LAYOVER by D. Skiles TEASER OPEN FADE IN INT. CHANDLER BAR - DAY We PAN across the room, smooth piano music playing. The people here are all staring in one direction, nodding their heads, tapping their feet to the music. It seems that they're watching the piano player, whoever that may be. We finally come across one table, that we hold on closely. At first, all we see is a man's hand, tapping on the table to the beat of the music. As we PAN up, the vocals on the music kick in. A voice singing out, low but joyful... unmistakably the voice of Rembrandt Brown. Reaching the face of the man at the table, we finally see that it's a face we haven't seen in a long time -- Quinn Mallory. The OTHER Quinn Mallory... the man who invented sliding. Since we saw him lying on the ground in front of the Geiger Applied Research building, he's obviously woken up, as well as cut his hair down once more. Plus he's wearing clothes -- a definite improvement. He's currently grinning and nodding, enjoying the music of his old friend once again. ANGLE ON - REMBRANDT As he hits a few final notes on the baby grand, belting out one last line of his song. He ends it on the piano with a flourish of the keys. The crowd applauds. Getting up, he takes a shallow, modest bow to the bar crowd and heads over to the table that Quinn is at. Following him over, we see now that also sitting at the table are Maggie and Colin. Maggie has a hand on Quinn's shoulder, almost as though she thinks she's going to hold onto him to make sure he doesn't disappear again. Rembrandt sits down across from Quinn, a grin on both of their faces. QUINN (grinning) That was some beautiful work, Cryin' Man. It's been too long. REMBRANDT (grinning) I aim to please, Q-Ball. You know, I just got two of my old friends back, and now five of my best friends are all here, together, still alive and continuing on our sliding adventure. That's the kind of thing that makes a man want to sing. MAGGIE I think Mallory would disagree with you there. REMBRANDT Yeah... poor kid. I really wish we could do something to help him. But at least we're all alive. That's as much as a slider can ask for. QUINN I'm not ready to give up on Mallory just yet. If he keeps sliding with us, I think we may still find a cure for him. COLIN I hope so. MAGGIE Yeah, for his sake AND ours. He's just intolerable right now. QUINN (to Maggie) Wouldn't you be? Maggie nods. MAGGIE Probably, yeah. COLIN This is strange, isn't it? The four of us, together. It's like it's two years ago all over again. REMBRANDT Yeah, only this time we've got some new friends upstairs. MAGGIE Think they'll really wanna keep sliding with us? QUINN That's up to them to decide. Which reminds me, we need to talk about our next move. REMBRANDT Which is? QUINN We're going home. Rembrandt grins. REMBRANDT All right. Now you're talkin'. Earth Prime then? QUINN Sorry Remmy, but that's not what I mean. Not yet. I mean the other kind of home... (turning towards Colin) ...OUR home. (beat) And I know how to get us there. Rembrandt and Maggie share a look. And on this strange revelation... FADE OUT END TEASER OPENING SEQUENCE QUINN What if you found a portal to a parallel universe? REMBRANDT What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds? MAGGIE Where it's the same year... DIANA And you're the same person... MALLORY But everything else is different? COLIN And what if you can't find your way home? [THEME MUSIC PLAYS] WHISPER: "Sliders" END OPENING SEQUENCE FADE IN ACT I OPEN INT. CHANDLER BAR - DAY Only a few moments have passed. The four are still in the same positions. REMBRANDT All right... so what is this master plan? QUINN Well, I assume you guys remember the time we thought we were home. With Issac Clark? REMBRANDT Oh, yeah. COLIN Our parents' evil doubles... REMBRANDT The suffering Kromaggs... MAGGIE And that train? She shakes her head. MAGGIE (sarcastic) THOSE were some fun times. QUINN Yeah. Well, if you remember, before we took that slide, I used that laptop we had back then to finish deriving the equations to get us around the slidecage. REMBRANDT Yeah, but it didn't matter. I mean, we never got to your world. QUINN True, but that's because Clark changed the coordinates right before we left. He "corrected" them. COLIN Yeah, I kind of remember that... MAGGIE So we didn't even slide to the same coordinates you got from Colin's microdot? QUINN Exactly. REMBRANDT Okay, so why the devil didn't you just put in the right coordinates after we left that world and try to slide us there again? QUINN That's the thing... I did. On that next world, when Maggie left... (rolling his eyes at Maggie) ...to go get her hair done... Maggie just gives him a look, albeit a playful one. QUINN (continued) ...I changed the coordinates and set them up for our next slide. Then Maggie got back and got me downstairs to do some gambling with her, which of course led to me getting shot in the arm... (glancing again at Maggie) ...AGAIN. MAGGIE Well, EXCUSE me. She still can't help but smile after she says it. REMBRANDT Yeah, I remember that too. That was that one world, the one with that guy with all that stuff... COLIN (nodding) ...and the monkey! QUINN Bingo. But of course, the next world we landed on was NOT our homeworld. REMBRANDT Unless your parents are Roman officials. MAGGIE Oh yeah! That was the world where Rome never fell, and had colonized America... (shaking her head) God, I remember that. We managed to lay low for a few weeks while you healed there. Until we got roped into that modern-day gladiator contest, anyway. QUINN Yeah, but what you guys didn't know is that while I was in the hotel "recovering", during those weeks, I was also working on correcting those equations using a nifty little calculator I bought at the local gift shop. COLIN Why didn't you ever tell us this? I could've tried to help you with your equations. QUINN I know, but I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up. Let's face it, twice we'd believed that we were going home, and twice we never got there. No sense in letting you all down a third time, or even a fourth. After all, even after I fixed up the equations again on Roman world, we ended up landing on another world that wasn't home. And then we got stuck in a gunfight until the timer ran out... and that's when you guys... (indicating Rembrandt and Maggie) ...landed on Diana and Mallory's world. REMBRANDT Okay, so why tell us this now? MAGGIE Yeah, it's not like it matters anymore. The coordinates are all lost and the old timer is destroyed on top of it. Quinn shakes his head. QUINN Not true. MAGGIE Not true? Which is not true? The part about the coordinates or part about the timer? QUINN The coordinates part. Because we know that once we locate the coordinates of Mallory and Diana's homeworld on Logan's timer by matching them with the coordinates on the minidisk Geiger gave her, all we have to do is look at the last set of coordinates before those to find our homeworld coordinates again. Because those were the coordinates we used to get us to that world with the giant gunfight. COLIN (to Quinn) Logan's timer? Was Logan that female double you told us about? Quinn nods. REMBRANDT Wait a second... you know about Logan's timer? And Geiger's minidisk? Quinn looks a little awkward now. QUINN (awkwardly) Uh, yeah, I... do know about those. I know about a lot of things like that. Maggie and Rembrandt share a raised eyebrow. REMBRANDT Would you care to explain how that works to those of us in the cheap seats? QUINN When I was trapped inside of Mallory, it was like I could usually see what was happening outside of us, or could sense things, but I couldn't feel my own feelings or think my own thoughts. I was able to do that somewhat more after Geiger's attempt to separate us sort of "stirred the pot" inside of us, and brought me a little more to the surface. Then I was able to let Mallory feel my emotions towards my mother - my adoptive mother - so he'd know what to tell her I thought of her, and things like that. Of course then he started to repress me again after a while. REMBRANDT So you're saying that you essentially observed the past couple of years? QUINN More or less, yeah. Not everything, I only saw things from time to time. And those spotty memories carried over when Diana transferred my essence into my freshly cloned body. Maggie looks like that makes her feel a little awkward. Rembrandt looks down at the ground. REMBRANDT Listen Q-Ball... about Wade... QUINN (quietly) Yeah, I know. I'd kind of prefer not to talk about it. REMBRANDT At least she went down fighting. QUINN Yeah, and at least you got to be with her beforehand. You don't know what it was like, not even being able to feel what I wanted to feel about that, or say anything to her when she was in that... that thing. There's a long beat of silence here. Colin drags his hand along the table awkwardly, unsure of what to say. He finally breaks the silence, trying to change the subject. COLIN So, brother... if you were trying to protect us from getting our hopes up then, why tell us about all this now? QUINN Because I can't exactly do this alone anymore. I need to use Diana's PDL to find the coordinates in the timer and to work on deriving the equations again. I can start from what I still know by memory. Figuring out those equations was on the top of my list ever since we escaped the slidecage. I had that working in my head for so long that I still remember a lot of the processes that went into it. The rest of it we'll have to try and work out again, but I don't think it'll take very long at all since I've done it all before. Plus this'll give me a chance to spot my mistakes by working through it again. (quick beat, turning to Colin) And, yes, when I say "we", that does mean I want your help, bro. Colin smiles. COLIN Thanks brother. MAGGIE I'm still not getting how using those coordinates landed us on all the wrong worlds. I mean, I understand that when Clark changed the coordinates, that got us to his world instead of yours. But if the slidecage diversion equations added to the end of his coordinates didn't stop us from landing on that world, why did your revised equations land us on so many strange worlds instead? If they didn't work, shouldn't we have just rebounded off of the slidecage back to the last world we were on? The others are all stare at her in shock. REMBRANDT Damn, girl. MAGGIE What? What'd I do? QUINN Since when did you start mastering all that technobabble? She smiles. MAGGIE (grinning) Since Diana started teaching me, thank-you-very-much. QUINN Uh, well, the problem is that the reason the original equations didn't affect our slide to Clark's world was because those equations were essentially total failures. They didn't do any diverting at all. But once I started to repair them, they at least BEGAN to work like they were supposed to. The problem THEN was that instead of diverting us to the right world, our homeworld, the equations instead bounced us off of the cage and into different worlds entirely, sort of like bouncing off of it at an angle instead of a direct rebound. MAGGIE Gotcha. Quinn turns to Rembrandt. QUINN (to Rembrandt) How long 'til the slide? Remmy reaches into his coat and pulls out the timer. REMBRANDT Oh, a couple of hours. QUINN Plenty of time to at least start working on those slidecage equations. A beat. Rembrandt extends the timer out towards Quinn. He smiles. REMBRANDT (smiling) Here, Q-Ball. It just doesn't feel right that this hasn't been in your hands for so long. Quinn, smiling, takes it from him. QUINN Thanks, Cryin' Man. CUT TO - INT. CHANDLER HOTEL ROOM - DAY The curtains are drawn, giving the room a very dim light through the cracks between them from the window. Diana sits in a chair close to the window, her hand by her mouth. Mallory is laying on the bed. There is a beat of silence. DIANA You know, if it makes you feel any better, I kind of feel like a fifth wheel too, now that we have two other scientists, including another physicist, on the team. MALLORY (bitter) Thanks, but it DOESN'T make me feel better. Diana sighs. DIANA You're just impossible. MALLORY (low) You can't understand. DIANA You sound like a broken record. Another beat of silence. MALLORY I still don't get how he got cloned without any problem. If he was made from all the different Quinns in me... DIANA Those Quinns probably all looked like him. Most of the Quinns in the multiverse apparently do, judging from what Rembrandt and Maggie have told us about their encounters with his alternates. Mallory is silent again, just nodding. MALLORY (bitter) Well... good for him. Diana sighs, rolling her eyes. A knock comes at the door. DIANA (loud) It's open. Quinn walks in, looking around. QUINN Uh, hi. DIANA Hello. Where are the others? QUINN They're downstairs, paying the bill. We slide in less than two hours. And that's kind of why I'm here. DIANA (understanding) To see if we're going. QUINN Yeah. Diana turns and looks at Mallory. DIANA (to Mallory) Thoughts? Still lying down, Mallory nods. MALLORY I say we go. I'm not gonna live like this. Maybe we can find someplace that'll cure me. Diana nods back to him, then looks at Quinn. DIANA (to Quinn) I agree. I feel somewhat responsible for this... I want to make things right. I started doing that by helping to get you and your brother back. I need to finish the job. QUINN (smiling) All right. Then in two hours, all six of us will make the slide. DIANA Think the wormhole can handle the extra mass? QUINN Shouldn't be a problem. I've seen our other timers handle CARS going through the vortex before. And I think Logan's is even stronger than those two were. She certainly intended to do some pretty heavy lifting through its wormhole. (beat) Listen, could I have a moment alone with Mallory here? Diana gets up. DIANA Sure. She heads for the door. DIANA (as she goes) I'll just... wait outside. QUINN (to Diana) Don't go far. I'm gonna need to ask for your help with something in a minute or two. She nods to him as she goes and the shuts the door behind her. MALLORY (not really a question) What do you want. QUINN I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for... MALLORY (interrupting, angry) Sure you're sorry. Everybody's sorry. But I don't WANT you all to feel sorry for me. That's not going to make it any better. I don't need your pity. It's worthless. You don't even know what you're saying. You have no clue what it's like. To be like this, to... QUINN (interrupting) Oh, I don't know how it feels, huh? No one can have a damn clue but you, because you're the only person that's ever suffered like this. (quick beat, low) Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I've been there. I've lived it. I was there inside of you the last time it happened. Remember when your spine was scorched? I felt it all. Your pain, your anger, your frustration, your sadness. You think I don't know what you're feeling right now? I know EXACTLY what you're feeling. Mallory turns his head, looking the other way, towards the window. QUINN You know something? For two years, I was trapped inside of your body. Most of that time I couldn't... I couldn't think or even feel for myself. How do you think THAT felt? You don't know. You couldn't. So don't talk to me about not understanding. Mallory turns his head back now, giving him a dirty look. Quinn looks down and sighs, calming. Quieter now. QUINN Listen, I'm sorry. I really am. For what you're going through, for that outburst, for the whole thing. But you don't have to live with it like this. You can be a victim or you can rise above it. Take charge of yourself. Don't let it control your life like this. You can't let it win. A beat. Mallory looks up, thinking to himself. QUINN We're headed for my homeworld now. If we can get there, maybe we can help you. The technological advances that they've accomplished are tremendous. The sliding technology, that giant slidecage they built on a world filled with deadly gasses, the microdots, the way they harnessed that asteroid for their own purposes and even gave it an atmosphere... with all of those things, they must have some way to deal with muscular dystrophy. Mallory lies there, silently, for a moment. Finally... MALLORY Get me a wheelchair... and let's go. Quinn smiles. He nods towards him and heads out. CUT TO - INT. CHANDLER HOTEL ROOM - DAY It's the same room, but later. The curtain are open now, letting the sun shine in. Mallory is in a wheelchair, off to the side of the room with Rembrandt and Maggie. On the other side, sitting on a bed, are Quinn, Colin, and Diana. They're all looking at her PDL. She's the one currently sitting in front of it, with the brothers next to her. Quinn grins and throws up his hands, slapping himself on the forehead with one. QUINN Of course! Why didn't I see that before? DIANA (smiling) Because you were trying to do all of this alone before? Colin laughs. QUINN (smiling sheepishly) Alright, alright, now let's not get a big head, you two. He leans over and looks at the timer, which is sitting on the other bed now. QUINN Just over one minute, people. He moves over and picks it up. COLIN I don't think we're going to finish this in time. QUINN That's okay, we'll just have to slide randomly. At least this is going as fast as I expected. (looking at both Diana and Colin) ...and, yes guys, you've helped a lot. They smile at him. DIANA We aim to please. QUINN Anyway, we'll have to pick it up where we left off on the next world. But I think we can get something workable done after the next slide, assuming it's more than a few minutes. REMBRANDT A quick layover before we hit your homeworld, huh? QUINN That's the plan. Or at least, the hope. A beat. QUINN Okay, here goes... five... four... three... two... one... He extends his arm and hits the button. In front of the window on the far side of the room, the orange vortex opens up, illuminating the entire room with its glow. Quinn nods to Colin, who heads over and runs in first. Diana closes her PDL and watches as Rembrandt goes by, jumping in next. She then turns and goes in after him. Maggie pushes Mallory up towards the vortex. MALLORY (shouting over the vortex sound) It's okay! I'll take care of myself! Maggie nods and heads into the vortex in front of him. Quinn extends his arms, gesturing "after you" to Mallory. Mallory nods and rolls up to the very edge of the wormhole. MALLORY I'm gonna regret this... He wheels himself in. Quinn gives the room a last look around. He takes a deep breath of the hotel air, soaking up the world around him. QUINN (smiling) Ah... a slider's life for me. And he runs in next. Behind him, the vortex closes. FADE OUT END ACT I ACT II OPEN FADE IN EXT. PARK - DAY A snowy landscape. We appear to be in an open park area with a few trees. We PAN over the ground, finally stopping on one last snowdrift... When, next to it, the orange vortex opens up, swirling and pulsating. Colin falls out first, landing in a seated position in the snow atop the drift. Then Rembrandt, who manages to somehow land on his feet. He steps aside to leave room for the rest of the group to come through. Diana comes next, crashing onto Colin, then rolling off of him and down the snow drift. Colin gets up to go help her. Maggie shoots out after her, plowing headfirst into the snow drift, burying herself in it! She quickly rips her herself back out of it, shivering. Mallory falls out, landing on his stomach in a heap. His wheelchair follows him by a few feet, the top part landing on his back. MALLORY Ah! God! Of all the... Quinn falls out of the vortex last, rolling out of it and rolling a couple of more times in the snow before he stops. MALLORY (shouting over the vortex sound) Would somebody like to give me a hand here?! Maggie and Quinn both go and set up Mallory's wheelchair, helping him into it immediately after. MAGGIE (shouting over the vortex sound) It's so cold! The vortex closes up. Quinn and Maggie both glance back at it as Rembrandt walks over to join them, and Colin and Diana come walking up from the other side. QUINN Could be any number of factors. The speed of the Earth's revolution... DIANA Or the tilt of the planet on its axis... Quinn nods, pulling out the timer. QUINN We've got four hours and change until the slide. I say we go and find some warm shelter. REMBRANDT Yeah, emphasis on the "warm." They all head off. EXT. SNOWY STREET - DAY The gang of six turns a corner, walking along a sidewalk. It's snowing lightly now. The street is one of a quaint little town, with small buildings and shops. Maggie is the first to see something in the distance as they come around the corner. She points off, down the road, towards it... MAGGIE (pointing) Quinn... look. Quinn looks off in the direction she indicates, and the others follow his gaze... QUINN'S P.O.V. There, through the light snow, we see the Golden Gate Bridge off in the distance. BACK TO LAST ANGLE They all look somewhat confused. REMBRANDT How is that possible? If this is San Francisco, shouldn't there be some larger buildings than this? Nobody answers. COLIN If nothing else, at least we've found shelter. Everyone looks back to Colin, who nods off to the side of the road. Now they all follow HIS gaze, to see... ANGLE ON - RESTAURANT In the line of small stores along the sidewalk on the other side of the street, there's a little restaurant. The sign says "The Golden Bay Diner." BACK TO LAST ANGLE DIANA Looks like as reasonable a place as any. REMBRANDT Let's go. I could use some grub. The all go off across the street, with Mallory jolting as his wheelchair falls off of the curb and onto the road when he wheels off of the sidewalk. INT. RESTAURANT - DAY Our six sliders walk in (other than Mallory, who rolls), the door jingling as they enter. Maggie brushes the snow out of her hair, then leans over and proceeds to also brush it out of Quinn's hair, eliciting a bit of a smile from him. Diana holds the door open for Mallory to roll through, who nods to her with his thanks. The atmosphere in here is decidedly retro. Old '60s music plays over the diner's speakers. The color scheme makes it look like a 1950s malt shop. Our group sees a large round table and heads over to it. They each take one of the five seats around the table, scooting over a little to allow room for Mallory to roll up. He does so after they're all seated. Rembrandt then pulls a menu from the middle of the table and opens it up, looking it over. QUINN We can just hold out here until the slide. Seems like a fair place to get some work done. DIANA If we keep our pace up, we may barely finish the equations before the slide, but I doubt we'll be able to check them. QUINN Maybe not. But we can still give them a try on the next slide even if we don't. It's worth a shot. A young redheaded waitress walks up, wearing a plaid skirt and an apron. She holds a clipboard and keeps a pen on top of her ear. Her name tag labels her as "Darla." DARLA (smiling, upbeat tone of voice) Hello, welcome to The Golden Bay Diner! Our soup of the day is vegetable beef, and our special today is our Bay Burger Combo Meal for only $3.99! Are you all ready to order, or do you need some more time? QUINN Nothing for me, thanks. DIANA Same here. Colin just shakes his head at Darla. REMBRANDT Well, *I* want something. I think I'll have that combo meal special. Does that come with the... (checking the menu) ...uh, Frisco Fries? DARLA Absolutely. REMBRANDT Great. And bring me a cola with it. Mallory raises a finger. MALLORY Make that two. DARLA Specials or colas? MALLORY All of the above. DARLA Gotcha. MAGGIE I'll take an order of the chicken wings. DARLA Want a cola with that? MAGGIE (nodding) Cherry. DARLA Okay, you're all covered. Those'll be up in just a bit. REMBRANDT Hey, before you go, mind telling us what happened to this place? DARLA What do you mean? REMBRANDT You see, we're from out of town, and we haven't been here in a long time. But last thing we knew, San Francisco was a real city. Busy streets, tall buildings... did we hear wrong? Darla looks at them all with a raised eyebrow, skeptically. DARLA Where did you say you were from? Quinn smiles at her. QUINN Canada? The others are share a knowing grin. Darla doesn't notice. DARLA I see. Well, I guess if you're from another country, maybe you didn't hear, but we had to demolish almost all of the old buildings, especially the big ones. That was more than 20 years ago, though... I'm not sure how you missed it. REMBRANDT But why'd you have to do it? DARLA The population couldn't handle it anymore. All of those old buildings were crumbling and destroying property values. There was nobody to live or work in them anymore, after everyone either left or died so recently before. DIANA Okay, but how'd that happen? Darla shakes her head in disbelief. DARLA Have you been living in a cave? It was the natural food epidemic. DIANA Natural food? DARLA Yeah. It was all the craze here in America, though I guess Canada got off the hook. People wanted to have their foods "all-natural", you know? No pesticides, no preservatives to keep the food fresh, no pasteurization... pure and clean, straight from nature to your mouth. QUINN That's incredibly dangerous. Darla's face falls, saddened. DARLA Well, that's what we found out, the hard way. Insects, not deterred by pesticides, carried their illnesses onto and into the plants, food spoiled early while still on store shelves without any preservatives, the unpasteurized milk and water were filled with bacteria... and people started dying as the impurities built up. The scientists tried to warn us, but the people that were into that kind of lifestyle just blew them off, believing that those scientists were all being paid off by the food companies that sold "unnatural" products. California got the worst of it, of course. So many people living in L.A. and San Francisco back then were just waiting to ride the latest trend. Most of the other states had much lighter losses than we did. We just had so many people living like that around here that the damage to the population was devastating. They would carry their diseases from one person to another, and soon most of the people living in the area, whether they ate the "natural" foods or not, were dead or dying. Darla sighs. DARLA My family made it through okay. We stayed put, we're survivors. She smiles for a moment before continuing. DARLA But a few years after that happened, people still weren't moving in. They were paranoid that they'd somehow get here and die. It was a ridiculous notion, but, well, the mayor had no choice but to demolish all of the big buildings in town. No one could pay for their property, no one was living in them or using them. So over the past twenty years we cleaned up and here we are. A shining example of Smalltown USA -- with one major landmark, the bridge, still standing. (quick beat) But people are starting to move back in now. They're getting more educated, so they know it's okay. Things are picking up again. After all... you all are here. They smile and nod to her. REMBRANDT So, how about those unnatural chemical-ridden foods we ordered? She grins to herself. DARLA (grinning) Coming right up. She starts to head off. COLIN Hey, one more thing. She stops and turns back, looking at him. COLIN Why all the snow? DARLA Whadda you mean? It's always this cold here around this time of year. She turns and heads off again. COLIN That's so awful. On my world, we may have been behind the times, but even so, Louis Pasteur still taught us how important it was to heat our milk and water before use. REMBRANDT Couldn't the pesticides build up and cause diseases too? QUINN Well, it's more likely in animals than in plants in that case. And less spread out, but not impossible. Still, I for one am going to appreciate those pesticides a lot more from now on. MALLORY (smiling) Oh yeah. Methyl Bromide: It's mmm-mmm good. DIANA (smiling) Why, Mallory, did you just crack a smile? He rolls his eyes, but still can't help but smile. Diana giggles to herself. QUINN Well, shall we get to work, science-people? Diana nods and smiles in his direction, pulling out her PDL. Colin scoots over closer to the two of them. FADE TO - INT. RESTAURANT - DAY The sun is lower in the sky outside, and our three scientists are still working over Diana's PDL. Our other three sliders just sit with their heads in their hands, bored. Darla comes over and picks up a stack of three dirty dishes, nodding to the group and smiling as she does so. Rembrandt nods back. REMBRANDT Thanks. (beat, to Quinn) Hey Q-Ball, how much time? Quinn pulls out the timer. QUINN About ten minutes. MAGGIE Quinn, could I talk to you for a minute? Quinn tucks the timer away and looks back to the PDL, not bothering to look at Maggie. QUINN Sure, Maggie. (quick beat, to Diana) Yeah, we should definitely change that seventh number. MAGGIE (to Quinn, exasperated) In private? He looks up for a beat. And now his gaze stays there. QUINN Uh, yeah. (to Diana) Just... go ahead and finish the polish job on that equation and then program it along with the coordinates I specified into the timer. Diana nods. DIANA Can do. Quinn walks off towards Maggie, who leads the way, outside. EXT. SNOWY STREET - DAY It may be day, but, now that we're outside, it's clear that the sun is on its way down, and sunset will kick in in a matter of minutes. Maggie walks a bit to the right of the restaurant, getting away from its windows so the others can't see. Instead, she leans against the windows of the next store over. QUINN What's up? He looks to the sky, the light snow falling on his face. QUINN And, more importantly, why do we have to do this outside? MAGGIE Because I wanted to get away from everyone else for a minute. Okay, I was curious... how much do you remember from the past few years? QUINN Well... what specifically are you looking for? MAGGIE I was... just wondering if you happened to recall a world where light metals were never discovered or... um, there were pirates? Quinn is already nodding. QUINN Oh yeah. I still have some glimpses of that in my head. Not many, I was pretty well faded out of any sembelence of consciousness by that point. MAGGIE Well, listen Quinn... I don't know if you remember Captain Paxton... QUINN Just Paxton? Alone? No, not really. (beat) But I do remember a little about YOU and Captain Paxton. Maggie sighs. MAGGIE You're not making this any easier. She slides down the window she's leaning against, ended up in a slumped, seated position. Quinn walks over to her, sitting down beside her in the same position. Even so, Maggie keeps her eyes forward. QUINN Hey, whatever it is, you can tell me. A beat. She turns to face him. MAGGIE Quinn, really, the reason I wanted to talk to you out here was because I just wanted you to know that... I'm sorry about Paxton. QUINN Maggie, it's not like we ever swore anything to each other about... MAGGIE (interrupting) Well, actually, in a way, we did. We lived a lifetime together, Quinn. We got married, and we gave each other vows on that day. We had a son. Even though that universe never really existed, it did for us, in our memories. Doesn't that mean something to you? QUINN Of course it does. MAGGIE Then try to understand, Quinn, that I was scared and alone. I felt like any hope of getting you back was gone, and I just... I just wanted to feel like someone still cared. QUINN I know. I understand. MAGGIE And I never would have done all of that if I had kept on believing that you were coming back. QUINN But you finally did believe again. MAGGIE Yes, but too late. Quinn puts an arm around her now, leaning over closer to her. QUINN Hey, it's okay Maggie. Really. It's hard to feel alone. I know what you said to Mallory and Diana after we lost Wade. I realize now how you must've felt back then, to think back on how many of us were lost over the years. I feel that way sometimes too. And, honestly, in that situation, if I was in your shoes... I can't say that I wouldn't have done the same at some point. (quick beat, he grins) Well... all right, maybe not with Paxton, though. Maggie smiles at him, her eyes tearing up. MAGGIE (smiling) I dunno... he WAS quite the specimen. Quinn shakes his head. QUINN (grinning) I don't wanna hear it! They both laugh together now. With their laughter dying down, Maggie reaches over and pats Quinn on the shoulder. MAGGIE We're okay? Quinn nods. QUINN We're okay. Now c'mon. We gotta slide soon. Maggie wipes her eyes a bit and gets up, both of them heading back over towards the restaurant. EXT. BACK OF RESTAURANT - SUNSET The sun is just starting to head over the horizon. Obviously some minutes have passed, and the group has gone somewhere less conspicuous for the slide. We're at the back of the restaurant now, with no one around and just a couple of parked cars for company. Our six sliders are all waiting now, with Quinn watching the timer's readout. QUINN This is it, guys. Could be our last slide... three seconds. He holds up the timer and hits it. Electricity shoots from the end of the timer, and outward, creating the orange wormhole in midair. Which is, of course, unfortunate for Mallory. MALLORY (seeing the vortex hovering just off of the ground) Aww... crap. (beat) Anyone wanna help me with this? Colin and Rembrandnt follow him as he rolls up to the vortex. Lifting him from his chair in front of it, they throw him in, then turn and pick up the wheelchair, lifting it into the vortex as well. Colin and Remmy then hop through the vortex alongside one another. Quinn nods back to Maggie and Diana, then runs and jumps through. Maggie offers her hands to Diana, who smiles and takes them, and they jump through the wormhole like dancers. INT. WORMHOLE (CGI) We zoom through the vortex from a sliding P.O.V., orange tubes of rain zooming by us through the twists and turns, until the screen goes white and... EXT. HIGHWAY - SUNSET The orange vortex hovers over an open highway. There are buildings along the highway on both sides, showing that we're not in the middle of nowhere, but rather the outskirts of somewhere. One car, way off of the distance, is driving away. But in the wormhole's lane, also still off in the distance, there's a bus coming. Mallory falls out of the vortex, again landing face-first. He looks up from the pavement groaning, and a look of realization washes over his face. He quickly pushes on the ground with his arms, rolling himself over just in time for his wheelchair to come crashing through, landing amazingly upright and facing the vortex, right where he was mere moments ago. Unfortunately for Mallory, Rembrandt and Colin come through next, both landing on either side of the wheelchair... meaning that Rembrandt lands right on Mallory, causing both to grunt. Colin gets up first to help Rembrandt up, and they start to lift up Mallory towards his chair, when Quinn comes through, shooting out backwards and landing, oddly enough, right in the wheelchair, rolling it back a few feet with his inertia. He looks around, realizing where he is sitting, and gets up from the chair. By now the bus is very near to our group, slowing down, honking at the scene before it. Maggie and Diana come through last, landing on their hands and feet beside each other. The bus comes to a full stop in front of the group now, no longer honking. Rembrandt looks up at the destination sign in the front. ANGLE ON - DESTINATION SIGN It says "DOWNTOWN L.A." BACK TO LAST ANGLE Remmy takes this as a good sign, and heads over to the side of the bus, the sliding door opening just as the vortex closes up. INT. BUS - SUNSET Rembrandt steps up to the driver. REMBRANDT Excuse me, man, but do you think you could give us a ride? ANGLE ON - BUS DRIVER His eyes are bugging. He's in shock and possibly horror. He manages a slow, weak nod. BACK TO LAST ANGLE Rembrandt smiles and nods back in apprecation. Then he turns to look back into the bus... ANGLE ON - PASSENGERS The whole bus is filled with people staring at Rembrandt and the others outside. All with the same bugging eyes. BACK TO LAST ANGLE Remmy can't help but chuckle. FADE OUT END ACT II ACT III OPEN FADE IN INT. CHANDLER LOBBY - NIGHT The gang obviously got here safely, as they all walk in and head up to the desk. The six all stand around there. Colin rings the bell. And, from the back appears GOMEZ CALHOUN. GOMEZ Can I help you? QUINN Yeah, we'd like a room. Gomez just BURSTS out laughing. So loud that the whole lobby stops and watches him. The sliders just wait for him to calm down. Eventually, after a good ten or fifteen long seconds, he DOES calm down, still giggling a little. GOMEZ You guys... heh... crazy, man. Alright, seriously, how can I help you? QUINN Uh... we'd like a room. This time Gomez just sort of raises an eyebrow. GOMEZ Cut that out, man. It was funny the first time, but c'mon. He leans over, whispering to Quinn confidentially. GOMEZ (whispering) You want to get yourself arrested? Cleansed? Seriously, come on. He goes back to his last position, standing now behind the counter. He straightens his suit. GOMEZ So. Two rooms, then? One for the gentlemen, one for the ladies. Rembrandt steps up to the front. REMBRANDT Are we not getting through to you? The man said we want a room. A suite if you've got one. Gomez looks around for anyone watching, then turns to Rembrandt, speaking softly. GOMEZ (low voice) I understand how you feel, friend, but you can't risk getting cleansed by shouting that out. Just take the two rooms, okay? REMBRANDT Cleansed? GOMEZ Yeah. As in, standard decontamination procedures? The others gather around. DIANA We're a little sketchy on our decontamination procedures. MALLORY (sarcastic) Yeah, I haven't even looked at mine since high school. GOMEZ Standard scorched earth kind of stuff. They come in with flamethrowers, burn the living space for decontamination of any bodily fluids, the like, and then for good measure extinguish it with your typical carbon dioxide extinguisher when the fire has burned enough or is starting to get outta control. That also helps freeze anything that may be left alive. And believe me, when I say that they'll torch and then freeze anything that's left alive, that'll include you, too, if you try to escape. Otherwise they'll just take you away for the usual "bodily evacuation" procedures... and you won't come back. MALLORY Well... they clearly know how to be thorough. MAGGIE "Bodily fluids?" QUINN So, General Ripper, care to share with us exactly what kind of disease they're attempting to decontaminate? GOMEZ STDs, of course. A beat of silence. REMBRANDT (disbelieving) STDs? GOMEZ Absolutely. After President Bush declared the AIDS epidemic a national crisis, the newly elected Congress took his words a little too literally, if you ask me, and they passed legislation for all of this stuff. No unauthorized mating... MAGGIE "Mating?!" GOMEZ (continued) ...no marriages approved without a blood test and waiting period, and certainly no cohabitation between unauthorized members of the opposite sex. Plus all mates use approved protection. So thanks to all of that, we had to divide up our floors to be gender-specific just to keep this place running, and we've got an armed guard patrolling every floor to watch for violations. Even the country's universities had to change over to nothing but male or female-only dorms. Poor kids. The group all shares some looks. Youch. MAGGIE I somehow DON'T think we're on your homeworld, Quinn. Quinn turns back to Gomez and claps his hands. QUINN (smiling awkwardly) So! Two suites, then? CUT TO - INT. CHANDLER SUITE (MEN'S) - NIGHT Rembrandt is on the phone, holding a newspaper in one hand, sitting on a bed. Quinn is scribbling on a notepad over on another bed. Mallory is flipping through a magazine, and Colin is watching TV. REMBRANDT Get this: It says in the paper that during the Gulf War, Iraq used chemical and nuclear devices and destroyed the middle east so it'll be uninhabitable for decades. They killed more of our boys than their own, so they won the war, and with another loss so soon after Vietnam, the American public pushed for the country to stay out of other people's conflicts. So now the U.S. is officially a neutral country. MAGGIE (V.O.) (on phone) Bizarre. And I still can't get over the way they look at relationships. REMBRANDT Hey, we don't know how badly diseases like that have spread on this world. Maybe it's understandable in this case. INT. CHANDLER SUITE (WOMEN'S) - NIGHT Maggie lays on the bed on the phone. Diana sits over at a table, fiddling with her PDL. MAGGIE But, come on, Rem! How can they take away the rights of consenting adults like that? REMBRANDT (V.O.) (on phone) I'm just sayin'. Different worlds, different cultures. MAGGIE I suppose. Still gives me the creeps. (quick beat) So, how's your room? INT. CHANDLER SUITE (MEN'S) - NIGHT REMBRANDT Oh, not too bad. I think we've got the most direct view of the fire escape down here. INT. CHANDLER SUITE (WOMEN'S) - NIGHT Maggie laughs a bit. REMBRANDT (V.O.) (on phone) Well, Q-Ball wants the phone. He's got a message for you two. MAGGIE Alright. A beat. QUINN (V.O.) (on phone) Maggie? MAGGIE Yup? INT. CHANDLER SUITE (MEN'S) - NIGHT QUINN Just wanted to warn you and Diana that Colin and I are on our way up. MAGGIE (V.O.) (on phone) You sure that's a good idea? QUINN Well we can't do our work very well over the phone, and I don't think it's too wise that we discuss interdimensional quantum physics and theory in public. Just leave the door unlocked. MAGGIE (V.O.) (on phone) Fair enough. You know the room number. But you heard what Gomez said about guards. Be careful. QUINN (smiling) We will. He hangs up. INT. STAIRWELL Quinn and Colin enter the stairwell through one door (labelled by a sign as "3") and move up one floor. We see that each door to each floor has a tiny square window in the top center of it. As they walk up to the door to the next floor we see a sign next to the door labels it "4." Suddenly, a face appears in the door's window, moving by to the right! Quinn and Colin jump back, startled. After a moment, Quinn leans forward and peers out the window to the right. QUINN Just a guard. Must be on patrol. She's rounding the corner... now. (beat, he turns to Colin) Let's go. The head out into the hall. INT. CHANDLER SUITE (WOMEN'S) - NIGHT Maggie smiles as the brothers shut the door behind them. She just sits on the bed facing the door now, with Diana still over at the table. MAGGIE (smiling) You made it. DIANA You weren't seen? COLIN We came close. QUINN Yeah, but we avoided it. We're cool. DIANA Great. Ready to dive in? QUINN Absolutely. But we'd better not go all night on it. We're gonna need some sleep before we leave tomorrow, and we slide in... He pulls out the timer. COLIN (reading over Quinn's shoulder) Ten hours, 37 minutes, and 18 seconds. DIANA Think we've got enough time to do enough corrections? QUINN Yeah, I think we can make it a lot cleaner this time. After all, we may not want to go ALL night, but we've still got most of it. DIANA (nodding) Okay. INT. CHANDLER SUITE (MEN'S) - DAY The phone rings. It's morning now, with the sun streaming in. Quinn, a bite of doughnut in his mouth and the rest in his hand, walks over and picks up the phone. Around the room, we see Mallory pulling on his jacket in his wheelchair, Rembrandt drinking some coffee, and we hear the shower running - presumably Colin. QUINN (mouth full) Hello? DIANA (V.O.) (on phone) Hi Quinn. Listen, I did some more work on the equations and I wanted to show you how they look, so I think I'm gonna come on down in a few minutes. Quinn gulps down his bite of doughnut. QUINN Did you even sleep? DIANA (V.O.) (on phone) For an hour! Quinn laughs a little. QUINN Alright... but... DIANA (V.O.) (on phone, interrupting) Oh, Maggie wants to come too. She said she hadn't seen you in hours and she was worried that you might disappear again, or something. Now Quinn really laughs. INT. CHANDLER SUITE (WOMEN'S) - DAY In here, Maggie is running around getting ready in the background, with Diana on the phone, leaning back in a chair pointed towards the window, looking out onto the world. QUINN (V.O.) (on phone) Okay, gotcha. But you two watch yourselves. Remember, there's guards patrolling every floor. Make absolutely sure that you won't be seen. DIANA Okay. QUINN (V.O.) (on phone) The door's unlocked. DIANA Thanks... She hangs up. INT. HALLWAY The door to the stairwell opens, and Diana's head peeks out, clearly meaning that they've arrived on the third floor. She doesn't see anyone, so her and Maggie both walk out and jog over a couple of doors, quickly opening the door and slipping in... And, just as they slip inside, at the far end of the hall, we see a male maid come around the corner, wheeling his cart. He looks shocked and scared by what he just saw. INT. CHANDLER SUITE (MEN'S) - DAY Quinn is looking at the PDL, nodding. It sits on the coffee table, in front of the couch. The timer is plugged into it, also on the coffee table. Colin looks over the couch and over Quinn's shoulder. Rembrandt is looking over the other shoulder, but only shakes his head. Maggie stands off to the side of the table along with Diana, and Mallory simply watches from the other side on his own. REMBRANDT Looks Greek to me. QUINN It's actually lookin' good. I think we're almost there. (to Diana) Did you change the exponents I mentioned? Diana nods. Quinn nods back and points at the screen. QUINN Well, I think we should change this one, too. Then we should be just about set. Colin leans over closer and points at a figure on the screen. COLIN I think that variable may be placed incorrectly. Quinn looks. He smiles. QUINN Good one, bro. We'll fix that too. And I think that's it. REMBRANDT That's it? MAGGIE We're off to your homeworld? QUINN Looks that way. That's everything we can see at least. Quinn starts typing on the PDL. Maggie brings a hand to her mouth, in thought. MAGGIE It's so strange. If it's really fixed up correctly... what if this is finally the last slide of all? Rembrandt looks over to her and shakes his head. REMBRANDT Well, maybe for you, but I'm still heading back home. I've got to, no matter who else is coming with me. It's where I belong. But I still wish you guys could all come too. Diana smiles warmly at him. Quinn finishes typing. QUINN That's it. We're programmed into the timer and all set. (glancing at the timer) And with just under half an hour to spare, too. Now the whole group smiles, Maggie doing so a bit uneasily. And after couple of beats... A loud BANGING comes at the door! VOICE (muffled behind door) This is Decon Unit number forty-seven! Open up! Quinn jumps up from the couch, and everyone else spins, all now looking towards the door. MAGGIE "Decon unit?" COLIN (realizing) Decontamination. REMBRANDT And we're sitting here with two women and four men in one room. DIANA So what're we gonna do?! Maggie spins and looks back towards the window... MAGGIE Remmy, what was that you said about a fire escape? The others all turn and look in the direction Maggie does. REMBRANDT (grinning) Nice goin', girl. QUINN Let's go. Quinn and Colin run for the window, swinging it wide open. Rembrandt heads over to Mallory in his wheelchair, who is waiting with arms outstretched. VOICE (muffled behind door) Open up or we'll procede to take the door out! MALLORY (turning towards the door) Come on, come on... Rembrandt hoists him up and over his shoulder, grunting uneasily as he does so. REMBRANDT Are you getting heavier? MALLORY (over his shoulder) I'm just a growing boy. Can we move it here? Rembrandt heads for the window. Behind them, the door starts being knocked in, cracking. EXT. SIDE OF CHANDLER - DAY We see the side of the building over an alleyway. A fire escape goes up the building in stages, each level of the metal gratings connected by stairs. The second floor of the hotel is actually the last level of the fire escape, and a ladder hangs slightly down from there, waiting to be lowered the rest of the way to the ground. Emerging onto the third floor tier of the fire escape is Maggie, who turns and helps Rembrandt and Mallory through the window behind her. Quinn and Colin are already on the second floor tier of the fire escape, the structure's bottom level that hooks onto the second floor of the building. Reaching the edge of that tier, Quinn hits a lever that sticks up from the railing. It extends the ladder which hangs off of the grated platform, sliding it down towards the ground. It jerks to stop just a foot over the pavement. Quinn climbs over and on to the ladder, beginning his descent. Below, in the alley, an old woman pushes a shopping cart full of aluminum cans. She stops and looks up as the ladder lowers before her. She pauses to lean against a nearby dumpster and watch the drama unfold above. Up on the third floor tier of the fire escape, Rembrandt is still right on the edge by the window. Maggie is trying to help him with Mallory. Diana starts to come through the window. However, with only one foot through, Diana pauses. DIANA (low, to herself) The timer... She climbs back through, heading inside again. MAGGIE Diana, come back! REMBRANDT I'm not sure I can make it down there with all this weight! MALLORY (offended) Hey! MAGGIE Sure you can! Rembrandt looks around, looks down... REMBRANDT'S P.O.V. Down below, he sees the dumpster. BACK TO LAST ANGLE Rembrandt, seeing this, makes a decision, and goes to the edge of the fire escape railing, three floors up from the full dumpster below. REMBRANDT Sorry Mallory, you're gonna have to take an alternative route. MALLORY What? Oh no. Rembrandt, don't... Too late. Remmy swings Mallory back over his shoulder and tosses him off of the side of the fire escape. Mallory plummets, yelling the whole way down, into the dumpster below, causing the old woman beside it to jump back as he crashes into the trash. Quinn, now on the ground, runs over to the dumpster to help. Colin finshes his descent on the ladder in the meantime. Seeing the old woman, Quinn grabs her shopping cart from in front of her and tips it, dumping her cans all over the pavement. OLD WOMAN (annoyed) Hey! QUINN Sorry. Gotta borrow this. Back up on the third floor tier, Maggie looks into the window. MAGGIE Hurry up Diana! She then turns and grabs Rembrandt by the arm, pulling him along over to the metal stairs that go down to the next level. INT. CHANDLER SUITE (MEN'S) - DAY Diana runs over to the timer and her PDL, sweeping up both items. In the background, the door is being beaten through, a noticable hole now appearing in the middle of it. As Diana looks up, she sees this, and runs off to the side of the room, flinging open the closet door and slamming it behind her. As soon as it shuts, the Decon team busts through the suite's entrance. Three TEAM MEMBERS race in. All have packs on their backs, metal containers that are divided in two, undoubtedly holding the fuel for the flame throwers and the carbon dioxide for the extinguishers. Attached to the packs is a tube that bends around to the front of each team member's body, then hooks onto a pipe held by each team member. That pipe is obviously the launching point for their flames and fumes. One team member sees the open window across from the entrance. TEAM MEMBER #1 (pointing to the window) There! EXT. SIDE OF CHANDLER - DAY Remmy and Maggie are at the ladder on the second floor tier. Remmy is getting ready to climb onto it, when Maggie looks up. MAGGIE Remmy! Rembrandt looks up, and we see now that TEAM MEMBER #1 has his head stuck through their suite window, and is pointing his flamethrower downwards. Maggie and Rembrandt both fall backwards, laying on their backs on the grating of the fire escape. The team member sprays out some flame, which goes through the fire escape's third floor grate immediately below him and licks out right in front of Rembrandt's face, barely missing him. Remmy flinches. Down on the ground, Quinn and Colin are finishing helping Mallory into the shopping cart... his new makeshift wheelchair. Shooting a look back to check on the others, Quinn takes off, out of the alley, pushing Mallory in front of him, with Colin running behind. Back up on the fire escape, the team member stops spraying flame, the fire pulling back from in front of Maggie and Rembrandt. As soon as the fire vanishes, Maggie jumps up to her feet and vaults over the side of the fire escape, flying into the dumpster below. Rembrandt gets up, following her lead, and, pushing himself over, too, barely falls off the side as another lick of flame shoots down towards him. It just misses as he falls into the dumpster, next to Maggie. Down in the dumpster, they both stand up. REMBRANDT I'm getting too old for this. Maggie climbs out of the dumpster, turning to help out Remmy. The old woman still stands there, pushing against he far wall in horror. She's scared of these people, because she now realizes they must be "contaminated." Back up in the window, the team member slams his hand on the windowsill in frustration. Picking up a radio from his belt, he hits a button and speaks into it. TEAM MEMBER #1 Attention L.A. law enforcement, be advised we have escaped contaminants, at least five. He turns and goes back into the room, still talking into the radio. EXT. INCLINED STREET - DAY A street in L.A. Quinn is wheeling Mallory down the sidewalk, Colin still following, as they run down a slight slope on this hilly street. The people around them on the sidewalk are clearing a path for them, thanks to Quinn's shouting. QUINN Outta the way! Go! Get away! Move aside, people! Suddenly, he stops in his tracks, jerking Mallory forward. His face contorts into a horrified expression. QUINN (quiet) Oh no. The timer. COLIN What? QUINN The timer! I left it on the coffee table! A quick beat as this hits Colin. COLIN Oh no. Rembrandt and Maggie run up behind them. MAGGIE Why're we stopping? Go, dammit, go! QUINN We left the timer. A beat. REMBRANDT Oh no. MAGGIE That's not all we left. MALLORY (noticing) Diana. Where is she? MAGGIE She went back inside. That must've been why... for the timer. QUINN And her PDL. (beat) Listen, guys, we gotta go back for her. Since she went back in, they probably figured she wasn't going to run and just arrested her. Maybe they're keeping her in the room while they "clean" the place. REMBRANDT Then let's go. QUINN No. We can't sneak all of us back in. Quinn looks around, finally pointing off down the road another block. QUINN There. You guys go down into that alley at the bottom of the hill and lay low. Maggie and I can go look for her. If we're not back in thirty minutes... worry. Rembrandt nods as they turn and head back out. INT. CLOSET It's nearly pitch black. The closet seems to have no boundaries, no visible walls. A single stream of light barely comes through the edge of the door. It's all that reveals Diana, curled into a ball in the darkness. She seems to shiver slightly. Shadows occasionally block even that light, as the three team members move around in the room. The sounds of flamethrowers from out in the main room are audible here. Then, after a few beats, those sounds die down. TEAM MEMBER #1 (V.O.) (muffled through door) We're gonna head on out, Bill. Thank the management, file a report, and start looking for those contaminants. Think you can hold down the fort here? TEAM MEMBER #3 (V.O.) (muffled through door) Oh yeah. Just the bathroom and the closet left. TEAM MEMBER #2 (V.O.) (muffled through door) Yeah, but those bathrooms can be detailed work. TEAM MEMBER #3 (V.O.) (muffled through door) I can take care of it. See you guys later. TEAM MEMBER #1 (V.O.) (muffled through door) Later Bill. We hear a door shut, as Diana still sits, shivering in the darkness. INT. CHANLDER LOBBY - DAY Quinn and Maggie march across the lobby purposefully, heading for the stairwell door. As they swing it open and walk in, the elevator next to it dings. The door slides open, revealing two of the team members, who then go over to the front desk. INT. HALLWAY Quinn and Maggie emerge into the third floor hallway. A male security guard is nearby. GUARD Hey! You can't be here, miss. This is a male-only floor. MAGGIE I know. QUINN We were just looking for you. We saw two people going up to the fourth floor. We followed them from the bar, they looked pretty suspicious. We think they may be planning some, uh, unauthorized mating. GUARD Really? (quick beat) Show me. Quinn and Maggie lead the way into the stairwell, the door swinging closed behind the three of them. A beat. We hear a smack, and a thud inside the door. After a long beat, Maggie and Quinn emerge again, only now Maggie holds a pistol. INT. CHANDLER SUITE (MEN'S) - DAY The walls are blackened. Some look frosted over. Little is left of the furniture. The whole room has clearly been heavily torched. TEAM MEMBER #3 walks across the room, exiting the bathroom. He whistles a little tune, heading over to the closet. And he swings the door open... INT. CLOSET Diana is still curled up in here. She barely looks up at the team member who has just let the light in. TEAM MEMBER #3 Well, hello. What have we here? MAGGIE (off-screen) A glock. INT. CHANLDER SUITE - DAY Maggie is indeed standing beside the team member, the glock pistol aimed at his head. Quinn stands with her. MAGGIE (to Quinn) Go on, get her. Quinn heads into the closet. A quick beat, and he emerges with Diana in his arms. She's starting to mutter something quietly. QUINN She looks pretty out of it. Maggie's face shows concern. MAGGIE Oh god. (quick beat, to Quinn) She's claustrophobic. I thought she was over it, but... She trails off. QUINN She's also a hero. Look. He nods down towards her lap. Maggie looks. ANGLE ON - DIANA'S HANDS She's still got a death grip on the timer and the PDL, one in each hand. BACK TO LAST ANGLE Maggie nods, a slight smile emerging. MAGGIE She sure is brave. TEAM MEMBER #3 You won't make it out, you know. They turn and look at him. TEAM MEMBER #3 The rest of my team is probably still in the lobby. If they see you, you'll never even get to the door. Maggie shrugs. MAGGIE Then we won't go out that way. Quinn smiles, understanding, and heads over to the window. Maggie nods to the team member's belt. MAGGIE The radio, please. Today. He rolls his eyes and takes it off, handing it over to her. At that, Quinn steps through the window with Diana in his arms, and Maggie starts to follow him. She backs over to the window slowly, still keeping the gun on the team member's head. MAGGIE Just remember... if you so much as peek your head out of that window, I will not hestitate to pick you off from the pavement below. And she steps backwards, out of the window, and walks off. The team member hangs his head in frustration. TEAM MEMBER #3 The boys aren't gonna like this. EXT. ALLEY - DAY Rembrandt and Colin are crouched down along the wall, with Mallory still resting in the cart next to them. Quinn, Maggie, and Diana all come around the corner. Maggie has an arm around Diana, who is walking for herself now, but still a bit dazed. Remmy and Colin jump up at the site of them. COLIN Are you all okay? QUINN Yeah, we're good. (holding up the timer) Less than a minute to go, though. REMBRANDT (to Diana) You sure you're alright? DIANA Yeah. I'm just a little out of it. It's okay. Nothing major. I'm still kind of getting over my old claustrophobia. I may not be fully recovered just yet, but it'll never be as bad as it was... not since I stared death in face while I was trapped in those virtual simulations on our last "vacation." Maggie smiles and nods in understanding. She then looks over to Rembrandt, Colin, and Mallory. MAGGIE She saved the timer and her PDL from getting burned to a crisp. Turning back to Diana, she pats her on the shoulder. MAGGIE I'd call that major. REMBRANDT (smiling, to Diana) Way to go. She just shrugs. MALLORY Somebody gonna help me through the vortex? Maggie and Rembrandt walk on over and start to get him out. Quinn hands the timer to Colin. QUINN This could be it, bro. Care to do the honors? Colin smiles. A couple of seconds more, and he extends his hand, hitting the button. The orange vortex appears in the alley, swirling vigorously. QUINN (shouting over the vortex sound) Cross your fingers, guys! This may be the slide home! He jumps through first. Colin smiles to the others in hope and runs in after. Diana steps up. She nods weakly to Maggie and Remmy, managing and smile, and makes her way into the vortex. Remmy and Maggie then step up to the vortex. Mallory hangs in between them, with Rembrandt holding Mallory arms and Maggie holding his legs. MALLORY (shouting over the vortex sound) Are you guys sure this is the best way to do this? Rembrandt and Maggie just share a grin. They swing Mallory back, then forward, letting go, launching him into the wormhole. They then step together, each taking a hand of the other's, and they jump in at once. The orange vortex closes up. The sounds of the city fill the air. FADE TO BLACK CLOSING CREDITS END