“The Taking of Crows” is episode five of season three of Mutant X.
Two men are in a club seated at the bar. One gives the second a sample of something that he says isn’t out on the street yet. As the first leaves, Lexa arrives. Jesse is already at the bar. The second man, Milo, the owner of the club, says that Lexa is his guest. He orders drinks for them both, then doses both with what is presumably the drug, though Lexa doesn’t see this. Lexa tells Milo she’s looking for someone, showing him a phot of her with someone she says is her brother. Milo saw him a couple of months back. He was in every night for a week then never returned. Both drink but Lexa reacts quite badly to it. Her powers go out of control and Jesse grabs Milo and asks what he did to her as Lexa is beating up a bouncer. Jesse uses his powers to resist an attack by Lexa, who then passes out.
Jesse rushes Lexa to an address she gave him and asks for a Dr Marcus. Marcus has a secret lab, an advanced genetics lab that he says Adam Kane paid for. Marcus thinks it’s because he acted as Adam’s conscience for all these years. Shalimar and Brennan check in. Jesse says he followed Lexa to find out where she was sneaking out to at night and explains what happened. Marcus says that Lexa is stable, but he needs to identify the substance. Jesse heads back to the club; Brennan is already on his way. Milo is convinced to talk; the substance is DXL. One hit makes you feel delicious. It’s not even on the market yet; he just got a free sample. Milo claims he used it all. Jesse finds the rest.
Shalimar says the substance was developed in the early days of Genomex by Dr Sara Stanton. It was supposed to control mutant aggression; a side effect was addiction in humans and Stanton used it herself. She got involved with a mutant and a patient died. Lexa is back on her feet. Before Adam could have Stanton arrested, her lab mysteriously exploded and she vanished. According to Lexa, 2 weeks ago Stanton was arrested for drug trafficking. Lexa’s contacts are going to get her into the prison. Shalimar says she will go with. She’s not asking.
Marcus tells Jesse that the drug is still active in Lexa’s system. In mutants, it slowly paralyses the nervous system. She’s dying; total paralysis is inevitable. Yes, an antidote could be made but he would need to know exactly how the drug was modified or it would take months. And Lexa has only 72 hours at best.
Lexa and Shalimar arrive at the prison and are searched. One guard spots the thing on the back of Lexa’s neck and asks what it is. Lexa says she wouldn’t believe Lexa even if she told her. But she explains anyway.
Jesse returns to Sanctuary and tells Brennan that Lexa is dying. Brennan says telling Lexa is a bad idea; if she knows, she’ll go after Stanton. And Brennan went to see Milo. Who’s dead. They need to keep Lexa in the dark. Jesse says they need to tell Shalimar. Brennan thinks Jesse’s oddly concerned over Lexa; Jesse just wants to go a couple of days without one of them dying. Brennan doesn’t think Jesse truly answered the question.
Lexa and Shalimar are escorted to cells but the guard takes Lexa away privately to solitary. To have some fun. Lexa disappears whilst his back is turned and the guard sounds the alarm, saying a prisoner has escaped. He looks like an idiot when Lexa is still sitting in the cell.
Outside on work detail, Shalimar and Lexa try to speak to Stanton but she has another prisoner guarding her. Shalimar doesn’t think it’s time for a fight yet. Back inside, and Jesse comes to see Shalimar. He explains about Lexa and how Stanton is her only hope. He then uses his powers to phase a commlink and the rest of the drugs through the glass. The commlink is keyed to both Shalimar and Lexa’s DNA; the drug is an incentive for Stanton.
Jesse thinks he’s found Stanton’s partner, Hector Freimark. The man who gave the sample to Milo. He’s a mutant who was hanging around Stanton in her Genomex days. A molecular who can create explosions. He’s the one Stanton was seeing and he probably destroyed her lab. Jesse asks why, if this drug is so dangerous to mutants, is Freimark hanging around with someone dealing it. Money seems to be a likely motivator.
So, only a limited amount of time to get Stanton to help them before Lexa dies from the drug.