ACT FOUR

FADE IN:

28 EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - DAY

Hercules ties a crude cloth bandage around his wounded arm. When he's finished, he stands carefully, unsure of how such the wound has weakened him. He's not at full strength, but he's damn sure not turning back now. So he begins his "High Noon" march to Xena's compound as we hear:

XENA (V.O.)
He caught us by surprise, Iolaus.

CUT TO:

29 INT. MAIN ROOM, XENA'S MANSE - DAY

Xena is a bloody, disheveled mess. Iolaus is trying to clean her up, a process that elicits grimaces from the warrior princess but never a verbal acknowledgment of pain.

XENA
(continuing)
I thought I was going to die.

IOLAUS
That's not the Hercules I know,
ambushing people, attacking women.
He must have gone crazy.

XENA
You'd know he had if you'd seen what
he did to Estragon.

IOLAUS
Estragon shouldn't have been out there
with you. I should have.

XENA
Then Hercules would have killed you.

Iolaus wheels away from her angrily.

IOLAUS
Does that mean you expect me to run
away now?

XENA
Other men would.

IOLAUS
None of them could love you as
much as I do.

XENA
Do you mean it? Can you really put me
in your life before Hercules?

IOLAUS
I stood up to him for you
once, Xena. If I didn't back
down then, I'm not going to now.

XENA
But this time is different. You've
got to know that.

Iolaus nods somberly.

IOLAUS
I know ... If he comes for you, I'll
have to kill him.

XENA
Can you do that?

IOLAUS
Only for you.

XENA
Iolaus . . .

She embraces him and they kiss for a long, hot beat. Then:

XENA
You can defeat him, I know you can.
I feel it in my soul. You know the
way Hercules fights, his moves, his
tricks, his weaknesses . . .

Off Iolaus, unable to resist her siren song --

CUT TO:

30 EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - DAY

Still on the march, Hercules heads up a grassy slope. With every step he takes, the weight of his impending battle with Iolaus weighs heavier on him.

CUT TO:

31 EXT. XENA'S COMPOUND - DAY

In an out-of-the-way corner, Xena has her six biggest, toughest warriors standing tall.

XENA
(re Iolaus)
The only one who will battle Hercules
when he arrives is Iolaus. Do you understand?
(off the warriors' looks)
I don't care how quickly my little man dies
in the process, and I don't care how painfully
he does it. No one else is to be out there...
(a beat)
... until Iolaus is dead and Hercules is
standing there, staggered by the weight
of what he has done to his best friend.
Then, and only then, will we move in to
rid the wortd of the son of
Zeus. Do I make myself clear?

There's a yes in the warriors' obedient silence.

XENA
Good.

She starts to leave, then turns back to the warriors.

XENA
And not a word about this to Iolaus.
If he knew the sacrifice he was going
to make, he might have second
thoughts.

Off her treachery

CUT TO:

32 EXT. HILLTOP - DAY

Hercules comes to a stop and looks down at

XENA'S MANSE

before he takes a deep breath and starts toward it, hating what he fears will happen when he gets there.

CUT TO:

33 INT. MAIN ROOM, XENA'S MANSE - DAY

Iolaus paces nervously while his sword stands in a corner. After we watch him sweat in solitude for a few moments, the door opens and Xena appears, looking grim and purposeful.

XENA
He's here.

IOLAUS
I'm ready.

off a look that says he isn't lying --

CUT TO:

34 EXT. XENA'S COMPOUND - DAY

Hercules is waiting when Iolaus appears with Xena right behind him. All of her warriors are on hand, circling around our hero and his estranged friend, hungering for the sight of blood. Since Iolaus has his sword and Hercules is unarmed, the source of the blood seems easy to predict.

IOLAUS
I can't believe you'd show your
face here.

HERCULES
Stay out of this, Iolaus. It's
between me and your warrior princess.

IOLAUS
How can you come here and accuse her
of being a coward? You're the one who
attacked Xena and killed the warrior with her.

HERCULES
Is that what she told you?

ANOTHER ANGLE

Xena smells blood as she watches the showdown.

RESUME SCENE

IOLAUS
Get a weapon, Hercules. You're
not my friend anymore, but this
isn't an execution.

HERCULES
It shouldn't be a fight, either.
She's using you to get to me.

IOLAUS
Quit talking and got a weapon.
I'm giving you the chance you
didn't give Xena.

HERCULES
What if I don't want it?

He raises his arms to the side, palms up, as if he is waiting to be executed.

XENA
Go on, Iolaus! Kill him!

IOLAUS
(to Hercules)
You don't get off that easy.

Iolaus walks to the nearest warrior and snatches his sword before the warrior can stop him. When the warrior makes a threatening move, Iolaus freezes him by putting the point of the sword to the warrior's Adam's apple.

IOLAUS
Nothing to get upset about. It's just
a loan.

The warrior doesn't have any choice but to back down.

XENA
(outraged)
What are you doing?

IOLAUS
The honorable thing.

Then he tosses the warrior's sword to Hercules, who has to catch it lest it come to rest in his sternum.

IOLAUS
Are you ready to die, Hercules?

HERCULES
Not on your life.

And so it begins, this fight to the death between two valiant figures who should have always been on the same side. The clang of their swords fills Xena with a perverse joy. Her plan is working perfectly.

XENA
Yes! Kill him!
(to herself)
or at least weaken him for me.

Judging by the way the fight goes early on it looks like she's going to get her wish. Hercules is strictly on the defensive, backpedaling, blocking Iolaus' thrusts, doing everything but trying to draw blood. Iolaus seethes.

IOLAUS
Fight, damnit! Quit acting like
you're too good for me.

HERCULES
I've never been too good for you.
I'm just trying to stay alive
long enough for you to come to
your senses.

XENA
Stop talking and kill him, Iolaus!

Iolaus responds to her urging by stepping up the pressure on Hercules. The two of then battle savagely around the compound, hurtling whatever is there to be hurtled, splintering whatever is there to be splintered.

Xena's warriors part only when it advances Iolaus' cause. When Hercules comes close, they shove him toward Iolaus, hoping our hero will wind up being impaled on his former friend's sword.

After this has happened once, Hercules realizes what he's in for and plots accordingly. The next time he's backed toward the crowd, he waits for a warrior to shove him and steps aside just before he gets hit. The warrior stumbles forward and doesn't stop until Iolaus' sword is sticking all the way through him.

HERCULES
(to Xena)
Keep your goons out of this!

When he goes back to dueling Iolaus, he isn't taking it easy anymore This is vintage Hercules. Xena can sense it, her warriors can sense it, and Iolaus knows it for a flat damn fact. But Iolaus rises to the occasion anyway. He battles Hercules on even terms until our hero throws his sword high in the air over Iolaus, fakes one way, goes the other, and races around behind him to catch it.

Iolaus gets his feet tangled trying to keep up with Hercules. He lands in a heap, but he still manages to pull his prize knife and hold it at the ready as he looks up at Hercules who is towering above him. Both of them know the significance of what Iolaus has in his hand.

HERCULES
Are you going to use it?

IOLAUS
(after a beat)
No, this knife wasn't made to be
tarnished by your blood.

He tosses it aside.

IOLAUS
Get it over with.

HERCULES
I'm not going to kill you.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Xena, her eyes flashing furiously, gives the six prime-time warriors she talked to a look and a nod. That's all they need to charge Hercules and Iolaus with a vengeance.

RESUME SCENE

IOLAUS
I was going to kill you.

HERCULES
You thought you were. But real
friends don't do that to each other.

IOLAUS
Yeah ... You're right ...

Hercules glances at the charging warriors.

HERCULES
Let's talk about it later.

Iolaus grabs his knife and lets Hercules pull him back to his feet just in time for the two of then to face the charge. They fight with fists and feet as well as with their swords.

Hercules kicks one warrior in the chest and creates a domino effect that flattens four other thugs.

Iolaus pins a warrior to a wall with his prize knife and leaves it there while he pounds knobs on three other warriors with his fists. Then he comes back and head-butts the warrior pinned to the wall before removing his knife.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Xena can see that there's no future for her campaign to rid the world of Hercules, so she's herding the rest of her warriors toward their horses.

XENA
Let's get out of here!
Come on, move!

RESUME SCENE

Hercules picks up a warrior and spins his round and round, propeller style, flattening the warriors who get in his way.

Iolaus has his sword knocked out of his hand, so he picks up length of wood and goes to work docking warriors. When he has an instant to look up, he sees:

ONE OF XENA'S RETREATING WARRIORS

with a bow and arrow, taking aim on Hercules' back while he's preoccupied with hand-to-hand combat. As the warrior draws the arrow back:

IOLAUS
Hercules, look out!

Hercules ducks. The arrow misses him by a hair and pierces the heart of one of the warriors he was fighting.

For a beat, Hercules and Iolaus share a look that says everything between them is back where it used to be. Hercules cared enough to come after Iolaus and Iolaus cared enough to save Hercules from an assassin's arrow.

Then it's back to business against the prime-time warriors, who always seem to keep coming back for more. But while Hercules and Iolaus fight, they can't help sneaking looks at

XENA

as she beats the weeping dogmeat out of the warrior who tried to kill Hercules from behind. Her blows are punctuated by:

XENA
I said retreat, not attack... Hercules
is better than you... You don't deserve
to fight him... None of you do...

when the belabored warrior sags lifeless at her foot, Xena makes a mad dash for her horse.

RESUME SCENE

Hercules takes time out from the donnybrook to shout at the fleeing Xena.

HERCULES
Aren't you even going to say goodbye?

Xena says no with her silence, so Hercules polishes off his warriors and starts to chase her. But when he glances at Iolaus, he sees his friend get wounded as he battles the last three warriors still on their feet.

Just like that, Hercules forgets about Xena. Helping Iolaus is more important. He races over, taking out two of the warriors and letting Iolaus ignore his wound long enough to polish off the third.

XENA (O.S.)
Hercules!

Hercules and Iolaus turn to see

XENA

astride her horse, a sword in her hand, the fierce look back on her face.

XENA
You haven't heard the last of me!
And then she rides away.

RESUME SCENE

Hercules and Iolaus watch her for a beat. Then Iolaus, wounded in both the head and the chest, turns to our hero.

IOLAUS
You could have caught her if you
hadn't saved me.

HERCULES
You're more important than she is.

IOLAUS
Even though I acted like I
could kill you?

HERCULES
You didn't -- that's the
important thing.

IOLAUS
(after a beat)
No, because in my heart, I didn't
want you to die.

HERCULES
Your heart is all that counts.

Iolaus nods, sadder but wiser.

CUT TO:

35 EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - DAY

Iolaus flinches as Hercules ties a torn strip of cloth around his wounded noggin.

IOLAUS
I don't know What hurts worse, my
head or knowing how stupid I was.

HERCULES
It always helps to know what you're
fighting for before you start fighting.

Iolaus looks at him gravely.

IOLAUS
Is this where the lecture starts?

HERCULES
(dead serious)
It could.
(a beat)
But it won't.

The two friends trade smiles.

IOLAUS
You know, if you really want to
lecure me about something, it should
be the kind of women I'm attracted to.
After Xena, I think I'd be better off
jumping in bed with a black widow.

HERCULES
Yeah as long as you don't swell up
when you get bitten.

IOLAUS
Listen, swelling up would be a relief.

HERCULES
If you say so.
(then)
Ready to go?

IOLAUS
I thought you'd never ask.

He stands and the two of them start walking toward home. As they disappear into the distance:

IOLAUS
Maybe I should give women up entirely.
What would you think about that?

HERCULES
I'd think you'd better think twice.
The way they look, the way they feel,
and the way they smell -- It seems like
an awful lot for a red-blooded guy like
you to be walking away from.

IOLAUS
(after a beat)
Yeah, I guess you're right. But next
time I hope I find a woman who wants
to kill me with kisses.

Off the laughter of these reunited friends --

FADE OUT.

END OF ACT FOUR