The Renegade saves two programs from Black Guards, only to demand the energy they were hiding from them. One of the programs shows the renegade where the energy was hidden, and is immediately derezzed for his trouble. The other survives, but only because the Renegade wants her to tell everyone what happened. An explosion goes off as the Renegade vanishes, but not before he unmasks and we can see that the Renegade is actually Cyrus.
Zed and Beck go to the scene of the crime, where Mara is being treated for injuries she sustained by being in the area when the explosion went off. She tells them that the Renegade was behind the attack; the program he let live showed everyone her disk. Beck isn't convinced, but when he looks at the crowd and sees Cyrus standing there, he figures out what happened. He gives chase, but Cyrus escapes.
Beck goes back to the garage to check his locker and see if the disk he left behind was still there. It is, and Beck tries to dock it, only to get electrocuted as the disk has been infected by a virus. He takes it Tron, who sets the disk up to contain the virus. While there, Beck confronts Tron about lying to him. Tron thought that Cyrus was locked away. Tron says that he chose Beck over Cyrus, and that Cyrus was a mistake. Beck doesn't believe him, and storms off.
When he goes to meet up with Mara and Zed at a club in Argon, he finds that the pair have already met Cyrus, who has presented himself as an old friend of Beck's. Cyrus continues to play along as an old friend, but as soon as Mara and Zed are out of the way, he tells Beck that there's a bomb that he set in the garage. Beck races back to the garage to warn everyone still there, only to find that the bomb Cyrus talked about was attached to Beck's lightcycle, and it explodes as Beck is trying to warn the others about it.
After the explosion, Beck and Able discuss Cyrus' existence. Beck is still angry that Tron didn't tell him about Cyrus, but Able compares how both Beck and Tron lied to protect others. When Able points out that Cyrus let Beck deliver the bomb to the garage, and could have set Beck anywhere, Beck suddenly realizes that the virus on the fake disk has not been contained. He and Able hurry to the lair, but by the time they get there it's too late. Tron is gone, and Cyrus has a prerecorded message waiting showing that he has Zed and Mara in one place and Tron in another, and all three have bombs strapped to them. Cyrus taunts Beck that now he'll have to make a choice and leaves one key for him to use to free either Tron or Zed and Mara. Beck solves the problem by giving the key to Able and sending him to free Mara and Zed while he goes to save Tron.
When shows up to where Tron is being held, he has to manually disarm the bomb. Meanwhile, Able arrives to rescues Zed and Mara and discovers that the key doesn't work. Cyrus expected that Beck was willing to save Tron rather than his friends. Able manages to manually disarm the bombs.
As soon as Tron is freed, Cyrus shows back up, taunting Beck about how he knew that He would come save Tron and leave his friends to their fates. Tron sends Beck off to help Able and fights Cyrus himself. Tron manages to win against Cyrus by blowing him up with his own bomb. But Beck arrives too late to help Able, who is blown up by the bombs he freed Mara and Zed from. Mara and Zed escape, but Mara tells a crowd of programs who gather after the explosion that the Renegade was behind it, causing Beck is currently dressed at the Renegade to flee the scene after a bunch of Programs try and catch him. When both he and beck are back at the lair later, tron notes that the city as well as Beck's friends are now against him, and things will only get worse from here. Beck tells Tron that he knows that, and he's willing to keep fighting in spite of it.
Tropes:
- A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Cyrus is this for Tron.
- Ax-Crazy: Cyrus, so very much.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Cyrus to Beck. Cyrus gets a few good hits in on Tron, too, before the security program finally gains the upper hand.
- Darkest Hour: For Beck. His friends now believe that the Renegade killed Able as well as two other programs, and the city has turned against him. But he tells Tron he's willing to keep fighting.
- Death by Irony: Tron defeats Cyrus by getting him blown up with the bomb he had previously strapped on Tron.
- Did Mara and Zed Just Go Clubbing with Cyrus?
- Green-Eyed Monster: Cyrus isn't very happy that Tron chose Beck over him.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Able makes one to let Mara and Zed get away.
- His Name Is...: Able doesn't get a chance to explain before he gets blown up.
- Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: Tron and Cyrus' battle at the end of the episode. Tron wins.
- Sadistic Choice: Cyrus tries to enforce one on Beck.
- Scary Flashlight Face: A variation. Cyrus has glowing Tron Lines on his face for reasons never elaborated on, and when the lights in the lair go off, he appears in the darkness, face outlined coutesy of those lines. And it is freaky.
- Strapped to a Bomb: Happens to Tron, Zed, and Mara courtesy of Cyrus.
- Take a Third Option: Beck tries, sending Able to rescue Mara and Zed while he goes to free Tron. It doesn't work out the way he had hoped.
- The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Cyrus to Beck with a prerecorded message. He even lampshades this trope as a way of showing how predictable Beck is.
- Tonight, Someone Dies