One Step Closer (Dark Saviour)

One Step Closer is the fourth 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
Mike has returned home to Gotham, and informed Dad of his new powers. Dad suggests Mike go to STAR Labs, to run some tests, which Mike agrees to, despite Dad's concerns about Mike and labs. Mike says that STAR Labs treats him well, and he's happy to go. Before this can happen Dad receives a phone call from his daughter Betty, who is concerned about an incident in South Gotham. While Dad is on the phone Mike is suiting up, appearing partially suited when Dad calls him. Mike tells Dad to go, and he'll meet them there.

Outside the RH Kane building, near South Gotham, Dad and Betty view the now mostly bottled area. Dezarrakks catches up and Betty immediately begins grilling him over his identity, convinced he's her brother. Betty questions how Dezarrakks would know of the situation so soon, Dezarrakks making the excuse that he was patrolling when Dad called him. Betty, unconvinced, thinks he was with Dad when she called him. Attempting a diversion Dezarrakks requests a situation report from Dad, who suggests they go to the Watchtower to investigate further. Dezarrakks agrees, saying Oracle should have more information, and they can plan a counter attack against the obvious act of hostility from Braniac. Betty, impressed, sarcastically asks Dezarrakks if he learned his act at drama school, prompting an "excuse me?" from him. Betty admits she's impressed with the new persona but says her journalism studies lead her to gather evidence, do the math, and formulate conclusions. However Dad cuts her off before she says anything else, telling her to go home. Betty reluctantly agrees, telling them to say hi to Mom, whichever one of them sees her first.

At the Watchtower Dad goes through the information, discovering that Braniac is using mind control on the South Gotham civilians, using them to build Sub Avatars. Dezarrakks is concerned that Betty is too close to figuring out his secret identity, but Dad tells him to focus on the mission. Dezarrakks tells Dad to keep digging, while he hits the streets.

On the streets, filled with Braniac androids and human slaves, Dezarrakks is told more about the workforce, security, and Sub Avatars. Dad tells him that the Sub Avatars are highly dangerous and the building progress needs to be halted. Dezarrakks warns of another problem in the area: him, before beginning the operation. Almost immediately he is shot at, and begins fighting the Braniac forces. After defeating a few he is warned by Dad about taking the mission personally. Dezarrakks doesn't initially understand until Dad details the situation, specifically that Dezarrakks was infected by alien technology, abducted by alien technology, and experimented on. Dad says he can't go lashing, he needs to remain focused. Dezarrakks agrees and continues, but quickly becomes frustrated by the civilians' "trash talking". Dezarrakks questions whether the civilians are even being mind controlled, prompting Dad to sarcastically suspect that the humans are willingly working for the being who bottled their homes. Dad suspects that the human slaves might not even know they're being mind controlled, which exasperates Dezarrakks further. However he is pulled away from the slaves, finding himself up against 2 Sunstone Dominators and a Wing Armor. He is able to defeat them, yet questions why he's doing this, as he keeps getting attacked. Dad suggests waiting for backup but Dezarrakks has an idea to approach each task individually, to target each mission instead of avoiding something, in order to accomplish something else.

Dezarrakks returns to fighting the mission, though now he seems less frustrated at the responses from the brainwashed civilians. After destroying another Dominator, and some more pieces of Sub Avatar tech, he is blindsided by another Wing Armor, but is able to destroy it. Dad then tells him to head back as he's picking up a power fluctuation, leading Dezarrakks to suspect that Sub Avatar construction is increasing. Dezarrakks continues fighting the workforce but begins to regress emotionally, as Dad notes he's taking it personally again. Despite trying to calm down Dezarrakks becomes frustrated again when another Wing Armor attacks him. Dezarrakks is able to defeat the machine, by sucking the heat from it, which leads to another time out as he informs Dad that his fire turned blue. Dad suspects that Dezarrakks' powers may be somewhat emotionally linked, meaning the more "pissed off he gets, the hotter he burns". Dad warns against becoming too emotionally charged, reminding Dezarrakks of the times when he's felt the effects of his own fire. Dezarrakks agrees, sarcastically quipping that now he can't take it personally, as he continues fighting. A test comes when he's challenged by another Wing Armor. Dezarrakks has to verbally remind himself to stay calm, take deep breaths, and count to ten, as the Wing Armor is defeated, falling in a heap on top of Dezarrakks. Dezarrakks pushes forward, keeping himself calm by throwing out a "your mom" line, seeming somewhat amused at Braniac Tumblers, and referring to Dominators as "horny ones".

After defending his comments ("sarcasm and immature remarks vs. anger and blue fire? What would you choose?") Dezarrakks decides to head back but Dad warns him of a fully functioning Sub Avatar in the area. Dezarrakks takes on the Sub Avatar, despite Dad's protests and threats to drag him out of the area. With help from two others the Sub Avatar is defeated and Dezarrakks leaves the scene.

Back at home Mike and Dad comment on South Gotham still being bottled, though Braniac's progress has been slowed down. Mike is impressed that there are others out there, risking their lives to help people. They're interrupted by Betty, who's been invited over by Mike. He asks Betty to present her case, as to why she thinks he's Dezarrakks and, despite Dad's protests, she puts forward a good case, mentioning his new focus, intensity, and increased muscle mass. Betty says that a stranger wouldn't notice these things but his journalism student sister would. Mike congratulates Betty and takes her to his armoury, while Dad does some research. Betty asks what it's like to have superpowers but, before Mike can answer, Dad calls him upstairs: Braniac forces are attacking Gotham STAR Labs. Despite the danger Mike is insistent on going. He assigns Betty to help Dad on the terminals, then goes to suit up again. Dad then notices that the STAR Labs Orbital Station has lit up like a Christmas tree and is teeming with hostiles. Dezarrakks concludes that the satellite is the true target, not the lab, and insists on going, though Dad protests again. Dezarrakks promises to return home safely and the episode ends with him leaving.

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.

Both Dezarrakks and the Dezaras duplicate were used in this episode. The Dezaras duplicate was used for the scenes with Dad and Betty, as both Dad and Betty are tied to the same account as Dezarrakks. Because of this a second version of Dad had to be created, which was done by a friend of (series creator) Taylor. The Dad duplicate was used for the scenes involving all three characters, with the main Dad character being used at the Watchtower, and the opening scene at Mike's home. The main Dezarrakks character was used for the South Gotham fight portion of the episode.

Because episodes are recorded with the User Interface (UI) switched off it is unknown exactly who fought with Dezarrakks against the Sub Avatar. One player hasn't been identified but the second player was Zoe Glanville, who will be portraying Flogirl in future episodes. Glanville actually used her Flogirl character, but disguised her to look different, giving Taylor the ability to work on her debut episode properly.

Like the previous episode levelling up wasn't an issue, as the main Dezarrakks character was already at level 30 (required for South the Gotham missions). The duplicate was also level 30 but has a lower combat rating. Taylor went with the main version, as he wanted a Sub Avatar battle in the episode, as well as the victory over the Sub Avatar, which probably wouldn't have been achieved with the fresh level 30 duplicate and only two other players in the area at the time.

The usual two bases were used to portray Dezarrakks' home/lair. As usual the upper two floors, from Dezarrakks' base, and the Dezaras duplicate's basement were used. This is the first time we see the Watchtower in the series.

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 Betty, using his Transformers: The Soap "Arcee" voice and raising the pitch slightly. Taylor wasn't keen on doing a female voice but had no other options.

Taylor also wanted to avoid a potential Lois Lane/Clark Kent/Superman scenario when dealing with Dezarrakks' identity. Taylor believed Lois being fooled by a pair of glasses might be a bit far fetched, but conceded that Lois barely knew Clark before Superman showed up (or vice versa, depending on story), therefore there's some anonymity there. However, despite the visual differences of Mike/Dezarrakks being more pround that those of Clark/Superman, Betty is Mike's younger sister, she's known him all of her life, she'd notice changes in him. Taylor wanted Betty to be inquisitive and intelligent, and felt it best that she solve the puzzle (of his identity) immediately.