Chpt10 Ep12: "The Werther Box"

Chpt10 Ep12: "The Werther Box" is an episode in the series Power Rangers: Omniverse

Plot
In St. Louis in 1973, a young girl by the name of Suzie is sent to the basement by her mother to store some belongings in their new home. In the basement, Susie notices a place marked “X” on the wall and then she picks up a sledgehammer nearby and breaks through the wall. Looking inside, she finds a hidden room that contains a small, metal safe. The Men of Letters’ Aquarian star emblem is visible on the safe.When Suzie attempts to open it she is knocked by a force from the box, which release a green pillar of smoke that travels past Suzie and then through upstairs. When Suzie awakens, she is disoriented and heads upstairs, looking for her family; she finds her father dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in one room, followed by witnessing her brother hang himself in the entryway of the house. Shocked by what is going on, Suzie eventually finds her mother in the kitchen repeating the line, "Everything is going to be okay" before slicing her own throat open with a butcher knife.

In the present day, back to the moment Hunter meets with Rita Repulsa and asks for her help in decoding the Book of the Damned in hopes to remove the Mark of Cain from Kurt.

Rita

There’s only one thing you could possibly do for me that I can’t, at least presently, do for myself. That is...to kill my son. He’s expecting it from me. Already has his stinking demons on high alert. And if you’re wondering how a mother can get to the point of wanting her own son –

Hunter

No, I’m really not. I’ll do it. I’ll kill Crowley. First things first – can you read the book?

Rita

Of course I can. I’m likely the only witch alive who can understand such old...dark...magic. Just not in its present form.

Hunter

Great, I'll be taking my leave then.

Rita

Hey [grips Hunter's arm] you’re not going anywhere, boy. I’m your mortal enemy. I’ve tried to kill you and your brother – your brother as recently this month. You wouldn’t have come to me if I wasn’t your last resort. You’re desperate. You can stop pretending you’re not. Now, I can’t read the book in its present form, but, there is someone who could. Nadya. A Grand Coven witch.

Hunter

Where do I find her?

Rita

You don’t. She’s dead. Long ago. Murdered for her life’s work. But her decryption formulas, her...codex… That you can find. Bring me Nadya’s codex, and I’ll break the book's text right open and give you your cure.

Hunter

Where do I look?

Rita

If I were you, I’d start whatever "bunker" you and Kurt are huddled in. Who do you think murdered Nadya and stole the codex in the first place?

Hunter

[realizing] The Men of Letters.

As they're discussing, Hunter gets a text on his cell phone from Kurt: “Hitting a vamp nest in Tulsa. Join if you want.”

Meanwhile, Kurt, in his White Dino Ranger form, just finishes beheading a vampire inside a filthy trailer. He walks outside where it shows over a couple of dead vampires throughout and uses water from a large drum to clean the blood from his hands and from his Drago Sword. He unmorphs as he prepares to drink a beer he finds in an outdoor refrigerator. Hunter then arrives on the scene and rushes over to him. In disbelief, Hunter chides Kurt for not waiting for him. Kurt dismissively says that he killed 8 vampires solo, and needed to kill something to take the edge off (referring to the effects of the Mark). He accuses Hunter of looking at him like he’s a “diseased killer puppy”, continues to be dismissive and refuses to discuss the matter further and heads back towards the Impala.

Later back at the bunker, Kurt is asleep in his room while Hunter goes through the MoL library files looking for information on the codex Rita mentioned. His search leads him to a tape recording of Cuthbert Sinclair’s (Magnus’) expulsion hearing from the order in May, 1956. It turns out the expulsion of Magnus from the Men of Letters was due to creating the Werther Box to protect the codex from the Grand Coven and even, from the Men of Letters themselves. Having the box to be sealed with a lethal warding spell that is 98% fatal for those who comes near it and how two MoL's members tried to open the box and died. Leading to putting Magnus on trial in the recordings. It then mentions that the Box was hidden at the Men of Letters Chapter House in St. Louis.

With the information given, it leads Hunter to Suzie's home –- now known as the "St Louis Suicide House" (after the events that happened in 1973). When Hunter tries to enter the home by picking the lock, he is forced away at gun point by Suzie. However Kurt appears, thinking Hunter is hunting on his own to teach him a lesson. Hunter tells Kurt a half truth – that he is after the Werther Box to protect anyone else from its effects. With Kurt's arrival, they come up with a plan for Hunter to sneak into the basement, while Kurt distracts Suzie upstairs. When Hunter finds the box, he goes about performing the Cabirian invocation to disenchant the box, however the spell does not work, and Hunter ends up releasing the security measure, which affects himself, Suzie and Kurt.

Suzie is then beset by visions of her deceased family members, blaming her for what happened and urging her to join them. Suzie holds out for as long as she can, before ultimately turning her gun on herself. When Hunter gets to her body, he is confronted by the ghost of the recently dead Suzie, who blames him and Kurt for getting her killed, and attempts to guilt him into committing suicide, however Hunter is unfazed by her taunts, suddenly Rita appears and gets rid of the Suzie manifestation. The two then head to the Werther Box to break the enchantment. Hunter is able to translate the Latin on the vault which read, "To silence the box... slake its thirst... with... the blood of our own" and realizes it requires the blood of the Men of Letters to shut the enchantment down, and proceeds to bleed himself into a container in front of the box.

While Hunter is attempting to shut down the Werther Box, Kurt has become immersed in his own hallucination, being transported to Purgatory, where he is met by his former ally, Benny (the vampire). Moments later, Kurt and Benny are now walking through purgatory together, but despite Benny's insistent pleading, Kurt is refusing to talk to Benny because he knows Benny isn't real and he isn't truly back in purgatory. Benny tries to trick Kurt into trusting him, telling Kurt that if he's just in Kurt's mind, how can he mislead him. Kurt keeps walking, trying to get out of purgatory, but after several attempts he realizes he's walking in circles and can't get out that way. Kurt confronts the Benny apparition, insisting that he needs a way out of purgatory. But Benny challenges Kurt, asking why Kurt's hallucination would put him in purgatory unless Kurt somehow wants to be there. Benny reminds Kurt about what he once said about the "purity" of purgatory, reminding Kurt that in purgatory he doesn't have to go looking for a fight; that if he's still for one moment, the fight will find him. He tries to convince Kurt that the constant fight and the ability to kill without consequence is the purity he craves. Kurt then admits that he's tired of fighting, but Benny reminds him that the Mark isn't. Benny tells Kurt that he's in a bind because he can't leave purgatory, but doesn't want to stay. So Benny offers Kurt a third way out -- suggesting that he kill himself. Considering this, he tells Benny that he always did love it in purgatory, and that it's as good a place as any to call it a day. But then he turns to Benny and says that the "real" Benny would never let him kill himself. Kurt also says that the Mark won't let him die either. Reluctantly, Kurt stabs Benny with his blade. As the hallucination of Benny evaporates, the spell of the Werther Box is broken and Kurt zapped back into reality in the house, awake and out of his daze.

Once out of his trance like state, Kurt finds Hunter next to the Werther Box, who is in a weakened state from the blood loss. When he tells Kurt that he can't stop, because the box needs legacy blood, Kurt cuts his own wrist and bleeds on the box. Having gotten enough legacy blood, the Werther Box opens, revealing that Rita had been a figment of the Werther spell, to get Hunter to kill himself. Inside, reveals the codex that Hunter has been trying to acquire.

In the aftermath, Hunter is looking through the codex while waiting for Kurt in the Impala (parked around the back of the house). Kurt emerges from the house with a sledge hammer slung over his shoulder. Hunter suggests that since the enchantment is broken, the box is just a box, so destroying it was overkill. But Kurt says that the box can now be used as scrapped metal anyway. He then asks if Hunter is okay. Hunter is clearly still weak, but says he'll be fine. Kurt comments that after only an hour apart, the spell had them both near the brink of death, and that they should know by now that they're stronger together than apart. Kurt also apologizes for going after the vampire nest alone, but Hunter tells him not to apologize. Kurt asks what could be so valuable that it takes such a nasty spell to protect it. But Hunter lies, saying he has no idea, but whatever it is they'll keep it safe.

The following day, Rita Repulsa arrives at an abandoned building where she previously agreed to meet Hunter there. When she arrives, Hunter is waiting for her, and he has the codex and the Book of the Damned sitting on a table. Rita is thrilled and surprised that Hunter was able to get the codex.

Rita

Oh, you’ve finally got it!

Rita begins turning pages of the codex.

Hunter

Is it enough to translate the book? To find a cure for the Mark?

Rita

Oh, qui my lad.

Hunter

Good.

Suddenly, Hunter slaps iron shackles with warding sigils on Rita's wrists and she discovers she is being chained to a pillar nearby.

Rita

[grows an angered look] What in the hell is all this?

Hunter

Insurance. Comfortable?

Rita

We had an ageeement, squirrel.

Hunter

And the agreement stands. You will decrypt the Book of the Damned and find me a cure for my brother. And that is ALL you will get from the book. After it's done, I’ll burn the book, and then I’ll kill Crowley. But until then…

Rita

I’m your slave? You can’t—you can’t just leave me here!

Hunter

You want out? Then hurry up. Get to work.

Rita

Ugh! You big bampot!

Hunter leaves Rita behind as she rants on and he shuts the doors of the building.