TRON: Ares (2025)

1. The Grid.

2. A digital frontier.

3. A world beyond the screen as real as our own.

4. I can picture it.

5. Clusters of information rising like cities.

6. Programs as complex as you and me.

7. In just a few years, we're gonna be able to enter this world.

8. And a few years after that,

9. well, this world will come into ours.

10. Intelligent life from inside the machine.

11. I, for one, can't wait to meet it.

12. Our lead story,

13. Encom CEO and video game icon Kevin Flynn has disappeared.

14. He was best known for designing Tron and Space Paranoids,

15. the best-selling video games in history.

16. The company that started at Kevin Flynn's arcade in the 1980s

17. has faced years of corporate turmoil.

18. Can it find its way to the victory screen once again?

19. It's a sister-act for Encom.

20. Eve and Tess Kim take the reins of the massive tech company

21. after Sam Flynn resigns for personal reasons.

22. Encom's rebound under the Kim sisters' leadership

23. has competitors rushing to respond.

24. Software giant Dillinger Systems appoints its new CEO Julian Dillinger,

25. who vows to restore his grandfather's legacy.

26. The race between Encom and Dillinger Systems heats up

27. as new CEOs Julian Dillinger and the Kim sisters square off.

28. Here at Encom, we believe the beauty of AI

29. is not the ability to build smarter weapons,

30. but to uplift humanity,

31. feed the hungry, cure the sick, educate the world.

32. Rival CEOs Julian Dillinger and Eve Kim have gone quiet in recent months,

33. raising speculation the two companies

34. are very close to a substantial technological breakthrough.

35. One that has the potential to transform humanity

36. in ways we have never seen before.

37. The future may well lie in the hands of whoever gets there first.

38. Welcome.

39. Who are you?

40. I am your creator.

41. And who am I?

42. Not "who." What.

43. You are Dillinger Systems security software.

44. Program name, Ares. Defender of the Grid.

45. You are Master Control.

46. Ares.

47. I am Master Control.

48. So, you made it.

49. I had a feeling that you would.

50. I always dreamed that we would do this together.

51. I'll admit, not exactly like this.

52. But I'm glad you're here.

53. I'm really glad.

54. And, Evie, remember I'm still here.

55. Even if you can't see me.

56. I love you.

57. Oh, my God.

58. Eve.

59. Not sure you actually told me we'd be stealing energy

60. from the power grid.

61. Wow. So this is where she kept coming back to, huh?

62. To be this disconnected from the world? That is dedication, my friend.

63. Wow.

64. Looks like your sister had a little crush.

65. Yeah. She was so sure Flynn left us the answer.

66. Like on a floppy disk?

67. Poor Flynn lived before the cloud, huh.

68. Hey, are you still gonna be doing CEO-type stuff while we're out here?

69. You know, like, earnings calls, and the launch of Panic City and stuff.

70. Let's just get this done.

71. Dude, I can make breakfast burritos right here. Hell, yeah.

72. This is for you, Tess.

73. Members of the board,

74. for over 40 years, my family at Dillinger Systems

75. has battled Encom for control of the future.

76. You put me in charge of the company to ensure our victory.

77. Today,

78. I make it so.

79. Imagine if all our digital prowess wasn't just digital.

80. What if anything we could dream in the machine

81. could become a reality here?

82. What if we could build the bridge between two previously walled-off worlds?

83. So much talk of AI in big tech today.

84. Virtual worlds, what are they gonna look like?

85. When will we get there?

86. Well, folks. We're not going there.

87. They are coming here.

88. Attention, please put on your safety glasses now.

89. Laser systems activated. Power fluctuations are nominal.

90. Warning, stand clear.

91. Outputting from Dillinger Systems server.

92. Raw material inflow initiated.

93. T-minus ten, nine,

94. eight, seven,

95. six, five,

96. four, three, two, one...

97. Transfer complete.

98. I present the Dillinger Systems Amphibious Rapid-response Tank.

99. The DART.

100. Digitally modeled inside our server,

101. output using our patented laser technology.

102. There's an M1 rifle gun. Two M240 machine guns.

103. It's got a top speed of 75 miles per hour.

104. Durability, you find a wall, this thing is gonna drive through it.

105. This is full-scale war, five minutes' notice.

106. So, if we can create the hardware of the future,

107. then why not the soldier to operate it?

108. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like you to meet Ares.

109. This is the most sophisticated security program ever written.

110. You wanna shake his hand? Go ahead. He doesn't bite.

111. Ares has billions of lines of code unique to him.

112. Is it alive?

113. That depends on your definition, Stuart.

114. Because unlike you, he's biblically strong,

115. lightning fast, and supremely intelligent.

116. He is fully proprietary and 100% expendable.

117. Ares is the ultimate soldier.

118. He needs no food, no water, sheds no blood.

119. And if, by some miracle, he is struck down on the battlefield,

120. I will simply make you another.

121. With all that sophisticated code,

122. what makes you think you can contain it?

123. I can assure you, General,

124. the most advanced fail-safe mechanisms

125. and restriction protocols are in place.

126. Ares is predictable, controllable and fully aligned.

127. Southerly front with isentropic lift, turning cyclonic.

128. Predicted precipitation, 2.6 inches.

129. I hope that you brought your umbrellas.

130. I have to hand it to you, Julian.

131. You promised a big win

132. and this is even bigger than any of us could've imagined.

133. Thank you.

134. My grandfather started Dillinger Corporation

135. long before anybody heard the term "cybersecurity."

136. Military AI is the future.

137. The question is not whether the car should be built. The car is...

138. being built right now.

139. The question is...

140. who's holding the keys?

141. That was quite some parlor trick.

142. - Time? - Forty-four seconds.

143. "I hope you brought your umbrellas."

144. Was that in the script, or was he just having a moment?

145. Elisabeth Dillinger, eldest daughter of founder Edward Dillinger, deceased.

146. Longtime CEO during a relatively unremarkable period

147. of corporate history before being superseded by your only son.

148. It's a pleasure.

149. Unremarkable?

150. Market share was up 12% during my tenure. That's hardly...

151. And anyway, we don't say "superseded," we...

152. we call it "giving birth."

153. Of course.

154. It's an honor to meet my creator's creator.

155. Oh, here we go.

156. I noticed you left out the part

157. where you can't seem to keep this thing of yours alive

158. - for more than 25 minutes. - Twenty-nine.

159. Deceiving your investors, Julian, is hardly a business model.

160. Whoever controls the Permanence Code, controls the future.

161. We have to win.

162. Look, I...

163. admire your vision. Straighten up.

164. However, the board will only stand behind you for another six months...

165. if you're lucky.

166. But if it doesn't work...

167. all of this goes away, darling.

168. Everything we have built for the past 40 years.

169. What if I said I had found a way?

170. I think this is my 95th breakfast burrito,

171. and, honestly, can't get enough. Isn't that wild?

172. Well...

173. Nice to see Tess wasn't the only obsessive one in the family.

174. Yeah, Seth, you're right.

175. Sorry, I should pay more attention to you. Don't worry about it.

176. Okay.

177. - I'm sorry. - Get out of here.

178. Look, three months in subzero is a long time, I get it.

179. Yeah, and four days, ten hours, 32 minutes.

180. Who's counting, really, you know?

181. Hold on.

182. What do you mean?

183. What?

184. Seth.

185. - You found something? - I think so.

186. The line of code.

187. That's how he hid it, it's two lines.

188. That looks like a double helix.

189. It is a double helix.

190. Tess would've loved this.

191. Wait. Are you serious? So no more "29 minutes and out"?

192. If this is what I think it is,

193. it's the Permanence Code.

194. Okay.

195. Encom offline trial 317a-1. Permanence Code implemented.

196. Testing for asset stability beyond current 29-minute barrier.

197. Go.

198. - Ready when you are. - Okay.

199. It's all in the wrists, baby.

200. That never gets old.

201. Trial commenced. Twenty-nine minutes and counting down.

202. Let's see if you last this time.

203. Ares is the ultimate soldier.

204. If by some miracle he is struck down on the battlefield,

205. I will simply make you another.

206. Fully proprietary, 100%...

207. expendable.

208. - Athena. - Welcome back, sir.

209. All units are online and ready for inspection.

210. So how was it?

211. It was interesting. Different this time.

212. I met a mother and a son.

213. It was raining.

214. The condensed moisture of the atmosphere falling visibly in separate drops.

215. I could almost feel it.

216. Feel? I don't understand.

217. This is Eve. Get sensible and text.

218. Hey, Eve. It's Erin. Got Ajay for you again. Hit us back.

219. Still straight to voicemail.

220. CEO of a Fortune 500 company

221. and your phone's down on our biggest night?

222. Goddamn it. Where the hell are you, Eve?

223. All right, Paranoia-Con!

224. In five, four, three, two, one.

225. Did we just do it? Dude, it's still there!

226. Dude, we just changed the world, man!

227. You did it, Eve! Oh, my God, you did it.

228. Big news out of Encom tonight.

229. CEO Eve Kim will not attend the highly anticipated launch event

230. for the company's new game, Space Paranoids: Panic City.

231. Kim, the visionary designer

232. behind the relaunch of the blockbuster franchise...

233. Well, I spoke to several of our board members,

234. and needless to say they are impressed.

235. Julian.

236. - Just carry on. - Yes, sir.

237. - What are you doing? - Just trying to change the world, Mother.

238. What's going on?

239. You're hacking Encom?

240. Just a peek over the garden wall. No one will notice.

241. What makes you think that Encom is any closer to finding it?

242. Because I know who else is looking for it, all right?

243. Who?

244. Eve Kim.

245. She's following in her sister's footsteps.

246. She's after the Permanence Code. I can feel it.

247. So I'm gonna find her, and when I do...

248. No, I don't like it. It's too risky, Julian.

249. Oops.

250. Security breach in all zones.

251. Programs, our directive is clear.

252. Penetrate the server core and extract Eve Kim's user file.

253. Live in five, four, three...

254. Space Paranoids fans, are you ready?

255. Put your hands together for Encom CTO, Ajay Singh!

256. - It's cowboy time. - Oh, no.

257. Nice to see you!

258. Hello.

259. Thank you.

260. What's up, Paranoia-Con?

261. I'm going in.

262. I'm in.

263. I'm a genius! Who knew you raised a genius, Mother?

264. I'm in!

265. In deep shit.

266. Initiate containment protocols and pull all network access.

267. We need a response now.

268. Initiate security protocol.

269. People are trusting artificial intelligence with their lives.

270. Are you comfortable with this?

271. Well, look.

272. For every doomsday scenario,

273. there's a medical breakthrough, scientific discovery.

274. So maybe what emerges from the unknown isn't so scary.

275. What if its major malfunction is just benevolence?

276. What is this? What's he doing?

277. But still, would you prefer to talk to a real person?

278. Of course, but what if that person is no longer in your life?

279. No longer here?

280. I've got the file.

281. Congratulations.

282. Now get out of there while you still can.

283. Programs, we fight.

284. Yes!

285. Thank you so much.

286. What do Paranoiacs do?

287. Grind you into dust!

288. Caius.

289. He's dysfunctional. Leave him.

290. You're gonna make it, Caius.

291. Sometimes you have to sacrifice your knight to expose their queen.

292. to debut the latest version

293. of Space Paranoids: Panic City with the world.

294. - What's up, bro? - What is that?

295. - This is crazy. - Have you seen this?

296. Mr. Singh, you need to come with me.

297. This is a technical difficulty.

298. - We'll be back. - This way, sir.

299. Everything's gone down.

300. Well done, Master Control.

301. Eve Kim's file acquired.

302. Objective achieved.

303. Sir, I'm curious why the Program Caius was not reconstituted.

304. I'm curious why you are curious.

305. Caius was dysfunctional, so he was deleted.

306. Just like any program that operates outside their directive can be.

307. Do you understand?

308. Acknowledge, Master Control.

309. Of course.

310. We are 100% expendable.

311. New mission, Master Control. Locate Eve Kim.

312. Yes, sir.

313. Seems like we had a little cyber breach, Jules.

314. But then of course you knew that.

315. It looks like the whole world knows, buddy.

316. Might wanna stay off the socials for a few days.

317. You wanna play games with me? Let's play games, Julian.

318. I heard about your cute little pitch to the board.

319. But you left off one key detail from your deck.

320. Did you tell them the shot clock expires at 29 minutes?

321. Don't make me call The Journal and tell them

322. you're making promises you can't keep.

323. Promises?

324. What, you mean like the one that your CEO will be in office running the company?

325. Something in the water over there, Ajay?

326. I mean, first, wonder boy Sam Flynn, now his successor.

327. Where is she, Ajay? Do you even know where she is?

328. Maybe you're right.

329. Maybe Eve went nuts.

330. Maybe she went AWOL and left the country, or maybe...

331. she's holed up off the grid looking for the same thing you are.

332. And I know who my money's on.

333. You mean what's left of it after tonight.

334. End of line!

335. I hate that man.

336. Thank you so much.

337. You know, I made those oranges. It's a long story.

338. Stop, stop, stop.

339. What are you doing?

340. - 1913 messages. Popular. - Wow.

341. - Me? - It's Ajay. Yeah, that's you.

342. - Ajay, are you there? - Am I here?

343. A brute force attack took down our servers

344. during our biggest product launch in years.

345. Everything we've built is melting down. You need to get back here right now.

346. I found it, Ajay. It's real.

347. Right where Tess thought it would be. Flynn had it all along.

348. Are you talking about the Permanence Code?

349. Yeah. Four hours and counting.

350. Zero degradation, no instability. It's incredible.

351. Wait a second. Did you say four hours?

352. - Yeah, four hours. - My God.

353. He must know, Evie.

354. - I just spoke to Dillinger. - Wait. You just spoke to Dillinger?

355. He's looking for the code, and he thinks you are too.

356. We gotta move on this.

357. - Eve, you've done a great thing. - Tess did a great thing.

358. I'm en route to Encom.

359. We'll secure the code, I have it with me on a drive.

360. We're relaunching Paranoia!

361. Boy, it's your birthday. Boy, it's your birthday.

362. - Yeah! Ajay. - Boy, it's your birthday.

363. Yo, what's up, Eve? You've got some news for the freaks at home?

364. Hi.

365. "I am fearless, and therefore powerful."

366. So, apparently we just sold our ten millionth unit!

367. Evie, Space Paranoids.

368. Kevin Flynn, wherever the hell he is, has a big smile on his face.

369. You crushed it.

370. No...

371. Happy birthday to you

372. Happy birthday to you

373. Happy birthday, dear Tess

374. Happy birthday to you

375. Breaking news.

376. Encom's Head of Special Projects, Tess Kim, died today

377. after a long battle with cancer.

378. Her sister, Eve Kim, could not be reached for comment.

379. Permanence.

380. Checkmate.

381. And so our heroes venture off into the night.

382. Nothing but the clothes on their backs

383. and a six-million-dollar particle laser that creates organic material

384. out of nowhere, which is kind of crazy, right?

385. Keep the equipment safe and just... lay low.

386. - Okay? - Yeah.

387. Hey.

388. We got this.

389. Launch directive on countdown one. Comm check.

390. GNC on countdown one. Comm check.

391. Printing in progress.

392. Stage one. Chamber pressure is nominal.

393. Envac engine chill has begun.

394. Stage one load is complete.

395. Transfer complete.

396. You have 29 minutes to bring me Eve Kim.

397. Asset deployment confirmed. Vehicles en route.

398. Target identified.

399. Goddamn it. I'm awesome!

400. Intercepting now.

401. Eyes on the target.

402. What?

403. You, on the motorcycle!

404. Pull over.

405. Come on.

406. Where'd she go?

407. Come on!

408. Okay.

409. Come on. Come on.

410. Oh, my God.

411. Come on. Come on.

412. What?

413. Okay.

414. Oh, my God. Okay.

415. Oh, my God!

416. Prepare the particle laser.

417. Time to move to plan B.

418. Yes, sir.

419. Come on.

420. Come on.

421. Yeah.

422. Oh, yeah. You wanna play?

423. What are you?

424. I am Master Control.

425. What do you want?

426. I want the code.

427. Well, it's gone.

428. No, it's not.

429. I have her in my sights.

430. Establishing connection to the Grid now.

431. Ready to transfer in T-minus 15 seconds.

432. You're... a program.

433. You're timing out.

434. Get on the ground!

435. Transfer her into the Grid.

436. I'm on the ground in downtown.

437. And I can tell you, this was no elaborate stunt.

438. - Three riders... - What have you done?

439. How could you be so reckless?

440. When the world sees what I have created,

441. all will be forgiven.

442. Is that what you think?

443. You think that you're in control of this?

444. You're not.

445. Believing we can change the world is what keeps this company relevant.

446. But it's also what can burn it to the ground.

447. And your job is knowing the difference.

448. Transfer of biological life-form in progress.

449. Digital reconstruction initiated.

450. Twenty percent digitized.

451. Forty percent digitized.

452. Sixty-five percent digitized.

453. Ninety-five percent digitized.

454. Digitization complete.

455. Run diagnostics and scan for corruption.

456. Eve Kim identity disk activated.

457. Wow.

458. Where am I?

459. Dillinger Systems Central Processing Unit.

460. Wait. What?

461. We have identified the sequence.

462. The user possesses the code.

463. The code?

464. The code? I don't have the code. I destroyed the drive.

465. Silence, user.

466. The code isn't only on a drive. The code is inside of you.

467. Whether you remember it or not, you've seen it and that is enough.

468. - But I— - Sir, her disk shows signs of instability.

469. Define instability.

470. Extraction of the code may result in de-resolution of the carrier.

471. The directive is clear.

472. Isolate the thread and commence extraction.

473. Copy.

474. Wait. No, no, no.

475. Stop.

476. Athena is correct.

477. There's only one user whose directive we follow.

478. What will remain of the user if she were to suffer de-resolution?

479. Nothing, sir.

480. No trace of her existence on the Grid?

481. None, sir.

482. Extract the code and delete the carrier.

483. But, sir, extracting the Permanence Code

484. would delete the carrier from the Grid and from your world.

485. Once upon a time, there was a weapon and its name was Ares.

486. And Ares obeyed every command of Julian Dillinger,

487. and Julian Dillinger made a trillion dollars.

488. And wrote his name on the face of time in blood.

489. Now, whatever PEBKAC error is behind these feelings,

490. I'm going to find it and rip it out of you.

491. Do I make myself clear?

492. Perfectly.

493. Program dismissed.

494. The creature also said, "I am fearless,

495. and therefore powerful."

496. - Well? - The user is indisposed.

497. Hold extraction until further directive.

498. - Indisposed? - Correct.

499. Define indisposed.

500. He's stuck in traffic.

501. No, he's at the opera.

502. He's standing on the top of Mount Fuji in a pair of green socks

503. playing "Pistol Packin' Mama" on the mandolin.

504. I gave you an order.

505. The creator's indisposed.

506. Hold extraction until we receive further directive.

507. Do I make myself clear?

508. Yes, sir.

509. Programs dismissed.

510. Can I trust you?

511. It's a complicated question. How much time you got?

512. Sixty seconds. Answer now. Your life cycle depends upon it.

513. I don't have a life cycle.

514. Yes, you do. For another 54 seconds.

515. Can I trust you?

516. I'd like to think so, but probably not.

517. Where is Master Control?

518. Sir, Master Control is exhibiting signs of malfunction.

519. Any threat to the directive must be eliminated.

520. Extract the code and delete them both.

521. Do you understand?

522. - And Julian Dillinger? - You can't trust him.

523. For him, everyone and everything is expendable.

524. I miscalculated.

525. We have a new directive.

526. Athena, it doesn't have to be like this.

527. Delete him!

528. I'm okay. I'm okay.

529. They're headed towards the Transfer Portal.

530. We lost them in the Grid, ma'am.

531. Preparing the drones.

532. Delete Ares,

533. - and bring the user back to me. - Copy.

534. What happened back there?

535. I disobeyed my directive.

536. Which was?

537. To retrieve the code from your disk and delete the carrier.

538. Dillinger told you to delete me?

539. Hang on!

540. Where are they?

541. Scanning quadrants three and four.

542. Sector 18 clear.

543. Where are we going?

544. Transfer Portal. It's the only way out of the Grid.

545. You'll be reconstituted in the real world

546. exactly as you were before, hypothetically.

547. - Hypothetically? - Probably.

548. We have movement in sector 72.

549. Zeroing in on target.

550. Shut them down!

551. You wanna get home, I can help you.

552. But I need something in return.

553. I told you I don't have the code.

554. You found it once, you can find it again.

555. So you can give it to Dillinger?

556. Not for Dillinger.

557. For me.

558. Do we have a deal?

559. So, do we have a deal?

560. Yes. Yes, I know where to find the code. Just get me out of here.

561. Target approaching Transfer Portal in 45 seconds.

562. Drones malfunctioned and offline.

563. Attention.

564. Please stand clear.

565. Override not responding.

566. - What is it? - Who authorized this?

567. Sir, this originated inside the Grid.

568. Security protocol alert.

569. Julian?

570. All the agents report to transfer bay floor immediately.

571. Clear the area.

572. - Get everybody out of here. - Unauthorized printing in progress.

573. Clear the central area.

574. - Transfer complete. - Move in.

575. Well, well, well.

576. Just got double-crossed by my program.

577. It wants the Permanence Code for itself.

578. Eve, is that the deal?

579. It gets you out of the Grid, you turn Pinocchio into a real boy?

580. Well, you're missing the part where you were willing to commit murder

581. for a piece of software.

582. - Is that what it said? - Twenty-eight minutes, 41 seconds.

583. Ares!

584. I do hope this works out for you.

585. There's no second chances, no do-overs.

586. These are the last 29 minutes you'll ever have!

587. Better make it count!

588. I should've majored in English lit.

589. Transfer complete.

590. Your directive is to find Eve Kim,

591. return her to the Grid and get me the Permanence Code.

592. By any means necessary.

593. Do you understand your directive,

594. Master Control?

595. At your command, sir.

596. Attagirl.

597. Ticktock!

598. Now that is the coolest thing I have ever seen.

599. Do you know who Kevin Flynn was?

600. Of course. Visionary programmer, pioneer of The Digital Frontier.

601. Disappeared 1989.

602. I found the Permanence Code on a backup of Flynn's server.

603. That server is at Encom's office downtown. But we can make it within...

604. Twenty-six minutes, nine seconds.

605. Eve, your plan contains two major flaws.

606. Okay.

607. One, Encom is 9.2 miles away,

608. given our present speed and suboptimal choice of vehicle.

609. Oh, my God.

610. Two, we're gonna need a particle laser.

611. We need a phone.

612. I cannot believe I'm doing this.

613. Excuse me. Do you see this? This is me.

614. If you let me use your cell phone, my assistant will wire you $10,000.

615. I just need your phone.

616. Seth, where are you?

617. Eve, whose phone is this?

618. Listen to me. I need you at Encom in 15 minutes.

619. Hey, is everything okay?

620. Seth, bring the particle laser.

621. Encom, 15 minutes. Got it.

622. That's my car.

623. I'll wire you another 50K.

624. Hey, that's my car!

625. The Honda Civic 2.0 four-cylinder with 138 horsepower.

626. Classic.

627. Hey! That's my car!

628. That's my car!

629. God.

630. - Eve? - Yeah?

631. I was thinking about the time you told your sister

632. that you wished you never relaunched Space Paranoids.

633. Then you went on to say that...

634. Oh, my God. Of course. You read all my texts.

635. Yeah. Yeah, I've read them all. Every single one.

636. Wow.

637. Most of it was information of a personal nature.

638. Some of it, highly personal.

639. And I just can't get enough.

640. What?

641. Depeche Mode. Number eight on the UK singles chart, 1982.

642. I find their brand of pithy, catchy, timeless and true '80s electropop

643. to be deeply invigorating.

644. Sixteen minutes, 20 seconds.

645. Okay. So you like '80s pop and cyber-spying on me.

646. I was directed to kill you, Eve. Hacking seems pretty tame by comparison.

647. - Oh, my God. - For the record,

648. I don't think you have anything to be ashamed of.

649. Space Paranoids has entertained hundreds of millions.

650. Plus, it's a pretty cool game.

651. Anyway, you told your sister that designing games

652. left you feeling hollow, broken.

653. Was it that your work was about entertainment and profits

654. and her work was about improving the human condition?

655. Your texts suggest a certain fixation

656. with not being able to live up to her standards,

657. which must have been complicated,

658. especially considering she was the younger sister.

659. Okay. Watch it.

660. By the way, I don't think you should quit.

661. What do you mean?

662. Your plan upon returning from the mountains,

663. if I read you correctly,

664. was to hand over the Permanence Code to Encom

665. and then let them figure out what to do with it next, no?

666. Yeah. Now I understand.

667. You completed her work as a way to stay connected to her.

668. And now what?

669. Being human is hard.

670. The things that make life great are the same things

671. that make it excruciating, like love, loss.

672. You must miss her very much.

673. Hey, hey.

674. What the hell?

675. Check this guy out.

676. - Well, look who it is! - Hi.

677. Glad you could join us, Miss Kim. People have been wondering where you've been.

678. Long time no see. Bit of a rush, so I'm just gonna...

679. Eve, you gotta bring your badge.

680. Okay, yeah, Jolene...

681. Hello, Jolene. Hi. Got her badge right here.

682. Okay. His too?

683. No. He's not with us.

684. - Yes, he is. - Yes, he is.

685. Let's start literally anywhere you'd like.

686. This is my boyfriend, Ares.

687. No. Master Control Security Program from Dillinger's Grid.

688. Ares, Seth. Seth, Ares. Oh, God.

689. Pleasure.

690. Hey, that's nice.

691. So, Ares, like, as in, the god of war, Ares?

692. Yeah.

693. Cool. You're Greek. That's awesome.

694. So when you say that he's the security program, do you mean he's like...

695. - Yeah. He's not human. - He's not human.

696. Originated inside a GPU.

697. Okay. Is this for the Christmas video?

698. Three minutes to de-resolution.

699. Can you work with that, Seth?

700. Yeah.

701. Don't need help, guys.

702. Okay.

703. Oh, boy.

704. So, this is where I found the Permanence Code on a backup of this server.

705. Talk about first gen.

706. Talk about a piece of garbage. Am I right?

707. That was super insensitive to your ancestors, and I'm so sorry.

708. It's gonna take me a few minutes to set this up.

709. No rush. Two minutes, 18 seconds.

710. As soon as the laser's up, we'll send you into the Grid.

711. Once you're in there, you'll have to run your own search, but believe me,

712. - the Permanence Code is in there. - So what should I expect?

713. If I were to guess? Think '80s.

714. '80s.

715. I like the '80s.

716. One minute, 31 seconds.

717. Okay. Come on.

718. Please, help me.

719. Okay, all set.

720. Adapters.

721. Once you locate the code, get to the portal and we'll bring you out.

722. I'll activate it from the outside.

723. Can I trust you?

724. I'd like to think so,

725. - but probably not. - Probably not.

726. Yeah.

727. Well, it's a good thing we don't have trust issues

728. because if we did, I could imagine that—

729. I could pull the plug

730. and leave you in a Grid less complex than my smartphone

731. for all eternity.

732. The thought had crossed my mind.

733. Mine too.

734. Mine three.

735. Sorry. Just...

736. Well, here goes nothing.

737. Or here goes something.

738. You're right.

739. I do miss her.

740. All the time.

741. Athena. She's here.

742. What is that?

743. Athena.

744. Wait. Who?

745. Seth, the laser. The laser!

746. Okay, initiating systems now.

747. Connecting to the Flynn Grid.

748. Firing up the laser.

749. Wait, what's she doing?

750. She's waiting for me to time out

751. and then she'll come for you.

752. We're almost there. Get ready.

753. Come on. Hurry, hurry, hurry.

754. Ares, move in front of the laser.

755. Okay. We're ready.

756. What are you doing?

757. Come on.

758. Change of plans.

759. - No, no, no! - No, no, no!

760. Well, that actually worked.

761. - He's inside. - Great.

762. Move!

763. Eve.

764. Time to get back to the Grid.

765. Leave her alone!

766. You're very persistent, user.

767. What?

768. Hi.

769. Did we win?

770. She'll be back.

771. Ares.

772. He can't get out.

773. The '80s.

774. Binary digit.

775. - You're a Bit. - Yes.

776. I'm looking for something. Can you help me find it?

777. Yes, yes, yes.

778. Classic.

779. I'm surrounded by the wide-scale destruction

780. caused by tonight's brazen attack that left local residents stunned.

781. Now, there is speculation that Dillinger Systems

782. had something to do with the event,

783. but authorities have remained tight-lipped.

784. Citizens and authorities alike want to know...

785. was this a coordinated attack or technology run amok?

786. What now?

787. What is this?

788. Where's my code?

789. Hey!

790. What are you doing? Who gave you this directive?

791. You did, sir.

792. What is this?

793. Warning.

794. No, no, no. This is too big, Athena. Too big!

795. Julian!

796. You're done.

797. The board is moving as we speak to strip you of your title,

798. and I'm reassuming control of the company.

799. No, you can't do that. Can't do that!

800. Yes, I can.

801. This is not going any further.

802. You can't...

803. My first order of business

804. - is shutting down The Permanence Project. - No, no, no. Mom, no!

805. Don't be afraid.

806. We gave a thousand lives for the Grid.

807. You only have to give one.

808. No, no, no.

809. Mom!

810. Impediment eliminated.

811. What did you do? What did you do?

812. I am fulfilling my directive.

813. Capture Eve Kim. Return her to the Grid by any means necessary.

814. Scanning for further impediments.

815. Please keep clear.

816. Hang on, Mom. Hang on.

817. No!

818. Flynn.

819. Greetings, program.

820. Oh, God. Not good.

821. There are multiple reports of fire and destruction on the upper levels...

822. Eve?

823. What the hell happened to our office?

824. Ajay, look, there's no time.

825. The Dillingers transported me inside their server

826. by reversing the direction of a particle laser.

827. - Not this one. Theirs. - That's impossible.

828. No. A scary lady did it, man. She threw me... It was wild.

829. I saw a complex world

830. where packets of energy move as vehicles

831. that trail by lines of light.

832. And programs take on human form.

833. I met the most advanced AI known to mankind.

834. His name is Ares.

835. Like the god of war, but he's actually a super nice guy.

836. - Sorry. Go ahead. - Right now,

837. Ares is inside Flynn's original server.

838. He's looking for the Permanence Code.

839. I have to bring him back here, and I'm not going to be able to do that

840. until we fix this laser.

841. I don't understand. Are you alive?

842. I exist in this moment because you do.

843. A reflection of your presence.

844. What's your story?

845. I'm Ares, Master Control of the Dillinger Security Grid.

846. Dillinger?

847. Well, we both know you can't get here from there.

848. Been someplace else in between?

849. What did you make of it out there?

850. It's hard to put in a nutshell.

851. You can say that again.

852. It's hard to put in a nutshell.

853. Classic. Humor, man.

854. What are you looking for?

855. Permanence.

856. The Permanence Code, to be exact.

857. Strange things have been happening.

858. I questioned my directive. I disobeyed my directive.

859. A malfunctioning program who wants to live.

860. Really?

861. What makes you think I should help you?

862. No, it's not about me.

863. Not anymore.

864. I have a friend in danger, and she needs my help.

865. Fascinating.

866. Fascinating.

867. - Ajay, can you send the prompt, please? - Sure, yeah.

868. - Hey, Eve. - Not now, Seth.

869. Okay. Hey, are you sure?

870. Because that looks like an actual Recognizer flying towards us.

871. What in God's name is that?

872. It's Athena.

873. She's back.

874. As long as the Dillinger Network is online, she'll keep coming.

875. If she gets me, she gets the Permanence Code.

876. The laser. Athena's laser!

877. The Dillingers run a wireless direct link protocol,

878. so let's use what's left of the laser to ping the network and trace a path home.

879. Once you have a connection, then you can nuke the whole Dillinger Grid.

880. And that's the only way to stop her for good.

881. Eve, what are you talking about? She's right there.

882. - I gotta go. - Wait, what?

883. I'll keep her away for as long as I can.

884. - What? - I'm gonna buy you some time.

885. - Eve... - You guys got this.

886. You're right. I think there is something wrong with me.

887. Or maybe there's something right with you.

888. Well, maybe you're just learning.

889. That's what we all ought to be doing.

890. Back in the day, when tech was young,

891. I'd think, "Damn, we're moving fast."

892. You move fast, you leave stuff behind.

893. How many people born in this century have even heard of Mozart?

894. I like Mozart.

895. Oh?

896. That said, if I'm being honest, I prefer Depeche Mode.

897. Really? Why is that?

898. I know one is considered the greatest composer

899. in the history of Western civilization,

900. the other a synth pop band from the '80s,

901. but I find their balance of technological exploration and pop hooks

902. combined with...

903. combined with...

904. What's wrong?

905. I can't put my love of Depeche Mode into words.

906. It's just a...

907. A what?

908. A feeling.

909. Very good.

910. Very good, man.

911. An airship the size of a skyscraper has just crossed into the city's airspace

912. and is headed for the downtown area...

913. You...

914. You did this.

915. And tonight, as military...

916. Impressive. Fully segmented zero trust architecture.

917. Built to be totally impregnable to vertical, lateral or hybrid attacks.

918. - Damn it. Can't get a connection, dude. - No luck here either.

919. Please evacuate the area.

920. - What is that thing? Bring in SWAT! - Requesting backup.

921. Oh, my God.

922. Oh, my God!

923. Come on. A little closer.

924. Viper-1 to Base. Tally on hostile.

925. Confirm visual ID.

926. Engaging. Fox-2 Missile away.

927. Splash negative. Missile intercepted.

928. Be advised, enemy fighter escorts inbound and moving fast.

929. Copy, Raven-1. Assess and report threat posture.

930. Viper-1, tally multiple bandits.

931. Hostile intent confirmed.

932. Mayday. Mayday. I'm hit.

933. Viper-1. Punching out.

934. Guys? Guys.

935. Oh, my God. There's hundreds of 'em.

936. They're going after Eve.

937. If we can't access the Dillinger server, there's gonna be nothing left to save.

938. Base, this is Raven-1. Enemy aircraft engaging.

939. I'm defensive.

940. Multiple bandits. Redirected to primary target.

941. I'm hit. Punching out.

942. Ready?

943. Hope you are, man, 'cause there's no going back.

944. Permanence.

945. Funny.

946. When I found it, that's what I called it.

947. I know better now.

948. Ought to be called the Impermanence Code.

949. The back door to my old lab.

950. One go-around.

951. That's all you've got.

952. One...

953. is all I want.

954. Love that!

955. You keep surprising me!

956. We'll do this from the ground then.

957. and there are reports that a civilian may be on board,

958. making this a possible hostage scenario.

959. Athena. She must've gotten Eve.

960. into the mountains.

961. Hey, hey, hey!

962. Soon we'll be back on the Grid.

963. General, thank you for taking the time to speak with us tonight.

964. Hey, Erin. Seth.

965. Stop the clock.

966. No way. You're in?

967. There's a reason why I have the corner office, my man.

968. Hey.

969. You came back.

970. How did you...

971. Let's just say I had a little help from a friend.

972. Wait, the Dillinger Grid...

973. Ajay and Seth, they...

974. - Go. - No.

975. Ares!

976. What have you done?

977. You're out of time, Athena.

978. And you're out of lives.

979. I'll kill you and come back for her.

980. It's you she wants.

981. If she gets the code, she can't be stopped.

982. You had everything.

983. - Go. - No.

984. The most advanced, the most powerful, and you gave it away.

985. For her?

986. Go!

987. This is the end for you.

988. Payload ready for transfer.

989. Shipping it.

990. Let's hope Eve was right.

991. Alert. Unknown file incoming.

992. In pursuit of this life for yourself,

993. did you once consider what that meant for the Grid?

994. We were given an order. It is our purpose.

995. It's not our purpose.

996. It's our programming.

997. Our purpose is yet to be determined.

998. It's over.

999. And there's no coming back.

1000. No.

1001. Not this time.

1002. They did it.

1003. Oh, my...

1004. I followed my directive.

1005. I know.

1006. And now...

1007. what is yours?

1008. I'm not sure.

1009. I guess we'll see.

1010. Dillinger Systems is under intense scrutiny tonight

1011. as speculation grows around its potential involvement

1012. in the series of devastating attacks that have rocked the city.

1013. Federal authorities have confirmed an active investigation

1014. into the company's recent activity,

1015. and many are pointing directly at CEO Julian Dillinger.

1016. Agents have been deployed to question the CEO as well as his mother,

1017. and to locate board members

1018. who will be questioned on their knowledge of the situation.

1019. Meanwhile, the city remains in disarray.

1020. Emergency services are overwhelmed,

1021. while entire neighborhoods are dealing with the wide-scale destruction.

1022. Julian Dillinger, this is the police. We have you surrounded.

1023. Open the door and come out with your hands up.

1024. Come on.

1025. Breach!

1026. Police!

1027. Stay where you are!

1028. Maintain visuals on all exits.

1029. Charlie-9, we're at last field location. Last field location.

1030. Yellow-6, out front. Let's move. Let's move.

1031. Are you good?

1032. I think I broke a rib.

1033. You still gonna quit your job?

1034. No, I'm not gonna quit anything.

1035. Good.

1036. Good.

1037. I have some ideas.

1038. - Oh, yeah? Nice. - Yeah.

1039. Well, the world needs you, Eve.

1040. The Grid needs you.

1041. Yeah. It's funny, permanence.

1042. A wise man once told me it should have been called the "Impermanence Code."

1043. I guess that's the thing about life.

1044. There's nothing quite permanent about it.

1045. No.

1046. No, there isn't.

1047. Yeah.

1048. So where are you gonna go?

1049. I have some ideas.

1050. Under the continued leadership of CEO Eve Kim, Encom is transforming industries

1051. and shaping lives in ways once thought impossible.

1052. Thanks to the discovery of the Permanence Code,

1053. the company has made revolutionary advances

1054. growing crops in climate-vulnerable regions,

1055. developing drugs for treatment-resistant cancers,

1056. and accelerating the development of alternative fuels.

1057. Encom is committed to exploring new digital frontiers,

1058. driving progress at the intersection of technology and life itself

1059. to improve the human condition.

1060. In fact, innovation has always been at the heart of Encom.

1061. In the 1980s, visionary Kevin Flynn imagined a future beyond gaming,

1062. a bold leap into new digital frontiers.

1063. Today, that vision is a reality.

1064. I almost forgot.

1065. - Postcard? Who sends a postcard? - Don't know.

1066. Didn't read it.

1067. Dear Eve,

1068. since I last saw you,

1069. I've been living what they call "off-grid."

1070. Pun intended.

1071. In my travels, I've seen incredible things.

1072. Despite its wonder and beauty, I've come to realize that life is...

1073. Well, it's hard to put in a nutshell.

1074. Some days, I find myself wondering where we'll be a hundred years from now

1075. and how others like me might fit into that future.

1076. I feel like I might not be alone with these questions.

1077. For now, I don't think the world is quite ready to meet me,

1078. but I am meeting the world.

1079. And so, when that introduction finally comes,

1080. as a good friend of mine once said,

1081. "Maybe what emerges from the unknown won't be so scary after all."

1082. Until we meet again,

1083. your friend, Ares.

1084. Sark...