The Remains Lurk
Believing Esidisi to have been defeated for good and having removed the Wedding Ring of Death in his windpipe, Joseph returns to Lisa Lisa's villa. However, Esidisi has survived as a disembodied brain and nervous system that has latched itself on Joseph's back without his knowledge, the Ripple warrior only feeling a vague back pain. In her room, Lisa Lisa observes the dawn and feels uneasy. She tells her maid Suzi Q to summon Joseph and Caesar to her room once they arrive and takes a bath in the meantime. Suzi Q crosses path with Joseph, at first not recognizing him without his breathing mask. The two flirt with each other before Suzi Q relays Lisa Lisa's words to Joseph, who no longer feels the mild discomfort in his back after the two part ways.
Joseph goes upstairs, looking out the window to see Suzi Q handing off a package to a mail boat at the docks. As Suzi Q has told him that Lisa Lisa is taking a bath, Joseph decides to peep on his teacher bathing through the keyhole. His enjoyment is cut short when he notices that Suzi Q is now besides Lisa Lisa despite having been at the docks moments before. It is revealed that Suzi Q is now possessed by Esidisi and had stolen the Red Stone of Aja. Esidisi, speaking through the maid, reveals that he's mailed the Super Aja to his companions and intends to keep the Ripple users where they are by holding Suzi Q hostage.
Caesar returns and sees Lisa Lisa, Joseph and Suzi Q in the same room. Joseph explains the situation, and now all three Ripple users are trapped in the room with Esidisi blocking the way out, claiming that they must kill him with an amount of Ripple that is also fatal to the maid to get past him. Joseph tries to bluff Esidisi into leaving Suzi Q's body with a fake Ripple attack, but the Pillar Man doesn't even flinch. Esidisi decides to overheat Suzi Q’s body so she will explode, planning to kill the Ripple users with the resulting splatter of boiling blood. Luckily, Joseph remembers that two Ripple can cancel each other. He and Caesar work together to send the Ripple into Suzi Q's head, feet and back, the two surge of energy canceling each other at Suzi Q's heart, sparing her. Forced out, Esidisi latches on Joseph one last time before his remains are dissolved from exposure to sunlight. While Caesar calls Esidisi a coward for using Suzi Q, Joseph admits his respect for the Pillar Man as he was willing to do anything for the sake of his comrades.
Rating: 9/10
Stroheim's Unit Strokes Back
Having been barely conscious at the time, Suzi Q reveals through hypnosis that Esidisi mailed the package to somewhere in Switzerland. After learning the exact location to be Saint-Moritz, Joseph, Caesar, Lisa Lisa and Messina drive off to catch the package before it reaches its destination. Joseph says goodbye to Suzi Q and promises to come back to her, jokingly adding it might be after a few years. Meanwhile, in Switzerland, Kars awaits Esidisi's call near a public phone but sees that no one will call. Departing, and slicing a car in two along with the two drunk drivers to save a small dog from being run over with blades sprouting from his arm, Kars feels concern over Esidisi's status.
At the Italian/Swiss border, the group crosses path with a Nazi car, whose occupant seems familiar with Joseph, but the car overtakes the group before Joseph can identify the officer. The Ripple users find the train being inspected by a Nazi Platoon that is seizing the Red Stone of Aja. The commander of the platoon, revealing without showing his face to Lisa Lisa's group, reveals that he already knows about everything that's happened last week and invites the group to the inn that he and his men are occupying as a sign of cooperation
The same night, Kars arrives at the inn that the Nazis use as their base. Using his superior senses to detect five people in the room nearest to him, Kars creates a blade and swiftly kills the five soldiers inside the room before entering the building. But Kars finds a sixth person waiting for him inside: the platoon's commander. The colonel takes the time to compliment Kars on his speed and intelligence, but the Pillar Man leaps to attack the officer. As Joseph springs into the room, the Nazi blocks the blade with was is revealed to be a metal hand. The Nazi is revealed to be Rudol von Stroheim, who survived the grenade blast and has been transformed into a cyborg by the Nazis based on the analysis that they acquired from Santana.
Kars glares at Joseph, instinctively knowing that Joseph was the one to have beaten Esidisi. The Pillar Man declares that he will personally kill him, as he doesn't wish to live a dangerous Ripple user like him alive. Feeling ignored, Stroheim shows off the capacities of his mechanical body, twisting itself at unconventional angles while intending to literally rip Kars apart bit by bit. Finally, Stroheim reveals an abdominal machine gun and gleefully shoots at Kars while praising the marvels of German technology. Although Stroheim manages to blast Kars out of the chalet, the Pillar Man reveals his Light Mode, causing tiny claws on the blades to spin around them at high speed like a chainsaw, and begins to slice the bullet with his blades, to Stroheim's horror who hasn't expected such speed and power. Kars approaches Stroheim and effortlessly slices him in two, placing the cyborg at his mercy.
Rating: 8/10
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