Sam is having champagne with his date Cully at her apartment when he gets a call. The man, Carl Victor, tells Sam that if he values Leonard's life then he'll do what he says. Carl refuses to give his name and tells Sam to go to a deserted building in Industrial Square in half an hour. He hangs up and says that he just needs to go for 15 minutes. When Cully refuses, Sam fades out and slips out the door when Cully goes to check the fire escape.
When he pulls up outside of the building, Sam parks his motorcycle and is surprised when a large robot rolls out on the street. It addresses him by name, telling him to stand by for a demonstration, and fires a laser... blowing up a nearby vacant building. The robot rolls away and Sam sounds a nearby fire alarm. He then goes after the robot but discovered that it's disappeared around a corner.
The next day at INTERSECT, Leonard shows Sam and Abbey a blueprint of a robot. Sam confirms that it's the one that he saw, and Leonard explains that Carl designed the A-73, codename "Minotaur," designed to be a purely defensive surveillance system. Carl was in charge of INTERSECT's Bureau of Technological Development and Leonard fired him five days ago for a $40 million cost override. He was transferred Minotaur into an offensive weapon but it was so uncontrollable that even the Pentagon wanted it scrubbed. They believed it was a doomsday machine, and Carl disappeared with Minotaur when he was fired. INTERSECT agents have had no luck finding Carl.
A deliveryman comes in with an urgent package for Leonard. It contains a videotape from Carl, who tells Leonard to call off his agents, and knows that the Secretary of Defense will be at INTERSECT at 5 that afternoon. Carl wants Leonard to tell him that he wants $500 million to continue his experiments, and it will be delivered within 12 hours. He warns Leonard that he will bring down a skyscraper if his demands aren't met, and says that he'll be in touch at 5. Leonard calls security to order them to intensify the search, while Sam notes the address of the messengers who delivered the package. He tells Leonard that he's going to play a hunch and leaves.
At the Mercury messenger company, the manager confirms that a young woman named Janet Jursik signed the delivery form. Sam calls Abbey, who figures that the name is an alias, and the manager's description matches that of Carl's daughter Nancy. They don't have her signature on record to compare to the signature on the form, but they do have an address at an avant garde art gallery.
Sam arrives at the gallery posing as a deliveryman and gives a package to Nancy. As she signs the form, Sam asks about her father, claiming that he delivered a package to Carl once. Nancy says that Carl left the country a day ago. Sam takes the form back to INTERSECT and Abbey confirms that the signature matches "Janet"'s. He then calls Nancy and says that the police are asking questions at the messenger service, and they're going to trace the package. Once Sam hangs up, he watches from across the street as Nancy comes out and drives away. He follows her and then pulls over and tells two police officers that there are stolen goods in the trunk. They pull Nancy over while Sam parks down the street and fades out, and Nancy gives the officers her keys to check the trunk. There's nothing there, and Sam climbs into the trunk while it's open.
Nancy drives to an underground structure and she goes inside. Sam slips out of the trunk and follows her in to Carl's secret lab. She tells her father that the police are looking for him and explains about Sam, and Carl has no idea who she's talking about. Carl figures that Sam is an INTERSECT agent and frightened her into coming to him, and Nancy insists that she made sure no one was following her. Nancy asks what was in the tape she had delivered, and Carl claims it was a plea for war peace and a demand to end the arms race. His daughter says that she's proud of him.
Minotaur is patrolling the hallways. It sees Sam and opens fire, and he discovers that the door out is sealed. The robot closes in and Sam fades out, running for it. Minotaur warns Carl that they have an intruder out of visual sensor, and switches to infrared. Carl is unable to monitor its visual transmission, and Minotaur says that it will deploy IR as necessary.
Sam fades back in and runs, and Minotaur follows him. He's forced to fade out when it finds him, but it picks up his heat signature and fires, just missing. Sam fades in and continues running, and then calls INTERSECT on his radio. He tells them what he's found and warns that he's running out of steam. Minotaur jams the transmission before Sam can give his location and destroys the radio with feedback.
Carl continues monitoring the video transmission and insists that there's no intruder, and Minotaur insists that there is. The scientist assumes that the robot is malfunctioning and orders it to the control room for repairs. Minotaur says that some data is missing and it will correct the problem.
Sam enters the boiler room and spots a winch overhead. He gets to a catwalk overhead and Minotaur fires, blasting him onto a conveyer belt below. The fall knocks Sam out.
In the control room, Sam appears on a monitor. Meanwhile, the belt takes him toward a shredder but the belt shuts off just in time. Sam wakes up and finds Carl next to him, holding a gun.
The Secretary of Defense arrives at INTERSECT and asks for an update.
Carl takes Sam to the control room and Nancy confirms that he's who she talked to earlier.The scientist figures that Leonard knows where he is so he'll have to move up his timetable, and Sam assures him that Leonard knows nothing about the lab's location. Carl accepts his story, and Minotaur warns that there's an intruder in the control room and it can negate by close proximity. It argues with Carl when he tells it to continue on his patrol, and Sam tells Nancy that Minotaur is a robot with enough power to level a skyscraper. Carl tells him to shut up, and Sam puts him under arrest. The scientist, unimpressed, points out that he has the gun.
Minotaur approaches the control center.
Sam says that he doesn't want to hurt Carl, and figures that he's sick. Carl invites him to take the gun, and Sam tries to fade out. He discovers that his stabilizer watch is jammed. Sam unjams it just as Minotaur comes in and computes that Sam's DNA structure has been stabilized. Carl demands an explanation, and Minotaur says that it has neutralized Sam. It explains that it requires close proximity to stabilize Sam's DNA, and Carl tells him to call Leonard and ask if the money is ready.
As Leonard tells the Secretary how they're covering the area, Sam's call comes in. Sam gives a coded message that the watch isn't working, and tries to call out the lab's location. Carl knocks him down and tells Minotaur to eliminate Sam if he moves. The scientist then tells Leonard that he's choosing a new target and deadline.
Nancy demands an explanation and Carl says that force is the only thing that they understand. He shoves her away and programs in the new target. Shocked, Nancy goes to Sam, who warns her that Minotaur will kill her as well. The agent asks if Nancy really wants to help her father, and whispers something to her about two nearby beakers of chemicals. She tells him to follow the convey belt and then goes over and picks up the beakers. Nancy smashes them against the door and Minotaur fires, blasting the metal apart. Sam runs out in the confusion and Carl tells Minotaur to let him go because the agent doesn't have enough time to do anything.
Carl reprograms the target coordinates and opens the overhead doors. Nancy begs her father to stop, but he shoves her aside and tells Leonard that he's targeting INTERSECT itself. He gives them five minutes to clear the building and hangs up. Nancy begs Carl to listen to her, but he says that everything will be all right and the next day the President will give him the money and she'll be rich.
Sam confirms that his stabilizer is working again, flickering in and out.
Minotaur warns Carl that Sam has destabilized his molecular structure and goes off to find him, ignoring Carl's orders to stay there. Carl orders it over the radio to obey, but the robot ignores him. Nancy runs out and finds Sam in a storeroom near the belt. She tells him about Carl's threat and says that they have to leave, but Sam grabs a coil of cable and says that if he goes then Minotaur will return to Carl and destroy INTERSECT. She has a map of the building and Sam explains that he wants to lure Minotaur to the generator room and neutralize it.
Sam and Nancy run, and MInotaur spots them. As they head for the generator room, Sam has Nancy turn on a spigot and let the water run on the floor. He hooks up the cable to a fuse box and tosses it into the puddle, and then takes Nancy to the fuse box. When Minotaur enters the water, Sam turns on the power, short-circuiting the robot. Carl repeats his orders but Minotaur continues on.
In the generator room, Sam finds a drum of metal foil. He has Nancy tear it up and put it in a bucket. Meanwhile, he lays more cable out and makes a lasso noose. Sam then hooks the free end up to a winch and tells Nancy to find Carl. Meanwhile, Minotaur tells Carl that the scientist must obey it.
Sam goes up on a scaffold as Minotaur arrives and spots him. It prepares to fire and Sam fades out, avoiding the blast. He grabs the bucket and throws the foil over Minotaur, jamming its sensors. It moves into the noose and Sam activates the winch, pulling it up into the air. As Minotaur fires wildly, Sam climbs down the cable, opens up the underside of the robot, and deactivates it.
Later, Leonard and the police arrive at the lab. Nancy is trying to get through to Carl, who has gone into shock. Leonard takes Carl away, and Sam says that one day he'll meet Nancy again. She goes with her father, and Sam shows Leonard the robot and jokingly tells him to put it on his expense account.
Written by Gadfly on Jul 26, 2016