Épisode Les hologrammes S03E09 - Mutant X Saison 3

                                    No Exit


[Opening Scene: Night. Outside Stormking Mountain, two helicopters hover over Sanctuary's hidden entrance as explosions rage over the mountain's surface.]

Shalimar (voiceover): Look out, Lex. There's no way of knowing how many we're dealing with.

[Inside Sanctuary, an armed black-clad soldier rappels to the ground floor and nods to two more soldiers on the second floor. Guns at the ready, Lexa and Shalimar emerge from the lab and split up to find the intruders. Lexa ducks behind a wall and shoots at one of the soldiers, forcing him back. Then, turning invisible, she punches him unconscious. Another soldier on the second floor aims his gun at her head, but Shalimar leaps down behind him and throws him over the railing to the ground at Lexa's feet. He vanishes. Shalimar jumps off the railing and lands beside Lexa.]

Lexa: That was close.
Shalimar: Yeah, tell me about it.
Lexa: Good job, girl! [They high-five, then spin around as the last soldier charges them. Both girls blast away at him until he falls to the ground and disappears.]
Shalimar: That's it. I'm hitting the shower.
Lexa (holstering her gun): Me first. [Lexa and Shalimar start to pull off their shirts....and freeze in place when the real Shalimar hits the pause button on Jesse's computer. The real Lexa and Shalimar glare at Jesse and Brennan, who have been playing a TunnelQuest II computer game with their holographic images.]
Shalimar (arms crossed): What the hell do you guys think you're doing?!
Jesse (grinning at Brennan): Uh...just having a little...uh...innocent fun.
Lexa (looking at her half-naked holographic counterpart across the room): You guys don't get out much, do you?
Jesse: Oh, come on! We were just getting to the good part. [Glancing at Shalimar, Lexa rolls her eyes in disgust and deletes the images.] Lexa, you don't understand what I've done here. I've totally improved Sanctuary's holosystem by modifying the game to match our...[He grins at her chest appreciatively.] ...specs.
Lexa (following the direction of his eyes): Well, nice going, Nerd Wonder. Now delete it.
Jesse (face falling): What?
Shalimar: Do it. Or I'll smash your computer in half. [Shaking their heads, the girls stalk off.]
Jesse: Shal, you are totally overreacting!
Brennan: Hm. Well, I guess it was fun while it lasted.
Jesse: Dude, this is totally your fault. [Brennan laughs.] What a waste. [He deletes the program.] Everybody happy? Deleted!
Brennan (hitting his shoulder): Hm. Looks like it's a little one-on-one. [He starts towards the basketball hoop.]
Jesse (following him): Yeah, well it could have been two on two. [Behind them, the TunnelQuest game blinks back onto the computer screen, and one of the armed soldiers reappears in the lobby.]

Opening credits. "No Exit"

[As Jesse and Brennan play basketball in the living room, Shalimar's reading a magazine on her bed.]
Jesse (making two baskets): Ha-ha! Swish!
Brennan (making a basket): Two points! Taking you to the rack, baby. Come on. [Drinking a glass of water, Shalimar spies a blurred figure run past her doorway. She rushes into the hallway, but sees no one there. She goes over to Jesse and Brennan.]
Shalimar: Hey, Bren?
Brennan: Yeah, what's up, Shal?
Shalimar: I could have sworn I just saw someone run past my room.
Jesse: We didn't see anything.
Lexa (coming out of her room): Jess, could you take a look at the climate control?
Jesse: Yeah, in a sec. We're in the middle of a game.
Lexa (checking the computer): It's 80 degrees and rising.
Brennan: Did you try and override it?
Lexa: No, I thought I'd come down here and whine about it first. [Jesse and Brennan grin at each other. Scratching her head, Shalimar goes back to her room.]
Jesse (throwing the ball to Brennan): Practice. [Joining Lexa at the computer, he tries to lower the temperature to 70, but the computer flashes "Invalid request."] It's not responding.
Lexa: Wonder why.
Jesse (rolling his eyes): This is not my fault! Don't blame me, there's no way that the game could have compromised the system, all right?
Lexa: Maybe it drew down too much power, overloaded the computer.
Jesse: It's a game! Besides, what difference does it make? I wiped it from the drive, you remember?
Shalimar (coming up to them): Okay, someone's in here. I saw him again.
Lexa: What?
Jesse: She's seeing things.
Shalimar: I am not!
Jesse: Shal, we're alone. Come here, look. [He pulls up the heat sensor display on his computer.] Here we go. Four heat points. [He points to himself, Lexa, Shalimar and Brennan.] One, two, three, four of us. All right?
Shalimar: I don't care what your computer says. I saw him, I felt him.
Brennan (coming over): Jess, what are you doing about this heat, man?
Jesse: Dude, I am trying. There's a glitch in the system.
Shalimar: I think we should do a security sweep. [Lexa follows Shalimar upstairs. At the computer, Brennan notices that TunnelQuest II has returned to the screen.]
Brennan: Hey, woah, Jess. What is this?
Jesse: What the hell?
TunnelQuest Leader: So, soldier, you think you have what it takes to be a member of our Tunnel Quest team?
Brennan: I thought you deleted that program.
Jesse: Yeah, I did. [He deletes it again.]
Brennan: All right. Now what are you doing about this heat?
Jesse: Uh...I guess I'll try to access the thermostat through Sanctuary's brain. Hm.

[Upstairs, Lexa joins Shalimar on the second floor. As they talk, a red bulb security camera lowers down from the ceiling, watching them.]
Lexa: Jesse's right. The place is clear.
Shalimar: I'm not imagining things. I saw something. But for some reason, I'm not picking up a scent anywhere. It's so strange.
Lexa: Well, what exactly did you see?
Shalimar: It's hard to explain. It was big, but it was a blur.Lexa: Was it a man or a woman?
Shalimar: I don't know. More like a ghost or something. [Beside them, the electrical panel suddenly explodes in a hail of sparks. Shalimar opens the smoking panel while Lexa sprays it with a fire extinguisher.]
Lexa: Back away. What the hell happened?
Shalimar: The circuitry's overheated. Man, is it just me, or is this place freaking out? [She walks off. The red camera withdraws back into the ceiling.]

[Downstairs, Brennan watches Jesse pull apart Sanctuary's main computer, trying to find the problem.]
Brennan: All right, Jess, come on, let me in there.
Jesse: I've almost got it. You can't just blast this with one of your charges, Brennan. It's delicate stuff.
Brennan: Yeah, I can see that. Meanwhile, I'm frying over here! [The computer panel next to him beeps, so he picks it up and reads "Security Breach" on the screen.] Jess, why's the security system activated?
Jesse: It's not.
Brennan: Ah, then you might come take a look at this. [Rolling his eyes, Jesse comes over.]
Jesse (frowning): Oh, this can't be happening. These two dots are Lexa and Shalimar. The security system's interpreting them as hostiles.
Brennan: So shut it down before the system attacks.
Jesse: Yeah, it's not working. [He tries to shut the system down on another computer.]
Brennan: Okay, we need to get them out of there. [He calls the girls over his comlink.] Shal, Lex! Look, we've got a big problem here. You need to get to the Helix, now.
Shalimar (on the second floor with Lexa): What's going on?
Brennan: The security system has detected you both as hostiles. So get out of here!
Lexa (taking her arm): Hurry. [They rush towards the door, but it slams down blocking their path and activating alarms and flashing lights all over Sanctuary. They run down the stairs, past Brennan and Jesse.]
Shalimar: What's happening here, Jess?
Jesse: Sanctuary's going into a lockdown, and I can't control it. Get out of here, now! [Shalimar and Lexa race into the landing bay, barely making it to the Double Helix as the doors close behind them.]
Lexa (going to the pilot's seat): Come on, let's go!
Shalimar (standing by the Helix door): What about the guys?
Jesse (running towards the hangar): Shalimar, there's no time!
Brennan: Get out of here, now!
Shalimar (sitting by Lexa): The hangar door's closing!
Lexa: We can beat it.
Shalimar: We'll be cut in half!
Lexa: Let's hope you're wrong! [They both wince as the Helix barely squeezes through the hangar doors before they slam shut.]
Brennan (entering the garage): Why do I get the feeling there's nothing you can do about all this?
Jesse (setting up his laptop): Right now, I'm not in control of anything, Brennan.
Brennan: All right, well who is? [Cut to: A paraplegic man, William Dennett, lying in a hospital bed, connected to several machines. Unable to move anything but his eyes, his attention is riveted to the large computer screen in front of him, which displays Jesse and Brennan in the hangar of Sanctuary. He uses his eyes to create a simulation of his voice so that he can speak.]
William: Wouldn't you like to know, Mr. Mulwray? In my game, I decide who lives and who dies.

******Commercial Break********
[Up in the Double Helix, Shalimar sighs in relief.]
Shalimar: That was cutting things pretty close.
Lexa: Nah, we had at least two more seconds to clear the doors.
Shalimar: You've got ice water running through your veins. So what are we gonna do about Brennan and Jesse?
Lexa: I'm afraid that was a one-way ticket. I've isolated the Helix's computer link to Sanctuary. [Feeling Shalimar's disapproving stare, Lexa sighs.] We can't afford to let it infect the system, or we could drop from the sky.
Shalimar: I wonder if our comlinks are active.
Lexa: I don't know, keep your finger's crossed. Brennan? Brennan, can you read me? [The screen splits in two to show Brennan and Jesse in Sanctuary's garage.]
Brennan: Yeah. Yeah, we're here. We're locked up in the hangar. Jesse's trying to figure out what's going on.
Lexa: I'll tell you what's going on. That game of yours infected the system.
Jesse: Had to, but I don't see how. Look, Sanctuary's got firewalls to protect it from even the most high tech viruses. [From his hospital bed, William uses his computer connection to cut off their comlink signal.]
Shalimar (hearing static): Guys, are you there?
Brennan: Shal? Hey, guys, Lexa? You guys there?
Shalimar: Brennan, can you hear me?
Lexa: Oh, it's no use. The virus must have infected communications.
Shalimar: Brennan? Brennan? [Using a sample of Brennan's voice, William simulates Brennan's voice.]
William!Brennan: Shalimar, I'm here. [Shalimar sighs in relief.] But I don't know for how much longer.
Lexa: Well, what's our next move?
William!Brennan: Jesse thinks there's a way to override the system, but you're gonna have to do it from the ground.
Shalimar: How?
William!Brennan: Well, Adam installed a back door system in an off-site facility in case of emergency.
Lexa: That's news to me.
William!Brennan: Well, lucky for us there are some things you don't know. Adam took every precaution against Sanctuary being compromised.
Shalimar: So where is this facility?
William!Brennan: There's a warehouse at 51 Shepherd. Call me from there. Jesse will talk you through the backup system.
Shalimar: You've got it. [As soon as he's off the line with Shalimar, William dials 911 on his computer.]
Operator: 911.
William: Yes, thank God. The two terrorists responsible for the explosion at Syntech are on their way to 51 Shepherd. But you've gotta get there right away. They're armed and dangerous.
Operator: Identify yourself, please, sir. [Just then, William's nurse walks into his hospital room, carrying his IV tray. William hastily turns off the connection.]
Nurse Helen (putting down his tray): You're not playing that stupid game again, are you? Do you know what obsessive compulsive means, Willie, hmm? [She holds up the IV bag.] Mmm, yummy. Liver, onion, sweet potato. [She pouts when he tries to look past her at the computer screen.] Is there something wrong, Willie? You didn't even say anything about my hairdo. If you don't start paying better attention, I'm going to have to erase that game from your computer. [His eyes widen.]
William (through the voice simulator): Sorry, Nurse Helen. I think it makes you look ten years younger. [Startled, she jumps and drops the bag.]
Nurse Helen: What the hell? [Then she remembers the computer's voice simulation and smiles, leaning down to pick up the bag.] Look what you made me do. Look at me! [When he doesn't take his eyes from the computer screen, she goes to turn off the computer.] All right, that's it! No more games. [Suddenly, a woman's voice overhead pages her to the front desk: "Nurse Gamble, please report to the nurse's station. Nurse Gamble, please report to the nurse's station."]
Nurse Helen (scoffing): I'll deal with you later. [She walks out.]
William: And I'll deal with you later. [He turns the computer back on to find Brennan and Jesse sitting in the hangar, where the temperature has risen to 115 degrees.] Well, well. Things are finally starting to heat up, boys.
Brennan (head in his hands): Can you reach them on any channels?
Jesse (on his laptop): Nope, we're completely cut off.
Brennan: Is there any chance you can phase out of this place?
Jesse: Not as long as the disruptive field is active. Ah. But on the bright side, I think I've figured out this heat thing. Ready? [He opens a vent in the ceiling, and they both stand under the incoming cool air.] Ha!
Brennan: Whoo! Yeah! Well, amen, brother. All right, I take back anything bad I've ever said about you.
Jesse (laughing): Oh, I'm gonna remember that.
Sargent Nolle (appearing in front of them): Nice installation. Top-notch security systems.
Brennan: I thought you deleted this game!
Jesse: Yeah, I did. Several times. [Nolle aims his gun at them.]
Brennan: Well, it's not acting very deleted. Wait, since he's a hologram, his weapons can't hurt us, right?
Jesse: Not as far as I know. [Nolle shoots a real laser at them. Jesse rolls out of the way, but Brennan's thrown against the door, electrocuted by the power grid.]
Brennan (through his teeth): Jess, do something! [Jesse runs to the electrical panel to shut the power down.] Who are you?
Nolle: Sargent Nolle. Tunnel squad unit leader. Think you can withstand an increase in the voltage?
Brennan: What do you want?
Nolle: At the moment, I want to know how much juice it's gonna take to kill you. Even for someone like you, a man's gotta have a breaking point. [Brennan groans as William turns up the voltage. Jesse smashes a massed fist into the panel, knocking out all of the power in the hangar. Nolle disappears and Brennan falls to the ground.]
Jesse (rushing to his side): Brennan, you all right?
Brennan (panting): Yeah. Oh, man.

[Up in the Double Helix, Shalimar and Lexa arrive at 51 Shepard.]
Shalimar: All right. The warehouse is right below us. Let's take her down.
Lexa: Seems like a strange place for Adam to build a back door to Sanctuary.
Shalimar: Well, you know with Adam. Always had his own way of seeing, right? Hey, Brennan, we're good to go.
Brennan: Good deal. Make your way down and I'll let Jess talk you through an internal override.
Lexa: All right.

[In the hangar, Jesse slowly helps Brennan to his feet.]
Brennan: Oh, man. Whoever's doing this knows who we are. And he knows everything about us
Jesse: Yeah, come on. [William's watching them on his computer screen when Nurse Helen returns to his hospital room. He quickly turns off the game and pretends to be asleep.]
Nurse Helen (leaning over him): Hey, Willie. Wakey, wakey. My shift's over so I just dropped by to kiss you goodnight. [His eyes fly open.] I thought that might get a rise out of you. Hm. He loves me. He loves me not. [She reaches up and removes a couple of scalp leads from his head like petals. His eyes widen.] You see, Willie? I have complete control over your life. If you were to die, no one would ever miss you. [His eyes start to flutter, and the heart monitor next to him flatlines.] No, hold on. No, no, don't you do that! Damn it! [She runs to pick up the electroshock panels, but William uses them to electrocute her. Screaming, she collapses on the floor. William opens his eyes again, and his heart monitor immediately returns to normal. He turns back to his monitor.]
Brennan: I don't get it.
Jesse (looking around with a flashlight): Revenge? Power trip? Insanity? Maybe all of the above.
Brennan: What do we do?
Jesse: That's just it. There's nothing we can do. We're sitting ducks and he's calling all the shots.
Brennan: No, there's gotta be a way that we can turn this around. We can't just give up.
Jesse: Brennan, if he's controlling the computers and he's got access to the security cameras, all the sensors and detectors, we can't even blink without him seeing.
Brennan: All right, then we shut down the entire system.
Jesse: Naaah, come on. If we do that, that means we'd lose the power in here and all of Sanctuary. The ventilators, all the computers. Nobody would be able to get in or out of here.
Brennan: Oh, man. All right, come on, Jess. There's gotta be a way that we can get him out of our computer.
Jesse: How did he get in? He's gotta be bouncing his signal off of Sancutary's satellite. Cut off his uplink, he'll lose his access.
Brennan (nodding): All right, fine. Let's do it.
Jesse: The only problem is figuring out how to do it without him seeing. [William sees them looking up at the ceiling cameras.]
William: You know I'm watching. That's very good. Now what are you gonna do about it?

[Shalimar and Lexa warily enter the darkened warehouse and look around.]
Lexa: Okay, Brennan, we're in. What's next? [There's no answer.] Brennan? Jesse?
Shalimar: Something's wrong.
Lexa: Yeah, I don't see any equipment anywhere.
Shalimar (feral eyes flashing): That's not it. We've got company. [Two armed FBI policemen run into the warehouse.]
FBI leader: Move in, let's go, let's go! They're there! Hands up! Nobody move! [The two raise their hands in surrender, then Lexa slowly reaches down to take Shalimar's hand and turns them both invisible. As the policemen look around in confusion, Shalimar suddenly reappears behind the leader.]
Shalimar: Looking for someone? [An invisible Lexa knocks the leader's gun from his hand, and Shalimar kicks the second to the floor. Hearing more troops on the way, Shalimar and Lexa flee from the room.]
Lexa: Let's get out of here! [The girls race up to the roof and into the Double Helix.]
Shalimar: Time to get the hell outta Dodge!
Lexa: You wanna explain to me what just happened back there? Why the hell would Brennan set us up?
Shalimar: He didn't. [They fly off in a hurry.]

******Commercial Break*******

[Sittting by the computer, Jesse shines his flashlight at three cameras in the ceiling, showing Brennan where they are.]
Brennan (nodding): Got ‘em.
Jesse: You've to take out all three cameras before he has time to retaliate. It's important. We only get one shot at this, Brennan.
Brennan: One shot's all I need.
Jesse: Let's do it. [Standing quickly, Brennan releases two electrical arcs, destroying all three cameras.]
Brennan: Whoo! Donesky.
William (watching by infrared scanner): Not bad. But unfortunately, not good enough. I still have the infrared sensors. I may not be able to see those baby blues, but this will do just fine.
Brennan: Now what do we do?
Jesse (standing): Now you've got to get to the main uplink access panel.
Brennan: And that would be?
Jesse (pointing): Top of the ventilator shaft. Through the air duct.
Brennan: All right.
Jesse: Whoa, wait, it's not gonna work.
Brennan: Why not?
Jesse: He can still see us.
Brennan: What are you talking about? We just blinded him!
Jesse: The body heat sensors.
Brennan: C'mon, man! You're killing me here.
Jesse (sitting down again): Hey, Adam designed this place, all right? And he designed it to be impregnable.
Brennan: Oh, great. Well, too bad Adam wasn't here so he could see how his genius is biting us all in the ass right now.
Jesse: What if I was to raise the temperature in here to a toasty 98 degrees?
Brennan (smiling): Well, we'd be invisible.
Jesse: Invisible.

[Up in the Double Helix, Shalimar's figured out what happened to Brennan's voice.]
Shalimar: Okay. Here's a playback of our conversation with Brennan. Listen to this.
Brennan: Shalimar, I'm here. But I don't know for how much longer.
Shalimar: Hear that click, right before he starts to speak? [She replays it for Lexa.]
Lexa (nodding): Yeah.
Shalimar: Our call was intercepted.
Lexa: Someone sampled Brennan's voice; sent us into a trap.
Shalimar: Yeah. On our comlink frequency.
Lexa: Man. Whoever's doing this has got to be pretty powerful. [On her computer, Shalimar pulls up the FBI's most wanted list: right on top are their pictures and profiles.]
Shalimar: Powerful enough to give us instant rap sheets. Made us look like public enemy number one.
Lexa (smiling): Well, maybe it's time we call "Brennan" back. Thank him personally.
Shalimar: See who we're playing with? [Lexa nods. Shalimar turns on the Helix's comlink frequency.] Hey Bren? It's Shal. How's the heat in there?
William!Brennan: Totally under control. How're you guys holding up?
Shalimar: Well, we tried to get into the warehouse, but the cops were after us. How weird is that?
William!Brennan: Very weird.
Shalimar: So has Jesse finally managed to beat you at your little game yet?
Willaim!Brennan: I say when the game is over. [Shalimar's eyes widen as she flashes back to a time when she and Brennan were chasing down a villain on a rooftop. Holding a gun to her head, the perpetrator said, "I say when the game is over!"]
Shalimar (returning to the present): So are you guys any closer to finding out who's behind all this?
William!Brennan: I wish.
Shalimar: Must be somebody pretty brilliant, huh? [Realizing she might be onto him, William doesn't answer.] What do you think? You still there?
William!Brennan: I think you know more than you're saying.
Shalimar: Just worried about you, Bren. [William cuts off the connection.]
William: Too late for that.
Shalimar (to Lexa): I know this guy. His name's William Dennett.
Lexa: Doesn't ring a bell to me.
Shalimar: He's a cybernetic mutant; can connect with computers through his brain.
Lexa: He's a human computer virus.
Shalimar: He was selling military secrets. [She flashes back again to rooftop, as William runs from Brennan and Shalimar.] We tracked him down to an apartment building by the river; I chased him up on the roof.

[In the flashback, Brennan's chasing William on the rooftop, but stops short when he sees William holding a gun to Shalimar's head.]
Brennan: Dennett! You're not going anywhere. It's over.
William: I say when the game's over! [Shalimar suddenly elbows him in the stomach, and he doubles over in pain, releasing her. Brennan uses the opportunity to hurl an electrical arc at William, who falls over the rooftop's edge to the ground below. The flashback ends.]

Shalimar: Last we heard, he was paralyzed for life. How could he be doing this?
Lexa: Maybe he's got nine lives. The point is, this psycho's been playing us from the start, separating the team on purpose.
Shalimar: Yeah, so he could turn on us one by one.
Lexa (searching her computer): Yeah. The problem is, I can't find any record of a William Dennett anywhere.
Shalimar: Well, a guy this smart would have wiped his slate clean.
Lexa: Well, that's great. So how exactly are we supposed to find him and shut him down?
Shalimar: You know what? No one vanishes without a trace. We're just gonna have to do this the old fashioned way.

[Back in the hangar, Jesse has raised the temperature in Sanctuary again to disguise their heat signatures.]
Jesse: 98.6 and holding.
Brennan: Sweet.
Jesse: Well, at least it's a dry heat.
Brennan (heading up the ladder towards the ventilator shaft): Well, then, we're good to go.
William (using the motion detectors to monitor their movements): You're catching on. That was very clever. But I still have a few moves left. [Brennan opens the panel and climbs into the air duct, as Jesse gives him directions from a schematic on his computer.]
Brennan: All right, I'm in. Where am I headed?
Jesse: You should see a grating at the end of the duct. Should be less than 10 feet in front of you.
Brennan (stopping in front of the grating): All right, I'm here. Now what.
Jesse: Pry it off, let me know what you see.Brennan (kicking down the grating, looking around): Oh, man. You're not gonna believe this. Crystal blue sky.
Jesse (frowning): No, you're right; I don't believe it. That's gotta be another hologram from the TunnelQuest game.
Brennan: No. No, in the game, the soldier's waiting at the other end. He puts up his hand, that's how you know you've made it to the next level.
Jesse: Yeah, but this guy doesn't play by the rules, Brennan.
Brennan: Yeah, well, I'm gonna take a closer look.
Jesse: Brennan, hold up!
Brennan: Jess, you said it yourself, okay, this is the only way to the uplink.
Jesse: No, no, I've got a bad feeling here. I think it's another one of his traps. Brennan? [Sighing, Brennan takes off his watch and tosses it into the opening. Immediately, an explosion goes off. Jesse races to the bottom of the ladder, trying to see into the smoke.] Brennan, are you all right? Brennan?
Brennan (coughing): Yeah. But I'm gonna need a new watch.
Jesse (looking around with his flashlight): He knew you were there. How the hell is it possible?
William: Checkmate. [He activates a security laser in the ceiling. Jesse sees it coming and phases in time to avoid the beam. A hologram of William appears on the balcony to taunt him.]
HoloWilliam: Stupid me! I should have realized you could phase like that. Wait. I did think of that!
Jesse: You're that cybernetic. How did you survive that fall? [HoloWilliam reappears next to Jesse.]
HoloWilliam: Oh, enough about me. This is about you. [Jesse phases as another laser beam appears.] Let's see how long you can stay phased? [Jesse unphases to take a breath, and the beam shoots him in the arm. As he doubles over in pain, a line of laser sights appears along his arm.] Too bad. You've already lost the game.

******Commercial Break*******

[Brennan crawls backwards out of the smoke-filled hatch, coughing. He turns to see William's holographic image leaning over Jesse.]
HoloWilliam: You should have left me alone.
Brennan (jumping to the ground): Why don't you pick on someone your own size?
HoloWilliam: Haven't we been through this before?
Brennan: Yeah. And it ends the same way. [He shatters the remaining linkup with an electrical charge, and William's image disappears.]
William (in his hospital bed): No. This time it ends my way!
Brennan (checking Jesse's arm): He winged you, huh?
Jesse: I can feel it.
Brennan: Oh, it's just a scratch.
Jesse (sitting wearily at the computer): I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tired of playing this game.

[At a downtown hospital, Shalimar knocks on the door to the medical records room and enters.]
Shalimar: Hi.
Barry (looking up from his desk): Can I help you?
Shalimar (leaning over the desk): Yeah. I, I hope you can help me. Um. Is this where they keep the hard copies for the patients' records? You see..um..Barry, it's my uncle. He used to be here, but I'm afraid he's been transferred to another hospital. I'm afraid he's been moved somewhere, so... [She opens one of the file cabinet drawers and starts rifling through it.]
Barry (hastily shutting it): These files are sealed. You have to have the proper authorization, and...
Shalimar: Oh, oooh! [She dramatically collapses to the floor, holding her stomach.]
Barry: I'll call a doctor.
Shalimar: (grabbing his wrist and pulling him down beside her): No, Barry, no! I don't know what happened, I got this sharp pain. You don't think it's my appendix, do you?
Barry: Uh, I'm not a doctor. [As Barry's attention is distracted, an invisible Lexa goes to the file cabinet and looks for William's file.]
Shalimar (stalling for time): Well, uh... Can you do me a favor and tell me if this feels swollen to you?
Barry: No...You don't understand....I - I - I don't know what I'm doing here.
Shalimar: A little lower, Bar. Woah, not that low! [Finding the chart, Lexa heads out of the room.] Well, uh, you know, you're not gonna believe this, but suddenly I feel a whole lot better.
Lexa (visible again, popping her head in the door): Shal. You ready to go?
Shalimar: Yeah. Wow. You really have the magic touch, Barry. [She heads out with Lexa.]

[Still inside the hangar, Jesse and Brennan are thinking about their next move.]
Jesse: So, did you recognize him?
Brennan: William Dennett. I can't imagine after the fall that he took that he would still look that good.
Jesse: He's a hologram. He could make himself look like Brad Pitt if he'd wanted.
Brennan: Yeah. All right, we've gotta get him out of our system.
Jesse: Well, if we can't get to the uplink, we've got no more options.
Brennan: No, no, no, come on. We can't let him win. We've gotta find a way to stop him.
Jesse: Well, if you think of anything, let me know, all right? [He shuts down his computer.]

[In the Helix, Lexa's paging through William's records.]
Lexa: This guys is unbelievable. He got himself transferred to a private facility.
Shalimar (Getting ready to take off): Private hospitals cost a lot of money. Where'd Dennett come up with that kind of cash?
Lexa: Someone with his power could break into banks like we check email. Now according to this, he's a resident of Woodbridge Gardens. Nothing but the best for him.
Shalimar: He must have hijacked Sanctuary's computer uplink when Jesse uploaded the game.
Lexa: So if he's still controlling Sanctuary, that means he's still connected.
Shalimar: We don't have a lot of time. Let's hope he's still there.

[Brennan throws electrical arc after arc at the locked door to the hangar.]
Jesse (sitting crosslegged on the floor): Forget it. It's not gonna work.
Brennan (hitting the door in frustration): All right, so what do we do, huh? What, we just give up?
Jesse (lying down): Well, when enough people tell you you're drunk, you lay down.
HoloWilliam (appearing on the balcony again): You guys disappoint me. I really expected you to put up much more of a fight.
Brennan: We're not giving up!
William: Too late! You failed. Game over, boys. Sweet dreams. [The room begins to fill with white gas.]
Jesse: Brennan?

*******Commercial Break******

[As the room fills with white gas, Brennan coughs, looking up at William's hologram.]Brennan: How is killing us going to change anything?
HoloWilliam: Because of you, I don't look like this anymore! I'm withered, paralyzed.
Brennan: That wasn't our fault. We were only trying to stop you, Dennett.
Jesse: We can understand your anger.
HoloWilliam: You can't begin to understand!
Jesse: Okay, to tell us about it! Look, you're smart, William. You broke into an impenetrable system and managed to manipulate it.
HoloWilliam: I found the traps that were already there.
Brennan: The possibilities for a man with your talents are limitless. You could find a cure for your paralysis.
HoloWilliam: There is no cure! [Jesse begins to cough.]
Brennan: We could help you. Okay, but if you kill us, you destroy any chance of that happening.
HoloWilliam: My life is over! The only thing I have left is the satisfaction of seeing you pay for what you've done. And make no mistake, I won't forget about your lady friends.
Brennan: You leave them alone.
HoloWilliam: I just hope they're better players than you. You know what Sanctuary is pumping into your system right now? BZ. A powerful nerve agent. It will infiltrate your blood stream, create paralysis, and eventually close down your heart. Can you feel that numbness in your fingers yet? You said you wanted to understand how I felt? Well, soon you will.
Brennan (coughing): Dennett, don't do this. [William disappears.]
Jesse (doubling over, choking): Brennan...

[Shalimar and Lexa reach the hospital in the Double Helix and look for a place to land.]
Lexa: Hospital's up ahead.
Shalimar: Rooftop's too narrow. We need to find another place to land.
Lexa: Nah, there's nowhere close to bring her down. We can do this.
Shalimar: It's too narrow!
Lexa: We'll be fine.
Shalimar (sighing in frustration): Argh! [The Helix lands roughly, hurling Shalimar forward in her seat to bump her head on the panel in front of her. She glares at Lexa.] That's gonna leave a mark. [Lexa grins.]

[Meanwhile, at Sanctuary, Brennan carries a weakening Jesse up the stairs to the balcony.]
Brennan: Come on, Jesse, we've gotta get up, man. Come on, buddy, you're gonna make it. Come on. Stay with me, buddy, we're gonna make it. [They collapse on the floor.]
Jesse (hoarsely): Thin crust pizza.
Brennan: What?
Jesse: My dad used to take us to this great place, Giorgio's. I wanna be there now.
Brennan: Yeah. Me too.
Jesse: Nah, you wouldn't like it. [He coughs.]
Brennan (hitting his arm): Keep talking, man.
Jesse: There's something I want to tell you, Brennan.
Brennan (nodding): I love you too, man.
Jesse: No. You suck at basketball.
Brennan (chuckling): That's the big thing...that's the big thing that you wanted to tell me.
Jesse: And what you said. [He starts to wheeze, convulsing.]
Brennan (cradling him in his arms): Jesse! Jesse! [William's watching the boys from his bed when Shalimar and Lexa burst into his room.]Lexa: Hey, William. You've been a bad boy. [She leans down to check Nurse Helen's pulse as Shalimar goes to William's bedside and notices Brennan and Jesse on the screen.]
Shalimar: The screen.
Lexa (joining her): My God. He's suffocating them!
Shalimar (grabbing the leads on his scalp): I'm going to rip these out of your head. Then you won't be connected to anything anymore.
Lexa (stopping her): No, don't do that.
Shalimar: They're gonna die if we don't do something!
Lexa: No, he's directly linked to Sanctuary. [She pulls the keyboard towards her.] I'm going to try and override it manually. Hopefully I can access the ventilation shafts.
Shalimar (to William): What did you do to them?
William (voice simulator): They're just like me, now.
Shalimar: If they die, you die.
Lexa: I'm in.
Brennan: Don't you die on me, Jesse!
Lexa: Okay, I'm flooding the chamber with oxygen. God, I hope we're not too late.
Brennan: Jesse, come on. Jesse, come on! Stay with me, Jesse, stay with me! Come on, man, come on. [When Jesse doesn't respond, Brennan leans in to give him mouth to mouth.]
Jesse (waking up): Woah! Don't you even THINK about giving me mouth-to-mouth. [Brennan helps him sit up as Shalimar and Lexa grin at each other in relief.]
Shalimar: Brennan, is he okay?
Brennan (looking into the camera): Yeah. Yeah, he's okay.
Lexa (nodding at William): Well, what about him? [Shalimar reaches behind the bed an holds up William's modem connection.]
William: If you unhook me, I'm trapped inside my mind. It's unbearable! Kill me.
Shalimar: I don't think you deserve that.
William: Please! It's like being in a coffin! [Shalimar looks at Lexa, then rips the cord apart.]
Lexa (leaning over the bed): Any last words? [William silently stares at her, pleading.] Guess not.
Shalimar: Come on. We're done here.
Lexa: Wait. Just one more little thing. [She blasts the computer screen with a laser.] Just making sure you'll never be hooked up again. [She leaves with Shalimar. William closes his eyes in defeat.]

[Back at Sanctuary, Jesse's typing at one of the computers, trying to repair the system.]
Jesse (muttering to himself): Computers. I hate them. [Shalimar and Lexa walk into the room.]
Shalimar: Hey, there, handsome.
Jesse: Hey.
Shalimar: Brought you a present. [She kisses him on the lips]
Jesse (smiling): Hm. I like that present. What's this?
Lexa: Oh, uh, consider it an almost-going-away present.
Jesse: TunnelQuest III?
Shalimar: Well, we thought you might like to load it into the system computer and put our holograms through a few paces.
Jesse: Are you insane?!
Lexa (laughing): It's worth a look, though.
Shalimar: Mmm-hmm. Brennan was right.
Jesse: Brennan was right? This was your idea?
Brennan (glaring at Shalimar): Don't look at me. I didn't tell them to buy it.Jesse: You mind taking care of this, Sparky?
Brennan: Pull.
Jesse: Yeah. [Jesse tosses the game into the air; Brennan zaps it with an electrical arc, breaking it to pieces.]

[Having been transferred into a new hospital room, William lies immobile on the bed. A nurse walks into the room with a radio, turning it to the news station. As soon as she leaves, William's eyes fly open, and the radio begins to radiate static.]