This is an animated military series following the battles of the United Nations’ highly-trained special missions force and their efforts to safeguard the world from the Hive, a terrorist network comprised of superhumans. This scene from S1E04, "The Phoenix Initiative: Part IV - No One Nation," pits newly-appointed and untested unit commander Joule up against the President of the United States, whose daughter (also a soldier) has been abducted by Hive agents.
INT. INTERPRETER’S BOOTH - MORNING
JOULE stands at the window of one of the many interpreters’ offices that line the General Assembly Hall’s second floor and looks out over the still-smoldering wreckage of Vault’s MH-60G Pave Hawk. The damage to the Hall is extensive.
A KNOCK sounds at the office door. Joule turns.
PRESIDENT BROCK and SPECIAL AGENT CALLOWAY enter. Calloway remains at the wall with her hands clasped in front of her as Brock comes to stand alongside Joule at the window.
JOULE
Madam President.
BROCK
So you’re having a little bit of a day.
JOULE
I guess we both are.
An awkward silence passes before...
BROCK
Eiko, right now, I need to know that you’re doing everything you can to get my daughter back safely.
JOULE
Revenant is leading a search party now.
BROCK
The very woman who put my little girl in harm’s way in the first place. You’ll understand if that notion doesn’t exactly overwhelm me with confidence.
(beat)
Why didn’t you lead that search yourself?
JOULE
I’m needed here, ma’am. At the last head count, I have a rogue Secretary-General to locate, a search and rescue mission to coordinate, a delicate extraction outside of Paris, and two simultaneous operations to two of the most dangerous locations on the planet to oversee.
(beat)
With all due respect, I can’t be your daughter’s baby-sitter. Not today.
BROCK
That is my only child out there, Admiral.
JOULE
Blindside isn’t just your child, ma’am. She is a Major in the United States Air Force and a highly-decorated fighter pilot. And she’s going to prove all of that by allowing me to do my job without trading the world’s security for her own.
(beat)
I’m needed here.
Brock stares through the glass, waiting a moment to speak.
BROCK
I’m not the first female president the United States has had. Amanda Claymore beat me to that dance, and History holds precious little regard for Second Place.
(beat)
Even with that particular hurdle cleared, do you have any idea how much resistance I’ve had to endure since I was sworn in?
(beat)
When your name turned up on the short list for Hightower’s job, I took a risk on you, and it cost me. I probably have more enemies in my own party now than I do in the Democratic. And they hate me!
(beat)
I don’t mean to imply that you owe me...
JOULE
Good. Because even if I did, it wouldn’t change anything. It wouldn’t change the way I lead this unit, and it wouldn’t change the way I’m handling Blindside’s capture -- Not abduction, capture!
(beat)
Revenant is right, Madam President. Blindside’s not a child; she’s a soldier! And if you wagered that endangering your presidency by putting my name in a hat was somehow going to make me subject to your every political and militaristic whim, I’m afraid you are sorely mistaken.
BROCK
Take caution to your tone, Admiral.
JOULE
No, ma’am, I don’t believe I will. This is why the Shadow Corps exists! This, right here. This exact reason. “When our problems finally grow too great for any one country to solve, the United Nations must answer the call. That call: an army, loyal to no one nation or leader but with allegiances to all, to police the world.”
BROCK
Why does that sound familiar?
JOULE
Because you said it. Right down there.
BROCK
That must’ve been fifteen years ago!
JOULE
It still stands.
(beat)
I don’t answer to you, Madam President. I’m not a citizen of the United States, and I’m not an officer in your military. My responsibility is to the world, to everyone’s daughters, not only yours.
(beat)
We will do everything we can to get her back, but there is simply more at stake right now than just her safety, and if that revelation in any way blemishes your opinion of me, you’re welcome to draft a new short list for my replacement. As I understand it, the person in my position tends to have a brief life expectancy.
(beat)
Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have to work.
Joule storms out, which you’re really not supposed to do when you’re talking to the President, but Brock looks back over her shoulder to her as she exits, and we
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