Previously on Angel:
Gunn, Fred, Lorne, Wesley and Angel stand around in awkward silence. Everyone starts to say something, and then they stop. Finally Gunn speaks up: “You want to run that by us one more time?” he asked Lilah Morgan, who is sitting on the couch, amused.
“What was unclear?” she asked.
“I think the part where you offered us Wolfram and Hart,” Fred provided.
Angel watched Connor on the television screen. “People like you… this place… that’s what’s wrong with the world, Lilah. I will never be a part of this.” He paused. “Not the way you’re hoping. Now, let me tell you what the deal’s going to be.”
“I can’t feel anything. I guess I really am your son, ‘cause I’m dead too.” Connor’s finger runs over the detonator that determines the fate of his life and of the lives of about fifteen others in the store.
Angel picked Connor up by the neck of his shirt. “I really do love you, Connor.” He swiped the knife across his son’s neck, and the world turned harshly white.
“I don’t believe it,” Fred said, though she really, really could. “Are you saying we should take the deal?”
“Already took it,” Angel said. “Executive decision. Just one more piece of business,” he told Lilah. “I gotta see him.”
“There’ll be a limo outside. It’ll take you to see Connor.”
Angel walks out the door. The others watch after him confusedly. “Who’s Connor?” Fred asks.
Angel approaches the cabin and peers in the window. Connor’s making a toast with his family. He’s got two parents and a sister. He’s going to Stanford. And yes, he is happy.
Wesley, Gunn, Angel, Spike, Lorne and Knox are crowded into Wesley’s office.
“It’s called Illyria. A great monarch and warrior of the demon age. I don’t think this is merely an infection; Fred’s skin is hardening like a shell. I think she’s being hollowed out so this thing can use her to gestate, to claw its way back into the world. Either way… she dies.”
Fred rests her head on Wesley’s arm. She looks terrible.
“Wesley… why can’t I stay…”
The life leaves her eyes. Wesley begins to sob into her hair, but shortly both of them are flung off the bed. A woman with blue hair and a blue tinted face stands slowly. Wesley’s face is etched with horror as she examines Fred’s body and says:
“This will do.”
Wesley held in his hand a glowing cube. Connor was fighting a demon in an adjacent room; he wasn’t doing terribly well.
“You changed the world,” Wesley accused angrily.
“He’s my son, Wesley,” Angel admitted in desperation.
“Did you trade Fred for your son? Was Fred the price?”
“No, Wes. I can explain, just… put that down.”
“He said it would bring back the past. Would it undo what you’ve done?”
“No. It won’t bring her back.
“Let’s find out.”
Wesley smashed the cube. Instantly, he remembered everything; Connor’s former life, how he was brought up in a hell dimension, how he tried to annihilate himself…
…Connor remembered, too.
Lorne, Gunn and Wesley are crowded into Wesley’s office. “It’s like Angel suddenly started channeling Leona Helmsley,” Lorne commented.
“He’s not himself, at any rate,” Wesley agreed.
“What’s happening to him?” Gunn asked.
A red hand branded with the Circle of the Black Thorn is brought to Angel’s chest. “The circle entwined,” says a voice. “The Thorn draws blood. Welcome to the fold.”
Angel sits at the head of the Circle of the Black Thorn. He smirks as the discussion comes around to the Shanshu prophecy.
“I have no desire to become human,” he lies skillfully.
“Good,” Archduke Seabassis says. “Then you won’t mind signing that pesky future away. Your signature there will remove any opportunity that you will ever earn your once precious humanity.”
Angel takes the fountain pen filled with his own blood and signs the prophecy without hesitation.
Wesley, Lorne, Gunn, Angel and Spike stand around in a circle in Angel’s office. Angel steps forward.
“This isn’t a keep-fighting-the-good-fight kind of a deal. Let’s be clear. I’m talking about killing every… single… member… of the Black Thorn. We don’t walk away from that. We do this, the Senior Partners are raining full wrath. Ten to one, we’re gone when the smoke clears. We can’t bring down the Senior Partners, but for one bright, shiny moment, we can show them that they don’t own us. You need to decide for yourselves if that’s worth dying for. I can’t order you to do this, but I can’t do this without you.”
Everyone hesitates. Finally, Spike puts his hand up.
“I’m in.”
Wesley looks up with resolve. “I’m in.”
Gunn slowly puts his hand up with the others’. Lorne joined the crowd.
“Hey, uh, Ange…” Lorne begins hesitantly. “I’ll do this last thing for you… for us… but then I’m out. You won’t find me in the alley… you won’t find me at all. Do me a favour: don’t try.”
A man in a suit smiles intelligently. “I’m Marcus Hamilton, your new liason to the Senior Partners.”
Another scene: Hamilton puts a hand to Angel’s throat and lifts him off the ground. “It’s all part of the job,” he says as he tosses Angel into a pillar. The force of the dead weight causes the pillar to dissintegrate “Why do you keep fighting?” Hamilton asked.“You signed away your Shanshu. There’s nothing in it for you anymore.”
Angel delivered a harsh punch to Hamilton’s face. “People who don’t care about anything will never understand the people that do.”
Hamilton punched Angel to the ground. He was starting to have some issues getting back up again. Hamilton took advantage of this and picked up a stake off a nearby desk. He poised himself to dust the vampire…
…and found himself being punched through a window by Connor.
Hamilton again had Angel at the throat, however. “You don’t think you’re really going to win, are you? We are forever.”
Angel punched his hand away, delivered several blows and sent Hamilton flying to the ground. Hamilton struggled to his feet just as Angel delivered another punch. “I guess forever…” Punch. Punch. “Just got a hell of a lot shorter.” With a final blow, Angel broke Hamilton’s neck. He wasn’t getting up.
“Is he dead?” Connor asked.
“Yeah. He’s dead.” No sooner had Angel confirmed it did the ground start to shake. Wolfram and Hart was falling apart.
“You go home,” Angel told his son. “This is my fight.”
“They’ll destroy you,” Connor protested.
“As long as you’re okay, they can’t,” he professed. Connor took the hint and limped out of the room toward the elevators.
Vail stabs Wesley. He manages to magick Vail away before falling to the ground… but Illyria is there to catch him. She crouches by his side.
“This wound is mortal,” she points out. “You’ll be dead within moments.”
Wesley looks dazed. “I know.”
Illyria studies his face. She has emotions. What’s that about? “Would you like me to lie to you now?”
Wesley smiles dimly. “Yes. Thank you, yes.”
Suddenly it’s no longer Illyria at his side; it’s Fred. “It’s gonna be okay,” she tells him softly.
“I love you.” He got to say it one last time.
“I love you,” she returned. She cried as he died in her arms, just as she had died in his.
Angel, Spike, Gunn and Illyria stand in an alleyway. A look wayward shows a huge pack of demons, all shapes and sizes, complete with a dragon flying overhead.
“We’ll last ten minutes at best,” Illyria claimed.
“Let’s make ‘em memorable,” Gunn said. Angel silently commended the boy. He’d come a long way.
Angel stepped forward and looked incredulously at the coming crowd. “Personally, I kinda want to slay the dragon.” As the army charged, the Fang Gang stepped forward. “Let’s go to work,” Angel said.
The fight began.
[TEASER]
We open with a pan of a meticulous lab. It’s very white, very clean and, for some reason, very light, despite the lack of windows. The lab appears empty aside from the normal lab stuff such as metal tables, cabinets, etc. There is nothing or no one here; no sound except that of the fluorescent lights. Continue pan for a few seconds, followed by a blinding flash of light.
Suddenly we see Wesley in the room. He is lying on one of the tables, gasping for breath. He’s sporting a significant amount of blood down his front. He does, however, have a particularly fond look in his eye and a strange smile on his face, a combination of joy and pain. He breathes for a moment, and then frowns. Fred is not looking down at him fondly anymore. She isn’t there crying for his pain as he dies. He isn’t, in fact, dead. He’s breathing just fine. A brief patting of his stomach shows that he’s healed quite quickly as well. Lifting up his bloodstained shirt unnecessarily, a scar is revealed, but nothing more. Wesley appears in perfect physical health.
He closes his eyes hard as he realizes this and lies back on the table for a moment, rubbing his hands across his face. He should be dead, or at the very least, sporting some kind of stitches. Or clean clothing if he’s been out for months as seemed to be apparent. There doesn’t appear to be any sort of explanation for his appearance; there is no medical equipment around, and his perception of time is still as though he magicked Cyvus Vail into a corner ninety seconds ago.
Wesley sighs heavily and finally gets up to have a look around. The lab is Fred’s, though slightly rearranged. He realizes this and immediately frowns. He goes for the door and finds it locked from the outside. He is trapped inside the room.
He turns back to face the lab again, searching for a suitable escape point. Instead his eyes reach a familiar female shape in a lab coat with long, wavy, brown hair with her back turned to him. She holds a clipboard. Wesley looks away.
WESLEY
Illyria—
The female turns around and screams. Wesley does the same shortly thereafter. The woman in front of him is not Illyria in Fred’s form, though the resemblance to Fred is striking. The hair is the same, but she wears no glasses and has a differently shaped face.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN
Geez. Give a girl a heart attack.
WESLEY
I… I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else.
The unidentified woman smiles genuinely, though skeptically, and turns her head slightly sideways as though in curiosity.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN
Well, I tend to be the only one who comes in here. I think everyone’s scared of the lab for some reason. Um… I’m sorry, but who are you?
WESLEY
Erm… my name’s Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, I’m head of research here.
The unidentified woman smiles warmly now and crinkles her nose in amusement. But, my, doesn’t she look like Fred when she smiles. She hurriedly puts down her clipboard and starts towards Wesley, her hand outstretched.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN
Oh geez, how rude of me. I’m Alexa. Um, Troy. Alexa Troy. I’m the temporary head of the science division. Or, at least, I keep hoping I’m the temporary head of the science division… no one except me is really saying anything about temporary. Science just isn’t my thing, you know… at least not according to me. I don’t know… I’m good at it, but it’s just not what I enjoy doing. …Oh no, I’m babbling. It happens a lot. I babble. Especially in the presence of… well. Needless to say, we’ve been expecting you.
WESLEY
Needless to say? …I’m sorry, Miss Troy is it? But I find myself completely in the dark… I wonder if you might elabourate a tad.
ALEXA
…They didn’t tell you?
WESLEY
Tell me… what, exactly?
Alexa’s expression turns from pleasant to very serious and a little bit humiliated. She blows air from out of her cheeks and sits down as though dizzy.
ALEXA
Oh, boy. Oh, oh boy. Oh… okay. Well, um… you might want to sit down for this, Mister Wyndam-Pryce. We have a lot to go through.
Wesley frowns and sits in the only other chair in the room, across from Alexa. He notices how pale she is. Her breathing is slightly laboured and her hands rap silently against the arms of the chair as she thinks. Finally she sighs heavily.
ALEXA [cont’d]
All right. May I call you Wesley?
WESLEY
Of course.
ALEXA
Good. Good. I don’t know why I asked that now, but it seemed like a good way to start. Okay, okay. Now, this is going to come as a bit of a shock to you, but… as of about three minutes ago, you are completely, entirely, and very…
She pauses and sighs again. She sits up straighter in her chair and looks Wesley in the eye, keeping a more formal way of speaking. Her voice is clear and confident as she says:
ALEXA
You’re dead, Wesley.
Cut to Wesley, whose expression turns from concerned to one of surprise and perhaps even slight disbelief. Dramatic music plays; fade to credits.
[END OF TEASER]
---
[ACT ONE]
We open in what appears to be Angel’s office. Nearly everything is the same, including the buff, attractive man sitting at the desk, writing furiously. The man is not, in fact, Angel, and this is fairly apparent. We have no idea who the man is. That’s okay. Soon the man picks up the piece of paper he was writing so fervently upon and adds it to the massive stack of other papers to his right. Promptly he takes another sheet from the pile on the left, only slightly smaller than the other one. Sighing, the man begins writing again.
A ditzy girl with long black hair scurries into the man’s office. The look on her face portrays that she has something urgent to say, but she’s hesitant to because she’s afraid of what the man’s reaction will be.
DITZY GIRL
Hey, boss. Busy?
BOSS
Yes. What is it, Melody?
Melody fidgets.
MELODY
Um… there’s a… a thing… and it’s… well, it’s here now, and I thought you might want to… to know…
BOSS
Then you should probably tell me what it is before I finish this sente—
MELODY
There’s a feed coming in on the Inter-dimensional!
The boss stops writing abruptly. He puts down his pen very slowly and clasps his hands without looking up at his secretary. He sighs slowly and glances up at Melody through glaring eyes.
BOSS
Put it on.
Melody brings her hands out from behind her back and unrolls the slightly tattered scroll in front of her, looking nervous and wishing like hell she was in another room. She swallows heavily and stands up straighter. Finally a picture begins to come through and illuminate the scroll.
A demon sporting a top hat sits behind a desk, looking very serious and seeming to stare right at the boss. He opens his mouth as though to speak but instead reveals a smaller mouth inside that does the talking.
NEWSCASTER
We have some breaking news for you now… The CEO of a Wolfram and Hart branch in Dimension 5074 has ordered his employees to begin killing off members of the Black Thorn. In a brief conversation with the Senior Partners, they reassured us that a team was being sent immediately to rectify the situation. They also stated that this mutiny would have no impact on The Apocalypse, but would give us no further information. We’ll have more on this story as the day progresses.
Melody rolls up the scroll and looks hesitantly at the boss. He is motionless for a few moments, and then blinks and rubs his face.
BOSS
How long ago did that come in?
MELODY
I brought it here as soon as I got it.
BOSS
That’s not what I asked.
MELODY
I… I don’t know, about half an hour ago?
The boss crosses his arms and nods, deep in thought. Melody glances around nervously as he figures things out.
BOSS
They’ll be here soon.
MELODY
Really soon, if the Senior Partners are sending a “team”.
BOSS
What do you think I should do?
MELODY
If I was in your place, boss, I’d run.
BOSS
Good answer.
The boss stands up abruptly and walks over to the elevator, pressing the “up” button calmly.
BOSS [cont’d]
I’m going to completely disappear, Melody. You won’t ever hear from me again. Understood?
MELODY
Absolutely.
BOSS
…Unless you wanted to come...
MELODY
Oh… oh, no, I couldn’t. I mean, I appreciate the opportunity and all, but even if I do get eviscerated, at least I’ll be eviscerated at home, you know? Besides, prophecies have been wrong before.
BOSS
This one isn’t. But I appreciate your optimism. If you do make it through this, tell everyone you witnessed me being turned inside out, followed by my disappearing through the floor.
MELODY
Got it.
BOSS
If you do change your mind and decide to run, the keys to the Porsche are in the top left hand drawer of my desk. The keys to the liquor cabinet are in the top right. Anything else you need is yours; it’s not Angel’s, and not anybody else’s. Any questions?
MELODY
Yeah. One. Why did I have to be born into a backdrop dimension?
The boss looks Melody in the eye with a grim expression on his face. The quaint *ding* of the elevator as the doors open punctuates the infrequent glint in his eye. He attempts a smile and steps forward into the elevator without responding. The doors close and the elevator begins its slow ascent to the penthouse apartment upstairs. Melody stands in her boss’ office for a second and calmly begins to leave the room when screams rip down the elevator shaft. A series of “shlop” type noises follow each scream, making her stop in her tracks, a look of horror etched on her face.
MELODY
Oh God. I’m—
Hard cut from close-up on Melody’s face to a close up on Wesley’s face.
WESLEY
--dead?
ALEXA
Yes.
WESLEY
…This is it? This is the afterlife?
ALEXA
Well… in a way.
WESLEY
How disappointing.
Alexa smiles.
ALEXA
In a way.
She stares unequivocally at him, apparently fascinated with how well he’s taking it all. She notices that he’s in extraordinary avoidance of eye contact with her. Every time he does manage it, there’s a strange recognition and a great deal of pain in that sea of cool blue. A silence falls between them.
WESLEY
This is, at least, an alternate dimension, I assume?
ALEXA
It is.
WESLEY
And this is a Wolfram and Hart branch, correct?
ALEXA
Yesiree.
WESLEY
So I can only assume that in signing that contract a year ago, I also signed away my afterlife?
ALEXA
Either spending 18 hours a day researching wasn’t enough for you, or you’ve learned this from personal experience. Let me guess… Lilah Morgan?
Oh, sure. So now he makes eye contact.
WESLEY
Surely she isn’t—
ALEXA
She’s not here, no. She signed a very different contract. She has to spend eternity working for Wolfram and Hart, whereas your mortality has been restored. Next time you die, you stay dead.
WESLEY
At least that’s something.
ALEXA
Ooh, I really wouldn’t be happy with that, Wesley. You won’t have your soul sent off to the Valley of. You’ll be dead. Just… dead. There won’t be anything. No joy, no pain. You’ll just be perfectly aware of how much nothing there truly is, and you’ll go mad because of it.
WESLEY
And if I hadn’t signed the contract?
ALEXA
Are you aware of the Valley of the Souls?
WESLEY
I believe it’s called the Ether these days.
ALEXA
The Valley, the Ether, whatever. That’s where your soul would have gone. The soul and the mind are very different entities; your soul would be simply secured, and your mind would go off to a heaven or hell, without mortality or a true corporeal form. But when you signed that contract, you signed your mind, your soul, and your body over to Wolfram and Hart to use at their own disposal. Your strength lies in your mind, and they wanted to use that to their advantage, so they… reincarnated you exactly as you were.
WESLEY
So… everything here is exactly as it was in my dimension?
Alexa breaks into very sudden laughter. Wesley jumps ever so slightly, and then smiles back at her. Her laugh is very warm, and though he’s perfectly aware that she’s mocking him ever so slightly, it makes him feel better about being… dead.
ALEXA
No, no. You’re the constant; the dimension is never so.
WESLEY
Oh, I am aware of that, but in terms of Wolfram and Hart, things are surely similar.
ALEXA
Um… yeah, I guess they are. Similar.
Wesley frowns at her response. It seemed forced, which was strange because there was no reason for which an answer like that should have been. Now it’s her who isn’t making eye contact. He opens his mouth to say that she didn’t sound so sure, but his thoughts are interrupted by a gasp from behind him. He turns around to see Gunn on the same table he appeared on, short of breath and figuring out that he hadn’t just been impaled with five swords at once. In fact, the mortal wounds he just had were strangely healed already.
GUNN
…What the…
WESLEY
What happened?
GUNN
…Wes? What are you doing here? …What am I doing here?
WESLEY
I’ll explain all that in a moment. Right now I need you to tell me exactly what happened.
GUNN
Illyria said you were dead.
WESLEY
I am. You are too. Under what circumstances, Charles? What’s happening?
GUNN
I… I guess I was impaled. I mean, I killed my guys with a bit of a hitch, but I got to the alley all right. Then there was this big freaking army of demons coming at us, complete with a dragon or two. I guess I was the first one down. What happened to you? Did you kill Vail?
WESLEY
I… I’m not sure. I think he killed me first. But Fr… Illyria was there, she probably finished him off.
ALEXA
Oh my GOD.
Alexa scurries hurriedly from the room. Gunn watches after with a raised eyebrow.
GUNN
Who’s that?
WESLEY
Alexa Troy. She’s head of Science.
Gunn looks away for a moment and tries to decide whether he should say it. Wesley interprets the gesture.
WESLEY [cont’d]
She looks a lot like Fred. Especially when she laughs. They sound completely different, so it’s easier not to look at her.
There is a pause in memoriam for Fred. For a moment, neither Wesley nor Gunn look at anything but the floor. Soon Gunn collects his wits about him.
GUNN
So, why are we sitting in the newly grounded Wolfram and Hart building if we’re dead, and why wasn’t I informed that we found a new head of Science that looks like Fred?
WESLEY
We signed over our afterlives when we collaborated with Wolfram and Hart.
GUNN
Why doesn’t that surprise me?
WESLEY
We’re in an alternate dimension… though the “alternate” element still escapes me. Judging by the amount of noise outside, I’d estimate that we’re still in the equivalent of Los Angeles. …How many demons did you say there were?
GUNN
A lot. Too many. There’s no way anyone could have survived that, even Illyria.
WESLEY
She likely wouldn’t transfer. Illyria was never a part of Wolfram and Hart.
GUNN
But Fred was. Maybe…
WESLEY
No. Fred’s soul was destroyed. An entity can’t exist without all three main attributes. If Fred was here, there would only be her… physical form. No mind, no soul. She wouldn’t…
Wesley glances away for a moment, staring at the wall behind Gunn. Suddenly he notices that there seems to be a shower of dust falling around Gunn, which is especially strange for a room that was incredibly clean only moments before.
WESLEY [cont’d]
Get off the table.
Frowning but not asking questions, Gunn gets off the table and stands beside Wesley, trying to follow his line of sight. Instantly he, too, sees the strange falling of dust that seemed to be emanating from the ceiling.
GUNN
Maybe asbestos is a client.
The two men continue to stand and stare at the metal table as the dust continues to accumulate. A pattern is noticeable; the basic shape of a man is being formed.
GUNN [cont’d]
So you figure this is Spike or Angel?
WESLEY
Both, perhaps?
GUNN
Oh God. Now that’s a notion I don’t think anyone would like.
A slow smile spreads across Wesley’s face as the image of a two-headed, four-legged Spangel creature beating itself up pops into his head. He looks over at Gunn and sees a similar expression of amusement on his face. He chuckles under his breath. It’s the first time since Fred died that he’s actually laughed. It’s a strange sensation. Alexa interrupts the moment, however, when she slams the door to the lab as she enters, looking serious and slightly urgent.
ALEXA
Is he here yet?
GUNN
Is who here yet?
ALEXA
You know very well who. The vampire with a soul.
GUNN
…We’re expecting a couple of them, actually.
Alexa frowns and looks at Gunn and Wesley in turn.
ALEXA
The prophecy only calls for one.
WESLEY
What prophecy?
ALEXA
The Unulat Prophecy.
WESLEY
Never heard of it.
ALEXA
You wouldn’t have. It’s exclusive to this dimension, about this dimension. It almost always relates back to Wolfram and Hart, but this one… it’s section A of the prophecy. It’s the first thing you read in the Unulat text. It states, quite cleanly and simply: the vampire with a soul will come with a small army to infiltrate this backdrop dimension. Well, actually, I guess it’s not that clean and simple since it’s in a pretty complex language, but that’s the polished and simplified version. The thing it isn’t clear on is whether the infiltration will cause evil or good. A lot of people are really scared because of what happened when… a month or two ago, but the scared ones are the evil ones, anyway. I’m only here because I have to be. I work on the side of good, and I’m assuming that you do too, otherwise you wouldn’t have attempted to bring the Black Thorn down. Ah, that’s the one.
ANGEL
What do you mean, attempted?
Wesley and Gunn whirl around to regard the table where the dust had been falling. A now constructed Angel stands up slowly; two very large, very round red marks are on either side of his neck. Gunn grins.
GUNN
Dragon get the best of you?
ANGEL
Only after I took it down.
GUNN
Cool. …Wait, how’s that work?
ANGEL
To tell the truth, I’m not too sure how any of this is working. What do you mean, attempted?
ALEXA
Well, they’re not all dead, are they?
ANGEL
There are no members of the Black Thorn remaining on that plain of existence. We achieved our goal, and we all died in the process. That’s all you need to understand. I, on the other hand, am pretty much in the dark regarding everything, especially why I’m in a room I know to be destroyed with two people I know for a fact to be dead when I myself just got killed.
FEMALE VOICE OFF CAMERA
All your questions will be answered with time.
Angel, Wesley and Gunn all turn around to regard the source of the voice. Alexa smiles and hugs a clipboard, happy to have the attention of the angry vampire off her. The camera closes in on a sometimes-blonde woman Angel met only once before.
ANYA
For now, I need you to come with me, please.
[END OF ACT ONE]
---
[ACT TWO]
2003
Anya walks into her Sunnydale apartment and throws her keys in a dish. She sighs heavily, takes off her jacket, and jumps ever so slightly when she finally notices D’Hoffryn’s looming figure in the middle of her living room.
ANYA
Come to kill me yourself, have you? Demon lackies not doing the job efficiently enough?
D’HOFFRYN
I never had any intention of killing you, Anyanka. I thought I made that clear when I killed Halfraek in your place.
ANYA
That explains the demons you sent after me, then.
D’HOFFRYN
Such an accusation! I was under the impression you knew me better than that, Anyanka. We did, after all, associate for a dozen centuries.
Anya sighs and, sensing a lack of anger in D’Hoffryn’s demeanor, lets her guard down and walks a little closer to her former boss.
ANYA
What do you want, D’Hoffryn?
D’HOFFRYN
Simply to congratulate you on your audacity.
ANYA
What, you want to rub it in my face that I lost my powers? That I fell in love? That I lost my powers… again? I thought you’d done that enough already.
D’HOFFRYN
You should be forever haunted by these facts, Anyanka. But no, I’m here on a different matter.
D’Hoffryn smiles falsely and conjures a scroll. It’s obviously a few centuries old. Anya’s expression changes instantly from tired exasperation to alert mortification.
D’HOFFRYN [cont’d]
I was in my quarters the other day when some insolent demon approached me. I was about to kill him when he presented this to me. I found it most illuminating. I can only assume by the look on your face that you’d simply forgotten about it.
ANYA
I had.
D’HOFFRYN
That was immediately clear to me. I thought that certainly you would have been much less hesitant to hand over your immortality, not once, but twice, if you were able to recall that you’d signed your life over to the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart.
ANYA
I signed my death over. Not my life.
D’HOFFRYN
Centuries as a vengeance demon and still it escapes you that life and death are one and the same.
ANYA
Get out.
D’HOFFRYN
Whatever inspired you to do such a thing, Anyanka?
ANYA
Leave. Now.
D’HOFFRYN
This is not a small matter. Soon the tides will change, and you’ll have desperately regretted your insolence.
ANYA
Do you seriously have nothing better to do?
D’HOFFRYN
I am doing you a favour. You’d best watch yourself, Anyanka. Death is not elusive. Surely you’re aware of that much.
Anya looks up and D’Hoffryn is gone. She stands in her living room for a moment and catches her breath. She runs a hand through her hair and there is an immediate cut to the
Present
Shot of Anya leading Angel, Wesley, Gunn and Alexa out of an elevator and through the lobby of Wolfram and Hart, identical to that of the L. A. offices. Anya’s obviously been talking for a while now, judging by the looks on everyone’s faces.
ANYA
So when I died last year, I woke up lying on that metal table without having the slightest idea as to what was going on. Of course, the boss set me straight… strange now that I can’t remember his name since he’s been eviscerated. Anyway, he was the former CEO.
WESLEY
Why was he eviscerated?
ANYA
He was destined to. Since the first one a couple months ago, people have been pretty on edge. It’s both amusing and annoying. That seemed to be the only one, though, until today; suddenly the boss, the head of research and the head of the law department all got their insides turned outside. The stench was terrible; they only just got the lobby cleaned up.
ANGEL
So you’re the new liason?
ANYA
Yep. Immortal again. I don’t really see the point, though; Xander’s not here, he’s too busy in Africa to pay any attention to the fact that I’m dead. He was supposed to die, too. It was supposed to be all romantic, and we’d maybe get married in the afterlife because it’s not like he’d have to worry about the rest of his life or anything.
Anya stops in front of the doors to what had been Angel’s office in L. A. and whirls around to regard the people behind her.
ANYA [cont’d]
What is wrong with him? First he won’t marry me, and then he goes and gets all sexy with his money and I have to go and still love him, and okay, we slept together a few times, and then he doesn’t even die when I do! He just cries for months and then goes to Africa and starts “helping people”. I mean really!
GUNN
Yeah, he sure sounds unreasonable to me.
ANYA
Thank you! See? I’m not the crazy one! He is!
ANGEL
Yeah, great. Can we go in now?
Melody peers over her desk and stands up hesitantly.
MELODY
I don’t think you want to do that, actually.
ANYA
Still smells?
MELODY
Like a Kragshlog demon. The cleaning crews are still in Pistoll’s office.
ANYA
You’d really think a multi-billion dollar establishment like this would have more than one evisceration cleaning crew. Everyone always underestimates how difficult it is to get spinal fluid out of the carpeting. If they had regular eviscerations around here, maybe they’d understand that it’s not just slice and pop when it’s done properly.
Pan over everyone’s face. Looks of various extremities of disgust are apparent on everyone’s features, except Angel’s.
ANGEL
Why don’t you just go ahead and tell us about the case out here?
ANYA
All right. It’s not like the documentation will help with the search, anyway.
Anya starts walking again, and after some exchanging of looks, everyone, including a curious Melody, follows suit. Anya walks right into an office identical to Wesley’s. Upon entrance, she opens the cupboards and starts rummaging through for something. Wesley’s look is very skeptical as he enters the room.
WESLEY
This is my office.
ANYA
Yes. You can sit if you want; Monaie was eviscerated in the lobby.
GUNN
And no one tried to stop it?
ANYA
Oh, no one did the eviscerating. She was destined to, like the boss. She was born that way. When you’re born into a backdrop dimension, you’re provided with a prophecy as explanation and sent on your way. They knew that upon your mutiny in your home dimension, you’d be shipped here to take their places.
GUNN
Harsh.
ANYA
Way of life. They were brought up to accept their fate. Aha!
Anya finally brings her head out of the cupboard, along with a stack of newspapers. She drops them on the desk and everyone except Melody and Alexa picks up a paper.
GUNN
So we are still in L. A.
ANYA
Yes. Certain events have happened differently than have in your home dimension, so it’s not quite the same, but most aspects are pretty much in tact.
ANGEL
All these papers are reporting some kind of major accident.
ANYA
Only they’re not accidents. The Senior Partners are having trouble with some invisible brigade that they created. A bunch of semi-psychopathic invisible human beings bent on giving the visible world what’s coming to them. At first things were going really well… the seven years of training were completed and the invisible people were set out into the commonplace, creating organized genocide and making it look like an accident. But soon that got boring for them; people die too easily. Soon the army turned on their trainers.
ANGEL
Now they’re out of control and the partners are feeling threatened.
ANYA
Senior partners don’t get threatened. Not without repercussions. And unless you and the rest of the scoobies can step up and bring down the invisible army, the repercussions are going to make themselves apparent.
GUNN
Scoobies?
ANYA
Sorry. Old habit.
A silence falls as Gunn and Angel read through the articles. Wesley’s eyes seem to want to read the article, but they always settle on the strangely silent Alexa. Angel suddenly frowns, checks Gunn’s paper, and checks the others in the pile Anya produced.
ANGEL
These are all from the same date.
WESLEY
Assuming the time flow is the same here.
ANYA
It is. Well, actually, there’s no such thing as A. M. or P. M. here. It’s takes some getting used to… one time someone asked me when a client was scheduled to show up, and I told him two o’clock, and he told me to get out of town. Of course, by the time I realized he wasn’t being literal—
ANGEL
Anya.
ANYA
Yes?
ANGEL
Either tell us what you know about the case, or get out.
ANYA
Oh, no you don’t. Just because you used to yell at the liasons at home, doesn’t mean you get to yell at me. I don’t work for you, buster.
ANGEL
I’m not—what?
ANYA
Used to having people stand up to you? Well, I don’t care that you’re CEO of a majorly evil company. I used to be majorly evil myself you know, I can anticipate anything you throw at me.
ANGEL
What do you mean, you don’t work for me?
ANYA
Well, I don’t. It’s not a hard concept to grasp.
ANGEL
I thought you said I was CEO.
ANYA
You are.
ANGEL
And that everything at this branch was exactly as it was in L. A.
ANYA
It is.
ANGEL
Then explain the part where you don’t work for me again, because my other liasons to the Senior Partners did. They may not have always been loyal to me… actually, I haven’t found a loyal one yet…
ANYA
Hamilton was, more or less.
ANGEL
He tried to kill me.
ANYA
But he wasn’t working for you at that point.
ANGEL
I never received any resignation.
ANYA
That’s because you resigned from him, not the other way around.
ANGEL
Anya, I’m in short supply of both time and patience, so maybe you should just get to the point.
ANYA
Hamilton tried to kill you after your appointment to the Black Thorn. Therefore, he didn’t work for you anymore at that point. I don’t understand why this is a difficult concept for you. I get it.
ANGEL
What does the Black Thorn have to do with any of this?
ANYA
You mean no one explained?
ANGEL
Anya…
ANYA
There’s a reason that the Senior Partners sent a team that massive to take you down. The Black Thorn isn’t just a secret society. It’s an elite society, of fairly epic scale. Every member receives a special status according to their interests or career choice. The Senator wasn’t a member after her appointment to the Senate. There are no coincidences in the business of evil.
WESLEY
So when you say it was Angel who resigned from Hamilton…
GUNN
What you really mean is that Angel’s above a liason to the Senior Partners.
A pause as everyone tries to let this sink in. Wesley and Gunn try fervently to figure it out. Wesley’s reflexive glances at Alexa, however, show him that she doesn’t seem as surprised as the others.
WESLEY
You’ve been awfully quiet, Alexa. Surely you have some light to shed on the matter?
Alexa glances as Wesley, and then nervously at Angel. She sighs.
ALEXA
The… the prophecy states that the vampire with a soul will come with a small army to infiltrate—
GUNN
Yeah, yeah. We’ve heard that part already.
ALEXA
…Not all of it.
WESLEY
You hid some aspects from us before.
ALEXA
I didn’t hide them, per se…
ANGEL
Fine, you just conveniently didn’t include some things in your explanation. Phrase it however you want. I think we’d all like to know, however, what exactly it is you didn’t tell us.
ALEXA
Look, just chill, okay? I’m not the enemy here.
ANGEL
But you’re starting to make yourself look that way.
ALEXA
Okay! Okay. The Unulat prophecy is… is only one aspect of this dimension’s predictions. It deals with only things relating to Wolfram and Hart… on the topmost scale. Angel isn’t just CEO anymore… he’s made Junior Partner.
A beat. Then a hard cut to the third floor of a hospital. It’s very clean, as hospitals tend to be; equipment lining the halls, nurses milling calmly about. Suddenly the camera descends through the floor; we see the second floor, a similar scene, scroll by before the camera disappears through the floor again; and past the first floor; and finally into the basement. A strange beeping, perhaps like a heartrate monitor is heard. Broken bedframes are splayed carelessly about; the cement walls and lone lightbulb in the middle of the room present a much different scene from the first three floors. It’s abysmal. A pan shot of the stained mattresses, moldy blankets, pillows and their stuffing everywhere, and finally a broken table—with a bomb sitting upon it. The source of the rhythmic beeping.
A chuckle is heard. The camera follows a series of depressions on a set of mattresses leading up to the one tiny window in the room; the window is propped open as depressions on the grass outside become apparent. The window slams shut and the bars on the outside are replaced. A pair of chuckles are heard now, and the invisible culprits run away.
Shot of the bomb again. Fifty-eight minutes on the digital readout ticks down to fifty-seven. Dramatic music to end the scene.
[END OF ACT TWO]
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