A dirigible is ferrying a scientist, Shaw, who's about to present a weapon to Tesler. Beck infiltrates it and tries to persuade Shew to join, but he applies the weapon to himself and goes rabid, eventually falling to his death and leaving Beck with only the weapon, which is some kind of enhancement disc add-on.
At Able's garage, Zed is bullied by Hopper and Bartik who order a huge tank made on Tesler and Paige's behalf. Mara bails him out, but he feels embarrassed. At his base, Tesler is angry at the guards' failure to stop the Renegade and orders Paige to recover the weapon. Meanwhile, Tron, unhappy with Shaw's loss, assesses the weapon's properties as an amplifier of strength and agility, but decides to destroy the weapon, lest it falls into Tesler's hands. He also warns a cocky Beck against the dangers of the weapon and tasks him with using the welder at Able's garage to destroy it.
Beck is lured into a trap by Paige who's staged an incident, but using the upgrade disc, he dispatches her forces with ease and escapes. He becomes more aggressive and violent, scaring off Hopper and Bartik and berating Zed for his cowardice, and decides to take on Tesler alone. Thus he sneaks into his base aboard the huge tank when Able has it shipped. Tesler sends Pavel to inspect the vehicle, then when he remains alone, he's engaged by the Renegade. The two duel intensely, with Tesler barely managing to match the enhanced Renegade using his extendable gauntlets, gun turrets and grenades. It ends when Beck causes an explosion which injures Able who's still aboard the tank. Beck escapes the ship with the latter and leaves him in front of the garage where the mechanics give him first aid. Able tries to defend "Tron", but Zed isn't swayed.
Tesler is approached by Pavel who suggests using hostages to draw the Renegade out. With Hopper and Bartik's help, he seizes the garage. Beck seeks help from Tron who berates him for his recklessness. A deranged Beck lashes out at him, but stops and Tron gives him a chance to destroy the weapon once and for all. He goes direct to Able's welder room, but as he adjusts the device, Pavel steals the weapon and fights Beck to a standstill. The welder is inadvertently activated and wreaks destruction in the garage. In the ensuing chaos, Mara is injured, Zed helps her and a trapped Bartik out, and Beck manages to finally knock Pavel out and use the welder beam to slice the weapon in two.
Later, Beck points out to Mara that it was Zed that saved her, not "Tron". Tesler is outraged by the disc's destruction. Pavel, having secretly recovered one half of the weapon, gleefully discovers that it fully regenerated.
Tropes featured in this episode:
- Artifact of Doom: The upgrade disc.
- Amplifier Artifact: It boosts the user's physical strength and speed.
- The Corruption: It also makes the user far more aggressive and reckless.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The user's pupils can glow red in moments of heightened aggressiveness.
- Super-Speed
- Super-Strength
- Turns Red: Upon activation, the user has a glowing red grid pass along their frame, or their light lines explode in red-orange.
- Shout-Out: Beck fights off multiple guards with one hand.
- Tank Goodness: The tank ordered by Tesler. It is a Shout-Out to Schwerer Gustav
, a railway gun commissioned by Hitler in 1943. - Whole-Plot Reference: A character portrayed by Elijah Wood has to destroy a ring-shaped object (even if he wants to use it for good) which can amplify the user's power, but also corrupts them and has an addictive effect? Where have we seen that before?
