SECOND CHANCE ➶ LETHAL WEAPON FOX (MARTIN RIGGS)

1. SAVE YOU

[Avery]: He does a lot of paperwork.

"In the spirit of, well, Christmas," Martin Riggs says, simultaneously walking up to the building in front of him and scratching his ear, "I give you me." He looks around at the masked snipers stationed on multiple floors, poking their guns out of shattered windows. "An unarmed cop. You're welcome." The signature smirk lights up his face as he counts the visible gunmen.

One sniper takes a shot at the curly-haired detective- and misses, only grazing his ear.

The detective reaches up to stop the flow of hot blood running down the side of his face, unfazed. "Now, that's not very Christmasy of you!" Martin shouts, his voice rich with sarcasm. "Whaddya think, Rog?" He looks over his shoulder at his partner, Roger Murtaugh.

"I think we oughta show them what Christmas is all about- and I'm not talking about baby Jesus," Roger replies. He pulls out a handgun from his belt and shoots the left arm of the sniper that shot at Martin.

Riggs ignores Brook Avery's streetside shouts for him to get back and instead bolts inside the building's doors. Inside, he tackles an enemy guard, knocking him out by ramming the butt of a stolen machine gun into his head. Martin yanks the plastic mask off of the gunman and puts it on himself. He rushes up the first set of stairs he sees, hearing continuous gunshots being exchanged outside between Roger and the snipers. He takes out three snipers on the second floor before continuing up the stairs.

Finding only two snipers on the third floor, he shoots one and is about to shoot the other when he hears a gunshot followed by a woman's scream. He looks up, trying to figure out where the sound came from, never taking the barrel of his gun off the temple of the last sniper on that floor.

"How many others do you have that I don't know about?" He asks the terrified gunman, who shrugs and hastily shakes his head in response.

"I-I don't know, man, I didn't know he took any hostages." The man closes his eyes. "Just shoot, man."

"How many?" Martin demands again, this time growling the question in the man's ear.

"I said I don't-" He's cut off by the deafening sound of a bullet that Martin shoots him with. The sniper slumps to the ground.

Riggs makes his way up the stairs, finding that the fourth floor of the crumbling old apartment building is the last.

"Put your hands up!" Yells a masked gunman.

"Woah, woah, no need to point that." Martin moves the man's gun to the side with his fingertip. "It's me, man. It's me."

The man points at the shiny detective's badge hanging from one of Martin's belt loops. "Thought you took that off, copper?"

"Shit."

Martin watches in slow motion as he jumps, then barrel-rolls, into an open apartment, an effort to avoid the bullets spraying from the gunman's machine gun. His leg suddenly feels like it caught on fire and he realizes he's been shot.

Slowly, his gun lifts from his side and accurately shoots at the masked man, killing him.

The gun spills from his hand as he lands on his back in the apartment's living room. His leg throbs and his eyes open as he lays, dazed by the pain, on the green carpet. A woman's blue-green eyes meet his as she hurries to put pressure on his wound.

"I'm he-here to save you," Martin mumbles. He wants to die, but not by the process of bleeding out, he realizes.

"Thanks, but your friend out there already did." She looks at an unmoving figure on the floor next to a window. "But I'm a med student, and I'm here to save you."

Cold hands make painful contact with the bullet wound and he grimaces, a look which quickly turns to a pained smile. "I appreciate what you're doing, but, honey, your hands are freezing."

She smiles knowingly. "You're gonna have to deal with that, detective, because I'm the only thing keeping you alive."

"Riggs," a voice calls from down the hall. "Riggs!"

The woman looks up, afraid.

Roger Murtaugh enters the room, jogging. His eyes widen at the sight of his partner lying on the floor with a serious wound.

"What happened?" He asks incredulously as he kneels down. "And who are you?" He looks at the woman who still sits by Martin, applying incredible pressure to his wound.

"Sonvabitch out there shot me," Riggs says, laughing and jerking his thumb in the direction of the hallway. Nausea begins to set in and Martin tries to ignore it. "And this is our hidden hostage, uh; what's your name?"

"Dahlia Amerson. I'm a med student at the Keck School. Now can we please get this guy an ambulance?"