Forever Knight (1992) s02e14 Episode Script

The Fix

This is good.
Thank you.
So how are you feeling? Well, it's the first time I've given blood.
[LAUGHS.]
Wellhere I go.
Good luck.
[OPERA MUSIC PLAYING OVER STEREO.]
[SIZZLING.]
[OPERA MUSIC CONTINUES PLAYING.]
[GUNSHOT.]
[HORN BLARING.]
[.]
NARRATOR: He was brought across in 1228.
Preyed on humans for their blood.
Now, he wants to be mortal again To repay society for his sins To emerge from his world of darkness From his endless forever night.
[GROWLS.]
You okay? [SIGHS.]
He's the last person on Earth I'd peg for a suicide.
COHEN: Isn't that Berman from internal affairs? Yeah, first one on the scene.
He's really taking charge.
That's odd.
What, Fred Berman, the original control freak, is taking charge? No, Berman, first on the scene of a homicide.
Suicide.
Right.
Whoa, that is quite a sight.
Oh, no, Schanke, Schanke.
You don't want to remember him like that.
You're right.
It's not my investigation.
Going back to the shop.
Schanke.
He wasn't suicidal.
Well, your diagnosis doesn't quite jibe with the fact that he just decapitated himself with his own gun, does it? Keep it.
It's a copy.
Suicide note.
Didn't leave us much to go on.
Well Sykes was never much for paperwork, was he? He was a good cop.
Guess again, detective.
Jimmy Vinetti's been lining his pocket for years.
Dead cops are much easier to slander, aren't they? Sykes was dirty.
I've got the evidence.
Look, your bowling buddy fed himself a hollow point because he couldn't do the stretch.
He had the best Bunco record in this precinct three years running.
He was hard-working and decent! Somebody, tell his wife.
She took his kids and moved to Nova Scotia four months ago because she couldn't take the beatings anymore.
Come on.
Sykes' profile from the department shrink.
I think Yeah, "unbalanced" was the nicest word she used.
You might be selling, but I ain't buying.
Excuse me, captain.
That's the first I've heard of any internal investigation.
Well, we don't advertise.
We find we get better results that way.
Captain, I'd still like a crack at this.
Case closed, Knight.
Go catch some killers.
Oh, I think I'll do just that.
Case closed, Knight.
You got it? Well, whatever you say.
I mean, after all, you are theboss.
Someone should give Berman some kind of award for insensitivity.
Yeah, it's times like this I wish I practiced voodoo.
I think we should look into this.
There's more to it.
I have a feeling.
So do I.
I got the feeling that Berman, as much as I hate his guts and hope he dies a slow and painful death, is right, and if he is, I don't wanna know about it.
Brian Sykes was my friend, period.
He backed me up.
He bailed me out, and he could roll a bowling ball like a cruise missile.
That's what I want to remember.
I'm done.
I need a drink.
[SIGHS.]
[.]
KNIGHT: A vampire virus? Well, more like a genetic alteration.
My old friend, Whitaker, down at the institute, has a brand-new $10 million toy, a tunneling electron microscope.
And he lent me some time on it, and here is what I found.
Now, these are strands of your RNA from one of your cells.
See those extra nucleotides? Those do not belong there.
This is what makes me what I am? That's what I'm betting on, and here's the kicker-- I isolated it and tried repeatedly to culture it outside the vector, i.
e.
, you, your cells.
Every time I removed it from the host cell, poof, it just evaporated, disappeared, no trace.
And you can neutralize it? Lytoveuterine B.
Yet another modern convenience, courtesy of biogenetic engineering, a substance that literally didn't exist a year ago.
It bonds molecularly with the virus and shuts it down somehow.
May I ask what it is? I was afraid you would.
It was supposed to be a synthetic hormone that would-- And how can I put this delicately? Enhance beef production But it was rejected in the test phase.
It, uh proved to be lethal.
Oh, wonderful.
Well, my day in the sun's going to be deadly either way.
Or you could have a whole new career down on the farm.
Anyway, I think that you could probably tolerate low doses of this.
Sort of like chemotherapy for cancer.
And if you were willing to accept the risk I think I might be able to cure you.
[.]
MAN: I'm quite confident of it, actually.
As you know, I have made this study of so-called occult phenomena my stock in trade.
They call you "the resurrection doctor.
" That's a name I earned back in England from some failed experiments in resuscitation.
Whatever.
I have a theory about your condition and I welcome the opportunity to test it.
You do recognize, of course, that any of the work we do here must be conducted under the veil of utmost secrecy.
And you understand that the effort may well be quite costly? I am prepared to subsidize your studies to the fullest.
I will pay whatever you require.
Good.
Very good.
NATALIE: Nick? It's your call.
Let's do it.
NATALIE: I'm starting you out with one cc.
What kind of side effects are we talking about? We're way out beyond the pale here.
Quite honestly, I don't know what to expect.
Chemically, Lytoveuterine B has some similarities to naturally produced endorphins.
So I might get a high? You might get a rush.
Then again, that rush could be mitigated by the drug's cytotoxical properties.
Oh, great, so I'll get sick to my stomach.
And you'll feel too happy to care.
Now, are you sure about this? Yeah, I'm sure.
[SIGHS.]
Anything? Oh, God.
[.]
Oh, God.
I'm gonna be sick.
Damn it.
I knew this was a mistake.
[GROANS.]
It's okay.
It's okay.
It's okay.
I'll ride it out.
I'll ride it out.
It's okay.
Oh, God.
Oh, God.
[GRUNTS.]
Nick? Nick, talk to me.
What are you feeling? Nothing.
[CATCHES BREATH.]
Nothing.
Nothing.
[PANTING.]
NatNat, it's gone.
What's gone? Oh, God, it's gone.
What do you mean? Nick, talk to me.
What do you feel? It's gone.
It The vampire.
It's gone.
Nick, don't! Nick, this isn't the way to test it.
[LAUGHING.]
You're up early.
Yeah, well, I never made it to bed.
I.
A.
sent a warrant down to impound his stuff post-haste with all deliberate speed.
Berman.
[SIGHS.]
So the most important thing is that we don't overdo it.
We don't assume anything.
Nick? Nick! [HORN BLARING.]
Nick! You You just went through a red light! I did? Ha-ha.
Go on.
Well, give me a ticket.
I've got friends who can fix that.
We have to run tests, dozens of tests.
In the meantime Now, wait a minute.
You're taking me home first, right, and then, you're gonna go back and get some rest.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll get there.
Doctor's orders, Nick.
Okay, okay.
I just want to make one quick stop first.
You brought it, right? Brought what? The medicine.
It's in your bag just in case, yeah? Yeah, I have it.
Good.
Yes, Janette? Nicholas, get inside! Why? I've done it! We've done it.
I'm cured.
Have you already forgotten what happened to you last time you tried this? But this is different.
This is real.
I've done it! I've do-- I've changed.
I suppose that you did this to him.
Sorry, I couldn't resist the scientific challenge.
I see And, of course, you told her of the danger involved in this pursuit.
There's no danger.
There are those among us, Nicholas, who would not take this very well What is she talking about? Those who would consider this "discovery," in fact, a threat to our existence.
Yeah, well, not if you don't tell them.
As if I even had to.
Oh, Nicholas, you are so naive.
You're such an eternal boy.
So if no one is to know, why did you come here? To share this with you.
Oh, please.
This is real.
This is real.
We can go back.
Nick! Well I thought you said we had to duplicate the experiment for us to able to pronounce it a success.
Oh, so you need another lab rat.
No thank you.
Look elsewhere.
Don't ever assume that I'm like you, Nicholas.
I'm not ashamed of who I am.
I've been down this road with him before.
It's a dead end.
Just another dead end.
[SIGHS.]
[.]
So what aren't you telling me, Nick? [SIGHS.]
Janette's just raining on our parade.
She's jealous, that's all.
And what about before? What happened long ago doesn't matter.
We've succeeded.
Haven't we? I have to go write up some notes.
You should go back and get some rest.
We'll pick it up tonight.
I want to do a full blood panel on you later.
What about the Lytoveuterine? What for? Oh, you know what if I'm out and about, and it wears off? I'm stuck.
[LAUGHS.]
Oh, no, no, no, Nick.
Hey, hey, hey, Nat, Nat.
I mean, look at me.
Look at me.
I'm changed.
I'm cured.
We have no idea what this stuff is doing to your insides.
Just enough to get me through.
You're talking like a junkie.
This whole experiment goes down the tubes if I spontaneously combust in the middle of Bay Street, doesn't it? All right.
All right.
Just in case And 10 cc's, that's it.
Promise me that you won't touch this unless something dire happens, and you'll call me first.
Okay.
Okay! Thanks.
Umhey, look.
Don't worry about it.
You should be happy.
Smile.
Come on.
We did it.
See you later tonight.
[.]
You followed me.
Do you know what you're getting into? If the others found out-- I know.
And now that you know, I trust you will remain quiet about it.
There are no secrets among us, Nicholas, not for long.
You know that.
Then the good doctor will have to work quickly, won't he? The good doctor.
He is a charlatan! Everyone knows of his reputation.
He's offered me hope.
Hope for what? Disease, aging, death? Why are you going through with this? Don't you see I have to try? I can't be this anymore.
I can't.
[SIGHS.]
Nicholas You fool.
[.]
[ENGINE STARTS.]
Hey.
Hey, what's up? Dispatch told me you were here.
Look, what do you make of this thing? That's a lens cap or something from a telescope? Yeah, or binoculars.
I found it over there in the bush.
Birdwatchers or something.
Yeah.
Couldn't sleep.
I just keep on thinking about Sykes.
Yeah, me too.
I've been thinking, again, maybe you and I should look into this.
Sykes did himself, Nick.
All the evidence is there.
Look for what, for who? For why.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Berman and I.
A.
seem anxious to wrap this whole thing up.
There's something different about you today.
Today.
That's what's different.
Today.
Did you get your hair cut or something? So you're actually cured? I don't know.
The medication might be just suppressing the symptoms, or it might have eliminated the condition altogether.
Man, oh, man, that Natalie.
What do you say, Nobel Prize or what? Ah, here we are.
Wait a minute.
Isn't this where? Yeah, Machelio's.
He eats here every day.
He owns a piece of it.
We're just gonna talk to him, right? Yeah.
[ELEGANT VIOLIN MUSIC PLAYING.]
Huh.
Jimmy Vinetti? It's okay, Vince.
Hi.
Hey, go ahead, sit down.
Get comfortable, why don't you? Don't mind us.
Go ahead, eat.
We just want to ask a few questions.
Always make a minute for my friends in the public service.
Vince, go get some air.
Brian Sykes.
Great, Brian Sykes.
I give up.
Detective Brian Sykes.
Head of Bunco in our division.
He killed himself last night.
It's a sad thing.
I guess he was your friend.
Internal affairs was throwing a net around him.
That looks good.
They say he was dirty.
Among other things, he was taking graft from you, Jimmy.
You hungry, detective? You wanna eat? No.
No, that's fine.
I'm a businessman.
Financier, you see.
Why should I be paying cops? Cooperation, information It's all part of the overhead.
That's good.
VINETTI: Umlook, the The chef, I brought him over from Milan.
You want to eat, I'll buy.
No, don't bother.
No, I'm fine.
I'm fine.
You're right, Mr.
Vinetti.
Brian Sykes was a friend and this is an unofficial visit.
We don't like Internal Affairs any more than you do.
Now, that's delicious.
What is it? Chianti.
Chianti, it's good.
Okay, look, off the record, capisce? Sometimes the cops, they don't understand the nature of my business.
They come here.
They eat off my plate.
They think I'm something I'm not.
Did Brian Sykes? Yeah, okay, yeah.
He came to me, tried to shake me down.
I told him where to go.
Who else? Hmm? Let's see, Fred Berman? Were you paying Fred Berman? Look, I got appointments.
See, I'm happy to help out.
I'm sorry about your friend and his family, but you're way over the line with these questions.
Good day, gentlemen, okay? And you, hey, finish.
Enjoy, mangia.
It's on me.
Thanks.
Want some? No.
Are you sure? It's good.
Ah, thanks.
That's $2.
45.
[LAUGHS.]
It's on the house, right? Couple of cops? Here, don't mind my partner.
He's lost his mind.
Keep the change.
[CAR HORN HONKS.]
Okay, out with it.
What? I'm hungry.
Berman and Vinetti? You know, I've seen magicians that couldn't pull rabbits out of thin air the way you did that.
Oh, yeah, Sykes killed himself, but everyone who knew the guy knows he wouldn't have done it? How well do we know anybody? And Berman, this guy's a cop without a regular beat, and yet he's the first guy on the scene.
He was tailing him.
He said so.
Yeah, he was watching him, maybe through binoculars.
He watched another cop kill himself? He could've stopped it.
Maybe he didn't want to.
Berman and Sykes worked Bunco in the 34th precinct years ago.
I checked.
The 34th, what's that mean? It's Vinetti's stomping grounds.
Right.
So if Sykes hooked up with Vinetti that far back, he brought his partner in, or tried to.
Well, let's say they weren't even together on the whole thing, that Sykes was on the payroll, he wants out or maybe he didn't even know his partner was in the same organization as him.
I mean, it's top secret, you know? Nick, it's paranoid, is what it is.
Berman has a reputation as a top cop.
His reputation is beyond reproach.
All I'm saying is [HEART BEATING.]
[MOANS.]
Whoa.
Something's not quite right here.
You okay? Yeah, I'm just tired.
That's all.
What drug exactly is Natalie giving you? Why? Because you look weird, man.
You look all sunburned.
Schanke, I got to go.
I'll see you tonight.
Nick, are you okay? Nick! Rejected in the test phase [GASPING.]
To accept the risk I might be able to cure you.
Don't ever assume that I'm like you, Nicholas.
I'm not ashamed of who I am.
Just enough to get me through.
You're talking like a junkie.
[PANTING.]
I can't be this anymore.
I can't [.]
All right? Good.
[GRUNTS.]
[SYRINGE CLATTERS.]
[GRUNTS.]
[GIGGLING.]
LACROIX: Hello, Nicholas Or should I say good day? [LAUGHS WEAKLY.]
[.]
LACROIX: Feeling poorly, Nicholas? Something new in the diet, perhaps.
A new regimen? [GASPING.]
Who invited you? Friends as old as I don't need invitations.
Oh, Janette? Janette, Janette.
You talked to her.
She told you.
Told me what? That I'm cured.
Oh, really? Oh, well, then If this is the cure give me the disease.
He is definitely not himself.
I spent the morning with him eating our way across town.
Eating? Yeah, he porked like a kid at the circus.
We stopped at every dog-food joint we passed.
It's like he hadn't had a meal in 100 years.
Oh, something else.
He's pushing this weird conspiracy theory about Brian Sykes' suicide.
Get this.
Berman, the deputy chief of I.
A.
? Nick believes he's sweeping Sykes a little bit too quickly under the old Astroturf with his own dirty laundry.
He's also got one of his famous gut feelings that Berman is one of Vinetti's stooges too.
What do you think? I think the gut feeling is one of the bad hot dogs he had this morning.
I'm telling you, Natalie.
He's wigging.
He's manic.
There's something wild in his eyes.
First, Sykes, and now, Nick.
Two good friends in 24 hours.
You think there's something in the water? He's delusional.
It's the Lytoveuterine.
I made a mistake, Schanke.
I think I might need your help.
She betrayed me.
Janette didn't have to say anything.
A father knows when his children are in pain.
He senses it as keenly as he senses their rejection of his generosity.
Then look at this.
Do you see? Do you see? I'm changed.
I'm cured.
I have made it back.
You're deluding yourself, Nicholas.
You have merely substituted one dependence for another.
And what have you gained in the bargain? Pain? Sickness? The promise of certain decay? Stop this foolishness, Nicholas.
You can't accept it, can you? You can't accept that I'm a human being again.
I am offering you a choice, Nicholas.
The others, those who sustain our secret, will not view this with the same patience.
I'm not yours anymore.
You're wrong, Nicholas.
[INHALES DEEPLY.]
[EXHALES.]
We are each other.
You will always be mine.
Eternally.
KNIGHT: You can't do that.
You can't.
I can You can't.
And I am.
It's not working.
The virus is mutating.
It's changing itself into a form that's immune to the drug.
The drug works.
Yeah, in ever-increasing amounts.
In a week, you'll be shooting it every hour, just to maintain.
In a month, you'll be running it through an IV.
from a 55-gallon drum, for chrissake.
Is that what you want--? I want to stay cured.
It's not a cure, Nick.
It's a fix, and it's not gonna work much longer.
You're reverting, whether you know it or not.
I see what's going on here.
You're just like them.
You want to control me.
The drug is affecting your brain, Nick.
You sound crazy.
Oh, do I? Do I? I can have my humanity back, but only for as long and for as much as you're willing to give it to me and I-I-- And they will give me back my immortality, but only by night, and only for a stake for my soul! I got here as soon as I could.
Obviously, I'm interrupting something.
No, no, no.
I'm glad you're here.
You're his partner.
You talk to him.
Nick, I just wanted to say this before we started our shift.
Anyway, I don't think it's a good idea you say anything about Sykes and Berman.
So you're turning on me too.
Your own friend isn't even cold in his grave, and you're selling him out by your silence.
Nick, get a grip! You're talking like a candidate for the rubber room.
I'm gone.
I'm gone.
I'm out of here.
If you won't give me what I want, I'll find someone who will, and if you won't help me, I'll have to do what I wantalone.
Would you please tell me what's going on here? Detective Knight.
Well, they told me you do the graveyard shift.
Yeah, well, I'm working on a special case of my own.
I'm trying to get to the bottom of something really ugly.
Uh-huh.
Well, hey, good luck.
Berman? You dropped something.
[.]
I feel so weak.
We're purging your body of the contaminants that cause your syndrome, but the disease does not want to die.
It's fighting us.
[THUNDER CRASHING.]
What are you doing? No.
Stop.
We have a few more experiments to conduct.
Stop.
We can't stop now.
Not if we're going to find the truth.
[TELEPHONE RINGS.]
ANSWERING MACHINE: Yeah.
Nick Knight.
I'm either in bed or incommunicado so if you want to leave your name and number, go ahead.
[BEEP.]
VINETTI: Detective Knight, this is Jimmy, Jimmy Vinetti.
You want to know the whole story about Brian Sykes? Meet me, Lakeside Industrial Park, one hour.
Come alone.
[TIRES SQUEALING.]
[BRAKES SCREECH.]
It's not a cure, Nick.
It's a fix.
Nick! So you think he's addicted already? It's not impossible, Schanke.
Some people become slaves to crack cocaine after just one taste.
Man, oh, man, I hope this junk doesn't hit the streets.
Yeah, I don't think you have to worry about that.
It'd probably kill any normal person.
Well, it didn't kill Nick.
No, but then, he's got a very special constitution.
You sure it was him that broke into the medicine locker? Only the Lytoveuterine was missing, Schanke.
I think he's really losing it.
[MACHINE BEEPS.]
VINETTI: Detective Knight, this is Jimmy, Jimmy Vinetti.
You want to know the whole story about Brian Sykes? Meet me, Lakeside Industrial Park, one hour.
Come alone.
Unless I miss my guess, he's about to do something really dumb.
Detective Knight, I'm glad you could make it.
I'm glad you finally decided to talk.
Yeah, well, you know.
You said you want the truth about your friend, Sykes.
I just want to get this whole thing over with.
Well, this is the truth.
The truth is, you were getting too close to the truth.
Hey, dump this trash.
We'll pick you up.
Come on, Freddy, let's grab a drink.
[TIRES SQUEALING.]
Down! [AUTOMATIC GUNSHOTS.]
You okay? If you mean do I have all my parts, yeah, yeah, I think so.
Vinetti's errand boys.
Nick's gonna get the same reception.
[ENGINE STARTS.]
He's on to something.
He's really on to something.
Come on.
Come on, Nicholas.
[GROANS.]
You were to have been his greatest find, the prize of his collection.
Come.
[SCREAMS AND GRUNTS.]
[TIRES SQUEAL.]
What the hell? Get the bastard.
[TIRES SQUEAL.]
[SCREAMING.]
[TIRES SQUEAL.]
[CAR HORN BLARES.]
[BRAKES SCREECH.]
COP: Copeland, around the other side of the fence.
SCHANKE: Nick? [.]
[SIGHS, SNIFFLES.]
[.]

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