(...and Angel tucks and rolls back to his feet in a dungeon-like chamber.)

JEEVES: Well, we certainly have faith. Now we'll test your valor.

(Angel turns to see a guy looking like a butler in a black suit and tie standing there.)

JEEVES: I shall be assisting you with the trials, sir.

(Angel looks to the side and there is Darla.)

ANGEL: Darla. Why is she here?

JEEVES: You wish to save her life?

ANGEL: Yes.

JEEVES: She is your collateral then. Should you complete all three trials, she will be made - whole.

ANGEL: What happens if I don't complete the trials?

JEEVES: She dies instantly. - In the mean time, Darla, you can relax with an iced beverage in our - antechamber.

(Darla suddenly disappears.)

ANGEL: No.

JEEVES: Oh, it's better this way, sir. In a few moments no living thing will be safe in here.

ANGEL: You can't. Nobody said that she would...

JEEVES: Oh, I'm sorry if there was a misunderstanding, but *life* is the bargain here. By entering, you have placed hers in the balance (We hear a growl and Angel glances at the gate in the wall behind him), along with your own, of course. Anyway, you best get ready now, sir. This is no time to be dwelling on the negative. (Cut to commercial.) Your trials will consist of three separate challenges. I'll need your shirt and shoes.

(Angel takes off his coat and shirt and throws them at Jeeves.)

ANGEL: Unarmed combat?

JEEVES: Well - you'll be unarmed, yes.

ANGEL: Okay. Three challenges. - What are they?

JEEVES: That's for you to discover, sir. - Uhm, shoes and socks, please.

(Angel takes them off and hands them to Jeeves.)

ANGEL: I'm thinking you've seen this play before. Give me something I can work with.

JEEVES: I've never given information to a challenger before.

ANGEL: How many of them asked?

JEEVES: Well, in theory, the first test is child's play. Once that gate opens, all you have to do is walk through it.

ANGEL: That's it? What's the catch?

JEEVES: Yes, well, uhm, that would be telling, wouldn't it?

ANGEL: Okay, that's one. What's two and three?

JEEVES: Oh, I really wouldn't know about the last two tests, sir. I've never seen anyone survive the first one. - Best of luck.

(Jeeves disappears the way Darla did earlier. The gate rises and an ugly yellow demon, armed with a sword and two chains with sharp hooks at the ends, walks in.)

ANGEL: You must be the catch.

(The demon swings the chains around trying to hook Angel, but he manages to avoid them. Then Angel runs up the wall and around the outside of one of the arced doorways ringing the chamber, trying to get by the demon and reach the door. But the demon hooks one of Angel's thighs and drags him across the floor towards him.)

(Standing next to Darla in the ante-chamber, Jeeves is looking at his pocket watch.)

JEEVES: Seventeen seconds. Already twice the time most others have lasted.

DARLA: Call this off.

JEEVES: Impossible. Once the tests have started they can't be stopped.

DARLA: I need to see what's happening - now.

JEEVES: If you insist. But please remember - you did ask.

(He touches Darla's forehead and there is a short flash of light. Angel's head rocks back as the demon hits him and Darla's head moves as well as she flinches. We cut back between Darla and Angel getting hit and it looks like Darla feels every hit connecting. The demon hits Angel a few more times then kicks him in the side. The demon lets go of the chain hooked into Angel's thigh and pulls out his sword. Angel pulls the hook out and catches the sword on the chain then scrambles to his feet. He runs through one of the arced doorways into the narrow corridor circling the chamber. The demon runs after him, but Angel has disappeared. As the demon stops, Angel drops down behind him (he had wedged himself between the walls above him) and hits him with a hard right then turns and runs back into the chamber. The demon runs through another arc, but Angel is waiting just inside the chamber beside it and rips the sword from his grip and cuts him across the waist. The two halves fall to the ground and Angel breathes a sigh of relief. As does Darla. She shakes her head and smiles at Jeeves, who only raises his eyebrows at her. Angel limps over to the gate, but it stays closed. Angel strains against it.)

ANGEL: Hey! I defeated him! Open up!

(He hears a growl and turns to see the top half of the demon hand-walk over to his legs and pull them against his cut as if he was putting on a pair of pants. While Angel (and Darla in the chamber) watch in horror, the two halves merge. Darla flinches as the Demon comes at Angel swinging both hooks, but Angel quickly manages to cut him in half again. He hooks the bottom half, drags it to the wall and loops the chain over a light fixture. Drags the chain wrapped top half to the opposite wall and hangs it off another light fixture. The demon growls and twitches but can't free his hands from the chains. The Gate rises and Angel limps through it. In the antechamber Darla is breathing heavily, as Jeeves checks his watch again.)

DARLA: Is this how a guy like you gets his rocks off?

JEEVES: Oh, I have no feelings about this contest one way or another, miss. - Do you?

(The gate comes back down behind Angel, leaving him facing a long dark corridor. The ceiling opens to let the moonlight in and Angel sees that the floor and walls of it are covered with crosses in all shapes and sizes. About half way down there is a basin on a pedestal and a door at the other end of it. Jeeves is eating a cookie.)

DARLA: Why don't you just kill him if you want him dead?

JEEVES: We don't *want* anything, miss. In this place, the journey is all. Where it may lead is not our concern.

(Angel takes a deep breath and runs as fast as he can with his skewered thigh along the corridor. Hisses of steam rise with each of his steps as the crosses burn his bare feet. He passes the basin, gives it a passing glance, stumbles and lands full length on the floor, screaming as the crosses burn his bare skin. He pushes himself up, burning his hands. Darla flinches, wide-eyed. Angel makes it to the door, but it's locked. He turns, limps back to the basin. It's filled with water and there is a key at the bottom of it.)

DARLA: Holy Water!

(Angel plunges his right hand into the water, screaming as the water boils around his arm, fishes the key out. His arm and hand holding it look like raw meat. He makes it back to the door and unlocks it. Jeeves is checking his watch again.)

JEEVES: He's quite remarkable.

DARLA: Yes - he is.

(Angel limps into the next chamber, grimacing with the pain. Chains shoot out and manacles clamp around his wrists and ankles then pull tight leaving him spread-eagled. Jeeves enters clapping his hands.)

JEEVES: Well played! You fielded our strokes from end to end. My hat's off to you, sir. Of course there is one final challenge.

(Jeeves turns to look at the wall facing Angel as rows upon rows of stakes poke out of it.)

ANGEL: What is this?

JEEVES: I think you know, sir.

(Angel, breathing hard, is staring at the stakes. Darla, breathing hard, closes her eyes.)

ANGEL: Stakes? You call this (starts coughing) a test? The only way this can work is you kill me, huh?

JEEVES: Exactly. You do understand - this third test has no catch, as you put it. Death is the final challenge. - We can't restore one life without taking another. You see? In order for Darla to live, you must die. (Cut to commercial.) My apologies for any discomfort this may be causing. I really - can't imagine the pain.

ANGEL: How about we switch places and we won't have to, huh?

JEEVES: My death wouldn't balance a thing, sir. Yours on the other hand...

ANGEL: I die, Darla lives.

JEEVES: Yes. I'm unaware of any deities the vampire worships, but if you'd like to pray (pulls a lever and the stakes pull back, spring-loaded into place), now would be the time.

DARLA: (shakes her head) Don't do this.

ANGEL: (staring at the stakes) What are you waiting for?

JEEVES: For you, sir. I can't proceed without your permission. You've earned a choice. Accept your death so that she may live or...

ANGEL: (yelling) Or what?!

JEEVES: Leave. - Refuse the challenge and walk away. No one will stop you. Our doors are all open to you. You've done that yourself.

ANGEL: What about Darla?

JEEVES: Oh, she dies.

ANGEL: No deal.

JEEVES: I expected as much. A pity. I'm beginning to like you.

ANGEL: Spare me.

JEEVES: I'd very much like to. (Steps closer) Do you mind if I ask you a question? - Isn't the world a better place with you in it? You can save so many people. It seems - she can barely save herself.

(Angel doesn't answer. Darla has a tear in her eye.)

JEEVES: You know better than anyone The world can be a very bad place. Take yourself out, put her in - how long will it be before she stumbles, before she falls?

ANGEL: I don't know.

JEEVES: No - you don't. Are you still ready to give her life when she can promise you - nothing?

ANGEL: (looks him straight in the eye) Yes.

JEEVES: As you wish.

DARLA: No.

ANGEL: (takes a deep breath) Do it.

(Jeeves releases the stakes and they hurtle towards Angel.)

DARLA: (flinches and screams) No!

(She squirms, her eyes closed. She opens them to see Angel in front of her, once again fully dressed but panting, hunched over, barely able to stand.)

DARLA: Angel!

JEEVES: Congratulations. You've passed the third test - by accepting death. - I'm told no one's ever gone that far before - in terms of sacrifice. - Kudos.

ANGEL: Pay up.

JEEVES: Of course. (To Darla) You're a lucky woman, and soon you'll have your whole life ahead. - Use it wisely.

ANGEL: Hey, Jeeves, unless this fortune cookie crap is some new kind of torture, what you say we just get on with it, huh?

JEEVES: This way, miss.

(He puts his hands on the sides of her head and they both close their eyes as Angel tries to straighten up so he can get a better view. Jeeves opens his eyes and lets his hands drop.)

JEEVES: Oh.

DARLA: What?

ANGEL: What is it?

JEEVES: This is - very embarrassing.

ANGEL: What is?

JEEVES: Not to mention unprecedented. She's - she's been given new life once before - by supernatural means, yes?

DARLA: They brought me back.

ANGEL: What are you saying?

JEEVES: I can't help you.

ANGEL: We had a bargain. She's earned a second chance.

JEEVES: She's living her second chance. (The wall shivers and a set of stairs leading up appears) But you played the game magnificently. Perhaps you should have told us that she was brought to life - before this all started. I truly *am* sorry, sir. The fact of the matter is (Steps back and dissolves) there's nothing I can do.

DARLA: Angel...

(Suddenly Angel over turns the table with the refreshments. A demon guard tries to stop him and Angel hits him hard enough to send him flying into a wall, another guard comes up and Angel hits him, making him fall back onto the steps, then picks him up and throws him across the room. He picks up an urn and smashes it, then sweeps all the candles and stuff off a side table, then starts hitting his fist over and over against a stone pillar. The hits come slower and slower. Darla walks towards him as we see stone dust puff out from where he keeps hitting the pillar. Angel's knees give way and he slides down the pillar, resting his head against it.)

• Angel's Mission
• Darla & Angel

written by: Tim Minear & Douglas Petrie; edited, formatted for this site and checked against source by macha.. Full transcript at:
http://www.buffyworld.com/angel/season2/transcripts/31_tran.shtml