The Savior
The little cloth-wrapped baby that is Jdg98 lies on the roadside somewhere in Maine, crying his little eyes out. "Do you hear that?" someone is heard saying. "It's coming from over there!" another voice replies. Soon, a young couple out for a jog approach the baby, shocked to find him where he is. "Oh, my God… who would just dump a baby on the side of a road?!" the man exclaims as the woman picks him up. "Come on," she says, cradling him in her arms, "We have to get him to a hospital or something." The baby's crying ceases as the woman gently rocks him, and he looks up at these two strangers with sad and tired eyes.
Early in the morning, Joe is standing outside The Sword and Hammer whilst Natalia approaches, asking if he's ready. "What have you got planned?" Joe wonders, to which she replies, "For you to believe." "Yes, I know that bit," Joe tells her, "But how are you going to accomplish that exactly?" "You'll see soon enough," says Natalia, "We're going on a little field trip. Follow me." She begins walking away and Joe follows on, curious.
Josh is seen bringing Ben into Justine's room at the hospital and he prompts the lad forward. Before Justine has a chance to say anything, Ben is down on one knee popping open a small box with a diamond ring inside; the blonde beauty is shocked and sits up. She tries to speak, but Josh clears his throat to cut her off, and Ben begins talking: "Justine… when you were in your coma, I made a promise to you that, when you woke up, I'd propose to you again… so that's what I'm doing. And, um, and if you agree to marry me… I swear I'll work hard at our relationship and do everything within my power to make your dreams come true, because you'll be making mine come true just by being with me." Justine goes to talk again, completely flushed, but Josh cuts in again with, "Wow… you'd be mad to turn down an offer like that." Justine looks between Ben and her father, feeling extremely pressured, and then, out of sympathy more than anything else, she looks towards her ex-fiancé and says, "Yes." "Yes? Yes, you will marry me?" Ben asks, ecstatic, and Justine nods her head, not wanting to say it again. He slips the ring on her finger and stands up, assuring her that they can get married as soon or as late as she wants, and Josh smiles. Ben goes to kiss his future bride, but when his lips approach hers, she quickly subverts and he catches her cheek. He backs away slightly awkwardly, but still happy, and proceeds to leave the room. Josh looks at his daughter and points out how fast her life is already repairing after the accident; "Everything's practically perfect." He leaves also, and Justine mutters to herself, "Yeah… freakin' perfect."
Joe and Natalia stop outside the Mayor's office building and the former wonders what they're doing there. "Oh, for what we're going to do, we're going to need the Mayor's skeleton keys," she explains, and a shocked Joe asks her how she plans to get her hands on those. "Simple," Natalia assures him, "You go up and distract Valentina, I'll do the rest." She begins making her way round the corner of the building and Joe wonders where she's going. "I told you I'd take care of it," she says, "Now go distract Valentina!" Joe shrugs and makes his way inside and up the stairs, knocking on the office door. Val answers and looks at Joe with contempt in her eyes, wondering what he's doing there. Joe pauses for a while, thinking, but eventually comes out with, "The whole sexual harassment thing…" "What about it?" Val wonders, confused. As Joe formulates more words, he looks past Val to see Natalia climbing into the office through the window. His face looks shocked and Val wonders what he's looking at, going to turn around. However, Joe puts his hand on her shoulder to grab her attention, and she turns back to him. "I just wanted to say… no hard feelings." "Right…" Val replies as Natalia locates to keys and quietly carries them back to the window. "Is that all?" Val wonders, wanting to end this pointless interaction. "No," Joe assures her, "Um… to prove I am 100% over it… I would like to… ask you out on a date." Val looks disgusted and tells Joe he'd have better luck with a troll, and as she does so, Natalia climbs out the window and makes herself out of sight. "Now leave, before I frame you again," Val exclaims, and Joe tells her quickly, "Aw well, can't blame a man for trying, see ya' round, Val, I hope you all the best." He walks away and she looks at him confusedly, soon shrugging it off and slamming the office door.
The office door to the orphanage where Joe grew up opens and he, a little boy, sits frustrated in a chair as a married couple strolls in. They are the same couple who found him when he was a baby, with a few more years on them. "You're wasting your time," he tells them before they even sit down, "I have no interest in being adopted." "That's a shame," says the woman, "Because we think you're something really special." Joe scoffs, telling them how generic that sounds, and they laugh. The man goes on to ask, "Do you know who we are?" Joe shakes his head, and the man continues in saying, "I'm Mike Kahn and this is my wife, Gabrielle." Something about the names rings a bell in Joe's head, and it doesn't take him long to realize, "You're the couple who found me when I was a baby…" They nod, and the young man proceeds to ask, "Why do you want to adopt me all of a sudden?" "Joe, we've regretted letting you out of our sight the moment we gave you in," says Gabrielle, "But it's taken us so long to find you because you keep moving from orphanage to orphanage." "It must be a pretty tough way to live," Mike points out, and Joe nods after a pause, saying that it is. "And so… we'd like you to come and live with us," Gabrielle says. "And finally gain some sense of stability," Mike adds. "After all," Gabrielle goes on, "We've known you since you were a baby." Joe smiles.
Joe laughs as he and Natalia run from Josh's office, round the street corner, and stop to catch their breath. Natalia dangles the keys in front of her accomplice's face and says, "Mission accomplished," and Joe smiles. "Where to next?" he asks. "We," she tells him, "Are returning to the scene where Justine King was held hostage." Joe appears intrigued and follows his partner in crime yet again.
Meanwhile, Justine is sitting in her hospital bed and visited by Rena, who brings with him a bouquet of pink roses. "I've been, um, waiting for your dad to leave for something to eat so that I could give these to you, but, I realize now that that's stupid anyway because he'll just see them if he comes in here." "I don't mind," she assures him, taking the flowers. She gives them a sniff and smiles, asking how he knew pink roses were her favorite. Rena shrugs, saying, "Just a hunch," and Justine places them carefully on the night stand. After a pause, the beautiful blonde admits, "I, um… I heard everything you said to me right before I woke up." Rena looks mortified, telling her, "I thought you were a bit… out of it." "I was," Justine assures him, "But it's been coming back to me more and more over the past few days." "So… are things awkward between us?" he wonders, "What with you… knowing how I feel about you." "No," she says, "It's not, because… and I know this is crazy, 'cause we've only had a few brief encounters, but… I feel exactly the same way." Rena smiles, and the two of them stare deep into each others' eyes.
Natalia and Joe are next seen approaching the burnt bakery on the outskirts of town, and the latter asks, "Why do we need skeleton keys to get into this burned-down piece of trash? And… how will it get me to believe?" "Oh, we're not here for that," Natalia says, "We're here for that," and she points to the chained-up storm cellar entrance nearby. They walk towards it, and as they do, Natalia says she's been interested in this area ever since she heard that it's where Justine was kept hostage. Joe wonders why, and Natalia tells him, "Obviously, Joshua King – as he's known here – was behind it." "How d'you know that?" Joe wonders, to which she replies, "How else would Benjamin Leech – again, as he's known here – have saved the day? Clearly a staged event." They reach the storm cellar and Natalia begins using the keys to unlatch the many padlocks binding it shut. Soon enough, the chains fall away and the door opens, and Joe asks what it is they're meant to be finding down there. Natalia turns to him and says, "I'm hoping to uncover the Evil Bureaucrat's secret vault." She heads down the stairs and Joe goes to follow.
Young Joe heads down the stairs of his new home to his new bedroom, which is situated in the basement. He takes a look around and is immediately disappointed; it's a pretty dank and dark place with nothing but a bed and a chest of drawers; second-hand at that. "I can't have a bedroom upstairs?" he wonders, but Gabrielle, who follows him down the stairs with her husband, explains that there's no room; "Besides, basement bedrooms aremuch more trendy." "Well… can I dress it up a little?" Joe wonders, but Mike tells him, "Sleep a few nights, I'm sure you'll start to think of it as home." "Now," Gabrielle continues, "We'll leave you to get acquainted. See you in a little while." They exit the basement and shut the door behind them whilst Joe approaches his bed and parks his little suitcase beside it. He sits down and sighs as he spots a rat scampering amongst the dust bunnies, and he slowly heads back up the basement stairs, opening the door a crack. He hears his new parents' voices coming from another room. "…and with the child support checks now rolling in, we'll finally be able to afford that second car we've been wanting," Gabrielle's voice says. Mike laughs and Joe shuts the door, running back down the stairs and to his bed, where he cries his eyes out.
Joe and Natalia are now standing in the dank storm cellar and he points out that it doesn't exactly seem like a secret vault; "More like a place one would hide dead bodies… hey, do you think Ricardo Jones is buried under here?" "Nope," Natalia says, "That dude has probably blown halfway to Fiji by now. But that's not what we're looking for." "What are we looking for?" Joe wonders, and Natalia explains that she expects there to be some sort of sub-entrance shrouded by magic; "You should be able to locate it, being a prophesied natural at magic at all." He steps forward, "That's ridiculous, you can't seriously expect to just stumble upon—" "Joe, look down," Natalia chimes in, and he follows the instruction to see he's standing on the magical symbol carved into the ground, on top of what appears to be a trap door. "No…" he utters. "Yes!" Natalia exclaims, pushing Joe to one side in order to open it. "You first," she says, and Joe begins heading down the extra set of stairs, muttering something about how the entrance must've been covered in dust or something. "Yeah, sure it was," Natalia laughs as she follows him downward.
Valentina strolls into the Sheriff's Station where Liz is sitting at her desk. "Hi, I'd like to report a robbery," she says, at which Liz asks what's been stolen, grabbing a notepad and pencil. Valentina tells the sheriff that she's unable to find her boss' very important set of keys, and Liz scratches this down as the PA says it. "Do you have any idea who might have stolen then?" Liz wonders, and Val tells her, "Well, Joseph Kahn paid me a visit today—" She stops talking because her cell phone begins ringing, and she tells Liz she has to take this. The sheriff rolls her eyes and drops the notepad as Val makes her way into the hall, answering her call. "Josh, you're not gonna believe this – your skeleton keys are missing," she tells him, but the Mayor assures him they've got bigger problems. "Like what?" Val wonders, and in the hospital, Josh watches through the indoor window as Rena and Justine converse within the latter's room, talking and laughing. He looks to be seething with rage, and from behind him, Joanna Seer is heard tutting. "Oh dear," she comments, "Looks like all of your plans are falling apart lately." She giggles and walks away, and Josh's rage increases.
Natalia and Joe enter the actual secret vault and Joe is shocked by what he sees; all around him are magical ingredients and mysterious substances; flasks and pots and vials and chests and even a few weapons hung up. "What is all this?" he asks, amazed, to which Natalia replies, "Magic – Reginafan2626's magic." "Is that supposed to be Josh?" Joe asks further, and Natalia nods. Joe continues to be awestruck and he inspects the shelves, looking at the weird and wonderful things the Evil Bureaucrat keeps bottled up. "I've never seen anything like it," he says, to which Natalia replies, "You wouldn't have, unless you've spent a lot of time in Wikia. Which, ultimately, you didn't, because of the whole Virus thing." Joe is barely listening and comes across one of the few unlocked chests on the shelves. He goes to open it, but Natalia says, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Lord only knows what that nut job keeps down here. Besides, I doubt he'd just leave a chest unlocked. It's probably there to trick intruders." Again, Joe is barely listening, and he opens the chest anyway. "I told you not to—" Natalia tries, but she soon finds herself screaming as a small scorpion crawls out. "Is that what I think it is?" Joe wonders. "Get away from it!" Natalia yells, freaked out. Suddenly, the scorpion begins growing, and Joe backs away from it. It grows and grows; the size of a sheep, the size of a horse, until finally it plateaus, nearly bursting through the ceiling of the vault. Natalia screams, curling up scared in a corner, whereas Joe stands, petrified, glued to the spot. The giant scorpion lifts its tail, ready to sting what's in front of it, and Natalia screams, "LOOK OUT!" However, just as it's about to strike, Joe instinctively grabs one of the weapons from the wall – a sword – and, with a surprising amount of skill, he severs the tail from the giant arachnid's body, and it begins to shrink to its original size. When the scorpion tries attacking him with its claws, he again uses the sword to sever it, and the claw too begins shrinking. Joe then stabs the dark creature up the fleshy part where its mouth would be, and he manages to pierce through its brain and crack the exoskeleton at the top. He withdraws the sword, now covered in green goo, and the creatures corpse shrinks to the size of a cocktail shrimp, and Joe sighs with relief, throwing the sword to one side. Natalia, hyperventilating, manages to get to her feet; she then looks straight at Joe with widened eyes and says, "Told you so."
It's Joe's 21st birthday and he sits on his bed in the basement with a single cupcake; a candle protrudes from it. He checks his watch and sees it's just gone midnight. "Happy birthday to me," he sings, tears forming in his eyes slightly, "Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday dear Joe… Happy birthday to me." He blows the candle out and puts the cupcake to one side, taking out a pen and turning to the map of Maine – torn from a school Atlas – which is taped to his wall. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, pointing the pen in front of him and circling a random point. He opens his eyes and sees what's circled. "Storywik…" he utters, "Well then… that's where I'm gonna go." He grabs the cupcake and begins eating.
With his suitcase in his hand, Joe sneaks through the Kahn house at night and digs around in his adoptive mothers' purse, which has been left downstairs. From it, he takes her wallet and her car keys. He looks at the latter item and smiles to himself, saying, "You can get by with just the one."
In his parents' white car, Joe drives by an ATM machine and puts Gabrielle's credit card inside, entering the PIN. He withdraws all the money he can, completely cleaning her out, and stuffs it all in his pockets. He then gets back into the car and begins driving away. He looks to the circled map on the passenger seat and says, "Storywik, Maine… here I come."
Joe is running from the storm cellar and across the field and Natalia is racing after him. It's not long before she catches up and manages to tackle him to the ground. "What the hell?!" he yells, "Get off me!" "Why did you come to Storywik?" she asks. "What?" he exclaims, finally settling under her grip, and she repeats the question. "I dunno, I… I circled it on a map with my eyes closed and decided to start anew here." "Storywik isn't on any maps, Joe! Only someone like the savior would have been able to see it!" she exclaims. "Oh, the savior? Now I'm 'the savior'?!" he yells. "You've always been the savior, you're just now realizing it!" "Get off of me!" "Only if you promise not to run away! Do you promise?" Joe sighs and nods, and Natalia stands up; the two of them face each other in the middle of the field. "Did you not see what just happened in there?" she asks, pointing to the vault. "Yes, I saw it! But I can't explain it!" he yells, frightened. "That's okay," she assures him, "Because I can! It was a magical creature from a magical land salvaged by an evil magician!" "You don't make any sense!" "I'm the only thing in this whole damn town that makes any sense!" she screams. He begins rubbing his head in frustration and Natalia gets an idea; "Put your hands on my head." "What the hell are you talking about?" he asks, and she tells him to just do it, reminding him that he promised to give her a chance to prove it all to him and now he's got to make good on it; "You've got to give me that chance! You promised so just do it!" she screeches. Joe looks a tad scared by her and places his hands on either side of her forehead, asking what it is he's meant to be achieving here. "You're meant to be the most magically powerful being in the history of ever," Natalia tells him, "So, if I voluntarily let down my mental defences and think about what I want you to see… I'm hoping you'll be able to read my mind." "That's crazy," Joe tells her, his hands still on her head, and she tells him it just might be, but he's still going to do it. Again, Joe sighs, and asks how he's supposed to read her mind, and she tells him that he just has to focus hard on doing so, and he should be able to accomplish it. "Ready? Okay," she says, letting her guard down. Joe closes his eyes and looks to be really trying, and the two of them stand there for a while. Nothing happens and he gives up, placing his hands at his sides. Natalia looks angry and grabs his wrists, placing his hands back at her head but he says that this isn't going to work. "Yes it will!" she exclaims, "Because it has to work, okay?! Just try harder!" "I'm trying as hard as I can but it's impossible for someone to do magic and it's impossible for me to be able to read your m—"
Suddenly, things begin flashing through Joe's head. He sees many aspects of MaryPierceLopez's life, including her learning of the Virus' expiration, her travelling through time and her witnessing everyone in Storywik's deaths.
The flashes cease, and Joe falls to the ground, someone else's memories filling his head. "Oh, my God…" he utters, "I was… I was in your head…" Natalia is jumping up and down with glee, yelling, "It worked! It worked!" She looks down at Joe and asks him, "Now do you believe me?" "Yes…" he utters, "Yes, I do… Mary." She lifts him to his feet and hugs him tight, and the two of them jump up and down as they laugh joyously.
Val approaches Josh in the hospital and asks him what the matter is, and he tells her that he saw Renato Smith conversing with his daughter, and he overheard the two of them express their love for one another. "What does that mean?" Val wonders, and Josh says, "It means I've reached the end of my tether. It's time to turn to the final resort…" "And that would be?" asks Val. "I have to get rid of Renato…" he utters, before telling his PA, "Fetch me a pen and some paper.
Valentina is next seen skulking by the door to Rena's apartment. She slips a note beneath it and quickly runs down the stairs to the bar. Inside, Rena sees the note and picks it up, curious. He reads:
Dearest Renato. I cannot stand to be without you for another second. I bribed a hospital orderly to deliver this to you so that you could know I plan on leaving Storywik, and I want you to come with me. I'll be discharged from hospital tomorrow morning, and I want you to meet me the following night at the town exit sign. I'll bring transport, you just have to pack. This will be a start of something beautiful, my life, and I cannot wait to begin my new life with you at my side. Until then, I'll be missing you. With love,
Justine King
Rena reads this and smiles, all his dreams about to come true.
Back in the hospital, Josh is nervously pacing up and down and empty hallway. "I meet him, I kill him, I bury the body," he chants repeatedly, "I meet him, I kill him, I bury the body…" He then stops and looks up, an evil smile drifting across his face. "And it's about damn time, too."