Episode 301

INT. RED WHEELBARROW BBQ #3.01.01#

R.W.B. EMPLOYEE

Looks like you’re going to get a free milkshake, you lucky Dog.

IRVING

I’ll take chocolate, please.

R.W.B. EMPLOYEE

Oh, sorry, sir. That offer is only valid On your next visit.

IRVING

I don’t understand. I got my punches. Didn’t you just say I could have a free milkshake?

R.W.B. EMPLOYEE

Yes, and you can redeem it On your next visit.

IRVING

What’s the difference? I’m here now.

R.W.B. EMPLOYEE

I’m sorry, sir. That’s not the way it works.

IRVING

Okay, should I just get out of line and then get back in?

R.W.B. EMPLOYEE

No, sir. You would have to redeem it On your next visit here.

IRVING

Okay. What qualifies as a visit? Do I have to leave the premises and come back? Do I have to go home? Is it time-based? You see the faulty logic here, don’t you?

R.W.B. EMPLOYEE

Sir, those are the rules. You can speak to the manager, or I’d be happy to add a milkshake to your order for .95.

IRVING

It’s not about the money. It’s about the principle.

R.W.B. EMPLOYEE

Sir, there’s nothing I can do.

IRVING

(into Phone)

Uh-huh. Calm down. No Screaming isn’t going to help this situation, is it? Uh-huh. Yeah, well, I agree. It’s not good. Is he dead? Uh-huh. All right. Be there in 15 minutes.

He hangs up.

IRVING

When we lose our principles, we invite chaos.

CUT TO:

INT. STAGE 2 HQ WAREHOUSE #3.01.02#

TYRELL

Thank God you’re here. I I don’t know how it got to this. Please, tell me you can help him. He he can’t I can’t

IRVING

Well, he’s kinda still alive. Uh, this wasn’t What I meant by “safekeeping.“

TYRELL

Please, just tell me, I need to know. Is he going to live?

IRVING

The doctors are On route. And they’re about two minutes out. Camera Uh You know, pushing On his stomach like that That’s, uh, That’s not helping things. You might want to stop that.

CUT TO:

EXT. IRVING’S AUTO SQUARE #3.01.03#

IRVING

(into Phone)

Uh-huh. Well, our people are working On him as we speak. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Just went in to surgery. Uh-huh. Well What do you want me to do about the Swede? Uh-huh. And as far as the kid goes? Uh-huh. Ready when you are.

IRVING

Okeydoke.

CUT TO:

INT. WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP E-CORP POWER PLANT – DAY #3.01.04#

LAB DIRECTOR

I love a great mystery. And I’m fascinated by the greatest unsolved mystery. Do we see reality as it is? If I close my eyes and imagine That, ladies and gentlemen, is why it’s always smart to have backup generators at a nuclear Power plant. And as I was saying, if I close my eyes, I can imagine that everything we experience, everything we see, think, and do, is unfolding simultaneously in a parallel universe. And if so, how many copies of our cells exist? And might our mental states be conjoined? For better or worse.

ZHANG

He really is a crazy little goose, isn’t he?

Grant speaks in Chinese.

ZHANG

No, no, no. Remember What we said. Practice makes perfect.

GRANT

(Accented)

Sir, I think they are Both incredibly unstable people. Let me run Stage 2 for you. I am more than capable.

ZHANG

Have I ever told you that Mr. Alderson’s father used to work for us On this project? Unbeknownst to him, of course. In fact, it was his great engineering work that led to some of our early successes. What an extraordinary coincidence. And now his son works for us after so many years.

GRANT

But you don’t believe in coincidence.

ZHANG

Yes, I don’t, which is why you misunderstand Mr. Alderson’s value. It was his impassioned plea to destroy E Corp that presented us with the opportunity to set our plan in motion, and it has taken his relentless determination since to continue it. We may possess the necessary tools, but What we do not have is his unadulterated focused rage. Time presented us Mr. Alderson when we needed him. Therefore, his will must be our guide. And after Mr. Alderson completes the great work that we need from him, then he can die for us. Just like his father.

CUT TO:

INT. ANGELA’S APARTMENT – GUEST ROOM #3.01.05#

Often I see This sad old world Is whistling in the Dark Just like a child Who late from school Walks bravely home through the park To keep their spirit soaring

ELLIOT (V.O)

Are you still there? Am I? What Did we miss? Did you see anything? I blacked out. If I’m alive, I must have been right. None of it was real. I’m the one in control. The one with the Power. But why doesn’t it feel that way?

ANGELA

You’re awake. The electricity’s still out. It’s been out a week now.

ELLIOT

What am I doing here?

ANGELA

They brought you here yesterday. You don’t remember.

ELLIOT

What are you talking about? Who brought me here?

ANGELA

The people that you’re working with. They called me. They told me that you Were hurt.

ELLIOT

What people?

ANGELA

I don’t know who they are. I only recognized one of them.

ELLIOT

Who?

ANGELA

Tyrell Wellick.

ELLIOT (V.O.)

Shit. It was real. It actually happened. The gun.

ANGELA

Slow down. You’ve been shot.

ELLIOT (V.O.)

And like that, my Power is gone too.

ANGELA

I just Did What they told me to do. I was scared.

ELLIOT

Angela you have to tell me how I got here.

ANGELA

I was On my way to turn myself in to the FBI, and I was stopped by the Dark Army. They sent a man to my apartment. Elliot, you can’t get up.

ELLIOT

I have to warn the Police.

ANGELA

You can’t do that.

ANGELA

If you tell the Police anything, they’re going to kill me.

PHONE

911 center is experiencing high call volume. For Power outage updates, use 511.

ANGELA

They made that very clear.

PHONE

911. What’s your emergency? Hello?

ELLIOT

Then I have to go there.

ANGELA

Go where?--

ELLIOT

I need to find him.

ANGELA

Who?

ELLIOT

Tyrell.

ANGELA

Are you crazy? He shot you.

ELLIOT

They’re trying to Blow up Evil Corp’s recovery facility.

ANGELA

Hold On.

ELLIOT

I have to stop them.

ANGELA

How can you be so sure that That’s What they’re doing? You’ve been unconscious for the past six days. Maybe you’re wrong.

ELLIOT

What if I’m not? Do you have something I can wear?

CUT TO:

INT. STAGE 2 HQ WAREHOUSE

EXT. ELLIOT’S BUILDING #3.01.07#

SUPER

Oh, Elliot. Hey. Let your visitor know I got plenty of vacant apartments. We got to get some of these things rented, or else we’re all going to get screwed. That’s why I upgraded the facade. You know. It used to be this ugly red. Now it’s this chrome. I think it’s very inviting.

ELLIOT

What visitor?

SUPER

Whoever’s in your apartment. Just tell him we’re running a special. Utilities included.

CUT TO:

INT. APT 4E #3.01.08#

DARLENE

Where the Fuck have you been?

ELLIOT

You shouldn’t be here.

DARLENE

Why are you walking like that? You can’t just disappear On me for days and not say anything.

ELLIOT

Shut the Fuck up. There are men outside. They might be listening. We have to go.

DARLENE

I need to talk to you about something.

ELLIOT

It’s not safe for you here.

DARLENE

Cisco’s dead. Dark Army turned On us. They killed him, and I think I’m next.

ELLIOT

What happened?

DARLENE

We Were having Dinner, and all of a sudden, gunshots went off. The slowest three Seconds of my life. The FBI even questioned me. So yeah, it’s not safe for me anywhere. In fact, everywhere for me is pretty much fucked.

ELLIOT

What Did you tell them? The FBI?

DARLENE

God. You’re a shitty brother, you know that? I could’ve been dead, Elliot.

ELLIOT

Sorry.

DARLENE

What is this about, anyway? Stage 2? The Phone we hacked before you Did your vanishing act. The hot mic picked it all up. Stage 2 is your plan, isn’t it? Elliot? What is Stage 2?

ELLIOT

The femtocell you had Angela install.

DARLENE

Yeah, so? That was for a hack On the FBI.

ELLIOT

That wasn’t the only reason. It created a backdoor inside Evil Corp. It was to get access to the UPSs inside one of their buildings.

DARLENE

What building?

ELLIOT

The building That’s housing their recovery program. All their backup paper records, titles, deeds, loan documents

DARLENE

Jesus. Oh, you Were you Were just going to Blow it up? This is What you meant by “finishing off Evil Corp.” They’d have no chance at rebuilding their database.

DARLENE

You Were planning this with them all along behind my back.

ELLIOT

No, no, it wasn’t like that.

DARLENE

Because you didn’t think I’d go along with it? Killing all of those people?

ELLIOT

It wasn’t me! Wasn’t me.

(Whispers)

I can stop it. I can stop this. I can stop it. I can stop it.

DARLENE

You’re not going to get online here. Internet’s been down for days.

ELLIOT

If I can close the backdoor, I can stop it. Darlene please help me.

DARLENE

I know a space that has access. But you’re not going to get in there wearing that shirt.

CUT TO:

INT. HACKERSPACE #3.01.09#

ELLIOT

Looks a little busy.

DARLENE

The only hacker space with a dedicated fiber connection. Stay here, I’ll find us a way to get On.

ELLIOT (V.O.)

A CTF tournament. Capture the flag. It’s like the hacker Olympics. Teams around the world compete to solve challenges.

Reverse-engineering protocol exploitation, forensics. The entire city’s suffering an energy crisis while they’re here, exercising their inner anarchy. It’s times like these I really wish I had a mute button for life.

CROWD

Whoo! Whoo!

ELLIOT

Isn’t that better?

DARLENE

We’re fucked. All the machines are taken. They’re in the middle of the final round of the qualifier for a CTF. It’s them versus nine other countries, and from the scoreboard, the Koreans are ride or die. It’s going to take forever before this is over.

ELLIOT

Or I could just win it for them.

ELLIOT

They let you save and load your game, restoring all the mines you found and all the shells you cleared. That’s the weakness. The game trusts whatever data you give it to recreate the board. Poison the data. You can make it run whatever code you want.

HACKER

Yeah. We already thought about that. It won’t work. There’s a server-side key used to verify the game saves. And without it, you just get a checksum error--

ELLIOT

Which is why you play the game until you find the mines first.

Once you know the full board, you can derive the key.

And you already spotted the code injection vuln in the save handler function, right?

HACKER

Shit. I never thought of that.

OTHER HACKER

Dude, just let him On.

HACKER

No way, man. Need I remind you, I was a CyberPatriot finalist.

OTHER HACKER

Yeah, in middle school. If we don’t make the top three, we’re not going to Vegas. And he knows this shit better than you.

HACKER

Fuck it, I’ve been at this for four fucking hours. I gotta deuce it out anyway. This Soylent ain’t for the Faint-hearted.

ELLIOT

I see them. Stay calm.

DARLENE

It’s Dark Army.

ELLIOT

It’s me they want, not you. You having an attack?

DARLENE

It’s okay. Don’t stop, okay? I’ll be fine.

CUT TO:

INT. HACKERSPACE – RESTROOM #3.01.10#

DARLENE

Fuck!

(Into Phone)

You need to help me. There’s Dark Army everywhere. I saw them.

They have guns. Please.

DARLENE

Shit.

CUT TO:

INT. HACKERSPACE #3.01.11#

HACKERFAN

Dude! Dude, I can’t believe it only took you two minutes to win the final round.

ELLIOT

Can you please take your hand off me and leave me alone?

HACKERFAN

Yeah. Dude, I I was just Thank you.

ELLIOT (V.O.)

The backdoor had a hard-coded C2 domain pointing to a listener On Tyrell’s machine. All I have to do is hack the registrar and change the name server configs. Once I hijack the domain, I can shut down their access before the Dark army notices.

DARLENE

Elliot.

ELLIOT

I’m almost done. I shut the backdoor. I just have to uninstall--

DARK ARMY 1

Stand up and walk with us.

DARK ARMY 2

Do it.

CUT TO:

EXT. HACKERSPACE #3.01.12#

DARK ARMY 2

Go down Cortlandt Alley.

DARLENE

What are you doing? This is them.

ELLIOT

It’s them I want to see.

IRVING

Get in.

ELLIOT

– We’re good, man.

IRVING

No, you’re not. That Car she’s eyeballing is FBI. They’re following you. Been following you since you left the apartment. You’re gonna want to get in.

CUT TO:

INT. IRVING’S CAB #3.01.13#

IRVING

Hey, miss, grab my laptop. Should be On the floor right below you there. Pull up the motor vehicle lookup tool, would you? Sorry about the mess. Been a while since I had time to clean it. But hey, gas prices What they are right now, taxis are a premium, so, you know, you’re welcome for the free cab ride. Uh, now, Elliot, do me a favor, would you? Read her the license plate of the Car That’s been tailing us.

ELLIOT

UVM 7482.

IRVING

All right, good. Uh, now, miss. Input that plate number. Grab the VIN number. Put it On a sticky note. I got ‘em in the side Door there, along with a pen.

ONSTAR REP

OnStar center. This is Debbie. How may I help you?

IRVING

Yeah, I need to report an emergency. This is Detective Robert Abernathy, badge number 8301, out of the 19 precinct.

(Aside)

Get that number? Yeah, I got a stolen vehicle. Driving erratically, and almost hitting pedestrians during the outage here. Yeah, I’m gonna pursue for about ten minutes. Yeah, I have line of sight of the vehicle. I need to initiate a slowdown. Okay. VIN number, here we go: 1, H, G, C, M, 8, 2, 6, 3, 3, A, 0, 0, 4, 3, F as in Franklin, Uh-huh. Yeah. Uh, okay. I see the lights blinking. Thank you, guys.

(To Elliot & Darlene)

All right. Who wants barbecue?

CUT TO:

INT. RED WHEELBARROW BBQ #3.01.14#

ELLIOT (V.O.)

Red Wheelbarrow. Did they get that from me? Or Did I get it from them? However it happened, it’s clearly a Dark Army front now. This must be the guy that sent me that fucking menu.

IRVING

Do me a favor, miss. Go get us a couple of number fours. On me. Oh. And make sure they punch my card.

DARLENE

I’m not going anywhere.

IRVING

Well, I got business with your brother, here. Now, the faster we get that rolling, the faster you two can leave.

ELLIOT

It’s okay.

DARLENE

I’ll go stand over there, but I’m not getting you a fucking number four.

IRVING

What about my punch card?

DARLENE

And don’t call me “miss.“

IRVING

Well, she’s full of life, huh? Let’s get to What this is about. Well (sighs) We hear you’ve been running around town. The doc says you should be resting.

ELLIOT

I had shit to do.

IRVING

Well, you want to catch me up On where we’re at?

ELLIOT

I shut the backdoor.

IRVING

Now, why would you go do a thing like that?

ELLIOT

I’m calling this operation off.

IRVING

You sure you want to do that? We’ve gone to great lengths

ELLIOT

It’s not negotiable. And if there’s a problem with my request, you can deal with me. And only me.

IRVING

Ah, I suppose our employer will be disappointed.

ELLIOT

I don’t have an employer.

IRVING

Uh-huh. Well She believes that a plan lives or dies by its creator, so if you want it dead, so be it.

ELLIOT

Where are you going?

IRVING

Oh, I want to go home. And they canceled the Mets game, so I’ll probably end up working On my book a little.-

ELLIOT

So That’s it?

IRVING

That’s it.

ELLIOT

I want confirmation. From her.

IRVING

You know that bullet we took out of you? We can easily put it right back in. You won. Go home. Before you end up losing again.

DARLENE

What happened?

ELLIOT

It’s over. They’re calling off Stage 2.

DARLENE

Just like that?

ELLIOT

Just like that.

DARLENE

I don’t buy it.

ELLIOT

We’d Both be dead if they wanted to stop us. That tends to be their response when they disagree with you.

DARLENE

And who are “they,” exactly? Is this just Dark Army, or is Tyrell Wellick involved in all of this, too? I know a lot more than you think, Elliot. Answer the question. Is Tyrell Wellick involved? Has he been a part of this whole thing from the beginning?

ELLIOT

No. Look, even if they Were lying, I closed their only access.

DARLENE

You want to bury your head in the sand, be my guest. But my eyes are staying wide fucking open.

ELLIOT

The only thing that matters is that we survive this thing. We got out alive, which happens to be a luxury right now. We don’t know where Trenton and Mobley are, but they’re probably dead. And we know What happened to Cisco.

DARLENE

Go Fuck yourself.

ELLIOT (V.O)

Darlene’s right. I can’t trust them. This was too easy. But at least I stopped them for now. I can go home knowing that. But was she right about me? Am I sticking my head in the sand? Did my revolution just bury our minds, instead of freeing them

ELLIOT

Encrypting Evil Corp’s data was meant to empower us. Instead, it left us powerless, scaring us into even more submission. I am not going to get rid of the invisible hand. Turned it into a fist that punched us in the dick. And like a botnet, the fear I created is spreading so fast, it’s practically airborne.

CUT TO:

EXT. NYC STREET #3.01.15#

ELLIOT

It’s swallowed us whole, digested us, and now we’re stuck in its asshole, waiting to be dumped out. And while we’re here, they’re having their way with us. They packaged a fight into product. Turned our dissent into intellectual property. Televising our revolution with commercial breaks.

ELLIOT

They backdoored into our minds and robbed our truth, refurbished the facts, then marked up the price. This is What they do. It’s What they’re good at. This is their greatest trick. To try and bring the truth. They’re trying to take that away. And now they’re moving to the next step. Yeah, next step. You know What the next step is? Lobotomizing us into their virtual reality horror show. Why? So they can take away your Power, and I am not talking about your Electricity. And this all started because I tried to hide from society. Remember? Fuck society. Yeah, well, I fucked society, all right. I reset it to zero, and if I don’t do anything about it, it will continue to grow in this malignant way. And That’s What I’m afraid of the most. This Dark future that I set into motion. Who knows What could come from this? Thank you, thank you very much. What if instead of fighting back, we caved, gave away our privacy for security, exchanged dignity for safety, and traded revolution for repression? What if we choose weakness over strength? These are not the people that made our country great. These are the people that are destroying our country. They’ll even have us build our own prison. This is What they wanted all along. For us to buy in On our worst selves.

ELLIOT

And I just made it easier for them. I didn’t start a revolution. I just made us docile enough for their slaughtering. And I can stand here and blame Evil Corp and every other conglomerate out there for taking advantage of us, blame the FBI, NSA, CIA, for letting them get away with this, blame all the world’s leaders for aiding and abetting them, blame Adam Smith for inventing modern-day capitalism in the first fucking place. Blame money for dividing us, blame us for letting it. But none of That’s true. The truth is I’m the one to blame.

ELLIOT

I’m the problem. This was my fault. All of it. I Did this.

ELLIOT

Fuck me.

BACK TO:

INT. RED WHEELBARROW BBQ #3.01.16#

R.W.B. EMPLOYEE

Sir? We’re closing up. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.

CUT TO:

INT. ANGELA’S APARTMENT #3.01.17#

ELLIOT

I need a job at Evil Corp.

ANGELA

What?

ELLIOT

I need to find a way to fix What I Did. You need to give me a job there.

ANGELA

I don’t know that I can just do that.

ELLIOT

With everything they’ve been through, they must need people to work On their recovery program. I need you to try. This is important.

ANGELA

Okay. I’ll try.

ELLIOT

One more thing. I need you to keep an eye On me. I need you to tell me if I’m ever him. If anyone can tell It’s you.

ANGELA

Why do you think I can tell?

ELLIOT

You know me better than anyone. Right now You’re the only person I can trust.

ELLIOT

Sorry.

ANGELA

What happened before, when we kissed, that was a mistake.

ELLIOT (V.O.)

If you’re wondering if this hurts Yeah. It hurts a lot, but I get it. I’ve known Angela since I was eight. This is What she does. She doesn’t love the people who love her. She loves the people who don’t. This is her Power-saver mode.

ELLIOT

What’s wrong?

ANGELA

I have to tell you something.

ELLIOT

What?

ANGELA

What if I told you we could make it like none of this ever happened?

ELLIOT

You mean 5/9?

ANGELA

No, not just that. I mean, everything. Including What happened to our parents. If we could take it all back, from the beginning What would you be willing to sacrifice for that?

ELLIOT

Angela, What are you talking about? That’s not possible.

ANGELA

What if I told you it is?

ELLIOT

How?

ANGELA

Never mind. I’m just tired. I think I should go to bed. Can you stay here tonight? It’s been a rough couple of months. Just make me feel safe.

ELLIOT

Yeah.

CUT TO:

INT. ANGELA’S APARTMENT – LATER #3.01.18#

ANGELA

Elliot?

MR. ROBOT

It’s me.

ANGELA

Come closer. I need to get dressed. And then we’ll go.

MR. ROBOT

Did you convince him Stage 2 is over?

ANGELA

That’s been taken care of.

MR. ROBOT

We need to pick up Darlene. She should be a part of this.

ANGELA

No. In fact, you need to stay away from her. We can’t trust her. She helped Elliot close the backdoor.

MR. ROBOT

Come again? She Did What? The backdoor is closed?

ANGELA

Yes.

MR. ROBOT

(Scoffs)

Why are you so calm about this?

ANGELA

We’re going to find a way to get back On the network.

MR. ROBOT

Is that all?

ANGELA

We’ll be fine.

MR. ROBOT

This isn’t about the backdoor. It’s about him. Anything we do, he will try to slow us down. As long as he exists, he will stop us.

ANGELA

Then we’ll find a way to redirect his energy.

ANGELA

Come On. They’re expecting us.

MR. ROBOT

What’s that for?

ANGELA

In case Elliot comes back.

MR. ROBOT

How can you tell? That it’s me? How do you know that you’re not talking to him right now?

ANGELA

Your eyes. You’re never trying to look away.

IRVING

Are you all right? When I saw him earlier tonight, he was all hell-bent On not doing this. How’d you change his mind?

ANGELA

You have to remember, he woke up with a Gunshot wound in his stomach. He’s still getting his bearings, but he’s fine now.

IRVING

Uh-huh. Something’s rotten about all this. When we spoke earlier, he was looking at me like we’d never met.

ANGELA

You brought me in to manage him. And That’s exactly What I’ve done. Nothing else matters, does it? Thank you for getting me the time before checking in with her.

IRVING

Don’t thank me too quickly. We’re behind schedule now, and we Both know how she feels about punctuality.

ANGELA

One more thing. I’m going to get him a job at Evil Corp. Doesn’t hurt to have him On the inside, given our situation.

IRVING

Are you sure he’s good to go?

ANGELA

Yes.

TYRELL

You have to understand, I thought you Were dismantling our project. You Were ruining our whole mission that we sacrificed and worked hard to build.

MR. ROBOT

It’s okay. You Did What I asked of you. Still could’ve had better aim, though. It takes a lot to miss every vital organ. That’s some pretty piss-poor marksmanship. What? I’m messing with you. Just trying to break the ice a little. Come On. Still have plenty of work to do.

CUT TO:

INT. BUS

Touch I remember touch Pictures came with touch A painter in my mind Tell me What you see A tourist in a dream A visitor it seems A half-forgotten Song Where do I belong Tell me What you see I need something more

FARAWAY VOICE

We reestablish access that tunnels us right back in Evil Corp’s internal network.

RADIO

Suddenly alive Happiness arrive Hunger like a storm How do I begin Tell me What you see

MR. ROBOT

I got to ask, What is in this for you? Why are you doing this?

ANGELA

Like I told you before, I’m not going to talk to you like I talk to Elliot. You and I, we are not friends.

MR. ROBOT

It’s precisely that you’re besties with him that I’m trying to understand how you can lie to him so blatantly.

ANGELA

How could I be lying to him? I’m literally looking right at him.

MR. ROBOT

That’s certainly a creative way to get out of this. But let’s be real. You are taking advantage of Elliot’s let’s call it “unique” condition.

ANGELA

He started this, didn’t he? I’m just helping him finish it. I’m pushing him along. Isn’t that What you do? That is What I do. If you want me to keep On doing What it is that I do, we’re going to have to trust each other.

MR. ROBOT

Right now, Angela, I do not trust you. So I’m going to ask you one more time. Why, exactly, are you doing all of this?

ANGELA

Evil Corp killed my mom. And my whole life I’ve always wanted justice for her death. But how do you bring justice to a conglomerate as untouchable as Evil Corp? I thought I would never win. Even after I found out about your crazy plan, I still didn’t believe it was possible. Not until I met Whiterose. It wasn’t until she opened my eyes that I could see how all of the damage that they’ve caused Could finally be undone. When we succeed A whole new world will be born.

Looks like the power’s back On.

Touch Sweet touch You’ve given me too much to feel Sweet touch You’ve almost convinced me I’m real I need something more I need something More

End of episode.