- It's me. - Max, are you there? Can you come over?
Maybe later. I'm taking some stuff to Joshua's. Why?
- I got a situation. - What kind of situation?
It's an emergency.
Oh, God. No! - Logan! Logan!
Logan...
- Oh, Max. Thank God. - Are you okay? What happened?
- Eyes Only met his match. - Uncle Logan...
- Hi. What's your name? - Go away.
- Nice name. I'm Max. - Brittany, say hi.
No.
- Max is here to help me take care of you. - No.
- Took the word right out of my mouth. - Wait, Max. No. Wait. Wait.
You gotta help me out here.
My cousin Bitsy called.
Some rigmarole... she said she needed to drop her off for the whole day.
"Bitsy"? Where's husband Biff? Where's the nanny?
I don't know; maybe husband Biff ran off with the nanny. Who cares?
I'm exhausted. She won't take a nap... she won't eat anything I give her...
Oh, she doesn't like bruschetta with a crisp pre-pulse sauterne?
- I'm begging you. - Look, I'd love to, but she doesn't like me.
Oh, no, she's just saying that. She - she does like you. I can tell.
Please help me.
Can I have one?
- Depends. - On what?
- On whether you read a story with me. - Okay.
Logan, you got any kids' stories?
As a matter of fact, I think I do.
This oughta do it. Hans Christian Andersen.
I've been looking for this stuff.
- Oh, look, a mermaid. - There's no such thing.
- How do you know? - They're just stories.
- Want me to read this or not? - Okay.
"Once upon a time, in a splendid palace on the bed of the bluest ocean,
lived the sea king with his five daughters - very beautiful mermaids.
Serinetta, the youngest of them all." - She's pretty.
"She had a beautiful voice, too.
When she sang, the fishes flocked from all over the sea to listen. She'd sing and gaze upwards,
seeking the faint sunlight that barely managed to filter down into the depths.
Nothing pleased the little mermaid more than to hear about the world above the sea,
and she made her grandmother tell her everything she knew about the ships and towns.
'Oh, how I'd love to go up there and at last see the sky, which everyone says is so pretty,
and smell the scent of the flowers, and hear the voices of the humans...'"
Which one of you idiots left the rig out?
We've been dragging the damn net this whole time. - Sorry, Jack.
I'd have swore I pulled this thing up.
Just a bunch of crap. Let's get it off.
Oh, my God.
We snagged a floater.
- Oh, crap. - Great. All we need.
Whoa! She's alive.
What the...?
Looks like... some kinda... gills.
Gills? What the hell is she?
A mermaid.
They designed her to be the perfect soldier - a human weapon.
Then she escaped.
In a future not far from now,
in a broken world, she is haunted by her past.
She cannot run; she must fight
to discover her destiny.
Thanks so much. Do I owe you anything?
- Me? No. It was fun. - She's a friend, Bits.
- Here you go. - Thank you.
- See ya, sweetie. - Kiss, Max?
How 'bout a kiss for Uncle Logan?
- We never got to finish the story. - That's because you got all sleepyheaded.
We'll finish it next time. - Did the mermaid ever get to see her family again?
Yup. And they all lived happily ever after.
- Thanks again, you guys. - No problem.
- Oh, and Max, it was nice meeting you. - You too.
And I don't think that's how it ends, actually.
- What? - "The Little Mermaid."
I think she falls for a prince or something, but then he blows her off for a real girl.
What do you mean, "real"? Just because someone happens to have a tail doesn't mean they're not real.
You know what I mean. God, it's like this exoskeleton weighs a ton.
Why do writers always have to go for the tragic endings, anyway? I mean,
what's wrong with a happy ending once in a while?
I prefer the Disney version myself. Is it hot in here?
- Are you okay? - You know, I think I might be getting a cold.
Feels like I have a fever. - Oh, my God.
- What? - Your wrist.
Oh, God. It can't be. I mean, we didn't touch.
- No, we didn't. Did we? - No. Take it easy.
- We both touched Brittany. - That's not how the virus works.
We don't know that.
Look, it's one thing for Manticore to give you a retrovirus tailor-made to kill me,
but I seriously doubt that they factored a six-year-old into their evil plan.
She kissed both of us - me first.
Logan, your face.
- It's nothing. - We gotta get you to a hospital.
- I'm just gonna take a little nap here. - Can you get into your chair?
- No. - I can't touch you! You have to do it yourself!
We need someone to help. Who do I call?
- Speed dial six. - Speed dial six.
Who's this? Asha? We need you to get over here right away.
- What do we got? - B.P. sixty over forty and falling.
- What's his temp? - Came in at 105.
Okay, start I.V. Naprosyn, a hundred cc's of methicillin.
Logan?
Gimme a chem seven, stat. What's his temp?
- 105.5 and rising. - Okay, get him on ice. Logan, buddy, can you hear me?
- Need some ice. Let's move, people. - Sam, please do something.
You said this Manticore place planted the virus in you?
Targeted specifically to his DNA. We don't know how much contact it takes to transmit.
- No antidote? No drug therapies? - Only at Manticore.
Okay, look, Max. Whatever it is, there's nothing you can do to help in here right now.
Why don't you go out with your friend and wait? Please.
How you doing?
Logan, it's Sam. Can you hear me?
Logan, hey.
Let's get that I.V. moving. - I'll get right on it, doctor.
We gotta get his temperature down.
How's that I.V. coming? - It's open full.
- Excuse me, sir. - What's the rule on fitness time, Otto?
- No interruptions, sir. - Then what are you doing here?
Sir, we've got a lead on a possible code red.
Some fisherman came to the dock this morning, started showing off their catch.
- And how is that a code red? - Apparently they netted a girl... with gills.
Gills. Huh.
- They think they've got themselves a mermaid. - Idiots. What did they do with it?
- That's what we're trying to find out. - All right. Let me know when they confirm code red.
Could be we're dealing with a bunch of drunks telling fish stories.
- Yes, sir. - Gills.
Please don't let him die.
I know I've... I don't have the right to ask for a miracle...
... because I haven't really been much of a believer in anything.
But I'm asking now.
I'll do anything.
Please don't let him die.
Max.
He's gonna be okay.
It's chicken pox. Do you believe it?
Doctors couldn't figure it out because he had it when he was a kid.
Anyway... he's gonna be fine.
No, no, no, no. No, it's no problem. You just came in under the wire. Right.
I'll have somebody out there in a jiffy. You're welcome, sir. Thank you for using Jam Pony.
- All right, stud, you ready? - Ladies, here we come.
Hey! Hey! I got a pickup. Sector twelve. Here's the address.
What do you mean? Last run's at seven and it's seven.
No, it's not seven. It's not seven for another... seven seconds. Now scram.
- But... - But nothing.
Customer called in before closing. They're gonna get their pickup.
If I gotta go all the way out to sector twelve, I'm gonna miss two-fers.
Well, if you don't go all the way out to sector twelve, you're gonna miss workin' here, potatohead!
Now bip! - But two-fers...
Stop saying that. That's annoying. There's no such word.
Uh, actually there is. You know, two-fers... two dances for the price of one.
Or, conversely, two fine ladies dancing simultaneously for the duration of one song.
Or you could do it that way.
I understand you're going to a, uh... burlesque hall?
- Strip club, yup. - And you're coming with us.
- Me? You're inviting me? - Well, that's why we came over here.
- Really? - Really?
Really.
- We'll put a rush on this in the morning. - That's what I'm talking about.
Normal, get ready to live. All right, boys, here we go.
It's all right, chief, these guys are with me. - Hey. Nice to meet you.
Alec, where have you been? I've missed you.
You know her?
Yeah, Virginia. Or Veronica. I don't know - something with a V. You like? Get yourself a dance.
No, no, we just got here. Besides, I wanna check out some other chicks first.
Check her out.
See, this is what I love about the girls in this place, fellas. Always coming up with new acts.
That's amazing. How does she breathe in there?
Must be some kind of trick. I don't see any breathing tubes, though.
Well, trick or no, I'd say she's the smokingest babe in the place.
Am I right? Or is she not your type?
Yeah. She's my type, all right.
Logan's cousin told me her daughter just got over a case of chicken pox.
He must have picked it up from her.
He can't figure it, since he should have immunity from when he got it as a kid,
but hey - let's take the win, right?
Anyway, I'm putting him on antivirals. He should be feeling fine by morning.
Thanks.
Gave you a scare, though, huh?
Yeah.
Just be careful. All right?
If it had really been this bug Manticore gave you, I doubt I could have done anything for him.
That place knew what it was doing. Whatever they cooked up must be pretty nasty.
I'll be careful.
Hey, Max.
Hey.
Why don't I pull the car around? I'll meet you guys downstairs.
Okay.
- You all right? - Am I all right?
Come on, it was just a false alarm.
We got lucky this time.
I gotta go.
You don't have a ride. We came together, remember?
- I'll walk. - What, so now we can't even be in the same car?
I need to clear my head.
Chicken pox? Thought that went out with Starbucks and Madonna.
Yeah.
Cheer up. This is good news.
- If I tell you something, promise not to laugh? - Yeah.
At the hospital, I kinda came across a chapel they got there, and
sorta sat down for a minute.
I don't know... prayed, I guess.
Ain't nothing wrong with that. Original Cindy prays from time to time.
But, see, I... sort of asked for a miracle, and I know this sounds crazy, but...
I think I sorta got it. - What do you mean? It was chicken pox.
Yeah, but how did Logan pick it up again?
I mean, what if it was me that got him sick, and... I don't know... something happened?
Like a miracle.
- You promised not to laugh. - I am not laughing.
Either way, it's a second chance, and those don't come along too often.
I don't want to risk hurting him again... but that means not seeing him at all.
What am I supposed to do? Give him up?
Hey.
- Is this a bad time? - What do you want?
- Need you to come somewhere with me, Max. - Can't you see I'm getting ready for a bath?
Funny, women and water. Seems to be the theme of my evening. Come on.
Sir, code red's been confirmed. She's got a Manticore barcode.
- And where did our merry fishermen take their prize? - Sold her to a guy who runs a bar in sector nine.
- You've gotta be kidding me. - They've got her on display.
Drawing quite a crowd, too. - That's great.
I don't want to attract any more attention to the situation.
This has gotta be clean, surgical. - We've already got someone in place.
Come on, take a look at this blowfish beauty. Real mermaid from the deep.
Hundred percent real, hundred percent guaranteed.
They've been passing these things out all over town. I wouldn't be surprised if old White's already on to it.
- We gotta get her out of there. - Hold on, hold on. There's one problem.
There's no ladies allowed inside - not unless they're working.
- What? - That's okay, there's a line around back.
Girls show up, and management picks the good ones.
- No way! - Come on, Max, don't sell yourself short.
I mean, you've got a decent shot. - Forget it!
All right, fine, be a prude. We'll just leave her in there for White.
Come on, step up, take a look. Don't be shy. Come on, you want to be inside. Come on, take a look.
Take a look. Come on. Let's go, fellas. Don't be shy. Step up.
Mermaid. Check it out. Splish splash, mermaid takin' a bath. Won't believe your eyes.
All right, come on in, fellas. Have a good time. Get a look at the catch of the day.
You ain't never seen seafood this fresh. Hey, slick.
No, no, show what you got, girls. Turn around. Turn around. Show what you got.
No. No, no, no, come on, scram, that's it. Go home. Go home. Go. We got all the girls we need.
You...
Right this way, miss.
All right, ladies, get lost. It's time to go home. That's it for the night.
- All right, that's good, sweetie. Thank you. - But the song isn't over yet.
You know, you're just so beautiful I can't take it anymore.
Look, why don't you go over there and give my two buddies a dance, huh?
- Sure. - All right.
- This is how you rescue a mermaid? Hey! Hey! - White's got someone here.
Where?
Two o'clock.
See him? No drink, no girls. He's been casing the place the entire time.
Yup. Looks pretty shady to me.
Okay, now would be a good time to look like we belong here, huh?
- Wow, Max. You, uh, you done this before? - Shut up.
- Why isn't he making his move? - There's too many people around.
He's just waiting 'til closing. - Or backup.
Look, either way, we're not getting her out of here alive as long as he's around.
- How'd she end up in a dump like this, anyway? - I don't know. Heard fishermen snagged her.
Probably won't last long out of the water.
Once we get her out, we're gonna have to get her back into the ocean, fast.
Maybe the ocean's not the way to go. I mean, she got caught once.
What are you doing? - Fitting in!
She's Manticore. She won't let it happen again.
Still, though... a beautiful girl like that, all by herself out there in the ocean... she's gonna get lonely.
- Can we concentrate on coming up with a plan? - I'm thinking.
- You're talking. - I can do both.
- I doubt that. - Well, you just lost your tip.
- It's a shame. - It's sick, is what it is.
No, I mean her all alone out there in the ocean, nothin' but fish to talk to...
Give it up, Alec. The two of you would never work.
Yeah, you're right. I always do this. I always go for the ones I can't have.
Figures.
You should talk. I mean, hello? You, Logan, the virus...
Don't! Don't even...
- Hey, hey. - Hey, guys.
- Oh, my God. - Hey, Max! I didn't know you worked here.
- Actually... - Just one night a week.
- Well, anyway, we gotta go. We're out of money. - Already?
Yeah, Normal went kinda nutty with the honeys. He spent it all on them.
Anyway, see ya later.
- Can this night get any worse? - Check it out. Something's going on.
Show your twirl thing. Come on. Come on, dance!
Easy, easy.
He's making his move.
Okay, go get him.
Hey, pal! He touched my ass! Someone get him out of here!
That's it. You're gone.
That's right! This is a decent place!
A little help, here?
What the hell's that?
What the hell are those? - Gills. This isn't one of White's guys.
He can't breathe! Help him!
- Welts are gone. - Yeah, I feel okay.
Yeah, your fever's gone. Are you hungry?
- I am, actually. - I'll make you something to eat.
- I'll hit you back in a sec. - Sorry.
Can you last like this for a little while?
We're gonna find her. Don't worry.
It's gonna be okay.
Keep an eye on him.
Hi. So... the, uh...
... the girl in the tank - she's just a friend, right?
We thought he was one of White's guys. Turns out he was there to get her out. We jammed him up.
There's no way you could have known that.
Either way, White's got her, and that doesn't work for me.
Where do you think he might have taken her?
Figure he has some sort of base of operations in the area.
Manticore was just outside the city; he's gotta be thinking Seattle's become Transgenic Central.
And it is his job to kill them. So even if we do track down where he took her... might be too late.
He'll want to study her first... take her back to headquarters for analysis.
Wherever that is.
My point is, he can't exactly put a mermaid on the next plane to Des Moines,
which means he's gonna have to arrange some sort of special transport.
Well, that'll buy us some time, but not much. What sector was this bar in?
Nine. Why?
Maybe if I can hack into the sector police mainframe, I can see if there's any record
of a military convoy entering or leaving the area last night. Who knows, maybe they left a trail.
- Hey. - Hey.
- Can I see this? - Yeah.
- I think I got an idea how to fix this tear. - Cool.
Yeah, I'm sorry about last night, baby. I had a situation here at work.
Yeah. I love you, too.
Sure, put him on.
Hey, big man!
You did? Well, that sounds like fun.
Yeah? Yeah, me too. All right. Well, I'll see you tonight.
I promise. Okay.
So how long can this thing stay alive out of water?
No way to be sure. We arranged to ship her out tonight.
Keep it alive as long as you can. I'm sure the boys at forensics
are gonna want to study it before they take it apart.
Now, I wonder what the hell they were smoking when they cooked this up.
Probably designed for amphibious sabotage. Laying mines, that kind of thing.
Well, what I don't understand is how it made it out of the fire and all the way down to the ocean.
Well, there's a stream not far from the Manticore site. It dumps into the Duwamish River.
English!
Manticore probably used some kind of computer interface to communicate with her.
Whatever.
I'm not that interested in what you have to say anyway.
- Sorry about the smell. - No, this is a really good idea.
There. Let's just let it cool a bit, huh?
Thanks for your help yesterday.
- I was just glad I was there when you called. - Me too.
Somebody wanna come help out with the merman in here? I mean, the guy's got nothing to say.
I'm getting bored. - Come on. Help me put this on him.
Find something?
Three identical vans left sector nine after the raid on the bar.
They passed through the checkpoint of sector eleven a few minutes later
and then moved on to sector twelve a few minutes after that.
- And no record of them leaving sector twelve? - Nope. They're in there somewhere.
There was a lot of industry in that area before the Pulse.
Could be White set up his operation in an abandoned factory.
It's gonna take some time to narrow things down. - We don't have any time.
I'm doing the best I can, but to tell you the truth, I'm not so sure this is a good idea to begin with.
- I'm not letting White have her. - He could end up with all of you.
That's a risk I'm willing to take.
Help me with this, Logan.
I want this story to have a happy ending.
Yeah, well, you're welcome.
- What's going on? - Don't know. He wants out.
Why?
Well, maybe he's smart and wants to go back to the water, where he can breathe and no one wants him dead.
Or maybe he knows where White's got her. Come on.
I don't know, Max. Doesn't look like White's secret facility to me.
Hey, where you going?
What's it look like? See, I told you. He's not gonna die for anybody.
He's going right back into the water. He's gonna swim away and meet a nice flounder somewhere.
Now what?
- What are those? - Eggs.
- He's not gonna eat those, is he? - No. They're hers.
She's your mate, right?
We're gonna get her back.
Yeah.
Logan.
I'll say one thing for ya - you got great timing.
- He find White's place? - Of course he did. He always does stuff like that.
Come on. Let's go get your girl.
Hey, it's me. Are you sure this is the place?
Yeah. It's an old steam-generating plant, still operational.
White must've bribed somebody to let him set up shop.
How do we get in?
Well, even if you get past the perimeter guards without drawing attention,
gotta figure White's got guys posted at the entrances.
Guess we're just gonna have to go in through the roof.
Can't. Steel fire doors. Only open from the inside.
- Great. - Turn around.
There should be an underwater drainpipe.
- I see bubbles. - That pipe leads up into the building.
And you've got a merman with you, remember? - Right.
Time to get wet.
- Bring the planks over. - Think she'll last the whole trip?
Well, it's a freezer car. She'll do as well as any other fish.
Seal her up.
Come on.
Don't move.
- Pay attention. - I got us a gun, didn't I?
- Tell me you brought a rope. - Just shut up and climb.
He should be inside by now. Wonder if something happened.
Oh, well. We tried.
This place is huge. She could be anywhere.
That's her.
All right, but where's it coming from?
Charlie Six Bravo, report.
Report, Charlie Six Bravo. Charlie Six Bravo, report.
- What's the problem? - No response from Charlie Six Bravo.
Call up his eye-cam feed.
Play back the last few minutes.
Freeze it.
Wait a minute - that's 494.
He's supposed to be dead.
And that's 452.
She must be in that crate. We gotta get her out of there.
Come on.
We gotta get out of here.
- Not without them. - It's no use, Max. They're penned.
- Cover me. - What are you doing?
- I'm going for the Disney version. - Oh, great.
Come on!
Let's go!
They're getting away!
We'll meet you there.
Go back to sleep.
We gotta get this thing cleaned up.
Thanks. For, you know... helping out today.
Wanna go say goodbye?
I think we need to get this thing cleaned up.
- Well, you got the ending you wanted. - They're together. That's the way it should be.
Yep. That's the way it should be.