Misty meets with Dr. Gabe Krasner in an interrogation room and complains that she should be out doing her job. Krasner asks how badly she wants her job, and Misty suggests that she leave. He tells her that he's a volunteer and if she leaves then she'll be put on desk duty for the foreseeable future. They get down to business and Krasner points out that she lost control with Claire, and figures that she has to be in control. He asks why she risked getting benched for something so stupid, and shows her a surveillance photo of Diamondback threatening her with a gun. Krasner wonders what shook her, and Misty says that he isn't going to break her. He insists that he's not there to break her, because she's already done it herself and wonders if she can be fixed.
Luke wakes up in the back of the moving garbage truck and checks his new bullet wound. The truck stops at a red light and Luke staggers out before it moves on.
At Harlem's Paradise, a band is rehearsing while Shades watches them from Mariah's new office. Zip and his men are there, and they admit that they haven't found Luke yet. Stryker comes in and makes a gun with his hand, and then shoots one of the men in the shoulder with the gun in his other hand. He tells them to get out there and find Luke, and they quickly leave. Once they're alone, Styker warns Shades that he won't be taking over from his friend Cornell. He asks why he shouldn't kill Shades, aiming the gun at his head. Zip comes back in and says that killing Shades won't help him find Luke any faster. Amused, Stryker says he's not assuming Luke is dead until they find his body.
Luke goes into a Laundromat and on the TV, the reporter is talking about the shootout in Harlem. He grabs a shirt and hoodie from a dryer and changes his bloody shirt. The reporter says that Luke is wanted for Cornell's murder, and Luke leaves before anyone recognizes im.
Krasner asks Misty who she talks to when things get bad, and ponts out that she doesn't have a husband or boyfriend. Misty finally admits that she met a guy at a bar without saying that it was Luke, and he looked at her eyes rather than her breasts. She says that he wasn't who she thought he was, and Krasner asks her how Scarfe's betrayal makes her feel.
Mariah visists the mortuary and tells Cornell's corpse about his mother and how she left Cornell with Mabel after her husband OD'd. She admits that she tried to protect Cornell from himself but failed. Shades comes in and tells Mariah that she did what she had to do. He says that now Stryker is there to collect, and he's happy that Cornell is dead and Luke is alive. Shades warns that their frame doesn't work if Luke isn't there, and that she is the face of Cornell's former business. If she doesn't keep things running smoothly then it'll be chaos.
Two patrol cops spot Luke and approach him to determine who he is. They ask for ID and tell him to take down his hoodie, and Luke does so. The cops realize who he is and draw their guns, and Luke drops to his knees. When one comes over, Luke grabs him and knocks him out, and then shields him with his body as the other cop opens fire. He then knocks out the other cop and drives off in their car.
Krasner asks Misty about her past, and Misty talks about how in '95 she left her cousin Cassandra alone and when she came back, Cassandra was gone. Her body turned up two weeks later, and later Misty became a cop. Krasner points out that she could have been a Fed by now with her record but she's stayed in Harlem, and suggests that she was making some money on the side like Scarfe. Misty insists that she didn't know anything about it, and Krasner figures that bothers her. She says that he wouldn't say it if she was a man, and says that she never screwed anyone when she was on a job. Krasner points out that she went renegade when she went after Luke, and Stryker took her gun and her control. Misty tells him that she needs a break and walks out.
Mariah goes to Domingo's gym and sees his men repairing the place after Luke's visit earlier. He offers his condolences concerning Cornell, and is impressed that she came on her own. Mariah says that Cornell's organization needs to continue and she wants to talk to Domingo and Cornell's other customers about a smooth transition. She explains that she doesn't want to look over her shoulders and tells Domingo to gather all the bosses, and tells him to do it by that night.
Claire is at her mother's diner looking at Luke's ultrasound, and does an Internet search on abalone shells. She then tries to access Reva's hard drive, but all she can find is an encrypted file named Burstein_Seagate_Trials. Luke comes in and realizes that Stryker shot him again, and Luke explains that Stryker was his best friend and is now delusional. He says that Burstein is the one who knows the most about the science involving Luke's skin cells, and refuses to go back to Seagate. Claire says that he has no choice and takes him out to her mother's car.
Alex tells Mariah that the police have spotted Luke and someone leaked the footage from the dashtop cam. Her assistant suggests that some rich donors are lining up behind her who see Cornell as a brave man who stood up to a threat. Mariah admits that she taught Alex well about using personal tragedy for political advancement, and gives him the rest of the day off.
Misty returns to the interrogation room and Krasner asks her what happened that bothered her. She says that freezing bothers her, and she imagined her own funeral. Later when she talked to Claire, Misty wanted to take her control back. She breaks into tears and wonders what she's done. Krasner tells her that it's ugly but she has to look and learn... and win. On the other side of the one-way glass, Ridley watches.
Claire and Luke drive to Seagate in Georgia and Luke gets worse. She assures him that he's going to make it, and Luke wonders if Stryker was right about his father. They arrive at Burstein's house and Claire goes up to the door. Claire claims that she's a university student doing research on Seagate, and Burstein claims that he was never there, and Claire tells him that Carl Lucas is alive because of Burstein's experiment. Burstein and Claire go to the car and take Luke inside. The doctor is astonished that his experiment worked, and Luke shows him the gunshot wounds. Claire figures that whatever makes Luke stronger is pushing the shrapnel deeper into his organs, and Claire gives him the hard drive with his work.
Burstein unlocks the hard drive and confirms that everything that he lost and a lot more is there. He realizes that Reva died for it, and Luke starts choking up blood. They take Luke to Burstein's lab in the nearby barn. He explains that they covered the whole thing up after Rackham's death and he left with whatever equipment he could. Burstein says that he was never able to recreate the Seagate experiment, and he tells Luke that he was already tapped for the program even both Reva begged him to save Luke's life. As he confirms that Luke's skin is scalpel-proof, Burstein confirms that Reva never told Luke the whole story. He needs a blood sample in case Luke's DNA was the key factor and the gunshot wounds are too septic. Claire suggests that they take a sample through Luke's mouth, puncturing his mucus membrance, and Burstein agrees.
Ridley talks to Misty and figures that Misty and Luke had sex. She says that Misty doesn't deserve to represent the people of New York, and MIsty admits that she hates the job despite all the downsides. The inspector shows her the video of Luke attacking the cops and points out that Mariah isn't on the run for murder. She wants Misty to focus on bringing in Luke, and Misty says that someone he trusts is going to have to talk him down because he's bulletproof. Ridley realizes what she's doing, slides Misty's gun and shield to her, and tells Misty to get Luke.
Mariah and Shades arrive at the gym and Shades warns her not to show any weakness. She says that she's out but she'll sell the business to them. When one of them, Peter, doesn't believe she'll walk away, Stryker comes in and Mariah realizes that Shades told him about the meeting. The crime boss says that when they don't buy from him, it pisses him off. He kills Peter and another boss, and tells them that their men outside are dead. He then kills the other two bosses and Domingo warns him that he's going to start a war. Unimpressed, Stryker says that he has no beef with the Puerto Ricans so he'll let Domingo live. He then points out that he just killed four people and Mariah didn't even flinch. Mariah says that he doesn't scare her, and Stryker asks why they should be friends. She says that they both have issues with Luke, and Stryker says that he'll kill Luke when the time is right. Mariah says that with the dashboard footage, they have an opportunity. She suggests that Stryker go legit and sell guns to police departments to handle superpowered threats.
Impressed, Stryker agrees with her and says that she's going to broker the deals. When Mariah insists that she's out of it, Stryker tells her that she's way into it until he decides otherwise. Domingo wonders why he's still alive, and Stryker says that he left him alive to warn people that he'll kill anyone who gets in his way and everyone either buys or dies.
Later, the club reopens for business Stryker watches everything from the balcony and Shades tells him that the footage of Luke and the cops went viral. His boss figures that Luke has nowhere to run now and they'll find him.
Misty puts up photos of what little she has on Stryker... and Luke.
Burstein explains that he was using a process called CRISPR to create artificial skin for burn victims. The process would fuse the subject's DNA with abalone DNA to give the subject the same qualities. Burstein says that he can recreate the experiment using Reva's data, but he doesn't know the temperature because Rackham turned it up. He's going to dip Luke into acid to weaken his skin so that they can remove the shrapnel. Burstein admits that Luke's skin could pull off, and Claire tells Luke to signal if the pain is too great.
As Burstein fills a tank with acid, Luke tells Claire to make sure that if he dies, she takes Reva's data so he doesn't create more superhumans. Claire agrees and they lower Luke into the acid. He screams in agony and Claire brings him up. The skin still hasn't softened and Burstein tells Claire to dip Luke again. She does and as Luke flatlines, Burstein warns that it's not working... and he doesn't know what to do next.
Written by Gadfly on Oct 13, 2016