01x04 - Love and v*olence

[bunniefuu]

announcer: Previously on "Hunters"...

man: Hunter number seven, aka Lionel McCarthy.

What do you know about us?

He took Abby. My wife.

man: We traced the heroin found in McCarthy's warehouse to a Columbian drug cartel.

The Hunters are running dr*gs in the jungle and you're sending me a new guy to find them.

I've raided dozens of drug labs.

I've never seen anything like this.

Something else is going on.

When do we tell them we're fighting monsters and not a drug cartel?

We don't tell them anything, and they're not monsters.

Did you always look so...

Human?

Thought I was, until my parents told me I wasn't.

This is what we are.

(g*nsh*t)

What was that?

He saw too much.

Has E.T.U. ever caught one that doesn't look like you?

We've never captured one alive in any form.

(creature clicking)

(camera shutter clicking)

McCarthy must have warned the Hunters about the Columbian operation.

If he did, then he's culpable for all these victims.

Not to mention the bombing fatalities, or the junkie he k*lled just to toy with Flynn.

Jules, where are we with the Spotify lead?

Nothing yet.

My team's combing through tracks as fast as we can.

I caught a break.

Possible McCarthy lead, female.

Good, work it.

And follow up McCarthy's musician persona, Cymatics Society.

I'll loop in the other agents.

Regan is prepping for a debriefing.

Flynn has family matters to attend to.

His wife?

Unfortunately, there's no sign of her.

Yet another reason we need to find this target.

We may not know his current whereabouts, but we know this, Lionel McCarthy is out there and he is on the hunt.

(rock music playing)

karaoke host: Next on up to the mic we have Lionel of the Cymatics Society.

(scattered applause)

♪ Gimme danger, little stranger ♪
♪ And I'll give you a piece ♪
♪ Gimme danger, little stranger ♪
♪ And I feel your disease ♪
♪ There's nothing in my dreams ♪
♪ Just some ugly memories ♪
♪ Kiss me like the ocean breeze ♪
♪ Hey ♪

(crowd cheers)

♪ Now if you will be my lover ♪
♪ I will shiver in shame ♪
♪ But if you can be my master ♪
♪ I will do anything ♪

Yeah!

♪ ♪

McCarthy: We're dying.

Fiery forge, jealousy, terror, secrecy.

Oh, yes, secrecy...

A furnace seal'd.

What's he talking about?

The human form. Blake. Divine?

Hmm, not so much.

But a hungry gorge, yes.

Oh, very, very hungry.

♪ ♪

Mmm...

Ah ha ha.

Where do you want it?

Surprise me.

(moans softly)

(guttural growl, clicking)

What's that for?

It's for you.

(gasping)

(woman shrieking)

(woman screams)

♪ ♪
♪ I'm calling for you ♪
♪ You are why I'm still breathing ♪

(phone alert chimes)

Emme: Flynn!

Hey.

You're seven minutes late.

Six-and-a-half, but who's counting?

Oh, yeah... you are.

We'll, uh, just get some lunch and I'll have her back before 2:00.

Back by 5:00?

Back by 5:00.

Thank you.

Flynn: That's it?

I haven't seen you in a week and you're checking Facebook?

It's "International Piano Magazine."

Abby bought me a subscription for my birthday last year.

Okay, what are you reading about?

About who won the Cliburn competition.

Like you really care.

I care about you.

You're the one who didn't even call for five days.

Emme, it was work, I had to go...

Look, don't they know Abby's missing?

Isn't that more important than some stupid job?

(phone alert)

I thought you were reading a piano magazine.

I am.

Mm-hmm.

It's cold and it's raining and I want to go back to school.

What? Come on, we just got here.

I don't understand why you pretend to care about me.

Of course I care about you.

Then do as I ask and take me back to school.

(ducks quacking)

Finnerman: After the Colombian contractor was contained, you and Agent Carroll continued in pursuit alone, despite being ordered otherwise.

The Hunter was wounded, and Agent Carroll and I agreed that it would be best if he and I...

Keep your statements to your own judgments and actions.

This was our chance to catch a native Hunter.

I was our only chance.

You'd rather I just let it go?

What happened when you came face to face with the Hunter?

(creature clicking)

He looked at me for a few seconds and then ran off.

(creature clicking)

I chased it... but dropped my w*apon, and it outran me.

I'm having a hard time understanding why the Hunter left you completely unharmed, especially after it k*lled 27 people at the heroin plantation.

It must have known what I was.

Which still begs the question.

(police sirens wail)

I had to pull some strings, but I went back further in Abby's phone records, like you asked me to.

Nothing unusual in the records the last six months.

If you go back further...

Kevin's phone number keeps popping up.

A lot.

(scoffs) He was my partner.

She'd call him when she couldn't get me.

Check out the day he was k*lled.

Abby spoke to Kevin three times that morning, an hour before he got sh*t, then nothing.

No way.

Hey, I'm just showing you what I found.

They were not having an affair, and Abby had nothing to do with my partner's m*rder.

Kevin was k*lled by a drug cartel.

Maybe. I thought one of the Columbian groups might've had a hand in it...

Envigado, Olvidos, Los Rastrados... but it was a dead end.

Olvidos.

What about it?

A dead junkie turned up about a week ago with Olvidos heroin in her system.

And a hole in her back?

There's been a string of those murders, gory, like some homemade spinal tap voodoo sh*t.

What's all that got to do with Abby?

Bitch thinks I'm the mole.

Since when have you cared about what Finnerman thinks of you?

I don't.

Good.

Neither do I.

(phone alert)

That thing still on?

(beep)

There's something I didn't include in my report.

When the Hunter saw me, it communicated something, in its clicking language.

What did it say?

It wasn't words.

It was a shape and spaces, like what I heard when I listened to the Slavic track.

It looked something like this.

You saw this when it spoke to you?

More like I heard it.

It's hard to explain.

Hmm.

We keep this to ourselves for now.

(car approaching)

(hip-hop music playing)

(car door opens)

I wanted to run something by you, unofficially, before taking it to Jackson.

There's been a string of murders... junkies.

Look at the marks on the bodies.

They're just like Columbia.

Yeah.

And the junkie we found in McCarthy's warehouse.

You think he k*lled them all?

The first one was found here, ten miles from McCarthy's farmhouse.

The next two bodies were found near the music stores he took out.

One in D.C. and one near Baltimore.

So he's not just a mad bomber?

He's a serial k*ller, too.

(sighs)

The heroin ring, Columbia, these bodies, it's all connected, and McCarthy's the missing link.

And the only lead on Abby.

Not bad for a fed.

So why this sh*thole?

Contacted a few old FBI informants.

One of these working girls recognized a picture of McCarthy and thinks he might be renting a room here.

Shh.

What?

(men chattering)

(creature clicking)

He's here.

(creature clicking)

(muffled gagging sounds)

(gagging sounds continue)

(retching)

(clicking)

Let her go.

(clicking)

On your knees, assh*le!

You're lost, girl. I can help you.

I'd say you're the one need help right now.

Hmm? Yeah.

Hey.

I want my wife.

Hey, attention people!

Thanks to the outstanding work of Agents Carroll and Regan, we now have two live Hunters in our custody.

This is our chance to ask the big questions.

Who are they?

Where do they come from? What do they want?

World peace and friendship bracelets, I'm guessing.

Lionel McCarthy is no foot soldier.

He is leadership... he's behind the bombings, Columbian drug operation, and now several murders here.

He is a direct link to the Hunter leader known as Brother Number Four.

And he knows what happened to my wife.

Abby is a part of the puzzle, but this is bigger than any personal imperative.

I will interrogate McCarthy.

Briggs, Regan, I want you with the female in case she regains consciousness.

Carroll, you're cataloging McCarthy's belongings from the hotel.

Everybody else, Kubark protocols are in effect.

Our interview room's soundproofed for Hunters, and everything that happens in that room is recorded at all times.

Let's be smart. Let's be careful.

Let's do our best.

(indistinct chatter)

I caught that assh*le, I should be in there.

Yeah, that's not gonna happen.

McCarthy's the most important live asset this unit has ever acquired.

Fine. Not lead, but help.

And you will, by doing your job.

Counting McCarthy's underwear? That's waste of my time.

McCarthy knows me, he specifically asked to see me.

I can get under his skin.

I know I can.

Maybe this is why I'm here.

Follow my lead, do you understand me?

Yes, sir.

With a little reverse engineering, we've managed to turn their weapons against them.

This one will drop a rhino.

I give you the signal, don't hesitate.

If I can't give you the signal, don't hesitate.

Don't make me use it on you.

Yes, sir.

Truss Jackson.

(door shuts softly)

Hello, Flynn.

(inhales deeply)

I thought you'd be fatter.

Sorry to disappoint you.

You're human, that's all you can do.

I can't lie and say I haven't been looking forward to meeting you.

We have a lot to discuss.

Shall we begin?

Thane, Weldon, Hyrum, Elize, Cambria, and sweet little Lucia.

Your children have beautiful names.

And of course, I couldn't forget our precious little orphan.

The poor waif... like something out of Dickens.

Losing her papa and her surrogate mother so... unexpectedly.

That's a... good start.

Tell us more... Lionel.

Well, this is our chance to get to know each other better, after that awkward first date in the warehouse.

So much we didn't get to chat about.

Talk. I'm all ears.

So am I, Agent. So... am... I.

I can hear your heartbeat quicken.

I hear the blood rushing through your veins, your muscles tighten.

Your teeth are grinding.

(heartbeat thumping)

I hear your fear, boy.

Diastolic blood pressure, 120 over 44, heart rate 29, respiration, seven breaths per minute.

Is that normal for a Hunter?

Not compared to me.

And I've never seen a Hunter vomit tissue like that before.

Sedation will stop that, but her condition is deteriorating.

Or in withdrawal. She has track marks.

Alien junkies, it's like we captured a Corman movie.

Lab analysis on McCarthy's instrument, the oversized syringe, small traces of heroin, but mostly human blood with a high concentration of endogenous opioid nerve peptides.

It's a byproduct of heroin use.

Hunters can't get high on heroin.

Briggs: So they're sh**ting up junkie brain blood.

That's revolting.

Well, it obviously works.

To take the edge off of being in a human body.

You wouldn't believe the sh*t I've tried.

When I was younger.

Subject has a growth in the upper back and neck region.

There is no reason for us to be enemies.

We're here to try and understand what it is you want from us.

From Earth.

Well, it's simple, really.

We are eat. We are k*ll.

If you won't talk, we'd like to try and arrange a meeting with Brother Number Four.

We'd like to show we can be an honest partner, peaceful.

There's no need for v*olence.

We've had plenty of opportunities to observe your E.T.U.

Your government, humankind itself, we have every reason not to trust you creatures.

Yeah. We're not perfect.

We make mistakes, but we learn from them.

Indeed.

I'm sure dissecting my kind has been very educational.

I wonder what cutting open your wife would teach my people.

If you continue to hurt humans, to k*ll my people, measures will be taken.

We must protect ours, just as you would protect yours.

We want to know where you came from, why you're here, what you want.

Maybe we can help.

What is it about you humans?

You think if you understand everything, you'll sleep better at night.

Does anybody really need a reason to swat a fly or... k*ll a wife?

We spent four days together, Abby and I.

Her neck smelled like lavender and soap.

So tender.

Shattered like glass.

Gutless.

McCarthy: Good-bye.

(breathing hard)

(door opens and closes)

So much for you getting under his skin.

He's toying with us.

What should we have done?

Beaten him?

That's exactly what he wants.

What we need here is patience.

We don't have time.

He had my wife, damn it, you heard him!

For all we know, that could be a lie, and Abby is a human collaborator, or she could be one of them.

You know something I don't?

No.

Which is exactly why we need to proceed with caution.

Okay, put me back in there and I'll get the truth out of him.

You had your sh*t.

You're sitting this one out.

(cell phone vibrating)

Flynn Carroll.

Emme? What?

What do you mean she's not in school?

(heart monitor beeping)

(groaning)

(latches clicking)

(Tasha groaning)

You got one of those?

Oh, yeah. Right above my tramp stamp.

Is it a tumor?

I have no idea.

(Tasha groaning)

(shrieking)

(screaming)

(screaming and moaning)

(Tasha moaning)

(panting)

Regan!

(squishing)

(clicking)

(clicking)

ETU's suddenly a breeding facility.

I didn't see that one coming.

No one did.

And the mother's condition?

Not good.

We're doing everything we can to ensure it survives.

You better.

What have you gotten from McCarthy?

Nothing yet.

Hours in captivity and you have nothing.

Truss, this is a critical window.

If you can't do it... There's something else.

Agent Carroll's adopted daughter Emme has gone missing.

And this concerns me how?

McCarthy previously threatened her life.

Whose life hasn't he threatened?

Flynn: I need a bulletin, not a missing person.

It's a suspected kidnapping.

Thanks, Reyes.

(heart monitor beeping)

Why do you think the Hunters took your daughter?

They took my wife.

Well, your wife's a Hunter, and she took your daughter.

I want back in there. Alone.

Jackson: That's out of the question.

It's not your call, Commander.

In you go, Agent Carroll.

Use that broken heart.

Thank you, ma'am.

Love swings the hammer... so it can swing for us, also.

Congratulations, Dad.

You feeling all warm and fuzzy?

How is the baby?

Does it have my eyes?

You'll never know.

I'll just have to comfort myself with Abby and delicious little Emme, then, won't I?

Tell me where they are... or I'll tear your face off.

Oh, please... take it off.

I can't wait.

Where the hell are they?!

Is this really how you're gonna question the most valuable prisoner you've ever had, with this dumb, blunt instrument?

Uhh!

Ohh! No!

Not the money maker.

Do I have to spell it out for you?

You can't t*rture a Hunter.

Especially not me.

(chuckling) In truth, you can't get much out of torturing a human, either, but that doesn't keep you fools from trying.

But we know so little about your kind.

We got so much to learn.

Like your ears.

You know...

What makes them so sensitive?

Careful...

You break it, you buy it.

Oh, yeah, I'll be careful.

There.

Guh!

(groaning)

Come again?

I can't hear you.

Yeah?

Uhh! Agh!

Get in there.

Carroll... Carroll!

That's enough!

Well, that was effective.

Hunters aren't invulnerable.

We just haven't found their weakness yet.

Jules, any thoughts?

Jules: We could rig up one of the sonic weapons.

Decrease the intensity. It's too risky.

We guess wrong and we k*ll the best source of intel we've ever had.

What about that treatment we devised for Regan?

She reported discomfort at the higher amplitudes, right?

The treatment was intended to help Regan's urges, not harm her.

It's a tool.

I don't care what it was intended for if it does the job.

Bring it in.

(heart monitor beeping)

Will it look like a human when it grows up?

It's hard to say.

Human embryos look like other mammals at various stages of development.

Or it could be some sort of hybrid.

The mother's in no condition to answer any questions.

Hey.

You all right?

Not really.

Is that how you came out?

I don't know.

My parents didn't have baby pictures.

I can't believe it came from McCarthy.

He's a fu... monster.

(cart rolling)

Briggs knows the controls?

No, he doesn't.

I'll do it.

(buckles fastening)

(squeaking)

Toys.

Lovely.

I prefer using honey to vinegar.

But I'll make an exception in your case.

Can you play Angry Birds on it?

I love seeing pig heads explode.

This is your last chance.

Please.

That quiver in your hand.

The... hesitation.

Hmm, dipping your little toes into the murky waters of moral compromise.

Is it cold, Truss?

Is that what makes you shiver?

(buzzing)

Come on.

You can do it.

Give it the old Mormon try.

(breathing deeply)

(droning)

Whew... that feels good.

(droning increasing)

(shouting)

(screaming)

(grunts)

Enjoying yourself yet?

Who's the mole inside the E.T.U?

They have the blood of 27 innocent people on their hands... as do you.

Who is it?

Would you believe me if I told you?

McCarthy: Why don't you tell them who the mole is, Agent Briggs?

Didjeridoo, or didn't you leak that intel?

He's lying. Give him more.

(singsong) Briggs is the mole, Briggs is the mole...

(droning)

Gah!

(panting)

Sorry, I'm confused.

This machine really smarts.

We all know Agent Regan is the mole.

Birds of a feather... you know?

She can't deny her true nature, heh.

Or is it... Flynn Carroll who's the traitor?

Do you even know what that Boy Scout was up to in Afghanistan?

Wait! Elder Jackson, please.

I give in.

You're a man to be reckoned with.

You wouldn't believe what this man has done.

Nasty, nasty stuff.

And all for what?

God? Country?

Paycheck?

So I don't slaughter your children?

Bible in one hand and bazooka in the other.

And you call yourself a believer.

(droning)

(screams)

(droning dies)

Jackson: Get him cleaned up.

We're through here.

We just got started.

We don't even know what we're doing to him.

We're hurting him, so his kind won't hurt more of us.

This is t*rture.

There are no laws defining the t*rture of an alien species.

I don't need a law to distinguish right from wrong, ma'am.

Spare me your bullshit.

That thing in there is k*lling American citizens, citizens that you swore to protect.

Ruth... you and I have done some very questionable things in the service of this country, but there is a line.

You show me that line when those beasts inv*de your home, att*ck Willa, your children.

Hunters have not only promised to shed blood, they've made good on that promise, on domestic soil, no less.

And if we don't stop those things now, God only knows how far they'll go.

They are not the only ones to have shed blood.

This nation didn't ban t*rture because it's cruel, we did it to protect ourselves!

And I will not allow my agents to be sullied by it.

♪ ♪

Emme, it's me.

I need to know you're okay, so call me.

I don't care where you are or what's happened, just... get in touch with me as soon as you get this.

Please.

McCarthy has my entire family.

Yeah.

But don't forget, we have his.

And if he kills them before we break him... that's just, uh, collateral damage, right?

I don't believe it's gonna come to that.

So you think we can break him?

McCarthy's a lot stronger than I anticipated.

His mental toughness is extraordinary.

So Hunters are immune to t*rture?

Then we need to find another way.

(beeping, raspy crying)

(beeping continues)

Regan: Something's happening.

(raspy crying)

(clicking)

(speaking foreign language)

Regan: What's she saying?

(clicking)

(raspy crying)

Regan: She's dying.

I don't know what else to do.

The baby needs physical contact, but Finnerman won't allow it.

(baby crying continues)

I saw it in his eyes. McCarthy cares for them.

Finnerman: McCarthy's not human.

You don't know what you saw.

I've seen enough.

We're giving this a try.

(door slams)

The newborn and its mother aren't doing well.

(door shuts)

We don't know what to do.

Let me hear them.

(baby cooing, clicking noises)

(grunting)

(hyperventilating)

I need to see them.

I need to touch her and the baby.

It's how we help each other heal.

Plea... please.

Let me help them.

(panting)

They're no good to you dead.

Then give me Emme and Abby first.

Not possible!

You have your boss, I have mine.

Your boss isn't here, you are, and your woman and your baby are.

You just told me they need you.

That's your choice.

They live or they die.

(baby squealing on loudspeaker)

Strieber Self Storage.

Unit 470.

She's going to die.

The baby, too.

Yeah.

We're doing everything we can to help.

How long are we going to hold out?

McCarthy's our best sh*t at finding Flynn's daughter alive, so until we know she's safe, McCarthy doesn't go in.

Yeah.

Regan: Flynn, how close are you?

Almost there.

How soon?

Listen, McCarthy goes nowhere near the baby, not until I know they're safe.

Hurry.

(phone beeps off)

(rhythmic beeping)

It'll be okay.

(baby cooing)

(clicking)

(rapid beeping)

(clicking)

(steady beep)

No... no, no!

Take McCarthy in.

We haven't heard from Flynn.

We need to know his wife and daughter are safe.

No. That newborn must survive.

What about Carroll's daughter?

There is no time.

We need to keep faith with Carroll.

He means something to the Hunters.

That is an assumption only.

We've yet to see anything that actually proves his worth.

He may have brought us McCarthy.

Exactly.

But not because they hold him in any special esteem.

I mean, it was a straightforward capture.

Any soldier could have done it.

It just so happened Carroll was in the right place at the right time.

Ten more minutes, please!

We don't have it.

McCarthy goes in now.

(tires screeching)

Please... remove the gag.

She's dead.

That's on you, Jackson.

The baby'll die, too.

We don't have much time.

(baby cooing)

(baby cooing)

I need to touch the baby.

(handcuffs unlatching)

Thank you.

(baby cooing)

♪ ♪

(clicking and gurgling)

I won't let them have another one.

(cracking)

Regan: No!

Down!

Get down, McCarthy! Get down on the ground!

Don't make me ask you again, Guano!

(clicking)

No!

(screaming)

(Jackson grunting)

Uhh!

The baby's not breathing! Help me!

Emme! Abby!

Emme!

Abby!

Emme!

(door rattles)

(panting)

(cell phone vibrating)

(grunts)

Yeah?

Carroll, it's Reyes.

We found Em.

Is she all right? Wh-where is she?

She's safe, unharmed.

Squad car picked her up a few miles from her school, dropped her back home.

Where was she?

Didn't say.

We'll keep an eye on her till you get there.

Thanks.

I'll be there as soon as I can.

(phone beeps off)

Police found Agent Carroll's daughter.

She wasn't at the storage facility.

McCarthy played us.

We underestimated him.

I accept full responsibility.

No.

We both underestimated him.

But it won't happen again.

I'm removing him from your custody.

What?

And placing him where?

In a more secure facility.

Where?

There's no one else who understands the Hunters like we do.

It's done.

And they saw the heavens open.

And they saw the angels descending out of Heaven as in the midst of fire.

And they came down and encircled those little ones about with fire.

And the angels did minister unto them.

You're praying.

My faith, uh, teaches that the souls of little children who die are taken by God because they are... too pure, too lovely... to live on earth.

Even Hunters?

Do you think I have a soul?

Yes, I do.

♪ ♪

Abby... Abby...

(clicking)