- Micki is captured by a deranged scientist who uses an antique silver syringe to extract brain fluids from prostitutes.
- A doctor believes that a cursed syringe holds the secret to curing his daughter's "hyper-violence" - by letting him tap into the seat of the human soul, in the brains of his victims, and injecting their humanity into his daughter. First Micki's friend Linda and then Micki herself become the doctor's next "donors".—Gislef
- Dr. Warren Voss puts on classical music on his car's stereo, and drives around looking for a prostitute to pick up. He finds one by herself on a street corner, parks nearby, and she gets in when he looks significantly at her. Warren drives to his home in the country and takes the prostitute, Lesley Averlan, inside. He tells her to make a drink while he checks on his daughter, Amanda.
Warren goes upstairs and goes to a room. He peers through the peephole and sees Amanda on her bed, strapped down and pulling against the straps while screaming.
In the downstairs study, Lesley warms herself by the fireplace and then pours drinks. Warren comes in and leads Lesley to a room beneath the stairs. There's a combination laboratory and workshop inside, and Warren tells Lesley that he's a scientist and that's where he works. Warren has her get up on a gurney, and she says that it will cost him extra. He says that cost is no object and he would prefer to have her dressed.
Lesley gets on the gurney and Warren straps her down. He says that he's studying hyper-violence and takes out an antique silver syringe, searching for the section of the brain that controls a person's desire to hurt someone else. Warren muzzles Lesley with his hand and jabs the syringe into her neck, extracting a fluid from her brain.
Going upstairs, Warren enters Amanda's room and forcibly injects the brain fluid into his daughter. She passes out and Warren unfastens her straps and calls her name, hugging her.
The next day at Curious Goods, Ryan and Jack read an article about Lesley's disappearance and how it's the fifth in the last month. Jack figures they don't have anything more to go on than the police. Mickey comes in with her college roommate Linda, and they talk about how expensive finding an apartment for her to move in to is. Jack and Ryan assure her that it's no imposition her staying there until she finds a place.
Warren meets with Dr. Henry Chadway, who warns Warren that he's only delaying Amanda's deterioration. Chadway sympathizes with Warren staying with Amanda after his wife left, but warns that it will be devastating when Warren eventually fails to save his daughter. Warren refuses to send Amanda to a State hospital even though Chadway has drawn up the papers,
Amanda comes out at her father's call, and is perfectly calm. Chadway stares at her in astonishment, and once Warren sends her back to play, Chadway wonders how it's possible. Warren only says that she's getting better, and insists that the disease Amanda is suffering from is in remission. However, he refuses to let Chadway examine Amanda, saying that he'll be her doctor from now on. Chadway offers to get Warren a nurse, but Warren insists he can take care of Amanda on h is own.
Later in his lab, Warren tries to analyze the composition of the fluid he's extracting from the women and injecting into Amanda. The fluid he has injected into his primate animal test subjects calms them down, while the down becomes increasingly bestial. Lesley is locked up in a cage, bestial herself, and Warren calmly enters her cage and tries to chloroform her unconscious. Lesley pushes past himself and runs out into the house. Lesley runs outside, snarling and drooling, and Warren chases after her.
Ryan and Linda are driving down the road and Linda thanks Ryan and the others for providing her with a "family". Lesley runs out onto the road in front of them and they accidentally hit her. Linda, driving, is shocked. Ryan runs to check on Lesley, and realizes that she's alive as she clutches at his throat and begs for his help. He runs to a nearby phone booth to call an ambulance, and Linda goes over to check on Lesley, who has passed out.
Warren arrives and knocks Ryan out, and then he runs at Linda. Linda gets into the car and tries to drive away, but Warren gets to her first and chloroforms her unconscious. Ryan, dazed, sees Warren take Linda away, but then passes out.
Later, Ryan wakes up and calls to Linda. However, he gets no answer.
At his lab, Warren puts on a tape of classical music. Linda wakes up and finds herself strapped to a gurney. Warren apologizes and says that she's going to help him find a cure for Amanda. He uses the syringe to extract fluid from her brain, resolves to continue to taking sample until the exact location of the brain that the fluid is produced is determined, and then remove the specific tissue and implant it in Amanda's brain.
Micki and Jack go to the police station where Ryan has been taken. The detective says that they identified the dead woman as one of the five missing prostitutes, although in her feral state like Ryan saw her she doesn't look like the woman the police have a photo of. he says that the hospital reported that there were needle marks in Lesley's throat, and judging from the bruises someone was keeping her caged. The detective figures that whoever kidnapped Lesley has Linda as well.
The next morning, Warren wakes Amanda up in her bed and tells her that soon her headaches will be done and she'll be just like it was. Then they'll get Amanda's mother back, and Warren promises that he won't let anything bad happen to Amanda again. Warren goes to get Amanda's breakfast ready.
Later, Nurse Shiller arrives at the house. When Warren answers the door, Shiller introduces herself and explains that Chadway sent her. Chadway has had a court send Shiller, and the court ordered that Shiller makes sure Warren doesn't administer any treatment to Amanda that hasn't been prescribed by Chadway.
Amanda gets out of her bed and picks up one of her stuffed animals. She rubs her brow as one of her "headaches" comes on, then rips apart the stuffed animal as one of her "spells" of hyper-violence comes on.
At the shop, Ryan insists that the woman he saw wasn't the Lesley in the photo, and was more animal than human. He describes what little he can of Warren, including the fact he was wearing a lab coat. Jack checks the manifest, figuring that an item from the store is being used.
Warren goes to see Chadway at his office and insists that he had no right to go to the court. Chadway says that he had no choice, and asks Warren what he's up to with Amanda. Warren says that he's one step from a cure, and describes the area of the brain that he's exploring that is the seat of the human soul. He figures that if he can transplant it into Amanda, he should cure her. Chadway wonders how Warren found it, and when Warren avoids the question his friend says that he's going to call the state hospital and ask them to collect Amanda in the morning. He tells Warren that if he touches her before the next morning when they come from Amanda, he'll see Warren in prison.
The trio find an entry on the syringe in the manifest, that was from the collection of Dr. Thomas Newcream and sold to Henry Chadwick. Newcream was a Chicago doctor and mass murderer in London, who said that he was Jack the Ripper. All of Newcream's victims were prostitutes. Chadway is listed at the Chadway/Voss Institutes, which deals in clinical psychiatry. Jack and Ryan go to talk to Chadway, while Micki canvas the area where the accident happened to find anyone who saw or heard anything if Leslie was escaping from somewhere nearby.
That night, Shiller feeds a bedridden Amanda soup but Amanda refuses to eat. Warren comes in and tells Shiller not to antagonize Amanda in case she triggers an attack. When Warren tells Shiller to go, she insists that it's her job to look after Amanda. Warren grabs Shiller and shoves her out, then goes to the non-responsive Amanda. She throws the soup at him, and Warren takes out the syringe and grabs his daughter. Shiller comes back and sees Warren inject Amanda with the brain fluid, and flees in horror before Warren sees her.
Micki pulls up outside and approaches the house.
Warren finds Shiller calling the authorities, and tells her to get off the phone. When Shiller threatens to send him to jail, he grabs her. Micki arrives at the front door just as Warren struggles with Shiller and accidentally throws her over the balustrade to the floor below. Voss hears Micki knocking, turns off the lights, and opens the door. Micki comes in and finds Shiller's body, and Warren knocks her out with a vase from behind.
After burying Shiller's body in the forest, Warren returns to his lab. Micki is in a cage, tied up, and sees Linda on a nearby gurney. Linda is a feral animal who snarls at Micki. Warren comes in and uses the syringe to extract more brain fluid from Linda. He tells Micki that it's too late to let them go. Micki tells him that the syringe is cursed and making him kill people, and Warren insists that he won't use it again after that night. He tells Micki that he's going to look for Linda's soul,
Ryan and Jack meet with Chadway, who is trying to reach Shiller after hearing her call. He says that his hobby is collecting medical antiquities and remembers the syringe, and Jack says that the syringe has been involved in a number of murders. Chadway discovers that the syringe is missing from his desk, and Warren had research to his office until Chadway fired him. The psychiatrist explains that they were studying hyper-violent syndrome caused by a virus, and he left an infected needle within reach of Amanda. The guilt affected Warren's behavior and Chadway had to let him go. Ryan asks where Warren's address is.
Warren puts on classical music and operates on Linda, trying to cut out the section of her brain that contains her soul. When Micki begs him to stop, Warren insists that he can save hundreds of innocent children at the cost of Linda's life. When Micki protests, Warren gags her.
Ryan and Jack take a taxi to the address that Chadway gave them. Jack figures that the syringe can extract humanity from his victims and inject it into his daughter
Warren prepares to operate and says that he can't use anesthesia because it would weaken the brainwaves that he's monitoring. He cuts open Linda's skull and searches for the "seat" of the soul. Once Warren is done, he finds the "seat" and says that Amanda can be normal once he replaces the tissue. To do so he needs uninfected tissue... from Micki. Warren enters the cage and uses the syringe on Micki. Once he's done, Warren goes to Amanda's bedroom.
Ryan and Jack arrive and see the car parked outside, and go into the house.
Warren takes Amanda down to the lab and assures her that everything will be fine.
Jack uses his lockpicks to break into the house.
Warren straps Micki and Amanda down, and prepares to operate to transfer the tissue.
Jack and Ryan break in and search the house. Ryan finds Amanda's bedroom and the straps on her bed.
Jack finds the locked lab door, and calls to Ryan as Ryan comes back downstairs. They start breaking in the door, interrupting Warren before he can cut into Micki's skull. Warren extracts more of the fluid from Micki, and tells her that she'll help him and Amanda escape.
Ryan breaks down the door and goes to Micki, unaware that Warren is hiding behind the lab animal cages with Amanda before taking his daughter out. Meanwhile, Ryan and Jack free Micki, who goes berserk and attacks them. Upstairs, Warren sits Amanda down and grabs a rifle from his study to defend himself.
After punching Micki unconscious, Ryan and a recovered Jack strap her to a gurney. Warren prepares to shoot them, but Amanda has another fit of hyper-violence. She leaps on her father and attacks her, and she bites his hand as he tries to inject her with the syringe. Ryan runs up just as Amanda shoves Warren over the gallery balcony into the lab below. Warren lands on a case, shattering it and dying. Jack takes the syringe from his hand, while Ryan traps Amanda by closing the doors on the gallery.
Later at the shop, Jack tells Ryan that Micki is in her bedroom and slowly recovering. The syringe is back in the vault, and Amanda is locked up at the mental hospital. Ryan wonders what would have happened if Warren had found a cure for hyper-violence, and Jack asks if anyone should suffer like Micki did to find a cure... even if Warren did it for love.
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