A news anchor gives a report on TV, complete with footage of Ryker's Island "While some inmates have tried to break-out, Ryker's Island has received a break-in. Two unidentified men using high-tech weaponry released a prisoner late last night," a picture of Willis Stryker appears on the screen. Cage sits up at attention from his couch. "This man, Willis Stryker, was sentenced to six years after a failed robbery attempt. Sources say he is part of a notorious New York gang known as the Rivals." Cage turns off the TV and stares in silent determination; this is followed by him checking his watch and getting off the couch.

Hours later, Jessica and Cage enter a nice restaurant. He politely pulls a chair out for her to sit in before taking a seat himself. Jessica smiles at the display of chivalry, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I may have a record but my grandmother taught me manners. It's the reason why I don't cuss."

"She seemed like a sweet lady."

"Nah, she was mean as Hell," he laughs, "Easily twice as scary as the guys I've put away."

"I can see why you did what you did, though. You wanted to help her."

"Yeah, she raised me. My mom and dad died when I was young. She was all I had. I guess I was pretty stupid for what I did but I wanted to help her out. Also why I was such a punk when you met me."

"No, you weren't a punk."

"I was. I was a real punk."

"I didn't expect you to be in a good mood, all things considered."

"So what's up with you, anyway? You were trying to get the scoop when you were barely out of high school."

"I guess I get it from my father. We was a worrkaholic... to the chagrin of my family. He wasn't around much but he provided. My mother was involved with her job as well and since I was an only child, I had myself to keep company. I read a lot. I studided a lot."

"I can tell."

"Yeah, not many interns are out trying to get stories. It landed me a job fresh out of college, though. My student loans are almost completely paid off so it works out for me."

"But what do you do for fun?"

"Doing things for fun? You mean like having a social life? Oh, I have no idea what that's like. In fact, as boring as I am, I'm surprised you'd be interested."

"Eh, I've seen too many interesting things. My life is too interesting right now so I could stand to be a little boring."

"Y'know, my article is going out tomorrow. I can almost gaurantee that all this publicity you've been enjoying will go away overnight. The public will know you're a convicted felon and McIver... who knows what he'll do."

"All that hype and all that fame wasn't worth it anyway. It's straight. I want to do the right thing and this is it."

"I think your grandmother would be proud."

"Thank you."

He walks her to her apartment later that night. They walk closely, side by side without saying anything, both very content to enjoy the brief silence. She walks up to her stoop with him remaining on the sidewalk.

"Thank you for walking me home."

"Thank you for not minding that I gave my car away."

"That's one of the reasons why I'll agree to a second date."

Cage makes his way up the stoop, "It wasn't my charm, or my dashing good looks?"

"Well, those helped."

They look in each others' eyes and kiss. From across the street, a person watches while in the shadows. He turns away and dials a number. Soon, McIver picks up his reciever while in his office.

"Yes?"

"Cage has a girlfriend," the man in shadows explains, "It's a reporter by the name of Jessica Jones. She works for the Pulse."

"And?"

"She's writing an article. Looks like she's been snooping around Seagate Prison."

McIver contemplates this for a moment, "Contact the Rivals. See what they can do," and hangs up the phone.

Stryker is brought into the weapon's room along with the Stuart brothers. He sees Sonny Caputo and quickly wraps his arms around him, "Sonny! What's up, baby? When you said you had connections, I didn't know how far they went!"

"Yeah, we got some help."

"My ass, we got help!," Stryker takes a look at the weapons surrounding him, "We got a damn army!"

"Remember when I said you had to make it up to me when you went to prison?"

"Yeah, man. Whatever you need."

"Follow me."

Sonny leads Stryker into the backroom. Once there, his eyes widen. The first thing he sees is the helmet on the floor: a metal skull cap that covers the cheekbones and has a bridge along the nose. Behind it sits a pair of metal boots with metal leg braces leading to a harness that wraps around the chest and back with reinforcements at the shoulders. The shoulder plates connect to arm braces leading to metal gauntlets. At the wrists are twin chambers housing metal coils wrapped around a reel. Stryker takes a look at the silver exoskeleton with delight.

"Tell me I'm gonna wear this."

"Yeah. This company had a prototype built. They called it the Constrictor. See the coils?," Sonny unwinds the coils from a chamber, stretching it out, "They can be used for almost anything: weapons, climbing, whatever you need. Too expensive for the Army so we got the only one."

"So when do I get to use it?"

"Later. We don't know if you're ready for the next mission. That's why I'm sending the brothers out. Our connection wants someone taken care of. Hopefully, we'll get Carl Lucas too."

Tom Stuart smiles, "Can't wait."