Dallas, Texas: Four Years Ago, July 15
Jace's daughter is playing in the park as Jace and his wife Paula look on. A crowd in the distance yells "Equality!", and Jace tells Paula that a mutant rights group is protesting. They hear sirens and Jace notices that the crowd seems bigger than anticipated. Energy blasts shoot into the air, and Jace starts to lead his wife and daughter away. An energy blast slams down and hits Grace, knocking Jace back. When he wakes up, he yells to Grace.
Now
In the SS surveillance van, Weeks tells Jace that they're following the GPS tracker on the vehicle that the mutants stole. Jace figures that they'll dump the van and orders a drone in the air.
Caitlin pulls over at a farm to get new untraceable vehicles they have waiting, and Reed thanks Marcos for saving him. John tells Marcos and Lorna that Pulse was there negating their powers, and Marcos insists that Pulse would never work for them. As they talk, John hears the drone coming in and Marcos says that he'll draw it off and try to destroy it. Lorna insists on going with him, and John, Reed, and Caitlin drive off.
Marcos and Lorna drive off and spot the drone following them. Lorna can't reach it because it's out of range, and the drone flies above them. She grabs a metal mirror and suspends it outside the car, and Marcos reflects his laser beams off of the mirror and brings the drone down.
Weeks tells Jace that the drone went down, and Jace orders all SS units to the area.
John and the Struckers arrive at the Mutant HQ and find a bunch of mutants there. While John checks on what's going on, Caitlin tells Reed that they weren't going anywhere without him. Lauren and Andy come in and they run over to hug their father.
Sage tells John that SS has been hitting anywhere that mutants gather. John figures that they can't move anyone with the heat on, and has Sage continue monitoring the radio.
Fade sees Reed and starts attacking him. Reed knocks him free, but Fade turns invisible and continues attacking him until John grabs him. Fade tells the other mutants that Reed is working for SS.
Jace and his men move in on the drone's position. Paula calls and asks Jace where he was, and he says that they have some cleanup to do. Jace promises that he'll be come home with the job is done, and Paula tells him that she loves him.
Lauren admits that Reed prosecuted mutants but then he stood up to SS. Reed tells them that he did what he had to do to get back to his family, but Fade isn't satisfied. Caitlin says that they have injured people and asks why they're attacking each other, and Reed tells her to help them. He says that what Fade is saying is true. Once she and the kids go, Reed tells Fade that they'll work it out.
Caitlin works on the wounded Trader and tells Clarice to get any medicine she can. The mutants look at Andy and Lauren, and Andy figures that they should go. Lauren tells her brother that they need to get the mutants to trust them, and Caitlin calls them over to help.
Shatter tells Dreamer that they might need her to make Reed forget. Dreamer says that she will if John says that it's okay, and Shatter tells her that they may need to do it even if John doesn't approve. Once he leaves, Clarice asks what Shatter meant and Dreamer explains about her ability. Clarice remembers her own memories of being with John.
Fade and Reed continue arguing. Sage comes over and tells John that something weird is going on. The chatter has all stopped, and Reed comes over and offers his help since he used to work the manhunts. The dispatcher calls all units for a supposed petty theft, and Reed checks the locations of all the calls. He figures that SS knows that they're listening so they're speaking in code, and pinpoints the area where SS are working a grid to find all of them.
As they drive, Marcos tells Lorna that he knows she's pregnant and asks if the baby is all right. Lorna says that she can feel their baby inside of her. Marcos asks if she's happy, and how he can't wait to meet their baby and be a father. As they hold hands, the aurora forms around them as their powers interact.
Weeks tells Jace that the deputy director has rerouted unis, and Jace tells him to bring them back. Marcos and Aurora drive toward the roadblock, and Lorna tells Marcos to keep driving. She takes control of the car and then brings it to a halt. Lorna shoves one man into the SS van and deflects the bullets, and tells Marcos that they're taking Jace with hem.
Lorna and Marcos take Jace to a safe location and Lorna magnetically curls a pipe around his neck. She tells Marcos that it's their chance to find out what happened to Pulse, and warns that if they can get him then they can get anyone. Lorna says that they were going to try and turn her, and they have to do it. After a moment, Marcos agrees.
Caitlin figures that they need actual blood, and Andy offers his blood since he's a universal donor. Caitlin agrees and hooks him up with an improvised transfusion line.
Safe warns that any mutants trying to leave will be caught. Reed says that SS is looking for fugitives, so he'll lead them off. John glances over at Fade and says that there's a way to prevent them from capturing Reed.
Jace says that not all mutants are terrorists, and Pulse was working with them. The agent says that it's about 7/15, and nobody had to die. He refuses to apologize for stopping violence, and Marcos reminds him that 7/15 started as a peaceful protest. Jace tells them that the "protest" killed his daughter, and Lorna talks to Marcos privately. She says that she feels for Jace but the government is hunting mutants down. Lorna figures that they'll have to take the information from Jace if he won't give it.
Marcos calls Dreamer and explains that they have a prisoner. He wants Dreamer to come there.
John explains their plan to Fade, and how Fade needs to bring Reed back safely. When Fade hesitates, John orders him to do it and Fade sarcastically agrees. When Reed tells Caitlin what he's doing, she insists that he can't do it. Reed insists that SS is looking for him, and it's his chance to make things right. He tells them to tell the kids that he'll be back for dinner, and they kiss.
Trader goes into convulsions, and Caitlin figures that they'll have to remove the bullet.
Jace tells Marcos and Lorna that it's only going to get worse. He says that their only move is to let him go and hope for the best. Lorna tells him that they'll let him go if he tells them the truth about Pulse and the secret detention facilities. Jace refuses and Lorna tells him that they'll find out what they want to know one way or another. Clarice brings Dreamer in via portal as SS agents pull up outside. They order the mutants to come out.
Fade drives Reed to a traffic cam and Reed says that he'll meet him two months up. Fade agrees and Reed heads to the traffic cam as Fade drives off. John and Sage are listening and hear the dispatch, and Sage confirms that they're in the clear. She texts Reed's burner to tell him to get out.
Caitlin tells Andy to stay hooked up, and has Lauren help her as she cuts open Trader's stomach and extracts the bullet. Trader starts bleeding out, and Lauren uses her power to put pressure on the artery and stop the bleeding. Caitlin sews Trader up while her daughter holds the bleeding back. The other mutants look on, relieved.
Reed arrives at the rendezvous as the police close in. There's no sign of Fade, and Reed runs around the corner. He bumps into the invisible car, and Fade turns it visible. Fade tells Reed that he was making sure what side h's on and drives off.
Weeks arrives and the tac commander tells him that they know Jace is inside and the mutants aren't talking. The agent orders the teams to move in. Inside, Dreamer starts using her power as Clarice watches, and Lorna says that she'll buy them time. She magnetically throws all of the metal in the warehouse out of the window and into the SS cars. Weeks tells the commander that they have to make the mutants come out.
Dreamer accesses Jace's memories of the wolf's head tattoo and a file on Hounds.
The SS agents fire tear gas grenades in, and Dreamer tries to get the rest of Jace's memories. Lorna tells her that it's too late and pulls her away, although Dreamer says that she can't leave Jace the way he is. As the mutants leave via Clarice's portal, Jace screams in agony as memories of his life flash through his mind.
That night at the HQ, Dreamer makes sketches of what she saw in Jace's memories. Reed doesn't recognize the logo, and John says that it was the tattoo on Pulse's arm. Reed says that the building saw is the Federal building in Baton Rouge, and some of the people he prosecuted were transferred there... and disappeared.
Reed joins his family and they have dinner together. Andy wonders what they're doing now, and Reed tells his family that the people have questions there about SS. He can help them with that, and points out that they saved lives. The mutants can use them there, and the important thing is that they're all together.
Clarice asks Dreamer if she messed with her head. She can't remember the conversation that they had, and now she keeps having memories of John. Dreamer admits that she did, and Clarice tells her that she had no right. She insists that what Dreamer did is wrong, and tells Dreamer to stay away from her when Dreamer offers to remove the memory.
Jace drives home to where Paula is waiting for him. He says that he's all right, and asks if Grace waited up for him. Shocked, Paula wonders what they did to her and tells Jace that Grace died four years ago. Jace wonders what they did to him and breaks into tears as he goes through losing his daughter again.
Written by Gadfly on Oct 31, 2017