Épisode Lien toxique S04E03 - Fringe Saison 4

PROLOGUE

Walter's Lab - Psych Eval

(sitting nervously, a mental patient under routine review taps his foot and wrings his hands)

BRUCE SUMNER: Walter? You didn't answer my question. I asked if you've been keeping up with the new medication I prescribed for you.

WALTER: (softly. with a dry mouth) Yes. For the most part. With my own modifications, of course. (worried) Why?

BRUCE SUMNER: Well, you just seem a little bit distracted.

WALTER: Well, yes... as you ask. You've come at an extremely inopportune time. (avoiding direct eye contact) I'm in the middle of some very important work, and I'm anxious to resume.

BRUCE SUMNER: I appreciate that, Walter. But these monthly evaluations are also important.

WALTER: Well, yes, I know. It was a condition you imposed on my release from Saint Claire's.

BRUCE SUMNER: I mean personally important. (caring tone) You were under my care there for... most of your seventeen years. These sessions allow me to catch up with you, see how you're doing. Now... (puts on glasses and reviews the report) I've been perusing the latest observational reports from the agents assigned to you, and they mention certain patterns of unusual behavior. (removes his glasses and returns to Walter)

WALTER: Well, o - occasionally, I have a unique way of doing things which can be misinterpret...

BRUCE SUMNER: (cuts to the chase) Tell me about the mirrors.

WALTER: Mirrors?

BRUCE SUMNER: And the television? Virtually every reflective surface in and around your lab has been covered or obscured by you.

WALTER: Naturally, I covered them up. I - it's an experiment I'm conducting on --

BRUCE SUMNER: So this had nothing to do with your lab being haunted.

WALTER: Beg your pardon?

BRUCE SUMNER: According to the report, (references his paperwork) you claimed on more than one occasion to have seen a strange man in the lab, a man no one else has seen, and that sometimes... the man speaks to you.

WALTER: Oh... just minor hallucinations, of course, by my self-medication. That was weeks ago. I - I'm much better now.

BRUCE SUMNER: So you haven't had any more of these hallucinations since?

WALTER: (sees the same hallucination in the reflective surface of Sumner's clipboard. lying) No.

BRUCE SUMNER: (leans forward for emphasis) Walter, it is important that you be completely honest with me so that I can make an assessment of your state of mind and I can make recommendations for your continued care... whatever that may be.

Hyde Park - Foot Chase

(a slight boy runs frantically from two bullies down a forested foot path)

MATTHEW MITNOVITZ: (yelling as he follows) You're dead, Sneddon. You hear me?

BRIAN O'TOOLE: (closing-in from behind) You better run, Rat! We're gonna beat your ass!

(growing tired and breathless, Sneddon slips through an open door into a dark subsurface tunnel hoping to elude his tormentors)

BRIAN O'TOOLE: Wait up a minute, man.

MATTHEW MITNOVITZ: You run like a little girl. Keep up.

BRIAN O'TOOLE: We got him now. He went in there.

MATTHEW MITNOVITZ: Oh, he's like so dead.

BRIAN O'TOOLE: (entering the dark, isolated tunnel) There he is.

MATTHEW MITNOVITZ: Picked a bad place to hide, dumb ass.

AARON SNEDDON: Just leave me alone, guys.

MATTHEW MITNOVITZ: Or what? I know it was you, you little freak. You got me busted for the stash in my locker.

BRIAN O'TOOLE: Come on, Matt, kick his ass.

MATTHEW MITNOVITZ: (throws his bag to his friend. grabs Sneddon's shirt and prepares to punch him) You had this coming...

BRIAN O'TOOLE: (startled) Uh... something touched my leg!

MATTHEW MITNOVITZ: It's probably just a bug or something. Tough it out.

BRIAN O'TOOLE: Dude, what is this? (growing more terrified) What the hell is this?

MATTHEW MITNOVITZ: Huh?

(both bullies groan as whatever was on the ground starts to envelop them, covering their arms and faces as they are frozen where they stand. Sneedon flees to safety)

 

ACT I

Federal Building - First To Know

(Olivia develops a sketch of the man in her dreams and runs facial recognition software)

AGENT LEE: (just arriving) Hey. (approaches Olivia) Working a case?

OLIVIA: (hits a few keys to hide her work) Something like that. Mm-hmm.

AGENT LEE: Hmm. I got, uh, word you wanted to see me? We get any news on the shape-shifter attack?

OLIVIA: Uh, no. I just wanted to check in with you, see how you're handling everything. I know you've been going through the case files, getting up to speed. I understand that it can be kind of overwhelming. It's hard when what you knew or what you thought you knew about the world... no longer holds. And I just wanted you to know that I'm here.

AGENT LEE: (wary) You're... here?

OLIVIA: Yeah. To talk to, you know? I mean, just if things are getting a little too much or if you're freaked out...

AGENT LEE: I'm... not freaked out.

OLIVIA: Oh. Good. (nodding) Okay. Well, you just let me know.

AGENT LEE: If I freak out, (awkward) I -- yeah, you... you'll be the first to know.

OLIVIA: (answers cell phone) Dunham.

Hyde Park - Advanced Decomposition

(police, crime scene and federal personnel crowd the area where young Aaron Sneddon previously evaded punishment at the hands of older boys)

BROYLES: We've got two bodies. (after the body bag is opened) Twelve-year-old boys.

AGENT LEE: How many months since they've been missing?

BROYLES: Not months. Hours. Somewhere between ten and fifteen, according to the reports their families made when they didn't come home last night.

TECHNICIAN: Agent Broyles? Agent Farnsworth is ready for you.

BROYLES: (joins Astrid at the entrance to the subsurface room) Has Doctor Bishop come up with any theories yet on cause of death or the bodies' advanced state of decomposition?

ASTRID: (on her videophone) Walter, Agent Broyles wants to know if--

WALTER: (foul mood) Yes, yes, I heard him. (watching Broyles on his video feed) Will you tell Agent Broyles that as there appears to be no unusual environmental factors to explain the rapid deterioration, that it is absurd for me to make any determination without first examining the remainders!

ASTRID: (to Broyles) Okay, Walter said he--

WALTER: (hyper-cranky) Tell him, for all I know, it could be viral or a mutation of some flesh-eating bacteria.

ASTRID: (to Broyles) He thinks that--

WALTER: (continues to interrupt) Some kind of alien parasite or... Bigfoot. Bigfoot! That's it. (makes excuses gesture to Broyles. patiently waiting for Walter's rational response.) Astrid, perhaps you can look around for massive fecal droppings, huh?

ASTRID: (covers her earpiece) He doesn't have any theories, sir.

AGENT LEE: (flashes light on the floor where the bullies died) I think I got something. There's a third set of sneaker treads leading in... and then out. Size seven, eight, maybe.

BROYLES: Then we have a potential witness.

OLIVIA: Or another victim. Even if there was another boy that got away, he could still be infected by whatever killed the other two.

BROYLES: Point taken. We need to find him fast.

OLIVIA: Yeah. If he's alive.

 

ACT II

Walter's Lab - Aural Haunting

ASTRID: Oh! (covers her mouth and nose)

WALTER: (after opening a body bag) Remarkably pungent stench.

ASTRID: (disgusted. steps away) I'm gonna... get some scented candles.

WALTER: (trying to be civil) Agent Broyles. It was good of you to accompany Astrid, although unnecessary.

BROYLES: Agents Dunham and Lee are tracking down the identity of the boy who fled the scene. I thought I'd take the opportunity to check in on you.

WALTER: Oh... how nice. May I ask why?

BROYLES: You had your evaluation with Doctor Sumner last night. He called me afterwards to voice some concerns.

WALTER: Concerns?

BROYLES: He thought you seemed unusually agitated by something you were reluctant to confide.

WALTER: I... (stammers) I can't imagine what gave him that impress--

PETER: (faintly) Walter?

WALTER: Where's the second body?

BROYLES: On its way to the morgue. I assumed one was sufficient for your examination.

WALTER: (tongue-tied) Not... not sufficient at all. I - it's quite the opposite. I... I... I need both bodies.

PETER: (louder) Walter.

WALTER: (to the voice) What?

BROYLES: (having not heard the voice) What?

WALTER: (to Broyles) Did you say something?

BROYLES: (seeing what Sumner saw) I asked why you need both bodies.

WALTER: Because -- (flinches at the voice)

PETER: (echoing) Walter, listen to me. Walter, do you see me?

WALTER: (eyes closed. focusing. talking over the top of the voice) Only by... comparison...

PETER: (clearer) Walter, I can hear you.

WALTER: Will I be able to determine...

PETER: Where are you?

WALTER: If there are patterns to the decomposition of the tissue...

PETER: Listen...

WALTER: (tremendously agitated, he covers his ears) Or... or the putrefaction of the internal organs, it may well be that... that the victims perished at different intervals.

PETER: I'm scared. ... has to help me... Do you see me? I'm right here.

AGENT BROYLES: Doctor Bishop.

PETER: Walter, I'm scared.

WALTER: And one of them may be a carrier!

PETER: I want to come home.

WALTER: (hunched over and cowering) I am not losing my mind! (after the voice fades. much calmer) I would appreciate you arranging to have the second remains sent here as soon as possible. Excuse me. (walks away).

AGENT BROYLES: (answers cell phone) Broyles.

OLIVIA: (voiceover) It's Olivia. We have a lead on the third boy. This morning another student told the principal that the two victims had been talking about plans to beat a kid up. (Sneddon sits alone in the school cafeteria drawing images in his notebook. looks up to see Lee and Dunham approaching)

Walter's Lab - Aggressive Fungi

(Aaron sits and draws while Olivia talks privately with the boss and shares what she has learned so far)

OLIVIA: His name is Aaron Sneddon. He's ten years old. He said it was pretty dark and he didn't see much after the boys chased him into the tunnel.

BROYLES: Why didn't he tell anyone what happened? His parents?

OLIVIA: Well, he has no father, and his mother is out of the country. Aaron said that she's away a lot for work.

BROYLES: But the boy's mother wouldn't leave him home by himself.

OLIVIA: No, she has him stay with a neighbor in their apartment complex. His principal said that he's a quiet boy, that she doesn't know him to have many friends. So has Walter gotten anywhere yet?

AGENT BROYLES: Beyond his random theories of vampires and succubae, no. He says he needs to examine the other body. I'd like you and Agent Lee to retrieve it from the morgue. I'll let Doctor Bishop know the boy is here. (approaches Walter examining the remains of the victim)

OLIVIA: (to Broyles) Okay. (approaches and sits next to the young quiet artist) You like to draw? (waits for reply) Me too. (takes her time) Aaron, we're going to have to get you checked out to make sure that you're okay. Our friend, Doctor Bishop, is going to examine you.

AARON SNEDDON: (timidly) I don't like doctors. They scare me.

OLIVIA: Oh, you'll like Walter. There's nothing scary about him.

WALTER: (raises everyone's eyebrows when he approaches in autopsy attire, face shield, covered in blood) Alright, young man. Let's get started. Take off your shirt and hop on the table.

AARON SNEDDON: (sitting on exam table. politely) Please, I don't want a shot.

WALTER: Well, technically a shot is depositing a substance into the bloodstream. This is more a withdrawal. Just this one time. I promise. (receives tentative nod of approval, draws blood and bandages the arm) There. That wasn't so bad. Good boy. You can put your shirt on now. I'll be right back. (puts the sample in the centrifuge while Aaron starts a curse inspection of the lab and Walter's cool toys)

WALTER: (very upset) Please, don't touch that! (grabs a small action figure from Aaron) Give me... (composing himself. apologetic) It's alright. It's alright. I.. I shouldn't have shouted. It... it belonged to my son.

AARON SNEDDON: You have a son?

WALTER: I did. (somber) He died.

ASTRID: Walter. You need to come and take a look at this.

WALTER: What is it? (joins her over the one corpse they received)

ASTRID: It happened when I was moving a candle. (candle near the corpse and the flame blows out)

WALTER: That's curious.

ASTRID: Yeah. Look at the lambda sensor. (scans the body)

WALTER: The corpse is pulling high levels of oxygen out of the air. (looks closely at the torso) Astrid... I don't remember there being this much mold on the ribcage before. (through a magnifying glass the mold begins to swell) Dear God. The incubation case. Quickly! Grab the other end. We have to contain it.

ASTRID: Walter. (rushes to prepare the sealable chamber)

WALTER: No time to explain. Hurry! (after the corpse is locked into the chamber, it immediately explodes into a fine, chalky cloud)

WALTER: (studies the cloud-filled chamber) Spores. I... I had assumed that the mold was just a symptom of the rapid decomposition.

ASTRID: Walter, I am not following.

WALTER: The cause, Astrid... I'm starting to believe that it was an aggressive form of fungi that killed the boys.

ASTRID: (alarmed) Olivia and Lincoln. They went to the morgue to get the other body.

Morgue - Spore Attack

OLIVIA: (walking with Lee. answers cell phone) Astrid?

ASTRID: (excited) Are you at the morgue?

OLIVIA: Yeah, we're just heading to the elevator now--

ASTRID: (critically directive) Listen, you have got to evacuate the room. Get the body from the tunnel locked down.

OLIVIA: What?

ASTRID: It's going to explode and release spores! (quickly calls the morgue as Dunham and Lee rush to start the lockdown)

BETH: (too busy to answer the ringing wall phone) You gonna get that?

TECHNICIAN #2: (sitting across from the corpse. mouth full of food) I'm eating my lunch.

ASTRID: (bouncing nervously waiting for a reply) Come on, come on, come on, come on.

(Olivia and Lee make poor time in the crowded halls. almost finished with lunch, the technician notices movement in the corpse and approaches it)

TECHNICIAN #2: Hey, Beth, come here. Take a look at this. (just as Beth finally picks-up Astrid's warning call)

OLIVIA: (nearly to the morgue access door, the safety glass whites-out in a cloud of small airborne spores) Oh gawd. (inside the morgue, the two technicians cough virulently. impulsively, Lee starts to open the access door to help)

AGENT LEE: (after Olivia grabs his hand to stop him) What are you doing? We gotta get them out of there.

OLIVIA: We can't open that door. We need to get a team in here and lock down the area.

AGENT LEE: (nearly frantic) We can't just leave 'em to die.

OLIVIA: (ill-fatedly) They're already dead.

 

ACT III

Morgue - Eradication Concerns

(once they are joined by a Fringe response team, and have donned bio-hazard suits, the investigators need to batter the morgue door open to get past the aggressive fungi that has already covered the room in tendrils and branching. the technicians are dead and already starting to decompose)

BROYLES: (over the headset is his protective helmet) Doctor Bishop. Can you tell us what we're dealing with here?

WALTER: (busy checking Petri Dish with Astrid, in his lab) Clearly not the garden variety of Cordyceps fungi. A genetic mutation with a capacity of hyper-accelerated growth and nutrition absorption, which explains the rapid decomposition of the bodies.

OLIVIA: (over her headset) Walter, what's Cordyceps fungi?

WALTER: A species capable of releasing neurotoxins so as to paralyze a host, usually an insect, so that the fungi can feed and lay its spores. (pokes his sample with a long probe)

BROYLES: So why aren't they attacking us?

WALTER: These are not a pack of wolves, Agent Broyles. Size not withstanding, they are still a lower life form with rudimentary instincts probably based on tactile response. As long as none of you touch them, they won't even know you're there.

AGENT LEE: (to the team about the aggressive fungal tendrils) A couple of these bad boys are making their way down the sink.

WALTER: Most likely seeking more water and nutrients, which shows a strong impulse to expand their reach as far as possible. I mean, really, this is a most extraordinary species, don't you think?

BROYLES: Admiration aside, Doctor Bishop, how do you recommend killing these things?

WALTER: As with a great many molds and fungi, a strong dose of U.V. light or intense heat should effectively eradicate them.

(Astrid grabs a U.V. wand, holds it to their sample and watches it quickly decay)

BROYLES: Understood. (to one of his support agents nearby) Agent Mace, this is Broyles. We're going to need high-intensity U.V. lamps in here, as many as you can find.

AGENT MACE: Yes, sir. Copy that.

AGENT BROYLES: I'll oversee things here. I want you and Agent Lee to assemble a small team and have them meet you at the tunnel.

OLIVIA: Based on the boy's remains, the fungus colony at the tunnel is probably much bigger than what we have here. I'm not convinced that U.V. is the most efficient way to destroy it.

AGENT BROYLES: You have something else in mind?

OLIVIA: I'm thinking flamethrowers.

Walter's Lab - Some Quality Time

(Sneddon puts on his coat and follows Walter through the lab to the exit)

WALTER: Fortunately, your tests show no sign of fungal infection. The good news is that you're now free to return home. Agent Farnsworth will drop you there. (notes the young man's body language) Unless it's not good news.

AARON SNEDDON: (dejected) Nobody's there.

WALTER: Oh, yes. I understand you're staying with a friend.

AARON SNEDDON: A neighbor, but she never talks to me.

WALTER: Perhaps there's someone else with whom you can stay.

AARON SNEDDON: (sad-sack) No.

WALTER: I see. Well, I certainly know what it feels like to have nowhere to go. No family. (simply put) This is the only home I know.

AARON SNEDDON: You live here?

WALTER: Yeah. (upbeat nod yes) It's not much, I admit, but... it's certainly better than the mental institution where I lived before this. (As Aaron starts to leave) Would you like to stay here with me for a little while longer? I can't promise that I'll have any time for entertaining you, understand. I'm a very busy man.

(but not too busy to make foil hats, blend strawberry milkshakes and listen to some music)

WALTER: (sitting and sipping through a straw) Mmm, mmm, mmm! Sublime.

AARON SNEDDON: Doctor Bishop.

WALTER: Walter. I said you could call me Walter.

AARON SNEDDON: How did your son die?

WALTER: (caught off-guard by the query) Peter was very sick. I tried for a long time to find a cure... but I found it too late, and he died. Then I discovered an alternate universe where another version of my son was dying from the same malady. So I crossed over to the other side with the intention of bringing him back to cure him. But the frozen lake where I created a portal between universes was unsound, and when we crossed back, the ice broke. And Peter... the other version of him... drowned. And I lost him all over again.

AARON SNEDDON: (with a child's candor) And... you don't think you belong in a mental institution?

(Walter absorbs the large truth, then ignores the question by choosing to sip his shake)

Hyde Park - Eradication Preparation

OLIVIA: (entering the underground chamber as technicians prepare to eradicate the aggressive mold) How soon 'til the flood lights are up?

TECHNICIAN: Almost there, ma'am.

AGENT LEE: (inspects all small corner with his flashlight) Here's our perp. Doesn't look like much in here. No wonder we overlooked it. (finds chalk tracings paralleling the mold on the walls)

OLIVIA: (inspects higher on the wall) Well, once we've got lights, we can make sure we've taken out the entire colony.

AGENT: (background chatter) Watch your step. There could be something there.

TECHNICIAN: Ready for you, Agent Dunham.

(flood lights switch on and the team studies the colony. back in the lab, Aaron groans in discomfort)

WALTER: (milkshake finished) I don't know about you, but I'm ready for another. Aaron, what's wrong?

AARON SNEDDON: It's... bright.

WALTER: What? (looks around the lab for a bright light source)

AARON SNEDDON: (covers his eyes) It's too bright.

(in the tunnel, Lee peeks through a large crack in the wall)

OLIVIA: What do you see?

AGENT LEE: I need the handheld flood over here.

(fungi slithers up the tripod)

AGENT LEE: (looks deeper into the wall with the small floodlight) There's more of it back here. A lot more.

AARON SNEDDON: What is that?

WALTER: (trying to calm his new friend) Let me take a look--

AARON SNEDDON: (reacts violently) No! Get away! What is that?

AGENT LEE: Some of it's growing down through some grating. Do we know what's under here? (as the climbing fungi shatters the tripod-mounted lights)

OLIVIA: Burn it. Burn it all.

Walter's Lab - Eradication Halted

WALTER: (calls for assistance with the collapsed child) Astrid! Help me! (as Sneddon struggles with his senses) Aaron, you need to talk to me. You need to tell me what's wrong.

ASTRID: Walter, he has a high-grade fever. How'd this happen?

WALTER: I don't know. He was complaining about something being too bright, and then he got scared, and then he just started burning.... (realizing Sneddon's condition may be linked somehow to the eradication efforts. dashes to make a phone call)

OLIVIA: (answers her cell phone while a flame-thrower is being used to burn the colony) Walter?

WALTER: Stop what you're doing.

OLIVIA: (over the din) Say it again.

WALTER: (vehement) I said stop it! You're killing the boy.

 

ACT IV

Walter's Lab - Aaron's Admissions

WALTER: (to Aaron) Just a few more minutes. I don't want to turn you into a popsicle. (to Astrid after she dumps ice into the tub that Aaron is soaking in) Oh, Astrid--

ASTRID: (picks-up on the popsicle hint) I'll get you one later, Walter.

WALTER: Oh. Grape, please. And one for my friend here. (to Aaron) You just rest there. (answers the phone while Astrid holds Aaron's head above water) Olivia. We've managed to bring his temperature down a couple of degrees, but it remains dangerously high.

OLIVIA: (from Hyde Park) And you're positive that Aaron was affected by the fungus in the tunnel?

WALTER: His collapse and fever coincided precisely as you were, uh, burning the colony. I am certain there was a connection.

OLIVIA: Okay, what about the fungus at the morgue? Broyles and his team destroyed that. Why wasn't Aaron affected then?

WALTER: Well, that I cannot explain as of yet.

AGENT LEE: (listening over his headset. making sense of the incident) So the boy is feeling whatever this thing inside the tunnel is feeling.

WALTER: Precisely.

OLIVIA: Okay, whatever it is, it's dangerous, and we need to destroy it. So how do we break the connection between it and the boy?

WALTER: I'm not sure, but perhaps the best way to determine that is to learn how the connection was formed in the first place.

OLIVIA: Okay, well, I think I may have an idea about that.

WALTER: (approaches the dry and resting empath) Aaron, let's have a talk.

AARON SNEDDON: About what?

WALTER: (sits. as Astrid watches) About why you lied to us. (holds-up one of the sketches) Your drawings, Aaron. Agent Dunham found them covering the wall inside the tunnel. You never mentioned you'd been there before yesterday. Based on the size of your artwork, I'd say you go there a lot.

AARON SNEDDON: (somewhat exhausted) It, um... it's hard to explain. I would go there sometimes. To get away. And after a while, I would... start to feel better, like I wasn't alone, that there was something there that was sad whenever I was sad. Or... I know it sounds stupid.

WALTER: Perhaps not. You're saying you thought there was something there that felt, as you felt.

AARON SNEDDON: I mean, I guess I thought I was just imagining it. Maybe I was crazy. But it was like it understood me, like it wanted to protect...

WALTER: ...Protect you. Aaron, the boys who were chasing you... you intentionally led them there, didn't you? It told you to bring them back to the tunnel.

AARON SNEDDON: (remorsefully) I didn't know what was gonna happen, I swear. I didn't know what it was! (sobs)

WALTER: It's alright, son. Shh... I believe you did nothing wrong.

ASTRID: (as he leaves Aaron to rest) Walter... what was that all about? I don't understand.

WALTER: I think I'm beginning to. I need Agent Dunham.

Walter's Lab - A Single Organism

WALTER: (explains to the two agents) My initial hypothesis was entirely wrong. These are not colonies of fungi. I now believe that-- that this is a single organism, one with rapidly evolving communication skills, enabling it to form a psychic bond with the boy. You see these? (explains using the isolation chamber where the first victim exploded) I believe that each of these fungal masses is the equivalent to a neuron, a brain cell, and these tendrils are linking them together, essentially dendrites and synapses. The organism is a vast neural network.

AGENT LEE: Wait, you're telling me that this whole thing, all of it, is one big giant brain?

WALTER: That's exactly what I'm saying. Agent Lee, Gus is a growing, evolving mind.

OLIVIA: Gus?

WALTER: Well, I thought that since it's a single living entity that perhaps we should name it for the sake of clarity.

OLIVIA: Okay, so the reason that Aaron wasn't affected when we destroyed the fungi in the morgue--

WALTER: Was because the colony growing there was unable to connect to the network, and until it could, it was a mindless appendage.

AGENT LEE: That's why it was heading down the drain -- to try and connect with Gus.

WALTER: Yeah. What you need to understand is that Gus can only make more of itself. (excited at the prospect) And as it grows, it becomes more intelligent, more self-aware, and ever more conscious of how alone in the world it is. And my contention is that Gus forged a link with Aaron over this shared sense of isolation. Until I can find a way to break the link with the boy, any assault on the organism will hurt him. (adamant) Or worse.

OLIVIA: (answers her phone. to Walter) It's Broyles. (to Broyles) Sir, we have new information about the fungus.

BROYLES: So have I. (from the crime scene) There's been another attack-- a homeless man camped out in an alley in Roxbury Crossing. Looks like the fungus came up through some grating.

OLIVIA: Roxbury? That's six miles from the tunnel.

BROYLES: I know. After Agent Lee's report on the growths in the tunnel, I found that the Boston sewer line runs directly underneath that area. We have a major infestation on our hands. We need to eradicate this thing, and we need to do it now.

WALTER: (on speakerphone) Agent Broyles, uh, this is Walter Bishop. I -- I don't think you -- you -- you understand that I haven't yet discovered a way to break the link between the organism and the boy. I -- I need more time.

BROYLES: I do understand, doctor. Believe me. But the longer we wait, the more likely other innocent people will be killed.

WALTER: It's just that you are not hearing me.

BROYLES: I suggest you keep trying with whatever time--

WALTER: (slams the table in anger) He'll die! Do you hear me? You're going to kill Peter!

OLIVIA: Aaron. Walter, you mean Aaron.

WALTER: What did I say?

BROYLES: You've got two hours, Doctor Bishop. After that, or if there are any more attacks, I can't make any promises.

WALTER: Astrid, we need to reconfigure the neurostimulator for magnetic resonance! We need to chart Aaron's brain activity.

BROYLES: Agent Dunham, you and Agent Lee be ready to move out.

OLIVIA: Yes, sir.

BROYLES: Flamethrowers aren't going to be enough. We're gonna need some help.

 

ACT V

Hyde Park - Poisoning The Entity

BROYLES: (walking with his agents to tunnel entrance) I've got recon teams throughout the city, spread out over an eight-mile radius. So far we've determined the fungus has encroached on at least a dozen populated buildings, all of which have been evacuated.

OLIVIA: But no other bodies have been found.

BROYLES: Thankfully, no. (checks watch) It's been well over an hour. How's Doctor Bishop doing with the boy?

OLIVIA: We haven't gotten any word yet.

AGENT LEE: Agent Broyles, if you don't mind my asking, what exactly is our plan to kill Gus? (draws an odd look from Broyles)

OLIVIA: (explaining to Broyles) That's what Walter's calling the organism.

BROYLES: (as a white panel van rolls up the trail behind them) That's our plan, Agent Lee, compliments of Nina Sharp and Massive Dynamic. You two, along with one of their techs, will be administering a potent toxin to the fungus. (watches as a metal case is carried from the van)

AGENT #2: (interrupts with call) Agent Broyles. Recon Six is on the line.

OLIVIA: I'm gonna check in with Walter.

ASTRID: (in the lab) Walter. It's Olivia. (hands him phone)

WALTER: (approaches active monitor with phone) Olivia, we've managed to isolate Gus' brain wave. The link appears to be centered somewhere inside of Aaron's pre-frontal lobe.

OLIVIA: Okay, so you know how to disconnect it?

WALTER: Oh, no. No, I haven't quite worked that out yet.

OLIVIA: Okay, Walter, we're running out of time.

WALTER: I realize that. My attempts to shut down that part of his brain haven't worked! There's only one other possible option. Surgically remove the infected part.

OLIVIA: What are you saying? You're thinking of lobotomizing him?

WALTER: I don't know what else to do in the time I have left, Olivia.

OLIVIA: Walter, you can't!

WALTER: I have to save his life. Whatever it takes.

OLIVIA: Okay, Walter, listen to me. Now, you're gonna find another way, and I'm gonna talk to Broyles, explain the situation to him, and see if I can buy us some time. Stand by. (to Broyles) Sir.

BROYLES: I just got word from one of our teams. The fungus has reached a subway platform in Midtown. We can't contain this thing. We have to move on it now.

OLIVIA: You gave Walter two hours. There's still time.

BROYLES: I'm sorry, but you know as well as I do we can't sacrifice countless other lives to save one boy.

OLIVIA: (takes a deep sigh. on phone) Walter...

ASTRID: (to her colleague after he gets the disturbing 'non-option' from Olivia) What?

WALTER: (still shocked with the message from Olivia) No time to talk. I have to think. (walks to his office and shuts the door)

Hyde Park Tunnel - Lethal Injection

AGENT LEE: (wearing low-light imaging goggles. enters the side chamber that houses the majority of the entity) So what are we looking for?

TECHNICIAN: Somewhere the toxin will be best distributed. Some sort of central mass. (points at a bulbous protrusion) There.

OLIVIA: (over her tactical radio) Agent Broyles, we've located the injection point. The tech is preparing the toxin.

BROYLES: (radios back) Copy that. Keep me apprised.

TECHNICIAN: (prepares a large injector. looks to Olivia for the go-ahead) I was told it was on your order.

AGENT LEE: Olivia...

OLIVIA: (hesitant. worried about the outcome with Walter's patient) Okay.

AARON SNEDDON: (after the fungal mass is injected. bolts forward. eyes wide open) No! (as a large tendril grabs the technician and immobilizes him)

ASTRID: (enters Walter's office) Walter, his blood pressure is falling, and he has lost consciousness. Do something!

WALTER: (resolved to failure) I've run through every conceivable scenario I can think of. That creature has a hold on his brain, and I have no ide... wait. Wait!

BROYLES: (over the radio) What's happening in there?

OLIVIA: The toxin's been administered, but the technician is dead.

BROYLES: I want you and Agent Lee to fall back to Position One now!

OLIVIA: Yes, sir.

AGENT LEE: (in distress) Olivia.

OLIVIA: Lincoln, what?

AGENT LEE: (after a tendril paralyzes his legs) I can't move.

OLIVIA: What?

Walter's Lab - Breaking The Bond

WALTER: (standing over the examining table that holds Aaron) The source of Aaron's physical distress isn't isolated in the pre-frontal lobe, as I thought. It's also here.

ASTRID: What is that?

WALTER: (checking his monitor) It's the Limbic System. Limbic! The emotional center of the brain. Emotion... Yes. Astrid, get me the epinephrine.

OLIVIA: (still in the chamber) The fungus has a hold on Agent Lee. He requires immediate medical help.

BROYLES: (over the radio) We're assembling a team now. Does the fungicide appear to be working?

OLIVIA: Negative. The organism's still alive. I don't know why, but it's not working.

WALTER: The link is emotional. Gus doesn't have a hold on him. He has a hold on it. (to Aaron) I'm sorry, son. (injects epinephrine into his neck) Aaron! Aaron! Listen to me! Aaron! Aaron! (holding to his neck and jostling) Good boy, good boy. I know you're scared, but you need to let go of the organism.

AARON SNEDDON: (groggily) No... It's my friend. (saddened) No. I'll be alone.

WALTER: I know you've come to believe that it's your friend, but it's not real. It's something that's invaded your mind. It's hurting you.

AARON SNEDDON: Nobody cares. It doesn't matter.

ASTRID: (studying the monitor) Walter, his blood pressure is still falling. His organs are shutting down.

WALTER: (earnest) You matter to me. I care, and I... And I don't want to lose you. I can't lose you. (somber) Not again. Aaron... I know how hard it is to make connections. I know what it is to be lonely. It takes courage to be the one to take someone else's hand, to trust that they won't leave you. (upbeat) I won't leave you, Aaron. And I'm begging you not to leave me. Please. Let it go. Let it go. Please. Let it go, son.

ASTRID: Walter... I think it's working. He's stabilizing.

OLIVIA: (as Lee is nearly engulfed. watches as the walls of the chamber start to creak. on the radio) This is Dunham. Uh, something's happening.

ASTRID: Their brain waves have separated. Uh...It's gone. (amazed)

OLIVIA: It's working! The organism's dying. (dragging Lee clear of his bonds) Okay... we need a medical team down here now! Lincoln, can you hear me? It's okay. It's okay. You're gonna be fine. You're gonna be fine.

AGENT LEE: (breathing heavily) Hey.

OLIVIA: Hey.

AGENT LEE: (exasperated. light-hearted jab) You look a little freaked out. You wanna talk about it?

ACT VI Walter's Lab - Releasing Aaron

WALTER: (after Astrid rolls Aaron out in a wheelchair) Here. You take him. (offering-up the action figure he previously grabbed in anger)

AARON SNEDDON: No, he's yours.

WALTER: He'd be better off with you. Toys are meant to be played with. Yeah, I've seen the movie with the talking toys. Oddly disturbing.

ASTRID: (after Aaron accepts the offering) Okay, Aaron, we gotta get you to the hospital, or they're gonna give your room away to somebody who's really sick.

AARON SNEDDON: (to Walter) Aren't you coming too?

WALTER: Well, I very much wish I could... (sees another haunting image in the fire extinguisher glass) But I have things I need to do. We'll see each other again soon, I promise.

Walter's Lab - A Shared Vision?

(alone now, Walter takes a book from the shelf and prepares medical instruments at his desk for a little work on himself)

OLIVIA: (returns to the lab) Walter? Astrid told me the good news about Aaron. I knew you'd figure... Walter? Walter? (checks Walter's office and finds the doctor has initiated a self-lobotomy)

WALTER: (about the metal probe lodged between his left eye and the bridge of his nose) It's alright. The area is completely numb. I -- I know exactly what I'm doing. Just let me do this.

OLIVIA: (calmly) Just gonna put the hammer down. (covers Walter's eye with a white cloth. removes the medical instrument.) Walter... What the hell were you thinking? (calmly administers first-aid)

WALTER: (sullen) I don't want to be recommitted. I can't go back there. Please don't send me back.

OLIVIA: What are you talking about?

WALTER: I'm going insane. I've been having hallucinations. No matter what I do, they won't stop.

OLIVIA: What kind of hallucinations, Walter?

WALTER: For weeks now. I was afraid to tell anyone.

OLIVIA: What are you seeing?

WALTER: It doesn't matter. (overwhelmed)

OLIVIA: Just tell me.

WALTER: A person. A young man. His voice is in my head, saying peculiar things.

OLIVIA: (reveals the sketch she has been working on) Does he look like this?

WALTER: Where did you get this?

OLIVIA: I drew it from memory. I've been seeing him in my dreams for the past three weeks.

WALTER: And all this time... I thought I was losing my mind, that he was a figment of my psychosis. (sniffles) I'm perfectly sane!

OLIVIA: Here.

WALTER: Who is he?

OLIVIA: I don't know. I've been running facial recognition through inter-agency databases, including Interpol, but nothing's shown up.

WALTER: (motivated) A shared vision like this... He must be real! And if he's real... We have to find him.

 

Source  : Fringepedia