SYNOPSIS:

Act1 Using his father and his comic book hero, Drago Bentley, as role models, Elias carries on a secret life of helping kids deal with bullying at their school by applying his superior hacking skills and using his powerful computer he built from spare parts. On the way to school, Elias witnesses a motorist bribing an officer. It turns out to be their arch enemy, the new school bully, Max’s father. At school, Elias and BFF Aaron come face-to-face with Max who tests Elias’ mettle (in the spirit of his comic book hero), but it backfires. They exact revenge another way that destroys Max forever. Elias overhears a heated argument between Roger and Elias' father, Anthony, both insurance investigators working on a case of corruption involving Taverner, the Commissioner of Police. Roger admits he’s afraid of the danger Anthony’s put him in and he won’t supply the last bit of information he has that would solve the case. The next day, Elias’ world is turned inside-out when Anthony is arrested for larceny (on bogus information from Roger). Detective Angie Rawlings is the arresting officer. Act II His aunt Joan arrives to care for Elias. Joan admits to having loved Anthony before her sister married him. She is saddened by Anthony’s predicament. But Elias relies more and more on his comic book mentor, Drago Bentley, who assigns him the mission to clear his father. Meeting with his father before his trial, Anthony’s instruction to retrieve a disc that would exonerate him is overheard. While at court, Elias' house is searched and the disc is found. But when he cannot find the disc, Elias surmises someone has it. Using the chart begun by his father he cannot find the one missing piece of vital information that would expose everyone. He needs Aaron's skills in programming to succeed but to get him he must disclose his alias. Elias wins him over and Aaron advises him he has another resource he hadn’t considered: all 52 kids he’d helped before. Taverner gets pressured by Congressman Matheson to wrap things up, so Taverner visits Anthony and threatens to kill Joan and Elias unless he changes his plea. Using his just completed super computer (called Frank) and using Taverner’s stolen computer keycard (pickpocketed by Elias at the courthouse), Elias hacks into his personal folder where he finds encrypted files belonging to Fasco, an inventor wronged by an insurance company and whose trial is current. He decrypts one large file, then returns it to Fasco. It’s all Fasco needs to overturn the court’s ruling against him and he will do anything to repay Elias. Something Fasco says triggers a memory that leads Elias to conclude the missing piece of information has to do with Fasco. Elias also finds and deletes a file that Taverner used against Rawlings. He tells her and now Rawlings is on his side. So he gets her, as a favor, to overturn a charge of bribery against Max’s father. Taverner finds out Elias hacked, downloaded and deleted his files – especially one incriminating him and Congressman Matheson in an insurance scam (which Elias doesn’t yet know about). With the file on Rawlings deleted, he realises Rawlings is no longer in his pocket, so Taverner sends her out on a suicide arrest. At the same time, he sends out goons to abduct Elias and get him to return the files. But the goons fail and instead capture Joan and flee when the cops are called (by Frank). Elias takes Aaron’s advice and calls in for back-up. Max comes and thanks Elias for his gesture and he is recruited to the team. He has a lot of money that he wants to use to help Elias. The backup posse eventually find Joan in a container about to be shipped to Russia but it’s too late for Elias. Although he’s found Roger and the missing piece of data, Taverner’s goons capture Elias, destroy Roger’s data and, while blindfolded, call in Taverner who threatens to kill Joan and Anthony if Elias doesn’t destroy the evidence he has. With great reluctance, he is taken home where he destroys his great creation - Frank. Act III Distraught at killing a piece of himself, Aaron reveals that all of Frank’s data was backed up onto the computers of all the kids he helped. The old Frank can be resurrected. Max buys what they need, and they set to work rebuilding Frank. Anthony, oblivious of what’s happened is ready to take a plea deal but before counsel can change the plea, Elias interrupts the court with new evidence that he has contained in Frank version 2: surveillance video showing his father was under-cover and incriminating Taverner and Matheson in corruption. But the judge rules it inadmissible. All appears lost until Fasco is called. His invention – called the Truth Machine – blows the polygraph out of the water as a source of truth revelation. It was used recently in a Supreme Court case where it proved successful in downloading memories and ordering them chronologically. Anthony takes the TM test and is exonerated but Taverner refuses to reciprocate until ordered by the judge. He is found guilty. Matheson is also charged. Elias pairs up Joan and Anthony – he has his family back. Fast forward 10 years. Elias sits in front of the Dean of Law who asks him why he wants to be a lawyer. Elias answers it’s because he believes in a just and fair legal system where truth and integrity still count; but sometimes it needs help. Later that night, Elias leaves a USB stick with a family facing eviction after they used the house as collateral to pay for their son’s defence when he was falsely charged with aggravated robbery. He says, “This contains the justice you need”.