Part 18 (1/2)

TURPIN.

Maggie we are getting our b.u.t.ts handed to us!

SAWYER.

(In radio) ALL UNITS! EXERCISE DEADLY PHYSICAL FORCE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION! I REPEAT:.

TAKE THIS PUNK DOWN!.

WEAPONS ERUPT from all directions. METALLO picks up a rifle and starts shooting TROOPERS. When his clip is empty, he starts tossing MEN with reckless abandon.

Rooftop SNIPERS, frustrated, toss their guns to the side and open their ROCKET LAUNCHERS. ROCKETS whistle through the air exploding near METALLO knocking him off balance. When he falls, the TROOPERS are given hope and suddenly what seems like dozens of rockets are exploding around him.

A rocket zooms directly at the back of his head and he turns and CATCHES IT. The end is hot and there's a long exhaust trail. He holds it over his head and screams. The exhaust flame stops. METALLO hurls the rocket back to the rooftop it came from and it explodes at the top of the building front causing it to break off. Huge chunks of concrete. TROOPERS at the building edge fall several stories to their deaths.

LOIS and JIMMY are hiding and taking pictures when JIMMY is. .h.i.t with a stray bullet. He hits a wall and is knocked unconscious.

LOIS.

JIMMY!.

Frantically, LOIS tries to wake him but can't.

She calls out on her cell phone.

CUT TO:.

INT. DAILY PLANET.

PERRY WHITE is huddled around a television watching the destruction. A phone rings and RON TROUPE answers it. RON h.e.l.lo?

(To PERRY) Perry, you have a call.

PERRY.

What! Ron, I got the biggest story of the year here. Tell my wife I'll call her back.

RON.

It's not your wife.

CUT TO:.

EXT. SUICIDE SLUM - DAY.

SAWYER gets a transmission on her radio. SAWYER Sawyer.

(Beat) What? You gotta be kiddin' me!

(To TURPIN) Dan, we got a problem. There are civilians trapped in the area.

TURPIN.

These ten blocks were supposed to be evacuated. Who the h.e.l.l's here?

SAWYER.

Lois Lane and some kid from The Planet.

TURPIN.

Oh, for Pete's sake.

TROOPER.

She ain't even worth saving. She figured a way in here, she can figure a way out.

SAWYER.

We have to get her.

TROOPER #1.

Captain, that thing out there has already killed a half-dozen men and you want us to risk our lives for a reporter who can't follow directions?

SAWYER.

(Into radio) If there are any snipers available, we have civilians in the area and need a visual.

(To TROOPER #1) She's coming out with us.

TROOPER #1.

I'm not going in there.

SAWYER.

What?

SNIPER (VO).

(On radio) There is a woman and a boy about three hundred yards in from the East Side.

The boy is unconscious.

TURPIN.

No problem. I'll go.

TURPIN gets his gear.