They are surrounded by industrial looking warehouses, one
of which has the words Times-Herald on it. Newspaper
delivery TRUCKS make their way in and out of the loading
dock area of this building.
Overhead, an EL TRAIN scrapes along the worn tracks.
Fox pulls around a corner and back into an alley, so they
can have a view of the corner in front of them.
Wesley scans the area quickly.
WESLEY
Not very discreet, are they?
Fox smiles knowingly, and looks up, revealing what Wesley
is talking about. On various rooftops we see FIGURES
peering down, looking over the site.
FOX
The others are only backup singers. This is your show.
Fox subtly moves her head and figures disappear,
crouching down.
Just then, out the windshield, they see a MAN wearing a
long black overcoat approaching the corner near the
newspaper building.
Fox's eyes start to dance.
FOX (CONT'D)
Remember: he's good, baby. But you're the best I've ever seen.
Wesley nods and the two of them step out of the car.
IN THE STREET:
From a distance, Wesley approaches Cross from the back.
His steps become quicker, getting closer every passing
second. Wesley starts to reach in his coat for his
gun...
...and that's when Cross fires! Quick as lightning,
Cross has guns out and lets loose toward the roof of a
nearby warehouse.
His bullet has the instincts of a bird dog, and it curves
over the edge of the building and finds its mark, causing
a crouching ASSASSIN to plunge from the roof to the
street near Wesley!
The others on the rooftops hail down bullets as Cross
disappears into the nearest building, the Times-Herald.
Wesley and Fox run toward the building as three other
Fraternity members beat them there, the BELLMAN, the
WAITER, and the ELECTRICIAN.
Wesley sees them congregate on the loading dock and then
start inside the building...
WESLEY
No!
The minute Bellman exposes himself in the open loading
dock door he is cut down from inside, his bloody body
falling backwards into a newspaper truck parked at the
dock.
Wesley and Fox join the other two on the dock as
screaming WORKERS run from the place.
WAITER
We need a way in there.
ELECTRICIAN
Let's find another door.
WESLEY
He'll be long gone by then.
FOX
(shaking her head)
He's got the high ground.
Wesley sees an unmanned forklift on the dock.
WESLEY
On the pallet.
They all jump on the pallet held by the forks of the
lift. Wesley throws the machine in reverse and it backs
into the warehouse, the four assassins safely crouching
on the pallet on the front.
INSIDE THE NEWSPAPER BUILDING:
Once inside...
WESLEY
Separate.
The lowest level is the loading dock, where pallets of
newspapers and massive unused paper rolls await.
WITH THE ELECTRICIAN:
The Electrician hustles between the pallets and boxes,
eyes darting, guns drawn. He backs up to a pallet of
stacked newspapers, using it as cover. What he doesn't
realize is that between each stack of papers is a space,
just big enough for a --
THWAP! A bullet finds its way through the space and hits
the Electrician in the back of the shoulder, spinning him
around.
CLOSE ON: Cross' gun. Another shot and we follow the
bullet, across the dock and dipping low into the next
space in the paper stack -- right where Electrician is
now leaning...
...the bullet buries in his eye, sending him to the
floor.
Wesley sees Cross race for a set of stairs. Just as
Wesley is about to cut him down, Cross fires at a wooden
beam holding back some massive rolls of NEWSPAPER. The
rolls tumble over and Wesley has to dive out of the way,
allowing Cross to escape up the stairs.
Wesley, Fox and the Waiter all race for the stairs.
ON LEVEL TWO:
Giant printing machines are running full speed, printing
up the morning edition.
A group of NEWSPAPER EMPLOYEES see the guns the
Fraternity members are toting and scramble for safety.
Wesley has to yell to be heard over the whirring
machines...
WESLEY
(to the Waiter)
Stay here and cover us. There's no angle for him to hit you if you stay here.
Wesley points at a scaffolding that runs above the
machines.
WESLEY (CONT'D)
Don't let him get up there. And stay clear of the presses! He'll use them however he can.
WAITER
How do you know?
WESLEY
It's what I'd do.
With that, Wesley and Fox disappear amongst the
machinery.
The Waiter takes a step back from the press, where over a
hundred pounds of paper spins through every second.
He sticks his head out to try and keep an eye on that
scaffolding. Everything looks clear, until...
...shots ring out and a shelf on the wall over the
Waiter's head gives way! He turns to see a bunch of cans
of spray lubricant falling to the floor. No big deal,
until Cross shoots one of them out of the air, causing it
to explode!
The burning oil covers the Waiter, who SCREAMS and
stumbles nearer the printing press...
BAM BAM BAM!
More shots from Cross and one of the RESTRAINING ARMS on
the roll of paper feeding the machine breaks in half.
The paper roll spins wildly from the machine and like a
saw, cuts the Waiter in half!
With a leap, Cross is on the scaffolding over the
presses. For just a second, Cross stops as he locks eyes
with Wesley...
...but Fox is already firing at him so Cross has to keep
moving...
He heads up a second staircase, but not before he sends a
stream of bullets back at Fox, who athletically
cartwheels away...
...but one of Cross's bullets disintegrates a gear on the
press near her, sending flying metal everywhere. A piece
of shrapnel buries into Fox's leg... making her break out
of her cartwheel and flop down, wounded.
FOX
Fuuuucckkk!
Cross races along the scaffolding and disappears into a
door.
FOX (CONT'D)
Keep goin', baby! Take him!
Wesley races for the stairs. He is the only one left to
chase Cross to level three.
ON LEVEL THREE:
Wesley bursts through the door, guns ready. The place is
already in pandemonium, with PEOPLE yelling and screaming
and running for cover. Quickly, Wesley realizes he's in
the business offices of the paper, and it looks
surprisingly similar to his old office. Lame-ass
cubicles and florescent lighting everywhere.
Wesley jumps up on a desk.
WESLEY
Cross!
Unafraid, Cross climbs up on a desk on the other side of
the office. Without hesitation, Wesley opens fire at
Cross... who immediately returns fire...
...and his bullets actually collide with Cross's bullets
in mid-air!!! The bullets ricochet and take out a
COMPUTER SCREEN where someone was playing SOLITAIRE.
The two assassins blast away, all while diving and moving
over and in the cubicles. Cross has a gun similar to the
Imanishis, and they each steer their bullets at each
other from sharp angles...
Strangely, the first bullet collision was not blind luck,
but the pattern for the battle. They are fighting the
same fight, their bullets meeting in the middle, each man
using the same techniques at the exact same time.
Wesley needs an angle, and spots a DRY ERASE BOARD the
words "Action Items" written on it. He fires at it, and
his bullets bounce off it at an angle where one of them
strikes Cross in the shoulder... THWAP!!!
Cross can't believe he's hit but he doesn't have time to
flinch... right as Wesley fires again, he turns, barely
avoiding the rain of bullets and leaps through a nearby
window, smashing the glass out!
Wesley doesn't hesitate behind him... he sprints for the
same window and dives through it, guns at the ready
and...
OUTSIDE THE WINDOW:
...we stay with Wesley as he falls from the third floor,
firing his guns the whole time...
...until he lands on top of an "L" train moving at full
speed.
THE WAREHOUSE DISTRICT:
Fox limps out of the newspaper building and hurries to
the Porsche. She ignores her wounds and rips the car out
of the alley, chasing after the fleeing L train.
ON THE L TRAIN:
Ahead of Wesley, Cross is also on the top of the train.
He manages to get up, spin around, and fire at Wesley...
...but they both have to duck as the L train whips under
an overpass, which misses smashing both of them by mere
inches.
Cross takes the opportunity to swing down between cars
and enter one of the L cars.
BEHIND HIM:
Wesley hurries across the top of the train, spying the
trail of blood that Cross is leaving behind from his
wound.
Wesley smiles, a shark on a wounded baby seal, as he also
swings down between the cars and enters...
THE FIRST L CAR:
...where he sees the trail of blood leading all the way
down the center of the empty car and out the back door.
Wesley hovers in the entry way, his guns up and ready.
He takes a step forward to follow the blood trail, and
immediately, he is decked from the side by an ambushing
Cross.
They tumble over the first row of seats, both losing
their guns.
Wesley kicks Cross off of him, but Cross spins with two
new guns in his hand! Wesley is on him quick though, and
SLAMS Cross into one of the train's windows hard enough
to crack it. With a quick twist of Cross' wrist, Wesley
takes a gun from him just as Cross kicks him off...
...Wesley fires as he falls backwards. Cross falls
backwards too from the momentum...
...and they both smash out opposite windows of the train
before landing on either side of it!