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TRANSCRIPT:
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Act I

Open with a man eating sushi with chopsticks in front of his television. On the screen is an animé film concerning cops and cocaine dealers. On the table in front of him is a pistol and bundles of cash. This guy's name is Ben. We'll see more of him later. The scene of his watching the animé is intercut with the following.

Cut to a hot dance club or party. Rave music going, strobe lights flashing, the works. In one secluded corner, a young woman and her boyfriend are making out. The woman pushes her boyfriend against the wall and lightly squeezes his throat with her left hand.

Man: Harder. Harder.

She begins to lift him off of his feet using both hands at his neck. He brings his hands up to try to break her grip, but can't.

Man: Easy.

Man (croaking voice): Stop.

His eyes go wide and sightless and his feet twitch. The woman drops him to the floor and screams. She takes off running - very fast. She runs through a crowd and headfirst into a wall.

{Pause for opening sequence. New place for it, I think. Love the new music.}

Back to the story. Vicky Po is examining the girlfriend's body. A photographer is taking pictures of the scene. Others are working in the background, too. Danny and Sara are there. Sara is wearing a short leather skirt and over-the-knee boots, not her standard attire.

Vicky: {And} The deal is, she'd have to be going 40 miles an hour to crush her skull like that. (shakes head) Human top speed is only 20.

Sara: Well, apparently not. (gestures to people) Vick, there were witnesses.

Danny points to the boyfriend's body being examined by Jake.

Danny: Think he was a homicide?

Jake: His trachea's crushed. Can't tell yet how.

Jake gets up to join the others.

Sara: Well, he didn't strangle himself to death. I don't know, probably more like sexual asphyxia?

Danny: Hmm ... talk about unsafe sex.

Vicky: Well, what I can tell you is whatever happened here, it was drug induced. Something pumped her up way past normal.

A man enters the crime scene.

Man: Which means you're treading on my crime scene.

Sara does not look pleased to see this individual.

Man: So, what do you say Homicide splits and lets the pros take it?

Sara: Detective Gorner.

Gorner turns to Danny.

Gorner: What's new, Woo?

Danny: Freak dope case. Should've known you'd show.

Gorner: Mm-hmm. Well, drugs is drugs. So, adios. Go find your own DBs.

Gorner rises from looking at the woman's body to look at Sara.

Gorner: Or don't you think finding out who killed my partner is important?

Sara: We've been working it, Dean. Hard. (nods)

Danny: You guys had a lot of cases. There's about 200 files to go through.

Gorner: Files. You're friggin' paper-chasing a killer. No wonder it's taking so long. You gotta get out on the street.

Sara (getting ticked): Hey, Dean. You don't need to tell me how to run a case.

Gorner: Well, someone's got to, you're choking on this one. And it was a fellow badge who went down.

Danny (moving closer to Gorner): Why don't you just lower your voice, all right? Huh?

Sara moves between Gorner and Danny. She can see Danny's starting to lose his temper, too.

Sara: Danny, Danny, Danny ...

Sara turns to Gorner.

Sara: Could I talk to you for a second over here?

She touches Danny on the chest before she and Gorner walk off a few feet.

Sara (falsely pleasant): Dean ... what do you say we call a truce on the ball-breaking?

Gorner: My partner gets in his car one morning, gets blown to bits. And you want --

Sara (interrupts): Want to solve the case, as much as you.

Gorner: Then find out who killed Torres.

Sara nods and turns away. Gorner stops her.

Gorner: Listen, um ... I need a favor.

Sara (wary): What?

Gorner: I, uh, gotta do this buy, close out a case Torres and I were working on. But I need a wing man, a face they don't know.

Sara: Yeah?

Gorner glances at Jake.

Gorner: Your, uh, rookie's name, Jake McCartey, come up on the list. You give me him, I'll cut you some slack.

Sara: You want Jake to make a buy?

Gorner: Yeah ... what? The kid actually think he's a detective, or something?

Sara gives him a narrowed-eyes "that's so funny" kind of look.

Gorner: So forget about it. He probably couldn't handle it anyway.

Sara takes umbrage at this remark (as it was intended).

Sara: I'd bet on him.

Gorner: Then give me him.

Sara makes a "be my guest" gesture with her right arm toward Jake then walks away.

Gorner (to her back): Hey.

Sara turns back around.

Gorner: So, ah ... were you out on a date or something?

Sara: Yeah, Dean. Yeah, I was.

Gorner: I forgot you, ah ... clean up pretty good, when you wanna.

Sara: Thanks ... I guess.

Sara turns and continues walking back to Danny.

Cut to Sara and Danny's office later. They are going through boxes marked "Evidence."

Danny: I hate to admit it, you know. Dean may be right.

Sara: What? We should be out on the streets? Danny, the hit on Torres looks strictly Junior Varsity, drug deal payback. We patiently peruse the files. The suspect will come to us.

Danny (smile): Now you're starting to sound like me.

Sara: Yeah? You always say that when you know I'm right.

Danny: Hmm. Seems like Dean kind of has a grudge against you.

Sara: I went out with him once.

Danny looks up from his work, a surprised look on his face.

Sara: I know. He wasn't my type. Shh.

Danny: So why do you think he wanted Jake? I'm sure he could have found somebody else.

Sara shakes her head.

Sara (softly): I don't know.

Sara turns her head to see she has a visitor. There appears to be a little blond girl wearing a long dress (or nightdress) and carrying a doll sitting atop one of the file cabinets in the corner. The girl is surrounded by a green glow. Sara stares at her. And evidently Danny can't see her.

Danny (concerned): You OK? You're a little pale. Here, take a swig of this.

Danny holds out a water bottle to her.

Sara: Oh ... yeah, sure. Thanks. I'm fine.

Sara takes the bottle and rubs her bare right wrist. She gives Danny a smile but continues to look at the corner.

Cut to Jake and Dean in a car, Dean driving, as they arrive at a parking lot. Jake opens his door and starts to get out, but Dean has other plans.

Dean: Stay in the car.

Jake sits back in his seat again.

Jake: Stay here?

Dean: How'd I get so lucky? A rookie who catches on quick.

Dean opens his door, gets out and closes his door. He pulls a cell phone from his jacket pocket and walks a few feet away while dialing.

Dean (into phone): Hey, my friend from Possaic. How you doing? Yes, we'll be on time. OK. Cool.

He disconnects. He goes back to the car and gets into the driver's seat again.

Jake: How'd it go?

Dean: It's on. So, ah ... tell me. How'd a fresh-scrubbed, corn-fed, white boy like yourself wind up here?

Jake: Sorry?

Dean: Yeah, you are. I mean, look at you. Did you ever live through anything besides a bad sunburn?

Jake: Yeah - 20 minutes with you.

Dean smiles and laughs a little, nodding.

A car drives in behind Jake's side of the car. Jake sees it in his side mirror.

Jake: There's our mark. (looks at his watch) Right on time.

A man has gotten out of the car that pulled up, which is now backing away. The man puts something in the trunk of a car already parked on the lot, then gets in the driver's seat.

Shift to a view from the interior of the man's car. This is Ben again from the opening scene. Dean walks up to his window and taps on it with the barrel of the gun in his right hand. Dean looks over to see the gun now pointed at him. He looks to the passenger side to see Jake standing there with his gun pointed at him from that side. Dean opens the driver's side door.

Dean: Outta the car. Don't let me lose sight of your hands.

Ben gets out with his hands raised. Jake gets in the passenger side and turns off the ignition, taking the keys.

On the other side of the car, Dean takes Ben's gun from inside his coat. Dean covers Ben with that gun and puts his own away.

Dean: Jake, pop the trunk. Grab what's in there.

Dean forces Ben face down on the hood of the car as Jake opens the trunk of Ben's car. Inside the trunk is a large leather bag. When Jake unzips it, we see bundles of cash. At the front of the car, Ben is sitting on the hood now with a plastic tie around his wrists.

Ben (to Dean): You're dead.

Dean: Shut up.

Dean hits Ben across the face hard enough to dislodge the wig that had covered Ben's totally bald head. Ben drops to sit on the pavement.

Dean (voice raised): Jake, what do you got?

Jake: Cash ... lots. A hundred thou, maybe more.

Dean (to Ben): Where's your meet? What time?

Ben: Go to hell.

Dean: No, you go to hell.

Dean points Ben's confiscated pistol at Ben's head and pulls back the hammer.

Ben: Go ahead. Pull the trigger. Make some real trouble for yourself.

Jake looks between Dean and Ben.

Dean: OK.

Dean empties the revolver of its bullets and lets most drop to the ground. One he puts back in the cylinder. He closes the cylinder and gives it a spin. He once again cocks the gun and points it as Ben's head. Ben is worried now. And poor Jake has a look on his face that clearly says, "This s.o.b. is crazy!" Dean squeezes the trigger and Ben flinches violently. After a moment, Ben turns back to Dean but doesn't say anything. Dean pulls the trigger three more times in quick succession, click-click-click.

Ben: OK, OK! I'll tell!

Dean pulls the gun back as Jake looks on, still amazed.

Cut to Sara arriving at Gabriel Bowman's.

Gabriel: I'm glad you called. You want coffee, tea ... Red Bull and vodka?

Sara (little laugh): Guess I'll take the java.

Sara fingers the hair on a mummified head in one of Gabriel's displays then wipes her fingers on her shirt.

Gabriel (pouring coffee): The technical term for what those kids were doing is asphyxiophilia.

Sara: See? I figured you'd know something about it.

Gabriel: That kind of edge-play, if it doesn't kill you, will often cause brain damage.

Sara: Brain damage? Gabriel ... aren't they suffering from that already? They choke each other during sex. I mean, whatever happened to good old ... boom-boom?

Gabriel: It's the 21st century. The taboo is the turn-on.

Gabriel hands her a mug of coffee.

Sara: Thanks.

Gabriel: Though erotic strangulation does go way back.

They sit at Gabriel's computer table.

Gabriel: Um, 1700s, the Marquis de Sade ... In his book, Justine, the girl, Thirhse, hangs her lover so that he can better, um ... so he can better ... do it better. William Burroughs, Naked Lunch, it was the same thing, just different genders.

Sara: Kids.

Gabriel brings up some comic-style illustrations on his computer.

Sara: Huh, glad you're up on this.

Gabriel: Say, listen, it's my work. It doesn't mean I subscribe to it. {I thought your job was to sell "Idols, icons, talismans" and "... to know about objects of power"}

Sara gives him a slow wink over the rim of her coffee cup.

Gabriel: Where's the Twitchblade?

Sara: Hmm? Mm, just forgot it, is all, by the bathroom sink.

Gabriel: Where it belongs, right?

Sara: Yeah.

Gabriel just looks at her.

Sara: All right. You know what? Fine.

Gabriel smiles slowly as Sara digs the Witchblade out of her jacket pocket.

Sara: There ...

Sara shows him the Witchblade and then dons it.

Sara: ... satisfied?

Gabriel winks at her.

Gabriel (nods): Um-hmm.

Sara sighs and gives Gabriel her empty cup.

Sara: May I?

Gabriel gets up to refill her cup and Sara has another vision of the little girl, this time with sound.

Girl: Wanna play-play, Sara?

Sara looks to Gabriel for a moment. When she turns back, the girl is gone.

Sara: Uh ... do you know anything about any new designer drugs the kids are using these days?

Gabriel starts walking back with her coffee.

Gabriel: Yeah, I heard something new is catching on. Some twisted chemist came up with it about three years ago. I don't know what it's called, but supposedly it causes wicked hallucinations.

Cut to the exterior of a car trunk. The trunk is moving about.

Ben's voice: Hey ... hey! Let me out! Hey, guys. Let me out!

Cut to Irons' den. {Dead or not, this will always be Irons' house to me.} There is a roaring fire going. Ian is sitting with his eyes closed in his former master's carved wooden throne. He's in a dark suit and tie. And for some reason his hair has been straightened. {Looks scrumptious, though.}

Witchblade vision {Does Ian get these?} of Sara cutting off Irons' hand.

Ian's eyes pop open. He gets out of the chair so suddenly that it tips over backward. Ian walks toward a large portrait of Irons, dragging the tip of a magnificent broadsword behind him. Reaching the painting, Ian raises his gloved left hand to the canvas. The portrait elicits memories.

Irons in voiceover: Listen closely, young Nottingham ... do you not find her striking?

A memory of a child Ian appears.

Young Ian (memory): When will I learn to fight?

Back to present-day Ian.

Irons in voiceover: Soon enough ... soon enough.

Ian turns from the portrait to look about the room as a more recent memory invades his thoughts. He is standing in this very place with Irons in front of him. Irons in his memory raises his hand as if to strike Ian.

Irons (memory): I have trained you to do my bidding.

This next bit, this Ian hasn't directly experienced. {Or has he? Hard to tell with a time loop.}

Ian (memory, to Irons): I am nothing but what you made me!

Ian takes a couple quick steps away from the painting, spins the sword into a shoulder-high grip and sights along the blade back to the portrait.

We see Irons' throat pierced by the Witchblade as Ian slowly advances toward the portrait.

Just before he reaches it, we get another memory from the altered timeline: Irons striking Ian near the end of Maelstrom.

When he reaches the portrait, Ian sees the painting of Irons smile. Ian thrusts his sword into the painting, first at the eyes and then jabbing it all through the painting. Ian rests the broadsword on the frame's bottom edge and drops to his knees, his head thrown back.

Ian (softly): Sara ...

Cut to a sushi restaurant. Jake and Dean Gorner are sitting at a small table. Dean is pouring saki into a small handleless cup in front of Jake.

Jake: I'm good, man. (shakes head)

Dean: Listen, rookie ... you want to make your buy looking like Snow White? Now shut up and drink up.

Jake downs the saki in one gulp.

Dean: So ... what's with the training officer?

Jake: Pezzini?

Dean: Yeah.

Jake: She seems pretty cool so far.

Dean: She's a freak. Something's off with that chick. Hey, I'm doing you a favor by getting you away from her for a little while.

Jake: What are you getting at?

Dean: What I'm getting at is ... I don't like her. One of these days, I'm going to get her back.

Jake: Ahh ... get her back for what?

The chef walks up with their food on a tray.

Dean (to chef): Ah, Hiro. Arigato. Thank you. Ah, perfect.

Dean (to Jake): Fugu ... you ever had it?

Jake (shakes head): Nope.

Dean: Highly poisonous ... like Pezzini. One bite will kill you unless it's prepped just right.

Dean takes a sliver of white meat from the bowl in front of them.

Jake: Pass.

Dean: You don't pass. You see, I come to this place a lot and they treat me good. And I'm not going to let you insult my friend.

{OK. At this point, I would be out of there. This @$$ could find someone else to make his buy.}

Jake: What's with you, man ... huh? You rob a guy, almost snuff him, toss him in the trunk, and bitch at me the whole time.

Dean: First off, did we get our flash money? Yes. Now can we make a buy and collar some bad guys? Yes.

Jake: And could we blow the case by doing it your way? Hell, yeah.

Dean: Let me tell you something about Big Ben. He's hooked probably hundreds of kids on every drug you can name. Sent loads of them to their graves. That's a lot of parents with their guts torn out so's they'd like to die, too. A night in the trunk of the car will do that creep some good. Now ... make me proud.

Dean holds up the sliver of fugu with his chopsticks. Jake stares at him for a moment then gives in with a sigh.

Jake: All right, man.

He picks up a piece of the fugu with his fingers and pops it into his mouth. Just a few seconds after chewing the fish, a strange look comes over his face.

Dean: Happens quick, don't it?

Jake breaks out in a sweat.

Jake: What's going on?

Dean: That's death, baby. That's what you feeling. The trick of it is to feel the poison but not die. Hiro's the best at leaving in just enough.

Jake tries to get up, but sits right back down.

Dean: This ain't the academy. This is the real world. Think I don't catch heat for the way I do business? That's what the street says - the street. It ain't pretty, it ain't clean, and it eats its young. Whether you like it or not.

Jake's expression has turned from panicked to near-euphoric while Dean was talking.

Dean: Now, get the bad guys - nothing else. Am I right?

Jake chuckles.

Dean: Nice little rush, huh?

Jake: Yeah.

Dean: Legal. More?

Jake (nods): You're all right.

Cut to Sara and Danny's office at night. They are both at their desks going through files. Vicky Po shows up at the door.

Sara: Who's counting?

Vicky: So, uh ... here's what I got on those drug deaths.

Sara: Oh, hit me.

Sara reaches for the file Vicky is carrying.

Vicky: Not if I was on this drug, you wouldn't want me to.

Vicky hands Sara the file.

Vicky: So, I won't bore you with the whole chemical make-up, but it's designed to work on specific parts of the brain.

Danny: Like the parts of our dead girl we scraped off the wall? {Ewww, Danny!}

Vicky: Cute, but no. It goes directly to the base brain, which is where we get fear, our anxiety, panic. For a user, those emotions are all eliminated.

Sara: Ohh, where can I get some?

Vicky: Yeah, really. So I checked around and found it's a new psychotropic called "Bob."

Danny: Named after who? The genius who invented it?

Vicky: No. It's 'cause it acts fast and it makes your head bob. (she gives a demonstration)

Sara: Oh, swell.

Vicky: Um-hmm. But, for some people, and this is what happened with our girl, it releases massive amounts of adrenaline.

Sara: So, she obviously choked her boyfriend a little too hard.

Danny: Saw what she'd done, maybe got a massive adrenaline rush ...

Sara: ... Ran a hundred yard dash in about nine feet. So much for not feeling fear, panic, and anxiety.

Cut to a teen walking near a bus terminal. He stops to get a large blue pill out of a plastic baggie that contains several. He swallows the pill and feels the effects almost immediately. He steps in front of a bus that was going just a bit fast for what amounts to a parking lot.

Boy: Hit me!

The bus does.

Fade.

End Act I.

Act II

Open later at the bus depot. Jake and Dean are in the scene, along with Vicky. Danny and Sara drive up and approach the group.

Dean: Who invited them?

Vicky: I did. Sara asked me to if I got another one of these deaths.

Dean: Pezzini. What? Are you getting sick of homicide?

Dean (into Sara's ear): I liked your other look better.

Dean: So what are you doing here?

Danny: Ends up, the girl at the party did strangle her boyfriend. That's murder.

Dean: Yeah, then she killed herself. Case closed. So, what is this? Premeditated bus stop?

Jake: More like unscheduled.

Dean laughs.

Dean: Good one, partner.

Sara takes a look at Jake and doesn't like what she sees.

Sara: Jake, you look like hell.

Dean: Woo, what's new?

Danny: Nothing new under the sun, Dean. Good guys ... (taps Dean on the chest with his notebook) ... bad guys. Still at it.

Sara is still looking at Jake when Dean turns to him.

Dean: Detective McCartey.

Dean turns and walks off. Jake looks to Sara and Danny then follows Dean. Sara and Danny share a look. Sara is still concerned for Jake. Danny walks off a bit.

Over by one of the other buses, Sara's little ghostly girl appears. The head on her doll is just about torn off. The Witchblade glows before the girl disappears again.

Cut to the front of the precinct the next day. Sara and Danny are walking toward the entrance together when Sara sees Ian next to a building on the other side of an iron fence which surrounds the police parking lot.

Sara: Uh, Danny, I'll meet you inside.

Danny: Everything cool?

Sara: Yeah, definitely.

Sara motions him back to her.

Sara: Come here. We should run a check on Dean. His finances, if we can get 'em. Torres, too.

Danny: Dirty laundry?

Sara: Working Narcotics is all about getting close to the bad guys. Something about Dean, maybe he got a little too close.

Danny: Yeah, possibly.

Sara: I'll catch you inside.

Sara walks over to the iron fence separating her from Ian. Ian gives a little wave.

Sara: Do you ever not lurk?

Ian smiles.

Sara: What do you want?

Ian starts walking toward the fence.

Ian (shrug): To feel that I'm safe.

Sara: That makes two of us.

Ian: I don't think you have anything to fear ... from me.

Sara: You don't think? You're not sure?

Ian: After what I witnessed, after the blood on your hands, I should even the score.

Sara: I'm not going to be threatened.

Ian: Right, you're right. I'm sorry. That's ... that's not how I feel. I said "should." Sara ... you freed me ... when you killed Mr. Irons.

Sara: Killed? I defended myself.

Ian: Yes, of course you did.

Ian steps up to grasp two of the iron bars of the fence and put his face between them.

Ian: You and I ... are alike, more than any two on this earth.

Sara frowns then raises her brows.

Ian: I want us to be friends. Protecting you now ... is a matter of honor ... for me.

Sara: I don't need protection.

Ian laughs.

Ian: Maybe not now. But some day.

Sara: OK.

Sara turns and starts back toward the precinct. She takes half a dozen steps and turns back to the fence to see that Ian has disappeared.

Cut to a busy sidestreet. Jake and Dean are out of the car in an alley. Dean is on the cell phone.

Dean (into phone): Listen, I'll meet you at your place here. OK.

Dean severs the connection and zaps the car alarm.

Jake: Everything cool?

Dean: Oh, yeah.

Dean grabs the satchel of money out of the car's window.

Jake: So these parking guys just loan you cars that are stashed long-term?

Dean drops the bag at Jake's feet.

Dean: Yeah. Listen, after we make the buy, we release Ben, we let him take the fall.

Jake: Wait a minute. Isn't he going to tell his bosses what happened?

Dean: Know what? Maybe you're right. I'll go back and cap him, just to be sure.

Dean turns and immediately turns back.

Dean: Just kidding.

Jake smiles.

Dean: So, you ready?

Jake (sigh): As I'll ever be.

Dean: I mean, if you're scared, you don't fight it, you just go with it. Play it real.

Jake (nods): Yeah.

Dean: So what are you gonna do?

Jake: I'm just gonna give him the money, get the merchandise, get out.

Dean: Excellent. Give me your department issue. It's a giveaway. (Dean removes a gun from inside his coat.) Take this.

They trade guns.

Dean: Remember - rule number one: just be chill. Get the bad guy to trust you.

Jake nods.

Jake: Right on, man.

Dean claps Jake on the shoulder.

Dean: Go get 'em, big guy.

Jake picks up the bag of cash and walks off down the alley. Dean gets into his borrowed car and drives off.

Cut to Sara and Danny in their office. Sara is going through more boxes marked "Evidence" while Danny looks up Dean Gorner on his computer. Neither seem to be having any luck.

Brief cut to Ian somewhere near a brick wall. His eyes are closed. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. He opens his eyes and looks around.

Cut to the drug dealer's place. It looks like a bar. A couple guys, one in a red plaid shirt and one in a dark shirt, are playing an interactive video game on a large screen with guns instead of joysticks. Jake just walks in. {I'll leave out the dialog between the game players.}

Jake whistles to get their attention. A third man, wearing a tan vest and holding a gun, appears at Jake's side and frisks him. {Since I don't know their names, I'll call these guys Red Plaid, Dark Shirt, and Vest.}

Jake: Hey, everything's cool, man. Everything's cool. Big Ben sent me.

Vest finds Jake's gun and takes it. He continues to cover Jake with his gun.

Jake: He called, said he couldn't make it, right?

Red Plaid seems to be in charge. He says nothing.

Jake: I was right there when he called.

Jake tosses the bag at Red Plaid's feet.

Jake: That's the loot.

Red Plaid: The loot? What are you going to do? Play a little tune from the Renaissance?

They all chuckle.

Red Plaid: Well, ah, thanks a lot, Blondie. You can go now.

Jake: Not without my merch, man.

Red Plaid: Hmm.

Red Plaid (to Dark Shirt): Give it to him.

Red Plaid inspects the cash as Dark Shirt tosses Jake a black knapsack. Jake looks at one of the bags inside then puts the bag over his shoulder. Jake waits a minute then points to his gun in Red Plaid's hand.

Red Plaid: You're going out the back door this time, Blondie.

Red Plaid puts his left arm around Jake's shoulders and steers him to the back entrance. Dean Gorner is there and shoots Red Plaid in the chest from very close range. Jake grabs a gun (probably from Red Plaid) and dives down to the floor. Dean, in the meantime, tries shooting the other drug dealers.

Dean and Jake both fire on Dark Shirt and Vest repeatedly, taking return fire themselves. Eventually Jake hits Vest as he stands on the bar to fire. He falls back behind the bar. While Jake stands looking at the bar, Dark Shirt fires and hits him in the upper arm. Jake goes down and Dark Shirt turns his attention back to Dean. Dark Shirt's gun runs out of ammunition and he throws it down. Dean ejects his magazine and puts a new one in as he walks toward Dark Shirt. Dean shoots him in the back as he tries to run away. Dean turns to Jake. In his left hand is a bottle of whiskey.

Dean: Hey, big guy ...

Dean kicks the drug satchel over to Jake.

Dean: You got winged, huh?

Jake (in pain): What the hell ... were you doing?

Dean squats by Jake.

Dean: What was I doing? (laugh) That's not the question people are going to be asking. Let's see what we got here.

Dean opens the backpack as Jake moans in pain.

Dean: Ohh ... nasty.

Dean offers the whiskey bottle to Jake.

Dean: Slug?

Jake pushes the bottle away with a grunt.

Dean: Suit yourself. See all these dead bad guys? They were all shot with your gun.

A look of dawning comprehension crosses Jake's face.

Dean: Seems like you, ah ... you panicked, rookie. Started blowing dudes away. And worse, you were high as a kite.

Dean wraps his arm with the whiskey bottle around Jake's head and forces a fistful of pills into his mouth. He then pours whiskey in and forces Jake's jaw shut. Dean gives Jake a little punch to the upper abdomen {to trigger the swallow reflex?} then quickly recovers his mouth.

Dean lets Jake go. There's nothing left inside his mouth.

Dean: That a boy.

Dean slaps Jake's injured arm, producing a moan of pain.

Dean: Nice knowing ya.

Dean stands and takes a gun from his jacket pocket and points it at Jake. Jake kicks it out of his hand and goes for the one lying on the floor that he had been using. Jake fires five quick shots at a retreating Dean, then scrambles out before Dean can come back. Sirens can be heard approaching. Dean grabs the drug bag and the money bag and walks out.

Fade.

End Act II

Act III

Open back at the drug dealer's bar. Sara pulls the sheet off of Red Plaid's face.

Sara: Dean, what the hell happened here?

Dean: I'm tellin' ya, the son of a bitch rookie flipped out. I mean, what else could it be?

Sara stands and walks toward Dean.

Sara: It's not like Jake. (shakes head)

Dean: Listen, I caught the kid with a pint of bourbon. Who knows what else he fortifies himself with? All he had to do was meet these guys and say "Hi." He was supposed to see if he could set up a California connection. It was talk. Simple, safe. Obviously, he panicked. Shot up the place.

Sara: Uh-huh. And when you got here?

Dean: He was gone.

Sara looks at Dean steadily.

Sara: You know, we got units sweeping the area for Jake. I.A. is into it, too. This was far from a clean shoot.

Dean: No kidding.

Sara: Listen up there, Deano. I don't like you, and I definitely don't trust you. If I find out you did anything to jeopardize Jake, you're gonna wish you'd never been born. Don't go far.

Dean: Where am I gonna go?

Cut to a streetside refuse pile. Jake puts his fingers down his throat to induce vomiting. The wind blows a sheet of newspaper off of a Time Magazine with a picture of Kenneth Irons and the caption "Missing Billionaire" on the cover. The photo of Irons smiles at Jake. And then it starts talking.

Irons (hallucination): How you doing there, Jake? Having fun yet? Say ... hadn't you better get that slug out of your shoulder?

Jake touches the sleeve of his jacket.

Irons (hallucination): Jake.

The photo nods to the street. Jake looks and sees a squad car coming slowly down the street. Jake crawls into a large cardboard box as the car passes by.

Cut to two leaders of organized crime meeting in the back of a car; one is bald and the other wears a hat.

Hat: I don't like meetin' like this, under these circumstances.

Baldy: It's bad. Bad business.

Hat: I've lost men and merchandise. And you've lost money, lots.

Baldy: Yeah. One of my best men's missing. Probably dead. My department contacts say it was a cop who did this. A rookie. Stole the money, the drugs, took off.

He has in his hands a "Missing" flyer with Jake's picture on it.

Baldy: We need to put our resources together. Find him. Quick.

Cut to Sara and Danny in their office. Sara is just walking in.

Sara: Cough up, partner.

Danny: Hey. I.A. wouldn't release any of Torres' financial records. But I did get out of them that he had put a lot of money in the market before the dot-com crash. Litvak filled me in about what happened with Jake.

Sara: Yeah. Look ... Dean is dirty. I can smell it, Danny. We need to get something on him fast. Pressure him, find out who he's doing business with.

Danny: Pez ...

Sara: Then we got to try to find Jake in the process.

Danny: I got a bad feeling about Jake. It sounds like it was a pretty mean shootout. And there's a good chance ...

Sara: ... that he's dead. Or he's gonna be soon. Look, either he's dead, he's badly wounded ... or he's dirty, and ... and that I doubt.

Danny: I think we should make a list of the people Dean might've done business with, hit the streets and start leaning on people.

Sara turns away, flexes her neck, and grabs another file out of the box on her way to her desk.

Sara: Yeah, that's gonna take a while.

They both sit back down at their desks, ready for more file reviews. Sara notices something about a photo on her desk, in which we see s familiar doll.

Witchblade vision: the little blond girl; the doll's head; little blond girl at the bus depot; the doll with its head nearly off; the little girl.

Sara: Hey, Danny, give me the photos from the Williams case, will ya?

Danny passes her the photos.

Sara: Thanks.

She compares the one she had noticed with one of those Danny just gave her.

Sara: Come take a look at this, Danny. (shakes head)

Danny gets up and walks around to her desk. Sara shows him the two photos.

Sara: These two photos, same case, from files dated five days apart.

Danny: Drug case, three years old. Why two files?

Sara: Exactly what I was wondering. They're identical except ... Notice anything different in these?

Looking at the photos, Danny sees one has a doll lying near a body and the other does not.

Danny: Yeah, the doll.

Sara: Yeah. Now, according to both reports, this was the dealer's house. Now, supposedly a rival dealer showed up to kill his competition. A little girl was also killed in the crossfire. There were no drugs or money recovered.

Danny: So, a little girl was killed and ... the doll proves ...

Sara: That the crime scene was tampered with. Someone took a new photo.

Danny: First file still exists 'cause, who knows what? Clerical error, probably.

Sara: Yeah. Dean was sloppy. Wanna bet that there were drugs and cash at the scene?

Danny: What? You think Torres and Dean snatched them?

Sara: Don't you? The merchandise was probably stuffed in the doll.

Cut back to Jake in his cardboard box. Lazar approaches and kneels at the box opening. Jake has his eyes closed.

Dean (in voiceover): This ain't the academy. This is the real world. That's death, baby. That's what you feeling.

Jake's eyes snap open and he gasps. He backs even further into the box.

Cut back to Danny and Sara.

Sara: Now, if they were playing both sides of the fence, those big deposits that Torres made were probably from illegal gains. Dean doesn't strike me as the type to follow the market.

Danny: So, possibly Torres did the investing for both of them.

Sara: Yeah, then they hit dot-com hell, bad investments, their accounts flatlined.

Danny: Dean blames Torres ...

Sara: Well, he doesn't strike me as the type to blame himself. And if Torres was in charge of the investments ... they probably overextended, and they owed a lot of money to some shady characters that they were in business with.

Danny: A guy like Dean might wanna get even. Even with his partner.

Sara: A partner would do that?

Danny: It's a theory.

Sara: Now we go hit the streets, go talk to our boy, Deano.

Cut to a dark sedan pulling up to a garbage truck. Two men, one with black hair, get out of the sedan.

Black Hair: How you doin'?

Garbageman (points to trash heap): Hey. There's your guy.

Black Hair (to other man): Get him up.

The other man pulls Jake out of his box by his heels. They compare him to his "Missing" flyer.

Black Hair: Yeah, that's the guy.

They nod. The other man pulls Jake up by bunching a fist in the front of his coat. Jake's a little loopy. The black haired man goes to the garbageman and his partner and gives them money.

Black Hair: Hey, you guys, you didn't see nothing.

Garbageman: No problem.

Jake twists the hand holding him up, forcing the arm back. He then grabs the man's coat collar and back and runs the man into a trash container with a yell. Black Hair knocks Jake on the back of the head {I think}, knocking him out.

Black Hair: Pick him up. Get him up!

The two men each grab an arm and drag Jake away.

Fade.

End Act III

Act IV

Open with Jake gradually coming to consciousness. There's a couple familiar faces here.

Jake: I want ... I need ... a doctor.

Hat: Mr. Lomax here isn't a doctor exactly. More of a chemist. But he can make you feel better. You like to feel good, huh? You like drugs, huh?

Jake: No, man.

Hat: No? I think you're a born liar.

He pushes the barrel of a gun into Jake's wound.

Jake (pain): Ahh!

Hat: Where are my drugs? The cash?

Jake just breathes hard.

Baldy: Where's Big Ben?

Jake: London?

Baldy: You know you're going to die, don't you? Don't you know that? You can choose how. Pain ... or quick. Where are my things?

Jake: Dean. Not me.

Baldy: Dean? Who's that?

Jake: Another ... cop. Not me. Gorner.

Baldy: Dean Gorner? That's who?

Jake: Ahh ... that's right.

Lomax scoots over to Jake on a wheeled chair. He has a beaker full of the big blue Bob capsules in his right hand. He puts his left hand on Jake and Jake struggles against him.

Lomax: Do your community a favorable turn, officer. Take Dean Gorner out of circulation. That's your code. Protect your community. That's how you really feel, right? You can tell me everything about Dean.

Lomax takes a few of the blue pills out of the beaker.

Lomax: I'm here to help.

Cut to the car trunk where Ben was stashed. Someone fires into the lock mechanism. Ben gets out.

Cut to Danny and Sara in their car. Sara's in the driver's seat this time.

Danny: Still, it's only a theory. We got nothing to prove Dean killed his partner. And the photos, I mean, all they prove is someone tampered with evidence, not who.

Sara: Dean set Jake up. Probably his getaway deal. Clean up loose ends and get out. We can't prove any of that yet, either. The one person who can ... has disappeared out of sight. I'm responsible for that. I put Jake out there.

Danny (sigh): We got nothin'. Not on him, nothing solid.

Sara: Not yet, but do we have a choice? I mean, Danny, we gotta harsh Dean into talking. This could get ugly.

Danny: Maybe Dean somehow did manage to turn Jake. He is a rookie. I don't know ... maybe they're working this together.

They both think about this possibility a moment, then turn to each other at the same time.

Both: Nah.

They turn to see Dean exiting the building they've been watching. Dean has the satchel of money and another bag. A black sedan pulls up as Dean reaches the street. Ben is in the front passenger's seat with a gun pointed at Dean. Black Hair approaches Dean from behind with a gun and disarms him.

Ben: Going somewhere, Deano?

The men put Dean into the black sedan.

Back to Sara and Danny watching all this.

Danny: Timing is everything.

Sara follows as the sedan pulls away.

Cut to the warehouse in which Jake is being kept. The gangster with the hat is taking some blue pills from one of the bags Dean had carried. In the background we see Dean handcuffed by both wrists to a chair.

Dean: Nice job, rookie. You found the bad guy.

Jake: That's right, man.

Dean has his ears twisted by Ben standing behind him. As he opens his mouth to yell, Hat shoves the pills in then pours wine down his throat.

Dean: Ahh!

Baldy: Now that you've returned the drugs, and some of the money you owe me, it's time to finish the job.

Baldy raises a pistol in his left hand to point it at Dean.

Dean: You can't kill me. I am dead. I've been dead!

Baldy: Oh, I'm not going to kill you.

He hands the gun in his left hand off to an associate. He walks over to Jake and brings up the gun in his right hand to point it at Jake. Jake turns his head away.

Baldy: Unlike you ... (little laugh) ... I'm not a cop killer.

Baldy hands off that gun as well. The guns are placed on the floor in front of Jake's and Dean's chairs. They each have one wrist uncuffed as the room clears. The bag of drugs and money is left on a bench in the room.

Shift momentarily to see the silhouette of someone with a gun pointed at the ceiling then to Sara running across a rooftop.

Back to the interior. Jake and Dean are still in their chairs. The bad guys are all watching from an area blocked off by large metal drums. Dean and Jake tip their chairs and go for the pistols. Dean fires at Jake.

Jake: Don't do it, man!

Dean fires again and Jake returns fire. They continue to trade shots, but since they're both under the influence it's no surprise they can't hit each other.

Danny approaches the gangsters' cubby hole and slides around the edge of a cloudy plastic sheet that blocks off one end.

Danny: Police! Freeze!

Not only do they not freeze, they start firing at him. He quickly backs away, back beyond the opaque plastic.

Shift to see Sara jumping through a glass skylight to land between Jake and Dean. As an amazed Jake looks on, the Witchblade with a blade deflects a couple shots from Dean.

Shift to Danny. He is behind a barrel firing at the gangsters and they are firing back. It's just that there's five of them to his one.

Back to Sara. She uses the blade to disarm Dean while Jake continues to stare. Sara turns and jumps over the wall of barrels separating her from the gangsters. She lands in their midst and uses the now-bladeless gauntlet, and her own fighting skills, to quickly knock them all out. Danny pulls back the plastic to see Sara nudging the moaning bodies of a couple of the men with her foot. He just stares. Sara shrugs her shoulders and walks over to him. They both turn toward Jake and Dean.

Jake is dragging his chair with his handcuffed right hand. In his left is the gun. He points it at Dean, who is sitting on the floor. Dean gives a little laugh.

Dean: Do it. Just do it.

Jake: You like killing cops, huh?

Sara walks up.

Sara: Jake.

Dean: Do it, McCartey ... you know I would.

Jake laughs a little. It has a wild edge to it.

Jake: To the real world. The real world?!

Sara: Jake, don't.

Jake: Why not?

By now, Danny is standing to Jake's left and Sara is on his right.

Sara: Gimme the gun, gimme the gun!

Sara puts her right hand on the gun and Jake lets her take it from him.

Sara: Come on, let's get you out of here.

Cut to next day at the precinct. Danny, Sara and Jake are walking together. Jake has a sling around his right arm.

Jake: All I'm saying, it seemed like, you know, I wasn't that under the influence any more.

Sara: So you're insane? Look, Jake, it's OK. You're in good company. At least we put Bob away, for now. And your good buddy, Deano, is going away for a long time.

Jake: Yeah, but it's as if you were ... some kind of avenging angel.

Jake (softly): I saw you.

Sara: Uh-huh.

Danny smiles and then clears his throat.

Danny: If it doesn't seem real, it's not a hallucination, right?

Sara shrugs.

Jake: Right.

The guys walk off, but Sara sees something - her little blond girl, only now skipping happily.

Sara: Yeah, right.

Sara winks at the ghost.

Fade.

End Act IV

END OF EPISODE

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