What we believe shapes who we are.
Belief can bring us salvation...
or destruction.
-Listen to me--
But when you believe a lie for too long, the truth doesn't set you free.
No.
It tears you apart.
You killed her?
You killed everyone?
Why?
Why would you do that?
I was trying to save our lives.
Quell and the Envoys were our family. How could you kill our family?
They were just soldiers.
You and I, we're family.
Our lives will be better now.
When everyone I ever loved was taken away from me?
You know what that did to me? What I became?
I tried to find you.
-Then you got yourself caught by CTAC.
They locked you up so tight, no one could get to you.
So it took you 250 years to get me out.
It would have been forever if I hadn't played Bancroft into wanting you.
Do you have any idea
how hard it was to find someone with the pull to get you off ice?
You were in those sleeves, watching... talking to me.
Why didn't you say anything?
Because I knew it was going to be hard for you to trust me.
That idiot Dimi was supposed to pick you up to bring you to me to talk.
After that, I waited for the right time.
But when his brother was gonna RD you, I had to act.
And you're welcome.
What do you want from me, Rei?
Just to see me as the sister who loves you, who'd do anything for you.
You destroyed the Uprising. How the hell was that for me?
Quell was using you, using all of us.
Brainwashed us all to fight and die for nothing.
The Uprising was already doomed.
I was the only one who was going to take care of us.
So what did they pay you?
Backups Clones?
All of them.
And none of it mattered unless I could get you back.
I loved her.
I know.
But she was going to get you killed.
Kill me, if that's what you need.
I'll come back for you, big brother.
No matter what...
I'll always come back for you.
Sandy Kim, reporting live outside the Fell Street Police Station,
where BCPD are still reeling from an attack
that came from within the station.
Detective Ortega, what were you doing at Fightdrome?
-Can you respond to allegations... -Out of my way.
...you are part of a black market fighting ring?
Are your underworld connections the reason why the station was attacked?
Detective Ortega?
They’re lies, and you know it, bitch.
Getting me fucked over doesn't help Bancroft anymore.
He knows I believe he was murdered. So who are you really working for?
And where's Kovacs?
Lieutenant, really. You're being paranoid.
Hmm.
Sandy Kim and I, we have a symbiotic relationship.
She does me occasional favors and, in return, I feed her what sells.
Sex. Violence. Money.
Corrupt cops.
I can get a subpoena and make you talk.
Oh, I very much doubt you can do either.
Take my advice.
You've come too close to dying this life. Just... leave it alone.
Haven't you lost enough?
What the fuck are you looking at?
Shit!
What are you doing here?
I couldn't just sit there while Kovacs is missing.
Remember him?
Tall, bad attitude, Envoy,
who for some fucking reason has no missing person alert out on him.
We can't say if he's missing, exactly.
He left Fightdrome with someone. That's all we know for sure.
You look good. I could have sworn I broke your back.
You did.
Bone fusion took my whole deductible for the year.
-I told IA I fell down.
In my office. Now.
-You need to go. -No. You need to resign.
-I need to get back to work. -You can't.
You're on paid leave while this Fightdrome disaster goes to IA.
Oh, yeah?
What happens when I tell them you're on the take?
What happens? Nothing.
There is no evidence, no money trail,
-and no one is going to believe you-- -I'll convince them--
-They won't let you!
Kristin, you're gonna get yourself real death'd.
-I wanna know why Ryker was framed.
I want to know who is this ghost who killed Abboud.
Who took Kovacs, where he is, if he's even alive.
I need answers.
-I know that look. You want blood. -If that's what it takes.
I can't protect you anymore.
Protect me?
Get your things and go. I'll give you 15 minutes.
If you're not gone by then, I'll have you escorted out.
I'm sorry, Kristin. I hope you know that.
But I won't let you take me down with you.
Drink this.
It'll help.
Say something.
Anything.
So, what? I just... forgive you, like nothing's happened?
I don't want forgiveness for saving you from yourself.
Not for what you did to me. It's what you did to them.
That was a long time ago. This is our chance to start over.
Let it all go, begin again, just you and me.
She taught us better than this.
-I don't care about what Quell said. -I'm talking about Mom.
Tak, don't.
We've got years for you to be angry with me. Forever, potentially.
Right now, I need your help.
Bancroft.
I need you to close the case.
-Don't be ridiculous.
I didn't touch Laurens.
On the contrary, I gave him what he always wanted.
He was surprisingly unappreciative.
Although, being high on Stallion may have affected his judgment.
No, I read the autopsy report. There was nothing about drugs in his body.
Yes. Tanaka earned his paycheck on the postmortem paperwork.
Not to mention, it was hell getting Laurens dosed to begin with.
But that's not your concern.
Convince Bancroft the threat is past. Produce a culprit if you have to.
Frame someone innocent.
Everyone's guilty of something. It's just a matter of degree.
What if I say no?
-I didn't want to have this conversation.
Not yet.
That son of a bitch works for you?
I've become a titan of industry,
dealing with the many weaknesses of the flesh.
-I have interests that need protecting. -You didn't answer my question.
I heard you became familiar
with the new interrogation programs at the Wei Clinic.
That place belongs to you?
Information extraction is a very lucrative niche market.
I was tortured to death. Over and over again.
If I had known, I would have stopped it.
These people you've become so attached to,
Vernon Elliot, Kristin Ortega, to me, they're fireflies,
each a tiny spark whose beauty lies in how quickly it's extinguished.
Convince Bancroft the case is closed.
Or your friends will go into one of my other clinics
and they won't come out until they're quite, quite mad.
I'll need a dipper.
Jesus. You look like hell.
Really? I spent hours on my hair.
-Cleaned out my desk.
I'm taking some me time.
Any luck with the Ghostwalker trace program?
Tanaka told me to stop.
It was an unauthorized use
-of department resources. -Of course.
You really shouldn't be in here. You're not supposed to be in here.
No. It's blood from the homicidal bitch who took Kovacs.
I need a gene-mat typing.
-No. You got suspended-- -On paid leave.
Do you remember when I almost got fired for saying
I could see your areolas through your shirt?
Vaguely.
-This is worse. I'll lose my job. Listen to me.
This woman single-handedly took out a whole room of Carnage's people.
I really need to know who she is.
She's got Kovacs.
Please.
You know, they can check this in the OrgDam lab.
No. I can't trust them.
I can't trust anybody.
Except for you. Thank you.
-Oh, there's one more thing. -No. No more things.
I thought you could do it while I get changed.
You're right. I do look like hell.
-I believe you're my sister's bitch.
You do not show her the proper respect.
What is it with these Meths and respect?
They're just rich assholes who don't look their age.
You misunderstand me, Mr. Kovacs.
I know better than to trust you in an elevator.
Throughout history, we have prayed to gods.
Pleaded for their mercy, begged for their protection.
Avatars of sun and sky. Blood and war.
The god of Abraham or Muhammad or Christ or Krishna.
All were silent.
Just attack me, please. It'll hurt less than listening to this.
For the first time in human history, when we pray, they answer.
They're not gods. No matter how much they listen to their own propaganda.
Their power is absolute and they never die.
What else would you call them?
Has anyone told you that you're really fucked up in there?
You are the brother of a living god.
-Jesus Christ. -Blessed to share her bone and blood.
You will someday realize the holiness of She Who Endures.
Until then, your obedience will suffice.
-Put this on your head. -The fuck out of here.
Your sister doesn't want you to know our location.
I have been told that you obey or others die.
Whom should I kill first?
-You gotta go. Come on, Mickey.
All I'm asking is a facial rec scan and a gene-mat typing.
No, I mean, you gotta go.
Kovacs, he just popped back up on the grid.
Psychasec in the Haight.
I ran the facial rec, all right? Now get outta here.
Promise you'll get the gene-mat typing.
-Promise.
Yes! I promise. Go.
-Go. -Thanks.
-You've got your Rerun.
Tell your boss we're even now. No more favors.
Mr. Hemingway will decide when your debt is clear. Understood?
This ain't my dipper.
I asked for a woman. She's in her 40s.
Your sister wished me to tell you that she is, quote,
"Not running a charity for your strays."
No. No. No. This isn't right.
The DHF is correct. The sleeve shouldn't matter.
It's okay, Ava. You're sleeve-sick.
I'm cross-sleeved! In a man!
I know.
Who are you? Where the hell are you taking me?
Home.
Vernon They're all right?
Yeah.
-Shit. -Make her go away.
I'm not a magician.
Do it or you'll be looking for a new dipper.
What the...
I do this and you back the fuck off.
Rei gets what she wants, but not with you looking over my shoulder. Got it?
Oh, God.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Thank God. You're alive!
You thought Ryker's sleeve was damaged? It's not.
No. I thought you were dead.
I'm fine.
Good.
Um...
Why are you at Psychasec?
I'm, uh... trying to get a new sleeve
that's not on the shitlist of all the criminals in this city.
You want to put Ryker's sleeve back on the slab?
I'd love to, but Bancroft is blocking me.
I can't get out of this fucking skin because of you.
What's the hell is going on with you? What's happening?
Is it that woman
-Nobody.
Nobody?
She mowed her way through Carnage's boys with a sword.
She's no one?
She's someone who actually cares about me.
What?
Whatever you think was happening between us...
it didn't matter.
It meant nothing to me.
It's her I was looking for.
And I found her.
-It's over. -No. No! I don't fucking believe that.
-I don't believe you. -I'll get you your sleeve back.
Just have a little dignity.
♪ When I was just a little girl ♪
" ♪
-Indubitably.
Throwing blades is an excellent way to increase one's hand-eye coordination.
So is sewing. Or tennis. Or playing the motherfucking violin!
To my knowledge, no one has ever crushed the testicles of an assailant
using a stringed instrument.
-The goal is to be empowered.
The use of deadly force, honed and developed in a virtual environment,
may one day give her the confidence to feel safe in the real one,
and perhaps, soon...
reenter it.
Mr. Kovacs.
Mr. Kovacs, I'm so glad to see you.
I was troubled by your long absence from my establishment.
Kovacs, where you been?
Whoa, whoa! Back off, buddy. What are you, drunk?
Vernon.
It's me.
Ava.
I'm just a little sleeve-sick.
What the hell is going on here, Kovacs?
I need a dipper to run a hack,
subvert security protocols and inject code.
I heard your wife was pretty good, so I got her out.
Ava?
There were some setbacks.
Like, I'm a man.
Surely true love triumphs over all?
Shut up, Poe.
Vern.
I never thought I'd touch you again.
Ava?
It's me. Baby, it's really me.
-So romantic.
Where's Lizzie?
There, uh... There may be some things we...
There may be some things I have to tell you.
Ava...
Honey...
-I'm sorry. -Yeah.
Me too.
All that happened and I wasn't there.
Am I good yet?
Far better than good.
You are formidable.
Wait.
Perhaps we should go.
Mom?
Sometimes, belief isn't about what we can see.
It's about what we can't.
I... I missed you so much.
I know. I'm sorry. Sweetheart, I'm so sorry.
I should have been there.
But I'm here now and I'm never leaving, ever. I promise you.
Something's different.
-You changed your hair.
Yeah.
Dad!
Been a while, ladybug.
See?
Eddie found a way to do time dilation for me,
so I can practice for months in here when it's just days in the real.
I hate that sign.
-There are a variety of species
that do not rely on visual cues to find their own kind.
The star-nosed mole, for example, is utterly blind,
-yet has no difficulty finding its mothe-- -Poe.
You brought my daughter here. You're teaching her how to hurt people.
-Technically, I'm teaching. -I'll get to you in a minute.
You're destroying who she is.
Someone else did that already.
She's shattered.
Whoever she was is dead.
What... What am I supposed to do with that?
Same thing as she did. Adapt.
Because my sister will do way worse than kill you
if I don't close the Bancroft case. And I need you on this run.
I'm gonna need all of you.
Really?
I wouldn't get too excited.
What does this run involve, exactly?
Lying. Stealing. Breaking the law.
If we're going to pull this off, we gotta get our hands dirty.
-Envoys who died at Stronghold.
Are you kidding me?
They were infected with Rawling.
Rawling is fatal.
It corrupts all electronic data, destroys stacks.
How did you survive?
I was...
out of range of the viral transmission blast.
I need you to take these fragments and recreate the malware.
Fucking with Bancroft's head is one thing, but using this--
Wanna go back on ice and leave Lizzie without a mother?
Then get to work.
When you're done, deliver it to Poe.
I can't believe you thought it was bowling night.
I have nothing further to bet.
Oh, sure you do.
I hear you have another guest.
A nutcase human murder victim. I can always use the crazy ones.
Make for great recordings. Really get into it.
Screaming.
There's a huge market for that shit.
So if I win, I'll take her off your hands.
If you win...
Well, you never win.
Her name is Miss Elizabeth and she's my friend.
Oh, you should never name them. Makes you sentimental.
And you're enough of a human lover as it is.
All in, you inelegant ass.
Well, here comes the river.
Boom!
Come to Papa.
Oh, walk away, you human-loving son of a bitch!
I want her here tomorrow!
I feel a little...
-I'm in. Here it comes. -Got it.
We need an image of Bancroft from that night.
Not getting that Fightdrome footage, though. It's analog.
BCPD seized the tapes and scanned them after the raid.
Looks like Prescott got the originals and destroyed them.
-But it got in the system. -Damn, woman.
Now all that was left was to sell Bancroft the lie.
So you won't take me up on my offer?
Keeping my word.
It's not too late, you know. We can leave right now.
Make all your fantasies come true. All you have to do is say yes.
You really don't want me telling Bancroft what happened.
Anyone else might have thought you'd killed him yourself.
Is that what you think?
Why have you insisted on all these people being here?
-Because one of them killed you. -Oh.
And the rest are about to be witnesses.
Clarissa is here at my invitation. After all, she did advise me to hire you.
So, you'd better be on point or I'll be looking for a refund.
I'm sure that won't be an issue, Laurens.
Let's hear what the Envoy has to say.
From the beginning of this case, the details just didn't add up.
All the evidence said suicide.
It was neat, tidy, perfect.
Nothing real is perfect.
Someone wanted the world to believe that you killed yourself.
But how could you possibly bring down Laurens Bancroft?
This is a VR jack-in brothel called Prick Up.
It specializes in simulated rape and murder.
It's the last place you visited before you died.
I'm not overly familiar with this particular establishment.
Yeah.
I still got it.
And yet, there you are.
Prick Up was a trap.
Set up just for you.
Captain, check in with your cybercrimes unit.
Yeah. Do we have any reports on a place called Prick Up?
I'm looking for anything.
Okay.
All right. Thanks.
Sir, Prick Up has shut down.
Are you gonna tell him?
The core was destroyed by Rawling virus.
Prick Up went insane. The AI core melted.
You were infected.
Your download at Psychasec was clean.
So your stack needed to be contaminated by direct contact, which means VR 'trodes.
-No. This is completely absurd-- -Here's the next interesting thing.
Prescott knows everything about what happened in Osaka.
I was with Mr. Bancroft. That's no secret. I often accompany him as counsel.
You forgot to mention that he was furious with his son when he returned.
Put a beating on him at Fightdrome.
You wore a blonde sleeve in Osaka. Right?
I wear a variety of sleeves. It's part of my travel allowance.
This one?
Yes. But... what's all this?
This is wrong. We're about to destroy her life.
-And people like her destroyed Lizzie's. -I don't want to be people like her.
It's a bill for damages. Signed by you.
Damage from the sleeve being strangled and raped.
What?
-I've never seen this invoice. -Because Prescott handled it.
Wh This is ridiculous. Complete fiction.
-Not now.
Now, why would she pay damages on a work sleeve herself?
Because she lost access to company funds.
-If I fired her.
Mr. Bancroft, you can't possibly be taking anything he says--
The women you like to hurt all got something in common.
They look like Prescott did that weekend.
Like your wife.
He wants to get rid of me. He's trying to replace me.
Did he rape you?
Or did you come on to him because you saw his anger as an opportunity for leverage?
After everything this family has done for you.
You know I would never-- I--
Whatever happened between you in Osaka, you decided to fire her over it.
No. None of this is true.
The Envoy is manipulating you. Don't you see that?
Who knows your habits better than anyone?
She knew that when you're this angry, you'll find the nearest VR dive,
where you can kill as many blonde whores as you want.
All she had to do was time your arrival to Prick Up for the viral strike.
None of this was supposed to look like murder.
It was all supposed to look like just bad fucking luck.
Malware racing up your needlecast into your satellite backups
and destroying them.
When you got home, your internal contam alarm was screaming.
You had to stop your backup from going through.
-You didn't have much time.
Do it! Do it! Do it!
-No!
Do you feel it, Laurens
-That's mine. Give it to me.
-No, it's not yours.
-Give it! -It's not yours. I'm not yours!
Years of groveling...
-No, give it to me! Mine! -...and serving and humiliating myself.
-All I ever wanted to be was one of you. -Give it!
And you threw me out like trash,
all because you couldn't control yourself.
Help me, please.
Please.
-No. He's lying!
All of it, every fucking word.
Curtis, if she speaks again, I want you to hurt her. I don't care how.
It was supposed to look like Bancroft went crazy,
his backups were shredded and he killed himself.
That's what I was waiting for.
There you go. No!
No, I can't!
I can't. No!
That's what I said. You didn't listen to me either.
But you outsmarted her.
Right. I must have faked the needlecast.
Pretend I'd done the backup, so you just killed me too soon.
Laurens, think about what he's saying.
I have been nothing but loyal to you, to this family.
Get her out of my house.
No, get your hands off me!
Oumou Prescott, you are under arrest.
Leave her alone. Let her go.
Not a word of this will leave this room. Is that understood?
-Of course, Mr. Bancroft. -Yes, sir.
Good.
I'm not gonna press charges.
Thank you. -No.
I am going to ruin you.
Your access to Aerium is withdrawn.
Your license to practice law will be revoked.
No Meth will ever hire you.
And everything you own will be confiscated.
Laurens, please!
You are never going to leave the ground again. Is that understood?
Don't do this. Don't do this.
Find a gutter. Throw her in it.
No. No. Please. Please. This is...
He's lying! He's lying! None of this is true! I--
You stop talking.
Get her out of here.
Aah!
I need my pardon and my payment.
In the end...
my great mystery was...
nothing more than human greed and my own weakness.
Well, there we are.
I'll make the necessary arrangements.
When I heard you'd invited them all in,
I thought you were trying to outmaneuver me.
-It works better in a group.
Convince the crowd, you're more likely to convince the man.
You played them well.
You won.
You convinced him.
Reileen won.
I just did what I was told. How do we practice deceit?
We rip the truth apart and reweave it into the lie.
Nothing is more convincing.
People talk about Envoy Intuition like it's magic.
It's not.
It's a pull at the back of the mind.
A scratch inside your skull that won't go away.
It's the details.
I told you not to call me here.
Are you cleaned up?
Yeah. Kovacs left a tab open for me at the hospital.
Did you get a hit on the gene
-That's not a no.
Come on, Mickey. You know something.
No, I didn't say that. Did you find Kovacs yet?
Yeah.
I don't know. Something's wrong.
-I think he's in trouble.
Because he was a total fucking prick.
You know, that's one interpretation. Another is that he is a prick.
What about the trace?
We got a hit on the gene-mat. I'm gonna send you the specs.
You are not gonna believe from where.
Psychasec?
Who's the client?
That's the weird thing.
I've got the vault number, and it's not registered to any account.
The gene-mat belongs to nobody.
Send me the vault info.
Okay, I'll send it now.
And that's it. That's the last time, understood? I'm done.
-I'm out. -No, Mickey. Wait.
What about tracking the Ghostwalker? He's still out there.
Yeah. Yeah, he is.
And so is my pension.
-I chase one, I lose the other. -Come on, Mickey, please.
Listen to me.
I love you and when you get fired, I'm going to deny we ever met.
-Hey! -Hi, Gus.
Remember me?
I picked you up last year for that misdemeanor sleeve-jack in Licktown.
-Never got reported to your employer. -No, I had those records sealed.
It was a misunderstanding.
I think Psychasec has a right to know, don't you?
I mean, they'll fire you and blackball you, but...
crime doesn't pay, does it?
What do you want?
Sometimes I come up here
when I have decisions to make or difficulties to face.
I knew the date and time of Bancroft's death.
The telescope returned to the same position it was in
when he looked through it, right before he died.
Our own...
satellite of sin, Head in the Clouds.
I've become a titan of industry,
dealing with the many weaknesses of the flesh.
We became hungry for things that reality could no longer offer.
I have a line that I am very careful not to cross.
You have no idea what he's capable of.
Being high on Stallion may have affected his judgment.
Male aggression enhancer.
Gave him what he always wanted.
She said he needed her.
And he will want someone to punish.
You will not be forgiven.
You see, don't you?
What you wove your lie from?
The truth.
Your payment has been processed.
That is your pardon.
If you speak of this to anyone, I will have you killed.
Permanently.
It was great working with you too.
Jeez, relax.
Just get me in. I'll do the rest.
-This is the one. -Open it.
I don't know.
No one's ever gonna know I was here.
Promise.
Let's take a look at you.
It's her.
Yeah. Definitely her.
Okay. Gonna need all the information you have on this client.
Everything on the databa--
Hey!
Open the door!
Open the door right fucking now!
Oh, shit.
Mickey. Mickey?
Come on. God damn it. Answer!
I don't know if this is going through,
but I've been locked into one of the vaults here in Psychasec. I don't--
Pod failure detected.
Who are you?
Of course. You're the new one.
The love of his life.
This week, anyway.
Tak's taste in women is so boringly consistent.
Earnest, heroic, beautiful.
And not very smart.
That wasn't very nice.
I wasn't trying to be nice, you bitch.
You still haven't answered my question.
Who are you?
¡Puta madre!
Damn it!
Okay.
Pod failure detected.
-Pod failure detected.
Pod failure detected.
-Pod failure detected.
Pod failure detected.
-Pod failure detected. -Fuck you!
Please stand by for technical assistance.
System override. All units cleared.
Do you have any idea how much money you just cost me?
Who the fuck are you?
Nobody.
Please.
She locked me in here. It's so cold.
Hey. It's okay.
Don't be afraid.