1 OF 9
Written by Maxwell Cole
FADE IN:
BLACK SCREEN
SUPER:
In 1970, the United States government began Project Nine, a secret attempt to return the dead to life using experimental bionic replacements.
Nine subjects survived.
In September 1978, all nine escaped into Pittsburgh. Federal officials classified them as violent fugitives.
TITLE CARD: 1 OF 9
SUPER:
On September 12, 1978, Bionic Number One entered Pittsburgh and moved toward one address in Mount Washington.
Eight hours later, every confirmed trace of her ended.
INT. PITTSBURGH DINER - LATE AFTERNOON
PENNY sits alone in a vinyl booth. She looks like a young woman except for the exposed silver machinery of her left arm. Her blue eyes track every movement in the room.
A WAITRESS sets down Penny's order. Her practiced warmth disappears when she notices the arm.
WAITRESS
Here you go, sweetie.
The waitress steps back from the table.
WAITRESS
You bionics need to leave Pittsburgh.
You're killing my business. One of you
assholes damn near ripped my poor little
place apart.
Penny says nothing. She looks at the food, then at the frightened woman standing over her.
A mechanical pulse cuts through the room.
INSERT - A PHOTOGRAPH
Penny and MAXWELL stand together outside a house. Both are smiling. The home they shared fills the background.
EXT. DOUGHN'T NUT - NIGHT
Penny approaches a fluorescent donut shop. A news report follows her through the rain.
KQV REPORTER (V.O.)
Tonight, at a service station on Western
Avenue, witnesses say she entered the
store, took a single ice cream sandwich,
and left without taking any money.
INT. DOUGHN'T NUT - CONTINUOUS
Penny pushes through the door with her mechanical left hand. The door moves too fast. The bionic pulse returns.
The SHOP OWNER watches her study the donuts behind glass. Penny reaches into the case. Glass cracks beneath the strength she does not yet know how to control.
SHOP OWNER
Jesus Christ. Take whatever you want.
Just take it.
He tries to make the moment ordinary.
SHOP OWNER
You want a donut?
Penny takes one. The owner looks at the ruined case.
SHOP OWNER
You broke my whole damn case.
A POLICE OFFICER enters. Penny and the owner both freeze.
POLICE OFFICER
Everything all right?
The owner looks at Penny.
SHOP OWNER
Nope.
KQV REPORTER (V.O.)
Police are now responding to a second
report involving a woman matching the
same description approximately three
miles east of the first location.
Penny walks past the officer and out the door.
INT. DISCO SUPPER CLUB - GIRLS' ROOM - NIGHT
Four stylish women in bright dresses crowd the mirror, laughing as they fix their hair. Penny lowers her eyes and passes them in her black jumpsuit.
One woman notices the silver arm.
WOMAN
What's up with your arm, girl?
She grabs the chrome forearm. Penny looks down at the hand on her body.
With one motion, Penny lifts the woman off the floor. The woman twists and kicks. Her friends recoil, stunned.
Penny remains calm. No one else moves.
JUMP CUT TO:
INT. DISCO SUPPER CLUB - NIGHT
Penny opens the bead curtain with her mechanical hand and steps onto a crowded dance floor. The dancers nearest her step aside.
Dancers perform the Robot. Penny studies their deliberate, mechanical gestures. She tries the movement herself. For a moment, her difference looks like rhythm.
One dancer stops. Then another. Soon the room is watching her.
At the food counter, a man holds a plate of pierogies. Penny takes one with her bionic hand and tastes it. She stops chewing. Her gaze fixes beyond the room.
Across the red-lit room, a chrome entertainment robot stands beneath the lights. Penny looks from its metal body to her own arm.
She leaves.
INT. CHURCH BASEMENT BINGO - NIGHT
Rows of players wait over paper cards. Penny sits among them, listening.
BINGO CALLER (O.S.)
B-nine.
The number hits Penny with unnatural force. Her eyes move across the card. A bionic zoom pulls the room away from her.
Penny stands.
WOMAN AT TABLE
I think we have a winner.
Every face turns toward Penny. She sees the attention closing around her.
INT. WESTERN AVENUE SERVICE STATION - NIGHT
Penny stands before a freezer case and studies the ice-cream sandwiches behind the glass.
Her mechanical fist breaks the glass. She takes one ice cream sandwich and carries it to the register.
CASHIER
That'll be thirty-five cents.
Penny has no money.
An impatient CUSTOMER crowds the counter behind her.
CUSTOMER
Can you hurry this up? The bathroom's a
wreck, and now there's glass all over the
floor.
Penny's bionic fingers close around the sandwich. It collapses in her fist.
She places the photograph on the counter. Two men study Maxwell's face.
FIRST MAN
Ain't that Mr. Cole?
SECOND MAN
Ain't that the fellow whose wife died in
the crash?
They look from the dead wife in the photograph to Penny.
One man reaches into her space. Penny lifts him with her mechanical left arm. His friend backs away and points toward the tracks.
FIRST MAN
Take the trolley to Mount Washington. If
you go through the tunnel, you missed
your stop.
Thunder cracks. The sound overloads Penny's hearing. She covers both ears, one human hand against one side of her head and one metal hand against the other.
CASHIER
You okay? We got a few pink umbrellas if
you need one.
Penny leaves the umbrella behind and walks into the rain.
EXT. SOUTH HILLS JUNCTION - NIGHT
Penny sits alone beside the wet tracks. The city moves around her. She holds the photograph like an address.
INT. PAYPHONE BOOTH / INT. MAXWELL'S HOUSE - INTERCUT
Penny lifts the receiver and dials.
At home, Maxwell stands beside a small table set with pierogies, a candle, a radio, and the same photograph. The telephone rings.
He picks up.
MAXWELL
Hello?
Penny presses the receiver to her ear. Her face softens, but no words come.
Maxwell listens. His guarded expression loosens. He does not hang up.
Penny hangs up.
EXT. SOUTH HILLS JUNCTION - NIGHT
Lightning flashes. Penny covers her ears as thunder rolls over the tracks.
A trolley approaches through the rain and stops beside her. The doors open only after it has come to rest.
Penny steps aboard. She finds an empty seat, tests it with her mechanical hand, then sits.
EXT. PITTSBURGH STREET - NIGHT
Penny walks away from the trolley and continues toward Mount Washington.
INT. MAXWELL'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Maxwell opens the door. Penny stands in the rain.
He lets her in.
At the stove, Maxwell browns pierogies. Penny sits at the table. The photograph rests near the candle.
She takes a bite and closes her eyes for one beat. Maxwell sees it.
PENNY
I missed you.
MAXWELL
I kept your place.
The radio carries the government's version of her return.
KQV REPORTER (V.O.)
This is KQV News. Federal authorities and
the FBI have expanded their search for
nine fugitives from a classified
government bionics program. Officials say
all nine escaped after a fire at the
Project Nine facility. The subjects may
appear human, but carry experimental
mechanical replacements. Several violent
and unexplained incidents across
Pittsburgh are now under investigation.
The public is warned not to approach them.
A five-million-dollar reward remains in
effect.
Thunder shakes the house. The radio and lights fail.
Headlights sweep across the window. Penny goes still. Maxwell watches the road until the vehicle passes.
Warm light returns.
Penny reaches across the table with her human right hand. She places it over Maxwell's.
He does not pull away.
FADE OUT.
THE END
DELETED SCENES PRESENTED AFTER THE FILM
TITLE CARD: DELETED SCENES
INT. NEON BOWLING ALLEY - NIGHT
Penny steps between a young couple and takes their bowling ball with her mechanical left hand. The moment is socially awkward enough to stop them both.
She rolls. The ball tears down the lane and clears every pin.
The man stares at the empty rack. The woman laughs and offers Penny a high five. Penny answers with her human right hand.
INT. GIANT EAGLE - NIGHT
Penny lifts a watermelon with her bionic hand. She tests its weight with too much pressure.
The melon bursts, spraying startled shoppers with red pulp.
Penny stands in the aftermath, still learning the difference between holding something and breaking it.
FINAL CARD: MAX COLE FILMS / maxcolefilms.com / @maxcolefilms
