Prologue[]
At a charity gala hosted by Coastal Cross Memorial Hospital in 2012, Kathryn MacLaren admonished Grant MacLaren from splurging on football tickets. He bumped into Vincent Ingram, then went off to replace his drink. Vincent and Kat socialized a bit, where Vincent revealed he's a donor because someone close to his wife received care from the hospital. Kat, in turn, donated a furniture chair for the auction, although it didn't garner much interest. Vincent supposed he could do something about that, but on the way to the chair he got distracted by artwork nearby. They were apparently created by one of Coastal Cross' patients. Forgetting about the chair, Vincent announced his intention to buy all of the paintings.
Protocol 5 Miscellanea[]
In the present, Grant returns to work at the FBI. Beth Sanders tells him his Petrov case was reassigned in light of his family tragedy, but Grant snubs any outpourings of sympathy and reclaims the case. At home, however, Grant breaks down over minor irritants like ticking sounds at 4:00 AM. Kat comforts him, saying they can take turns at being the strong one. That night, Kat goes to Grant's office with two offers: they should take a long vacation overseas, or try adoption. Grant hasn't considered the latter option, but tells Kat it's a good idea.
David Mailer meets with Grant in the elevator to his office, concerned that Marcy Warton is exhibiting self-destructive behavior. Grant tells him he's aware of Marcy's medical procedure and assures him it's experimental, not a sign of mental illness. Grant adds he wouldn't have approved, but he understands why Marcy did it. When David returns home, he finds Marcy cooking pasta for a candlelight dinner. She kisses him, and the pasta nearly ends up forgotten until David turns off the stove before resuming other romantic activities.
The next morning, David asks her to help him understand how her behavior would make things better. Marcy tells him she regained a lot of memories - most of which are top secret - but a big one that she could share is that she loves him.
Philip Pearson is still suffering from the side effects of his Update, forcing him to take the yellow pills to center his focus on the current timeline. He spaces out when Carly Shannon requests he change the music playing through their comms. Philip is irritated at playing DJ, though Carly tells him he's good at it. At Carly's house, Jeff Conniker sees her jamming to the tunes and affirms his attraction to her. Later that night, Jeff comes home drunk and attempts to rape Carly. She's forced to fight him off and beats his face bloody. Philip sings through the comms to defuse the murderous situation.
The next morning, while Philip's feeding Poppy Carly confronts him about his intrusion. She suspects Philip knew she was going to kill Jeff, though he denies it.
Gary Holden tells Trevor he supports his son in light of the Carson Perry scandal at school. While the original Trevor was indeed one of Carson's victims, Trevor lies to his father he isn't one of them. Gary's relieved, considering the sordid details of the case.
The next day, Rene Bellamy meets with Trevor. They have been living separate lives for so long that Rene is unsure if she and Trevor are still a thing. Trevor subtly nudges her to break up with him, confident that Rene "will make the right decision."
The Simon Connection[]
Right after Marcy's kiss to David in response to whether regaining her memories was worth it, David takes her to the artist of the floor graffiti, mentioning his ailments and noting he was found just a short while after David saved Marcy from the streets. It turns out to be none other than Simon Teller, who recognizes Marcy from their institution days.
Suspecting he's a Traveler from David's descriptions, Marcy brings Simon back to Ops. Philip discovers pictures of Simon's artwork from the 2012 gala, all of them evocative of the future the Travelers left behind. Simon clams up at odd moments, hallucinating Vincent watching him and telling him to be quiet. Marcy reveals to the team Vincent's role in the experiments involving her host and Simon. Eventually Simon has a violent episode and has to be sedated.
The next morning, the Travelers discover who Simon really is. He's one of the earliest Travelers, 004, tasked with creating the communication infrastructure used by Travelers in the deep web. However, he was unwittingly sent to a compromised host, who manifested schizophrenia later in life. Due to his association with 001, the core team now know how Vincent was spying on Traveler teams around the world. Trevor suggests they could use it to pinpoint where he's hiding.
Thanks to an unsecured phone calling Vincent and monitored by the Travelers, Philip and Simon spend a night tracking down who made it. The next day the the team learns Vincent's association with Katrina Perrow. Dr. Perrow wishes to sever contact with Ingram, though Grant and Carly convince her to retain her client claiming he's under FBI investigation. They implant Perrow with a comm so they can track her to Vincent's lair.
While Grant and Carly are talking with Perrow, the rest of the team wonder why Simon was abandoned to his own devices. Marcy takes the easy answer: the Director didn't know, similar to how she and Philip were sent to compromised hosts. Trevor supposes Vincent covered his tracks, as no records of the institution survived into the future.
Simon wishes to go home, so Marcy sends him out to the streets again with a wad of cash and an invitation to drop by their Ops anytime. Simon thinks Marcy "got better", as the device he was helping Vincent build was supposed to help him get better. However, Simon is abducted by henchmen not long after, leaving his paint supplies on the street.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team follow Perrow to a barn. It turns out Vincent is aware of their tricks and cut out Perrow's comm, leaving it there. Back at Ops they receive a video of the doctor saying she and her daughter were kidnapped and will be released unharmed if Grant proceeds to a set of coordinates within two hours, alone.
Ingram's Experiments[]
Years ago when Simon was still lucid, he engaged in clandestine deals for components he required. The voices were starting to manifest then, like during one of his transactions with Terry. Eventually he hallucinated law enforcement discovering his activities in dramatic fashion. He imagined trying to escape, realized it was futile, then repeatedly screamed about surrendering in front of searchlights. In the real world he was terrorizing a few passersby on a suburban street in broad daylight. One of them called for professional help. Simon ended up institutionalized.
Sometime after the charity gala, Vincent approached Dr. Carroll regarding Simon's condition. Simon recognized Vincent as 001, who was supposed to die at the North Tower and was actively hunted by the Director after his two near-exposures. Vincent convinced Simon the Director actually wanted to help him by making him "whole again", and they should work together toward that end.
Vincent began moving equipment to the hospital ward to build their device. Dr. Carroll grew concerned over bureaucratic procedures, though Vincent "donated" financial resources to her so she would deal with those problems. However, Simon and Vincent began experimenting on live people, including Marcy, while much of the technology was in its infancy, leading to horrific results like brain damage. The Fraser meteor which would have provided them some breakthroughs wasn't due to arrive for years. Simon ran into technical issues that can be surmounted with the Director's assistance, but Vincent insisted they solve the problem themselves.
Years later, Vincent pulled the hospital's funding. The institution grew accustomed to the influx of money that Dr. Carroll requested time to adjust to the belt-tightening realities. Vincent refused and retorted if she cared so much for the patients she should take his place as benefactor given that he personally compensated her so well.
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