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Previously on Witchblade:
I'm worried about you.
Not to
mention I'm taking all kinds of heat.
You're a lot like your father.
A loner, a rogue.
You've got absolutely no right
to talk about my father like that.
- Who the hell do you think you are?
- Your new boss.
Captain Siri is retiring.
Why do you want her so bad?
Pezzini and me, we go way back.
I mean,
actually her dad and I go way back.
Let her walk on this.
Let the feud die.
Did anyone ask you why
you got whisked into this job
over several candidates
who are actually qualified?
We call ourselves the White Bulls.
It's our totem, our talisman.
JOE:
I'm not dying, Pez, I'm retiring.
I've seen your mug every day
for six years, Joe.
I'm gonna miss it.
This invitation is, uh, offered to you
one time and one time only.
- I'm in.
- You won't be sorry.
- He betrayed you.
- Yeah, there's a lot of that going around.
I wanna tell you,
the guy is absolutely full of crap.
You are a good
and faithful servant, Ian.
But you know not your master.
Sara Pezzini,
a New York City detective
drawn into a chance encounter
with a supernatural weapon.
Each day, each mystery, each encounter
will ultimately reveal her true destiny.
Settle down, settle down.
I got it.
- Give me the rest of it.
- Pig.
The rest of it!
Your attention, please.
Okay.
All right, everybody, keep
Dorfman, shut up, please, will you?
All right.
I think you should all know
that tonight's entertainment
has been cordially provided by, uh,
Refined Escort Service.
Now, the usual
The usual considerations apply, right?
For the next 30 days, any girl showing you
a Refined business card will be excused
from any compromising position
she may find herself in.
Okay.
Good, good.
Now, ladies, uh, we really appreciate
your, uh, company, really.
But, uh, we got some business
to attend to.
So good night.
- Aww
- Yeah.
I'm sorry.
- Come on, ladies, time to go.
- Good night.
I'll talk to you later.
Males to the right, please,
females to the left.
Ahem.
Let's go, let's keep it moving.
Males to the right, females to the left.
- Go.
- Very good.
- Very orderly and very quiet, please.
- This is your fault.
Males to the right, very good.
Females to the left, ver
Excuse me.
Either side.
Keep it quiet now.
Anyone acquainted with the deceased
flesh-peddler, Mr.
Prospero McQueen
please raise your hands.
Anyone not acquainted with Prospero,
please raise your hands.
- Can we go now?
- Ahem.
No, you can't go now.
Everybody quiet.
Stay in your lines.
Back in line.
- Stay in line.
- Hey, rookie, give me a minute.
Oh, sure.
Take two.
Ten, an hour.
Leave me here.
Tonight, the White Bulls would
like to give special recognition
to Detective Tommy Burgess.
- All right.
- Come on.
Now, within one week
of getting his gold shield
Tommy was working
a *** sting.
Now, to our great dismay,
a dispute broke out
between the dealer and buyer, and
somehow they both fatally got shot.
Yeah, neither the contraband
or the cash was ever recovered
but the good news is that
the White Bull scholarship fund
is approximately
$50,000 to the good.
My name is Officer James Pezzini,
New York Police Department.
Badge number 7945.
Dad?
You're good.
Say hello to Margie
for me, will you?
The date, February 22nd, 1984.
If you're watching this,
it means that I'm already dead.
If I am, the likely reason
is I've been working to expose
a corrupt secret society
within the New York P.
D.
They call themselves
the White Bulls.
I got some news concerning a certain
female pain-in-the-*** homicide detective.
They rule by intimidation.
They They abuse the badge
in every possible way.
And this is their trademark.
They use this round when the Bulls
want to assassinate one of their enemies.
If one their members finds this shell
at a *** scene
he'll desist in his
investigation of that crime.
And they're currently
in a renaissance
led by this deadly band
of new young recruits.
Most notably, this rising young
sergeant by the name of Bruno Dante.
I've warned you guys
to be careful around that ***.
Now, some of you know first-hand just
how resistant she can be to persuasion.
I believe the White Bulls have been
operating in the department for decades.
And they go way up the ranks.
Too far for me to solve the problem
by any internal means.
I'm happy to report that due to some
aggressive recruiting by yours truly
we're very, very close
to solving the Pezzini problem.
Because finally,
we have an inside man.
Hey, need a little help here.
Yeah.
That makes two of us.
Titillation, enigma, seduction.
What do these words
have in common?
Hmm?
I'll go on, then.
Intimidation, temptation
abandonment, rejection,
opposition.
Is the picture getting clearer?
These are all stratagems
for controlling Sara Pezzini.
For containing her.
I had envisioned a scenario in which Sara
would become a member of our family
and you could serve us both.
I still hold that hope.
Your infatuation and devotion to
Sara Pezzini is touchingly apparent.
However, Sara Pezzini
is a lioness.
Fascinating as a zoological
specimen, but worthless as a pet.
And yet
invaluable for the blood
that crosses through her veins.
And it's her blood you covet.
You can't hold me.
I gotta work.
- I will get to you as soon as I can.
- No, no, no.
You get to me right now, Beavis,
or I'm out of here.
Hey, hey.
We got a dead ***.
Your ***.
Can you prove you didn't kill him?
Prove it? No.
Then why don't you sit down
and shut up?
Maybe I explained it wrong.
How the hell do you find the truth
when everybody lies?
I asked my dad that question once.
He answered, "Diogenes.
"
- Diogenes?
- Yeah.
- Who's Diogenes?
- Look him up.
I'm not kidding you.
The girl is odd.
Tell him, captain.
Yeah.
We're out of here.
Settle down.
- Stop.
- I ain't no five-0 slave.
Get out of here.
- Give me the rest.
- Pig.
The rest of it!
The rest of it!
This is discrimina
This is discrimination, is what it is.
- If you don't sit down and wait your turn
- Hey, Jake, let her go.
- What?
- Let them all go.
All except her.
Are you nuts? We just spent
two hours rounding them up.
Cut them loose, Jake.
Put this one on an overnight hold.
I gotta go see somebody.
See somebody at this hour?
Thanks, partner.
JOE:
Okay.
I'm coming.
Hang on.
Sara.
- What time is it?
- It's late, it's too late.
- What are you talking about?
- The White Bulls, Joe.
Joe, who is it?
It's, uh It's a pizza guy,
he's got the wrong apartment.
- You have to go.
- The White Bulls, Bruno Dante.
My father talked to me, Joe.
- There's nothing to talk about.
- My dad trusted you.
I trust you.
You practically raised me.
So please don't lie to me, Joe.
Sara, I'm out of it.
I escaped
with my life.
I am out of it.
- Well, I'm in it.
- I'm sorry.
I
Joe, I need help.
No, no, not from me.
From who, then?
Anyone I ask could be one of them.
Sara, you know
I care a great deal about you.
Please, take my advice.
Stick with Homicide
mind your own business,
and try to live to retirement.
- It's wonderful.
I've never been more happy.
- Mind my own business?
You know I can't do that, Joe.
Come on, talk to me.
Joe.
- Sara.
- Marie, I was just
She was in the neighborhood.
Great seeing you, Joe.
Marie, I'm sorry.
One is enriched
to unfortunate events.
Confucius?
No, I Ching.
The book of changes.
- Appropriate reading for you right now.
- Yeah, I'll say.
You know, you got a fat nerve
being dead right now.
- I could really use someone like you.
- I'm right here.
Someone alive, Danny.
- You know what I could use right now?
- What?
One of those.
Could you?
I bet that smells good.
Oh, there is one person
you can trust.
Yeah, who would that be?
So do you always talk to yourself or do you
just save it for when you're around me?
The White Bulls, ever heard of them?
Uh, racist cops.
Alabama, George Wallace?
Wrong.
- Albinos in Pamplona?
- Last chance, Gabriel.
Why don't you tell me?
Dirty cops right here in New York.
I need an overnight education.
Sorry, that's not my department.
Gabriel?
All right.
I got this one client.
A real conspiracy nut.
I don't listen to half of what he says,
but his checks don't bounce, you know?
He hates cops.
Collects brutality memorabilia.
Axe handles, lynching nooses, uh
Stacey Koon's Rodney King nightstick.
- I got five figures for that.
- Okay, Gabriel, fast-forward.
Nothing.
He just mentioned the name once.
I thought this was his usual nut-bag B.
S.
Well, what did he say?
They have this engraved bullet
they use to kill people.
I have a standing offer for 50 grand
if I can deliver a real one.
You okay?
Yeah.
Maybe it's better
if you leave this one alone.
- Why? What are you not telling me?
- Nothing.
Yeah, now who's lying?
Hey, Gabriel, I just don't wanna
put you in danger, all right?
Like I'm scared.
Like you should be.
So tell me.
What is it that Pezzini
loves most in this world?
Provocative question.
Why do you ask?
Because her temper is
her Achilles' heel.
And whenever she loses
control of it
that's when she makes errors
in judgment.
So I was thinking,
what if one by one
everything that Pezzini loves
starts to go away?
Well, she loves
that motorcycle she rides.
Keep going.
Something
more personal.
You have no right to keep me here.
I got nothing to say to you.
Good.
I'd rather you keep silent
than lie to me like everyone else.
Now, I know that Prospero
was your ***, Charlene.
I'm betting you met him when you
were just a kid.
What, 15, 16?
He bought you clothes,
probably took you out to clubs.
He was your daddy.
So you knew a lot of his business.
His girls, his johns.
His money.
Where he kept it, how he spent it.
Who he paid off.
Come on, Charlene.
We all know a businessman
cannot operate on the streets
unless he takes care
of the cops, right?
I'm not talking to you, remember?
That's fine.
I'll do the talking.
Prospero got fed up
with the bribery, didn't he?
He said he didn't wanna be a slave
to the five-0.
I tried to warn the fool.
- Please, you can't keep me here.
- We can't let you go.
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
Why
can't we keep you here, Charlene?
Because the cop that killed
Prospero is here, isn't he?
Did you see him?
No, I didn't see anything.
Did he see you?
I don't know.
But you're not putting me on a
stand so he can take a shot at me.
I will not let anything happen
to you.
I promise you that.
Yeah? How you gonna do that?
What do you think?
I think everything is connected.
You gonna buy that a cop is guilty
based on a ***'s testimony?
- What, do you think she's lying?
- I think she's telling the truth.
But I don't know how you got it out of her.
You barely even asked her a question.
- Want to book her as a material witness?
- No, not yet.
- Take her back into holding.
- Look, we gotta move on this.
Jake, we can hold her for 72 hours.
We still have time.
Put her in her cell, tell her to keep quiet.
I gotta decide how I wanna play this.
Sara.
You gotta let me in.
I will, just not here.
Wherever you feel safe.
- I don't feel safe anywhere, Jake.
- Sara, it's me.
- Yeah, Pezzini.
- Marie's gone to her sisters.
- Can you come over?
- I'm on my way.
- Don't tell a soul.
Be very careful.
- Okay.
Hey.
Cafe Enigma around the corner
from my apartment, 8:00 tonight.
The White Bulls killed your father.
No, Tommy Gallo killed Dad.
He pulled the trigger,
but it was a contract hit.
What? How do you know this?
Because I caught the rollout.
And, uh
when I got there
I found this on the ground
beside his body.
Uh
What did you do?
I did nothing.
Not a damn thing.
Now, what could I do?
The Bulls were all around.
I could feel eyes boring into my back
for weeks afterwards.
I know they were watching me.
Marie and I were just married.
We were about to have our first baby.
I didn't wanna be next.
Could you please say something?
Uh
Like what, Joe?
Like, uh Like,
"That's all right"?
Like, "There was nothing
you could do"?
- I was scared.
- So was Dad.
It didn't stop him.
He was a better man than I am.
I don't expect your sympathy, Sara.
I've carried this burden
ever since that night
and it has cost me dearly.
You?
If you can answer me one question
I'll grant you my absolution
for whatever that's worth.
It would mean the world to me.
Did Bruno Dante take
out the contract?
Diogenes was a Greek philosopher
who walked around Athens
with a lantern in broad daylight.
He said he was looking
for an honest man.
- You looked it up.
- I did.
Didn't say whether
he ever found one.
Uh, some accounts say
only when he looked in a mirror.
Meaning, if you want
to find an honest man, be one.
That's the way my dad read it.
Jake, I gotta tell you something.
If this is about mixing partnership
without personalizing it, it's cool.
No, no, no.
Nothing like that.
We have a problem in our department.
A big problem.
There's a, uh
A force within the force.
A bunch of bad cops.
They call themselves the White Bulls.
They've been around a long time,
and, uh
they actually killed my dad.
- What?
- Yeah.
He was on to them.
They mask as these
righteous crusaders.
But what they're really about is corruption,
bribes, protection, the works.
This McQueen ***
feels like their handiwork.
- And one of their leaders
- Let me guess.
Captain Dante.
I knew there was
something wrong there.
Dante suddenly got
promoted, not one
but two ranks
the year after my dad's death.
That's public record.
And I have other evidence
and the word of a witness.
If you say it, I believe you.
I trust you, Sara.
And you can trust me too.
What do we do?
Go to I.
A.
, outside agency, FBI?
I'm not sure yet.
What kind of evidence do you have?
I have articles.
I have reports.
I even have a video tape my dad left
me with specific time-date incidents.
Yeah, but your dad's been dead
for years, Sara.
Those crimes must be pretty old.
There's no statute on ***, Jake.
Who's your witness?
- I
- Okay.
You'll tell me when you're ready.
Meanwhile, can I see the video?
Listen.
Our best bet might be the media,
get it all public.
- Make it hard for them to move against us.
- I thought that too.
And you're staying on my couch
till further notice.
- What?
- We'll swing by your place
pick up what you need
for a couple of days, stick together.
Jake, if they wanna get me
They have to get both of us.
How can I say no to that?
You ever notice how people who say,
"everyone in the world is dishonest"
are usually dishonest themselves?
Folks who think people
are basically honest tend to be honest?
Yeah, exactly.
This was no accident, Sara.
What took you so long?
- You finally grew some stones, Joe?
- Yeah.
Feels pretty damn good too.
What? Telling a girl that her dad's a hero
instead of telling her the truth?
That is the truth.
Jim was a hero.
And you're a schmuck.
All you did was sign
Sara's death warrant.
Not to mention my own.
You're right, Bruno.
I did sign two death
warrants tonight.
But they weren't mine and Sara's.
They were mine and yours.
Joe, I found this in your room.
You don't mind if I use it, do you?
You don't have to bring them back.
I don't wanna be responsible
for them.
- You're not.
- They're not mine.
- They were a gift.
- They were a loan.
Collateral, remember?
Aren't we a little past that?
Oh.
You know, I, uh
I hate to ask this, but you seem like
you're putting your affairs in order.
Yeah, something like that.
- The White Bulls are coming after me.
- Holy
I'm not gonna give them
a stationary target.
What do you mean, coming after you?
They trashed my bike last night,
Gabriel.
Sent me a message.
Your Buell?
Oh, man, I'm sorry, Sara.
Look, are Are you sure that?
Yeah, okay, never mind.
You're lucky you weren't there
when it happened.
No, lucky for them.
Now, you listen to me, Gabriel.
I want you to stay away from me for as
long as you can as far as possible.
Why the one person you can trust?
Hey, listen.
When somebody messes
with one of my friends
they mess with me.
I appreciate that.
I really do.
But you gotta understand something.
That people who get close to me,
they die.
Come on, Pez,
that's just paranoia talking.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Tell that to my father
and my partner
and my boyfriend.
- Come on.
- Where am I going?
If you're smart, Alaska.
Quick, let's go.
Come on.
Pezzini.
Give me the rest of it.
- Hey, watch it.
- Pay up.
Pig.
I ain't no five-0 slave.
The rest of it!
What's happening, detective?
Uh, nothing, Orlinsky.
I thought she might have been a witness
to the Prospero McQueen shooting.
Maybe even a suspect.
But I was wrong.
- And you're sure?
- Yeah.
Vicky Po said the shooter
must've been right-handed
judging from the entry wounds.
This girl's a southpaw.
Besides, her daddy said she was
with him the night of the ***.
If I was her daddy,
I'd protect her too.
Make sure you know
where you can reach her.
You got it.
Pezzini.
Look, you stay low, out of sight.
- I may need you to come
- No.
I told you I'm not
Look, I will only contact you
when I can guarantee your safety.
Otherwise, I will leave you alone.
Do you believe me?
Yeah.
Charlene, between you and me
that guy was our killer,
wasn't he?
It's okay.
Come on.
Whoa.
Behold the future, Sara.
What are you doing here?
I came to apologize to you.
For?
When I first met you, my only
interest was in the Witchblade.
I offered you the
I offered the world on a silver platter,
but that was not altruistic and genuine.
You rejected me
and you had a right to do so.
Apology not required but accepted.
Then later when you came to me for
help, I refused out of bitterness.
But you came through in the end.
Two million dollars' worth.
That was Ian's doing.
He shamed me into realizing
I was consigning you to death
by refusing to help you.
So I express my heartfelt regrets
and I ask your forgiveness.
Should you need anything
from me in the future, anything
I am at your service.
Excuse me.
I can only eat
so much crow at one sitting.
Available,
detective.
Units reporting
a dead body rollout
at 4711 Prospect Street.
Joe.
Wait a minute.
What the hell are you guys doing?
- You can't do that until
- I got the case, Pezzini.
- The call just came in.
- Yeah, I know.
I was in the neighborhood.
- You were what?
- You don't want this one, Pezzini.
You're too close.
It's Joe Siri.
People around you keep dying.
Why is that?
Marie, I
I
Joe
You're turning
into something you are not.
- What is that, the I Ching again?
- No, Radiohead.
Sara, if you do this,
the Bulls win.
- They're winning anyway.
- Don't forget.
Nothing is what it seems.
You're right.
They killed Joe Siri, covered
it up, called it a suicide.
So nothing is what
it seems, Danny.
It's worse.
I am gonna take you down.
Is that a gun at my chest
or you happy to see me?
I always knew you were a disgrace
to the badge.
You killed Joe Siri.
You taking hallucinogens again?
Because I understand
you have taste for them, Pezzini.
Just keep talking.
Because nothing would please me more
than to pull this trigger
and blow your brains
all over that pillow.
Like father like daughter, huh?
You tell me everything
there is to know about the White Bulls.
Yeah.
Like that's gonna happen.
You know, maybe you can hold
your own against hookers and pimps
but believe me,
you have no idea who you're up against.
Who you kidding?
You're not gonna kill me, Pezzini.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
You see this?
This is the shell from the round
Tommy Gallo used to kill my father.
Remember?
There's one just like it
right under my hammer.
Now, I might just have to call
Tommy Burgess over to check out the hit.
And when he finds this brass on the floor,
he's just gonna walk away, right?
Damn, Bruno, you wetting the bed?
See, I know that you've been trying
to push me to the breaking point.
But guess what, captain,
I'm not gonna break.
You know what else?
I can take this a lot
longer than you can.
Sara Pezzini's finally gone too far.
She's currently AWOL
from the department.
She's made it very clear to me, gentlemen,
that we, our organization, is her target.
Now, she made that statement to me
while holding a revolver
at my face in my own home,
loaded with one of our own bullets.
If there's been a reason for the expression
"shoot first and ask questions later"
that reason is named Sara Pezzini.
Let's go.
Thought the plan was to gaslight Pezzini,
make her do something stupid.
It was.
It worked.
But we weren't gonna kill her.
Plans change.
I didn't much buy that
apology of yours.
You wound me, Sara.
But as for the rest of it,
did you mean what you said?
- Which portion of it?
- About helping me, did you mean it?
Try me.
I have a story to tell.
It concerns the police department.
Right now, I have some very serious
people that are trying to shut me up.
And the only way that I can save
myself is to bring my testimony
to light in
the media right now.
The offices of my cable network
are less than a mile away.
My car is warmed
and waiting downstairs.
Did you know I was coming?
We're linked, you and I.
Does this disturb you?
Not this time.
Let's go.
I'm sorry.
I cannot broadcast
your story without more evidence.
Look, I have
my father's videotape deposition.
I have articles concerning the deaths
of New York police officers.
I I even have a witness to the recent
extortion *** of a Harlem ***.
And of the recent death
of Captain Joseph Siri, retired.
Well, the tape and the clippings
are compelling
but I'm still gonna have
to investigate further.
I don't know,
possibly meet your witness.
But that might not be possible.
But But look, Miss Weitzer, this.
See, this is the bullet that
the organization uses for assassination.
They do not wish
to be investigated.
You know, if this story is true,
it's a journalist's dream.
Believe me, it is true.
But if it's not true
this will do incalculable damage
to the police department and this city.
Miss Weitzer, they're gonna kill me.
Calm down, Miss Pezzini.
You're under the protection of one
of the most powerful men in the world.
Just give me 24 hours
to corroborate your statements
and if I'm satisfied, we'll go on the air.
- No, no.
I don't have 24 hours.
Not even if I can turn this
into a full one-hour exposé?
This really isn't a story
to waste on the nightly news.
It is if he says it is.
I'm sorry, Sara.
It's a long-standing policy
that the VCN newsroom
is totally autonomous.
No thinking person
would want the network's owner
dictating what gets covered
and what doesn't.
What, now you grow scruples?
Sara Pezzini, you are under arrest.
Sara, this way out.
I wouldn't, Sara.
He's been setting you up
for some time now.
You gonna listen to him?
He lured you out last night so they
could vandalize your motorcycle.
He's a hired killer.
He's a White Bull.
He's lying, Sara.
He was recruited by Dante.
That's why I wanted to kill him,
for betraying you.
Irons told you himself.
I provided the ransom
for your lover.
And I gave you the tape
of your father.
- You what?
- Months ago, under orders
I stole it from a box of effects
Captain Siri left you.
You're a ***, Nottingham.
But I returned it to you
when you needed it most
against orders.
What's he talking about?
Sara, I saved your life.
I am the one person you can trust.
Aah!
You, I trust.
- Where did she go?
- End of the hall, she went right.
DANTE:
Come on, come on, come on!
You overstepped your authority.
Endangered innocent lives,
destroyed property.
Had you actually operated with a little
more discretion and intelligence
you might actually have caught
your quarry.
It is frightening to think society's
protected by such an incompetent.
Sara Pezzini was the one
who overstepped her bounds.
That isn't for you to decide.
The hell it isn't.
Listen, any previous deals that you
and I had regarding her are off.
I want her dead.
In fact, if you wanna keep her alive,
you're gonna have to kill me instead.
Have it your way, captain.
Stop right there.
Where have you been?
Looking for an honest man,
like Diogenes.
Only I can't find one.
- Ha.
Not even in the mirror.
- Sara, listen to me
I know you've been keeping secrets
from me.
No more than you've been keeping
from me.
But the fact that you have secrets
doesn't mean I don't trust you.
And it shouldn't mean
you don't trust me.
I can't do this alone.
I have to roll the dice on someone.
So I'm gonna roll them on you.
- Where you going?
- I gotta keep moving.
- I wanna help.
It's
- You are.
Partner.