Are we good to go?
Absolutely, sir. We're gonna crack him like a walnut.
Can we at least try to stay on schedule this time?
Yes, sir.
Hey. I'm asking out that piece of ass from payroll. The one with the--
Jesus, Miles!
They told you at sensitivity training you can't talk about women like that.
I'm just expressing my appreciation for the female form. God!
-Alanna's turned you into such a pussy. At least I'm getting some.
Let's do this.
Who are you?
The one who's asking the questions.
Chain.
Sorry. No neurachem here.
No combat conditioning, no reflex aggression.
Your reaction times are slowed, strength and stamina limited.
-And your bones...
are weakened.
It's not here. What're you looking for?
Don't know.
Then how can you be certain that it's not there?
'Cause nothing is here.
Night before Lizzie was found in that alley,
three hours are missing from the Suntouch surveillance data.
I need to see her.
Maybe she'll talk to me again. Tell me what happened.
She's making progress.
But if you intervene now, she may become worse than before.
Are you serious right now?
Deadly. I adore All Hallows' Eve.
The history, the tradition.
The amalgamation of various cultural celebrations,
including Día de Muertos, Thanksgiving, and of course, Halloween.
The holidays are about people, families, flesh and blood connecting.
Something you'll never understand.
The many years I spent in solitude,
I learned the exquisite torture of loneliness.
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.
I gotta get out of here.
Perhaps in the holiday spirit, you could apologize to Mr. Kovacs
for your abysmal showing at Suntouch House.
Come again?
It could be characterized more as "fuck up" than "backup."
Listen, El Matador, I don't want your advice.
Of course, sir.
I don't give a shit about a fuckin' apology.
How would I know?
I cannot begin to imagine. I respect his privacy.
You hacked his ONI, didn't you?
Would be unethical in the extreme.
That is a yes, stalker. Turn on ONI 20.
That function is intended only for use when one misplaces the hub,
perhaps losing it behind the couch, leaving it in the kitchen--
-Poe, just turn it on. -Mmm-hmm.
Where am I?
You're in a virtual interrogation program at the Wei Clinic.
This place specializes in data extraction from unwilling subjects.
So, let's begin.
Who do you work for?
If they catch you, they will torture you.
But virtual is like everything else.
Assume nothing.
Only then can you truly see what you're dealing with.
Understand there is no conditioning that can prepare you
for having cigarettes stubbed out in your eyes,
for being burnt to death, being raped,
drowned, suffocated, over and over and over.
DHF made it possible to put someone in virtual,
torture them to death and then start again.
But it's not real. Even Kovacs can handle it.
To the mind, pain is pain.
Torture, die, repeat. Eventually, you'll break.
-And if it doesn't stop, you'll go insane.
The mind does interesting things under extreme stress.
Hallucination. Displacement. Retreat.
As Envoys, we learn to use those things,
not as blind reactions to adversity, but as moves in a game.
Again.
Who do you work for?
What?
Yes
Very cute, Ryker.
Pliers.
Who the fuck is Ryker? My name is Ava Elliot.
Oh.
-We took the tracker off you.
Clever, you putting it in your broadcast blocker.
But this building has been fitted with transmission dampers.
From the minute you walked in...
well, when we rolled you in... your signal vanished.
Look at this. I don't see anything.
Right. Neither do I. It's because there's nothing there.
But I saw him.
Right, so assuming you weren't overreacting or on your period--
-I'm about to overreact. -Whatever.
I thought, how can Ortega see something if it shows up as nothing?
So, I wrote a little program for you
to filter for air movement around the latent data.
I mean...
Look at that. I've never seen anything like that.
I've heard rumors, but I thought they were bullshit.
This distortion, right there, that's where data was removed.
What
You're adorable. That is ancient tech. This is something new. Bleeding edge.
Even if this guy disabled Ortega's ONI,
it's not like he can evade every camera in the entire city.
It's not disabled. He somehow got the ONI to not see him.
-That should be impossible. Shit.
So if he can scale it up, he can block from cams, surveillance, scanners.
He could vanish completely from footage.
Practically speaking, he's a Ghostwalker.
Like in Master Mage, Search for Dark Dominion.
This isn't a game, Mickey.
This is so much cooler than a game. What did he look like?
I don't know. Asian, medium build, 5'8", maybe 5'10".
Mustache, I think. Wait a minute.
What?
We looked for footage from the Henchy case, right?
To try to find out where she fell from.
Not everything's about that case.
But what if he can erase someone else too?
-We should take this upstairs. -It's a little thin.
Your proof of a suspect is footage without him in it.
It's fuckin' anorexic.
Okay, so how do we make surveillance cams see what can't be seen?
I mean, I can search the optical progression algorithms,
-and, like, hunt for sequential cascades-- -Do it.
-This is a bad idea. -It's great.
-No. -Bad idea.
-Don't worry. -Look, inventory is all up my ass
about this missing Hawkeye tracker.
-Oh, I wouldn't miss Alazne's cooking.
-I told you to stop calling her that. -And I ignored you.
Hey, Mom. Everything okay?
This kitchen is a mess!
How can you cook anything here?
I never cook, Mom.
You're creeping my stash so you can turn it!
Your uncle is telling me I got the wrong cheese.
I swore your grandmother, God rest her soul,
used pepper jack in her chiles rellenos,
but now your uncle is insisting it's Oaxaca...
Y'all are worse than pussy-ass thugs on the street!
That's it.
Mom, hang on one sec.
Trying to have a conversation with my mother,
and if you knew the mood I was in, you'd be well-advised to shut the fuck up!
Moms look like you, huh?
I should tap me in so I can get a look-see.
Schedule my first mother-daughter three-way when I get out. -Piece of shit.
Mom?
Don't worry.
I'll not pick up some Oaxaca on my way there.
I adore you.
-I'll wait for you here. -I love you too.
Hey, take the goddamn collar to sleeve holding.
Mmm-mmm. Sorry, off the clock. Lucky we brought him in at all.
Who's gonna slab this piece of shit
Nobody left in processing. It's All Hallows.
Do it yourself or just leave him. He ain't going nowhere.
Help is not coming. It's just you and me, Ryker.
Now, why did you come to Jack It Off asking about Lizzie Elliot?
Because she's my daughter. I'm not Ryker.
So, the tracker was police issue, which makes sense.
You being policeman and all.
I don't know you. I'm not Ryker.
Who hired you to kill my brother?
Dimi the Twin.
You always did think small, Ryker.
I'm so much more than that.
You can't imagine how many sleeves I've ridden...
...what it's made me.
You know what they call people with personality frag where I'm from?
Fucking insane!
Where you come from?
You are not an alien, then.
We make progress.
Victory can have many meanings.
Does that mean there's a way to beat virtual torture?
Do any of you know the story of Iphigenia Deme?
Iffy Deme was a great fighter on Adoracion.
The Protectorate sent CTAC to pacify the planet.
Her family was slaughtered. Iffy was captured, tortured.
She died a hundred deaths.
They thought they had broken her.
And then she asked to see the top brass.
Said she'd only confess to them.
She got the top 17 CTAC officers on planet into a room with her, in the real.
They didn't know she'd been implanted with enzyme-triggered explosives.
The enzyme was fury-related.
When they were all around her,
waiting for her to betray her fellow rebels,
she let herself get angry.
She turned the room and the surrounding 50 square meters into ash.
Her last words, strapped to the interrogation table,
where they'd raped and killed her over and over again...
"That's fucking enough."
In VR interrogation, they control the construct.
I can teach you how to manipulate virtual in ways they will never anticipate,
because they won't believe it's possible.
How do we learn?
By doing. Trodes on. You're going into the pipe.
Let me guess. This is gonna hurt.
No one knows about Iffy.
All the rebels were killed.
The only ones who would remember what happened--
Were the interrogation team loaded in from off-site.
She was my friend.
-I should have died with her.
They sent me out. Not high-ranking enough.
You were just their bloodhound, trained to hunt us down.
You knew what I was when you let me in.
Was it different because you could put a face on one of the dead?
See you soon.
I'm going to wear my brother's face while I watch you die.
And you are going to tell me who got you out
and why they sent you after me,
because no way you have the skill, or the balls,
to take me out on your own, Ryker.
Who the fuck is Ryker?
Wrong answer.
Okay. Let's start it again.
Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey.
No, no, no, no.
Queso valladares is the best. Melts the fastest.
-Gracias.
You look so thin. Are you eating enough?
I eat plenty. Come on.
I'm fine. I'm fine. I can walk.
No. You're sleevesick. Come on. It's okay, it'll pass.
The fuck is this, where he keeps his tampons?
Ah! That's a Nemex. Never seen one of those up close.
Goddamn, this guy's got a high pain tolerance.
How much longer this gonna take? -Better not be late.
I've got reservations for Alanna's birthday tonight.
I'm surprising her--
Immolation program's up next. This shouldn't be long.
Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey.
Or gas and a blowtorch.
Comme ci, comme ça.
Who hired you to kill my brother?
-He came to kill me. -Like he'd bother. You went away for RD'ing a CTAC officer, Ryker.
You shouldn't be out.
You're supposed to be spun up for trial soon.
You'll pull three lifetimes if you're lucky.
The evidence is overwhelming. I should know. I planted it myself.
It's not easy to take out a cop.
You got a cigarette I can borrow? Never mind. Found mine.
No, wait, wait, wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait! Wait, wait!
Okay, my name is...
My name is...
Fuck you.
Fuck you. Fuck you!
Your mom's not gonna believe this.
Yup, she's not gonna believe this.
Finally, the cheese is here.
What the hell?
Oh, calm down, Alazne. It's like you've never seen a tattoo before.
It's Grandma.
Happy Day of the Dead.
How did you do it
-Kids! Leave those boxes alone!
She renounced her coding after Grandfather died.
God rest his soul.
And that sleeve you gave her, my God.
Was the only one on special. What?
Mama, stop. Relax and enjoy.
-This is what everybody does. -Oh, well--
Yes. Rent a sleeve for special occasions, spin up your loved ones.
Especially on Día de los Muertos.
Family together, having fun.
Look how happy she is.
-Again, Grandma, again! -No, no, no.
Grandma is tired. Come on, come on.
May God forgive you, daughter.
You have to fight the despair.
What am I doing here?
The program pulls subliminal memories of trauma.
Someplace you felt trapped.
First step is how we experience helplessness.
What do you do when you can't get out?
Now what? They control the construct. They send more and you're still here.
You have to beat the player, not the game.
There are some things you can't kill your way out of.
Look at these pain centers. It's like Christmas at the Vatican.
What the fuck is up with this guy? How is he still holding out?
Hey. Nice pie. Hey. Well, this is homey.
Yeah. Any progress on our ghost?
Mickey's working on the program over the holiday.
-I don't think he has a family. -He is not as lucky as I am.
Ay, Samir, buena noches.
Happy All Hallows.
Oh, it used to be
you were the one everyone thought was a problem walking in. Not now.
Remember my mother?
Uh, maybe five is enough, Mama?
Please. Your father, he was the true believer.
I only went to church for a little blood of Christ, if you know what I mean.
Mom, there are traditions here!
You're a bad example to the kids.
Me? The traditions, they tell you to live without love?
Hmm It's a fucking tragedy.
Maybe we should only get one body.
But then you have to enjoy it, huh?
Not feel trapped every minute of your life.
Ah!
Con permiso. I have to pee.
-Hey, guys! I'm peeing standing up!
I know Abuela sounds happy and funny, but remember, God gave you one body.
After you die, if you spin back up, you will never be welcome in His Kingdom.
You know what, tío? It's hard to believe in a god
that would not allow murder victims a voice.
-God works in mysterious-- -There's no mystery to it.
When you've seen rape victims, murder victims,
people stabbed and shot and strangled,
you know the only right thing to do is to spin them back up
so they can point a finger at the piece of shit...
-Okay, sorry. Bad guys who attacked them.
We just want to give them some measure of justice before they rest.
The dead should not speak.
I wish you'd have come to church today. Father Huerta talked about miracles.
Oh, this is a miracle, right here.
The fact that people don't have to die anymore, that's a miracle.
Only God can perform miracles, mija.
Okay, well, didn't God create the explorers
that led us to the Elder ruins and the metal for stack technology?
The devil can lead men to damnation like God can lead them to salvation.
What does that mean?
Your mother, she always drags out the devil,
waves him around when she's losing an argument.
It's fucking torture.
Christ, will you break already? I have somewhere to be.
Inconsiderate fucking douche.
The pain will be without limit, the interrogator without mercy.
It is a universe of suffering. There will seem to be no end.
Accept that it will never stop.
Scream your way through it, or cry, or bleed.
Let them think they have begun to break you.
-Remember only one thing.
An animal in the forest is caught in a trap.
It will flail, bite, snap, try to escape,
gnaw its own leg off.
You are no animal. You are an Envoy.
-You aren't trapped. You're waiting.
Your enemy is not the interrogator.
Your enemy is despair.
They control the construct.
Wait, find the weakness in your enemy, and then, get to the next screen.
You should know there's nothing I won't do.
Nothing, if it will save you.
What if I can't be saved?
We are patient.
We wait. We endure.
We find the weakness, and then we strike.
Even if it is only to destroy the weakness in ourselves.
Don't reset. Cortical stimulation. Wake him up.
Check out the time. We're going into OT.
Alanna is literally gonna kill me.
I'm thinking I'll take the arm next. I hope you're a lefty.
Hey. You reach a certain age, it happens to all of us.
Well, some of us.
What's the problem?
We're off the clock and the client's not done yet.
He wanted authorization for additional time and protocols.
-Pull him out. -Yes, sir.
-Mama.
Will you say goodbye to her?
It's okay. It's okay.
Sometimes we must realize that faith evolves as we do.
Is it evolution, using the work of aliens to extend our own lives?
Are we even God's creatures any longer?
Why am I asking you?
We don't even believe in the same god.
But we both believe in the soul.
And so does your daughter. Cut her some slack.
When did the world get so complicated?
When God put people into it.
What the fuck?
You're not authorized to go into overtime.
Your programs are shit. They're not working.
I need something better.
There's nothing wrong with the programs.
So you want me to believe this man can't break.
Everyone breaks.
I've got something just out of Beijing called Helminth Code.
The one time we ran it, the woman had a psychotic break.
-You use this, he's not coming back. -Hmm.
If I get answers, that's fine.
Mr. Phillips, a call for you.
-It's her.
Last time I'm gonna ask.
Who hired you to kill me?
Convince him you are broken.
He believes you are the one in the trap. Use that.
Hallucination...
-...displacement, retreat. Displacement, hallucination.
You're talking to yourself. I'm finally doing something right.
No, wait, wait.
No. No. No, wait. Wait. Wait.
You-- You're right.
You're right. I'm-- I'm Ryker. I'm-- I'm Ryker. I'm Ryker.
Who hired you?
I don't know. I don't know.
-You're lying!
-Play dumb all you want,
but I know the kind of firepower that came after me
means this is something big.
And the fact that you won't roll on this guy...
just means that you think he's more dangerous than me.
You're wrong. I am what you need to be afraid of.
Take what is offered...
and use it.
Mom loves you. She's just confused, you know?
Things changed too fast for her.
Are you talking to me, mija? Or to yourself?
He was a handsome devil, your abuelo.
I remember what it was to lose my life's great love.
The finality of it, the emptiness.
I miss him.
I'm sorry, I was gonna say I'd spin Abuelo up, too, next All Hallows,
but I forgot he's still coded.
And up in Heaven.
-Yeah.
I don't, but he did.
It was one of the only things we ever actually argued about.
Hmm.
Your abuelo, he... he was a stubborn bastard.
Yeah.
I have a weird question.
What?
Do they keep any drugs here?
Like in the evidence storage section or something?
Abuela.
What? I never tried it before.
Take control.
Take control of the construct.
Delete the chain.
Delete the Praetorians.
Excellent.
But it won't be that easy with me.
Yes, it will. I already know your weakness.
Really?
You let the other recruits out faster.
You have more to pay for.
Or maybe you have more to prove. About how much you don't care for me.
I don't care about you.
I think you're gonna show me how to break out of the simulation next.
Focus on what you care about most in this world,
with every atom of your existence.
Rip yourself open, and you can rip a hole in the virtual world.
That is how you get back to the real.
That is how you get to the next screen.
-I can't!
Finally. You okay?
Yeah, yeah.
I knew you'd fuck it up, Kovacs. -I thought you were some big badass.
What took you so long? -I guess I'm just a slow learner.
-That was sloppy. -It worked.
I could kill you where you stand. All of you.
Escaping the construct is not enough by itself.
When you get back to the real, that's your one chance.
You have to be ready.
Let him believe you are weak.
Until the moment he discovers...
you are not.
Take it. It's yours.
From the moment I met you, it's yours.
Who are you talking to?
Takeshi, get to the next screen.
He stopped his own heart. No.
Get him back.
So, how's it going, Dimi?
Let's talk.
Oh, we will. Back in virtual. Put him under.
That's a great idea if you want to get RD'd.
I said put him under!
Could this Ryker guy reach out of virtual and stop his own heart?
Could he bring himself back? Has he ever been offworld?
You saw what the program pulled from my subliminals.
A room on Harlan's World? I'm not who this guy thinks I am.
-Maybe he's telling the truth. Who are you supposed to be now?
Someone you should truly not have fucked with.
You dumb motherfuckers just abducted and tortured a CTAC officer.
You have any idea what they're gonna do to you?
-Oh, shit. They're gonna hunt you down.
All of you. Gonna make what you did to me look like a tropical cruise.
They're gonna rip your stacks out and feed 'em to the shredder.
They're gonna kill your families, friends, dogs, cats, and fucking goldfish.
Why would CTAC be wasting time sniffing around Licktown, huh? There's a biopirate operation moving stolen military inventory
-out of places like Jack It Off. Do you see it?
Multiplying in their brains like bacteria, reaching critical mass. Keep going.
The one who lets me up lives.
The other two, the Corps is done with you. You won't even be a memory.
-Divide et impera. -I'm letting him loose.
Do not!
Fuck this. I'm not letting you get me killed.
♪ This wicked tongue says ♪
-♪ God is a million miles away ♪
I just work here.
♪ This wicked tongue says ♪
♪ He can't see my day to day ♪
♪ This wicked tongue says ♪
♪ Go on, taste everything ♪
♪ And this wicked tongue says ♪
♪ You know you're not really living ♪
-♪ And it stares into the sun ♪
♪ And it flies from star to star ♪
-I swear this is where we took him!
♪ And the noise is as much As I can bear ♪
♪ And the noise is as much... ♪
-Dickface here wouldn't give me--
I actually told him I'd let him live.
Uh, you dropped this at Jack It Off. And you're covered with blood.
It's not mine.
Who's that? Some asshole.
That it is. That it is.
Ah, but I'm telling you, this is it for me.
I'm serious.
No more.
I don't want to be spun up into another sleeve next year.
Really?
Yeah. I'm having too much fun in this one.
Well...
I think it's time for me to go, my darling.
No matter how long you live, you never finish.
You have to learn to let the world continue.
Accept that death is part of life.
Please, my love.
Don't bring me back again. Okay? Please.
Okay.
Hmm.
Ortega.
I'll be right there.
Coming through.
Detective! Move. Detective? Move.
My sources say it's a war zone back there.
Should the citizens of Bay City be concerned
-Go fist yourself.
You know, uh, you have such a gift with the press.
Fuck. Shit.
Hey, Hawkeye, give me location on the target.
The target is not currently transmitting within range.
Come on.
Lieutenant, I am picking up a signal.
Christ.
Come on.
-Holy shit.
Wait. Kristin! Kristin!
Oh, shit. It's not him. It's not Kovacs.
Lieutenant Ortega, you have reached the target.
He did this?
Where the fuck is he?
Whoa. Lieutenant. Good to see you again.
-If you're looking for Mr. Kovacs-- -We're not sure where he is.
Terribly uncertain.
I'll deal with you later.
Open this fucking door before I blow it off!
I know you were there, so don't try to den--
You took a fucking trophy?
Huh?
Sleeve's a cop.
-No.
You were waiting for me at the resleeve facility before I even needlecast in.
You were onto me before I--
Because I knew you were a danger, which you clearly are.
I should be getting a fuckin' medal for shutting that place down.
-I don't know.
Only way it makes sense that you were tracking me before I got here
was that you weren't tracking me at all.
You were tracking him.
I really couldn't give a shit about what sleeve you're wearing.
-Yeah.
What the fuck?
-No.
Stab yourself in the dick for all I care.
-See, Dimi here, he kept calling me Ryker. -Because he was crazy.
Who's Ryker to you?
Nobody.
Nobody, huh?
-We worked together.
No "and."
No, no, no.
No, just stop it, stop it! Please.
Please, just stop it. I...
I'll tell you.
Just...
I'll tell you everything.