"Sacrifice"
Things continue where they left off at the end of "The Magic Bullet", with Connor shouting to Jasmine's followers, revealing the presence of Angel and the others in the hotel.
Angel tries to get Connor to listen. He isn't interested, saying they are the ones who lie and hate.
Angel tells him Jasmine is controlling him.
Connor says Angel is wrong about everything but it no longer matters because "We're gonna tear you apart." He looks down the hall and smiles as he sees a group of Jasmine's followers coming.
Angel rushes to the door, shoves Connor out into the hallway and slams the door shut. As Connor tries to break the door in, Angel leans against it, struggling to keep it closed. He tells Wes and the others to get to the car and make a run for it, he'll hold Jasmine's minions off as long as he can. He says someone who knows the truth has to survive.
Wes, Gunn, Fred and Lorne pause a moment, then make a run for the fire escape.
They descend the fire escape to the street below.
On the other side of the door, Connor continues trying to batter the door open as he rails against Angel, telling him he was finally part of something, he belongs and he's not about to let anyone wreck that. He punches a hole through the door, next to Angel's head.
Angel mutters, "I know, son."
Angel breaks through the door into the hallway and shoves Connor against the wall, knocking him down. He brutally beats Connor, bloodying his own knuckles in the process.
Jasmine's minions surround him as he continues beating on Connor.
On the street at the base of the fire escape, Wes brings Angel's car to a screeching halt. The others are also in the car. Fred looks up toward the hotel room they escaped from and wonders if there isn't something they can do.
Gunn suggests creating a diversion by cutting the power.
Wes doesn't think that would work, pointing out there are hundreds of people in the hotel, all united, acting as one. He doesn't think they can risk going up against that.
Connor's unconscious body lands with a heavy thud on the hood of the car. Angel leaps down, landing on the hood just after Connor. Angel jumps down onto the street. He grabs Connor's body and pulls him off of the car, then casts him aside. He gets into the car and directs Wes to get the car moving.
Gunn and Fred are hesitant about leaving Connor behind. Fred says, "He's your --"
Angel cuts her off, telling her he knows what he is then repeats his order to Wes to get the car moving.
Jasmine and a group of her minions approach the car from the other end of the street.
Wes puts the car into reverse and peels out, backing down the street. He spins it 180 degrees so it's headed in the right direction, puts it into drive and departs.
Jasmine looks on.
In the car, the radio is on. The woman on the radio cheerfully reports that the Mayor has declared Los Angeles "The first citadel of Jasmine, a cradle of civilization which will usher in a new age for all of humanity." She goes on to say that the local archdiocese has declared all false idols will be removed from its churches, replacing them with images of "She who walks among us." She congratulates the Catholic Church for their decision.
Angel has heard enough. He turns the radio off.
Lorne notes the media bias then wonders what's going to happen to them asking, "Anyone else feel like the last feisty wife in Stepford?"
Fred wonders what they can do.
Wes believes there's an answer.
Angel agrees there has to be a way to deal with Jasmine, they just need some time to figure it out.
Gunn reckons more than time, they need a break, something they haven't been getting. He notes they're left with "No leads, no database, no weapons, no shelter."
Wes adds the car is about out of gasoline as well.
Fred thinks they should have brought Connor with them. She wonders what happens if he doesn't wake up.
Angel asks, "What if we took him and he did?"
In Jasmine's room at the hotel, an unconscious, and badly beaten, Connor is laid on a chair.
Jasmine thanks the group of followers gathered there for their assistance as they disrobe. She tells them to come to her.
A bright green glow fills the room as Jasmine is engulfed by it and left standing alone. The followers have disappeared. Connor awakens.
Jasmine moves to him and kneels next to him. He looks at her and weakly says she's "indescribable."
She smiles and responds with, "I know." She passes her hand downward, over his face. As she does so, healing him. The blood and bruises disappear.
A newly revitalized Connor sits up and tells Jasmine the others tried to turn him against her. He tells her he was cut and blood was rubbed into the wound.
Jasmine says the "hateful" always have a few tricks to play.
Connor starts to get up.
Jasmine stops him, telling him to rest, they have nothing to fear from the others. They are alone against her many.
Connor tells her Gunn, Wes and Lorne have all been turned, they need to "stop whatever they're --"
Jasmine assures him they will. She smiles and tells him they can't do anything, "Every moment that passes, I grow closer to my followers. I feel what they feel. I see what they see. We're fusing together like the cells of a single body. They're my eyes, my skin, my limbs and if need be, my fists."
Wes pulls the car into a lot near a busy filling station. Lorne thinks it looks too dangerous with all the happy people milling about.
Angel notes there are less people than at the last three places they tried. He points out they won't get very far without gas.
Gunn wonders if that's the plan, just to keep running.
Lorne is good with that, saying he's heard Belize is a nice place.
Wes offers they might be able to warn people, set up some resistance, if they could get outside of Jasmine's sphere of influence.
Fred looks at the smiling, cheerful people and notes how happy they are.
Gunn figures they'll be even happier "when they're gouging out our eyes and stomping us till their shoes get sticky."
Angel says that's why they have to get the gas quickly.
Gunn agrees with that.
Angel reminds Gunn the people are just under Jasmine's spell but adds that if it comes to a choice between the people or them -- Gunn gets it and agrees.
A guy removes a fueling nozzle from its holder on the pump. Gunn punches him and knocks him out as he takes the nozzle in hand.
Wes backs the car up to the pump.
Gunn taunts the people around them as he shoves the nozzle into the fuel tank. The others get out of the car and take positions surrounding it.
Angel warns the followers they don't want to hurt anyone.
A young guy walks toward Angel, speaking in Jasmine's voice, saying, "You are hurting them Angel. Just by being."
Angel is momentarily taken aback by the sound of Jasmine's voice coming from a stranger. He notes that's something new.
The guy continues speaking in Jasmine's voice, saying that Angel and the others are a disease in the body of Jasmine that will be purged. He takes a swing at Angel.
Angel blocks the blow, grabs the guy and shoves him face first into a pump, knocking him out.
Lorne loudly warns Wes of the approaching "soccer mom at 12 o'clock" who's about to brain him with a metal auto theft deterrent device, "The Club"TM for those familiar with it.
Wes punches her out and takes the device from her.
A homeless guy breaks a bottle on a brick column and approaches Fred with the sharp remains. In Jasmine's voice, he tells Fred she can't run from Jasmine's love.
Fred kicks the bottle out of the guy's hand, then punches him, knocking him down and out.
In a car parked next to Angel's, a young girl opens the window and tells Gunn, again in Jasmine's voice, "My love sings over the wires that bind this world."
Gunn is getting creeped out by the goings on.
Jasmine tells Angel the city and "all its tools" are hers as another guy approaches Angel, packing a heavy metal tool.
Angel gets into the car and slides behind the wheel while he directs the others to get in, it's time to go. The others pile into the car.
Lorne is disappointed, he'd hoped there was time for snacks.
As Angel pulls out, the guy who was approaching him jumps onto the hood, in front of the driver's side. He takes a swipe at the driver's side window. He gets knocked aside as the car is driven off, a couple of police cars in hot pursuit.
The guy who was knocked off the car lays on the ground, laughing in Jasmine's voice.
In her room at the hotel, Jasmine sits in a chair and laughs.
Angel pulls the car to a stop after managing to elude the pursuing cops.
Gunn notes he's never seen so many police cars.
Wes points out they're the only "criminals" since everybody else is under Jasmine's shiny happy spell.
Angel knows they won't be able to get out of town with Jasmine's eyes everywhere. He suggests it's time for them to disappear.
A police helicopter searchlight passes over Angel's abandoned car which is parked near a manhole cover.
Angel and company travel through the sewer. An impatient Angel gives an exhausted Lorne a gentle shove as they bring up the rear.
Lorne assures him he's moving, it might not look like it but inside, where it counts, he's running.
Angel and Lorne catch up to the others who have stopped to rest. Angel notices they've stopped and says they can take one minute to rest but they have to get moving. He's sure it won't take Jasmine's followers long to figure out where they went.
Fred doubtst anyone enthralled by Jasmine knows the sewer tunnels better than Angel does.
Angel reckons that might buy them a little time.
Gunn asks what the plan is, beyond getting smelly and starving to death.
An irritated Angel admits he doesn't have one, pointing out the Jasmine taking over the world thing sort of took him by surprise.
Gunn says he isn't going to end up eating rats.
Angel counters that he has no intention of doing that either.
Gunn caustically notes it appears a plan is coming together.
An equally caustic Angel tells him he's glad Gunn is onboard with it.
Fred remembers Cordelia was left behind at the hotel. She can't believe she forgot about her.
Angel coldly tells her to "Do it. Forget about her. We all have to now. We don't have a choice." He tells them the minute rest break is up as he walks off. The others follow.
A pair of glowing eyes are visible from behind a grate at floor level, watching as Angel and the others depart.
Connor sits on the bed next to Cordy in her room at the hotel, holding her hand.
Jasmine comes in. Connor shows her the cut on Cordelia's wrist.
Jasmine tells him she saw it through him.
Connor asks if it was "them".
Jasmine claims to be horrified pondering what the others are capable of, how far they've been driven by their hatred, "They cut into her while she lay sleeping. Her precious blood stolen for their black, deceitful, cowardly magick."
Connor derisively notes they always use magick.
Jasmine directs him to leave her alone with her "mother."
He reluctantly complies.
Jasmine sits on the bed next to Cordelia.
As the gang travel the sewer tunnel, Lorne notices Fred seems a bit down as they bring up the rear of the pack. He asks if it's about Cordelia.
Fred answers she can't just forget her, she doesn't care what Angel says.
Lorne notes, "Under that blood feeding creature of the night façade, he seems a bit heartless lately."
From up ahead, Angel responds to that curtly, "Hearts get in the way."
Lorne notes the boss's hearing is as good as ever though.
Angel tells them they'll be lost if they don't "gut ourselves and burn out everything inside that gave her power over us."
Lorne mentions he's actually been lost for the past two hours.
Wes says he misses Jasmine, the warmth and knowing what's right and doing it simply because they loved her.
Gunn concedes it's a tough addiction to kick.
Fred tells Lorne she recalls how she felt when Jasmine took her aside at the bowling alley, a nobody sitting with a goddess who asked for her opinion on what her name should be.
Wes notes that seems strange now, a being as old as Jasmine, one would think she'd already have a name.
Lorne offers perhaps her name was embarrassing like "Hester or Peanut."
The ground gives out beneath Wes and Angel's feet. Gunn grabs Wes and pulls him out before he falls completely in. Angel falls to the bottom.
The sound of footsteps is heard as a boy appears at the top of the hole, aiming a wooden spear at Angel.
Angel calls out to Wes who lets him know he's okay.
An African-American guy enters holding a spear and tells Wes he's not okay until he says so. He calls out to a girl, Holly, and asks if she's okay. She confirms she is.
The guy in charge directs another, Trip, who is holding a spear on Lorne, "That ugly ass beastie so much as breathes wrong, you stick him."
Lorne is offended by the "ugly ass" remark.
From down in the hole, Angel warns the boy holding the spear at the edge of it that he's not fond of people pointing sharp, wooden objects in his direction. He tells the kid to give him the spear as he leaps out of the hole. Fight ensues.
Angel and company take charge of the situation, disarming the kids.
Angel directs the others to stop fighting as he offers his hand to help the boy up and tells the others the kids aren't under Jasmine's influence.
Gunn isn't convinced as he continues to pin the leader against the sewer tunnel wall.
Wes asks if Angel is certain of that.
Angel asks "They're not exactly fighting like a well-oiled mind controlled army of love, are they?"
Gunn reckons they're more like a "bunch of little punks."
Angel directs Gunn to let the guy go. Gunn releases him.
The leader recognizes Gunn's name.
Gunn asks if he gave the guy permission to call him by name.
The guy responds with a question of his own, asking if he gave Gunn permission to use his "ride without paying the piper?"
Gunn thinks on that a moment, then realizes the guy is "Tommy Golden's little brother, Randall."
Gunn tells the others Randall stole his car when the kid was twelve.
Randall asks what Gunn is doing in the sewer.
Gunn tells him they'll be the ones asking the questions.
The conversation is interrupted by an eerie, wailing sound. Everyone looks around nervously.
Gunn figures they can start the questions with "What the hell was that?"
The boy answers, "It's back."
Connor walks down the hall and into Cordy's room. He starts to apologize for something but is cut short when he sees Jasmine sitting on the empty bed, alone. Cordelia is gone.
Jasmine tells him Cordelia's blood is dangerous to them, if she falls into "hateful hands", the hatred will spread.
Connor asks where she is.
Jasmine tells him Cordelia is where she wants her to be. She gets up, moves to Connor, brushes her hand against the side of his face and adds, "And so are you." She directs him to follow her as she starts to leave.
Connor moves toward the bed, staring at it.
Jasmine notices he's not following and calls to him. She leaves. He follows her out.
In the sewer tunnel, Angel and the others are led past a guarded, secured grate to where the kids are staying. The wailing continues in the distance.
As Randall shuts the grate behind them and locks it down, Angel asks if it's secure.
Randall assures him it's held so far.
Angel isn't convinced.
Fred asks exactly what the grate has held against.
Randall says they don't know, they've never gotten a clean shot at it but it's like nothing he's ever seen before.
Gunn tells the others Randall's brother Tommy was part of Gunn's crew at one time, until he left to work on his own.
Randall adds that his brother was running their "crew" when the sun went out. He says they stayed above as long as they could but they were overwhelmed by the numbers.
Angel moves over to another grate and checks it. The boy, Matthew, approaches him and asks if the others are his "crew". He introduces himself then in response to Angel's continued scrutiny of the grate, assures him all the entries in are securely grated, they've checked them out.
Angel would prefer to check for himself as he walks off.
Fred looks over at Matthew and notes how young he is.
Randall tells her they found him at the site of a car wreck. Vampires had laid tire traps on the road and were having a picnic.
Angel overhears Randall's story and reacts to it, clearly disturbed by it.
Randall continues, saying they saw the vampires murder Matthew's parents when they arrived. They managed to save him before the vamps could get him.
Angel looks down at his bloody knuckles, slowly unclenching his fist.. He calls to Matthew and asks if there's any water nearby. Matthew leads him to a fresh water pipe they'd tapped.
Angel walks over to the pipe and washes the blood from his hands.
Holly mentions they found the place because she was familiar with it, she'd stayed there when the shelters were filled up.
Randall adds that they found a supermarket that hadn't been burned to the ground and stocked up on supplies. They've been underground ever since, about two weeks. He says they'd been able to handle things pretty well until something moved into their territory that's been picking them off one by one.
Holly notes it got Tommy a week earlier while he was out resetting traps.
Angel grabs a rag and dries his hands. He looks down at the white rag, now stained with Connor's blood.
Matthew asks whose blood it is.
Angel answers, "Somebody I knew" as he flashes back to the incident at the hotel, seeing himself viciously beating his son. He adds quietly, "Somebody who tried to do bad stuff to my friends." He walks away from Matthew.
Fred marvels that the kids have stayed underground so long.
Holly figures things are worse above ground considering the world seems to be ending. She doesn't think it matters where they go.
Randall is determined they're going to kill whatever it is that's been killing them.
Fred notes the coincidence of them meeting up with the kids, saying that they are "professional monster killers". She looks over at a sullen Wes and Gunn and amends that to past tense.
Angel says they still are as he picks up a machete.
Randall takes exception to that, telling Angel it belonged to his brother.
Angel aims the point of the weapon at Randall briefly, then tells him it belongs to him now. He directs the others to start searching for the evil thing in the sewer as he heads out. They retrieve weapons and follow him out.
In her room, Jasmine cheerfully finishes a phone conversation and hangs up.
Connor tells her the police lost track of Angel and the others several hours ago. He begs her to let him go out, promising to bring them down.
Jasmine tells him he can go out soon, with all of her strength behind him, but they have to celebrate first. She's just spoken to the governor on the phone, he's dissolving his administration. She smiles broadly telling Connor the politicians' time is over. The state answers to her now. She wonders if Connor can feel what's happening, the world is about to kneel at her feet. They will be freed from their loneliness, "from the empty horror of their lives. They won't know what hit them."
Connor's sure that much is true.
Jasmine tells him he'll be at her side, living in a palace "built by the love of billions" that will put the pyramids to shame. She says they'll be a family, together as one, forever. She caresses his face and hugs him as she tells him it will be beautiful.
Connor agrees but doesn't seem totally convinced.
Jasmine senses that and asks why he isn't happy.
Connor doesn't have an answer.
Jasmine thinks she knows. She says in order to belong, to become completely part of something, one has to give themselves over to it totally. She notes Cordy has done that but Connor hasn't.
Connor assures her he wants to.
Jasmine tells him he's kept a part of himself from her, his pain.
Connor isn't sure what she means.
She explains. The pain has been the one constant in his life, the one thing that never abandoned him. She reaches out and takes his hand as she notes he believes the pain is his to keep and bear alone, but it isn't. She presses her fingernails into his hand, drawing blood, while telling him she wants it, "I want everything you are, Connor ... Father." She tells him to let go of it, let her take it.
Connor quietly says, "Okay."
Jasmine holds up her hand which mirrors the bloody fingernail marks on Connor's palm. She repeats, "Okay" as the wounds disappear from her palm.
Angel and the others scour the sewer tunnel in search of the creature. Fred points out that those accompanying them are just kids.
Angel reminds her there's strength in numbers. Fred starts to argue but Angel cuts her off, telling her they just want to strike back at something, anything. He can understand that.
Lorne notes the hockey stick he's carrying as a weapon and asks Wes if he's mentioned he's not good at sports.
Growling and the sound of something skittering is heard in the tunnel.
Matthew notes they've arrived at the place where Tommy was taken.
Fred notices an unpleasant odor and asks what it is.
Angel looks around and answers her, it's ammonia.
Randall gets grabbed and pulled up through an opening above. Angel leaps up through the opening after him. The sound of the machete striking blows is heard.
Randall comes crashing down through the opening back to the sewer below. Gunn rushes to check on him. Angel leaps down after him.
Matthew walks up to him and sees Angel has morphed into game face. He is frightened by that and runs off.
Angel tries to talk to him but he's too scared to listen. Angel starts to follow but is distracted by Fred screaming as the sewer creature attacks her.
The others rush to Fred's rescue and drive the creature off as Holly assists Randall to his feet.
Angel is concerned about what happens to Matthew if he gets to the surface.
Gunn assures him he and Fred will find the kid as they take off running in the same direction he exited.
Angel looks up to the opening the creature escaped through and notes he's getting angry now. Angel calls to Lorne and Wes. Only Lorne answers. Angel notices Wes has gone missing.
The creature is an insect-like being with grayish skin, pincers for hands, several legs on a praying mantis-type body. He brings Wes back to his lair and tosses him against the wall. He approaches and indignantly tells him, "We loved her first!"
Angel realizes the creature got Wes, noting it knows the tunnels better than he does and it's faster. He says he'll track it down. He directs Lorne to take the others back to the fortress in the sewer where they're to stay and wait for Gunn and Fred to return.
Lorne isn't unhappy about getting out of the way of any fight.
Angel starts to move down the tunnel but is stopped by Randall and his crew, who hold him at bay with their homemade weapons.
In the creature's lair, Wes tries to calm the agitated occupant by accepting that his kind loved her first.
The creature tells Wes they loved her before Wesley's kind ever existed. They built a temple to her, stone by stone. He starts to weep, saying but she came here.
Wes realizes he's talking about Jasmine.
The name isn't familiar to the creature who responds with, "Eh?"
Wes tells him it's the name they call her, "The superior being that you named first."
The creature is angered by that as he hisses at Wes, insulted that the "filthy little mice" dared to name her. He tells Wes "She is the Devourer. The peace. The whole." He's still upset Wesley's kind gave her a name. His ramblings are interrupted by a small piece of bloody flesh landing with a splat at his feet. He inspects it, reminded of something. He says he has work to do. He skitters across the lair and leaps up onto the side of a wall of corpses he's building into a tribute sculpture.
Wes looks at the piece of flesh laying at his feet and asks exactly how the creature's kind defines love.
The answer comes as the creature inspects his work by the light of a flaming torch, "The same as all bodies, same as everywheres. Love is sacrifice."
Wes appears more than a little squicked by the situation.
Gunn and Fred search the sewer for Matthew, calling out for him. Fred asks if Gunn is sure Matthew went that way.
Gunn heard splashing, he's sure it had to be the boy.
Fred points out it could be another of the sewer creatures.
Gunn says if it is, it had best stay out of his way, he's not in the mood.
Fred adds it could just be rats.
Gunn stops to anxiously look around and asks Fred why she had to mention rats.
Fred apologizes, assuring Gunn if the noise isn't Matthew, it's sure to be some horrible monster instead but not --
Gunn tells her to look at where they are, pointing out just the day before he was happier than he ever thought possible. Now he's trudging through the sewer trying to find a kid and drag him back down into the sewer so he doesn't find out about the Utopia that exists above. He's not sure that makes sense.
Fred figures Matthew is afraid. She suggests Gunn consider how he must feel.
Gunn reminds her Angel said feelings don't matter anymore.
Fred wonders if that's really the world they're fighting for, "The right to be heartless, an uncaring shell? To be dead inside?"
Gunn notes they'll all be dead if Jasmine gets her hands on Matthew, they're fighting for their survival. He starts to walk on.
Fred calls after him, telling him that's not enough for her. She says maybe Gunn can turn off his feelings like Angel, leave the people behind they care about but that's not her.
Gunn reminds her she didn't have trouble doing it when -- He stops himself from saying more.
Fred demands to know what he was going to say.
He declines at first then answers when she won't let it go. He finishes his thought that she didn't have a problem turning off her emotions "when you and I killed a man." ("Supersymmetry") He corrects himself, "I mean when I did."
Fred says, "We did."
Gunn makes his point, when the circumstances called for it, Fred did what was necessary, what anybody else might think didn't matter.
Fred concedes he's right about everything except one. She did feel it, all of it. When she lets herself think about it, "It eats me up inside."
Gunn admits it affects him the same way. Fred reckons feeling something beats being an emotionless shell.
They continue on their search for Matthew.
In the sewer, Angel is still confronted by the spear wielding Randall along with Holly and Trip. Randall lets him know he saw his vamp face. He knows he's "one of 'em".
Angel tells him it's not like that.
Lorne starts to explain but Randall cuts him off, informing Lorne he's not talking to him, he's talking to the vampire.
Angel starts to say he can't deny what they saw.
Lorne interrupts, enthusiastically offering that Angel only drinks pigs' blood.
Angel would prefer Lorne not help.
Lorne figures an undead guy deserves credit for that, unless they're into the kosher thing but he doesn't think the kids looks like they are. He realizes he's digging the hole deeper and decides to shut up as the spears are forcefully pointed at him.
Angel tells the others he understands why they feel as they do but he's not going to try to justify his existence to them. He couldn't if he wanted to. He tells them what he could do, "take that spear away from you and snap it into kindling, and break your neck in half the time it would take for you to give it a good push." He gives Randall the option of stepping aside so he can go help Wes.
Gunn breaks the grate off of a drainage pipe as he and Fred exit into the sunlight above ground. They discard their weapons and continue their search on the streets. They hear a skateboarder approaching and hide beside a building. The guy passes without noticing them.
Fred and Gunn continue on, running down the sidewalk.
The creature continues working on his corpse sculpture in the lair.
Wes stands up and notices an open door. He wonders if the creature isn't worried he'll escape.
The creature isn't concerned about it, assuring Wes he's "good at catching furries."
Wes looks at the pile of corpses and acknowledges the truth of that statement. He asks the creature where he's from, realizing he's not local.
The creature answers, he's from the "other world, older world."
Wes looks around and notices a large blue orb. He moves closer to inspect it.
The creature invites him to go ahead and use his "key" to visit. He chuckles and adds that what they breathe there would burn Wesley's lungs out.
Wes backs away from the orb. He watches what the creature is doing then asks if he's preparing a spell.
The creature answers, "This blood magic. Flesh magic. Older than words. More much power. This magic she will hear. She will hear and remember her true ones."
Wes notes he's not referring to an incantation.
The creature derisively brushes aside the suggestion of using words. He says she doesn't care about words or "word magic."
Wes finds that interesting.
The creature continues, "There is only one word she --" He stops himself.
Wes is intrigued by that. He approaches the creature and asks what the one word is she cares about.
The creature isn't interested in answering.
Wes presses.
The creature warns him, "Don't make me come down there." He goes back to constructing his flesh tribute. As he pulls the entrails out of one of the corpses, it screams and comes awake. The vampire asks the creature to stop with the serial killer cliché stuff and just stake him, get it over with.
The creature is perplexed by the fact this corpse is still speaking, noting "I tear your guts inside out. I stitch your guts every all over. Why don't you go dead?"
The vampire suggests he "go f -- "
The creature cuts him off by pulling out the vampire's tongue. He notes his annoyance with "talky meat" as he tosses the tongue which lands at Wesley's feet.
Wes tells the creature he can't kill the guy that way, he's a vampire, he's already dead.
The creature continues gutting the vampire and creatively arranging his innards as he asks if it's like the one in the tunnels that hurt him.
Wes realizes he's referring to Angel.
The creature doesn't know the name.
Wes clarifies, telling him that's the name of the vampire that attacked him.
The creature disdainfully mocks the name thing, saying they throw their names all over the place, no wonder they're so weak. Too many know their names, that takes away their power.
Wes tells him it doesn't work like that here. He starts to explain but realizes something that causes him to pause. Wes puts it together, realizing the word Jasmine cares about is her name.
The creature tells him repeatedly to "Shut!"
Wes persists, asking if that isn't right, it's her name that Jasmine cares about.
The creature rushes him, pins him against the wall and repeats, "Shut! Shut! Shut!"
Gunn and Fred find Matthew who's in an alley looking bewildered. Fred tells him they won't hurt him, they just want to talk but it's not safe there.
Matthew notes they didn't tell him the sun was back out.
An impatient Gunn concedes yes, they forgot to mention it.
Matthew says Angel is a vampire, like those that --
Fred tells him they're the good guys, she can explain but not there. She tells him to come with them.
Matthew refuses. Gunn grabs him by the arm and attempts to drag him along.
The kid screams for help.
Gunn gives him a vicious punch that knocks him out, stunning Fred. He directs Fred to pick up the kid's feet as he grabs him under his arms.
Fred hesitates as she looks at Gunn.
In the lair, Wes pulls himself up and tells the creature she has a name and that name has power over her, that's why she keeps it secret.
The creature, his back to Wes, holds his pincers over his ears shouting, "La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la! Not listening!"
Wes persists, saying somehow her true name keeps her from choosing a false name which is why one of them had to do it.
The creature turns and punches Wes, sending him flying into the air, across the lair and slamming into the wall. The creature leaps toward him as Wes gets up, pinning him against the wall. He says it doesn't matter, he doesn't keep the name, the "High Priest" keeps the name. He tells Wes he's going to kill him and make him part of his spell as he grabs him by the throat. He adds "I just messenger from the ones who love truly."
Angel arrives, armed with the machete. He quips, "I guess it's time to shoot the messenger. Or, you know, chop the messenger into little bitty pieces. Whatever."
As Angel leaps toward him, the creature punches Wesley, knocking him out.
Angel attacks with the machete.
In the sewer fortress, Lorne is giving a talk on the hurtful use of language like "ugly ass" and "beastie". He offers it as a little life lesson.
Randall suggests he shut up.
Gunn and Fred return with an unconscious Matthew. The others rush to check on him.
Randall asks what happened.
Gunn says the kid will be all right.
Fred apologizes and starts to explain but Gunn cuts her off. Randall asks what Fred was going to say.
Gunn says it's nothing.
Randall doesn't like being kept in the dark. He wants to know what they did to Matthew.
An angry Gunn confronts Randall, telling him there's a whole new world of bad things going on above and Matthew was walking blindly straight into it. He did what he had to do and he's not interested in Randall's opinion on the matter.
Matthew comes to, laughing in Jasmine's voice. Fred and Gunn realize they got to him too late as Matthew sits up and in Jasmine's voice taunts, "I seeeeeeeee you." He looks at Holly and tells her to look at what they did to Matthew, they hit him again and again until they knocked him out. He just wanted to see the sun.
Gunn tells Fred and Lorne it's time to go.
Fred picks up a metal bar and hands it off to Gunn.
Jasmine continues speaking through Matthew as he looks at Randall and asks if he wouldn't like to hit them, to kill them.
Randall becomes enthralled as he smiles and agrees that's a good idea.
Fred, Gunn and Lorne rush out the exit into the sewer tunnel. They run into Connor and a group of uniformed minions in the tunnel.
Connor steps forward and in Jasmine's voice greets them, "Hello again, children. I believe you've met my father."
Angel and the creature continue their fight in the lair. Angel gets punched and knocked backward, into the wall. He gets back up and rushes the creature who skewers him through his body with one of his pincers. He lifts Angel off the ground, observing "Little mice. They always soft inside."
Angel takes a swing with the machete, causing the creature to drop him to the ground. He tries to grab him but Angel deflects him with the machete. The creature grabs the machete blade, snaps it off, and tosses it aside. He prepares to finish Angel off but is interrupted by Wes who rushes him from behind and slams him in the back.
The creature backhands Wes across the lair and tells him to wait his turn. As he returns his attention to Angel, Angel grabs a sharp piece of the broken machete from the floor and drives it into the creature's neck. As he falls to the floor dying, he offers his flesh to Jasmine.
Wes tells Angel the creature came from a place that's worshipped Jasmine for a long time. He directs his attention to the orb and says they can reach the place through it. Wes picks up the orb and notes it appears the "universe just handed us our first break."
Gunn, Lorne and Fred run down the sewer tunnel with Connor and the other minions in pursuit.
Wes examines the orb, noting there are no markings or mechanical parts of any kind.
Angel asks if the High Priest is the one who has Jasmine's true name.
Wes confirms that.
Angel asks what else they know.
Wes concedes it's just a guess, but he thinks whatever holds the name is "bigger and meaner than our big, mean friend over there."
Angel isn't surprised by that. He starts to ask something but stops when he senses something. He tells Wes something is happening, something bad. He says Connor's name.
Connor, leading the minions chasing Gunn, Fred and Lorne, pauses a moment as he senses something as well. He smiles and says, "Angel."
At the hotel, Jasmine repeats Angel's name.
In the lair, Wes ponders the problem, "No words. No word magic." Angel leads Lorne, Fred and Gunn into the lair. Fred tells Angel Connor is there. Angel says he knows. Lorne adds Connor is accompanied by the National Guard as they close the door behind them.
As Wes continues trying to figure out the orb, the others work on holding the door closed, trying to keep Connor and the minions out. Wes finally realizes something about "blood magic" as he touches a bleeding wound on his head and rubs the blood onto the orb. The orb begins to shake. Light flashes from it as it begins to glow brightly. Wes shouts to Angel that he's figured it out. Bolts of electrical energy shoot out from the orb, opening a portal.
Angel directs the others to go, he'll hold the door as long as he can.
Wes tells him they can't go, only Angel can.
Angel doesn't understand.
Wes explains that the atmosphere in the creature's world would kill them. They can't help. He joins the others in holding the door shut as he echoes Angel's words from earlier at the Hyperion back to him, someone who knows the truth has to survive, that's Angel.
Angel doesn't want to leave them behind.
Fred reminds him of his earlier comment that "hearts get in the way."
Angel reluctantly backs away, toward the portal.
Wes calls out to him and tosses him the orb. Angel catches it, pauses, then steps into the portal.
The others know they can't hold the door closed against the minion forces any longer. Gunn notes it's time for the fight scene. He directs the others to move back from the door on the count of three and prepare for battle.
Connor kicks the door in and enters with the others. Fight ensues.
At the hotel, Jasmine stands, her arms outstretched at her sides. She laughs as she feels every crunching, cutting blow being struck in the fight. Various bloody wounds appear on her body and quickly disappear as the fight continues.
Angel exits the portal and finds himself standing on a rocky outcropping in the midst of a hazy gray, desolate world. On one side of him, a precipitous drop. On the other, surrounded by bug-like beings just like the sewer creature. He looks around uneasily and mutters, "Oh, hell."
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S4/EPISODE 20
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| Written by: Ben Edlund | Original Air Date: April 23, 2003 |
Things continue where they left off at the end of "The Magic Bullet", with Connor shouting to Jasmine's followers, revealing the presence of Angel and the others in the hotel.
Angel tries to get Connor to listen. He isn't interested, saying they are the ones who lie and hate.
Angel tells him Jasmine is controlling him.
Connor says Angel is wrong about everything but it no longer matters because "We're gonna tear you apart." He looks down the hall and smiles as he sees a group of Jasmine's followers coming.
Angel rushes to the door, shoves Connor out into the hallway and slams the door shut. As Connor tries to break the door in, Angel leans against it, struggling to keep it closed. He tells Wes and the others to get to the car and make a run for it, he'll hold Jasmine's minions off as long as he can. He says someone who knows the truth has to survive.
Wes, Gunn, Fred and Lorne pause a moment, then make a run for the fire escape.
They descend the fire escape to the street below.
On the other side of the door, Connor continues trying to batter the door open as he rails against Angel, telling him he was finally part of something, he belongs and he's not about to let anyone wreck that. He punches a hole through the door, next to Angel's head.
Angel mutters, "I know, son."
Angel breaks through the door into the hallway and shoves Connor against the wall, knocking him down. He brutally beats Connor, bloodying his own knuckles in the process.
Jasmine's minions surround him as he continues beating on Connor.
On the street at the base of the fire escape, Wes brings Angel's car to a screeching halt. The others are also in the car. Fred looks up toward the hotel room they escaped from and wonders if there isn't something they can do.
Gunn suggests creating a diversion by cutting the power.
Wes doesn't think that would work, pointing out there are hundreds of people in the hotel, all united, acting as one. He doesn't think they can risk going up against that.
Connor's unconscious body lands with a heavy thud on the hood of the car. Angel leaps down, landing on the hood just after Connor. Angel jumps down onto the street. He grabs Connor's body and pulls him off of the car, then casts him aside. He gets into the car and directs Wes to get the car moving.
Gunn and Fred are hesitant about leaving Connor behind. Fred says, "He's your --"
Angel cuts her off, telling her he knows what he is then repeats his order to Wes to get the car moving.
Jasmine and a group of her minions approach the car from the other end of the street.
Wes puts the car into reverse and peels out, backing down the street. He spins it 180 degrees so it's headed in the right direction, puts it into drive and departs.
Jasmine looks on.
In the car, the radio is on. The woman on the radio cheerfully reports that the Mayor has declared Los Angeles "The first citadel of Jasmine, a cradle of civilization which will usher in a new age for all of humanity." She goes on to say that the local archdiocese has declared all false idols will be removed from its churches, replacing them with images of "She who walks among us." She congratulates the Catholic Church for their decision.
Angel has heard enough. He turns the radio off.
Lorne notes the media bias then wonders what's going to happen to them asking, "Anyone else feel like the last feisty wife in Stepford?"
Fred wonders what they can do.
Wes believes there's an answer.
Angel agrees there has to be a way to deal with Jasmine, they just need some time to figure it out.
Gunn reckons more than time, they need a break, something they haven't been getting. He notes they're left with "No leads, no database, no weapons, no shelter."
Wes adds the car is about out of gasoline as well.
Fred thinks they should have brought Connor with them. She wonders what happens if he doesn't wake up.
Angel asks, "What if we took him and he did?"
In Jasmine's room at the hotel, an unconscious, and badly beaten, Connor is laid on a chair.
Jasmine thanks the group of followers gathered there for their assistance as they disrobe. She tells them to come to her.
A bright green glow fills the room as Jasmine is engulfed by it and left standing alone. The followers have disappeared. Connor awakens.
Jasmine moves to him and kneels next to him. He looks at her and weakly says she's "indescribable."
She smiles and responds with, "I know." She passes her hand downward, over his face. As she does so, healing him. The blood and bruises disappear.
A newly revitalized Connor sits up and tells Jasmine the others tried to turn him against her. He tells her he was cut and blood was rubbed into the wound.
Jasmine says the "hateful" always have a few tricks to play.
Connor starts to get up.
Jasmine stops him, telling him to rest, they have nothing to fear from the others. They are alone against her many.
Connor tells her Gunn, Wes and Lorne have all been turned, they need to "stop whatever they're --"
Jasmine assures him they will. She smiles and tells him they can't do anything, "Every moment that passes, I grow closer to my followers. I feel what they feel. I see what they see. We're fusing together like the cells of a single body. They're my eyes, my skin, my limbs and if need be, my fists."
Wes pulls the car into a lot near a busy filling station. Lorne thinks it looks too dangerous with all the happy people milling about.
Angel notes there are less people than at the last three places they tried. He points out they won't get very far without gas.
Gunn wonders if that's the plan, just to keep running.
Lorne is good with that, saying he's heard Belize is a nice place.
Wes offers they might be able to warn people, set up some resistance, if they could get outside of Jasmine's sphere of influence.
Fred looks at the smiling, cheerful people and notes how happy they are.
Gunn figures they'll be even happier "when they're gouging out our eyes and stomping us till their shoes get sticky."
Angel says that's why they have to get the gas quickly.
Gunn agrees with that.
Angel reminds Gunn the people are just under Jasmine's spell but adds that if it comes to a choice between the people or them -- Gunn gets it and agrees.
A guy removes a fueling nozzle from its holder on the pump. Gunn punches him and knocks him out as he takes the nozzle in hand.
Wes backs the car up to the pump.
Gunn taunts the people around them as he shoves the nozzle into the fuel tank. The others get out of the car and take positions surrounding it.
Angel warns the followers they don't want to hurt anyone.
A young guy walks toward Angel, speaking in Jasmine's voice, saying, "You are hurting them Angel. Just by being."
Angel is momentarily taken aback by the sound of Jasmine's voice coming from a stranger. He notes that's something new.
The guy continues speaking in Jasmine's voice, saying that Angel and the others are a disease in the body of Jasmine that will be purged. He takes a swing at Angel.
Angel blocks the blow, grabs the guy and shoves him face first into a pump, knocking him out.
Lorne loudly warns Wes of the approaching "soccer mom at 12 o'clock" who's about to brain him with a metal auto theft deterrent device, "The Club"TM for those familiar with it.
Wes punches her out and takes the device from her.
A homeless guy breaks a bottle on a brick column and approaches Fred with the sharp remains. In Jasmine's voice, he tells Fred she can't run from Jasmine's love.
Fred kicks the bottle out of the guy's hand, then punches him, knocking him down and out.
In a car parked next to Angel's, a young girl opens the window and tells Gunn, again in Jasmine's voice, "My love sings over the wires that bind this world."
Gunn is getting creeped out by the goings on.
Jasmine tells Angel the city and "all its tools" are hers as another guy approaches Angel, packing a heavy metal tool.
Angel gets into the car and slides behind the wheel while he directs the others to get in, it's time to go. The others pile into the car.
Lorne is disappointed, he'd hoped there was time for snacks.
As Angel pulls out, the guy who was approaching him jumps onto the hood, in front of the driver's side. He takes a swipe at the driver's side window. He gets knocked aside as the car is driven off, a couple of police cars in hot pursuit.
The guy who was knocked off the car lays on the ground, laughing in Jasmine's voice.
In her room at the hotel, Jasmine sits in a chair and laughs.
Angel pulls the car to a stop after managing to elude the pursuing cops.
Gunn notes he's never seen so many police cars.
Wes points out they're the only "criminals" since everybody else is under Jasmine's shiny happy spell.
Angel knows they won't be able to get out of town with Jasmine's eyes everywhere. He suggests it's time for them to disappear.
A police helicopter searchlight passes over Angel's abandoned car which is parked near a manhole cover.
Angel and company travel through the sewer. An impatient Angel gives an exhausted Lorne a gentle shove as they bring up the rear.
Lorne assures him he's moving, it might not look like it but inside, where it counts, he's running.
Angel and Lorne catch up to the others who have stopped to rest. Angel notices they've stopped and says they can take one minute to rest but they have to get moving. He's sure it won't take Jasmine's followers long to figure out where they went.
Fred doubtst anyone enthralled by Jasmine knows the sewer tunnels better than Angel does.
Angel reckons that might buy them a little time.
Gunn asks what the plan is, beyond getting smelly and starving to death.
An irritated Angel admits he doesn't have one, pointing out the Jasmine taking over the world thing sort of took him by surprise.
Gunn says he isn't going to end up eating rats.
Angel counters that he has no intention of doing that either.
Gunn caustically notes it appears a plan is coming together.
An equally caustic Angel tells him he's glad Gunn is onboard with it.
Fred remembers Cordelia was left behind at the hotel. She can't believe she forgot about her.
Angel coldly tells her to "Do it. Forget about her. We all have to now. We don't have a choice." He tells them the minute rest break is up as he walks off. The others follow.
A pair of glowing eyes are visible from behind a grate at floor level, watching as Angel and the others depart.
Connor sits on the bed next to Cordy in her room at the hotel, holding her hand.
Jasmine comes in. Connor shows her the cut on Cordelia's wrist.
Jasmine tells him she saw it through him.
Connor asks if it was "them".
Jasmine claims to be horrified pondering what the others are capable of, how far they've been driven by their hatred, "They cut into her while she lay sleeping. Her precious blood stolen for their black, deceitful, cowardly magick."
Connor derisively notes they always use magick.
Jasmine directs him to leave her alone with her "mother."
He reluctantly complies.
Jasmine sits on the bed next to Cordelia.
As the gang travel the sewer tunnel, Lorne notices Fred seems a bit down as they bring up the rear of the pack. He asks if it's about Cordelia.
Fred answers she can't just forget her, she doesn't care what Angel says.
Lorne notes, "Under that blood feeding creature of the night façade, he seems a bit heartless lately."
From up ahead, Angel responds to that curtly, "Hearts get in the way."
Lorne notes the boss's hearing is as good as ever though.
Angel tells them they'll be lost if they don't "gut ourselves and burn out everything inside that gave her power over us."
Lorne mentions he's actually been lost for the past two hours.
Wes says he misses Jasmine, the warmth and knowing what's right and doing it simply because they loved her.
Gunn concedes it's a tough addiction to kick.
Fred tells Lorne she recalls how she felt when Jasmine took her aside at the bowling alley, a nobody sitting with a goddess who asked for her opinion on what her name should be.
Wes notes that seems strange now, a being as old as Jasmine, one would think she'd already have a name.
Lorne offers perhaps her name was embarrassing like "Hester or Peanut."
The ground gives out beneath Wes and Angel's feet. Gunn grabs Wes and pulls him out before he falls completely in. Angel falls to the bottom.
The sound of footsteps is heard as a boy appears at the top of the hole, aiming a wooden spear at Angel.
Angel calls out to Wes who lets him know he's okay.
An African-American guy enters holding a spear and tells Wes he's not okay until he says so. He calls out to a girl, Holly, and asks if she's okay. She confirms she is.
The guy in charge directs another, Trip, who is holding a spear on Lorne, "That ugly ass beastie so much as breathes wrong, you stick him."
Lorne is offended by the "ugly ass" remark.
From down in the hole, Angel warns the boy holding the spear at the edge of it that he's not fond of people pointing sharp, wooden objects in his direction. He tells the kid to give him the spear as he leaps out of the hole. Fight ensues.
Angel and company take charge of the situation, disarming the kids.
Angel directs the others to stop fighting as he offers his hand to help the boy up and tells the others the kids aren't under Jasmine's influence.
Gunn isn't convinced as he continues to pin the leader against the sewer tunnel wall.
Wes asks if Angel is certain of that.
Angel asks "They're not exactly fighting like a well-oiled mind controlled army of love, are they?"
Gunn reckons they're more like a "bunch of little punks."
Angel directs Gunn to let the guy go. Gunn releases him.
The leader recognizes Gunn's name.
Gunn asks if he gave the guy permission to call him by name.
The guy responds with a question of his own, asking if he gave Gunn permission to use his "ride without paying the piper?"
Gunn thinks on that a moment, then realizes the guy is "Tommy Golden's little brother, Randall."
Gunn tells the others Randall stole his car when the kid was twelve.
Randall asks what Gunn is doing in the sewer.
Gunn tells him they'll be the ones asking the questions.
The conversation is interrupted by an eerie, wailing sound. Everyone looks around nervously.
Gunn figures they can start the questions with "What the hell was that?"
The boy answers, "It's back."
Connor walks down the hall and into Cordy's room. He starts to apologize for something but is cut short when he sees Jasmine sitting on the empty bed, alone. Cordelia is gone.
Jasmine tells him Cordelia's blood is dangerous to them, if she falls into "hateful hands", the hatred will spread.
Connor asks where she is.
Jasmine tells him Cordelia is where she wants her to be. She gets up, moves to Connor, brushes her hand against the side of his face and adds, "And so are you." She directs him to follow her as she starts to leave.
Connor moves toward the bed, staring at it.
Jasmine notices he's not following and calls to him. She leaves. He follows her out.
In the sewer tunnel, Angel and the others are led past a guarded, secured grate to where the kids are staying. The wailing continues in the distance.
As Randall shuts the grate behind them and locks it down, Angel asks if it's secure.
Randall assures him it's held so far.
Angel isn't convinced.
Fred asks exactly what the grate has held against.
Randall says they don't know, they've never gotten a clean shot at it but it's like nothing he's ever seen before.
Gunn tells the others Randall's brother Tommy was part of Gunn's crew at one time, until he left to work on his own.
Randall adds that his brother was running their "crew" when the sun went out. He says they stayed above as long as they could but they were overwhelmed by the numbers.
Angel moves over to another grate and checks it. The boy, Matthew, approaches him and asks if the others are his "crew". He introduces himself then in response to Angel's continued scrutiny of the grate, assures him all the entries in are securely grated, they've checked them out.
Angel would prefer to check for himself as he walks off.
Fred looks over at Matthew and notes how young he is.
Randall tells her they found him at the site of a car wreck. Vampires had laid tire traps on the road and were having a picnic.
Angel overhears Randall's story and reacts to it, clearly disturbed by it.
Randall continues, saying they saw the vampires murder Matthew's parents when they arrived. They managed to save him before the vamps could get him.
Angel looks down at his bloody knuckles, slowly unclenching his fist.. He calls to Matthew and asks if there's any water nearby. Matthew leads him to a fresh water pipe they'd tapped.
Angel walks over to the pipe and washes the blood from his hands.
Holly mentions they found the place because she was familiar with it, she'd stayed there when the shelters were filled up.
Randall adds that they found a supermarket that hadn't been burned to the ground and stocked up on supplies. They've been underground ever since, about two weeks. He says they'd been able to handle things pretty well until something moved into their territory that's been picking them off one by one.
Holly notes it got Tommy a week earlier while he was out resetting traps.
Angel grabs a rag and dries his hands. He looks down at the white rag, now stained with Connor's blood.
Matthew asks whose blood it is.
Angel answers, "Somebody I knew" as he flashes back to the incident at the hotel, seeing himself viciously beating his son. He adds quietly, "Somebody who tried to do bad stuff to my friends." He walks away from Matthew.
Fred marvels that the kids have stayed underground so long.
Holly figures things are worse above ground considering the world seems to be ending. She doesn't think it matters where they go.
Randall is determined they're going to kill whatever it is that's been killing them.
Fred notes the coincidence of them meeting up with the kids, saying that they are "professional monster killers". She looks over at a sullen Wes and Gunn and amends that to past tense.
Angel says they still are as he picks up a machete.
Randall takes exception to that, telling Angel it belonged to his brother.
Angel aims the point of the weapon at Randall briefly, then tells him it belongs to him now. He directs the others to start searching for the evil thing in the sewer as he heads out. They retrieve weapons and follow him out.
In her room, Jasmine cheerfully finishes a phone conversation and hangs up.
Connor tells her the police lost track of Angel and the others several hours ago. He begs her to let him go out, promising to bring them down.
Jasmine tells him he can go out soon, with all of her strength behind him, but they have to celebrate first. She's just spoken to the governor on the phone, he's dissolving his administration. She smiles broadly telling Connor the politicians' time is over. The state answers to her now. She wonders if Connor can feel what's happening, the world is about to kneel at her feet. They will be freed from their loneliness, "from the empty horror of their lives. They won't know what hit them."
Connor's sure that much is true.
Jasmine tells him he'll be at her side, living in a palace "built by the love of billions" that will put the pyramids to shame. She says they'll be a family, together as one, forever. She caresses his face and hugs him as she tells him it will be beautiful.
Connor agrees but doesn't seem totally convinced.
Jasmine senses that and asks why he isn't happy.
Connor doesn't have an answer.
Jasmine thinks she knows. She says in order to belong, to become completely part of something, one has to give themselves over to it totally. She notes Cordy has done that but Connor hasn't.
Connor assures her he wants to.
Jasmine tells him he's kept a part of himself from her, his pain.
Connor isn't sure what she means.
She explains. The pain has been the one constant in his life, the one thing that never abandoned him. She reaches out and takes his hand as she notes he believes the pain is his to keep and bear alone, but it isn't. She presses her fingernails into his hand, drawing blood, while telling him she wants it, "I want everything you are, Connor ... Father." She tells him to let go of it, let her take it.
Connor quietly says, "Okay."
Jasmine holds up her hand which mirrors the bloody fingernail marks on Connor's palm. She repeats, "Okay" as the wounds disappear from her palm.
Angel and the others scour the sewer tunnel in search of the creature. Fred points out that those accompanying them are just kids.
Angel reminds her there's strength in numbers. Fred starts to argue but Angel cuts her off, telling her they just want to strike back at something, anything. He can understand that.
Lorne notes the hockey stick he's carrying as a weapon and asks Wes if he's mentioned he's not good at sports.
Growling and the sound of something skittering is heard in the tunnel.
Matthew notes they've arrived at the place where Tommy was taken.
Fred notices an unpleasant odor and asks what it is.
Angel looks around and answers her, it's ammonia.
Randall gets grabbed and pulled up through an opening above. Angel leaps up through the opening after him. The sound of the machete striking blows is heard.
Randall comes crashing down through the opening back to the sewer below. Gunn rushes to check on him. Angel leaps down after him.
Matthew walks up to him and sees Angel has morphed into game face. He is frightened by that and runs off.
Angel tries to talk to him but he's too scared to listen. Angel starts to follow but is distracted by Fred screaming as the sewer creature attacks her.
The others rush to Fred's rescue and drive the creature off as Holly assists Randall to his feet.
Angel is concerned about what happens to Matthew if he gets to the surface.
Gunn assures him he and Fred will find the kid as they take off running in the same direction he exited.
Angel looks up to the opening the creature escaped through and notes he's getting angry now. Angel calls to Lorne and Wes. Only Lorne answers. Angel notices Wes has gone missing.
The creature is an insect-like being with grayish skin, pincers for hands, several legs on a praying mantis-type body. He brings Wes back to his lair and tosses him against the wall. He approaches and indignantly tells him, "We loved her first!"
Angel realizes the creature got Wes, noting it knows the tunnels better than he does and it's faster. He says he'll track it down. He directs Lorne to take the others back to the fortress in the sewer where they're to stay and wait for Gunn and Fred to return.
Lorne isn't unhappy about getting out of the way of any fight.
Angel starts to move down the tunnel but is stopped by Randall and his crew, who hold him at bay with their homemade weapons.
In the creature's lair, Wes tries to calm the agitated occupant by accepting that his kind loved her first.
The creature tells Wes they loved her before Wesley's kind ever existed. They built a temple to her, stone by stone. He starts to weep, saying but she came here.
Wes realizes he's talking about Jasmine.
The name isn't familiar to the creature who responds with, "Eh?"
Wes tells him it's the name they call her, "The superior being that you named first."
The creature is angered by that as he hisses at Wes, insulted that the "filthy little mice" dared to name her. He tells Wes "She is the Devourer. The peace. The whole." He's still upset Wesley's kind gave her a name. His ramblings are interrupted by a small piece of bloody flesh landing with a splat at his feet. He inspects it, reminded of something. He says he has work to do. He skitters across the lair and leaps up onto the side of a wall of corpses he's building into a tribute sculpture.
Wes looks at the piece of flesh laying at his feet and asks exactly how the creature's kind defines love.
The answer comes as the creature inspects his work by the light of a flaming torch, "The same as all bodies, same as everywheres. Love is sacrifice."
Wes appears more than a little squicked by the situation.
Gunn and Fred search the sewer for Matthew, calling out for him. Fred asks if Gunn is sure Matthew went that way.
Gunn heard splashing, he's sure it had to be the boy.
Fred points out it could be another of the sewer creatures.
Gunn says if it is, it had best stay out of his way, he's not in the mood.
Fred adds it could just be rats.
Gunn stops to anxiously look around and asks Fred why she had to mention rats.
Fred apologizes, assuring Gunn if the noise isn't Matthew, it's sure to be some horrible monster instead but not --
Gunn tells her to look at where they are, pointing out just the day before he was happier than he ever thought possible. Now he's trudging through the sewer trying to find a kid and drag him back down into the sewer so he doesn't find out about the Utopia that exists above. He's not sure that makes sense.
Fred figures Matthew is afraid. She suggests Gunn consider how he must feel.
Gunn reminds her Angel said feelings don't matter anymore.
Fred wonders if that's really the world they're fighting for, "The right to be heartless, an uncaring shell? To be dead inside?"
Gunn notes they'll all be dead if Jasmine gets her hands on Matthew, they're fighting for their survival. He starts to walk on.
Fred calls after him, telling him that's not enough for her. She says maybe Gunn can turn off his feelings like Angel, leave the people behind they care about but that's not her.
Gunn reminds her she didn't have trouble doing it when -- He stops himself from saying more.
Fred demands to know what he was going to say.
He declines at first then answers when she won't let it go. He finishes his thought that she didn't have a problem turning off her emotions "when you and I killed a man." ("Supersymmetry") He corrects himself, "I mean when I did."
Fred says, "We did."
Gunn makes his point, when the circumstances called for it, Fred did what was necessary, what anybody else might think didn't matter.
Fred concedes he's right about everything except one. She did feel it, all of it. When she lets herself think about it, "It eats me up inside."
Gunn admits it affects him the same way. Fred reckons feeling something beats being an emotionless shell.
They continue on their search for Matthew.
In the sewer, Angel is still confronted by the spear wielding Randall along with Holly and Trip. Randall lets him know he saw his vamp face. He knows he's "one of 'em".
Angel tells him it's not like that.
Lorne starts to explain but Randall cuts him off, informing Lorne he's not talking to him, he's talking to the vampire.
Angel starts to say he can't deny what they saw.
Lorne interrupts, enthusiastically offering that Angel only drinks pigs' blood.
Angel would prefer Lorne not help.
Lorne figures an undead guy deserves credit for that, unless they're into the kosher thing but he doesn't think the kids looks like they are. He realizes he's digging the hole deeper and decides to shut up as the spears are forcefully pointed at him.
Angel tells the others he understands why they feel as they do but he's not going to try to justify his existence to them. He couldn't if he wanted to. He tells them what he could do, "take that spear away from you and snap it into kindling, and break your neck in half the time it would take for you to give it a good push." He gives Randall the option of stepping aside so he can go help Wes.
Gunn breaks the grate off of a drainage pipe as he and Fred exit into the sunlight above ground. They discard their weapons and continue their search on the streets. They hear a skateboarder approaching and hide beside a building. The guy passes without noticing them.
Fred and Gunn continue on, running down the sidewalk.
The creature continues working on his corpse sculpture in the lair.
Wes stands up and notices an open door. He wonders if the creature isn't worried he'll escape.
The creature isn't concerned about it, assuring Wes he's "good at catching furries."
Wes looks at the pile of corpses and acknowledges the truth of that statement. He asks the creature where he's from, realizing he's not local.
The creature answers, he's from the "other world, older world."
Wes looks around and notices a large blue orb. He moves closer to inspect it.
The creature invites him to go ahead and use his "key" to visit. He chuckles and adds that what they breathe there would burn Wesley's lungs out.
Wes backs away from the orb. He watches what the creature is doing then asks if he's preparing a spell.
The creature answers, "This blood magic. Flesh magic. Older than words. More much power. This magic she will hear. She will hear and remember her true ones."
Wes notes he's not referring to an incantation.
The creature derisively brushes aside the suggestion of using words. He says she doesn't care about words or "word magic."
Wes finds that interesting.
The creature continues, "There is only one word she --" He stops himself.
Wes is intrigued by that. He approaches the creature and asks what the one word is she cares about.
The creature isn't interested in answering.
Wes presses.
The creature warns him, "Don't make me come down there." He goes back to constructing his flesh tribute. As he pulls the entrails out of one of the corpses, it screams and comes awake. The vampire asks the creature to stop with the serial killer cliché stuff and just stake him, get it over with.
The creature is perplexed by the fact this corpse is still speaking, noting "I tear your guts inside out. I stitch your guts every all over. Why don't you go dead?"
The vampire suggests he "go f -- "
The creature cuts him off by pulling out the vampire's tongue. He notes his annoyance with "talky meat" as he tosses the tongue which lands at Wesley's feet.
Wes tells the creature he can't kill the guy that way, he's a vampire, he's already dead.
The creature continues gutting the vampire and creatively arranging his innards as he asks if it's like the one in the tunnels that hurt him.
Wes realizes he's referring to Angel.
The creature doesn't know the name.
Wes clarifies, telling him that's the name of the vampire that attacked him.
The creature disdainfully mocks the name thing, saying they throw their names all over the place, no wonder they're so weak. Too many know their names, that takes away their power.
Wes tells him it doesn't work like that here. He starts to explain but realizes something that causes him to pause. Wes puts it together, realizing the word Jasmine cares about is her name.
The creature tells him repeatedly to "Shut!"
Wes persists, asking if that isn't right, it's her name that Jasmine cares about.
The creature rushes him, pins him against the wall and repeats, "Shut! Shut! Shut!"
Gunn and Fred find Matthew who's in an alley looking bewildered. Fred tells him they won't hurt him, they just want to talk but it's not safe there.
Matthew notes they didn't tell him the sun was back out.
An impatient Gunn concedes yes, they forgot to mention it.
Matthew says Angel is a vampire, like those that --
Fred tells him they're the good guys, she can explain but not there. She tells him to come with them.
Matthew refuses. Gunn grabs him by the arm and attempts to drag him along.
The kid screams for help.
Gunn gives him a vicious punch that knocks him out, stunning Fred. He directs Fred to pick up the kid's feet as he grabs him under his arms.
Fred hesitates as she looks at Gunn.
In the lair, Wes pulls himself up and tells the creature she has a name and that name has power over her, that's why she keeps it secret.
The creature, his back to Wes, holds his pincers over his ears shouting, "La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la! Not listening!"
Wes persists, saying somehow her true name keeps her from choosing a false name which is why one of them had to do it.
The creature turns and punches Wes, sending him flying into the air, across the lair and slamming into the wall. The creature leaps toward him as Wes gets up, pinning him against the wall. He says it doesn't matter, he doesn't keep the name, the "High Priest" keeps the name. He tells Wes he's going to kill him and make him part of his spell as he grabs him by the throat. He adds "I just messenger from the ones who love truly."
Angel arrives, armed with the machete. He quips, "I guess it's time to shoot the messenger. Or, you know, chop the messenger into little bitty pieces. Whatever."
As Angel leaps toward him, the creature punches Wesley, knocking him out.
Angel attacks with the machete.
In the sewer fortress, Lorne is giving a talk on the hurtful use of language like "ugly ass" and "beastie". He offers it as a little life lesson.
Randall suggests he shut up.
Gunn and Fred return with an unconscious Matthew. The others rush to check on him.
Randall asks what happened.
Gunn says the kid will be all right.
Fred apologizes and starts to explain but Gunn cuts her off. Randall asks what Fred was going to say.
Gunn says it's nothing.
Randall doesn't like being kept in the dark. He wants to know what they did to Matthew.
An angry Gunn confronts Randall, telling him there's a whole new world of bad things going on above and Matthew was walking blindly straight into it. He did what he had to do and he's not interested in Randall's opinion on the matter.
Matthew comes to, laughing in Jasmine's voice. Fred and Gunn realize they got to him too late as Matthew sits up and in Jasmine's voice taunts, "I seeeeeeeee you." He looks at Holly and tells her to look at what they did to Matthew, they hit him again and again until they knocked him out. He just wanted to see the sun.
Gunn tells Fred and Lorne it's time to go.
Fred picks up a metal bar and hands it off to Gunn.
Jasmine continues speaking through Matthew as he looks at Randall and asks if he wouldn't like to hit them, to kill them.
Randall becomes enthralled as he smiles and agrees that's a good idea.
Fred, Gunn and Lorne rush out the exit into the sewer tunnel. They run into Connor and a group of uniformed minions in the tunnel.
Connor steps forward and in Jasmine's voice greets them, "Hello again, children. I believe you've met my father."
Angel and the creature continue their fight in the lair. Angel gets punched and knocked backward, into the wall. He gets back up and rushes the creature who skewers him through his body with one of his pincers. He lifts Angel off the ground, observing "Little mice. They always soft inside."
Angel takes a swing with the machete, causing the creature to drop him to the ground. He tries to grab him but Angel deflects him with the machete. The creature grabs the machete blade, snaps it off, and tosses it aside. He prepares to finish Angel off but is interrupted by Wes who rushes him from behind and slams him in the back.
The creature backhands Wes across the lair and tells him to wait his turn. As he returns his attention to Angel, Angel grabs a sharp piece of the broken machete from the floor and drives it into the creature's neck. As he falls to the floor dying, he offers his flesh to Jasmine.
Wes tells Angel the creature came from a place that's worshipped Jasmine for a long time. He directs his attention to the orb and says they can reach the place through it. Wes picks up the orb and notes it appears the "universe just handed us our first break."
Gunn, Lorne and Fred run down the sewer tunnel with Connor and the other minions in pursuit.
Wes examines the orb, noting there are no markings or mechanical parts of any kind.
Angel asks if the High Priest is the one who has Jasmine's true name.
Wes confirms that.
Angel asks what else they know.
Wes concedes it's just a guess, but he thinks whatever holds the name is "bigger and meaner than our big, mean friend over there."
Angel isn't surprised by that. He starts to ask something but stops when he senses something. He tells Wes something is happening, something bad. He says Connor's name.
Connor, leading the minions chasing Gunn, Fred and Lorne, pauses a moment as he senses something as well. He smiles and says, "Angel."
At the hotel, Jasmine repeats Angel's name.
In the lair, Wes ponders the problem, "No words. No word magic." Angel leads Lorne, Fred and Gunn into the lair. Fred tells Angel Connor is there. Angel says he knows. Lorne adds Connor is accompanied by the National Guard as they close the door behind them.
As Wes continues trying to figure out the orb, the others work on holding the door closed, trying to keep Connor and the minions out. Wes finally realizes something about "blood magic" as he touches a bleeding wound on his head and rubs the blood onto the orb. The orb begins to shake. Light flashes from it as it begins to glow brightly. Wes shouts to Angel that he's figured it out. Bolts of electrical energy shoot out from the orb, opening a portal.
Angel directs the others to go, he'll hold the door as long as he can.
Wes tells him they can't go, only Angel can.
Angel doesn't understand.
Wes explains that the atmosphere in the creature's world would kill them. They can't help. He joins the others in holding the door shut as he echoes Angel's words from earlier at the Hyperion back to him, someone who knows the truth has to survive, that's Angel.
Angel doesn't want to leave them behind.
Fred reminds him of his earlier comment that "hearts get in the way."
Angel reluctantly backs away, toward the portal.
Wes calls out to him and tosses him the orb. Angel catches it, pauses, then steps into the portal.
The others know they can't hold the door closed against the minion forces any longer. Gunn notes it's time for the fight scene. He directs the others to move back from the door on the count of three and prepare for battle.
Connor kicks the door in and enters with the others. Fight ensues.
At the hotel, Jasmine stands, her arms outstretched at her sides. She laughs as she feels every crunching, cutting blow being struck in the fight. Various bloody wounds appear on her body and quickly disappear as the fight continues.
Angel exits the portal and finds himself standing on a rocky outcropping in the midst of a hazy gray, desolate world. On one side of him, a precipitous drop. On the other, surrounded by bug-like beings just like the sewer creature. He looks around uneasily and mutters, "Oh, hell."
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