After Hapna hit the market,
the frenzy that it created even spread to the prison system.
But it was a real hassle to get your hands on any,
unless you were willing to pay a hefty premium.
Although I'm not normally into drugs and stuff,
I decided to try some out of curiosity.
The first thing I did was headbutt the bars of my cell,
but damn, it hurt like a bitch!
Guess the stuff just had no effect on me.
And what's worse is that
Hapna apparently still becomes lethal even if you've only taken it one time.
That's why I'm stuck looking for this Skinner dude every day now.
If we can't find him and everybody dies,
then I'll just catch up to that asswipe in Hell...
and punch him in the face.
So, Doctor 909 hacked into Delta Medicinal's database,
which is where he learned about the threat of Hapna.
And, more importantly,
that Delta Medicinal was in charge of performing Hapna's clinical trials.
Which means it's highly likely that Delta Medicinal
knew exactly how dangerous the drug was.
And then, there's this image...
Ew!
What are we even looking at here?
It was among the files that we confiscated from Doctor 909,
but I have no idea what it is.
What if the company was in cahoots with Skinner?
Then all the trials and approvals could've been faked.
That's definitely a possibility.
The bottom line is, they must have some kind of connection to Skinner.
How's it coming, Eleina?
Have you found anything?
I'm not seeing any data from the clinical trials here, but...
I did come across something weird.
Someone at Delta Medicinal
has been uploading music from their servers every week
to an audio-based social media site called SoundCloud.
What's so weird about that?
Yeah, it could just have been a music-loving employee.
Well...
What the heck...?
Okay, I'll admit the music itself is pretty weird.
Wait, Eleina,
can you open this track as an image file instead?
Let me try.
Well now...
This is the clinical trial data for Hapna.
You can tell?
Huh?
Yes, on a basic level.
Wait a minute.
Why would they encode their trial data
and then upload it to some social media site?
Presumably,
it's because they needed to reach a recipient
who didn't want anybody to know where they are.
Does that mean...?
Skinner, obviously!
Sweet!
We've got plenty of evidence now.
So let's go give them a grilling in person.
Huh? What the?
Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!
That figures, rich people always have the best security.
I can't get close because they have a jammer set up.
No tall buildings nearby that we can jump over from, either.
No luck with the underground parking.
It's fully automated and not even connected to the inside of the building.
Okay, then maybe one of us can use a rope to climb down from the roof or something?
Not me, though.
What a great idea!
Just like Spider-Man!
I wanna try doing that.
No, hold on!
That's a little too conspicuous.
We would need to wait for it to get dark first.
Whoa.
Hey, Axel?
What are you doing?
Can you hear me?
The building is crawling with security guards, you know...
Huh?!
Hey there, how's it going?
Oh, hello.
Who's that?
No clue.
Aw, jeez.
He seriously just went for it.
Don't move.
Shut down all your security systems, would ya?
No.
I can't...
Pretty please?
S-security system command: deactivate.
Appreciate it.
Who are you?!
How did you get your hands on that data?!
Hello there, Mr. President.
You should know, seeing as you're the one who uploaded it to the net.
What do you want?
Money?
Nope.
We wanna know where Skinner is.
Nobody is more desperate to find out where he is than I am.
We were never made privy to his location or even a way to contact him,
which is why we had to go through such a hassle just to send that data.
Were you aware that Hapna was going to mutate and become toxic?
We had absolutely no idea.
How could that possibly have benefited us?
Have you determined if Hapna is actually lethal?
Before we did any human trials,
we tested its effects on monkeys.
And one of those subjects...
just died the other day.
Its eyes became discolored,
taking on a pattern that looks like a starry-night sky.
Humans will go through it next...
Can't Delta develop an antidote for it?
We've poured all of our resources into doing just that,
but even our R&D team is at a loss on what to do.
I swear, Skinner is the real devil incarnate...
Well, if he's the devil,
then I suppose that makes us the angels fighting against him.
I'm sick and tired of chasing after Skinner.
Let's lure the bastard out!
An announcement from Delta Medicinal
regarding an emergency conference on the cure for Hapna...
You had them send this out to all renowned researchers and doctors?
Correct.
Once Skinner learns someone has created the antidote to his creation,
he will almost certainly come to see if it's true.
In other words, you've set up this fake conference
as a way to lure Skinner out and then trap him when he shows up.
That's the plan.
The committee will be holding their inquiry soon.
You heard about that, right?
Yes, we need to show progress by then.
Otherwise, we'll be at a huge disadvantage.
Indeed.
We cannot afford to let it all get swept under the rug at this point.
Think he'll actually show up?
At the very least, he'll use a hacker to try and find out what's going on inside.
Maybe we get lucky and Skinner himself makes an appearance.
Aw, hell yeah.
Come and get a piece, Skinner, baby.
Nice! This totally looks like the real thing.
Each of those vials also has a built-in GPS tracker,
in case they get snatched from us.
What's inside of them?
Just saline water.
Now, the only question is how will they try to get in?
They can try to infiltrate from the outside.
Or maybe...
They sneak in by pretending to be an invited guest.
Our company's exclusive security firm has gone through the building
and performed a complete sweep to check for any bugs and wiretaps.
We have fifty guards including myself,
who are currently patrolling on high alert.
All of our staff have been screened with background checks.
So there should be no opportunities for Skinner to plant a spy among us.
I get the "lure Skinner to conference" part,
but what if his hacker friend gets inside the company's system
and finds out we're lying?
That's where Eleina comes in.
Broadly speaking, Delta Medicinal has two different types of in-house networks.
One is the "Core Network" for handling confidential information
and then a "Basic Network" for managing all the essential building functions.
What's with the weird-ass designs?
The core network, which is located in this room,
has already been isolated from all other connections.
The wall is shielded,
so no wireless signals can get through it.
In other words, it's air-gapped, huh?
Smart phones won't work in here, either,
so please use this direct line if you need to contact me.
All right, looks like it's impossible for anybody to hack the core network.
Isn't this a bit too hardcore?
Won't the hacker just give up if we make things this difficult?
No.
The harder the security is, the more they want to crack it.
That's how hackers roll.
Yikes...
Besides, I've baited them by leaving the basic network accessible from the outside.
So that's where we'll catch our hacker, eh?
Things are about to get started.
Keep yourselves alert.
Bring it on, Skinner!
Let's paint the town red.
All guests must leave their electronic devices at the security gate.
Oh, my apologies!
I forgot that I had another one...
Who was that?
Patrick Wong,
an associate professor at MIT.
Any connection to Skinner?
It seems he was mentored by one of Skinner's colleagues
during his time as a student.
Better keep an eye on him.
Are you feeling better now, Mr. President?
Yeah, I'm sorry to worry you.
Skinner seem so much like the Devil incarnate that I lost all hope.
But these guys told me we should fight back no matter what he is.
That's all we have to do.
I see.
And I totally agreed with that.
I'd just forgotten how to put up a fight.
I had the best sleep in ages last night.
We greatly appreciate your patience, everyone.
Your attention please.
The conference will now begin with a greeting
from our CEO, Mr. Ahmed Rahman.
Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend today.
Without further ado,
I am pleased to officially announce
that we have succeeded in developing a cure for Hapna.
To start us off, a member of our research team,
Dr. Mulligan, will explain the finer details.
As you all know,
the mechanism that allows Hapna to remove pain comes from the gene SCN9A,
in connection to the Schwann cells exhibited in sodium channel Nav1.7.
One guy just left for the bathroom.
Somebody keep eyes on him.
Roger that.
Got a hit!
Someone's trying to get access from outside!
The point of origin is...
the Arctic!
Are they military?
No, it's spoofed.
I'm detecting multiple access points from all over.
Sodium ion permeation ultimately gets blocked,
thereby leading to death of the organism--
Is something wrong?
What's going on?
What happened?
Power outage?
Eleina!
This room has its own power generator, so it's not a problem!
Hold on...
The network hasn't actually been breached.
What does that mean?
The external access from earlier was all faked.
The culprit...
is inside the building!
Somebody go and check the breaker unit, now!
On it!
What about the bathroom guy?
He hasn't come out yet!
Must be him!
Watch the exits!
Don't let anybody out!
Roger!
Chris, come inside now.
Okay!
Hey!
What?
This isn't the guy!
There's nothing wrong with the breaker unit, either!
What's going on?!
Who is that?!
Yes! Now I'm not going to die!
Lock the intruder in an isolated room.
And find out who he is!
Say what you will!
But I sure as hell wasn't going to let you jerks monopolize the cure!
Sorry, pal.
But all you did was inject yourself with some saline water.
Huh?
This guy has nothing to do with Skinner, either!
Where are you hiding, you little sneak?
Get wreeeeeeeeeecked!
An override loop!
Did you just code that program now?
Hardcore!
So hot!
Did they take control of the AC?
Don't open the door!
What the heck going on in here?
Damn you!
The core has been breached.
We're getting hacked across fifty locations.
Are you saying there are fifty intruders in here?!
No way!
Not fifty people...
Fifty devices!
The guards' walkie talkies!
We're being hacked locally through them!
Hey! Is this connected to outside?
No, it doesn't have that functionality!
It's just a normal walkie talkie.
Plus, we just had them all replaced with new ones.
Replaced?
The manufacturer contacted us
about a recall and then shipped us a brand new batch.
That's it!
The hacker's goal
was to find a way to get these walkie talkies
inside the control room from the get-go.
What now?
They can see everything once they get in the core network, right?
Eleina?
They took the bait!
Initiating tracking!
Huh?
In case things went south,
I planted a fake antidote file on the core computer for them to steal.
Now we can locate Popcorn Wizard by using it.
Losing the battle to win the war, huh?
But the core network is still under their control, so be careful!
Huh?!
Calm down!
Oh jeez! What the hell?!
What am I supposed to do, dammit?!
Somebody do something!
Found them!
They're at the Islamabad Stock Exchange in Pakistan!
I'll put in a call to have the local authorities search the place!
Huh?
The stock exchanges in every country usually have
a specially fortified network infrastructure.
And by tapping into that,
the hacker can get enough bandwidth for their massive cyberattacks, eh?
You didn't find anyone?
What do you mean by that?!
Wait, they're moving?
How can there be this much data traffic from up in the mountains?
Don't tell me...
Alrighty, let's see this "cure" of theirs...
Pretty Vacant!
Guess the whole thing was fake, like I figured.
Huh?
Hardcore!
Buh-bye!
What is it?
No Future...
They slipped away.
I'm pretty sure
they intentionally parked their mobile base
right next to the stock exchange to throw us off.
Okay, so that means we lost the battle and the war...
I'm sorry.
What now?
Huh?
"Popcorn Wizard"...
The real deal?
It can't be.
Hardcore!
Major props, Pretty Vacant!
No one has ever gotten as close to busting me as you just did!
Hoo boy!
Um, say what?
Johnny Rotten is my hero.
Keep it real! Bye!
Wait! Popcorn!
They hung up...
Hardcore!