Episode 5 of Lazarus kicks off with Axel's haunting narration, revealing that Hapna had infiltrated the prison like a contagious whisper, yet procuring it proved to be a cumbersome endeavor. Driven by mere curiosity, Axel experimented with the substance, only to find himself headbutting the iron bars of his cell moments later. It dawned on him that Hapna held no sway over him; a single dose, however, threatened to seal his fate just the same.
Shifting to the contemporary timeline, whispers of Delta Medicinal resonate louder, emerging as the vanguard in Hapna's trials. Buried within their extensive files lies an enigmatic photograph of an eyeball, possibly a key to unraveling the mystery. The clinical trial data remains scant, but an intriguing revelation surfaces—someone within the company has been uploading music to Soundcloud weekly, a seemingly benign act with hidden depths.
Doug proposes a daring maneuver, suggesting they treat the audio files as image files. To everyone's astonishment, it works, unveiling encrypted company archives accessible to an outsider—perhaps Skinner himself. The Lazarus team devises a plan to infiltrate Delta Medicinal, with the members scouting for entry points while Axel nonchalantly strolls through the front door as if it were an open invitation.
Within the elevator, Axel dispatches the guards with swift precision, orchestrating a chaotic brawl before confronting the President. With a gun to his head, Axel orders the President to deactivate the building's security, then presents the damning data they've uncovered. The rest of Lazarus soon joins in, yet the President appears just as baffled as everyone else.
This revelation clarifies why the data was disseminated in such a cryptic manner. Delta Medicinal, unaware of Hapna's potentially fatal consequences, had conducted experiments on monkeys prior to human trials. The monkeys' eyes adopted a celestial pattern, reminiscent of a starry night sky, before succumbing to the drug, thus explaining the haunting image from the end of episode 4.
Axel and his compatriots devise an intricate scheme to "lure the shadowy devil into the open," prompted by the urgency of convening a special session on the elusive cure for Hapna. Their strategy revolves around luring Skinner into revealing himself.
A pivotal element of their plan involves a pair of vials, deceptively resembling the genuine article yet concealing sophisticated GPS trackers within. Though filled with mere saline solution, their authenticity is impeccably convincing.
Security measures are substantially tightened, with a makeshift Faraday cage erected to encapsulate the area, ensuring an impregnable barrier against digital intruders. The cream of the medical profession's intellect gathers, eagerly anticipating that this could be the breakthrough they've longed for.
Elaina's computer alerts her to a cyber-intrusion as someone attempts to pierce their defenses. She painstakingly traces the origin, grappling with the elusiveness of the hacker's location. Suddenly, the lights flicker and plunge into darkness, amplifying the intensity of the cyber-attack. The hacker breaches the core, disrupting the internal systems at Delta Medicinal with alarming proficiency. The surprising vector of the breach is uncovered—the guards' walkie-talkies, compromised months prior and overlooked in a routine replacement.
Concurrently, a rogue scientist, driven by desperation or madness, storms the stage and injects himself with the faux cure before being swiftly quarantined.
Returning to the hacking saga, Elaina finally cracks the hackers' location—an unassuming mobile camper parked outside the Islamabad Stock Exchange in Pakistan. Her adversary, a shadowy figure known as Popcorn Wizard, calls her personally, commending her for coming so close to unmasking her. Never before has anyone approached this closely. With a taunting "hardcore!" she escapes, discarding her laptop out the window to sever any digital trail.
Popcorn Wizard, elusive and bold, drives off into the night, leaving Elaina with a taste of both triumph and defeat.
