"The Fix", written by Michael Sadowski transcribed by Allison Sabo character abbreviations (in order of appearance): Nat = Natalie; N = Nick; C = Cohen; S = Schanke; B = Fred Berman; D = Dr. Spense; J = Janette; V = Jimmy Vinetti; G = Girl (hot dog vendor, generic); LC = Lacroix notes: >Flashbacks are indicated by: **flashback** >Scene changes are indicated by: ---------------- >All scene descriptions/movements of characters are enclosed in (* *) >All descriptions of actual lines are enclosed in ( ), ex. (to Nick) >All uncertain/indecipherable lines will be followed by (?) >Comments/corrections/suggestions requested And now, the episode: ============================================= (*two scenes interspersed*) (*in a park by a lake; A cop (Brian Sykes) sits in his car during the day, smoking a cigar. He pulls out a photograph of four men with a bowling trophy, the Detectives' League Championship. Among the four are Schanke and himself. He pulls out a marker, colors an eye patch over his eye, and writes "Adios Muchachos!" on the bottom of a note that reads "My Please try to understand. I have not done this to hurt you. You mustn't blame yourself. I have simply tired of the life I have. And there is another choice. Thank you for our years together.". Then he folds up the letter and the picture, puts them in a manila envelope, tosses out his cigar, and crushes it underfoot. He takes a tape of opera music and plays it on the car's cassette player, then pulls out a gun from his glove compartment and shoots himself in the head.*) (*meanwhile at the coroner's office; Natalie injects a syringe into a bag of blood. Nick lays on a table, donating blood.*) Nat: This is good. N: Thank you. Nat: So, how are you feeling? N: Well, it's the first time I've given blood. (*Natalie laughs, pulls out the needle*) (*soon after, Natalie holds up two bags of blood*) Nat: Well, here I go. N: Good luck. (*Natalie goes outside with the blood. One bag starts to boil and she drops it on the sidewalk when it gets too hot. The bag bursts open and the blood boils and steams away to nothing on the sidewalk. She looks at the other bag, which is unchanged, and smiles.*) ------------------------- (*at the suicide scene; Officers and emergency equipment around. Schanke stands off by himself, and Cohen walks up.*) C: You okay? S: (*sighs*) He's the last person on earth I'd peg for a suicide. (*Cohen looks over at a man talking to some other officers*) C: Isn't that Berman from Internal Affairs? S: Yeah. First one on the scene. He's really taking charge. C: That's odd. S: What? Fred Berman, the original control freak, is taking charge? C: No, Berman, first on the scene of a homicide. S: Suicide. C: Right. (*Natalie walks up*) Nat: Whoa, that is quite a sight. (*Schanke moves as if to walk over to the car. Natalie catches his arm.*) Oh no, Schank, Schank. You don't want to remember him like that. S: You're right. It's not my investigation. I'm going back to the shop. (*walks away*) C: (calling after him) Schanke.... ------------------------- (*in Cohen's office; Cohen, Schanke, Nick, and Berman*) S: He wasn't suicidal. B: Well your diagnosis doesn't quite jive with the fact that he just decapitated himself with his own gun, does it? (*pulls out a piece of paper from the folder he's holding, hands it to Cohen*) Keep it, it's a copy. C: Suicide note. Didn't leave us much to go on. B: Well, Sykes was never much for paperwork, was he? S: He was a good cop. B: Guess again, detective. Jimmy Vinetti's been lining his pocket for years. N: Dead cops are much easier to slander, aren't they? B: Sykes was dirty. I've got the evidence. Look, your bowling buddy fed himself a hollow point cause he couldn't do the stretch. S: He had the best bunko record in this precinct three years running. He was hard working and decent. B: Somebody tell his wife. She took his kids and moved to Nova Scotia four months ago cause she couldn't take the beatings anymore. S: (muttered) Come on. B: Sykes' profile from the department shrink. (*hands folder to Cohen*) I think, ah,... yeah, unbalanced was the nicest word she used. S: You might be selling buy I ain't buying. Excuse me captain. (*walks out of the office, leaves the door open, still visible through the door standing out by a desk*) C: That's the first I've heard of any internal investigation. B: Well, we don't advertise. We find we get better results that way. N: Captain, I'd still like a crack at this. B: Case closed, Knight. Go catch some killers. N: Oh, I think I'll do just that. B: Case closed, Knight. You got it? N: Well whatever you say. I mean, after all, you are the... boss. (*walks out of the office over to Schanke*) ------------------------- (*outside Cohen's office, immediately after*) N: Someone should give Berman some kind of award for insensitivity. S: Yeah, it's times like this I wish I practiced voodoo. N: I think we should look into this. There's more to it. I have a feeling. S: So do I. I got the feeling that Berman, as much as I hate his guts and hope that he dies a slow and painful death, is right, and if he is, I don't want to 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. (*walks away*) ------------------------- (*coroner's office; Nick and Natalie*) N: A vampire virus? Nat: Well, more like a genetic alteration. My old friend Whittaker, down at the Institute, has a brand new ten million dollar toy, a tunneling electron microscope, and he lent me some time on it. And here is what I found. (*holds up a paper for Nick to look at*) Now these are strands of your RNA, from one of your cells. See those extra nucleotides? Those do not belong there. N: This is what makes me what I am. Nat: 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. N: And you can neutralize it? Nat: Litovuterine-B. (*holds up a vial of blue liquid*) Yet another modern convenience courtesy of bio-genetic engineering. A substance that literally didn't exist a year ago. It bonds molecularly with the virus and shuts it down somehow. N: May I ask what it is? Nat: 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, ah, proved to be lethal. N: Oh wonderful. Well, my day in the sun is going to be deadly either way. Nat: 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're willing to accept the risk, I think I might be able to cure you. **flashback** (*Nick and Dr. Spense, walking in a stone dungeon-like place, a laboratory of some sort. Beakers and flasks set over flames in an elaborate set-up, Jacob's Ladders around, etc.*) D: I'm quite confident of it actually. As you know, I've made the study of so-called occult phenomenon my stock (?) in trade. N: The call you the resurrection doctor. D: It's a name I earned back in England from some failed experiments in, um, resuscitation. Whatever. I have a theory about your condition, and I welcome the opportunity to test it. N: You do recognize, of course, that any of the work we do here must be conducted under the veil of utmost secrecy. D: And you understand that the effort may well be quite costly. N: I am prepared to subsidize your studies to the fullest. I will pay whatever you require. D: Good. Very good. **end flashback** Nat: Nick? It's your call. N: (*picks up the bottle of Litovuterine-B, looks at it*) Let's do it. ============================= (*coroner's office; Nick rolls up his sleeve, gets ready for an injection, etc.*) Nat: I'm starting you out with one cc. N: What kind of side effects are we talking about? Nat: We're way out beyond the pale here, quite honestly I don't know what to expect. Chemically, Litovuterine-B has some similarities to naturally produced endorphins. N: So I might get a high. Nat: You might get a rush. Then again, that rush could be mitigated by the drug's cytotoxic properties. N: Oh great, so I'll get sick to my stomach. Nat: And you'll feel to happy to care. Now are you sure about this? N: Yeah, I'm sure. (*Natalie injects him, Nick pumps his arm a bit, with his eyes closed.*) Nat: Anything? (*Nick shakes his head, soon draws his eyebrows together and says "Oh, god", ends up falling to the floor in pain*) N: Oh god, I'm going to be sick. (*groans on the floor*) Nat: Damn it, I knew this was a mistake. (*kneels down on the floor next to him*) N: (*grabs her arm, still in agony*) It's okay. (*keeps muttering "it's okay", "I'm all right now", etc. Heaves one last time and goes still.*) Nat: Nick? Nick, talk to me. What are you feeling? N: Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nat? Nat, it's gone. Oh god, it's gone. (*keeps repeating it as he gets to his knees*) Nat: What's gone? What do you mean? Nick, talk to me. What do you feel? N: The vampire. It's gone. (*gets to his feet, looks at the clock, which shows 7:18 am, then he runs out the door.*) Nat: Nick don't. (*chases after him; Nick goes out the main doors into the sunlight, ducks back into the shadows inside*) Nick, this isn't the way to test it. (*Nick runs outside again, Natalie behind him, and nothing happens. Natalie starts to laugh, and Nick picks her up in a hug and swings her around. He looks at her, then kisses her cheek and hugs her again.*) ------------------------- (*at the station; Schanke walks up, sees an officer bagging the items on a desk (Sykes'), then Cohen walks up.*) C: You're up early. S: Yeah, well I never made it to bed. C: IA sent a warrant down to impound his stuff post haste. With all deliberate speed. Berman. (*Schanke groans/sighs "Oh", and walks away.*) ------------------------- (*Nick and Natalie driving around the city in Nick's car with the top down.*) Nat: So the most important thing is that we don't overdue it. We don't assume anything. (*looks up*) Nick? Nick! Nick, a... (*Nick drives through a red light*) You... You just went through a red light! N: I did? Ha ha, go on! Oh, well give me a ticket, I've got friends who can fix that. Nat: (*looks at Nick*) We have to run tests. Dozens of tests. In the meantime... (*looks around*) Oh now wait a minute, you're taking me home first, right? And then you're going to go back and get some rest? N: Yeah, yeah, we'll get there. Nat: Doctor's orders, Nick. N: Okay, okay. I just want to make one quick stop first. You brought it, right? Nat: Brought what? N: The medicine. (*dials a number on the car phone*) It's in your bag, just in case, yeah? Nat: Yeah, I have it. N: Good. (into the phone) Yes, Janette? ------------------------- (*at Raven; Janette sitting on a stool by the bar. Nick opens the door*) J: Nicholah, get inside! N: Why? I've done it. (*holds out his hand, grabs Natalie's hand as she walks in*) We've done it. I'm cured (*Nick walks over to Janette, Natalie stays at the base of the steps*) J: Have you already forgotten what happened to you last time you tried this? N: But this is different. This is real. I've done it. (stammering slightly) I've changed. J: (to Natalie) I suppose that you did this to him. Nat: Sorry, I couldn't resist the scientific challenge. J: I see. (to Nick) And of course you told her of the danger involved in this pursuit? N: There's no danger. J: There are those among us, Nicholah, who would not take this very well. Nat: Nick, what is she talking about? J: Those who would consider this... discovery, in fact, a threat to our existence. N: Yeah, well not if you don't tell them. J: As if I even had to. Oh Nicholah, you're so naive, you're such an eternal boy. So if no one is to know, why did you come here? N: To share this with you. J: Oh, please. N: This is real. This, this is real. We can go back. Nat: Nick! N: Well, I thought you said we had to duplicate the experiment for us to be able to pronounce it a success. J: Oh, so you need another lab rat? No thank you, look elsewhere. Don't ever assume that I'm like you, Nicholah. I'm not ashamed of who I am. (*gets up to leave*) (to Natalie) I've been down this road with him before. It's a dead end. (to Nick) Just another dead end. (*leaves*) ------------------------- (*Nick and Natalie driving in the city*) Nat: So what aren't you telling me, Nick? N: Janette's just raining on our parade. She's jealous, that's all. Nat: And what about before? N: What happened long ago doesn't matter. We've succeeded. Haven't we? (*pulls up in front of the coroner's building*) Nat: 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. N: What about the Litovuterine? Nat: What for? N: Oh, you know, what if I'm out and about and, ah, it wears off, I'm stuck? Nat: (laughing) Oh no, no, no Nick. N: (stammering?) 'Ey, 'ey, 'ey Nat, Nat. Look at me, look at me. I'm changed. I'm cured. Nat: We have no idea what this stuff is doing to your insides. N: Just enough to get me through. Nat: You're talking like a junkie. N: This whole experiment goes down the tubes if I spontaneously combust in the middle of Bay Street, doesn't it? Nat: All right, all right, just in case. And 10 cc's, that's it. (*pulls out sterilized syringes, the vial of Litovuterine-B, etc.*) Promise me that you won't touch this unless something dire happens, and you'll call me first. N: Okay. Okay. Thanks. (*Natalie hands Nick the stuff*) Hey look, don't worry about it. You should be happy. Smile. Come on, we did it. (*Natalie doesn't smile*) See you later tonight. (*Natalie gets out of the car, crosses the street to the coroner's building, and Nick drives off*) ------------------------- (*Schanke out walking in the park, stops by some bushes, pulls out a handkerchief and picks up a black object from the weeds with it. Then he folds it up in the handkerchief and puts it in his inside jacket pocket.*) ------------------------- (*Nick parked in his car, looks at his hand, the sun, and has a couple of mini vampire flashbacks -- biting a girl, etc.*) ------------------------- (*at Raven; Janette sitting at the bar with a glass of blood*) **flashback** (*Nick comes out of a door, and Janette walks up*) N: You followed me. J: Do you know what you're getting into? If the others found out-- N: I know. And now that you know, I trust you will remain quiet about it. (*moves to leave, Janette catches him*) J: There are no secrets among us, Nicholah. Not for long. (*Nick moves again, Janette catches his arm.*) You know that. N: Then the good doctor will have to work quickly, won't he? J: The good doctor. He is a shallatar (?). Everyone knows of his reputation. N: He's offered me hope. J: Hope? For what? Disease, aging, death? Why are you going through with this? N: Don't you see, I have to try. I can't be this anymore. I can't. **end flashback** J: Nicholah, you fool. (*sips from her glass*) ============================= (*Nick sitting in his car with one sleeve rolled up; He puts down a syringe on the seat, next to the vial of Litovuterine-B, convulses a bit, then calms down, starts the car, and drives off.*) ------------------------- (*Schanke sitting on a bench by the shores of a lake; Nick walks up*) N: Hey. S: Hey, what's up? N: Dispatch told me you were here. S: Look, what do you make of this thing. (*pulls handkerchief out of his pocket, shows the black thing he picked up to Nick*) N: It's a lens cap or something, from a telescope? S: Yeah, or binoculars. Found it over there in the bush. Bird watchers or something. Yeah, couldn't sleep. Just keep on thinking about Sykes. N: Yeah, me too. I've been thinking, again, maybe you and I should look into this. S: Sykes did himself, Nick. All the evidence is there. Look for what? For who? N: For why? S: I don't know, I don't know. Berman and IA seem anxious to wrap this whole thing up. There's something different about you today. N: Today. That's what's different. (*gestures to the sky*) Today. S: Did you get your hair cut or something? ------------------------- (*Schanke and Nick driving around the city*) S: So you're actually cured? N: I don't know. The medication might be just suppressing the symptoms, or it might have eliminated the condition all together. S: Man oh man, that Natalie. What do you say, Nobel Prize or what? N: Ahh. (*pulls up in front of a building*) Here we are. S: Wait a minute. Isn't this where, ah-- N: Yeah, Marciellio's. He eats here every day. He owns a piece of it. We're just going to talk to him, right? S: Yeah. ------------------------- (*inside; Nick and Schanke walk up to a table where a man is eating, with a body guard standing next to the table*) N: Jimmy Vinetti? (*flashes badge*) V: It's okay, Vince. (*waves off the guard; Nick sits down, Schanke follows suit*) Go ahead, sit down, get comfortable, why don't you? N: Don't mind us. Go ahead, eat. We just want to ask a few questions. V: Always make a minute for my friends in the public service. Vince, go get some air. N: Brian Sykes. V: Name, Brian Sykes. I give up. S: Detective Brian Sykes. Head of bunko in our division. He killed himself last night. V: It's a sad thing. I guess he was your friend. N: Internal Affairs was throwing a net around him. (*notices the plate of pasta*) That looks good. Ah, they say he was dirty. Among other things, he was taking graft. From you, Jimmy. (*looks at the plate*) V: Are you hungry, Detective? You want to eat? N: No. Nah, that's fine. V: I'm a businessman. Financier, you see? Why should I be paying cops? (*Nick picks up a fork*) N: Cooperation, information, it's all part of the overhead. (*reaches over and takes a bite off the plate*) Now, that's good. (*Schanke and Vinetti look confused*) V: Look, the, um, chef. I brought him over from, ah, Milan. (*Nick takes another bite*) You want to eat? I'm buying. N: Don't bother. No, I'm fine, I'm fine. S: 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. (*Nick drinks from Vinetti's glass of wine*) N: Now that's delicious. What is it? V: Chianti. (*confused*) N: Chianti, it's good. (*drinks more*) V: (to Schanke) Okay look, off the record, capice? Sometimes the cops, they don't understand the nature of my business. (*Nick still feeding himself*) They come here, they eat off my plate. (*Schanke looks like he can't believe what he's seeing since Nick is still feeding himself*) They think I'm something I'm not. S: Did Brian Sykes? V: Yeah, okay, yeah. He came to me, tried to shake me down. I told him where to go. N: Who else? (*puts in another forkful*) Hmm? Let's see, ah, Fred Berman? Were you paying Fred Berman? (*Schanke looks away in disbelief, Vinetti removes napkin tucked in his collar and stands up*) V: Look, I got appointments. See, ah, I'm happy to help out. (to Schanke) Sorry about your friend and his family, (to Nick) but you're way over the line with these questions. Good day, gentlemen, okay? (to Nick) You, hey finish, enjoy. Munch (?), it's on me. (*walks away; Nick moves into Vinetti's former seat*) N: (calls after Vinetti) Thanks. (*takes a bite*) (to Schanke) Want some? (*Schanke holds up his hand "no"*) You sure? (*same response*) Stuff is good. ------------------------- (*on the street; Schanke and Nick at a hot dog vendor. She hands Nick a hot dog, he squirts ketchup and mustard on it.*) G: That's $2.45 N: (laughs) It's on the house, right? Couple of cops? (*walks away*) S: (*digs in his pocket for money*) Here (*hands money to girl*) Don't mind my partner, he's lost his mind. Keep the change. (*follows after Nick*) (*Later, halfway through the hot dog*) S: Okay, out with it. N: What? I'm hungry. S: Berman and Vinetti? You know I've seen magicians who couldn't pull rabbits out of thin air the way you did that. N: Oh yeah, Sykes killed himself, but everyone who knew the guy knows he wouldn't have done it? S: How well do we know anybody? N: And Berman. This guy's a cop without a regular beat, yet he's the first guy on the scene. S: He was tailing him, he said so. N: Oh, he was watching him. Maybe through binoculars. S: Watched another cop kill himself? He could have stopped it. N: Maybe he didn't want to. Berman and Sykes worked bunko in the 34th precinct years ago. I checked. The 34th. What does that mean? S: That's Vinetti's stomping grounds. N: 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, and then Sykes was on the payroll and he wants out. Or maybe he didn't even know his partner was in the same organization as him. I mean, you know, it's top secret, you know? S: Nick, it's paranoid is what it is. Berman has a reputation as a top cop. His reputation is beyond reproach. N: All I'm saying is-- (*sees a girl walking toward them on the sidewalk, and envisions himself biting her; Nick and Schanke both turn to watch her as she passes by, and she looks back at them over her shoulder*) S: Whoa. N: Something's not quite right here. S: You okay? N: Yeah, I'm just tired, that's all. S: What drug exactly is Natalie giving you? N: Why? S: Cause you look weird, man. You look all sunburned. (*Nick goes to a cab window, pulls down his sunglasses and uses the window as a mirror -- sees his eyes are golden. Puts his glasses back on, turns back to Schanke*) N: Schanke, I got to go. I'll see you tonight. (*walks away*) S: Nick, are you okay? Nick! ------------------------- (*Nick stumbles into his place, with mini flashbacks: Natalie saying "rejected in the test phase", "to accept the risk, I might be able to cure you". Nick stumbles to the table, pulls off his sunglasses to show his golden eyes; fangs appear. Mini flashback of Janette-- "Don't ever assume that I'm like you, Nicholah. I'm not ashamed of who I am". One of when he was in the car "Just enough to get me through", Natalie: "You're talking like a junkie". Nick goes to the refrigerator, pulls out a bottle of blood and starts to drink from it. While he's regaining control, has a mini flashback "I can't be this anymore." Under control now, he corks the bottle and slides it away from himself. "I can't." He pulls out the vial of Litovuterine-B and a syringe, takes off his coat, rolls up his sleeve, and injects himself while having another **flashback**, this time of Dr. Spense as he slices open his arm to drain his blood/give transfusion/inject other stuff. D: "It works?" Nick nods. D: "Good." Injects something into the system of tubes hooked to Nick. **end flashback** Nick injects himself, convulses and falls to the floor, then starts to giggle. Lacroix walks out from around a corner.*) LC: Hello Nicholas. Or should I say, good day? =============================== (*in Nick's place*) LC: Feeling poorly, Nicholas? Something new in the diet, perhaps? A new regiment? (*Nick sits up*) N: Who invited you? LC: Friends as old as I don't need invitations. N: Oh Janette. Janette, Janette. You talked to her, she told you. LC: Told me what? N: That I'm cured. LC: Oh, really? Oh well then, if this is the cure, give me the disease. ------------------------- (*at the precinct; Schanke and Natalie talking quietly*) S: He is definitely not himself. Spent the morning with him, eating our way across town. Nat: Eating? S: Oh yeah. He porked like a kid at the circus. We stopped at every dog food joint we passed. It was like he hadn't had a meal in a hundred years. Oh and something else. He's pushing this weird conspiracy theory about Brian Sykes' suicide. Get this. Berman, deputy chief of IA, well 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 him famous gut feelings that Berman is one of Vinetti's stooges, too. Nat: And what do you think? S: I think the gut feeling is one of the bad hot dogs he had this morning. I'm telling you, Natalie, he's wiggin. He's manic. There's something wild in his eyes. First Sykes and now Nick. Two good friends in 24 hours. Do you think there's something in the water around here? Nat: He's delusional. It's the Litovuterine. I made a mistake, Schank. I think I might need your help. ------------------------- (*Nick's place*) N: She betrayed me. LC: 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. N: Then look at this. (*goes to the window, raises the blinds and stands in the sun*) Do you see? Do you see? I'm changed. I'm cured. I have made it back. LC: 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. N: You can't accept it, can you? You can't accept that I'm a human being again. LC: I am offering you a choice, Nicholas. The others, those who sustain our secret, will not view this with the same patience. N: I'm not yours anymore. LC: You're wrong, Nicholas. (*walks into the sunlight, starts to smoke*) We are each other. You will always be mine. Eternally! ------------------------- (*coroner's office; Nick and Natalie*) N: You can't do that. You can't Nat: I can. N: You can't. Nat: And I am. It's not working. The virus is mutating; It's changing itself into a form that's immune to the drug. N: The drug works. Nat: (*goes and guts the vial into a glass-doored cabinet -- locks it with a padlock*) 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 Christ's sake (*walks back toward Nick*) Is that what you wa-- (*Nick grabs her by the arms*) N: I want to stay cured. Nat: It's not a cure, Nick. It's a fix. And it's not going to work much longer. You're reverting, whether you know it or not. (*Nick walks around her*) N: I see what's going on here. You're just like them. You want to control me. Nat: The drug is affecting your brain, Nick. You sound crazy. (*walks to her desk*) N: Oh do I? Do I? (*starts to shout, getting louder as he goes on*) I can have my humanity back, but only for as long and for as much as you're willing to give it to me. (stammering) And they will give me back my immortality. But only by night. (*Schanke walks in as Nick grabs Natalie's wrist*) And only for exchange for my soul. S: I got here as soon as I could. Obviously I'm interrupting something. (*turns to walk out; Natalie pulls her arm free and walks over by him*) Nat: No, no, no, I'm glad you're here. You're his partner. You talk to him. S: Um, Nick. I, ah, just wanted to say this before we started our shift anyway. I don't think it's a good idea for you to say anything about Sykes and Berman. N: 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. (*walks over to Schanke*) S: Nick, get a grip! You're talking like a candidate for the rubber room. N: I'm gone. I'm gone, I'm outta here. (to Nat) If you won't give me what I want, I'll find someone who will, (to Schanke) and if you won't help me, I'll have to do what I want... alone. (*leaves*) S: Would you please tell me what's going on here? ------------------------- (*at the precinct; Nick walking through, stopped by Berman as he walks by him*) B: Detective Knight. Now they told me you do the graveyard shift. N: Yeah, well I'm working on a special case of my own. I'm trying to get to the bottom of something really ugly. B: Uh huh. Well, hey, good luck. (*Berman goes back to what he was doing, Nick walks away a few paces, stops and turns around*) N: Berman. (*Berman turns around; Nick reaches into his inside coat pocket, pulls out the binoculars' cap*) You dropped something. (*tosses it to Berman, who catches it, then walks away*) ------------------------- (*Nick's place; Nick stands by the window, has a flashback*) **flashback** (*Dr. Spense lifts Nick's head a little as he lays on the table*) N: I feel so weak. D: We're purging your body of the contaminants that cause your syndrome. But the disease does not want to die. It's fighting us. (*goes over somewhere, comes back and starts to bind Nick down to the table using metal cuffs*) N: What are you doing? (*struggles weakly*) No, stop. D: We have a few more experiments to conduct. N: Stop. D: We can't stop now. (*walks away, rummages through a drawer?, comes back*) Not if we're going to find... the cross! (*pulls out a cross and holds it near Nick's face; Nick turns away*) **end flashback** (*Nick still stands at the window as the phone rings, machine answers "Yeah, Nick Knight. I'm either in bed or incommunicado. So if you want to leave your name and number, go ahead." *Beep* "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." Nick moves away from the window*) ------------------------- (*coroner's office; Nick tries to smash in the glass of the cabinet with his elbow, tries kicking it. Then he takes a pair of scissors off of a tray, and uses them to force open the lock. He pulls out some syringes and the vial of Litovuterine-B and leaves*) ============================== (*Nick pulls up in his car, parks. He pulls out the vial and syringes and has a mini flashback of Natalie "It's not a cure, Nick. It's a fix."*) ------------------------- (*Natalie and Schanke walk into Nick's place*) Nat: Nick! S: So you think he's addicted already? Nat: It's not impossible, Schank. Some people become slaves to crack cocaine after just one taste. S: Man oh man, I hope this junk doesn't hit the streets. Nat: Yeah, well I don't think you have to worry about that. It would probably kill any normal person who tried it. S: Well it didn't kill Nick. Nat: No, but then he's got a very special constitution. (*Schanke and Natalie start to look around. Schanke goes over to the table, picks up the bottle of blood, looks and it and puts it down.*) S: Sure it was him that broke into the medicine locker? Nat: (*goes over to the phone, pushes the button to hear the messages.*) Only the Litovuterine was missing, Schank. I think he's really losing it. (*Vinetti's message plays again; Schanke walks over*) S: Well unless I miss my guess, (*holds up a sterilized syringe he found somewhere*) he's about to do something really dumb. ------------------------- (*back with Nick; He puts the entire handful of drug stuff unused into the glove compartment. A car pulls up along side the car, the back window rolls down, and Vinetti motions for Nick to come over. Nick gets out of his car, walks over and leans down by the window.*) V: Detective Knight, I'm glad you could make it. N: I'm glad you finally decided to talk. V: Yeah, well you know. You said you want the truth about your friend Sykes. N: I just want to get this whole thing over with. V: Well, this is the truth. (*leans back, and Berman, sitting next to him, pulls out a gun and shoots Nick twice with it*) Truth is, you were getting too close to the truth. (to the driver) Hey dump this trash. We'll pick you up. (to Berman) C'mon Freddie, let's grab a drink. ------------------------- (*Natalie and Schanke get into Schanke's car, when another car comes squealing around the corner*) S: Get down! (*Schanke and Natalie duck down, and a guy leans out the window of the car, shoots out the windows of Schanke's car. Schanke gets out, ducks behind the car. The other car does a U-turn, and the guy shoots a couple more times as it drives off. Schanke gets back in the car.*) You okay? Nat: Well, if you mean do I still have all my parts, yeah, yeah, I think so. S: Vinetti's errand boys. Nick's going to get the same reception. (*starts the car*) If he's on to something, he's really on to something. (*drives off*) ------------------------- (*guy dumps Nick into the trunk of his car; Nick has a flashback*) **flashback** J: (*removes the restraints that pinned Nick to the table, helps him up*) Come. Come on, Nicholah. (*Lacroix stands at the top of the steps leading to the door, Dr. Spense is dead, slumped over a table*) You were to have been his greatest find, the prize of his collection. Come. (*helps him up the steps; Lacroix holds out his hand to Nick - Nick takes it. The three look for a moment, then depart, Lacroix with a smile on his face.*) **end flashback** (*Nick opens his eyes inside the trunk*) ------------------------- (*guy drives to the edge of the lake (nighttime now), walks to the back of the car and opens the trunk. Nick springs out, knocks him to the ground. The guy gets up, pulls out a gun, and shoots Nick four times -- Nick attacks with golden eyes. As he finishes, a car pulls up, driven by Berman with Vinetti in the back, both of whom are surprised to see Nick. He backs up to turn around, and as he moves forward, the path is blocked by Nick.*) B: What the hell? V: Get the bastard. (*Berman goes to ram Nick; Nick jumps up out of the way. Berman and Vinetti look confused and look around. When they look up again, they realize they are headed straight for a tree just before they run into it. Nick goes over to check to see if Berman is still alive, checks his pulse, as police cars pull up, led by Schanke and Natalie. Schanke and Natalie get out of the car.*) S: , go around the other side of the fence. (*looks up and sees Nick*) Nick? (*Natalie and Schanke walk over to the car. While Schanke's not looking, Nick flashes Natalie a quick look at his fangs. Natalie smiles, and when Schanke looks back, he looks confused, Natalie seems relieved, and Nick sort of shrugs, grinning.*) ------------------------- (*Nick's place; Nick reads a newspaper -- headline reads "Police Department Scandal Unearthed. Officer's Suicide Brings Corruption to Light" A mug shot of Berman is also there. Nick folds up the paper, goes to the refrigerator, and pulls out a bottle of blood; seems to contemplate it a bit.*) ------------------------- (*Schanke sits at his desk in front of the computer. He looks at the picture that Sykes left with his suicide note. Obviously upset, although trying not to show it. He brushes away a hint of a tear, then goes back to work, typing on the computer.*) ========================= end of episode - The Fix =========================