[Julia] We have something special planned
and when it happens, I want you to be there.
This is your emergency escape route.
[Mrs Jones] It's about to get very complicated.
- [man 1] Don’t move! - [man 2] On your knees!
- [Julia] What went wrong? - [Yassen] Alex was captured.
[Yassen] The Department have him.
I need something I can take to the Peer and I need it now.
We may have one other option. An agent in place.
[Blunt] I'm gonna tell you the truth, it was faked.
Your father never worked for SCORPIA.
He always worked for us.
The truth is, I only wanted him here to see him die.
Why would Alex die if he was here?
Because he's been exposed to the cyanide nanoparticles.
I dosed him with the vapour myself.
- They need my help. - [Jack] To do what?
Destroy SCORPIA.
You go burn them to the ground, but make sure you come home.
You got a lot to come home to.
- You're sure you weren't followed? - We're clean.
[car door closes]
Anyone feels the need to shoot anyone else I can just step aside.
SCORPIA lied to me.
I know they did.
So did we.
I'm sorry.
There was a Roman emperor called Marcus Aurelius.
- You have his book by your bed. - Yes.
He said the noblest form of revenge is not to become your enemy.
So thank God they sent you.
But you do owe me a new fridge.
- There's nothing in it anyway. - Come on. Got work to do.
So you and my dad worked together.
Yes, I was his handler.
We were a team.
Like with me?
I knew your mother too.
When John was undercover, I was her point of contact.
It was my job to keep them both safe.
It wasn't your fault.
I think about them both a lot.
They were good people.
[Alex] We know SCORPIA are targeting a city.
If we find out which one, you've a decent chance of stopping them?
That's right.
Well, I don't know which city.
But I do know Julia Rothman wanted me at her side when this thing goes down.
If she kept you out of the loop on Invisible Sword,
- why would she need you there? - I don't know, exactly.
But she was very clear about it.
She'll be there, in person, and she wants me there too.
You have a rendezvous location?
No, I have a number for emergency extraction.
I think we should call it. Get me back to SCORPIA.
Smithers, you can do me some kind of tracker, right?
Yeah, if you promise to keep it on you this time.
- Sure. - Then that's the plan.
I pull off a daring escape,
call the number, put myself at Julia's side,
and you guys trace the whole thing so you know exactly where she is.
You can ride to the rescue.
We'll be close behind you, obviously, but there will be a time lag
between you meeting Julia Rothman and our agents arriving.
- What kind of lag? - Couple of minutes.
You need to know what you're up against.
Invisible Sword.
It's a weapon in two parts.
An airborne contaminant and a technological trigger.
This is a diffuser unit.
We think there will have been dozens, maybe hundreds,
concealed within the target city.
Inhaling this vapour
leaves a lethal dose of cyanide
clustered around the victim's heart tissue.
There you go. Breathe in.
Now, the lethal dose lies dormant...
waiting to be triggered.
- And if you breathe it in? - You're basically marked for death.
Alex?
What is it?
[elevator rattling]
[Blunt] Home Secretary.
- What can we do for you? - You can close this place down.
As of right now...
your department is suspended.
[theme music playing]
Don't touch that.
[Blunt] We have an active threat.
This department is handling it. As we agreed.
This department is pouring petrol on the flames.
You freely admitted to working behind the government's back.
You failed to contain the situation when we first received the threat.
You failed to protect the lives of the football team,
and now you claim to have had an agent in place all along.
No more. You are to suspend operations pending a full investigation.
[Blunt] You've clearly planned this to set us up.
I don't have time to be your scapegoat.
A city is about to die.
No one can stop that now.
[suspenseful music playing]
That's not true.
Who's this?
[Blunt] This is our agent in place.
Alex Rider.
You're the agent? How old are you?
That's not important.
You put him into SCORPIA?
I went in myself, undercover. And I can help you stop this thing.
The head of SCORPIA is Julia Rothman. She trusts me. I can get to her.
She trusts you? Why?
Ah.
The SCORPIA assassin who tried to kill you.
Okay.
[snickers]
So you've been embedded into SCORPIA. Where?
A place in Malta. Malagosto. But they've already evacuated.
- And this Julia Rothman, where is she? - Here in Britain. I saw her yesterday.
Then why don't we have her?
Why isn't she in a cell being interrogated right now?
- This is a complex and dynamic situation. - Let me get this straight.
You had a teenager embedded in a terrorist organisation.
A teenager who gave us no warning about the attack on the football team.
- I didn't know about that. - Instead, we get information
about a SCORPIA training facility, which turns out to be empty.
And now you're telling me that they are here,
you just don't know where.
I can lead you straight to her.
She wants me there when Invisible Sword happens.
Oh, how convenient. But, you see, I have a problem with that.
Why would the head of SCORPIA care about bringing a teenage kid along for the ride?
You're not an agent in place.
You're a trap waiting to be sprung.
- We're not walking into any more traps. - I can help you.
Report to Downing Street at once.
- Where are you taking him? - My people will handle it from here.
Go.
Scuttle the ship.
Go, go.
[dramatic music playing]
You know what's at stake. People are gonna die.
Enough. Take him to Pennington for questioning.
Hand over my agent.
Don't be ridiculous. What are you gonna do shoot a government minister?
- Certainly not. - [taser clicking]
[grunting]
Alex, let's go.
- You just ended your career. - I'll get over it.
[tyres screeching]
[computer alarm bleeping]
[computer] System deleted.
- How are we doing? - I'd expect a call from the head of MI5.
[keypad beeping]
[Alex] What's all this?
Always good to have a spare.
Swallow this, please.
- [Alex] And this is? - The tracking device you asked for.
They're sure to search you, but they won't go as far as your small intestine.
Any questions?
When they activate, how long does it take? I mean, is it instant?
It takes some time for the microwaves to shake the nanoparticle coatings apart,
so there is a cumulative effect.
For anyone affected,
our best guess is it'll take perhaps two or three minutes
from activation of the trigger to release of the fatal dose.
Before that, chest pains, arrhythmia,
unconsciousness, even,
but all likely recoverable if the transmitter is shut off in time.
- If this goes down and you aren't there... - You have up to three minutes.
Time to go.
- Wait. - [Mrs Jones] What is it?
Can I use your phone?
- [Blunt] No time. - I'll be quick.
[line ringing]
- [Jack] Hello? - Jack, hey.
Alex. How are you doing?
Good.
Yeah, we've got a plan.
A plan's good.
Now, how about the part where you coming home safe?
I've gotta do something first.
I wish I didn't have to, but if I don't, a lot of people are...
I have to do it.
I just wanted to say...
thank you.
[emotional music playing]
For what?
For believing in me.
I love you, Jack.
Tom and Kyra are here. I'm gonna put you on speaker, okay?
[whispering] He's being weird.
You all right, mate?
Tom. Yeah. I...
Spyboy? You good?
Alex?
I'm here.
You're doing it again. What aren't you telling me?
Uh-- I have to go. I--
I'm sorry. Goodbye.
[call ending tone]
Ready?
Ready.
[indistinct chatter]
[suspenseful music playing]
[knocking on door]
Yeah?
- You look pleased with yourself. - The generators are installed,
the power and frequency-control cables are in place.
You can modulate the precise frequency from the control room,
get as many deaths as possible.
So...
should I be pleased?
I think we'll allow it this once.
Keep the transmitter undercover until the last moment.
I don't want anyone seeing it and getting ideas. We'll wait un--
[phone ringing]
- Yes? - It's me.
Alex.
Where are you?
- How are you making this call? - I got out.
I need extraction. Right now.
Stay exactly where you are.
Nice, clean signal.
No movement.
[suspenseful music playing]
Target identified.
Movement. He's in a vehicle. Heading west.
All units go.
We have him. He's inbound now.
Handle it in person.
[Tom] He's been in tough spots before, right?
He always pulls through.
He's Alex.
[pensive music playing]
- You said he was fine last night. - He was.
He sounded determined. Ready.
He said he was gonna destroy SCORPIA.
That didn't sound like a tough spot. That sounded like he...
Say it.
It sounded like he knew he wasn't coming back.
He told me he loved me.
Oh, come on.
- [Jack] What are you doing? - Calling him back.
[Mrs Jones] Slough and Reading are clear.
Could still be Swindon, Cheltenham, Bath, or Salisbury.
Well, we'll know soon enough.
[phone ringing]
Jones.
Is Alex with you?
Kyra, I can't talk right now.
[Jack] Yes, you can. Something's wrong.
- Last night, Alex was fine. He had a plan. - He still does. He's on his way to it now.
Only now he doesn't think he's coming back.
Kyra, he's just leading us in. This was his idea.
Then something changed between last night and now.
What were you doing right before he called us?
- Going over the mission. - What, exactly?
What did you say to him?
Kyra, I'll have to call you back. Alex will be fine. We'll be sure of it.
- No-- - [line disconnects]
Just before Alex asked to borrow my phone...
He wanted to know how long it took for the poison to work.
I think Alex has been dosed with the nanoparticles.
Why would they do that?
Don't they think he's one of them?
[Blunt] This isn't just revenge on The Department.
It's Alex.
She wants to watch him die.
How can we warn him?
He already knows.
He's going in anyway.
[ominous music playing]
What's this?
I thought you're taking me to Mrs. Rothman.
That's not your concern right now.
Your concern is explaining where you've been all this time.
Things got messy, okay?
But I did it. I completed the mission.
You bungled your mission.
She's dead, isn't she?
And then you got captured.
And spent 32 hours alone with The Department.
And they just let you go?
Don't be stupid.
I got away.
How? Exactly?
MI5 showed up.
Said because I killed a Department agent, they weren't objective,
they shouldn't handle the interrogation.
- Go on. - They were transferring me.
Somewhere called Pennington.
It's an MI5 facility.
So they handcuffed me, put me in a car with two agents.
I waited for the right moment.
Got my hands free, grabbed the driver round the face,
and we crashed.
That's convenient.
Not for the agents.
I undid their seatbelts.
Put these on. Leave what you're wearing on the ground.
You really don't trust me, do you?
Be quick.
Mrs Rothman's waiting.
[ominous music playing]
[Julia] Status.
[woman] Lockdown and system prepped, Mrs Rothman.
It's time.
Prepare the array.
[beeping]
- We're getting interference. - What is it?
It's some kind of communications scrambler.
Targeted and adaptive to changing frequency.
SCORPIA must have placed it near the site.
So this is it.
Bath is the target.
Yes, for sure.
[Mrs Jones] Eighteen minutes. There's no way to evacuate the city.
[Blunt] No. We need a specific location.
We need the transmitter.
[beeps]
[Smithers] He's gone.
I could trace and hack the scrambler, but we're out of time.
If Alex is anywhere near that transmitter,
- it'll hit him like a sledgehammer. - [Crawley] I'll have a car.
We can pull him out the moment I get there, get him clear.
But we need a location.
[Blunt] What's the tallest building in the most densely populated urban area?
Um... Berkeley House, 12 stories, 36 metres. But it's too far south.
Rosewell Court is far more central, 27 metres.
But we haven't enough time, they're too far apart, we can't do both.
[Mrs Jones] Then we go at it from the other end.
The tallest building in Bath is the Abbey Tower.
It's right in the centre of the city.
Forty nine metres. She's right. It would be perfect.
It has to be the Abbey.
[suspenseful music playing]
Come on.
Connection stable. We have power to the array.
Bring the system online.
[transmitter humming]
[woman] System primed.
[door opens]
[Nile] Someone here to see you.
Alex. You had me worried. I thought you wouldn't make it.
I'm here. Just like you wanted.
- Just in time. - Yep.
Wouldn't wanna miss Invisible Sword.
So this is the control room, huh?
And the thing itself?
[Julia] The transmitter array.
That's up on the tower?
Overlooking the whole city?
That's exactly right.
A perfect, panoramic view.
You're really gonna do this?
Wipe out a whole city of people?
Funny, Max said the same thing.
No wonder you had him killed.
It's just one thing, though.
I don't remember telling you Invisible Sword would wipe out a city.
Oh, you know me.
I pick things up.
- You checked him? - He's clean.
I called the number, just like you said.
I'm by your side, right?
I thought that was really important to you.
He knows.
[bell tolling]
It's time.
Yep.
- You were in love with him. - [scoffs]
What?
My father.
You let yourself fall in love.
He was nothing. Just another agent.
For the head of SCORPIA, you're a really bad liar.
I think you fell for him.
Big mistake.
Because we're not supposed to have feelings, right?
They get in the way.
So when you found out that he played you--
- Shut up! - No, no.
Because he didn't just play you, did he? He used you.
And you had no idea.
Now he's dead.
And your bitch mother too.
And I'm still here.
Yeah, but it must have cut deep, right?
To know that you were never special.
You were just useful.
It's time. Mrs Rothman, he's distracting you.
Very good.
But, like your father, not quite good enough.
Activate the transmitter.
[transmitter humming]
- [woman] Dave, you okay? - Yeah, yeah, yeah, I just...
[groans]
Can someone help?
[man] Can someone help?
[people chattering]
[grunts]
Does it hurt?
Yeah, it hurts.
[panting]
Not long now.
Since you pick things up so easily,
I imagine you already know what's happening to you.
Pain relief, right? That was a good one.
You can't stop this.
The command console's locked now.
I don't believe in second chances.
That's why I had your parents killed.
And that's why you're already dying.
Something inside you, out of sight, is killing you.
Something inside me, out of sight, is gonna kill you too.
[explosion]
Get down!
[dramatic music playing]
Alex! Alex!
We've got this. You need to get clear of the transmitter.
There's a car waiting for you outside. Run!
Alex!
Alex, get out of here!
Stop him!
[panting]
[grunting]
[people shouting in distance]
[transmitter powering down]
[both grunting]
Hold them back. At all costs.
- [man 1] She's getting away! - [man 2] Target's on the move.
[man 1] Hold positions, men!
Is that all you've got?
Get up.
[suspenseful music playing]
You're supposed to be dead.
Sorry to disappoint. Drop the gun.
You can't stop this. I've already won.
Then why are you running?
[groaning]
Last chance.
You like him, don't you?
Yeah, he's special.
What?
Alex.
He's gonna die too.
Just like all the others.
Do you really have it in you to lose another child?
Maybe you'll have to identify his body.
You couldn't do that for John, could you?
Nothing left.
The only shame is, I really, really wanted to be there to see it.
We both know you can't do it.
You're not a killer.
But I am.
So there's only one way this ends.
Don't be so sure.
You missed.
I wasn't aiming for you.
- Stay where you are! - Freeze!
Find the body. Make sure he's dead.
[emotional music playing]
[all chattering]
Oh, he's back.
- Ooh. Crikey! You all right? - Yeah.
- You sure? - Yeah.
You tender, or...
- No, we can do this. - Oh, good.
This is a look.
It's not for you, but I appreciate you trying.
- It's nice, well done. - Thanks.
Oh.
- Are you okay? - I'm okay. I'm fine.
Wait. Okay. Too tight.
Sorry. What happened?
I stopped Invisible Sword.
And Julia Rothman's dead.
The Department have her laptop. She had files on SCORPIA members,
so now we know who they are and where they live.
I knew you could do it.
[Tom] Honestly, mate, it's about time.
I mean, not just, you know, stopping the bad guys,
but whenever you go off on your own, it is total carnage.
I think we should keep you here for a bit.
You got them?
End of SCORPIA.
Just like we wanted, right?
Yeah.
[Tom] Oh...
Ah. No, don't mind me. It's all good. It's just interesting.
Okay, okay, okay.
- Let's get you cleaned up. - Chill out.
Oh, I'm chilling. I'm chilling, boss. You have fun.
- You know about them? - About what?
- About them two. The holding hands and-- - Why did you do that?
I did nothing. I'm not responsible for my reactions.
- Seriously? No bowl again? - I'm an innocent bystander. I'm hungry.
Everyone else is getting what they want, let me have my cereal.
[man on monitor] There were troubling scenes
across the city of Bath today,
as a chemical spill on the A46
caused widespread shortness of breath and chest pains.
But emergency services were quick to respond,
and symptoms were said to subside within minutes.
Eye-witnesses said that this--
I think it's best all round if we put our differences of opinion behind us.
Terrorists on British soil. A very close call indeed.
Still, all's well that ends well.
What's this?
That's your resignation letter.
Don't be absurd.
You're just one person who nearly killed 100,000 people.
Imagine what that would do to the government were it to leak.
- You wouldn't dare. - Try me.
Blackmail.
Just like SCORPIA.
[pensive music playing]
You enjoyed that.
So did you.
Speaking of letters of resignation...
We both knew this was coming.
I don't accept.
You're a brilliant man, but I can't work for you anymore.
I agree.
Where's Blunt?
What, he's gone?
[scoffs] You're kidding.
[Mrs Jones] We agreed it was time for a change.
The Department needs to evolve.
You can't win new battles if you keep playing by the old rules.
Well, maybe not everything needs to change.
Congratulations. Really.
The feeling was, you behaved in the best traditions of the service.
- Is that what the feeling was? - Around here, yes.
This is just a small acknowledgment.
My dad's service medals.
I thought these were--
They were stripped from him when he was dishonourably discharged.
But that was a cover story.
One of the perks of sitting in this chair is I get to set the record straight.
They're reinstated.
And he would have wanted you to have them.
Thanks.
But... they're just medals in a box.
Finding out who he really was, that was the important thing.
He was a good man.
He was a good friend.
You remind me of him a lot.
And whilst I know you never wanted any part of this,
if when you're done with university and you need a job...
I know where you are?
And if you don't, I can bet you'll find us.
Let me think about it.
The door's always open.
The world doesn't need saving right now.
Thanks.
[dramatic music playing]
[theme music playing]
[music fades]
[suspenseful music playing]
- [silenced gunshot] - [cartridge clatters]
Alex, you okay?
Yeah, just thought I heard something.
[pensive music playing]
Is that who I think it is?
[Alex] It doesn't matter.
It's no one.
Are you sure you're okay?
Yeah. I think I am.
So no more secrets.
No more SCORPIA.
No more Spyboy?
Not unless I want to.
And do you?
[dramatic music playing]