Mutant City

Mutant City is the twenty-sixth episode of the series, Mutant Drake.

Plot
In the sky, drifting with direction, the sky is dark, night closing in. The clouds are light with the moon is seen in full phase, situated in the background. The MCA Helicarrier continues its drift, but seems to move elsewhere, other than its usual drift. The atmosphere is calm with a feeling of suspense.

On board, the corridors are empty. It's cold and mostly silent but the ambient sounds of machinery, throughout the carrier, give it a sense of occupation. The view fades over to the central area with the elevator. Empty, still. Same silence, same ambiance. The view fades again to the mess hall. Its tables are without people, as well as the room, itself. Same silence, same ambiance. The view fades once more to the corridors again, now panning across. In one corner, as the view passes along horizontally, an MCA Officer can be seen, checking his phone while leaning against the alcove's wall. As the view continues panning, a window comes into the view with a door besides it. Through it, John can be seen standing in the middle of the room, looking right at the only patient there, Subject SCV22. When the view reaches the end of the corridor, it fades into the Director's office. She can be seen, checking some papers in silence. After a moment of paper checking, a ring is heard. The Director stops what she's doing, looks out with sudden realization and slowly turns towards the direction of the ring. Another ring is heard, emitting from her desk. The Director composes herself and, without haste, reaches underneath her desk. She, shortly later, retrieves a phone from underneath, its cord stretching out from the bottom of the desk. She holds the phone to her head and leans in her seat.

Director, on the phone: This is Director Harper of the Mutation Containment Agency.

She remains on the line, listening in.

Director, on the phone: Yes, what seems to be the problem?

She continues listening in.

Director, on the phone: What about it?

She continues on the phone. His expression appearing less and less content the more she listens.

Director, on the phone: ...The what happened?

At this point, the Director is practically holding the phone with a tight grip, attempting to keep her face composed but slowly failing at it as her forehead creases and her eyebrows start to pull downwards, together. She taps at her desk with her free hand. The tapping increasing in momentum, the more she listens in.

Director, on the phone: Son of a-

The scene quickly cuts to an alarm surrounded by a metal grill. It then lights up abruptly with a red flash followed by a blaring siren noise. After a short moment, the corridors are filled with officers which rush out from various rooms and other corridors. The officers continues rushing down the corridors until they are no longer in view, which still focuses on the corridors. It actually starts to moving closer towards the back of the corridor, focusing on one door in particular. When the view gets close enough, the door slides open and a figure stands in front of the light from inside the room. The scene cuts to a room, similar to the briefing room at the Manhattan outpost, wide-spaced with plenty of seats facing towards the front of the room where a screen is positioned.

The Director can be seen standing in front of the screen, facing the officers which have filled the seats.

Director: I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you all here. It's concerning one of our most dangerous black sites... Noc-143.

Most of the officers are taken aback by the name and talk among themselves in a hushed matter.

Director: I know most of you have heard the rumors... the stories, the experiences from those with the- (swallows) task of visiting the site. Which is exactly why I called for an emergency briefing. As you should know, the sites must be checked on, in-person, at least twice a year. A small team of agents and officers were sent to check on the site, approximately two days ago. I have just received word from the back up team that the initial group had crashed into the site.

The Officers gawk even further.

Director, attempting to speak over them: The barriers are still intact! No Mutants escaped... The good news is we detected an S.O.S. signal from their Jumpjet unit, which means there are survivors. The bad news... they crashed directly in the center of Noc-143...

The Officers are now starting to get restless, their muttering is not as hushed as before. Some voices seemed concerned while others are upset. Panic and fear is the constant theme. The Director can't get a word out, without it being overlapped by the officers in the seats. A piercing noise is then heard, causing the officers to stop their talking and cover their heads. One of the officers looks up and sees Drake standing in the corner, one of his forms activated. There are ports positioned at certain parts of his body, releasing a high-pitched frequency. After a short moment, he lowers his arms and the sound lowers until it is no longer heard.

Director: Thank you, Drake...

Drake: I'm not done, Director. I want to know what Noc-143 is.

John is seen looking at Drake from across the room. He turns and looks at the Director.

John, loudly: And since when did we get black-sites?

He then stops and sticks his finger in his ear, as if cleaning it.

Director: We've always had black-sites, Mr. Reed. We can't always keep Mutants on our premises. In the case where they get too eventful or when we need more space to examine new specimen, Mutants are transferred to Noc-143. (turning to Drake) Think of it like a big cell.

Drake: How big are we talking?

Director: We used an abandoned area, bordered it up and placed all the Mutants in it. It's big... Now any more questions?

Owens, unseen: When do we go and get them?

The Director turns her head and sees Owens leaning against a small table in the corner, with his arms folded. He's wearing a different coat than usual. It's longer, a darker green and more fitted than his jacket. His swords also have different, or at least modified, sheaths, now with straps coming across his torso.

Director: We leave at 0400. Until then, the rescue team will need to be prepped. I will be involved in the progress personally. That brings up the matter at hand... who's going into Noc-143. Now this is a small operation so, besides our mandatory assets... we're only taking volunteers.

The Officers remain where they are, looking amongst themselves in silence. After a moment, one of the officer rises from the others.

Officer: I'll go.

Practically all of the officers turn and look at the one standing. He removes his helmet and shows his face. He has brown hair, neatly styled, and brown eyes. He also has a five o'clock shadow.

Director: Officer Drebin. Thank you for volunteering.

Officer Drebin: Anything for the MCA, Director. Besides, I ain't scared of that place.

Another Officer, standing up: Yeah! Me- me neither. (gulps)

He removes his helmet, showing his face as well. He has blonde, short hair and blue eyes. There are freckles on his cheeks too.

Director: Officer Portnoy. Your participation won't go unnoticed.

Officer Drebin: Thank you, Director...

Director, looking around: Anyone else?

After a short moment of silence, the Director nods.

Director: Alright then. Drebin and Portnoy will be apart of the rescue unit. Agent Mertens and Owens will join as well.

A man, presumingly Mertens, wearing a blue jacket over a pale red/brown shirt with black pants, sunglasses and a stetson. His hair, with only strands sticking out from underneath his hat, is blonde/brown while his eyes are covered by the sunglasses. He is leaning back in his seat with his legs up on the empty seat in front of him. He gives a small salute to the front of the room. The view cuts over to Owens who remains cross-armed against the table. He returns the salute with a nod.

Director, continuing: Drake will be support and Mr. Reed will be joining for extra assistance.

Officer Drebin: Don't you think the Agents are enough? We don't really need a loose cannon and the I.T. guy.

Drake and John look over at Drebin. Drake slightly angered and John upset but more so annoyed.

Director: Are you questioning my orders, Drebin?

Her eyebrows bend until they form an angry expression on her face.

Officer Drebin looks concerned momentarily.

Officer Drebin: No... (clears throat) I mean- No, Director.

Director: Drake and Mr. Reed are more than capable of performing this operation. If you feel uncomfortable, you can always sit this one out.

Drebin looks upset. He looks over at John who smirks at him with a sly smile.

Director, voice raising: Well?

Officer Drebin: No, Director. I will continue on with the mission.

Director: That's what I thought. (looking around the room) Anyone else have any more questions?

The room remains silent.

Director: Good. Briefing on the operation commences in 10. The rest of you... are dismissed.

The rest of the Officers and Agents get up from their seats and leave the room, leaving behind only Drake, John, Owens, Mertens, Drebin, Portnoy and the Director.

Director: Alright, let's get on with it.

The scene shows the outside of the MCA Helicarrier, soaring through the air.

The scene cuts to the inside with Officer Drebin and Portnoy heading into the hangar room with Owens and Mertens behind.

Mertens: Didn't think the Director would put you on another mission so soon, Owens.

Owens: Why not? It's been months since by recovery.

Mertens: Physical, maybe. But your psych evaluation was just last week.

Owens turns to Mertens, looking at him directly.

Mertens: (shrugs) Just sayin'.

Owens: Remind me why they made you Agent again, Mertens.

Mertens: My innovation, charm and accuracy.

Owens: You might need a re-evaluation when it comes to the second one.

Mertens: Was that a joke? (chuckle) You might need to get kidnapped more often.

Owens: It's not something I want to discuss.

Mertens: No worries, pal. I understand ya'. And don't worry about a thing, alright? I think you got this under control. Never doubted you before, won't do it now.

Owens: Thank you. It's all I can ask for. Aside from more professionalism.

Mertens: That's what we have you for, bud. (laughs)

Mertens walks ahead while Owens stops and watches him enter the hangar room. He turns his head and sees Drake and John approaching.

Drake: You sure you ready for this?

John: I told you before, I want to actually help. Even the Director thinks I can do it. Besides, I won't get in the way just like in Nexus. I'll actually do something, shoot the bad guys and stuff. Maybe I'll even become an Agent like Owens.

Owens: Don't get your hopes up.

John: Uh- A, B conversation, Owens.

Owens lifts an eyebrow.

John, nervously: ...That being said. We always appreciate the C.

Drake, turning to John: I just think you should take it slow. After what the Director just told us, this place sounds...

John: Hardcore?

Drake: Yeah, that. Hard... core... Just stay by me when we're there. You can handle the- easy-core stuff.

John: You- the- That's not how it works, Drake.

Drake: Eh- I tried.

Director, coming into view: John, a word would you please.

John: Oh um sure.

Director: In private. It concerns the mission.

John: Oh alright. (to Drake) I guess I'll see you on the jet.

John goes over to the Director and they both walk away into the main elevator. Drake looks up as the platform rises. The sound of footsteps approaching in a rushing manner grab his attention. He turns his head and sees Kate running down the corridor, approaching them.

Kate: Hey, I've been trying to get into that meeting room whatever for hours but they wouldn't let me in. What's going on?

Owens: It's classified, Ms. Wilson.

Drake: We're going on a rescue operation to an MCA black-site.

Owens, turning to Drake: What part of "It's Classified" did you not understand?

Drake: We work together, how is that any different from me working with you? Whatever the Director has to tell me, I can also tell my friends.

Owens: You really can't. Hence "It's Classified". Noc-143 is not meant to be known by anyone but those in the MCA and anything beyond such. Ms. Wilson does not apply to either of those. Besides, I assume she's still in media. A reporter, right?

Kate: Journalist-in-training...

Owens: Isn't that the same thing?

Drake: It's not a problem, Owens.

Kate: Yeah, I've been here for months, okay? I'm not gonna just publish all your secrets like some doxer. I don't really support the MCA actively but I've had looks around, seen what Drake does here. He could have left if he wanted to but he stayed so I have to assume he cares for this place and for the people here. So I won't betray him, or you guys either.

Owens: Not incredibly convincing but, at least, it's truthful.

Kate: Only interested in the truth.

Owens: Fine. I'm convinced. But the answer to your question is no.

Kate: I didn't even ask anything.

Owens: Were you?

Kate: ...I was going to ask if I could tag along. Check out things out and report about it.

Before Owens can say anything, Kate turns to him and continues what she was saying.

Kate: -Without releasing any private information about the MCA and its operations.

Owens: ...Answer's still no.

Drake: And it's dangerous, Kate. The briefing gave me an idea of what we're dealing with.

Kate: Oh come on, I'll stick close.

Drake: No.

Kate: I'll stay out of the way, just look and observe.

Drake: You're not coming, Kate.

The scene cuts to two Jumpjets soaring through the air.

The view shows the interior of one of the Jumpjets where a crew of two is seen in the back. Kate is seen sitting across from Agent Mertens. She has a small smile on her face while he seems a little annoyed.

Mertens, activating his comms: Remind me why the girl is here again.

Owens, over the comms: Drake vouched for her. She's good.

Mertens: Ri-i-ight.

Kate, giving a small wave: Hi.

Mertens: Hey...

The scene cuts over to the second Jumpjet where Drake, John, Drebin and Portnoy are seated in the back of the Jumpjet. John is outfitted in a MCA outfit. Drake looks over across the bay and sees Drebin and Portnoy sitting next to each other. Drebin has a set of orange headphones on and is nodding his head slightly. His eyes shift over to Drake who is still looking right at him.

Drebin, removing the headphones: What? What are you looking at?

Drake: Your uh-

Drebin looks at him questionably. Drake then puts his hands by the sides of his head, circling them around. Drebin looks down at his headphone and back at Drake.

Drebin, showing his headphones: You mean these?

Drake: Yeah... What are they?

Drebin: (chuckles) You never heard of headphones?

Drake looks at John who acknowledges the look before looking over at Drebin.

John: He's still learning... some things.

Drebin: Well, they're called headphones. Lets you listen to music on the go.

Drake: Music...

Drebin: No sense in 'splainin' it, you have to experience it yourself in order to know what it's like, kid.

Drebin hands him the headphones along with a blue cassette tape player.

Drake, taking them: You sure you want me to have them? They look... weak.

John: He means delicate.

Drebin: Sure, take 'em. Plenty more where those came from. I've been meaning to talk anyways.

Drake examines the headphones before putting them on. Some classic rock song overlaps the atmosphere of the Jumpjet.

Drake: Whoa...

Drake looks down at the cassette tape inside the player which reads "Epic Tunes".

John: What'd you want to talk about?

Drebin: The mission. I mean, can you believe we're actually going to Mutant City? We got that warning light going on and I'm like April Fools isn't until another two days.

John, giving them a questionable expression: "Mutant City?"

Portnoy: It's what a lot of them call Noc-143. I mean I thought it was just stories, man. Rumors to scare the new guys.

Drebin: (chuckles to himself) No, man. It's real. We're going straight for the danger zone. Mutants galore.

John: It doesn't sound that bad. It's a Mutant containment area with a lot of Mutants. Neutralized Official Containment... Noc. All we have to do is stick to the mission.

Drebin: It's bad enough dealing with normal Mutants, now? We got a whole city full of 'em and you think it's not that bad. From what I heard, you'd be lucky to survive ten minutes.

Portnoy: Hopefully, it only takes us five.

John: I don't know about you but I can take on some Mutants if I needed to.

Drebin: You? You work with computers. You even use that blaster before?

John: I blew up a mercenary and a head Mutant with my blaster.

Portnoy: Impressive...

Drebin: Yeah, whatever.

Portnoy looks over at Drake and John.

Portnoy: So you two fight those... fight those new Mutants?

John: Well, er...

Drake: Try to...

Portnoy chuckles awkwardly.

Drebin: So what type of Mutants do you think we're dealing with? Nothing like those crazy ones that go around kidnapping officers.

John: Mainly ones that have already been categorized and identified. Those that haven't are deemed too dangerous for up-close study. From what I gathered from the briefing, Noc-143 not only keeps Mutants away from the districts and the wanderers but also gives the MCA an opportunity to study them from a distance.

Portnoy: You still think we can find a cure?

John: I've... embraced the possibility of not having one already but it doesn't mean we stop trying.

Drebin: This is the world now, kid. Best to get on with it. The sooner these things are contained, the sooner we can have normality back. Just be sure to keep that blaster close to you, in there, it's no longer our world, it's theirs. And in their world, it's either shoot or be eaten.

John, sarcastic: Oh what sound wisdom.

Owens, calling out from the front: We're approaching the site.

Mertens, over the comms: Acknowledged. Keeping distance.

John accesses a monitor on his arm and, somehow, activates the monitor in the back of the Jumpjet. Visuals on a district appear on the monitor. It appears as a large, abandoned-looking city with barriers around it, encasing it completely. However, the barriers look more enforced than the average city district. The view transitions almost unnoticeable to the actual city district, showing the Jumpjets approaching it.

John, unseen That's Noc-143?

Drebin, unseen: Guess so.

The scene cuts back to the inside of the Jumpjet.

John: Looks like Vegas.

Drebin: You've been?

John: No, just saw pictures.

Drebin: Probably is. Heard the place was one of the worst places to be in the incident.

John: Why's that?

Drebin: Meh... Your guess is as good as mine.

Portnoy: How'd you access the monitor like that?

John, showing his arm monitor: It's these specialized suits, they have arm monitors which can access comms, limited stealth mode and even trackers so we can find each other.

Drebin: Neat.

The ship then shakes momentarily.

Portnoy, worried: What was that?!

John: Owens?

The scene cuts to the front of the Jumpjet with Owens, attempting to pilot it. A yellow energy beam shoots out from the ground level, nearly missing the Jumpjet, causing it shake more.

Owens, piloting: We're under attack. Hold on to something. The scene cuts to the outside with the Jumpjet swerving away from the beams until it finally gets hit by one causing the jet to explode into pieces. Kate is then seen looking at their own Jumpjet's monitor which shows the explosion of the first Jumpjet.

Kate: NO!

Kate rushes up from her bench and comes to the monitor.

Kate: John? John, are you there? Answer me! ...Drake? Come in! Please... (sobs)

The scene cuts back to the crashing Jumpjet, speeding towards the district. The barriers around the city fluctuate slightly to allow the entry of the Jumpjet, as if a small hole had appeared within the energy barriers. Once the Jumpjet phases through, the hole closes and the Jumpjet crashes through an old building, parts of the Jumpjet then start to fall apart going in different places. Drake is then seen falling out of the Jumpjet and crashing into a pile of debris while the remaining of the Jumpjet continues falling by until it crashes down the street. A column of smoke rises from down the street. The scene cuts, a moment later, back to Kate who continues sobbing by the monitor. Mertens goes to her and holds her, trying to move her away from the monitor.

Mertens: I'm sorry, ma'am. Hopefully they survived but right now we gotta focus on getting away. Harrison, get us out of here!

Kate, realizing: What? (pushes off of Mertens) No. No! You have to go in there and get them. They- they can still be okay!

Mertens: If we get any closer, we'll get shot down too. We'll go back, get some more jets out here. They're good at what they do. Anyways, I'm not so worried about the crash, itself... I'm just worried about where they crashed.

The scene then fades back onto the streets of Noc-143. Drake is seen laying against some bricks, stones and other debris. He opens his eyes as classic pop music from the headphones around his neck now, are distinctly heard. He attempts to get up, more so leaning up from the pile and groans in slight pain. He turns his head and sees the smoke rising from down the street.

Song, over the headphones: Stuck in the ground, Hunted around- You gotta keep on the mo-o-ove! Watchin' the town-

Drake proceeds to get up from the pile and brushes off the dust from his suit. A screech is heard from the distance, catching Drake's attention however he doesn't seem to see anything. He turns his head back to the smoke and starts walking towards it. As he continues walking down, he looks around, hearing roars and screeches for a far away. The ground then shakes slightly, a couple of small rocks shake around on the ground. Drake stops and looks ahead, a shadow appearing around the corner as the ground continue to shake slightly. Drake readies his fists but then turns his head and sees an abandoned building to the right of him. He hurries over to it and takes cover behind a wall. He remains there for a short moment as the sound of an approaching object is heard behind him. He peeks around the wall and sees a Mutant emerge from behind the corner. It's large, reptile-like with armored scales, a spiked tail and spots. It looks around with its mouth open, in a hissing manner. Drake keeps close to the wall but the Mutant looks right over at the building he's hiding in. The Mutant then continues approaching, now moving closer and closer to the building. As it continues approaching, another Mutant, smaller, red and with several fins on its body, scales up on the building behind the first Mutant. It screeches out, catching the Mutant's attention. It turns around and roars out at the red Mutant but before it can react, the red Mutant leaps off from the rooftop and engages in combat with the Mutant. The two continue fighting, tossing around on the streets of the city. The larger Mutant shakes the red Mutant off of itself and charges for it, head-on, but the red Mutant opens its mouth, revealing its fangs and bites into the neck of the initial Mutant. The Mutant roars out in pain and swings its tail at the red Mutant, knocking it off of it. The red Mutant, now away from the larger one, screeches once more and takes off down the street, back where it came from. The initial Mutant roars out and chases after the red one, leaving the street deserted again. Drake leans against the wall and exhales. A voice is then heard very distinctly. Drake looks around, leaning his head down to hear it more clearer.

Man, from a distance: John! ...Drake!

Drake then grunts and looks around the building. He then sees a column leading upwards and a hole in the ceiling directly above it. Sunlight is beaming through the hole. By the column, there's a broken sign with scratches on it, blocking out some of the words. The sign reads, "Revolving (scratched out word) Lounge" and "Hottest tables in (scratched out word)". The word revolving has a red stain across it, making it appear like the word, "revolting". Drake activates his ax-form and stretches out his arm. He swings it over to the top of the column and the ax-head clings against it. He then pulls himself over to it and proceeds to climb up the column through the hole in the ceiling. The scene cuts to later on, at the top of the building, where Drake is seen climbing through the hole and making his way onto the roof platform. The man is still heard distinctly in the far distance. Drake looks down at the ruined city. Most of the buildings are in ruin while only a small few are still in-tact. He can make out a few small flying, winged Mutants soaring through the skies, circling around one tower in particular. Smoke is rising from several buildings. A fire visible in one of them.

Man, from a distance: Drake! ...John! John!

Drake turns his head and sees the crashed remains of the Jumpjet along the Strip. Smoke is rising from its engine. While Owens is no where to be seen, Drebin is apparently patrolling around the area, armed with one of his blasters, while Portnoy is on top of a pile of debris, with his hands cupped around his mouth, yelling.

Portnoy, from a distance: Drake! John!

Drebin is then seen noticing something and moving towards the inside of the Jumpjet remains. Drake then squints and pulls his goggles down over his eyes. The scene over to inside of the Jumpjet with Owens leaning against a collapsed seat. Drebin enters and helps an awakening Owens up.

Drebin: You alright?

Owens: What were you doing?

Drebin: Setting a perimeter, make the place safe.

Owens: Trust me, there's no such thing as safe in this place. We need to get out of here-

Portnoy, in the close distance: Drake!

Owens: Would you tell Portnoy to stop making that noise, that's a very bad idea.

Drebin, turning to Portnoy: Portnoy!

Portnoy: John!

Drebin: Portnoy! Owens, says that's a bad idea.

Portnoy: Joh- (turning to Drebin) What?

Drebin: He says that's a bad idea!

Portnoy: What's a bad idea?

A roar is then heard in the distance, catching everyone's attention. Drake then drops down on top of the Jumpjet, startling Portnoy.

Portnoy: AH! (realizing it's Drake) Oh, it's you. Phew!

Drake, jumping down from the top of the Jumpjet: Everyone okay?

Drebin: Scratched up but yeah, we're fine.

Drake, looking around: Wait, where's John?

Portnoy, approaching them from the debris pile: That's why I was calling for him. He got separated from us during the crash.

Drebin: I'm gonna say this again, why don't you just use that tracker John was talking about earlier?

Portnoy: It got busted during the crash. It's gonna take a real genius to figure out how to turn it on.

Drake: Maybe but let me see what I can do.

Owens: You can do that later, right now we need to move out. All that noise must have attracted some unwanted-

The sound of many things approaching is then heard as the ground rumbles.

Owens: ...attention.

As the four of them look towards the approaching sounds, a series of Mutants appear from behind the corner and approach them in somewhat of a hurry. A couple of them being Mutant mosquitoes, large with ragged wings, flapping loudly. Another being a large pale-green eyeball with long spider-like legs. A few being humanoid in one way or another. The rest varying in different Mutations. All of them together, facing against the four of them, but remaining still across from them.

Drebin, noticing: They're not moving...

Owens: Something's wrong.

Portnoy: Seriously? Mutants aren't attacking us and there's something wrong?

Owens: There's a reason we're called the Mutation Containment Agency, Portnoy.

The Mutants are the front of the ensemble start moving aside as a figure from within starts making their way towards the front.

Drake, readying himself: Something's coming.

Drebin readies his blaster while Portnoy stands there, looking worried. As the Mutants who are moving, finished. The figure from within steps to the front of the crowd. The figure being Dr. Nemo, himself.

Dr. Nemo: Ah, Vigilante, good to see a familiar face these days.

Drake: Dr. Nemo?

Portnoy: Uh... Is that a monkey?

Dr. Nemo: I assure you, I am more than just an ape. I am a man... reborn from the past and a Mutant re-purposed for control of the present.

Drake: What are you doing here, Nemo?

Dr. Nemo: That's doctor Nemo to you, Vigilante. And it's like I said. I am here for control.

Owens: You won't find what you're looking for here.

Dr. Nemo: I think you and I both know that's not true, Agent. This is N.O.C. One Hundred and Forty Three. A containment area created to contain uncontrollable Mutants.

Owens: How do you know that?

Dr. Nemo: Before my... change, I studied animals among other things. I know their thinking. You people at the Mutation Containment Agency believe you are the predator and that Mutant-Kind is your prey... but you are wrong. Mutant-Kind is the bait to the prey and you are the prey to the predator. I am the predator.

Drebin: What are you talking about?

Dr. Nemo: My point is, I anticipated that a group of your people who come to me when a Mutant attack were to occur. And let's just say, some of your people like to talk before being torn apart.

Drake, clearly angered: There's nothing here for you, Nemo. It's a city with Mutants. Nothing more.

Dr. Nemo: You forget, Vigilante. I control Mutants with my transmitter. I have control of this city. And once I find what I'm looking for, I will show the nation- then the world my power, my genius, my control.

Drake: I'm not going to let that happen, Nemo.

Dr. Nemo exhales through his nose.

Dr. Nemo: So be it.

Nemo closes his eyes and activates his transmitter, releasing a wave of energy around the area. When the energy hits Drake, he looks a little woozy but almost instantly shakes it off.

Dr. Nemo: Attack, my Mutants! Attack them for me!

The Mutants then growl, roar, hiss and screech out at the four of them and charge towards them. Drake then runs towards the oncoming ensemble of Mutants. As he approaches the first of the Mutants, an over-sized Mutant tortoise with a thick-looking shell and claws propped out of its skin, Drake activates his ice mace-form, swings it over and slams it against the head of the Mutant, knocking it to the ground. Drebin runs forwards as well, pulling out his second blaster and firing rapid laser fire upon the Mutant army while releasing a powerful yell. Owens runs forwards also, drawing his two blades in the process. He jumps out of the way as a rock Mutant slams its fist against the ground. Owens looks up and deflects the next strike with his blades. Sparks emitting from the blades upon contact with the stone fist. Portnoy draws his heavy blaster and fires upon the Mutants well. Above him, the Mutant mosquitoes are seen approaching him, readying their stingers. They're about to attack until they explode upon contact with a laser blast, splattering purple splashes across the ground and on Portnoy. Portnoy turns and sees Drebin across from him on the Strip, smoke leaving the barrel of his blasters. He then nods at Portnoy and returns to the fight. Portnoy nods as well and turns his head, seeing Dr. Nemo standing there, watching the fight unfold.

Portnoy, running forwards: I'm going for the monkey!

Owens continues deflecting the strikes for the rock Mutant with his blades. He pushes the Mutant back and kicks behind him, knocking over a humanoid Mutant with lumpy skin and multiple eyes all over its body. Owens turns his head and sees Portnoy running towards Nemo.

Owens: Portnoy, wait. We need to reassess the situation.

Drake passes by Owens and swings his mace against a similar humanoid Mutant, knocking it back. He turns around and slams his mace-form against another, electrocuting it. Drake turns his head and sees Portnoy, still approaching Nemo.

Drake: No... No, don't-

Drake runs towards Portnoy but is tackled by an insectoid Mutant with green slime dripping from its pincers. The Mutant presses against Drake, snapping its mouth-parts as it trying to eat him.

Drake, struggling: Get off me!

Drake presses his mace hard against the Mutant's stomach. With enough pressure, ice starts spreading from the mace tip across the Mutant's body, freezing it over. Drake then pushes the Mutant back and it lands on its back, frozen solid. Drake breaths heavily then turns sharply to Portnoy who stops and aims for Nemo directly.

Drake: Portnoy, don't!

Portnoy: I've got him!

Portnoy fires directly like Dr. Nemo who evades the oncoming fire, running away seemingly.

Portnoy: Look, I've got the ape on the run! (laughs)

Nemo then leaps onto a building and starts scaling it. Portnoy raises his blaster, firing up the wall. Nemo stops scaling, looks down at Portnoy, grunts and, before the oncoming fire reaches him, he leaps off the side of the building, coming right for Portnoy. Drake coming running to him but before Portnoy can really react, Nemo slams against him, creating a dust cloud upon impact. Drake is knocked down by the force and puts his hand out as the dust cloud comes over him. When the dust clears, he looks surprised. Nemo steps forwards from the small crater with a struggling Portnoy in his grasp.

Drake, getting up: Let him go.

Dr. Nemo: You have always been difficult to control, Vigilante. Surrender yourself to my control and I will let him go. With your power, the world will no my genius sooner than ever.

Drake: I won't give myself up to you. Now let him go.

Dr. Nemo: Clearly you don't understand that every choice you make...

Nemo crushes Portnoy tightly until a snapping sound is heard and his body falls lifelessly within Nemo's grasp. Drake looks surprised slightly.

Dr. Nemo: ...has consequences.

Drebin continues firing on some Mutants. He turns his head and sees Portnoy dead in Nemo's hand.

Drebin: Portnoy... no...

Drake: You killed him...

Dr. Nemo: Just like I will to you.

Drake, upset: I don't think so, Nemo!

Drake charges for Nemo, mace-ready, but a blast of energy knocks Drake back to the ground and pushes Nemo away. Drake attempts to get up but Owens helps him up.

Owens: We're falling back.

Drake: What- No, but Nemo, he-

Owens: He's too powerful, with control of all these Mutants. We're not only outnumbered but we're out-matched. Now we need to regroup and come up with a new plan.

Drake tries to say something but just finds himself nodding and moving away from the fight. Drebin follows after him and Owens as they leave. Nemo then emerges from the smoke and sees the three of them gone. The remaining of the Mutants in Nemo's army, chase after them but another wave of energy hits them, causing them to stop.

Dr. Nemo, to the Mutants: Leave them. I have what I need.

Nemo holds up Portnoy in his hand. The scene cuts over to inside of an abandoned casino. Owens is then seen entering the building followed by Drake and Drebin. Owens stays by the door while Drake walks out, staring into thin air while Drebin scratches the back of his head.

Owens, checking the perimeter: They didn't seem to follow us but we still can't take any chances.

Drebin: What we need to do is go after that big ape.

Owens: It's like I told Drake, Drebin, we're out-matched, out-numbered. We may be able to contain Mutants but not without resources. Our main priority is getting out of here with the survivors.

Drebin: Then afterwards, we what? Capture this Nemo guy for observation? He killed Portnoy, he said he was a man so he should answer for him like one.

Owens: That's not your call.

Drebin: He killed Portnoy! Someone has to do something about it.

Owens: You want to honor him? Do it in your own time. Right now, we've crashed in the middle of one of the most dangerous places on the planet and we have people to rescue. That's the mission, that's what we're here for.

Drebin scoffs and walks away.

Owens: Now, we should get ready to move out. Follow the signal but stay close to the insides of the buildings.

Drake: How do you know so much about this place?

Owens: Because... I was here before. A long time ago.

The scene cuts over to the inside of a hotel room, unkempt. The view pans from the right to the left where John comes into the scene, laying against the floor. A sudden creaking causing him to awaken slowly.

He gets up from the floor and looks around the room. In the wall of the room, there is the missing half of the Jumpjet, lodged within it.

John, looking at the Jumpjet half, to himself: What the-

He then raises his arm and accesses one of the features on his arm monitor.

John, using the comms: Drake? Owens? Anyone?

There is no response.

John, using the comms: Hello? Testing 1-2-3... Apple in the Tree?

There is no response. There is however a scratching at the door. John turns around and looks at the door, the scratching continues. The scratching then slowly builds up to a pounding noise. John steps back slowly away from the door until he accidentally bumps into the Jumpjet half, causing it to shift backwards. It then falls out of the wall, causing John to step away from the wall and turn back. He looks out of the massive hole, which lets in plenty of sunlight, lighting the room, and sees the Jumpjet half falling stories down until it crashes and explodes against some rusty, old cars in the parking lot below. John then backs away from the edge but stops when the pounding against the door returns. He turns back to the door, the pounding continuing. John then retrieves his blaster, which is no longer unstable-looking, and points it at the door. The pounding then stops and the room in plunged in silence. The only noise that can be heard is the shaky breathing from John and the slight creaking against the wooden flooring. After a moment of continued silence, the door busted down suddenly and a swarm of Mutated roaches storm the room. John pulls against the trigger and laser fire impacts against the oncoming horde of Mutants as they continue the flood the room. As the roaches continue, lasers hit their fronts and heads and they tip over on their backs or sides. Even after the Mutants have been stopped, John continues firing his blaster until the laser fire stops and the blaster makes a draining noise afterwards. His breathing is now heavy and he lowers the blaster. After a short moment of staring at the fried Mutant bodies, John proceeds to leave the room. He enters the hallway and looks around. The hallway is has dim-lighting and most of the floor is covered in a brown mush with straw on it. John walks forwards through the hallway, his blaster ready but still lowered as it recharges. He continues, looking in front of him. A growling is then heard, causing John to stop in his tracks. He then slowly turns his head to the right and sees a Mutant, with a similar appearance to a Tiger, with exposed muscles, eight eyes and spikes protruding from its spine. The Mutant Tiger looks directly at John and John looks directly at it.

John, turning back to the front of the hallway, nodding: Huh...

He then just stares out for a bit before the Mutant growls again. John then snaps back to Mutant Tiger looking right at him, and has a look of shock on his face. He then runs down the hallway as the Mutant Tiger pounces through the doorway, slamming against the wall. It then shakes its head and chases after John who continues running down the hallway. John turns his head and sees a door leading to a stairwell. He then goes to it, opens the door, enters the stairway and closes the door behind him quickly. He breaths heavily while leaning against the door.

Voice: Hey.

John, surprised, quickly turns to the voice and raises his blaster which makes a fully charged noise. In front of John, is a flight of stairs leading downwards to a platform which is connected to another flight of stairs, continuing downwards. On that platform, is a woman dressed in stained, fractured MCA Officer armor. She has a helmet which is busted, revealing her face. Her hair, the little that can be seen through the helmet, is black and her eyes are brown. She is also pointing her blaster ahead of her.

John: Who the heck are you?

Woman: I could ask you the same question. This is Mutant City.

John: Right?

Woman: Which means it's a city full of Mutants.

John: Right.

Woman: ...So what are you doing here?

John: I'm on a mission. What's your excuse?

Woman: Mission? (looking John over) ...May sent you?

John nods. The woman looks at him hesitantly before sighing in relief.

Woman: Why didn't you just say so? I've waiting for a while, y'know.

John: You're one of the survivors from the crash.

Woman: Yeah but it wasn't a crash... I saw your ship come down and followed you here. So you got a group or did we finally hit the budget?

John: Yeah... I came with others but uh- I guess, I got separated from them.

Woman: So it's just you? Aw, seriously? I came here thinking there'd be a group of guys with blasters, not just a single guy.

John: I'm not just a single guy.

Woman: Really? 'Cause I'm pretty sure you're not seeing anyone. The face gives it away.

John, looking slightly annoyed: I meant I can also protect you.

Woman: ...Well, I guess you did manage to survive for this long. I'm Officer Hunter, call me Willow.

John: John Reed, call me lucky. Why'd you think you needed a group just to come here?

Willow: This is Colmena Mutante. Named it myself.

John looks at her confused.

Willow: It means Mutant Hive.

John: Right... So this place is-

Willow: Mutant Hot spot? Pretty much.

A slam against the door knocks John away from it. He turns around and readies his blaster as a roar is heard from behind it.

Willow: Welcome to Mutant City. Come on!

Willow grabs John's arm and drags him close. The two of them then climb down the stairs as the Mutant continues slamming against the door. As they continue down several flights of stairs, Willow stops at a platform with a sign reading, "A13". She then kicks the door open.

Willow: Come on, we're taking a detour.

John: Uh, what type of detour?

Willow grabs his arm again and pulls him into the hallway. John turns his head and sees a massive stalk with an eyeball in it, watching them. It stretches out vine tendrils from itself to grab them.

John: What the heck is that?

Willow, trying to cross the hallway: Huh? Oh, that's just Frank. Duck!

"Frank" stretches his vines out and swings them around in the hallway. Both Willow and John duck as the vine whips around, slashing against the walls of the hallway. Willow then gets up and fires her blaster at "Frank" a couple of times before opening the door directly next to her.

Willow: Get in!

John follows her inside the room, avoiding more of the vines. The room is rather small but there is a massive hole in the wall, showing the outside. Actually, there is no back wall. It's just floor and side walls. John turns around and sees the Mutant Tiger pouncing through the stairway door except it gets grabbed up by the vines of "Frank" and is pulled towards him. A whimper leaves the Mutant as it gets drawn in. John turns back to Willow who removes a crossbow from her back and fires a cord which stretching across the gap and reaches out the building across from them. The hook at the end of the cord punches a hole into the building's wall and opens up, remaining stuck there. Willow takes the other end of the cord and stabs it into the floor. While she's down there, she grabs two clothing hangers from a pile of random junk and hands one to John.

Willow: Here take this.

John, taking one: What's this for?

Willow: See that cord? We're going to use this (holds up her hanger) and use it to slide across the cord to the other side.

John: What? That's crazy.

Willow: Look, I get it if you're scared and can't handle it.

John: No, I can handle it. It's just- well, I can handle it.

Willow, leading John to the edge: Good, because you're going first.

John: Wait, what?

Willow then pushes John off the edge.

John: AH!

John quickly wraps his hanger around the cord and starts to slide down the cord.

John, sliding down: Uh... Okay, that wasn't so bad. This is cool. I'm cool, everything is cool.

John looks down and sees a large, crab-like Mutant with over-sized, muscular pincers, trying to grab him below.

John, sliding down, panicking: ARGH! Not cool! This isn't cool! Everything is not cool!

John successfully avoids the Mutant and makes it to the other side, falling onto the platform. He lays there and groans slightly as the cord shakes slightly. A moment later, Willow arrives, landing on the platform, on her feet.

Willow, looking down at John: Come on, we've got work to do?

John, getting up: How? How do you even... that?

Willow: Don't tell me they sent me a rookie...

John: No, that's the other guy. I'm the... science guy.

Willow: Great, so no experience, right?

John: I... I have experience.

Willow: Right... Well, Mutants are like animals, right? They have patterns. Once you see those patterns, it saves your life. Carlos taught me that.

John: Who's that?

Willow: The leading officer of the operation. I was his right-hand gal.

John: Well, if he taught you so much about surviving, where is he? In fact, where are the other survivors?

Willow: Gone. They were killed off... slaughtered actually. Hard to watch, even harder to forget.

John: I'm sorry.

Willow: Yeah... so like I was saying, patterns. Useful. That's how I was able to figure out their guard schedule and send that distress signal.

John: Wait, guard? They were guarding your Jumpjet?

Willow: Yeah, guess so. I told you it wasn't an accident.

John: So the guy that shot down our jets is still here?

Willow: I don't know what you what me to say except he's definitely not a guy.

John: ...So he's a girl?

Willow: What? No, I mean he's not a person, he's a thing, sounds like a man but... looks like a monster.

John: Oh... right.

Willow: I know he's after me... or rather, after something I have but- uh, I guess it's not important.

John: Pretty sure it is, besides, I think I can help with that.

Willow looks carefully at John.

Willow: The cargo is strong.

John: Strong as an ox?

Willow: ...(sighs) Thank goodness. I had a feeling you weren't so useless.

John: Told you I'm not just a single guy.

Willow: Just didn't think the Director would give you of all people the code.

John: Glad to prove you wrong. So... where's the reactor?

Willow: Follow me.

Willow leads John into the next room. In the room, it's boarded up with little light coming through. There are several knocked over slot machines and a metallic vault in the corner. She goes to the vault and opens the door, revealing a blue, glowing device within. She removes it and shows it John.

John: Whoa.

John takes it from her and examines it.

Willow: You do know what you're doing, right?

John: Of course... Just, not used to this type of equipment before.

Willow: That's because it's not standard MCA equipment. This reactor is used to power energy barriers used for districts. This is a spare for the barriers here in case there was any tampering or malfunction. Now I think he wants it for some reason.

John: Hm...

John continues examining the device. The scene then cuts over to Dr. Nemo walking down the Strip. A beeping noise is then heard and he looks down. He looks at a device in his hand which seems to scan the area around him. A blue flare is seen flashing around in a specific area.

Dr. Nemo: It still is not enough of a frequency to track... (looking down at Portnoy) Not matter, with this...

Nemo lifts Portnoy up and taps against the arm monitor. Lines of code then appear on the screen. With each tap he provides, the code seems to re-arrange itself until a map of the city appears with four trackers on the map. Three crowded together under one structure on the right side of the map while one stray tracker is seen on the left side of the map. Nemo looks at his other scanner. The blue flare is over the same area as the stray tracker on Portnoy's arm monitor. Nemo then looks up and grins.

Dr. Nemo, activating his transmitter: Come, my Mutants, I have found what we need!

Nemo and the Mutants continue down the Strip, making a turn into one of the streets. From a rooftop of a building, Drake can be seen squatting down, watching Nemo and his army move out in the distance.

Owens, over the comms: What's the situation, Drake?

Drake: Nemo is making a move.

Owens, over the comms: Towards us?

Drake: No... away from us. I think he found John.

Owens, over the comms: Get there before him. We'll follow from behind.

Drake: I'm on it.

Drake then gets up and runs down the rooftop. He jumps down onto another one and continues. The scene cuts back to the building with John continuing to tinker with the device while Willow watches him closely, with her arms crossed. As she continues watching, her unamused expression changes to one someone has when noticing something. John's arm monitor is now flashing.

Willow: John, your arm.

John stops, looks at her confused then looks down his arm.

John: Oh, looks like I got a signal.

Willow: No, don't you get it. Now he knows where we are. I shut mines off so he wouldn't track me. That's why he killed my team, Carlos, all of them. So he can get the reactor and use their trackers to find me.

John: But... my team's alive.

Willow: Are they?

John, looking out, realizing: Oh no...

Willow: Shut it off and come on, we need to move before he gets here. John deactivates his tracker and follows Willow out of the room. The scene cuts to the streets of the city where both John and Willow are seen walking away from the building.

John: Where are we going?

Willow: I dunno, somewhere else. We can't stay there, he'll find us. There's a place up ahead, we should safe there.

A distinct humming heard behind them.

John: You hear that?

Willow: Uh no... He's sending his enforcers, the Spitfires.

John: Spitfires?

John turns around as Willow starts to hurry. He sees more of the Mutated Mosquitoes flying above them.

John, hurrying with her: They're just mosquitoes, why'd you call 'em Spitfires?

The Mutated Mosquitoes start to lower, flying after them. One of them spits up a ball of fire from its long, tube-like nose which narrowly avoids John.

John: Oh, that's why!

John raises his blaster and fires it at the Mutants. One of the shots hits one of the Mutants while the other continues chasing after them. John turns back to focus on his running. The two of them continue running until Willow stops, John passing by her. She kneels down, aiming the blaster directly ahead of her. The Mutant continues flying right towards her, faster and faster. She then pulls the trigger and the laser hits the Mutant directly causing it to explode, splattering purple splashes all over the area and on Willow's armor. She then gets up and turns to John.

John: ...Nice shot.

Willow: Thanks. There's gonna be more of them, we need to keep moving before he sends something else after us.

John: You gathered that pretty quickly and you've been here- what? A day?

Willow: I'm a quick learner. Besides, I've been here for a little two days, actually. It took me a while to send the distress signal, remember? John: Well if I forget, it's probably because of the concussion I got from crashing through a building in the broken half of a jet.

Willow makes her way over to a blocked off wall.

Willow: Hang on, I'll see if I can find a way through.

John nods and looks around as well. He then stops and notices some unseen thing.

John: Oh my gosh... I'm back. (chuckles then goes grim) ...The Mutants finally, really did it. Those maniacs! They blew it! (disappointed) ...Dang it.

Willow, searching the wall: Blew what up? What are you talking about?

John sighs in frustration then turns to Willow.

John: Nevermind... It just.... reminded me of home.

Willow looks over at John then her eyes shift to the thing behind him. She looks at him again and rolls her eyes.

Willow: Come on, I found a way in.

She pushes a panel back and enters the building. The view focuses on John who follows her inside, moving out of the way to reveal a collapsed Statue of Liberty behind him in the distance. The scene cuts to the inside of the building which appears to be another abandoned casino. John looks around and sees a skeleton leaning against an old roulette table with its hand over a pile of bottle caps. Willow moves another panel on the other side of the room and sunlight enters the room.

Willow: Come on, this way.

Willow and John exit through the panel and find themselves on the streets again. Just as they leave, a large frog-like Mutant lands on top of the building they were just in. Willow raises her blaster and fires it at the Mutant who inflates up its chest, deflecting the blasts somehow. Once Willow's blaster stops firing and creates a draining noise, the Mutant deflates its chest and leaps down upon the two of them. Both John and Willow jump out of the way. As John turns back to face the Mutant, it whacks him away with its humanoid arms. John then gets up and sees his blaster in front of him. John reaches for the blaster but the tongue of the Mutant sticks to the blaster and reels it into the Mutant's mouth. The Mutant quickly digests the blaster and hops towards John. John backs up and leans against the fence behind him. The Mutant then stops before him, opens his mouth, his throat making an elastic noise as it stretches open, ready to eat John. Before the Mutant can act, it is hits with several little lasers which, upon impact, wrap around it and excessively shock it, causing the Mutant Frog to fall over on its back. John looks up and Drake jumps down from the roof top before him, with his wrist-form activated.

John: Oh Drake, thank goodness you showed up. He ate my blaster.

Drake, getting up, turning to John: You alright?

John: Yeah... Where's the rest of them?

Drake: On their way.

Willow, making her way over to them: Who's this?

John: Back up...

Willow: ...That still doesn't answer the question.

John: That's Drake, I- was just trying to sound cool.

Willow: Drake as in Drake Drake?

Drake: No, just Drake. I don't have a last name.

Willow: I'm just gonna assume your secret weapon Drake and not some random ninja hockey-player named Drake.

Drake: Ninja Hockey-Player?

John: Y'know, now that you mention it, I've never met anyone else called Drake before... Weird.

Drake: You're one of the survivors?

Willow: Officer Hunter and yes.

Drake: Where are the others?

Willow: Uh... gone. They didn't make it. Had to see it myself, rather not talk about it again.

Drake: Sorry...

Owens and Drebin then arrive, making their way over to them.

Owens: John, good to see you're unharmed.

John: Physically, sure.

Owens, turning to Willow: Officer Hunter, good to see you survived.

Willow: Agent Owens, always a pleasure. (Turning to Drebin) Hey, Mackenzie. See you joined along.

Drebin: Name's Mac, now, sweetheart.

Willow: (chuckles) Keep telling yourself that, Mackenzie.

Owens: Are there any more-

Willow: No!

Owens cocks an eyebrow at her.

Willow: I mean, no sir. Just me.

Owens: Right. Sorry to hear that.

Willow nods understandingly.

Drake: Well, now that we're all here, we should get moving. Dr. Nemo is on his way over here and I think he's after something you have.

John: Wait, Dr. Nemo is here?

Willow: Wait, his name is Dr. Nemo?

John, turning to Willow: Why didn't you tell me the guy chasing after you was a giant talking gorilla?

Willow: Sorry, that didn't exactly come up in conversation. Anyways, I'm pretty sure he's after that. (points to the reactor in John's hands)

Drebin: What is it?

Owens: Looks like a power source for the energy barriers. I'm guessing that's a spare for the ones here.

Willow: Pretty much.

John: And after taking a good look at it, I think I know why Dr. Nemo might be after it. This device gives off the same energy frequencies as the energy barriers so, using magnetic propulsion, one could affect the energy barriers completely.

Drake: Meaning?

Willow: He can shut down the barriers completely... letting out all the Mutants inside it.

Drebin, grabbing John and slamming him against the wall: And you knew about this the whole time? Even before we crashed?

Drake: Let him go!

Drebin, ignoring Drake: If you didn't keep so many secrets, Portnoy would still be alive!

John: What? Look, I didn't know about Portnoy and I didn't mean to keep any secrets. The Director asked me to do this and I just- I just wanted to do something aside from being on the sidelines all the time.

Drebin then stares at John for a moment before dropping him. Drake steps in to help him up.

Drake: Trust me, John wouldn't do something to hurt anyone. The Director has kept things from us before, it shouldn't really surprise anyone.

All of them are silent for moment before a distinct roar is heard in the background.

Owens: We need to keep moving before this Nemo person catches up with us. There should be a safe house ahead.

Owens walks forwards followed by everyone else. Drake walks up from John's side to Owens'.

Owens: I assume you what something...

Drake: Just to know what it was like?

Owens looks at him, his eyebrow lifting.

Drake: I mean, your time here. Before...

Owens turns back, still walking.

Owens: Look, I understand you're trying to help but that's my past and that's exactly what it is, past. And I'd like to keep it that way.

Drake: Well, what about the Director?

Owens: What about her?

Drake: She was in your past and she's in the now too. When Ryden was still around and he tried to trick me into joining him, I thought that was just it but turns out he knew my father... before the incident.

Owens, looking at him: ...You remember it that well?

Drake: Not really. It comes and goes. What I'm trying to say is... sometimes, you can't escape the past.

Owens: I understand what you mean.

They continue walking forwards. Owens looks ahead and sees a abandoned building with a busted neon-sign in front reading, "Friday's Palace".

Owens: Alright, we're here. Let's go.

The scene transitions to the inside of the building which appear like some type of bar. There are several crates, knocked over chairs and a stage with an old microphone fixated at its center, possibly screwed in. Drake is seen seated against one of the crates, John is inspecting the device behind the bar while Willow is talking to him on the other side of the counter, showing him specific parts of the device. Drebin is checking the coast through the tinted windows and Owens is leaning against an old pool table.

Drebin, checking the windows: So what exactly is this plan?

Owens: He's too powerful to take on alone. I suggest with have two attacks in the front, keeping the Mutants occupied, another two to distract Nemo while one of us incapacitate him.

Willow: Not sure if that's gonna work, Owens. One of us has to make sure Dr. Weirdo doesn't get his hands on the reactor.

Drebin: Why don't we just shoot him... with a blaster... in the face? (shrugs)

Drake: Portnoy tried that already and look where that got him.

Drebin: ...Good point.

John, looking around: Is this place a karaoke bar? That's sweet.

Owens looks over at John, not looking amused as usual.

John: Just... sayin'. (mutters and continues working on the device)

Drebin: All I'm getting at is that we're running out of options. He has the whole city pinned against us.

Owens: Rushing out there won't do us any good. We need to remain calm and think logically. Drebin: Do we even have time for a plan? Nemo is still after us with his city of Mutants.

John: Please... Nemo, doesn't even know where we are.

Dr. Nemo, from outside: I know you are here!

Everyone glares at John who chuckles nervously.

Dr. Nemo, continuing: I demand you face me and bring me the device I need to carry out my plan.

Everyone looks around the room, eyes shifting from one to another. Drake gives a single nod.

Drake: I've got it.

The scene cuts to the outside where Dr. Nemo stands in front of Friday's Palace with his Mutant army surrounding him and the establishment. Nemo turns away from the building, his eyes shifting around as if in thought. Drake is then seen climbing onto the roof of the building. Once he gets up onto the roof, he looks down at Nemo for a short moment.

Drake: Nemo!

Dr. Nemo smirks then slowly turns to face Drake as he leaps down from the roof to the front of the building.

Dr. Nemo: Come to meet my demands?

Drake remains silent.

Dr. Nemo: Straight to the matter then... I want the device.

Drake: I won't let you have it, Nemo.

Dr. Nemo: Let me? (chuckles) You still don't get it. You don't learn, none of you do. I am in control here!

Drake: You want the reactor to take the down the barriers. Let all the Mutants under your control out and show people the... new you, I guess.

Dr. Nemo: Yes... exactly. They will know my power.

Drake: If you do that, a lot of people will get hurt. Innocent lives.

Dr. Nemo: It's necessary!

Drake: Not to me. Earlier you said you were still a man.... if you're really reborn, then act like it. You used to be a scientist, someone who- who thinks, uses logic and reasoning. So do that, think about this. This isn't about control, or power or anything like that, it's about a man with a daughter going through something that I feel... everyday.

Dr. Nemo looks at Drake then looks downwards, regaining his expression of thought.

Dr. Nemo: ...You're right. I haven't been thinking straight...

Drake looks carefully at Dr. Nemo who looks up from the ground at Drake.

Dr. Nemo: I now realize that talking about the device... was not my best idea. I think I'll just take it instead.

Dr. Nemo then raises his arm and a swarm of Spitfires approach the establishment from a short distance. Drake backs up, clenching his fists, appearing to be overwhelm. Nemo then points to the building when the Spitfires get close enough and they begin firing balls of fire from their long noses.

Drake: NO!

Drake jumps forwards, ready to strike Nemo but gets caught in the impact. The series of fireballs react explosively around the front of the building, throwing Drake aside, knocking down its walls and causing damage to the content within. When the smoke clears a short moment later, Nemo is seen approaching through the debris of the karaoke bar. Drebin is seen laying against the ground as Nemo passes by him while the view follows him. Nemo then stops before Willow and John laying against the ground some what close together, with the glowing blue reactor in between them. The scene cuts to Drake laying against the ground, his face partially covered in ash and burn marks. He looks up from the ground, weak, and sees Nemo, through blurred vision, picking up and raising the reactor above his head with the roars and screams of the Mutants becoming more and more faint as he falls unconscious. The scene then zooms out from his unconscious body and slowly transitions to a younger Drake laying against a broken brick wall. The area seems to be in some type of forest with thin trees, not too dense. The sky is dark, night, with the glow of the moon coming over the area and the amber light from the close by campfire giving a small part of the area a warm lighting.

Leia is then seen walking back to the campfire, carrying a knapsack over her shoulder. Will is seen leaning against the brick wall while Drake turns his head to see his approaching mother.

Will, looking up at her: Leia, you're back.

Leia, walking to the camp: Yeah... found some more supplies.

Will: Were there any more of those... things out there?

Leia: (looking away) No... I mean, there were but- (looking back at him) It's fine, they didn't see me.

Will: I should have been there. I don't like seeing you put yourself at risk like that.

Leia: Well, it's something I need to do. Besides, you need to rest. You were wounded.

Will: I know but look, I feel better like really better. I don't know what you and Drake did but it's almost as if it healed over night.

Leia: If that were true, you would be doing the supply runs instead of me.

Will: Didn't say you were a neurosurgeon. (chuckles)

Leia smiles at his comment then looks over Drake, who is looking back at the sky again.

Leia: How long has he been there like that?

Will: About eight to ten minutes after you left.

Leia: He still doesn't talk to you?

Will: I'm not gonna rush him. He'll talk to me when he's ready.

Leia: You're too patient.

Will: It's not a problem, really. I had friends- well, people I knew... before, they were a tough bunch to handle. I was always the voice of reason, I guess. The guy who actually thinks things through.

Leia: Risking your life for me was thinking it through?

Will: Guess I was just worried about you...

Leia: Well, I'm more worried about him. He was always a sensitive boy but... now it's like he's changed somehow.

Will: He's a kid and I can't imagine what he must have been through, what you must have been through. This world is changing more and more every night. One day, everything's fine. The next, you're alone. And the next, you find yourself searching for supplies with a mother and her son. Now, we're running from monsters. I wouldn't be surprised if Big Foot got the drop on me at this point.

Leia: Be serious... how long can we keep hiding from these... creatures?

Will: For as long as we can. I'm sure there are others out there, somewhere safe with supplies for you and Drake. We just have to find it. For now, we just keep low, it's not the biggest town but there are places where they aren't.

Leia nods.

Leia: Okay... Just- ...thank you for all you've done for us. I know we're practically strangers but I'd like to think this experience brought us closer together despite it's... drawbacks. (noticing something) I'm going to get more firewood for the fire.

Will: Be careful.

Leia gets up and walks off to the side, getting something presumingly the extra wood. Will leans back against the wall and lets out a small sigh.

Young Drake: Thanks...

Will's eyes widen slightly and he slowly looks up and sees Drake, still leaning on top of the broken brick wall.

Will: What?

Young Drake: I said, thanks... for helping my mom.

Will: ...You're welcome.

Young Drake: I used to look at the stars and my... my dad would tell me about them before I go to sleep.

Will: ...Oh yeah?

Young Drake: Yeah?

Will: What would he say?

Young Drake: Just stuff like there's more out than what I think there is.

Will: ...I actually like star-gazing. I used to but uh-

Young Drake: The scary stuff happened...

Will: Yeah, the scary stuff happened.

Young Drake: I don't like watching stars either. Not anymore.

Will: Why not?

Young Drake: I like other stuff like soccer and stuff.

Will: So why are you looking at the stars now?

Young Drake is silent for a moment. Will, as if acknowledging this, looks down and leans there in silence as well.

Young Drake: ...I wanna think about him. My dad, I mean. He used to show me the stars so... I dunno, I miss him. I miss how things used to be.

Will: Me too, buddy. Me too...

Will leans there for a moment before looking up at the sky.

Will, pointing up: See that star there? The bright one right above us.

Young Drake: Uh... yeah.

Will: That... is the North star. (moving his hand to the right more) And over there is Orion's Belt.

Young Drake: Whoa...

Will: I know right? And over there-

The scene shows Leia coming back with the firewood in hand. She stops before reaching it and sees both Will and Drake engaging in conversation. She looks at them, with a smile on her face. The scene then shows the stars in the sky which transitions to the energy barriers fluctuating around the city. The view comes downwards, focusing on Drake awakening with Owens standing outside of the remains of the building, Willow talking to Drebin, resting against a broken wall and John sitting by Drake. Drake groans slightly as he gets up. John, noticing, almost instantly goes to him, helping him up.

John: Hey, hey, easy, easy.

Drake: What hit me?

John: Avoiding the technical stuff, an explosion. Good news is the suit's still in-tact. I need to give myself more credit when it comes to engineering...

Drake: The suit, really?

John: I already checked your vitals while you were sleeping.

Drake, correcting him: Unconscious.

John: That's what I said.

Drake: What's the other thing you were saying? Bad news?

Owens, walking over: Nemo has the reactor.

John: Way to steal my lines, Owens.

Owens, ignoring John: He's already started using it, like John said, its frequency is disrupting the energy barriers.

Drake: We can't let him disable those barriers, all the Mutants we've captured will escape.

Owens: That was implied, yes.

John: Not really sure if we can stop him. Even if we get past his army of Mutants, he's still armed with the reactor, it's energy frequencies might just make him untouchable. And he's a really strong, agile zombie ape-man who tears people apart so there's that.

Drake: John, there has to be something.

John: (sighs) Alright, let me think. (after a moment) So the reactor gives off electromagnetic interference disabling the energy barriers, that can be counter-acted with an opposing electromagnetic force except it can't because it's not strong enough, unless we exert the oncoming energy and relay it back to the reactor, then it might just overload the reactor and maybe even disable Dr. Nemo's transmitter, stopping his control of the Mutants.

Drake and Owens exchange looks before looking back at Owens.

Owens: ...So what exactly do you need?

John: Something that we can use to re-tune regular frequencies into electromagnetic frequencies, essentially.

Drake: Frequencies? Like sounds?

John: Uh... I guess so. Why?

Drake searches himself and the scene cuts to when he shows John an unseen object.

Drake: Will this work?

John: It's definitely going to need some tweaking and maybe some your special touch but... yeah. It just might.

The scene cuts over to the top of the stratosphere where a beam of energy is shooting from the tip of the tower, hitting against the nearly invisible energy barriers above forming a dome around the city, itself. Nemo is seen utilizing a machine built around himself which seems to stabilize the reactor in his hand as its energy pumps through Nemo into a cord stretching into the tower, itself. A swarm of flying Mutants are seen circling the Stratosphere while various other Mutants are seen at the top as well.

Dr. Nemo: (laughs to himself) Soon, my Mutants... soon, I will have enough power to destroy those who stand against me... and show the world my power.

A faint wheezing noise is then heard, like an engine. Nemo, noticing the sound, turns his head towards the edge of the platform. After some time, Drake emerges, hovering up to the top, kneeled down. Besides him is John, Owens with Drebin and Willow behind.

Dr. Nemo: Impossible...

John: Funny, I said the same thing when he suggested this.

They continue raising upwards, revealing the platform they're standing on is a part of the Jumpjet, propelling upwards unsteadily. Drake is kneeled down, his hand against the platform, hacking into its damaged systems. Drebin steps forwards and fires his blasters at the oncoming wave of flying Mutants while Willow does the same on the other side. They continue doing this until most of the flying Mutants have been cleared out.

Owens: Alright, now, go!

Owens leaps from the platform, through the clearing and rolls onto the top of the stratosphere, drawing his blades in the process.

John: Wait, was I supposed to jump like right now? Can we try that again or something?

The platform shakes slightly.

Drake, hacking into the Jumpjet engine: I don't know how long I can keep this up.

Drebin: Way ahead of you, kid.

Drebin puts his guns away and run jumps from the platform onto the very edge of the stratosphere roof, pulling himself up and over. The platform then starts to combust and loose air. Owens turns back and sees the Jumpjet start falling with a distinct yell from John as they plummet downwards before an explosion is heard. The energy barriers are then seen failing completely, leaving the city exposed.

Dr. Nemo: (laughs) As you can see, your attempts to stop me are... futile. Now my Mutants will spread and show the world my might... once and for all.

Several Mutants are seen escaping the city borders while others are more grouped up, approaching the borders from afar. Back on the rooftop of the Stratosphere, a plant-like ax-head stretches upwards and clings to the edge of the rooftop. Nemo, Owens and Drebin look as Drake clings himself up onto the rooftop, with John and Willow wrapped around him using his other arm. Drake then unwraps his arm around them while looking Nemo right in the face.

Drake: I'm not that easy to get rid of, Nemo.

Dr. Nemo: You and all your associates will fall... before my power, my genius, my control!

Nemo roars out and the Mutants under his control charge forwards. Drake runs towards Nemo, stretching his ax-arms out and striking down a few Mutants as he runs ahead. Drebin and Willow fire their blasters at the rest of the approaching Mutants. Nemo throws his arm upwards, creating some kind of energy barrier before him, blocking Drake's attack. Nemo pushes Drake back and strikes at him with the barrier around his arm but Drake evades the attack, rolling across the platform. Nemo is then shot from behind by a laser blast. He turns around sharply, bearing his gorilla teeth. John stands there, firing his blaster at Nemo who evades the oncoming fire. He leaps onto the tip of the tower and jumps down onto John.

Drake: No!

Drake stretches his ax-arms outwards and wraps them around Nemo, slamming him to the ground before he reaches John. Nemo gets up, still wrapped up. He grabs Drake's arm and yanks him forwards, punching him across the face when he's close enough. Drake's arms then unwarp around Nemo as they reel back to their original position before deactivating. Nemo then turns around and sees John and Owens facing against him.

Dr. Nemo: I've defeated your greatest weapon. How can you hope to defeat me and my Mutant army?

Owens: With a simple stragedy.

John removes a modified version of Drebin's headphones and cassette tape from his side pocket. While Nemo looks at them questionably, Drake raises from the floor behind him. John then tosses the headphones and the cassette tape over Nemo's head. Drake then leaps up, grabbing the cassette tape in one hand and the headphones in another. As he comes down, Nemo looks up. Drake then slams the headphones against Nemo's head and hacks into the modified cassette tape with his other hand. The classic rock music then scrambles into a higher frequency, causing disruption of energy between the two devices. Nemo yells out as the generator, in his hand, overloads, causing a flash over the whole Stratosphere rooftop. A surge of energy then blasts upwards through the tip of the tower, re-enabling the energy barriers around the city, stopping any more Mutants from escaping. When the flash demishes, Nemo falls onto the floor, unconscious, with Drake standing over him. The Mutants attacking Drebin and Willow shortly later stop and start to leave.

Drebin: Yeah, that's right. And don't come back.

Willow looks over at him.

Drebin, turning to her: What?

They then turn around and approach the others by Nemo. Drebin looks over at Owens who looks right at him. Drebin then sighs and nods hesistantly a short moment after. Drake removes the headphones from Nemo's head and holds the modified cassette tape up, both of which are pretty much broken.

Drake: Told you they were weak...

A chuckle comes out John, Willow and Drebin while Drake looks at them awkardly and Owens just stands there, arms crossed. The scene fades to the MCA Helicarrier, hovering in the air, as the clouds pass by. The sky is bright with the sun behind the clouds.

A Jumpjet is then seen flying towards it, landing on one of the landing strips. The scene then cuts to later, inside of the Helicarrier, with Kate siting on a ledge in a central area, by the main elevator. She's holding herself in her own arms, looking down at the floor. The sound of a door sliding open is heard with footsteps approaching. Kate looks up. A look of surprise comes on her face as Drake and John are seen leaving the hangar room with Owens, Drebin and Willow. She jumps off from the ledge and runs towards them.

Kate: Guys!

She gets between them and hugs the two of them. Drake looks slightly uncomfortable while John smiles nervously. After a moment she gets off and looks up at them.

Kate: I thought something happened to you guys.

Drake: Something did happen.

Kate: I meant like- I thought you guys weren't coming back. I saw you crash and I just-

John: Hey... I'll always come back.

Kate and John look at each other for a moment. John, as if realizing something, looks away.

John: And uh... besides, who's gonna look after this guy? (points thumb at Drake)

Kate: Right... well uh, I was worried about you too, Drake.

Drake: You're always worried.

Kate, looking slightly annoyed, is about to say something but Drake intrupts her.

Drake: I know what you meant... thanks.

Kate smiles softly.

Credits

Major Events

 * Drake and the others stop Dr. Nemo from taking control of Noc-143

Minor Events

 * Officer Portnoy dies
 * Some Mutants escape Noc-143
 * Dr. Nemo is taken into MCA custody

Characters

 * Drake
 * Kate
 * John
 * Agents Owens
 * Director Harper
 * MCA Officers
 * Mackenzie "Mac" Drebin (First Appearance)
 * Agent Hank Mertens (First Appearance)
 * Kirk T. Portnoy (First Appearance) (Deceased)
 * Willow Hunter (First Appearance)


 * Subject SCV22 (Cameo)

Villains

 * Dr. Nemo
 * Mutants
 * Mutant Mosquitoes/"Spitfires" (First Appearance)
 * Mutant Tiger (First Appearance)
 * "Frank" (First Appearance)
 * Mutant Frog (First Appearance)

Forms Used

 * Sonar Scales
 * Acidic Thorns (x2)
 * Electro-Icer
 * Neuro-Web

Allusions

 * Officer Kirk T. Portnoy is a reference to the main characters of the film, Tropic Thunder. Kirk Lazarus, Tugg Speedman and Jeff Portnoy.
 * Epic Tunes, the mixtape Drebin gave to Drake, is a reference to Awesome Mix from the film, Guardians of the Galaxy .
 * When Portnoy asks John and Drake about the Xyrions, their conversation is similar the one had by Ian Malcolm, Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant on their way to Isla Nublar in Jurassic Park.
 * The song that plays when Drake recovers from the crash is an allusion to the song, Hungry like the Wolf.
 * The scene where Portnoy calls out for Drake and John is an allusion the scene where Amanda calls out for Ben and Eric in Jurassic 3

Trivia

 * This episode is meant to have a different tone from the usual episodes.
 * This episode was inspired by Kong: Skull Island.
 * A lot of 70's and 80's music were listened to during production of this episode to help set the new tone.
 * Agent DeLisle was going to be in this episode as a part of the rescue team but that didn't make it into the final version of the episode.
 * It was intended for Mertens to take Owens' place in the episode to introduce a new Agent character among new Officers introduced in the episode however that was changed when it was decided to add Owens to more episodes now that he has returned as a character.
 * Kate was originally going to be on the rescue team when it crashed into Noc-143. Her role in the episode would be similar to Mason Weaver's in Skull Island. This, however, was changed because, unlike Mason, Kate was not a photographer and it probably would not have had the same effect.
 * To push it further, it was insisted that Kate picked up some photography skills from Adam but it wouldn't make sense to take pictures of a undisclosed black-site.
 * At that point, it was insisted that she would just be there to record data on the Mutants and keep any details about the operation and the black-site itself out of the report. While this had remained in the episode, her role in it was kept to a minimum to and had John more in the spotlight when it came to the survivor as opposed to one of the Mutants.
 * This episode shows Agent Owens' return to work with Drake.
 * Originally, the episode was going to be similar to Deep Below with the MCA Officers joining the rescue mission to actually be traitors. One of the possibilities was to have them sabotage the initial operation and use the rescue mission as a cover-op to get into the city and do what they need to do. The other possibility was that the rescue mission was genuine but as they were recovering the survivors, they noticed antique valuables or suddenly decided to take what they were looking for for themselves. This plot wasn't used though because Dr. Nemo felt like a better focus.
 * Brandon 10 compiled a playlist of songs to keep the writers (himself) energized for writing the episode. While there were a lot more songs listened to during production, these were the main songs that inspired or were just listened to during certain parts of the story:
 * Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin (Opening Scene, post alarm)
 * Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum (During the Director's meeting)
 * Thunderstruck - AC/DC (When the Jumpjet crashes into Noc-143)
 * Hungry like the Wolf - Duran Duran (When Drake awakens after the crash)
 * Welcome the Jungle - Guns n' Roses (Drake and the others fight Dr. Nemo's army)
 * Ballroom Blitz - The Sweet (When John and Willow escape Colmena Mutante)
 * Paradise City - Guns n' Roses (During some of John and Willow's moments)
 * We Didn't Start the Fire - Billy Joel (When the "Spitfires" attack John and Willow)
 * Suffragette City - David Bowie (During the "Friday Palace" scene)
 * Juke Box Hero - Foreigner (Ending Fight)