"Orpheus"
Things pick up from where they left off at the end of "Release", with Angelus feeding on Faith.
Angelus jumps back, realizing something isn't right. He asks her what she did.
Flashback to earlier events revealing while Wes was keeping Angelus busy with the shotgun, Faith injected herself with a syringe she had concealed on her leg, under her slacks.
Angelus realizes she spiked her blood as he falls to the floor.
Wes stumbles onto the scene and falls. He weakly asks Faith if she's okay.
Faith gets half way up, breathing heavily. She answers the question, saying she "kicked his ass", then passes out.
At the hotel, Fred is at the lobby desk, looking over some books.
Gunn bursts in, dragging an unconscious Angelus, and screams for Connor. He tells Fred to arm herself with the tranquilizer gun, he's not sure how much time they have.
Fred hands the gun to Gunn and asks where Faith is.
Lorne comes into the lobby, a bit freaked to see Angelus is back, then figures everybody already knows.
Gunn tells Fred to bring the "steel shackles", he only had rope in his truck and he doesn't reckon that's going to be much use if Angelus wakes up.
Connor comes to the landing and asks what's going on.
Gunn tells him to come down into the lobby as he tells Fred to bring the leg irons as well.
Lorne asks where Wes and Faith are.
Wes comes in the front door, carrying an unconscious Faith. He instructs the others to get Angelus downstairs.
Connor asks what happened to Faith.
Wes answers she caught Angelus. He urges Gunn to get Angelus taken care of.
He complies.
Fred asks what he did to Faith.
Connor's eyes are locked on Faith as Wes heads upstairs carrying her, accompanied by Lorne and Fred. He asks if she'll be okay.
Gunn hands Connor some manacles and tells him he needs his help.
Connor focuses on the task at hand, securing Angelus.
As Wes lays Faith on a bed in one of the hotel's rooms, Gunn and Connor put Angelus back in the basement cell. They replace the rope with which he is bound with the more secure iron shackles.
Lorne notices the needle mark in Faith's arm. He looks at Wes.
Gunn and Connor finish binding Angelus.
Fred comes out of the bathroom and tends to Faith. She pulls a cloth away from Faith's neck and looks at the bloody bite wound. She gently cleanses the wound with a clean cloth.
In the basement cell, Connor notes with disgust that Angelus fed on Faith, he can smell her blood on him.
Angelus moves his head to the side, sending both Gunn and Connor jumping backward. Gunn aims the tranquilizer pistol at him.
Angelus mutters, "kill you."
In the room, Faith mutters, "Scratch you out."
Fred notes she isn't making any sense.
Lorne steps away from Faith's bedside and takes Wes aside. He wonders if Wes lost his mind. He wants Wesley to tell him he didn't shoot Faith up and feed her to Angelus.
Wes tells him Faith chose to do it, she knew the risks.
Lorne isn't buying that. He doesn't figure Faith could know. He understands what the drug does, particularly in large doses, and he reckons Wes is well aware of it as well.
In Cordy's room, Connor has told her that Faith is in a coma. Cordy is incredulous, noting Faith had pulled that scam before.
Connor says he doesn't think Faith is faking it.
Cordy notes with disgust that Faith caught Angelus. She realizes he's in the hotel. She asks if he's locked up tightly in the cage.
Connor assures her she has nothing to worry about, he'll protect her and their family.
She dismisses that with a curt, "That's sweet" then asks if Angelus is guarded.
Connor notes, with a smile, Faith handled Angelus well.
Cordy reacts violently to that, shoving him, sending him slamming into the wall. She demands to know, "What the hell is it with you and Faith? As if I didn't see the way you looked at her! She cracked her whip and you liked it. You were practically in her leather-clad lap!"
Connor gets to his feet and denies her allegations. He wonders just how she managed to shove him so hard considering the sanctuary spell and the fact she's part demon.
She snaps at him that she's already told him, "We're different. Me and your baby." She turns her back to him and continues yelling, "I guess you can't even be loyal to our bed, let alone our little family!" She rants on, saying she thought he'd be a better father to his child than Angel was to him.
That pushes the right buttons, as Connor anxiously assures her he will be. He says he'd do anything for them, for her.
Cordelia likes the sound of that as her expression softens before she turns to face him. She laughs off her tirade, blaming it on hormones.
Connor isn't sure what to make of any of it.
Cordy takes a deep breath then suggests he go check on Faith.
Connor eyes her suspiciously.
She urges him to go, saying she's concerned about her.
Connor enters Faith's room and asks what will happen to her. Fred, Wes and Lorne are with her.
Fred would rather start with the answer to what it was, exactly. She looks to Wes for the answer.
Lorne replies, "Orpheus."
Fred asks if it's a kind of opiate.
Lorne explains that it's a mystical variety. Humans shoot it up, vamps feed off the humans. He says some people tried to deal it at Caritas. It's the only time he banned anyone from his club.
Fred wonders, considering the drug's effect on humans, how it would affect a Slayer.
Lorne notes that it's particularly dangerous because it's not just physical, it's an "enchanted" drug.
Connor dryly notes the results of magicks yet again are not a good thing.
Lorne adds that the drug, coupled with the biting, makes for "some serious psychic psychedelia", the more of it one uses, the deeper the hole.
Wes adds, "It leads you down to hell ..."
Gunn slams the door shut on the basement cell and locks it down.
Angelus lies shackled in irons and chains, unconscious on the cell floor as Wes finishes his thought in voiceover, "... and leaves you there."
New York, 1902
Angel wanders the docks, threading his way through the throng of disembarking immigrants.
Angelus shows up, in modern dress, and finds himself standing in front of Angel.
Angel walks through him, not noting his presence.
Angelus wonders what the hell is going on.
Faith answers in response, "You tell me."
He turns to see her standing behind him. She continues, telling him it's his "flashback."
Angelus lunges at her, losing his balance and falling on the dock as he passes through her, just as Angel had passed through him.
Faith laughs as Angelus gets to his feet, looking like he's contemplating trying again. She reminds him of the definition of insanity, "Performing the same task over and over, and expecting different results." She learned that in "murder rehab."
An agitated Angelus walks past her, asking "Miss-blow-it all" since it's his flashback, why is she there?
Faith isn't sure. She assumes it's a side effect of her "incredibly simple ruse."
Angelus wonders what it's supposed to be.
Faith figures it's his version of "This is Your Life". She looks around, noting the lack of hygiene, and reckons it's not hers.
Faith watches a dirty, disheveled Angel approach. She asks Angelus if he missed the invention of bathing.
As Angel walks past, Angelus notes, with disgust, Angel stayed with the animals on board the ship during the entire journey, just to avoid being tempted by humans. He says this isn't his life, it's his (referring to Angel). He didn't enjoy it the first time, he isn't happy about reliving it. He wonders why Faith gets to "be Marley's ghost."
Faith reckons the answer to that is that she's dying.
Angelus notes that's not happening quickly enough to suit him.
Faith snaps at him, saying she guesses she has one last job to do, "baby-sit the psycho till they shove a soul up your --"
Angelus is confident that won't happen.
She tells him she's "dust in the wind, a candle in the wind" then. She says there will be "a general wind theme."
Angelus thought she lost the suicidal notions when she got enlightened.
She says she "rolled the dice, it paid even odds."
Angelus and Faith stand outside of a club, "The Blue Mood Lounge", sometime in the 20's. A group of men huddle off to the side, shooting craps.
Angelus notices Angel sitting on a bench across the street. He remembers something unpleasant and says he needs to get out of there.
Faith wonders why he's in a rush.
Angelus turns at the sound of tires screeching as a car comes careening around the corner. He mutters, "It's coming, again."
Faith asks what he's talking about.
Angel looks up the street at the oncoming car. He rushes out into the street in front of it.
Faith yells at him to get out of the road.
Angel scoops up a small puppy from the path of the oncoming car and carries it to the other side of the street.
Angelus is embarrassed and disgusted.
A young woman bounds up to Angel, expressing her joy over the dog being safe.
Faith notes Angelus' discomfort and needles him as she laughs, "Dude, you just saved a puppy!"
The woman gives Angel a look over as she takes her dog.
Angelus mutters, "I'm in hell. This is hell, and I'm in it."
The young woman flirtatiously asks Angel how she can thank him.
Angelus walks up to Angel, telling him, "We haven't fed on a human in decades. She's begging for it. You moron!"
Angel tells the woman to get lost.
She gets offended and walks off.
Angelus hangs his head in shame.
Faith looks on, realizing they're reliving Angel's good deeds. She notes that Angelus really is in hell and she's wickedly amused by it.
In Faith's room at the hotel, Lorne sits on the bed next to her. He strokes her hair.
In the lobby, Wes says they can only do one thing for her now, finish what she started.
Fred reckons he means to re-ensoul Angel.
Connor says it's impossible. He reminds them they don't have the jar. Without the jar, they don't have the soul. Without the soul, they can't get Angel back.
Fred offersshe's been doing some research.
Connor isn't interested in listening, pointing out that Angelus is all that's left. He's killed Lilah and now Faith.
Wes reminds him Faith isn't dead yet.
Connor doesn't think they're being honest with themselves. He says he's not taking it personally and he believes they know he's right. He thinks "We need to put Angelus down."
Willow enters the front door and responds to Connor's comment with, "I don't think so. I think you need a witch."
Everyone turns toward the sound of the voice. Willow smiles.
Wes greets Willow by name.
Connor skeptically asks if she's a witch as he approaches her.
Willow confirms that's true. She looks at Connor and cheerfully notes he "must be Angel's handsome, yet androgynous, son."
Connor curtly tells her his name.
Willow notes, "And the sneer's genetic. Who knew?"
Fred greets Willow.
Willow happily greets her back as she walks past Connor and stands near Fred. She looks at Wes standing behind the desk and observes, "It's the Marlboro man! Or, at least, his extra stubbly, mentally unstable, insomniac first cousin --"
She suggests somebody should probably stop her.
Fred assures her it's okay, she understands, she tends to babble too. They smile at each other.
Wes asks if there are "forces gathering". He wonders if the "call of magic" brought her there.
Willow tells him it was the call of Fred, actually. Fred giggles.
Wes is impressed with Fred's resourcefulness, thinking of calling the person who successfully re-ensouled Angel before.
Fred offers she figured Willow could view things from a fresh perspective, perhaps pick up on something they've missed.
Willow says she's sure that's not possible, from what she knows, Fred has been very thorough. They share a mutual admiration moment as Wes looks on with a quizzical expression. Willow figures it's time to get to debriefing. She asks where Cordelia is.
Connor sullenly offers the one they're all trying to re-ensoul shot Cordy with a crossbow, she's not up for visitors.
Wes thinks Cordy would want to see Willow, pointing out that come a long way and they "have a history together."
In her room, Cordy is sitting up in bed, partially covered by the comforter. Connor knocks, then opens the door and enters with Willow.
Cordelia greets her with a forced "long time, no see." She looks at Connor and tells him it's okay, she'll be fine. He leaves, closing the door behind him.
Willow sits on the edge of the bed and asks how Cordy has been.
Cordy shrugs, forces a smile and answers, "Higher power. You?"
Willow offers, "Ultimate evil. But I got better."
Cordy asks if Willow heard about Faith.
Willow acknowledges she did with, "Coma again."
Cordy asks if she's seen Angelus.
Willow says she'd rather not, too many bad memories. She's glad she doesn't have to be in the same room with him to re-ensoul him.
Cordy slips her hand under the covers as she asks if Willow thinks she really can re-ensoul Angel.
As Willow answers that it was the first spell she ever learned, not something she'd forget, Cordy grabs the handle of a large knife concealed under the comforter. She asks about the Muo-Ping ("Awakening").
Willow knows it's missing and that's going to cause a problem.
Cordy notes that it was stolen right out of the hotel's safe. She says they can't get the soul back in Angel if it's trapped in the jar.
Willow acknowledges that's the problem, how to get the soul out of the jar when they don't know where the jar is.
Cordelia notes that the Muo-Ping doesn't seem to be affected by magicks.
Willow concedes she realized that when she tried a "standalone locator spell" and it didn't work.
Cordy adds the shaman said there wasn't a way to restore a soul from a distance.
Willow knows they have a problem with the soul trapped in a lost jar that's unaffected by magicks.
Cordy notes it's a "tough nut to crack."
That gives Willow an idea. As Cordy slowly begins to slide the knife out from under the covers, Willow asks if she's thinking the same thing Willow is.
Cordy doubts it.
Willow gets up from the bed and tells Cordy they just need to break the jar.
Cordy looks over to the table and asks Willow if she'll bring her the glass of water sitting there.
Willow isn't listening, she's immersed in formulating her idea. She figures they don't need to find the jar, they just need to break it, freeing the soul.
Cordy tries to get Willow to bring the glass of water so she'll turn her back and she'll get a chance at her with the knife.
Willow continues her riff, saying that will release Angel's soul into the ether and then there's "something called Denothrian's Arrow" that means they don't even have to know where the target is. She excitedly tells Cordy they're going to get him back as she exits.
The knife flies into the door, embedding in it, as Cordy tosses it a little too late.
Lorne sits on the bed, next to Faith. He tells her it will be over soon. He's seen many go through what she's going through. He takes her hand and sings to her.
Angel walks into a diner (sometime in the 70's) as Angelus notes his arrival with an exasperated, "Bring on the pain!"
Angel walks up to the jukebox, puts in some coins and makes a selection. Angelus rolls his eyes as "Mandy" begins to play.
Angelus walks over to the booth where Faith is sitting and takes a seat opposite her.
She smiles, observing "Mandy, huh? It must kill you he's got a jones for the power ballads."
Angelus swats at a buzzing noise. He says concerts were the worst.
A young couple walks by Angel. He watches intently as they pass, then takes a seat at the counter.
Angelus wonders if Faith knows what that's like, every time Angel gets close, Angelus feels it, "Wanting to tear their flesh apart. It's like a blade in my gut."
Faith reminds him it's not his, Angel is the one that belongs on the outside.
Angelus wonders if she really thinks it's that simple, that if Angel gets re-ensouled she can just "ride off into the sunset, knowing you put the monster back in his cage."
She turns to find him suddenly seated next to her. He tells her he's always there, "deep in" as he pats his chest.
A man pulls a gun on the young guy manning the counter and demands money.
Angelus smiles as the gun fires. The diner employee falls to the floor. The robber escapes.
Angel rushes to the wounded guy behind the counter, telling him it'll be okay. He kneels beside him, assuring him he'll get help.
The guy says it hurts.
Angel says he knows.
Angelus is relishing the moment. He swats at the air, irritated by a continuous buzzing noise.
In her room, Cordy tries to contact Angelus through a glowing stone. She demands he hear her and wake up. When she realizes it's not working, she adds, "Or just lay there and let that red-headed meddler put your soul back."
In the lobby, Willow drops some herbs into a jar as the contents smoke. She's pleased it's working.
Wes notes his understanding that "Denothrian's Arrow" is supposed to protect "good magicks".
Willow confirms that's correct.
He wonders how it can be used to break the jar since the Muo-Ping is a sacred object.
Willow points out it's glass, so it's breakable. She explains what's sacred is what's inside, "All life a container --"
Wes finishes, "for the heart of all life." He realizes they've read the same writings.
Willow says it had to be specific considering there are a lot of jars in the world, she couldn't break all of them. She considers that a moment, then notes she could but "good things come in jars; peanut butter, jelly, those two-headed fetal pigs at the natural history museum."
Wes gives her an odd look. He apologizes, saying perhaps his sense of humor is trapped in a jar somewhere.
Willow's noticed he seems a bit gloomier than she remembers.
Wes admits a lot has gone on. It's not just about Angelus, he isn't the same person anymore. He's seen a darkness in himself but doesn't think Willow could understand that.
Willow assures him she understands darkness, saying matter-of-factly, "I flayed a guy alive and tried to destroy the world."
Wes realizes maybe she can understand after all. He concedes he never flayed anyone but admits he kept a woman chained up in a cage.
Willow figures that's good too.
Wes notes it doesn't really compare to the flay thing. He says Willow seems the same as she was when he left. He wonders if there were other major changes he's not up on.
She shrugs off the question with, "Just little things." She asks about Fred, "What's her story?"
Angelus and Faith continue watching Angel with the wounded diner employee.
Angel apologizes. The guy dies. Angel looks around the empty diner, contemplating something. He gets up and backs toward the door, still looking at the body, lying in a pool of blood.
Angelus wonders who's Faith's hero now.
Faith says that wasn't Angel's fault. She wonders if he has to pay for everything.
Angelus smugly tells her it's all about choices.
As Angel moves hesitantly toward the diner door, Angelus watches with an amused, "Uh-oh." He asks rhetorically, "What's gonna happen?" as Angel starts to exit the diner, changes his mind and returns.
Faith doesn't believe he'll do it.
Angelus reminds her he's "deep in, soul or no soul" as Angel moves behind the counter to the corpse.
Angel kneels beside the body. As Faith shouts his name, he morphs into vamp face, savagely bites into the corpse's neck and feeds.
Faith is disgusted by that. She grimaces and touches her hand to the bite wound on her own neck. She notices it's bleeding. She tells Angelus Angel was going to save the guy.
Angelus wonders if maybe Angel chose to wait just a little too long to get help. "Whoops, dinner by armed robbery."
He suggests Faith take a good look, pointing out she's a murderer, she knows how it feels. He wonders if she thought his hell was private.
Faith clutches at the wound in her neck as Angel pulls back from feeding, still in vamp face, and screams.
At the hotel, an unconscious Angelus lies on the cell floor, savoring the experience with a smile.
In her room at the hotel, Faith shifts and whimpers. Lorne tends to her as Connor looks on. Lorne says, "She's in the barrens now. They cry for a while. They're quiet, mostly. Like they're letting go of everything that meant something."
Connor quietly asks, "How long ... till ... ?"
Lorne answers, "Not long." He tells Connor he can hold Faith's hand.
Connor slowly gets up from the chair and moves toward the bed but stops when Wes comes in.
Wes looks at Faith. Connor tells him he did the right thing, "She was brave, and she died in battle."
Wes looks at Faith a moment longer, then says, "It's time." He walks out of the room, Connor follows.
In the lobby, Willow watches as Fred walks around carrying a lit candle, ringing a small bell. Willow touches Fred under the chin, correcting her body position slightly, then tells her she's doing a good job.
Fred continues walking and ringing.
Willow walks over to Gunn, explaining she just needs to connect with the spirit world, "harness the Delothrian ebb, focus it through my little marble-o-doom here and we'll restore the Muo-Ping's entropic equilibrium." She shows Gunn a small metal orb she's holding.
Gunn distills Willow's comments down to, "Jar go smash?"
Willow confirms that's what it means.
Gunn reckons he doesn't need to know anymore than that. He looks at a still unconscious Angelus on the security monitor and tells Willow he'll be downstairs in case Angelus wakes up.
Wes walks up to Willow and asks if she's ready. She replies, "It should be a snap." A sudden flash of energy hits her, knocking her down and sending her sliding across the floor. She grabs her head in pain as the Master's voice warns her not to interfere.
In her room, Cordy is holding the glowing stone, speaking the words Willow is hearing.
Wes helps Willow to her feet. She continues clutching her head as she begins to recite something in Latin.
The Master's voice warns against her attempt to banish it.
Willow tells Wes someone is in her head.
Cordy sits in front of the glowing Muo-Ping. She tells Willow the soul is under her protection, it will never be freed.
Willow shouts more words.
Cordelia's head snaps back as the glowing stone she was using to communicate with Willow flashes and goes dim. She notes that with surprise and an observation, "I bid my thung." (She'd bitten her tongue when her head snapped back.)
Wes tells Willow the voice is something powerful, it was the Beast's Master, noting it communicated with Angelus the same way.
Willow retrieves her metallic orb from the lobby floor.
Fred reckons the Master plans to block them from getting Angel's soul.
Willow holds the orb in her open palm, extends her hand and begins the incantation. The orb glows and grows larger as it levitates above her palm.
Cordy isn't happy with the interference, saying, "If you wanna go, Glinda? We'll go." She throws her hand outward.
In the lobby, Willow is hit with an energy burst that doubles her over.
Connor wonders if she can do it.
Willow jolts upright and shouts the spell. Her eyes have turned black.
Wes figures she can handle it.
The hotel shakes, the lights flicker on and off.
In her room, Faith moans and moves restlessly.
Lorne comforts her, telling her it will be all right. Angel's soul will get restored and it will all have been worth it.
Faith gasps and bolts upright.
Faith finds herself in an alley. Angelus asks if that's what she tells herself, that it will be worth it.
She hears him but can't see him as her eyes dart around the empty alley.
Angelus wonders, "Is that the nasty little lie that kept those thighs nice and warm in your prison bunk?"
Faith wonders if he kisses his mother with that mouth.
Angelus answers, "No, but I ate her with it."
She turns and sees him lying on the ground behind her. He rises to his feet, telling her she'll die soon, he can feel it.
Faith says she can hear a voice in the distance (Willow, doing the spell). She figures Angelus is about to get what's coming to him.
Angelus tells her he has "friends in high places", he's not concerned about a re-ensouling.
Faith turns toward the sound of metal clanging in the alley. She and Angelus look on as Angel chases rats among the trash cans.
Angelus notes Angel is not one of those "friends."
Angel catches a rat and bites into it with a ripping crunch.
Faith is repulsed by that. She asks Angelus when this is.
He asks, "When isn't it?" He angrily tells her that this is 20 years after the incident at the diner, and all he fed on during those years was rats. He mocks Angel's attempt to atone for that act by living in a sewer on vermin.
Faith says, "He's paying for what he did."
A frustrated Angelus shoots back, "He's hiding from what he is!" He figures that might come as a revelation to her but he already knows all of this. He was there. He doesn't understand why he has to relive it again.
For the first time, Angel is aware of the presence of Angelus, telling him maybe this isn't about him.
The hotel continues to shake. Wes asks if the others felt something.
Connor observes there's something evil rising in the hotel.
Cordy's eyes have turned milky white as she recites a spell, continuing her efforts to thwart Willow.
In the basement, Gunn looks around nervously as debris rains from the ceiling.
A glowing, beastly visage appears, floating in midair in the lobby. Willow instructs the others to ignore it as she continues her battle with Cordelia.
The beastly image disappears.
Cordy realizes the demon head didn't work. As she ponders another approach, Willow's glowing orb shoots toward the Muo-Ping which is sitting on the table in front of Cordelia. She stops the orb's flight by extending her hand. She tries to force it away, as Willow continues pressing it toward its target.
Cordelia struggles, saying to herself, "If only this were a few weeks later."
From the lobby, Willow continues urging the orb to break the glass.
Fred looks around and notices Connor has disappeared.
Connor rushes to Cordy's room. The door is blocked by a large dresser she's placed against it, preventing him from entering. He shouts to her, asking if she's okay. He breaks her concentration, allowing Willow's orb to smash the Muo-Ping, freeing Angel's soul.
Cordelia looks back at the jar just in time to see the soul escape and disappear. She reacts with an angry, "Oh sh --"
In the alley, Faith greets Angel, telling him it's good to see him, though not the hair.
Angel asks why she's still there.
Faith answers, "Just waiting to see this pervert get stuffed back into the deep, crazy ground he came from" as she casts a disdainful glance at Angelus.
Angel asks what happens after that as he moves toward Angelus.
Angelus grabs Faith and kicks her in the face, sending her to the ground, saying he figures something like that.
Angel tells him Faith isn't the one he wants.
Angelus agrees with that, saying she's just a bonus after he finishes with Angel. They begin punching each other.
Angel urges Faith to get to her feet as he continues punching Angelus.
Faith says weakly she's dying, as she stays on the ground.
Angel tells her he gets that, it's easier than redemption.
Angelus grabs Angel and tosses him across the alley. He kicks Faith back to the ground as she tries to get up. He tells her there's no mystery, "They suffer. They die. That's what they're there for."
In her room, Faith jerks restlessly as Lorne embraces her.
In the alley, Angel jumps Angelus and beats him to the ground. He pulls him up and tosses him across the alley.
Angel continues trying to motivate Faith to her feet as he fights. He tells her he's not perfect. He's done things he regrets, even with a soul.
Angelus figures the Manilow concerts should be one of those things as he gets to his feet, punches Angel and tosses him across the alley.
At the hotel, Connor tells Cordy he's coming in as he busts through the dresser blockade she had against the door.
Cordy smashes a lamp over his head. She apologizes, pretending to be afraid, saying she didn't realize it was him. She thought the "horrible floaty head" came back.
Connor asks if it hurt her or the baby.
She sobs, telling him they almost got killed.
Connor blames Willow's spell, thinking it must have opened a gateway to something.
Cordy tells him it's something evil and if Willow keeps it up, there's no telling what will happen. "She's already brought hell to this hotel."
Connor tells her he saw it, he doesn't feel it's safe for her there. He's determined to make Willow stop what she's doing.
Cordy stops him from leaving, telling him Willow is too strong for him but he can stop the reason for all of it. She tells him to kill Angelus.
In the lobby, things have calmed down. Fred asks about Angel's soul.
Willow answers it's in the ether, she needs to channel it into an Orb of Thesulah.
Fred doesn't think Connor should have run off.
Wes figures he was just concerned about Cordy.
Fred wonders if Wes ever considered that relationship a little "icky".
In Cordy's room, she tells Connor he has to kill his father, now, before anything goes wrong. Connor hesitates.
Willow begins the soul restoration spell.
Cordy tells Connor she's fought as hard as anyone to save Angel but risk outweighs reward at this point. She says she loves Angel, "as a friend", but killing Angelus now is the only way they can ensure the safety of their family. She tells him he's not just protecting her, he's protecting the world. "Sometimes one death can spare infinite pain."
In the alley, Angel and Angelus continue fighting. Angel urges Faith to wake up.
She struggles to open her eyes but doesn't get up. She tells him she made the bet, Angel for her.
Angel keeps up the fight as he tells Faith he used to think there'd be a point to it all "when I paid my dues."
Angelus is irritated Angel's attention isn't solely focused on the fight.
Connor walks down the hallway, a conversation with Cordy plays over the scene. He asks what he'll tell the others.
She answers "They can't stop you if they don't know."
He asks about the demon anti-violence spell.
She assures him she can "take care of it." She tells him they're "special."
Willow continues the re-ensouling spell.
Connor observes Willow, Fred and Wes from the landing a moment then heads downstairs.
Angelus and Angel continue fighting in the alley. Angel throws Angelus into a building wall. He kneels beside Faith and tells her she saw what he did, it doesn't get much lower than that. He thought he could atone for it by disappearing.
Faith says it's her "time."
Angel tells her their time is never up, they pay for everything.
Willow continues the spell. The Orb of Thesulah begins to glow.
Connor comes downstairs and punches Gunn, knocking him out.
In the alley, Angel urges Faith to get to her feet, telling her he needs her to fight.
Angelus gets up and hits Angel with a pipe, knocking him to the ground. He hits him with it again as he notes he isn't going to miss the "moralizing." He says the soul is in the ether, he can "smell it." He wonders how Angel would like it if he "sent it off to that big, puppy rescue in the sky?"
Faith's voice, strong and sure, is heard saying, "Arf, arf, psycho."
Angelus chuckles as he turns to see Faith standing behind him. He notes she's back in the game. He takes a swing at her with the pipe, she disappears.
In her room, Faith wakes and bolts upright. She jumps out of bed and rushes out of the room leaving a stunned Lorne behind.
Willow finishes the spell. The glow moves from the Orb into Angel/Angelus in the alley. As both react, they merge into one.
In the cell, Angel mutters, "I need you to fight."
Connor is perched over him, ready to stake him.
Faith grabs him and shoves him against the cell bars. He punches her. She punches him back. They continue fighting.
Lorne, Fred and Wes enter the basement. They all stand on the stairs and watch as Faith and Connor exchange punches and kicks.
Faith knocks Connor against the bars of the cell.
Angel reaches through and grabs him, telling him it's over, he's back.
Angel is standing on the landing in the courtyard. Faith comes out. He asks how she's feeling.
She answers, "Like I did mushrooms and got eaten by a bear."
Angel figures that sums it up. He notes she's going to Sunnydale now.
Faith offers she'd prefer the bear, but from what Willow has told her, Sunnydale is where she's needed.
Angel reminds her they never stop fighting.
Faith concedes she was going to, "until someone got all pep-talky on me." She smiles.
Angel regrets they didn't have time for a real visit.
Faith offers they can do it another time.
Angel knows he has a lot to thank her for.
Faith figures that goes both ways, "And if I even start, it's only going to lead to hugging -- and --"
Angel understands, saying, "We can't have that."
They both go back inside the lobby.
Connor admits to Gunn he understands he screwed up.
Faith figures that just makes him one of them.
Gunn asks if she's leaving. He regrets he missed the chance to watch her beat Connor down.
Faith admits she enjoyed it.
Faith walks over to Wes, says his name. He says hers in response. Faith points out that Brits know how to say good-bye. She tells Wes Angel wanted a hug.
Wes looks at Angel who denies that.
Faith figures Wes did a good job.
Gunn notes Faith pretty much did the hard work.
Wes agrees with that.
Fred and Willow enter the lobby from the back office. Willow is looking through a book Fred gave her. Fred mentions there's some stuff in the book about the Hellmouth, she reckons it might be helpful.
She babbles on about all the things she'd like to chat with Willow about sometime.
Willow looks a bit uncomfortable and tells her she's seeing someone.
Faith tells Willow she's ready to go as she heads for the door.
Angel calls after Willow.
Faith figures he's going to tell her how much he owes her.
Willow says it's not necessary, she got a Slayer in the deal so she considers them even. She gives him a hug and offers to tell Buffy he said hi.
Angel thanks her for that.
Willow suggests if they plan to bring Angelus out in the future, they call her before they do it next time. Faith and Willow leave.
Angel wistfully watches them go then turns to face the others. He starts to say something but is interrupted by Cordy who comes down the stairs, stops midway and suggests if he was going to give the speech about the worst being behind them, "You may want to save it for later" as she lays her hands on her belly, displaying her pregnant figure to the others for the first time.
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S4/EPISODE 15
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| Written by: Mere Smith | Original Air Date: March 19, 2003 |
Things pick up from where they left off at the end of "Release", with Angelus feeding on Faith.
Angelus jumps back, realizing something isn't right. He asks her what she did.
Flashback to earlier events revealing while Wes was keeping Angelus busy with the shotgun, Faith injected herself with a syringe she had concealed on her leg, under her slacks.
Angelus realizes she spiked her blood as he falls to the floor.
Wes stumbles onto the scene and falls. He weakly asks Faith if she's okay.
Faith gets half way up, breathing heavily. She answers the question, saying she "kicked his ass", then passes out.
At the hotel, Fred is at the lobby desk, looking over some books.
Gunn bursts in, dragging an unconscious Angelus, and screams for Connor. He tells Fred to arm herself with the tranquilizer gun, he's not sure how much time they have.
Fred hands the gun to Gunn and asks where Faith is.
Lorne comes into the lobby, a bit freaked to see Angelus is back, then figures everybody already knows.
Gunn tells Fred to bring the "steel shackles", he only had rope in his truck and he doesn't reckon that's going to be much use if Angelus wakes up.
Connor comes to the landing and asks what's going on.
Gunn tells him to come down into the lobby as he tells Fred to bring the leg irons as well.
Lorne asks where Wes and Faith are.
Wes comes in the front door, carrying an unconscious Faith. He instructs the others to get Angelus downstairs.
Connor asks what happened to Faith.
Wes answers she caught Angelus. He urges Gunn to get Angelus taken care of.
He complies.
Fred asks what he did to Faith.
Connor's eyes are locked on Faith as Wes heads upstairs carrying her, accompanied by Lorne and Fred. He asks if she'll be okay.
Gunn hands Connor some manacles and tells him he needs his help.
Connor focuses on the task at hand, securing Angelus.
As Wes lays Faith on a bed in one of the hotel's rooms, Gunn and Connor put Angelus back in the basement cell. They replace the rope with which he is bound with the more secure iron shackles.
Lorne notices the needle mark in Faith's arm. He looks at Wes.
Gunn and Connor finish binding Angelus.
Fred comes out of the bathroom and tends to Faith. She pulls a cloth away from Faith's neck and looks at the bloody bite wound. She gently cleanses the wound with a clean cloth.
In the basement cell, Connor notes with disgust that Angelus fed on Faith, he can smell her blood on him.
Angelus moves his head to the side, sending both Gunn and Connor jumping backward. Gunn aims the tranquilizer pistol at him.
Angelus mutters, "kill you."
In the room, Faith mutters, "Scratch you out."
Fred notes she isn't making any sense.
Lorne steps away from Faith's bedside and takes Wes aside. He wonders if Wes lost his mind. He wants Wesley to tell him he didn't shoot Faith up and feed her to Angelus.
Wes tells him Faith chose to do it, she knew the risks.
Lorne isn't buying that. He doesn't figure Faith could know. He understands what the drug does, particularly in large doses, and he reckons Wes is well aware of it as well.
In Cordy's room, Connor has told her that Faith is in a coma. Cordy is incredulous, noting Faith had pulled that scam before.
Connor says he doesn't think Faith is faking it.
Cordy notes with disgust that Faith caught Angelus. She realizes he's in the hotel. She asks if he's locked up tightly in the cage.
Connor assures her she has nothing to worry about, he'll protect her and their family.
She dismisses that with a curt, "That's sweet" then asks if Angelus is guarded.
Connor notes, with a smile, Faith handled Angelus well.
Cordy reacts violently to that, shoving him, sending him slamming into the wall. She demands to know, "What the hell is it with you and Faith? As if I didn't see the way you looked at her! She cracked her whip and you liked it. You were practically in her leather-clad lap!"
Connor gets to his feet and denies her allegations. He wonders just how she managed to shove him so hard considering the sanctuary spell and the fact she's part demon.
She snaps at him that she's already told him, "We're different. Me and your baby." She turns her back to him and continues yelling, "I guess you can't even be loyal to our bed, let alone our little family!" She rants on, saying she thought he'd be a better father to his child than Angel was to him.
That pushes the right buttons, as Connor anxiously assures her he will be. He says he'd do anything for them, for her.
Cordelia likes the sound of that as her expression softens before she turns to face him. She laughs off her tirade, blaming it on hormones.
Connor isn't sure what to make of any of it.
Cordy takes a deep breath then suggests he go check on Faith.
Connor eyes her suspiciously.
She urges him to go, saying she's concerned about her.
Connor enters Faith's room and asks what will happen to her. Fred, Wes and Lorne are with her.
Fred would rather start with the answer to what it was, exactly. She looks to Wes for the answer.
Lorne replies, "Orpheus."
Fred asks if it's a kind of opiate.
Lorne explains that it's a mystical variety. Humans shoot it up, vamps feed off the humans. He says some people tried to deal it at Caritas. It's the only time he banned anyone from his club.
Fred wonders, considering the drug's effect on humans, how it would affect a Slayer.
Lorne notes that it's particularly dangerous because it's not just physical, it's an "enchanted" drug.
Connor dryly notes the results of magicks yet again are not a good thing.
Lorne adds that the drug, coupled with the biting, makes for "some serious psychic psychedelia", the more of it one uses, the deeper the hole.
Wes adds, "It leads you down to hell ..."
Gunn slams the door shut on the basement cell and locks it down.
Angelus lies shackled in irons and chains, unconscious on the cell floor as Wes finishes his thought in voiceover, "... and leaves you there."
New York, 1902
Angel wanders the docks, threading his way through the throng of disembarking immigrants.
Angelus shows up, in modern dress, and finds himself standing in front of Angel.
Angel walks through him, not noting his presence.
Angelus wonders what the hell is going on.
Faith answers in response, "You tell me."
He turns to see her standing behind him. She continues, telling him it's his "flashback."
Angelus lunges at her, losing his balance and falling on the dock as he passes through her, just as Angel had passed through him.
Faith laughs as Angelus gets to his feet, looking like he's contemplating trying again. She reminds him of the definition of insanity, "Performing the same task over and over, and expecting different results." She learned that in "murder rehab."
An agitated Angelus walks past her, asking "Miss-blow-it all" since it's his flashback, why is she there?
Faith isn't sure. She assumes it's a side effect of her "incredibly simple ruse."
Angelus wonders what it's supposed to be.
Faith figures it's his version of "This is Your Life". She looks around, noting the lack of hygiene, and reckons it's not hers.
Faith watches a dirty, disheveled Angel approach. She asks Angelus if he missed the invention of bathing.
As Angel walks past, Angelus notes, with disgust, Angel stayed with the animals on board the ship during the entire journey, just to avoid being tempted by humans. He says this isn't his life, it's his (referring to Angel). He didn't enjoy it the first time, he isn't happy about reliving it. He wonders why Faith gets to "be Marley's ghost."
Faith reckons the answer to that is that she's dying.
Angelus notes that's not happening quickly enough to suit him.
Faith snaps at him, saying she guesses she has one last job to do, "baby-sit the psycho till they shove a soul up your --"
Angelus is confident that won't happen.
She tells him she's "dust in the wind, a candle in the wind" then. She says there will be "a general wind theme."
Angelus thought she lost the suicidal notions when she got enlightened.
She says she "rolled the dice, it paid even odds."
Angelus and Faith stand outside of a club, "The Blue Mood Lounge", sometime in the 20's. A group of men huddle off to the side, shooting craps.
Angelus notices Angel sitting on a bench across the street. He remembers something unpleasant and says he needs to get out of there.
Faith wonders why he's in a rush.
Angelus turns at the sound of tires screeching as a car comes careening around the corner. He mutters, "It's coming, again."
Faith asks what he's talking about.
Angel looks up the street at the oncoming car. He rushes out into the street in front of it.
Faith yells at him to get out of the road.
Angel scoops up a small puppy from the path of the oncoming car and carries it to the other side of the street.
Angelus is embarrassed and disgusted.
A young woman bounds up to Angel, expressing her joy over the dog being safe.
Faith notes Angelus' discomfort and needles him as she laughs, "Dude, you just saved a puppy!"
The woman gives Angel a look over as she takes her dog.
Angelus mutters, "I'm in hell. This is hell, and I'm in it."
The young woman flirtatiously asks Angel how she can thank him.
Angelus walks up to Angel, telling him, "We haven't fed on a human in decades. She's begging for it. You moron!"
Angel tells the woman to get lost.
She gets offended and walks off.
Angelus hangs his head in shame.
Faith looks on, realizing they're reliving Angel's good deeds. She notes that Angelus really is in hell and she's wickedly amused by it.
In Faith's room at the hotel, Lorne sits on the bed next to her. He strokes her hair.
In the lobby, Wes says they can only do one thing for her now, finish what she started.
Fred reckons he means to re-ensoul Angel.
Connor says it's impossible. He reminds them they don't have the jar. Without the jar, they don't have the soul. Without the soul, they can't get Angel back.
Fred offersshe's been doing some research.
Connor isn't interested in listening, pointing out that Angelus is all that's left. He's killed Lilah and now Faith.
Wes reminds him Faith isn't dead yet.
Connor doesn't think they're being honest with themselves. He says he's not taking it personally and he believes they know he's right. He thinks "We need to put Angelus down."
Willow enters the front door and responds to Connor's comment with, "I don't think so. I think you need a witch."
Everyone turns toward the sound of the voice. Willow smiles.
Wes greets Willow by name.
Connor skeptically asks if she's a witch as he approaches her.
Willow confirms that's true. She looks at Connor and cheerfully notes he "must be Angel's handsome, yet androgynous, son."
Connor curtly tells her his name.
Willow notes, "And the sneer's genetic. Who knew?"
Fred greets Willow.
Willow happily greets her back as she walks past Connor and stands near Fred. She looks at Wes standing behind the desk and observes, "It's the Marlboro man! Or, at least, his extra stubbly, mentally unstable, insomniac first cousin --"
She suggests somebody should probably stop her.
Fred assures her it's okay, she understands, she tends to babble too. They smile at each other.
Wes asks if there are "forces gathering". He wonders if the "call of magic" brought her there.
Willow tells him it was the call of Fred, actually. Fred giggles.
Wes is impressed with Fred's resourcefulness, thinking of calling the person who successfully re-ensouled Angel before.
Fred offers she figured Willow could view things from a fresh perspective, perhaps pick up on something they've missed.
Willow says she's sure that's not possible, from what she knows, Fred has been very thorough. They share a mutual admiration moment as Wes looks on with a quizzical expression. Willow figures it's time to get to debriefing. She asks where Cordelia is.
Connor sullenly offers the one they're all trying to re-ensoul shot Cordy with a crossbow, she's not up for visitors.
Wes thinks Cordy would want to see Willow, pointing out that come a long way and they "have a history together."
In her room, Cordy is sitting up in bed, partially covered by the comforter. Connor knocks, then opens the door and enters with Willow.
Cordelia greets her with a forced "long time, no see." She looks at Connor and tells him it's okay, she'll be fine. He leaves, closing the door behind him.
Willow sits on the edge of the bed and asks how Cordy has been.
Cordy shrugs, forces a smile and answers, "Higher power. You?"
Willow offers, "Ultimate evil. But I got better."
Cordy asks if Willow heard about Faith.
Willow acknowledges she did with, "Coma again."
Cordy asks if she's seen Angelus.
Willow says she'd rather not, too many bad memories. She's glad she doesn't have to be in the same room with him to re-ensoul him.
Cordy slips her hand under the covers as she asks if Willow thinks she really can re-ensoul Angel.
As Willow answers that it was the first spell she ever learned, not something she'd forget, Cordy grabs the handle of a large knife concealed under the comforter. She asks about the Muo-Ping ("Awakening").
Willow knows it's missing and that's going to cause a problem.
Cordy notes that it was stolen right out of the hotel's safe. She says they can't get the soul back in Angel if it's trapped in the jar.
Willow acknowledges that's the problem, how to get the soul out of the jar when they don't know where the jar is.
Cordelia notes that the Muo-Ping doesn't seem to be affected by magicks.
Willow concedes she realized that when she tried a "standalone locator spell" and it didn't work.
Cordy adds the shaman said there wasn't a way to restore a soul from a distance.
Willow knows they have a problem with the soul trapped in a lost jar that's unaffected by magicks.
Cordy notes it's a "tough nut to crack."
That gives Willow an idea. As Cordy slowly begins to slide the knife out from under the covers, Willow asks if she's thinking the same thing Willow is.
Cordy doubts it.
Willow gets up from the bed and tells Cordy they just need to break the jar.
Cordy looks over to the table and asks Willow if she'll bring her the glass of water sitting there.
Willow isn't listening, she's immersed in formulating her idea. She figures they don't need to find the jar, they just need to break it, freeing the soul.
Cordy tries to get Willow to bring the glass of water so she'll turn her back and she'll get a chance at her with the knife.
Willow continues her riff, saying that will release Angel's soul into the ether and then there's "something called Denothrian's Arrow" that means they don't even have to know where the target is. She excitedly tells Cordy they're going to get him back as she exits.
The knife flies into the door, embedding in it, as Cordy tosses it a little too late.
Lorne sits on the bed, next to Faith. He tells her it will be over soon. He's seen many go through what she's going through. He takes her hand and sings to her.
Angel walks into a diner (sometime in the 70's) as Angelus notes his arrival with an exasperated, "Bring on the pain!"
Angel walks up to the jukebox, puts in some coins and makes a selection. Angelus rolls his eyes as "Mandy" begins to play.
Angelus walks over to the booth where Faith is sitting and takes a seat opposite her.
She smiles, observing "Mandy, huh? It must kill you he's got a jones for the power ballads."
Angelus swats at a buzzing noise. He says concerts were the worst.
A young couple walks by Angel. He watches intently as they pass, then takes a seat at the counter.
Angelus wonders if Faith knows what that's like, every time Angel gets close, Angelus feels it, "Wanting to tear their flesh apart. It's like a blade in my gut."
Faith reminds him it's not his, Angel is the one that belongs on the outside.
Angelus wonders if she really thinks it's that simple, that if Angel gets re-ensouled she can just "ride off into the sunset, knowing you put the monster back in his cage."
She turns to find him suddenly seated next to her. He tells her he's always there, "deep in" as he pats his chest.
A man pulls a gun on the young guy manning the counter and demands money.
Angelus smiles as the gun fires. The diner employee falls to the floor. The robber escapes.
Angel rushes to the wounded guy behind the counter, telling him it'll be okay. He kneels beside him, assuring him he'll get help.
The guy says it hurts.
Angel says he knows.
Angelus is relishing the moment. He swats at the air, irritated by a continuous buzzing noise.
In her room, Cordy tries to contact Angelus through a glowing stone. She demands he hear her and wake up. When she realizes it's not working, she adds, "Or just lay there and let that red-headed meddler put your soul back."
In the lobby, Willow drops some herbs into a jar as the contents smoke. She's pleased it's working.
Wes notes his understanding that "Denothrian's Arrow" is supposed to protect "good magicks".
Willow confirms that's correct.
He wonders how it can be used to break the jar since the Muo-Ping is a sacred object.
Willow points out it's glass, so it's breakable. She explains what's sacred is what's inside, "All life a container --"
Wes finishes, "for the heart of all life." He realizes they've read the same writings.
Willow says it had to be specific considering there are a lot of jars in the world, she couldn't break all of them. She considers that a moment, then notes she could but "good things come in jars; peanut butter, jelly, those two-headed fetal pigs at the natural history museum."
Wes gives her an odd look. He apologizes, saying perhaps his sense of humor is trapped in a jar somewhere.
Willow's noticed he seems a bit gloomier than she remembers.
Wes admits a lot has gone on. It's not just about Angelus, he isn't the same person anymore. He's seen a darkness in himself but doesn't think Willow could understand that.
Willow assures him she understands darkness, saying matter-of-factly, "I flayed a guy alive and tried to destroy the world."
Wes realizes maybe she can understand after all. He concedes he never flayed anyone but admits he kept a woman chained up in a cage.
Willow figures that's good too.
Wes notes it doesn't really compare to the flay thing. He says Willow seems the same as she was when he left. He wonders if there were other major changes he's not up on.
She shrugs off the question with, "Just little things." She asks about Fred, "What's her story?"
Angelus and Faith continue watching Angel with the wounded diner employee.
Angel apologizes. The guy dies. Angel looks around the empty diner, contemplating something. He gets up and backs toward the door, still looking at the body, lying in a pool of blood.
Angelus wonders who's Faith's hero now.
Faith says that wasn't Angel's fault. She wonders if he has to pay for everything.
Angelus smugly tells her it's all about choices.
As Angel moves hesitantly toward the diner door, Angelus watches with an amused, "Uh-oh." He asks rhetorically, "What's gonna happen?" as Angel starts to exit the diner, changes his mind and returns.
Faith doesn't believe he'll do it.
Angelus reminds her he's "deep in, soul or no soul" as Angel moves behind the counter to the corpse.
Angel kneels beside the body. As Faith shouts his name, he morphs into vamp face, savagely bites into the corpse's neck and feeds.
Faith is disgusted by that. She grimaces and touches her hand to the bite wound on her own neck. She notices it's bleeding. She tells Angelus Angel was going to save the guy.
Angelus wonders if maybe Angel chose to wait just a little too long to get help. "Whoops, dinner by armed robbery."
He suggests Faith take a good look, pointing out she's a murderer, she knows how it feels. He wonders if she thought his hell was private.
Faith clutches at the wound in her neck as Angel pulls back from feeding, still in vamp face, and screams.
At the hotel, an unconscious Angelus lies on the cell floor, savoring the experience with a smile.
In her room at the hotel, Faith shifts and whimpers. Lorne tends to her as Connor looks on. Lorne says, "She's in the barrens now. They cry for a while. They're quiet, mostly. Like they're letting go of everything that meant something."
Connor quietly asks, "How long ... till ... ?"
Lorne answers, "Not long." He tells Connor he can hold Faith's hand.
Connor slowly gets up from the chair and moves toward the bed but stops when Wes comes in.
Wes looks at Faith. Connor tells him he did the right thing, "She was brave, and she died in battle."
Wes looks at Faith a moment longer, then says, "It's time." He walks out of the room, Connor follows.
In the lobby, Willow watches as Fred walks around carrying a lit candle, ringing a small bell. Willow touches Fred under the chin, correcting her body position slightly, then tells her she's doing a good job.
Fred continues walking and ringing.
Willow walks over to Gunn, explaining she just needs to connect with the spirit world, "harness the Delothrian ebb, focus it through my little marble-o-doom here and we'll restore the Muo-Ping's entropic equilibrium." She shows Gunn a small metal orb she's holding.
Gunn distills Willow's comments down to, "Jar go smash?"
Willow confirms that's what it means.
Gunn reckons he doesn't need to know anymore than that. He looks at a still unconscious Angelus on the security monitor and tells Willow he'll be downstairs in case Angelus wakes up.
Wes walks up to Willow and asks if she's ready. She replies, "It should be a snap." A sudden flash of energy hits her, knocking her down and sending her sliding across the floor. She grabs her head in pain as the Master's voice warns her not to interfere.
In her room, Cordy is holding the glowing stone, speaking the words Willow is hearing.
Wes helps Willow to her feet. She continues clutching her head as she begins to recite something in Latin.
The Master's voice warns against her attempt to banish it.
Willow tells Wes someone is in her head.
Cordy sits in front of the glowing Muo-Ping. She tells Willow the soul is under her protection, it will never be freed.
Willow shouts more words.
Cordelia's head snaps back as the glowing stone she was using to communicate with Willow flashes and goes dim. She notes that with surprise and an observation, "I bid my thung." (She'd bitten her tongue when her head snapped back.)
Wes tells Willow the voice is something powerful, it was the Beast's Master, noting it communicated with Angelus the same way.
Willow retrieves her metallic orb from the lobby floor.
Fred reckons the Master plans to block them from getting Angel's soul.
Willow holds the orb in her open palm, extends her hand and begins the incantation. The orb glows and grows larger as it levitates above her palm.
Cordy isn't happy with the interference, saying, "If you wanna go, Glinda? We'll go." She throws her hand outward.
In the lobby, Willow is hit with an energy burst that doubles her over.
Connor wonders if she can do it.
Willow jolts upright and shouts the spell. Her eyes have turned black.
Wes figures she can handle it.
The hotel shakes, the lights flicker on and off.
In her room, Faith moans and moves restlessly.
Lorne comforts her, telling her it will be all right. Angel's soul will get restored and it will all have been worth it.
Faith gasps and bolts upright.
Faith finds herself in an alley. Angelus asks if that's what she tells herself, that it will be worth it.
She hears him but can't see him as her eyes dart around the empty alley.
Angelus wonders, "Is that the nasty little lie that kept those thighs nice and warm in your prison bunk?"
Faith wonders if he kisses his mother with that mouth.
Angelus answers, "No, but I ate her with it."
She turns and sees him lying on the ground behind her. He rises to his feet, telling her she'll die soon, he can feel it.
Faith says she can hear a voice in the distance (Willow, doing the spell). She figures Angelus is about to get what's coming to him.
Angelus tells her he has "friends in high places", he's not concerned about a re-ensouling.
Faith turns toward the sound of metal clanging in the alley. She and Angelus look on as Angel chases rats among the trash cans.
Angelus notes Angel is not one of those "friends."
Angel catches a rat and bites into it with a ripping crunch.
Faith is repulsed by that. She asks Angelus when this is.
He asks, "When isn't it?" He angrily tells her that this is 20 years after the incident at the diner, and all he fed on during those years was rats. He mocks Angel's attempt to atone for that act by living in a sewer on vermin.
Faith says, "He's paying for what he did."
A frustrated Angelus shoots back, "He's hiding from what he is!" He figures that might come as a revelation to her but he already knows all of this. He was there. He doesn't understand why he has to relive it again.
For the first time, Angel is aware of the presence of Angelus, telling him maybe this isn't about him.
The hotel continues to shake. Wes asks if the others felt something.
Connor observes there's something evil rising in the hotel.
Cordy's eyes have turned milky white as she recites a spell, continuing her efforts to thwart Willow.
In the basement, Gunn looks around nervously as debris rains from the ceiling.
A glowing, beastly visage appears, floating in midair in the lobby. Willow instructs the others to ignore it as she continues her battle with Cordelia.
The beastly image disappears.
Cordy realizes the demon head didn't work. As she ponders another approach, Willow's glowing orb shoots toward the Muo-Ping which is sitting on the table in front of Cordelia. She stops the orb's flight by extending her hand. She tries to force it away, as Willow continues pressing it toward its target.
Cordelia struggles, saying to herself, "If only this were a few weeks later."
From the lobby, Willow continues urging the orb to break the glass.
Fred looks around and notices Connor has disappeared.
Connor rushes to Cordy's room. The door is blocked by a large dresser she's placed against it, preventing him from entering. He shouts to her, asking if she's okay. He breaks her concentration, allowing Willow's orb to smash the Muo-Ping, freeing Angel's soul.
Cordelia looks back at the jar just in time to see the soul escape and disappear. She reacts with an angry, "Oh sh --"
In the alley, Faith greets Angel, telling him it's good to see him, though not the hair.
Angel asks why she's still there.
Faith answers, "Just waiting to see this pervert get stuffed back into the deep, crazy ground he came from" as she casts a disdainful glance at Angelus.
Angel asks what happens after that as he moves toward Angelus.
Angelus grabs Faith and kicks her in the face, sending her to the ground, saying he figures something like that.
Angel tells him Faith isn't the one he wants.
Angelus agrees with that, saying she's just a bonus after he finishes with Angel. They begin punching each other.
Angel urges Faith to get to her feet as he continues punching Angelus.
Faith says weakly she's dying, as she stays on the ground.
Angel tells her he gets that, it's easier than redemption.
Angelus grabs Angel and tosses him across the alley. He kicks Faith back to the ground as she tries to get up. He tells her there's no mystery, "They suffer. They die. That's what they're there for."
In her room, Faith jerks restlessly as Lorne embraces her.
In the alley, Angel jumps Angelus and beats him to the ground. He pulls him up and tosses him across the alley.
Angel continues trying to motivate Faith to her feet as he fights. He tells her he's not perfect. He's done things he regrets, even with a soul.
Angelus figures the Manilow concerts should be one of those things as he gets to his feet, punches Angel and tosses him across the alley.
At the hotel, Connor tells Cordy he's coming in as he busts through the dresser blockade she had against the door.
Cordy smashes a lamp over his head. She apologizes, pretending to be afraid, saying she didn't realize it was him. She thought the "horrible floaty head" came back.
Connor asks if it hurt her or the baby.
She sobs, telling him they almost got killed.
Connor blames Willow's spell, thinking it must have opened a gateway to something.
Cordy tells him it's something evil and if Willow keeps it up, there's no telling what will happen. "She's already brought hell to this hotel."
Connor tells her he saw it, he doesn't feel it's safe for her there. He's determined to make Willow stop what she's doing.
Cordy stops him from leaving, telling him Willow is too strong for him but he can stop the reason for all of it. She tells him to kill Angelus.
In the lobby, things have calmed down. Fred asks about Angel's soul.
Willow answers it's in the ether, she needs to channel it into an Orb of Thesulah.
Fred doesn't think Connor should have run off.
Wes figures he was just concerned about Cordy.
Fred wonders if Wes ever considered that relationship a little "icky".
In Cordy's room, she tells Connor he has to kill his father, now, before anything goes wrong. Connor hesitates.
Willow begins the soul restoration spell.
Cordy tells Connor she's fought as hard as anyone to save Angel but risk outweighs reward at this point. She says she loves Angel, "as a friend", but killing Angelus now is the only way they can ensure the safety of their family. She tells him he's not just protecting her, he's protecting the world. "Sometimes one death can spare infinite pain."
In the alley, Angel and Angelus continue fighting. Angel urges Faith to wake up.
She struggles to open her eyes but doesn't get up. She tells him she made the bet, Angel for her.
Angel keeps up the fight as he tells Faith he used to think there'd be a point to it all "when I paid my dues."
Angelus is irritated Angel's attention isn't solely focused on the fight.
Connor walks down the hallway, a conversation with Cordy plays over the scene. He asks what he'll tell the others.
She answers "They can't stop you if they don't know."
He asks about the demon anti-violence spell.
She assures him she can "take care of it." She tells him they're "special."
Willow continues the re-ensouling spell.
Connor observes Willow, Fred and Wes from the landing a moment then heads downstairs.
Angelus and Angel continue fighting in the alley. Angel throws Angelus into a building wall. He kneels beside Faith and tells her she saw what he did, it doesn't get much lower than that. He thought he could atone for it by disappearing.
Faith says it's her "time."
Angel tells her their time is never up, they pay for everything.
Willow continues the spell. The Orb of Thesulah begins to glow.
Connor comes downstairs and punches Gunn, knocking him out.
In the alley, Angel urges Faith to get to her feet, telling her he needs her to fight.
Angelus gets up and hits Angel with a pipe, knocking him to the ground. He hits him with it again as he notes he isn't going to miss the "moralizing." He says the soul is in the ether, he can "smell it." He wonders how Angel would like it if he "sent it off to that big, puppy rescue in the sky?"
Faith's voice, strong and sure, is heard saying, "Arf, arf, psycho."
Angelus chuckles as he turns to see Faith standing behind him. He notes she's back in the game. He takes a swing at her with the pipe, she disappears.
In her room, Faith wakes and bolts upright. She jumps out of bed and rushes out of the room leaving a stunned Lorne behind.
Willow finishes the spell. The glow moves from the Orb into Angel/Angelus in the alley. As both react, they merge into one.
In the cell, Angel mutters, "I need you to fight."
Connor is perched over him, ready to stake him.
Faith grabs him and shoves him against the cell bars. He punches her. She punches him back. They continue fighting.
Lorne, Fred and Wes enter the basement. They all stand on the stairs and watch as Faith and Connor exchange punches and kicks.
Faith knocks Connor against the bars of the cell.
Angel reaches through and grabs him, telling him it's over, he's back.
Angel is standing on the landing in the courtyard. Faith comes out. He asks how she's feeling.
She answers, "Like I did mushrooms and got eaten by a bear."
Angel figures that sums it up. He notes she's going to Sunnydale now.
Faith offers she'd prefer the bear, but from what Willow has told her, Sunnydale is where she's needed.
Angel reminds her they never stop fighting.
Faith concedes she was going to, "until someone got all pep-talky on me." She smiles.
Angel regrets they didn't have time for a real visit.
Faith offers they can do it another time.
Angel knows he has a lot to thank her for.
Faith figures that goes both ways, "And if I even start, it's only going to lead to hugging -- and --"
Angel understands, saying, "We can't have that."
They both go back inside the lobby.
Connor admits to Gunn he understands he screwed up.
Faith figures that just makes him one of them.
Gunn asks if she's leaving. He regrets he missed the chance to watch her beat Connor down.
Faith admits she enjoyed it.
Faith walks over to Wes, says his name. He says hers in response. Faith points out that Brits know how to say good-bye. She tells Wes Angel wanted a hug.
Wes looks at Angel who denies that.
Faith figures Wes did a good job.
Gunn notes Faith pretty much did the hard work.
Wes agrees with that.
Fred and Willow enter the lobby from the back office. Willow is looking through a book Fred gave her. Fred mentions there's some stuff in the book about the Hellmouth, she reckons it might be helpful.
She babbles on about all the things she'd like to chat with Willow about sometime.
Willow looks a bit uncomfortable and tells her she's seeing someone.
Faith tells Willow she's ready to go as she heads for the door.
Angel calls after Willow.
Faith figures he's going to tell her how much he owes her.
Willow says it's not necessary, she got a Slayer in the deal so she considers them even. She gives him a hug and offers to tell Buffy he said hi.
Angel thanks her for that.
Willow suggests if they plan to bring Angelus out in the future, they call her before they do it next time. Faith and Willow leave.
Angel wistfully watches them go then turns to face the others. He starts to say something but is interrupted by Cordy who comes down the stairs, stops midway and suggests if he was going to give the speech about the worst being behind them, "You may want to save it for later" as she lays her hands on her belly, displaying her pregnant figure to the others for the first time.
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