On 9/19, Darlene is asleep on the subway when the screeching of the train wakes her up. She realizes her wallet is missing. Rather than the sleeping frat guy or an old lady knitting, she accuses a young woman standing by the door. She finds her energy suspicious and demands she bring out the wallet. After a brief denial, the woman admits to the theft. Darlene takes only the Polaroid inside, to the confusion of the thief. Darlene lets her keep the wallet, explaining that she stole from her and the other passengers first and the everything since 5/9 has been her fault. She also confesses to killing a woman before getting off at her stop, "This is me."
At the safehouse, Dom returns and glances at the Comet Electric truck parked across the street. Once she enters, the truck leaves and Elliot is there smoking. He goes to the lower apartment, looking through the mail and trash while musing about metadata. Once he sees Darlene's backpack through the window, he picks the lock. Upstairs, the FBI agents watch Elliot on surveillance, realizing he phished them. Norm wonders about bringing him in as Dom fails to call Darlene on the phone she left in the apartment. Rather than burn the asset and their bridge to Tyrell, Dom goes outside and covertly tells the returning Darlene about Elliot and to stay cool.
Darlene finds Elliot inside. He brings up that she said she was leaving town. She asks what he’s doing here. He sets up the white noise machine and confronts her about hacking his monitor. As he gets closer to her, Darlene demands he step back so as not to hurt her. Elliot insists that it’s him, not Mr. Robot, which she calls complicated. Meanwhile, Norm calls Dom to come back because to the audio distortion. Darlene explains that she hacked him because she believed Mr. Robot was active and Elliot wasn’t talking to her. Elliot is hurt that she did that and says he needs to show her something.
At Red Wheelbarrow BBQ, Irving is eating ribs for breakfast as Angela sits across from him. As he praises the food, Angela notes that coming there was easy as SDR and cover-stops (making sure she isn’t tailed) has become second nature. Irving says this is their Monday morning update meeting, even though Angela says it’s Friday. He relays that the boss has set Stage 2 for Monday 9/29 in ten days. Angela brings up the shipping delays of the paper records, but Irving says Elliot can speed things up on the inside. Angela asks about the evacuation plan of the building, to which Irving assures her they have it under control. She asks if Whiterose showed him. After he says yes, she asks him if he believes. He points to technology today and the ribs, saying that anything is possible.
The Aldersons stand in Elliot’s apartment, which has been tossed and trashed of its furniture. Elliot says he did it looking for any other devices. He sits at his laptop and says Stage 2 was never off. He agrees with Darlene’s thought that Tyrell is involved and begins to show her his research before she shuts his computer. She asks why he didn’t just send in an anonymous tip and turn them in. He walks away and says he wants to see where it leads. Darlene reminds him that he doesn’t blow up buildings or kill people, but he says there’s something inside that can’t let go. She wants his word that he will fight with her to stop them as they plan their next move.
He brings her to Shayla’s old apartment, which hasn’t been taken. Darlene will stay there and wait to see if Mr. Robot takes over at night, as Elliot hasn’t lost time during the day. Darlene agrees to do it. As Elliot is buzzed to work, he assures his sister that whatever Mr. Robot does is not who he is. Darlene says she knows.
An Iranian man, Sasan Nouri, sits in an apartment eating cereal while watching Love, Actually. The phone rings and he looks out of the curtained window. There is a large camera in the corner of the room. As a SWAT team burst in, Nouri is already surrendering on his knees, wearing an fsociety mask.
On 9/25, Elliot is at his cubicle looking over the shipping records. He wonders if he had died from the gunshot, Stage 2 might have died with him. Now Mr. Robot has survived and is planning a terrorist attack, which excites Elliot. He wonders what’s wrong with himself. Angela arrives, catching him off guard. He quickly closes the window and poorly lies about it. She reminds him of an office party tonight. As she leaves, his coworker Samar makes lewd comments that Elliot should have sex with her.
Dom and Norm interview the stoic Mr. Nouri. Dom says they tracked the IP of the fsociety video to his home. Norm threatens him with going to prison with Allah hating Nazis. Dom says he’s young and shouldn’t throw his life away. Norm says they like strong and silent types in Gitmo. Dom asks if he’s working or knows Elliot Alderson, Darlene Alderson, Tyrell Wellick, and gets a movement of Nouri’s eyes when she mentions Whiterose. Nouri claims his leader is fsociety.
Elliot returns to his apartment and Darlene meets him at the door. They prepare for their night of surveillance before she elects to join him in walking Flipper. Wondering if she may be killed for following Mr. Robot, she proposes a vengeance pact between them. Elliot agrees. He apologizes for pushing away his sister for weeks. She hugs him and he eventually gives in.
Norm and Dom talk in the hall outside interrogation. He chastises her from bringing up a legendary bogeyman like Whiterose, claiming that hacker groups don’t have a singular leader. They have Nouri dead to rights, but Dom thinks it was too easy. Norm notes that Dark Army are supposed to be trained to commit suicide rather than be caught.
At 1:48 am, Darlene is in Shayla’s apartment downloading the Sinbad movie Shazam and looking up trips to Budapest. She hears and sees through the peephole Mr. Robot leaving. She tracks him through a homeless camp and sees him meeting Angela, much to her surprise. They lose her in the subway and she watches them drive off in a taxi.
In the basement where he is staying, Tyrell freaks out looking over the shipping records as Angela tells him what Elliot did. He blames her for letting him work at E Corp, knowing he couldn’t be trusted, and now the timeline of Stage 2 has been changed. Mr. Robot looks over the shipping records on the computer. Tyrell wants to tell the Dark Army, but Angela refuses, fearing the consequences for them all. He suggests reasoning with Elliot, but Mr. Robot denies that as well. Angela insists that they can get planes and trucks to work the weekend to avoid suspicion. Tyrell doesn’t trust that Elliot won’t reverse it in the morning. Confronting Mr. Robot, he calls him a liability. Mr. Robot says there is no on/off switch, but not to forget whose plan it is. Tyrell growls that he once thought of Elliot as a god, but not considers him a cockroach. He says he’s taking over. Mr. Robot chokes him against the wall and asserts that he is the architect. He grows silent and begins to back up as Elliot wakes up. Angela tries to handle it, but Elliot sees her and Tyrell on the ground. She sticks him with a syringe and knocks him out.
Dom arrives at a bar where Darlene is waiting, the former having received a text from the latter concerning a development in the case after a week of Darlene’s disappearance with Elliot from the safehouse. But first, Darlene wants a drink on the FBI agent’s tab. Dom reminds her that she could get into trouble meeting her out in public like this, but Darlene reminds her that the safehouse didn’t work out so good. Darlene asks about Dom’s personal life, insisting past Dom’s initial refusal that she herself has lost her friends and family. Dom is from Teaneck, New Jersey, has two brothers, and has an on/off relationship with someone who isn’t the one. Darlene notices her avoidance of pronouns, saying she has experimented. Dom wants to keep things simple by not telling the FBI. She asks about Darlene’s relationship, remembering why she avoids social contacts once the death of Cisco is brought up. Dom turns the subject to something big that intel believes is upcoming. Darlene insists on following her lead without a wire, believing that one the FBI can celebrate the capture of Tyrell, she will have lost her brother.
In a basement, Irving denies Tyrell’s request for more time as Stage 2 has to happen Monday 9/29. Tyrell’s asks about the change, to which Irving replies that the boss is particular about scheduling. Tyrell doesn’t believe it can be done, now that he’s lost his partner. Irving encourages him to work past the interpersonal problems between coworkers, hyping him up as a god ready to fulfill his destiny. Tyrell agrees, but wants to see his family in person, as the baby monitor has been disconnected. He plans to go to the Ukraine with them after the plan is ready to avoid extradition. He also asks Irving to check on his wife and inform her of the plan, as online gossip about her has died down. Irving agrees to see to it. Finally, Tyrell says if Stage 2 is to proceed, he needs the full force of the Dark Army.
In the day time, Price is in a limo on the phone with Angela, in her apartment. She asks that Elliot Alderson be fired and banned from all branches of the company. When he asks why, she says her reasons are her own and that she’s good to return the favor. He says it will be done. In the living room, Mr. Robot is at the table, confirming who he is and asking what happened. She reiterates Elliot saw her and Tyrell, but he’s asking about the call. Angela insists he stay the weekend. She can handle Elliot when he wakes up while Mr. Robot fights him off. As he voices his concerns about Stage 2 derailing, she receives a text from Irving that it’s on for Monday.
Darlene packs her backpack in the empty apartment. She looks at the Polaroid and finds that Elliot isn’t at home, just Flipper. She puts the photo back on the shelf and leaves.