IMAGES FROM "FIRST PERSON SHOOTER"


TEASER

Three men are in a virtual game, being monitored by a man and woman from outside the computer. In the first round they have to beat men with machine guns coming after them on motor cycles, as well as people shooting from buildings. One man is shot and falls, yellow paint covering him.

One of the men, "Retro," enters a building. A woman dressed in leather walks out. Retro stops to look at her and she pulls a gun on him and shoots.

ACT ONE
FPS CORPORATE OFFICES
INLAND EMPIRE, CALIFORNIA
Mulder and Scully come to the game center, where they have their badges and retinas scanned upon entry.

SCULLY: F.P.S.
MULDER: First Person Shooter.
SCULLY: Video Games.
MULDER: Digital Entertainment.
SCULLY: You can get in the Pentagon easier than this.

Byers, Langly, and Frohike come in. They want Mulder and Scully's help. They explain to them what happened. The man who got shot in the computer is dead.

The Lone Gunmen have been involved in the company. Langly created some of the bad guys for it.

Mulder and Scully enter the game room where they take a look at the victim. The male programmer, Ivan, tells them that he couldn't have been shot because the guns ("Laser Blasters") are for in the game only and are harmless.

Scully tells him that either way the man has been shot. She starts to say that the man is covered with [blood,] but he tells her that their stunt suit is rigged to shoot paint when they are shot. There is blood underneath the paint.

Mulder asks him who the man was playing against, and he tells him the computer. "You waste the cyber thugs before they waste you. It's all about body count."

Ivan and the female programmer, Phoebe, go on to say that everything was digital images and not real, but virtual.

Scully tells them that she is going to call the local PD. He doesn't want any cops to know because they will shut the place down, but she tells him that she still has to call.

Ivan storms out. Mulder talks to Phoebe about what she saw. She shows them what happened on the computer. They don't know what really happened. Retro's vitals spiked like he was shot, and then the game defaulted and they were back in the game space (which is an empty white room). Game over.

Mulder has her pull up a wire frame display. She tells him that they have never mapped the area before, and that Retro was in noncombat space.

They see the frame of a woman. She texture wraps her at Mulder's request. It's a virtual woman dressed skimpily in black leather with a gun.

BYERS: Holy Toledo!
FROHIKE: She's packin' a flint-lock (the gun).
MULDER: That ain't all she's packin'.

Mulder asks her for a printout.

After Mulder and the Lone Gunmen leave the woman keeps watching the screen as the virtual character walks forward, and says "Goddess."

Mulder is talking to a detective when Scully walks in. Mulder hands him the printout of the woman. He tells him that she's the murder. The detective says he will put out an APB to find her, and then leaves.

Scully thinks he's crazy, but he tells her that it's all in the computer. He tells her that no one programmed the woman into the game. Scully tells him that she's still a character, some "immature hormonal fantasy."

Darrell Musashi who is a video game guru comes in to go into the system "slay the ninja babe." The Lone Gunmen and Mulder are excited over it. The Lone Gunmen follow him.

SCULLY: Mulder, why does this game have the effect of reducing grown men back to loony adolescence?
MULDER (smiling) : He's Darrell Musashi!

Mulder starts to leave to go after the others. Scully asks him if he wants her to do an autopsy. He winks and points at her.

The Lone Gunmen, the programmers, and Mulder watch Musashi enter the game.

Musashi wins the first part of the round easily. He goes on to find the virtual woman. Before he can shoot her, she cuts his arms off with a sword. Then as he stands in horror, she cuts his head off.

ACT TWO

Scully is performing the autopsy of "Retro," recording her findings. At first she says that the cause is unknown, however, there is a gaping hole in his chest. Then she says scratch that, and that the cause of death is from a large entry wound in the man's sternum, resulting in trauma to the internal organs and blood loss. She says that the entry wound is consistent with a high-velocity impact from a large projectile, which passed through a three-ply Kevlar jacket. Again she says scratch that, and that the wound is from the result of high velocity impact from an unknown object, which even if it did enter the body, left no trace of it whatsoever. No powder burns or evidence of any kind.

She is interrupted when Mulder comes into the room. Scully explains to Mulder that the suit measures the player's vital signs, from the heart rate to body chemistry, and then it sends the information back to the computer. If the player is shot, the battery pack sends a twelve-volt jolt that keeps him from getting up until the game is over.

Mulder holds the jacket up in front of him and says:

MULDER: I've got a birthday coming up.
SCULLY walks over to him
MULDER: You have to admit though, Scully, this is a pretty amazing piece of technology.
SCULLY: Yeah. Wasted on a stupid game.
MULDER: Stupid?
SCULLY: Dressing up like high-tech warriors to play a futuristic version of cowboys and Indians? What kind of moron gets his yayas out like that?
MULDER smiles widely and points to himself. SCULLY holds back a smile.
SCULLY: Mulder, what, what, what purpose does this game serve except to add to a, a culture of violence in a country that's already out of control?
MULDER: Who says it adds to it?
SCULLY: You think that taking up weapons and, and creating gratuitous virtual mayhem has any redeeming value whatsoever? I mean, the, the, the testosterone frenzy that it creates stops when the game does?
MULDER: Well, that's rather sexist, isn't it?
SCULLY tilts her head
MULDER: I mean, maybe the game provides a, an output for certain impulses. That it, that it fills a void in our genetic makeup that the more civilizing effects of society fail to provide for us.
SCULLY: Well, that must be why men feel the great need to blast the crap out of stuff.
SCULLY turns away
MULDER: Well, testosterone frenzy or no, the only suspect we have in this man's murder is a woman.
MULDER pulls out the printout of the virtual woman
SCULLY: Yeah. I've seen it. A computer animated woman, Mulder, with a computer animated weapon.
MULDER: A flint-lock pistol, which would leave a very large entry wound.
SCULLY: Pictures don't kill people, Mulder, guns kill people.
A body is being reeled into the autopsy room
MULDER: As do swords.

The sheet is lifted to show Musashi's head disconnected from his body.

Mulder's cell phone rings. The sheriff's department just picked up a suspect for the murders.

L.A. COUNTY
SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT
Some police officers have picked up a prostitute matching the description exactly. She is very skimpily. All the cops are laughing and ogling in the other room.

Mulder and Scully pass the cops to interrogate the woman. They try to quit laughing when Scully enters, but they aren't doing a very good job. Scully asks if the woman has been read her rights. A man replies that she has - about 500 times.

Mulder and Scully turn to enter the interrogation room, but Mulder turns back and puts his fist in his mouth, smiling, at the rest of the cops.

The woman's name is Jade Blue Afterglow.

She tells Scully that she seems to be upsetting quite a few people (meaning the cops) but Scully just tells Jade that she's not upsetting her. She says her name: Miss... and Mulder cuts her off saying "Afterglow." Scully turns around annoyed at him. He just smiles.

Jade says that she upset the man at the metal detector. She then uncrosses and recrosses her legs to get Mulder's attention. He just smiles but doesn't say anything (He seems to sort of be laughing to himself. I think he just wants to get Scully jealous/irritated).

During the interrogation, Jade tries to get Mulder's attention. Mulder stands there smiling, but (at least in my opinion) he seems to be doing it to get Scully jealous/irritated.

They find out that Jade was paid to have her body scanned for a character in the game. They let her go.

Teasing Scully, Mulder leans to the side watching Jade walk out. Scully leans in the same direction to partially block Mulder's view.

MULDER: I don't know about you, Scully, but I feel the great need to blast the crap out of something.

Scully just smiles along with him.

FPS CORPORATE OFFICES
5:42 AM
Mulder and Scully go back to the game center. They find Phoebe on the floor asleep. She wakes up. She had been awake for seventy hours straight trying to fix the game. Scully tells her that they need to find Ivan.

Mulder looks to the screen and sees the Lone Gunmen in the white room looking around, trying to fix the problem. Suddenly, the game starts, and Phoebe has no control over it.

Men start shooting at the Lone Gunmen. Phoebe tells Mulder and Scully that she doesn't know what happened. It was supposed to be background only, there wasn't supposed to be any game play.

Mulder says that they need help. He runs out of the room, ignoring Scully's protests, and gets setup and stands at the entry door. He has on his VR outfit (Whoever designed it for Mulder - Thank you! <eg>).

Mulder joins the Lone Gunmen. Byers has been shot, but it's just a flesh wound.

Mulder covers his friends, and then the Lone Gunmen go into the module, but Mulder doesn't follow. He's going after the woman.

Scully and Phoebe watch the four of them from the computer screen.

PHOEBE: What is he doing?
SCULLY: He's getting his yayas out.

Mulder moves onto the second level, knowing the woman is coming. She enters, except this time she is dressed (not skimpily) in black (I don't know why). Mulder walks up to her with the gun and tells her to put the sword down. She swings it in front of her and she disappears.

Suddenly, she reappears behind him. She swings the sword out as Mulder falls back shooting.

The Lone Gunmen come out from hiding, calling to Mulder. They get no response. They run down the street, going where Mulder went.

All of a sudden, the game stops and the Lone Gunmen are back in the white room. Mulder isn't with them.

Scully rushes into the room, and asks them where Mulder is.

ACT THREE

Scully is upset and starts yelling at them, still wanting to know where Mulder is at. They tell her that he went after the woman, but she doesn't care. She wants to know where he is.

Byers doesn't understand. He says that it's impossible and is only a game.

Scully walks up him and swipes at the yellow paint on his chest.

SCULLY: Yeah. Easy for you to say.

Phoebe comes running into the room calling Scully. She found Mulder - sort of. Mulder's vitals are still on the screen. Scully isn't satisfied. He is still in the game.

Mulder must have gotten knocked out. He wakes up, throwing the virtual head gear off of him. He stands up and sees her swords stuck into a pillar.

Mulder walks out into the street again, calling for the Lone Gunmen. Instead, the virtual woman walks out. She starts doing back flips towards Mulder. He shoots at her, but she just jumps over his head and disappears again.

In the real world, the Lone Gunmen are working on the computer hardware to make a kill switch so they can shut it down. Phoebe tells them that it won't work.

Suddenly, Ivan comes in. He's happy.

IVAN: We are back in business. Baby (to Scully), you are dope!
SCULLY: What?

He says that they were going to shut his program down, but then the bankers found out that the FBI was involved and that the cause of death was unknown. They still want to fund the game.

IVAN: The games gonna ship and we're gonna be countin' Franklins!
SCULLY: Yeah, and you're gonna be counting teeth!

Byers holds Scully back and tells Ivan that her partner is lost in the game. The game just disappeared.

Scully asks him if Jade Blue Afterglow rings a bell. He acts he has no idea what she is talking about. Phoebe runs out of the room. Scully follows her.

Phoebe finally explains that the character was her own creation, her goddess, but for her own game and was in her own computer. Scully asks her why.

PHOEBE: You don't know what it's like. Day in and day out. Choking in a haze of rampant testosterone.
SCULLY: I wouldn't be so sure.

Phoebe tells her that she was the only way she could strike back, and that she was all that she could never be. Scully says that she is only a character, but somehow she is killing. Phoebe tells her that she didn't put her in the game -- somehow she jumped programs. She's feeding off the male aggression and becoming stronger and stronger. She doesn't think she can be stopped. She tells Scully that she needs her help -- she's the only one who can understand. Scully tells her that she has to destroy the game. She tells her that she doesn't know how.

Mulder has run to the door he came through to get into the game. He pounds on it, trying to get out, but nothing happens.

The woman comes back. Mulder goes to shoot her, but his gun says that it has no charge. He steps close to her.

MULDER (smiling) : I bet you think you're gonna kick my butt up and down the block.

The woman kicks the gun out of his hand. She then proceeds to kick him in the face. She keeps kicking him and he can't seem to stop her.

Scully walks back into the computer room and tells them that the woman's name is Matraya and that she's input herself into the game. They have to download her. Byers tells her that they can't even get online with the system, so they can't do anything.

Suddenly Mulder's vitals start going wiggy.

Phoebe has walked in, and Ivan starts yelling at her and blaming her. Scully stops him.

SCULLY: Hey, no fair pickin' on a girl.

Matraya is still kicking Mulder. The spiked heel of her shoe is sharp and gives him scratches, but he is still all right.

Finally Mulder grabs a hold of her foot and twists it and pushes her over.

Mulder runs back where he was before and pulls the sword out of the pillar. The screen changes into a western setting.

ACT FOUR

Langly finally gets back online. They see that Mulder is in a different setting now. Phoebe tells them that it's level two.

Scully tells Langly to turn off the computer. He enters an escape command, but it doens't work. Scully starts yelling that they have to get him out of there. Frohike adds that it has to be quick. They turn to the screen. Matraya is back.

Scully knows what she must do.

Back in the game, Mulder sees that she has a gun. He only has the sword.

MULDER: That's not really fair, is it?

Copies of Matraya popup in a long row on both sides of her.

MULDER: Well, that's just cheating!

Suddenly, the door opens behind Mulder and Scully enters. She starts blasting the women.

In the real world, the Lone Gunmen get excited and shout some cheers.

FROHIKE: Go girl!
BYERS: Scully's on fire!
LANGLY: The blood thirst is unquenchable!
FROHIKE (to Ivan) : Are you witnessing this?!
IVAN (deadpan) : Oh, yeah.
BYERS: Scully's in the zone!
IVAN: Clearly.

Phoebe isn't saying anything and they stop. She tells them that the game only gets harder. Ivan adds that no one has ever beaten level two.

In VR, the women are gone.

SCULLY: You Okay?
MULDER: Ask me if I'm humiliated.

Mulder and Scully see that the door is still open and they run to it. It closes, but Mulder manages to get the sword under it part way first. Although, that does no good, and now he can't get it back out.

More Matrayas appear again. Scully shoots once again.

The Lone Gunmen are still trying to figure out what to do. Phoebe goes to the keyboard and says, "Try and stop me, Ivan." He tries to stop her. He tells her that his whole life is in the computer.

Phoebe finally tries to admit to the Lone Gunmen that she knows a way to stop the game. But Ivan is still trying to stop her.

After Scully kills more women and each disappears.

The Lone Gunmen keep pressuring her for the answer, and finally she tells them. She knows that a kill is coming in, and that the game will end and they will all be dead if she doesn't do something.

She knew from the beginning but hadn't wanted to do it because it will destroy the game and her creation. The Lone Gunmen tell her them that their friends are in there, and they're not going to let them die.

Everyone fights over the keyboard.

Scully finally beats the women. New Matrayas appear one at a time, but this time on large tanks.

Frohike finally gets the keyboard. They have to shut it down fast -- Scully's running out of ammo.

Scully keeps shooting as women keep appearing.

Phoebe finally tells them the code -- "shift-alt.-bloodbath."

Frohike types it in and the game ends. They look out into the white room through the computer, but it is empty. Mulder and Scully are nowhere to be found.

They all search around, when Phoebe finds Scully's gun on the ground. They rush over to the entrance door to the game and lift it up. Mulder and Scully are there on the floor. They are covered in paint (from shots, the way it was supposed to happen), but they are all right.

As they help Mulder and Scully up, Mulder gives a voice over.

"We came, we saw, we conquered. And if the taste of victory is sweet, the taste of virtual victory is not Sweet-'n-Low, nor the bullets made of sugar. Maybe in the past where the imagination ends our true natures lie, waiting to be confronted on their own terms. Not where the intellect is at war with the primitive brain, in a hostile territory of the digital world, where laws are silent, and rules disappear in the midst of arms. Born in anarchy with an unquenchable blood thirst, we shutter to think what might rise up from the darkness."

Ivan sits at his computer. Suddenly the program starts up again by itself. A woman is on the screen, but it is just the wire frame version. He colors it in and the screen shows the front of the woman dressed in leather. Her face -- it's Scully's. Ivan turns around in his chair and smiles.

  IMAGES FROM "FIRST PERSON SHOOTER"

Overall Rating : 7.5
*Shippy Rating: 9
*Based on the Redux II scale (1-10, as Redux II being a 10 [now with Triangle being an 11, and Millennium being a 12, above the scale])*


If you have any more information, spoilers, or questions for me, feel free to email me. If you give me a tip, I don't have to reveal my source, unless you want me too.