"Previously on Tower Prep..." "Tower Prep was built for students like you." "You can achieve more than you can imagine at Tower Prep, Ian," "You seem different than all the other teachers here." "I think there's been a huge miscommunication here." "He can talk his way out of anything." "Why would a school be built over a laboratory?" "I thought this building was used for medical or psych experiments with students, unless Tower Prep isn't a school." " Hey." "Meet you over there?" " Mm-hm." "So what signals am I sending now?" "I'm on your path, and you're on mine." "I almost peed my pants." "What is wrong with you?" "I'm sorry, man." "There was these mutant gnomes or something wearing robes" "And bird masks?" "Oh, my God, the Rooks." "Must be pledge week." "Did you see them?" "Where were they?" "Yeah, one went down the hall." "Why?" "Down this hall?" "Whoo-wee!" "Rooks rule!" "Yes!" " What are Rooks?" " "What are Rooks?"" "Only the most slammin' fraternity at Tower Prep." "I'm telling you." "The Rooks are sick." "Only the coolest of cool get tapped to join." "Wait, you said that they-  ...they were in our dorm?" " Yeah." "Oh, my God, they were probably trying to find me to come tap me in." "♪ Tower Prep 1x05 ♪ The Rooks Original Air Date on November 16, 2010" "So they have fraternities here?" "No, Rooks aren't part of the school, but they're, like, this super-secret awesome society of... awesomeness." "And Headmaster allows this?" "No." "No, he hates them, but he can't stop them." "They're too powerful." "They say if you become Rook, you're pretty much set for life." "Yeah, well, I say I'm set for bed." "Not me." "I'm going to wait up for them to come get me tonight." "I'm so excited." "Yeah, you do that." "Rooks rule, bud!" "Huh?" "You say something?" "First period will begin in 15 minutes." " The Rooks come?" " Uh, no." "And neither did Santa or the Tooth Fairy, buddy." "Ugh, too salty." "Hunky-boo." "Hey, Noelle." " Want to see a magic trick?" " Mm-hm." "Oh, my God." "It disappeared." "Come on, guys." "You know the deal." "What?" "We're just dancing." "Dancing is not encouraged either." "That was close, man." "Good thing you don't have to worry about any dances." "They don't allow them here." "Why not?" "What happens at dances?" " Oh, the best" " They're so lame." "You get all dressed up" "The guys dance over here." "The girls dance over there." " Totally just be yourself." " And the music is so bad." "You're just like all guys." "You can't dance, so you trash it." "Uh-uh, I like dancing, just not dances." "I've got moves." "Yeah, right." "First warning, guys." "I said no dancing." "It looks like so much fun." "Not allowed, and that's just a taste of what I can do." "Hey, I could teach you some time, but I don't know anywhere we can, you know?" "Attention, all students." "Good morning." "There's been a lot of commotion in recent days about the activities of a certain student society, and I want to make Tower Prep's position crystal clear." "The Rooks are not sanctioned by Tower Prep." "Make no mistake." "If the Rooks disrupt Tower Prep in any way, the students involved will be immediately transferred to West Campus." "Please, who'd want to join the Rooks in the first place?" "Right." "Oh, wait, I know-- people who are awesome." "You mean people who are sexist?" "Oh, this again." "It's a fraternity, no girls allowed." "I don't even think that's legal." "First of all, of course it is." "And second of all, listen." "Bros just need a place where they can, like, chill and hang with the bros." "Big talk from a bro who plays with dolls." "Okay, whoa, whoa." "Okay, uncalled-for." "She doesn't" " She doesn't know what she's talking about." "Señor Guapo is an action figure." "He just happens to have button eyes and a... cute, squashy bottom." "I've gotta run, get to class." "I'm going to put on a school-approved activity where guys and girls can hang out together, be themselves." "Yeah?" "Like what?" "A dance." "You really think Headmaster will give you permission to do it?" "Why not?" "Why not?" "Because dances are a distraction." "Or a perfect opportunity for us to round out our first-rate educational experience by practicing our social skills-- assimilation, etiquette, uh..." "Hand-eye coordination?" "I'm owed this... sir." "If-- If I let you do this," "I will expect you to hold up certain standards of behavior." "Ready." "♪ My life is going on the radio ♪" "♪ Comin' at you with a brand new sound ♪" "♪ Turn it up and see your parents hit the ground ♪" "♪ You can't ignore us anyhow ♪" "♪ My life is going on the radio ♪" "♪ My life has got its own radio show ♪" "♪ Uh-oh ♪" "♪ Comin' at you with a brand new sound ♪" "♪ Everybody in the world will go wild ♪" "♪ Here comes a car, let's do it now ♪" "♪ Oh ♪" "Two guns?" "That's cheap." "Just wanted to see where you are." "I'm nowhere." "We do the same drill every day, and it still makes no difference." "You know that's not true." "If you could compare yourself today to when you first got here, you'd be blown away." "Your preflex can't process multiple input sources, but it will... in time." "Dude, you know he's right." "You are getting better." "Yeah, better at getting hit." "I'm serious." "I mean, look at me." "When I first got here, I could barely talk myself into anything." "Now I can pretty much talk anyone to do anything I want." "Even the Rooks?" "Trust me, if I could hyper-suade the Rooks into letting me become a member," "I would... if I knew where to find them." "Those guys are like friggin ninjas." "Actually it's funny." "I heard, when they want to tap you, they just swoop in and grab you like you're being kidnapped." "You don't even hear these guys coming." "How awesome... is... that?" "Ian?" "Ian?" "Ian?" "All right, Rooks rule." "Dude, we're totally in." "Yeah, and now we're out." "Come on." "Hold on, hold on." "Please, for me, just... stay." "Okay?" "Each autumn, a handful of the top students at Tower Prep are tapped for membership into the Rooks." "Your chance to become part of that legacy... is now." "I am the highest-ranking member of the Rooks." "Call me Odin." "Thought your name was Jeremy." "I am also your pledge master." "Although the five of you have been chosen to join our brotherhood, you are at this moment worthless squabs." "A baby Rook is a squab, and that is what you are." "You'll undergo a series of initiations." "If you prove yourselves worthy, you will be reborn as a Rook, one of the elite." "Fortius quo fidelius!" "Only then will our mysteries be revealed to you." "Only then will you share in our power." "Aeternum vale." "Maori warriors believe, by consuming of their fallen heroes, they would absorb their powers." "Raven's blood" "to give us loyalty, bravery, and power." "We begin each meeting the way generations before us have-- by taking a blood oath." "Live by the wing." "Die by the talon." "But if you ever betray us, you'll find that our talons are swift and merciless." "You don't think you have the courage to become a Rook, then you can walk out that door right now with no repercussions, no retributions, but-- ...if you stay... you are mine." "Squab!" "Are you willing to endure the rights of initiation, to become part of our sacred brotherhood?" "You bet!" "You will address me as Most Exalted One." "You bet, uh, the Most Exalted One!" "Then drink the blood and take the vow." "Drink the blood." "Uh, live by the wing and die by the talon." "I think it's just fruit punch" "Live by the wing." "Die... by the talon." "♪ This is the sound ♪" "♪ Of desperation ♪" "Missed a spot." "Yes, Exalted One." "Sorry, won't happen again." "♪ This is the sound ♪" "♪ Of me wearing thin ♪" "Forty-three... forty-four... forty-five... forty six... forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty... fifty-one, fifty-two." "Squab, come on, a little drink?" "♪ Of me wearing thin ♪" "Yep." "You have to become a brother before you can learn our secrets, secrets that extend to the very foundation of Tower Prep itself." "You're the one who put the gnome helmet on the flagpole, right?" "Quite a feat." "That's why we tapped you." "Rooks-- we catch entire gnomes." "I have preflex, Ian." "just like you." "The only difference between us" "I'm a Rook." "Yeah, sure, Headmaster, Tower Prep, they'll help you reach for your potential." "The Rooks will help you surpass it, but we know the things they don't want you to know." "Hah." "What was that all about?" "Odin says the Rooks can improve our abilities even better than the school can." "He says the Rooks' secrets reach all the way to the foundation of Tower." " You buy that?" " I don't know." "I think they said that, like, Senators and Presidents and stuff like that were Rooks." "I think we should wait till the end of pledge week and see if our abilities have gotten better." "Maybe it will pay off to make the Rooks." "Yes." "We can find out the specifics of what the school doesn't want us to know." " No." " The Rooks can tell us why we're here." "Okay, Ian, I did not come here to go undercover." "I want to be Rook." "Thank you, sir." "Rooks rule." "I'm so excited." "What's your favorite part of" "Uh, Headmaster sent us to meet with the dance committee?" "That's us." "We don't like this any more than you do, but we suck it up and run the play that's been called." "All right, ladies, let's keep this short and sweet." "Chapter nine-- dances." "All the regulations you'll need to follow." "But this was written in the '50s." "Everything in here's completely out of date." "Ms. Sato, do you really wish to engage the debate teacher on this matter?" "Headmaster wants this dance done by the book, and that was the only book we could find." "Look." "We just want a normal dance." "You want to play, you've got to play by the rules." "Now, quit whining like a couple of girls." "But we are girls." "Then you're going to be girls running laps if you don't take that book and get to understanding your parameters." " That went well." " Hm." "Nutrition is over." "Please proceed to class." "Everyone at Tower has special skills." "You're not really anything." "Every brother is dedicated to accelerating his abilities, going farther than the school even knows." "That is what makes us the most exclusive students at Tower." "You can't, however, be exclusive unless you exclude someone." "After tonight, only one of you will be a Rook." "If you wanna be a Rook, you have to prove yourself worthy." "We accept very few." "Some years we don't accept anyone." "We liberated these from the skills lab." "These blue paintballs, they pack more of a punch than the balls you may be used to, but they won't kill you" "...unless you get hit with this-- the blood ball." "Anyone here with a red paintball is out of the Rooks." "Come on, squabs, run!" "Get 'em!" "Get 'em!" "Hey-- I don't want to be hit." "I can't be eliminated." "I'll never beat you." "It's not a competition between me and you, Gabe." "Where you hiding, squab?" "Just do your best." "Shoot him!" "Nice shot." "You're dead." "Out." " Oh, man, I'm dead." " All right, bro." "The last one." "I don't want it coming anywhere near Archer." "Get him." "Get him!" "Shoot him." "Caught it?" "Nobody's ever caught one before." "Then we both stay." "Dude, that was insane." "How did you do that?" "I have no idea." "But I'm going to find out." "This is crazy." "They've got rules for everything." "Look." "From the style of font we need to use for the dance cards to the type of refreshments we're supposed to serve?" "What in the world is a finger sandwich?" "Oh, there's Noelle." "She said she'll help us with all the planning." "She's got perfect taste." "Oh, my God, I'm so excited for this dance." "Jordan says he's been practicing." "Lucky." "Wish I had someone special taking me to the dance." "Looks like you could." "Hey, CJ." "Heard about your dance." "Maybe I'll let you get me out on the dance floor... if you ask nicely." "Gee, Jeremy," "I don't know." "I might be pretty busy taking care of all the details." "In fact, I'm pretty busy right now, so I should get back to work." "Thanks." "Bye." "Well, don't wait too long." "You, uh" "You don't want me to lose interest." "Ew." "You know, I like his approach." "But I like his departure even better." "Is there a girl alive who would fall for that egotistical, hound-dog routine?" "Seriously, what am I, the Humane Society?" "What are you doing?" "What am I doing?" "What are you doing?" "You look like Velma from Scooby-Doo." "Why would you want to join anything that would humiliate you like that?" "Look, not the point." "I think they're going to do a lot more than humiliate you when they find you snooping around through the Rooks' Lair." "I mean, what are you looking for now." "They know how to accelerate our abilities, and I want to know how it is." "I never should've been able to catch that paintball today." "Yeah, well, guess what?" "You did." "And I would actually concentrate on getting accepted first before you start snooping around." "Yeah, but what if-- what if we don't make it?" "We've got to make use of the chances while we have them." ""Don't make it." You caught the paintball." "Oh." "I get it." "Spark, spark, poof." "You mean, and you're implying, me, aren't you?" "You think I'm not going to make it." "Is that what you're saying?" "Someone's coming." "Archer, have you finished doing my laundry yet?" "Uh, no, Most Exalted One." "Then hop to it." "Right away." "Oh, hi there, Most Exalted One." "Really enjoyed the outfit you picked out for me, sir." "Really came dressed to impress." "Just kidding." "Just... a little initiation humor." "Hi." "According to this stupid book, the world comes to an end if the punch bowl sits on a bare table." "I feel like Cinderella." "At least the dance she went to turned out awesome." "I just asked Coach Wood Shop if we could maybe play music from this century, and he told me to pull myself up by my jockstrap and drop the sass." "This is nuts." "I only even started this whole thing so I could get a chance to hang out with this guy I like, but I have to say that now the dance itself, it's really becoming important to me." "Wait, wait, wait, backtrack." "Which guy?" "No." "What I'm trying to say is that" " Uh-huh." " ...throwing this dance has really given me a glimpse of what my life could've been like." "If you never came to Tower and were just a normal girl." "Yeah, yeah, I get it." "Now, Ceej, which guy do you like?" "Oh, Cal's a really good dancer." "But I bet you Ian's got some moves, too." "You like him." "Oh, my Gosh." "I'm so excited." ""Corvus H-40."" "You two, cover the doorway." "You've reached the end of your journey, squab." "What?" "Quote the raven, "Nevermore."" "Live by the wing, die by the talon." "Take this squab away." "Out with the squab." " Say your prayers, squab." " What are you doing?" " Bury him." " Hey!" "Bury him six feet deep." "You'll never be a Rook." "Say your prayers, squab." " Enjoy the light while you can see it." " Let me out of here!" " Live by the wing..." " Let me out!" "Die by the talon." "Live by the wing, die by the talon." "Get me out of here!" "Pray for the squab." "Take your last breath, squab." "He's worthless." "The squab Ian is dead." "You've been reborn as a Rook." "Fortius quo fidelius!" " Whoo-hoo!" " Yeah!" "A toast to our newest member." "Where's Gabe?" "Well, look, I know how much it meant to him to become a Rook, but Gabe-- nice kid-- but nothing that would really mean anything to us." "Who needs the Rooks when I got you?" "Stupid action figure." "You, Ian, I believe that one day you could be..." "Odin." "With our help, you become more powerful than you ever dreamed." "And no doubt you'll be a good teacher." "Now, just tell me how to accelerate my abilities." "What's the hurry, Brother?" "You're going to be a Rook for the rest of your life, starting tonight." "Let me refill that for you, Brother." "Gabe?" "First period will begin in 15 minutes." "You look terrible." "Yeah, thanks." "I was up kind of late." "Where's Gabe?" "Mm-mm." "I figured he'd be here." "I've got to find him." "What's that?" "Suki Sato, did you make me breakfast?" "They're samples of the refreshments for the dance." "All right." "What is that, PB and dirt?" "It's watercress." "Eck, yeah, good luck with that." "I followed the recipe in the book." "Oh, God." "That's disgusting." "Good morning, Suki." "Good morning, Whisper." "I'm going to be working all night." " Oh-Oh..." " I just can't promise" "I'll have time to dance with you." "Come on, why do you got to make me beg?" "What am I, the Humane Society?" "I mean, is there a girl alive who'd fall for your hound-dog routine?" "Suki." "Are you talking trash about me behind behind my back?" "Better than your front." "Seriously, you're such a tool." "Jeremy, I'm so sorry." "Yeah?" " You're gonna be." " Okay, thanks." "Bye." "What is wrong with you?" "I don't know." "I" " I can't help it." "It's like my abilities are in overdrive or something." "What could've caused it?" "Mm-hm." "I had a couple of sips right before we went to the cafeteria." "Yeah, and I had some right before I caught that paintball." "I thought it was fruit punch." "I thought it was just fruit punch." "That one was on purpose." "Of course it's more than just punch." "Duh." "Okay, so how do we find out what's really in it?" "I know." "Taste this and tell us what's in it." "Okay." "Mm." "Grape juice, ginger ale..." "Gross-- saliva?" "Both from a girl and from a guy." "How can she tell all that?" "Noelle has perfect taste." "That's her special skill." "Of course." "There's something else in here, some kind of chemical," "I don't know what it is." "I've never tasted it before." "Was it this?" "Corvus H-40." "Yeah, that's it." "God, what is that stuff?" "I can taste the watercress in your saliva now." " Are you okay?" " Yeah, I'm fine." " You sure?" " I need a napkin." "Maybe the Rooks stole it from the chem lab." "There's nothing called Corvus H-40 in the chem lab." "Okay, then where could it have come from?" "The Rooks' secrets reach all the way to the foundation of Tower." "Down in the tunnels." "Whoa, whoa." "Back when this used to be a laboratory, they must've manufactured all kinds of freaky stuff." "Hey, maybe Corvus H-40 was part of some secret medical experiment." "The Rooks must've discovered a cache of it left down here." "No." "They're responsible for it." "This is the Rooks' sign-- a raven sitting on a "T"." "It was on the box of raven's blood." "I've seen it somewhere else, too." "I'm just coming up blank on where." "I see two letters." "The "C" is in the raven's back." ""CT." Does it stand for the Rooks' motto?" "What's a rook or raven in Latin?" "Um, corvus?" "And the "T" could stand for "Tower."" "You know, like Tower Prep, not after the buildings, but after a man's name" "Corvus Tower, which means the school and the Rooks are connected after all." "So the school must know about the Corvus... and its effect on our abilities." "There's got to be some evidence that links the Rooks to the school." "That's assuming the Corvus was made down there." ""Corvus-- Initial Clinical Trials."" "Look at this." "Bingo." "There's Coach, when he was a student here." "Those aren't students." "They're guinea pigs." "They tested the Corvus on them?" "Are they still doing it?" "I mean, now?" "To us?" "I don't know, but..." "We need proof." "I just remembered where I saw that symbol." "Ian, what's up?" "Hey, Coach, the other day when I asked you if there was any way to speed up my training, why didn't you tell me about the Corvus H-40?" "Corvus what?" "What are you talking about?" "Coach... what time is it?" "I saw that symbol on your watch in the Rooks' Lair." "The Rooks are using Corvus?" "That's impossible." "They stopped manufacturing it decades ago." "What is it?" "Corvus H-40 is a performance enhancer, an early type of steroid, a sort of high-octane caffeine." "It's pretty nasty stuff." " How so?" " Addictive." "You grow so dependent on it that your abilities stop working without it." "Well, say I took some... or a lot over the past week?" "Should I be worried?" "It takes months for enough of the hormone to build up to cause any trouble, but it's a huge infraction of the school rules and could get you a permanent spot on the West Campus." "I keep your secret, you keep mine?" " Hey." " What do you want?" " Oh, I'm just looking for Ian." " Oh." "Well, he's not here, and you shouldn't be, either." "Uh" "Actually I just had one more thing to ask." "Can you just tell me?" "Why didn't you take me?" "You still don't get it." "It was never going to happen." " My abilities" " Are worthless compared to our speed and strength because no matter how good you get at hyper-suasion, anybody can stop you just by doing this." "Well, I still don't get it." "If you never wanted me, why would you make me do all that stuff?" "Huh?" "Ian." "You wanted Ian the whole time, and I was just the bait." "One word about what you learned here, and your life at Tower won't be worth living." "We will shut you down." "You'll spend the next three years a pariah." "You know what, though?" "Better a pariah than a bully." "Well, better a Rook than a Gabe Forrest." "Hey, why are you still here?" "The dance is starting." "I don't feel like dancing." "Come on, CJ's expecting you, and I want you there, too." "Yeah, well, I'm not going." "I think I've had enough rejection for one week." "Okay." "♪" "Odin, we got a big problem." "I know." "That little poe humiliated me in front of everyone." "What?" "Who?" "The Rooks are going to trash CJ's precious dance." "I want every decoration torn down, every record smashed." "Set the dining room on fire if you want to, but I want it destroyed." "No, you're not doing this." "You should've heard what she said about me." "Look, I know her." "You're just overreacting." "You're a Rook now." "That means you stand by your brothers." "The brother I stand by is the one you rejected." "Kick it, Odin." "What are you going to do when the Corvus wears off?" "This." "All right, Rooks." "Let's dance." "Whoo!" "Great party." "Yeah." "I mean it." "These decorations are cool, and your music's got a" "It's got a good beat." "Sandwiches are a little bit fertilizer-y, but we have lots of them." "Seriously, it's a hit." "No one's even dancing." "Well, maybe we can do something about that." "Know what, poe?" "You're about to learn a whole new meaning of break dance." " Hey, what are you doing?" " I warned you." "Wait, please, you can't do this." "I can't?" "You gonna stop me?" "No." "I am." "You see, CJ here happens to be my friend." "She cares about me, and I care about her, and not because I had to pass some weirdo, power-trip initiation." "So this is not going to happen." "I mean, you all must really feel like you need to protect your identities." "You worry that, what, Headmaster or all of us are going to figure out who you are?" "I mean, you must feel that way, wearing such a ridiculous mask." "And, by the way, just to let you know, it doesn't make you look like a raven." "It makes you look like a chicken." "So go ahead." "Take the mask off." "Oops." "Probably should've covered your ears." "Who else do we have here?" "Wait-Wait, where you guys going?" "We just got started." "Hm." "And, by the way, I just rejected you." "Headmaster, now." "Live by the wing." "Die by the talon!" "Yeah, well, I just clipped your wings." "Where's Ian?" "Oh, man." "Well, this is just embarrassing." "I'm just saying." "You call yourself Tower elite." "This is just pitiful." "Dude, save the jokes for after you get me out of here." "The Rooks are going to try and ruin CJ's dance." "We have to stop them." "Well, that would be the case if I hadn't already done it." "You stopped them?" "Yeah, but, really anyone could've done it." " It's not a big deal." " I couldn't." "I tried to stand up to Odin and wound up like this." " Come on." " And..." "So Headmaster cancelled the dance anyways, but at least Odin got in trouble." "Let's go." "Hey, bro, dude, that was awesome." "You stopped them solo." "Well, Rooks drool." "Ceej, I'm so sorry about your dance." "It was a stupid idea to begin with." "I don't know what I was trying to accomplish." "No, it wasn't stupid." "It sounded great." "I told Ian that the Corvus H-40 was just a performance enhancer." "And he believed you." "Yes." "Well, this was cutting it close." "I want you to keep an eye on Ian for the next couple of days." "If you see any sign, anything, that makes you think he still might be investigating the Rooks or Corvus H-40, alert me immediately." "I cannot let Archer's plans for escape interfere with my plans... for him." "Yes, Most Exalted One." "Oh, my God." "What did you guys do?" "Surprise." "You wanted a dance." "Now you got it." "Without all of those rules and restrictions from that stupid book." "We didn't want to crank the music up in the observatory, so we thought we would do it down here where no one can see us or hear us." " We can be ourselves." " ♪" "You want to dance?" "Thought you'd never ask." "Crank it up, Gabe." " Absolutely." " ♪" "♪ Keep it, keep it, keep it movin' ♪" "♪ We got to keep it movin' ♪" "♪ We got to never stop ♪" "♪ We got to keep it movin' ♪" "♪ Make sure that we take it to the top ♪" "♪ We got to keep it hot ♪" "♪ We got to keep it movin' ♪" "♪ Make sure that we take it to the top ♪"