Black Lightning

Previously on Black Lightning...

I found out some serious dirt

on this fake cystic fibrosis treatment.

I'm already uploading everything I got onto a thumb drive.

And as soon as I get it to you, my ass is leaving town.

Darius.

His name is Ishmael.

Advanced training in hand-to-hand combat,

especially swordsmanship.

And he's a meta hunter.

Dr. Stewart successfully harvested my powers into the vials.

The nullifier boosters are authentic.

Let's make our move on Dr. Stewart.

You're under arrest.

- What... what... what for? - Violation of civil rights.

Mr. Bates asked me to work on it himself.

It's called an energy field emitter.

Look who's almost the king of Freeland now.

Something's wrong.

I don't feel my powers.

Jeff, I don't know what's happening.

I can't feel my powers either.

My powers aren't working.

Lightning!

TC, something's wrong.

I could really use a little help here.

I'm trying.

Hold on, I'm trying.

Lightning, can you hear me?

What the hell is going on?

It seems that somehow everyone lost their powers.

Yeah, I just figured that out the hard way.

Are you hurt?

No.

Thankfully, Gambi is always full of surprises.

Wait. If everyone lost their powers,

how are you talking to me right now?

I'm on an old earpiece from, like, 1903.

How do people still use these things?

I'm headed to the Sanctum.

This isn't even a battle.

I'm almost ashamed to keep going.

Almost.

Gambi, I need you to activate

the stealth mode in my suit remotely.

You're good to go.

Hands! Don't move!

Get your men outta here. I can't hold him much longer.

- Get outta there, now! - He's on the ground.

- We could take him right now. - Just do it.

If Black Lightning's telling us,

he knows something we don't.

Jeff, you need to get back to the Sanctum. Now.

You gonna show your face?

Huh?

I thought Black Lightning was supposed to be a badass!

Or are you just a coward in a costume?

I'm on my way.

Grace?

Babe, you okay?

No, actually.

Anissa, you're bleeding.

Wait, the person in that car almost took you out.

Why is someone trying to kill you?

Wait, why are we bruised and battered?

What the hell happened to our powers?

Come on.

Okay, we shouldn't be in here.

Look, babe, I know this is messed up,

but whatever's on that thumb drive,

Darius was trying to give to me.

It had him so terrified he was ready to leave town. And now he's dead.

- We gotta stay and find it. - Okay, what if the killer took it?

How do we even know it's still here?

What is it?

Wow.

That dude really did love his dog.

This must be Rusty.

What the hell?

So look, when you were in the hospital,

he was telling me he had to euthanize his dog,

and that they were... Ugh. That they were really close.

So, he compared me to his dog?

He never compared you to his dog.

- He was just saying... - Whatever.

That is way more disturbing than that dead body lying four feet from us.

Listen, I agree with you. I think it's weird, too. But look.

Jackpot.

Wow. If I wasn't so repulsed, I'd call you a genius.

That's all right, baby. You can still call me a genius.

All right, but really.

If the neighbors heard gunshots,

the cops are probably on their way.

- We should get out of here. - Yeah.

Damn.

We should go.

Damn!

Uncle Gambi, is it just our powers affected?

Or all the metas in Freeland? TC lost his powers, too.

Or all the metas everywhere?

I don't know yet.

But I am working on it.

We know you are.

Let's just get out of these suits.

How do we do that with no powers?

Aw.

You stuck in the same outfit. How are you gonna make it?

This isn't funny, Anissa.

This is a prototype

of the module I use to conduct the electrical currents within the suits.

It should do the trick.

Thanks, Uncle Gambi.

And thanks for putting that bubble thing in my suit.

Kicked in just in time.

After your dad fell from the ionosphere

trying to save you,

I incorporated them into your suits as an extra safety measure.

Good call.

Hey, look, you think you can decrypt this?

Not without my powers.

But I think I may know someone who can help.

All right, good.

Yeah.

You should probably get down to the precinct.

Lynn's been arrested.

This is nowhere near orthodox.

Not to mention, I already put my ass on the line tonight.

Let's just say things didn't go so well.

The name Jefferson Pierce is trash in Freeland right now.

People say you betrayed the entire city.

But I trusted Bill Henderson with my life.

And apparently, he trusted you with his.

So... you got five minutes.

All right. I appreciate you, man. Truly.

Jeff.

- You all right? - No.

No, the... the charges are really serious, Jeff.

Fourteen counts of violation of civil rights.

Human experimentation on children in a government black site,

reckless endangerment. I...

I'm scared. Jeff, I'm really scared.

- We're gonna get you out of here. - Where... where are the girls?

Uh... I just left them at the Sanctum.

Something's not right.

We all lost our powers.

What? How?

We don't know yet, exactly, but...

It's Tobias. It's all Tobias.

He just put out a statement

disassociating himself from you and the clinic.

Oh, son of a bitch.

Okay, look. I promise you,

I will do everything in my power

to get you out of here.

- Oh, Keith. - Got here as soon as I could.

Thank you so much for coming.

This is Jefferson.

Oh, hey. Good to meet you. Keith Michaels.

Michaels. Oh, you're Lynn's old college buddy.

We're gonna get Lynn home. Real soon.

I'm not sure we can afford you.

No, Jeff, it-it-it's handled.

Appreciate it, man.

Jefferson, you need to go.

Feds'll be back in here any second.

She's in good hands.

Thank you. You stay strong.

- Yeah. - Thank you.

Thank you so much for coming.

Thanks for letting me stay over.

You know you're always welcome.

Mm-hmm. Except when she's not.

What?

I kid, I'm kidding.

We need to get our powers back.

They were the only real tie I had left to my identity.

If I can't be Lightning anymore,

who am I?

Look, whether you have your powers, or you look different or not,

you are my sister.

And that, I know in my soul.

So just hold on to that, okay?

Until Gambi can... figure out a way for this all to go back to normal.

You know damn well this family doesn't do "normal."

She's not wrong about that.

Mm-mm.

Glow of success.

"If a man shall begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts.

But if he will be content to begin with doubts,

he shall end in certainties."

I wanna see this thing in action.

Cool.

Now remove the bracelet.

I wasn't gonna actually shoot you, Red.

Now that we have assurances that the emitter is working,

time to initiate phase two of the plan.

Oh, and...

you owe me a vase.

That was Lalique.

- Hey. - All right. What's happening with Mom?