Higher Power (2018) Movie Script
1
(typing)
(intense music playing)
(beeping)
(typing)
I know about your work.
(intense music continues)
I know they turned
their back on it.
What if I told you
I had a plan?
A plan to finally see it
come to life.
(typing)
Because I know for a fact
that it's the only thing
powerful enough to stop
what's coming.
(typing)
(music rising to crescendo)
Voice: The end.
Reporter: Joining us today is
astrophysicist Michael Swaford
from MIT's Kavli Institute
for Space Research
to discuss his new book,
In the End There Was Light.
Welcome to the show.
This light you describe as,
"The brightest and most violent
event in our known universe",
is what, exactly?
It's a gamma ray burst
or a GRB.
And you believe, Mr. Swaford,
that this light,
this gamma ray burst is
the last thing that mankind
will see before we are
blown out of existence?
Yes. That's correct.
Where do they come from,
these GRBs,
and how are they made?
When a high mass star
collapses,
gravity crushes its core
into a black hole.
This black hole immediately
begins to devour the dying star
around it at a rate of
1 million
Earth masses per second.
Now that's far too much energy
for the black hole
to consume at once,
so a majority of that energy
is blasted back out
into the universe.
In the form of two narrow beams
of intense radiation.
And you believe, Mr. Swaford,
that there is a dying star
right here in our own
Milky Way Galaxy, AWR104
- that could be a likely GRB candidate?
- Yes, that's right.
And that Earth is
lying directly
in the path
of the beam zone.
We are essentially staring down
the barrel of a gun.
(ominous music playing)
(eerie music playing)
(typing)
(eerie music playing)
- (soft piano music)
- (waves crashing)
(seagulls squawking)
Joe: Hey, you know, I've been
thinking of a couple of names.
Heather: Oh yeah?
Let's hear them. (echoes)
Joe: What about Rhea?
You know, like a ray of light?
Rhea.
Rhea Steadman.
I love it.
What about if it's a boy?
Joe: Oh, that's easy.
Joe Junior.
- Joe: What?
- Yeah, I don't think so.
- (Heather laughing)
- Joe: Yes! Come on.
Uh-uh. Zoe Lorraine, let's go!
S'more time.
Joe: No, no, I got her.
Zoe: Wait, you forgot a prize.
- Joe: A prize?
- Zoe: This one.
It's got magic powers
that make you strong.
Joe: Thank you.
I always wanted magic powers.
Zoe: I spy a secret light!
Joe: I spy a secret light. Okay.
- Is it that one?
- Zoe: No.
- Joe: Is it that one?
- Zoe: You win!
Joe: You know
that's a lighthouse, right?
Check this out.
Watch how it blinks.
One four three.
That stands for...
I.
L. O. V. E.
Y. O. U.
One four three.
- What does that spell?
- Zoe: I love you!
I love you, too, baby girl.
(sirens blaring)
(beeping)
Primary subject:
Joseph Steadman. Forty-five.
DNA analysis concludes
possible match.
- Further testing required.
- Joe: What's up, man?
- (indefinite chatter)
- Joe: Anytime bro.
(beeping)
Control: Undergoing psychiatric
treatment for depression,
suicidal tendencies
and recurring
anger control issues.
And the anger.
Have we maintained control?
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I...
- You remember what happened last time.
- I know. Yes, it's...
That's never gonna happen
again.
I'm doing work. I am, really.
Psychologist: Remember, if it
starts to happen you have to...
Joe: Think with my head before
my heart.
- I know.
- Psychologist: Precisely.
- Precisely.
- You're in control of your emotions.
They're not in control of you.
Control: His condition remains
unstable.
(instrumental music playing)
Zoe Steadman.
Daughter of test subject.
Twenty-five.
Unable to forgive her father
after the mother's death,
when he left.
- Michael: Surprise!
- (gasps)
Michael: I got take-out.
Control: Currently putting
herself through nursing school.
Zoe: I didn't hear you come in.
- Control: She's headstrong...
- Zoe: It's okay.
- Control: ...independent and self-sufficient.
- It's my favorite.
A direct contrast to her
younger sister, Rhea Steadman.
Substance abuse.
Started at seventeen.
When she decided to follow
in her father's footsteps.
Zoe's attempts at reaching out
have been met with resistance.
Opiates, I'm afraid, have
twisted her perspective.
(Rhea humming)
(Nico whistling)
Control: Lost would be the best way
to describe her current situation.
Nico: I know you're in there.
Just one more time.
I... I promise.
Rhea: Just don't do this to me.
I told you I'm done
with that shit.
Pretty please?
Nico: I miss your touch, baby.
(door lock clicking)
(door squeaking)
(tense music playing)
Agent: I've got eyes
on Subject B.
She just entered the library
on 2nd Street.
Intercepting
the security camera feed now.
Okay, the image should be up.
Michael: What do we have here?
The Anatomy and Physiology
of Health and Illness.
Oh, sounds like a page-turner.
So are we done here? Can we go?
There's one more.
Michael: Oh, goody.
So, Dr. Apocalypse, I um...
Finally finished it. Your book.
- Oh, good. I'll just be over here...
- (Zoe chuckles)
No, it's just you're...
you're surprisingly chipper
for someone who thinks we're
all gonna get wiped out by...
What'd you call it? A cosmic
beam of concentrated energy?
I'm impressed. That's good.
But you know what?
Uh, I've actually been
doing a lot of thinking lately and
don't tell anybody else about this
but just recently somebody really
inspiring came into my life.
And they kind of changed the way
that I look at things.
- Really? How so?
- Hmm.
Well, I guess you could
say that they convinced me
of the possibility of a more
optimistic future for mankind.
- Oh, shhh. Sorry.
- (Zoe snickers)
- Look! Fate page.
- What?
- What?
- When a book falls like that it's a fate page.
Me and my sister,
we used to play this game.
We kind of just dropped them
on purpose
And see what page
they open up to.
- Uh-huh.
- Okay, wait. Just close your eyes.
- Just do it. Just close your eyes.
- (Michael sighs)
- Okay, so you take your finger.
- Mhm.
- Pick it up.
- Mhm.
You move it kind of around
the page.
- Okay.
- Zoe: Circle it.
And you just drop it down.
Okay, don't move it.
You can open your eyes.
It's kind of like a fortune.
You can see how it applies
to your life.
What does it say?
(clears throat)
During an infection, apoptosis,
whatever the hell that is,
can serve a protective function
by killing off
virus-contaminated cells before they
spill over with virus particles.
This act of self-sacrifice
hampers the spread of infection
and can save the whole organism.
That is completely
not informative.
No, you have to look
past the words.
You know, like...
Like maybe you're the apoptosis
- serving a protective function.
- Oh! Right.
That is such a sound theory.
You know what?
I think I saw the mental health
section back there.
- We should probably just go...
- Okay.
- ...take a gander over there. What do you think?
- Got you.
(indistinct chatter)
Psychologist: And how is
the job-hunt going?
- Any luck?
- I landed a front desk gig
at this
government funded facility.
It's... I don't know
I didn't even apply.
They uh, I don't know, they got
my name, They contacted me and...
Thought it was
kind of weird but...
you know, whatever.
It's good pay and benefits so...
A year sober, a new job,
a new man.
It's all good stuff.
Man: Well, everyone,
this is a special evening.
Joe, come on up here
and get your one-year chip.
(applause)
I guess I should thank my
higher power. Um...
I don't really know who
or whatever that is yet.
I remember when my wife was sick
and uh...
After she died
I prayed all the time.
There was no voice
coming back to me.
There were no answers,
There were no nothing.
And I ended up stranding my kids
out to sea.
I don't blame them
for hating me.
I mean, I'd hate me too.
Uh...
But I got to believe
that in their hearts
they still want their dad.
I don't know.
I can do better.
I can be better.
(ambient music playing)
- Buddy! Hello!
- (Heather giggling)
Heather: Oh,
where are my kisses?
- Good boy! Oh, hello!
- Hi.
Welcome home, Dad!
- Joe: You got a little taller.
- Rhea: Little bit, little bit.
Where's your sister?
- Heather: Oh, she's uh, she's up there.
- Rhea: Oh Dad, you stink.
- What's with this?
- It's for a school project.
You wanna know what it's about
now?
No, no.
Come here and give me a hug.
- Zoe: No, you smell.
- (Rhea laughing)
- Look.
- Zoe: No. (squealing) No!
- Here.
- Zoe: Stop it. (laughing)
Heather: Don't chase your child.
Joe: All right, so what is this
report on?
Zoe: Uh, it's on professions
and I chose yours.
- Can I ask you a few questions?
- Rhea: No, wait, wait!
- Rhea: Wait. Here it is.
- Joe: Abso...
- Zoe: Wait Rhea I was gonna... Just one second.
- Heather: She baked a cake.
Be right with you.
Zoe: Say your name
and your profession.
- You need to say it into the camera.
- Joe: Hi.
My name is Joseph Steadman.
I am a deck hand
on a commercial fishing boat.
Zoe: What do you do in your off-time
when you're... When you're not working?
Uh...
Mostly I think about this.
Being here.
Being home.
(clears throat)
You know, you guys.
Michael: So I'm just wondering,
like,
at one point you're gonna have
to take, like, a bedpan test?
- Like, do you guys have...
- Do you...
do you really think
that's a real thing?
You need to be pretty
experienced at that.
- I mean, it's a very delicate situation...
- What do you think nursing is?
Michael: ...just dumping them
out there for ya.
Just saying, things that will
make you a better nurse
- at the end of the day.
- Yeah, that's abs...
- Zoe: Oh, shit.
- Michael: What?
- Hey, Zoe.
- Zoe: That's my dad.
I got a year sober today.
I uh, thought maybe
we could uh...
go to dinner, maybe talk.
I got you something.
Am I embarrassing you?
Dad, why don't you go try
this with Rhea?
She needs it. You think coming
here with presents is gonna help?
Okay, no, no, no, listen,
listen, listen. I...
I'm trying. And you know, I...
I can't get through to Rhea.
Not by myself.
Maybe we could, uh,
do it together.
Maybe the three of us
like a family.
Can we just leave? Can we go?
Alright, well I just want you
to have this.
Hey, hey, hey, hey. Look, why don't
you just give her some space?
She's obviously just not into it
right now.
- Alright, listen. I just...
- Hey, you are.
- I am what?
- You are embarrassing her.
- (groans) Get your fucking hands off me!
- Zoe: Dad!
- Dad, just stop!
- What's your problem? Christ!
- Stop! Stop!
- What the fuck is wrong with you?
- Jesus Christ!
- I'm sorry!
No, it wasn't him, it's you!
It's always you!
It's the same shit!
You're never gonna change.
Zoe. Zoe!
I...
(birds chirping)
(intense music playing)
(phone ringing)
Zoe: Come on, Rhea. Pick up.
I got you that phone
so you would use it.
Okay, please? Sis, I'm here.
Just... Don't forget, okay?
I don't understand.
She was doing so well.
We talked every Sunday for the last
three months. She's using again.
Look, just give her some time, all right?
I know she's gonna call.
You know?
You don't know anything
about me, Michael.
I mean, why are you
even still here?
My dad just punched you
in the face.
No, look. Hey, it's okay.
I'm here because I love you,
all right?
God, you don't wanna get sucked into this.
I'm like a fucking black hole.
No.
You are not a black hole, Zoe.
Your dad is.
And unlike him
I'm not going anywhere.
All right?
It's okay.
It's gonna be okay.
(eerie music playing)
Joe: Rhea. Rhea, it's me.
Uh...
Uh, I fucked up.
Can you call me?
I, uh...
I wanna fix this. Just call me.
(music rising to crescendo)
Heather:
I'm not scared anymore, baby.
I've accepted it.
And I need you to do the same.
You just have to believe
like I do.
Believe you're the man
that I see.
I need you to be strong
for our girls.
And you keep our family
together when I'm gone.
Joe: Don't say that.
You're not going anywhere.
Joe...
Please.
Promise me.
Joe: I promise.
I'm sorry, baby.
I messed everything up.
I lost 'em.
(tense music playing)
(Joe muffled yelling)
(groans)
(eerie music playing)
Control: Gentlemen.
- We are at zero hour.
- (music rising to crescendo)
(beeping)
(ominous music playing)
(beeping)
(high-pitched buzzing)
- (ears ringing)
- (groans)
Open your eyes, Joseph Steadman.
But everybody calls you Joe,
don't they?
(groaning)
What...
When your wife died
you reached out for a God.
But no one answered. (echoes)
You wanted someone
to tell you what to do.
(echoes) To tell you what to do.
Joe: (recording) I remember
when my wife was sick
- And uh... She died.
- (groaning)
I prayed all the time. And uh, there
was no voice coming back to me.
I did not know what to do.
I did not know what to do.
I did not know what to do.
I did not know what to do.
(screaming in agony)
Control: We're transmitting
a data burst
through a device
we placed on your optic nerve.
It allows us to see
what you see.
And you to see
what we want you to.
In this case your drug addict
daughter, Rhea.
Now you see the consequences
of your actions, Joe.
Look at how you influenced her.
She's about to score
her next hit.
I've been watching your family
for some time now, Joe.
(Joe screams in pain)
Control: Why did you give up
so easily?
- Joe: No!
- Control: You're not fixing anything!
- It's broken, all of it.
- Joe: Stop!
Lost because you weren't strong
enough to hold it together.
- Joe: Get out of my head!
- Control: Broken promises, Joe.
Broken family, smashed down
by your unstable hands.
Zoe: It's got magic powers
to keep you strong.
Control: And I can help you
find your strength to put those
- pieces back together.
- Joe: I always wanted magic powers.
Control: But first,
you have to answer me, Joe.
Do you believe in me?
(Joe chuckles)
(screams)
- Come on, honey. Turn it off.
- (groans)
(screaming in agony)
Answer me, Joe.
(groans)
Yes. What do you want?
Sabi: Hello?
- Joe: Help me!
- Sabi: What happened?
I need you to lift that firearm
And shoot this woman in the head.
- Sabi: Are you ok?
- Joe: Call the police. Please!
- Help me! He...
- Sabi: Tell me what happened.
- Control: Now, Joe.
- Joe: I don't know just please help me.
You're gonna be fine.
Control: Or I'm gonna put a
bullet in your daughter's head.
Joe: No! No, please!
Okay, anything.
- Sabi: What?
- Please, don't hurt her.
Control: Then do as I say.
You've got exactly five seconds.
- I can't do this.
- Wait, who are you talking to?
Control: Five.
- Joe: Okay, okay, okay, okay!
- Control: Four.
- Sabi: No, stop!
- Joe: I'm sorry.
- Sabi: Don't do this! No!
- Control: Three.
- Joe: I'm sorry.
- Don't!
Control: Two.
- I'm sorry.
- (gun clocking)
Joe: (recording) I guess,
I should thank my higher power.
Honestly, I don't really know
who or whatever that is yet.
Remember this, Joe.
I am your higher power.
And you will surrender to me.
- We have big plans for you.
- (groans)
(thud)
(ominous music playing)
- Report.
- Ready, Doctor.
(ominous music playing)
(Joe gasps)
Joe: Jesus Christ.
(groans)
Help!
(groans) Help me!
Oh no!
(beeping) Shit, shit, shit.
- (phone ringing)
- Operator: 9-1-1.
- What's the nature of your emergency?
- Joe: Yes, I've been kidnapped!
There's a man, he's watching
my daughters and I...
If you contact the authorities
in any way again...
- We will kill them.
- Joe: Wait. Wait, no!
Oh, fuck!
(screams)
- Do you understand?
- Joe: Yes! Yes, yes, yes.
I understand. I understand.
Good.
(groans)
(pants)
Now look inside the car.
- You see the backpack?
- Yes.
You'll need a few items for this
next assignment.
Please just show them to me.
Please, I just need to know
that they're safe.
(electricity static)
(groans)
- I swear to god, if you...
- Control: Shut up and turn on the car.
- Just... Leave...
- Now, Joe. Drive.
(intense music playing)
(buzzing)
Zoe: Rhea, it's a grocery
bagging job.
They don't care how you look. They'd
hire you if you had a nose ring
- on the back of your head.
- Rhea: Hey, everybody cares
what I look like. (laughs)
Besides, how much longer
can you
possibly stand me sleeping
on your couch for?
- Zoe: That's very true.
- Rhea: Seriously, though.
- Thanks for letting me stay with you.
- Zoe: Always.
(ambient music playing)
(phone ringing)
(car engine idling)
Control: Look in the bag.
Take out the tablet.
You recognize this man?
Yeah, that's Charles Margrey.
He's the president of Redlock,
where I work.
Now you know who to look for.
Grab your bag, we're moving in.
Don't forget your mask.
Place the small black box
on the security panel.
(crickets chirping)
(beeps)
- Sabi: All right, we're in.
- It's time to see what you're made of.
What am I doing here?
(exhales)
You're insane. I can't do this.
You're wasting time, Joe.
(exhales)
Go upstairs to the third floor.
- He's in the room at the end of the hall.
- Joe: All right.
Okay.
(breathes deeply)
Control: Impressive, isn't it?
Charles Margrey had a simple
idea that put him on the map.
How do we beat the Soviets
in Afghanistan?
We arm and fund the mujahideen
to fight them.
The politicians
called it genius.
(buzzing)
(breathes deeply)
Seven years later
the Soviets were defeated.
They gave this terrorist keys to his own
weapons research facility as a reward.
Thirteen years later two towers
fell in Manhattan.
Take a good, long, hard look
around, Joe.
This is what death can buy you.
Look in the bag.
You're gonna put that gun
to his head.
Threaten his life
unless he opens his safe.
(Joe groans)
- Control: Get him to open the safe on the second floor.
- (gun cocking)
- All right.
- Now move!
Joe: Get up! Get up!
Charles: What the hell
is going on?
- Joe: Take me to your safe!
- Take it easy with that gun.
- Just take me to your safe on the second floor, goddammit!
- Okay, okay, all right.
- Joe: Get up! Let's go!
- Okay.
Joe: Come on.
In the safe. Get it.
The laptop on the center shelf.
Get the laptop
on the center shelf.
Just grab it.
Come on.
- Tell him to authorize it.
- Authorize it.
Authorization Charles Margrey
delta one zero two six.
Control: Put your finger
on the tray.
Back up.
(beeping)
Sabi: You were right, Doctor.
It is him.
(Sabi gasps) Wow.
- Look at that.
- That's impossible.
Control: Take the small metallic
LED device from your backpack.
- Who the hell are you?
- Place it on the laptop.
All right.
Okay, the data is transferred
and I have a cloned copy
of all your work coming up.
Good, Joe. We have what we need.
- Tell him to get on his knees.
- No.
You said no one
was gonna get hurt.
- I said no such thing.
- No, I'm not gonna do that.
- (groans)
- (beeping)
- Sabi: We lost his optics feed.
- Control: I need it powered on.
- Give me a second.
- Joe.
Wait. Wait. No, no, no.
It's me, Joe.
Joe Steadman.
- I work at the facility.
- Charles: Joe?
- Okay, the link is established.
- You're the match?
- Jesus.
- Joe: Trust me. Believe me.
There is a man and he's in my
head and he's talking to me.
You have to believe...
Optics implant.
You're watching me right now,
aren't you, you crazy bastard?
I shut down the program
for a reason.
- It's too dangerous.
- Walk forward now, Joe,
or he will kill you.
- Tell him he's right.
- He says you're right.
- Control: It is too dangerous.
- It is too dangerous.
- (bullet fires)
- (grunts)
For him.
(buzzing)
Control: Now, take out
the clippers.
We'll be needing his thumb.
- I'm not like you.
- Control: No?
Then save your daughter's life.
Take the clippers and cut off
his fucking thumb!
(groans)
(beeping)
(buzzing)
(brakes screeching)
(buzzing)
(beeping)
(intense music playing)
Security guard: Joe! It's 8:40.
- Man, where you been?
- Joe: I know, I'm sorry man.
- Security guard: Everything okay?
- Joe: Yeah. It's all right,
I just...
I got caught up in some stuff.
- Security: Sure? You sure?
- Joe: I'm sure, Frank. Now take off.
Alright, buddy. See ya.
(intense music playing)
(drone screeching)
Control: Grab the equalizing mask
from your bag and put it on now.
Man1: Yeah, that went well.
Let's follow up next week.
Hey, what's with the mask?
(beeping)
(gasping)
Joe: What're you...
what're you doing?
Control: It's called B-19...
a classified undetectable
chemical weapon.
That immediately bonds
with air particles
on a subatomic level creating
a controlled seismic vacuum.
- Joe: Hey! Hey, make it stop!
- Control: Ironic.
These men invested millions
into the project.
But you're missing
the best part, Joe.
Watch.
Their deaths were necessary.
Hers, on the other hand,
can be spared.
That's if you make it
to the main facility in time.
You have four minutes.
That's not enough time!
Control: That's your problem,
isn't it?
Joe: Where do I go?
No. No, no, no!
What did you do?
Control: Their lives mean
nothing in comparison
to the bigger picture, Joe.
Through this door here.
Then grab
one of their key cards.
The main facility
is straight ahead.
The gas has dissipated.
You can take off the mask
now, Joe.
- (Joe cries out)
- (gunshot)
Sabi: We've lost audio.
(Joe cries out in pain)
Control: Hurry, Joe.
153 seconds.
(Joe groans)
- (siren buzzing)
- (alarms blaring)
Sabi: Hold on.
I need to disable the alarm.
(garbled audio)
- Joe: What?
- Sabi: Got it.
Resetting audio now.
(garbled audio continues)
Joe: Where do I go?
- Control: Straight ahead.
- Joe: Where?
- Control: (garbled audio)
- Joe: What? I can't...
I can't hear you!
- (intense music playing)
- (garbled audio)
(garbled audio)
Where do I go? Where do I go!
- What?
- (garbled audio)
- Control: (garbled audio)
- Sabi: Alright, the link is established.
Straight ahead, then left.
Joe: Okay.
Control: Stairs dead ahead.
Take the LED device
and snap it in.
- Sorry.
- Control: 43 seconds.
Okay.
(beeping)
The device
to the right of the console
is a thumbprint scanner.
You'll need the thumb.
That's where it goes.
Doctor, we have access
to the core.
Is she safe?
Is she okay?
Answer me!
Answer me!
One last thing.
(mechanics open)
Just inside
there's a throw switch.
Switch it on and she lives.
Sabi: Okay, we got it.
The generators are up.
Turn it over to me.
I'm sending him in.
Sabi: Okay.
(ominous music playing)
My work deserves
to be completed, Joe.
(typing)
(sirens buzzing)
(mechanics whir)
Open the door.
Open the door!
- (reactor revving)
- (machine whirring)
- (thud)
- Oh!
(high-pitched sound
intensifying)
(high-pitched buzzing)
Joe: Stop! Help!
Why are you doing this to me?
Because that's the way
the numbers line up.
- It's in your DNA.
- Please!
(Joe screaming)
(high-pitched buzzing)
And when the universe
decides what it wants...
- (high-pitched buzzing)
- (whirring sound)
It's pointless to resist.
- In five...
- (Joe screaming)
...four, three, two...
So just...
One.
Control: ...embrace it.
(Joe screaming)
(high-pitched buzzing)
- (machine whirring)
- (rumbling)
(helicopter whirring)
(sirens wailing)
(violin playing)
(helicopter whirring)
(rumbling)
Was it successful?
(typing)
(violin continues)
(high-pitched buzzing)
Michael: Zoe,
it's gonna be okay.
Zoe: It's not gonna be okay!
(Zoe sobbing)
He's gone.
I could have held him together.
I should have never given up
on him.
(sirens wailing)
If you are just
joining us here is a recap
of what we know right now.
A horrific scene.
A massive explosion
that has destroyed
a government research lab,
Redlock.
They have a long history
of weapons research
with the department of defense.
Now early today authorities...
- (Joe screams)
- ...acknowledged there were...
...rescue workers
that have been...
(Joe screams)
Reporter: ...the cause
of the explosion
is still unknown.
It was heard over
a ten mile distance,
shattering windows
in the adjacent...
(Joe screams)
Reporter:
...they are still at this point
searching for survivors.
Senior management
have refused to comment
on whether or not weapons
were in fact
located at the facility,
which could explain
the level...
You're here now, aren't you?
What did you do to me?
Where are you!
(Reporter continues
in the background)
Reporter: The FBI has not
determined whether or not...
- Stop fucking with me!
- There are four fundamental forces, Joe.
- Gravity. Electromagnetism.
- Why are you doing this to me!
The strong nuclear force.
The weak one.
Weakness is something
you're familiar with,
- aren't you Joe?
- I have to call...
Control:
The weak force destroys,
but through that decay
we have the furnace of the sun
that brings life.
It's not work... fuck!
(garbled audio)
Why are you doing this to me?
I did what you asked me to!
Let me see her!
Let me talk to her...
Leave us alone!
- (high-pitched buzzing)
- What...
What did you do to me?
(high-pitched buzzing)
Oh God.
(screams)
(Joe screaming)
- (rumbling)
- (buzzing)
(Joe screams)
Amazing.
(Joe breathing heavily)
(screams)
What's happening to me?
Control: I have blessed you,
Joe.
By taking your
greatest weakness
and turning it into a strength.
The anger, the fear,
the anxiety.
That chaos living inside you
that tore your life apart,
I've harnessed it into a
source of infinite power.
And now I need you
to use that power, Joe.
To do what you've
always wanted.
To keep them together.
To save your family's life.
You were always meant for more,
Joseph Steadman,
But first you need to pass
my tests designed specifically
to unlock
your greatest potential.
But I need you to be strong.
Show me how strong
you really are.
Now get on your feet.
You have fifteen minutes
to get to the next location.
Alright. Whatever, you psycho.
Just point me
in the right direction.
Fifteen minutes, Joe.
And you'll need your gun.
Alright, he's stabilizing.
(breathing heavily)
Joe: Where's my car?
Where's my car?
How do you...
I can't get there without...
- (bang)
- (groans)
Do you think
there's someone out there?
Your wife in heaven
watching over you?
There is no heaven, Joe.
And your wife is dead.
(Joe screams)
- (high-pitched buzzing)
- (engine revving)
Sabi: Look at that.
The astonishing thing
about electromagnetism...
is that it has infinite range.
Now you see
how this works, Joe.
The angrier you get,
the more you unlock.
Cause and effect.
Now get on the bike.
Joe: Alright. Where am I going?
Control: To see how far
we can push it.
Cause and effect.
(tense music playing)
(tires screeching)
Joe: Okay. Then what?
Once I'm at this place
what do I do?
Control: You get inside
and confront this man.
- Joe: Who?
- Control: His name is Nico Sola.
The man
who took your daughter Rhea
under his wing after you left.
(engine revving)
The same man
who got her hooked
and kept her that way.
Cause and effect, Joe.
Cause and effect.
(music continues)
Joe: There are powers out there
that are greater than us
And we can't control.
All we can do is...
is let go.
(clang in slow motion)
Back it up. Now!
- You back it up!
- Woah!
- Relax.
- Joe: Move!
(electronic music playing
in distance)
(electronic music playing)
Joe: Hey!
Hey! Are you Nico?
Hey!
Is your name Nico?
- Smile!
- Joe: Woah!
- (camera clicking)
- (Joe groans)
- (woman laughing)
- (Joe groans)
(Joe screams)
(thud)
(Nico speaking indistinctly)
Nico: Big bad wolf.
(Nico chuckles)
Name!
Steadman.
Steadman?
Steadman.
(woman crying on TV)
You're Rhea's old man.
- Huh?
- (woman crying continues)
Okay.
(laughs) Okay.
Okay.
Here we go.
You don't understand.
You just...
There she is.
(Nico laughs)
You're gonna love this.
(laughing)
You shouldn't do this.
And... Action!
You got some hero...
fuckin' save the day thing
going on, right?
- (sniffs) Oh!
- (coughs) (laughing)
Shit!
That's your daughter, hero.
Joe: You baked that?
That's beautiful.
And it has no egg in it,
all natural.
- Joe: That's the best.
- Rhea: Mmm-hmm.
(music rising to crescendo)
- (groans)
- (high-pitched buzzing)
(alarm beeping)
(ominous music playing)
(Nico coughing)
(coughs)
(Nico screams)
(Nico cries out)
(gunshots)
What the fuck are you?
(chokes)
(intense music playing)
Woman: Somebody help!
(woman screaming)
(engine revving)
(girl coughing)
(bullet ricochets)
Die motherfucker!
(groans)
(screams)
- (whirring)
- (high-pitched buzzing)
(drone buzzes)
Joe: That's enough!
What's happening!
How am I doing this?
Control: You haven't done
anything, Joe.
- Joe: But I just...
- Control: You failed
once again.
The police are on their way.
Turn yourself in.
I need you to dig deeper, Joe.
We need to unlock more.
- Police: Freeze!
- Drop your weapon!
- Okay, okay! Okay!
- Put the gun on the ground. Now!
- Get down!
- Just don't wanna hurt anyone else!
- I said get on the ground, now.
- Stay away!
Get on the ground!
(policeman screams)
(indistinct police radio)
Joe: You don't understand.
I'm dangerous. I don't
know how to control this!
(sirens wailing)
(Joe groaning)
You're making a mistake.
Just wait!
Wait! You don't understand!
Lieutenant: Gridlock
was annihilated two days ago,
taking out half a city block.
Now this shit?
Two blasts, two days.
And we got you in both places...
The third force of nature
is the strong nuclear force.
Detective: You've been lying
to us for two hours.
Control: Destroy a single atom
and you get Hiroshima.
- Just shut up.
- Hey, look at me!
And you better start
telling the truth.
For Christ's sake
I'm telling you the truth.
What's that Nico Sola got to do
with that research facility uptown?
It looked like a war zone.
- Who are you working for?
- Control: Tell them
you're working
for a higher power.
- I'm working for a higher power.
- What are you, a terrorist?
- No!
- People died,
- you son of a bitch!
- Control: Now that's established,
let them know you've left a
rather advanced explosive device
at the Four River Shipyard.
- Detective: ...Jihad shit, huh?
- Joe: He's got a bomb.
- Who's... who's got a bomb?
- Lieutenant: Jesus.
- Who's got a bomb?
- There is a bomb at the shipyard.
- Lieutenant: All right, go
- Go!
- Bobby, get it out!
- Go!
- Joe: Go!
- Detective: Alright, listen.
Control: Good.
Now this is how this works.
If you find that bomb first,
everybody lives.
But if they find it before you
I would estimate 20,000 dead.
That's an awful lot of blood
on your hands, Joe.
- Shut up.
- The clock's ticking.
You can keep whining
and making excuses
or man up and do something
about it.
Talk to me!
God... Motherf...
Stop!
- Stop it!
- (rumbling)
Stop!
(Joe groans)
(beeping)
Send several more to...
(officer screaming)
- Control: Collateral damage, Joe. Let it go.
- (Joe groans)
If you don't get there in time a lot
more people are going to be dead.
(engine revving)
(intense music playing)
Control:
Here's a clue, Joe.
The bomb is in a
shipping crate.
Reporter: With the police
in hot pursuit,
we are now being told,
just coming into us,
the man's name
is Joseph Steadman.
Dad?
What?
(sirens wailing)
- (horn honking)
- (tires screeching)
(sirens wailing)
Policeman: Suspect headed
southbound
underneath the wharf bridge.
Reporter: Reportedly,
a security guard
who was thought
to have been actually killed
at the blast at Redlock
last night...
It's not possible.
(sirens wailing)
(Joe screams)
What the fuck!
(beeping)
We've never seen
anything like this.
We see a very disturbing
live shot here,
the only word I can come up
with is some sort of a
light blast
going on from the vehicle.
(high-pitched whirring)
Ollie, dinner's ready.
(low static sounds)
(screams)
- (metals clanking)
- (thudding)
(beeping)
(beeping)
Reporter:
...individuals are reporting
essentially the same thing.
Some kind of...
Prepare the final phase.
Reporter: ...seen here.
Contrail of energies
are slicing through the centers
of towns and of homes...
What the hell!
- (door bangs open)
- Hey!
Michael: Hey!
Hey, Zoe, just stay back!
- Zoe: Michael!
- Michael: What're you doing!
Hey! Don't fucking touch her!
Zoe!
Michael!
I want these streets
closed down now!
Let's go, come on clear out!
Bravo seven seven six.
(dog barking)
(high-pitched buzzing)
(baby babbling)
(mother gasps)
(sirens wailing)
Zero one, perimeter secure.
(ship horn honks)
- (barks)
- Where's the bomb?
Sierra one.
(radio static)
Sierra one.
Delta seven eight five,
do you copy?
(radio static)
(barking)
Delta seven eight five,
do you copy?
(radio static)
(intense music playing)
(high-pitched buzzing)
(jet engine whirs)
(beeping)
(whirring)
(engine whizzing)
- Look out!
- Look out!
(engine screeches)
(high-pitched buzzing)
(man groans)
(high-pitched whirring)
(ominous music playing)
(beeping)
Joe: Zoe, baby.
Zoe, are you here?
Control: See what you can become
when you strip away
all your excuses to fail?
Joe: I swear to God...
God?
Let's see if God
can save your daughter.
(Zoe whimpering)
Joe: This ends now.
I think he's tracing us.
Joe: You don't control me
anymore.
Control: That's it, Joe.
Now you see where she is.
Come on, then. Get here.
(low rumbling)
(Zoe and Michael whimper)
We got to get out of here.
- (gasps)
- (rumbling)
(agent groans)
(rumbling continues)
(high-pitched buzzing
and whirring)
(ominous music playing)
(high-pitched buzzing
and whirring continues)
(ominous music continues)
(ambient music playing)
Dad?
- Dad?
- Joe: Zoe!
Zoe: What's... what's going on?
Joe: Don't worry, don't worry,
don't worry.
- Zoe: What happened to you?
- Joe: You're safe now.
- I'm gonna take you home, okay? We gotta get out of here.
- Zoe: But I...
No, no, no, we have to go.
Let's get your sister.
Sweetie, you have to trust me.
Can you do that?
Zoe: Okay.
Joe: Good.
Deliver us.
We are essentially staring down
the barrel of a gun.
(voice echoing)
Zoe: You're surprisingly
chipper for someone who thinks
we're all gonna
get wiped out by...
What did you call it? A cosmic beam
of concentrated energy? (echoes)
I know about your work.
I know they turned
their back on it.
What if I told you
I have a plan?
A plan to finally see it
come to life.
(typing)
Because I know for a fact that
it's the only thing powerful
enough to stop what's coming.
(typing)
The end.
(ominous music playing)
(high-pitched buzzing)
(beeping)
It's time.
Shoot her.
(gunshot)
- Joe: No!
- (Zoe sighs)
(Joe groans)
(Michael groans)
(Zoe whimpers)
Joe: No, no, no, no, no.
- It's okay.
- Zoe: Oh my God.
Joe: No, you're alright.
You're alright. Zoe, Zoe.
Zoe, look at me. No, no, no.
Look at me.
Zoe, Zoe, look at me.
You're gonna be okay.
Look at me. You're okay.
We're gonna go home, okay?
- Zoe: I'm so... I'm sorry...
- Joe: Sweetie.
- Zoe: I'm sorry.
- Joe: Sweetie, no. Don't be sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm the one who left.
I'm sorry, sweetie.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm the one who left
but I'm here now.
I'm here now, okay?
Hey.
Zoe, don't go.
(ambient music playing)
(ambient music continues)
(coughs)
(whirring)
(high-pitched buzzing
and whirring)
Joe: No. No. No. No.
(music rising to crescendo)
(screams)
- (whirring)
- (ominous music playing)
Control: I know you can hear me,
Joe.
You can hear everything.
See everything.
I've given you omnipotence.
Through you I've created a God.
(voice echoing)
(eerie music playing)
Deliver us.
(eerie music continues)
Heather: You just
have to believe like I do.
Believe you're the man
that I see.
I need you to be strong
for our girls.
And keep our family together
when I'm gone.
Please.
Promise me. (echoes)
Joe: I promise.
(high-pitched buzzing)
(high-pitched whirring)
(eerie music playing)
(rumbling)
(gasps)
(intense music playing)
(Zoe breathing heavily)
Rhea?
One four three.
Joe: One...
(thumping)
four...
three...
Saturn has come
To devour the sun
With Divine Weapon
Divine Weapon
Divine Weapon
Saturn has come
To devour the sun
With Divine Weapon
(typing)
(intense music playing)
(beeping)
(typing)
I know about your work.
(intense music continues)
I know they turned
their back on it.
What if I told you
I had a plan?
A plan to finally see it
come to life.
(typing)
Because I know for a fact
that it's the only thing
powerful enough to stop
what's coming.
(typing)
(music rising to crescendo)
Voice: The end.
Reporter: Joining us today is
astrophysicist Michael Swaford
from MIT's Kavli Institute
for Space Research
to discuss his new book,
In the End There Was Light.
Welcome to the show.
This light you describe as,
"The brightest and most violent
event in our known universe",
is what, exactly?
It's a gamma ray burst
or a GRB.
And you believe, Mr. Swaford,
that this light,
this gamma ray burst is
the last thing that mankind
will see before we are
blown out of existence?
Yes. That's correct.
Where do they come from,
these GRBs,
and how are they made?
When a high mass star
collapses,
gravity crushes its core
into a black hole.
This black hole immediately
begins to devour the dying star
around it at a rate of
1 million
Earth masses per second.
Now that's far too much energy
for the black hole
to consume at once,
so a majority of that energy
is blasted back out
into the universe.
In the form of two narrow beams
of intense radiation.
And you believe, Mr. Swaford,
that there is a dying star
right here in our own
Milky Way Galaxy, AWR104
- that could be a likely GRB candidate?
- Yes, that's right.
And that Earth is
lying directly
in the path
of the beam zone.
We are essentially staring down
the barrel of a gun.
(ominous music playing)
(eerie music playing)
(typing)
(eerie music playing)
- (soft piano music)
- (waves crashing)
(seagulls squawking)
Joe: Hey, you know, I've been
thinking of a couple of names.
Heather: Oh yeah?
Let's hear them. (echoes)
Joe: What about Rhea?
You know, like a ray of light?
Rhea.
Rhea Steadman.
I love it.
What about if it's a boy?
Joe: Oh, that's easy.
Joe Junior.
- Joe: What?
- Yeah, I don't think so.
- (Heather laughing)
- Joe: Yes! Come on.
Uh-uh. Zoe Lorraine, let's go!
S'more time.
Joe: No, no, I got her.
Zoe: Wait, you forgot a prize.
- Joe: A prize?
- Zoe: This one.
It's got magic powers
that make you strong.
Joe: Thank you.
I always wanted magic powers.
Zoe: I spy a secret light!
Joe: I spy a secret light. Okay.
- Is it that one?
- Zoe: No.
- Joe: Is it that one?
- Zoe: You win!
Joe: You know
that's a lighthouse, right?
Check this out.
Watch how it blinks.
One four three.
That stands for...
I.
L. O. V. E.
Y. O. U.
One four three.
- What does that spell?
- Zoe: I love you!
I love you, too, baby girl.
(sirens blaring)
(beeping)
Primary subject:
Joseph Steadman. Forty-five.
DNA analysis concludes
possible match.
- Further testing required.
- Joe: What's up, man?
- (indefinite chatter)
- Joe: Anytime bro.
(beeping)
Control: Undergoing psychiatric
treatment for depression,
suicidal tendencies
and recurring
anger control issues.
And the anger.
Have we maintained control?
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I...
- You remember what happened last time.
- I know. Yes, it's...
That's never gonna happen
again.
I'm doing work. I am, really.
Psychologist: Remember, if it
starts to happen you have to...
Joe: Think with my head before
my heart.
- I know.
- Psychologist: Precisely.
- Precisely.
- You're in control of your emotions.
They're not in control of you.
Control: His condition remains
unstable.
(instrumental music playing)
Zoe Steadman.
Daughter of test subject.
Twenty-five.
Unable to forgive her father
after the mother's death,
when he left.
- Michael: Surprise!
- (gasps)
Michael: I got take-out.
Control: Currently putting
herself through nursing school.
Zoe: I didn't hear you come in.
- Control: She's headstrong...
- Zoe: It's okay.
- Control: ...independent and self-sufficient.
- It's my favorite.
A direct contrast to her
younger sister, Rhea Steadman.
Substance abuse.
Started at seventeen.
When she decided to follow
in her father's footsteps.
Zoe's attempts at reaching out
have been met with resistance.
Opiates, I'm afraid, have
twisted her perspective.
(Rhea humming)
(Nico whistling)
Control: Lost would be the best way
to describe her current situation.
Nico: I know you're in there.
Just one more time.
I... I promise.
Rhea: Just don't do this to me.
I told you I'm done
with that shit.
Pretty please?
Nico: I miss your touch, baby.
(door lock clicking)
(door squeaking)
(tense music playing)
Agent: I've got eyes
on Subject B.
She just entered the library
on 2nd Street.
Intercepting
the security camera feed now.
Okay, the image should be up.
Michael: What do we have here?
The Anatomy and Physiology
of Health and Illness.
Oh, sounds like a page-turner.
So are we done here? Can we go?
There's one more.
Michael: Oh, goody.
So, Dr. Apocalypse, I um...
Finally finished it. Your book.
- Oh, good. I'll just be over here...
- (Zoe chuckles)
No, it's just you're...
you're surprisingly chipper
for someone who thinks we're
all gonna get wiped out by...
What'd you call it? A cosmic
beam of concentrated energy?
I'm impressed. That's good.
But you know what?
Uh, I've actually been
doing a lot of thinking lately and
don't tell anybody else about this
but just recently somebody really
inspiring came into my life.
And they kind of changed the way
that I look at things.
- Really? How so?
- Hmm.
Well, I guess you could
say that they convinced me
of the possibility of a more
optimistic future for mankind.
- Oh, shhh. Sorry.
- (Zoe snickers)
- Look! Fate page.
- What?
- What?
- When a book falls like that it's a fate page.
Me and my sister,
we used to play this game.
We kind of just dropped them
on purpose
And see what page
they open up to.
- Uh-huh.
- Okay, wait. Just close your eyes.
- Just do it. Just close your eyes.
- (Michael sighs)
- Okay, so you take your finger.
- Mhm.
- Pick it up.
- Mhm.
You move it kind of around
the page.
- Okay.
- Zoe: Circle it.
And you just drop it down.
Okay, don't move it.
You can open your eyes.
It's kind of like a fortune.
You can see how it applies
to your life.
What does it say?
(clears throat)
During an infection, apoptosis,
whatever the hell that is,
can serve a protective function
by killing off
virus-contaminated cells before they
spill over with virus particles.
This act of self-sacrifice
hampers the spread of infection
and can save the whole organism.
That is completely
not informative.
No, you have to look
past the words.
You know, like...
Like maybe you're the apoptosis
- serving a protective function.
- Oh! Right.
That is such a sound theory.
You know what?
I think I saw the mental health
section back there.
- We should probably just go...
- Okay.
- ...take a gander over there. What do you think?
- Got you.
(indistinct chatter)
Psychologist: And how is
the job-hunt going?
- Any luck?
- I landed a front desk gig
at this
government funded facility.
It's... I don't know
I didn't even apply.
They uh, I don't know, they got
my name, They contacted me and...
Thought it was
kind of weird but...
you know, whatever.
It's good pay and benefits so...
A year sober, a new job,
a new man.
It's all good stuff.
Man: Well, everyone,
this is a special evening.
Joe, come on up here
and get your one-year chip.
(applause)
I guess I should thank my
higher power. Um...
I don't really know who
or whatever that is yet.
I remember when my wife was sick
and uh...
After she died
I prayed all the time.
There was no voice
coming back to me.
There were no answers,
There were no nothing.
And I ended up stranding my kids
out to sea.
I don't blame them
for hating me.
I mean, I'd hate me too.
Uh...
But I got to believe
that in their hearts
they still want their dad.
I don't know.
I can do better.
I can be better.
(ambient music playing)
- Buddy! Hello!
- (Heather giggling)
Heather: Oh,
where are my kisses?
- Good boy! Oh, hello!
- Hi.
Welcome home, Dad!
- Joe: You got a little taller.
- Rhea: Little bit, little bit.
Where's your sister?
- Heather: Oh, she's uh, she's up there.
- Rhea: Oh Dad, you stink.
- What's with this?
- It's for a school project.
You wanna know what it's about
now?
No, no.
Come here and give me a hug.
- Zoe: No, you smell.
- (Rhea laughing)
- Look.
- Zoe: No. (squealing) No!
- Here.
- Zoe: Stop it. (laughing)
Heather: Don't chase your child.
Joe: All right, so what is this
report on?
Zoe: Uh, it's on professions
and I chose yours.
- Can I ask you a few questions?
- Rhea: No, wait, wait!
- Rhea: Wait. Here it is.
- Joe: Abso...
- Zoe: Wait Rhea I was gonna... Just one second.
- Heather: She baked a cake.
Be right with you.
Zoe: Say your name
and your profession.
- You need to say it into the camera.
- Joe: Hi.
My name is Joseph Steadman.
I am a deck hand
on a commercial fishing boat.
Zoe: What do you do in your off-time
when you're... When you're not working?
Uh...
Mostly I think about this.
Being here.
Being home.
(clears throat)
You know, you guys.
Michael: So I'm just wondering,
like,
at one point you're gonna have
to take, like, a bedpan test?
- Like, do you guys have...
- Do you...
do you really think
that's a real thing?
You need to be pretty
experienced at that.
- I mean, it's a very delicate situation...
- What do you think nursing is?
Michael: ...just dumping them
out there for ya.
Just saying, things that will
make you a better nurse
- at the end of the day.
- Yeah, that's abs...
- Zoe: Oh, shit.
- Michael: What?
- Hey, Zoe.
- Zoe: That's my dad.
I got a year sober today.
I uh, thought maybe
we could uh...
go to dinner, maybe talk.
I got you something.
Am I embarrassing you?
Dad, why don't you go try
this with Rhea?
She needs it. You think coming
here with presents is gonna help?
Okay, no, no, no, listen,
listen, listen. I...
I'm trying. And you know, I...
I can't get through to Rhea.
Not by myself.
Maybe we could, uh,
do it together.
Maybe the three of us
like a family.
Can we just leave? Can we go?
Alright, well I just want you
to have this.
Hey, hey, hey, hey. Look, why don't
you just give her some space?
She's obviously just not into it
right now.
- Alright, listen. I just...
- Hey, you are.
- I am what?
- You are embarrassing her.
- (groans) Get your fucking hands off me!
- Zoe: Dad!
- Dad, just stop!
- What's your problem? Christ!
- Stop! Stop!
- What the fuck is wrong with you?
- Jesus Christ!
- I'm sorry!
No, it wasn't him, it's you!
It's always you!
It's the same shit!
You're never gonna change.
Zoe. Zoe!
I...
(birds chirping)
(intense music playing)
(phone ringing)
Zoe: Come on, Rhea. Pick up.
I got you that phone
so you would use it.
Okay, please? Sis, I'm here.
Just... Don't forget, okay?
I don't understand.
She was doing so well.
We talked every Sunday for the last
three months. She's using again.
Look, just give her some time, all right?
I know she's gonna call.
You know?
You don't know anything
about me, Michael.
I mean, why are you
even still here?
My dad just punched you
in the face.
No, look. Hey, it's okay.
I'm here because I love you,
all right?
God, you don't wanna get sucked into this.
I'm like a fucking black hole.
No.
You are not a black hole, Zoe.
Your dad is.
And unlike him
I'm not going anywhere.
All right?
It's okay.
It's gonna be okay.
(eerie music playing)
Joe: Rhea. Rhea, it's me.
Uh...
Uh, I fucked up.
Can you call me?
I, uh...
I wanna fix this. Just call me.
(music rising to crescendo)
Heather:
I'm not scared anymore, baby.
I've accepted it.
And I need you to do the same.
You just have to believe
like I do.
Believe you're the man
that I see.
I need you to be strong
for our girls.
And you keep our family
together when I'm gone.
Joe: Don't say that.
You're not going anywhere.
Joe...
Please.
Promise me.
Joe: I promise.
I'm sorry, baby.
I messed everything up.
I lost 'em.
(tense music playing)
(Joe muffled yelling)
(groans)
(eerie music playing)
Control: Gentlemen.
- We are at zero hour.
- (music rising to crescendo)
(beeping)
(ominous music playing)
(beeping)
(high-pitched buzzing)
- (ears ringing)
- (groans)
Open your eyes, Joseph Steadman.
But everybody calls you Joe,
don't they?
(groaning)
What...
When your wife died
you reached out for a God.
But no one answered. (echoes)
You wanted someone
to tell you what to do.
(echoes) To tell you what to do.
Joe: (recording) I remember
when my wife was sick
- And uh... She died.
- (groaning)
I prayed all the time. And uh, there
was no voice coming back to me.
I did not know what to do.
I did not know what to do.
I did not know what to do.
I did not know what to do.
(screaming in agony)
Control: We're transmitting
a data burst
through a device
we placed on your optic nerve.
It allows us to see
what you see.
And you to see
what we want you to.
In this case your drug addict
daughter, Rhea.
Now you see the consequences
of your actions, Joe.
Look at how you influenced her.
She's about to score
her next hit.
I've been watching your family
for some time now, Joe.
(Joe screams in pain)
Control: Why did you give up
so easily?
- Joe: No!
- Control: You're not fixing anything!
- It's broken, all of it.
- Joe: Stop!
Lost because you weren't strong
enough to hold it together.
- Joe: Get out of my head!
- Control: Broken promises, Joe.
Broken family, smashed down
by your unstable hands.
Zoe: It's got magic powers
to keep you strong.
Control: And I can help you
find your strength to put those
- pieces back together.
- Joe: I always wanted magic powers.
Control: But first,
you have to answer me, Joe.
Do you believe in me?
(Joe chuckles)
(screams)
- Come on, honey. Turn it off.
- (groans)
(screaming in agony)
Answer me, Joe.
(groans)
Yes. What do you want?
Sabi: Hello?
- Joe: Help me!
- Sabi: What happened?
I need you to lift that firearm
And shoot this woman in the head.
- Sabi: Are you ok?
- Joe: Call the police. Please!
- Help me! He...
- Sabi: Tell me what happened.
- Control: Now, Joe.
- Joe: I don't know just please help me.
You're gonna be fine.
Control: Or I'm gonna put a
bullet in your daughter's head.
Joe: No! No, please!
Okay, anything.
- Sabi: What?
- Please, don't hurt her.
Control: Then do as I say.
You've got exactly five seconds.
- I can't do this.
- Wait, who are you talking to?
Control: Five.
- Joe: Okay, okay, okay, okay!
- Control: Four.
- Sabi: No, stop!
- Joe: I'm sorry.
- Sabi: Don't do this! No!
- Control: Three.
- Joe: I'm sorry.
- Don't!
Control: Two.
- I'm sorry.
- (gun clocking)
Joe: (recording) I guess,
I should thank my higher power.
Honestly, I don't really know
who or whatever that is yet.
Remember this, Joe.
I am your higher power.
And you will surrender to me.
- We have big plans for you.
- (groans)
(thud)
(ominous music playing)
- Report.
- Ready, Doctor.
(ominous music playing)
(Joe gasps)
Joe: Jesus Christ.
(groans)
Help!
(groans) Help me!
Oh no!
(beeping) Shit, shit, shit.
- (phone ringing)
- Operator: 9-1-1.
- What's the nature of your emergency?
- Joe: Yes, I've been kidnapped!
There's a man, he's watching
my daughters and I...
If you contact the authorities
in any way again...
- We will kill them.
- Joe: Wait. Wait, no!
Oh, fuck!
(screams)
- Do you understand?
- Joe: Yes! Yes, yes, yes.
I understand. I understand.
Good.
(groans)
(pants)
Now look inside the car.
- You see the backpack?
- Yes.
You'll need a few items for this
next assignment.
Please just show them to me.
Please, I just need to know
that they're safe.
(electricity static)
(groans)
- I swear to god, if you...
- Control: Shut up and turn on the car.
- Just... Leave...
- Now, Joe. Drive.
(intense music playing)
(buzzing)
Zoe: Rhea, it's a grocery
bagging job.
They don't care how you look. They'd
hire you if you had a nose ring
- on the back of your head.
- Rhea: Hey, everybody cares
what I look like. (laughs)
Besides, how much longer
can you
possibly stand me sleeping
on your couch for?
- Zoe: That's very true.
- Rhea: Seriously, though.
- Thanks for letting me stay with you.
- Zoe: Always.
(ambient music playing)
(phone ringing)
(car engine idling)
Control: Look in the bag.
Take out the tablet.
You recognize this man?
Yeah, that's Charles Margrey.
He's the president of Redlock,
where I work.
Now you know who to look for.
Grab your bag, we're moving in.
Don't forget your mask.
Place the small black box
on the security panel.
(crickets chirping)
(beeps)
- Sabi: All right, we're in.
- It's time to see what you're made of.
What am I doing here?
(exhales)
You're insane. I can't do this.
You're wasting time, Joe.
(exhales)
Go upstairs to the third floor.
- He's in the room at the end of the hall.
- Joe: All right.
Okay.
(breathes deeply)
Control: Impressive, isn't it?
Charles Margrey had a simple
idea that put him on the map.
How do we beat the Soviets
in Afghanistan?
We arm and fund the mujahideen
to fight them.
The politicians
called it genius.
(buzzing)
(breathes deeply)
Seven years later
the Soviets were defeated.
They gave this terrorist keys to his own
weapons research facility as a reward.
Thirteen years later two towers
fell in Manhattan.
Take a good, long, hard look
around, Joe.
This is what death can buy you.
Look in the bag.
You're gonna put that gun
to his head.
Threaten his life
unless he opens his safe.
(Joe groans)
- Control: Get him to open the safe on the second floor.
- (gun cocking)
- All right.
- Now move!
Joe: Get up! Get up!
Charles: What the hell
is going on?
- Joe: Take me to your safe!
- Take it easy with that gun.
- Just take me to your safe on the second floor, goddammit!
- Okay, okay, all right.
- Joe: Get up! Let's go!
- Okay.
Joe: Come on.
In the safe. Get it.
The laptop on the center shelf.
Get the laptop
on the center shelf.
Just grab it.
Come on.
- Tell him to authorize it.
- Authorize it.
Authorization Charles Margrey
delta one zero two six.
Control: Put your finger
on the tray.
Back up.
(beeping)
Sabi: You were right, Doctor.
It is him.
(Sabi gasps) Wow.
- Look at that.
- That's impossible.
Control: Take the small metallic
LED device from your backpack.
- Who the hell are you?
- Place it on the laptop.
All right.
Okay, the data is transferred
and I have a cloned copy
of all your work coming up.
Good, Joe. We have what we need.
- Tell him to get on his knees.
- No.
You said no one
was gonna get hurt.
- I said no such thing.
- No, I'm not gonna do that.
- (groans)
- (beeping)
- Sabi: We lost his optics feed.
- Control: I need it powered on.
- Give me a second.
- Joe.
Wait. Wait. No, no, no.
It's me, Joe.
Joe Steadman.
- I work at the facility.
- Charles: Joe?
- Okay, the link is established.
- You're the match?
- Jesus.
- Joe: Trust me. Believe me.
There is a man and he's in my
head and he's talking to me.
You have to believe...
Optics implant.
You're watching me right now,
aren't you, you crazy bastard?
I shut down the program
for a reason.
- It's too dangerous.
- Walk forward now, Joe,
or he will kill you.
- Tell him he's right.
- He says you're right.
- Control: It is too dangerous.
- It is too dangerous.
- (bullet fires)
- (grunts)
For him.
(buzzing)
Control: Now, take out
the clippers.
We'll be needing his thumb.
- I'm not like you.
- Control: No?
Then save your daughter's life.
Take the clippers and cut off
his fucking thumb!
(groans)
(beeping)
(buzzing)
(brakes screeching)
(buzzing)
(beeping)
(intense music playing)
Security guard: Joe! It's 8:40.
- Man, where you been?
- Joe: I know, I'm sorry man.
- Security guard: Everything okay?
- Joe: Yeah. It's all right,
I just...
I got caught up in some stuff.
- Security: Sure? You sure?
- Joe: I'm sure, Frank. Now take off.
Alright, buddy. See ya.
(intense music playing)
(drone screeching)
Control: Grab the equalizing mask
from your bag and put it on now.
Man1: Yeah, that went well.
Let's follow up next week.
Hey, what's with the mask?
(beeping)
(gasping)
Joe: What're you...
what're you doing?
Control: It's called B-19...
a classified undetectable
chemical weapon.
That immediately bonds
with air particles
on a subatomic level creating
a controlled seismic vacuum.
- Joe: Hey! Hey, make it stop!
- Control: Ironic.
These men invested millions
into the project.
But you're missing
the best part, Joe.
Watch.
Their deaths were necessary.
Hers, on the other hand,
can be spared.
That's if you make it
to the main facility in time.
You have four minutes.
That's not enough time!
Control: That's your problem,
isn't it?
Joe: Where do I go?
No. No, no, no!
What did you do?
Control: Their lives mean
nothing in comparison
to the bigger picture, Joe.
Through this door here.
Then grab
one of their key cards.
The main facility
is straight ahead.
The gas has dissipated.
You can take off the mask
now, Joe.
- (Joe cries out)
- (gunshot)
Sabi: We've lost audio.
(Joe cries out in pain)
Control: Hurry, Joe.
153 seconds.
(Joe groans)
- (siren buzzing)
- (alarms blaring)
Sabi: Hold on.
I need to disable the alarm.
(garbled audio)
- Joe: What?
- Sabi: Got it.
Resetting audio now.
(garbled audio continues)
Joe: Where do I go?
- Control: Straight ahead.
- Joe: Where?
- Control: (garbled audio)
- Joe: What? I can't...
I can't hear you!
- (intense music playing)
- (garbled audio)
(garbled audio)
Where do I go? Where do I go!
- What?
- (garbled audio)
- Control: (garbled audio)
- Sabi: Alright, the link is established.
Straight ahead, then left.
Joe: Okay.
Control: Stairs dead ahead.
Take the LED device
and snap it in.
- Sorry.
- Control: 43 seconds.
Okay.
(beeping)
The device
to the right of the console
is a thumbprint scanner.
You'll need the thumb.
That's where it goes.
Doctor, we have access
to the core.
Is she safe?
Is she okay?
Answer me!
Answer me!
One last thing.
(mechanics open)
Just inside
there's a throw switch.
Switch it on and she lives.
Sabi: Okay, we got it.
The generators are up.
Turn it over to me.
I'm sending him in.
Sabi: Okay.
(ominous music playing)
My work deserves
to be completed, Joe.
(typing)
(sirens buzzing)
(mechanics whir)
Open the door.
Open the door!
- (reactor revving)
- (machine whirring)
- (thud)
- Oh!
(high-pitched sound
intensifying)
(high-pitched buzzing)
Joe: Stop! Help!
Why are you doing this to me?
Because that's the way
the numbers line up.
- It's in your DNA.
- Please!
(Joe screaming)
(high-pitched buzzing)
And when the universe
decides what it wants...
- (high-pitched buzzing)
- (whirring sound)
It's pointless to resist.
- In five...
- (Joe screaming)
...four, three, two...
So just...
One.
Control: ...embrace it.
(Joe screaming)
(high-pitched buzzing)
- (machine whirring)
- (rumbling)
(helicopter whirring)
(sirens wailing)
(violin playing)
(helicopter whirring)
(rumbling)
Was it successful?
(typing)
(violin continues)
(high-pitched buzzing)
Michael: Zoe,
it's gonna be okay.
Zoe: It's not gonna be okay!
(Zoe sobbing)
He's gone.
I could have held him together.
I should have never given up
on him.
(sirens wailing)
If you are just
joining us here is a recap
of what we know right now.
A horrific scene.
A massive explosion
that has destroyed
a government research lab,
Redlock.
They have a long history
of weapons research
with the department of defense.
Now early today authorities...
- (Joe screams)
- ...acknowledged there were...
...rescue workers
that have been...
(Joe screams)
Reporter: ...the cause
of the explosion
is still unknown.
It was heard over
a ten mile distance,
shattering windows
in the adjacent...
(Joe screams)
Reporter:
...they are still at this point
searching for survivors.
Senior management
have refused to comment
on whether or not weapons
were in fact
located at the facility,
which could explain
the level...
You're here now, aren't you?
What did you do to me?
Where are you!
(Reporter continues
in the background)
Reporter: The FBI has not
determined whether or not...
- Stop fucking with me!
- There are four fundamental forces, Joe.
- Gravity. Electromagnetism.
- Why are you doing this to me!
The strong nuclear force.
The weak one.
Weakness is something
you're familiar with,
- aren't you Joe?
- I have to call...
Control:
The weak force destroys,
but through that decay
we have the furnace of the sun
that brings life.
It's not work... fuck!
(garbled audio)
Why are you doing this to me?
I did what you asked me to!
Let me see her!
Let me talk to her...
Leave us alone!
- (high-pitched buzzing)
- What...
What did you do to me?
(high-pitched buzzing)
Oh God.
(screams)
(Joe screaming)
- (rumbling)
- (buzzing)
(Joe screams)
Amazing.
(Joe breathing heavily)
(screams)
What's happening to me?
Control: I have blessed you,
Joe.
By taking your
greatest weakness
and turning it into a strength.
The anger, the fear,
the anxiety.
That chaos living inside you
that tore your life apart,
I've harnessed it into a
source of infinite power.
And now I need you
to use that power, Joe.
To do what you've
always wanted.
To keep them together.
To save your family's life.
You were always meant for more,
Joseph Steadman,
But first you need to pass
my tests designed specifically
to unlock
your greatest potential.
But I need you to be strong.
Show me how strong
you really are.
Now get on your feet.
You have fifteen minutes
to get to the next location.
Alright. Whatever, you psycho.
Just point me
in the right direction.
Fifteen minutes, Joe.
And you'll need your gun.
Alright, he's stabilizing.
(breathing heavily)
Joe: Where's my car?
Where's my car?
How do you...
I can't get there without...
- (bang)
- (groans)
Do you think
there's someone out there?
Your wife in heaven
watching over you?
There is no heaven, Joe.
And your wife is dead.
(Joe screams)
- (high-pitched buzzing)
- (engine revving)
Sabi: Look at that.
The astonishing thing
about electromagnetism...
is that it has infinite range.
Now you see
how this works, Joe.
The angrier you get,
the more you unlock.
Cause and effect.
Now get on the bike.
Joe: Alright. Where am I going?
Control: To see how far
we can push it.
Cause and effect.
(tense music playing)
(tires screeching)
Joe: Okay. Then what?
Once I'm at this place
what do I do?
Control: You get inside
and confront this man.
- Joe: Who?
- Control: His name is Nico Sola.
The man
who took your daughter Rhea
under his wing after you left.
(engine revving)
The same man
who got her hooked
and kept her that way.
Cause and effect, Joe.
Cause and effect.
(music continues)
Joe: There are powers out there
that are greater than us
And we can't control.
All we can do is...
is let go.
(clang in slow motion)
Back it up. Now!
- You back it up!
- Woah!
- Relax.
- Joe: Move!
(electronic music playing
in distance)
(electronic music playing)
Joe: Hey!
Hey! Are you Nico?
Hey!
Is your name Nico?
- Smile!
- Joe: Woah!
- (camera clicking)
- (Joe groans)
- (woman laughing)
- (Joe groans)
(Joe screams)
(thud)
(Nico speaking indistinctly)
Nico: Big bad wolf.
(Nico chuckles)
Name!
Steadman.
Steadman?
Steadman.
(woman crying on TV)
You're Rhea's old man.
- Huh?
- (woman crying continues)
Okay.
(laughs) Okay.
Okay.
Here we go.
You don't understand.
You just...
There she is.
(Nico laughs)
You're gonna love this.
(laughing)
You shouldn't do this.
And... Action!
You got some hero...
fuckin' save the day thing
going on, right?
- (sniffs) Oh!
- (coughs) (laughing)
Shit!
That's your daughter, hero.
Joe: You baked that?
That's beautiful.
And it has no egg in it,
all natural.
- Joe: That's the best.
- Rhea: Mmm-hmm.
(music rising to crescendo)
- (groans)
- (high-pitched buzzing)
(alarm beeping)
(ominous music playing)
(Nico coughing)
(coughs)
(Nico screams)
(Nico cries out)
(gunshots)
What the fuck are you?
(chokes)
(intense music playing)
Woman: Somebody help!
(woman screaming)
(engine revving)
(girl coughing)
(bullet ricochets)
Die motherfucker!
(groans)
(screams)
- (whirring)
- (high-pitched buzzing)
(drone buzzes)
Joe: That's enough!
What's happening!
How am I doing this?
Control: You haven't done
anything, Joe.
- Joe: But I just...
- Control: You failed
once again.
The police are on their way.
Turn yourself in.
I need you to dig deeper, Joe.
We need to unlock more.
- Police: Freeze!
- Drop your weapon!
- Okay, okay! Okay!
- Put the gun on the ground. Now!
- Get down!
- Just don't wanna hurt anyone else!
- I said get on the ground, now.
- Stay away!
Get on the ground!
(policeman screams)
(indistinct police radio)
Joe: You don't understand.
I'm dangerous. I don't
know how to control this!
(sirens wailing)
(Joe groaning)
You're making a mistake.
Just wait!
Wait! You don't understand!
Lieutenant: Gridlock
was annihilated two days ago,
taking out half a city block.
Now this shit?
Two blasts, two days.
And we got you in both places...
The third force of nature
is the strong nuclear force.
Detective: You've been lying
to us for two hours.
Control: Destroy a single atom
and you get Hiroshima.
- Just shut up.
- Hey, look at me!
And you better start
telling the truth.
For Christ's sake
I'm telling you the truth.
What's that Nico Sola got to do
with that research facility uptown?
It looked like a war zone.
- Who are you working for?
- Control: Tell them
you're working
for a higher power.
- I'm working for a higher power.
- What are you, a terrorist?
- No!
- People died,
- you son of a bitch!
- Control: Now that's established,
let them know you've left a
rather advanced explosive device
at the Four River Shipyard.
- Detective: ...Jihad shit, huh?
- Joe: He's got a bomb.
- Who's... who's got a bomb?
- Lieutenant: Jesus.
- Who's got a bomb?
- There is a bomb at the shipyard.
- Lieutenant: All right, go
- Go!
- Bobby, get it out!
- Go!
- Joe: Go!
- Detective: Alright, listen.
Control: Good.
Now this is how this works.
If you find that bomb first,
everybody lives.
But if they find it before you
I would estimate 20,000 dead.
That's an awful lot of blood
on your hands, Joe.
- Shut up.
- The clock's ticking.
You can keep whining
and making excuses
or man up and do something
about it.
Talk to me!
God... Motherf...
Stop!
- Stop it!
- (rumbling)
Stop!
(Joe groans)
(beeping)
Send several more to...
(officer screaming)
- Control: Collateral damage, Joe. Let it go.
- (Joe groans)
If you don't get there in time a lot
more people are going to be dead.
(engine revving)
(intense music playing)
Control:
Here's a clue, Joe.
The bomb is in a
shipping crate.
Reporter: With the police
in hot pursuit,
we are now being told,
just coming into us,
the man's name
is Joseph Steadman.
Dad?
What?
(sirens wailing)
- (horn honking)
- (tires screeching)
(sirens wailing)
Policeman: Suspect headed
southbound
underneath the wharf bridge.
Reporter: Reportedly,
a security guard
who was thought
to have been actually killed
at the blast at Redlock
last night...
It's not possible.
(sirens wailing)
(Joe screams)
What the fuck!
(beeping)
We've never seen
anything like this.
We see a very disturbing
live shot here,
the only word I can come up
with is some sort of a
light blast
going on from the vehicle.
(high-pitched whirring)
Ollie, dinner's ready.
(low static sounds)
(screams)
- (metals clanking)
- (thudding)
(beeping)
(beeping)
Reporter:
...individuals are reporting
essentially the same thing.
Some kind of...
Prepare the final phase.
Reporter: ...seen here.
Contrail of energies
are slicing through the centers
of towns and of homes...
What the hell!
- (door bangs open)
- Hey!
Michael: Hey!
Hey, Zoe, just stay back!
- Zoe: Michael!
- Michael: What're you doing!
Hey! Don't fucking touch her!
Zoe!
Michael!
I want these streets
closed down now!
Let's go, come on clear out!
Bravo seven seven six.
(dog barking)
(high-pitched buzzing)
(baby babbling)
(mother gasps)
(sirens wailing)
Zero one, perimeter secure.
(ship horn honks)
- (barks)
- Where's the bomb?
Sierra one.
(radio static)
Sierra one.
Delta seven eight five,
do you copy?
(radio static)
(barking)
Delta seven eight five,
do you copy?
(radio static)
(intense music playing)
(high-pitched buzzing)
(jet engine whirs)
(beeping)
(whirring)
(engine whizzing)
- Look out!
- Look out!
(engine screeches)
(high-pitched buzzing)
(man groans)
(high-pitched whirring)
(ominous music playing)
(beeping)
Joe: Zoe, baby.
Zoe, are you here?
Control: See what you can become
when you strip away
all your excuses to fail?
Joe: I swear to God...
God?
Let's see if God
can save your daughter.
(Zoe whimpering)
Joe: This ends now.
I think he's tracing us.
Joe: You don't control me
anymore.
Control: That's it, Joe.
Now you see where she is.
Come on, then. Get here.
(low rumbling)
(Zoe and Michael whimper)
We got to get out of here.
- (gasps)
- (rumbling)
(agent groans)
(rumbling continues)
(high-pitched buzzing
and whirring)
(ominous music playing)
(high-pitched buzzing
and whirring continues)
(ominous music continues)
(ambient music playing)
Dad?
- Dad?
- Joe: Zoe!
Zoe: What's... what's going on?
Joe: Don't worry, don't worry,
don't worry.
- Zoe: What happened to you?
- Joe: You're safe now.
- I'm gonna take you home, okay? We gotta get out of here.
- Zoe: But I...
No, no, no, we have to go.
Let's get your sister.
Sweetie, you have to trust me.
Can you do that?
Zoe: Okay.
Joe: Good.
Deliver us.
We are essentially staring down
the barrel of a gun.
(voice echoing)
Zoe: You're surprisingly
chipper for someone who thinks
we're all gonna
get wiped out by...
What did you call it? A cosmic beam
of concentrated energy? (echoes)
I know about your work.
I know they turned
their back on it.
What if I told you
I have a plan?
A plan to finally see it
come to life.
(typing)
Because I know for a fact that
it's the only thing powerful
enough to stop what's coming.
(typing)
The end.
(ominous music playing)
(high-pitched buzzing)
(beeping)
It's time.
Shoot her.
(gunshot)
- Joe: No!
- (Zoe sighs)
(Joe groans)
(Michael groans)
(Zoe whimpers)
Joe: No, no, no, no, no.
- It's okay.
- Zoe: Oh my God.
Joe: No, you're alright.
You're alright. Zoe, Zoe.
Zoe, look at me. No, no, no.
Look at me.
Zoe, Zoe, look at me.
You're gonna be okay.
Look at me. You're okay.
We're gonna go home, okay?
- Zoe: I'm so... I'm sorry...
- Joe: Sweetie.
- Zoe: I'm sorry.
- Joe: Sweetie, no. Don't be sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm the one who left.
I'm sorry, sweetie.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm the one who left
but I'm here now.
I'm here now, okay?
Hey.
Zoe, don't go.
(ambient music playing)
(ambient music continues)
(coughs)
(whirring)
(high-pitched buzzing
and whirring)
Joe: No. No. No. No.
(music rising to crescendo)
(screams)
- (whirring)
- (ominous music playing)
Control: I know you can hear me,
Joe.
You can hear everything.
See everything.
I've given you omnipotence.
Through you I've created a God.
(voice echoing)
(eerie music playing)
Deliver us.
(eerie music continues)
Heather: You just
have to believe like I do.
Believe you're the man
that I see.
I need you to be strong
for our girls.
And keep our family together
when I'm gone.
Please.
Promise me. (echoes)
Joe: I promise.
(high-pitched buzzing)
(high-pitched whirring)
(eerie music playing)
(rumbling)
(gasps)
(intense music playing)
(Zoe breathing heavily)
Rhea?
One four three.
Joe: One...
(thumping)
four...
three...
Saturn has come
To devour the sun
With Divine Weapon
Divine Weapon
Divine Weapon
Saturn has come
To devour the sun
With Divine Weapon