01x06 - Legion

[bunniefuu]

Previously on Witchblade: - Conka-what?

- Conchobar.

He's an alt-Irish rocker.

A poet.

- I know you.

- Sara Pezzini.

Now you know me.

Aye, a scrappy one.

Aren't we supposed to be working together?

Gee, rookie, trying to protect me?

I can't prove I didn't, if that's what you're hoping.

Now, why would I hope that?

Last wearer of the Witchblade was Elizabeth Bronte.

An American spy in World w*r II.

She was a real Mata Hari.

That's you, Sara Pezzini.

- Wanna explain this to me?

- I wish I could.

- This is personal, isn't it?

- Nope.

Hey, you were the one who told me to go get a love life.

I never said that.

Sara Pezzini, a New York City detective drawn into a chance encounter with a supernatural w*apon.

Each day, each mystery, each encounter, will ultimately reveal her true destiny.

Lord, let this cup pass from me.

Not my will be done, but thine.

Lord, let this cup pass from me.

Not thy will Father?

Father Bellamy?

What are you doing?

It's time for Mass.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

Oh, help.

Somebody! Somebody, help! This is a Vorschlag News emergency interrupt.

The New York Police are on a full-scale manhunt for the k*ller of Monsignor John Bellamy.

Suspect in the m*rder is Edward Nolan, a counselee of Monsignor Bellamy's with a history of criminal activity and mental illness.

Police, hold it! Suspect is on foot in the alley between Adams and Fitzgerald.

Hold it! Prepare to fire.

My name is Legion! For we are many.

- Fire on my command.

- Fire?

Is the guy even armed?

- Pezzini, what the?

- Sara, no.

Hold fire.

Ha-ha-ha.

The police poised for a firefight when Detective Sara Pezzini broke cover and single-handedly subdued the suspect.

She grows bolder.

It's to be expected.

And what if she dies foolishly wastes her life on some piece of gutter trash?

Would the blade allow that?

Never presume to know what the Witchblade would or would not allow.

Take it easy.

He's not even resisting.

Resisting?

He shouldn't be breathing.

- Can it, Burgess.

- Unh! Hey! Get him into holding.

Now.

Easy.

What?

Uh, Detective Pezzini?

- Yes.

- I'm Father Petrosian, Aloysha.

I need to see Eddie Nolan.

- Oh, you're his priest?

- I am now.

You'll have to wait till he's out of processing, but, uh Yeah, do me a favor.

Just, um, keep him in your sights.

Okay.

He is innocent, you know.

Until proven guilty.

At least, that's the theory.

He would never have k*lled Bellamy, they were like father and son.

- We get our share of those too.

- John was Eddie's confessor, his friend.

He spent half of his time trying to deal with Eddie's, um His problems.

Uh, look, I'm just a cop, Father.

You need to tell this to an attorney, maybe to the DA.

But the real k*ller's still out there.

- With Mr.

Nolan's psychological problems - His problems aren't psychological.

- They're spiritual.

- Okay.

Father Bellamy believed that Eddie was, uh Is Possessed.

DANTE: m*rder w*apon.

Unconfirmed.

Keys to the church.

Confirmed.

All found in Nolan's apartment.

- Why the show-and-tell?

- You saved a guilty man.

I arrested a suspect.

Who'll probably plead insanity and do soft time, if he doesn't walk altogether.

Hey, you know what, McCartey?

Run for judge.

Me, I like my job.

- Excuse me.

I'm not interrupting, am I?

- Oh, no, no, no.

Father Del Toro, this is Detective Pezzini and Detective McCartey.

-Ma'am.

-Father Dennis is the cardinal's attorney.

I prefer good and faithful servant.

Wow, a lawyer-priest.

That mean you can forgive your own sins?

Ha, ha.

I wish.

Seriously, I'm I'm here to help if any help is needed.

John Bellamy wasn't just a colleague.

He was a dear friend.

And I did try to warn him.

Warm him about what?

Edward Nolan's mental problems were very severe.

He needed medication and constant attention.

And despite his best intentions, Monsignor Bellamy was preventing him from getting the help he so desperately needed.

So, what you're saying is, Bellamy thought that Nolan was possessed?

- What?

- Pezzini.

Oh, no.

She's right.

John was He was New York's leading authority on demonic possession.

But he truly believed that Edward's psychosis was work of, ha, demons, ha.

Unfortunately, Father Bellamy was also senile.

And he unwittingly fostered Edward's over-dependence.

I We We feared something like this might happen.

Thank you, Father.

Very good.

Thank you.

Hello, Edward.

I'm Detective Sara Pezzini.

I know.

You saved my life today.

Did you k*ll Monsignor Bellamy?

He was my best friend.

Did you k*ll him?

Yes.

I k*lled the old queen.

What, do you wanna make something of it?

What did you use to k*ll him?

You know what I used.

Yes, I do, Edward.

Do you?

Do you actually think that I might be innocent?

Please, just answer the question.

Do the world a favor.

You weld this cell shut.

And you lower it into the earth and you pour concrete over it.

Is that you talking, Edward, or is there someone in there with you?

Come on, detective.

Does it really make a difference?

So tell me more about exorcism, Father.

Well, the rites are very ancient.

The Church has updated the Mass and the sacraments but they haven't changed the exorcism ritual in 1500 years.

No, I I mean, how do you feel about it?

Do you believe that there's an actual devil?

A personality that can inhabit certain people?

- Well, Church canon says - Because I think there is.

I've seen enough to make me believe.

Yes, I believe some people have problems psychotherapy cannot even begin to touch.

I love honest people.

I get to meet so very few.

Now, what I don't know is if Edward Nolan really is possessed or if he's just stark-raving bonkers.

It's not that simple.

Some people the world calls possessed, they're actually willing vessels of evil.

Huh.

- I think I've met a few of those.

- Yeah, they're the truly scary ones.

As someone who's possessed may also be completely blameless.

They don't choose Satan, he chooses them.

Is that what Bellamy thought about Nolan?

He was convinced.

You're not?

I'm not even really convinced he k*lled him.

Was Father Bellamy getting senile?

He was old and forgetful, but for the most part, he was very lucid.

What are these?

Uh, John's journals.

He kept them from the time he was a novice.

Except from 1936 to '44?

That's strange.

World w*r II.

Um, you know what, Father?

It would really help me out if I could just be here alone for a while.

I kind of like to sort of tune in to the dead guy.

- Oh, that's clever.

- Shut up.

What?

The door.

Could you shut it when you leave?

- I don't know if I can - I'm a trained investigator.

- I won't hurt a thing.

- Okay.

That was not cool.

You know the great thing about being dead?

Cool doesn't matter anymore.

What did you say about World w*r II?

The w*r years.

Your victim's missing journals.

Maybe there's a connection.

Yeah, like he was a chaplain in the service and he didn't have time to write.

Yeah, sure, that's probably it.

You're dead, Danny.

Why don't you ask him?

Could you do that?

- Not a good idea.

- But you could?

- Sara.

- Wait, this thing lets me talk to you, right?

Does that mean I can talk to other dead people, like my victim in this case?

- Sara, please - This is every cop's dream, Danny.

- Every homicide cop.

- Sara.

Maybe that's why I was chosen to wear this thing.

Your decision to confess is a wise one, Mr.

Nolan.

Why don't you tell us the whole story?

The whole story?

Yeah, sure.

Feel free.

Talk to us.

Well Okay.

I think it all started when my mother seduced her own father.

Then she had the bad taste to get pregnant by him.

Oh, he punished her severely.

You know, they say trauma to the mother can harm a baby in utero.

What do you think about that, detective?

This is ridiculous.

Keep going.

Sure.

Actually, you couldn't prove that theory based on me.

Because Mom also tried to abort me using a vacuum-cleaner hose.

I guess you could say she sort of saw me coming.

Huh?

- Do we have to listen to this?

- Hey.

You said you wanted the whole story.

Let me have some coffee.

I don't really know much about all that stuff, Sara.

The Church pronounced me irredeemable when I was 12.

I never went back.

Get out.

The Church doesn't do that.

- To a 12-year-old boy?

- Almost 12.

Easter week, 1985.

All good Catholic children go to confession to receive Communion on resurrection day.

Monsignor Edward Bradley.

Red-nosed, drunken old Limerick man.

I knelt in the dark and gave him my litany of little boy's sins.

Stole an apple.

Lusted after Mary Bernadette Walsh.

Masturbated.

Go on.

He called me a wretched Demas.

What's that?

Well, he explained it to me in detail.

A character from the Bible who professed penitence for his sins but wasn't sincere.

The old fart told me I was just going through the motions my remorse was not sincere, and he'd be violating sacrament if he granted me absolution.

So he, uh, told me to go away and come back when I was truly sorry.

Like I said, I I never went back.

That's awful.

He wasn't wrong, you know.

- He was so wrong.

- No, he wasn't.

I wasn't sorry.

Especially not for lusting after Mary Bernadette.

Oh, you should have seen her.

Dark hair, green eyes, slim, saucy.

Moved like a cat.

You know what you need?

Bet you're gonna tell me.

Uh.

Some long overdue penance.

My apartment, tomorrow night.

Good Lord, I think I've seen the light.

Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.

It has been one week since my last confession and these are my sins.

I suffer lust for a woman in my heart.

Without temptation, what reason would there be for strength?

There is another vow I'm considering breaking.

A vow of secrecy.

Go on.

I promised a friend I'd keep a secret.

That friend was recently k*lled.

His death may have to do with the secret.

Am I still bound?

A difficult question.

It requires our prayerful consideration.

Say five Our Fathers and five Hail Marys and visit me again tomorrow.

Two visits in one day.

Must be important.

- You called for it.

- Yeah, I called for what?

I don't believe this is happening.

Believing is having faith in what you cannot see.

Can you see me, Sara?

How is this possible?

The same way you see your friend.

Digitabulum Magae.

Your bracelet.

How do you know its name?

You came here to talk to me, Father, so So talk.

Digitabulum was taken from Jeanne d'Arc by the bishop who ordered her b*rned.

Then locked in the bowels of the Vatican for 500 years.

Allowed out only in the most extreme emergencies.

Who did this to you, Father?

Who k*lled you?

Satan himself.

You mean Eddie Nolan?

A good boy.

Tell him I miss him.

- Father - The church was dark.

I was struck from behind.

I never saw my k*ller's face.

Well, who else could have done this to you?

So many.

He is Legion.

That's another name for the devil, right?

I need a human suspect, Father.

I was newly ordained and trained as a linguist.

I was blessed with a wonderful assignment.

Living in the Vatican, translating the correspondence of the cardinals even the Holy Father himself.

- That's nice - The w*r was brewing.

We all feared for the Church's fate.

Sworn to secrecy, I translated letters from Pope Pius to Adolf h*tler.

They struck an unholy bargain.

The Führer agreed to leave the Vatican and its treasures untouched.

The Pope promised the Church would remain silent about the Nazis and their atrocities.

h*tler was an avid collector of objects of power.

He knew that the Digitabulum was in the pope's hands.

As a guarantee of Pius's sincerity, he asked for a token.

Witchblade?

The Vatican knows that you have it now.

And rest assured, they are certain it is theirs.

And they do want it back.

No, wait a minute, please.

Father, don't go.

Is this the reason that you were k*lled?

Is this in your journals?

They're missing.

That is not why I was k*lled.

It was Satan himself.

Wha?

But you said.

World w*r II, a connection Damn it.

You didn't k*ll him.

I confessed.

Didn't you hear?

You promised to confess.

Trying to get your own rocks off.

Trying to impress my colleagues with how bad you are.

Yeah, well, it's not my fault they scare easy.

I don't.

I think you're innocent.

Now, that's a first.

Worse?

I bet Bellamy didn't even believe you were possessed.

Kind old man that he was he was probably just trying to keep you out of some state-run institution.

I think you're a poser, Nolan.

You're not possessed.

You're just a garden-variety nut bag.

Then why don't you come in here and test that theory?

Jailer.

You think you're crazy?

Hmm?

I just spent my evening talking to Monsignor Bellamy.

Yeah, that's right.

The late Monsignor Bellamy.

And he bent over backward to clear you.

He even said he missed you.

Missed me?

You didn't k*ll him, did you, Nolan?

You just want someone to put you out of your misery.

- su1c1de by cop, right?

- No.

Especially with Bellamy gone, who's gonna listen to your poor-me rap?

Life's not worth living anymore, is it, Nolan?

Is it?

The monsignor was my best friend.

Yeah, well, I'm your new best friend.

So tell me.

If Satan is alive and well in New York City, who the hell is he using as a taxi?

- We gotta talk.

- Talk.

Since I've been your partner, I've seen things.

Weird things.

Yeah?

Welcome to New York.

You're my training officer, but you leave me out of the loop all the time.

The other guys say they were joined at the hip to their senior partner for the first year.

Me, I'm stumbling around in the dark.

All right, you wanna help?

Leave Nolan off the list of suspects.

- But he's a - Jake, you want in?

Just soak in the whole ambiance of this m*rder.

We got church, priest, Satan, possession.

Then spew, gut level, first thing pops in your head.

Even the devil can quote scripture for his purpose.

Yeah.

And?

So who's been quoting scripture around here?

I don't need to posit the existence of a devil, Detective Pezzini.

What with Columbine and Santana, who needs Satan?

So you don't believe in demonic possession?

Please, promise you won't tell the cardinal.

Eddie Nolan's not guilty, Father.

Your captain seems to think otherwise.

It's my case, not his.

I noticed you admired this.

Ah.

Yes.

A copy, of course.

I've I've seen the original in the, uh, Pazzi Gallery in Firenze.

Oh, not possible, this is the original.

The one and only.

Hmm.

I'd ask for my money back if I were you.

You're the cardinal's spin doctor.

How did you deal with the pope's apology about the Church's silence during the Holocaust?

I try to learn from Japanese culture.

They took the art of apology all the way to ritual su1c1de.

Now, that is one hell of a way to say you're sorry, don't you think?

I heard a, uh, token was exchanged between h*tler and Pope Pius to seal that deal.

I thought this discussion was about a m*rder inquiry, detective?

Oh, but it is.

If someone wanted to k*ll Monsignor Bellamy and cover it up could there possibly be a better scapegoat than Edward Nolan?

That's ridiculous.

I mean, who else would want to k*ll John Bellamy?

I don't know, Father.

You said it yourself.

He was New York's leading expert on exorcism.

Proverbs, Chapter 1, Sara.

A net is spread in vain before the eyes of them that have wings.

- He bite?

- Not yet.

Hey, what do you say we head over to Felipe's, hoist a brew be normal cops for once?

I can't, Jake.

I, uh I have a date.

I think he did you a favor.

Who?

That priest.

The one who wouldn't absolve you.

Oh, yeah.

Racked with the terrors of hell, yet still trapped within my own humanity.

You're an artist.

You're supposed to suffer.

Right.

Sometimes, I still feel I don't know.

Like I'm split in half.

Do you ever feel that way?

Like you'll never know.

So this priest, how did he do me a favor?

He defined you.

He taught you who you were.

That you are a very bad, bad little boy.

All right.

Oh, I can't believe this.

Me and a cop.

Cops aren't so bad.

What if you arrest me for sexual harassment?

I believe that for harassment to occur the victim has to be unwilling.

Try and I try, but I just can't help it.

She does things to me.

She affects me.

She gets me to tell her things.

I try to keep my thoughts pure.

I try so hard.

But I can't stop the visions in my head.

There's this woman I want.

And I just wanna do unthinkable things to her.

I know this woman, don't I?

It's all right.

You're talking about Sara Pezzini, aren't you?

It's okay.

I understand.

I have the same feelings.

But you're a priest.

I'm also a man.

When we have these vile sinful, evil thoughts we must take extreme measures.

Yes.

Yes.

- Yes.

- Yes.

Whatever Jesus wants.

Whatever Jesus wants.

Whatever it takes.

Whatever it takes.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you for ending my pain.

- Don't.

- I have to.

Don't.

Pezzini.

Go.

Pezzini, it's Jake.

You better get down to the precinct.

We have a problem.

What in hell happened?

Severe skull fracture.

- Paramedics say it's self-induced.

- Self-induced?

How is that even?

Sergeant, who was his last visitor?

Actually, Pezzini, it was you.

- What about the priest, Father Del Toro?

- Like I said, no one since you.

What?

You wanna check the log?

The log you keep?

The log's the log.

What are you trying to say?

Nothing, Burgess.

Oh, bitch.

Sara, hi.

What can I, uh, do for you?

Edward Nolan is dead.

No.

Where's Father Del Toro?

I, uh I think I saw him heading towards the sanctuary.

- Thank you.

- Um.

Hello, Sara.

Come here often?

You don't believe old wives' tales, do you?

Have you seen Edward Nolan lately?

You know, he d*ed last night.

Nolan has tried to commit su1c1de three times?

If he finally succeeded, then it's no great loss.

I didn't say he committed su1c1de.

I'm thinking that he had a little push.

Or maybe not so little.

Police work surely should be more than just speculation.

You k*lled Monsignor Bellamy.

Nolan's su1c1de just closes the loop.

More speculation.

Not when I have your voice on the 911 tape calling in the m*rder just mere moments after it was discovered.

I live across the driveway.

I heard the old woman screaming.

Really?

Did she scream out the name of the fall guy?

What did you do with Monsignor Bellamy's missing journals?

You know, the ones about pope's, uh, bargain with h*tler.

And this.

Ah, yes.

Digitabulum.

It belongs to the Church, Sara.

You should give it back.

To you?

No, I don't think so.

See, I think that Nolan was a poser.

You I think you're the real thing.

So tell me, Father.

Are you really possessed?

Or are you just a willing vessel of evil?

I know things to make your flesh hump.

To make your hair turn white.

I know starving bodies.

Sick, broken babies thick.

I know what fresh blood tastes like when it's still warm.

The sound a man makes while his skin is peeled away.

Do you really think that you're a match for me, Sara Pezzini?

So Bellamy knew who you were and he was going to expose the truth.

Digitabulum Magae.

Give it to me.

Now.

You want it?

Take it.

Aah! Be gone, Satan.

Inventor and master of all deceit.

Enemy of man's salvation.

Be gone.

You don't believe in old wives' tales, do you?

How much did she learn?

It's impossible to tell.

She was conversing with other realms.

You should have stopped it.

Perhaps.

Or perhaps such an intervention will prove to be more valuable later on.

Up until now, I've done quite well trusting you to your own initiative.

But I can see that I will start having to be more explicit in my directions.

Look, Aloysha, um What you saw yesterday Will remain locked in my heart for the rest of my life.

I kept John Bellamy's secrets.

I think I can keep yours.

Besides, uh, I honestly don't really know what happened.

What's the Church's stand on reincarnation?

Officially, we don't believe in it.

Unofficially, I often wonder.

Well, in your next life, maybe don't come back as a priest.

Ha.

Okay.

Okay.