Episode 2: The Mad Hatter & Murder, Inc.

"Just think," Dr. Ledhouse said as he poured the kettle of chamomile tea into each mug, "you are the only two souls who have ever made it back successfully to the present." His hands had been shaking, and he tried to keep them from making the tea mugs clatter on the saucers as he handed the hot beverages to Agents Russo and Fairchild.

"Thanks, Doc," Russo said, sniffing the rim of the mug before taking a sip. "That sounds reassuring. Does the research grant cover our health insurance, or just the auto insur—OW!"

Fairchild retracted her hand as she glared at her partner. "I'm sorry, Doc," she said, wincing as she set down her mug onto the saucer. "I think what James here means to ask is whether there are any other risks we should know about, any other side effects from going through with this mission. You know, aside from possibly landing in the wrong year when we try to get back."

"Exactly," Russo said. "How do we know we won't get stuck somewhere in time? How do we know that we won't suffer from vertigo or something else if one of our assignments turns into a bad trip?"

Dr. Ledhouse felt the spoon slip from his hand and land with a thud on the table. Should I tell them now? They signed the contracts, after all. They have a right to know. He was so close to finding the antidote. No! No more lying. No more secrets. They made it back. They deserve to know.

He cleared his throat. "I-I was hoping t-that I wouldn't be the one to tell you this, but Anderson left me with no choice."

"Doc?"

Russo and Fairchild exchanged confused glances. It was Lieutenant Paul Anderson who had dragged them into Operation Eon in the first place, ripping them away from their current positions and reassigning them to participate in an on-going quantum physics study led by Dr. Edward Ledhouse, one of Einstein's brightest scientific successors. Dr. Ledhouse has been developing new technology recovered from Roswell's Area 57, which Anderson said "could change the tide of history."

"That tea that you just drank," Dr. Ledhouse said, picking up the spoon and pointing to both of their mugs, "that tea contains the very elixir that's keeping you both alive after each trip back in time. For every hour that you're gone here in the present, you lose a month, maybe even a year's worth of life energy from your potential life trajectory. Your cells age at a faster rate. Without consuming at least a cupful of the elixir within eight hours of returning, your very bones would disintegrate, and you'd both be dead in a matter of three days. It is a slow, agonizing, and painful death — which is why I am doing everything in my power to come up with a more long-term antidote. I will not allow anybody else to become prisoners of time!"

JOIN AGENT RUSSO AND AGENT FAIRCHILD ON THEIR NEXT ASSIGNMENT: Traveling back to the summer of 1939 to resolve the murders of a local union worker and an activitist in connection to the Murder, Inc. mafia syndicate and its infamous hit-man, Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia.

TUNE IN ON THURSDAY NIGHTS AT 9:00PM EST

#operationeon