HACKERS

Written by

Rafael Moreu
SEATTLE 1988

EXT. FRONT YARD. DAY.

Slow motion. Armed troops in black uniforms pour out of

unmarked vans and swarm across a lawn in a middle class
residential neighborhood. Yuppie neighbors look on in shock,
confused. Two of the troops carry a battering ram to the
front door of a white two-story house. A leashed Rottweiler
snarls and barks. In position, their comrades point M-16s
into first-floor windows, ready to be ambushed. Pan into a
window in the kitchen. An attractive woman in her thirties
is making breakfast.

Now, in regular motion, the battering ram breaks open the

front door. The woman, startled, drops her spatula.

INT. MURPHY RESIDENCE. DAY.

WOMAN
(screams)
Oough! Ahhh!

SECRET SERVICE AGENT

(to others)
Upstairs.

Troops pour into the house.

WOMAN
What's going on? What's the matter?
Who are you?

The troops, and one or two trenchcoated agents, continue

entering the house and heading upstairs, still with rifles
ready.

WOMAN (CONT’D)
Hey!

Upstairs, crowded in the narrow hallway, the troops descend

on a bedroom.

WOMAN (CONT’D)
(off camera)
Dade! Dade!

AGENT
Knock it down.

The battering ram knocks down a bedroom door.

 2.

INT. COURTROOM.

The prosecutor, a woman of about forty, gives her closing

argument blandly. She'd rather be somewhere else.

PROSECUTOR
The defendant, Dade Murphy, who
calls himself "Zero Cool", has
repeatedly committed criminal acts
of a malicious nature. This
defendant possesses a superior
intelligence, which he uses to a
destructive and antisocial end. His
computer virus crashed one thousand
five hundred and seven computer
systems, including Wall Street
trading systems, single handedly
causing a seven point drop in the
New York Stock Market.

As she speaks, the camera pans across the court, panning

down and stopping on the defendant: eleven year old Dade
Murphy.

Fast forward to the sentencing.

JUDGE
Dade Murphy, I hereby fine your
family forty-five thousand
dollars...

The court gasps, Dade's father winces

JUDGE (CONT’D)
...and sentence you to probation,
under which you are forbidden to
own or operate a computer or touch
tone telephone, until the day of
your eighteenth birthday.

Now Dade winces, in fact we almost expect him to cry.

Opening credits roll to a backdrop of Dade and his family

and lawyer fighting through a gaggle of journalists and
photographers, in slow motion, and driving away.

SEVEN YEARS LATER.

Aboard a jetliner, Dade Murphy is staring blankly out the

window, wearing headphones. Exterior view from the aircraft
of approaching New York City.
 3.

The view becomes a direct overhead of the buildings and

streets of the city, which then metamorphoses (through
animation) into chips and digital signals on a stylised
computer board. The title logo.

INT. DADE'S ROOM.

Segue to Dade Murphy, now 18, wearing mirrorshades indoors

and at night, working on his new computer. His mother calls
him.

MRS. MURPHY
(off camera)
Dade?

DADE
Yeah, mom?

MRS. MURPHY
What are you doing?

DADE
(after a semi-pregnant
pause)
I'm taking over a TV network.

MRS. MURPHY
Finish up, honey, and get to sleep.
And happy birthday.

INT. OTV STUDIOS.

In the OTV Studios security department, a phone rings, a man

answers nervously.

NORM
Security, uh Norm, Norm speaking.

DADE
Norman? This is Mr. Eddie Vedder,
from Accounting. I just had a power
surge here at home that wiped out a
file I was working on. Listen, I'm
in big trouble, do you know
anything about computers?

NORM
Uhhmmm... uh gee, uh...
 4.

DADE
Right, well my BLT drive on my
computer just went AWOL, and I've
got this big project due tomorrow
for Mr. Kawasaki, and if I don't
get it in, he's gonna ask me to
commit Hari Kari...

NORM
Uhhh.. ahahaha...

DADE
Yeah, well, you know these Japanese
management techniques.
(pause)
Could you, uh, read me the number
on the modem?

NORM
Uhhhmm...

DADE
It's a little boxy thing, Norm,
with switches on it... lets my
computer talk to the one there...

NORM
212-555-4240.

Dade goes to work on OTV. He closes his eyes and a flurry of

half-second video clips from old TV shows flashes by. He
opens his eyes. His screen says ENTERING ARPS 331 and then
wipes to another screen. Automated Record Playback System.
There is a graphic representation of the station's automatic
videotape changer. Dade turns on his TV set and turns to
OTV. It is running a Rush-Limbaugh type TV show.

COMMENTATOR
(on TV)
...so-called American Indians,
Latinos and Blacks come from a
genetically mediocre stock...

DADE
Yak yak yak. Get a job!

Dade presses a key on his keyboard. The Video Changer

diagram lights up in red. At the station, a robotic arm
selects a videotape from a huge rack of thousands of tapes.
The "America First" tape slides out of the VTR and is
replaced by an episode of "The Outer Limits" as Dade
watches, drinks Coke and smiles, full of himself.
 5.

TV
You are about to experience the awe
and mystery, which reaches from the
inner mind, to... The Outer Limits.

DADE
Yesssss!

Suddenly, the ARPS screen is replaced by an ominous message:

U HAVE TREAD
UPON MY DOMAIN &
MUST NOW SUFFER
WHO R U?

DADE
Hey! What?

He starts to type ZERO...

DADE
No, wait.

Dade types:

CRASH OVERRIDE. WHO WANTS TO KNOW?

Dade's screen dissolves into:

ACID BURN

DADE
Unbelievable. A hacker!

Then the screen changes again:

ACID BURN
SEZ LEAVE B 4 U R EXPUNGED

"The Outer Limits" suddenly flashes off.

DADE
Yeah, okay "Acid Burn", that's
enough.

Dade starts hacking. Apparently so does Acid Burn. The tape

changer machines at OTV are swamped, sometimes fighting over
the same tape. The program on TV keeps changing.

The message comes up on Dade's computer screen:

I WILL
SWAT U LIKE
THE FLY U R
 6.

More dueling tape changers, more half second video clips.

Another message.

I WILL
SNAP YOUR BACK
LIKE A TOOTHPICK

As the duel continues, Dade types back a taunt of his own:

MESS WITH THE BEST

DIE LIKE THE REST

One last from Acid Burn:

YOU ARE
TERMINATED

Then his own computer confirms for him that the connection
is terminated.

DADE
Shit on me!

Next morning. Mrs. Murphy is unpacking. Dade emerges from

his room in a housecoat. He makes a beeline (dodging moving
boxes) for the fridge.

MRS. MURPHY
Good morning. You unpack your stuff
yet?

DADE
Mm-hmm.

MRS. MURPHY
Up all night again, huh?

DADE
Can this wait until both my eyes
are open, please?

Dade's mom picks up the phone, mocking a call to the

building superintendent.

MRS. MURPHY
Can I cut the electricity to his
room so he'll sleep normal hours?
He's been playing with his computer
all night for a solid week.
(pause)
Well yes, he could be playing with
himself. Mmm hmm. Yes I'll ask.
Dade, you like girls, don't you?
 7.

DADE
Well, yeah, I just haven't found
one as charming as you yet.

MRS. MURPHY
You haven't been doing anything
stupid, right, Dade?
(louder)
Right, Dade?!

DADE
Right, mom. And I'm still a virgin!

Dade slams the bathroom door. Mrs. Murphy quickly checks his
room. Dade is showering.

MRS. MURPHY
(angry, through the
bathroom door)
You hooked it up to the phone,
didn't you? Dade! Turn the shower
off! You screw up again and you
won't get into college!

She pauses and regains some of her cool.

MRS. MURPHY
I'm sorry we had to move in your
senior year. I didn't want to sell
the house but I had to take this
new job, you know that. You're
going to love New York, it's the
city that never sleeps!

EXT. NEW YORK CITY.

We enjoy several views of New York, the morning sun shining

between skyscrapers, neon signs that stay lit day and night.
Dade emerges from the ground-floor apartment on rollerblades
and skates down the street to school.

INT. HIGH SCHOOL.

At school, hundreds of teenagers converse, move around, head

to class. Dade looks lost among them. He walks up to a
skinny latino kid in a faux leopard-skin muscle shirt. The
kid is on a pay-phone, speaking in Spanish.

DADE
Excuse me.

KID
Yo, chill man, I'm talking to
Venezuela.
 8.

DADE
Yeah, I'm sorry, I was just looking
for the principal's office.

KID
Sorry, I can't help you, okay?

Now Dade really looks lost. He heads off in search of the

office.

INT. OFFICE.

Dade is filling out a form.

GIRL
Do you have your transfer forms?

Dade stares at her, stunned. The girl has a decidedly

unconventional appearance, yet is a first-rate beauty.

GIRL
It's a relatively straightforward
question.

Dade notices her lips, and in his imagination launches into

a flurry of half-second video clips and art bites, all
involving lips and kissing.

GIRL
Do you speak English?

DADE
Sorry, you wanted...?

GIRL
I wanted transfer forms.

He gives them to her.

GIRL
Thank you.

She starts leaving. He doesn't.

GIRL
Are you coming?

Dade clues in, gets up and follows her. She takes him on a
brief tour.
 9.

INT. HIGH SCHOOL CORRIDOR.

GIRL
The gym is through there, and the
cafeteria is through there.

DADE
Great. Cool.
(pause)
What's your name?

GIRL
Kate. Kate Libby.

They arrive at a classroom.

KATE
Here's your class.

DADE
My... class. You mean I'm not in
your class?

KATE
No, you're not in my class.

Kate starts away.

DADE
Give me time!

A guy in the halls notices Dade.

GUY
Hey, you new?

DADE
Yeah.

GUY
Tell him about the pool, Kate.

DADE
Pool?

KATE
Yeah, there's an Olympic size
swimming pool up on the roof. Take
the stairs over there.

DADE
Yeah! Sure.

Kate starts away again.

 10.

DADE
Thanks!

EXT. SCHOOL ROOFTOP.

Dade enters, and lets the door slam behind him. Across the
roof, a dozen or so geeky looking kids are looking over the
edge, apparently trying to get someone's attention. One of
them notices Dade.

GEEK
Hey! Hold the door!

He's too late. The geeks look pretty angry. There is no

pool.

Dade
(realizing he's been had)
No pool.

Dade tries the door but it's locked. He hammers it with his
palm, furious. Above, thunder roars and it begins raining.

INT. SCHOOL CORRIDOR.

Dade is soaking wet, and trudges among his classmates

leaving a muddy trail. A three-second video clip rolls
through his mind: it is a screaming woman being strangled in
an old movie. He walks past Kate, who giggles.

KATE
Oh my God! He found the pool.

INT. SCHOOL COMPUTER LAB.

The kids are all seated at computer workstations. Dade is

hacking, the latino kid who was on the phone to Venezuela is
running a demo involving dirty-dancing skeletons.

TEACHER
I'm Mr. Simpson. And I'm subbing
for Ms. Bayliss who was arrested at
the anti-fur rally. I know some of
you kids got computers at home. But
these are school property, people,
and I don't want to see any gum
stuck to 'em. Chapter 1. Designing
graphical interface...

Meanwhile, the latino kid notices that Dade has been looking
up Kate Libby's school records. And hacking himself into her
advanced English class.
 11.

EXT. SCHOOL QUAD.

It's after school, kids are heading home, Dade too. The
latino kid notices Dade and catches up with him.

KID
So, um, what's your interest in
Kate Libby, eh? Academic? Purely
sexual?

DADE
Homicidal?

KID
What's up, man? I'm the Phreak!

The name rings no bells with Dade.

PHREAK
The Phantom Phreak? The king of
Nynex? I
know you play the game.

Another kid, younger and a little geeky looking, runs up to

Dade and The Phantom Phreak.

JOEY
Phreakphreakphreakphreakphreak,
dudedudedudedudedudedude... I
gotta...

PHREAK
(slaps Joey)
Joey, Joey...

JOEY
What? whatwhatwhat?

PHREAK
One more "dude" out of you and I'm
gonna slap the shit outa you, okay?
Now I'm trying to save you from
yourself but you gotta stop letting
your mama dress you, man!
(To Dade):
Check it...

Phreak starts to hand Dade a flyer.

JOEY
(interrupting)
I need a handle, man. I don't have
an identity until I have a handle.
 12.

PHREAK
You know, you're right about that.
(to Dade)
Check it, Friday.

Phreak hands Dade a flyer for Cyberdelia.

JOEY
Alright. How about the Master of
Disaster, huh?

PHREAK
You're hopeless, man, utterly
hopeless.

Phreak walks away.

JOEY
Ultra Laser.
(desperate)
Doctor Doom!

EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREET VILLAGE. NIGHT.

Dade rolls in on rollerblades. Street vendors hawk computer

parts and bootleg software. A bootleg music vendor catches
Dade's attention.

CEREAL
Check this out, each and every one
of you. Compilation tape, of my own
making. I call this the "Greatest
Zooks Album". Featuring artists
like, well I got some Hendrix on
there, some Joplin, Mama Cass,
Belushi... all great artists that
asphyxiated on their own vomit!

The small crowd around him finally gets the joke.

CEREAL
Can't get this in stores, man, I
made it!

Dade wheels into Cyberdelia, which just happens to be

equipped with a ramp down to its main floor for the benefit
of skaters. The place pounds with loud, bassy techno music
and coloured light. Video monitors with psychedelic patterns
complete the atmopshere. There is a video game with a huge
screen. Phreak is at a pay phone.
 13.

OPERATOR
(on phone)
Please deposit five dollars for the
first minute.

Phreak holds a small box up to the receiver, presses a

button, and the box emits a series of tones.

OPERATOR
Thank you.

PHREAK
Nonono, thank YOU!

Dade checks out the scene. Kate is playing the big video
game. Dade skates up to her. She loses her last man. She's
got the high score, in fact her name dominates the top-10
list.

DADE
That's a nice score for a girl.

KATE
(irritated by Dade's
presence)
Think you can do better?

DADE
I'll give it a shot.

Kate yields the controls to Dade, who begins playing. Kate's

boyfriend looks on from a mezzanine several feet above.

CURTIS
Is this kid bothering you, Kate?

DADE
Sorry, can I get some room here?

CURTIS
Yeah.
(to Kate)
Why don't you come up here?

Kate obliges and joins Curtis. Dade continues playing. He

plays brilliantly. The game is a flashy 3-D high-speed chase
game with lots of surprises. Dade loses, but his high score
is about to come up.

CURTIS
He's good!

Dade's score comes up. He's in the #1 position. Phreak is

amazed.
 14.

DADE
(to Kate)
Well, it looks like I'm on top.

Kate, defeated, leaves. Curtis follows.

PHREAK
Congratulations. No one's ever beat
her before. You just made an enemy
for life.
(to someone else)
Boy meets world. Let's go?

EXT. OUTSIDE CYBERDELIA. NIGHT.

Kate and Curtis are sucking face, oblivious to the busy

world around them. Dade and Phreak watch, more than a little
disgusted.

DADE
Who's that?

PHREAK
Curtis.

DADE
And what's he do?

PHREAK
That's it, you're looking at it, he
just looks slick all day.

Kate and Curtis start to take off on Curtis' motorcycle.

Kate and Dade make eye contact briefly. The motorcycle
speeds off into the night.

INT. DADE'S ROOM.

The clock says it's 4:16. As the camera pans up to Dade, it

changes to 4:17. Dade is hacking again. It's the school's
administration system. Dade schedules a test of the school
sprinkler system for 9:30am.

INT. HIGH SCHOOL CORRIDIR.

Dade stands alone in the hall, watching the time closely.

Phreak rounds a corner and meets Dade.

PHREAK
What's up?

Dade doesn't answer. He watches the time a couple of more

seconds, then opens an umbrella.
 15.

Immediately the fire sprinklers turn on. Phreak starts

getting drenched. He realizes what is happening.

PHREAK
(amused and highly
impressed)
Oh my God. You...

A bell rings and students pour out into the halls by the
hundreds. They're all being showered on. A tall cheerleader
bounces by Phreak, pushing her pom-pom in his face.

PHREAK
Way cool!
(to Dade)
You saw that?

Dade nods in the affirmative.

Kate walks up to Dade, also understanding what has happened.

KATE
What the hell is going on?

DADE
Pool on the roof must have a leak.

Kate gives Dade a look that could kill and skulks away.

Dade walks away under his umbrella, smug and dry.

PHREAK
Man, oh man, this is gonna be good.

INT. HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM.

Dade, Kate, and a couple of other students are writing on

the chalkboard. Kate finishes first.

KATE
If God gave men brains bigger than
dogs', they wouldn't hump womens'
legs at cocktail parties.

The class giggles.

KATE
Ruth Libby.

TEACHER
I'm not so sure your mother
qualifies as a significant author
of the twentieth century.
 16.

KATE
Her last book sold two million
copies.

CLASS
(almost in unison)
Woooooo!

The teacher reads Dade's quotation.

TEACHER
"Angel-headed hipsters burning for
the ancient heavenly connection to
the starry dynamo in the machinery
of the night."

DADE
That's Ginsburg.

TEACHER
Nice. Very nice.

KATE
He's not in this class.

DADE
I said give me time.

KATE
He's not enrolled in this class.

TEACHER
Well, he's on my list.

Kate leaps across a desk and snatches the list from the
teacher. Dade is on it. She gives Dade another filthy look,
both Dade and the teacher just shrug. The teacher moves on
to Cereal.

TEACHER
"Of all the things I've lost, I
miss my mind the most?"

CEREAL
Ozzy Osbourne!

TEACHER
You. What is your name?

The teacher grabs the list back from Kate.

CEREAL
Uh, Emmanuel Goldstein, sir?
 17.

TEACHER
You, however, are not on my list.

CEREAL
(in mock shock)
Whoa, this isn't wood shop class?

The class cracks up. Kate and Dade exchange looks as the
teacher escorts Cereal to the door.

INT. DADE'S PLACE.

MRS. MURPHY
How was school?

DADE
(eating)
Hmmm.

MRS. MURPHY
What did we learn in school today?

DADE
Revenge.

MRS. MURPHY
Aaaah. Did we meet someone special?

DADE
No. No one special.

MRS. MURPHY
Okay, I gotta get back to work. I'm
gonna be home late. And would you
try and please fill these out?

She indicates a pile of college applications.

MRS. MURPHY
Oh don't worry, it's only the rest
of your life.

She starts to the door.

DADE
Right. Anything else, you want me
to mow the lawn? Oops, forgot. New
York. No grass.

MRS. MURPHY
And unpack.

She leaves. Dade looks over the college applications for a

second, and pushes them away. He'd rather not do this now.
 18.

INT. CYBERDELIA.

Dade, Phreak and Joey are sitting at a table. Joey is giving

a dull account of his hacking adventures. Enter Cereal.

CEREAL
FYI, alright man, you can sit at
home, and do like absolutely
nothing and...

Cereal pauses, notices Dade, whom he has never met formally

but seen around, and then continues.

CEREAL
...and your name goes through like
seventeen computers a day. 1984,
yeah right man, that's a typo.
Orwell's here and now, he's living
large. We have no names, man, no
names. We are nameless. Can I score
a fry? Thanks.

PHREAK
Meet Cereal Killer. As in Froot
Loops? But he does know things.

Dade and Cereal acknowledge each other.

JOEY
Anyways, guys, guys, listen, listen
to me. I'm in this computer right?
So I'm looking around...

PHREAK
(to Cereal)
D'you bring those Crayola books?

CEREAL
Oh yeah, technicolor rainbow.

Cereal brings a book out of his bag.

CEREAL
Green one.

JOEY
What is that, what is that? Lemmie
see. What are these?

DADE
International Unix Environments.

Cereal pulls out another book.

 19.

CEREAL
Luscious orange?

Cereal hands the orange book to Phreak.

DADE
Computer security criteria, DOD
standards.

Another book comes out.

DADE
The Pink Shirt Book, Guide to IBM
PCs. So called due to the nasty
pink shirt the guy wears on the
cover.

Another one.

CEREAL
What's that?

DADE
Devil book. The Unix Bible.

Another one.

CEREAL
What's that?

DADE
Dragon book. Compiler design.

Cereal brings out a large red book.

CEREAL
Oh yeah? What's that?

DADE
The Red Book. NSA Trusted Networks.
Otherwise known as the Ugly Red
Book that won't fit on a shelf.

By now Phreak has made a pile of the books, and the Red Book
looks wholly out of place on the top of the pile.

JOEY
Anyway, anyway, guys guys guys,
come on. I'm in this computer,
right. So I'm looking around,
looking around, you know, throwing
commands at it, I don't know where
it is or what it does or anything.
 20.

It's like, it's like choice, it's

just beautiful, okay. Like four
hours I'm just messing around in
there. Finally I figure out, that
it's a bank. Right, okay wait,
okay, so it's a bank. So, this
morning, I look in the paper, some
cash machine in like Bumsville
Idaho, spits out seven hundred
dollars into the middle of the
street.

CEREAL
That's kinda cool.

JOEY
That was me. That was me. I did
that.

DADE
You did this from your house.

Joey takes a drag from his cigarette and just nods, with a
big grin on his face.

PHREAK
What are you, stoned or stupid? You
don't hack a bank across state
lines from your house, you'll get
nailed by the FBI. Where are your
brains, in your ass? Don't you know
anything?

CEREAL
Stupid, man. It's universally
stupid.

JOEY
You guys always think I should know
everything, and you never tell me
anything. Am I right?

PHREAK
Alright, what are the three most
commonly used passwords?

JOEY
Love, secret, and uh, sex. But not
in that order, necessarily, right?

CEREAL
Yeah but don't forget God. System
operators love to use God. It's
that whole male ego thing.
 21.

PHREAK
Look, you wanna be elite? You gotta
do a righteous hack. None of this
accidental shit.

CEREAL
Oh yeah, you want a seriously
righteous hack, you score one of
those Gibsons man. You know,
supercomputers they use to like, do
physics, and look for oil and
stuff?

PHREAK
Ain't no way, man, security's too
tight. The big iron?

DADE
Maybe. But, if I were gonna hack
some heavy metal, I'd, uh, work my
way back through some low security,
and try the back door.

CEREAL
Yeah but oh man,
(starts rubbing one of
his own nipples in mock
sexual excitement)
wouldn't you just love to get one
of those Gibsons, baby? Ooooh!

PHREAK
Yo, who ate all of my fries?

Cereal pauses a second.

CEREAL
(pretending to be
enraged)
Joey?!

JOEY
What, no, nonononono, I didn't
touch your fries. I did not touch
your fries.

PHREAK
Cereal, man, you owe me a pack.

CEREAL
It was him, man!
 22.

PHREAK
You're psyched. You need to lay off
of that shit.

CEREAL
(to Joey)
I'm gonna hit you!

INT. JOEY'S ROOM. NIGHT.

Joey is hacking. A Gibson. He gets in. Using GOD as a

password. Nice graphics represent the machine's vast
systems.

JOEY
YES! Home run, home run. You and me
Lucy. We're gonna show em baby.

INT. COMPUTER ROOM, ELLINGSON MINERAL.

A system operator at Ellingson Mineral Corporation, a large

oil company, notices the intrusion. He gets on the phone.

INT. PLAGUE'S LOFT.

The place is a mess, typical of the hacker bachelor pad.

Empty chinese food boxes and Jolt Cola cans litter the
place.

Plague's phone is ringing, waking him.

HAL
(on phone)
Mr. Belford?

PLAGUE
(sleepily)
My name is the Plague.

HAL
Uh, Mr. The Plague, uh, something
weird's happening on the net.

PLAGUE
As in what, you hapless techno-
weenie?

HAL
Uh, the accounting subdirectory in
the Gibson is working really hard.
We got one person online, the
workload is enough for like ten
users. I think we've got a hacker.
 23.

INT. JOEY'S ROOM.

JOEY
Okay, okay, we need proof that we
were here. Right, uh...

Joey starts looking for something to download as proof he

was there.

JOEY
Yeah, Garbage, okay, give me
Garbage.

He selects a Garbage file and starts the download. His

screen becomes a psychedelic mind trip.

INT. COMPUTER ROOM, ELLINGSON MINERAL.

The Plague glides in on a skateboard. Short and thin,

bearded, about 35 but still trying to be a teenage
anarchist, yet not consciously realizing he sold out that
ideal years ago.

PLAGUE
Never fear. I is here.

HAL
I've narrowed the activity to
terminal 23.

PLAGUE
Let's echo 23, see what's up.

The huge monitor lights up with the display of the Gibson's

resources. Hal and the Plague watch. Plague starts "surfing"
around.

PLAGUE
"God" wouldn't be up this late.

He sees what Joey is downloading. A file called "Garbage".

PLAGUE
Shit! Get me the switching control
center.

He puts on a telephone headset. Hal dials for him.

PLAGUE
(into the headset)
I need to trace a call that's in
progress.
 24.

INT. JOEY'S ROOM.

Joey is sneaking a cigarette while his computer downloads.

There is a knock at the door. It's his mother.

JOEY
(whispering)
Shit!
(loudly, panicked)
Uh yeah... hold on, mom. Hold on
one second.

He puts out the cigarette and sprays the room with air
freshener.

JOEY'S MOM
I mean it! Open the door, Joseph.

JOEY
Yeah, uh, yeah, okay.

He unlocks the door. Joey's mom bursts in. He's still

clambering into bed.

JOEY
There you go.

JOEY'S MOM
Bed. Sleep. Now!

She turns off the computer. It wasn't finished downloading.

JOEY'S MOM
Sweet dreams, Joey.

INT. COMPUTER ROOM, ELLINGSON MINERAL.

HAL
He's gone!

PLAGUE
Did you get a trace?

OPERATOR
(on phone)
Yeah, we got him.

PLAGUE
(smiling)
Good.
 25.

INT. JOEY'S ROOM. DARK.

Joey takes a disk out of his computer and stashes it in an

air vent in the cieling.

INT. TENEMENT HALLWAY.

Phreak, Dade and Cereal are rollerblading through the halls

of an apartment building that is filled with graffiti. It
appears that most of the spray-bomb art was created by the
residents.

CEREAL
Nice place, huh.

Cereal knocks on a door spray-painted "Hackstock"

DADE
You heard of a hacker called Acid
Burn? You know who he is?

PHREAK
(surprised)
No, don't know who he is.
(to Cereal)
Do you?

Cereal shrugs.

A hooded black man in his early twenties answers the door.

PHREAK
Nikon! Lord Nikon this is...

Phreak motions to Dade.

DADE
(finishing)
Crash Override.

NIKON
Never heard of you. Done anything?

DADE
No.

Nikon slams the door.

PHREAK
Come on!

Phreak knocks the door again. Nikon opens again.

 26.

NIKON
What, your mom buy you a 'Puter for
Christmas?
(to Phreak)
Does he know anything?

PHREAK
Sure man, he's elite.

NIKON
(pausing, checking Dade
out)
Come in.

CEREAL
Uh... Nikon, can I... can I crash
at your place tonight?

NIKON
(removing his hood)
Again?
(pauses, then grins
broadly)
Yeah sure.

Nikon and Cereal do a fake Kung-fu move together.

BOTH
Ooka-pow!

INT. NIKON'S PLACE.

Later, the four are watching TV. On TV is a secret service

agent giving a news interview.

GILL
(on TV)
Hackers penetrate and ravage
delicate public and privately owned
computer systems, infecting them
with viruses, and stealing
materials for their own ends. These
people, they are terrorists.

CEREAL
Agent Richard Gill, You're hacker
enemy number one, man. You're a
boner!

NIKON
Yo, showtime, showtime!

DADE
What's going on?
 27.

ALL BUT DADE

(in unison)
4...3...2...1...

Cheesy music plays. Razor and Blade, androgynous asian

brothers, have a community access TV show. "Wayne's World"
in eye liner.

RAZOR
Welcome to our show!

BLADE
Hack the Planet!

ALL BUT DADE

Hack the Planet!

RAZOR
For those late night hacks...

BLADE
Jolt Cola! The soft drink of the
elite hacker.

DADE
Who are these guys?

NIKON
That's Razor and Blade.

DADE
Razor and Blade.

Now Razor and Blade have a disconnected payphone in their

studio.

RAZOR
That's right, this IS a payphone.

RAZOR AND BLADE

(in unison)
Don't ask.

BLADE
As you can see, this is just a
simple microcassette recorder.
(shows the microcassette recorder)
Hook it up to the phone and drop in
five bucks in quarters.

RAZOR
Record the tones that the coins
make. And hang up and get your
money back!
 28.

BLADE
And never again have to pay for a
service that would be dirt cheap...

RAZOR
...IF it weren't run by a bunch of
profiteering gluttons!

BLADE
Remember, hacking is more than just
a crime. It's a survival trait!

INT. JOEY'S PLACE.

Joey is taking a shower, wearing walkman headphones, singing

along with the music. Joey finishes, turns off the shower,
still singing. He draws open the shower curtain to find two
secret service agents with shotguns pointed at him.

SS AGENT
FREEZE!

JOEY
What? What? What did I do? What?

The agents drag Joey, still naked and wet, out of the shower
and into the living room. His mother is hysterical..

JOEY'S MOM
Joey!

AGENT
Get in there! Sit down!

ANOTHER AGENT
Stay down there. Don't move.

Joey is pushed into a sofa. He sees his computer, "Lucy",

being carried away.

JOEY
Lucy!

Joey dives onto the agent carrying Lucy away, losing his
towel. His mother, seeing his exposed buttocks, is shocked.

JOEY'S MOM
JOEY!!!

EXT. OUTSIDE JOEY'S PLACE.

A police-type vehicle pulls up. It's Agent Richard Gill of

the Secret Service. He stops a young agent for an update.
 29.

GILL
How's it going, Ray?

AGENT RAY
It looks good, sir. We've got an
uncorrupted hard drive.

GILL
In English, please. I didn't spend
ten years protecting the president
so I could finish my career feeling
like an idiot.

AGENT RAY
I'm sorry, sir. We caught him by
surprise, so we don't think he had
time to erase his computer files.

GILL
Good. Good man. Alright, let's
finish up here, and take him in for
interrogation.

AGENT RAY
Alright sir.

They split up. A reporter and her sound man run up to Gill.

REPORTER
Agent Gill, can you spare a moment
of your time?

GILL
Why of course, Jennifer.

While Jennifer conducts the interview, agents lead Joey into

an unmarked car. His mother is behind him, still hysterical.

JOEY'S MOM
Joey!

JOEY
Mom...

JENNIFER
Just how dangerous are hackers?

GILL
Well, hackers penetrate and ravage
delicate public and privately owned
computer systems, infecting them
with viruses...
 30.

JOEY'S MOM
Joey!

GILL
...and stealing sensitive materials
for their own ends. These people,
they're terrorists...

JOEY'S MOM
Joey!

INT. ELLINGSON MINERAL CORPORATION.

A tall, impressive building. A cavernous atrium filled with

busy people.

INT. ELLINGSON BOARDROOM.

A handsome looking woman in her late thirties walks in.

MARGO
Good morning, Gentlemen. Please be
seated. I
see we're still dressing in the
dark, Eugene.

PLAGUE
(to Margo)
Once again, don't call me Eugene.
(to the board)
A recent unknown intruder
penetrated, using a superuser
acount, giving him access to our
whole system.

MARGO
Precisely what you're paid to
prevent.

PLAGUE
Someone didn't bother reading my
carefully prepared memo on commonly
used passwords. Now, as I so
meticulously pointed out, the for
most used passwords are love,
(gesturing lewdly)
sex, secret and...
(eyeing Margo)
...God. So would your holiness care
to change her password?

Margo just blinks prettily.

 31.

PLAGUE
A hacker planted the virus.

MARGO
Virus?

PLAGUE
Yesterday, the ballast program for
a supertanker training model
mistakenly thought the vessel was
empty, and flooded its tanks.

MARGO
Excuse me?

PLAGUE
(as if to a child)
The little boat flipped over. A
virus planted in the Gibson
computer system claimed
responsibility.

MARGO
What, it left a note?

Plague hits a button on a remote control, and the virus -

a long haired male model - appears on a large screen, in
psychedelic colors. The virus speaks in a hammy Italian
accent.

VIRUS
Unless five million dollars are
transferred to the following
numbered account in seven days, I
will capsize five tankers in the
Ellingson fleet.

BOARD MEMBER
Is that...

PLAGUE
(interrupting)
That is the virus. Leonardo da
Vinci. The problem is we have
twenty six ships at sea and we
don't know which ones are infected.

DUKE ELLINGSON
Well then, put the ships' ballasts
under manual control.

PLAGUE
There's no such thing anymore,
Duke.
 32.

These ships are totally

computerized. They rely on
satellite navigation, which links
them to our network, and the virus,
wherever they are in the world.

MARGO
So what are we supposed to do?

PLAGUE
Well luckily, you have a gifted and
talented security officer. I traced
the hacker's call. The secret
service picked him up this morning.
I'll just search his files for the
original virus code, and then I can
eliminate it.

INT. ELLINGSON MINERAL ATRIUM.

Plague, Margo and two suits from the boardroom are riding
down an escalator.

SUIT #1 Now look, now we expect you to get onto this right
away, yeah?

PLAGUE
Yeah!

SUIT #1 Well, how soon?

PLAGUE
Well, we're working on it as fast
as we can. This is a very common
occurrence in corporations as large
as ours. You have nothing to worry
about.

SUIT #2 Yeah, right.

SUIT #1 Now, you're sure about that, Mr. The Plague?

PLAGUE
Yeah, the Secret Service is helping
us out 100 percent. Okay?

SUIT #2 Yeah.

SUIT #1 Okay.

PLAGUE
We'll be in touch. Talk to you
later.
 33.

The suits get off the escalator, Plague and Margo take the
next one down.

MARGO
What the hell was that all about?

PLAGUE
I had to move fast. The hacker
copied my garbage file.

MARGO
What?

PLAGUE
I created Mister da Vinci so we
could call in the Secret Service.
So they'd arrest the hacker, sieze
his equipment, things that we can't
do on our own.

MARGO
I don't want to go to jail for
this.

PLAGUE
Relax. Think about the 25 million
dollars.

MARGO
But you've created a virus that's
going to cause a worldwide
ecological disaster, just to arrest
some hacker kid?

PLAGUE
Basically, uhmm, yeah. Mmm hmmm.

MARGO
Jesus. You know, you're sick,
Eugene. You...

PLAGUE
Sh, sh sh sh sh.

Plague stops a passing secretary and snatches a piece of

paper from her hand.

PLAGUE
I'll take care of this.

SECRETARY
Alright, sir.
 34.

PLAGUE
I can cancel it any time. I don't
need any program code. But it's the
perfect cover, to confiscate the
disc and find out how much of that
garbage file has been copied.

MARGO
Get it!
(walking away)
Why did I ever trust you?
(going back up the
escalator)
Get the file. Otherwise you'll lose
all your toys.

INT. SECRET SERVICE INTERROGATION ROOM.

Joey is distraught over the dismantling of Lucy. Agent Ray

examines the Mac's innards.

GILL
Did you find the program for the
virus on any of the discs we
confiscated?

PLAGUE
No. He's either very smart or very
stupid.

GILL
Then he stashed it somewhere, or he
has an accomplice. We'll release
him until his indictment, keep
tight surveillance, and see if he
leads us to your disc.

EXT. OUTSIDE JOEY'S PLACE.

Joey's apartment building is an L-shaped skyscraper about 30

storeys high, unimpressive by New York City standards. Two
Secret Service agents are staking Joey out in a car outside.

SECRET SERVICE AGENT BOB

Unit 3 outside suspect Joey
Pardella's apartment. Nothing to
report. Suspect still grounded...
by his mother.

His radio crackles.

AGENT BOB
Listen to this bullshit.
(he reads)
 35.

"This is our world now. The world

of the electron and the switch, the
beauty of the baud. We exist
without nationality, skin color, or
religious bias. You wage wars,
murder, cheat, lie to us and try to
make us believe it's for our own
good, yet we're the criminals. Yes,
I am a criminal. My crime is that
of curiosity. I am a hacker and
this is my manifesto." Huh, right,
manifesto? "You may stop me, but
you can't stop us all."

AGENT RAY
Now that's cool.

AGENT BOB
Cool?

AGENT RAY
Yeah, cool.

AGENT BOB
You think it's cool?

AGENT RAY
(not caring for where Bob
is going with this)
It's cool!

AGENT BOB
It's not cool. It's commie
bullshit!

INT. HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' ROOM.

Dade, Cereal and Phreak check their faces. Cereal brushes

his teeth.

CEREAL
(to Phreak)
So what do you think, can I crash
at your place tonight?

DADE
What is it with this guy?

PHREAK
His parents missed Woodstock and
he's been making up for it since.
Hey, you hear about Joey's bust?
 36.

CEREAL
Yeah. Probably had something to do
with that bank in Idaho.

PHREAK
Do you think he could hack a
Gibson?

DADE
Did you talk to him?

PHREAK
Nope. His mom said he's grounded
for his next three lifetimes.
(imitating her)
He isn't to consort with his
computer friends.
(himself again)
The secret service is really out to
get him.
(changes the subject)
Hey there's a big party tonight,
you wanna go?

Dade shakes his head.

PHREAK
It's at Kate's...

Dade just smiles.

PHREAK
Thought so!

Cereal and Phreak leave, Cereal dancing.

INT. PLAGUE'S OFFICE.

Plague is wearing a VR helmet and gloves, playing some sort

of action game. He is unaware that Gill has just entered the
room.

GILL
What the hell are you doing?
Plague!

He thumps the VR pedestal.

GILL
PLAGUE!

Plague finally notices, and takes off the helmet.

 37.

PLAGUE
Gill.

GILL
I think we've got something.

Gill hands Plague a folder. It has the logo of Stanton High.

PLAGUE
Uuugh, hard copy.

Plague looks it over and recognizes a name.

PLAGUE
Dade Murphy.

INT. DADE'S PLACE.

It's after school. Dade's just unlocking the front door,

only to find a Secret Service agent behind it. And one
behind him in the hallway. Both point pistols at him.

AGENT RAY
Secret Service!

AGENT BOB
Don't move!

They slam Dade against a wall and start frisking him.

DADE
Christ! What is the...

AGENT BOB
Shut up!

DADE
What are you doing, man? Get off
me!

They lead him into his room and throw him down on the bed.
Plague is there.

AGENT BOB
Just sit in the bed and keep your
hands where we can see them.

PLAGUE
The year was 1988. And this nasty
virus crashed fifteen hundred
systems in one day.

Dade has a flashback.

 38.

DADE
Fifteen hundred and seven.

AGENT RAY
(astounded)
Wow, huh!

GILL
It got you seven years probation.
No computer, couldn't even use a
touch tone phone.

PLAGUE
Must have been hell, huh? Zero
Cool?
(getting to the point)
A virus has been planted in the
Ellingson Mineral computer system.
You were our prime suspect, till we
trashed your stuff and found no
trace of it.

GILL
However, we have come to believe
that one Joey Pardella is involved
in this Ellingson virus. He or
perhaps his accomplice has a disk
that Mr. Belford needs to disable
that virus. We want you to help us
find it.

PLAGUE
Gill.

The three secret service agents leave Plague and Dade alone.
Plague shuts the door behind them.

PLAGUE
(of Gill)
Loser.
(continues)
I can't believe you were only
eleven when you wrote this. It's
quite an impressive virus. Dade, I
know how you might feel about
narking on your friends, but, we're
hackers. For us, there's no such
thing as family and friends. We're
each our own country, with
temporary allies and enemies. I'd
like to make a treaty with you.

DADE
I'm sorry. Who are you?
 39.

PLAGUE
I'm the one who understands you.
Now, can we be allies?

DADE
Nah. I don't play well with others.

Plague is holding Dade's baseball bat. He shrugs, turns

around, and smashes Dade's stereo to smithereens.

DADE
Shit! Come on!

PLAGUE
Watch which friends you do play
with. A
record like yours could land you in
jail, get you kicked out of school,
no colleges would take you. No
future. Exiled from everyone and
everything you love.

Plague replaces the baseball bat.

PLAGUE
I'll be in touch.

Plague leaves.

PLAGUE
(to agents)
I'm fine.
(to Dade)
Oh, and Dade, try to stay out of
trouble, okay?

DADE
Blow me.

PLAGUE
(smiles)
Thank you!

INT. DADE'S ROOM. LATER.

Dade is lying in bed. A door opens. It's Kate. She opens her
motorcycle jacket, revealing her bare breasts. Dade starts
to get up, she pushes him back own on the bed and starts
kissing him passionately. He responds in kind. Then, Gill,
Agent Ray and Agent Bob burst into the room, handcuff him,
break the two up and haul them away as Plague looks on
smugly.
 40.

Then Dade wakes up in a sweat. It was only a dream. He

regains his composure. The sound of New York City at night
surrounds him. He goes back to sleep.

INT. KATE'S PLACE.

The party. A large, well-furnished apartment in an elegant

old skyscraper in the fashionable part of town. Teenagers
dance and writhe to loud, bassy music. Dade and Phreak
arrive.

PHREAK
Her mom makes big bucks writing
self-help books for women. Stuff
like "Women Who Love Men Who Are
Emotional Amoebae"

Phreak shows Dade the book.

DADE
That explains a lot.

Kate, the lovely and gracious hostess, mingles and greets

her many guests, not noticing Dade or Phreak. Cereal offers
Dade a drink from a plastic bottle. Dade, not knowing what
he's in for, drinks. Nikon is the Deejay.

PHREAK
(loudly)
Yo, what's up Nikon!

NIKON
Yo Phreak! Dade, man, you made it.
(to Cereal)
Houston, we have liftoff, 3
o'clock, check it... don't look
right away, what's wrong with you!
Look at her man...

Nikon and Cereal are checking out a truly fine babe.

NIKON
(concentrating)
Look out, man. Lisa Blair, 26 East
7th St., apartment 16, 555-4817,
BOOM!

DADE
How did you know that?

NIKON
I got photographic memory.
(Smiling)
It's a curse!
 41.

(Into the crowd)

Lisa!

LISA
Hey, how do you know my name?

Cereal and Phreak move through the crowd. Cereal notices

something.

CEREAL
Oooo, look at that pooper man.
Spandex, it's a privilege, not a
right!

INT. MEETING HALL.

A 12-step recovery group. Addicts, including Joey Pardella,

sit in a semi-circle.

VICKIE
Hi, my name is Vickie, and I'm an
addict.

HANK
Hi, my name is Hank, and uh, I'm an
addict.

JOEY
(smoking)
Uh, my name's Joey but, uh, I'm not
an addict.

Joey takes a drag. The group reacts indignantly.

JOEY
Nono, really, really, listen,
listen to this. I got in trouble
with my computer, right, okay, and
my lawyer told the judge that I'm
an addict, but I'm not addicted to
my computer! No really, really,

Joey takes another drag.

JOEY
I'm not an addict. I'm not, I'm
not.

Joey downs his coffee.

JOEY
Can I get some more coffee?
 42.

INT. KATE'S BEDROOM.

Phreak is checking out Kate's computer.

PHREAK
Yo. Check this out guys, this is
insanely great, it's got a 28.8 BPS
modem!

DADE
Yeah? Display?

CEREAL
Active matrix, man. A million
psychedelic colors. Man, baby,
sweet, ooo!

NIKON
I want it.

PHREAK
I want it to have my children!

CEREAL
Yeah, I bet it looks crispy in the
dark.

PHREAK
Yo, hit the lights.

Dade hits the lights. The four ooo and ahh at its graphics.
Kate and Curtis walk into the room and hit the bed, unaware
of the hackers in the corner by her laptop.

DADE
(whispering)
Shit!

CEREAL
Shh!

DADE
Was that her top?

PHREAK
One-handed!

CEREAL
Difficulty rating?

NIKON
Seven. Wow! Burn's wetware matches
her software!
 43.

DADE
(loudly)
Burn!

Their cover is blown.

NIKON
What the f...

Cereal hides under the desk.

KATE
Hey! What are you guys doing in
here?

PHREAK
I'm sorry, we're sorry, just
checking out your fly laptop!

NIKON
Yeah, it's hyped, you know...
you're in the butter zone now,
baby.

PHREAK
(smiling)
Uh-huh!

KATE
(her tone changing)
Yeah, it is...
(she comes over to it)
I wanna triple the RAM...

CURTIS
Oooh, Leopard Boy... AND the
Decepticons. Uh, Kate, Kate, you're
not going into that computer shit
now, right?

Kate barely acknowledges him.

CURTIS
(cynically)
Humm, yeah.

Curtis leaves.

CEREAL
(mockingly)
Right.

DADE
The sensitive type.
 44.

Kate finally notices that Dade, whom she didn't invite, is

at her party and in her bedroom.

KATE
What is he doing in here?

PHREAK
Relax, Burn, he's my guest.

DADE
Burn. You're Acid Burn. You booted
me out of OTV!

KATE
What?

DADE
I'm Crash Override.

KATE
You're the moron that's been
invading my turf?

CEREAL
Whoa, whowhowhowhoa.
(motioning to Dade)
Crash...
(motioning to Kate)
and Burn!

Cereal breaks into hysterics.

INT. PLAGUE'S LOFT.

Plague is hacking.

MARGO
Murphy kid turn you down?

PLAGUE
(in a hammy southern
accent)
I disguised myself as an Alabama
State Trooper and penetrated the
FBI NCIC.

MARGO
Pervert! What are you talking
about?

She turns her back to him. He does up the zipper on her

dress. Their relationship becomes apparent.
 45.

PLAGUE
The FBI computer holds files on
twenty million Americans. I just
hacked into it.

MARGO
Congratulations.

PLAGUE
From here I got access to every
piece of data ever stored on Dade
Murphy's parents. His parents
separated five years ago,
reconciled two years later, filed
for divorce last year, custody
battle, boy chose to go with his
mother. Hmm.

MARGO
So?

PLAGUE
So, we get the mother, we get the
boy.

INT. KATE'S ROOM.

Kate's room is empty, and Dade can't resist going back in to

play with her laptop, which far outclasses his own, some
more. On the balcony, Kate notices and comes back in.

KATE
What the hell are you doing?

DADE
It's cool, I'm just looking.

KATE
It's too much machine for you.

DADE
Yeah?

Dade starts working furiously on it.

KATE
I hope you don't screw like you
type.

Dade slows to a two-finger keypoke, not missing a beat.

DADE
It has a killer refresh rate.
 46.

KATE
P6 chip. Triple the speed of the
Pentium.

DADE
Yeah. It's not just the chip, it
has a PCI
bus. But you knew that.

KATE
Indeed. RISC architecture is gonna
change everything.

DADE
Yeah. RISC is good.

They uncomfortably exchange glances.

DADE
You sure this sweet machine's not
going to waste?

KATE
Crash Override. What was it. "Mess
with the Best, Die Like the Rest?"

DADE
Yeah.

KATE
Are you challenging me?

DADE
Name your stakes.

KATE
If I win, you become my slave.

DADE
(intrigued)
Your slave?

KATE
(realizing his mind is in
the gutter)
You wish. You'll do shit work,
scan, crack copyrights, whatever I
want.

DADE
And if I win?
 47.

KATE
(giggles)
Make it my first born.

DADE
Make it our first date.

KATE
You're not gonna win.

DADE
And you have to smile.

KATE
I don't do dates. But I don't lose
either, so you're on.

MONTAGE: Scenes of Dade and Kate preparing for the

challenge.

PHREAK
(voice over)
So here's the deal. The chosen
contest: To hassle Secret Service
Agent Richard Gill, and get one
back for Joey.

Dade spray paints camouflage onto his keyboard.

NIKON
Our decisions are final, by a vote
of 2 to 1. No appeals.

Kate rifles through her address book.

CEREAL
The duel will last until we declare
a winner.

Dade plays quick-draw with disks.

PHREAK
Use only the dialups, access codes
and passwords in your collection.
Can't ask for any help from us.

Dade, having mastered the quick-disk-draw in the mirror,

looks satisfied.

DADE
(into mirror)
Talking to me?

All five are together at the beginning of the challenge.

 48.

PHREAK
Any questions?

KATE
Yeah. Whose gonna notify his next
of kin?

Dade and Kate shake hands and the challenge begins.

EXT. NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC PHONE.

At a public phone, Kate hacks into Concourse Bank, looks up

Richard Gill, and has his credit card maxed out. "Destroy
Card" is the final instruction. The other hackers look on.

INT. RESTAURANT.

A waiter runs a credit card through a validation machine,

sees the message and returns to the patron's table. It is
Richard Gill. Right there, the waiter chops the MasterCard
in two with a pair of scissors, to Gill's horror.

EXT. NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC PHONE.

Dade hacks into an electronic personal ads system and

changes an ad.

KATE
Alright, he's in the personal ads.
(reading Dade's ad)
"Disappointed white male,
crossdresser, looking for discreet
friend to bring dreams to reality.
Leather, lace, and water sports.
Transvestites welcome."

INT. GILL'S OFFICE.

At his office, Gill is on the speaker phone with someone

responding to the ad.

GILL
I... I... I know where you can
stick it... I
know where you can stick it...

Gill punches a button on the phone, another caller comes on.

CALLER
...wanna lick your earlobes... I
wanna lick your lips... I wanna
lick your toes... I
wanna lick your ankles...
 49.

GILL
Awww, yeah, you wanna lick
something? Lick this.

Gill punches another button, another caller comes on.

CALLER
That's why they call me Stallion...

GILL
Aw, that's disgusting!

Gill punches another button.

CALLER
My heart is steaming for you...

Gill punches another button. He is becoming quite flustered.

CALLER
...spank you with my...

GILL
Aww, Spank your ass...

He punches another button.

Another caller comes on, and Gill hangs up the phone,

disgusted, offended, and distraught. The Plague is there,
witnessing the whole thing.

PLAGUE
Animal!

EXT. EMPIRE STATE BULDING OBSERVATION DECK.

It's Kate's turn. Kate is hacking into the Department of

Motor Vehicles. She adds 113 traffic violations and DUI
offender status to Gill's record.

EXT. NEW YORK CITY, BUSY STREET.

Gill is being arrested quite forcefully by a NYC police

grunt. He is thrown onto the hood of his car and
handcuffed.

GILL
Hey! Hey, ow! Do you know who I am?
Do you know who I am?

EXT. CHINATOWN, PUBLIC PHONE.

Dade's turn. He hacks into the Secret Service's personnel

file, and changes Gill's status to "Deceased."
 50.

INT. GILL'S OFFICE.

EMPLOYEE
(on phone)
This is accounting, sir. You
enquired about an employee of ours,
an Agent Richard Gill?

GILL
Yes.

EMPLOYEE
Our records indicate he's deceased.

GILL
I'm what?

INT. CYBERDELIA.

The five are playing pool.

DADE
Dead.

PHREAK
Dead?

DADE
Yeah. Like Rigor Mortis, Habeas
Corpus.

NIKON
Very impressive.

CEREAL
Super hero like even.

KATE
Yeah, whatever. What's the score?

Phreak clicks the pool scoreboard so it says 60 - 60.

PHREAK
Tie.

The other four protest.

PHREAK
Due to Mr. Gill's untimely demise
and everything, I guess you two
will have to improvise the next
round.
 51.

DADE
Right. If I win, you wear a dress
on our date.

KATE
And if I win, so do you.

Dade thinks about it a second.

DADE
Deal.

Kate gives Dade a look that says "I'm going to hold you to
that."

INT. KATE'S BED. NIGHT.

A shapely figure wearing a red leather legless suit with a

zipper that goes all the way around the crotch. Hands caress
the sultry figure as the camera pans up. The body belongs to
Dade Murphy.

Kate wakes up gasping. It was only a dream. She pants and

regains her breath. Then she smiles. She enjoyed that dream.

KATE
Oooohhhh...

INT. HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAY.

Kate, at her locker, stops Dade.

KATE
Dade. I didn't know your size, so I
guessed.

She opens her locker to reveal a red leather bustier and

bikini bottom.

KATE
You are man enough to stick with
the deal, aren't you?

Dade walks off.

INT. DADE'S PLACE.

Dade signs an electronic pad for a package from UPS. He

takes the package.

DADE
Thanks.
 52.

He closes the door and opens the package. It is a laptop

computer, clear plastic shell, full colour screen. Very high-
end, perhaps the equal to Kate's machine. He turns it on.
The Plague's face, distorted, appears. It speaks.

PLAGUE
You wanted to know who I am, Zero
Cool? Well let me explain the New
World Order. Governments and
corporations need people like you
and me. We are samurai. The
keyboard cowboys. And all those
other people out there who have no
idea what's going on are the
cattle. Mooo! I need your help, you
need my help. Let me help you earn
your spurs. Ahh, think about it.
Enjoy the laptop, "Cool"! Tell me
where the disk is.

Plague's face vanishes.

INT. JOEY'S ROOM.

Joey lies on his bed with a comic book, looking despondent.

His mother enters.

JOEY'S MOM
You look pitiful. Okay, okay,
you're not grounded anymore.

She kisses his forehead and leaves. He springs back to life,

gets up and gets the disc from where he stashed it in the
air vent.

EXT. PARK.

Joey is nervously waiting on a park bench. Phreak arrives.

Agents Ray and Bob still have Joey staked out.

PHREAK
Yo, what's up?

JOEY
Dude dude dude, I gotta talk to you
a minute, listen listen listen. I
copied a garbage file from...

PHREAK
Big deal. A garbage file's got shit
in it, Joey, come on.
 53.

JOEY
Nono, it's like hot or something. I
don't know.

PHREAK
Joey, a garbage file holds
miscellaneous data. Junk. Bits of
stuff that's been erased, man.

JOEY
I copied it from Ellingson, okay?
They're asking me about it,
alright? Will you take a look for
me?

Joey hands Phreak the disc. Agent Bob is taking pictures,

and Phreak notices.

PHREAK
Oh shit, Joey, you've got a tail.

Joey sees, and runs for it.

JOEY
Shit!

The agents split up, one runs after Joey, the other after
Phreak.

INT. HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' ROOM.

Phreak has lost his tail. He puts Joey's disc behind a

condom machine in the boys' room at school, and sticks it
there with gum.

INT. PHREAK'S ROOM.

Phreak frantically destroys all records of his hacking

career. He knows he's about to be busted.

DREAM SEQUENCE.

The Secret Service is about to burst in on Phreak. He still

hasn't destroyed any records, and starts manically going
through everything. Gill is on his laptop screen.

GILL
I'm watching you...

INT. PHREAK'S ROOM. MORNING.

A knock on the door. Phreak awakes. It's his mother.

 54.

PHREAK'S MOM
Ramon? Wake up. Ramon! Wake up!
Vamano. Time for school, come on.

The secret service bursts in through the window just as

Phreak's mom opens the blind. She screams, Phreak leaps to
his feet.

AGENT
Secret Service, don't move!

PHREAK
Deja vu!

AGENT BOB
Ray Sanchez, you are under arrest,
under the Computer Fraud and Abuse
Act of 1986.

Phreak's mom becomes very angry and starts slapping Phreak,

cursing in Spanish.

PHREAK
What are you waiting for, arrest me
already!

INT. POLICE STATION LOCKUP.

The undersized Phreak is just a morsel to the hardened thugs

behind these bars and they taunt him viciously as he is led
to his one phone call.

COP
You get one call. Uno. Understand?

The cop locks the dial on the phone.

Phreak waits for the cop to leave, and hangs up. He starts
rapidly pushing the hangup hook, and he hears a ringing
tone.

OPERATOR
Hello, operator services.

PHREAK
Hello, operator? I'm having trouble
dialing a number.

OPERATOR
What number please?

PHREAK
555-4202.
 55.

OPERATOR
Just one moment.

PHREAK
Thank you.

Kate answers.

KATE
Hello?

PHREAK
Hey, it's me.

KATE
Phreak?

PHREAK
I'm freaking! Joey wasn't making it
up! He really hacked into
Ellingson! He gave me the disc with
a file he copied and now I'm in
jail! They're charging me with some
serious shit! And there's stuff I
didn't even do, like inserting some
virus called Da Vinci, and they
keep asking about you guys.

KATE
You think they're going to bust us?

PHREAK
Yeah! You better figure out what's
on that disc, cause we're being
framed. It's in that place where I
put that thing that time?

He hangs up just as the cop returns.

INT. SCHOOL BOYS' ROOM.

Kate is entirely out of place in the boys' room, as the boys

look on amusedly. She finds the disc behind the condom
machine and pockets it. Then she buys a condom from the
machine and struts out, smiling sweetly, hot as fire.

INT. DADE'S PLACE.

Kate knocks. Mrs. Murphy lets Kate and Cereal in.

MRS. MURPHY
Hi!
(looking Kate over)
 56.

Well, now I see what all the fuss

is about.
(she shows them to Dade's
room)
Dade... you have company.

CEREAL
It's a nice room.

KATE
We need your help.

DADE
Do my ears deceive me?

Kate starts to leave.

CEREAL
Nonononono. Truce, you guys.
Listen, we got a higher purpose
here, alright? A wake up call for
the Nintendo Generation. We demand
free access to data, well, it comes
with some responsibility. When I
was a child, I spake as a child, I
understood as a child, I thought as
a child, but when I became a man I
put away childish things.
(pause)
What... It's Corinthians I, Chapter
13, verse 11, no duh. Come on.

KATE
Phreak and Joey are being framed.
We need your help to figure out
what's on this disc.

DADE
I can't. Everybody who touches that
thing gets busted, I can't afford
to get arrested, I'm sorry.

CEREAL
Maybe I should just go to the
bathroom or something.

Cereal leaves the room.

KATE
What is it with you? I know we've
been playing games, but, we're
supposed to be on the same side and
we really need your help. I
really need your help.
 57.

DADE
I'm sorry, I can't.

KATE
Well, could you just make a copy of
the disc? And just hide it in case
we get busted, so we have something
to give our lawyers, something that
hasn't been tampered with? Can you
do that?

A knock on the door. Dade's mom peeks in.

MRS. MURPHY
Listen you guys, help yourself to
anything in the fridge. Cereal has.

She leaves.

KATE
(to Mrs. Murphy)
Thank you.

DADE
Okay. I'll copy it.

KATE
Okay, thank you.

Later. Plague phones Dade. Plague has Lauren Murphy's

records on his screen.

PLAGUE
The girl. The girl has the disc I
need.

DADE
I told you, I don't play well with
others.

PLAGUE
Turn on your laptop. Set it to
receive a file.

Dade does.

An extensive criminal record with a strange woman's picture

comes up. The strange woman transforms into Dade's mother.

PLAGUE
Lauren Murphy is now a wanted felon
in the state of Washington.
 58.

Forgery, Embezzlement, two drug

convictions, plus she jumped
parole. When she's arrested, she
will not have a trial, she will not
pass go, she will go directly to
jail. Then I change this file back
to the original, and your mom
disappears.

DADE
That's bullshit.

PLAGUE
What can I tell you. Computers
never lie, kid. Your mom will be
arrested at work, she'll be
handcuffed, and later, strip
searched.

DADE
You lay a finger on her and I'll
kill you.

PLAGUE
Kid, don't threaten me. There are
worse things than death and, uh, I
can do all of them!

Dade emerges from his room. His exhausted, overworked mother

is asleep on the couch. He pulls a blanket over her.

EXT. PUBLIC PHONE, WET STREET, NIGHT.

Shortly after, Dade is outside on a payphone.

PLAGUE
Talk to me.

DADE
I got it. But listen, Kate didn't
know what's on it. I mean, she came
to me to figure it out. She's not
the one who planted the virus. You
leave her alone.

PLAGUE
Hey, don't worry, kid. If she's
innocent, she'll be fine. Your
mommy's safe now, okay?

Dade hangs up and waits for some time. A limousine drives

by, with a skateboarder tailing. Plague grabs the disc,
jumps in the limo and speeds away. Dade tries to chase but
gives up quickly.
 59.

INT. KATE'S ROOM.

Dade shows up. Kate, Nikon, and Cereal are working on the
disc.

DADE
Kate, listen.

KATE
Uh, hold on...

DADE
I have to tell you something.

CEREAL
Hold on a second!

NIKON
Look at this, it's so lean and
clean.

CEREAL
Looks like a hacker wrote it.

KATE
Come here, look at this. This thing
is dense.

Nikon points out part of the code.

NIKON
But that's ill, man. It's
incomplete. This is taking forever
and a day to figure out. I'm gonna
make some coffee.

Dade takes Nikon's place.

CEREAL
Tag, you're in.

Hours pass. Dade studies and reverse engineers the garbage

file. The other hackers watch, and do just about anything
but be hackers. Finally, over boxes of half-finished pizza,
Dade makes an announcement.

DADE
This isn't a virus. It's a worm!

NIKON
What's this one eat?

DADE
It nibbles. You see this?
 60.

Dade indicates a rapidly scrolling data display.

DADE
This is every financial transaction
Ellingson conducts, yeah? From
million dollar deals to the ten
bucks some guy pays for gas.

KATE
The worm eats a few cents from each
transaction.

DADE
And no one's caught it because the
money isn't really gone. It's just
data being shifted around.

KATE
Right. And when the worm's ready,
it zips out with the money and
erases its tracks.

DADE
Joey got cut off before he got to
that part. Check it out. By this
point, it's already running at,
what, twice the speed as when it
started.

KATE
Right, and at this rate it ends its
run in...

NIKON
Two days.

DADE
And judging by this segment alone,
it's already eaten about...

CEREAL
21.8 million bucks, man.

Nikon whistles.

KATE
Whoever wrote this needs somebody
to take the fall. And that's
Phreak, and that's Joey, and that's
us. We've got to get the rest of
the file, so we can find out where
the money is going before the worm
disappears, so we can find out WHO
created it.
 61.

DADE
I know, I know who wrote it.

KATE
What?

DADE
This Ellingson security creep. I
gave him a copy of the disc you
gave me.

KATE
You what?

DADE
I didn't know what was on it.

CEREAL
(agitated)
Oh man. That's universally stupid,
man!

NIKON
Yo, man, you an amateur, man.

KATE
Why did he come to you?

DADE
I got a record. I was Zero Cool.

NIKON
Zero Cool? Crashed fifteen hundred
and seven systems in one day?

Nikon closes his eyes and access his photographic memory.

NIKON
Biggest crash in history, front
page, New York Times, August 10th,
1988. I thought you was black, man!
Yo, man, this is Zero Cool! Oh,
shit!

CEREAL
That's far out!

NIKON
This is Zero Cool, man! Whooo,
haha!

KATE
(coldly)
Well that's great. There goes MIT.
 62.

DADE
I'll make it up to you!

KATE
How?

DADE
I'll hack the Gibson.

NIKON
They'll trace you like that
(snaps his fingers)
man, cops are gonna find you,
they're gonna find you with a
smoking gun.

DADE
Fucked if I care, man.

NIKON
Look, even if you had the
passwords, it'll take you ten
minutes to get in, and you've still
gotta find the files, man, I mean,
the cops will have you in... five
minutes.

CEREAL
Oh wow, we are fried.

KATE
(suddenly lighter-
hearted)
Never send a boy to do a woman's
job. With me, we can do it in
seven.

CEREAL
You're both screwed. I help, we can
do it in six.

NIKON
Jesus, I gotta save all your asses.
I help, we can do it in five
minutes, man.

DADE
Okay. Let's go shopping.

CEREAL
Woo hoo! Boom!
 63.

EXT. OUTSIDE ELLINGSON BUILDING.

Dade and Kate cut through a chain link fence and jump into a
dumpster at Ellingson. Kate lands on Dade.

DADE
You know, if I didn't live by a
strict code of honor, I might take
advantage of this situation.
Erotically, as it were.

Kate fishes around in her pants, never breaking eye contact

with Dade. She pulls out a flashlight. They start trashing.
They get up to leave and are spotted by a security guard.

GUARD
Alright, hold it right there!

Kate pulls out a flare gun and fires it at the security

guard. He ducks.

DADE
Shit!!

KATE
It's my subway defense system.

EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREET.

Nikon is staring down a manhole, Cereal is fishing through

an adjacent phone company truck.

NIKON
He's way down there.

Cereal emerges with a beltload of equipment and a hard hat.

But he forgot the most important thing.

CEREAL
Ta-da!

NIKON
Yo, brain dead, the manual!

Cereal goes back to the truck and gets a thick manual. The
phone company technician comes up from the manhole.

PHONE COMPANY TECH

Hey!

CEREAL AND NIKON

(in unison, pointing down
the street)
TRUCK!!!
 64.

The phone company tech jumps back in the hole, Cereal and
Nikon take off.

INT. SECRET SERVICE BULDING.

A woman is seated at the desk. Agent Gill walks by.

WOMAN
Find it?

Cereal emerges from the desk, between her legs. His tool
belt dangles obscenely from his crotch.

CEREAL
Phone's alright. The problem must
be somewhere else.

Cereal walks away with his buttcrack seriously showing.

INT. ELLINGSON MINERAL OFFICES.

Nikon poses as a flower delivery boy. He winds his way

through the offices of Ellingson Mineral, "shoulder
surfing", watching the workers entering passwords. His
photographic memory captures everything. The Plague walks
past him, noticing briefly but not making the connection.

INT. PLAGUE'S LOFT.

The Da Vinci virus' launch/cancel prompt is up.

MARGO
(pacing)
They had a large chunk of the
garbage file? How much do they
know?

PLAGUE
Not everything. But enough to
implicate us.

MARGO
You said the worm was untreaceable!

PLAGUE
Yeah. To civilians. But they're
hackers. But don't worry. All we
have to do is launch the Da Vinci
virus, and then they'll all be put
away.

MARGO
Launch the Da Vinci virus? You
can't do that!
 65.

PLAGUE
No one believes the guilty.
Besides, by the time they realize
the truth, we'll be long gone with
all of our money.

Margo starts to protest.

PLAGUE
Look, there is no right and wrong.
There is only fun and boring. A
thirty year prison sentence sounds
pretty dull to me. Who do you
prefer serves it, us? Or them?

Plague clicks on "Launch". The virus repeats its demand.

VIRUS
Unless five million dollars are
transferred to the following
numbered account in seven days, I
will capsize five tankers in the
Ellingson fleet.

EXT. OPEN SEA.

As the virus speaks, a supertanker sails on a choppy sea.

INT. PLAGUE'S LOFT.

Plague leaves a message on Gill's answering machine.

PLAGUE
(sternly)
The virus goes off tomorrow morning
at 10:30, and those hackers tried
to get into our system again. At
this point I insist you take more
strenuous action, or Ellingson
Mineral will hold the Secret
Service responsible.

Gill gets on the phone.

GILL
(grimly)
Get me arrest warrants on Kate
Libby, alias Acid Burn, Emmanuel
Goldstein, alias Cereal Killer,
Dade Murphy, alias Crash Override,
also known as Zero Cool, and Paul
Cook, alias Lord Nikon. We pick
them up tomorrow morning at nine
o'clock.
 66.

As Gill gives the order, a mysterious device under his desk

blinks. Cereal put it there.

INT. NIKON'S PLACE.

Nikon and Cereal taped Gill's orders.

CEREAL
Snoop onto them...

NIKON
...as they snoop onto us.

Nikon calls Kate.

KATE
Yeah, it's Kate.

NIKON
Hey, Burn. We got a little problem
here.

INT. SUBWAY.

Cereal, Nikon, Dade and Kate skate through a run down subway
platform and get on the "A" Train. They go over the results
of their password gathering spree.

KATE
Alright, so what have we got?

DADE
Well, we have fifty passwords, plus
whatever Polaroid head here got
inside Ellingson.

NIKON
Well, I got a lot, alright? I don't
know how many but... my head hurts.

CEREAL
Yo, everyone check this out. Hey,
what's the Da Vinci virus?

DADE
What?

CEREAL
Check this out. It's a memo about
how they're gonna deal with those
oil spills that happened on the
fourteenth.
 67.

KATE
What oil spills?

NIKON
Whoa, whoa. Yo, brain-dead, today
is the thirteenth.

CEREAL
Well this hasn't happened yet.

KATE
Wait a minute, the fourteenth,
that's the same day the worm ends
its run. I mean... Da Vinci virus,
didn't Phreak say that's what he
was being charged with? Look...
(quotes the memo)
"Infecting ballast programs of
Ellingson tankers" - they blame
hackers!

NIKON
(angry)
Damn!

CEREAL
A worm AND a virus? The plot
thickens.

Kate gets ready to get off the subway.

NIKON
Whoa, whoa whoa whoa, where are you
going, huh?

KATE
I got an idea. We've got a few
hours, right, till we get arrested.
So just stay low. I'm gonna go get
some help. I'll beep you, okay?
(to Dade)
Are you coming?

Dade gets up.

CEREAL
May the Force be with you, man.

INT. INDUSTRIAL DANCE CLUB.

Weird music plays, lots of weird people dance. Razor and

Blade are on stage, dancing in front of a huge speaker.
 68.

KATE
There they are!

DADE
Razor and Blade! They're flakes!

KATE
They're elite! Let's get 'em.

Dade and Kate push through the crowd. The song changes to a
fast industrial rap number, Razor and Blade leave the stage,
and Dade starts getting moshed. He climbs on the stage to
follow Razor and Blade. For his trouble, he is thrown back
onto the crowd, who pass him around overhead.

Finally the crowd lets him go. He catches up with Kate.

KATE
I lost 'em. Where were you?

Dade tries to explain, but is at a loss for words.

They make their way to the entrance to Razor and Blade's

lair. Video monitors are everywhere.

DADE
I don't like this.

A robotic arm with a revolver swings around to point at

Dade.

DADE
AAAAAUGH! I definitely don't like
this!

BLADE
(through video intercom)
What do you want?

DADE
Ummm... we come in peace?

Dade winces at his own corniness.

KATE
We need your help. If you're up to
it.

RAZOR
She's buff. Ballsy.

BLADE
Let's keep her.
 69.

RAZOR
Waste the dude.

The gun goes off. It's only a cigarette lighter! No one can
accuse Razor and Blade of not having a sense of humor.

INT. RAZOR AND BLADE'S PLACE.

KATE
A virus called Da Vinci will cause
oil spills at 10:30 AM Eastern Time
tomorrow.

DADE
It's somehow connected with the
worm that's stealing the money.

KATE
We need your help to overload the
Gibson so we can kill the Da Vinci
virus and download the worm
program.

RAZOR
She's rabid, but cute.

BLADE
See, we're very busy. A TV network
that wishes to remain nameless has
expressed an interest in our show.

DADE
(noticing the stench of
sellout)
Let's go, Kate.

RAZOR
Wait. Nobody said no. But you are
going to need more than just two
media icons like us. You need an
army.

BLADE
That's it! An electronic army! If I
were us, I'd get on the internet,
send out a major distress signal.

RAZOR
Hackers of the World, Unite!

BLADE
How are you going to take care of
the cops?
 70.

Dade just smiles.

INT. DADE'S ROOM.

Dade hacks into the city traffic light control system.

Suddenly there is gridlock on the streets of New York City.

EXT. CENTRAL PARK.

Nikon is playing chess against two Hassidic Jews. Cereal's

beeper goes off. It displays the message:

GRAND CENTRAL
HACK THE PLANET

CEREAL
Yo. I'm blowing up. It's Kate,
Grand Central. Let's hit it!

Nikon checkmates his opponent and the two leave.

Dade, Cereal, Nikon, and Kate skate through the streets.

Dade's program to freeze all the traffic lights on green,
runs on schedule at 9:00:00 precisely. Picture New York City
in morning rush hour, and every traffic light is green.
Instant gridlock ensues. The four skate through the traffic
easily, while the Secret Service, now pursuing them, is
stuck. Gill punches a parked car in frustration. Its alarm
goes off.

INT. GRAND CENTRAL STATION.

The four hackers skate into Grand Central Station and head
to the lowest level. They meet up with Joey.

CEREAL
Hey Joey, you made it!

INT. GRAND CENTRAL PUBLIC PHONES.

The hackers are now setting up laptops at a bank of pay

phones. Dade is wearing a "Pirate Eye" eyepiece.

KATE
Now listen up, use your best
viruses to buy us time, we have to
get into Plague's file and copy the
worm.

Cereal screams.
 71.

CEREAL
Ai! Boom boom aiaiaiaiaee! Alright,
that was a little tension breaker,
that had to be done, alright?

KATE
Cereal.

CEREAL
Yeah?

KATE
Go fix the phones.

CEREAL
Roger.

Cereal takes off to fix the phones.

KATE
Joey, take his place.

JOEY
What, me?

KATE
Take his place, man, do it. You can
do it.

Joey takes Cereal's place.

KATE
Ready?

DADE
Yeah.

KATE
Alright, let's boot up.

The four boot up their machines. Various vanity screens come

up on the laptops. They begin to hack. We see the inside of
the Gibson. Viruses of all kinds begin to pour in. In the
offices and data processing rooms, the Ellingson staff are
in pandemonium. Happy faces with eye patches appear on their
screens. "Sit on my interface." "Shit for Brains." "Arf Arf
Arf!" Cookie monsters.

INT. COMPUTER ROOM, ELLINGSON MINERAL.

The big monitor shows the attack in progress.

MARGO
What is it? What's wrong?
 72.

PLAGUE
Nothing, it's just a minor glitch.

MARGO
"Minor glitch" with you seems to
turn into a major catastrophe.

The main screen is filled with:

I WANT A COOKIE. GIVE ME A COOKIE NOW!

HAL
There's a new virus in the
database.

MARGO
What's happening?

HAL
It's replicating, eating up memory.
What do I
do?

PLAGUE
Type "Cookie", you idiot. I'll head
'em off at the pass.

Another virus appears.

HAL
We have a Zero Bug attacking all
the login and overlay files.

PLAGUE
Run anti-virus. Give me a systems
display!

The systems display comes up. Red flashes everywhere,

signifying new attacks. Plague presses a key.

PLAGUE
Die, dickweeds!

HAL
The rabbit is in the administration
system.

Rabbit icons start to fill the systems display.

PLAGUE
Send a Flu-shot.
 73.

MARGO
Rabbit, Flu-shot, someone talk to
me.

HAL
A rabbit replicates till it
overloads a file, then it spreads
like cancer.

MARGO
Cancer?

The Da Vinci Virus sings "Row Row Row Your Boat". Tanker
ballasts start filling - for real.

INT. GRAND CENTRAL PUBLIC PHONES.

KATE
It's the Gibson, it's finding us
too fast.

DADE
Man, there's too many garbage
files, I need more time.

INT. COMPUTER ROOM, ELLINGSON MINERAL.

PLAGUE
They're at Grand Central Station,
lower level. Don't screw up.

EXT. GRIDLOCKED STREETS.

The Secret Service and NYPD are stuck. They turn around and
head for Grand Central Station.

INT. GRAND CENTRAL PUBLIC PHONES.

The public phone next to Dade's rings. Dade answers. It's

The Plague.

INT. COMPUTER ROOM, ELLINGSON MINERAL.

PLAGUE
Game's over. Last chance to get out
of this without a prison sentence.
You're not good enough to beat me,
you little shit.

INT. GRAND CENTRAL PUBLIC PHONES.

DADE
Yeah, maybe I'm not. But we are,
you asshole.
 74.

INT. COMPUTER ROOM, ELLINGSON MINERAL.

PLAGUE
Give it up! Just give it up.

INT. GRAND CENTRAL PUBLIC PHONES.

Kate's phone rings. It's Razor.

RAZOR
Are we fashionably late?

Hackers in England, Italy, Japan, Russia, everywhere

mobilize and start attacking the Ellingson Gibson. The
English hacker looks and talks suspiciously like Annie
Lennox's husband. Our heroes relentlessly search for the
right garbage file.

INT. COMPUTER ROOM, ELLINGSON MINERAL.

SYSOP
We have massive infection.
Multiple GPI and FSI viruses.

HAL
They're coming in from remote
nodes. They're going after the
Kernal!

MARGO
Colonel who?

HAL
The System Command Processor, it's
the brain.

MARGO
Cancer, brain... Brain Cancer?

Duke Ellingson arrives.

DUKE ELLINGSON
Belford, what's going on?

PLAGUE
In short, Duke, a shit storm.

INT. GRAND CENTRAL STATION.

Dozens of armed Secret Service and SWAT troops push through

the crowded station looking for the hackers.

INSIDE THE COMPUTER.

 75.

The garbage file lights up. The familiar psychedelic swirl

of equations and fractal graphics returns.

INT. GRAND CENTRAL PUBLIC PHONES.

DADE
I found it! I found it!

INT. COMPUTER ROOM, ELLINGSON MINERAL.

PLAGUE
This is the end, my friend.
(smiling sickly)
Thank you for calling!

INT. GRAND CENTRAL PUBLIC PHONES.

Dade is disconnected.

DADE
Oh, shit! He got me.

NIKON
Joey's getting stupid busy.

The SS and SWAT are still closing in on the hackers.

DADE
Joey. I need you to drop your
viruses, go after the worm. You're
the closest.

The SS and SWAT push through crowds.

DADE
It's root slash period workspace
slash period garbage period.

The SS are nearly there.

Joey has found the file.

The SS arrive. Gill himself has his .357 drawn.

GILL
Freeze!

It's an empty bank of payphones, the receivers are linked

together and taped up. No hackers. They keep going.

GILL
(pissed off but
determined)
Ahhh Come on!
 76.

Joey completes the download.

KATE
(to Razor and Blade)
Kill the Gibson.

RAZOR
Roger that.

INT. COMPUTER ROOM, ELLINGSON MINERAL.

PLAGUE
Come on you son of a bitch, is that
all you got, huh? Come on, let's
see what else you can do! You
talking to me? Huh? Hahahaha. Are
you nuts? Come at me!

Margo and Duke are awed by Plague's imminent failure and

total unprofessionalism.

HAL
They're in the kernal.

DA VINCI VIRUS
Help... me...

The Da Vinci virus dies. The tankers stop capsizing and

right themselves.

WOMAN
(off screen)
The tankers have stopped capsizing.

SOMEONE ELSE
(off screen)
Ballast tanks are emptying. It'll
be okay.

The main screen lights up:

ARF ARF! WE GOTCHA!

MESS WITH THE BEST

DIE LIKE THE REST

PLAGUE
Little pissant!

The Gibson dies in a flash of light.

INT. GRAND CENTRAL PUBLIC PHONES.

The hackers cheer and congratulate each other.

 77.

NIKON
Yes!

DADE
We did it!

KATE
Let's get out of here!

GILL
FREEZE!

The SS have caught up with the hackers. Agent Bob seems to

be choosing which pore on which hacker's face to blow away
first. Only Joey thinks to put his hands up.

As they are led away, a handcuffed Dade surrreptitiously

tosses the disc with the worm into a trashcan.

EXT. GRAND CENTRAL STATION.

Outside, he notices Cereal, who wasn't present to be

arrested. He yells to the crowd, but really is addressing
Cereal.

DADE
They're TRASHING our rights, man!
They're TRASHING the flow of data!
They're TRASHING! TRASHING!
TRASHING! HACK THE PLANET! HACK
THE PLANET!

GILL
Shut up and get in the car!

CEREAL
(understanding the hidden
message)
HACK THE PLANET! HACK THE PLANET!

INT. GRAND CENTRAL STATION.

Later, Cereal is trashing through the garbage cans in Grand

Central Station. Eventually he finds the disc. To Cereal's
disgust, it has gum stuck to it.

INT. GILL'S OFFICE.

Gill phones The Plague to report the successful takedown.

PLAGUE
Hello?
 78.

GILL
We caught 'em.

PLAGUE
Good.

GILL
Red handed! You won't be having any
more trouble from them.

INT. PLAGUE'S LOFT.

At Plague's place, Plague and Margo toast with champagne,

giggle, and then scurry off to bed...

INT. GILL'S OFFICE.

Dade and Kate are there.

DADE
Me, alright? I did it. She knows
shit about computers. She... she's
just my girlfriend.

GILL
(laughing)
I suggest you modify your attitude.
Because you are floating. And I'm
about to flush your ass.

The intercom beeps.

AGENT
You've got a Mrs. Murphy to see
you, sir.

Gill leaves.

KATE
Are you crazy? What are you doing?

DADE
I'm trying to help you.

She pauses, realizing his gesture.

KATE
Dade.

DADE
What?

KATE
Thanks for your help.
 79.

Dade turns on the intercom. Gill can be heard through it.

GILL
(grimly)
Your son is in big trouble. He has
violated his probation and he has
engaged in criminal activity.

MRS. MURPHY
My son happens to be a genius. He
understands something happening
today that you won't comprehend if
you live to be a hundred, and he
would never use what he knows to
harm a living soul.

Agent Bob enters.

AGENT BOB
The news crew you requested is
here.

MRS. MURPHY
Oh good. Cause I have a few things
to tell them.

GILL
Your son is facing thirty felony
counts in an ongoing investigation.
You face possible arrest if you do
that.

MRS. MURPHY
Mister, I don't care if I face
certain death.

GILL
Mrs. Murphy stays right here.

KATE
Oh, wow, she's great.

DADE
Yeah.

INT. SECRET SERVICE OFFICES.

The news crew interviews Gill.

REPORTER
...and attacked the Ellingson's
computer network. Is the last we've
seen of this type of high-tech
espionage?
 80.

GILL
Well, I'm afraid not. Hackers are a
grave threat to the national
security. This incident just proves
without a doubt that we need
increased funding to stop...

Nikon and Joey are led in.

The monitors cut into static, then Cereal appears.

SOMEONE
That kid cut him off!

CEREAL
Hold on, boys and girls. It is I,
the Cereal Killer, making my first
coast to coast, world wide, global
television appearance. Yes, that's
right, I'm here to tell you about
this heinous scheme hatched from
within Ellingson Mineral.

Razor and Blade busily work on keeping him on the air.

CEREAL
But for what, you ask? World
domination? Nay. Something far more
tacky. A virus called Da Vinci,
that when launched, would cause
Ellingson Mineral tankers to
capsize was to be blamed on
innocent hackers. But this virus
was really the smokescreen, right.
What could be so vitally important
to protect that someone would
create such a nasty, antisocial,
very uncool virus program?

Cereal is now seen and heard on the big screen in Times

Square.

CEREAL
But why? Could it be to cover the
tracks for this worm program? A
worm that was to steal 25 million
bucks. The password for this hungry
little sucker belongs to Margo
Wallace, head of public relations
at Ellingson Mineral...

INT. PLAGUE'S LOFT.

Margo watches this and sits bolt upright in bed.

 81.

MARGO
Oh my God!

CEREAL
(continuing)
...and Eugene Belford, Computer
Security Officer.

INT. SECRET SERVICE OFFICE

GILL
(finally understanding
what's been going on all
along)
Son of a BITCH!

CEREAL
(continuing)
What's this? Is this the unnamed
account in the Bahamas where the
money was to be stashed? I
think so!

An account number scrolls below Cereal's chin.

CEREAL
Yo. I kinda feel like God!

His voice echoes across the earth and among the satellites.

MARGO
Plague? Eugene?

Almost supernaturally, Plague is already gone. He was right

next to her, stark naked in bed a second ago.

INT. SECRET SERVICE OFFICES.

The hackers embrace and congratulate each other again,

Lauren Murphy hugs her son.

INT. POLICE STATION, WOMEN'S LOCKUP.

Margo Wallace has been arrested, and is being led into the
women's lockup. Some of the other women grab at her
expensive Italian leather jacket as she is led to her cell.

MARGO
I don't even know how to work a
VCR, let alone a computer! Get off!
Look, listen, I'll make a deal.
Eugene Belford! I know where his
mother is, I promise you. Get offa
me! I need a lawyer!
 82.

INT. AIRLINER CABIN. IN FLIGHT.

STEWARDESS
Here you are, Mr. Babbage. Flight
time to Tokyo should be about 14
hours today. Can I
get you anything else?

"Babbage" is The Plague in disguise; he now appears about 60

years old.

PLAGUE
Just a pillow please.

The pillow slides in behind his head, he reaches up to

adjust it.

PLAGUE
Thank you.

A handcuff snaps onto his wrist. It's Gill.

GILL
You're welcome.

PLAGUE
What's going on? Let go of me!
Stewardess! I'll never fly this
airline again!

EXT. NEW YORK CITY SIDEWALK. NIGHT.

Dade and Kate are on their date. Dade is smartly, somewhat

androgynously dressed. Kate is heavily made up, and yes, she
is wearing a dress.

DADE
You look good in a dress.

KATE
You would have looked better.

DADE
Wanna go for a swim?

EXT. ROOFTOP SWIMMING POOL.

Dade and Kate swimming, fully clothed, in a pool on a roof.

KATE
I can't believe they decided you
won.
 83.

DADE
They didn't. The guys felt it was
the only way I'd get a date.
Anyway, you're pretty good. You're
elite.

KATE
Yeah? You know if you would have
said so in the beginning, you would
have saved yourself a whole lot of
trouble.

They look out at the skyline. Suddenly, the lights in three

buildings change. They spell out:

C B
R A U
A N R
S D N
H

Kate laughs, honestly impressed.

DADE
Beat that!

Kate continues laughing.

DADE
You know, I've been having these
really weird..

KATE
(finishing his sentence)
Dreams?

They kiss passionately.

The credits roll.