FELICIA - I don't even remember how I got here... It's all out of control... I feel like someone's pulling my strings and I don't know why. I don't know anything anymore.

RICHIE - Listen, I'm not gonna go righteous on you but... have we been poppin' an illegal substance?

FELICIA - [recovering somewhat] No... we haven't. I wish it were that simple.
 

TESSA - [off screen] If she is an Immortal, why can't she just take her chances like the rest of you?

MacLEOD - That's not the way it works... That's not the way I work. You should know me better by now.

TESSA - I should... but a four hundred year old guy always has a surprise or two up his sleeve. Is there any way of telling if she'll be good or...

MacLEOD - Evil? ...No.

TESSA - Then this could backfire on you in a big way.

MacLEOD - That's a chance I'll just have to take. Connor took the same chance with me.

TESSA - That was hundreds of years ago. The Gathering was a... a distant dream. Now it's here... and you're the Grand Prize. Be careful, Mac... please.

MacLEOD - I'm always careful. Look, the woman simply doesn't understand what's happened to her. I must teach her --

TESSA - Teach her?

MacLEOD - -- just as Connor taught me and Ramirez taught him.

[Felicia enters in a sleek outfit, looking radiant.]

FELICIA - The clothes fit great. Thanks.

[MacLeod and Tessa just stare. This is a very beautiful young woman. Tessa turns to MacLeod with an arch --]

TESSA - This gives a while new meaning to the term, "student body"...

[MacLeod paces, listening to Felicia. They both have cups of coffee and have clearly been talking for a while.]

MacLEOD - What about your parents? Are they back in Philadelphia?

FELICIA - Yeah. My Dad's got a little VCR repair business. Mom's a buyer for Barron's -- that's a local department store. They're ok, but... they always thought I was up in the ozone layer. When I wanted to move clear across the country to study painting -- man, they just freaked. The incredible thing is -- they came through for me... they somehow got the money together. So I found an apartment. I was having a ball... then, about three months ago, everything caved in on me. I started feeling these... emotions. They were... There's no way I can describe them.

MacLEOD - Pure, raw sensation... You felt as if your brain was going to blow apart.

FELICIA - It happened to you too?

MacLEOD - It's how we know we're different... kind of like a wake-up call.

FELICIA - Well, then you know... It was a nonstop nightmare. I thought I was losing it completely. I was brought up to believe it's wrong to take your own life. But I just wanted to die.

MacLEOD - Tell me about this morning.
 

 
MacLEOD - It happened to be me.
 

 
MacLEOD - We are. Forever. [wryly] So you woke up in the morgue with a tag on your toe.

FELICIA - I was scared stupid. I grabbed a dress off some dead woman and got the hell out of there. How did it happen to you?

MacLEOD - Pretty much the same way, four hundred years ago.

FELICIA - Four hundred? You're putting me on, right?
 

 
[She suddenly spins back to him with a look in her eyes which is unmistakable. They are very close. There is electricity crackling between them. But, as Richie moves in for the kill, she suddenly turns the switch off and breaks away, pointing to the map on the easel beside them.]

FELICIA - He's still got this on display? If he sells it to the wrong guy, he's in big trouble.

RICHIE - Mac told me what you said. That just can't be a fake. He knows this business inside out. I mean, he was there.

FELICIA - Hey, he may be Immortal -- but he doesn't know everything. I've studied ancient maps all my life.

RICHIE - All twenty-eight years?

FELICIA - Yeah... so? Maps like this are works of art. To me, the guy that did this is as great as Michelangelo or Rembrandt... Look at the detail, the --

RICHIE - I thought you said it was a fake.

FELICIA - Yes, it is... but it's a damned good one. I'm sorry, I get crazy sometimes.

RICHIE - Artists are supposed to be crazy.

[He brushes her hair away from her face with both hands.]

RICHIE - At least, you've still got both your ears.

[They stare at each other for a long moment and then:]

FELICIA - If you don't kiss me soon, I'm going to be real disappointed.
 

 
RICHIE - [re: MacLeod] How come he gets to go?

MacLEOD - Protection.

RICHIE - Protection? From what?

MacLEOD - I may not be the only one playing this game.

RICHIE - Oh, wow! It never even occurred to me. Hey, take good care of her.

TESSA - We'll be okay. 'Bye.
 

 
RICHIE - Yeah.

[They head for the door. Richie watches --]

[Felicia's cute rear -- undulate through the doorway. The door closes.]

[Richie -- sighs with lustful longing. This is a heavy case of blue balls here... And then, just as his thoughts are turning smutty --]

[The door opens and a customer walks in -- an aging gentleman in the street attire of a --]

RICHIE - [after a guilty jump] Cardinal! Your eminence. You've come for the Batista Madonna. C'mon in.

[MacLeod, Tessa, and Felicia hop into the T-Bird, parked out front, and drive away. As they vanish down the street, pan to where Devereux's black Jaguar -- appears at the opposite end of the street... moving slowly towards the store.]

[On Devereux -- as he eases the car to a stop a little ways from the store, and waits... His attention is caught by --]

The Cardinal -- who leaves the store, with a package under his arm, and heads down the street.]

[Richie examines the check he is holding.]

RICHIE - [to himself] Twenty thousand... Where does a Cardinal come up with twenty grand? It'll bounce, I know it.

[He slips it into a drawer as --]

[Devereux -- enters, a long wooden box under his arm. Richie sizes up this formidable individual and puts on his best smile.]

RICHIE - [cont'd] Good afternoon, sir. Can I help you with something?
 

 
MacLEOD - He could have been very dead.

TESSA - You have to ease away from him, Felicia. He's falling in love with you.

FELICIA - What's so bad about that? You're not Immortal.

MacLEOD - No, she isn't... but, I plan to be around for a while -- You're not going to make it till Christmas. Tomorrow, we start your training.

[MacLeod strides toward the loft... passing the Coronelli map... he stops, turns back to her.]

MacLEOD - [cont'd] Richie said you're sure it's a fake.

FELICIA - Yeah.

MacLEOD - Why?

FELICIA - I painted it.

[She leans back, almost relishing their amazement.]

FELICIA - [cont'd] Surprise!... Okay, I wasn't exactly truthful -- I'm sorry... My father never did an honest day's work in his life. Last year, he screwed up with some local pusher -- got scared and threw himself off of Independence Hall. Kind of a bad choice, I thought... Now do you understand why I lied?

MacLEOD - I'm sorry... The map...

FELICIA - There were no scholarships available. I thought I'd have to drop out of school... And then I met this guy... He said people would pay big bucks for the right maps. He knew everything... How to mix the inks, age the paper... He really knew his stuff -- but he couldn't draw to save his butt. And I'm good, aren't I?

MacLEOD - Very good. It's just hard to believe. I've known Coronelli's work ever since... ever since I knew Coronelli!

[She senses his anger, becomes contrite.]

FELICIA - I just wanted to stay in college. I'll pay you back, I promise... as soon as I make some money.
 

 
MacLEOD - You won't.

[She attacks with simple strokes which he easily parries.]

MacLEOD - You're strong -- good -- but strength is only half the battle. You need finesse, timing, cunning. [disarming her] Again.

[Felicia picks up the sword and attacks, a little more forcefully this time, driving MacLeod back during:]

MacLEOD - Better. Keep your strokes out of sequence -- Don't fall into a rhythm -- Your opponent upsets that rhythm --

[MacLeod does just that, disarming Felicia once more.]

MacLEOD - -- and you're history. Again.

[Felicia picks up the sword and attacks during:]

FELICIA - Tell me about these bad guys -- How can you tell them from the rest of us?
 

[Richie is reading. He looks up as Felicia enters in a quiet fury.]

RICHIE - How'd it go?

FELICIA - Lousy.

RICHIE - [crossing to her] You need a massage. Let these fingers do the walking.

[But as he touches her, she breaks away from him with an anger which is terrible to behold.]

FELICIA - Don't touch me!

[She stops herself, panting now... then turns, enters her bedroom and slams the door, leaving Richie to wonder what the hell just happened...]
 

 
POWELL - Yeah, I don't think she's dead.

RICHIE - You just lost me.

POWELL - We had a murder last night, over on First Street -- a beheading... just like the others. A witness said he saw a woman leaving the scene with a sword. The description fits Felicia Martins like spandex.
 

TESSA - [off screen] Mac! Mac!

[Tessa hurries down the road.]

TESSA - I just couldn't wait any longer. Thank God you're both alright. [seeing Felicia's body] You didn't do it... Because she was a woman?

MacLEOD - [after a glance at Richie] In a way...

RICHIE - Guys, I really screwed up... royally.

TESSA - She knew she could never beat Mac fairly. She had to find another way.

MacLEOD - She's an old, cunning warrior who happens to look like an angel.

RICHIE - And she used me to get to you. Mac, I'm sorry... I didn't think.

TESSA - [smiling] Not with your head, anyway.

[Tessa looks down at--]

[The broken Mazamune sword -- its shattered pieces glinting in the moonlight.]

TESSA - Two hundred thousand dollars...

MacLEOD - I'd say it was worth every penny. Let's go home.

[And as they head up the road, we pan to Felicia's inert body...]