Protocol Omega (episode)/Plot

Following the death of David and the announcing of Protocol Omega, the group quietly mourns both their loss and their failure over a meal in their headquarters while the events of earlier in the day continue to unfold on the news.

Jeff apologizes to a despondent Marcy for David's loss, and she mends a still-bleeding wound on his forehead that he suffered during his captivity with The Faction. Marcy departs soon after Jeff, wanting to return to hers and David's home.

While driving, Grant and Carly seem to make contact with a messenger who instructs them to go to specific coordinates. They see through the ruse however, recognizing that the child does not display any of the characteristic signs of a messenger (altered voice, disorientation upon disconnection).

Grant and Carly decide to investigate anyway, with Trevor backing them up. They arrive at a port where they meet a lone man who inquires about Protocol Omega, claiming it wasn't on the list of protocols when he departed the future. Grant and Trevor know this to be untrue and Grant immediately calls out for Agent Yates, who comes out of hiding with several other agents.

Yates takes MacLaren back to headquarters to meet with the FBI Director and debrief on the days events. Trevor wants to accompany Grant, but Grant declines noting that returning to the FBI is part of his Protocol 5, and dismisses Trevor and Carly.

Meanwhile, Philip continues to hallucinate, seeing multiple timelines at once. Realizing that Marcy is actually at home instead of headquarters, he races to find her, having seen her commit suicide in one timeline out of despair over David's death. Upon arriving at her apartment he finds her alive, and leaves after seeing several alternate futures in which David and Marcy lived happy lives together.

Shortly thereafter, Jeff arrives to console Marcy, bringing a box of tea with him to share with her. While the water is heating, Jeff begins commenting on the cruelty of The Director, relating to Marcy's pain by indicating his wife was killed the same way David was when The Director sent a message through her. Recognizing that account as the story of Traveler 001, Marcy attempts to get away from him by throwing boiling water in his face. She races to the bathroom to retrieve her gun but is overpowered by Jeff and his fellow Faction.

Back at the FBI field office, Yates brings Grant to the FBI Director who is attempting to manage the developing global situation after three nuclear bombs were detonated in London, Moscow, and Shanghai. Since the fourth in Seattle was successfully disarmed, the British, Chinese, and Russians are all accusing the United States of nuclear attacks against them. After explaining why the Travelers have the objectives that they do, Grant offers to speak with the FBI Director's counterparts in China and Russia in hopes of educating them to the Travelers operations and defuse any further hostilities.

001 and his team take Marcy to the laboratory housing Ilsa where Grace is being held captive. He explains that the backdoor code allegedly in Marcy's mind will allow him to defeat The Director which would allow humanity to once again rule their own fate. Marcy, unwilling to be a part of his plan, manages to disarm one of the guards holding her and commits suicide by shooting herself in the head.

However, 001 is still able to proceed with his plan, albeit at a slightly delayed pace.

As Grant converses via video chat with Chinese and Russian intelligence, he seems to be making headway. However, the FBI Director stops him when they both begin to inquire about future technologies which Grant initially seems to concede to them. As Grant and the FBI Director discuss whether they should be offering advanced technologies to them, the two officials are seen to be overwritten by incoming consciousnesses from the future. An incoming phone call informs the FBI Director that the U.S. President, his cabinet and the Speaker of the House have also apparently been overwritten. He believes this to be a coupe d'etat by The Travelers and orders Yates to take Grant into custody as he departs. As he does so cell phones all over the area post an Emergency Alert for an incoming ballistic missile. Yates confirms with NORAD that two incoming missiles from both China and Russia are headed for the west coast.

After the FBI Director enters an elevator, and thus exits the protection of their STA, he is overwritten as well. Immediately he emerges from the elevator and shoots at Grant and Yates, with Yates shooting him once in the shoulder and subduing him.

Grant disables the STA so he can re-establish communication with his team, who give him a SITREP that Marcy's been taken and is out of communication with the rest of them. They determine that 001 has taken her to Ilsa's lab since that's the only location where he can do anything with the backdoor coding in Marcy's mind.

Trevor arrives at the lab ahead of everyone to find everyone either unconscious or dead, including Marcy. The rest of the team immediately follows and learns from Grace that 001 sent his consciousness through Ilsa and into the internet, where he can simply wait for the future to arrive and he can face The Director.

Philip suggests that the solution is right in front of them, and they determine that they could potentially use Ilsa to send Grant further back in time, avoiding the arrival of 001 altogether. Since 431 years was the maximum distance in time The Director could send a consciousness with the power it has available, but from 2018 they should be able to send a consciousness further back from where they are and that The Director had already downloaded the program into Ilsa necessary to accomplish that.

Using the T.E.L.L. Grant had learned from Kat about where and when they first met, they prepare to send Grant 17 years into the past.

Despite the ethical issue of essentially ending Grant MacLaren's life 17 years before he was supposed to die, the team nevertheless undergoes the operation, with Yates commenting that the Travelers arrival didn't prevent the horrific future from happening, but actually accelerated the timeline of events that occurred.

Using the same technology 001 used to disperse his consciousness into the internet, the team successfully sends Grant back to 2001 where he encounters Kat for the first time. However, deciding it would've been better for Kat if they hadn't been together, he leaves her waiting for her fiancé at the point. Later, he passes Dr. Samantha Burns, who in 2018 is responsible for creating a device that has a catastrophic impact on the future. As he passes her by, he drops an envelop with the word "Helios" written on it, presumably to inform her about the unforeseen asteroid that Grant and his team were originally sent back in time to prevent from impacting Earth.

Finally, Grant arrives in the same financial office in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 that 001 was originally transported to. He locks himself in Anthony Corrigan's office and uses his computer to send an e-mail to an anonymous address informing the recipient that the Traveler program fails, and 001 should not be sent.

In the future, a display shows that the first version of the Traveler program is deemed a failure, and a second version is initiated. Insinuating that The Director will go through as many versions of the program as necessary until success is achieved.