Season 2, Episode 16 - Exposure

Sketchy announces to everyone at Jam Pony that he got a job as a freelance journalist for the tabloid paper New World Weekly. He is going to hunt down mutants and expose them in the press. Meanwhile, Agent White's wife, Wendy, calls Logan to tell him that she has located her son, Ray. Before she can give Logan any more information, Agent White comes in and attacks Wendy, ripping the phone out of the wall. He warns her to stay away, because Ray is now "one of Us." Logan traces Wendy's call to a hotel in a town called Willoughby, and he and Max set out to find her. At the hotel, they try to glean information from the suspicious desk clerk to no avail. They check in, but discover a room with a new doorplate and a just-installed phone jack. Inside the room's refrigerator is a roll of film. They get the photos developed, and there are images of children in a private school. Ray White is among the children. A nosy sheriff hears them talking about the school and questions their interest. Max and Logan lie about seeing the school from afar, but the sheriff is distrustful. He watches them go, and they wonder whether this boarding school may actually be some kind of breeding ground.

After receiving a tip, Sketchy searches through a sewer in Sector Three and finds nothing. As he leaves, he sees that White's agents are in pursuit of a transgenic. Sketchy follows the men with his camera and takes pictures of the Manticore escapee. Otto reports to Agent White about Sketchy's possible photos, and White orders that they find him. Sketchy returns to Jam Pony with news of his discovery. While Alec creates a diversion, Original Cindy exposes Sketchy's film.

Agent White meets with Director Paul Simms, who chastises him about letting the transgenic out in broad daylight. White is angry because his operation to capture transgenics is understaffed and under-funded, but Simms only wants them to remain below the radar of the press.

Logan helps Max break into the school, and she sees that a book by a child's bed has undecipherable Minoan glyphs on it. She finds a temple in the corridor with robed figures chanting in a foreign tongue. Max hides behind a curtain. Ray White is brought to the altar and presented to the congregation. Two snakes are held up, and a "teacher" named Moorehead slices one of them open. She pours the snake's blood into a chalice and dips the blade into it. She cuts into Ray's arm, leaving the remnant of a small scar in the shape of a glyph etched into his skin. A boy in the crowd named Samuel looks in Max's direction, sensing something. Suddenly, everyone spots Max when the curtain magically whips up in the air. She blurs forward in an attempt to snatch Ray, but the others set upon her and force her to the ground. She gets cut with the knife. When Max doesn't return, Logan heads towards the school buildings. The sheriff finds him and pulls a gun to his head.

Moorehead notifies Agent White that a transgenic tried to stop the ceremony, and White knows that it is Max. "It should take effect on her soon," Moorehead says. Max is held in a cage, but strangely, the cut on her hand is still not healed. Moorehead tells her that Ray is proving himself, like they all have done. She shows that she too has the glyph on her arm. Samuel asks Max how she feels because, he says, "it should have started by now." When Max comments that it is getting warm in the room, Samuel informs her that she is going to die. Appearing sick, Max asks him for water.

Otto and the other operatives come into Jam Pony looking for Sketchy, and Normal points them toward Crash. At the bar, Sketchy doesn't understand why all of his photos came out black. Alec and O.C. try to assuage his doubts, saying that the tabloids always make up their stories. Otto arrests Sketchy, but he is so drunk that he throws up on the agent's shoes. He tells them that he is working for a newspaper, but his pictures didn't come out. Dejected, Sketchy thinks that all he saw was a guy in a Halloween mask. Believing him, Otto lets him go.

At the town jail, the sheriff questions Logan about why he was at the school. The sheriff believes that Logan was after the boy in the photo -- Ray White -- but he doesn't understand what is wrong with the school. Logan tries to appeal to his sense of decency and explains what is really going on there.

Agent White visits with his son, but unfortunately, Ray has gotten worse instead of better. Moorehead keeps vigil over the boy. Meanwhile, Max begs for water and Samuel brings her a cup. When he opens up the cage, she blurs past him. Samuel calmly yells "Stop!" Max is halted and thrown up against the wall by some unseen force. Samuel uses his telekinetic power to beat her up, telling her that she can't win. Max pulls up her shirt to reveal her bare breasts, and young Samuel's concentration falters long enough for Max to break free of his telekinetic grip and deliver a vicious kick to his sternum. He gets knocked out, and she bolts out the door. She returns to the temple, as the congregation prays for Ray. Max slips past a partition where Ray is being held, and she grabs Moorehead from behind in a sleeper hold. Moore loses consciousness. Agent White goes to the cage room, where Max is gone and Samuel is knocked out. He finds Max outside with Ray slumped over her shoulder. With gun trained, Agent White orders her to put the boy down. She refuses. When Logan arrives with the sheriff, White is distracted and Max blurs away. White shoots at the sheriff, and Logan gets in the patrol car driver's seat to slam into White. Logan picks up Max and the sheriff and peels out, as White shoots aimlessly at the car.

The next day at Jam Pony, Sketchy starts to doubt that what he saw was not fake. Why else would the government be interested in his photos? He vows to Alec and O.C. that he is still going to expose mutants.

At the school, a Priest informs Agent White that, although Max was exposed, she did not even show symptoms. White believes that Sandeman's work at Manticore must have progressed more than they had imagined. They must now find out if the other transgenics are immune as well. Yet all White really wants to know is if his son Ray has survived. Then Agent White brings the snakes from the temple to the transgenic held captive by Otto. He is hopeful that their blood will kill the creature.

Logan tells Max that Ray's blood work proved that he is healthy. The snakes must be some kind of viral carriers. Logan arranged for Wendy's sister to pick up Ray and take him as far away from White as possible. Ray awakes, and asks them if he "passed." He says that he needs to be strong for "the Coming." Although he does not know what that means, Ray was only told that it was important.

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