Ava Ayala walks through the hallway of Empire State University. She is a young Latina woman who does not seem to be too much older than the students. She reaches an office with a door that reads Hector Ayala - Latin American Studies. She breathes a sigh before entering and once inside, sees an older Caucasian man with graying hair. This is Bob Diamond, now much older. He looks up at her with a smile, "Ava Ayala, you've grown up." She runs to him and gives him a big hug, "It's good to see you, Bob."
"Sorry about your brother. I wish I could have made it to the funeral."
"It's okay," she picks up a picture of an older man from the desk, "Hector was more of a father to me, really. Not just because of the age difference. He pretty much raised me."
"I heard he taught you how to fight too."
"Yeah. Brazilian jujitsu and capoeira. I'm a fitness trainer these days but sometimes I teach classes."
"Nice. I bet you would've beaten me in my prime," he says with a laugh.
"Probably," she smiles, "Hector told me all about the Sons of the Tiger. You, Abe Brown, and Lin Sun... You guys were pretty badass back in the day."
"Yeah, but that was a long time ago," Bob surveys the artifacts on Hector's wall, including silver gauntlets with clawed fingers, "Good to know Hector kept the tiger claws."
"Of course. They're pretty bad ass too."
"Just a little present from us."
"Sons of the Tiger," she says again, "Sounds like a bad kung-fu movie from the 70's."
"Well, it was the 70's."
She picks up an old, framed picture of the three of them, "Still, the three of you made a difference fighting the gangs of New York and everything. Even if Hector didn't tell me all the stories about you, I would have heard about it from the older people in my neighborhood."
"I'm sure the stories Hector told you were greatly exaggerated."
"I guess so. Anyway, I just came to his office to pack up his stuff. I'll be hanging around here for a while. If you need to take off soon, I can give you...," she goes a little quiet for a moment, "... Y'know."
He nods and becomes serious, "Yeah. I can take them off your hands."
Ava begins to open the safe in the office, "Seems weird for a professor of Latin American Studies to have stuff from Asia in his office," she removes a jade box from the safe which contains an engraving of a white tiger on the lid.
"They might not be from Asia," Bob reminds her as she lays it on the desk, then he gives her a look, "They may not even be from this world."
She smiles, "Hector told me about the White Tiger Amulet. I'm sorry, but... No."
He shrugs, "I don't blame you for not believing." She opens the lid, revealing the three talismans with gold chains. They are laid in such a way that they are not touching but they still form the shape of a tiger's silhouette. Ava removes two of them and raises them up to the sunlight to get a better view.
"I haven't gotten a good look at them in years," she says out loud, "They're nice, though. I don't understand why you and your friends got rid of them."
"After a couple of years, we learned what happened when you let the three talismans touch."
"I know," Ava explains as she hands them to him, "They snap together and form the White Tiger Amulet."
He turns to her cautiously, "It gave us power we never knew. That power went to our heads. We fought over this thing."
"And eventually the three of you decided to give them to Hector for safe keeping."
Bob places the two talismans in a satin bag, "Hector was our friend and had no claim to the White Tiger, so it seemed fair to let him have all three. We knew he was smart enough not to bring them together."
"So what will you do with them?"
"Lin Sun's widow is back in China, so I'll send her one piece. Abe Brown died in a plane crash years ago, but he left a dojo in Harlem. Think I'll let them have it."
"Why not take the third one," Ava reaches into the box and pulls out the last talisman, "I mean, you're all that's left of the Sons of the Tiger. You might as well have the third talisman."
Bob smiles, "It's all yours. Take good care of it."
Luke Cage sits in his office at Heros For Hire. He takes a sip of the whiskey at his desk as he looks over some notes, then surveys the map on the wall. It is a city map with a red circle around an area near Coney Island and a time. He thinks back to the past few days, catching glimpses of the Purple Man, his assault on police officers, and Jessica Jones in the hospital before he forces himself to come back to the present. He checks his watch, finishes the whiskey, and leaves. He makes his way down the sidewalk until someone stops him.
"Hey, Luke Cage," a young African American man calls out as he crosses the street.
"If you're with the press, I'm not giving interviews," Cage growls.
"I'm Lemar Hoskins," the young man explains as he follows Cage, "I run the Abe Brown Dojo."
"Abe Brown?," Cage stops for a moment.
"Yeah, you know who that is, right?"
"Yeah. He was in the... what,... the Tiger Sons?"
"Sons of the Tiger," he corrects him.
"Yeah, I remember hearing about Abe Brown when I was a kid. Used to fight the gangs with two of his friends."
"Bob Diamond and Lin Sun."
"Right. So there's an Abe Brown dojo?"
"Sure. Before Mr. Brown passed away, he set one up right here in Harlem. I teach kids there on Tuesdays and Thursdays."
"Great," Cage begins to leave.
"Y'know, you've gotten a bad rap in the press lately but we're still on your side," he tells him as he follows, "Maybe you could stop by sometime and visit the dojo. You're a hero to those kids."
"Abe Brown was a hero," Cage tries to brush him off, "I'm not. Take it easy."
Lemar stops dead in his tracks and looks hurt. Cage continues on his way.
Meanwhile, Danny approaches Cage's office and knocks but there's no answer. He peers through the glass on the door and notices the lights are off, so he reaches into his pocket and produces a key which he uses to get inside. His eyes go wide when he sees an empty whiskey bottle on the desk along with dozens of notes and a large map of the city pinpointing various locations. One location catches his eyes, however: Coney Island, which still has a red circle and a time written on it. He nods to himself and quickly leaves.