Juno Steel and the Tools of Rust (Part 2)

Poster for Juno Steel and the Tools of Rust by [Sharon Oh]

**Juno Steel and the Tools of Rust (Part 2)** is an episode of the Juno Steel (series). It is the 4th Juno Steel episode of season 3, and 6th overall. It was released January 21, 2020.

## Overview

*All dressed in evergreen*

*Ah yes, the birth of Spring*

*What will your garden bring?*

### Trigger Warnings

* Sudden loud noises
* Deception and gaslighting
* Reference to alcohol use
* Violence and threats of violence
* Violent death, gore, and blood
* Claustrophobic spaces

## Episode Summary

As M'tendere descends into their underground bunker with Jet and Rita, Rita worries that their captain is waiting for them. M'tendere says they understand better now why Jet isn't working alone this time, since there's a crew. They had assumed Jet and Rita were a couple, which surprised them. Jet responds that "I do not experience romantic or sexual attraction for Rita. Or anybody else. And I never have." Instead, he and Rita are family. M'tendere teases him about how different he is, and the conversation turns grim as they both remember people who have been killed by M'tendere's weapons.

The engineer says that they now leave all of their projects unfinished as "my little protest by me against me." They suggest Rita finish their comms jamming relay so she can then turn it off and contact Buddy. Meanwhile, Jet can finish their tunneling drone, allowing him and Rita to escape. They offer to help, but Jet knows that the last time they worked together it was detrimental to them both, and those around them. He refuses. He presses M'tendere on what the inventor did to make the Solar Government turn on them after years of providing weaponry.

M'tendere changes the subject, asking instead about the Ruby 7, musing that it's interesting people tend to forget the car, as if it *makes* them forget. Jet insists that it cannot make anyone do anything, and that he is responsible for his own actions. He is different now, because he has chosen different actions, including recovering from addiction. M'tendere shows him that their favorite project is a Bottomless Battery, a generator they dream of allowing impoverished Outer Rim planets free renewable energy.

M'tendere describes watching Jet escape with the three things he stole from them: carrying the Iris of Jupiter in the Ruby 7, deploying a bomb they made as he performed the nigh-impossible Pelican Bootleg escape maneuver. The narrative flashes back, Jet speaking to the Ruby as he made this escape in a cadence almost unrecognizable as Jet Sikuliaq, laughing wildly. In the present, he and M'tendere discuss their guilt over the deaths of his fifteen pursuers, both of them believing they bear joint guilt. "It takes two: one to build a gun and one to shoot it." Jet believes he can never be forgiven, but M'tendere believes that they can be, if they do enough good things. They ask Jet to smuggle them some parts to complete the Bottomless Battery, but Jet doesn't believe Dark Matters will give M'tendere the chance to stay in this hideout to finish it. He reveals that they want the Key to the Lockbox M'tendere built, which holds the Curemother Prime. M'tendere refuses, claiming the Key is just another of their weapons. Jet doesn't believe that everything they built is a weapon, saying the Ruby 7 isn't. M'tendere says they hope he's right.

Later, Rita asks Jet how many people he's killed. He tells her "the number is both higher and lower" than she is expecting: twenty-four. After the fifteen killed by the bomb, the other nine were in defense of himself or people he cared about, though he believes there may have been alternatives he did not see. Rita frets that she doesn't want to have to kill to be a thief, but she's glad to be here with him, and offers him a hug. As he deflects, an explosion goes off overhead. M'tendere is willing to risk Dark Matters killing them if it means they can finish their Battery, but Jet insists that he must escape with himself and Rita, so that he can live to build another, or teach someone to. When they agree, he reflects that Buddy used this same argument on him when they first met.

M'tendere receives a call from their Dark Matters officer, despite never giving out this comms number. Agent G answers, saying Agent F has been moved off their case following a change of direction for the organization. As a result of "new calculations," M'tendere is to be terminated for the safety of the galaxy. The Battery is not a mitigating consideration, but "part of the problem." Jet finishes the BoreDrone, and the three of them escape through the tunnel it creates as Buddy calls to say that Jet's secondary car, which he keeps for errands such as shopping, has been destroyed in the process of getting Juno, Ransom, and Vespa back to the Carte Blanche. They will have to use the Ruby 7 to make their own escape from Le Verrier. The Ruby arrives to pick them up without an operator, leading Buddy to worry it had been stolen; she had not even prompted the car to go after them. M'tendere laughs that Ruby has always been full of mysteries.

Jet asks M'tendere how to "repair" Ruby 7 so that it will listen to him more reliably, as he needs absolute precision to make this escape. M'tendere says they don't think it's broken--and anyway, they *didn't* make it, as Jet assumed. As Jet tries to evade pursuit, the car produces a replica of the bomb he used twenty years ago to escape. All three are horrified, Jet committing to his current way of life. Ruby 7 whistles in dissappointment but then has an epiphany, displaying the message "Pelican Bootleg?" Jet affectionately agrees they will try it again. He trusts Ruby, and decides to trust himself. He imagines unlocking the cage of his past self, the "Unnatural Disaster," and shaking his hand. The complete the Pelican Bootleg, but in the last moment, the back window is pierced by a laser shot, hitting M'tendere's chest.

Rita begins to panic, but Jet calms her and asks her to watch their rear. M'tendere appears to be dying, and Jet tells them that when he and his family find the Curemother Prime, he wants to begin a smuggler again, help M'tendere with their battery, and help people together. M'tendere insists they really are dying, and asks him to listen as they sing a wordless tune, the Key to their Lockbox. It's their failsafe to almost all their weapons, to make them destroy themselves. M'tendere keeps singing, adding words as their voice weakens.

Later, Jet narrates that M'tendere died long before they returned home. He fights to remember the Key, mourning M'tendere and wishing they had both been able to live and remake themselves together. He thinks they were right that neither of them had to kill their personalities to move forward, the Unnatural Disaster has his place too. Jet takes the Ruby 7 for a drive as "Any Day Now," by M'tendere's voice actor Anjimile, plays.

## Cast and Crew

### Cast

Starring

* Alexander Stravinski as Jet Sikuliaq
* Kate Jones as Rita
* Anjimile as M'tendere
* Sarah Gazdowicz as Buddy Aurinko

### Crew

* Kevin Vibert, Co-creator, Head of Operations, Lead writer
* Sophie Kaner, Co-creator, Head of Episode Development, Director, Sound designer
* Kat Buckingham, Head of Merchandise and Outreach
* Alice Chuang, Head of Design
* Noah Simes, Production manager
* Ryan Vibert, Composer and performer of original music
* Promotional art by Sharon Oh

## Trivia

* This is the first Juno Steel (series) episode not to feature the voice of Joshua Ilon as Juno Steel.
* This episode was narrated by the character Jet Sikuliaq. It was the second story pisode of season three to be told from the perspective of someone other than Juno Steel, after Juno Steel and the Man in Glass (Part 1) and Juno Steel and the Man in Glass (Part 2).
* The song "Any Day Now," featured in the episode, was performed and written by Anjimile.
* Jet Sikuliaq is confirmed to be an aromantic asexual in this episode.

## References

 Bonus Episodes

 Other Episodes
 Live Shows