Seven days...
seven more days passed,
and the levee broke wide open.
The government exhausted its resources
trying to contain the infections in Washington,
Atlanta, Dallas...
But it spread to 20 more cities.
Then 50.
There was nowhere to run.
Outbreaks were reported in Germany,
India,
Africa,
Japan“.
Countries tried their own ways to stop it, but to no avail.
One global environment now engaged in a global war.
Here in New York, we held our battle lines
against an enemy that continued to evolve.
But for how much longer?
Were we still seeking victory
or simply forestalling defeat?
There's no need to take your next turn. You've already lost.
Bullshit.
We can play out the next six moves or you could just
knock over your king right now.
Maintain some dignity.
Yeah, that's not going to happen.
Fine. It was bullshit.
This game is so boring!
Yeah, well, I think it's over anyway.
Behind you.
Yeah, you've got some of your own.
We're only keeping one, right?
Yeah, the smallest one.
You can thank me later.
Look at that.
Is that what the bioweapon does now?
I've seen worse with herpes.
From strigoi WMD to not as bad as herpes.
Not a great week.
This'll work.
Welcome to the lab, love.
Thanksfordonafing your body to science.
Come on.
You jealous? Huh?
There's enough for both of you.
Later, my bitches!
Ha! Whoo!
I'm reading a chapter on strigoi hunters.
A long line of them, dating all the way
backto the ancient Sumerians.
A Phoenician hunter set fire to a ship,
full of people merely on the suspicion,
that there was a strigoi on board.
How is any of this useful?
There is a commonality among all of these hunters.
A desire to act alone.
They appear monomaniacal,
and often seemed to be gripped by madness.
Good thing, none of this applies to you.
Or you.
♪ I don't want you cook my bread 4'
♪ I don't want you make my bed 4'
♪ I don't want your money too 4'
♪ I just want to make love to you 4'
♪ I don't want you to be no slave 4'
♪ I don't want you to work all day 4'
♪ I don't want 'Cause I'm sad and blue a'
♪ I just want to make love to you... 4'
It is rude to just stand there.
Mr. Pirk, is it?
Yes, Roald Pirk. And you're Ms. Van Orden?
You may call me Saskia.
I passed along to my associate, Mr. Kruger,
the papers of provenance that you sent me.
And his interest in the item is greater than ever.
That is good news.
Between us, Mr. Kruger is not his real name, is it?
What makes you say that?
I did a little digging on my own.
In my line of work, I need to make sure
potential buyers have the means to close the deal.
I assure you, Mr. Kruger has significant resources at his disposal.
Yes, if he is the person I suspect him to be,
he is a viable buyer indeed.
I just need you to verify a few details.
Is he a German? Yes.
And was he loyal to the Fatherland during the war?
Yes, he was.
I heard a rumor...
He was employed at one of the concentration camps in Poland.
Doing good work there in my opinion.
I wouldn't know about that.
I see.
Well, itwould please me to meet him.
And upon completing a deal,
deliver the Lumen into his hand.
I will warn you.
There have been others who have
attempted to sell him forgeries.
They did not come to happy ends.
This transaction will be nothing but honorable.
Difficult times are also opportunities
for people to come together.
You are not alone.
At Stoneheart Freedom Centers, we have food...
clean water and medicine.
All you need is your freedom card.
Good morning, Eldritch.
Herr Eichhorst.
Eldritch,
are you all right?
Nurse!
Mr. Palmer! Mr. Palmer!
Mr. Palmer, can you hear me?
Yes.
A little help here, folks?
All right, buddy. Come on. There we go.
There you go.
How many fingers am I holding up?
I'm fine. I just stumbled.
I'm going to get an IV.
I... No need for that.
We can come back another time, if you're not up for this.
Who are you?
Sanjay Desai.
He's a new associate of ours, Eldritch.
Working to help us.
A very impressive young man.
And I hear you are facilitating
a very important shipment for us.
And what business is that of yours?
It's very much my business.
Come again?
Don't upset yourself, Eldritch.
Now, what is the status of the Aurora Cutlass?
The ship left port in Egypt 31 days ago.
That's excellent.
Now, we need you to make sure, that it ports here in New York.
Given the chaos of the moment,
it is a challenge for any vessel
to be permitted into the harbor.
Can you make sure that it docks?
Pardon me?
I'm sure Eldritch will accomplish this.
What's on that ship that's so important?
If you need to know, then I will tell you.
In the meantime, please alert us
the moment it reaches the docks.
Thank you. It's been a pleasure.
What's been a pleasure?
This transaction. Have a good day.
Wow, you must've gotten up early.
Never went to bed.
Here, look at this.
We haven't been finding anything particularly useful,
looking for vulnerabilities in the
endocrine or circulatory system.
And I figured, let's just start fresh.
Let's strip everything down to basics.
This is it.
That's the parasite.
This is the organism that's infecting people.
This is what we're fighting.
So it's just a stinger, a spinal column and a brain?
Not just any brain.
The tissue is necrotic.
If you or I had a brain this diseased,
we'd barely be able to maintain a heartbeat,
let alone coordinate with others or stalk prey.
Now, look at this.
Worms. Not much better than shit for brains, if you ask me.
The worms aren't just the vector for transmission.
They seem to comprise the core of their nervous system.
And, I'm never eating noodles again! Coffee?
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Turn off the microwave.
Okay, turn it back on again.
Why?
Come here.
What do you think it is that they're reacting to?
Do you think microwaves are escaping?
Not if you trust government safety regulations.
So microwaves are definitely escaping.
And the worms are somehow responding to it.
It's like they've woken up.
This was supposed to be secured, Frank.
Those people moved here because
we told them it was a safe zone.
It could've been a lot worse. Our response team just got here...
I don't need you spinning this,
just tell me how the hell they're getting in here.
They must be coming from underground, somehow.
You said we cleared all the tunnels.
We did.
However it's magically happening,
they've got us chasing our tails.
These guys should have been out last night
taking back the rest of Manhattan,
not stuck here on clean up duty, I mean...
I know. This is not how we win, Frank.
We're moving backwards!
I'm trying. Not hard enough.
Let's go, guys-
Great. A hipster strigoi.
It's been a week. Did you get the powder working again?
No, but look at this.
Hi, I'm Dutch Velders. I fought with you.
Right here in Red Hook, actually.
Here, look at this.
We believe this is the communication center of the strigoi brain.
And watch this. When I cause pain to strigoi A...
I get a pronounced response in strigoi B.
This proves that they're communicating
by way of some highly-evolved signal.
This is a biological system,
the way a migratory bird
can fly three thousand miles to some
specific winter nesting spot in Mexico.
Complex? Mysterious?
Yes, but empirically solvable.
But you haven't solved it.
I need a new weapon.
We are running out of time.
You saw them last week.
You saw how they were different, less directed.
Shut down their communication,
we can get them back into that condition.
Let's go.
If we can pull this off, we can have a devastating effect on them.
Not "if", when we're going to.
Then do it and do it fast.
Love her in person.
Hey!
We're supposed to keep the munchers out of the safe zone.
Not give them new ways to come in.
So this is the thing that actually
makes the microwaves in a microwave.
A magnetron, yeah.
I'm using the radio to modulate a frequency
with a signal from a dead station.
So, if I'm right about the microwaves being their carrier frequency,
then this should blast the strigoi with white noise
and drown out all the communication it's getting.
You know what might do the most good for New York in the meantime?
If Justine Faraldo got laid.
That can be your next project.
Oh, I was gonna give that assignment to you.
She does have a kind of sexy-power thing going on.
Now, I don't trust you with this thing,
so you're on torture duty.
Speaking of "sexy-power", what about Fet?
Well, it might help your relationship
with him, if he heard you say that.
What about him?
Are you guys gonna try to reconnect?
Think not.
He made it very clear he wants nothing more to do with me.
"Microwave gun" test commencing.
Look at that!
There's no more spike.
We're actually blocking their signal.
Let's not pop the champagne cork just yet.
We need to test this with real strigoi
that aren't strapped down with their guts hanging out.
You're very by the book, aren't you?
It says here that an ancient Egyptian hunter,
from the town of Meir, managed to "bury a plague,
ending its terrible reign forever."
How does one bury a...
"The seven plagues,
mortal only to the face of God."
The seven Ancients.
Could this Egyptian possibly have killed one?
The Old World Ancients are not all accounted for.
How did the Egyptians accomplish this?
It doesn't say.
It's possible the details have been lost to history.
I cannot believe that.
The illustrations could contain some hidden meaning.
It's possible.
Although, it would be easier to discern
if we were looking at the genuine article.
If you think that I would let you
within a hundred feet of the Lumen...
I'm not going to steal it again, Professor.
You have my word.
Yes.
Your word...
I want these answers just as much as you do.
Wait right here.
Yes? What is it?
Mr. Kruger?
My name is Roald Pirk. I believe you are expecting me.
Ah, yes.
Just a moment.
Have we met some place before, sir?
Not that I recall.
Please.
May I offer you a drink?
If it's all the same to you, I wish to get our business completed
as soon as possible. Why?
Surely, you don't believe all the superstitious nofions
that people have about the book?
I'll just say it has been a peculiar burden to possess it.
Well, you'll be glad to know that I am about to unburden you, then.
And you? You have no concerns at all, Mr. Kruger?
About curses...
calamities?
I am a man who embraces the accursed, Mr. Pirk.
And now, if you will excuse me for a moment...
For you.
Good?
Yes. Very good.
And now, it is your turn.
Bring it closer, please.
Closer.
Go on.
Take it.
Feel the weight of the silver in your hands.
I do not need to.
I can tell that it is a fake.
And you are not who you say you are,
Jew!
I recognized you right away.
I expect you wish you had brought your cane inside with you.
This Will do.
I've worked for years to arrange for this encounter.
I was expecting to find Thomas Eichhorst.
This was meant for him, you see.
But in his absence, Dr. Dreverhaven,
I will settle for you.
It's as though the book is deliberately hiding
the solution for how they defeated the Ancients.
Yes, but hiding it from whom?
Strigoi can't read from a silver-bound book.
And yet...
here you are.
I'm beginning to wonder
if even more elaborate measures were taken.
Come with me, Mr. Quinlan.
Follow me as far as you can.
Sunhghfl
They used sunlight to hide the text
so the strigoi could never read it.
"After being surrounded
by an army of thousands,
the living plague was contained
within a stone sarcophagus
lined with an alloy of silver and lead.
A tomb for the creature
and for the crimson worm within it.
Trapped for all eternity."
A box?
A box.
I told you, you would find nothing.
Herr Eichhorst keeps his whereabouts a mystery.
I don't believe you.
That sunlight will be on you in minutes, Doctor.
A man can only be threatened by that of which he is afraid.
And I am not afraid of death.
At a certain point, repefifion diminishes pleasure.
This room is too shallow.
There must be another room here.
Sudden immolation.
A fitting end for a visionary, no?
If it is my time to go, then so be it.
Who are those men in there?
They were clients of my associate, Saskia,
the woman who sent you here.
Men who visited her prostitutes?
Yes, yes. Disrespectful men, who harmed them.
No one will miss them.
No one will miss you either.
Sunlight is too good for you, Herr Doctor.
No.
What are you doing?
What is that for?
You... You don't know what you are doing!
True.
I'm not an anatomy expert like you.
However...
I do know you have an amazing ability to heal.
But...
if you were to loose one of your limbs...
No, no, no! You cannot do that!
It would never grow back.
I'm damning you to hell, Dr. Dreverhaven.
Any last words?
No?
I suppose you said them already.
Bingo.
Holy shit!
They're digging their own tunnels now.
That's how six of my tagged munchers came out to hunt tonight.
And when the sun went down, they used these new tunnels
to pop up inside your safe zone.
Shit!
The good news is that now I know where they're coming from.
Central Park.
Underneath Central Park.
I found an old chamber, way deep down.
I'm telling you,
there are thousands of them down there.
And Central Park...
central nest.
Then we go after it with everything we've got.
You know, it didn't make any sense to me,
the strigoi could be so high-functioning
with so little brain power.
And then I realized, I'm still thinking in human terms.
All they need is a receiver to get the Master's instructions.
Exactly. And if we can block that,
they turn back into dumb animals.
Okay-
Ready?
Yeah.
All right, little monkey...
how are you gonna get that tasty, tasty blood?
That's right. Grab the pipe,
stick it through the cage, pull the dish towards you.
It's okay. There's no way he can get through that door.
What the hell is he doing?
I don't know.
Yeah, there's no way he can get that open.
I don't know. He seems pretty good at it.
Okay, turn it on.
[Naughs]
Look at the poor lummox.
A rapidly-plummeting IQ. It's adorable.
The microwave-gun chaflengetest is a success,
strongly showing that our hypothesis that...
You're still shooting it, right? Yeah.
Let me make some adjustments.
Whatever you're doing, do it fast! I'm trying.
It's not working. No!
[gunshofl
So...
they have found some way of getting around the interference.
The Master's system is more complex than we thought.
You don't have to be so blue about it.
Totally figure-out-able.
No, no it's just...
When things are going well,
it helps me keep my mind from going to...
to dark places.
Well...
we just have to make things go well then.
Oh, is that all we have to do?
I feel better already.
You really think the Egyptians trapped
an Ancient inside this sarcophagus?
Yes.
He's probably still there.
I should have thought of this before,
as I did something similar once.
Not to an Ancient,
but to a sentient strigoi.
He had always been a monster,
a psychopath, even as a human.
What have you got in that thing, man?
A rabid dog.
Ispentdecades
trying to cast the memory from my mind.
It's the closest to madness I've ever come.
Good things can be born out of madness, Professor.
Don't you see?
Imprisonment is the key to defeating the Master.
Not combat or physical destruction.
As long as the crimson worm survives,
the Master can always transfer bodies.
Yes. But if he is contained within the silver
and his communicative power suppressed by the lead inside the box,
then he is truly powerless.
No wonder he's hiding.
Yes, therein lies the challenge.
We now know how to defeat the Master, but we don't know where he is.
Or even who he is.
There is one person who could find out.
Have you reconsidered my offer?
I will never give you the formula for the white,
but I will give you a dose.
How long will a dose last?
Long enough.
In exchange,
you will find out whose body the Master has taken.
He is no longer in Bolivar's body?
So, he has lost faith in you.
Should I question your ability to do this?
No, no. I can do it.
He still needs me. Of that, lam certain.
Otherwise...
I would already be dead.
You can find him?
Yes, I can.
I will.
To a new alliance.