Airdate: November 19, 2003

Guest Starring: Sarah Thompson
Mercedes McNab
And Juliet Landau as Drusilla

Written by: David Fury & Steven S. DeKnight
Directed by: Skip Schoolnik

Teaser

Royal London Hotel, England 1880. Drusilla and Spike burst through the doors into a suite belonging to a now dead Ambassador and his wife. Angelus suddenly he appears in the shadows and Drusilla proudly shows off her William (still known as William then) and asks about Darla. Angelus admits they have had a fight and she has gone back to see The Master. Angelus looks William over, wondering why Drusilla turned him. He grabs William’s arm, exposing it to a shaft of sunlight, smoke comes out of his hand. Angelus does the same to his hand when William shies away. Angelus confesses that he would like to share the slaughter of innocence with another man; he’s been in the company of his ladies for too long. William holds out his hand in the light and sucks it up. Angelus laughs; he thinks they will be the best of friends!

Wolfram & Hart. Angel asks Spike to get away from him, he wants his own office, but Angel says no, so he asks for Wesley's office (who is on a leave of absence), answer is still no. As Spike rants at Angel's closed door, Harmony informs him that he has a letter and opens it for him. There’s a flashbulb-like effect as it opens, only to find it empty. The phone rings and Spike walks towards Angel's door, planning to go through it but instead hitting it full force and falling to the ground as Angel looks out to see what has happened.

Act I

The phones are all ringing out of control, emitting odd noises, and Spike realises he can touch and taste as he grabs Angel's mug and gulps down the fresh blood. Gunn arrives, wondering how Spike has become corporeal so he explains to them about the box, leaving Angel to wonder who could have sent it. Harmony explains to Angel that nobody knows what’s wrong with the phones, Spike sizes her up then rushes to kiss her, over her short-lived protestations, and announces to Angel that she is taking a long, ahem, lunch break.

London 1880. In a carriage, William and Angelus laugh together at the memory of their most recent kill at a wedding ceremony and Angelus offers Spike the half of the still-breathing bride. William declines, keen on finding Drusilla who is out prowling for street urchins, and confesses to Angel that she is his 'destiny'. Angelus agrees she is special, although a little mad, and stops the coach to let William out.

W&H. Spike and Harmony are looking for a room and throw a guy out of his office, angrily he approaches a work colleague in the copy room to complain but as his colleague turns around his eyes are bleeding, eyeballs glowing red, and he picks up a fire extinguisher and attacks the other guy with it.

In the lobby Angel instructs security to shut everything down. Fred approaches Gunn and Angel; not only are the phones and computers down but all the instruments in her lab have blown up because the needles on the atmospheric gages spiked into the red, and she suspects it is more than some kind of electrical surge. Picking up his mug in his office, Angel realises Spike has drunk all his blood and calls for Harmony but she’s having her ‘nooner’ with Spike. Fred is shocked to learn that Spike is corporeal and they suddenly realise that this coincides with what is happening around them. Fred thinks his matter reforming may have had a ripple effect on the surrounding environment. Eve chooses that moment to show up and confirms inform them that the universe is being thrown into turmoil: Seers informed her they have a harbinger and big trouble - this is all connected with the Shanshu Prophecy. Since the prophecy does not call Angel by name and Spike becoming en-souled threw things out of balance, but only when he saved the world and became a champion. Because he died it didn't matter then, but now his un-life is disrupting the natural order of things. Gunn leaves to check something and Eve is surprised to learn that it wasn't them who brought Spike back. Angel asks her about this ‘Harbinger’ but she only knows that it’s bigger and worse.

As Spike and Harmony have sex, blood begins to pour from her eyes and she vamps out, biting Spike.

Act II

Spike jumps up as Harmony begins to shout at him, angry that he is using her and convinced he only wants his 'Slayer whore' finally threatening to kill him to which he punches her over the desk.

In the copy room, as the earlier employee is tended to and wheeled away, having also attacked Lorne, Angel instructs security to seal the building and asks Lorne to drop by Fred's lab to remind her that he has to be informed the minute she has any information.

As they head off down the hallway, Eve reminds Angel that reality is slipping just as Spike steps out of the office and tells them what happened with Harmony. Eve explains to Spike how there is only meant to be one Vampire with a soul and how there is not enough room for him and Angel so Spike adopts a 'screw you' attitude and decides that he will go to Europe to find Buffy. As he reaches the elevator, Eve tells him that his leaving may make things worse. Gunn steps from the elevator in shock: he has been to the White Room and the panther’s gone, as is the White Room, which means that they are alone. Angel asks Spike to stay and Eve suggests that they need to find out which one of them belongs to the prophecy. But Angel has read it, much to Spike's surprise, and there is nothing that indicates which one. As Wesley is on leave they decide to consult someone from his department, Angel still adamant that there is nothing in the prophecy.

In his office, Rutherford Sirk tells Angel that he only read a translation of the prophecy and there are some newly translated pages, from which he reads: “The root of the tree will split in two and each then will seek nourishment from the buried river.” He then tells them that “the balance will falter until the vampire with a soul drinks from the Cup of Perpetual Torment. He will have the weight of worlds upon him binding his limbs and grinding his bones to meal until he saves creation or destroys it” The vampire will then have his past washed clean and live again in mortal form. Spike, upset as Gunn has assumed it means Angel, begins to argue with Angel, but Sirk informs them that the drinking of the cup is predestined; whoever drinks from the cup was meant to, this in turn leading to the universe realigning itself. Gunn asks where the cup is and Sirk traces it path from where it was originally housed in Petra to the Vatican to Death Valley in Nevada where it will be marked by the columns where “The Fat Lady Shall Sing no more”. Angel remembers the Columns Opera House which was buried in an earthquake in 1938 and makes his plans to go but Spike has already left.

Spike is in Angel's viper on the highway and the phone rings, it is Angel reminding Spike that this is a prophecy and it is not about him but Spike is sure he is 'the one', why else would he have been made corporeal?

Eve enters Gunn's office, he is suspicious of her, how she always shows up for the “interesting parts” and how she has the ears of the Senior, but she reminds him that he speaks to the cat so is far more connected. As they spar, a man with a huge axe approaches the glass window separating them from the lobby but is brought down before he can strike.

Angel arrives at the old opera house and Spike calls to him, the two heroes are together and ready, but Angel tells him he is not yet a hero. Spike disappears upstairs and Angel goes up to look for him.

London 1880. William walks into the bedroom to find Angelus and Drusilla having sex, he is clearly devastated as Angelus mocks him telling Drusilla that William thinks she is his destiny.

In the present, Angel finds the cup placed on a column on the stage and surrounded by a beam of light but Spike is right behind him. Angel wonders what they should do next before Spike punches him. He’s got it down.

Act III:

Angel tells Spike that they don't have time to fight; they do anyway but then Spike tells Angel that he [Spike] is different and Angel knows it, Angel had a soul forced on him as a curse but he fought for his soul through the demon trials, he kept fighting because he knew it was the right thing to do. Angel quips that he heard it was just to get in a girl's pants and they begin to fight again.

In Fred's lab, Harmony is wheeled away on a stretcher as Gunn tells Eve that they have 6 more cases and Fred confesses that she can find no pattern or common factor with the victims. Gunn, his head bowed, tells Fred not to trust Eve but as he raises his head his eyes are bleeding and he launches at Eve beginning to strangle her as Fred rushes for the tranquiliser gun but he hits her, knocking her to the ground. His eyes are now bulging as he shouts at Eve, asking who or what she really is and Fred, recovering, grabs the nearest object, hitting him on the side of the head.

At the Opera house, Angel and Spike are in full battle with metal poles, Spike eventually knocking Angel down a couple of stories where he lies bleeding but as Spike taunts him about his choice to run Wolfram & Hart, preparing to spear him, Angel grabs the other end of the pole turning Spike over and telling him he was always a bit simple. Angel walks towards the cup.

London 1880. In the bedroom, William orders Angelus to take his hands off Drusilla, telling him that he knew she was his and then punching him. Angelus punches back saying that things are different now, he can take what he wants; when he wants, but nothing is his, not even Drusilla, to which William informs him he is wrong, that they are forever. She asks if they are? Angelus chuckles, William’s still the poet, and suggests to him that he finds another name, William doesn’t strike the right note of terror. Angelus walks to Drusilla wrapping his arms around her, and tells William that if he wants her to come and take her, so William charges at them….

… Spike charges at Angel just as he is about to lift the cup and they punch each other mercilessly. Spike knows why Angel can't stand the sight of him: because it reminds him of all the things he has done. Drusilla sired him but it was Angel who made Spike a monster. Angel retorts that he just opened the door and let him out. Spike picks up a huge cross and hits Angel, sending him though the air. His hands burn where he holds the cross as he tells Angel, "You never knew the real me". He tells Angel that he is nothing like him and Angel agrees; Spike is less, which is why Buffy never loved him, because he wasn't Angel. They fight again and Spike attempts to stake Angel. They both vamp out, Angel calling for them to finish it once and for all.

Act IV

Eve is in shock, her neck is very bruised as Fred attempts to comfort her in her office, but Eve thinks it is all an act as she knows what they think of her. As she leaves, she tells Fred she is not the bad guy.

At the Opera house, Spike and Angel continue to fight until Spike gets the upper hand and prepares to stake Angel only to stab his right shoulder instead as they both return to human face. He should have killed him, but he didn’t want to hear Buffy bitching about it. Spike picks up the cup and is about to drink, but Angel calls out, reminding him that it is not a trophy but a burden. If this is really his destiny, does he really want it or is it about taking something away from Angel. He admits it is a bit of both before drinking the cup and dropping it as Angel can only watch. But they are both shocked when it turns out there was only mountain dew in the cup.

Angel arrives back at the lab at Wolfram & Hart and tells Fred that the cup was a fake; Gunn and Harmony are on tables still unconscious, and Spike arrives, confirming that Sirk has disappeared. As they wonder what do next, Gunn and Harmony suddenly wake up; seemingly normal asking what happened to them.

In Angel's office, Eve informs Angel, Spike and Gunn that the Senior Partners stepped in and temporarily balanced the universal equilibrium and they also do not know anything about Sirk or the cup, which Angel doubts. As she prepares to leave, Gunn apologises, but she just reminds him that they have an unresolved Shanshu Prophecy and two vampires with souls. Spike decides to go and get drunk, leaving Gunn to ask after, Angel who is worried because Spike beat him for the first time: he was stronger and he wanted the cup more and he wonders if that means that he [Angel] is not the one…

Eve enters a room, the wall covered in ancient language and symbols, and smiles as says to an as yet unseen person that sending the universe out of whack was not as much fun as it seems, showing the bruises on her neck. She adds that they did fall for the cup thing just like the unknown person thought they would. As she undresses, she continues, stating that Mr Sirk disappeared without a hitch, right under the Senior Partners' noses and while Spike did not kill Angel, they beat each other up. Climbing into bed she snuggles up to Lindsay McDonald (Christian Kane) who says, "Wow, It's a start."

Summary by Dannyboy.