Three Strikes And You're Dead

Summary: Blaster McGraw, a baseball star with the New York Lazers, and an old college friend of Ace's, is kidnapped just before the final game of the World Series. A gambling boss known as the Wheel is the primary suspect, and so Ace and Jake do some investigating in their time off. They find that Wheel does have Blaster hostage, and is working with Amber, Doc Terror's daughter. Ace manages to rescue Blaster from one of Terror's old bases and get him to the game on time, but Wheel decides to attack the Megadome, and steal the game receipts. The Centurions have to stop him and ensure that the game can go ahead.

Science lesson: "Robotics" (a.k.a. "Robots") by Doc Terror.

Synopsis[]

A car runs through the desert in the middle of the night, unaware for its driver, it's being chased by Groundborgs. A baseball player is listening to the news about the upcoming World Series final match between the New York Lazers and the Tokyo Robots. The car driver is no other than Blaster McGraw, the star of the Lasers team and plans to "put the ball in orbit". Suddenly, the Groundborgs are behind Blaster's car and he shakes one off as the Groundborg is destroyed in a failed attempt of catch his car. Another Groundborg crashes with a rock, and the last one is destroyed by a failed landing after jumping a cliff. However, it's not the end of the problems for Blaster, as a large humanoid robot appears in front of him and fires at him.

In a sports-themed restaurant, Ace McCloud and Jake Rockwell are talking with Duffy, a teammate of Blaster, he's worried about him and the 7th game is in 2 days. Ace tells him he can count with him because Blaster was Ace's best friend at school. Shadow can't take his eyes off Ace's sandwich and Jake tells him no to eat it because it will cause him an indigestion and tells Duffy the Centurions are not specialized on locate missing players. Pointing him with the sandwich, Ace replies saying they're talking about the World Series and there's nothing more important than that, but for his bad luck, Ace moved his sandwich close to Shadow's snout. Shadow fetches the sandwich and Ace tries to get it back, but the sandwich breaks and Ace only gets a small portion while the dog takes almost all of it. Duffy asks them if they've heard something about a man called "Wheel". Ace asks Duffy if he believes that Wheel is behind all those accidents and Duffy tells him Wheel is ready to pay many millons of dollars if they lose the World Series. Jake decides to help him despite not being a normal job for the Centurions but they'll have free time to do it, but before they leave they're interrupted by Shadow's whining. The sandwich was too much for the dog.

At the Sol De Wheel Casino, Jake wins a Blackjack game, while joking about putting Wheel's business in bankruptcy he asks the robot coupier about Wheel's whereabouts and answers he's in his apartment. Ace is also in a game of Craps and he notices that Amber is in the Casino. Ace tells Jake that Doc Terror's daughter is there and she's after something, and they decide to take a look. While Amber enters the guarded door, Ace discovers the security code: 93756, then he orders Jake to take care of the guards and he creates a scandal by challenging gamblers and bettors against him while stumbling with people. Using the distraction, Ace inputs the code and enters to a secret hall and follows Amber, unaware that he's being tracked by a camera. Unfortunately, Amber has taken the elevator to the 17th floor. Ace has to find a way up, but a security robot tries to arrest him. The Centurion is not going down easily and throws a few gaming chips at him and the robot chases him with his laser weapon, destroying a camera in the process. Just when Ace thought he was safe, another security robot appears, Ace crouches before the robots fire, destroying themselves.

In Wheel's room, Wheel is informed that the robots were destroyed by an intruder. Amber arrives and welcomes her. Ace eavesdrop on them hearing that Turtle Island is a safe place, Wheel knows it's safe but still questions Amber, and she tells him that nobody will find Blaster there. In the casino's parking garage, Jake is worried about Ace, while in the hall, more security robots are waiting for him. Ace has one more trick left: Using the emergency extinguishers to block the robot's visibility with the foam. Using a flamethrower hidden in a piece of his glasses, Ace activates the extinguisher and escapes. On Wheel's room, the computer tells him the intruder was identified as Ace McCloud, a Centurion. Wheel thinks that's what he needs to complete his bet.

In Skyvault, Crystal Kane has located the coordinates of Turtle Island at 180° North and 25° West, it is an old secret hideout for Doc Terror, apparently, either Terror or Amber had returned to that island. Jake suggests to inform Max Ray, but Crystal tells him he's in a secret session with the World Council of Scientists. Ace says they can't wait because the World Series game is tomorrow, Jake says if Doc Terror is involved, Max should be involved too. Ace tells Jake to wait for him because he's going to Turtle Island to save Blaster. In a nearby island, a ferryman called Big Mo refuses to take Ace to the island, deducing that Amber talked with the islanders, Ace has to find a way to get in Turtle Island without causing suspicions, and a hot air balloon is the way to do that. In the ferry, Big Mo communicates with Wheel. Informing that Ace McCloud is trying to reach Turtle Island, Wheel says he will take care of him. Pretending to be a balloon with gas tank problems, Ace sends a distress call as the N/8791 balloon requesting a landing on Turtle Island. Amber gets the call and investigates about the balloon: It belongs to Alexander Rhall McAddam, a man without law problems and the S.O.S. call is authentic.

The balloon crashes and Amber sends a Traumatizer to destroy the vehicle without leaving survivors. While the balloon is destroyed, Ace left it before they arrived as he was hiding on a palm tree. Following the Traumatizer to the secret elevator, Ace infiltrates on the base and tries to communicate with Skyvault. For his bad luck, there's no signal since the base is equipped with a signal jammer, saying that "Mommy McCloud's little son" is alone in the base, Ace proceeds with his mission and takes a laser weapon he finds on a table. Outside of the base, Wheel has arrived on the main entrance. Meanwhile, Ace's infiltration is proceeding at a slow pace as the place is full of Traumatizers. Back at the computer room of the base, Amber welcomes Wheel, but he knows he's not the only "guest" in the place.

At the prison room, a Traumatizer notices a door opening by itself and walks to investigate, without knowing, Ace was hiding above the door and shoots the Traumatizer on the head, destroying it. As he gets to the prison cell, he finds an imprisoned Blaster, who liberates by destroying the door's computer. Blaster is glad to see Ace, and Ace tells him they should go because he has a game to win. Back at the computer room, Amber notices Ace and Blaster trying to escape and orders the Traumatizers and Groundborgs to use tranquilizers because they don't want to harm Blaster, however, Wheel orders his own robot guards to capture them and kill them. Ace destroys the Groundborgs, saving Blaster. But the celebration doesn't last for too long since they had Wheel's guards sorrounding them.

When things seems to look like a lethal dead-end for Blaster and Ace, the robot guards are destroyed. Amber shot at them and explains that her father made a bet on the Lazers rival, and they can't allow Blaster escape because she knows how much Doc Terror hates to lose. In Wheel's personal transport, Wheel discovers that Amber destroyed the robots. Feeling betrayed by her, Wheel orders to eliminate everyone in the base. Blaster asks Ace how are going to escape, and Ace tells him he can contact Skyvault since Amber's jammer was destroyed by Wheel's guards. Using the Sky Knight, Ace and Blaster escape and puts Blaster on a safe place outside of the base. While the Groundborgs and Wheel's robots are fighting each other, Ace destroys two of Wheel's robots. Suddenly a missile appears from the water. It's Max who fires one of the Depth Charger's torpedoes. However, it's not enough help for Ace as he's shot down by Wheel's robots. Fortunately, Jake arrives with the Hornet, saving Ace. Wheel realizes the Centurions ruined part of his plan, but his game is not over yet. Ace only feels dizzy after the fall, but they need to bring Blaster back to the stadium and explain what he was doing in Turtle Island.

At the Megadome stadium, the game is on the 8th inning and the Tokyo Robots are winning and when everyone is asking "¿Where is Blaster?" the "Three Modern Superheroes" known as the Centurions have brought him back for the game. The Lazers made a timeout to change players and Blaster enters the game. Meanwhile, Wheel orders to attack the Megadome. With the game interrupted by the attack, Ace and Jake are equipped with the Sky Bolt, the Wild Weasel with the Detonator's Freezing Cannon. While Ace and Jake are busy with the enemies in the stadium, an armored vehicle steals the money from the ticket sales. Max discovers the distraction and requests the Tidal Blast. As he chases the vehicle, he realizes he can't use missiles because he would destroy the money in the process, instead he uses the hook to drag the vehicle back to the ground.

Defeated by the Centurions, Wheel decides to escape, but Amber halts him with a gun in hand, she tells Wheel her father hates those persons who try to betray him and he's waiting for them in Dominion. Back at the Megadome, the game continues as if nothing happened. Jake cheers Blaster, but Max stays serious and tells him its just a game. However, as Blaster hits the ball, sending it to the score table and winning the game, Max euphorically celebrates while Jake tells him to remember its just a game, because Max contradicted himself. Both the Centurions and the New York Lazers celebrate the team's triumph.

Science Lesson[]

Watching the manufacture of baseball gloves in Dominion's main screen, Doc Terror tells viewers that watching robots working makes him feel good even if they're molding baseball gloves.

Showing a car being assembled by robots and a laser-cutting machine, Terror explains that Industry is relying on robots more often. In car factories, joints are done automatically without needing breaks for drink coffee. With an automatic laser-cutting machine they can make precise cuts to make clothing. In factories they use them to eliminate the need for sewing them and avoid any undoings.

After sipping a drink brought by one of his robots, Doc Terror concludes the lesson saying that none of these robots can't be compared with his creations, but they represent a step in the right direction.

Curiosities[]

The episode title is a pun on "Three Strikes and You're Out".
Episode-exclusive appearance of Blaster McGraw, Duffy, Big Mo and Wheel.
The team name is written as LAZERS instead of "Lasers".
Apparently, bread can hold together for three seconds during a tug-of-war between man and dog as Ace tried to get his sandwich back from Shadow.
This is the second time in the series where a simultaneous Ace & Jake equipping sequence is featured.
Wheel's fate at the end of the episode is not mentioned. It is possible that Doc Terror killed him because of his treason when he ordered to kill everyone (including Amber) in Turtle Island.
For the first time in the series, Doc Terror gives the science lesson at the end of the episode.

Error Xtreme: Animation and Writing Errors[]

The score indicator writes Lazers and when it makes a close-up as the ball hits it it spells LASERS.
Super-strong Ace, immune to high falls.

Superhuman Centurions[]

Three Strikes and You're Dead - Ace Survives a Fall — You think you got guts? Try being a Centurion.

Ace can survive a fall from a considerable height after being shot down by Wheel's robot guards and only feeling dizzy after getting back up.

Foreign names[]

El Tercer Strike (The Third Strike) - Spanish dub