player like Croal be interested in Diamond?
MAX: Maybe they dated when she was going through her experimental period and it ended badly.
LOGAN: Or maybe he was her landlord. (finds Diamond’s record) Diamond Latrell, serving a three year sentence for receiving stolen goods. Incarcerated at the Synthedyne Correctional Facility for Women.
MAX: Escaped two weeks ago and is currently at large. Guess we found our connection.
LOGAN: Now we just have to figure out what it means.
(In the Jam Pony locker area, Original Cindy is getting her lunch out of her locker.)
NORMAL: Hot run, 1298 Chapel.
ORIGINAL CINDY: That's on the other side of town.
NORMAL: All right, why don't I read off some addresses and you can pick the ones you're in the mood to visit, all right? 1101 Wexler. No? 17 Haskell. 283 Clancy. Clancy's such a pretty street this time of year.
ORIGINAL CINDY: I'm on break right now.
(Normal goes away and Diamond shows up)
DIAMOND: You're on permanent break, baby gurl.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Yeah, right.
DIAMOND: I'm serious. There's something I haven't told you that you need to know.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Here we go. What did you go and do this time?
DIAMOND: I wasn't up for parole for another 18 months.
ORIGINAL CINDY: So when they catch up with you -- and they will -- they're going to throw your ass back inside and I'm going to end up alone, just like always. That's just not good enough for me anymore.
DIAMOND: Look, I'm not going back.
ORIGINAL CINDY: You can't live your life on the run.
DIAMOND: I don't have that much life left.
ORIGINAL CINDY: What are you talking about?
DIAMOND: Doctors in the joint say there's something wrong with me. Some kind of cancer or something. I mean, they had me on all these medicines to keep it in check, but that's no kind of life in there. That's why I walked.
ORIGINAL CINDY: You're just running your game, same as always.
DIAMOND: Not this time. I spent my whole life running. Never staying in one place or with one person long enough to have a real connection. When I got the news that that clock was running out on my ass, the only thing I could think of was seeing your pretty brown eyes one more time. I've blown every opportunity I had to get with you. I'm not going to screw this one up. It's my last shot at being happy. Maybe it sounds selfish.
ORIGINAL CINDY: No. It sounds beautiful.
DIAMOND: So Mexico it is, then?
ORIGINAL CINDY: Got a little cheddar put aside. It's not a lot, but...
DIAMOND: No, forget your pennies. From now on, you and me are living large.
(Diamond shows Original Cindy Max’s bag full of stolen money)
ORIGINAL CINDY: Whoa.
DIAMOND: Look, I ain't going to front it. The way I acquired this cash ain't entirely legal. But I figure stealing from a thief ain't entirely illegal, either. But like I said before sometimes in life, you just got to take what you need.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Original Cindy's going to tender her resignation and buy a bikini.
(At Sebastian's place, he is accessing files on the computer while Max and Logan look on)
SEBASTIAN (synthesized voice): Synthedyne. They figured out a way to dovetail two enterprises by using convicts as biotech guinea pigs. They tell the prisoners that they've got something fatal cancer, aids, whatever, and the prisoner agrees to be treated.
LOGAN: But they're perfectly healthy and Synthedyne's just using them to build a better virus.
MAX: Cute.
SEBASTIAN: In Diamond's cellblock, they were testing a designer disease called AN918.
MAX: She's been staying in our apartment.
SEBASTIAN: As long as she was receiving her meds, the disease was controlled and not communicable.
LOGAN: But she's been out of Synthedyne for two weeks.
SEBASTIAN: Then pretty soon she'll become terminal, and with this particular strain, highly contagious.
MAX: I have to find Original Cindy.
(At Jam Pony Headquarters)
MAX: Where is she?
NORMAL: Vamoosed out of here with that lesbian love doll of hers. Where the heck have you been all day?
MAX: Where did they go?
NORMAL: I don't know and I don't care. Good riddance as far as I'm concerned.
(Locker area)
MAX: Guys, I've got to find Original Cindy. It's a matter of life and death.
SKETCHY: She and her exceptionally fine squeeze bounced down to Mexico to make sweet girl-on-girl love which I'd give my hat and ass to watch.
MAX: Mexico?!
HERBAL: She gave me this to give to you. (gives Max a note from Original Cindy to read) I've never seen our sister so happy, but . . . sad at the same time.
MAX: Did she say how she was getting there?
HERBAL: Bus.
(Max runs out of Jam Pony. Meanwhile, the bus is on the road. Diamond and Original Cindy are inside.)
ORIGINAL CINDY: You aiight, gurl?
DIAMOND: Head hurts, that's all.
ORIGINAL CINDY: A little sleep, you'll feel better.
DIAMOND: Diamond won't feel better till she's sipping on a mango margarita and skinny-dipping with her shugga.
(Max is on her Ninja trying to catch up to the bus and finally reaches where the bus has been stopped. Men in bio-hazardous suits are taking people out of the bus. Max sees Diamond and Original Cindy inside a helicopter up in the air.)
MAN (on P.A.): Everyone off the bus. Move quickly and stay together. Everyone off the bus. Don't ask any questions, just move!
(At Synthedyne)
ASSISTANT: Here's the lab report.
SIDNEY CROAL: Oh, looks like Diamond's AN918's gone full-blown and she's contagious.
ASSISTANT: The other one tested negative for the disease, but we dosed her with the antidote, anyway, just to be safe.
SIDNEY CROAL: You should have checked with me first. I was planning to put them together to see how long it took for the symptoms to present once Diamond infected her.
ASSISTANT: What do you want me to do with her now?
SIDNEY CROAL: Well, we can't let her go.
(Original Cindy is in another room outside of Diamond's room and bangs on window.)
ORIGINAL CINDY: Hey! You can see this woman is sick! Help her! Give her something! What is the matter with you people?
(Max gets inside Synthedyne by hiding under a truck.)
(Inside, she comes up behind the assistant and grabs him.)
MAX: How about a little adjustment?
(Max hits the alarm. Workers are running around. Max has disguised herself in a bio-hazardous suit. She finds Original Cindy and Diamond.)
ORIGINAL CINDY: Max? Thank God! Get us out of here.
MAX: Put this on. (gives Original Cindy a bio-hazardous suit.)
ORIGINAL CINDY: What about Diamond? I can't leave my girl.
DIAMOND: Original Cindy . . . go on, now. Go on with Max. Leave Diamond here.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Nah, I'm not even trying to hear that.
DIAMOND: Don't make this harder now. I got this cancer, and I'm dying.
MAX: You were murdered. The doctors at Synthedyne lied to you when they told you you were sick. Injected you with a biological agent and pretended it was medicine. I'm sorry. It's too late.
(Tears start rolling down Original Cindy's cheeks. She and Diamond each put their hands up on the glass)
ORIGINAL CINDY: No matter what happens in my life, you are my first, and my truest, love. You know that.
DIAMOND: I'm going to be sitting up in heaven watching my baby girl shine. You got her back?
MAX: Always.
DIAMOND: Well, I got a confession to make. I jammed you up before.
MAX: It's forgotten. I've been on the run myself. I know what it can make you do. We gotta go.
DIAMOND: Before you go there's one last thing I need to do . . . and I need your help.
(Max hotwires a SUV and she and Original Cindy roar towards the exit.)
GUARD: Okay, slow it down! Come on! They're not stopping! Get out of the way!
(The SUV crashes through the gate)
GUARD: What the hell was that?
(Inside Synthedyne, Sidney Croal is on his cell phone.)
SIDNEY CROAL: Noon? By the time we play 18 holes, it'll be dark.
WORKER: Sir, there's a possible contamination in sector five. Per regulation, we're sealing off the area and evacuating the building.
SIDNEY CROAL: I'm on the phone.
WORKER: I need to ask you to put on this suit for your own protection.
(Sidney Croal waves at the worker to put the suit down.)
SIDNEY CROAL: Look, after the money that I have schmeared that starter with you tell the son of a bitch I want a 7:00 AM tee time. That's right. Yes . . . okay.
(Diamond walks in wearing a bio-hazardous suit. Croal doesn’t recognize her in the suit)
SIDNEY CROAL: What do you want now?
(She takes off the mask. Her face is breaking out with beige patches because of the virus. She points a gun at Sidney Croal.)
DIAMOND: Hey, baby.
SIDNEY CROAL: Diamond, I can help you. There's an antidote.
(Diamond takes out a vial)
DIAMOND: You mean this? No, shugga. It's too late for Diamond and we both know it. I'm stone-cold dead. (She drops the vile and it breaks. And she starts walking closer to Croal.) Oh, and so are you 'cause there ain't no more of that. Looks like Diamond finally found a man worthy of her kiss.
SIDNEY CROAL: Oh, God.
(Diamond gives Sidney Croal the kiss of death.)
(At Max's apartment, Original Cindy is in her room looking at an old picture of herself.)
MAX: Hey.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Hey. This is little Cynthia McEachin. Scared of her own shadow. Didn't even trust herself enough to cross the street on her own. And she doesn't exist anymore. So, tonight, I'm going to say a prayer and thank Diamond for that -- for helping me get my arms around who I really am, you know?
MAX: Yeah, I know.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Hard as I try not to have all these feelings for her 'cause it's easier that way . . .
MAX: The feelings kept coming anyway.
ORIGINAL CINDY: No doubt. And even though you ain't with that person you're not alone in the world, either 'cause of the vibe they be throwing in your direction.
MAX: Weird how that is.
ORIGINAL CINDY: It's called soul power, shugga. Only thing that's going to help Original Cindy stay strong through this bitch. (takes a look at Max's nails) Look at this manicure! I just did this three days ago. Nails all busted, polish chipped.
MAX: Price a girl pays for kicking ass.
ORIGINAL CINDY: Mm-hmm. Well, sista gurl's going to help you out, aiight?
MAX: Aiight.
(At Logan's apartment, the living room is full of candles. Logan and Max are drinking wine)
MAX: These brownouts are getting to be a major drag. This is, like, the third one this month.
LOGAN: They're hoping to have the power back on next Thursday. How's Original Cindy doing?
MAX: Time heals all wounds, right?
LOGAN: I'm not sure anyone really gets over their first love.
MAX: I wouldn't know. (Picks up his poetry book) So when do I get to scroll through your lyrical pen scratchings?
vLOGAN: Uh, you don't. (takes it away from her) And boy, do I wish you'd stop bringing it up.
MAX: Why do you always get so embarrassed about this?
LOGAN: Because my dad was one of those manly men who thought introspection meant you were weak.
MAX: Since when did Logan Cale, man of letters, speaker of truth, let the Fred Flintstones of this world get under his skin?
LOGAN: Since I was about three.
MAX: Aw.
LOGAN: You really want to see one of my poems?
MAX: Only if you're cool with it.
LOGAN: Oh, well, I don't know about "cool." More like vulnerable and completely exposed, but . . . okay.
(Logan chooses a poem and gives the book to Max. She reads it silently.)
MAX: You wrote this about me?
LOGAN: Depends. Do you hate it?
MAX: It's all right.
LOGAN: Well, then, yeah. It's about you.
MAX: Cool.
(Logan looks away and Max rips the page out of the journal. She then gives the journal back to Logan.)
MAX: I've got to bounce. Don't want to miss the curfew. (gets up to leave)
LOGAN: Oh, okay. I'll see you later. (He throws the journal down angrily)
(Max is sitting on top of the Space Needle holding the page and reflecting)
MAX: "Forever eyes. Dark. Somebody's angel." Whatever. But I never had anybody write a poem about me before. So whoever's out there looking to put me in a cage or straight kill me, even if they succeed, they've already failed . . . because of this. Thanks, Logan. You're going to help keep me strong through this bitch.