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TRANSCRIPT:
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Act I

Open with Danny still trapped in that narrow wooden box. He has his lighter out feeling of the lid over his head, but watching the flame grow ever weaker. His breathing is shallow and erratic. The flame goes out. Shift to a snow-covered cemetery. Sara arrives and looks around. She continues walking and looking, but does not seem to know where she's going.

Sara (yelling): Danny! ... Danny! ... Danny!

Cut to Kenneth Irons in his tower. He stands looking out of the window.

Cut back to Danny. He's barely breathing now.

Cut to Sara. She runs to a new area of the cemetery.

Ian in voiceover: You have the knowledge you need ... Believe in the Witchblade ... it will help you ... Believe ...

Sara stops and looks at the Witchblade.

Witchblade vision: Roses being tossed on Danny's casket at the end of his funeral; a small angel statue; everyone walking away at the end of the funeral; Sara standing alone afterwards with Danny's casket.

Back to Sara. Over her left shoulder is the small angel statue. Sara whirls around. She sees the statue, and then a moment later a man a short distance away. {Hi, Lazar.}

Sara: Sir!

She runs towards him but he disappears. {Quite literally - there were headstones between the camera (us) and Lazar, but not Sara and Lazar.} Sara reaches the spot where Lazar was standing and looks around.

Irons in voiceover: You can use the Witchblade to pierce the veil of the senses, to see in an entirely new way. To extract more information from the universe than the normal human sensorium allows. To experience alternate realities.

The next few seconds show us that Danny has just passed out inside the box and that Sara is standing in the same spot now as she stood in in the other timeline. She begins to hear the priest conducting the funeral ceremony for Danny. She stares hard at the spot of ground before her.

Shift to a view from inside Danny's box. The Witchblade punches through the top and grabs Danny's coat.

Shift to Sara carrying a semi-conscious Danny over her left shoulder to a bench in the cemetery. She lowers him to the bench and then sits beside him.

Cut to Ian and Irons under a freeway elevation. The area is deserted and run-down. {Just the place for a billionaire.}

Irons: The Witchblade is not mine to wield anymore. So, I've found an alternative weapon to effect my grand design - the lance has arrived. Each power, each source of energy in the universe has its converse, its opposite. Even someone as steeped in Western empiricism as Isaac Newton knew that for every action ...

Irons moves as if to strike Ian in the face. Ian blocks, forearm-to-forearm.

Irons: ... there is an equal and opposite reaction.

They go through several more kung fu type exchanges, Ian blocking each strike. Irons gives Ian a small bow with his head.

Irons: So, too, with the Witchblade.

Ian starts to turn away, a worried expression on his face. Irons clasps the back of his neck with his right hand and pulls him back to look into his face briefly. Ian backs away for several steps and then turns and walks away.

Shift to Ian walking alongside an abandoned van. As he reaches the rear of the van, he is accosted by a young man with a gun. Ian raises his hands out to near his shoulders.

Thief: Wallet, watch, and cash, bitch!

Ian (calmly): Risky line of work you're in.

Thief: Do you want me to kill you?

Ian (whimsically): Kind of.

Thief: Well, I'm game. Now give me what I asked you for!

Ian: I'm going to give you more than what you asked me for ... I'm going to give you your life.

Ian swiftly snatches the gun from his hand and forces his right arm straight behind him at a sharp angle all in one motion; there's a rather loud crunching sound. {I'm thinking dislocated shoulder.} The would-be-thief falls to his knees.

Thief (pain): Aahh! Oh!

Ian jerks him up by his coat and lets him go. He runs off. Ian throws the confiscated gun away and continues his interrupted walk.

Cut to an open dockside warehouse at night. A uniformed man with a clipboard is moving through the warehouse. He notices something wrong with one of the crates and goes to investigate. Behind him, there's a sound of a door closing. He spins towards the noise.

Man: Who's there?

He drops his clipboard and draws a pistol from his coat pocket. A spear goes through him and into the crate behind him.

Cut to Kenneth Irons for a moment and then back to the man struck with the spear. We see a black gloved hand trail a finger down the custom agent's face. The {oh-so-familiar} gloved hand then joins its mate on the shaft of the spear and pulls it from the crate and the man's body.

Another shot of Irons looking pleased.

Cut to Gabriel Bowman working at his computer. He's researching Joan of Arc.

Cut to Sara lying on her back on her couch at home. She has the Witchblade between her hands looking at it.

Cut to the Kama Sutra door in Irons' den opening. Ian steps through with a long cloth-wrapped item. He passes behind Irons, who is sitting in a tall, deep chair. Irons watches Ian avidly as Ian places the spear in iron brackets and removes the cloth covering. The spear is not of modern manufacture, and in fact looks quite crude.

Irons (smile): Thank you, Ian. I was growing rather impatient.

Ian glances at him and then walks away. Irons stares at his new acquisition and relaxes back into his chair.

Cut to Sara and Danny's precinct. Danny walks across to Sara, who's digging through a file cabinet.

Danny: Sara.

Sara: Hey, partner. How you feeling?

Danny: Well, like I just emerged from the most psychotic nightmare I ever had.

Sara smiles.

Danny: Pez ... what the hell happened?

Sara has found her files and turns away from the cabinet.

Sara: I was hoping you could tell me.

Danny: I just have a few little questions. Like, who the hell jumped me, why they jumped me, how you found me, how you got me out of there ...

Both are still walking toward their office.

Sara: Look, all I know is I got this mysterious message saying you were at the cemetery, and I went and I got ya.

They've reached their office by this time. Danny closes the door to their office loudly.

Danny: Pez, is there something you're not telling me?

Sara looks briefly away then back.

Sara: Is there something you're not telling me?

Danny: It just doesn't compute, all right?

There's a knock on the door.

Sara: Yeah?

Jake pokes his head through the door.

Jake: Sara, it's Orlinsky, line one. He's down at the docks.

Sara: Thanks, Jake.

Jake: Yep.

Sara goes to her phone.

Sara (to phone): Orlinsky. (pause to listen) All right. We'll be right there.

Cut to the docks, daylight this time. There are a few police already there when Sara and Danny drive up.

Cut to the interior of the warehouse. Sara and Danny are walking behind Orlinsky to the murder scene.

Danny: What do you got?

Orlinsky: Male, Caucasian, nothing unusual. Except there's a four-inch gash through his chest. (points to the body)

Sara: Through?

Sara and Danny kneel near the body.

Orlinsky: Yeah. By the looks of it, it pinned him here ... (points to a bloody hole in a crate) ... before it was, uh, yanked back out.

Sara (looking at Orlinsky): Why did you call me?

Orlinsky: Well, you got a rep for having an affinity for the weird. (chuckles) {Before she got the Witchblade?}

Danny and Sara exchange glances.

Orlinsky: And, besides, I haven't seen your mug in a while.

Sara: Weapon?

Orlinsky: No.

Sara: Any ideas?

Orlinsky: Well, whatever it was, it wasn't too sharp. Look ... (points to body) ... look at the wound. And after the crate, that blade must be duller than Hillary Clinton's libido.

Sara gives a pained chuckle.

Danny: Still using the same old jokes, huh?

Orlinsky laughs. Sara gets up from the body to inspect the hole in the crate. She puts her gloved right forefinger to the bloody hole.

Witchblade vision: A man (presumably Jesus) crucified. Spearheads can be seen around him.

Back to a stunned Sara.

Female voice: See how he died, Sara. He is come ... he is come. It is time ... it is time.

A thoroughly spooked Sara turns around and Danny sees her. He looks concerned.

Cut to Irons carrying the spear in his den. He brings the spear into an attack position and his jaw drops and his eyes widen as he has a vision similar to what Sara experiences with the Witchblade: an ancient caravan; a Nazi parade; a medieval melee; a drawing of men with long spears; an ancient warrior run through with a spear; a machine gun nest; a narrow valley littered with bodies; a drawing of a medieval knight on horseback with a lance; a medieval armed band; a colonial period army; Sara as seen by the Witchblade; a couple of paintings of men pierced by spears or arrows; another Nazi rally; Irons' company's sign, "Vorschlag Industries;" again Sara as seen by the Witchblade; another Nazi rally, this time with Adolf Hitler speaking; a bomb being dropped from a plane; napalm in a jungle; the bomb exploding on impact; a tank; a plane being shot down; armored personnel carrier; army marching; Jesus on his cross; Sara again; Jesus; the spear piercing Jesus' side; Sara again.

During this extended vision, Irons' face has been getting bloodier and bloodier and his clear, light eyes have been turning black. After the vision ends, he is shaking, his upper body is bloody, and he is somehow shirtless. He holds the spear up parallel to the floor above his head, throws his head back and lets out a primal yell.

fade

End Act I.

Act II

Open at the precinct. Danny is walking toward their office, where Sara already is sitting at her desk.

Sara notices a motorcycle cop (or it seems to be) walk in front of her office. He still has on his helmet and sunglasses, though he is indoors. Danny comes in and offers her a cup of coffee. She reaches for the cup but becomes distracted as it appears the motorcycle cop is now a man in ancient armor with a spear. He then turns back to the uniformed policeman. Seeing Sara is distracted, Danny places the cup on her desk and goes to his own.

Sara: I gotta go. (She gets up and grabs her coat from her chair back.) I'll catch you later.

Danny: Where you going? I gotta ... I gotta ask you something.

Cut to Irons exiting his office building and being trailed by two other men. He speaks in German to the other two and they leave him. He continues to walk to his car, where he is intercepted by Sara.

Sara: Mr. Irons?

Irons: Yes.

Sara (raising badge): I'm Detective Pezzini, NYPD Homicide. There are some questions that you'd better answer.

Irons: I consider myself a good citizen. How can I help?

Sara: Your employee - boy-toy, henchman, or whatever the hell he is - Ian Nottingham has been stalking me for several days.

Irons: I had no idea.

Sara: He tried to kill me.

Irons: Ian is a gentle soul. Why would he try to kill you?

Sara: To get this back ... for you. (She raises the Witchblade bracelet on her wrist.)

Irons: I'm sure you've lost me, Detective.

Sara: He attacked me with a sword.

Irons: A sword?

Sara: Do you know where I can find him?

Irons (shakes head): No.

Sara: Does this belong to you?

Irons drops his cooperative citizen act.

Irons: Stop playing games, Detective. Even if I said it did, you wouldn't return it to me.

Irons takes a step closer to Sara, now very much in her personal space.

Irons (smiling): You know what it is, and you know what it can do. If that bracelet did belong to me, you can be assured that it would not be on your lovely, little malnourished arm. And you can be further assured that your arm would be a great distance from your body.

Irons turns and enters the back seat of his car. Sara follows to the car door.

Sara: Mr. Irons ... where were you last night?

Irons: Temporally or metaphysically?

Sara: Around midnight.

Irons: In a reverie.

Sara: What the hell does that mean?

Irons: You should know, Detective. You were a part of it. Sooner or later, you'll get the point.

He closes the car door as Sara hastily steps back.

Cut to a scene some time later. Irons enters his den with the cloth-covered spear. In the room is a long table around which 8 or 10 men in suits are talking. Two in particular have their heads together at the head of the table.

Irons: Gentlemen! I've invited you here today to deliver a message of great import.

Irons drops the spear on the table and continues walking toward the head of the table.

Irons: I'll be brief. Vorschlag Industries suffers from a cancer within. A pox, if you will, which means to undermine our autonomy in the bio-technological field. A disease which means to destroy me.

Irons is now standing at the head of the table. He leans to rest his weight on the palms of his hands placed on the table.

Man to his right (nervously): But, Mr. Irons, we posted a 200% operating profit in this last quarter alone.

Irons: Success does not necessarily indicate health.

Irons sits down.

Irons: In the days of the Republic, when Caesar learned of a plot against him, he offered the guilty the option of suicide and clemency for his family. But ... the Republic perished. Didn't it?

Irons looks at the man who had spoken of profits. Irons rises again and begins walking around the table.

Irons: When Rommel was discovered to have been part of the cabal which attempted to kill the Fuhrer, as the more erudite amongst you know, he was allowed to choose his own poison. But Hitler spared his family.

Irons returns to his place at the head of the table. He drops a remote control on the table then grasps the shoulders of the two men sitting to either side of him.

Irons: The two of you will not enjoy such benevolence.

Irons raises the remote and clicks on a large screen at the far end of the room. A house engulfed in flames is being shown.

Irons: Paul, this is your house burning down this morning. I had the doors sealed. Your family is ash.

Paul, who was the one who had spoken before, can only make incoherent noises. The scene on the screen changes to a car being dragged from a river.

Irons: Sidney, I'm reminded of a Baptism by the manner in which your wife and child entered the next world.

Sidney joins Paul in his grief as Irons unwraps the spear.

Irons: I will not be betrayed.

Irons lifts the spear. Everyone else around the table looks on wide-eyed.

Irons: And I will destroy the heretics of my vision.

With a roar, Irons spears both Sidney and Paul with one thrust then yanks the spear out.

Cut to a crime scene in light woods. A uniformed officer runs away a short distance to hurl as the base of a tree. Sara and Danny arrive on the scene.

Sara: Hey, Turnbull. What's up?

Turnbull: Two white males, 50-60, both stabbed clean through the chest between the 4th and 5th ribs.

Danny: Clean wounds?

Turnbull: Sloppy and savage. Bad day at the office, it looks like.

He gives Sara the victims' wallets and other effects. Both have Vorschlag ID cards.

Sara: They both worked for Irons.

Sara experiences a weird Witchblade moment - the trees are shaking as if time is being speeded up.

Cut to Vicky Po's some time later. She is examining two photograph enlargements and humming. Danny and Sara walk in.

Danny: Po-Po.

Sara: Vicky.

Danny: Same killer?

Sara: I need any forensic similarities you can get.

Vicky continues examining the two photos, still humming.

Sara: Earth to Po, are you with us?

Vicky: No, I'm most decidedly not with you.

Sara and Danny share a look. Vicky picks up something small with forceps and drops it into a flask of clear liquid. It begins to produce copious amounts of bubbles.

Vicky (mostly to herself): Well, well, well ... what do you think of that?

She gets off her stool and moves to where the two Vorschlag employees are lying on gurneys. Sara and Danny follow. Vicky pulls back the sheets on both, exposing their faces. She takes a cigarette that is tucked behind her right ear.

Vicky: Please, the damned formaldehyde in here is gonna kill me before R. J. Reynolds. So you can spare me the little looks.

Vicky lights her cigarette.

Vicky: Three murders, same weapon. These guys got incredible piercings, hundreds of pounds per square inch of force. But here's the clincher. At first, I thought the wood fibers around the exit wounds all came from a local source. No. I figured it was the crate for the customs guy, and, you know, a table or tree for these two. But it's not. Its wood wasn't deciduous. It was cedar.

She starts walking back to her work area.

Danny: So, you're telling me someone took apart their closet to kill a customs agent and two businessmen?

Vicky sits back down.

Vicky: This variety of cedar comes from Lebanon and Syria. And, get this - the species of cedar that came up has been extinct for over a thousand years.

Sara: So where does that get us?

Vicky: Well, nowhere.

Sara: Come on, Vick. Don't ...

Vicky: But ... but, being a bit of a Type A personality, I took the small metal fibers from the wound, carbon-dated them, and I got a pretty accurate date for the blade.

Sara: And?

Vicky: And it's an alloy of tin and copper. It's got plenty of impurities ... and it was forged sometime between 10 and 70.

Sara: 10 and 70 what?

Vicky: Anno Domini. Sometime between the year of our Lord, 10 and 70 AD.

Danny: Let's go see Irons.

Cut to the interior of Irons' home. Danny and Sara walk down the entryway to Irons'' den, both with guns drawn. {Um ... search warrant?} They move around the den, which has a fire burning on the grate, without encountering a sign of the current residents. They both put their guns away.

Danny: Talk about Gothic.

Sara hears sounds, including the sounds of blades striking. She spins around and has a vision of herself being speared in the side. She falls to the top of the long table in the room.

Danny: You OK?

He holds out his hand to help her up.

Sara: Uh, yeah. Must've just slipped.

Danny pulls her up.

Sara (pain): Ah, Danny!

Sara holds out her right hand, which has blood on it.

Danny: Pez, what the hell is going on? You're talking to yourself, you're falling down, you're acting weird.

Sara wipes her hand with a tissue.

Danny: I know you're not giving me the full story about what happened yesterday. What is up?

Sara: I'm OK.

Sara (more insistent): I'm OK. Where's the love?

Danny: Come on, Sara. If you don't talk to me, how can I trust you?

Sara: There's nothing to tell.

Danny: You decide whether or not you're going to tell me what's going on ...

Sara: Danny ...

Danny: ... and I'll decide if you're still my partner.

Sara: Danny, there's nothing going on. Nothing.

Danny: Bull. Find a new partner.

Danny turns and walks away.

Sara: Danny!

Danny keeps going and exits the den. Sara looks to her side; there's no blood. She starts going through some papers on Irons' desk. Irons is watching from a curtained alcove. Sara finds a small card from Talismaniac.com among the papers.

Shift scene to find Sara standing in front of the door to Talismaniac.com with the card in her hand. She pushes the door open and enters.

Cut to Gabriel Bowman standing on his head on a cushion against a wall in his shop. He opens his eyes to see Sara looking at him sideways.

Sara: Nice pose.

Gabriel: Nice bracelet.

Sara: What?

Gabriel gets back to his feet.

Sara: What?

Gabriel: It's a nice bracelet. ( He points to the Witchblade.)

Sara stares at Gabriel for a moment then shakes her head.

Sara: Do I know you?

Gabriel (shrug): Perhaps, I guess, if you believe in reincarnation.

Sara just stares.

Gabriel: Actually, I saw your picture in the paper last week after the shoot out. {Which would explain if you thought you knew Sara, not the other way around.}

Sara: Uh, huh. Is your boss around?

Gabriel: Yeah, you're talking to him.

Sara: Oh, I'm sorry. Detective Sara Pezzini, Homicide. (holds up badge)

Gabriel: Are you buying or selling?

Sara: Excuse me?

Gabriel (laugh): Do you have a talisman you want to sell or are you looking for something to buy? I get homicide cops in here all the time. {Doesn't he have the most gorgeous smile?}

Sara: Oh, no, sorry. I'm here on police business. Um, do you know a man named Kenneth Irons?

Gabriel: Yeah, doesn't everybody? You know, actually I'm not sure, but I think he may be a client of a client of mine who buys a lot of stuff from me, mostly religious relics.

Sara: Where were you yesterday afternoon?

Gabriel: New Jersey ... I went to buy a guitar string that Bruce Springsteen busted while he was playing a gig at the Stone Pony. An Ernie Balslinky, bronze, medium light ... hold on, I got a bus receipt right over here.

Gabriel goes to a nearby table and picks up a slip of paper.

Gabriel: Yeah, um ... It was route 111. It left at 1:00 pm, and I got back around midnight.

Sara: What was the last item that Mr. Irons' supposed middleman bought from you?

Gabriel: Some piano keys from an old Bosendorfer that supposedly belonged to this World War II spy, Elizabeth Bronte. You ever heard of her?

Sara: Name rings a bell.

Gabriel glances to the side momentarily. {I swear he was trying to control a smile there.}

Sara: Did you ever procure him a spear, an ancient spear?

Gabriel: You're talking about the Longinus Lance, aren't you?

Sara: Yeah, what do you know about it? What can you tell me?

The following scenes of Gabriel and Sara at Talismaniac are intercut with scenes of Irons at home with the Lance. The scenes of Irons with the Lance show him caressing, almost fondling it.

Gabriel: Well, it goes by many names. Come here, I'll show you.

Gabriel brings up a page on his website on a large screen. It shows a painting of Jesus on the cross.

Sara: The Spear of Destiny, the lance that killed Jesus Christ.

Gabriel: Well, wrong. It's, uh, the lance that helped preserve his status as the messiah.

Sara: I thought that a Roman soldier, centurion, or whatever it is, stabbed him to prove that he'd already died.

Gabriel: OK, um, Hebrew legend was that the true messiah could not have his bones broken. Now, the two thieves on Christ's right and left side had their legs broken so they slumped over and suffocated. It was considered merciful. Now, Longinus, a Roman soldier, fearing that others would break Christ's legs in similar fashion, lanced him in the side, possibly effecting, but certainly proving, Christ's death, thereby avoiding the mutilation of his body, and thereby preserving his status as the messiah.

Sara: It's an interesting tale.

Gabriel: Longinus was almost blind, and as legend tells it, some of Christ's blood splashed into his eyes and restored his sight.

Sara: Beats lasik surgery.

Gabriel smiles and snorts.

Sara: So, what are you getting at?

Gabriel: Throughout the ages ... (brings up more images) ... men who carried the Lance were blessed with great power and victory on the battlefield. They became kings. The emperors Constantine and Justinian valued its possession above all others. Charlemagne claimed that it was responsible for all of his victories on the battlefield. And he also claimed that his only great defeat came when he dropped the spear in battle.

Sara: And after Charlemagne?

Gabriel: Uh, it was handed down through the ages, from king to king, vanquished to conqueror. Now, if it was dropped, defeat was ensured. Eventually, it came into the possession one of history's greatest little miscreants - Adolf Hitler.

Sara: So, the Lance can be carried by both king or villain. Sounds a bit amoral.

Gabriel: Well, it knows only power. And it only works for those who are preordained to carry it.

Sara: So, where is it now?

Gabriel: About a month or so ago, the same client, the guy who I think buys {all} the stuff for Irons, called and asked me if I could get him the spear. I can get almost anything anyone asks me to get, but I told him there's no way I could help him on that. Then about two weeks ago, it was stolen from the Hofburg Museum in Vienna. I have a very strong suspicion that Irons' buyer decided not to take my "No" as an answer. I think Irons has the spear. And I also think that he intends to come looking for you.

Sara: Me?

Gabriel: Yeah. You're the wielder of the Witchblade.

Sara: How the hell do you know about this thing?

Gabriel: It's my job to know about objects of power. That came from the Joan of Arc display at the museum, didn't it? It supposedly changes forms. Am I right?

Sara: Got me.

Gabriel glances at the Witchblade.

Gabriel: May I?

Sara: Sure.

Gabriel holds her right hand with both of his, touching the silver of the Witchblade bracelet.

Gabriel: That amulet is an icon of tremendous power that can supposedly only be worn by a woman, a chosen woman. Now, what that necessarily means is that there are people who are probably trying to take it away from you or to control you.

Sara pulls her hand back.

Sara: You believe in all of that?

Gabriel: Well, it's all just lore, right? (nods towards the computer screen) Until it's not.

Sara looks at the screen showing Jesus being stabbed.

Gabriel: The fact of the matter is, there's too many convergences, too many coincidences, to believe that it's just lore. You tell me. I think Irons is on a mission to confront the Witchblade. I think he's on a mission to take your life.

Sara hears voices. She jumps up and pulls out her gun, looking all around.

Female voice: Don't run.

Sara: Who's there?

Female voice: We are ... you are.

Sara: What?

The voice continues, but is not in a language Sara knows. Sara's still waving her gun around when she turns again to face Gabriel. He raises his hands.

Gabriel: Detective Pezzini ... hey, hey.

Sara holsters her weapon.

Sara: I gotta go.

Gabriel stops her.

Gabriel: Look, look ... just be careful out there, OK?

Sara (nods): I will.

Fade.

End Act II

Act III

Open with Sara entering a church. There are candles in tall holders lining the central aisle and large artworks on the walls. A priest {Hi, Lazar} is standing nearby. An unseen choir is performing a Gregorian chant. Sara walks down the aisle till she comes to a painting of Joan of Arc displayed on the dais. In the painting Joan is wearing the same Witchblade bracelet on her wrist that Sara has on. Sara fingers the bracelet on her wrist. Ian steps out from behind the painting.

Ian: She heard voices, too. She had visions. She claimed they were the source of her power. History credits them with her demise.

Sara: She looks kind of sad.

Ian (impassioned): A cruel destiny to be sure. To save a nation, to be a hero and a saint, to die at the hand of treacherous clergymen at the age of 19.

Ian steps down from the painting and turns to face it and begins backing away.

Ian (points to painting): But a destiny that mattered. A responsibility ... a duty ... a cause. I doubt anyone ever understood her. How could they? Ultimately, she was abandoned.

Sara: I think I know how she feels.

Sara struggles to get the next out.

Sara: Can you help me? No one else would understand.

Ian: I'm here to kill you. But I can't. Have you ever heard the old adage "Take the cause out of a man, there is no cause for a man"?

Sara: Look, my cause is to bring criminals to justice. (she grasps the Witchblade) I don't need this thing.

Ian: If that was the truth, you wouldn't be standing here right now. Sara, your cause is to wield the Witchblade and use its powers for good. Your duty is to carry on the line of feminine power that balances this world. Your destiny is to confront the Lance. (shakes his head) But you cannot win.

Sara: How do you know that?

Ian: Even with the Witchblade, the Lance is too powerful. Irons is ... out of control.

Sara: Lance or not, Witchblade or not, Irons is going down.

Ian: No, Sara ... (points to his temple and moves finger around) ... Irons has already won.

Sara: Not while I'm still breathing. He killed those two men that we found downtown. And he was behind my partner's abduction, wasn't he?

Ian doesn't respond.

Sara: Wasn't he?

Ian still doesn't respond. He does, however, drop to one knee at her feet, startling her.

Ian: I will leave you to your own decision.

Ian gets up and starts walking up the aisle. He stops and turns back and blows a kiss to Sara, who's surprised at his action. He turns around again, puts his coat over his shoulders and leaves. Sara turns back to the Joan of Arc painting.

Sara removes the Witchblade, holds it in her cupped palms before her eyes and stares into the deep red stone. Tears in her eyes, she tosses the bracelet high overhead. The bracelet slowly revolves upwards. When it reaches its apex, the stone comes to life. The Witchblade drops back onto Sara's extended right wrist. She makes a fist and lowers her arm to look at the Witchblade.

Sara: Huh!

She looks upwards and then back to the Witchblade. She swallows her tears and looks to Joan again, the Witchblade on her wrist as she fought her battles. A determined look comes over Sara's face.

Cut to Sara walking briskly into Irons' den. Someone has been redecorating. There are 9 or 10 six-foot tall stone carved duel-faced statues, vaguely Greek looking. Atop each is a large candle.

Irons: Sara Pezzini.

Irons enters from the side carrying the Lance. He is wearing a dark turtleneck and dark jeans.

Irons: You are not well. You've lost your mind.

They begin circling each other.

Sara: I don't think so.

Irons: You shake with fear. And why not? Who dares challenge the might of an instrument which took a god's life?

Irons stops circling.

Irons: Prepare to die.

Sara: I don't fear you or the Lance.

Irons gives her a mocking bow.

Irons: As you wish.

The Witchblade transforms into the heavy gauntlet with blade. Irons begins spinning the Lance and moving toward Sara. The Lance and Witchblade meet, Sara seemingly without effort holding the Lance back.

Irons gives a small nod of acknowledgment. They both disengage and Sara moves into the classic fencer's en gard position. The battle begins {and again with the strobe lights!} and both are seen alternately in their normal forms and their armored forms. {yes, that was Irons as the motorcycle cop}

They trade blows, both attacking and retreating at times. It does seem Irons and the Lance have the upper hand, though. Irons forces Sara to the stairs where he lands a stunning blow to the side of her head. He grabs her by the hair and throws her across the floor. He uses the Lance under her arm to lift her up. He takes a sideways swipe that misses. They are now in close quarters and begin trading brutal blows with their left (weaponless) hands. Irons grabs her hair and pulls her upper body backwards. He presses his lips to hers and then butts her head with his. Sara springs back up and cuts him in the side with the Witchblade. Irons staggers away and down to one knee and hand. He then brings the Lance around to knock Sara on the side of the head with the shaft. She stumbles away and he follows, spinning the Lance about himself in an attack that forces her across the room. The Lance strikes one of the pillars before it can connect with Sara. She ducks around the pillar and takes a two-handed cut at Irons. He ducks and the Witchblade slices smoothly through several inches of stone. It gets stuck. Sara tugs to try to get it loose.

Irons: The sword and the stone.

Irons lines up the Lance and runs at Sara with a yell. Sara pulls the Witchblade out quickly {Was it an act?} and slices through Irons' outstretched right hand at the wrist. The armored hand and the Lance drop to the floor. Both Sara and Irons are open-mouthed with shock. There's smoke rising, so it seems the Witchblade cauterized the wound. Irons' shock soon transforms to fury. He rises to his feet and heads for Sara, though he is now weaponless. Sara stops him by raising the Witchblade to point at his throat.

Sara: You've lost.

Irons: Finish it.

Ian runs into the room behind Irons.

Ian: Father. {What the ....?!}

Irons: {You've } Come to watch me die, son. I told you to kill her. You failed, and now she will kill me before your very eyes.

Irons turns his head to look at Ian. Ian bows his head and looks away.

Irons: Avenge me, son.

Sara: I want none of this.

Irons: You've no choice. How perfectly ironic. I've sought such power all my life, and now it is denied me. And you, who have the greatest gift, the power of immortality coursing through your veins, you want nothing of it. Kill me this time, Sara.

Sara looks puzzled at his words.

Irons: I cannot stand another lifetime of fruitless pursuit. You win ... this time.

Sara: I do not murder.

Irons: This isn't murder. It is sacrifice.

Irons grabs the Witchblade at Sara's wrist and pulls the blade into his own throat. Sara, and an on-looking Ian, are horrified. Sara jerks the blade back, but the damage has been done. Ian drops to the floor to catch the falling Irons.

Ian: Father ... Father? Father, it's Ian. Father? Father.

Ian (to Sara): What have you done?

Sara: Damn you and damn him. You both led me here.

Ian: We're enemies now.

Sara: We were never friends.

Ian hugs Irons' body to him.

Sara holds up the Witchblade in the same pose as the painting of Joan of Arc behind her on the wall as the Witchblade transforms back to the bracelet.

Cut to a bar some time later. Behind the bar are trophy fish, old photos, and other memorabilia. Sara is sitting on a stool at the bar. Danny walks in and joins her at the empty stool beside her.

Danny (to barkeep): Dubonnet and soda.

The guy just looks at him. Other patrons at the bar snicker.

Danny: Just kidding. Jack and water, back.

Danny (to Sara): So, ah ... you got something you want to say?

Sara: Yeah. I want to apologize for being so, um ... distant. I've been going through a lot lately.

Danny: I mean, that's what hurts. I feel like you don't trust me enough to tell me what's going on.

Sara: No, no, Danny, I do trust you. And I want you to still trust me. There just - there's just some things I can't tell you about right now. I really need you to be OK with that, to ...

Danny: Take a leap of faith?

Sara: Exactly.

The bartender delivers Danny's drinks.

Bartender: There you go.

Danny: To my resurrection. {If you only knew!}

Sara smiles and clinks glasses with Danny's.

Sara: It's not enough I saved your life, but you wanna know how I did it?

Danny: I did the math. You saved my life 11 times. Any way I slice it, I'm ahead of the game.

Sara: Danny, I can tell you this - the people responsible for what happened ... let's just say, I took care of the problem.

Danny: Whatever's going on with you, I'm sure it's deep.

Sara: Blind faith with eyes wide open?

Danny: Good enough ... for now ... partner.

Danny clinks her glass and Sara winks at him. She looks to behind the bar and we see a spear that is quite familiar among the memorabilia.

Fade.

End Act III

END OF EPISODE

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