Chapter 18 Recap
Lightning strikes in the desert, and a fire burns in a hut. Lenny lies on the ground, and David sits before a pile of bones and looks at a crystal ball in his hand. Inside of it is an image of Syd.
Syd says that she's going after him.
David and Syd lie sleeping, and Syd wakes up and strokes David's chest.
Syd tells Clark that David doesn't know the difference between real and not real, right and wrong, but insists that he's a good person and she's going after him. She says that they have to save love if they're going to save the world, but she's not sure that's what David is doing.
Getting up, Syd leaves the tent and looks around. She sees a pink plug and a drain hole in the middle of the desert, goes over, looks inside. a rabbit jumps out and Syd picks it up and says that it's okay. There's a metal hook stuck into it, and a chain from the hook leading back into the hole. Once Syd pulls the hook out, the chain draws tight, yanking Syd in.
David comes out of the tent and calls to Syd. He gets no answer, and goes over to the drain hole. He looks inside and calls to Syd.
Syd falls into the darkness, screaming. She finds herself lying on the floor, and Melanie is seated nearby. She talks about men and says that Fukyama is the greatest threat to their gender and the women are addicted to love. Syd tries to work out where she is, and figures that Melanie is pissed because Oliver left. She insists that's not what is happening to her and is sick of talking about it. Melanie shows Syd a screen of David looking for Syd, and says that what all men love is the feeling of power knowing they've been chosen by God. Syd figures that she's in hell, and Melanie brings up an image of Syd making David promise that if they get lost, they get lost together.
Melanie says that the only way to convince Syd of the truth is to tell her a story. She tells the story of David and his curse, and says that the monster was the gift. The curse was that David is insane. The screens show David growling, and Melanie says that there's no force on Earth that makes David enjoy it. She points out David's snarling face and says that it's his truce face, the one that he hides.
David staggers through a sandstorm and comes to a rickshaw. He sees the monastery nearby and goes inside, and finds Oliver sitting in the mess room singing. David demands to know where Syd is and throws Oliver to the ground, then drags him to a chair and promises to kill him quick if he tells him where Syd is. Oliver says that David can't kill him because he's part of him, and when David slaps him he briefly turns into David. He refuses to say where Syd is, and David probes his mind as Oliver screams.
Oliver finds himself in chains, and David tells him that Syd told him that they have to save love. He explains that everything that Farouk did to him gave him armor and he's the lunatic Farouk turned him into and he's ready for his revenge. He holds up a power drill and tells Oliver to tell him where Syd is. Oliver refuses, and David drills into his leg. They appear on a street and then the desert, and David continues torturing Oliver.
Melanie and Syd watches, and Melanie says that Syd will do terrible things to a friend. Syd insists that it's a trick because it's Farouk, and Melanie points out how David is smiling in pleasure and asks who the monster is.
The car appears in the desert and Lenny gets out, then gets the case from the trunk after it bursts into flame. She sees box men sitting around the drain hole with boxes on their heads and goes over. Lenny sits down and asks what they're doing there, but gets no response. She tries to meditate like the box men are, but gets bored and opens the case. She takes out a rifle and examines it, then puts it back inside. Lenny then asks the box men where she could find a monastery, and they all point in the same direction. Satisfied, Lenny starts walking in that direction.
David continues torturing Oliver, and Syd vomits. She asks if it bothers Melanie, and Melanie says that it's just a mask and not her Oliver. She then shows Syd an image of Future Syd, and asks if Syd knows the things that David does with her. On the screen, David and Future Syd kiss. Syd says that it's her and figures that it shouldn't bother her, and Melanie says that it does. Syd admits that David told her that Future Syd asks David to find Farouk's building, and Melanie shows her an image of Future Syd and Farouk talking about how David will end the world. Melanie tells Syd that she understands but won't admit it, and tells Syd that the greatest monsters are the ones in human clothes. She doesn't know how David turns, but she knows that he turns into something magnificent and terrible: Legion, the world killer.
Syd insists that the future isn't written, but Melanie says that David has too much power and he's seen horrible things that no child ever should. Because of that David lied and stole, then hung himself because he saw what he becomes. When his life was truly over, he spent five years in a mental hospital. Syd insists that David is a good person, but Melanie tells her that David is a psychopath. She shows Syd images of David torturing Oliver, kissing future Syd, and killing Brubaker.
Cary, Kerry, and the Division 3 men track the case to the burned out car and realize that the case is on the movie. They find Lenny's coat and have the dog trail Lenny's scene, and follow it to the drain hole. The men climbs out of the hole and the Division 3 soldiers aim their guns at them. The box men their bolas, and the soldiers collapse to the ground in pain. Cary clutches at his ears, but Kerry overcomes the pain, draws her staff, and they fight. She takes some of them down and looks at Cary, and then attacks the others. Once they're defeated, more box men emerge from the drain hole.
David demands to know where Syd is, and a bloody Oliver collapses to the floor. He mutters that Syd is with Farouk, and says that Farouk made him. David asks if Farouk is in his body, but Oliver is unable to respond.
Syd and Melanie watch and Melanie tells Syd that it's not her fault. The mind readers read their minds and show them what they want to see, and they can't trust anyone but themselves. Melanie says that Future Syd has seen what David becomes, and says that serial killers and wife-beater never change because that's who they are. She tells Syd that she has to stop David, and Melanie walks over to the minotaur and says that she's ready. The two of them leave.
David walks out of the monastery and sits down, exhausted. A helicopter lands nearby.
The Vermillions rappel down to where Clark and his men are waiting. They bring a giant tuning fork out of a SUV and Clark tells them that they have to take it to the highest point and that they're running out of time.
Melanie tells the minotaur to kill the weak and that they'll be leaving soon. Once it leaves, Melanie opens the pod containing Farouk's body and kisses it. She collapse and Farouk awakens and sits up.
Kerry takes down all but three of the box men, and a sniper kills two of them. The last one grabs Cary and pulls him down into the hole. Lenny arrives and Kerry thanks her for her help, and says that she's supposed to wait there for the big payback and Kerry should go get Cary.
Kerry descends down into the hole.
The box man leads Cary through the darkness and they hear the minotaur growling in the darkness. It is on the ceiling, grabs the box man, and kills him. Cary runs and finds the Vermillions, tells them that the minotaur is on the ceiling, and runs past them. He finally stops and finds himself in the monastery with Oliver lying on the floor. David tells him that Oliver isn't dead but should be, and admits that he tortured him. He explains that Farouk has left Oliver's body and moved on to another, and Cary says that Clark has brought something. David tells him that it's the Choke, and it dampens mutants' powers. Cary tells him that there's a minotaur hunting them, and David says that the Shadow King did it to him. He tells Cary that he's sitting there thinking about all the different ways that he's going to kill Farouk, and what worries him is how good it feels.
Kerry continues through the maze of tunnels and calls to Cary. She finds the dead Vermillions and continues on until she finds Syd. Syd says that she has to stop David because he's the monster and may always have been. The minotaur arrives and Syd tells Kerry that she needs to hit something. She fights the minotaur, and it grabs and chokes her. It throws her down to the floor and moves in for the kill.
As night falls, Farouk arrives and knocks out the soldiers and Clark. The remaining Vermillions figure that they can't win and retreat, and Farouk levitates the Choke out of the ground. He casts it far away and the sun comes up. Farouk turns to face it, and David arrives muttering his childhood poem.
Written by Gadfly on Jun 6, 2018