DAVID: Jesus Christ, Stevens.
CASSIE: You’re not
taking me out now. I have been prepping
for this—
DAVID: You know what this is about.
CASSIE: We are
looking at a possible planetary assault, and you want to bench me now?
DAVID: I have no
choice. You can’t be in the field.
CASSIE: This is
bullshit.
DAVID: Do you plan on
doing anything about--?
(A
beat.)
CASSIE: Are you
kidding me?
DAVID: Lower your
voice.
CASSIE: Are you
KIDDING me?
DAVID: I said ‘Lower
your voice,’ Agent Stevens.
CASSIE: You would
never ask a man that.
DAVID: I wouldn’t have
to ask a man that. I don’t know if you
heard, but men can’t get pregnant.
CASSIE: Exactly. So the boys all get to fight, and I have to
stay home knitting socks.
DAVID: Do you think I
like putting you on the No-Go list? You’re
one of the only Level Four’s we have that’s properly trained. If those aliens start firing on us tomorrow,
you’d be one of the few people in this department who actually knows their ass
from their elbow.
CASSIE: Then just let
me do my job.
DAVID: And if you’re
injured out there—
CASSIE: What? Are you afraid I’m going to sue you?
DAVID: Possibly.
CASSIE: We’re facing
extinction, and you’re worried about a lawsuit?
DAVID: Stevens—
CASSIE: David, I can
fly. Now, look, I know you have a few
people with invisibility, and that kid who can shoot fire out of his eyes, but
I am the only one who can fly, and you have no chance of winning this war
without me.
DAVID: Okay, yes,
flight is very valuable to us, but you can’t exactly fly off into the galaxy
and start punching aliens in the face.
CASSIE: David—
DAVID: Agent Stevens,
please address me as Commander Mitchell.
CASSIE: Seriously?
DAVID: Agent—
CASSIE: I can fly.
DAVID: And we’re not
even sure that’s useful.
CASSIE: How could it
not be useful?
DAVID: We have planes
that can fly.
CASSIE: Yes, big
planes, that can get shot down.
DAVID: You don’t
think you can get shot down?
CASSIE: You’ve
trained me in maneuvering. You—personally—have
trained me in that.
DAVID: I trained you
in a simulator. Not out in the field.
CASSIE: If they
attack us, I’m going out there. You can’t
stop me.
DAVID: Excuse me?
CASSIE: What? Are you going to shoot me down?
DAVID: The Russians
don’t even know we have you. You can’t
make yourself known that way. You can’t
just go rogue.
CASSIE: Then back me
up.
DAVID: You’re willing
to risk the life of your child just so you can be a badass?
CASSIE: Whoa, you are
way out of line.
DAVID: Well, isn’t
that what you’re doing?
CASSIE: I’m doing
what I was trained to do. I don’t want
to endanger this baby, but unfortunately, it decided to show up the same time
the aliens did, and I can’t exactly put it in a crib somewhere and come back to
it later.
DAVID: Then you need
to sit this out.
CASSIE: And watch a
bunch of men get their asses handed to them?
This baby has a better shot of survival in my body than it does anywhere
else in the world if the only thing standing between the survival of mankind
and obliteration is a bunch of assholes with army tanks.
DAVID: Okay, that’s
it. I’m writing you up.
CASSIE: Fine. Write me up.
But then I’m putting on my suit and I’m going out there.
DAVID: That suit is
the property of the U.S. government.
CASSIE: Then I’ll
wear what I have on now. Or I’ll fly
around naked. That should really shake
up the Russians.
DAVID: Agent Stevens—
CASSIE: Maybe that
can be my superhero name—Lady Godiva.
DAVID: Agent Stevens,
you don’t understand. This isn’t up to
me anymore. Once I tell them you’re
pregnant—
CASSIE: So don’t tell
them.
DAVID: I have to.
CASSIE: You know, I
don’t believe you.
DAVID: You know I
have to.
CASSIE: No, I’m
sorry, what I mean is, I believe that you’ll tell them, what I don’t believe is
that they give a shit.
DAVID: What?
CASSIE: As if the
government doesn’t understand the concept of the Greater Good.
DAVID: I—
CASSIE: I seriously
doubt they care about one fetus over the lives of billions of people. Then again, it is a Republican-led Congress
so—
DAVID: If we win the
war, but you die, we will have sentenced a pregnant woman to death.
CASSIE: Stop being so
dramatic.
DAVID: I’m not. Do you know what the plan is for you?
(A
beat.)
CASSIE: There’s a
plan?
DAVID: Ironically, it’s
called Operation Night Mother.
CASSIE: Why?
DAVID: Because they
want to strap a bomb to you and fly you into the enemy mothership.
(A
beat.)
CASSIE: What?
DAVID: How else would
you being able to fly help us? You can’t
shoot fire from your eyes. Once you’re
airborne, you’re just a really small plane, which, does come in handy in terms
of getting you close to the mothership without being detected or shot down, but
once you’re there, then what? Did you
think you were going to board the ship and take prisoners? We haven’t given you any hand-to-hand combat
training. We haven’t even showed you how
to use a gun. And that’s assuming you
can even get on the ship in the first place.
No, our only option with you is to—
CASSIE: Use me as a
Trojan Horse.
(A beat.)
DAVID: You still want
it?
CASSIE: All this time…You’ve
been training me to be a glorified stealth missile.
DAVID: Hey, those
missiles cost a fortune.
CASSIE: You think
this is funny?
DAVID: Stevens—
CASSIE: I’m a
superhero and you’re sending me on a death mission!
DAVID: Stevens, if
Superman walked into this office right now, I’d strap a bomb to him too. There’s no room for sentimentality here. We have one shot to win this, we think, and
we’re going to take it. Unless you’d
rather sit out, in which case—
CASSIE: I’ll do it.
(A
beat.)
DAVID: What?
CASSIE: If that’s
what I have to do, I’ll do it.
DAVID: But your—
CASSIE: Greater Good,
Commander Mitchell. If the higher-ups
don’t want me fighting, I’ll tell them I’m terminating the pregnancy, and then
I’ll strap the bomb on myself. Or they
can just let go as is. Who knows? Maybe I’m invincible.
DAVID: You’re
not. We shot you, remember? To see if you were? You bled, Cassie.
(A
beat.)
CASSIE: This is
happening.
DAVID: I can stop
you.
CASSIE: It’s not
yours.
(A
beat.)
DAVID: I didn’t—
CASSIE: You did. And that’s okay. But it’s not yours, and I’m not just saying
that so you’ll let me fight. It’s the
truth.
(A
beat.)
DAVID: They’ll fit
you for the bomb in Warehouse 3. You can
go there any time after four o’clock.
CASSIE: Thank you.
DAVID: What are you
thanking me for? Signing off on your
death warrant?
CASSIE: For not
getting in my way.
DAVID: Just get the
job done, Stevens.
CASSIE: Yes, sir.
(She
exits. Lights.)
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