"OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN" (2013)

OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN

by The Rothenbergers

FADE IN:

Fallen snow blankets the sprawling retreat in white. ARMED MEN carrying MP-5s patrol the wooded footpaths.

SUPER THE LEGEND: CAMP DAVID, MARYLAND

In the distance, the HIGH WHINE of engines.

Four SNOWMOBILES race through the drifted fields. Slaloming between the naked trees.

CLOSER

The lead Sno-Cat STREAKS forward. Slews to a stop at the edge of Camp David’s broad, frozen lake. The rider turns --

Meet MIKE BANNING. Good-looking, 30s, build of a former college athlete. Wearing the unmistakable shades and coiled earpiece of the United States Secret Service.

The other Sno-Cats pull up under Banning’s watchful gaze.

The riders are -- BENJAMIN ASHER, a robust 50, President of the United States -- MARTIN TRUMBULL, 53, the Southern-bred Speaker of the House -- and MARGARET “MAGGIE” ASHER, the First Lady, a striking 42. Riding tandem with the President is his 6-year-old son, CONNOR.

Maggie removes her helmet, smiles.

Maggie smooths stray hairs away from her face, tucks them under her knit cap.

Connor, face nearly blue, bravely shakes his head no.

Banning reaches out, tweaks the visor of the boy’s helmet. Connor beams back... hero-worship personified.

He casts a sideways look at Trumbull. Maggie laughs.

Banning’s eyes shift to Asher, who nods. Banning raises his wrist mic.

ACROSS THE LAKE

Two men cradling MP-5s, AGENTS ROMA and O’NEIL, stand on the frozen shoreline.

Roma raises his Steiner Marine tactical binoculars.

POV ROMA: The snowmobiles idle on the far side of the lake.

BACK ACROSS THE ICE

Banning turns to the others.

Heads bob. Banning REVS his throttle -- and TAKES OFF.

ACROSS THE LAKE

The agents track them through their binoculars.

POV O’NEIL: The Sno-Cats TEAR ASS across the frozen lake, four abreast. Banning leads the way.

O’NEIL (shakes his head) Always the cowboy --

ON THE LAKE

The snowmobiles ZOOM across the ice. Engines whining, nearly halfway home when

SPUTTER! SPUTTER!

The First Lady’s engine COUGHS.

The other snowmobiles streak ahead, racing for shore.

Maggie’s engine DIES, sputtering machine skidding to a stop.

ON THE SHORE

Banning and the others power up onto the bank. Roma and O’Neil sprint down the shoreline, pointing.

Banning whirls. And sees --

MAGGIE’S SNO-CAT

out on the ice.

The color drains from Banning’s face.

Roma and O’Neil rush up.

O’NEIL Jesus, what the --

OUT ON THE LAKE

The ice begins to SPLINTER, cracking. Maggie’s eyes are frantic, heavy machine breaking through.

ON THE SHORE

Banning leaps from his Sno-Cat. Sprints across the ice.

ON THE LAKE

Maggie’s snowsuit pant loop SNAGS on the machine. She jerks her leg, panicked, trying to get free.

The ice fissures WIDEN.

Banning races forward, stripping off his parka.

CRAAAAACK!

The ice CAVES IN, sucking Maggie and the Sno-Cat under.

Asher lunges for his wife. Roma restrains him.

Asher jerks free and TAKES OFF RUNNING, out onto the ice. Roma and O’Neil give chase.

O’NEIL (into wrist mic) Rosebud is down! Rosebud is down! POTUS is on the ice!

UNDER THE SURFACE

Maggie pounds against the ice, eyes wide with terror.

ON THE LAKE

Roma and O’Neil chase after Asher. Alarm klaxons WAIL along the shoreline as

BANNING

races forward at a DEAD RUN. Sprinting all out. He reaches the jagged hole in the ice and

DIVES

into the freezing water.

UNDER THE ICE

Silent, cold, dark.

Banning swims down. Eyes darting, desperately searching. And in the dimness below...

MAGGIE

stares up at him, hair streaming behind her. Floating away into the frozen depths.

Banning struggles down to her. Face contorted in pain.

He’s out of air.

He keeps diving. A superhuman effort. His hand reaches out and

GRABS MAGGIE’S ARM

Banning pulls her toward the surface. Dim light flickering through the frozen ice above.

He reaches for his shoulder holster and

DRAWS HIS SIG SAUER P229

Banning aims the gun straight up.

What is he doing -- ?

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

ON THE LAKE

Gun blasts blow a GAPING HOLE in the frozen ice.

Banning BURSTS from below. Roma and O’Neil race up. Pull Maggie from the frigid water.

They lay her on the ice. Eyes rolled back, unmoving. O’Neil desperately administers CPR.

Asher drops to his knees. Nearly delirious with disbelief and fear. O’Neil frantically tries to revive her.

Banning can only stare, trembling in the bitter cold.

Banning turns. Connor stares at him, lower lip quivering. The boy’s face frozen in a rictus of horror.

Asher grabs his son in his arms. The President and Banning lock eyes. Banning lowers his gaze.

As overhead, the POUNDING ROTORS of the descending RESCUE CHOPPER whirl...

TIME DISSOLVE:

CLOSE ON: A spinning RAZOR SCOOTER WHEEL.

PULL BACK

Wearing a crash helmet, Connor, now 8, zooms through the halls of the White House on his Razor Scooter.

SUPER THE LEGEND: 2 YEARS LATER

POV MOVING FAST -- Ducking and darting with practiced skill, Connor expertly weaves through the corridorsand passageways of the Ground Floor.

The kid obviously knows the Executive Mansion cold.

Connor speeds down the Center Hall, past a RECEPTIONIST at her desk. Busy on the phone, she smiles at Connor as he passes. Connor waves back.

Connor zooms into the WHITE HOUSE KITCHEN.

IN THE KITCHEN

An unsmiling PASTRY CHEF meticulously ices a tray of PETITS FOURS. The LOCAL NEWS plays on a small counter TV.

Connor speeds past -- hand furtively reaching for a mini- éclair --

The boy jerks his hand back, keeps going.

Connor zooms from the kitchen.

BACK IN THE CENTER HALL

Connor ducks and weaves down the corridor. As up ahead, through an open door we see...

Banks of MONITORS manned by keen-eyed TECHNICIANS.

Standing by the door, the HEAD TECHNICIAN pulls the last CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFIN from a white box and sets it on a napkin. The LOCAL NEWS, playing on a small monitor screen, grabs his attention.

ON MONITOR SCREEN: NEWS FOOTAGE of North Korean ARMED FORCES massing along the DMZ. The banner headline reads: “NORTH KOREAN BUILDUP CONTINUES TO SPARK FEARS”.

The head technician turns for his muffin... it’s gone.

BACK IN THE HALLWAY

Connor zooms down the corridor. Takes a BIG BITE of the chocolate chip muffin.

Carver Langston section of town. Tired-looking brick rowhomes line the street. The dome of the Capitol rises distantly in the morning haze.

A dim bedroom. The battered window air conditioner RATTLES, water steadily dripping into the almost-full BUCKET underneath.

A phone on the nightstand RINGS, JARRING. Keeps RINGING.

A HAND slowly reaches from beneath the covers. Picks up.

Banning sits up. Rubs a hand across his tired face.

He reaches for the remote and flicks on the TV. The local news plays, low.

Banning’s eyes flick to the TV.

An awkward silence on the line.

ON TV: Asher addresses the media from the White House Rose Garden. Flanked by his SECRET SERVICE protection detail.

A flicker of emotion crosses Banning’s face.

Banning’s eyes stay fixed on the TV.

ON TV: The Secret Service briskly escorts Asher from the podium.

He hangs up. Clicks off the TV.

The water from the air conditioner continues to DRIP.

Banning gets out of bed, absently pushes aside the overflowing bucket with his foot. Slides a dented WASTEBASKET over to take its place.

Shoulders slumped, he pads into the bathroom.

Banning exits, wearing the white short-sleeved uniform shirt, black pants, and gold badge of the Secret Service UNIFORMED DIVISION. He looks one step up from a Rent-A-Cop.

He slides into his beat-up Dodge Ram pickup and pulls from the curb.

Chanting PROTESTERS march outside the gate, waving signs reading “IMPEACH ASHER!”, “DON’T LEAVE SOUTH KOREA DEFENSELESS!”, “FREEDOM THROUGH STRENGTH!”, etc.

The WHITE HOUSE itself rises majestically from the emerald South Lawn. Secret Service SNIPERS on the roof, K-9 PATROLS circling the grounds, armed GUARDS at every entrance.

The most protected building on earth.

President Asher holds a tense meeting with his inner circle. Including Speaker of the House Trumbull, they are:

1) LUIS CARDOZA, Hispanic, the Vice President 2) RUTH McMILLAN, tough, unsmiling, the Secretary of Defense 3) ADMIRAL NATHAN HOENIG, bald, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs

Cardoza rallies behind the President.

Asher sighs, rubs his eyes.

A private airstrip in the middle of nowhere.

An unmarked C-130 CARGO PLANE idles on the grassy runway. Four Allison T56 turboprops THROBBING.

Two buzzcut, military-looking NORTH KOREANS in flight suits race up the rear ramp, pulling on flight helmets. With a mechanical WHINE, the ramp door closes.

IN THE COCKPIT

The North Korean PILOT and CO-PILOT finish their pre-flight.

He throws the throttle forward.

ON THE RUNWAY

The lumbering plane ROARS down the runway, and lifts into the cloudless blue sky. And we see...

Eerily, left behind on the airstrip, a SMALL TABLE covered by a white tablecloth. Bottle of soju (Korean distilled alcohol) and four ceremonial cups atop it.

The tablecloth flutters gently in the breeze.

An anonymous, 9-story tan brick building on H Street.

Dispiritedly sipping coffee, Banning checks IDs inside the main entrance. His face is rote, expressionless. It’s soul-crushingly boring, but hey, at least the A/C’s cranking.

A fellow officer, HUTCHINS, 30s, strides up.

Banning takes a final gulp of coffee, stands.

He heads for the door. Hutchins takes over his post.

Connor brakes to a SKIDDING STOP on his scooter at the end of a long corridor. At the far end of the hall, he sees his father and the others exit the Cabinet Room.

OUTSIDE THE CABINET ROOM

Meeting adjourned, Asher pulls Trumbull aside.

Asher waits, expectant.

Trumbull shakes Asher’s hand.

Trumbull smiles, exits through a side door. Asher turns and disappears back into the Cabinet Room -- not seeing his son at the far end of the hall.

BACK WITH CONNOR

Who watches his father go. Face unreadable.

The Head Technician peers at a closed-circuit monitor.

CLOSE ON MONITOR: The South Korean motorcade pulls beneath the North Portico.

Trumbull exits through the Pennsylvania Avenue guardhouse. Glances at the arriving motorcade as he slides into his waiting Town Car.

UNDER THE NORTH PORTICO

The doors of the motorcade open, and South Korean Foreign Minister LEE TAE-WOO, 50s, dignified, emerges behind a phalanx of BODYGUARDS.

An impeccably dressed MAN in wire-rimmed glasses, mid 30s, steps out behind Lee. Unassuming, reserved accountant’s demeanor, but eyes missing nothing.

This is KANG.

Agent Roma (recognizable from the Camp David opening) -- now Special Agent In Charge of the White House Secret Service detail -- greets Lee at the door.

Kang bows, formal. Roma nods back.

Only Lee, Kang, and the Minister’s personal security detail -- PAK, LIM (female), CHO and YU -- are permitted inside. All surrender their weapons to the Secret Service.

Roma scrutinizes Lee’s delegation as they pass through the White House MILLIMETER-WAVE SCANNER.

Each guest walks through the large portal -- 9 feet tall and 6 feet wide -- pauses and lifts their arms while the machine takes TWO FULL-BODY SCANS using radio waves.

A male TECHNICIAN watches the black-and-white images on his computer screen. [NOTE: The images are detailedenough to see the sweat on a person’s back.]

Lim (wearing a trim blue suit, strand of pearls) hesitates before entering the machine. She shoots Roma a look, pointed.

Roma nods, and a FEMALE TECHNICIAN sits down to review Lim’s screen image.

The South Korean motorcade exits the drive, and parks along the protected stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. DIPLOMATIC SECURITY (DS) AGENTS establish a secure perimeter around the vehicles.

The pilot and co-pilot stare straight ahead, faces expressionless.

POV THROUGH WINDSCREEN: In the far distance, the city of Washington D.C. rises in the morning haze.

A thousand yards across the Mall from the White House, a PARK SERVICE RANGER stands outside a cordoned area on the banks of the Tidal Basin. Behind the yellow caution tape, WORKERS erect firing platforms for this evening’s holiday fireworks display.

Banning pulls up in a white Secret Service SUV. The Ranger waves him through. Banning parks the vehicle, gets out, and crosses to a pair of D.C. Water and Sewer workmen (TATE, ORTIZ) standing over a manhole.

Banning wipes the sweat from his face, humidity hanging like a shroud.

Ortiz gestures to the closed manhole cover.

Banning conjures a MASTER KEY from his belt key chain.

Banning unlocks the manhole cover and lifts.

Ortiz scowls, grabs his toolbox. Banning follows him down the ladder.

Ortiz’s flashlight plays over the twisting maze of pipes. Steam HISSES ominously in the darkness.

Banning trails Ortiz down the dark tunnel. His face twists -- the stench down here is overpowering.

President Asher moves down the hall with Cardoza, McMillan and Hoenig. Pushes open an inner door, and steps into...

The Oval Office. Foreign Minister Lee stands. As does the rest of Asher’s entire assembled NATIONAL SECURITY TEAM.

In the corridor outside, Roma stands across from Kang. The two professionals share an amicable look.

Roma moves closer, admires the LAPEL PIN embossed with the South Korean flag affixed to Kang’s suit. It’s round, slightly larger than the American flag pin on Roma’s own lapel.

Kang bows again, polite. When suddenly

CONNOR

zooms around the corner on his Razor Scooter. He BRAKES to a stop, just short of the two security men.

Roma shrugs, sympathetic.

Connor’s eyes shift to Kang. Kang imperceptibly nods back.

Banning restlessly fidgets while Ortiz works.

Banning shrugs, noncommittal.

Behind them, a low stealthy rustling. Ortiz swings his light down the tunnel and

A HUGE HAIRY RAT

crouches in the darkness. Eyes reflecting back red.

Ortiz pulls a piece of BEEF JERKY from his pocket, tosses it down the pipe. The rat crawls forward, nose twitching.

The rat crawls closer. Ortiz leans forward, face expectant.

A telltale HISS emits from a recessed vent. The huge rat waddles forward when suddenly

A MASSIVE BLAST OF STEAM

ERUPTS from the wall vent -- nearly fricasseeing the rat. It scampers away into the darkness, squealing.

Ortiz turns back to Banning.

Banning’s look says it all.

The C-130 cargo plane arrows toward Washington.

The RADAR OPERATOR stares into her glowing screen.

The C-130 continues toward the heart of Washington.

Roma bursts into Asher’s meeting.

Two F-22 Raptor FIGHTER-INTERCEPTORS streak in. Take up flanking positions alongside the lumbering C-130.

The Raptor PILOT peers through his canopy bubble.

No response.

The pilot flips a switch, ARMING the F-22’s weapons systems.

Without warning, the C-130’s SIDE DOORS simultaneously WHIP OPEN, revealing --

THE LETHAL MUZZLES

of two M61 VULCAN ROTARY CANNONS.

The pilot’s face goes white.

He jerks his stick.

Too late. The twin guns OPEN FIRE WITH A BUZZSAW ROAR. Both F-22s are instantly BLOWN OUT OF THE SKY.

Roma’s earpiece crackles.

The Secret Service leaps into action. Four agents literally pick up President Asher, rush him from the Oval Office.

IN THE HALLWAY OUTSIDE

The agents race Asher down the corridor.

Roma grabs Connor. Carrying the boy, he follows the President, the National Security Team, and Lee’s delegation down the hall.

Alarm klaxons WAILING, the White House evacuates. Skeleton holiday staff racing for the exits.

Roma herds President Asher’s group inside the EMERGENCY ELEVATOR. Hands Connor off to a TALL AGENT.

The Tall Agent nods. The heavy steel doors CLOSE. Roma stays behind, weapon drawn. Rushes back down the corridor.

A final scrambled F-22 SCREAMS down the runway, into the sky.

The cargo plane passes low over Roosevelt Island.

The C-130’s modified CARGO BAY DOORS suddenly open with a mechanical WHINE and

A CIRCULAR ROTODOME

lowers from the plane. Smooth, round, 3 meters across. Made of white polycarbonate. It looks like a smaller version of the radar housing on the back of an AWACS plane.

D.C. POLICE on the street draw their weapons -- rooftop SNIPERS peer through their scopes -- MARINES atop buildings swing Stinger missiles to their shoulders.

Locked. Loaded. Ready.

The emergency elevator doors open. The Secret Service rushes Asher and the others down the long corridor.

Ortiz’s radio squawks.

Ortiz scrambles for the manhole ladder. Banning follows.

The C-130 pilot speaks into his mic.

The pilot, co-pilot, and door gunners flip down protective visors.

Ortiz vaults from the open manhole.

Tate points to the sky, hand shaking. Ortiz spins and sees

THE CARGO PLANE

skim low over the Lincoln Memorial. Barely clearing the monument’s roof.

The Park Ranger comes running, gun pointed skyward.

ON THE MALL

PEDESTRIANS stare up in fear and dismay. TOURISTS on the Mall snap pictures, run for cover.

The defenders ready to OPEN FIRE. They’re going to blow this plane out of the fucking sky when --

THE ROTODOME

hanging from the C-130’s underbelly suddenly SCREAMS TO LIFE -- fires a massive LIGHT PULSE. The invisible pulse radiates in every direction -- like an EMP burst --

ON THE MALL

Everyone on the ground is INSTANTLY BLINDED. Cameras, radar, laser targeting systems, all are incapacitated.

POV ORTIZ: He stares up at the plane -- AND HIS WHOLE WORLD GOES WHITE!

The Park Ranger and other blinded defenders FIRE WILDLY. Able only to HEAR their target passing overhead. Two Stingers SCREAM from their launchers but miss their mark.

THE C-130

ROARS down the National Mall, over the Reflecting Pool. Straight for the Capitol.

The cargo plane takes MULTIPLE HITS, but doesn’t slow. Door gunners POURING FIRE with their Vulcans on the blinded defenders below.

ON THE MALL

Helpless defenders are BLOWN OFF rooftops, RIDDLED on the street. Crumpling to the ground like broken dolls.

BANNING

leaps from the open manhole. Sees the Park Ranger, Tate and Ortiz, all clutching their eyes.

He draws his Sig Sauer P229. RAPID-FIRES at the lumbering plane above.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

A hail of INCENDIARY SLUGS digs across the turf. The Ranger and both workmen are CUT TO PIECES.

Banning dives away, rolling as

HIS SECRET SERVICE SUV

is raked by gunfire. It EXPLODES -- whole truck somersaulting into the air -- CRASHING to earth, flames spewing --

The cargo plane suddenly BANKS overhead...

Headed directly for the White House.

The C-130 comes in low, over the Ellipse. Uniformed Division SECRET SERVICE rush from the White House, firing.

THE ROTODOME

fires another LIGHT PULSE. Incapacitating everyone.

ACROSS THE MALL

Banning’s face twists, blinded.

ATOP THE WHITE HOUSE

On the White House roof, the massive Avenger antiaircraft missile pods swivel. Computerized targeting useless. The SECRET SERVICE GUNNER aims blindly.

He thumbs the firing button.

WHOOSH! The SAM missiles scream from their tubes --

One missile BLASTS THE CARGO PLANE’S TAIL RUDDER IN HALF! The others all miss.

THE C-130 DOOR GUNNERS

BLAZE AWAY on their Vulcans. The Avenger is OBLITERATED.

SECRET SERVICE SNIPERS on the roof -- D.C. POLICE and MARINE GUARDS on the South Lawn -- open up blindly with everything they have. Glocks, MP-5s, M-4 rifles --

All are mowed down.

SOUTH OF THE MALL

The final scrambled F-22 fighter SCREAMS IN LOW over the Potomac. Afterburners hot.

IN THE F-22

The F-22 PILOT thumbs his mic.

The pilot gets missile lock. Finger on the firing button.

UNDER THE C-130

The rotodome SCREAMS TO LIFE. Fires a final LIGHT PULSE.

IN THE F-22

POV PILOT: EVERYTHING GOES STARK WHITE. Targeting systems knocked out.

Valiant, he blindly unleashes his air-to-air Sidewinder missiles. 20mm cannon BELCHING FLAME.

Three of the four Sidewinders DETONATE into the side of the Washington Monument. The fourth SCREAMS past, barely missing by a foot.

The F-22 SLAMS straight into the obelisk, BLOWING THE MASSIVE MONUMENT IN HALF. The top half CRASHES TO THE GROUND.

THE C-130

ROARS over the Ellipse. Path clear to the White House when

THE FOURTH MISSILE

SLAMS into the C-130 cockpit. The cargo plane EXPLODES, crashing to earth in a SPECTACULAR FIREBALL mere yards short of the White House South Lawn.

Asher’s group arrives at the President’s Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) bunker. The nineteen-inch-thick titanium door opens.

The Tall Agent’s earpiece buzzes.

A long beat.

Everyone can finally breathe. The agent releases Connor.

Fallen BODIES lie everywhere. The White House outer defenses have been DECIMATED by the attack. Surviving defenders, though disoriented, slowly regaining their sight.

But the Executive Mansion still stands.

ACROSS THE MALL

Banning gets to his feet, blinking.

Suddenly, the doors of the South Korean motorcade BURST OPEN.

Black-clad COMMANDOS in full body armor leap out. RIDDLE the surprised DS agents in the street.

Rocket-propelled grenades EXPLODE, blowing gaping holes in the White House fence. The South Korean SUVs jump the sidewalk, PLOWING through the fence onto the North Lawn. Secret Service rockets EXPLODE harmlessly off the SUVs’ armor-plated sides.

Smoke grenades are RAPID-FIRED, obscuring everything in billowing CLOUDS OF GRAY. The commandos stream across the lawn, thermal-imaging goggles over their masks.

POV COMMANDOS: The heat signatures of the White House defenders glow ORANGE-RED in the haze.

Secret Service and D.C. Police are CUT DOWN where they stand.

The Tall Agent’s earpiece erupts in frantic, static-ridden crosstalk.

Down the hall, Lim’s hand slips behind her neck. Unclasps her STRAND OF PEARLS.

With a glance to Kang, she leans around the corner. Flicks her wrist, and the small spheres FLY from the strand. Bounce down the hall, rolling among the President’s men.

BOOM!

The flash-bang grenades EXPLODE. A blinding, incapacitating blast.

Kang’s security men burst from around the corner. Whip off their round LAPEL PINS. Razor sharp spring-loaded BLADES flick out. SHURIKEN.

The throwing stars whistle. Secret Service agents drop asif pole-axed. Kang plants his shuriken betweenthe Tall Agent’s eyes.

Connor spins and runs. Kang sees him disappear around the corner.

Kang shoots Yu a look. Yu rushes after the boy.

SUVs ROAR across the lawn, slewing before the North Portico. A commando leaps out, shoulders a LAW anti-tank missile.

He FIRES.

The steel White House doors disappear in a SEARING BLAST.

An SUV CRASHES through the gaping hole, whole truck just PLOWING STRAIGHT INTO THE ENTRANCE HALL of the Executive Mansion. Commandos leap into the breach.

Roma rallies the defenders. The Secret Service RETURN FIRE from the grand staircase of the nation’s most famous home.

A furious, pitched battle inside the White House.

Kang and his team grab the Secret Service weapons, herd President Asher, Minister Lee, and the entire National Security Team (eleven hostages total) inside the PEOC.

CONTINUOUS

A large, well-lit room. Hermetically-sealed, waterproof, soundproof, direct-hit-from-a-nuclear-bombproof. A massive WALLSCREEN and COMPUTER CONSOLE dominates everything.

The disoriented hostages are hustled inside. Hands quickly and expertly zipcuffed.

Lim sits before the computer console, fingers flying.

Warning lights blink, monitor screens locking.

A commando barges in, BLOWING EVERYONE AWAY.

Sight slowly returning, Banning watches helplessly as the smoke swirls and gunfire ECHOES. Face a mask of anguish, he battles the suicidal urge to rush blindly into the fray.

Working quickly, Banning reloads his weapon. Spins and descends into the open manhole.

Banning clicks his flashlight ON. The beam flickers into the darkness ahead.

Moving fast, Banning disappears down the pitch black tunnel.

Connor flees. Races around the corner, almost falling. Ducks into the laundry room.

Yu rapidly closes.

Gunshots ECHOING, the battle descends into the bowels of the White House. The Secret Service, outmanned and outgunned, fight a hopeless rear guard action.

There is no escape.

Roma and the last few agents are SHOT LIKE DOGS in the lower basement hallway.

Yu enters the large industrial laundry room. Huge commercial WASHER/DRYERS line the wall. A half dozen rolling LINEN CARTS.

Yu violently UPENDS the carts. RIPS OPEN the washer/dryer doors, moving down the line.

The kid’s just... gone.

Yu slams the wall in frustration. Exits the laundry room.

Banning arrives at a terminus of water mains. A series of encrusted circular hatches, shoulder high.

He looks up, orienting himself to the ground above. Quickly, he moves to the far pipe. Pries at the corroded valve -- thick with decades of rust and slime. It finally opens with a rending SQUEAL.

Banning peers inside.

A long, long pipe. Barely three feet wide, pitch black. A claustrophobe’s nightmare.

Banning hoists himself up, squeezing in. Crawls forward into the darkness.

Mortally wounded, Roma lies crumpled against the wall. Weakly, he calls into his wrist mic.

Secret Service Command receives the halting transmission.

Roma coughs, spitting blood.

A commando looms over him, razored throwing star in hand.

Roma looks up.

The shuriken flashes down.

The Command Post RADIOMAN blinks in stunned disbelief.

A nightmare tableaux of unfathomable devastation.

The Washington Monument is a BROKEN RUIN. Fallen Secret Service and Marine guards LITTER the White House grounds. Drifting smoke casts an EERIE PALL.

And impossibly, on the White House roof, a commando RIPS the Stars and Stripes from its lanyard --

And throws it to the ground.

Banning crawls forward. Face blackened, filthy. He peers into the darkness ahead and

A SILVER FLOOD-HATCH

bars his way. The polished metal gleams, wildly incongruous in the ancient corroded pipe.

Banning scrapes away at the grime-encrusted wall -- revealing an ELECTRO-MECHANICAL HIGH-SECURITY LOCK. Working quickly, he pulls the MASTER KEY from his belt key chain. Inserts the key and turns --

A green LED illuminates -- and a recessed wall panel SLIDES BACK -- revealing a glowing digital CONTROL PANEL. Banning punches a numeric code into the keypad.

The silver flood-hatch IRISES OPEN.

A brightly-lit STAINLESS STEEL AQUEDUCT unfolds before him. Shining, pristine. Like some kind of futuristic tube to the underworld.

Banning quickly crawls forward.

Lim looks up at Kang from the computer console.

LIM Control override complete. White House systems secured. All outside networks locked out.

Banning crawls forward when suddenly -- ALL THE LIGHTS GO OUT. Pitch blackness.

He blinks in the darkness when

ZZZZZUMP!

MOTION DETECTOR BEAMS appear, crisscrossing the tube ahead. At two-foot intervals for the next fifteen yards.

There’s no way past.

Commandos from the upstairs ground assault enter the PEOC. Deliver to Kang a STAINLESS STEEL BRIEFCASE.

Yu returns to the bunker. He crosses to Kang, whispers low in his ear.

Kang slowly removes his glasses, meticulously folds them. Then -- quick as a cobra -- he spins on Yu and instantly SNAPS HIS NECK.

The hostages SCREAM.

Kang coolly turns to Pak. A muscular automaton.

Asher leaps to his feet.

Kang turns to Asher, face serenely calm.

A commando levels his weapon at Asher’s chest.

Beat. The President reluctantly sits.

Kang turns away, nods to Pak. Pak exits. The bunker SEALS SHUT behind him.

Banning is stymied by the motion detector beams barring his path. He can’t move forward --

Then, faraway, a distant sound. Quickly, it grows LOUDER. Coming closer now, like a runaway train --

THE BEAMS WINK OUT

Banning’s eyes grow wide as

AN AVALANCHE OF WATER

CRASHES toward him through the pipe.

Banning sucks in short, rapid breaths. Urgently filling his lungs as

THE ROARING TORRENT

engulfs him. His gun and flashlight are torn from his grasp.

Banning hangs on against the enormous pressure. Straining lungs screaming for air when

THE WATER SUBSIDES

Banning GASPS for breath. Frantic, he rapidly drags himself forward through the pipe, hand over hand. Panic etching his face as

ZZZZZUMP!

The motion detector beams STAB DOWN AGAIN.

Banning glances back -- and sees the final motion detector beam a HALF-INCH behind the sole of his left shoe.

Relieved, he continues on.

Kang calmly steps to the head of the presidential bunker like he owns the building.

And, indeed, he does.

Kang regards Asher evenly.

Asher’s gaze nervously flicks to his MILITARY AIDE nearby -- black BRIEFCASE attached via security cable to his wrist. The NUCLEAR FOOTBALL.

Minister Lee stares, stunned by Kang’s betrayal.

Kang begins to walk slowly toward Lee.

Kang stands before Lee.

Lee holds Kang’s gaze.

Kang slowly leans forward, face barely an inch from the Minister’s.

We just saw what happened to the last person Kang got this close to.

A bead of sweat slides down Lee’s temple.

Kang turns and walks away. Lee can breathe again.

The National Military Command Center (aka Crisis Room) of the Pentagon. A cavernous space, massive conference table the size of an aircraft carrier.

Trumbull strides in, flanked by Homeland Security agents.

RAJIV MALIK, 45, Deputy Director of the National Security Agency, steps forward. A lanky, almost gaunt man. Dark eyes hiding a formidable intelligence.

They share a look. On the massive wallscreen, a breaking LIVE NEWS BROADCAST.

Banning continues to crawl forward. His rasping breaths ECHO in the pitch-black pipe.

The Secret Service Director, LYNNE JACOBS, late 40s, African- American, strides up to Trumbull and Malik.

Across the room, KANG’S FACE suddenly appears on the enormous wallscreen.

The whole room jumps. Kang’s eyes fix on Trumbull. Trumbull blinks, taken aback.

Kang stands before the massive PEOC control console.

INTERCUTTING

A whirlwind of emotion sweeps the Crisis Room.

Asher is hauled forward at gunpoint.

Before Asher can say anything, he’s jerked away.

Kang’s looming face remains inscrutable.

Trumbull swallows.

In one smooth motion, Kang turns and SHOOTS Foreign Minister Lee through the head.

The hostages recoil, horrified.

The wallscreen GOES DARK. Everyone in the Crisis Room stares in shock.

A long beat.

GENERAL EDWARD GALDARRES, 50s, the Army Chief of Staff, turns to Trumbull.

Trumbull falters, stunned.

They all trade looks.

Bruised and exhausted, Banning reaches the end of the pipe.

A steel ACCESS DOOR looms before him.

Banning pulls out his master key. He stops short, thinking. Then -- working fast -- he unscrews the end of the master key. A specially-designed BUMPER KEY slides out.

Banning slips the mechanical-only key into the keyway. Presses a button on the key which causes it to VIBRATE for a few seconds.

EXTREME CLOSE-UP: Inside the lock, the mechanical motor in the cylinder turns, lifting the locking element within -- bypassing the electronic portion of the lock and thwarting audit logs -- and the lock RELEASES.

The access door OPENS -- and Banning’s eyes ZOOM to the LED indicator light.

It remains dark. He exhales.

Banning drops into a sub-basement corridor. Cautiously moves down the hallway.

He turns the corner and

A VIDEO CAMERA

swings his way in a whir of servos.

Banning shrinks back. Moves quickly in the opposite direction.

Kang crosses to Secretary of Defense McMillan. She looks up, eyes afraid.

McMillan blinks. Asher and Hoenig exchange a stunned look.

How the hell does Kang know about Cerberus?

Kang opens the stainless steel briefcase. Inside the foam- lined case is a large-gauge HYPODERMIC NEEDLE and several GLASS VIALS.

McMillan’s face turns white.

Banning turns the corner, peers down the next corridor.

It’s the scene of a MASSACRE. Dead Secret Service agents lie everywhere.

Up ahead, the sound of distant VOICES.

Black-clad commandos surround the two SUVs crashed into the main entrance hall. Cho barks orders in Korean.

Banning warily peers around the corner.

In the entrance hall, large MILITARY-STYLE CRATES are off- loaded from the rear of the SUVs.

POV BANNING: He can’t quite make out what they are.

Cho issues more orders in Korean. The only word distinguishable to Banning is one -- “Cerberus”.

Cho’s men load the crates into the freight elevator. The elevator doors close, and the lift begins to rise.

Silently, Banning retreats.

Kang pulls the hypodermic from its case.

Lim seizes McMillan from behind, holding her fast. The other commandos level their MP-5s, cowing any would-be heroes.

Kang holds up one of the small vials.

He fills the syringe with the vial’s contents.

McMillan struggles, but Lim tightens her iron grip. Kang turns with the needle.

McMillan glances desperately at Asher.

Asher and McMillan exchange a look. McMillan turns back to Kang, face firm with resolve.

Kang INJECTS her straight in the carotid.

McMillan JERKS VIOLENTLY in her chair. Her eyes ROLL WILDLY, body THRASHING. The hostages react, horrified.

Finally, she goes still.

Not looking up, Kang methodically replaces the syringe in its case as he calmly speaks.

Kang pushes a button on the control console. The door to the PEOC LIVING QUARTERS -- adjacent to the main room -- slides OPEN. We catch a glimpse inside -- a half-dozen cots, kitchenette, supplies.

Foreign Minister Lee lies dead on the first cot.

Kang’s men drag McMillan’s body into the room -- and the door CLOSES.

Banning moves down the silent corridor. More dead bodies down here.

He kneels beside a fallen agent, turns him over --

IT’S ROMA

Banning blinks, recognition dawning.

He pulls the SHURIKEN from Roma’s forehead. Studies the exotic weapon briefly, then pockets it.

Banning quickly searches Roma’s body. Already stripped of all weapons and communications gear.

Gently, he closes Roma’s staring eyes.

Distant FOOTSTEPS. Banning spins, head cocked.

Someone’s coming.

Quickly, he ducks into the near doorway. As around the corner --

A TWO-MAN PATROL

strides down the corridor. The commandos march forward, footfalls echoing.

The larger commando suddenly stops, turning.

He bends over Roma’s body, fingers probing the open gash on the man’s forehead...

The shuriken is gone.

The commandos both turn. Stare at the doorway through which Banning just disappeared.

The commandos burst inside. Flick on the lights.

Two gleaming polished lanes, Presidential SEAL painted on the far wall. Silent pins standing like sentinels.

The killers scan the empty room, guns leveled, when

A BOWLING BALL

pops from the automatic ball return.

The ball ROLLS slowly around the return carousel. Comes to rest against the rubber bumper with a thump.

The commandos approach warily when

BANNING

leaps from the transom above. Swinging a 12-pounder like a sledgehammer -- he CRUSHES one commando’s skull.

The second commando swings his weapon up. In a blur, Banning KNOCKS the gun away. He and the commando go down -- viciously GRAPPLING across the floor -- a furious FLURRY OF BLOWS. Banning drives his elbow up -- like a knife -- into the COMMANDO’S THROAT. The commando falters, stunned.

Banning SPINS the commando against the ball rack -- grabs him by the neck -- SLAMS his head into the stacked balls. Again and again, body flooded with adrenaline and fear.

The commando’s body slides to the floor, dead.

Banning falls back, sucking air in great whooping gasps.

He methodically searches the bodies. Grabs an MP-5 and wireless headset, clicks the unit on. Nothing but silence.

Banning looks up, mind racing.

Malik steps beside Trumbull. Inserts a USB device into the computer console.

A DIGITAL HEAD SHOT of Kang is projected onto the wallscreen. Bio-data scrolls below.

A second PHOTO appears. Kang in military garb.

Jacobs looks up.

The Oval Office stands silent and empty.

The door slowly swings open and

BANNING

slips inside.

He crosses to the presidential desk, rests his MP-5 on the blotter. A bank of PHONES sit mutely. Banning grabs the receivers, one after another.

No dial tones. All dead.

He scans the desktop. Scattered papers, a Montblanc pen, ivory-handled letter opener --

THE PRESIDENT’S BLACKBERRY

Banning grabs it. Punches 9-1-1.

All lines are JAMMED. He can’t get through.

Banning scowls, looks up.

And his eyes go wide, as he’s utterly shocked to see

CONNOR

standing silently in the Oval Office doorway.

Banning opens his mouth to speak when

A COMMANDO

steps through the side door.

Connor spins and runs.

Banning’s eyes jerk to his weapon. He’ll never make it. The commando raises his gun barrel and

BANNING

grabs the letter opener. Flings it across the room.

The blade spears the commando in the jugular. He falls, hand clutching his throat.

Banning grabs the MP-5. Races after Connor.

Connor sprints down the hall. Banning gives chase. The boy disappears through an inner office doorway.

Banning rushes up. Grabs the doorknob. Locked.

He KICKS the door down.

Banning bursts inside, eyes searching the small room. Desk, bookshelves, low filing cabinets.

Connor is... gone.

But that’s impossible. Banning stares, confused.

He pulls out Asher’s BlackBerry. Scrolls down the listings. Finds the one he wants...

National Military Command Center.

He dials. Lines still jammed. Dials again...

Trumbull presides over the somber room.

His eyes flicker around the table.

Jacobs counters, angry.

Jacobs’ AIDE rushes up, whispers urgently in her ear.

Feedback whine from the overhead speakers.

Banning slumps against the desk.

INTERCUTTING

Jacobs’ head jerks up.

Jacobs holds up her hand -- wait.

A stir races through the room.

Trumbull snaps off the intercom.

Jacobs and Trumbull lock eyes.

Lim triangulates the source of the cell transmission -- AMBER DOT blinking on the wallscreen map of the White House.

Pak halts his men in their search through the building.

Pak grunts, leads his men quickly down the corridor.

Jacobs switches the intercom back on.

INTERCUTTING

This stops Trumbull cold. The others share a look.

Their faces darken. Beat. Trumbull reluctantly nods to Jacobs.

Their faces are tense.

The enormity of the situation strikes home for them all.

Kang approaches Admiral Hoenig with his hypodermic needle. Loads in a fresh vial.

Kang looms over Hoenig, eyes black as anthracite.

Hoenig’s glance flickers to the syringe.

Kang places the point of the needle against Hoenig’s carotid.

Kang’s finger tenses on the plunger. A beat of incredible tension.

Kang lowers the syringe.

Pak and his men creep down the corridor. Pak listens to his tac-com, gets a fix on Banning’s exact location.

He stops. Silently points to the NEXT OFFICE DOOR.

The commandos burst inside, FIRING ON FULL AUTO --

ASHER’S BLACKBERRY

sits on the desktop. GETS BLASTED into a million pieces as bullets rake the room.

Banning is gone.

CLOSE ON WALLSCREEN: A SATCOM PHOTO of the post-attack White House.

Malik steps forward.

All eyes turn to Trumbull. Beat.

Galdarres nods, grabs the hotline phone. Malik turns and exits the room. Pulls out his cell and presses it to his ear.

Banning moves silently up the stairwell to the State Floor. Turns the corner and

TWO COMMANDOS

stand watch on the landing. The killers and Banning see each other at the same instant.

Banning’s reflexes are a millisecond faster. He MOWS DOWN both commandos with a burst from his MP-5.

At the blast of GUNFIRE, Pak barks into his tac-com.

Banning races up the stairs, into the Cross Hall.

A COMMANDO leaps from the near doorway, gun leveled.

Banning dives into the Red Room, gunfire STITCHING the walls.

Kang speaks into his throat mic.

The machine floor just below the White House roof. Low HUM of compressors. Cho stands beside a huge HYDRAULIC LIFT.

Cho goes back to his mysterious work.

Banning runs for his life. Into the Blue Room. Bullets RAKE the walls, plaster fragments raining down.

Banning looks up, dust stinging his eyes.

A sober painting of GEORGE WASHINGTON stares down from the wall above.

Banning and old George share a look. Warriors across time.

A barrage of machine gun slugs OBLITERATES the painting.

Time to move.

Banning dives behind a Louis XIV couch. A hail of bullets SHREDS it to ribbons.

Banning hugs the floor -- bullets WHINING -- crawls quickly toward the East Room when

A COMMANDO

steps into the doorway.

Banning rolls as the commando fires, slugs STITCHING across the hardwood. He swings his barrel up --

And BLASTS the gunman through the wall.

Banning’s up fast. Into the East Room.

Banning SPRAYS behind him, through the open doorway.

CLICK. He’s empty!

He discards the useless MP-5. Eyes wildly searching.

IN THE BLUE ROOM

Pak leads the commandos forward. Signals two men to rush the East Room.

IN THE EAST ROOM

Banning grabs a bottle of gin from the liquor cart.

IN THE BLUE ROOM

The two commandos move stealthily forward when

A MOLOTOV COCKTAIL

explodes through the doorway. Splashing fire ENGULFS both men. They spin across the room screaming, AFLAME.

IN THE EAST ROOM

Banning frantically lights two more bottles, HURLS them into the Cross Hall.

IN THE CROSS HALL

Banning sprints into the corridor, ducking behind the wall of flame. Wild gunfire ECHOES.

The White House HALOCARBON FIRE-SUPPRESSION SYSTEM ACTIVATES -- quickly neutralizes the spreading blaze.

Banning races up the stairs to the Second floor.

The Second floor (living quarters) of the White House.

Pak’s commandos converge from both ends. KICKING DOWN doors, searching room by room.

Relentless. Methodical.

Banning crouches low in the Lincoln Bedroom, cornered.

No way out.

Pak and his men close in.

Weaponless, Banning braces for the inevitable. Last stand.

When suddenly --

THE WALL BEHIND HIM MOVES!

A large box molding square subtly shifts. Banning stares, incredulous, as

CONNOR

emerges from the wall.

Pak looms outside the bedroom door.

Pak CRASHES inside, MP-5 SPRAYING the room. He blinks.

THE BEDROOM IS EMPTY

Pak stares, eyes flat. His tac-com crackles.

Pak motions his men out. Scans the empty room one final time himself, then exits.

Pak’s men file into the elevator car.

The doors close.

From the mainframe console, Lim controls the elevator’s descent. Kang hovers over her shoulder.

Lim punches a button...

Activating the full White House internal security grid.

Throughout the Executive Mansion -- infrared, thermal,and motion sensor beams WINK ON. Crisscrossingevery hallway, stairway and room in the building.

The wallscreen subdivides into hundreds of VIDEO FEEDS -- monitoring every conceivable inch of the White House.

No living thing can escape such technology. As soon as Banning moves, he’ll be exposed.

Kang’s eyes stay fixed on the wall of TV images.

There is no place to hide.

There is no place to hide.

Except...

Banning is being led by Connor through the walls.

Ducking low -- shoulders barely squeezing through -- Banning follows the boy through the dim passageways.

Connor looks back, tight smile. A veritable tunnel rat.

The kid spins, continues on.

It’s literally a “house-within-a-house”. Secret corridors, hidden doors. It would take literally weeks -- months -- to figure out the whole of this bewildering labyrinth.

Indeed the only one with the size, inclination, and time to uncover the full extent of such a maze might be...

An 8-year-old boy.

Outside, night has fallen.

A commando steps onto the roof, loads what looks like a TOY GLIDER -- a Wasp III Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) drone -- onto a slingshot, and LAUNCHES it into the sky.

On silent wings, the Wasp circles up... circles up... and disappears into the night sky.

Rotors whirring, the SEAL TEAM SIX choppers idle on the tarmac. Three stealth-modified BLACK HAWK troop carriers and five APACHE LONGBOW gunships, fully armed.

On the runway, the SEAL Team Six leader, MAJOR HOLT, 30s, greets Secret Service Agent O’Neil (recognizable from the Camp David opening). O’Neil wears a flak vest and helmet.

O’NEIL Major --

Both men turn for the command chopper.

Kang scans the wallscreen images, perplexed.

His eyes suddenly narrow.

Lim punches a button.

VIDEO DISPLAY: The Lincoln Bedroom.

Lim zooms in.

Kang’s eyes focus on the far bedroom wall --

THE BOX MOLDING IS SLIGHTLY OFF CENTER

Kang thinly smiles.

Holt and his men check their weapons, ready for takeoff.

A muscular BLONDE MAN suddenly sprints across the tarmac. Dressed in the same special ops gear as SEAL Team Six. He vaults into the open chopper door.

This is the SANDMAN.

Sandman looks up with piercing blue eyes. Hands Holt his orders.

Holt reads, glances up. He doesn’t like it, but turns and motions the chopper pilot.

O’Neil glances at Sandman. Sandman stares back, face a mask.

The choppers LIFT OFF. Baffled stealth ROTOR BLADES eerily making almost no sound.

Banning and Connor rest a moment, safe within the walls. The boy eyes Banning -- filthy, exhausted, bleeding -- warily.

The boy shrugs. An awkward silence.

Banning puts on the captured commando headset. Listens, frowning.

Connor looks up.

The boy struggles to keep from crying. Beat.

Banning hands him the headset. Connor hunches over it, fiddling with the mute device.

Banning swallows.

Connor reaches around. Slowly pulls something from his back pocket --

A BALL CAP

The words “U.S. SECRET SERVICE” stitched across its front.

The boy snugs the cap firmly atop his head.

Banning chokes up.

Connor bends over the headset. His voice is very small.

Banning swallows.

Banning stares, numb. Awed by the simple pure forgiveness of a child.

SEAL Team Six en route. Locked and loaded.

Lights out, rotors muffled, the stealth choppers SKIM over the city. Passing over like phantoms.

A mile above SEAL Team Six’s target --

AN RQ-170 SENTINEL DRONE

circles above the White House, like a silent bird of prey. A stealth black batwing.

CLOSE ON: The CAMERA EYE on the drone’s underbelly -- an ARGUS-IS 1.8 gigapixel electro-optic (EO) camera and infrared imager.

The unblinking eye stares down.

A uniformed TECH turns from his monitor screen.

The Sentinel’s night-vision EO camera WHIRS.

On the monitor screen, the ARGUS system’s real-time, high- resolution image DISPLAYS.

Galdarres studies the screen. The night-vision picture is perfect...

The White House roof is empty, unmanned, unprotected.

Banning frowns, thinking.

His brow furrows.

Connor shrugs, tinkering with the commando headset.

His mind works, feverishly trying to figure it out.

Banning slowly looks up -- at Connor.

The headset suddenly SPUTTERS TO LIFE.

Banning grabs the tac-com, puts it to his ear.

And hears, impossibly, the FEEDBACK WHINE of another headset unit directly behind him.

Banning whirls and

A COMMANDO

launches himself out of the darkness, gun raised.

Banning grabs the killer’s Glock. They CRASH into the wall.

The Glock fires, gunshot BOOMING in the confined space.

The commando forces the muzzle into Banning’s face. Banning JAMS his thumb inside the trigger guard -- preventing the gun’s discharge. The killer squeezes, pistol trigger CRUSHING Banning’s thumb.

Grimacing, Banning presses the killer’sskull against the steel wall joist. Slowly -- inexorably -- thecommando’s neck bends back. Banning pushes with every lastounce of leverage...

CRACK!

The killer goes still. Banning falls back, chest heaving.

Connor looks up. Stares numbly at the lifeless corpse.

Banning scrambles for the headset, puts it back on. Grabs the fallen Glock.

The SEAL Team choppers streak in low over Washington.

Lim stares into a small MONITOR SCREEN, deftly working a toggle-like CONTROLLER.

CLOSE ON SCREEN: POV of the Wasp III drone -- LOOKING DOWN. The stealth choppers approach, closing fast.

LIM Here they come...

Kang speaks into his throat mic. [NOTE: Banning hears all of the following over his captured headset.]

Cho presses his hand against his earpiece.

Banning spins.

Banning and Connor scramble down the dim passageway.

Cho presses a button on the control panel. Hydraulic gears WHINING, the lift platform begins to RISE.

Banning and Connor hurry through the narrow passages.

The SEAL Team activates their night vision goggles. Lenses glowing GHOSTLY GREEN.

O’Neil reaches up, flips his goggles ON.

POV O’NEIL: The rooftops rush past below, crazily fast. A luminous wash of spectral green.

Heavy lift rising, Cho and his men race for the fire stairs.

THREE COMMANDOS are left behind to stand guard.

Banning hears the grinding HYDRAULICS above. Quickly climbs an interior wall ladder.

Two enormous metal doors slowly OPEN on the White House roof.

Inside, the lift continues to rise.

The tech spins from his monitor.

Galdarres and the others stare at the screen.

The SEAL Team choppers flash over Georgetown.

Hunched low, Banning and Connor hurry down the dim passageway, directly below the roof sub-level. Banning stops, eyes searching.

He sees an ancient (1930’s era) metal ACCESS DOOR PANEL, encrusted with decades of rust and grit. Banning pulls on the door -- it opens with a stubborn SCREECH. Banning lifts Connor, sets him inside the CRAWL SPACE within.

The boy nods, eyes afraid. Banning tweaks his cap, shoots him a reassuring look. He closes the door panel, Connor safe behind it.

Heavy machinery HUMS. A VENTILATION GRATE slowly opens in the floor and

BANNING

peers out. The three commandos stand guard, facing away.

Banning hoists himself up onto the floor. Silently moves forward, Glock raised --

The nearest commando’s eyes flicker.

The commando whirls -- KNOCKING the Glock from Banning’s hand. He raises his own weapon and --

Banning’s hand flashes down -- SNAP! -- SHATTERING the commando’s forearm. Banning grabs the commando -- SPINS him to the ground -- lands on top -- twists -- SNAPS the commando’s neck.

Banning ROLLS as -- the second commando -- still unslinging his weapon -- tries to get off a shot. Banning’s foot lashes out -- like a piston -- PULVERIZES the commando’s knee. He grabs the man -- lightning fast -- open palm driving up into the COMMANDO’S JAW. Spins him around just as the third commando starts FIRING --

The rounds THUD into the second commando -- body jerking -- KILLING him instantly. Banning uses the body as a shield -- HURLS the corpse into the third commando --

Banning and the third commando CRASH into the wall. Banning kicks out -- connects with the commando’s weapon -- the gun goes flying. The two roll across the floor, furiously GRAPPLING.

Lim stares into her small monitor screen. Continuing to work the toggle controller.

LIM Almost there...

The Sentinel drone continues its fixed surveillance pattern. Camera eye focused on the ground below.

When, unseen, coming in silently from above --

THE WASP DRONE

swoops down, lands on the Sentinel’s back. Magnetic suction- like feet CLAMPING onto the larger drone.

Lim presses a button on her controller.

SSSZZZPPP! The Wasp sends a massive ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE coursing through the larger drone.

The Sentinel instantly heels over and plummets from the sky.

All eyes fixed on the multiple wallscreen REAL-TIME VIDEO FEEDS. Following the assault via both the chopper-mounted CAMERAS and eye-in-the-sky drone.

The Sentinel’s surveillance screen suddenly BLACKS OUT.

The tech frantically works his controls.

Banning and the commando continue to viciously battle. Exchanging a savage, brutal series of hand-to-hand BLOWS.

The commando SWEEP KICKS Banning off his feet. He pounces -- seizes Banning from behind -- grips him in a steel vise CHOKE HOLD.

Banning sags to his knees.

Through bulging eyes, Banning sees the large crates lying open on the machine floor. Stenciled boldly across the side of the nearest one are the words...

U.S. ARMY WEAPONS PROTOTYPE HYDRA SERIES 6A

The lift continues to rise.

Everyone continues to stare at the BLANK surveillance drone screen. Faces tense.

An AIDE rushes up, hands Galdarres a file marked “CLASSIFIED”.

Galdarres rapidly flips through the report.

Galdarres’ face goes white.

He spins. Finger stabbing for the intercom.

On the White House roof, the heavy lift CLANKS to a stop. The lift which originally housed the destroyed Avenger air defenses.

The lift upon which now sits...

AN ADVANCED HYDRA PHALANX WEAPON

The Hydra springs to life in a WHIR OF SERVOS. Six deadly barrels sweeping the sky, computerized targeting systems searching for prey.

We have never seen anything like this before.

Suddenly, out of nowhere --

THE SEAL TEAM SIX CHOPPERS

ZOOM UP AND OVER the Treasury Annex, rotors whirring.

The Hydra reacts INSTANTLY, opening up with a CHAINSAW ROAR.

The two foremost choppers EXPLODE.

Holt bellows into his headset.

An armor-piercing ROUND drills Holt through the forehead. The SEAL Team Six leader is killed instantly.

Banning struggles in the commando’s grip, face crimson. BITES DOWN on the commando’s knuckles, crunching bone. The commando’s hold breaks. Banning flips him over his head.

The commando spins -- up fast -- combat knife unsheathed. He rushes Banning, SLAMS him into an electrical transformer.

The commando dives atop Banning, throttling him. The gleaming blade bears down -- razored point an inch from Banning’s STARING EYE.

With a final jerk -- Banning spins his attacker -- commando’s knife PLUNGING into the transformer’s exposed circuitry. Banning rolls away as 120,000 VOLTS SURGE through the metal blade and into the commando’s body.

The commando THRASHES WILDLY, turning black. Then goes still.

Banning lunges to his feet, races for the control panel. His finger STABS the lift button.

Hydraulics whining, the lift begins to DESCEND.

The SEAL Team choppers furiously juke. Chain guns and Hellfire missiles BLASTING AWAY.

It’s a surreal sight. American combat choppers unleashing a MISSILE BARRAGE on their own White House.

The Hydra mercilessly RIDDLES another Black Hawk. The troop ship EXPLODES, incinerating all ten men aboard.

Connor cowers inside the dark enclosed space. Eyes darting as the GUNFIRE and EXPLOSIONS boom distantly above.

The lift continues to descend. Banning desperately wills it to go faster.

The Hydra’s guns swivel and FIRE, swivel and FIRE.

Another Apache is RAKED. Rotors spinning, it SHEARS into the Black Hawk beside it. Both choppers ERUPT in flame.

The roof doors begin to CLOSE. Hydra rounds RICOCHET off the heavy steel plates.

The lift continues down.

Hydra rounds ricochet inside the closing steel doors. The din is DEAFENING.

Banning sprints from the room.

The doors continue to close. Hydra’s FURIOUS rate of fire never slowing.

The bouncing, incendiary rounds WHIZ everywhere when

A STRAY ROUND

bores directly into the Hydra’s ammunition store.

THE HYDRA ERUPTS.

The blast practically LIFTS THE ROOF off the White House. Secondary EXPLOSIONS bloom, turning night into day.

The last surviving SEAL Team chopper (Holt’s command ship) swings in. Troopers rappel down.

Cho and his men scramble onto the roof, FIRING. The SEALs are RIDDLED on their fast ropes, when --

BANNING

leaps onto the roof -- grabs a discarded MP-5 -- guns down an onrushing commando.

IN THE BLACK HAWK COMMAND SHIP

O’Neil furiously FIRES on the enemy below. Beside him, Sandman peers down his XM8 laser-sighted ASSAULT RIFLE.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

He drills commandos below with machine-like precision.

ON THE ROOF

Cho fixes the Black Hawk’s tail rotor in his sights.

IN THE BLACK HAWK

Sandman zeroes Cho. Finger on the trigger when

A BURST OF GUNFIRE

rakes both Sandman and O’Neil. Sandman falls from the open chopper door.

ON THE ROOF

Cho opens up on FULL AUTOMATIC, machine gun unleashing a murderous VOLLEY OF LEAD. The Black Hawk’s tail rotor DISINTEGRATES.

The command ship pitches wildly, turbines SCREAMING their death throes. The chopper SLAMS into the White House roof. Swinging SEALs fall to their deaths.

O’Neil LEAPS from the dying bird. Fingers groping for purchase on the narrow roof ledge.

The command ship plummets, CRASHING to the South Lawn below. EXPLODES in a blinding fireball.

Banning riddles another commando -- vaulting the body before it even hits the ground. He sprints forward -- tossing aside his weapon and

LUNGES

for O’Neil. Grabs hold of the dangling man’s hand.

O’Neil hangs forty feet in the air. Banning’s grip the only thing between his fellow Secret Service agent and death.

Their eyes meet.

O’NEIL Banning --

ACROSS THE ROOF

Cho strides through the swirling smoke and flame.

Straining, Banning cranes his neck around.

Cho marches purposefully forward.

Banning’s gaze flickers to his weapon, mere feet away.

He’d have to let go of O’Neil.

Cho stops and stands over Banning, eyes flat. Cocks his weapon.

Banning is a dead man. Cho raises his barrel and

A BULLET

explodes through Cho’s throat. He falls dead. Banning spins and

O’NEIL

stares up, looking past him. Smoking P229 in his hand.

O’Neil slumps, pistol falling from his nerveless fingers.

Total SILENCE. Connor listens in the still darkness.

Tentative, he pushes open the access panel door. Squeezes out of the tiny crawl space.

Banning strains to hold O’Neil’s dead weight.

O’Neil reaches up. Banning grasps his hand.

Banning’s head swivels.

ACROSS THE ROOF

Connor wanders across the rooftop. Disoriented by the smoke and swirling flame.

The boy stumbles blindly through the haze.

Behind Connor, Pak and his men vault topside. Pak roughly grabs the boy.

On the far parapet, obscured by smoke, Banning lies unseen.

He stares helplessly as Pak drags the boy away.

Banning turns. And with the last of his strength, hauls O’Neil up onto the White House roof.

O’Neil stares weakly, mouth twitching.

O’NEIL Always the cowboy...

He coughs, gurgling blood.

The light fades from O’Neil’s eyes.

O’NEIL You shouldn’t... have left... the boy.

He dies.

Banning stares across the roof. A nightmare landscape of dead bodies, smoking debris, and flame.

Connor is gone.

Kang’s tac-com crackles. He listens.

On the massive wallscreen, VIDEO FOOTAGE of the assault’s disastrous aftermath unfolds. Everyone stares in horror.

The wallscreen flickers... and KANG’S FACE appears.

Trumbull swallows.

Kang stares, face implacable.

Kang turns, and in one smooth motion SHOOTS Vice President Cardoza POINT BLANK IN THE HEAD.

Cardoza’s body slumps to the floor, dead.

Kang terminates the transmission.

The digital wall clock reads 9:48.

Everyone looks up.

Malik doesn’t blink.

Trumbull turns to Jacobs.

Jacobs holds his gaze.

Banning leans against the low parapet. Bloodied, battered, bruised.

He stares through the drifting haze, and sees --

CONNOR’S BALL CAP

blowing end over end across the debris-strewn roof.

Banning reaches out. Clutches the crumpled cap in his fist.

He gazes down at the cap. The words “U.S. SECRET SERVICE” stare back. Like a beacon across time.

Banning straightens. Reaches for O’Neil’s headset.

Banning’s VOICE comes over the intercom. Everyone spins. Jacobs grabs the microphone.

He grabs a weapon, checks the magazine.

Banning strides across the roof, face a mask of resolve.

Kang pushes a button on the control console. The door to the PEOC living quarters slides OPEN.

Hoenig hesitates -- this is the room where the bodies of Lee, McMillan and Cardoza were all taken...

A commando levels his weapon at Hoenig’s chest.

On legs of stone, Hoenig stands and slowly crosses the PEOC. Hesitantly steps inside the small room.

Kang follows -- and the door CLOSES.

Broken corpses sprawl across the still smoldering roof.

Suddenly, one body MOVES. The figure stands amidst the smoke and flickering flame --

SANDMAN

marches forward, like a machine. Pale eyes like ice.

The massive bunker door opens. Pak enters with Connor.

The boy runs to his father.

Kang roughly SPINS the boy by his arm. Looms over him, face ominous.

Connor stares back, defiant. Doesn’t answer. Asher pulls his son away, protective.

LIM (O.S.) Got him.

Kang turns, crosses to Lim at the control console.

On her monitor screen, Lim replays surveillance video from the machine floor.

VIDEO FOOTAGE: A FIGURE surprises the three machine floor guards.

Lim FREEZE-FRAMES the figure’s face, ZOOMING in. Hits a button.

HEAD SHOT PHOTOGRAPHS from the government’s full personnel database cross-reference the image at blinding speed.

The match frame appears. Banning’s ID photo.

Kang slowly turns -- and locks eyes with the President.

Banning peers down the long hall. Crisscrossed with motion sensor beams.

There’s no way past.

KANG’S VOICE (O.S.) (amplified) Mike Banning.

Kang’s voice BOOMS over the White House intercom system.

Kang studies the monitor screens intently.

Banning stays hidden.

INTERCUTTING

A long beat of silence. And then...

CONNOR’S VOICE (O.S.) (shaky) Mike?

This stops Banning in his tracks.

Banning leans back, closes his eyes.

We can tell from Banning’s face this is the hardest decision of his life.

Banning leaves his weapon and O’Neil’s tac-com behind, moves into view.

Lim’s monitor alarms suddenly TRILL.

Banning walks down the corridor in full view, tripping the sensor beams. Unarmed, hands held high.

Across the hall, the White House emergency elevator doors suddenly OPEN. Banning steps inside.

The doors close.

The wall clock continues its inexorable march. Time’s up.

Trumbull hesitates. All eyes on him.

A wave of trepidation sweeps the room.

Alarms ECHOING, the emergency elevator doors OPEN.

Banning stands inside the elevator car. Three COMMANDOS wait outside for him, weapons leveled.

The wall-mounted hallway CAMERA zooms in.

Secure in the PEOC, Kang watches the proceedings in the corridor outside on his monitor screen.

CLOSE ON MONITOR: Hands raised, Banning steps from the elevator car.

The alarms suddenly SHUT OFF. Dead silence.

Kang’s disembodied VOICE echoes in the corridor. Banning looks up, stares directly into the camera.

Kang regards Banning’s defiant face on the monitor.

Banning stands helpless before the armed commandos.

The lead commando’s tac-com crackles.

Kang watches the lead commando raise his weapon, when suddenly --

THE MONITOR SCREEN WHITES OUT.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

The three commandos all drop as if POLE-AXED. Felled by pinpoint silenced rounds to the head.

Banning jerks up and

SANDMAN

peers down the barrel of his XM8 at the far end of the hall.

Sandman lowers his weapon, strides quickly forward.

Sandman marches for the PEOC door. Banning grabs a weapon from a dead commando.

Sandman pulls a small REMOTE DEVICE from his web harness.

All the monitor screens are jagged with SNOWY INTERFERENCE.

Lim frantically works the controls, tries to restore the static-filled screens.

LIM -- I’ve lost override --

The massive bunker door suddenly CHIMES. Pak and the other commandos all spin, weapons leveled.

Kang quickly steps behind the seated Asher, puts his gun to the President’s temple.

The titanium door slowly SWINGS OPEN.

SWIRLING HAZE from smoke grenades drifts in. We can’t see a thing.

Kang’s men train their weapons on the bunker entrance. Ready to blow away anything the instant it appears.

Seconds pass, seeming like hours.

When suddenly

A LASER BEAM

bounces through the smoky haze.

The pinpoint laser comes to rest squarely on Kang’s forehead.

Through the swirling smoke...

SANDMAN AND BANNING

step into the bunker. Sandman keeps his XM8 trained on Kang. Banning covers Pak and the other commandos.

Banning makes eye contact with Asher across the room. The two share a look.

Sandman’s eyes imperceptibly flicker -- instantly taking in the enemy weapons -- the number of hostages -- mind coldly calculating the odds. They’ll never make it.

Shockingly, Sandman’s laser dot moves from Kang’s forehead... to Asher’s.

Pak and his men raise their weapons -- Kang halts them.

Sandman keeps his gun trained on the President.

Asher stares at Sandman, eyes knowing.

Sandman stares down his weapon.

Kang turns his weapon on Sandman. Banning shifts, takes dead aim at Kang.

Sandman doesn’t move. Laser dot steady on Asher. He knows Kang needs Asher alive -- needs Asher’s code.

Would Sandman actually kill his own President in order to protect Cerberus?

Kang and Sandman LOCK EYES. Both frozen like statues, neither moving a muscle.

CLOSE ON SANDMAN: Face a stony mask, ice-blue eyes staring back at Kang, when...

...the slightest twitch.

Kang FIRES, hitting Sandman -- Banning SIMULTANEOUSLY KNOCKS SANDMAN’S BARREL UPWARD as the XM8 unloads on FULL AUTO -- bullets BLASTING the wall just above Asher’s head --

Pak and the other commandos OPEN FIRE. The whole room ERUPTS IN GUNFIRE, hostages DIVING FOR COVER.

Banning spins, FIRING -- CUTS ONE OF THE COMMANDOS IN HALF.

Sandman is caught in the CROSSFIRE, BODY JERKING FROM THE HITS. He sprays on FULL AUTOMATIC -- taking out half the commandos in the room -- refusing to go down --

Asher PROTECTIVELY SHIELDS Connor with his body. Banning is CUT OFF from them. He LUNGES for the President -- but Pak DRIVES HIM BACK with a WITHERING burst of fire.

Sandman’s RIDDLED BODY falls to the ground, dead.

The RELENTLESS GUNFIRE explodes around Banning. No choice. He rolls -- FIRING -- DIVES through the bunker door, BULLETS WHINING.

Pak LEAPS UP, takes off after Banning.

Banning HAULS ASS down the corridor. CRASHES into the fire stairwell.

Banning checks his weapon. Half a clip left.

He cracks the door. Cautiously peers outand

A LINE OF SLUGS

stitch the fire door, sparks FLYING.

Pak advances down the hall, FIRING from the hip. Banning ducks back.

He looks up. The stairwell soars above him. Flight after flight, seeming to go forever.

Banning races up the stairs.

Behind him and below, the fire door SLAMS OPEN.

Pak swiftly climbs, pursuing.

Kang stands over Asher.

Kang glances at Connor.

Kang turns, kneels beside Sandman’s corpse. Pulls the small remote from the dead man’s web harness.

Kang flicks the switch. The monitor screens go back ON-LINE.

He drops the device to the floor -- CRUSHING IT under his boot.

Lim suddenly spins from the control console.

LIM They’re recalling the Fleet.

Asher glares at Kang.

Banning RACES up the endless flights, breathing hard.

Pak relentlessly pursues.

Banning peers down the stairwell. A burst EXPLODES past his face, bullets whining.

Banning keeps climbing.

Kang violently yanks Connor from his father.

He presses his gun to the boy’s temple.

Connor looks up, face filled with fear. Asher locks eyes with his terrified son.

Kang COCKS his weapon.

A long, excruciating beat.

Kang releases the boy, triumphant.

Throughout the White House, sentries abandon their posts and race down the halls.

Asher glares at Kang, defiant.

Kang nods to his men, who sling black shoulder bags.

The commandos begin herding the hostages from the bunker.

Kang pushes a button on the control console. The door to the PEOC living quarters slides open and

SECRETARY MCMILLAN

is hauled back into the PEOC. Very much alive.

McMillan’s eyes meet Asher’s. Asher’s face turns white.

Asher gapes, dumbstruck.

Asher’s eyes flicker past McMillan, into the small room.

Foreign Minister Lee lies lifeless on the first cot. Vice President Cardoza dead on the second. Admiral Hoenig, THROAT BRUTALLY CUT, lies on the third.

McMillan is hauled away, through the bunker door.

Asher stares in stunned disbelief.

The last of the hostages are herded out. Asher, Connor, Kang, and Lim remain in the bunker.

Kang hands Lim his stainless steel briefcase.

Lim nods, heads for the door.

The massive bunker door CLANGS shut behind Lim, locking. Kang turns to Asher.

The hostages and captors file into the emergency elevator.

Lim thumbs the button, and the lift rises.

Kang stands before the control console, rapidly flips switches.

Kang enters the three codes. Upon entering the final one, the entire console WHIRS ALIVE.

Asher looks on helplessly.

The North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) command bunker.

SUPER THE LEGEND: NORAD OPERATIONS COMMAND

CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN, COLORADO

The computer mainframe LIGHTS UP like a Christmas tree. The head TECHNICIAN spins.

Banning bursts from the stairwell, chest heaving. Spins and races down the hall.

Twin rotors throbbing, MARINE ONE -- a V-22 Osprey tiltrotor -- arrows toward the White House.

Banning moves silently down the ground floor hall. Glances behind him, Pak nowhere in sight.

PING!

At the far end of the hall, the elevator doors OPEN. The hostages and their captors rush from the car.

Banning pulls back, eyes watchful. More commandos race up, join those exiting the car.

Some sort of rally point.

Banning watches, unseen. Eyes searching for Asher and Connor.

AT THE ELEVATOR

The commandos unsling their shoulder bags, unzipping them.

What looks like folded BLACK CLOTHING lays within.

Lim reaches inside the elevator, punches a button on the control panel. The empty car DESCENDS.

The commandos and hostages disappear around the corner.

The massive PEOC wallscreen configures into a huge digital map of the CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES.

Kang flicks a switch. A dozen signal lights WINK ON across the map. Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota, upstate New York...

The entire NORAD missile defense grid.

Asher’s face drains.

Kang smiles.

Asher is stunned to his core.

Kang turns, and kneels down before Connor. Stares directly into the boy’s eyes.

Kang slowly rises. Turns to Asher, face a cold mask.

Kang turns to the control console and flips the “ENABLE” switch.

The console timer reads 8:00.00 and begins counting down.

Eight minutes to Doomsday.

Marine One flares for a landing, twin rotors whirring.

COUNTER SNIPER MARKSMEN peer through Starlight nightscopes. Zeroing the South Portico.

SNIPER #1 Hercules Six, in position.

POV NIGHTSCOPE: The South Portico square in the sniper’s crosshairs.

When the commandos step outside, they’re dead men.

Through a small window, Banning watches Marine One land on the South Lawn.

From beneath the South Portico, the hostages and their captors slowly emerge onto the South Lawn...

ALL DRESSED IDENTICALLY

in black ski masks and rain ponchos. The indistinguishable, huddled group shuffles for Marine One.

The sharpshooters squint through their sniper scopes.

SNIPER #2 Hercules Six, do you have a shot?

SNIPER #1 Negative. Targets unclear.

Banning watches the huddled group shuffle for the tiltrotor. Mind racing.

He raises his MP-5 and SMASHES the window pane. Triggers a LONG BURST across the lawn.

Banning’s line of slugs CHURN the grass.

It works.

On instinct, the commandos REACT. Draw their weapons, searching for targets. The hostages duck like sheep.

Now we know who the commandos are.

The rooftop snipers OPEN FIRE. The commandos are mowed down like a scythe.

The hostages race for Marine One. Banning’s eyes frantically scan the fast-moving figures...

No one the size of Connor.

Where is he? Where’s the President?

McMillan and the other hostages dive aboard the tiltrotor. Cowering against the whizzing bullets.

Lim leaps aboard, clutching Kang’s briefcase.

Marine One takes off, turbines howling.

Kang stands watching on the video monitor.

VIDEO SCREEN: Marine One lifts off from the South Lawn.

Kang pulls out a small TRIGGER DEVICE.

Kang thumbs the button.

Marine One EXPLODES over the South Lawn. Disintegrating in a MASSIVE FIREBALL.

Banning stares in horror.

The LIVE NEWSFEED unfolds on the wallscreen. The gathered watch in disbelief as the tiltrotor DISSOLVES IN FLAMES.

Kang gazes at the monitor screen, pleased.

Banning spins, races down the corridor.

Kang presses a button on the control console and

A HIDDEN STAIRWELL

opens in the bunker floor.

Kang turns to Asher and Connor, huddled against the wall.

Asher glares up in defiance. Kang reaches down and roughly hauls the President to his feet. Shoves him forward.

Behind Kang, unseen, Connor’s eyes dart over the mainframe. He reaches out, quickly hits a button.

Asher and Connor share the briefest look.

Kang spins, eyes narrowed. Grabs the boy, and pushes him and his father down the metal stairway at gunpoint.

And on the blinking control console behind them, the button which Connor pressed is now illuminated.

It reads... BUNKER UNSEALED.

CLOSE ON WALLSCREEN: Everyone stares in stunned silence at the burning wreckage that was Marine One.

No one could have survived.

Trumbull’s eyes move down the wallscreen -- to the LIVE MEDIA FEEDS of the escalating Korean crisis.

VIDEO FOOTAGE: North Korean tanks and artillery rumble along the DMZ. Jet fighters zoom overhead.

Across the room, Malik stands, hotline phone pressed to his ear.

Everyone spins.

Trumbull’s face blanches.

A terrible beat. The realization of Kang’s true diabolical plan becomes clear.

Mailk puts the receiver down, face ashen.

They exchange looks, faces frozen in utter horror.

Banning races up. Retrieves O’Neil’s tac-com and the weapon which he previously left in the hall.

Banning’s voice comes over the intercom.

INTERCUTTING

The room BUZZES with the revelation.

Banning is rocked.

Banning spins, mind racing.

The emergency elevator.

He sprints down the corridor.

Kang leads Asher and Connor below to the platform for the Subterranean Launch Evac Device (S.L.E.D.). An underground escape car, shaped like a small bullet train.

A tracked tunnel leads into the darkness.

Banning pries at the heavy emergency elevator doors. They won’t budge.

He tries again, teeth clenched. Pulls with all his might.

Slowly, the doors part.

ARMY RANGERS storm across the lawn of the White House.

Doors open, Banning unbuckles his belt. Rigs a crude harness and straps it onto the elevator cables.

JACOBS’ VOICE (O.S.) (over tac-com) There’s not much time --

Banning looks into the black shaft.

It’s a long way down.

He takes a deep breath... and steps into space.

The countdown monitor on the control console runs down.

2 minutes, 36 seconds remain.

The Army Rangers burst into the White House. Re-secure the building.

Banning lunges around the corner. Races down the corridor for the PEOC when

PAK

strides into the corridor from the far end.

In one smooth motion, Pak levels his weapon and unloads on FULL AUTOMATIC. A withering burst of fire.

Banning is DRIVEN BACK, around the corner. He reaches his MP-5 around the corner, SPRAYS blindly down the hall. Pak keeps advancing, furiously FIRING.

Banning pulls the trigger. CLICK! Empty.

Pak keeps advancing, FURIOUS RATE OF FIRE never slowing. Banning scrambles away, loses his tac-com. Pak turns the corner, BLASTS the headset to pieces.

Banning is trapped. He’s a dead man.

Pak raises his weapon for the killing burst --

Click. He’s dry too!

Pak tosses the weapon. Pulls his COMBAT KNIFE. The thing looks like a fucking sword.

Frantic, Banning gropes in his pants pocket.

Pak advances down the hall -- frighteningly fast for a man his size. He raises the knife and

A SHURIKEN

magically appears between his eyes.

Pak sways unsteady, face confused. Then topples forward like a totem, dead.

The countdown monitor continues its inexorable march.

48 seconds to go.

Banning rushes up to the massive door to the PEOC bunker. Like the portal to the Underworld itself.

The vault-like door is shut tight.

Against all hope, Banning’s hand reaches for the door handle. He presses down on the latch.

The door opens.

Kang, Asher, and Connor get strapped into the evac car.

Banning races inside. Lunges for the control console.

34 seconds remain.

His eyes frantically search the myriad lights and switches.

He spies the button: “NATIONAL MILITARY COMMAND CENTER”.

Banning punches it.

Banning’s SWEATY FACE appears on the wallscreen.

INTERCUTTING

Banning’s eyes fly over the dials and toggles.

19 seconds left.

Banning flips the switch.

The 16-character “ENTER CODE” field illuminates.

15 seconds remain.

Sweat runs into Banning’s eyes. He blinks it away. 10... 9... 8...

His fingers fly. 7... 6... 5...

Banning doesn’t even breathe. 4... 3... 2...

The timers hits 00:00:00.

Banning’s eyes flick to the open stairwell in the floor.

Without hesitation, he races across the bunker. Vaults down the stairs.

Kang initializes the launch sequence. Turns to Asher and draws his tanto (tactical Special Forces knife). Asher’s eyes go wide. The blade FLASHES DOWN --

-- and CUTS Asher’s zipcuffs. Kang presses the President’s palm to the translucent ID SQUARE on the car’s control panel.

The SLED’s engines ROAR TO LIFE.

Banning races across the launch platform. Sprints after the escape car and

LEAPS

onto the rear of the SLED. Just as the escape car ROCKETS down the track.

The SLED accelerates shockingly fast. SLAMS down the rails.

Trumbull scoops up the flashing hotline phone.

Everyone can breathe again.

The escape car SCREAMS forward, tracks a blur.

Somehow, Banning holds on.

He ducks his head into the slipstream. And sees --

THE TRACK JUST ENDS

Up ahead, nothing but a wall of SOLID EARTH.

The car SLAMS FORWARD at 80 MPH. Banning ducks down, sucking air in short, rapid breaths.

Through the windscreen, the earthen wall rushes up. No time to stop.

Asher glares at Kang. Kang stares back, face impassive. He’s daring him.

The black wall LOOMS like death itself. Asher glances one last time at Connor and then --

REACHES OUT

AND PRESSES his palm to the control panel ID square.

The earthen wall EXPLODES.

Explosive bolts DETONATE, whole wall DISINTEGRATING into nothingness.

The SLED rockets through the swirling debris, into the depths of the Tidal Basin. An AVALANCHE OF WATER engulfs Banning.

The SLED zips underwater like a streaking torpedo.

A homing beacon suddenly begins to DRONE. The SLED slowly rises, Banning holding on.

The escape car continues to ascend. Banning’s face contorts.

Been down too long. Need air.

His torso writhes, burning lungs screaming...

Banning lets go. He floats away, body disappearing into the murky depths.

The SLED keeps rising.

The escape car surfaces, docking at an underground sewer substation.

The main hatch OPENS.

Kang prods Asher and Connor from the car with his gun. Onto the docking platform.

Without warning -- Kang spins -- PISTOL WHIPS Asher across the face. The President drops to his knees.

Kang looms over Asher.

Without ceremony, Kang points the pistol in Asher’s face when

BANNING

SUDDENLY DIVES from the shadows -- TACKLING KANG to the ground. The pistol spins from Kang’s hand, across the steel platform.

Kang spins away. The two men face each other, circling. Kang draws his tanto.

Cat-quick -- Kang leaps forward -- razor-sharp blade flashing. A Ninjutsu master. The blade SLICES Banning’s arm.

Asher grabs the FLARE GUN from the SLED. Aims at the two spinning, circling forms. No clear shot.

Asher hesitates.

Asher grabs Connor’s hand. They race for the ladder.

Kang LUNGES -- and Banning grabs his knife hand. They SMASH into the wall -- furiously grappling. Kang DRIVES a fist into Banning’s kidney. Banning grunts, nearly fainting.

Kang leaps back. Connects with a SPIN KICK to Banning’s head. Banning FALLS. Kang LEAPS onto Banning, straddling him. Banning BLOCKS Kang’s fatal knife thrust -- but the blade bears down -- directly over Banning’s heart --

The two lock in a DEATH EMBRACE, but Kang has the advantage. He BEARS DOWN harder. Banning struggles beneath him.

Slowly -- inexorably -- the blade ARCS DOWN. The tip PIERCES Banning’s skin, drawing blood...

When from the wall above, a telltale HISS.

With the last of his strength, Banning pushes Kang’s face up. Directly in line with the recessed venting pipe --

A SCALDING JET OF STEAM

EXPLODES from the wall.

The force of the BLAST blows Kang off Banning. The tanto goes spinning into the water. Kang staggers back, grimacing with rage and pain. He scrambles for his pistol across the platform.

Banning LEAPS up, races for the substation ladder.

Kang GRABS the pistol, whirls. FIRES wildly after Banning.

Banning climbs the ladder, bullets WHINING.

An isolated, cordoned area on the banks of the Tidal Basin. Yellow caution tape flutters.

Asher and Connor climb from the access manhole.

Banning scrambles from the manhole after them. Runs to the President and Connor, prods them forward.

Connor looks back. And SCREAMS.

Banning whirls and

KANG

climbs from the manhole. He shambles forward, eyes burning. Like some demonic specter from Hell.

Kang turns, and we see...

THE LEFT SIDE OF HIS FACE

is blistered BLACK. Ear, skin, hair, all gone.

Asher raises the flare gun. Kang levels his own pistol at Connor.

Asher lowers the flare. Drops it in the grass.

Banning’s eyes glance to the weapon.

He just might make it.

Banning stops himself. Looks from Asher to Kang.

Kang crosses the recently-erected fireworks platform, moving in for the kill.

Kang levels his weapon at Asher.

Kang pulls the trigger. Banning dives in front of Asher --

TAKING THE BULLET

Saving the President’s life. And giving Asher one crucial second. To grab the flare gun from the grass.

Asher swings the weapon up, aiming wildly...

HE FIRES

The flare misses.

The projectile falls short, SIZZLING at Kang’s feet. Kang looks up.

And with that horrific ghastly face... he smiles. A look of pure evil.

Kang raises his weapon to kill the President.

When somewhere, in the dark recesses of his diabolical brain, something suddenly clicks.

Kang’s eyes flicker for the briefest second --

THE FLARE EXPLODES

The whole fireworks platform upon which Kang stands literally ERUPTS. Detonating in a GIGANTIC FIREBALL.

Kang just isn’t there anymore.

The soaring fireworks rocket skyward, BOOMING. Vaporizing Kang into a million pieces.

Asher helps Banning to his feet. Checks his wound.

Banning nods, wincing.

The two share a long look. A whirlwind of emotions pass between them.

Asher pulls his son close, grateful.

Banning’s eyes fill with sweet redemption.

Army Rangers converge on Banning and the President from across the Mall.

On the wallscreen, LIVE MEDIA COVERAGE of the continuing Korean crisis. Banner headlines read: “WAR APPEARS IMMINENT”.

VIDEO FOOTAGE: Massed TANKS AND ARTILLERY prepare to roll across the border. MOTORIZED INFANTRY itching to attack.

The gathered all stare at the wallscreen, faces filled with apprehension, when...

ASHER

suddenly bursts into the room, flanked by Banning and Connor. Everyone leaps to their feet, astounded.

The President is alive!

Everyone waits, expectant. The wallscreen flickers.

The NORTH KOREAN PREMIER appears on the screen.

Asher straightens. And for the first time since this whole nightmare began, he resumes his role as President and Commander-in-Chief.

The Premier stares back, face unreadable.

Asher’s voice hardens.

A long, excruciating beat.

The Premier’s face disappears from the screen.

The entire Crisis Room EXPLODES in cheers and applause.

Asher’s gaze flicks across the room -- and finds Malik. The two men share a LONG, PROFOUND LOOK. Malik blinks first, looks away.

Jacobs slowly approaches Asher.

She struggles for the words.

Jacobs looks down. Nothing more to say.

Asher glances at Banning.

Dramatically backlit by searchlights, Army Rangers hoist the American flag over the White House once again.

The Stars and Stripes ripple in the breeze.

The flag raising on Iwo Jima has nothing on this one.

Dignitaries and press assemble on the beautifully restored South Lawn.

SUPER THE LEGEND: SEVERAL WEEKS LATER

President Asher addresses the nation from his podium.

The gathered all rise in THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE. Connor beams proudly up at his father.

Then he turns. And if the boy can beam even more proudly, he does.

For standing behind them, in the unmistakable shades and coiled earpiece of the United States Secret Service Presidential Protection detail, is...

MIKE BANNING.