Previously on Tower Prep...
Where am I? What is this place?
Are we even in the United States?
Ian Archer, where you are geographically
is not as important as where you are mentally.
Tower Prep was built for students like you.
Most of us are what you'd call special.
We can do something really weird in a really awesome way
- Give me a for-instance. - Give me a for-instance.
Okay, that's weird.
What are those things? Guards?
For now we'll do like CJ and pretend to be good little pros.
We'll meet here to map out a real escape plan.
♪
Good morning, Ian.
It is 7:00 A.M., Thursday.
It is time for your run.
Hey, man.
Hey, Ian, know what we just heard?
That gnome helmet they found on the flagpole?
Took ten guys to take it off its head.
Yeah, I heard they were sending it over to Area 51
for reverse engineering.
Hey, girls, I'd love to hang with you right now,
but I'm meeting coach in, like, five,
and there's no way you two can keep up with me.
Whoa. I never nailed a low-high combination like that before.
Some more work here,
and you get an inside spinning kick
to a Wushu outside kick.
You can achieve more than you can imagine at Tower Prep, Ian,
and not just Wushu or Gendai budo moves.
Yeah? Achieve?
Like what? And why?
What makes you think I'm going to tell you?
You seem different than all the other teachers here.
There's something you want to get off your chest about this place.
You see out there?
See those buildings way back there?
That's the West Campus.
What is that, like a college or something?
Is that where we go after Tower Prep?
No. There's only a prep school here.
That's the West Campus.
It's for students sentenced to detention.
I'll tell you what I learned while I was here.
Those questions you keep asking will be nothing
compared to the ones you'll be asking
if you're ever sent there,
so stop asking them.
Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. You went here?
You were a student here?
There's my answer.
If you get in the ring, you gotta play the game...
but never take your eyes off your opponent.
♪
When Archer first got to Tower,
all he could talk about was how to get out.
Check him out, now, right?
Ian Archer-- rebel on Monday,
proge by Friday.
Don Finch-- a creep on any day of the week.
Gabe?
No. Howard.
You, uh...
making Gabe's bed, huh?
Yeah, it's a great way to begin the day.
You know, feeling a sense of accomplishment?
Howard, I think--
I think Gabe used his skills on you... again.
I already reported the property loss to a Monitor.
- What was that? - Why are you always hyper-suading me
into doing your chores?
Huh? Convincing me into thinking I enjoy making your bed?
Howard, I was out filling in a missing-property report, okay?
Plus, we talked about this.
- You love making my bed. - Yeah, right,
just like I like doing your laundry
and your English homework.
Look, I just came by to see
if you guys wanted to grab some breakfast.
Oh, I'm in. I'm starved.
Howie, you coming with?
Are you inviting me like a friend,
or are you hyper-suading me?
Like a friend.
In fact, you are such a good friend...
I'm willing to let you carry my breakfast tray. - Guys. Guys.
You got it good here.
I'd love to get away from my roommates.
I wish I could move in here.
I'd be, like, the referee.
Who's your other roommate?
Dude's either always always studying or sleeping.
Every once in a while we'll see a humanoid lump in the bed
or evidence of a clothing change,
but other than that, it's pretty much all she wrote.
You know his name?
Nope. To us he is "The Great Unknown."
Huh.
Two eggs, over easy,
Oatmeal with raisins and non fat milk.
Thanks, Whisper.
I gotta say, the food here's amazing.
- Oh, yeah. - For you, Gabriel,
your usual Thursday decadence--
Carrot cake waffles,
six strips of bacon, cinnamon roll,
and a double cappuccino.
Mm, thank you, Whisper.
♪ So now you know ♪
♪ Exactly what it feels like ♪
- ♪ To be nothing ♪ - Congratulations, Ray.
You did 10 reps at 225 pounds, your new personal best.
Ian, continue training.
♪ The world will leave me ♪
The zebrafish, Danio rerio,
and the Mantis Shrimp, Gonodactylus smithii,
are both examples of tetrachromats.
Anyone?
A tetrachomat is an organism
with four cone receptors in the retina
for seeing color, instead of three.
They can see outside the visible-light spectrum.
You've caught up rather nicely, Mr. Archer.
I live for tetrachromats, sir.
Then you'll live for tonight's homework.
Please answer the questions I e-mail you
on the subject of various waves of visible and invisible light
in the color spectrum.
Yes?
Ian Archer.
What is this?
You're being brought before the Headmaster
to be charged with the crimes of theft and larceny
against Tower Prep and your fellow students.
What?
One laptop, property of Arthur Curtis.
A photo album reported missing by Lisa Merriman.
Opera recordings of his own singing,
belonging to Fenton Capwell.
A sock monkey,
the beloved companion of Gabriel Lexington Forrest.
- Nice. - Yeah, nice.
These items remain unaccounted for.
These items, however...
have been accounted for.
They were found...
in the drawer of your dresser.
No way.
Ian, I'm sincere when I say that I want us to be friends,
which is why we're having this little talk
before anybody else gets involved.
- Did you take these items? - No.
You're not going to blame your roommates?
Santa's elves?
Santa's elves run this place?
Look, I like it here.
Okay, I'd like new roommates,
but I really don't want to cause any trouble.
I really want to believe you, Ian.
However, school policy insists
that I call a student tribunal
to evaluate your case.
You've got four days to mount your defense.
What happens if I'm found guilty?
- I get sent back? - No.
You'll be transferred to a detention facility
located in the old West Campus
for a determined amount of time based
dependent on sentencing.
How do I defend myself?
It's up to you to convince the tribunal
of your innocence.
I've had to place you under Monitored Supervision.
A Student Security Monitor has been assigned to watch you.
You're not to speak to the other students
about the case or ask for their help.
You're free to go to class, of course,
skills lab, dining room,
but otherwise, you're confined to your dorm.
Is this a test?
A personality test, or whatever,
to see if I'm-- how I react?
Ian, you and every other student here at Tower Prep
passed those kinds of personality tests
long before you were brought here.
Meet your monitor, Ian.
Chelsea Sloan.
So you're going to be part of my life 24/7, huh?
For the next four days.
Don't you have a life?
That's a dumb question.
Of course, I do, Archer.
And it's Tower Prep that turned my life around.
They dealt with me as a person,
made me feel special, not like just some test score.
Tower Prep knew the direction I wanted to go
and before I even realized what it was.
I work this job to give back.
Say there, Archer,
I understand you are the miscreant who absconded
with my recordings of my renditions
of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.
Now, I'll have them back, thank you.
He cannot discuss his case with you.
You're expecting me to start the day
without "Carefully on Tiptoe Stealing?"
Yes, I do. Now, go tiptoe somewhere.
Why are they doing this to me?
I'd never steal anything, especially not a sock monkey.
Someone's missing a sock monkey?
That is so weird.
Someone is framing me, and we need to find out who
before some tribunal sends me off to West Campus.
I need you guys to ask around.
Whoa.
Hey, let me out! Hey, let me out!
- You really think you can stop us? - Think so, know so.
You guys ask around about the stuff that was taken,
if anyone saw anyone in my room,
and try letting me know what you find out.
Be quiet in there, Archer.
You three get going right now,
or you'll be on trial with him.
The only way they'll let him go
- is if we can nail the real thief. - Yeah.
♪
Good morning, Ian.
It is 7:00 A.M. Friday.
- Dude, we know you didn't do it. - Get out of here.
Ask around if anyone saw anyone go into my room and--
Archer!
So I understand you're missing a laptop.
Mm-hm.
I think it would make you feel extremely positive
to tell me any thoughts you might have
as to who might have taken it...
other than Ian Archer.
You're way off balance this morning.
Yeah, well, my focus is on how I can find out
who put that stuff in my drawer.
I'm on the tribunal.
You know I can't talk about it.
Thank you, Coach.
You have to power through it.
Use the situation to learn to power through adversity.
- Power through. - But--
The man says, "Power through."
Nice.
♪ And that pass examination did so well for me ♪
♪ Now I'm a ruler of the Queen's navy ♪
You're his neighbor.
Did you maybe take and destroy his recordings
because it was driving you guys insane?
Hey, Chelsea, I was thinking of making a food run.
What are you in the mood for? Burgers? Yogurt?
You're a pizza girl, right?
Dude, go to bed.
Oh, man.
How am I going to clear myself
if I can't get out of here?
What's going on in there?
This must be how... whoever
got in and out of my room.
Two hours until curfew.
Good night, Chelsea.
Sweet dreams.
Hopefully the sweetest.
Our search for the real thief has stalled.
We need to talk with Ian as to who might be framing him.
We need him back... with us.
Yeah, almost as much as I need my sock monkey.
Almost as much?
- Hey. - What?
Okay, I guess a little more.
How did you get here?
I found, like, these walkways
all along the walls of the school.
Wait, they come-- They come from the dorm up here?
Yeah, it goes everywhere.
I bet whoever framed me
was using them to go from room to room.
Maybe we can catch the guy running around down there.
We'll investigate the thefts and catch the thief that way.
Not now. It's almost curfew.
You ought to get back before the monitor checks in on you.
Or my roommates get back.
Dude, if she catches you out of your room,
they'll skip the tribunal and send you off to West Campus tonight.
I'm not going anywhere
except back to my room... for now.
Now, which way was it?
- Whisper. - Yes, Headmaster.
The guardian helmet that was found on the flag pole--
analyze it for structural damage...
especially the visual apparatus.
And Science assigned some homework
on the properties of light outside the visible spectrum.
I'd like to read the answers of those that have been turned in, please.
- Yes, Headmaster. - Thank you.
Wait.
Gabe's room was on the floor above mine.
This has got to be it, please.
Seriously, Don.
If Headmaster finds out about this, he's going to kick out butts.
Come down, man. It's cool, okay?
What are you doing in our room?
Hey, good news, ladies.
We stopped by during this rash of school thefts
to make sure all of your valuables are...
Intact.
You are so disgusting.
If you're not gone in three seconds,
I'm calling the Monitors.
One... two-- You look real pretty tonight.
We're watching a movie-- Call me later.
Gabe's sock monkey.
- Did you see how Lisa eyed me? - She did not eye you.
She did, like, say, "You're so disgusting,"
but there was, like, subtext.
- I.D.s. - I.D.s?
Dude, it's us.
Happy?
- Dropped a book. - Keep it down, Archer.
I don't want to have to keep running back in here.
Don't worry, bro.
Make all the noise you want after they ship you to West Campus.
Oh, look.
Well, if it isn't our favorite menace to society.
Hey, Gabe. Movie night tomorrow.
Bicycle Thief. We on still?
Um...
You know what, dude? I'm going to have to take a rain check.
Sorry, bro.
Hey, that's cool.
I got homework, so...
next time.
Without a doubt.
Ian, I was wondering--
Hey, hey, don't even start. You know the deal.
It's out of the kindness of my heart
that I even let you sit here.
Oh. Whoa.
- I'm going to grab some paper towels. - I'll get them.
Clumsy much?
Señor Guapo.
Guapo.
- I found it... - Him. You found him.
I found him in the tunnels.
Maybe the thief left more evidence down there.
Let's visit Galileo tonight...
at 11:00.
Don't make me get you a sippy cup.
Sippy cup.
Gabe and I will works backwards from the panel in my room.
I mean, we know the thief was down there.
He left a trail of stuffing beads.
With luck it'll lead us right to his room.
Yeah, well, with luck maybe we won't get nailed and sent to West Campus.
That's why Suki and C.J. are going to cover for us
when my roommates are at the movie tomorrow night.
Piece of cake, right?
Piece of cake.
I never get tired of that.
I created and loaded in an App to your school PDAs.
Touch the screen,
and the light will increase in brightness,
We can also swap texts up to 100 feet underground.
It's a beta test, so... it's still glitchy.
All right.
Let's go.
Ian.
Last time down here, I couldn't see a thing.
Can't believe you got through here at all.
Hey, look. The thief came this way.
Oh. Wait-Wait-Wait a sec.
What?
Señor Guapo's looking saggy.
Continue. Come on.
Shh.
Archer, can't you hang on to your books?
Archer!
I'm just exercising.
Going to bed now. Thanks.
Good night.
Good evening, Officer.
Go officer yourself.
Find them.
Tell Ian I'll text when it's safe to come back.
Good comeback.
Thought you went to see The Bicycle Thief.
Someone stole the DVD.
Someone? There's only one thief around here.
What did you do with it, Archer?
You've got a burning need to see me in my pajamas, huh, Don?
Well, it's too bad about the movie.
Lisa wanted me to sit by her.
Get out, dude.
She so blew you off.
No, she didn't.
You sat down next to her. Then she stood up and moved away.
What do you call that? A blow off.
Is that so funny, Archer?
I've seen you checking out C.J. Ward.
Good luck with that.
She's the most popular girl at Tower.
I'm not even into her.
You're not--
Really? Who are you into, then?
Come on, man. You must be into somebody.
Tell me, Archer. Must be pretty cold without a blanket.
Suki Sato's kinda cute.
Really?
You're-- You're into Sato?
Seriously?
Suki is a hottie.
Such a hottie.
This place is creepy.
Oh, look, found some more beads.
Ian!
- You all right? - Yeah, I think I'm all right.
Where are we?
Someplace beneath the school.
- You know what this means? - What?
Tower Prep school is built over an entire other structure.
It's like a 1940s or 1950s building, or something.
Could have been anything.
A hospital.
A laboratory.
A factory?
A prison?
Happy thoughts, Gabe.
Happy thoughts. Come on.
Yeah, happy thoughts.
This was a lab.
Why would a school be built over a laboratory?
I mean, unless...
Tower Prep isn't a school.
Maybe it's still a laboratory.
Headmaster says that we'll learn to use our abilities here,
but what's really going on
is that, years ago, in these labs,
they researched kids like us.
And that's why they don't let us out,
despite what they tell us.
They're training us to used
how they want us to be used when we get out of here.
Ian. Ian.
Lights.
Gnomes. Hide.
- Grab my shoulders. - Why?
Just do it.
- What? - Power through.
Oh, my God.
- Thought you were a gnome. - There's gnomes down here?
Yeah, the hallways are full of them.
These hallways must be how they move
from the forest to the school without being seen.
Maybe this is where they have their headquarters.
What are you doing down here?
Your roommates came back early. Suki's covering as you.
She'll call when they fall asleep or leave. - Okay.
Uh, at least there's a way out.
Come on.
You could get lost forever if you didn't know your way around.
Here, look at this.
The rest of the stolen things.
The Headmaster's list.
You see Lisa's photo album?
Got it.
- How about Fenton's recordings? - Yeah.
Well, next to Mr. Smiley over here.
Looks like our thief was listening to them as well.
Not many opera fans at Tower except Fenton,
especially when it's Fenton singing the opera.
You think it was an act?
Playing the victim when he was behind it the whole time?
Makes sense.
I mean, I always said, "Anyone who enjoys opera must be evil."
Whoa, Howard's headphones.
Man, the thief stole from everyone.
Wait.
The thief.
Ian!
Come on. Come on.
Can't see.
Ian, wait.
Ray... Don.
You awake?
What happened? What happened?
- Suki. - I can't...
It's glitchy.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
- Wait, what's that?
There!
He's gone.
And now that he knows we know,
he will never come back.
We'll never catch him.
I wonder if these hallways lead to the West Campus.
Might as well just go there now.
Good morning, Fenton.
"Good morning" greeting from anyone around here
is cause for alarm.
Mm-hm, and we've been to your private music chamber, pal.
How? No one is allowed in here.
Oh, knock it off. You saw us down there.
Those aren't mine.
I haven't listened to my music for days.
I was finally forced to download some MP3s
from the girls next door last night.
Last night?
Yes, last night. Ask them.
I requested "La Nozze di Figuero."
They gave me...
"Lady Gaga"?
He's not lying.
We're back where we started.
Yeah, and my tribunal meets in the morning.
Excuse me. Hello.
You burst in here and accuse me of theft,
rant about some hidden lair,
Forrest tracks dirt all over my floor.
Now, vada via.
Wow, he's actually right.
Those coolers really did a number on my shoes.
Oh, and after you had Howard clean them.
I never did that. I've been good.
I saw him polishing them.
Well, I don't know what to tell you, Ian,
because they must've been his shoes.
Wait a minute.
What's Howard's ability?
- Ian's missing. - What?
I thought he was being watched by monitors.
Was. He broke out. The monitors are looking for him all over campus.
- Have you heard from him? - No.
- Have you? - Seen him or heard from him?
Quick, hide this.
You see, Howie's abilities
include a bit of an edge in the vision department.
Can't say I'm not jealous.
Howie's like a zebrafish, a tetrachromat, if you will.
He sees outside the visible spectrum of light.
Wasn't anything more than a few shadows
when he first arrived here at Tower,
but I'd say, thanks to our advanced training programs,
he's come a little farther than we suspected.
That's why he was moving through the corridors
like he could see in the dark,
because he can.
And these were amongst the stolen stuff,
but never reported stolen...
because they weren't.
I've never made friends easily.
Back home, every time I'd try to tell another kid
about what I could see,
they always said I was lying
or I was just weird.
It got a little better when I came to Tower,
with other kids like me,
but, you know, high school's always high school,
with its popular kids
and it's fringes,
and that's soon where I found myself again,
on the fringes, looking in.
Howard.
Why didn't you talk to me?
Dude, you should've said something.
And I'm sorry. I really am.
You know, sometimes the hyper-suasion kicks in unintentionally,
but they're training me, here, to control it,
and I admit I slip up sometimes,
but...
the last thing I ever wanted to do
was take advantage of a friend.
I figured you didn't need me as a friend
once Ian showed up
and started hanging with these guys.
Around then I discovered
the passageways and the stairs down to the old levels.
Underground I kind of created my own private world
where my ability mattered,
and I wasn't on the outside.
You spread around your unhappiness by stealing from other students
and framing Ian?
If you're miserable, everyone should be?
Look, Howard,
I can't say I'm okay with what you did,
but I get it.
You don't think so, but I felt the same way,
about being on the fringes, before I came here,
but the four of us, we don't fight each other.
We take it to them.
It's a choice to live on the edge.
We welcome any Fringers...
like you.
But first...
you are going to make things right.
And that is my confession.
All the stolen items
returned and accounted for.
After Howard Gilmore confessed the thefts to me this morning,
he led Archer and myself to a maintenance shed
where he was hiding the stolen goods.
Mr. Gilmore, how was it you were able to enter students' rooms unseen?
I waited until dark, sir.
Then I shut off the dorm hall lights
and moved from room to room
before the monitors came through on their rounds.
No one saw anything except for me.
Um, sir? If I may?
You have something you'd like to add, Mr. Forrest?
Yes, sir.
Hi.
Everyone in this room is aware of what I'm capable of...
what I can do when I put my mind to it...
but I want you to know right now that I'm not doing that.
I promise.
I took advantage of Howard,
treated him like a gopher,
when all he needed was a friend.
He framed Ian to get even with me.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is...
any punishment that Howard gets,
I should share.
Defending your friends is admirable, Gabe,
but Howard's decision to take those things
was his alone.
Stealing is not tolerated here, Mr. Gilmore,
and neither is placing the blame
on an innocent classmate.
You'll have six weeks to reflect on this,
studying in seclusion on the West Campus.
Now, if there are no further questions.
This tribunal is adjourned.
Well, I can't say I'm going to miss hearing three guys snore at night.
I'll see you around.
Ian.
I'm glad you were exonerated.
I felt you would be.
It's nice to know you're pulling for me, sir.
Your roommates--
you never put the blame on them, even when you had the chance.
I'm not sure they would've done the same for you.
You see, it's those kind of perceptive observations
that make you Headmaster, sir.
Um, Gilmore's internment over in the West Campus
has left a vacancy in his room.
It's yours if you want it.
Adios, Ian Archer.
Gonna miss you, buddy. Guy was a total loser.
Total.
♪
♪ But I'll be true to the song I sing ♪
♪ And live and die ♪
♪ A pirate king ♪
Hello, new roomies.
♪ For I am a pirate king ♪
♪ Hurrah for the Pirate King ♪
This is going to be so sweet.
You, me, and of course The Great Unknown.
I just never know where he's at.
Yeah, well, now what we need to do
is worry about finishing our science homework.
Right.
Science.
You know, Ian,
I couldn't help but notice
that you're quite amazing when it comes to science homework.
I mean, you seem to really enjoy it.
All right, let me tell you this one time, Gabe.
You try and hyper-suade me,
even once...
and Señor Guapo here
gets transferred to West Campus.
Okay, fine.
Couldn't hurt to try.
Ow.