I believe, I believe there's a reason
There's a breach in the hull
Started going under, loot and plunder
Cut 'em down, cut 'em Down at the knees, yeah
Cut 'em down to the bone
Just a lesser evil, born unequal
You show them where they belong
Tear right through them, tear right through them all
We pretend in the darkness
We pretend the night won't steal our youth
Singing me the sweet songs of seduction
Let me be the fool, fool, fool
Who will live and die for you
We pretend in the darkness
We pretend the night won't steal our youth
Singing me the sweet songs of seduction
Let me be the fool, fool, fool
Who will live and die for you
[slow tune playing on guitar]
Still nothing?
Mmm.
- They're toying with us. - You think?
Can we try messaging the Vanguard again?
Maybe poke around the Ether?
[Julian] Not till we figure out how the Union is tracing us.
[in Japanese]
[Valentina] I have the haziest memories learning as a kid.
It's weird.
[Kazu in Japanese]
Memories of me learning old Gekirin songs
on a rooftop in Shinjuku.
Maybe now there are some things you understand about me, too?
You guys meta-minded while fighting Nemesis.
[in Japanese]
But you were brilliant together.
I shared senses with Valentina back at the Union facility,
and look what they did.
[in Japanese]
I'd feel bad when your head exploded
'cause you couldn't even handle the mind of a 17-year-old girl.
Other than that, I got no shame.
The rest of you, better sort yourselves out though,
'cause we need this.
It's what Doc would've wanted.
All right, I'm gonna patrol a little, and see what I can see.
[in Japanese]
I've swept the ship best I can, nothing transmitting.
And weather should solve the satellite problem.
Fuel, food, sleep, we can't do this much longer.
What would you like us to do, huh? Drop you off at a club?
Yes. Until then, we need a real plan.
If we keep doing this, we must be lucky every time.
The Union only has to get lucky once.
[gasps]
[Nemesis] Kind of drives you crazy, doesn't it?
When you realize you can't cry in one of these things.
There's a lot that's fuzzy.
But some moments, some memories...
Are you still human if you can't cry?
Or sleep? Or dream?
[Julian] Yaz, Cammie, come in, do you hear this?
[Cammie] We gotta go.
We've got another wave coming in fast from the northeast.
[Nemesis] When are you gonna stop running from the truth?
[Julian] That's the last of them.
[Nemesis] Run all you want.
It doesn't stop until you're gone.
[Julian] Man, I'd pay real money if you'd just shut up.
Say again?
[Julian] I... This nemesis keeps monologuing at me.
[Yaz] You can hear him, now?
Yeah, of course,
he's on our network.
Down, we gotta put down now.
- Cammie? - Land!
[Julian] What the hell, girl?
Oh, I'm so stupid. I know how they're finding us.
Don't download yet.
You've got to get on board.
Your Holon, you need to stow it.
At least one of us has got to be ready to fight.
Come on now, we've got to move before they find us again.
Who takes over for Chase?
Nobody, none of us can upload.
The Doc told you he's you,
gen: LOCK.
That means he's always on the GL network.
He senses us when we're uploaded.
[Yaz] He can find us through gen: LOCK?
That's why he kept showing up whenever we went on a mission.
Does that mean he's been creeping on us the entire time?
Range might be a factor, I don't know.
But maybe, yeah, he could've been listening in.
Which gets him what?
Well, it's you, what would you do?
He's fighting for the Union,
which says "whatever he is, he ain't me."
Not anymore.
Cammie, can we not block him?
The GL net's all about
making it as easy as possible to share your minds.
If I had the source codes, maybe I could rewrite
the protocol stack, but...
So, we never upload again?
Stay off the gen: LOCK network, they don't find us?
That doesn't feel right.
[in Japanese]
We promised him we'd team up and try to help,
see where gen: LOCK can go.
Where it went is a dead end.
Without him, the technology has no future.
So, I ask again, what is our end game?
We protect gen: LOCK.
[in Japanese]
Like hell.
If you insist on uploading again,
then we need to split up.
You need to be stronger than this.
Dr. Weller is dead, but we're not.
And I'm not gonna let his hope die with him.
- Omega protocols in effect. - [all gasp]
Julian Chase code phrase required.
What the bloody hell?
[in Japanese]
Not till now.
Why does it sound like the...
Julian Chase, code phrase required.
Mmm.
Let the good times roll?
Accepted, please confirm the status of Dr. Weller.
Dr. Weller is dead.
Omega protocols apply, message as follows.
Hello, well, here's your deus ex machina.
Or would it be doctor ex machina?
Well, horrible cliche either way, I suppose. Hmm.
If you're seeing this, then you are my recruits,
and I am no more.
Caliban, however, is clearly with you,
and ought to be of some assistance.
You should know that he was one of my earliest gen: LOCK experiments.
Notjust for testing Holon frame ideas either.
He contains one of the earliest cyberbrain dev platforms,
loaded with a sliver of my own neural pattern,
which makes him rather effective as my walking personal data assistant,
but horrible at my wit, which is why I tend to leave him muted.
He's been loaded over the years with everything I know about gen: LOCK.
Notes, theories, plans.
So, probably best you don't broadcast
exactly what he is.
Now, I'm not good with the personal touch.
Opening up.
It's something I've struggled with.
And that has cost me over the years.
And as you are seeing this message,
it means it also cost me the ability to tell you in person
how much you mean to me.
You're each so very special.
I regret I shall not have the chance
to see all your finer moments that lie ahead.
But you share such a unique bond.
I have faith that even in the most challenging times,
it will help see you through.
Be well.
- Cal. - Julian Chase.
Just call me Chase.
Cal, what was the next step for the gen: LOCK team?
Did the Doc intend for us to stay at the Anvil forever?
Upon completion of prototype phase,
Vanguard is to commence phase two,
manufacturing, while phase three,
research and development,
relocated to the Rogue Technology,
Aeronautics, and Space Administration assembly facility.
Whoa! RTASA, seriously? Why?
All in favor for going there now and figuring it out later?
Anywhere is better than nowhere.
[in Japanese]
Depends what kind of drinks they serve in nowhere.
[Cammie] Yeah, but you know what RTASA's got?
Astronaut ice cream.
Really, nothing?
Caliban, coordinates for the RTASA facility, please.
Certainly, after all, the only disability in life
is a bad latitude.
Holding for laugh.
Transferring coordinates.
Huh! Never heard of a base out there.
It's RTASA, they're not exactly known for advertising their location.
All right, everyone better strap in.
A lot of turbulence ahead.
Ain't that a metaphor.
[snoring]
Hey, talk to me.
That's really me out there, Yaz, hunting us.
We've been fighting me.
You're so much more than that thing.
Am I?
For better or worse, I don't believe it's you.
Not anymore.
Who knows what the Union did to that version of you
once they understood what you were?
Certainly experimented.
Knowing them, they probably brainwashed you,
damaged or wiped portions of you.
And then aimed what was left back at us.
And that brain's been running nonstop ever since.
Who knows what that would do to a mind?
The real me got turned into that.
I'm a copy, a code branch.
Another chance, a "what if."
You're real to them, to us, to me.
I don't know if that's enough.
[yawns] Yaz, how you holding up?
It's possible I'm more caffeinated than you.
[in Japanese]
I've tried standard frequencies, nothing.
Not a great sign.
No ground markings of any kind.
Either they moved or...
Or they don't wanna be found any more than we do.
[Caliban] Or I entered the wrong coordinates.
I didn't,
but it's a less ominous thought, don't you agree?
[in Japanese]
- I got a bad feeling about this. - Don't you start with that.
I have experienced warmer welcomes.
Cemeteries, the Arctic, the ex-wife.
Hey, Cal, I'm gonna need you to stay on mute for a little bit.
[beeps]
Eyes up.
Anybody here order a pizza?
Nobody, really?
All right, we were supposed to deliver
to a secret facility in the middle of nowhere,
this has got to be it.
Wait, lower your guns, everybody chill.
- Henry? - They're cool,
and they have cool toys, so stand down.
Hey! No shoot-y.
- Henry, what are you doing here? - Science.
What are you doing here?
You've not heard any news?
Is something up? You guys okay?
Is there somewhere we can talk?
Well, we do have this giant secret research facility.
Follow me.
And who have we here?
Dr. Jha, this is the team I told you about.
Rescued us with the badass Mecha.
Ma'am, I'm Lieutenant Julian Chase of the...
Formerly, of the Vanguard 101st.
These are my teammates.
Ma'am, we've been attached to a project for Dr. Rufus Weller.
- Do you know him? - Better than most.
Never as well as I think.
Sounds about right.
He sent us.
Sent you, already?
Just like him not to update me first.
Ma'am, Dr. Weller died in a Union attack yesterday.
Rufus died?
Yes, ma'am.
Rufus died.
- I told him, I told him. - [Julian] Ma'am?
And you are all part of the gen: LOCK program?
You know about the gen: LOCK?
I was there when he first proved it out.
- You worked with him at the ESU? - [Dr. Jha] No.
I was married to him.
Damn.
[Julian] So you see, ma'am, we barely got out of there ourselves.
[Yaz] You should know he died saving us,
giving us time to escape.
And you brought the Holons.
Not in the best shape now, but yeah.
Holons, brains, whole system.
Five field-ready Holons?
I knew he made it to recruiting,
but progress at this pace is astounding.
Yeah, life's been coming at us kind of fast these days.
[in Japanese]
I wonder if he even let Holcroft know.
Holcroft, like the Marc Holcroft?
He's the principal investor in the ESU, RTASA as well.
The three of us were more or less partners before...
Before I decided it would be better if I returned to my work here.
How strange.
If gen: LOCK worked,
we planned to share it with a variety
of other organizations, including RTASA.
But once the war began,
I stopped believing it would happen.
[Julian] Yeah, well, gen: LOCK is here now.
Just probably not how you imagined it.
And it possibly should not stay here.
Where we go, danger tends to follow.
I wonder if Rufus kept Marc up to speed.
Okay, what's the password?
Open up before I kill ya?
Good guess.
And these are Weller's recruits.
Cameron MacCloud, Scottish hacktivist
turned white hat cybersecurity expert
for the Polity after going just a bit too far.
Iida Kazu, Japanese SDF washout.
[in Japanese]
Valentina Romanyszyn,
former Russian advanced recon and stealth ops,
fell in with the Ukrainian Resistance due to,
shall we say, societal pressures.
Retired, but pressed into service again, eh?
Yasamin Madrani, former Union citizen.
Sought asylum at the Polity after learning she was responsible
for outing her parents as intellectuals,
after which, the Union took them.
Not least is Julian Chase, American.
Father NYPD, died in the line of duty.
Rising star of the Vanguard's aerial combat wing
until the Battle of New York
where his mother and sister were also lost.
Recovered by the ESU where he became
the very first human mind in history
to be transferred to an electronic brain.
Not without incident, of course.
Now listen here, O great and powerful Oz...
[Marc] Please, relax.
Rufus passed along your names as you were identified,
and I'm always sure to research my investments.
I am sorry that Rufus won't be here to see his work change the world.
He was a brilliant engineer and a friend.
[sighs]
But this leads us to you.
Whatever in the world to do with you now?
We got the last known working bits of gen: LOCK tech,
and the Union wants it.
We're putting Dr. Jha and her team at risk just by being here.
There is a rogue version of Chase
who can track us when we're uploaded.
We cannot even use gen: LOCK now.
The lost Holon, yes.
The Union is nothing if not thieving.
Incapable of innovating on their own.
You say it's located?
If you wanna get specific, it can locate us.
[in Japanese]
It never rains.
Well, what do you propose?
I was apprenticing under the Doc.
He started to teach me the ins and outs of GL.
I got a fair idea how to at least maintain things.
Well, isn't that fortuitous?
Perhaps you can devise a way to shut down your interloper.
I find it irksome that the Union has my technology.
[Julian] Can we not forget it's a stolen version of me?
[Marc] Chase, I can only imagine what you're going through.
But in times of stress, I find it most productive
to keep focused on the goal.
Do I assume correctly that if you were enabled,
you'd go after this lost Holon?
That's for damn sure.
Then that's the deal.
Dr. Jha, help the gen: LOCK team repair their Holons.
Why don't we make use of our latest materials?
Uh... If I may, I'd like to ask we don't simply repair them.
I've got some new designs for armor upgrades I think would help.
We have to work from something.
You have the CAD files?
Yes, send them over.
Bring in the lost Holon or eliminate it.
So long as it doesn't remain in the hands of the Union.
After that, we can discuss the future.
[Kazu in Japanese]
They're beautiful.
[Kazu in Japanese]
Yeah, you got some catching up to do on the manga, but...
[in Japanese]
What have you done to yours, Cammie?
It me.
Chase,
we cool?
[Julian chuckles] We're better than cool.
And your Holon's not the only one who changed its look, eh?
It didn't occur to me that I should try to change my look every four years.
Plus, I got a new team now, you know?
[Yaz] It looks good on you.
Excellent. Well, I'm gonna go sleep for a week.
Then what, boss man?
We deal with Nemesis.
One way or the other.