At a rebel munitions warehouse in South America, Mac and Riley tell a monkey to put down a detonator. Jack comes in and offers the monkey a fruit. He eats it to show its tasty and gags, and apologizes for setting the detonator down. Mac points out that the safety is on, just as the monkey switches it off. He offers the monkey his Swiss army knife for the detonator, and it takes it and runs out the window. Mac puts the safety back on and figures that they're safe.
Later back at Phoenix, Sam Skypes in and to thank them for all of the gifts that they sent her in the hospital. The doctors have approved her travel request to fly home to Australia to be with her sister. Sam tells them to take care of each other and finds Murdoc for her. Once she hangs up, Wilt tells Mac that he's been analyzing the 11-digit number on the man's tattoo and the gear. Mac admits that he hasn't shown Matty the number because he thinks that she's involved in his father's disappearance. Wilt figures that Mac has been too distracted with it to get upset about giving way the knife his grandfather gave him. Sparky offers to get a replacement and worries that its being replaced, and Wilt says that the combat drone they're working on is a combat drone for DARPA's Korman Challenge. Riley explains that the goal of the challenge is to develop an autonomous ground vehicle, and the team hopes to beat the various US government agencies that are also part of the challenge.
Jill comes in and says that Jack is acting weird even for him. They go to the briefing room and find Jack studying a photo of a man, Jimmy LeRoy. Jack explains that it's his old high school nemesis, and insists that Jimmy spent four years in high school ruining his life. Now Jack is going to his high school reunion because the rest of them are going to the Korman Challenge and he doesn't want any part of it. Matty is ready to leave for the Challenge in Virginia and calls them to the vehicle. The others go and she tells Jack not to blow his cover at the reunion.
The team arrives at the military base where the Challenge is being held. Matty explains that ten years ago DARPA scientist Martin Korman had a dream to create a drone that could rescue injured soldiers from the battlefield. Martin created the Challenge in the hope that one day someone would fulfill his dream. The Phoenix team has never won, and Matty insists that it's their year. As she tells them to make sure it's perfect, the battery shorts out. Wilt says that he can fix it, and Matty insists that there be no mistakes.
Mac and Wilt go to work and Allie Winthrop comes in. She wishes Mac luck, and Mac asks her how life is with the CIA Special Research Division. Allie assures him that she has a kickass prototype and leads him and the others out to see her drone, BRUNO. She leaves with BRUNO, and Wilt worries that it won't be there year. Riley asks Mac when he and Allie hooked up, and Mac admits that it happened. He explains that it was his first time there and he really liked Allie, but she went through his laptop to get his design specs.
Jack arrives at the reunion in Texas walks around greeting people. He runs into his old friend Oscar Himenez and Tina Pham, but they see Jimmy and go over to talk to him instead. Jack complains that Jimmy has aged well and sits down next to Karl, a nerd.
Phoenix's drone "Dalton's Nightmare" pulls up to the starting line, and the official tells them that the Nightmare has to run a 20-mile obstacle course. The official warns that it's a live fire exercise, and asks them to stand behind the safety line. Matty tells them that if their robot doesn't win, they're all fired. BRUNO opens fire on and destroys competing vehicles, including Nightmare. Mac sees Allie and runs over, and she says that she's locked out. BRUNO drives off into the woods, smashing everything in its path.
Matty and the others review BRUNO's spec, and Riley says that it went rogue because its AI has bugs. Mac, Wilt, and Allie drive out into the field in a van and Allie tells them to head for CIA HQ. She explains that if BRUNO malfunctions then it's programmed to head back to base. Allie warns that BRUNO is radar, sonar, and thermal invisible and programmed to use foliage for cover. There's a master kill switch but it's not working because the code is corrupted. Mac tells Matty to have all of the search vehicles to turn off their engines, and has Allie take the wheel while he uses the car's AC carbon dioxide sensors to sniff out BRUNO's exhaust.
Jimmy comes over to Jack and embraces him. They make small talk and Jimmy says that he sold his business for ten times his original investment and invested in a non-profit. He shots Jack photos of his kids and boasts about how great they are, and asks jack how he's doing. Jack whispers that he's a highly trained government operative who has saved the world a dozen times, and Jimmy figures that he's joking.
Jack goes into the restroom and complains to himself in the mirror about how bad is his life is. A man comes out of a stall and stares at Jack, then washes his hands and quickly leaves.
Allie asks Mac if his contraption is going to work. They pick up a reading and follow it to BRUNO, which is speeding down the road. Riley picks up BRUNO's signal and tries to hack the drone, while BRUNO gets onto the highway and bypasses the exit to McLean. Back at base, Riley says that someone has already hacked into BRUNO so she can't.
As he heads out, Jack looks at the trophies including a photo of Jimmy as the homecoming king. Jimmy comes over and suggests that he stick around for a while. He offers to buy Jack a drink to make up for beating him as homecoming king, and admits that he stuffed the ballot box. Jimmy admits that everyone loved Jack and he couldn't have won otherwise, and asks if Jack is mad about it. Jack laughs it off and says that only a pathetic loser would obsess over it. As Jimmy invites him back to the gym, Jack gets an emergency call from Matty. She explains that they have a runaway robot with a human in control, and they figure that it's heading or the Pentagon. Riley has checked the signal to Oklahoma City and Jack is their closest operative. Jack agrees and heads out.
Allie insists that her security protocols are better than the NSA's, and Riley tells them that the controller is using a Chinese spy satellite. Mac gets an idea and has them pull over at a house in the suburbs. He yanks out the satellite dish and the owner yells at them as they drive off. Mac has Wilt take over driving so Allie can help him, and Allie apologizes for how she stole the specs from him when they first met. Mac tells her not to worry about it because it's not the biggest lie she ever told him. Allie wonders what he means, and Mac points out that she claimed that she liked him. She insists that she wasn't lying and she still likes him, and Mac says that's cool but they need to stop BRUNO first.
Mac hooks the satellite dish up to the cigarette lighter, and figures that he can overload the computer with radio waves and crash BRUNO's network. However, they have to get within 16 feet. Wilt speeds up toward the drone.
In Oklahoma City, Jack goes to the address Riley sent: an office building. Matty asks him over the radio about the reunion, pointing out that he doesn't sound like he got revenge on his high school nemesis. Jack admits that it didn't go down the way he wanted but he'll tell her more later. He goes to the location and finds it filled with IT workers.
Wilt closes in on the drone, and BRUNO aims a gun at them. Once they get in range, Allie activates the radio and BRUNO rolls to a stop. Mac explains that they'll run out of juice soon, and goes to help Allie as she gets into BRUNO. The van battery goes dead and BRUNO closes its doors, sealing Allie inside. It backs up and Mac climbs up on the van's hood to avoid getting crushed. He and Wilt watch as BRUNO drives off after destroying the van.
Mac and Wilt take a nearby car and wilt assures his friend that they're going to get Allie back. They drive off and Matty warns that the Air Force just scrambled three F-22s with orders to destroy BRUNO on sight. The agents have twenty minutes to get Allie out before the jets arrive and take out BRUNO... and Allie.
Jack gets up on a disk and tries to spot the hacker. Riley can't pinpoint the hacker's location, and Jack hits the fire alarm. Everyone leaves except one man, Martin Chapman. Jack approaches the man and realizes that it's Martin Korman, founder of the Korman Challenge. Martin says that it's not his thing anymore. He wanted to build unmanned ambulances but the government turned it into a challenge to create drones for military purposes. When he tried to explain it to his superiors, they pulled his security clearance and forced him out. Riley gets into Martin's computers and determines that he sent BRUNO a command to open fire on the Pentagon. She can't hack BRUNO remotely, and Jack leads Martin away.
Allie plugs into BRUNO's onboard computer and realizes that it's loading its cannon. There's a military barricade up ahead, and the soldiers open fire on it. BRNO's armor protects it and it smashes through the barricade. Mac and Wilt follow BRUNO, and Matty tells them that they have just over nine minutes to stop it. Riley suggests says that she can modify the code to shut down BRUNO, but it will have to be uploaded via flash drive into BRUNO's computer.
Mac speeds up and the F-22s spot him moving in on BRUNO. Riley sends the kill switch code to Wilt via his laptop, and he loads it onto a flash drive. Mac takes the drive and tells Wilt to take the wheel, and they switch places. As they close in, Mac climbs out the window and jumps onto BRUNO. He calls to Allie and she directs him to an air vent. Mac discovers the vent is too small, and wraps his belt around his cell phone and uses it to pry open the vent. He slips the drive through and Allie plugs it in, while the F-22s prepare their attack run. BRUNO powers down and Mac tells Matty to call off the air strike. She does so and the F-22s fly overhead.
Allie gets out and hugs Mac and points out that he jumped out of a car onto a killer robot and stared down an air strike. She wonders why he would do that for her, and he says that he doesn't like seeing people he cares about die. Allie is astonished that he still cares about her, and he advises her to work on not being so competitive.
Later back at Phoenix, Matty tells the team has been remanded to psychiatric evaluation to determine if he can be tried. Wilt is offended that he didn't hack their drone. All they have left of their drone is the nameplate, and Matty goes to buy pizza for everyone. Jack gives Mac a new Swiss army knife and figures it was his fault that he lost it. Mac gives him a paper clip sculpture and asks what happened at his reunion. Jack explains that Jimmy admitted that he cheated and he let Jimmy off the hook. He figures that if he had won homecoming king back in school, he might have peaked. Losing gave him a sense that he had something to prove, and that's why he joined the Army and then the CIA. Mac wishes that Jack had said something sooner, just as everyone comes out and makes him homecoming king.
Somewhere in South America, a bellman takes a bride and groom to a honeymoon suite. They discover that the monkey has torn up the place using Mac's knife.
Written by Gadfly on Jan 13, 2018