"Not Fade Away"
Things pick up where they left off at the end of the previous episode ("Power Play") in Angel's office, the gang raising their hands, one by one, in response to his asking them to consider his plan and decide if it's worth dying for.
Angel looks around at the raised hands and raises his own. "Then we're all agreed."
Spike answers glumly, "Yeah, we're all one big happy Manson family."
Gunn wonders if they intend to take on the Circle as a single entity as Wes retrieves his shotgun from the floor.
Angel says they can't, "The Circle of the Black Thorn is the most powerful group in this plane of existence. Together, they'd vaporize us. But separated, they're just demons."
Wes extends his hand for his handgun, which Angel hands back to him. "When do we make our move?"
Angel answers, "Soon. In the meantime, we have to keep up the infighting. The Circle needs to believe we're coming apart at the seams."
Gunn asks about Illyria.
Angel asks, "What about her?"
Gunn thinks she could be useful. "Move like this, wouldn't hate havin' blue thunder in our corner."
Angel is wary. "Can't trust she'll come down on our side."
Lorne tries to offer assurance, "Trust me, she's housebroken. She was baby-sitting Drogyn --"
Angel cuts him off, "She was with Drogyn?"
Spike offers, "Oh, relax. The two of them were gettin' on well enough."
Angel tells the others they need to get back to her straight away.
They want to know why.
Angel tells them, "Drogyn's dead."
Spike stalks toward him, "And, uh, how do you know that, Kreskin?"
Angel quietly admits, "Because I killed him."
A stunned Spike reacts, "What?!?"
Angel punches him in the face.
Spike doesn't take that well, "Ow! You son of a --" He takes a swing but misses. Angel grabs him by the throat and holds him, Spike's back to his chest, just as Hamilton enters.
Hamilton offers his apologies for the interruption. "Sorry, didn't know you were ... in conference."
Angel shoves Spike away, "I was just making a closing statement." He looks at the others, "Unless somebody didn't hear me." As they file out of the office, Angel adds, "Goes for you too, Wes. Illyria's your responsibility. Make sure she doesn't get twitchy." He firmly shuts the door.
Hamilton notes Angel has a problem.
Angel doesn't figure it's Hamilton's concern. He walks back to his desk.
Hamilton clarifies, "Oh, not me, your new friends, the Black Thorn. They're very concerned."
Angel suggests they send him a memo, he's busy running the business. He takes a seat behind the desk.
Hamilton makes it clear he's not asking, "You can tell them yourself. They want to see you right now." He turns and heads out of the office. "No rest for the wicked."
Spike, Gunn, Lorne and Wes arrive at Spike's trashed apartment where they find Illyria, lying on her stomach on the floor, unconscious.
Wes kneels down and gently turns her onto her back, calling her name. She opens her eyes, he helps her sit up while continuing to support her.
Spike asks, "Who did this to you?"
She answers, "It was Hamilton. Took Drogyn."
Lorne is nervous. "Straight to his buddy, Angel. I'm telling you our fearless leader has fearlessly lost it. There's no part of this that makes any sense. We could be next."
Gunn doesn't think they're under any surveillance.
Lorne tells him he wasn't expressing those thoughts for an audience. "I tell you, I still don't trust the man."
Gunn says they don't have to, "We just gotta pray the Black Circle does."
The members of the Circle of the Black Thorn are meeting in a dimly lit room, seated around a rectangular table with their symbol in the center of it. Sebassis is seated at the head of the table, Angel at the opposite end. The members (except Angel) chant. "... of the world's woe, now convene. All is bound by the Circle and its thorns. Invisible, inviolate. We, the seeds of the storm at the center of the world's woe, now convene."
Sebassis lifts a glass to his lips and takes a drink of the blue liquid. He looks at Angel, "The Circle doesn't abide secrets."
Angel snipes, "Which is interesting for a secret society."
Sebassis doesn't appreciate the display of insolence, "Remember your place, vampire." He claps his hands to summon his black speedo clad demon slave who is standing against the wall behind him, blindfolded.
Angel is undeterred. "My place is in the Circle."
Sebassis informs him, "This morning's insurrection did not go unnoticed."
Angel knows he's referring to his "people."
Sebassis confirms that, "They tried to kill you. An embarrassing affront, to say the least."
Cyvus Vail agrees, "And the stepping stone to disaster. You have ascended, Angel. You should not be burdened with this kind of --" His comments are cut off by a sudden attack of wheezing and gasping. The demon slave is sucking one of the tubes connected to Vail's ever present IV trolley. Vail bats at the slave. "Sebassis!Your manservant has become tangled in my bodily fluids again!"
Angel slaps an open hand against the slave's chest.
The slave responds with a high pitched "Eep!" as he's forced back.
Angel looks at Sebassis, "My people are the problem."
Sebassis confirms "some" of them are.
Angel wonders who "didn't make the cut."
Vail wheezes an answer. "We're interested in Mr. Wyndham-Pryce. He seems intriguingly unstable."
Senator Brucker adds, "Mr. Gunn, on the other hand, does not. Which is a pity. He had so much potential."
Sebassis notes they have a more pressing concern.
Angel offers, "If the next words out of your mouth are 'kill Spike'? We just might have to kiss."
Sebassis dismisses that. "Spike is not the threat. You are." He gestures to Izzy who is seated next to Angel. Izzy lays an ornate cylindrical case on the table, opens it and removes the parchment scroll from inside. As he unwinds it, Sebassis continues, "You've proven your loyalty to the Circle. Regrettably, there is something stronger than loyalty. Hope."
Izzy slides the scroll toward Angel who recognizes it. "This is the Shanshu prophecy."
Sebassis confirms it's the original.
Senator Brucker begins to sum up the contents of the prophecy. "The vampire with a soul will play a pivotal role in the apocalypse."
Vail finishes it, "And, as a reward, will become human."
Sebassis notes, "A paranoid person might think you're trying to manipulate us in an attempt to fulfill this prophecy."
Angel assures him he doesn't want to become human.
Sebassis is glad to hear it. "Then you won't mind signing that pesky future away. Through that document the prophecy can be undone." Angel looks down at the document Izzy has placed in front of him as Sebassis continues. "Your signature there will remove any possibility that you will ever earn your once precious humanity. Will you sign it?"
Angel agrees, "Of course", as he reaches for the pen. He groans as Izzy stabs him through the back side of his other hand and informs him it has to be signed in blood.
Angel glares as he dislodges the pen from his hand and signs the document.
Angel is standing in front of the window in his office, bathed in the sunlight, protected by the necro-tinted glass. Harm comes in, she was wondering where everyone was.
Angel continues staring out the window. "You ever miss it?"
She doesn't answer.
He asks, "You were turned, what, five years ago?"
Harm realizes what he's talking about. "Oh, that. Yeah, graduation night." She thinks about it a moment. "I don't know. It's weird. Part of me always knew life would end after high school. I was very popular, you know. The whole 'golden years' thing."
Angel remains facing the window, his back to her. "I don't remember what it was like ... being human. It was too long ago."
Harm takes a few steps into the office. "It's not so great; zits, dandruff, mortality. Although, I do remember ... my heart." She smiles at the recollection. "And the way it would thump when I kissed a really hot boy for the first time." Her smile fades, "That was cool." After a moment she asks, "Angel? Something's going down, isn't it?" He turns to face her. "And everybody's in on it except me."
He tells her she's not a part of it.
She insists she could be. "I'm your assistant, after all. I could .. I don't know ... assist you or something."
Angel mentions Hamilton and tells her he's meeting with Archduke Sebassis later. He'd like to keep that meeting "out of the loop."
Harm reckons "out of the loop" fits her quite well.
Angel tells her he needs Hamilton distracted. "I don't care how. Throw some punches at him, some files, just keep him busy for as long as you can."
As he heads out of the office, Harm asks what he's off to do now.
He answer, "One more thing I don't want to."
In a small office at W&H, Angel is meeting with Lindsey who responds to what he's been told, "You gotta be joking. Why on God's green and verdant earth would I trust you, huh? Or you trust me?"
Angel tells him it's not about the two of them. "It's about them; the Wolf, the Ram, the Hart. The ones we've been fighting against forever."
Lindsey notes Angel can't beat them.
Angel knows this. "Maybe they're not there to be beat. Maybe they're there to be fought. Maybe fighting them is what makes human beings so remarkably strong."
Lindsey gets up from the chair he's sitting in and sits on the edge of the table. "You're not talking about the kind of strength human beings have. This is not about coveting your neighbor's ass, your buddy's job, the last Malomar in the box. You're talking about fighting flesh and something that passes for blood demons with enormous power. And they will mow you down."
Angel isn't sure of that, "Maybe .. but I keep thinking that once this world was theirs and ... now it's not."
Lindsey wonders, "Isn't it?"
Angel tells him, "Give me the 'hell on earth' speech, Lindsey. I know how bad things are, how much sway the demons hold. I happen to be the greatest mass murderer you've ever met."
Lindsey responds, "I've never given you props for that, have I?"
Angel makes his point. "There's always going to be power and there's always going to be corruption."
Lindsey is still missing it, "So again, I ask you --"
Angel answers, "'Cause it's not what I'm expected to do. 'Cause you're good in a fight and lets say we come up rolling 7's and this thing does go our way. We tear up this firm, someone's going to have to step in. I know that's what you want. And I'm a lot more comfortable with the thought of you in that position than anyone else."
Lindsey smiles, "The devil you know."
Angel smiles slightly, "That'd be you."
Lindsey wonders, "And what if you roll snake eyes?"
Angel is sure Lindsey will handle it. "You'll talk your way out of it. You'll tell 'em I forced you to help me. Tell 'em I made my scary face."
Lindsey clarifies, he was asking about Angel. "You don't care about being squashed like a bug?"
Angel notes Lindsey hasn't heard anything he's said, "For like, years back." He walks around him to the other side of the office.
Lindsey admits when Angel gets speechy, he tends to zone out but he got the gist of it; "honor and humanity, absolute good. I heard it." He gets to his feet and takes a few steps toward Angel. "So here's the plot twist. I'm in."
Angel, who has his back to Lindsey, asks why.
Lindsey answers, "Everybody goes on about your soul. Vampire with a soul. Nobody ever mentions the fact that you're really a vampire with big brass testes. This is gonna be a circus. I mean, win or lose, you're about to pick the nastiest fight since mankind drop-kicked the last demon out of this dimension. And that, you don't do without me. You want me, I'm on your team."
Angel turns to face him. "I want you, Lindsey." He realizes how that sounded, "Thinking about rephrasing that."
Lindsey wishes he would, "Yeah, I think I'd be more comfortable if you did."
Illyria is lying on the bed at Spike's apartment. The others look on as Wes tells them she needs more care than he can provide. He needs some supplies from his place. He tells them to look after her for him.
Spike reckons they won't do any good if Hamilton returns.
Angel arrives, "Hamilton did this?"
Lorne wonders if he didn't already know that.
Angel notes Hamilton was the one who brought Drogyn.
Wes realizes what he's saying. "To the Circle. So you could kill him to prove you'd gone over."
Angel closes his eyes as Lorne snipes, "Yeah, say, any other tips on how to be a hero we could share with the boys and girls at home?"
Angel tries to explain. "I didn't have a choice. They would have killed us both if I --"
Gunn says they understand that, "We'd just like to know if they're gonna need any of the rest of us as proof."
Spike adds, "Pick us off one by one, you know?"
Angel says they won't, "We're killing 'em all tonight." He tells them to do something for themselves, take the day off.
Spike wonders what that's about.
Gunn is confused as well. "Angel, if we're planning to assassinate the power elite of the apocalypse tonight, shouldn't we be cowboyin' up?"
Angel assures him they'll be ready. "But today, I want you guys to go out. Live. Do whatever you want. Live the day like it's your last, 'cause it probably is."
Lorne is on-stage at a karaoke bar, singing.
Angel enters a coffee shop, walks up to a table and offers a greeting, "Hi."
Connor looks up from the books and paperwork he's immersed in, surprised.
Spike is in a bar, downing shots. A guy runs into him from behind, shoving him against the burly guy next to him. He shoots Spike a stern glare in response. Spike looks at the bartender, "Nice crowd."
The bartender pours him another drink, "It can get pretty ugly in here, I gotta warn ya."
Spike downs the shot, "What I'm after." He slams the empty glass onto the bar top, awaiting another refill. "Couple more shots of courage and I may make my presence felt."
The bartender refills the glass, "Your funeral."
Spike notes, "Well, I never had a proper one." He downs the shot.
Anne ("Blood Money") is outside of the shelter, loading boxes and furniture into a truck. Gunn approaches, a broad smile on his face, and greets her with a hug. "Annie, how you doin'?"
She says she's doing pretty well, "We got a bunch of furniture donated. Gotta move this stuff to the new shelter."
He notes she's still "fighting the good fight."
She asks how things are "uptown" as she picks up a chair and he retrieves a large box marked "kitchen stuff" to load onto the truck.
He answers, "More fight, less good. Seen Rondell or the guys? I hit some of the old spots, didn't see anyone."
Anne says they should be around, they told her they'd help haul the stuff. "You know how it is though, things come up."
As they load the items, he asks if she has much trouble with vampires these days.
She says it never goes away completely but the boys help out. "We're pretty safe. Gives me time to concentrate on the little things; crack, runaways, abuse victims, psychotics. The old gang." They continue retrieving boxes and furniture to load up. She says it isn't so bad, they've had some good donations and it's helping. She proudly tells him, "We actually have a part-time, paid, psychiatric staff."
Gunn asks, "What if I told you it doesn't help? What would you do if you found out that none of it matters? That it's all controlled by forces more powerful and uncaring than we can conceive and they will never let it get better down here. What would you do?"
She answers, "I'd get this truck packed before the new stuff gets here."
Gunn nods.
She asks if he'd like to give her a hand.
He smiles, "I do."
They each lift up one end of a sofa on the count of three and move it to the truck.
At Spike's, Wes is mixing a healing concoction using a mortar and pestle.
Illyria is sitting on the edge of the bed. "I don't understand."
Wes soaks a strip of gauze in the mixture and tells her it will help her heal faster. "If you really plan to join us in this fight --"
Illyria is determined, "I will fight. I've been broken and humiliated. I will return in kind every blow, every sting. I will shred my adversaries. Pull their eyes out just enough to turn them towards their mewing, mutilated faces."
Wes walks toward her, carrying the gauze strip. "You're a very inspirational person. Have I mentioned that?" He gently pushes the hair back from her neck, revealing a nasty gash.
She looks up at him, "You're what I don't understand."
Wes wonders, "And that would be different because?"
As Wes carefully lays the gauze over the gash she says, "Angel told you to do whatever you wanted today. Tonight you may all be dead."
Wes notes, "Yes. Good point."
Illyria tells him, "I am not what you want."
He turns away from her and walks back across the room to his medicinal concoction, "No."
She lightly touches her neck, "Then why --"
Wes knows what she's asking. "Don't I go off and have one last, perfect day? Smell the flowers or skydive, or have a go with Mistress Spanks-a-lot or whatever the hell one is supposed to do in this situation." He returns to her side with another strip of gauze.
She asks, "Mistress who?"
As Wes lays the gauze on her neck he explains, "There is no perfect day for me, Illyria. There is no sunset or painting, or finely aged Scotch that's going to sum up my life and make tonight any .... there is nothing that I want."
Illyria knows, "You want to be with Fred."
He picks up a hand towel laying on the bed and dries his hands with it. "Yes. Yes, that's where I'd be if I could."
Illyria tells him, "I could assume her shape, make her come alive again this once for you ... But you would never ask me to."
Wes explains, "The first thing a Watcher learns is to separate truth from illusion because in the world of magicks, it's the hardest thing to do. The truth is that Fred is gone. To pretend anything else would be a lie. And since I don't actually intend to die tonight, I won't accept a lie."
After a moment he asks, "Is it better?"
She presses her hand gently to the gauze covered wound on her neck. "It's better."
Spike is in the same bar where he was downing shots previously, on-stage, sitting on a stool in front of a sign that says "McTarnan's Poetry Slam." He has a drink in one hand, his arm slung over a microphone stand. In the other hand he's holding a microphone close to his mouth as he recites a poem:
"My soul is wrapped in harsh repose
Midnight descends in raven-colored clothes
But soft — behold! — a sunlight beam
Cutting a swath of glimmering gleam
My heart expands — 'tis grown a bulge in it
Inspired by your beauty ... effulgent."
The crowd applauds. An appreciative Spike gets to his feet and thanks them, "That was for Cecily. All right, this next one's called 'The Wanton Folly of Me Mum!'"
At the coffee shop, Connor responds to Angel's apparently having told him about Nina. "So, she's a werewolf."
Angel adds, "And an art student. She does this great pottery. She made me a vase." He chuckles.
Connor figures, "But it's the wolf part that jones's you. There's some full moon love. Am I right? Fur flying?"
Angel looks at him blankly, "Huh?"
Connor reckons vampires don't get the concept of jokes.
Angel assures him he does, "I was at the first taping of the Carol Burnett Show. Tim Conway was on fire. It was special."
Connor informs him, "I know you're my father."
Angel looks downward a moment before looking back up at his son. "You got your memories back."
Connor nods, "Yeah, they're mixed in there with the new ones. Kind of like ... uh ... a bad dream I had, I guess. A very strange, and violent, at times inappropriately erotic ... dream."
Angel figures Connor must have a lot of questions.
Connor shakes his head, "No. I don't wanna make a thing. I get what you did. You know ... I'm grateful. That's as far as I wanna take it ... okay?"
Angel nods then looks at the papers spread out on the table, "So, what are ya working on?"
Connor answers, "I am, uh, applying for an internship. I'm supposed to write up a resumé."
Angel asks if he can help.
Connor wonders if he's ever composed a resumé before.
Angel concedes he hasn't, "But I have very nice handwriting."
Connor teases, "You girl."
In an office at W&H, Eve and Lindsey are reclining on a couch, kissing. She pulls back. He asks what she's thinking about.
She answers, "Angel."
Lindsey notes, "You simply couldn't have said a worse thing than that."
She sits up, telling him he knows what she means.
He understands and appreciates her concern, "It's nice to know you're one of the few things in my life he didn't get his mitts on, you know?"
Eve doesn't think Angel trusts Lindsey.
He tells her that's not what it's about. "It's about what he needs. And right now he needs every hand he can get. As long as I'm fighting on his side, he'll play me fair. When the smoke clears, then we'll see where we stand."
She asks if he's sure he can handle the Sahrvin ("Harm's Way").
Lindsey isn't concerned. "They're sending me in with karaoke boy, how tough can they be?"
Eve is troubled by that, "With Lorne?"
Lindsey puts his arms around her and asks, "What's up? You worried about his reading? Said your future was gonna be crappy? He's probably telling you that just to mess with you."
Eve agrees but doesn't sound convinced.
Lindsey tells her if things happen, he wants her to stay away from it. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. Damn, girl, you gave up immortality for me. It's like something out of a fairy tale. ("Underneath")
She notes they don't live in a fairy tale.
He kisses her. The conversation ends as things heat up between them.
Angel, Spike, Gunn, Wes, Lorne and Illyria are gathered at Spike's apartment. Angel tells the others, "This may come out a little pretentious but, one of you will betray me."
Spike's hand shoots up into the air.
Angel says, "Wes."
Spike lowers his hand, disappointed. "Oh. Can I deny you three times?"
Angel finishes what he started to say, telling Wes, "Vail is the sorcerer of the bunch. You know that game, you've seen his place." [Flash to Vail in his mansion, shuffling alongside the table] "And he believes you'd make a play for my spot."
Wes doesn't think that sounds particularly flattering.
Angel tells him it will get Wes in the door. He looks at Illyria, "Illyria, Izzerial the devil, and three other members of the Circle dine together almost every night." [Flash to Izzy and his companions headed for his town car]
Illyria is ready, "I'll make trophies of their spines."
Angel is glad to have her on the team. He looks at Gunn, "Your friend, Senator Brucker, has a campaign office in west L.A." [Flash to Senator Brucker in her office, chatting on the phone] "You already know she's pure hellspawn and she tends to surround herself with vampires."
Gunn is looking forward to it. "I was hoping' it'd be vamps. Haven't dusted nearly enough this year." He notes Spike who's seated on the couch next to him, "No offense."
Spike says it's all right.
Angel looks at Spike and says his name.
Spike gets to his feet, "Right. First off, I'm not wearing any amulets. No bracelets, broaches, beads, pendants, pins, or rings."
Angel's good with that, "Fine. All you need is a rattle."
Spike realizes, "Ah, the baby."
Angel adds, "And a legion of the Fell Brethren." [Flash to the Fell] "I want the kid returned to his mother and the foster family dismembered."
Spike agrees, "Done and done."
Angel continues, "Archduke Sebassis has over 40,000 demons at his command." [Flash to Sebassis, reclining in a tub. His demon slave pops the cork in his wrist and bleeds his blue blood into the Archduke's glass which is set on top of a tray mounted across the tub] "The other members of the Council fear him. He's the key player, so he's mine."
He turns to a gloomy Lorne who has doubts, "Uh, I'm not a fighter, Angel wings. I never had the stomach for it. Looks like I'm your weak link."
Angel tells him he just needs him to back up Lindsey.
Wes isn't so sure of that decision. "Still can't believe you brought him in."
Angel answers, "He's part of this. It'll be just as dangerous for him as it will be for everyone else on our team."
Harmony is lying on her back in bed, wearing only her underwear. A trickle of blood leaks down the side of her mouth. A hand reaches out, sweeping the blood away with its thumb. The thumb is then offered to a now awakened and smiling Harmony, who sucks the blood off of it. "Mmmm. This just gets better and better every day.
She sits up, revealing who she's in bed with, Hamilton. She grabs a glass of blood from the table near the bed and snuggles next to him. "Anyway, about Angel's secret plan."
At Spike's, the gang prepares to depart. Gunn reckons they won't be going back to the office afterward.
Angel confirms that. "The alley, just north of the Hyperion. Everyone who makes it meets there. If we do any damage at all the Senior Partners are gonna rain hell on us. So be ready."
Lorne walks up to Angel. "I'll do this last thing for ya ... for us. But then I'm out. And you won't find me in the alley afterwards. Hell, you won't find me at all. Do me a favor. Don't try." He walks away.
As the others file out, Gunn notes the day went by quickly.
Illyria looks at him, "Try not to die. You are not unpleasant to my eyes."
Gunn offers thanks, "Uh .. you .. try not to die too." He reaches out and shakes Wes' hand, "Later then." He heads out the door.
Wes pauses a moment to look back at Angel. They lock eyes briefly, something unspoken passing between them. Wes turns and heads out, accompanied by Illyria.
Spike steps up beside Angel, "What do you think all this means for that Shanshu bugaboo? If we make it through this, does one of us get to be a real boy?"
Angel answers, "Who are you kidding? We're not gonna make it through."
Spike's okay with that, "Well, long as it's not you."
Cyvus Vail is seated at the end of his dining table, eating a repulsive looking stew of some sort. Wes is seated at the opposite end of the table. Vail wonders, "What makes you think I won't kill you where you sit?"
Wes answers, "Because you're smarter than the others. Smart enough to have your doubts about Angel. And rightly so. He's .. unpredictable and worse, he has a conscience."
Vail considers. "Well, you make a very persuasive argument."
Wes turns his palm upward under the table, a glowing, swirling energy ball appears. "Wait. It gets better."
A group of cloaked Fell Brethren are walking down a hall of their sanctuary together. A baby cries. One of the Brethren lags behind as the others walk on. He raises his head, revealing it's Spike.
Senator Brucker is in her campaign office, chatting on the phone. Gunn walks in and punches the minion who confronts him.
The Sahrvin are gathered in a bar, partaking of various activities; chatting, drinking, smoking water pipes. A sword pierces the door which is kicked in and falls to the floor. A dead demon is skewered to the door. Lindsey strides into the bar.
Izzy and his companions enter his town car. The driver puts the key into the ignition and turns on the headlights. The light illuminates Illyria who is standing directly in front of the car.
Angel exits the elevator into the upper floor lobby. Harmony is seated at her desk. Angel asks where Hamilton is.
Harm stands, "Records room. I've been keeping him busy like you said."
Angel tells her he's going to make a stop in his penthouse, she's to have his car ready. As he heads for the private elevator in his office he tells her to keep Hamilton busy.
Harm smiles, "No problemo, boss."
Angel steps off the elevator and into his penthouse. He walks over to an ornate wooden box, opens it, and removes a curved dagger from it. He turns when he hears the sound of the door opening.
Hamilton walks in, "Going out?"
Angel snipes, "Why? You wanna order in?"
Hamilton stalks toward him. "I hear you already have plans." He notes the dagger Angel is holding. "You gonna take that when you visit Sebassis?" Angel looks down at the dagger as Hamilton asks, "Why don't I think that's a gift?"
Angel makes a move to stab Hamilton but Hamilton punches him then throws him through a window. Angel crashes through the skylight below and lands in a heap in the upper floor lobby near Harmony's desk.
Harmony acts surprised. "Oh, my God!"
Angel gasps, "Hamilton."
Harmony babbles nervously. "He's not my boyfriend. I mean, I certainly didn't betray you."
Angel isn't buying, "Drop the act, Harm."
She insists, "It's not an act! I'm really this nervous."
Angel gets to his feet. "I knew you'd turn on me. I just didn't know when."
Harm's nervousness shifts to indignation. "What do mean you knew?"
Angel answers, "Loyalty really isn't high on your list."
Harm disagrees. "Oh, is that right? I'll have you know I am damn loyal, dumbass."
Angel points out, "You betrayed me. You are betraying me now, even as we are talking!"
Harmony has an excuse. "Because you never have any confidence in me!"
Angel answers, "No, because you have no soul!"
Harm insists, "I would if you had confidence in me!"
Hamilton enters the penthouse elevator.
In the lobby, Angel tells Harm to get out of the building.
Harm wonders if he's firing her.
He confirms that, "Among other things, yes."
She asks if she could get a recommendation.
Angel agrees, "Yeah, okay."
Harm notes, "But see .. if you don't so much live as the other thing ... how will I --"
He tells her it's in the desk.
She retrieves it as Hamilton steps out of Angel's office, into the lobby.
As they face off, Harmony wishes them good luck, "Um .. may the best man win?" She rushes out.
Angel punches Hamilton hard in the chest. It has no effect. He winces, sighs and pulls his hand back, shaking it. "Did that hurt at all?"
Hamilton admits, "A little bit." He grabs Angel by the throat and lifts him off the floor. "But it's all part of the job." He throws Angel across the lobby, through a pillar which crumbles.
Hamilton walks over to Angel, grabs him by the coat and jerks him to his feet. "The Senior Partners have expended an awful lot of time and resources on you. Personally, I would have told them not to bother." He throws Angel into the air, against the wall on the landing above the lobby. The wall beneath the "Wolfram and Hart" sign crumbles from the force of the impact.
Hamilton taunts as he walks up the steps toward Angel who's lying on the floor. "You're gutter trash and that's where you should have stayed. Drinking and whoring your way through an unremarkable life. But the fates stepped in and made you a vampire. With a soul, no less. A champion, a hero of the people." He reaches the top of the steps and continues stalking toward his prey. "And yet, you still managed to fail everyone around you. Doyle, Cordelia, Fred. They're all gone. Now it's time you followed."
He reaches out and grabs Angel, pulling him back to his feet. "Did you really think you were gonna kill Archduke Sebassis?"
Angel answers, "No, I think I already did."
Sebassis is relaxing in his tub. He takes a drink of the slave's blood from his glass and winces, realizing it doesn't taste right. He looks over and sees his demon slave lying on the floor, dead. Angel explains in voice-over, "I spiked his drink." [Flash to Angel punching the slave open handed at the earlier meeting of the Circle, revealing he had a ring with a sharp point extending from it turned inward that he jabbed the demon with when he shoved him] The Archduke's glass falls to the floor, shattering, as he dies.
Angel tells Hamilton, "I figured you were the one I needed to be alone with."
Hamilton wonders, "Why? So I could kill you?"
Angel concedes, "Well, I thought the fight would be going a little better."
Hamilton throws him over the railing, down onto the lobby floor.
At the Fell sanctuary, Spike retrieves the baby from its bassinet. "Hello, Junior. The name's Spike. And lucky for you, I'm on a strict diet." He turns to find three of the Fell blocking his way, armed with swords.
The Fell demand he return the baby to its bassinet.
Spike looks at the baby in his arm then back at the Fell. He doffs the cloak and charges them. Fight ensues.
At the Sahrvin bar, Lindsey is slashing the demons to bits with his sword.
At Vail's mansion, Cyvus goes flying through the air, landing hard on the floor, trashing his IV trolley in the process. Wes approaches him, "Your influence on this world is over. The rest of the Circle will wither and die." He holds out his hand, another glowing energy ball appears in his palm. "Like you're about to."
Cyvus is unimpressed. "You don't know who you're dealing with, do you, boy?" He groans as he gets to his feet. He reaches out his hand and pulls the energy ball from Wes' hand into his own. It disappears. "I mean, really. I crap better magic than this. Now then. Let me show you what a real wizard can do." He extends his hand, Wes winces.
Hamilton is still putting a beatdown on Angel in the W&H lobby. "Why do you keep fighting? You signed away your Shanshu. There's nothing in it for you anymore."
Angel punches him in the face, but it has no effect. "People who don't care about anything will never understand the people who do."
Hamilton punches back, sending Angel flying across the lobby. "Yeah, but we won't care."
He walks over to Angel, retrieves a large wooden splinter and prepares to stake him with it.
A surprising punch comes out of nowhere sending Hamilton flying through one of the hall windows. Connor asks, "Care about that, dress-for-less?" He assists Angel to his feet.
Angel asks what he's doing there.
Connor answers, "Come on. You drop by for a cup of coffee and the world's not ending? Please."
At Brucker's office, she maintains her phone conversation as her vampire minions attempt to deal with Gunn. Gunn pulls a hatchet he's concealed and tosses it, embedding it into Brucker's forehead, killing her. He quips, "Looks like you boys are going to have to find a new candidate." He turns toward the door only to find himself seriously outnumbered. "And you wonder why folks don't vote." He throws his arms out to his sides, discharging the stakes from the wrist mounted devices he's equipped himself with. Fight ensues.
Illyria walks away from what's left of Izzy's town car which is fairly well trashed.
Eve paces in Angel's office at W&H.
Lorne steps carefully through the body parts at the Sahrvin bar as Lindsey scrubs the blood from his hands at the sink.
Lindsey is pleased with the results of his assignment. "Those guys were chumps."
Lorne looks down at the carnage. "Now they're chunks. Demon strength or no, you're quite the master swordsman."
Lindsey gives Lorne credit for his part. "I couldn't have done it without that high note in 'MacArthur Park.'"
Lorne notes, "Slays 'em every time."
Lindsey asks if there's been any word on "the rest of the team."
Lorne answers, "For all I know we are the rest of the team. I haven't heard squat."
Lindsey says it's strange, his "saying team, and meaning it." He retrieves a towel and dries his hands. "I kind of like the feeling."
Lorne counters, "Yeah, today."
Lindsey asks if Lorne is done with the gang.
Lorne confirms that. "It really isn't my kind of work anymore. It's unsavory."
Lindsey thought it was just getting interesting. He reckons Lorne doesn't trust him. "You don't think a man can change?"
Lorne answers, "It's not about what I think. This was Angel's plan."
Lindsey offers to sing for him.
Lorne pulls out a gun and fires, "I've heard you sing."
A stunned Lindsey looks down at the crimson blooms appearing on his shirt. "Why -- Why did you ... "
Lorne answers, "One last job. You're not part of the solution, Lindsey. You never will be."
Lindsey is indignant. "You kill me?" He staggers back and falls to the floor, ending up in a sitting position with his back against the wall. "A flunky?" He breathes heavily as he looks down at his wounds then back at Lorne. "I'm not just ... Angel ... kills me ... You ... Angel ... " He dies.
Lorne sighs. "Good night, folks." He drops the gun to the floor as he walks out.
At Vail's, Wes is suspended in midair just above the floor, grimacing. Cyvus taunts as he walks around him. "Did you really think you had a shot at this? I can bend the very fabric of reality to my will. Your parlor tricks could never kill me, boy." He laughs.
Wes struggles to talk, "Then .. I'll just ... have to do this ... the old fashioned way." He ejects a short blade from a wrist mounted device concealed by his coat sleeve and attempts to stab Vail with it.
Vail grabs his hand before he can connect. "Yes, I suppose we will." He reaches out his hand. A wicked looking dagger comes flying off its wall mount and into his hand.
Wes gasps, wide-eyed, as Vail plunges it into his stomach and twists it. Wes manages to summon his strength enough to form one last energy ball, sending Vail flying away from him, slamming into the wall and knocking him out. The spell that was holding Wes suspended in the air is broken. He lands on his feet, his hand clutching the wound which is bleeding freely.
He collapses to the floor as Illyria comes in and rushes to him, calling his name. She eases him to the floor as best she can, cradling his head on her knee. Wes holds his shaking hand away from the wound a moment. She notes the injury, "It's mortal."
Wes puts his hand back on the wound, "Aren't we all?" He looks up at her, "It was good ... that you came."
She tells him, "I killed all mine and I was ..."
Wes offers to help her find the word, "Concerned?"
She accepts that. "I think so. But I can't help. You'll be dead within moments."
Wes is aware of this. "I know."
Illyria's voice softens. "Would you like me to lie to you now?"
Wes answers weakly, "Yes, thank you. Yes."
A hand touches his face. Wes looks up, "Hello, there."
Illyria has become Fred. She whispers as the tears begin to flow, "Oh, Wesley. My Wesley."
Wes smiles weakly and whispers, "I've missed you."
She smiles back at him then leans down, kisses his lips twice then kisses his forehead. "It's gonna be okay. It won't hurt much longer and then you'll be where I am." She starts to cry. "We'll be together."
A fading Wes tells her, "I ... I love you."
She smiles as she continues sobbing. "I love you. My love. Oh, my love."
Wes' eyes are open, unseeing. He's dead.
Illyria gently lowers his head to the floor. She slowly gets to her feet.
Cyvus approaches her from behind. "How very touching his meaningless death was. But this fight was never for mortals."
She turns to face him.
Vail dares her, "Take your best shot, little girl."
Illyria morphs from Fred into herself while throwing a punch that connects with such force, it explodes Vail's head into pieces.
Connor and Angel are both battling Hamilton at W&H but he continues to have the advantage. He grabs Connor and headbutts him. "What is with you people?" He tosses Connor across the lobby, slamming him into the elevator door, denting it. Connor slumps to the floor, unconscious.
Angel attempts to rush to Connor but Hamilton intercepts him and punches him, knocking him across the lobby. "Let me say this as clearly as I can. You cannot beat me. I am a part of them; the Wolf, the Ram, and Hart. Their strength flows through my veins. My blood is filled with their ancient power."
Angel calmly gets to his feet. "Can you pick out the one word there you probably shouldn't have said?" He morphs into game face and leaps at Hamilton, burying his fangs in his neck.
Hamilton struggles to get free, but Angel gets a good drink before he manages to do so. Hamilton finally tosses him off, into the air. Angel does a series of backward somersaults on the way down, landing on his feet, morphed back into his human visage, re-energized. "Wow!" He wipes blood from his mouth and licks it off his fingers. "You really are full of it."
Hamilton takes a swing but Angel easily avoids it. "What was that you were saying about ancient power?"
Hamilton throws another punch, Angel blocks him and punches him in the body with his free hand. They exchange blows then Hamilton grabs him by the throat. "You don't really think you're gonna win this, do you? You don't stand a chance. We are legion. We are forever."
Angel breaks Hamilton's grip on his throat and punches him several times, then sweeps his legs out from under him sending him crashing to the floor. Hamilton gets to his knees, groaning. Angel punches him some more as he taunts. "Then I guess forever [punch] [punch] just got a hell of a lot shorter." [punch]
Hamilton's neck snaps as he lands on the floor. He lies motionless, his eyes open.
Connor pulls himself up. "Is he dead?"
Angel looks at the corpse and answers, "Yeah, he's dead." The building begins to shake. Plaster and other assorted building materials rain down onto the floor.
Connor looks around anxiously. "Uh, that's not good, is it?"
Angel answers, "Wolfram and Hart. Looks like they're taking the gloves off."
A battered Connor limps toward his father. "What do we do?"
Angel tells him to go home.
Connor hesitates, "Huh?"
Angel tells him the fight is his.
Connor starts to object, "That's some serious macho --" He cries out as he doubles over in pain.
A large beam slams to the floor. Angel tells Connor to leave. "Go home, now."
Connor is concerned, "They'll destroy you."
Angel assures him, "As long as you're okay, they can't." Another huge beam crashes through the lobby. Angel again urges Connor to leave. They lock eyes briefly then Connor departs.
As the building continues to shake and fall apart, Angel heads for his office and flings open the doors. Eve demands to know what's happening.
Angel answers, "Looks like we're getting kicked out of the garden, Eve." He starts to leave.
She grabs his arm, wanting to know where Lindsey is.
Angel tells her, "He not coming for you."
A stunned Eve responds, "You --"
Angel says, "It's time to go", and leaves.
She remains behind, "Go where?"
Angel arrives at the alley in a driving rain, sword in hand. Spike steps out from the shadows, "Boo."
Angel asks if anyone else showed up.
Spike answers, "Not so far. You feel the heat?"
Angel knows, "It's coming."
Spike notes, "Finally got ourselves a decent brawl."
Gunn comes running down the alley, ax in hand. "Damn! How'd I know the fang boys would pull through?" Spike and Angel rush to him as he slows. "You're lucky we're on the same side dawgs, cuz I was on fire tonight. My game was tight."
They help him to sit down. Spike notices the blood soaking the front of Gunn's shirt. "You're supposed to wear that red stuff on the inside, Charlie boy."
Gunn looks down at his blood covered hand which he's had pressed to the wound. "Any word on Wes?"
Spike shakes his head, indicating no.
Illyria drops into the alley from a nearby rooftop with the news. "Wesley's dead."
As Angel, Gunn and Spike try to take that in, she continues, her voice choked with emotion in spite of her best efforts at control. "I'm feeling grief for him. I can't seem to control it. I wish to do more violence."
As the alley fills with the growls, shrieks and screams of the approaching demon horde, Spike notes, "Well, wishes just happen to be horses today."
Angel looks toward the end of the alley and sees the army in shadow, "Among other things." He looks up as a dragon flying overhead screeches.
Gunn says, "Okay. You take the 30,000 on the left --"
Illyria looks at him. "You're fading. You'll last ten minutes, at best."
Gunn reckons he can make those last minutes memorable.
As they stand facing the demon army, Spike asks, "And in terms of a plan?"
Angel answers, "We fight."
Spike would prefer some details, "Bit more specific?"
Angel looks upward, "Well, I kind of want to slay the dragon."
As the demon army charges, Angel tells the others, "Let's go to work."
Swords clang as the battle commences.
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S5/EPISODE 22
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Written by: Jeffrey
Bell & Joss Whedon |
Original Air Date: May 19, 2004 |
Things pick up where they left off at the end of the previous episode ("Power Play") in Angel's office, the gang raising their hands, one by one, in response to his asking them to consider his plan and decide if it's worth dying for.
Angel looks around at the raised hands and raises his own. "Then we're all agreed."
Spike answers glumly, "Yeah, we're all one big happy Manson family."
Gunn wonders if they intend to take on the Circle as a single entity as Wes retrieves his shotgun from the floor.
Angel says they can't, "The Circle of the Black Thorn is the most powerful group in this plane of existence. Together, they'd vaporize us. But separated, they're just demons."
Wes extends his hand for his handgun, which Angel hands back to him. "When do we make our move?"
Angel answers, "Soon. In the meantime, we have to keep up the infighting. The Circle needs to believe we're coming apart at the seams."
Gunn asks about Illyria.
Angel asks, "What about her?"
Gunn thinks she could be useful. "Move like this, wouldn't hate havin' blue thunder in our corner."
Angel is wary. "Can't trust she'll come down on our side."
Lorne tries to offer assurance, "Trust me, she's housebroken. She was baby-sitting Drogyn --"
Angel cuts him off, "She was with Drogyn?"
Spike offers, "Oh, relax. The two of them were gettin' on well enough."
Angel tells the others they need to get back to her straight away.
They want to know why.
Angel tells them, "Drogyn's dead."
Spike stalks toward him, "And, uh, how do you know that, Kreskin?"
Angel quietly admits, "Because I killed him."
A stunned Spike reacts, "What?!?"
Angel punches him in the face.
Spike doesn't take that well, "Ow! You son of a --" He takes a swing but misses. Angel grabs him by the throat and holds him, Spike's back to his chest, just as Hamilton enters.
Hamilton offers his apologies for the interruption. "Sorry, didn't know you were ... in conference."
Angel shoves Spike away, "I was just making a closing statement." He looks at the others, "Unless somebody didn't hear me." As they file out of the office, Angel adds, "Goes for you too, Wes. Illyria's your responsibility. Make sure she doesn't get twitchy." He firmly shuts the door.
Hamilton notes Angel has a problem.
Angel doesn't figure it's Hamilton's concern. He walks back to his desk.
Hamilton clarifies, "Oh, not me, your new friends, the Black Thorn. They're very concerned."
Angel suggests they send him a memo, he's busy running the business. He takes a seat behind the desk.
Hamilton makes it clear he's not asking, "You can tell them yourself. They want to see you right now." He turns and heads out of the office. "No rest for the wicked."
Spike, Gunn, Lorne and Wes arrive at Spike's trashed apartment where they find Illyria, lying on her stomach on the floor, unconscious.
Wes kneels down and gently turns her onto her back, calling her name. She opens her eyes, he helps her sit up while continuing to support her.
Spike asks, "Who did this to you?"
She answers, "It was Hamilton. Took Drogyn."
Lorne is nervous. "Straight to his buddy, Angel. I'm telling you our fearless leader has fearlessly lost it. There's no part of this that makes any sense. We could be next."
Gunn doesn't think they're under any surveillance.
Lorne tells him he wasn't expressing those thoughts for an audience. "I tell you, I still don't trust the man."
Gunn says they don't have to, "We just gotta pray the Black Circle does."
The members of the Circle of the Black Thorn are meeting in a dimly lit room, seated around a rectangular table with their symbol in the center of it. Sebassis is seated at the head of the table, Angel at the opposite end. The members (except Angel) chant. "... of the world's woe, now convene. All is bound by the Circle and its thorns. Invisible, inviolate. We, the seeds of the storm at the center of the world's woe, now convene."
Sebassis lifts a glass to his lips and takes a drink of the blue liquid. He looks at Angel, "The Circle doesn't abide secrets."
Angel snipes, "Which is interesting for a secret society."
Sebassis doesn't appreciate the display of insolence, "Remember your place, vampire." He claps his hands to summon his black speedo clad demon slave who is standing against the wall behind him, blindfolded.
Angel is undeterred. "My place is in the Circle."
Sebassis informs him, "This morning's insurrection did not go unnoticed."
Angel knows he's referring to his "people."
Sebassis confirms that, "They tried to kill you. An embarrassing affront, to say the least."
Cyvus Vail agrees, "And the stepping stone to disaster. You have ascended, Angel. You should not be burdened with this kind of --" His comments are cut off by a sudden attack of wheezing and gasping. The demon slave is sucking one of the tubes connected to Vail's ever present IV trolley. Vail bats at the slave. "Sebassis!Your manservant has become tangled in my bodily fluids again!"
Angel slaps an open hand against the slave's chest.
The slave responds with a high pitched "Eep!" as he's forced back.
Angel looks at Sebassis, "My people are the problem."
Sebassis confirms "some" of them are.
Angel wonders who "didn't make the cut."
Vail wheezes an answer. "We're interested in Mr. Wyndham-Pryce. He seems intriguingly unstable."
Senator Brucker adds, "Mr. Gunn, on the other hand, does not. Which is a pity. He had so much potential."
Sebassis notes they have a more pressing concern.
Angel offers, "If the next words out of your mouth are 'kill Spike'? We just might have to kiss."
Sebassis dismisses that. "Spike is not the threat. You are." He gestures to Izzy who is seated next to Angel. Izzy lays an ornate cylindrical case on the table, opens it and removes the parchment scroll from inside. As he unwinds it, Sebassis continues, "You've proven your loyalty to the Circle. Regrettably, there is something stronger than loyalty. Hope."
Izzy slides the scroll toward Angel who recognizes it. "This is the Shanshu prophecy."
Sebassis confirms it's the original.
Senator Brucker begins to sum up the contents of the prophecy. "The vampire with a soul will play a pivotal role in the apocalypse."
Vail finishes it, "And, as a reward, will become human."
Sebassis notes, "A paranoid person might think you're trying to manipulate us in an attempt to fulfill this prophecy."
Angel assures him he doesn't want to become human.
Sebassis is glad to hear it. "Then you won't mind signing that pesky future away. Through that document the prophecy can be undone." Angel looks down at the document Izzy has placed in front of him as Sebassis continues. "Your signature there will remove any possibility that you will ever earn your once precious humanity. Will you sign it?"
Angel agrees, "Of course", as he reaches for the pen. He groans as Izzy stabs him through the back side of his other hand and informs him it has to be signed in blood.
Angel glares as he dislodges the pen from his hand and signs the document.
Angel is standing in front of the window in his office, bathed in the sunlight, protected by the necro-tinted glass. Harm comes in, she was wondering where everyone was.
Angel continues staring out the window. "You ever miss it?"
She doesn't answer.
He asks, "You were turned, what, five years ago?"
Harm realizes what he's talking about. "Oh, that. Yeah, graduation night." She thinks about it a moment. "I don't know. It's weird. Part of me always knew life would end after high school. I was very popular, you know. The whole 'golden years' thing."
Angel remains facing the window, his back to her. "I don't remember what it was like ... being human. It was too long ago."
Harm takes a few steps into the office. "It's not so great; zits, dandruff, mortality. Although, I do remember ... my heart." She smiles at the recollection. "And the way it would thump when I kissed a really hot boy for the first time." Her smile fades, "That was cool." After a moment she asks, "Angel? Something's going down, isn't it?" He turns to face her. "And everybody's in on it except me."
He tells her she's not a part of it.
She insists she could be. "I'm your assistant, after all. I could .. I don't know ... assist you or something."
Angel mentions Hamilton and tells her he's meeting with Archduke Sebassis later. He'd like to keep that meeting "out of the loop."
Harm reckons "out of the loop" fits her quite well.
Angel tells her he needs Hamilton distracted. "I don't care how. Throw some punches at him, some files, just keep him busy for as long as you can."
As he heads out of the office, Harm asks what he's off to do now.
He answer, "One more thing I don't want to."
In a small office at W&H, Angel is meeting with Lindsey who responds to what he's been told, "You gotta be joking. Why on God's green and verdant earth would I trust you, huh? Or you trust me?"
Angel tells him it's not about the two of them. "It's about them; the Wolf, the Ram, the Hart. The ones we've been fighting against forever."
Lindsey notes Angel can't beat them.
Angel knows this. "Maybe they're not there to be beat. Maybe they're there to be fought. Maybe fighting them is what makes human beings so remarkably strong."
Lindsey gets up from the chair he's sitting in and sits on the edge of the table. "You're not talking about the kind of strength human beings have. This is not about coveting your neighbor's ass, your buddy's job, the last Malomar in the box. You're talking about fighting flesh and something that passes for blood demons with enormous power. And they will mow you down."
Angel isn't sure of that, "Maybe .. but I keep thinking that once this world was theirs and ... now it's not."
Lindsey wonders, "Isn't it?"
Angel tells him, "Give me the 'hell on earth' speech, Lindsey. I know how bad things are, how much sway the demons hold. I happen to be the greatest mass murderer you've ever met."
Lindsey responds, "I've never given you props for that, have I?"
Angel makes his point. "There's always going to be power and there's always going to be corruption."
Lindsey is still missing it, "So again, I ask you --"
Angel answers, "'Cause it's not what I'm expected to do. 'Cause you're good in a fight and lets say we come up rolling 7's and this thing does go our way. We tear up this firm, someone's going to have to step in. I know that's what you want. And I'm a lot more comfortable with the thought of you in that position than anyone else."
Lindsey smiles, "The devil you know."
Angel smiles slightly, "That'd be you."
Lindsey wonders, "And what if you roll snake eyes?"
Angel is sure Lindsey will handle it. "You'll talk your way out of it. You'll tell 'em I forced you to help me. Tell 'em I made my scary face."
Lindsey clarifies, he was asking about Angel. "You don't care about being squashed like a bug?"
Angel notes Lindsey hasn't heard anything he's said, "For like, years back." He walks around him to the other side of the office.
Lindsey admits when Angel gets speechy, he tends to zone out but he got the gist of it; "honor and humanity, absolute good. I heard it." He gets to his feet and takes a few steps toward Angel. "So here's the plot twist. I'm in."
Angel, who has his back to Lindsey, asks why.
Lindsey answers, "Everybody goes on about your soul. Vampire with a soul. Nobody ever mentions the fact that you're really a vampire with big brass testes. This is gonna be a circus. I mean, win or lose, you're about to pick the nastiest fight since mankind drop-kicked the last demon out of this dimension. And that, you don't do without me. You want me, I'm on your team."
Angel turns to face him. "I want you, Lindsey." He realizes how that sounded, "Thinking about rephrasing that."
Lindsey wishes he would, "Yeah, I think I'd be more comfortable if you did."
Illyria is lying on the bed at Spike's apartment. The others look on as Wes tells them she needs more care than he can provide. He needs some supplies from his place. He tells them to look after her for him.
Spike reckons they won't do any good if Hamilton returns.
Angel arrives, "Hamilton did this?"
Lorne wonders if he didn't already know that.
Angel notes Hamilton was the one who brought Drogyn.
Wes realizes what he's saying. "To the Circle. So you could kill him to prove you'd gone over."
Angel closes his eyes as Lorne snipes, "Yeah, say, any other tips on how to be a hero we could share with the boys and girls at home?"
Angel tries to explain. "I didn't have a choice. They would have killed us both if I --"
Gunn says they understand that, "We'd just like to know if they're gonna need any of the rest of us as proof."
Spike adds, "Pick us off one by one, you know?"
Angel says they won't, "We're killing 'em all tonight." He tells them to do something for themselves, take the day off.
Spike wonders what that's about.
Gunn is confused as well. "Angel, if we're planning to assassinate the power elite of the apocalypse tonight, shouldn't we be cowboyin' up?"
Angel assures him they'll be ready. "But today, I want you guys to go out. Live. Do whatever you want. Live the day like it's your last, 'cause it probably is."
Lorne is on-stage at a karaoke bar, singing.
Angel enters a coffee shop, walks up to a table and offers a greeting, "Hi."
Connor looks up from the books and paperwork he's immersed in, surprised.
Spike is in a bar, downing shots. A guy runs into him from behind, shoving him against the burly guy next to him. He shoots Spike a stern glare in response. Spike looks at the bartender, "Nice crowd."
The bartender pours him another drink, "It can get pretty ugly in here, I gotta warn ya."
Spike downs the shot, "What I'm after." He slams the empty glass onto the bar top, awaiting another refill. "Couple more shots of courage and I may make my presence felt."
The bartender refills the glass, "Your funeral."
Spike notes, "Well, I never had a proper one." He downs the shot.
Anne ("Blood Money") is outside of the shelter, loading boxes and furniture into a truck. Gunn approaches, a broad smile on his face, and greets her with a hug. "Annie, how you doin'?"
She says she's doing pretty well, "We got a bunch of furniture donated. Gotta move this stuff to the new shelter."
He notes she's still "fighting the good fight."
She asks how things are "uptown" as she picks up a chair and he retrieves a large box marked "kitchen stuff" to load onto the truck.
He answers, "More fight, less good. Seen Rondell or the guys? I hit some of the old spots, didn't see anyone."
Anne says they should be around, they told her they'd help haul the stuff. "You know how it is though, things come up."
As they load the items, he asks if she has much trouble with vampires these days.
She says it never goes away completely but the boys help out. "We're pretty safe. Gives me time to concentrate on the little things; crack, runaways, abuse victims, psychotics. The old gang." They continue retrieving boxes and furniture to load up. She says it isn't so bad, they've had some good donations and it's helping. She proudly tells him, "We actually have a part-time, paid, psychiatric staff."
Gunn asks, "What if I told you it doesn't help? What would you do if you found out that none of it matters? That it's all controlled by forces more powerful and uncaring than we can conceive and they will never let it get better down here. What would you do?"
She answers, "I'd get this truck packed before the new stuff gets here."
Gunn nods.
She asks if he'd like to give her a hand.
He smiles, "I do."
They each lift up one end of a sofa on the count of three and move it to the truck.
At Spike's, Wes is mixing a healing concoction using a mortar and pestle.
Illyria is sitting on the edge of the bed. "I don't understand."
Wes soaks a strip of gauze in the mixture and tells her it will help her heal faster. "If you really plan to join us in this fight --"
Illyria is determined, "I will fight. I've been broken and humiliated. I will return in kind every blow, every sting. I will shred my adversaries. Pull their eyes out just enough to turn them towards their mewing, mutilated faces."
Wes walks toward her, carrying the gauze strip. "You're a very inspirational person. Have I mentioned that?" He gently pushes the hair back from her neck, revealing a nasty gash.
She looks up at him, "You're what I don't understand."
Wes wonders, "And that would be different because?"
As Wes carefully lays the gauze over the gash she says, "Angel told you to do whatever you wanted today. Tonight you may all be dead."
Wes notes, "Yes. Good point."
Illyria tells him, "I am not what you want."
He turns away from her and walks back across the room to his medicinal concoction, "No."
She lightly touches her neck, "Then why --"
Wes knows what she's asking. "Don't I go off and have one last, perfect day? Smell the flowers or skydive, or have a go with Mistress Spanks-a-lot or whatever the hell one is supposed to do in this situation." He returns to her side with another strip of gauze.
She asks, "Mistress who?"
As Wes lays the gauze on her neck he explains, "There is no perfect day for me, Illyria. There is no sunset or painting, or finely aged Scotch that's going to sum up my life and make tonight any .... there is nothing that I want."
Illyria knows, "You want to be with Fred."
He picks up a hand towel laying on the bed and dries his hands with it. "Yes. Yes, that's where I'd be if I could."
Illyria tells him, "I could assume her shape, make her come alive again this once for you ... But you would never ask me to."
Wes explains, "The first thing a Watcher learns is to separate truth from illusion because in the world of magicks, it's the hardest thing to do. The truth is that Fred is gone. To pretend anything else would be a lie. And since I don't actually intend to die tonight, I won't accept a lie."
After a moment he asks, "Is it better?"
She presses her hand gently to the gauze covered wound on her neck. "It's better."
Spike is in the same bar where he was downing shots previously, on-stage, sitting on a stool in front of a sign that says "McTarnan's Poetry Slam." He has a drink in one hand, his arm slung over a microphone stand. In the other hand he's holding a microphone close to his mouth as he recites a poem:
"My soul is wrapped in harsh repose
Midnight descends in raven-colored clothes
But soft — behold! — a sunlight beam
Cutting a swath of glimmering gleam
My heart expands — 'tis grown a bulge in it
Inspired by your beauty ... effulgent."
The crowd applauds. An appreciative Spike gets to his feet and thanks them, "That was for Cecily. All right, this next one's called 'The Wanton Folly of Me Mum!'"
At the coffee shop, Connor responds to Angel's apparently having told him about Nina. "So, she's a werewolf."
Angel adds, "And an art student. She does this great pottery. She made me a vase." He chuckles.
Connor figures, "But it's the wolf part that jones's you. There's some full moon love. Am I right? Fur flying?"
Angel looks at him blankly, "Huh?"
Connor reckons vampires don't get the concept of jokes.
Angel assures him he does, "I was at the first taping of the Carol Burnett Show. Tim Conway was on fire. It was special."
Connor informs him, "I know you're my father."
Angel looks downward a moment before looking back up at his son. "You got your memories back."
Connor nods, "Yeah, they're mixed in there with the new ones. Kind of like ... uh ... a bad dream I had, I guess. A very strange, and violent, at times inappropriately erotic ... dream."
Angel figures Connor must have a lot of questions.
Connor shakes his head, "No. I don't wanna make a thing. I get what you did. You know ... I'm grateful. That's as far as I wanna take it ... okay?"
Angel nods then looks at the papers spread out on the table, "So, what are ya working on?"
Connor answers, "I am, uh, applying for an internship. I'm supposed to write up a resumé."
Angel asks if he can help.
Connor wonders if he's ever composed a resumé before.
Angel concedes he hasn't, "But I have very nice handwriting."
Connor teases, "You girl."
In an office at W&H, Eve and Lindsey are reclining on a couch, kissing. She pulls back. He asks what she's thinking about.
She answers, "Angel."
Lindsey notes, "You simply couldn't have said a worse thing than that."
She sits up, telling him he knows what she means.
He understands and appreciates her concern, "It's nice to know you're one of the few things in my life he didn't get his mitts on, you know?"
Eve doesn't think Angel trusts Lindsey.
He tells her that's not what it's about. "It's about what he needs. And right now he needs every hand he can get. As long as I'm fighting on his side, he'll play me fair. When the smoke clears, then we'll see where we stand."
She asks if he's sure he can handle the Sahrvin ("Harm's Way").
Lindsey isn't concerned. "They're sending me in with karaoke boy, how tough can they be?"
Eve is troubled by that, "With Lorne?"
Lindsey puts his arms around her and asks, "What's up? You worried about his reading? Said your future was gonna be crappy? He's probably telling you that just to mess with you."
Eve agrees but doesn't sound convinced.
Lindsey tells her if things happen, he wants her to stay away from it. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. Damn, girl, you gave up immortality for me. It's like something out of a fairy tale. ("Underneath")
She notes they don't live in a fairy tale.
He kisses her. The conversation ends as things heat up between them.
Angel, Spike, Gunn, Wes, Lorne and Illyria are gathered at Spike's apartment. Angel tells the others, "This may come out a little pretentious but, one of you will betray me."
Spike's hand shoots up into the air.
Angel says, "Wes."
Spike lowers his hand, disappointed. "Oh. Can I deny you three times?"
Angel finishes what he started to say, telling Wes, "Vail is the sorcerer of the bunch. You know that game, you've seen his place." [Flash to Vail in his mansion, shuffling alongside the table] "And he believes you'd make a play for my spot."
Wes doesn't think that sounds particularly flattering.
Angel tells him it will get Wes in the door. He looks at Illyria, "Illyria, Izzerial the devil, and three other members of the Circle dine together almost every night." [Flash to Izzy and his companions headed for his town car]
Illyria is ready, "I'll make trophies of their spines."
Angel is glad to have her on the team. He looks at Gunn, "Your friend, Senator Brucker, has a campaign office in west L.A." [Flash to Senator Brucker in her office, chatting on the phone] "You already know she's pure hellspawn and she tends to surround herself with vampires."
Gunn is looking forward to it. "I was hoping' it'd be vamps. Haven't dusted nearly enough this year." He notes Spike who's seated on the couch next to him, "No offense."
Spike says it's all right.
Angel looks at Spike and says his name.
Spike gets to his feet, "Right. First off, I'm not wearing any amulets. No bracelets, broaches, beads, pendants, pins, or rings."
Angel's good with that, "Fine. All you need is a rattle."
Spike realizes, "Ah, the baby."
Angel adds, "And a legion of the Fell Brethren." [Flash to the Fell] "I want the kid returned to his mother and the foster family dismembered."
Spike agrees, "Done and done."
Angel continues, "Archduke Sebassis has over 40,000 demons at his command." [Flash to Sebassis, reclining in a tub. His demon slave pops the cork in his wrist and bleeds his blue blood into the Archduke's glass which is set on top of a tray mounted across the tub] "The other members of the Council fear him. He's the key player, so he's mine."
He turns to a gloomy Lorne who has doubts, "Uh, I'm not a fighter, Angel wings. I never had the stomach for it. Looks like I'm your weak link."
Angel tells him he just needs him to back up Lindsey.
Wes isn't so sure of that decision. "Still can't believe you brought him in."
Angel answers, "He's part of this. It'll be just as dangerous for him as it will be for everyone else on our team."
Harmony is lying on her back in bed, wearing only her underwear. A trickle of blood leaks down the side of her mouth. A hand reaches out, sweeping the blood away with its thumb. The thumb is then offered to a now awakened and smiling Harmony, who sucks the blood off of it. "Mmmm. This just gets better and better every day.
She sits up, revealing who she's in bed with, Hamilton. She grabs a glass of blood from the table near the bed and snuggles next to him. "Anyway, about Angel's secret plan."
At Spike's, the gang prepares to depart. Gunn reckons they won't be going back to the office afterward.
Angel confirms that. "The alley, just north of the Hyperion. Everyone who makes it meets there. If we do any damage at all the Senior Partners are gonna rain hell on us. So be ready."
Lorne walks up to Angel. "I'll do this last thing for ya ... for us. But then I'm out. And you won't find me in the alley afterwards. Hell, you won't find me at all. Do me a favor. Don't try." He walks away.
As the others file out, Gunn notes the day went by quickly.
Illyria looks at him, "Try not to die. You are not unpleasant to my eyes."
Gunn offers thanks, "Uh .. you .. try not to die too." He reaches out and shakes Wes' hand, "Later then." He heads out the door.
Wes pauses a moment to look back at Angel. They lock eyes briefly, something unspoken passing between them. Wes turns and heads out, accompanied by Illyria.
Spike steps up beside Angel, "What do you think all this means for that Shanshu bugaboo? If we make it through this, does one of us get to be a real boy?"
Angel answers, "Who are you kidding? We're not gonna make it through."
Spike's okay with that, "Well, long as it's not you."
Cyvus Vail is seated at the end of his dining table, eating a repulsive looking stew of some sort. Wes is seated at the opposite end of the table. Vail wonders, "What makes you think I won't kill you where you sit?"
Wes answers, "Because you're smarter than the others. Smart enough to have your doubts about Angel. And rightly so. He's .. unpredictable and worse, he has a conscience."
Vail considers. "Well, you make a very persuasive argument."
Wes turns his palm upward under the table, a glowing, swirling energy ball appears. "Wait. It gets better."
A group of cloaked Fell Brethren are walking down a hall of their sanctuary together. A baby cries. One of the Brethren lags behind as the others walk on. He raises his head, revealing it's Spike.
Senator Brucker is in her campaign office, chatting on the phone. Gunn walks in and punches the minion who confronts him.
The Sahrvin are gathered in a bar, partaking of various activities; chatting, drinking, smoking water pipes. A sword pierces the door which is kicked in and falls to the floor. A dead demon is skewered to the door. Lindsey strides into the bar.
Izzy and his companions enter his town car. The driver puts the key into the ignition and turns on the headlights. The light illuminates Illyria who is standing directly in front of the car.
Angel exits the elevator into the upper floor lobby. Harmony is seated at her desk. Angel asks where Hamilton is.
Harm stands, "Records room. I've been keeping him busy like you said."
Angel tells her he's going to make a stop in his penthouse, she's to have his car ready. As he heads for the private elevator in his office he tells her to keep Hamilton busy.
Harm smiles, "No problemo, boss."
Angel steps off the elevator and into his penthouse. He walks over to an ornate wooden box, opens it, and removes a curved dagger from it. He turns when he hears the sound of the door opening.
Hamilton walks in, "Going out?"
Angel snipes, "Why? You wanna order in?"
Hamilton stalks toward him. "I hear you already have plans." He notes the dagger Angel is holding. "You gonna take that when you visit Sebassis?" Angel looks down at the dagger as Hamilton asks, "Why don't I think that's a gift?"
Angel makes a move to stab Hamilton but Hamilton punches him then throws him through a window. Angel crashes through the skylight below and lands in a heap in the upper floor lobby near Harmony's desk.
Harmony acts surprised. "Oh, my God!"
Angel gasps, "Hamilton."
Harmony babbles nervously. "He's not my boyfriend. I mean, I certainly didn't betray you."
Angel isn't buying, "Drop the act, Harm."
She insists, "It's not an act! I'm really this nervous."
Angel gets to his feet. "I knew you'd turn on me. I just didn't know when."
Harm's nervousness shifts to indignation. "What do mean you knew?"
Angel answers, "Loyalty really isn't high on your list."
Harm disagrees. "Oh, is that right? I'll have you know I am damn loyal, dumbass."
Angel points out, "You betrayed me. You are betraying me now, even as we are talking!"
Harmony has an excuse. "Because you never have any confidence in me!"
Angel answers, "No, because you have no soul!"
Harm insists, "I would if you had confidence in me!"
Hamilton enters the penthouse elevator.
In the lobby, Angel tells Harm to get out of the building.
Harm wonders if he's firing her.
He confirms that, "Among other things, yes."
She asks if she could get a recommendation.
Angel agrees, "Yeah, okay."
Harm notes, "But see .. if you don't so much live as the other thing ... how will I --"
He tells her it's in the desk.
She retrieves it as Hamilton steps out of Angel's office, into the lobby.
As they face off, Harmony wishes them good luck, "Um .. may the best man win?" She rushes out.
Angel punches Hamilton hard in the chest. It has no effect. He winces, sighs and pulls his hand back, shaking it. "Did that hurt at all?"
Hamilton admits, "A little bit." He grabs Angel by the throat and lifts him off the floor. "But it's all part of the job." He throws Angel across the lobby, through a pillar which crumbles.
Hamilton walks over to Angel, grabs him by the coat and jerks him to his feet. "The Senior Partners have expended an awful lot of time and resources on you. Personally, I would have told them not to bother." He throws Angel into the air, against the wall on the landing above the lobby. The wall beneath the "Wolfram and Hart" sign crumbles from the force of the impact.
Hamilton taunts as he walks up the steps toward Angel who's lying on the floor. "You're gutter trash and that's where you should have stayed. Drinking and whoring your way through an unremarkable life. But the fates stepped in and made you a vampire. With a soul, no less. A champion, a hero of the people." He reaches the top of the steps and continues stalking toward his prey. "And yet, you still managed to fail everyone around you. Doyle, Cordelia, Fred. They're all gone. Now it's time you followed."
He reaches out and grabs Angel, pulling him back to his feet. "Did you really think you were gonna kill Archduke Sebassis?"
Angel answers, "No, I think I already did."
Sebassis is relaxing in his tub. He takes a drink of the slave's blood from his glass and winces, realizing it doesn't taste right. He looks over and sees his demon slave lying on the floor, dead. Angel explains in voice-over, "I spiked his drink." [Flash to Angel punching the slave open handed at the earlier meeting of the Circle, revealing he had a ring with a sharp point extending from it turned inward that he jabbed the demon with when he shoved him] The Archduke's glass falls to the floor, shattering, as he dies.
Angel tells Hamilton, "I figured you were the one I needed to be alone with."
Hamilton wonders, "Why? So I could kill you?"
Angel concedes, "Well, I thought the fight would be going a little better."
Hamilton throws him over the railing, down onto the lobby floor.
At the Fell sanctuary, Spike retrieves the baby from its bassinet. "Hello, Junior. The name's Spike. And lucky for you, I'm on a strict diet." He turns to find three of the Fell blocking his way, armed with swords.
The Fell demand he return the baby to its bassinet.
Spike looks at the baby in his arm then back at the Fell. He doffs the cloak and charges them. Fight ensues.
At the Sahrvin bar, Lindsey is slashing the demons to bits with his sword.
At Vail's mansion, Cyvus goes flying through the air, landing hard on the floor, trashing his IV trolley in the process. Wes approaches him, "Your influence on this world is over. The rest of the Circle will wither and die." He holds out his hand, another glowing energy ball appears in his palm. "Like you're about to."
Cyvus is unimpressed. "You don't know who you're dealing with, do you, boy?" He groans as he gets to his feet. He reaches out his hand and pulls the energy ball from Wes' hand into his own. It disappears. "I mean, really. I crap better magic than this. Now then. Let me show you what a real wizard can do." He extends his hand, Wes winces.
Hamilton is still putting a beatdown on Angel in the W&H lobby. "Why do you keep fighting? You signed away your Shanshu. There's nothing in it for you anymore."
Angel punches him in the face, but it has no effect. "People who don't care about anything will never understand the people who do."
Hamilton punches back, sending Angel flying across the lobby. "Yeah, but we won't care."
He walks over to Angel, retrieves a large wooden splinter and prepares to stake him with it.
A surprising punch comes out of nowhere sending Hamilton flying through one of the hall windows. Connor asks, "Care about that, dress-for-less?" He assists Angel to his feet.
Angel asks what he's doing there.
Connor answers, "Come on. You drop by for a cup of coffee and the world's not ending? Please."
At Brucker's office, she maintains her phone conversation as her vampire minions attempt to deal with Gunn. Gunn pulls a hatchet he's concealed and tosses it, embedding it into Brucker's forehead, killing her. He quips, "Looks like you boys are going to have to find a new candidate." He turns toward the door only to find himself seriously outnumbered. "And you wonder why folks don't vote." He throws his arms out to his sides, discharging the stakes from the wrist mounted devices he's equipped himself with. Fight ensues.
Illyria walks away from what's left of Izzy's town car which is fairly well trashed.
Eve paces in Angel's office at W&H.
Lorne steps carefully through the body parts at the Sahrvin bar as Lindsey scrubs the blood from his hands at the sink.
Lindsey is pleased with the results of his assignment. "Those guys were chumps."
Lorne looks down at the carnage. "Now they're chunks. Demon strength or no, you're quite the master swordsman."
Lindsey gives Lorne credit for his part. "I couldn't have done it without that high note in 'MacArthur Park.'"
Lorne notes, "Slays 'em every time."
Lindsey asks if there's been any word on "the rest of the team."
Lorne answers, "For all I know we are the rest of the team. I haven't heard squat."
Lindsey says it's strange, his "saying team, and meaning it." He retrieves a towel and dries his hands. "I kind of like the feeling."
Lorne counters, "Yeah, today."
Lindsey asks if Lorne is done with the gang.
Lorne confirms that. "It really isn't my kind of work anymore. It's unsavory."
Lindsey thought it was just getting interesting. He reckons Lorne doesn't trust him. "You don't think a man can change?"
Lorne answers, "It's not about what I think. This was Angel's plan."
Lindsey offers to sing for him.
Lorne pulls out a gun and fires, "I've heard you sing."
A stunned Lindsey looks down at the crimson blooms appearing on his shirt. "Why -- Why did you ... "
Lorne answers, "One last job. You're not part of the solution, Lindsey. You never will be."
Lindsey is indignant. "You kill me?" He staggers back and falls to the floor, ending up in a sitting position with his back against the wall. "A flunky?" He breathes heavily as he looks down at his wounds then back at Lorne. "I'm not just ... Angel ... kills me ... You ... Angel ... " He dies.
Lorne sighs. "Good night, folks." He drops the gun to the floor as he walks out.
At Vail's, Wes is suspended in midair just above the floor, grimacing. Cyvus taunts as he walks around him. "Did you really think you had a shot at this? I can bend the very fabric of reality to my will. Your parlor tricks could never kill me, boy." He laughs.
Wes struggles to talk, "Then .. I'll just ... have to do this ... the old fashioned way." He ejects a short blade from a wrist mounted device concealed by his coat sleeve and attempts to stab Vail with it.
Vail grabs his hand before he can connect. "Yes, I suppose we will." He reaches out his hand. A wicked looking dagger comes flying off its wall mount and into his hand.
Wes gasps, wide-eyed, as Vail plunges it into his stomach and twists it. Wes manages to summon his strength enough to form one last energy ball, sending Vail flying away from him, slamming into the wall and knocking him out. The spell that was holding Wes suspended in the air is broken. He lands on his feet, his hand clutching the wound which is bleeding freely.
He collapses to the floor as Illyria comes in and rushes to him, calling his name. She eases him to the floor as best she can, cradling his head on her knee. Wes holds his shaking hand away from the wound a moment. She notes the injury, "It's mortal."
Wes puts his hand back on the wound, "Aren't we all?" He looks up at her, "It was good ... that you came."
She tells him, "I killed all mine and I was ..."
Wes offers to help her find the word, "Concerned?"
She accepts that. "I think so. But I can't help. You'll be dead within moments."
Wes is aware of this. "I know."
Illyria's voice softens. "Would you like me to lie to you now?"
Wes answers weakly, "Yes, thank you. Yes."
A hand touches his face. Wes looks up, "Hello, there."
Illyria has become Fred. She whispers as the tears begin to flow, "Oh, Wesley. My Wesley."
Wes smiles weakly and whispers, "I've missed you."
She smiles back at him then leans down, kisses his lips twice then kisses his forehead. "It's gonna be okay. It won't hurt much longer and then you'll be where I am." She starts to cry. "We'll be together."
A fading Wes tells her, "I ... I love you."
She smiles as she continues sobbing. "I love you. My love. Oh, my love."
Wes' eyes are open, unseeing. He's dead.
Illyria gently lowers his head to the floor. She slowly gets to her feet.
Cyvus approaches her from behind. "How very touching his meaningless death was. But this fight was never for mortals."
She turns to face him.
Vail dares her, "Take your best shot, little girl."
Illyria morphs from Fred into herself while throwing a punch that connects with such force, it explodes Vail's head into pieces.
Connor and Angel are both battling Hamilton at W&H but he continues to have the advantage. He grabs Connor and headbutts him. "What is with you people?" He tosses Connor across the lobby, slamming him into the elevator door, denting it. Connor slumps to the floor, unconscious.
Angel attempts to rush to Connor but Hamilton intercepts him and punches him, knocking him across the lobby. "Let me say this as clearly as I can. You cannot beat me. I am a part of them; the Wolf, the Ram, and Hart. Their strength flows through my veins. My blood is filled with their ancient power."
Angel calmly gets to his feet. "Can you pick out the one word there you probably shouldn't have said?" He morphs into game face and leaps at Hamilton, burying his fangs in his neck.
Hamilton struggles to get free, but Angel gets a good drink before he manages to do so. Hamilton finally tosses him off, into the air. Angel does a series of backward somersaults on the way down, landing on his feet, morphed back into his human visage, re-energized. "Wow!" He wipes blood from his mouth and licks it off his fingers. "You really are full of it."
Hamilton takes a swing but Angel easily avoids it. "What was that you were saying about ancient power?"
Hamilton throws another punch, Angel blocks him and punches him in the body with his free hand. They exchange blows then Hamilton grabs him by the throat. "You don't really think you're gonna win this, do you? You don't stand a chance. We are legion. We are forever."
Angel breaks Hamilton's grip on his throat and punches him several times, then sweeps his legs out from under him sending him crashing to the floor. Hamilton gets to his knees, groaning. Angel punches him some more as he taunts. "Then I guess forever [punch] [punch] just got a hell of a lot shorter." [punch]
Hamilton's neck snaps as he lands on the floor. He lies motionless, his eyes open.
Connor pulls himself up. "Is he dead?"
Angel looks at the corpse and answers, "Yeah, he's dead." The building begins to shake. Plaster and other assorted building materials rain down onto the floor.
Connor looks around anxiously. "Uh, that's not good, is it?"
Angel answers, "Wolfram and Hart. Looks like they're taking the gloves off."
A battered Connor limps toward his father. "What do we do?"
Angel tells him to go home.
Connor hesitates, "Huh?"
Angel tells him the fight is his.
Connor starts to object, "That's some serious macho --" He cries out as he doubles over in pain.
A large beam slams to the floor. Angel tells Connor to leave. "Go home, now."
Connor is concerned, "They'll destroy you."
Angel assures him, "As long as you're okay, they can't." Another huge beam crashes through the lobby. Angel again urges Connor to leave. They lock eyes briefly then Connor departs.
As the building continues to shake and fall apart, Angel heads for his office and flings open the doors. Eve demands to know what's happening.
Angel answers, "Looks like we're getting kicked out of the garden, Eve." He starts to leave.
She grabs his arm, wanting to know where Lindsey is.
Angel tells her, "He not coming for you."
A stunned Eve responds, "You --"
Angel says, "It's time to go", and leaves.
She remains behind, "Go where?"
Angel arrives at the alley in a driving rain, sword in hand. Spike steps out from the shadows, "Boo."
Angel asks if anyone else showed up.
Spike answers, "Not so far. You feel the heat?"
Angel knows, "It's coming."
Spike notes, "Finally got ourselves a decent brawl."
Gunn comes running down the alley, ax in hand. "Damn! How'd I know the fang boys would pull through?" Spike and Angel rush to him as he slows. "You're lucky we're on the same side dawgs, cuz I was on fire tonight. My game was tight."
They help him to sit down. Spike notices the blood soaking the front of Gunn's shirt. "You're supposed to wear that red stuff on the inside, Charlie boy."
Gunn looks down at his blood covered hand which he's had pressed to the wound. "Any word on Wes?"
Spike shakes his head, indicating no.
Illyria drops into the alley from a nearby rooftop with the news. "Wesley's dead."
As Angel, Gunn and Spike try to take that in, she continues, her voice choked with emotion in spite of her best efforts at control. "I'm feeling grief for him. I can't seem to control it. I wish to do more violence."
As the alley fills with the growls, shrieks and screams of the approaching demon horde, Spike notes, "Well, wishes just happen to be horses today."
Angel looks toward the end of the alley and sees the army in shadow, "Among other things." He looks up as a dragon flying overhead screeches.
Gunn says, "Okay. You take the 30,000 on the left --"
Illyria looks at him. "You're fading. You'll last ten minutes, at best."
Gunn reckons he can make those last minutes memorable.
As they stand facing the demon army, Spike asks, "And in terms of a plan?"
Angel answers, "We fight."
Spike would prefer some details, "Bit more specific?"
Angel looks upward, "Well, I kind of want to slay the dragon."
As the demon army charges, Angel tells the others, "Let's go to work."
Swords clang as the battle commences.
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