Épisode L'implant S03E17 - Mutant X Saison 3

                              She's Come Undone


[Opening scene: The front entrance of the Maxxlon building at night. Lexa, wearing a long black coat and sunglasses, enters the building. Firing off laser after laser, she murders the two guards at the front desk, then three scientists and another guard she encounters on the way down the hall to Dr. Remy Arnot's office. Seeing her approach, Dr. Arnot quickly slides his glass doors closed, but Lexa shoots lasers from both hands, shattering the glass. Dr. Arnot grabs a gun, which Lexa wrestles from him. Throwing him on the floor, Lexa picks up a knife from his desk and unsheathes it, smiling. Her sunglasses have fallen off, revealing that her eyes are completely white.]

[Cut to: Lexa jerks awake in her bed in Sanctuary. As she tries to get her bearings, Shalimar bursts into her room.]
Shalimar: Lexa? I heard shouting, are you okay?
Lexa: Yeah, sorry. I just had a brutal nightmare. (She rubs her neck.) I could use an aspirin too.
Shalimar (giggling): I think one of us needs to lay off the tequila. [Walking up to the bed, Shalimar's face sobers. She reaches for the light.] Lexa.
Lexa: What?
Shalimar (turning on the light): Don't move. [Lexa looks down at her hands and gasps to see that they're covered with dried blood.]
Lexa (touching herself): Oh my God.
Shalimar (going to her): Where are you hurt?
Lexa (confused): Um...I'm fine. [Shalimar pushes back her hair, revealing more blood splattered on her face. Lexa looks up at her, horrified.] It's not my blood.

Opening credits. "She's Come Undone."

[Scene: In Sanctuary's lab, Lexa is lying on the biobed as Jesse runs her body scan from the computer.]
Lexa: Is this really necessary?
Jesse: Well, let's see. You can't remember the last three hours and you woke up covered with blood. So yeah, I'd kinda say it is. Relax. I'm gonna do a bio scan just to rule out anything internal.
Lexa: I think you just like playing doctor.
Jesse (smiling): Yeah, you wish. Look, whatever it is that's going on here, we're gonna figure it out.
Lexa: Anything yet?
Jesse (frowning): Yeah. Your synapses are firing at an odd rate. Could be what's causing the...headache.
Lexa: What?
Jesse: Your implant. You never did say what Eckhart used it for.
Lexa (sitting up): Well, trust me, it's a non-issue. It was just a data jack. The Dominion deactivated it years ago. [Brennan walks in.] You know, maybe this was all a bad dream...and a nosebleed?
Brennan: Doubt it. I checked out the Helix. Looks like you took her out solo a few hours ago.
Lexa: That doesn't make any sense. Where did I go?
Brennan: I can reconstruct the flight path.
Jesse: Yeah, but you can't go back there, Lexa. Not if there's any chance your nightmare was real.
Brennan: Shal and I will handle the recon.
Lexa: Yeah, now who's dreaming? [She walks out of the lab. Brennan follows her. Jesse returns to the computer, pulling up the scan results of Lexa's implant.]

[Up in the Helix, Shalimar and Brennan sit up front. Lexa sits in the back, thinking.]

Brennan (whispering to Shalimar): Shal, are you buying this whole...amnesia crap?
Shalimar: Think she's lying?
Brennan: Who, Complexa? I mean, c'mon. When has she ever told us the whole story? I'm just saying, you know, if it was me, and I woke up covered in someone else's blood, I'm sure I'd remember what happened.
Shalimar: Well, maybe she doesn't want to remember.
Brennan: Yeah, maybe she's just trying to hide something else. [The Helix lands, cloaked in front of the Maxxlon building. Shalimar, Lexa, and Brennan walk in to find the bodies of the two front desk guards and the entire wall scorched.]
Brennan: Well, if you were going for subtle, you missed.
Shalimar (picking up a security guard's burned cap): Looks like you were trying to send someone a message, Lex.
Brennan: Yeah, I just wish we knew who.
Shalimar (holding up a fried phone wire): Well, at least she cut off communications. That should buy us some time. [She notices that Lexa's staring down the hall.] What is it, Lex?
Lexa: There's more. [They follow her down the hallway, strewn with dead bodies. Shalimar calls Jesse, who is carefully studying Lexa's implant specs.]
Shalimar: Well, the good news is Lexa, doesn't have to worry about any witnesses.
Brennan: Yeah, the bad news is, they're all dead. So far, I count five.
Lexa (reaching Dr. Arnot's office): Make that six. [They walk in, Lexa stands over Dr. Arnot's bloody body.] The trail ends here.
Brennan : You're telling me you don't remember doing something like that?
Lexa: I remember killing him in my dream. He begged, but it didn't...do him much good.
Shalimar (picking up Dr. Arnot's ID badge): Hey, Jess? See what you can get me on a Dr. Remy Arnot in the database. [Engrossed in the information on Lexa's implant, Jesse doesn't answer.] Jess?
Jesse: Yeah. Uh...Dr. Remy Arnot. Ah, one-time researcher at Genomex, last worked on something called Project Nine, which he co-created with three other doctors: Dr. Samuel Howell, Beatrice Lang, and John Gonsalves. [Hearing the name, Lexa's eyes widen. She reaches down to pull up Dr. Arnot's left shirt sleeve, revealing a triangular tattoo on his forearm. She looks up in alarm.]
Shalimar: Okay, what's Project Nine?
Jesse: I'm working on that, just give me a minute.
Lexa (standing quickly): Guys, we have to get-get out of here fast. [Looking at each other, Brennan and Shalimar follow Lexa as she hurries out of the room.]
Brennan: What's going on? I thought you said you didn't know him?
Lexa: Yeah, but I know who he works for. [Two armed men appear at the end of the hallway, blocking their exit. Shalimar grabs Lexa, and they take cover behind the corner as the men open fire.]
Lexa (to Brennan): Cover me. [Brennan shoots an electrical arc at the men, distracting them so that Lexa can blind them with a starburst of light. Brennan and Shalimar punch them out, and the three resume their dash for the door.]
Shalimar: Pretty well armed for alarm techs. You wanna tell me what's going on?
Lexa: They're just recon. Their backup will be here in a few minutes.
Brennan: All right, enough with the cryptic, Lex! What's going on? How do you know this?
Lexa: Because it's our protocol! This is a Dominion facility; Arnot was a Dominion doctor. I just attacked my own people, and I still have no idea why!
Brennan: Jess, you getting this, man?
Jesse (staring at the search results for Lexa and Project Nine): Yeah, every word of it. Listen, we've got other problems. Bring Lexa straight in. Don't let her stop for anything and do not let down your guard!

[Back at Sanctuary, Lexa paces around her office, waiting. Soon, her Dominion contact appears on her computer screen.]
The Contact: Lexa.
Lexa (pointing to her implant): You lied to me. You told me this thing was neutralized; someone's activating it again.
The Contact: That isn't possible.
Lexa: Really? Why don't you tell that to the five men I just butchered at Maxxlon, including Dr. Arnot!
The Contact: You need to come in.
Lexa: No.
The Contact: I can contain this for now. But once The Board learns someone's using you against us-- [Lexa cuts off the communication. Suddenly, she hears Adam's voice behind her.]
Adam: Don't go in. [Lexa spins around. Adam's hologram appears by the doorway.]
Lexa (shaking her head in amazement): Am I dreaming?
Adam: I've been waiting for the right time to tell you that I'm still alive, but under the circumstances I couldn't wait any longer. Lexa. We both know what's happening to you. It's time for you to face it.
Lexa (smiling): It really is you, isn't it? Only Adam Kane would be arrogant enough to show up here after a year with advice instead of apologies.
Adam: Lexa--
Lexa: Well, you picked a lousy time to go all Ghost of Christmas Past on me, Adam. You told me you would handle this and you failed. Don't you dare expect me to trust you now!
Adam: You're thinking with your anger again. That's a mistake.
Lexa: Yeah. So was waiting a year to contact us. [She stalks out.]

[Meanwhile, Jesse walks Brennan and Shalimar over to the computer to show them what he's found.]
Jesse: Welcome to Project Nine.
Brennan (looking at close-up pictures of Lexa's implant): The hell is that thing?
Jesse: It's a neural jack. It hijacks Lexa's central nervous system, gives somebody complete remote control over her.
Brennan: Oh, great. She's a firecracker on a good day. How're we supposed to be able to trust her now?
Shalimar: So Eckhart did this?
Jesse: She tried leaving the GSA after what Eckhart did to her brother. That was her punishment.
Shalimar: We've got to get it out of her.
Jesse: I don't think I can. Adam worked on the problem for years, ran dozens of different extraction scenerios. In 97% of them, she died.
Shalimar: So what do we do? [Jesse shakes his head.]

[Putting on her coat, Lexa is headed towards Sanctuary's exit, when she sees Jesse waiting for her in the hallway, holding his keyboard.]
Lexa (hurrying past him): Can't talk, Jess. I'm in a hurry.
Jesse: We know about Project Nine. [She stops and turns around.] We don't blame you. None of this is any of your fault.
Lexa: Oh. Well, thanks. [She begins to walk out again.]
Jesse: Don't thank me yet. [He presses a button on his keyboard, and a wall comes down in front of her, cutting off her exit. Glaring at him, Lexa tries to walk back into Sanctuary, but a second wall comes down, closing her in.]
Lexa (looking through the bars of the cage): Don't do this, Jess, come on!
Jesse: I gotta. You're a weapon as long as somebody's controlling you, and I can't let you out until we get their finger off the trigger.
Lexa: Yeah. [He walks away. Lexa tries to break through the door with a laser, but the force-field merely reflects the energy back at her. She angrily pulls on the bars.] Jesse!

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

[Frustrated, Lexa paces around in her tiny cell. Throwing down her coat, she finally plops down on the ground, hugging her knees. Up on the second floor, Jesse's briefing Shalimar and Brennan about the doctors of Project Nine.]
Jesse: All right, it took four doctors to create Project Nine. They're the only ones who knows how it works, and they're all missing as of a few days ago.
Brennan: What, are they dead?
Jesse: Well, hopefully, they're in hiding. Now. We know that at least one of them is controlling her.
Shalimar: And Arnot is definitely dead, so that leaves us with three possibilities.
Brennan: Right.
Jesse: Guys, I'm hoping to hell that one of them knows how to get this out of her neck. Okay, I'm old fashioned, so we start with the lady. Her name's Dr. Beatrice Lang. [He hands Shalimar a picture of Dr. Lang on the cover of DNA Weekly.] She's the techie of the group, responsible for engineering the implant itself.
Brennan: Whaddya say we go make a house call? [Shalimar and Brennan head off to the Double Helix. Jesse goes to visit Lexa in her cage.]
Jesse: Can I get you something?
Lexa: Yeah, how about out?
Jesse (sadly): I'm working on that. Is it even worth saying I'm sorry?
Lexa: They're just words, Jess. You really want to help me? [She gets up and comes up to the bars.] Get this thing out of me.
Jesse: They attached a sensor to your implant. Any attempt to remove it, and it sends an electrical surge into your brain. Instant hemorrhage. I wish there was another way.
Lexa: Yeah, well find one. Because you know what? I'd rather be dead than someone's puppet.
Jesse (touching her hand through the bars): Lexa--
Lexa: My life, my risk.
Jesse: Yeah.

[Shalimar and Brennan arrive at Dr. Lang's apartment. Finding the front door open, they walk in.]
Brennan: Dr. Lang! Hello? Dr. Lang! Ain't nobody home.
Shalimar (feral eyes flashing): She's home.
Brennan: Dr. Lang? [Shalimar follows her scent to the bookcase and finds a fake panel in it.] Did you bring your library card? [Shalimar opens the panel, uncovering a thick door.] A secret room?
Shalimar (knocking on the door): A panic room. [She points to laser burns around the door's lock.] Ten bucks who was making her panic. [They open the door and cover their noses at the smell.] Well, we found her.
Brennan: Oh, damn. What'd Lexa do, vaporize her? [Shalimar opens a small closet in the back of the room; Dr. Lang's body falls out, clutching a magazine clipping.]
Shalimar (leaning over the body): It's a few days old. Lexa must have killed her first.
Brennan: Oh yeah, great. Then comes back to Sanctuary and crawls back into bed, that's nice. We're lucky she didn't try to kill us in our sleep. Well, one doc down, two to go.
Shalimar (handing him the clipping): How about a dying declaration?
Brennan (reading): Dr. John Gonsalves.

[Meanwhile, Jesse's in Sanctuary's lab, preparing to remove Lexa's implant. He goes over to Lexa, who is sitting in the biochair with a surgical apparatus steadying her head.]
Jesse: Okay. You ready for this? [She doesn't answer.] Yeah, me either. [He inserts the surgical probe into her implant and goes back to the computer.] Here we go. Computer, voice mode activated beginning procedure. 3:26 am. Cauterizing severed attachments. [Moving his joystick around, he begins to cut the implant's connections to Lexa's brain. Suddenly, Lexa gasps and her eyes turn white as she starts to convulse.] What's going on? What's gone wrong?
The Computer: Implant's defense mechanisms have been activated. Heart rate falling. Blood pressure 40 over 20.
Jesse (working as fast as he can): Come on...don't do this... Come on!
The Computer: Heart rate critical. [Lexa stops convulsing.] Complete loss of neural function.
Jesse: Come on...
The Computer: Time of death, 4:02. [Jesse pushes the joystick away, head in his hands. Then getting up, he speaks to the computer again.] Reset.
The Computer: Reset simulation. [Lexa's body vanishes, and is replaced by a new Lexa hologram. Jesse sits back down to try again.]

[Cut to: Dominion headquarters. The Dominion Council sits around a round table in the board room. Lexa's Dominion Contact rolls up to the table in a motorized wheelchair, and The Council's head addresses him.]
The Head (playing with his ring): Your final report?
The Contact: No changes. There were no survivors of the Maxxlon lab break-in. The video surveillance was destroyed. The trail of Arnot's killer is cold.
Council Member #1: Unacceptable! You know the situation, the threat this represents to us. Perhaps even to The Creator. We cannot allow this to go by--
The Head (interrupting him): Neither can we assume these attacks on us will stop. So, we're agreed? We're moving to the next level. Hand over whatever information you've gathered.
The Contact: This isn't necessary. Just give me time! The killer will be found.
The Head: And executed. We're assigning...The Fixers. [He looks up at a four-sided video image floating in the air above the table, showing bios of two assassins. The Contact looks disturbed.]

[Back in Sanctuary, Lexa's climbed the walls of her little prison and started slowly cutting through the grille above her with a laser. She jumps when she hears Adam's voice behind her.]
Adam (appearing inside the cell): There's 300 feet of rock above you. I don't think you have that kind of time.
Lexa (climbing down): If you're gonna keep popping up like this, you really should start wearing a bell.
Adam: You remember when I first brought you here, I told you there was a point at which your independence became a liability. The safest place for you is right in here. Let the others handle this.
Lexa: You gave up the right to advise us when you abandoned Mutant X.
Adam: I didn't abandon anything.
Lexa: Really? They've been through hell this past year! Where were you?
Adam: I'm sorry I couldn't have been here for you when your brother passed away.
Lexa (shaking her head): I don't know what kind of game you're playing here, Adam. But Mutant X doesn't need you anymore, and you know what? I never did.
Adam: All that matters to me is that you need them. I worked back channels to have you inserted here, not so that you could save them, but so that they could save you from who you were becoming.
Lexa (turning her back on him): Well, you wasted your time. Thanks to this thing, I'm back to my old tricks.
Adam: There's a chance we can change that. Jesse lied to you. [She turns to face him.] He let his feelings for you cloud his judgement. There is a chance, a small chance, that I can remove the implant, all right? BUT it's very risky, and you have to trust me.
Lexa: Do me a favor. Hold your breath on that one.
Adam: Okay, fine. I can't force you to let me help. But the offer still stands. [His hologram disappears, leaving Lexa to ponder his words. Cut to: Jesse, who's been watching the entire exchange on his monitor in the lab. He's shaking his head in disapproval when his screen suddenly switches to the image of Lexa's Dominion Contact.]
The Contact: Mr. Kilmartin.
Jesse (surprised): What? Who? How did you--
The Contact: No time for eloquent questions. [Information begins rolling across the screen.]
Jesse: What is that?
The Contact: Profiles on each of the doctors responsible for Lexa's implant. It's the last help I can offer her. I just hope it's enough.
Jesse: What do you mean by that?
The Contact: If Lexa takes any further actions against the Dominion, I won't be able to hide it from them. In plain English, Mr. Kilmartin, she will be terminated!
Jesse: All right. Now you go tell The Dominion that if they go near Lexa or any member of my team, I will become a threat to their survival! [He terminates the connection. The screen once again shows Lexa in her cage, but now she's lying on the floor.] Lexa? [Jesse grabs his keyboard and rushes out of the room.] Lexa! Lexa, can you hear me? [Reaching the cage, he looks down at his screen, which shows that her vital signs are irregular. He punches a button to raise up one wall of the cage and ducks inside.] Lexa? [He rolls her onto her back and shakes her.] Lexa, wake up. Wake up, come on!
Lexa (finally waking up): What happened?
Jesse: I don't know. The implant must have overloaded you somewhere. Are you okay?
Lexa (sitting up): No, Jess, I'm not. Having someone inside my head, knowing he can make me do whatever he wants...I refuse to be that powerless. I won't.
Jesse (smiling): Hey. You're about the least powerless woman I know. Any more powerful, and I'll have to buy you a cape.
Lexa (laughing): Let me out of here, Jess.
Jesse: I can't. Look, I just spoke to your contact with The Dominion. If you attack and get caught one more time--
Lexa: I know, they'll kill me.
Jesse: Yeah.
Lexa: I'm way too dangerous to them like this. You know what, they'll find out eventually, so I guess dead if you do, dead if you don't.
Jesse (holding her arm): Hey, I am never gonna let that happen. [She smiles at him. Then leaning toward him, she kisses him on the lips. When they break apart, he smiles at her. She takes his face in her hands and kisses him again.] What was that?
Lexa: That was goodbye. [Grabbing his collar, Lexa throwing him over her shoulder. She gets up, grabs his keyboard and ducks out of the cage. She brings down the wall behind her, imprisoning him inside.]
Jesse (coughing): Lexa! Lexa, don't be stupid!
Lexa: Sorry, Jess. I have to do this on myself. [Suddenly she drops the keyboard, doubling over and holding her head in pain.]
Jesse (trying in vain to phase out of the cage): Lexa! [When Lexa looks up, Jesse sees that her eyes have turned white. She runs out of Sanctuary. He yells after her.] Lexa, come back!

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

[In the cage, Jesse tries to phase his hand out of the bars to reach the keyboard on the floor outside, but he's prevented by the force-field. Standing up, he walks to the middle of the cage, counting his steps.]
Jesse: Here goes something. [He phases through the floor, barely managing to grab hold of the second floor railing. Just then, Brennan calls him over his comlink.]
Brennan: Where are you, man?
Jesse (holding on for dear life): I'm a little bit busy right now... [The screen splits in two to show Brennan and Shalimar in the Helix.]
Brennan: Dr. Lang is dead. We think that Gonsalves is our killer.
Jesse (pulling himself up over the railing): Well, then we've got big problems. Lexa's turned it in on the run. Okay, I need you to stop her before she gets to Howell. He's the surgical specialist of the team. If anybody can get this out of her neck, it's him. He's our last shot.
Shalimar: Well, hold on Jess. Stop her how? I mean, assuming we can even find her?
Jesse: Okay, I got an idea. But I need you to check out the med kit in the Helix. [He runs back down to the lab.]
Shalimar (getting the kit and opening it): Got it.
Jesse: Okay, good. Now tell me what drugs you see.
Shalimar: Cortisol...
Jesse: Keep going.
Shalimar: Codeine, morphine, epinephrine....
Jesse: Epinephrine! Epinephrine, okay, that's good. When Gonsalves activates the implant, it puts Lexa into a REM trance. Epinephrine should snap her out of that trance long enough to wake her up. At least temporarily.
Brennan: But we still need a location on her, Bud.
Jesse (sitting down at his computer): Okay, well, let's just hope that Gonsalves doesn't know enough to tell her to take off her comlink ring.

[Scene: Dr. Howell's building. Wearing a harness, Lexa opens a grate in the ceiling and rappels down to the floor. Leaving the harness line hanging, she sets off to find Dr. Howell. Shalimar and Brennan walk into the building right after her.]
Shalimar (looking around): A little help here, Jess?
Jesse (tracking their comlinks on his computer): You're almost there. Take your next hall...left.
Brennan (seeing the harness line hanging from the ceiling): Well, she's here. Must have just missed her. [Two guards run in pointing guns at them.]
Guard #1: Freeze! Don't move!
Brennan: You got this?
Shalimar: Oh, yeah. [Brennan walks off to find Lexa.]
Guard #1: I said freeze!
Shalimar: I don't know about the odds here, boys. [They rush at her, but she easily takes them both down. Lying on the ground, they stare up at her in amazement.] Hardly seems fair. [Smiling, she holds out a hand to help Guard #2 up. Perplexed, he takes her hand, but she shoves him back down with her foot. They both try to tackle her again, only to have the lights punched out of them. Shalimar then grabs Guard #2's body and tosses him into the next room.] Get back to work! [She runs after Brennan.]

[In the meantime, Lexa's found Dr. Howell sitting at his desk in a storage room. Seeing her walk into the room, he backs away.]
Dr. Howell: Lexa! Don't do it. No, no, don't! [She shoots a laser at him, propelling him backwards against a stack of boxes. Brennan comes in behind her.]
Brennan: You just killed the only chance we had of fixing you.
Lexa: I'm working just fine. [She shoots a laser at him, which he ducks.] See? [She turns invisible. Brennan closes the door behind him so that she can't get out. Lexa starts punching him; he can't fight back because he can't see her. Finally, he reaches out and shoves her away into a stack of boxes. Grabbing the fire extinguisher off the wall, he shoots foam at her, temporarily blinding her and making her visible again. He grabs her and injects epinephrine into her neck. Shalimar barges into the room just in time to see Lexa wake up in Brennan's arms, her eyes their normal blue again.]
Shalimar: Jess, we're bringing her home. [Throwing her arm over his shoulders, Brennan helps Lexa out of the room.]

[Jesse emerges from the lab in Sanctuary; he looks up to see Adam standing at the end of the hallway.]
Adam: Jesse. We have to do this!
Jesse (striding towards him angrily): Adam, you have a habit of turning up when I least want to see you. You shouldn't have told her. You knew that she'd want to take the risk.
Adam: It's hers to take. Jesse, caring for someone means telling them all truths. Even the ones you want to protect them from. It took me a long time to learn that.
Jesse: But you still haven't! You want to help? Try putting yourself out there. [Jesse starts to walk through him, thinking Adam's just a hologram. He's shocked when Adam reaches out and grabs his chest.]
Adam: That's exactly what I'm doing. [Shalimar and Brennan walk in.]
Shalimar: Oh my god. You're really here this time.
Brennan (surprised that Shalimar also knew Adam was alive): This time? Yeah, well I guess we're all really good at keeping your secrets, huh?
Shalimar: Why now?
Adam (looking at Jesse): Lexa.
Jesse: The surgical procedure. You're thinking it will work with the two of us. [Adam doesn't answer.] Well, come on, will it? Are you sure?
Adam: I'm sure it's her only chance. Trust me.
Brennan: Well, that's the issue, isn't it?

[In the lab, Adam stands over Lexa, who is strapped to the biochair in the surgical apparatus; Jesse stands at the computer a few feet away. Adam prods different areas of Lexa's head with a metal probe.]
Adam: And now?Lexa: I see spots.
Adam (to Jesse): That's the occipital lobe. Try talking?
Lexa (grinning): There once was a man from Nantucket... [Jesse and Adam smile.]
Adam: Okay. And here? [Lexa's hands flutter.]
Jesse: Oh, her hands moved! That's the-uh, the, the gross motor.
Adam: That's the precentral gyrus. It's just in front of the parietal lobe. All right, good, so we have the surgical area completely mapped. Now I think that we should do this in two phases. [He walks over to the computer.] First, we should neutralize the implant's hardware so that it doesn't self-destruct once it senses our intrusion. We neutralize it here, then we can completely sever it from the nerve here.
Jesse: Now we do both remember that I'm not a doctor, right?
Adam: Right, well, we're both a little over our heads here, so I've uploaded the procedural specs so that the computer can give us a hand.
Jesse: Great.
Adam (walking back to Lexa's side): Just remember that once we begin, we have less than thirty-five minutes to complete the entire procedure. You ready? [Jesse sits down with the joystick.] I'll start at the source; you cauterize the connections. All right. Let's begin. [He pats Lexa's shoulder.] Hang in there, Lexa. [They begin to work.]
Lexa: Jess? If this doesn't work, kill Gonsalves for me.
Jesse (smiling at her): Don't worry. You can kill him yourself. [He goes back to work. She closes her eyes.]

[Standing in the main room, Brennan and Shalimar monitor the procedure's progress on the computer.]
Brennan: Look, Shal, Lexa's gonna be fine. We're all fighting for her now.
Shalimar: Sometimes that isn't enough.
Brennan: Well, I think we should be worried about what happens after the surgery. Jess said The Dominion sent a bunch of assassins after her.
Shalimar: What? And they think we're just gonna let that happen?
Brennan: They think it's the only way to stop her. Jess said that they won't bend on it.
Shalimar: Yeah, we'll see about that. [She heads out of the room.]

[In the lab, Lexa gasps. Her eyes turn white, and she begins to convulse.]
Adam (looking at her face): We have to work quickly.

[Cut to: Lexa's office, where Shalimar and Brennan are talking to The Dominion Contact.]
The Contact: My hands are tied. Lexa is a threat to us.
Shalimar: She's risked her life for you countless times. You owe her more than this.
Brennan: All we're asking is that you call off your dogs.
The Contact: The assassins are already on her trail. You are the ones who let Lexa out to kill again, leaving proof of her crimes. If you're looking to assign blame here, look to yourselves.
Brennan: Then meet us halfway, all right? Buy us some time. We've already started to remove the implant. She wasn't in control of herself.
The Contact: And I am not in control of them. I cannot stop this. [He terminates the connection. Brennan and Shalimar look worried.]

[Back in the lab, Lexa continues to convulse as Adam and Jesse work as fast as they can.]
Adam: All right, Jesse, good, but we have to keep up the pace. The input and output ends have to be handled simultaneously.
Jesse: Adam, it's building up too fast.
Adam: Stay calm. We can do this.
Jesse: Computer, what's happening?
Adam: Status?
The Computer: Approaching nervous system overload.
Jesse: Adam, what do we do?
Adam: Stay calm.
Jesse: It's not working.
The Computer: Blood pressure falling.
Jesse: The implant had detected us. It's flooding her synapses. It's killing her!

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

[Back to the lab. Lexa's still shaking violently.]
Jesse (standing up, pointing at the computer screen): Adam, this is what happened before. We're losing her.
Adam (shouting at Jesse): Jesse, sit down. Jesse, don't stop!
Jesse: We've gotta get it out of her now!
Adam: Her system can handle the stress--
Jesse: I've been through this! [Listening outside, Shalimar hides her face against Brennan's chest. He puts his arm around her.] If we wait, she will die!
Adam: Jesse, this is not a simulation!
Jesse (going to Lexa's side): Computer, sever primary nerve connection now!
The Computer: Severing primary connection.
Adam (glaring at Jesse): Computer, abort!
Jesse (watching the computer): Come on....
The Computer: Connection severed. [Jesse grabs the studs on Lexa's neck and drags out the implant by the roots. Dumping it in a container, he turns back to watch her anxiously. Adam stands by the computer, mouth open in shock. Lexa stops moving, eyes closed.] Cauterizing initialized. Procedure successful. [Hearing this from outside, Shalimar and Brennan relax.]
Adam (going to Lexa's side with a penlight): Lexa. Look at me. [She opens her eyes, allowing him to check her pupils. Then she turns back to Jesse.]
Lexa (tiredly): How'd we do?
Jesse (holding her shoulder): Well, you weren't much help. [She laughs weakly.] But we were unbelievable. [Lexa smiles at Adam, who pats her shoulder and walks out of the lab.]
Shalimar (running to catch up to Adam as he hurries down the hallway): Why are you leaving?
Adam: Because I made myself a target as soon as I came here. Now my enemies know I'm alive.
Shalimar: What about Lexa? It isn't over.
Brennan (standing on the staircase): He doesn't care.Adam (stopping): You're right, Brennan. That's exactly why I came here, putting myself in personal danger, because I don't care.
Brennan: What about the danger you put us in when you abandoned us.
Adam: You were ready.
Brennan: We were scared. Whatever was going on, whatever your big secret was, you didn't just run from me. You ran from us, and that's what I can't forgive.
Shalimar: Brennan, stop it.
Brennan: No. No, we buried him, and he let us. That's sick. [He stomps off down the stairs.]
Shalimar: He didn't mean it.
Adam: It's okay. [He starts towards the door.]
Shalimar: Are we gonna see you again?
Adam (smiling, walking back to caress her arm): If I'm lucky. [He leaves.]

[In the main room of Sanctuary, Jesse, Shalimar, and Brennan are trying to figure out how to take care of The Fixers.]
Shalimar: I think our only hope is to try to take down Gonsalves. Show The Dominion that Lexa's at least useful to them again.
Brennan: Yeah, but we don't have any leads, and we don't have any time.
Lexa (walking in, smiling): Boy, you guys really do give up easy.
Jesse: Woah. No, no, no, no. You should be in bed.
Lexa: I was. Until this woke me. [She holds up the container holding the implant, which is blinking on and off.] Guess who's trying to reach out and touch somebody?
Brennan (to Jesse): Can you use that to track the signal back to Gonsalves?
Jesse: Now that it's out of her, hell yeah. [He takes the container and heads off toward the lab.]
Lexa: Good. Because once you find him, I'm coming along for the clean up.
Shalimar: No. No, you're too weak. You need some time to heal.
Lexa: Not until I make him pay. After everything he put me through, I need this, Shal, okay?
Brennan: You know what? This is crazy. The Dominion knows as much about that implant as we do. They probably have their assassins tracing the signal right now.
Shalimar (smiling): So let 'em. Everybody wants a piece of Lexa? Let's make sure there's enough of her to go around. [She walks out.]

[Scene: A city alleyway at night. Brennan crouches behind a building, waiting. Lexa strides down the alley, her face in shadow and the implant at her neck glowing blue in the darkness. Leaning out from a doorway, the female Dominion assassin trains a gun at the back of Lexa's head. Before she can shoot, however, Brennan pops up and zaps her. She jumps down from her perch and flees as Lexa slides behind a wall for cover. Running up to Lexa, the male Dominion assassin delivers a karate chop to her neck. "Lexa" stands up, pulling off her dark wig to reveal that she's actually Shalimar, who has the glowing implant tied on a string around her neck. The surprised assassin attacks her again with a knife, but she knocks him down and leaps away. Meanwhile, Brennan's fighting the female assassin when she swings a metal crowbar. Grabbing the crowbar, he sends electricity through it until she falls to the ground. Shalimar's surprised when the male assassin reappears in front of her. He punches her, grabs her, and holds the knife to her neck. ]
Shalimar: That's a big knife. Compensating for something?
The Male Assassin: You talk too much, you know that? Let's see if I can do something about that.
*****Commercial Break*****

[Breaking the assassin's hold, Shalimar struggles with him, pushing him away. Getting up, he's about to hurl his knife at her when Brennan zaps him into unconsciousness.]
Brennan: They just never want to stay down.
Shalimar: Took ya long enough. You're getting rusty. [She pats his chest and walks off.]
Brennan: Yeah. [He follows her, dragging along the assassin's body.]

[Dr. John Gonsalves is sitting at his desk punching numbers into a calculator when Lexa strolls in, her eyes white. She stands in front of the desk.]
Dr. Gonsalves: What are you doing here? Did you finish the job?
Jesse (trotting in to stand next to her): Yeah, about that. She quit.
Dr. Gonsalves (angrily): What's this? [He picks up his remote-controller, trying to turn Lexa's implant on, but the screen says "Connection Failed."] What did you do?
Lexa: Awww. Sorry, Doc. This puppet's cut her strings. [Bending down, she removes a white contact lens from her right eye, then stands up, smiling at him. Dr. Gonsalves smiles in understanding, then reaches under his desk and draws out a gun. Lexa quickly swings behind Jesse, who takes her in his arms and masses his back to protect them both from the bullets. Still shooting, Gonsalves escapes out the back door.]
Lexa (pushing Jesse aside to run after him): Damn it! [Jesse hops over the desk and follows her outside.]

[Outside the building, Brennan has just finished dragging the male assassin onto the body of the female assassin when Dr. Gonsalves comes running out the back door. He trips over the pile of bodies, his gun sliding under Brennan's foot. Seeing Lexa and Jesse come out of the building, the doctor tries to run down the alley, but Jesse cuts him off, waving a finger in his face. Brennan picks up the gun. Everyone looks at Lexa, who slowly approaches Dr Gonsalves.]
Dr. Gonsalves: Don't be rash, Lexa. We could still enjoy a profitable partnership. [He looks around at Mutant X standing in a circle around him.] All of us!
Lexa: Pass. But I'm about to enjoy the hell out of the next ten seconds. [She punches him twice and kicks him against a trash bin.]
Dr. Gonsalves (panting): You should be thanking me. When Eckhart first brought you to me, you were just an average operative. Under my control, you became a virtuoso of violence.
Lexa: I disagree. [She punches him, pulling him over to the pile of bodies on the ground.] I was never average. [She punches him out and he falls onto the pile.]
Brennan: Ten points.
Lexa: First installment for the Dominion. I always pay my debts. [She looks at her teammates and smiles.] All of them.

[At Dominion Headquarters, the Council's sitting around the round table. Lexa's Contact wheels up to The Council Head and tosses her implant on the table in front of him.]
The Contact: It's done. Lexa is returned to the fold.
Council Head (examining the implant): You're quite sure?
The Contact: You have my word. The Pierce situation has been handled. The threat to The Dominion neutralized.
Council Head: Not yet. But it will be. [The Council members look up at the four-sided video screen in the air, which shows Mutant X standing in a circle around the pile of bodies.]

[Cut to: Sanctuary's main room. Lexa, Jesse, Brennan, and Shalimar are sitting on the couches listening to Adam as he paces back and forth in front of them.]
Adam: Brennan was right. I abandoned you. But I had my reasons, and it's time you heard them.
Brennan (chewing gum): We're listening.
Adam: During the last year that we were together, I became aware of certain factions that were working against us. But I wasn't quite sure who our enemy was until recent events confirmed my suspicions. Our enemy... is The Dominion.
Lexa: What are you talking about?
Adam: All the plagues that you've stopped, all the genetic research that you've gathered for them, there's a faction within The Dominion that has been diverting all this for their own secret agenda.
Shalimar: You mean for this past year we've been fighting for the wrong side? [Adam nods.] Adam, how could you let us do that?
Adam: 'Cause I didn't know the whole truth--'cause I didn't know how deep the corruption went because I didn't know who to trust.
Lexa: You mean me? You weren't sure if you could trust me? [When he doesn't answer her, she nods.] Yeah.
Jesse: So why come back at all? You say all the secrecy's been for our own good.
Brennan: He needs something from us. Don't you?
Adam (nodding): This year has been hard on all of us. But Mutant X hasn't just survived, you've thrived. And I come to you now because I think you're ready.
Jesse: Ready for what?
Adam: For war. This new face of The Dominion threatens everything we stand for, everything we've ever stood for. Forget Ashlocke, you can forget Eckhart, this would be a war unlike any war we've ever fought. It would be a war that I'm not even sure that we could win. But I am sure that I don't control Mutant X anymore. So it's up to you. [He begins to turn away.]
Brennan: What if we say yes?
Adam (turning back to face him): As long as I'm on the run, you're not the focus. By making myself a target, that's the only way that I can protect you.
Jesse: Adam, there's got to be another way.
Adam: There isn't.
Shalimar: We just found you. We can't lose you again.
Adam: You won't. Look, leaving Mutant X was the hardest thing I've ever done. You're not just my life's work, you are my life. And I'll risk everything to protect you. [The camera pans around to show Shalimar, Jesse, Brennan, and Lexa's individual reactions as they absorb his statement, then stops on Adam.]