03x15 - Incommunicado

[bunniefuu]

Crane: Previously on Sleepy Hollow...

Abbie: So, you could see me just by touching the symbol?

If the symbol works with the tablet of witnesses...

It could be a tool for our cause.

That's part of Pandora's box. If she somehow manages to collect the pieces and put it back together...

Joe: She and the Hidden One are gonna be back in business.

(screaming)

(growls)

(screams)

The Wendigo is still inside me.

You could get hurt.

Hey, no, no, no... that is not gonna happen.

Hidden one: They dare to lay a hand upon you?

I must do what should have been done long ago.

I must destroy the Witnesses.

(rock music plays)

(guitar soloing)

(solo continuing)

(stops playing)

We talked about this, Kyle.

If you want to shred, you're in the wrong band.

Post-punk indie rock is what we all agreed on.

Screw it!

I have kettle bell class in the a.m.

Can we just have one practice where you don't quit the band, Kyle?

Yeah, man.

Let's do this.

One, two, three, four...

(music starts, then fades)

(shrieking)

You know... we got latex gloves in the top drawer.

Oh, y-yes...

I've been testing different protective materials against this artifact.

So far, leather, rubber, and... whatever these tufted mittens are made of, seem to protect against its remote viewing powers.

So, direct skin contact is the key?

Seemingly.

Mm!

I did ask for a bear claw and an almond beignet.

I was quite specific.

Mm, you don't know what's in the bag.

You know what's in the bag.

I...

You promised me that you would not use that thing to spy on me, Crane. Lieutenant, I-I have yet to master how this artifact works.

Now, in attempting to do so, I may have inadvertently watched you purchase me a Summertime Squash Bran Muffin.

Is that all that you saw?

Yes!

Lieutenant, you have my most solemn vow.

This is a crime against pastries, nothing more.

Do not get weird on me, Crane.

Uh...

Even a tiny lie of the donut variety...

(phone rings)

...can erode the trust between two people.

What's up, Agent Foster?

Mills...

I'm at a crime scene in Tarrytown.

There's something you need to see... at the office.

Be there in 20.

Crime scene.

Foster thinks there's something hinky about it, so I'm gonna go meet her.

Multi-grain croissant.

Truce?

More like a tactical interdiction.

Hmm-mm-mm...

Oh, actually, that's very...

(door shuts)

Sophie: Wife comes back from yoga, finds them.

The drummer's Bureau, worked cyber out of our office.

Yeah, I scanned the report.

Ruptured a ear drum, leading to cerebral hemorrhage.

They couldn't have turned it up that loud.

Exactly.

I pulled this before ERT could.

You are getting good at this.

Yeah, I'm really digging obstructing evidence.

All right, there's a lot of interference at the end but... something... was here.

(shrieking, then static)

We have ourselves an entity.

Kind of an all-encompassing word for:

"We do not know what the hell we're dealing with yet."

See this bow in the wall?

There are reports, in the 1920's, about séances where wood, metal, even glass would buckle.

Hyde Sisters.

Right?

Yes, very good, Agent Foster.

I'll gonna circle back with Crane, see if he has any insights.

I'll loop in Joe and Jenny, and we'll clean up the image, figure out what we're dealing with.

Thanks.

(door opening)

If you come not bearing cruller, Lieutenant, do not bother coming...

Hidden one: Your time has come, mortal.

You and the ones you lead have dared to lay a hand upon my consort.

(gasps)

(growls)

(screams)

You have all forgotten your place...

...and for that, you will pay the ultimate price.

Where is the other Witness?

If you tell me...

...I will make your deaths painless.

(grunting)

(glass shattering)

(gasping)

(sizzling)

Crane: Aah!

Very well.

I will k*ll you first...

...and then I'll find her myself.

You should know...

...I've d*ed before.

I do not fear dying again.

Know that her death will be slow... and excruciating.

(whispering): No.

Hidden one: Thura.

(grunts, gasps)

Crane?

Crane?!

Crane, can you hear me?

Crane...

I don't know what's going on, but I just got electrified by the front door.

Are you still in there?

Call me, call me, please, call me.

What have you done with Crane?

I have not done anything.

No?

Then why is my front door now an electrified fence?

That fence... is an impenetrable barrier designed to contain the power of a god.

So your crazy boyfriend did this.

Please lower that ineffectual w*apon, Witness.

I am not in the mood.

I will not ask again.

The Emblem of Thura... has been activated.

For the first time in...

...4,000 years.

The Emblem of Thura.

It was created to imprison gods.

It feeds on the power of the being it has imprisoned.

The more he fights... and he will fight... the closer he brings us all to death.

He has let his anger rule him again.

And he's in there with Crane.

And he will not let himself be imprisoned.

Not ever again.

As he throws his might against the barrier, the power will build, culminating in a maelstrom of fire and destruction.

There must be some way to calm him down.

That would be me.

♪ ♪

So, service grate, windows, air ducts are all sealed off by this force field.

Barrier of mystic energy.

Nothing can penetrate it.

Crane will die.

We'll all die much sooner than that.

You keep saying that.

The Emblem of Thura is less stable here in the mortal world than in the Catacombs.

You're not gonna leave him in there, are you?

That's why you're here.

You broke him out before.

When I last released him, my Box was intact and my powers were at their peak.

And now your Box is broken.

So... we... find another way.

(shrieking, then static)

What overloaded the Mic?

I don't know.

I tried to isolate every bandwidth and frequency on the recording.

There is just no sound.

Not until the very end.

Play it back.

Slow it down.

(slowed shriek, interrupted by static)

That is not feedback.

Not even close.

(sighs) I'm an idiot.

That's a wail.

The kind that kills.

I know what did this.

A banshee?

Is that the screeching bird woman thing?

Jenny: That's a harpy.

This is a banshee, as in Woman of the Barrows, omen of death, messenger from another world.

But she's nothing compared to that demon you have on your end.

Please tell me that you're not actually thinking of working with Pandora.

I have got it under control.

Do not touch that.

It's not what you think it is.

Jenny: Okay, aside from the fact that she and her crazy god husband want to end humanity, you didn't see the look in her eyes when she tried to k*ll us to get that piece of her Box back.

If Joe hadn't Wendigo-ed out, we'd be nothing more than greasy stains on the floor right now.

I know the timing is funky, but we need to save Crane, and she's the only one who has any idea how to break through this barrier.

So, you handle the banshee, I will handle Pandora...

I'll check in soon.

Anything in there useful?

None of these items can assist us in our task, but this banshee is promising.

The one that just k*lled three men?

The one that's alive.

My Box is best powered by living, breathing creatures from realms beyond this mortal sphere.

(quiet scoff)

So, theoretically, what would you do with this banshee?

(Hidden One grunting in distance)

(quietly): Oh, no.

(sighs)

(grunts with effort)

What are you doing?!

Stop!

Stop, stop, please, please.

You are more resourceful than I gave you credit for, human, but I escaped this prison once and I will again.

Please...

I have no idea what is happening.

The Emblem of Thura, triggered by my power, creates this barrier that surrounds us.

It has a name.

The Emblem of Thura.

I knew this was important, but this is... extraordinary.

Extraordinary?

That Emblem imprisons us, you fool.

Ah, ah, ah!

I think I understand the rules.

This Emblem's more powerful than you, isn't it?

And I thought today would bear no fruit.

Enjoy this fleeting moment, but I will escape this trap, at all costs, including your life.

You don't understand the barest fraction of what you hold.

I think you'll find I'm a quick study.

(lively Irish folk music plays)

So who's this guy, again?

Jenny: Ex-Belfast gunman and smuggler turned bon vivant brewmaster, whisky blogger.

There he is.

Connor!

Oi, oi.

All right, yeah.

I'll be back with you in a minute, love.

A stór.

My treasure.

(smooching)

Clonakilty blood sausage.

(inhales)

Oh, it's fresh.

Heaven sent from a goddess.

What can I do for you, Jen, my dear?

Hypothetically, if I had a banshee... situation... how might I deal with it?

I'd run... like the only bottle of 75-year-old single malt whiskey you had were on fire.

That's not an option.

We need to... get our house in order.

Hypothetically... you could put your house to right with pure iron.

Only the good stuff, mind.

Nothing younger than 200 years or so.

But it'll use your own noise against you now, so you must be careful.

Traffic, talking, children playing... it'll suck up the sounds of life and spit them out as destruction.

Wiped out half of County Clare back in the 17th century, or so legend tells.

You know how to get its attention, right?

Make one hell of a racket?

Oh, aye, that will piss it right off.

(siren wails)

Isn't it bad luck to steal from a graveyard?

Jenny: We borrowed a fence from the 1700's, not a corpse.

Based on advice from a drunk whiskey blogger.

What could possibly go wrong?

It'll work.

The guy eats blood sausage for breakfast, but whatever.

Everything okay with him?

Yeah, he's fine. Why?

I heard about what happened with him, turning into the Wendigo.

Started to turn.

We stopped it.

It's just... it must have been hard for him you know, finding out that thing is inside of him.

We talked about it.

I told him I know he's in control and I trust him.

He's good.

Is he?

'Cause, I mean, a guy who is in love will say anything to make you happy, and trust me, that dude is in love.

FBI profiling?

Just a lot of... tragic relationships.

(both chuckle)

For the record, I never profile my friends.

And as far as this Wendigo thing...

(voice fades)

(no voice)

(no siren)

(shrieking)

(no voices)

(shrieking)

(shrieking)

(banshee snarling)

Hah.

Hah.

(gasping)

Okay, we need to call your sister... because that... did not go well.

This is crazy!

Give Pandora the banshee?

She's conning you.

She doesn't care about anything except getting more pieces of her Box back.

Look, I don't like this either, but we do not have a choice.

We need the banshee alive... for Crane.

You believe you'll find solutions in these texts?

These tomes have not let me down yet.

I take it you're not a reader?

Omnipotent.

Then you deny yourself the glorious gift of discovery.

Useless pablum to entertain lesser beings.

(jazz plays)

Listen...

Duke Ellington.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Miles Davis, the artist formerly known as Prince, the political passion of Bob Dylan and Nina Simone, the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Shakespeare's sonnets, odes by Yeats.

The works of Austen, Dostoyevsky, Morrison, Ta-Nehisi Coates...

Leonardo Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo...

Picasso!

The fearless lens of Diane Arbus, and the sublime squiggle of Charles M. Schulz.

What you call pablum is, in fact, inspiration, and it is forged in the enduring soul of humanity.

You may know everything... but you understand nothing.

Do not lecture me on art.

For millennia, it has been created to celebrate my glory by those who worship me.

What have you given in return for their fealty?

After all, what is a god without worshippers?

And what is a man without belief in higher power?

Both are lost.

But then, of course, you knew that, didn't you...

O, Mighty One?

You've always needed this, haven't you?

Even as a child, you'd hide in the coach house, reading books forbidden by the Church of England, lit only by a candle you'd stolen from the servants' quarters.

You'd disappear for hours, worry your mother sick.

How do you know this?

You've always lived to please; to serve... your father, Washington, Jefferson.

No room to question your own wants or identity.

Even your role as Witness was inherited through your bloodline.

That wasn't a choice.

You didn't know.

Your life was mapped out long before you were even born.

So, how could you ever be anything more than that boy in the stables, reading books in the dark.

I'll save you some time, as you're in short supply.

(inhales deeply)

There is nothing in these tomes that can save you.

You are alone, as you've always been.

(rumbling)

It has begun.

(banshee snarls)

(Beethoven's 5th Symphony playing)

(growls)

♪ ♪

(music playing louder)

Joe: Hit it!

(screeching)

Sophie, now!

(growls, wails)

(Beethoven's Fifth Symphony continues)

I'll go get the car!

Okay.

Who would've thought you could hogtie a banshee with an industrial sound blanket and iron cable.

It's always the darnedest things.

Joe, be honest with me, are you still worried about the Wendigo?

As long as that thing's still inside me, I'm dangerous.

Look, I don't know how to trust myself around you.

(banshee growling)

(Joe and Jenny grunting)

(screeching)

(both yell)

♪ ♪

(shrieking)

Joe: Cover your ears!

Aah!

(growls)

(shrieking)

(shrieking stops)

♪ ♪

(Jenny gasps, groans)

You okay?

You k*lled the banshee?

I didn't have a choice.

We k*lled the banshee.

So who's going to tell Mills that we knocked off her monster?

Hmm?

♪ ♪

Not "It."

(Beethoven's 5th Symphony ends)

Joe: All right, we got a problem.

The banshee has left the building in a permanent way.

We need another monster.

You destroyed it?

I didn't have a choice. The thing got out of control.

Jenny: Sophie's out looking for another monster, as we speak.

What are you doing?

He knows.

Don't you?

Knows what?

We need a creature.

And we have one standing right here.

Yeah, nice try.

What would happen to me?

The dark energy we draw from you would be directed toward the barrier, breaking it.

You may die. You may not.

And the curse?

Now, if I survive, if you draw that darkness out of me, would it be gone forever?

Possibly.

Joe, you can't be serious.

Look, we do not have a choice, okay?

We're not going to find another monster before the Hidden One's power overloads and Crane dies.

If we can get rid of that thing inside me, it's a chance for us.

Or you could die!

Joe, let's stick to a plan that doesn't put anyone else at risk.

We are all at risk.

(rumbling)

I'm in.

Hidden one: You hunger at a time like this?

I'm eating my feelings.

So you believe I am part of an ancient bloodline that dates back to a time before history.

Not a claim. The truth.

This was left in my family tomb.

Hidden one: It depicts Napalatu... my ancient enemies and your forebearers.

It also allows a remote connection between them.

Perhaps more.

If I am trapped, the lieutenant is searching for a way to release me.

She is doomed to failure.

Unless she sought help, as I would... from someone with the knowledge of the Emblem of Thura.

Pandora would never stoop to a partnership with a lowly mortal.

Humor me.

What if they did form an alliance?

What method would Pandora employ to release you?

Her Box could diffuse the barrier, but her power is at an all-time ebb.

The lieutenant is nothing if not adept.

And it falls on us to be the same.

What part could we play to aid in a rescue attempt?

If I were to draw power from the Emblem as Pandora worked a spell with her Box, it might lower the barrier.

But at the wrong moment, it could only make matters worse.

If we could use this device to communicate with the lieutenant, we might be able to time it correctly.

But it has only worked intermittently at best.

Because the cuneiform alphabet you used to translate it is 600 years too young.

Joe is like a brother to me.

If you hurt him, there will be consequences.

Do you understand?

I cannot make any guarantees.

But you already know that.

Joe, please don't do this.

I can't lose you.

Hey... if that thing stays inside me, then you already have.

Pandora: We must proceed.

I love you.

I'm going to stay.

Pandora: So long as he stays within the mystic circle, I can channel the energy I need to shatter the barrier.

But he must stay within it, for his safety, and ours.

(groaning)

(yelling)

(snapping and cracking)

(roaring)

Joe...

(growling)

(roaring)

Be calm, wild beast.

(roaring, growling)

Step back into the circle, beast.

Get back!

Stop! Stop!

He's lost.

(growls)

We need to leave him here or end his life.

No! I can get through to him.

Joe, I know how much you care about me.

You won't hurt me.

(growling)

You would never hurt me.

Joe, if you listen to me, I'll let you change out the headers on the Scout's engine.

(growls)

And a key.

A key to my trailer.

Because I always forget to unlock the door, and I know you hate that.

You are not this monster, Joe Corbin.

You're the man I love.

Do you hear me?

I love you.

(low growl)

(gasps with relief)

Do it now.

O, Great Thura, heed my call.

Your barrier, away must fall.

By the power left in me, do as I beseech thee!

(growling)

(growling, groaning)

(growling, groaning)

Joe... he's in pain.

What's wrong?

Pandora: I can harness the power of the beast, but I can not direct it with precision.

The Box, Abbie.

Any fragments that you have in your possession...

I need them now.

I was really, really hoping that you were not playing me this whole time.

Control yourself, Witness.

The barrier...

Joe, all of it, was a con so you could put your damn Box back together?

I may be devious at a scale that rivals the gods, but I assure you, at this moment, I have no secret motive.

Is that supposed to be self-deprecating?

Stop your lies.

You do not understand.

Understand what?

It's my fault.

All of it.

My love's entrapment.

Then, and now.

It was I who told the human servants long ago of the Emblem's power.

To make them feel safe in our alliance.

(laughs, pants)

I never thought they would use it against him.

But they did.

I walked the earth 4,000 years, trying to release him from their imprisonment...

(wry laugh) ...only to err again.

(laughs)

Because I knew you had it.

I knew you had the Emblem, and I did not tell him.

(deep growl)

(moaning)

You must make a choice.

We have only moments left.

Abbie, he's dying.

(pen scratching on paper)

(metallic clink)

Lieutenant...

Lieutenant!

(growling)

Joe...

Master Corbin.

(Joe yells)

What's wrong?

It was I who told the human servants long ago, of the Emblem's power.

I knew you had it.

I knew you had the Emblem.

And I did not tell him.

They tried.

At great peril.

She knew.

Omnipotence isn't always equal to...

Wisdom.

Enjoy the moment.

(rumbling)

I believe I will.

As it is likely to be my last.

(growling and groaning)

Here.

♪ ♪

(moans, growls)

Yes. This is right.

It's working.

Crane...

(rumbling)

(rumbling subsides)

(shuddering)

Joe...

Joe.

(coughing) Joe...

(laughs)

Crane!

Lieutenant!

Wait, wait, wait... I saw you.

Through the Emblem of Thura, I saw you.

You were with Pandora.

I thought all was lost.

Not quite.

Well, thank you, Lieutenant.

It seems yet again, I owe you for my life.

I'm keeping count.

Bad news: Pandora has a piece of her Box back.

Hidden One?

Hidden once more.

What are you doing?

The Emblem.

The Emblem has been destroyed.

We now have nothing to shield us from our enemies.

You just faced a god and lived to tell the tale.

That is a win in any book.

Yes... (sighs)

Wait... the... the Hidden One.

The Hidden One revealed to me some rather unexpected information.

Lieutenant, our mantle as Witnesses... it is passed down through our bloodlines.

So all of our ancestors...

I know.

I know, it is all rather...

(imitates expl*si*n)

What is that?

(laughing): Mind blown?

Head exploding?

I don't know. I'm very hungry.

Donut Man is open 24 hours, and I think you've earned it.

You are a very good person.

Sit, tough guy.

(Joe groans)

How you doing?

(groans)

That bad.

Why don't I get you a drink?

(both laugh gently)

You said the words.

Joe: All three of them.

Did I?

I don't really recall.

I think you also offered me a key.

Yeah, see, Joe, there's no easy way to say this, but, um...

I offered that key to the Wendigo.

So here's the problem: Now, just... I mean, based on how crappy I feel, and how much monster-ness Pandora ripped out of me, I have a feeling I'm finally cured of that thing.

Wish I could help.

Mmm... (chuckles)

You know, I was also thinking about getting my old band back together.

I hope that's not gonna be a problem.

Ooh...

I mean, we'd only want to practice over here, like, three nights a week, maybe four, max.

I'll just...

Can I get that back?

And we're not really that loud.

We're kind of loud.

Maybe just give me the key back.

Come and get it.

Yeah, no...

I think I need back my key.

(laughing)

Give me the key.

Ow! Ow! Ow! Give it...

(laughing): Joe, give me...

My love.

You've returned.

Pandora: Mm.

It was you that saved me.

You are the most devious of creatures.

The way you played our enemies, got them to provide what was needed for you to bring down Thura's barrier.

And I recovered a piece of the Box in the process.

The humans had the Emblem in their possession, and I had no idea.

It was an unexpected turn of events.

But again, one which you turned to our advantage.

Yes, my love.

But I'm exhausted by all this.

Let us set it aside for now.

But as you know very well, my love, such matters cannot be set aside forever.

Especially when one discovers a pressing falsehood.

We have much to discuss, Pandora.

We can start with the truth.