Episode 2 Edit

The second episode of Countdown to Countdown.

Plot Edit

The episode begins with a young Iris in a therapy session at the Washington Lab. The therapist discusses the fires that Iris has been causing whenever he uses his powers and attempts to reach a solution with Iris, suggesting that he "block it all out."

In the present, Iris wakes up in an apartment in the Washington Lab and finds that the compass tattoo on his leg has changed the direction it's facing. He meets Lillium White, the person who had made the messages leading Iris out of the lab through the vents. Lillium tells Iris that they will be escaping the lab and living together at Oregon camp, which Iris somewhat reluctantly accepts.

After changing, Lillium gives Iris a bag of supplies and lay a few ground rules before leaving. When attempting to go through, they reach a door that has been tied shut from the other side. Lillium attempts to break the window to cut the rope, but accidentally activates an alarm, which begins to attract infected. They make their way to the elevators, but find that they are unable to make their way down and decide to go up instead. At this point, Lillium puts leaf on Iris' head. When they make it to the top Lillium reveals a save point that Iris can use to get out of the lab.

Once Iris saves his file, he is transported to another location where he meets Begonia. Begonia introduces herself and chats with Iris while she prepares the save point, giving him a phone before Iris loads into the diner.

Iris appears in a bathroom stall and when walking out, encounters a spawncamper killing a demi-flora. The spawncamper attacks kills Iris after realizing he is a demi-flora and kills him. Iris suddenly respawns back in the bathroom stall again. Realizing he's back where he started, Iris creates a distraction using the cookbook Lillium gave him and escapes the bathroom, bumping into Lillium, who removes leaf from Iris' head.

Lillium meets up with Bob, who agrees to help drive Lillium over to the camp. Iris begins to hallucinate and panic due to the events in the diner and accidentally punches Lillium. On the ride, Iris chooses not to tell Lillium what happened, but they agree to be honest with each other as a team.

Trivia Edit

  • In one of the panels, coordinates can be seen in Lillium's notebook. These include
    • 47.067˚ N 122.3331˚ W, which leads to a building on 6th Ave. in Seattle, Washington. It is the location circled at the top of the notebook and the one closest to the two characters at the time.
    • 40.6928˚ N 73.9903˚ W, which leads to 209 Joralemon St. in Brooklyn, New York, also known as the Brooklyn Borough Hall, a New York landmark.
    • 44.0000˚ N 20.5000˚ W, an unremarkable spot in the North Atlantic ocean (likely the reason why it is crossed out in the journal). It is located a bit to the east of Europe one of the few places outside of America.
    • 40.7903˚ N 73.9597˚ W, a spot in the middle of the 97th St transverse in Central Park of New York.
    • 35.6690˚ N 139.6982˚ E, which leads to Yoyogi Park in Tokyo, Japan. One of the few locations outside of America (likely the reason it is crossed it is crossed out in the journal).
    • 32.9605˚ N 83.1132˚ W, a spot located among highways and rivers in Wilkinson County, Georgia.
    • 40.7500˚ N 111.8833˚ W, a shop in Salt Lake City, Utah.
    • The save point slip Lillium hands Iris has the coordinates 47.6062 N 122.3321 W, which leads to the 4th and Maddison building in Seattle, Washington. Although the save point leads to a diner, the current building is a skyscraper.
  • The polaroid title card at the beginning of the chapter is dated 10/7/44. Before loading into the diner, Iris' save file reads 10/08/2044 22:09. According to the save file he has a total playtime of 41952:11. If the number on the left is presumed to be hours, it converts to about 4.8 years, roughly the amount of time Iris remembers being in Washington Lab.
  • Bob, the man who helps drive Lillium and Iris, mentions Sunny and Heather, characters who appear later in chapter 3.
  • Heather is seen in the diner in one of the panels, enjoying a cup of coffee.