02x04 - Red Crone

[bunniefuu]

(panting)

And the evil witch peered inside the oven and that's when Gretel pushed her in and locked the door.

And then Hansel and Gretel were free.

No, Dad, you're telling it wrong.

Excuse me?

Gretel locked the oven.

The evil witch screamed!

The flames melted her face off.

Her bones were sticking out.

And her guts were hanging.

And then... she d*ed.

Michelle.

(laughs)

Really? What?

That's the way Grandpa tells it.

Grandpa and I are gonna have to have a little chat.

Will you ask him something for me?

Sure. What do you want me to ask him?

Is he mad at me?

Why-why would he be mad at you?

I don't know.

He hasn't come over in a while.

Um...

Grandpa's sick.

What kind of sick?

The kind of sick that... it just, it makes it hard for him to do the things that he used to.

We should bring him Mom's chicken soup.

That'll make him better.

I couldn't get anything off this phone, Agent Pierce.

We need Daniel Krumitz.

Krumitz: Sausage, onions. olives, jalapenos.

What? What do you mean you can only do eight toppings?

Well that policy's unacceptable, Lloyd.

Daniel Krumitz?

Uh...

I got to call you back, Lloyd.

Yeah.

Oh, sh**t.

Agent Rosalyn Pierce.

Richmond Field Office.

FBI Violent Crime Squad.

You're... you're Daniel Krumitz?

Yes. Yes. Yes, I am.

(clears throat)

Krummy. No, Krumitz.

Yeah.

Uh, there are two kids missing in Richmond, Virginia, and I need your help.

I hear you have the best hands in the FBI.

Ready?

Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Remind me why we're doing this again?

Because in social settings, first impressions are often formed in as little as a tenth of a second.

Okay. So we're gonna count to three.

One, two... three.

Lose the tie. Too formal.

You look lovely.

Thanks.

No tie, okay, all right.

You're nervous?

Just a little bit.

I haven't had a first date since...

Watergate. (laughs)

Do you have an opening line?

I do. Um... It's very nice to meet you.

You look even more beautiful than your-your profile picture.

A little on the nose.

Okay, I can work on that. Uh, you?

What about your opening line?

(inhales) Haven't thought about it.

Uh, Director Silver, this shrimp cocktail's delicious. but, shellfish aside, I'd like to talk about a little extra funding for Cyber to catch Python.

Yeah. I-I think shrimp cocktail's a little too soon.

You know, I'd wait till he had a few drinks in him before you bring up our most notorious hacker.

(chuckles) Hmm.

Ryan: Those two are leaving in different elevators. They never used to do that.

They are dating.

Really, two black hats dating-- doesn't that violate the deal they had with the FBI?

Well, technically.

But look at it from their side.

Everyone they know is a black hat.

I've cut them off from all their friends.

They only have each other.

So what are you gonna do, let 'em off the hook?

Everyone deserves to get laid.

As far as breaking rules, we'll cross that bridge if we get to it.

I'm not sure they're gonna make it.

Nelven is a very improbable match. They're too alike.

Nelven?

Nelven.

Nelson, Raven, Nelven?

Oh, you're doing the, uh, the Brangelina, Bennifer thing.

The Kimye thing.

Now who, uh, who's that?

Pierce: It's like surgery.

You really do have the magic touch.

Shh.

Just listen.

I don't hear anything.

Well, it's probably too subtle for your untrained ear... but she's talking to me.

The missing boys are 12 and ten.

This phone is our strongest lead.

We found it submerged in a fountain about three hours ago.

AMBER Alerts and bolos have been a dead end.

There. Let's see what we've got.

Looks like I have some image files.

Whoa, whoa.

What the hell was that?

Jacob and Luke Sullivan.

12 and ten years old.

Agent Pierce, what time did the boys go missing?

So, neighbor saw them come home at 3:00, mom got home at 4:00 and they were gone.

Any sign of forced entry?

No. Local PD checked with friends and relatives.

No one's seen or heard from them.

This is the image I pulled off of Luke Sullivan's phone.

She's called Red Crone.

She's an Internet horror meme that's gone viral in the last six months.

Apparently kids are obsessed with her.

So the crone is an archetype in folklore-- an old woman with supernatural powers.

Every culture has one.

Well, this picture is actually a digital steganography exploit.

Someone hid malicious code inside the pixels of the JPEG.

Luke's phone was infected with malware Now the boys are gone.

Where'd the JPEG come from?

I ran an image search and it led me to a forum for Red Crone.

Ryan: Looks like the content is user-generated by fans.

Do we know who created the Red Crone?

Well, there is no single author.

Someone took the folklore character and added one detail, then other fans added more details, until she became a viral sensation.

Her entire mythology's user-generated.

Krumitz, scroll down to earlier posts, around 3:00 p.m.

Wait, stop.

Go back.

That's them. That's Jacob and Luke.

This is it. We're finally going to meet Red Crone.

We're the chosen ones.

We're all packed. We know the way.

I guess this is good-bye.

Red Crone, if you're listening... see you soon.

Look how excited they are.

These really think they're going to meet a real person.

Yeah, but the Red Crone is fictional.

We need to be worried about who those boys are really gonna go meet.

(woman shrieking)

♪ CSI Cyber 2x04 ♪
Red Crone
Original Air Date on October 25, 2015

♪ I know you've deceived me, now here's a surprise ♪
♪ I know that you have, 'cause there's magic in my eyes ♪
♪ I can see for miles and miles ♪
♪ I can see for miles and miles ♪
♪ I can see for miles and miles ♪
♪ And miles... ♪
♪ Oh, yeah. ♪

(panting)

Hey, where are you at with the malware on Luke's phone?

When Luke saved this creepy photo to his phone, an executable downloaded an app without him even knowing.

Ramirez: What does the app do?

I don't know yet. Downloading it now.

Huh, looks like Jacob and Luke were heavy users of the Red Crone fan site.

Oh, check this out.

Yeah.

There's a huge spike of activity in Richmond over the last month.

Lots of posts of sightings of Red Crone.

A cemetery... flour mill, an abandoned hotel.

(computer beeps)

Oh!

Here we go.

The app is done loading.

Let's see.

Oh, it's an app called Eye Of Red Crone.

It's just a viewfinder.

Makes everything black and white, adds a horror effect.

It's a camera filter.

Like the ones on Instagram.

Yeah, but there's no button for taking photos.

So the malware forced Luke's phone to download an app that's a camera filter?

Why have a camera filter if you can't take a photo?

Red Crone, if you're listening, see you soon.

It just doesn't make sense.

I... this doesn't sound like my boys.

They wouldn't just run away like this.

And where are they going?

We're not sure, but we're gonna find out.

Have your boys ever mentioned Red Crone before?

No. I mean, I don't know.

They're... they're always talking about this character and that from their... their games and their apps.

We shouldn't have gotten them those phones.

Mrs. Sullivan, You didn't do anything wrong.

All right?

I have a ten-year-old myself, a daughter. And her mom and I are having the same conversation right now. Half the kids in her class have cell phones.

We're going to find your boys.

Avery, look at that.

Could be a map or directions or something. Uh, Mrs. Sullivan, do you have a printer?

Uh, yes, it's over there.

(phone buzzes)

Excuse me, this is my husband.

Karen: Hi. Do you have any news?

(Karen continues conversing, indistinctly)

Karen: Yeah. Can I come out there?

Karen: Okay. Yeah, they're here.

(phone ringing, Karen continues talking)

Hello?

Y-Yes?

Wha... He what?

Yes, I-I... I understand your slots are limited. Uh...

I will do that. Thank you.

Is everything all right?

My dad.

I lined up the best clinic, the best doctors, and he doesn't show up for his first radiation treatment.

Elijah, I'm so sorry.

It's...

This was the last thing on the printer cache.

It doesn't look like a map, it looks like an invitation.

Yeah.

"You've been chosen.

Enter the wilderness if you dare."

Well, if the boys were headed into the "wilderness," why did they find Luke's phone at a fountain in Richmond? (sighs)

Well, this is the last known location of Jacob and Luke.

According to cell tower data, both their phones dropped off the network right here around 6:00 p.m.

So Luke's phone was recovered... from the fountain.

Right? What... what about Jacob's?

Oh, Agent Pierce and her team searched the entire area-- they never found it.

Russell: Pull up a photo of Luke's phone.

Are you gonna...

Yeah. Yep, yep, yep. O... Kay.

Okay, let me, uh...

All right.

Don't get that wet, don't get that wet.

You're such a worrywart, you know that?

I won't.

Looks like Luke's phone collided with the cement... right there.

You know, it's too hard to tell from these crime scene photos if there was a struggle.

Well, according to Luke's call history, he tried to call his mom seconds before his phone went dead.

But the call never went through.

Okay, so what... what do we know?

Luke and Jacob left their house, travelled three miles to get to this spot, and then... something happened.

Somebody wanted to take those boys offline.

And it worked.

♪ ♪

When is a viewfinder not a viewfinder?

Raven: Just got a text from Elijah.

Elijah wants us to figure out who sent the invitation to the boys.

The printer cache said it was printed directly off the Red Crone fan site.

(tapping keyboard)

Oh, it just keeps auto-focusing like crazy.

Raven: That's what cameras do.

Yeah, but it's not a camera, remember?

(electronic chime)

It's like it's searching for something.

Oh, here we go-- I think I found it.

A link of the invitation was sent directly to Jacob in the comments section by someone with the handle: Crone805.

"To fulfill your destiny, you must view the world through my eyes."

Okay, hold on.

"View the world through my eyes."

And the app's called Eye of Red Crone?

Mm-hmm.

Eye of Red Crone.

That's it! Nelson...

Okay, I think we're supposed to hold up the viewfinder to the invitation.

All right.

(wings flapping, echoing scream)

Nelson (chuckles): Snap! Look...

It's not a viewfinder.

It's a decoder.

What do you got, Krummy?

Nelson said our target preprogrammed this decoder app with certain trigger images.

Now, the decoder constantly searches for these images until it finds one, and when it does, it decodes a secret message.

Does the trigger image have to be on a piece of paper, like the invitation?

No, no. It can be anything.

It can be a drawing, a symbol, an object-- pretty much... any two-dimensional or three-dimensional object in the real world.

Russell: So when Jacob and Luke launched this app at their house and then focused on the invitation here, Mm-hmm. they came up with... the riddle.

Russell/Krumitz/Ryan: Whoa.

"If you're truly a chosen one, go to where the serpents feed. Stand with your feet at the water's edge, and they will show you the way."

So... serpent.

Right?

This is Serpent Ridge Fountain.

This is a famous landmark.

This is why the boys came here.

If the app is telling Jacob and Luke where to go...

Russell: Right. the next trigger image should be... right here.

Ryan: Here, Krumitz, try this.

Krumitz: Elijah, nothing's happening.

No.

The trigger image isn't here.

Pull up the fan site.

Search the Red Crone mythology for key words.

Chosen one.

Water's edge.

Serpent.

Okay, the chosen ones are the children who Red Crone invites to join her in her mansion in the woods.

Water's edge refers to the lake Red Crone and her children would go to to watch the sunset.

All right, wait a minute.

Sunset.

You know, maybe it has to be sunset for the decoder to work.

Change the internal clock on the tablet so that it thinks it's sunset.

It's now 6:03 p.m.

Guys, it's working!

"Touch my hand if you have the courage to be invisible. No cheating."

(beep) It puts the tablet in airplane mode.

Clever. Makes the kids untraceable.

Invisible to anybody who wants to find them.

That's also why Jacob's phone went off the network with Luke's.

What about Luke's phone?

Why did it end up in the fountain?

Well, Luke tried to call his mother moments before the phone d*ed.

He wouldn't be able to do that in airplane mode.

A phone not in airplane mode is cheating.

So Luke was breaking the rules.

Maybe the boys argued about it.

What are you doing?

Calling Mom. I want to go home.

No. That's cheating!

Okay, there's... there's another page.

Check this out.

"Follow the blackbird to where the bodies lie. If you listen closely, a young blood cries."

"Bodies lie." "Young blood cries."

Mundo: Wait a minute.

Wait a minute. Look at that.

It always points the same direction.

It's a compass. The blackbird tells the boys what direction to go, and...

I guess the riddle tells them where to stop.

This is a virtual treasure hunt.

But the prize at the end isn't treasure.

It's a trap.

Ryan: Elijah!

Krumitz: "Follow the blackbird to where the bodies lie.

If you listen closely, a young blood cries."

This is it-- where... where the bodies lie.

Russell: First a fountain, now a cemetery.

These kids are being lured with this treasure hunt.

Willingly lured.

They're "legend tripping."

(birds cawing)

They think they're on a ghost hunt to prove an urban legend is real.

What do we know about Crone805?

Raven said he's behind all the posts about Red Crone sightings in Richmond.

He anonymized his handle using a VPN.

A virtual private network that's untraceable, right?

So at least we know our target is text-savvy.

Savvy-ish.

He didn't write the exploit that put malware on Luke's phone-- Russian hackers have been selling it on the Deep Web for a hundred bucks.

Well, that means he's a script kiddie, not a true black hat.

Krumitz, let's search this side, see if we can find that trigger image.

Look at this.

I was looking at the art that our target posted on this... this fan site.

I mean, it's disturbing, yes, but it's... clearly done with a sophisticated hand.

I think maybe we're looking for an artist.

An artist and a predator.

Likely male.

He's trolling the sites, searching for local kids who are obsessed with Red Crone.

Selected Jacob and Luke... and tricked them into becoming his... unknowing victims.

A problem, this... this fan site is a virtual attractive nuisance.

It has hidden hazards that... that are attracting these kids.

Anyplace with unsupervised kids is a... magnet for pedophiles.

♪ ♪

(phone vibrating)

(phone continues vibrating)

Hello?

I-I can't.

I-It's my day off.

No, I have plans today.

Okay.

Okay, fine.

(sighs): Yeah, I'll-I'll be there.

(sighs heavily)

(birds cawing)

Mundo: Krumitz!

The riddle said something about "young blood."

Look at the numbers on that grave.

It's the grave of a child.

Ooh.

Avery?

We found it.

"Along with your blood, it's your soul I crave. Leave a token of your loyalty to prove you're brave."

Token of loyalty.

Guys, we got blood.

Russell: Where?

Ryan: Ooh, looks fresh.

Ooh. Okay.

This is a... hyperspectral lens.

Can measure the oxygen level in blood.

Can tell you within a five-minute window how long blood... has been outside of the body.

(shutter clicks)

(burbling)

(rapid beeping)

His blood's less than an hour old.

All right, that means Jacob and Luke can't be that far ahead.

Ryan: Elijah, look, a blood trail.

(shutter clicks)

There's some blood. Here.

(whimpering) It's okay. It's okay.

I'm not gonna hurt you.

My name's Avery. What's your name?

(crying and gasping)

Timmy. Elijah, call the paramedics.

Timmy?

Timmy, okay, I'm gonna put some pressure on this, okay?

I'm gonna hold your hand up, I'm gonna get you to a doctor, Timmy.

No. No, I have to keep going! I need to make it to the end!

Yeah, settle down, settle down.

I'm gonna stay right here with you.

It's okay. Where are you going?

To go meet Red Crone?

Timmy, what makes you think Red Crone is real?

People talk about her online.

They've seen her.

And she sent me a present.

A present?

An app... on my phone.

It popped up like magic.

She chose me.

Have you seen any other kids on this treasure hunt?

No.

Has anyone else spoken to you about Red Crone?

No. I have to keep going.

No, no, no. I'm the Chosen One. I'm the...

Honey, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.

Honey, honey, okay. Shh, shh. Let's get...

(crying)

(garbled radio transmission)

I'm worried, D.B.

Timmy was invested to that legend to the point of delusion.

They're not just fans, they're fanatics.

We need to shut this site down.

The riddle is asking them to leave a token of their loyalty.

If they have to prove their devotion at each step, they'll grow more and more indoctrinated along the way.

He's brainwashing them.

And if they're required to physically hurt themselves this early on, imagine what they'll be required to do when they reach the end.

I found additional blood at the gravestone.

It was dried.

If it belongs to either Jacob or Luke, then they're further ahead than we thought.

How much further?

Eight hours.

Eight hours?! Who knows how many steps there are to this treasure hunt?

We don't have time to play this sick game.

We have to skip to the end now.

This app is sophisticated.

And it puts phones in airplane mode, k*lling GPS and cell reception.

Yeah, but the game and internal compass keeps running.

No clues as to Jacob and Luke's location on FriendAgenda.

Raven, who's Henry?

I... I'm sorry. Did you go through my phone?

No.

Did you hack it?

No, I just seen a text pop up on your screen.

Oh, okay, so you did go through my phone.

No, it was unlocked. It right in front of me.

Thought it was Elijah texting again.

Okay, well, that text is private, Nelson.

It's none of your business.

Oh, yeah? 'Cause the last time I checked, we was all up in each other's business.

(door creaks open)

(man coughing)

When I was analyzing the code for the app, I found a bunch of leftover dead code.

I mean, our target built his treasure hunt off the framework of another app.

So Avery was right.

He is just a script kiddie.

He found an app that had all the functionalities he wanted-- a game called Panda Pavilion.

Then wrote code on top of it.

Look at what happens when I activate the paths to the dead code.

Did you contact the developers of Panda Pavilion?

Yup, but get this.

They only sold 34 downloads because there was a competing app that was way more popular.

So basically, our target knocked off a cheap and unpopular knock-off.

Which is good for us.

Our target has to be one of the 34 people who downloaded that app.

He had to pay for it somehow.

Well, maybe that's where he made a mistake.

He could have used his personal credit cards.

That should get us his name and address.

Yeah, you're right.

I'm on it.

Krumitz: I imaged Oliver Crispin's computer.

Found a ton of media files, but no child p*rn.

Look where he keeps his supplies.

He's left-handed-- a common trait among pedophiles.

These children-- their images, their eyes-- they're almost too innocent.

Mundo: They're all wearing nightgowns.

It's creepy.

That's part of the mythology.

The fire in the orphanage happened in the middle of the night.

Look at this perspective.

Oliver is viewing the world through the child's eyes.

It's a subconscious attempt to identify with their innocence.

He's a non-contact pedophile.

Non-contact?

It's likely he's never physically acted on his urges.

He's been able to suppress them for a long time using his art and his fantasies as an outlet.

Then what's the point of the treasure hunt?

Clearly, he's luring Luke and Jacob to do something.

No, he's planning to act.

To lose his virginity, so to speak.

He has fixated on this moment for a long time.

The treasure hunt is his foreplay.

It's sick.

Guys like this should be put down like dogs.

Hey, guys?

Oliver's a court illustrator, and I just found this e-mail.

"Preliminary hearing has been moved to Courtroom B." 3:00 p.m.

3:35. He's in court right now. Go.

Okay, everyone, let's call it a day.

Court's adjourned until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.

FBI.

Woman: Oh.

FBI.

Oh. Oh, sorry.

Hey!

Elevator.

Easy, man.

FBI.

(door creaks open)

Raven, our target's on the move.

Put out a BOLO, and an APB on his car.

Are we tracking his cell phone?

His cell plan was recently canceled.

If he has a phone, it's a burner.

Look, Elijah, Krumitz sent me what he imaged from Oliver's home computer.

I found photos of five trigger images for his treasure hunt.

I analyzed the metadata and pulled GPS coordinates for all of them.

Raven: Okay, we mapped them out.

The boys are headed to Stony Creek State Park.

Mundo: Guys, that's a pretty big park.

Nelson: Yeah, I know but we're stuck. The decoder doesn't work on the last trigger image.

It should be giving us a blackbird and riddle that leads to the final location where the target's meeting the kids, but it's not working.

What's the image?

It's an eye carved in a tree.

We have the GPS coordinates, but that's as far as we can get you.

All right, send the coordinates. We'll just have to go there and figure things out on the ground.

(siren blaring)

All right, this is the spot.

We're looking for this image carved into a tree.

Take those, pass them around.

(overlapping chatter)

What?

The cracks in the bark, and look at the carving.

See that white right there? That's fungus.

This tree has oak wilt.

It's rotting from the inside out.

All right, we're looking for a... a tree with a lot of dead leaves on it.

Got anything?

Right there, that's it.

It's got dead leaves.

(indistinct radio communication)

Man: Yeah, over there.

Man: Down this gulley?

Man 2: Well, go ahead check it out.

Man 3: Check your perimeter.

Hey, guys?

Man: Come on, guys! Over here!

It's one of their hats.

The boys have been here.

(sighs) Okay.

Man: Tell them to come back!

Krumitz, here! Here! Here.

(panting)

Man: Keep your eyes open! It's in this area!

Ryan: You got it!

"Welcome to the wilderness. You're almost there. I can sense your soul around me. Come to my playground if you dare."

Nelson?

All right, Avery, I'm here.

I see your location on the satellite.

The new compass heading is one-nine-five.

Do you see any structures on that path?

Uh... Looks like an abandoned schoolhouse.

I'm sending the coordinates now.

Let's get this son of a bitch.

New coordinates. SWAT on me.

Man: Copy that.

Man 2: Bring 'em in.

(sighs)

(breathing loudly)

(exhales loudly)

All right, go!

Go!

Man (over radio): We're a half mile out on that.

(breathing loudly)

Woman (over radio): ...location, guys. Location.

(crying)

(indistinct chatter)

(indistinct chatter)

(gasps)

Go! go!

(indistinct shouting)

Man: Clear!

FBI! FBI! Clear!

Clear! Clear!

(knocking)

(door creaks open)

Jacob, Luke.

Hi.

Hi.

Red Crone is waiting for you.

What the hell happened? They should be here.

Nelson, are there any other structures along the current heading?

No, the schoolhouse is the only one for the next 18 miles.

Expand the search area in all directions.

Look for any structures within a five-mile radius of the trigger image.

Cross-reference property records.

Look for something, anything, that can be our target's hideout.

D.B., Krumitz, we missed something.

Go back to the trigger image, decode it again.

Anything?

I'm getting the same thing, Avery.

Something is not right.

We missed something.

Maybe it's the riddle, or maybe we're looking at this wrong.

Maybe we just need to slow down here, you know, and-and think like a kid, okay?

We need to think like a kid.

Man: Keep your eyes open.

Wait a minute. I have an idea.

Look at that.

Krumitz: Holy crap.

It just changed.

Russell: "Welcome to the wilderness, be afraid of the night. I can sense your soul around me. Search the woods for red light."

Avery... there are two riddles, one for adults and one for kids, depending on the-the tilt of the tablet.

The decoder's using the tablet's gyroscope to distinguish between an adult perspective and a kid's.

Nelson: That's why I couldn't get it to work.

I had the decoder at the wrong angle.

Oliver did this on his last trigger image as a safeguard.

To throw adults off his trail.

Mundo: To throw law enforcement off the trail.

Avery: What is the new compass heading?

Two-seven-zero.

75 degrees off the old heading.

It's an old theater.

Used to be part of a resort that closed down in the '70s.

Send me the coordinates.

(trilling)

It's about a half hour away.

Elijah!

Elijah! Wait for backup!

(engine starts)

Come on, move out!

(creaking)

(door creaking)

Elijah!

Wait for backup! (panting)

Oliver Crispin, FBI.

Keep your hands where I can see them.

(grunting)

Where are the kids?

(grunting, panting)

Jacob, Luke, you okay?

Did he hurt you?

No.

My name's Elijah. I'm here to help.

Stay right where you are. Be right back.

Crispin: It was just a game.

I just wanted to scare them. I wasn't gonna hurt them.

They wanted to play. They wanted it!

(grunts)

They wanted it!

(grunting, panting)

(panting)

What did you say?

They wanted it.

(grunts)

In the bathroom.

(grunts)

You son of a bitch.

Elijah! Where are the boys?

There.

Okay. It's-it's okay, it's okay. You're gonna be okay.

You're safe. It's okay.

I'm Agent Avery Ryan. I'm here to take you home.

(boys crying)

(distant siren whooping)

(indistinct radio communication)

Man (over radio): Hey, uh, I'm gonna be here another 15.

Do me a favor.

Then I'm gonna show you something really cool.

Cut it in half.

There you go. Nice.

All right, I'm gonna put this here and...

I asked you to cut this in half.

What's wrong with you?

You're supposed to cut it in half-- is there something wrong...

Woman: Jacob! with your scissors? What...

Luke!

Mom! Mom!

Dad! Dad!

(crying)

Jacob: I'm so glad you're here.

(indistinct radio communication)

Agent Pierce?

It's Daniel Krumitz.

(chuckles) I got good news.

The boys are safe. We caught the guy.

Yeah. Yeah.

No, no, no. You don't have to...

Dinner?

Me?

This is Daniel Krumitz. You know that, right?

(chuckles)

I do have the magic touch. (chuckles)

Pizza sounds great.

Krumitz.

You crossed a line tonight.

You didn't wait for backup. You put yourself in danger.

(scoffing)

You're going through something, Elijah. I get that.

But working out your aggression on the job is not an option.

That's not what happened here tonight.

I made sure that those kids were safe.

And our target, he got what he deserved.

You've been throwing a lot of punches lately.

I always follow protocol.

In this case, you didn't.

I'm taking you out of the field.

You what?

Avery, come on. Just until you get your head straight.

Elijah, this is not you.

(crickets chirping)

If you came here to lecture me about not making that appointment, you can save your breath.

Chicken soup.

From Michelle.

You look like hell.

So do you.

Least I got an excuse.

Avery took me out of the field today.

(exhales)

I guess stubbornness runs in the family.

(chuckles)

Fourth grade. Joey Baumgarten.

Remember?

Yeah.

Pushed me off my bike, punched me in the face, let the air out of my tires.

You pushed your bike all the way home crying.

Do you remember what you said to me?

Oh...

You said, "Son, you take as much time as you need. But when you're ready, you're gonna fight Joey, and you're gonna win."

Two days later, you drove me to the park.

I found Joey.

And I won.

Dad, you got cancer.

Now, you and I both... need to come to terms with that in our own way.

So take as much time as you need.

But when you're ready... we're gonna fight.

And we're gonna win.

(sighs)

(keys clacking)

Hey.

About earlier...

I'm sorry.

Who you text is your business.

He's my study partner.

Henry.

Study partner?

Oh, uh, a'ight. (chuckles)

Study partner.

No, Nelson. We-we actually study together.

For our GED.

Isn't that for people who didn't finish high school?

Well, I faked my high school diploma a few years back.

Didn't matter when I was hacking, but... now it's, um...

White hat rubbing off on you?

Yeah. Something like that.

It's just something that I need to do for... for me.

Right.

And I'd appreciate it if you could, uh, keep it on the D.L.

Oh, girl. (scoffs)

You know me, I'm the king of keeping things on the D.L.

Oh, you're the king, huh?

Nelson: You know I'm the king.

I've come to bid you good night.

I'd say "sleep tight," but I know that's easier said than done these days.

Come on, that's it? No meditation exercise?

No stinky insomnia tea?

You're giving up on me?

Yep.

Did you reschedule your big date?

Oh, yeah. Uh, no, not exactly.

Apparently the good old-fashioned excuse "I had to work" is no longer believable.

(laughs) Oh... What about you? When's your next shrimp cocktail with Director Silver?

I tried to reschedule a sit-down, but apparently he's still mad at me for not taking the deputy director job.

Aw. Well, we're a couple of sad sacks, aren't we?

Mmm.

Look at those two.

They're not even trying to hide it anymore. (laughs)

You know, I've been, uh... I've been thinking about this whole Nelven thing. I think we can do better.

How 'bout... It's, uh, Brody Nelson and-and Raven Ramirez, right?

What about...

Relson?

(laughs) No, no. Okay, okay, okay.

Wait, wait.

(chuckles) No, no. Ramelson?

(laughing): No.

Bromirez.

Braven. Braven.

Braven. Oh, that... that's good. Braven.

Night, Braven!

They can't hear you.

I hope not.

(laughs)