02x09 - The Book of Rebellion: Chapter Two: Gift of the Magi

[bunniefuu]

[Jefferson] Previously on Black Lightning...

You are the storm, so you can control the storm!

Don't fear it. Own it.

Need a ride?

I do need you to contact your son.

Boy knows a lot about my business.

He's not gonna stop until he kills me. I got you.

What are you doing? We're gonna need money on the run.

What up, Painkiller? Here to collect.

[Jennifer grunts]

Go, go, go.

[Jennifer] What we need is a plan.

My aunt, let's go to her house.

Need to ask you a few questions about your nephew.

You know damn well you ain't no detective.

Why pretend?

[screams]

[both grunting]

Come on. Come on.

[panting]

Where'd they go? Tell me you have him.

Not yet. He's got a cut. They won't get far.

[both panting]

[Jennifer] That's it. Okay.

Come on, come on. Khalil, come on.

[Khalil] One sec. Here. Right there. Come on.

Okay.

Okay, sit, sit, sit.

[Khalil groans]

God.

[panting]

You're burning up.

I thought the toxins they pumped you full of were supposed to heal from stuff like this.

Yeah, J...

Yeah.

Look, we just need to...

[groans]

You about to fall on your ass.

Too weak to travel. You're clammy.

I'm not a doctor, but if that cut gave you a fever, it might be infected, Khalil.

Look, we don't have any other choice.

I'm gonna go try and find you some antibiotics or something.

Hey. Hey, no.

Yo, yo, it's way too risky.

We got people out there searching for us.

Well, what do you want me to do? Sit here and watch you get worse?

If it was me laying there, you'd do the exact same thing, wouldn't you?

Huh?

I'll be right back.

[sighs]

[line ringing]

Jeff, did you find her?

Do you have her? Jeff, please just tell me she's safe.

Babe, I wish I could tell you that.

But the truth is, I don't know.

Why? What happened?

When we got to Khalil's aunt's house, there was this woman, highly skilled with knives, probably sent by Tobias.

She was here before us.

Is... is Jennifer okay? She wasn't hurt, was she?

No, not that I could see.

She and Khalil disappeared during the chaos.

And then they somehow managed to take out one of Gambi's drones.

So you don't even know which direction she went in?

No, Lynn. We will find her.

[sighs in frustration]

Lynn?

[Thunder] So what happened?

Bitch came to my house, looked like she was trick-or-treating.

She must have hit me or something, because the next thing I knew, you all were standing over me.

Looks like Khalil darted her.

Gambi just gave her the antivenom to help speed up recovery.

How you feeling now? How does it look like I'm feeling?

I knew I shouldn't have let his ass stay here.

Yeah, well, he probably just saved your life.

Look, any idea where they're headed?

They didn't tell me. And I don't think they wanted me to ask.

[Gambi] I might have an idea.

[glass crunching]

This blood splatter is consistent with castoff from a Kn*fe, our mystery woman's w*apon of choice. And since none of us are cut...

It was definitely Khalil's. She was on top of him when we came in.

Jen could be hurt, too.

Either way, they might seek medical attention.

They'd never expose themselves.

Yeah, probably not.

But right now, it's the only lead we got.

I'll tap into the local database, check out the doctors in the area.

All right. And we'll check out the hospitals and the clinics.

How do you wanna split 'em up?

There's probably only a handful, so we should stick together in case there's trouble.

Is this because you're worried, or you're trying to keep an eye on me?

Both.

Well, believe me, if anything happens to Jennifer, I'll be the one bringing the trouble to them.

♪♪ Last night I saw a superhero He was black ♪♪

♪♪ He said "This is for the street Black Lightning's back" ♪♪

What happened?

Nothing.

I just... I don't know. I couldn't sit around doing nothing anymore.

Come on in.

At least we can be miserable together.

Thank you.

[Lynn] Can I see Khalil's room?

It's pretty much how he left it.

I'm not sure you'll find anything that'll do you any good, but...

You don't mind if I snoop around a bit? Nope, have at it.

Just being in here breaks my heart.

I knew I had done everything right this time around.

But when that b*llet hit, I knew he was no better off than my other son.

Khalil had a brother?

Yeah. He was hardly 15 when he d*ed.

Running with that One Hundred g*ng.

Got k*lled slinging mud on them corners.

I'm so sorry.

One son dead, one son on the run.

Seems that motherhood was never meant to be my calling.

No, don't say that.

You still have a son, and he still needs you.

Now more than ever.

Is this Khalil's father?

Seems pretty recent. Are they close?

Do you think he knows how to contact him?

I couldn't say.

Here's what I know.

That man ain't nothing and never will be.

Far as I'm concerned, he can go to hell.

[camera clicks]

Despite your many successes this past year, Todd, we've decided that the grant for advanced encryption is going to another candidate.

Let me guess, Garett Tortolani?

Actually, yes.

The same Garett Tortolani whose rich white dad just donated a new wing to the research center?

Quite frankly, I resent the implication, Mr. Green.

Well, you can resent it all you want.

That doesn't make it any less true.

Good day, Mr. Green.

The panel's decision has been made, and that decision is final.

Some straight bull! Security!

You can take that grant to hell, 'cause that's where all of you corrupt, r*cist bastards are going!

Security. Thank you, brother.

Don't touch me. Don't... Look, don't touch me.

Don't touch me.

[woman on PA] Surgery, pick up line 24.

Surgery, pick up line 24.

[indistinct announcement]

[current buzzing]

[buzzing increases]

[high-pitched tone]

Okay.

...shoulder-length cut.

Maybe a little bit longer than the shoulders, about till here.

No?

Another dead end.

I mean, by now, who knows how far they could have gotten.

Mom still not answering?

Your mother's been through a lot.

She probably just needs a minute.

[man] Mary, we got a major power outage in here.

Copy that. I'm on it.

[Jefferson] What? Did you hear that?

So this guy thinks some kind of power surge shorted out the machine.

But what if...

Wait, Dad. Come here. Look up top.

That... There's a scorch mark.

Yeah, it has to be her. But if she's willing to take this risk...

Khalil must be in pretty bad shape.

Gambi, I think we got something.

Hey. Hey.

You okay?

Never better.

Hopefully this will help.

Let's see.

[sighs]

You wouldn't happen to have a secret heroin addiction?

Or use some performance-enhancing dr*gs?

[chuckles]

[coughs]

No. No, but... But I wish I did.

You imagine how fast I would have been?

Yeah, and I still would have smoked your ass.

Only because I would have liked the view after you did.

Oh, it's like that?

You better be nice, 'cause I'm about to stick you with this.

If I can figure out how to do it.

When I hacked into the hospital's CCTV, I found this.

Okay. Can you delete this footage? At least keep her out of jail?

Well, the good news is, Jennifer isn't hurt.

Yeah, the bad news is, now both of my daughters are thieves.

Sometimes you've gotta do the wrong thing for the right reasons.

Okay. You see this?

That means that she was here the same time you were.

All right. Well, they couldn't have gone too far, then.

With Khalil injured, they're probably holed up somewhere nearby.

Can you tell which direction she was headed?

Well, when she pulled out of here, she was traveling east.

Whoa. Wait. Freeze that, right there. In the mirror.

Damn, who is this bitch?

Now that we have a face, I can do some serious digging, find out exactly who we're dealing with.

I'm going east.

[Gambi] What are you talking about?

Dad! Jeff. Jeff!

What the hell are you doing?

You're not going anywhere without your suit to protect you.

We don't have time for that.

I lost her twice, I'm not losing her again.

Not without your suit, Jeff. You know how risky that is.

Dad, come on. That's crazy. Are you insane?

There is a k*ller on my daughter's tail, hired by Tobias, which means that she's...

She's after Khalil.

No, she will k*ll whoever's in her way.

Look, finding Jennifer is our priority, but you flying around without your suit is just plain reckless, Jeff.

You risk exposing yourself and your entire family.

The only thing I care about in this moment is finding Jennifer.

Jeff, you're not listening. Get off of me.

Have you lost your damn mind? I raised you!

Get off!

Dad! This has gone too far, guys!

Now, we all wanna find Jennifer, but it's not gonna happen like this.

Jeff, I'm sorry.

You've lost perspective. Please, don't lose your life.

[Jennifer sighs]

[Jennifer] The antibiotics should have kicked in by now.

[Khalil] Unless it's too late.

Hey, don't even say that.

Don't say stuff like that.

[Khalil] J...

[shivering]

Whatever this is, it's getting worse.

I'm on fire.

I'm not hearing that right now.

Stop it. Not after everything we've been through.

I remember when I first saw you.

Are you seriously getting all corny on me right now?

[coughs] No. No. No, this...

This is a memory I'll keep for myself.

But...

[breathing unsteadily]

I knew then that you were special.

Well...

I remember all the girls at Garfield going on and on about Khalil this and Khalil that.

And I'm like, "What the hell is the big deal?

Who is Khalil?"

And, um, then I saw you standing at your locker.

And I can't lie.

First thing that popped into my head was...

"Well, damn!"

[both chuckle]

You hear me?

[rap song playing]

Hold up. He invited me. He invited me.

Let the man in.

Don't you know this is our guest of honor?

Todd Green. Born in Fort Valley.

Graduated college at 17.

Earned both your Masters and PhD by the time you were 21.

It's kind of weird that you know all that.

I've been monitoring you for a while now.

When I heard you weren't gonna get that grant, well, I figured it was a good time to reach out, introduce myself.

I mean, how did you know what they would decide before I even knew?

This is really good.

At $500 a bottle, it better be.

Must be tough, smart kid like you, good family, good private schools, always getting passed over despite his superior talents.

Why do you think that is, Todd, that you keep getting passed over?

It's because it's the black man's burden to carry the weight of white privilege.

Without the benefits of being rich or white, you'll never be better than second best.

Well, unless of course you change the game.

Here, I saved you the best seat in the house.

Oh! Oh...

Now, if these women aren't to your liking, I can get you others.

Or if you'd prefer men...

No. No, but... But thank you. I actually prefer to not be touched.

That... That would be my preference.

Ladies, you heard the man. Go.

This is what they call the good life, Todd.

And you'd better get used to it, because that old life just doesn't exist anymore.

I don't even know why I'm here.

I did some reading today.

In fact, I probably read everything that's ever been written about you.

Press doesn't really paint you in the most flattering light.

I'd like to think that we're both worth more than the labels society put upon us.

Just know this, I come to you as a friend, a friend with enormous resources who can pull you up out of that second-class status you've been branded with.

All you have to do is say yes.

[cell phone vibrating]

Excuse me for a moment.

Yes.

Our friend's gonna be dead within the hour.

- Thought you should know. I had one request, and that was for him to be brought in alive.

Which was clearly my intent.

But when those metas showed up, I went with the poison blades.

If it wasn't for his enhanced immune system, he would've been dead hours ago.

Are you a...

My terms were very clear. If you want your money, abide by them.

Tobias, come on, dead is dead.

Let's not make things difficult.

Death at someone else's hands is too easy an outcome.

I want him alive. No exceptions. No excuses.

Giselle Cutter. Assassin, tracker, world-class martial artist, mercenary for hire.

Is she a meta? There are rumors.

People have had her lined up point-blank, and they've missed.

She's bulletproof? b*ll*ts never hit her.

It's also been said that she can literally throw knives around corners.

That says to me, low-level telekinetic.

Any connection to Tobias? Nothing solid.

And she's been tracking Jen since the hospital.

She's several hours ahead of us.

These markers signify all of the zoned locations within the county.

A total of 41.

I've searched every structure 30 miles east of the hospital.

There's nothing but mountains to the north.

Now, if Khalil was hurt bad enough that Jen would steal medicine, there's no way he's hiking that terrain.

That leaves us with 15 possible locations, including some farms, silos and an old power plant.

Keep monitoring the sheriff and police scanners.

We still doing this together? No, there's no time.

[sighs] I figured I'd see you.

Hard for anyone to get into the sanctum without me knowing.

What are you trying to find?

I got the name of Khalil's father, Kito.

I'm hoping he might be able to help us find them.

Is a name all that you have?

That, and he just got out of jail.

Try the FBI database.

Once he's been fingerprinted, he's in the system.

"Possession with intent to sell.

as*ault and battery.

"Resisting arrest.

Carrying a concealed w*apon without a permit."

Are you sure this is a good idea?

No, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes.

Well, if I thought it'd do any good, I'd try to talk you out of it...

I know. I'm as stubborn as the rest of my family.

I'll be careful. I just... I need an address.

All right, we're chasing the clock here.

I've gotta get back.

Right. If I find anything, I'll let you know.

[door beeps]

[Khalil shivering]

Please don't die.

God...

God, please don't let him die.

Please.

Did you say something, J?

What?

No.

[whispers] No.

Khalil, I'll be right back, okay?

I'm just gonna go step outside.

I'll be right back.

Right back.

[sobbing]

[current buzzing]

What... What happened?

You tell me. This is a place of your own making.

Wait.

So this is different than before? You're not actually here?

Everything you need to know is already inside of you.

What does that even mean?

I think she means me.

But I'm just as scared as you are.

Let your fear be your guide.

Two parts of your brain working in harmony.

So if she's a part of my brain, then so are you?

Indeed.

There's something humming out there in the dark.

Like that machine at the hospital?

Yeah, exactly. Just not as strong.

But there's nowhere to plug something in.

Batteries. Batteries.

[buzzing continues]

If there are binoculars, then someone's out there watching us.

If you know where to look, electricity can be found anywhere.

Including the human body.

Okay. Mrs. Glew's chemistry class, fourth period.

We had a whole section on this. Think, think, think.

Okay, let me see. Um...

We learned about charged elements, human voltage, electrical currents, ions...

If there's all this electricity in the body, and we can see the binoculars, then we should also be able to see...

[high-pitched tone]

[gasps] Run!

You good?

I thought you left.

Never.

Never.

Anything? No.

Look, I just want to... I wanna...

I just wanna say... Jeff. Jeff, we're good.

You find anything? Nothing.

There must be some buildings that haven't been registered with the county, or that are just obscured from satellite imagery.

What about Cutter? Nothing.

From everything I've gathered, if she doesn't wanna be found, we're not gonna find her.

But she's probably found Jennifer.

No, Dad. Dad, we don't know that.

At this point, we have to assume the worst.

[Gambi] There's gotta be something we're missing.

[screams]

My daughter's a damn generator.

I'm Black Lightning, and I can't find her.

Dad, come on. Take a deep breath.

It is because you're Black Lightning we're gonna find her.

You gotta believe that.

I don't believe anything right now.

[current surging]

What did you do to him?

You can tase me all you want, I'm not telling you nothing.

Tell me what you did. He's gonna die.

Bitch, we all gonna die.

[Khalil coughs]

What did you do? Tell me!

[grunts]

[breathing heavily]

[laughing]

You are gonna die tonight.

Why the hell didn't the medicine work?

What does the red tape mean?

Well, I'd like to find out.

How about I use one of your own poison knives on you, make you suffer like he has?

As smart as you are, you probably have an antidote on you somewhere...

Just in case?

Let's find out where it is.

[grunts]

It's in my necklace.

Booyah.

Oh...

And this one's for Khalil.

Hey, hey. I got something.

I got something. Hang in there.

Hey.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm...

I'm Lynn Stewart, Jennifer Pierce's mother.

Our kids are in danger. I was hoping you might be able to help.

He's running from Tobias. We assume so.

I warned him to stay away from that dude, but he wouldn't listen.

Felt like he owed him for his legs.

Do you have any way to get in contact with him?

Just his cell phone.

He pretty much keeps me at arm's length.

And if you talked to Nichelle, you know she hates me something fierce.

I was already doing time when our other boy, Keenan, started running wild, hanging on the corner, same way that I had.

Is there anybody you can think of?

A friend, a cousin, a pastor, a couch he might have crashed on?

No, nothing.

He got this new place, but I never heard him talk about neighbors or roommates.

I don't know why, I just assumed he was staying with Tobias.

Do you know where this new place is? Do you have an address?

I'm sorry, I don't.

He definitely wasn't staying with Tobias, though. That I know for sure.

Kito, thank you. Yeah.

Let's just run through them again.

But we've searched all of these.

[Black Lightning] Yes, Gambi, the clock is ticking.

I feel like I'm wasting my time.

Now, why do you think we're gonna find something new?

Look, like I said, we must be missing something.

Jennifer is out there somewhere.

This is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Wait a minute.

Maybe the haystack's the problem.

Gambi, can you increase the voltage threshold in these goggles?

Yes. Why?

Most generators and large appliances operate at about 240 volts.

And since Jen runs much hotter than that, by increasing the threshold...

We'll be able to narrow down the search.

[Black Lightning] Okay.

All right, let's go. Come on.

I need you to isolate each location so I can lock in the coordinates and see if anything new pops up.

All right. Here's the laundromat Anissa went to.

Here's the pumping station you saw.

Here's the power plant.

What about this last one?

It's not on the list.

That's gotta be her. Let's go.

Hey.

[sobbing] Hey.

Hey, it's okay. It's okay.

Thank you, God.

Don't cry. I thought you were dead.

Come on, J.

You know you can't get rid of me that easily.

[kissing]

I love you.

I love you, too.

Don't scare me like that, please?

Don't leave me out here, okay?

I got you. It's okay.

What, uh...

What exactly happened here? She pissed me off.

She's lucky after everything she did, I still decided to give her the antidote.

The antidote?

I'll tell you later. Are you good to go?

Yeah. Yeah?

I'm fine. Come on.

There's quite a bit of blood over here. I assume it's Khalil's.

It looks like someone was held c*ptive here.

There's drag marks on the ground.

Could be sign of a struggle.

You think it was Jennifer?

With Cutter on their tail, it's hard to think otherwise.

We saw a series of electrical pulses.

Maybe try the goggles. See if there's any residual traces.

[Black Lightning] Yeah, they were definitely here.

This whole area's lit up like a Christmas tree.

Let's walk the perimeter.

We tracked 'em to a barn where it looks like they were hiding.

And?

They were already gone by the time we got here.

Jeff, there's something you're not telling me, I can hear it in your voice.

Lynn... No, please don't lie to me. Not now.

Just tell me the truth.

Did they k*ll her?

Is that what you're saying?

[tearfully] Is Jennifer dead?

I don't know.

[rap music playing]

T...

The nerd wants to see you.

I believe you owe Todd an apology.

I said apologize.

I'm sorry, man. No disrespect.

I trust you're having a good time?

Yeah. A little too good, which is why the question keeps rattling around in my mind.

Why me? Why are you doing this?

Let's just say I'm a big fan.

Well, I'm flattered, but...

I'm afraid I'mma have to decline whatever it is that you're offering.

But thank you, you know, for your generosity.

Though I respect it, Todd, I think you're bluffing.

Now, we could blame it on the alcohol or that surge of excitement at being wanted, but if I had my guess, I'd say this is about power.

Now, how's that?

By rebuffing my offer.

Even if for a moment, it made you feel strong.

[chuckles]

Like you're in control.

Funny thing is, there's very few people in this world that can do what I'll be asking you to do.

And that is why you're here.

If you come work for me, not only would I make you incredibly rich, but you'd have more control and more power than you've ever dreamed of.

[cell phone vibrating]

Go ahead, look at it.

Did you really just deposit 100 grand into my account?

If it's a problem, I can take it back.

I wanted you to know I put a value on your time.

No. [stammers] Whatever it is, I'm in.

You know Tobias is never gonna stop, right?

My family, either.

I know.

J, we're never gonna be able to run fast enough.

You know that, right?

Then we'll find a place to hide, you know?

Get 'em off our scent for a while.

[Jennifer clears throat]

I think you should go home.

[scoffs]

I'm not going anywhere.

J, come on. Look, you deserve better than this.

Look, just because my life is jacked, doesn't mean that yours has to be.

[Jennifer] I'm not hearing you right now.

I'm the ride or die type, you already know that.

Yeah, and it's the dying part that I'm afraid of.

Well, I'm not.

We're in this together, okay?

'Cause after everything we've been through, what should we even be afraid of?

[blow landing] [man yells]

[grunts]

[man groaning]

There you are.

[cell phone vibrating]

It's done. What's next?

Well, how much we talking?

Freeland, huh?

[closing theme music playing]