Metropolis (Dark Saviour)

Metropolis is the third episode of the first season of YouTube series Dark Saviour. Original material was written by series creator Mike Taylor, which was then integrated into footage from the MMO DC Universe Online.

Plot
The episode begins with Mike in Metropolis, on the phone to Dad. Behind him is the Metropolis Steelworks. Mike asks Dad who to look for, with Dad responding to look for an African American male, wearing a suit, blue tie, and shades. Mike sees the man in question and crosses the road to meet him. Despite being friendly, Mike receives a somewhat cold response from Agent Thomas. Thomas disregard's Mike's comment about not being a kid, and leads him inside a building.

Inside Mike is impressed with the layout, liking the "housey" exterior and "techy" interior. Again Thomas is unimpressed, casting a cold glare when Mike suggests he remove his shades. Thomas then explains that the lab was recently refurbished to serve the allied factions, and has been retrofitted with the most advanced technology, along with state of the art security systems, allowing for safe and covert working conditions. Mike attributes some of the security to the "Transformers" outside, to which Thomas states that they're not Transformers. Thomas restates this, more emphatically, after Mike sings a line from the theme song. Mike then brings up Thomas' career, attempting to lighten the tone, but fails when he refers to Thomas as "a Fed". Thomas explains the he's an FBI agent, working with the Justice League. He also says that he served under Dad in the military, referring to Dad as one of the best, to which Mike says he still is. Thomas then questions why Dad would send Mike to aid with this mission, saying Dad is one of the most brilliant, strategic men he's ever me. Thomas wants to know what Mike can contribute and Mike declares that he's in town to research exobytes.

Mike goes through his cover story, saying that he's not here to gather exobytes, but exobits instead. Mike explains that exobits are tiny fragmented pieces of the exobytes that collided with the ground, not making contact with anyone. Taylor says he's here to gather exobits and reconstruct them into exobytes. Thomas questions the motive, wondering if they'd be stuck in more people, which Mike disapproves of. Mike says that exobytes can be used to enhance pieces of armour, stating that the best armour's functionality could be multiplied with exobyte enhancements. Thomas, still proving difficult, mentions that the enemy is probably doing the same thing, with Mike replying that their side is at least levelling the playing field. Mike is now becoming frustrated, as Thomas asks for a physical demonstration. Mike says that he can't build an exobyte because he doesn't have any exobits here. He becomes more frustrated as he explains that he wouldn't be in Metropolis, gathering exobits, if he already had exobits in his possession. Mike then excuses himself to make a phone call.

Mike is on the rooftop, on the phone to Dad. He dislikes Thomas, branding him a "grade A Harvard grad dick", Dad sarcastically saying that he likes him then. They both agree that maybe Mike was a little irritable but Mike stands firm that Thomas has no sense of humour, even suggesting that Thomas wouldn't laugh if the Joker gassed him. Dad says that it's just how Thomas is, with his FBI work and military history. Dad shoulders some responsibility, stating that he was strict with discipline in the military. Mike mentions that the presentation went well, until Thomas asked for a show and tell. Dad suspected this would happen, which frustrates Mike more. Despite this Dad tells Mike he did well, holding his own against a formidable individual.

Thomas comes outside, talking to Mike from the ground. Mike is less pleasant now, sarcastically saying his phone has a bad signal, when questioned why he's on the roof. Thomas asks how he got up there, to which Mike sarcastically (but truthfully) snaps that he flew up there. Dad has to snap at Mike, in order to calm him down, and Mike says he can't take much more. Dad suggests he excuse himself, saying he has to go to work, but Mike says that Thomas wants to speak with Dezarrakks. Dad thinks this could be beneficial, as Mike's persona isn't like most people's. Dad suggests that Mike uses this opportunity to craft a new persona for Dezarrakks, one that is different from his Mike personality. Dad reiterates that keeping his hero identity a secret is key. When asked by Thomas if he's coming down, Mike runs to the other end of the building, sarcastically mentions a non existent ladder, and leaps off the roof. Mike then ends the phone call, as Thomas catches up to him. Mike then excuses himself, preventing Thomas' accompaniment by saying Dezarrakks wants to meet him.

Later Thomas is on the roof, awaiting the arrival of Dezarrakks, who soon appears. It seems like Thomas is going to treat Dezarrakks with similar hostility, but this isn't the case as Thomas starts complaining about Mike. When Thomas asks Dezarrakks if he's met the "total jackass", the best Dezarrakks can do is awkwardly state that he hasn't met Mike, before turning Thomas' attention back to the mission. Thomas explains that HIVE have swarmed the Metrodome area, looking for exobytes, but Thomas is uncertain what they'd gain from it. Dezarrakks suggests that maybe HIVE aren't doing it of their own volition, that maybe Braniac is controlling Queen Zazalla, thus giving him control of her entire army. Dezarrakks says he has to stop it. Thomas wants to go too but Dezarrakks forbids it, saying he can't focus on the mission if he's distracted by Thomas' safety. Thomas suggests he guide Dezarrakks from outside, which Dezarrakks reluctantly agrees to.

On a rooftop outside the Metrodome Thomas reassures Dezarrakks that he's safe. Thomas tells Dezarrakks to maintain audio contact, stating his device has a map, building schematics, and thermal tracking, meaning Thomas can alert Dezarrakks of any hidden hostiles. Thomas also warns that there may be Lexcorp agents lurking around, Dezarrakks saying he'll deal with them. When asked if he's ready Dezarrakks responds with "Let's roll" which confuses Thomas.

Inside the Metrodome Dezarrakks begins his assault, informing Thomas that there may be some arrests to make afterwards. He is even able to cover himself when Thomas comments on his "dropping like flies" remark, responding with "I see what I did there..." Dezarrakks clears the area and rescues one of the scientists. Thomas warns that there may be more hostages, telling Dezarrakks to be careful, which irks him slightly.

The next area is cleared but Thomas warns Dezarrakks to be careful what he says to the restrained Lexcorp agents, warning that Luthor will twist his words and use slander against him. Dezarrakks takes this on board and moves forward, rescuing an ungrateful scientist. Thomas has to warn Dezarrakks of his wordplay again, when he refers to another unappreciative scientist as an "ungrateful bitch."

In the next area Dezarrakks unleashes a new power: heat vision, which surprises him. He tells Thomas, who says that other exobyte heroes have reported gaining new powers over time. Thomas suggests Dezarrakks inform Dad, which Dezarrakks agrees with as he clears the area. After activating a terminal, a forcefield drops, allowing him to go further inside. Thomas warns there are only hostiles from here, which Dezarrakks acknowledges with a back handed "at least I don't have to go easy."

After clearing the area he encounters a Braniac Hive Minder and gives chase, fighting through a couple more swarms of HIVE drones. The drones are quickly defeated and Dezarrakks fights of Queen Bee's Royal Guards, before facing her. Despite using mind controlled STAR Labs Magnetars Queen Bee is defeated. However she is teleported away by Braniac before Dezarrakks can apprehend her, making him consider the mission a failure. After apprehending the final Lexcorp agent he exits the building.

Back at the Little Bohemia MPD precinct Thomas is on the phone to Dad, saying that he never saw Mike at the Metrodome. Dad covers for Mike, stating that Thomas was on a rooftop, therefore unable to identify the small looking people on the ground. Thomas takes the point but says Mike hasn't reported back to him. Dad says he'll have Mike contact Thomas when he sees him, which Thomas accepts, ending the call as Dezarrakks approaches. Thomas commends Dezarrakks on his work but Dezarrakks still sees the mission as a failure. Thomas explains that some HIVE members have been apprehended, as have the Lexcorp agents. Dezarrakks quotes Dad's "take the win" comment, Thomas saying that the fight won't be over in a day. Dezarrakks, feeling a little better, thanks Thomas, who in turn thanks him. Dezarrakks leaves, flying across the water towards mainland Metropolis, as Thomas makes a phone call, asking someone to look into someone.

Production
The episode was recorded using Open Broadcast Software, with the additional dialogue recorded with Audacity. The episode was then edited together with Windows Live Movie Maker.

The main Dezarrakks character was used for the entirety of the episode, for two reasons. The first reason being that the game's revamped levelling structure didn't grant the Dezaras duplicate access to the HIVE missions, as he is Batman mentored. Dezarrakks is also Batman mentored but was able to access the Metrodome, due to having run the missions before the restructuring. Consequently this led to Dezarrakks, with a combat rating of 98, being severely overpowered, heading into the instance.

The second reason was because Agent Thomas is a character on Taylor's secondary account, which also holds the Dezaras duplicate, meaning the two can't be online at the same time.

Unlike previous episodes no further levelling was required, therefore synchronization wasn't an issue, as far as levels and unlocked game content was concerned.

Two lairs were used in this episode. One was Dad's home, last seen in the pilot, with the second being the Steelworks lab. This is actually one of four bases that the Dezarrakks character owns, called JRA Metro. It serves as a safehouse for the character, and league members in-game, though here it is portrayed as belonging to someone else.

Music
Music was used from the Batman: Arkham videogame series.

Voice Work
Both Dezarrakks and Dad Taylor were voiced by series creator Mike Taylor. Taylor used his own voice, putting on an accent, for Dezarrakks, but used a different voice for Dad, trying to make him sound older and gruffer. Taylor actually used his (unused,as of yet) Sentinel Prime voice from his Transformers series, for Dad.

Taylor also voiced Agent Thomas. Thomas' voice is another recycled voice, as it is very similar to the Jazz voice that Taylor uses on Transformers: The Soap. However here Taylor lowered his pitch a little more and spoke with a more calm and serious tone.

Errors
Dezarrakks' costume is coloured wrong twice. During the rooftop scene Dezarrakks' gloves are colured incorrectly, with an inverse colour scheme. Here they are red with black straps. This also occurs during the MPD scene at the end, though this was shot in the same recording block. The correct colour for the gloves is black with red straps. This is the colour scheme used in the Metrodome instance (which was recorded at an earlier time).

Another inconsistency is the chest emblem. During the rooftop/MPD scenes the base is red, with a black pentacle. Inside the Metrodome it is black, with a red pentacle. The black base/red pentacle is the scheme used in previous episodes.